Chapter Text
Ayumi stood at the front entrance of U.A., trying to find the courage to walk in.
“Okay Ayumi, just put one foot in front of the other.” She whispered to herself, “Dad’s already inside. He’ll get worried if we don’t show up.”
Her purple wings slightly twitched behind back as she tucked a strand of her long black hair behind her ears. Luckily, her father, Shota Aizawa, was her homeroom teacher. Ayumi was extremely grateful for that. She was homeschooled her entire life. Her father never hid her from the world, but he definitely kept his life private. Not many people knew he had a daughter, and they wouldn’t know it had she not pushed her father into letting her attend U.A.
Her mind flashed back to that conversation.
“Dad…?” Ayumi called from the kitchen counter.
Her father was in the middle of cooking dinner, stirring some noodles in a pot.
“Yeah?” He turned to look at his daughter.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I know when I was little I said I want to be a teacher like you…and maybe that’s something that I would still like to do but…I…” Ayumi took a deep breath. “I want to be a hero. Like you…and like mom.”
Aizawa’s face turned to one of pure fear. “No.”
“…No? What do you mean no?”
Aizawa turned around. “I mean no. You can’t be a hero.”
“I can’t be a hero? Or you won’t let me?” Ayumi asked.
There was silence for a moment until Aizawa spoke again.
“Being a hero is tough. It’s a dangerous and unforgiving job. It can take people away real quick. You know I’ve lost more than enough.” Aizawa’s mind raced from his wife to Shirakumo to countless friends and colleagues. “YOU have already lost more than enough.”
Ever since her mother, Sayuri, died 4 years ago, he’s been overprotective. He was always protective of his only daughter, sure, but it had gotten so much worse.
Ayumi remembers the day her mother died all too well. The day she never came home. Sayuri and Shota went off on what was supposed to be routine patrol for the night. Ayumi’s favorite uncle Hizashi, better known as Present Mic, had come over to watch her. It was actually a fun night. They made dinner and played board games while a movie played in the background.
Then the phone call came.
“I kno-” Ayumi began before she was cut off.
“No you dont know. Do you know what heroes actually do?" Aizawa asked as he stepped closer to Ayumi.
“They save people.” Ayumi answered.
Aizawa lovingly reached for his daughter and placed her head between his hands.
“They bury friends.”
“When people think of heroes, they think of glory. Fame. Praise. I think about attack after attack. I think about how easy it is for something to go wrong and….baby, I can’t lose you to this.”
Ayumi felt hot tears spill down her cheeks before responding. “It’s what I have to do.”
Ayumi shook the memory away and glanced one final time up at the school before she took a step forward.
Although her father worked at U.A. for as long as she could remember, she had never actually stepped foot on campus. He didn’t like her in the hero scene. Truth be told, she had never stepped foot on any school campus prior to today.
Her stomach churned at the thought of getting lost and being late on the first day. Her father was a teacher for God’s sake. She theoretically should know her way around these halls. She considered asking someone for directions when Ayumi was abruptly pulled from her internal panic. A green-haired boy with freckles had bumped into her.
“Gah! Oh! I'm so so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you. I’m looking for Class 1-A so I guess I wasn’t looking directly ahead of me,” the green-haired boy continued to ramble. “I’m really sorry! I can’t believe-”
Ayumi cut him off before he could continue.
“No, it’s okay, really. I’m in class 1-A too, and I'm totally lost. My name is Ayumi Aizawa.” Ayumi smiled and excitedly stuck her hand out to shake his.
The shy boy slowly took her hand. “Izuku Midoriya.”
“Do you want to look for the class together?”
Midoriya gulped. “Like… walk? Together? Alone?”
“Well…yes?”
“Okay.” He squeaked out.
Ayumi beamed with excitement. Because she was homeschooled, she never had real friends. Her dad was extremely selective about the people he let get close to his daughter.
My first friend, she thought. I should probably make conversation with him if I want to actually be friends right?
“So what’s your quirk?”
She noticed the boy immediately went stiff.
He fumbled and fidgeted, “Uhh.. well…its kinda hard to explain…I don’t really….”
“You don’t have to explain if its hard.” Ayumi said.
“What’s yours?”
Ayumi giggled.
“Well mine is this.”
She stretched out her wings so Midoriya could look at them better.
“Oh Woah! That’s awesome!”
“You think?” Ayumi smiled.
Midoriya smiled so brightly she swore it was blinding. He seemingly took out a notebook out of thin air and began drawing her wings and asking a million questions.
“Yeah totally! And they’re such a nice color! Wow, I bet you could fly pretty fast, right? What’s the highest speed you’ve ever reached? How long are your wings? Are they detachable like Hawks’ wings? No, yours look different. Are they heavy?” Midoriya continued to ramble.
Ayumi stood there stunned. Midoriya was going a mile a minute. No one aside from her parents had ever taken this much interest in her.
“Woah okay slowww down.”
Midoriya blushed.
“Well, honestly I don’t really know my top speed. I’ve never tried to go super fast. My mom and I used to go out and fly often. She was fast.” Ayumi smiled at the memory, “My wingspan is about 11 feet last time I checked, I try to make them as small as I can when I’m walking in public places though. No, my wings aren’t detachable like Hawks’ although that would be pretty cool. And yes, they’re a little heavy, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
Midoriya nodded, writing her answers furiously into his notebook.
Ayumi laughed.
His smile faltered. He braced as if he were waiting for Ayumi to make some insulting comment.
“Lets find our class first and then you can ask me all the questions you want.” Ayumi concluded while patting him on the back.
Midoriya simply blinked. Shocked at Ayumi’s kindness.
And just like that they were off.
Eventually, they found the door to their class and to their surprise, it was freakishly large.
Intimidating. Ayumi thought.
“Man this thing is huge. Are there giants here?” Midoriya straightened up and with a face of determination he said, “The most promising students in the country are waiting behind this door.”
“Mhm!” Ayumi copied Midoriya and straightened her wings.
Then, they opened the door.
“Take your feet off of that desk now!” exclaimed a boy with square glasses and dark blueish hair.
A blonde spiky haired boy replied with a smirk, “Huh?”
“It’s the first day and you’re already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin!”
“You’re kidding me, right? What? Your old school put a stick up your ass? Or were you born with it?”
At the door, Ayumi and Midoriya watched the scene unfold. Ayumi turned to look at Midoriya who looked as pale as a ghost.
“That blonde guys got some serious issues dont you think?” Ayumi muttered quietly.
Before Midoriya could respond, they both heard someone say,
“Oh, its him.”
Suddenly the entire class turned to look at them standing in the doorway. They weren’t looking at Ayumi as much as they were looking at Midoriya but she still felt wildly uncomfortable.
“Uh. Hiii.” Midoriya said.
“Hellooo” Ayumi’s wings deflated a little as she waved awkwardly at her class.
“Good Morning! My name is Tenya Iida-”
“Yeah I-I know. Uh. I’m Izuku Midoriya. Its super nice to meet you.” Midoriya nervously chuckled.
Ayumi wasn’t too sure of what to do so she put on her best,warmest smile and followed suit.
“And I’m Ayumi Aizawa.”
“Midoriya.” Iida adjusted his glasses. “You realized there was something more to the practical exam, didn’t you? You must be very perceptive. And I completely misjudged you, I admit. As a student, you are far superior to me.”
Wow. He totally just ignored me. It’s like I'm not even here. Thought Ayumi.
Before Midoriya could respond a sweet and bubbly voice spoke up behind them.
“Hey! I recognize that messed-up hair! Falling boy!”
Falling boy? There has to be a story there.
Ayumi turned around to see a short brunette girl with pink cheeks. She was super cute.
“That punch was amazing!” she gushed while animatedly narrating the story of their entrance exam.
Ayumi wasn’t too sure of what she was talking about. She got in on recommendations, so her exam looked a bit different. The girl looked like she was having so much fun talking so Ayumi let her ramble.
Midoriya fumbled before turning red and covering his face.“Oh, hey, hi! Oh my gosh. So, uh, I should probably be thanking you for... you know... going in and talking to him.”
The girl paused. “Huh? How’d you know about that?”
“Oh, I—uh—what?” Midoriya stammered.
The girl paid no mind to Midoriya’s obvious blush. “What do you think we’re doing today besides orientation? I wonder what our teachers are like. I can’t wait to meet everyone!”
A familiar voice rang out behind them yet again.
“If you’re just here to make friends, you can pack up your stuff now. Welcome to U.A.’s hero course.”
And there he was. Lying on the floor in a yellow sleeping bag.
Dad.
Ayumi smiled at him. His eyes landed on his daughter, and he returned the smile before drinking the rest of his juice pouch and standing up. He began to unzip the yellow sleeping bag.
“It took you all 8 seconds before you shut up. That’s not going to work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that. Hello, I’m Shota Aizawa. Your teacher.” he said in a flat monotone voice.
Ayumi was so excited she was basically vibrating. Everyone looked like a mixture of horrified, confused, and shocked. But not Ayumi.
“Wait, Aizawa…isn’t that your last name too?” Midoriya whispered to Ayumi.
She didn’t have a chance to explain before her father muttered tiredly.
“Right, let’s get to it. Put these on and head outside.”
“What? A quirk assessment test?” the class responded in almost perfect unison.
"But orientation, we’re gonna miss it! ” whined the girl Ayumi now knew as Ochaco Uraraka.
Rather bluntly, Aizawa replied, “If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can’t waste time on pointless ceremonies.”
He’s so intense. So different. Dad has always been serious, but when he’s home, he lets a different side show. He’s gentle, funny, loving. I guess, This isn’t really the place to be any of those things though.
“Here at U.A., we’re not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit. You’ve been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country’s still trying to pretend we’re all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It’s not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn.” Aizawa continued. “Bakugo you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball in junior high?”
“67 meters, I think”
“Right, try doing it with your quirk. Anything goes just stay in the circle.”
When Bakugo didn’t move Aizawa followed up.
“Go on. You’re wasting our time.”
Stretching his arms, Bakugo got into position. “All right man, you asked for it.”
Ayumi’s wings stiffened and she scrunched her nose. She was quickly realizing she didn’t like the way Bakugo spoke to people. Bakugo continued stretching and then-
“DIEEE” he growled propelling the ball with an explosion. The ball went soaring. It went so far you could hardly see it anymore.
Die!?
“All of you need to know your maximum capabilites. Its the most rational way to figure out your potential as a hero.” Aizawa flipped his phone to face them. It read 705.2 meters.
Ayumi’s mouth practically dropped to the ground. How powerful is he?? And if he’s that powerful, what of the rest of her classmates? Midoriya wasn’t kidding when he said the most promising students in the country were here.
Ayumi knew her quirk was a good one. She had large purple wings she inherited from her mother. Sometimes she wondered if it pained her father to see so much of her mother in her. Her wings allow her to fly and produce powerful gusts of wind. She can also stiffen them for short periods of time which could potentially allow her to use them as armor. The only drawback is water. If her wings get wet, she has trouble flying. Ayumi focused back onto what her peers were saying.
“Woah 705 meters are you kidding?” exclaimed a boy with a black streak in his hair.
“I wanna go that looks like fun” A pink girl with horns said excitedly.
Then a boy with weird elbows spoke up, “This is what I'm talking about! Using our quirks as much as we want!”
Ayumi grimaced as she heard her classmates responses.
Dad’s not gonna like this.
“So this looks fun, huh?” her father’s cold voice cut in.
Ayumi sighed. Everyone froze.
“You have 3 years to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be playtime? Idiots. Today, you’ll compete in 8 physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately.”