Chapter Text
Nedzu watches with evaluating eyes at the various screens showcasing the various physical entrance exams taking place. There were definitely ones who stood out, a blond boy with an explosion quirk who was very versatile in how he used it, another blond boy who had a quirk that copied others (which quite intrigued Nedzu on all the ways it could be utilized), a bird headed boy with a uniquely sentient quirk, and of course All Might’s protege who so far has not done much to stand out. Though there are many amazing students who stick out there is one Nedzu keeps a particular eye on.
This student doesn’t stand out with a flashy quirk or any exceptional physical skill, it’s quite the opposite really. The student Nedzu keeps his focus on is a boy of short stature and messy dark hair, he is taking out the robot opponents through sneaking up to them and either deactivating them with their hidden off switch or immobilizing them with anything laying nearby. Nedzu is impressed by his creativity and how quickly he discovered the hidden off switch on the robots. Even so, normally he would not put so much attention on an individual student during the exam but this boy was a unique case as he was a late applicant. Nedzu almost did not accept such a late application but it was brought to him by a man whom Nedzu did not know personally but knew the reputation of.
The man who brought this boy’s application was named Yukichi Fukuzawa, he was a government agent back in the day and according to Nedzu’s sources was a part of some darker parts of the military force of the government. Fukuzawa was once a part of the Goken, the five greatest swordsmen in the government, though, that was years ago and Fukuzawa had since retired. He currently works as a for hire bodyguard, or as it seems more recently works as a private investigator of sorts. Nedzu will admit to not paying that close attention to his career in recent times, which he will rectify very soon.
When Fukuzawa came in person to speak with Nedzu about the late application he was intrigued. Fukuzawa gave a compelling argument on why the boy should be given the chance even though his application was late. Nedzu hummed to himself thinking of that conversation, Fukuzawa was quite the interesting man and he painted quite the interesting picture of the late applicant. Nedzu glanced again at the screen of the boy, his eyes glittering with interest, the boy was now rescuing someone from being hit by a robotic arm. ‘Yes, Ranpo Edogawa’ Nedzu thought ‘you definitely have my interest, I am excited to see what you become here at UA.’
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Aizawa sighed to himself as the newest class 1-A students were freaking out about his expulsion threat. He glanced over at Midoriya to see the boy shaking and looking like he was about to faint. Understandable seeing how his quirk is so destructive on his body, Aizawa was against him being even admitted into the school at all for that exact reason. This test will either prove Aizawa right for not wanting him here or perhaps Midoriya will actually surprise Aizawa. Before Aizawa could step in to quiet the kids a voice spoke up over the rabble.
“Hey teach, what if I don’t have any previous Junior High records?” spoke a boy with his hand slightly raised while the other students quieted down looking at him. Aizawa’s eyes narrowed at the boy, Ranpo Edogawa, he seemed to have caught Nedzu’s attention but Aizawa hadn't seen anything noticeable from him during the exam. Add the fact that he was Quirkless of all things made Aizawa skeptical on how the boy would perform. Aizawa knows quirks are not the end all be all of heroism, a hero's physical capabilities are important as well and can be the thing that is more useful than a quirk at times. That being said, not having one at all. Well Edogawa definitely had a big hurdle to climb to become a hero.
“Edogawa, I read your file so you're in the clear. I expect your scores for this test to at least match those who don’t have physically advantages quirks, though, so no slacking off” Aizawa said, earning a thumbs up from Edogawa. Aizawa wouldn't mention his lack of quirk, it will have to come up eventually and he’ll let Edogawa handle that at his own time. He also is aware of Edogawa’s history, being homeless for a time and having to get a job at a young age to sustain himself. Edogawa probably didn’t attend Junior High at all.
Aizawa huffed before addressing the students as a whole “For all you questioning the expulsion, remember I get to decide how this class runs so I don’t want to hear anymore from you all. If you have an issue with it you can head home right now and save me time.” Aizawa glanced at the kids, some looking worried while others looked miffed. The sole exception being Edogawa who kept a smile to his face and a relaxed pose.
“Natural disasters, power hungry villains, catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities” Aizawa continued “this world is full of unfair circumstances. It’s a hero’s job to try to combat that unfairness. If you wanna be a pro, you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus Ultra. Show me it’s no mistake that you are here.” Aizawa watched as he spoke as the students’ expressions morphed into faces of determination, he glanced again at Edogawa to see he had the same relaxed expression as before. Aizawa sighed, Edogawa hasn’t caused any issue yet unlike some other rowdy students but Aizawa isn’t holding out hope that that would last with this one. The kid had an arrogant expression and he did catch Nedzu’s attention which only spells trouble for Aizawa. ‘Truly, all the problem children were given to me this year’ Aizawa thought as he set up for the first test.
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Midorya was not freaking out. He wasn’t! But well, he hasn’t performed well at all! In every category at least one person had out performed everyone else. While Midorya has seemed to underperform in everything. The only other person who hadn’t had a stand out score was Edogawa. He seemed uncaring about his score though, at least not outwardly showing any worry. After each test he’d score lower than most but always seem unbothered by it. Though, unlike Midoriya’s scores, Edogawa had at least decent ones, low but decent. It’s clear he had done physical training before coming here. Midoriya had been keeping track of the points a bit and Edogawa was ahead of him.
“Edogawa you're up” called Mr. Aizawa as a boy with yellow hair and black streak in it walked away from the ball pitch. Edogawa lazily trotted over to the pitching area taking the ball from Mr. Aizawa. Midorya watched as Edogawa reeled his arm back before throwing the ball.
“58 meters” called out Mr. Aizawa. Edogawa gave a satisfied smile before walking back to the group of students. ‘Oh no, I can’t beat that without my quirk! But if I use my quirk I’ll break my bones…what am I to do?’ Midoriya thought worriedly as he muttered under his breath. Midoriya was so deep in his worry he didn’t notice as someone moved over to him.
“Ya know you're mumbling out loud right?” Midoriya jumped looking over to the person who spoke, Edogawa. “I mean it’s quite enough that I couldn’t hear what you were saying but still.” Midoriya stared at Edogawa in bewilderment.
“Oh, um, sorry” Midorya timidly said, he looked at Edogawa’s relaxed posture and the inquiring look he had. His head was slightly tilted as he looked slightly up at Midoriya, not much could be read from his squinted eyes.
“No need to be sorry, I wasn’t bothered just letting you know,” Edogawa said cheerfully. “Well I actually came over to ask why you haven’t used your quirk at all yet?” Midoriya choked, jumping back surprised.
“Wah, huh, what do you mean?!” Midoriya practically screamed, catching other students' attention before they looked back at whoever was pitching.
“Wow, what a reaction!” Ranpo exclaimed his relaxed pose unchanging. “I mean why haven’t you used your quirk? You have a physical quirk, yes? Why not use it?”
Midoriya looked even more panicked and confused “oh, yeah I do have a physical quirk yeah. But, um….” Midoriya looked away shyly unsure on what to say in this situation. Quirks generally don’t have such a backlash, actually it's basically unheard of for a quirk to hurt the user so much. Aoyama has a severe backlash but that is nothing compared to breaking bones in simple attacks, stomach aches are actually quite a common drawback. Midoriya was unsure on how to talk about All Might’s quirk without giving away that it's not his original quirk. Edogawa looked Midoriya up and down before smirking to himself. Midoriya shivered feeling like all his secrets were just revealed. Edogawa smirked like he just caught the canary and Midoriya did not think that was a good thing.
“Oh I see, you are the one who broke his bones in the entrance exam. Guess that isn’t a one time thing if you’re worried about it happening again. Haven’t had a lot of practice with your quirk huh?” Edogawa said nonchalantly but Midoriya internally freaked out at his comment. ‘Huh!? How did he know I hadn’t had much practice? The other two observations make sense but that last one, how could he know?’ Midoriya panickedly thought.
“I-uh, yeah I’m a late bloomer ha ha and with the drawback I just-ya know” Midoriya said awkwardly as he rubbed his neck not looking Edogawa in the ey- uh face.
“I see, well I am feeling generous right now so tell me what you're doing and I can let you know what you’re doing wrong” Edogawa said in a self satisfied manner nodding to himself. Midoriya glanced at him quizzically ‘well it won’t hurt, everyone will know anyway once I use my quirk’ he thought.
“Uh, well you see, when I use my quirk it shatters my bones in the limb I use it in. I don’t want to use it and have to do the rest of the test with a broken limb.” Midoriya rushedly said in one breath looking at Edogawa as he merely tilted his head.
“How boringly simple” Edogawa said waving his hand, making Midoriya look at him perplexed. ‘Boringly simple?!’ Midoriya thought. “All you have to do is either spread that power all throughout your entire body using only a percentage of your power or use it not in your whole arm but in a smaller portion of your body. Though, that second one would still break your bones just in a smaller area” Edogawa finished. Midoriya stared at him ‘that first one seems too complicated to use right on the spot but that second one…’
Midoriya looked determinedly at Edogawa, a smile crossing his face. “Thank you Edogawa! I think that might just work!”
Edogawa waved him off and started to walk away “Thank me all you want but don’t expect more help from me. I was merely curious about why you wouldn’t use your quirk, I have no interest in tutoring others. Also it will work.” Midoriya watched as he walked off perplexed by his goodbye speech. He turned back to the pitch in time to watch Uraraka do her throw.
She got infinity! No way.
After that Midoriya was called up. He took the ball, preparing to throw it ‘I can’t end up last, mom and All Might believe in me!’ Midoriya threw the ball and watched it sail a mere 46 meters. ‘What?’ Midoriya’s face was an expression of absolute shock and devastation. ‘I used my quirk and even tried to implement what Edogawa said! Why didn’t it work?’ Midoriya looked at his hands as if they had personally betrayed him.
“I erased your quirk” Mr. Aizawa spoke, his eyes glowing red and hair levitating. This shook Midoriya from his spiraling thoughts. “The judges from the exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll at this school.”
“Wait, you did what to my– Ah! Those goggles. I know you!” Midoriya exclaimed “You can look at someone and cancel out their powers, the Erasure Hero, Erasure Head!” The other students behind Midoriya started to murmur confusedly not knowing the hero for his avoidance of the spotlight.
“You’re not ready, you don’t have control over your power. Were you planning to break your bones again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?” Mr. Aizawa said.
Midoriya looked shaken as he tried to defend himself “N-No! That’s not what I was trying to do!”
Mr. Aizawa just shook his head “No matter what your intentions are, you would be nothing more than a liability in battle. You have the same reckless passion as another overzealous hero I know. You’re worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down. Sorry Midoriya, with your power there's no way you can become a hero. I’ve returned your quirk to you, now take another throw.” Once Mr. Aizawa finished speaking he pulled out some eye drops and dropped some in his eyes.
Midoriya took a deep breath and readied another ball to throw. He glanced behind him seeing Uraraka give him a thumbs up and Edogawa giving him an expectant look. ‘I can’t be useless and a burden to others!’ Midoriya thought as he forcefully threw the ball using his quirk only on the end of his finger. The ball went flying with a loud blast. Midoriya looked down at his now broken finger ‘it hurts but it worked, Edogawa was right’. Midoriya turned to Mr. Aizawa trying to hide his pain and gave him a shaky smile “Mr. Aizawa. I’m still standing.”
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Once Midoriya finished with his ball throw test and Bakugo tried attacking him before being stopped by Mr. Aizawa there were only a few more tests left. Still it was painful for Midoriya with his broken finger he could also feel Bakugo glaring at him the whole time. Midoriya did not look forward to their next confrontation at all. Midoriya did not score any more amazing scores for the last few tests and he feared it wasn’t enough to get out of last. He was proven right when the scores were shown and he was dead last, he did notice Edogawa was in 17th.
Before he could truly panic about being last Mr. Aizawa revealed his lie in the expulsion threat. Midoriya felt as if the weight of the world was lifted from him at that moment. He went to Recovery Girl to fix up his finger before heading to the entrance of UA. On his way out he ran into Uraraka and Iida who seem to be good people and who actually want to be friends with him! Before the trio got far out the gates Midoriya saw Edogawa standing next to a tall man with silver hair. Before Midoriya put much thought into it he walked up to Edogawa and the man.
“Uh-Hey Edogawa, I just wanted to say thanks again for your advice. It really helped, even if I still broke my finger and was dead last.” Midoriya said nervously as he rubbed at his neck glancing at Edogawa.
“Meh I knew it’d work but again feel free to thank me all you want” Edogawa said smiling mischievously at Midoriya.
At the same time as when Edogawa spoke the man next to him quietly murmured “you broke your finger”. Midoriya nervously looked at him, giving a shy smile.
“Uh yeah-” but before Midoriya could speak more Edogawa interrupted.
“Ugh, this is boring and I am craving something sweet! Come on Fukuzawa, you promised to take me to the sweet shop after my first day, let's go!” Edogawa started to push at the man, Fukuzawa, who just sighed before letting Edogawa guide him in the direction to where the sweet shop probably was. Midoriya shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly at the sudden departure before Uraraka called him back over to her and Iida, both had waited for him while he talked with Edogawa. Once Midoriya joined the two again they headed out to their homes.
It wasn't until Midoriya was nearly home that it hit him. Midoriya completely stopped walking in his bewilderment of his realization. ‘Edogawa didn't use his quirk during the tests at all. Why would he confront me about not using my quirk when he didn't use his either. Maybe he has a mental quirk?’ Midoriya thought before shaking off those thoughts. ‘Well doesn't matter, he'll have to use his quirk eventually and I'll see it then. Still it's kinda weird’. With that thought Midoriya continued on his way home thinking about what mental quirk Edogawa could have.