Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hitoshi Shinso stared at his clock, from his position on top of his bedsheets.

12:01

“Damn it…” He let out a muttered curse as he tossed and turned in bed. He had always been a shitty sleeper, but he usually had medication to deal with that shit. But now, four months after the Rapture, supply lines were still a mess. Understandably, his insomnia meds took a back seat to actual life saving medication, so he’d just have to power through in the meantime.

Besides, there was so many productive things he could do waiting for himself to finally pass out. He could work out. He could study, he could…

Go for a night walk and bemoan his fate.

Hitoshi grabbed a thick coat to deal with the breeze and slowly opened his room window, sneaking out onto the fire escape of the apartment building his family lived in. They only lived on the second floor, meaning he could get down easily with even his mediocre acrobatic skills. His feet landed on the pavement below, and he began to walk the alleys of his neighborhood.

While his parents have told him off for sneaking out in the middle of the night before, there was only so many things he could do than stuff his face in his phone. Besides, their district was pretty safe. He’d never ran into anyone on these strolls, so he’d made a habit of doing these tours of the city whenever his insomnia was a killer.

After a few blocks, he found himself in some back alley between two buildings. Normally, it was unremarkable. The only thing noticeable was the wide stairs on one side of the alley and a vending machine on the other. But this time was different because there was another person walking towards him.

The persons face looked about his age, but the boy was clearly much smaller than him, barely reaching above his knees. He clearly had some sort of Mutation Quirk, judging by his hair seemingly being made of big purple balls. The other teenager’s face had an unhappy look that Hitoshi had worn many times before.

‘Shit!’ Hitoshi cursed mentally. They were both so in their own worlds that he had nearly tripped over the smaller man. He jumped back, and the sudden movement seemed to snap the others attention to him.

They both finally locked eyes and stared at each other owlishly.

“Um…” Hitoshi raised a hand, waving awkwardly. “What’s up?”

Hitoshi sat down next to his new acquaintance on the steps within the alley, handing a can of drink from the vending machine on the other side of it to him.

“Here.” he said, hopefully not too rudely.

“T-Thanks.” The other boy took the drink. They both cracked them open, but he looked down at the can a moment before sipping. “Wait, this doesn’t have caffeine in it, does it?”

“It’s almost 1AM, who cares at this point?” He rolled his eyes before gulping it down.

“… Fair enough.” The smaller one shrugged, following suit. After finishing his sip, he turned to Hitoshi. “So, uhh, my name’s Mineta Minoru. Thanks again for the drink.”

“Shinso Hitoshi.” He answered, glancing over at Mineta. “And don’t mention it. Just consider it me celebrating finally meeting a likeminded soul out at here.” And also, because he felt a bit of pity for seeing someone with the same depressed look on his face. But Hitoshi wouldn’t say that out loud. He wasn’t that much of an asshole… right? “So, what has you out here wandering in the night?”

“It’s… It’s stupid.” Mineta looked away, clearly embarrassed.

“We’re teenagers. Everything we think is stupid, according to some.” Hitoshi attempted to lighten the mood. “C’mon, I won’t judge.”

“Well, I… want to take the U.A. Hero Course Entrance Exam.” Mineta revealed.

‘…Oh.’

“Is that so?” Hitoshi said slowly. “What’s stupid about that? Who doesn’t want to go to U.A.’s Hero Course?”

“Yeah but, I don’t even know if it’s worth wasting my time with a Quirk like mine. Besides, I want to be a Hero for stupid reasons. There’s no reason they’d let someone as lame as me in.” Mineta let out a sigh.

“Can’t be any worse than mine.” Hitoshi grumbled.

“What was that?” Mineta asked.

“Nothing.” Hitoshi cleared his throat. “So, what’s your Quirk, anyways?”

“Oh, it’s called Pop Off.” Mineta reached up to his head and pulled one of the purple balls off his head, which was quickly replaced by another. He tossed the sphere across the alley onto the wall on the opposite side. The purple ball stuck on contact, not falling to the floor as gravity would usually dictate. “The balls on my head can stick to whatever they touch. The time they remain sticky can range up to almost a full day.”

Mineta then pulled off another purple ball and tossed it at the already stuck one. The second ball bounced off it like a spring and ricocheted back to hit the wall above them.

“And the balls themselves bounce off each other. They also bounce off me, so they can do a lot of little tricks.” Mineta explained, before deflating. “But it isn’t all that flashy. It can’t blow up any robots during the Entrance Exam. And look at me! I’m sure even you would probably be able to do better than me, no matter your Quirk!”

“You’d be surprised.” Hitoshi admitted.

“Oh really? What is it then?” Mineta said, giving him an unconvinced look.

“You really want to know?” Hitoshi questioned.

“Yeah-” Mineta’s eyes glazed over as he lost control of his body, stopping his affirmation as he sat blankly.

“Get up and walk in a circle, then sit back down.” Hitoshi commanded.

Mineta’s body did so, standing up and walking in a small circle around the alleyway before sitting back down next to Hitoshi. Hitoshi released his hold, and Mineta’s eyes focused back as he looked back over to him in surprise.

“Did you just-?” Mineta looked himself over and then back up to Hitoshi.

“It’s called Brainwashing, in case it wasn’t obvious.” Hitoshi explained, glancing away nervously. “I can give simple commands to someone if they respond to me. It’s a bit…”

‘Fucked up? Like a Villain’s? Completely immoral?’ He quickly went through the list of the various things people had called his Quirk.

“Really damn useful.” Mineta said, and Hitoshi couldn’t help but whip his head back to stare at him. “A-Although, I guess it doesn’t work on robots, huh?”

“Nope.” Hitoshi admitted. “My chances at getting through are probably worse than yours. At least your Quirk can stop them from moving. I’ll probably just get punched in the face trying to tell a knock-knock joke to one of them.”

“Damn, that… sucks.” Mineta eventually said, looking down at the floor. He quickly glanced back up. “Wait. Can’t you just apply to another Hero School? There’s plenty of other schools across the country that use other ways of judging than fighting robots.”

The smaller boy was correct. There were probably hundreds of Hero Courses across various schools in the country. And most of them didn’t use robots. In fact U.A. was probably the only one that did. There was bonuses to being the largest Hero School in the country, like discounts on decommissioned military drones to rework into training dummies. And with the number of students in the Support Department, they basically had an army of workers to repair them. No other school had the means to use such testing means. But that also had its own downsides.

“Unfortunately, most other Hero Course’s are usually picky about who they can take in, due to their limited size.” Hitoshi began to explain, a biting tone creeping into his voice. “That means that they tend to only take in those that they see obvious potential in. And a kid with an ‘obviously villainous’ Quirk is just a PR disaster waiting to happen, so they all just turn me away at the gates.”

Mineta looked horrified at him. “Isn’t that… discriminatory?”

“Laws about discrimination when it comes to Quirks are practically non-existent. I’m sure you’ve seen the shit that Mutant’s get, especially the big animal ones like Gang Orca’s. Besides, Hero Course’s are all about raising people to fight Quirk users with their own Quirk. If the people in charge of the course say that your Quirk isn’t good enough for Hero Work, then that’s good enough in the books to not be liable for anything.”

And he had been turned away. Multiple times. Sure, some were at least nicer about it, but most simply took one look at his Quirk and showed him the door. He was pretty sure one of the teachers at that Chiba school stalked him to the train station as well, just to make sure he didn’t ‘try anything’.  

Despite it being unfair to Quirks like his in particular, U.A.’s Entrance Exam really was one of the most unbiased in the country. No teacher interviews. No personal preferences. Just some questions, an essay, and punching of robots. Do better at that than the rest applying, and you get in.

“Man, that’s fucked up.” Mineta said, letting out a sigh. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you even still trying?”

“Spite, mostly.” Hitoshi said immediately. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been pretty interested in Heroics, but after getting called a Villain most of my life I have this burning desire to prove them all wrong.”

“Wow. I’m impressed you have the motivation to keep going.” Mineta said, now taking his own turn to look away shyly. “Honestly, my reason for wanting to be a Hero is pretty pathetic compared to all that.”

“You mentioned that before. What exactly is it?” Hitoshi asked. “I promise not to judge. Besides, who am I going to tell if I do, my cat?”

There was a small snicker from Mineta, and he took a calming breath. “Alright, fine. I want to become a Hero so I can get girls.”

“Get… girls?” Hitoshi couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah man!” Mineta said worriedly, gesturing at himself. “Look at me! No girl’s going to be interested in someone like me! Getting big as a Hero is the only way that I’ll be able to hit on women and not get laughed off!”

There was a silence as the two stared at each other. After a couple of seconds, Hitoshi just shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Wait, that’s it?!” Mineta’s face was morphed in confusion. “Not going to call me pathetic or a creep or anything like that?”

“I mean, you want to be a Hero to be recognized positively. It’s not too different from what I want. Just instead of showing that your Quirk isn’t bad, you just want to show that you’re… cool to girls?” Hitoshi finished lamely.

“Shinso… you really are the coolest.” Mineta slowly said.

“Come on, I’m really not.” Hitoshi said with a laugh. “Besides, what good is what I want if we can’t get it anyway…”

“Oh, right…” Mineta sighed, and Hitoshi felt like smacking himself.

He kept bringing down the mood no matter what he did. It was bad enough when he was moping by himself, but now he was bringing down the mood of others as well. Maybe he should just go now. Prevent himself from stuffing his foot into his mouth.

Hitoshi set a hand down to get up but froze as a sudden shriek echoed out in the night.

“W-What the fuck?!” Hitoshi nearly jumped out of his skin as a woman’s cry called out from another alley nearby. He had never seen any crime out here before. What should he do?

“T-That scream… I-I think I recognize that voice. I think it’s…” Mineta suddenly stood up, his drink falling to the ground and spilling. “Shit! Come on!”

“Wait! Fuck…”  Hitoshi cursed as his new friend ran off towards the sound of the voice, quickly shooting up and sprinting after him.

As they ran down a couple more alleyways, they heard a scuffle around the next corner. Mineta reached it first somehow despite his stature and peaked around the corner. Only a second later, he leaned back, face pale and frozen. Hitoshi also decided to look and found himself doing the same.

He slowly tried to peak out again, doing his best to remain quiet, and took in what was in the alley.

A way down the alley was Midnight, the R-Rated Hero. She was instantly recognizable, even from her position on her back, lying in the middle of the alley. The reason why was obvious, as there was another in the alley, standing threateningly over her with a chipped katana.

The Hero Killer, Stain.

“I have finally managed to find you, you witch. Your perverse nature ruins the honorable field you claim to stand for, and for that, I will finally judge you.” The terrifying man pointed the blade towards Midnight’s neck, snarling as he glared down at her.

“Fuck off, you creep. I need this outfit to use my Quirk.” Midnight shot back. She did not appear to have any major injuries beyond a couple cuts and was not tied down anywhere, yet she didn’t make a single move as Stain moved the edge of the blade ever closer.

“Excuses.” Stain spat out. “You do not only use such a perverted costume, but parade around with the self-same attitude. You do not deserve to be a Hero, much less a teacher to them. I will end you before you can further corrupt others down your warped view of Heroics!”

“What would you know about teaching Heroics!” Midnight growled, her eyes glancing around panicky, yet the rest of her body was still. “Damn it! Why can’t I move?”

“Enough. It’s time for your judgment.” Stain withdrew his katana, raising it back to swing down at Midnights neck. He held it there as he stared into her fearful eyes with his own crazed ones. “Die, fake.”

The blade began to swing down and…

“Stop!”

Hitoshi wasn’t sure whether him or Mineta had spoken first. But what he did know is that they both spoke up, jumping out from around the corner. Stain’s blade froze as his bloodshot eyes shot up to look at the two teenagers. He stared at them calculatingly, before eventually letting out a huff.

“You children are brave for trying to save this one. But she is a fake not worth your dedication.” Stain said calmly, not breaking eye contact with them as he raised his blade. “Leave now while I purge this fake, and I will pretend this interruption never happened.”

“F-F-Forget it!” Mineta said somehow through his entire body shaking. But there was an odd motivation to him. “I won’t let you kill my favorite Hero! I won’t let the world be deprived of her sexiness!”

‘Ah, there it is.’ Facing off against a serial killer was the only thing that prevented Hitoshi from rolling his eyes out of his head. Instead, he kept staring forward as Stain scoffed at Mineta.

“Bah! You’ve already been corrupted by this fake’s ideology. How disappointing.” Stain turned to look at Hitoshi. “And what of you? Have you also been led astray by these fake Heroes?”

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes. This was his only chance, so he better make it count. Let’s see, what did he know about the Hero Killer? He was obsessed with killing ‘fake Heroes’ and upset at any that didn’t live up to whatever his insane standard was. So, insulting that standard seemed the best way to get a rise out of Stain, and there was only one Hero who must fit his manic minds status of perfection.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been especially a fan of mainstream Heroes.” Hitoshi said, trying to push down the fear and shoot the cockiest smirk at Stain he could muster. “Especially that All Might guy. Can’t stand his stupid smile and constant shouting. He’s definitely a fake, right?”

Stain’s eyes widened like he had been slapped, and he let out a primal sound that would send fear down the spines of any who heard it. Hitoshi was pretty sure he leaked a little under the glare he was now receiving.

“How dare you!” Stain growled. “All Might is the only true Hero! He’s-”

The murderer’s raving cut off as his angry complexion faded to a blank stare.

“Did you just-?!” Mineta looked at him in surprise.

“Yes. Now shout up and don’t ruin my concentration.” Hitoshi said through clenched teeth. There was the familiar buzz in his head from activating Brainwashing. He didn’t know how long his limit was, so he had to be quick. He strode over to Stain and held out his hand. “Give me your sword.” Stain wordlessly handed the poorly maintained blade over. Hitoshi looked down at it, then around the alley. “Okay… Now what.”

“What are you two kids doing? You need to get out of here!” Midnight cried up at them.

“A bit late for that.” Hitoshi mumbled under his breath as Mineta came up behind him to check on Midnight. His eyes caught her whip lying on the ground and he quickly grabbed it and began to wrap it around Stain. “This should work.”

“Uh, why are you tying him up. Isn’t he under your control?” Mineta asked as he struggled to pick Midnight up. The boy unfortunately lacked the body strength to move a full-grown adult.

“Yeah, but I don’t know for how long. And not if he gets hit too hard. Might as well give us a head start just in case.” Hitoshi explained as he wrapped Midnight’s whip around Stains arms and upper legs. He finished it off by attempting to knot the two ends together, in an admittedly poor attempt. But he was a in a bit of a rush, so who cares. “Mineta, throw some of those balls against the wall.”

“G-Got it!” Mineta said quickly, thankfully not asking to many questions. He tossed a half dozen of his purple balls against the side of the alley at various heights.

“Perfect, thanks.” Hitoshi turned back to Stain and pointed at the spheres. “Hey Dumbass. Go walk into those for me.”

With careful steps due to being tied up, Stain walked over to the alley wall and walked directly into the purple balls. There were one stuck to each leg, as well as his arms. A couple were stuck to his upper and lower chest, and one was stuck directly to his forehead.

“Alright, now lets gat the hell out of here.” Hitoshi said, reaching down and putting one of Midnight’s arms around him as he pulled her up and began walking out of the alley, one arm attempting to hold the limp Hero up and holding Stain’s sword in the other. It wasn’t exactly quick though, and he looked over at her questioningly. “I assume there’s a reason you can’t move?”

“H-He cut me. I somehow stopped moving after that. I think it has to do with blood.” Midnight said looking at him pleadingly. “Please, you two should just leave. I can’t have you kids getting hurt on my consciousness.”

“Sorry, but I’ve kinda gotten to involved to give out now.” Hitoshi said, and Mineta gave a nod in agreement as he glanced behind him at the still-unmoving Hero Killer. They quickly (or as quickly as they could) attempted to get as far as they could from the murderer. Eventually, he realized something. “Shit. I suppose one of us should call the cops and Heroes.”

“I don’t have my phone on me.” Mineta admitted.

“Neither do I.” Hitoshi remembered, having left it on the nightstand in frustration before leaving.

“Don’t worry, boys. I pressed my panic button. Every Hero in the prefecture should be at our location soon.” Midnight said, clearly not as confident as one would expect at saying such line.

“That’s great, right?” Mineta asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t think there are many Heroes patrolling a district as crime-free as this in the middle of the night.” Hitoshi answered.

He had rarely seen a Hero during his nightly walks. They were usually just a daytime Hero or two getting in some overtime patrol hours. But with how few crimes actually happened at this hour around here, most didn’t see the ‘value’ in patrolling during the night. It allowed for great privacy during his strolls, but the downside was now obvious in hindsight.

And as if things couldn’t get worse, the buzz in his head from Brainwashing suddenly cut off.

“We need to pick up the pace. Brainwashing wore off.” Hitoshi said, and Mineta began to noticeably panic next to him. They had only made it a block or two, and there weren’t many twists and turns to lose him in if he got free.

“How?!” Mineta cried out from behind him.

“The pain from one of his recent injuries might have been enough to snap him out of it.” Hitoshi suggested, trying to pick up the pace. Honestly, it could have been anything. Maybe he hit a time limit, or a distance limit? There had never really been a chance to test the limits of his Quirk. He glanced behind himself. “Don’t worry. We trapped him, remember? There’s no way he’d be able to get out of it so…”

He trailed off as he looked down the way they came, and Mineta turned to follow his gaze, only to let out a squeal. 

There stood the Hero Killer, an even more crazed look than before. He held a knife in each hand, both dripping with blood. It was easy to see why, as there were bloody patches on his body where they had been in contact with Mineta’s purple balls. Trails of blood leaked down from the wound on his forehead, leaving tears of blood running along his face, staining his scowl red.

“This guy’s fucking nuts!” Mineta cried out.

Stain suddenly began to rush towards them, and Hitoshi let out a curse, attempting to call out to him and activate Brainwashing. “You really think that-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Stain threw both knifes as he rushed forward, aimed directly at him.

‘No.’ He quickly realized. They weren’t aimed at him, but at the back of the Hero he was carrying.

Before he could move, Mineta managed to toss two of his balls towards the oncoming projectiles. Either through skill or luck, one set of the projectiles connected with each other. The spinning knife hit the ball, and instead of cutting it, stuck to it as the two got knocked harmlessly off course. Unfortunately, the second ball barely missed its mark, and Mineta wouldn’t be able to throw again before it reached its mark.

Hitoshi wouldn’t be able to drop her to the ground fast enough, with how he was holding her. And she was too heavy to move quickly enough out of the way. But he had already turned his body to look behind himself when Stain showed up, so it was easy enough to keep turning until he had pivoted his side in between Midnight and the knife.

“Guh-!” Hitoshi let out a grunt as he felt the knife land. He didn’t need to look down to know that, and he felt an agonizing sensation shoot through his left side. Getting stabbed was definitely not on the list of things he had in mind when he snuck out tonight, but here he was.

The Hero Killer’s approach didn’t slow, and he continued toward his target in a silent fury. He drew two more knifes from the sheaths at the sides of his chest and brought them up in a reverse grip as he closed the distance. Mineta tried to put himself between Hitoshi and the maniac, throwing two more balls at him. Stain juked both easily and swung a foot forward into the smaller boy.

“Oof!” Mineta went flying down the alley behind Hitoshi as Stain’s armored (and spiked) boot completed its arc.

“Mineta!” Hitoshi wanted to turn to check his friend but didn’t have the time as Stain reached him. He dropped Midnight behind him and brought both hands to grip the katana he had taken from the Hero Killer. Each movement caused stars to appear in his vision, but he tried to stay strong. He just had to hold out until someone showed up, right?

“You have guts.” Stain said, his eyes seeming to finally focus. He stood just outside of the range of Hitoshi’s new sword. “Protecting and taking that blow for even a fake like her? Perhaps I was too quick to judge you two.”

“Then maybe you’ll be kind enough to let me go?” Hitoshi asked, with a sarcastic tone, as he already knew the answer. But it didn’t matter what he answered with, as long as he did.

But Stain just narrowed his eyes and began to creep forward.

‘Fuck. He’s already figured out my Quirk.’ Hitoshi realized, freezing slightly. The moment he did, Stain lunged forward, pouncing on the weakness easily. He didn’t even see what Stain did, all he knew was in a second the katana had been knocked out of his hands and a knife was being swung up towards his face. He leaned back, feeling the tip scrape up his left cheek and- “Ah!”

Hitoshi stumbled back, tripping over the still-prone Midnight onto his back. He brought a hand up to the left side of his face, his eye stinging slightly. Did he lose an eye? No, it didn’t feel that bad. But he couldn’t see out of it with the blood from the cut. ‘Wait, blood… Shit!’ He looked up with his one free eye to see the Hero Killer standing over him, the knife that had cut Hitoshi raised to his face.

“You have impressed me enough to live tonight, boy. But I have a job to finish.” Stain’s tongue came out and licked Hitoshi’s blood off the dagger then retreated into his mouth.

Hitoshi realized this must have been what paralyzed Midnight. Stain’s Quirk paralyzed those he licked the blood of. Any second he would fall limp to the ground, and be helpless as the Hero Killer continued his murders… right?

“Hmm?” Stain raised an eyebrow as Hitoshi stared up at him, still in control of his body. He then stared in confusion and stepped back hesitantly as Hitoshi slowly got up, standing between him and Midnight again. He licked the blade again, only for nothing to happen. “Why is my Quirk not working?”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much. I’ve heard that one in three men have performance issues.” Hitoshi said with a smirk.

Stain snapped, tensing to lunge forward. But at the last second, he saw something above Hitoshi and jumped back just in time to avoid a grey scarf attempting to ensnare him. Hitoshi looked behind him and followed the scarfs as they retreated, finding two glowing red eyes perched in the fire escape above.

“Holy shit…” Hitoshi muttered. “You’re… Eraserhead?”

“About time you got here, Shota.” Midnight said warmly from behind Hitoshi.

“Sorry for taking so long, Nemuri.” Eraserhead said as he dropped down to the ground. “I’m a bit new to this area of town.”

“Why are you-!” Stain stopped himself, deciding that he had no more time to argue. He immediately tossed the two knifes in his hands at Midnight, before turning to run. One last attempt at his target before retreating.

“Again?!” Hitoshi grunted as he tried to move to protect Midnight again.

But the pain and numbness had begun to grow, and he couldn’t move as the knives arced past him and towards the prone Hero. But right before the knives landed, there was a blur that shot down the alley. The knives had vanished, and Hitoshi looked back towards Stain to find a Hero blocking his escape with said knives in hand. Hitoshi recognized the costume, but that couldn’t be. They were retired, right?

“Hey there, ‘Stendahl’. Been a while.” O’Clock said casually as he tossed the knifes aside. “I know I made fun of you for using a mask, but damn. Maybe you should go back to using one.”

Stain’s face transformed from confusion to understanding in an instance. “You-?!”

“Sorry, but you’ve crossed the line ages ago, so I’ll be delivering my fists to your face immediately.” O’Clock said more seriously. He turned into a blur again, and Stain suddenly fell back with a bloody face as O’clock reappeared, with his fists tinted red. Stain tried to raise a hand, only to have it fall to his side as he passed out. “Guess our rematch wasn’t that fair, huh?”

Eraserhead walked over and checked on Mineta as O’Clock tied up Stain, properly this time.

Hitoshi stared in worry. “Is he okay?”

“Looks like he’s just unconscious. Though those puncture wounds in his chest should get looked at immediately. They don’t look deep enough to have hit anything major.” Eraserhead thankfully. He then looked up to Hitoshi with the same analytical glare. “How about you-”

Eraserhead stopped himself mid-sentence, and Hitoshi was confused.

“Honestly, I don’t feel much of anything right now. I was really in pain a moment ago though.” Hitoshi reached his right hand down to his side where the pain had been, only to find something in the way. He looked down in confusion and remembered why he had been in pain. “Oh right. I got stabbed.”

Hitoshi brought up his right hand he had moved to his side, seeing it covered in blood. He removed the other hand that was covering his left eye, only to see more blood out of the one eye he could currently look out of. All of a sudden, the adrenaline began to fade, and so did his vision as his legs lost strength.

“Kid!”

The last thing Hitoshi heard was Eraserhead calling out to him as O’Clock flashed over to his side to catch him.

“Eugh…”

Hitoshi let out a pained groan as he found consciousness returning to him. He struggled to open his eyes, finding that the left half of his vision appeared to be covered. He looked around with his limited vision, finding himself in some sort of infirmary.

“Ah, I see you’re finally awake, young man.” An elderly female voice said gently from in his blind spot.

He turned his head to see who it was, only to find an aged Hero sitting nearby. “You’re Recovery Girl. Did you… heal me?”

“Just a bit. It takes your own stamina, so I only did enough to seal the wound and prevent you from bleeding out.” Recovery Girl said matter-of-factly.

“Explains why I’m both in pain and tired as hell.” Hitoshi muttered.

“No whining brat!” Recovery Girl said, clearly hearing him. “You’re lucky you didn’t bleed out. The only reason you didn’t was because your jacket was thick enough to slow down the blade from entering too deep.”

“And… what about my eye?” Hitoshi asked hesitantly.

“It should be almost healed already.” Recovery Girl said, and he let out a heavy sigh. “It was just a minor corneal abrasion thankfully. I covered it just so you didn’t disturb in your sleep it while it healed. There will be a small scar line from where the blade scratched your face, but it’s faint enough that most won’t see it unless their up close. Not much my Quirk can do about those unfortunately.”

“No, that’s more than enough. Thank you.” Hitoshi said gratefully.

“Just doing my job, boy.” Recovery Girl tutted. “By the way, your friend is all good now as well.”

“Huh?” Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you already forgot about me?”

Hitoshi turned his head the other way to see Mineta sitting upright on the bed next to him. Compared to Hitoshi, Mineta was in much better condition. He didn’t even have any bandages wrapped around him. He rubbed his stomach where Stain had kicked him oddly, seemingly unable to look him in the eyes.

“Guess you ended up doing more work than me huh?” Mineta said sadly. “I feel like crap, not being able to stop him as much as you did. And you got all injured because of it…”

“Don’t.” Hitoshi interrupted him. “Don’t talk yourself down like that. You were the one who ran off to help out first, remember? You even saved my life with that quick block. I doubt I’d have been as lucky to live with two knives in my side.”

“Really?” Mineta asked as he glanced up.

“Yes really.” Hitoshi affirmed. “After what I just saw, I doubt you have much to worry about getting into U.A.’s Hero Course.”

“Oh? You two boys want to go to our school? That certainly explains your recklessness.” Recover Girl said with a huff.

“Oh, go easy on them, Ms. Shuzenji.” a familiar voice called out as the door to the infirmary opened, revealing Midnight in casual wear.

Mineta immediately straightened his posture, his previous fretting seeming to vanish at the site of the R-18+ Hero, replaced with an almost swooning look. While Hitoshi wasn’t so easily swayed by the woman, seeing the usually costumed Hero in casual glasses, a ponytail, and an oversized sweater made him… pay attention.

Of course, his attention was immediately stolen by Eraserhead walking in behind her.

“I think she should be harder on them. Even if we are thankful to them, they still committed Vigilantism.” Eraserhead grumbled, only to receive an elbow to his chest by Midnight.

“Are we in trouble?” Mineta asked, glancing around at the Heroes in the room.

“By the letter of the law, you two should be.” Midnight admitted, letting out an uncomfortable sigh. “You two got involved in a fight with a Villain that had given you a chance to leave. Under most circumstances, you should have left and let the professionals deal with it, instead of using your Quirks unauthorized to attempt and detain a criminal.”

Hitoshi immediately opened his mouth. “But-”

“However,” Midnight immediately interrupted, raising a hand. “It was immensely clear that I would have lost my life if you two hadn’t intervened. And it would be improper to just toss you in the slammer for trying to save my life.”

Hitoshi noticed the squint Eraserhead gave his colleague, and Hitoshi couldn’t help but mimic it. “Really? Last I checked the laws don’t work with the nature of hindsight like that.”

Midnight coughed awkwardly. “Well…”

“We may have also discussed the issue with the HPSC a bit.” Eraserhead admitted, and both teenagers looked at him in confusion. He ignored their gazes as he continued to explain. “Nezu simply told them that arresting two young men for preventing a murder and helping stop a serial killer that they had failed to catch for more than a year might not look good for them.”

“You… blackmailed the HSPC?!” Mineta eventually said incredulously.

“We negotiated with them.” Eraserhead corrected. “The HSPC is built to uphold the morals of Heroics in this country, but sometimes they have trouble seeing things aren’t always black and white and need a reminder when to loosen up a little. That said,” his face suddenly morphed into a glare as he looked at the two of them. “This was only due to extremely extenuating circumstances, and the fact that you both have a clean record. Another act like this will have you punished like hell, got it?”

“Yes Sir!” They both immediately shouted.

“Alright, alright. Enough scaring the kids.” Recovery Girl snorted. “I’d prefer if you don’t give my patients a heart attack before their parents come to pick them up.”

“Parents… oh shit, my parents!” Hitoshi immediately froze up, a fear eclipsing the one that Eraserhead had attempted to instill flooding him. “I’m so dead…”

“Tell me about it.” Mineta said, equally fearful.

“Mineta’s parents should be arriving shortly. Unfortunately, Shinso, yours will take a bit longer. You didn’t have any ID on you, so we had to wait until Mineta woke up and told us your name.” Recovery Girl explained. “I want to wait a bit longer to heal the rest of your injuries anyways.”

“I guess that means you two will be leaving soon.” Midnight said as she walked over between the two infirmary beds. “Is it true that you two are both going to be applying to U.A. next year?”

“Y-Yeah.” Mineta nodded as Midnight approached them.

“Well then, I hope to see you in my class.” Midnight said, leaning down and pecking them each once on the cheek. She then turned to leave, walking out the door. Before she left, she looked over her shoulder to give a wink and a wave. “See you later, boys.”

Midnight then left, leaving both boys still. Hitoshi simply was surprised, but Mineta looked like he had nearly fainted. Eraserhead just sighed and shook his head. “That woman… nothing but trouble, I swear.”

A few moments later, a small robot appeared in the doorway of the infirmary, the face of principal Nezu appearing on a screen on its chest. “Good morning, all. Mineta Minoru, your parents will be arriving shortly. Please allow this robot to escort you to the front gate. That is, as long as Recovery Girl has approved you for discharge.”

“He’s all fine.” Recovery Girl said with a dismissive wave. “Get going kid. And stop drooling on my bed while you’re at it.”

“Huh? Oh, right!” Mineta snapped out of his dreamlike state, wiping his mouth with the hand that had been holding his cheek where Midnight’s lips met. He hopped of the bed and began to run off, turning to Hitoshi one last time, his face with an incredible look of determination. “Alright then, we’re going to both get into U.A.’s Hero Course, got it?”

“Got it.” Hitoshi said, trying his best to give a thumbs up with the little strength he had. Mineta gave one back, then ran out to follow the robot to the front gates. Once Hitoshi was sure he was gone, he put his hand down and let out a defeated sigh.

“What’s that sound for, you problem child.” Eraserhead asked as he sat down on the bed across from Hitoshi, looking him in the eyes. “It makes your promise just now sound fake.”

“Because it is.” Hitoshi said, sighing again as he lied back in the infirmary bed and closed his eyes. Having his favorite Hero in front of him was great, but talking to him about this was tough enough when looking at him. “I’ve only really known Mineta for like fifteen minutes, but I can tell he’s more talented than he thinks. I wasn’t lying when I said he saved my life. He’s going to get into U.A., especially after Midnight’s motivation.”

“And you’re not going to?” Eraserhead asked.

Hitoshi cracked an eye open to glare at Eraserhead’s blank stare. “Don’t play dumb. I know you must have seen what my Quirk is. There’s no way I’ll be able to get a single point during the practical exam.”

“There’s always the option of transferring in. That’s what I did.” Eraserhead suggested.

“Yeah? Well, unlike you, my Quirk won’t work well against anyone but an idiot after the first round of the duels.” Hitoshi complained.

“So, you’ll just give up? This coming from the one telling others not to sell themselves short. I’m a bit disappointed.” Eraserhead said with a huff.

“I’m just being real. No other school will give me the chance!” Hitoshi finally said, raising his voice. “U.A. is the only school that will even let me take a Hero Course Exam, and I’m doomed to fail it!”

The two simply stared at each other as Hitoshi calmed back down. Eraserhead’s tired stare eventually softened, and he nodded. “Well, you’re not wrong. Your chances of passing the Entrance Exam are basically zero… if you take the regular one, that is.”

“Huh?” Hitoshi quirked an eyebrow. “What other Exam is there?”

“The Recommendation Exam, obviously.” Eraserhead answered.

“The Recommendation-? Is that a joke? Everyone knows a well-regarded Hero needs to sponsor you to even get a shot at entering the Recommendation Exam. What Hero would decide to do that for me?” Hitoshi said dejectedly as he stared at Eraserhead. But when all the Underground Hero did was raise his eyebrows slightly, he let out a choked noise. “Wait. No. You don’t mean… you?”

“I’m willing to give you a chance.” Eraserhead began to say. “I saw the way you stook your ground against the Hero Killer, and from what Nemuri you already have more than enough Heroic drive. But you wouldn’t be able to pass the Recommendation Exam as you are now, even if you were let in.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hitoshi asked, somewhat insulted.

“It means you’re built like a twig, kid. I’m surprised you were even able to get a block carrying Nemuri with what little upper body strength you have.” Eraserhead said.

“Yeah well, I… tried to get in shape.” Hitoshi admitted, getting a bit embarrassed.

“Let me guess. Your lack of optimism made your motivation go down the tank.” Eraserhead guessed, clearly speaking from experience. Hitoshi nodded slowly, and Eraserhead put a hand to his chin. “Well, maybe this will help your motivation a little. If you impress me enough within seven months before the Recommendation Exam, then I’ll personally deliver a letter of sponsorship to Nezu.”

“Are you serious.” Hitoshi asked, still in disbelief.

“Yeah. But it’ll take a lot to impress me. My training will make last night feel like a cakewalk. You think you have what it takes?” Eraser head asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hitoshi stared back at Eraserhead, and pushed himself up with much effort as he came to a decision. “I don’t care if you want me to go and fight the Hero Killer again. If you say it’ll get me into U.A., then I’ll fucking do it. Just watch me.”

Eraserhead’s tired expression finally cracked for a moment, his lips twitching up to a smirk. “That’s more like it.”

In the corner of her infirmary, Recovery Girl just rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Bah, men…”

~8 Months Later~

Hitoshi stood at the gates to U.A. High School, ready for his first day of school there along with many others. But unlike most of them, he would be doing so as a member of their prestigious Hero Course.

It had been a hellish half a year, training his ass off through Mr. Aizawa’s crash course in Heroics. Weight training, parkour, stealth skills, all while being quizzed on some of the most arbitrary topics he had every heard. But somehow it worked, and he passed the Recommendation Exam. Although his sweeping win during the practical portion could mostly be contributed to his competition being so talkative. All he had to do was say “May the best man win” right before the bell, and he had five minions helping him to the finish line. He also got a giant migraine, but it was worth it to see the look on their face when he undid Brainwashing for them all after he made them all head back to the start after helping him.

There was actually worry for him that the reviewers might have thought he was messing around too much, but they instead applauded him for his equal amounts of ‘cleverness and sportsmanship’.

He just thought it would be funny, but he’ll take it. He focused back to the now, looking up at the U.A. main building. But a single step forward, and a familiar voice called out behind him.

“Hey, Shinso!” Hitoshi turned to see Mineta standing there behind him with a wide smile. “So, did you make it too? I didn’t see you at the Exam, but I might have missed you…”

“Nah, I took the Recommendation Exam.” he responded with a smirk. “But I sure kept my promise. Are you in 1-A?”

“You bet! I knew they’d put us in the same class!” Mineta said excitedly. “But Recommendation Exam? Really? How’d that happen?”

“Let’s just say Eraserhead saw some potential in me after that night.” Hitoshi said, before slouching. “And then decided to help me bring out that potential, ruthlessly and tirelessly.”

“I can tell dude. You’re absolutely jacked since the last time I saw you!” Mineta said.

“It’s not that much…” He brought up one of his arms, rubbing it and feeling the muscles underneath. He had certainly bulked up though over the last few months. Not to the extent that someone with a focus on strength would be. But his entire body had been honed to be able to move quickly and effortlessly due to the parkour training.

“It’s better than me. I definitely tried to get some gains myself, but I don’t think my body’s really built for it.” Mineta said with a flex. There was a small difference since Hitoshi had last seen him, but it wasn’t as large a difference as his own.

“Well, we all have our strengths. I’m sure you’ll make do in other ways. You got this far, right?” He reminded Mineta. “So, let’s go become Heroes already, so we can accomplish our dreams. We’ve got jerks to spite and girls to hit on.”

“Oh, Shinso.” Mineta shook his head, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms and smirked. “I’m glad you remembered my old goal, but I have a new one now. After that fateful night and meeting Midnight, I made a discovery and achieved enlightenment.”

“Is… that so?” He raised an eye at his friend’s sudden declaration.

“Yes.” Mineta nodded, cracking an eye open to look up at Hitoshi and gesturing for him to come closer. “Do you wish to also receive the message of enlightenment?”

Hitoshi stared down at Mineta for a couple seconds, before shrugging and bending down. “Eh, sure.”

“Wise choice.” Mineta leaned over to stage whisper to him. “I was so focused on becoming a Hero because I knew that they were popular with women, but I didn’t think about why that was. But then when Midnight kissed me, I realized. She did so not because I was a Hero, but because I acted Heroic!”

“There’s a difference?” Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Of course!” Mineta hissed, continuing his message of enlightenment. “Take Endeavor for instance. He may be one of the best preforming Heroes in the country, but the number of women who are interested in him are much lower compared to other Heroes around him on the Billboard.”

“That may have something to do with the allegations…” Hitoshi cut in again. “And that he was married before that.”

“I’m talking about before all that came out!” Mineta countered. “Look, what I’m saying is that Endeavor may be good at his job, but he doesn’t feel very Heroic doing it. But with the young guys like Hawks and Deku now, they take the time to actually put on a smile and make people feel safe. Or I assume Deku smiles under that mask… But you get the point.”

“I’m afraid I’m not quite there yet.” Hitoshi admitted.

Mineta sighed. “Alright then, let me dumb it down for you. I won’t need to become a popular Hero so I can hit on girls. I just need to be as Heroic as I can be, and they will come to hit on me!”

“…” Hitoshi took a couple seconds to process what he had just heard. His friend’s incredible enlightenment, that had changed his entire outlook on life essentially was… that women will be interested in him if he acted nicer. On one hand, he was a bit concerned that it took a life-threatening event for Mineta to reach this conclusion. But on the other, he had come to this conclusion eventually, and with great conviction. “You know what, you’re right. That is rather enlightening.”

“I knew you’d see the truth!” Mineta said excitedly as Hitoshi stood back up. “Now come on! Let’s go become the best Heroes we can be, and we’ll have tons of fangirls in no time!”

‘Well, he’s almost there.’ Hitoshi said with a shake of his head as Mineta walked off.

As he walked forward to follow his friend, he couldn’t help but smirk. He was going to become a great Hero and prove everyone wrong that said he couldn’t. And like Mineta said in a roundabout way, maybe he’ll even have people who look up to him while doing so.

‘Well then, I guess it’s time for my Hero Academia.’

Next Chapter: Shota Aizawa & Koichi Haimawari

Chapter Text

Shota Aizawa, also know in the Underground Heroics circle as Eraserhead, was walking to U.A. for the first day of the new school year. He had reached the wall of U.A. and was now walking around to one of its few entrances. It had been roughly twelve months since the Rapture, and the headache that had been getting the world back on track was mostly complete. So that meant it would soon be time to deal with a new set of Hero Course first years. He could already feel the migraine.

They were always such a handful. Cocky at being accepted into the best school in the country, usually expecting to coast by on whatever lucky Quirk they got ‘blessed’ with, and children of Pro’s who think their family name is enough for them to do whatever they want. There was a reason he threatened to expel most of his class each year.

Sure, it was an extreme measure. But some of them really needed a reality check. Besides, Nezu usually pulled some magic to remove any black marks from the record afterwards (as long as they corrected their behavior). He saved the real expulsion for the truly fringe cases. Fortunately, it had only happened once or twice. Nezu was good at catching red flags early.

This time though, for good or ill, his migraine was due to a different reason entirely. Nezu had shown him the class roster, and he was going to be a part of his class. Class 1-A was going to have an extra student this year. Why? Because one of them technically already had a Hero License. And not just a provisional one, like the second and third years. An honest to god full Hero License.

He'd only met the brat once or twice, and he’s already made his life a living nightmare. And no, getting that extra Quirk did not make up for the hell that Hizashi was now capable of.

Shota had hoped that walking to school from home instead of just sleeping in the staff lounge overnight like usual would give him enough fresh air to calm down, but it did no such thing. In fact, it made things worse, as he could see the spires of the main building, the source of his growing headache, approaching on the horizon. He couldn’t think of a way it could get any worse.

“Hey, Eraser!”

Never mind, it got far worse.

Shota glanced up to see a familiar face approaching. One he hadn’t seen in person for a couple years now. Koichi Haimawari, also known infamously across Japan as The Crawler. He let out a sigh as he saw the vigilante using his Quirk to approach him along the side of the wall, instead of walking like a normal person.

A flash of Erasure, and the young man’s repulsive fields on his hands and feet turned off and he tumbled to the ground. He let out a grunt, but remained unharmed due to wearing actual gear instead of that god-awful All Might Hoodie, quickly getting up and waving to Shota. “Ah come on, Eraser! Don’t tell me you haven’t loosened up at all since we last met?”

“Last I checked, public use of your Quirk is still illegal. Especially on my school’s wall, Crawler.” He grumbled as he kept walking. “Last I checked you only had an American Provisional License. Only a full license lets you use Quirks in Japan, and only for Hero work, obviously.”

“You know it’s Skycrawler now!” Haimawari laughed and started to walk alongside him. “And just so you know, I already have a full license now. A Japanese one!”

Shota stopped walking, turning to Haimawari, who now held a smug look on his face. He was rather surprised at such a statement, but a quick flash of a card from the young Hero proved his words true. He squinted up at him suspiciously. “How?”

The idea that The Crawler would ever be allowed to do hero work, legal or otherwise, within Japan should have been impossible. For better or worse, Koichi Haimawari had made himself the country’s most famous Vigilante in decades. Whereas most usually ended up getting arrested or disappearing after one or two stunts, Haimawari managed to luck into the perfect scenario to succeed as one. An area with a low number of Heroes, high crime, and a population that weren’t averse to Vigilante assistance. As well as a good mentor in the form of another Vigilante with excellent skills to pass on, even if he was rather… intense.

And most importantly, great subconscious reflexes and a truly selfless attitude.

But after getting wrapped in one to many high profile incidents, the last of which resulted in the entirety of the Naruhata Ward nearly blowing up while being specifically targeted by the perpetrator, the heat became too much. The only thing that prevented him from getting locked up after that was the amount of outcry against it from Naruhata residents, if only because that delayed the arrest long enough for Captain Celebrity to spirit him away to America to take on as a sidekick.

Unfortunately for him, the press and tabloids loved his story, and he became a household name for a while. There was plenty of cries to overlook or pardon his crimes due to his exemplary achievements, but the government took a hard stance against it. Or to be more precise, the HPSC did. It seemed they didn’t take to having their incompetence in ensuring the safety of Naruhata Ward exposed and put pressure on the government to ensure that The Crawler wouldn’t be allowed to set foot in Japan again, except in handcuffs. They may have dressed it up by stating the need to uphold their hardline stance on Vigilantes, but Shota had been in the business long enough to read between the lines.

“Turns out knowing a guy that helped save the world has its perks.” Haimawari said with a smirk. “Master put in a good word for me to Nezu, and Nezu put in a good word to the new HPSC President.”

“And they accepted?” Shota still found that hard to believe. Even with all the changes to the agency after The Incident, walking back such a decision seemed unheard of.

“Nezu convinced him that giving me a license was ‘long overdue’ and ‘a much needed act of goodwill’ that would help improve their plummeting PR.” Haimawari said with obvious air quotes. “So, after signing a few documents, my previous acts of vigilantism have been pardoned and I’m now an official Japanese Hero. About time, eh?”

Shota rolled his eyes but didn’t disagree with the sentiment. “The blacklist on you had always been illogical, only existing to appease the old HPSC President’s wounded ego. But now what? Are you going to be putting an Agency together, or just go back to helping old ladies cross the street and rescuing cats from trees in Naruhata?”

Now it was Haimawari’s turn to roll his eyes. “I’ll probably do a patrol or two around the old turf, but I’m working under Master again, now that he’s back in the business. Can you believe it? He got his Quirk back and looks a decade younger as well! He still won’t tell me how that happened.”

“It’s probably classified. What isn’t when it comes to all of that.” Shota said with a shrug.

“Fair enough. I mean… aliens?” Haimawari said with a disbelieving eyebrow.

Shota just kept walking. In truth, he knew the secret of O’Clock’s mysterious return. Nezu had to inform him of Eri and her Quirk for safety reasons. That still didn’t make finding out that the muscle-bound maniac boxer of Naruhata, Knuckleduster, had been such a high-ranking Pro Hero the whole time any less surprising. His pristine image of the High Speed Hero had been irreversibly damaged, and continued to be damaged every time they ran into each other.

“But if I’m being honest, Heroics was always kinda just a means to an end.” Haimawari said, continuing from before. “The truth is that I just like to help people. Being a licensed Hero is nice, but I did plenty without it.”

“Illegally.” Shota added pointedly.

“Yeah, yeah.” Haimawari waved off the interruption. “But anyways, I talked with Master, and he made me realize that I wouldn’t have been able to help so many people without his tutelage. And if I want to help the most people possible myself, then I realized that the best way would be to teach others like he taught me. Well, maybe not exactly like he did. I’d probably get arrested for doing it like that, but…”

‘Wait.’ Shota stopped in his step as what Haimawari had just said finally sunk in.

But the newly minted Hero continued speaking, an oddly shy tone to his voice. “So, I had him get me in contact with Nezu, and the principal liked my line of reasoning as well, so he decided to offer me a position at U.A. this year.”

“What position.” Shota asked as he stared blankly forward.

“Umm, as a teaching assistant?” Haimawari answered, looking a bit bashful.

“Assistant to who?” Shota clarified.

Haimawari glanced away, confirming his suspicions. “Y-You…”

Shota took a moment to collect himself. He wouldn’t scream. He’s more in control than that. However, he allowed himself to bend down and curl up in place for a few moments. Haimawari stood next to him, looking down concerned.

After his quick moment, he stood back up and just kept walking. “Alright.”

“That’s it?!” Haimawari asked rather surprised.

“Not much I can do. Whining about it would be irrational, and if Nezu approved it then trying to change his will be impossible.” Shota let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll learn to deal with it. I’m already in charge of twenty one children, what’s one more?”

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad-”

They were both cut off as their phones both blared with the activation of a Villain Alert nearby. Shota looked down at the details, and who had already listed themselves as enroute, and immediately put his phone away.

“Shit, this is just a few blocks from the school!” Haimawari said in a panic, turning in the direction the alert had come from. “We should go do something about it!”

“Don’t bother. You’ll just be wasting your energy.” Shota replied, continuing his commute to the gates.

“Huh?!” Haimawari looked at him like he had gone mad. “But an alert this close to the school, and at this time? There are probably students involved, right?”

“I know for a fact that one of my students are involved.” Shota said, shaking his head. “Unfortunately for those Villains, said student happens to be a Pro Hero already. And they tend to run into these kinds of issues all the time.”

As if on que, there was a loud boom, and both looked out into the distance to see a person with a large mutant Quirk launch into the air. A moment later, someone appeared above them and launched them back towards the ground. Then the figure rocketed back down in a red streak, producing another boom. If one listened closely, they may have heard a faint cry of “Smash!” over the impact. A second later, the alert turned off.

“Whelp, that looks like it’s been dealt with. All Might has already sent an enroute message, so no need to worry about cleanup.” Shota explained. “We don’t have long before class starts, so get moving. If you’re late for the first day, I’ll expel you.”

“You can’t expel a TA, Eraser.” Haimawari said unimpressed.

“I’ll find a way.” Shota threatened as the two picked up the pace.

“Alright, we’re here.” Shota said in front of the door to his class as he pulled out his favorite sleeping bag.

“Umm, what are you doing.” Haimawari asked with a raised eyebrow.

Oh, right. Shota wasn’t used to having to explain his teaching methods to others. Most of the staff had simply accepted his ways and shrugged it off. U.A. High School is known for its freedom of teaching, after all.

“It’s a test to see how attentive future students are, as well as judge their reactions. It works as a good test to see how they will act to other things in the future.” Shota explained.

Haimawari looked like he wanted to call bullshit, But after a few moments, he eventually smirked. “Sounds fun. Can I join in?”

Shota shrugged as stepped into his sleeping bag. “Do as you wish.”

As Shota lied down on the floor in his sleeping bag, Haimawari activated his Quirk to slide up the wall and onto the ceiling, sliding quietly to the backdoor of the classroom. They both stealthily opened each door to the classroom and entered silently from the floor and ceiling.

Glancing around as he wormed toward the front desk, Shota could see that most were too busy chatting to notice him, or the younger man currently sliding across the ceiling in the back of the room. The only one to notice was Shinso, but only because he was used to such shenanigans after their training. He also noticed that two of the desks were still empty, despite roughly 30 seconds until the bell. The empty seats were of Bakugo Katsuki, first ranked in the Entrance Exam, and Midoriya Izuku, the Hero Deku and up and coming problem child.

With his ear so close to the floor, he could quickly pick up the sound of two frantic pairs of steps approaching his room. A moment later the door slammed open, and two teenagers flung into the room as the rest of the class jumped.

“Excuse me!”

“Fucking move!”

Both missing students practically flew across the room and into their seat only a second before the bell rang. Both of them slumped against their seats and let out as a sigh as they managed to pass Shota’s first hurdle successfully. Promising student or not, anyone late for their first class wasn’t worth wasting his time.

“That was too god damn close.” Bakugo said as he caught his breath.

“Yeah. Maybe we should have saved the chat for after class.” Midoriya admitted, glancing towards the front of class. “Huh? Where’s-”

Midoriya’s eyes trailed down to Shota, and a couple of students picked up on his gaze and spotted him as well. Realizing the gig was up, Shota stood up in his sleeping bag, emerging from it like a butterfly would a cocoon. He stepped up to the podium, ignoring the various looks he was receiving.

“I’ve been here for a few seconds now. It seems we’ll need to work on your special awareness first.” Shota grumbled. “I’m your Homeroom teacher, Shoto Aizawa, and class starts now. You’ve all made it on time fortunately, even if some cut it closer than others.”

Midoriya gave him an indignant look as a strangled noise emerged from his throat. “Seriously?! I know you saw that alert-”

“No excuses. Unexpected situations are expected for Heroes to handle.” Shota said, and Midoriya crossed his arms as he sunk into his desk. He shifted to the rest of the class, pulling out a stack of gym uniforms. “Everyone, go change into these and meet at the gym grounds.”

“Wait, what for?” A pink skinned student asked.

“Aizawa-Sensei! What about the opening ceremony?! Our class will be late if we do not leave within three minutes!” Another student that he easily recognized as Tensei’s younger brother declared.

“There’s no time for frivolous things. If you want to be a Hero, then you need to give it your all the moment you step foot onto these grounds. You all have ten minutes.” Shota declared as he turned to the door. Right as he put his hand on it though, he glanced over his corner with a smirk that he knew caused many to shiver. “Oh, and don’t forget to say hello to your T.A. for the year.”

“What?” A girl with jacks for earlobes in the back looked around and glanced up when Haimawari let out a huff. “Holy Shit!”

Everyone turned and watched as Haimawari slid across the ceiling to the front of the classroom, before dropping down next to Shota. “Sup!”

“You’re The Crawler…” One of the students said with a gasp. There were a few who didn’t seem to recognize him. But many of them began muttering in amazement.

“It’s Skycrawler now, actually.” Haimawari said sheepishly.

“How long were you there?” Shinso asked worriedly.

“Since Aizawa arrived.” He answered.

Shinso looked to Shota with a panicked expression, knowing he had failed to detect him at all.

“Here’s my first lesson kids. Don’t forget to look up.” Shots said scarily.

Once all of the students in 1-A were lined up, Shota began to speak.

“Today we’ll be doing a Quirk Apprehension Test.” He said plainly, and they all began to interrupt at once. He shot them a quick glare with his Quirk, and they quieted down. “I’m sure you’ve done a set of standardized tests since you started going to kindergarten, but most of you were also likely limited due to not using your Quirk. Mostly cause the education system still doesn’t know how to standardize a world with such varying Quirks. But here at U.A., using your Quirk to its utmost is important.”

Shota glanced over his shoulder to his new TA, who was standing aimlessly next to him. Might as well make himself useful. “Haimawari, what was your softball pitch in middle school?”

“Huh?” Haimawari took a second to realize he had been called on, quickly trying to answer his superior’s question. “Um… It was probably somewhere around 50 meters?”

“How about you show them the difference a well-practiced Quirk can make?” Shota said as he tossed a softball over to him.

Haimawari caught it with an ‘oof’, before walking to the pitching area. He felt the weight of the softball, tossing it lightly a couple times, before smirking. He finally tossed it high up in the air, as he drew back a fist which had his Quirk’s forcefield active on it.

“Knuckle Style!”

The fist connected with the descending softball, and there was a blast of wind as it disappeared. There was a silence among the students as they all glanced around in confusion. There was a beep from the tracker on Shota, and he held it up for all of them to see.

‘1000.00 m’

“Holy crap…” Mineta muttered in amazement, much like many others.

“I had no idea the guy was so tough.” The student with ear jacks for earlobes said.

“As you can see,” Shota began, quieting the students again. “Quirks make a huge difference in determining your true potential. We’ll be using these tests to determine the basis you will all be starting from.”

At those words, the murmuring turned to full blown excitement. And just as Shota had expected, one of them finally said the magic words.

“This looks like it’s so much fun!” The pink-skinned student cheered.

“No, don’t say that-” Shinso tried to intervene, but Shota’s chuckle interrupted him, causing a deathly quiet on the field.

“Fun, you say? Does fighting Villains seem to be fun to you? What about saving people from disasters? Is that just a game too in your minds?” Shota asked in a mocking voice. “Being a Hero is serious business, and so is this course. To make sure you all aren’t slacking off, here’s a new rule: The person who gets last overall will be expelled.”

The students all mostly turned into pandemonium. The only ones that didn’t appear to freak out much was Shinso, who knew Shota enough to see the true purpose of this test and know not to tell anyone, and Midoriya, who seemed to be scheming something. Shota didn’t know what, but he decided that it was no good. Before walking away to the first test, he lazily looked over his shoulder.

“Also, just to make this fair. Midoriya, if you don’t get first overall, you’re also expelled.”

“Oh, come on!” Midoriya threw his arms up in frustration as everyone now turned to look at the scarred boy in confusion. Shota knew the boy was trying to keep his Hero identity on the downlow for at least a little while, but he won’t make an exception for not going all out in his class.

“Alright now. Let’s see how you all do…”

Shota stared down at the results of the Quirk Assessment Test on his tracker device, while the rest of the now exhausted class stood in a line in front of him. He didn’t really care about the results of the test, as he was more interested in watching their efforts in creating them. But he still enjoyed watching the class squirm as he pretended to look at who to expel.

As expected, Midoriya had managed to get first place, and had done so almost solely using his basic strengthening, though Shota was able to deduce the use of some other Quirks. He would have to look over Nezu’s folder on the boy and figure out what they were. Normally he would make a point of the boy holding back to not expose his identity. But knowing the young Hero, he likely held back to not demoralize the rest of the class. Anymore than he already had, at least.

Going down the list, there was some other impressive results. The Yaoyorozu heir had a good head on her shoulders, using her smarts to produce objects with Creation that set her as an easy second for almost all tasks. He had high hopes for her as a recommendation student, but he won’t coddle her either. Heroics has little care for things like her family status.

The other standouts were Bakugou and Todoroki. While he didn’t know much about Bakugou other than his apparent closeness to Midoriya and placement in the Entrance Exam, the fiery teenager’s boasts were more than just bark. His Quirk was simply yet effective, and he wielded it with incredible precision for someone who likely hadn’t received formal training. His dedication was clear and allowed him to climb up the results.

On the other end was Shoto Todoroki. Shota had been informed of the situation behind his family when the son of the number two Hero applied. Honestly, how Midoriya and Nezu managed to cause so much trouble in a single day is truly insane. But anyways, Shota was surprised that the young Todoroki had still applied to become a Hero after the truth of his Father had come out. When Shota had said as much to Nezu, the rat simply said something about the young man wanting to be a ‘Proper Hero’ for his little brother to look up to.

He went down the rest of the list, mentally going over his observations of each student as he did. Those with Quirks that helped little or not at all to the test had obviously scored low, with the most unfortunate of them being Hagakure, who’s Quirk didn’t provide a single benefit through the whole trial. But they all still tried their best, which was an unusual rarity these days. Maybe the Rapture made the kids more motivated?

Taking a quick glance to his side, he saw Haimawari looking legitimately nervous, and realized he probably expected him to absolutely expel someone. Shota realized that he had tormented everyone present enough and looked back to the class. He pressed a button on his device, projecting the overall ranking for the class to see.

“Here’s the results of the test.” Shota said plainly, as the students all looked it over. While he couldn’t see Hagakure, he could tell enough from the body language off her clothes that she was shaking. He honestly felt a little bad for her, but she’d need to learn the lesson that most other Heroes and Villains would excel her in physical tasks eventually. Before anyone could say anything about the results, he began speaking again. “By the way, that ‘Expulsion’ thing was a lie.”

Everyone, even Haimawari, stared at him with bug-eyed silence. Eventually, they all opened their mouth at the same time.

“WHAAAAAAAAAT?!”

“It was a logical ruse, to ensure that you all gave it your all.” Shota said, a bold-faced lie. It had been a while since he actually had to use this excuse for a class. They might impress him this year. He turned to walk away. “Your curriculum sheets are back in the classroom, so be sure to grab a copy. If you have any questions, go bug Crawler. That’s what Nezu hired him for.”

“Hey!” Haimawari turned to him somewhat indignantly as Shota walked away casually.

The moment Shota turned the corner around the shadowed side of the building, he pressed his ears to it, leaning towards the way he came. He always found it was important to see how the students acted away from the teachers. Hearing their reactions after such an event would help him judge how to teach each of them in the future.

“Holy crap!” The voice of the laid back and pink-skinned student, Ashido, he had overheard, cried out. “I thought I was toast!”

“Same girl!” Hagakure cried. “I was at the bottom of the list. I thought I was done for…”

“I can’t believe a teacher would use such deception on the first day of class!” The younger Iida declared. “It seems incredibly improper to do so!”

“I thought it was obvious it was a ruse?” Yaoyorozu said, clearly shocked by their reactions. “I mean, there’s no way a teacher at a school as high standing as U.A. would do such a thing.”

“No.” Everyone turned to Shinso, who had a scary look on his face. “Eraserhead was the one who trained and sponsored me for the Recommendation Entrance Exam. I can guarantee he was serious about the threat. It wouldn’t have been the one in last, but if one of you didn’t take this seriously, he would have expelled you without a second thought.”

“Seriously dude?” Mineta stared at him in horror, before turning to Haimawari. “H-He’s kidding, right?”

“Actually… I checked his file earlier, and Eraserhead has like a hundred expulsions on it. So yeah, I totally expected him to kick one of you out.” Haimawari admitted.

As the conversations died of and the class began to leave, Shota set off from the wall, having heard enough. He needed to go finally read the files for his students, now that he knows that they’ll all stick around for now. Although maybe he’ll take a nap first…

His dreams of a mid-day rest were cut off quickly though, as a massive man in a garish yellow suit blocked his path.

“Ah, Aizawa! I see you still have your class in one piece! See some promise in them?” All Might asked, naturally looming over Shota’s hunched posture.

“They just don’t have zero potential, that’s all.” Shota said with a sigh. “Still, throwing that pupil of yours in my class is just asking for trouble. I hope you know I won’t be giving him any special treatment, even if he’s a popular Hero already.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have it any other way. It was his request to go through class like everyone else, despite his accomplishments.” All Might explained. “That said, his experiences do allow for him to provide a valuable insight for his fellow students. And I had an interesting idea for the first Heroics class that I’d like to run by you.”

“Hmm…” Shota looked at All Might before shrugging. “Alright then, let’s here it. I’m actually rather interested to see if you’ve come up with something worthwhile.”

Next Chapter: Class 1-A & Deku

Chapter Text

It was the second day of the new year, and Class 1-A had finally begun to go to normal lessons. English with Present Mic, Math with Ectoplasm, Art with Midnight. And at the end of the day, exclusively just for Hero Course students, Heroics with…

“I AM HERE!” All Might shouted. “Walking through the door like a normal person!”

“Oh my god!” Ashido cried out. “He’s really here!”

“I know that the news said he was, but its still crazy to see him in person!” Sero agreed.

Izuku sat back, already having known about All Might’s new position as a teacher. He had spent a long time getting to know the U.A. staff while he learned how to use his new Quirk after the Rapture and had even gone on patrol with a couple of them. That said, it was cool to have All Might as an actual teacher again. He hadn’t gotten a chance to be taught by him again after the Rapture caused so much trouble.

“I’m sure you’ve all been waiting patiently for this class. It’s the whole reason you’re here, after all! This class will be all about building up the foundational skills required for heroics. And who better to learn from than the best!” All Might said cheerfully.

There was an almost electric atmosphere as All Might spoke. While everyone knew All Might, most likely had never seen him so up close, much less be spoken to by him. Even if officially retired, he was still the biggest Hero in Japan. The entire class was making noises of excitement, and it was clear they wouldn’t quiet down any time soon. Luckily, All Might’s voice easily boomed over them.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all excited to begin, so let’s jump right into it!” All Might declared. “This periods activity is… A Battle Trial!”

“Fuck yeah!” Bakugo said excitedly as the class got even more amped up.

“And with your first class of Heroics, we all have a special thing waiting for you!” All Might pressed a button on his desk. The wall of the class began to open up, revealing numbered cases within. “Your Hero Costume, specially tailored to your Quirk and requests! Take your number, then go change and meet up at Ground Theta for your first lesson!”

The whole class jumped up from their seats to grab their costumes, and Izuku got up and went to follow All Might out. Kaminari noticed him leaving though and turned to shout to him.

“Hey man, don’t forget your costume!” Kaminari shouted out, and a few turned to look back at him.

“O-Oh, well, I already have a Hero Costume made. I must go pick it up from Mel-, I mean, from the support department though.” Izuku explained, slowly stepping back to leave the room.

“Why did you already have a Hero Costume made?” Jiro asked, and a few other nodded in agreement on the question. “And why would they not bring it down with the rest of them?”

Izuku tried to think quickly. The suit was still in the hands of Melissa for finetuning after the encounter with Nine’s followers the previous day. But he couldn’t exactly say that now without revealing his identity too soon. Before he could think of an excuse, he saw Katsuki smirk, and felt a shiver run down his back.

“Because it was made by his girlfriend.” Katsuki said casually, and everyone turned to him.

“Huh? Girlfriend?!” Ashido let out a cried of surprise.

“Yeah, she’s a senior student here in the Support Course.” Katsuki continued to explain, a smirk on his face. “Probably made a costume for him. Isn’t that just sweet.”

“A senior girlfriend…” Mineta said breathlessly.

“Dang. I thought he was single.” Ashido mumbled.

Izuku shot Katsuki a glare as his cheeks flushed under the gaze of his entire class. “Thanks, Kacchan.”

“Whatever. Don’t be late, Nerd.” Katsuki said as he slung his costumes case over his shoulder and walked out.

“Class, we must head to Ground Theta quickly!” Iida said with exaggerated movements. “We shouldn’t pry into a fellow students relationship status, and we’ve already wasted a minute of this period!”

“T-Thanks Iida.” Izuku stuttered as he tried to ignore the looks he was still getting from the class. “I’ll, uh, meet you all there.”

‘Damn you, Kacchan…’

All Might stood in front of Ground Theta, observing all of the students as they arrived in their new Hero Costumes. He nodded in approval as they all walked over and socialized among each other before the lesson started.

There was obviously work to be done on them, but the Costumes all had a personal flair that helped to show what each Hero-to-be was all about. Practicality would come later on in the year. Right now, they had to discover their style.

All Might himself took a long while to stick to a Costume. It wasn’t until David made one for him that he finally had a style to stick to.

“Alright class, it’s time for your first lesson!” All Might shouted out after the fifteen minutes had elapsed, drawing the classes attention. “Are you all ready?”

There was a cheer from the class, but the young Iida put up a hand in concern. “But All Might, sir! Midoriya seems to have not arrived yet!”

“Your concern for your classmate is noted, young Iida. But I assure you, Midoriya will be here momentarily. After all,” All Might looked up to the top of Ground Theta’s building. “The best Heroes always arrive fashionably late!”

Everyone followed his gaze, and a few gasps were heard as they saw a familiar figure standing atop the structure. The green bodysuit, Red boots and gauntlets, white armored segments attached across their body, and a striking black visor with familiar bunny-like antenna. There was even a red cape that wasn’t usually there.

The figure jumped down, seemingly floating down without any care for gravity before landing in a superhero pose. They stood up flicking the cape back for dramatic effect before posing for the rest of the class.

“I’m sure they need no introduction.” All Might said, trying to contain his pride at the way his successor was being admired from the class. “But to be proper, may I show our assistant tutor for today’s lesson. Deku!”

The rest of the class had a reaction quite similar to when All Might himself had appeared. There was a grand mix of excitement and surprise at such a popular Hero standing right in front of them. All Might smirked as he saw the way Deku shifted slightly as he stood there silently. The boy had clearly not gotten used to the admiring crowds as he had.

It took a minute for some of the more attentive students to realize what All Might had implied a moment ago though, and their excitement turned to confusion. Deku went to raise a hand to select a button on the side of his visor. There was a silence as the usually mysterious young Hero’s mask snapped back, revealing their missing classmate, Midoriya Izuku.

“Huh?!” Mineta cried out.

“What is happening right now?!” Kaminari cried, clutching his head as if it was about to explode.

“Midoriya, is that really you?” Yaoyorozu asked. “This isn’t some sort of joke, right?”

“No, it’s no joke.” Midoriya admitted rather sheepishly. “So, a few of you may have figured it out already, but I’m the Hero Deku. Sorry for not revealing it earlier, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“We also didn’t want to distract you all on your first day of class!” All Might declared.

Sero raised a hand. “But… Aren’t you already a Hero? What are doing in our school?”

“While young Izuku may have gotten an early license, he still needs an education.” All Might explained. “And while he may not need to participate in Hero Training as a student, he has a wealth of experience that can be used to teach you all. So, from now on, he will be assisting me in your lessons, as well as the lessons of 1-B.”

Kirishima seemed immediately excited at the prospect. “Ah man, this is so cool! I can’t wait to train with someone as manly as Deku!”

“That’s the spirit, Young Kirishima!” All Might shouted. “Now that you all know the situation, it is time to explain what your first lesson of the day will be…”

“Behind me is Ground Theta. The entire structure is built to mimic a gigantic indoor mall. Multiple levels, open plazas and winding pathways, Intricate display stores. If it was a real mall, it would easily fit into the top ten largest within the country! The entrance behind me is the south one, and your objective is to reach the marked exit on the north side.”

“What’s the catch?” Ojiro asked suspiciously. “Is there a time limit? Or are we going to have to fight through those robots like in the entrance exam to reach it?”

“A good guess, Young Ojiro!” All Might laughed. “There is a twenty minute time limit, but I suspect that won’t be your largest concern, as you will have to fight your way through to get to the exit. But it won’t be robots in your way…”

“W-What will it be?” Mineta stuttered out, clearly fearing the worst.

“Me.”

Everyone paled as Midoriya spoke up, his visor having snapped back into place and leaving only a black mask where his face had been. Two yellow lights glowed through the visor like glowing eyes, piercing into their souls.

“You’re kidding, right?” Hagakure asked.

“Afraid not! For this exercise, the ‘Dastardly Villain Deku’ will start at the northern exit. Your objective is to pass through the exit to call for reinforcements! But beware young Heroes, for Deku will try and stop you, and if he successfully binds or incapacitates you for more than 10 seconds, you’re defeated.” All Might explained the rules of the exercise.

“I presume the same rules of defeat exist for Deku?” Shinso asked.

“Of course!” All Might said with a grin. “That will also count as a pass… if you think you can do it, that is.”

At the words, Bakugo got a dangerous smile himself. “Well then, let’s get on with it. Hope you’re ready, Deku!”

“Looking forward to it, Kacchan.” Midoriya said smugly, as he flew up and suddenly rocketed away.

All Might clapped his hands together. “Alright then. You have fifteen minutes before the gates open and your exercise begins. There is a map to the mall just over there. Prepare well Heroes!”

And with a final word of encouragement, he leapt away himself towards the observation room.

He couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. This exercise was undoubtedly weighed not in their favor. But the point of this lesson wasn’t for them to succeed, but to show where they can improve. Usually, this exercise was done in teams, with the third years acting as the villains for the first years. But Nezu had insisted that Young Izuku do the exercise alone, and the boy seemed more than up to pushing himself.

All Might was looking forward to seeing which side surprised him more.

There was a silence among the students as All Might jumped away. The monumental weight of the assignment they had been tasked with had begun to register, and each student nervously thought to themselves on what to do. Finally, one of the students cracked.

“What if we all jumped him at once!” Mineta blurted out.

“Fuck no.” Bakugo replied dismissively.

The shorter purple boy flinched momentarily at the quick dismissal, but quickly pushed back. “Why not? Surely if we all go after him someone would be able to hold him for 10 seconds?”

“If we were having a good old brawl, sure. But a fight with Quirks? It’d be a clusterfuck.” Bakugo explained calmly. “We’ve barely known each other for more than a day, and our powersets are all over the place. We’d knock out more of our own than Deku would if we all rushed him like lemmings.”

“That’s… fair.” Mineta admitted with a slump.

“What if we just scattered and ran?” Ashido suggested.

“Then Deku would pick us off one by one.” Bakugo replied again, growling to himself. “As much as I fucking hate to admit it, he’d stomp all of us alone. And he has the speed to sweep the whole place fast enough even if we all go different ways.”

“I’m afraid Bakugo is right.” Iida admitted as he looked over the map of the mall. “It looks like there aren’t any good straight paths for me to use, so I couldn’t rush to the other end either.”

“Seigneur!” Aoyama cried out in exasperation. “If we can’t stick together or split up, what is there to do?”

“Don’t fucking panic.” Bakugo said as he rolled his eyes. “Look, I have a plan. It isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I can do with what little I know of your Quirks.”

“Excuse me.” Yaoyorozu interrupted, giving Bakugo a curious look. “While I do not mean to pry, it seems you are quite familiar with Deku personally. What exactly is your relationship with him?”

Bakugo stared back with a glare, before just shrugging. “We went to school together. Of course, he was completely different back then. We didn’t meet back up after the Rapture until the first day of school here at U.A. High. Let’s just say he wasn’t always so damn tough.”

“Wait a minute! I remember seeing an article yesterday. It said that there were Villains attempting to take U.A. students’ hostage, but they were all beaten by Deku. Was that why you guys were almost late to class?” Sato asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah, it was.” Bakugo admitted, producing gasps from his classmates. “Those three Villains were easily A-Rank, but Midoriya trashed them all in a minute without taking a single hit. He may be our age, but he’s got the experience and power of a Pro. There’ll be nothing fair about this exercise.”

“What about my Quirk?” Shinso attempted to explain. “I didn’t reveal it yesterday, and it can easily-”

“I hate to burst your bubble,” Bakugo interrupted rather rudely. “But Midoriya has some way to ‘see’ Quirks. He pegged the Villains Quirk’s yesterday without even looking at them. He already discovered what all your Quirks were by the end of Homeroom yesterday and written a dissertation on each by the time he went to bed.”

“Oh… well shit.” Shinso cursed. “So, we’re just screwed?”

“Maybe.” Bakugo admitted, with a face that made him look like he had swallowed poison. “But you can guarantee I am going to make it as much of a pain in the ass for Midoriya to beat us if we are. And hell, maybe we’ll even get lucky.”

“Well… You appear to be the resident Deku expert. If you have a plan, I say we take it.” Shoji said, turning to stand near Bakugo.

The rest of the class followed suit, standing around Bakugo awaiting instructions. He smirked as he began to belt out instructions.

“Alright, lets do this. Be sure to pay attention though, cause I ain’t explaining shit twice.”

“The exercise starts now!” All Might shouted out through the speakers of the Training Ground, and Izuku shot off from the exit he is guarding immediately.

He knew that waiting for them to arrive would be asking to be overwhelmed. He may be good, but these were 20 of the most promising Hero students in the country. Also, Katsuki almost certainly told them about some of his Quirks, and if he was able to swallow his pride for long enough, may have made some real plans.

He sped along the open areas of the mall, taking the main path and waiting to detect something with either Scanning or Danger Sense. Eventually he caught sight of the purple color of Pop-Off and saw Mineta standing at the end of a long service hallway. Advancing would leave little room for dodging, but the more time Izuku spent in a standoff was more time for other students to reach the objective.

So, he sped forward.

Izuku flew down and into the hallway, flying an inch off the floor as he approached Mineta. Mineta was clearly prepared though and pulled out what appeared to be some sort of launcher loaded with his purple balls.

“Get ambushed, fucking Nerd!”

‘Not bad.’ Izuku chuckled to himself, as Katsuki’s brash voice appeared from behind him. Unfortunately, the combo of Danger Sense + Scanning told him of the attempt to use Brainwashing on him, revealing the person behind him to be Shinso. But he sensed more from Danger Sense, so he still turned to see the threat. What he spotted was Shinso swinging down into the hallway behind him with a capture scarf similar to Eraserhead’s, another launcher loaded identically to Mineta’s in his hand.

‘Not bad. Using a Quirk through a tool instead of directly to not trigger my Quirk Danger Sense. Not to mention the launcher itself being great at storing and setting up Mineta’s balls, making up for his own smaller stature.’

His musing was cut off as the launchers fired their payload, and a half dozen purple spheres flew at him from both ends of the hallway. Izuku summoned two Air Walls to block the projectiles, but the moment he blocked them Danger Sense spiked as the two walls and ceiling of the hallway broke open.

Kirishima and Ojiro were coming at him from the left and right, while Shoji dropped down from above. The plan was clear to Izuku now. They were attempting to overwhelm him by attacking all at once, hoping at least one of them would be able to grab him.

Smart, but not enough against him. He’d only need to make three moves at once.

First, he Floated the two Air Walls with Mineta’s balls 45 degrees around him, resulting in the Ojiro and Kirishima getting stuck on them.

Second, he threw out his hands to shoot a strand of Blackwhip towards each other student at the end of the hallway. Their own choice of ambush location made it impossible for them to dodge, resulting in them being restrained too.

Finally, he released two Hydra’s from his back to rise up and pin the descending Shoji against the ceiling of the room he had just emerged from.

Less than thirty seconds after spotting Mineta, All Might called out on the speakers that six students had been captured throughout the mall.

“Onto the next group.” Izuku said confidently.

“I think Shoji’s group was beaten.” Jiro said as she listened with one of her jacks in the wall. “The sound of fighting stopped.”

Momo let out a sigh as her group began to panic.

“Already?” Sero asked worriedly. They had only just paused to listen with more details, yet it was over in seconds.

“Mon Dieu!” Aoyama cried. “How are we supposed to delay him then?!”

“Should we just keep running then?” Kaminari asked.

Most of the groups were set up with at least one person who could gather intel from long distances. This was in order to determine where Deku and the other groups. The plan was rather simple. They were to split up into groups, and whenever Deku approached, they would try their best to delay him for as long as possible.

“Stay calm.” Momo stated. She had been designated the ‘leader’ of this group and planned to live up to their expectations. “We should be the next closest group, so we need to bunker up. Fortunately, this is a perfect location for defensive fortification.”

They had found themselves passing through an industrial storage room, with tall racks full of equipment set up in the open area. Their Quirks were perfect for this area.

“Kaminari, I’m going to produce some wire that you can transmit your electricity along. Fortunately, a lot of this room should be conductive. Aoyama, I’ll do the same for reflective material afterward. Sero, start setting up traps around the room to tie him up. Jiro, keep an ear out!” Momo immediately began to explain as she turned away to open up her costume to produce more materials.

Everyone did their best not to look in her direction as they began to set up the room with various traps and obstacles. Eventually, Jiro let out a cry. “Something’s coming!”

They all immediately moved to the center of the room, standing in a circle facing outward as they waited for their opponent to arrive. Slowly, a purple mist began to enter the room from an open door. It poured in more and more until it engulfed the entire room. Momo quickly deployed a fan that kept where they were standing clear, but the surroundings were too thick to see through.

“Where is he?!” Kaminari whispered frantically.

“Quiet! Its hard to hear over you all freaking out!” Jiro snapped back.

As they bickered one of Sero’s tapes snapped, and Aoyama shot into the fog towards it in a panic. The light of his laser only caught the silhouette of the two halves of the tape falling and a tendril disappear into the darkness. Then a different purple laser shot out from somewhere, shooting out the light at the top of the room and engulfing them in darkness.

Suddenly, there were more snaps around them as all of their defenses began to be torn apart. As Mom produced a light to see, Aoyama tried firing a couple more times, but all that could see was more black tentacles as they slipped through the smoke surrounding them, getting ever closer to the center of the room.

Then, right as Momo managed to produce enough flashlights for everyone, the attacks stopped. They all stood ready for multiple moments, but no attack came. Eventually Kaminari let out a stilted chuckle.

“H-Heh. I guess he left-”

He was cut off as a construct of a serpent shot out and dragged him into the darkness. He let out all of his electricity at once, but the construct was not conductive, and he was immediately dragged off into the darkness with a slowly quieting scream. A moment later Aoyama and Sero were grabbed too, and their Quirks were equally as ineffective at keeping the serpents from dragging them into the darkness.

Jiro and Momo immediately went back to back. The room was now quieter than it had ever been, and she could see her last remaining partner was now slowly locating their opponent again. But suddenly, she froze, and Momo turned to see Jiro look up horrified.

Momo followed her gave, only to see two piercing golden eyes staring back in the darkness.

She unfortunately let out a very undignified scream as the eyes suddenly descended towards her.

“Um… I think Momo’s group is out too.” Koda said quietly as he ran along the open plaza of the mall, letting the bird in his hand fly off. His body was surprisingly fast for its size, and he was somehow able to keep up with most of his group.

“Damn, that was fast.” Ashido said, as she slid along the floor with her acid next to him.

“We must hurry then!” Iida declared as they ran into a cross in the road. “If Deku is approaching, then we should split up to buy time as planned. We don’t have the ability to ambush or bunker down like the other groups.”

“Alright, kero.” Asui said as she shot her tongue to swing up to the upper floor. But as she went to swing away further, black tendrils appeared from a nearby shop and dragged her in.

“Shit! Scatter!” Ashido shouted as the three remaining split off in different directions. Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far before Deku emerged from above and targeted her first. An Air Wall blocked an acid throw, and she was quickly pinned to the ground.

Deku then dashed over to Koda, who called any nearby creatures for help. But Deku floated up over any ground critters and used Air Wall’s air release at a low power to push away any birds, and Koda was caught too.

But by then, Iida had managed to charge up, and was running in as high gear as he could down the open pathway of the mall. If he remembered correctly, this path should follow along all the way to the exit! He just had to outrun Deku for a minute or so and-

“You’re pretty fast!” Deku said as he appeared next to Iida at insane speeds, crackling with cyan energy.

“What?” Iida was too busy reeling from the boy catching up too him, resulting in Deku tapping him and the cyan energy transferred to him, and his body slowed down to a crawl. With his momentum unnaturally halted, he was quickly pinned to the floor as well.

“You got pretty close.” Deku admitted as he floated up. “Now to find the last five of you…”

Izuku reached the multi-leveled food court and could feel a low rumble of Danger Sense. He floated down the first floor of the court, and quickly spotted his opponent.

Juzo Honenuki. His Quirk was Softening, which let him turn whatever he touched soft and into a semi-liquid state. He was incredibly talented and almost passed the Recommended Exam, only being barely edged out by Inasa Yoarashi in 1-B. Nezu made it up to the kid by allowing him to join 1-A as a twenty first member, since Izuku himself wasn’t technically a Hero student.

Honenuki was sticking out of the ground of the court, which he had clearly softened if the chairs and tables half sunken into it indicated. He reached up out of the ground to the pillar above him, and it too began to soften. Gravity then did its work, and the liquified concrete pillar flowed down to the ground.

That wasn’t the only thing that fell though, as without the support of the pillar, the floors of the food court above Izuku collapsed down onto him. He quickly summoned a spherical Air Shield around him as strong as he could, defending himself as the structure fell on him. Eventually the raining concrete ceased, and Izuku raised himself out of the rubble with his shield raised.

‘Oh?’ Izuku found that there was now a great Ice structure surrounding the rubble where he emerged. It surrounds him in a completely spherical shape on all sides, except for an opening on one side, where three more people stood with Honenuki.

“Sorry, Midoriya.” Todoroki said as fire emerged from his right side, raising a hand in preparation. “Let me show you what I’ve learned due to your encouragement.”

“Alright, Deku!” Katsuki shouted himself. He raised his left hand to point at Midoriya as well, putting a finger around the trigger of his grenade-looking gauntlets. “Let’s see your fancy Quirks deal with this!”

Honenuki stood ready behind the two of them with Tokoyami, who’s Dark Shadow looked ready to fly in after them.

“That gauntlet stores your sweat, doesn’t it?” Izuku asked.

“You bet your ass it does! Get exploded you-” Katsuki was interrupted as Izuku activated Gearshift and Laser. A purple blip shot past Katsuki, and the gauntlet on his raised arm shattered open. Its contents flew out… right towards the open flames of Todoroki’s own raised arm next to it. “BITCH!”

Izuku activated his Air Wall around him again as his opponents were engulfed in an explosion from a combination of their own quirks. The ice structure around him shuddered and shattered from the force, and when he released his shield with a gust of wind to blow away the dust, all four of his opponents lied unconscious.

Fortunately, Todoroki and Bakugo took most of the blow, as they were rather explosion and heat resistant due to their Quirks. Honenuki wasn’t able to get himself or Tokoyami away in time and were knocked out a way from where they had been standing before. Luckily there seemed to be no serious injuries, and Izuku nodded happily.

“That’s four more down.” Izuku mumbled to himself. “There should only be one left. And if I remember correctly that one should be…”

Toru ran down the pathway of the mall (probably) running towards the exit of the building. She hadn’t heard or seen anyone in a while, which she wasn’t sure was a good thing or not. She had to be almost there though, right?

There was a gust of wind behind her, and she turned to see Deku floating a few feet above her, golden eyes scanning his surroundings. They passed over to her and stayed locked onto her.

‘Maybe of I stay still and don’t move…’

“I can see you.” Deku said simply.

“Darn…” Toru pouted. “Um, I surrender? No offence, but I kinda don’t have anything else going for me beside being invisible.”

“That’s fair.” Deku said as he floated down to her. “You were the last one for me to find, and the exit was only a couple minutes more away. Let me guess, the rest of the groups were meant to be distractions while you made it to the exit?”

“Something like that.” Toru admitted as the bell for the end of the exercise ended. “We were kinda betting on whether or not you’d be able to see me with those fancy eyes of yours. Which you apparently can.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Deku, or rather, Midoriya now that the exercise was over, said as his helmet retracted. His eyes were glowing a golden light as they analytically looked over Toru. “I suppose there’s not much you can use for support gear, at least not without hampering your stealth effectiveness. It’s some form of light refraction Quirk, right? At least a DNA-Coded suit works with it.”

“A what?” Toru asked, as she felt a bit self-conscious of the way Midoriya was looking at her now. He was looking right into at her eyes, which was kinda creepy since even most who tried to usually seem to be looking past her.

“You know, a DNA-Coded suit? Its an outfit that is laced with your Quirk Factor to work better with it. Like Mirio using it to not have his fall of when he becomes intangible.” Midoriya explained helpfully.

“Oh, that’s a thing?” Toru said in amazement. “That sounds really useful.”

“You didn’t know that’s a thing?!” Midoriya asked in disbelief, looking down at her body again. “Wait, then what are you wearing right now?!”

“Err…” Toru kinda just stood there mortified as she realized the guy in front of her had been checking her out completely in the buff for the past minute unintentionally.

Midoriya seemed to realize it as well, as his eyes bugged out as the golden light disappeared from them, and he was suddenly looking everywhere but in her direction. He quickly began to stutter incoherently. “I-I’m so sorry! I just assumed… I mean U.A. is well known for its technological advancement, so I just assumed you’d have one. I… I’m sorry!”

Toru was fortunately spared any further embarrassment when All Might’s voice appeared on the mall’s speaker system and called them all back to the entrance.

“Well now!” All Might said excitedly. “I believe that was a very educational experience for you all! What do you all think?”

“Uuuuuuugh…”

There was a collective sound of groans and whimpers as the rest of Class 1-A licked their wounds. Midoriya had used his Cellular Activation to heal up the exploded group back to consciousness, so now everyone was present in front of All Might and Midoriya. Some seemed tired, others annoyed. A couple even looked a little terrified.

“I imagine that you all have a lot to think about. But before you all leave class, I’d like to say how proud I am of all of you!” All Might said to the students.

“Huh?” Ashido looked at him in confusion. “No offence, sir, but we got our ass kicked.”

“Language!” Iida chided her, but his face fell somberly. “Although she isn’t wrong. We completely failed the exercise.”

“Of course you did!” All Might exclaimed.

They all looked at him in confusion, before crying out in confusion. “EH?!”

“Come now, did you really think that we’d expect a bunch of brand new Hero students to be able to complete such a lopsided exercise?” All Might explained. “The point of this lesson was to be a trial by fire, to see how you respond now to a villain situation. And you all responded admirably, despite none of you having ever fought Villains!”

“Ahem…” A pointed cough echoed out from two purple-haired students in the crowd.

“Err… Most of you having never fought Villains.” All Might quickly corrected. “You managed to devise a strategy to accomplish your objective, arranged yourself into teams to accomplish those objectives, and put them into effect with great speed. It was hard to imagine this was your first time doing such an exercise together!”

“But it didn’t work!” Kaminari pointed out, still shaking slightly from the experience.

“The important thing is that you tried anyways.” Midoriya said beside All Might. “I imagine most of you found the idea of going against me a bit terrifying. But you all still attempted to capture or stall me to complete the exercise.”

“That’s right!” All Might. “So, hold your head up high, students! Remember the feeling of determination from today, and you’ll all go far.”

“That so Manly…” Kirishima said in awe, tears forming in his closed eyes.

“Whatever…” Jiro rolled her eyes at the display from the redhead next to her. “At least that’s done with. I don’t want to ever have to do that again.”

“About that…” Midoriya said with a wince. “The thing is… you kinda will.”

“What.” Jiro said as she stared at him.

“What Midoriya means is that the point of this exercise is to improve yourself!” All Might piped up. “And how would we be able to see if you improved without running it again? So sometime later this year, we’ll be doing this again to see how well you’ve improved!”

“Is it too late for Eraserhead to expel us?” Sato asked, producing a laugh from most of the students.

“I’m sure you guys will win next time!” Midoriya said incorrigibly. “You all got so close this time!”

“But that’ll be for much later, I’m afraid! Right now, I have to call Cementoss to have him repair the area for when Class 1-B runs this next. You all get cleaned up and head to your next class!” All Might told the students.

“Yes, All Might!” They all shouted, before turning to walk (or shuffle, for some) towards the changing rooms. As they did, All Might suddenly called out to them again.

“Oh, that’s right. Young Aoyama and Hagakure!” All Might paused as the two teenagers turned back to look at him. “Please come by the school infirmary after school. One of our school nurses wants to talk to you two about your Quirks.”

Next Chapter: Toru Hagakure & Yuga Aoyama

Chapter Text

“H-Hello?” Toru asked nervously as she knocked on the door to U.A.’s Infirmary. “I heard that you wanted to talk to me?”

“Come in!” A female voice said from within.

Toru hesitantly opened the door and saw who the nurse for the school must be sitting on a stool at the end of the infirmary. She had a typical nursing outfit on, no discernible mutations from a Quirk, and looked to be in about her mid-twenties. Perfectly average, which was honestly a rarity when every other staff member in the school was a Hero that wore their costume 24/7.

“You must be Toru Hagakure, right?” The nurse said with a smile as she gestured to the infirmary bed across from her. “My name is Kagome Mirai, U.A.’s Nurse. I’m sure you’re wondering why you were called here.”

“Yeah, a little bit.” Toru admitted as she sat on the edge of the bed. As far as she knows, there wasn’t anything wrong with her. And it’s not like anyone else would even be able to tell at a glance if there was.

Y’know, because of the whole invisibility.

“There’s no need to be so nervous. There’s nothing wrong with you or anything, and you aren’t in trouble.” Ms. Kagome explained, and Toru released some tension in her shoulders. “The reason that I called you here though is to talk about your Quirk.”

“My Quirk?” Toru repeated in confusion.

“That’s right. Hero Course students usually end up in this infirmary for one reason or another throughout the year, so the medical staff is expected to go over your files, so we know what to expect.” The nurse explained.

“That makes sense.” Toru said, ducking her head slightly. “I suppose I should apologize in advance for the trouble my Quirk will give you…”

“Please, don’t worry about that.” Ms. Kagome quickly said. “We have plenty of tools to treat anyone. Trust me when I say it’s no trouble for us. But that said, I do wish to confirm something about your Quirk.”

“And what would that be?” Toru asked curiously.

The woman grabbed a folder from a nearby desk and flipped it open. “Let me just go through your Quirks listing in our system, so we’re on the same page. Invisibility: Mutant Quirk that grants the user a completely invisible body. Nearly identical to both parents Quirk of a similar nature. The nature of the Quirks invisibility is a form of light manipulation on the user’s skin. That about right?”

“Pretty much.” Toru said with a nod.

“Also, while it’s not stated,” Ms. Kagome looked up from the book. “I presume the Quirk’s effect is permanent?”

“Y-Yes…” Toru admitted, much quieter than before.

Ms. Kagome didn’t say anything for a few moments, before speaking again. “That must be hard for you. If you don’t mind me asking though, are you able to see yourself?”

“Yes and no.” Toru said with a tired huff. “Apparently my eyes have a mutation that lets me detect light in a certain way. My skin is sort of like a shining outline to me, but it gets harder to see the less light there is. Honestly, without that, I doubt I’d be able to even walk straight.”

“I figured.” The nurse turned back to her notes, before setting them aside and glancing up again. “There’s something I’d like to check. May I use my Quirk on you please? I just need to hold your arm for a moment.”

“Um, I don’t see why not?” Toru said with a shrug as she held up an arm. “What is your Quirk?”

“It’s a bit complicated, but you can see it as a kind of physical analysis Quirk.” Ms. Kagome said with a chuckle as she reached out with her own hand gently. She found Toru’s inviable limb, and slowly moved her fingers along her forearm. An odd red double-helix pattern appeared on her arm, and it spread out onto Toru’s own invisible one. “Hmm… It feels like normal skin. Interesting. So, it is a mutation on the skin, and not some external field. I feel hair on them too. Speaking of hair, what happens if you cut your hair?”

“It loses it’s invisibility but is still rather clear and shiny.” Toru said. She was admittedly self-conscious about her hair. Due to her invisibility, it was nearly impossible to cut well, meaning she had a mop of hair that was probably as messy as Midoriya. Even if no one could see it, she could see it’s messy outline, and it was just another thing that annoyed her about her body.

“Hmm…” Ms. Kagome studied her with her Quirk for a few moments, before removing her hand. “I have a theory. Do you know what happens if you focus a lot of light on yourself, like with a flashlight up close?”

Toru raised an eyebrow at the question. “The light tends to spread and reflect off my skin if there’s too much in one spot. I’ve even tried to focus it, but I don’t have that good control. I just turn into a giant disco ball usually.”

Ms. Kagome nodded “I see. Now, I understand this is another odd request, but can I do that?”

“Do what?” Toru asked.

“Turn you into a disco ball, obviously!” Ms. Kagome replied cheerfully, putting on some sunglasses as she pulled out a heavy-duty flashlight. It was so large she needed two hands to hold it up.

“Alright, that’s it!” Toru threw up her arms in annoyance. “Is there a reason for all of this? Or am I here for you to just run science experiments on?!”

“Trust me kiddo. There’s a method to this madness.” Ms. Kagome said. “Just give me a minute with this thing, and all will make sense.”

Toru debated it for a minute, but eventually decided to just go with it. She doubted that the staff at U.A. would use their own students Quirks for amusement. And also, she was rather curious to see what would happen when she was hit with that oversized flashlight.

“Alright, lets get this over with.” Toru held out her arm again.

“Got it.” Ms. Kagome said as she stood up and pointed the giant light at the student’s arm. “Now, I’m going to concentrate the light beam on your forearm for about a bit. Just let it reflect naturally and tell me if you feel uncomfortable at any point.”

“Alright.” Toru nodded, and suddenly the room filled with light.

The moment that Ms. Kagome had flicked the giant flashlight on, the room became near blinding. Fortunately, Toru’s eyes were immune to any damaging effects due to their natural light reflecting abilities, but the room was still awash in a sea of white as the beam of light scattered all around the room. It must have been a really heavy-duty device, as it was shining impressively, even in the normally lit infirmary.

After about a minute of the light show, Ms. Kagome flicked off the device, and waited a moment for the scattered light to dim before removing her shades. “Alright, let’s see if that did it.”

“Did what-?!” Toru froze as she looked at her arm.

Not at where her arm should be, or where the light distorting around it was, but at her actual arm. A part of her forearm was visible, its pale skin floating in midair. It seemed to glitch for a moment, before fading back into invisibility with a slow shimmer. She stared at where her visible limb had been with mouth open wide for a while before addressing Ms. Kagome.

“W-What was that?!” She questioned frantically.

“It was your arm, obviously!” Ms. Kagome said, rather excited herself. “I assume you actually meant to ask, ‘how was it visible’? I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to prove my hypothesis so quickly.”

“And that hypothesis being?” Toru asked impatiently.

“As previously stated, your Quirk works by your body manipulating light through it, allowing it to produce a perfect invisibility effect. That said, when a concentrated light hits you, it spreads and scatters instead of passing through you. I asked myself why that would be the cause and made a guess it was because your body could only handle passing so much light through you at once.” Ms. Kagome sat back in her chair, rather obviously satisfied at her work. “And then I made another guess that if your body was exposed to too much light for long enough, it would simply… stop.”

“You… overloaded my Quirk to the point that it couldn’t manipulate light any further.” Toru said with incredulity. “H-How did you even know that would work?!”

“I didn’t. I did tell you it was a guess. Though it was an educated one.” Ms. Kagome raised a hand, showing of the double-helix pattern on it again. “My Quirk gives a pretty good idea on how peoples bodies work.”

“Wow…” Toru brought her arm back, rubbing with her other hand where she had been able to see it. She looked down at the spot, emotions spinning. “Ms. Kagome, please, can you do that again? I want to see more of myself, even just for a moment...”

“I can do you one better.” Ms. Kagome replied. “How about I let you do it yourself?”

“What?!” Toru stared up at the woman in disbelief. “How?! Y-You’re not messing with me, right?!”

“Of course not kid.” Ms. Kagome said, a more somber expression passing on her face. “You see, my Quirk does a bit more than just let me analyze the body. It also allows me to change it a bit based of things I have knowledge of. That includes Quirks.”

“Can you… make me visible?” Toru asked hopefully.

“Absolutely.” The Nurse replied instantly. “The real question is how I should do it. Luckily for you, I happen to know of another light-based Quirk that could work well with yours.”

“You’re going to give me another Quirk?!” Toru said in disbelief.

“Heavens no!” Ms. Kagome waved off the claim dismissively. “More like… add a bit extra onto your own Quirk based off another. See, this Quirk I know of allowed the user to emit light from their body, much like yours passes it through. It was a passive effect like yours but could be dialed from nothing to near blinding. Now, if you were to be able to do that as well…”

“I could turn up my brightness until I become visible!” Toru quickly finished. “And if it was a passive effect, then I wouldn’t even need to focus to maintain it!”

“That’s the idea.” Ms. Kagome nodded. “Now, I’ve already approved it with Nezu, so all we need is a quick call to your parents to get their approval, and then we can begin.”

Toru suddenly froze. “Wait, the process won’t, like, hurt or something, right?”

Ms. Kagome just chuckled. “Nope. You just need to lie still for a minute while my Quirk does its magic. So, about that parental approval?”

Toru had never grabbed her phone so fast before.

“Um… Bonjour?” Yuga knocked on the doors to the school’s infirmary nervously. “You wished to talk to me, Oui?”

“Come in!” A female voice called out. He entered and sat on the bed across from the nurse inside as she introduced herself. “My name is Kagome Mirai. I’m the nurse here at U.A. High School.”

“A pleasure.” Yuga said politely with a bow, nerves still a bit high. “Is Mademoiselle Hagakure alright? I believe she stopped by earlier, correct?”

“Don’t worry kid, she was perfectly fine.” Ms. Kagome smirked slightly. “You’ll get to see plenty of her tomorrow.”

“Umm, okay?” Yuga raised an eyebrow on her emphasis.

“Sorry, you’ll get it tomorrow.” She shrugged. “Anyways, you’re here so we can talk about you. In short, I helped look through your classes Quirks to help identify any medical issues you might run into during your lessons. I’ll be frank, you caught my attention the most.”

“I see.” Yuga fiddled with the support belt covering his navel. If he was honest, his stomach was still cramping from his panicked firing during the lesson earlier.

“Let’s see here…” The nurse grabbed a binder on her desk, opening it up and reading from it. “Quirk: Navel Laser. Allows its user to fire a light-based beam from where their belly button would regularly be located. Due to an unspecified birth defect, the Quirk can cause discomfort to the stomach when used excessively. This also requires the user to wear a support device to prevent uncontrollable ‘leakage’ of the beam. That all correct?”

“Oui.” Yuga confirmed sadly. “It seems my Quirk is not quite a good match for my body.”

“I imagine this is why it also came in so late?” she added, looking at the notes again. “You got it almost 4 years after your generations average discovery range.”

“Y-Yes, that does make sense, I suppose.” Yuga stuttered out.

The truth was, Yuga knew it was no birth defect. But he couldn’t explain to this woman the truth of his Quirk. That it wasn’t even his Quirk. That he got it because his parents made a deal with the devil. And that he had originally only applied to this school because they had told him that he was to act as a spy for said devil.

His parents had told him that they had not received any calls from that monster since they returned, but he was not willing to risk their lives. He also did want to be a Hero. He just prayed that he would be able to do it before that devil came crawling from whatever Hell he was currently in.

“So, it’s a case of Quirk-Body Rejection Syndrome then?” Ms. Kagome put a hand to her chin, rubbing it. “That usually only happens when a body receives a body part that contains a Quirk Factor that doesn’t fit with the body. It almost never happens in normal bodies, only transplanted parts. But that doesn’t work obviously since you were born with your Quirk.”

“T-That’s right!” Yuga quickly agreed, feeling a bead of sweat form on his face. “Truly fascinant, don’t you think?”

“Truly…” Ms. Kagome said as she sat back. “Well, no matter the reason, I called you here today to help you with your Quirk.”

“Help?” Yuga tilted his head. “I already have my support belt, non?”

Ms. Kagome nodded but raised a hand to reveal a red double-helix pattern on it. “Yes, but I have a Quirk that lets me analyze and change genetic information. There’s a good chance I may be able to identify or even fix your issue.”

“Really? Just like that?” Yuga asked in disbelief.

“Well, I can look at your Quirk easy enough. I won’t promise anything about fixing it yet.” Kagome said, as she brought her hand up. “If you’re fine with it, then just lie down on the bed there and raise your shirt.”

Yuga thought about it for a moment, and decided there was no harm in following her instructions. If there really was a way to improve his Quirk, he would take it. And if she couldn’t, then things would just remain the same, which was better than nothing. He lied back onto the bed he was sitting on and lifted his shirt to expose his stomach.

He closed his eyes to attempt to relax and felt Ms. Kagome’s cold hand touch against her stomach, just above his navel belt. She spread her fingers out as her palm pressed against his chest and a tingling feeling spread out from it.

“Just let me know if you feel uncomfortable. I’m just looking, as well. I won’t change anything without telling you.” She let out a hum as the feeling spread around his body more. “Fascinating. The part of your body that holds the Naval Laser’s Quirk Factor is barely connected to the rest of your body. Most Quirk’s have plenty of secondary mutations across the body beyond just the ‘main’ ability. But for some reason, you have next to none. It’s like if someone attached a limb but forgot to connect all the muscles to make it move properly.”

Yuga let out a huff. If he was younger, he might have blamed his own Quirkless body for such a defect. But he was old enough now to suspect that the thing that gave him this Quirk did it poorly on purpose. Maybe they hoped his parents would beg him to remove it, or for another Quirk to fix it, all to make them further indebted to them.

“That said,” Ms. Kagome interrupted his internal seething with an encouraging tone. “It appears that the genetic information for the secondary mutations is all still stored within the Quirk. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to ‘complete’ the Quirks growth right now.”

“Quoi?” Yuga’s eyes shot open, tilting his head up in disbelief. “Can you… really do that?”

“Yep.” Ms. Kagome affirmed. “You’d just need to lie back for a few minutes, and I can make your Quirk change to how it should be.”

Yuga let out a shaking breath. There was a new feeling in his stomach now, but it wasn’t from his Quirk. He lied back down and shut his eyes tightly. “Please. Please do it.”

“Alright then. Try and relax kid.” She put both hands on his stomach now, and he felt her Quirk reach deeper than before. He couldn’t help but wriggle as it reached deep, and he felt his body change. She seemed to notice his discomfort, and suddenly spoke up. “Aoyama, can I tell you a story?”

“Le bien.” Aoyama answered quietly, as he tried to remain still.

“You see, I used to be Quirkless.” Kagome suddenly said. Yuga froze at the declaration, but she kept talking. “I tried helping people during the Rapture and ended up getting wrapped up with Deku’s troubles fighting a bunch of Villains. I even ended up getting abducted by aliens at one point.”

“You… were at I-Island and Area 51?” Yuga asked quietly, his eyes still shut tightly by him.

“Yeah. That wasn’t even the craziest part.” She said quietly, yet calmly. “See, during that whole debacle, I ran into this absolute monster of a man. Apparently, he had the ability to give and take Quirks.”

Yuga nearly choked as he sucked in a breath. It couldn’t be. Could it?

“Yeah, like those stupid internet rumours.” Ms. Kagome said with an amused huff. “Turns out he’s real. He’s the one who gave me this Quirk. Of course, he also forced me against my will to do his bidding, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it at the time.”

They sat in silence for a minute before Yuga finally worked up the courage to speak. “What… What happened to that man?”

“Let’s see…” She let out a hum. “He’s probably floating somewhere in space, bored out of his mind.”

“Again, Quoi?” Yuga said.

“Yeah, Deku kicked his butt so much he tried to literally fly away to another planet. Of course, Deku also blew up his ship, so he’s likely about a year into a couple millennia trip to wherever in some dingy escape pod. Trust me kid, no one’s going to see that asshole again.” Yuga felt the cold feeling of Ms. Kagome’s Quirk fade as she removed her hands. “There, all done.”

Yuga took a moment to sit up and open his eyes. He reached his hand down to his stomach, noticing that the cramps were gone. He reached back to unclip his support belt, and when it was removed, he didn’t feel the uncomfortable grip in his navel that would result in his ‘leaks’. Lifting his shirt, he ran a finger over his belly button, not a sparkle of light coming out against his will.

“To give a brief summary of what I changed, I mainly added the secondary mutations that allowed for your body to deal with the force and release of the light. You shouldn’t need the belt anymore to contain or focus the beams, though they might help still. The stomach cramps should be gone now too since you should be able to handle releasing your beam for longer periods of times. That said, you still have a limit, so don’t go pushing yourself too far even if you can last longer now.”

Yuga listened to the nurse as she explained all the new features of his Quirk. How it was meant to be. But it almost went in one ear and out the other after her story. He looked up t her and couldn’t help but tear up slightly. As she got up and began to walk away, Yuga finally spoke up.

“Why did you tell all of me that?” he asked.

“That’s a good question. The truth is, I’m not really supposed to talk about that stuff to others. Top secret, and all that.” Ms. Kagome admitted, before turning back to look at him. “But something told me you needed to hear it.”

Yuga finally began to cry. “I… think I did. Merci.”

“Enjoy your Quirk, Aoyama.” Ms. Kagome said as she left, with the first genuine smile he had seen on her since entering.

Kagome sat back as she finished cleaning up her office after a long day of work. She was satisfied with her accomplishments today. It was hard to imagine she was actually doing it.

When she had gone through the records for the new students, those two had been the ones that stood out to her the most. And when she went to Nezu for approval to use her Quirk on them, he had been more than happy to allow it.

Perhaps the fact that the principal of a high school had encourage gene modding of their students with glee was a red flag, but considering her own secret ‘research’, she was hardly one to judge.

Hagakure was the first one she noticed. It was clear she could not control her invisibility, and on top of that the support company hadn’t done the bare minimum to support her! She was going to ensure a proper DNA-Coded costume was made for the poor girl.

But it was fun to test her Quirk. Not to mention mixing in that Quirk in order to improve it. Hagakure would probably have a heart attack if she realized that the Glowing Quirk she had received was THE first Quirk ever, at least in the textbooks.

Even All Might hadn’t realized it, seeing no issue in giving up the Quirk in his stockpile to help one of his students.

She shouldn’t have been surprised that All for One was petty enough to steal one of the most famous Quirks in existence. He probably did it for some petty reason too, like its owner being so popular pissed him off or something.

Honestly, she was hesitant to give it away as well, due to its historic value. Fortunately, Dr. Garaki had made a duplicate of it for just this reason, being one of many Quirks the mad scientist had kept enshrined within his vault. She could take it out and use it herself if she ever wished later.

For now, she was just happy to see the smile on that girl's face.

Aoyama was a surprise though. She hadn’t thought too much about him at first but had planned on seeing if she could help him with his Quirk as well. It wasn’t until Nezu looked at the boys file himself that the principal made some important discoveries.

Apparently, the support company that had provided Aoyama his belt was one owned by Reiji Shigaraki, one of the many identities used by All for One. It was the same one the bastard had used when she met him, in fact. This caused Nezu and her to look closer and come to some rather obvious conclusions.

Yuga Aoyama had been born Quirkless, and his parents had used their high-class connections to get in contact with the Demon Lord of Japan. All for One gave their boy a Quirk that barely worked, and then almost certainly used it as leverage against them. Nezu suspected that the poor boy was to be used as a spy to look for One for All and keep tabs on the up-and-coming Heroes.

Of course, All for One was fully gone, though the Aoyama family had no way to confirm it due to the secretive nature of the Alien Encounters that ended the Rapture. So Nezu had encouraged her to ‘let slip’ about what had happened, specifically about their blackmailer's unfortunate fate.

Kagome was more than happy to. The situation that the Aoyama’s were in pissed her off to no end. A Quirk like All for One should be used for this exact purpose. To give Quirks to those who didn’t have any. And what did that monster do? Give it to a child poorly on purpose and then blackmail the family for it!

Once her work was complete, there would never be a situation like the one Hagakure or the Aoyama’s were in ever again. People would be free to edit, to change, to add or remove their Quirks as they see fit. If they were born with nothing, they can have whatever they want. And if what they were born with caused them strife, they could change or even remove it.

She still had a way to go though, so in the meantime, she was happy to just help these kids as she could herself.

The morning after his visit to the infirmary, Yuga walked to class with a spring in his step. He was incredibly early but could hardly care. He just couldn’t sit still and nearly ran all the way to U.A. in his excitement.

The support belt that he usually was no longer on him, stuffed into some corner of his room. He no longer needed it. He was free!

His excited skipping and prancing down the hall were interrupted however as he bumped into a floating uniform.

“Oof!” A female voice said as the uniform was knocked to the ground.

“Desole, Hagakure!” Aoyama quickly apologized, holding out a hand for her. “I was so excited I failed to spot you.”

“Its okay.” The invisible girl said quite cheerfully as she took his and and was pulled up.

“I must say, you certainly sound excited.” Yuga couldn’t help but grin. “I do not mean to presume, Hagakure, but can I assume your visit with Madam Kagome was as enlightening as mine?”

“Probably. If you don’t mind me asking though, what were you there for?” Hagakure asked.

“Alas, my Quirk has always been rather troublesome. It came in late, and never quite grew in properly. Madam Kagome was able to let it shine to its full potential though!” Aoyama said with a dramatic pose. “I don’t even need my belt to guide my light anymore.”

“Wow!” Hagakure exclaimed in amazement, (presumably) bringing her arms up to cheer. “That means you won’t have those stomach aches anymore, right?”

“E-Err… Oui.” Yuga affirmed somewhat embarrassingly. He quickly shook of the feeling as he looked to his classmate. “And what of yourself? Are you willing to share with moi?”

Hagakure seemed to fidget nervously in place for a few moments, before presumably standing tall. “Okay. It’ll probably be easier if I show you. Just… please don’t freak out or anything, okay?”

Before Yuga could ask what she had meant, the invisible girl suddenly began to shine. Her skin went from see through to shining white and got brighter and brighter until there was a flash of light. Yuga shielded his eyes, but when he lowered his arm to see, he felt he had been blinded again.

Where there used to be a floating uniform there was now a teenage girl. She had messy, shining green hair and eyes, and her pale skin glowed an almost ethereal light. The girl tried to straighten out her hair, before glancing at Aoyama nervously.

“So… how do I look?” the girl asked in Hagakure’s voice.

Yuga could only stare, mouth agape at the sight before him. The way the light seemed to glitter across her skin. She was glowing, shining, sparkling… twinkling.

“Belle.” He eventually stated in awe. “You are simply beautiful.”

“Huh?!” Hagakure staggered back at the compliment. “C-C’mon… you’re just saying that-”

“Non!” Yuga insisted, taking her hands in his own. “You look dashing! The way the light shines around you, I was blinded by your beauty before I even saw you!”

“I think that was just my Quirk.” Hagakure said with a chuckle, which puttered off nervously. “Do you… really think that I’m beautiful? I’ve never even seen what I look like before today. How can I be as amazing as you say I am?”

“Because that’s who you are!” Yuga insisted. “Even before I could see you, you shined like a star with your warmth and determination. You were always dazzling, Hagakure. I did not need to lay my eyes on you to know that.”

“Oh…” Hagakure’s face suddenly began to shine a red glow as her cheeks flushed.

“Hagakure? Are you alright?” He quickly asked.

“Huh? Oh!” She suddenly panicked as she let go off Yuga’s hands and turned invisible suddenly with a shimmer, and her invisible form seemed to squirm.

“Hagakure?” He questioned again.

“Toru.” She finally responded again. “Y-You can just call me Toru.”

“Ah, of course! Whatever you wish, belle.” He said with a polite bow. “Then feel free to call me Yuga, if you so desire.”

“Okay then, Yuga.” Toru replied, as one of her hands suddenly appeared in a shimmering light and was held out to him. “Do you want to walk to class together?”

“Oui!” Yuga said happily, taking the glowing hand in his own. “Between the two of us, I believe we might be able to outshine even All Might!”

Next Chapter: Katsuki Bakugo & Momo Yaoyorozu & Mei Hatsume

Chapter Text

Momo walked down the halls of U.A With a contemplative look on her face. She was staring at the ground as she walked, deep in thought after the first Hero Training class she had earlier today.

If she was being honest with herself, her performance during that exercise felt… lacking.

It’s not as if she was upset at herself for failing. No, anyone would have trouble going against someone as experienced and powerful as Deku. But she was a recommendation student! She couldn’t help but feel that she should have been able to do more!

She just wasn’t sure how. No matter how many times she kept going through the exercise in her mind, trying to see where she could have improved, she couldn’t figure anything out. So, she decided to focus on something else.

That something being her costume.

She wasn’t sure what she was thinking when she designed the thing. While the outfit was designed by her for pure functionality with her Quirk, yet it never really registered in her mind how… shameful it would look to actually wear. She can only thank whatever people were in charge of reviewing the costume drafts that her original design was rejected. Looking back, she might not have been able to leave the changing room if it was allowed.

Unfortunately, her Quirk was particularly unique, and without bare skin she’d be unable to use it effectively. As she couldn’t think of a way to solve the issue herself, she decided it was best to simply go talk to an expert. Which is why she was heading to the support department to talk to talk to Power Loader, the Hero Teacher in charge of such things.

Her musings were interrupted as a pestering voice suddenly reached her ears.

“Ponytail! Oi, Ponytail! You gone deaf or something?”

Momo glanced up, only to find Bakugo Katsuki walking next to her, an annoyed look on his face. “Oh, apologies! I was… deep in thought.”

“I noticed. I’ve been walking beside you for a while now and you didn’t say jack. Thought you were ignoring me for a minute.” Bakugo let out a huffed breath. “You’re thinking about how you got your ass beat during the exercise, right?”

“W-What would make you say that?” Momo asked defensively.

“Because that’s what I’m thinking about.” Bakugo admitted, much to her shock. He saw the surprise on her face and grimaced slightly. “Oh, come on! You’re supposed to be one of the smart ones, right? What self-respecting Hero student would fail a lesson so spectacularly and not think about doing better.”

“I… yes, that makes sense. Apologies, Bakugo. I misunderstood what you had meant.” Momo replied more warmly. She mentally kicked herself for assuming rude things of others based of looks. “I presume since you are heading in this direction as well, that you are looking for advice on a new costume as well?”

“Nah, I already know what I want. Just need to go tell them in person, since it’s a pretty unique request.” Bakugo explained. He glanced over at Momo with a contemplative look. “What’s the deal with your costume anyways. Can’t you just use that DNA-Coded stuff?”

Momo shook her head. “I’m afraid such technology does not work with my Quirk. I need bare skin to create things with Creation, and a lot of it sometimes. But I do not know how to balance functionality with modesty. If I can figure out a more efficient costume, then I will be able do better than in the previous exercise!”

“Nah.” Bakugo said dismissively. “That ain’t the main issue you’ve got. Your issue is that you think too much.”

“I beg your pardon?” Momo gasped incredulously.

“That was probably a poor way to phrase it.” Bakugo admitted, seemingly trying to find another way to get across the point in his head. “Look, maybe a practical demonstration would be better. You got a rubber band I can borrow?”

“I can make one.” She said, stopping to pull the small band out of her left arm and handing it to Bakugo. He took a few steps until he was about ten feet from her.

“Alright, say you got a call to handle an assault report. You run into an alley and come face to face with the Villain.” Bakugo asked, as he slipped the rubber band between his thumb and pointer finger at his side. “What do you do? Action!”

‘Alright, I’ve run into the suspect, but I don’t know what their Quirk is. Should I attack or wait? Maybe I should make a shield to-’

Her planning was interrupted when Bakugo’s arm snapped up. He released his finger, and the rubber band in his hand slingshot itself square into Momo’s forehead.

“Ow!” She let out a yelp of surprise, turning to her classmate. “Why did you-”

“Bang, you’re dead.” Bakugo said coldly.

“What?!” Momo looked at him, incredibly confused and now a little annoyed. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.” Bakugo snapped back. “You ran face first into a Villain yet spent multiple seconds just standing there like an idiot.”

“That’s because I was thinking-” Momo began, only to cut herself off as she looked down at the rubber band that she had been ‘killed’ with. “I was too busy thinking when I should have acted…”

“Exactly.” Bakugo nodded as he walked back over to her.

“But I have no idea what their Quirk might be, or what would be needed for me to create in order to capture them.” Momo began to explain, but Bakugo just rolled his eyes.

“Fun fact, nearly all Quirks will do fuck all if you shoot first. I’ve seen those anti-riot guns that shoot fast-acting concrete foam. Hit a common criminal with some of that and they probably won’t see the effort in fighting back.” Bakugo put a hand on his hips as he talked. It felt a bit strongly worded, but she couldn’t argue against his logic.

“But I’d still have to take the time to make it.” Momo thought aloud, again realizing something important. “No, wait a minute. If I’m just going to be using the same kind of ammunition for most Villains, I don’t need to worry about producing it in combat. I can create and store it beforehand, leaving me more energy for specialized equipment should the need arise.”

“Exactly. Your Quirk lets you make everything, everywhere, but that doesn’t mean you should. You need to think smarter, not more.” Bakugo said with a nod.

“I must admit Bakugo, I am rather surprised by the amount of thought you put into improving my Quirk.” Momo admitted as they finally reached the doors to the support equipment. “I didn’t know you were such a Quirk analyst.”

“Figuring out how Quirks work is an important part of Hero work. Can’t win if I don’t understand my own allies and enemies' powers.” He replied with a scoff. “Besides, I need all you at your best next time we face of against Deku. I can’t you all dragging me down because you aren’t at your best, got it?”

“Of course.” Momo said with a chuckle.

He may come across as brash, but Bakugo seemed to actually care about his classmates. She believed she had seen this kind of personality before in those books she read. She believed it was called ‘being a Tsundere’?

Bakugo reached for the heavy-duty doors of the Support Class, only for them to fly open in an explosion. He went flying back from the force, and Momo found herself falling down on her back as something crashed into her from within the explosion.

As the dust settled, Momo struggled to get up as she felt a weight press against her body. She looked down to see what had landed on her, only to find a pink haired girl in a dirty outfit lying face first in her chest.

“Bwaah!” The girl’s head popped up as she took a breath. Momo couldn’t help but stare into her wide, crosshair pupils. “Whoops! Sorry about that. Thanks for the soft landing though. You’re certainly a lot more comfortable than the floor!”

“Y-You’re welcome?” Momo stared at the girl on top of her oddly.

“Damn it, Hatsume! It’s barely been a full day of class! How have you already blown something up?!” Power Loader cried out in equal horror and annoyance as he stepped out of the classroom to find her. He looked around to see the two Hero students lying down from the accidental explosion as well. “Ah, welcome to the Support Department, kiddos! Trust me, this isn’t how we regularly greet visitors. What can I help you with?”

Bakugo brushed himself off after the sudden mishap. Thankfully he was rather explosion-proof, although his uniform was going to need a wash. He simply let out a huff of annoyance as he stood back up.

They both entered the classroom, stepping around the debris that littered the industrial room due to Hatsume’s recent incident. Power Loader ordered her to start cleaning up her mess before turning to the two. Mei grumbled as she grabbed a nearby broom and swept up the damaged equipment.

“So, like I said before, is there something you two need from me?” The Hero asked as he sat at his desk.

“We apologize for taking your time, Mr. Power Loader.” Momo said with a gracious bow. “We were hoping you could assist us with improving our Costumes.”

“Please, just call me Maijima while off duty.” He said with a wave. “I must admit though. Costume improvements already? You’ve only used them for a single class. Do you really need them updated so soon.”

“Considering mine got blown to smithereens, I don’t have much of a choice.” Bakugo answered with obvious annoyance.

“And while mine is still in one piece, I’m afraid I’m not as… comfortable with wearing it as I had believed I’d be.” Momo said shamefully. “I was wondering if you could assist me in finding a more appropriate yet functional solution.”

“I see. Well, it happens every once in a while, so don’t beat yourself up over it.” Maijima said. He glanced over to his computer, pressing a few buttons and printing out both of their Costume’s info. “Let’s see… to start with Yaoyorozu here… ah, I see what you mean.”

Momo’s face flushed greatly as Maijima looked over her drafts. “I was going for function over form. I didn’t really think about the practicality of wearing it until I had it in my hands earlier today.”

“Most first years have the opposite problem in designing a Costume that looks cool but is inconvenient or even detrimental to their Quirk. This is a bit different than that.” Maijima explained. “I can see the trouble you are having. It’s hard to produce anything from your skin without showing a decent amount.”

“Pardon me!” Hatsume suddenly exclaimed, and Momo nearly jumped out of her skin as the pink haired girl seemingly manifested beside her, broom in hand. “But I just happened to be listening in. Could you by chance tell me your Quirk?”

“I-It’s called Creation.” Momo eventually said as her nerves lowered. “It lets me create anything using the lipids in my body as fuel, as long as I understand its atomic makeup.”

At the explanation of Momo’s Quirk, Hatsume’s unique eyes seemed to dilate, and the broom in her hand clattered to the ground as she froze stiff.

“Umm… Are you okay?” Momo asked.

Mei slowly reached down to grasp both of Momo’s hands in her own, bringing them up between them. She stared into Momo’s eyes with a deep need, finally letting out a deep breath as she spoke.

“Please make babies with me.”

“?!”

Nobody else said anything, but various noises echoed across the classroom. Bakugo choked on seemingly nothing. Maijima almost fell off his chair from shock. And Momo began to let out a small squeaking noise as her face turned bright red.

“I-I-I…” Momo kept failing to start any sentences as her brain rebooted.

“Please? With my inventive mind and your Quirk, we’d be able to create so many wonderful babies together!” Hatsume said further, an excited grin on her face.

“Wait a minute.” Maijima suddenly collected himself. “Are you calling your inventions babies?!”

“Of course! What else would I call them. They’re born from me, with all my charms and features. They just come out of mind instead of… you know. Far easier, in my opinion.” Hatsume said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Oh… I see! I thought you were- I mean I thought you were asking if I wanted to- I mean the two us to-” Momo eventually just shut her mouth as she tied to focus on a clearer answer.  “T-Thank you for the… offer? But it wouldn’t be right of me to abuse my Quirk for the personal gain of myself or others.”

“But isn’t that what you’re doing with your Quirk right now?” Hatsume asked confused. “You use your Quirk to be a Hero, right?”

“That’s different! Using my Quirk as a Hero helps others!” Momo quickly denied.

“If that’s the case, then helping me make babies isn’t selfish because it will allow more Heroes to use them!” Hatsume countered.

“Enough!” Maijima cried out. “Hatsume, no pressuring other students into your… baby making! And get back to cleaning up!”

“Ugh, fine.” Hatsume let out a sigh before kicking the broom back up into her hands, turning back to the half-cleaned mess.

“Now then,” Maijima said after a moment. “I assume you want a way for you to be able to use more, let’s say ‘surface area’, while also keeping some modesty.”

“That is correct. Although I have yet to think of a solution. One that is feasible, at least.” Momo admitted.

“Why don’t you use a bodysuit like Deku does?” Bakugo suggested, causing them to look over at him in confusion.

“His armor seems a bit bulky for my use.” Momo said.

“Huh? Oh, right. You never saw him put the thing on.” Bakugo suddenly realized. “When he activated it, some sort of bodysuit come out of the cuffs he was wearing for the rest of the Costume to go on. It covered his body automatically, so it’s probably nanotech or something.”

Maijima nodded. “I know what you’re talking about. That nanomaterial of I-Island is getting pretty popular these days. That said, getting your hands on some without a direct line of connection to the place would be hard. Even Nezu would have to pull favors to get a costume like that.”

“Oh, my family works with I-Island all the time!” Momo said cheerfully. The two men glanced at her as if they just remembered that she was the daughter of one of the biggest tycoons in Japan.

“… Well, then it shouldn’t be a problem to get one made.” Maijima said simply. “The main issue would be finding a way to make any openings for her Quirk though. DNA-Coding doesn’t seem like it would work, and there’s no point getting her a fancy nano-suit if it’s just going to get poked with holes.”

The three of them fell silent as they contemplated the issue, only to be interrupted again by a certain hyper-active techie again.

“Why would that matter?” Hatsume suddenly said, leaning in as if she was always a part of the conversation.

“Oh, for the love of…” Maijima sighed as his rambunctious first year interjected herself into the talk. “Because we can’t have her costume falling apart in the middle of a fight! Some of us have modesty, Hatsume.”

“But the whole point of a nano-suit is that it’s self repairing! Who cares if it gets torn up a bit! They’re designed to be able to cover a certain amount of damage using stores in containers through the body like Deku’s wrists and ankles! Hell, with her Quirk, she could patch the holes on her own by producing it directly on the open spot if she knew the nano-material’s design!” Hatsume explained cheerfully. “And while you can’t use DNA-Coding to let things pass through, you could use it to program the nanomaterial to go inert and disconnect from the suit when detected, allowing her to create things without issue of tear!”

“That’s…” Maijima moved to argue but failed to do so. “That’s bloody brilliant. Expensive and complicated as hell, but brilliant. Is there anything else you need, Yaoyorozu?”

“Yes, there is one more thing.” She admitted. She reached over to point at the diagram for her current costume, specifically the back end of it. “Since I need to understand the makeup of anything I make, I thought it prudent to add a spot on my costume to place reading material in case I ever need a reminder of how they work. Again however, the implementation wasn’t exactly practical.”

“I’d say. You’re going to break your ass with that thing.” Bakugo agreed rather bluntly.

Momo nodded, again somewhat embarrassed. Right behind her… rear, she had placed a shelf of all things to place the books she might need. While it was the best place she could have it located without getting in the way of her Quirk, It was also an incredible hazard to her health. A single fall during the exercise earlier made it apparent, she realized as she rubbed her bruised back.

“Maybe you could use some sort of wrist guard with a flexible screen? Lots of Heroes have such things for logistical tasks anyways.” Maijima suggested.

“I’m sorry, but… I just don’t take in information well unless it’s in book form. While having that for emergencies would help, I was wondering if there was something that could assist me in keeping the books with the costume?” Momo asked hesitantly. “I know this most seem unreasonable, especially after my previous request…”

“Don’t sweat it. This what we’re here for.” Maijima said placatively. “Besides, I actually have the perfect solution for you. Hatsume, can you grab the-”

“Here you go!” Hatsume exclaimed, thrusting forward a set of work gloves and protective eyewear.

Maijima let out a sigh. “Of course you were listening. Anyways, Yaoyorozu, please put these on. Their standard equipment used by support students here in class.”

“Alright.” Momo slipped on the gloves and put the thick glasses on her face. As soon as she did, Hatsume reached up to press a button on the side of them. Momo looked down at the gloves in her hand, only for a list to appear in midair. “What’s this?”

“What’s what? I don’t see shit.” Bakugo said in confusion.

“It’s AR technology. The glasses and the gloves are connected to display information for each user. A lot of fancy places use them for teaching. Nezu prefers to use actual textbooks here, but I switched to this method for the Support Course since a lot of students tend to set things on fire in here.” Maijima finished with a pointed look.

Hatsume pouted. “How else am I supposed to improve without some failure occasionally? All I’m hearing is that it should be less of a hassle for you when I do.”

“You shouldn’t be a hassle at all!” Maijima threw his hands up in exasperation. “Anyways Yaoyorozu, please try it out.”

Momo raised a hand to select the first name on the floating list, ‘Engineering Basics’. The moment she did, a floating book appeared in her view, and she found herself able to ‘grab’ the book with her gloves and move it around. She could even flip between the pages. It was a bit awkward, since there wasn’t any feedback for what she was doing as the book didn’t actually exist in physical space, but she quickly got the hang of it. Flipping to the table of contents, she tapped the page number for a topic listed, and the book flipped straight to that page.

“This is incredible.” Momo said with amazement. “It felt a bit weird at first, but this would be far more usable than a simple screen!”

“It also can be set up to display data by voice command, so you can see info from it without even having to physically flipping it open as long as you have the gloves in view.” Maijima explained. “You’ll probably want to customize the gloves and glasses into something more fitting for Hero work. I’ve heard that there are contacts that produce similar effects as the glasses, and you’ll want to make sure the gloves are durable to not get damaged in a fight.”

“That makes sense. I suppose I’ll have to load it with the proper reading material as well.” Momo said. She threw the virtual book out of her view, and it vanished as the list of other downloaded information available appeared. Looking it over, she let out a gasp. “Advanced Pyrotechnics? Measured Explosives Creation? Nuclear Power Production?! Power Loader, what exactly are you teaching these students?!”

“What?! Those aren’t books in our curriculum. Why would those be on-?!” Maijima whirled his head over to Hatsume. “You gave her your set of equipment, didn’t you! We use a closed system! Did you jailbreak school property?!”

“How else am I supposed to get the references needed for my babies?” Hatsume replied without a spec of shame.

Maijima simply stared at his unruly student, before letting out a deep sigh. “I give up. Yaoyorozu, come over here so we can but together a request form for your new Costume. Bakugo, I’ll assist you in a moment. Hatsume, don’t touch anything.”

The teacher continued to stare at Hatsume as him and Momo walked over to another corner of the lab. The moment he turned away to begin working though, the support student hopped over to Bakugo, giving him a cheeky grin.

“So, is there anything I can make for you today?”

Katsuki let out a sigh. He hadn’t been planning on spending so much time socializing after class. He had just wanted to tell whoever mad his Costume to put it together better, then go home. But then he had run into Ponytail, and he ended up spending a bunch of time helping her figure out shit that she really should have known. To top it all off, she had to deal with this hyperactive pyromaniac next to her.

Then again, she was pretty familiar with explosions. And she did come up with a good idea for Ponytail’s costume.

“Depends. How good are you with explosions?” Katsuki asked, quickly clarifying. “Purposeful ones.”

“Wonderfully.” Hatsume said (He was pretty sure her name was Hatsume, but he wasn’t 100%. Maybe he’d just call her Cross-eyes out loud for now) with a grin.

“Perfect.” He reached over to Maijima’s desk and handed over his Costumes design draft to her. “My Quirk makes my sweat explosive, and I can make it go boom with a mutation in my palms. My costume was designed to build up the sweat into containers on my arms for a bigger blast, but I had a bit of a fucking issue with them.”

“And that would be?” Hatsume asked.

“That they were broken to pieces and the sweat stored inside blew up and took me and three others with it.” Katsuki growled as he remembered the experience. “I need it to be made of a stronger material.”

“Is that all?” Hatsume asked.

“Nah, I also need to upgrade my costume to withstand more force from my arms. My explosions produce an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Law’s and all that shit. When I trained it before I never really felt the recoil, but going all out during the exercise made me realize I need better support and impact absorption in my Costume’s arms. The only issue is that I need it to be conditional, as I require the recoil for mobility. I need to be able to turn it on and off.” Katsuki explained in detail. “I thought it was impossible, but then I remember seeing Deku’s costume in action.”

“Oh, I saw that one!” Hatsume exclaimed excitedly. “I got to watch Shield working on it the day before. Real impressive piece of work.”

“Damn straight. I figure the costume must be made to withstand a ton of force with the way he was flying around when he fought those villains on the first day of school. If that’s the case, it’s probably tough as hell too. It’s also modular and can turn on and off due to being that Nanomaterial as well, from what I saw.” Katsuki continued.

“I see what you’re suggesting. Something like this?” Hatsume suddenly began scribbling over the design doc she was holding. She then presented her work to him. “There would be the main gauntlets, made of pure material. It will absorb the extra sweat into far more durable containers than the old design. I took the liberty of modifying it from one container into a sort of segmented revolver design. This will allow you to not risk losing all your stores if somehow damaged and allow you to fire off medium sized bursts with your Quirk instead of all or nothing. Finally, I’ll add extendable compression tech that will deploy itself whenever you attempt to fire a stored shot. All in all, it’s something I have the knowledge to build.”

Katsuki took the sheet of paper in his hand, looking it over with a manic grin. “Fuck yeah! It’s damn near perfect. Hey, Cross-eye’s, help make this for me!”

“Sorry, no can do!” Hatsume replied cheerfully.

“Huh?!” Katsuki nearly tripped at the sudden rejection. “Why though? Didn’t you just say you knew how to build the damn thing?”

“Of course! But knowing how and actually having the ability to build a piece of Support Gear are two very different things.” Hatsume explained, hardly phased by Katsuki’s aggressive language. “While I could probably build the revolver gauntlets with a cheaper material, they wouldn’t be as tough or have the compression nanomaterial that Deku has. Do you know why?”

“Let me guess, it’s because the tech is only available on I-Island.” Katsuki grumbled as he put it together himself.

Hatsume nodded, grabbing a piece of paper from (presumably) her desk with various diagrams and info on it. “Exactly. You see, the material you want to use is called Condenium. It was an alloy material that’s makeup until recently was completely top secret. Only some of the best of the best could even attempt to make use of it. It was only until after the Rapture, when I-Island and the United States were forced to publicize most of their info on extraterrestrials by the rest of the world, that the truth came out that Condenium was made from reverse engineering UFO hull.”

“Seriously?” Katsuki said in disbelief.

“Seriously.” Hatsume assured him. “They were forced to reveal how it was made, so I know how to do that. But the process for creating it requires a nuclear powered furnace and some of the rarest metals on earth. I might be able to do the former if I don’t mind breaking a few laws, but the second is out of my ability. I-Island and the States are still the only places that can produce it, but that’s still troublesome even then. Most of the Condenium in use is actually just stuff ripped straight from the source.”

“You mean Deku is running around in armor made out of a fucking salvaged alien spaceship?!” Katsuki cried out in disbelief.

“Almost certainly. It’s also the most expensive and advanced piece of equipment in the world. And he gets to wear it all the time.” Hatsume let out a jealous sigh. “Man, I wish I was dating him too just to get a hand on that baby!”

“Ugh, please don’t.” Katsuki said with a gag. “Besides, you’ll probably lose your arm for touching someone else’s baby without permission. That Shield girl can be scary when she wants too.”

“Yeah…” Hatsume let out another suffering sigh as she stared down at the information about Condenium. “It’s just so annoying! I have the blueprint to the thing in my hand down to each atom, but I still can’t do anything with it! What I would do for a 3D printer that I could just feed this doc too and have spit out whatever I need-”

They both froze and looked up at each other at the same moment. Their gaze slowly turned back to the other student in the room, who was busily chatting with Maijima about her new costume. They almost tripped over each other as they ran over to Yaoyorozu and dragged her over to where they had just been standing.

“What the-?!” Yaoyorozu cried out as she was suddenly pulled away from her work.

“Hatsume! What did I say about kidnapping students for your work!” Maijima cried as the three students left him alone.

“Can I ask what the urgency of this is?” Yaoyorozu asked somewhat hesitantly as she was dragged over to an empty desk with a single diagram on it.

“Can you make this?” Hatsume asked pleadingly as she pointed to the atomic structure on the document.

“Let’s see…” Yaoyorozu glanced down at the paper, raising her eyebrows. “Oh, this is a rather interesting composition. One second please.”

Yaoyorozu closed her eyes in thought for a moment before she loosened her tie and undid the top couple buttons to reveal a bit of her upper chest. It glowed for a moment, and she reached up to her chest and pulled out a 5 centimeter diameter sphere of a dull grey material. She set it down on the desk next to the diagram with a satisfied smile.

“There we go. I’ve never seen something with a composition like this before. I must admit, it is fun to try and create new things!” Yaoyorozu said, happy and oblivious to what she had made.

Hatsume carefully picked up the sphere, bringing it up to her eyes and staring deeply at the metal. Her cross-shaped pupils seemed to adjust slightly, clearly a part of her Quirk, and she let out a disbelieving gasp. “Incredible. There’s not any apparent impurities or errors in its composition.”

“And you’re sure you created it like it says on the sheet here, Ponytail?” Katsuki asked excitedly.

“I did.” Yaoyorozu confirmed as she glanced at the paper. “I must say, I’ve never heard of Condenium before. Is it some new form of alloy?”

“It’s alien metal. It’s the most expensive material in the world… and you just pulled it out of your boobs…” Hatsume said in amazement. She took both of Yaoyorozu’s hands in hers, this time dropping to her knees before the Hero student. “Please, marry me!”

“?!”

The reactions of the others were about as extreme as before. Yaoyorozu became a stuttering mess, while Katsuki stared gobsmacked. He quickly recovered though when he remembered the purpose of this discussion.

“Oi, Cross-eyes, save your confessing and shit till your done my request!” Katsuki demanded, and the two girls focused back on him. “Ponytail, can you make some more of that stuff for my Costume?”

“I-I don’t know.” Yaoyorozu said hesitantly, her face still rather flushed from Hatsume’s sudden request. “You said it’s incredibly rare. It wouldn’t be fair to just make some like that…”

“But you owe us for helping you with your Costume, right?” Hatsume exclaimed as she got back up on her feet, but hands still grasped with Yaoyorozu’s.

“Besides, Deku’s the unfair one for wearing a suit of the stuff. You said you wanted to do better against him next time, right? Consider this a part of that.” Katsuki said. Then he did something he thought he’d never do. But if it meant beating Deku, then he’d do it. He bowed his head and lowered his voice to a more respectable decibel. “Please, Yaoyorozu.”

Yaoyorozu stared at him, surprised that he humbled himself. She eventually let out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll help you two. But only since you asked nicely. And used my name, which I know is a rarity for you.” She said with a cheeky grin.

“Yes!” Hatsume cheered, hopping up and down. “Oh, I can see our babies now!”

“You can do whatever you want with Yaoyorozu after I’m done drawing up her new design documents!” Maijima finally yelled. “And no using your own materials for Support Gear until you approve it with Nezu! You got that, Hatsume?”

“Yes sir!” Hatsume said, letting go of Yaoyorozu’s hands to do a salute. She turned to the recommendation student with a smile. “Well, get going! The sooner you’re done with Power Loader, the sooner we can start making babies!”

Yaoyorozu let out a cough as she glanced at Hatsume oddly. “Err… yes, I shall finish this soon so we can continue with, with… that.” she finished lamely as her face flushed and she headed back to the teacher’s side.

As they got back to work on the document, Katsuki let out a satisfied nod. “Alright, finally I’ll have a costume to go up against Deku-Gah!” He was interrupted as Hatsume but an arm around his shoulder and briskly walked him to the other end of the classroom, away from Yaoyorozu and Maijima. “What the hell is going on here?!”

Hatsume leaned over to whisper quietly, clearly not wanting the others to hear. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, blondie! We still haven’t discussed the matter of payment...”

“Seriously?!” Bakugo exclaimed, quickly lowering his voice when Hatsume gripped his shoulders a bit tighter. “Okay, okay! Jeez… what do you want from me? I can’t exactly spawn rare metals from my breasts like Ponytail, and I don’t exactly trust you with my sweat, considering your apparent track record with explosions.”

“Oh, I don’t need any of that.” Hatsume said, as she cast another glance over her shoulder to ensure privacy again. “I simply require your assistance with a matter. You’re in the same class as Momo Yaoyorozu, correct?”

Bakugo quirked an eyebrow. “I am. What exactly do you need assistance with when it comes to her? What do you need me to do?”

Hatsume smiled widely. “Get me a date with her!”

“What?!” Bakugo barely managed to suppress shouting it out, the exclamation coming out more like a strangled growl. “Wait, were you serious about the whole marriage and baby making thing?! I thought you were just talking about making inventions and shit?”

“I was at first. But even after just being around her has caused this weird feeling in my chest. Like the one I get when I see an invention that I want, only stronger. It took me a minute, but I’m 90% sure that means I’m attracted to her.” Hatsume began to explain. “There’s something about the way she talks all properly that catches my attention. She loves making new things like me, and even has an amazing Quirk for it. And have seen her chest-”

“Yeah, Ponytail is hot, everyone with eyes can fucking see that.” Katsuki said with an eyeroll.

“Exactly!” Hatsume nodded, before her expression seemed to turn somber for a moment. “Look, I’m sure you’ve notice I’m not exactly great when it comes to the whole ‘talking to people’ thing. Unless it has to do with making and showing off inventions, I don’t really… understand how to interact. I’m trying to learn, but lets just say I have harder issues then most to do so. That’s why I require some… external assistance in figuring out what to do right.”

Katsuki looked at the girl beside him, thinking deeply about the proposition.

“So let me get this straight,” He said slowly. “You’ll built me one of the most expensive and advanced pieces of equipment on the planet, and all I have to do… is help you land one measly date?”

“That’s correct!” Hatsume confirmed, holding out a hand. “So, do we have a deal?”

Katsuki couldn’t help but get a shit-eating grin as he shook her hand. “You're damn right we do!”

Sure, Katsuki had no actual dating experiences of his own. But he wasn’t an idiot. It couldn’t be that hard to figure out. Besides, he had plenty of experience dealing with hyper-focused nerds. Getting a tech-geek and some tycoon heiress together wasn’t going to be impossible. Besides, he needed this to get his new gear, and get stronger than Deku.

If playing matchmaker was what’s required of him on the path to number one, then he’ll become god damn Cupid!

Next Chapter: TBD