Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He woke up in an alleyway with a white disk clutched in his hand. Nagisa almost let his eyes snap open before he remembered to take stock of himself first. Don't let the potential enemy know you're awake.

Nothing felt broken and there were no new additions to the bruises he already had. The ground was cold and there was an unflattering smell coming from his right side a few feet behind him. A dumpster. He couldn't sense anyone nearby, so Nagisa settled for opening his eyes.

He last remembered going to sleep at home. Sleep had been rough the past couple months after the loss of Koro-sensei and everyone having to prepare for the next school year at different high schools. And he had nights like the others where they would end up back in their old classroom staring at the blackboard.

But he hasn't had a night so far where he woke up in an unknown part of the city with only the clothes on his back and a disk in his hand.

Wait-

Nagisa looked at the device in his hand that he knew he didn't have before he woke up. It was white and smooth with a little push button on top. Deciding to take the risk he pushed it.

A little hologram popped up with what looked like a home screen. There were three icons: camera, gallery, and search. He pulled up the gallery first and on it was- …. oh.

The yearbook Koro-sensei made for everyone. It looked like all the pictures were there. Nagisa felt the tears come up and quickly shut the app. He would look at it later. There was nothing special about the camera feature, but the search was different.

Clicking on it revealed a glitching Ritsu.

She glanced around her new surroundings with confusion. “Nagisa? What's going on? Why is the connection so bad? It's hard to get through, the servers are weird.” Not everything Ritsu said came out clear but he could get the gist of what she was trying to say.

“Ritsu I woke up somewhere unfamiliar, think you can help out?” If she couldn’t then Nagisa was a little screwed.

“Of course, one moment.” She sent him what should have been a reassuring smile, but all Nagisa felt was confusion.

No matter the place, Ritsu had little trouble coming through the network. So now that he's in some unknown area and above ground yet the connection was so unstable, this wasn't looking good.

“You’re currently in Musutafu, Japan. The outskirts of it are within the Shizuoka Prefecture.”

“But I’ve never heard of Musutafu city.”

“Me neither, which doesn’t make any sense, but here it says it exists.” Ritsu pulls up tabs on a city called Musutafu with pictures as proof. She kept scrolling through more articles and databases before stopping short with a realization. “What? But that's impossible!”

“Ritsu?”

“Nagisa, not only are you in a city that isn’t real but you're also not in the right time. I can't find an error in the system, but it says the year is 23XX. And there's this thing, quirks?” Ritsu grows distracted with all the new information. “That started a little over two hundred years ago. Imagine Koro-sensei being able to walk around in broad daylight in crowded areas and look normal. It's-”

Ritsu was still talking but Nagisa had stopped listening. The year is wrong, hundreds of years wrong. And as he saw images flash on screen courtesy of Ritsu, of how the world looks now, it all screamed wrong. Because if the year was right then that meant everyone was gone and Nagisa was alone.

“Ritsu.”

“It looks really cool- yes?” Ritsu closed all the tabs open and held her hands out, wanting to touch but not having the body to do so. “Nagisa, I need you to breathe. I'm sorry for rambling and not noticing sooner but you need to breathe.”

“Was I ever given a missing person's report?”

Ritsu turned away for a moment before coming back. “…. No. Actually, it looks like you don't exist on record, no one from class 3-E does. Not our teachers either, and the moon never exploded.”

That left him with more confusion, but he was quickly coming out of his panic. Because even if no one is on paper and could just be a system mistake. The moon exploding would be a big deal no matter how much history moved forward. He had a theory but.

“Ritsu, have the others ever told you about this one-story trope, dimension travel?”

“Yes. You think this is what it is? But wouldn't you have to have died?”

“Not necessarily. That's more like reincarnation or isekai tropes. Dimension travel could just be an accident. If no one exists in this place and we're in a different timeline completely, then that's the explanation I'm sticking with. I just don't know what caused it.” As Nagisa spoke he got up from the ground and faded into the darkness the alleyway provided just in case.

Ritsu thought it over before agreeing. “I can still communicate with what we'll call your original dimension. You were at home last, yes? I'll ask Mr. Karasuma to check in and explain the situation.” Within the next couple minutes Ritsu sent off the message and got herself established within this world's new system. If Nagisa was alone, then as his friend she wasn't going to leave him stranded.

She would stabilize herself and remake Nagisa's identity, give him an income and get him somewhere safe to live in for the duration of his stay. She also looked up places that could hold information about dimension travel or anything similar.

“Nagisa, what do you wish to be listed as? Quirkless or not.”

“Quirk? Is that what you were talking about earlier?”

“Yes. You can think of quirks like a superpower or a physical mutation. Koro-sensei's appearance would fit in even with the quirk discrimination mutant quirks receive. About 80% of the planet's human population has quirks. The 20% of quirkless people are typically looked down upon by the rest of society.”

“Seriously, even with all the time that has passed? Discrimination for having a certain type of quirk but looked down on if you have nothing. But on the other hand, two hundred years isn’t much time at all; it's expected that a chunk of society would still be ordinary.” Nagisa looked at the map Ritsu displayed on screen as a temporary home until the paperwork could be finalized on her end and received by a living person. He started to make his way over, sticking to the dark and going unnoticed by anyone still out in the middle of the night.

“There are medical ways to check if someone has a quirk or not. If they have two joints in their pinky toe, then they are quirkless.” They both snorted at that. “So, quirks are categorized in four ways.”

Ritsu talked the whole way to the temporary home, which was an abandoned office workplace. Recently abandoned in the past couple years. Nagisa learned all about quirks in today's age, along with the concept of heroes and villains. Which was stupidly taught as black and white in school systems. Villains bad and heroes good with no understanding or distinction in between.

There were hero schools, aka child soldier schools that encouraged children's dreams of becoming like their favorite hero, and the hero commission which blatantly stated they groomed young children into being heroes. And there were a couple hidden folders of heroes that had killed villains, were given permission ‘orders’, then thrown into prison when they were discovered. The hero commission took no blame of course.

“I think the best course of action would be to enroll into a hero school, UA being first on that list which leads me back to that one question. Quirkless or not?” Ritsu could get him enrolled to take the tests of any school, but he would need to complete his file first.

Nagisa didn't need to think about it. “Quirkless. No need to pretend to have something I don't. And UA will have good resources. If you could, what's the underground like?” Nagisa quickly explained himself at Ritsu's look of panic at the mention of ‘underground’. “Just in case the schools don't have what I need then the underground is the next best bet, I want to avoid the hero commission at all costs.”

Ritsu studied him, then sighed as she knew there was no talking him out of it. “There are different villain organizations of course and a few notable names that hold various connections. Though I am advising you to try school first and dangerous people later.” Ritsu finished with a pointed glare. She completed the paperwork of Nagisa's identity and got the rest ready for when he would move into a small apartment. “I listed your mother as your sole guardian that works overseas. I can also disguise myself as her if the need ever comes up.”

“Okay, thank you Ritsu.” They both gave each other a smile. “I'll leave the dangerous stuff alone for now and focus on studying and training.”

“You also need to be careful.”

“Hm?”

“You would be the first quirkless hero student in UA history. There are of course heroes who don't have battle related quirks and are successful, but you would be facing a lot of ridicule and be constantly looked down on.”

“That's nothing new, Ritsu. We were all class 3-E remember? Our schools rejects.”

“I know. And I know you can handle it.” Ritsu looked like she wanted to say more but held herself back.

“Ritsu.” She met his eyes with hers. “Thank you for all the help, I mean it.”

It was more than just tonight, and integrating him into this society, they both knew that.

“I'm going to sleep for the night, call you tomorrow?”

“Whenever you need me.” Ritsu signed off.

Nagisa shut off the device. He found a relatively clean couch to sleep on in a room with only a door as entry, no windows. He would be fine.

Ritsu was a load of help and despite the lack of everyone else, his whole world, he had the pictures to remind himself of what he was working for.

Tomorrow he would go to whatever place Ritsu had bought for him to stay in, he would make plans, get used to this reality.

He would be fine; he would have to be.

--- 

When Tadaomi woke up to an emergency message he wasn't expecting the information that came with it.

One of the kids, Nagisa, somehow went missing from his home and ended up in an alternative dimension with superpowers. Of all the weird shit that's happened in the past year, why not dimension travel?

“Fuck.” He got out of bed and opened his closet. The bed rustled when Irina pushed herself up and looked at him.

“What's wrong?”

He tossed her the phone and got to work on pulling his suit on and grabbing his keys.

“Well shit.” Irina rushed to get dressed too.

“Start calling the other kids, see what they know.” He started the car and Irina shoved herself in just as he started to pull onto the road.

There was no luck with the other kids, and now all of them were in a panic and threatening to storm the house only to be told to wait.

The Shiota household looked normal, no sign of forced entry but it was also empty. There was a crumpled note from Nagisa's mother that stated she was on a business trip and wouldn't be back till the end of the week.

The only odd thing from the surface level searching was the fact that Nagisa's bed sheets had been ripped off the bed and were halfway out of the room into the hall. No valuables were taken, there was no blood and besides the bed sheets there was no struggle.

“If it is dimension travel, we'll have to get the government involved.” Tadaomi said reluctantly.

“Maybe not!” Chirped a voice from the phone still in Irina's hand.

“Ritsu, what do you have for us?” Irina held the phone up for them to see.

“I am able to make the connection from our world to the one Nagisa is trapped in. He's safe right now and we've made plans on what to do next. Keep this in the dark for as long as you can sir!”

“I understand the kids are resourceful and you can help, but we can't let just you two to fix this.”

“Well, that world has progressed more technology wise. There may be someone here with the power to send Nagisa back. Although...” Ritsu paused. “It would be good to know what happened on our end, but you know how dangerous it would be to involve the government.”

The couple looked at each other, communicating silently on what they should do. Keeping the government out has its pros and cons but the longer it's hidden and eventually discovered, the consequences wouldn't be pretty.

“Fine.” He answered Ritsu. “You have the rest of the week at the very least. Well, make up something when the time comes. Get the kids in a group chat and advise them to stay out of trouble.”

“Right away!” Ritsu hung up.

“This is gonna be a pain. I'll start looking through my connections.” Irina handed him back his phone and went back to the car.

This was just the beginning. But Tadaomi knew this was going to be a long and stressful situation.

Chapter Text

In the morning Nagisa was able to buy the small apartment as a more temporary home. It was set in a relatively safe part of town with regular patrols from local heroes and the landlord was this quiet older man that looked to avoid interaction at all costs. He handed him the keys, told him when rent was due, and ran off soon afterwards. 

The apartment wasn’t anything special. There was a mini kitchen, single bedroom and a bathroom. It works fine for now; he would buy the stuff he needed later with the money Ritsu stole from various deep accounts around the world. He also decided to get an earpiece and a phone to talk to Ritsu through as it wasn’t convenient to carry the disk everywhere. He still kept it on him at all times, however. It was his only link to his previous world. 

And now, like he promised, he would find the material needed to pass the written part of UA’s exam. Studying was going to be…odd. But he would use what he learned in class 3-E to make it through. The written part was only half of the test, and it would set the bar of where he fell short. He needed every point to prove he had what it takes to keep up with his peers, if he couldn’t then he would be kicked out. And Ritsu would rat him out to Mr. Karasuma if he decided to use assassination to achieve his goals. Which, depending on how things turn out, he might be forced to do.

Finding a library wasn’t hard. Reading through the list Ritsu compiled on not just the school topics for the test but also basic history texts to familiarize himself in this world. It would be weird if he didn’t have the same level of base knowledge as everyone else. He knew he would stand out, but he didn’t need to that much. There would be a lot to go through as he watched and felt the ever-growing pile of books in his arms. 

This morning, he also found an area to train in, a place called Sekoto Peak. Around a decade ago, a fire quirk user lost control and burned down a section of the forest. It’s regrown back some and there was still plenty of space for him to train in a mountainous region. Just like being back at home. He planned to have the place memorized before the new school year started.

Another problem would be collecting new weapons. He knew how to use knives and guns, as did everyone else in class, but figured it would be weird if a fifteen-year-old knew how to use those weapons well. Quirk mastery not being included in that. Nagisa wondered if he could just walk right into a shop to purchase those weapons. Ritsu mentioned that when submitting costume ideas to UA, you could request certain support items. But he also would like to train with said weapons beforehand and not have to do so on the spot minutes after acquiring them, which would lead to injuries. 

There was also the problem of Japan’s strict gun control laws. Over the years of quirks evolving and becoming more dangerous, Japan’s strict laws had to have some give. There were pro heroes that used guns when fighting, with both real and rubber bullets. He figured that to get permission to use a gun he would need to discuss it with the school. So, guns would be on the back burner for now. He used knives more anyways, so that was of more importance at the moment.

He’ll see what he could order online.

It was weird, Nagisa thought after a few days of being here, it felt weird to not have a weapon on him, or even the Koro-sensei knife. The whole class kept the knives and some bullets on them at most times. Now he didn’t have any, it made him feel naked.

The store owner studied this small child as they browsed through their hunting knife selection with a focused expression. It wasn’t the weirdest thing they’ve seen for sure, but there was also no parental supervision in sight.

“Um, young miss, anything I can do to help?” The store owner nervously rubbed their metal claws together. They decided they would offer help, get this weird kid out of there faster. The kid ignored them. 

“Miss?” He reached out a claw to put on her shoulder, but it was grabbed before it made contact. The kid whipped her head around and for a second, he felt like he was prey. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, the coils were closing down around their neck. 

Tighter

Tighter

TIGHTER

They would do anything to avoid this predator's attention, to get it off of them. 

But just as quickly as it started, it stopped. The air rushed back into their lungs and their hand shook as it connected with the one at their chest.

What was that?

“Sorry, what were you saying?” The young girl asked them. She acted like everything was normal.

“I-I, uh.” They took a deep breath, plastered a customer's smile back on their face. “I noticed you had your sights fixated on our hunting knives. Need help on choosing anything?” Quirk use wasn’t permitted in the store, but they didn’t want to bring it up. Anything to keep a predator away from them. 

The girl switched her eyes from the selection and back to them a few times before accepting.

“I’ve used similar knives in the past, but I’ve never had to pick one out for myself. What would be good for hunting small animals?” The girl tilted her head. Before their interaction it would have been cute, but now it felt like one wrong move would result in the loss of his head.

“Well…” He gestured to what they had. “Anything here would work. We also have the sheaths right around here.” They gestured at another section of the store. “Is there other hunting gear you need?”

Please say no. Please leave quickly.

“Not at the moment.” Her voice trailed off as she went back to browsing. 

He took that as his cue to seek refuge behind his counter. Soon enough, too soon for his liking, she came up to the counter to pay for her items.

Three knives with sheaths, a taser, rope, and a first aid kit. More tame than he thought, with the first aid kit it looked slightly less like a murder kit. Everything was rung up and paid for and he felt freedom was just within reach.

“Your products look pretty well made, if they hold up, I’ll be back for more. Thanks.”

The freedom was ripped away.

She waved back at them as she walked out. With that, the store owner collapsed onto the counter.

Nagisa left the shop with some decent starting equipment. The owner was weird though, very twitchy, he thought as he made his way to the peak for practice.

The months went like this- wake up, jog to the library and study, leave in the afternoon, train at Sekoto peak until dark, go to the apartment to wash up, and go to sleep. Nagisa felt good, his studies were caught up and his training was going well. But he also felt lonely. He hasn’t been able to speak to anyone from class 3-E except Ritsu for months. Ritsu hasn’t been able to connect anyone’s contact information to his disk.

On top of that, neither of them knows where the disk came from or who made it. Why was it made, who gave it to him, why could it connect to Ritsu, and why did it have the yearbook inside of it? All these questions went unanswered. 

Another weird occurrence was the time shift between dimensions. On Nagisa’s first night, he could have Ritsu send a message to Karasuma and have it arrive in minutes. Now though, time has started to distort and go out of control. One day in a world of quirks could be a few hours back at home, and the next it could be a few days, then back again. It was wildly inconsistent and made no sense. Either way, it made updated information harder to send through. 

The cause, they guessed, had something to do with whoever brought him to this dimension. And it had to be that someone here brought him over, as far as they were aware, no one at home had a dimension crossing power. It was most likely a villain too, but it would take some time to figure out which one and why.

But they would have to shelve those ideas for now. The entrance exams will be next week. There would be the written test, a thirty-minute break, then whatever physical exam the school has decided on. Apparently, they switched it up every year but bounced between the same five ideas. 

“I hope this year is the obstacle course.”

“Due to the exam patterns, I doubt it will be that. I think it will either be capturing the flag or fighting robots.”

“Don’t crush my hope, Ritsu.”

Ritsu turned out to be right and laughed to herself in his earpiece.

Nagisa approached the school building for his written exam. It was… bigger than he thought it would be, and also came off as an open target. Seriously, a giant glass building in the shape of an H? It was an ugly structure too. 

“Wonder where all the money came from.” He mumbled to Ritsu.

“They work very closely with the government.”

“Of course they do, gotta give their child soldiers only the best.”

He glanced around at the other participants. Most were in their middle school uniforms, while others went for a casual athletic look, like himself. There were plenty of cocky, overconfident kids, and a few nervous ones sprinkled in. The quirks were diverse but from the looks of it, and the way only one type of hero makes it big here, only the flashy types would earn a place here. Those ‘unfortunate’ kids with quirks suited for more passive situations would be pushed into general studies or removed from UA all together. 

It would be fun to show everyone that a quirk means nothing against hard work and a passion for success.

First, he had to drop off a physical copy of his forms to one of the front desks in order to get a seat and test. He would also have to get his weapons approved to be able to use them in the latter half of the test. 

When the woman at the counter skimmed his paperwork Nagisa watched as she stopped reading for a moment and peeked up at him. Without saying anything, she accepted the papers and request for outside weapons to be used. He followed the signs pointed to the testing room and claimed his seat. 

Time for the test, just like he practiced.

He thought he did pretty well. Some of the material matched up with what he would be learning in his world if he was still there. It was only the history sections he was worried about. He read all the books Ritsu suggested and some of it came up in the test itself, but there was also stuff he didn’t recognize at all. 

After the break everyone was called into a new room for the instructions to the next test. There was a hero in the front of the room with a big monitor behind him.

“That’s Present Mic,” Ritsu whispered in his ear. “He’s mainly known for his radio show, but he’s also one of this school’s alumni and a teacher too.”

“Welcome everybody to today's show! Can I get a HEY?!”

Dead silence followed.

“Tough crowd. Then I’ll give you a rundown on the practical exam! Are you ready? Yeah!”

More silence. Unknown to all but one, Ritsu was laughing quietly. Then they both heard a kid muttering to himself about the pro-hero, only stopping when the kid next to him said to shut up. Present Mic went over the different robot types, how many points came from the different types and how long they would have.

Nagisa zoned out when one kid pointed out a fourth type that was worth zero points. The zero pointer was definitely a hint at the other kind of points the school must account for. There were the points they would get from defeating the “villains” but for a hero school that couldn’t just be all. Him and Ritsu were guessing they could earn points from other contestants that needed saving. 

They were all given a letter indicating which area they were assigned to fight in. The letters changed every seat, most likely to stop friends or people from the same school from being with each other. It was probably against some rule to aid your best friend or sabotage your worst enemy. Either way, he doesn’t know anyone here, so it didn’t matter.

He decided he would be sticking to the shadows for this test, and only pop out when someone needed saving or there was an enemy to beat. He would be avoiding cameras for the most part.

The plan was, even if he was average in the physical test, the mystery around him would snag the principal's attention. While doing some digging on the UA systems, Ritsu found some files with information that didn't belong to a school. A lot of police files and villain files surrounding All Might. They were digging into stuff they had no business in, if this school was solely for teaching the next generation of heroes. 

So, a strange kid that didn't exist a year ago (if he could figure it out),had no quirk, along with stealth training was trying out in one of the biggest hero schools in the world. That would put him on police radar for sure. And principal Nezu should want to keep an eye on him, figure out if he's a hero in training or a villain in disguise. 

He brought three of his hunting knives with him and would dart out occasionally to slice right through the wires hidden in the joints of the robots. He was ranking up a steady amount of points by doing this. He also nudged, pushed, and pulled other kids out of the way when they were either in over their head or were too injured to keep fighting safely. Afterall, this wasn’t a life or death battle, so there was no reason to risk your life or permanent energy for a placement in school. 

It was a bit sad, to watch as some of the other kids realized they weren’t suited for this, or didn’t train enough beforehand. They just gave up. But it was easier to persuade those who were finished to help those who were injured out of the area. Nagisa would like to think this final action in the exam would lighten their spirits, to be able to help someone else. Many seemed to forget that saving lives was just as important as defeating the villain. 

“This looks like so much fun! I wish I could be there too!” Ritsu had hacked into the camera system so she could watch too, instead of just listening through the ear piece. “Hey Nagisa, want me to listen to what the teachers are talking about?”

“You can do that?”

“Sure can! The monitor room has cameras too, you know. By the way, they’re going to send out the zero pointer soon. Are you going to fill me in on what you’re going to do?”

Nagisa laughed quietly. “It’s a surprise. Hey Ritsu, I don’t mean to sound rude but, do you mind turning off the sound on your end? I’m going to do something you won’t like.”

Ritsu sighed. “I understand. The lecture of putting yourself in danger can wait until after the test. Talk to you later.” A quiet beep signaled that Ritsu put herself on mute. 

A minute later and the signal for the zero pointer rang out.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Nagisa ran towards the release area.

“That explosion kid is looking great too!” 

“The engines on that one, the Iidas are continuing that legacy.”

“A hardening and a steel quirk? If they both get in, it's separate classes for sure.”

“Welding huh? He’s clearing the competition fast.”

Hizashi and Nemuri crowded against the live screens displaying the physical exams. Yes, many of the participants were flashy but very few held potential. Shouta always hated this particular test because of its limited use. Using your quirk against robots was great and all but it didn’t teach you to be creative or how to hold back. Nezu was lucky they were heavily funded by the government; no normal school should have been able to fund this.

He should really start paying attention now and decide who he was going to lay claim to. Every year, Kan and him got to pick one student out of the forty chosen for the first-year heroics classes. After the test there was the first meeting to decide who got in, then a second meeting to divide and place the first years. Both were a pain and sometimes a waste of time. He didn’t plan on fighting for any particular students, but Nezu always shoved the most difficult kids with him. And he understood, with his kind of quirk he could stop most disasters before it happened, but it still drained him like nothing else. 

And to put the cherry on top of this year, All Might would be joining this year as a teacher. The public sees this as the number one hero taking more of an interest in teaching the next generation of heroes. But they know it as All Might having chosen his successor and wanting to keep a close eye on him or her. What pissed him off the most was the fact that All Might hasn’t taught anyone a day in his life. He’s taken no teaching classes, and has repeatedly denied any advice from the rest of them because teaching is “ Not that hard .”

This was the man that was going to be teaching their student heroics class. He slightly feared for their lives. He was scared of the possible lawsuits.

“That boy has amazing stealth. Shouta!~ I think you’ll like this one.” Nemuri grabbed his attention as she pointed to the screens behind her. The footage showed a boy with blue hair in pigtails moving along the fake buildings. He moved with the shadows and only came out to destroy the robots or pull another kid out of danger. 

He was good, for a kid.

“Pull up his profile?” He requested. With a couple of buttons, she got his profile on screen.

She started to read its contents to him. “Shiota Nagisa, just turned fifteen, went to Kunugigaoka Junior High. I’ve never heard of that school. His quirk is…” Nemuri trailed off for a moment. She reread the profile, flicked her eyes back to the footage to see him take down a three pointer, and looked back.

“What’s wrong?” He leaned forward in his chair.

“He’s quirkless.” She mumbled. Despite saying it so quietly, the whole room stopped talking. Kurose leaned over Nemuri’s shoulder to see for herself.

“A quirkless kid applied for the hero course?” She sounded curious.

“Who let him try to join the hero’s course? He could easily be killed!” All Might sounded angry, but not because of the danger the kid would be in.

Shouta had no problems with quirkless individuals himself. They could be just as dangerous as quirked people if they wanted to be. His own quirk isn’t offensive, once in use he will still need to fight to take down his enemy. So taking in a quirkless student wouldn’t be a problem, after all, they would be trained like everyone else. And if All Might was going to have a problem with that, then he’ll have to keep an even closer eye on him. 

“I believe he will be fine.” Came the soft voice of Nezu. He sounded excited at the prospect of a quirkless person trying out for the hero course. 

They all turned to look at him. He was always scheming something. If the kid didn’t get into the hero course through his own hard work, Shouta believed that Nezu might just take him in as a personal student, purely to satisfy whatever curiosity he currently has. Maybe it was too early to say that, but something had obviously caught his attention.

Shouta met the eyes of Kan at the other end of the room. “I’m claiming him.”

Kan sighed. “We don’t know if he’ll get in yet.”

“Then if he does, he’ll be part of my class.” Shouta wanted to see how far Shiota would go. 

They turned back to the monitors and watched the countdown for the zero pointer’s release. This last part of the test was the only part he liked. It showed how you would react to a disaster. With an opponent so large and worth nothing, most students would run at the sight of it. Some would be frozen either in fear or because they were too injured. And there was the select few who would strike it. This part of the test would show who would really make a good hero. 

Hizashi hit the button for the zero pointer to be released and the last minute began. Once most students caught sight of the massive size of the robot, they quickly ran away. A few participants, the explosion quirk, Shiota, and a green haired kid were among the few to run straight towards it. 

He watched as Shiota ran up to a group of kids running and stopped them. He was speaking to them and the group looked upset at being stopped. Shiota yelled something at them and continued on his way. The group spoke amongst themselves before turning around and following. While Shiota ran to the zero pointer, the group started to pick up other participants who couldn’t run and took them to the entrance. Shiota himself ran up to the robot's lower parts and started… to cut away at its inner wires?

It wouldn’t stop it, but it would slow it down. What looked like enough time to let the other kids get away. Because of that, they would have to ask that group what was said to them as it would also determine Shiota’s scoring. 

“Holy shit!” Hizashi’s shout made him look over. “That kid took out the zero pointer with one punch!” 

Maijima piped up. “But look at his limbs, they’re all broken. It’s not smart to use a quirk that has such bad repercussions on the body.”

Shouta knew, he knew . That if that green haired kid got in, he would be placed in his class. He can already see the headaches that problem child would cause.

The final buzzer signaled the end of the test. 

Chapter Text

“Open it! Open it! Open it!” Ritsu chanted while jumping up and down. She had been eagerly awaiting the day that UA finished going through the tests and sent out results. She had been patient and not looked ahead in UA’s database at all.

She had been sending out messages to Mr. Karasuma these past couple months. She knew he was getting blocks of texts, but Ritsu didn’t want the risk of having Nagisa out on his own for longer than intended. And she did promise to update him on the situation. Back at home, Nagisa had been missing for nearly a week. But he has been adapting well here so far. Despite her presence with him, she knew he was getting lonely. If Nagisa got in, then maybe he would feel a bit better. UA wasn’t a replacement for 3-E, but Nagisa needed more interaction than just herself.

Nagisa tilted his phone up so Ritsu would have a better look at the contents of the letter. It felt weird. There was a letter inside but also a round disk, similar to his own but shaped a bit differently. He opened the envelope properly and even when he didn’t touch the disk inside it still turned on.

A holo projection screen opened up in front of them. All Might appeared wearing a suit and looked like he was trying to be professional. 

“Ritsu?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Why is the number one hero a part of the school?”

Ritsu was silent as she worked. “He wanted to work at UA as a sort of gym teacher? He’ll be the one training the students on using their quirks. He currently has no teaching certificate.” She mumbled the last sentence. They both hated the sound of that. 

“Attention young Shiota! You have scored a seventy-eight percent on your written test, which is a passing score. Now onto your practical exam.” A score board listing the top ten student scores popped up. 

As they had suspected there were villain points for the robots and rescue points for helping out other kids. Nagisa placed second with 76 points, just one point behind first place. 

“Holy shit.” He whispered. He had gotten 39 villain points and 37 rescue points, he got in.

“Yes! Now you have to try out being a hero! No turning to villainy until you last at least two months.” Ritsu pushed out two fingers in his face. 

All Might continued. “You did excellent work taking down those robots on your own. And now as you must have figured out, rescue points came from helping out your fellow contestants. We had to speak with some of the kids to find out what you had said during that zero pointer show off.” 

The screen shifted to a recording of Present Mic sitting in a room with the group of kids he had yelled at.

“What exactly was said between you?” Present Mic asked. 

A boy with curly purple and green hair chose to speak up first. “We all come from the same school and wanted to be the only one to get in, so we made this test a competition and didn’t take it as seriously as we should’ve. When that big robot was released, we didn’t want to fight it because it was worth nothing. We didn’t care that there were other students on the ground unable to get up.”

A girl with flowers for skin went next. “That kid stopped us and asked us to carry the kids on the ground back to the entrance and they would slow down the robot long enough for us to do that. We said ‘why would we bother, they’re just competition?’”

“He got super upset.” A plain looking boy said. “‘So, if you were pro heroes, you wouldn’t save your fellow pro hero in a fight? Because if they died you would move up in the rankings since it’s all one big competition.’” He quoted. 

“He continued with his plan anyways,” The first boy continued. “If he thought we wouldn’t help, he would still try to buy everyone else some time. Our actions were pretty gross. We knew we were going to fail the exam, but we went to help anyway. Because that’s what we should have done in the first place.”

The last boy never spoke, but he was nodding along to what everyone else was saying. The clip ended and All Might was put back on screen.

“What you did was a very heroic action! However, it was not counted towards your rescue points. But you still passed, welcome young Shiota to your hero academia!” The screen shut off as both Nagisa and Ritsu stared at it.

“Am I really going to have to listen to his voice for at least two months?” Nagisa leaned back into his seat, his head lolling to the side in annoyance.

Ritsu laughed at his pain on the side. “No villainy! We had an agreement.”

The letter inside the envelope was the required paperwork that had to be submitted a month before the school year would officially start. He copied most of the information from what was submitted to take the entrance exam. He now added his uniform measurements, his hero costume design, emergency contacts, and a medical form. The last part was fabricated by Ritsu herself. 

For his hero costume, he copied the design from the combat outfits they wore back at home but used the female version. Nagisa still wasn’t comfortable with being seen as a girl but he knew he should take advantage of it here. When he did end up doing villainous work, which he knew he would, he would have to use disguises. Leaning into his more feminine looks would help. 

So, he switched the long pants for the shorts. The top vest would stay grey with the yellow E at the neck. He asked for it to be bullet proof. The black underclothes were requested to be slash proof. The gloves would stay dark brown, he would get a hood, and there was a strict warning against any creative liberty. Ritsu had warned him that the support department would often deem a costume ‘not flashy enough’ and make changes to it. He really did not want to go down there and start an argument over costume design.

Nagisa would make the case that he’s trying to be an underground hero and would therefore need a costume to better blend into the dark. The whole idea was to not bring attention to himself. Of course, he wasn’t planning to stick around long enough to actually become a pro hero, but no one else knew that. 

Ritsu had recommended that they include a picture of the actual combat suit as an example. So he went to a library to get it printed out. He could have attempted to draw it, but why bother when he had photos of it already?

Now with his paperwork filled out and mailed, he would get another month to continue his training and do some more investigating. He knew he was brought to this dimension from someone here but something must have gone wrong. He woke up alone with nothing to do. So, someone had a quirk powerful enough to cross dimensions but not bring him to a specific location.

Ritsu wants as little villain work as possible. He wasn’t doing any criminal work technically, he was just keeping himself updated on the underground, it was important that he was aware of what was going on. And if he happened to visit some potentially dangerous areas in person well, he was just checking the authenticity. 

For now, he packed a bag to take up to Sekoto Peak. He’s gone through a good chunk of the mountain range and planned to map out the riskier terrain before the rainstorm that was scheduled to come in next week.

He wondered if he would be making any friends, and if he did, would he bring them out here? Would it look like he was trying to recreate the past? Or writing over his memories? He would get back home, he knew he would. 

Should I exclude myself?

Now that he thought about it, he was only joining a school to get information out of it. He would be doing the same thing on the villain's side. And if he didn’t find what he needed he would just leave. Though, it wouldn’t hurt to give his peers some advice. It was easy to tell pro hero costumes had to look the part, so safety was often overlooked. It wouldn’t look good if heroes fresh out of highschool died because looking cool was preferred over life saving equipment. 

Instead of excluding himself, he would have to help them out at least a little. He paused as he finished packing. Would he have to look for someone to take his place? Could he really trust the school to give someone with potential a shot at becoming a hero, or would they hand it off to another flashy quirk? Was it even possible to influence that? 

Nagisa locked the door behind himself and started the walk to Sekoto Peak. 

It couldn’t hurt though. He did have assassin training, so he should be able to teach some of that to another student and give them a higher chance of a transfer. It was still no guarantee, but better than nothing. 

The walk was spent coming up with more ideas for how he would be spending the next few months.

“Yep,” Nagisa moved around to get a better view. “The uniform is ugly.”

“Could be worse.” Ritsu said from where the phone had been propped up behind him. “They could have picked bright colors.”

“Ew.”

Ritsu only laughed in response. 

“It’s going to feel strange though, won't it?”

“Hm?” Nagisa turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“We used to be part of 3-E, the lowest ranking class. Now you're part of 1-A, arguably the highest ranking. You've improved.”

“ We are now part of 1-A. And I can't imagine it will be too different. We had the attention of the other classes for being ‘disappointments’. Here, we'll have the attention of the other classes because they want this spot. Or that we might think we're above them.”

“I see.” Ritsu watched as he pulled on his backpack and got ready to leave. “So I took a look at the school schedule.”

“Couldn't help yourself?” He locked up the door.

“I would like to know what you're getting yourself into ahead of time. Orientation is today, along with the rest of your classes being full of learning the syllabus. But tomorrow is your first class with All Might.”

“Already?” Nagisa held Ritsu in front of him as he made his way to the school, sidestepping pedestrians without even looking up. “They're jumping right into this aren't they.”

“They work hard with the hero class students. But whereas most of the staff have plans laid out, All Might has practically nothing. He marked down the days he's working but has no description of class content.” 

“So he's making it up as he goes?”

“Probably.”

As Nagisa passed through the school gate the natural outside noise came to a stop. It set him on edge. There was no danger of course, but it was an unsettling quiet. They had noise back at home with their classroom, the wild animals and insects that lived there made constant sounds. 

“Nagisa?” Ritsu spoke up.

“It’s nothing.” He shook off the feeling and continued to walk inside. “Putting my phone away, see you later?”

“Of course.” Ritsu turned the screen black, so he placed the phone in his bag. 

As he walked down the hall to 1-A's room he noticed… a man in a sleeping bag? There were students blocking the doorway to the classroom and the sleeping bag was right behind them. He didn’t know how that was possible considering the sleeping bag was bright yellow, like the kind of yellow that-

Yelling came from inside the classroom, tons of swearing coming from one student. Nagisa ignored what was being said and crouched down next to the man. 

“Are you alright?” He whispered.

The man looked disappointed at the scene in front of him. “Mn.” He got in return, voice equally as quiet to not attract the other student's attention. “Go to your seat.”

Nagisa nodded and got up. He assumed that was their teacher. He snuck around the other students and sat down just as the kids in the doorway noticed their teacher on the ground. 

The man sighed and got up. “It took you all eight seconds to be quiet. Life is short, kids. You’re all lacking common sense. I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta.” He reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out some clothes. “Put these on and head out to the P.E. grounds.”

Those were just sitting inside with him? If he was being honest, that’s a little gross. The other kids didn’t seem to think so as they just did what they were told. On the way to the locker rooms, groups of friends had already started to form save for a few kids including himself. He was close with everyone in 3-E, but how could you not with everything they had been through together. Though there was that closeness, there were smaller groups that hung out more often.

He didn’t really remember how some of their groups formed, he didn’t know if he could do it again here. 

Just as he was about to go inside the locker room, he was stopped.

“Excuse me, that is the male changing room. The female changing room is that way.” Hands chopped in front of his face to block the door he needed to pass through.

Looking up, he met the eyes of a dark haired student with glasses. Nagisa gave him a dead eye stare in return. Back to this shit again.

“I know,” He pointed to the wall by the door. “I can read the sign.” He managed to shove his way around the hands and make it to a spot to change before the other boy could stop him. He got dressed quickly, not paying attention to anyone around him, and made his way outside to where Aizawa was waiting.

“You’re quick, good. Come here for a moment.” Aizawa beckoned him over. Once he was close enough, Aizawa began talking.

“You’re quirkless.”

“Yes?” He wasn’t sure where this was going.

“Why are you here?”

Nagisa took a moment to really look at his teacher. His face and body gave nothing away. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Why are you at a hero school trying to become a hero?”

Because I want to go home

But he couldn’t say this.

“If I’m being honest, heroics wasn’t my first choice. Or my second. But I know a hero license can help you bypass other obstacles, and that’s what I need. Something to make my life a bit easier.”

“What was your first choice then?”

“A teacher.” He wrung his hands together. Talking about home hurt to speak about, with the possibility of being unable to return to it. “My teachers in my previous school year really inspired me and I would like to become like them.”

Aizawa let out a breath. “Being here will make your life more difficult just because of what you lack. You realize that once this gets out, people will turn against you.”

Nagisa just gave him a smile at that. “I know, but I’m used to it.” He turned around, ending the conversation. He made it back to the spot the others were supposed to wait at just as the other kids started to file outside. 

Once everyone was outside they were called to attention.

“Alright class we’re now going to do a quirk apprehension test.”

“A quirk apprehension test?!” Exclaimed the class. Did they all have to do that?

“But sir,” A girl with brown hair and eyes stepped forward. “What about the entrance ceremony? Or the guidance counselor meeting?”

“If you want to be heroes, we don’t have time for frilly niceties. This school has a reputation for freedom on campus. That extends to us teachers too, we can run our classrooms however we want.” Aizawa held up a clipboard. “Softball pitch, standing long jump, 50 meter dash, endurance running, grip strength test, sideways jumps, upper body exercises, seated toe touch. These are activities you’ve performed in middle school. You were unable to use your quirks in school however.”

He pulled out a softball. “Bakugou, you placed first in the entrance test. How far could you throw a softball in middle school?”

Bakugou stepped up. “67 meters.”

Aizawa tossed him the ball. “Try using your quirk this time. Anything goes as long as you don’t leave the circle.”

Bakugou caught the ball and gave a feral grin. He got into a pitching stance and used his quirk to blast the ball away. “Die!”

‘Die’? He faintly reminded Nagisa of both Terasaka and Karma from the beginning of the year.

Aizawa displayed a device that showed the ball’s distance. A bright 705.2 meters brought shock to his classmates. “These tests will form the basis of your hero foundation.”

The class was still reeling. The excitement of being able to freely use their quirks began to take over the importance of these tests. 

“This year is going to be so fun!” Nagisa didn’t know who said it but he immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say.

“It’s going to be fun?” Aizawa didn’t look angry per say, just highly disappointed. “So you’re going to spend the next three years goofing off? If you’re not going to take this seriously then don’t bother becoming heroes.” He paused and seemed to come to a conclusion. “In that case, whoever places last will be deemed hopeless and get expelled.”

Nagisa could see that his teacher was telling a half truth. If they tried their hardest to prove themselves then no one would be expelled. If they turned out to lack potential then they would be gone before the school day ended. 

The students looked freaked out now.

“As a teacher of this school I get to run my class as I please. If I need to expel my whole class, then I’m able to do so without repercussions. Welcome to the department of heroics!”

Someone argued with him. The teacher countered them. Nagisa stopped listening. The tests themselves didn’t sound difficult. He’s continued to train all this time both back home on class 3-E’s mountain and on Sekoto peak in this world. He had the stamina and skill to keep up, he wouldn’t be going home today. 

Glancing around the other kids, most had settled down. They were getting focused and he knew they would be staying too. There were about five others that looked to be on the verge of breaking down. It’s their own fault really. You were trying out one of the most prestigious hero schools in the world and you didn’t bother to train your body beforehand? Whatever happens to them was brought upon themselves.

Non-combative quirk? No problem. If he could get into the school and maintain a position in the hero course, then they had no excuse. You have to make up for what you lack or you’ll never survive.

The tests were nothing special. He placed above average on the majority. He didn’t expect first place, but somewhere in the middle was fine. The softball pitch was the last test of the day and it went about as expected. At least until the last person.

A green haired guy had a problem with using his quirk apparently, and would break bones when used. He got to throw twice, he broke a finger, he pissed off explosion kid, the teacher had to restrain him. Nagisa continued to zone out. 

Hasn’t this been going on long enough? He wants to hurry up and go to his other classes. Who cares about some long standing rivalry? Who cares about breaking your limbs to succeed? And who cares about last place when Nagisa could see the deranged look on his teacher’s face and knew they were all stuck together this year?

Nagisa got seventh place. Green hair got last. Before he could completely break down, their teacher caught their attention.

“Oh by the way, I was joking about expelling last place. It was simply a logical rule to get you to perform your best.”

A collective “Huh?!” and other noises of disbelief.

“Of course he wasn’t going to expel anyone. It was obvious from the start.” A girl with gravity defying hair in a ponytail spoke up. 

Nagisa decided he wanted to scare the kids are little. “Oh no, he was being serious.”

Ponytail looked a bit miffed at that. “What do you mean?”

“If last place didn't do well in the last test then he would be sent home. Not just him, anyone who didn't fight to keep their position would get kicked out of the course.”

Kids were looking queasy.

“In fact, last year he expelled his entire class on the same day.” 

“Holy shit man, we could have all failed?!” A boy with yellow hair and a black lightning stripe exclaimed in shock. 

“I've heard of something similar.” Glasses piped up. “But there are no vacancies in the second year classes.”

“He waited a couple days before re-enrolling all of them.” And that reassured them. 

“Enough chit chat, get changed and go to class.” Aizawa had them all separate and follow his instructions. 

What a boring first day.

Chapter Text

The second day wasn’t any better, in fact it was much worse. Today was the first day with All Might as a teacher. Nagisa had taken some Aspirin beforehand, but he doubted it would help as the day dragged on. The morning classes went on how any other school would. Lunch was uncomfortable. He brought his own lunch just in case and it was a good thing he did.

Lunch Rush is UA’s lunchroom chef. They lacked a face, and maybe a head but who knew what was underneath that hat. And their quirk somehow produced food, any type of food. Sure, it might pass today's food regulations, but no one from his time would have full trust in it. 

And then there was the dreaded ‘gym’ class or heroics studies. 

The door opened with a bang. “IT’S MEEEEE! COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!!” All Might slid into the classroom and gave a deep laugh.

The class collectively lost their shit.

“You came!”

I can’t believe it! All Might’s really gonna be teaching us!”

“That art style clashes so much it’s giving me goosebumps. That design’s so silver age!”

Nagisa gently laid his head on his desk. “Ritsu, please put me out of my misery.” He could imagine her laughing right now.

“For this class, we’ll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! Foundational Hero Studies! Let’s jump right in with this! The Trial of Battle!” The way he spoke was more grating than Present Mic. While he raised his voice and made lighthearted remarks, it was all part of his brand, he would quiet down too if he saw students rubbing their ears.

All Might was much too loud at just his normal volume. That was part of his brand too, but it just felt more ‘in your face’ about it. All Might was all about exaggerated movements to keep his students' attention on him. It was some kind of bravado to hide his inexperience but to still stand out and become the favorite teacher. 

Not like he had much competition, being the ‘Number 1 Hero’ and all, Nagisa thought with annoyance. Koro-sensei sulked when it looked like Mr. Karasuma was the favorite teacher, Mr. Karasuma didn’t care if he was well liked or not, while Jelavić cared more about being respected. The three of them learned as the year went on that the whole class cared for them equally and they were touched in their own ways. They were all one big family. Having an adult in his fifties like All Might acting like this, it was embarrassing on a whole other level.

“And to go with your first battle,” The side wall made a sound before revealing briefcases with their seat numbers painted on the front. “We’ve prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks!” More sounds of excitement from the class. “Get changed and we’ll be ready to go! Everyone gather at ground Beta! The garb you bring into the battlefield is important, boys and girls! And don’t forget! From here on out, you’re all officially heroes!!!”

Please shut up, I'm begging. You talk too much; I can hear the exclamation points!

Nagisa wanted nothing more than to bang his head on the desk repeatedly. Sadly, the brain damage he would suffer would go away with one kiss from Recovery Girl and he would get sent right back to class. He got up and grabbed the number nineteen briefcase and made his way to the changing rooms. Thankfully, glasses didn’t put up a fuss this time. Unfortunately, he got an eyeful of the godawful costumes his classmates thought would look cool. 

He would be having a talk with them later. Their costumes were ugly, had near zero protective gear, and mostly were just impractical. It took everything he had not to burst out laughing. He got a quick text from Ritsu stating that she would get still shots of everyone to send to the class text back at home to gather opinions. Karma and Rio especially were about to have a field day.

His costume turned out mostly how he wanted it with just a few elements missing. But most importantly, the support course didn’t try to add their own flare to his ‘bland’ designs. It would have completely ruined everything, but he sternly wrote that he wanted to be underground and standing out would put his life in danger. He really didn’t want to have to make the trip over to yell. 

Actually, never mind. He just saw what invisible girl’s ‘costume’, costume being a strong word, looked like. All the girl’s outfits except the girl with ear jacks sure were something. Maybe the school didn’t quite understand that these were fifteen-year-old girls, not grown women like Jelavić who was free to use her sex appeal to get the job done. He knew from experience what kind of perverts were out there. It most likely wasn’t any different here than back home.

All Might had started talking again once everyone had gathered outside. Something, something, embryos? “This will be an indoor battle trial! Villain cleanup is usually seen out in the open but, statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job. Most acts of villainy are committed indoors.”

He went off explaining examples, and sure, a lot more crimes happen indoors. However, indoor crimes are a much more delicate situation than any that happen outside. You’re trapped in one place with limited movement and less options of escape. This wasn’t something that should be their first lesson, not even the first few weeks.

This class had a variety of quirks. Some would specialize more in one field than the other, though they should all get similar experiences either way and hone their special skill sets in different lessons. Not to mention how dangerous it is to throw a bunch of inexperienced children to beat the shit out of each other in an enclosed space with their supervisor in a different building.

Because of the evolution of quirks, human bodies have developed much more durability than they have previously. That didn’t mean they were invincible. Children often believe they are invincible because they haven’t been a part of anything devastating or life changing in such a short amount of time. Hero course students would be getting slapped in the face with how cruel the world is, but for some reason most aren’t expecting it. This class was already shaping up to be that slap.

“For this test, you’ll separate into ‘Villain’ and ‘Hero’ groups. For a two-on-two team battle!”

“What about foundational training?” One student asked.

“This is foundational training!”

“No it’s not.” Nagisa has heard enough. These new classmates were the type to ask questions but not go against a teacher’s lesson. 

He could see All Might’s jaw ever so slightly tighten. “What was that young student?”

“This isn’t foundational training. I can guarantee that at least half of my classmates have never fought another person before. And you want them to start doing that today using their quirks?” 

All Might’s smile started to become a bit strained. “And that means there's no time like the present! This exercise involves the heroes stopping the villains from deploying their bomb-”

“What about the basics? Hand to hand? Self defense? Most people here wouldn’t even be able to use their quirks in a situation like this without the risk of setting off the bomb or injuring nearby civilians.” Nagisa saw that All Might had stuffed some notecards into a pocket. For a teacher to not fully understand their own lesson plan in such a prestigious school wasn’t a good sign. 

“Well as you know, every student here went to the same entrance exam that you did, they know how to fight-”

He cut him off for the second time. “Fighting robots and fighting people are two very different things.” Nagisa let annoyance bleed into his voice.

“It is very inappropriate to interrupt a teacher when they are talking!” Glasses intruded. He was chopping with his hands again. 

“But ignoring safety regulations is okay?” Nagisa pushed his way to the front to face the class instead of dragging his feet at the back. “Show of hands, how many of you have actual basic training from a professional, not with your quirk?”

People glanced at each other. Seven people other than himself raised their hand, one looked kind of iffy though.

“And how many have been in an actual fight with another person? Like you’re in real danger, training doesn’t count.” 

Four hands.

Nagisa turned to All Might. “And you think their first lesson should be this? Throwing them right into the deep end without teaching them how to swim. I get that it’s your first year teaching but even my teachers' first time teaching last year weren’t so bad at this.”

They had their ups and downs but in the end, cared about their student’s well being and progression. Nagisa was pretty sure Mr.Karasuma was the only one with an actual teaching license. Koro-sensei learned to teach from Ms. Yukimura before she passed. Professor Bitch, as they fondly called her and she just let them do so after a point, learned how to teach in her own way and listened to any pointers people gave her. 

All Might seemed stubborn in his plans but Nagisa needed him to fully understand what the possibilities were if he went through with them. 

“Foundational training would be like what I suggested earlier. This is the equivalent of teaching them expert level moves without going over the basics first. They are going to mess this up, either by going too hard or holding back too much. You would be lucky none of them ended up in a body bag because of this lesson!” 

“That wouldn’t happen right?” A spiky redhead questioned. “This is a hero school, we should be fine with All Might here, right?”

“Is All Might a medical professional? What if there was a serious injury? Do any of you know about first aid?” Four hands went up. “We’re all heroes in training. Training .” He stresses out. “We should have a medical professional nearby to prevent career changing injuries on the second day of class if we’re doing something so dangerous.”

He whirled around to face All Might. “What if the building collapsed? Are they ready to see the crushed bodies of their peers?”

“Young Shiota that is going too far!” All Might didn’t raise his voice, but it was a close call. “I am well aware of the dangers of this lesson and everything has been approved of. Another word out of you and you are getting detention!”

“It’s all approved of? So if I called, let’s say, Aizawa, he would be on board with this?” Nagisa doubted it. He reminded him of Mr. Karasuma, and Mr. Karasuma would not agree to something so idiotic for their first lesson in training. Aizawa had given them all his phone number and stressed that it was for emergency situations only. Surely this counted.

“Eraserhead doesn’t control this class.”

“No, but he does have partial guardianship of every student in his homeroom. If our safety is in jeopardy, then he has a say against it, and is also able to pull us out of this lesson if he wants.”

“Can he really do that?” The pink girl asked.

“Did any of you read the paperwork we had to fill out when we got our acceptance letter?” He tried to say it as nicely as possible. Students had to know what they were getting into signing into the hero course. Having their parents hand partial custody to their homeroom teachers was a requirement in case of emergencies.

Say, for example, they got hurt badly enough on school property or on a school field trip that they needed risky emergency surgery to survive. Having a teacher sign off on it would be easier than getting on call with a guardian or having them make the drive over. Or they were sensitive to a topic being discussed in class. The teacher can sign them out of it without fuss.

The main reason for the guardianship though, was in case of an abusive household a student would need to be extracted from. Ritsu had found that at least twenty-three students in the past decade needed a teacher to claim guardianship over and the school would work with finding them a better home to live in. For the duration of their school years at the very least. 

“Homeroom teachers have partial custody over their students and foster care licenses in case of an emergency.” Most of the class looked stunned at this information, they really have to read over it again. This was the kind of thing you had to read the paperwork for, it counts as signing three years of your life away.

He looked over All Might’s face. “So if I called Mr. Aizawa, would he be fine with this?” He could see All Might practically grinding his teeth. The smile hadn’t dropped, he wasn’t sure if he was able to get rid of it in the first place. 

Finally, after a stare down, he relented. “Go ahead. He understands what needs to be done to build up young heroes.”

Nagisa pulled out his phone and stepped to the side. He absentmindedly told Mr. Aizawa what the lesson plan was and his concerns over it. His teacher had answered immediately and listened to him with seriousness. He told him he was coming over to discuss it in person. He really was like Mr. Karasuma, not playing off their issues and treating them like children.

After all, they stopped being children the moment they enrolled. They were soldiers now.

“Dude. Did he really just argue with All Might?”

“Yeah but, he was kinda right? Like, I don’t know how to throw a punch right.”

“I admit this was coming off strong but, wouldn’t All Might know how to train people? He’s been a hero forever.”

“All Might hasn’t had a student before, but he’s had sidekicks!”

“But those sidekicks were all licensed pros weren’t they?”

“But UA wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t know how to teach would they?”

“I just gave the papers to my parents. Were we supposed to read those?”

He didn’t really know what set him off so badly. It reminded him a bit of their vacation gone wrong, but the danger here hadn't started. No one even started to have blood gush from their face, or collapse from a fever brought on by poison. No one’s lives were in mortal danger. It’s a hero school; UA couldn’t afford to have a student die on their grounds because of a neglectful teacher. 

Still, all of them were children who hadn’t had to fight for their friend’s survival. They didn’t have to come close to killing another person because they threatened to hurt the people you cared about. Nagisa was still a child himself at fifteen, but from what class 3-E had to go through in just one year, it was hard to remind himself. It was only going to get worse from here.

Aizawa was there in record time, immediately cornering All Might and asking about his lesson plan. Their conversation delved into harsh whispers and angry gestures for the next few minutes. The class stared from afar, whispering themselves and trying to guess what they were saying. Two of the students, earjack girl and a guy with multiple limbs, had better hearing than most. They gained equally shocked looks, paled, looked like they wanted to leave.

People tried to get them to pass on the messages, but they refused and tried to block their teachers out. Finally, they came to a conclusion and All Might looked chastised.

Aizawa spoke up first. “This lesson will be benched for now and brought up again when you have more experience.”

Then All Might came forward. “Students, I’m sorry for my hasty suggestion. This is my first year of teaching and I underestimated how much training you all had outside of school. We’ll be doing something else for this class period.”

It was a shitty apology, but it’s what he expected. The other students still took it as near gospel, waving their hands and saying it was okay. They were even happy All Might had such high expectations of them in the first place. What else did you expect from kids who grew up watching him and likely had the hero as their number one favorite? Anyone would love to have such an ‘honor’.

Aizawa waved him over. “What did you have in mind for the lesson?”

“Mr. Aizawa? I was just looking out for them.” Not this question-and-answer thing again.

“You knew this was a bad lesson plan, so what did you have in mind? You obviously had a lot of training at your previous school.”

But Mr. Aizawa went straight to the point each time.

“Back at my old school,” Nagisa thought back to how their assassin training started. “Mr. Karasuma had us outside practicing on the dirt. We were spread out enough not to knock into each other but close enough for him to keep an eye on us if we went too far. We were trained on how to defend ourselves with just our bodies, then moved on to using fake weapons, and then used real weapons when he trusted us enough.”

At his teacher’s questioning look he explained their reason for doing so. “Our class was made up of quirkless students that had been looked down upon and given up on by general society. A ton of us had been threatened, bullied, and abused by those around us because we were seen as wastes of space. We needed a way to defend ourselves.” 

“UA has a no bullying policy. And all threats on and off campus are taken seriously.” He didn’t say it softly like he was trying to reassure him. It was said plainly, like Nagisa didn’t already read it in the paperwork beforehand. He walked away from him then, shouting at All Might about their changed plans and gathering students to get to a different training ground. 

At least one adult was taking this seriously.

Their new self defense training had been sloppy. That was putting it nicely. Nagisa was right, these students couldn’t defend themselves outside of their quirk well. The tail guy, Ojiro, was trained in martial arts and was asked to go around and fix forms. 

Other students, Shoji, Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu; Had varying levels of training already. Most of the other students showed a lot of enthusiasm for the new lessons and would likely train harder. The last couple showed no prior skill at all and did more flailing than not. But not bad for a first lesson. 

All Might has not paid any attention to him since his outburst, leaving him to practice on his own or help the others. Fine with him. He was just happy the man quieted down a bit after being scolded by his own student and one of his colleagues in front of the rest of his students.

Nagisa looked off to the side. Everyone was resting and getting ready to change into their school uniforms for their last class, self study. With the time he had left, he wanted to talk to some people about their choice in hero costumes. He figured he would start with the girls in his class. It was a smaller group of people and they were all right there talking to each other. 

He approached their group and was welcomed with smiles. 

Yaoyorozu spoke to him first. “I wanted to say thank you! Thinking about it now, our original plan had a high chance of ending badly. I wasn’t going to speak up about it but I’m glad you did Shiota.” She gave him a smile with her hands clasped by her stomach.

“Oh, it’s no problem. Call me Nagisa though, I don’t like being called Shiota.” He waved off her thanks.

“Alright Nagisa.” He got more thanks from the other girls. Honestly, he expected someone to be upset they didn’t get to do what All Might wanted, he saw it on the faces of some of the boys.

“Hey, I have a question. And if you think it’s inappropriate tell me to screw off okay?” They got confused but nodded as a sign they would hear him out. “Your costumes, are you comfortable with how they came out?”

Ear jack, Jirou, crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t seem like the type to be a pervert, so why the question?”

“I know how uncomfortable it can get wearing more revealing outfits. It’s important that you feel comfortable in your hero costumes and aren’t just using the design for convenience for your quirks. Also, none of you are wearing any kind of protection. She’s literally naked,” He pointed to the invisible girl. “And none of you are carrying any emergency medical equipment.”

“Well it is our first time wearing these, but I get what you mean.” Uraraka, he thinks her name is, agreed with him. “My suit came out too tight. But I have a face shield!”

“And what about your abdomen, where your body holds its most valuable organs? Is your suit built in a way to protect you from getting shot, stabbed, or cushion you from being thrown around? The face shield is a good start, do you have any special technology built into it?”

“Technology? Like what?”

“Say we did go through with the heroes versus villains, having a night vision option would have come in handy with how dark it looked inside.”

She jumped in excitement. “You’re right! I didn’t even think of that. Or maybe finding heat signatures, like if I went against Hagakure!”

Nagisa guessed that it was the invisible girl’s name. He was trying his best to learn about them, but the past days had been stressful.

“Would I really need to carry medical equipment though? I could just make it.” Yaoyorozu put a hand to her chin.

“You can't waste valuable time and energy making something that you should already carry on your person. Emergency situations need quick reaction times, and you shouldn’t split your attention when it could be life or death.”

“Oh, were you in a situation like that before Nagisa? You seem to know a lot about it.” The pink girl leaned forward into his space. He didn’t mind the closeness.

“Last school year was intense.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“I can’t really do anything about my costume though.” Hagakure said in a sad voice. “Or my quirk won’t be useful.”

“I did some research earlier,” He began. “There’s this student in third year who can phase through all kinds of matter. Thing is, his clothes don’t go with him.” The girls looked appalled but wanted to see where this was going.

“The support course or one of the agencies UA works with was able to create a costume using his hair with the clothing threads. Now that his hero costume is made up of his DNA, it doesn’t come off when using his quirk. They could probably do something similar for you, make it so your costume doesn’t inhibit your ability to use your quirk out in the field while also keeping you protected.”

He couldn’t tell what exact emotion she had, but from the way she bounced with her boots and curled her hands into determined fists, he could guess she was eager to see if such a thing could happen. 

“Really?! I could really get a proper hero costume!” She started to jump and Uraraka and the pink girl joined her.

The frog girl addressed the group. “We can probably head to the support course during study hour. We should get this done as soon as possible. My name’s Tsuyu Asui, but you can just call me Tsu.”

“Okay Tsu. I can also introduce you guys to Ritsu on the way.” She had wanted to start making new friends, neither of them saw the harm in it. She knew how to keep herself secure.

“Ritsu?” They all asked.

“Simply? Sentient Artificial Intelligence. But Ritsu is so much more than that, you’ll like her.”

“A student cannot just-”

“Student or not it doesn’t matter! Do you realize what you-”

“This is UA, we cannot be coddling the students here, they need to know what to expect!”

“... coddling? You think teaching the students the basics in their first year is coddling? Can you imagine how traumatizing it would be to fifteen year olds to watch their classmate gain a possibly fatal injury, let alone die? On camera, right in front of them?”

Yagi watched as Aizawa reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He looked more exhausted than usual. He knew, he knew , he wasn’t going to be the perfect teacher right off the bat, but his lesson plan sounded fine. He even got approval from Nezu. Aizawa just looked even worse when he mentioned that though.

“Nezu has a natural dislike of humans because of his past. Despite his IQ, he doesn’t know the limits of human children’s bodies.”

“It’s his school, his students.”

“Even so, it’ll take more than the second day of class for him to give more than the borderline care for them. Listen, you are going to apologize to those kids right now. Then, we’ll think of a new lesson plan. What you proposed isn’t a complete disaster but it’s just too early. I’ll give them something else to do.”

Yagi ignored Aizawa when he pulled Shiota aside for a talk. It was disrespectful of a student to scold a teacher on how they chose to teach. He had a feeling Shiota did it because he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the other students, he won't say this out loud however. He could respect his students even if they couldn’t do the same.

Chapter Text

Turns out they could leave during study hour. Mr. Aizawa didn’t care where they were going for whatever reasons, just that they were actually doing what they said they would and not disturbing anyone. 

They had collected their suitcases and a copy of the paperwork they submitted and got in return from whatever company made their hero costumes. Depending on the design changes, the old costumes would be remade by the same company or UA would take over and do it themselves. The second part was not as likely due to the sheer number of heroic companies that work with UA.

As they walked down the halls Nagisa heard Yaoyorozu heave a sigh.

“I just don’t know what to do about my costume. I need easy access to my body to pull stuff out of, but it feels like I'm wearing a swimsuit.”

Jirou bumped shoulders with her. “How about a sports bra and shorts situation?”

Ashido spun around and walked backwards. “Or how about a zipper?”

Nagisa liked to see that the gears were starting to turn as they bounced ideas around. Maybe they would be taking his caution seriously. 

Heroes weren’t ‘allowed’ to kill a villain. Accidents happen, but most of the time it’s covered up by the hero commission so as to not let the public's perception of heroes be tainted. But some heroes forget that the villains don’t follow this rule, or they believed themselves to be invincible. Some people just didn’t want to believe that a tragic event could happen to any of them. 

Nagisa pulled out his phone after Ritsu sent him a message.

“Your weapon approval process is halfway done! You’ll have to do some practice with the hero Snipe to prove your skills.” 

He didn’t stumble even after Ashido slammed into his back. She pushed her weight onto his shoulders to get a good look at his phone. “What weapon approval? Do you need weapons to help with your quirk?”

“What is your quirk anyway? Most of us were discussing ours earlier.” Hagakure came up on his right. 

“Guess.” He didn’t want to give away the surprise so easily, it should come out as a lesson. It totally wasn’t because Karma wanted video proof of him kicking ass of a bunch of entitled children and proving he was better than them without a superpower. “And the approval is for a gun license.”

Nagisa ignored the sudden silence. It wasn’t quite fear that was felt, closer to surprise and confusion as to why a gun specifically. 

“I don’t have to have a gun right now, but I do have prior training with some and can use them in a fight. I don’t know if they’ll let me use real bullets though.” He would be disappointed if that was the case. Though, he could just purchase real bullets using other means and switch out the fakes in life-or-death situations.

Better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

“But guns aren’t frequently used in Japan as opposed to other countries. Not to mention how dangerous they can be.” Yaoyorozu said from behind them. “When heroes request additional weapons for aid they usually pick tasers, smoke bombs, or small knives. Not something as deadly as a gun.”

Nagisa stopped walking and turned to face the rest of them. Ashido slid off his back and came to stand at his side. “Yaoyorozu can make anything if she knows their chemical makeup, including guns, bombs, an assortment of weapons really.” He pointed at her before shifting to each person describing just how dangerous they can be. 

“Jirou can emit sound waves powerful enough to stun or deafen others. Ashido secretes acid that can burn or melt people. Tsu has something similar with mucus causing paralysis so someone can’t fight back. Uraraka can float someone up extremely high and then just drop them. Do you want me to go over just how dangerous an invisibility quirk can be?”

All the girls have developed a sick look on their faces. Faced with the possibilities of how their quirk can so easily harm a person wasn’t a simple fact to swallow.

“The reason I’m saying this is every quirk can be used to harm depending on how creative you are with it. Therefore, others have to come up with ways to work around that, like myself. My quirk can’t defend me from any of that, so I need to be able to use other highly dangerous weapons to keep myself safe.” Yes, guns are dangerous, but some people can turn their body parts into guns. So really, it wasn’t the weirdest request the school could have gotten. And it shouldn’t have been so shocking to his peers. 

“That’s creepy.” Jirou shook herself out of her stupor. “How do you know all that stuff about our quirks anyways?”

“Oh,” He had almost forgotten. He pulled out his phone and faced the screen towards the girls. “Everyone meet Ritsu. She peeked at your files to sate her curiosity.”

“Oh, don’t you go around throwing me under the bus, you were just as curious!” Ritsu stomped her way into view. She dressed herself in a copy of the UA girls uniform. “And I was making sure no villains sneaked into the hero courses, so you’re welcome.”

Ashido nearly snatched his phone away. “Not to sound rude but what are you? You’re super cute though!” 

“Thank you! And I’m Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery. But you can think of me as an AI. And I currently have no plans of taking over humanity.” The joke seemed to dissipate the rest of the tension he created and even got a giggle out of three of them. 

Nagisa let them hold onto his phone for the rest of the walk. Ritsu was soon added to a newly made group chat between the girls. He felt slightly bad for freaking them all out, but he knew half the class still saw hero work and hero school as some sort of game. It will only take one bad attack to shake them up in ways that they may never fully recover from. He would know, everyone of 3-E would know. Their last year at Junior High would be forever seared into their memories.

The doors to the support course weren’t as large as the doors to the classrooms but the room itself was huge. It was packed with equipment and testing materials. There were numerous scorch marks decorating the floors and walls. There was also a slightly worrying amount of smoke coming from the far-right corner of the room. Various students in a specialized uniform designed for their work walked in and out either carrying physical results or were mumbling to themselves. 

“Eraser Head mentioned some of his students were stopping by.” Power Loader approached their group from a separate room, probably an office, at a leisurely pace. “Good idea to get your requests in now before the rush. Who’s first?”

Uraraka gently pushed Hagakure forward by her shoulders. “We figured we could get the most complicated out of the way first.” She said with a nervous smile.

“Costume?” he held his hand out for the briefcase. Hagakure handed it over and then did something with her hands. Nagisa guessed she was fidgeting in some way, but it was hard to tell without being able to see it. 

Power Loader opened the case on a semi empty table and then stared. He looked confused for a moment before coming to a realization. “The rest got destroyed in class today, right? Give me the paperwork for your design.”

“N-no,” Hagakure stumbled over her words. “We worked on self-defense today, no quirks. This is the whole outfit.” She had also given him the paperwork.

The confusion returned. He looked back and forth between the student and the sorry excuse of a hero costume. He then rapidly flipped through paperwork. “This is unbelievable.” He was talking angrily to himself. “This should have never happened, we have rules for this. Midnight is responsible for at least ten outfit restrictions. The fact that the school didn’t flag any of this is-”.

Power Loader slammed the case shut, making the girls jump. “Ume.” A second year girl with light purple hair materialized next to her teacher. She had then pulled a clipboard out of nowhere. “Make a note to burn our contract with ‘Hidden Claws Hero Designs’ for failure to provide a hero student with proper protective equipment. Also make note of the suspected sexualization and implications of this design. Another note to go through every suit that made it out their doors into our school and give their contracts to another company.”

“As you’ve said.” She bowed and then disappeared. 

“Um.” Yaoyorozu shyly raised her hand. “My hero costume came from the same company.” She held her own briefcase out and Power Loader took it from her as well. 

He opened and closed it. Muttered a, “At least there was an attempt.” And put the case and papers both on the table. “Both of you are going through complete redesigns. Hatsume, Akie!”

Hatsume was a very passionate and energetic first year that absolutely lost it when handed her own personal project. She shook Hagakure’s hands hard and dragged her away sharing stories about her ‘babies’ and how hard she worked on all of them. She would be working with a third year student, Daichi, who had a hand in making various genetic costumes for other students. 

Akie was bright and confident. She took Yaoyorozu gently by the arm and weaved her between tables, students, and thick cords criss-crossing on the floor. Nagisa knew they were in good hands.

“Now for the rest of you.” Power Loader’s eyes were hidden by the excavator claw helmet he wore, but Nagisa knew he could feel the others' unease. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. “I’m not mad at you kids. Something like this shouldn’t have happened but I’m sorry it did. I’m also thankful you came here with your concerns, this was a lawsuit just waiting to happen.” He was quiet on the last part but still heard loud and clear in their little space away from other students. “I’m assuming adjustments and add-ons for the rest of you?”

“We were advised to get more protective gear since some of us are either wearing spandex or civilian clothes with a license.” Jirou said. She didn’t mention that one of her own peers brought up those concerns. It might have been a bit embarrassing that someone their age pointed it out and not an experienced adult. 

“What exactly were you thinking?”

“Probably the safety measures I have for mine.” Nagisa held out his own case and papers.

A grin appeared under the helmet. “I remember yours. The school actually works on underground style costumes before recommending students to other agencies once they graduate. Yours was relaxing to work on, simple and straightforward.”

He hums and makes notes on some scrap paper. “Bullet proof, slash proof, more cushioning, pockets, mini first aid kits.” He pulled some other students from their work to collect the rest of the cases and whatever else they needed. “Go to Hideyoshi for size adjustments.” Pointing to a boy tangled up in measuring tape, fabric thread, and mannequins. 

The rest of the girls walked off leaving him with the support course teacher. “And what did you need?”

“More pockets. Ones on the inside. And probably a gun holster, once I finish Snipe’s class.”

Power Loader didn’t comment on the gun part, which he was thankful for. “You have at least twenty pockets already. How many more could you possibly need?”

Nagisa put on an innocent smile. “I have a lot of supplies that need to go somewhere.”

Power Loader stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. “You’re going to give Eraser Head a headache.” 

Maybe, but he hasn’t gotten to that yet.

“You have to go easier on them, you really scared them for a moment there!” Ritsu scolded Nagisa for the fifth time in the last half hour. “I know 3-E had to emotionally mature faster than others, but you’re still a kid Nagisa.”

“I know.” His voice was soft and apologetic. “It’s just the way Yaoyorozu was sounding, like I was a villain. I’m not a hero either, but it feels like the grey area just doesn’t exist for these people. They don’t know what makes a ‘villain’ or ‘hero’. They judge actions on a level of justified violence created by a system that’s a few centuries old.”

“That’s where we come in. We get to teach them what the real world is like. The UA teachers are there for that too, y’know.” She had been spending her free time exploring the digital world of this new timeline. There was so much to learn, and so much to teach. She had been working on entering online chat groups for people in the grey area. Trying to judge for herself where everything currently stands.

With All Might randomly becoming a teacher being a huge red flag that something was wrong. Their perfect little society was on the verge of falling apart, they could both feel it. 

Ritsu didn’t want Nagisa to join the villain's side for his own safety. But soon, they might not have a choice.

The next day of class finally came with a normal school activity. 

Before actually entering the school, he spotted a group of reporters harassing other students into giving statements. He was pretty sure what they were doing was illegal in some way. But what does that matter when a news station can get the newest scoop on what All Might is like as a teacher? He was just debating on how to get around them when he spotted people from his class.

Uraraka, Iida, and Midoriya were about to walk right into the crowd. He decided to be helpful once again.

“Don’t walk that way.” He waved them over. “Unless you want to have microphones shoved in your face.” They looked back towards the gate as if just noticing they were there. They really needed to work on their spatial awareness.

“But then how do we get to the school? That entrance is the only way.” Midoriya questioned.

“Have any of you ever jumped the school gate?”

“Absolutely not!” Iida had the most affronted look he has ever seen of a fifteen year old’s face. “We are the students of the most prestigious hero school in Japan! We are not just some delinquents!” 

Midoriya raised his hands in a soothing gesture. “I’m sure he’s just trying to help. Besides, the school walls are too tall to climb.”

“Not really.” Nagisa had started walking over to the nearest wall. “But the gates are going to close soon if they keep pushing. With our student IDs we can jump the gate and be fine.” He turned to give them one last look. “Be creative with your quirks if you want to get to class on time.” 

Then he spun around and scaled the wall in a few seconds, sending them a wave as he made it over. Uraraka was not far behind him, using her quirk to avoid the press and land next to him. 

“About yesterday-” She started,

“I’m sorry.”

And almost tripped over her feet. “Hm?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you guys, I went too far. Sorry.” Ritsu wanted him to apologize and said she refused to give him any gossip until he did. 

“Oh.” Uraraka left out a breezy laugh. “It’s fine. I mean, it's not. You brought back some old fears of mine, but I get it. But that’s what the school is for right? To get better control over our quirks and use them to help others. And if you need something extra to help you out then there's no shame in it.”

She sounded genuine. “The girls and I talked, we shared the same opinion. I’ll tell them you’re sorry, so don’t worry about it.” 

They both smiled at each other and walked to class trying to guess today's lesson plan.

Aizawa spent the first few moments of class scolding those who didn’t do so well during All Might’s lesson yesterday. He didn’t call out Nagisa for what he did, but he did give him a look . “If any of you have a problem with how a teacher conducts their class, you can either come to myself or another faculty member.”

Nagisa ignored the sideyes from his peers.

“Now let’s get on with the homeroom notices. I’m sorry to have to spring this on you all but,” Aizawa dragged on the silence, leading to everyone’s anticipation rising. “We need to pick a class president.”

The class, just like yesterday, lost their minds. One collective- “Finally, something school-like!” and everyone started to speak all at once. Raised hands and bursting out of their seats, everyone wanted the position. Nagisa laid his head on his desk.

“Be quiet!” Iida shouted as he stood from his seat. “This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else’s weight! Just because you’d like to do it doesn’t mean you can! It is a holy office that requires great esteem and trust of those around you!”

The poor guy was shaking during his speech and was losing confidence as he was reaching his end. “The only truly worthy leader will emerge from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people! Which is why this must be settled by a vote!!!” 

He really wanted the position for himself. Nagisa didn’t want the position, he wasn’t planning on staying long anyways. And Nagisa would feel bad if he was class president then ditched two months in. So he went to help Iida out a bit, even if they haven’t started to get along yet. 

“Can I add onto that?” He raised his hand and pushed himself to sit on his own desk. 

Iida gave him a nod in response.

“Voting is a good idea, but there’s the problem of us knowing next to nothing about each other. And everyone would just vote for themselves.”

“And that’s precisely why the person who does manage to earn multiple votes will be the truly appropriate person for the job, no?!” 

“Then let’s put some rules down. The class president should have two main qualities.” He raised one finger. “First, they should be within the top ten students of the class. They need to be able to understand the work, keep up with said work, and be able to lend aid to their struggling peers.”

Iida was already nodding along. “Excellent point. And the second quality?”

He raised his other finger. “They should have a more open personality, able to get along with their other classmates. But also be firm enough that if there is an emergency, people will stop to listen to them and follow through without wasting precious time. For example, Bakugou would be a horrible fit.”

That got one pissed off student right in his face. Bakugou was an angry person that has yet to sort out his issues. 

“How the hell would I be a ‘horrible fit’?! Huh Pigtails?!”

But Nagisa wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. He’s faced far scarier things than a fifteen year old with a complex.

“I’ll be honest,” Nagisa levels Bakugou with a bored stare, tilting his head to rest on his shoulder. “Bakugou is one of the smartest people in this class, and has amazing control over his fighting style and quirk. As seen with him being in first place during the entrance exam. This shows that he worked hard to get to where he is now. However,”

Bakugou up until this point had looked startled. He likely expected Nagisa to react to his anger with more anger, not with compliments. But now he was expecting the judgement to come, eager to hear why he just wasn’t suited, and if he had to make a good comeback.

“You showed me why choosing you would be the wrong choice. Your first emotion was anger and you came at me with petty insults that a five year old could make. Pigtails, really? Please give me something better. The way you respond to criticism shows that you just aren’t ready for the position. Doesn’t mean it will be that way forever.”

“See what I mean?” He addressed the class. “You can still vote for Bakugou, I can’t stop you. But you should actually think about your choices because this will at least last the whole year.”

Bakugou just huffed and returned to his seat. “Challenge accepted.” If he responded with his usual methods, he would just be proving Nagisa’s point. 

“Lastly, we shouldn’t be able to vote for ourselves.”

“But there’s no way to instill that.” Iida had crossed his arms in the time he spent dealing with Bakugou. “They could still vote for themselves no matter what either of us have said.”

“True, just thought it should be said. Real quick though, raise your hand if you don’t want to be class president.” He raised his own hand.

“Huh??? What do you mean you don’t want the position? With everything you just pointed out…” Iida trailed off as his jaw dropped. 

“Oh, I’m just really busy. I don’t have time for the responsibility of being class president. I’ll help out if it’s a matter of safety and survival. But otherwise I don’t want to be involved.” He let out a sheepish smile and slid back into his seat.

“Um!” Midoriya shakily raised his own hand. “I thought about it and I don’t think I’m ready for that position.” 

Nobody else raised their hands. With that, the voting began. When it was all said and done, Iida got the class president position and Yaoyorozu got vice president. Good for them, they would work well together. 

“Thank you everyone! I will work hard to prove to you all that I am worthy of your judgement!” Iida was holding himself proudly as he addressed the class. Yaoyorozu looked a little unsure but she will more than likely gain confidence as the year goes on and people come to rely on her.

Tenya had been waiting for lunchtime to arrive to properly seek out and thank Shiota for his help this morning. Without him, he feared he might not have gotten to be class president. Though, with everything that had been said, maybe he wasn’t ready for the position either. 

When he arrived at the lunchroom he looked around for any sign of his classmate, but couldn’t find him. That’s not good. Every meal time is important! Students must eat in order to keep up with their studies! Maybe he’s not eating in the lunchroom. They could eat in the classroom, but he didn’t have enough time to go to the classroom and back and eat everything at a normal pace. 

He instead sat with his new friend group, Midoriya and Uraraka. 

“So, it’s not something suited for offense if he’s reacting like that…” Midoriya mumbled as he wrote notes into his notebook.

“Well I wouldn’t say that. He can be a little scary actually, when he’s looking out for us. It feels like the air around him gets harder to breathe.” Uraraka added in.

“What are we talking about?” He asked as he joined in on the conversation.

“Trying to figure out what Nagisa’s quirk is. He told us to guess but he hasn’t given out a single hint.” Uraraka pouted over her lunch. “By the way Iida, congratulations on becoming class president. I voted for Momo but you make a good fit!”

“Thank you. I also voted for Yaoyorozu since she was one of the recommendation students.” He had actually met Yaoyorozu a few times in the past at high end events his parents took him to when he was younger. They exchanged greetings and that was it of their interactions, but he knew of the work it took to stand beside such important family members. He had seen Todoroki as well but they had never spoken, the younger boy spent the whole time glued to his father’s side. 

“I wanted to ask, from the way you spoke earlier about honor and stuff. Are you from an upper-crust family?”

“Upper-crust?!” That pulled Midoriya’s head up to stare at him wide-eyed. 

Tenya felt his face grow hot. “I don’t like it when it’s brought attention to but if I must talk about such things, then yes. I’m from a family that’s been in heroics for generations. I am currently the second son.”

“Wow!” They said in unison.

“Do you know of the Turbo Hero Ingenium?” His brother was one of the more popular heroes of Japan, but not one of the top ten. His brother was his favorite though, nonetheless. 

“Of course! That’s the super popular hero whose Tokyo office has hired as many as sixty-five sidekicks! You don’t mean…” Midoriya said all of this off the top of his head.

“You’re quite knowledgeable. But that’s correct! And he’s my big brother!” Tenya preened. He really looked up to him. “He’s a beloved pro hero who prizes the rules and guides the people! And I aspire to be a hero like him one day.” He smiled at the thought.

“As such,” He admitted. “I think it’s a little soon for myself to be in a leadership position. I hope that in working alongside Yaoyorozu, I can learn what it takes to become someone others can rely on.”

There was a quiet ‘oh’ from Midoriya. 

“I think that’s the first time you’ve smiled, Iida.” Uraraka pointed out.

“Eh? Is that true? I smile too, all the time!” Whatever else could be said was disrupted by a loud siren.

“ Security level 3 has been breached. Students, please promptly evacuate. ”

“What’s security level three?!” He asked one of the many fleeing students. Everyone had jumped out of their seats and rushed out into the hall. 

An upperclassman turned to them. “It means someone’s infiltrated the school grounds! This hasn’t happened in three years!” When they got up close enough the upperclassman grabbed them by their uniforms and shoved them forward. “Come quickly, all of you!”

But there was nowhere to go. The hallway was packed with the panicked bodies of UA’s students. People were being pushed in several directions in the rush to get out the emergency exit doors. Tenya managed to keep a hold of Uraraka but Midoriya was quickly swept away. 

This was bad. Nobody was getting out safely at this rate. He was slightly worried at the possibility of someone getting stampeded and ending up with a serious injury. He’s heard the horror stories of people getting trampled in a mad scramble. 

By a stroke of luck, he was pushed up against a window with a direct view of the barrier entrance. Somehow, the entrance was opened and the press from earlier that morning had stormed in to argue with the answering staff. He had to tell everyone that it was just a false alarm!

“It’s nothing to worry about! It’s just the press!! Calm down everyone-OW!” His foot was stomped on.

“Ah! Somebody’s fallen! Stop, don’t push!” A random student yelled. 

Where were the teachers?! Are they all dealing with them?!

“Everybody stop! Go slow! Go slow!” “C’mon people!”

Kirishima and Kaminari were trying their best to calm people down.

Where are the people who can tell all the kids here that everything's fine!? We’ve all fallen into a frenzy of panic!!

“Iida!” 

“Uraraka!” They called out to each other. She was about to slip from his sight too. If I were Shiota… or my brother… at a time like this! An idea came to life in his head. “Uraraka, make me float!”

She was confused but did what he said. Her hand slapped his and he floated above the crowd. Now for a place to draw everyone’s line of sight. Right above the exit light!

Engine Boost!

He slammed into the wall beside him. He placed one foot on the sign and one hand gripped a pipe above his head, holding himself in place.

He took a deep breath. “Everybody calm down, IT’S OKAY!!!” He got the attention of everyone still stuck in the hallway. “It’s just the press! There’s nothing to panic about. It’s okay! You’re at Yuuei! Let’s conduct ourselves in the manner of those enrolled at the highest academia!”

In the dead silence caused by his shouting, there was the faint sound of police sirens outside. People sheepishly apologized and shuffled back into the cafeteria to collect their belongings and return to class. Midoriya and Uraraka stayed behind to wait for him. Uraraka released her quirk once the hallway was empty and he wasn’t in danger of falling on someone. Midoriya had caught his glasses and handed them back. He hadn’t even noticed they came off.

“Iida, that was so cool! You were able to calm everybody down so quickly!” Midoriya praised him. “I think we made the right decision, you becoming class president was a good choice.”

Both of his friends smiled back at him in agreement. Tenya let another smile show on his face. 

“If it’s the wish of my fellow classmates, then I shall continue to do my best!”

He stayed behind to take a moment to collect himself as his friends headed back. He broke a couple of rules including using his quirk outside of the allotted time. But, it was an emergency so it should be fine and he shouldn’t worry. What he did helped others, just like his brother. Maybe he is ready to be class president.

“Is it over?”

Tenya jumped. He had started using his quirk on instinct and almost kicked at his fellow classmate. Who was hanging out of the window… several stories off the ground…

Tenya grabbed Shiota and pulled him safely into the hallway. The short burst of adrenaline almost sent him back into panic mode. It instead turned into anger. 

“Do you realise,” His body started to shake as he gestured. “Just how dangerous that was!? What were you thinking?! Climbing out the window where you could have fallen and gotten seriously hurt or even died!!” His voice rose to a high pitch.

“I have good balance.” Shiota just brushed his anger off like nothing bad happened. Like he was crazy to be overreacting right now when his classmate just now HANGING OUT THE WINDOW! 

“What were you even doing out there!?”

Shiota leaned back until he was braced on the window sill. “Checking out the situation from a good vantage point. Most people reacted so poorly. They were all packed in here like sitting ducks. If it was a real emergency, then most of them would be dead.” It truly shocked Tenya how it was said so casually. 

“Please, don’t say that.” Tenya’s anger had quickly fizzled out. 

“Good thinking by the way, though people have started calling you ‘Mr. Emergency Exit’.” Shiota let a small giggle slip out. 

It was the first time Tenya heard him laugh. Which shouldn't have been a surprise, it was only the third day of school and they didn’t know each other. Though despite that, Tenya felt like he knew a lot about his classmate already based on how he reacted in dangerous situations. Tenya was suddenly struck with the urge to ask who he voted for, so he did.

“You.”

“Was it because of what I said?”

“Yes and no.” Shiota paused for a moment. “I think you and Yaoyorozu help balance each other out. You’re a stickler for the rules but Yaoyorozu is more lax. You have confidence, her’s is shaky. You’re both intelligent, come from wealthy families, and have powerful quirks. People can look to both of you for guidance and you’re both quick thinkers.”

“You know all of this already? Is people watching something I should be doing?” It couldn’t hurt. It would help him get to know everyone better.

“There is a big flaw both of you have though.”

Tenya came out of his head. “And what would that be?” If it was a big problem, he should learn how to solve it now before it got in his way.

But he didn’t like the look in Shiota’s eyes. He was staring right through him. It was scary. “It will only take one bad event to turn the both of you into your worst versions.” 

Tenya didn’t understand. But Shiota said it with such certainty that he must be right. That wasn’t nearly enough information, but the topic shifted once again.

“What do you think really happened?” His classmate had turned around and hung the upper half of his body out the window. He was looking directly at the destroyed barrier. 

Tenya came up to stand beside him. The police had already escorted the press off the premises. Now it was just the first-year staff along with the principal. He obviously didn’t know what they were saying from this distance but guessed they were discussing how this happened. The gate looked like it had crumpled to dust. It was such a thick barrier too, a couple of layers just torn apart like nothing.

“You’re smart.” He was told. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

He didn’t know where he was going with this. Shiota was trying to lead him to some conclusion that looked so simple to him. 

“The press wanted a statement from All Might and have been here for the past several days. Today they broke through the barrier during lunch hour. Scaring all the students and setting off a level 3 alert. The students panicked, the teachers were all at the gate, and the police were called.”

“Who broke the barrier?”

“One of the reporters or camera crew?”

“Wrong.” Tenya was confused; they were the only people trying so hard to get in. “I’m willing to bet that the same people showed up each day. So why now? Why wait until the middle of the day when all the students have to be inside the building to eat? Or when the teachers would be at lunch themselves, or making lesson plans in the teacher’s lounge?”

Shiota leaned back and turned his head enough to make eye contact and maintain it. “When the barrier was destroyed, of course all the teachers would rush straight to the problem. Leaving the students to run in a panic.”

He was laying down all these hints that he was supposed to be picking up. He decided to throw out a guess. “So, somebody new showed up, destroyed the entrance and … used the panic as a cover?”

Shiota started to grin. It had a strange effect on the atmosphere, like it had suddenly become harder to breathe.

“Yes.” It was said in a gasp of air. “You’re smart Iida. It was a cover for who? And for what?”

Tenya wanted to run away, but he had a feeling that even with his quirk he wouldn’t be able to run fast enough. “A cover for a villain to slip past the reporters and teachers. The students would be distracted with running and not pay attention to shifty individuals.”

A chill ran down his spine as he came to a sickening realization. It was made worse at the near frantic nodding Shiota was giving him to continue.

“T-they broke into the school looking for something. And managed to escape once things had calmed down.” He stuttered his way through his reasoning. “They got what they came here for and we don’t know what it was.”

They had been in so much danger and only one of the hundreds of students had known it. A villain had broken into what was supposed to be one of the most secure places in the nation and was never caught. Were they the only two to figure this out? Surely the teachers would be having an important meeting soon and come back to reassure their students. They would be fine, right?

There was a clap.

His slowly darkening eyesight cleared up immediately. His breathing evened back out, his hands no longer shook, and the rising fear of something or someone being very wrong has dissipated.

He looked back at Shiota and saw him there with a happy smile on his face. Did he not feel that just now? Is this what Uraraka had been talking about earlier, was that suffocating fear of being prey just his classmates quirk? 

“I think so too.” His posture was so relaxed, it was so off putting. “They probably came here for information so do look for anything out of the ordinary.” He frowned for a moment. “Are you okay Iida? Looking a little pale there.”

Tenya mentally shook himself. It probably was just his quirk or maybe his imagination. The siren more than likely freaked him out more than he realized. “Just a bit cold.” He replied.

Shiota pulled completely away from the window, shut it, then locked it for good measure. “Maybe go to sleep early tonight. Can’t have our class president getting sick on us.” He then started to walk back to class.

Yes, Tenya. It was just your imagination.

Wait. He forgot to thank him during the voting process. He’ll have to do that later. And another thanks for helping him just now. He should bring their theory up to the teachers, just in case.

Chapter Text

Izuku was screwed. Like, really screwed. He finally knows what having a quirk feels like, but he hasn’t gotten the chance to use it at all! Only once during the entrance exam and only once during Mr. Aizawa’s quirk test. But nothing since then, not even during heroics class. 

Don’t get him wrong, he does appreciate learning self-defense. You can’t just super punch everything. So he knows how to properly defend himself now! But still, if he can’t find a way to control his quirk soon, then what will he do?

He’s going to disappoint All Might and ruin the trust he put in him. His mother has seen how much he wanted his dream to come true… she’ll also be disappointed that it would amount to nothing. Worst of all, he’ll disappoint himself.

He didn’t spend those months strengthening his body to contain One for All just for it to lay dormant. He didn’t break some bones just to wait on the sidelines. He didn’t join a hero school just to not become a hero. Pro Heros have such amazing quirks. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t his to begin with, he was one of its users now, he had to prove it wasn’t a mistake.

But worrying about all that doesn’t mean anything if he doesn’t try to change it. Except, asking All Might how to control One for All didn’t help. It had been a little over thirty years since he received this quirk, he can’t remember what lessons he learned from his previous mentor on what to do. He did mention one of his mentors was still alive, but they wouldn’t be meeting until after the sports festival, which was three weeks away. 

So here Izuku was, asking someone else for help.

He couldn’t go to the other teachers. All Might said they were aware of his status but not that Midoriya was his successor. He couldn’t go to Kacchan, who confronted him at the end of the second day to ask how he got his quirk. He had told him the truth for multiple reasons. But Kacchan is still too mad at him and won’t help.

He couldn’t go to most of his other classmates either because they didn’t know and he couldn’t just tell them all the truth. 

There was only one person he could ask the advice of, someone who has been trying to help everyone this whole time.

Shiota.

He looked out for them when he thought they needed help, but he kept his distance beyond that. He didn’t try to make friends, but he wasn’t trying to make enemies either. He tried to stay on neutral grounds with other students, almost like one of their teachers. 

Izuku couldn’t tell him his secret, but he could still get some type of aid. This was only the fourth day of school, if he got help now then he would be ready in time for the sports festival. 

So when it came time for homeroom and Mr. Aizawa left them to their own business, he immediately turned around in his seat. Shiota looked startled for a second before relaxing.

He never noticed Shiota sliding his knife back into its hiding place.

“Shiota, I was hoping you could help me with something. Since you’ve been helping the whole class with training.” Needless to say, Izuku was worried that his classmate would say no despite what he’s done before. It’s just that everyone was so nice here, it was so unlike his previous schools where asking for help was a death sentence. 

“I can try and call me Nagisa.” It was close enough to a yes, it was at least an ‘I’ll hear you out’.

“Nagisa then.” Izuku smiled. “It’s a problem with my quirk. I know we haven’t got into quirk training yet but uh-” He didn’t know how to continue.

The soft sounds of his classmates' chatter reminded him to stay calm. But it was embarrassing to admit to someone else that he lacked the same control everyone learned around the years four to six. He shouldn’t be, he knew. But very few knew he had a quirk for a very short amount of time. 

Nagisa stopped him from continuing when he quietly stood from his chair and walked to the front. Nobody else seemed to notice, all engrossed in whatever they were doing. Izuku watched Nagisa crouch down beside Mr. Aizawa and tell him something before standing straight and walking back.

Nagisa lightly wrapped his hand around Izuku’s wrist and gave a small tug. “We can talk in the hallway.” Was all he said before walking out the door.

He didn’t know they could just go into the hallway whenever. Looking back at Mr. Aizawa did nothing, he was already back asleep. So Izuku snuck out too.

Nagisa was patiently waiting against the wall for him.

“Are we not going to get in trouble?” He really didn’t want to be the first student to get detention. Or maybe not detention but something physically draining. Mr. Aizawa most likely wasn’t the type to make students just sit in a room for an hour as punishment.

“I got us permission. Told him we needed a couple of minutes of privacy.” Nagisa said. "Now what’s your quirk problem? I can’t guarantee I can help.”

Izuku was nervous again. “Well, you remember how the last time I used my quirk went?” Nagisa nodded. “It’s always been like that, I don’t know how to make it stop breaking my bones. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Nagisa seemed to think for a moment. “Correct me if I’m wrong. You’re a late bloomer, right?”

That was the perfect excuse, except he would be an extremely late bloomer. Just who gets a quirk at fourteen?

Izuku shifted on his feet. “Most people are late bloomers around five or six, not when they’re teenagers.”

“Well there's always an exception. You can’t control your quirk yet because you are not used to having it. Nothing to be ashamed of.” He said it like it really wasn’t.

“I can’t keep going like this though. I’ll get expelled if I can’t control it, I won’t be able to become a pro hero.” All Izuku wanted was to become a hero like All Might. Someone who’s mere presence made others feel like there was nothing to fear. Because he would be there, and he would protect them. But how could he when his own quirk worked against him?

“Tell you what, I reserved a spot in one of the training gyms when I got my acceptance letter. I wanted to see how different it would be to train here than my usual place. So stay after school and practice with me.” 

Izuku’s thoughts screeched to a halt. “But I couldn’t do that! You reserved it for your own training; I can’t interrupt that!” That was too selfish of him to accept.

“I offered, didn't I?” Nagisa smiled like they just agreed to hang out later. “We’ll go easy and it’ll help the both of us. Show up or I’ll drag you there.” Nagisa nodded to himself and moved back to the class door.

“One other thing,” He turned slightly. “You should tell the teachers that you’re a late bloomer. That way they can adjust their teaching style to actually benefit you. Remember, training gym eight.” And went back inside.

Was it really that easy?

He was already stretching by the time Izuku arrived in his gym uniform. He was told to set his belongings down and do his own pre workout routine. The room was already transformed into a concrete jungle, courtesy of Cementoss. He was unaware that students could request all this.

“We got about five to ten minutes before Mr. Aizawa shows up.”

“Huh?” 

Nagisa just gave him a look. “You’re scared of your quirk going out of control so I asked if he could watch us.”

“Oh, thank you.” He also didn’t know they could ask a teacher to stay. He really was grateful. If his quirk had accidentally hurt someone other than himself then he’d be feeling guilty for weeks.

“It’s actually standard for teachers to check in on the students using the gym in case of an emergency. Mr. Aizawa will probably just do paperwork while he’s here.”

That made sense. He watched idly as Nagisa fiddled with something in his hands. Izuku realized it was a timer when it was set on the ground. Bright red numbers displayed a time of five minutes, ready to go at the push of a button. 

“First, we’re going to play tag. No quirks allowed.”

“And that’s supposed to help with my quirk?”

Izuku was pulled up away from the sidelines and towards the cement.

“I’m the runner and you’ll chase me. While we play, I want you to imagine where using your quirk to catch up to me would have been helpful. Remember, the goal isn’t to catch me. It’s to keep up with me.”

“So using my quirk in passive scenarios is supposed to help me control it?”

His classmate grinned. “You are thinking too precisely when you’re just starting out. Let’s use Todoroki as an example. Do you think when his quirk manifested he practiced by making perfectly shaped ice cubes? No, he probably made big and jagged chunks of ice. You tried shoving your power into just your fingers when you should spread it throughout your body first.”

Izuku tried to defend himself. “But I’m trying to control my power output!”

“Doesn’t matter. If you can’t spread it out comfortably throughout your body at full percent, then don’t expect to be able to force it to change. You have to work slowly or you’ll end up destroying your body and bringing others down with you.”

Nagisa ended their conversation by going to the timer and starting it. “Remember, no quirks!” And then he was running between the concrete like he had done so hundreds of times before.

Izuku rushed to keep him in his line of sight. But that wasn’t so easy. Nagisa was already on the other side of the manmade structure. He wasn’t running either, just standing there waiting for him.

Don’t catch him, just keep up.

He ran straight towards him, colliding with the wall behind him when Nagisa simply sidestepped away. He couldn’t have stopped his body in time at the speed he was going. Could using his quirk on his legs let him turn swiftly?

Izuku got up and ran to his target, taking care to watch his speed. Nagisa had used his momentum to run up a wall, placing his hands at the top to swing over. Izuku tried the same but only managed to stub his toe. 

Ow.

Adjust your body to your own strengths. He jumped on lower structures and got to the top. It was already empty. Quiet footsteps directed him back to the ground floor and around a corner. That was definitely on purpose. He had noticed it before, Nagisa didn’t make a sound when he walked. It was a little creepy.

He thought maybe that could be his quirk, light footsteps. Or something that allowed him to take or mask his weight during movement. There's a high chance he’s wrong. Iida told himself and Uraraka what happened back in the hallway. How the world felt distorted as they worked to figure out what had happened. He then thought of some predator based quirk. Maybe mimicking bloodlust.

Nothing felt right though.

He lost sight of Nagisa for a period of time. Getting up on the highest pillar didn’t help. He lost a whole thirty seconds before Nagisa revealed himself on purpose. And it just repeated like that for the rest of the time. He never caught up, always five steps behind. 

Izuku was a bit upset at himself, to see just how out of shape he was.

The timer buzzed, displaying three big zeros. 

He slumped on the tower the other boy was sitting on.

“Midoriya, stop slowing down before making a decision, you need to constantly be on the move.” His head snapped over to the timer. Mr. Aizawa was already there, and had been there for a while now. “Shiota, stop giving yourself away. He needs to find you, stop giving him a handicap.”

“But Mr. Aizawa, he doesn’t have any stealth training. Even with the lights on he won’t be able to find me.” Nagisa said, kicking his feet as he did.

That stung. He knows it wasn’t said with the intent to belittle him, but it felt like it. He was never told he had to have stealth training before coming to UA. It was not a listed prerequisite. 

“This is supposed to help him. You can’t help people when going so easy on them. Midoriya,” His teacher waited until he looked at him again. “It’s not something to feel ashamed over. It’s obvious he’s had different kinds of training before enrolling here. You were never meant to catch up to him as you are now.” 

Izuku was still upset over his own shortcomings but still listened to his teacher’s words. “Yes sir.” 

Mr. Aizawa studied him for a moment longer before walking to their bags. He sat down and went through his own belongings, pulling out a stack of papers and some pens. He really was doing paperwork.

“See? Just doing his own work.” Izuku jumped. Nagisa was standing next to him, not a sound was made.

“Yeah…” His voice shook as he got his heart back under control. 

Nagisa laughed a bit at his jumpiness before bringing them to the center of the cement. They could still be seen by Mr. Aizawa in this position. 

“Now, where would your quirk had been useful?”

Helping him turn corners, jumping up taller structures, giving him the arm strength to swing his body. He mumbled his answers while counting off his fingers. If he could just get the hang of his quirk, then he could keep up with almost anyone easily. Those with speed based quirks will always have the edge on him but that’s to be expected.

It wasn’t just speed he should be working on. The amount of pressure he releases needs to be monitored. Too much causes more damage than necessary. But too little can’t help him when he needs it. 

He needs to be able to move One for All throughout his whole body in an instant. On instinct. Villains won’t wait for him to power up or adjust his stance. 

“Midoriya?”

Nagisa’s voice brought him out of his head. Right, he was supposed to be answering his question.

“My quirk would help me react more quickly when you suddenly change directions or elevation. And like Mr. Aizawa was saying, I’m hesitating too much and wasting time watching your next move.” Izuku composed his thoughts into his short explanation.

Nagisa nodded but didn’t add anything else. He gestured for them to sit down and get comfortable.

“Now I want you to activate your quirk, but just hold onto it. I think releasing your power is your main issue. Holding it shouldn’t start shattering your bones, right?”

Izuku nodded along. “Right!” He held his hands in his lap. Looking at his limbs now, you wouldn’t have guessed they were ever broken so badly before. He knew that could change with repeated exposure. There had to be a limit of how much Recovery Girl’s quirk could heal for the same injury. He just didn’t know where that limit was.

He lightly startled when Nagisa gently held his hands with his own. 

“You can’t become scared of your own power. If you do, you’ll only hold yourself back.”

Izuku would like to say he wasn’t scared at all. That would be a lie. He had constant scenarios running through his head about how wrong everything could go, of the people he could hurt, of how he could so easily destroy his dreams.

“I’m well aware of how I can and have hurt the people around me. I’ve scared people plenty, even when it was an accident.”

Izuku could see that happening. Nagisa had already scared Iida, and Iida felt bad for getting scared when he knew someone was just trying to help. Maybe that also applied to the people he trained with before coming here.

“But if I can’t get the job done, then I won’t be able to help anyone. I don’t want to have to push my allies into helping me when they should be focusing on themselves.” Nagisa had this faraway look in his eyes. “The good thing is we have teachers here that can help us before we’re sent out into the real world.”

Izuku had the smallest feeling that Nagisa was never given much of that opportunity, that he had to start sooner than he would have liked. But he was right, Mr. Aizawa was here to step in whenever they needed it. He still had his self-made deadline, but he could spare a bit of time right now.

He took in a deep breath, and let his quirk spread out. It was similar to letting pressure build until it capped off, any more and he would need to release it.

“Hold it.”

He held it. It was right there, right at his fingertips, up his arms, down his legs, spread to his toes. 

“Now let go of it. Don't release it outwards, let it turn off.”

Slowly, he let go of his power. Letting the feeling fade. Strangely it left him feeling frustrated. He could hold it just fine it felt like, but not being able to use it made his power feel wasteful.

He bit his lip. “One second.” Nagisa let him get up and walk to their bags. He ignored Mr. Aizawa’s raised brow and pulled out his analysis notebook. 

He started a new one dedicated to him and his classmates and it would work to track his progress. He sat back down and made a quick note on his page.

The book was ripped from his hands, leaving him to palm concrete.

He startled before looking across from him. Nagisa was quickly flicking through pages before slapping it shut and staring at him in horror.

“Midoriya, how many of these do you have?” 

“That's number fourteen.” He watched as Nagisa sucked in a quick breath and held the notebook in a death grip.

“You can't have these.”

He blinked. “What? But it's just my quirk analysis books. They're for fun.”

“Midoriya, you are very smart,” Thank you? “And I know you like to study quirks. Nothing wrong with that. But you cannot be writing this stuff down. Use a code if you must!”

Izuku furrowed his brow. He didn’t understand the problem. He made his passion for studying quirks a hobby. But no one but himself has ever read his notes, his mom on occasion would look at his work, but no one beyond that.

Nagisa got an understanding look on his face before flagging Mr. Aizawa over. He held the notebook out to him to read through.

“Midoriya,” Nagisa continued. “You can't have this stuff just written in plain view. Anyone could steal these and use it to take down heros. Villains would gladly break into your house and kill your loved ones just to have access to these. Hell, if a student found them they could sell it off for a lot of money.”

As Izuku heard more and more, the increasing panic grew. “That's not what my notes are for! It's just a hobby, I like to study quirks!”

“Shiota is right Midoriya.” Mr. Aizawa didn’t look disappointed, but there was definitely something wrong. “You're very observant and people will take advantage of that. Bring the rest to school tomorrow. We need to discuss what will happen to these.”

Mr. Aizawa didn’t give it back. He put it in his own bag and sat down with his work again.

“Sorry.” Nagisa genuinely sounded apologetic. “I used to do something similar but if someone looked at it they would think it was a bunch of gibberish. Maybe you can make up a tricky code, then you can keep doing that.”

Izuku wasn't mad, a little upset, yes but he understood the points Nagisa made. He would never forgive himself if he did something to endanger his mom. So he would give up his stuff without a fight, and maybe find a loophole around the issue in a safer way.

Higari waited impatiently in his office for his coworkers to show their faces. After getting the list back from Ume about just how many students had costumes made from Hidden Claws Hero Designs, he nearly stormed into the teacher’s lounge and started his ranting. He was only one person! He can’t possibly go through each and every costume to make sure they were made with the students’ wellbeing in mind.

The school usually had around a hundred and twenty hero students. That means about a hundred and twenty hero costumes are made and looked after. Not to mention his own classes! Sure, they’re smaller than most classes but these kids were walking hazards, he needed to keep constant vigilance. Nezu forgives a lot on the count of letting talented students expand on their creativity. But surely he would draw the line at them blowing up the school building.

“Somebody’s trying real hard to turn themselves into a walking bomb~” The soothing voice of his friend came from the doorway.

“Hello Nemuri.” She was now his favorite coworker. Not only did she show up first but she also brought along some coffee.

Nemuri already got changed out of her hero costume into one of her dark blue pantsuits. It was after work now, most students had gone home. He on the other hand was still in his work clothes, slightly dusty with grease and oil in his hair in spite of his helmet. 

“So? Tell big sis Nemuri your troubles.” She grinned as she leaned her hips on his desk.

“I have a decade on you.” He huffed out. “I’m mad I didn’t catch this problem sooner. Hidden Claws has been a hero suit design company for six years now, four of those we shared a contract. Turns out they were more focused on designing revealing costumes for teenagers than caring about their safety.”

Nemuri frowned. “But I know you personally pick and choose which design companies UA works with. You always look into them, and so does Nezu when you hand in your approval list. How could they slip past the two of you?”

“Because they had only worked on costumes for adults then. We were the first school to partner with them.” His frustration was building again. It’s not shocking if an adult picks a slightly more explicit costume because again, they were adults. They have mostly free reign to wear whatever. “They didn’t do this right away. They gradually became worse over the years, but there’s still signs of it before now.” He gestured to the list. The papers below it show the hand drawn pictures students sent the company. He wasn’t able to find pictures of the completed costume for every student, he had a theory as to why.

Nemuri took her time flipping through the pages. “I know I’m one to talk when it comes to bad costume designs-”

“You wore a bunch of belts and a trench coat.” He deadpanned.

She shushed him and continued. “But when it came to my quirk it made more sense. Some of these kids have no reason to be going out in public like that. Holy- is that one just naked?!” 

Higari groaned and put his head into his hands. 

“Why are we screaming?” 

He turned back to the doorway. Shouta and Sekijiro just now arrived. Nemuri dragged Shouta closer and started to shake him by the shoulders. He remained unfazed as he was tossed back and forth. She shoved the paper into his face. “Why was your student naked?” She asked in concern.

Shouta spoke around the paper. “She went to get it changed right away. Calm down.”

Higari gestured for Sekijiro to enter before shutting the door behind him. Now they can’t escape his lecture so quickly. 

Nemuri giggled sadistically and nudged the other two. “You’re in trouble~”

“We recently discovered that one of the hero costume design companies have been making increasingly inappropriate costumes for your underage students. I was wondering why you two have been letting this go on for four years as you have had the most contact with them.” He took off his helmet to make eye contact with the two of them. “I’ll give you a chance to explain yourselves. Shouta, you’re older, you go first.”

He pointed to his white board. It was sectioned off with the faces of hero course students involved in the incident starting from four years ago to the present. Shouta took a long look, likely trying to remember who the students were before shoving his face into his capture scarf.

“You all know my reputation when it comes to teaching.” He grumbled.

“You mean expelling all your kids?” Nemuri stole his chair and got comfy. 

“It’s funny.”

“It’s sadistic.”

“You need to live a little, Kan.”

“That is rich coming from you.”

"Boys,” he scolded. “Back to the topic.”

Shouta almost made a sort of pout, despite it being completely out of character. “I expelled most of these kids. I know I re-enrolled a bunch of them but not any of them.” He pointed to all but one kid. 

Good to know most of those costumes didn’t get to survive long.

“And the last one?” He pushed.

“He’s trying to be an underwater hero. He wears a wetsuit. What was I supposed to do about it?” Shouta stepped back to the side, clearly done defending himself and waited for his fellow teacher to face his wrath. His current students were making an effort to change their suits for the better. And one of those kids mentioned trying to get the rest of them to get some improvements.

“Still, he’ll have to change companies.”

“He’s a third year, take it up with Snipe.”

And that was that. He glared at Sekijiro to take his turn.

“In my defense, I ask my students if they are happy with their costumes. They usually say yes but,” He quickly added. “I always mention that they can ask for changes if they feel uncomfortable.” 

“Sekijiro.”

“You can’t be mad at me for that! My students feel fine and they're perfectly safe!”

“Look at one of your current students. She’s practically wearing a tablecloth!” He gestured angrily to the board.

“Shiozaki is very happy with what she asked for.” Sekijiro defended his students and refused to budge. Hiragi just wanted him to admit he made some poor choices in letting his students do what they want. “She asked for organic cloth and will not be changing that.”

“Kevlar is an organic fiber but I know that is not what she’s wearing.” He sternly rebuked.

For being such a larger man, Sekijiro wilted and shrunk under the pressure of his glare. He felt great to be one of the older teachers part of the first year staff. Most of them were between the ages of twenty-eight to thirty-two. So as someone in his forties he enjoyed being able to scold his juniors. 

“I’ll… I will talk. With her.” 

He thought he would be more angry, but he just felt tired. His instincts have been telling him something was wrong for a while now, and it's been taking all his energy. That, and controlling the new first years. He stole his chair back from Nemuri and sat down heavily on it. 

“Just take care of it before I bring it up to Nezu.” 

He completely missed the look the other three shared before looking back at him. 

“I honestly expected you to start yelling at me. What’s wrong?” Sekijiro asked.

“I’ve been feeling uneasy since the break in.” He shared. “We don’t even know who did it, and if they took anything. Is it too late to change lesson plans?” He scratched his head, creating more of a mess.

“We’re on a strict schedule.” Shouta said apologetically. “We need to do that rescue simulator at the end of the week to make way for the other classes. Then prepare for the sports festival the following weeks.”

“He’s right. 1B takes the USJ the following Monday.” Sekijiro confirmed. 

Higari worried his lip. He decided he would let it go for now, but if the feeling persisted then he would notify Nezu. That was all he could really do.

Nemuri clapped her hands lightly. “You know what could help you relax?”

“I don’t want to go drinking tonight-” Shouta started to protest.

“Let’s get drinks! And don’t try to back out Shouta, I know you don’t have patrol tonight~.” She revealed her evil grin.

Shouta turned away from her. “I was going to use that time to go to bed early.” He paused for a moment. “I changed my schedule. Who told you I was off tonight?”

Higari instantly knew it was Hizashi. Shouta was forced to share his schedule with at least one other pro hero, it was no surprise he chose his husband. But Hizashi was known to constantly share schedules with his other coworkers. Once he knew, it was only a matter of time before the whole first year staff knew. 

Nemuri could have also asked Nezu, but why would she when Hizashi would give away the information freely without question. 

Shouta seemed to figure it out on his own too. “I’m telling Kurose next time.”

That was an even worse idea. Anan would tell Nemuri knowing full well why she wanted to know. And when Shouta would act upset at the betrayal, Anan would use her ‘youngest staff member’ status and get away with it.

“Kan, tell everyone we’re drinking tonight!”

“Who made you the boss?!”

“I’m your senior by a year, now shoo!” Nemuri shoved him out the door before turning back to the rest of them. “‘Jima, come drinking with us!”

“Yeah, sure.” He agreed easily enough. He would catch up with them once he got changed. The last thing he heard from the other two was Shouta telling Nemuri to bring an overnight bag. Apparently she kept stealing their softer clothes, and Shouta was not happy about the loss of his ugly cat themed shirts.

Tenya felt awful. Ever since his talk with Shiota, he couldn’t help the choking fear that grabbed him every time he remembered their conversation. The heavy air, the predatory gaze, the walls closing in-

But he had no reason to feel like that! All Shiota did was help him arrive at the same answer he gathered himself. If Tenya had just been more observant, put more thought into the situation at hand, maybe he could have figured it out on his own.

Uraraka and Midoriya had been talking to the other students trying to figure out what Shiota’s quirk was. He relayed his own thoughts, which had matched what Tokoyami, Shoji, Asui, and Koda felt when Shiota had argued with All Might, despite him not feeling that at the time. Midoriya theorized that because they were biologically closer to animals than the rest of them, their natural instincts to detect danger were also stronger. 

Midoriya began to compare it to animals being able to sense natural disasters days before humans could, before blushing and frantically trying to backpedal thinking he just dehumanized mutant quirks. 

“Don’t feel too bad. Being mutants does help ward us of unseen danger, it’s why we make good heros.” Shoji had reassured him. 

Still, Tenya hadn’t managed to talk to Shiota since. And that had been a week ago. If that just happened to be a side effect of Shiota’s quirk that had scared him so badly, then he was committing quirk discrimination by avoiding him, wasn’t he? But he still didn’t know what Shiota’s quirk even was. It could not be a part of a quirk, it could just be the type of feeling he gives off.

Tokoyami makes the shadows around them feel like they are alive, like they are being watched. And in that case he isn’t doing anything since it’s only his own shadow that is affected. Or maybe it’s like when Present Mic is teaching the class. They are already anticipating a loud class session, regardless if their teacher uses their quirk or not. He just gives off the presence of being loud.

Tenya had gotten to know his classmates better these past two weeks, either from talking directly to them or getting second hand accounts. But he has next to nothing on Shiota. He has their best interest in mind, yes, but he keeps his distance beyond that. So Tenya doesn’t know if it was because of a quirk or not but he didn’t want to ask and have Shiota feel bad for scaring him by accident.

And whenever he felt conflicted on how he should feel and what he could do about it, he asked his brother. Tensei always helped him reach a conclusion and ease his worries. So when he went home that day, he told his brother everything he knew and everything he had been feeling, and waited for his brother’s thoughts. 

“Hmm.” Tensei had an easy smile on his face. “And you can’t ask what his quirk is?”

“He wants us to guess.” He answered. 

“Hmm. I think you should tell him what is happening.” At Tenya’s confusion he continues. “You said he won’t tell you what his quirk is, that could be for a number of reasons, such as it being highly dangerous. However, you also said that all he has been doing is trying to help. So maybe what you felt was his quirk but he doesn’t realize he’s using it. You should just tell him what you’ve felt and hear out his answer.”

“...” It sounded so simple when his brother said it. It felt a little bit like an invasion of privacy, potentially feeling the effects of a quirk that someone didn’t mean to use, and then asking them about it. But the worst Shiota could do is telling him to mind his own business. 

“If you think that's best.” He nodded along to what Tensei said. 

His brother chuckled. “No need to be so serious Tenya.” He reached over to mess up his hair. Tenya didn’t move out of the way, even when he complained about his hair style getting messed up.

Now back at school, he planned to ask Shiota around lunch. He wanted to do it after school but Shiota just disappeared all the time claiming he had training to do. Then that plan wouldn’t work when Mr. Aizawa said they were doing a rescue simulation. So he resolved to do it before they got aboard the bus. 

He dressed quickly and stood off to the side of the bus. Shiota was the first one out as usual and was talking to Yaoyorozu. She was dressed in a different hero costume this time, and she twirled to show it off.

“It’s only temporary though. I’m actually doing the same thing as Hagakure, but it will take time to put everything together.” Yaoyorozu had a big smile on her face. Instead of what she had before, she was now wearing a sports bra and shorts with the same yellow belt. Her heels were also changed for flat shoes and the books that rested on her lower back were gone. In Tenya’s opinion, it looked much more professional than the first design. 

“I see you’re wearing a new suit, Yaoyorozu.”

“Iida.” She turned to greet him. “Yes, but this is just a stand in. My new costume will have full coverage and my creations will be able to be pulled through my costume.”

Was that possible? “How does that work?”

“It’s actually pretty interesting. Nagisa mentioned an upperclassman that has a hero suit made out of his hair so his body won’t phase through it when using his quirk. Hagakure and I will be using the same method for our costumes so we can still have coverage.” Yaoyorozu explained.

“But your hair is the same length?” It didn’t look any shorter than usual.

She got more excited with her explanation. “There is someone with a quirk that quickly grows someone’s hair at the cost of the person’s body fat. They work at a hair salon but UA personally hired them for this project. Hagakure has to get her hair dyed though so it can be seen but the dye will fade by the time they're done putting it all together.”

Tenya gave her a bright smile. “That sounds amazing! That means you’ll be better protected in the long run.” He turned to Shiota, who was fiddling with his ear piece. “I knew you were just trying to help us all along!”

Shiota turned to give him a look. “Huh?”

“Ah-” He didn’t mean to say it like that. His mouth snapped shut and his face grew hot. “That wasn’t what I was trying to say.” His hands twitched as he had the urge to start chopping them. “I had been meaning to ask you something possibly related to your quirk.”

Shiota gave him a lopsided grin. “I’m still not giving out the answer yet.” 

“I’m not looking for it. It’s about what happened in the hallway the day the break in occurred.” Taking his brother’s advice is working out so far.

“Okay? Ask away then.”

“I wondered if it was part of your quirk because some of the others felt it too, when you argued with All Might I mean. I felt very scared, like the walls were closing in and there was nowhere to go. And it was also like my eyesight was getting darker. Like I was being hunted…” He trailed off as Shiota’s eyes widened before his whole face went blank.

“You felt that?” His voice was carefully empty. 

Tenya spared a glance to Yaoyoruzu who was still standing next to them. Their other classmates had just now started to head over in the distance. Maybe his brother’s advice was not a smart move.

For a brief second, he almost felt that same primal fear again before Shiota finally turned his eyes away. He even blushed, as if he was embarrassed. 

“Sorry. That wasn’t, no it’s not a part of my quirk.” Shiota looked back at them. “I accidentally let some bloodlust out. I’m supposed to be trained better than that. I really am sorry. I will properly apologize to the class later.”

… how was Tenya supposed to process that sentence?? Bloodlust?! Trained to hold back his bloodlust??? Wait Tenya, maybe he just meant his previous school taught him how to fight, like UA is. 

“Oh, did you have problems with it in junior high?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“Yeah, I scared a couple people too. One of my old teachers actually flipped me over because I walked behind him and triggered his fight or flight. He helped me up right away when he noticed what happened.” Shiota rushed to explain that last bit.

Tenya decided to put the conversation out of his head for now and focus on getting everyone on the bus in a reasonable fashion. He designed the seating chart and everything. Which of course didn’t matter as he took in the bus layout. 

Someone patted him on the back with a, “Better luck next time, Iida.”

He sunk into the first seat and hung his head over his knees. Everyone at least settled down quickly. He got thrown off from his conversation with Shiota and forgot to take charge of the class. Thankfully, Yaoyorozu made sure everyone was here and ready to partake in this rescue exercise. 

“Hey Midoriya,” Asui started across from him. “I always say what I think no matter what’s on my mind.”

“Ah? Hi, Asui?!” Midoriya startled next to her, not expecting to be addressed.

“Call me Tsuyu. Your quirk reminds me of All Might’s.” Asui really was blunt.

He picked his head back up to the sound of Midoriya panicking. 

“That so??? Haha, but mine isn’t like-”

"Wait up, Asui, All Might never gets hurt! That’s where the likeness ends.” Kirishima interrupted. “I’m kinda jealous of that kind of simple enhancer-type quirk, though! There’s a lot you can do with one, and it's flashy too! My ‘hardening power’ isn’t bad for punch-ups, but I hate that it’s just not that flashy.” Kirishima demonstrated his quirk, hardening from the elbow down.

“Well I think it’s an awesome quirk! Definitely a quirk that’ll be of great use to a pro!” Midoriya had calmed down quickly once the attention was off of him. Maybe he had performance anxiety, like Koda. Not great when you’re becoming a pro hero, but they still had three years until then. Plenty of time to fix that.

Kaminari joined in. “Pros huh. But you know, heroics has a lot about it that’s more like a popularity contest too, right!?”

“My navel laser is both flashy and strong enough for the pro level.”

Ashido laughed and laid a hand on Aoyama’s shoulder. “But it’d be bad if your stomach collapsed!”

“If we’re talking the double whammy of flashy and strong, you can’t not mention Todoroki and Bakugou!” Kaminari pointed in their direction. They had a couple of discussions about their quirks between lessons since they weren’t using them in All Might’s class yet. There were plenty of powerhouses in 1-A.

“Kaminari don’t point! It’s rude.” He scolded.

“Aw man, it’s fine Iida. Bakugou’s really mean so it’s just payback.”

“What did you just say dunce face?!” Bakugou leaned in his direction, a snarl on his lips.

“Bakugou’s always fuming, so he won’t be very popular.” Asui said.

Bakugou gripped the seating rail in front of him. “You bitch! I’ll be popular too!” He yelled. Tenya saw Jirou wince and lean away from him in her seat next to him.

“See?” She also pointed at him too.

Kaminari jumped back in to tease him more while Bakugou threatened him with murder.  Several people were laughing at the display while a couple others hid their faces from the scene. Tenya was about to start yelling himself but Mr. Aizawa got to that first.

“We’re almost there, settle down already.”

“Yes sir!!!” Everyone replied.

By the time everyone had calmed down, they arrived. The building they will be working in was surrounded by high walls and closed in by a huge glass dome. Inside was more diverse and amazing than he was expecting. Everyone else seemed to agree.

“Woah!!!!”

“This place looks so cool!”

“Is it like the USJ or something?!!”

The pro hero standing right inside the entrance looked happy from their reactions if their body language was anything to go off of. “Floodwrecks, landslides, fires, etc, etc. This is a practical training area I created to simulate all kinds of accidents and disasters, and its name is The Ultimate Space for Jams!!”

“It’s space hero No.13! She’s the hero who does phenomenal work helping with disaster relief!” There was Midoriya with his hero knowledge. 

13 and Mr. Aizawa started to whisper to each other for a second. Tenya stood tall at the back of the group to make sure everyone was behaving and paying attention, so he noticed when Shiota twitched beside him.

“Iida, remember what I said during the class vote?” Shiota whispered to him. It was rude to speak during a lesson but Tenya knew what he meant.

“You’ll take charge if something bad is happening?”

“You trust me right?”

Tenya stared at him for a moment. He looked completely serious. He looked… less like a fifteen year old student and more like one of the pros in front of the class. He looked like his brother when he talked about more dangerous situations at the dinner table.

He did trust him, because Tenya knew he had their best interests in mind. He nodded.

“You need to run back to the main campus immediately. Tell them it’s an ambush and the USJ is overrun with villains.”

“But- I can’t just leave in the middle of class!” He harshly whispered back. He didn’t question how Shiota even came up with that information.

“You are not going to be in trouble but we will.” He gestured to the rest of them. “Go now, while you still have time.”

And Tenya, he listened. He trusted him. Questions can come later when they’re all alive to ask them. 

He turned around and ran out the doors. Full speed ahead because his friends depended on him.

Shouta’s head shot up when he heard the doors open and slam shut. He expected to see All Might in the doorway and sheepishly apologizing for his lateness despite Anan just telling him that their idiot coworker already reached his limit for the day and wouldn’t make it in time for class. But no one was there.

He made a quick headcount and found someone missing. Iida. Weird, considering the kid was a stickler for the rules and would never just run out of a lesson. He ignored Anan as she explained what they would be doing today. This would be the first time they used their quirks for an actual class assignment since All Might’s near disaster of a training lesson.

Speaking of, he looked at his most troublesome student who picks verbal fights with teachers. Shiota looks calm but also like he’s preparing for a fight. For all of the oddities that surround him, he had good instincts. Something’s wrong but he doesn’t know what. 

The light’s flickered. 

He felt the beginnings of a dark presence behind him. As he turned to look he saw a swirling vortex form before the center fountain. People started to run out of it as soon as it was big enough. Villains.

“Stay back and don’t engage!” He shouted to his students without moving his eyes from the targets. “13, protect the students!”

“Huh?! What is that? Is this like that training pattern at the entrance exam?” Kirishima asked, trying to move closer. 

“Don’t come closer! Those are villains!” Most of the kids stopped moving, most likely because of the bloodlust they’ve never felt before. He slid his goggles over his eyes and got ready for the fight. He and 13 would buy as much time as needed for All Might to- oh.

Shiota knew about this somehow and he sent Iida out to get help. He wasn’t looking forward to the talk he would be having with him after this. At least Iida got a head start before the villains arrived.

“Eraserhead and No.13.” The portal became a man made out of dark purple mist. “According to the teacher’s curriculum we procured before this, All Might was supposed to be here and yet…”

“Of course, so it was you that broke in.” That confirmed it. All future plans now had to be redone. Well, they were going to be anyway, but they didn’t know it went to this level of villainism. He’s going to be the one requesting drinks this time, Nemuri is going to lose it.

“Where is he… we went through all this trouble and gathered up so many of us to bring along. You can’t tell me All Might… the symbol of peace.. isn’t here. I wonder if he’ll show up if we kill a few kids.” The man who looked like the leader wore disembodied hands over his face, neck and arms. Shouta couldn’t tell if it was for the scare value or he dressed like this daily. Either way there was no time to dwell on it. 

“13, do the evacuation procedure! Kaminari, see if you can contact the school with your quirk!” Iida had a head start but even at his fastest speed he might not come back in time. He gripped his capture weapon. Midoriya became concerned when he believed he couldn’t keep up with the onslaught of villains. But no good hero would allow such restrictions. He is not a stationary hero.

He gave one last look to everyone behind him. “13, I’m counting on you.” He jumped feet first down the steps, his capture weapon unraveling around him. 

“Who the hell is that?! I thought only 13 and All Might would be here?”

“Who cares, he’s still throwing himself at us!”

“What a dumbass- huh??? Why isn’t my quirk firing?”

Shouta wrapped the bindings around them and tugged forward harshly. The two villains slammed into each other. 

“You idiots! If he’s erasing quirks then it's Eraserhead!!”

“Can he erase mutant-shapes like us?”

Shouta punched him in the face. “Nah,” He wrapped the cloth around his ankle, moved back, and ducked under a swing aiming for the back of his head. “But I’ve found a way around that.” He pulled the mutant up into the air and down into the target behind himself. They both fell to the ground.

The mist villain slipped past all of them and blocked the entrance. Shit. But he can’t focus on that right now. 13 isn’t some rookie hero, she can hold her own. But he has impulsive students who act before thinking, and that is what makes it harder for teachers to protect their students.

He hears more than sees a portal swallow half of who was at the top of the stairs. Shit. Then yelling coming from various rescue points. Okay, great, they weren’t teleported to unknown locations, just around the facility. Some of them have had training before UA, they have a chance. 

The fight becomes a blur as he lowers their numbers. If he got distracted then they could all die. But finally, after minutes of running around, most of the rookie villains have been laid out.

Shouta breathed hard, sweat dripping down his face. His eyes were so dry. Con of wearing a thick black jumpsuit, it gets hot and damp fast. 

He noticed the hand villain counting as he ran towards him. He threw his capture scarf and him, which he caught with a hand.

“23…. 24…. 20…17”

Shouta elbowed him in the stomach. 

“We keep jumping around so it was hard to tell, but there are moments when your hair falls over your eyes.” The man’s voice was scratchy and raw, like he often screams himself hoarse. “It's whenever you complete one action. And the interval is getting shorter and shorter.” 

The hand villain grabbed Shouta’s elbow. Immediately, a sharp pain attempted to overwhelm him. He instinctively shut his eyes in response so he didn’t cut off his quirk right away.

“Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Eraserhead.”

Skin, blood, and bone disintegrated. He activated his quirk, the yellow glow seeping from the gaps in his goggles and reflecting in the eyes in front of him. He swung a hard punch.

“Ah!”

Shit. His elbow was broken. He dodged the attacks of two more villains. C’mon Iida, pump it. 

The hand villain slowly got back up. “That quirk of yours, isn’t it unsuited to fighting masses for long periods? Isn’t this far removed from your typical work? Isn’t your actual specialty short-length attacks?”

It wasn’t common that the average villain knew who he was, even less common his style of fighting. But there were always ways to find out. Hell, if the guy could break his way in UA whose to say he couldn’t find his way into their private records. 

“So was the reason you jumped into an open battle like this to give your students some measure of peace of mind? You’re so cool, you’re so cool~” The villain was basically ‘fanboying’, or whatever Nemuri called it when someone gushed about their favorite hero. “Oh, by the way hero-”

Shouta felt a chill down his spine. Something powerful was standing right behind him. He turned around.

“I’m not the strongest one here.”

A big, bird-like thing stood over him. One large hand raised above his head. It grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him down into the concrete. Stars exploded behind his eyes and a ringing started to build up in his ears. He only noticed it grabbing his broken elbow when it twisted it till his hand hung limp. 

“Argh!” He hissed air between his teeth. God, it hurts. Blood dripped down his face and arm. He definitely had a concussion. 

“You can erase quirks. A respectable ability, but there’s nothing to it in the end. After all, when faced with overwhelming might, you might as well be quirkless in that situation.”

Shouta was able to nudge his head up and tilt it to the side. He activated his quirk but nothing happened, this thing's strength didn’t budge. If this was its base power- fuck. He was no match for this thing, without All Might his students will die.

The thing gripped his hair again and raised his head up intending to smash it into the ground again. He just hoped to keep his consciousness a while longer. Iida will be here any second now with reinforcements. 

Then there was a squelching sound above him. For a moment, he thought maybe his arm was stepped on and that’s what made the sound. But the hulking mass tensed up then slumped off to the side. It didn’t make a noise as it went down, dead before its blood started to pool from its exposed brain. 

What???

“You… you!” The villain’s voice was shaking with rage. “How dare you! It was perfect, we wasted so much time and effort into making it! And you killed it like it was nothing!!!” He started to shriek.

Shouta got one shaky arm under his chest and pushed up. When he was able to look over his shoulder he saw someone he wasn’t quite expecting. No, it wasn’t another pro hero, it was his student.

Shiota stood motionless behind him, a blood soaked knife in one hand. His eyes were empty, dead looking. He was staring at the monster but made no further movements towards it.

For a moment, Shiota genuinely scared him. He had never seen a kid do what he just did and look so calm about it. But then he gathered his senses and was now scared for him. The repercussions could be life ending. God forbid the Hero Commission found out about this. 

“Aaahhh! You’ll pay for that, you’ll pay!” The villain made a lunge for him. Shouta couldn’t get up fast enough. He activated his quirk-

*Bang!*

A bullet tore through a hand. Then another through the torso. Then the leg. 

The man stumbled away and clutched at his new holes. The mist villain from earlier reappeared behind him. 

“Shigaraki Tomura, we must leave.”

“No! That brat killed the nomu. We can’t just call it a game over now! All Might isn’t even here!!” But ‘Shigaraki’ couldn’t pull himself out of the portal quick enough. They disappeared quickly, leaving behind everyone else they brought with them. 

Shouta didn’t bother looking towards the stairs where he knew the other teachers had gathered. They would soon spread out, fighting off other villains and rounding up all the scattered kids. Right now, he needs to focus on the one in front of him.

“Shiota.” He called out. No response. He grit his teeth and stood up. His legs were shaking but not damaged. “Shiota.” He tried again. Nothing.

He stood between him and the nomu. “Nagisa.” Finally, his student turned his eyes to look at him. Still no verbal response. Could be shock, could be dissociation. They both need medical help. 

“Can I have your knife?” He held his hand out.

Shiota gazed at his hand for a moment, then tried to look around his body.

“The threat is gone, but I need your knife.” He didn’t try to block the sight. The knife was handed over without more fuss. He slipped it into one of his pockets. “Thank you.”

“Shouta.” Hizashi stood to his left.

“I’ll be fine.” He said. “How’s 13?”

“She’s being seen by Recovery Girl. Shouta, the police were called as soon as Iida ran back. They’ll be here any minute.”

“Great.” He muttered. He held his good arm out. “Help me over to the cars, I’m going with him to the police station.”

“Going with- Shouta you need to see a doctor! Your arm can have serious permanent damage. You probably also have a concussion. I can go with him.” Hizashi offered.

“I have partial guardianship, not you.”

“Oh don’t use that excuse. We’re married and both have emergency foster licenses. I can take him so please get some medical help.” Shouta looked at his worried husband. He knew that Hizashi knew he wouldn’t budge with this. With a huff he relented.

“Fine, Fine! Recovery Girl should still be nearby, 13 can’t be moved around yet. We’ll wrap you up quickly. But you will be going to the hospital after this.”

During their discussion, Shiota still hasn’t moved an inch, still stared off into the distance. Shouta didn’t think he even heard them speak. He looked just like a traumatized child in this situation would. He barely had any blood on him, somehow mostly clean despite causing a brutal death up close. 

“Nagisa.” He called out gently. “We have to go talk to the police now, please follow us.” Hizashi helped him across the plaza, up the stairs, and over to Recovery Girl’s temporary surgical setup. They were dutifully followed the entire way by silent footsteps. 

He really hoped this talk would end with him getting to keep all of his class. Maybe if he kept the full twenty for the whole year Nezu would give him a raise. It would be worth all the teasing he would get for becoming ‘soft’.