Chapter Text

All Might shook Izuku awake after they returned to Tokyo. The number one hero already dropped Tenya off at the Ida home, and Izuku felt a bit guilty that he slept most of the ride back.

All Might laughed. “Quite alright, my boy. You and young Tenya had a busy day. He slept most of the way too. Do you still feel up to cleaning the beach tomorrow?”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah! I want to get it done.”

“Well then, eat a good dinner and get some sleep. We’ll leave bright and early tomorrow morning.” All Might walked Izuku across the street to the Midoriya home, where Izuku’s mother waited in a state of near panic. The three of them sat at the kitchen table so All Might could reassure Inko, since All Might and Izuku spent all day in a dump and didn’t want to risk staining the couch. “Inko, Izuku’s brilliant plan kept everyone safe,” All Might said softly, neglecting to mention Izuku’s plan put himself at the most risk, other than the hostage. “Most pro heroes couldn’t have done better, and in fact there were five of them on the scene who couldn’t come up with a better plan to save the hostage.”

“I know,” Inko said, trying to hold back her tears, “but I just don’t like you being in danger! Was,” and she paused here a moment, “was the victim really Katsuki?”

All Might’s ears perked up at this. Of course, he berated himself. Young Izuku grew up in Musutafu! Considering the victim appeared to be the same age as his successor, it made perfect sense that they probably knew each other. Izuku nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, it was him.”

Inko started to reach out to hug him, but considering the state of his clothing, she decided against it to All Might and Izuku’s shared chuckles. “I’m so proud of you, Izuku. Did you two get a chance to talk?”

He shook his head. “They took him over to the EMTs right after the incident and Tenya and I went back to the beach with a police officer while giving our statements. I don’t think he wanted to talk to me anyway.”

“It was probably a traumatic experience for the boy, young Izuku,” All Might said, diplomatically. “Many people you rescue will be in a state of shock, even if they’re not hurt physically, and it is common for them to lash out to gain a measure of control over the situation. I’m sure he’s grateful for your help!”

Izuku nodded, but somehow, he doubted that Katsuki Bakugo felt grateful in the slightest. “I’m just glad we rescued him.” Izuku meant every word. He’d have done the same for anyone caught in a similar crisis. Whatever Bakugo thought honestly no longer mattered to him. The determination to help others in need burned in his chest, regardless of his past with Bakugo.

That night, after taking an awfully long, hot shower, Izuku laid in his bed and fell asleep almost instantly. As soon as he began dreaming, he became lucid. In front of him stood a towering castle, and as much as he longed to explore it, he couldn’t take a step toward it. Dark clouds hovered in the distance, and occasionally cannons lining the castle’s battlements fired huge blasts toward the dark brambles beneath the looming storm. Looking down, he noticed that most of his body seemed to be made of a hazy mist, with only the top of his head, his arms, and part of his chest solid. He couldn’t even speak, as his mouth was made of the same mist.

The gate to the castle opened, and a beautiful woman came walking out. The black, sleeveless bodysuit she wore highlighted her powerfully built figure, accentuated by a long, flowing white cape around her neck, a smaller matching cape around her waist, and white gloves and boots. Light shimmered around her, appearing as some sort of transparent armor. With confidence, she strode toward Izuku. Her eyelevel matched his own, so she stood at least one hundred eighty-three centimeters, and with the complicated bun she wore her hair in, she probably held a bit of a height advantage on him.

She placed a strong yet gentle hand on his shoulder, and near her touch, the haze that clouded him receded. “So, you’re Toshinori’s boy?”

Izuku rolled his eyes. Why does everyone think All Might’s my dad? he thought. I love and respect All Might, and he may be like a second father to me, but Hisashi Midoriya is my father! I carry his name and he sacrificed everything for me!

“Oh, kiddo, I’m sorry,” she said, as if he’d spoken out loud. “I just mean that you’re the one Toshi chose as his successor.” She tapped the side of her head with her fist, sticking out her tongue playful as she did. “Sometimes my mouth moves faster than my brain. I just wanted to tell you that you did a great job today. Your first ‘big damn hero’ moment and boy did you save the day and then some.”

Thank you, he thought.

“No problem,” she said with a big smile. “Listen, those sticks in the mud are ‘withholding judgement for the time being,’” she said, rolling her eyes, “so you won’t be able to enter for now.”

What is this place?

“It’s not really a place, kiddo,” she replied. “This is just how your mind interprets One For All and the Great War against All For One. We’re the same way, I suppose, all of us hopeless romantics. Don’t worry, though. You’re doing great! Hell, you’re doing better than I did. I think you’ll be the one to truly unlock its full power.”

Izuku gasped, or the closest approximation he could manage with an ethereal cloud for a mouth. You’re one of the previous holders.

“Yup,” she said, popping the “P” at the end of the word. “Nana Shimura. I’m the one who trained that big lug, Toshinori. Well, until I…” she paused, “passed his training on to Sorahiko.”

GranPa Torino?

Nana lost it then, laughing until tears rolled down her face. “GranPa! That’s great, kiddo!” She wiped away a tear. “God above, I like you! Tell you what, they’re being stingy, but I’m not. When you really need it, my power will be there for you.”

So, when you say “they,” you mean the other previous holders of One For All?

“Yeah, bunch of backseat drivers if you ask me. They’ve forgotten how much of a pain it was trying to figure it out on their own, so they think you should have to go through what they did.” She turned back to the castle and made a one fingered salute, then yelling “Completely ignoring the fact that they all ended up dead!” She shrugged, “Not that I’m one to talk, either, being as I’m a meat popsicle, too. They think the true path to victory is here,” raising her voice again, “while people suffer and die in the real world!”

What if they’re right, though, Izuku thought. Before All Might gave me One For All, I was just a quirkless loser. I’m a nobody who didn’t even have his own quirk.

Nana sat down on a convenient bench that Izuku hadn’t noticed, or perhaps it appeared the moment she decided she needed it. She patted the space beside her, and somehow Izuku sat beside her. “Tell you what, kiddo, why don’t you ask Toshinori what his quirk was before he got One For All and then get back to me on that? Ask him if there are any statues to the previous holders. I’m not saying we didn’t do good, because we did, but he did great. Just ask him, OK?” She glanced toward the castle and Izuku’s eyes followed her gaze, the hazy form of a knight standing in the portcullis. The warrior appeared far less defined than Nana, but his armor seemed far more solid. He stared at Izuku and nodded.

I will. Thank you, Ms. Shimura.

“Oh, kiddo, my mom was Ms. Shimura. I only exist inside the quirk that lives inside you and in people’s memories. You call me ‘Nana,’ got it?”

I’d rather call you by your hero name, if that’s OK….

She blushed. “Um, yeah… about that. I sucked at hero names. Seriously, I changed them like other people changed socks, and most of them make your teacher’s ‘Eraserhead’ name sound like he got it from William Shakespeare. They’re so bad I’m almost glad history forgot about me.”

Well, I won’t forget, Nana.

“I know, kiddo.” She hugged him and her breath hitched, “I know.”

Day two at the beach went much smoother, without any villain attacks and the two teens made much better progress. They sectioned off an area for the vehicles to give Izuku an opportunity to practice throwing heavy objects and, after a few instances of overshooting or undershooting the target, he hurled a car into the zone with a fair degree of accuracy. All Might still left them for a while to do a patrol, but mostly he spent the day reading his book and occasionally snapping pictures or shooting video with his phone.

If Izuku and Tenya knew that All Might shared these videos and pictures with the other heroes of Might Agency and Tenya’s older brother, the embarrassment might have killed them, and that’s not even considering some of the memes. Midnight emailed a picture of Tenya running, a cloud of sand obscuring his legs, while carrying a broken microwave with the caption “Meep Meep” to Tensei. Gang Orca’s personal favorite video showed Izuku struggling to pull a half-buried car out of the sand while the classic John Williams Superman theme played, swelling triumphantly as Izuku finally freed the car, hoisting it above his head with a grin.

After the first two weeks, they finished almost half the beach, and Izuku felt confident that they would meet their self-imposed deadline of five weeks. They’d stopped bothering to bring a cooler after a week, since when they’d arrived in the morning, several locals waited with bottled water, lunch, and snacks. Fortunately, Izuku’s strict diet now consisted of “Lots,” so long as he ate mostly healthy foods. He burned through tons of calories per day and every all-you-can-eat restaurant in Tokyo feared the bottomless pit of a boy, although he always insisted on paying appropriately. The fact that pro heroes often went with him helped to keep him from being banned. The first time Izuku met Fat Gum, the BMI hero walked over to him, patted Izuku on the shoulder several times, and nodded appreciatively.

A week later, after dropping off Tenya at his brother’s house for the night, Izuku finally managed to ask his hero. “All Might, what was your quirk before you got One For All?”

All Might smiled. “You know, I’m honestly surprised you didn’t ask before now, young Izuku. Like you, I was born quirkless.”

A shocked expression covered Izuku’s face. “You said before it came in late!”

“Just like yours did, my boy,” All Might replied with a chuckle. “I didn’t mean to intentionally mislead you, but that answer became a habit long ago. It wasn’t as uncommon in those days, but every year less and less children are born quirkless. Your generation may be the last. And while many people view that as a good thing, I must confess it makes me a little sad. Before quirks, human beings did great things. They built the pyramids, sailed the oceans, designed computers, and even walked on the Moon. Much of that has been forgotten since people have been so focused on quirks that in many ways it has made us stagnant. Even I have forgotten that at times. I’ve faced powerful villains before, so if someone had asked me if someone quirkless could be a hero, I’d have probably said ‘no.’ But now, I believe someone like you could have done it. Your heroic spirit comes from you, young Izuku, as does your intelligence. One For All may have enhanced it a bit, but I remember your hero analysis journal from that day in the park. The same boy who wrote that analysis came up with a plan to rescue a hostage and defeat the Sludge Villain. Never forget, young Izuku, that your first victory against a villain was won without using a quirk.”

Izuku smiled. “Thanks, All Might.” Izuku paused. “Can you tell me about the previous holders of One For All?”

All Might looked away for a moment, a sad expression on his face that Izuku spotted in the reflection of his mentor’s face in the truck’s window. Before he could apologize, All Might answered him. “Sadly, I know very little about them, except for my master and the first. Most of their names are lost to history. The first was a kind, brave, but sickly man. He was believed to be quirkless, and the brother of the man only known today as All For One. All For One, with his quirk that shares his name, tried to conquer Japan. He could take and give quirks, using his powers to place others in his debt and destabilizing the country. His brother tried to fight against him, but ultimately was captured.” All Might paused for a moment. “No one knows why, but All For One forced a power stockpiling quirk upon his brother. Perhaps he was trying to be kind or buy his brother’s loyalty. Who can say? What we do know is that the stockpiling quirk combined with the brother’s hidden quirk. A quirk that, for all extents and purposes could be considered useless. This quirk allowed him to pass on his quirk to another through his DNA. Together, these two quirks became one, the quirk you now hold, One For All. The brother died at some point, either from natural causes or at his brother’s hands, but before he died, he passed on the quirk. Each holder has fought against One For All, until I finally defeated him. However, we never did find a body. Hopefully it is lost in the infinite void of space, but you must be ever vigilant.”

“I’m sorry, All Might,” Izuku said. “You don’t have to tell me about N… your master if you don’t want to.”

All Might startled a bit but brushed it aside with a laugh. “Oh, no, young Izuku. You deserve to know about her. My biggest regret is that you never met her. I think she would have loved you. Nana Shimura was a courageous woman, full of life and laughter, always trying to make others smile. She loved horrible puns and would use them at the drop of a hat. Any hat. Anywhere on earth. She changed her hero name often, sometimes incorporating a pun. She found me much as I found you on your twelfth birthday, bullied by a group of my classmates. She chased them off, and I admit, I was a bit of a young ruffian in those days. I grinned and said, ‘Thanks, toots, but I could have taken them.’”

Both laughed, Izuku holding onto his sides as tears rolled down his face. “Come on, All Might! What did you really say?”

Shaking with laughter, All Might replied, “That’s really what I said. I was an idiot, but I was also fourteen. She laughed even louder than you did, right in my face. I sported a black eye, split lip, bruises all over my body and could barely stand, but she laughed. Then she said, ‘I like you, kid. Where are you planning to go to high school?’ I told her about my plan to get into UA and find the most powerful person in the hero course and guide him into becoming a symbol. She asked why I didn’t just do it myself, and I admitted to being quirkless.”

“What happened then?” Izuku asked, riveted.

“She told me it was a great plan, but that I should do it myself. I reminded her that I didn’t have a quirk, and then and there she told me the story of One For All. When she offered to make me her apprentice and give me her power, I accepted without hesitation. Over the next year, her and Gran Torino trained me relentlessly, and for the first month of that she made ‘Toots’ her hero name because I would blush every time she said it. She passed the quirk on to me a week before the entrance exam and then died in battle with All For One a year later. Her birth quirk was called ‘Float,’ allowing her to hover in the air, but through the power of One For All her punches and flexes made it seem as though she could fly. She… I never knew my birth mother, but Nana was like a mother to me, and your mother reminds me of her, sometimes. Funny and smart but caring so much. You’re a lucky boy, Young Izuku.”

“It sounds like we were both lucky in the mom department,” Izuku said. “She sounds great.”

The truck pulled into All Might’s driveway. “She truly was. There is one question I wanted to ask you, young Izuku,” All Might said as they got out of the pickup truck. “I have decided to accept an offer from Nezu to begin teaching at UA next year, mainly to make it easier for me to act as your mentor. To avoid any appearance of favoritism, none of the teachers can recommend you, although I’m sure Gang Orca or Edgeshot would be delighted to sponsor you.”

“Tenya and I talked about it, since his brother offered to recommend him. We’d both rather take the entrance exam and earn our spots.”

“I figured that’s what you would say, my boy. Considering you and young Tenya have already defeated a villain, I doubt either of you will have much of a problem passing.”

Izuku and Tenya didn’t finish cleaning the beach in five weeks; they finished in four. Since both teens needed to keep a low profile, neither of them attended the ceremony when Gang Orca and Ingenium gifted the beach back to the city as a joint community service project of Might Incorporated and Team Idaten, with the modest admission price going to support local schools and pay for a small staff to keep the beach clean. With the mountains of trash cleared and the sand thoroughly sifted to remove anything dangerous, only a small continuous effort kept the beach spotless. With two free weeks from All Might’s original estimate of six weeks, All Might provided both boys with a considerable amount of cash and an admonishment to spend the time just enjoying themselves and exploring Tokyo.

On the sixth week, Aizawa returned from the summer camp and, while his inclination to give Izuku a week off matched All Might’s, Izuku pleaded for the chance to do some free running with his teacher. Tenya joined in as well, and they spent several days in the city leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Tenya learned some parkour moves from Izuku over the years, and his built-in engines could, in emergencies only, give him a small boost to make a jump he might otherwise miss.

The last two weeks of summer break they spent visiting I-Island for the annual I-Expo. All Might took Izuku on this pilgrimage every year since Izuku’s thirteenth birthday, so he knew that setting it as a “prize” for clearing the beach amounted to an empty gesture, but this year he brought Tenya along. Tenya admitted that he usually attended anyway, as a member of the famous Ida family, but going as part of All Might’s entourage delighted his parents. Tenya’s mother, the pro hero Blue Streak, recently retired, leaving Tensei as the sole active hero from the Ida family. The Ida matriarch’s primary retirement project consisted of establishing Tenya with a good reputation, and the successful Sludge Villain incident and forming strong connections with All Might’s agency left her ecstatic. For his part, Izuku couldn’t wait to see Melissa and David Shield again.

While Izuku found Melissa to be sweet and cute, she also had a few years on him. At this point, the two saw each other as big sister and little brother. If he met her a few years later, the most likely outcomes included falling for her or a hopeless crush, but he felt happy with the way things turned out. He wouldn’t trade her friendship for the world. Meeting Melissa inspired Izuku to learn English, and regular video calls helped keep his skills sharp. She did sometimes seem to channel Midnight though, teasing him about getting a girlfriend. Somehow, she knew that “Midnight Original Costume” appeared in his browser history.

As usual, Izuku geeked out at the I-Expo, filling an autograph book with signatures from pro heroes, walking around the various support equipment demonstrations, and testing his strength at David Shield’s lab. With effort, Izuku lifted five hundred tons, roughly twenty-five percent of All Might’s maximum strength. The Shields took an array of measurements and tests to analyze his quirk, power output, and growth rate.

At All Might’s encouragement, he and Tenya took turns in the villain attack attraction a timed battle / obstacle course against robot villains. For their age group, Izuku set a record and took first prize, while Tenya took home the silver medal.

They returned to Tokyo the day before the fall semester began. Between their heavy class load and training, the remaining months before the UA entrance exam sped by. All their training sessions now balanced between mobility and sparring, with a variety of different heroes who owed favors to All Might coming to Might Tower on the weekends to keep Izuku on his toes.

Chapter Text

After a long wait of several months, the day of the UA entrance exam finally arrived. Students from all over Japan made their way to Musutafu, allowed entry by the UA barrier with the specially encoded examination tickets sent to those applicants with the grades and records sufficient to qualify to even take the test. Izuku and Tenya held two of the ten tickets given to students trying from Soumei Junior High, but they both shared a sense of determination. They arrived early, hitching a ride with All Might, who would watch the exam as one of the teachers. With nothing to do other than calm their nerves, the boys stood in the courtyard in front of the examination hall talking.

With forty-five minutes left to go, a few early students arrived, breaking off into small groups to discuss the exam. Tenya adjusted his glasses. “Were you able to get any information from All Might or Uncle Shota?”

“Nope,” Izuku said with an exhale. “They both said that the exam is being changed some this year anyway, since they’ve had people try and game the system before.”

“Well, I will admit that I’ve heard Uncle Shota and Aunt Nemuri arguing with my brother and Uncle Hizashi about it. Uncle Shota has been trying to get it changed for years. Perhaps he’s finally succeeded.”

“Maybe that’s why they asked us to fill out and return that long questionnaire about our quirks and their strengths and weaknesses. If it’s just destroying robots, I can’t imagine Aizawa or Midnight having an easy time with those.”

Two loud pops echoed through the courtyard, and Izuku and Tenya both looked over to see an angry blonde boy glaring at Izuku. “Deku? What the hell is a quirkless nerd like you doing here?”

“Wait, aren’t you the hostage we rescued from the Sludge villain?” Tenya said. “You should be thanking Izuku, not insulting him.”

Izuku waved it off. “Let it go, Tenya. It isn’t worth it.”

“Looking down on me like always, Deku, you piece of crap!” Bakugo’s red eyes practically glowed with rage. “I’ll be taking first place in both the written and practical exam while you go crying back to Aunt Inko in Tokyo. Hope you have a backup school planned, because I’ll be laughing when you come in dead last. Now both of you nerds get out of my way.” Bakugo detoured slightly so that he walked between the two Soumei students. Izuku rolled his eyes as Bakugo stomped toward the main building.

Just after he walked past, Tenya said to Izuku, loudly enough to ensure Bakugo could hear it, “I can see how a five-year-old could misread your first name, Izuku, but surely someone our age should have intelligence enough to realize their mistake by now.”

Izuku chuckled, while Bakugo spun in place to glare. “What’d you say to me, you four-eyed freak? You want to go right now?”

Tenya stood up a bit straighter. His sparring with Izuku and the occasional pro hero gave him ample muscle and the skills to back it up. “I’d be delighted if you’d just go and cease interrupting a private conversation. Since you appear to have a lot of trouble reading kanji, would you like me to point out which building is the examination hall?” Several of the nearby students chuckled, not even bothering to hide their laughter.

That only irritated Katsuki Bakugo further. “You better both hope you fail. If I see either of you in the hero course, I’ll kill you.”

Tenya smiled slyly. “Don’t worry, I doubt the likes of you will ever see either of us in the hero course.”

Bakugo caught the hidden implication that he wouldn’t be the one to make it into UA but chose to stomp away with a growl. After all, starting a fight with so many witnesses would kill his chances. Besides, he could just write Deku off, no way a quirkless nerd like Deku could hope to pass. As for four-eyes, well, today or later, he’d kill him.

Two of the other examinees noticed the exchange though. A short girl with chestnut hair made her way over and a boy with spiky red hair ran toward them. The boy tripped, slamming into Izuku, causing him to lose his balance when the girl reached out and touched his shoulder. Rather than continuing his fall, Izuku hung suspended in the air, feeling weightlessness for the first time.

“Oh, man, I am so sorry,” the redheaded boy said, bowing at the waist. “Damn it, I’m such a klutz.”

The girl apologized as well. “Sorry for using my quirk on you without asking. I just thought it would be bad luck to fall before the exam.”

“Um,” Izuku stammered, “that’s OK. Both of you. No harm, no foul. Now, um, how do I get down?”

The girl reached out, but Izuku had already somehow managed to position himself perpendicular to the ground, the sensation of floating felt oddly natural to him. “Get ready,” she said, then touched all five fingers on one hand against their counterparts on her other and said “Release!” Izuku felt a moment of vertigo as gravity reclaimed him and he settled back on his feet.

“That’s so cool. Is it tactile telekinesis? No, oh, a force manipulation quirk! You’re good at gravity negation too! Can you also increase gravitational attraction?” Izuku said, wishing he’d brought a notebook to take notes. As for gravitational attraction, he felt a bit of it.

“Force what? I’m not a Jedi!” she said with a grin. “No, my quirk is Zero Gravity. I can make things weightless.”

Izuku looked puzzled. “I think your quirk counsellor didn’t fully understand it. Just cancelling my gravity wouldn’t have stopped me from falling. You completely cancelled out my inertia in addition to acceleration due to gravity. I think you’re a lot more powerful than you realize.”

“Really?” She looked pretty happy. Happy. And Pretty. And… bad Izuku!

“Yeah! I hope we both get in so we can talk about it sometime. Quirk analysis is a hobby of mine.” He bowed, and then remembering the other person there, turned and bowed to the redhaired boy as well. “I’m Izuku Midoriya and this is my friend, Tenya Ida.” Ida bowed as well. “We’re from Soumei Private Junior High in Tokyo, but after today we’ll be from UA!”

“I’m Ochaco Uraraka,” the girl said, even her name was beautiful… bad Izuku!

“And I’m Eijiro Kirishima!” the boy said, beating his fist against his chest. “Pleasure to meet all of you, especially you two,” he said waving toward Izuku and Tenya. “I saw where you rescued a kid from a Sludge monster. It was the manliest thing I’ve ever seen. You two went in there and started ordering heroes around and saved the day! I was close to giving up, and after I saw that I said ‘Ei, if you can be just a tenth as manly as those dudes, you’ll ace the entrance exam.’ So, here I am!”

“Let’s all go in there and do our best!” Izuku said. “I hope we’ll all be in the same class together.”

As the various students filed into the examination hall, the four students chose to sit next to each other. Izuku exchanged waves with a few other students from Soumei, but none of them came over. Izuku and Tenya dominated the top two spots of their grade academically, so most of the school viewed them with a sense of friendly competition. Izuku wished them all the best in claiming one of spots in the hero course, but two of those would belong to Tenya and himself, and hopefully two more spots for his new friends. Students of all shapes and sizes came in now, with only a few minutes left, and a blonde boy bumped into Izuku. “Excusez-moi, s'il vous plait,” the boy said.

Izuku winced. His French didn’t compare to his English, but he managed a “N'en pense rien! Bonne chance, mon nouvel ami!” Izuku blushed. “Sorry, my accent must be atrocious.”

“Non,” the boy said, “it is most kind of you to even try to make me feel welcome. As for your accent, it is magnifique! Where did you learn French?”

Izuku blushed. “Mostly self-taught through HeroTube. I’m not completely fluent, but I don’t want language to be a barrier when trying to help others.”

“An admirable goal, mon ami! I have a feeling we will see each other again soon.”

Kirishima raised his hand, waving a pink skinned girl with horns over. “Hey, Ashido! Over here!”

She came over, her bushy hair a pink version of Izuku’s own green hair. She blinked a few times when she got closer. “Holy crap, is that you, Kirishima?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “I decided to change up my look. Everyone, this is Mina Ashido! She and I go to the same middle school.” He quickly performed introductions.

“We’re horn buddies now,” she said, flicking the two spikes at the front of his hair style. She turned to Izuku, “and you, Midori, right? You stole my hairstyle.” She ruffled his hair. “Damn, boy, just as soft and fluffy as mine. Want to try mine out?” she asked with a wink. She caught sight of Uraraka, who did not seem amused at this point, but Mina Ashido’s outgoing nature refused all negativity. She plopped herself in the chair beside Uraraka, leaned in, and with absolute sincerity said, “Girl Power!”

“What?” Uraraka said, confused by this non-sequitur.

“Look around, sister. There’s like two guys to every girl. We’ve got to represent! So let me hear it!”

“Girl power?” Uraraka asked, a bit unsure.

Izuku nodded. “Girl power! I believe in both of you!”

“Yeah, he gets it,” Mina said. “Say it loud and say it proud!”

“Girl power!” Uraraka yelled, a bit louder than she intended.

The written portion of the exam remained unchanged from previous years, with Snipe and Ectoplasm overseeing the test. Thirty different clones of Ectoplasm wandered through the room, while Snipe watched from the front, shifting his gaze to the mirrors that lined the room’s ceilings. In this way, the teachers could watch any student at any time without warning to discourage cheating. While rare, students attempted it on occasion. The offenders usually believed they got away with it, but UA allowed them to finish the test to avoid disruption. Only afterwards, someone intercepted the cheaters before the practical test and escorted them off campus with a notification sent to all other hero schools in the country.

The sheer size of the test made it daunting, consisting of two hundred questions split up into six categories: Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, History, English, and Heroics. The school allotted four hours to complete the test with an essay. Knowledge might make up a large portion of the test, but it also measured time management and strategy. A few of the questions fell into the easy category, but a few would challenge the smartest of students, and some even had multiple correct answers to trick those who didn’t pay enough attention to detail. If a student took an average of sixty seconds per question, that would only leave forty minutes for the essay.

Izuku blazed through the multiple-choice questions, thanks to his enhanced intellect. He could do the math problems in his head, foregoing the need to waste time drawing out diagrams or writing out equations. This trend repeated in the science section since many of the physics and chemistry problems required some math as well. Language arts, history, and heroics we mostly memorization. As for English, he worked hard at that and had completely fluency.

Izuku finished the last multiple-choice question and stretched. He glanced up at the clock in shock. Only thirty minutes passed. He looked around to find several people staring at him, including Snipe and a clone of Ectoplasm. One of Ectoplasm’s clones leaned over and whispered something to Snipe who nodded and went back to checking the room. “Y’all varmints keep on workin’,” Snipe called out.

Izuku dug into the essay, a complex question on describing society’s partial responsibility for villainy. Izuku thought about it for roughly ten minutes, assembling his thoughts in his head. He quickly settled on discrimination as his topic. He chose as his three main supporting points anti-mutant bias, so-called “villainous” quirk discrimination, and quirkless discrimination. He gambled with the last one, as the technical definition of villainy meant quirk use with the intent to commit a crime, making it technically impossible for someone quirkless to be a villain, but he decided to spin it in a different way. While quirkless individuals often became criminals due to minimal job prospects, he would argue that a lack of punishment for abuse of the quirkless taught people with quirks that abuse of those less powerful than themselves carried a tacit approval from society. Furthermore, he knew a prime example, discussing Aldera at length.

Writing the paper in his head, Izuku simply needed to transfer it to paper, spelling out the words as neatly and precisely as he could, until he realized that he used all the paper provided already, all five pages. One of Ectoplasm’s clones loomed over him, bending down, and whispering, “Problem, Midoriya?”

“I’m sorry, Ectoplasm, um, sir. Could I get another sheet of paper for the essay?” Izuku blushed as several of the other students groaned.

“Did you mess up?” Ectoplasm asked with an amused tone. “Neatness isn’t that important.”

“No sir, it’s just running a bit long.”

“We gave you five sheets. The longest essays rarely go past two.”

“I’m so sorry, sir. Just one more for the conclusion, please.”

“Can’t you write it on the back? That’s allowed.”

Izuku handed his pages to Ectoplasm. “Um, well….”

Ectoplasm sighed. “I see. You’ve used all five pages front and back.” One of his clones walked over with another sheet. “Plus Ultra, kid!”

Izuku wanted to crawl into a hole to escape the stares of the other examinees. He quickly got to work on his conclusion, being extra careful as he’d rather jump out the window and run back to Tokyo before asking for another sheet. Once he finished, Ectoplasm picked up his test. “You know the way to the infirmary. Why don’t you go and see if Recovery Girl needs any help? You can meet up with your friends outside the auditorium before lunch.” His friends nodded, working feverishly on their own tests and Izuku stood up, bowed to Ectoplasm and Snipe, and walked out of the room as silently as he could, feeling more eyes than just Ectoplasm’s and Snipe’s on him.

All Might, Aizawa, Present Mic, and Midnight waited outside of the room. Midnight looked at her watch with a triumphant expression. “And time! Fifty-eight minutes! Baby Boy just bought Mama Midnight a new pair of shoes!”

Aizawa and Present Mic each handed the R-Rated hero a hundred-thousand-yen bill. At Izuku’s quizzical expression, All Might said, “They bet on whether or not you’d finish in under an hour.”

“Two minutes!” Present Mic cried. “You couldn’t have taken two more minutes, little listener?”

“Wait a minute,” Aizawa said, holding up a hand. “Did you have to ask for more paper for the essay?”

Izuku nodded, cautiously. “I’ve never been more embarrassed in my entire life, and I once got scolded by Endeavor in front of Might Tower.”

“Good job, kid,” he said, snatching his hundred-thousand-yen bill back out of an indignant Midnight’s hand. “Enjoy your shoe, Mama Midnight.”

Izuku helped Recovery Girl bundle up supplies to be taken to each of the testing sites for the practical part of the exam, each one of the packages handed to medical robots who took them to the simulated cities. He subtly tried to ask for more information, but Recovery Girl just gave him an I’m-too-old-to-fall-for-that look.

Once he finished helping the Youthful Heroine, he headed back toward the examination room, waiting outside for his friends. Tenya finished around the three-hour mark, admitting that he found the exam challenging but not overly difficult. Uraraka and Kirishima walked out shortly after that, both seeming to be confident. Ashido, however, came stumbling out of the exam room, her skin a much lighter shade of pink.

“Midori,” she said, “what was up with that crazy speed? Did you even bother reading the questions?”

Izuku blushed as they made their way to the cafeteria. “Yeah, I did.” He mouthed Midori as a question to Kirishima.

Kirishima just shrugged at Ashido’s antics. “Is that your quirk, some kind of super intelligence?” he asked.

“Well, not exactly. It’s called ‘Ultra-Augmentation.’ Basically, all my physical and mental stats are boosted. I’m pretty tough when I’m actively using it, but the more I use it, the higher my base stats get bumped too.”

“Oh, man, you’re so lucky,” Uraraka said, loading her tray up with an abundance of food. If UA chose to supply a free meal, she chose to make the most of it. “Lots of the big names have enhancement quirks like Yoroi Musha and Mirko.”

“I thought Mirko’s quirk was, um, Bunny, right?” Kirishima added.

“Rabbit! It’s a mutant quirk,” Ashido said with a hint of pride. While her quirk, Acid, might be an emitter type, she did inherit mutant features. “Her tail and ears are real.”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, “but it does enhance her speed and strength, especially in her legs.” Having been on the receiving end of one of those kicks before, Izuku knew her quirk all too well. “A lot of the animal mutation quirks are functionally enhancements, with a couple of extra surprises thrown in. Like Hawks. His quirk enhances his speed and vision, but also lets him fly and control his feathers. The idea that people you can only have one quirk is common, but most of them are what I think of as quirk frameworks. Related traits that fall under a category, like a fire user being able to generate and control flame while also being partially or completely resistant.”

The students grabbed a table, sitting down to eat. “Gawd, Midori, there goes a grading curve,” Ashido said, but with a smile. “Man, I hope we’re all here having lunch together once school starts. It would be great if all of us got in.”

Katsuki Bakugo got his lunch and looked for a seat away from all the losers when he saw Deku surrounded by a bunch of extras. He focused on his own exam, but everyone noticed Ectoplasm and Snipe looking at and talking to the damn nerd. Deku left the exam hall in under an hour, while the next person finished after the three-hour mark. As he walked by, he sneered at the green-haired boy. Someone could only finish a test that huge that quickly by not even bothering to read the questions. He thought UA would have tossed Deku out the doors by now.

After Bakugo stomped off, Tenya leaned over to Izuku and said quietly, “What is his problem?”

Izuku whispered back, “Do you want the answer alphabetically or in order of importance? Either way, it’ll take a while.”

“Dang,” Kirishima commented. “That dude seems all kinds of mad.”

Probably because he is, Izuku thought. “Katsuki Bakugo of Aldera Middle School,” he said quietly. “He and I went to grade school together. We’re very distantly related. He’s always like that.”

“Ka-,” Tenya started, only to stop with realization. The infamous distant relative, “Kacchan,” that Izuku told him about. Things fell into place for Tenya. “I see. Perhaps he’s still angry over the Sludge Villain incident.”

“Wait a second,” Kirishima added, “that was the Sludge Monster’s hostage, wasn’t he? Man, he’s got a strong quirk, all those explosions and stuff. Pretty manly of him.”

“He doesn’t seem too friendly,” Uraraka said, “but maybe he’s just really focused. Or he considers Midoriya his rival!”

“Oh, I doubt it,” Izuku said, smiling at her. “It’s nothing worth worrying about. I’m more focused on the practical exam. I know it’s going to involve robots, but they’ve supposedly changed things this year. I wonder if we’ll be rescuing or fighting them?”

After lunch, the Hero course hopefuls piled into the auditorium. While still mostly packed, less students took the practical exam, as the written exam covered the General Education, Management, and Support courses in addition to the Hero course. The written test made up the only mandatory requirement for General Education and Management, although they could take the practical for better chances of securing a spot, while the support courses added one of two sub-tracks: Support Gear and Support Analysis, each with their own specific practical exam. Those interested in Gear got four hours to design a piece of support equipment and, if they could, construct a working prototype from parts provided by the school. Those aiming for the Analysis track each watched a randomly selected hopeful for the Hero course practical. They observed their subject via the tracking cameras and then wrote as comprehensive an analysis as they could, due two days later. As for the Hero course practical, combat. Hisashi Midoriya took this test and passed some twenty-five years ago. Izuku hoped his father watched over him today with pride.

First come, first served for seating, so Izuku and Tenya sat together near their new acquaintances. He looked around the auditorium, trying to guess the quirks of the various people, but appearances often deceived. He did spot Bakugo sitting on the other side, his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face. Then Present Mic stepped up to the podium.

“Welcome to UA High! Can I get a ‘Yeah?’” Mic yelled. Izuku and Tenya, used to his antics, both yelled, prompting a few others to join them, but most of the room stayed silent. “All right, my examinee listeners. Welcome to the practical! We’re switching things up a bit this year, so if you’ve already found out about the exam, there are some changes from previous years! For example, rather than ten minutes, the exam has been extended to thirty.”

Izuku leaned closer. He wanted to hear this carefully. In the past the UA entrance exam counted the number of robots you could smash in ten minutes, each one with a different point value. While such a system effectively picked students with combat-oriented quirks, it held an innate bias for flashy daylight heroes and tended to devalue underground heroes and even rescue heroes. Pictures appeared on the screen behind Mic, showing five different types of robots. The first three outlined in red, with “one point,” “two points,” and “three points” written beside each one. The next glowed blue and had the word “Civilian” beside it. The final robot appeared in grey, with five question marks beside it.

“So, there are four types of robots, three villain types and one civilian type. The One Pointers are your basic mooks, human level strength and resistance to damage. They’ll register your punches, and if it is within a certain range, you’ll knock them out. The Two Pointers are tougher, so you’ll have to hit a bit harder, but the same principle applies. They’re the heavies of the exam. The final villain type is the Three Pointer. They can fire energy blasts and are smarter than the One and Two Pointers. They’ve got a range of strength levels too, so you’ll have to be careful taking them down. Each of you will be provided with capture tape. Wrapping this tape securely around one of the robots will deactivate it and give you the points for capturing it.”

“Can’t we just blow the damn villains up?” A surly voice called out, and Izuku rolled his eyes at the recognizable voice.

“Well, you can,” Present Mic said with a wink, “but that will count as a kill, and you’ll get a one-point penalty. That means if you destroy a One Pointer, you get nothing! Beating the villain robots earns you villain points. Now, for the Civilian type. Each zone features an evacuation site guarded by a pro hero. For every Civilian you bring to the site, you’ll get two rescue points! They’re programmed to act like regular people, so some of them might just be scared and need your encouragement or comfort. Some of them might be trapped by debris, and some of them might be injured. You can use your capture tape on them to simulate administering first aid, which will grant you two bonus points, but not all robots will be injured, so if you waste time administering first aid to a civilian who doesn’t need it, that will cost you precious time and you don’t get bonus points for healing a healthy civilian. By the way, if you purposefully kill a civilian, or attack any of the other examinees, that’s an automatic failure, so you better be good, or you’ll end up on the naughty list!”

Present Mic leaned forward, “Keep in mind, you all provided detailed information on your quirks. Remember that for the purposes of the test, you should treat these robots as if they’re living, breathing, human beings. Got it? Good. Any other questions?”

Tenya stood. “Yes sir. There is another type of robot listed on the screen. You haven’t given any details about it.”

Present Mic winked to Tenya, giving him and Izuku a thumbs up. “Good catch, little listener! The last type is worth zero points! You can’t capture it, but it will thrash around and try to destroy anything that gets close to it. Keep the civilians away from it at all costs! It’s more of an obstacle to avoid, and there’s only one per site. By the way, there are seven sites, and you’ll find which site you’re assigned to on your examinee card. That’s all the time I’ve got, little listeners, but I’ll leave you with one final thought. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ‘True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat.’ Boiling that down to UA’s motto, go beyond….”

“PLUS ULTRA!” The assembled examinees joined Mic in yelling.

Chapter Text

Quickly checking their examinee cards, Izuku and Tenya found themselves assigned to different sites, but that one piece of information Aizawa willingly shared with them in advance. “There’s no way we’re going to let you two Problem Children dominate a single site. We want everyone to have a chance.” He did find that he shared the same site as Uraraka, a stroke of luck allowing him more time with the pretty… bad Izuku! He needed to focus. Ashido and Tenya ended up going to the same site, while Kirishima would go to a third site by himself.

“So,” Izuku muttered to himself, “we have a total of thirty minutes to earn as many points as possible. We’ll have to be careful not to ‘kill’ any of the robots, so that penalizes people with extremely destructive quirks. A lot of the points can be earned via civilian points. I would imagine any of the villain robots would try to interfere with saving the civilians so that’s something to careful about. This will be as much of an endurance race as anything.” Functioning on autopilot, Izuku reached into his bag and pulled out a big plastic bottle of orange juice, which he handed to Tenya. “We’ll all have to pace ourselves.” Izuku shared extra bottles of sports drink with his new friends.

With a wave, Izuku boarded the bus to ground alpha, nervously sitting beside Uraraka. She started doing deep breathing exercises to calm herself down. He spotted the French speaking boy he met earlier and shared a nod with him. Across from him on the bus, he saw a tall boy wearing a blue face mask with powerful looking limbs, an obvious mutant quirk. He sat near the aisle, and a boy with purple hair and deep black bags under his eyes dropped into the seat opposite him.

Izuku looked at him. “Are you OK? Here,” he said, handing the boy a sports drink and protein bar. “This should help you perk up.”

The other boy stared at him. “Why help anyone else? We’re all competing for the same spots, so I’m not here to make friends.”

“I don’t know,” Izuku said with a shrug. “I guess I want to be a hero to help people. If I don’t help someone just so I can be a hero, seems like I’m defeating the whole purpose.”

The purple haired boy narrowed his eyes. “Sounds dumb to me,” he said with a smirk, but also accepting the small snack and drink.

After piling off the buses, Izuku looked around. Between forty and fifty examinees stood at his site, and he wished he counted as they stepped off the bus. Taking into considerations seven sites and thirty-six spots in the hero course, roughly nine out of every ten examinees wouldn’t pass. That left thirty-four spots after Tenya and himself, he planned to win his spot decisively, and on average only four others from this site would earn a spot. He hoped Uraraka claimed one of those coveted spots. Izuku started doing stretches, gradually calling up One For All through his workout to ensure his readiness.

“Oh, man, I’m really nervous,” Uraraka said.

“I’m sure you’ll do great! Just don’t drop any robots from too high up.” Izuku replied, holding up a fist with his thumb up. “Your quirk should be great for rescues, so keep any eye out for collapsed buildings. Let’s stick close to each other. I can’t imagine there’s a penalty for teamwork, pros team-up all the time.” Uraraka smiled and bumped his fist with her own.

“And… GOOOO!” Present Mic yelled in the distance. Izuku leaped straight up, getting a feel for the city zone and spotting a sectioned off area near the entrance with Thirteen standing in the middle of it. He also spotted a concentration of two and three pointers surrounding some civilians, further from the gate. Landing, he leaped again, covering several blocks and placing himself behind one of the two pointers. Izuku settled for a lower powered punch, but slightly stronger than he’d use against a person. The robot toppled, releasing synthesized groans from its speaker system. He quickly fired off blasts of air pressure, knocking the other villains down, allowing him to secure them with capture tape.

The three civilian robots huddled around him, one pretending to cry, one talking about what a cool hero he was, and the last muttering an ow. With a bright smile, Izuku said, “You’re all safe now! Please let me look at this one’s injuries.” Sure enough, the robot had a bright pink sticker on one arm and another on a leg that read “ouch.” Izuku tied capture tape around the limb over each sticker and hoisted the injured robot up in a wedding carry. “Let’s get you three to safety! It will all be OK!”

As he got close to the safety zone, he spotted Uraraka carrying a couple of injured robots, with another three following her, teaming up to protect their civilians from a gang of one-pointers. “Good job! You two have done the first rescues!” Thirteen complemented them. “Keep it up!” Nodding, the two young hero hopefuls gave each other a thumbs up and headed back into the city zone together.

Of all the luck, Tenya and Ashido went to the same zone as that dreadful Bakugo. Izuku didn’t explicitly say it, but Tenya strongly suspected the angry teen must be the “Kacchan” from Izuku’s youth. He seemed just as much of a miscreant as Tenya imagined, but now he superimposed that image over the face of the victim they rescued from the Sludge Villain. Talking with Ashido, they moved to the edge of the zone, trying to get as far from Bakugo as possible. He accidently bumped into a girl who said “Ribbit.”

“Watch out, Ida,” Ashido scolded.

Tenya bowed. “I’m so sorry and apologize for my error. I hope I didn’t interrupt your preparations, Miss.”

She cocked her head to one side. “I wasn’t really watching where I was going either, ribbit. Good luck out there you two.”

He smiled. “You as well. Just a warning, be ready to go when you hear the word. They don’t do countdowns.”

“Thanks, ribbit,” she said. “I’m Tsuyu Asui. Call me Tsuyu.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Tsuyu. I’m Tenya Ida.”

“And I’m Mina Ashido! Call me Mina. Girl Power!” Mina shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

“Can we keep an eye out for each other? Is that allowed?” The frog-featured girl asked, pressing a finger against her chin.

He nodded. “I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be. I move fast, so I can scout for opportunities for points while staying close. If I miss something, just shout if you need help. I’ll get to you as soon as possible.”

“The more the merrier, as long as we all split the points fairly,” Mina added.

“Thanks,” she said. “I’m a bit nervous, so knowing someone will be willing to help really puts my mind at ease, ribbit.”

“And… GOOOO!” they heard, and the three raced into the city. Mina slid along on some pink liquid she produced, as Tsuyu jumped from wall to wall quickly. While neither moved quite as fast as Tenya, his new friends surprised him with their high mobility.

“Hey,” Tsuyu called. “There’s some villains surrounding four civilians a block from here. Want to work on it together?”

“Sure,” he smiled. In the distance, he heard repeated explosions.

As soon as he heard the word “go,” Bakugo rushed forward, leaving the rest of these chumps in the dust. Rescuing civilians, what a waste of time. Bunch of pansies wanting to give weaklings a chance, well screw that. He ignored the one pointer robots, even the ones menacing the civilians. He’d claim victory on the broken husks of his prey, the two and three pointers. Spotting a group of them, he blasted to the edge of the group. He preferred to drop into the middle of his enemies, but they surrounded a bunch of the civilians, and killing those wastes of space would cause a failure.

Landing between two of the three pointers, he yelled his battle cry, “Die!” Unleashing explosions on either side of him, he blasted each one into small groups of two pointers, creating two mounds of groaning robots. The two three pointers he blasted stopped moving and making noise, so he ignored them, but he wrapped tape around a bunch of the two pointers he knocked down.

One of the civilian robots reached out an arm and said, “Please help us,” but Bakugo shrugged it off.

With a “Piss off!” he took off to look for the next batch of villain bots, ignoring the remaining one-point bots surrounding the civilians.

Barely ten minutes in and Izuku felt confident that he earned at least two hundred points unless he missed something. He spotted captured robots move to a new area and remove their bindings, and the civilian bots moved back into the city as well. This produced an infinite number of points to earn with a finite number of robots. While some robots ended up destroyed by the more aggressive examinees, he also noticed that all the robots would start running when they saw those examinees. Simulating a reputation for excessive violence like Endeavor, he thought, the villain bots know they’re likely to die and the citizens fear them. They’re making it harder for themselves. He also saw an injured civilian bot walk up to Uraraka and ask for help! She’d quickly patched the “ouch” sticker on its arm, and then it assured her it could make it to the evacuation zone if she’d give directions, promising that she’d get full credit. They really put a lot of thought into this. The more heroic we act, the better our reputation becomes, giving us chances to earn easier points.

As he leaped from area to area, he saw the purple-haired boy from the bus, sitting on top of a one-point robot in front of a simulated sporting goods store, shaking his hand. Changing direction with a blast of air pressure, he landed near him.

“Holy crap,” the boy muttered. “I’ve never seen someone actually do a super-hero landing in real life. Did you practice that or something?”

Izuku blushed, scratching the back of his head. “Well, maybe a little. Are you OK?”

“No,” the purple boy said. “This whole test sucks. I can barely take down a one pointer, and there are groups of bad guys near the civilians. Can’t use my quirk either, you know?”

“But why…?” Izuku asked, feeling everything go hazy. Shaking his head, the boy seemed to relax, and Izuku felt everything sharpen back up.

“My quirk is mind control. I need a verbal response to activate it, but it only works on people. You’re lucky I’m not a complete dick, or I could have made you hide out in a building until the whole test was over.”

“That’s such a cool quirk! Man, you’d make a great hero with a quirk like that. And I don’t believe anybody is a complete dick.”

“Oh please,” he shot back, “everyone says it’s a villain quirk. And it’s useless for this.”

“I’m Izuku Midoriya. Do you have five hundred yen?”

“What?” the boy asked.

“Come on, just five hundred yen.” Izuku took out a two-thousand-yen bill and pointed toward the store, an advertisement offering baseball bats for twenty-five hundred yen. The boy nodded and tossed Izuku a coin, and Izuku went into the store and came back out with a metal baseball bat. “Here….”

“Hitoshi Shinso.”

“Well, Shinso, that should let you take on the two and three pointers,” Izuku proclaimed. “Also… try using your quirk. The robots are chatty, and they’ve been programmed to react to our quirks. Remember the questionnaire? Present Mic said to treat them like people. Just be careful not to let robots see you use it on another robot, or they’ll figure it out and stop answering you. The robots seem to be giving us a reputation based on how they see us acting.”

“You really think…?” Midoriya pointed to one of the wandering two pointers. Taking a deep breath, Shinso yelled, “Hey robot! Your mother was a Commadore 64!”

The robot turned, “Don’t talk about my mama, human!” Then it stopped. “Scenario one-five-seven-two. Awaiting orders from examinee until injured.”

“Holy crap, it worked,” Shinso muttered. “Robot, come here!” Quickly tying capture tape on the robot, he turned to thank Midoriya.

The green-haired boy was already gone.

As the exam continued, the civilian robots began crowding around the students with the most points asking for autographs, while the one pointer villains would actively work to avoid them. The downsides of fame making themselves known. Izuku and Uraraka took to the rooftops to avoid these crowds, working together on several incidents while looking for simulated disasters or villain attacks as the only reliable way to earn points.

Izuku guessed his total at approximately four hundred points, with Uraraka’s probably in a close second. None of the other students got asked for autographs as regularly and could still work effectively on ground level, so Izuku bet that the pair led their site in points. Almost ten minutes left, and Uraraka looked a bit exhausted. He handed the pretty girl, bad Izuku, a sports drink, while scanning the area. “Are you sure you’re alright? Let’s stick together for the last ten minutes, split the points.”

She shook her head. “I feel better now. I don’t want to hold you back!”

“You’re not! I can’t even walk down the street without civilians asking for my autograph. I think we hit some criteria to simulate being in the top ten on the billboard charts.”

She laughed. “I never thought I’d hit the top ten. They really put a lot of thought into this.” She jumped up, looking out. “Oh, looks like a bank robbery to the east!” Sure enough, tons of one and two pointers were rushing a bank, led by several three pointers.

“Bus crash into a hospital to the west,” Izuku offered. “Should be fairly even in points.”

She smiled. “Thanks for everything, Midoriya. You take the robbery and I’ll take the bus?”

“Got it,” he said with a nod. “Let’s go beyond.”

“Plus Ultra!” they yelled, leaping off the roof.

At least the civilian bots stayed the hell out of his way now, as he blasted into a bank robbery. The civilians all laid on the ground, so he let loose two concussion blasts. In the enclosed space of the bank, the noise echoed horrendously. All the robots present clutched the sides of their head and fell to the ground, but they all moaned and muttered, so he tied them up. Holy crap, another a big score. Nine of the three pointers and fifteen of the two pointers plus a bunch of the one pointers, and he hadn’t killed any of them for once. This alone would probably give him enough to be sitting at five hundred points easily. He sent a blast into the air. “Go on, get the Hell out of here,” Bakugo yelled at the citizens, “go to the evacuation zone or something, just stay out of my way.” While he could care less about rescuing anyone, screw leaving a big gift wrapped up for someone with a damn bow.

Leaving the building, he rushed to the next area, looking for more robots to beat.

Tsuyu landed beside Mina as Ida ran up. “Looks like Explosion Boy’s done it again, ribbit.”

“Indeed,” Ida noted, as civilian bots started staggering out of the bank, applying “ouch” stickers to their heads. “Why would he ignore so many points?”

The three of them rushed forward, offering comfort to the robots and securing capture tape around the simulated injuries. “Maybe Blasty’s not a people person or just likes fighting,” Mina said. A few other students joined them in helping the injured robots and then escorted them to the evacuation zone where Cementoss waited.

Izuku landed on the second-floor balcony of the bank, sneaking in through an open window. Holy whoa, he thought. A ton of civilian bots lying on the ground on the first floor as hostages, with a lot of villain robots around. As the exam went on, one pointer robots became rarer, while two and three pointers became more common. He moved carefully and quietly, because any sort of alarm could cause the villains to harm the civilians. He noticed a button for a silent alarm and pressed it. He doubted any help would arrive, but in a real situation calling for backup never hurt.

He stuck to the rafters, taking pot shots at villains with air blasts from finger flicks, making sure to take them down when they moved out of sight of the other robots. Once he’d thinned their numbers, he took a deep breath to center himself. He dropped down beside a three pointer, knocking it out with a chop to the back of the neck. Missouri Smash, Izuku thought repeatedly, jumping from robot to robot faster than the eye could follow. Once only a small cluster of villain robots remained, he yelled “Illinois Smash!” leaping at their legs with his arms spread wide, knocking them to the floor. Keeping his speed up, he tied up the villains, checking over the hostages for injuries. “It’s fine now,” Izuku assured them in his best All Might voice, “because I am here!”

Landing near the accident scene, Uraraka spotted a telephone inside the building hit by the bus. It only had one button with a sticker that said UA Emergency Services. Figuring it couldn’t hurt, she grabbed the phone and pressed the button. A synthesized voice said, “Emergency Services.”

“This is examinee one seven zero one. I’m calling to report a bus accident at the corner of Fifth Street and Avenue Q. I’m beginning rescue operations.”

“Understood. Simulated EMS in route.”

She hung up the phone, checking for robots with the most “ouch” stickers, quickly applying capture tape to as many as she could. One robot’s entire chest featured one big sticker and it seemed coated in a chemical that dissolved the capture tape. She tried anyway, until one of the other robots said “I’m a simulated doctor. There’s nothing you can do for her. Follow triage.”

With a bit of regret, she moved on. She focused on those who her care could help. She spoke reassuring words to all the robots; promising help arriving soon. After a few minutes, some of the robots started applying EMS stickers over their “ouch” stickers and leaving the area. She’d gotten so wrapped up in playing her part, she forgot to even think about how this might be graded. Eventually all the robots reported successful rescue and she wandered outside. She’d probably earned four hundred points by now!

And then the building beside her collapsed.

Kirishima did well, teaming up with a guy who could create a bird out of darkness. They’d rescued a lot of civilians and captured villains, so he felt rather good, but then the building beside them collapsed. “Tokoyami!” he yelled, activating Hardening and covering the body of the bird-headed boy.

“Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami yelled at the same time, and Kirishima saw darkness surround him as an entire build landed on them.

“Um, it’s not very heavy,” the shadowy bird said. They seemed to be in an air pocket.

Kirishima pressed against the rock above their heads, and it moved easily with a surprising amount of give. “What the? This is made from Nerf!”

Tokoyami nodded. “They wouldn’t want to kill the examinees. They must have designated buildings that it is safe to bring down on top of us. Between your hardening and Dark Shadow’s strength, we would have survived even if it had been real. Let’s see what bounty of darkness awaits us!”

Dark Shadow and Kirishima heaved the roof off their air pocket, only to see a massive, black-painted robot heading towards them. “That’s the Zero Pointer?” Kirishima asked. “Come on, we’ve got to get civilians out of the way.”

As the building near them collapsed, Ida grabbed Tsuyu and Mina, pulling them away from the falling debris with his Reciproburst. I must remember to apologize later in case I touched them anywhere inappropriate, he thought. Looming above the shattered building stood a robot at least ten stories tall.

“That’s huge,” Mina yelled. She saw where Ida fell to the ground, panting from the exertion. “Hey, are you OK?”

Ida drained the last of his orange juice. “I’ll be fine. We must get the civilians out of here. Present Mic said the Zero Pointer would go after them, and their safety must be our top priority. You two evacuate them and I will distract that monstrosity.”

“Be careful,” Tsuyu said, “ribbit.” The girls ran off, waving to civilians and ushering them out of the area.

Tenya grabbed a decently sized rock and ran for the towering robot, kicking the rock like a soccer ball. It bounced off the robot’s head with a resounding, but ineffectual, thud. The robot turned to Tenya, all eight of its eyes turning red as it locked on to its target. “Monster!” Tenya yelled. “I shall be your opponent!” As he took off, the robot lumbered after him, following Tenya Ida away from the evacuation zone.

Katsuki Bakugo saw this and shrugged. Plenty of the villain robots stopped to cheer on the Zero Pointer. Pulling out the capture tape and started roping them up. Let the idiots waste their time on the civilians or a huge robot worth no points. He’d blow away the curve while it distracted the extras!

Ochaco Uraraka noted that she didn’t die when the building hit her, and she counted that as a good thing. The chunks of debris that pelted her didn’t hurt, another good thing, but it did knock her down. A huge chunk of the building settled on her legs, but it felt soft and squishy, like foam. Underneath it though, something metal attached itself to her legs. A faint robotic voice said, “Examinee One Seven Zero One, you are trapped under debris.” She cursed, trying to shift around so she could get five points of contact with the foam rock, but with her legs pinned, she couldn’t reach it.

Having finished up the bank job, Izuku stepped outside, giving a friendly wave to the civilian robots as they made their way out of the bank toward the evacuation zone. None of them suffered more than minor injuries, so he wouldn’t get any bonus points, but there with almost thirty of them, it still meant a sizeable boost, especially when added to the defeated villains in the bank. “I’ll escort you all to the evacuation area,” he said with a smile, which fell when he heard a huge crash to the west. That’s where Uraraka is! He looked that way to see a ten-story tall robot smash the top of a building.

“Priority message,” the civilian robots said in unison, “credit given to examinee One Seven One Five for successful rescue of civilian.”

“Get to safety!” he yelled with relief to the robots, leaping toward the zero pointer. Uraraka! He landed a block from the Zero Pointer, looking around. He saw debris from the building and the Zero Pointer steadily approaching. “URARAKA!” he yelled.

“Here!” He could see her hand waving from the pile of rubble. “I’m stuck.”

Izuku rushed over. “Holy whoa! Are you alright?”

“I’m OK, the rubble is foam, but my leg is caught by something under it to simulate injury.” They only had a few dozen meters separated them and the gigantic robot now.

“Get ready to run,” Izuku said, gripping the foam rock and pulling up One For All. He tossed the boulder at the Zero Pointer, but it smashed it aside with a swing of its huge arm.

“It’s not letting me go!” Uraraka cried.

Maybe ten meters before the Zero Pointer would crush them both, since Izuku refused to abandon her. A robotic voice echoed nearby “Examinee One Seven Zero One judged to be unconscious from shock and concussion. Leg broken.”

Izuku looked up at the approaching monster, knowing that thing could really crush her. Summoning up the full power of One For All, he shot straight into the air like a rocket, drawing back his right fist. With a yell of “FLORIDA SMASH!” he punched the Zero Pointer with a devastating upper cut, watching as the head of the robot shattered into fragments, explosions travelling through its body from massive system failures. Damn, I may have broken a bone or three, he thought through the pain. Uraraka grabbed him, and he realized he’d leaped so hard, air pressure pulled her into the air in his wake.

They floated, but her eyes slipped closed, and gravity reclaimed them. With his one intact arm, he pulled her close. Faintly, he heard a ghostly voice whisper, “I am here, kiddo.” Their fall stopped and they shot across the exam zone until they hovered a meter above the ground at the evacuation site, Thirteen staring up at Izuku in shock. Slowly, like a feather, they settled to the earth.

He vaguely heard Present Mic yell, “And time’s up!” in the distance. Cradling Uraraka’s head against his chest, Izuku let out a relieved breath, finally letting his eyes close.

Chapter Text

Izuku felt fingers brushing through his hair and opened his eyes to see the smiling face of Nana Shimura looking down at him. “Great job, kiddo! Toshi can sure pick ‘em.” She put her hand on his chest when he tried to get up. “No, kid, just relax for a bit. You got hairline cracks in three bones, so waking up is a bad idea right now. Give Chiyo a chance to do her thing.”

Izuku smiled. He seemed a little bit more solid than the last time he experienced this dream. Probably a good idea. It’s been a long day.

“Yeah, but you were awesome!” Nana enthused. “You’ve even got the fuddy-duddies reconsidering, whatever that means.” She raised her voice to a yell in the direction of the castle, “Not like we’ve got a choice anymore!” A faint glow surrounded Izuku for a moment. “There she goes, make sure you thank her. You should be all fixed up, kid, but take it easy on the bone breaking. You’ll get there.”

Remarkably few injuries this year, Recovery Girl thought with satisfaction. In fact, only two real injuries to speak of, despite the longer practical. Both suffered from simple quirk exhaustion, but one of them, well, she almost expected it.

The robots lifted the two students onto stretchers. Nothing her quirk could do for exhaustion, but as for the boy’s broken bones… she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. She knew the power coursing through his veins since she cared for both Toshinori and Nana. He could have easily shattered the bones in his legs and arm, so she’d take three small stress fractures over the worst-case scenario any day. “Honestly. Such a problem child,” she muttered to herself. She texted All Might so he could let Tenya Ida know his friend ended the exam in the Infirmary.

Izuku woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling, sitting up in panic until he realized he laid in the UA infirmary. In addition to Recovery Girl, All Might, and Aizawa stood nearby. “Thanks, Recovery Girl. Did anyone get the license plate of that semi that ran over me?” Izuku muttered. Recovery Girl whacked his head gently with her cane, not amused. “Ow! I’m wounded here!”

“Oh, you’re fine if you can make All Might level dad jokes,” she shot back. “You’re the last patient still here. And before you ask, that pretty young thing you came in with is fine.” She looked over at All Might. “Maybe Mister Moneybags could take you and the Ida boy out for a good meal.”

“Of course,” the number one hero said. “I have to say, I watched the exam and was impressed with all of your performances. You gave your best out there.”

“Does that mean we passed?” Izuku asked hopefully.

Aizawa sighed. “There’s a lengthy review process. You should get your results in a week and there’s an independent board that makes final determination, so I can’t answer your question.” He looked around the room. “Even if you don’t make the cut-off for the practical, the written exam can qualify you for general education with your points from the practical giving you bonus points for one of those spots. You’ll have a whole week to worry about it after we get some food in you.”

Izuku felt a bit sad that the others left earlier to head back home without him getting a chance to say goodbye, but All Might made up for it by taking Tenya and Izuku to a Chinese restaurant with an all-you-can-eat buffet. The owners tried to convince him that he didn’t need to pay, but he assured them he didn’t mind and insisted on paying extra. After telling them that the young people with him took the UA Entrance Exam earlier today, the couple gulped, finally agreeing to let him pay. Izuku could smash a buffet by himself, and Tenya ran himself into to a calorie deficit for the past several days. The staff watched in amazement as plate after plate loaded with food disappeared.

They spent hours in the restaurant eating and talking. Sadly, Tenya did not get anyone’s contact information since he ran to the infirmary when he heard of Izuku’s injury. Uraraka woke and, although she wanted to wait for Izuku to recover, left for the four hour train ride back home to the Mie prefecture. Unfortunately, Recovery Girl forgot that she left her contact information for Izuku. Not knowing this, he hoped that they would both get in so he could talk to her again.

“So, All Might, do you know how the entrance exam is scored?” Izuku asked.

“I do, but I’m forbidden by contract to divulge it. You have to wait like everyone else.”

“No fair,” Izuku whined.

All Might laughed. “Sometimes, as a pro hero, you won’t know the outcome of a battle until long after it is over.”

Aizawa nodded. “You put in a great effort. No matter what, you should be proud.”

Three days later, Shota Aizawa sat in the UA teacher’s lounge nursing a large cup of coffee. It had marks on the side, and the level currently said, “Now you may speak.”

Aizawa knew how the school scored the entrance exam as well, even better than All Might did, as he took part in the committee that revised it. On the written part of the exam, students could earn a maximum of two hundred and fifty points, two hundred from the multiple-choice questions worth a point each and fifty from the essay, although an exceptional essay could also make up for missed questions. The practical made up an additional seven hundred fifty points, divided equally among three categories: Villain Points, Civilian Points, and Hero Points. Present Mic explained the Villain and Civilian points before the practical, but the school chose not to mention that each category maxed out with a hard cap of two hundred fifty points each. The final category remained secret, neither defined nor explained to the students. Hero points could be earned in several ways. Helping other students during the exam, particularly without thinking you could gain, supplied one way. Treating the civilian robots well would earn you popularity. Helping civilians and taking down villains without being noticed, following the underground hero route, allowed for opportunities, although at odds with popularity, so consistency played a factor. Teaming up would earn you bonus points for every civilian rescued or villain defeated by your teammates.

This meant a range of zero to one thousand points. Nezu projected that five hundred points would be the average with a standard distribution, but strongly biased against the extremes. They didn’t expect any examinees to score totals below three hundred points and certainly none to score above eight hundred. Most UA hopefuls did well on the written part, and one hundred-fifty points almost served as a soft cutoff there. With the robots recycling every so often, they expected most students would end up excelling in one area and earning average scores in the others.

Of course, one could expect students trying for UA to go beyond. No real surprise when Izuku and Tenya took the top spots for themselves. Tenya stood out as a legacy candidate, coming from a long line of Idas who attended UA, while All Might acted as Izuku’s father in all but name, exactly the sort of students the recommendation spots existed to cater to. That they wanted to prove their place without getting in on someone else’s merits testified to their spirits. What did surprise him? How many of the top ten immediately befriended the boys on the day of the exam. Ochaco Uraraka worked closely with Izuku during the practical, earning the third-place spot and maxing out Hero Points and Civilian points in her score, the mark of an excellent future rescue hero. Tsuyu Asui and Mina Ashido teamed up with Tenya Ida, also claiming places in the top ten. The other examinee to spend time with Izuka and Tenya before and after the written portion went to another site, but even then, Eijiro Kirishima finished in an impressive tie for fourth place, and the boy he teamed up with finished tenth.

Below this point, the point totals appeared much closer in general, but rounding out the last available seat, the only student other than Izuku and Uraraka to hit the maximum in two categories, Katsuki Bakugo. While he scored perfectly on the written portion of the exam and got the maximum number of villain points, his scores in the civilian and hero categories spoke to significant areas for improvement. The much more well-rounded Hitoshi Shinso followed closely on his heels, only one point behind Bakugo.

After reviewing the tapes, Aizawa knew that if Shinso encountered Izuku even a minute or two earlier in the exam, he would join the hero course instead of Bakugo. He tried not to let his bias influence him, but he could appreciate the struggle Shinso faced with a non-physical quirk. The changes to the entrance exam hoped to address exactly this type of student. As he did every year, Aizawa prepared a list of which of the thirty-six passing students he wanted in his class. “Want” might be the wrong term, however. “Need” summed up the situation more aptly. Students with the more powerful or dangerous quirks usually started in Class 1-A since Erasure could stop them in an emergency. Sekijiro Kan, the other teacher taking on first years next month, always proudly proclaimed that he could take those with less powerful quirks and make them into great heroes, but honestly, his quirk would do little to stop someone like Izuku. The two played up their supposed rivalry for the benefit of the students, sparking competition between the classes to encourage hard work. Scanning the list, he marked down the first, second, and thirty-sixth place students on his list. Call it selfish, but he wanted Izuku and Tenya in his class, and having seen this Bakugo’s performance, he’d need to keep an eye on that boy. The third-place student made his list as well, as Izuku believed her quirk more powerful than it appeared. He’d have to have Nemuri help him to clarify that. Izuku did seem a bit smitten with Uraraka and could use some socialization. Kirishima’s friendship with Izuku helped him decide which of the examinees with a hardening quirk to take. Best to split up such similar quirks to help them avoid a direct rivalry.

All Might strutted into the room wearing his costume. “Ah, Aizawa! Is that the list? May I ask Izuku’s final placement?”

“You’ve got a copy on your desk,” Aizawa said, waving his hand in that direction. “Not like you couldn’t guess. Izuku maxed out the test in every category. Tenya finished second, but even he finished ninety-five points behind your successor. The young lady in third place almost got to nine-hundred points, too, so I think we’re looking at the future big three. After that the scores are much closer and lower.”

“I knew he could do it! And young Tenya as well, of course,” All Might said, picking up the list and scanning through it. “Interesting. Many of the highest scorers seemed particularly well-rounded. I would not have expected that.”

Aizawa nodded. “I counted on it. That’s the whole point of having a cap in each category. If the only thing you’re good at is fighting, then you’re going to be useless in a rescue situation and vice versa. The further down the list you go, the more the numbers seem skewed toward specialization. For example, this Katsuki Bakugo in thirty-sixth place. Under the old system, he’d have been near or at the top. The few civilian and hero points seem mostly accidents, blowing up robots threatening civilians or other examinees, but he didn’t do it to save anyone, he just wanted points for the kill. It’s almost like he was actively trying to avoid points in those categories. If there weren’t a hard cap on each category, he’d have ranked much higher, with almost five-hundred villain points, and many of those came with the ‘kill’ penalty. He destroyed more of the villain robots than the rest of the examinees combined across all the sites. The only person who defeated more villains was Izuku, but Izuku didn’t ‘kill’ anyone except the zero pointer, and even if we applied a penalty to it, he had more than enough of a surplus to cover it.”

“This young Shinso boy came so close. Oh! The boy Izuku gave a bat to, right?”

Aizawa grinned. “That got more than a few chuckles, didn’t it? Marching into a fake store and leaving money for a bat.” Aizawa pulled that same bat from under his desk, now bent and scuffed, also bearing signatures from many of UA’s teachers. “Want to sign it?”

“I thought it was quite heroic,” All Might laughed, scribbling his autograph onto the dented bat with a sharpie. “Even in the midst of a villain siege on a city, they didn’t sink to petty shoplifting.”

“I figure I’ll give it to the kid as a bit of encouragement. He’s got a powerful brainwashing quirk but didn’t think it would work on robots. Probably something to emphasize more for the next entrance exam because he held himself back the first ten minutes. Speaking of Shinso,” Aizawa said, leaning forward, “I think Izuku’s reached the point where he’ll benefit more from your training than mine. He’s got a good base for fighting without a quirk, but let’s be completely honest, he’s a powerhouse. Even when he’s not using his quirk, he’s stronger, faster, and smarter than any baseline human out there. He’s a match for me in free running, but the fact that he can jump places I’d have to climb already puts him on my level and with those big jumps, he surpasses me. I’ll have to teach judo moves early on, because turning his strength against him is going to be the only way most of his class can hope to compete with him in quirkless sparring. Shinso would benefit from some physical training, and he came so close, he might be able to move up because of the sports festival.”

“No one knows more than I do how rewarding having a good successor is. I was lucky enough to find the next All Might. With a quirk like that, perhaps this Shinso boy can be the next Eraserhead. Although I think we’ll both be even prouder when they inevitably forge their own paths.”

Izuku and Tenya played Super Smash Brothers 100 at Izuku’s house. All Might insisted they take the week after the exam as a mini vacation to just enjoy their last few days of childhood. They still met up for their morning run every day, but after than they spent time at Izuku’s house holding video game tournaments, watching movies, and generally bored.

His mother cooked dinner, so Izuku hit pause when the doorbell rang. Both boys walked downstairs to answer, only to find All Might at the doorstep. “I am here! With your exam results!” The hero handed the boys envelopes with their names written in a fancy font on the front. “Would you like me to tell you, or do you want the real experience?”

Izuku invited All Might in, and they sat down in the living room, joined by Izuku’s mom. Izuku looked at the envelope. “You go first, Tenya, I don’t think I’m mentally ready.”

“If you’re not, I’m not,” Tenya said, hand chopping through the air. “This is your house, I insist! Besides, it is only fair for me to open my envelope with my parents and brother.”

“OK,” Izuku gulped. “Here goes.” He tore open the envelope and a small holo-disk clattered onto the coffee table, landing upside down. All Might’s image appeared, comically buried partially in the floor before Izuku quickly righted it.

“I am here as a projection!” The holographic All Might said. “Izuku Midoriya, the entrance exam was measured in four categories, each with a maximum of two hundred fifty points for a total of one thousand possible. These categories are, the written portion, villain points, civilian points, and a secret category: hero points. This last category was kept secret, but you could earn these points by showing your heroic spirit. Helping your fellow examinees, showing kindness to civilians, mercy to villains, cooperating with others, leading by example, and even avoiding the spotlight were all ways you could earn these points. We did not expect any applicants to score more than eight hundred points, and certainly were surprised when three of you did. Even more surprising, young Izuku Midoriya, was that one of the examinees managed to get a perfect score.” The hologram changed to reveal the chart showing the top ten examinees and their scores. “Congratulations, young Izuku, and welcome to your hero academia!”

Inko Midoriya hugged her son, tears pouring from her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, Izuku!” She grabbed Tenya and pulled him into the hug. “And you too, Tenya! You both did so well. My little heroes!” They both chuckled, having quite a few centimeters on the petite woman.

Tenya adjusted his glasses, noting his name in second place. “Ah, spoilers.” He patted Izuku on the back. “Well done, my friend! This will give me great insight into the areas where I need to improve and serve as inspiration to catch up with you.”

Izuku felt a bit shocked that he’d received a perfect score but wished his friend could have tied with him. “Don’t sell yourself short, Tenya. You did a great job!”

“Indeed,” All Might said. “The second and third years took a mock version of the test to help us calibrate it and make improvements and the average score for them was only eight hundred. The fact that you exceeded that is fantastic. The average for the incoming examinees was slightly below five hundred, so you have truly gone beyond all expectations. You will both begin next month in Class 1-A, and I will be your heroics teacher, although keep that a surprise! I recorded yours, but Nezu managed the rest.”

“Holy whoa, 1-A! That’s Aizawa’s class.”

“I suppose I will have to get used to calling Uncle Shota by ‘Mr. Aizawa,’” Tenya said.

Chapter Text

Dressed in an uncomfortable suit and carrying an oversized bag, Shota Aizawa stood in front of the door of a small house in the quiet town of Nabu in the Saitama Prefecture. A nice house, not fancy by any means, but firmly lower middle class. Better than the one he grew up in, but not by much. While he hadn’t completely gotten rid of his stubble, he trimmed it into a passable goatee, and tied his long hair into ponytail. Having rung the bell, he waited patiently, holding a letter. A petite woman with long purple hair opened the door, looking at him warily. “May I help you?” His appearance said official, and official meant trouble in a neighborhood like this.

Aizawa bowed. “I’m Shota Aizawa from UA. I came by hoping to speak with Hitoshi Shinso and his parents.”

She returned the bow. “I’m Ami Shinso, his mother. Hitoshi’s father is at work, but I can call him if you need to speak to both of us.” She lowered her voice, “Hitoshi’s not in trouble, is he? I swear, he’s a good boy.”

“Pleased to meet you. Your son isn’t in any trouble, and it isn’t necessary to interrupt his father’s work, but I would like to speak to you and your son.” Aizawa held out one of his business cards, which she accepted.

“Please, come in.” She led him into the living room, knocking on a closed door in the hallway. “Hitoshi, we have a guest from UA.” He heard a crash from in the room and faint muttering that reminded him of Izuku. He suppressed a smile. “I’ll just get some tea while he’s making himself presentable.”

Aizawa sat on the couch with his bag beside him in the living room while Hitoshi’s mother busied herself in the kitchen. He noted with approval that his black suit now sported strands of cat hair on it, and as soon as the door to Hitoshi’s bedroom opened, three cats escaped, running to the couch to see their new visitor. One rubbed against his legs, another hopped on the cushion next to him and sat staring, while the third shamelessly jumped into his lap. As Aizawa scratched the head of the one in his lap, the one on the cushion walked over to him for similar treatment.

“Larry! Moe! Curly!” Hitoshi said, rushing into the room. The bags under his eyes and mess of purple hair spoke of a mid-day nap interrupted. “I’m so sorry! They escaped when I opened the door.”

“I like cats… and Stooges, for that matter. They’re perfectly fine.” Both the cats on the couch now shared his lap, purring loudly as he scratched under their chins. The cat on the floor settled onto his feet.

Ami Shinso re-entered the room with tea, but with three cats vying for his attention and only two hands, Aizawa thanked her but declined. “I came today to talk to the two of you about the entrance examination for UA.”

Hitoshi hung his head. “I didn’t make it into the hero course, did I? I wasted too much time at the beginning of the practical.”

His mother put a hand on his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be so negative. He wouldn’t come all this way just to reject you!”

“I’m sorry to say that your son has good instincts. You came remarkably close, but several students scored higher than expected. However, we can offer you the top spot in the general education department.”

“All I’ve ever wanted was to go to UA and become a hero,” Hitoshi said. “If that’s the closest I can get, I’ll take it. I’m just surprised they would send a teacher all this way to deliver a rejection letter.”

Aizawa leaned forward. “Well, that part was just to cover my travel expenses. I’m really here to make you an offer.”

Ami Shinso’s eyes narrowed with distrust. She wouldn’t allow her son to get hurt again with false hope. “What kind of offer?”

“I’ll be honest. Your son has a powerful quirk, and if I’m guessing right, people haven’t always been kind about it. I bet the word villain featured prominently in what others have said about and to you, because they said it to me. My own quirk is called ‘Erasure.’ It allows me to erase the quirks of people I’m looking at until I blink. Not exactly useful against robots either and it certainly didn’t make me popular in school.”

“You’re the underground hero Eraserhead!” Hitoshi said. “I’ve been following your career for years, what little I could find. You’re amazing!”

“I don’t know about amazing, but that’s me. I’m also the teacher for Class 3-A of the Hero course. Since my current students graduate soon, I’ll be taking over Class 1-A next month. Meaning that, other than a few hours a day for career counselling in the morning, my schedule is free from noon to four PM every day until school starts.” He reached into his bag and pulled out an autographed bat and an ID card for UA. “You didn’t just make an impression in robots with that bat. It’s been personally signed by every pro hero who teaches at UA as a bit of encouragement. You’ve got potential, Hitoshi Shinso. If you want a month of physical training between now and the beginning of school, I can provide it. We’ll get you the basics of parkour and hand to hand so you can work on your own once school starts, with one-hour sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays after your regular classes to answer any questions you have and to keep track of your progress. If you’re willing to stay late every day and come in on Saturdays, you’ll be able to watch my students’ heroics classes. Not on site, of course, but you can come to the teacher’s lounge and watch on the monitors.”

“You’d do that for me?” Hitoshi’s eyes held hope, something Ami Shinso had only seen a few times in her son’s eyes since the day in elementary school he came home with a black eye and asked her quietly, “Why does everyone call me a villain, mom? I just want to help people.” She’d cried from heartache that night after poor little Hitoshi went to bed, and she’d cry tonight out of happiness and gratitude.

“No, you’ll do it for yourself. I don’t waste my time on lost causes, but I don’t think I’m wasting my time here. You will have to put in a lot of effort. You’ve got a little over two months until the sports festival. I’ll share a little secret with you. I didn’t get into the hero course when I took the entrance exam. I won the sports festival and got transferred that way. You were close, only one point away, but it will only get harder from here. I can show you the path, but you’re going to have to walk it.” Aizawa carefully set the cats down and stood up. “If an opening happens in the hero course before the sports festival, we may even be able to move you earlier. This way, you won’t be as far behind when you get your chance, and if you work hard, you will get your chance. I think you have the potential to be a hero, Hitoshi Shinso. Don’t waste it.” He leaned forward, and whispered, “You do what I did and prove that everyone who ever spat the word villain at you is wrong.”

He bowed to the speechless mother and son, picked up his bag, and walked to the door. “Come find me at UA at noon, tomorrow if you want to prove it. I’ll be somewhere on campus, so the quicker you find me, the more training you get.”

“Katsuki! Your letter’s here, brat! Come open it!” Mitsuki yelled up the stairs. Katsuki stomped down and snatched the letter out of her hands, turning to walk back upstairs. “Hey! I want to see.”

“Shut up you, old hag! It’s none of your damn business.” He slammed the door to his room. Ha! The letter held a bit of weight to it. He’d researched online, and while most people kept quiet about the entrance exam, a few details leaked over the years. The old method sounded better compared to the hippy tree hugging changes they’d sprung on this year’s examinees, but at least you still got points for slagging robots, and nobody did better than him! Losers, like that damn Deku, got rejection slips. The forty who got in received holodisks.

Tearing the letter open, he ignored the letter and picked up the small high-tech device, setting it on his desk and touching the small control on the side. A hologram opened to some furry thing in a suit.

“Greetings, Katsuki Bakugo. What am I? A dog, a mouse, or a bear? Whatever I may be, I am Nezu: the Mysterious Mammal hero, but more importantly, I am the Principal of UA High School. I am delighted to inform you that you have secured a place in UA’s hero course! Congratulations and welcome to your hero academia!”

Finally! Katsuki thought. My road to being the number one hero starts right here. Of course, UA would only take the best, and that’s me. I’m going to rule the entire school just like Aldera.

“We placed you in Class 1-A and look forward to welcoming you once the new school year begins. As you know, we enhanced the entrance examination this year, and I'm certain you found it quite a bit different from any expectations formed based on research you could find online about previous entrance examinations. We scored your performance on four categories: the written test, villain points, civilian rescue points, and, a secret category, hero points! What we neglected to mention, sheerly by accident I assure you, each category allowed only a set limit of two hundred fifty points, for a total of one thousand possible points.”

Katsuki’s eye twitched. “What the Hell?”

“Well rounded heroes are important, as you may have to perform many roles during your career. This new system gives us a chance to better understand your strengths and weaknesses and show you your opportunities to improve.”

“I don’t need any damn improvement and I sure as Hell don’t have weaknesses, you piece of crap Care Bear knock-off!” he yelled at the hologram.

“You performed excellently in the written test and in points for defeating villains, and in fact you were one of only three students to receive a perfect score in more than one category, so you should be proud of this fact.”

Okay, this is more like it, Katsuki thought, more about how awesome I am.

“However, your scores in both civilian rescue and hero points ranked the lowest of any student accepted into the hero course.” The hologram shifted to show a breakdown of his scores and his ranking. Thirty-sixth? He knew UA gave four spots to “recommendation” students each year, taken by the kids of pro heroes or trust fund babies, so that means… he came in last. “You will need to work hard to improve in these areas. Perhaps a comparison with the top ten students will demonstrate how being more well rounded will make you a better hero….”

As the hologram started to shift to a new table, he grabbed the holodisk and released an explosion, turning it into scrap.

“No explosions in the house, brat!” the old hag yelled. “How’d you do?”

“Shut the Hell up!” he yelled, marching down the stairs and opening the front door. “I got in, happy?” He slammed the door and made his way to the woods, anger stewing and the sweat glands on his hands working overtime. Bakugo Pond, ha! Bakugo Lake coming up! He blasted trees into splinters and boulders to rubble, yelling “Die, die, die, die, DIE!” until exhaustion forced him to fall.

He sat in the middle of a wasteland of his own creation, everything remotely close shattered and broken, and tucked his legs close to his chest, resting his head on his knees. If he felt a little calmer, a little more self-aware, he might have noticed the tears of frustration mixed with sweat on his face.

“Fuck.”

Izuku kept to his workout routine and still went to Might Tower on the weekends for sparring over the next month, but his daily training with All Might effectively ended. This isn’t to say that the number one hero stopped giving him guidance, but they no longer kept a set schedule, since his formal training at UA would soon begin. His sessions with Aizawa also ended when Aizawa asked Izuku if he would mind if the underground hero began training Hitoshi Shinso. Izuku remembered the purple-haired teen and enthusiastically agreed, especially knowing the Shinso missed the cut-off by only one point. Most students only got to see their own ranking and the top ten, but connections came with a few privileges.

The daily runs with Tenya continued together every morning, and the excitement built as the month seemed to speed by and crawl along simultaneously. Both boys noticed that several of the students they met and talked with at the exam claimed spots in the top ten, but as for the four accepted on recommendations, they didn’t know anything about them.

“I hope Uraraka, Kirishima, and Ashido end up in Class 1-A with us,” Izuku mentioned one day during their run. “It would be great to see them again.”

“Particularly Uraraka, I’d wager,” Tenya teased. “You did seem quite taken with her. I also hope that Asui makes it into our class. She teamed up with Ashido and me. I’m glad she got in and will be glad to introduce you once school starts. She’s quite nice.”

Izuku blushed. He found several girls in their classes at Soumei attractive over the years, but none ever interested him quite as much as Uraraka. Trying to deflect, and dish out a little of his own teasing, he remarked, “Oh? Quite nice, you say?”

Tenya laughed, refusing to rise to the bait. “I do. Friendly and fairly attractive, I will admit. Of course, I’m not sure I would classify it as a ‘gravitational’ attraction like you’re suffering from, my friend. We didn’t get much of a chance to know any of them, but if something developed, I can’t say I would be opposed.”

“Same here,” Izuku said. “I’m not going to lie, I’m interested in Uraraka, but you know how bad I am talking to girls. If we just end up as friends, that will be fine too.”

Izuku woke up early on the first day of school, dressing in his UA uniform. Taking out the tie, he stared at it for several seconds. Fathers passed the art of tying a tie down to their sons, but Hisashi Midoriya never got the chance. When he started at Soumei Junior High School, which also included a tie in the boys’ uniform, he made a bit of a mess of it, lose and baggy, more knot than tie. Watching online videos never seemed to show him enough detail, and unfortunately Mom never learned. He felt too embarrassed to ask either of the Ida boys back then, and he didn’t even want to imagine how the conversation would go with Aizawa, so he’d steeled his nerves and asked All Might. Being the number one hero, All Might gave interviews several times per week. While many of them took place on the field where he simply wore his costume, he did an in-studio interview regularly, usually to promote some charitable enterprise. For a few moments he stood towering over the boy with a distant look in his eyes, and then began patiently showing Izuku a variety of different tie knots. Now, Izuku quickly twisted and looped the fabric into a classic Windsor knot with practiced ease.

He walked downstairs to find his mother waiting for him with a large breakfast ready. As he expected, her eyes looked more than a bit teary, but she also smiled. “I’m so proud of you, Izuku. You look so much like your father in your UA uniform. I know he’d be proud too.”

“I really look like Dad?” he asked, digging into the food.

She nodded. “Your hair and eye color come from me, but your smile and freckles are all his. The uniform helps too, he always looked so handsome in his UA uniform. His was a little different after his transfer to the support department, but he did start out in heroics.”

“Really? I miss him.” Izuku wanted to say more but somehow it was all just too much.

“I do too, but I’m sure he’s proud of you,” she said with a quick hug. They ate in comfortable silence for several minutes, Izuku finishing the last of his rice when the doorbell rang. “That will be Tenya,” she said.

Izuku rushed to the door, grabbing his school bag. “Thanks, Mom! I love you!”

“Have a great first day, Izuku,” she called out to him.

Izuku opened the door to find Tenya waiting for him. “Good morning, Tenya!”

“Good morning, Izuku,” Tenya said, and then called into the house, “and a good morning to you, Mrs. Midoriya!”

“Good morning, dear,” she called from the kitchen.

“Well, I’m off. Have a good day, Mom!”

“Be safe, Izuku. Have a good first day at school.” She heard the door close. She smiled a bit sadly, as her baby took his first few steps into adulthood. If she cried in the shower while getting ready for work, who could notice with the water pouring over her face?

The train ride to Musutafu didn’t take an overly long time and they did notice a few other people on the train wearing UA uniforms, but only one person they recognized from Soumei, Sen Kaibara. They exchanged friendly waves and then talked quietly. Izuku knew a couple of students from Soumei got into the other courses, but they might be on other cars or taking a later train. As the train finally pulled into Musutafu station, Izuku’s entire body shook with excitement.

They passed through the UA gate and made their way to the main building. Thanks to Izuku’s injuries, they both knew the way to the infirmary and the Class 1-A homeroom sat right beside it, since by far that class tended to suffer the most injuries. They arrived early and quickly made their way to the massive door. Looking over the classroom, they found a small piece of paper on each desk with a number on it. Find his seat in the middle of the row nearest the windows, Izuku said, “Looks like we won’t be sitting near each other this year.”

Tenya’s desk sat near the rear entrance to the room. “Alas, it appears not. Nevertheless, I’m sure we will have plenty of interaction over the course of the year.”

The door opened again and a tall girl with dark hair entered. “Oh, hello. I didn’t expect anyone to be here this early.” She bowed to both the boys who stood and returned her bow. “I’m Momo Yaoyorozu. I’m looking forward to getting to know you both.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Tenya Ida and this is Izuku Midoriya, from Soumei Private Middle School.” He paused as the door opened, revealing a boy with a scar on his face with half of his hair red and the other half white. “Oh, hello, Todoroki. It’s nice to see you again. Shoto Todoroki, let me introduce you. Momo Yaoyorozu and Izuku Midoriya.” He waved his hands, motioning toward the other two students.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time, Ida,” Todoroki said, his voice low. “Nice to meet you both as well.” He quickly found his seat in the back of the room.

“It’s you, Midoriya!” came from the door, and Izuku thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Ochaco Uraraka stood in the entrance near the back looking straight at Izuku. “You made it!”

Izuku stood, knees weak and palms sweaty. “You did too! Good job!”

She came over and punched his shoulder. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“Um, how?”

“I gave my number to Recovery Girl to give to you,” she said with a pout.

“She must have forgotten. I was out of it for a long time, so it was getting late when I woke up. I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” She finally noticed Tenya. “Oh, good to see you too, Ida! I’m so excited we’re all in the same class.”

More introductions took place as Asui entered the room, but she quickly insisted that everyone call her Tsuyu. A boy with blond hair and a black streak running through it arrived next. As soon as he saw Izuku, he said “Holy crap! Free runner dude! How you been, man?”

“Oh, hey!” Izuku said, “you’re the guy I met at the park while learning parkour. Small world, huh? I’m Izuku Midoriya. Doing good! How are you?”

“I’m great, man, can’t believe I made it! My name’s Denki Kaminari. Figures that you got the number one spot on the entrance exam. You were a beginner and had crazy moves three years ago.” Other students wandered in until only four empty seats remained.

A loud bang from the door halted all the conversation. “Deku! What the Hell are you doing here?” Katsuki Bakugo stood at the front door to the classroom with a sneer on his face.

Confused looks clouded the faces of several people, but Tenya set his jaw in disapproval. His arm started to rise, and his mouth opened, but Izuku shot him a look and subtly shook his head. “Hello, Bakugo. Congratulations on getting in.”

“Stuff it, you damn nerd. I said, ‘what the Hell are you doing here?’”

Tenya started to open his mouth again, but before he could, Kaminari answered. “Going to class, man. He’s the guy who got first on the entrance exam, of course they’d put him in 1-A.”

The last students rushed into the room, Aoyama, Ashido, and Kirishima much to Izuku’s delight, while Bakugo stood there with disbelief on his face. The only empty seat left positioned right in front of Izuku’s desk. Bakugo gritted his teeth and took a deep breath to start yelling when a monotone voice behind him said “Get to your seat. Whatever it is can wait. If you’re here to play around or make friends, get out.” Bakugo spun around to see a human caterpillar with tired looking eyes. He clicked his teeth and sat down with a huff.

Slipping the sleeping bag off, Shota Aizawa moved to the podium. “Good morning, class. I’m your instructor, Mr. Aizawa. As a few of you already know, I have little patience for frivolity. You’re all here to be heroes and, for those of you who have the potential, I intend to see you succeed and survive. In your desk you’ll find a gym uniform in your size. Changing rooms are next door. Get changed and we’ll convene on the athletic field.”

“Sir,” Uraraka said, raising her hand. At his nod, she stood and asked, “What about the welcoming ceremony?”

“It’s a waste of time. I have three years to give you the tools you need to survive and listening to speeches isn’t one of them. Anyone who wants to go to the welcoming ceremony is free to do so and report to the general education department afterwards. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, sitting down as though her life depended on it.

“Good.” His expression softened just a bit. “Heroics is inherently dangerous, and we’ve got a lot to cover. We’ll start with a quirk apprehension test. Get ready.” The students rushed for the locker rooms, no one wanting to be the last student to make it to the athletic field.

Chapter Text

A few minutes later, all the students gathered in a line on the athletic field with Aizawa standing in front of them like a drill sergeant. “Other than some very controlled instances at your elementary and middle schools, most of you have been forbidden from using your quirks regularly. I’m sure you’ve all had some level of practice, but not in a structured environment. That changes today. We’ll be performing the standard athletic tests, but the difference is that you’ll be allowed to use your quirks, anything goes, within reason.”

“Woohoo!” Ashido said. “Sounds like fun!”

“Fun, huh?” Aizawa asked with a piercing stare. “Let’s make it even more fun. The person with the lowest score will be judged to have no potential and be sent home.”

“That’s not fair!” Hagakure protested with a worried tone, since other than her innate invisibility, she fell into normal human ranges.

“No,” Aizawa said, “it isn’t. Neither is life. Natural disasters aren’t fair. Are villain attacks fair?” Izuku shook his head. He knew that better than anyone. Aizawa caught the motion. “However, if someone were willing to take the test without using their quirk, and placed in the top five, I might be willing to consider that a pass for the lowest score. If they don’t end up in the top ten though, they’ll go home along with the lowest score.” He leveled his gaze at Izuku, a bit of challenge mixed with wry amusement. Come on, Problem Child, he thought, show them what dedication can do.

Izuku stepped forward. “I’ll do it without my quirk.”

Bakugo snorted. “Stupid Deku doesn’t have a quirk anyway, so this will just speed his worthless ass being kicked out.”

“Quiet. Very well, Midoriya. We’ll start with the ball throw. Bakugo!” He tossed a ball to the explosive blonde boy, and the tests began.

Other than Uraraka, scoring an infinity, Bakugo scored the furthest distance with seven hundred five point two meters. As the one performing without using his quirk actively, Izuku went last, and he looked over to Aizawa. “Sir, can I use a strip of cloth about a meter long and six centimeters wide?”

Yaoyorozu offered to make one, and Aizawa nodded. She handed Izuku the cloth and he quickly fashioned it into a sling. Although he didn’t access his quirk now, One For All made gradual changes to Izuku’s body over the past three years, increasing his bone and muscle density to handle the massive power the quirk could produce. At his base, his strength and speed exceeded most people, even with their quirks factored in. The softball took off like a rocket. After a few moments, Aizawa held up his phone, showing seven hundred thirteen point three meters. “Second place, even without a quirk.”

“What the hell?” Bakugo fumed.

Izuku did well in the sit ups, seated toe-touch, repeated side steps, and grip strength competitions. Tenya won the fifty-meter dash, followed by Izuku in second place. Tsuyu easily won the long jump, but Midoriya did well in this too. With the distance run as the final competition, Izuku and Tenya shared a fist bump before they began.

“We’re making this an endurance contest,” Aizawa called out. “Keep going as long as you can. The one who lasts the longest will be considered first place.” After five kilometers, Hagakure and Mineta both dropped out, followed quickly by Jiro. Izuku and Tenya kept a steady pace with deep regular breaths, and Todoroki followed a similar strategy. Bakugo appeared to be running on pure spite.

One by one, the other students dropped out, although most made it to the ten-kilometer mark. Uraraka kept going, drenched in sweat, her legs aching, and her lungs burning. “I… don’t… think…” she huffed.

Izuku smiled, slipping into pace beside her on one side, and Tenya joined them on the other. “Come on, Uraraka! You’re doing great. One more lap. You can make it.”

“Okay,” she panted. “One more.”

The two boys matched her stride for stride, offering gentle encouragement as they approached the line marking the end of the lap. “See, you can do it,” Izuku said. “I bet you’re getting your second wind right now. Let’s go another one!”

“You’re crazy,” she managed to get out, gulping oxygen like a drowning victim breaking the surface.

“Well, you may be right, but I believe in you,” he flashed her a smile worthy of All Might. “Go past your limits.”

She kept pushing on, even though she wanted to just lay down right in the middle of the track. “Can’t,” she panted, but her feet kept moving.

“You can!” Izuku said, running backwards to look at her. “You got third in the entrance exam. You, Tenya, and I will be our year’s Big Three if I have anything to say about it. You’ve got this!”

Only five students still ran, the others cheering from the sidelines. Izuku and Tenya both ran daily, including distance running, and they skipped their usual morning run today. Bakugo’s experience with mountain climbing built up his lung capacity and ability to pace himself, but even he felt exhaustion. Todoroki looked a little worse for wear, occasionally covering his whole body with a thin layer of frost, but it sublimated almost as soon as he formed it. Uraraka kept running, Izuku and Tenya encouraging, pressuring, or outright begging her to continue, but she looked on the verge of collapse.

Having reached some level that satisfied him, Todoroki dropped out. That left the final four. “Can’t go on,” Uraraka gasped as Izuku kept pace to run beside her.

“Just one more, Uraraka,” Izuku said, “Please? We’ve been keeping track. You’re one lap away from completing a marathon.”

Tenya added, “Yes, it’s quite the accomplishment. You’re so close, and I’ve never forgotten the first time I completed a marathon.” Like Izuku, his breathing stayed steady, and she thought of a few choice words that the construction crews used when they didn’t know a young girl could hear them.

“Midoriya… Ida…” she panted, each step a pain. Bakugo ran past them, shooting the three a look of disgust. She gritted her teeth into a feral grin, determination burning around her like an aura. “I can do this.”

Izuku winked at Tenya. “There it is!”

“Indeed. Go beyond, Uraraka!”

“Plus Ultra!” the three shouted together as Uraraka passed the marathon mark.

Izuku gave her a thumbs up. “We’ve got it from here,” he said as she moved off the track, several of her classmates cheering her.

Izuku and Tenya settled into their familiar running pattern, no longer concerning themselves with who won or lost, although Bakugo remained on the field, refusing to stop while Izuku still ran. “Tenya,” Izuku said, “he’s never going to stop until he can’t go any further. Let’s lap him.”

Tenya grinned. “Oh, definitely.” Knowing they competed against the infamous “Kacchan” only spurned Tenya on. Perhaps a bit of pettiness motivated him, but the thought of forcing Bakugo to admit defeat appealed to him.

“Wonder what he’d say if he knew Ingenium is your brother?” Izuku wondered aloud.

“Izuku, remember 'Winter Soldier?'” Tenya asked as they came closer to Bakugo. Izuku chuckled and both boys called out “On your left” as they dashed past their volatile classmate. Izuku trained for this over the past three years, and the Ida family viewed running as a birthright. This repeated multiple times, Bakugo growing angrier each time, until finally he exploded.

“Say it one more damn time, Deku! You too, Four-Eyes! I’ll kill both of you bastards!” He let off a couple of explosions behind him, racing to catch up and let loose on them when his quirk fizzled, and he found himself pulled off the track by a white cloth.

“I didn’t think I needed to explain that using your quirk to attack your classmates is not allowed,” Aizawa said. “You’re done, Bakugo. Third place and count yourself lucky I don’t give you a zero on this exercise.”

Tenya patted Izuku’s shoulder. “I’ll bow out here, but do one more, my friend. I’m sure that will please Bakugo.”

Izuku grinned, breaking into a sprint as Tenya slowed to a walk to cool off, performing some simple stretches. After completing a final lap, Izuku also walked for a bit to the cheers of his classmates.

Aizawa input the final numbers into his tablet and a hologram appeared in the air. Ida placed first, followed by Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, and Izuku, with Uraraka placing fifth. In last place was Minoru Mineta. “Mineta, looks like today is your lucky day. Not that it makes a difference since I never planned to send any of you home.”

“What?” several voices called in shock.

“That was just a rational deception to get you to give it your all,” Aizawa said with a smirk.

Under her breath, Yaoyorozu muttered “I thought that was obvious.” Then she raised her hand and said “Sir? Don’t you need Midoriya’s data with his quirk?”

“The damn nerd doesn’t have a quirk!” Bakugo yelled. “Aren’t you going to send that worthless piece of quirkless trash home?”

Aizawa stared at him. “Midoriya isn’t quirkless and wouldn’t be sent home even if he were, especially not on the word of someone he outperformed without using his quirk. If it means that much, I already have his quirk data for all the trials.” With the press of a button, the hologram changed, moving Izuku into the top spot.

Bakugo turned toward Izuku, his red eyes burning with rage and his teeth bared. “You… lying piece of crap. Die!” Bakugo leaped for Izuku, but his explosions sputtered out and Aizawa’s capture weapon entangled him again.

“Enough!” Aizawa roared, spinning Bakugo around in midair to meet the teacher’s glowing red eyes. “Knock it off. I’ve got dry eye. That’s twice you’ve tried to attack classmates, and if it keeps happening, I know plenty of General Education students would be happy to get the opportunity you’re close to wasting.” Unceremoniously dropping Bakugo, Aizawa pulled out a bottle of eye drops and tilted his head back. “Get showered, change back into your uniforms, and return to class. Mineta, Midoriya; switch seats when you get back to class.” Despite appearing to doze during the tests, he saw Mineta’s leering at Yaoyorozu and the barely contained animosity Bakugo held for his Problem Child. Maybe a minor change would defuse a couple of ticking time bombs.

Mineta looked like he wanted to object, but the thought of how close he’d come to expulsion held his tongue. “Yes sir,” he said instead. Mineta turned to Midoriya. “Thanks! I guess I really owe you one.”

Izuku chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Mr. Aizawa already said he wasn’t really going to expel anyone. Although if we didn’t show any potential….” He let the sentence hang in the air.

As they started walking back to the main building, Bakugo bumped Izuku’s shoulder. “Don’t think this is over, Deku,” he said with a sneer.

Izuku rolled his eyes. Kirishima and Ashido caught up to him. “Hey man, it’s good to see you again! Really manly out there!”

“Thanks!” Izuku said. “I’m really glad you’re both in Class 1-A. Sorry I didn’t give you my contact information. I was kind of out of it after the exam.”

“Yeah,” Ashido said. “Ida told us you were hurt. Hope it wasn’t too serious, but you did finish first!”

“Kind of broke one of my arms and both my legs destroying the zero-pointer, though.”

“Holy crap, bro! You took that thing down?” Kirishima said with disbelief. He whistled. “Plus Ultra.”

“Well, it almost ran over Uraraka. I panicked and used too much strength.”

Arriving back in the classroom, Izuku switched seats with Mineta. On his right sat Tokoyami with Yaoyorozu sitting behind him at attention. He waved to both and turned to Yaoyorozu. “Great job on the test and thanks for the sling for the ball throw. I don’t remember seeing your name on the Entrance Exam results.” Because it wasn’t there, he thought. He could see the results in his memory as clearly as looking at them.

She placed her hand over her heart. “Thank you, Midoriya. I got in on a recommendation, so I didn’t take the exam. You performed incredibly today as well.”

Todoroki offered, “I took the recommendation route, too. I wanted to ask… how could Mr. Aizawa be sure you weren’t using your quirk and how did he already have your quirk results?”

The answer arrived from the front of the room as Mr. Aizawa rejoined them. “My quirk is Erasure, allowing me to temporarily cancel the quirk abilities of anyone I look at. Furthermore, I’ve known Midoriya for quite some time. Since it’s a standard test I use to gauge someone’s progress with their quirk, I’ve had him take it several times before, both with and without using his quirk. Most recently a month ago.”

Kaminari’s neurons finally fired. Before his filter could engaged, he stood. “Holy crap! You’re free runner man!” His face flushed several shades of red and he sat back down. “Sorry!”

Aizawa paced behind the desk. “Since you’ll all find out anyway, I’ll dispense with the rumors. I’ve known Midoriya for over ten years. His quirk came in late, and a pro hero who also knows Midoriya, contacted me to help him catch up to other students. He has done training under me, and several other pro heroes, over the past three years. Ida also received some of this training as he is one of Midoriya’s neighbors and his brother is both a pro hero and friend of mine. I’ve known Ida since he was in diapers. While both could have gotten in on recommendations, they chose to take the entrance exam.” The class exploded in several yells, and Aizawa’s quirk flared, silencing the students. “However, it has been made clear to them both that they will not receive any special treatment. If anything, they’ll have it worse than the rest of you because all of their teachers know exactly what they are capable of.”

Izuku and Tenya both nodded. They knew Aizawa planned to deliver this speech, although it did place them into a subcategory, stuck between the recommendation students and those who passed the entrance exam. It also had the benefit of setting up an alibi for One For All, although Tenya didn’t know that part. Izuku glanced around at his classmates. Several didn’t seem to care, a few appeared envious or pitying, and a few others granted him subtle thumbs ups. Only Bakugo displayed true anger, glaring at him with narrowed red eyes and barely controlled hostility over his shoulder.

Hanta Sero cautiously raised his hand and stood. “Sir, um, who is the pro who contacted you about Midoriya?” He quickly turned toward Izuku, holding his hands up. “It’s totally awesome, I’m just curious.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “I’ll leave that as a surprise. He’ll be teaching your heroics class on Monday. Normally, your first heroics class would be on Saturday morning, but as he’s a new teacher and some of our facilities need a bit of work, you’ll have tomorrow off. Don’t get used to it. For now, you’re all dismissed. Enjoy your weekend.” The class stood, bowed, and turned their attention to Izuku and Tenya. Aizawa sighed on the way out. “Don’t badger them too much. They’re far from the only ones with connections to pro heroes in the school. Not even counting your teachers, you’ll all have at least one such contact before the end of the year.” With that, he disappeared.

“So,” Shoji muttered underneath his mask, “who is our heroics teacher?”

Izuku stood and bowed. “Sorry, I’m sworn to secrecy! He wants it to be a surprise!”

“Well, we know it’s a man,” Tsuyu said, sticking one of her fingers to her lips.

“It would be très magnifique if it were Best Jeanist,” Aoyama added. “He attended UA as un jeune homme and is quite élégant et fringant!”

“Maybe it’s Endeavor?” Ojiro offered.

Almost too quiet to hear, Todoroki said “It isn’t Endeavor.” Izuku swore he heard Todoroki add “Thank God.”

“I’m sorry. Guys, I promised not to tell.”

“Yeah, guys. Not cool to try and pry it out of them,” Jiro added. “Mr. Aizawa already said he wanted it as a surprise.” She turned to Izuku, “Just don’t answer them. I’ll be able to tell if you lie, and I don’t want to know because they’ll start badgering me.”

Izuku nodded. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“She’s right,” Kaminari said. “Besides, I want to know about your training with Aizawa. I remember meeting you two in Tokyo when he taught you all those sick parkour moves!”

“Oh, that was early in the training. I’ve gotten better at it since then. Do you still skateboard?”

Kaminari nodded. “Not as much as I used to. I’ve been branching out a bit into parkour too, but I’m nowhere near where he’s at. I’m telling you all, Mr. Aizawa is the man!” He seemed to remember something. “He said you got your quirk late. How late?”

Izuku felt a moment of panic, but Tenya stepped in, knowing his friend sometimes became flustered. “I can answer that. While Izuku always had his quirk, the effects didn’t really show until after his twelfth birthday. Late identification is rather common with enhancement quirks.”

Bakugo grabbed his bag and stormed out, with a final shot of “you’re full of crap, Four Eyes, and you are too, Deku,” to Midoriya.

“What’s his problem?” Sato asked to Midoriya’s shrug. “And what is your quirk anyway?”

“Well, it’s called Ultra-Augmentation. It’s a bit hard to explain,” Izuku said, shuffling in his seat. “It’s an emitter type, but also an accumulation type. I’m able to call it up to increase my strength, speed, resilience, stamina, and intelligence, although the intelligence enhancement manifests as improved processing, I don’t suddenly know things, but I can read and learn really fast when it is active.”

“Whoa, dude! That’s awesome. Enhancer quirks are rare, especially ones that boost everything,” Kirishima added.

Tenya nodded. “Izuku’s quirk is fairly unusual, since it also has a permanent effect.”

Yaoyorozu gasped behind him. “A permanent effect? Does the enhancement persist even when you’re not actively using it, Midoriya?”

“Sort of,” Izuku replied. “Actively using it gives me a big boost, but if I use too much, I tend to risk breaking my bones or straining muscles, I’m trying to be careful, though. When I push my limits, it gives a small permanent boost to the ‘stats’ I’m using it for, like levelling up in an RPG. That allows me to increase my limits without hurting myself, increasing my base stats even more, and so on. It’s a slow process, but I’ve been increasing roughly seven percent per year toward my projected soft cap, although this past year I’ve managed to up that to ten percent so far. Once I reach the soft cap, my quirk counsellor thinks that I’ll increase by one or two percent per year indefinitely.”

Uraraka walked over to stand by Izuku and looked toward Yaoyorozu and Todoroki. “You two might not know since you took the recommendation route, but Midoriya got a perfect score on the entrance exam! And he saved my life!”

Izuku blushed. “Well, you never were really in danger. Mr. Aizawa explained later that you would have been pulled underground before the zero-pointer could have crushed you. And they would have deployed air bags to cushion our fall.”

She turned around, staring him in the eyes. “And did you know that?”

“Not until afterwards.”

“Then you still saved my life,” she proclaimed and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

Chapter Text

While most of the tests in Aizawa’s quirk assessment took under an hour, the distance run ate over four. The other classes left long before Class 1-A finished. Even worse, with the Entrance Ceremony the only item on the official agenda, the cafeteria wouldn’t open until Monday. Ochaco Uraraka’s belly rumbled in hunger. She’d moved to a tiny, rundown apartment not far from UA yesterday, but the deposit and uniform she luckily found at a recycle shop cut into her meager food budget. She never expected the first day would include a marathon, and now she faced the prospect of a long, hungry weekend. Midoriya stared at her for a few moments. He heard her stomach!

Midoriya stood and stretched. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I could ‘Texas Smash’ some food. We’d usually have classes for a few more hours. Who wants to go out to eat? I know a great buffet not far from campus.”

Ida nodded. “Ah, the one we visited last summer. They serve excellent soba. I’ll accompany you.” A few others joined in the conversation.

Ochaco chewed on her thumbnail, checking her bank balance on her ancient flip phone. Not finding any bank errors in her favor, she closed the phone and hid it quickly, afraid someone else would notice it and comment on it. Sometimes people did, and it always embarrassed her. She really wanted to go, but her meager funds might let her buy a couple of bento boxes, and that would get her through the weekend. She started to shake her head but found Midoriya standing beside her desk. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “You’ll come too, won’t you, Uraraka? My treat for everyone, I insist!”

“Oh, I can’t let you do that!” she protested. If stubborn pride had calories, she’d go home and gorge herself.

“I tricked you into running a marathon, the least I can do is buy you a meal,” he looked at her with eyes a begging puppy would envy. “It’ll make me feel a lot better. Please?”

“OK,” she said quietly.

“Woohoo! Free food rules!” Mina yelled, completely shameless. “I need to call my folks and make a pit stop. How about we all meet at the front gate in fifteen minutes.”

“Meet you there,” Kirishima added, pounding his fist on his chest. “Men’s room.”

“Raincheck for me,” Tsuyu said. “I’m going to go home and help my siblings with their homework.” Several others declined, since their families planned to take them out to eat to celebrate.

“Excuse me,” Yaoyorozu said, “would it be alright if I joined you? I’ve, well, never been to a buffet. Except at a party. I’m not underdressed, am I?”

Midoriya chuckled. “Of course, you can come along. If anything, we’ll be overdressed.” He paused in thought. “Actually, that’s a good point. Take off your ties and jackets. The lady who runs the place charges based on how you’re dressed.”

Yaoyorozu couldn’t hide her shock. “You mean the price is lower the worse you’re dressed?”

Izuku shrugged. “The food’s great, she just likes underdogs.”

Fumikage Tokoyami spoke up quietly, “Barring any objections, I would like to accompany you.”

“Of course,” Izuku answered. “The more the merrier.”

The classmates split up at that point, most heading for the restrooms or to call their parents. Izuku made his way to the front gate alone, but found Bakugo waiting there for him, just off UA’s campus. “Deku,” Bakugo spit out, “You’re a lying, sneaky piece of crap. I should beat you into the ground right here.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Three years since we’ve seen each other and the first thing you do is threaten to beat me up, Bakugo? We’re not little kids anymore.”

“Three years? We saw each other at the entrance exam, you damn liar, not to mention summer break. You think I didn’t recognize you from that damn Sludge villain thing? How long have you been hiding your quirk?”

“I wasn’t hiding it. I honestly thought I was quirkless until shortly after moving to Tokyo. I would have told you, but you made it quite clear you wanted nothing to do with me. It’s not like we ever talk or email, so sorry I didn’t let you know. Didn’t know you cared.”

“I don’t. Fine, keep lying, Deku.” Bakugo pointed a finger in Izuku’s face. “You may fool all of these extras, but I know exactly what you are, you damn nerd.”

Izuku sighed, “And what do you think I am, Bakugo?”

“A damn stalker, sneaking around and watching. Hiding your quirk so everyone will underestimate you, while you sit there plotting and scheming.” Sparks popped in his hands, and Izuku suppressed the urge to flinch.

“Right, because that makes a lot of sense. Hide my quirk so that everyone back in grade school, including the guy I stupidly thought was my best friend, would hate me. Do you even listen to yourself? If I knew I had a quirk, do you think I would have taken so many beatings?”

“You’ll take a lot more of them before I’m done with you, nerd. You and I both know you never had friends. You spent your time figuring out how to kill everyone and I’d bet real money you laughed about it behind everyone’s back.”

Izuku stared hard at him, and asked quietly, “Is that really what you think? First you want me gone and now you want to know everything about me. Make up your mind. What do you want?”

“For you to stop it with the damn act! You tell me, Deku! Glasses? Round Cheeks? Weird Hair? Raccoon Eyes? Ponytail? Birdbrain? Half-and-Half? Our murder hobo of a teacher? Tell me you haven’t already figured out multiple brutal ways to end every single one of them. You may not have had a notebook out, but I saw you watching all the tests real damn close. Tell me you aren’t going to go home and write it all up in your creepy little notebooks. Tell me there is a person in the whole class you haven’t thought of at least two lethal methods of handling. I’ll wait.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “There’s a difference between quirk analysis and planning to kill someone, Bakugo. A quirk analyst doesn’t ignore weaknesses, they identify them so they can come up with ways to lessen or remove the weaknesses.”

“Figures. You could at least have the balls to admit it. I don’t like you, I sure as Hell don’t trust you, and I don’t want you here. I’m going to do every damn thing I can to make sure that you’re gone permanently.”

Izuku straightened up from where he was leaning against the UA barrier, and thought, holy whoa, when did I get taller than him? He didn’t purposefully tower over Bakugo like he’d seen Endeavor do a few times, but he did lock eyes with the angry blonde boy. “Is that a threat, Bakugo? You should know whether you want to believe it or not, we’re no longer the children we were. Unlike you, I’ve grown up. I’m not the weak, quirkless, powerless, and useless kid you remember, and if you think you can intimidate me, you are sorely mistaken. As for not wanting me here, that’s not your call, and I don’t give a damn what you think about me.”

Bakugo growled. “It’s not a threat, it’s a fact. You want to start a fight here and now, Deku? I’m down because I’ve got a long, unbroken streak of beating your ass.”

Izuku shook his head. “No, it’s an opinion based on how easily you beat a quirkless twelve-year-old. You’re the one who waited for me, Bakugo. I’m not trying to start a fight, but I’ll sure as Hell finish it. And that streak won’t be the only thing broken when we’re done. And that really is a fact.”

“You don’t have a prayer of taking me in your wildest dreams, Deku. You know it and I know it. You’re nothing but a pebble on the road,” Bakugo spat out, grinding his teeth.

“Then keep walking on your path, Bakugo. You call me a pebble on the road, and that’s fine if it helps you sleep at night. I honestly don’t care what you think about me anymore, and I sleep just fine. A wise man would step around the pebble and continue his journey, but a fool will stop and try to crush every pebble into dust until his heel is worn away. Stop wasting your time trying to crush a pebble that always has and always will be harder than your sole and just walk on.” One For All ached under his skin, begging for release. A part of him urged him to strike, to get a measure of justice long denied, but Izuku knew that desire was revenge wearing a pretty mask. Not justice, just ice.

“I am going to kill you, Deku,” Bakugo said, his red eyes narrowed into thin slits. “You’ve forgotten your place.”

“No, Bakugo. I’ve found my place, and you can’t take it away from me, because what you thought was a pebble is a diamond. So, stomp with all your strength, but you never broke me, and you never will.”

Bakugo spit on the pavement at Izuku’s feet. “We’ll see who breaks, loser, and your philosophy won’t mean shit when my explosions send you straight to Hell. Besides, shouldn’t you be running home to Tokyo? Got a busy night planning murder, no doubt.”

Izuku shook his head. “Not that it is any of your business, but I’m going out to eat with some of my friends.”

Bakugo laughed in his face, just as Uraraka and Tenya arrived. “Is everything alright, Izuku?” Tenya asked, his dislike of Bakugo barely concealed.

“Oh, hey, don’t let me get in the way of your nerd food fest,” Bakugo declared. He pointed toward Izuku. “I hope you extras are making the Deku here pay. Only fitting for a last meal. Better watch your damn backs, and you’d better watch yours, Deku.”

“He doesn’t have to watch his back,” Tenya said, stepping to Izuku’s right side. “He has friends who will do it for him, and I’m proud to be counted among their number.”

“If that day comes, Bakugo,” Izuku said with calmness he didn’t feel, “you’d better watch your front.”

Bakugo’s eyes narrowed, but he turned and stomped off in a huff.

“I’m sure that miscreant must have some redeeming qualities,” Tenya mused as he watched Bakugo walk away, “but I admit that I’m having trouble finding them. Perhaps good dental hygiene.” He turned to Izuku. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Izuku nodded, letting out a slightly shaky breath he hadn’t realized he held in. “Just… nothing to worry about. A pebble in the road, I suppose.”

Uraraka said. “He really seemed worked up. Did you two know each other before UA?”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied. “We were… close, I guess, when we were little kids. We’re something like fourth or fifth cousins, I think. We had a great, great, great grandparent in common, I forget how many greats. Our moms went to high school together and found out during a genealogy project and have been friends ever since, but Bakugo and I grew apart a long time ago.

She nodded, “So that’s what his deal is! It’s kind of like he’s your fated rival. And he calls you by that cute nickname, ‘Deku,’ right? I like it. Do you mind if I call you that too?” she asked Izuku.

While he’d long since gotten used to Bakugo calling him that, it hurt coming from someone he hoped would become a friend. Izuku tried his best to hide his wounded expression but failed. “Do I…? Mind? Um, sorry… I think… I… need to use the restroom too. Back in a few.” Izuku ran back to the school building without looking back.

Ida turned sharply to Uraraka. “Uraraka? Why would you do that?”

“I…” Uraraka looked as hurt as Izuku, “I’m sorry. I thought it was a childhood nickname. Like ‘Dekiru,” you know, ‘I can do it.’ He looked… he looked crushed.” Even a diamond can crack if you strike it in the right place.

Ida shook his head sadly. “I am hardly one to gossip, so this is not my story to tell. However, I do count myself fortunate to be Izuku’s friend. I would never call him that. Bakugo… well… hates Izuku for some reason and calls him that. You saw Bakugo try to attack Izuku two times today, and we both heard that ruffian yelling as we were approaching. I can assure you; whatever Bakugo says to him is not intended as a compliment.”

Lowering her head, Uraraka whispered, “I really screwed up, didn’t I? I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Ida shook his head sadly. “Don’t worry too much. Izuku is probably the kindest person I have ever met. Just explain it to him, I’m sure Izuku will forgive you.”

Izuku splashed some water on his face, trying to get his breathing under control. The confrontation with Bakugo worked his nerves, and today had been a constant tug-of-war between fight and flight, despite his bravado. He probably overreacted to Uraraka’s innocent question. How could she possibly know the history behind that stupid nickname? After all, it sounded like something a four-year-old would come up with, not really a surprise since a four-year-old had. Bakugo couldn’t bother him with it, why should Uraraka? Because you like her and care what she thinks, while “Kacchan” can go to Hell.

He quickly splashed water on his face one last time as he heard a toilet flush and washed his hands when Kirishima walked to another sink and did the same. “Hey, dude! Thought you’d already gone to the gate. Everything OK?” Kirishima might not rank high academically, but he understood people, and years sitting near Mina at school taught him how to subtly look at a reflection. “Dude, is something wrong? I mean, you look a bit upset.”

“Not really. Maybe. Crap.” Izuku rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a slow, deep breath. “I used to live here in Musutafu. Bakugo and I were, well, maybe friends. Maybe not.”

“Yeah? I noticed he’s got a weird nickname for you. Short for Dekiru or something?”

“That’s what Uraraka thought too, but it’s meant to be an insult. You know, like the Deku Shrubs from Legend of Zelda, or dekunobou. Useless, good-for-nothing, worthless, defenseless, quirkless.”

“Seriously, dude?” Kirishima asked, fist clenching. “That’s totally not cool. I mean, I thought he was manly, going all out on the quirk test and all, but… Hell, even if you had been quirkless, and there’s nothing wrong with that, that’s no excuse to be a douchebag. My grandpa’s quirkless and he’s one of the manliest dudes ever. Dude is in his seventies and still chops firewood one handed. I can turn to stone, you know,” holding up his hand to show his hardened skin, “but there isn’t a man on this planet as tough as Gramps. He might be quirkless, but Gramps is made of solid titanium, and he doesn’t have to activate it like I do, it’s always on. I try to give everyone a chance, but I don’t know now. I thought Bakugo seemed pretty cool, but… you know?”

Izuku raised a hand. “Look, he and I have a lot of history. He’s probably a lot different than I remember. Baggage, you know. Our past is trying to throw us into those old roles that we don’t fit in anymore. Maybe it’s just me, though, I know for a fact I’m a lot different. Maybe if we could talk, we could get past it, but he doesn’t seem willing. Don’t let this stuff influence you at all. It isn’t important anymore.” He shrugged. “He could probably use a good friend like you. No matter what, you and I will be cool.”

“Dude, you’re totally manly.” They left the bathroom and walked with Ashido and Yaoyorozu. By the time they reached the gate again, Tokoyami already stood beside Tenya and Uraraka.

Uraraka bowed at the waist to Izuku. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what it meant, and I thought it was short for Dekiru, and I’m really sorry.”

Izuku returned the bow. “I overreacted. I’m not a big fan of ‘Deku,’ but feel free to call me ‘Izuku.’”

She smiled, wiping her watery eyes with the back of her hand. “Are you sure?” At his nod, she added, “Then call me ‘Ochaco!’”

After a short walk in the direction of the train station, they arrived at the small Wagnaria restaurant. As soon as they walked in, Izuku found himself in a tight hug. The petite owner of the restaurant, Mahiru Inami, trapped him in a bone crushing embrace. “Little Midoriya! You got so big! Haven’t seen you in forever!”

Izuku bowed when she finally released him. “We moved to Tokyo, but I’ve missed you, too. You’ll be seeing a lot more of me now that I’m a student at UA. These are some of my classmates.” He made quick introductions.

“Congratulations! First day of school and you already warned them to hide their ties, didn’t you?” She winked. “Well, I can’t get too mad since you’re bringing me business. Buffet is one thousand yen; all you can eat. Drinks are two hundred yen with free refills. That’s starving student rates!”

“We’ll take seven drinks and twenty-five buffets. Please give the entire check to me,” he said, to multiple protests from his friends.

She frowned. “I don’t know how the restaurant business is in Tokyo but paying more or charging more than the meal is worth is considered rude here in Musutafu.”

“No, no… seriously. All of us ran at least ten kilometers today, and three of us did a marathon. I know at least two of us are big eaters, and a few of us may want to take a bento or two with us, if that’s OK. We’ll eat that much food.”

“Not a single yen more than the meal is worth, you hear me, Midoriya?” she asked with a stern expression.

“Not a single yen less or more, I promise!” he replied, and her frown turned to a smile.

“Right this way then!” She led the students to one of the larger tables, close to the buffet, but far enough away that they’d avoid being bumped constantly. She took drink orders and one of the servers dropped off plates and chopsticks.

The students descended on the buffet like a swarm of locusts. While Izuku knew that Tenya was a big eater like himself, he may have underestimated his classmates. Yaoyorozu’s quirk converted the fats in her body into a variety of different substances, but the laws of physics required obedience. She couldn’t create something from nothing, and she lost several kilograms of weight during the quirk assessment, although the analyst in him knew something else was a work too, since the cannon she created from the ball throw would have killed her if her lipids supplied the only source of mass for her quirk. Tokoyami and Ashido faced a similar situation, though not to the same extreme. While Tokoyami could only use Dark Shadow for a few of the tests, sharing his body with another being needed a great deal of energy, he literally ate for two. Ashido’s quirk tended to dehydrate her and took some other substances to convert her body fluids to acid. As for Kirishima, being a teenaged boy more than sufficed as a reason for his appetite.

“Dude, I’m going to come here at least once a week!” Kirishima declared. “This place rocks.”

“Would everyone like to exchange contact information?” Yaoyorozu asked, holding up the latest model of iPhone.

“That’s a great idea, Yaomomo!” Ashido said, pulling out her cell phone.

“Yaomomo?” Izuku asked.

“Yeah! Like a nickname. Yao and Momo are written with the same kanji. It’s cute, Midori, just like her.” Ashido reached over and lightly pinched Yaoyorozu’s blushing cheek.

Izuku and Yaoyorozu shared a long-suffering look. Izuku shrugged. “Beats ‘Deku,’ I guess. You can call me Izuku if you want, though.”

Mina smiled. “Nah, I’ll stick with Midori,” she said around a mouthful of food.

Izuku noticed Ochaco pulled out her small flip phone and hid it under the table, ready to input the numbers as quickly as possible. Most people who loved retro technology by choice liked to show it off, but she hid it quickly. “Tenya,” he said, pulling out his phone and holding it high, “start us off. We’ll go clockwise until everyone has everyone else’s number!” With all eyes either on him or Ida, Ochaco noticed she would be last, able to input everyone’s numbers under the table and put her phone away before giving her number out. She breathed out a sign of relief, quickly adding the numbers to her phone.

Over the rest of their meal, Izuku got to know a lot about Kirishima and Ashido, a fair amount about Yaoyorozu and Ura… Ochaco, and almost nothing about Tokoyami. They all made multiple trips to the buffet, and each packed up one or two bento boxes except for Yaoyorozu. When the time came to settle the bill, Ms. Inami took Izuku’s money without real complaint, but more than a little disbelief.

Chapter Text

They left the restaurant a bit after classes would normally let out for UA heroics students. Although they reached the station in time for the express to Chiba for Kirishima and Ashido, Yaoyorozu’s train to Aichi and the train for Tokyo left before they arrived, and the next wouldn’t arrive for an hour. They waved goodbye to their friends and resigned themselves for a boring wait.

“Uraraka,” Tenya asked, “which train is yours?”

“Oh, I’m not taking the train,” she replied. “Renting a small apartment near the school saves money.”

“How far is it?” Yaoyorozu asked. “We could walk you home and make it back in time for the train if it isn’t too far.”

“It’s only five blocks.” With a giggle, she chopped her arm like Ida tended to do in a certain direction, and Izuku felt a bit of dread. He knew Musutafu better than most new UA students. “You don’t have to walk me. I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.”

“Not at all,” Izuku said. “After the run today, keeping our legs moving a bit will help keep us from cramping up. Oh, here!” He held up the bag holding the bento boxes he’d packed to Ochaco. “I forgot Mom was going to make my favorite tonight to celebrate, and I have plans for tomorrow, so they’d just go to waste.”

“Drat, mine as well,” Tenya added. “Not only are my parents taking me to dinner tonight, but my brother is also planning a surprise party for me at his agency tomorrow.”

 “You’re not supposed to know about that! There’s bound to be a traitor and I will track them down,” Izuku said with mock seriousness.

“The traitor is among us even now,” Tenya said with a laugh. “I will save you the paranoia. Tensei has gotten so used to texting the both of us that he accidentally included me when he told you.” He turned again to Uraraka. “Would you mind taking mine as well? I would hate to take them all the way to Tokyo only for them to become yet another science experiment in my brother’s fridge.”

“If you’re sure,” she said with a bit of a blush.

“Is it that much of a difference between living in town and a train pass?” Tokoyami asked.

She nodded. “I’m from the Mie prefecture, so an All-Rail pass would cost one-hundred-thousand-yen per month and one way the commute takes over four hours. With an apartment, I can get by on around sixty-five thousand yen a month. That saves my parents thirty-five thousand a month. Plus, I don’t have the long commute and they save money on food too.”

“Is sixty-five thousand… a lot?” Yaoyorozu asked. She looked genuinely puzzled and a bit guilty. She easily carried twice that amount in her purse as pocket change, and rarely concerned herself with the prices when she went shopping, but she felt certain she once bought a pair of socks that cost more.

Izuku coughed. Money wasn’t really a concern for Tenya or him either, but a quick exchanged glance with his glasses wearing friend told him they both understood Ochaco’s situation a lot better than Yaoyorozu did. His monthly allowance covered over twice her monthly budget. “It depends, Yaoyorozu. If it were just spending money, yes, but it’s not a lot to live on.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’ve never really had to worry about money because of my family. I never realized….” She let her voice trail off.

“I mean, yeah, it’s not a small amount, but not a huge amount either,” Izuku said. He’d just dropped Uraraka’s monthly rent at a restaurant without batting an eyelash and felt a bit like an ass.

She blew a raspberry. “I get it, you are all rich. It’s not a big deal, but I’ll eat my hat if one of you knows how much a liter of milk costs.” She caught Tokoyami pulling out his phone and rolled her eyes. “Without googling it.”

The bird-featured boy put the phone away. “Forgive me if I gave you the wrong impression. I wasn’t going to look up the price of milk, but I’ve never seen someone eat a hat before, so I was curious if there were videos on HeroTube. Besides, you are not wearing a hat, so your wager of headdress consumption is an empty one at best.” Uraraka and him shared a chuckle.

With a wink, Izuku added, “I’ve never seen anyone eat a hat either, so out of purely scientific interest, a liter of milk is around two hundred yen, depending on the store and brand.” All his new friends stared at him. “What? I go shopping and cook all the time now that Mom works.”

“That’s very commendable, Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu offered.

“Not really. Ochaco is right. We talked about hiring someone to do the shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Mom and I just thought it would be weird, so we take turns. We’re well-off between her salary and the pension,” Izuku said. Please someone, he thought desperately, latch onto the pension.

“Pension?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Thank you, Yaomomo! He thought. Oh, wait. Damn it. “Oh, well… you see….”

Tenya stepped in. “Izuku’s father was a great hero. Hisashi Midoriya, also known as Dragon Wizard, the emerald flame hero. He gave his life in the line of duty, saving this entire city from what my brother has told me. He even fought beside All Might and several of our teachers. I regret that I never got to meet him.”

Izuku thanked Tenya with his eyes, and Tenya returned it with his idea of a subtle nod. Tokoyami started to raise his hand to ask a question, but Ochaco’s cheerful, “Well, this is me!” ended the conversation, or perhaps not. She gestured toward a dilapidated apartment building that looked built from scrap. If it sat on Dagobah Beach a few months ago, Izuku and Tenya might have accidentally demolished it.

Yaoyorozu’s hand covered her mouth. “Uraraka,” she began, but the cheerful girl cut her off.

“Don’t worry, Yaomomo! It’s not as bad as it looks. Really. It is clean and quiet, and I rent from a nice older lady. She looks out for me.”

Izuku managed to suppress the urge to shake his head sadly. While Musutafu certainly had worse neighborhoods, this ranked high on the list of places not to walk alone at night. The remnants of the Yakuza controlled this area, and while they mostly took a “live and let live” approach to the neighborhoods that made up their turf, that also meant less hero and police patrols. Musutafu city practiced containment with the Yakuza, keeping them out of the nicer areas of the city but giving them free reign in the poorer sections.

Tenya’s phone beeped with an alarm. “We’d better hurry if we’re going to make the train!” He bowed to Uraraka, handing over the bag with his bento boxes in it. Izuku did likewise. “See you Monday!” The others turned to follow, but Izuku couldn’t bring himself to leave quite yet.

“You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up in a minute,” he called out, and Tenya gave him a warning look and subtle shake of his head, but he went all the same. Izuku turned to Uraraka, lowering his voice. “Ochaco….”

“It’s fine, Izuku. It really isn’t as bad as it looks.” She smiled sweetly, opening the three locks, and setting the bags with the bento boxes inside.

“I grew up in Musutafu,” he said, concern etched on his face and seeping into his voice.

“Oh,” she said, dropping her head. “Well, then you should know it’s a decent neighborhood.”

“Ochaco,” he started again, but she cut him off.

“Besides, it’s all I can afford. I’m tough, I can handle it.” She sniffled, and looked back up, eyes bright, but with a hint of moisture. “Please, it’s OK. You’ve been a big help, and thanks for the bento boxes, but I’ve got this.”

“Listen, I can….” Her hand shot out and touched his chest, and he felt gravity leave him.

“Izuku, so help me, if you finish that sentence, I am going to punch you hard enough that you’ll beat Ida to Tokyo without even touching the train. I’m not a damsel in distress, you’re not a knight in shining armor, and I’m sure as Hell not a charity case. You’re not the only one aiming to be a hero, and I’ll save myself if I need to.” She turned away from him quickly. “I’m sorry I called you ‘Deku’ earlier, but we’re even now. Even, got it?” He nodded mutely. “Good. I’ll see you later. Good night.” The door slammed and he heard the locks click in sequence, followed by a muffled and teary sounding “Release.”

Izuku hit the ground with a thud, staring at the door in silence for a few moments before standing and dusting himself off. With one last look, he turned toward the station, walking with his head down. I… hate myself.

Pulling out his phone, he quickly sent a text message to Tenya.

SMALL MIGHT > SONIC THE CLASS REP:

Go on w/o me. Need time 2 think. Will catch next train.

SONIC THE CLASS REP > SMALL MIGHT:

Understood. Do be careful. I may worry, since as your friend it is only natural that I do so, but sometimes I must trust you to take care of yourself and give you your independence. Feel free to call if you need to talk, and please let me know when you get home.

A few moments later, Tenya sent a smiley face. Tenya even wrote text messages in formal speech, so he occasionally tried adding emoticons and the like to spruce them up.

SMALL MIGHT > SONIC THE CLASS REP:

Thanks, 10. U R the only genius 2day.

After slamming the door, Ochaco fastened the admittedly useless chain and secured the locks one by one with shaking hands. She took a moment to look at Izuku through the peephole, hovering in the air like a confused puppy launched into orbit, and that’s when her tears started falling. She turned her back to the door, slowly sliding down it until she sat on the floor with her forehead resting on her knees. She brought her hands together in front of her legs and said “Release” with the steadiest voice she could manage.

She sat there a long time, hating everything. She hated being poor. Hated being unable to go out for a single meal without risking a week without dinner. Hated that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut long enough to avoid exposing herself as a poor country bumpkin. She hated Izuku. She hated how sweet he acted. She hated his observant and considerate nature. She hated how much it burned for him to know about her poverty. And most of all, she hated how much she liked him. If he acted like just another of the rich jerks she went to middle school with, it wouldn’t hurt so much.

She knew he saw her crappy flip phone, both at school and at the restaurant, and didn’t comment on it. He even spoke a bit louder when everyone exchanged numbers, drawing everyone else’s attention while she quickly entered their numbers. He figured out she couldn’t afford to go to the restaurant and still made sure she could go without spending any of what little money she had and that everyone left with a couple of bento boxes. Without even seeming to try, he’d somehow made sure she’d have enough meals to get through the weekend.

Knowing that he only wanted to help made everything a bit worse, though. Here she sat, in a crappy apartment, torn between relieved gratitude and tattered pride.

As Izuku walked toward the station, he realized he could access a resource none of the other members of Class 1-A could yet, and maybe they could help him. The League. Pulling out his phone, he opened the League group chat.

 SMALL MIGHT > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

Screwed up. Need advice. Any1 still at UA?

THESE GO TO 11 > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

3 Stooges at teacher’s lounge.

WITCHING HOUR > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

U R a Stooge and a Tool, Zashi.

CAT NAP > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

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THESE GO TO 11 > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

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CAT NAP > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

I know no such thing.

MIGHT BE> THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

I AM HERE. Also. In lounge.

SMALL MIGHT > THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

Mind if I stop by?

MIGHT BE> THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MENTORS:

Please do. I can give you a ride home. I’m almost finished.

Izuku made his way back to campus, walking quickly to the main building and taking the elevator up to the fourteenth floor. He barely made it through the door before being pulled into a hug by Midnight. “Aw, here’s my baby boy looking so handsome in his uniform! I thought I’d have to wait for Monday to see it!”

“Please tell me you’re not going to call me ‘baby boy’ in class,” Izuku stammered with a blush.

“Well,” she grinned wickedly, “no more than anyone else.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “You did good today in the quirk apprehension test. So, what’s the problem? Bakugo? He seemed to know you and have a bit of a beef with you.”

Izuku shook his head quickly. “No, he’s nothing I can’t handle. It’s, well… you all know Musutafu pretty well, right?” At their nods, he continued. “I… I’m worried about one of my classmates. S… they’re living alone on Kabukicho street.”

All Might’s eyes narrowed. “Kabukicho is in Yakuza territory. It’s not particularly dangerous if someone is careful, but I don’t like the thought of a student living there.” Present Mic and Midnight were both giving odd looks to Eraserhead, who rolled his eyes at the two of them. All Might noticed and asked, “What did I say?”

Eraser waved his hands. “Ignore the idiots. They’re missing a stooge without Tensei here.” He turned to Izuku. “Address?”

“Seventeen Kabukicho, apartment one-oh-three.” Present Mic and Midnight both broke into peals of laughter. “Um, they’re not going to get in any trouble, are they? I mean, I forgot for a minute about you being representatives of UA and was asking for advice as my mentors, if we can keep this off the record. I kind of stuck my foot in my mouth.”

“It’s not funny,” Eraser said with a glare at his laughing friends.

“Of course, it isn’t,” Mic managed to say between chuckles and holding his sides. “Right, Nem? It’s not like we know someone who lived in that exact apartment when he went to UA.” Izuku’s eyes looked like they would pop out of his head any moment.

“Shut up, you two.” He fixed his gaze on Izuku. “That address isn’t listed on anyone’s records. I’m guessing that they decided that was cheaper than an All-Rail pass, that the school would not approve that address, and they’re right on both counts. I’m also guessing that you tried to step in and got told not-so-politely to mind your own business. Is this sounding close?”

Izuku nodded. “Add in the threat of being punched hard enough to beat the train to Tokyo, and you’ve pretty much got it surrounded.”

“You did the right thing, young Izuku,” All Might said confidently. “You and I can come down here tomorrow and we’ll take care of this!” He flashed his famous smile and gave Izuku a thumbs-up.

Everyone in the room turned to look at All Might. After a few moments of tense silence, Aizawa sighed. “That is an absolutely terrible idea.”

All Might’s eyes narrowed. “I can easily afford….”

Izuku cut him off. “That’s kind of the problem. She… I mean, they don’t want to feel like a charity case.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “You can just say it’s Uraraka, kid. None of us,” and he levelled a glare at the other teachers one by one, “are going to mention anything about it to her, on threat of me. I know where all of you live.” He rolled his eyes again at Izuku’s shocked expression.

“Wait,” Izuku said, “how’d you know?”

“Besides you just telling me? Unlike everyone else in class, her uniform was already well worn and showed signs of alteration to fit her. That says recycle shop rather than buying new and UA uniforms don’t end up at recycle shops often, so she had to take what she could find and make it work. She’s from the Mie prefecture. Only three students from class A live further away, and all of them officially listed apartments in town that fit the school’s guidelines. She has a flip phone and unlike the people who carry them because they love retro tech, she doesn’t show it off. Also, I saw the group you left with. Yaoyorozu carries herself like someone with money and status, and it isn’t like her family name isn’t on all kinds of products, and she got in on a recommendation. Ashido strikes me as someone who would have just decked you instead of threatening you with it. Process of elimination means it has to be Uraraka.”

Kayama cocked her head in Aizawa’s direction. “He does have detective skills, you know.”

“She seems like a good girl,” All Might said, trying to take a different tact. “Surely….”

Aizawa sighed loudly. “All Might, I didn’t go to school with you, but I’ve been where Uraraka is right now.”

Yamada and Kayama both chimed in with, “Literally,” followed by added chuckles.

Aizawa sighed. When the giggles didn’t stop, he pointed to the door. “OK, that’s enough. Out. You, you, and you.” He pointed to Present Mic, Midnight, and All Might. “I’ll handle this. Just, let me talk to Izuku without the peanut gallery.” Reluctantly, the three left the room, although All Might protested a bit since he hadn’t taken part in the giggling.

Aizawa sighed. “OK, Problem Child. Sit. I rented that exact apartment when I was a student at UA. Hell, I still lived there when I joined the Might Agency. Nobody would live there if they had better options. It hurts being poor. It hurts having to couch surf, or skip meals, wear clothes from the recycle shops, or bundle up under too thin blankets knowing you can’t afford to turn up the heat. It hurts to be unable to afford a futon and having to make do with a sleeping bag to the point where you feel guilty sleeping on a real bed even a decade later because you had it easy compared to some.” Someone could have sneezed on the first floor, and they’d hear it. Then Aizawa whispered, “The only thing that hurts more is seeing the pity in someone else’s eyes. They lose respect for you, and you lose respect for yourself. You feel like….”

“Less.” Izuku said. “That’s what it all boils down to. It makes you feel… less.”

Aizawa nodded slowly. “Yeah, kid. Money is a bit like a quirk… most people just take it for granted, but when you don’t have it, people look down on you and, well, you start looking down on yourself. People want to help, well-meaning people you like, but there’s always the high cost for a free lunch, you pay for it in pride. A little or a lot, depending on how it is offered, and sometimes that’s a deal you’ve got no choice but to accept.”

Izuku looked down. “I think I get it now.”

Aizawa put his hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You’re trying to do a good thing, I know. Your heart is in the right place.”

Izuku raised his eyes, “You and All Might helped me! Why can’t I help Ochaco?”

Ochaco? Aizawa thought with amusement, but he kept it off his face. “Yeah, All Might helped you, but you put in a lot of hard work first. If we showed up that first day and All Might did whatever voodoo he had to do to give you his quirk, it would have caused more harm than good. You earned it, kid, and because of that, your quirk means more to you than it would to someone who grew up having a powerful quirk. I’ll start including that area in my patrols, and I’ll have a couple of my contacts in the underground hero community do the same. We’ll keep an eye on her to make sure she stays safe. Nezu’s also been considering something that might help without coming off as a handout. I’ll talk to him about it. Sound good?”

Izuku nodded. “Thanks, Mr. Aizawa!”

“That’s going to take some getting used to… Midoriya,” Aizawa replied with a chuckle.

Chapter Text

Ochaco finally stood up, wiping her tears off her cheeks with her hands. She sighed, seeing the tear stains on her uniform and two huge runs in her stockings, and, oh God, a soy sauce stain on her jacket and skirt! She ran to the bathroom, pulling the clothing off and scrubbing it with bar soap and water. While the skirt came clean easily, the light-colored jacket still showed an obvious and huge stain. She wanted to scream, or punch something, or punch something while screaming. She glanced around the tiny apartment, spotted the bento boxes, and put them away. She quickly got what little of her stash remained, only two thousand yen. She’d saved that for food this weekend, but thanks to the bento boxes she could repurpose it. Tights usually came in a two pack for twelve hundred yen, and she could do a load of laundry for a thousand yen, but she’d need detergent too. She needed a little more money.

She looked around the apartment, tapping her foot. Wait. She glanced at the enormous couch. The tenant before her left the big brown monstrosity when they moved out, and it proved far too big for the elderly landlady to move. Ochaco agreed to letting it stay and taking it with her when she moved out in exchange for a thousand yen off her rent every month. While it smelled fresh and didn’t have any stains, she wanted to spray it with disinfectant before sitting on it. Now she dove for it, throwing the cushions into the air where they hovered and spun. She moved to the right side of the couch, steeled her nerves, and pushed down on the base beside the arm. The springs compressed, revealing her, surprisingly clean, target. She found flashes of silver! Three one-hundred-yen coins – an unwilling gift from the earlier tenant. She found another two coins on the other side. Just barely enough.

Did she dare to press her luck? She pushed against the base of the couch closest to the back, exposing the gap, and her eyes widened in shock. She pulled out a rather large, ornate wooden box almost the size of a small shoe box, barely able to squeeze it out of the place she found it wedged. Foam bunched around it with duct tape, forming a small compartment the perfect size for the box while cushioning it so much that no one would notice if they sat on the couch. She set it aside for a moment. She found a few more coins, including a couple of five-hundred-yen coins, more than enough now. The box could wait, she decided, gathering her laundry, and heading to the door, catching herself at the last moment and putting on a t-shirt and some shorts before walking out into the street. She giggled at the thought of her new classmates’ hypothetical reactions to her walking outside in her bra and panties. Bakugo yelling at her to put some clothes on, seeing two more reasons to call her Round Cheeks. Mina would probably strip down in solidarity. Poor uptight Ida would wave his arms like crazy and lecture, while still managing to always keep one hand over his eyes. Yaomomo would blush from the scandal. And Izuku… that thought quickly sobered her and brought a blush of her own to her face.

She found a pack of tights on sale, a bottle of detergent, anti-stain spray, and a cheap can of spray disinfectant at the nearby convenience store and quickly made her way to the laundromat. With summer approaching, the sun set late, so several hours remained before dark. She loaded the washer and sat in one of the nearby chairs, pulling out her phone to check for any local grocery sales while she waited. The boy behind the counter appeared to be her age, and she caught him glancing at her a few times, but he quickly looked away each time. After the fifth time, she took a deep breath and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no!” he replied. “That was rude of me. I’ve just never seen you around before. Musutafu is big, but this part has a small-town feel, you know? Seeing a new face is rare. I’m sorry,” he said with a bow, banging his head on the counter. She tried to keep a straight face, but then he snorted. After a few moments, they both started laughing. “Sorry again,” he managed to say between chuckles, “and thank you for your patronage.”

She smiled. “I’m new in town. I just moved here for school, and I’m lucky there’s a convenience store and laundromat right by my apartment. I’m Ochaco Uraraka.” She bowed. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, me too! The nice to meet you part, I mean. I’m Nobuki Nakayubi, but everybody calls me Fingers.” He held up his hands, extending his fingers half a meter, while waving them in the air. “I’ve never figured out why,” he said with a wink. “Are you going to Aldera High? I’m starting there myself on Monday. Would be nice to know somebody.”

She shook her head. “Sorry, I’m at UA. Just started this morning.”

His face lit up. “Really? That’s awesome! One of my best friends from Aldera Middle School got into the Hero Course. Can you believe it? Only forty people out of the whole nation make it every year.”

She felt herself stand up a little straighter with pride. Nobody ever put it into perspective like that for her before. “Well, now you’ve met two of the forty.”

“Holy s… shiitake mushrooms! Congratulations! That’s so awesome. Maybe you know my buddy?”

“Well, there are two hero classes, but he might be in mine.”

“Yeah, he’s awesome. His name is Katsuki Bakugo,” he said, not noticing her eyes narrowing a bit. “Bakugo’s one of those people, you know. Everyone knew as soon as he got his quirk that he was going to be a hero. Explosions from the palms of his hands, and he’s never lost a fight. I remember he used to practice all the time, probably still does, but I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Ochaco nodded. She’d practiced for hours as a kid around the house or at construction sites when her parents weren’t around. Some of the construction workers even taught her some martial arts during their breaks, bragging to each other how she would do the Mie prefecture proud. But explosions? You couldn’t really practice those at home. “He’s in my class. Is there some place around here that allows public quirk training?” She could use a place to get extra practice.

“That’s awesome! Tell him ‘Freaky Fingers says hi.’ That’s what he always called me. As for public quirk training, nah, but there’s a huge stretch of woods about a kilometer that way. Lots of kids sneak in there to practice. And Dagobah beach, it used to be a literal dump, but someone cleaned it up and opened it back up to the public, so you can’t use it anymore. The school let us use our quirks on campus for a long time, but they cracked down a few years ago. I guess because of Deku,” he added, scratching the back of his head.

Her heart pounded in her chest. “D-deku?” she asked, turning away from him to move her clothes to the dryer. Thankfully the wash removed the stain, but she clenched her fists trying to keep her shaking hands under check. She tossed in a clean, dry towel with it, so it should only take a few minutes.

“Oh, yeah. Used to be a local kid before he got all arrogant and moved to Tokyo and some private school. Heard he ratted out the school after his mom got some big fancy job at a hero agency. Real name was Midori something or other. I only remember that because his hair was green. Everyone called him Deku, though, even some of the teachers picked it up. Bakugo came up with it based on his first name… I guess it’s also short for Dekunobou… you know, a good for nothing. Useless, worthless, fatherless, quirkless. His dad died in a villain attack when we were little, but the rumor is his dad was a villain and burned a guy alive with fire breath. Weird that both his parents had quirks, but he ended up quirkless.”

“If he was quirkless, why crack down because of him?”

“Oh, he was the designated training dummy slash punching bag! Bakugo beat him down God only knows how many times, couple of times a day some weeks. Wouldn’t even change with the rest of the class for gym because of all the scars he had. Don’t feel too bad for him though. He was a definite weirdo, carrying around these notebooks, full of stuff like the strengths and weaknesses of everyone’s quirks. I never looked inside one, but Bakugo did, and it pissed him off, so there’s no telling what kinds of creepy sh… stuff he had in there. Rumor was that it was like a Death Note, your name and then everything about your quirk and a ton of brutal ways to kill you. It’s no wonder people hated the guy. I mean, Hell, everybody took a swing at him at one point or another, me included. It wasn’t much fun though because he could barely fight back. Hell, some of the girls were downright brutal, but he’d just stand there and take it from them. With the guys he’d at least put up a little struggle to keep it interesting. I mostly just teased him and stuff, harmless pranks like leaving messages on his desk in sharpie, tearing up his homework, leaving thumb tacks in his shoes, maybe a spider lily on his desk a few times. Bakugo gave him relentless beatings though, usually with his quirk, and Bakugo’s explosions are the real deal. Even told him to drown himself in the koi pond, step in front of traffic, take a toaster into the bathtub, stuff like that. His last day at school, Bakugo told him to take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in his next life. Deku ran out of the room crying like a baby and never came back.” Fingers glanced up, seeing that his customer’s pretty face lost all color at some point during his stroll down memory lane.

Other than the hum of the dryer, silence filled the laundromat. Ochaco closed her eyes and took several breaths to keep from crying. Maybe Izuku understood her, and what it felt like to have absolutely nothing, better than she thought. Maybe they weren’t quite as even as she thought, either. However innocently, she took a cruel nickname from his childhood tormentors and rubbed it in his face, and he forgave her without a single harsh word. Then she got mad and threw a temper tantrum at him all because he saw her in need and tried to help, even after she cut him deeper than she’d probably ever know, and that stung her stupid ego. She kept a bit of her stubborn pride, but what price could she attach to it when weighed against a lifetime of abuse? Through all of childhood, no matter how little her family had, she could still hold on to hope, but that had been denied to Izuku for so long. She jumped a little when the dryer buzzed and saw Fingers flinch. She threw the door open and started shoving her clothes into her laundry bag. She’d find another laundromat, even if it meant walking five kilometers barefoot over broken glass both ways. “That sounds cruel and horrible, and you brag about it like it’s something to be proud of? You’re sick.”

“Oh, hey… I’m sorry. We were stupid kids, you know, and everyone was doing it. Looking back on it, I wish I hadn’t been such a jerk. I did some s… crappy things to him. But I’ve got to hand it to De… Midori, or whatever his name was. If people treated me like that, I’d probably have jumped. He may have been weird and quirkless, but he was also damn tough. You couldn’t keep him down, even with bruises and burns all over him, he always got up. Wonder whatever happened to him.”

She walked to the door, thinking that she might have jumped too. She looked back, locking his gaze with cold fury. “His name isn’t Deku, it’s Izuku Midoriya. He saved my life. He got first place in the UA Hero Course entrance exam. He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be, and people will remember him as one of the greatest heroes ever someday, long after you’re forgotten. So, congratulations, you’ve met three of the forty, but l wish I’d never met you. You disgust me and I hope you and Bakugo both burn in Hell.” She walked out angrily, slamming the door behind her.

Izuku sat shotgun in All Might’s pickup truck as the pro hero drove them to Tokyo. “Did you and Aizawa decide what to do about young Uraraka?” All Might asked.

Izuku shook his head. “He said that Nezu has some stuff in the works, and they’d talk. Other than that, I don’t know what I can do. He said it was like my quirk. If I’d just been given it on day one rather than earning it, I don’t know that I could properly appreciate it and I’d feel like… a phony. He’s right, I still feel like that sometimes!”

“Young Izuku,” All Might said, reaching over and ruffling the boy’s hair, “you’re far from a phony. You’re the real deal and will be an amazing hero. Centuries from now, school children will complain to their teachers that they want to skip over the boring section on Toshinori Yagi and get to the good stuff about Izuku Midoriya!”

Izuku laughed. “Not if I write the book on All Might. I don’t think I’ll ever match you.”

All Might grinned, “Oh, I don’t think you’ll match me, my boy. I think you’ll exceed me in every way.” He took a less teasing tone. “Seriously, your desire to help young Uraraka does you credit, but Aizawa is right, just as you were right about your middle school. A situation this delicate does not need the number one hero blundering his way into it and making things worse. Aizawa is a smart man, and he’s talking to Nezu, possibly the second smartest being I have ever met.”

“Shame we can’t get the number one, Sir Nighteye, in on this,” Izuku offered.

All Might hid a wince behind a powerful laugh. “Ha ha ha, no, young Izuku. Nighteye is in third place. You’re definitely top of this chart!”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “If I were so smart, I’d have figured something out already.”

“No, my boy, they just have an advantage you lack. Experience.”

Ochaco arrived back at her apartment, quickly hanging up her uniform to give it a chance to finish air drying. Cushions still floated in the air, occasionally bumping each other, and spinning off into new trajectories. Although they weighed a negligible amount compared to her limit, she’d never made an object weightless for this long, and she didn’t feel the slightest bit ill. She moved them back to the couch, releasing the hold of her quirk and rearranging them after a quick spray of disinfectant.

After a quick cry on the couch that did leave her feeling a little better, she sat down at her table on a threadbare cushion and took the ornate wooden box into her hands, slowly turning it over to inspect it. The intricate carving displayed scenes of clouds, cats playing with a ribbon of some kind, the moon and stars, and musical notes. She’d never seen a box like this, obviously hand carved with great skill and care. A raised section shaped like a staff rested on one of the clouds, and when she ran her fingers over it, it moved slightly. Pushing on the raised section, it slid in easily with a soft click of wood against wood, and one of the sides raised. She lifted the lid off carefully, almost afraid of what she would find. She didn’t expect to find a pair of yellow goggles, a crumpled business card from Might Incorporated of all places, and six stacks of ten-thousand-yen bills.

She counted them out five times. One hundred of them per stack. Six million yen. Ochaco Uraraka never held this much money in her life. A third of this could cover all three years of her living expenses with over six hundred thousand to spare, saving her parents sixty-five thousand yen a month. The rest she could send to her parents, helping them immensely. She could buy an honest to God smart phone and the first new school uniform of her life. She could buy a futon thicker than a folded-up towel. She could buy an actual warm blanket thicker than a sheet. She could buy a phone, uniform, a futon, a blanket, take off her clothes and roll around naked in the rest of the money. So, she thought idly, this is what a nervous breakdown feels like.

She slapped herself a few times to calm down, only to make a high-pitched squeak when she realized that she just slapped herself with a million yen. She walked to the laundromat with this box just sitting here! Anyone could have stolen her precious… stolen… box. She stole it from whoever left it behind. Well, she didn’t steal it, but if she just kept it, it would be the same thing. She put everything back in the box and returned it to the spot hidden in the couch.

She left the apartment, carefully locking it and walking to the apartment two doors down from hers, knocking on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal a tiny lady with grey hair. She looked up at the girl at her door. “The tea girl from one-oh-three, right? Are you settling in all right, dear? Any problems?”

Ochaco waved her hand. “Oh, no problems, Mrs. Urashima. I just… well, that couch is much nicer than I thought. Much, much nicer. I wondered if you knew how to get in contact with the previous tenant. Maybe they couldn’t move it themselves and I could help them?”

Mrs. Urashima shook her head. “Well, the room’s been empty for a few years. People aren’t exactly beating down my door and I’m hoping to sell the place. I only rented to you because you’re going to UA, so you won’t be here long term, three years at most. I’m afraid that couch has been in that room for at least ten years, and he moved out… must have been seven years ago. The one who brought it in here had three people helping him, but that must have been twelve years ago. Quiet boy, I remember that, but all three of his friends made up for that. He was a bit shifty looking, but a good boy. He went to your school.” She patted Ochaco’s hand. “I’m sorry, dear. You know I don’t keep records, just cash month to month!”

“It’s no big deal. Thanks for your time.” Ochaco bowed.

“You’re a good girl.” She looked around to make sure they were alone and handed Ochaco a thousand-yen bill. “Let’s just call it forty thousand a month. Easier to remember than forty-one,” she said with a wink and shut the door.

Ochaco stood there for a minute. “Wait, what?”

While Ochaco experienced a crisis, Izuku and Toshinori arrived back at the Midoriya home, regaling Inko with tales of their first day at school. While All Might already knew the teachers, having worked with most of them either on the field or for charity, Izuku met several new people today and even got to see their quirks in action. Most of dinner consisted of Izuku talking while his mother and mentor ate, although Izuku also managed to finish two servings. After the meal, they moved to the living room, and Izuku explained the situation with Ochaco.

“Oh, sweetie,” Inko said. “I know you want to help, but this is something you’ll have to let her handle. Neither my family nor your father’s family were well off, so I know what she’s experiencing. Your father and I lived in an old apartment like that when we got married. Not on Kabukicho, but in the same part of town. We moved shortly before you were born. Just be ready. Once she knows you better, she might let you help, but you’ve got to respect her independence.”

“I know, Mom.” Izuku grinned. “I love our house here, but it would be so much easier from the old house. I could go check on her, and the commute wouldn’t be as bad.” All Might cocked his head to the side at that but didn’t say anything. Izuku stretched and yawned. “Speaking of which, five in the morning comes early. I think I’m going to get some sleep.” He kissed his mother’s check and bowed to his mentor. “Good night, Mom. Good night, All Might.”

Both wished the boy good night, and he went upstairs almost too fast for the eye to see. Inko turned to All Might. “He’s gotten faster again.”

All Might nodded. “I don’t think he even notices sometimes. At this rate he’ll seem like he’s teleporting by this time next year, if not sooner. He’s a good boy.” All Might stood. “Thank you again for dinner.”

Chapter Text

All Might returned home, taking a few moments to look around. A few years ago, he considered this nothing more than a house to him, full of boxes of things given to him over the years, but never bothered to look at. Then, his fortunes changed for the better, and he re-met Inko and young Izuku. Before they moved in next door, he spent most nights at his apartment in Might Tower. After, he found reasons to return to his house. All Might needed little sleep, even after passing One For All to his successor, the power that flowed through his veins refreshed him after a short nap. With little to do, he began sorting through those boxes, setting aside awards and mementos, unsure what to do with them. Young Izuku recommended setting up bookcases to display the most meaningful ones, almost equally split between official awards and home-made ones sent in by people All Might rescued. Each step through the house both humbled him and filled him with pride, but the house stayed a house.

On June 10^th, the year after the Midoriyas moved next door, that all changed. Toshinori went on a patrol since Aizawa trained Izuku that day. He opened the door to small explosions of confetti and yells of “surprise” and “happy birthday.” He chuckled at the memory since he nearly threw a punch strong enough to devastate the entire neighborhood. Somehow, Izuku found out Toshinori’s birthday and arranged for a surprise party. All his fellow heroes from the Might Agency attended, including several others. Many would leave after a few hours for patrol, covering for other heroes to stop by. Of his friends, only Naomasa Tsukauchi and Mirai Sasaki didn’t make it, as Izuku knew nothing about Tsukauchi yet and Mirai declined, claiming a case required his attention. The feud between Mirai and All Might over Izuku’s status as successor was the real reason, but at least Mirai showed enough discretion not to tell Young Izuku that. Honestly, Toshinori’s emotions overwhelmed him. The last time he celebrated a birthday, Nana baked him a cake. The word terrible summed up his master’s cooking. She regarded measurements as advice (meh, close enough) and never fully grasped how to crack an egg (the shells add character, Toshi! Gives it a bit of a surprise crunch!). He still ate every bite.

And now this boy… his boy… somehow gave him just a tiny bit of his childhood back. Many of his friends gave him gifts that day, mostly merchandise of their own, but he treasured them all. Except for Aizawa and Izuku, of course, since neither of them had their own merch. Aizawa handed him a small cactus in a black pot with a white cloth ribbon wrapped loosely around the base of the plant without a word, much to Toshinori’s booming laughter. It still sat in a brightly lit corner, one of his most prized possessions.

The gift from Izuku and Inko marked the highlight of the evening though. After everyone else left, they cautiously approached him with a large flat bundle. Toshinori knew his successor to be a talented sketch artist from his glimpses of the boy’s hero analysis journals, but Izuku’s artistic skills outstripped anything Toshinori imagined. He never told Izuku about Nana during their training, but the boy evidently learned of her somehow and managed to find pictures of her for reference. When he opened his gift, he found a beautifully stylized and professionally framed painting of Nana in her costume flying above a city, her hand held behind her and a young Toshinori in his first costume, appearing to reach for his master and grasp her hand. Both figures shared wide smiles, as if to say, “We are here!”

To his shame, his control did slip, and he dropped the painting, fortunately caught by Inko’s quirk. His hand went to his mouth, and tears spilled out. The boy panicked, of course. “Holy whoa, All Might… I’m so sorry. Um, she was a hero from the generation before yours. I couldn’t find a lot about her, but she seemed like someone that might have inspired you. I thought you’d like it. I… don’t know what to say.” His own tears reflected in Izuku’s face.

Toshinori pulled him into a hug, being especially careful not to crush this precious boy. “I do, young Izuku. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is the second greatest gift I’ve ever received.”

Izuku shuddered in his grasp. “I know… nothing could measure up to One For All.”

Toshinori shook his head. “No, my boy. One For All is a distant third. The greatest gift I’ve received is from your mother. She allowed me to help raise you as my successor. Thank you, both of you.” He gently pulled Inko into the hug. “You see, the woman you painted was my mentor. She was like a mother to me, and I love you both with all I have, every bit as much as I loved her.”

The next day, Toshinori hung the painting in his living room above the fireplace, visible from anywhere in the room. He spoke to Inko, and found she’d saved many of Izuku’s art projects over the years. Although he treasured the opportunity to look at all Izuku’s paintings and sketches, one stood out above all the others to Toshinori. Upon seeing it, Toshinori instantly recognized the inspiration for his gift. Toshinori himself occupied Nana’s place in this painting, wearing his young age costume, with Izuku reaching out to him wearing an original costume patterned loosely after All Might’s first costume. Both wore blinding smiles. Inko willingly brought it to Might Tower, allowing Toshinori to have two copies made into glossy posters that he had framed. One hung in his private study, and the other waited, carefully wrapped up as a gift for Izuku’s hero debut.

His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts of the past and future. The call came into his second line, the one for hero recruitment, but he hadn’t handed out any cards in months. Those who joined the Might Agency tended to both jump at the offer and stay for quite some time, and the agency could afford selectiveness in their recruitment. Perhaps a wrong number, but better safe than sorry. He pressed the “accept call” button.

Ochaco Uraraka paced her apartment, the box sitting on the table accusingly. She’d got it out and paced. Then put it back and paced. Then got it out, opened it, and paced. Finally, her eyes settled on the crumpled business card sitting on top of the goggles and the money. So much money.

Should she call? Should she not call? She paced some more. She sat down on the cushion at the table, staring at the box. Her phone chirped, marking eight in the evening. She flipped her phone open. If she didn’t do this, she’d be up pacing all night, and she’d run a marathon earlier today. Screw it. She dialed the number.

The line rang for a few moments, and she almost hung up before hearing a click. “Might Incorporated,” the voice said, “Toshinori Yagi speaking. May I ask who is calling?”

“Oh, yes! Yes, um,” she hadn’t really thought this far. “I’m sorry to call so late.”

“Quite all right, miss. Since evil always lurks in the shadows, good must remain eternally vigilant. That is why ‘I am here,’ twenty-four hours a day!”

“Oh wow, you do a great All Might impersonation! Has anyone ever told you that?”

The voice chuckled. “Someone might have mentioned that to me once or twice. So, how can I help, miss…?”

As frazzled as the day left her, Ochaco missed the hint that the man on the phone wanted her name. “Well, I recently rented an apartment and the previous tenant left behind a couch. Um, not an evil lurking couch or anything, just a big old brown couch. And I spilled soy sauce on my new uniform, and my stockings had runs, and I almost had enough money, but not quite, so I went crevice crawling for couch change, you know, and I’m sorry, I’ve had a really stressful day and I threatened to hit the boy I might have a crush on because he just tried to be nice and worried about me, and I’m an idiot and I ramble when I’m confused or scared or nervous, and I’m all three right now and I found this box. Sorry.”

“Wait, you said you’re scared? Do you need help, miss…?”

“No!” She blinked. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know what to do. I’m half-confused, half-scared, and half-nervous, and I know that’s three halves, I math good, you know, but that’s why I feel like I’m going to explode. The ‘I math good’ thing was a joke. I mean I’m not in danger, but there’s this box that was hidden inside the couch.”

“Did you open the box, miss…?”

“Of course, I opened the box,” she replied. “That’s what boxes are for, to open, right? Like buttons. I push buttons, even if I don’t know what they do. Nobody would have a button if it wasn’t supposed to be pushed, would they?”

Only silence came over the line for a few moments, as if the person on the other end took notes or drew a diagram while trying to figure out Ochaco’s stream of consciousness. Finally, he said, “I suppose not. But unless there is a button you pressed, let’s get back to the box. Is that all right, miss…?”

“Oh, of course, sorry,” she said, “there’s no button. Well, there is, but it’s on the box. That’s how I opened it. I’m sorry, I’m freaking out. I feel like I’m missing something, but I’m calling about the box.”

“Take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and release. And again,” the voice said, breathing with her for a few moments, and it did help her calm down some. Mr. Yagi’s deep voice soothed her; she could swear she heard it somewhere before. “Good, now what was in the box, miss…?”

“Well, obviously there was a card with this number on it. I mean, duh, how else would I even have this number? That was strange because this apartment is a dump. Do you know why someone living in a dump would have a card from All Might’s company? No, don’t answer that. That’s probably top-secret hero stuff, and I’m just a student. And there are these weird yellow goggles. I swear I’ve seen them somewhere before, but my mind is so freaked out I can’t remember where. Oh!” Her voice dropped to a whisper, “and the _money.”

“Money, miss…?”

“Yes! The _money. A lot of _money. A mind-boggling huge amount of _money. More _money than I’ve ever held in my life.” She almost shouted every word, but it dropped to a whisper every time she said “money.”

“How much money, miss…?”

Subconsciously, she looked around just to make sure she was alone. “_{Six million yen},” she whispered. “I mean, it would help so much, and it was just hidden in the couch. I mean in the box. The _money was hidden in the box and the box was hidden in the couch. And the _money would really help, but that would be stealing! I didn’t steal it. I don’t want to steal it, even if it would help. Do you know whose it is?”

“Miss, I don’t even know who you are.”

Suddenly all the missed hints and prompts crashed into her at once, and Ochaco’s face turned a bright red that could have guided Santa’s sleigh in case of a reindeer strike. “Oh, I’m so sorry. My name is Ochaco Uraraka.”

Silence ruled the line for several seconds. In her paranoid state, Ochaco imagined a team of Men in Black tracing the call. Performing background checks and looking up her criminal history, even though she knew she didn’t have one. She still carried the sense of guilt that poverty brings, because sometimes being poor and being good do not coexist well, but Ochaco and her parents always chose good, making the poverty even harder at times. The same guilt that made her instinctively think they’re going to lock me up when a news report said, “Police are on the lookout for a young woman suspected of a crime.” Even though she’d never committed a crime, part of her said you’re guilty of something.

After what felt like an eternity, the voice said, “and you’re located at Seventeen Kabukicho, apartment one-oh-three in Musutafu, right?”

Ochaco gasped. They did trace the call! “I didn’t do anything! I told you, I didn’t steal it! I just found the box! I called you! I’m not a criminal, I swear!” she protested, breaking into sobs.

“No, no, young Uraraka! You’ve done nothing wrong. I’m your teacher.”

What? He said his name was Yagi. “You’re not Mr. Aizawa.”

“No, I’m not. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I’m your Heroics teacher, All Might.”

Ochaco fell back off the cushion with a yelp, banging her head on the floor. “All Might! How did you know my address? I didn’t give it to the school.” Ochaco’s frayed nerves slipped ever closer to a full-blown panic attack.

“Well, yes, but one of your classmates is my neighbor, and he told me that you had an apartment. He mentioned the address, and I have an excellent memory for that sort of thing,” he said, doing his best to placate her. Quickly he added, “I believe he wanted my help to convince his mother to let him get an apartment in Musutafu as well.” Say what you want about All Might, but he wasn’t just the world’s number one hero, he was a Hell of a wingman, even if he did fumble a bit and let it slip that Izuku had given him young Uraraka's address. She seemed too frazzled to have made the connection.

Earlier today, she’d have been angry at Izuku for telling a teacher, but after what she’d learned of Izuku’s past and the fact that she was on the phone with All Might discussing a box full of (stolen!) money, she decided that didn’t even move the needle. What did move the needle? She’d admitted to All Might that she had a crush on Izuku, and prayed he’d somehow missed that part in all her rambling. She banged her head on the floor a few times trying to realign the misfiring neurons in what was left of her brain. “So, what should I do?”

“Young Uraraka, do you feel safe there?”

“Not really,” she whispered. “Not after finding this and freaking out. I’ll be fine, though. Should I just bring it to school Monday?”

“I’ll come get you. You can stay at Might Tower in one of the guest apartments for the weekend, there are always at least two heroes in the building. You can stay at my home. Or, if you would prefer, I’m sure young Izuku Midoriya’s mother has a guest room, and I live right next door. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

She took a deep breath, “I’d… like to stay with Izuku, please.”

All Might’s eyebrow rose at her use of young Izuku’s first name, but he could save any teasing for later when she felt less distraught. He did look forward to it. “Of course. I will make the arrangements. Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama, also known as Midnight, will be there in a few minutes, they are both on patrol in the area. They’ll wait with you while I drive to get you. Please pack enough clothes for the weekend and your school things for Monday. Alright?”

“Thank you so much.”

After hanging up the phone, Toshinori sent a quick message to Aizawa and Kayama. Friday nights tended to be busy for underground heroes, but the two heroes worried about their student enough to alter their patrol routes to include her neighborhood. He smiled at receiving positive responses before he could even walk out the door.

Once in his pickup truck and on his way to Musutafu, he called Inko Midoriya through the truck’s Bluetooth link. Thankfully, she picked up the phone right away. “Toshinori, is everything okay? You could have just come over.”

“I’m afraid I’m on my way to Musutafu. One of Izuku’s classmates, the young Uraraka he spoke about at dinner, got a bit of a scare.”

Inko Midoriya devoted herself to her son, and motherhood wrote itself into her soul long ago. “Oh no, the poor thing. Is she alright? Is there anything I can do?”

All Might smiled fondly, even if Inko couldn’t see it. “She should be fine. Aizawa is already watching the apartment from outside and Kayama should arrive soon. She seemed really frightened and I offered to let her stay at one of the tower’s apartments, or my home, or, and I hope you’ll forgive the presumption, your guest room for the weekend.”

“Of course, she’s welcome here!”

“Well, she did say she’d prefer to stay with…” he paused, metaphorically wiggling his eyebrows, “Izuku.”

“He’s got his father’s awkward charm,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ll have everything ready. Drive safe.”

“Thank you, Inko,” All Might said, turning his attention back to the road.

Inko Midoriya only realized after she hung up the call with All Might that their only furnished guest room happened to be upstairs, directly across from Izuku’s room. She shrugged to herself. They were responsible hero students. What could possibly go wrong?

Shota Aizawa watched the apartment carefully from a nearby rooftop. Anyone who approached while looking suspicious would find themselves gently, or firmly, dissuaded from getting close, but no one bothered. Honestly, you’d probably need a telescope to spot the odds of anything happening due to their remoteness, but one of his students felt scared. If anyone tried to threaten her tonight, he would strike them down with the fury of God’s own thunder. He sensed a familiar presence behind him.

“You could have gone to the door. She’d feel better,” Kayama said, gently chiding him.

He sighed. “She’s known me a day, and I’m not the most approachable of people. You’re more of a people person, and this way, we avoid any potential issues of inappropriate behavior.” He started to turn to give Midnight a grin, but a glimpse of movement stopped him. Someone approached Uraraka’s door. “What the hell?”

The two heroes watched as a dark-haired teen wearing a do-rag approached Uraraka’s door. The teen stared at the door for a few moments and then started to walk away, but then turned and started to approach the door quickly, raising his fist. “Wait, Sho…” Midnight started, but Eraserhead leaped from the rooftop, using his capture weapon to swing from a streetlight and land behind the teen.

Before the teen could even say anything, Aizawa placed his hand over the teen’s mouth and dragged him away from the door. “If you even flinch like you’re about to struggle, punk,” Aizawa hissed, “you’ll be eating your meals with a damn straw for a month. Understand?” The teen froze, and then cautiously nodded his head. “Good. I’m going to take my hand away, and we’re going to have a nice, quick, and quiet conversation, right?” The kid nodded again.

Aizawa slowly removed his hand as Midnight approached. “Look, man, I don’t want any trouble!”

“Quiet, remember?” Aizawa whispered. “Now, why were you about to knock on that door?”

“Can’t I just, you know, go?” the teen asked with a lowered voice. He finally noticed the woman behind him. “Holy s… smokes, Midnight! Are you a hero?”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “I’m asking the questions. You. Door. Why?”

The teen shrank in on himself. “I… I work at my parent’s laundromat,” and he pointed toward the now closed establishment. “She came in earlier and I… I guess I offended her. I wanted to apologize, I guess, maybe.”

Midnight, ever the diplomatic one, smiled and put her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Now isn’t a good time, but I can pass her a short message if you want.”

“Oh, I’m… yes, please. Just tell her Fingers said ‘you’re right and I was a complete jerk. I’m sorry.’” He looked up hopefully. “Can I go?” At her nod, the boy turned and fled as if Hell were two steps behind him.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “I get the feeling this class is going to give me gray hair.” He strode to the door of his old apartment, raising his hand to knock. “Let’s get this over with.”

Chapter Text

Ochaco Uraraka calmed down quite a bit after her call with All Might. Focusing on packing a bag for the weekend helped take her mind off the whole thing, but the events of today still left her nerves shot. At the loud knock on her door, she accidently activated her quirk and bumped her head on the ceiling. By the time she got back to the floor, a familiar voice called out, “Uraraka, it’s your teacher, Mr. Aizawa. I’m here with another UA teacher, Ms. Kayama. Are you okay?”

She ran for the door, quickly opening each of the deadbolts and throwing the door open. She practically launched herself at Mr. Aizawa, who endured her hug with as much grace as the man could endure any display of affection. Ms. Kayama chuckled and gently pulled the girl into a hug. “Let’s not make his head explode. Grumpy Cat is his spirit animal.”

Uraraka recovered a bit with a watery laugh. “Please, come in,” she said to the teachers, moving aside so they could enter.

Both teachers glanced around the apartment, and then Midnight let out a squeal. “Big Brown!” She jumped on the huge couch, sighing as the soft cushions seemed to mold around her curves. “Can you believe she’s still here, Sho? I missed you so much, baby… my one true love.”

“Sho?” Uraraka asked.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “She means me. Shota Aizawa, hence ‘Sho.’ In case I call her ‘Nem,’ she’s Nemuri Kayama, also known as Midnight, but we’re supposed to be professionals. She’s one of your teachers, so she’ll be ‘Ms. Kayama’ for you,” he explained, but with a soft voice. He turned to Midnight. “Don’t be rude to the kid.”

Kayama pouted. “You don’t mind me getting reacquainted with Big Brown again, do you, baby girl?”

Uraraka shook her head. “All Might said he was going to call you two. I found a box with a lot of,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “_money.”

Aizawa nodded. “Why didn’t you just follow the instructions on the card?”

“Instructions?” the girl asked. “The card just had a number for Might Incorporated. It didn’t have anything on the back. I called though!”

“No, the other card,” he said, shaking his head. “May I see the box?” She nodded, pointing toward her low table and the only pillow in the entire apartment. He carefully avoided stepping on it and picked the box up from the table. Reverently, he took the goggles out of the box and then flipped it over. The six stacks of money hit the table, followed by a clink as a piece of thin cardboard with a coin taped to it hit the table. He picked it up and handed it to her. “I’m an idiot. I put it in upside down. Looked like the bottom. Read it.”

She glanced at the piece of paper and read, “If found, please return to Shota Aizawa via Might Incorporated. Keep the money except for the coin as a reward.” She gasped, “That’s….”

He nodded toward the money, “Yours now. Technically it’s all yours, since I abandoned it when I moved out, but I would like to have the box, goggles, and coin back if you don’t mind, Uraraka.”

“Big softie,” Kayama called out, rolling around on the couch like a cat in a patch of catnip. At the sudden silence, she grinned. “I was talking about the couch, not the grouch.”

Uraraka shook her head. “This is… I can’t keep this. It wouldn’t be right!”

Aizawa sighed, walked over to the couch, and pushed Kayama onto one of the three large cushions. He sat on the middle one and gestured toward the last one. Uraraka sat down nervously on the couch, for the first time she realized. The couch did feel incredibly soft. “So, I left the couch, with the box hidden inside it, when I moved out of this apartment years ago. The goggles belonged to a friend of mine from school who passed away. The coin was all I had left from my first paycheck as a hero after paying the back rent I owed. The box was a gift from his family. I was going through a rough place at the time. As for the money, it was mine, from before I got my hero license. I promised myself I’d never touch it again because it’s not exactly something I’m proud of. So, you can take it, Uraraka; it’s not stolen, and no one was hurt because of it. Kayama will if you don’t, but she’ll just spend it on booze and Mexican food, and if you think staying awake in class is tough sometimes, wait until you have art history on a Wednesday. Anyone else who found it would be in the same place and might not be nice enough to give me the other stuff back, so just think of it like a reward, got it, kid? The other things are worth far more than that to me.” He glanced over at the shaking girl; tears started welling in her eyes. He stood up and pushed Kayama toward her. Kayama held Uraraka, gently running her fingers through the girl’s hair.

“That’s more than my parents make in a year! In two years! I can’t just steal it,” she cried.

Aizawa kneeled in front of her. “Kid, look at me.” She raised her teary eyes to look at her teacher. “I know you don’t know me well yet, but you can keep it. You’re not stealing it. It’s my money and I swore I’d never touch it again. I know what you’re feeling, trust me. I lived in this very room for years, and I left it hoping that someone who needed it would find it. That ended up being you. Even ten thousand yen more a month would let you get an apartment in an area of Musutafu that UA would approve, so you could give half of it to your parents and the rest would cover a nice apartment for your entire time at UA. Just… put it in your bank account and think about it for at least a week. If you still can’t accept it, then come talk to me and we’ll work something out, like a work study or something. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her voice sounding small and scared in the room. They all jumped a little when someone knocked on the door. Uraraka got up and wiped her eyes. Then, flanked by two pro heroes, approached the door and looked through the peephole. She turned to Mr. Aizawa and whispered, “Um, all I see are stripes and a button. I think it’s a shirt.”

He rolled his eyes and called out, “That you, Yagi?”

“Er, yes. _{I am here}.”

All Might and Midnight spent a few minutes calming Uraraka down further, but the presence alone of the number one hero worked wonders. Like most people meeting him for the first time, Uraraka felt star-struck and in awe of the mountain of a man. While they did, Aizawa took a moment to look around the apartment.

Honestly, not much changed since the day he moved out. Big Brown still sat in the exact same place, taking up most of the space in the room. The hole he punched in the drywall after one particularly rough patrol remained, even though he gave the landlady money to fix it when he moved out. He noted the lack of a dresser, a luxury he couldn’t afford either when he lived here, two laundry baskets from a Daiso shop serving instead. A futon that barely ranked above a blanket, a blanket that barely rated above a sheet, and a pillow that you could only call thin if it magically gained twice the padding. Uraraka had as much as he did when he lived here, or maybe he should say as little. Oh, evidently someone asked him a question. “Sorry, got lost in memories.”

Kayama nodded sadly. “I said that if it’s alright with you, I can ride back to Tokyo with All Might and Uraraka since my shift is almost over anyway. I’ll just sleep at the tower since I’m going to Tensei’s party tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” Aizawa said. “You can ride back with Mic and me tomorrow. He’s driving us up for the party.” He turned to Uraraka. “Take the money with you. You’ll be safe with All Might and Midnight, and then with the Midoriya family. Izuku, um, Midoriya can show you where a branch of your bank is in Tokyo, or if you don’t have one you can set up an account with one. Seriously, kid, keep the money if you don’t mind me taking the rest of the stuff. People offer rewards for returned items all the time.”

Very quietly, Uraraka said, “Okay.”

“Excellent,” All Might said, clapping his hands together and handing a set of keys to Midnight. “My truck is right out front and there’s plenty of room in the cab, so get yourselves situated. I’d like to talk to Eraserhead for a moment.” He walked out of the apartment and with one last look around, Eraserhead followed.

Once safely out of earshot, Aizawa asked softly, “So why did you want to talk to me?”

“That was a very kind thing you did, young Aizawa,” All Might replied. “I can reimburse you the money.”

Aizawa shook his head. “I didn’t tell the kid anything but the truth. Everybody has some hardship in their life, and her? I understand hers. I’ve been where she is, literally. She’s going to feel guilty about keeping the money, so, you know, tell her some stories about times someone tried to give you a reward… maybe times when you were starting out and accepted. Lie if you must, and we’ll call it even. She shouldn’t be feeling bad about this. I’m off the clock in an hour and I’m going to go talk to Nezu. Some punk almost knocked on her door when we got here. While he didn’t seem like too much trouble, I don’t want her staying here a second longer than she needs to.”

“You’re a good man, young Aizawa,” All Might intoned. “I did want to mention… there happens to be a five-bedroom house here in Musutafu owned by Might Incorporated, the one Young Izuku grew up in.”

“No way. The kid would flip out. I could barely get her to touch the money, she’s not going to just live in a house you hand her.”

“Yes, I see. However, if we could offer a room in it as subsidized housing, perhaps for what she’s paying now?”

Aizawa shook his head. “Let me talk to Nezu before you do anything crazy. She’s not going to accept renting an entire house for what she’s paying for this place without something earthshaking happening. You’d need other tenants and a responsible adult to act as landlord, preferably a woman to avoid any hint of impropriety. For now, let’s just butt out and focus on her having a weekend to calm down after her panic attack before we spring something else on her, okay?”

“Of course,” All Might nodded, turning to return to his truck. “Be safe on the rest of your patrol, young Aizawa.” However, he still thought the safe house could solve the entire issue.

The drive from Musutafu to Tokyo took at least an hour normally. To his eternal regret, All Might agreed to let Midnight to drive, cutting that time in half. Not that she didn’t know how, as all heroes learned to drive all manner of vehicles during their third year. Power Loader taught that course, since earning their driver’s license was a prerequisite for the full pro hero license exam. The man even taught young Kayama back when she attended UA as a student. Higari, All Might thought, has the patience of a saint.

All Might knew himself to be nigh indestructible. That did little to reassure him though, since Kayama seemed to view traffic laws as something that happened to other people. She changed lanes without warning to pass any car that struck her fancy, squeezing the pickup truck through spaces that Toshinori doubted a compact car would fit through, much less a crew cab pickup with an extended bed. Heaven forbid another driver use their horn to signal her, triggering a tirade of language that young Uraraka absolutely should not hear. For her part, young Uraraka giggled every time this happened. That it happened multiple times only made things worse.

All Might talked to Uraraka at length, telling her stories from his days as a young hero to take his eyes and mind off the road. Silently, he prayed Kayama didn’t share in this distraction. “Oh yes, young Uraraka. I received quite a few rewards back in my day. They’re frowned upon typically, but so long as they’re unsolicited, they are acceptable. Heroes aren’t mercenaries, after all. I remember one time… watch that car… that I helped a lady get her cat out of a tree. It took a few seconds of my time, but she insisted that I take a box of homemade cookies and a rather obscene amount of money, even more than you found tonight. Anyone taller than one hundred eighty centimeters could have done it. The poor cat was just barely out of her reach!”

Uraraka’s eyes were wide. “So, you took it?”

All Might nodded. “I did. I was fresh out of school and hadn’t even made my proper debut yet. As with any job, you’re paid very little just starting out, but as you gain more experience and recognition, you earn more. We’re allowed to supplement our income with merchandising and doing odd jobs, such as security for major events. Rewards are allowed, too, so long as it is free of binding conditions. It still happens, although these days I ask them to give it to charity instead.”

“So, I can really keep it?” She still looked doubtful.

Kayama piped in, “Grumpy wasn’t lying. If you don’t take it, I will. It’s not my story to tell, but he’ll never touch it. He swore on the grave of a friend of ours. I think O… our friend would have told us to have a big party, but Sho… I mean, Mr. Aizawa, he makes up his mind sometimes and won’t budge. I honestly knew it was there, but he’d be mad if I took it, so I left it. Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma, but you found it for a reason.”

“Thank you both,” she said quietly.

“Ah, we’re almost there,” All Might said. “I’ll text Mrs. Midoriya and Aizawa to let them know.”

Aizawa looked at his phone and saw the message, “Safe and sound. Never letting young Kayama drive ever again. Young Uraraka much more at ease,” flash on his phone and suppressed a grin. He moved over the rooftops and landed in front of UA, the barrier recognizing him to allow access. He entered the dark main building and took the elevator to the fourteenth floor to the sounds of The Sands of Iwo Jima.

Once the elevator let him out, he made his way to the teacher’s lounge, dropping off the box in his small private office. Sitting down with a grunt, he unlocked his PC and pulled up Uraraka’s record. He studied the details for a few minutes. In the quirk apprehension test, she finished fourth behind Tenya, fifth if using Izuku’s quirk data, mostly based on the ball throw and running a marathon, but good scores overall. Her elementary and middle school grades showed a strong but not exceptional student. He also noted the hardship grant to cover tuition and books and cursed the HPSC again for not including a stipend for food and living expense, something trivial to them, but could make a world of difference for low-income students. He sent a quick email to Lunch Rush asking that he add Uraraka to his list of “helpers,” student who he would ask to take food home because he “accidentally” made too much, and they’d really be doing him a favor. Especially on Fridays and Saturdays. By unspoken agreement among many on the teachers, Lunch Rush always went overboard on the weekends.

Shota Aizawa would be in Hell instructing demons on ice skating before one of his students went hungry.

A look at her family history revealed her parents ran their own company, Uraraka Construction, in the Mie Prefecture. A quick internet search revealed a highly recommended company that handled large and small projects regularly and on time, but always seemed to struggle.

Through osmosis, he learned quite a bit about the construction field from Maijima over the years. Construction companies tended to become huge through bribes and kickbacks or struggled if their owners remained honest. Those in the second category either lucked out and got a huge project that made their reputation in the field or folded. Uraraka Construction seemed constantly on the verge of folding.

He received a notification for a new email and checked it. From Nezu, of course, letting him know that the principal would see him now if he wanted. He stood up, popped his back, and headed to meet his boss.

Aizawa kept his pace as he walked, not bothering to knock or reach for the doorknob, since he knew the door would swing open at the exact moment to avoid him slamming into it. Nezu had already set out tea for himself and coffee for Aizawa. “Good evening, Aizawa!” Nezu enthused. “Delightful to see you as always. I considered turning in early, but I caught some catnaps with each hemisphere earlier today, so I’ll be up for a while.” Unlike most creatures on Earth, Nezu’s brain could sleep one hemisphere at a time, while the other hemisphere remained active, and each side only needed two hours per day. This led to three unique experiences when dealing with the small mammal. When the right brain slept, Nezu acted on cold, ruthless logic, tending toward judgmental actions. When the left brain slept, you would find him warm and friendly, full of compassion and a bit of a practical joker, but those two conditions proved rare. Most of the time, Nezu remained one of the scariest intellects on the planet with a deep understanding of both the rational and creative. “How is your new class?”

“They seem to be a good bunch,” Aizawa replied. “I’ll need to keep an eye on a couple of them. Izuku seems to already be moving into a leadership role without even realizing it. He did bring a situation to my attention, and that’s why I’m here.”

Nezu nodded, “This would be Ms. Uraraka’s living conditions? I fear that my hearing is far too sharp at times, and I heard some of your discussion earlier, completely unintentional, I assure you.”

Aizawa waved his hand. “I don’t say anything I don’t mind being heard. It saves time, honestly. You’ve looked at her records?”

Nezu looked mildly offended. “I’ve looked at all of our student’s records. I trust we’re discussing the dormitory proposal?”

Aizawa nodded. “It would be a big help for her and several, no, all of the students. Many of them live a great distance from the school. A few students live two or more hours away by train, and that long a commute isn’t healthy for anyone, much less teens. Uraraka is just an example. Her options were a monthly rail pass that her family couldn’t afford or an apartment in a dangerous part of town that they can barely afford. The dormitories would solve this problem.”

“Unfortunately, the Department of Education and HPSC are at odds on this issue. The Department of Education insists that if we build the dormitories, we hire a construction company to do so, but the HPSC insists that between Cementoss and Power Loader that we can construct them ourselves and refuses to provide funding.” Nezu shook his head. “Student dormitories would be ideal, but I fear that we would deplete other portions of the budget building them.”

“What about a fundraiser focused on our alumni? Over forty of the top fifty attended UA, and we never tap that resource other than to name drop them in promotional material. We could use Yagi. God knows that Endeavor will donate twice whatever Yagi gives, just out of spite. The two of them alone would get us halfway to the goal.”

“That may be,” Nezu admitted, “but we would have to find a construction company beyond reproach.”

“Uraraka Construction would be perfect, even if they operate out of Mie.” Aizawa asked. “They’ve done exemplary work, on time and under budget, on numerous projects of this scale, and they’d be wealthy if they were corrupt.”

“Some might argue that hiring them amounts to nepotism.”

“Let them,” Aizawa said, banging his fist on the coffee table. “Who better to make sure that the dorms are high quality than the parents of a student who will be living in them?”

“This may not be the time, and they will take several months to complete,” Nezu said, diplomatically.

“No, now is the perfect time. I’m bringing this up in the staff meeting Monday.”

Nezu sighed, “Well, if you insist. I will do what I can to support you. Also, please consider a pilot program in your proposal. A handful of students, perhaps. We could point to that when trying to sell this to the alumni.”

“Good,” Aizawa said, draining his cup of coffee. “Thank you, sir.”

“My pleasure,” Nezu said, and meant it. He watched Aizawa storm out of the room, a man on a mission. As soon as the door closed, Nezu chuckled to himself. The mysterious mammal hero knew All Might considered Aizawa to be a cactus, and to a certain degree Nezu agreed with that assessment. Nezu personally considered the stoic teacher to be a self-guided missile. Press the proper buttons at the right time, and he would seek out your target while you watched the explosions from a safe distance. His personal timeline projected the dormitories’ completion by the end of summer break. With Aizawa breaking down doors and kicking over anthills, he revised that estimate to shortly after the first years’ internships.

Uraraka’s eyes widened when she saw the enormous house when the pickup truck pulled into the driveway. “Is this…?”

“Yes,” All Might said. “This is Inko and Izuku Midoriya’s house. My house is right next door. I’ll help you in with your things. Young Kayama would you… carefully… take the truck to the tower? I can walk there tomorrow to get it. Just leave the keys in my office.”

Kayama grinned, “Sure thing, boss! Have a good night, Uraraka. Hope to see you at the party tomorrow. Oh, and someone called Fingers said to tell you he’s a jerk and he’s sorry.” She noted Uraraka’s eyes narrow, but boys that age acted like jerks all the time, so she didn’t think too much about it. All Might easily lifted all Uraraka’s things and led her to the house as the pickup pealed out of the driveway and into the night. All Might suppressed a sigh.

The door opened and she saw a petite woman with long green hair and matching eyes, just a few centimeters shorter than herself. “Hi Toshi,” the woman said to All Might, and then turned to her. “You must be Uraraka, dear. You can call me Inko, please. I’m Izuku’s mother.”

Uraraka bowed. “Please, call me Ochaco then, ma’am.”

Inko smiled, her eyes crinkling up a bit in the corners. “Please come in. I wasn’t sure if either of you have eaten, so I kept dinner warm for both of you. It’s Izuku’s favorite, katsudon, to celebrate his first day of school. There’s plenty, so eat all you want.”

The restaurant seemed like a lifetime ago and Ochaco couldn’t remember a more stressful day in her entire life, so as soon as Inko mentioned food, her stomach rumbled. With a blush, she said, “Thank you so much, that sounds amazing. Katsudon’s my favorite, too! Well, other than mochi.”

All Might laughed. “You’re in for a rare treat then, young Uraraka. Inko’s katsudon is the finest I’ve ever had. Fatgum himself begged her for the recipe!” They removed their shoes and followed Inko into the dining room, All Might depositing Ochaco’s belonging in the living room on their way.

As they ate the amazing meal, Ochaco paused. “Um, is…?”

“Oh, Izuku went to bed a bit early,” Inko answered. “He usually gets up at five on Saturdays to go running with Tenya. If you didn’t bring any workout clothes and would like to go with them, I probably have something you could wear.”

“We ran in class today,” Ochaco said, “I done a few five and ten K’s, but we did a marathon today. At least the three of us did. They don’t do that every day, do they?”

All Might laughed. “Well done, young Uraraka. They usually do a rather laid back five K on the weekends because they come to Might Tower for sparring. I’m sure you’d be welcome to join them, and there is young Tenya’s not-surprise party.” Inko and All Might both laughed at this.

“Not-surprise?”

“Tenya’s older brother accidently texted him the details. They’re still pretending it’s a surprise, but everyone knows it isn’t. Most of the people who will be there are pro heroes, but Izuku and Tenya will both be there.”

“I… I don’t think I have anything nice enough to wear,” Ochaco admitted.

Inko smiled. “We’ll take care of that, dear! When I was younger, I wanted to have a daughter too, but things didn’t work out. If your parents don’t mind me borrowing you for the weekend, we’ll go shopping! It will be like a dream to me! Izuku barely tolerated my shopping trips growing up.”

All Might stood up. “Well, I think that’s my cue to leave. Thank you for the meal, Inko. And let me know if you need anything. I’m right next door.”

“See?” Inko said with a smirk. “Men!”

Ochaco shared a giggle at All Might’s blush. “Well,” the hero stammered, “have a good night.” With that he made a tactical retreat in the war of the sexes.

Inko reached over and patted Ochaco’s hand. “I’m sure you’ve had a long day dear, but I did want to talk to you about our guest room.”

Ochaco nodded. “I’m fine on a couch or wherever.”

“Oh no, dear. The only furnished guest room is upstairs, and that’s across the hall from Izuku’s room. That’s where Tenya stays when he spends the night, and there are two bathrooms up there, but my bedroom is down here. If you want, you can take my bedroom and I can sleep up there tonight.” Inko looked at her in concern. “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable.”

Ochaco blushed. “I couldn’t take your room from you! I don’t mind, and I trust Izuku.”

Inko nodded. “Then let’s pick you out some workout clothes for the morning. Izuku’s room has a private bathroom, but the other upstairs bathroom opens to the guest room, his office, and the hallway, so you don’t need to worry about bumping into him that way.”

After quickly picking up a nice sleeveless bodysuit, some yoga pants, and one of Izuku’s old All Might t-shirts, Inko showed Ochaco to the guest room. “Thank you so much,” Ochaco whispered.

“Oh, you’re welcome, dear, anytime,” Inko said. “Is there anything you need?”

Ochaco blushed and looked down. “Could… could I have a hug?”

Inko smiled, “Of course.” She pulled Ochaco into that special hug that only a person called “Mom” can do properly. And it didn’t end until Ochaco felt much better.

Chapter Text

Ochaco typically slept on a futon both at home and in her apartment, so seeing the guest room and the enormous bed gave her a bit of a shock. The room held the bed, a dresser with a few sets of men’s clothing in it, and a desk with a couple of pairs of glasses sitting on it. Ida, she thought. Inko did say he sometimes spent the night here. The walls featured a couple of framed All Might and Team Idaten posters, both done in an artistic style.

Other than the door to the hallway which she locked; the room included two doors. The first lead to a walk-in closet and the second opened to a bathroom with two doors other than the one to the guest room. One of those must lead to Izuku’s office and the other to the hallway, she thought, but quickly locked all three to use the facilities. The bathroom included a shower and a full tub with jacuzzi jets. Swanky living. I’ll have to ask Izuku how to turn those on, I’d love to try it.

Once she finished and washed her hands, she unlocked the bathroom doors and went back into the guest room. After digging through her things for a few minutes, she realized she forgot her quirk gloves. With a sigh, she pulled out a pair of socks. They could serve as mittens for the night. She reached under her shirt and unhooked her bra, sliding it off and setting it on the desk, followed quickly by her shorts. The house felt a bit chilly, probably because she never used air conditioning, but the sheets and blanket felt warm and comfortable, and the mattress itself felt like someone had stuffed a cloud inside it. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Unfortunately, she only slept for about two hours before waking up to a moment of panic until she hazily remembered All Might brought her to Izuku’s house. She needed to pee. Getting up from the bed, she looked around in a daze, blinking at the room. Moonlight from a skylight cast everything in a pale glow, so she didn’t bother to turn on the light, slipping the socks off her hands and wandering to the bathroom. A nightlight set beside the sink supplied enough light to do what needed to be done. After washing her hands, she stumbled back to the door. Except the door didn’t take her back to the guest room, it took her to the hallway. She tried the next door, but it was locked. Oh, that must be Izuku’s room, she thought. Stupid Ochaco! Last thing you need to do is wander into his room in the middle of the night in a t-shirt and panties. She looked around, still barely conscious, and realized she’d tried a door on the wrong side of the hallway. She opened the other door and stumbled back into the room. A cloud must have blocked the moon because everything looked much darker, but she found the bed. She felt around for the socks and couldn’t find them, but she felt too tired to care. She quickly fell back into a deep sleep.

Izuku stood before the castle again, looking at the distant storm as Nana walked toward him. While his form still seemed made of mist, his mouth appeared solid enough to allow him to talk. “Hiya, Toots!” he called with a chuckle.

Nana grinned. “It’s a good thing I’m already dead or I’d write that big lug out of the will for telling you about that! Anyway… first big day at UA high school. You did good as far as I could tell. Before you panic, I can get a general sense of what is going on around you, like who is close and such, but I can’t see out of your eyes for the most part. Basically, you’ll still got your privacy, but the big things get through, like you wanting to help that Ochaco girl.”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, scratching the back of his head, only to cause little puffs of mist to form where his hair should be. “I screwed that whole thing up.”

“I doubt you’ve screwed up as bad as you think, Doctor Love!” she said with a smirk. “Listen to your mom’s advice, or mine, and just be there for Ochaco when she’s ready. Heck, that might be sooner than you think. I love Toshi like a son, and I know a bit about Aizawa from Toshi’s interactions with him. My advice is not to go to either of them for advice on women. I suspect that as of,” and she looked at an imaginary wristwatch, “right about now, you’ve got more experience than the two of them combined.”

Izuku blinked. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll see, kiddo. Nothing to worry about, but you’ve made my year and don’t even know it,” she said with a laugh. “Now, you used my quirk at the end of the entrance exam, with a bit of help from yours truly. We’ve got some time right now for me to teach you how to use it at will. You’ll still have to practice while you’re awake, of course, but I can fill you in on the basics.” And, she thought with amusement, I can keep you from sensing what’s going on in the real world.

As a little girl, Ochaco Uraraka’s father called her “Cuddlebug,” and still did on occasion. From her very first steps, she suffered from separation anxiety. She always wanted to stay close to her parents, hugging them tightly while watching TV or following them from room to room as soon as she could walk. Getting her own futon at the age of two led to immediate and severe night terrors that Bear Might solved, a giant teddy bear her father won at a festival. Having something to hug, Ochaco would sleep soundly if the lumpy, fuzzy toy remained in her grasp.

She suffered a brief relapse when her quirk first manifested and the stuffed animal floated out of her reach, but her mom made her some quirk gloves and after that she didn’t have any further episodes other than occasionally waking and stumbling into the wrong room while still half asleep. She thought she left Bear Might at home when she moved to Musutafu, fifteen far too old to need a stuffed animal to sleep. Still, her natural inclination always pointed towards hugging like a compass pointing north, and she often woke to her crumpled blanket in a death grip. She rarely forgot to put on her quirk gloves either, but evidently, she did last night. She slowly started to wake and realized she floated through the air.

Well, at least she had Bear Might, keeping her eyes closed as she hugged the stuffed animal tighter, but he felt… less fuzzy? Bigger? Stiff as a board? Slowly, she opened one eye.

Staring back at her with an expression of abject terror, she saw the face of her new classmate, Izuku Midoriya. Izuku wore boxer shorts and a t-shirt that said “pajamas.” Both of her legs were wrapped around one of his, her arms were around his waist, and her chest… her braless in a thin t-shirt chest… pressed against his.

Damn, Izuku thought, she’s gorgeous, but what the Hell?

She started to open her mouth, but Izuku let out a scream at a much higher pitch than she thought even she could hit.

She let out an answering scream of her own, pushing herself away from him and bringing the fingers on each hand together, followed by falling sixty centimeters to the bed, along with a small rain of bed sheets and blankets. She brought her hands together again and said “Release,” but Izuku continued to hover in the air, wide-eyed as he stared at her, before quickly covering his eyes with his hands. She looked down, blushed, and reached for a blanket to cover herself, just as the door burst open to reveal Inko Midoriya, wearing green pajamas and armed with a cast iron skillet, eyes wide at the scene of a scantily clad teenage girl on her son’s bed and her son floating in the air. Ochaco kept pressing her fingers together, but Izuku continued hovering in the air like a balloon with barely enough helium. “Release! Come on, release, dang it.”

“What in the devil is going on in here?” Inko said, lowering the skillet.

“I have no idea,” Izuku said, eyes still squeezed shut and hands covering his eyelids. “What’s Ochaco doing here?”

“Why are you in the guest room?” Ochaco asked.

Both mother and son paused and looked around. “Ochaco, dear,” Inko said softly, “This isn’t the guest room. You’re on Izuku’s bed.”

The girl buried herself under the blanket to hide her glowing face, not to mention the rest of her. “Oh my God! I got up to use the bathroom but left through the wrong door. I… oh no, I thought you were Bear Might!”

Izuku snorted and asked, “Bear… Might?” Inko managed to hide her chuckles, but it was a near thing.

“Don’t laugh, Izuku, you jerk! He’s my teddy bear from home. I’ve had him since I was four! I’m so sorry! I’m not some floozy, I swear! And I can’t get you down,” she said with a sniffle.

“What?” Izuku asked.

“You’re floating, dear,” his mother said calmly, “and Ochaco’s under a blanket.”

Izuku cautiously opened his eyes and looked around the room. “Oh, sorry. I’m the one doing this.” Izuku slowly flipped head over heels, Inko noticed with slight amusement, and gently settled to the floor.

Ochaco’s eyes peeked out from the blanket. Damn, Ochaco thought, he’s ripped, but she also noted several scars on his arms and legs with a touch of sadness. “You can fly?” she asked. “But that’s two quirks!”

When Izuku took a deep breath, Inko rolled her eyes and held up her hand. “No, you can explain all about your quirk framework theory during your run with Tenya. He’ll be here in thirty minutes. Izuku, close your eyes and turn around. Ochaco, dear, you can go get ready to run with the boys or go back to bed if you want.”

“Thank you,” she said, moving quickly to the door. “I’ll run. I swear, ma’am, I’m not a tramp,” she whispered.

Inko laughed and whispered back, “My best friend ended up meeting her husband because of a similar mix-up.” She laughed even harder at Ochaco’s furious blush, mentally making a note to tell the story to both Mitsuki and Nemuri.

Twenty-five minutes later, at exactly five-twenty-five in the morning, Tenya Ida stood patiently in front of the Midoriya home. He didn’t bother to knock, not wanting to disturb Inko and knowing Izuku held punctuality in a similar regard as he did. Their run officially began on Saturday mornings at five-thirty, and Izuku never missed it out of consideration. Izuku knew that Tenya lived by schedules, and even a few minutes could throw his entire day off. So, it did not surprise him when the door opened a minute later. “Ah, good morning,” Tenya said as he turned around, only to finish with a slightly shocked, “…Uraraka?”

“Good morning, Ida,” she said with a blush. “I hope you don’t mind me joining you and Izuku on your run.”

Tenya cocked his head to the right, arms waving wildly as he spoke. “Of course not! I’m delighted, just surprised. I’m sure Izuku was happy to have you. Oh, I mean, not that he had you in any inappropriate… I mean, happy to have you stay the night. Have you as a guest! I’m sorry, I’m rather… um… why are you here? Not that you can’t be here, or shouldn’t be here, just, I wasn’t expecting you to. Be here, I mean.” Both teens blushed.

“I’m kind of curious about that myself,” Izuku said, stepping out of the door. “But let’s start our run. We’ll just take a nice leisurely five K, so we can talk on the way, if that’s alright,” he added while doing some warm-up stretches that the other two copied.

They began their run at exactly five-thirty and Ochaco told them the tale of the big brown couch, the box, the money, and everything else that happened last night, although she did leave out the parts about her encounter at the laundromat, some of the details of her phone call with All Might, and waking up in Izuku’s bed. She finished with “I’d love to get to see Might Tower, if you two don’t mind, and I need to visit a branch of Aozora Bank to deposit the money.”

Izuku nodded. “That’s where my account is. There’s a branch right by Might Tower, so we can stop there right before training. You can… train with us if you want. I’d like to know more about your quirk.”

“Me too!” she said. “Hey! What was up with you floating this morning?”

“Floating?” Tenya asked. “Your quirk is an augmentation quirk.”

Izuku nodded. “This is new, but I think I’m starting to figure it out. It’s part of my framework.”

Tenya rolled his eyes, having heard this before. Many, many, many, many times. “What’s a framework?” Ochaco asked.

“Well, most people consider it a rule that you can only have one quirk. I think that’s incorrect. You can have one quirk framework, and that may consist of several related aspects of a quirk type. Look at Hawks for an example. He’s got a mutation type quirk called Fierce Wings, but it gives him several abilities. He has enhanced speed, distance vision, and visual acuity. He can fly, detach feathers, and control them remotely, change their hardness, use them to detect vibrations in the air remotely, and regrow them in a few days. That’s roughly nine different quirks all under the category of one quirk, but I think it should be labelled a quirk framework.”

“Oh, you mentioned a bit about that at the entrance exam. That doesn’t explain how you can fly, though,” Ochaco pouted.

“Well, my quirk, Ultra-Augmentation, is an emitter type quirk, meaning I can channel and project power, but it is also an accumulation subtype. Basically, I draw in power and can use it for a variety of effects, and the more I use it, the larger my pool of available power becomes. By default, I’ve been using it to enhance my strength, speed, durability, and intelligence. When I use it that way, it gradually alters my body, giving me small, but cumulative boosts in those areas that become permanent. In that way, it’s also like a heteromorphic type. I don’t look different from a baseline human, but I’m denser and my nervous system is a bit more complex, like an overclocked computer. As for flight, I believe I finally have enough of a pool of energy built up that I can overcome gravity and even give myself a bit of propulsion.” Izuku paused and lifted off the ground. He spun around awkwardly, having to make a few corrections so he could face them, then drifted back and then forth. “I’m still getting the hang of it, and I’m slower than a walking pace like this.” He winked. “I’ll tell All Might and Mr. Aizawa, but I’d like to keep this a secret from the rest of the class for now.”

“Why?” Ochaco asked. “Being able to fly is so cool and super rare!”

Tenya nodded, though. “The sports festival.”

“That’s right,” Izuku said. “The three of us were the top three on the entrance exams. I want us all to be on the podium. I’m already making a few plans.”

“My quirk isn’t anything special compared to you two, though,” Ochaco said. “I can just make things weightless.”

“That’s because people have this mindset that quirks are only good for one thing. They’re much more flexible than that. How many ways can you use your fingers? You can pick things up, you can write, you can type, you can count on them, play a music instrument. All sorts of different ways to use one thing. Your quirk is the same way, you can cancel out gravity on an object, yes, but that’s not all you can do.”

“How do you know that for sure?” she asked.

Izuku smiled, “Because I’ve seen you do it. When Kirishima knocked me over at the entrance exam, I fell. You touched me and made me weightless, sure, but that’s not all you did. I should have still hit the ground because I was already in motion. You instantly cancelled my inertia with no ill effects. That’s why I think your quirk is probably the ability to manipulate force. Force is equal to an object’s mass times its acceleration, and I think you can manipulate those variables.” He picked up a rock. “Touch this.” She did, and Izuku removed his hand from it, leaving it floating in the air. “So, standard acceleration due to gravity is nine point eight meters per second squared. That’s normal gravity on earth and what we’re all used to. Instinctively, your default is to just zero that acceleration, so that makes the force on it equal to zero. Force equals the rock’s mass times zero. But what happens to the energy it should have? I think you subconsciously absorb that, then redirect it harmlessly into the environment. That’s why when you get close to your limit, your stomach gets upset. The reaction is even stronger when you use your quirk on yourself, because you’re creating a feedback loop that just keeps getting worse. You’re taking that original force in without any way to easily get rid of it. Imagine the rock’s energy as something that you’ve taken from it… you can decide where that goes. Don’t touch the rock again, it’s already effected by your quirk. Just imagine projecting the energy at one side to make it spin. Hand gestures sometime help.”

She held up her hand, imagining a rock made of energy, but otherwise identical to the rock that hung in the air. She willed the energy to go back to the matter rock, but at an angle. Rather than spin, though, the rock shot away like it had been hit with a baseball bat, but Izuku’s hand caught it. “That’s amazing! I never knew it could work like that!”

“Feeling sick at all?”

“Not a bit. Usually, I feel mild nausea even with something small, but nothing.”

“We should talk to Midnight sometime soon. She’s a licensed quirk counselor, but she doesn’t stop at an easy answer like the ones at the public schools do. I love analyzing quirks, so this will be great practice. I already have a ton of ideas we can talk through! I suspect I’m not the only one of us who can fly.”

Tenya nodded. “My brother credits Izuku with helping him rise five spots in the rankings.”

The trio arrived back at the Midoriya household, entering quietly since Izuku liked to let his mom sleep in on the weekend. They moved silently to the kitchen, and Izuku started gathering ingredients to make a breakfast big enough for all of them. He set the kitchen scales and the sample weights on the table in front of Ochaco. “You can play around with these while I’m cooking. Try to manipulate their acceleration and the direction you move them in… tiny changes at first.”

By the time the rice cooker beeped, she’d made a five-gram weight show up as weighing a kilogram while the one-kilogram weight showed up as weighing five grams, and all the weights circled around her smiling face like planets orbiting the sun.

Inko woke at seven to find her son and his two friends setting the table for a huge family sized meal. At times she regretted that she never got the chance to provide Izuku with a sibling or two, but she felt intense gratitude in her heart that he found a brother in Tenya. Sometimes she caught herself thinking of them as “her boys.” And now it seems he’d found a new friend in Ochaco, and perhaps more. Hard to believe her baby was already fifteen and taking his first steps toward adulthood. “So,” she asked the teens, “what are your plans for the day?”

Izuku smiled. “We’re going to Might Tower at two for some training with Edgeshot and Gunhead. After that, we’ll probably just go straight to the party. Ochaco needed to go to the Aozora bank, but there’s one right by the Tower. I guess we can play Super Smash Brothers until then?” He looked at his two friends, who nodded.

“If she’s okay with it, I’m going to steal Ochaco for a shopping trip to Odakyu Shinjuku. The stores open at nine, and I’m sure we can visit a branch of Aozora there. We’ll be back by one, but you boys are welcome to come along.”

Ochaco raised her head in protest. “I can’t afford to go shopping in Shinjuku! I usually get my clothes at the recycle shops.”

Inko shook her head. “No, I’m spoiling you today, and that’s final. Izuku’s never been interested in going shopping with me, so I only get a good trip with someone fun to shop with three or four times a year when his aunt comes to town.”

Tenya nodded, “You may as well just accept it, Uraraka. Inko will not be so easily dissuaded when she is in ‘Mamadoriya’ mode.”

“Okay,” the girl said, looking down. “And you can call me Ochaco, Ida.”

Tenya smiled. “Only if you call me Tenya.”

After a long bath in the jacuzzi, Inko showed her how to turn it on and provided her with bubbles, Ochaco got ready for the day. She dressed in her nicest clothes, which to her mind, barely qualified for being seen in public, much less a shopping trip to one of the most fashionable malls in all of Japan. The other problem was the money. Six million yen took up a lot of room, even when neatly bound in stacks, and she didn’t own a purse. Inko quickly solved that problem, gladly loaning one that matched Ochaco’s outfit.

“Are you sure this is alright?” she asked. “I’m going to look like some country hick who rode the train for the first time and got off at the wrong station.”

“You look fine, dear,” Inko assured her. “Besides, if you’re that worried, the first nice outfit we buy you can wear out of the store. We’re going to shop so much that we’ll have to use your quirk to carry all the bags. Promise me you won’t even look at the price tags. This is as much of a treat for me as it will be for you!” She winked. “Izuku! Tenya! Last chance to come along!”

“I’m good,” Izuku hollered from upstairs. “All the stuff you bought me a few months ago still fits!”

“We will pray for your safe return while you’re gone, Ochaco,” Tenya called.

What had she gotten herself into?

Tomura Shigaraki sighed as he finished the meal. The Master called Kurogiri away for an important mission, but the Doctor stopped by to give him a checkup. His throat still itched; despite a variety of different creams the Doctor gave him to try over the years.

He picked up the controller, playing Super Smash Brothers against the boring CPU opponents. Not even a challenge, really, even though his head felt heavy. He considered laying down when the door exploded inward.

“ALL MIGHT!” Tomura screamed in rage, disintegrating the controller, and lashing forward like a snake. The hero only enjoyed a moment before his smile faded into a shocked expression. All five of Tomura’s fingers pressed against the hero’s face, cracks spreading out like spider webs from the contact. As the hero fell to the floor screaming in pain, Tomura leaped onto him, yelling out his fury as he battered the hero, activating his quirk in multiple places until only dust remained. He kept striking out, leaving huge gashes in the floor where his quirk activated.

After a few moments of silence, Tomura curled up into a fetal position. He heard the faint sound of one of Kurogiri’s portals followed by the familiar tapping of the legs of his Master’s exoskeleton. “Tomura,” the Master breathed, “are you alright, my boy?”

Tomura’s body shivered. “I killed him. I killed him for you, Master.”

“No, my boy. No one else was here.” A gentle hand touched his forehead. “You have a fever. Kurogiri, take him somewhere safe. I will find the Doctor and bring him to you shortly.”

“All Might is still alive?” Tomura asked quietly. “I promise you; I will kill him. I will end him, Master.”

“My dear boy,” All For One intoned, “we’ll do far worse than that. We will make him beg for death and then deny him even that. I promise, you will have your revenge. Go with Kurogiri now.” Kurogiri gently lifted Tomura up from the shattered floor, vanishing into a portal.

“Pity,” the Doctor said, entering the room from the hallway and wiping up a bit of dust with his finger. “Itachi Toga’s quirk might have been useful, flawed as it was.”

All For One grinned, showing far too many teeth for comfort. “It served its purpose.”

“Tomura is ready.”

Chapter Text

Even after hundreds of years, Odakyu Shinjuku stood as one of the largest and most prestigious shopping malls in the world. Featuring a full food court and hundreds of stores, it stood as a shopping Mecca to those among the consumerism faithful. Inko Midoriya led Ochaco Uraraka into it like a high priestess dragging a recently captured heretic to conversion.

The first stop proved to be a branch of Aozora Bank tucked into a small corner of the first floor. Ochaco sent a quick text message to her parents, assuring them of her safety, promising a call to explain later, and securing their account number. She prepared two deposit slips, one for her own meager account and the other for her parents. Of course, a teen making two deposits of three million yen raised many questions, but Inko Midoriya stepped forward and placed her business card from Might Incorporated on the counter in front of the teller. The previously hostile teller bowed and processed the deposits, handing the receipts to Ochaco with another bow. “The money will be available Monday on the next business day. Thank you for banking with us, and I apologize for any inconvenience.”

Ochaco returned the bow awkwardly, but Inko made a quick bow and dragged the young girl from the bank. “Now that’s out of the way, shopping!” The next few hours passed in a blur, but a fun one, as Typhoon Inko pulled Ochaco into her wake through a dizzying number of stores. Clothes flew off the racks, sometimes literally, into Inko’s hands, only to be dropped into the startled girl’s own hands before she found herself shoved into a changing room. Despite her earlier promise, she did spot a few price tags and nearly fainted, but Inko could not be denied. Somehow, Izuku’s mom kept track of every article of clothing and would protest without hesitation if Ochaco didn’t try them all on.

Anything that met Inko’s approval disappeared into a shopping basket, Ochaco’s pleas falling on deaf ears. Most items fit Ochaco’s personal style, but Inko insisted on several fancy outfits. When they almost passed by a Conomi store, Inko led Ochaco into the store. She picked up several UA uniforms the store had waiting for Izuku, then gave them Ochaco’s sizes and asked for a rush of six UA uniforms. “I can’t let you do that, Inko,” Ochaco cried. “I’ll never be able to pay you back!”

“Hush, dear,” Inko said, patting the younger girl’s head. “It’s ridiculous that UA doesn’t provide these to you anyway. I’m tempted to go to that school and give Nezu a piece of my mind.” Less than ten minutes later, the pair walked out of the store with yet another bag.

By noon, the number of outfits Ochaco owned easily tripled, and the two took a break to eat at the food court. Evidently, Inko’s memory and attention to detail rivaled her son’s. They ate at a restaurant specializing in mochi. For their main course, the pair enjoyed chikara udon with toasted mochi served as part of the soup. For dessert, Inko ordered them a sampler of the restaurant's various specialty mochi to share and ordered another box as a treat for later.

Once they finished the meal, Ochaco bowed to Inko. “Thank you so much! I can never repay you.”

“My pleasure, dear,” the older woman said. “I’ve had so much fun; I should be thanking you.”

Ochaco blushed. “I guess we should head back now.”

Inko shook her head, a gleam in her eye that would make a pro hero quake in their boots. “Oh, not yet. We still have half an hour. Now, we accessorize!”

Ochaco Uraraka gulped.

“Izuku?”

“Yeah, Tenya?”

“Do you think Ochaco is alright with your mother?”

“Well, she can make things functionally weightless.”

“Right. She should be fine then.”

Ochaco Uraraka felt on top of the world. Her quirk always carried a bit of nausea with it, but after talking to Izuku about her quirk this morning, she realized some things that changed the whole way she thought about it. She didn’t cancel gravity, she transferred force. To make an object weightless, like the various shopping bags she and Inko carried, she had to move the acceleration due to gravity somewhere else. On a subconscious level, she’d been dumping that force into her body where it bled off into the environment, but the stress of that always made her sick to her stomach. Now that she knew the real principle behind her quirk, she needed to find a safer outlet. She had a moment of inspiration when she lightened the weight of the packages. What’s the one thing her fingers were always in contact with?

The air.

As Inko and her made their way to the taxi laden with bags that acted like balloons, small invisible eddies of heavier than normal air followed in her wake. Ochaco never got the chance to become a gamer since her parents couldn’t afford video game consoles, but she watched friends play when visiting their homes. She even got a few turns over the years, so she did understand the idea of a mana bar. She realized that her “character” had at least two mana bars, one for negative acceleration and another for positive. As she used one, the other one filled. She ignored the positive bar all these years, so it would fill to capacity and that defined her limit. By keeping them in balance, she could use her quirk easier and longer than ever before. She might even have another set of the mana bars for positive and negative mass, and once she had this all figured out, might be even more versatile than she ever imagined.

“Ochaco?” Inko asked. “Are you alright?”

“Oh!” she startled out of her thoughts. “I’m great! Izuku figured out my quirk better than I ever have. He’s so smart. I don’t think I can ever repay him or you,” looking at the trunk of the taxi stuffed with shopping bags.

Inko laughed. “I told you before, this is the most fun I’ve had in months, so it’s not an issue. As for Izuku, he’s always been fascinated by quirks and figuring them out. He’ll talk your ear off about them if you give him half a chance. He’s a lot like his father that way,” she said, a bit wistfully.

“What was Izuku’s dad like, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ochaco quickly held up her hands “I’m sorry, I… that was probably rude. I’m so sorry.”

Inko looked a bit sad but smiled anyway. “It’s alright, dear. He was a lot like Izuku, and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but you should know what you’re getting into.” She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed as Ochaco blushed. “Very brave and so smart, but shy and awkward. I met him when we were both in high school. I was attending a public school, but he was in the hero course at UA.”

“Oh, right! Id… I mean, Tenya said he was a hero.”

“Well, he was in the hero course at UA when we met,” Inko replied with a grin, “but he transferred to the support course after he met me. Evidently, I was too much of a distraction,” she laughed, striking a Midnight style pose. “He cut classes for a week to bring me flowers at a coffee shop, not realizing I was out of town, the silly man. We started dating and continued all through high school and college. When we graduated, he got a job as a quirk analyst. He used all his first paycheck to buy me a ring, and it has rarely left my finger since. We were married soon after that. Our first apartment wasn’t far from where yours is, but three years we moved to a much nicer apartment when we decided to try and have a child, and I soon became pregnant with Izuku. It was destroyed by a villain attacking All Might, and the monster tried to kill Izuku, on the poor thing’s third birthday. Hisashi gave his life to save us and burned the villain, and All Might had him declared a hero. He was the only man I’ve ever loved, and he set a high bar. I can’t imagine ever falling for anyone else. Sometimes I catch myself thinking ‘I need to tell Hisashi about this,’ and then realize he’s been gone twelve years.” A tear rolled down her cheek, but she smiled, still grateful for the short time they’d had, and the wonderful son Hisashi gave her.

Not sure what to say, Ochaco defaulted to giving Inko a hug. Before either of them could say anything else, the taxi slowed to a stop and the driver coughed and muttered, “We’re here.” He got out and opened the trunk, helping the ladies get their bags. Inko reached for her purse, but he held up his hand. “Ma’am, it’s already paid for. Just… you know, pass along my thanks to your hero the next time you pray.”

“No, I insist,” Inko started, but the man just bowed deeply, got back into his cab, and drove off. “Well… that was nice of him.”

Ochaco turned away from the house to concentrate on the bags, each one floated into the air. “Yes,” she said, pumping her fist in the air. “I just relaxed my quirk on them on the drive here, but I never released it! Inko, your son is a genius. I could kiss him!”

Realizing what she said, her face turned a bit red. “Oh? Is that why I found you in his room this morning?” Inko teased, telekinetically pulling the weightless bags into the house, leaving a sputtering Ochaco outside.

After a few moments, Izuku stepped out with a puzzled look on his face. “Hey, Ochaco. Glad to see you survived. It’s almost time to go to the tower. Oh, and mom told me to tell you, ‘not without dinner and flowers.’ Do you know what she meant by that?”

“Eeep!”

After Ochaco.exe started responding again, she rushed into the house, face still a glowing red color. Inko already placed the bags with Ochaco’s new clothes in the guest room and laid out a couple of options for both the party later and working out at Might Tower. She quickly got ready, wearing a black sports bra with a pink t-shirt over it with a matching pair of yoga shorts, marveling at how much more comfortable clothes that actually fit her were, compared to the closest she could get at the recycle shops. She carefully folded her favorite from the new outfits into a gym bag. She met Izuku in the hallway and blushed a bit when she saw him. He wore long basketball shorts and a tight t-shirt with a cartoon drawing of a slice of pizza and a caption that said in English “Symbol of Piece.” He blushed too, hand scratching the back of his neck as he said, “Wow, Ochaco, you look great.”

Tenya waited for them at the front door and together they made their way to Might Tower. Ochaco felt in awe of the gleaming metal and glass tower, and the enormous lobby reinforced that. Despite being a Saturday, the building bustled with activity since heroes were needed seven days a week. Izuku’s actions gave her the biggest surprise though. His face sported a gleaming smile, and he waved to multiple people, calling out their names to answering shouts of “Hey, Izuku,” “Looking good, kid!” “Small Might!” and other similar greetings. He walked confidently to the front desk and waved to the receptionist. “Hey, Small Might! Got it right here.” The man handed him a card on a lanyard.

“Thanks, Bubaigawara,” Izuku said. “Hope the family is doing well.”

“Yeah,” the man said with a smile, “the baby is growing like a weed. Have fun with your training! I saw Gunhead just a few minutes ago.”

“Awesome, thanks!” Izuku said, leading them to an elevator and handing the lanyard to Ochaco. The card attached featured her name, the Might Incorporated logo, and her picture.

She stared at it as they entered the elevator. “What? How did…”

Izuku smiled. “It’s the same picture from your student ID. I asked principal Nezu to email it to me this morning.” The elevator dinged, opening to the fiftieth floor. “You’ve got all the same access as Tenya, so if you’re ever in Tokyo and need to come by the Tower, make sure you’ve got it with you. One of the apartments on the top floor is set up for me, so you can use it whenever you want. Just got to grab one last thing from the bullpen, and then we’ll go down to the gym in the basement.”

“Wait, what? I’m so confused.”

As Izuku led the way, Tenya explained, “All Might took an interest in training Izuku since they have similar quirks. Izuku is something of the unofficial mascot of the agency, ‘Small Might,’ as some of the heroes and workers call him.” He held up his own badge. “You’ll get used to it.”

They entered the bullpen to find Gang Orca and Midnight chatting. Both perked up seeing Izuku and his friends. “Hi, Uraraka,” Midnight said, “I see you’re with my baby boys!”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah, Ochaco’s going to train with us today and then we’re going to the not-surprise party. Ochaco Uraraka, this is Kugo Sakamata, the Killer Whale Hero: Gang Orca. Gang Orca, this is my classmate and friend Ochaco Uraraka. You already know Ms. Kayama, the R-Rated Hero: Midnight.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Ochaco said with a bow.

“You too,” the giant hero said. “I just got done with my shift, so I’ve got a bit of time. I’d hate for the three of you to gang up on poor Shinya and Koji, er… Edgeshot and Gunhead, so I’ll join you for training.”

“That would be great!” Izuku enthused. “I just needed to pick up a phone.”

Midnight rolled her eyes. “You broke another one? Those things are nearly indestructible.”

Izuku waved his hand. “Not for me!” He opened a drawer in a filing cabinet and pulled out a phone, handing it to Ochaco. “Put your sim card in this.”

The girl sputtered, “What? No, I can’t.”

“Sorry,” Izuku said with a shrug, “company policy. Since you’ve got access to the building now, you’ve got to carry one of these. It has a custom Might Incorporated app so you can report if your badge is stolen or if you need help.” Tenya, Gang Orca, and Midnight all held up identical phones. “It’s for security.”

“Oh, well,” she said with a blush, “okay.”

Midnight grinned as Ochaco switched out her sim card. “Should the Big Three be worried?”

Izuku smiled, and for a moment Ochaco could have sworn she saw a glint of light flash from his teeth. “Not yet. Maybe we’ll change things up and be known as the Three Musketeers. Do you mind watching, Midnight? Ochaco’s just figured out some new stuff about her quirk and could probably use some counselling.”

“Sure.” The five rode down to the basement level together, arriving at a huge, cavernous room that looked like a secret lair from a comic book. The main room consisted of desks with computers and monitoring equipment, and in an emergency could serve as a command center for directing the activities of hundreds of heroes and thousands of emergency responders. The weight room to the right featured exercise equipment capable of training anyone from a child to even the most powerful of heroes. The left side held a locker room with showers and emergency bunks. Finally, the wall opposite of the elevator led to a huge gymnasium, a wide blank room that could be reconfigured with the touch of a few buttons to simulate almost any environment or even an obstacle course.

Izuku quickly made introductions, and followed with, “Ochaco’s figured out some new aspects to her quirk today, so I’d like for us to spend some time helping her get used to it.”

The Battle Hero: Gunhead brought both hands up to where his mouth should be beneath his mask. “Izuku, you brought along a girl,” he squealed in a cute sounding voice. “Is she your girlfriend?”

Izuku and Ochaco both turned away from each other, blushing. “No, no… um, well, she is my friend, and she is a girl,” the boy stuttered, “but we’re, no, friends and classmates, and that’s all!”

“Really?” Midnight said causally, but she grinned like a shark smelling blood in the water. “Because I got a couple of texts from Inko a while ago that were very… interesting.”

“No! That was all just a total misunderstanding, nothing going on whatsoever, ha ha ha,” Izuku said.

At the same time, Ochaco protested, “It was all an accident, not Izuku’s fault at all, I’m not a tramp!”

Unfortunately, because the pair spoke at the same time, it came out as unintelligible gibberish to Midnight’s laughter.

Gang Orca came to their rescue. “As funny as it is to tease them, time’s wasting. Let’s whip these little minnows into shape.”

Edgeshot nodded. “Good idea. Koji, since Uraraka’s new and you’re the best at teaching martial arts basics, why don’t you work with her to assess her level of skill. Kugo, Tenya’s fast, but needs practice applying that to opponents with enhanced durability and strength. I’ll see if Izuku can keep up with me. After an hour, we’ll put our heads together and see what we can come up with concerning Uraraka’s quirk.”

Ochaco spent the hour training with Gunhead, the man showed appreciation for the meager martial arts skills she already had, learned from some of her parent’s employees on construction sites during her summer break. Since she already knew quite a bit of the basics, he worked with her on some throws and takedowns. Interspersed with this practice, she got to see Izuku and Tenya in action.

For his part, Tenya moved at great speeds, dodging around surprisingly quick and powerful blows from Gang Orca. Nature built Kugo Sakamata’s body to survive in the deep depths of the ocean, so on land he moved with astonishing grace for a man his size. As for Izuku and Edgeshot, they moved as blurs, one an elongated shadow lashing out, the other flashes of green lightning weaving around the shadow.

After an hour, Midnight called a halt, and each person in the room bowed to their opponent. Gunhead placed a hand on Ochaco’s shoulder. “I’m very impressed. I can hardly believe you’ve never had any formal training. You said you learned on a construction site?”

She nodded. “My parents own a construction company. During the summers I would hang out on site to try and help where I could. Several of the workers are martial arts enthusiasts, so they’d teach me stuff like stances, how to fall, blocks, punches, kicks, and even a few katas.”

“It seems like they taught you in the correct order, then. I’d place you as a green belt at least. I hope you’ll come to Tokyo for more of these weekend training sessions, but even if you can’t Izuku and Ida are both pretty good in my martial arts style,” Gunhead said. “Please at least spar with them some.”

“I will!” she said with a bow. “Thank you so much for teaching me.”

Izuku and Tenya both finished their own reviews with their respective trainers when Midnight clapped her hands. “Okay, time for the woman of the hour to take center stage. Uraraka, give us all the details on your quirk.”

She quickly gave the basics of what she always believed about her quirk and then the new things she discovered today. Izuku and Midnight started muttering together at high speed, with occasional input from Gang Orca, who knew a thing or two about buoyancy. Izuku pulled out his phone and began making notes; still following along and contributing to his discussion with Midnight.

After about fifteen minutes, Ochaco felt hopelessly lost. Tenya looked at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, Ochaco, this is normal. Aunt Nem, I mean Ms. Kayama, is a licensed quirk analyst and counsellor. She’s the only one who can keep up with Izuku when he gets going. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re almost finished, and will have a couple of simple tests for you to perform.”

A few seconds later, Izuku said “OK, I think we’ve got a solid theory. Let’s move to the weight room and do a few tests!”

As they entered the weight room, Midnight picked up the conversation. “Our theory is that your quirk allows you to manipulate force as described in Newton’s laws. Essentially, force equals mass times acceleration. You can make changes to mass and acceleration at will, but that energy must go somewhere, and by default it goes into your own body, where it will eventually dissipate. It probably settles in your stomach since the contents of that aren’t technically a living part of you, and that’s why you get sick from overusing your power. You’ve found today that you can direct that energy if you want, and that prevents the illness.”

“Yes,” Ochaco replied. “I also realized I’m always touching the air, so I could get rid of it that way.”

Izuku smiled. “That’s brilliant! That’s a good default you can use from now on, but I have a few other ideas.” He walked over to a huge machine with a padded flat piece. “This is a force plate. Punch it as hard as you can.” He pointedly ignored the giggling from everyone else in the room. Ochaco punched and Izuku looked at the monitor attached to the machine. “Good! You’re at around nineteen hundred Newtons, so you’re between high end for an average person and close to amateur martial artist range. Now, make me weightless.” She touched him with all five fingers. “Now, collect that energy for a few seconds and then punch again but move that energy into your fist.” She punched again, and Izuku grinned. “Perfect! Almost five thousand Newtons this time.”

“But it didn’t feel any different!” she protested. “How was it over twice as strong without hurting?”

“The strength of your punch was unchanged, but you transferred the energy directly,” Midnight said. “You can essentially use the force you’re siphoning off any objects you’ve made weightless to make your punches heavier. It feels the same to you….”

“…But whatever you’re punching will certainly feel the difference,” Izuku finished.

“Impressive,” Edgeshot said with a nod. “Effectively you can give yourself enhanced strength as a byproduct of using your quirk.” Gang Orca just gave off a low whistle.

“Okay, release me, please,” Izuku said, and Ochaco brought her fingers together, letting him drop to the floor. “Good. Now, touch your fingers together again and concentrate on making me float.” She did, and Izuku rose a few centimeters in the air.

“What? How?” she asked. Izuku and Midnight shared a look.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” Izuku promised. “Would you touch Gang Orca with the back of your hand, please?” She did. “Now, make him float.” She concentrated for a moment, and Gang Orca rose as well to Ochaco’s shock. “Perfect. Now, without touching him, make Edgeshot float.” She tried, but nothing happened. “I was afraid of that. You can release us.”

Midnight smiled. “Your quirk allows you to manipulate the force of anything in contact with you. The pads on your hand just act like a switch, putting it into a rest mode. I’d guess that it will last for a set period. It may also have an extremely short range that you can train with practice. Hold your hand out and focus on making Shinya weightless while moving closer, but without touching him.” Sure enough, once a centimeter away, Edgeshot slowly rose into the air. “You’re doing great. Now make them all float for a minute and collect that energy.” After sixty seconds, Midnight said, “Now, release it on the force plate from here.”

The force plate made a loud noise and Izuku checked the screen and laughed. “Fifty thousand newtons. That’s a bit over five tons remotely!”

A sound of clapping came from the door. “Well, done, young Uraraka!” All Might beamed.

“Thank you,” Ochaco said with a blush, unused to so much praise.

“Three more quick tests,” Midnight said. “All Might, please go over to Uraraka and bend down. Keep your hands away from him, baby girl, but get close like you’re going to kiss his forehead. A centimeter away, then try to make him float.” Unfortunately, nothing happened. “Okay, now actually kiss his forehead.” Ochaco blushed and did it, but still no effect. “Well, the effect seems to be centered on your hands, so that’s a weakness you’ll have to remain conscious of, but it might be something you can overcome with time and practice. Next test.” She set up a line of twenty-kilogram weights on the floor. “Touch the floor near the center weight and focus on making them weightless.” Most of the weights rose, but a few at the end remained stationary, but everything else within the area floated as well, including Midnight. “Oh, good! By touching the ground, you can create an area of effect, roughly ten meters in diameter. Focus just on me having normal gravity,” and sure enough Midnight settled on the ground lightly. “Finally, try and reverse it. Make everything in the area heavier.” The weights slammed into the ground with a loud thud and Midnight staggered. “Ugh… release please.”

Ochaco brought her fingers together. “This is great! I never knew I could do a fraction of this stuff.”

“I’ve got one more idea,” Izuku said. “Let’s go back to the gymnasium.” They walked back to the large room, and Izuku fiddled with a few controls by the door, expanding the padding that lined the walls, floor, and ceiling. “Now, make yourself weightless and let the energy bleed off into the air.”

She did, rising slowly to hover almost a meter above the ground. “I’m flying!”

“Well, levitating, I would say,” Izuku clarified. “But pick a direction you want to go in. Now rather than letting it dissipate into the air, project the force in the opposite direction. It might be a bit tricky until you get the hang of it.”

She took off at the speed of a sprinter, quickly figuring out that she could stop by reversing the direction of the force momentarily. She could make sharp turns and stop instantly, since the effects of acceleration or deceleration didn’t affect her. They only served as more fuel for her power. “This is amazing! Thank you all so much. I don’t know what to say!”

“I do,” Izuku said. “You’re going to be a tough opponent in the sports festival.”

Chapter Text

Team Idaten’s headquarters stood only a few blocks from Might Tower, so the teens and pro heroes availed themselves of the showers in Might Tower’s basement to get ready for Tenya’s not-surprise party. Ochaco’s outfit consisted of a vaguely black and white strapless blouse with two lines of buttons and a dark pink skirt with matching quirk gloves, finished off with a pair of black tights with small bits of white moonstone woven into them, giving the appearance of a starry sky when she walked. She also wore a pair of low boots, which fortunately had flat heels.

Evidently, she was the last one finished. Midnight wore a black lowcut dress with a slit up the side that Ochaco doubted she’d ever feel confident enough to wear, and the male pro heroes wore black suits, except for All Might who wore a yellow pinstripe suit. Tenya wore a dark blue suit that matched his hair with a gold tie as an accent, but Izuku’s outfit almost took her breath away. He’d foregone the suit coat and went with a dark green vest with a red tie and black pants. He turned when she coughed, and his eyes widened. “Wow, Ochaco… you look… um, that is… wow.”

“Thanks, um, Izuku. You… um… look… wow too,” she answered with a blush gracing her cheeks.

Midnight smirked, making a mental note to throw “Midoriya and Uraraka” into the teachers’ betting pool for first year couples. “Well, shall we go? The party can’t start without Tenya here.”

They rode the elevator up to the first floor, everyone else doing their best to hide their amusement as Izuku and Ochaco stole occasional glances at each other.

Tenya acted with all due not surprise when walking into the common area of the Team Idaten headquarters to yells of “Not-Surprise!” He appreciated the effort to celebrate his induction into the long line of Idas who studied at UA before continuing to successful hero careers and vowed to himself to carry on the proud tradition. He proudly introduced Ochaco Uraraka, third place finisher in the UA entrance exam, to his mother, Hayaka Ida, the recently retired Velocity Hero: Blue Streak, hoping this would help satisfy her insistence that he network as much as possible while at UA. She’d long been impressed with Izuku, of course.

No party with Present Mic in attendance would finish without music and dancing, of course, and while Ochaco shared dances with both boys, each slow dance with Izuku left her and her dance partner blushing by the end of it. Midnight and Inko snapped several pictures as they talked, much to the teens’ dread of the inevitable teasing. Eventually, the party began to wind down and Izuku tried to stifle a yawn that Ochaco noticed. “Do you, um, maybe want to, you know, walk me back to your place?” she asked him, embarrassed, realizing how it could be misinterpreted, but she didn’t know Tokyo well enough to find her own way.

“Oh! Sure, of course.” Izuku answered. “Let me just say a few goodbyes really quick.” Izuku worked the room, congratulating his friend again, thanking Tensei and Hayaka for inviting him, and bidding several pro heroes a good evening. He also rescued Mr. Aizawa, cornered by Emi Fukukado. “Excuse me, Ms. Joke, do you mind if I borrow Eraserhead for a few minutes?”

“You can have the old sourpuss, Izuku,” she said. “He’s too sober to ensnare tonight anyway. One of these days I’m going to catch him in a moment of weakness, though.”

Izuku nodded seriously. “When that happens, may your first child be a masculine child.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes as Fukukado burst into laughter, but he took his chance to escape. “Smart ass,” he whispered to Izuku. “Everything okay?”

“Well, I was right about O… Uraraka’s quirk. It’s force manipulation, short range. Once she tags something, she can increase or decrease any of the variables of force equals mass times acceleration for an indeterminate time. We can probably get a ballpark guess how long it lasts with some simple experiments, but she’s got at least an hour. She’s been using a fraction of what she can do for years. Whoever her quirk counsellor was just went with the simplest explanation and moved on. Midnight is going to work with her, and me, if the two of them won’t mind me attending.”

“You do know that sort of thing is my job, Problem Child,” Aizawa said, “but I’ll allow it if they don’t object. It’ll be good practice for when we do quirk analysis in class.”

“I can’t wait for that.”

“I also hear that I need to have a discussion with you and Uraraka about improper fraternization,” Aizawa said completely deadpan.

“This is going to replace the force plate incident for teasing me, isn’t it?”

“Oh no, I can do both.”

All Might and Inko joined the teens for their walk back to the Midoriya household. “After all,” All Might said with mock seriousness, “who knows what illicit shenanigans you two might get up to unsupervised?”

Izuku groaned. “Is there anyone you didn’t tell, mom? It was all an innocent misunderstanding!”

“I don’t think I’ve told your GranPa yet, but he’s probably asleep already,” Inko teased. “While I’m sure it was a misunderstanding, I’m not sure I’d use ‘innocent’ to describe it.”

“Nothing happened!” Ochaco protested. “I’m not a floozy.”

“I know, dear. I don’t blame you; I blame that wicked Midoriya charm,” Inko said.

“Might as well blame Santa Claus,” Izuku said, “he’s just as real as Midoriya charm.” This did get a laugh out of Inko.

“Alright, I’ve had my fun,” Inko chuckled.

In due course, they arrived back at the Midoriya home, All Might said good night and headed back to his own house. Everyone got ready for bed, and Ochaco made sure to use the restroom before going to bed and sleeping there the whole night.

Morning arrived with the smell of food, and Ochaco wandered downstairs to find the Midoriyas cooking a huge feast together. “Good morning, dear,” Inko said. “Breakfast will be ready in a half-hour if you want to go ahead and get ready for the day. Sunday is usually our rest day.”

“Yeah,” Izuku added, “no runs, no work outs, just lounging. Tenya and All Might will probably come by for breakfast.”

“Okay,” Ochaco said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Oh, no,” Inko replied, “you’re our guest! We’ve got everything handled. Is there anything you don’t like in an omelet?”

Ochaco shook her head, “Nothing I can think of. I’ll be right back down and help set the table.” She went upstairs and took a quick shower, dressing casually in shorts and a t-shirt. When she made her way back downstairs, she found All Might and a surprise guest, Mr. Aizawa. He looked a little bit worse for wear, and huge black bags lining his face directly under his slightly bloodshot eyes. He held a giant mug of coffee.

The stoic teacher looked at her a moment and said, “Good morning, Uraraka. Please sit down.”

“Is something wrong?” she asked, with a bit of concern.

“Everyone is safe and sound, but I do have some news. It, well, it is about your apartment.”

She sat down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs, Izuku setting a glass of ice water in front of her and softly squeezing her shoulder. “Sir, I know that the apartment isn’t acceptable to UA, but it was all I could afford. Please don’t expel me.”

Aizawa ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not that much of a hypocrite,” he said, “but you can’t live there anymore. This isn’t a punishment, Uraraka, there was a… well, an accident.”

“What?”

“Last night, shortly after the end of Tenya’s party, Mt. Lady got into a fight with a villain who also had a gigantification quirk. He tackled her and she lost her balance.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“Young Uraraka,” All Might said, “Well… there’s really no delicate way to say this… Mt. Lady sat on your apartment building.”

“Oh my God! Was… was anyone hurt? I wasn’t the only person living there!”

Aizawa shook his head. “She managed to turn enough that half the building is still… mostly standing. No one on your side of the building was home, thankfully. However, everything in your apartment, and the apartments above it, was completely flattened. I’m sorry.”

Ochaco shivered, and Izuku sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. “If I’d stayed home this weekend, I’d have died.” She cried against Izuku’s chest.

“We’re all very glad you are here, young Uraraka,” All Might said. “Did you have anything irreplaceable in the apartment?”

She shook her head. “Mostly just my clothes and my futon. But what am I going to do? I’m homeless. I mean, I can stay with my parents, but it’s a four-hour trip to UA.”

Aizawa looked at All Might and gave a little nod. “That is one of the reasons Aizawa came back to Tokyo, to discuss your options with you.”

“We had an emergency meeting with Nezu and the other teachers very, very early this morning.” He cocked his head toward All Might, “How he doesn’t look as exhausted as I am… is beyond me. We hope we can change UA to a boarding school this year, but we’ve run into funding issues. We’re going to try and raise those funds from the Alumni Association, but a successful test case would help.”

“Test case?” she asked.

All Might nodded. “Might Incorporated owns a five-bedroom house in Musutafu, rather close to UA, and Inko and Izuku are both quite familiar with the house, since they used to live there before moving to Tokyo. Midnight agreed to move in as a, well, house mother if you will. The boys will be on the first floor and girls on the second floor with Midnight. We’d like to offer you a room in this house.” All Might turned to Inko. “Since it is rather early in the school year, the students haven’t had time to establish rankings based on grades yet, so we are going by the entrance examination. We’d like to get the three top performers,” Izuku looked up with wide eyes, “and then another female student, most likely Ibara Shiozaki or Itsuka Kendo from Class B, both of whom ranked in the top ten.”

Inko wiped a tear from her eye. “I may have teased this weekend, but I trust them. I knew this day would come, but I didn’t expect it so soon. If you want to, you can go, Izuku.”

Izuku turned to All Might. “Ha ha, I’ll get my old room back. If we do this, can I still come up on the weekends and stay with Mom?”

“Of course, my boy,” All Might said. “We’ll still have Saturday training at Might Tower, so you and Tenya can ride up with me after your heroics class Saturday morning.”

“Can Ochaco come too?” he asked.

Inko laughed. “We’ll set her up a bedroom here… on the first floor!”

“Nezu thinks this is our best path forward,” Mr. Aizawa said, “but we’ll also need agreement and some paperwork from all the parents.” He set a folder on the table. “Nezu has already drawn up documents for the three of you, and Sekijiro Kan, the homeroom teacher of 1-B, is going to visit Shiozaki’s family today. If they refuse, he’ll visit Kendo’s parents. It’s a good opportunity, and we would prefer to have someone from 1-B.”

Ochaco’s eyes widened, and she pulled out her new cell phone. With everything that happened this weekend, she’d muted her phone. She had thirteen missed calls and thirty-seven unread messages. “Can I… can I call them right now?”

“Please do,” Mr. Aizawa said, and a moment later, her parents picked up the phone.

“Ochaco, are you alright?” her father asked. “Your apartment was destroyed! The police called us because it was in our name. We’ve been worried sick!”

“I’m okay, Dad, Mom, and I’m safe and sound with two pro heroes. I’m so sorry. I found a box with a lot of money hidden in my apartment on Friday, and I freaked out a bit. My teachers brought me to a safe place in Tokyo for the weekend.”

“Thank God for them,” her mom said. “We were so worried.”

“I should have called anyway about the money I deposited in your account. Um, I found the box’s owner, or maybe he found me, and he insisted on giving me a reward, so I put half of it in your account. It should show up tomorrow. And I know I should come home, but it’s such a long trip to get back to school in the morning, and now they’re going to let me live in a house with one of the UA teachers, Midnight, um, Ms. Kayama, and a few other students. We wouldn’t need to pay rent or anything because it’s a test for the school for dorms, so you wouldn’t even need to send me any money because I kept half of the reward, and can I please?”

Everything fell silent for a few moments, and the Ochaco’s dad said, “Could you repeat that at half speed, Cuddlebug?”

“If I may,” All Might said, “Perhaps I can explain. UA, in collaboration with Might Incorporated, is planning to set up UA as a boarding school. To secure the proper funding, we want to implement a proof-of-concept pilot program. Since your daughter placed third in the entrance exam, we would appreciate having her take part. Food, furniture, and all other living expenses will be fully covered by Might Incorporated, and we will replace any of the items lost last night. In addition, there will be a weekly stipend to cover any other items she may need.”

“I’m sorry, but who is this?” Mr. Uraraka asked.

“Dad, that’s All Might.”

“All Might! Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much for looking after our daughter!”

“She’s a delightful young lady. As for the opportunity for housing, please,” All Might said, “consider it a scholarship. Young Uraraka did quite well on the entrance exams, as you know, placing third out of over three hundred and fifty of the finest applicants Japan has to offer. She will be joined by three other students who performed comparably, and a pro hero teacher who will live on site. I assure you, from what I’ve seen of young Uraraka and these other fine students, supervision is hardly necessary, but it will be provided, nonetheless. If the dormitories are not implemented, rest assured that a place in this pilot program will remain available throughout young Uraraka’s school career at UA, and the stipend will continue regardless.”

“Well,” Mrs. Uraraka’s voice came through the phone’s speaker, “it sounds almost too good to be true.”

Mr. Aizawa spoke up. “Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka, this is Shota Aizawa, pro hero and teacher at UA. We believe that your daughter’s participation will show the good that the dormitories can provide for all our students. This is the least we can do. On a related note, I have been authorized to invite you to bid on the contract to construct the dormitories. This will involve thirty-three student dormitories and an added six or so buildings to house apartments for the teachers who will also be living on campus. We realize that you will probably need to subcontract for a job this size, but we sincerely hope that you will submit a bid to oversee the entire project. Principal Nezu will be in contact this week, regardless of whether you will allow your daughter to participate, but I think this will provide an excellent opportunity for her.”

They could hear a brief side discussion through the phone, and then, “This could really put our company on the map,” Mr. Uraraka said. “We'll be more than happy to bid on it, and to allow Ochaco to take part in the pilot.”

“Wonderful,” All Might said. “If you don’t mind sharing your address, I can be there in thirty minutes with the paperwork for the pilot program and some information on the dormitory proposal.” While the trip might take four hours by train, All Might could cover that distance much quicker with mighty leaps.

Together, the Midoriya family ate breakfast joined by Ochaco and Mr. Aizawa, who took a thermos of coffee and left to make the pitch to the Ida family. By the time All Might and Aizawa returned, they’d received word from Vlad King that Shiozaki’s family had declined due to religious reasons, but Kendo’s parents quickly accepted the offer. Each of the rooms already had furniture since the house had been converted to a safe house after the Midoriya family moved to Tokyo.

A whirlwind of activity followed, with Izuku and Tenya both packing clothing for every occasion and other essentials into All Might’s truck, along with all Ochaco’s possessions that she’d brought with her or bought yesterday on her shopping trip with Inko. Inko rode with them down to Musutafu, partially to say a teary farewell to her boys, but also because she saw an opportunity. “Poor Ochaco lost all of her possessions, of course we’re going to have to buy replacements!” While two shopping trips in one weekend didn’t completely make up for her baby moving out, it certainly didn’t hurt.

After dropping the high priestess and her slowly converting heretic off at the local temple to consumerism, the trio of infidels, at least to Inko’s mind, drove to the house. They found Midnight already moved in thanks to the efforts of several second and third year students, taking the master bedroom at the top of the stairs. The other rooms on the second floor shared a bathroom and would house Ochaco and Itsuka Kendo. The two bedrooms on the ground floor would belong to Izuku and Tenya, with Izuku moving back into his childhood room. “Welcome to the house of sin, you naughty boys! Just so you know, each of the rooms have sensors, so if you’re in one of the young ladies’ rooms after curfew, an alarm will sound. Same if one of them is in your room.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “We’ll be on our best behavior.”

“I’ve heard all about your best behavior from your mom!” she said with a chuckle. “But if you’ll carry Ochaco’s things up to her room, I’ll consider a pardon.”

“Now, young Kayama,” All Might said diplomatically, “you know they can be trusted. I do appreciate your willingness to move in and provide their parents with a sense of comfort, but I don’t expect you to change your patrol schedule unless you want to do so. Also, Inko did want me to mention that she was taking young Uraraka to the mall.”

“Oh,” Midnight said with a grin on her face, “I was asleep and missed yesterday’s trip! I’m going to see if I can catch up to them! Don’t wait up.” She began texting furiously as she walked out the door.

All Might chuckled, helping the boys unload the truck, and with the number one hero’s help, the two powerfully built teens completed their task with ease and got to work setting up their own rooms. Each student room featured a comfortable bed, dresser, and desk, complete with a Might Incorporated laptop connected to the house’s Wi-Fi network. Each room also had a panic button behind a small glass shield to prevent accidental presses. Pushing the button three times in rapid succession would notify the local police department and every hero within fifty kilometers.

After setting up their rooms, they joined All Might in the living room and watched one of the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Just as the movie finished, he received a text to pick up Inko and Ochaco from the mall. “I’ll be back,” he promised.

They went back to their rooms to finish getting things situated. “This must be even stranger for you than it is to me,” Tenya said from the door to Izuku’s room a few minutes later.

Izuku smiled. “Maybe a little. I grew up in this house, but it’s a lot different now. All our old furniture is in Tokyo at home. We always had a security system, but not one this complex. They completely remodeled to make it a safe house, so… I don’t know. It’s like seeing someone you knew years ago and realizing they’ve changed a lot, but you can still see the characteristics of the person they used to be, if that makes sense.”

Tenya nodded. “I believe so. I suspect we may only be here a few months from Mr. Aizawa’s explanation to my parents. Still, it will be nice not to have as much of a commute.”

“And we’ve got the Three Musketeers all in one place,” Izuku said happily.

“Don’t forget about our other housemate,” Tenya said.

“Kendo can be d’Artagnan,” Izuku smirked.

“Who did you say I could be?” a voice from the hallway asked. Tenya turned to reveal a slim girl with a long orange ponytail tied to the left side of her head.

Izuku blushed a bit. “D’Artagnan from The Three Musketeers. Just making a silly joke since there are four of us. Nice to meet you. This is Tenya Ida and I’m Izuku Midoriya.” Both boys bowed.

“Gotcha,” she said, returning the bow. “I’m Itsuka Kendo. The Three Musketeers thing makes sense with you all in class A and seeming to know each other. But I’m not in a rush to fight any duels, much less three in one day.”

Izuku laughed. “Well, maybe we can do some sparring after classes. Besides, they did become good friends and all of them got to be Musketeers. All for one and one for all.”

“Do you need any help with your things?” Tenya asked.

“Oh, no, I’m good. I got everything moved in earlier. I barely had to lift a thing, since I think Ms. Kayama had almost every boy from the second and third years begging to help. I just had to run back home for a few things I forgot.” She held up her gym bag to emphasize her point.

“I can show you all around the neighborhood tomorrow.” Izuku offered. “I grew up in this house, but it got converted to a safehouse when we moved to Tokyo.

“Sounds like a plan,” she replied. “Nice house. I was a bit surprised when my homeroom teacher showed up with the offer. I was worried I’d done something wrong.”

Izuku shook his head. “I think they’ve wanted to do dormitories for a while and decided this was a good way to push for it, especially considering what happened to Ochaco’s apartment.”

“Who? Oh, the other girl. What happened?”

“Mt. Lady sat on it.”

Kendo laughed, “Very funny. Seriously, what happened?”

“Mt. Lady sat on it.”

Kendo frowned, but her eyes crinkled upward. “Izuku,” Tenya said, rolling his eyes, “it isn’t funny.”

“Butt it is!” Izuku protested.

“Oh, Lord,” Kendo sputtered.

“Come on, Tenya! It was a total cat-ass-trophy!” Izuku said.

“Someone could have been hurt,” Tenya said, without much hope.

“You’re right,” Izuku said, in mock seriousness, “Mt. Lady could have been cut by one of the windows when she landed.”

“That would be a real pane in the ass,” Kendo said, slapping a hand over her mouth as Izuku laughed so hard tears were filling his eyes.

“I’m sorry if I’m being a bit cheeky, but I’ve been holding it in ever since I found out no one was hurt and that Ochaco didn’t lose anything irreplaceable.”

Tenya made one last valiant effort. “What would poor Ochaco say if she heard you joking about this?”

From the hallway, they heard Ochaco’s voice reply, “Well, if you ass-k me, I’d say it’s a bit soon. I can still crack a smile about Mt. Lady’s urban booty-fication project, though.” She poked her head in the room and winked at Izuku. “I’ve been holding them in all day, too. Besides, how could I be mad at her? I like big butts and I cannot lie.”

Tenya rolled his eyes. “I’m the only sane person here.”

Midnight called from the stairs, “Welcome to the assylum, Ida!”

Chapter Text

After everyone settled in, Midnight and All Might called a house meeting, with Inko standing in as a representative for all the parents. “The rules are simple. Clean up after yourselves, but on Sunday nights we will clean the common areas of the house together. Food will be provided for, and you can decide among yourselves a schedule for cooking, but Tuesdays are my nights!” Midnight announced.

“Not…” Izuku started.

“Taco Tuesdays! You know I love my Mexican food.” She smirked. “Curfew is at nine on school nights, and since you’re all in the hero course that includes Fridays. Lights out is at eleven, except for Saturday nights, I’ll leave that to you until you start muttering about coffee and logical ruses while carrying around a sleeping bag. At that point I’ll stage an intervention. After ten, you’re to be on your own floor without my specific approval, and that will not be given lightly. Other than that, the back yard is rather large and has a fortified privacy fence, so you have permission to use your quirks within reason. Try not to do anything that would make us reconsider.” She looked over at Inko and All Might. “Did I forget anything?” All Might mimed making a cell phone call. “Oh, right!” She handed a cell phone to Kendo. “Put your sim card in that. You’ll keep the same number, but you will all be switched over to Might Incorporated’s cell phone plan. If you don’t touch the screen once per day, it will send an alert to every hero in a fifty-kilometer radius. If a known villain touches the phone, it will send an alert to every hero in a fifty-kilometer radius. If you press hashtag, your number, and the letters F and A in sequence, third verse same as the first. Midoriya, you’re number one, Ida two, Uraraka three, and Kendo four. The only other rule is to be courteous to your housemates, and that rule applies to all of us, me included. Any questions?” Everyone shook their heads. “Does that sound reasonable, Inko?”

Izuku’s mother nodded her head. “I think so. They’re all aiming to be heroes, so they’re fairly responsible for their age.” She stood up and hugged Izuku with teary eyes. When she finally pulled away, she pulled Tenya into a hug, followed by Ochaco, who melted into the embrace. She and Kendo looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Kendo shrugged and they hugged. “Be good, Izuku,” she said, and gave him one last hug.

“I will, Mom. I’ll see you Saturday. Love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said through her tears.

All Might wrapped one of his powerful arms around the woman and led her to the door. “Thank you all for taking part in this. I’ll be seeing you quite soon!” The room filled with silence until they heard the roar of All Might’s pickup truck engine and the sounds of the vehicle driving away. The room had a solemn mood.

Then Midnight said, “One last thing now that it’s just us, you’re each getting a stipend of fifty thousand yen per week from Might Incorporated. It will be deposited directly into your bank account every Friday. You’re all standing near the pool of adulthood, so, just be careful when you dip your toes in the water. Before any of you go diving into the deep end, just ask for a swimming cap or buy your own.” With that, she walked up the stairs whistling the tune for Paradise by the Dashboard Light, leaving behind four teens with various shades of blushes on their faces.

“Holy whoa,” Izuku said finally, “this isn’t awkward at all.”

After an exhausting weekend, the new housemates all went to bed early, and sleep came easy to them all. Izuku found himself before the castle of One For All in his mind, his body just a bit more solid than his dream last night. Nana stood beside him, giggling. “You knew Ochaco climbed into my bed Friday night!” he accused.

“Yup,” she said, popping the “P” with a smirk. “Funniest thing I’ve experienced since Toshi tripped during a wedding party and landed face first into the cake.”

Izuku laughed. “The Cake Might incident! That’s one of my favorite All Might bloopers.”

Nana smiled. “I probably should have warned you, but I knew you two were safe, so it wasn’t my place to interfere, but I’ll give you a heads-up next time. So, you want some more tips and tricks for Float? Most quirks don’t come with the user manual.”

“Sure, today was so busy I didn’t get a chance to try it much while I was awake,” Izuku said.

“Great,” she said. “I’ve been working on convincing the holder before me. He wants to see how you handle Float, but I think he’s starting to come around.”

Izuku and Tenya both woke up quite early since they went to sleep at their usual times and would have had a commute. They both exited their rooms at the same time dressed for their morning run, only to find Ochaco and Kendo coming down the stairs dressed for a run as well.

“Looks like we all had the same idea,” Kendo said.

“Since you know the neighborhood, Izuku, you lead the way,” Ochaco said.

Kendo frowned. “Are you all on a first name basis?”

Izuku smiled. “Feeling left out, d’Artagnan? You can call me Izuku.”

Tenya nodded. “Tenya.”

“Ochaco’s fine!” Ochaco exclaimed.

“Then I’m Itsuka,” Itsuka finished.

“If everyone is good with a ten K run,” Izuku offered, “it’s about three-point-five K to Dagobah Beach, then three K along the beach, and another three and a half back, roughly a triangle. Running on sand will really give it a kick, but other than that, the route is flat. We could also circle UA for some hills. Any preference?”

“I’m good with either,” Itsuka said to Ochaco’s agreeing nod.

“We should alternate, but let’s do the beach today and the hills tomorrow,” Tenya said. “I’d like to enjoy our handiwork.”

“What do you mean?” Ochaco asked.

Tenya pulled out his phone and showed a picture of a junkyard to the girls. “Izuku and I cleaned this up for training. I can’t wait for you to see what it looks like now!”

“I’m sold,” Itsuka said. “Let’s hit the beach.”

The four teens made good time to the beach as Izuku led them on an easy path through some of the quieter neighborhoods of Musutafu. The first twelve years of his life taught him all the secret backroads that avoided a lot of foot traffic, with less chance of running into any of his classmates. He no longer worried about them, of course, but the path let them run without stopping, except for when they reached the beach.

Ochaco and Itsuka both gasped at the beautiful beach, while Tenya beamed with pride. “How long did this take you two?”

“Almost a month, twelve to sixteen hours a day. Around fifty junked cars, hundreds of appliances, bags of trash, almost anything you can imagine,” Izuku said.

“No dead bodies, thank goodness,” Tenya said. “Sifting all the sand was the hard part.”

“The cars were the hard part,” Izuku countered.

“No, they weren’t. It was definitely the sand,” Tenya insisted, adjusting his glasses.

Izuku threw his hands into the air, “Says the guy who didn’t have to lift the cars.”

“You can lift over one hundred tons when actively using your quirk! A car is like a paperweight to you, and most of them were missing their engines. Besides, I carried two motorcycles. Considering that’s much closer to my limits than a car is to yours, that’s more impressive.”

“That wasn’t my limit back then and you know it! They’re hardly paperweights.”

Itsuka leaned over to Ochaco. “If either of them pulls out a ruler, I’m leaving.”

Izuku chuckled. “The sand was pretty tough.”

Tenya nodded. “And you didn’t just lift the cars, you threw them. Accurately too, except for that Volkswagen.”

“Leave the Volkswagen out of this. We’re not counting the Volkswagen. We agreed the Volkswagen is off limits,” Izuku shrugged with a lopsided grin. “Who puts the engine in the back of the car?”

Ochaco beamed. “It’s all impressive! This place is beautiful!”

“Oh, wait,” Itsuka said. “There’s a fee and I didn’t bring any cash.”

“Just hold your phone up to the gate, it acts as a pass,” Tenya replied, and the gate opened.

The run along the shoreline proved challenging, but as UA students, the four relished in challenges, and the return to the pavement felt easier, serving as a nice cooldown. Once they reached the house, they took a leisurely stroll around the block to relax their legs. Izuku and Tenya led Ochaco and Itsuka through Aizawa’s stretching routine to keep them limber for the day ahead. After all, today would include their first heroics class.

They played paper-rock-scissors for the privilege of first shower, Izuku and Ochaco both winning respectively. Izuku smiled. “Since we get to go first, we’ll cook breakfast.” After finishing his shower, Izuku started the rice cooker and made the miso soup and grilled some fish. Ochaco joined him a few minutes later, preparing some natto and fried eggs. When Midnight stumbled into the kitchen in her hero costume. Izuku set a cup of coffee in front of her. “Black as sin, hot as hell, and sweet as stolen kisses.”

“Thanks, baby boy,” she muttered, taking a sip. “You’re a life saver.”

“What did that mean?” Ochaco asked.

“Oh, just how I like my coffee. No cream or milk, very hot, three sugars,” Midnight replied.

“Present Mic likes his half coffee and half creamer with no sugar, while Mr. Aizawa just likes it black, but I think he would just chew on the beans if he could get away with it,” Izuku laughed.

“Something smells good,” Itsuka said, walking into the kitchen.

“Coffee or tea, Itsuka?” Izuku asked. “Ochaco?”

“Black coffee, please,” Itsuka answered.

“Tea for me, thanks,” Ochaco answered.

Izuku set out another cup of coffee, two cups of tea, and a tall glass of orange juice with crushed ice. “Ah, thank you,” Tenya said as he walked into the kitchen, taking a sip of the juice. “Would you like us to accompany you to school, Aunt Nem… I mean, Ms. Kayama?”

“You can call me that here, just don’t do it on purpose at school. That goes for all of you at home, I’m either Nemuri or Nem, although someone insists on calling me Midnight. I appreciate the offer, but teachers need to get there early. You still have over an hour, so take your time. It’s only a ten-minute walk to the front gate.” She finished her plate of food, wiped it off, and placed it in the dishwasher. “Thanks for breakfast. See you kids in class.” She put on a skirt and thin blouse and walked out the door, looking every bit like an office lady at first glance.

Forty-five minutes later, the four students entered the UA gates, and the whole campus seemed to buzz with energy at the first full day of classes for the new school year. Once they entered the main building, Itsuka left the other three with a wave, since her homeroom sat on the other side of the first floor. When they arrived at the door to Class 1-A, Izuku expected the trio to arrive first, but Tokoyami sat silently at his desk, faint music coming from his bag. Yaoyorozu paced back and forth near her desk, eyes lighting up when she saw Ochaco.

“Uraraka!” she exclaimed, running up and wrapping the girl in a hug. “Thank goodness you’re alright! I saw a video of Mt. Lady falling on your apartment building and I feared the worst.”

“Oh, sorry I scared you, Yaomomo! A lot happened this weekend, but I’ve already got a new place to live, and it is much nicer.” While Mt. Lady destroying her apartment wasn’t ideal, it had led to a much better situation for her.

“That’s wonderful,” Yaoyorozu said. “It… isn’t in that part of town, is it?”

Ochaco shook her head. “I moved in yesterday! It’s a nice house, and it’s being run by UA as a test program. They’re hoping to build dormitories on campus.”

“Wait, really?” Mina said, having caught the last part. “UA gave you a house?”

“No, I’m just living there since Mt. Lady flatted my apartment.”

“She didn’t mean to,” Izuku called out. “I blame the villain for your apartment being turned into pavement. It’s his own asphalt,” he said to horrified looks but a laugh from Ochaco.

“Kill me now,” Bakugo gritted as he made his way to his desk. Ochaco’s glare told Izuku she’d be glad to oblige.

“So… Mt. Lady sat on your apartment and crushed it,” Mineta asked, his face displaying a wistful look. “Wish I’d been there.”

“Mineta! You’d have been killed,” Tenya said.

“Yeah, but I’d have died happy,” the boy said. “We’re all going to die someday, at least I’d go surrounded by my loved ones. The left and the right cheek.”

“Shut the Hell up, you little purple pervert,” Bakugo spit out, his hands sparking. For once, Izuku agreed with Bakugo.

Izuku walked over to Tokoyami. “You’re here early. Did you have a nice weekend?”

Tokoyami nodded and opened his bag to reveal the shadowy form with headphones, singing along to Teenagers. “Quite a bit of it wasted, unfortunately. Music doth soothe the savage beast, but I forgot to secure permission Friday. I tried to meet with Mr. Aizawa Saturday afternoon, but Vlad King told me he had a matter to handle in Tokyo. I woke early to ask him today. Fortunately, he proved far more understanding than my previous teachers.”

“That’s a shame about your old teachers. I’m sorry you both had to go through that.” He looked down at Dark Shadow and smiled, but the sentient quirk just tilted her head to the side as if trying to figure him out. He smiled and waved.

“We all have our burdens to bear, and unfairness seems a common cross, but I… do appreciate your concern, Midoriya,” Tokoyami said solemnly.

“No problem,” Izuku said with a smile. “I’ve got some rare MCR B-sides and live performances, if you and Dark Shadow would like a copy. I went through a bit of an emo phase a few years ago, but I still like them.”

Tokoyami seemed surprised. “I’m certain she would appreciate that. Thank you.”

Izuku felt something tap his shoulder and turned around to see Kyoka Jiro with one of her earphone jacks held up. “Can I get in on that? I’ve been looking for Heaven Help Us for years.”

“You’re in luck. That’s one of my favorites. I’ve got the album version and two live performances.”

“How’d you manage that?”

Izuku grinned. “An indulgent Mom who loves shopping. I’ve spent almost every Sunday since I was twelve wandering around shopping malls. She’s a legend, but she’d let me wander off on my own after an hour or two. Watch.” He turned to his two closest friends. “Hey, Tenya, Ochaco. Mom wants to go shopping Sunday and asked me to bring you two.”

Ochaco just shivered, rocking back and forth. Tenya waved his arm. “Tell her I have to attend a funeral.”

“Whose?”

“My own, if I have to go shopping with her!”

“All right, to your seats,” Aizawa called, noting Izuku appeared to teleport to his seat. Looking at his watch as the others settled, he said, “Seven seconds. Still too slow. You need to enhance your situational awareness, especially before your first heroics class later today. I have a few announcements.” He looked around the room to make sure all his students sat at their desks and paid attention. “UA is officially beginning a pilot program to test the feasibility of moving to a boarding school concept. Shiketsu High School and several other hero schools have already implemented such programs and they’ve been successful. To garner support, UA offered temporary housing to four students as part of a test.”

Mina raised her hand. “Can we volunteer?”

“Unfortunately, no. All the spots have been filled, and the school chose these students partially based on their placement on the entrance exam and other factors.” At Mina’s disappointed look, he continued, “however, this is only temporary. The goal is to begin construction in the next two weeks if our testers behave themselves appropriately. Since your heroics teacher is one of the main sponsors of this plan, and I proposed it, your class will be the first ones to move in as soon as the first dormitory is completed. I’m telling you this so that you can discuss it with your family. We will be sending them informational packets and having home meeting with them, but the more advanced warning they have, the better. Now, we’ve rebalanced our class schedule this year due to the addition of a new heroics teacher, so for the hero course, your last two classes of the day will be heroics. Saturday will consist of a four-hour heroics course with your regular teacher and me, plus occasional guest instructors. That’s all for now.”

He moved toward the door. “I know you’re all excited about heroics later today, but your other classes are important too, so pay attention.”

After morning classes, the UA students headed toward the lunchroom where Ochaco, Izuku, and Tenya found their lunches, and Itsuka’s as well, were now covered by the pilot program. Following the age-old unwritten law of school lunch breaks, cliques were already forming, with students from the different departments sitting mostly together, and then separating further into their own class, and finally based on whim.

Izuku saw this play out before during his time at Aldera and even Soumei to a lesser degree. Baseline human appearance tended to stick together, dividing further into “strong” quirks and “weak” or “villain” quirks. Those with mutant features ended up with other heteromorphic types. Before Soumei, he rarely ate in the cafeteria, since quirkless and untouchable were sadly synonymous. He refused to let that happen today. “Can you guys grab one of the bigger tables, please?” he asked his housemates. “Mina! Kirishima! We’re over there!” He looked around. “Hey, Tokoyami! Want to sit with us? Oh, hey, Shinso,” he yelled to the general education student, “come sit with us if you want.”

Over time, mixing would occur naturally, but Izuku’s efforts helped it along. A few students, such as Shoji and Hagakure look around hesitantly, but a few innocent invitations mixed up the natural order and they happily joined the rest of the students. Unlike most of the first-year classes, 1-A’s group took up three of the lunch tables rather than two, with a few people from other classes joining them. Bakugo walked past them, despite an invitation from Kirishima and sat down by himself at one of the smaller tables. Izuku looked at Kirishima’s disappointed expression and whispered, “Sorry.”

“Not your fault, dude,” Kirishima said. “Hopefully he’ll come around.” Kirishima looked at his tray. “Hey man, I kind of know what it’s like sitting alone, you mind…?”

Izuku smiled. “You’re a good guy, Kirishima. We can always make room.”

“Thanks, Midoriya!” He grabbed his tray and headed toward where Bakugo sat alone.

Another blonde boy walked by, stopping when he spotted Itsuka. “Kendo?” he asked. “Why aren’t you sitting with the rest of our class?”

She shrugged. “No reason, just hanging out with some people I know. Why don’t you join us, Monoma?”

“But… they’re class A!” he protested.

“So?” she asked.

“I’m not in class A,” Shinso offered. “General Studies. For now.”

A girl down the table sang, “Support Course,” in a faux operatic style, pink dreadlocks waving as she swayed to the music in her own head.

“And I’m class B,” Itsuka finished.

“Aren’t we supposed to be rivals?” Monoma said. “And here you are with the enemy!”

Izuku waved his hand. “Nah, that was only during the entrance exam. We’re all trying to be heroes; doesn’t that make us allies?”

Monoma sputtered, “But Vlad King and Eraserhead…”

“Work on a lot of cases together,” Izuku finished.

“That’s beside the point!” Monoma protested.

“No way,” Sato said. “If Mirko was in trouble, you think All Might wouldn’t help her just because she’s not part of his agency?”

“Just chill and grab a seat,” Jiro said. “We won’t bite.”

Setsuna Tokage slid into the seat Kirishima left empty. “Now, that is a crying shame. Can I negotiate for a little nibbling?” She loudly laughed at Jiro’s light blush.

Monoma frowned, but then a huge student wearing a light blue mask said quietly, “Monoma, right? You can sit by me if you want.” He looked down, and almost whispered, “you don’t have to, but you can,” as if he were afraid of being laughed at.

Neito Monoma looked down for a few moments, then lowered himself gently into the seat. “Thank you. And yes, I’m Neito Monoma.”

“Mezo Shoji. Nice to meet you.” Even through the mask, Monoma could tell the other boy smiled.

Everything felt off somehow. He’d taken his time leaving the classroom after Midnight released them for lunch, expecting a bunch of extras to wait outside to follow him, but they all left. He clicked his teeth and made his way to the cafeteria, getting a place in line.

Katsuki Bakugo loaded up his tray with mapo tofu to the alarm of Lunch Rush. The cooking hero said, “You might want to get something else. I only make it because some of the third years are spice addicts, but I make it extra hot. Make sure to take some bread with you!”

Bakugo growled. “I can handle it without bread. Nobody makes it as spicy as I like!”

Lunch Rush held up his hands. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He paid for his meal in a huff, then stomped into the cafeteria, looking around. For a moment, he felt a bit unsure. At Aldera, everyone knew the largest table belonged to him and those he allowed in his presence, right in the center. That area seemed taken by third years. Then spotted Frogger heading toward a section by the windows, probably the first-year area.

He walked that way, noting with disgust that Deku seemed to be at the center of things, with everyone grouped around him and a few others. Weird hair spotted him and called out, “Hey dude, come join us! Plenty of room.” He clicked his teeth and stomped by. He’d rather chew his own arm off that sit at the same table as Deku like an extra. He moved to the largest open table and sat down, taking a bite of his mapo tofu with a bit of appreciation. Lunch Rush might underestimate him, but the man knew how to make a proper spicy dish.

I got too used to being king of the world at Aldera, he thought. I haven’t built up a rep here yet. Just a matter of time though. They’ll see what a loser Deku is and be begging to follow me around once they do. Here comes extra number one already.

Sure enough, Weird Hair walked over carrying his tray. “Hey dude! Saw you sitting alone and thought I’d join you if that’s okay. You know, kind of sucks being alone. Mind if I sit down?”

“Free country,” Bakugo said through a mouthful of tofu.

“Why can’t I take more Nomu, Master?” Tomura Shigaraki asked.

All For One stretched his body, at least the parts of it that still responded to his orders. “Because, my boy, this raid is merely an opening move. A feint to test their defenses. I don’t mind sacrificing pawns for this battle, but I don’t want to waste a rook. I can give you a powerful Nomu, a knight or possibly a bishop, but I want you to stick close to Kurogiri. The two of you are far too valuable to lose this early in the game, or at all.”

“I don’t understand,” Tomura admitted.

All For One suppressed a sigh. Efforts to teach the boy chess or shogi ended in mutual frustration. “Kurogiri! Translate.”

“Tomura Shigaraki,” Kurogiri intoned seriously. “This section is the tutorial and is therefore level capped. You haven’t earned enough XP yet to unlock multiple elite units. We are executing a Zerg rush using trash mobs, although the Master will allow use of a DLC character, so long as the two of us avoid permadeath by rage quitting, if necessary.” Tomura nodded in understanding.

“Thank you, Kurogiri. Have we received any intel?”

“The spy contacted us, but their access is unfortunately limited. They did supply the coordinates to the teacher’s lounge. With a sufficient distraction, I should be able to warp there.”

“Good. Don’t worry, Tomura, we’ll carry out all our goals in due time. I don’t want All Might to die quite yet.”

“But Master, I want to kill him.”

“As do I, my boy. We’ll do it together,” and one of All For One’s mechanical legs shot out, impaling a rat that had been scuttling underfoot, “but only after he has suffered.”

Chapter Text

After lunch, the class endured a few more hours of general education, but fifth period finally ended. Present Mic gathered up his textbooks and papers. “Thanks, little listeners. Next up is what you’ve all been waiting for!” With that he strolled out of the room.

“Dang it,” Ochaco stage whispered. “I should have started a pool on who our heroics teacher will be.”

“Ochaco,” Tenya said, “you know very well who our heroics teacher is going to be.”

“I know! It would have been the perfect con,” she said, laughing.

Izuku shot her a wink from across the room but sat up a little straighter when the door slammed open. “I AM HERE! Walking through the door like a normal person!” All Might entered the room as he always did, a quick glance that took in every detail and then striding in like he owned the place. Today he wore his Silver Age costume, cape flared out dramatically behind him.

“All Might!” Mina squealed. “I’m your biggest fan!”

All Might laughed. “Some people might argue with you on that proclamation, young Ashido,” he said, winking in Izuku’s direction, “but I do appreciate the sentiment and support! So, welcome to your first class in heroics. We’ll be together two and a half hours every day and four hours on Saturdays for more in-depth lessons. For today, we’re going to be running a battle exercise, you newbies!”

Tsuyu raised her hand. “Shouldn’t we learn some of the basics first? Ribbit.”

All Might nodded, “And we will, in subsequent classes, but we wanted to understand your level of skill, and this will give me a good idea in a controlled environment. After a few weeks, we’ll run this exercise again and then conduct a review to show you how much you’ve improved as you master those basics. Don’t worry, you won’t be graded on your performance today, but it will help us to find areas where you can improve! But for now, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for!” He pressed a button on a small remote control he held in his hand, opening a compartment along the wall. “Your costumes! Each built to the specifications you supplied the school in your admissions packet. Get changed and report to Ground Beta!”

Everyone rushed to grab their costumes and headed to the locker rooms.

Ochaco Uraraka reverently opened her case with a sigh of satisfied determination. She’d dreamed about this moment for years and lifted her costume out of the case, briefly hugging it against her chest. “We’re about to put on our hero costumes for the first time. I think it finally feels real to me.”

“Me too,” Jiro said. “I never thought I’d make it this far. Let’s get ready!”

Ochaco took off her skirt and blouse, to a shocked, “Oh my Gawd,” from Mina. “Damn, girl, I never would have believed it if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes.” The matching bra and panty set consisted of white lace that, while durable, incorporated a lot of transparent material. Everyone turned to stare at Ochaco in her underwear. “Sweet little Ochaco is senpai in the streets, hentai in the sheets!”

“You don’t understand!” Ochaco protested, her face turning a bright red.

Hagakure chimed in, “Oh, but we do! That’s ‘game on’ lingerie! Who you after, girl? I bet it’s Todoroki, he’s so quiet and mysterious.”

Ochaco rolled her eyes, pulling off the bra and panties and sliding on an under-armor bodysuit, then starting to put on her costume. “In case you forgot, my apartment was ass-assinated Saturday. Other than three outfits; I lost all the clothes I had. Almost everything I have is new.”

“It’s still pretty risqué, though, Ochaco,” Tsuyu said, “ribbit. I would never guess you’d pick something like that. It does look good though,” she added, softening the bluntness of her remarks.

“No doubt,” Mina said. “Don’t get me wrong, girl, I think it looks great, and I bet he will too, whoever he ends up being. My money is on Midori. You’re looking a bit hungry, and that boy is definitely a snack.” Ochaco blushed and Mina cackled in response. “I can dye my hair green sometime if you want to practice confessing. Although that might be a bad idea with you wearing that, I might just try and take you home myself!”

“It’s not like I had any choice! Midnight went with me while I was shopping for replacements. She put everything I picked back.” Ochaco protested, mentally promising a trip by herself to pick out some simple underwear that was more… her. “I wanted stuff that was much tamer, but she insisted.”

“Well, I think it’s lovely,” Yaoyorozu offered, since Midnight evidently preferred shopping at more upscale lingerie stores, and other than, well, sheer chance, she might be the one enduring the heckling today. She owned the exact same set, only in black. “It looks beautiful on you. As for the rest of you, Uraraka’s had a rough weekend and you all shouldn’t tease her.”

“Thanks, Yaomomo,” she said, turning to the rest of the girls. “But… it does look pretty sexy, doesn’t it?”

Whatever Izuku expected when he opened his costume case, the reality proved far different. He held it up to get a better look at it. “This… will never fit,” he said, finally, trying to think of what he might have said to Melissa that could have led to… this. He held up a tiny yellow and purple monstrosity that looked like it incorporated an adult, or maybe a child, diaper. He must owe her a very big apology.

“That’s mine!” Mineta yelled. “Whew, I forgot we switched seats. Guess they forgot to swap the cases. I think you got ripped off, though, Midoriya. There’s nothing in here but a book and this weird thing.” He held up a flat, diamond-shaped object roughly the size of large cell phone, except thicker.

“Oh, thank goodness. That’s my costume,” Izuku said, switching cases with the smaller boy. “Thanks, Mineta.” Izuku read through the manual at high speed, but then realized someone had asked him a question. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“I said, ‘How is that your costume?’” Sero replied. “I mean, dude. That thing looks cool and all, like something out of Star Wars or Gundam, but it’s not exactly clothing.”

Izuku shrugged off his school uniform, revealing an under-armor body suit. “Like this,” he said, pressing the object against his chest with his palm. “Shield Armor, configuration alpha.” Small compartments opened on each side of the diamond, with bands of a metallic looking material shooting out, wrapping around his body. The bands became fluid, expanding and flowing together until they covered every centimeter of his body up to his neck, solidifying into tiny interlocking hexagonal plates. Green dominated the suit, but two stripes of black accented with glowing white radiated from the red diamond shape to his shoulders. White stripes highlighted his sides, glowing with a pale, pulsing light. The gloves and boots were primarily red with yellow, black, and white accents. At his shoulders rested two blue rectangles holding a knee length blue cape to the rest of the costume. All this activity took a grand total of eight seconds.

“Holy crap,” Kaminari whispered. “Where can I get a costume like that?”

Izuku admired himself in the mirror. “Shield Armor. It’s a new concept from Shield Enterprises on I-Island,” Izuku said. “It’s a high-tech blend of nanotechnology and a proprietary composite polymer that’s flexible but offers ten times the protection of Kevlar; capable of protecting against bullets, knives, impact, extreme temperatures, and poison gases. In case of a broken bone, it can automatically function as a splint and can auto-suture cuts. It can self-repair if damaged, although it will have to deactivate to repair major damage, minor damage can repair while you’re wearing it. It can seal itself for vacuum or underwater. The air supply in a vacuum is only thirty minutes, but it can extract oxygen from water indefinitely. It also has up to twenty-four different configurations based on the environment and mission, and you can update the color scheme with a phone app. They’re hoping to license the technology to support companies here in Japan and they just got approval from the HPSC a few weeks ago. I’m the second person to get one, after All Might, because I know the owners. The third person….” He nodded toward Tenya.

Tenya held a round device like the one Izuku had. He pressed it against his chest and said, “Shield Armor, configuration alpha.” The process repeated, forming an armored suit patterned after the traditional Ida family hero costumes. “It feels a bit like silk, too,” Tenya noted. “Thank goodness for the climate controls. My brother complains about how hot his costume gets.”

Since Izuku and Tenya’s costumes only took moments to activate, they arrived at Ground Beta before any of their classmates. All Might nodded appreciatively at the sight. “I see Dave and Melissa did an excellent job! You two look every bit the pro heroes you’ll someday become!” All Might took out his phone and took some pictures. “I promised to text photos to a few people,” he clarified. Tenya’s armor reflected the Ida family tradition perfectly. As for Izuku’s costume, he’d supplied some rough guidelines and sketches during their last trip to I-Island, but the actual design came from a photo Toshinori took of the painting Izuku did years ago. Normally, the observant boy would immediately realize something like that, but wearing a hero costume for the first time overwhelmed him with emotion.

“Thanks, All Might,” Izuku said, eyes tearing up a bit. “I’ve been dreaming about this day for years. Can you maybe text those to my mom?”

“She was the first of many to ask, young Izuku!” A look of pride settled on his face. “Always remember, you are here because of your hard work and perseverance! Never forget that you earned this, my boy,” the number one hero declared. “Today you take another step on your journey, and I couldn’t be prouder.” He turned to Tenya, “the same applies to you, young Tenya. You should be proud to carry on your family’s noble legacy of service. Between you and your older brother, that legacy is in good hands.” The door behind them opened. “Ah, and here comes the rest of our young heroes-to-be!”

The other students of class 1-A stood proudly, a little taller than before, with their shoulders back, beaming with pride. Each of them knew on an intellectual level that UA accepted them into the hero course but wearing a costume for the first time made it a little more real. “They say clothes make the pros,” All Might noted, “and you all look ready to take on the world. I’d be honored to fight alongside any one of you!”

Izuku took a moment to take in the costumes of his classmates. Most of them looked well designed, although he questioned the practicality of some of the designs and made a mental note to talk to both Mr. Aizawa and All Might about some of those issues. Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, and Hagakure’s costumes all seemed to lack any sort of protection. From what little he knew about Yaoyorozu’s quirk, she would need areas where she could produce items, but since her quirk seemed to activate at skin level, integrating her hair into her costume could allow it to work without the unprotected areas. As for Hagakure, the same principle should apply. She wouldn’t even need to lose her boots and gloves that way and wouldn’t risk freezing to death in the winter. While Kirishima’s quirk made him incredibly durable while active, if caught by surprise he could end up dead. At least all the capes seemed designed for easy removal, thanks to the HPSC requirements. Everyone looked so cool! And then he saw Ochaco.

Izuku forgot how to breathe.

She wore a black and pink skintight costume with huge boots and an astronaut themed helmet. He’d seen her in running outfits and workout clothes, and what she wore Saturday morning when he woke up… and moving on, bad Izuku! None of those were hero costumes though, and Izuku worshipped heroes. While he knew Ochaco as a friend and, yes, someone he harbored a few growing feelings for, seeing Ochaco in a hero costume… felt like a religious experience. She looked his way, meeting his gaze, and for a moment her eyes flickered down and then back up. Holy whoa, she just checked me out, he thought, like you’re not checking her out, hypocrite!

She smiled and scratched the back of her head. “Wow, Izuku! Your costume is incredible! It looks great on you. It’s so cool… if the colors were a bit different, it would look like one of All Might’s costumes. You look like a pro already!”

Bakugo rolled his eyes and made a clicking noise with his teeth, and while he didn’t see the dirty look Ochaco shot his direction, Izuku certainly noticed it. “Yours is great too, Ochaco. I mean it looks… holy whoa. Really pretty. Great! Really pretty great!”

“You think so?” she asked, looking down and doing a bit of a turn. “I don’t know, maybe I should have been a bit more specific. I wasn’t expecting something so… form fitting. It’s a little embarrassing, but at least with running every morning I’ll get in better shape in no time.”

Mineta leaned over to Izuku and, without taking his eyes off Ochaco, stage whispered, “The hero course is freaking awesome.” Izuku wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Well, he knew how he felt about it, but didn’t care much for Mineta making that comment. Even less because some small part of him agreed. He couldn’t deny that he found Ochaco attractive, but he liked her for so many more reasons than just her appearance and, as far as he knew, Mineta never even spoke to her before.

Tenya raised a hand. “Sir, this appears to be one of the simulated cities where we performed the entrance exam. Will we be doing urban maneuvers against robots?”

All Might smiled. “No, young Ida. Today, you’ll be performing indoor battles against live opponents. Robots are all well and good, but they can’t match the unpredictability and tenacity of another person. We’ll divide up into groups of two by drawing lots and then simulate a battle. The villain team will have a stolen weapon of mass destruction hidden somewhere inside one of the buildings. Each group of villains will have five minutes to prepare by setting traps, disguising the bomb, and coming up with a plan. After those five minutes, the hero team will enter the building and try to resolve the situation. They can remove a villain from the fight by tying this capture tape around an opponent, but the villains can do so as well! The heroes will win by touching the bomb for thirty seconds, which will count as disarming it, and capturing both villains. The villains win if they either disable the two heroes or if fifteen minutes pass. If that happens, the bomb will go off, destroying the city. If the heroes disable the bomb but do not capture both villains, the match will end in a draw.”

“Can we pick our partners?” Kaminari asked, with a brief glance toward Jiro. Izuku wasn’t the only person harboring certain thoughts, and Kaminari already drydocked his thoughts and completed a full retrofit before setting sail.

“No,” All Might replied. “Once you become pros, sometimes you will encounter a situation where your only backup will be another hero who happens to be on site. One of the factors that will make you the best of the best will be the ability to work smoothly with anyone, even if you may have disagreements with them or have never worked together before. That kind of teamwork and flexibility may mean the difference between life and death. This will be hardest for the first teams since they will only have five minutes to prepare. The rest of you will be able to do some strategizing while waiting for your turn, so use that time to your advantage.”

“Aren’t the odds stacked unfairly against the heroes, sir?” Yaoyorozu asked. “The heroes have to capture both villains, then find and touch the bomb for some time, which will leave them vulnerable, all while working under a time constraint. The villains can win even if they’re both captured or force a draw by evading capture even if the heroes disarm the bomb. The villains have multiple paths to success while the heroes only have one.”

“Absolutely correct, young Yaoyorozu,” All Might said to several gasps. “Heroism is not an easy thing and demands best efforts. A hero must focus on saving innocent lives, even if that means that the villain escapes. The path of villainy is selfish and cruel, and only focuses on personal gain. Many times, during my career, I’ve saved an innocent at the cost of not capturing a villain. However, the choice you make when faced with such a decision is not a choice at all. Lives must come first, and if they do not, you may want to reconsider your goal.” Izuku noticed several nods around the room, but could sense Bakugo’s eyes rolling upwards, even though he kept his eyes on All Might.

“Once we’ve selected our teams, I’ll meet with the heroes and villains separately. We’ll assume you have some information on your opponents, but you’ll often face foes who have details you lack, so the heroes will know some things that the villains do not, and the reverse will be true as well.”

“Now, let’s see who the teams will be!” All Might said, holding out a box for each student to reach into and withdraw a marble with a letter on it. “Team A!” Izuku held up his hand and saw the great goddess Ochaco hold up her hand as well. “Team B!” Shoji and Todoroki both held up their hands and nodded to each other silently. “Team C!” Mineta and Yaoyorozu raised their hands. “Team D!” Tenya stepped forward proudly but frowned when Bakugo lifted his hand with a frustrated exhale. “Team E!” Mina spotted Aoyama’s hand in the air and gave him a high five. “Team F!” Sato and Koji. “Team G!” Kaminari got his wish, to Jiro’s rolled eyes. “Team H!” Dark Shadow raised both her hands for Tokoyami, and Tsuyu hopped over to her new teammate. “Team I!” Ojiro raised his hand, and a floating glove gave a peace sign. “Last but not least, Team J!” Kirishima hardened his hands, bumping them together while Sero waved.

“Excellent,” All Might said. “Now, we’ll pick the first hero team!” He pressed a button on a remote control, and a blue glow lit up each set of marbles, cycling through each set until only one group’s marbles stayed a steady blue. All Might nodded, making note of the team. “And now to pick the villain team.” He pressed another button, and the remaining marbles cycled between their normal clear color and glowing red, before finally staying clear for all but one team.

“Very well, we have our first match! The heroes, young Ida and young Bakugo, verses our dastardly villains….”

“Young Midoriya and young Uraraka!”

Chapter Text

Ten members of class A followed All Might into a sound proofed side room. Izuku and Ochaco stood near the front, with Shoji and Todoroki’s team, Mineta and Yaoyorozu’s team, Kirishima and Sero’s team, and Ashido and Aoyama’s team filling the rest of the room. Clapping his hands, All Might smiled. “Now, my dastardly young villains, by default the bomb is found on the first floor, but you can choose whichever floor you wish, as it is small enough for you to move. Be warned, if you place the bomb near the window, it may be spotted, and those details provided to the heroes. This building is your hideout, so each floor holds a cache of paint grenades, covering over fifty percent of one of your opponents’ chests will count as a kill. You may make any changes you wish during your five minutes of prep time, but keep in mind that it belongs to you, so you don’t want to cause too much damage. Any questions?”

Izuku raised his hand, as did Yaoyorozu. Smiling, Izuku said, “You go first, Yaoyorozu, I’ve got three questions.”

“Thank you, Midoriya,” she said. “Sir, what kind of weapon is the bomb?”

All Might pulled out a piece of paper and looked over it for a few moments. “Well, just a weapon of mass destruction, capable of destroying the city.”

Izuku nodded, a serious and contemplative expression on his face. “If it’s small enough to easily moved, it isn’t a nuclear weapon, and couldn’t be conventional. Biological or a nerve agent are possible, but both could be contained by the building… antimatter! Can the bomb be an antimatter bomb, say two grams, sir?” He flashed his puppy dog eyes at All Might to a barely suppressed snort from Ochaco.

All Might frowned. “Those are highly illegal, young Iz… Midoriya.”

Izuku nodded. “Of course, but we are the villains in the scenario, and it’s only a simulation.”

“Hmmm… that’s true, my boy,” All Might declared. “And an antimatter bomb does sound all sci-fi and cool. An antimatter bomb it is! You had three questions, young Midoriya?”

Izuku grinned and nodded toward Yaoyorozu, “Yaoyorozu asked the first question I had. Great minds think alike. For the second, will the hero communications be encrypted?”

All Might thought for a second. “Doubtful, since they’re two random heroes coordinating with the police and each other.”

“Thanks!” Izuku said. “Finally, will the hero team know what type of weapon it is too?”

All Might thought for another second, “No, heroes don’t always get a full briefing, but they may have an advantage the villains will be unaware of.” He nodded to them, satisfied with his answer. “If no one else has any questions, wait here while I brief the hero teams!” All Might walked confidently out of the room.

As soon as his mentor left the room, Izuku said, “Their advantage is a SWAT team. That’s how the bomb will be spotted, so we’ll probably be counted as killed if we stand in front of a window for more than… call it three seconds to be safe.” He leaned back against the wall and, taking an apple from his backpack, took a huge bite. “We all just won.”

Yaoyorozu nodded, as did Ochaco and Todoroki, but several others looked confused. “You trained with All Might, you lucky dog! Wait, what do you mean, Midori?” Mina asked as her brain finally caught up to what Izuku said. “How did we win?”

He glanced at Yaoyorozu, “That’s what you were angling for, right, Yaoyorozu? That was my main goal, the other questions were just distraction. Do you want to tell them?” He took another bite of the apple.

Yaoyorozu smiled. “Antimatter bombs have been outlawed for ninety-six years thanks to the Bozeman treaty, named after the former town of Bozeman, Montana in America. On April 5^th, 2163, a young boy in the town developed a quirk that allowed him to create antimatter. They estimate he produced one gram of it, but that’s only an estimate because it destroyed everything within three kilometers. We only know what caused the explosion because of a retrocognition quirk. Even if you could get someone to make one safely, antimatter bombs are impossibly expensive to produce. Two grams would bankrupt Japan. Most importantly, unlike nuclear weapons which are ‘fail-safe,’ an antimatter bomb is ‘fail-deadly.’ Midoriya convinced All Might to give us a bomb with twice the material that destroyed Bozeman.”

“Mon Dieu!” Aoyama exclaimed. “Remind me never to anger you, mon ami! You would make an ennemi terrifiant!”

Kirishima pulled at his hair, “Could someone maybe explain it in Japanese?”

Ochaco smiled. “If you destroy a nuclear bomb, some radiation may get out, but it won’t explode. With an antimatter bomb, destroying the bomb causes the magnetic bottle keeping the antimatter from touching regular matter to fail. At that point, first contact with anything, even the air, will cause the antimatter and an equal amount of regular matter to instantly turn into energy – E equals mc squared. That’s eighty-six kilotons for two grams of antimatter.” At several people’s shocked expression, she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m a space nerd, antimatter is in a lot of sci-fi.”

“So,” Shoji said quietly, “if the bomb is damaged….”

“…It will explode,” Todoroki finished. He turned to Midoriya and Yaoyorozu and raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.”

“Make it a last resort,” Izuku said, taking another bite. “We are here to learn, after all, so we should pretend it’s a nuke unless we’re about to lose, but I don’t like to lose. I have a much better idea though… I’m going to play with my opponents and make the heroes do my dirty work for me.”

The door opened to reveal a smiling All Might. “Are you miscreants ready?”

Izuku grinned. “Let’s be bad guys!”

Katsuki barely managed to listen to All Might’s so-called briefing. The villains hid somewhere in a five-story apartment complex with a WMD. He rolled his eyes. Just call the damn thing a nuke and be done with it. A SWAT team covered the building, and if the baddies stood in front of a window for more than five seconds, they’d be sniped and considered down.

Then the damn questions. Four-Eyes would not shut the Hell up, asking about the type of weapon, disarm codes, access to a bomb squad, and other crap. Finally, he raised his own hand. “Yes, young Bakugo,” All Might said.

“Can we just go ahead and get started before I start cashing in my pension?” Four-Eyes looked offended, which suited Katsuki just fine.

“Yes,” All Might said. “I apologize, young Ida, but that is all the information available at this time. Sometimes as a hero, you’ll be going into a situation blind. Now, let’s get started!” At the nods, he opened the door to the soundproof room with the villain teams. “Are you miscreants ready?” All Might asked. He gave each team a set of ear comms that they could use to communicate with All Might and their teammate.

Damn Deku said, “Let’s be bad guys!” with the rest of the extras following him out of the room.

“Very well, your five-minute preparation will begin when you enter the building. Villain team A, you’re up,” All Might instructed, with a nod to Izuku and Ochaco.

“No need to rush,” Izuku said with a smile as they walked toward the building. “We’ll have more time to plan if we don’t walk too fast. Tenya will start on the ground floor because he’s methodical that way, but he’s fast enough that that doesn’t usually cost him much. Bakugo will use explosions to get to the top floor and work his way down, probably by blowing a hole in the floor and jumping down. So, we should probably put it on the third floor in a central room, against a wall if possible.”

“Won’t Tenya find it pretty quick that way?” Ochaco asked.

“If we let him. What do you think we should do about that?” Izuku said.

Ochaco thought about it a few seconds. “Oh! String capture tape and grenades in the hallways, that will neutralize his speed advantage. And trap the stairs! We can rig them with my quirk so they’re weightless, but the second he steps on one it will fall. If we wire up grenades underneath so that the pins are pulled when the stairs fall….”

“That’s a great idea! What are you going to do with the positive acceleration?” Izuku asked.

“He’s fast enough he can probably dodge, so I’ll set up a high gravity field at the entrance to the bomb room. If it causes him to trip, I can probably touch him,” Ochaco said. “What about Bakugo?” She cracked her knuckles.

“That’s easy,” Izuku said. “He’s going to go after me like a rabid dog chasing a rabbit. I’ll wait for him on the fifth floor and give him what he wants. Once I’ve got him mad, er… madder, I’ll lead him to the bomb, and it will all be over.”

They stepped into the building to All Might’s voice over the comms, “Your five minutes starts now!”

Izuku raised one of his gauntlets and spoke into it. “Shield, analyze comms signal and identify other similar sources within three hundred meters.”

Moments later, Melissa’s digitized voice said, “One similar signal found. Unencrypted communications on a different frequency.”

“Designate original signal as channel one but add an encryption choice to that channel, combine original and similar signal as channel two. Construct two replacement comms, one green and one pink, with access to both channels, and an independent wrist control for the pink one.”

“Acknowledged.”

After a few moments, he handed Ochaco a small wrist mounted control and a pink earpiece to replace the one All Might gave her. Ochaco looked at him with a grin. “I need a costume like that!”

“I know some people. I’ll ask them,” he said. He touched the red diamond on his chest. “Shield Armor, Beta Configuration: Stealth mode.” The cape retracted into the armor, and the color changed to match the environment like the scales of a chameleon, although the effect lagged slightly when he moved. They quickly rigged the stairs for the first and second floor and moved the bomb, a small high-tech looking device roughly the size of a briefcase. He picked up two grenades. “Can you make these weightless and release when I ask?”

“Sure,” she said, reaching out and touching the grenades.

“One minute,” All Might’s voice echoed over the communicator.

Izuku flexed. “That’s my cue. Remember to stay clear of the windows. Holler if you need help with Tenya, he’s one of the two people in class I’d be worried about fighting.”

“Who’s the other one? Yaoyorozu? Todoroki?” she asked.

Izuku winked. “Nope. Her name is Uraraka. See you soon, my fellow villain!” He raced up the stairs.

Tenya Ida did not feel good about this. As his friends, Izuku and Ochaco walked off toward the building, he turned to his… teammate. “So, Bakugo, we should…”

Bakugo cut him off, “Shut the Hell up, Four-Eyes. You can sit back and coast. I’ll handle it.”

Tenya took a deep breath. He once rode in an elevator at a social function with Endeavor, and he suspected he preferred Endeavor to Bakugo. “Surely we can work together. ‘There is no “I” in team,’ as they say.”

“Maybe,” Bakugo said, “but there’s an ‘I’ in ‘win’ and a ‘u’ in ‘suck.’ Now, shut the Hell up and stay the Hell out of my way. I’ll start on the fifth floor and work my way down. I’ll find them and blow them up. Don’t really care what you do.”

“Izuku will be expecting that!” Tenya protested. “We must come up with a better plan than ‘explosion good’ if we’re to hope to defeat him. His quirk is incredibly powerful, and he is a cunning tactician.”

“’Izuku will be expecting that,’” Bakugo parroted. “Screw you and screw Deku. I’ll find them, blow a hole in the side of the building, and let the snipers take them. Well, Round Cheeks, anyway. Deku’s mine. I’m going to beat him just enough that All Might won’t stop the fight. I’ve got fourteen minutes to pummel him and then disarm the bomb.”

“What? Are you insane? This may be a simulation, but within the parameters of the scenario, lives are at stake. We should disarm the bomb as quickly as possible and then focus on capturing them together!”

Bakugo rolled his eyes. “Were you born with that stick up your ass or did you have it surgically implanted?”

Tenya counted to ten slowly in his head. “We can use teamwork to save the city, capture Ochaco, and then go after Izuku together.”

“Screw that! Izuku? Ochaco? Do you nerds have monogrammed towels together? Do what you want, I’m going after Deku. Stay out of the damn way.”

All Might called, “One minute,” and Tenya looked at the teacher with an expression of helplessness. All Might simply shrugged in response.

For the remaining seconds, Tenya tried to formulate a plan to beat both Izuku, Ochaco, and capture the bomb. At least the bomb in the building probably didn’t have spiky blonde hair and an attitude problem.

When quirks first appeared, society began to change in countless ways. Technology innovations slowed down as humanity focused inwards on this new aspect of the human condition. Racism, while still a problem in some corners of the globe, mostly ceased, replaced instead by prejudice against those with quirks. As the generations continued, the number of people born with quirks became the majority, and the tables turned.

Society progressed with these numbers, and a prime example could be seen in the games children played. “Cops and robbers” faded into history, with “Norms and Freaks,” supplanting it, with “Norms,” short for “normals,” being the good guys. In time, this became “Heroes and Villains,” as quirks approached being something everyone had.

As a child born without a quirk, a rarity in this time, Izuku never got invited to play “Heroes and Villains,” although on the few occasions he could gain permission to take part, his peers only allowed him to play the role of “hostage.” He would have gladly played the role of “villain” since that would mean he could do something. By the time he got his quirk and met Tenya, he’d passed the age of such games.

He always regretted it, but now he finally had his chance.

By God, he’d make the most of it.

Time to play!

“And begin!” All Might yelled over the comms, followed by the sound of explosions and, a few moments later, a thump from the roof.

Izuku held up his gauntlet, glowing blue indicators numbering one and two. He pressed the button for two and spoke. “Greetings, heroes and our local law enforcement listening in, we’re on the air with Izuku and Ochaco in the afternoon on KBFU radio, that’s eighty-six on your FM dial! Welcome to your doom! Bwahahahaha! Mine is an evil laugh!”

He heard a squawk of “Deku! You damn nerd, I’m going to kill you!”

“Izuku, sounds like we’ve got a caller on line one,” Ochaco chimed in. “Go ahead, caller, you’re on the air.”

“Shut the Hell up, both of you!”

“Ah, that would be the hero Bakugo, or perhaps Baka-Gato, since he acts like a stupid feral cat, but I’m mixing languages, aren’t I, Ochaco? You’ll have to find me first, hero. You have fourteen minutes thirty seconds until you, and everyone in this city, is sent to meet their maker!”

Ochaco’s switched to channel one. “We’re doing awesome, Izuku! Tenya almost ran into one of the tape traps, so he’s being super careful now. Also, I hid the bomb in a box and have it floating against the wall in the room we agreed on. Left wall from the door.”

Pressing button one, he replied, “Perfect. Thanks, Ochaco.” Switching back to channel two, he continued. “Here’s a shout out to the Team Idaten representative currently in the hizzouse! Here’s an oldie but goldie, ‘Get your motor running… head out on the highway!’” He leaped back as the ceiling above him exploded violently and Bakugo jumped in the room.

“I told you to shut the hell up, bastard!” Bakugo yelled, rushing forward with his hands sparking, leading with a right as he always did.

“Where would I be if I took your advice?” Izuku stepped into the blow, shifting to the left and pivoting to grab the arm and flipping Bakugo above him into a brutal body slam on the concrete floor with Gunhead martial arts, narrating all the while in a David Attenborough style. “As the wild Baka-Gato stalks its prey in its native environment, studies have conclusively proved that this feral creature will always lead with an attack from its right claws. Those who have previously encountered the feral Baka-Gato come to expect such an opening move, making such a predictable attack useless.”

“Die!” Bakugo yelled, using a pair of explosions to do a kip up from the floor. He unleashed an explosion with his left, but Izuku ducked out of the way.

“We’re all going to die, Baka-Gato, in roughly thirteen minutes, and we’ll take the city with us.” Bakugo sent a blast with his right toward the wall, opening a hole to the hallway, and the windows outside. “Sorry caller, I’m going to have to put you on hold,” Izuku said, leaping through the hole and running for the stairs to keep out of sight of the window. “Ochaco, who do we have on line two?”

“We’ve got Ingenium Junior on line two, Izuku. Go ahead caller, you’re on the air!”

“Izuku, Ochaco, how are you on our comms?”

As Izuku leaped down the stairs to the fourth floor, he replied, “I’m sorry, caller. The correct answer was ‘Born to Be Wild’ by Steppenwolf. Sadly, you didn’t win the concert tickets, but as a consolation prize, we’ve got an eighty-six-kiloton explosion coming up in just a few minutes! Don’t touch that dial, keep it right here on eighty-six FM, KBFU. We’ll be back after this word from our sponsors. Pressure sensitive grenades hidden under floor tiles!”

“Your one stop shop for dealing with those pesky heroes trying to break into your secret villain hideout! Ask for them by name under a floor tile near you,” Ochaco added.

He switched to channel one. “That should slow him down a bit more.”

“But we don’t have grenades under the floor tiles!” Ochaco said with a chuckle.

“True, but it sounds like something we’d do.”

Tenya first ran into the building at high speed, barely managing to stop at the chest high strand of capture tape strung across the hallway. He looked around and sighed. Strands of capture tape littered the hallway, strung at random and at different heights, many of them attached to grenades by their pins. Since the tape had a bit of stickiness to it, he couldn’t chance running through without accidentally wrapping some around him or dragging a live grenade with him. He made his way down the hallway as quickly as he could, detaching the capture tape, listening to the sounds of distant explosions and Izuku’s steady stream of heckling over their comms system. And then Izuku implied the presence of grenades under the floor tiles.

He sighed, looking around cautiously. The floor seemed undisturbed, but with Izuku and Ochaco working together, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. He tapped each of the tiles surrounding the one he stood on, ready to leap away, if necessary, but nothing happened. He moved to a second tile and repeated the process, suspecting a bluff. A third tile, and Tenya felt confident that Izuku was channeling one of Uncle Shota’s, or rather, Mr. Aizawa’s rational deceptions. Something else Izuku said bothered him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“And we’re back, listeners! This is KBFU, eighty-six FM, bringing you all the hits!” Tenya rolled his eyes. “This one’s going out to Baka-Gato. That’s right listeners, it’s AC/DC’s classic, T.N.T.”

“I’m going to kill you when I find you, you damn nerd,” Bakugo gritted over the comms. “Four Eyes, find the damn bomb!”

“Now you want to work together, Mister ‘Stay the Hell out of my way?’” Tenya snarked. “They can hear everything we say, something I could have prevented by encrypting our earpieces if you would have listened. Our communications are compromised!”

“You think, genius?” Bakugo shot back.

“Why yes, you’re correct, Baka-Gato!” Izuku said, and Tenya could almost imagine the smirk on his friend’s face. “Tenya is a genius and does think. Sadly, the same can’t be said for you! If only you’d listened to him. Eight minutes left until our number one countdown reaches its explosive conclusion.”

“Get off our comms!” Bakugo shouted.

“That’s going to be a big ‘No” from me but thank you for playing.”

“Izuku, I implore you, turn yourself in,” Tenya said. “You as well, Ochaco. I’m sure you’re listening. Lives are at stake. Whatever is driving you to this action, I can get you help. Destroying the city… that’s madness.”

The comms fell silent for a second, and then he heard Bakugo say, “You nerds are all idiots.”

“Madness? But society made me this way!” Faking a slight lisp, Izuku licked his lips. “Tenya, did I ever tell you how I got these scars?”

Tenya gasped, slightly taken aback, and almost replied, “Yes, you did, Izuku,” but then realized what Izuku was doing. Instead, he replied, “So you’re the Joker now?”

“All it takes is one bad day, Tenya. Sorry I don’t have a nurse’s outfit to wear when I blow up the city. Good luck being teamed up with Two-Face. The city should have paid our ransom demands.”

“Izuku! Please, think of the consequences!”

“Consequences schmonsequences, long as I’m rich!” Izuku said.

“I’ll second that,” Ochaco chimed in. “I’ll be a happy miser!”

Over half our time, just to reach the stairs on the first floor, Tenya thought. He took the first couple of steps, and the stairs started leaning forward. Normally, he’d be able to react in time, but Ochaco dropped from somewhere above, landing on his back and clutching the ornamental exhaust pipes on his costume. “Hiya, Tenya! If Izuku’s doing Mistah Jay, guess who that makes me!” At her touch, they both floated in the air, but the stairs continued to fall. “What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry, it’s the voices. I’m kidding! That’s not what they really said.” The stairs fell away, a collection of eight grenades tied to the only remaining stair, their pins clinking on the ground, tied to the fallen staircase.

Tenya only had time to say, “Well, shit.”

Then the grenades went off, splattering him with paint. Safely shielded behind Tenya’s body, Ochaco survived, and she pushed off him with her feet, leaping up to the second floor. “Sorry, Tenya! Got to go help my Puddin’!”

“Tenya Ida has been eliminated, and his outgoing comm system is disabled. You can continue to listen, young Ida, but please leave the field,” All Might’s voice called over the comms, his laughter held in, but barely. At that moment, Tenya realized what bothered him before. Izuku mentioned a very specific bomb yield, even making the same number their imaginary radio station’s broadcast frequency. Considering the only hero left active, they’d lost.

“Damn it, nerd, stop hiding and come fight me!” Bakugo yelled, not even bothering to use the comms.

“Aww, but you’re it, Baka-Gato. All you’ve got to do is find me. If you don’t, it will really eighty-six your chances. And, once you find me, it will be your turn to hide, and I’ll come find you.” After a few moments of silence, Tenya heard a couple of clinking noises over the comms, followed by Izuku quietly saying, “Frell me dead.” Tenya felt a bit like a piano, considering how masterfully Izuku played him, but Bakugo… Izuku conducted him like a symphony orchestra playing the 1812 Overture, leading everything to a crescendo and ending with preplanned explosions.

 “Ha! I heard you, nerd! You’re dead, you hear me.” A loud explosion rocked the building.

Quickly switching to channel one, Izuku said “Drop the grenades, please.” He switched back to channel two and muttered, “Frell me dead,” right after they hit the ground. In his own mind, anyway, he deserved an Oscar for this performance.

Bakugo, methodically blowing every door off the hinges on the fourth floor looking for Izuku, heard a noise from the fifth floor. Rushing up the stairs, he stopped at the landing. “Ha! I heard you, nerd! You’re dead, you hear me.” Enough of this namby-pamby playing around crap. He pulled the pin on his right gauntlet and braced himself against the wall. “DIE!” he screamed as he released all the sweat stored up. The cataclysmic explosion erupted out, knocking over walls, and nearly turning this into a four-story building. If not for the reinforced support columns, the entire fifth floor would have collapsed, and they barely held. His arm felt like it almost tore from the socket, but this amount of devastation he’d call worth it. “How’d you like that, you damn nerd? These gauntlets aren’t just for show, they store up my sweat, so I can let out big blasts I could never create on my own. If you aren’t already dead, I’ve got another one for you!”

Other than the sounds of the building shaking and settling, all Bakugo could hear were the sounds of his own breathing. Then, the comms sounded. “They gave those to a guy with anger and impulse control issues? And they call me crazy?”

“Are you alright, Puddin’?” Ochaco said over the comms.

Bakugo screamed in rage, heading back down the stairs, but All Might’s voice came over the comms. “Bakugo! This is only an ungraded exercise! You used lethal force! You could have killed him!”

“He won’t die if he dodges!” Bakugo yelled back.

“Do that again, and you will lose. I’ll end this match and more,” All Might warned.

As soon as Izuku heard Bakugo on the stairs, he jumped down through the hole Bakugo made earlier to the fourth floor. He made his way to the stairs and descended further to the third floor when he heard the cataclysmic explosion and could feel the shockwave from here. Over the comms, he taunted, “They gave those to a guy with anger and impulse control issues? And they call me crazy?” He might be playing his part of the villainous maniac, but someone truly insane gave Bakugo damn bazookas! Worst of all, he knew where Bakugo got the idea… Hero Analysis for the Future volume three. One of the last times he’d willingly shown Bakugo his analysis.

As Bakugo and All Might held their discussion, Izuku switched to channel one. “Change of plans, ‘Harley.’ Get to the first floor and be ready to fly. I know we’re trying to keep it secret, but this is a whole other thing now. Bakugo might just bring the building down if he does that again.”

She replied, “Okay, Puddin,’ but be careful. Tenya’s already clear and I’m right by the door, out of sight of the windows.”

Taking a deep breath, he switched back to channel two. “Almost out of time, Baka-Gato, but it's not over until the fat man sings. If you want to finish this, I’m on the third floor, central room. We’ve already taken out your partner. Make peace with your gods, little boy. You are next.”

On channel one, he heard All Might say, “Be careful, young Midoriya.” Despite the danger, by God, this was fun!

Izuku broadcast on channel one, “Don’t worry, All Might. This is all going according to plan. I can handle it. I’ve been counting on this from the beginning. Well, maybe not all of it….”

From above, he heard a sequence of explosions, the sound of Bakugo blasting an entrance to the room through the ceiling. Right by a support column. He could have fired the left gauntlet, but Izuku suspected that Bakugo wanted to see his face when setting it off.

Bakugo leaped into the room, finger on the left trigger when a blur of green lightning slammed into him, grabbed the bulky support gear, and pounded it into the column like a jackhammer, shattering his gauntlet. As the reservoir ruptured, the gauntlet fell away, breaking into pieces per his design specs. Using his quirk with a ruptured tank could cost him his arm. How the Hell was the damn nerd moving so fast? When did Deku get this strong?

Izuku wasn’t finished through, and a sequence of punches disabled the other gauntlet too. Overcoming his momentary shock and disbelief, Bakugo swung with his left, but Izuku jumped back, reverse somersaults taking him out of close combat range almost faster than his eyes could track. All he managed to do was singe the back of his opponent’s mop of hair. The green haired boy moved to the left subtly, but obviously enough for Bakugo to notice how he positioned himself in front of a box on the wall. “You think destroying my gauntlets is going to stop me, nerd?” he sneered. “I can still blast you right through that wall.”

Izuku slowly took a fighting stance, his arms held up and green lightning moving over his skin in pulsing waves. “Why so serious, Bak-Man?”

Bakugo brought both hands in front of himself, pointed straight at Izuku. “Die, damn Deku, DIE!” He yelled, releasing a massive blast.

Izuku moved even faster than Bakugo could track now, jumping against the wall to the right to avoid the blast, then against the ceiling, landing right in front of Bakugo’s surprised face with a wink, pretended to pull the angry blonde boy’s nose off, and then escaping through the hole in the ceiling. “I’ve got Baka-Gato’s Baka-nose!” he called out in a sing-song voice.

“Get back here, you coward!” Bakugo yelled.

All Might’s voice cut through the channel. “Stand down, Bakugo. It is over.”

“What? There’s still three minutes left! I’ve destroyed the bomb and I can still capture Deku and Round Cheeks! I’m not taking a damn draw!”

Izuku voice echoed through the building, slight feedback buzzing in Bakugo’s ear. “No, you’re taking a loss. That wasn’t a nuke, it was an antimatter bomb. So good job, Slim Pickens, we all rode the bomb to Hell. Everything within five kilometers… annihilated… including us. I even gave you multiple hints, eighty-six kilotons worth. So, ‘Have you heard the news that you’re dead?’”

Bakugo screamed in wordless rage, the desire to kill the damn nerd eating him up inside, but he stood down.

Chapter Text

All Might chuckled at young Izuku and Uraraka’s antics and felt more than a little vindicated in his long-held belief that his successor would do great things with insight and planning, even without a quirk. While someone less self-confident might feel a bit irked at being, well, tricked into giving the villain team an overwhelming advantage, young Izuku’s careful maneuvering and subtle manipulation of his opponents showed skills All Might never truly mastered. Honestly, he found himself reminded of Nighteye and young Aizawa and looked forward to bragging to the other heroes close to young Izuku.

Looking around the room, he couldn’t help to notice that the villain teams looked even more excited, while the hero teams suffered a loss of morale. Young Ida entered the room with a towel, having washed the water-soluble paint from his hair, face, and glasses. His costume cleaned the paint from itself since Shield armor included self-cleaning routines.

Young Izuku and young Uraraka entered next, laughing with each other before walking toward young Tenya and speaking quietly with him. Out of respect for their privacy, All Might didn’t listen in, but he did note young Tenya’s spirits seemed to improve, and he patted young Uraraka on the shoulder.

Finally, young Bakugo entered, anger clear on his face. He stalked toward the wall in the back, leaning against it heavily with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at young Izuku, who didn’t seem to notice or care. After a few moments, young Kirishima walked over to lean against the wall with him, speaking with exaggerated arm motions, but young Bakugo only shook his head.

“Well,” All Might said, “now that we’re all here, let’s do a bit of analysis. Who do you think was the MVP of this exercise?” At young Yaoyorozu’s raised hand, he nodded.

“Sir, I think it should be split between Midoriya and Uraraka. They both adapted to their roles well, forming effective plans to deal with each of their opponents with a minimum of direct confrontation. When such confrontation was needed, they did it quickly and efficiently. Ida lost too much time avoiding traps, while Bakugo caused an unnecessary amount of damage, including an entire floor of the building and ultimately the city per the scenario’s parameters. Ida did play his part well, but Bakugo seemed motivated by a personal grudge,” she concluded.

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” All Might said, but noted young Izuku’s raised hand. “Yes, Midoriya?”

“While our team did win, and Ochaco deserves a lot of the praise for that, I don’t want to devalue the efforts of the heroes. Tenya stayed the most in character of all of us, acting as a true hero should. He knew there would not be any backup, so he remained cautious to preserve his life and his chance to stop the bomb. He also tried to defuse the situation through negotiation, something that was not prohibited in the scenario and deserves to be praised for the attempt, even if it was futile due to his opponents being homicidal maniacs.” This got a few laughs from most of the students. “As for Bakugo, if the bomb had been conventional or nuclear, he would have forced a draw, possibly even a win since we could not escape the building due to the SWAT team.”

“Nevertheless, I wasted too much time because of your bluff about the floor tiles,” Tenya said.

Izuku shrugged. “If I’d thought about it during our prep time, I would have done it, so your caution was justified. I think we all did well, the scenario just tipped the odds too much into the villains’ favor.”

“That’s crap.”

The entire room fell silent, and everyone turned to stare at Bakugo. Kirishima put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away. “Perhaps you’d care to politely explain why you disagree, young Bakugo,” All Might said, a hint of warning in his voice.

“You stacked everything against me from the start, there wasn’t a damn way to win. I had a useless piece of crap for a partner. The extra couldn’t even make it past the first floor without getting his dumb ass killed, the SWAT teams took forever to line up a shot, and you gave the bastards a bomb that’s impossible.” He pointed at Izuku, “And this damn loser destroyed my gauntlets!”

“Those could and nearly did bring the building down on top of everyone, so don’t hold your breath waiting for an apology because I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Izuku said. “As for Tenya, if you’d worked with him, a single one of your regular blasts could have cleared all the traps we set in the hallway.”

Bakugo turned to him with a growl, starting to take a step forward when Kirishima stepped in front of him. “Calm down, dude! It’s just an exercise.”

“Young Kirishima is correct, Bakugo,” All Might said.

“Bullshit!” Bakugo yelled. “That damn Deku didn’t have the right to break my equipment.”

“You can bill me,” Izuku said calmly.

All Might sighed. “Enough! Bakugo, we will have a discussion on your gauntlets and other issues with your homeroom teacher and Power Loader after class in the teacher’s lounge. You tried to use lethal force on a classmate during a training exercise. After the first shot, I warned you not to use them again, but you already pulled the pin on the second gauntlet and had your hand on the firing mechanism moments before young Midoriya destroyed it. He did you a favor. If you had fired a second shot, I would have expelled you from UA. That’s also assuming you even survived the building collapsing on top of you.”

Bakugo looked like he wanted to say more, but Kirishima gently pushed him back. “Come on, man,” the redheaded teen whispered urgently. “All Might’s still a teacher. Are you trying to get expelled?” Bakugo stomped back to his place and slouched against the wall.

“Good!” All Might said. “Now, as I mentioned before, this simulation is only an aid to give me an idea of where your skills stand, so I’m not assigning grades for this exercise. However, to prevent an instant win, the bomb will be fail-safe based on the actions of the villain team, while remaining fail-deadly for the heroes. That should even the odds a bit and prevent an instant win.”

Even with the advantage lessened by this change, all the villain teams managed to secure a win, although some of the matches proved closer than Izuku originally expected thanks to All Might’s change to the scenario. Some were no contest at all.

Since the first building barely stood, they moved to a new building. In the second match, Todoroki and Shoji dominated, with Todoroki freezing the bottom four floors of their hideout into solid ice, much too thick for Ojiro and Hagakure to break in the limited time they had.

In a third building, Yaoyorozu and Mineta secured a victory through running down the clock, methodically creating traps on each floor to slow down Sato and Koda until time ran out. They got special praise from All Might for leaving the building mostly intact and able to be used for the fourth round.

Kirishima and Sero also successfully held off Kaminari and Jiro with the use of traps. The fourth match almost ended in a draw, and the four students discovered that, although Kirishima’s hardened form mostly resisted electricity, Sero’s tape conducted electricity very well. Kaminari shocked his teammate and Sero into unconsciousness, and himself into a stupor, leaving Kirishima the last manly man standing.

The final battle proved to be the closest to a win for the heroes. Tokoyami and Asui worked well together and had mobility enough to avoid most of the traps left behind for them. During their first skirmish, Asui almost managed to capture Ashido, but the pink-skinned girl’s acidic sweat meant Asui’s long tongue couldn’t hold her without intense pain. Aoyama’s laser exploited Dark Shadow’s innate weakness, but couldn’t be used continuously, forcing both boys to rely on hand-to-hand combat, something neither trained for. The second battle in the war went much better for the heroes since Tokoyami and Asui switched opponents. Asui could easily dodge Aoyama’s laser and her fighting skills quickly overwhelmed him, managing to capture him, first with her tongue, then with tape. Mina’s acid didn’t harm Dark Shadow, and once they incapacitated her partner, two on one proved too much for her, so she fled. While Asui tracked Ashido, Tokoyami sent Dark Shadow to retrieve the bomb, their victory all but assured until the sentient quirk became overly excited and spiked the bomb like an American Football.

After all the trials concluded, along with a brief discussion of each one, All Might stood in front of his assembled students. “Well done, newbies! No serious injuries and everyone got a chance to show some of their capabilities. As promised, you won’t be graded on today’s activity, but I will be providing each of you with an evaluation based on your performance today. Combined with your scores on the entrance exam, this should give you an idea on areas you need to focus on to improve. For today, please head to the locker rooms and change back into your school uniforms. Once you’ve dropped off your costumes in the classroom, you’re dismissed for the day. Ah! Except you, young Bakugo! Teacher’s lounge in fifteen minutes.”

“Fine,” Bakugo said, the first word he spoke since the discussion after the first match. The class made their way back to the main building, Weird Hair walking beside him the entire way.

“Come on, Bakugo,” the redhead tried. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is with Midoriya, but you’ve got to let that go. Maybe just stay away from him and focus on you.” Bakugo tried to ignore him, but he just wouldn’t shut up. “I mean, look, dude… you did awesome. All the hero teams lost, but you kept going even after your partner was eliminated.”

Bakugo couldn’t take it anymore. “Would you shut the Hell up? I know I lost the damn match and I know why! That damn cheating Deku! I’m going to….” He let the sentence die when he noticed Weird Hair stopped walking beside him and stood a few paces behind. “What?”

“Look, dude. You’re super manly, okay? You try hard at everything you do and hate to lose. I get that, but we’re all here to learn how to be heroes. I mean, look at me. My quirk is lame, but that’s why we’re here, to learn. If you spend all your time worrying about Midoriya, you’ll never become the best. You’ve got to focus on yourself, dude.” Kirishima started walking again.

Bakugo stopped this time. “I’m not worried about Deku!” Kirishima paused for a moment, but then kept walking, shaking his head slightly. Damn it, I’m already the best, Bakugo thought, aren’t I?

Every year, UA’s teachers gathered in one of the conference rooms to watch the first heroics class of the year, for a variety of reasons. The official reason: to give the various teachers an idea of what to expect from their students and their quirks. The unofficial reasons: it tended to feature hilarious moments and gave them an opportunity to place good natured bets on the outcome, since a battle trial of some kind gave a rough idea of their level of skill.

Shota Aizawa usually avoided these little parties, preferring to watch the tapes later and form his opinions in private. This year, however, he made an exception. After all, Izuku and Tenya occupied two spots in the class, and while he would never play favorites, he did have a vested interest in their performance.

Whatever the teachers expected, Izuku and his partner, Ochaco Uraraka, blew those preconceptions out of the water. Unlike the rest of the students, the teachers got to hear the communications chatter, and Aizawa suspected that bootleg copies of this recording would circulate among the teachers for years. All Might gave them a flawed scenario, mostly by agreeing to allow them an antimatter bomb, but every hero might face hopeless odds at some point.

Bakugo’s use of his gauntlets caused a stir of concern, and he noticed Power Loader jolt in his chair. All costumes and gear were signed off by the head of the support department. Considering one blast nearly collapsed the building putting all four students lives at risk, Shota knew they’d exchange words later. Seems like All Might thought along similar lines as the first discussion wrapped up. Power Loader leaned over. “Eraser, the gauntlets were set to only allow smaller blasts, but someone smart could have disabled the limiter in a few minutes with the right tools. That Bakugo kid sent in almost complete blueprints, including the limiter system. Without that, I never would have signed off on it. Hell, I almost didn’t anyway. I looked up his file, squeaky clean, but something is off. He’s not at all what I would have expected from his school records and letters of recommendation.”

“Not your fault, Power Loader,” Eraser said. “We’ll find out more when we meet with him.”

Katsuki Bakugo took a quick shower that barely lasted a minute, just enough to wash the explosive sweat away, and changed back into his uniform, letting the conversation of his classmates roll off his back just like the water. He dressed quickly and left the shower room, spotting Deku and the four-eyed freak talking quietly in their fancy hero costumes with Round Cheeks. He clicked his teeth and walked past them.

“Bakugo,” he heard Deku say. “I really meant what I said. If the scenario were different, you might have won. You did well.”

He spun around, glaring at the three of them. The other two nerds didn’t look happy at what they just heard, but Deku just had a neutral expression. “Just… just shut the Hell up, nerd! I know I lost; last thing I need is you looking down on me or your damn pity!”

Deku shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t look down on you or pity you, Bakugo. I’ve said that you could make a great hero someday since we were five, and I still think that. You can believe that or not, but why spend the next three years wasting energy on something pointless?”

Katsuki clenched his fists to keep them from sparking. “Enjoy your damn victory, nerd. One way or another, it’s the last one you’ll get here.” Four-Eyes had the damn gall to roll his eyes and Round Cheeks laughed harshly. The worst part? That damn Deku gave them both a look and shook his head. He turned and headed for the elevator, knowing if he saw or heard any more, he’d kill all three of them.

He took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor, his confidence returning. Every time he met privately with teachers, they offer apologies or praise, and he didn’t doubt they’d fix his gauntlets. A little pressure in the right place, and today might just be Deku’s last day at UA. After the elevator let him out, he slouched his way down the hall toward the teacher’s lounge, only to hear All Might say, “In here, young Bakugo,” from one of the conference rooms.

He walked in past All Might to find a room featuring a brown leather couch with two matching chairs opposite of it, with a coffee table in the center. Mr. Aizawa and Power Loader sat on the couch with a space between them more than large enough for All Might. Mr. Aizawa looked at Katsuki and nodded toward one of the chairs. He sat, and All Might closed the door to sit between the other two teachers.

“You’re familiar with Mr. Aizawa and me,” All Might began. “This is Mr. Maijima, the Excavation Hero: Power Loader. He is also the head of the support department and has final approval on all student support gear.”

“Good,” Katsuki said. “Two pieces of my gear were destroyed by Deku in class. When will I get replacements?”

All the teachers frowned. “Deku?” Maijima asked.

Mr. Aizawa looked up. “I assume you meant your classmate, but his name is Izuku Midoriya. I realize school just started, but you need to try to learn your classmates’ names. Someday you might be relying on one of them to save your life.”

Katsuki suppressed his instinct to roll his eyes and thought to himself that’ll be the day. Out loud, he said, “Whatever. When will I get replacements?”

Power Loader frowned. “Did you disable the limiter?”

“Yeah. No point to the damn things if they can’t up my explosions,” Katsuki said. “It’s only intended to be a safety when storing them. They weren’t as easy to remove as they should have been. Tell whatever idiot put them together at the support company to fix that.”

Power Loader narrowed his eyes. “I modified that from your original design before sending them to the support company. They aren’t meant to be removed at all.”

“Why the H… I mean, why’d you do that?”

“Bakugo, you’re a student. Your quick is dangerous enough without being multiplied several times before you have the training and maturity to handle it safely. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t dislocate your shoulder,” Power Loader said.

“I know how to use my own damn quirk!”

“You nearly killed four people today,” Mr. Aizawa said, “one of the four being you.”

“That’s crap! Deku dodged, didn’t he?” Bakugo stood up, his hands sparking. “And he still didn’t have the right to destroy my damn gauntlets!”

A glare from Aizawa, his eyes glowing red, caused the sparks to fizzle out. “Sit! Midoriya managed to dodge your blast, but you weakened the structural integrity of the building enough that it almost collapsed with all of you in it. If you’d fired a second blast like you were trying to do, it would have. Power Loader and I reviewed your support equipment after your match finished. We’ve updated your costume design to remove both the gauntlets and grenades. So, it’s irrelevant that Midoriya destroyed them since you never should have had them in the first place.”

“What? You can’t do that!” This conversation wasn’t going the way Bakugo expected at all.

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed. “I told you to sit down, Bakugo. You can either do so or go home and not come back.” Bakugo sat, but his anger still bubbled beneath the surface, threatening to spill over. “As for what we can do, your costume is paid for and owned by the school until graduation. Since you don’t have your license yet, all costume designs are subject to the school’s approval, and as representatives of the school, everyone other than you in this room can make any modifications to it we see fit. If I want to change the color scheme to hot pink and add a tutu to it, I can.”

Power Loader spoke up. “Based on the design, there isn’t a way to integrate the limiter so it can’t be removed or disabled, and you’ve already shown a willingness to do so. I’ve flagged your file so that any support gear requests will require my personal approval. You will not get approval for any support gear that allows you to store or concentrate your sweat until you have one of these.” He held up an explosives handler’s license. “Since you must be eighteen to get licensed, you will not have access to anything like those gauntlets while at UA, but I can provide you resources so that you can prepare for the test. Since your quirk allows you to create explosions naturally, it will help you learn to use your quirk responsibly.”

“I don’t need that crap!”

“Yes, you do,” Aizawa said. “And if you’re not very careful, you’ll need something to keep you occupied during detention the rest of the week.”

“WHAT?” Bakugo started to rise, but a glare from Aizawa stopped him.

“I think you misunderstand your position within this school, young Bakugo,” All Might said calmly. “You are a student, and while you have a powerful quirk, that alone will not make you a hero and certainly doesn’t place you in a position of power. You put lives in danger today for an ungraded exercise. Perhaps today was simply a bad day for you, so I will not be assigning a punishment beyond the removal of your gauntlets, but I expect your future behavior to better reflect a level of maturity and respect for others that you have failed to display so far.”

Bakugo took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth, “Will that be all?”

Aizawa stared at Bakugo long enough to make him uncomfortable, but finally nodded. Power Loader nodded as well. “Yes,” All Might said. “You’re dismissed.”

Chapter Text

Izuku, Tenya, and Ochaco stayed in the hallway talking after Bakugo went up for his meeting in the teacher’s lounge, and Itsuka joined them after a few minutes. “Sorry,” she said. “Our heroics course ran a bit late. We did this crazy battle exercise.”

“Teams of two heroes against two villains with a bomb in the building?” Tenya asked.

“Yeah! Did your class do the same? It was tough, but all the hero teams won. Oh, we’ve got Snipe for our heroics teacher.”

“Well, all of our villain teams won,” Ochaco said with a giggle.

“What? How?” Itsuka looked confused. “All you had to do was touch the bomb for thirty seconds. Most of us just grabbed it and ran.”

Tenya looked at Izuku a bit accusingly. “Someone convinced our heroics teacher to declare the WMD an antimatter bomb.”

Izuku shrugged, “I may have suggested it….”

“To All Might!” Tenya said. “He never says ‘No’ to you.”

“He says ‘No’ to me all the time.”

“Only when followed by ‘Problem, young Izuku, my boy!’” Tenya said, in a passible All Might impersonation.

“He’s going to catch you doing that one of these days,” Izuku laughed.

“That’s why I’ve been working on an impersonation of you. I’ll be instantly forgiven!”

“Hold on,” Itsuka said, “your heroics teacher is All Might? That’s so cool! So, I take it the exercise wasn’t very balanced?”

“Not so much,” Tenya said with a shake of his head. “But I was rather unlucky with both my teammate and my opponents.”

“Aw, Tenya, you know you love us,” Ochaco pouted.

“I know no such thing, you bloodthirsty lunatics,” Tenya said, but with a smile. “She leaped on me from the ceiling and exploded eight grenades in front of me while using me as a human shield. And my partner….” Just then, the elevator dinged, the doors opening to reveal an angry looking Bakugo, not that the ruffian showed any other expressions as far as Tenya knew. He shot a glance in their direction and then walked out of the building as though it might collapse at any moment. Perhaps because a maniac exploded a floor or two, but Tenya could only guess. He sighed.

“Let me guess… your partner?” Itsuka asked.

“Yes. I fear I’m getting a headache.”

“Well, that’s my cue,” Izuku said, stretching. “I’ve got a few things to discuss with Mr. Aizawa and All Might. I should only be a few minutes, but the house is so close you don’t have to wait for me. Ochaco, I can teach you some Gunhead martial arts when I get back. You too, Itsuka, if you’re interested.” Both girls nodded eagerly. “Tenya’s really good too, but since he has a headache….”

“Oh, he just left,” Tenya said with a laugh. “We can get started. See you back at the house.”

Izuku waved to his friends, then hopped on the elevator to the fourteenth floor.

Katsuki rode the elevator back to the first floor and got the Hell out of there as quickly as he could. He spotted Deku and his two nerd fr… fellow nerds, joined by some other extra he hadn’t seen before, talking and laughing, probably about him. That’s why they all shut the Hell up when he got off the elevator, but he couldn’t care less, damn it. If he stuck around this place any longer, he’d probably kill someone.

He walked quickly toward the front gate, lost in a cycle of anger and confusion. Didn’t these teachers know who the Hell they were talking to? Nobody told Katsuki Bakugo “no!” Deku got to break his damn stuff, and the teachers tell him he was wrong for trying to win their stupid Kobayashi Maru test? Screw that! He’d be running this damn place in a couple of months, then he’d really show all these nerds who the Hell was in charge. First, he needed to let off some steam.

He almost reached the gate when someone put their hand on his shoulder. He spun around ready for a fight, palms sparking as the sweat glands in his hands kicked into overdrive. “Whoa, dude! Calm down!” He blinked, rage dissipating a bit seeing the redheaded extra. “Are you alright, Bakugo? I’ve been calling your name for, like, the whole walk from the building.”

“Then maybe you should learn to take a damn hint, Weird Hair,” he shot back, but without a lot of venom. He’d been riding an adrenaline high since class, and with it starting to taper off, he felt like crashing.

“Dude, you know what? Fine.” Weird Hair started to walk past him.

“What the Hell’s that supposed you mean?”

Weird Hair stopped and turned around. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you, dude. Everybody has, and all we get back is attitude. I could have sat with everybody else in class at lunch other than on Dagobah.”

“Dagobah? The beach?” What the Hell was this extra talking about?

“No, dude, the planet. Like Yoda from Star Wars. Self-imposed exile. People offered you a seat with the class at lunch. Hell, I offered you a seat at lunch, and you just turned your nose up and walked off to sit alone. Then you tried to start a fight in class and yelled at a teacher. At All Might! So, what’s the deal? Are you a delinquent? Is this some Police Academy thing where you could choose either jail or UA and you’re trying to get thrown out now?” Weird Hair stopped. “I’m just trying to understand what’s going on with you, because it’s going to be a long, lonely three years if you’re dead set on hating everybody. They will start to hate you back, so if that’s your goal, you’re off to a great start. But hey, you know, at least I did the manly thing and tried. Just say the word, and I won’t bother you again.”

“I… Damn it! This is all screwed up. I mean, back at my old school, all the damn extras followed me around and did whatever I said.” Weird Hair had a strange look on his face, and then started laughing. “What the Hell? It’s not funny!” Just like that, the adrenaline high roared back into business.

He wiped a tear from his eye. “Except, you know, it is kind of funny. I don’t know what kind of school you’re used to, but this is UA. Think about it, dude. Japan’s got a population of, like, two hundred million, so that’s about two million kids our age. Of those, only forty made it into UA’s hero course. You walk out that gate, yeah, you might be better than one million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred sixty people our age, but in here, you’re one of forty. Look around, dude. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who was the best of the best at their middle school.”

“I’m going to be number one,” Katsuki said through gritted teeth. “Hell, I am number one.”

“Oh, dude, sorry Midoriya! I need to get my eyes checked. Thought I was talking to Bakugo.”

“Weird Hair, you are about one second away from a beating. I’m way better than that damn Deku!”

“Oh really?” Weird Hair asked. “How do you figure? All Might personally trained you for years? Did you beat ‘damn Deku’ in the first battle trial? Oh, I know, you scored higher than him on the entrance exam, except, oh wait. He got a perfect score on that, something only one of the third years and none of the second years managed to do. Wait, that’s right! It was the zero pointer… except… only one person managed to take down one of those. Man, I’m so confused. I thought Midoriya did all of that. It’s so weird because he doesn’t go around bragging about how he’s the greatest thing since Betty White, isn’t it?”

Katsuki clenched his hands into fists hard enough to draw blood. “None of that crap matters. I’m going to beat him. Hell, I’m going to beat All Might, beat all of you extras, and be the greatest hero in the damn world.”

“You think so? Maybe you will,” Weird Hair said with a shrug, “but you’re not exactly the only one aiming for the top, now, are you? Bet everyone at your old school just rolled over when you started barking. And yeah, you’re strong, I’ll give you that. But, like I said, walk out that door and you can probably take almost anyone you meet. In here, though, hate to be the one to have to break it to you, but you’re just another student. If we’re all extras, so are you.”

Katsuki shook his head violently. “Hell no! I’m better. I’m the damn best!”

Weird Hair cocked his head to the side. “Mighty big words, my dude, mighty big words, but that’s all they are. Hey, I can respect a manly declaration like that. You’ve got to back them up, though, and anger and yelling isn’t cutting it.”

Katsuki growled, his hands sparking. “Nobody talks to me that way! I should kill you.”

Weird Hair smiled wide in return, looking every bit like a shark, and his features slowly took on an angular shape and gray tone. “Time was, I’d have turned tail and run, but I’m done being that guy, so if you really want to go, you’ll find me ready. You called me an extra earlier, but let me tell you something, dude. I tied for fourth on the entrance exam, the only ones scoring higher were Midoriya, Ida, and Uraraka, and they’ve all been a hell of a lot nicer to me than you. So, if you want to play the numbers game, I’m number four out of the forty, and I didn’t see the name Katsuki Bakugo in the top ten. So, what was it? Eleven? Twelve? Thirty-six, maybe?” He paused a few seconds to let his words sink in, but then continued. “That’s okay, dude, don’t tell me. I don’t care what your number on the exam was because the only number that should matter at this point is our seat numbers. I’ve offered my friendship, but I’m done answering to ‘Weird Hair’ or ‘Extra.’ The name’s ‘Eijiro Kirishima.’ Your call, dude.”

Weird Hair… Kirishima… turned around and walked out of the gate.

Katsuki stood there and watched him go like a baffled king. He felt cold and broken despite the early heat of the approaching summer.

After the elevator let him out, Izuku walked down the hallway toward the teacher’s lounge when he heard, “Problem child,” from one of the conference rooms. He stopped and turned, finding all three of the teachers he wanted to talk to. Mr. Aizawa, All Might, and Power Loader. He bowed to all three of them, particularly Power Loader since he barely knew the Excavation Hero. He’d only met him once, at the age of three. He walked in and closed the door at Aizawa’s nod.

“I was just on my way to the teacher’s lounge to look for the three of you.” Izuku turned to Power Loader. “You may not remember, but we met when I was three. I’m….”

Power Loader bowed. “Hisashi’s son, Izuku. Of course, I remember you. I… your father and I were friends. School friends. He recommended me for his place in the hero course. He… he made a big difference in my life, Midoriya, and I never forgot that. If you ever need anything, let me know. Although, man, you’ve got one of the best costumes I’ve ever seen. The Shield corporation just sent me a couple of spares, the schematics, and three unmodified templates. If you’ve got any ideas, I’ll be glad to see what I can figure out and then we can update your main suit if they work.”

“Oh wow, thanks! If it’s not too much trouble, can we get one programmed for Ochaco Uraraka? She’s figured out a lot of new things about her quirk and I think she’ll need something more durable, and I know the designers were looking for female testers too.”

Power Loader nodded. “Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The software is both flexible and intuitive. We’ve got all of her measurements, not that the Shield Armor doesn’t automatically adjust every time you wear it.”

Izuku bowed again. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”

Power Loader waved him off. “Least I can do, Midoriya.”

Aizawa leaned forward. “Take a seat. We were just discussing the situation with Bakugo, but we can put that on hold. What did you need?”

Izuku took a chair. “Well, part of it is about Bakugo. I did destroy his gear, and I said he could bill me….” He made to reach for his wallet.

All Might laughed. “Young Midoriya, he should never have fired his gauntlet like that, and if he’s still a student….”

“Yagi!” Aizawa cut him off, glancing toward the door and making sure it remained closed. “Even if Midoriya isn’t the average student, this isn’t a topic he should be privy to.”

“Surely, considering Bakugo tried to kill him….”

Izuku raised his hand. “I think Mr. Aizawa is right. It isn’t any of my business, but I would like to point out that I wasn’t injured, and if you, hypothetically, were considering expelling him, I would also ask that you don’t.”

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed. “As I said, this isn’t something we can discuss with you in any concrete terms, but if we’re speaking hypothetically just between us, I’d like to hear your reason.”

“Bakugo is a distant relative, and we knew each other before UA. Before I moved to Tokyo.”

All Might’s eyes narrowed, remembering a past birthday of Izuku’s. He realized where he’d heard the term “Deku” before. His eyes widened. “Young Izuku! That day in the park….”

“All Might, he’s a part of my life, however unwelcome, and definitely a part of my past regardless of what you all decide. I knew from the time we were little kids, when his quirk first came in, or even before that, that he could be a great hero someday. He’s just never had anyone show him how. I can handle things with him, mostly because of the training I’ve gotten thanks to the two of you, the support of heroes like Power Loader, and my friends. It’s going to be hard for him, but Bakugo is smart. He’ll adapt, but it might take him some time to unlearn a few things. Give him a chance to grow.”

All Might smiled brightly. “I didn’t think I could be any prouder of you, my boy, but you constantly find ways to surprise me.”

Power Loader nodded. “Runs in the family. You’re a good kid.”

“Hypothetically,” Aizawa said, “we would consider that if we were to discuss expulsion later. Now, anything less hypothetical you want to talk about?”

“Costume issues, mainly for Kirishima, Hagakure, and Yaoyorozu. All of them have a dangerous lack of any sort of protection, not just from knives, bullets, and quirks, but from the elements. Kirishima’s is an easy fix, some lightweight, flexible body armor to give him some protection in case of quirk exhaustion or surprise. For Hagakure, something that incorporates her hair. It should go completely invisible while she’s wearing it. I know it will be a pain to work on,” and he bowed to Power Loader, “but there must be some frequencies of the spectrum she’s not invisible to or she’d be functionally blind. As for Yaoyorozu, her Creation quirk seems to work at the surface of the skin. I would recommend a test armor patch using her hair to make sure the quirk works through the material and won’t try to use the armor in the process. If it works, make her whole suit out of it. If it doesn’t, well, zippers exist for a reason.”

Power Loader nodded, making notes. “Good catches. Anyone else?”

Izuku thought. “Maybe an armored undershirt for Ojiro and some arm, shoulder, and chest protection for Ashido. Ashido could also use something to give her a bit of range.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “We just took something like that away from one kid!”

“That was a good idea back when I was seven!”

Power Loader blinked, “When you were seven?”

Izuku waved his hand as if dismissing the notion. “Just the idea of a system that could store his sweat and fire the blasts long range. A glorified storage tank with a built-in gun, really. Last thing I wanted back then was to make his explosions more powerful. He probably forgot where he got the original idea.”

“Hell of an idea for a seven-year-old,” Power Load concluded.

“Well, Ashido doesn’t need anything nearly that complex, since she seems to be able to produce huge volumes of her acid at will, she just needs a delivery system. And possibly a way to rehydrate,” Izuku offered.

“Stuff like this normally gets addressed in the mandatory counselling sessions at the end of the first year,” Aizawa pointed out. “You’re going to be owed a lot of favors.”

“Oh, I’d prefer to keep my name out of it. A rising tide carries all boats,” Izuku countered.

“You’re just making it harder for yourself in the sports festival, young Izuku,” All Might said.

Izuku gave them a grin that was half “I am here” and half “that was just a logical ruse,” and said, “Maybe, but it will be much more fun this way.”

As Izuku left the conference room, he bumped into Hitoshi Shinso. Literally.

“Oh, sorry!” Izuku said with a bow.

“Holy crap, man, what are you made of? Steel?” Shinso asked.

“Nah,” Izuku said with a lopsided grin. “Snips, snails, and puppy dog tails, according to the song my mom used to sing me. Thanks for eating lunch with us today.”

Shinso nodded. “Thanks for the invite. I caught your act before. Pretty funny. What’s KBFU stand for?”

“What? How?”

“Mr. Aizawa’s letting me observe so that I’m not behind if… when I make it into the hero course. Unlike your classmates, though, I got to listen in,” Shinso replied. “I got the Joker stuff, and the David Attenborough, ‘welcome to your doom’ was Altered Beast, I know the fake radio station call letters had to mean something!”

Izuku blushed a bit. “The K is just standard in the USA for every station west of the Mississippi river but could also stand for ‘Katsuki.’ And knowing that, the rest of the letters should be fairly self-explanatory.”

Shinso whistled in appreciation. “Holy crap. You do like to live life dangerously. That guy seems a bit… high strung.”

“I’m not too worried about him,” Izuku said. “He’d have to catch me by surprise to have a prayer of taking me. Sorry you didn’t make it into the hero course, but sounds like you’re planning to move up based on the sports festival, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of physical training, but for quirk training… my quirk only works on people, and it isn’t like people are lining up for the chance to be brainwashed. Hey, by the way, you know, thanks. I mean, for the bat and pep talk. I only got as close as I did because of that.”

“Don’t put yourself down. You earned every one of those five hundred and ninety-nine points.”

“How’d you know my score?”

“I knew most of the teachers before school started, but they didn’t give me any advance info. Hey, what are you doing now?”

“Just waiting for the train. I miss it because of watching the hero course, and the next one doesn’t arrive until six-thirty.”

Izuku grinned. “Perfect. Including me, I’ve got four people who you can probably practice your quirk with. We’re also practicing martial arts. Only ten minutes from the school and the station. I’ve just got to change out of my costume, but that will only take a few seconds.”

“Really?” Shinso asked, disbelief on his face. “I don’t get you at all.”

Izuku patted Shinso on the shoulder and winked. “If it makes you feel better, someday I will come to you and ask you for a favor.”

Shinso gulped.

After a ten-minute walk, Izuku led Shinso into the back yard of his childhood home, where his fellow housemates all practiced one of the simpler Gunhead Martial Arts katas. Tenya observed, pausing one of the girls occasionally to make a minor correction.

“Wow, you should consider being a teacher, Tenya!” Izuku said. “They’re doing great.”

Tenya shook his head. “Gunhead himself went over this one with Ochaco this weekend, and Itsuka is quite accomplished in both karate and taekwondo. I suspect she will pick it up quicker than I did. Oh, hello,” he said, noticing Shinso. “I’m Tenya Ida of class 1-A. Pleasure to meet you,” Tenya said with a bow.

Shinso returned the bow. “Pardon my intrusion. Hitoshi Shinso of class 1-C.”

Tenya smiled. “The infamous Bat-boy!”

“Oh God, tell me that’s not a thing,” Shinso groaned. “You had to tell him?” he asked Izuku.

“No, you’ve got the teachers to blame. Don’t worry, Tenya’s in the same category as me. Most people don’t know,” Izuku clarified. “Mind if we talk about your quirk?”

Shinso sighed and turned toward Izuku’s housemates. “I guess, but, hey, if you want me to leave after hearing about it, I’ll understand. My quirk is brainwashing. If I can get someone to verbally respond to something I say, I can order them to perform simple tasks.” He held up his hands, “I have to be focused on taking control, though, and I’d never use it outside of training! But, if any of you want me to go, I will.”

Itsuka looked at Shinso closely, then her hand swelled to enormous size with her thumb sticking up. “You’re good. It’s not like people get to pick their quirks, and yours sounds pretty cool.”

“Agreed,” Tenya said. “That could prove quite effective at resolving hostage situations.”

“Pfft. A guy I went to middle school? His quirk allowed him to fart any type of gas he wanted. The default was helium,” Ochaco said. Everyone stopped and looked at her. “What? I’m not making it up and helium is one of the safer options. He claimed it was odorless, but it wasn’t. It so wasn’t.”

“So,” Izuku said, clapping his hands together, “let’s figure out what Shinso can do.”

After sixty productive minutes, Shinso waved goodbye with a promise to return tomorrow for training with the housemates. Izuku and Ochaco spent a little time doing some quirk training, since they both desperately needed time practicing their flying and couldn’t do so at school because of plans to keep it a secret weapon for the sports festival. As the sun started to set, they decided to break for the night and entered the house. Once they stepped into the brightly lit sunroom, Ochaco turned her head to the side. “Izuku, go put on an old t-shirt and get a towel.”

“Um, I was going to take a shower,” he said.

“Half the hair on the back of your head is charred. I’ll give you a haircut. You’ll want to save your shower for after that.”

“Oh, um, I can just go to a barber shop.”

“And spend five thousand yen? Don’t be silly. I’ve been giving my mom and dad haircuts since I was ten. My mom taught me how, and not to brag, but I’m pretty good at it. It saves a lot of money.” She leaned her head into the living room. “Anyone have hair clippers and some scissors?”

“I do!” Nemuri called. Izuku changed into an old t-shirt and grabbed a towel while Ochaco ran upstairs to get the tools she would need. By the time he got back to the sunroom, Ochaco had a squirt bottle, clippers, scissors, and a chair from the kitchen table.

She ran her hands through his hair. “Even with half of it burned off, you’ve got a ton of volume here, Izuku.” She used the clippers to clear out the burned section, and then moved on to the sides, holding the undamaged parts of his hair to the top of his head, moving the trimmers carefully. “Sorry if it’s a bit shorter than you’re used to.”

He smiled. “It grows fast. I used to get it cut once a week, but finally just gave up.”

She moved to the other side, slowly running her hands through his curls to straighten it a bit, then repeating the gentle motions of the clippers. “Well, I don’t mind giving you a haircut any time you want.”

“I wouldn’t want to be any trouble.”

She set down the clippers, snipping more of his hair with the scissors to remove the split ends and give the top an easy to manage layered look. “You’re no trouble. Or maybe a good kind of trouble. I… kind of like doing this for you.”

“Thanks, Ochaco… and thanks for today. It… was special for me. I had a lot of fun.”

“I had fun, too.”

Nemuri Kayama smiled and put her phone in her pocket, glad neither of them noticed her. She’d planned on teasing them, but they seemed so sweet, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She tiptoed away without a word.

If a video of the scene with the audio replaced by Rufus Wainwright’s rendition of Hallelujah happened to get sent to Inko Midoriya and a few other people, well, she could hardly be blamed. She also saved it to send to the two teens later.

Maybe as a present on their wedding day, she thought.

Chapter Text

Dinner that night consisted of Nikujaga prepared by Itsuka, and the entire household sat down and enjoyed the meal together. Although Nemuri, Tenya, and Itsuka kept looking suspiciously between Izuku and Ochaco, neither of them thought much of it.

Only later, lying in bed, did Ochaco sit upright with her eyes wide, realizing exactly what she’d said while cutting Izuku’s hair.

Izuku stood in front of the dream castle, hands over his ears. Hovering in the air in front of him, Nana Shimura held a fist against each of her cheeks, her eyes wide and sparkling, and she made a high-pitched, continuous noise that could best be described as “Squee!”

Izuku rolled his eyes and said loudly, “What are you doing?”

She pouted. “I’ll have you know I’m the only woman who ever held One For All. I’ve been dead for around forty years, and if you think Toshi has watched a single ‘chick flick’ in all that time, you’re sadly mistaken. The closest I’ve gotten to romance in all that time was when he met that lady with the rabbit quirk. God bless her, she flirted like there was no tomorrow, but he’s about as sharp as a bowling ball when it comes to women.”

“Wait… Mirko hit on All Might and he didn’t notice?” Izuku asked with wide eyes. He could use this if he and Ochaco started dating, a little insurance against teasing from All Might. Ms. Joke gave him a wealth of material to deflect Aizawa.

“I ship it,” Nana said glumly, rolling her eyes and not mentioning that Mirko also flirted with Izuku when they met, and he didn’t notice either. Mirko flirted with everyone, but she’d been bringing her A-game with Toshi.

“God, I fell asleep reading the comments section, didn’t I?”

Nana blinked, looking around. “What comments section?”

Izuku looked down. “HeroHookUps.com,” he whispered. “Sometimes people mention actual hero sightings!” he added defensively.

“No, I’m just saying that you and little Ochaco are the closest thing to romance I’ve seen in forty years.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him centimeters from her face. “You. Will. Let. Me. Have. This.”

Izuku gulped, let out a deep breath, and said, “Go ahead.”

“SQUEE!”

The next day started off much like the last one, a ten K run in the morning followed by a hearty breakfast cooked this time by Tenya and Itsuka. Unfortunately, when they reached the UA barrier, they found it remarkably different.

Dozens of reporters blocked the way with cameras, microphones, and digital voice recorders ready to be shoved into the faces of anyone who appeared remotely affiliated with UA. While Itsuka seemed self-assured, and the youngest son of the Ida family dealt with the press before, Ochaco seemed nervous. As for Izuku, his mother headed the Public Relations department for the premier hero agency in the world. Izuku sighed. “Wait here.”

“Let’s just go to the side entrance,” Itsuka said. “This looks like a pain.”

“We shouldn’t have to,” Izuku argued. “I can handle this.”

“This is a bad idea,” Ochaco said. “The teachers should be the ones to deal with this.”

“My mom is the head of Public Relations for All Might.”

“And if she were here, she’d agree with Ochaco and Itsuka,” Tenya said with a sigh. “But since you’re going to do it anyway, if you need backup….”

Izuku grinned, “I’ll be counting on you.”

Izuku approached the gate and reporters instantly mobbed him, but he stood his ground, silently watching them and ignoring their questions. After a few minutes, one by one, the reporters stopped shouting. Izuku calmly took out his phone. “I am not a representative of UA and am not empowered to speak on their behalf. I am not a public figure. What I am, however, is a minor attempting to attend school at a facility licensed by the Department of Education and the Hero Public Safety Commission. I am also someone with a recording of harassment of a minor and multiple violations of the Hero Identity Protection and Anonymity Act, commonly called HIPAA. So, I’d very much like to thank you all for coming. The lawsuits against you and your employers may be a hassle but will end up making me quite wealthy.”

“All Might is teaching at UA! The public has a right to know,” one of the braver reporters yelled. “We’re not scared of some kid!”

“All Might has a Public Relations Department headed by an incredibly skilled Chief Communications Officer if you want a quote. I call her ‘Mom,’” he stared down the reporter, “but you can call her ‘Ma’am’ or ‘Mrs. Midoriya.’ I don’t think that the public’s right to know about All Might justifies harassment of minors.”

Another voice called out, “My goodness, Mr. Midoriya, I do believe you are quite knowledgeable about the clear legality of this entire mess. Quite the conundrum all these reporters have found themselves in so early in the morning,” Nezu said from his place on Mr. Aizawa’s shoulder. “Why, although I am a believer in the freedom of the press, as Principal of this fine institution, I feel honor bound to handle these legal matters on your behalf, entirely pro bono. Would you be willing to accept a settlement?”

Izuku inspected his fingernails, breathed on them, and slowly rubbed them against his blazer. “I’m willing to let the matter go, provided they erase all images and recordings of any students and let students in without shouting questions or blocking the way. I’ll keep my recording however, and hope that they all have a smarter lawyer than I do if I see a quote or picture of a single student in the news.”

“You can’t…” one of the reporters started, but Nezu cut him off.

“I’m afraid you’ll find those words rarely apply to this school,” Nezu stated. “You see, we go beyond. Plus Ultra.”

Izuku waved to his friends, and they rushed to join him, reporters parting like the Red Sea before a young mop-headed Moses. Together, they approached and crossed the UA barrier to stand in front of Mr. Aizawa and his passenger.

“Mr. Midoriya,” Nezu said reproachfully from his perch. “You purposefully baited them into harassing you.”

“Who, little old me?” Izuku said with a grin. “I knew they would try mobbing students until they got a quote they could use. By giving them one seemingly vulnerable target, I just gave them enough rope to hang themselves. All Might is a celebrity, the school is a well-known institution, and they are on public property. Having this,” and he held up his cell phone, “hanging over them like the Sword of Damocles will encourage them to behave how they should have from the start. It was….”

“Don’t say it,” Tenya groaned.

“…A rational deception. Almost a shame that my new haircut won’t make the front pages, though.” Izuku finished to a blush from Ochaco.

Aizawa nodded. “While I appreciate that you listen sometimes, you still should have avoided the press. You were right that you’re not authorized to speak on behalf of the school, and this could have just as easily blown up in your face, Problem Child.”

“I might just make that my hero name! I can see it now. The Headache Causing Hero: Problem Child.”

“Funny you should mention hero names,” Aizawa mused.

The bell rang, and Shota Aizawa looked around the room in grim satisfaction. Almost every student seated at their desk at attention, although Bakugo slouched in his seat, glaring at his teacher as though personally offended. “Good morning, class. I’ve reviewed the recordings of your first heroics class and for the most part you did well. A few of you need to learn that excessive force is not always the best answer, even if it did give you a win, Todoroki. While you did prevent the hero team from entering the building, you severely limited your team’s options. Bakugo!”

“What?” Bakugo snapped, before adding begrudgingly, “Sir.”

“Lethal force is something in every hero’s tool kit, but it is extreme and irreversible. Death is something you can never take back, kid, and it’s a heavy load to carry the rest of your life. Trust me on this, it should always be a last resort if all else fails. I spoke with All Might and Power Loader after our meeting last night. After more input and further discussion, you will not be punished. This time. If it happens again though, everything is on the table, so consider yourself on notice. I still expect you to see Power Loader for details and study materials on getting an explosives license. Understand?”

“Yes,” he managed to grit out, hands clutching the side of his desk.

“Midoriya!”

Izuku startled and stood, “Yes sir.”

“The whole point of the battle trials was to give a fair assessment of everyone’s abilities. When you’re in the field, you can and should take every advantage possible, but this wasn’t in the field, it was training. While it may be impossible to make every exercise perfectly balanced, recommendations that tip the odds too much are counterproductive. I appreciate that you and the other villain teams played through the exercise as if you didn’t have a big red ‘win’ button, but your team still won because of it, as did the last team due to a last-minute error on the part of the hero team. If the bomb had been fail-safe, Asui and Tokoyami would most likely have won. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the team of Ida and Bakugo could have won in the three minutes left on the clock. At the very least, it would have been a draw.” Both Izuku and Bakugo seemed surprised at this, Bakugo looking up from his desk for the first time today. “Nobody likes to lose, but your win came at the cost of losing sight of the bigger picture. All of you have things to work on, regardless of your level of skill and the strength of your quirks. Got it?”

Izuku looked down and bowed at the waist. “Yes, sir. I apologize to you, All Might, and the class, particularly the hero teams. I… accept full responsibility.”

“Good, just keep it in mind for the future,” Aizawa said. “Fortunately, we also had your entrance exams.” He held up a stack of large envelopes. “All Might and I worked to put these together for each of you last night. They have an evaluation based on your entrance exam and your performance in the battle trial. As I said, all of you have things to work on. Some of you will also find referrals to the support department for costume modifications. You’ll be given a free period later in the day to meet with Power Loader and some of the third-year students specializing in costumes and support gear. You won’t need your costumes the rest of the week except for Saturday, and even then, it will be optional if you use them. These costume redesigns aren’t a suggestion, they’re a requirement. Your costume is the single most important piece of gear you’ll ever own, and the primary purpose of it is to keep you alive. I can and will mandate changes to facilitate that.”

“Now, normally, you’d have English with Present Mic right now, but we’re having an extended home room to deal with two critical issues. We’ll have two guest speakers arriving in a half an hour, so we’ll deal with the first issue while we wait. You need to pick a class rep and a vice rep.” Nearly half the student’s hands shot up as they volunteered for the position, until Mr. Aizawa held up his hands. “It’s up to all of you to make this decision. You have thirty minutes to decide, or I’ll pick for you. Now, I’m taking a nap. Discuss it quietly amongst yourselves.” He pulled out a sleeping bag from under the teacher’s desk and climbed into it, reclining against the wall.

“Well, obviously I’m better than all you idiots!” Bakugo said.

“No way,” Kaminari pointed out. “Tell us the name of five people in class without making threats, maybe we’ll consider it.”

“I don’t need to know the names of a bunch of extras! You want to go, Pikachu?”

“The prosecution rests,” Kaminari said, “although Pikachu is my spirit animal.”

“How about Midori?” Mina said. “He got first on the entrance exam, and he kicked butt yesterday, no matter what was wrong with the scenario. And the new hairdo! Dayum, son! Looking good.”

“What, that loser?” Bakugo yelled. “He only won the scenario because he cheated!”

Kirishima sighed and Jiro said, “Hush, the adults are talking. I think Midoriya would make a good class rep and All Might’s been training him!”

Izuku raised his hand, “Um, thanks guys, I’m really honored, but I don’t really want the job, so I’d like to remove my name from consideration. I think my mistake yesterday shows I’m not ready for a leadership role.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, ribbit, but not everyone is brave enough to admit it. That raises a good point, though,” Tsuyu said. “Some people may not want to do it. I have to watch my siblings after school, so I don’t have time.”

“We should hold a fair and democratic election,” Tenya said, chopping his arm through the air.

“Everyone will just vote for themselves, and then the people who don’t want the job will pick,” Hagakure pointed out. “I want the job, and God knows I’m all about transparency!”

Several people chuckled, and Ochaco raised her hand. “Who doesn’t want to do it?” Izuku raised his hand along with Tsuyu, Jiro, Koda, Tokoyami, Shoji, Ojiro, Sato, and, surprisingly, Todoroki, while Ochaco kept her hand raised. “That’s half the class.”

“Why don’t we take nominations from the people who don’t want to do it?” Sero asked. “Once somebody’s nominated, another of the not-it people can use their nomination to second. That way, we’ll at least end up with three to five candidates. After that, everyone does a secret vote except for the candidates, since we’ll just assume they’ve vote for themselves.”

“That seems fair,” Yaoyorozu said.

“This is crap!” Bakugo said.

“In that case, I’d like to nominate Tenya Ida,” Izuku said, pointedly ignoring Bakugo. “Not only has he served as class rep all through middle school, he’s from the respected Ida family. He’s gotten to see how his mother and brother both have led other heroes as part of Team Idaten. I know he can do a great job.”

“I’ll second that,” Ochaco said. “Don’t forget he came in second on the entrance exam!” Tenya bowed to both his friends.

After a few moments of silence, Jiro laughed. “Asking all of us introverts to speak up. Fine, I’ll throw Kirishima under the bus. We’ve only talked a few minutes, but he seems friendly and wants to include everyone.”

“Me? Really?” Kirishima asked.

Koda raised his hand, pointed at himself, and held up two fingers while nodding. “Looks like that’s a second, right, Koda?” she asked, also moving her hands to ask the question in JSL. Koda’s eyes widened, but his smile nearly overtook his face as he nodded again.

“I’d like to nominate Yaoyorozu,” Todoroki said quietly. “She performed well in class yesterday and gave some of the more detailed analysis.”

“I made the same mistake as Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu protested. “If he’s disqualified, I should be, too!”

“Yeah, but like Tsuyu said, you’re willing to admit it.” Sato said. “I’ll second your nomination. I think you’d do a good job and be even more careful now. Midoriya doesn’t want to do it, that’s why he’s disqualified, not because of one mistake.”

“Ribbit. Mina’s energetic and friendly with everyone. I nominate her,” Tsuyu said.

“I don’t know anyone well, but my interactions with Ashido have been favorable, even as opponents, and I trust Tsuyu’s judgement. I will second,” Tokoyami said.

Ojiro looked over at Shoji. “Guess we’re the only two left. If you didn’t have anyone else in mind, I’ll nominate Hagakure.”

Shoji nodded and said quietly, “I’ll second.”

A small flash of light, and a stack of small, multicolored strips of paper with intricate edges appeared in Yaoyorozu’s hand. “Kaminari, these are a special type of paper used in Kirlian photography. If you run a minor electric current through them, I wouldn’t be able to reproduce the pattern formed, and that way we can be sure that I’m not trying to rig the vote. I won’t touch them again.” She handed the stack to Kaminari.

“Yeah, sure thing!” His hand sparked. “Whoa! That’s so cool.” He held up one of the pages to show the class, a faint pattern of electrical discharge caught on the surface. “So, everyone gets one except the nominees?” She nodded and he passed out the fifteen pages to the other non-nominees. After a few minutes, Kaminari asked “Everyone done?” At their nods, he said, “Hey, Sero, help me collect and count so we’re sure everything’s fair.”

“I shall write on the board for you!” Aoyama declared. “Like a neutral observer from the UN! Allez!”

Sero nodded, and they began counting out the votes. Picking up a slightly charred piece of paper, Sero said, “Well, there’s one for Bakugo. Wonder who could have done that?”

“Shut up, you idiot! I never agreed to this, Soy Sauce Face!”

Kaminari grinned. “At least Sero can follow simple instructions, Baka-Gato.”

Fortunately, no one else in class went rogue, and when the final tally was added up ended with a tie, with Tenya Ida and Momo Yaoyorozu having four votes each, Eijiro Kirishima with three votes, Mina Ashido with two, and Toru Hagakure with a single vote.

“Aww,” Hagakure said with a giggle. “I was going to set up a brutal dictatorship. I guess you all saw right through me.”

“What do we do now?” Mineta asked. “I say we base it on looks, in which case Yaoyorozu wins!”

Izuku narrowed his eyes. “That’s not funny or appropriate, Mineta,” he said quietly.

“Oh, come on, Midoriya,” the smaller boy whispered back. “You can’t tell me she’s not smoking hot. I bet Midnight looked like her at our age. Oh, man… Yaoyorozu cosplaying in Midnight’s first costume; now there’s a thought. I know what I’m doing tonight.”

“Mineta, just… don’t,” Izuku whispered and rolled his eyes, but he also fought back a little bit of guilt. As a healthy teenage boy, naturally Izuku thought things of that nature on occasion, but he’d never known someone who so openly reveled in them. Well, except Midnight, ironically enough, but she behaved that way to poke fun at the people who seriously thought those things. He shoved those thoughts aside, and said, “So, should we have a runoff vote?”

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Kaminari offered.

Tenya stood up. “If Mr. Aizawa will allow it, I’d like to propose that we function jointly as full class representatives. If that is not acceptable, then I will gladly take either position, with the choice given to my esteemed opponent.” He turned to Yaoyorozu. “If that is acceptable to you, of course.”

Yaoyorozu put a hand over her heart. “Ida,” she began, “that’s quite magnanimous of you, but I’m fine with either job as well.”

“Joint reps it is,” Aizawa said from the sleeping bag. “That’s fine. As your first duty, there’s a stack of paper on the table. Pass those out to everyone. Ms. Kayama and Mr. Yamada will be here in a few minutes to talk to you about your hero names. You can talk about it quietly until then.” He closed his eyes and laid back down.

Because of the seating order, Izuku received his copy last, but scanned over it quickly. A panel of three pro heroes, in this case Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic, would review their choice, with at least two of them needed to approve for the school to accept the name on a tentative basis. Hero names should be no more than three words, but preferably one or two, and should convey the theme that the future pro wishes to show to the world. They could also pick an optional epithet to add to the theme of their name. An example would be Edgeshot: The Ninja Hero.

Tenya and Ochaco walked over to Izuku’s desk. “So, my friend,” Tenya said, “Do you already have a name picked out?”

Izuku looked up with a laugh. “I’m drawing a complete blank here. I used to dream about choosing a hero name, but they were all… silly, I guess. Stuff like ‘All Might, Junior,’ or ‘Mighty Boy.’ Now that I’m trying to come up with a good one, stuff like that is all that’s coming to mind. Are you going with the one you told me about, Tenya? I think it’s pretty good.”

Tenya nodded. “What about you, Ochaco?”

“I’ve known mine for years! I first came up with it when I was twelve, but I want it to be a surprise if that’s okay.” She smiled. “I’m sure whatever you come up with will be great, Izuku. You can do it! You always go ‘Plus Ultra!’”

He smiled and started to say something, but the classroom door opened. Midnight and Present Mic walked in. “All right, little listeners,” Mic said, “time to talk about your hero names! We used to do this later in the year, but with the sports festival coming up, we want to give you an opportunity to pick one. Some people choose to have a secret identity, particularly underground heroes. Before the sports festival, you’ll be able to choose whether or not you want your real name known.”

Midnight nodded. “You don’t have to choose today, of course, but you can if you want, and you can change it at any time up until the sports festival. You will have to have a provisional one selected before your first internship. Be careful, though… some people end up stuck with their provisional one their entire career.” She cocked her head toward the sleeping bag.

“I’m underground. It doesn’t matter,” a voice said from the sleeping bag. “If you’re going underground, you’ll have a bit more leeway, since fame won’t matter to you. For those of you who will be daylight, though, this will be an extremely important decision. If you’re not sure, take some time to think. Even after you’ve selected, they’re not locked in until you get your full license, but if you do get media attention, they’ll be harder to change.”

Tsuyu Asui raised her hand. “I’ve got mine, ribbit.”

“Go ahead then, little listener!” Mic said with enthusiasm.

“I’ve had this in mind since I was little,” she said. “I’m the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy!”

“Oh, so cute and approachable!” Midnight squealed. “I approve!”

“Ten out of ten from me,” Present Mic said. “Evokes your quirk but also sounds marketable. Anyone else ready to go?”

Tenya’s hand shot up. “I am… the Reactive Hero: Reciprocator.”

Izuku flashed his friend a thumbs up. “Nice one!”

“I agree,” Present Mic. “Makes me think you’ll always be ready to answer the call and give back as much as you receive.”

“It fits the theme of the Ida family well,” Midnight said. “Tensei’s going to cry!”

Bakugo stood up. “King Explosion Murder!”

“That’s going to be a ‘No’ from me,” Present Mic said.

“Maybe something that doesn’t sound like the name of a villain,” Midnight said.

Izuku tuned them out as Bakugo argued with the teachers, offering variations that all included “explosion” and “murder.” Besides, he still couldn’t think of anything. He wanted something flexible, something that he could easily add “Might” to in the future to pay homage to his mentor but didn’t want to do so now to keep the secret of One For All. Nothing he could think of seemed complete without it though. He rubbed the back of his neck, still unused to the short stubble, but then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Yaoyorozu looking a bit torn. “Yes, Yaoyorozu?”

“Well, I have one, but I’m not too sure about it and would appreciate your opinion,” she said. “And, please, call me Yaomomo. I thought it was silly at first, but it’s growing on me. I’ve never had a nickname before.” She smiled.

“As long as you call me ‘Izuku,’” he replied. “But sure, what have you got?”

“Well, I was thinking of going with the Creation Hero: Creati, but the more I think about it, the more it seems repetitive and somewhat… cutesy. I love Tsuyu’s name, but I just… I want something more mature and serious; I suppose. I want to be seen as a leader, both for the class and once I become a pro.”

“Let me think. Gaia would be good, but it seems more fitting for a nature-based quirk. Fabricator is already taken. Oh! I think I’ve got one for you, but I’m not sure if you’ll like it.”

“Please tell me,” she said.

Izuku tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote a word, handing it to her. She gasped. “It’s perfect!” She raised her hand and said, “I’m ready.”

“Go ahead, little listener,” Present Mic said with a nod.

“Thank you to Midoriya for helping me come up with this. I’m the Creation Hero: Alchemist!”

“Approved!” Midnight said. Present Mic gave a thumbs up.

Aoyama raised his hand. “The Shining Hero: I Can’t Stop Twinkling!”

Midnight shook her head. “Too long. Maybe shorten it to ‘Can’t Stop Twinkling.’”

Present Mic showed a thumbs down. “Still too long. You make laser beams, right?” Aoyama nodded sadly. “Lasers are a lot more powerful than just a twinkle. You want to inspire people, you dig?”

“Hey, Aoyama,” Ochaco said, “Switch it around a bit. How does ‘The Shining Hero: Photon’ sound?”

“Mon Dieu! It is perfect, Uraraka! Magnifique!” Aoyama said.

Present Mic gave a thumbs up, and Midnight said, “Approved. That’s two good ones from classmates, so feel free to ask for help.”

“I have mine,” Kirishima said. “My tribute to the man who inspired me, Crimson Riot. I’m the Sturdy Hero: Red Riot!” He quickly earned Midnight and Present Mic’s approval.

Izuku wanted to pound his head on his desk. Kirishima did exactly what he wanted to do, pay homage to his personal hero, but because of his connection to All Might, he couldn’t be as obvious. Someday, Izuku wanted to add “Might” to the end of his hero name. He needed something evocative of the “All” part but could stand alone without sounding arrogant or strange. Everyone seemed to be coming up with wonderful hero names, while Izuku sat here wracking his brain.

“I’m the Ripley Hero: Alien Queen!” Mina announced.

“No! Too scary!” Midnight said.

“Wait, hold on,” Present Mic said. “I like it. Come on, Midnight. She’s got antenna and everything, and her quirk produces acid.”

“Mic’s got a point,” Eraserhead said from his sleeping bag. “What would you recommend? Acid Trip? That would make her sound like a drug user.”

“How about ‘Pinky?’” Midnight tried desperately.

“I’m not saying ‘narf’ or helping Principal Nezu take over the world,” Mina said, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Fine!” Midnight said, throwing her hands up. “As long as you don’t have another set of teeth hidden in your mouth.”

Everyone else took a turn, Bakugo trying multiple names and getting rejected each time. Todoroki declined, claiming he wanted to think about it some more, as did Hagakure. Anima, Cellophane, Chargebolt, Earphone Jack, Sugarman, Tailman, Tentacole, and Tsukuyomi all seemed like solid choices to Izuku. He questioned Grape Juice a bit, but Present Mic and Midnight approved.

Finally, Ochaco stood up. “I’ve had this name in mind for a few years. I’m the Gravity Hero: Uravity.”

“Oh, punny and cute, but serious at the same time. I love it,” Midnight proclaimed.

“Ditto,” Present Mic said. “I like it! Really memorable.”

Izuku smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She smiled in return, wiping a tear from her eye, and mimed saying something to him. Reading her lips, it hit him with all the force of a meteor strike.

Izuku stood. “My quirk came in late, something fairly common for augmentation quirks. When I was a little kid, everyone told me that I could never be a hero. That I was just a pebble in the road. They tried, but they couldn’t break me. They couldn’t stop me, and I’ll never let them. So… who am I?”

“I’m the Unwavering Hero…”

“ULTRA!”

Chapter Text

The classroom fell silent, Preset Mic and Midnight looking at each other. “Surely it’s been taken before now,” Mic offered.

“It’s never been used by a pro hero,” Izuku said, confidently. “The closest was the fictional Ultraman from almost three hundred years ago.”

“You won’t allow mine, but you’ll just let this loser cut the school motto in half?” Bakugo said. “What the Hell?”

“The Addition Hero: Plus uses part of the school motto,” Izuku defended.

Kaminari turned back to Kirishima. “What’s a motto?”

Kirishima grinned. “Nothing! What’s a motto with you?”

The two boys both said “Nice!” and high-fived while Jiro rolled her eyes.

Tenya raised his hand. “I think it is quite fitting. You’re setting a lofty goal for yourself!”

“At least my names have been about me! He might as well be the Brown Nose Hero; Butt-kisser with a name like that,” Katsuki Bakugo, but secretly King Explosion Murder or Lord Explosion Murder or Super Murder Explosion or God Emperor Explosion Murder of Dune, said.

Present Mic rolled his eyes. “The little listener’s quirk has been called Ultra-Augmentation for years, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to emulate high ideals. What better for a hero than to try and go beyond? Besides, Bakugo, you don’t get a vote. I approve.”

Midnight nodded. “It’s not like the school has the word copyrighted. A lot of heroes, even ones who didn’t attend, use it as a battle cry. And it’s the national motto of Spain. Ultra. That’s a great name for a hero!”

“That’s a stupid name for a hero.”

“Screw you, punk,” Death Arms grunted through the pain. A katana pierced through his shoulder, pinning him like an insect to the wall. The man in front of him leaned close, eyes narrowed behind the thin red mask, a grotesque hole where his nose should have been. His scaly tongue flickered out, licking the blood off the blade. The instant the blood touched the tongue, Death Arm’s limbs stopped responding to his nerve impulses. Other than the ability to talk, every nonautonomous motion failed. “Go on and get it over with. I’m not going to beg.”

“Hmm,” Stain hummed. “Blood type AB. I can tell. We’ve got a good six minutes to talk before I’ll have to… cut this discussion short. You’re quite far from your usual patrol area in Musutafu, Death Arms. I almost didn’t recognize you out of your, ha, so-called hero costume and wearing a wig, of all things. Imagine my surprise at where I find you. Here in Shinjuku. Looking for a little schoolgirl prostitution?”

“You’re wrong! I was just worried about the kid.”

“Really?” Stain leaned close. “Maybe I was wrong, and you’re not one of the fakes. Is that the case?”

“Of course,” Death Arms grunted. “I always try to help out when I see a kid in trouble.”

“I suppose you want the five hundred thousand yen back, then, mister?” The voice came from a little further in the alley. Stain roughly grabbed the top of Death Arm’s head and turned it slowly, so that the blonde schoolgirl dressed in a sailor suit style outfit came into view waving several bills in one hand. “Because I’m not the one in trouble. Besides, I knew you were on the fence, but I guess you decided sixteen was too old after all.”

Stain leaned close. “You’re a sick degenerate and no hero.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Death Arms protested.

“You offered triple if I had a little sister, pervert, but only if she was twelve or younger,” the girl said, silently moving closer and closer to Stain’s back. In a smooth motion, his second katana flashed out from the sheath on his back, a mere centimeter from her face.

“I appreciate your testimony, child, but this is no place for you,” he said. “Go now and leave me to my work.”

“Aw, no fair, Mister Stainy!” she pouted. “I want to watch, or, better yet, let me join you! I want to make this old chikan bleed! He touched me!”

“I accidentally touched her leg.”

“You didn’t accidentally touch my leg! Your hands were up my skirt!”

He shook his head. “My work, my holy task, is to remove these false heroes so that children like you can live in safety and innocence.” Stain spit on Death Arm’s face, the slightly pink glob of saliva slowly dripping down his cheek. “You may deny your sins, Death Arms, but I confess mine, knowing no one else has the will to send a message as I do. God compels me in this task, and I bear the sin willingly. While I admire your conviction, child, my corruption is my own and I will not share it. Go.”

“Okay. But I’ll see you soon.” She giggled. “I mean Mr. Stainy, of course! I don’t think I’ll see you again, Death Arms… or was that Ecchi Hands?” She skipped out of the alley, whistling the tune to Cuts Like a Knife.

“Come on! You know that girl is crazy,” Death Arms said desperately. “She was lying because she wanted to watch you kill someone! I’m a damn hero.”

Stain held up a small blacklight and turned it on, holding the device up to show Death Arms that it emitted a whitish-violet glow. He yanked Death Arm’s head, forcing the hero to stare down at his own limp hands glowing a bright red under the light from the device. “Her panties were coated in UV reactive powder, ‘hero.’ You’ve been caught red-handed. Literally. But you are right about one thing, you are damned.”

“I… I didn’t hurt her. It was just… a little harmless fun.”

“Our ideas of fun are very different, fake. You said before you wouldn’t beg,” Stain hissed. “Good, because I don’t want to hear you beg.” He pulled the sword from Death Arm’s shoulder and in a swift motion severed the hero’s hands.

“I want to hear you scream.”

Surprisingly enough, except for Todoroki and Hagakure, who wanted time to think on the matter, and Bakugo, who seemed determined to pick a gamertag at random from a first-person shooter’s user list, everyone selected a hero name. Although a few of them didn’t seem all that good to Izuku, most of them were awesome. An undercurrent of excitement ran through the students during the rest of their morning classes until the finally got to unleash it during lunch.

Their group expanded to nearly five tables today, since word had sped through class B that class A seemed friendly. Izuku sat at the central table with Ochaco on his right and Tenya on his left, with Itsuka sitting on Tenya’s other side. The rest of the group seemed to form around the four. Yaomomo sat across from Tenya, flanked by Todoroki on one side and Mina on the other, with Kirishima sitting beside Mina. Tokoyami sat beside Kirishima, and Shinso sat beside Ochaco. Monoma already had a seat at the same table as yesterday and invited Shoji to sit beside him, and the unlikely pair chatted quietly like old friends. Izuku did a quick mental head count. Aoyama seemed to be missing from the group, for the second day in a row. He’d need to check with him about it. The only other person….

Bakugo hesitated for a moment, but still went and sat by himself. Kirishima sighed, but kept his seat, talking quietly with Mina for a few moments before shaking his head. Eventually, most of the first-year hero course sat together, with several support course and general studies students joining them. Conversation mostly focused on hero names, although other conversations erupted here and there to avoid excluding the non-hero students. Izuku leaned forward and said “Hey, Shinso. You should start thinking about a hero name, too.”

“Already got one,” Shinso said proudly. “The Persuasive Hero: Compulsion. Mr. Aizawa said if I got an internship offer, I’d get to take part. Since I’m going underground, I didn’t want to use my real name in the festival anyway.”

“Oh, I like that one,” Uraraka said, holding her fingers in front of her like a cross and giggling. “The Power of Shinso compels you!”

‘Thanks, I thought about Conviction and Control,” he replied, “but I was worried they could be misconstrued.”

“Compulsion is a strong choice,” Izuku offered. “I know a hero who had something like a hundred different names, so it’s important to pick something that you’re happy with.”

“Who’s that?” Tenya asked. “I’ve never heard of a hero having more than two or three names, and those are usually aliases in other countries where the translation would be… unfortunate.”

“Oh, she passed away before any of us were born, but she was a great hero. Most people who have heard of her know her by one of two names, Soar or Seventh Heaven. I recently found out one of the names was Floater, before she realized the implication. She even went by Toots for a month.” He couldn’t wait for his next lucid dream near the castle.

Yaomomo laughed. “You have to be joking, Izuku!”

“No, seriously,” Izuku said. “I heard the story from a very reliable source. Someone she rescued called her ‘Toots,’ so she made it her hero name for a month to tease him.”

“Jeez, what kind of slimeball would call someone that?” Mina asked, not knowing that slimeball was a young Toshinori Yagi.

Before Izuku could answer, a loud noise from down the table interrupted them. Hagakure stood in front of her overturned seat, her clothes shaking with rage. “How dare you?”

Mineta wave his hand. “Sorry, Toots! I didn’t see you. Sorry I accidentally touched your leg.”

“You didn’t accidentally touch my leg! Your hands were…!” Toru ran out of the cafeteria.

“That kind of slimeball,” Ochaco said. “I’ve lost my appetite. I’m going to go check on Hagakure.”

“I’ll come with you,” Yaomomo offered.

“Me too,” Mina said. Tsuyu got up with a quiet ribbit and joined them.

The four girls picked up their trays and walked off. Tokoyami leaned forward and whispered to Izuku. “Midoriya, although I find it distasteful to engage in talk of such a repugnant topic, Dark Shadow often observes others during lunch. She did witness the incident.” Dark Shadow poked her head above the table, looking around cautiously. “Dark Shadow, will you tell us what you saw?”

“Too bright here. Don’t want to talk.” The shadowy bird-shaped quirk pointed to Izuku, “Especially not to him!”

“Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami hissed, “don’t be rude. Midoriya can be trusted. He even gifted us, gifted you, with new MCR songs we’ve never heard before, remember?”

“If she’s uncomfortable…” Izuku started to say.

“He’s too bright, Fumi!” Dark Shadow protested. “He’s like the others! Like all of them except Miyazono.”

“No, Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami said. “He is like Miyazono. Kind, like she was. Everyone here is kind, like her.”

“You trust them too much,” Dark Shadow said bitterly. “The loud, yelling one isn’t kind. The small sticky one isn’t kind. The twinkling one most of all! They hurt. They’ll all hurt us if they can. That’s why I watch, and you should watch, too.” Dark Shadow folded its winglike arms in front of its chest. “My secrets are for the dark, not the light. He is of the light, even if the dark has touched him.”

Tokoyami sighed. “Dark Shadow informed me that Mineta placed his hand in an entirely inappropriate place. Beyond absolute territory, if you catch my meaning. I hope you can forgive her for not being willing to speak directly.”

Izuku’s phone signaled that he’d received a text. He pressed the screen and started at it for several seconds, he sent a reply, waited a few moments, and said, “I’m sorry you think that I’d hurt you, Dark Shadow, but thank you for telling Tokoyami,” he said softly to the quirk, who watched him with weary eyes. “I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove myself. I need to make a quick call.” He pressed a number in his contact list and put the phone to his ear, listening intently. “You want me to what?” Another longer pause. “This is a terrible plan.” Pause. “Yeah, I can do it. I want to hear it from her.” Pause. “Okay. Give me a few minutes.” Izuku hung up the phone, sighed, and stood. “If you all will excuse me. Tenya, would you mind taking my tray back?”

Tenya nodded. “Of course. If you need backup…”

Izuku smiled. “I’ll be counting on you, as always.” He walked down to the end of the table where Mineta sat. With lunchtime almost over, several people had already left to finish up assignments, so that end of the table was mostly empty. Izuku sat down beside Mineta and dropped his voice too low for anyone else to hear. “Mineta, I wanted to talk to you.”

“It was just a little harmless fun. Going to play the paladin again?” Mineta asked with a sneer. “Hey, I get it and it’s cool if you want to boost your rep even more, but you don’t even need to, man. Most of the chicks already left and are all drooling over you anyway. Uraraka and Ashido definitely. You could probably get ahold of Yaoyorozu’s booborozus with a little bit of effort. Hell, if you like members of the itty-bitty-titty-committee, you could probably even get Jiro, and I bet she’s almost exclusively into chicks. Just save the white knight speech, I’ve heard it all before.”

“No, man, though I’m sure that’s what everyone thinks I’m doing right now. See, you’re going about this the wrong way,” Izuku said. He’d noticed Jiro’s cold, furious stare from where she sat with Kaminari and Sero, but now she directed a bit of it at him, too. With her hearing, he was going to owe her a Hell of an apology and explanation later. He stuck one hand under the table out of Mineta’s line of sight and spelled out “I’m sorry” as best he could in JSL with one hand. He had to spell a lot of it, because most of it required both hands and he prayed he wouldn’t screw it up. Jiro’s eyes widened, and she still looked a bit distrustful, but she lightly patted her chest with her left hand, JSL for “Got it.”

Mineta shook his head. “Look at me, Midoriya. I’ve got to take what I can get. You could nail any one of these babes, but a guy like me… I have to make do with glimpses and the occasional feel saved in the spank bank, you know what I mean?”

“Absolutely,” Izuku said. “We’re both guys! We’re not all that different, Mineta. I bet our browser histories have at least one site in common.” Most browsers did start on Google, after all, but for all Izuku knew, Mineta might use Bing. That would pretty much confirm his degeneracy.

“But… why look when you can touch?” Mineta asked incredulously. “I’ve got to go dumpster diving in the back alley for scraps, but you’re sitting in the restaurant with the waiter just waiting to take your order for a full course meal with dessert! I’m not kidding… you could get any one of them in the sack! You could probably even go for a threesome! I just took a little feel from Hagakure because of plausible deniability.”

Izuku mentally cringed but kept his face carefully smiling. “Think about it, a lion doesn’t just go after the entire herd, you’ve got to be selective! Besides, we’re all young. None of them have given it up yet, and that’s a big deal for a chick. That’s why you’ve got to play the game! You’ve got to be nice to all of them, and if one seems receptive, focus on her. You’ve got to play it cool, or you’ll put their defenses up and never get anywhere.”

Mineta looked down. “I tried that. Back in middle school, I really liked this one girl, even spent weeks writing her a letter, and she publicly humiliated me. She laughed at me in front of everyone. At least like this, they aren’t laughing.”

“I’ve been there,” Izuku said. “Believe me, girls used to treat me like dirt every day.” And they really did, at Aldera. “You need to act nice, though. Hell, be nice and you’ll find a girl who’s right for you.”

“Pfft,” Mineta waved his hand. “The fact that you’re tall and built like a god might have something more to do with it than acting nice. I’m telling you, man, best I can hope for is a peak and maybe a grope.”

Izuku leaned close looking around carefully to make sure no one would overhear. Except Jiro, of course, because nothing could ever be simple. “We’ve still got fifteen minutes until lunch is over. I can’t help you with the second one, but, for the first… well… I do know a couple of third years who gave me some interesting info.” He tilted his head. “Come on, but we’ve got to be quiet. I don’t want this getting out.”

“Really? Holy crap, Midoriya! I was wrong about you.” Mineta grabbed his tray and dropped it off, then he followed Izuku out of the cafeteria to the closest men’s room.

“Okay,” Izuku whispered, “so, there’s a peephole left by a previous class, but the ventilation system in the wall blocks it most of the time. Vent inside the wall opens for one minute out of every ten, and we have ten minutes until we’ve got to head back to class. That’s a full sixty seconds of a view men only dream of, but we’ve got to be super quiet, okay?” Izuku pulled back a poster affixed to the wall. “You go ahead, I’ve already used it several times.” Izuku did not mention that Midnight herself made all the peepholes on campus, and they would only open when no one occupied the adjoining room, like the pool of Tantalus, the waters receded when reached for.

Mineta leaned against the wall, pressing his eye against the hole. Izuku quietly slid his phone out of his pocket, typed a message, and clicked send.

In the quiet of the men’s room, they could hear the girl’s voices clearly from a vent near the ceiling.

“Maybe… maybe it was an accident, Toru,” Yaomomo said.

“It wasn’t an accident. He said the same thing they all said!” Toru cried, followed by quiet sobs.

“We should give him the benefit of the doubt,” Ochaco said. “Mineta seems nice, I can’t believe anyone in our class would act that way.”

“No!” Toru cried. “That’s what the teachers told at my middle school! Boys will be boys! This is exactly how it started. ‘Oh, I didn’t see you, Hagakure,’ they’d say when ‘accidentally’ touched me."

[Author's note: This part may be offensive to some, you can probably guess why. Skip to the next set of Asterisks if you do not feel comfortable reading this part. You can totally skip it.]

***

***

***

"It kept getting worse. They stole my clothes while I was changing for gym class, and then the boys came in and they all took turns touching me! When I complained to the school, everyone said, ‘I didn’t see anything.’”

“Oh, Toru,” Mina said, “come here.”

For several minutes, the only sound echoing through the restroom was the sound of Toru’s sobs. Then she said, “I’m going to go to the Principal and withdraw from the school. I can’t go through it again. It’s just like middle school.”

“But Toru,” Yaomomo said, “what about your dream of being a hero?”

“Yaomomo… I… I’ve never told anyone about this. Only my parents know,” she sniffled. “After it happened, I… felt really bad and no one believed me. No one helped me. I cut my wrists in class. Nobody saw anything,” she said bitterly. “Even my blood is invisible. I sat there bleeding out, while all of them sat in class whispering and laughing about what they’d done to me. I slumped down in my seat, too weak to even move. After class, the teacher left, and I just sat there, barely conscious, barely breathing. The most popular boy, the one I had a crush on, groped me as he walked out. I can still hear what he said to his friends. ‘Wow, what a slut. She loves it. She was really wet.’ Nobody but me could see my blood all over his hand. My parents found me four hours later. They came looking for me when I didn’t come home. I’m… I’m not strong enough to go through that again.”

Mineta backed away from the supposed peephole, his hand over his mouth. “I… I’m not that bad, am I? I’d never do that!”

“You tell me, Mineta.” Izuku stared at him and shrugged. “You touched her earlier, right? Did she love it? Was she really wet?”

***

***

***

[Author's note: To summarize, Toru tells a painful story from middle school, and Mineta tries to deny that he was as bad as her classmates from back then. With a couple of questions, Izuku points out that there's really no difference.]

“Midoriya… I. I just thought… no… I never meant… I'm not like that! You don’t understand!” Mineta said.

“Yeah, I do understand,” Izuku replied. “You got hurt, Mineta. I know what it’s like to be laughed at, and I know what it’s like to be hurt. I’ve got a strong quirk now, though, so I can do what I want, right? I can stand in front of people who hurt me and reach out and hurt them back, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing anyone could do to stop me in that moment. Don’t they deserve it? I could hurt a lot of people, but where do I draw the line? Maybe I’d just keep on hurting people until I start hurting innocent people. That’s not who I want to be. It wouldn’t make what happened to me any better.”

“I hurt Hagakure. I’m just as bad as they were in my middle school, at her middle school. No, I’m worse, because I know how it feels. I’m… I’m not a good person.” Mineta looked down.

“We’re all who we want to be, Mineta. You get to choose, right here and now. You decide how you act, that’s what makes you a good or bad person. Not the thoughts that pop into your head, but what you do with them. Hell, we’re teens. We’re going to have inappropriate thoughts. God knows I have them sometimes.” Brilliant, idiot, Izuku thought, if we can hear them, they can hear us. “That doesn’t mean we have to act on them.”

“Well, I’m going to be better.” Mineta ran from the room, leaving Izuku alone. He put the poster back in place, and moved to the hallway, stopping at the door in surprise. In the middle of the hallway, facing the door to the lady’s room, Mineta bowed in the dogeza position. His own part over in this, Izuku leaned back against the wall and waited.

After a few moments, the girls walked out of the restroom to find Mineta there. Hagakure stared down at him, tears showing the curves of her cheeks. “Hagakure,” Mineta said, his voice shaky, “I… I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Please, I’m begging you, don’t quit the school. You can be a great hero! Don’t let someone as low as me ruin that for you. If… if you want, I’ll drop out. But… if you give me another chance, I promise, I’ll make it up to you. I know what I did wasn’t right. And I just tried to peep on you all, and I apologize to all of you! I’ll be better, I swear! And… don’t blame Midoriya! He was just trying to teach me how wrong I was. Please… just… I’ll do whatever you want.”

Toru Hagakure said with a shaky voice, “You promise never to do it again?”

“I swear!” Mineta cried. “I’m so sorry.”

“Mineta,” Mina said, “If we even hear about anything like this again, we’re going straight to the principal. You got it?”

“I know… I want you to! I never thought I was hurting anyone… that’s not an excuse, though, honest.”

“I’ll forgive you… this time,” Hagakure said quietly.

Mineta carefully looked up, taking extra caution not to look up their skirts. His eyes looked red and puffy from where he cried. “Thank you! I promise, you won’t regret it.” Mineta stood up, and said, “I’ll probably make mistakes, but please, call me out when I do! I mean it! Don’t be mad at Midoriya. He’s a good guy.”

“Oh, we’ll deal with Izuku,” Ochaco said. “You go ahead, Mineta, we want to talk to him.”

Mineta looked a bit indecisive, so Izuku said, “I’ll be okay, Mineta. I’ve got my own apologies to make.”

Mineta nodded, then turned and ran off. After a few moments, Jiro stepped around the corner. “Well, that was something.” She shot a look at Izuku, “This was all some little… intervention? God, Toru… to bring up something that painful, though?”

Ochaco started giggling, followed by Toru, and finally Mina and Yaomomo joined in. Izuku leaned against the wall with a smirk. Toru laughed. “I thought you could tell when people were lying!”

“Wait, what?” Jiro asked.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong… the boys in middle school did take bets on what panties I would wear, but they never touched me like that. And I never, you know, hurt myself,” Toru clarified.

“So, this was all, what?”

“The performance of the year! And the best actor Oscar goes to Toru Hagakure!” Mina said. “We were going to go to Aizawa, but we decided to take a crack at it ourselves first.”

“Ochaco sent me a text and asked me to get Mineta here so he could listen,” Izuku said and then bowed. “I apologize for anything offensive I said. I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“That’s why he wins best supporting actor this time, ribbit,” Tsuyu said. “And why I’m never playing poker with any of you.”

And that’s when UA’s alarm system sounded.

Chapter Text

A mob of students poured from the cafeteria as the alarm claxons blared. “Security level three alert. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion.” The crush of bodies fleeing the cafeteria pushed Ochaco and Izuku together, nearly forcing the two of them, along with the other girls, into the lady’s room. Izuku called up One For All, enhancing his strength and durability to keep from crushing Ochaco against the door.

“What’s security level three?” Mina asked.

“Level three means someone has infiltrated the building,” Izuku answered. “There should have been a level one and level two alert first though.”

“Can we pretend we don’t know what those are too?” Toru asked.

“Level one means the UA barrier has been compromised. Level two is for unauthorized intruders on campus,” Yaomomo said. “This was in the handbook.”

“That thing’s way too long! Whoever wrote something that long likes the sound of their own voice too much. Nobody’s ever going to get through it without falling asleep!” Mina said.

“I did,” Izuku, Ochaco, and Yaomomo chorused.

“Izuku!” Tenya yelled, being pulled along by the rapid tide of students. Izuku reached out his hand and grabbed Tenya, pulling him into their small island of stability. “It’s the press! I could see them through the window, but I can’t be heard over all these voices.”

“That should only be a level two,” Izuku said.

“Perhaps the system is malfunctioning due to the large number of them,” Tenya mused, “but we must calm everyone down before someone gets hurt.”

“Um, can all of you shield me from view for a few moments?” Yaomomo asked, “While turned around, please?”

“Oh, of course!” Tenya said, and they all turned around hiding Yaomomo from view.

After a few moments, she said, “Here, Ida.” He turned around to find her holding out a megaphone to him, her tie undone, but her shirt thankfully buttoned. “Perhaps Ochaco could float you…?”

Ochaco touched Tenya with her hand and he rose into the air. Pressing the button on the megaphone. “Attention, everyone. Tenya Ida, co-class representative for Class 1-A! The alarm is due to members of the press on campus. We are not in danger! Please calm down and move in an orderly fashion. No pushing or shoving! Some people have fallen, help those near you to stand. Just remain calm!”

One of the older students rose into the air, the energy of her quirk spiraling around her in gentle waves. “Oh yeah! Listen to him, everyone. The first year is right,” she said loudly. She looked closer at Ida. Quietly she asked, “Do you just carry around a megaphone? You have engines in your legs? Is that how you’re flying? Is that your quirk, does it make you a jet?”

Tenya blinked. “Thank you,” he said, and then realized he was still holding down the button on the megaphone. “Sorry. No, a friend made me the megaphone. I do have engines in my legs. One of my other friends can cancel gravity. I am not a jet.”

“Good job! Most people forget at least one question. And you’ve calmed everyone down.”

At the signal from Tomura Shigaraki, Kurogiri opened the warp gate to the coordinates provided by the spy, appearing in the middle of the deserted teachers’ lounge through a swirling vortex of darkness. He moved through the room quickly, certain any noises would be muffled by the alarm. He quickly found All Might’s desk and found a planner sitting open on the desk displaying the current week. Perfect. This would please the Master and Tomura Shigaraki. He opened a small portal and retrieved a digital camera, taking careful pictures. Now, to find details about the quirks of All Might’s students. He opened the top drawer to find a handwritten note that read “A.M. – Borrowed 1-A Quirk records. S.A.”

He sighed. Nothing could ever be simple. The room held a variety of desks, some neat and organized, some cluttered, but none of them had name plates to show their owners. With a small, elite group such as UA’s teaching staff, assuming all the teachers knew which desk belonged to which teacher would be rational. Logically, those who taught the same grades should be clustered together. He checked the two desks beside All Might’s but found nothing of interest. He walked to the desks facing All Might’s and paused.

Disorganization and clutter overwhelmed the two desks on the ends. Cheap prizes from pachinko parlors, post-it notes, ungraded papers, and unopened candy bars littered the area. Kurogiri’s eyebrow twitched, and he had to fight a compulsive need to clean up these desks. The center desk soothed him, an island of rationality between two seas of chaos. Here sat the quirk notes he needed in a perfect stack, parallel to the edges of the desk as if measured. Other than this, the only sign the desk showed of an owner proved to be a clean coffee mug and a framed photograph. He reached for the notes but found his misty fingers closing around the picture frame instead, lifting it up for closer inspection.

A blonde teen sat in the corner of the picture, a wide smile on his face and a peace symbol displayed from one hand. His other arm wrapped around the shoulder of a dark-haired teen, rolling his eyes. Behind them sat a laughing teen girl with long black hair holding a small orange and black striped cat with a white chest, its paws tangled in the black hair of the boy in front of her. Another boy, with light blue hair, looked down at the cat and smiled, a blush on his face. Except the boy didn’t truly look at the cat, his gaze led into the girl’s loose shirt. For Kurogiri, something pulled his gaze back to the cat.

“Sus… Sushi?”

Kurogiri shook his head, placing the picture back down quickly. This certainly wasn’t like him. To become distracted by thoughts of a sweet, adorable kitten food during a mission. At least he had found the correct desk. This must be the desk of S.A. Shota. The others in the picture were irrelevant. The blonde boy Hizashi and the beautiful young girl Nemuri were irrelevant! He reached for the files again but found the picture mirror back in his hand as he stared at the irrelevant boy with light blue hair himself. His head turned sharply. The doorknob turned. When had the alarms stopped ringing?

With no time to take photographs of the quirk records, Kurogiri vanished in a vortex of quickly dissipating black energy, the picture falling face down onto the desk.

“What a pain,” Shota Aizawa said as he walked into the teacher’s lounge. “I need coffee.”

“You just don’t like the press, cat daddy,” Hizashi said. “You’re always grumpy after dealing with them. They’re just trying to do their job.”

Shota walked to his desk to retrieve his coffee cup. “Says the guy who wanted to beat them up for acting like villains.” He stopped, looking carefully at his desk, suspicious of his two fellow stooges, since they occasionally tried to draw him into prank wars. “Okay, what did you do to my desk?”

Hizashi looked over from the coffee pot, where he was filling a Styrofoam cup with an equal blend of coffee and creamer like a heretic. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Point one, you might as well just drink milk if you’re going to desecrate coffee like that, heretic. Point two, my picture has been moved. Point three, if you’ve removed all the screws from my desk again, I’m going to bring in speakers and play the entirety of Barry Manilow’s greatest hits and Copacabana is going to be repeated between every song.” Shota knew where to hit Hizashi for it to hurt, and he noted with satisfaction that Hizashi’s face went paler than that foul white liquid he used to corrupt the gift from our holy mother of java.

“There’s no need to threaten! I haven’t been near your desk today.” Hizashi said, putting his hands up.

“My picture isn’t in the usual spot,” Shota insisted. “So, you tell me, Hizashi… Could it be Magic?”

“Don’t you even joke about playing that around me, Sho! I swear, I haven’t touched your desk.” He paused and said quietly, “It might have been Nem. You know she misses little Sushi. It was about a year ago.”

Oh.

Yeah, oh. “Damn,” he said. “You’re probably right. Sorry, Hizashi… you know… about the Barry Manilow thing.” Shota put the picture back in the correct spot on his desk. He missed Sushi, too. And the other person in the picture. He picked up his mug and walked to the coffee pot, drinking the whole mug in one gulp, then refilling it to savor. For a moment, he stared at the bag of beans, but shook his head. Not today, Satan. Not today.

Calm returned to the school after the pro heroes escorted the press off campus, and as promised the class enjoyed a study period after lunch. The students who received summons to the support department made their way to that wing of the building.

Yaomomo, Ochaco, Toru, Kirishima, Mina, and Ojiro nearly missed the lab, since the reinforced door holding the sign had embedded itself in the opposite wall, bits of smoke rising off it. “Excuse me,” Yaoyorozu said, “we were referred here by All Might and Mr. Aizawa.”

A rather short man who looked like he wore parts from a decommission piece of excavation equipment stopped his scolding of a girl with pink dreadlocks. “Oh, good, you’re here! Right on time. Give me just a second.” He turned back to the girl. “No more explosives without my direct supervision! Support gear should protect the hero, not put their lives at more risk. You’re a first year, Hatsume. You won’t be able to get an explosives handler license for another three years anyway. Neither will the hero course students!”

“What about guns? Can I work on guns?”

He sighed. “Not until you’re sixteen. Look, we’ve got two full hero costumes to redesign today and a few minor updates, so you’re going to work on the redesigns. Let’s take care of the easy ones first. Kirishima and Ojiro?” Both boys stepped forward. “Good. A review of your hero costumes revealed a weakness. Kirishima, your chest and back are completely exposed.”

“Um, yeah, but my quirk is hardening. I’m da…darn near indestructible when it’s active.”

“Can you keep it active for twenty-four hours?” Power Loader asked.

“Oh, no. Maybe thirty minutes at this point,” Kirishima replied.

“Then you’re still vulnerable. Try this on.” He handed Kirishima a costume with built-in shoulder protectors much smaller than his original costume design.

“Um, right now? The girls are here,” Kirishima the modest said.

Mina rolled her eyes. “You wore your costume in front of all of us yesterday. It didn’t even have a shirt!”

“Yeah,” Kirishima blushed, “but I was wearing pants!”

“You can step behind that screen and change into the whole thing,” Power Loader said, pointing to a changing area.

Kirishima took off his jacket, tie, shirt, and pants and slipped on the light-weight body armor. It still looked a lot like his original costume, only with what looked like a heavy t-shirt instead of a bare chest. He stepped out from behind the screen and did a few moves. “Oh yeah, pretty flexible and breathable, but won’t it tear when I use hardening?”

Power Loader grinned. “Give it a try, kid. I’m pretty proud of this.”

When Kirishima activated his quirk, his size increased. The armor expanded with him, revealing on his chest two interlocking uppercase R’s with what appeared to be cracks spreading from them but were actually seams in the armor allowing it to expand. “Holy crap, dude, this is awesome.”

“But wait, there’s more,” Power Loader said. “Press the button on the belt and watch what happens.” Kirishima pressed the button and the letters and cracks glowed with a dim, pulsing red color. “You don’t have to have the glow turned on, especially if you’re on a stealth operation, but in all out combat, you’ll want to draw attention from more vulnerable members of your team, and this will do it.”

Kirishima bowed. “Thank you so much! This is so awesome.”

“No problem, kid. Now, Ojiro, you’re using a martial arts karategi as your uniform. That’s a solid choice and has been a standard for centuries for a reason, but I have made a few tweaks. We’ve included a black under-armor body suit that will protect your chest and vitals. The karategi is mostly unchanged, but we’ve gone with a grey and brown color scheme to make you a little less of a target. We’ve also added a bit of material to the vest to keep ensure your chest stays protected. Also, armored shin guards and forearm guards have been added, along with a flexible tailband. Let me know if anything restricts your movements too much. Go ahead and try it on.”

Ojiro moved behind the screen and changed. When he returned, he bowed to Power Loader. “Thank you. I just went with a karategi because I’m used to them, but if the changes help to protect me without sacrificing too much mobility, I’ll gladly get used to it.” He performed a simple kata, his smile widening with every move.

“That’s all for you gentlemen, but you’re welcome to stick around and get used to the feel of your new outfits. Now for the ladies.” He looked up at the class 1-A students, his eyes locking on Toru. “Hagakure, right? I’m going to have my problem child here help you. She may seem a bit extreme, but she’s one of the best students I’ve gotten in years. Toru Hagakure, Mei Hatsume. Hatsume, as you can, um, not see, Ms. Hagakure’s quirk makes her completely invisible, but she isn’t blind, so she can’t be completely transparent to all wavelengths of light.” He handed Hatsume a pair of goggles. “Cycle through the frequencies until you find something. Stick as close to the visible spectrum as you can.” He turned back to Hagakure. “How long is your hair?”

“Um, almost down to my waist,” she said. “It’s been a while since I cut it, because I like it long.”

“Well, sorry to say it will be a bit short for a while. We’ll need to cut most of it off to make your costume. By mixing it with mutable polymer, it should be able to take on the same transparent properties as your quirk when in contact with your skin. Have you decided on a hero name yet?”

Toru’s head was spinning from all the science talk, but she managed to squeak, “I’m still thinking about it, but I was considering the Invisible Girl, sir.”

“Power Loader or Mr. Maijima is fine.” He sighed. “If you go that route, change it to the Invisible Woman. You won’t want people calling you a ‘girl’ when you’re in your thirties. Are you aiming for daylight or underground?”

“I’ll probably go underground. I’m good at stealth and I, well, don’t really have a marketable appearance.”

“Found it!” Hatsume sang out. “Still hazy, so I can’t make out her features, almost like there’s a scattering field in addition to the invisibility, but it’s enough that I can cut her hair. You must really see the world weird!”

Toru shuffled her feet, “I mean, just how I’ve always seen it. It’s not weird.”

“Ah, but see, if I could see like you do, what I call red would look completely different! It’s weird to me, but not to you, capiche? If you’re going underground, how about a spooky theme?”

“Huh?” Toru said.

“I can polarize your costume so you can turn the invisibility on and off, but we’ll make part of it always transparent! If you decide to go Daylight, that will add to your marketability and part of the costume will always be see-through. I’ll need to, well, build in support, if you know what I mean, because undergarments could be seen through the seams. Anywho, the transparent parts. We can make those any shape you want, like… ooh, bullet holes! Or better yet, Scandinavian runes! Those always look occult. Come on.” Still wearing the goggles, she reached out an took Toru’s hand. “Dang, girl… you’ve got a Hell of a figure. Let’s go make something that’ll let you show it off without freezing it off!” Everyone watched in silence as Hatsume dragged Toru away.

“Um…” Yaomomo started to say, but Power Loader turned to her holding a pair of scissors.

“I’ll need a small sample of your hair, too. Your quirk seems to work at the surface of your skin, so by mixing your hair with a mutable polymer, hopefully you’ll be able to activate creation through it without damaging the costume, but we need to make sure before you cut most of your hair’s length off,” Power Loader explained.

“I can do it, Yaomomo,” Ochaco said. “Just a little trim, a few millimeters, will that be enough?” Power loader nodded. She undid Momo’s ponytail, making sure to keep the length even as she cut off a small sample of hair and handed it to Power Loader.

Using a mortar and pestle, he quickly ground the hair into a fine powder and poured in it a small transparent box filled with a pale pink liquid. He smiled. “Primarily a dark red with white and yellow accents, correct, Yaoyorozu?”

“That would be fine, thank you.”

Power Loader typed a few commands on a keyboard and the liquid flowed into the shape of a large red glove with white fingers and a yellow cuff with a single button. He retrieved the glove and handed it to her. “It will be baggy when you put it on but press the button and it will become skintight. Because of how your power works, your main costume will have to be formfitting, since any gaps would cause it to tear when you use your quirk, but we can also provide you with a cloak for the sake of modesty.” She put the glove on, and it conformed to the shape of her hand like a second skin. “Perfect. Can you make something from the palm of your hand and then from the back of your hand?”

The surface of the glove glowed with a pinkish-blue glow, and a matryoshka doll formed on the surface of the glove, and she repeated the process for the back of her hand. “The glove didn’t tear,” she exclaimed.

Power Loader nodded. “Can I see the glove, please? Just press the button again to expand it.” She did and handed the glove to him. He took a few readings and nodded. “Well, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”

“The good news, please?” Momo replied, shuffling uncomfortably.

“Well, the good news is that the glove is completely unaffected by using your quirk through it and the small hairs everyone has on the back of their hands didn’t interfere. As far as your quirk is concerned this,” and he held up the glove, “is your skin, but it didn’t try to use any of the glove in the Creation process. If it is in contact with your skin, your quirk will seamlessly work through it. The bad news is that we’ll need a lot of your hair to make a full suit, and it will have to be skintight. Also, we’ll have to build in support, as Hatsume said.”

“Oh, will, um….”

“Hatsume should be almost finished with Hagakure’s costume, and she can help you as well,” Power Loader said smoothly. “I know this can be a little… uncomfortable. I’d normally assign one of the third-year girls to help you, but Hatsume understands mutable polymers better than even I do. She’s also really good with costume design.”

Ochaco raised her hand. “Will a shoulder length haircut give you enough material?”

“That should be just enough,” Power Loader said with a nod.

“Should I get it cut tonight and bring the hair tomorrow?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“You saw Izuku’s haircut earlier,” Ochaco said. “I gave it to him last night. My mom taught me, and I’m good at all kinds of styles. Just find a picture on your phone that you like, and I can do it!” After a few minutes, Yaomomo held up her phone with a picture of an actor from over two hundred years ago with a short bob haircut. Ochaco laughed. “You could have given me a challenge! You two even have the same part. We might need a towel.”

Power Loader handed them a sanex strip and a barber’s cape. Ochaco blinked. “You’d be surprised how many haircuts we have to give people for costumes!” Yaomomo sat on a chair, and Ochaco went to work, completing the haircut in less than five minutes, carefully collecting all the cut hair in a box provided by Power Loader. While Ochaco worked, Power Loader turned to Mina. “As for you, Ms. Ashido, I’ve done a redesign of your suit as well. It is still acid resistant and has a porous design to allow you to produce your acid from anywhere on your body while protecting your arms and chest. It also features wrist launchers you can use for a bit of range.”

“Wait, that sounds cool, but I’ve got to breathe.”

“That’s the whole point,” Power Loader said.

“I mean my girls have to breathe!” Mina tried again.

Power Loader nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m going to make sure that all of the girls in the hero class can keep breathing! I’ve already replaced the costume for you based on the advice of our analyst, so you’ll find it in your case.”

Mina stomped her foot. “Sometimes I want to show license and registration!”

“Oh! You won’t have to worry about that until you’re third years. I teach a whole course where you’ll get licensed for all kinds of vehicles. We’ve got a pocket in your costume for your hero and driver’s licenses, and you should always keep the registration safely secured inside the vehicle.”

Mina pouted, and Ochaco leaned forward and whispered, “Power Loader is purposefully not getting what she’s saying,” to Yaomomo, who giggled and blushed. She set the scissors down and held up a mirror for Yaomomo. “What do you think?”

Yaomomo examined her haircut. “It’s perfect, Ochaco. Thank you.”

“Finished!” Mei Hatsume called, walking back into the room followed by Toru Hagakure wearing an interesting design. The costume featured a violet color, with several diamond shaped sections on the upper arms and legs that were completely transparent, connected by lines of transparent Scandinavian runes linking them as if part of some magical incantation. ᛉ, the rune for “algiz,” dominated her torso, starting at her neck and shoulders and reaching down to her belt. Deeper violet gloves covered her lower arms with matching boots protecting her lower legs, complete with sound absorbing material on the soles of her feet. A cowl attached to an easily removable cloak completed the outfit, the inside of the material the darkest shade. Wispy cloudlike patterns of darker and lighter violet moved over the suit in a slow but steady motion, giving her a ghostly appearance. Hatsume shrugged. “The helmet designs all looked silly, so I had to improvise. While working with her hair, I noticed anything wrapped in it became invisible too! So, when she turns off the polarization field, excuse me,” and Hatsume moved behind Toru, visible through the “cut out” sections, “the cloak becomes a portable invisibility field. Show them!” Toru raised her hands and flexed both twice quickly, her fingers touching the insides of her gloves. The suit shimmered and faded from sight, and when Toru pulled the cloak closed, only Hatsume’s lower legs remained visible. “Of course, the cape isn’t too long per regulations, so she’ll have to duck down to make sure anyone with her is covered. It’s not super useful, but it’s nice in an emergency!”

“And I’ve decided on a hero name! The Spirit Hero: Yokai!”

“Toru, it’s perfect,” Ochaco said as Yaomomo clapped.

“Okay, I’m already bored,” Hatsume said. “So, who’s next?”

Chapter Text

Hatsume dragged Yaoyorozu away, leaving Ochaco and Toru behind. “Wow, Toru. Your new costume is awesome,” Ochaco said. “I mean, it kind of looks a bit scary.”

The cowl moved up and down quickly, and Ochaco realized Toru nodded. “I know, but I’ve been thinking about it while Hatsume worked on my costume. I’ll probably have to go underground with my quirk, so I need to start leaning into that to be effective. I’m not a heavy hitter, so I’m going to play to my strengths! They can make me some knife sheathes once my hair’s grown out a bit, and I have pockets now! I want to learn lockpicking and hacking and nerve strikes. I’m perfect for infiltration and spying, and now I don’t have to be naked to do it.”

“Um, if you really want to learn nerve strikes,” Ojiro said, “I’ve got my black belt in Kyusho Jitsu, so I am qualified to teach it.” He shuffled his feet uncomfortably, tail twitching in nervousness, the tail standing straight up like an exclamation point when Toru launched herself at him and gave him a hug.

“Really, Ojiro? You mean it?” Toru said excitedly. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh, um, yeah,” Ojiro replied with a blush, but his tail swished back and forth happily. “No problem.”

Kirishima leaned over to Ochaco and whispered, “I think Hagakure’s girl-fu is already stronger than Ojiro’s kung-fu.”

Ochaco giggled and whispered back, “Hush. I think it’s sweet. Besides,” and she tilted her head toward Mina who renewed her attempt to explain her costume concerns to Power Loader, “you’re lucky you don’t have a tail to give you away. You really are a Red Riot when you look at her.”

Kirishima blushed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. “Yeah… you got me. Not very manly of me, I guess.”

Ochaco lightly punched his shoulder. “Only if you let her get away.”

After several minutes of measurements, studying of her file, and grinding all her cut hair into a fine powder, Hatsume started typing furiously on a keyboard. “Hmm, okay, so you want the base costume to stay red, right?”

“With white and yellow highlights, please.”

“How do you feel about black? Would go well with your hair. Says here you’re going by the hero name Alchemist and that your quirk is Creation,” Hatsume said with a grin. “Red suit with white and yellow accents, but we can add an eight-pointed star, or octagram, in a circle as an emblem on your chest and your back. It’s the alchemical symbol for Creation. I’d add a Flamel Cross too, but that’s been done, and you don’t want to get sued.”

She turned around the screen to show Yaoyorozu. While the suit’s skintight nature didn’t leave much to the imagination, it also included a long sleeveless robe with a large hood designed for easy removal if caught on something. Black boots and white gloves completed the outfit, with a yellow belt having a variety of pockets. “This looks wonderful, Hatsume!”

“Well, the gloves will be integrated into the suit, but the boots, cloak, and belt will be separate, so your quirk won’t work through those. Please keep that in mind. And I got rid of the high heels. You good with this?” At Yaoyorozu’s nod, Hatsume pressed a few more buttons, dumping the genetic material into the mutable polymer, mixing it thoroughly, and manufacturing a complete outfit. While the process occurred, she used a second machine to fabricate the parts of the costume made from regular materials. After a few minutes, the hero costume waited, ready for Momo Yaoyorozu to wear it for the first time. “You can just put your clothes in this box while you try it on. You’re going to need to go commando, like I said. I don’t care if you don’t, but if you’re shy, you can use that screen over there.”

Yaoyorozu blushed and took the box and her new costume behind the screen, removing all her clothes and slipping on the costume. The huge costume. She looked like a little girl trying to dress in her mother’s clothing. “Um, it’s a bit big.”

“Oh, right,” Hatsume said. “Are you decent?”

“Yes.”

“Coming over then.” Hatsume stepped behind the screen. She bunched up the fabric and found a small button near the waist. “Okay, so, I already programmed in your biometrics, so you tap this button three times quickly. It will be hidden behind your belt.” Yaoyorozu tapped, and the suit instantly contracted, tightly molding itself to her figure. She looked at herself in the mirror and blushed. Even though her old costume showed a lot of skin, and this one covered her from head to toe, it seemed a lot more revealing. Hatsume whistled. “If I didn’t sit at the same section of the cafeteria, I’d be wondering what they’re feeding you ladies in the hero course. Not that ‘Boom’ and ‘Lift’ here are anything to sneeze at!” Hatsume stuck her chest out proudly.

“Boom and Lift?” Yaoyorozu said. “You named…?”

Hatsume blinked. “Doesn’t everyone?”

With a blush, Yaomomo realized what Mina meant by “license” and “registration.”

While several of the students got costume work done, the rest of the class enjoyed a free period. This early in the school year, the teachers hadn’t assigned homework yet, so most of the class spent the period reading ahead or quietly chatting among themselves under the watchful eye of Shota Aizawa.

The students didn’t realize it, but times like this could prove vital to their future careers, the opportunity to network. Out of a global population of ten billion, roughly one million people went into a career in heroics, and possibly as much as twenty times that became villains. Naturally, most villains never rose to a level of infamy, and amounted to little threat, but the same applied to heroes. For every Present Mic, over a hundred heroes labored in obscurity, most just small-time local heroes, rarely doing more than getting a cat out of a tree. Nearly every small town had a hero of their own, and most of them would end their quiet careers without ever seeing a villain, much less fighting one.

No one attended UA to become one of those heroes, however, even though simply getting a hero license made a person one of the elites. Of the ten thousand heroes of Japan, those who operated in or near the largest population centers tended to be the strongest and most famous. They numbered at approximately five hundred, and together those five hundred handled nearly ninety-five percent of all villain captures. The top ten alone handled nearly twenty-five percent, and six of them graduated from UA. The upper tier of heroes regularly faced battle and knowing those who might fight at your side could mean the difference between life and death.

And so, Shota Aizawa pretended to doze, letting them talk. He noted the cliques forming as they always did, with a bit of a difference this year. He noted with pride the efforts of Problem Child and his unofficial nephew, as well as their new housemates, to do away with the established division between class A and class B, as well as the quirk stratification that always occurred. Interclass competition made a helpful tool for inspiring the students that Vlad King and Eraserhead exploited to inspire their students, but their toolbox carried more than a hammer. They usually squashed the rivalry in the second year anyway.

He’d made mental notes of potential problems. Bakugo certainly. While Aizawa couldn’t deny the blonde boy’s power and skill in combat, his ego far outweighed his results. Izuku and Tenya could certainly defeat Bakugo, as could Todoroki. Kirishima, he considered a toss-up, in close quarters and not holding back, Kirishima could disable Bakugo before his endurance ran down. Uraraka, if Midnight and Izuku weren’t exaggerating, could possibly manage a win too. Far more troubling, the boy seemed to bear a one-sided grudge against Izuku, although Problem Child didn’t seem particularly worried. These things tended to sort themselves out, but Bakugo isolated himself from his peers, and that did concern the teacher.

Yuga Aoyama also isolated himself, at least during lunch, although he appeared to hold better standing with his peers than Bakugo. Something to keep an eye on, although currently the French boy seemed to be in a spirited conversation with Denki Kaminari, one of the more outgoing students. Hopefully Kaminari would help bring him out of his shell.

His other concern sat behind Bakugo, furiously scribbling with a pencil, not even pausing to join in conversation. Mineta did surprisingly well in both the entrance exam and the battle trial, although he would have done even better if he had not paused at times to inappropriately stare at his female peers. He hadn’t caught the boy doing anything worse than looking, however.

Years as a pro hero taught a variety of skills. His hair shielded his almost closed eyes from the students, but little in the class escaped his attention. He breathed slowly and deeply, purposefully making a noise that sounded like a light snore. Mineta handed Izuku four pieces of paper, that Izuku quickly read. Problem Child nodded, placing his hand on the purple haired boy’s shoulder with a smile. Mineta stood up, placing a sheet of paper on Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, and Ashido’s desks. He then walked over to each of the remaining girls in class, bowing at the waist and handing each girl a piece of paper. What was going on?

It seemed he would find out soon, as Mineta walked to the front of the class. Propped up in his sleeping bag against the front wall, Aizawa sat almost eye level with the short boy. Mineta stood a respectful distance away and bowed at the waist. “Um, Mr. Aizawa, sir? I figure you’re too good a hero to really be asleep. If you were and I woke you, I apologize. I’d like to talk to you, sir.”

“Privately or here in front of the class?” Aizawa said without moving.

“Preferably in private, but whatever you decide is fine,” Mineta said with another bow.

Aizawa’s eyebrow shot up at that. “Okay, kid.” He stood, shrugging off the sleeping bag. “Ida, you’re in charge. You’ve all kept a good level of quiet conversation. I expect that to continue even if I’m not in the room. You’re with me, Mineta.”

He kept an easy gait in deference to the kid’s shorter legs, leading the boy to one of the private lounges on each floor. He motioned for Mineta to take a seat on the couch and sat on one of the armchairs across from a coffee table. “It’s your ten-yen coin, kid. What did you need to talk about?”

“Well, sir… um. I need to, well, report inappropriate behavior.”

“Hold on, would you like another teacher here? I think Hound Dog and Midnight both have this period free. I can get one or both.”

The boy fidgeted in his seat. “Um, maybe Midnight please. I kind of need to talk to her, too, and, well, Hound Dog is a bit scary.”

Although not quite the answer he expected, Aizawa nodded, pulled out his phone, and texted Nemuri. They waited in awkward silence for a few minutes, before the door opened and Midnight walked confidently into the room, slipping into the other armchair. Mineta keep his head bowed and wouldn’t look up. “So,” Midnight said, “what’s this all about?”

“Well, like I started to tell Mr. Aizawa, I need to report inappropriate behavior,” Mineta said. He took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. “Um, I’ve said… well, some, um, offensive things. During class. About the girls in class, and about you, Ms. Kayama.” He dropped to the floor, assuming the dogeza position. “I don’t… well, I could make excuses, but nothing that makes it right. I apologize and beg forgiveness. I’ve written personal apologies to all the girls,” he reached into his pocket and, without taking his forehead off the floor, held out a folded sheet of paper toward Kayama, “and one to you, Ma’am.”

Kayama took it with wide eyes, opening it and reading. “You do know I didn’t hear you say any of this.”

“My dad used to tell me that ethics were what you did when nobody was watching,” Mineta said. “I’ve ignored what he tried to teach me for a long time, but… I want to be a hero. I want to be better. The way I’ve been acting… even if I become a hero, it won’t mean anything if I don’t make this right. That’s why… well, I also touched one of the girls inappropriately at lunch. I’d prefer not to say who to avoid embarrassing her, but they all know about it, and in my letters, I told them I planned to confess. You can ask them, but I don’t want to mention her name without her permission. I’ll accept any punishment you decide; detention, public apologies, suspension, even expulsion.”

“Can I let Mr. Aizawa read this letter, Mineta?” Kayama asked.

Forehead still against the floor, Mineta said, “If you want. I don’t have the right to decide that.”

She handed Aizawa the letter, and he read it, face growing angry before handing it back. “Mineta, I hope you understand how reprehensible the things you have said about your teacher and your fellow students are, and that’s not even taking into account what happened at lunch,” he said coldly.

“Yes, sir, I do.”

Aizawa sighed. “Then I hope you understand that I have no choice but to expel you. Do you have anything you wish to say to Ms. Kayama or me before I have you escorted off campus? Considering the contents of this, I’m not going to allow you to speak to any of your former classmates as an expelled student.”

Mineta shook, and after a few moments, said with a shaky voice, “That’s… fair, sir. Honestly, it’s probably better than I deserve. I do want to thank you both, and All Might, and all the other teachers for all the time you wasted on my account. I may not become a hero, but I will become a better person, and that’s more important. Please, if you can grant one selfish request, let the girls know that I’m solely to blame for all of this. I don’t want any of them feeling guilty that I got expelled.” He stood; eyes still low to hide his tears as best he could. “Um, I’ve never been expelled before. Will someone meet us at the front gate with my things?”

“They would if I weren’t re-enrolling you, effective immediately,” Aizawa said. “If you’d begged or tried to weasel out of accepting responsibility, you’d be gone. The fact that you recognize the wrongness of your actions and are trying to make up for them tells me that your potential isn’t zero. Now, go to the restroom, wash your face, and return to class.”

Mineta bowed. “Thank you, sir! You won’t regret this, I promise.” He bowed even lower to Kayama and moved toward the door. Aizawa’s voice made him pause.

“If you were a cat, you’d have just burned through eight lives all at once, Mineta,” Aizawa said. “You’re on notice from this point forward. I will not tolerate this behavior. Another infraction and it would take God Himself to keep you here. Your life may depend on your classmates someday, and their lives may depend on your actions. You might not see it, but beyond the inherent disrespect your actions have shown, this sort of thing could endanger them and you. Be better.”

“I will, sir. One last thing, please. I’d like to change my hero name. Grape Juice… I think that’s who I was. I stomped all over that chance, but you’ve given me a new chance to mature and become something better. The Earthy Hero: Vintage.”

“I’ll allow it. See Power Loader if you want to update your costume,” Aizawa said.

“Not a big fan of the epithet, but Vintage is fine,” Kayama said. “I prefer full-bodied wines.”

Mineta smiled for the first time since lunch and flexed, laughing at himself. “Well, maybe in a few years, I won’t be quite so low to the ground and can change that part of it.” He bowed again and left the room.

“Damn it!” Nem said after Mineta closed the door.

“What? You think I should have made the expulsion permanent? I mean, yeah, he said some crude things, but you’ve said worse about yourself.”

“No, no… this is practically a love letter compared to some of my fan mail,” she waved the letter. “I’m going to frame it and give it back to him as a graduation present in three years.”

“Then what’s your problem?”

“Zashi won the pool!”

He narrowed his eyes. “There’s a pool about which student I’ll expel first?”

Nemuri started sweating, “You, um, may not have been supposed to find out about that.”

After a quick stop in the restroom to wash his face, Mineta headed to the support department. He would knock, but the door seemed to be imbedded in the opposite wall, with a couple of students using tools to pry it loose. He cautiously peaked into the support lab, finding his classmates standing around talking with each other and Ashido arguing with Power Loader.

“Oh, another guest,” Power Loader said, “I promise, we’ll talk a lot more about Licenses and Registrations when you’re a third year, Ashido.” He turned to Mineta. “How can I help you?”

Mineta bowed. “I’m Minoru Mineta, sir. Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama just approved my name change from Grape Juice to Vintage. I know it’s a lot of trouble, but I was hoping to get a costume redesign.” He noticed the new costumes Kirishima, Ojiro, and… Hagakure wore. “Wow, these are amazing! You look like pros!”

“Yeah?” Kirishima asked. “Check this out!” he declared, activating hardening, red light pulsing through his logo and the simulated cracks in the armor.

“Holy crap! That’s awesome, Kirishima!” Someone tapped Mineta’s shoulder, but when he turned around, no one stood behind him. “What was that?”

“Me,” Hagakure said, her suit slowly turning visible from the center of her torso, like dark clouds forming into a human shape. “And I’ve got a new name to go with the costume. The Spirit Hero: Yokai!”

“That effect is so cool. It would scare the crap out of me in a haunted house.” Mineta laughed. “Or scare the crap out of a villain.”

“Mine’s better, but still plain,” Ojiro said, “but I guess that’s just me, a plain old monkey.”

“No way, man!” Mineta said. “You’re smart and awesome at martial arts. With those arm and leg guards, and the tail band, you should change your hero name to Son Goku!”

“There’s already a hero by that name,” Power Loader said. “He’s not even in the top five hundred, sorry, but it’s still his name. Would be a good name for you if it wasn’t taken. Hatsume actually has an extendable staff she invented her first day here that would fit the theme.”

“Then why not the original Chinese name, Sun Wukong?” Yaoyorozu asked, stepping into the room, wearing her new costume, complete with a cloak. The outside of the cloak featured a large black octagram set on a red field that extended to the very edges of the cloak where they merged with gold trim in a pattern of flames. Inside the cloak, black dominated, but various alchemical symbols seemed to shimmer with gold thread defining them.

Power Loader typed something in his phone and said, “Surprisingly enough, Sun Wukong isn’t taken right now. A local hero in the Toyama Prefecture used it, based near Mount Tateyama and the Buddhist monastery near there, but he passed away fifty years ago. We can even do some gold highlights on the armored portions depicting scenes from Journey to the West and give you a gold headband.”

“That sounds great! The Great Sage Hero: Sun Wukong,” Ojiro said.

“As for you kid,” Power Loader said turning to Mineta, “I’ll let her help you.”

“Ooh, a challenge!” Hatsume yelled. “Finally!”

Mineta gulped.

Hatsume dragged Mineta into the next room, and Power Loader turned to Ochaco. “Uraraka, yours is probably the easiest. You’ve been sponsored into the test program for one of the new Shield Armor prototypes because of your placement on the entrance exam.” He handed her a case with her student number on it. “The costume will recharge in the case, but it can convert sunlight to recharge, and you can also charge it with a phone cable in an emergency. Just place your right hand on it and say your name and it will register you. I’ll give you an extra instruction manual to take home with you.”

She opened the case to find a dark blue, almost black oval like Izuku’s diamond and Tenya’s circle-shaped devices. Resting her hand on it, she said “Ochaco Uraraka, Uravity.”

A soft woman’s voice said, “Uravity recognized.”

“There’s a set of under-armor in your size in the case” Power Loader pointed out. “All the testers so far have preferred that, although you can wear whatever you want underneath it. You can use the screen to try it on. Just hold it to your chest and say, 'Shield Armor: Configuration Alpha.' Try not to freak out or move too much. Some people get startled the first time.”

She stepped behind the screen and changed into the under-armor. Taking a deep breath, Ochaco placed the oval on her chest with her hand covering it, took a deep and repeated the words Power Loader told her. Bands shot out from the device, and she nearly jumped but managed to stay calm as they wrapped around her, turning into some strange half-solid, half-liquid metal, and covering every square millimeter of her body below her face before hardening into a series of interlocking hexagonal plates that did feel like silk. From the central oval, a field of black material covered her entire body, broken only by a device on her neck, a few strips of pink material just below her shoulders and matched by a single stripe at the forearms. A white and pink belt with contact hard points for attaching gear formed at her waist. She had thick boots similar to her original costume with pink knee protection forming the letter “U” on the front of each one, with inverted U’s at her feet. Black dominated the rest of the suit, although it featured a starfield pattern that moved as she did. The device at her neck replaced her original helmet, with an integrated communication system that responded to voice controls. Hesitantly, she stepped out from behind the screen.

“Damn, Ochaco!” Mina exclaimed. “That looks great on you.”

“The starfield is based off the old Sky Maps project,” Power Loader clarified. “The black areas display the real stars directly in front or behind them.”

Another voice said, “Wow, makes mine look boring… if Hatsume hadn’t done such an amazing job!” Mineta stood in the doorway wearing black leather boots and leather pants with a half waist cape covering his left side. He wore a dark purple striped shirt with suspenders connected to black leather shoulder guards with long leather sleeves of the same material, linked by a belt across his chest. Black leather gloves and a matching headband over his eyes.

“No kidding, dude,” Kirishima said. “That looks cool.”

“It would be cooler if I was taller, but it runs in the family. Dad was around one hundred centimeters too until he hit his seventeenth birthday,” Mineta sighed. “At least I have something to look forward to.”

Mina blinked. “How tall is your dad?”

“Almost two meters. Taller than Shoji but shorter than All Might.”

“You’re kidding,” Toru said. Mineta pull out his phone and silently handed it to her. The screen showed a picture of a muscular man holding a smiling woman with one arm, flexing his other arm with Mineta hanging nearly a meter off the ground.

“That’s me with mom and dad,” Mineta said.

Everyone gathered around to look at the photo, thinking but they look so normal!

“Anyway, check out what Hatsume did with this costume! Just like my skin, it can repel my sticky… quirk… um… sorry, I need to come up with a polite term for them.”

“Adhesive orbs?” Yaoyorozu offered.

“That’s great! Adhesive orbs! Anyway, with the simple command ‘Vintage Viscosity,’ the entire suit becomes sticky. Then when I say, ‘Vintage Aversion,’ they bounce off again.”

Hatsume smiled. “We cracked how his quirk works. His adhesive orbs have chemical, mechanical, dispersive, and electrostatic forces that cause them to stick. It’s a surprisingly simple formula to reproduce too, but the compound is unstable and breaks down after twenty-four hours when removed from Mineta and exposed to air, but it could revolutionize construction! Vintage here has already agreed to let me produce and market it, but we’re willing to cut you in, teach,” she said to Power Loader.

“You both will need permission from your guardians for this, but if they all agree, I’m in.”

“Hear that, buddy?” Hatsume said. “We’re going to be rich!”

Chapter Text

With their free period rapidly ending, the students each hurried to change, returning their costumes to Power Loader who promised to have them available and in their cases in time for Saturday training. Such drastic changes required approval from the HPSC, but Power Loader’s connections could push it through, especially since the earlier designs for these students barely met regulations, and in some cases didn’t. The designer for Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Asui, and Mineta’s costumes did a disservice to three of the four students, and would likely lose their contract with UA. Hagakure’s costume designer might even face charges for fraud.

With a bow and thanks to Power Loader and his students, the six students made it back to class just before the bell rang.

After a few more general education classes, the time for heroics class finally arrived. All Might entered the room with a loud, “I am here! Dressed in the UA gym uniform as a special treat! And as special guests, Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama will be joining us.” The two teachers walked into the room, also dressed in standard UA gym uniforms, although Mr. Aizawa still wore his capture weapon. “Today you won’t be allowed to wear your costumes, for reasons that will become clear soon. For now, get dressed in your gym uniforms and meet us at Gym Beta. Get hopping, newbies!”

Mina frowned in disappointment. “Don’t tell me you’ve given up already, Ochaco!”

Ochaco turned her head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

“Your underwear yesterday was so hot,” Toru said. “Now you’re wearing that boring under-armor you got from Power Loader. You can still get whichever boy you’re after!” Ochaco rolled her eyes.

Tsuyu put a finger to her chin. “I think it’s much more Uraraka though, ribbit.”

“Thanks, Tsuyu,” Ochaco said. “Like I told you two, I didn’t have much choice yesterday. If anything, it was the tamest set N… Ms. Kayama let me buy!”

“Yeah, but it did look really good,” Jiro said quietly, wishing she had a figure that could pull off something like that.

Ochaco blushed. “Thanks, Jiro.” She turned to Mina and Toru. “Besides, I need to get used to the under-armor. It’s designed to work with my new costume. Izuku wears something similar.”

Mina’s eyes narrowed. “Oh? So, you know what underwear Izuku wears? Is all that gravity manipulation causing some heavenly bodies to collide?”

Ochaco rolled her eyes. She just couldn’t win.

The boys also rushed to the locker rooms, shedding their school uniforms, and changing into their gym outfits. Kaminari noticed something and as sometimes happened, spoke before he completely thought about it. “Hey, Midoriya? How come you always wear that under-armor under your uniform and don’t shower here?”

Sero lightly tapped him on the head. “Jeez, man, rude much?”

Izuku waved his hand. “Oh, no big deal really, Sero. This under-armor is designed to work with my costume. It uses the same technology, but it’s civilian legal and self-cleaning, so it doesn’t get dirty or start to smell. I also practice for a few hours when I get home, so I just get a shower after that.”

“Yes,” Tenya exclaimed, chopping his arm. “I wear one as well. They always keep room temperature, so they are both cooling in the summer and keep one warm in the winter. The length of the sleeves and legs are adjustable. I believe negotiations are underway to market them here in Japan.”

“That’s cool,” Kaminari said. “And sorry for sticking my nose in, I was just curious.”

“It’s no problem,” Izuku said, with a bit of relief. While the under-armor did everything he described, his body also held a multitude of scars. Other than Tenya, only a few of his classmates at Soumei saw any of them, so he told them the scars came from the villain attack he survived at the age of three. He lied to them, of course. Although a few of the fainter scars did come from All For One, he owed his classmates at Aldera for the vast majority, none more than the blonde boy currently looking at him with narrowed eyes and his mouth drawn into a thin frown.

Bakugo slammed his locker closed and stomped past Izuku to the door, trying to shoulder check the green-haired boy, but finding his body as solid and unmoving as a wall. Bakugo recovered well, kept walking, and slammed the locker room door behind him.

Kirishima rolled his eyes and turned to Izuku. “Dude, I’m sorry about that. I don’t know who pissed in his miso this morning.”

The other boys laughed, but Izuku shrugged with a sad smile. “Actually, this one is my fault. Mr. Aizawa was right, I pretty much cheated on the battle trial. I don’t like to lose, and I’d probably feel like Bakugo if our roles were reversed. I deserve his anger this time. Hell, I deserve the same from all of you.”

Sato shook his head. “My team lost fair and square. It really wasn’t a factor in any of the trials except yours and the last one.”

“It wouldn’t even have factored into the matter in our trial if Dark Shadow hadn’t gotten overly excited,” Tokoyami said in his deep baritone. “Even without your suggestion, the weapon could have been biological or a nerve agent, so such rough handling should have been unacceptable regardless.”

“I still apologize,” Izuku said with a bow.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Ojiro said with a laugh. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll get a chance to do that for you in class.”

Once the class assembled in Gym Beta, All Might spoke up. “For the rest of the week, we’ll be splitting the class into two segments. For the first hour, we’ll be working on mobility training.” He waved toward the outer part of the huge gym, with hoops, pipes, rock climbing walls, water hazards, and tightropes. “As you newbies can see, we’ve set up a bit of an obstacle course for you. The course will automatically reconfigure itself after all the groups have had a run to keep you from developing a set pattern. In your time as heroes, high maneuverability will be an asset since you’ll encounter natural and manufactured barriers to capturing the villains or rescuing civilians. Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama have graciously agreed to join us, since their skill at working around obstacles such as these is nearly unrivaled in all of Japan!”

Aoyama raised his hand. “Even more than you, All Might? Incroyable!”

All Might rubbed the back of his head. “That isn’t to say I’m completely unskilled, but even I recognize their superiority in this area. I tend to cause too much property damage!” He got a few chuckles for this. “While that is preferable to the loss of life, their help will hopefully teach you how to be faster and cause less damage than I do.”

“Why don’t we teachers do a quick run through the course to show you kids how it is done?” Ms. Kayama said, stretching like a cat.

“Heck yeah!” Kaminari called out. “I’ve seen Mr. Aizawa do free running before. He’s amazing, guys!”

Aizawa blushed a bit behind his capture weapon, but nodded, looking around the course and the gym, spotting what he wanted by the door. He waved his hand and called a tall purple haired boy over. “I’ve invited one of the general education students to participate until Friday since the rest of this week will not involve quirk training. Come over.”

“Shinso!” Izuku said with surprise. “Hey everyone, this is Hitoshi Shinso. He almost made the cutoff for the hero course.”

Shinso grinned. “I haven’t given up yet either, so don’t get too comfortable.”

Bakugo scoffed. “Why do we have to waste time on some extra?”

“Dude, not cool,” Kirishima said. “Shinso’s here trying to be better, just like the rest of us. No waste of time in that.” He gave a thumbs up to the general education student. “Do your best, dude!”

“Thanks, I intend to,” Shinso said with a bit of warmth and warning mixed.

Aizawa walked over and dumped his capture weapon around Shinso’s neck. “Watch this for me, kid.” He took his place beside Ms. Kayama and All Might at the starting line. “All of you keep in mind that Ms. Kayama and I don’t have any physical enhancements from our quirks and neither of us have any support gear, so everything you’re about to see us do is entirely possible for any of you to do with training. Kaminari, count us down from three.”

“Oh man, I’ve been waiting for this,” Kaminari exclaimed. “Three… two… one… go!”

The three teachers took off like a shot, moving quickly through the obstacle course. While All Might’s innate enhanced strength and stamina from decades of wielding One For All helped him move through the obstacles with ease, he quickly fell behind Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama. Midnight moved with the grace of a professional dancer, her every movement a ballet that displayed absolute confidence and skill. Even she fell behind Aizawa as the course continued. He moved like a feral cat, insane bursts of speed followed be split seconds of stillness where he mapped out his path in advance, twisting through gaps in the course that his body should not fit through and landing on tiny spots with the balance of a sophisticated gyroscope. In less than three minutes, Aizawa completed the course, followed closely by Kayama. All Might, for all his power, took almost an entire minute more to complete the course. None of the teachers showed any signs of exertion, although Ms. Kayama stretched her back with her arms above her head and sent a wink to Mineta, who blushed and looked away quickly, much to her amusement.

“As you can see, even without powerful physical quirks, young… er, I mean, Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama outperformed the number one hero in this task,” All Might declared. “With my strength, I could have demolished the course like a bull in a China shop, but such wanton destruction should be avoidable whenever possible. For that reason, we’ll be spending an hour each day for the rest of the week moving through this obstacle course.” Aizawa leaned over and whispered something to him. “Oh, yes, except for Saturday, of course. We have a special class that day. Now, who among you has free running or parkour experience?”

Izuku and Tenya raised their hands, as did Denki Kaminari. Tsuyu raised her hand as well, along with Shinso and Sero. “Good,” Ms. Kayama said. “Anyone with formal dance or martial arts training?” Mina, Momo, and Ojiro raised their hands. At a light nudge from Izuku, Ochaco raised her hand as well. The teachers held a quick side discussion and then she continued. “Okay, group A will be Midoriya, Uraraka, Kirishima, Aoyama, Tokoyami, Hagakure, and Ojiro. You’ll be first up and then we’ll evaluate your performance. Next up will be group B with Ida, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, Sato, Koda, Todoroki, and Asui. Finally, group C has Kaminari, Sero, Jiro, Mineta, Shoji, Bakugo, and Shinso. We’ve paired you up so that each group has three or four people with relevant experience. Don’t worry about your time overly much since our main goal for today is to lay a foundation to build on. Another note, for the purposes of this training, using your quirks is forbidden.”

“What?” Bakugo said. “What’s the point in that?”

Mr. Aizawa leveled his gaze at the boy. “Let’s say you’re tracking a villain who runs into an oil refinery, power plant, or hospital. Using your quirk in that situation could cause massive damage or cost lives. Not every job needs a hammer, so the wise carpenter owns many tools. Alright, team A. You’re up. Two minutes to discuss and then we’ll begin.”

Everyone clustered around Izuku, who blushed slightly. “Um, okay. So, why don’t we pair up? We’ve got four ‘newbies’ as All Might would say, and three people with some experience. Ochaco and Ojiro, your experience is mostly martial arts, right?” They both nodded. “The balance that comes from that will really help. Ojiro, you keep an eye on Hagakure and Ochaco with Tokoyami. I’ll help Aoyama and Kirishima, since I’ve got three years of parkour and free running, but we should all stick close together and help each other where we can. Also, we’re not supposed to use our quirks, but if it’s a choice between that and injuring yourself, use your quirk. Ochaco, touch everyone beforehand, just in case, please.”

“Got it,” she said with a smile. “High fives all around.”

“I know we’ll be high up at times, but don’t worry too much about it with All Might and Aizawa here. Just try and stick to moves you wouldn’t even worry about less than half a meter off the ground and you should be fine.”

“Thanks, dude,” Kirishima said. “I’m a complete klutz at this stuff, so sorry if I hold you back.”

“You’ll be fine,” Izuku replied. “I can’t count the number of times I faceplanted when I was learning. Safety is far more important than speed, and I know Mr. Aizawa agrees because he drilled it into my thick skull.”

“Okay, group A. Get into ready positions,” Aizawa called. “Three… two… one… go!”

They made their way through the course together, the more experienced students helping the rest by pointing out handholds and landing spots to their classmates. Ojiro helped Hagakure in several spots, since her balance wasn’t the greatest, but everyone else did well. Toward the end of the course, Aoyama missed his landing and started to fall, but Izuku leaped forward with a yell of “Don’t tense up!” He grabbed Aoyama by the arm and swung the two of them around a pipe, building enough momentum to toss Aoyama up toward the ledge where Kirishima and Ojiro both grabbed his arms to pull him up. Izuku did a few more swings around the pipe to build up speed, then did a somersault to propel himself up and land gracefully on the pipe. He quickly made his way up the wall, where the team finished the course by shimmying down the ropes in a rappel, after a quick how-to from Izuku and Ojiro.

Once the last of group A stepped foot on the ground, All Might clicked the button on his stopwatch. “Eight minutes, forty-seven seconds for the entire team. Well done for a first attempt, group A.”

Izuku checked on Aoyama. “Are you okay, Aoyama? Sorry about that.”

“Oui! Merci beaucoup pour votre aide!” Aoyama said. “I fear that drop would have hurt if you had not rescued me.

“Oh, I’m sure Mr. Aizawa would have caught you,” Izuku said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. The entire class sits together at lunch, well, most of us anyway. I haven’t seen you in the cafeteria, though. You’d be welcome to join us.”

“Non. I do not eat in the cafeteria,” Aoyama said. “My stomach is quite sensitive, so I bring specially prepared meals and eat in the classroom. It gives me time to read a bit as well.”

Izuku nodded. “You still don’t have to eat alone. Several people bring their own lunches and still come just to socialize. I promise no one will tease you. One student from the general education department can only eat rocks!”

Aoyama put his hand over his heart. “I am… touched, my friend. I have always been un étranger, and yet you have gone out of your way to make me feel welcome.”

“Well, we’re friends, right?” Izuku said. “We’d love for you to join us.”

“Okay,” All Might said, “let’s go over group A’s performance and then we’ll have group B do their run.”

As group B prepared for their run, Bakugo rolled his eyes. “Almost six minutes slower than Aizawa.”

“All safe and sound, though, ribbit,” Asui said. “That’s really good for the ones who are new to this.”

Bakugo clicked his teeth. “Taking more than six minutes is pathetic. It’s going to suck being slowed down by incompetent extras.”

Shinso sighed. “Only one, but I’ll try not to hold it against you.”

“What the Hell did you say to me?” Bakugo asked, getting into Shinso’s personal space.

“You should really get your hearing checked. I said it will suck being slowed down by you, but I won’t hold it against you.”

“I should kill you right now,” Bakugo hissed.

“You’re welcome to try. Maybe I can make up the two points I needed for the thirty-sixth spot today,” Shinso said calmly.

“You’re going to get yours in the sports festival, bastard.”

Shinso leaned forward, his forehead less than a centimeter from Bakugo’s. “I’ll make sure of it. Both points and then some.”

“Calm down and shut up,” Jiro said. “Group B is about to do their run.”

Bakugo opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Mr. Aizawa said, “Settle down and pay attention. Group B! Three… two… one… go!”

Unlike the other groups, the majority of group B held applicable experience. Yaoyorozu paired with Sato, using her extensive martial arts and dance training to good use. Asui aided Todoroki, and their only difficulty came from her attempts to get the socially awkward boy to call her “Tsuyu.” Ashido’s extensive dance experience and a bit of gymnastics training from her childhood helped her perform far better than she imagined she would guiding the shy and silent Koda through the obstacles. This allowed Ida, the one with the most extensive parkour experience, to play the role of a floater, helping where needed and keeping a close eye on all his teammates. In the end, they shaved several seconds off group A’s time, finishing the course in eight minutes and thirteen seconds.

After a quick critique of group B’s performance, group C’s turn arrived. “Two minutes to prepare, group C,” Aizawa called.

“Okay,” Kaminari said. “I’m good, but not Midoriya or Ida good.”

“That’s a mood,” Sero said. “I’m in the same boat.”

“I’d say I’m almost on Ida’s level, probably a bit better than Asui,” Shinso offered.

Kaminari nodded. “Then we’ll have you watch out for two people. I’ll take Jiro out… er, through the course,” he said with a blush. “Sero, you help Shoji, since you can use your tape in an emergency.”

“K-Mart Spider-man for the win!”

“I would say Mineta could be the Yoda to my Luke Skywalker,” Shinso said, “but the whole point is to learn, so that’s out. I’ll keep an eye on Mineta and Bakugo.”

“Screw that and screw you. I don’t need any damn help.”

“Could you stop yelling?” Jiro said. “Look just put your ego aside and work with us here.”

“No!” he yelled. “You do what you want. I can handle this myself, and I’ll be done in less time than any of the teams.”

“This isn’t even a competition, man,” Sero said.

“Are you as stupid as you look, Soy Sauce Face?” Bakugo asked. “Every damn thing is a competition. I’m going to beat all of you and everyone from the other teams.”

Jiro started to open her mouth, but Shinso said, “You know what? Go right ahead. We’ll give you plenty of room, Rocket Man, so burn out your fuse up there alone.”

Group C moved to the start line, Bakugo taking up half the area with the other six students clustered together on the other half of the course. Mr. Aizawa raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Group C! Three… two… one… go!”

True to his word, Bakugo took off like a shot, racing through the course through sheer determination. Let the extras coddle each other, he thought, screw all of them! I’m going to win! Before long, he’d left the rest of them in the dust, not even bothering to pay attention to them anymore, confident that they were far behind him. The final area featured a large drop, but several pipes ran over it, wide enough that you wouldn’t think about walking on it if it were on the ground, so he moved quickly and confidently above the fall.

And then he slipped.

Damn it, he thought as he started to fall, I’m not losing this damn race. He could have angled for a lower pipe, but that would add an extra thirty seconds. With two explosive bursts from his hands, he propelled himself to the final wall, catching the ledge and pulling himself over. He crossed the finish line, but no one waited to greet him. The class gathered near a point three-fourths of the way through the course, where Soy Sauce face lowered the Octopus to the ground. Mr. Aizawa had Earlobes held in his capture weapon like an infant cradled in a blanket, a nasty bruise on her head and a dazed look on her face. Ms. Kayama caught her, gently setting the girl on the ground. All Might vanished somewhere during the run but returned moments later with some tiny old woman. The old lady checked over the two wounded students, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead and some candy.

Several people looked at Bakugo with anger, like he cared. Deku and W… Kirishima, however, looked at him with disappointment. “What?” he snapped at Kirishima. “I had the best damn time out of anyone!” Kirishima just shook his head sadly.

“Yes, you did, Bakugo,” Aizawa said with an expression not unlike Deku’s. “At the cost of injuring two of your classmates. And if this had been an oil refinery like in the scenario I described earlier, you just blew up a large portion of the city.”

Chapter Text

“How the Hell is this my fault? I wasn’t anywhere near them!” Bakugo protested.

“Keep your voice down or you’re going to take a nap in time out,” Kayama said. “Both Jiro and Shoji have enhanced hearing, and your unexpected explosions caused them both to slip. Bakugo, one of the points of this training exercise is to learn how to behave in the field. No matter what you might think, you’re not a hero yet. It was designed to teach you the skills you need to be effective without relying on your quirk. A couple of those skills are situational awareness and teamwork.”

“That’s crap. It was the best way to avoid the fall and preserve my time.”

“By breaking the scenario. Quirk use was forbidden,” All Might said.

“Not my fault they can’t keep up or handle things when it gets tough,” Bakugo said with a shrug.

Aizawa stood up. “Bakugo, there will come a time when you can’t use your quirk. That’s a plain, hard, cold fact. Granted, we didn’t give you a set scenario, but you were given plenty of examples. Here’s another one for you: a stealth operation with a child held hostage at gunpoint. We do not do these scenarios on a whim. You can’t keep acting like a bomb with a short fuse that’s going to explode any moment.”

“Look, fine! I’m get it, damn it. I was falling, and it was instinct. I just wanted to get the best time.”

Aizawa sighed. “Five minutes, twenty seconds. If you’d worked with your group, they could have helped you recover. Shinso!”

Shinso stood at attention. “Yes sir.”

“Without quirks, how good would you say you are at parkour compared to class 1-A?”

Shinso shrugged. “Probably third after Midoriya and Ida.”

“Run through the course. Replicate Bakugo’s slip at the end,” Aizawa said.

Shinso nodded, taking his place at the starting line. Without waiting for a countdown, he began the run. While not on Aizawa’s level, his moves showed an obvious influence from the teacher, using many of the same landings. When he got to the part where Bakugo tripped, he let out an exaggerated, “Oops,” and simulated the fall. With a lazy motion, he caught the pipe with his foot, angling himself so that his fall directed him to another pipe where he performed several complete circular swings before releasing himself toward the wall. He easily climbed the wall, jumping from handhold to handhold and repelling down in a lazy motion. He checked his watch, waited a second, and then slipped his foot across the line. “Four minutes, twenty seconds,” he declared.

“Nice,” Sero whispered, but Kaminari was too concerned over Jiro to join in the appreciation of the number.

All Might turned to Bakugo. “You see, young Bakugo, this wasn’t a race, it was a learning opportunity. Even as the number one hero, I have much to learn from Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Kayama in this area. Could I have destroyed the course for a quicker time? Absolutely, but only by missing the entire point of this training. Being better than others is a difficult goal but being better than yourself is harder still. That is the goal we set at UA. When we say, ‘Go beyond,’ we mean to go beyond your own limits.”

Once Jiro and Shoji both recovered, and with a bit of quick help from the maintenance robots to reshape half the gym, class 1-A and their guest spent the remaining part of their first hour learning various parkour moves at ground level. Although no one else said another word to him about the incident, Bakugo gritted his teeth and bit down on his frustration. He noticed Earlobes staying far away from him, and that suited him fine. He hung back and watched as the teachers showed each of the moves. Enjoying one benefit of having a higher seat number, he could watch most of the class practice the moves to see their mistakes. Getting help from one of the so-called advanced students at this would make his blood boil, considering Deku showed all signs of being the favorite.

By the time the first hour passed, All Might, the murder hobo, and Stripperzilla all praised the class for improvement, including him, and that only set him more on edge. Damn it, he knew he screwed up, he didn’t need to be praised for going potty like some damn toddler.

After a short break, All Might called the class back to order standing around a ring marked out on practice mats. “Well done, everyone! Now that we’re all loosened up, for the second half of heroics, we’ll be practicing another invaluable skill, hand-to-hand fighting.”

“Finally,” Bakugo murmured under his breath.

“As before, we’ll focus first on quirkless fighting to teach the fundamentals,” Mr. Aizawa said. “Each of you has a different quirk, so the way you use your quirk when in combat will all be different. Some of you don’t have quirks that will make much of a direct difference in a fight, but even those who do will learn a valuable skill.”

Bakugo bit his tongue, but for once, one of the extras said what he was thinking. “How’s that?” Pikachu asked. “I mean, I can always shock a bad guy.”

“Unless he’s robbing a gas station,” Earlobes said. “Might want to avoid any loose sparks.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kaminari said. “Guess that’s a good point.”

“Mr. Aizawa always fights essentially quirkless,” Izuku pointed out. “Someone who relies too much on their quirk tends to not be much use without it.”

“Oh, please,” Bakugo said, rolling his eyes. “Quirkless and useless mean the same thing.”

“Perhaps a demonstration, Mr. Aizawa,” All Might said with a bit of a grin.

Aizawa nodded. “Bakugo! Yourself and four other students, your choice. Both shoulders touch the ground and you’re out. Unable to move and you’re out. Out of the ring and, obviously, you’re out. Same rules apply to me. If one of you manages to take me out, everyone still in each get one hundred thousand yen from my own personal funds paid to you tomorrow. You’re welcome to use your quirks, but I won’t use mine.”

“Fine by me if you want to throw your money away. I’ll take Icy-hot, Racoon Eyes, Pikachu, and Ponytail,” Bakugo said confidently. “Not that I’ll need them.”

“Wait,” Yaoyorozu said, “I don’t want any part of this.” Izuku leaned over and whispered something to her. She nodded, and said, “I withdraw my objection.”

Aizawa moved to the center of the ring marked out on the floor with the five students circling him. He purposefully turned his back to Bakugo and stood facing Todoroki. “And begin,” he said, quickly ducking into a fighting stance below one of Bakugo’s explosions as the boy raced at him from behind. He swung his elbow back, catching Bakugo in the stomach and knocking the boy off balance. All this happened before Todoroki could even step forward with his right foot, sending a wave of ice bursting forward, capturing half of Bakugo’s body in it. As for Mr. Aizawa, he gracefully dodged to the right, catching Ashido’s arm as she skated toward him on a thin layer of acid. He spun her in a circle, sending her careening into a fully charged Kaminari. By the time she reacted to produce more acid, she’d already collided with Kaminari, splattering him with a mild acid and giving herself an electric shock that knocked her senseless. A few somersaults and he landed between the two, a gentle shove pushing Kaminari out of the ring and a nudge with his foot turning Ashido onto her back where she let out a sound a bit like a snore.

“Ashido and Kaminari both out,” Kayama announced. “Twelve seconds. Sero,” she said, and the boy used his tape to carefully pull Ashido out of the ring. By the time Sero managed it, Kirishima already arrived to check on her.

An explosion sent chunks of ice flying, but also released an angry Bakugo. “Wasn’t counting on those two idiots anyway.” The three remaining students surrounded Aizawa, spreading out to prevent an easy ring out and making sure that two of them could flank their teacher at any one time. Aizawa turned slightly toward the bluish-pink glow of Yaoyorozu’s quirk, and that’s when Todoroki made his move, bringing his right foot forward again for another try with an ice wave. Before his foot could contact the ground, Aizawa rolled forward and bodychecked his student. Aizawa’s weight advantage forced Todoroki onto his back, the boy’s power created a column of ice reaching toward the ceiling. Aizawa grabbed both of Todoroki’s shoulders and pushed them into the mat for emphasis.

“Todoroki out! Thirty-seven seconds.”

Aizawa spun back around, finding a small charred and smoking crater where he’d been before moving for Todoroki. Positioned where he now stood, the two remaining combatants couldn’t circle behind him. He noted with satisfaction that Yaoyorozu armed herself with a pair of tonfa. The fact that she included padding was a nice, but unnecessary, reminder they were only training. Bakugo rushed him again, directing an explosion into Todoroki’s ice column with his left hand as he did. As Midoriya pointed out yesterday during the battle trial, Bakugo lead with his right, allowing Aizawa to easily parry the attack, directing the explosion upward, and sweep Bakugo’s legs from underneath him. A quick double press against both shoulders removed Bakugo from the match. “Funny,” Aizawa noted with a wink to Bakugo, “I think I recently saw a nature documentary on this exact sort of situation.”

“Bakugo out,” Midnight called cheerfully. “Fifty-four seconds.”

“I know, I know!” Bakugo yelled, stomping out of the ring.

Aizawa turned just in time to dodge a strike from Yaoyorozu with her right tonfa, the left held in a defensive position. He grinned, letting her have the initiative, sidestepping her assault and dodging around the ring. All the while, his careful retreats led her to the perfect spot. “Good, Yaoyorozu,” he said, “but don’t forget situational awareness!” He sent his capture weapon toward her, but she moved quickly to the side. Instead, the cloth wrapped around the column of ice weakened by Bakugo’s earlier explosion. Her eyes widened as the unbalanced pillar groaned and cracked, beginning to tilt dangerously toward her. Before she could even react, Aizawa jumped, moving her out of the path of the falling ice and placing her gently outside the ring while keeping his own feet safely inside.

“Match over. Two minutes, forty-one seconds.”

Aizawa stepped back and bowed to Yaoyorozu, as the ice shattered harmlessly in the ring behind him.

Mina started to wake up groggily. “Meh… Kiri… you know… I love… the earmuffs on the kitten….” She opened her eyes to see a worried and blushing face looking down at her, realizing that Kirishima sat seiza and was letting her use his lap as a pillow. She shot up with a blush of her own, thankfully hidden by her natural pink color, but she saw Ochaco and Midnight whispering and giggling like schoolgirls. Great… karma.

Aizawa turned to the rest of the class. “So, what did we learn?”

Sato laughed. “Not to make you mad?”

Aizawa grinned. “Well, I would advise keeping that in mind. Ojiro! Care to explain?”

“Of the people Bakugo picked, Yaoyorozu seems to be the only one with any formal martial arts training, and she lasted the longest in direct combat with you. Her quirk use was minimal and limited to a support capacity rather than direct combat. She also took the time to assess your skill before making a move. ‘Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.’” Ojiro turned to Yaoyorozu and bowed. “Well done.”

She blushed and returned the bow. Aizawa nodded. “She’s also the only one without a traditional combat quirk, so she didn’t overly rely on her quirk. Also, Bakugo only picked people with emitter quirks, and those are often seen as the strongest quirks, but transformation and heteromorphic quirks can be just as strong.”

Mineta raised his hand, and Aizawa nodded. “Which five of us would give you the hardest time, sir?”

“Good question,” All Might said with a grin. “I’d like to hear the answer as well.”

Aizawa rubbed his chin. “By the time you graduate, I think all of you have the potential to either fight me to a standstill or win. In a similar scenario right now? Ojiro, Midoriya, Ida, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu. Shinso could take the place of any of them, and it would still be a tough fight. They all have extensive formal martial arts training, and none more than Ojiro. He’s a certified instructor in several different styles.”

“No way Ojiro beats Midoriya,” Sero said.

“He’s a pretty manly dude,” Kirishima offered, sending a thumbs up to Ojiro.

“Yeah, but Midoriya is super strong, man,” Sero replied. “No offense, Ojiro.”

“None taken,” Ojiro said. “I mean, my quirk is just my tail.”

“Quirks aren’t everything,” Izuku said to a scoff from Bakugo. Ignoring him, Midoriya asked Ojiro, “What’s your rank in Judo?”

Ojiro blushed. “In that school, I’m a second dan black belt, but I’m not allowed to go for the third until I’m seventeen.”

“So what?” Bakugo huffed. “Strongest quirk always wins. Judo’s got nothing to do with it.”

“It’s got everything to do with it,” Midoriya countered. “Judo turns your opponent’s strength against them, and second dan is hard to get at our age.”

All Might clapped his hands. “Ojiro and Midoriya, step into the ring and give a demonstration!” While the class talked, robots silently repaired and cleaned up the ring.

Both boys stepped up, bowed to the ring, bowed to All Might, and then bowed to each other. “Go easy on me, but not too easy on me. I’ve only got my blue belt.”

Ojiro nodded and the match began. Ojiro kept a ready stance, while Izuku circled cautiously, looking for an opening. They circled twice, Ojiro keeping a steady place in the center of the ring while Izuku moved, waiting. The moment Sero said “Come on, Midoriya,” he moved, lashing forward with a strike. With perfect technique, Ojiro performed Uchi mata sukashi, the inner thigh void throw, letting Izuku’s own momentum carry him over Ojiro’s back to land with a zempo kaiten ukemi, or forward roll. The two moved into a flurry of blows, blocks, throws, locks, and escapes. After several minutes, the spar ended with Izuku in a uki gatame, or floating hold pinning Izuku to the mat with Ojiro’s right knee to his stomach, left leg out for balance, and a lose grip on Izuku’s arm and shoulder. Unlike most judo practitioners where such a move would be inherently unstable, Ojiro’s tail held firm contact with the ground to Izuku’s left.

With a grin, Izuku said, “I yield.”

Ojiro sprung up with his tail to a standing position, offering his hand to Izuku and helping him stand. “Dang, Midoriya,” he murmured, “you weigh a ton.”

“Nah,” Midoriya said, “only around one hundred forty kilos. My body is denser than most.” They bowed to each other, All Might, and then the ring.

“That’s crap,” Bakugo said. “They should have bought each other flowers with all the dancing they did.”

Tenya held up his hand. “If Bakugo has doubts, perhaps he’d like to spar against me. Since I only have my green belt in judo, it will be closer to a fair fight than he’d get facing Ojiro or I… Midoriya.”

“What the Hell did you say to me, Four-Eyes?”

Tenya adjusted his glasses and chopped his arm toward Bakugo. “I said against me, you’d at least stand a chance, slim though it will be.”

“I hope you’ve got full coverage; you’ll need it when they have to tow you to the body shop!” Bakugo made to rush at Ida, but Kirishima activated his quirk and stepped between them. “Out of the way, Weird Hair.”

Kirishima crossed his arms. “Calm down, dude. First, the name’s Kirishima. Second, even a green belt’s serious stuff. Haven’t you ever watched a judo competition?”

“Of course, I have! None of it’s a real damn fight.”

Kirishima shrugged. “Your funeral. I’d say knock yourself out, but Ida will probably do it for you.”

Ida moved into the ring, bowing to the ring, All Might, and in Bakugo’s direction. “With your permission, of course, All Might.”

“Granted,” All Might said, under his breath he added, “go easy on him.” Ida nodded and smiled.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this,” Bakugo said, not even bothering to bow. “You can have your fancy judo. I learned how to fight for real, and I don’t hold back.”

“Fortunately for you, I will,” Ida said, moving into a ready stance.

“Die, you bastard!” Bakugo yelled, running forward, and unleashing an explosion toward Ida, who calmly side-stepped with ease into a lifting and pulling hip throw and leaving Bakugo on the mat. Before he could even begin to recover, Ida grabbed him from behind and shifted Bakugo to force his own weight onto his right hand. Ida grabbed his left arm high into the air with his own left, with his right arm tucked around Bakugo’s neck in a hold that left Bakugo feeling dizzy and seeing stars.

“In case anyone is interested, the throw was called tsurikomi goshi. This particular chokehold is called kata ha jime,” Ida said calmly. “Do you yield?”

“Screw you!” Bakugo spit.

“The reverse is more likely,” Ida whispered. “I can snap your arm with ease in this hold. I could even crush your windpipe. Or since I know how to behave like a civilized person, I could just exert enough pressure on your carotid arteries to induce unconsciousness. I shall regret having to do so, because I know I will feel guilty later about the satisfaction I know I will feel. So, this will be your last chance before I do something we shall both regret.” Louder, he repeated, “Do you yield?”

“Fine, damn it!”

“Say. It.” Ida insisted.

“Fine, I yield, you bastard,” Bakugo croaked. Ida released Bakugo who, unbalanced, dropped forward onto the mat. Ida sprung back, moving quickly out of Bakugo’s range and kept a ready stance. After shaking his head for a moment to clear his vision, Bakugo stood up, facing Ida in a crouched position, hands sparking. “You’re dead.”

All Might stepped between the two, glancing at Bakugo. “Don’t let pride cause you to detonate, young Bakugo! You did well for someone with no formal martial arts training. Remember what Mr. Aizawa said earlier and view this as an opportunity to learn. You can add these skills to your arsenal for the day you are a hero.”

Bakugo grunted, but he’d picked something up from what All Might said. “Fine. Speaking of which, I’ve come up with my hero name.”

Midnight sighed. “Let’s hear it, but if it has the word ‘murder’ in it, I’m rejecting it.”

“The Explosive M…” he let out a sigh. “The Explosive Hero: Detonator.”

Chapter Text

“That’s…” Ms. Kayama said, “actually not bad. I kind of like it.”

“Fine by me,” Mr. Aizawa added. “I’ll sign off on it. Just try to remember that detonators are intended to make sure explosives go off at exactly the right time for maximum safety.”

Bakugo sighed. “I’ve got it.”

The teachers spent the next thirty minutes of class time on the basics, proper stance, how to move, how to fall without hurting yourself, a few basic strikes, and the simpler blocks. Despite himself, Bakugo discovered he enjoyed this. Born a natural brawler, he’d won all his fights before high school with innate viciousness and a powerful quirk. On occasion, one of his opponents threw a fancier move into the mix, and over the years he’d incorporated some of those into his own fighting style. Almost without realizing it, he’d picked up the basics of a lot of different forms. Despite being a novice, his comparative skill would rank him as a yellow and possibly even an orange belt, but his skills mostly focused on all out attacks, with defense being a mere afterthought.

A quick review left only thirty minutes of class time, so All Might declared, “We’ll do a quick spar to help cement what you’ve learned and then a final review. To randomize things a bit, we’ll have the slowest time in the obstacle course spar against the fastest, then the second fastest and slowest finishers, and so on.” He pressed a button. “Now, I realize a few of you didn’t finish the course, so you’ve been assigned random times to mix things up a little further, and as a special prize, Ojiro will be sparring with me!” A holographic display hovered in the air above his tablet.

Unfortunately for Izuku, he’d had the slowest time, since he’d shepherded two novices through the obstacle course and made sure his entire team got over the line before crossing it himself. Although his group didn’t finish the course, Bakugo did complete the trial fastest. Izuku suppressed a sigh as he noticed the exact moment his mentor realized what he arranged and winced. Izuku put on his best smile and gave All Might a thumbs up. They’d share class together for the next three years, and Izuku refused to back down just because Bakugo couldn’t grow up.

Bakugo wore an excited grin as Izuku started walking that way, but Kirishima intercepted him. “Hey dude! I drew Yaomomo’s name, and she’s going to kick my butt. You said you’re a blue belt, right? How about we switch?”

Izuku smiled again. “I appreciate the offer, but you can learn a lot from her! It’ll be fine.”

“I’m not sure which of you I’m more worried for,” Kirishima said with a shake of his head.

“I won’t hurt him, and I’ll do my best to keep the situation calm.”

“That’s not why I’m worried, dude. I’m worried he’ll hurt you or himself while trying to hurt you.” Kirishima sighed. “I hate to even say this, but it might be best if you went for an ‘accidental’ nerve strike and ended it quick.”

“We’ve got to learn to work together sometime.” Izuku left Kirishima and walked over to Bakugo, giving the bare minimum of a bow that judo protocol demanded. “Bakugo.”

“Bowing, huh? You should be on the floor kissing my shoes like you used to, Deku. No way to rig the scenario this time, so I’m going to pummel you into the ground.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“You know as well as I do that me kissing your shoes never happened. As for rigging the scenario, I have apologized. I will be holding back, however.”

“Screw that and screw you, Deku!” Bakugo yelled. “Come at me with all you’ve got.”

“Quirk use is prohibited,” Aizawa called out loudly to the room, but his eyes were firmly on Bakugo and Midoriya. He nodded to a few of the groups and tilted his head, having them move near the troubling match brewing. Directly between Bakugo’s back and the door to the gym, Uraraka and Ida squared off. Behind and flanking Midoriya, the matches of All Might versus Ojiro to the right and Shinso versus Ashido to the left stood. All Might and Ojiro in particular made sure they could both see the main event. Midnight nodded, keeping watch on the other pairs, but with her quirk ready to send the entire class into a nap if necessary.

In the entire room, only Midoriya and Bakugo fully focused on their opponent. “Begin,” Aizawa said loudly. Except for All Might and Ojiro, both skilled enough that they could fight at near their full capabilities while dividing their attention, most of the students’ moves were clumsy and overly cautious. Well, except for Bakugo. He attacked like a rabid dog released from his cage after two days without food.

Izuku nimbly dodged an opening right. You’d think he’d learn after having that opening turned against him twice, he thought, and couldn’t resist reaching out and giving the arm a light squeeze to let Bakugo know that Izuku could throw him for even trying. Instead, after an instant of contact, he released the arm and ducked beneath the follow up left. Bakugo had excellent combat skills and kicked out behind him with his left foot, but Izuku only needed a half step back to dodge. He reached forward and grabbed the leg, gently lifting and weakening Bakugo’s balance to emphasize the point. Again, Izuku let him get away without retaliating. “You’ve got good instincts, Bakugo. These classes can teach you a lot, and you’d benefit from formal training.”

“I don’t need your damn help, Deku!” Bakugo yelled, regaining his balance, and launching a roundhouse kick that Izuku slipped under and directed a brutal punch at Bakugo’s groin, but didn’t connect. He saw a few of the other boys in the room cringe in imagined sympathy for the pain Izuku could have inflicted.

“I wasn’t offering, Bakugo,” Izuku said, side stepping another punch and gently pushing Bakugo forward again. “The advice is free and well meant, though. You can be a great hero someday.”

“I’m going to be the greatest hero ever! So, stay the Hell out of my damn way.”

Izuku shook his head and let out a huff. “The only one in your way is you.”

Bakugo leaped, but Izuku caught both his opponent’s wrists in a tight hold, twisting his body to avoid a kick and transitioning to an osoto-gari, a reaping throw that swept Bakugo’s leg from under him and placed him firmly on the mat. To execute the move, Izuku released the left arm, but the move happened too fast for Bakugo to break free. The moment his back hit the ground, Bakugo’s right hand twitched and then opened, releasing an explosion directly toward Izuku’s chest. Izuku leaped back out of range, avoiding most of the blast with One For All active and green lighting crackling over his skin in pulsing waves. With his enhanced speed, he saw Aizawa’s eyes flash red, his mouth beginning to open. Tenya began moving, the only one other than All Might capable of moving this fast. Whether Tenya headed to restrain Bakugo or help Izuku, he couldn’t say. The worst of all of this… the slowly widening eyes of Ochaco, her hands moving slowly to cover her mouth. Izuku glanced at his chest now, a smoking and smoldering hole almost as big as the entire front of his shirt burnt through his PE uniform shirt and the under-armor beneath it. A tiny first degree burn mark on his chest in a starburst pattern stood out as an angry red. One new star in the crowded galaxy of scars that dotted his chest in constellations of old pains and injuries. None of them hurt as much as the disgust he imagined would form on Ochaco’s face when she realized what she saw. Still moving fast, he passed Tenya, giving his friend a squeeze on the shoulder so brief that only his friend’s superhuman reflexes could hope to recognize. With only that brief pause, Izuku fled the gym.

Ida faltered for just a moment when Problem Child vanished and altered his course. Aizawa blinked and reactivated Erasure with a new target. “Ida! Stand down, now!” Aizawa yelled. Ida’s fist already in motion and with the speed the class rep held, the punch aimed at Bakugo’s face would cost the recipient teeth and probably a broken hand for the dealer. Fortunately, Ida hesitated. All Might moved in that time, pulling the boy away from his target and into a calming hug.

“Tenya, my boy,” All Might whispered, “it was an accident. Bakugo is just as surprised as everyone else. Look at him.”

Ochaco’s hands made it to her mouth just as tears finally slid down her cheeks. Ignoring her class, her teachers, and everything else in the world, she spun around and ran from the gym, looking for the only thing in the world that mattered to her in that moment: Izuku.

“Bakugo, explain,” Aizawa said, a cold edge to his voice. “If that was because of some vendetta….”

Bakugo held up his right arm, the outline of Izuku’s hand in a light red bruise around his wrist. Only All Might, Aizawa, Ida, and Ojiro were close enough to notice his hand shook just a little. “My… when I fight close handed, sweat tends to build up quick, but my hands can’t spark and ignite it while they’re closed, otherwise I’d have stumps instead of fingers. There’s a nerve cluster right here,” and he pointed to where the thumb print from Izuku’s hand adorned his arm, “that will force you to open your hand. It does the same to me, but also activates the specialized cells that produce sparks to ignite my sweat. Deku squeezed hard enough to activate it.”

“You’re trying to blame Izuku for this?” Ida said angrily. “I didn’t think you could sink any lower.”

“Ida, that’s enough,” Aizawa said.

“I’m not blaming Deku, damn it,” Bakugo said quietly. “There’s no way the nerd could have known. Hell, I didn’t even know until three years ago.” He glanced up at Ida, “Or did you think I frigging tried to blow up the damn mall for fun, Four-eyes? That Sludge douche-bag figured it out.”

“I jumped to a conclusion, and I ap….” Tenya started, but Bakugo cut him off.

“Save it. I don’t give a damn and it’s not like I haven’t given you a reason,” Bakugo said. “I’m not going to lie and pretend I like the nerd or care if I hurt him, but I’m not stupid to make the same mistake twice in one day.” He motioned toward a patch of clear liquid on the mat near where he sat, moved his hand near it and released a spark. The explosion blasted a hole clear through the mat and gouged out the floor beneath it. “I was able to shake away as much excess sweat as I could when I realized what was happening.”

“Then I commend you on your quick thinking, Bakugo,” All Might said loudly. “You acted as a hero should and your quick thinking kept the damage to a minimum.”

“You can save that too. I fully intend to beat him into the ground and everyone else who gets in my way, but I’ll save it for the sports festival.”

“Hm, well, yes, then,” All Might said. “Gather around class, we’ll have a quirk review before you’re dismissed for the day.”

Ms. Kayama leaned over to Mr. Aizawa. “We’ve still got two students AWOL.”

“Let them be,” he whispered back. “They hardly need the review but do need time to calm down, and a little talk between the two will probably help them both. They’re responsible enough.”

“You know they like each other. Who are you and what have you done with Shota? You’re actually helping them!” she accused, but then had a moment of realization. “Wait a second. Somebody put their names in the pool before I could get to it. I had to settle for Kirishima and Ashido,” she pouted.

“Damn shame,” he said with the conviction of a man with a real down-filled sleeping bag saved in his Amazon shopping cart. “Wonder who could have done that?”

“You’ve never joined the pool before. You don’t need to cheat, they’re the favorites!”

“All’s fair in love and war,” he said with a smirk.

Ochaco ran as fast as she could, desperate to catch up to Izuku, but he’d vanished the moment he left the gym. Looking around quickly, she did spot a small trail of charred fragments of his PE outfit, but that quickly disappeared. It pointed directly to UA’s main building before disappearing, so she ran for the towering building at her best speed.

She paused when she burst through the doors. As the most selective and prestigious hero school in the country, UA’s student body only numbered at seven hundred students, but the facilities could easily support at least five times that number. The main building itself consisted of four separate wings, each equivalent to a fourteen-story building, connected on the ground floor and the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors. Even checking the most likely places would take forever.

Maybe I can reduce my own gravity to move fast, she thought, imagining Tenya wildly flailing his arms in protest over her running in the halls. She called up her quirk and noticed something she’d missed, maybe for years. Over the course of a day, she touched any number of tiny objects, and practice with Izuku proved that the connection lasted roughly for three hours. She’d sparred with Tenya, but she’d also touched her teammates for the obstacle course, Izuku among them. As soon as she accessed her power, she could sense the locations of everything connected to her power. While it didn’t manifest as some sort of visual map in her mind, she could sense a cluster of six… nodes, maybe… all together at a distance. Were those the classmates she’d touched in the gym? Another node felt much closer, and she let the connection to her quirk lead her, like the pull of a gravitational field. She found herself standing before the boy’s locker room.

Looking around cautiously, she didn’t see anyone. At this time of the day, all the general education, management, and support students left over an hour ago and the hero students still attended heroics. Steeling herself, she opened the door but kept her eyes firmly closed. “Izuku? Are you in here?”

A quiet shaky voice answered. “O… Ochaco?”

“Um, are you decent?” she asked. “If so,” she took a deep breath, “I’m coming in.”

“I… I’m… yeah, I’m decent, but… this is the men’s locker room!” Not really caring about that, she walked into the room, finding Izuku sitting on the floor with his back against a locker. He wore a heather grey t-shirt with the caption “Property of UA High School Heroics Department, Est. 2161,” that she absolutely would not permanently borrow later to sleep in under any circumstances. He looked down at his chest, hiding his face in shadows, but she could see the marks from tears on his cheeks. He pulled his legs tight to his chest, hiding his red, puffy eyes with his knees. “S… sorry you had to see th…that. N…not really pr…pretty to look at, I g…guess.” She walked over and sat on the floor on his left side, back pressed against the locker beside him and looking up toward the ceiling. She wrapped her arm around his back, awkwardly leaned down and forced her head under his left arm, gently pushing into the space and leaving him without any choice but to wrap his arm around her shoulder. Every bit of his skin visible turned red and radiated heat, but she matched and so she barely noticed. “Wh…what are you d…doing, O…Ochaco?”

“I was worried about you, so we’re going to sit here and just forget about everything until you feel better.” He started to pull away, but she grabbed his arm and held it where it wrapped around her shoulder.

“B…but you saw my scars,” Izuku said, his voice a bit watery. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. “I know how bad they look.”

“Izuku,” she said, pressing her head against his chest, “my family has been doing construction for hundreds of years. Our family reunions have never had the right number of fingers, toes, or eyes. You think I haven’t seen scars before? They’re nothing to be ashamed of… I’m an Uraraka and to us, scars mean you’ve survived everything the bastards like Bakugo could throw at you.”

Izuku chuckled. “He’s not that bad.”

“No, he’s worse,” she protested. Someday, she thought fiercely, that ass is going to experience everything he put Izuku through, and I only hope I can have a small part in it.

“There’s a lot more to that story, Ochaco,” he whispered.

She hugged him tighter, knowing more of the story than he thought. “Let’s not talk about him. Let’s go home. Class is almost over, and I don’t want to watch any of the boys changing.” A small traitorous part of her mind smugly told her present company excluded.

After class ended, everyone shuffled back to the main building and their respective locker rooms, a tense silence hanging over the hero hopefuls. Tenya opened his locker to find a small slip of paper with the simple message “10 – went home, don’t wait. O w/ me.” He quickly read the message and folded the slip of paper to dispose of later. No sense leaving evidence for some of his more gossip inclined classmates. He changed into a workout uniform and packed his carefully folded school and PE uniforms into his bag. He sighed in disappointment with himself. He’d nearly assaulted a classmate and couldn’t decide whether someone stopping him or almost succeeding weighed more heavily on him. Izuku’s own analysis proved his punches could move every bit as fast as his legs, giving them an impact far greater than anyone lacking a strength augmentation quirk of some sort. That punch, if it connected, could potentially kill.

For his part, Bakugo changed silently on the other side of the locker room, the rest of the boys feeling like border states caught between two superpower nations stuck in a fragile non-aggression treaty. At any moment, open warfare could break out and the armies would march over their territory. Bakugo changed into casual workout clothes just like Ida had but shoved his uniforms into his bag in a crumpled wad. He slammed his locker closed. “Hey, Octopus Arms! I didn’t mean to make you and Earlobes fall. I also wasn’t trying to blast the nerd this time, but if any of you damn extras think I care if you believe me, you’re dumber than you look.” With that, he walked out.

After a few seconds, most of the boys let out a heavy sigh of relief. Koda wiped his brow off with an exaggerated motion. Sato laughed and patted the quiet boy’s shoulder. “You said it, buddy.”

Tenya turned and bowed to the room. “I apologize if anyone felt uncomfortable. I let my anger get the better of me.”

“Nah, dude,” Sero said. “Bakugo has had it in for Midoriya since the first day. I’m not sure what his deal is, but if he keeps this stuff up, he’s going to get expelled.

“Oui,” Aoyama said. “I hate to agree, but Bakugo has been acting as un terrible malfaiteur.  I wonder why he even came to this school at times.”

Tenya shook his head. “I believe him that today’s incidents were unintentional.”

“Maybe,” Shinso said, finishing a change into a personal set of workout clothing as well, “but he also put himself into those situations. Even without any formal parkour training, he did do a good job. Our group probably could have finished with a comparable time to group B if he’d just worked with the rest of us, and with two less injuries.”

“If no one else is going to say it, I will,” Mina declared. “What happened to Ochaco?”

“She went to check on Midoriya, of course,” Yaomomo said.

“She never came back though,” Hagakure pointed out. “Maybe they eloped!”

“They didn’t elope, ribbit,” Tsuyu said. “Class was almost over anyway, and this was just review for both of them.” She turned toward Jiro. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

Jiro yawned. “Just a little tired now. Even with those gummies that Recovery Girl gave me, I’m wiped out. Going straight to bed when I get home.”

“I bet that’s what they did!” Mina exclaimed. “Bow chicka wow wow!”

“You didn’t hear their heartbeats,” Jiro said. “They were both terrified. They’re probably more exhausted than I am.”

“All the more reason to go to bed,” Mina insisted, wiggling her eyebrows. “Besides, I need some vicarious romance in my life, so it’s either this or I start talking about you and Kaminari.”

“You keep right on talking about Uraraka and Midoriya,” Jiro said. She felt bad about throwing them under the bus but didn’t want to join them.

Shoto Todoroki arrived home, quickly changing out of his uniform and into his training clothes. He’d never worn this outfit before, but by the same token, he’d probably never wear it again. His training clothes rarely survived a single practice session with his father, and never a second session. He awkwardly accepted his older sister’s tearful hug, returning it as best he could. Fuyumi never tried to hug him after training anymore. She knew it hurt too much.

He only used his fire in training against his father, knowing the combat would last until Endeavor felt satisfied, and he would never find that satisfaction from Shoto’s ice alone. Sometimes he wondered why Endeavor even bothered seeking out someone with an ice quirk to bear his child considering he didn’t seem impressed with the ice side of Shoto’s quirk. Shoto brought his fire and ice both to the task for sheer survival, and even used the martial arts moves he learned to deliver a quick strike when he saw a weakness in his father’s guard.

Endeavor grunted in acknowledgement of a well-timed strike. “Very well, boy. Hand-to-hand combat can be effective at times if you can back it up. I’ll be all too happy to demonstrate.” The number two hero’s punches and kicks continued until Shoto couldn’t stand, each one delivered to his body. Endeavor never touched his son’s face. “Since you’re too much of a weakling to continue, did you gather the information I wanted?”

Shoto nodded. He generated a small piece of ice in his mouth that instantly melted, giving him just enough water to soothe his parched throat enough to speak. “In my class, the other recommended student is Momo Yaoyorozu. She’s the heir to the Yaoyorozu Conglomerate, and received her recommendation from Best Jeanist, possibly due to his clothing company’s ties to her family business. Her quirk is called Creation, and she appears to be able to make various items.”

“Hmm, I would have thought he’d be in class A,” Endeavor said. “Who else?”

“Juzo Honenuki is the first recommended student in class B. He has blond hair and black eyes, and his teeth sit outside his mouth. He…”

“Unimportant,” Endeavor interrupted. “Next!”

“The last recommended student is Setsuna Tokage with dark green hair and eyes.”

“Finally! What is his quirk?”

“Her, father,” Shoto carefully corrected. “She’s a girl.”

“What?” Endeavor asked. Possible, though. He had only seen the child once three years ago, and they did look a bit delicate. It could have been a girl. “And her quirk?”

“Her quirk, Lizard Tail Splitter, lets her separate her body into various pieces and control them at a distance. Ryukyu recommended her.”

“The one I'm looking for would have been recommended by someone from All Might’s agency, and he would have advanced strength. He must be a year after you,” Endeavor said. “That should give you an extra year to get established over him.”

Shoto blinked. “Who?”

“Don’t question me, boy. All Might’s little bastard, a super strong boy with curly green hair.”

“Izuku Midoriya?”

Endeavor cursed. He’d never bothered to get the boy’s name, but he’d heard rumors over the years that All Might started mentoring a child. Why wasn’t he one of the recommended students, though? “Tell me about this Midoriya.”

“He placed first in the entrance exam with a perfect score. Our teacher confirmed he is All Might’s neighbor and received advanced training. His quirk augments all his physical and mental attributes, a lot when he’s actively using his quirk, but it has a gradual permanent effect too. He’s extremely skilled at strategy, tactics, and combat. I… didn’t know he was All Might’s son.”

“Yes,” Endeavor hissed through gritted teeth, “and it’s your duty to this family to destroy this little bastard.”

Chapter Text

Usually, Tomura Shigaraki only wore one of the disembodied hands given to him by the Master, preferring to only wear his father’s hand and possibly the four hands from the two punks he killed in his first act as a villain. Today, he wore all fourteen hands over his black suit and equally black trench coat. His pale skin stood in sharp contrast to his ebon clothing. His pale bluish-grey hair, red eyes, and matching shoes gave him a ghoulish appearance. His skin itched more than usual, the touch of the innocents he killed sickening him, but they also brought him a strange sense of comfort. He resisted the nearly overpowering urge to scratch. He bowed to his Master. “I don’t want to do this,” he whispered.

“I understand, Tomura!” Master said with a smile, moving forward silently on the powerful legs of his exoskeleton. He reached out and gently touched Tomura’s cheek between Father’s thumb and index finger, one of the few places Tomura’s bare skin could be seen. “I felt nervous the first time I spoke in front of those I would some day lead… and rule. Remember, other than yourself, Kurogiri, and the Nomu, none of them are important. These rabble are your pawns, and pawns are meant to be sacrificed. However, this does not mean you should throw them away, for even a pawn can be promoted to a queen through careful play, planning, and a bit of luck.”

Another chess analogy, Tomura thought and turned to Kurogiri expectantly. The mist-shrouded man leaned forward. “You and I, plus the Nomu, are the only elite units in this match. The rest of our forces are noobs and can be used for a Zerg rush, but we need to avoid pulling a Leeroy Jenkins with them, since lucky rolls on RNG could upgrade one or more of them.”

All For One smiled. “Now, go, Tomura. Rally your troops.”

Opening the door, Tomura stepped into the dark bar with Kurogiri hovering behind him like a silent shadow. His eyes slowly scanned the room, full of roughly seventy villains talking, laughing, arguing, and drinking Kurogiri’s cheaper alcohol. Kurogiri silently warped the more expensive bottles into a sealed room in the basement months ago when they began their little recruitment drive. He fixed his gaze one by one on the louder members of their League until the room fell silent. “This Saturday, our group, the League of Villains, will make history,” Tomura said in his raspy voice. “We will launch an attack at the very heart of the hero society that has kept their brightly colored boots on the necks of those of us who just want to live our lives how we see fit.”

“About damn time,” Tesla said. “I’ve been aching for a fight. Time to put these heroes in their place.” Several members of the League cheered, and Tomura’s left eye twitched.

“Exactly,” Tomura continued. “And their place is two meters underground. We will launch an attack on UA and kill their newest teacher, All Might.”

The room fell completely silent, and then one of them laughed. Dragon held on to his sides as he laughed. “Are you a complete idiot? This is what we get for having a damn kid as our leader. You’ve never fought All Might. He could beat all of us without breaking a sweat!”

Tomura’s hand compulsively moved to his throat to scratch his itching skin, a small hum of disapproval from his watchful shadow. “That’s why we’re going to attack him at UA High. Put the kids in danger or even kill a few of them, and he’ll be vulnerable.”

“Or make him mad enough to stop holding back. I don’t mind going to Tartarus. I don’t even mind being remembered as a baby killer. What I do mind is All Might punching me hard enough to turn my head into a fine red mist!” Dragon yelled. “That’s why we need a new leader. While All Might’s busy teaching the little kids, we storm the HPSC and take the fat cats hostage.”

“And I suppose you want to be the new leader?” Tomura hissed.

Dragon nodded. “I’m the strongest one here! That means I should be in charge instead of some freak with a hand fetish.”

Tomura scratched idly at his neck. “So, whoever’s strongest should lead? Kurogiri.” Kurogiri’s eyes narrowed, and a swirling vortex of inky darkness appeared behind Dragon. Two massive black hands reached out of the portal, completely encircling Dragon’s biceps. The rest of the nightmare stepped out of the portal, standing over two meters tall with his brain exposed and his mouth pulled back into a horrifying smile. “Break his arms, and then bring him to me,” Tomura said, sounding bored. The creature squeezed with both hands and everyone in the room heard two wet snaps followed by Dragon’s scream of pain. Dragon flailed in the unyielding grip, managing to kick his tormentor several times, including in the groin, but the monster didn’t react. “You see, this creature is my bio-engineered Nomu. I like to think of him as ‘Peacebreaker,’ but he breaks other things, too. Like your arms. He was specifically designed to kill and break the so-called Symbol of Peace.”

Tomura turned slowly, seeking out the eyes of each villain in the room and looking in their faces for a few seconds. Most turned away, but a few met his gaze. Those might have potential. “If Peacebreaker could speak, he’d tell you that he’s as strong as All Might, and he serves me.” A portal opened below Dragon, slowly rising so his legs vanished as Tomura approached. “Kurogiri also has an invaluable warp quirk, and he serves me as well. So, you see, I’m the strongest one here.”

Dragon coughed and muttered, “That’s their strength,” knowing he had no chance, but refusing to die like a coward.

“Hmm,” Tomura hummed. “That’s a good point, but they’re utterly loyal to me. So that makes their strength my strength. Besides, you act like I’m powerless without them. Your mistake.” He reached out and pressed his hand against Dragon’s chest, keeping his eyes locked on Dragon to see the fear as Disintegration ate through the would-be leader’s chest. “Let him go, Peacebreaker.” The creature released the dying man and his body fell through the portal. “He’ll be dust long before he hits the ground, so there will be nothing connecting him to us,” Tomura said calmly. “Now, are there any other leadership claims before we go over the plan?”

Behind the comforting embrace of Father, Tomura Shigaraki smiled to the silence.

Izuku and Ochaco walked in silence back to the pilot program dormitory. When they entered the house, Izuku moved to the kitchen and grabbed a large Tupperware container. He dropped the ruined Under Armor, gym shirt, and a few paper towels in it while Ochaco watched curiously. He smiled. “The Under Armor is infused with nanites and made entirely of carbon. It will be good as new tomorrow morning.” He sealed the lid. “I’m going to put my stuff in my room and then we can practice some until the others get here.” He walked back to his room, setting his things on the bed, but when he turned around, Ochaco stood in his doorway, watching silently. “Ochaco, what….”

“Take your shirt off, Izuku,” she said quietly.

“Um… holy whoa,” he said, pinching himself. “Tha… Tenya! And Itsuka! Nemuri! They’ll all be back soon. This… fast… too… um, yeah.”

She rolled her eyes, but also blushed. “You got burned, silly. We can’t practice while you’re hurt. I’m going to clean and bandage it.”

“Oh,” he said with relief and just a touch of disappointment. “I’ve….” He opened his backpack and held up a huge first aid kit that nearly took up half the space in the bag. “I’ve already put burn cream and a bandage on it. It’s fine. I’ve been taking care of stuff like this since I was five.”

Five, she wanted to scream, you’ve been dealing with Bakugo’s crap that long? She swallowed that down, swearing to herself that Katsuki Bakugo was going to pay dearly for what he’d done to the kind boy in front of her. “If you’re sure,” she said. She held out her hand and smiled. “We’ve had enough sparring and parkour for one day. Come fly with me!”

After class ended, the three teachers returned to the teachers lounge to discuss their observations and plans for the rest of the classes that week. Aizawa proposed taking Midoriya, Ida, Kaminari, Asui, Sero, and Shinso, each having extensive parkour experience, with Uraraka, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, and Ojiro having a mix of fighting, dance, or gymnastics training that gave them an edge in the obstacle course and then pairing each up with one of the beginners. With Aizawa added in, that allowed for eleven groups, with All Might and Kayama floating between the groups, particularly the groups without a true parkour expert. By switching partners every fifteen minutes, all the novice students would get to team up and work with the more advanced students, and Friday’s parkour session could include a half-hour review followed by group runs through the obstacle course again.

All Might nodded, but Kayama shook her head. “I’m worried about this. That means that Bakugo will be paired up with Tenya and Ochaco each for two of the fifteen-minute sessions, not to even mention Izuku.”

Aizawa blinked. “I get the concern about Tenya and Izuku, but they can both handle themselves. What’s the problem teaming up Bakugo and Uraraka?”

Kayama laughed. “You mean other than the fact that she might just throw him into the sun? Shota, I don’t know what Bakugo did to piss her off, but she despises him. Tenya and Izuku have enough training that they’re practically second years in skill if not maturity, so they can defuse a bad situation or end it with a minimum of damage. Ochaco… in terms of raw potential, she’s probably the most powerful student at this school other than Izuku. She’s just started to tap into that potential. You know how dangerous Thirteen’s quirk is. Ochaco’s quirk can probably replicate it, and has a lot more versatility built in. A single touch is all it would take, and she could beat any of us except All Might.”

“I can neutralize her quirk. You can put her to sleep,” Aizawa protested.

“Besides, she’s a good girl,” All Might, the eternal optimist, added.

“Oh, I agree,” Kayama said quietly. “I’m not saying she would, but she could. There’s steel under that soft exterior. She’s already figured out how to use her quirk on the air, what happens when she realizes that she can choose just to make the oxygen lighter in an area? My Somnambulist? Sure, you can cancel her quirk, but can you keep from blinking for three hours? That’s how long Izuku and her figured out it lasts, and the more often she uses it on a particular object, the longer she can keep it under the influence of her power. She can already make Izuku float for three and a half hours, and they’ve only been practicing for a few days.” She smiled. “She’s a sweetheart, but Bakugo pushes her buttons. Don’t be obvious but keep an eye on her next time the attention is on him in class. If looks could kill, she’d be an antimatter bomb, at least when it comes to Bakugo. When he’s with any of those three, one of us stays with them the whole time.” She paused when a knock sounded from the door. After quick nods from the other two, she called out, “Come in.”

All three teachers looked up in surprise at their unexpected guest, Katsuki Bakugo. All Might recovered first and smiled. “Young Bakugo! Did you need something?”

Bakugo shook his head in confusion. “I know I screwed up today. Twice. Just let me know what the damn punishment is.”

Aizawa frowned. “Bakugo… do you think we’re going to punish you for a mistake?” He pointed toward one of the chairs at a desk near where the three teachers sat. “Have a seat.” Bakugo walked over and sat down; arms crossed defensively over his chest. “Honestly, we usually have five times the number of injuries after the first mobility training class. You did make a preventable mistake, but that’s why you’re attending UA, to learn how to correct those. Do you know what your mistake was during the obstacle course?”

Bakugo huffed. “I hurt Earlobes and Octopus Arms.”

Kayama shook her head. “Jiro and Shoji, Bakugo. That’s the result, not the mistake.”

“Then I don’t know, alright?” Bakugo asked. “Aren’t you the teachers? Why the Hell don’t you just tell me?”

“Because we won’t always be there to give you the answers,” All Might said. “You want to know what you did wrong. You fell at almost the exact spot Aoyama did, but his teammates helped him recover.”

“What, so I should just hold everyone’s hands and sing Kumbaya? I want to be the number one hero, not rely on a bunch of extras,” Bakugo said. “I want to be the one to take down the villains!”

All Might smiled. “Did you know that every pro hero in this room right now is a member of the same agency, young Bakugo? I may be the number one hero, but class today proved that there are some areas where I am not as skilled as your other teachers. Someday, you may achieve your goal and run an agency. Imagine you’re running the Might Agency. A street gang need to be infiltrated. Who should tackle the task, Mr. Aizawa or me? If we need to catch someone who preys on women at night, would you put me in a dress and hope that the fiend has extremely bad eyesight and worse taste,” he said with a grin, “or would you assign Ms. Kayama? We all have strengths and weaknesses, mine just happen to align with what the media thinks of when they think of a hero. Your other teachers are every bit as heroic as I am, perhaps even more so since their efforts are rarely recognized with praise in the media.”

Aizawa waved his hand, “Some of us prefer not to be recognized. The point is that we’re all heroes, regardless of rankings or fame, and there are situations where All Might defers to our judgement and accepts our help. That doesn’t make him weak, Bakugo. That just makes him stronger.” He bumped his fist gently on Bakugo’s shoulder. “Got it?”

Bakugo sat quietly for a moment. “Honestly? No. This crap doesn’t make any damn sense! Everyone’s always told me that the greatest heroes always win and don’t need anyone. Besides, what if I’m the only one on the scene? What if I’m on the scene with a damn bastard? What if they steal my credit? Isn’t it better to do it alone?”

“Any of those things can, and probably will happen,” Kayama said, pushing down the unworthy thought that there will be at least one person acting like an insufferable bastard at any scene Bakugo was at. Naturally, teachers had their favorites and least favorites, but good teachers learned to ignore that to help all their students. “For credit, at least, you’ll file reports to the HPSC. Those won’t matter to the media, but that does tend to work out long term if you’re reasonably friendly to the press. As for doing it alone,” she paused, “Bakugo, we’re public servants. The first firefighter at a fire should always be grateful for help.”

“What?” the boy said, genuinely confused.

“A lot of heroes treat our jobs like we’re celebrities, and that is a part of it that you will have to deal with, but we protect and serve the public,” All Might said. “In this manner, we are no different from police officers, firefighters, or any other first responders. We are often called upon to risk our lives, and I honor all heroes who throw themselves into danger. The only bad heroes are those who place civilians at risk. That is what an unhealthy focus on fame and being the best can lead to and something we must all be vigilant against. If someone can manage a job quicker, more efficiently, and, most important, safer than I can, I must step back and allow them to do so.”

Bakugo held back from rolling his eyes. “What about using my quirk while fighting Deku? The nerd almost caught a full powered blast.”

All Might smiled. “Your injury of young Midoriya wasn’t intentional, young Bakugo. For that instance, you are to be commended for your quick thinking that kept it for being worse. Besides, Recovery Girl could have healed him if the injury had been serious.”

Bakugo nodded, filing that bit of information away for later. The old lady smooched Earlobes and Octopus Arms and they’d both been fine. Octopus Arms barely got a scratch anyway, but Earlobes slammed her head into the ground bad. One smooch and she just walked it off. From what All Might just said, even a full power blast wouldn’t be a problem for the old lady. Good to know. “Alright. Are we done here?”

Kayama rolled her eyes. “Bakugo, we didn’t call you here, because you’re not in trouble. Of course, you’re free to go, but do try to learn your classmates’ names. Besides, it’s Tuesday! I’ve got tacos to make. Maybe even nachos!”

Both All Might and Aizawa slowly backed away from her. Bakugo huffed, turned on his heel, and left.

Tenya and Shinso waited together for Itsuka, but then Shinso bowed out, since he had an hour long after school session with Mr. Aizawa. After a brief goodbye, the pair of class representatives walked to the pilot dorm together, comparing notes on their respective heroics classes. Evidently class B lacked as many parkour enthusiasts as class A, although they did have a few martial artists, so in addition to their heroics teacher, Snipe, three other teachers and a couple of third years volunteered to help during that segment. They’d dressed in workout clothes after class, so made their way directly to the backyard.

They found Izuku and Ochaco resting in the shade of two of the larger trees. If it were anyone else, they’d have laid on a hammock tied between the oaks, but their friends floated in the air with their eyes closed, swaying back and forth in sync with each other as if a hammock was present, but merely invisible. Without opening his eyes, Izuku called out, “Is our back and forth still matched up and are we still at the same level?”

“Yes,” Tenya said. “What exactly are you doing?”

Izuku sat up and opened his eyes, keeping the gentle swaying going. “Fine control of levitation. Side to side motion while keeping an even height without visual cues. Flight quirks are rare, but most of the literature recommends this as one of the early steps. We’re both new to flying, so it seemed like a good choice.”

“Besides, my dad has a hammock in the back yard, and I used to love curling up in it and reading sci-fi novels after school,” Ochaco added.

“Well, we did get hand to hand training in class today,” Itsuka said. “It looks relaxing too.”

“Come here then!” Ochaco waved Itsuka over and gently poked her with a finger. Slowly, she rose into the air and rotated into the same orientation as Izuku and Ochaco. “Just close your eyes and imagine you’re on a big hammock. This is good practice for me! You too, Tenya, come on!”

Before long, all four of the teens hovered in the air, letting go of the tension of the day. “Okay,” Itsuka said, “this is nice, but what’s causing the breeze? Today was a pretty calm day.”

“That’s me, too,” Ochaco said. “I’m making the air around me much heavier to counteract decreasing our weight, but not heavy enough to hurt us. It’s generating a tiny low-pressure zone so more air is rushing in to fill it and that stimulates a breeze.”

“Well,” Nemuri said from the backdoor, “nice to see my little workaholics taking a break for once.”

Tenya laughed. “Itsuka and I are taking a break. Izuku and Ochaco are both practicing.”

“Looks calm and relaxing. Room for one more on the invisible hammock? A thirty-minute nap would be nice before I have to make tacos!”

Izuku smiled as Ochaco held out her hand. “We can just order and make it an hour.”

The rest of the week passed in a calmer way. Bakugo barely spoke at all on Wednesday, quietly joining the rest of the class in practice and answering any questions with as few words as possible, and Kayama quietly made sure that his pairings that day included all three of her tenants, getting them out of the way while he was in a sedate mood. The novices in the class built up real parkour skills by the end of the week.

Finally, Saturday, and their first special heroics class, arrived.

Chapter Text

Izuku dreamed, standing a bit closer to the castle, the walls higher and more heavily defended than ever. Nearly a third of his body had become solid, including all his head, at last. Nana stood there nervously, along with a man Izuku had never seen before. He stood far shorter than both Izuku and Nana, closer in height to Ochaco. He wore a dark blue jacket with a high collar that obscured the lower part of his face, and his narrow eyes peered cautiously at Izuku from under his black hair. “So, you’re the ninth. Nana speaks highly of you, so I have decided to meet you. As she told you, the others are withholding judgement. You may call me En.”

Izuku bowed as best he could. “Thank you, sir. I am honored. I’m Izuku Midoriya, you are welcome to call me Izuku if you like.”

En nodded and returned the bow. “You’re certainly polite. I have seen bits and pieces of your life in the quiet times between battle. I will give you access to my quirk, but be warned, it is not an offensive ability. However, it has been contained within the core of One For All for some time, so it may surprise both of us with what it can do now.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Although his face remained hidden, Izuku got the impression En smiled. “I have seen enough that I have no doubt of that. You must be prepared, Izuku. I sense the distant movements of our enemies. Now, I shall teach you the basics here in dreams so that you may access it in the real world.”

Izuku woke up with a stretch and held out his hand, creating a tiny puff of smoke that quickly faded. Considering he spent time learning a new quirk while he slept, he wondered why he felt so refreshed. Perhaps One For All accelerated and enhanced the sleep process like it did almost everything else.

Realizing he’d woken long before anyone else in the house, he put on his morning running clothes and made his way to the back yard. Since his childhood home served as a safe house for several years after the Midoriyas moved to Tokyo, the yard now featured a heavy quirk resistant privacy fence and several similar barriers that someone could hide behind in case of an attack. Izuku and Ochaco, the ones with long range attacks in the house, used them as targets. For that matter, Tenya could kick a small object with World Cup speed and accuracy, while Itsuka’s pitching arm held a well-deserved reputation in her hometown.

Since reaching the point where he could create air blasts, Izuku struggled with his aim, finally getting pretty good at firing off accurate shots, but not being able to see them always made it difficult. He flexed the fingers on his right hand, producing a small cloud of dense smoke. Taking careful aim, he flicked his middle finger. The blast shot out, producing a quite “thunk” sound against the target, the vacuum created pulling a line of smoke direct from his hand to the point of impact.

“Wow, like tracer rounds,” a voice said behind him, and he turned to find Ochaco settling on the ground after jumping down from her open bedroom window on the second floor. “How’d you make the smoke?”

“It’s a new part of my Quirk Framework,” he said. “Probably a side effect of how many calories I burn through.” He threw out his arm and a larger cloud struck one of the targets, hiding it in a light green cloud. “At least it’s odorless.”

She laughed. “And not helium.”

They walked back into the house, chatting quietly. Neither noticed the cloud of smoke briefly shaping into a vague resemblance of Ochaco’s face before dissipating into the early morning air.

After their housemates woke and a quick five-kilometer run, the students got ready and made their way to the school. Since Nemuri patrolled on Friday nights, she’s gone straight to the school. Class B would be taking part in an extensive session on mobility training in the TDL, since they didn’t have as many parkour enthusiasts in their class. On their way, they met up with Shinso. “I didn’t think general ed had classes on Saturday,” Itsuka said.

Shinso smirked. “We don’t, but I heard class B is going to be focusing on mobility training, so I volunteered to help out. I’ll be in your care, Kendo, or maybe you’ll be in mine. It’s a bit earlier than I like on a Saturday, but those apples aren’t going to polish themselves.”

“Wait? What apples?” Tenya asked arm chopping through the early morning air. “What do apples have to do with mobility training?”

“He means he’s kissing up to the teachers, Tenya,” Itsuka said with a laugh.

“Ah, I see. Surely you don’t need to, Shinso. You’ve been a great asset this week,” Tenya said.

“Well, I’m angling to get to work with Present Mic a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love the hand-to-hand and parkour Mr. Aizawa is teaching me, but Mr. Yamada is probably the best person in the world to help me increase the effectiveness of my quirk,” Shinso said. “I’m not quite ready to ask him, but since he’s been helping class B this week, this is a good opportunity to make sure he knows who I am.”

Izuku laughed. “I don’t think that’s a problem, Bat-boy.”

“Crap. I forgot all about that. I could have slept in.”

“At least you’ll get a free breakfast,” Itsuka noted. Four hours of heroics could test anyone’s limits, and the school made sure the students ate well before and after the class, with plenty of snacks available during class.

They arrived at the cafeteria, not surprised to see a few of the more diligent students, but Aoyama’s early presence did surprise Izuku. “Bonjour, Aoyama!” he called.

Aoyama startled a bit, looking up from a rather large book open in front of him and waved to Midoriya with a smile. “Et à toi aussi!”

Although the cafeteria held far less students than on a typical day, class A and B intermingled in the same area they usually did. After grabbing breakfast, they made their way to the table and Izuku took a seat opposite Aoyama. “A book in English? That’s impressive. The Mammoth Book of Chess? Do you play?” Tokoyami looked up from his breakfast to watch with interest.

Aoyama shook his head. “Non, but English is my third language. Although people say that once you are bilingual other languages are easier to learn, but je trouve cela difficile. How do… I find it difficult. This is one of the few books my parents have in English, a gift from a business associate. I need all the practice I can get.”

“If such a weighty tome of lore sparks some interest in the game of Western chess, I would be delighted to teach you,” Tokoyami inferred in his deep baritone. “My hometown did not tolerate those with mutant quirks easily, so I found solace playing games online as a young boy. Western chess appealed to me more than simple card games or first-person shooters. I… will admit, I’ve never gotten to play against an opponent face to face, much to my regret.”

“Maybe we should set up some study sessions for the class,” Yaomomo offered. “I know we all have different strengths and weaknesses. During a break I would be happy to play a game with you, Tokoyami, and help you with English, Aoyama. My tutors taught me both growing up.”

Aoyama seemed touched. “That would truly be merveilleux!”

Tokoyami nodded. “I would enjoy that very much and could use help in math as well. Sadly, I am not a counting crow past one for sorrow.”

“The pilot dorm is only a fifteen-minute walk from the school and the train station,” Izuku said. “I’d have to clear it with Midnight, but we could probably hold it there. I’m sure I could get a chess set somewhere.”

“Or we could have it at my house,” Yaomomo said eagerly. “It’s not quite as close, but I can arrange transportation for everyone, and the household staff can prepare any kind of food that people want. We have a fully stocked library as well.”

“Well, I can’t compete with that unless we want to hold it at Might Tower,” Izuku said with a laugh.

Aoyama shook his head quickly, “Non non, we could not impose on All Might in that way!”

Izuku shrugged. He’d think anyone would jump at the chance to visit Might Tower, but maybe not all his classmates were as big a bunch of hero fanatics as him. Then he felt two strong hands latch onto his shirt. Mina’s narrowed eyes locked on to his. “You’ve been to Might Tower, Midori? Tell me everything.”

Izuku looked past Mina at Kirishima, who chuckled silently, and then across the table at Tenya. His buddy, his friend, the one guy who… still owed him some well-deserved payback for a certain battle trial, eighty-six kilotons worth. Light gleamed off Tenya’s glasses and he chopped his hand through the air like a samurai cutting a falling leaf. “It really is no big deal, Ashido. Izuku has been to Might Tower countless times, practically daily while we lived in Tokyo. Why, you know, he even has an apartment set up on the top floor for his own personal use at any time! He often stayed there for days at a time while his mother went on business trips.”

“You will take me there!” Mina proclaimed.

“Remind me to explain about how the Batcave is supposed to be a secret, Alfred,” Izuku groaned, rolling his eyes at Tenya.

“Oh no, my friend,” Tenya said. “You’re the one who decided you’re the Joker. Ochaco laid claim to Harley Quinn. I’m not sure who Bakugo would be, perhaps Lobo or John Constantine. But as for me….”

“Don’t you dare….”

“I’m Batman.”

After breakfast the classes went to their own homerooms. After a few minutes of idle chatter among the class, the door burst open. All Might strode confidently into the room wearing a yellow pinstripe business suit. Mr. Aizawa followed, looking as tired as some of the students felt. “Good morning, newbies! Welcome to our first Saturday heroics class. We’ve got four hours today, so by the time we’re done, you’ll probably all be feeling good and tired. You’ve all shown great improvement in your mobility this week, so we’ll be taking a bit of a field trip to put that into practice today. You’ll be learning how to move in a variety of disaster zones, and this will also serve as your introduction to rescue training, one of the most vital aspects of heroism! Because class B is not as advanced in this area, Ms. Kayama will be helping them today. However, we have a special guest teacher already on site! You can choose whether to wear your hero costumes or the standard PE uniform, but I strongly recommend your costumes! Today will give you a good chance to get used to moving in them. If you notice anything that hinders your movement, you will want to schedule a time with the support department for modifications as several of your classmates have already done. Now, suit up and meet in parking lot alpha. We’ll be taking a bus to our destination.”

All Might and Mr. Aizawa left the room, and the specialized storage compartment opened to allow the students to retrieve their costume cases. After a quick change in their respective locker rooms, the young hero hopefuls headed to parking lot alpha and the waiting bus. “Line up by seat number and prepare to board the bus,” Tenya called out.

“Is he for real?” Ochaco whispered, leaning against Izuku’s arm.

“Tenya likes things orderly,” Izuku said with a laugh. “I’d rather line up by hero name. Ultra is right beside Uravity.”

“So are Vintage and Yokai,” Mineta said quietly from nearby. “I’d rather we all just sit wherever we’re comfortable. She seems happy talking with Ojiro.” He gestured toward a blushing Ojiro and the rapidly nodding hood of Hagakure’s new costume.

“And, oh, Ojiro, Hatsume made me these hologram discs and a stun gun! I can’t wait to try them out!” Hagakure gushed loudly, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

“You’re welcome to sit beside me, ribbit,” Tsuyu said. “You made some mistakes, but have been trying to make up for them, Mineta. Don’t beat yourself up too much.”

“Tsuyu is right,” Yaomomo said. “I think you’ve been working hard to prove yourself, especially by going to Mr. Aizawa. I think we all feel you’ve made amends.”

“I want to make amends, but not assumptions,” Mineta said with a sad smile. “I do appreciate it, though.”

“Alright,” Mr. Aizawa called, “everyone on the bus.” Unfortunately for Tenya’s plans, the bus featured an open layout with seating along the windows facing inward, so everyone sat where they wanted.

Bakugo sat by himself, taking up as much space as he possibly could. Bulletproof armguards replaced his gauntlets, and instead of grenades his belt held pouches of first aid supplies, and he considered maybe soaking the gauze in his sweat as a bit of improvisation, but he’d have no way to keep them stable or detonate them. The outfit also included a lightweight protective material to shield his formerly exposed arms, chest, and neck. They’d even replaced the flare attached to his mask, substituting out the sharp metal plates with a dull-edged plastic, probably scared that he’d stab some loser in the head with it. Considering his mood at these unwelcome changes, he couldn’t even blame them. Damn Deku sat in the middle of the bus with his little round-faced tramp and four-eyes, everyone else spreading out from the nerd squad. He noticed Weird Hair – Kirishima – tap Deku’s shoulder with his fist, but he kept walking toward the back of the bus, sitting across from Bakugo. Looking up, he noticed they’d giving Kirishima a shirt too. “Heh, did they finally find the rest of your costume, Kirishima?”

“Hey, you remembered! I’ll take that as a good morning and send one back your way,” he said with the cheer of a morning person. “My original design was just stupid. Power Loader is a genius though.”

Bakugo growled. “We’ve met. He’s responsible for this crap.” He held up his arm, showing off the armguards. At least they’d matched his color scheme.

“Well, yeah, but it’s to protect us, right? I mean, look at all the people out there with fire quirks. I’m sure you’re tougher than most when it comes to explosions, but one of those things blowing up while you’re wearing it would still cause you a bad time.”

Bakugo nodded. W… Kirishima might have a damn point, not that he’d ever admit it. Overusing his quirk could cause minor burns on his hands despite all the time he spent toughening them up. While the gauntlets did have multiple fail safes, a hot enough flame could overwhelm that. “Nothing I couldn’t handle,” he said instead.

“If you say so,” Kirishima said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a small, wrapped package that he handed to Bakugo. “Speaking of remembering things, I know it’s a bit late, and it’s not much, but happy birthday. April twentieth, right? I know today’s the twenty-third, but I didn’t know until yesterday.”

“How the Hell...?” Bakugo asked, but then looked toward the middle of the bus where Deku was laughing at something Four-eyes said. Deku hadn’t said a word about it to him but told the one person in class Katsuki remotely talked to. “Nah, scratch that, I can guess. Make it ‘why the Hell.’ I’m self-aware enough to know I’ve been a complete dick to everyone in the class, including you.”

“Dude, nobody should have a birthday without a bit of celebration! Besides, I don’t think anyone is a complete dick. Go ahead and open it. Like I said, it isn’t much, but I think you’ll like it.” Kirishima smiled

While Deku hadn’t stopped his conversation with most of the extras, the damn nerd occasionally glanced at Bakugo and Kirishima. Swallowing the impulse to yell at Deku to mind his own damn business, Katsuki removed the horrible wrapping job, revealing a keychain of a Bob-omb from Super Mario. He held it up with a smirk. His birthdays at Aldera had become contests over the years, with all his followers trying to outdo each other and get him the best gift. He never admitted it, but before moving the damn nerd won hands down every year, giving him some rare piece of All Might merch that no one else could find or had even heard of before in a few cases. This year seemed odd to him, only a small dinner with his parents with a few gifts from the old man and the hag. He pulled out his keys and added the key chain. “Best damn gift I’ve gotten in a long damn time, Kirishima.”

The shark-toothed boy’s smile could have led ships into harbor on a moonless night. Despite himself, Bakugo felt in a slightly better mood than usual, up until he heard what the extras and the nerd discussed. “Your quirk is almost the same as All Might’s quirk,” the Frogger girl said to Deku. There went the good mood.

“Superficially, I suppose,” Izuku said. Thankfully, he’d planned for exactly this sort of situation with the League of Extraordinary Mentors. “Nobody knows exactly what All Might’s quirk is, including me before you ask. We know it includes incredible strength, stamina, and durability, but not much beyond that. My quirk enhances all my stats, but I’m nowhere near his level yet.”

“Yeah, but even if you never reach All Might’s level, you’ll probably be the one of us to go furthest up the rankings,” Yaoyorozu said. “Unlike my quirk, all I can do is make…”

“Anything!” Izuku interrupted. “Your quirk is incredibly versatile. You can produce anything needed for the situation. An augmentation quirk isn’t going to keep someone warm when they need a blanket or produce a part to fix a broken generator. I think every single one of us will be awesome pros! I can’t wait to buy my first bits of Uravity and Alchemist merch or wear a Froppy t-shirt or hook my phone into a Chargebolt branded charger.”

“Oui,” Aoyama said, “I think we will all be popular, but you will be highest on the charts.”

“Well, we won’t all be popular,” Tsuyu said. “Bakugo’s too unhinged.”

Kirishima grabbed Bakugo before he could get out of his seat. “I’ll kill you, Frog-face!’ Bakugo yelled.

“Come on, calm down, dude,” Kirishima tried.

“See? Tsuyu’s right,” Kaminari said. “Despite only a week of social interaction, we all can clearly see Bakugo’s personality is comparable to a burning dumpster full of used diapers.”

Kirishima reflexively hardened as sparks started erupting from Bakugo’s hands. “Kaminari, dude… not helping,” Kirishima sighed.

“Let me go, Kirishima,” Bakugo said, “I’m going to shove a dictionary into Pikachu’s charging port and expand his damn vocabulary that way.”

Izuku could feel the waves of indecision rolling off Tenya. While his friend took his responsibilities as a class rep seriously, neither Tenya or Ochaco hid their dislike of Bakugo well, and Tenya sometimes let his critical nature get the best of himself. Before Tenya could say something regrettable, Izuku chimed in. “You’re being a bit unfair to Bakugo. I’ve known him a long time, and I think he’ll be a great hero someday. We all have things to work on and we’ll probably all be completely different by the time we graduate.”

Bakugo’s glare turned toward Izuku, but at least he stopped struggling to break Kirishima’s grip. “I don’t need you defending me, you damn Deku!”

“Maybe we do have stuff to work on,” Sato said, turning to Izuku and pointedly ignoring Bakugo’s outburst, “but I’m not so sure about you, big guy. You got a perfect score on the entrance exam!”

Izuku laughed. “I’ve got plenty to work on. Poor judgement for one. I screwed up the scenario for our first class.”

Jiro shot him a wink, “And he admitted having the occasional dirty thought.”

Ochaco blushed red while Izuku sputtered, unable to think of a response. Mineta filled the silence with, “Wow. First time I’ve ever been mistaken for someone as tall as Midoriya,” to a couple of chuckles.

“Alright, settle down, class,” Aizawa said as the bus rolled to a stop. “We’re here.”

All Might and Mr. Aizawa led the class up the stairs to an immense domed building and the wide double doors opened silently as they approached. “Welcome, newbies,” All Might’s voice echoed, “to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. I’m honored to introduce our special guest instructor today, pro hero Thirteen!”

Ochaco shook with excitement beside Izuku, grabbing his arm and shaking him so much he worried that his suit would lose structural integrity. Tenya leaned over and whispered to Izuku “Take a good look, my friend. This is what you look like every single time you meet a new hero.”

“I’m not this bad,” Izuku whispered back.

“True,” Tenya said, adjusting his glasses, “you’re worse.”

“Both of you hush,” Ochaco said, “Thirteen inspired me! She’s the reason I want to be a hero.”

“Why, thank you,” Thirteen said, nodding toward Ochaco. “As All Might said, I’m Thirteen. I’m a part-time instructor here at UA High, and I specialize in search and rescue. I have one or two points, well, maybe three, no… four… possibly five points I want to make before we get started. My quirk is called Black Hole. I’m able to create a powerful gravitational field from my fingers, capable of crushing anything into nothingness, even light itself. As you can imagine, my power is incredibly dangerous, and a moment of carelessness is all it would take to kill.” She looked around at the gathered students and noted the pale faces of a few of them. “Many of you probably have powers that could be similarly lethal. Our society relies on us having control of our powers, and it is our responsibility to save lives, not end them.”

A voice echoed through the USJ, booming over the PA system. “Well, where’s the fun in that?” Swirling portals of dark mist opened throughout the huge facility, figures jumping through them to take positions in each of the zones. The largest portal opened near the fountain in the central plaza, a man wearing a black outfit and fourteen disembodied hands clutching him in various places on his arms, chest, shoulders, and head. Despite the distance, his voice could be heard clearly like a whisper across a tombstone. To his right hovered a man made of a darkened cloud with glowing yellow eyes. To his left stood a hideous beaked creature as large as All Might, his Stygian flesh covered with scars and pealed back at the top of his head, exposing his brain. Other figures moved out of the portal, spreading out to control the plaza.

All Might touched his chest, saying quietly, “Shield Armor, configuration alpha.” Red, white, blue, and gold metal flowed from the device on his chest, shredding his suit and replacing it with his current, golden age costume. “Obviously, villains, you didn’t know that I am here!”

“Oh, we knew. We were counting on it. We’re here to break the Peace, but we’ll gladly kill all of these students to make sure you take us seriously.”

Chapter Text

Heroes tend to specialize.

Although every hero worth their salt develops a variety of skills and can deal with almost any situation, quirks and natural inclination inevitably leads to a hero being better at certain tasks. Shota Aizawa specialized in ambush combat, fighting one-on-one or in small groups to neutralize street-level crime. Thirteen, while certainly powerful, focused on search and rescue, using Black Hole to carefully clear debris and destroy dangerous chemicals. Nezu’s skills shined in a support role, organizing complex strategy far from the field.

All Might, unlike most heroes, could fill nearly any role to near perfection. The one area, other than popularity, where he reigned supreme was as a battlefield commander. Even a hero experienced in leading a large and complex agency with dozens of sidekicks would defer to All Might on the field. While he might be a novice teacher and follow Aizawa’s lead in the classroom, with villains to face, All Might assumed his unquestioned place as the leader. “Eraserhead, Thirteen, protecting the students is our top priority. Get them back to the bus or, if there are villains outside, to a defensible position. Ultra, Reciprocator, Uravity; call for aid. Students, follow your teachers’ orders to the letter. I authorize quirk usage for self-defense, but only if you or another is in immediate danger. For those who have chosen, use hero names. Otherwise, stick to first names only!”

The three named students had their phones out in an instant. “No signal, sir,” Izuku reported. “Should be impossible since it can access all cellular networks, shortwave, citizen’s band, and satellite. There must be something jamming it.”

“Class, huddle together. Reciprocator and Thirteen, take the lead to the doors,” Aizawa said. “Alchemist and Detonator take the left flank; Uravity and Shoto, you’ve got the right flank. Ultra, you’re with me to guard the rear.”

“Tentacole and Earphone Jack, cover your ears. Sorry about the mess in advance, Thirteen,” All Might called, leaping into the air. He plummeted like a meteor into the central plaza with a yell of “California Smash!” As he touched the ground, his massive fists slammed into the pavement, setting off a shockwave that felt like an earthquake, knocking villains to the ground. Only the three leaders of the League of Villains seemed unaffected.

The one adorned with disembodied hands turned to the man of mist. “He’s trying to protect the NPCs. Queue up a difficult escort slash gathering mission for him.”

“Understood,” the mist man intoned, vanishing in a swirl of inky black.

“As for the rest of you, five billion yen to the villain who kills the Symbol of Peace,” the man said from behind the mummified hand covering his face.

All Might smirked as the recovering villains rushed to attack him. “Too scared to do your own dirty work?” He laughed as a man with four arms and a body made of steel punched him. A single return blow sent All Might’s attacker flying into another villain with bluish skin, two horns, and a single eye. “I don’t think any of this rabble has what it takes to collect your bounty. Even if they do,” and he paused to toss a woman with needles for hair into another villain with guns for hands, “they’ll only face a more fearsome foe than me… the tax collector!”

As the hero students and their teachers approached the door cautiously, a dark vortex opened before them. “Greetings, students and faculty of UA High School. I am Kurogiri, second-in-command of the League of Villains. I regret that I must…”

“Die!” Bakugo interrupted, leaping past Ida with explosions propelling him forward. Kirishima activated his hardening, leaping into the fray, but Kurogiri simply opened a portal, the two boys' momentum forcing them through.

Bakugo’s mad rush had knocked Ida in front of Thirteen. “Reciprocator, get clear!” Thirteen yelled, as the boy scrambled to regain his footing.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Kurogiri said, “I regret that I must send you to your deaths.” Portals began opening in the ground underneath the students, many of them falling through.

Aizawa’s eyes flashed red, but the portals continued. Izuku yelled “Uravity, float!” He leaped, grabbing Tenya’s arm and pulling his friend out of Thirteen’s line of sight. “He’s a teleporter! The mist must obscure his real body, so Eraserhead can’t cancel his quirk.”

“That won’t stop me,” Thirteen announced, the caps on her right glove pointed at Kurogiri and flipped open, creating a devastating gravitational pull that began to rip the mist away from Kurogiri. With a wave of his hand, a pair of portals appeared in the air in front and behind Thirteen. She screamed as the back of her hero costume ripped away, costume and skin torn to shreds by her own power. Aizawa’s gaze flickered to her, cancelling her quirk, and saving her life, but wasting a brief window of possible vulnerability for the villain.

More portals opened, catching most of the remaining students, leaving only an incapacitated Thirteen, Aizawa, Tenya, Ochaco, and Izuku at the entrance.

With a yell, Mineta fell through the air, spinning around and preparing to throw his adhesive orbs at the ground in hopes that he’d be able to bounce off them with a minimum of injury, only to find himself falling into a lake. He took a deep breath as he plunged into the water. A shark headed villain swam toward him with a wide grin. “Damn, you’re barely an appetizer, but beggars can’t be choosers. Sorry, kid, but the confirmed kill of a student is worth one hundred million!”

A powerful kick from a green booted foot connected with the shark villain, knocking lose several teeth. Tsuyu winked at Mineta, her tongue whipping through the water and wrapping around his waist as her powerful legs shot them toward the surface. “Are you okay, ribbit?” she asked as he took huge gulps of air and nodded. “There’s a ship nearby. We better get there quick before whatever that is notices us.” She pointed into the depths of the water, where a huge black mass of… something writhed and twisted.

“G… good idea!” Mineta gulped, breaking into a swim. As soon as he reached the boat, he began plucking adhesive orbs off his head, using them to climb up. “Um, they’re a bit waterlogged, so they’re not as sticky as usual. You can use them to climb up.”

In response, Tsuyu’s tongue shot out, wrapping around the guard rail on the deck and hoisting her up. “Thanks anyway. I could have saved you the trouble.”

“No trouble,” Mineta said, trying his absolute hardest not to think about Tsuyu’s tongue, or her costume, for that matter. “Seems strange that they’d only send one villain after us. Do you think we should just hide inside the ship until this is over? I mean, All Might’s here!”

She looked back at the water, a concerned expression on her normally blank face. “I don’t think there was just one, ribbit. I can see better through the water than most people. Whatever’s below us seems to have beaten them, and it’s heading this way.” The dark mass grew larger and larger, the water thrashing into violent waves that shook the boat.

“Move to the other side of the boat and get ready to swim for shore as fast as you can, Froppy. I’d just slow you down, but I might be able to slow that thing down too!” Mineta said.

“Vintage,” Tsuyu said, “I think we’re okay, ribbit.”

An enormous hand shot out of the water, dwarfing the ship. As it swung down toward the deck, it shrunk and slowed, setting an unconscious figure on the deck. Dark Shadow looked at the two students, eyes focusing on Tsuyu. “Please, help Fumi, Frog Girl!” Mineta reached for the feathered boy, but Dark Shadow turned and hissed. “You keep away from him!”

Tsuyu felt at Tokoyami’s neck. “He has a pulse, ribbit, but he’s having trouble breathing.” She turned Tokoyami’s head to the side. “His beak will make rescue breaths impossible.”

“No, it won’t!” Mineta said. “I can turn my suit sticky to create a seal and then turn it off.”

Dark Shadow hissed. “If you touch him, I’ll tear you apart.”

“Dark Shadow, he’s trying to help,” Tsuyu said, “ribbit.”

Mineta gulped. “Can you wait until after Tsukuyomi is okay before tearing me apart?”

Dark Shadow glanced at her host, and then back at Mineta, eyeing the adhesive orbs on Mineta’s head. Tokoyami coughed, letting out a wet, labored sound. That seemed to push Dark Shadow over the edge. “If he dies, I die, but I’ll still have enough time to make sure you join us.”

“Fair enough. Vintage Viscosity,” Mineta said, and his suit shimmered for a moment. He placed his hands on the sides of Tokoyami’s beak, making sure to create a tight seal with a small gap near the tip of the beak. “Sorry about this, Tsukuyomi. Froppy, he’s got small nostrils on either side of his beak, help me tilt his head back and cover them, please.” She did, and Mineta took a deep breath, placing his mouth over the gap and pushing five breaths into Tokoyami’s mouth. “Okay, thirty gentle chest compression, please. I’m kind of stuck.” Tsuyu compressed Tokoyami’s chest repeatedly, then Mineta gave two more big breaths, followed by another thirty compressions. After repeating this cycle twice, Tokoyami violently coughed, spitting up a huge amount of water right into Mineta’s face. “Ugg, Vintage Aversion!” Mineta yelled. His suit lost all stickiness and he fell back.

Dark Shadow raised her hand above Mineta, ready to strike, when Tokoyami weakly said, “No, Dark Shadow. Mineta… Asui… thank you. I feel terrible. Oh, sorry… hero names only during an incident. Vintage and Froppy.”

“Call me Tsuyu. What happened, ribbit?” Tsuyu asked.

“I fell through one of those ebon vortexes and landed in the water,” Tokoyami croaked. “I’ve never been the most accomplished swimmer and got disoriented. Several villains surrounded me, and one released a cloud of what I believe to be squid ink. It blocked all light.”

“Won’t make that mistake again,” Dark Shadow said smugly.

"Won't make that mistake again," Kirishima moaned, after he slammed into the ground on what looked like the set of some earthquake movie, with barely standing buildings and piles of rubble strewn about. Bakugo had landed nearby in the middle of a cracked street; numerous junked cars partially buried in rubble lining it. Bakugo stood with a quick kip up, but Kirishima groaned and looked around. “Ha! San Andreas and I’m the Rock, dude!”

Bakugo rolled his eyes. “You’re almost as bad as the damn nerd.”

Kirishima started to rise, but before he could another portal opened above him and Mina crashed into him, her knees landing on his shoulders and pushing him back to the ground pinning him with all her weight applied to his upper chest by her rather firm posterior. “Damn, that hurt. Sorry about that, Kiri!”

Kirishima managed to wheeze out, “Oh baby… you had me at hello.” He looked away from her… hips, mere centimeters from his chin.

“Either screw him or get off, Racoon Eyes,” Bakugo said, rolling his eyes, “but if it’s option one, I’m getting the Hell out of here.”

She frowned, getting off Kirishima and helping the redheaded boy up. “Must you be a total dick all the time?” she directed at Bakugo.

“Yes, I must. It’s an allergic reaction to idiots.”

“God, it must suck being allergic to yourself,” she shot back, giving him an akanbe gesture by pulling down one of her lower eyelids and sticking out her tongue.

“Come on, chill out, both of you,” Kirishima the peace maker said, trying his best not to linger on thoughts of option one. “Where are we?”

“California,” Bakugo said, venting his frustration. He let out a deep breath. “Crap, she might believe it,” he said, cocking his thumb toward Ashido. “This is the USJ. I’ve read articles about it. This is the collapsed city zone. The only way back to the entrance is through the central plaza where All Might’s fighting all those goons, but we’ve got bigger problems.”

“What’s bigger than that?” Raccoon Eyes asked.

“Well, if you’d paid attention when they showed up, you’d know that mist schmuck opened portals all over USJ when they made their grand entrance. There are probably,” he paused, spinning around, and blasting a villain in the face. He grabbed the chameleon-featured criminal who had leaped at him, slamming his face into the ground until he stopped moving, “more chuckleheads like this moron around here.” Checking the villain, he found a bandoleer of knives, and pulled out several, using them to pin the villain to the ground by his clothes.

“You’re right, he did have friends,” a pale woman with an outfit that looked a pair of tights made of barb wire said, “and nothing personal, kid, but each of you is worth one hundred million dead.” Five other villains moved into view, circling the trio.

Kirishima activated hardening, the ornamental cracks in his costume glowing with a pulsating red. Liquid started dripping from Ashido’s hands as she moved into a ready stance. As for Bakugo, he grinned. “Good luck spending it after we rip your freaking arms and legs off. It won’t even start to cover your medical expenses.” Bakugo rushed forward, grabbing Barberella’s arm and tossing her into one of the other villains, a man with hundreds of tiny, sharp tentacles instead of arms. Both let out a scream as they collided, and Bakugo added to their trouble with an explosion to the woman’s right shoulder, sending the two tumbling together, tentacles and barb wire hopelessly entwined.

“You’ll pay for that,” some villain with four arms yelled, rushing for Bakugo’s back, but he met Kirishima’s fist long before he got close enough to attack. A few quick punches left the man unconscious, and Kirishima effortlessly hoisted the man up, tossing him into a woman with a knife. She struggled to free herself, but a quick hold Ojiro taught to Kirishima knocked her out as well.

Mina dodged a tackle from a man wearing an iron facemask, leaving a glob of thick sticky acid on the helmet, causing it to steam and hiss, blocking all the airholes. He thrashed around, pulling off the mask and revealing comically huge eyes. He covered them with a scream when Bakugo unleashed a flash explosion. Another man with spiky brown hair ran for it as Ashido shot a stream of acid after him from her wrist launchers. “Yeah, you better run!” she yelled. “If I see you again, I’m going to kick your ass!”

Almost against his will, Bakugo let out a laugh. “Save it, Rocket. Let’s see if we can get back to the entrance. We’ve got to take out the Aperture Science reject.”

Kirishima said, “Hold on, dude. We already tried that, remember? We got in Thirteen’s way and got sent here.”

“Look, as long as they’ve got a teleporter on the field, the bastards have a tactical advantage,” Bakugo countered. “They can bring in fresh villains and get their wounded out. We cut off their escape route and we can crush them.”

“All Might said we could only fight if we’re in immediate danger,” Mina pointed out.

Bakugo grinned, “He didn’t know the bastards put a price on our heads. Besides, if the teleporter is active, we’re all in immediate danger.”

“If the teleporter is active, we’re all in immediate danger,” Izuku said, leaping away from another portal that opened below his feet. Ochaco moved through the air, zigzagging to avoid portals that kept opening in her path. Tenya did the same on the ground, but the villain seemed particularly interested in keeping him away from the exit.

Aizawa sidestepped another portal, activating his quirk to no avail. “Erasure isn’t working through that mist!”

“Then we’ll have to try a different approach,” Izuku said. He called up the sixth wielder’s quirk and fired off a rapid sequence of air blasts. “Kansas Smash!” Izuku ran while firing off blasts, changing direction often to keep the blasts coming from different angles. Green lightning arced off his skin, surrounding him in a field of energy.

Kurogiri opened portal after portal, redirecting the shots either harmlessly, or toward Izuku’s allies. “Your resistance is hopeless! Surrender now and your deaths will be quick and painless.”

Izuku chose that moment to leap into the air, firing a blast with his left hand to position himself above the villain, and raining down multiple shots from above, three hitting their target and obscuring Kurogiri’s vision in a patch of green smoke. “Yes!” Izuku shouted, pumping his fist. “Force blast on the door, Uravity!” They both fired together, blowing the huge double doors of their hinges. A black mist covered hand pierced the green smoke, so Izuku fired another blast, stronger and bigger than his earlier shots. “Oh, no you don’t!” He dropped to the ground in a fighting stance, drawing his fist back. The moment he did, the cloud surged toward him, ripping the black mist with it as Tenya Ida made his escape. He hid his surprise well. “Go Reciprocator! Get the other teachers!”

Kurogiri screamed as he stood exposed before the heroes. Unable to float without his black mist, his feet touched the concrete and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He wore a white shirt with a grey vest over it, completed by a black and red tie, black slacks, and dress shoes. The pale skin on his hands stretched tight over the bones, large black scars running across their surface with surgical precision. The neck armor that seemed to be for protection served a different purpose. It appeared to be part of a full body brace and might have been the only thing keeping the emaciated villain upright.

Shota Aizawa activated Erasure, but part of him wished he hadn’t. Erasure required him to look at his target, so he stared into the face of the villain who tried to take the lives of his students… his kids, damnit. Kurogiri’s skin had been cut open in multiple places and then sown back together by someone who couldn’t care less about the appearance of the subject. The grey of brain matter could be seen in places, but parts of the scalp remained, with limp strands of light blue hair standing up in tufts. Blue eyes stared coldly at him, and despite all the black scars that lined his face, one of them remained white, a thin line across the bridge of his nose. In his time as a hero, he’d rescued captives who suffered from starvation, and the man before him seemed in a similar state. The shock from seeing those strangers horrified him to the core but seeing someone he knew in that condition ripped his soul apart. “O… Oboro? It… no. It can’t be you!”

Kurogiri’s head slumped to the side, held up by the neck brace. His eyes locked on the pro hero in front of him, his voice sounded like gravel scrapping on a tombstone. “Shota… how’s… Sushi?”

“Shota? Sushi? Do you mean Midnight’s cat?” Izuku asked. “Eraserhead, do you know this man?”

His normally dry eyes betrayed him, and for the first time in years, Shota Aizawa cried. Too overcome with emotion, he blinked to wipe away the tears. The moment he did, the black mist oozed from every scar lining the skin of the man once known as Oboro Shirakumo. Kurogiri stood in his rightful place now, and his eyes flared a bright yellow, a portal opening beneath the distracted boy. “I do not know of this Oboro you speak of. I am Kurogiri, of the League of Villains.” He opened a portal behind him with a minor wave, and Ochaco passed through it, her attempt to touch the villain thwarted. “Rejoice, Shota Aizawa, for your survival, at least for this day, has been granted by my master. He asked me to deliver a message to you, for your own masters.”

Aizawa’s capture weapon shot out, but passed harmlessly into a portal that snapped closed, cutting the cloth into pieces. Dropping into a defensive stance, Aizawa moved cautiously trying to get into close range. “Oboro, listen to me. I know you. I can get you help. Surrender and we’ll undo whatever was done to you.”

“I told you before, Shota Aizawa, I am Kurogiri. The message is this,” an ebon vortex opened behind Kurogiri, and he hovered backwards into it, only his yellow eyes remaining visible as it closed, “by all means, use your queen to capture our queen’s knight’s pawn.”

Chapter Text

The war raged. They had not been this close to the touch of the corrupted one in a long time, so they went to war.

Most of the horde were irrelevant, only influenced by honeyed words or threats, but a few had felt his vile touch. Those were solid in this place, and they could battle them. The same vile touch that gave the corrupted one’s agents power also made them vulnerable.

Of the company, none fought harder than the woman. For all that her face held sadness, it also held fury. Each bit that she hacked away from the monster became a tribute and benediction to those who came after her.

Hanta Sero groaned as a hand shook him awake. “Ugg, five more minutes, mom,” he muttered. His eyes shot open with the realization that his bed had somehow changed into a puddle of mud. Instead of a warm blanket, cold raindrops pelted him heavily. “What the…?”

Koda held a finger to his lips, miming a shushing motion, even though he didn’t make a sound. Sato stood above both boys, hands clenched into fists. He scanned the immediate area despite the low visibility, then nodded to himself. He held out a hand to Sero. “Can you stand, buddy?” he asked quietly. “There are villains nearby and they seem to be looking for us.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Sero whispered back, taking the huge boy’s hand, and allowing Sato to pull him up from the mud. He looked around, spotting a group of hazy figures at a distance in what appeared to be a small village. They seemed to be checking each of the houses one by one. The boys were crouched on the small muddy trail through the woods, making them nearly impossible to see from this distance.

Koda tapped their shoulders, pointing a little off the path. There, barely visible through the underbrush, stood the entrance to a small cave at the base of a small hill. “Good job, K… Anima,” Sato whispered. “Let’s hope it is big enough for us all to fit.”

Sato grinned, moving off the path away from the cave, making sure to break several branches before walking carefully backwards to rejoin his companions. Koda gave a thumbs up and Sero nodded in appreciation. “Dude,” Sero whispered, “that was brilliant.” Together they moved toward the cave and Koda pointed to himself, crawling into the cave since his width exceeded the other two. He seemed to freeze for a moment, then relaxed and crawled further into the cave. A moment later his face reappeared, and he used both arms to make a big “O” sign above his head. He then made the sign for quiet and waved for the two boys to follow him.

Sato and Sero both froze when they saw what caused Koda to hesitate before. Koda held up his hands in the okay sign again. Sleeping at the back of the cave was a huge bear. Koda shook his head, walked up to the bear, and picked it up. “Holy crap,” Sero whispered to Sato, “that’s the most realistic stuffed animal I’ve ever seen.” Koda smiled with a vigorous nod of his head, positioning the replica so it could be seen from the entrance to the cave.

The three students huddled together at the back of the cave trying to stay warm despite their soggy clothing. After a few minutes, they heard distant yells from outside, but nothing that sounded close. After a few moments, Sato let out a chuckle and whispered, “Not how I imagined my first encounter with villains would go; hiding behind a teddy bear.”

Koda let out a quiet snort that got Sero giggling with his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound. Thankfully the pounding rain outside damped the sound enough that someone would have to enter the cave to hear them. Sero grinned. “At least we’re in a dry cave while those villains are out in the rain. I’m sure for them, this is unbearable.”

“This is unbearable,” Ojiro yelled, blocking another punch from the huge villain, numbness spreading along his arm despite the padded armguards absorbing the blow. Shoji nodded, another punch to their foe’s back proving ineffective. The two boys ended up falling into the conflagration zone surrounded by seven villains. Although they made short work of three foes each, the last of the villains seemed to be made of a thin layer of obsidian laid over thick magma. Waves of heat seemed to roll off the criminal, and he laughed every time the boys tried to harm him.

“The hotter it is, the stronger I am,” he laughed. “You’re no match for Balrog, so just give up and I’ll kill you quick! If I’ve got to catch you little punks, you’ll cook from the outside in while I carry you back to Shigaraki to collect the price on your heads.”

“You’ll find Tentacole harder to catch than you think, criminal,” Shoji said, pitching a chunk of debris at the villain’s head, but Balrog moved his forearm to cover his face, and the debris shattered without causing harm.

Ojiro pulled out a thick metal rod from a sling across his back, and with a spin, it expanded to the size of a staff. “And Sun Wukong shall not fall to the likes of you!” He aimed several blows toward the villain, his staff extending each time with the force of a battering ram. The only strike the villain bothered to block would have struck his face. Ojiro and Shoji both shared a nod since this might point to a weakness in the villain’s defenses.

With a yell, Shoji ripped a car door off a junked vehicle and threw it at the monster’s head. Balrog raised both his arms to block it, distracted enough to allow Ojiro to do a spin, his staff extending at the last moment to crash into the back of the villain’s head with a loud crack. The vibrations along the length of the staff nearly shook it out of his hands, but he held on as the staff retracted.

The villain slowly turned. “I’m just as invulnerable there as anywhere else, you little bastards, but my head’s the only place I can feel pain. Now… you’ve pissed me off.” He slammed his fists into the ground, pulling up a massive chunk of concrete that he effortlessly tossed at Shoji. With anger fueled speed, he rushed forward, narrowly missing Ojiro and plunging his fist straight through a car’s engine block. This continued for several minutes, one boy drawing his attention while the other retreated, but both the hopeful heroes were slowing, while the villain seemed to be getting faster.

His attention seemed focused on Ojiro for the moment as Shoji moved into position, but with a casual backhand, the villain slammed the corner of a burning two-story building behind him. With a yelp, Shoji leaped away as the building collapsed onto him and the villain. He almost made it, but part of the roof pinned his leg, a shock of pain running through him as he felt it snap. Ojiro ran over, using his staff as leverage to lift the chunk of the roof enough for Shoji to pull himself free. “Oh, damn, Tentacole. This doesn’t look good. I can do a temporary set, but it’s going to hurt.”

“Do it,” Shoji muttered, and then the mouth disappeared from the end of the tentacle. His eyes winced closed as Ojiro set the leg, pulling off one of his leg guards and carefully putting it on Shoji’s leg. He silently thanked Power Loader’s foresight in making these things adjustable. After a few moments, a mouth reappeared. “Thank you, Sun Wukong.”

Ojiro helped him up, encouraging the taller boy to lean on him. “Come on, Tentacole, we need to find a safe place to hide until… oh no.” Behind them, the pile of rubble shifted, and a large obsidian hand appeared, smoke rising from it as it pushed debris aside.

“Like that would even slow me down! You little bastards are dead. I’ll get paid just as much for your heads as I will the whole body! So first I’m going to….”

Whatever Balrog planned to do to them, a beam of pure energy struck the back of his head and, just for a moment, a brilliant white light lit his eyes and his open mouth. Then the light died completely and with it, Balrog. Cracks spread along his obsidian skin, magma oozing out of them as his body fell apart, revealing a sad looking figure standing behind the villain’s mortal remains.

“I’m sorry,” Aoyama said, tears rolling down his pale cheeks to fall on the hot asphalt in small sizzles.

“I’m sorry,” a woman with gorilla arms said to Shoto Todoroki, who stood alone in the landslide zone, looking calmly at the villains who surrounded him, “but you’re worth one hundred-million-yen dead. I’d hate to scar that pretty boy face more than it already is, so I promise we won’t touch it.” She started to move forward.

Todoroki scoffed. “None of you will touch me at all.” He let out a breath, condensing into a white cloud in front of his face as the temperature plummeted. “Flash Freeze.” He brought his right foot down, sending an expanding circle of ice out in all directions, instantly freezing the villains solid. With his left hand, he generated a wave of heat at head level, melting the ice enough to allow the criminals to breath. He slowly walked toward the gorilla-armed woman. “You have five or so minutes before hypothermia starts killing your skin cells. So, I want information in exchange for saving you. You obviously came here to kill All Might. What makes you think you even have a hope against him when you can’t even handle a student?”

“W…we’re t…the distraction.”

A huge fur-covered fist slammed into the back of Todoroki’s head, knocking him to the ground. “Ice don’t work so good against someone with all the powers of a yeti!” The villain wrapped an arm around Todoroki’s leg lifting the unconscious boy into the air.

“Great job, Abominable!” Gorilla said through shivering lips. “Get us out of this ice.”

Abominable shrugged. “Sorry, but the bounty splits a lot better for one than it does for seven.”

“You bastard,” she yelled after him as Abominable trudged toward the central plaza. He moved slowly thanks to the unstable ground, but after a minute the voices had faded away.

He’d almost made it to the edge of the zone when a husky voice whispered, “You betrayed them, Abominable… left them to die… die… die… die….”

He spun around in a full circle, but all he could see was dirt, rubble, and uprooted trees. “Who the Hell’s there?”

“It wasn’t the first time, was it?” the voice asked in a whisper, but then shrieked, “Traitor!”

“C… come out or I’ll kill him!”

“One more death on your hands… always one more,” the voice whispered, “but are you brave enough to do it yourself?” Was someone behind him? “Liar!” He spun to the left. “Coward!” He swung behind him but found only air. “Betrayer!” To the right now. “Murderer!”

“I’ve never killed anyone!” Abominable yelled.

“You just left your allies to die, and you plan to kill a child, or deliver him to those who would kill him, and you expect forgiveness?” He set the student down, eyes darting around in paranoia. “You may not have committed the deed directly, but their blood is on your hands.” Dark clouds seemed to form around Abominable, and he let out a small shriek as the mists slowly seemed to solidify into figures around him. “You betrayed them, and the dead have sent us for vengeance! Today you will join them, and they’ll have their revenge!” The massive villain swung at one of the shapes, his hand passing through it as though it were empty air. The figures reached up and drew back their hoods in unison, revealing that none of them had a head. “I’ll have your head to replace my own!” He screamed, fell to his knees, and covered his own head with his massive arms.

If the fur-covered villain hadn’t been terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, he might have felt the two small metal posts of the stun gun press against his back. He certainly felt all four-point-nine milliamps as the current completely disrupted his nervous system. Hagakure went back and let Hatsume take a bit more hair, enough to add a small pouch and a completely enclosed holster for a stun gun to her costume. Abominable collapsed completely with a gentle push from Hagakure’s foot. Even if no one could see it, she grinned with satisfaction at a job well done as she collected the holographic disks she’d dropped. “Well, the dead will have to be satisfied with you losing control of your bladder for today.”

She knelt beside Todoroki, checked his injury, and gently shook him awake. He woke a bit dazed. “What? Hagakure?”

“Yokai on the field, remember, Shoto? Let’s do a quick check for concussion. I hate to do this to you, but you’ve got to thaw out those villains.”

“Oh, um, I lied. They’ll lose consciousness and fall over before cell damage. Between how warm the air is and their body temperature, the ice will melt before it can cause serious damage.” He paused. “I hope I didn’t catch you in that.”

“Nope, I was far enough away that you missed me, and I was keeping my distance because I know you like those area of effect attacks.” She tilted her head to the side, “You’re a good liar. Let’s find some place to hide.”

“Thanks,” he said, standing up. “Hey, wait… I’m not a good liar.”

Even if he couldn’t see it, he could hear the grin in Hagakure’s voice. “Oh, come on!”

“Oh, come on!” Kaminari whined as villains moved to surround them. Jiro, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari found themselves in a mountain region. Yaoyorozu produced a staff for herself and a military style machete for Jiro. “Hey, what about me?” Kaminari asked.

“Can’t you just apply the shocker?” Jiro said with a snort, holding up her free hand with all her fingers in the air except her ring finger.

“First of all, gross. Second, I can’t aim. My range is either touch or AOE!”

“Good to know,” one of the villains said, swinging his sickle shaped hands at Yaoyorozu, who jumped nimbly out of the way. “Shoot him, someone. Sooner we kill these kids the sooner we get paid.”

Jiro pushed Kaminari forward into one of the villains. “Don’t be shy, Chargebolt. Reach out and touch somebody.” The villain Kaminari collided with stiffened and collapsed to the ground. Jiro’s earphone jacks connected with her boots. “As for Alchemist and myself, we don’t take requests!” She released a wall of sound that knocked three of the criminals back and away from them.

Yaoyorozu held up her wrist. “Violet, Notes, Rubber.” A formula appeared in the air in front of her, and a rolled-up cylinder popped out of her chest. She held it above her head and her entire body glowed, releasing a spray of water as she breathed quickly. She unfurled it on the ground, a square of the material large enough for her and one other. “Earphone Jack!” Jiro hopped onto the square, clutching onto Yaoyorozu. “Do it, Chargebolt! The ground’s covered in salt water!”

“Oh, no,” one of the smarter criminals had time to say.

“Oh, Hell yeah!” Kaminari shouted. “Indiscriminate Shock One Point Three Million Volts!” The entire area lit up with a blinding yellow light, knocking all the villains off their feet. Electricity crawled over the area, incapacitating everyone but the two girls standing on the insulation provided by the sheet of rubber.

“Kick ass!” Jiro said. “You know, that was pretty damn amazing, Ka… Chargebolt.”

He turned around slowly to look at her, and a goofy grin split his face. He held his hands up, thumbs pointed toward the sky. “Yay! Yaaaay!”

Jiro snorted. “What the Hell’s wrong with you?”

“Yay?” he said, swaying to the side. “Kyoka… pretty. Yay!”

Yaoyorozu’s hand went to her mouth. “He may have disrupted his own electric field. Earphone Jack, we need to get him medical attention at once.”

“Nah, you two should really stay right where you are,” a man said, wrapping his arm around Kaminari’s neck and letting electricity arc between the fingers of his other hand. “Not that it will make much of a difference, since you’re all worth a lot of money dead. Pity that you didn’t know there was another electricity user here. The name’s Tesla, and all the boy did was charge me up.”

“Hey,” Jiro said. “You’re an electricity user, you could make serious bank legit. Why be a criminal?” Her earphone jacks started moving toward her boots behind her back.

“Because it’s fun and I get to kill people like you who underestimate me.” He glanced down at Kaminari and put his hand on the boy’s face. “Got to admit, I hate doing this to another electric user, but that’s what he gets for not being immune like me. And for the record, mine’s bigger. Five Million Volt Heart Stopper!”

Kaminari’s eyes snapped open as the electricity arced through his body with a faint smell of ozone. He locked eyes with the girls as his body went rigid, and for just a moment, his face held an expression of sheer bliss. Then, he winked at them and brought his left boot up into Tesla’s groin. He performed the exact same throw and chokehold that Ida used against Bakugo earlier in the week. “I’m afraid that I don’t have the martial arts training that our co-class representative has, so I’m going by memory here, but if I remember the anatomy book from school last year correctly, I should be applying enough pressure to your carotid arteries to render you unconscious. If I’m accidentally crushing your windpipe, I apologize profusely but take comfort that this is legally self-defense.” Tesla collapsed, and Kaminari felt for his pulse. “Excellent! Definitely the arteries.”

“Kaminari?” Jirou asked.

“Chargebolt in the field, Earphone Jack, but yes, it’s me.” He looked around. “They should be unconscious for at least a few hours.”

“What happened to you? You’re… smart!”

“Oh, yes, quite smart. My normal capacity is around three million volts, but my skin carries a charge when it is that high. I’m currently overclocked to around five million volts, so my brain is functioning more efficiently than normal. Do avoid touching me, I could give you a nasty shock. I typically store almost half of my natural charge in batteries before leaving for school. Sadly, it renders me a bit dim, like a sixty-watt lightbulb with only thirty to forty watts available. I don’t accidently hurt my friends this way, so it’s a fair trade and I’m smart enough to get by.” He looked at his hand, yellow sparks moving between his fingers. “I suspect it’s not enough of an overcharge to cause you injury, but I’ve been told it is rather painful at my default level and will probably sting badly at this voltage.”

They didn’t know each other well yet, but Jiro teased him for being a bit slow in their earlier conversations. “So, you’re really….”

“Not quite so dumb as you were led to believe, unwittingly of course. I’m probably tied with Reciprocator for third, although my test scores won’t reflect that. If one of you could let Eraserhead know about my condition, I would appreciate it. I keep forgetting to tell him when I’m in that state, and I suspect he hasn’t checked our records to avoid them having undue influence on his treatment of us. The jamming stopped, so Tesla was undoubtedly the one generating it. Odds are that Reciprocator escaped to alert the teachers, so we should seek cover until they arrive and secure the facility.”

Yaoyorozu nodded. “Of course, that’s just what I was thinking. You should talk to Power Loader. Perhaps your costume could incorporate some capacitors to store the excess electricity and provide some grounding, so you don’t accidentally shock someone. They might also be able to make a special school uniform and gloves to insulate you.”

Kaminari smiled. “Great minds think alike. I have designs written down at home, I just… keep forgetting. I’m like a computer in rest mode. Some tasks still function properly, English being one of them for some reason, but other things take longer to respond, especially math and things that aren’t routine.”

Jiro fidgeted. “Um, Chargebolt, I’m, um….”

He smiled sadly. “No, you don’t have to say anything. I completely understand. When I get back home at night, I charge myself up and review everything that happened that day. You have a very subtle sense of humor, Earphone Jack, but none of it has been malicious, and I often spend a few minutes laughing about the jokes I missed. If I could ask a favor while we’re in hiding…?”

“Sure,” Jiro said with a nod.

“Can we just… talk?” he asked, a single tear rolling down his face. “Like, regular talk, so I can get your jokes in real time with things not going over my head. I don’t get to do it often, and I really miss it sometimes.”

Before he could stop her, Jiro threw her arms around him and hugged him, and she didn’t give a damn how much it stung, especially through the salt water on their cheeks.

Chapter Text

All Might held many secrets that the world could never know, but some of these were secrets only because the subject never came up during an interview. Those closest to him, such as Izuku, Tenya, and his fellow heroes of the Might Agency knew that, in recent years, All Might became something of a gamer.

One day early in his training, after a hard day of working out, Izuku shyly asked All Might, “Would you like to come over and play Super Smash Brothers Ultra?” Little did he know that the slightly confused nod he gave the boy sealed his fate. Izuku patiently taught him the controls, walked him through the character selection process, and hid a giggle when All Might selected Captain Falcon. As for himself, Izuku chose a character named Link.

Not since his days of training with Nana and Gran Torino had he felt so out of his league. This is not to say that Izuku crushed him, he didn’t, but only because the boy held back. “My boy, are you toying with me?”

Izuku waved his hands wildly. “Not at all, All Might! This is the first time you’ve played. It’s rude to go all out against a person until they’ve had time to build up their skills.”

All Might nodded. “I suppose that’s a fair point. If Aizawa or I went all out during a sparring session with you….”

“Either of you would wipe the floor with me!” Izuku said with a grin. “You’ve got to take these things slow and build up the other person. Then, when they’re ready, you’ve got a real fight on your hands that you can enjoy. Besides, I’m having fun just spending time with you!” They both looked away with a slight blush.

“Well, knowing that, I suppose you’re my mentor in this arena. I would like to see what you can do when you’re not holding back, however,” All Might said, rubbing his chin.

“Well, if you’re sure, but don’t let it discourage you,” Izuku replied, “and only if you pick a character for me as a handicap.”

All Might again picked Captain Falcon, and for Izuku selected Sora. Izuku chuckled. “Are you sure? He’s one of the DLC characters, so he’s pretty strong.”

All Might reached over and ruffled Izuku’s hair. “I don’t know anything about the characters, and I suspect I’m in for a beating regardless of who I pick. However, he does have a similar hairstyle to you.”

Izuku shrugged and laughed, and the match started. Only All Might’s superior reflexes allowed him to dodge Izuku’s first attack, but then the boy executed move after devastating move in combos, chains, and cancels, narrating all the time exactly what he was doing before launching All Might’s character off the stage. The narration took longer than the actual fight. The second match ended in the same way; except this time, he didn’t manage to dodge that first attack. In barely any time at all, Captain Falcon flew away from the stage like the bird that was his namesake. “Sorry about that, All Might.”

“None of that, my boy. I can see that this old man has a lot to learn! Let’s go again!” For the first time in almost thirty years, he’d been soundly defeated, and loved every second of it.

After that day, Izuku and All Might often ended their days of training with an hour or two of video games. A few months after Izuku’s first visit to the tower, a television and several gaming consoles appeared in the Bullpen of Might Tower. All Might developed a love for RPGs as well, especially the ones with a good story, but he truly enjoyed the fighting games, finally reaching the point where he could keep up with Izuku, Tenya, and, not surprisingly, Present Mic and Gang Orca. Edgeshot and Aizawa both scoffed at the mention of joining in the festivities, until one day Midnight sent around a video of the two of them trying to figure out the game together.

Competitive though he might be in the field, All Might recognized that One For All was the ultimate cheat code, making most villains little challenge to him. In video games, especially played against the two boys, he had to work for his victories, rare though they might be.

With villains threatening the lives of his students, he’d gladly use any and every cheat code he could.

After Obo… Kurogiri disappeared, Shota Aizawa didn’t waste any time before checking on Thirteen. He could kick himself for acting like a fool later, but for now only the job mattered. These bastards… look at what they’d done to Oboro. He was only a few years older than his students when he supposedly died. Just a damn kid. Well, he’d be seven days dead and burning in Hell before he’d let these bastards do the same to any of these kids. Any of his kids.

“Ai… Eraserhead. Hurts,” she croaked out. Thirteen’s costume had been partially ripped away, along with several layers of her skin. The fact that she lived almost made him believe in Heaven, but the fact that she didn’t lose consciousness almost made him believe in Hell. The pain must be unbearable. Fortunately, most of the large med kit she incorporated into her costume survived.

“I’m sorry, Thirteen,” he said, ripping away most of her costume so he could dress her wounds. He knew she suffered from social anxiety disorder and scopophobia, the fear of being seen by others. The costume helped, of course, but not completely. One of the few heroes with a true secret identity, she always went by her hero name in costume, convincing herself that Thirteen and Kurose Anan were two entirely different people. Aizawa respected that and made sure to leave her helmet and gloves in place. “This might feel cold, but it will ease the pain.” He applied the antiseptic and pain relief spray evenly on her wounds until the can sputtered. He applied as many contact bandages as she had, tying them tightly until he ran out of gauze, then using the remnants of his capture weapon to finish the job, as well as tie her helmet in place.

“Always said… you… were a good guy,” she whispered, “thanks for not letting… Kurose feel this. She doesn’t… deserve….” She fell silent, and he carefully reached into her helmet, making sure her pulse felt strong.

“What in the ever-loving shit?” A voice said from behind him. Another reason to beat himself up later, he’d gotten so caught up in first aid that he’d neglected his surroundings. Thankfully, the ever so polite voice came from his biggest headache so far this year.

“Detonator, Red Riot, Alien Queen. I’m glad you’re alright.” He stood. “Thirteen is seriously injured, but she’s not in immediate danger. Wait here with her until the teachers arrive. Don’t try to move her! If anyone you don’t recognize tries to approach, you treat them as hostile, got it?”

“Yes sir,” Kirishima and Ashido answered, but Bakugo stared at the damage done to the rescue hero.

“Detonator, do you understand?” Aizawa said, not harshly, but with concern.

“Eraserhead, anyone tries to touch her, they’ll have to go through me, and if they do manage it, there won’t be a lot left of either of us,” Bakugo said, anger clouding his face. “All Might’s still facing off with the bastards in the plaza. Most of the trash mob is down, but the big three are still standing.”

Aizawa nodded. “I’m going to help. Keep an eye on her. If more students make it here, form a perimeter.”

“They put a bounty on our heads,” Kirishima said. “One hundred million yen per dead student.”

Aizawa looked back with shock that rapidly turned to cold fury. “In that case, you do what you must, I’ll accept full responsibility. If they get close, you take them down as hard and as fast as you can, and if that’s lethal, so be it. I authorize any quirk usage for you and the entire class.” He hated the thought of his kids having to kill, but better guilt than a funeral.

Tenya Ida ran, rushing into the main building and not even bothering to stop at the elevator. He could make it to the fourteenth floor faster on the stairs. It the situation were any less dire, he’d feel a pang of guilt about ripping the door off the hinges and denting the wall behind it, not to mention running in the halls. He arrived at the teacher’s lounge and burst into the room, ruining another set of doors. The teachers would either be teaching heroics classes for the second- and third-year students or working with class B on their mobility training. Tenya always tried to keep proper decorum, but he spent the last three years under Izuku’s influence, and Izuku spent the previous nine years under Bakugo’s influence. “Damn it all to Hell!” Just then, like a sign from God warning him to watch his language, his phone beeped.

“Is there a good reason why you’re tearing doors from their hinges and cursing in the teacher’s lounge when you should be at the USJ, Mr. Ida?” a voice asked from behind him. He spun around, and then looked down, finding Principal Nezu staring curiously at him. “Oh dear, you’ve injured yourself.”

Tenya looked down at his exhaust pipes, noticing the steady ping of his leg engines cooling. The exhaust pipes glowed a dull red, and he smelled the sickly sweat odor of cooking meat. Roast me, he thought, but pushed his concern aside. “No time for that, sir!” He pulled out his phone, typing in #2FA and pressing the enter key. Nezu’s cell phone at once began blaring. “My class was attacked at the USJ. Communications jammed. Thirteen seriously wounded. At least fifty villains. Eraserhead ordered me to seek aid.”

“Breathe, Mr. Ida. Pick me up please, I fear my legs will never keep up with yours, even with your injuries.” Nezu took out his own similar phone and immediately began typing. “I have amended your message. Power Loader will get a bus and the teachers will meet us at downstairs. Let’s take the elevator. Recovery Girl will heal you while we head to the USJ.”

Tenya did so, walking quickly to the elevator while suppressing the wince each step caused and pressing the button. Thankfully, the elevator opened at once. He might have cursed again if they had to wait. The elevator deposited them on the first floor, and Tenya ran for the bus, not caring about the stabbing pain he felt with each step. His teachers, his classmates, and his dearest friends, including his adopted brother and newly adopted sister were in danger, and he’d run over broken glass barefoot to get to them with help.

Recovery Girl healed his injuries as best she could while the teachers from the Class B session arrived. As soon as Ms. Kayama saw Tenya’s legs, she reached for her costume. He held up a hand. “Thank you, but no, Midnight. My friends are in danger and Reciprocator will not rest until I know they are safe.” She frowned but nodded. The bus took off with a violent lurch as Power Loader pushed the vehicle to its limits.

When fighting groups of opponents, All Might followed an order of operations. Long range attackers typically made up his primary targets. Not that he worried about himself, since decades of channeling the power of One For All made him immune to nearly any attack. No, a long-range attacker could easily miss, putting bystanders, other heroes, or even their allies in danger. He quickly took down several villains that he’d fought before, all with distance attacks, such as Stitched Giant, Victor, and Needle Hair.

After that, he let the assembled villains come to him one at a time or in small groups, using the bare minimum of his strength to incapacitate them while keeping a watch on the obvious leaders, but any villain who tried to leave the plaza soon learned that All Might wasn’t trapped with them, they were trapped with All Might. The man with the disembodied hands covering his body grew more and more agitated, raising one of his actual hands to his neck and scratching violently until he drew blood.

He noticed young Bakugo, Kirishima, and Ashido making their way cautiously into the central plaza from the collapsed zone and moved to block them from the assembled horde of evildoers. “Detonator, Red Riot, and Alien Queen! Regroup up the stairs with Eraserhead. I will cover your retreat!” He pummeled a man with a lizard quirk and skull mask before he could intercept the students. “Go now!”

He turned back to the villains. “Now, I don’t mind your attempts to take me down, after all, it’s all in good fun!” He let his smile slip for a moment. “But any of you who dares try to hurt a child will find no mercy from me.” He smiled again. “Just so we’re all completely clear.”

“Too bad we’ve sent teams to each of the zones to kill your little brats, All Might,” the man with the hands muttered.

All Might’s eyes narrowed, and he executed another California Smash that would show up on seismographs in the actual state of California, knocking most of the villains to the ground. Moving at speeds too fast to follow, he checked each of the zones, noting that his students had either incapacitated their foes or hidden safely away from their pursuers in defensible locations. He collected the unconscious villains, or, in the cases where the students hid, knocked out the villains and brought them back to the central plaza. “Too bad for you criminals that all of my students are safe from your allies now. I will not allow a child to come to harm.”

The scratching became more intense, with narrowed eyes staring at All Might from behind the severed hand covering the leader’s face. “Will not allow…? Who are you? You’re not All Might! You’re an imposter!”

A portal opened, and young Izuku tumbled out, twisting in the air to land in a defensive crouch in the fountain, quickly taking stock of the battlefield as he’d been trained to do. Another portal opened moments later and young Uraraka followed, moving at high speed, but with a leap, All Might’s protégé caught her, landing behind the pro hero and a safe distance from the villains. “Have no fear, young Ultra and Uravity! I am here!” All Might said with a smile, punching one of the few villains who remained standing. “I promise, I will keep you safe.”

“See! He’s not All Might! He’s a fake, an imposter,” the villain with the hands screamed, turning toward Izuku and Ochaco. “The real All Might would have attacked you brats by now.”

“What are you talking about?” Izuku said. “I’ve known All Might since I was three, and he’d never hurt me or anyone who wasn’t a villain!”

The villain took a step towards Izuku, but All Might positioned himself to protect his student. The villain’s eyes narrowed further, glaring at Izuku in anger. “Why did he attack me and not you? Years of attacks and beatings. Each time hitting me until I could barely stand. I’ve had to flee from every place before it could become a home, all because of All Might! You… you’ve got something. I can feel it, calling out to me. What is it? Give it to me! Who the Hell are you?”

All Might stepped between the two of them. “I’m sure you’re mistaken, young man. You and I have never met, and I’m certain I’ve never driven someone from their home and beaten them. Young Ultra is not a thief.”

“Shut up, fake! He’s got something of mine, and I want it now!”

Another swirling portal opened, and the man made of black mist appeared. He looked at the other villain and said, “Calm yourself, Tomura Shigaraki. We still have time before the other heroes arrive. Remember you still have two elite units.”

Tomura nodded. “Yes! Peacebreaker, kill this fake pretending to be All Might. Kurogiri, I want the boy.”

The gargantuan beast, who stood and calmly watched villain after villain fall before All Might, moved now, so fast that only his target and Izuku could track his movements. To anyone else watching, the beast appeared to teleport, a punch knocking All Might back nearly six meters and leaving gouges in the concrete of the plaza where his feet dug into the ground.

All Might pulled back his fist, but Izuku moved quicker, leaping across the plaza, and punching Peacebreaker. All Might aborted his attack. “Ultra! Get out of the way! Go with Uravity and retreat!” She’d been moving toward the stairs but turned back when she saw Izuku hadn’t come with her.

“I can help!” Izuku said, kicking at the knee of the beast.

All Might’s smile dropped. “It isn’t a suggestion, it’s an order!” The beast swatted Izuku aside and turned back to its real target, scoring a punch to the gut that even managed to stagger All Might. Peacebreaker raked his monstrous claws against All Might’s side, shredding through his Shield armor and drawing blood. The suit’s auto suture system activated, repairing itself almost instantly, but he felt it: that familiar momentary weakness before his strength surged back. “Ug, I’ve been handling battles like this since before you were born! Now do as I say.” Ochaco placed one hand on the ground, charging up a large blast of kinetic energy to direct at the creature fighting All Might, but Tomura Shigaraki moved with uncanny speed, grabbing the girl.

“Oh, I think he won’t retreat unless he wants this pretty little thing’s death on his conscience,” Tomura Shigaraki said, a hand wrapped around Ochaco’s neck with one finger held up. “I’m sure you’re all familiar with five-point contact quirks, and I promise, I’m fast enough that I can get the last finger down before any of you can stop me, you included, girl. Kurogiri, give me one of the NPCs as a demonstration. Whichever one you liked the least or RNG, I don’t care.” A pair of portals opened, one beneath a villain All Might defeated earlier and the other above Tomura. His hand shot out, grabbing the criminal by the neck in a parody of the hold he had on Ochaco, but in this instance, all five of his fingers touched. The man woke for just a moment with a scream of pain that cut off as his throat disintegrated. “Unless you want the same to happen to her, you’ll come here, boy. Peacebreaker, kill the fake All Might.” All Might tried to rush forward, but the beast called Peacebreaker intercepted him. Despite several mighty blows, the beast seemed undeterred. “Give it up, fake. My Nomu was genetically engineered to kill the real symbol of peace. He’s got a shock adsorption quirk.”

“Thanks for telling me,” All Might said. “Everything has a limit, so I’ll just go beyond his ability to absorb. Plus Ultra!” All Might began punching faster and faster, Peacebreaker matching him blow for blow.

Izuku cautiously stepped closer to Tomura Shigaraki and his hostage. “Just stay calm, okay? Let her go and we can talk, Shigaraki. I promise, I don’t have anything of yours.”

Shigaraki shook his head violently. “You don’t understand. Who are you?”

“I’m Ultra,” Izuku said, holding his hands up. “Calm down and we can talk. What is it that you want? Maybe I can help you.”

“I don’t want your silly little pretend name! Give me your real name or she’ll die screaming.”

“Izuku.” At Shigaraki’s narrowed eyes, he quickly added, “Izuku Midoriya.”

Both Kurogiri and Tomura Shigaraki flinched at that name. “I’m not allowed to kill you, but I will get it back one day. I hate you!” Tomura screamed.

“I’ve never even met you, there’s no reason for us to fight,” Izuku said, hiding the rising panic in his mind from reaching his eyes or his voice.

“Well, this will be a damn good reason,” Shigaraki said, and his final finger touched Ochaco’s neck.

Chapter Text

Aizawa ran for the plaza, using the railing in the middle of the stairs to boost his speed to a level that even his skills at parkour could barely keep up with. He didn’t meet a villain until almost reaching the bottom. The man, his body covered with a thousand eyes, staggered a bit as he made his way up the stairs, probably having just recovered from being knocked out. Aizawa angled himself so his steel-soled boots collided with the man’s face, dumping his excess speed as kinetic energy. He kept going, despite the sickening crunch he heard behind him. Shota Aizawa didn’t look back and wouldn’t lose a bit of sleep over the broken nose and lost teeth of an attempted child murderer.

He quickly assessed the state of the plaza as he moved. Several piles of unconscious villains dotted the landscape. All Might and some black creature with an exposed brain easily the same size as the symbol of peace traded blows, but he trusted All Might to handle the situation. He recognized it instantly from that night twelve years ago. A thing like that could probably snap his limbs like twigs, even with its quick erased, and he didn’t want to risk weakening All Might. He spotted his problem child walking slowly with his hands up, and he’d be giving out so much detention Izuku would think he’d been born in it, but then he realized why Izuku acted this way.

The leader of the villains held Uraraka hostage, a hand around her throat with the middle finger raised. Five-point contact quirk, no doubt. He reached behind him, quietly drawing his knife. Threaten one of his kids, would this bastard? At the very least, he’d get a finger from each hand, and that’s if he didn’t just cut the hands off completely and be done with it. Maybe the villain could wear them around his damn ankles.

Problem Child did the right thing, keeping a calm, level voice. “I’ve never even met you, there’s no reason for us to fight,” he said, hoping to defuse the situation while being in a good position to attack.

“Well, this will be a damn good reason,” the terrorist said, and his final finger started moving.

“No!” Aizawa screamed, his quirk activating. “Not while I’m still breathing, you son of a bitch.”

The villain looked over. “You really are cool, Eraserh….” His voice cut out the moment Uraraka’s fist connected with his groin. She ducked out of his loosened grip, and before he could recover, a punch from Izuku nearly took his head off. “Oh, I’m going to kill all of you.”

“It’s over, Shigaraki,” Izuku said.

“Peacebreaker! Kill this little bastard!” Shigaraki screamed. A blast of pure force struck him, knocking him back, and forcing Kurogiri to move to protect him.

The Nomu broke off from its battle with the symbol of peace without a word, but it didn’t get far when All Might grabbed its arm. The creature turned its head, opened its jaw, and closed sharp teeth around its own arm, severing it just below the shoulder. Blood splattered everywhere, but the creature didn’t seem to notice, leaping at Izuku.

Izuku dodged the creature’s strike thanks to multiple gravity force blasts from Ochaco, but he had to call up as much of One For All as his body could handle just to keep up with it, a green glow surrounding his body with lightning arcing around the verdant aura, the occasion flicker lashing off and striking the Nomu, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Bone, muscle, blood vessels, and nerves erupted from the stump of the creature’s severed arm, and in desperation, Izuku stuck at the wound.

“What have you done to my Nomu? He should have healed completely by now!” Shigaraki yelled, only to dodge back from Eraserhead’s blade.

All Might slammed into Peacebreaker from behind, raining more blows on the creature as Izuku pummeled from the front. “Switch places with me, my boy, and don’t let it touch you! We’re in the thick of it, and there’s no safe way for you to retreat now, so you might as well help. Be ready to duck.” Izuku dipped beneath a wild swing from the Nomu, moving behind it while continuing to treat it like a punching bag. All Might’s assault didn’t even give the creature time to react. “Hmm, can you guess which smash I’m thinking of, young Ultra? I’ll give you a hint. This creature may be eerie, but the two of us are superior. Double….”

“Michigan SMASH!” All Might and Ultra said in unison, Izuku ducking low and slamming the strongest punch he could without harming himself into the Nomu’s lower back as All Might delivered an uppercut to the thing’s jaw that sent it flying through the ceiling.

“No no no no no no no!” Shigaraki raged. He pointed at Izuku. “You… you damn thief. Give it back!” He caught Eraserhead’s blade, crumbling it into dust. “It’s meant to be mine. You stole it from me, and you stole from Peacebreaker. I’ll kill you!” He reached out, rushing toward Izuku with his hand outstretched. “Damn you!” he yelled, but then began to fall toward the ceiling.

Uravity stood, fists clenched together. She looked at the mist man coldly. “Your boss was stupid to let me touch him. As far as gravity is concerned, the ceiling is now the ground for him.” Shigaraki’s wild ascent stopped a mere meter above the ceiling. “Surrender or we’ll see what a fall from that height can do to a person. If you teleport me away or I even suspect you’re opening a portal near any of us, he’ll find out that the law of gravity is one that even villains have to obey.”

Kurogiri, at least, remembered that Midoriya’s death had been forbidden by the Master, and while his portals could do many things, they could not remove inertia from an object. Too quickly for the girl to react, he opened a portal, teleporting Shigaraki back one of their distant hideouts and hopefully out of her range. “You’ve won this game, heroes.” Kurogiri stared at Eraserhead for a moment. “Remember my message,” he said before he too vanished into the dark ether.

Mirko ran through the doors of the USJ to find the party already over. She recognized Thirteen, on the ground and hopefully just unconscious, but the nine people standing around her in a defensive circle were new. One of them, a blonde boy with spiky hair held up a hand pointing at her, sparks of tiny explosions dancing along the surface. “That’s far enough, Playboy bunny! You’re not getting anywhere near Thirteen unless you want your ears and tail blown off.”

“Dude! That’s Mirko,” another kid who seemed made of stone said. “She’s like, number twelve on the pro hero charts.” Under his breath he added, “she could kick all our asses.”

“I don’t give a shit about anyone under the top ten,” Bakugo said, but he lowered his hand anyway.

“I’m up to eleven, but good on you, kid,” she smirked. “Not much I can do for her that hasn’t already been done anyway at this point. I specialize in kicking ass, not healing it. Where are the villains?”

“All taken care of, I believe, although at least two of them escaped,” All Might said from the stairs, carrying six unconscious villains on his shoulders. Ultra followed behind him carrying another four. Beside Ultra, Uravity walked with Alchemist beside her, over thirty villains floating in the air like balloons, tied to ropes that Uravity dragged behind her. Earphone Jack and Chargebolt followed them closely, although Chargebolt seemed to be keeping his distance from everyone.

“All Might! Hey there, tall, blonde, and handsome. Looking good!” she said. Then she spotted Ultra. “Holy crap, is that Izuku? Damn, boy, you get hunkier every time I see you. I need to set a reminder for your eighteenth birthday, because it’s going to be wabbit season!”

Izuku felt multiple pairs of eyes lock on to him, including a pair from right beside him. Duck season, he thought, “Um, good to see you again, Mirko.” Under his breath, he whispered to Ochaco, “It’s not what you think, I swear! She’s just a flirt, she’s not serious.”

Mirko chuckled at the obvious jealousy rolling off the girl beside Izuku. Most of the jealously from the other students was directed at Izuku, but the girl directed her jealously solely at Mirko. She leaned forward toward the girl. “Don’t get mad, I don’t mind sharing, and you’re pretty cute, too. Look me up when you’re eighteen!” The green of jealousy switched to the bright red of embarrassment as Mirko laughed loudly. One of these days, she was going to find someone who could keep up with her and have a hundred kids of her own to tease.

“Mirko,” All Might said cautiously. “There may still be a few villains in hiding, and not all the students are accounted for.”

“Woohoo! I hope you missed at least one or two!” She bounced down the stairs, calling back, “I’m going to be really disappointed if I don’t get to kick at least a little ass!”

Less than a minute later, Tenya and the teachers arrived. A quick check revealed all the students were safe at the entrance except for six, Koda, Sato, Sero, Tokoyami, Mineta, and Asui. Mirko, All Might, and Aizawa were also missing, but Nezu quickly rebooted the USJ’s internal sensors while Recovery Girl helped Thirteen. Nezu held up his phone and spoke, “Hashtag two-FA situation resolved. Requesting police forces to the USJ on UA High’s campus for the incarceration of sixty-eight villains claiming to be part of an organization known as the League of Villains.” He then accessed the PA system of the USJ. “Students, this is Principal Nezu. The situation is resolved. It is safe to return to the entrance if you have no injuries. All Might and Mirko, three of the students are near your position in the Flood Zone on the beached yacht. Eraserhead, the other three students are in the Thunderstorm Zone. If you are injured, please remain where you are and wait for an escort.”

Only a few minutes later, All Might and Mirko arrived with Froppy and Vintage walking beside them. As for Tsukuyomi, All Might carried him. Dark Shadow hovered near Mirko, seemingly enraptured with the Rabbit Hero. “Leave her alone, Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami coughed. “I’m sure Mirko has more important concerns than us.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, little birdie boy,” Mirko said. “Us animal mutants got to stick together! Right, Froggy girl?” She patted Tsuyu on the back.

“Animal mutants, ribbit?” Tsuyu asked.

Mirko waved her hand. “It’s not an official term or anything, just something Hawks came up with. Basically, those of us with an animal themed mutant quirk. I promised that if three of us get into the top ten, we could set up an agency together and try to cut down on some of the anti-mutant prejudice against us. We’re almost there if you count Ryukyu, but Dragon’s a transformation quirk and she doesn’t have a lot of lizard features in her human form.”

“See!” Dark Shadow boasted. “She understands what the normals have done to us!”

“Dark Shadow, we’re not the same,” Tokoyami coughed. “Because you have your own mind, you’re considered an emitter quirk.”

Mirko reached over and scratched Dark Shadow’s head. “Don’t get too caught up on the details, kid. Most people won’t even get the difference, except people like Izuku, and that boy doesn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body.” She cocked a thumb toward Ultra, fussing over the co-class representative and forcing him to sit. “Bet he geeked out over the two of you.”

Tokoyami nodded. “He has shown considerable interest in Dark Shadow, but, well, the beast doesn’t like him. He has been kind enough to respect that.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a good kid,” Mirko said, smiling. “Give him a chance, okay, Dark Shadow?”

Dark Shadow narrowed her eyes. “Humans have hurt us.”

Tokoyami rolled his eyes, but Mirko laughed. “That’s why you’ve got to like the good ones!”

Shortly after, Koda, Sato, and Sero arrived with Eraserhead following closely. He performed a second, and then third, count to make sure all his students were safe.

He’d just discounted a false trail when Nezu’s announcement echoed through the facility and the simulated thunderstorm ceased. Moments later the boys appeared from the brush opposite the diversion, and admitted their ingenuity impressed him. The impression wasn’t even ruined by the fact that Koda carried a large stuffed, but realistic, bear. With a huge smile, the boy signed, “He followed me home, can I keep him?”

He kept his stern expression but signed back, “Sure, kid. To the victors go the spoils.” Nezu could bill him. His kids had been through a lot and if one of the wanted to keep a stuffed animal Nezu and Thirteen placed as a joke, by God, he could keep the damn teddy bear.

He glanced toward Recovery Girl. “Injuries?” he asked.

“Thirteen had the most serious injuries. Tokoyami inhaled quite a bit of water, but thanks to his classmates, he’ll be fine with a little rest,” she said. “Uraraka and Kaminari have some light bruising on their necks, but it should fade in a few hours. You already know about Ida’s legs, they’re all fixed up, but he should take it easy the next few days. Shoji broke one of his legs, and Ojiro seems to have set and splinted it perfectly, but I want to get x-rays before healing him. The only other injury was a mild concussion for…”

A loud booming voice cut her off with a yell of “Shoto!” Endeavor stormed into the facility, the flames on his shoulders and facial hair blazing even more than usual. He saw All Might and frowned. “All Might! Where is my son?” He held up his phone. “I received an alert through Hero Net ordering all heroes to this location, but it was cancelled moments later. If this is some sort of waste of time test…” He paused, noticing teachers handcuffing either unconscious or thoroughly cowed villains. “Explain, now,” he said through clenched teeth.

Nezu stepped forward before All Might could speak. “Endeavor! Always a pleasure to see a parent and alumni taking such an active role in their child’s education. As my amended text message on Hero Net said, villains managed to infiltrate the Unforeseen Simulation Joint due to a previously unknown teleportation quirk, completely bypassing the UA barrier. Because they also had a villain capable of disrupting electrical systems, they were able prevent our alarm system from notifying the main campus.”

“Hmph,” Endeavor scoffed. “Pathetic. I expect better of UA.” He looked around, finding his son sitting on a bench beside two girls in skintight outfits, one with black hair cut short and the other without a head at all, and a muscular boy wearing glasses who resembled Ingenium. “Shoto! Gather your things, we’re leaving!”

All Might approached, flanked by his little bastard and another girl in a skintight outfit, this one with brown hair. “Ah, Endeavor. Thank you for responding so quickly, but we can’t allow young Todoroki to leave quite yet. He’s injured.”

“Injured? How dare you embarrass me this way, Shoto. We’ll be doing extra training later to teach you how to properly handle pathetic villains like these. You should have been able to resolve this by yourself without injury.” Everyone close could see the color drain from the younger Todoroki’s face, and Shota Aizawa frowned suddenly. Endeavor turned from his son and shoved a pointed finger in All Might’s face. “I hold you responsible for this, All Might! Where were you when these students were being attacked, Mr. so-called symbol of peace? Off posing for the press, no doubt!”

“Over seventy villains attacked us, and they were spread out across the whole USJ,” the boy protested. “All Might took down almost forty of them himself.”

Endeavor pushed the boy aside. “If I wanted to hear from some little bastard….” Endeavor’s tirade cut off when he felt something sharp press against his back.

“Enji Todoroki,” Eraserhead said coldly, standing in such a way that only Izuku could see the knife in his hand. He winked at his problem child. “The number two hero. Walk with me over this way and we’ll have a little parent teacher conference, Endeavor.” Eraserhead cocked his head away from the students, and his eyes briefly glowed red when Endeavor tried to increase his flame aura. “Not going to ask so politely the second time,” the teacher added quietly. As soon as Endeavor started walking in the direction Eraserhead indicated, the teacher followed him, his knife disappearing into his costume before anyone else could see it. Once they had gone far enough, Aizawa reached into his pocket and activated one of Nezu’s miniature anti-spying cubes. “Okay, so, here’s the deal. Your son is a witness to the largest villain attack in Japan in twelve years, and he’s injured. He can’t leave before he’s gotten treatment and given a statement to the police. You know all this. This isn’t negotiable, so get your performance out of your system.”

“What? I should….” Endeavor, with rage clear on his face, leaned over the teacher.

“Show your superiority and make a big show of being the tough guy, right? Knock yourself out. Get your yelling over and done with, because quite frankly, I don’t give a damn what you say to me,” Eraserhead said. “So do it now, because you’re not doing it in front of traumatized kids.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if this school wasn’t run by a bunch of incompetents!” Endeavor yelled.

“Then maybe you can help us upgrade our security system to protect against an unknown teleportation quirk. How does the Endeavor Agency Headquarters protect against that? How about your personal residence?” Eraserhead asked calmly.

“You’re not going to turn this around on me,” Endeavor growled. “My m… my son was put at risk because of you.” He’d almost referred to Shota as his masterpiece, but this man would never understand.

“I’ll be glad to prepare his withdrawal paperwork if you have a better school in mind for your son, although I’d hate to see him go. He has a lot of potential. Do you have a better school in mind?”

Endeavor fumed. “You know there isn’t one.”

“Just like you know that there’s no way to prevent a teleporter, especially one with an unregistered quirk capable of moving over seventy people in an instant. Look at me,” he said with a quick bow that met the bare minimum the situation required, “I’m sufficiently contrite so that everyone watching from the entrance thinks you came in, threw your weight around, and secured an apology from one of the three teachers who risked their lives to protect their students, Enji. Congratulations on that stunning victory, and you didn’t even get injured like we did.” That shocked Endeavor, that this man would blatantly use his first name.

“How dare you….” Endeavor spit out.

“Not show the proper respect?” Eraserhead asked quietly. “I’ll do it when you’ve earned it.” His voice dropped. Despite his own flames, Endeavor felt the chill in Aizawa’s voice. “Because let me tell you something, Mr. Number Two. Remember that kid you just shoved and called a bastard? He’s the son of a far greater hero than you could ever hope to be. Izuku Midoriya is the son of Hisashi Midoriya. If your head is so far up your own ass that you’ve never heard of Dragon Wizard and how he lost his life, well, that’s why Google exists. You will, however, talk the son of a deceased hero of his caliber with the proper respect that he and his family paid for in blood. And just so we’re perfectly clear, Enji, if I ever so much as suspect that you’ve touched any of my kids again, and I’m including Shoto Todoroki in that, well, I hope you like finger food, because I will cut off your fucking hands and feed them to you. I’ve almost killed one man today, and it’s still early.”

Endeavor’s flames burned even hotter. “You’ll regret threatening me.”

“Regretting it already,” Eraserhead said. “Because I’d much rather just go ahead and get it over with, but these kids have been through enough today without having to watch their teacher kick another man’s teeth down his damn throat.”

“I’ll take this to the HPSC,” Endeavor growled.

“You do that. I’ll be interested to see the reaction when I insist on it being a public hearing, as is my right. You can’t just vanish a member of the Might Agency. I wonder what the press will say when I show up, flanked by Nezu and All Might, and start talking about how one of my students seems to show signs of abuse… oh, I’m sorry, ‘training.’ I bet the cameras in the hearing room will love that. It will run on the news for weeks. I’ll call all your children as witnesses, and you’d better believe Detective Tsukauchi will be in the room. It may ruin my career as an underground hero, but you know, I don’t have a whole lot the HPSC can take from me. Seems like a fair trade in my book. If what I suspect thanks to your shouting and your son’s reaction is even close to true, you don’t want to give me a very public forum and a lawyer willing to ask about my motive. Your ‘training’ of your son is over, and if you think I’ll never know, think again. He’ll be getting random medical checks whenever I damn well feel like it, at least twice a week. If Recovery Girl finds so much as a scratch that’s unaccounted for, I’ll push this as far as I can. Are we clear?”

Endeavor clenched his fists. Eraserhead didn’t even rank on the charts thanks to his insignificance, but the infuriating man’s watching allies in this room could certainly make life difficult. “Very well,” he managed to grunt out, “but I expect Shoto’s performance to meet my high standards.”

“Relax, Enji. He’s in the best of hands now. UA High School produced the number one hero in Japan and the world for that matter. And you know, we also produced the number two hero, but nobody’s perfect.”

In short order, the police arrived with Naomasa Tsukauchi in charge of the operation. He quickly deployed the members of the force to perform a check of the USJ and surrounding area for any villains that may be in hiding. He bowed to Principal Nezu. “Thank you for your cooperation, Principal. I know UA technically has complete autonomy to handle matters such as this internally but considering this is the largest single villain attack by the numbers in twelve years, allowing us to participate is greatly appreciated.”

Nezu returned the bow. “Not at all, Detective. We’re hardly equipped to perform an in-depth investigation, so your willingness to step in is most appropriate and appreciated.” The small mammal raised his voice, “I have every confidence that our faculty and students will cooperate in every way possible.”

Naomasa turned to All Might. “Good work today, Toshi,” he said quietly. “Minimal injuries among the students.”

“And only Thirteen wounded among the teachers,” All Might said.

Naomasa’s eyes shot up at that. Lie, he thought. “Toshi?”

All Might turned toward Izuku Midoriya, who hadn’t left All Might’s side since the fight ended. “You were also wounded, young Midoriya.”

Truth. What is going on? With a cough, he asked, “Did you come into direct combat with any of the villains, Midoriya?” The boy nodded.

All Might smiled. “It can be embarrassing to let other people know you’re hurt, but since you know both Detective Tsukauchi and me well, we can speak to Recovery Girl privately in Thirteen’s office to make sure everything is alright.”

Another truth, he thought. We’re all people who know All Might’s secret! He turned to Tamakawa Sansa. “Officer Sansa, can you ask Recovery Girl to meet us in Thirteen’s office?”

“Yes, sir,” Sansa said with a crisp salute.

All Might and Izuku both said a few comforting words to a young girl with chestnut hair, and then led Izuku and the detective to a small office decorated with space exploration memorabilia. A few moments later, Recovery Girl entered, followed by Principal Nezu who shut and locked the door. She took a small cubical-shaped device from her medical bag and set it on the desk. At the press of a button, the room filled with a quiet hum. Considering who filled the room, Naomasa felt a twinge of worry. “Seemed appropriate considering who’s here, Toshinori.”

He nodded, turning toward Izuku. “My boy, please, tell me that monster didn’t scratch you.”

Chapter Text

Izuku swallowed. “No, he didn’t. The only strike from that thing that landed was a backhand. Why?”

“Truth,” Naomasa confirmed.

“Make sure, Izuku,” All Might said. “This is critically important.”

Izuku raised a hand to his chest nervously, placing it above the diamond shape on his chest. “Shield armor, wearer status.”

A moment later, Melissa Shield’s voice calmly said from the suit, “Vital statistics within acceptable ranges. Pulse rate and adrenaline levels slightly elevated from baseline.” A slight flicker crossed Izuku’s face as a thin layer of nanites moved over the only exposed part of his body. “No puncture wounds detected. No broken bones detected. Minor bruising to the right jaw.”

All Might let out a slow deep breath. “Thank God.” He touched the symbol on his own chest. “Shield armor, retract from wounds for medical aid.” A section of the armor peeled back, revealing four nasty looking scratches in All Might’s side that looked infected.

Recovery Girl hissed. “Just like twelve years ago.” She went to work cleaning the wound, taking samples of the infected tissue, and drawing blood. After she finished, she kissed All Might and the wound healed, but still left four nasty looking scars. She turned to Izuku. “You’re a lucky young man! If that thing had scratched you like it did All Might, your days as a hero would be numbered.”

“What?” Izuku said as his knees buckled. All Might gently caught him before sitting them both on the couch Thirteen kept in the office for visitors.

“That creature possessed a quirk I recognized. It produces a venom from its claws that acts as a kind of poison. It builds up slowly in the body but will eventually prevent someone from using their quirk at all,” All Might explained.

Izuku’s face practically crumbled and tears poured down his cheeks before he buried his face in his hands. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry All Might. You’re going to lose your power and it’s all my fault!”

“No, my boy,” All Might said, gently rubbing Izuku’s back. “I was already infected with this poison twelve years ago. It is one of the reasons I decided to find a successor.”

“Why… why didn’t you tell me?” Izuku said.

All Might smiled sadly. “At first, I didn’t want to worry you or influence your decision to accept my quirk. Later, I didn’t want you to feel pressured to become a symbol like I am. Young Izuku, I want you to grow and become who you were meant to be based on your own experiences and desires. I will admit, at first, I hoped you would follow my path, but now? Whatever path you choose, you will be your own type of hero and I’ll be proud of you.”

“How long do you have until you’re… quirkless?” Izuku asked. He spent the first twelve years of his life quirkless and knew how cruel the world could be to those who were born different.

All Might smiled. “At least seven years, possibly more. We’ve found over the years when I don’t have One For All active, my body processes the poison and breaks it down. It usually does this when I sleep at night, but as soon as this ‘Peacebreaker’ scratched me, I recognized the sensation.”

“Then you’re still losing your powers because of me! All Might, I have to….”

“Continue your studies as if nothing has changed, because nothing has,” All Might said gently. “My boy, none of this is your fault, and I didn’t bring you here to scold you or heap guilt on you. There are plenty of heroes in the world to pick up my slack before you make your debut, and, for now, at least, I am here. You’re still young and shouldn’t have faced villains this early, but… when I give an order in the field, you need to obey. You’re not a hero yet, and don’t have the experience for the battlefield. I just want you to understand how close you came to total disaster today. We would have been forced to find a successor for you!”

Izuku chuckled, wiping away his tears. “Either Tenya or Ochaco would be my choice.”

“They’re both fine choices, but I prefer Izuku Midoriya! There is one other unfortunate implication we cannot avoid,” All Might said, the smile dropping from his face. “That creature was a Nomu, the same bio-engineered monsters that took part in the attack twelve years ago. It also had a quirk previously held by All For One. The leader of the villains said he wasn’t allowed to kill you specifically, my boy. We will need to be vigilant because somehow… All For One survived.”

Eraserhead noted the disappearance of everyone else who knew All Might and Izuku’s secret, but knew they’d fill him in on the details later. After Endeavor stormed out of the building, he pulled the younger Todoroki aside. “Todoroki, I wanted to let you know of a change in your training schedule. I’m cancelling any training with your father for the foreseeable future. Do you understand what I’m telling you?” Todoroki looked up, glancing nervously around the room and, when he didn’t see Endeavor or any heroes from his father’s agency, gave a nod so small that it was almost imperceptible. “If your father requires you to participate in any physical training at all without me present and approving, you’re to let me know immediately.”

Hesitantly, the boy asked, “Did I… do something wrong, Mr. Aizawa?”

If Endeavor didn’t already hold a place of prominence on the Shota Aizawa List of Utter Bastards™, the number two pro hero would have just earned a spot. As it is, he moved up in the rankings as Shoto Todoroki’s reaction mostly confirmed his suspicions. Forcing down his anger, Aizawa said, “Absolutely not, but the curriculum for hero training at UA is very specific, and with the… intensity of your father’s training, it could cause you problems.”

Todoroki looked up with confusion on his face. “I’ve heard several others mention they train after school, including Midoriya. I can handle it, sir.”

Damn that bastard to Hell for what he’s done to this kid, he thought. “Their extracurricular training is much more relaxed, Todoroki, and any quirk training is either non-combat or supervised by a teacher. I’ve spoken to your father about this already and he agreed.” He locked eyes with the kid, wishing he had Mandalay’s Telepath quirk so he could just drop everything he wanted the kid to know but couldn’t say straight into his brain. “This is for your benefit, Todoroki. Please… just… don’t fight me on this, okay?”

“Yes sir,” Todoroki said, and then whispered, “thank you,” almost too quietly for Shota to hear.

Everything ached as the adrenaline high wore off, but the day had barely begun. Principal Nezu walked up to him and, after a brief conversation, climbed up onto his shoulder. He turned to his class. “Listen up, I know you’ve all been through a lot, so formal classes are cancelled for the rest of the day, but you are not free to go. All the other hero course students have met in the cafeteria, and we’ll be joining them. Lunch Rush has prepared pizza, okonomiyaki stations, and a variety of other food. If you want something special that isn’t already made, let him know and he’ll make it.” A few people cheered, but in general the mood seemed rather less enthusiastic than he’d come to expect from this class. “This isn’t a study hall. You’ll be free to socialize with your friends and get advice from the second and third years. Unlike them, however, you’ll be called in small groups to give statements to the police. None of you are in any trouble. A teacher and your parents, either in person or via conference, will be with you during this questioning, and you and the school will receive a signed waver before giving your statements rendering anything you say inadmissible as evidence against you, so please be honest and cooperate fully, but you don’t have to answer any questions that make you uncomfortable. Hound Dog will be available if you are having any problems coping with today’s events, and no one is going to think any less of you for speaking with him. If you want to talk to any other teachers for any reason, we will all be available and can talk in a conference room in complete confidentiality. You’ll have a hero escort home today and we’ve arranged for added hero patrols near each of your homes for the next week. That’s all for now. Please board the bus waiting outside.”

He watched as the students filed out of the USJ, All Might having to nudge Izuku to join Tenya and Ochaco. The trio walked over to a limping Shoji, and after a few quiet words, Ochaco activated her quirk and her two housemates helped carefully carry the now floating injured student outside. All Might moved to his side and said, “Once the students are all taken care of, we will need to talk, young Aizawa.”

Aizawa nodded. “I recognized that thing you fought. We’ll need to talk to Izuku’s mother, too.”

“If need be, Might Incorporated will cover the cost of the dormitories,” All Might said with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, “though we may have to add a line of Eraserhead merchandise to completely cover it.”

Eraserhead snorted. “I’ll wear a damn speedo and do a photoshoot with Uwabami if that’s what it takes. I’ll even smile.”

“Well, surely things aren’t quite that bad!”

After a quiet bus trip, the students and teachers arrived back at the main building. Most of the students headed directly to the locker rooms to change out of their hero costumes, talking quietly or texting as they went, and Aizawa knew it would only be a matter of time before parents started arriving at the school demanding answers and to see their children. All Might escorted those with injuries to the infirmary. By unspoken agreement, those who already changed waited in the hallway for their wounded classmates. As for himself, he grabbed one of his spare capture weapons he kept in the classroom podium and draped it around his neck, using it to hide the smile of pride that his students wouldn’t abandon one of their own.

Mina Ashido sat against the wall opposite the infirmary and looked up, glancing at each of her classmates. “Okay, I’m just going to throw this out there… I think we’re past using last names. Who’s with me?”

“I’m down,” Hanta Sero said. “I mean, we just survived a bunch of lunatics trying to kill us, and All Might told us to use first names during the attack for anyone without a hero name picked out.”

“Why did All Might tell us that, Mr. Aizawa, ribbit?” Tsuyu asked.

“Anonymity,” he answered. “It’s a lot harder to find information with a first name than with a last name.”

“Will the school allow this?” Tenya asked.

“That’s up to all of you. Honestly, it usually happens gradually by the end of the first year, and most heroes will end up on a first name basis after working together in the field. However, anyone who wants to opt out can do so, and I don’t want anyone to try and pressure them. You’ll respect their choice, got it?”

“Wish you’d told Midnight and Present Mic that when we were choosing our hero names,” Detonator, but in his heart ‘King Explosion Murder,’ said with a grunt. “I barely know anyone’s last names and have no plans to learn anyone’s first names either.”

“Hero names are different, and you know it, kid,” Eraserhead, but in his heart ‘I don’t give a damn what you call me,’ said.

“Well, everyone can call me Mina then,” the pink-haired girl said, “and you can keep calling me ‘Raccoon Eyes’ or whatever other nickname you want, but I reserve the right to do the same, Blasty!”

Aizawa shrugged, “Fair’s fair, Bakugo,” and said before the boy could blow up, figuratively or literally. “If you’re going to use nicknames, you imply your consent for the same treatment, as long as they’re not overly derogatory.”

“Fine,” Bakugo huffed. It didn’t matter what any of the extras called him anyway.

“I’m in favor of it and you can all call me ‘Yaomomo’ too if you prefer,” Yaoyorozu said, raising her hand “Everyone who wants to take part, please raise your hand.” One by one, they all did except for Bakugo. He clicked his teeth and walked off toward the cafeteria, bumping into another blond boy on his way there.

Neito Monoma looked cautiously around at class 1-A. Most of them sat on the floor, but a few stood cautiously, as if on watch. “I… heard you were… well, you know. I’m… sorry. Is… Shoji around?”

Izuku Midoriya nodded. “Hi, Monoma. Shoji’s leg got broken, but Recovery Girl is treating him right now.”

As soon as he said this, the door opened and Shoji, Todoroki, and Tokoyami walked out of the infirmary. “They’re all patched up, but they need to take it easy the next few days. And you too, Mr. Ida,” Recovery Girl said. “You’re all probably hungry, so go get some food and try to relax, doctor’s orders.”

The students started heading toward the cafeteria, and Monoma matched Shoji’s stride. “Midoriya said you were hurt.”

Shoji nodded. “One of the villains broke my leg.” He stopped and turned to face Monoma. “He… he was going to kill Ojiro and me. I… don’t think I could have stopped him.”

For the first time since his quirk came in, someone other than a relative hugged Shoji as Monoma threw his arms around the taller boy. After a moment of indecision, Shoji hugged him back.

Tomura Shigaraki’s hand landed on one of the booths in Kurogiri’s bar, his quirk eating through the cheap imitation leather and thin cushioning to the wood beneath. He screamed out his rage, coiling like an angered venomous snake. When Kurogiri appeared moments later, he lashed out to strike, but found himself restrained by black tendrils from his Master’s hand. “Calm yourself, young Tomura.”

“He kept me from attacking a thief, Master!” Tomura whined. “One who damaged Peacebreaker. We could have still won!”

“Tomura Shigaraki, you know as well as I that we are not allowed to harm a Midoriya,” Kurogiri said calmly. “I obey you in all things, but the Master’s orders supersede even yours.”

“Midoriya, you say?” All For One asked with a chuckle. “My sources were correct.” He turned his eyeless face toward Tomura. “You must be patient, my boy. I know it is a hard lesson but moving too quickly can cost you your true goal for momentary satisfaction.”

“All Might wasn’t weakened at all! Even Peacebreaker could barely keep up with him, and he just shrugged off the scratches,” Tomura said sullenly. “Peacebreaker lost an arm trying to get to Izuku Midoriya, and even after several minutes it was barely regenerating.”

All For One laughed. “You fail to understand, Tomura! Those scratches have won the war for us, poisoning All Might at last. As for the Nomu, he was one of the oldest of the Upper Tier. Their quirks tend to grow weaker in time due to the lack of any real intelligence, unlike Kurogiri and the other High End Nomu.” Kurogiri bowed in acknowledgement of his Master’s compliment.

“I don’t understand why you won’t let me just kill All Might and Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya has something of mine… I don’t know what, but I can feel it,” Tomura said. “You promised I can destroy anything I hate.”

“You will,” All For One said. “That has not changed, but first we must take back what was stolen. Then Midoriya and All Might can suffer without risking our prize.”

“I want it now! What good was the mission if I couldn’t do what I wanted?”

All For One patted the boy’s head gently. “All in good time. I’ve promised you all that you want, Tomura, and I keep my promises, but I’ve never promised when. Someday, you will have it all,” the Master said. “The mission today was never about destroying our enemies but sowing fear and chaos in their ranks.”

Tomura nodded slowly. “I think I understand.”

“Good,” All For One said, turning and moving from the room on his exoskeleton’s legs. At the door, he turned back briefly. “And Tomura? The mission isn’t quite over yet.”

Several students took advantage of the availability of their teachers to talk, asking for a few moments to speak privately one on one or in small groups. Aizawa suppressed a moment of jealously when Koda approached Zashi and Hagakure asked to speak to Nem. After all, Present Mic and Midnight were much more approachable than him, but it still stung just a bit.

Then Tsuyu Asui approached him, and he led her to one of the small conference rooms. “I’m really okay, Mr. Aizawa, but I did want to thank you for protecting us, ribbit,” she said. “Um, I also wanted you to know that Minoru was a gentleman the whole time, and he even saved Fumikage’s life.”

“My job is to keep you safe, Asui. You don’t have to thank me for that,” he said gently. “As for Mineta, I’m glad he’s trying to be better.”

She smiled. “Call me Tsuyu, ribbit.” Then she walked out the door.

He sat in the conference room for a few minutes with a grin on his face. These kids, he thought, and then returned to the cafeteria. Evidently after As… Tsuyu, the floodgate had been opened, because he saw Jiro, with one of her earphone jacks dragging against the floor, drag a protesting Kaminari his way, with Yaoyorozu following closely behind wearing rubber gloves and pushing the boy. “Mr. Aizawa, can we talk to you?” Jiro asked.

“Kyoka,” Kaminari said, trying unsuccessfully to pull his arm away from her grip, “I’m sure Mr. Aizawa has more important matters to occupy him given the events of this morning. My issue is of minimal importance compared to the many reports he will need to file as a pro hero involved in an event of this magnitude.”

“Kid, my job as a teacher takes priority,” Aizawa replied. “I can always do paperwork later. Besides, with the police taking charge of the investigation, I’ll only have to give a statement. Come on.” He led them to the same conference room. “So, what can I do for you?”

The three exchanged awkward glances, and then Yaoyorozu spoke. “Kyoka and I found out some troubling details of Denki’s quirk today, sir. His body is optimized to function with….” She looked questioningly at Kaminari.

“A default at around a three-million-volt charge, but the higher the charge the more efficiently my brain functions. I’m currently at roughly five million volts, so I’m quite a bit more intelligent than usual. Unfortunately, at or close to the optimum charge, my skin carries a current that can be painful if someone touches me. I usually discharge into a custom capacitor unit at home before coming to school, but that has the unfortunate effect of slowing down my cognitive functions.”

“How much do you store at home?” Aizawa asked, leaning forward.

“Roughly half,” Kaminari said, looking down.

“Damn it, kid. Your performance this year has been at half your potential?”

Kaminari blushed. “Well, it doesn't quite work that way. Some tasks I’m almost as good at even with diminished capabilities, such as English. Math and anything fact-based really suffer, but I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Kyoka chimed in. “We were hoping he could get some costume upgrades and custom uniforms for regular classes and PE, including some insulating gloves so he could keep a full charge and not risk shocking everyone.”

Aizawa nodded, pulled out his phone, and sent a text message to Power Loader. After a few moments, he received a reply. “Power Loader is in the design lab and is expecting you. He’ll work with you to get you what you need. You didn’t have to hide this from me or feel embarrassed.”

Kaminari smiled. “I honestly didn’t mean to, sir! Memory is one of the things I have trouble with when my charge is low. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it since the first day of school, I just keep forgetting.”

Aizawa put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and wished he hadn’t from the tingling sensation, but years of experience in the underground let him keep his face neutral and avoid a flinch. “Then at least one good thing will come out of this morning’s mess. You tell Power Loader I said, ‘anything you need,’ got it?”

“Yes sir!” Kaminari said.

“Yaoyorozu, if you don’t mind showing him the way, I’d appreciate it. All three of you can go if you want. The gear design process is something any good hero should be familiar with, so it will be an educational experience for all three of you. Not mandatory, of course, but I’d recommend it. Also, I’m going to set up some sessions for you with Ms. Kayama. She’s a certified quirk counselor and might be able to help you learn to suppress the surface current when you’re fully charged.”

“Thank you!” Jiro said, and all three of the students bowed and left the room.

These kids, he thought again, these self-sacrificing kids. He sat in the conference room for a few minutes woolgathering, but then took a deep breath and stood. He needed to get back to the cafeteria. He opened the door to find another of his students standing there, holding a large book. “Did you need to talk?” he asked.

“Yes sir, I’m afraid I do.”

Chapter Text

Aizawa stood aside and let his student into the room. “Sit anywhere you like, as long as you’re comfortable. Do you want some tea or anything?” The student shook his head, sitting down on one of the armchairs. Aizawa motioned to the couch across from the boy. “Is this okay with you?” The boy nodded, so Aizawa sat across from him, the coffee table between them.

“My parents are coming to the school, but I wished to speak with you before they arrive. This is… difficult for me. I’m not sure how to explain,” the student said.

“Just take your time,” Aizawa said. “You’ve been through a lot today. You all have.”

“Perhaps this will explain it better.” He set the book on the coffee table. Aizawa’s skin crawled as he read the title, and the boy flipped it open to a bookmarked page, pointing to a highlighted passage. Aizawa reached into his pocket and turned on one of Nezu’s little cubes, the only signal allowed from the room was a quick notification to Nezu that it had been activated. He really hoped the Principal’s curiosity would get the better of him.

As Aizawa picked up The Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess, he read the indicated words aloud. “The Poison Pawn Variation is not too heavily laced with arsenic, but it would be suicidal to enter the line without specialist knowledge,” he read out loud to a flinch from the boy. “We’re safe from all eavesdropping in here. I know very little about chess, Aoyama, but maybe I can make a guess. Is the Poison Pawn Variation using your queen to capture…?”

“The queen’s knight’s pawn. That is what I was told that I am.”

“Why, Aoyama?” Rage at the situation fought a battle inside him against the urge to protect this kid.

“I was… diagnosed as quirkless at age five,” the boy whispered, tears streaming down his face. “We lived here in Japan in those days, and my schoolmates were not kind. I was becoming more and more withdrawn with every day, and then one of my parent’s business associates told them he knew a man who could give quirks.” He paused. “I knew none of this at the time, all I knew is that one day my parents took me to meet a scary man with the body of a metal spider and without a face, as though it had melted away. J'étais terrifié! Despite my fear, I tried to be nice and polite, and he laughed and told me I was brave and would be a hero someday. Then he touched my forehead and I felt as though mon esprit a pris feu. Um, my mind had been set on fire, I mean. I had a quirk, but every time I used it, it caused me intense pain, as though my body was not made for it.”

Aizawa sucked in a deep breath. “Does it still…?”

Yuga Aoyama nodded sadly. “Every time. It is a powerful quirk despite the pain. We moved to France for many years after that, but two years ago, my maman et papa received orders from the man to return to Japan. I was ordered to get into UA and become a spy, but the only information he wanted was about any new teachers, you, and Iz… Midoriya. I told him about All Might before it was in the press, and I believed it was he who tipped off the reporters. As for Midoriya… I… I lied. I told him Midoriya has a simple strength enhancement quirk. It was then that he told me how much he valued me, and that I am the queen’s knight’s pawn. I searched on the internet for this and found out about the Poison Pawn Variation. He gave that book to my parents years ago, the day he gave me the quirk. When I looked it up in the book, the passage was already highlighted.”

They both jumped at a slight knock from the door. Aizawa cautiously went and opened it, swiftly allowing the Principal to join them. After a quick recap of the information Aoyama provided, and the message Kurogiri delivered, the Principal frowned. “Quite a cunning trap. If we were to arrest Mr. Aoyama and his parents, we can only assume that mysterious benefactors would appear to create a protracted legal battle which we may very well lose. All Might’s employment at the school is hardly a state secret, and indeed would have been public knowledge anyway. There is also no law that prevents giving someone a quirk. As for sharing details about Mr. Midoriya, an argument could be made that it was a violation of the Hero Identity Protection and Anonymity Act, but that would never hold up in court. Such a court battle could tie up All Might, you, several other teachers, and myself for several months, seriously restricting our ability to move freely. If we simply expel Mr. Aoyama, he and his family are placed in jeopardy. If we do nothing, we allow a spy access to the school. Were you given any other orders, Mr. Aoyama?”

“Oui,” he said, “but I disobeyed. My parents are coming to the school. I fear for their safety and beg you… take them into protective custody! Hide them away because my life is already forfeit!”

“Wait, what?” Aizawa said. “Are you being threatened?”

“I… in case of a villain attack, I was ordered to hide and report my observations. During the battle, I was sent to the conflagration zone, and I did just that. I watched as one of the fiends nearly killed Ojiro and Shoji. I… I could not just stand by, so I stopped him the only way I could… I killed him. His name was Balrog. The remains will look like a pile of obsidian. I did not wish for my friends to have to either keep the secret or feel they betrayed me, when I am a traitor, and now, a meurtrier… a murderer. One way or another, this will come out, and I will be killed, but if my maman et papa can be kept safe, that is all I care about. Please, they did not know he was a villain.”

“Mr. Aoyama, you and your parents will be confined to campus until we can reach a decision on how to handle this matter. I’m afraid I will have to confiscate your cell phone for now,” Principal Nezu said. “Once your parents arrive, they will surrender any communications devices as well, and you will all have to wear monitoring bracelets. This discussion will not leave this room as far as the students are concerned. Is this understood?”

Aoyama looked up with something like hope. “So long as my parents are safe, I will do anything!”

Nezu clasped his hands in front of himself. “I’m afraid for the time being, you’ll have to wait in a secure room, Mr. Aoyama. Your teacher will escort you there. You will be able to watch television, but we cannot allow you any outside communications for obvious reasons.” Nezu paused. His studies of human psychology and social behavior told him the boy probably felt terrified. “We will keep this quiet for the time being. I’m sure this must be quite distressing for you as well as us. I want you to keep in mind that you are a victim in this situation, and we are going to do all that we can to help you and your parents.”

Nezu sent out a recorded phone message and a long text explaining the situation to the parents of all the hero course students, and then a second message to those whose children had been at the USJ during the attack. Then he personally called the parents of those who suffered injuries, except for Enji Todoroki, of course. At each step of the process, he assured the parents that their children would be home at the usual time and given a hero escort, but despite this almost all of the parents who could possibly make it here before the normal end of classes and the mandatory lunch after heroics had insisted on coming to the school. He sighed, rubbing the brow of his snout against the oncoming headache. He’d like nothing more than to let one of the hemispheres of his brain take a nice nap, but he could not afford to allow either logic or emotion to hold sway right now. At least this last call should be any easy one. He dialed the number, and, after a few rings, it picked up. “Inko Midoriya.”

“Mrs. Midoriya, a pleasure to talk to you again,” Nezu said. “This is Principal Nezu.” He heard a car horn. “Oh, pardon me… are you driving?”

“Of course! I’m on my way to UA right now. Izuku let me know what happened.”

“But… surely you of all people know that it certainly isn’t necessary,” Nezu protested. “We’ll be providing hero escorts to ensure that all of the students arrive safely home and increased patrols to make sure they remain safe.”

Inko laughed. “I know, Nezu, but I also know other parents are going to be panicking and having a parent who understands both sides there to help calm them down will be a huge benefit to you. Since All Might was one of the main participants in the event, this is part of my job. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see my son, too, but I’m coming to ease your headache, not add to it.”

Nezu chose not to even try to hide his sigh of relief. “Then you have my eternal gratitude. What can I do to help you help me?”

“I’ll need a large comfortable room big enough to hold all the parents at once, preferably with food and non-alcoholic beverages available. Have some of the more public friendly teachers take them there, like Cementoss, Present Mic, and Recovery Girl. If they want to see their children, let them briefly in a private conference room, but only long enough to assure them that they’re unharmed. Have the teachers explain that the administration and the teachers involved are currently working with the police but are moving as quickly as possible so they can speak to the parents. I’m sure Snipe and Ectoplasm are patrolling the area, make sure the parents can see that they’re doing so. I’ll also need a conference line, preferably with video as well so we can include the parents who live too far away to make it. None of the teachers who were directly involved in the incident should be there. Shota isn’t the most… patient person when he’s stressed, and poor Thirteen needs time to recover. We’ll save All Might for the end, or if things start to get heated.” She took a deep breath. “I assume we’re going to push for the dormitories?”

Nezu’s eyebrows rose. If only all humans were like his staff and the Midoriya family. “Absolutely. I must say, perhaps I should try to steal you away from All Might, at least on a part time basis.”

She laughed. “This one is pro-bono, but I’ll warn you, I’m expensive! Did you decide on a builder? Since the school is doing the funding through the alumni association, I’m assuming a streamlined bidding process.”

“We have. Uraraka construction will be overseeing the project.”

“Perfect. If they’ll subcontract some of the work to subsidiaries of the Yaoyorozu Conglomerate, we’ll have at least two sets of allies in the room. I happen to be friends with the person who would probably give us the most trouble, but she’s in the fashion industry and dabbles in interior design. A minor contract for the stock furnishings for the rooms and common areas gets us three and, counting me and Hayaka Ida, that’s five.” She paused and sighed. “Will Endeavor be in the room?”

“No, I’m afraid he said something rather… crude… to your son, and Aizawa threatened his life.”

Inko Midoriya’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m tempted to request having him there as my payment. I’d love to have a little chat.”

“Are all of my allies going to threaten to kill the number two hero today?” Nezu said with a chuckle.

“I’m not going to kill him, I’m just going to hurt him really, really bad.”

Although Inko Midoriya couldn’t see it, Nezu nodded in appreciation, from one predator to another.

“Aoyama,” Mr. Aizawa said as the student walked into the secure room, “for what it’s worth, telling us was a brave thing. Principal Nezu is many things, but he’s not a liar. We’re going to do everything we can to help and keep you and your family safe. This might seem like a punishment, but we’ve got to make sure we keep the other students safe as well.”

Aoyama turned back to him and smiled sadly. “Oui. You have treated me much kinder than I deserve. I am a traitor and a murderer.”

“No, you’re a kid who didn’t really have a lot of choice about either thing,” Aizawa said. “Listen to me, the man your parents made a deal with is someone I've fought before. You’re all lucky to be alive, and that’s only because he thought he could use you. I’ve seen him try to kill a three-year-old child just because he could and thought it would give him a momentary advantage. He’s a monster, but you’re not. As for the villain you were forced to kill, not murder, at the USJ, you did that to save the lives of your classmates. I know it may not seem like it right now, but you did the right thing. Do you remember what I told Bakugo about killing being a hard choice and the last resort?” At Aoyama’s sad nod, Aizawa continued, “you’ll note that I didn’t say it was never a possibility. If the only way to save the life of one of my students, you included, is to kill a villain, I’d do it without a bit of hesitation. I won’t pretend you shouldn’t feel bad about it; heroes are supposed to feel bad about killing. That’s the side you chose today, and you made the right choice.”

Aoyama broke into quiet sobs. “It is something I never knew I wanted until I arrived here and met people like you, and All Might, and Midoriya. I tried to keep my distance, and he still offered me friendship, speaking to me in his horribly accented French just to make me feel more at ease,” the boy said with a watery laugh. “Whoever that man is, he means harm for all of you. It is as though he has a vendetta. Please, the three of you must protect yourselves over the likes of me.”

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed. “Kid, if I have anything to say about it, he’s not going to lay a hand on any of us without it coming back as a bloody stump.”

As he closed the door, he turned to see one of Ectoplasm’s clones leaning against the wall. “I’ve let your other students know that they can tell one of my clones if they need you. Nezu’s called an emergency staff meeting.”

“Thanks, Masakazu. Surprised it took him this long.” Aizawa started walking to the elevator.

“He wanted to give you time to take care of this,” Masakazu said. “This particular clone will stay here and keep an eye on him.”

“I owe you one.”

Another Ectoplasm clone, this one near the elevator, scoffed and winked. “Just cancel one of the many I owe you.”

After reaching the fourteenth floor, he walked to the teacher’s conference room and sat down, the last of the staff to arrive. He sat down in his usual seat letting out a breath he honestly didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Sorry to keep everyone waiting.”

“Quite alright, Mr. Aizawa,” Nezu said. “It has been a trying day and we have much to discuss. First, we have been attacked by a group calling themselves the League of Villains. Although most of the attackers appear to be little more than street-level villains, three were far more dangerous. The leader of the raid is a man calling himself Tomura Shigaraki. His quirk is a five-point contact disintegration quirk. Next is a being calling himself Kurogiri, with a warp gate quirk that allowed him to move over seventy villains in an instant.”

“About that,” Aizawa interrupted. “At one point, we managed to rip the mist surrounding Kurogiri away from him. I… recognized him, or who he used to be.” He grabbed and squeezed Hizashi and Nemuri’s hands. “Whatever this Kurogiri is, he was made from the corpse of a former UA student.”

“No,” Nemuri whispered.

“He was Oboro Shirakumo. When the mist was pulled away, he looked like a survivor of the holocaust. He’s in there somewhere too, he knew my first name and asked about Sushi… um, Ms. Kayama’s cat. He’s producing that mist, but it’s also controlling him somehow.”

Hizashi squeezed his hand hard enough to hurt. “Someone is going to die for this.” In all the years Shota knew Hizashi, his voice never sounded so quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Nezu said, “but we know that these Nomu have been built from corpses. That one is so sophisticated as to be intelligent enough to hold a conversation exists is extremely troubling. Speaking of the Nomu, finally, we have the villain called Peacebreaker who Shigaraki described as a bioengineered Nomu, possessing multiple quirks.” He turned to their guest. “Detective Tsukauchi, if you would?”

The detective stood. “We managed to recover the Nomu five hundred meters into the woods outside of the USJ, just sitting peacefully in a crater from where it landed after All Might punched it through the roof. It wouldn’t respond verbally to any questions but complied when officers guided it to a police van. Several of the heroes in this room have encountered similar creatures before during the Musutafu Attack twelve years ago. It appears to be a refinement of those early models, which only possessed strength quirks and were little more than reanimated corpses. All Might has confirmed that it has enhanced strength, shock absorption, regeneration, and a poison claw quirk, although the arm it ripped of itself is still regrowing, almost as if the regeneration quirk has overloaded.”

Kayama looked up. “But the creator of the Nomu was killed during the Musutafu Attack. All Might punched him into space.”

All Might frowned. “Even as hard as I punched him, it would take several minutes to leave the atmosphere, and most of that time he would have been out of young Aizawa’s sight. Considering the vast array of quirks he had, he could have survived. Indeed, we must assume he did. He is the only villain documented with the ability to take and give quirks, and as far as we know he is the only one to use creatures like this. Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri both spoke of a master. It must be All For One.”

Aizawa spoke up. “That’s not the only thing Kurogiri spoke of. He told me he had a message from his master to,” and he rolled his eyes, “my masters. ‘By all means, use your queen to capture our queen’s knight’s pawn.’ One of my students has confirmed that he was born quirkless, and that his parents took him to meet a mysterious man without a face and the body of a metal spider who gave him his quirk. Two years ago, this same man ordered Yuga Aoyama’s family to return to Japan and instructed him get into UA to spy for him.”

“What?” Yamada yelled. “The little listener is a dirty traitor?”

“Mic,” Aizawa said with a sigh, “he’s a fifteen-year-old kid who was taken, at the age of five, to a villain powerful enough to battle All Might and four other heroes to a standstill. We only won that night because a man gave his life to turn the tide of the battle. The lives of his parents, not to even mention his own, have been threatened. As far as he knew until today, the man just wanted information about the teachers and students. You know that everything about UA is discussed endlessly on some of the hero boards. We’ve got Aoyama confined and will be taking his parents into protective custody, but technically he’s done nothing wrong. He picked a side, saving the lives of two of his classmates today and coming to me to let me know at the cost of placing his life and his parents’ lives in danger. Kid deserves a little bit of credit for that.”

Mic frowned. “Sorry, Sho… it’s just hard to believe.”

“We have to be careful with our reaction in any event,” Nezu said, “particularly in light of the message provided by Kurogiri. Mr. Aoyama was told that he is the queen’s knight’s pawn by this mysterious man.”

Kan Sekijiro, the Blood Hero: Vlad King, raised his hand. “I’m assuming all this means something, right? I don’t know much about western chess.”

Nezu grinned. “It is all related to a scenario called the poison pawn variation. One of the pawns is left vulnerable to the opponent’s queen, but in taking it, the queen is left in a bad position. Within several moves, the opponent is typically forced to lose valuable material worth far more than the initial pawn or give up valuable positioning.”

Unlike the rest of the teachers, Snipe stood at the window holding his sniper rifle and constantly scanned the UA grounds for any signs of danger. With an angry voice he muttered, “Some varmint wants to play games with people’s lives? I’ll be happy to teach him whack-a-mole, and he can be the dang mole.”

Nezu grinned. “I’m delighted for him to continue viewing this in terms of a game, since even subconsciously that will limit him. Western chess is interesting, naturally, but it ultimately fails as a metaphor for life. Unlike chess pieces, human beings can move in unexpected ways, and a queen can easily be taken down by a pawn, and there is no requirement that they have absolutely loyalty to the king. The ‘pawn’ we captured today can be placed back on the board in a location of our choosing, so Shoji would be a more appropriate metaphor, although I still reject such an analogy.”

All Might clenched his fist. “He can make all the moves he wants, but I’m going to remove him from the board… permanently.”

Chapter Text

Of course, Inko thought as a rather frazzled-looking clone of Ectoplasm escorted her to the waiting room set aside for the parents, Mitsuki and Masaru arrived first. They live here in Musutafu. She smiled at the clone, having met Ectoplasm several times, she’d gotten pretty good at telling the duplicates from the original. “I’m sure it has been a rough day. Thanks for all your hard work, and please let your original know as well.”

He grinned. “I think you’re one of only a handful of people who can tell. I do appreciate it, and we all know.” He tapped his forehead. “We’re all linked, after all. Would you like to see Izuku first?”

“As much as I would, we’ll have the rest of the weekend together, and I need to keep people calm. He already let me know he’s okay, and this isn’t the first time he’s encountered a villain,” she said.

The clone nodded. “Oh yes, of course.” He grinned, not that he could do much else in costume. “Izuku had it easy compared to what you’re about to face.” He opened the door to the parent’s room.

A blonde woman slammed into her. “Inko! Thank God you’re here. This is like the Sludge thing from this summer all over again!”

Inko patted her friend on the back. “It’s okay, Mitsuki. All Might was there the whole time, and all the kids are fine. None of them suffered serious injuries.”

“Shouldn’t UA know how to stop stuff like this from happening?” Mitsuki said with a frown.

“My thoughts exactly,” an elegantly dressed woman said from the door. “Our daughter was placed in danger!”

Inko bowed. “Mr. and Mrs. Yaoyorozu, pleasure to see you again. Please, make yourselves comfortable. We’ll get started once more of the parents arrive. As you can imagine, today has been a difficult day for the school, so they’re currently doing everything they can to make sure the students stay safe. I share your frustration that this happened, but teleporters are notoriously hard to stop.”

“She’s absolutely correct,” a new voice said. Hayaka Ida, the retired hero “Blue Streak” and mother of Tenya Ida stood in the doorway. “The hardest case I ever dealt with was a teleporter. They’re almost impossible to track, capture, and keep that way. We’re lucky this happened at the school with so many heroes already in the area. It would have been a real nightmare if they’d attacked some of the kids during their commute.”

Inko shot her a look of gratitude as more parents entered the room, and before long, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Tokoyami, Mineta, Hagakure, Sero, Ojiro, Uraraka, and Kaminari’s parents had arrived. Inko opened the conference line and most of the other parents were already waiting to join. She stepped into the middle of the room, immediately switching into her public relations persona. “Good morning. Some of you I’ve talked to before, but not as many as I’d like. I’m Inko Midoriya, the mother of Izuku Midoriya, student number nineteen in UA’s class 1-A. If we haven’t met and I seem familiar to you, you may have seen me on television because I’m the head of public relations for Might Incorporated and the chief spokesperson for All Might and his agency. Because UA’s staff is busy making sure that the campus is completely secure, I offered to step in because I’m both the mother of one of the students involved and familiar with hero operations. I know what you’re all going through, but all the students are safe, and UA is doing everything they can to make sure they stay that way.”

“You’re used to this!” Kyotoku Jiro said. “Yeah, I get it, your son was there too, but you work with All Might. You don’t know what we’re going through!”

Mitsuki stared at him. “She knows better than anyone in the world. She lost her husband twelve years ago in a villain attack, and just last summer her kid,” she waved her hand at Inko, then moved it toward Hayaka Ida, “and her kid risked their lives to save my little brat from a villain!”

“Calm down, Kyotoku,” Mika Jiro said, laying a hand on his arm. “We’re all stressed out about it.”

“Alright, I’m just being a concerned parent here!” he protested.

“If I could say something,” a voice came from the conference line, “this is Emi Kirishima. I’m Ejiro Kirishima’s mom. Well, one of his moms, I mean. Sorry, Erisa! Sorry, anyway, I think we all know, or should know, that the villains are really to blame. We just want to know what UA is going to do about it.”

“Thank you,” Inko said. “Your children should have discussed with you UA’s plans to build dormitories. Even though they haven’t secured all the funding, enough has been donated by All Might, Endeavor, and several other pro heroes that we can begin building some of the student dormitories. The school would like to make the first-year hero classes the first to move in.”

Tetsuo Yaoyorozu stood up. “I’ve seen these proposals. The rooms are tiny and insufficient, and the only bathing facilities are shared! That’s completely unacceptable.”

“UA is having to fund this entirely on donations,” Inko said.

“We could make the rooms bigger and include in suite bathrooms, but that will double the cost,” Sasuke Uraraka, Ochaco’s father, said, “and they’re only halfway to the funding goal as it is. Uraraka Construction has already signed a contract to oversee the project, but we’re barely going to make a profit with the extensive sub-contracting we’ll have to do.”

Tetsuo nodded. “The Yaoyorozu Conglomerate has extensive construction capabilities in the Musutafu area. We’ll provide the subcontracting and the additional capital to cover the rest of the project with some improvements, and ensure you make a generous profit, so long as our company name is featured as full partners with Uraraka Construction in future promotional materials highlighting these dormitories. We’ll take a loss, of course, but will recoup that in goodwill for helping the most prestigious hero school in the world. Perhaps later we can talk about some more mutually beneficial opportunities as well.”

After the staff meeting, most of the teachers quickly returned to the cafeteria to check on their students. As All Might walked through the doors, he noticed his apprentice chatting with young Tenya and Uraraka. Izuku nodded to his two closest friends and stood, moving toward All Might. “Could I talk to you, All Might?”

“Of course, young Midoriya,” All Might said, leading the way to one of the many conference rooms. When they arrived, Izuku reached into one of the pouches on his belt and withdrew one of Nezu’s anti-spying cubes and activated it. “This must be serious, young Izuku, but you shouldn’t be feeling bad about what happened earlier.”

Izuku frowned, taking a seat on the couch. “Well, I am still really sorry, but that’s not what this is about, All Might. It’s about One For All and… well, All For One.”

All Might’s worst fears ran through his head. Of course, Izuku wouldn’t want to keep One For All knowing that a centuries old monster wanted him dead for the quirk. With the modifications One For All had already made to Izuku’s body, he had more than enough strength and training to become a pro hero, although he probably wouldn’t reach the top ten after giving it back. “I… believe I understand, young Izuku. Knowing that monster still lives is a difficult burden. It puts you and those closest to you in jeopardy.”

Izuku nodded. “I know. That’s why… All Might… I want to tell Tenya and Ochaco. Present Mic and Midnight, too.”

“I underst…” All Might paused. “You what?”

“All For One survived. Present Mic and Midnight need to know because they’re obvious targets, and Tenya’s been the best friend I’ve ever had.” Izuku laughed, “He’s the Tsukauchi to my All Might! We both know that he can be trusted. As for Ochaco… well, let’s face it, she has a target on her because of what she did to Tomura Shigaraki today… and… I, um, _{really like her}.”

All Might let out a sigh of relief, and then grinned. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch that last bit, my boy!”

Izuku blushed red, and said louder, “I like her, okay? Like… the more time I spend with her, the more time I want to spend with her.”

“I understand, my boy,” All Might said, placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Just… be sure. You’ve only known her a short time. This may be nothing more than a first crush.”

“Even if I didn’t… have feelings for her,” Izuku shrugged at All Might’s questioning expression, “or a crush on her, telling her would still be the right thing to do. She’s in danger because of me, and if the worst should happen, I may need to pass One For All on to someone. You admitted yourself that both Ochaco and Tenya are good candidates. Just in case, I want them to know who they can go to and trust if the worst happens.”

“I can’t really blame you for that, young Izuku, but I’ll die before I let something happen to you.”

Izuku placed his hand on the one All Might rested on his shoulder, and then stood up. “There’s one more reason I want to tell them.” Izuku turned to face All Might and held out his hands. Two tiny tornadoes of green smoke formed in his hands, and he slowly rose into the air. “I’ve been having dreams where I’ve spoken to some of the previous holders, and they’ve allowed me to access their quirks, so I’ll need people to back me up on my quirk framework theory as a cover story. The smoke comes from the quirk of the sixth user, a man called En. It was originally a quirk called Smokescreen, and produced thick clouds of smoke, but it has evolved as part of One For All to allow me to control the smoke to some degree. I’ve been thinking of it as Cloud Control. The other quirk… I think you recognize it.”

“Float,” All Might whispered quietly. “And you really….”

Izuku smiled. “She said you’re out of the will for telling me the ‘Toots’ story, but she was laughing when she did. Float has evolved into Flight.”

All Might put his hand to his mouth, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. “Ah, and I tease you for being quick to cry, my boy. What I wouldn’t give to hear her laughter again. The next time you speak to her… would you tell her that I miss her and love her.”

Izuku touched back down softly, and the boy pulled his mentor into a fierce hug. “She knows, All Might. She knows.”

“Man, I’m so jealous,” Mina said, plopping down beside Eijiro with a box of pizza. “Midori’s getting to talk one-on-one with All Might.” She opened the box, revealing slices pulled from other pizzas, all with different toppings, and picked up a slice of ham and pineapple for herself. “Dig in,” she said. “I know you’re a big fan of the meats, Ei, so there’s five meat pizza in here, and I didn’t know what you’d like, Blasty, but the ham and pineapple’s mine.”

“Fruit on pizza? As if,” Bakugo scoffed. “You really are a damn trash panda.” He picked up the green chili pepper, onion, and jalapenos slice. “At least you didn’t completely screw up.” He took a big bite.

Mina rolled her eyes. “I got that one as a dare. Your tastebuds must all be dead.”

“Only good slice in the damn box,” Bakugo shot back.

“Nah, dude,” Ei said, biting into a slice of five meat pizza. “Meat rules. Wonder what M… Izuku went to talk about with All Might.”

“I could not give less of a damn if they were discussing hairy rat asses,” Bakugo said, taking another bite of pizza. “Damn nerd’s probably in there kissing up. Can we just shut the Hell up about him?”

“Says the guy who blows up every time he opens his mouth,” Mina said. “If you don’t care, don’t act like you do, Blasty.”

“What the Hell, Raccoon Eyes?” Bakugo yelled. “I don’t give a squirt of warm piss. He’s the one who’s always up in my business.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “What, by breathing, you big jerk?”

“Yes! He damn well followed me to U….”

An announcement over the intercom cut off the rest of Bakugo’s tirade. “Ochaco Uraraka and Tenya Ida, please report to conference room First Floor A.”

The trio, and indeed everyone in the cafeteria, watched the two students get up and leave the cafeteria. “Maybe they’re starting the police statements,” Mina said.

“Has anyone noticed Aoyama never came back from meeting with Mr. Aizawa?” Eijiro asked.

Yuga Aoyama sat in the room he’d been placed in, staring at the television without consciously realizing what was displayed. His thoughts felt like light trapped in the inevitable pull of a black hole, unable to escape, being pulled closer and closer the destruction as they circled the darkness.

He felt gratitude to his teachers for the hope they tried to provide, but knew it came too late to save him. He killed a man today, and that only served as the final evil deed he committed. He betrayed his school, his teachers, and his fr… classmates. He didn’t deserve to call them friends.

The door opened, and Ectoplasm stood there, looking every bit the executioner with his grinning mask so reminiscent of a skull. “Yes, Mr. Nishida?” Yuga asked.

“Are you alright?” Ectoplasm asked. The pro hero turned his head to the side. “I know things seem bleak right now, but we will help you and your parents. Speaking of them, two of my clones have escorted them to a secure three-bedroom facility on campus. Cementoss and Power Loader built it this morning, but it is quite comfortable. I can take you there if you’d like.”

Yuga looked down. “I… I do not understand, sir. Why are you trying to help us? We are nothing more than villains.”

“Personne ne peut être juge à son propre procès,” Ectoplasm said kindly. Yuga looked up at the teacher in wonderment. “No one can be the judge in his own case. Yes, you were threatened by a villain and did his bidding, but that makes you a victim, not a villain. I know Eraserhead sees potential in you, and I trust his judgement. We won’t fail you, Aoyama.”

Yuga’s tears rolled down his cheeks. “Thank you, sir. I will do my best not to fail you again.”

Ectoplasm nodded. “Wash your face, and I will take you to see your parents. No villain will get close to your family here unless we have all fallen, and we will not go down without a fight.”

Ochaco and Tenya arrived at the 1F-A conference room and Tenya knocked on the heavy doors. After a moment, All Might opened the door and ushered the two inside. The room seemed filled with a low buzz and featured a large leather couch with two matching chairs across from it with a coffee table between them. Izuku sat in one of the chairs, and All Might gestured toward the couch. “Please, young Tenya, young… Ochaco if I may? Have a seat.”

Ochaco nodded. “Of course… you’re All Might! You can call me whatever you want.”

Tenya looked around. “Are the police not here? I thought that we would be giving our statements to Detective Tsukauchi.”

Izuku looked up. “We’ll still have to do that later, but I asked All Might to call the two of you here. I… well… um, there’s something I’ve been hiding from the two of you.”

“Izuku?” Ochaco asked in confusion.

“Please keep in mind that this was not only Izuku’s secret, and he has been hiding this in honor of my wishes,” All Might said. “He has made a strong case for sharing this with you, and I have agreed. But! This is a secret known only to a handful of people. Your friendship with Izuku places you at some level of risk already, and based on information we got at the USJ, we believe that, for the two of you, the danger of not knowing outweighs the danger and burden of knowing. It must be your choice, however. If you do not wish to know, we will not force you to hear anymore.”

Tenya’s hand chopped through the air. “Izuku is not just my best friend, he is my brother in all but blood. I’ll stand by him no matter what. You won’t find me lacking in resolve, All Might!”

“A total creep tried to disintegrate me earlier,” Ochaco pointed out. “I’m already in this… whatever it is… up to my neck. I’m not about to run home and hide under the covers. You can tell me anything. I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

All Might smiled at the two. “Absolutely no hesitation. You’ve picked good friends, young Izuku.”

“I’ve picked the best,” Izuku said. He took a deep breath. “Nearly two hundred years ago, a man was born with a quirk that allowed him to steal the quirks of others and transfer them to either himself or other people. For almost twenty years, he ruled Japan during the quirk upheavals, taking and giving quirks to secure followers. Then, one day, he simply vanished. Many people hoped he died, but the truth is that he chose to hide in the shadows, influencing events and leaving his mark on our society. His real name is lost to history, but he was known as All For One.”

“All For One did have a brother,” All Might said, “a brother who seemed to be quirkless. This brother led the resistance until All For One captured him. No one knows why, maybe out of misguided familial affection or simply an attempt to compel his brother’s cooperation, but All For One forced a power stockpiling quirk on his brother. This power combined with the brother’s unknown, seemingly useless quirk – a quirk that only allowed him to pass on his quirk to another – to form the quirk now known as One For All. All For One’s brother was the first holder of One For All.”

“The first holder?” Ochaco whispered.

Izuku nodded. “The first holder was killed by All For One, but not before he passed it on to the second holder. As far as we know, each holder has struggled against, and been murdered by, All For One. The last holder to die at All For One’s hands was named Nana Shimura. She was the seventh holder.”

“Wasn’t that the woman you spoke about at lunch recently?” Tenya asked. “Seventh Heaven, I believe.”

All Might said, “One of her many hero names. She was also my master and passed One For All on to me before her death.”

“I’m so sorry, All Might,” Ochaco said.

“It was a long time ago, young Ochaco. With One For All, I rose to the top of the hero charts and I, hopefully, have done much good with it. I became the number one hero twelve years ago, but that night….” His voice trailed off.

“That is where I come into the story,” Izuku finished. “On the night of my third birthday, Musutafu was attacked by All For One and creatures he created from reanimated corpses called Nomu. All Might, a pro hero named Gran Torino, and three of our teachers, specifically Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic, fought All For One that night. In the battle, All For One threw All Might into my family’s apartment. All For One tried to kill me because I was wearing an All Might onesie, and he hoped it would demoralize All Might and the other heroes, but my dad sacrificed his life to save me by burning All For One with his quirk, Dragon’s Breath. All Might defeated All For One with an Alaska Smash that we thought sent him into outer space.”

“That’s horrible, but I’m afraid I’m a bit lost,” Tenya admitted. “If he was defeated, why tell us about this?”

“Two reasons,” All Might said. “The first is that, based on the presence of a Nomu at the USJ and some of the things the leaders of this so-called League of Villains said, we believe that All For One survived.”

Tenya nodded. “That, unfortunately, makes sense. And the second?”

“That night twelve years ago, All Might was poisoned,” Izuku said. “Sometime in the next seven to ten years, he’ll be unable to use his quirk, so he had to find a successor and pass One For All on to another holder. All Might was the eighth holder of One For All.”

“I’m the ninth.”

Chapter Text

“Maman! Papa!” Aoyama cried as Ectoplasm opened the door. He rushed to hug his parents, the work of washing his face immediately undone by fresh tears.

“Yuga! Thank God you’re safe,” his mother cried, holding him tightly.

“We feared the worst when they brought us here,” his father said, turning to Ectoplasm. “I must protest! We have been incarcerated with our phones taken from us!”

Yuga sat down on the couch. “Maman et Papa, I told them.”

Both elder Aoyama’s paled, but his father recovered quickly. “Told them? Yuga, there’s nothing to tell! We have done nothing wrong!”

“Papa,” Yuga said quietly, “the villains tried to take the lives of my classmates… my friends. I… I just cannot do this. I told my teacher everything.”

His father’s legs gave out, and he fell to the ground. “You’ve killed us for nothing! The man who helped you, he may not have even been involved in this.”

Yuga shook his head. “Papa, the same mist man who brought us to that man after we returned to Japan brought in the villains. We’ve lied to ourselves for too long! They tried to kill my friends and offered villains money for each student killed.”

Aoyama’s mother took her husband's hand. “We must face the truth, mon trésor,” she said, “we have tried to pretend, but our fears… they are realized.”

“Oui,” he said, nodding. He turned to Ectoplasm. “Monsieur Hero, we will cooperate in any way. I didn’t know… didn’t want to believe… that they would harm children. Our lives are yours to do with as you will.”

“You’re the ninth in a line of heroes to possess this quirk,” Tenya said. “You said it was a power stockpiling quirk? Has it had any impact on Ultra-Augmentation?”

Ochaco put her hand on his shoulder. “You’re the dumbest smart guy I’ve ever met, Tenya. Ultra-Augmentation is One For All.” She moved over to his chair and crouched down, taking Izuku’s hands into hers. “You were quirkless, weren’t you?”

Izuku flinched and said quietly. “_{Yes, I was}.”

“Izuku,” she said softly, “that doesn’t matter. You’re smart, caring, and kind. Even with a quirk that would let you coast, you still work hard!”

“But… you’ve had a quirk as long as I’ve known you!” Tenya insisted. “I’ve heard stories all my life about your father, too!”

“Most of those stories were false, created by the HPSC to justify giving his family a full pension at All Might’s insistence, although Might Incorporated covers the cost of it. As for my quirk,” Izuku said. “I hated hiding it from you, but I was quirkless for the first month we knew each other. Remember the force plate? That was the day I got One For All. All Might, Mr. Aizawa, and Principal Nezu came up with the cover story.”

“None of that matters,” Ochaco insisted. “Whether you got your quirk at four or fourteen, you’re still our friend!”

“She’s right, Izuku!” Tenya said, standing and chopping a hand through the air. “We would be friends regardless of your quirk. Let’s not forget that you came up with the strategy to defeat the Sludge villain, acting with intelligence and insight. You were a leader that day, and in case you’ve forgotten, you didn’t use your quirk during that incident. You even saved the life of that ingrate, Bakugo!”

“Tenya,” Izuku said distracted from his own emotional turmoil by the opportunity to defend someone, even Bakugo, “he’s not that bad.”

Tenya sputtered for a few moments, his hands waving through the air like a magician who misplaced the card that served as the lynchpin to a trick. With the sound of his teeth clicking, he folded his hands across his chest. “We’ll have to agree to disagree. I think his behavior is reprehensible.” Ochaco nodded in agreement.

“Neither of you have known him as long as I have.”

“Thank God,” Ochaco muttered under her breath.

“Exactly,” Tenya said, “I should be the one having to defend him from you, not that such a ruffian deserves it!”

All Might brought his hands together with one strong clap, effectively ending the discussion. “Let’s not argue about young Bakugo’s personality. We’re here for a more important reason.”

“Who else knows?” Ochaco asked.

“My mom, Mr. Aizawa, Recovery Girl, the Principal, Detective Tsukauchi, and the pro hero Gran Torino,” Izuku said. “I think Tomura Shigaraki sensed something. If he really is reporting to All For One, we have to assume that he’ll figure it out.”

“One other. My former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, but he’s been quite busy with his own agency, and we rarely speak these days,” All Might said with the conviction of someone who lied to himself so often he was started to believe it.

“And now the two of you,” Izuku added. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Young Izuku,” All Might said, “I shouldn’t have discouraged you. You need peers that you can rely on to carry this secret, but only those closest to you should know. It is still a dangerous secret. Another reason we have decided to tell the two of you is unlike the previous holders, including myself, Izuku is somehow able to access the quirks of those who held One For All before him.”

Tenya sat back down heavily. “So, your flight ability?”

“It belonged to my master,” All Might said.

“You probably noticed my newest one during our fight with Kurogiri, Tenya,” Izuku said, “but it allows me to create and control smoke. It belonged to the sixth holder; a man named En. I’ll probably get access to four more quirks eventually, so I’ll be counting on both of you if people start questioning it.”

“Anything we can do, we will!” Tenya said, chopping a hand through the air.

“The final reason we told you,” Izuku said, “is we need to be prepared in case the worst happens. All For One is possibly the most dangerous villain on the planet, and One For All may be the only quirk powerful enough to fight him one on one. It’s also the only quirk he can’t steal, so if you encounter him, that's when you should run! If I’m mortally wounded, one of you will need to ingest some of my DNA… a strand of hair or a bit of blood. All Might has a bit of my hair saved in a vault at Might Tower as insurance, but we’re not sure if it would work if I were already dead. If you’re there, get the quirk from me and then get to All Might or Mr. Aizawa, or any of the other ones who know. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to live, but making sure One For All continues is much bigger than all of us.”

Masaki Mizushima, also known as the Normal Hero: Manual, parked the beat-up car he jokingly called the Manual Mobile, even if it was an automatic, and resumed patrol. Masaki panicked a bit when an alert came over Hero Net directing all heroes to converge on UA due to a large villain attack, but before he could even get out of Hosu, Nezu reported the issue resolved. Thankfully, none of those poor kids were seriously injured. Nodding to himself, he decided to stop by Team Idaten headquarters later and check on Tensei Ida. He knew Tensei’s younger brother just started at UA and hoped the kid hadn’t been involved in the incident.

He chuckled to himself. Several of the sidekicks at Tensei’s agency considered Manual a joke, but he didn’t mind anywhere near as much as Tensei did. Bigshot made the mistake of calling Manual “The Boring Hero” in earshot of Ingenium once, and Masaki still cringed in sympathy for the lecture Bigshot endured from his boss. He rounded a corner into an alley and sighed to himself. Someone spraypainted graffiti on the back of the Tama-ya mochi shop again. Fortunately, his quirk, Decanter, was perfect for this. The ability to produce and control water could easily pressure wash the graffiti in no time.

After a few minutes and almost a fourth of the graffiti removed, he realized that someone watched him from the edge of the alley. Not wanting to spook them, he started to whistle softly, casually getting a peak at his audience, a young blonde girl wearing an oversized beige cardigan and a seifuku. She watched him like a cat, cautiously, as if she would run at any moment. “What are you doing, mister?” she asked, in a girlish voice.

He paused, wiping his brow, and looked toward her. “Oh, hello! I’m just cleaning up this wall for the owners of the shop.”

She scoffed. “Aren’t you supposed to be a hero? Surely you’ve got people to go beat up.”

“Well,” he said, “I’m not much of a fan of hitting people. I’d much rather just talk to them and settle things peacefully. Besides, things tend to be quiet on Saturday mornings, that’s why it’s my favorite time to patrol.”

She rolled her yellow eyes. “You’re pretty boring.”

He laughed at that. “I was just thinking about a time someone else told me the same thing.”

She stepped forward, swaying her hip. “Even if you are boring, I need a hero. Maybe you can help me. I’ve got a craving for something good to eat.” She moved her hands to her skirt and lifted it a few centimeters. “Think you could… fill me up, hero? Or feel me up, for that matter.”

Manual blushed red and turned away quickly. He got out his wallet. “Oh, um, that’s quite okay… but if you’re hungry, they make some really good mochi here. I’d be glad to buy you some.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Mr. Hero. I’m having a sale today, One Hundred Thousand yen for an hour of anything and everything you want.”

He shook his head. “You’re far too young for me or anyone. Are you… homeless? That’s terrible. Please, let me help. You don’t have to do anything! No decent person should ever take advantage of you like that!”

She sighed. “You’re no fun.”

He laughed again. “I’ve been told that before, too. Look, you could get in a lot of trouble doing this sort of thing, it isn’t safe. I’ve got a card here from a non-profit organization that helps kids get off the streets, and their office isn’t far from here. How about I buy you some mochi and we can go check it out?” Only silence greeted him, so he cautiously turned around. Where the girl had been, a man stood with long black hair wearing a ragged cape, tattered mask, and two swords strapped to his back. “Holy…!”

Before Manual could even move, the man draw his swords and was on him, trapping him against the wall with his neck between the scissored blades. “What’s your number, hero?”

“Um… the number to my agency is 75 220 1171, the Normal Agency,” Manual managed to squeak out.

The man growled, “I mean your ranking.”

“I… I’m sorry… I don’t know!”

“Tell me now or you’ll bleed,” the man said. “You’re a hero, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but I’m telling you, I don’t know! I’ve never really cared what my ranking is. I don’t even watch the rankings on television. I’m sorry… I never thought it was important!” Manual suspected he sweated enough in the past few seconds to make swords of his own but knew he couldn’t match this man’s speed. The man’s eyes widened almost comically, then narrowed into tiny slits.

“Hold out your hands,” the man said, putting one sword away and pulling out a flashlight. “Do it.” With a whimper, Manual held out his hands, expecting them to be cut off. Instead, he found his hands bathed in ultraviolet light, but other than the unusual color, he didn’t see anything special. “Can it be? Has Diogenes finally found an honest man with his lamp?”

“Um, I’m not even sure what that means,” he said, “I’m… Manual, the Normal Hero.”

“Take a guess what your ranking is, Manual.”

“Maybe… I don’t know! There are ten thousand heroes in Japan! Probably around five thousand.”

“Two Hundred Fifty-Seven.”

Manual blinked. “What? That high? Why? I’m nothing special!”

“From the mouth of an innocent to God’s ears. Do you know how rare and special you are? I’ve met forty-one heroes in my time, and none have measured up to All Might. But you… you’re not like any of those fools.”

“Oh my God. You’re Stain,” Manual whispered, “the hero killer.”

“The fake killer!” Stain leaned close. “You, of all those I have met, are worth preserving. Like All Might.”

“But… I can’t believe I’m saying this… I’m nothing like All Might!”

“You may not have his strength,” Stain whispered in his ear, “but no one does. You do have his spirit. You… I leave you with this warning. The fakes in Hosu city will be purged to spread my word. Stay to your path and we won’t meet again… Hero.”

Stain stepped back and seemed to vanish into the shadows.

Manual looked around and that's when he broke into a run.

Everyone in the small conference room jolted at the knock on the door. All Might stood and opened the door to find Shota Aizawa, Inko Midoriya, and Hayaka Ida. Izuku reached into his pocket and shut off the cube. “Mom! Aunt Hayaka!”

“Izuku!” his mom said, pulling him into a tight hug with tears running down her face. “I was so worried, but I knew you’d be okay.” She glanced over at All Might. “Thank you both, Toshi, Shota. It’s couldn’t have been easy.”

“Most of them were little more than street level criminals,” All Might said, “but three of them were at least A-Rank. To my shame, Izuku and Ochaco faced all three of them at one point or another, but they did well.”

Aizawa nodded. “All three of the students in this room performed well under the pressure of a situation they shouldn’t have encountered yet. Their teamwork helped save the life of Thirteen and Tenya managed to escape and get aid. You should both be proud. As for me…” he dropped to the floor, pressing his forehead against the carpet, “I apologize they were placed in such a situation!” All Might join him in the bow.

“Would both of you silly men get up?” Inko said.

Hayaka chuckled. “We both understand how hard a teleporter is to deal with.”

“Mother,” Tenya said, “obviously, you didn't need to come here, but I do appreciate it.”

Hayaka smiled. “It's no bother, Tenya. I'm glad we could make it here to support you and the school. Of course, it's always good to see Izuku and Ochaco again, too.”

Izuku nodded. “We were planning to come to Tokyo later today anyway.”

All Might shook his head. “With everything that went on today, we should probably cancel your Saturday afternoon training, although perhaps some training for me in the Bullpen would be nice,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “I think that a weekend off would be a good thing for the three of you.”

“Maybe so,” Izuku said, “but we do have the sports festival coming up in two weeks.

“Not to mention another surprise,” Mr. Aizawa said. “We finally secured the funding for the dormitories. Hopefully, the first ones will be finished by the start of Golden Week since both Cementoss and Power Loader will be available to help. Uraraka, your family’s company will be overseeing the project with outsourcing provided by the Yaoyorozu conglomerate, so you’ll be able to spend time with your parents over the coming weeks. They’ll be staying in temporary housing in Musutafu provided by the school.”

“A few of your heroics classes this week will allow the students to help under the direction of the builders. Heroes often help with construction projects after a disaster, and this will be a good learning experience for all of you. That will let your grade’s two hero classes move on to campus over Golden Week and get settled in during a time of reduced coursework,” All Might added.

“If that's the case, what's going to happen to the old house?” Izuku asked.

“Well, no worries there,” All Might said. “Might Incorporated will have it go back to being a safe house.”

“Oh!” Izuku said excitedly, “we picked hero names earlier this week!” He motioned toward Ochaco. “She’s the Gravity Hero, Uravity! Tenya is the Reactive Hero, Reciprocator! As for me, I’m the Unwavering Hero, Ultra!”

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko said. “I love it! I know your dad would be proud. Both of you have great hero names too,” she said to Ochaco and Tenya.

“I agree,” Hayaka added. “All your names are very marketable, and Tenya, yours fits very well with the family’s traditions. I’ll let you tell your brother, though. I know he’ll be proud!” She smiled. “Well, I think I've taken up enough of your time today. I wasn't worried since you know how to take care of yourself, but it was still good to see you and the old school. Mostly I just wanted to come down and provide my support.”

Inko smiled, “And it was very appreciated. I'm honestly surprised that the parents were as supportive as they were.”

“I never doubted you could convince them,” Hayaka said. “I believe I'll be getting back to Tokyo. All Might, Eraserhead, I'll leave the kids in your capable hands.” With that, and a hug to her son, she exited the conference room.

All Might closed the door and nodded toward Izuku, who reactivated the cube. “Since we have the both of you here, I believe there is something that we need to discuss. Firstly, young Izuku has chosen to share the details of One For All with young Tenya and young Ochaco. The other matter is the concern that All For One survived the Battle of Musutafu. Inko, we'll need to be very careful in the coming months and make sure that when you go to the office that you have an escort.”

The next few hours were a whirlwind of students meeting with their parents, hanging out, eating tons of food, and finally heading home with hero escorts. Of course, one group did not leave the campus, the Aoyama family.

After some time, the secure door to their temporary quarters opened and Nezu walked in flanked by Mr. Inui, the Hunting Dog Hero: Hound Dog and Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. “Well,” Nezu said, “I apologize for the inconvenience, but in light of today’s event, we have to exercise an abundance of caution.”

Detective Tsukauchi nodded. “We'll need to interview the three of you to ensure that you were not willing participants in any sort of villain activity. After that, we can make a better determination of how to deal with this matter moving forward.”

“Of course,” Mr. Aoyama said. “We will cooperate in any way that we can. We never knew that the business associate who helped our son was a villain of this nature. We’re… so, so sorry.”

The detective looked over at Nezu and nodded. “Truth.”

Nezu smiled. “In that case, this makes things much easier. We will take you into protective custody and keep you hidden away from this villain. As for your son, naturally, we will need to monitor all his communications via a special cell phone that we will provide. The phone will allow him to contact the school and you, but all other forms of communication will be blocked. He will also be required to wear a special bracelet that will prevent him from using any other phone. As for his education, with certain restrictions, we will allow him to continue in the hero course. We are going to have to inform his classmates of this incident, but we will do so in such a way that they will understand he had no choice in the matter. Is this acceptable?”

Yuga’s mother nodded. “This is more than we could expect or hope for. We don't deserve your charity, but we do appreciate it.”

Mr. Inui nodded grimly, “The three of you are victims in this incident. We understand this. The villain that you've dealt with is known to us and could have easily killed all three of you, and probably would have if he didn't believe that he could gain something from keeping you alive. We will keep the three of you safe.

Chapter Text

Most of the students left for the day escorted by their parents and a pro hero by the time classes would normally end. Ochaco’s parents even got to spend some time with their daughter, since they’d been in Musutafu for a meeting with the school about the dormitories anyway, but ultimately decided that she could go to Tokyo for the weekend to avoid the long trip back from the Mie prefecture.

By one PM, only four students were left on campus: Izuku, Tenya, Ochaco, and, surprisingly, Mina Ashido. She cautiously approached Mr. Aizawa and said, “There might be a problem with me going home. My parents decided to take an extended vacation for Golden Week, so no one will be home until late on May Sixth. I was planning to just go home alone, but principal Nezu said that the pro heroes had to deliver us to our parents.”

Mr. Aizawa sighed in aspiration. “You’re right, this might be a problem,” he said. “While we would have a pro hero keeping watch, we still don't want to risk any further incidents occurring.”

Izuku looked up. “Why not have her come to Tokyo with us? Mina said she wanted to see Might Tower and all of the guest rooms at our house now have furniture.” He looked questioningly at his mother, and she nodded.

“Really?” Mina asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “I would love that, but where will I stay until they get back?”

“We would need to get a spare futon,” Ochaco said, “but you could stay with me in my room at the pilot dorm until your parents get back. I’m used to a futon, so you can have the bed.”

Inko added, “We could certainly go shopping this weekend for some things that Mina might need.”

“I definitely need a few things, too,” Ochaco, recently converted faithful to the church of consumerism added. “Ms. Kayama’s tastes in… certain things… don’t line up with my own. Come on, Mina! You haven’t lived until you’ve gone on a shopping trip with Izuku’s mom!”

Mina frowned like an atheist in church who didn’t know any of the songs or which parts of the service you were meant to stand. “I don't think I have enough money for that.”

The head priestess grinned and the two heretics, Izuku and Tenya, backed away, hiding behind All Might who looked more than a little nervous himself. “Oh, I don't think that will be a problem, Mina dear! Your skin and hair color are so unique, this will be a fun challenge for me.”

“Um, perhaps the young lads can ride to Tokyo with me and once you’re done shopping, we can all have dinner at the Tower,” All Might offered, “followed by a tour conducted by yours truly!”

“Yes!” Mina said, raising her fist into the air. “I’ve been wanting to see Might Tower for years!”

Aizawa’s capture scarf wrapped around her. “Hold your horses. We need to contact your parents to make sure they’re okay with this plan before you get too excited.”

“Sure!” She pulled out her phone and pressed one of her contact numbers. After a few moments, the phone picked up, but before the answerer could speak, she said “Mom, Dad! Put this on speaker phone! You’re never going to guess who I’m with!”

“Mina! Thank God you’re okay,” her mom said. “We spoke to Principal Nezu and then took part in a phone conference about the villain attack. Why haven’t you been answering? Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” she replied. “I’m completely safe, I just forgot I turned my phone back on after class. I’m sorry, Mom. The school planned to give everyone a hero escort home just to be sure, but since you’re on vacation, they don’t want to leave me there alone. Remember the pilot dorm I talked to you about? One of the girls who lives in it is going to let me crash with her until you’re back, if that’s okay with you. A hero lives there, so I’d be completely safe. For the weekend, a bunch of my classmates are going to Tokyo, and they invited me to go, and I’ll get a tour of Might Tower from All Might himself! And he is here right now! Please, say hi, All Might!”

All Might leaned toward the phone and in his best hero voice said, “Hi, All Might.” Other than himself, only Mina and Ochaco laughed, while those who knew him better rolled their eyes. “Sorry, Mrs. And Mr. Ashido, just a little joke. I believe you talked to my spokesperson, Inko Midoriya, earlier. She also happens to be my next-door neighbor and has several guest rooms. Her son is in your daughter's class, and several students will be staying with her this weekend, including Tenya Ida and Ochaco Uraraka. The young ladies will each have their own bedroom on a separate floor from the boys, so I can assure you that everything will be on the up and up. I’ll also be right next door in case something should happen, and a variety of heroes live in the neighborhood.”

“All Might! This is an honor,” Mina’s dad said over the phone’s speaker. “We trust our daughter to make her own choices. We’re just happy to know that you’ll be so close. Behave yourself, Mina!”

“Thanks, Dad! I’ll do my best not to end up in bed with someone,” she said with a sarcastic laugh.

Mina and Tenya both wondered why All Might and Inko Midoriya laughed so hard, and why Izuku and Ochaco both avoided looking at each other and blushed.

All For One led the way through the portal, followed by Tomura Shigaraki, and finally Kurogiri. As the swirling black vortex closed, Tomura pointedly stepped far away from the mist man with a glare. If he still had eyes, All For One might have rolled them. “Tomura,” he said kindly, “your anger is valuable, but make sure to direct it to the correct target. The safety of you and Kurogiri matters more than the momentary satisfaction of hurting All Might or the Midoriya boy. Trust me, in time, we will make them both suffer horribly.”

They stood in the middle of a vast circular central room of a complex filled with tubes and pipes, the walls lined with rows of small glass containers. Radiating out from the circle, five large hallways led to other rooms lined on both sides with huge vats holding dark figures. The small form of Dr. Kyudai Garaki trotted toward them as quickly as possible with the limited mobility his quirk allowed. “Master,” he wheezed, “this is an unexpected pleasure! It’s… haaa… good to see you!”

“And you, my friend,” All For One replied with a genuine smile. “I was delighted by your recent report and hoped to… see… for myself.”

“Of course, Master!” Garaki said. “This way, please!” He walked cautiously down one of the corridors, followed by All For One, a curious Tomura who kept glancing at the different Nomu, and Kurogiri who hovered silently and didn’t look at anything but the backs of his two Masters. The doctor led them into another circular room with a large vat fed by multiple tubes and pipes in the center. Along the wall were four smaller vats, each holding a shriveled corpse floating in foul liquid. The figure floating in the central vat seemed far more intact, huge, and muscular. The skin of the creature had darkened considerably but wasn’t the obsidian black of a high-end Nomu.

“I thought this was supposed to be the most powerful Nomu,” Tomura said, petulantly. “It’s the same color as a mid-tier.”

“Oh ho!” Dr. Garaki said with a little jump that barely cleared the ground. “You’ve a good eye, but honestly, the color coding is only for my own convenience. Since this one is special, I’ve no need for that.”

“Describe it to me, young Tomura,” All For One said.

Tomura leaned closer, studying the unconscious Nomu. “Well, it’s tan in color. Smaller than Peacebreaker was, but still almost two meters tall and powerfully built. It has a curling ridge of black bone surrounding the brain, and its mouth looks like it has been sewn shut.”

“Merely cosmetic on the sewing job, but I’m quite proud,” Dr. Garaki said, “the brain isn’t exposed like most Nomu, but I installed a transparent aluminum skull plate to make it appear that way.”

“Nicely done, Doctor,” All For One said. “What of the quirks?”

“Rather than Regeneration, I’ve managed to combine a growth quirk, strength quirk, and a standard regeneration quirk to create a Hyper-Regeneration quirk. It’s far stronger than the regular regeneration quirk we use, much too powerful for the mid-tiers and below, but for the near high-ends and above, it works marvelously. I’ve prepared a host that you can take it from, but unfortunately it can’t heal old injuries. I’m sorry, Master, but it will keep your condition from worsening.”

All For One waved his hand. “No worries on that matter, I have other plans. You’ve done well. What else?”

“A powerful strength enhancement quirk from a recent acquisition. Easily strong enough to punch through a car’s engine block. Not quite at the level of your greatest foe, but I hope to enhance it further before this one goes into service. I’ve given it a copy of Gigantomachia’s dog quirk as well.” The Doctor rocked on his heals, proud of his next accomplishment. “Also, a recently acquired mental quirk, Master.”

Both All For One and Tomura turned with interest. “True mental quirks are exceedingly rare, Doctor,” All For One said with a hint of disapproval, “why give one to a Nomu?”

Dr. Garaki grinned. “It would be useless for anyone here, Master, but you will enjoy the effect, I promise. Even better, more of the personality remained intact than I originally thought. Would you like to name him, Master, and then I can give you the full details?”

“Hmm,” All For One’s hand rubbed his chin before he smiled with his teeth showing. “I believe Shidori, the Death Taker, will suffice.”

Naturally, Tenya’s legs felt far too sore from his earlier injuries to even consider walking through a mall, and besides, Recovery Girl ordered him to take it easy the next few days, so a shopping trip was sadly not even an option. Izuku, ever the aspiring hero, selflessly volunteered to keep his friend company while the ladies got to have all the fun at the mall. All Might grinned. “I’ll bring these self-sacrificing young men to Might Tower!”

Aizawa coughed. “Someone will need to keep an eye on Ashido and Uraraka while they’re shopping,” he said, with the dread that he’d be stuck with that duty.

“I’ll take that bullet for you, Sho,” Nemuri Kayama’s voice called out as she into the cafeteria. “Itsuka Kendo decided to go home for the weekend, Vlad King’s keeping an eye on the Chiba students, and all of my other charges are going to Tokyo! I’ll crash at the Tower and handle a patrol tonight.”

“What about young Yamada?” All Might asked.

“He’s already there,” Kayama answered. “Since he has a van for his radio show, he took all the Tokyo students back home. Kaibara, Shoda, and Bondo from class B, and Ojiro, Sero, and Hagakure from class A. He’s going to stay at the Tower tonight, too.”

“Excellent!” All Might said. “Contact us when you’re done shopping and I’ll order food. We can watch movies and play video games at the Tower tonight, but I do want to meet with you and Yamada briefly, young Kayama.”

“Ooh, have I been a bad girl? Am I going to get a spanking?”

All Might blushed red. “No! Nothing of that sort. Just wanted to give you a personal briefing on the events this morning.”

“Aw, you’re so cute when you blush, All Might,” she said with a wink.

All Might coughed discretely. “Well, I’ll take these young heroic lads to the Tower, and we’ll eagerly await your arrival! Have fun with your shopping.”

Mina raised her fist into the air, “Woohoo! Shopping!”

“I’m picking my underwear this time, Ms. Kayama!” Ochaco blurted out before blushing wildly.

The males all started sweating as the group made their way to their cars. Izuku even made a silent prayer for Mina’s survival.

Less than an hour later, the men arrived at Might Tower and took the elevator up to the fiftieth floor to find the bullpen almost deserted. Present Mic reclined on the couch with his hands behind his head and his feet up on the coffee table. “All Might and Sho! Hey, little listeners! Glad to see all of you safe and sound.”

“Glad you’re safe as well,” All Might declared. “Isn’t Crust usually on duty here right now?”

“Yeah, but Snatch’s shift starts before I have to head to the radio station, so I offered to cover for Crust since I’m here anyway,” Hizashi said. “He was itching to do a patrol. Oh! Edgeshot stopped by a bit earlier but went out again. He said Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady are both interested in some project he said you knew about. They’ll probably be ready in a month or so, but mister cryptic didn’t elaborate.”

Izuku’s ears perked up. “Is it a hero project?”

“Ah, yes,” All Might said. “Edgeshot is currently number seven in the hero rankings. He’s been interested in gaining more leadership experience, so we’ve been talking about opening a branch of Might Incorporated in Musutafu. Eventually we’ll transition it to a full independent agency if that’s what he wants, but hopefully this will provide him enough autonomy that he won’t mind staying affiliated with Might Incorporated.” By growing Might Incorporated, All Might hoped that the agency could some day force change in, or even replace, the Hero Public Safety Commission. Years of dealing with the government agency produced a weary skepticism of the commission’s motives.

“Sounds like a good team,” Tenya said, “although I have some concerns about Mt. Lady. She seems overly concerned with publicity.”

“All the more reason to have her team up with Edgeshot,” Izuku said. “He’s always placed doing the job before appearances, so it will be good for her to learn from him. That’s why most people join established agencies instead of striking out on their own fresh out of school.”

“If we’re the only ones here…” Aizawa said, looking around.

“Good point,” All Might said. “Tower, seal the room.” The doors locked and All Might took one of Nezu’s cubes out of his pocket, activating it and setting it on the coffee table.

Hizashi’s eyes fixed on it, and he slowly brought his hands to his side and sat up. “Cube of Silence, huh? Why do I feel like I’m about to be taken behind the woodshed?”

“Nothing like that,” All Might said, “but Izuku and I have something to tell you.”

Over the next thirty minutes, Izuku and All Might told Hizashi Yamada the story of All For One and One For All. Present Mic sat there silently, listening to the tale without making a sound. After their story ended, he stared at Izuku and All Might mutely for five minutes. Finally, he broke the quiet hum of the cube and whispered, “Jesus, kid.” Hizashi stood, pacing back and forth. “Izuku, let me tell you something, little listener, and you listen good. I knew from the first day I met you that you’d be a great hero one day, and it didn’t have a single thing to do with your quirk. Damn, kid, that was before I knew you had some legendary quirk passed down through the frigging ages.”

“Zashi…” Aizawa started, apologetically for hiding something this big from his best friend for so long.

“Nah, Sho, it’s all good. We’re all good.” One of his hands moved behind his head to rub the back of his neck. “Hell, I wouldn’t have told me either, especially if I thought that All For One bastard dead. No real reason to tell, and the less people who know the better.” He turned toward Izuku. “You picked a couple of good eggs to share the secret with in Tenya and Uraraka. Don’t you worry about All For One either, little listener. I’m going to cuss him out so loud his organs will explode.”

“Pr… Hizashi,” Izuku said, causing the hero’s eyes to open wide, “he can steal quirks. You know how dangerous he is. Unless one of us,” and he waved his hand toward All Might, “is there, you need to run as hard and as fast as you can. For the time being, I need to run too!”

“Hey, I’m tough!”

“No one doubts that young Yamada,” All Might said, “but remember what it took to defeat him the last time we faced him. Our victory came at a high cost. Only young Izuku and I can face him without the possibility of having our quirks stolen.”

“Excuse me,” Tenya said, raising his hand. “Couldn’t All For One steal your quirk now, All Might? You passed One For All to Izuku.”

All Might slowly shook his head. “One For All grows with the one who holds it, and cannot be stolen, but I no longer have the quirk. While I can still use the power I cultivated, it no longer grows for me, so I am as strong as I will ever be, but in time, Izuku will match and exceed my level. Without the core of the quirk, there is nothing to steal.”

“I meant your original quirk,” Tenya clarified.

All Might laughed. “No worries there, young Tenya. I don’t have one!”

“Wait… what?” Present Mic asked.

“All Might and I were both born quirkless,” Izuku said. “All For One might have been able to steal the original quirks of the previous holders once they passed One For All on to their successors, we’re not sure about that, but he can’t do that to either All Might or me.”

Aizawa frowned. “He can still kill you, though.”

The room lapsed into a sullen silence at that, until All Might and Izuku both looked up at the same moment and clenched their fists. “He can try,” Izuku said, but the hum of the cube added a strange harmonic to his voice, as though other voices spoke with him.

Shortly after All Might deactivated the cube, his phone received a text message from Inko Midoriya informing him that the ladies finished their shopping and would soon arrive at the tower. He quickly ordered enough food to feed a small army from one of the restaurants that rented space on the first floor of the tower, but also knew such an order wouldn’t surprise them. Most weekends All Might made sure the bullpen contained plenty of food, since Fridays and Saturdays tended to be the busiest days for heroes, and he liked to make sure the other members of his agency were well fed. Izuku and All Might were watching Tenya and Present Mic play Super Smash Brothers while Aizawa napped on one of the couches when the door to the bullpen opened.

“That was awesome, but I’m still with Ms. Kayama! Everything you picked was so… boring!” Mina exclaimed.

Ochaco rolled her eyes. “You do get that they’re for working out, right?”

“Function over form,” Tenya said, not looking away from the game, “Although I have no idea what you’re discussing.”

“We should ask Midori!” Mina declared.

“Great idea,” Midnight said with a giggle.

“No, it isn’t!” Inko said.

“Ask me what?” Izuku offered helpfully.

Inko rolled her eyes. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Just an opinion,” Mina countered with a grin. “Surely he’d prefer something thin and lacy rather than that boring under armor.” She reached into a bag and pulled out a frilly lace bra that was more hopes and dreams than fabric.

Izuku blushed and decided playing dumb would be his best choice. “Um, I don’t think it would fit me and it’s not my style.”

Inko buried her face in her hands while Midnight cackled. Mina narrowed her eyes. “That’s not the question! Which would you prefer to see Ochaco in?”

“Mina!” Ochaco shrieked.

Izuku’s face turned an even redder shade. “Um… Ochaco should wear whatever makes her most comfortable. Besides, we always wear clothes when we spend time together.” Mostly, he thought, except that one time, and that was an accident.

“Thank you, Izuku,” Ochaco said, and turned to Mina. “And you should focus on Eijiro!”

Mina blinked. “What’s Kiri got to do with anything?”

Tenya leaned over to Izuku and whispered, “So Eijiro…?”

“Yeah, he likes Mina and she’s clueless about it,” Izuku whispered back, while Tenya contemplated either starting a glass housing repair company or selling clues to his classmates.

“As amusing as this is,” All Might said, “I do need to meet with the other UA teachers briefly about what happened this morning. Young Izuku, I’d also like you there considering the villains got your full name. Young Tenya, Ochaco, and Ashido….”

“Mina’s fine,” she offered.

“Yes, young Mina,” he continued, “as well as Inko, please enjoy the food and we’ll be back in a few minutes.” All Might led the way to one of the conference rooms and everyone took seats, with Nemuri between Izuku and All Might on the couch. All Might activated one of Nezu’s cubes and nodded as the hum filled the room. “Young Kayama…” he started.

“So, this is about baby boy’s quirk, right?” she asked with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Chapter Text

“What?” All Might blurted out. “But how…?”

“I’ve been waiting for this for three years,” she said. “Do you have any idea how much it has driven me crazy? I knew something was up. I’m a certified quirk counselor, after all, with degrees in teaching, quirk studies, and psychology. I also volunteer with several quirkless outreach programs. I was there the first time Izuku used his quirk, remember? He had all the telltale behaviors of a quirkless kid, and while the whole ‘enhancement quirks usually come in late’ cover story is admittedly a good one, even then, seven years old is about the furthest that's ever been pushed before people noticed definitive signs. If it really didn’t come in until the age of twelve, he’d be written up in tons of the scientific journals. While he started off smart, the way his enhancement quirk works, he’d have already been showing extreme signs of genius. My first guess was that you two are father and son trying to hide him having a powerful quirk, but I discounted that once I thought about the Musutafu attack. Besides, you’re not exactly Inko’s type, are you? Second guess was that he was sent here from a doomed planet, but that one’s just silly. Current guess is that he’s somehow copied your quirk on a long term or permanent basis, Toshi. Any of these close?”

Everyone in the room stared at her in silence while she just shrugged. Izuku coughed. “The last one is the closest. Let me explain.” Over the next few minutes, All Might and Izuku repeated the story of All For One and One For All with Midnight nodding along as many of the things she’d quietly noticed over the past three years slotted into place. When they’d finished, ending with a list of the people who knew, Izuku smiled. “Any questions?”

She shook her head. “Are you planning to tell anyone else?”

“Not unless we have to,” All Might concluded. “I’m surprised you didn’t ask me earlier if you had these suspicions.”

“I know all about keeping secrets,” she said. “I figured you had a good reason, so I didn’t push. I should also let you know that when I entered Izuku’s information in the national quirk registry two years ago that I back dated it to his sixth birthday. That will make your story even more airtight, and I can talk to Inko about it. She can say she told Izuku he was quirkless to keep him from trying stupid and risky stunts to ‘activate’ his quirk and claim she did mail in the forms to the National Quirk Registry. They do lose them occasionally.”

“Holy whoa,” Izuku said. “Did mom tell you about that?”

“Psychology degree, remember? Almost every kid starts trying things to activate their quirk before their fourth birthday, but for children without quirks, they become more extreme as time goes on before stopping around their sixth birthday, or when they get seriously injured. It usually starts with spinning until dizzy, concentrating hard, or trying to hold their breath, moving on to more and more extreme attempts, but sometimes kids have burned themselves severely or broken bones trying to fly. You didn’t do anything… too crazy, did you?”

Izuku shook his head. “I did the one chip challenge, but that was the worst.”

“Baby boy,” Midnight said, and pulled him into a hug. “Wish I could have done this a long time ago. Nothing was wrong with you then and nothing’s wrong with you now. Next time one of these quirks from an earlier holder appears, though, you come to me! Even if I can’t tell anyone about it, I can help! This is a dream come true for a quirk counselor!”

Izuku and the pro heroes returned to the bullpen to find Ochaco and Tenya playing Super Smash Brothers while Mina’s gaze darted constantly around the room in wonder. All Might smiled at her. “I’m sorry, young Mina, if it seems a bit more boring than you expected.”

“Are you kidding?” Mina asked. “This is better than I could have hoped for! You have all the newest consoles. Nearly every desk has a nerf gun! I’ve always wanted to be a hero, but I was worried it was going to be super serious and that everyone would be boring like…” she glanced over at Aizawa, who raised a single eyebrow, “…a boring person would be. Not that I know anyone like that, no siree! Ha ha… ha.”

Tenya leaned over to Ochaco. “She should really stop digging before she reaches Brazil,” he said with a laugh.

Mr. Aizawa sighed. “Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun occasionally, Ashido,” he said, “especially once you’ve established a hierarchy.” He cast a warning glance toward Nemuri and Hizashi.

“In other words,” Present Mic offered, “don’t shoot at Sho and you’ll be fine.”

All Might chuckled. “Now, I believe you were promised a tour! We’re currently on the top floor, the fiftieth. This is the heart of the Might Agency, and the room we’re in is a shared space called the bullpen. Some people have desks here that are theirs by default, but most of the desks are just used by whoever needs one, since all data is kept on the servers and access via a logon. The floor also features a few dedicated offices and multiple conference rooms. In the four corners are apartments with full kitchens, baths, a living room, and two bedrooms each. Only two of them are permanently reserved, however, mine and another for Izuku. The other two are set up as guest apartments.”

“God, Midori,” she said, “that’s so awesome.”

“I mostly just use it when Mom has to go on a business trip or if we go late practicing,” he clarified. “It’s not like I live here full time.”

“Even I rarely use my apartment,” All Might said. “There’s something to be said for the comfort of home, especially when you have good neighbors.”

The gang stopped on various floors to show Mina the different departments that made up Might Incorporated, such as the Public Relations department headed by Inko Midoriya, Human Resources, Merchandising and Licensing, Support, and Community Outreach. Most departments had one to five floors of their own, with a floor or two between them dedicated to single bedroom apartments that workers could use temporarily, although these were smaller than the ones on the hero floors. Mina held up a finger while they looked at one of these. “You know, these are a lot like hotel rooms. I’m surprised you don’t rent them out on a nightly basis to people to bring in extra money!”

“Critical thinking is an important tool for heroes, little listener,” Present Mic said, patting her head. “That’s not a bad idea, especially if you someday have an agency with more office space than you strictly need.”

“And one we did consider,” All Might said, “but the security concerns outweighed the potential revenue. Besides, I prefer to have the rooms available to my employees if they need them for any reason. For example, several of your teachers are part of the agency, but live in Musutafu. Since patrols in Tokyo result in a higher pay scale, they often use one of the guest apartments on the weekends.”

“That’s what I’m doing tonight,” Midnight offered.

“Also, if you or any of your classmates are ever stuck in Tokyo for whatever reason, just give the receptionist your name and ID,” All Might continued. “They’ll give you a room and notify the heroes on duty and me. The fortieth floor used to be the gym, but when I took the job at UA, I decided to convert it into apartments in case your class ever needed it. So, you too have an apartment in Might Tower!”

“Oh wow! Really? I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad!” she cried.

“Would you like to see it?” All Might asked.

Aizawa sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re going to spoil them.”

They arrived on the fortieth floor, and All Might waved at down the hallway. “The apartments are all along the outside with a common area in the middle. Feel free to look around. All the doors are unlocked right now since the construction firm just finished the rooms yesterday.”

“Wow!” Izuku exclaimed looking into one of the rooms. “They’re smaller than the ones on the top floor, of course, but this was quick! It was all empty last weekend.”

Aizawa nodded. “Yes, well, this was also intended to be a prototype for the dormitories to sell the parents and alumni on the idea in case we didn’t meet our goal for funding. We specifically made these nicer than the original plan. Since we hit the stretch goal this morning, the general layout of the rooms will essentially be what you see here. The dormitories won’t have quite as big a footprint as the tower and will be five floors. There will be two wings, one for the boys and one for the girls. Each floor except the first will have five rooms per wing. The ground floor will have a shared living space, laundry facilities, a full kitchen, dining room, and communal baths divided by gender. The ground floor also features four slightly larger apartments that may be occupied at the homeroom teacher’s discretion, since the wings aren’t segregated by gender on the first floor. The original idea was that they’d be used by teachers, but the teachers will have separate buildings to provide the students with some autonomy.”

“Oh! I want one,” Mina said, raising her hand into the air.

“They also come with added responsibilities such as patrols at lights out, managing a cleaning rotation, and handling any issues that aren’t serious enough to require official intervention from the teachers,” he clarified.

“Oh,” she said with a frown. “Sounds like a lot of work.”

“That’s why I planned to give them to the class representatives and highest scorers on the midterms, but since we haven’t had midterms yet, we’ll use the entrance exams. Ida, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Uraraka. Honestly, the only real difference is a second bedroom.”

“So, this floor was empty until a week ago?” Ochaco asked.

“Yes,” All Might confirmed. “We moved the gym into the basement floor several years ago after,” he glanced at Izuku, “a mishap.”

“What happened?” Mina asked while Tenya chuckled.

“I did,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes. “I accidentally pushed a force plate through the window.”

“Dang, Midori. How strong are you?”

“Well,” he said, blushing, “the more I use my quirk, the stronger I get. When I’m pushing my limit, I’m at roughly around thirty percent of what All Might can do. That’s kind of meaningless, though, because most things can’t survive that level of force in such a concentrated area. Sure, I can pick up a car, even throw one, but the tricky part is not damaging the car. The bigger the object, the harder that becomes, so attaching numbers becomes almost meaningless. That’s one of the things the force plate taught me. It was fine, but I overstressed the bolts that mounted it to the floor, so it tore loose and went through the window. I even got scolded for it by Endeavor.”

“Yeah!” Present Mic said, “but I still say he’s….”

“The father of one of their classmates,” Aizawa finished.

“Um, yeah… that too, but I was going to say an absolutely fine hero who was probably having a bad day,” Mic finished a bit deflated, but he turned to Izuku, put a hand between himself and Aizawa and mouthed the words “Endeavor’s an asshole.”

“Wow,” Ochaco said, trying to change the conversation. “All this in a week.”

“Five days for the construction work. The furnishings for the dormitories will be done by Bakugo Interior Design of Musutafu, so these were done by a different company, but the general layout will be the same.”

“Bakugo?” Ochaco said with a bit of barely hidden disgust.

“Aunt Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru are really nice, and they have a side company that does interior design,” Izuku said. “They’re both famous in the fashion industry, and even do hero costumes!”

“I think they did the costumes for both Jiro and Kaminari,” Midnight mentioned.

“The construction will be handled by a company you’re very familiar with, young Ochaco!” All Might declared, “so you’ll get to help your parents and their workers with your quirk one day this week during heroics.”

“I want to see what Midori can do,” Mina said, still not fully wrapping her head around the limits of his strength.

“Watching him lifting the weights would probably be anticlimactic, young Mina,” All Might said. “The machines we have for measuring that sort of thing use hydraulics and other measures, so they don’t look substantially different from exercise machines you’d find in most gyms. However, if he’s feeling up to it, perhaps you all can have a quick spar against me. We’re going to do quirk sparring in class a few days this week, so if you all want to take me on, you’ll get a leg up for the week.”

Mirio felt bad for the first years, after all, he hadn’t faced a villain until after getting his provisional license halfway through his second year. He’d been interning with Sir for almost three months before his first patrol, and even then, he’d been with Sir Nighteye, Centipeder, and Bubble Girl.

It sounded like the set up for a joke; a hero, two sidekicks, and an intern walking down the street when a F-Ranked villain stepped out of a convenience store with a bag full of stolen money. The criminal took one look at them, cautiously set the bag down, and held up his hands. A bit boring, all things considered, but he’d been so excited he probably drove Tamaki and Nejire crazy talking about it for the next week.

These poor kids faced over seventy villains today, all trying to kill them. He’d talked to several of them, offering words of encouragement, but they all seemed to handle it well. Most of the students left before he did, but his hero escort didn’t take him home. No, Bubble Girl brought him to Sir’s agency, after a quick call to his dad to ensure his father that Mirio was fine.

Bubble Girl brought him directly to Sir’s office, and he found his mentor pacing with a look of worry on his face. Upon seeing Mirio, his worry vanished, a look of relief appearing before being replaced by his usual stoic demeanor. “Ah, Mirio. I’m glad to see that you’re alright. We saw the alert of an incident at UA come over Hero Net, but before we could even leave the agency, an ‘all clear’ was sent. Centipeder is currently helping to escort a few students home but should return shortly.”

Mirio nodded. “No need to worry about me, Sir! My class wasn’t even involved, we didn’t hear about it until after it was over. Over Seventy villains tried to attack one of the first-year classes at the USJ. Way too early for them to have to face villains, but they seemed to be okay.”

“Interesting. Thirteen would have been there, of course, and either Vlad King or Eraserhead as the homeroom teacher. Was the heroics teacher All Might or Snipe?” Sir asked.

“All Might, Sir, and the homeroom teacher was Eraserhead,” Mirio reported.

“Hmm. Tell me, have you had much contact with the students from that class?”

Mirio shrugged. “Not much. We’re less than two weeks into the school year, but I talked with a few of them today.”

Nighteye nodded. “Was one of them named Izuku Midoriya?”

“He’s part of the class, but not one I’ve talked with, but I hope to get a chance soon. I told you how they changed the entrance exam this year and tested it on the second and third years, and I got a perfect score. Evidently, he maxed out on points as well, and did it as an incoming first year, no less! They say he even took down a Zero Pointer, and that’s saying something. Those things are tough, and the rumors say he took it down with a single punch.” Mirio smiled, “I know it’s a bit of a ways off, but I was thinking you might want to take him as an intern next year, since I’ll have graduated by then. From what I’ve seen, he reminds me a lot of All Might. He’s popular with the other first year students. I can meet up with him and mention it so he can start planning ahead if you want.”

Sir Nighteye shook his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I would like you to meet him, but don’t mention the possibility of him interning with the Agency. In fact, don’t mention me at all. I’d prefer to get your impression of him first.” Sir smiled. “Perhaps you could be something of a senpai for him… show him what a true hero should be.” And convince him to give One For All to a truly deserving candidate, Mirai Sasaki thought to himself.

When they make a movie of my life, Mina thought, most of the special effects budget is going to be blown on this scene, putting me in slow motion while everyone else is moving in fast forward. After a quick tour of the gym level, All Might and the four students dressed in white training outfits for a spar, allowing Mina’s very mildly acidic globs to discolor the white fabric and confirming a hit. At least that was the theory. Between the time some acid left her hand and when it reached where All Might stood, he’d already moved to the other side of the room. Tenya’s superspeed allowed him to keep up, and Midori disappeared into a blur, keeping up with All Might, dodging and attacking in equal measure.

At least she could follow Ochaco with her eyes, but the other girl on the field seemed to fall sideways as if the wall had become the floor every so often with incredible bursts of speed that almost kept up with the boys, while Mina’s sliding around on acid just didn’t cut it. Despite having one of the fastest times in the class at the fifty-meter dash during the Quirk Apprehension Test, she just couldn’t keep up.

“Ashido!” Midnight yelled. “Use the moves you showed in mobility training! Dance! Dance like you want to win.”

All Might grabbed Midori and pitched him her way, but she dropped into a deadman float and let him sail over her with a “Holy whoa” as he passed. Even All Might paused and blinked when she switched into a one-handed chair flare to hop back to her feet and threw a globe of acid his way with a windmill.

His years of battlefield experience kept him from letting his admiration slow him down, and he easily dodged with a cross step. “Damn,” Mina muttered, “All Might just threw down! Nobody is ever going to believe this.” Ochaco, now hovering in the air, gave her a thumbs up and a wink.

“Why so surprised, young Mina?” All Might asked. “Dance is an excellent way to improve balance and coordination! I may not know all the lingo, but this old man does have some moves.”

Izuku, recovered from All Might’s earlier throw, leaped over Mina, aimed a punch at his mentor while Tenya rushed the number one hero from behind. “You’re not the only one with some moves!”

All Might jumped out of the way by shooting straight up into the air and allowing the two boys to collide. “Too much talk spoils the surprise, my young apprentice!” All Might boasted.

He felt a hand on his back and Ochaco said, “my thoughts exactly!” He plummeted to the floor, still managing to land on his feet with a grunt.

“Whew,” All Might said. “Most considerate of you to keep it to three gees, young Ochaco,” All Might said, “as anything more could cause considerable injury to a normal person, but I am far from normal.” A blast of air pressure gently pushed her back and broke her concentration, allowing normal gravity to return to him.

He felt a splatter on his back and turned around to find Mina standing behind him with an extremely mild and insanely pink acid dripping from her hand, the same acid that now covered his back. “That’s because she was distracting you!”

All Might roared with laughter. “Well done, my young students!” He clapped his hands loudly. “Well done, indeed! Now I have an idea of where to set the bar for your quirk sparring this week.”

Inko called out, “I hate to be a spoil sport, but it’s been a long day for all of us. Hit the showers and let’s have a movie night.”

With cheers, the teens headed to their respective locker rooms as Aizawa walked over to All Might. “Not to minimize their efforts, but you went pretty easy on them.”

All Might nodded with a faraway look on his face. “When I started out, I used to spar with my master. Most days, I would come tantalizingly close to catching her, but on rare occasions, I would eke out a win. Those days are some of my fondest memories, and it’s quite funny how those were the days when life had been hardest on me. Then the next day, she would be a bit too fast or too strong again. Only when I saw her fight for real did I truly appreciate how much she held back to not discourage me, and help me to overcome my limits, to be better.” He turned to face his fellow hero. “Being a mentor now, I know she never needed my thanks, but encouraging these young hero hopefuls seems to be a good way to thank her. People say you learn more from a loss, and perhaps that’s true, but the occasional win strengthens your spirit and resolve. They all had a hard day and needed a win, and I don’t mind providing them with one. I look forward to the day that young Izuku becomes a better hero than I am.”

Aizawa scoffed. “It will probably be bittersweet, I’d imagine. I mean, how did you feel when you became a better hero than your mentor?”

“If that day ever arrives, young Aizawa,” All Might said with a sad smile, “I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Chapter Text

Daiki Sensoji checked the caller ID and answered his phone on the third ring. “Mister Blaster here, talk to me.”

“Hey, Daiki! Tensei Ida here,” the voice on the line said, “look, I’m calling about the UA Sports Festival. I know you said you’d cover my usual patrol time….”

Sensoji pulled off his goggles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Come on, Tensei! Have a little faith here. I’m Mister Blaster, remember? May seventh. I’m not senile yet, alright? I’ve got you covered.”

Tensei laughed. “No, that’s not what this is about. Have you ever met Manual? He just stopped by the Team Idaten HQ to talk to me. He had after a run-in with Stain this morning.”

“Damn, Manual was a good guy. Wait, what? You said he stopped by? He’s not hurt?”

“Not even a little. Can you believe that the Hero Killer just let him go? Not a scratch on him,” Tensei said. “That’s why I’m calling, though. Hosu isn’t your usual patrol area, and with the Hero Killer running around in Hosu, I’m thinking I should probably cover my own patrol like usual. I know the area and with my speed, I can cover more ground.”

“So that you can get turned into a pincushion quicker? You’re becoming a worrier in your old age. Like old Pencil Lead and Past Speaker,” he said with a laugh. “Speaking of… how are they doing?”

“They’re doing fine. You could just call them,” Tensei said. “I’ll give their numbers to you.”

“Nah, I was a bit of a… okay… I was a complete jerk to them when we were at UA,” Sensoji said. “I doubt either of them would want to hear from me.”

“They’re… well, Yamada isn’t the type to hold a grudge,” Tensei laughed. “Aizawa’s still Aizawa, but he’s a bit more relaxed these days. You know they’re both teaching at UA. Besides, he’d be the first to tell you, ‘Worrying about something from so long ago isn’t rational,’” in a decent impersonation of Eraserhead.

Despite himself, Sensoji laughed. “He’d also tell you that worrying about the Hero Killer isn’t rational either. On the unlikely chance that I run into him, I’ll just tell him a sob story that I took pity on a poor hero and covered his shift so he could go watch his little brother compete in the sports festival. Yeah, a pair of orphans who grew up homeless and selling matches on the streets to survive, huddling together in a cardboard box for warmth. The older brother worked his fingers to the bone to be able to afford to send the kid to a school, not wanting the younger brother to learn how to read from the labels on cheap convenience store noodle packages like he did. I’ll even play the violin while telling the story. This is some good stuff… I should update your bio on Hero Net with this. Seriously though, your little bro and his buddy already took down a villain, right? They’re shoo-ins for the finals, or at least the semis. You should be there to cheer them on. I know they’ve got heroes from the Might Agency and Team Idaten rooting for them, but you know it wouldn’t be the same.”

After a moment of silence, Tensei let out a breath. “Okay, if you’re sure, fine. I do appreciate it but be careful. Hosu’s a lot scarier than your usual stomping grounds in Kamino.”

“Oh, please. Hosu’s got you watching out for it, how scary can it be? Not to even mention Manual, a guy so nice that even the Hero Killer was like, ‘I may kick puppies and murder people, but only a monster would hurt this guy.’ Just don’t come crying to me when I drop Stain off at Tartarus and shoot up to the top ten,” Sensoji boasted. “Mister Blaster, ranked second behind All Might!”

“Look, seriously, be careful,” Tensei said. “Stain is no joke, even with your firepower. Avoid the alleys and don’t ditch my sidekicks. They know the area and are really good. If you even suspect he’s around, call for backup!”

“Okay, Moooom!”

“Damn, kiddo, you did good! Catching your girlfriend when she fell through that portal, standing up to villains,” Nana pulled Izuku’s dream form into a hug, which he awkwardly accepted. Standing nearby, En nodded his head in agreement, and more than a little amusement. “You got in there and kicked some butt. That’s what I like to see, and I’m not the only one. You went a long way to convincing number five to give you access to his quirk when you went after that monster.”

“No, All Might was right,” Izuku said, pointedly not rising to the bait of having Ochaco described as his girlfriend. “I should have run when he told me to run.”

En shook his head. “Whether he likes it or not, you are a part of this war now. As we fought, and still fight, you must as well. Yagi said that as a teacher and, in some ways, as a father. Sometimes, fathers must accept that their sons will go to war.” Before Izuku could protest, En held up his hand. “I do not mean to slight your own father, Izuku, merely to use the most descriptive term available. You and Yagi are closer than any of the other pairs of holders, except perhaps Nana and Yagi. I would also describe them as mother and son, even if it was not biological.”

Izuku nodded. “I see your point. Ha… maybe I should call him Dad Might.” He blushed at even the thought of doing that. “Maybe not.”

Nana smiled, “Kiddo, it’s a good thing. Poor Toshi… his family just threw him away when they found out he didn’t have a quirk. Before I met him, he had been living in a tiny apartment and making a living doing odd jobs and fighting in the underground tournaments, and always wished I could have done more for him. Not only was your real dad willing to give his life for you, but you’ve got a man willing to do the same. A lot of people don’t have good parents… God knows I wasn’t one, even if I did my best. You’re lucky to have been born with two great parents and so many people willing to take on the role.”

“Present company included?” Izuku asked with a grin.

“I am fine with the role of eccentric uncle,” En said, holding up his hand, but Izuku could see the smile hidden behind the high collar of his hero outfit.

“And if I’m Toshi’s mom, I must be your grandma by default!” Nana exclaimed, but then she grinned and struck a pose. “Not bad for an old lady, am I?”

Izuku shook his head, “You remind me a bit of my mom, so no comment.” He turned to En. “Smokescreen has been changed by One For All. I seem to be able to control the shape of it until it dissipates and can even control other gasses that it contacts. I ripped the mist off the villain called Kurogiri during the attack.”

En nodded. “That is a significant improvement on what I could do with it. I realize we do not know each other well, but I know enough to feel sure you already have some ideas.”

“Oh, definitely! I can use it to put out fires by removing all the oxygen from an area. It seems to be limited to a green color, but in low light conditions, I could use the clouds as distractions, making them look like me or other people, at least in silhouette. I need to practice and test it out, but since I have a measure of control over it, I might be able to sense disturbances in the clouds over an area, letting me use it to track villains or find people in collapsed buildings, or even….”

Despite her sunny disposition, mornings did not agree with Mina Ashido. She sat straight up in the bed and blinked several times. She wore a far-too-big tank top with a picture of Marvin the Martian and the caption “Isn’t that delightful?” on it, the strap on one side sliding down her shoulder. She slowly turned her head around the room and sniffed at the air. Something smelled heavenly, and her stomach let out a growl. She climbed out of bed, sliding her feet into the big, fluffy, pink sheep slippers, the only ones she could find at the mall with horns. With her head surrounded by a halo of untamed pink curls, she stepped out into the hallway, still half asleep.

She trudged down the hallway with a huge yawn, following the smell of food and sounds of conversation. Huh, she thought absentmindedly, sounds like Midori and Ochaco. What are they doing at my house? She stumbled into the kitchen with a yawn. “Morning.”

“Good morning,” Izuku said. “Hope you’re hun…gry…” he said, stammering to a halt when he turned around, only to quickly turn around again. “Not again!”

“Mina!” Ochaco said a bit too loudly. She rolled her eyes at Mina’s panties, the words “All your base” printed on the front.

“What?” Mina asked, blinking a few more times.

“Mina, would you like some coffee or tea to help you wake up?” an older and far more amused voice asked from behind her. Mina’s mind started to catch up with her body in the wide-awake category, and she slowly turned to face Inko Midoriya with a growing sense of dread. “Izuku, dear, how many other young ladies do you have in your class?”

“Other than Ochaco and Mina… um, Momo, Tsuyu, Toru, and Kyoko. There are seven in class B, too,” he said, still focused on the stove and refusing to turn around.

“That’s not helping,” Ochaco hissed. “Mina, you forgot something!”

Mina looked down, and turned a far deeper shade of pink, bordering on red. “Oh my Gawd, I forgot…?”

“Clothes,” Izuku’s mom answered. “Yes, dear, you forgot clothes. Why don’t you go put some on?” Mina bowed with an eek, trying to use the tank top to cover her panties, and then ran from the kitchen, the words “Are belong to us” visible for just a moment before she disappeared. Inko turned to her son. Once she heard the door to the guest bedroom shut, she turned to Izuku with a grin. “This had better not be some diabolical plan to see all of your classmates half-naked, young man!”

“Mom!” he exclaimed.

“Well, you have seen Toru without clothes,” Ochaco said with a grin. “That’s half the girls in class.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, but blushed. “What was that about not helping, Ochaco? I’m completely innocent, Mom! Toru’s quirk is invisibility and it’s always on, so I didn’t see anything. And I looked away like a gentleman as soon as I saw Mina this morning,” he turned to Ochaco with a grin, “and I did the same last weekend, in case you forgot.”

“When did you see me last weekend?” Mina asked from the hallway.

Ochaco waved her hands. “Oh, no, misunderstanding! Nothing to worry about.”

Mina’s eyes narrowed as she bounced into the kitchen wearing a t-shirt and shorts. “Wait! Didn’t you stay here last weekend, Ochaco?” She turned to Izuku with a grin. “You dog! Seems like Mineta wasn’t the guy that us innocent young ladies needed to worry about!”

All For One’s laughter echoed through the underground complex for several minutes after Dr. Garaki explained the mental quirk given to the new Nomu. Even after his laughter faded, the smile never left what remained of his face. “Ah, Doctor, you have done well… exceptionally well! I thought I had crafted the perfect weapon against All Might with…” he paused, “my previous effort, but you have possibly outdone me with this.”

Tomura frowned. “Peacebreaker wasn’t that great.”

All For One smiled. “You’re right, of course, young Tomura,” since Peacebreaker is hardly my previous effort, Tomura is. “My previous effort does have some significant flaws, but even flawed as it is, it will prove useful in time.”

“Then we’re going to get it back,” Tomura said. The doctor programmed Peacebreaker to obey him, and even with some software bugs and a crappy AI, he hated losing such a valuable and powerful toy.

“In time, perhaps. It is sufficient where it is for now,” All For One said with a quiet laugh at Tomura for not catching the hidden meaning. “Shidori, however, might have even more uses.” The legs of his exoskeleton clicked on the ground, turning his body to face the doctor. “In the meantime, a valuable source of information has gone silent. Not entirely unexpected, of course, but still disappointing. Fortunately, I never relied overly much on it. See whatever you can find on Tomura’s little thief, Doctor… the boy named Izuku Midoriya. While I’m sure UA’s sports festival will supply some details, I want to know everything possible. Medical files, school records, family history, known associates, the quirk registry… anything you can find, I want. I appreciate the difficulty of this task, since the boy is a minor, but with your position within the medical community….”

The doctor bowed. “I believe I can find some information, Master. After all, Izuku Midoriya was a patient, however briefly, of kindly old Dr. Tsubasa. I could easily ‘notice an error’ in the old files, especially once the sports festival airs, justifying requests for the records from other doctors. Just fulfilling due diligence, of course, since such a misdiagnosis would open Tsubasa’s practice open to charges of medical malpractice and negligence if it weren’t followed up on. I could… possibly even meet with the boy, perhaps obtain a skin sample.”

All For One shook his head. “Far too risky for now, but patience in all things, Doctor. We might get a slightly larger sample for you to work with soon.”

After a huge breakfast with Tenya joining them, Inko and the kids moved into the living room. “So,” she asked, “how has school been?”

“It’s awesome!” Izuku enthused. “Better than I could have ever dreamed. We’ve been doing parkour and martial arts in heroics class, so I’m a bit ahead of most of the class, but everyone showed a lot of improvement this week and I learned a few things, too. The regular classes are interesting and not too hard.”

“Not too hard for you, but they’re killing me,” Mina said. “I did okay at my old school, but I feel like an idiot sometimes. The three-hour trip doesn’t help at all. I try to study on the way to school, but it’s impossible to write on the train, and after class I’m usually so tired I fall asleep on the ride back home. Thank God for Kiri, I’d have missed my stop a couple of times if he hadn’t woken me up.”

“The dorms should help with that,” Inko said. “Kids need their sleep, as much as you all think you are adults already. I know some of the parents are uneasy letting go, it hasn’t been that easy for me either, thinking of my baby moving out.”

“Mom, I’m going to visit as often as I can,” Izuku said. “Besides, once I graduate, I’ll probably see you more if All Might will let me join his agency.”

Tenya laughed. “You do realize that you’re already an intern at his agency, my friend? You have a permanent apartment on the top floor of Might Tower! I think it’s a fairly safe assumption that you’ll be able to join his agency.”

“Well,” Izuku said sheepishly, “when you make an assumption, you make an ass of u and mption.”

“I’m assuming my grades will go up this week just being around you geniuses,” Mina said.

“I was talking to Yaomomo, Yuga, and Fumikage about having class study sessions yesterday morning. We should definitely do that once the dorms open, at least a couple of times a week,” Izuku added. “Hard to believe that was only yesterday. It feels like a couple of weeks ago.”

“That sounds great!” Ochaco said. “I know sometimes my mind starts wandering, so something structured would help.”

Tenya nodded. “Even I feel that way sometimes. I can’t imagine doing as well with six hours per day spent on a train.”

Mina frowned. “Well, part of it is definitely how much harder the classes are. Kiri and I went to a private school, and we were both near the top of our class. From the few quizzes and placement tests we’ve had so far, we’re both in the bottom half of the class.”

Inko reached over and patted Mina’s hand. “I’ve spent enough time working with heroes to know that UA is the elite school for heroes. Sure, you have Shiketsu in the west, and places like the Westchester Institute in the US and the Legion Academy in Europe, but none of them have consistently produced as many high-ranking heroes as UA. Just do your best, dear, and you’ll be a wonderful hero someday.”

“Aunt Inko is absolutely correct,” Tenya said, chopping a hand through the air. “Every one of us have already faced villains and persevered. That alone places us on a level above most hero students our age. If we continue to work at our hardest, we will emerge victorious!”

They spent the rest of their time discussing some of the stories of their classes, including a retelling of their first heroics class and the cleaning of the beach, including Izuku and Tenya’s fight against the sludge villain. Mina told the others of a time she’d confronted a huge villain, giving him false directions to save two of her friends, and a tale about Eijiro stopping some bullies. Ochaco shared a story about an incident where some miners were rescued from a collapsed tunnel by everyone in her hometown working together, and how she was “allowed” to use her powers to help clear the cave-in despite the blatant illegality. Inko told the students of some of Izuku’s antics as a young child, including his attempts to activate his quirk until she told him he was quirkless to keep him from hurting himself, cementing the new cover story Nemuri devised, at least in Mina’s mind. She also broke out old photo albums, much to Izuku’s embarrassment, but oohs and aahs from Mina and especially Ochaco.

“Oh snap, Midori,” Mina exclaimed, “the All Might onesie! It’s perfect! Please, please, please give me a copy of that picture, Mamadoriya!”

As fast as Izuku could move, Inko’s texting proved faster, and he buried his face in his hands when he heard notifications from both Mina and Ochaco’s phones. Tenya, comforted by the knowledge that his own baby pictures were safely kept several blocks away, patted his friend’s back. “They would have gotten it from Aunt Nemuri anyway, my friend.”

Thankfully for Izuku, the two newest secret holders rescued him around noon when Nemuri and Hizashi rang the doorbell. “Howdy Inko and little listeners! The magical mystery tour is coming to take you away, so all aboard the ‘Put-Your-Hands-Up-Radio’ Express for a special road trip to Musutafu.”

“Good to see you, Hizashi,” Inko said with a smile, “and you too, Nemuri. Even if you’re both here to take my baby away for the week.”

“I’ll look after him like my own,” Nemuri declared. “Well, at least like my nephew. But I’m the fun aunt, Sho’s the strict uncle, so you’re my big sis!”

“Hey, what am I?” Hizashi asked. “Chopped liver?”

Izuku and Tenya looked at each other, nodded, and said in unison, “The weird uncle.”

After a moment, Present Mic grinned. “Can’t argue with that. Load up your stuff!”

The boys packed their bags in the back of the van and helped load Mina and Ochaco’s new clothes from the shopping trip, along with a new futon, pillows, and blankets. Once they made sure they had everything, Hizashi closed the back of the van. After quick hugs from Inko, the four students and two teachers began their trip back to Musutafu.

Following along with a sequence of mighty leaps and bounds, All Might, freshly done visiting parents around Japan to get their approval for their children to move into the dorms, followed out of sight. Keeping watch, just in case.

Chapter Text

As the van pulled into the driveway of the pilot house, Nemuri’s eyes narrowed at the figure pacing back and forth in front of the house’s front door. “Oh, I’m about to put someone on their ass!”

Mic said. “Whoa, calm down, Tiger Mom. Besides, remember what happened the last time somebody put her on her ass.” He rolled his eyes as her door slammed shut. “And… she’s gone.”

Ochaco peaked out of the van, followed by her classmates to see Midnight stalking toward a shorter woman with long blond hair. She saw Midnight and gave a friendly wave, but then seemed to shrink in on herself. “What are you doing here?” Midnight demanded.

Yu Takeyama shuffled her feet, backing away from the angry house mother. “Um, hi, Midnight. I… I’ve been trying to work up the courage for this all week, so please don’t yell. I wanted to apologize to Ochaco Uraraka and make restitution for… you know….”

“Demolishing her entire apartment complex?” Midnight said. “You’re really lucky she wasn’t home, or any of the other tenants for that matter. She could have been killed!”

Yu looked down, and a tear slid down her face. “Hey… can we just maybe pretend I already feel like crap about it? I just want to apologize, make it up to the kid, and then I’m hanging up my tights, okay?”

Both Midnight and Mt. Lady looked up when a voice said, “No.” Ochaco landed on the lawn between the two pro heroes from where she’d been floating above them. “I’m not accepting an apology if you quit. You made a mistake and sat on an apartment building. So what? You didn’t mean to! You were attacked and you minimized the damage as much as you could. Endeavor burns down buildings all the time, and he doesn’t quit, so neither should you! We,” and she waved at Mina and herself, “need women like you to be heroes, so that we know we can do it too!”

Mina ran up, flanked by Izuku and Tenya. “That’s right,” the pink-haired girl said. “Women make up only one out of every four heroes. We need to represent!” She turned to Midnight. “Come on, Ms. Kayama, you should be slapping her on the back and telling her she’ll do better next time, like you do for us in class.”

“Ryukyu is the only woman in the top ten,” Izuku said, “and that’s wrong. The girls in our class all have what it takes to be heroes, but how many other girls out there don’t even try? Women heroes tend to retire earlier and stay as sidekicks longer. Do you know that you’re the youngest woman to start her own agency in nearly fifty years, Mt. Lady? I don’t know if you remember me….”

Yu’s face lit up with recognition. “Da… Dang! You’re the kid from the Sludge villain thing!” She glanced over at Tenya. “You were there too!”

Izuku nodded, “Yeah. I meant everything I said that day, and I’ve still got your autograph at home. Sure, half of an apartment building got destroyed last weekend, but there weren’t any serious injuries. The guy you took down, Kyojin, I think? A few more blocks and he would have been at a hospital.”

Midnight sighed. “They’re right. Sorry, I went a little overboard with the Mama Bear thing and, well, behaved like an ass.”

Yu chuckled. “I know all about that! I’m Yu Takeyama.” She bowed, and then peaked up hopefully. “Friends?”

Midnight returned the bow. “Friends. We were going to order some lunch as soon as our last tenant arrives if you’d like to join us.”

“Only if you’ll let me treat!” She turned to Ochaco and bowed even deeper. “I’m terribly sorry about your apartment and all your things. The insurance company cut you a check for twelve months of the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Musutafu and then doubled it for your possessions.” She handed the rather sizeable check to the younger girl. “If that’s not enough, let me know and I’ll get you the rest.”

Ochaco blushed. “It’s… wow… more than enough. I feel bad taking this. I ended up with a much better place, rent free, because of it.”

“Fairly standard, though,” Mr. Yamada added, walking over, and peering at the check. “The insurance companies pad the amount as a settlement to account for sentimental value and to keep you from suing. If you look on the back, you’ll find a bunch of legalese where you sign the check, agreeing that this covers the damages in full and so on.” He shrugged. “Some people put their valuables in storage and rent cheap apartments near major crime zones, hoping for a check like this. It’s usually enough to make a down payment on a house. You could probably call the number on the check, and they’d double it without blinking.”

“I didn’t have anything worth anywhere near this!” Ochaco protested.

Midnight shook her head. “That’s just how the insurance companies handle this stuff. It’s cheaper for them to give a slightly too big amount, since most people will accept it. When people start itemizing, they suddenly remember that rare first edition grandpa gave them, or that ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ poster that’s been passed down in the family for generations.”

“The higher percentage of people who accept the default amount, the less they raise my rates,” Mt. Lady said. “It’s just the way everything is set up, so don’t worry about it. Now, how does sushi sound to everyone?”

Unfortunately for Yu Takeyama, the final resident of the pilot house, Itsuka Kendo, arrived escorted by Taishiro Toyomitsu, also known as the BMI Hero: Fat Gum.

Mina laid out the new futon and turned to Ochaco. “I’ll take the futon! You’re already letting me crash with you, I’m not taking your bed too.”

Ochaco smiled. “Do you have a bed or a futon at home?”

Mina shrugged. “Well, a bed….”

“Then I’ll take the futon,” Ochaco said. “Honestly, I’m used to a futon because that’s what we had at home. First time I slept on a bed was a week ago, so it’s still a little weird to me.”

Mina grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. “We could share, although I’ll warn you, I’m a cuddler. Or you could sneak down to Izuku’s room and make him a man!”

“He’s already a man,” Ochaco said, before her face flushed red and Mina’s eyebrows nearly flew off her face from wiggling so hard. “No! I didn’t mean it that way. I just mean he’s mature, smart, and dependable. And besides, we’re restricted to our own floor after ten PM. There’s an alarm and everything. Midnight told us about it.”

“An alarm?” Mina said, raising one eyebrow. “Like the ‘Virgin Alarm’ from Spaceballs? Has it ever gone off?”

“Well, no,” Ochaco said, “but that’s because we follow the rules.”

“You guys are like an ice cream shop that only sells vanilla,” Mina said with a laugh. She yelled out the open door, “Hey, Ms. Kayama! Is there really a Virgin Alarm that’ll go off if I’m on the first floor after ten?”

Nemuri yelled back, “Nope. Just said that to make Inko feel better. Still, don’t kid yourself if you know what I mean. If any of you are planning on going diving, I’ve got swimming caps.”

Mina and Nemuri both cackled as they heard Ochaco, Izuku, Tenya, and Itsuka all yelled “What?” at the same time. “This is hilarious!” Mina said. “For the first time since school started, I feel smart. I can’t believe you all fell for that.”

“No one is going diving!” Tenya yelled.

“Sigh, story of my life,” Nemuri replied.

“How about some martial arts practice instead?” Izuku asked from the foot of the stairs. “Mina, I know a little bit of capoeira and Jeet Kune Do, and those would pair up with your dancing really well. I know more Aikido, and there’s a lot of similarity there.”

“You’re on,” Mina said, “as long as I can teach you all some dance moves, too. I’ve got to ask, though, why are you working so hard? I mean, the school year just started and you’re all at the top of the class already. Well, I don’t know about class B or you, Kendo, but these three are crushing it.”

Izuku grinned. “The sports festival is coming up in two weeks. Management students usually don’t directly compete, but the Hero, General Ed, and Support courses usually have close to one hundred percent participation. So that’s at least eighty students, and the further you go, the more your name gets out there.”

“Damn,” Mina said, “good point. I haven’t even thought about the sports festival. Wonder what the rounds are going to be.”

“Not telling!” Midnight called out. “I’m going to be the MC for the first years, so I can’t play favorites.”

“No worries,” Izuku said. “Let’s practice in the back yard.” As soon as the five teens walked out of the house, he continued. “So, the first event is usually a preliminary solo event. Last year they did a maze for the first years, but they’ve done dodge ball, obstacle courses, triathlons, scavenger hunts, and races. That usually cuts down the number by half. Then a team exercise, like capture the flag, tug of war, or a ball toss. They’ll use that to narrow things down to sixteen. The last event is always some sort of one-on-one fight.”

“Dang,” Mina said, “so you have already got a team for the second round?”

Ochaco shook her head. “No, part of the fun is going to be facing off against each other, but we are recruiting, and I want you on my team.”

“That sounds fun, but… what about Kiri?” Mina asked.

“Well, they usually penalize the first-place finisher in the first round,” Tenya said. “Naturally we will do our best in that round, but if a certain… explosive… person is going to aggressively insist on winning, well….”

“Sometimes it’s better to lose a battle to win a war,” Itsuka finished.

“I don’t think many people will be lining up to be on his team in that situation,” Izuku added. “In fact, I can only think of one: Eijiro Kirishima. He might get someone from class B….”

“He hasn’t exactly been friendly to any of us either,” Itsuka said.

“Besides, I’ve got a plan for him in the second round,” Izuku said. “Not planning to sabotage his chances or anything, but I can promise he won’t be happy when the round finishes.” He waved his hand. “Anyway, let’s figure out which forms of martial arts blend with your dancing the best.”

Mina opened her eyes when she sensed movement. “Blargh… ‘Chaco, what are you doing? It’s,” she glanced at the clock, “five-fifteen in the morning.”

“Oh, sorry, Mina. I tried to be quiet,” Ochaco said, pulling on her new Shield under armor. “We usually go on a ten K run before breakfast.”

“Nah, it’s good. I usually get up around this time to catch the train.” Mina said, stretching. She hopped out of bed, grabbing a sports bra, cycling shorts, and a loose tank top. “Mind if I come along?”

“The more the merrier,” Ochaco said.

They left the room at almost the same time as Itsuka came out of her own room, only to find Ms. Kayama already waiting for them wearing an outfit very similar to Mina’s. “Just to be safe, pro heroes are going to be shadowing you kids all week. Since I already live here, I’m going to be the one watching you five. Good news is, I get to go in an hour later and leave when you leave. Bad news is, when you run, I run. No patrols this week, thank God, but my hero name is ‘Midnight,’ not ‘Butt Crack of Dawn’ for a reason.” She grinned like a cat and said quietly, “Wait up here for a minute.”

From downstairs, they heard an exasperated sigh, followed by the sound of footsteps pacing. After a few moments, Tenya’s voice said, “Izuku. It is now five-thirty. They know our morning run begins at five-thirty exactly.”

Izuku’s answer sounded slightly amused, although he hid it well. “I know, Tenya, but don’t forget we forgot to tell Mina. She possibly overslept.”

Mina suppressed her giggles with her hand over her mouth when Tenya said, “Yes, of course, you’re right. However! We. Have. A. Schedule. Schedules must be maintained! A minute here or a minute there may not seem like much, but that way leads to lateness. Early is on time, on time is late, and late… is inexcusable!”

Nemuri rolled her eyes. Tenya reincarnated with the soul of a thirty-five-year-old accountant from his previous life. “Don’t stress about it, Tenya,” Izuku said. “You have a lot of contingencies built into your schedule; a few minutes won’t hurt.”

“It is the principle of the thing!” Tenya said. “This is intolerable. I’m going up there to wake them myself. As Aunt Nem said, there is no alarm! I can’t believe she would mislead us, and worse, mislead your mother.” Ochaco almost snorted.

“Tenya,” Izuku said softly, “When using your quirk and you’re about to trip, what do you do? Do you tense up?”

“No, of course not,” the stern class representative said. “I loosen up and try to roll with it.”

“That’s good advice for life too,” Nemuri said, leading the girls down the stairs. “I’m the one who held them up, baby boy, because I’m going with you. When you become a pro, you’ll find that there are times when every second counts, but other times when you have to be flexible.”

Tenya frowned. “I… see your point, Aunt Nem. I’ll try to keep it in mind.” Although Tenya still felt a bit out of sorts, after about a kilometer, he found himself relaxing as the run worked out the tension from this morning’s debacle. After the halfway point, he found he quite enjoyed running with a larger group of people. It helped that both Mina and Nemuri could keep pace rather easily. By the time they returned to the house, he’d mostly forgotten his earlier stress. “A good run! I look forward to tomorrow.”

“If you’re not all exhausted. Today’s heroics class is going to focus on disaster recovery and rebuilding,” Nemuri said. “We’re going to help clear Ground Omega to make room for the dormitories and move construction material to simulate recovery from a natural disaster. This will be joint training for both classes, plus the second and third years, with an emphasis on using your quirks in constructive ways.”

After coffee and tea made by Izuku and Ochaco and getting ready for the day, the students and their pro hero escort left the pilot house for the brief walk to UA. Mina spun around while they walked, cherry blossom petals dancing around her in the air. “I love this time of year! The cherry blossoms are blooming.”

They arrived at the UA barrier to find one of the upperclassmen leaning against the stone archway. He smiled when he saw them coming. “Good morning, Ms. Kayama! I see you’re with several first-year students. These must be the pilot program students, but I thought there were only four of them.”

“Good morning, Togata,” Ms. Kayama answered. “Normally there are four, but an additional student is staying with us this week since her parents were on vacation.” She turned to the younger students. “This is Mirio Togata. He’s one of the third-year students and a member of the Big Three. His hero name is Lemillion.”

“Sorry for ambushing you all this morning,” Togata said. “Let’s see… Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, Tenya Ida, and Itsuka Kendo, right?” He faced Mina. “Hmm… pink, huh? Don’t tell me… the girl who makes acid, right? Alien Queen… Mina Ashido!”

“Wow, pretty impressive, senpai,” Izuku said.

“Nah, not really,” Togata said. “I already knew all of you from watching footage of the entrance exam, I was only acting like I had to search my memory. Our Hero Study class focuses a lot on quirk analysis, so we spent three class periods last week watching your practical. I wanted to meet the top scorers from the new first years.” He nodded toward Izuku.

“Wait, I thought they changed the exam this year to be on an entirely different scale,” Itsuka said.

“They did,” Izuku replied, “but they also fine tuned it by having the second and third years take the new version as their final exam for the last term. Well, I suppose they would have been first and second years back then.”

“The average for my grade was eight hundred seventeen points,” Mirio said, “and for the lower grade it was seven hundred sixty-three. Of course, I’d want to meet the students who beat those averages, especially the only person in the school to tie with me!”

Izuku rubbed the back of his undercut and mentally noted he needed to ask Ochaco for another haircut. The style felt weird at first, but it grew on him, in more ways than one, over the past week. “Just lucky, I guess, senpai.”

“Oh no, you don’t,” Mirio said. “You took down a zero-pointer alone. Those are usually reserved for teamwork exercises. Besides, you shouldn’t sell yourself short. Part of being a hero is making people feel comfortable, and projecting confidence is a great way to accomplish that. You should all be proud.”

“He’s right,” Ms. Kayama said. “Togata certainly knows what he’s talking about, not just about the exam, but heroics as well. We didn’t think any of the examinees would get over eight hundred points. In fact, we expected the average to be six hundred, and that ended up being the cut-off for the hero course. That also means that you’ve got a lot of tough competition in your grade.”

Togata winked at Ms. Kayama. “I also hear that you have All Might as your Heroics teacher, and that a few of you have gotten extracurricular training with him. That’s totally awesome!” His eyes focused on Izuku, but a wide smile stayed on the older boy’s face. “I’d love to hear more about that, and I can even introduce you to the rest of the Big Three. I’m something of an All Might fan myself, but I suppose everyone is!” He raised an eyebrow. “Incoming!”

A redhaired blur nearly slammed into Mina, barely stopping short and breathing deeply for a few moments before reaching out and grabbing her shoulders. “Mina! I was worried sick! Fat Gum escorted those of us from Chiba home, but when I asked him about you, he just said that I shouldn’t worry about it,” Kirishima said. “Then you didn’t get on the train this morning.”

“Why didn’t you just call or text me, you big goof?” she asked.

“My cell phone got snapped in two when I landed at the USJ,” he said with a blush, holding up the remnants of his phone. It looked like an old-style flip phone, and several of the students winced in sympathy.

“If it was damaged in the villain attack,” Ms. Kayama said, “UA will replace it, no questions asked. We’ve got plenty of time before the bell, so follow me to the teacher’s lounge, baby boy. Mama Midnight will give you a hero-rated replacement. Then you can join your friends at breakfast.”

“I’ll walk with you guys to the cafeteria,” Mirio announced. “I’d like to get to know all of my underclassmen and women better!” As they passed through the barrier, they noticed several pieces of large construction equipment and temporary trailers set up near the far side of the main building. “Oh, yeah. Ground Omega is going to become the dormitories. Oh, and speaking of Omega, have any of you heard of Gym Omega?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t,” Tenya said, chopping a hand through the air. “I have only heard of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Gyms.”

Mirio grinned. “Access is typically only given to a few students who might need a more challenging environment to work out in. Maybe a few of you should ask All Might about it. See what he says.”

Izuku nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“Me too!” Ochaco declared. Tenya nodded.

“I get the feeling this is Three Musketeers territory,” Itsuka said. “Not sure if D’Artagnan should bother on this one.”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask,” Mirio said, but then he blinked twice. “The Three Musketeers? Oh, man! That’s even better than ‘the Big Three.’ Wish we’d thought of that. We almost went with the Three Magi, but it just didn’t feel right.”

“And the Three Stooges wouldn’t work either,” Tenya said.

Mirio frowned. “Wait, that’s funny! Why wouldn’t it work?”

“Because that’s what Mr. Aizawa, Ms. Kayama, Mr. Yamada, and my older brother call each other.”

“Oh, man… too bad that’s taken, too!” Mirio said. “Incoming again.”

A pair of adults had run to intercept the kids, now standing in their path. The man stood about as tall as Tenya, so a bit shorter than both Izuku and Mirio, with stubble on his chin but strong brown eyes and messy brown hair. Beside him stood a woman with brown shoulder length hair a shade darker than the man’s hair, and with a permanent blush on her cheeks. Ochaco’s eyes widened almost comically. “Mom? Dad?”

“Hi, Cuddlebug!” The man said, and both parents pulled their daughter into a hug. After a moment, the man stepped back and bowed slightly to his daughter’s friends. They all returned the bow. “I’m Sasuke Uraraka, and this is my wife, Misato. Now! Which one of you is Izuku Midoriya?” He grinned without showing any teeth. “We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

Izuku swallowed, feeling sweat beading on his forehead. Two days ago, he and his classmates faced over seventy villains wanting to kill them. At the age of three, the most dangerous criminal ever tried to end his life, nearly crushing his head in a death grip. The nearly limitless power of One For All coursed through his veins, the same power that made All Might the most powerful and famous hero the world had ever known. Even third years would envy the training he received from All Might, Mr. Aizawa, and heroes friendly to the Might Agency. None of that remotely prepared him for the grin on the face of the father of the girl he only recently admitted to himself he liked a bit more than a friend. Cautiously, he raised his hand. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, sir.” He bowed low, probably lower than he should have, but too late now. “I’m honored to meet you.”

“Oh, honored, are you?” Sasuke Uraraka asked with a bit of humor. “Let’s take a quick walk and chat a bit. Surely a boy who moves as fast as you do can catch up with your friends after we talk.”

Ochaco rolled her eyes. “Daddy!”

Her father winked at her while Izuku’s eyes examined the ground. “Nothing to worry about, Cuddlebug. Just a little chat!”

Ochaco turned to her mother. “Mom, can’t you do something?”

Misato Uraraka’s eyes crinkled upwards with a barely suppressed laugh. “This is just a thing men do, dear,” she said, but also turned to her husband. “Remember how much of a hard time my father gave you, Sasuke.”

He grinned, showing his teeth. “Oh, I absolutely do!” he said with a laugh. “Come on, Mr. Midoriya.”

With one final look toward Ochaco, Izuku silently followed her father. “I do hope he’ll be alright,” Tenya said.

“Amen to that,” Mirio said. “Nejire’s dad is a police officer and he had me pulled into the station, handcuffed, fingerprinted, photographed, and interrogated, and we’re just friends! On the other hand, he’s a practical joker and set it up with the pro hero I’m interning with so that I could learn about police procedures. Honestly, it was funny.” He paused for a dramatic beat. “Looking back on it.”

Misato smiled. “Don’t worry about Sasuke. He’s a big softy.”

Once they’d walked a short distance away, Sasuke Uraraka spun around and studied Izuku for a few moments. “So, Mr. Midoriya, what are your intentions toward my daughter?”

Well, Izuku thought, so much for small talk. “Please, sir, call me Izuku. Well, um, Ocha… your daughter and I met at the entrance exam, and she saved me from tripping, which would have been horrible and embarrassing. When she told me what her quirk did, I noticed it didn’t match the reality, and I’m a bit of a quirk fan, so that caught my interest. Plus, she’s nice and smart and strong, so we teamed up during the entrance exam and helped each other multiple times. Once school started, we got to know each other better and found that we got along, so she’s become one of my best friends and I really like spending time with her. I know she told you all about what happened last weekend, so it was really a coincidence that she stayed at my house, but it was all completely innocent. We’re on different floors in the pilot dorm, and I have been working with her and Ms. Kayama to figure out what her quirk can do. We fought together when the villains invaded the USJ, but other than that we’re really just good, um, friends.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed, “Well, Izuku, considering you and my daughter are such good ‘umfriends,’ maybe you should call me Sasuke.”

“Oh, no sir! I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not, if you're such good ‘umfriends,’ right?” Sasuke leaned close. “What? You don’t think she’s special or something?”

Izuku bowed multiple times as if a hinge had replaced his waist. “Ocha… your daughter is amazing!”

“Sounds to me like you’re saying she’s not good enough for you,” he said sternly.

“No, sir! I’m saying I don’t know if I’m good enough for her! I don’t think anyone is!” Izuku protested.

Sasuke rocked back on his heals at that, then broke into a wide, warm smile. “Damn, kid! Misato’s dad had me going for almost an hour back when I first met him, and I never came up with an answer that good. Heck, I may steal that next time I talk to him!” He slammed a hand on Izuku’s back in a friendly manner. “Wow, you’re made of stone, Izuku.”

Izuku breathed a sign of relief. “Oh, no, sir. I’m just built denser than most people. One of our classmates, Eijiro is really made of stone when he’s using his quirk, though. He’s the redhaired boy who was with us.”

They both laughed and Sasuke said, “Sorry for making you nervous, but it’s a tradition! Honestly, I just wanted to thank you for being a good friend to my daughter, but wanted to have a little fun, too. She told her mom all about this week, and well, her mom tells me everything, so I know you’ve done a lot to help her. You’re a good kid, so I’ll give you a bit of advice. I was a shy kid myself… at least let her know you’re interested, and don’t bother trying to protest. Teenagers aren’t as good at hiding stuff as they think they are, at least not from us adults.” Sasuke looked away and nodded slowly. “I think you might just be good enough, kid.”

Izuku bowed again. “Thank you, sir. I… I’ve never even gone on a date or anything like that, so I’m not going to rush into anything, and I don’t think she would either. Because, you know, I want to do things right. I mean, not do things, do things. I mean, just, you know, be a gentleman, and yeah, I’m so going to shut up now, if that’s okay?”

Sasuke smiled. “That’s great, kid. Just be honest with her when you think you’re ready. Now let’s get you back to your friends.” Then, because he couldn’t resist, he added, “future son-in-law.” He laughed at the blush that covered Izuku’s face and how wide the boy’s eyes got. “Ha! You’ll fit right in, kid!”

A few minutes later, Izuku returned to the group with Ochaco’s dad’s arm around his shoulder, much to Ochaco’s relief. Sasuke Uraraka winked toward his wife with a smile. Misato Uraraka bowed to the students. “I’m sure we’ll see you all later during your hero classes! Nice meeting all of you.”

As the students walked away, they heard Misato Uraraka yell, “’I don’t think anyone is?’ Damn, that’s a good answer!”

After a quick breakfast, the various students headed to their respective homerooms. Unlike last week, almost all the students arrived early thanks to their hero escorts, and most of the class chatted together or greeted each other with hugs or high-fives. Tenya took a mental attendance count, and after everyone stood and bowed when Mr. Aizawa entered the room, remained standing. “Sir, everyone is present except for Yuga Aoyama.”

Aizawa looked around the room and nodded. “Thank you, Ida.” He sighed. “On behalf of the school, I apologize that your class was placed in jeopardy on Saturday. As for Aoyama, I do have a bit of bad news.” The class erupted into shouts and talking, with several students rising from their seats, but a glare with his quirk activated quieted them and restored order. “As you know, the so-called League of Villains were able to infiltrate the USJ by using a teleporter. Thanks to your testimony and information obtained from the captured villains, we were able to gain quite a bit of intelligence on the League, including that they were a pawn for a dangerous mastermind. I’m afraid I can’t share more on this mastermind with you because that information is classified. As for Aoyama’s absence, he and his parents were taken by that teleporter. We have reason to believe that threats against their lives have most likely forced Aoyama to divulge information on the school.”

The class erupted again, and rather than quiet them, Aizawa calmly allowed them to work it out of their systems. He noted several reactions that fit what he expected. Shoji and Ojiro shared a concerned look. Bakugo seemed angry, his palms sparking before he clenched them together to suppress his spark generating cells. Izuku and Uraraka shared a look of determination. Tenya stood and waited until the noise level dropped before speaking. “If that is the case, sir, we must do everything in our power to rescue our classmate and his family! Can you tell us what is being done to secure their freedom?”

“Nothing,” Aizawa replied. He waited for the storm to calm again. “Ida, in all likelihood, Aoyama has given information to the enemy. I know the villain behind the League. If Aoyama didn’t, he’d be dead.”

“All the more reason to rescue them as soon as we can! When was he taken?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Aizawa grinned. “When he was five.”

“What?” Bakugo yelled, releasing two small explosions for emphasis. The room became a cacophony of voices and shouted questions again, and a quick burst of his quirk returned silence.

Tilting his head back, Aizawa calmly applied some eye drops to each eye. “Yes, this was a rational deception because I wanted you all to think clearly about this. Aoyama and his family have been under nearly constant threat from a villain who is so dangerous he probably breaks the ranking scale. They’ve been living in this state since Aoyama was five years old. Make no mistake, this villain has fought toe to toe against a team of All Might and five other pro heroes and was only driven off at the cost of the life of one of those heroes.” He winced a bit when he noticed Izuku’s flinch, and the looks of concern Tenya and Uraraka gave their friend. “Everything I said before still applies. Aoyama had no choice but to provide information to the enemy and if he hadn’t, there is a strong chance he and his parents would be dead. He has been questioned extensively by a police detective with a truth quirk, and whenever possible, he only gave information that would be available to the public anyway. There were even times when he gave false information at great risk to himself.” He nodded toward Shoji and Ojiro. “He also disobeyed orders from the villain to save the lives of two people in this class right now.”

“It’s true,” Ojiro said. “Mezo and I would have been killed at the USJ if he hadn’t saved us.”

“He’s still a damn traitor,” Bakugo said with a scowl on his face.

“Such a shame we weren’t all strong enough to defeat S-plus ranked villains at the age of five like you, Blasty,” Mina said with a roll of her eyes.

“You want to go, Racoon-Eyes?” Bakugo yelled.

“Sit down,” Aizawa said sternly. “Only someone as powerful as All Might has a prayer of beating this villain, and that doesn’t include any of you right now. What I can tell you about this villain is that his face is badly burned to the extent that he does not have eyes, but you should not assume that he can’t perceive you in other ways. We believe that All Might managed to sever his spine and he uses a spider-shaped exoskeleton for mobility, but even that makes him no less dangerous. If you encounter him, you are to run. That includes you, Bakugo, and that includes everyone in the class.” His gaze swept around the room, but he purposefully made eye contact with the three students who knew the secret of One For All. “Am I absolutely clear?”

“Yes, sir!” The class echoed.

Aizawa nodded. “Good.” He walked to the door and opened it. “Come on in.”

After a few moments, Yuga Aoyama hesitantly entered the room with his eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Without looking up, he bowed low to his classmates. “I am so sorry I betrayed you.”

“Dude,” Kirishima said, “sounds to me like you stood up to a villain strong enough to fight All Might for us.”

Aoyama whispered, “Thank you,” and took his seat, still looking down.

“Wait a minute,” Bakugo said, “how do we know the cheese-eating surrender monkey isn’t still giving info to the villains?”

“Dude,” Kyoka whispered, “not cool.”

“Agreed,” Tokoyami said. “Such a villain would be terrifying to face.” Dark Shadow peered out of Tokoyami’s school bag at Aoyama, arms crossed in front of her shadowy form and a smug expression only made slightly less haughty by her current small size.

“Nah, wait,” Hanta said. “I mean, it wasn’t the most delicate way of asking, but it’s still a valid question.” His eyes shot toward Aoyama, “no offense intended. At least not from me.”

“First of all, Bakugo, I’m getting tired of reminding you to show respect to your classmates. I’m making an allowance because of what you went through this weekend and because this is a lot to process, but next time I remind you will come with a week of detention, and we’ll see if that helps make the idea stick,” Aizawa said as Bakugo folded his arms across his chest and clicked his teeth. “Secondly, it is a reasonable question. Aoyama is currently living on and restricted to UA’s campus. His parents are under protective custody at a location that will not be disclosed. All communications require prior approval and are subject to monitoring. This is not an arrest; it is intended to keep them safe. Because of the circumstances and to keep him out of the spotlight, Aoyama will not be participating in an event that the rest of you will need to prepare for in less than two weeks: the UA Sports Festival. Furthermore, the first two dormitories will be completed this week if all goes well. Current plans are to move class 1-A and 1-B in on Sunday. Next week is Golden Week, so you’ll have plenty of time to get settled while there are no classes. You’ll also have opportunities to visit your homes for any items that you forgot to pack since there are no classes next week. For any of you who want to practice, sign-up sheets for access to the gyms and the various training grounds will be available, and teachers will be on campus to supervise. Also, the Principal has informed me that student will be allowed to assist in construction during Golden Week on the rest of the dorms. Each two-hour shift will include a competitive wage and award a percentage point toward your final grade in a class of your choice.” He rolled his eyes at the excited looks on several faces. “You’re limited to two shifts per day, and this is only during Golden Week, so a maximum of ten points. It does not include the time you’ll be spending during your heroics class later today.” The bell rang. “That’s it for homeroom. Fortunately for you, your first class on this week’s schedule will be Hero Informatics with me, so you have ten minutes to talk among yourselves before we begin. No badgering of your classmates and understand that there may be information that is classified, so if they say they can’t answer a question, respect that.”

Aritsugu Mozume rather enjoyed his new life. Sure, he lived in a tiny house in the countryside, and counted himself lucky to have a job, but things could always be worse. Working in Japan’s competitive logging industry meant long backbreaking days, but as a former villain, he felt lucky that anyone would hire him at all.

Once, he’d been the villain known as Toxic Chainsaw thanks to his quirk named, fittingly enough, Chainsaw. He could transform his hands into power tools of any type and decided that would be a great way to rob banks. All that changed the day he fought All Might, though.

He shook his head in delayed embarrassment, even six years after the fact. He’d been so focused on trying to drill into the bank vault that he didn’t even notice All Might behind him until the number one hero put his hand on Aritsugu’s shoulder and said, “Planning to make a withdrawal, villain? Such a shame, but I’m depositing you in jail!” He’d been so startled he’d spun around, his hand changing to a diamond tipped saw blade and cut the arm of All Might.

All Might’s eyes narrowed, and he drew back a fist. Then Aritsugu dropped to the floor, bowing and begging forgiveness. Much to his surprise, All Might didn’t punch him through the vault, but sighed and took a seat across from him. For the next ten minutes, All Might talked to him. Asking him about his family, why he turned to crime, and other questions. All Might flashed his famous smile and said, “Look, if you turn yourself in, I’ll speak on your behalf at your trial. Now, robbing a bank is going to result in some jail time, but I will ask for leniency. I’ll also make sure you have an easy time in prison and help you get a job when you get out. Do we have a deal?” Considering the alternative consisted of being punched through a wall by the world’s most powerful hero, Aritsugu nodded. All Might made a fist and dipped it into the dust on the floor from the attempt to crack the safe before gently leaving the outline of a punch on Aritsugu’s face. All Might wiped the dirt off on his costume and gestured toward his “opponent” to do the same. With a laugh, Aritsugu tore one of his sleeves, messed up his own hair, and rolled around on the floor. All Might placed a gentle but firm hand on the back of the neck of Toxic Chainsaw and led him outside to the flash of newspaper photographer’s cameras and the waiting arms of police and a quirk-suppressing Iron Maiden.

As the door of the Maiden closed, Aritsugu’s eyes met All Might’s, and the captured villain whispered, “Thank you.” Once the door closed, he said a silent prayer to whatever god or spirit might be willing to listen. A week later, he stood in court, his prayers answered as All Might stood in front of the judge and explained how Aritsugu Mozume surrendered peacefully. He further explained that the injury All Might received was hardly intentional, and only inflicted due to being startled. The hero pointed out that Aritsugu Mozume didn’t harm a single civilian during the attempted robbery, and even made sure that a pregnant bank patron had been comfortable during the tense standoff. All Might never once said the name “Toxic Chainsaw” during his testimony, assuring the judge that Aritsugu Mozume had lost his way and deserved a second chance after paying for his crime.

All Might’s testimony resulted in a reduced sentence of only ten years. He personally escorted Mozume to the lower security areas of Tartarus, making sure to loudly talk to the guards about how “Toxic Chainsaw” had been the strongest opponent he’d faced in years. This bought instant respect from the other inmates, and he could serve his sentence peacefully. All Might didn’t forget his other promise either, speaking on Mozume’s behalf at his first parole hearing after serving three years and four months of his sentence. Combined with the number one hero’s good word and Mozume’s own good behavior, the parole board granted the earliest possible release. All Might even helped him find an apartment and a job, even giving him the gift of a book on woodworking. To Aritsugu’s surprise, he found a natural talent for carpentry, and after some trial and error, finally produced a coffee table worthy of feeling pride. He boxed the coffee table and mailed it to Might Tower. A few weeks later, he received a framed picture showing All Might and several other pro heroes sitting on a couch with their feet up on the coffee table he’d made. In the photograph, a small green-haired boy sat beside All Might, his head down and face hidden as All Might tousled the boy’s hair. Even if the boy couldn’t be recognized, the level of trust All Might showed truly inspired Aritsugu. He’d really make something of this second chance he’d been given.

After a nice dinner, he fell back, expecting to land on his comfortable futon. Instead, his breath forced itself out of his lungs as his back hit solid concrete. He opened his eyes, looking around, and finding himself in a dark, circular room. Nearby, a shadowy figure hovered in the air with glowing yellow eyes. A man with messy pale grayish-blue hair and a severed hand covering his face and shoulders stood beside the mist man, flanked on the other side by a short older man wearing goggles and a stained white lab coat. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Ah, two of the most important questions,” another voice said from behind him, and Aritsugu Mozume spun around to face a nightmare. The huge metallic skeleton of a spider seemed to have been built around a charred husk of a man. Though his chest and arms remained muscular and well-built, visible even beneath the expensive business suit he wore, his legs dangled beneath him, swimming uselessly in expensive silk. “I must apologize, I had my associate bring you here because I have wanted to meet and talk to you for some time.”

Aritsugu swallowed. “I’m just a simple lumberjack and amateur carpenter.” He held up his hands. “I mean, if you want a coffee table made, I’m your man.”

The charred skin where the burned man’s eyes should have been crinkled upward, and his face broke into a wide smile. “Oh, there is no mistake, Aritsugu Mozume, also known as Toxic Chainsaw. All Might once described you as the strongest opponent he’d faced in years. Somehow, I doubt it, but I still want your strength.”

“Toxic Chainsaw died in prison,” Aritsugu said, shaking his head slowly, praying once again. “There must be some mistake. I’m just Aritsugu Mozume.”

The mechanical legs skittered across the floor far faster than something that size should be able to move, two of the legs piercing his hands and pinning Aritsugu to a wall. The burned face moved mere centimeters from his own. “The only mistake is you lying to me!” The charred man smiled. “Who I am is All For One, and what I want is everything, starting with the ruin of All Might and all who follow him. You could have joined us willingly, but you’ve wasted that chance like a fool.” He raised a hand, and a small circle of flesh in the middle of his palm seemed to peel back, revealing a small black hole. “You were right about one thing, though, Toxic Chainsaw. When you said, ‘I’m your man,’ you were right more than you knew. You belong to me now.” The hand grabbed his forehead and Aritsugu Mozume screamed for a moment, before everything was consumed by the darkness of that endless black hole.

Chapter Text

After morning classes, everyone looked around cautiously when the bell rang for lunch. Slowly a few people moved toward the door, but Mashirao and Mezo moved to Yuga Aoyama’s desk. “Yuga,” Mezo said softly, “want to come to the cafeteria with us?”

Yuga place a hand over his heart. “Me?” He blinked. “Are you s… I… you know what I did!”

Mashirao put a hand on the French student’s shoulder. “We know exactly what you did. You saved our lives! You’re still a part of our class.”

Bakugo walked past the three of them, clicking his teeth a single time without looking back. Yuga shook his head. “It would seem not everyone agrees with you.”

“Baka-Gato doesn’t agree,” Denki said, “but he doesn’t think anyone deserves to be in class but him. You were threatened by a villain strong enough that All Might couldn’t catch him. None of us blame you, man. Don’t be an idiot like I was.”

Yuga looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean?”

Denki held up his hands, showing off a pair of gloves with small wires running up his sleeves. “Yeah, guess most of the class missed that part. Hey, everyone. Be careful about touching my bare skin. I’ve been on a half charge all year, and that’s why I seem dumb sometimes. You’ll get a little shock… not enough to harm you, but it does sting.”

Mina walked over, grinned, and pressed a finger against Denki’s nose, causing her fluffy hair to poof out comically. “Tingly! It’s honestly not that bad. More like a TENS device turned up a little too high. I was expecting an electric fence or something.”

Denki blinked while several people chuckled. “Why would you even risk it?”

“Because I wanted to know what to expect when I do this,” she said, reaching out and ruffling his hair.

After that, everyone moved to the cafeteria as a group, and Lunch Rush waved when he saw class 1-A arrive “Aoyama! Come here,” the Cook Hero called. “I’ve been excited to meet you. We don’t have a lot of foreign students and you’re from France! French cuisine is my absolute favorite, and I spent five years in France studying under Michelin Star rated chefs! Not to brag, even though I’m about to brag, but I have three of them myself. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll make you some food the likes of which you’d find at one of the best restaurants in Paris! If you don’t like it, I will eat my hat!”

Fumikage glanced over at Ochaco and winked. “Perhaps today will finally be my day,” he said to her chuckle at their semi-private joke.

Once they collected their food, they made their way to their usual table and found Bakugo sitting at the end of one of the group tables beside Kirishima. Izuku beamed a huge smile that fortunately went unnoticed by Bakugo and sat at his usual seat near the middle surrounded by his friends, but Mina slid into the seat by Kirishima near the end and said “Well, look who decided to grace us with his presence! Lord Explosion Belcher!”

Bakugo grabbed his tray and started to rise. “Screw this!”

Kirishima grabbed Bakugo’s arm. “Come on, dude, she was just joking!” He turned to Mina and rolled his eyes. “Come on, Horn Buddy! He’s trying.”

“Yeah, trying to eat my damn lunch in peace,” Bakugo said, trying to jerk his arm away without spilling his kimchi nabe. “I’m gone.”

“Wait,” Mina said. “I’m sorry, Blasty. I was just joking. Don’t be like that. You can dish it out, so prove you can take it.”

“Doesn’t matter what any of you extras say, anyway,” Bakugo said with a huff, but sitting back down. “I just didn’t want to listen to your annoying voice. None of you can dish out enough to bother me.”

“There you go, tough guy,” Mina said.

Further down the table, Mei Hatsume sat down near Yaomomo and Toru, the cafeteria lights gleaming off her freshly shave head. Yaomomo gasped. “Hatsume! Why? Why did you cut off all your hair?”

Several people glanced over out of idle curiosity as Hatsume set a small bottle on the table. “For science, of course! I felt bad about you two having to cut off your hair for your costumes, so I got these from Mr. Power Loader! Don’t worry, they’re one hundred percent safe and over the counter.” She opened the small bottle and took a pill from it, popping it in her mouth and washing it down with a drink of water. In seconds, the top of her head was covered with a short layer of pink hair. “See, completely safe. It accelerates natural hair growth for roughly twenty-four hours. Make sure to eat plenty of eggs, fish, nuts, and potatoes.”

Toru leaned in. “How much hair are we talking about?”

“About a meter,” Hatsume said. “And don’t worry, it’s specifically targeted to the top of your head, so no need to worry about,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “maintenance. Other than your usual routine, of course.”

Momo frowned. “I feel bad that you did this. I’ve found I rather like having shorter hair.”

“No worries,” Hatsume said. “I do this every few months anyway so I can keep my dreads nice and tight.”

“Well, I definitely appreciate it,” Toru said, popping one of the pills and swallowing it with a drink of water. “I just don’t look all that cute with short hair.” Hanta started to open his mouth to say something but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced over at Mashirao who shook his head silently and then closed his mouth with a shrug.

The two Monday classes after lunch, history and literature seemed to drag on forever, although Denki got a chance to shine during literature class when Cementoss off-handedly mentioned Heart of Darkness and Denki brought up a comparison of the structure to Dante’s Inferno, leading to a side discussion that took up half the class.

Finally, though, heroics class began with All Might strutting through the door wearing his hero costume in Bronze age mode, with the addition of an orange and yellow vest and a hard hat with two small holes cut in the top to allow his distinctive tufts of hair to stick up above his head. “I am here! Most of you already have a good level of proficiency with your quirks in battle as proven from your entrance exams, but before we jump into quirk combat, we’re going to build on those skills! I know at least a couple of you have interest in quirk analysis, so if you’ve been keeping up with the literature, you may have read an article on the new quirk framework theory by Kotatsu Raiki and Manaki Yozuki!” All Might grinned as Izuku tried, and failed, to look completely innocent at the mention of his and Midnight’s pen names. “While we might not be talking about the quirk framework theory, you will be using your quirks to set a building’s framework!” All Might paused dramatically to give the students time to laugh, but only Izuku gave a soft chuckle, while Tsuyu made a pained sounding ribbit. “First though, you’ll need to have a strong foundation, just like the dorms we’ll be helping to build! Put on your costumes and meet me at Ground Omega!”

Once the class changed and arrived at Ground Omega, they found All Might chatting with Snipe and a man with short brown hair peaking out from under a hard hat. A hard hat even replaced Snipe’s typical cowboy hat, and both of them also wore orange and yellows vests with reflective patches. Rather than just class 1-A, the students from their sister class stood with them in front of the small stage the two teachers and the man stood on. “Ah, good!” All Might declared. “All of our newbies are here! I’m sure you recognize Snipe and myself, but the gentleman joining us may only be known to a few of you. Make no mistake, for the duration of this class, and while the dormitories are being built, we take orders from him! He’s the senior supervisor of the project, and you should all call him Mr. Uraraka or Foreman unless he tells you otherwise.”

Ochaco’s father stepped forward. “Now, I know all of you are some of the strongest students in Japan, but no one is completely invincible, so everyone on a construction site always wears proper safety equipment. We’re grateful for the help you’re going to be supplying today and, for those of you who sign up for one or more shifts next week. However, if you’re on the site without a helmet and vest, you’re done and won’t be allowed back. These two items are the bare minimum and protect your head and make you visible at a distance, since none of our construction materials are orange or yellow. You’re also expected to wear protective gloves, face shields, chemical splash goggles, and hearing protection whenever necessary. If the workers around you are wearing any of those and you’re not, ask! We’d rather delay for a few minutes than risk an injury. Uraraka Construction has one of the lowest injury rates in the country, and the companies who are subcontractors on this project meet our standards. We’re not going to risk anyone’s safety on my watch, and it’s always my watch. We’ll distribute them to you before we get started.”

Snipe raised his hand. “Any of you varmints ain’t wearin’ a hard hat and vest on the site, you’ll be servin’ a week in detention, and you’ll take a zero for the day.”

All Might nodded. “That also applies to disobeying the orders of the construction supervisor and workers as well. You’re here to learn, and the people from the construction crew are experts.” He narrowed his eyes. “Treat them with the same respect you would treat any professional.”

Sasuke Uraraka smiled. “All right, so your instructors and I have gone over your quirks together, and we’ve assigned all of you into several categories.”

Ground Omega consisted of two distinct areas, the oldest of UA’s fake city environments and an overgrown wooded area. The cityscape had originally been Ground Alpha, but as new city zones were added to UA’s campus, it slowly moved further along in the Greek Alphabet. Once the school had newer city zones from Alpha to Theta, enough that the hero courses for each grade could all use one simultaneously, Ground Omega earned her new name as the training ground of last resort.

The third-year students had cleared nearly fifty percent of the area during their Heroics class from 8:30 – 10:30 this morning. After lunch, from 1:00 – 3:00, the second years had managed to clean another thirty percent. This left the final twenty percent for the first years.

Students with destructive quirks, such as Yuga Aoyama, Mina Ashido, Katsuki Bakugo, Togaru Kamakiri, and Manga Fukidashi, formed the vanguard, demolishing buildings or cutting down trees. Once they were done with an area, the heavy-duty students, such as Ochaco Uraraka, Rikido Sato, Izuku Midoriya, Yui Kodai, and Jurota Shishida, moved in and quickly removed massive rubble and felled vegetation. Students excelling at sensory gathering, like Mezo Shoji, Kyoka Jiro, Shihai Kuroiro, and Setsuna Tokage, mapped out excavation areas for the basements of the future dormitories.

Sasuke Uraraka had a nearly unnatural ability to see how any quirk could be used in the construction process and place the person where they could do their best for the project. Where someone else might view Kinoko Komori’s Mushroom quirk as only of limited use, he sang her praises and set her to loosening tree stumps, knowing that growing mushrooms could apply tremendous pressure upwards as they grew. Some of the students with stranger quirks among the forty first-year hero students soon found applications they’d never thought of before and received a great amount of praise for something other than combat.

By the end of the first hour of class, Ground Omega stood cleared and most of the students took the chance to sit and rest. “Great job, everyone!” Mr. Uraraka yelled out. “We can start some of the evacuating for the first two dormitories after a short break. You all moved a lot faster than I expected.” He lowered his voice and turned toward his daughter, “and you don’t have to call me ‘Mr. Uraraka,’ Cuddlebug.”

She rolled her eyes, but gave her father a hug anyway, having long dreamed of the day she could use her quirk to make her parents’ work easier. “Glad you said that, because I would have slipped up and gotten a zero before the end of the day!”

Izuku smiled from nearby. “Foreman would be a pretty good hero name, especially for a rescue hero.” He turned to All Might and Snipe. “So, if this is Ground Omega, where is Gym Omega? It’s not on any of the campus maps.”

All Might blinked. “I’m not familiar with Gym Omega.”

Snipe looked closely at Izuku. “Now, where’d ya hear ‘bout that?”

“Mirio Togata told me about it this morning,” Izuku said. “Sorry, was I not supposed to know about it?”

“Nah, you’re fine,” Snipe said, “and ain’t no wonder you’ve never heard about it, All Might. They built it for you, back in your day. It was called the Enhanced Workout facility, back then, or EW for short.”

Like Edo Wonderland, Izuku, Tenya, and Ochaco all thought. “Why’d they change the name to Gym Omega then?” Izuku asked.

“Mostly just a joke,” Snipe said, scratching the side of his head. “Because it’s usually the last thing people get access to. It’s been upgraded several times over the years, so it has full sparing facilities, but all the equipment is geared toward students on the higher end of the scale. You’ve got to have two teachers sign off for a student to get access. The Big Three are the only ones who currently have access to it, so it doesn’t see a whole lot of use. Heck, just based off your entrance exam, I’ll co-sign if All Might or Aizawa are willin’ to vouch for the three of you.”

“Yes, I’ll definitely sign-off on that,” All Might said with a laugh. “I was already dreading what the three of them might do to UA’s regular exercise facilities, especially after how often I’ve had to make repairs to the basement of Might Tower.”

“It wouldn’t have any vertical force plates, would it?” Tenya asked innocently.

“That was only once!” Izuku protested with a blush.

Snipe stifled a laugh since all the teachers had heard the story by now. “Y’all come by the teacher’s lounge after class, and we’ll get your access sorted. Just don’t go advertisin’ it, most of the equipment in there is on the fancy and pricy side.”

“Alright, everyone,” Sasuke Uraraka called, “we’re ahead of schedule, so let’s see how much we can get done!”

While the hero students worked on construction tasks, Hitoshi Shinso sat in the small room, his hands chained to the table in front of him with tight handcuffs. The bright lights shining in his face were causing him a painful headache. The man across from him stared silently with cold eyes.

“He’s not going to say a word, you know,” the man sitting against the wall said as he observed. “He knows too much about your quirk to make that kind of mistake. Sure, you could play your little mind games on me, but that won’t really help you now, will it? Even when I’m at the top of my game, I can’t get past him, so you’d still be bound. So maybe you should just save us all some time and effort and just give us the information we want.”

Hitoshi sighed. No real way around it. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” He locked eyes with the silent man. Sure, he wouldn’t talk, but maybe, just maybe, he didn’t have to talk. “My name is Hitoshi Shinso, I’m a first-year student in class 1-C of UA High School’s General Education department, but I hope to transfer into the Hero Course through the Sports Festival, assuming I ever get out of this room. I’m fifteen years old with blood type AB. I’m from Saitama prefecture.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll be honest, my favorite hero has always been Eraserhead, even when the only things I knew about him were half-true rumors on the internet.” Sweat beaded on his forehead, but he felt the familiar harmonic. He knew this man and his voice. He didn’t need a response; he could sense the match forming. “Now, reach out your hand and pick up the key.” The man’s hand moved forward, and his eyes widened, but his hand didn’t slow.

“Holy crap!” The man by the wall said. “You’re….”

“Gag him and bind him,” Hitoshi said, his voice reverberating in the room. The man across from him made a motion with his free hand, and a cloth whipped out, capturing the other person in the interrogation room. “Release me,” Hitoshi said, holding the cuffs forward. The man ground his teeth together, but his hand moved forward and slowly inserted the key in the handcuffs and turned, releasing Hitoshi’s hands. He grinned, despite feeling like his head would split into two. “Say, ‘You win.’”

The man across from him shivered, but slowly said, “You… win….”

He felt the pressure on his brain ease as the familiar, and much easier control slipped into place. “Okay, you’re free,” he said. Hitoshi collapsed back into the chair.

Shota Aizawa blinked, grinned, and applauded. “Well done, Shinso! You did great! I was aware of being controlled until you made me speak, but I still couldn’t stop myself.”

Hitoshi grinned. “It felt like trying to walk against hurricane force winds, and I don’t know if I could do it if I wasn’t familiar with your voice, but it worked! Um, aren’t you going to let Mr. Yamada go?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess,” Aizawa said with another grin, flicking his wrist and unravelling his capture weapon from around Present Mic.

“You’re so mean to me, Sho,” Mic said. “How’s your head, little listener?”

“Pounding like someone making mochi on New Year’s, but it’s getting better quick,” Shinso said. “I don’t think I could do it again for a while, though.

“Most likely, Izuku was right,” Mic added, “It’s not psychic, it’s sound based. I’ll talk to Nem about it, but I think it works like encryption. Just being aware of someone is like the public key, and your voice is the public key. If the other person talks, that’s like them immediately giving their private key. You can still brute force it if you must, but it takes a lot of resources. We’ll need to hook you up to an EEG next time we try this. I bet your brain activity was through the roof.”

“Feels like it,” Shinso muttered. “I’m starving too, like I haven’t eaten all day.”

Aizawa stood up. “I think we’ve made great progress today. We’ll knock off early and get you some food.” He looked closely at Shinso. “I know you hang out with Midoriya after school, and while you can tell him about this, I don’t want you trying to do this again today. You need at least a full night of rest and I want Ms. Kayama here next time we try.”

“Have you talked to Mr. Kan yet?” Present Mic asked.

“Vlad King?” Shinso asked. At their nod, he shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“Good,” Aizawa said. “This might have been possible because you’re familiar enough with me to ‘hack’ the process. I’d like to see if you can force control someone whose voice you’ve never heard.”

By the time class finished for the day, the foundations for the first two dormitories had been set with the help of Cementoss. Between the two of them, Izuku and Ochaco moved roughly thirty thousand metric tons of construction materials into place in the last hour of class, leaving the construction roughly a day ahead of schedule already.

At Izuku’s suggestion, several of the students from both classes including all the students staying in the pilot house, Ochaco’s parents, quite a few construction workers, a lot of the teachers, and Hitoshi Shinso made their way to the Wagnaria restaurant. Mahiru Inami might grumble about the unexpectedly busy rush, but picture of All Might and other pro heroes smiling with her would certainly help business.

Chapter Text

Tuesday progressed much like Monday, although some life seemed to return to Aoyama as the majority of the class accepted his circumstances. Bakugo still shot the French student dirty looks, but anger and indifference from the explosive teen seemed so similar, no one could tell much of a difference. Bakugo’s ire remained mostly reserved for Izuku. During the brief homeroom before lunch, Aizawa kept watch from his sleeping bag as Izuku quietly spoke to Yaoyorozu when Bakugo showed more and more signs of agitation. Finally, Bakugo reached some sort of limit and yelled, “Would you shut the Hell up, you damn Deku?”

Aizawa rose, slipping out of the yellow bag like a ghost from a tomb. “Settle down, Bakugo. We’ve still got five minutes, but I’m letting you go to lunch early.” With his hands, he signaled “Stay” to Izuku.

Ochaco started to head toward Izuku’s desk, but Tenya leaned over and whispered something to her. Izuku smiled and called out, “Go ahead without me. I wanted to ask Mr. Aizawa a quick question about yesterday’s hero informatics class.” After everyone had left, Izuku nodded to his teacher. “Is something wrong, Mr. Aizawa?”

“I think that’s my line, Problem Child,” Aizawa said. “I know you and Bakugo have a history and he’s obviously holding a grudge. Want to give me some details, kid?”

Izuku gave his teacher a lopsided grin. “Um, not particularly?”

Aizawa sighed. “Izuku….”

Izuku held up his hands. “Seriously, it’s all in the past. You know that I know that you know that Bakugo went to Aldera, just like I did before I transferred to Soumei. I’m sure you’ve already put two and two together.”

“It’s not in the past if it’s still going on, Problem Child,” Aizawa pointed out. “You and Yaoyorozu were two of the quietest in the class, and he blew up over that.”

“Maybe,” Izuku conceded, “but I can handle him now. I’m not a quirkless twelve-year old anymore, and thanks to a couple of people, I’ve got the skill to deal with it. You know what Aldera was like. As much as they tried to tear me down, they tried to build him up. I’m not making excuses for him, but in a way he’s as much of a victim as I was. Remember how skittish and untrusting of adults I was at first? The only reason I talked to you at first was because you were a pro hero. It took years to get past the assumption that any teacher wanting to talk to me was going to lead to anything other than humiliation. Bakugo has had less than two weeks to get used to the fact that he’s not a god walking among mere mortals anymore, where now, well, I’m not quite sure how to put this, but… I’m kind of a big deal… I’ve very important. I have many leather-bound books and my room smells of rich mahogany.”

“God, you’ve been watching movies recommended by Zashi again, but be careful, Problem Child.” Aizawa frowned. “In terms of combat only, he did every bit as well as you did on the entrance exam. Possibly better, considering he maxed out villain points by focusing on destroying the two and three pointers. I know you’re all going to be quirk sparing the rest of this week in heroics. I can have All Might rig the random number generator to keep you and Bakugo separated.”

Izuku smiled. “I appreciate it, but I’ll be okay. Besides, All Might let his lesson plan slip last night. Ten-minute fights with five-minute reviews for the next four days. Statistically, I’ll probably be paired up against him. No real way to avoid it without being obvious. I’ve been dealing with Bakugo since I was three, don’t worry!”

“You do have a point. On your way,” Aizawa nodded and waved Izuku off to join his classmates. When the door shut, he sighed, sliding into his sleeping bag for a quick nap. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he muttered.

“Now, my class of newbies,” All Might said, “today, and for the rest of the week, we’ll be practicing quirked sparring. Now, for many of you, the entrance exam was your first real opportunity to use your quirks against real opponents. Some of you may have been lucky enough to visit private facilities that allowed similar experiences, or even done some sparring with a pro hero or two if you have one in the family or other connections. I also know that three of you faced a villain before taking the entrance exam, and you all encountered villains during the USJ incident. Combat is something that every pro hero may face some day, so we need to make sure you’re all prepared!”

“Freaking finally,” Bakugo muttered, while Eijiro nodded beside him.

All Might smiled indulgently. “I realize that fighting villains is what most people immediately think of when they hear the word ‘Hero,’ but many wonderful heroes finish long, proud careers without ever fighting a villain. Combat should be a last resort whenever possible, but there is always a chance that it will be unavoidable. If you have no other options but to fight, you should do your best to incapacitate your enemy as quickly as you can while minimizing harm as much as possible. Therefore, we’ll be doing one on one sparring with quirks. So, who wants to go first?”

“Hell yes,” Bakugo said, stepping forward. “I want to fight Deku!”

Izuku merely rolled his eyes. “I don’t mind.”

All Might laughed. “I’m afraid you boys have the wrong idea. While we will be doing some student versus student fights later in the week,” he stepped into the middle of the ring, “for today, your opponent will be me. Ten minutes each, and we’ll cover half the class with a twenty-minute review at the end. If any of you pin me for three seconds or force me out of the ring, I’ll treat you all to a pizza party on Sunday after you’ve moved into the dorms!”

Bakugo swallowed but stepped forward anyway. “Not a problem. You’ll have to change your name to Fall Might once I’m done.”

“Then, as a wise man once said, ‘Come at me, Bro,’” All Might said. Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido all nearly collapsed with shocked laughter.

Two blasts of nitroglycerine and a yelled “Die!” propelled Bakugo forward toward the pro hero, and an explosion from Bakugo’s right hand smashed against All Might’s chest. He grinned in triumph until he tried to pull his arm back, only to find All Might’s massive hand completely gripping his forearm.

All Might casually flipped Bakugo over his head like a rag doll, slamming him down on the padded practice floor. “You know, young Bakugo, it has been well established that you prefer leading with your right. While you made a strong attempt, you need to change up your moves a bit to be unpredictable.” All Might picked the boy up, setting him on his feet. “You’ve still got nine minutes. Show me what you can do, young man!”

Despite more and more powerful explosions and quicker moves, All Might either tanked the blows or dodged them easily, much to Bakugo’s growing frustration. Kicks, punches, and explosions, none of them seemed to bother All Might in the slightest. Finally, a buzzer sounded. “Well done, young Bakugo! A good effort.”

“Don’t coddle me, damn it!” Bakugo yelled.

All Might reached out and patted the angry boy’s shoulder. “Far from it! You did quite well. Keep in mind that I have been the number one hero for over twelve years, and a pro hero for… somewhat more than that. You’re placing too much pressure on yourself if you expect to be my match at your age. One of the reasons we have UA is to help students become stronger.” Bakugo shrugged All Might’s hand off and stomped back to the rest of the class. “Now, let’s have our next opponent step forward.” He held up a small tablet with a random number generator. “Seat number nine! Come, young Koda! Show this old man what you can do!”

Koji fared a bit worse than Bakugo, since there were no animals in the gym, and his gentle nature didn’t lend itself to direct combat, but he did his best to All Might’s praise and encouragement. Hanta Sero tried an AT-AT versus Snow Speeder strategy, but a quick yank from All Might tripped the student and he ended up tangled in his own tape. Mezo Shoji did his best to match All Might’s strength and his duplicate arms earned applause from All Might, but the pro hero still didn’t fall. Shoto Todoroki stepped forward for his turn, coating the ground with a slick layer of ice and launching boulders of ice toward All Might. He easily swatted them aside, and with a stomp turned the ice into crunchy fragments, knocking Shoto to the ground as well.

“Half of today’s participants, and no pizza party so far,” All Might declared. “You’ve all been doing well, however. Next up, young Kirishima! Do your best!” Eijrio rushed in like a bulldozer, but All Might acted like a steel beam being hit by a plastic bat. With a grin, he turned Eijiro’s bout into a slug fest. Although Eijiro didn’t win, All Might patted the boy’s shoulder. “You fought hard, young Kirishima!” Mashirao Ojiro came closest so far, using his martial arts and his tail to manage to knock All Might down, but he just didn’t have the strength to force his teacher into a pin or out of the ring. The next name chosen by the RNG was Yuga Aoyama. “Come, young Aoyama, try your luck!”

Yuga shuffled his feet. “Are… you sure, All Might? Surely you know….”

All Might grinned. “I have faced the man who terrorized you and your family, my young student. Rest assured, I will deal with him, but we’ll get you strong enough to handle his lackeys. You have my word. Now give it your best shot!” Yuga quickly adjusted his equipment to release a diffuse blast of his Navel Laser, using it as a flash bang. He quickly fired precision blasts at the ground All Might stood on, then rushing forward and body checking the pro hero. While a bit off balance due to the shaky footing, All Might quickly recovered, keeping Yuga at bay for the rest of his time. “Very well done, young Aoyama!” All Might pulled up the RNG again. “Now, today’s nineth opponent, seat number four. Come, young T… Ida. Let’s see if you can win pizza for your classmates.”

Tenya stepped forward. “I will do my best.” He stretched a few times, and then with a burst of speed disappeared, only to reappear behind All Might with a brutal kick to the back of his knees. All Might grunted but spun with a kick that Tenya dodge underneath. “Fast as always, All Might, but as you know, I am faster!” Tenya punched, only to find All Might grabbed his arm.

“Fast as you are, my young friend,” All Might said, “if you can’t get away, that advantage is lost.” While Tenya punched with his free arm and kicked with both legs several times, All Might shrugged off the blows before tossing Tenya outside the ring. “Don’t worry, you can keep trying until time is over. Only me being removed from the ring counts.” Tenya sped in again, but All Might repeatedly dodged with quick sidesteps, although he did have to take care to move back toward the center of the ring several times. Eventually, Tenya’s time expired.

“Nice try,” Izuku said as Tenya rejoined his friends. “One on one against All Might is never easy.”

“Yes,” Tenya said with a sigh. “I suspect if anyone has a chance of winning us the pizza, it is you.”

“Now for the last match of the day! Seat number five, Ochaco Uraraka!” All Might called.

She clenched her fists and spared a glance at Tenya. “Never bet against me when it comes to free food.” With a leap, Ochaco shot toward All Might like a cannonball. His eyebrows barely had time to rise in surprise before her fist connected with his stomach, the sound reverberating through the gym like artillary.

“Holy crap,” Kyoka whispered, wincing and covering her ears.

“Quite a bit of power behind that punch, young Uraraka,” All Might said. “Welcome to level two difficulty.” All Might shot forward, swinging a rapid punch that Ochaco rolled to dodge. “You’ve been practicing hard, and Gunhead would be proud, but I’ve got years of experience on you.”

Ochaco grinned as All Might threw another punch, but instead of dodging, she held up a hand and let his blow land. “Maybe, but never go against an Uraraka when free food is on the line!” All Might’s eye widened as he felt the dizziness of sudden weightlessness, and she held out her other hand against his chest. He felt as if he’d punched himself, going flying across the room to strike one of the padded walls of the gym far from the ring.

All Might laughed long and loud, clapping his hands. “Well done, young Uraraka! Everyone give her a big hand for winning pizza on Sunday!”

Most of the class clapped enthusiastically, although Bakugo clapped slowly and half-heartedly until Mina elbowed his arm. “Come on, Draco. Just because she’s not in Slytherin like you, that doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk.”

“I’d give real money if you’d shut up,” he muttered.

“How much?” she countered. “Asking for a friend.”

“Excellent job today, newbies!” All Might proclaimed. “I’ll have to think of a new prize for tomorrow. Now let’s have our review, then we’ll wrap for the day.”

“Nice dodge of having them fight each other today,” Aizawa said when All Might returned to the teacher’s lounge. “Bakugo is still showing a lot of signs of some sort of grudge against Midoriya.”

“I figured you were watching,” All Might said. “I noticed as well. He was certainly excited about the possibility of using his quirk against young Midoriya.” He sighed and sat down. “I will admit, I’m not certain how to defuse this, ha, ticking timebomb.”

“I spoke to Problem Child about it before lunch. He says he can handle it, but I’m not comfortable with that. It isn’t his job to improve Bakugo’s behavior,” Aizawa sighed. “Bakugo’s smart enough that he’s feeling out the limits of how far he can push this vendetta without stepping too far over the line. Furthermore, with the attack on USJ, expulsion is off the table. I can’t even switch him over to class B because his quirk is dangerous enough that Erasure is almost certainly a requirement for dealing with him. Why can’t the difficult students ever be simple and stupid?”

All Might laughed. “You’ve said it yourself, young Aizawa. The students at UA are the absolute pinnacle of what Japan has to offer. Even the worst performing student in class 1-A would dominate in nearly any other hero school in the world. Young Uraraka certainly surprised me today. I can’t wait to see what they do tomorrow!”

Wednesday’s heroics class continued where Tuesday’s left off, with All Might upping the ante for the class with the promise of game systems for the common area of the dormitory. Izuku snorted, knowing that All Might would probably provide game systems anyway, just like the pizza party offered as a prize yesterday.

Denki Kaminari went first, but as powerful as his electric shocks might be, they did not phase All Might. “Good try, young Kaminari,” All Might called out. His match with Mina almost devolved into a full dance battle, much to her delight.

Izuku fought next, and with the small size of the ring combined with Izuku’s martial arts knowledge, All Might honestly felt his boy had a good chance. Izuku’s speed and strength seemed much lower than one of their usual sparring sessions, however, although he still performed better than most of the class. “Having an off day, young Midoriya?” All Might whispered as they grappled.

“Holding back a bit as strategy for the sports festival,” Izuku whispered back with a grin. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Then I’ll hold off on level three, but I can’t go below level two for you,” All Might conceded, but he still increased his speed and strength to match what he used against young Ochaco yesterday. To keep up, Izuku had to increase his own efforts, probably a bit more than he’d like to display to the class, but sparring between the two was always fun. Eventually, the time ran down.

“Aw, man,” Toru Hagakure said as she stepped up for her turn. “I thought for sure Izuku would win us the consoles!”

“Damn nerd couldn’t fight his way out of a room full of kittens,” Bakugo spat out.

“Honestly, a room full of kittens sounds awesome,” Izuku said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t want to fight my way out!” Koji nodded vigorously in agreement.

Despite going completely invisible, Toru just didn’t have the strength to harm All Might. After her, Tsuyu Asui gave her best effort, but the strength of her kicks couldn’t compare to All Might’s durability. Mineta struck on the idea of applying his adhesive orbs to All Might and then trying to knock him down, hoping for a pin, but All Might again proved too stable. Sato, after nearly inhaling a Kit Kat bar, did manage to knock All Might down, but he quickly stood as though the adhesive orbs stuck to him didn’t exist. Although Kyoka Jiro did her best, she simply didn’t have the strength or combat skills to compete with All Might, although she did try her best.

“Two chances remain,” All Might said. “Come, young Yaoyorozu!” Generating a staff, Yaomomo moved forward cautiously, quickly rolling to the right to avoid a swipe from All Might. She dodged again, rolling behind All Might and thrusting with her staff as he spun to face her. The staff pressed against his chest before collapsing and ballooning outward to wrap around All Might’s chest. His eyes widened with surprise as he found himself bound.

“Everyone behind me, move!” Yaomomo yelled, as she spared a quick glance to make sure no one stood behind her. Confident that none of her classmates would be in the way, her end of the staff shot out a grappling hook, embedding itself in the wall and then retracting at high speed. She dropped into a roll as All Might found himself yanked out of the ring. She smiled. “Just relax, All Might. It’s like a Chinese Finger Puzzle, the more you struggle, the tighter it is. If you relax, it will let go.”

“Congratulations, young Yaoyorozu!” All Might proclaimed. “You’ve won for your classmates. And we still have one final match.” He stepped back into the middle of the ring as Fumikage Tokoyami moved forward. “Are you ready, young Tokoyami?” Fumikage nodded, and Dark Shadow appeared. “Then let’s do our best!”

Dark Shadow screeched, moved forward, and swiped at All Might who dodged out of the way easily. All Might threw a tentative punch at Dark Shadow, but his fist passed harmlessly through the sentient quirk. Dark Shadow’s head spun around, her wings morphing so that her entire form faced toward All Might without turning. She swiped again, this time connecting with All Might’s shoulder. She screamed in triumph, only to feel All Might’s hand grasp her now solid wing and slam her to the ground. “That’s cheating,” she yelled.

“Fair is fair, young Dark Shadow,” All Might said kindly. “You must become solid to strike me, and that allows me to retaliate.” Dark Shadow tried to hit All Might again, but knowing that she had to turn solid, he easily parried her strike. She became insubstantial again when he counter attacked, so he leaped through her, wrapping a hand gently around Tokoyami’s neck. “Sadly, your host cannot become intangible like you can.”

“Don’t! Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t hurt him!” Dark Shadow screamed. Tokoyami’s eyes widened as much as All Might’s did, and the number one hero quickly removed his hand.

“Dark Shadow,” All Might said gently, “I would never harm any of my students.” He reached out cautiously toward the sentient quirk, but she flinched back, trembling. “I am sorry that I frightened you.” He turned to Tokoyami. “Are you alright, my boy?”

Tokoyami nodded. “Yes, sir. Dark Shadow, he meant no harm and didn’t injure me in the slightest. It was just training.”

“But Fumi,” she cried, returning to him and wrapping around his arm, “it was just like that time….”

“No,” he said. “It was different. We can trust All Might.”

“We can’t trust any of them,” she hissed.

All Might scratched the side of his head. “Um, perhaps just to be careful, you should see Recovery Girl to make sure you have no injuries, young Tokoyami. Go see her, and then you’re excused for the rest of class. We’re almost done for the day anyway. Take Dark Shadow and do something you both enjoy.” He nodded to the quirk. “I apologize again, young Dark Shadow.”

Chapter Text

The heroics classes for the remaining two weekdays and Saturday consisted of sparing between the students, with Aizawa now in the room officially to keep watch. “Now, since there are twenty of you, who can tell me how many unique matches your class must hold so that each of you faces each of your classmates once?” Several hands went up. “It isn’t four hundred.” A few hands dropped, leaving Izuku, Tenya, Ochaco, Yaomomo, Bakugo, and Denki with their hands still in the air. “Young Kaminari! Tell us your answer and why.”

“There are one hundred ninety unique combinations,” Denki said confidently. “The combination equals n factorial over r factorial times open parenthesis n minus r close parenthesis factorial where n equals the number of students and r equals the number of participants in each spar. After cancelling the eighteen factorials, we end up with twenty times nineteen divided by two.”

Mina whistled. “Check out the big brain on Denki!”

“You’re exactly right, young Kaminari!” All Might proclaimed. “With ten-minute spars followed by five-minute reviews, we can get through forty bouts this week! Mr. Aizawa and I prepared this schedule,” and he handed two stacks of paper to Tenya and Yaomomo, “so that each of you will have four matches.”

As the two class representatives passed out the schedule, Bakugo snatched his copy and glanced at his matches. “Kirishima, not bad. Sato? Todoroki? Ojiro? This is crap! I want to fight Deku!”

“Before the end of the semester, you’ll spar with each of your classmates several times,” Aizawa said. “All Might, mind if I borrow Bakugo for a few minutes?”

“Go ahead, young Aizawa. We’ll start with our first fight. Young Aoyama versus young Yaoyorozu.”

Aizawa led Bakugo outside of the gym, then turned around and stared at the angry teen for a minute. Finally, he sighed. “Bakugo, using random combinations, what are the odds that any of the fights would be you versus Midoriya?”

“One in one ninety,” Bakugo conceded, clenching his fists.

“Yeah, imagine my surprise when it came up seven times when generating the matchups.”

“What? Then why the Hell…!”

Aizawa held up a hand. “I vetoed those matches because you are showing an unhealthy obsession with your classmate, specifically in opportunities to do him harm. So, do you want to explain the reason behind this little vendetta?” Aizawa waited, but Bakugo just clenched his teeth. “I believed you that the incident during your spar against Midoriya was an accident, but I wonder if any of that was genuine remorse or because it reminded you of a traumatic incident. Talk to me, kid.”

“Figures.” Bakugo said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What figures? Because none of this is adding up to me.”

“Figures that you’d take his side. He goes crying to you and I’m the one pulled out of class and punished. So why don’t you just give me detention and get it over with?”

“I’m not taking sides, there shouldn’t even be any sides, but don’t tempt me. When I give out a punishment, you’ll know.” Aizawa moved his hands in a quick gesture. “In case you’re wondering, that’s Japanese Sign Language for ‘Stay.’ You’ll learn it in second year in a class taught by Mr. Yamada. I’m trying to understand the overt hostility you have for one of your classmates. He didn’t tell me about it, you did through your behavior. I asked Midoriya about your history together, and he refused to tell me anything other than a distant family relationship and being former schoolmates, but I watch the news and already knew about the Sludge Villain incident. So, no. He didn’t come crying to me and this isn’t a punishment. Damn it, kid, you’ve got a lot of potential – everyone in your class does – so I don’t want to see you waste it on a pointless feud. I’m asking you to tell me what this is about.” He paused for another minute, giving Bakugo a chance to respond. “Very well. Until your attitude has shown significant improvement, you will not be sparing in class against Midoriya or his close friends, specifically Ida and Uraraka. That’s a shame, because you could learn as much from facing them as they could learn facing you, but with your attitude, that’s too risky. Any signs of extreme aggression when facing your other classmates as a way of taking it out on them will add that person’s name to the list, and if you add three more to this list, you’ll be observation only in any activity that involves combat against your classmates. This might be relaxed once you’ve shown the maturity a future hero should have.”

“Right, like you’re not taking Deku’s damn side at all. This is complete bullshit,” Bakugo spit out.

“No, now it’s a punishment. I warned you before that I would allow nicknames if they were respectful, and I know exactly what you’re implying when you say ‘Deku.’ You just bought yourself an hour of detention every day for the rest of the week during which time you will write out the names of your classmates. Not ‘Deku,’ not ‘Raccoon Eyes, not ‘Weird Hair.’ Their full names. Choose your next words carefully, Bakugo, because you could find yourself sitting out the Sports Festival, too. Are we clear?”

Through gritted teeth, Bakugo managed to say, “Yes… sir.”

“Good. I’m moving your match with Kirishima to Saturday, so you’ll still get four matches. Today? You’ll be observing. Take this opportunity to learn something and cool off.”

Bakugo kept quiet for the rest of the week, but inside he simmered with rage. In his opinion, the sparring matches sucked anyway. With All Might or Aizawa calling a pause regularly to correct someone’s stance or offer their opinion on new ways to use their quirk. During the discussion period between matches, he had to bite his tongue to the point where it bled, since Deku wouldn’t shut the Hell up with his damned advice. After his first match on Thursday, Deku spent a minute of time giving advice to Clown Lips, but then fell silent while Ponytail critiqued Bakugo’s performance. Racoon Eyes grinned and asked, “Hey, Midori, don’t you have any advice for Blasty?”

Say something, you damn Deku, I freaking dare you, Bakugo thought, staring at Deku coldly. The sports festival tipped the scales for now, but if Deku said anything, that might change. After a few tense moments, Bakugo rolled his eyes. “Got something to say?”

Deku shook his head. “Sorry. I don’t think I could offer anything you haven’t already thought of.”

Damn straight.

After class on Saturday, the school held a small ceremony to officially open the first two dormitories of Height’s Alliance, although with the upgrades the “rooms” were small apartments. Afterwards, Izuku and Tenya rode back to Tokyo with All Might, leaving Ochaco behind with her parents, much to Izuku’s disappointment. Power Loader, who quickly formed a friendship with Ochaco’s parents, offered to keep an eye on them while Midnight took Mina and Eijiro home to the Chiba prefecture to gather their things for the dormitories. A few of the class, such as Koji from the distant Iwate prefecture and Mezo from the equally far Fukuoka, simply transferred their belonging from their apartments in Musutafu. By ten in the morning on Sunday, the last of the students arrived with last minute items, most of their belonging shipped by their parents over the course of the past week. Aizawa and All Might stood in front of the 1-A dorm as their charges gathered on the sidewalk outside.

“All right, listen up,” Aizawa said. “Rules are simple. Clean up after yourselves and respect your classmates. Food will be provided by the school, and sign-up sheets are available for requesting specific snacks. You’re all responsible for preparing your own meals, but if you want to set a schedule and do group meals, I don’t particularly care. Curfew is at nine and lights out is at eleven. That’s every night except Saturday, and curfew for Saturday is midnight. There is no, I repeat, no wiggle room on curfew. I will hunt you down, drag you back, and you’ll think you were born in detention. You’re all aspiring heroes, so you’re expected to act in a mature manner. That means that when curfew arrives, you will be in your own wing of the building and not in the room of… whoever. One of your teachers who shall remain nameless but who teaches Art, Public Relations, and Quirk Theory has provided your class with a fishbowl in the common area. It doesn’t have fish in it. She recommends you use them because she cares about you. I recommend you use them because you annoy me and would only be more annoying with children of your own. If someone decides they need to use one, they are making a responsible choice and will not be teased.”

Mina raised her hand. “Will the security system let you know if we’re in the wrong wing after curfew, you know, like a virgin alarm?” A few people here and there snickered.

Aizawa looked at her and rolled his eyes. “If I cared enough to check, yes. It doesn’t matter because none of you are good enough at acting to keep anything hidden.” He gave a quick glance to Kirishima, who didn’t look remotely innocent. Aizawa pulled out a tablet and pressed a few buttons. A hologram appeared in the air, displaying a slowly rotating three-dimensional floor plan of the first floor. “So, the first floor includes several shared spaces with couches and televisions, a large kitchen, dining room, laundry facilities, and shared bathing facilities. These are optional, of course, since each of your apartments features a bedroom, living room, and contains a shower and bathroom. The first floor also features four larger apartments that were originally intended for the teachers. Since we have our own building, those will be assigned to several students who will have increased responsibilities.”

Kaminari raised his hand. “Who gets those and what responsibilities?”

Aizawa nodded, pressed a button, and names appeared inside each of the rooms on the hologram. “Your class representatives will each have one, as well as the two highest scorers on the entrance exam, and class 1-B will have a similar setup in their own building. The students in these rooms will perform a quick patrol at lights out, organize a cleaning schedule, ensure that the kitchen remains stocked, and handle other duties that don’t require teacher intervention. The only difference from the regular apartments is a spare bedroom and slightly larger size.”

Ashido raised her hand “I saw the mockup at Might Tower last weekend. All the rooms are awesome, so don’t worry about it, Denki!”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m fine without the extra work.”

Aizawa pressed a button, switching the hologram to the second floor. “Second floor. Men’s side, suites one, three, and five: Aoyama, Ojiro, and Tokoyami. Women’s side, suites one and three: Asui and Hagakure.” Another button. “Third floor, same layout. Men’s side: Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo. Women’s side: Jiro and Ashido.” He switched the display again. “That covers all the ladies. Fourth floor: Koda, Sato, and Todoroki. Todoroki, your suite has been set up with traditional Japanese flooring by your request. If anyone wants the same for their suite, see one of the class representatives. They’ll have the forms available to put in a request. Fifth floor: Shoji, Sero, and Mineta.”

“There are still twenty-four empty suites,” Jiro said, raising her hand. “Are there any plans for those?”

Aizawa shook his head. “We wanted maximum flexibility. In three years, you’ll graduate, and this dorm will go to another class. If that class is all women, we wanted to make sure there were enough suites for all of them on that side. With the current layout, we can use the extra suites in case of an emergency, or if parents had to travel to visit, they could use the suite beside your own on a temporary basis.”

“Thanks,” Jiro said. “I just wanted to understand.”

“This week is Golden Week,” Aizawa continued, “so there are no scheduled classes. I’ve noted that each of you signed up for two shifts per day working on the construction project. Remember your safety gear and follow the instructions of the construction crew to the letter. Most of you have signed up for gym time. If you’re planning to do any sparing and don’t have a teacher supervising, that is a requirement and teachers can veto any match.” He shot a look to Bakugo. “Anyone planning to leave campus needs to sign up for it. Unless you’re accompanied by your parents, you’ll need to be on the buddy system. No one leaves campus alone for now.” He pointed to another new building nearby. “That’s the teacher’s dorm. A teacher will always be there during the week. Other than that, have fun this week, and be ready for Saturday and the Sports Festival.”

As Aizawa stalked away, All Might grinned and picked up a huge box. “Pizza, won for all of you by young Uraraka, will be delivered in a few hours. As for this box, these are the game systems secured by young Yaoyorozu’s victory.”

After setting up the game systems, many of the students went to work on getting their dorm rooms set up. All Might stayed on the couch, taking on any challengers when a particular student needed a break. Most of the students who gamed managed to defeat him, but All Might proved as gracious in his losses as his wins, enjoying the opportunity to bond with his students. By the time pizza arrived, nearly everyone had finished setting up their rooms. “Well, my young friends, I believe it is time for me to leave,” All Might declared after eating a whole pizza himself. “This old man needs to patrol and let you young people get settled in.”

After waves and farewells to their teacher, most people finished a few slices, leaving plenty of leftovers. Most of the class sat down in the common room on the comfortable couches. “We should do something!” Mina offered.

“Like what?” Denki asked. “We’ve got some awesome game systems thanks to Yaomomo and All Might. We could have a Smash Brothers tournament.”

“I’m not much of a gamer,” Kyoka said. “I’d lose quick and then just have to watch.”

Tsuyu put a finger to her chin. “I’m a bit curious about everyone’s decorations in their suites, ribbit.”

“That’s a great idea!” Toru said. “We should have a king of the dorm contest. Best dorm room wins.”

Kirishima looked around. “That sounds good but living rooms only if that’s cool. My living room is in good shape, but the bedroom is still a hot mess. Give me a minute though. I need to check something.” After a few minutes, he returned. “Um, Bakugo didn’t want to participate.”

Izuku gently bumped his shoulder. “You’re a good guy, Eijiro.”

They started on the first floor, with Tenya’s neat and orderly apartment featuring rows of glasses. Ochaco’s quarters only had a few decorations, since she’d recently lost most of her possessions, but her parents brought Bear Might, her huge teddy bear dressed in a faded All Might costume. Yaomomo’s apartment, despite the slightly larger size felt a bit cramped with plush furniture. Izuku’s living room included a nice computer, a few framed All Might posters, some rare boxed All Might figures, some bookcases crammed with several books on heroes, and a sturdy rack of free weights. Mina chuckled. “I’m surprised it isn’t wall to wall All Might merchandise.”

Izuku blushed. “Honestly, my room at home was before we moved next door to All Might, but I was mortified by the thought of him seeing it. Besides, it’s a lot different being a fan from afar and seeing him every day. I mean, he’s still the greatest hero of all time, and I’m a huge fan, but I try not to be a fanatic!”

Yuga’s living room looked much more subdued than the class expected, with the basic provided furniture, clothes, some novels, and his schoolbooks. Mashirao’s apartment also featured the school furniture and little else. Unlike his two floormates, Fumikage’s living room was draped in shadow, with blackout curtains and strings of blue and red LED lights along with occult symbols and items, along with a PC open to an online chess game. On the third floor, Denki’s apartment featured an eclectic assortment of hobbies, plus a large rack of heavy-duty vehicle batteries. Eijiro’s apartment was dedicated to manliness, including a punching bag and a set of free weights. They skipped past Bakugo and moved up to the fourth floor, where Koji’s pet bunny, Yuwai-chan, stole the hearts of the girls and got plenty of cuddling from everyone. Rikido spent most of his effort on the small kitchen area in his apartment, including an automated mixer and a large slab of marble, plus many devices the rest of the class had never seen, all used to prepare candies and pastries. Although he hadn’t had time to make any since moving in, he did share recent batches from a recipe he'd been working on perfecting. Shoto’s suite appeared to be something out of a period drama from feudal Japan. On the fifth and final floor, they looked at Mezo’s minimalist apartment. Hanta’s suite featured exotic multicultural furnishings from across the world. The final room for the boys may have been the most surprising, with Minoru’s living room tastefully decorated with prints of classical paintings by Van Gogh and a few potted plants.

“This isn’t anything like I expected,” Kyoka said. “Nice though.”

Minoru smiled. “Thanks, but I really owe Mezo for how nice it looks. I’d need to borrow a ladder to hang them by myself, and even then, I’d have had problems thanks to my character design,” he joked. “Next time I level up, I’m dumping points into height.”

The class moved over to the girls’ wing and back down to the third floor. Mina proudly showed off her almost aggressively pink living room. Kyoka nearly balked at showing her suite, but implied peer pressure made her open the door with a sigh, filled with a variety of musical instruments, a huge collection of vinyl records, and some merchandise for her favorite band, Deep Dope. On the second floor, they viewed Toru’s living room and her assortment of stuffed animals. Finally, they arrived at Tsuyu’s suite. Her living room contained more potted plants than Minoru’s living room, a throw rug in the shape of a lily pad, and ceramic frog merchandise. She shrugged, “I committed to my theme when I was a little girl. I also got the school to let me bring a waterbed, ribbit. It’s more comfortable to me.”

“So, who wins?” Mina asked.

“Rikido gave us candy!” Toru proclaimed. “He should win.”

He held up his hands. “Nah, I don’t want to win because of bribery. Fumikage, Hanta, and Minoru… heck, you all put in a lot more effort than I did.”

Ochaco smiled. “I think I know the perfect King of the Dorm! Yuwai-chan the bunny wins!”

“Only a monster could vote against a bunny,” Eijiro said. “Yuwai-chan has my vote.”

In the end, Yuwai-chan won the King of the Dorm competition, and even received a tiny crown made by Yaomomo.

Everyone in class 1-A took part in the construction work over the course of the week, their remaining free time spent practicing. Most of the students chose not to spar, preferring to keep details of their quirks hidden as part of their strategy, hoping to surprise some of their less attentive classmates. Izuku, Ochaco, and Tenya secured access to Gym Omega with Mr. Aizawa’s grudging approval and the trio spent most of their time practicing there. Since each of them were allowed a guest, they included Itsuka and Hitoshi in these sessions. They made a few offers to some of their classmates, but most of the class viewed the trio as competition.

Thursday arrived, and most of the class made time to go to the stadium and watch the third-year students. While the Big Three dominated the competition, Izuku pointed out signs of them holding back, allowing their classmates an opportunity to shine.

Friday featured the second-year classes and their efforts, although it seemed a bit anticlimactic after seeing the third years the day prior. Unlike the first and third years, second year only had one heroics class, class 2-A with twenty-four students. “Wait, what happened? Were they attacked last year like we were?” Rikido asked.

“Mr. Aizawa was their heroics teacher,” Izuku offered. At the puzzled looks, he elaborated. “Over the course of the year, he expelled nine students from class B and seven from class A. At one point he expelled all of class B, but reenrolled half of them, and promoted one from general education. Rather than have two small classes, they made one bigger class.”

“I thought the classes were limited to twenty,” Itsuka said. “We’ve got twenty and you’ve got twenty.”

Tenya chopped a hand through the air. “It is not set in stone. Each teacher is allowed to decide their class sizes. My brother’s class had twenty-five people his first year, but by the time he graduated, only seventeen remained.”

Minoru looked closely at Izuku. “I really do owe you, don’t I? Mr. Aizawa would have sent me home on the first day if you hadn’t done the test quirkless.”

Izuku shook his head. “If you hadn’t tried or taken it seriously enough, he’d have sent you home even if I ran all the way up to Aomori, then down to Yamaguchi, and back.”

The only second year any of them had met, Mawata Fuwa, managed to place second. Although everyone still did their final shifts for the construction project, most everyone went back to the dorms to relax. Tomorrow would be their turn.

UA’s sports festival had, for many years, been held all on one day, with each class competing on different stages simultaneously. Nezu changed that seven years ago when he became the principal of the school. Most heroes can’t be in three places at once, so attention ended up being divided between the three classes. With the sports festival as one of the most reliable ways for aspiring heroes to gain attention, it never struck him as a logical decision. By splitting the festival into three days, the school only needed a single stadium and the revenue from admissions nearly tripled.

After a large breakfast in the cafeteria, the students made their way to the stadium. Students in the hero course couldn’t use support gear without prior approval, and usually only if it were required for their quirk to be effective or for means of safety or modesty. Toru, Momo, Mina, and Denki had been allowed to wear theirs, although any advanced functions had been temporarily disabled. The other hero course students were allowed to wear cloth versions of their uniforms, although capes were forbidden. Yuga had a special section of the 1-A prep room where he could watch the festival, since he could neither participate nor watch from the stands for fear of being spotted by villains. Nearly all the first-year students chose to use their hero alias and keep their real name a secret. Momo, Izuku, and Tenya allowed both names, as did Bakugo. Only one student didn’t use a hero alias at all: Shoto Todoroki. Since he hadn’t decided on one and held a bit of celebrity as the son of Endeavor, it seemed a bit pointless to him anyway.

“Izuku,” Tenya said, “have you decided on your speech for the Athlete’s Oath yet?”

Izuku nodded. “Just going over it in my head, making some last-minute revisions. I’m not used to speaking in front of so many people.”

“Midoriya,” Shoto said coldly. “Objectively, I’m stronger than you. More capable.”

Izuku stood up. “I thought everyone was using first names now, but have it your own way, Todoroki. As for you being stronger and more capable than me, well, maybe we’ll get a chance to find out.”

Todoroki shook his head. “All Might’s been training you for a long time. I’m not going to pry into that, but just know, I will beat you.”

“Oh, man,” Denki said, “shots fired.”

“Not cool, picking a fight right before the dude’s got to give a speech,” Eijiro said, putting his hand on Shoto’s shoulder.

Todoroki pulled his shoulder away. “I don’t care about that and I’m not here to make friends. I’m going to beat Midoriya to prove that I’m the strongest one at UA. I’ll win the sports festival.”

Izuku stared at Todoroki for a few seconds. “Then you’d better bring your A-game, Todoroki, because you’re underestimating me and everyone else here, and if you keep doing that, I doubt you’ll make it far enough to face me. Still, I’ll take your declaration of war and I’ll match it. If you want to take first place, Todoroki,” and Izuku gestured to encompass himself and the rest of the class, “just remember who’s standing in your way.”

Chapter Text

The temperature in class 1-A’s prep room seemed to drop as Izuku and Shoto stared at each other. Bakugo fixed the two of them in his sites, and he looked forward to destroying both boys later. Icy-Hot for daring to challenge the wrong person, and Deku for forgetting his damn place. Nearly everyone jumped as a knock at the door startled the class.

Momo opened the door to see a tall, handsome man with short, dark blue hair. “I’m terribly sorry, this is the prep room for class 1-A,” she said with a short bow.

“That’s alright,” he said with a dazzling smile. “I’m looking for a couple of students from 1-A! There they are! Tenya! Izuku!”

Both boys turned at the sound of a familiar voice. “Ingenium!” Izuku said. “Glad you could make it.”

“Come on, Izuku. We’re practically brothers. You can call me…”

“Tensei,” Tenya finished. “I thought you had patrol today and couldn’t make it. This is a wonderful surprise. Surely, you’re not shirking your duties to come cheer for us.”

“I am,” he said, “and don’t call me ‘Shirley.’ I told the HPSC to stick it. My little brother’s first sports festival is far more important than the lives of those pesky civilians.”

Tenya’s face shifted to the very definition of shock. Izuku put a hand on his shoulder. “Tenya, he’s teasing.”

Tensei chuckled. “I wouldn’t do that, little brother. I got one of my old classmates to take my shift. I’ve even got a ticket, but I’m going to go pester the Stooges to see if I can sneak into the teacher’s box.”

Izuku nodded. “If they can’t, give All Might a call. The teachers each got a pair of extra tickets for the box. He gave one to my mom, but I think everyone else from the agency is either patrolling or supplying security for the festival.”

Toru leaned over to Yaomomo. “If that’s what Tenya’s going to look like when he’s twenty-five, he’s going to be freaking hot. If that’s what ten years of seasoning will do to him, fire up the grill!” Yaomomo nodded silently.

Tensei turned with a grin. “Fifteen years, but I do appreciate you knocking five years off. I turned thirty last year.”

“Invisible and inaudible are not necessarily mutually inclusive,” Kaminari muttered, while Toru felt grateful that her blush couldn’t been seen.

“Anyway, you kids have fun. Best of luck to all of you! I need to track down the Three Stooges before everything gets started.”

Shota’s phone rang as he walked toward the announcement booth, already in a grumpy mood because he’d been talked into being an announcer for the sports festival, although Hizashi’s bribe of Sulawesi Toraja coffee beans and coffee flavored chocolates, along with a horrifyingly adorable cat mug, lessened the sting somewhat. The mug was a travesty, with a cartoonish design and pointed ears that could poke someone’s eyes if they weren’t careful and yet, somehow perfect. He’d agreed, if for no other reason but to keep Zashi from adding milk to the coffee made from those sacred beans. He didn’t recognize the number, but a sadistic part of him hoped for a telemarketer so he could rip into someone without feeling guilty. “Hello?”

“Is this pro hero Graphitebutt?” a familiar deep voice asked. So, not a telemarketer, but close enough to get the job done. If biting remarks were fists, Shota would be cracking his knuckles.

“Mister Blister. If this is going to be your usual level of wit, I’m going to hang up. Let me guess, because I’m underground, you couldn’t find a picture online to copy more parts of my outfit?”

“Wait, wait! It’s just a joke, Aizawa,” Daiki Sensoji said. “Man, the years haven’t dulled your comebacks. Tensei gave me your number a while ago, and I just wanted to call and… you know… apologize for being, well, me… back when we were in school.”

Aizawa chuckled. Maybe there was hope for Bakugo to straighten up after all if Mister Blaster was calling him to make amends. “Worrying about something from so long ago isn’t rational.”

Sensoji laughed, and honestly, didn’t sound like as much of a jerk as Aizawa remembered when he did. “Word for word what Tensei said you’d say. I partly called to apologize, but I’m also calling to make sure Tensei showed up for the sports festival. I’m covering his patrol today so he could go and watch his little brother in person, but knowing him, he’s probably already feeling guilty and thinking about ditching.”

Aizawa grinned. Oh, look, two birds and Sensoji of all people had just handed him a rock. “Apology accepted. As for Tensei,” he looked up ahead, catching a glimpse of all three of the Stooges, “he’s here. I’ll make sure he stays. If nothing else, I’ll tie him to his seat.”

“Awesome! You’re the best, Aizawa, and I really do mean it,” Sensoji cheered. “He went all mother hen mode on me about the Hero Killer. I tried to tell him that the odds of a run-in are low.”

That stopped Shota for a second. “Sensoji… it’s no joke. You heard that they found Death Arms murdered by the Hero Killer. After his run-in with Manual, we know he’s in Hosu. Make sure you read Manual’s report first and be careful.”

Despite the distance, he could picture Sensoji’s eyes rolling. “God, between you and Tensei, I should write a children’s book: Daiki Has Two Mommies. I’ve read it already, and I know the Hero Killer is using some teen girl as bait. Even if he wasn’t, I might be a jerk but I’m not a sicko. I’ll stick to the main patrol route, and I’ll be with Tensei’s sidekicks. We see anything, we call for back-up. You both worry too much. Still, we need to get together sometime soon for dinner.”

“That sounds good,” Shota said, knowing that they never really would, but sometimes comforting lies made the world go around. “I’ve got to go and dump an annoying chore on someone, but be careful, and don’t forget your goggles.”

Sensoji laughed. “I won’t. Best idea I ever had.”

“You copied it off of me,” Shota said with a chuckle.

“Exactly. Copying it off you was the best idea I ever had. Teach those kids well, Graphitebutt.”

“Be safe, Mister Blister.”

“Tensei, I’m soooo glad to see you,” Shota said, walking up to his three friends. He smiled like the edge of a knife. “Words alone can’t express how happy I am that you are here.”

Zashi leaned over dramatically. “Dude, what the Hell did you do? That’s his ‘I’m-about-to-expel-an-entire-class-of-first-years-for-an-afternoon-so-I-can-nap’ face.”

Tensei held up his hands. “Sho, whatever I did, I’m sorry. What did I do? I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Anything! Just ask!” His brain caught up to the words that just left his mouth, and he realized he’d said exactly what Sho wanted him to say.

“You sent your younger brother to UA, and now I’m responsible for him twenty-four-seven. But too late now. ‘Anything. Just ask,’ you said. In front of witnesses.” Both Nemuri and Hizashi nodded solemnly. The Stooges code required them all to keep their exact word. Tensei gulped as Shota stalked toward him and walked past, opening the door to the announcer’s booth. “Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. You’re going to help Zashi with announcing.”

“Hey!” Present Mic yelled. “I bribed you, Cat Daddy!”

“Exact words, Zashi. I promised I wouldn’t leave you all alone in the booth, and I’m not,” Shota said.

“But… I’m biased! My brothers… um… I mean, my little brother is competing, and Izuku too,” Tensei protested.

“Like I’m not,” Shota said. “Put it aside. Look at it this way, not only will you get some great free publicity for Team Idaten, but you’ll have the best seat in the house to decide who you want to send internship offers. Other than Tenya and Izuku, of course.”

Nem rolled her eyes. “Oh God, we’re so old, claiming these kids as our own.”

“Zip it, Nem,” Shota said, “especially since you called dibs to be front and center as the MC and I’m still not happy about the fishbowl. This is the perfect solution. You get a ringside seat. Zashi gets a straight man…”

“Hey!” Tensei protested. “I’m funny!”

“…And I get to coach my class, like Vlad King is doing for class 1-B.”

“Oh man,” Eijiro said, “I forgot!”

“Forgot what?” Izuku asked. The class would be going out in just a few minutes.

“My lucky rock!”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Your lucky rock. Come on, Kiri. We’re fifteen now. Don’t worry about it.”

“Lucky… rock?” Denki said. “Rocks don’t generate luck.”

“Even smart, you’re an idiot,” Bakugo muttered toward him.

“I know, I just… It’s a little piece of granite I found the day before my quirk came in. Yeah, it’s a silly superstition, I just hold it for a minute every day and try to think positive thoughts,” Eijiro explained. “Now I’m going to feel off during the whole festival. I mean… I know in my head it’s just a worthless rock, but still!”

“I get it,” Izuku said, his eyes lighting up. He’d been thinking about Eijiro’s quirk for a while now and wanted to get his friend to try something. If he was wrong, no harm done. If he was right though…. He reached into his bag, pulling something out and tossing it to Eijiro. “Mind giving that a try?”

Eijrio opened his hand, looking at a small, lump of stone with light reddish flakes through it. “What is it?”

“A souvenir from All Might’s time in the United States. He went camping in Montana and found that. It’s just a piece of rock called a kimberlite. It might not be your lucky rock, but they’re rare, and All Might found it.”

Eijiro held it tightly in his hand and closed his eyes. After about a minute, he opened them and handed the stone back to Izuku. “Thanks, dude. It might not be my lucky stone, but if All Might found it, that’s good enough for me!”

Tenya looked sharply at Izuku after Eijiro walked out with his confidence restored. “That was rather sneaky. However, I’m surprised Eijiro hasn’t studied geology more. Aren’t raw diamonds found in kimberlite?”

Izuku grinned and held up the rock so Tenya could inspect it. “Yeah, and there are tiny flakes of red diamond all over the surface, just too small and flawed to cut. If it’s just a superstition, it won’t make a difference either way. If I’m right, though, it will surprise a lot of people.”

Aizawa peeked his head in the door. “Come on, you two. You’re the last ones, and Mic’s about to kick things off.” He dropped his voice, “and good luck out there.”

Shinya Kamihara, the pro hero Edgeshot, rolled his eyes at Yu Takeyama’s antics as she kissed the Takoyaki vendor’s cheek. He held up a five-hundred yen coin between his first and middle finger, tossing it onto the counter where it landed perfectly on the edge without a bit of wiggle.

Shinji Nishiya, also known as Kamui Woods, whistled. “A perfect, ha, edge shot. How long did you practice that?”

Edgeshot smiled beneath his mask. “My quirk requires absolute precision. Even a fraction of a millimeter off, and I could kill someone with the Thousand Sheet Pierce. I spent years practicing to be able to throw objects of any size and shape accurately. The most important step is to understand and find the center of gravity for any object." He snatched the box of Takoyaki, already missing two, from Mt. Lady, tossed it into the air, catching it on the tip of one finger, spinning it around rapidly and repeatedly, before handing it back to his startled teammate. “Now the sauce is evenly distributed.”

“Thanks,” Mt. Lady said a bit bashfully, but then she popped another Takoyaki in her mouth, chewing while talking. “Shame we won’t get to watch the first two events. I’ve met a few of the first years, and they’re great. I hope I can make internship offers to them.”

“Especially Izuku Midoriya,” Kamui Woods added. “I’m still impressed by how he came up with a way to take down that Sludge villain.”

Edgeshot nodded. “I’ve trained with Izuku many times over the past three years, and the boy will someday make an incredible hero. Though I did send an internship offer for him, the odds of him accepting are rather small. He will probably take the opportunity to work with a pro hero he has not met before, someone without ties to the Might Agency. Someone like Endeavor.”

“Isn’t Endeavor,” Mt. Lady looked around to make sure no one stood close enough to overhear her, “kind of a douche?”

“Very much so,” Edgeshot replied, “but nevertheless, he is an effective and highly ranked hero. I doubt he would send an offer to Izuku, though. My guess would be Hawks.”

“Hiya, cats and kittens, Present Mic here coming at you with the third day of the UA High School sports festival! On Thursday, you thrilled to the epic clashes of our Third Years, the best way to see almost pro heroes duking it out! Yesterday, you saw the more personal battles as our smaller group of second years competed for the gold. Today, we bring you the antics of our first years, young hero hopefuls taking their first steps on the path to being heroes. Anything can happen folks, from the amazing to the hilarious. Our first surprise is our very own special guest announcer. Folks, we brought in ringer, a pro hero to give his insights from the field, even if he does have a bit of a personal stake. He’s the leader of the famous Team Idaten Hero Agency made up of dozens of heroes and sidekicks, and he’s racing up the hero charts! He’s also the older brother to one of the first-year competitors. That’s right, please give a warm welcome to Tensei Ida, also known as the Turbo Hero: Ingenium!”

Tensei spoke into the microphone for a moment, but nothing happened, so Zashi reached over and pressed the mute button, changing the light from red to blue. After a moment of feedback, Tensei said, “Thank you, Present Mic! I’m thrilled to be here. I’ll do my best not to be too blatant in my bias toward my younger brother, Tenya. I’ve been going over the student’s files this morning and I’ve seen their entrance exam footage, and I think we’re in for a heck of a show.”

Mic pointed aggressively at the mute button, and Tensei pressed it to a thumbs up from the Voice hero, who smoothly unmuted his own microphone. “You’ve got that right, Tensei! These kids have got what it takes, and one class already faced dastardly villains. If you watch the news, you’ve heard of class 1-A, and here they come now!” On the field below, the students filed out from the tunnel, with Bakugo in front of everyone else and Ochaco, Tenya, and Izuku the last ones to step foot on the field.

In the private teacher’s box next to the announcement booth, All Might pointed and handed Inko Midoriya a pair of binoculars. “There’s young Izuku!” he declared.

“Oh, my baby!” Inko cried, her tear ducts working overtime. “I’m so proud of him.”

All Might smiled and nodded. “I know he’ll do wonderfully, no matter the final results.” All Might originally planned to encourage Izuku to use the sports festival to ensure his name got out there, but after further reflection, he decided against it. Other than Endeavor, every member of the top twenty knew Izuku well enough to call him by his first name. Izuku already received over one hundred internship offers, with Tenya close behind, even before the sports festival began. Indeed, young Ochaco, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu received a handful of preemptive offers as well. While such a situation might be typical for the recommended students, first year students who got in via the entrance exam never received them before now. With that in mind, and the fact that Izuku would doubtlessly join the Might Agency as a full hero upon graduating from UA, his boy hardly needed to worry about getting his name out to the hero community. Better to let young Izuku make his own choices and enjoy the festival without more pressure from the old man.

Tensei’s voice came over the speakers. “While class 1-A has gotten quite a bit of media attention, don’t forget the other hero class, class 1-B! These young students are every bit as powerful and competent as their sibling class, so underestimate them at your peril.”

“That’s a great point, Tensei,” Hizashi announced, “and as they take the field in cloth versions of their hero costumes, you can just imagine them patrolling Japan’s cities. Forty of Japan’s best students representing their year’s hopeful heroes.”

“As graduates of UA, we both certainly know about that,” Tensei said, getting into the spirit of bantering back and forth. “We also know that many students in the general studies course classes came very close to making the cutoff for the Heroics course during the entrance exam. While not all of them want to go into heroics, many members of classes C, D, and E are choosing to step onto the field right now.”

“That’s not all, Tensei,” Hizashi added. “UA has two more courses: the Support Department and the Management Department, each with three classes. While none of the Management students chose to take part, we’ve got quite a few competitors from classes F, G, and H!”

“If I remember correctly, participation is only required for the Heroic course students, so seeing such a large turn out from General Education and Support really shows their heroic spirit,” Tensei replied. “We’ve both seen General Education students win shocking victories before during the sports festival, so truly anything can happen.”

“Right you are, Tensei, and over the years a surprising number of General Education students have transferred into the Hero Course based on their performance during the sports festival. For now, though, the students have assembled and our Master of Ceremonies, pro hero Midnight, has taken the stage. Let’s hand the torch on to her for the opening remarks!”

Down on the field, Nemuri looked out at all these young strapping students and suppressed a shiver. “This is what I love to see, youth giving it their all to grasp their future in their own sweaty palms! Welcome to the Ninety-Eighth annual UA sports festival everyone. I’m the R-Rated Hero, Midnight, and I’ll be the Master of Ceremonies and referee for the games. As is tradition, we’ll be starting off with the Athlete’s Oath and personal remarks from the Student Representative. Year One’s representative is Izuku Midoriya, also known as the Unwavering Hero: Ultra!”

“Plus Ultra,” Ochaco whispered to him with a grin.

“I’m sure you will make us all proud, my friend,” Tenya said, adjusting his glasses.

Izuku cautiously made his way to the stage. While he’d gained a lot of confidence over the past three years, and even more balance thanks to All Might and Aizawa, part of him still felt like that quirkless, clumsy Deku he’d been before moving to Tokyo and gaining One For All. The last thing he wanted to do was trip and fall on his face in front of Japan, much less the world. He bowed to Midnight as she handed him the microphone. “Thank…” his voice squeaked, so he coughed to clear his throat, and began again, “Thank you, Midnight. First, the Athlete’s Oath: We promise to take part in this sports festival, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play, inclusion, and equality. Together we stand in solidarity and commit ourselves to compete without cheating and without any form of discrimination. We do this for the honor of our school, in respect for our rivals, and to make the world a better place.”

Izuku paused, looking at Midnight. She wiggled her eyebrows and stage whispered, “Now your remarks, baby boy.”

He blushed and stared out at his friends, the filled stadium, and the television cameras broadcasting his face and words around the world. Despite having nearly photographic memory, all he could see now were billions of people staring at him expectantly, wiping away all the words he’d written and memorized earlier. Just before panic overtook him, he heard a familiar woman’s voice that he’d only heard before in dreams. Nana’s voice echoed in his mind, soft but strong. “Take a deep breath, kiddo, and you’ll be fine. You’re not alone. Your mom is here, Toshi is here, your friends are here. And I am here.”

And my dad is here, if only in spirit, he thought. Izuku took a deep breath and closed his eyes for just a moment before opening them again. “’I am here,’” he said reverently, as if delivering a benediction. “Anyone who watches the news or television is familiar with All Might’s catch phrase. My mother would jokingly tell you those were my first words, but they came after ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad.’ As a toddler, my inspiration for a future as a hero came from three people. Two of them were pro heroes: All Might, the world’s greatest hero, and my father, Dragon Wizard, who gave his life to give me the chance to be here today. The third isn’t a pro hero, but she’s still a hero to me, my mother. I love you, Mom. I owe everything that I am to these three heroes.” In the teacher’s box, Inko Midoriya burst into fresh tears, enough that Nezu considered building a hydroelectric turbine to power the stadium lights. All Might gently patted her back with one hand and held a box of tissues for her with the other, his face beaming with pride.

“All of us standing here today were inspired to seek a future as heroes by someone. For many of us, this inspiration came from a pro hero, like All Might, Mirko, Edgeshot, Gang Orca, or any of the ten thousand active pro heroes in Japan. Some of us, or some of the pro heroes watching, may have been inspired by those retired or deceased heroes who preceded us, such as O’Clock, the Water Hose duo, or Soar. Standing here we honor the good they did and carry on in their tradition. Though some of them are gone now, their words and deeds live on through us. Others of us were inspired by the everyday heroes we see all around us, not pros, just people who help others in need.”

“Make no mistake, everyone who stepped onto this field has it in them to be a hero. It doesn’t matter if they are in the heroics course, or support, or general education.” His eyes sought out his friend, Hitoshi Shinso, and Izuku smiled as the purple-haired boy stood up a bit straighter. “People watching in the stands or on their television at home, they have it in them to be a hero, even if only to one person. When you help your neighbor carrying in their groceries, you’re being a hero. When you stop for that person trying to change a flat tire, you’re being a hero. Any time you help, you’re being a hero, and that’s the unspoken part of All Might’s catch phrase. ‘I am here… to help.’ This is our promise, our sacred oath: to help those in need.” Dozens of kilometers away, an angry young man watched on television. His hand clutched a remote control tightly, and the device turned into particles of dust.

“When I was told I would be delivering personal remarks, I felt that was wrong, because this isn’t just about me, it is about all of us: everyone on this field, everyone watching what we do today, or anywhere else in the world who wants to do good things. Maybe it is a bit presumptive of me, but I suspect I speak for all of them when I say this:”

“We are here.”

Chapter Text

To the sounds of thunderous applause, Izuku walked off the stage and headed toward his friends. As he passed Bakugo, the angry blonde boy stepped to his left, shoulder checking Izuku. “You don’t speak for me, Deku,” he hissed.

Izuku rolled his eyes but kept walking. He refused to let Bakugo’s attitude ruin this day for him. He’d dreamed of competing in the UA sports festival for as long as he could remember, but never dared to imagine that he’d have the honor of delivering the Athlete’s Oath. As he approached Ochaco and Tenya, he gave them a lopsided grin. “I didn’t completely humiliate myself, did I?”

“Well, when you got up there, I noticed your fly was unzipped,” Ochaco said. “And you had broccoli stuck in your teeth.”

“Not to mention the soy sauce stains all over your costume.” Tenya added dryly. “Really now, Izuku. You did splendidly. Very moving, but it was completely different than the speech you practiced all week. Why did you change it?”

Izuku blushed. “When I stood up there and saw everyone here, I forgot my speech. I’d still be up there trying to remember it,” he dropped his volume to a whisper, “if I didn’t hear Nana’s voice.” That should be vague enough, even if someone could overhear him over the din of the stadium.

Both Ochaco and Tenya looked a bit concerned, but they hid it well. “Well, I thought it was awesome. I’m positive your mom loved it,” Ochaco said.

Tenya nodded, chopping a hand through the air. “Surely All Might had a favorable reaction as well. ‘Well done, young Izuku, my boy.’”

Izuku laughed. “Okay, Sonic Might. I get it. Based on the first events for the third and second years, we’re probably going to have an obsta…”

Izuku fell silent when Midnight’s voice came over the PA system. “Let’s get our first event started off without any delay!” A huge LED screen beside her began cycling through several possible events, but Izuku knew that this display existed solely for show. As he expected, the display finally settled on “Obstacle Course Race.” Midnight smiled. “Our first event for the day will be an obstacle course race. With sixty-six participants, this event will eliminate half that number, leaving only thirty-three challengers to move on to the second round! Anything is fair game as long as you stay in bounds!”

Izuku turned to his friends, and with a quick check around him said, “Okay, so we’re still good on the plan?”

“Yeah,” Ochaco said, shuffling her feet, “about that….”

“What?” Izuku asked. “We’ve got a plan!”

“While Ochaco has some misgivings about the plan,” Tenya said while adjusting his glasses, “I am the one vetoing it. I do not intend to let that… that hooligan have the satisfaction of placing first in any of the events.”

“Tenya,” Izuku sighed, “you know the first place finisher is going to be the target in the second event.”

“Izuku,” Ochaco said softly, “Tenya’s right. Face it, Bakugo is an utter dick. Even if he wins the first round, he’s still going to come after the three of us in the second round, starting with you. What do we accomplish by allowing him to win? Do you think that’s going to magically change him into a nice guy? He’s still going to go straight for you.”

“Exactly! He goes after me!”

“If he doesn’t win the first event, he’s going to have to focus on going after that person as well. If you take first, the net effect will be the same,” Tenya said. He gestured toward Ochaco. “If one of us takes first, it will divide his attention. We’re all here to do our best, so let’s not hold back to sate his ego. Perhaps it is petty of me, but to lose a race to that… dick, as Ochaco said, that… I cannot do.”

Izuku buried his face in his hands and let out a huge breath before looking back up. “You’re right. Win or lose really won’t change his attitude, will it?”

“No, and the better we all do, the more likely we are to successfully make it through the second event,” Tenya said. “Our strategy for the second event, whatever it might be, will still work.”

The students moved toward the starting line, and Izuku immediately noticed the first issue. “The tunnel out of the stadium is going to create a bottleneck,” he muttered, “and several people could make it worse.”

As soon as the buzzer rang and the light turned blue, the students surged forward, none faster than Tenya, with Bakugo not far behind him fueled by explosions. “Not so fast, Ida,” Todoroki yelled, releasing a wave of ice, both in front of and behind him, but Tenya ran up the wall, doing a complete three-sixty to avoid the attack. So as not to impede himself, Todoroki couldn’t freeze the tunnel solid in front of him, but he had no problem doing so behind him, effectively trapping most of his opponents in the stadium.

Izuku held out his hand to Ochaco. “A little weightlessness, please? Not completely, like Lunar gravity.” She took his hand and he felt five-sixths of his weight vanish. He squeezed her hand gently. “Hold on tight.” Like he’d seen All Might do many times, he leaped into the air, clearing the top of the stadium as the jump reached its zenith.

As they began their descent, Ochaco pointed out their next obstacle. “Zero pointers. I’m going to kick it up to two gees so I can absorb the kinetic energy of our impact to redirect it and clear us a path.”

“Look at this,” Tensei Ida said over the PA system. “Looks like Shoto Todoroki has completely blocked the exit from the stadium, but he’s in third place behind Reciprocator and Detonator. Will anyone other than these three make it to the second event?”

“We’ll at least have five,” Present Mic replied. “After all, the tunnel isn’t the only way out of the stadium. Ultra and Uravity have both leaped over the stadium, and they’re headed to the ground like a meteor! As for the ice blockage, it looks like a member of class B, The Dimensional Hero: Rule, has this sorted.”

Yui Kodai calmly pushed several students aside and touched the enormous ice plug, shrinking it down to the size of a fire extinguisher. No sooner had she done so than two strips of white cloth shot out, latching onto light fixtures in the tunnel. The other end of these strips connected to bandages wrapped around the arms of a purple-haired boy who jumped on top of the ice and yanked hard, shooting down the tunnel in a bizarre form of snowboarding.

With the way clear, the rest of the students surged forward, mostly led by class 1-A. Those at the forefront got to witness Izuku and Ochaco land. Despite their massive speed, they seemed to land softly, right up until Ochaco held up her hand and blasted two of the zero-point robots out of her way. As Tenya streaked past, he called out, “Thank you and my apologies!”

Despite his good-natured ribbing of Izuku, Tenya admitted to himself that his best friend did have a valid point about quirk frameworks. Nearly every member of the Ida family inherited the Engine quirk, allowing them to run at speeds beyond even the fastest racecars, but it didn’t end there. Tenya’s body could withstand impacts that would shatter the bones of most people, and his reflexes exceeded the standard by a considerable amount. Since starting at UA, where he could use his quirk far more freely than before, he’d noticed something else.

While Tenya might be a genius, he knew it wasn’t quite on the same level as Izuku, but Tenya recently discovered an aspect of his intellect that he’d never truly realized before starting at UA. When running at high speed, his mind mapped out his path and judged distances on a subconscious level. As he sped through the gap created by Ochaco between two of the zero pointers, he intuitively knew the correct route to avoid debris and the smaller robots. He followed his mental map, feeling his engines warming nicely, with his friends following closely behind him.

Hot on their heals, Bakugo followed, using his explosions to alternately blast a path through the robots and propel himself. Todoroki paused, sending a wave of ice to encase the robots and any students too close. Of his targets, most of the students dodged nimbly, but he raced after the leaders with only a backwards glance as more of the students surged forward. “Careful,” he called back, “I froze them while they were off balance.”

Mina looked up as metal fatigue on one of the enormous zero pointers caused its supercooled leg to shatter, spin, and topple toward her. A red and black blur shot forward, moving to stand in front of her as the robot collapsed on its back with a loud rumble. “Oh no,” Tensei said. “We may need some EMTs! Those robots are massive, and it looks like it landed right on….”

A sound of tearing metal and hissing could be heard, the chest of the fallen robot bursting open as acid-melted fragments of metal tore away. “Looks like they’re fine, Tensei. In a lawsuit worthy moment, class 1-A’s Alien Queen bursts from the robot’s chest, and she’s joined by… wait! Who is…? That’s her classmate, Red Riot! What happened to him?”

“The profiles say he can turn his body into a rock like substance, but this crystalline form looks nothing like the picture!” Tensei yelled. “He really is a Red Riot now and the crowd is going wild with our first surprise of the day.”

“Kiri?” Mina asked. “Holy crap, are you okay?” Parts of his costume were burning away, caught in the splash of her instinctive release of her strongest acid. The reddish “skin” beneath glittered in the sun, reflecting light off every facet of his body visible.

“Thank God I can take something like that. Anyone else would have died!” Eijiro noticed his hands. “Whoa! What the crap?”

“Don’t change back!” she yelled. “You’re drenched in acid.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Good point. Let’s get through this thing so I can get a shower and a costume change. Follow me!” Like a bulldozer, Eijiro ran in a straight line through the one, two, and three pointers foolish enough to get in his way, not even feeling their attacks and shoving them off with ease. While he always felt a bit stronger in his rock form, whatever had happened to him increased that more than ever.

As he and Mina ran, another hole exploded in the destroyed zero pointer. “Thank God I can take something like that,” Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, the Iron Heart hero: Heavy Metal, proclaimed. “Anyone else would have died!” He spotted the other students running past and rushed to catch up. “Hey, no fair!”

The leading trio reached the next obstacle, a massive pit with stone columns connected by giant tightropes. “Now let’s see how these scrappy young students handle the Fall! There’s a large pool below, so none of the students are in danger, but hit the water and you’re out,” Present Mic explained.

“Our three leaders seem to be exchanging high fives,” Ingenium announced, “and look at this! They’re leaping from column to column easily. Following them in a neck and neck struggle for fourth, Shoto Todoroki and Detonator! Class 1-A sure doesn’t hesitate!”

Shoto projected a thin ice ramp before him, surfing on the slide of ice in a straight line. Bakugo followed, blasting at the hard points securing a couple of the tightropes to take off and narrow the options of anyone following behind. While the trio in the lead had to waste their time jumping from column to column, Todoroki and Bakugo both took the direct approach.

As Bakugo leaped past Izuku, he released an extra-large explosion, propelling himself faster and knocking Izuku off course. “Don’t die yet, you damn nerd. I’m going to enjoy crushing you in the second and third rounds too!”

With blasts of air, Izuku managed to make it to a column where he caught his breath, both Ochaco and Tenya landing beside him to check on their friend, allowing Bakugo and Todoroki to move into a struggle for first place. “Are you alright?” Ochaco said when she landed. “That’s it! I’m going to ask Midnight to disqualify him!”

“I’m fine. Anything’s fair game if you stay in bounds, remember?” Izuku asked. “But you were both right. The time for being considerate to Bakugo is over.”

“Finally!” Ochaco said. “So, what now?”

Tenya grinned and turned to Izuku. “As your mentor would say….”

“Kick his ass, young Midoriya!” All Might yelled as his boy and his closest friends took off again, rapidly catching up by working together. Ochaco made the trio weightless, Tenya’s engines supplied thrust, and blasts of air pressure from Izuku’s finger flicks adjusted their course. Most of the teachers, and Inko Midoriya for that matter, chuckled at All Might’s instruction, but principal Nezu looked scandalized.

“All Might!” the tiny creature said, “I’m shocked that you would say such a thing.”

All Might laughed, “just a figure of speech, sir. I’m not advocating that young Midoriya assault his classmate, merely that he should take action to win.”

Nezu nodded. “I see, but… surely Mr. Midoriya firmly established himself as the preeminent alpha among his peers by now.”

Looking to his fellow teachers, most quickly looked away. Despite many years among humans and a nearly peerless intellect, Nezu held on to some of his animal instincts with a fierce tenacity. “No, sir. That doesn’t really apply in this situation. The students are all equals.”

Nezu smiled, careful not to show his sharp teeth, since All Might was the world’s alpha, after all. “There is always an alpha, my friend. Always. Perhaps Mr. Midoriya has chosen not to flaunt his dominance, but he is the first-year students’ alpha, whether he acknowledges it or not.”

Inko shook her head slowly. “Izuku tries to build everyone up. He wouldn’t dominate someone.”

Nezu nodded. “Please, don’t misunderstand me, Mrs. Midoriya. Your son is a wonderful student and everything we hope our students will be. He is kind, compassionate, tenacious, intelligent, and strong; that it is an inescapable fact. Someday, he will be acknowledged as the world’s mightiest hero and, in my estimation, the sooner others recognize this fact, the better.” He looked pointedly at All Might. “Many of his more perceptive peers have already accepted this, but others are deluding themselves into believing they can successfully challenge him. Sometimes, an example must be made, if only to prevent further strife.”

Nezu sat back, pausing in thought while still keeping track of the race. While he rarely got involved in the day-to-day management of the individual students, neither Aizawa nor All Might appeared to fully appreciate the dynamics at work here. UA would not produce another Endeavor who, while a competent hero, did not understand his place in the scheme of things. Both of his teachers for class 1-A were intelligent men and would arrive at the same conclusion eventually, but Nezu made a mental note not to let it continue past the current semester.

Momo Yaoyorozu, the Creation Hero: Alchemist, estimated that her place in this obstacle course race most likely fell in the middle of the first third, but that wasn’t good enough. She was the scion of the Yaoyorozu family, one of four recommended students, and one of class 1-A’s two representatives. She saw Mei Hatsume leap into the chasm without hesitation, grappling hooks and rocket boots propelling the support student forward, and shame burned in her. Without slowing, she generated a long pole to use for balance and began tightrope walking across the gulf. She looked to her side and saw Minoru making his way along another tightrope. She’d come to have a certain fondness for the smaller boy after he'd changed his ways, but physically, the length of his legs should be a huge disadvantage, and here he was tied with her. She’d almost reached the platform but paused and blinked when something flew past her and flopped on the platform, something shaped like… well… someone’s buttocks.

Other pieces of the Dinosaur Hero: Anzu followed behind. “Got to get my ass in gear, right Yaomomo?” Setsuna Tokage laughed, as her head floated past Momo. “Next platform I’m going to throw my head and have my hands carry my keister. That way, I’ll be hauling ass!”

Despite herself, Momo laughed and, in that moment, lost her balance. She tried to recover but over compensated, falling to the other side of the rope. “Damn it!” she cursed, desperately trying to think of a solution when she felt something slam into her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Minoru repeated over and over, conscious of the fact that he’d just jumped on arguably the most attractive girl in the school and throwing his adhesive orbs ahead of them as the two students fell diagonally into the side of the pillar. She ended up stuck to the wall in multiple places while Minoru firmly grasped two of his orbs in his hands. His entire body shivering, he yelled, “Hanta! Tsuyu! Anybody! Come help Yaoyorozu!” He smiled, and said quietly, “I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t do anything inappropriate. Acetone! Acetone will make the orbs dissolve enough to let you free. Just… please don’t tell anyone my weakness is fingernail polish remover.”

“Whoa,” Setsuna yelled, pulling herself together literally. “Jurota, come help, big fuzzy!”

“Hold on, Minoru,” Momo said. “They’ll help us both.”

He shook his head. “My orbs are repelled by my skin, remember? Same goes for other adhesives. It’s taking all I’ve got to hold on and the second I relax my grip; I’m going to bounce off this wall.” He chuckled nervously. “Well, I need to get over my fear of heights if I’m going to be a hero. Get in there and win one for the quipper!” His fingers relaxed slightly, and he popped off the wall and into the water below. “Kick some butt, Yaoyorozu!” he yelled on his way down.

A strand of tape descended in front of her face as Hanta and Tsuyu joined the two class 1-B students. “Grab on, Yaomomo,” he called. As they began pulling her up, she generated tiny amounts of acetone everywhere an orb held her to the wall.

Below, she could see robots helping Minoru out of the water and he looked up and held a thumb up into the air. “Thank you, Vintage!” she yelled.

“So, the Earthy Hero: Vintage is the first student eliminated from the sports festival,” Tensei said. “Listen to that applause as the robots are helping him back into the stadium. The competition may be over for him, but I know he won some fans, and I’m one of them!”

Present Mic nodded. “That’s true, but what better way to go out than a classy act of heroism. He may have been taken out of the competition, but not only did he make sure Alchemist, the Creation Hero, didn’t get hurt, he also did so in a way that kept her in the game. Even better, several students jumped in to help, even at the cost of placing lower in the race.”

“True heroism right before your eyes, folk,” Ingenium announced. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but actions like these are what I look for when deciding who to send internship offers. For any other heroes trying to decide on offers, I’d keep Anzu the Dinosaur Hero, Cellophane the Taping Hero, Froppy the Rainy Season Hero, and Gevaudan the Apocalypse Beast Hero in mind!”

Tenya, Izuku, and Ochaco passed the fall and sped to catch up to the two frontrunners, but Tenya skidded to a stop before the next obstacle. The course widened into a field easily twice the width and length of a football pitch, but numerous signs surrounded it with the words “Danger Mines” and drawings of cartoon skeletons blowing up. Side-by-side, barely a tenth of the way through the mine field, Bakugo and Todoroki grappled, trying to cautiously make their way through the field while pushing and shoving their opponent. Both boys wore costumes slightly singed and charred, and twin marks at the beginning of the field showed early mishaps.

“That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, our final obstacle: a minefield!” Tensei announced.

“They may not pack a deadly punch,” Mic added, “but if one goes off next to you, you won’t be happy! They’re on a hair trigger, too, so if you set one off, your problems are just starting! Detonator and Shoto Todoroki are locked in a dangerous dance where one wrong move could give the other a victory. I don’t know about you, but I’m on the edge of my seat.”

Shinso skidded to a stop beside them. “Minefield, huh? What do you think?”

Izuku turned to his friends. “Good to see you, Hitoshi. All of you, get ready to run.” His smile spread wide on his face, a smile they’d all seen before from All Might.

“Izuku, what are you going to do?” Ochaco asked nervously.

He cracked his knuckles. “Bakugo likes explosions, so I’m going to give him what he wants!” He leaped up into the air and brought his hands together above his head as he plummeted back to the ground. “California Smash!”

His hands hit the ground, sending a shockwave out in front of him, mines exploding with bright flashes and loud noises in an expanding arc in front of him, filling the air with dust and smoke. Todoroki and Bakugo both spun around at the noise, seeing the expanding wave of mutilation heading toward them. “Deku! You bastard!” Bakugo had time to yell before the explosions engulfed the two boys. While Bakugo’s body naturally resisted explosions of all kinds, that didn’t allow him to see through smoke, or keep standing when the ground beneath his feet became a small crater.

Both the boys fell to the ground as three figures shot past them. “Hope you guys are having as much of a blast as we are,” Izuku yelled as he ran past.

Both Todoroki and Bakugo struggled to their feet, and the latter yelled, “I’m going to kill you, Deku!”

As they began their chase, two strands of white cloth shot forward, wrapping around both former front runners. Hitoshi Shinso grinned, the strands connected to his arms. Bracing himself, he yanked backwards. With the greater mass of his two captives, he shot forward like the stone from a slingshot, while unbalancing the two boys again. “Looking like I might just earn those two points, Explosion Boy! Thanks to you too, Todoroki!” he called, as he passed them and unbound his capture weapons. If Todoroki said anything, Hitoshi couldn’t hear it over the sound of Bakugo’s screaming. While he could have easily taken control of the explosive blonde boy, he grinned, knowing leaving him conscious and aware would be far more fun.

“What an upset!” Mic yelled. “Ultra not only eliminated the last obstacle, he blew up the leads of Detonator and Todoroki in one move! The frontrunners have been knocked down and knocked back into a struggle for fifth and sixth place.”

“What an upset? What a move!” Tensei shouted. “What an homage to All Might! If that’s not a perfectly executed California Smash, I’ll eat my helmet. Here comes the new top three, racing toward the stadium. Who will come in first?”

Down on the course, Tenya grinned at Izuku. “Say it.”

“Say what?” Izuku asked innocently.

“I. Need. You. To. Say. It,” Tenya insisted.

“Alright, alright,” Izuku admitted, “You were right. That was fun. Are you happy now?

“Ecstatic,” Tenya winked. “Now we will see which of us is fastest!”

Chapter Text

Izuku beat Tenya into the stadium, because of course he did. He’s the damn main character, after all. Ochaco grinned, forgetting years of upbringing, natural shyness, and the fact that they were being broadcast around the world and said “Oh, Izuku! Take me now.”

Izuku nodded, pulling her into a deep kiss. “I will take you in a manly fashion,” he declared.

“Not so fast, you damn Deku!” Bakugo yelled, finally having arrived in the stadium. “I’m going to kill you! Now when I say, ‘who’s the master?’ you say ‘Kacchan.’ I’m going to ask you one more time! Who’s the master?”

The rest of the previous holders all said “Screw this” at once, giving Izuku full access to all the previous quirks and empowering his body so that he could use 150% of One For All without any harm. They also gave him pipe laying equipment that could make Ochaco’s parent’s company the number one construction company in the world. Inspired, everyone else paired up into couples, especially Mina and Eijiro. Minoru literally had a harem, and treated them all really well.

Izuku yawned and replied, “I am.” Bakugo’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and he screamed, throwing a punch that Izuku caught without effort. Izuku squeezed slowly, enjoying the sound of Bakugo’s bones crumbling in his grip. “I am the master!” Music from The Last Dragon soundtrack started playing and his body was surrounded by a brilliant glow. Bakugo tried for another punch, but Izuku kicked faster, decapitating Bakugo in a spray of blood and gore.

Up on the stage, Midnight said, “Well, I guess the second event will be football. We’ll use Bakugo’s head as the ball.” Note to Americans, you call it Soccer.

Shinso slid over to Aizawa. “Klingon rules apply, right? I can have his seat.”

Aizawa nodded. "Qapla'!" He’d been hoping for this for weeks.

“Not so fast,” a booming voice announced, All For One and Tomura Shigaraki hovering above the stadium. “I’ll be taking my quirk back.”

“Hey, Tomura!” Izuku called. “You know that All For One stole your original quirk, right? It was called ‘Therapy,’ and would allow you to either cause or solve daddy issues.”

“Women are immune," Setsuna said, eying Kyoka. "Thank God."

“What?” Tomura said, turning to All For One.

All For One looked more than a little nervous, sweating and adjusting his collar. “Why, Tomura, that’s preposterous….”

“No, it isn’t!” Dabi yelled, despite not having appeared in the story before. “He attacked Endeavor a few years ago and used it. Fuyumi was the only one who it didn’t hit. That’s right, I’m Shoto Todoroki’s older brother. I bet you’re all so surprised.”

“Nobody is surprised, and this is your first appearance,” Shoto said calmly. “Hey, if we’re under the effect of a quirk, that’s a valid legal defense. Want to kick dad’s ass?”

“Just try and stop me!” The two brothers left to track down their father, doing unspeakable things to him when they found him.

That little narrative diversion gave Tomura enough time to process what had happened to him. With a scream, he threw himself at All For One, grabbing his former Master by the face. “My mom, my sister, MY DOG! I’m going full John Wick! Your face ASPLODE!” The threat of All For One ended Once And For All. "That was for Mon-chan, you bastard."

Eri ran in, rescued by Izuku while Tomura was busy killing All For One. “You think you’ve got daddy issues!” she yelled, shooting Tomura with one of the permanent quirk erasing bullets. "Say hello to my little friend."

“It’s okay, Eri,” Izuku said. “Ochaco and I are getting married, so we’ll be your mom and dad now!” The two teens pulled Eri into an adorable hug, causing everyone in the stadium to let out a collective "Awww!"

“Wait!” Nighteye said. “What about my dangling plotline?”

“Now Nighteye,” All Might said, “remember how that worked out for you in canon?”

“Good point. Sorry for being such a douche canoe.”

“All is forgiven,” Izuku said. “After all, I’m now the world’s greatest hero!”

“What an Ultra Achievement, my boy,” All Might said, dropping the title. Roll credits.

The End (of this April Fool’s post)

Chapter Text

“While I will grant that you are smarter and stronger than me….”

“… And taller,” Izuku added with a grin.

“… And taller,” Tenya conceded, “you are not faster than me. There may come a day when you win a race against me, my friend, but it is not this day. Recipro Engine Boost: Sixth Gear!” Flames shot from the six exhaust ports on the back of both of his legs. He rapidly pulled ahead, despite the green lightning surrounding his friend. “See you both at the finish line, my friends!”

Ochaco reached over and grabbed Izuku’s shoulders, going completely and comfortably weightless. “I’ll be happy with third place, so mush!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you over the threshold,” Izuku quipped, only for his brain to catch up to what his mouth said moments before as a blush spread over the two teens. “Um, I mean, I’ll get us over the finish line.”

“Here come the front runners,” Present Mic said, “and, wow, has this been an exciting first event! The first student is about to cross the finish line, Ingenium, so tell us who is taking first place.”

Tensei had abandoned his seat. “Heck yeah, it’s my little brother, Tenya! I mean, Reciprocator, the Reactive Hero! In a stunning come from behind win, he crosses the finish line. I knew he could do it! Um, I mean with a speed quirk like Engine, we shouldn’t be too surprised by Reciprocator’s performance.” With a sheepish grin, he sat back down.

Mic laughed, picking up the commentary. “He’s closely followed by Ultra in second place and Uravity in third. You can see how red their faces are from here, folks, so they must have given it their all.”

Tensei checked his cheat sheet in front of him. “I don’t believe I recognize the fourth-place finisher.”

“That’s because you’re looking at the pages for the hero classes,” Mic explained. “In a surprise twist, a student from General Education takes fourth. I’m afraid I can’t tell you his real name, but you know he’s set on heroics because he’s picked out a hero name already: Compulsion, the Persuasive Hero!”

“The top thirty-three students will advance on to the second round of the tournament,” Tensei explained, “and the fifth and sixth spots are claimed by Shoto Todoroki and Detonator, who led the field for much of the race. I imagine that has to sting almost as much as that cascade of explosions we witnessed earlier!”

Tenya Ida breathed heavily up until Izuku and Ochaco slammed into him, both of his friends giving him hugs and congratulating him on his win. Hitoshi Shinso finished slight behind the trio, walking over calmly and delivering a bow. “Nice going, Tenya.”

The bespectacled boy returned the bow. “I was lucky there was more race than real obstacles or I might be congratulating you, Hitoshi. Fourth is still quite respectable.” He waved to Shoto Todoroki as the fifth-place finisher slid to a stop on an ice slide.

Bakugo entered next, only a moment behind Todoroki. He looked around and spotted the five who finished before him, a sneer on his face and began to march toward them. As he began to stomp toward them, Aizawa’s voice called out, “Well done, everyone. Move over to the staging area so the entrance to the stadium doesn’t get crowded.” He locked eyes with Bakugo. “It would be a shame if an easily preventable collision sent someone back to the dorms without being able to continue the competition, wouldn’t it?” Bakugo let out a deep breath and spun on his heels, moving away from the other students.

A few moments later, Itsuka entered to cheers, followed closely by Ibara Shiozaki. Tsuyu and Mashirao finished up the top ten spots, with the eleventh finish coming from support course student Mei Hatsume.

Minoru walked over and congratulated Ida and the other top finishers. “Should have known you’d win the race, Tenya. Your quirk’s perfect for something like this.”

“Thank you, Minoru,” Tenya said with a bow. “Where did you finish?”

Minoru laughed. “I finished before you.” He glanced over and saw Momo Yaoyorozu walking toward them with a look of determination in her eyes after her finish in fourteenth place. Minoru gulped. “Well, maybe I’m finished now. Um, Yaoyorozu, I just wanted to….”

“Minoru Mineta!” She said, and then bent down and kissed him on the cheek, pulling him into a hug. “You are the absolute best!”

The early finishers were too focused on the race to hear the announcements, so they all shared quizzical looks. “Wait,” Ochaco asked, “what the heck happened?”

“I slipped at the Fall,” Yaomomo said. “Without Minoru, I would have ended up in the water. He sacrificed his chance for me.”

“Holy whoa,” Izuku said. “That was really cool of you, Minoru.”

Minoru blushed. “I… honestly didn’t even think about it at the time. I was just… moving before I knew what I was doing.” He shrugged. “Besides, even if I somehow got past the second round, I’m not going to do well in a one-on-one match in the third round. Better to let someone with a real chance have a shot.”

“Well,” Yaomomo said, gesturing toward one of the jumbotron screens showing Minoru’s rescue, “I think you proved your heroism!”

Izuku kept close watch, counting each student until Toru Hagakure entered in the thirty-third spot. Sixty-six students had begun the race, but seven students had been disqualified at the Fall. Although the remaining contestants wouldn’t move on, most of them still gave the race their best effort, hoping to impress one of the heroes watching and earning an internship offer.

Aritsugu Mozume woke up, something surprising enough to him by itself, and found himself strapped to a table in the center of a dark circular room. Pipes and tubes covered the walls, mostly made of metal but a few made of glass, and he could see strange liquids flowing through the latter. A quick look around the room assured him he was alone, and these simple straps would never stand up to the power tools that Toxic Chainsaw could create. He called on his quirk, but nothing happened, and he felt the rising bile of panic in his throat.

His head turned at a quiet shuffling sound punctuated every so often with a click. A small bald man with a grey mustache and wearing goggles and a stained white lab coat walked forward carefully using a cane to steady himself. “And how is our impatient today?” the man asked, chuckling at his own joke.

“Who are you?” Aritsugu asked. “Why can’t I use my quirk?”

The man walked over and looked closely at his captive. “See? So impatient! I am Dr. Kyudai Garaki, and you’re under my care. As for your quirk, it was taken from you, but don’t worry! I’ll be giving it back shortly. Trust me, I’m a doctor and a vital part of the Hippocratic Oath is to do no harm.” The doctor moved slowly around the room, gathering liquid into four long syringes, joining a fifth one already sitting beside the table. “Now, just relax and this won’t hurt a bit.”

Despite Aritsugu’s attempts to thrash around, the bindings held him tight, and the doctor stuck the first syringe in his arm, depressing the plunger until all the liquid inside vanished. “What the Hell did you just put in me, you quack?”

“Oh, that one?” the doctor asked. “Merely a paralytic agent to keep you from moving during this next part. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Pancuronium Bromide? No? The United States used to use it in their executions before they moved on to performing mindwipes. Of course, for them it was the second of a series of three drugs, but it is more than enough to get the job done. Any last words? You should have a few moments left before it has paralyzed you too much to speak.”

Aritsugu tried to flex his fingers and toes but couldn’t. “What about your Oath? First do no harm?”

“Ah, yes,” the doctor smiled, his mustache twitching with mirth as he readied another syringe and injected the next serum. “Well, in my case, it’s more of a Hypocritical Oath.” He injected the second liquid, followed by the third, and finally the fourth. “Congratulations, by the way. You’ll be nearly a high-end with the combination of quirks I’ve just given you and, as promised, the last one was your own, with some minor modifications.”

The muscles attached to the eye, in their near constant state of motion, allow our eyes to see. With those muscles numbed, darkness began clouding Aritsugu’s vision. The muscles in the chest allow the lungs to fill with air and, as their near constant motion relaxed, he panicked at the sensation of suffocating. The heart is a muscle, too, and as the four quirks surged into him, for the briefest of moments, Aritsugu’s heart stopped.

“As the last of the competitors are crossing the finish line, we’ll be taking a short break to give the students time to change into fresh costumes or see the school doctor to treat any injuries,” Present Mic announced.

“A lot of them need this opportunity,” Tensei granted. “Red Riot’s costume nearly melted off from Alien Queen’s acid, thank goodness he’s built sturdy.”

“Thank goodness the same applies to his boxer shorts, or we’d have to air his footage at night,” Mic said with a laugh. “Midnight wouldn’t be the only R-Rated hero here today.”

“We’ll be back after a few messages from our sponsors with a highlight reel from the third year’s competition on Thursday followed by the second event. Don’t touch that dial, folks, you won’t want to miss this. I’m Ingenium….”

“… and I’m Present Mic, and we’ll see you after these messages.” Hizashi pressed a few buttons and said, “And… we’re clear. Go! You’ve got fifteen minutes.”

Tensei was already out the door with a “Thanks, Zashi,” called out behind him. He’d barely gotten two steps before almost bumping into All Might and Inko Midoriya. He grinned sheepishly. “If you’re going to find Izuku, he’s probably in the class 1-A prep room. I know where it is if you’ll follow me.”

“You must be even more proud of Tenya than I am,” Inko said as she and All Might followed Tensei. “He did wonderfully!”

All Might nodded. “We wanted to congratulate both the young lads, as well as young Ochaco. Taking the top three spots is no mean feat! Perhaps a joint celebration in Might Tower tomorrow night would be in order, if your family doesn’t mind, of course.”

“I’ll talk to Mom, depending on how the rest of the festival goes,” Tensei replied. “I don’t want to jinx it.”

All Might smiled. “That’s true. I’ve been hesitant about bothering the students. I fear I might place undue pressure on them.”

“Well, I can’t speak for them,” Tensei said, “but my heroics teacher came by and gave us a pep talk between events back when I was a student, and it really made a difference for me. Just,” he grinned, “make sure the whole class know you’re cheering for them with all your might.” Tensei knocked at the door to the 1-A prep room, and moments later, the door opened.

Other than the blonde boy standing there with a scowl on his face, the room appeared to be empty. His expression softened when his eyes fell on Inko, and he managed a bow. “Hi, Aunt Inko,” he said awkwardly.

She returned the bow just as awkwardly. “Hello, Katsuki. It’s been a long time. You’ve grown quite a bit.”

“It’s, um, good to see you. D… everyone else is getting cleaned up or changed,” he said.

“Congratulations on the race, young Bakugo!” All Might said, cutting through the tension through sheer force of will.

“I finished sixth,” Bakugo said, trying hard to keep his anger in check in front of his aunt. “Might as well be last. You’ve beaten him in a race before,” he protested, pointing at Ingenium.

“Not at all,” All Might said, patting the boy’s shoulder. “Here’s a little secret, young Bakugo. He let me win.”

“What?” Tensei said. “How…?”

“Did I know?” All Might laughed. “They were for charity, young Tensei, and I’ve seen you rescuing people from an apartment fire.” With a wink to Inko, All Might continued, “My public relations department is far better than I really am, young Bakugo, because no hero can do everything. Think back to our mobility training. Both Aizawa and Midnight, neither having an enhancement quirk, beat my time handily. I’m not as fast on the ground as Ingenium, not as smart as the Principal, or as stealthy as Eraserhead. I certainly couldn’t beat Fatgum in an eating contest. You’re placing far too much pressure on yourself, my young student, when you expect to win at everything. Being the best is a wonderful goal but being the best Katsuki Bakugo is a far more realistic and, ultimately, satisfying goal.” All Might could see the suppressed anger on Bakugo’s face and a gentle squeeze to Bakugo’s shoulder, “I believe it would help to talk about this, young Bakugo. My door is always open.”

“I’ll think about it,” Bakugo lied, pulling back just a bit. Before he could say anything further, the door to the girl’s locker room opened and several of the girls entered.

With a shrieked “Mamadoriya!” Mina ran forward and hugged Inko, followed quickly by Ochaco.

“It seems we’re chopped liver, my friend,” All Might stage whispered to Tensei.

“Mom! All Might! Ingenium!” Izuku yelled, walking into the prep room. After giving quick hugs to each, he grinned. “Did you see how awesome Tenya did? I mean, of course you did, but it was amazing. That final burst of speed really surprised me.”

As more of the students entered the room, All Might announced, “I’m incredibly proud of all of you. I wanted you all to know that I am here to cheer you on and felt incredibly proud to see you all using your mobility training. Young Koji and young Mineta, although you did not finish high enough to move on to the second event, I am still impressed by your efforts. Keep working hard and come back even stronger next year.” To Koji, he signed “I am proud of you,” in JSL. “Young Mineta, your action to help young Yaoyorozu was quite heroic.”

“No doubt,” Tensei said. “You really impressed a lot of people, kiddo. You all did!”

After the trio of adults left, the students started making their way back to the stadium, although two of their number headed to the special reserved section in the stands. With Koda and Minoru eliminated, and with the exclusion of Yuga from competing, class 1-A’s number dropped to seventeen, with the second event sure to lower the number further.

Eijiro tapped Izuku on the shoulder. “Dude! What was that? Was it some special magical rock?”

“I’ve suspected it, but your ‘lucky rock’ being granite clinched it,” Izuku said with a smile. “Diamonds are found in kimberlite, and the rock I handed you earlier has small pieces of diamond embedded in the surface. I took a chance that you’d take on the diamond properties, but even if you hadn’t, kimberlite is pretty similar to granite in terms of hardness. Of course, if I was completely wrong, it wouldn’t have made a difference at all other than making you feel better. We need to get you a meeting with Midnight, she’s a quirk counselor, by the way, so we can figure out exactly what you can do.”

“Yeah, dude! I’m down. I didn’t get most of that, but I owe you a big one,” Kirishima enthused. “I just don’t get why you’d help someone you’re competing against.”

Ochaco laughed from Izuku’s other side. “Who wants to win because their opponents are having a bad day?”

“Me!” Denki and Kyoko yelled at the same time, to a round of laughter and blushing on their part.

As the remaining competitors assembled in front of the stage, Izuku smiled and waved Hitoshi over. Other than his friend, all the general education students had been eliminated during the first event. Izuku knew the feeling of being an outsider all too well and didn’t want that for his friend. He looked around for the one support course student to make it to the second event, but she stood near Yaomomo and Mina, talking animatedly.

“Welcome back everyone,” Present Mic announced over the PA system. “That was an amazing first round, wasn’t it, Ingenium?”

“You know it, Present Mic!” Tensei replied. “With young up and coming students like these, the top ranked heroes are going to have to worry about their spots in a few years. Running is my thing, and I don’t know that I could have done any better.”

“Even the students who were eliminated from the competition did a fantastic job, Tensei. Our students are the best, but sadly, the whole point of the Tournament is to narrow the field down to the best of the best. The second event will take the current number of thirty-three down to the sweet sixteen,” Hizashi said. “Let’s go to our master of ceremonies, Midnight, for the second event!”

Midnight snapped her whip and said, “Thank you, Present Mic and Ingenium. As every pro hero knows, no one hero can do everything alone, so our second event will require our students to form teams of two to four students. The sixteen students with the highest point totals at the end of fifteen minutes will move on to the third and final round. What points, you ask? Each of the thirty-three students left in play will have a point total determined by their place in the first event starting with five points for Yokai the Spirit Hero in thirty-third place up to one hundred sixty for Ultra the Unwavering Hero in second place. As for our first-place finisher, Reciprocator the Reactive Hero, he starts the event with ten million points!”

All the students turned to gaze at Tenya, while Izuku stood beside him and said in his best Captain Kirk impersonation, “Must… not… say… I told you so.” Tenya raised an eyebrow in response.

The screens around the stadium flashed, revealing the individual point totals, all except the one beside Midnight. It cycled through several possible events before settling on one final option. “Our final event will be a cavalry battle! Each rider will be given a headband and attached to these headbands with small patches of Velcro will be small banners with the points of each of their teammates, so a team of four will start off with four banners. You’re free to use your quirks, but purposefully making another team fall will disqualify you and award any banners in your possession to that team. Riders can leave their team for a maximum of thirty seconds so long as their feet do not touch the ground, so no permanent flying,” she said pointedly. “If your team is knocked down accidentally, you will have thirty seconds to get back in formation. Only banners attached to the headband at the end of the event will be counted. Removing your team’s headband, another team’s headband, or holding onto a banner without attaching it to a headband for more than fifteen seconds will disqualify the team. You’ve got fifteen minutes to form your teams!”

Itsuka walked over and put her hand on Tenya’s shoulder. “We may no longer be housemates, but I’ll team up with you.”

“Thank you, Itsuka,” Tenya said.

“You know, Tenya,” Izuku started to say, but found himself shoved aside before he could even offer to join his friend’s team.

“Get out of my way!” a voice sang out. “Hello, person in first place! Mei Hatsume, from the support course! Pleased to meet you!”

Tenya blinked. “Yes, we’ve met. Many times. You’ve sat beside me at lunch.”

“Really?” Mei asked. “Small world. Everyone’s going to be after you, but you’ll be getting all the attention too, so it’s a win-win! I get to show off my babies and you get to ride me!”

Izuku coughed to hide his laugh. “Sounds like you’re in good hands, Tenya!”

“Izuku!” Tenya said disapprovingly. “Stop wasting time and go form your team like we planned. I’ll be fine.” He turned to Mei. “Hatsume….”

“Call me Mei.”

“Mei, I have a speed quirk,” Tenya explained patiently. “I should be the horse, and….”

“Oh, so I ride you? I’m down with that.”

“No, because Itsuka here can expand the size of her hands, she can protect the banners. So….”

“She’ll ride both of us! Nice. I’d usually wait for at least the third date before getting three people in on it, but you only live once.” Without missing a beat, she continued. “I’ve got my babies here, the Veloci-High-Top-ters,” she said pointing at her shoes, “I’m almost as fast as Ingenium with these. Might need someone to massage my glutes later, but I’m not picky.” She pulled out a large bag from nowhere. I’ve got tons of stuff, and since you’re teaming up with a support person, you don’t need approval for this stuff. I’ve got shields, sticky bombs, jet packs, and grappling guns!”

Izuku made his way over to Hitoshi. “Remember when I said I’d ask you for a favor someday, Hitoshi? I’m coming to collect.”

Hitoshi nodded. “Figures. Just the two of us could probably do well.”

“If you don’t mind, you’re going to be our rider. I want one more person though.” Izuku waved toward one of his classmates who walked over. “Fumikage, I know I’m not Dark Shadow’s favorite person, but I’d like to ask the two of you to join us.”

Fumikage nodded. “I would be amenable.”

“What about Dark Shadow?” Izuku noted that she appeared, and he bowed to the quirk. “Dark Shadow, would you be willing to join us?”

She shook her head violently. “Don’t want to!”

Izuku nodded and bowed again. “Alright. Thank you for considering it. Good luck to you.”

“See?” Fumikage asked. “I told you, Dark Shadow.”

She cocked her head toward Izuku. “You’re not going to make Fumi force me?”

Izuku looked horrified. “No! I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. We’ll have room if the two of you change your mind.”

While Izuku and Tenya formed their teams, Ochaco grabbed Toru and Mina. “Girl Power!” she said. “Let’s have an all-girl team. I’ve got a plan.”

“Sounds good to me,” Toru said.”

“I’m down,” Mina added. “What’s the plan?”

“Oy, Racoon Eyes!” Bakugo yelled. “Get your pink butt over here.” Kirishima stood beside the explosive boy but rolled his eyes.

“If we weren’t on TV, I’d flip you off, Blasty,” she yelled back. “I don’t answer to you, and I’m already on a team.”

Bakugo huffed. “Fine. You had your chance. One more target.”

“Dude,” Kirishima whispered, “Flies and honey, man. Try being, you know, nicer.”

“Screw that,” Bakugo muttered. “We don’t need those losers. We’re taking down Sonic, then Deku, then the sisterhood of the tight pants over there.”

“Okay, you need to chill.”

Shoto Todoroki sought out the other recommended students, but only Momo Yaoyorozu and Setsuna Tokage joined him, as Juzo Honenuki had already joined a team before he could reach him.

As time ran down and more teams cemented, Fumikage found himself without a team. He steeled himself for the argument sure to follow with Dark Shadow. “Dark Shadow, perhaps…”

“Fumikage,” Mezo Shoji said quietly. “Would you and Dark Shadow join my team? It will be the three of us and Neito… Monoma.”

Dark Shadow looked over at Monoma with an expression of disgust, but finally said, “I like Messy more than I dislike the human.”

Fumikage rolled his eyes. “Yes, we will join you, if you’ll have us.”

After the fifteen minutes finished, Midnight pointed to the displays. “Here are your eleven Teams! Each team is named for the rider. We’ll give the teams five minutes to plan and get into position, and then we’ll start!”

The display showed the students’ hero names and their points, but Izuku mentally supplied their real names himself. Doing some quick mental math, he noticed the teams were in order of the least collective points to the most. He nodded toward Tenya and Ochaco’s teams, and they moved close to each other as the other teams formed together. The oncoming chaos… unavoidable.

Team Chargebolt

Chargebolt, the Stun Gun Hero - 25 Points - Denki Kaminari

Heavy Metal, the Iron Heart Hero - 80 Points - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Standup, the Comic Hero - 45 Points - Manga Fukidashi

Team Rule

Rule, the Dimensional Hero - 35 Points - Yui Kodai

Cellophane, the Taping Hero - 55 Points - Hanta Sero

Gevaudan, the Apocalypse Beast Hero - 60 Points - Jurota Shishida

Team Lightfoot

Lightfoot, the Mearas Hero - 105 Points - Pony Tsunotori

Sugarman, the Sweets Hero - 15 Points - Rikido Sato

Long Weizi, the Dragon Shroud Hero - 30 Points - Hiryu Rin

Team Phantom Thief

Phantom Thief, the Mirror Hero - 50 Points - Neito Monoma

Tentacole, the Tentacle Hero - 10 Points - Mezo Shoji

Tsukuyomi, the Jet-Black Hero - 110 Points - Fumikage Tokoyami

Team Detonator

Detonator, the Explosive Hero - 140 Points - Katsuki Bakugo

Red Riot, the Sturdy Hero - 85 Points - Eijiro Kirishima

Team Yokai

Yokai, the Spirit Hero - 5 Points - Toru Hagakure

Uravity, the Gravity Hero - 155 Points - Ochaco Uraraka

Alien Queen, the Ripley Hero - 90 Points - Mina Ashido

Team Compulsion

Compulsion, the Persuasive Hero - 150 Points - Hitoshi Shinso

Ultra, the Unwavering Hero - 160 Points - Izuku Midoriya

Team Poltergeist

Poltergeist, the Paranormal Hero - 20 Points - Reiko Yanagi

Spiral, the Spinning Hero - 40 Points - Sen Kaibara

Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Hero - 120 Points - Mashirao Ojiro

Gaia, the Acolyte Hero - 130 Points - Ibara Shiozaki

Team Distortion

Distortion, the Soundwave Hero - 65 Points - Kyoka Jiro

Froppy, the Rainy Season Hero - 125 Points - Tsuyu Asui

Deposition, the Solidification Hero - 75 Points - Kosei Tsuburaba

Mudman, the Flexible Hero - 70 Points - Juzo Honenuki

Team Alchemist

Alchemist, the Creation Hero - 100 Points - Momo Yaoyorozu

Shoto Todoroki - 145 Points

Anzu, the Dinosaur Hero - 95 Points - Setsuna Tokage

Team Battle Fist

Battle Fist, the Pummeling Hero - 135 Points - Itsuka Kendo

Reciprocator, the Reactive Hero - 10000000 Points - Tenya Ida

Mei Hatsume - 115 Points

Additional Author's Note: In case anyone is curious, here are the rankings for the Obstacle Course Race:

33rd place  - 5 Points - Yokai, the Spirit Hero  - Class A  - Toru Hagakure
32nd place - 10 Points - Tentacole, the Tentacle Hero - Class A - Mezo Shoji
31st place - 15 Points - Sugarman, the Sweets Hero - Class A - Rikido Sato
30th place - 20 Points - Poltergeist, the Paranormal Hero - Class B - Reiko Yanagi
29th place - 25 Points - Chargebolt, the Stun Gun Hero - Class B - Denki Kaminari
28th place - 30 Points - Long Weizi, the Dragon Shroud Hero - Class B - Hiryu Rin
27th place - 35 Points - Rule, the Dimensional Hero - Class B - Yui Kodai
26th place - 40 Points - Spiral, the Spinning Hero - Class B - Sen Kaibara
25th place - 45 Points - Standup, the Comic Hero - Class B - Manga Fukidashi
24th place - 50 Points - Phantom Thief, the Mirror Hero - Class B - Neito Monoma
23rd place - 55 Points - Cellophane, the Taping Hero - Class A - Hanta Sero
22nd place - 60 Points - Gevaudan, the Apocalypse Beast Hero - Class B - Jurota Shishida
21st place - 65 Points - Distortion, the Soundwave Hero - Class A - Kyoka Jiro
20th place - 70 Points - Mudman, the Flexible Hero - Class B - Juzo Honenuki
19th place - 75 Points - Deposition, the Solidification Hero - Class B - Kosei Tsuburaba
18th place - 80 Points - Heavy Metal, the Iron Heart Hero - Class B - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
17th place - 85 Points - Red Riot, the Sturdy Hero - Class A - Eijiro Kirishima
16th place - 90 Points - Alien Queen, the Ripley Hero - Class B - Mina Ashido
15th place - 95 Points - Anzu, the Dinosaur Hero - Class A - Setsuna Tokage
14th place - 100 Points - Alchemist, the Creation Hero - Class A - Momo Yaoyorozu
13th place - 105 Points - Lightfoot, the Mearas Hero - Class B - Pony Tsunotori
12th place - 110 Points - Tsukoyomi, the Jet-Black Hero - Class A - Fumikage Tokoyami
11th place - 115 Points - Mei Hatsume - Support Course
10th place - 120 Points - Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Hero - Class A - Mashirao Ojiro
9th place - 125 Points - Froppy, the Rainy Season Hero - Class A - Tsuyu Asui
8th place - 130 Points - Gaia, the Acolyte Hero - Class B - Ibara Shiozaki
7th place - 135 Points - Battle Fist, the Pummeling Hero - Class B - Itsuka Kendo
6th place - 140 Points - Detonator, the Explosive Hero - Class A - Katsuki Bakugo
5th place - 145 Points - Shoto Todoroki - Class A
4th place - 150 Points - Compulsion, the Persuasive Hero - General Education - Hitoshi Shinso
3rd place - 155 Points - Uravity, the Gravity Hero - Class A - Ochaco Uraraka
2nd place - 160 Points - Ultra, the Unwavering Hero - Class A - Izuku Midoriya

1st place - 10,000,000 Points - Reciprocator, the Reactive Hero - Class A - Tenya Ida

Chapter Text

“Looks like the teams have formed up on the field,” Tensei said, “and everyone is moving into positions.”

“Historically we’ve seen teams built from within each individual class,” Hizashi added, “but this year we have nine of the eleven teams mixing one or more classes, almost the opposite of what we’d normally expect. Looks like we’re about to kick this off!” Down on the field, Midnight raised her whip high into the air and brought it down with a loud crack, kicking off the second event.

Multiple teams converged on Team Battle Fist, so Izuku and Ochaco’s teams both took advantage of the chaos to snatch multiple headbands. With a loud wordless yell, Bakugo launched himself into the air, landing perfectly on Tenya and Mei’s shoulders, much to Itsuka’s surprise. She raised her hands, expanding them, but he grinned savagely. “You bring those together, Slap-Chop, and you’ll lose fingers. Explosions in a confined space are much more damaging.” He snatched all three banners with a laugh. “Enjoy watching the third event from the stands.” He attached the banners to his headband, jumping off and using his explosions to propel himself back to Kirishima once far enough away not to cause the former lead team to fall.

“Warn me before you do that!” Kirishima yelled.

“Fine!” Bakugo replied. “I’m going to do that several times in the next fourteen minutes. Consider yourself warned.” Both Team Yokai and Team Compulsion converged on Team Detonator, Bakugo yelling defiantly “Two against one’s the only way you have a prayer against me, you damn nerds!”

As Team Yokai moved in, Mina grinned. “Hey, Kiri!” As he glanced in her direction, she lifted the shirt of her costume replica. Bakugo blinked in shock, but Kirishima stopped moving completely. Of course, she wore a tank top underneath, but it still stopped him cold.

“See something you like, Kirishima?” A voice called, followed by, “I’m surprised you don’t seem to care, Blasty, but if you play for the other team that’s cool, I know a couple of guys and can introduce you if you want?”

Kirishima didn’t even bother turning his head but did mumble something incoherent. Bakugo turned to the purple-haired schmuck riding on Deku’s shoulders and yelled “I’m not frigging….”

“Ten thousand yen says he was going to say ‘smart,’” Hitoshi said calmly as his control cemented into place on both Kirishima and Bakugo.

“My money’s on ‘interested in that damn Racoon Eyes,’” Izuku replied in a fair imitation of Bakugo.

Running over to the immobile Team Detonator, Hitoshi ordered, “Hand over all your banners,” and Bakugo silently complied for once.

“Give back the one worth eighty-five points, please,” Izuku said. “That one’s Eijiro’s.” Hitoshi tied two small knots in it and stuck it back on Bakugo’s headband.

Team Yokai moved closer, supplying coverage, and Hitoshi passed one of the banners to Toru. With a smirk, he said, “Looks like Blasty and the Hardy Boy fell for your… booby trap.” Izuku released a cloud of smoke to cover the three teams.

“Operation: Cups and Balls is a go!” Izuku laughed.

Mina chuckled, and Toru held the banner with Mina’s points on it down so Mina could leave the imprint of her lipstick before Toru tied a single knot in it and planted it on Bakugo’s head. She took the banner provided by Hitoshi and attached it to her headband, tucking it behind her ear and adjusting her hair. “We’ll cover you as best we can,” Ochaco said.

Moments later, Teams Yokai and Compulsion charged out of the smoke, followed by a shout of “Interested in that damn Raccoon Eyes” from inside the cloud. “Deku! Get back here, you damn nerd!”

With a laugh, Izuku ran into a melee between two of the larger teams, Hitoshi jumping off his back and snatching two handfuls of banners before leaping back. They angled toward Team Battle Fist, and Hitoshi tossed a couple of banners to Tenya, who quickly passed them up to Itsuka. “Ochaco’s team sends their regards.”

As Team Detonator ran out of the dispersing cloud, Team Chargebolt had the misfortune of being in their path. “You’re dead, Pikachu!” Bakugo bellowed. The scream startled Denki, causing him to release a massive indiscriminate shock. While the charge passed harmlessly through Tetsutetsu, Manga couldn’t speak quickly enough to grant himself immunity. Of the three-person team, two became incapacitated and Bakugo took a quick advantage, ripping all three banners from Denki’s headband.

“Dude, not cool!” Tetsutetsu called as he desperately tried to keep Denki from falling while trying to get Manga to recover.

“Sorry, Dude!” Eijiro called back as he ran for their next target.

“Not my fault you teamed up with an idiot,” Bakugo yelled over his shoulder. They’d already reached Team Poltergeist, one of only two teams with four people. “Give me those banners, losers!” Bakugo yelled, leaping from Kirishima’s back and snatching all four banners from Reiko’s headband. They repeated their attack against Team Distortion.

With a total of twelve banners, Team Detonator held over a third of the total banners in play. Bakugo scanned the playing field, looking for his next target. “Oh look,” Hitoshi Shinso called out. “A wild Baka-Gato has appeared. He used temper tantrum! It’s barely effective.”

Clamping his mouth shut, he pointed toward Team Compulsion. “Dude… come on,” Kirishima sighed, but obliged by racing toward the other two-person team. With his new diamond-based form, Kirishima didn’t even feel Ochaco’s hand touch his back, but he certainly felt the effect as his weight increased to the point that even his enhanced strength could barely propel them forward.

Team Battle Fist rushed in, snatching ten of Team Bakugo’s twelve banners as Mei drew a gun and shot blasts of a substance derived from Mineta’s adhesive orbs at Kirishima’s feet. “Thank you for your contribution to the cause!” Tenya yelled out. Itsuka attached the banners to her headband quickly, removing each one for a few moments to check the point value and tie small knots in them.

“Nothing to say, Baka-Gato?” Shinso called out mockingly as Team Battle Fist ran by his team, passing off a handful of banners Shinso attached. “That’s a shame.” Bakugo clenched his teeth, having figured out that responding to the nerd’s teammate did… something. The three teams Bakugo hated the most split up at this point, moving close to some of the other teams, specifically the ones who had lost all their banners. Rather then engaging with those teams like they should have, Deku and his little nerd buddies tossed each team a pair of head bands. What the Hell are they doing? Bakugo thought, and where the Hell is the ten million points?

“What the H… heck are they doing?” Tensei asked. “Teams Yokai, Battle Fist, and Compulsion just worked together to snatch a collection of banners from Team Detonator, but instead of keeping them, they seem to be passing them among themselves and then distributing them to the teams without any headbands!”

“I’m not sure that’s a winning strategy,” Hizashi said, “but it’s certainly earning them some good will. While the students must rely on sight, up here we can use the trackers sewn into the headbands and the RFID chips in the banners to give us a clear view of what’s going on down on the field.”

While the displays visible from the game field remained blank, those that could only be seen by the spectators displayed who held each of the bands. Tensei gasped. “Oh, that’s smart! Do you see the pattern, Present Mic?”

Mic stared for a moment, and then stood up with a yell of “What?” His chair flew back, slamming into the wall as he pressed his face against the window of the booth. “I don’t believe it.”

As soon as the displays changed, All Might and Nezu both started laughing loudly. “Bunch of cheeky little cowpokes,” Snipe snorted with the sound of appreciation. The more rescue-oriented teachers, such as Lunch Rush and Thirteen took a few more moments to understand what they saw, but when they did, they joined their colleagues in laughter.

Of the parents present, Tenya’s mother understood immediately thanks to her years as a hero. Inko Midoriya understood just moments after Hayaka Ida. Sasuke Uraraka looked at his wife in returned confusion. “I don’t get it,” he finally admitted to the room at large. “What’s so funny?”

“Our children,” Inko said, “are absolutely insane.” Then she explained.

“Midoriya!” Todoroki yelled, blasting a wave of ice toward Team Compulsion. Izuku jumped, leaping over the ice burst and using his air blasts to make it look like he adjusted his course to dodge a net thrown by Yaomomo. No sense in giving away his flight abilities quite yet. They landed right behind Team Alchemist, and Hitoshi reached out and grabbed the only unmarked banner and one with three knots tied in it. Without even bothering to look, he attached the banner with three knots and glanced at the unmarked banner. With only ten points, he tied a single knot just below the strip of Velcro and attached it.

As Team Compulsion fled, Todoroki yelled out, “Come fight me, Midoriya!”

“I say thee ‘Neigh,’” Izuku called back. “Busy being a horse. Maybe next round!” They ran past Team Lightfoot, left bannerless by an attack from Bakugo. “No offense, Pony!”

“Hey, Tsunotori!” Hitoshi yelled, reaching up and, by touch alone, grabbed two banners with single knots and tossed them toward the equine-featured girl. “Catch!”

Without even looking at them, she attached them to her headband. “No offense is being taken, Izuku, so many other Ponies on field is being nice. Much thanking to you, Shinso! We delay the recommended student team for great justice! All their base are belong to us!” They angled to intercept Team Alchemist as Hitoshi and Izuku continued their way forward.

“This is genius,” Hitoshi said with a low whistle. He glanced around, almost all the points hidden from view. The banners only had the points printed on one side, facing outward from the patch of Velcro. A single, or triple, knot would turn them around, making the point total obscured if the wearer wasn’t moving too fast. Points above one hundred got three knots, those below received a single knot. Unless you knew the code, it would be hard to tell with a quick glance the points of the banners, and only the teams of the Three Musketeers knew about the system. Unmarked banners were their priority, followed by those with three knots. These three teams passed off single knot banners to any team they met without any banners, keeping the illusion that all the teams were still in the game, even though the triple knot banners were almost entirely concentrated among Teams Yokai, Battle Fist, and Compulsion. “Remind me never to play poker with you. At least not without a fresh deck of cards.”

“Deku, you bastard,” Bakugo screamed as Kirishima barreled his way toward them. “Stop giving away banners! Tell me where the ten million banner is, or I’ll kill you!”

“Why don’t you shut up, Baka-Gato?” Hitoshi drawled. Bakugo slammed his mouth shut so hard his teeth rattled, blasting off Kirishima’s shoulders with two powerful explosions propelling him into the air. “Jump, Izuku!” Hitoshi yelled, and the pair rocketed into the air meeting Bakugo before he could reposition his hands to attack. With a quick glance, the saw only one triple tie and one unmarked, so Hitoshi snatched them both, plus a couple of others for good measure but leaving the one with lipstick and the double tied one. To prove he wasn’t completely heartless, his capture weapons shot out and tossed Bakugo back to his partner. “Any time your banners get too heavy for you, come on back and try again,” Hitoshi called out in a singsong.

Bakugo’s anger got the better of him, and he screamed, “I’m going to kill you, sleep deprived bastard!” More than enough for Hitoshi to put him under… again.

“Dance the macarena while on your partner’s shoulders, then you can have control back,” Hitoshi said. “Does he ever learn?”

“God, I hope so,” Izuku muttered, running for Team Rule to give away a few banners.

Mezo’s arms formed a platform and dome around his teammates, so it almost seemed as if he was a horse with two riders, but nothing in the rules said the horses had to stay in contact with the ground. With very little sunlight making its way into the enclosure, Dark Shadow hissed at Monoma, who wisely stayed as far away from the shadowy quirk as possible. “Mezo,” Neito asked, “do you mind if I copy your power?”

“Doesn’t it hurt to copy mutant quirks?” Mezo asked softly.

“Yes, but nothing I can’t handle,” the blonde boy replied. “Besides, you, Tokoyami, and Dark Shadow have been doing all the work. I don’t want to just coast.” Dark Shadow’s claws reached out, snapping another vine from Gaia of Team Poltergeist seeking their banners. “See? I’ll be fine, Mezo. Please?”

“If you’re sure,” Mezo said, “go ahead. I just don’t want to hurt you.”

Neito Monoma pressed his bare hand against Mezo’s shoulder and let out a blood curdling scream. The skin on the sides of his face peeled back to reveal his teeth in a terrifying grimace. He squeezed his eyes shut as the bones in his arms split to form three arms on each side of his torso, tearing his replica hero costume. After a few moments, he could feel trembling from his hand still resting on Mezo’s shoulder but couldn’t tell if it came from himself alone or from Mezo as well. He choked out, “I’m okay. I’m okay, Mezo. You have never hurt me.”

Dark Shadow scoffed. “I like him better this way, looking like Messy.”

Neito laughed. “You know what? I think I look good this way as well! Normally, I’m handsome, but like this, I’m stunning!” Tiny tentacles reached out through the gaps in Mezo’s dome, seeking out other teams with tiny eyes, changing into small hands to steal banners and bring them back. After a quick count, he nodded. “This should be enough. Let’s go defensive!”

As Team Poltergeist angled toward them, one of the horses for Team Distortion, Deposition, blew out heavily, forming a solid barrier of air between the teams. While two of Poltergeist’s horses, Spiral and Sun Wukong, pounded against the barrier, Mudman softened the earth under their opponents’ feet. At that point, it became a cautious battle to grab the banners. Froppy with her tongue and Distortion with her earphone jacks struggled by reaching around the barrier to snag the banners from Poltergeist, while she used her telekinetic quirk and Gaia used her vines to try and return the favor.

In the end, Team Poltergeist received the worst from the exchange, losing both of their banners to Team Distortion. Only moments later, Detonator landed on their team. He raised his hand in the air, letting out a huge, and most importantly loud, explosion that stunned Distortion. “Thanks for collecting these for me, chumps!” Bakugo yelled as he attached the banners to his headband, leaping away and using a pair of explosions to rocket back to his teammate.

“What a jerk,” Mudman muttered. “I don’t know how you put up with him every day.”

Froppy put a finger to her chin. “He’s usually focused on Izuku, ribbit, but Eijiro is the only one who talks to him regularly.”

With only a few minutes left, Momo Yaoyorozu of Team Alchemist reached up to adjust one of the banners they had just gotten from Team Lightfoot when she noticed something odd. When the school made these banners, they only put the point value on one side – the side facing outwards. The point total for this banner faced her. With a point total of one hundred twenty-five, it originally belonged to Tsuyu, but the banners mixed so much that they were hopelessly spread between the teams. Three small, simple knots caused the point value to face inward. She reattached that one and grabbed another, only sixty-five points, so it started with Kyoka. It had a single knot tied to it. A moment of realization struck her, and a quick check revealed that only two of their five banners had three knots, and both had a point value above one hundred.

Fairly isolated in one corner, she looked around the field. Team Battle Fist ran past one of the other teams, Team Poltergeist, and Itsuka tossed them a banner. As she watched Reiko attach it to her headband, she could see it only had a single knot. Itsuka’s headband still held many more banners, most of them with three knots. Rather than try for more by attacking, Team Poltergeist thanked Team Battle Fist, and supplied them cover from Bakugo’s team. Almost all the teams held one or two banners, almost exclusively with a single knot tied in them. She felt her heart sink at how deftly they’d all been manipulated. “Shoto! Setsuna! This whole thing is a trick!”

Both of her horses stopped their run, looking up at her. “What do you mean?” Shoto asked.

“Izuku Midoriya and Tenya Ida’s teams have been controlling what banners are in play,” she said. “They know the point values for everyone on the field!”

“That first part is not quite true,” Hitoshi Shinso said as Izuku came to a stop roughly a meter away. “We’ve been keeping Bakugo from completely dominating the match and depriving the other teams of points. That way everyone has a chance to make a good showing whether they move on or not. You’ll notice we haven’t been coming after you since you’ve been playing defensive in the second half.”

“You know all the point totals,” Yaomomo accused.

“Well,” Izuku said. “Only a rough estimate, but all the banners have the points printed on them. All we did was mark them in a way we could tell at a glance if they somehow got twisted around so the point totals weren’t visible from a distance. We got enough banners early on to secure ourselves a spot moving forward, all we’re doing now is making sure that no one ends the match without at least one banner.”

Todoroki took a step forward. “Give us the ten million banner.”

Izuku grinned and shook his head. “You’ve got the wrong idea, Todoroki. Whatever you might believe, Hitoshi and I don’t have the ten million points, so I couldn’t give it to you even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

“Just a few more minutes, Mom,” Denki mumbled, feeling himself being shaken.

“Screw this,” Standup said. “<ZZRTT!>” His quirk activated with a lightning shaped font, granting him immunity to electricity and recharging Denki.

“Whoa, crap! Thanks,” Denki said. “This was totally my fault. What did I miss?”

“Only a few minutes left. Almost everyone has left us alone,” Heavy Metal said, “except Bakugo swings by every so often and swipes our banners. The fast guy and the green-haired guy from your class keep coming by and giving us replacements. They were even nice enough to stick them on your headband.”

Denki blinked. “That doesn’t make sense. Why throw away points on a disabled team?” He glanced around the field. Fact one: almost all the banners were turned around obfuscating their point values. Fact two: while each team had at least one banner, a higher concentration of them seemed focused on the groups he expected to move forward, with one exception. Fact three: Team Compulsion seemed cornered by Team Alchemist. Fact four: the one team without a banner fit neatly into the category he expected to move on. Conclusion: his classmates were magnificent bastards, and he didn’t even feel mad about it. “How are you guys doing?”

“I’m running on empty,” Heavy Metal acknowledged. “Fifteen minutes is about my limit in metal form, so I don’t know if I’d even make it past the first round in the next event.”

“I just want to sit back and watch,” Standup said with a scratchy voice. “While drinking a very large soda.”

“That’s a mood,” Denki said. He pointed toward the corner where Izuku’s team faced Todoroki’s team. “You guys feel up to giving Izuku a bit of cover?”

Heavy Metal banged his fists together with a clang. “Yeah, let’s go out with a bang!”

“In that case, we’ll take all of your banners,” Todoroki said.

“That’s going to be a big no from me,” Hitoshi said. “What makes you so sure you can take any of them?”

Todoroki raised his right foot and started to open his mouth to answer when a yell from his left of “Izuku! Shinso! Run for it,” sounded from Denki. Izuku grinned, firing off a weak and invisible air blast with a finger flick that forced Todoroki off balance just enough to bring his foot down. His planned wall of ice formed wildly off course, but he quickly corrected, angling it in to trap all three teams in the corner. With a leap, Izuku cleared the area before it could seal them in.

“So, you were a part of this plan too, Kaminari?” Todoroki asked.

“Nope!” he said, popping the “P.” He shrugged, “I’m ashamed to say I just figured it out a few moments ago, but I’ve been in a stupor most of the match. What’s your excuse? Face it, we were out planned and out played.”

“That may be,” Yaomomo said, “but we can still stop them!”

“Why would we do that?” Denki argued. “By my estimation, you’ve got more than enough points there to move on to the next round. Settle the score then. As for my team and me, we’re tired and want to sit in the stands eating Takoyaki and cheering you on. Face it, planning like this deserves to be rewarded. Honestly, wish I’d thought of it or gotten in on it, but I figure that’s my fault when I declined their offer to practice with them. I postulate that you all rejected similar offers, leading to the current situation. Personally, I salute them. And if that means morituri te salutamus, so be it. Their plan is nothing short of magnificent.”

“Get out of our way,” Todoroki said, coldly.

“Less than a minute on the clock, and the ladies are all on your left side. Unless you plan on burning your teammates to a crisp, you’re not getting through that massive ice wall in time.” Denki argued. “Our team only has twenty-five points, so it isn’t going to help you much. In the words of the Bard, you’re hoist on your own petard. Just sit back and relax,” he held up a hand and blue sparks of electricity arched between his fingers, “or you’ll find out what being touched with a stun gun feels like.”

“Todoroki,” Yaomomo said softly, “he’s right.”

“Crap,” Hitoshi muttered as they landed a few meters away from Team Detonator. “It never rains, but it pours.”

“Damn it, you bastards! Give me the ten million!” Bakugo bellowed.

“Don't have it, don’t want to, go screw yourself!” Hitoshi called as Deku leaped again, taking them far out of range.

Bakugo paused. Only a minute on the clock, and that zombie looking bastard claimed they didn’t have the ten million? He looked around the field, seeing most teams with only a single head band. Four Eyes and Deku’s team both had multiples, and he’d snagged a decent collection of his own. He snatched one, staring at it and the single knot tied in it. Thirty points? He grabbed another, this one also with a single knot, and forty points. Every banner he could see had a single knot, except for the banners on Deku and Four Eye’s teams. “I am going to kill someone.” Someone named Deku. That bastard had given all the lower point banners to everyone else. Except… wait… one team without a single banner. “Kirishima… look at your girlfriend’s team and tell me what you see other than the mushy crap.”

“Dude, she’s not my….”

“Shut up! Just look and tell me!”

“Oh man, they don’t have a single banner,” Kirishima said. “We should have enough to move on to the final event, let’s give them one of ours!”

“You idiot!” Bakugo yelled. “Deku’s little nerd girlfriend is on that team. You think he’s going to spend the whole damn game giving away banners and leave Round Cheeks out? Do you know what I see? Three-frigging-fourths of a headband! Everyone’s been ignoring the poor little girls without a single damn point! See-Through has the damn ten million hidden by her damn hair! Attack!”

Eijiro rolled his eyes but began charging toward Team Yokai. “Clear the way,” he yelled, only to feel tape wrap around his chest.

Cellophane wrapped both members of Team Detonator, giving the ends of the tape to his fellow horse for Team Rule, Gevaudan. “Sorry, Explosion Boy! Without those guys, we wouldn’t have a banner at all.” Rule reached down, touching the strands of tape, then bringing both her hands together and expanding their size until the strands were wider and thicker than tank treads.

“You idiot, Soy Sauce Face!” Bakugo yelled, repeatedly setting off explosions to try and blast through the barrier. “They played you! They’ve got the ten million!” With a final wordless scream of rage, he stopped struggling as the final buzzer sounded.

The teams all dismounted, gathering in front of the stage. Bakugo’s anger rolled off him in waves, and Kirishima stood nearby, still in his diamond form in case of trouble. “Save it,” Bakugo muttered, cocking a thumb toward a watching Eraserhead standing in one of the tunnels leading to the field. “The murder hobo isn’t going to let me do anything anyway.”

Midnight cracked her whip. “Well done, everyone! This may be the first time in almost a decade that no team finished without points. The top six teams have enough points to move on, and have sixteen members total, so none of them will be left behind. Sadly, the seventh through eleventh teams won’t continue to the final event, but let’s hear a big round of applause for them: Teams Lightfoot, Rule, Poltergeist, Distortion, and Chargebolt!”

“In sixth place with a total of two hundred eighty points, Team Detonator: Detonator and Red Riot! Coming in fifth with three hundred forty-five points is Team Phantom Thief: Phantom Thief, Tentacole, and Tsukuyomi! Team Alchemist takes the fourth spot with four hundred seventy points: Alchemist, Anzu, and Shoto Todoroki! With seven hundred twenty-five points, Team Compulsion takes third place: Compulsion and Ultra! Second place, with seven hundred forty-five points is Team Battle Fist: Battle Fist, Reciprocator, and Mei Hatsume!”

Midnight nodded to the last group with a grin, and Toru reached up and brushed her hair back, revealing the last banner. “Finally, our winning team, in first place with exactly ten million points, Team Yokai: Yokai, Uravity, and Alien Queen!”

Chapter Text

“That’s crap!” Bakugo yelled. “They cheated, along with Deku and Four Eyes’ teams!” Up in the announcer’s booth, Mic scrambled and bleeped out the sound, cutting the microphone feed from the field.

“Seems like there’s some sort of procedural question down on the field,” Hizashi said. “Possibly a point of order due to a question concerning quirks. While the judge is fielding the question, we’ll take a short break and be back after these important messages.”

“Don’t touch that dial!” Tensei added. “We’ll be back with the bracket announcement for the final event, a highlight reel from previous sports festivals, some exciting minigames, a cheerleading routine from the American Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and much more. Stay tuned!”

“And… we’re clear,” Hizashi said letting out a deep breath. “I really hope that kid doesn’t win. We’d probably have to muzzle him and chain him to a post.”

Tensei laughed. “They’d shut the school down if you did that!”

Back down on the field, Midnight stared at Bakugo. “That’s a strong accusation, Bakugo. What’s your evidence?”

“She hid the damn ten million!” he yelled, pointing at Hagakure. “They were hiding the point values and working together. They,” and he pointed at Uraraka, Midoriya, and Ida, “planned the whole thing!”

Midnight narrowed her eyes. “And?” she asked.

“What the Hell do you mean ‘and?’” Bakugo yelled.

“Hagakure attached the ten-million-point banner to her headband as soon as her team took it, and it remained there for the rest of the event. We can tell from the RFID signal. Other teams took multiple banners from them, but those banners were attached to headbands almost immediately. Nothing in the rules said you can’t work with other teams.”

“They marked them!” Bakugo held up two banners, one with one knot and the other with three knots.

“Bakugo,” Midnight said as though talking to a small child which did wonders for his rage, “the point values are printed on the banners.”

“You know what I mean, damnit!” Bakugo yelled. “I want them disqualified!”

Izuku, who stood there smiling until this point, stepped back. “Oh, damn,” he whispered to Tenya, Ochaco, Itsuka, and Hitoshi. “That was a mistake.”

Midnight’s usual warmth vanished completely, and she achieved levels of cold with her voice that Todoroki could only aspire to reaching. “Bakugo, I am the judge of this festival, and my decisions are final. None of their actions violated the rules. I don’t respond to demands. If you have a request, I might consider it. Be careful though, because if you keep up that tone, someone will either get a bye in the first round or someone from Team Chargebolt will take your place.”

Bakugo clenched his fists together and carefully said, “I… humbly request you disqualify them.”

Midnight grinned. “Request denied. I laid out the rules clearly before the event, and I’ve seen no evidence of any violation of those rules. The points you’ve raised aren’t infractions. You’re welcome to spend your lunch period reviewing the footage. If you find any evidence, you can bring it to your homeroom teacher. If, and only if, he agrees with you, I’ll entertain it. Understand?”

“Yes... ma’am,” he said.

“Good,” she said. “Relax, Bakugo. You’re going on to the third event. Any more outbursts like this, and you will be disqualified.”

His eyes locked on Izuku and the green-haired boy’s friends. “Fine. I’ll settle this then.”

“We’ll meet back here after lunch! We’ll have some minigames for those who aren’t moving on to the third event, but they are optional, so if you want to watch from the stands, that’s fine too. Dismissed.”

Bakugo stormed off the field, easily outpacing the rest of the class.

With a look of apology to the rest of the class, Eijiro rushed ahead of everyone to catch up with Bakugo. As the other fifteen students headed back to their tunnel, Izuku said loudly, “Sorry if anyone else feels like Bakugo. If you do, I apologize.”

Denki laughed. “Are you kidding? Man, that was a wicked smart plan. Only one thing I’m not clear on… if we’d agreed to train with you over the past two weeks…?”

“We’d have brought you in,” Ochaco said.

“Makes sense,” Kyoka said. “I noticed you didn’t go after anyone once we hit the five-minute mark.”

Tenya chopped his hand through the air. “We only had enough people for three teams. We secured enough points to ensure moving on, and then we only took points from teams that engaged with us and redistributed those points as a deterrent.” Gesturing in the direction that Bakugo had gone. “Obviously, the deterrent factor didn’t completely work, but we didn’t interfere with which other teams would move on unless they came after us first.”

Hanta shrugged. “That’s fair, you know. Heck, if we went after you, we were trying to keep you from moving on, so can we really complain? I’d have liked to have moved on to the last event, but you weren’t malicious about it. Not like you were trying to get all the points for yourselves.”

“The math checks out,” Tsuyu said. “If the two teams with four people secured all the remaining points, all three of your teams would have been able to compete in the third event too, ribbit.”

Todoroki walked close enough to Izuku to whisper, “I want to talk to you, Midoriya. Meet me at junction L-thirteen, please.”

Izuku nodded without a word as they reached the tunnel, where their teacher waited, leaning against the wall in the shadows. “Class A, good job, all of you. Whether you won or lost, you all did well, and I’m proud of your performance. Those of you who were on Teams Yokai, Battle Fist, and Compulsion, come with me. The rest of you – get cleaned up, see Recovery Girl if you need to, and get some food.”

Silently, Aizawa led the subset of his students into a small, unused prep room. “Take a seat,” he said, waiting until Hagakure, Uraraka, Ashido, Ida, and Midoriya took a seat. “So, you collaborated to decide the winners by manipulating the availability of points to the remaining teams and conspiring to, what, play a shell game? Three card monte?”

Several of his students paled. Izuku stood up. “It… sounds a lot worse when you put it that way. I’ll take full responsibility for our actions. I’m the one who first proposed the plan.”

“Wait a moment,” Tenya said. “I was just as involved.”

“We all were,” Ochaco conceded. “Well, Mina’s only known since right after the USJ. We didn’t bring Toru in until today.”

“Hatsume pushed her way into it,” Tenya said. “Indeed, she didn’t even care to hear the details of the plan so long as her inventions got noticed.”

“I still benefitted from it,” Toru said. “If they’re guilty, so am I.”

Aizawa massaged the bridge of his nose. “I appreciate you’re covering each other’s backs, but you’re going to have to forget that for the third event. Other than that, you all have the wrong idea.” He looked up with a grin. “None of you are in any trouble. In fact, I couldn’t be prouder. Your plan was both sneaky and keeping to the letter of the rules. You,” and he locked eyes with Izuku, “didn’t manipulate the scenario, you worked within the confines provided to the best of your ability. You did research, planned with minimal information, and tried to supply the benefit to the rest of your opponents. When we start the section on underground hero work, I’ll be expecting great things from all of you, even if you’re planning to focus on mainstream or rescue work. The best heroes are the ones who can cover more than one area.” He stood up and moved toward the door, turning to add, “Get some food and some rest. You all did great, but your day isn’t over. And if anyone gives you a hard time, let me know.”

Only Izuku and Tenya understood JSL well enough to catch that his fingers spelled “Bakugo” when he said “anyone.”

Eijiro pushed the door to the prep room open still in his new diamond form, but other than Yuga, he didn’t find anyone. “Hey, Yuga! Have you seen Bakugo?”

Yuga shook his head. “Non, you are the first one back. Félicitations! You did well!”

“Thanks, dude! Got to get a quick shower and then run!” He grabbed a change of clothes, dumped his ruined outfit in the hazardous waste bin, and took a quick chemical shower before taking an equally quick regular shower. Only when he was done did he drop his Hardening, amazed how much easier it was to stay in the new form. Leaving the prep room, he checked three of the unused rooms nearby before he found Bakugo sitting on the floor with his knees up and back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. “Hey, man. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Bakugo muttered.

“Right,” Eijiro said, sitting down beside him. “So… want to tell me what that was back there?”

“More of the usual crap of this place. Everyone bending over backwards to worship the ground Deku walks on.”

“Okay, I’m saying this as your friend, so try to keep that in mind, but what the Hell is the matter with you?”

Bakugo looked up, barely controlled rage on his face. “You got a death wish? There’s a lot of easier ways to off yourself than pissing me off right now!”

“Oh? Got any recommendations? Because as near as I can tell everything seems to piss you off,” Eijiro shot back. “What’s this all really about?”

“Deku and his little nerd fr… followers cheating!”

“My granny had a saying. ‘Beatin’ ain’t cheatin’.’” Bakugo’s eyes narrowed, but Eijiro’s rolled. “She might have left the ‘B’ off sometimes, depending on the circumstances, but Midnight already shot the cheating thing down, didn’t she? I don’t see you reviewing the recordings, so deep down, I think you know it’s crap, too. Only half the people in the last event are moving on, and you’re one of them. Hell, you’re doing great!”

Bakugo let off two little blasts and Eijiro activated his quirk on reflex. “My hands are sweating! I’m not going to frigging attack you, damn it,” Bakugo spat out. “I’m not doing great! I’ve been beaten multiple times today.”

“If that’s really what’s bothering you, you should transfer to Isamu Academy. Not that they’re a bad school, or anything, but you could dominate it just like your old middle school. Of course, once you get your license, you’ll be right back in competition with everyone else anyway times a hundred. Maybe you could move to some third world country without any other heroes and be the number one there. Nobody wins every time, dude.”

“Screw that, I’m supposed to win every damn time! I’m Katsuki Bakugo! I’m supposed to win! I’m supposed to be running this damn place.” Bakugo sighed and hung his head. “I… I was always on top, and now I’m at the bottom, and every time I move up a rung, it’s like everyone else moves up two.”

“Well, there’s your problem,” Eijiro said.

“What the Hell are you talking about?”

Eijiro sighed. “You said it yourself. Every time you move up a rung, everyone else moves up two. You know why? You’re busy looking at every ladder except your own while everyone else is focused on climbing. Maybe your ladder goes higher than everyone else’s, maybe it doesn’t, but everyone has to climb their own. If you’re not paying attention to the rungs you’re holding on to, you’re in for a Hell of a fall.”

Bakugo clenched his fists to suppress another explosion. “I’m going to kill everyone out there.”

“Yeah? Well, you’d better bring your A game if you want to meet me in the finals.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Come on and let’s get some lunch.”

Bakugo grimaced. “Go on ahead. I need a few minutes.” Eijiro sighed and opened the door, walking out into the hallway. As he slowly shut the door, he heard a quiet, “Thanks, Kirishima.”

Aizawa made his way to the announcer’s booth to check on Hizashi and Tensei, but it stood empty. He found them both in the private teacher’s booth enjoying the buffet, but he also found Nezu waiting for him.

Nezu’s beady little eyes lit up when he saw Aizawa and waved him over. Without a word, he sat down in the chair beside the principal, and Nezu pulled a small device out of his jacket pocket. With the press of a few buttons, a small holographic display showed a range of one meter. Activating the device, Nezu proudly said, “I have made some rather drastic improvements to my CUBE - Communication and Understanding Bafflement Equipment! Anyone listening in will hear randomly generated lorem ipsum phrases in a variety of different voices and tones, and a scattering field, based coincidently on one of your student’s quirks, will prevent clear viewing of our faces.”

“Damn,” Aizawa muttered, “I owe Nem twenty thousand yen. My guess for the name was ‘Cube of Silence.’”

“As delightful as this conversation is, Mr. Aizawa,” Nezu said, “you’re a busy man who could use some food and a nap. I’ll make this brief. Please cancel your ban on Mr. Bakugo sparring with Mr. Midoriya, Mr. Ida, and Ms. Uraraka.”

Of all the discussion topics he expected that one didn’t make the list, but he wasn’t surprised Nezu knew either. He’d flagged Bakugo’s file and sent a notification to all the teachers, after all. With a quick shake of his head, Aizawa said, “I’d prefer not to, sir. Bakugo is a loose cannon in more ways than one. Not only is he a monster in combat, but he’s also got a narcissistic streak that you couldn’t cut with a diamond, and I’m not entirely sure that he hasn’t collected the whole set of the dark tetrad. He bears a grudge against Midoriya that could turn violent if it isn’t already, and I’ve seen signs that it’s spilling over to others close to Midoriya as well.”

“We’re all monsters in our own ways,” Nezu said calmly. “Mr. Midoriya is, if you view him objectively, one of the most terrifying students ever to attend UA, second only to All Might, and perhaps only for the time being. Look at what he has done with the raw potential of Tenya Ida and Ochaco Uraraka, not to mention I suspect he had a hand in the changes we saw in Eijiro Kirishima today. Regardless, Mr. Bakugo is a highly intelligent young man. Banning him from sparring with Mr. Midoriya only reinforces his mistaken assumption that he is somehow superior to Mr. Midoriya. He mistakenly believes that the school is biased in Mr. Midoriya’s favor, that the ban is protecting the weak from the strong. We both know that is not the case, and Mr. Midoriya will soon grow tired of Mr. Bakugo’s attempts for dominance and remind him that a true alpha does not need to bark the loudest. I believe we have seen positive steps in that direction during this very sports festival.”

Aizawa sighed. “They’re not a pack of wolves.” He kept quiet on the fact that the whole idea of “alpha wolves” had long been debunked. Nezu stayed a proponent of the theory, despite the overwhelming evidence.

Nezu laughed. “Of course not! This whole issue would be sorted by now if they were. Mr. Bakugo must learn this lesson, the one my predecessor did not teach Endeavor. Just look at all the trouble that caused and is still causing! We will not make that same mistake again, not when we can easily prevent it. If you would like, you may send these… Three Musketeers… to my office once classes resume, but we can’t avoid the situation and hope it resolves itself.”

“This… is a bad idea,” Aizawa said.

Nezu smiled. “No, it is an unpleasant idea, but also a necessary one. Trust me on this, Mr. Aizawa.”

All Might made his way through the tunnels beneath the stadium, looking for young Izuku and his friends to congratulate them on an outstanding performance. He chuckled to himself as he searched. While his own influence shone through the boy’s performance, young Izuku soaked up knowledge like a sponge. His fighting style consisted of moves taken and refined from practicing with some of Japan’s finest heroes, but his plan for the second round? That was all from young Aizawa’s influence.

He projected an image of straightforward heroism for so long, he’d internalized it. Had All Might been competing, he’d have snatched the ten million points and defended it against all comers until the very end. A Kansas City shuffle simply never would have occurred to him, although he liked to imagine that he’d grown enough since the Battle of Musutafu that he would have worked with some of the other teams.

As he turned the corner on the landing of a stairwell, he saw someone who, if things had been different, could possibly have become a friend. “Ah, Endeavor! Good to see you again. You must be quite proud of your son’s performance today. His strength and skills will make a fine addition to your already impressive legacy someday! I must admit, I am a bit envious of you, having someone to carry on your family name.”

The flames on Endeavor’s face grew a bit brighter in the dark of the stairwell, and All Might shuddered and suppressed the unworthy thought that Endeavor appeared to be a demon rising from the depths of Hell. “All Might,” Endeavor said with a chill in his voice juxtaposing the flames on his face, “what are you doing here?”

With forced cheerfulness, All Might replied, “Looking to give some guidance to my students, of course. I imagine you want to find your son to deliver a pep talk. Technically, this area is restricted to UA students and staff, though. I’ll be glad to go with you as my guest.”

“No need. I’ll return to the stands. My… son… knows what he needs to do,” Endeavor said. “He’s going to crush your little b… protégé and prove to all the people watching who should be the number one hero. Me. Proving that is the only reason that boy exists.”

“Children should find their own way, but I look forward to the day I’m toppled in the rankings, Endeavor,” All Might said with an awkward but sincere smile. “Because I don’t intend to slow down, so think of how many people we’ll help!”

After a few more minutes, Bakugo stood and dusted himself off. Checking his replica hero costume in the mirror, he decided he didn’t need a fresh one. He made his way through the winding tunnels underneath the stadium, heading toward the cafeteria when he heard a familiar voice. He stopped near the L-twelve intersection and leaned against the wall. From a nearby junction, he heard Deku’s annoying voice. “Sorry for the delay, Todoroki. What did you need? If this is about the second event, I’ve already apologized, and you heard Midnight’s ruling.”

Icy-Hot? he thought. Are they trying to fix the third event, too?

“It’s not about that, Midoriya,” Icy-Hot said. “This is about you and All Might. I know all about the two of you.”

Bakugo could hear Deku sigh. “Everyone knows that he’s been my mentor for years, Todoroki. No one’s tried to keep that a secret. Sure, I’m a paid intern at Might Incorporated on the weekends and my mom is the head of public relations for him, but I don’t get special treatment in class.”

“I don’t care about any of that. My father… everything he does is for the purpose of becoming the number one hero. He wants to prove himself, and more importantly to prove that his way is superior to All Might’s way. That… is the only reason I exist. I’m guessing you are like me, the product of a quirk marriage.”

What the Hell is he talking about? Bakugo thought.

“What are you talking about?” Deku asked like a damn idiot. “I mean, I know what quirk marriages are, but my parents didn’t marry for that.”

“I get that that’s your cover story,” Icy-Hot said calmly. “All Might could never admit to having a secret son. I understand. After all, my father’s own public relations department has portrayed his marriage to my mother as a fairytale. In a way it is, since if you go back to the early versions of those fairytales, they’re truly horrible. No, my father wanted one thing from my mother, a child with the perfect blend of his fire quirk and her ice quirk. He used his wealth and fame to buy her from her family, and it took four tries before he finally got what he wanted: me. After that, he had no more use for her. I don’t remember a time when my mother wasn’t sad. Then, one day, she simply snapped, and poured boiling water on my face.”

“Todoroki… Shoto… that’s horrible,” Deku said, and Bakugo had to agree. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me, though. You should talk to Mr. Aizawa or to All Might! They can help!” Bakugo held his breath as the silence stretched out.

Finally, Icy-Hot spoke. “Aizawa can’t really do anything against the number two hero, and he’s already helped as much as he can. As for All Might, why would he interfere? I’ve noticed how careful you are in the changing rooms, and I know you’re hiding the scars from his training.” Bakugo stared at his feet, knowing full well where Deku’s scars came from, as he heard the rustle of fabric, Icy-Hot rolling up a sleave or lifting his shirt. “You and I are the same, Midoriya. I don’t know what kind of quirk he was hoping to get from your mother, but I know the signs. Why would All Might care about me, when he treats his own son the same way Endeavor treats me?”

Bakugo had to suppress a shudder. Sure, he’d been young when the Battle of Musutafu happened, but he remembered Uncle Hisashi and the man’s mess of curly black hair and freckles. Deku might have gotten taller and buff now, but Deku didn’t look anything like All Might. If Icy-Hot didn’t sound so… pitiable, he’d be coming off like a complete dick. Endeavor certainly did, and what did that mean for himself?

“Shoto,” Deku said, “my scars have nothing to do with All Might. You’re completely wrong about that. As for my father, his name was Hisashi Midoriya.”

“Of course, you’d say that” Icy-Hot started.

Deku cut him off with “Because it’s the truth. My father died to save my life, and I don’t care what you heard or think, but do not disrespect his memory with this crap. Look, you can believe what you want, but whatever you think is between All Might and me, it’s nothing like what is between your father and you. All Might has never hurt me. Either way, you should talk to Aizawa. Tell him the truth. He can help.”

Bakugo rolled his eyes and imagined Icy-Hot probably doing the same thing. “The only thing that will help is to prove I’m superior. I’ll beat you with only my mother’s ice quirk, and that will prove that I’m superior. Superior to you. Superior to All Might. And superior to my father.”

He heard Icy-Hot’s footsteps heading away from the intersection. After a few moments, he heard a muttered, “We’ll see about that.” Deku’s footsteps followed, but not the typical confident stride his former childhood friend used since… well, sometime after leaving Aldera all those years ago. The last time he heard those cautious and uncertain footsteps, Deku still called him Kacchan.

“Check that out, Minoru,” Mina said as Setsuna Tokage from class B gave an appreciative whistle under her breath.

Minoru looked up as several American cheerleaders walked through the cafeteria wearing skimpy UA cheerleading outfits. He barely managed to stop himself from spitting out his soda, ending with a cough. “Mina!” he managed to choke. “I’m trying to be good! You’re not helping!”

Setsuna snorted. “Nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life. Their outfits aren’t exactly meant to discourage people from looking.”

“S’all about how far you take it,” Mina pointed out. “I don’t care if someone checks me out, since I do it too, if they keep their hands to themselves and don’t try to peek when I’m in the bath or sleeping. Answer honestly, what would the old pervy Minoru have done?”

Minoru thought about it. He glanced across the table at Yaoyorozu who watched and listened with interest. Well, so much for the good will I just earned. “Um, probably tried to convince you all that the girls from the hero classes were supposed to put on a cheerleading routine too.”

Denki laughed from nearby. “You know, I probably would have helped! That would be hilarious! Ow!” he finished as an earphone jack poked him in the side. “Sorry! It would have been funny, and you’re all as attractive as the real cheerleaders. We could have told Tenya that Mr. Aizawa told us to inform the class reps, but we couldn’t find Yaomomo.” He nodded to Yaoyorozu. “As trusting as he is, he’d have come to you and informed you of the message, probably forgetting to even mention our part. Fair’s fair, what would you have done?”

Yaomomo blushed. “I… I’d probably believe him. I could easily make cheerleader outfits, and with the mobility training we’ve had, we could probably put together a good routine quickly.”

“And I’d have killed the two of you for being pigs,” Kyoka said pointedly to Denki.

“We’d have deserved it,” Minoru conceded, but the sting was a bit lessened when Yaomomo reached over and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. Sitting somewhere near her, Kinoko Komori, class B’s Shemage, watched closely.

Denki smiled and winked at Kyoka, “Ah, but what else would I have to live for at that point? After seeing you dressed as a cheerleader, the rest of my life would be downhill from that point, anyway.”

She blushed and stood. “I’m… I’m going to go get a good seat. You’re still a pig.”

As Kyoka walked away, Mina leaned over. “You like to live dangerously.”

“Oink, or in the words of Robert Browning,” Denki muttered, “’Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’”

Setsuna winked. “I kind of wish you had tricked us all. I wouldn’t mind seeing everyone in cheerleader uniforms, and if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

“I think I’m going to try to meditate a bit before the next event,” Yaomomo said, standing and walking away. After a few moments, Kinoko followed her.

After lunch, most of the students made their way back to the field, although a few headed directly to their reserved spots in the stands. “And… we’re back,” Present Mic announced. “We’ve got some exciting games lined up for the next hour, but then we’ll be kicking off what you’ve all been waiting for! Am I right, Ingenium?”

“That you are, Present Mic,” Tensei said. “It’s no secret that the last event is always a single elimination tournament of some kind. Who could forget last year’s matches with foam swords?”

“Certainly not me!” Hizashi replied. “Of course, we probably shouldn’t have had the swords glow like they did because we received several cease-and-desist letters. We probably won’t try that one again until you can look back and say it happened a long time ago! Looks like Midnight is ready to announce the event and the first round of matchups, so let’s go down to the field!”

“Welcome back!” Midnight called. “The final event will start in an hour with one-on-one matches! The rules are simple: there is no time limit. The competitors will face each other in a series of matches. The winners of the first match will face the winner of the second match in the second round. You win by forcing your opponent out of the ring, if your opponent surrenders, or if your opponent can no longer fight. Recovery Girl is on standby, so feel free to fight dirty, you naughty boys and girls, but you will be disqualified for going for a kill.” She said the last part with a quick glance to Bakugo, who rolled his eyes. The display behind her showed a bracket with the numbers one through sixteen. “Now, each of our sweet sixteen come up and draw a number.”

Bakugo moved quickly, shoved his hand into the box, and pulled out a small ball with a number printed on it, getting the number sixteen. As soon as he did, the number on the display was replaced with “Detonator.” Each of the students walked up and did the same.

Midnight pointed to the board with the following matches detailed:

Match 1

Ultra, the Unwavering Hero vs.

Alien Queen, the Ripley Hero

Match 2

Tsukuyomi, the Jet-Black Hero vs.

Yokai, the Spirit Hero

Match 3

Phantom Thief, the Mirror Hero vs.

Compulsion, the Persuasive Hero of the general education course

Match 4

Tentacole, the Tentacle Hero vs.

Shoto Todoroki of the hero course

Match 5

Alchemist, the Creation Hero vs.

Reciprocator, the Reactive Hero

Match 6

Anzu, the Dinosaur Hero vs.

Battle Fist, the Pummeling Hero

Match 7

Red Riot, the Sturdy Hero vs.

Mei Hatsume of the support course

Match 8

Uravity, the Gravity Hero vs.

Detonator, the Explosive Hero

“We’ll start in an hour with match one: Ultra versus Alien Queen! Once we’re down to our Elite Eight, the winner of match one will face the winner of match two to get our Final Four. Those who lose their match in the Final Four will face each other for third place, and we’ll end with our Championship round!”

Chapter Text

“Welp,” Mina said, “that’s my ass.”

Izuku smiled. “Don’t sell yourself short, Mina. You’ve made it this far.”

She leaned over to Tenya. “Can I borrow your glasses? He wouldn’t hit a girl with glasses, right?”

Tenya smirked. “He normally wouldn’t hit anyone, but he would during a tournament.”

“Finally!” Bakugo said. “This couldn’t have worked out better. I’ll finally get to kill Deku in the Championship. Now who the Hell is Uravity? Nah, doesn’t matter. Hope their next of kin is around to identify the remains.”

Izuku and Tenya both shot Ochaco a look, but her normal expression had been replaced with the gleeful expression of a greedy child who’d just found that Santa Claus had crashed his sleigh in her backyard, giving her plenty of time to hide his sack of toys before the authorities arrived. “Ochaco,” Tenya whispered, “please try to remember that going for the kill will get you disqualified.”

“Tenya,” Izuku said in a worried tone, “that’s not helping.”

“Oh no,” she replied, “that’s exactly what I needed to hear, Izuku. Don’t worry, Tenya, I’m not going to kill him. I’m just going to hurt him really, really bad.”

Over the course of the next hour, most of the eliminated students competed in some side games such as a ball roll, tug of war, dodgeball, and a basket toss. The main prize was exposure, and some people earned the attention they’d missed during the main events.

Other students, like Minoru Mineta and Denki Kaminari, simply sat in the special reserved section for class A and watched the festivities unfold. A few of their classmates joined them, along with some of the members from class B in the next section. Denki leaned back with his arms folded behind his back, glancing at the American cheerleaders performing their routine. With a sigh, he said, “It’s a shame you’ve abandoned the way of the horn dog, Minoru. It was a good plan and probably would have worked.”

Minoru snorted. “No way, it wasn’t a plan, just the kind of thing I might have tried if I hadn’t changed my ways. If I hadn’t been expelled already, that probably would have been enough for Aizawa.”

“Don’t be too sure, my dude,” Denki said. “Aizawa seems to try and use punishment as a corrective tool rather than a punitive one. Either way, I’d have loved to see some, Hell, all the girls in cheerleader outfits.”

“Yeah, I mean, I can’t really deny that I would too,” Minoru admitted. “Especially….”

“Excuse me,” a soft voice said, and Minoru looked over, instantly forgetting whatever he would have said next. “I know you didn’t want to get into truffle for tricking us, but after thinking about it, the idea of wearing one of them really grew on me. I hope it’s not in spore taste!” Wearing the same outfit as the American cheerleaders, Kinoko Komori blushed slightly, holding two pom-poms that were vaguely mushroom shaped.

“Whoa,” Denki muttered. He elbowed Minoru and hissed, “Dude, say something.”

“K… Komori, you look… beautiful,” Minoru managed to squeak.

“Thank you very mush!” She said, blushing even brighter but also smiling. “I did want to try it on, and Yaoyorozu was nice enough to make one for me after I convinced her that no one was tricking me. I’m, um, going to go change and sit with my class, but… well, you can call me Kinoko. And, um, you can call me… on the phone, I mean. You seem like a fun-gi!” She handed him a small piece of paper, bowed, and ran off.

Denki stared after her when she’d gone, before turning to Koji who looked just as surprised. “What… what the Hell just happened?” Koji just shrugged, so Denki glanced at Minoru, who slowly turned around and opened the piece of paper, finding a phone number and staring at it without moving. With a roll of his eyes, he said “Clear!” and sent a minor jolt through Minoru. “Don’t go toward the light, buddy!”

The sweet sixteen were given their own individual prep rooms, and Izuku suspected that some of the teachers arranged his personal room to be close to Ochaco and Tenya’s rooms. He leaned back on the couch and set his alarm to ring in fifteen minutes.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he found himself standing in front of the castle. Nana stood in the distance and waved proudly while En stood beside her and gave a solemn nod that may as well have been jumping around in praise considering how tight lipped the stoic man could be.

A large, bald man stood near Izuku wearing a solid black leather jacket and matching pants with no shirt and a bandolier. It honestly reminded Izuku of Eijiro’s original costume. The man leaned forward, only a few centimeters taller than Izuku, close enough that he could have counted the stubble on the man’s face. “So, you’re the punk that Nana and En have been in a tizzy about? You don’t seem like much. Heck, I used to take on guys two or three times your size every day before breakfast, and that was before I got a hold on One For All. Don’t know what Eight was thinking giving it to you. So far, I’m not impressed.”

Izuku gave a polite bow. “Sorry you feel that way, but it’s nice to meet you. I’m Izuku Midoriya, and I am the ninth holder of One For All.

“Yeah, yeah, I know all that,” the man said with a laugh. “We don’t have a lot of time, but not taking any crap from a dead guy does impress me. So, here’s the deal, Izuku: I’m Daigoro Banjo, just call me Daigoro, and my quirk is called Blackwhip. You’ve got two choices, either I go ahead and release it now, or you wait until after the festival when we’ve got more time. You seem like a guy who’s good at keeping his cool, but Blackwhip responds to your emotions, whatever they might be. If you get all butthurt over something, you could lose control. Considering it is the best base quirk and has been marinating in One For All a long time, you could tear the whole stadium apart.”

“In that case, I think I’d rather wait, Daigoro,” Izuku said with another bow.

“Come on over,” he yelled, and Nana and En appeared. “Damn it, I owe Nana twenty thousand yen now. She told me you’d be careful. You change your mind, just think ‘Blackwhip’ as hard as you can, but don’t forget that you can’t unscramble an egg.”

“He’s a good kid,” she said with a laugh.

“Thanks so much for helping me on my speech!” Izuku said, giving her a hug.

“Nah, I just poked you to get you started, the rest came from you,” she said with a smile. “You want to wake up now, kiddo. Big Lug alert.”

Ochaco and Tenya both met in the hallway and knocked quietly on the door to Izuku’s prep room, but he didn’t respond. They debated knocking louder when All Might turned the corner and greeted them. “Young Ochaco! Young Tenya! Fantastic job in the festival so far. I’m proud of both of you, and young Izuku as well. I’ve already spoken with the rest of the sixteen, you three were the last on my list.”

“Thank you, All Might,” Tenya said. “We did knock at Izuku’s door, but he didn’t answer. He may be napping.”

All Might laughed. “Even a nap of just a minute or two with One… of the enhancement quirks like mine can seem like a full night’s sleep. I’m sure it will be fine!” He knocked loudly and then opened the door a crack. “Young Izuku, your friends and I are here!”

Izuku opened the door with a smile. “Sorry, was just taking a quick nap. Is something wrong?”

“Not at all, young Izuku,” All Might said. “I wanted to wish each young hero taking part in the final event good luck. No matter where you finish, I’m proud of you all.”

“Thanks, All Might. If I were a betting man, and old enough, I’d put money on the people in this room,” Izuku mused.

All Might chuckled. “As a competitor, you wouldn’t be allowed to bet on the game anyway. I’m not a gambler either, but I suspect Tsukauchi has a little bit of money on the three of you.”

Ochaco chuckled. “Well, now I’ve got something worth fighting for! Too bad we can’t see the future.”

All Might looked a bit sad for a moment, but then smiled cheerfully. “We all see the future, young Ochaco, as it becomes the present and then the past.”

The muscular, blonde boy raised his fist to the door to the private booth, but a voice called out “Come in, Mirio,” before he could knock.

Opening the door, he walked in. “Good afternoon, Sir. Same to you, Bubble Girl, Centipeder! Hope you’ve been enjoying the sports festival so far.”

Sir Nighteye nodded. “It has been quite exciting. You should be proud of your victory on Thursday.”

“Thank you, sir!” Mirio Togata replied. “Everyone tried hard, but thanks to all your training, it almost felt too easy. The only ones I didn’t feel guilty going all out against were Tamaki and Nejire!”

“You’ve met Izuku Midoriya and told me about him,” Sir Nighteye said. “What do you think of his chances in the last event?”

Mirio paused and gave the question a good deal of thought, as he did with any question Sir asked him. Finally, he replied, “I expect him to do well. I’ve met most of the first years who haven’t been eliminated, and there’s… something about him. I’m not sure how to explain it, Sir. There’s just something… different. Oh! It kind of reminded me of that time I met All Might when I was a little kid.”

Sir Nighteye frowned. “I see. Do you want to stay and watch from here?”

“I’d like to, Sir,” Mirio said, “but my class is all sitting together, and I’d hate to abandon them. If that’s all right with you.”

“Of course, Mirio. Have fun with your friends,” he said. He stared at the door for a few moments after Mirio left. Then he laced his fingers together, bring them up under his nose and watching the field closely with his expression hidden from his two sidekicks.

Mina Ashido stood in the tunnel nervously, and then she saw Midori walking toward her with a smile on his face. She liked Midori, but not the like she’d have for boyfriend material. Besides, Ochaco would go all ninja on her and she couldn’t take that kind of pain, but he was a good guy. She’d known a few people in her time with powerful quirks, and they tended to become like Bakugo in her experience. Not necessarily as jerky as him, but they all seemed to have this confidence that strayed into arrogance without a backwards glance. Izuku didn’t have that. Sometimes he acted overconfident, but when he wasn’t putting up a front, real humility would shine through, convincing her that the confidence was all an act. “Well,” she said, “guess this is it for me.”

“Mina,” he said softly, “you’re amazing. I’m sure it will be a hard fight for both of us.”

She laughed. “Don’t kid a kidder. I’ve seen you fighting All Might, Midori, even if both of you were holding back. Hell, I know I’m good in a fight, but I don’t have a prayer, and we both know it. I think I’m just going to give up.”

“Don’t do that,” he said fiercely. “Go out there and show them what Alien Queen can do! Give it your best. Let’s at least show off the kata we developed.”

She did feel a bit of pride for the blend of Gunhead martial arts, breakdancing, and Judo the pair had cobbled together into a unique fighting style. “You asked for it, Midori. No holding back!” The light in the tunnel turned from red to blue. “Which of us goes out first?”

“Me, technically,” he said, “but let’s go out together.”

“Entering the field together, we’ve got two students from class A,” Present Mic said. “The young lady in pink may seem sweet and innocent, but she’ll make your chest burst in more ways than one! She’s a real acid trip, the Ripley Hero, Alien Queen!”

“She’s drawn a tough opponent for the first match,” Ingenium added. “You’ve all seen him today, finishing in the top three in both of our earlier events and delivering personal remarks as the student representative, meaning he scored the highest on this year’s entrance exam. What you may not know is he’s the only student to get a perfect score on the exam. I suspect plenty of you heroes out there recognize him despite the automated obscuring of his face on your televisions. You heard his real name earlier, but today the world will know him as Ultra, the Unwavering Hero!”

Down on the stage, Midnight smiled proudly as her students took their places. Izuku winked to Mina, and both bowed toward the teacher’s box, then toward Midnight, and finally to each other. Midnight raised her whip and cracked it simultaneously with yelling, “Begin!”

Both students dropped into defensive stances, but then Mina launched herself forward in a sequence of fluid moves that almost seemed like a dance. Punches yielded to kicks and grapples, combined with throws. Every time one of them seemed to gain the upper hand, the other would reverse it, taking the lead. Each attack met the perfect block, parry, or dodge.

“Thanks, Midori,” Mina said roughly five minutes into the match, taking a step back and letting acid flow down her arms. “You made me look good during this. Now it’s my turn to do the same for you. No holding back, okay? I’m coming at you for real.”

“You’re on,” he said with a smile.

With a yell of “Acid Spin!” Mina spun like a ballet dancer, sending small globs of acid out in an arc around her. Izuku wordlessly leaped over it, shooting forward with a punch she barely managed to dodge. She retaliated with a kick, but a blast of air pressure from his flicked finger knocked her over.

“What’s this, folks?” Tensei yelled. “After a stunning martial arts demonstration, that almost looked like a dance, suddenly war has been declared. Just look at them go!”

“Seems like they wanted to prove their bona fides, first. Now the show is over, and the fight has begun!” Hizashi declared. “You can tell they’re fighting for real, but they’ve lost none of the skill and artistry.”