Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time-saving idea for you. If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life- go take a swan dive off a roof!"

Midoriya snaps his head towards Bakugou in confusion and anger after hearing the statement. The latter producing sparks in his hand as a threat causing Midoriya to shut up.

Bakugou and hia friends leave the classroom is a severely distraught Midoriya standing at his desk, still processing what Bakugou said to him. He soon remembers that his notebook was thrown into the pond outside the school and quickly packs his bag to go retrieve it, the words still spinning in his mind.

He thought, 'Who else other than my mother would care if a quirkless nobody like me died.' While walking away from a slightly run down 4-story building he would describe as hell itself.

With his injuries fresh off the palms of bakugou, instead of going home, he limps over to one of the tallest skyscrapers in the area and slowly climbs to the roof. Staring out towards the city 15 stories up, he marvels at how beautiful Japan is during the time of day, yet he isn't able to fully appreciate the view as the decision he is about to choose weighs heavily on him. Writing a makeshift letter with a page of his soaked and ashy notebook, he tapes the letter onto the backpack he put near the edge of the rooftop. He apologizes towards the sky to his mother about not being strong enough to withstand the bullying and he wishes she'd live a cosier life without him, and he jumps.

Tears stream down his face as he plummets like a ragdoll towards the ground, his arms and legs flailing in the air as the wind blows the tears off of his face.

*Thud*

Midoriya's body hits the ground like a wet noodle, the crowd of civilians scream after seeing a boy no older than 15 lying unconscious on a pool of blood

Beeps of machines, bright white ceiling lights, constant exchanges between doctors, nurses, and patients, a common sight inside a busy hospital. Bursting through the hospital doors are 2 paramedics and a stretcher transporting a green-haired teenager

The entire situation was a blur to Midoriya, he heard people screaming codes of different colours, doctors surrounding him trying to assess the wounds. He was wheeled towards the Emergency Room where he fell in and out of consciousness until everything went dark.

With the patient being unconscious and with no identification or any kind of carry on, it would be close to an hour before any contact with the patient's guardian could be made.

[Midoriya's POV]

"Huh? Where am I? Why is it so dark here? Is this hell?" The boy said while stuck in a dark void, his words echoing back to him.

"No." A man with a voice as smooth as fine aged whiskey replied to him "You are nowhere near hell, come take a seat" he continued

Midoriya turned to face the origins of the voice, he saw a brunette man with a streak of white in his hair wearing a long grey overcoat with dark brown dress pants and black dress shoes sitting under a glowing tree, gesturing to Midoriya to sit beside him.
.
Midoriya obliged to the man as there was nothing else he could do. "Who are you mister?" He asked as he sat down.

"My name is Joachim Nokianvirtanen, but I go by Welt Yang." The man now known as Welt as he stared deep into the abyss

"Hello, Mr Yang. May I ask where are we?" Midoriya asks as he turns towards Welt

"We are nowhere and everywhere, at the beginning, the end, and everything in between, young one. Where and when we are are completely seperate from the timeline you hail from. The tree we are sitting under is called the Imaginary Tree, and it is the base of the entire multiverse, each branch represents a specific path which worlds might exist." Welt explained while he gazed upwards at the branches

Midoriya tilted his head upwards to gawk at the branches that seem to extend outwards infinitely

Welt continued "I don't have much time as the Herrscher of Reason in this universe and as the wielder of the Star of Eden, as a result I have been forced to reside in this space between worlds. Due to the limitations of mortality, I must find a successor to this power as well as this name. The name "Welt" is German for "world", and as the same suggests, the wielder of the name and the powers that come along with it are tasked with the goal to protect the world they reside in. I have seen many brilliant minds capable of wielding this power, but you, Young Midoriya, are capable of much more than just wielding this power, you have the ability to push the power to its limits and to take it far beyond what I can do. That is why I have brought you here, I have chosen you as the successor of the Welt name and the powers stored within."

"A-are you sure you have the r-right person? I-I'm just a quirkless nobo-"

"Just because you're quirkless does not make you a nobody. You have mind comparable to Earth's greatest minds, and some of my greatest companions. During my time, there were no quirks, only Houkai energy, but that's beside the point. I didn't have any kind of powers before obtaining the powers of the Herrscher of Reason, it was passed down to me by my mentor, Welt Joyce, when I was just a young teen like you." Welt retorted

"I-I... this is a lot to take it... I n-need some time... to think a-about this"

"No worries, we have some tkme before your body wakes up from its coma. Do you have any questions you wish to ask me?" Welt said as he smiled and leaned back onto the bark of the huge tree

"W-was there a universe where I was born with a quirk?"

"Plenty. Given the infinite nature of the Imaginary Tree, if you can think of it, it exists somewhere on one of these branches. Oddly enough, most of the universes end up with you and Bakugou having conflict with one another. Sometimes it was a fair fight, others it was a one-sided beating. But don't beat yourself over it, given Bakugou's nature, it was bound to happen." Welt answered it as he pats Midoriya's back

"Oh..."

Minutes pass without a peep out of either one of them. Welt enjoying the silence of the void humming an old tune, and Midoriya thinking through Welt's offer. Welt then perks up "Any progress on my offer?"

"Yeah. I accept. Please train me to utilize your power to it's full potential!" Midoriya enthusiastically says with a burning sense of passion and justice apparent in his eyes

Welt holds out his hand to show a small grey crystal "This is called the Core of Reason. In a sense, you can say it is the soul of reason itself. The core holds the powers and abilities of The Herrscher of Reason. Take it an absorb it into your body." He then summons his cane "This is the Star of Eden, for me it has taken the form of this cane, but it can take many different forms."

"I-if you don't mind me asking... what can a Herrscher of Reason do?" Midoriya asks after receiving the two items.

"Herrscher of Reason has two main abilities, the grants the wielder superhuman memory, and it allows the wielder to recreate anything as long as they thoroughly understood the thing they are recreating. The Star of Eden allows the wielder to manipulate gravity itself to even form blackholes." Welt gives a detailed explaination of the abilities to Midoriya

"T-this feels like a lot... I'm not sure if I'm someone that can handle that..."

"I trust your capabilities Midoriya, I wouldn't have brought you here if I wasn't fully sure of your abilities." After saying that, Welt's lower half starts to fade away "Oh, it seems my physical form is giving up on me. It's all up to you now Young Midoriya, I trust you'll do the right thing..."

"What do you mean your time is up?! There's so much you still haven't explained to me!"

"There isn't much left I can explain to you, the Star of Eden and the Core of Reason are both things that can only be understood through trial and error. But I have been able to store my soul inside the core to guide you. But now, it's time for you to wake up..."

[Outside POV]

The green-headed teenager had just fell unconscious after he was brought into the emergency room, from what the police could gather, the patient's name is Izuku Midoriya, and his Mother Inko Midoriya. Within minutes of the call from the police, Inko rushed into the hospital Midoriya was staying at. She was forced to sit in the waiting for what the doctors had to say about the situation her precious Izuku is in. seconds felt like hours, minutes felt like days, but after an incredibly long 30 minute wait, the doctors finally came out with a report on Midoriya's current status. 'Stable but comatose' is all the doctors could say about it, he could be in a coma for days weeks or even months, with a chance that he never wakes up again.

Months go by with no change in his state, still stable but comatose. Inko visits Izuku every day after work just in case he does wake up suddenly, but with no luck. As days go by, Inko notices somethings changing regarding Midoriya's appearance. His hair starts to darken to more closely resemble the colour of his mother's with a tuft of his hair on the front starting to turn white, bags starting to develop under his eyes, and his chin starting to grow slight facial hair. Until suddenly, the equipment in the room starts to float and beep uncontrollably, the nurse that as in charge of monitoring him quickly made multiple calls to the doctors in the hospital. Within seconds, Midoriya's room was flooded in masked people in white checking vital signs, eye and body movement, and so on, As the doctors were checking what needed to be checked, the nurse contacted his mother, who rushed to the hospital right when she heard the news.

Suddenly Midoriya's eyes shoot open, scaring even the doctors. One of his eyes being bright green, and his other glowing red but then reverting to brown as the floating machines crash into the ground. This is the exact moment Inko bursts into the room and hugs Izuku while sobbing

"M-mom?"

"Izuku baby! I'm so glad you're alright"

"I-I can't breath" Midoriya wheezed out

Inko apologized for squeezing him so tight, but explained that he had been out for almost 4 months, she eventually went out of the room to let the doctors do their tests on him.

Even after what happened, the tests still show that Midoriya was quirkless and showed no signs of gaining a quirk despite what had happened, Midoriya's eyesight had also deteriorated, not majorly so but still required prescription glasses. The doctors in charge decided it was best that he stayed in the hospital for further study.

'I became a Herrscher of Reason, someone with power far greater than anyone can comprehend. Maybe I do have a chance at being a hero after all.' Midoriya pondered as he recalled everything Mr Yang has told him.

A week goes by in the blink of an eye. Through the further study of Midoriya's case, it seems that hasn't awakened a quirk and exhibits no suicidal tendencies. The prescription glasses given to Midoriya has been able to help with his vision and he was deemed stable enough to be dismissed from the hospital.

Midoriya is woken up by his All Might themed alarm clock, which he accidentally breaks after he slaps it across the room. Taking his groggy self to get out of bed, he looks at the calendar on his wall and the date on his phone to see that between now and the UA Entrance Exam, there was only 5 months and a half left to get used to his new powers.

After donning a casual t-shirt and shorts and having breakfast with his mother, he asks his mother if he can go to study for the UA Entrance Exam. His mother reluctantly agreeing but tells him not to work himself too hard and that he call her every hour while he's out to let her know that he's safe. After last time, she has been worried sick about letting Izuku out on the streets by himself. He assured that he will be alright and agreed to the terms as it was crucial for him to understand the his powers.

His first stop: The library.

'Mr. Yang said that the Core of Reason allowed him to recreate anything he has thoroughly understood' was what he was thinking when he walked towards the Technology section of the Library where he found exactly what he was looking for, patents. If he needed to have a thorough understanding of what he wanted to create, then his best bet would be the patents for them. For a creator to get a patent for their creation, they have to directly explain what their creation does, how it functions, and how it is original, so all the functions of the machine would be explained, if he wanted to delve even deeper he could find the blueprints on the internet. So, he spends hours in the same section of the library reading and researching every patent that he deemed would work in a combat setting, weaponry, power generators, holograms, different types of grenades.

'What would the world be like if quirks didn't exist and people focused on technology like this?' Midoriya wondered to himself

'Terrible' replied a familiar voice

'Mr. Yang!? Is this what you meant by your soul being in the core? You scared me half to death'

'Apologies Midoriya, but to answer your question, life would be terrible. During the time I was alive, there were no quirks, only a fair few humans had special abilities. Houkai is a manifestation of the Will of God. The Black Death, the extinction of the dinosaurs, etc. were manifestations of Houkai. In my time, some humans were able to awaken into Herrschers. Herrschers were humans that have merged with Houkai energy, gaining power but also giving in to the will of the Houkai to destroy human civilization. So without quirks, we'd have super powerful reality bending maniacs trying to end civilization.'

'Oh... that doesn't sound good at all... Wait! If you're the Herrscher of Reason, and you passed it down to me, WILL I DESTROY HUMANITY?!'

'Calm down, Midoriya. No, you won't destroy civilization, we are an exception. Most Herrschers succumb to the will of the Houkai and wreck havoc on civilization, but my predecessor Welt Joyce and I have been able to betray its will and protect humanity. With your sense of justice, I think that you too will betray its will. Even so, Houkai energy still exists within this civilization, through quirks. I believe that just like the awakening of Herrschers, the awakening of quirks is tied to the existence of Houkai Energy, but this time, spread out among 80% of the population, instead of concentrated like our Herrscher cores. This means that out abilities stem from the same Will of God, the same desire to end civilization. We see some have succumbed to it like the Herrschers of the past, we see some able to mold it into something beneficial to humanity like we did with our Herrscher core, history is bound repeat itself, it's a law of the universe. War broke out between humanity and the Houkai. I think that war may break out as it did before, but I am not certain. That is why you must prepare to face any challenge, and with the power of our Herrscher core, I think it won't be hard for you. On a different note, I think we've sat in this section of the library for long enough, you should eat something.'

Listening to Welt's suggestion, Midoriya decided to have lunch at a cafe not far from the library, calling his mother to notify her of his whereabouts on the way there.

Izuku Midoriya is enjoying a show he has been catching up on, about some disabled jockey and his Italian friend with balls, all the while eating his favourite katsudon at a window seat. His alone time comes to a halt when he sees a hoard of civilians running in fear in the corner of his eye. Taking his backpack, he placed the needed amount on the table and dashed out of the cafe. Looking to his right he sees a massive monster of green sludge. In the middle of it all, the spikey dirty blond pomeranian struggling to breathe.

"K-KACCHAN"

'Friend of yours?' Welt chimes in

'W-well....'

'I won't pry, but I can sense it, you want to save him, don't you?'

'Yeah, b-but I don't know how to use my powers'

'Then, how would you like a live demonstration?'

'W-what do y-you mean?'

'I meant as in taking control of your body for a short while. I save your friend and you get to see how you should use our powers.'

'I-I guess you c-can'

On the outside, the boy frozen in fear, eyes almost bulging out of his sockets. The boy blinked a few times before his scared demeanor turned into the definition of determination.

The boy started to run towards the scene, but stopped by one of the passing heroes.

"Kid! You can't go near it, the villain's too dangerous!"

'Mr. Yang, don't hurt him he's one of the heroes'

'A hero that's standing on the sidelines doing nothing?'

'Well...'

"If I can't go near it, why aren't any of you heroes doing anything?"

"We can't do anything with our quirks"

"Unbelievable" Welt complained pushing the hero aside and running towards the villain, reddish lightning cracked all around him

"Wha- Kid stop!"

"Oh? What is this? A kid coming to sacrifice himself. How sweet, I don't mind another casualty."

Suddenly, Welt stopped in front of the villain

"Aww, are you having cold feet now?"

"No. Just an idea" Welt retorted with a smirk, eyes starting to glow red.

Welt then extended his right hand, palm facing upwards, a glowing red sphere appears above his palm cracking with black lightning and power. Wind swirled around Welt causing the heroes on the sidelines to shift their stance to stay put.

One word caused the everyone around Welt to shutter with fear.

"Kneel."



At that very moment, the sludge villain forced onto the ground by a sudden shift in gravity, in the process dropping Bakugou out of his grasps. The latter laying on the ground catching his breathe and crawling away, finding it extremely hard due to the pressure. The heroes around also felt the shift as their knees almost give out because of the pressure.

Despite being almost flattened onto the ground, the sludge villain refusing to give up shoots a tentacle towards Welt in hopes of distracting him enough to falter the pressure.

Welt taking a single step to the right avoiding the attempt at an attack.

"Since you attacked first, I could call this attempted assault, which gives me the right to fight back." He looked down at the villain

"Quasi black hole."

Welt turned his wrist so that his palm faced the villain as a black sphere with a diameter of 4 meters appeared between him and the villain, erasing 60% of the sludge in an instant before dispursing.

What remained of the villain saw death itself in the glowing red eyes of Midoriya and was scared shitless, running in the conplete opposite direction of Welt. In the villains panick, overlooking the massice shadow of All Might right in front of him trapping him into a jar.

"Hey kid, do you mind releasing that pressure? It's starting get tough on my knees and back. Hahaha"

In that moment, Welt decides to give back control to Midoriya.

"O-oh! OHMYGODIMSOSORRYALLMIGHTISTALKINGTOMEITSSUCHANHONOUR"

"Hey kiddo, I know the adrenaline is getting to you. Do you think you could calm down and please take away the pressure of your quirk, it's getting quite heavy"

"O-oh yeah, sorry"

'Midoriya, just exhale and think about being light' Welt guided Midoriya

With an exhale through the boy's nose, the pressure in the area instantly lightened, civilians and heroes around him stood back up straight, All Might put his hands to his hips and cracked his back groaning.

"You have a mighty fine quirk there, Kiddo. Have you thought about being a hero?"

"ABSOLUTELY! I'M HOPING TO ATTEND UA! YOU'LL BE TEACHING THERE RIGHT?!..." Midoriya beamed as he continues to trail on and on about UA and being a hero

"That's great kid but try not using your quirk without permission. Sure you saved the kid this time, but if you didn't, you would land yourself in great trouble, and we both wouldn't want that for you. I do have to congratulate you for standing up and saving this kid, you did something great."

"A-a-a-all M-i-i-ight said I did s-something great..."

Midoriya stood as still as a tree after hearing All Might congratulating him on defeating a villain, despite it not technically being him but Welt, with the latter allowing Midoriya to take the praise for it.

All Might realizing that his time is almost up for the day says goodbye to the kid and checks up on Bakugou and leaving him to the care of the other heroes before jumping away.

'So, what did you learn about the power' Welt speaks up breaking Izuku out of his trance

'T-that it's terrifying'

'Indeed, the Star of Eden is nothing to scoff at, but that does not scratch the surface of your full power set. The powers granted by the Core of Reason and the Star of Eden are undeniablly powerful, that is also why I have entrusted it to you. You instantly felt the need to save your friend, that is the essence of being a protector, a hero. The drive that pushes you towards certain doom to save an innocent soul, that is what the name Welt strives for.'

Chapter Text

Through alleys and tight passageways between buildings, Midoriya was somehow able to escape the horde of reporters chasing after him regarding the sludge villain incident. Now standing alone behind a building, he catches his breathe after running. Midoriya wasn't athletic by any means, he was a typical skinny teenager, albeit with more scars than others. But the powers granted to him by Mr Yang was way more than enough to make up for it. Thus onward with his plan of going to a nearby beach to train his powers.

Takoba Munciple Beach Park, originally a beautiful spot near the coast, brimming with fun and laughter in the morning, and sweet, romantic dates at sunset. Then, people started dumping trash onto the beach, it started small with bottles and cans, then the mound of trash grew and grew, consisting of electrical appliances, construction materials, and vehicle parts. Midoriya stared at the run down beach, reminiscing on the times where his mother would bring him to swim during summer. He sighed as he went down the steps leading to the beach.

Given the state of the beach, it's no surprise that there was no one around. This gave Midoriya the perfect opportunity to train without the risk of the authorities called on him. Noticing an out of order fridge, Mr Yang said to Midoriya that it be good for target practice for hand-held weapons, but informed Midoriya that it may be his best interest to learn how to harness the Star of Eden as it was easier to manage than the Core of Reason.

Midoriya procceded spent the next few hours learning how to manipulate the gravity of different objects with Mr Yang guiding him in the background. He started small with cans and bottles, Midoriya slowly got the hang of things, but in his act of celebration, he ended up sending a broken kettle into space.

Finally making back to his home, he was tackled by his mother with a hug talking about what happened on the news, proud of his bravery, but also scolding him about his safety.

This was his routine for the 5 months leading up to the entrance exam. Going between the Library to study and the abandoned beach to train with Welt. Before the coma, Midoriya wasn't too big of a fan of reading, sure he's pick up a book every now and then, but he would usually spend his free time thinking about the quirks of different heroes or watch interviews of heroes. But after meeting Mr Yang and spending a considerable amount of time in the library, he's developed a habit of reading, be it science fiction, real life patents, or autobiographies of heroes, he has been spending most of his rest days on his bed, nose deep in a thick book. In doing so, he has been getting a few ideas on how he could use gravity manipulation differently and some fictional weapon ideas that he deemed interesting to try and researching on a deeper level online.

Midoriya looked towards the same beach after 5 months. All the trash, gone. Not a single piece of scrap metal remained, either sent to be recycled or destroyed. 4 months spent trying to understand the ins and outs of the Star of Eden. The first two months were spent learning how to increase and decrease gravity of a certain area or on specific things, Welt taking no time to teach Midoriya the skill to make his opponents kneel towards the ground, as the intimidation factor was usually more than enough to make petty criminals stop dead in their tracks and surrender. Welt and Midoriya were both smart to understand that unnecessary fighting only causes more damage than it is worth, so with this ability, Midoriya can avoid starting a fight to begin with. the next two were spent on Midoriya's endurance with the Star of Eden, first through teaching Midoriya how to generate the quasi black hole by concentrating gravity into a single location, then by Midoriya creating as much as he could until exhaustion, slowly building up Midoriya's tolerance . The final month spent on learning how to recreate simple objects like chains, shields, weapons, etc. Midoriya surprisingly was really fast at catching up  with everything Welt was guiding him on. The hardest part of the training was Midoriya's personality, sure Midoriya had the will for the Herrscher of Reason, but he lacked the composure and confidence of one, not like Welt blamed Midoriya, due his history and all.

[Some time ago]

"This, Kacchan person that we saved from the sludge villain last time, he's your friend, right?"

"Well... I still see him as a friend, I... doubt he feels the same though..."

"Seeing at how he glared at us after saving him, I think I can confirm that doubt of yours. Even if he saw you as a stranger, I still think that he'd give thanks after saving his life, but no, he glared daggers at us, he hates you. What even happened between you?"

"well... this is a long story. I don't really want to bother you..."

"Given that I'm stuck in your head for the rest of your life, I have a long time for a long story."

"Err... if you say so... This started back when I was 4, Kacchan got his quirk, explosion..."

[After a lengthy backstory monologue]

"Call him by his name."

"what?"

"Doing something like that to you, he doesn't deserve to be called such a sweet name like Kacchan. I don't condone calling him some depreciating name, but you shouldn't treat him like he's a childhood friend, not after all of that. You should call him by his name from now on."

"Well... I guess you're right. He was never good to me, not after his quirk. Yeah, he doesn't deserve to be called Kacchan, not after... everything."

"Good, you're learning to stand up for yourself. Before you can stand up for other people to protect them, you have to be able to stand up for yourself. You can't expect to help someone up if you're on the ground yourself."

[Present day]

'This was it, the gate of the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan, U.A. High School.' Midoriya thought has he stood in front of U.A.'s school gate, wearing a long grey overcoat over a white turtle neck, dark denim jeans, a green scarf that he had since he was in elementary school and have since grown into, and his signature red high-tops. This is it, his dream coming true, all he needs to do is to take the first st- aaaand he tripped, reddish-black lightning started to dance around his body readying to stop himself from falling but

"What? I didn't do that." Midoriya said floating in mid-air

"Sorry I didn't ask first before using my quirk on you, but I wouldn't want you to trip right before our big exam." A bubbly voice called out from beside him

Midoriya then pulled out his cane to push himself back up

"T-thank y-you, I don't think I would have been able to save myself from tripping, hehe." Unsummoning his cane and using his hand to readjust his glasses

a bell rang from inside the massive establishment

"Oh! We're gonna be late! It was nice meeting you, good luck!" the bubbly brunette ran off into the building

"Oh my god, I-I just talked to a g-girl" Midoriya said quietly as he too ran into the building not wanting to be late

Midoriya went in was escorted into a classroom for the written portion of the test, but not without being reprimanded by a homeless guy carrying around a yellow sleeping back. Not paying it any mind, he quickly went to his seat and prepared for the written test.

[Two hours later]

'That was..surprisingly easy' was what Midoriya thought regarding the difficulty, not like Midoriya was complaining but it seemed too easy. Although, with the super human memory that comes with being the Herrscher of Reason, most written tests are going to be just like the written portion of the entrance exam. Soon after the tests were all taken, the students were guided to a lecture hall for the practical.

Entering a large hall, the AC blowing out of the open door made his coat flutter in the wind. Students who have already seated looking towards the mop head in confusion as to why he was prepared to face the absolute arctic environment of a lecture hall. Midoriya glanced towards the shivering students who stared at him. Despite having the most innocent face in the world, it was impossible to ignore the absolute aura he had, a fusion of intimidation and suave radiating off of the way he dressed. The students instantly looked away as Midoriya just shrugged and found a seat to sit down at.

"Oh hey! It's you again!" The same bubbly voice from earlier propped up

"A-ah! H-hello. Life has... ways of bringing people together, doesn't it?" Midoriya replied, slightly startled by the voice

"haha yeah... I just realized I haven't gotten your name yet, I'm Ochaco Uraraka, nice to meet you!" The girl shooting a smile as upbeat as her voice

"I'm Midoriya, likewise-"

"HEY HEY HEY EVERYBODY! COME ON AND LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM!!!" Shouted a man that looked like he was a massive yellow cockatoo

Silence, not a single reaction from any of the students

"Right... not one for talking huh. I'll just get straight to the point." the man said quietly with his forehead beaded with sweat

[15 minutes later]

"-gist of the practical test. I HOPE YOU'RE ALL READY! IF YOU ARE GET ME A PLUS ULTRAAA!"

silence, again. You could almost hear the wings of a fly as they flapped across your face.

"Are we done here? I want to destroy some robots!" A certain dirty blond yelled

"R-right... Follow me.." The man now known as Present Mic said as he gestured towards the exit with a sigh.

Midoriya came out of the changing room, well unchanged. Receiving stares from from almost all of the student who have all changed into tracksuits or athletic wear. Midoriya ignoring all the stares slowly walked to the entrance of the training ground

"You there! If you're not going to take the practical test serious then you should just leave." A boy wearing glasses yelled

"what?"

"This is a practical test to test your abilities, and you choose to wear jeans and a long coat that would hinder your movement, it's obvious that you care naught about this test and you should leave this instant" The boy continued all up in Midoriya's face

"Me? Not taking this test seriously?" Midoriya's said as his eyes started to glow red, with reddish-black lighting surrounds both of them

*Thud*

Midoriya summoning his cane and striking it onto the ground, the boy with glasses collapses onto the floor with a loud thud, if there was anyone who wasn't looking towards the yelling, the thud certainly made everyone look, the change in gravity made everyone weak in the knees

"You have no idea who I am! I have dreamed of getting into this school since the day I learnt of this place. Don't you dare berate me in my face again!" Midoriya glared at the boy struggling to get up from the ground

The weight put on everyone suddenly lightened as Midoriya received a migraine that caused him to clenched his free hand onto his eyes and to shake away the pain "I-I'm so sorry."

'Is the Core of Reason actually affecting Midoriya's mental state like with other Herrschers. This is not good.'

Midoriya walks towards the gate with his hand holding his temples as all the other participants make way for him, terrified of his power. A familiar voice calls out to Midoriya as he stood in front of the yet to be opened gate

'Midoriya'

'Mr. Yang?'

'What was that just now?'

'I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me.'

'I trust in your abilities, Midoriya. But you must not let this power corrupt you. Do not be like the other Herrschers, you are the Herrscher of Reason, you should save humanity, not destroy it.'

'I... understand, Mr Yang.'

'Good. Stop worrying about it for now and get ready for the test, I doubt there will be any kind of cool down. The gates may open at any second.'

Midoriya closed his eyes and exhaled air from his nose

"GO!"

The booming voice of Present Mic yelled through the speakers, confusing other students as to why there wasn't a countdown, but Midoriya took no time to grab hold of his scarf and slide below the opening gate

[Meanwhile in the teacher's area]

"Take a gander at Training Ground Alpha. That green fella didn't even wait for the gate to open fully to spring into action." said a cowboy pointing towards a screen

The screen focused onto a kid with green hair and a green scarf

"Ah, the kid with the green hair. I wasn't able to get his name the last time." said a blond-haired skeleton

"Last time? You've seen this cutie before and you didn't tell me? Hmpf!" said a foxy lady wearing red triangle-shaped glasses

"It was around 5 months ago, I was chasing this Sludge Villain throughout Musutafu, until I found the villain in front of a cafe, running for his life away from the kid, as he just stood there glaring at the villain. When I first found the Sludge Villain, he was almost as big as me in my muscle form, but after his fight with the kid, he was barely the size of a 4 year old, and the sludge was no where to be seen, it was either flung so far away that I couldn't see any nearby, or it was erased entirely. Additionally, from what the heroes on the scene were saying, he made most of the heroes collapse onto their knees with a single word, then created something resembling a black hole out of his hand. From what I've heard, he might have an extremely strong gravity quirk." the skeleton continued

"Gravity isn't his only skill..." said the same homeless man from the written test

The screen showed Midoriya chaining down some of the robots with glowing red chains that appeared from the ground and blocking the rockets fired by the same robots by shields made of the same material as the chains. A black sphere appearing an engulfing a few robots, then proceeding to dissipate, erasing the robots from existence.

"He can create things with his quirk too? How interesting! Mr. Aizawa, would you mind pulling up his file?" called a small rodent from the scarf of homeless man known as Mr. Aizawa "Hmm... Izuku Midoriya. Quirk: Core of Reason & Star of Eden. From what we got from the grading machines, Midoriya here also fully aced the written portion of the exam. We got promising batch this year, haven't we Mr. Aizawa?"

"This kid, he has potential, but he still needs some work, his movements are sloppy and untrained." Aizawa notes on his abilities

"Well said! I think it's time to let out the zero-pointer! Let's see how the students react to something way beyond their level!" Nezu says maniacally as he pushes a big red button with a exclamation mark

[At the training ground]

"What the fuck is that?!" one of the students said when they saw the zero-pointer stomp onto the training ground "Why is it so big! I gotta run!"

that was the thought process that went through the heads of 90% of the participants. Midoriya being a part of that 90% but then he saw a girl with her foot stuck under rubble

"Uraraka" Izuku said as he stopped right in his track turning 180 degrees to face the zero-pointer "I have to save her!"

'A Quasi Black Hole will be enough to hinder it so that it stops-'

Izuku started to run pass all the other students towards he massive robot, causing all of the students to stare towards him once again. Floating up towards the robot, he holds his cane like a sword

"WITNESS THE STARS SHATTER BEFORE YOU! SURVIVE OR BE DESTROYED, THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE!"

A massive black hole envelops the top half of the robot, and with one swing of his cane, the black hole splits in twain and explodes, generating shock waves that cause windows to completely shatter. After the explosion settled, all that was left were the two massive legs of the robot, wires and electricity sparking to from the top of the legs where it connected to the torso of the robot.

The student with the glasses could only stare with his eyes as big as dinner plates and mouth agape like he was a baby waiting to be fed

"Dude, you messed with the wrong guy." A kid with spiky yellow hair and yellow eyes said while also staring in disbelief

Midoriya felt his hand go limp, dropping his cane. As it dematerialized, he realized that

'I can't move anymore'

'I did tell you that overuse could lead to exhaustion, and that massive black hole, definitely classifies overuse' Welt sighs 'But, you did good in saving that girl'

He starts free falling as his limbs go completely limp, Midoriya starts to pray to whatever deity was available to beg that he doesn't die from this knowing he won't be as lucky this time. Mere metres from the ground, he felt a slap on his cheek. It was Uraraka, floating on a piece of the robot after escaping the rubble, barely making it to be able to use her quirk on him, saving his life.

Midoriya who lying on the ground unable to move at all mustered enough strength to tilt his head sideways to look at Uraraka.

"You doing alright?"

"Definitely could be better, but thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done without you." Uraraka smiled at Midoriya, a tired shaky smile, but a smile nonetheless

"I'm glad." Midoriya sporting a slight blush smiled back knowing he actually saved someone that was grateful to him.

A bell rang out from the training ground

"THAT IS IT FOR THE PRACTICAL EXAM! YE-YEAH! ALL OF YOU DID AMAZING!" Present Mic's voice yelled out from the speakers "Recovery girl will be over to heal you all at the training ground so if you have any injury at all sit tight!"

"Does anyone of you need healing!?" A short old lady asks while walking towards the training ground with her syringe cane

"Over there, Recovery Girl!" The boy with the glasses said while pointing towards Midoriya and Uraraka

Recovery Girl makes her way to the both of them

"Are you two alright?"

"Yeah... just really tired. You should... heal Uraraka first, she's hurt. I just need to... lie down for a while..."

Uraraka laying on top of a piece of the robot, her body had a few bruises and scratches, but with a broken leg from the rubble falling onto it. Recovery Girl extending her lips gave the brunette a kiss on her leg and it started healing. As for Midoriya, he passed out and was taken by robots on a stretcher into Recovery Girl's office to rest.

Midoriya wakes up in the school's Medical Room. Sitting up to get his glasses, he looks to his right and sees a window to the outside city, to his left he sees Uraraka. Wait, Uraraka?

"Uraraka, what are you doing here?"

"I was so worried about you! I thought died trying to save me! Stupid, stupid stupid! My first friend on U.A. campus dying to protect me? I don't know how I could even live that down!-"

"Hey~" Midoriya put his hand on her shoulder



"pffff! What was that?!" Uraraka stopped her worrying and switched into a chuckle

"S-sorry, I was... watching Into The Spider-verse yesterday and I thought- I thought it'd help snap you out"

"Hahahaha! I-it definitely worked. By the way... That attack was so cool! You were like "Witness the stars shatter before you!" with all that lightning and energy and the robot like BOOM!"

"D-don't mention it! It wasn't anything special, a-anyone would have gone to-"

"Don't sell yourself short Midoriya! I don't think most heroes would even dare get close to that thing, less so absolutely destroy it, just to save a girl no less! You're way amazing!"

"O-oh umm t-thanks... You don't really have to stay here though... I don't want to bother you, thank you for taking the time out of your day to check on me..."

"Of course I'd check on you, you saved my life! It's the least I could do."

"Ah Midoriya, you've woken up. Ho-ho, and you're already hitting it off with a girl, living life so fast isn't always a good thing, y'know?"

"It-it's not like that! She-she was j-just checking up on me bec-"

"Yeah yeah I know the story. You don't want to stay in my office all day do you? You have no injuries, you're free to go" Recovery Girl cut off Midoriya and handing him a small piece of candy.

Recovery Girl sends both of the teens out of her office, not without hitting Midoriya on the leg with her cane, warning him not to overexert himself and ending up in her office again

The two students walked together out of the gates of UA and to the station talking about the written test and the practical. Izuku accidentally embarrassing Uraraka by comparing answers. Eventually, the two had to split ways and Midoriya put in his earbuds to listen to music on the train as his thoughts drifted off thinking about his score for the practical

A week passes with Midoriya spending time with his mother, watching videos about how artillery weapons function, and listening to Welt talk about his stories from the past. The Astral Express, the Anti-Entropy, and his predecessor Welt Joyce. He was in the middle of a conversation with Welt about what the Astral Express looked like and was sketching an image of the train until he heard his mother yelling

"IZU-IZU-IZU-IZUKU! IT'S HERE! IT CAME!"

"Coming!" Midoriya running from out of his room to the front door to his mother

"D-d-do you want to open it by yourself or do you want to do it together on the couch after I put down the groceries?"

"I think I can wait for a bit, then we can read it together."

Inko unpacked the groceries at light speed. To Izuku, his mother looked like a green blur, making him wonder if his mother had a second quirk she was hiding. Inko then appeared next to Izuku on the couch.

"All done! You can open up the envelope now, dear!"

"Woah, that was fast. A-are you sure you d-don't have a second quirk?"

"It's a common power shared by all mothers, Izuku. Don't worry about it."

"I-I'll take your word on it..."

Izuku tears off the wax seal and looks inside of the envelope to see

"A disk?" Izuku pulling out the disk and placing it onto the coffee table and putting his head closer to examine it

"What is-"

"BOOYAH! I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"

"WAH!" A collective yelp came from the boy and his mother

"All Might?! So the rumours were true!" Midoriya said with his finger and thumb in the shape on an L on his chin

"My apologies, young man. The truth is, I didn't come to this city just to fight villains. You are looking at the newest U.A. faculty member.-" said All Might wearing a bright yellow suit stepped away from the camera with his right fist on the left side of his chest. "Not only did you ace our written test, but you got 53 combat points in the practical exam, second to only Katsuki Bakugou in combat points. Even though you have done extremely well on both tests, that's not all. You see, the practical exam wasn't graded on combat alone-" All Might now facing sideways against the camera "how could a hero course reject someone who was committed to saving others no matter the consequences to himself. After all, that is what makes a hero. So we have rescue points! Izuku Midoriya, 60 rescue points! And Ochaco Uraraka, 45 rescue points. Making you first out of all the examines. Welcome Izuku Midoriya, to your hero academia!" All Might continued with body facing forward and his palms held out to face the camera

"I-I Did it!" A few tears started to stream down Izuku's face as a smile grew

"IZUKU! YOU DID IT! YOU ACTUALLY DID IT! I'M SO PROUD OF MY BABY BOY" Inko hugs Izuku by his shoulders and starts shaking him

'I'm proud of you, Midoriya. But this is just the start, we have much more to fight for.' Welt congratulates Izuku in the back of his mind

Chapter Text

Inko and Izuku decide to go out to have dinner in order to celebrate Midoriya's acceptance into U.A.. In the middle of dinner, Izuku's phone vibrates, picking up his phone, Izuku checks to see an e-mail sent by U.A.

Dear Izuku Midoriya,

It is our pleasure that we have been able to accept you into our school. Please note that a hero outfit will be needed for the curriculum, and you are required to send a reply containing the draft of your hero outfit design to this email for the creation of the suit by Monday 1st April.

Best regards,
U.A.

"Mum, would you mind helping me with something?"

"Hmm? What is it Izuku?"

"I need help with a hero outfit."

"OH YES! I'VE ALWAYS WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT!"

"MOM! C-calm down, w-we're in p-public..."

"O-oh yeah, sorry. I'm just so excited! You've grown so much! I'm so proud of my baby!" Tears streaming down Inko's face

After finishing dinner, the two Midoriyas make their way home while brainstorming what design would work, with Welt speaking to Midoriya in his mind about what he wore when he wielded the power of the Herrscher of Reason.

Izuku settled on a mixture of Welt's outfit, a bit of All Might, and some of the items in his closet

Summer:
His signature red high-top trainers
Hickory brown(#351E10) jeans
Belt buckle based off of All Might
Ivory(#FFFFF0) T-shirt
Grey(#78777D) suit jacket lined with graphene
An Emerald green(#246852) scarf knitted by his mother

Winter:
Hickory brown(#351E10) Chelsea boots
Forest green(#051F20) fleece dress pants
Ivory(#FFFFF0) cotton crew neck sweater
Grey(#78777D) overcoat lined with graphene
Same belt and scarf

The style of the outfit resembling Welt's but with some or Izuku's colours represents the power of the herrscher of reason, a set of abilities that act as a base for Izuku's heroic actions. The scarf made by his mother represents who he fights for. The inclusion of All Might as a belt buckle shows how Midoriya takes inspiration from his ideals but not overly idolize. The suit jacket/overcoat lined with graphene makes it bullet-proof.

Time passes as April 1st rolls around and the start of U.A.'s Academic Year. Midoriya puts on the school uniform(His tie tied correctly with instructions from Welt) and is about to walk out of the house but was stopped by his mother

"Izuku! Wait just a second!"

"Hmm?" Midoriya turning his head away from the door "What is it?"

"I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of my little boy. Now go on, be the hero you've always aspired to be." Inko walked up to Izuku to give him a hug before he left for school

Midoriya is now standing at the door to 1-A. Looking up towards the top of the door "Why is the door so tall?"

'You don't know what kind of quirks some people have'

'I'm 166cm tall, and I'm barely taller than one of these frames, the door is 4 of these so the door is like at least 6.5 metres, who needs that tall of a door?'

'Midoriya, I think you're focusing on the wrong thing, maybe it would be better if you went in.'

'Right, sorry.'

Opening the door, Midoriya is blasted with the sounds of screaming and yelling

"Oh god not these two" Midoriya's eyes darted towards the noise to see the two people he least wanted to see

Katsuki Bakugo and Sonic with Engines

The blue-haired kid's ears perked up to Midoriya's voice, turning his attention towards the broccoli and speed walking

'Midoriya, calm down.'

'Yeah, I know. No more Star of Eden.'

"I apologize for my behaviour during the Entrance Exam, I was foolish for assuming things before I was able to properly introduce myself to you! My name is Tenya Ida, it is a pleasure to meet you!" Ida bows almost a perfect 90 degree angle and extends his hand

"Izuku... Midoriya... Nice... to meet you... too?" Midoriya places his hand onto Ida's, leading to Midoriya's arm being shaken "You can calm down. I didn't really mind. I was just... having a rough day..."

Izuku shifting his gaze towards Bakugo who is glaring daggers into his soul, Midoriya reacting with a single eyebrow raised in confusion

"Oh hey! Midoriya, I'm so glad we can be in the same class"

Midoriya turns his head "Uraraka, it's good to see you again."

Suddenly, a yellow caterpillar thing crawls up to the door "Welcome to U.A.'s hero course, if you're here to make friends, you should just leave."

"The homeless teacher from the Entrance Exam?"

"What did you just say?"

'Midoriya, do not continue that-'

"You have unkempt long hair, stubble, and you constantly carry around a yellow sleeping bag. Was I wrong?" Midoriya replied causing the teacher to stare at Midoriya with his tired eyes and audibly sigh

"That is the difference between heroes like All Might and underground heroes. I dress to blend in, All Might dresses to primp, preen, and pose. Now if you don't want to get expelled, you would be walking to your seats right now." The three students walking to their desk, not wanting to anger the teacher any further. The man then unzips his sleeping bag and walks to the front of the classroom "My name is Shota Aizawa and I will be your homeroom teacher." With a click of a button, the classroom's wall drop and exposes racks of PE uniforms "Take and put on the PE uniform with your class number and head outside." Aizawa then walks away but then pops his head back into the view of his students "If I don't see you in 10 minutes, you're expelled"

"Y-you can't do that, right? We worked so hard to get in!" A girl with pink hair said

"U.A. is not tethered by traditions, that means I can teach my class however I see fit. Is it fair? No, but neither are natural disaster or villains. So get moving." Aizawa retorts as he walks away

The students scramble to get their PE uniform, running out of the classroom, only to be met by some of the other teachers and reprimanded. Midoriya, Ida, and Uraraka walking through the halls because Ida would never let them run in the halls. The three of them making it out to the training grounds before anyone else.

"You three made it. Punctual, like heroes should be. Where are the others?"

"They were running in the halls and were reprimanded by the other teachers, sir!"

"Of course they were. 10 minutes is way more than enough time to change. Rushing for no reason, reckless."

All four of them stood in silence waiting for the other students to slowly trickle in one by one. All of the students barely making it on time.

"Quirk assessment test!?" screamed the entire class in confusion

"But what about orientation? We're going to miss it." Ochaco continuing

"If you want to make it to the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." Aizawa then turns to face the class "All of you have been taking these standardized tests most of your lives, but you never got a chance to use your quirks. The country is still trying to pretend that we're all created equal by not letting those with powerful quirks excel. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn." Aizawa continues with his eyes scanning the class "Bakugo, you managed to get the highest combat points in the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance you could throw a softball in Junior High."

"67 meters, I think." Bakugo said calmly

"Hmm alright." Aizawa throws the ball to Bakugo "This time, try using your quirk."

Bakugo walks forwards and gets ready

"Hurry up. Give it all you've go." The teacher comments

"Then, well..." Bakugo gets into a stance to throw the ball "DIE!!!"

The ball shoots out of Bakugo's palms with assistance from an explosion causing the class to react with oohs and ahhs

"705.2 metres, quite good."

"Aww cool! This looks like fun!" A certain yellow-haired student called out

"Fun? You have three years to become heroes, if you think having that kind of attitude towards this is acceptable then you should just leave. The student who gets last will be punished with expulsion.

"W-WHAT!?!"

"Welcome to U.A.'s Hero Course. Now, let's start off with the 50-metre dash-"

Midoriya:
50-metre dash: 7.02 seconds
Grip strength: undefined (Midoriya ended up breaking the device with gravity. Leading to a red-haired kid calling him "hella manly")
Standing long jump: cleared sandpit (Midoriya chose to decrease his own gravity to jump over it)
Repeated side steps (one minute): 40
5 kilometre run: 32 minutes
Sit and reach test: 37 centimetres
Sit ups (one minute): 35

Ball Throw:

Midoriya stood at the pitching area with Aizawa staring with no change in expression.

'Alright, you got this.' Midoriya thought to himself as he flashbacks to that one time Puro Yakyu was on TV.

Midoriya emulating the pose of the pitcher, throws the softball as hard as he can, but the ball moved in an perpendicular S-shaped path that curved downwards then up into the sky.

"Infinity as well." Aizawa said with a small nod

"Wow Midoriya! Our quirks really are quite similar!" Ochaco beams

"There goes two of the school's softballs." Ida says with his hand above his eyes to block out the sun as he looks upwards towards two balls suspended in the upper atmosphere

Bakugo beside both of them staring with his mouth and eyelids completely opened wide, palms covered in sweat

Midoriya, just like Ida, put his hand above his eyes to see where the ball went until he heard the familiar sounds of explosions coming from his right side

"What is the meaning of this? TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON, DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" Bakugo screamed as he charged Midoriya with his explosions to propel.

Midoriya barely able to dodge to the left and decrease his own gravity to jump over Bakugo.

" 赫(Aka)"

Bakugo turning towards the noise only to have his chest be hit by a red ball, launching him backwards towards the other students. The Student known as Kirishima hardened his skin and braced for impact, Bakugo's back smashed into Kirishima and knocked both of them down onto the ground. The students surround both of them to check if they were alright, Midoriya wasting no time to drop to the floor to run over to the two of them.

"Ughh... Not manly, bro..." Kirishima groaned with Bakugo laying on top of him

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! That was pure-" Izuku was cut off when a bunch of fabric wrapped over him mid-stride making him fall to the ground.

"Don't try to struggle your way out, it's a capture weapon made from carbon fibre."

Midoriya stopped his squirming, turning his head to look towards Aizawa, noticing the goggles and glowing red eyes. "YOU'RE THE ERASURE HERO: ERASER HEAD!?"

"Yes, and I'd rather you not make me use my quirk, I have dry eyes. If you two do something like that again, I won't hesitate to suspend you. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes sir." Midoriya said as Aizawa's scarf lifted over him allowing him to stand back up and readjust his glasses

Bakugo was in a daze when Aizawa said all of that towards Midoriya, but was conscious enough to hear the last part, only responding with a click of his tongue and grumble. The ball throw test resumes as normal with Aizawa keeping a close eye on Midoriya and some of the students staring at Midoriya, curious of his strength.

Final results:
1. Momo Yaoyorozu 11. Ochaco Uraraka
2. Shoto Todoroki 12. Koji Koda
3. Katsuki Bakugou 13. Rikido Sato
4. Tenya Ida 14. Tsuyu Asui
5. Fumikage Tokoyami 15. Yuga Aoyama
6. Mezu Shoji 16. Hanta Sero
7. Mashirao Ojiro 17. Denki Kaminari
8. Eijiro Kirishima 18. Kyoka Jiro
9. Izuku Midoriya 19. Toru Hagakure
10. Mina Ashido 20. Minoru Mineta

"NOOOOOOO! I don't want to be expelled!!!" Mineta screamed out

Mineta with his eyes filled with tears starts running towards Aizawa until Mineta saw him with the most unsettling smile.

"The punishment was a ruse, I used it to make sure that you all brought out the best of your own abilities." Aizawa said with a smile "That's it for classes today, retrieve your bags from the class room, we're letting you all go early." Aizawa said returning to his signature tired expressionless look as he walked off

Seeing as class had ended, Midoriya tried walking over to Kirishima to apologize but was shoved by the one and only Kacchan

"Get out of my way, you damn nerd. I don't know what kind of power you now have, you'll never compare to me, you get that?!" Kacchan yelling at Midoriya after shoving him off to the side

"I don't need to compare to you." Midoriya casually says without looking at Bakugo "I'm already better." Midoriya said with a slight taunt.

Bakugo only reacted with a click of his tongue and a scoff, walking off to the classroom. Those three words "I'm already better." Bakugo's pride was stung, hard. Bakugou knows that Midoriya's power is nothing to scoff at, but his ego is telling him that he's better than Midoriya, because he is better than that stupid nerd... or was he? His logical side kicking in again last moment as he remembered how easily Midoriya dodged his attack and countered with one of his own, sending him flying. Bakugo could only ponder this question over and over again on his way home, fuelling his anger.

Midoriya making it to Kirishima apologizes for hitting him

"Hey, it's alright! That attack was manly, and nice name for it too. You don't have to worry about hurting me, I'm rock hard!" Kirishima said with a large smile

"You're what now?" Ashido commented while standing beside Kirishima

"I'm Rock-" Kirishima cutting himself off

"Pffffff- Hahahahaha! Isn't that a bit embarrassing to admit out loud?" Ashido questioned while holding her stomach laughing

"NOT IN THAT WAY! C'MON!" Kirishima said and punched Ashido in the shoulder

"So... we're all good?" Izuku looked at the two of them with the laughter dying down

"Yeah bro, it's nothing to worry about! See ya tomorrow!" Kirishima said as he walked off patting Midoriya on the back

'You should really control yourself, you wouldn't want to hurt anyone during your own scuffle with Bakugo, would you?'

'No, not at all. But Bakugo deserved it, he attacked first'

'Yes, he did initiate combat, but you have to make sure that you keep collateral damage to a minimum. Despite that, you did well. You managed to defend yourself while using non-lethal force against him. We can talk about this another time, you should head home before the gates are locked up.'

Midoriya grabs his bag from the classroom and heads home for the day.

[Time skip brought to you by Welt talking to Izuku about his time with the Astral Express]

It was the next day, Tuesday being a pretty normal school day except for the final lesson of the day. The last lesson being Hero basic training. Mr. Mic had just finished up his English class and left the classroom. Midoriya sits in his seat shaking from anticipation, a million thoughts rushing in and out of his mind

'Midoriya' 'Midoriya!' 'IZUKU MIDORIYA!'

'Y-yes, Mr. Yang!?'

'You're muttering again. Calm yourself down.'

'S-sorry, I'm just just so excited! I wonder who will be teaching us?'

'It most likely will be All Might. He is the number one hero, it would make sense that he would be here to teach how to be a hero.'

'Now that you say it, I haven't seen All Might any-'

"I'M COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

The sudden appearance of the number one hero left most students in shock, except for Midoriya, who expected this after what Welt said. After the cheering died down, All Might clicked a small remote in his hands that just like yesterday, caused the walls of the classroom to drop down, this time revealing suitcases with their respective class numbers. All Might explained that it was their hero costumes and told the students to meet him at Training ground Gamma

"For this class, you will be split into villains and heroes and fight 2-on-2 indoor battles."

"Without basic basic training?" Asui asks

"This is the basic training, young Asui. We want to see how you would all do in a situation like this so I can see what you guys excelled at and what you were lacking in so I could make some changes to what I would be teaching you all. Now where was I... The situation is that the villains have hidden a bomb somewhere in their hideout. The heroes are trying to dispose of it. The heroes need to catch the villain or secure the bomb in the allotted time. Teams will be determined by drawing lots!"

Team A: Midoriya and Ida
Team B: Todoroki and Shoji
Team C: Yaoyorozu and Mineta
Team D: Bakugo and Uraraka
Team E: Ashido and Aoyama
...

"It is a pleasure to be able to work with you, Midoriya." Ida says while extending his hand out

"Likewise." Midoriya replies shaking Ida's hand

"The first teams to fight will be..." All Might says, pausing for dramatic effect and he pulls out two balls, one from a box labelled as villain, the other as hero "These guys!" All Might shouts as he pulls out a black ball with the letter D and a white ball with the letter A

"Bakugo and Uraraka." Izuku muttered as he looked over at Bakugo who had a massive smirk with Uraraka looking a bit sad that she had to fight Izuku

"Team A will be the heroes and team D will be the villains! Team D, please enter the building to place the bomb. Team A, you have 5 minutes of preparation time."

"Midoriya, we will be the first team to enter as heroes and we must devise a plan to defeat the two of them." Ida said as Midoriya was snapped out of his thought process

"You're right. I know Bakugo enough to know that will won't even care about the bomb and go directly towards me." Midoriya says with his hand stroking what little stubble he had on his chin

"That may give us a chance to split up. Your quirk seems to work better in 1-on-1 fights. I believe that you can dispatch Bakugo with your quirk and I can locate the bomb with my speed."

"Good idea, Ida. But remember, Uraraka's quirk is zero gravity, use your quirk sparingly as to not destroy too much of the infrastructure, she can use the rubble as ammunition for attacks."

"You're right. I didn't even think of that, good thinking."

"Time's almost up. Let's do this!"

The two of them decided to walk in through the main entrance of the building. The humming of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, the echo of their footsteps, Ida and Midoriya both walked through the hallways of the training building carefully, their heads turning left and right, covering for each others' blind spots. Until-

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, DEKU!?"

the familiar voice of a blond Pomeranian rang out throughout the entire floor, the sounds of explosions following it.

"Ida, this is your cue to go for the bomb, avoid Bakugo at all costs." Izuku whispered to Ida as the Ida activated his quirk and ran in the opposite direction.

Midoriya on the other hand, ran straight to the noise, entering a long corridor, the sounds of explosions louder than ever. Within a few steps, Izuku sees Bakugo turning the corner, using his quirk to boost his speed rushing straight at Izuku with a right hook. Izuku turned left, summoning his cane in his left hand smacked Bakugo right into the back of his head causing him to spin out of control and smashing into a wall.

"Deku... That shot you did during the first day was just a fucking fluke! I don't care what quirk you had, I'm going to beat you to ground!" Bakugo screamed as he stood up from the rubble

"Sure, let's dance." Midoriya says with one of his hand in his pocket, the other on his cane

Bakugo's hands started to sizzle and crack with the sounds of explosions as Bakugo flies towards Izuku once again, this time weaving in mid-air with his quirk to make him harder to dodge. Midoriya seeing this, tapped the tip of his cane against the ground and Bakugo's forward momentum turned into angular momentum as space curved around Izuku's gravitational field sending Bakugo into a wall again.

"Damn Dek-" Bakugo was cut off

From what All Might and the other students could see through security cameras is Midoriya grabbing hold of Bakugo's hair and kneeing him in the nose, causing the blond to start bleeding from it. Bakugo used his quirk to fire off an explosion into Izuku's abdomen to create some distance between them.

Izuku flew into the air as he gradually slowed down and landed onto his feet a few metres away from where Bakugo was, the latter standing up and wiped the blood from his nose with his thumb

"Tch! The fight's not over yet, you damn nerd. You see these gauntlets? They store my sweat, and I can detonate it any time I want!" Bakugo says with a manic smile, his index finger hooked onto the grenade pin on the side of his gauntlet

"Young Bakugo! Do not pull that trigger, that will seriously hurt young Midoriya!" All Might said over the PA system

"If he doesn't get hit he won't!" Bakugo says as he pulls the pin, a massive explosion barrelling towards Midoriya, engulfing the entire corridor

Midoriya stood still as he stared at the moving sun speeding towards him, he extended his palm towards the fireball as he opened his mouth to speak

"Quasi Black Hole"

Dust flew all around the corridor, covering all the security cameras in the vicinity, none of Izuku's classmates or All Might could see what was happening. The dust was starting to settle on one side of the corridor as a figure could be seen

"That's what you get, Deku! You'll always be under me!" The figure yelled at the carnage

All of the students eyes were wide as they saw the state of the corridor, or lack there off. One of the walls were completely torn off by the blast, scorch marks visible on every other surface, rubble littering the floor. But the dust was still floating around in the air on the other side of the corridor as a silhouette walked out of it

"Under you? I barely even noticed you." Izuku said walking out of the dust completely unfazed adjusting his glasses.

"What the?!" Bakugo stared, eyes wide from shock

"We haven't even scratched the surface of my power yet, Katsuki. Your little blast is nothing compared to the power of a singularity. I'm done humouring you."

Chains shoot out from the ground and latch onto Bakugo's arms and legs

"Let's end this." Izuku says as his cane switches back into a sphere, spreading his legs to get into a lower stance and gripping onto the Star of Eden

"Animus Nocendi: Mindstorm of Terror"

Out of the Star of Eden comes chains of black lightning and an eruption of crimson fire hurdling towards Bakugo as he struggles to get out, bearing the brunt of the attack right into his chest. From the fire, we see Bakugo kneeling on the ground, chains still pulled taught but his head hung low, eyes closed as he was rendered unconscious due to the attack. Physically, Bakugo was stable, due to his quirk, his skin had a resistance to high temperatures. Mentally, Bakugo was fuming, not only did Deku hide this unbelievable quirk from him, but he also completely wiped the floor with him using said quirk.

Midoriya stared at the unconscious Bakugo, placing most of his weight onto his cane, that final attack took way more out of him that he originally anticipated, leaving him winded and exhausted. Midoriya turned to make his way up to the other floors until he heard

"Hero team... win!" All Might yells out through the PA system

Izuku pressed his fingers into his left ear trying to access his communicator, but he couldn't feel anything. Looking around on the ground, he notices a small blue object under some rubble. He picks it up only to see that it was completely cracked open with wires snapped and the interior speaker dangling with a strand, only making a low buzzing sound.

Izuku deconstructs the chains that held Bakugo, allowing the medical robots place him onto a stretcher as they carried the unconscious blond out. Izuku shambles walks out of the building, his weight placed almost entirely onto his cane, he meets Ida and Uraraka outside of the building.

"Midoriya! Are you alright?" Ida asks as he runs over to Izuku, holding the underside of his arm "Why didn't you respond to anything I said through the headset?" Ida continues

Izuku pulled out the destroyed headpiece from his pocket and showed it to Ida "I guess my fight with Bakugo went a bit harder than anticipated. But at least we won, right?"

"Indeed we did, Midoriya."

Izuku shaking his hand free, he extends his hands for a handshake "Team Glasses?"

Ida taking a second to understand thought for a bit then grabbed Izuku's hand with a smile "Team Glasses."

Chapter Text

Wednesday was an oddly normal day for Class 1-A. The most noteworthy was probably during homeroom, the election of a representative.

"Alright class, shut up and sit down. We have something important on the agenda today. We're going to have to choose a class representative."

A collective gasp came from all the students at the sight of a normal school activity. Which then led to different students fighting for who gets to be class rep until Ida yells out that it should be decided on a vote which most agrees, with a few students like Bakugo or Todoroki being indifferent to it.

Izuku Midoriya: 3 votes
Momo Yaoyorozu: 2 votes
Mashirao Ojiro: 1 vote
.
.
.

"Oh?" Midoriya hummed in response to results of

"OKAY YOU IDIOTS! WHO VOTED FOR HIM?!" Bakugo screamed while standing up and slamming his palms on the table, causing most of the class to shift their gaze from Midoriya to Bakugo

"What, did you honestly think anyone was gonna vote for you?" Sero nonchalantly states

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" Bakugo turned his anger towards Sero

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu then stood from their seats and walked towards the front of the class

"I am thankful that you have all given me the opportunity to be your vice representative. I won't let you down."

"I share the same sentiment as Yaoyorozu, I will serve you all as the class representative to the best of my abilities."

Applause can be heard moments after as most students cheered for the new class reps. Bakugo, like always, grumbling in his seat, glaring towards the class rep. Ida, despite feeling happy for Midoriya, felt shame that he did not receive a single vote with Uraraka patting him on the back to comfort him

The bell rings throughout the school to signify that it was lunch period. One would expect the students on the highly prestigious U.A. high to enter the cafeteria in an orderly single file line, but the reality was that the students all rushed into the cafeteria like a pack of wild animals. Despite the scene at the entrance of the mess hall, it was an opposite environment inside, students holding trays in a queue patiently waiting for their meals to be served by Lunch Rush.

"Hey, Midobro! How've you been, man!" Kirishima asks while standing behind him in line for the cafeteria

"Hello, Kirishima. I've been wanting something since 3rd period. I'm either starving
or coping with boredom. You?" Midoriya said while taking a step forward in line

"I'm starving, bro. Just thinking about Lunch Rush's food makes me drool."

"I should probably get extra rice this time. I hope All Might doesn't go too hard, yesterday's long distance run almost killed me."

"It definitely was tough, much harder than the one Mr. Aizawa gave us."

Both of them make it to Lunch Rush and order what they wanted. Katsudon for Midoriya and a ribeye for Kirishima. Kirishima followed Midoriya to a seat to continue their conversation.

"Did you hear about what we're gonna do tomorrow for heroics?" Kirishima said between bites

"Today, we'll be continuing the lesson from yesterday. Tomorrow's probably gonna be starting a new chapter. No?" Midoriya said as he put down his silverware

"Well I heard, we're gonna go off-campus tomorrow. Something about a rescue practical."

"For real?"

"For real, real!"

"It's definitely much better than sitting in the same classroom all day."

"I thought that entering a hero school would be have more manly action packed situations, but it just ended up being more or less the same lessons." Kirishima said with a noticeable sigh

"You have to understand Kirishima, this is still a highschool. Besides, you still have to know a few things before you can be the 'manly' hero you want to be."

"I guess you're right. But would it hurt if we just had a bit more-"

Kirishima was cut off by the deafening screech of an alert

"SOMEONE HAS BROKEN INTO THE SCHOOL, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!" Yelled a 2nd year student

"Mido-bro! We have to go!" Kirishima yelled to Izuku pulling on his blazer

But Izuku sat firm, not moving an inch, his eyes shifted towards the window "5 O'clock direction." He said while taking another bite of his katsudon. Kirishima turns around clockwise and looks out the window to see a reporter no older than 20. "Ohhhh! It's just a reporter, should we do something?"

"I could help you get above the crowd with a megaphone."

"Good thinking, Mido-bro!"

With a small boost from Midoriya, Kirishima jumped high into the air above the crowd with a megaphone in hand

"HEY DUDES AND DUDETTES! IT'S JUST A REPORTER, YOU CAN ALL HAKUNA YOUR TATAS!"

His final comment caused a collective reboot of everyone's thought processes as everyone stopped panicking. Kirishima floated from the air and landed next to Midoriya.

"Hey, that worked perfectly!" Kirishima beamed

"Hakuna. Your. Tatas. Kirishima, what the fuck?" Midoriya said as his head slowly turned towards the red head

"Calm your tits sounded too unmanly, and hakuna your tatas is a nice reference."

"Still..." Midoriya said continuing his confused and deadpan look

"Hey! If a stupid thing works then it ain't stupid!" Kirishima retorted

"*sigh* It did work after all. Good job, Kirishima. Let's just conti-" Midoriya said until he looked towards his katsudon that fell onto the ground from the commotion "Oh come on!" Causing Kirishima to chuckle while offering a bit of his steak.

[Time skip to tomorrow]

The students of class 1-A were told to get into their hero costume and ushered into a bus

"-I say whatever comes to mind" Tsuyu said replying to a Uraraka's question "Midoriya..." Asui asks as she turned her head towards the broccoli who had his eyes closed head leaning on the window seemingly asleep "Oh, he's-"

"Yes, Asui?" Midoriya says without opening his eyes

"Call me Tsu." Tsu quickly corrected Izuku

"Okay, Tsu. What was it?"

"You have multiple quirks, right?"

"What." Izuku said as his eyes shot open, shifting in his seat so that he sat upright and faced Tsu

"You have multiple quirks, do you not? *ribbit* You have a black hole quirk, a fire quirk, the orb that helped you change gravity, an invulnerability quirk, a lightning quirk, a chain quirk, and that cane that amplified yours strength." Asui continued noting down what Midoriya has been able to do using his "quirk"

"W-well... haha... I have 2 quirks. First, the cane and the orb, it is the Star of Eden, it has the ability to change forms..." Midoriya says as he summons the Star of Eden, first as a orb, then a cane, then a gauntlet around his right arm. "It allows me to have absolute control over gravity, I can increase, decrease, mold, negate, or reverse the gravitational field of any object or person. With my control over gravity, I have learnt how to use it to focus gravitational energy into a single location in spacetime to create my technique, Attraction: Kuro, where everything around will be attracted towards the singularity, and its opposite, focusing gravitational energy out to create my technique, Repulsion: Aka, where everything around it is repelled away from it. When I fuse the two techniques, I release my strongest technique, Quasi Black Hole: Ansekishoku. It combines the attraction of Kuro and the repulsion of Aka to engulf objects and rip them apart on an atomic scale..."

Only with the explanation of his first "quirk", he sent shivers down the spines of everyone on board. The students' minds ran a mile a minute, thinking about how dangerous Midoriya could be. Most of the class stared at Midoriya, some with fear, some with amazement, one with anger. Aizawa still with his eyes closed thought about Midoriya's "quirk" and understood why All Might was so adamant on putting him in class 1-A, if anything went awry, his quirk would be indispensable.

"My second quirk... I'll tell you all some day, besides I think we're almost here, we don't have much time to explain. It's called Core of Reason, I'll let you all speculate the rest." Midoriya said with a smile eerily resembling Aizawa's causing Mineta to recall what happened during the quirk apprehension test and jump away from Midoriya onto the back of Kaminari.

"We're here." Aizawa said with his signature monotone voice "Get off the bus and line up." Aizawa continued walking off of the bus thanking the driver

Class 1-A lined up in pairs, Izuku and Yaoyorozu at the front of the queue right behind Aizawa. The class made their way to the entrance of the USJ, being introduced to Thirteen who continued to talk about the USJ, bringing the students and Aizawa inside. Thirteen started to talk about the different zones inside the USJ.

"...That is the forest-"

"Woah! They even have fake villains for us to fight!" Kaminari pointed towards the cloud of purple mist at the centre of the dome spewing out villains.

"Those aren't fake, they're real villains! Get behind Thirteen and I. NOW!" Aizawa yelled towards the students after seeing what Kaminari was pointing at.

"Mr. Aizawa, my signal is cut. They have a jamming quirk." Izuku said as he tried to call U.A. with his phone.

"Ida, run back to U.A. and find a teacher STAT!" Aizawa yelled out

"But sir-"

"WE HAVE NO TIME, GO NOW!"
"WE HAVE NO TIME, GO NOW!"

Izuku and Aizawa both said simultaneously, causing them to take a brief look at each other. Aizawa then focused onto the oncoming villains while Izuku looked back at the locked door.

"Ida, go now. I'll boost you!" Izuku said to Ida as he summoned the Star of Eden into his hand

Ida looking back at Midoriya, receiving a nod from the latter got down into a runner's position, the engines on his calfs glowed red and he dashed towards the door

"Repulsion: Aka"

A red sphere shoots into the back of Ida causing him to go supersonic. One strike from his armoured leg was able to burst through the door. The speedster landing on the ground he reactivated his quirk and dashed towards U.A.

"Greetings, hero! We are the league of Villains and we have come to kill The Symbol of Peace: All Might." A man with teal hair said coming out of the purple mist "But since he isn't here, I guess we'll have to kill a few students to get his attention! Kurogiri, you know what to do." The man continued gesturing towards the gas that was collecting next to him.

"Kurogiri was his name, portal quirk or teleportation quirk. He can generate purple mist to move a large amount of people." Izuku muttered

"Stop fucking muttering and start doing something, you stupid Deku!" Bakugo said calmly

Izuku stopped his muttering to glare at Bakugo but then turned to face Aizawa

"Thirteen, protect the students. Midoriya, help Thirteen. The two main villains' quirks are unknown to us, we have to take caution. I'm going down."

"But you're not meant to fight hordes of enemies" Midoriya says in a worried tone

"That's a lesson you all need to learn, adaptability!" Aizawa says as he lunges towards the villains, eyes glowing red, erasing their quirks, his capture gear fluttering in the air as it dragged behind him. First landing on the face of a guy with guns for fingers, jumping off of his face and taking the extra height to flip over a woman with a small knife, wrapping his scarf around her neck as he pulls himself into her back making her spine buckle and crack, sending her down onto the ground. Aizawa now surrounded by thugs starts to fight his way towards Shigaraki.

Meanwhile, with Midoriya and Thirteen, purple mist has started to collect around the the students, swirling around to create a wall that entrapped the students and Thirteen. A portal opened underneath them as some of the students started to sink into the floor. Students like Bakugo, Tsu, and Midoriya tried escaping by blasting, jumping, or floating away.

"What the- I can't move my legs! Help me! I don't wanna go yet! I still have so many things I have to touch!"

"I got you- I'm sink too! Ahhh! Help me!"

"Revelry in the dark"

All the students on the ground were unable to escape the dark misty quicksand. The three students that barely escape thought they were safe until black ghost like hands came out of the portals to grab hold of them. First getting Tsu and dragging her into the mist, then Bakugo who tried to blast the hands but with no effect, he too succumbed to the mist, then Midoriya, who tried slicing the hands like his black holes, but to no avail, they would phase through them like they didn't exist. Midoriya was then engulfed by darkness.

Izuku clutching his head sat up and opened his eyes to see... nothing. It was a black void, no Thirteen, no classmates, no Welt.

"Hello?" Izuku asked the darkness

"Hello...hello...hello..." The echo of the void was the only one to respond.

"Mr. Yang?"

"Yang... yang... yang..."

Just like the first time, there was only the echo of his own voice. No other companionship, until.

"The New Herrscher of Reason" a gravelly masculine voice came out of the darkness

"W-who's there!" Izuku asked in the direction of the voice, his cane raised as he shuffled backwards

"That weapon... you're the successor to Welt Yang. You're the new Herrscher of Reason." The voice continued, his voice deep and rough, but confident "You don't know me, but I knew your mentor. He was a tough opponent, but not tough enough.

"W-w-what did you do to Mr. Y-yang."

"I killed him, as simple as that." The man said as he chuckled

Izuku then summoned a black hole in front of him to defend himself

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." The man said as he floated up to Midoriya, his figure and face became clear

A man dressed in an Ancient Roman toga, his feet were bare, his arms and hands were adorned with different type of gemstones and metal bracelets, his long blonde hair draped down over his shoulders and stopped at chest height in the front and flowed down like a waterfall to his calf on the back, a wreath crown wrapped around the top of his head, accentuating his glowing golden eyes. His most noticeable feature, his "wings", his left wing consisted of three black medieval long swords, his right side was an actual angel's wing, white and glowing, the only form of light in the dark void.

"I am able to freely control every aspect of this pocket dimension. Your black holes are useless, the laws of physics work differently here."

"W-who the hell are you?" Izuku asks as he stands up to see that the man towered over his, the man stood at 200cm tall, but he was almost always floating to the height of All Might, looking down literally and figuratively on others

"I go by many names All for One, The Symbol of Evil, Doctor Shigaraki, but for you, you can call me The Herrscher of The Void. Run along now, I don't want you to keep my impatient Shiggy waiting." He says with a laugh

Midoriya is then suddenly shoved from the stomach and forced out of the pocket dimension into what appears to be water, the smell of the ocean flushing his nose, the taste of sea salt on his tongue, this ears adjusting to the sounds that were completely absent in the void. Swimming upwards he sees a horde of villains surround him, readying to fight his eyes glow red, he felt something fleshy and wet wrap around his torso and pulled him out of the water.

Landing onto a wood surface, Izuku gets into a fighting stance as fast as he could, eyes flickering with crimson lightning, muscles tensed ready to dodge any attacks, his eyes scanned the surrounding area searching for enemies. Only to see that he was on a sinking yacht, the only people with him being his classmates, Mineta and Tsu.

Izuku glared at the two classmates, unsure if they were imposters, Mineta with tears flowing from his eyes, hiding behind the legs of Tsu. The latter staring blankly at Izuku, her arms at her sides, elbows at a right angle, forearms positioned in front of her, wrists slack as her palms pointed downwards.

After a few seconds, Izuku's stance faltered, muscles relaxed and his eyes went back to his natural green hue.

"Tsu, what's the situation" Izuku asked

"We're on a sinking ship surrounded by villains *ribbit*"

"W-WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO YET!" Mineta yelled curling up into a foetal position on the floor

Izuku walked towards Mineta and picked him up by the shoulder. Izuku now face to face with the crying grape head

"Get yourself together, we're training to be heroes, to be the protectors of the people, we cannot just falter at the sight of petty thugs. Sure, they did take us off guard, but this the perfect time to learn. Like Aizawa said, we need to learn to be able to adapt to all situations, he's probably in the centre plaza fighting villains as we waste time here. So are you going to make him proud and adapt, or are you going to lay here and die." As Izuku finished his speech, he placed Mineta back down on the ground.

"That's good and all, but the villains are getting closer." Tsu reminds the two students

"Mineta, you can produce sticky balls from your head, correct?"

"Yeah! They stick to anything other than me. When I touch them they're bouncy."

"Tsu, your quirk gives you the abilities of a frog."

"Yes, I can jump really high, a tongue that can stretch up to 20 metres, and stick to many different surfaces *ribbit*"

"Hmm, perfect. Here's the plan..." Izuku starts explaining how they're going to defeat the villains

"...understand?"

"Yes."
"Yep!"

Tsu's tongue then wraps around the waist of Mineta as Tsu hops onto
Izuku's back, her arms holding onto his neck.

"Repulsion: Aka"

Izuku then blasts Aka into the ground, propelling him and Tsu into the air, with Mineta dragged behind them

"Mineta, now! Attraction: Kuro"

Izuku spawning a black sphere inside the water, creating a whirlpool that start sucking in all of the villains, as Mineta starts throwing the balls into the water, sticking the villains together, inhibiting their movement. Midoriya being able to manipulate gravity made them basically float in the air, all the way to the edge of the pool of water, Izuku landing with his feet on the ground, Tsu on his back, and Mineta who still was wrapped in Tsu's tongue in his arms like a toddler.

*BOOM*

Tsu and Mineta both jump off Izuku startled by the explosion in the back.

The two turn around to see a pillar of water almost 5 stories tall, villains shooting out the top and sides

"Was that really necessary, Midoriya? Kero."

"Not really, but the rule of cool reigns supreme. We have no time to waste, we have to get to Aizawa, his quirk isn't suited for multiple opponents."

The trio then ran towards the fountain in the centre plaza, to see Aizawa finishing off another set of villains

"Grrr... you're way more troublesome than you let on, Eraserhead." The teal haired man said as he scratched his neck with his index finger "I guess I have yo deal with you myself!" He continues while charging towards Aizawa

Aizawa activating his quirk and grabbing hold of his capture gear, he shoots it towards Handy Manny, the latter catching the end. Aizawa pulled himself towards the man to elbow him. To the students shock, the man was able to grab onto Aizawa's elbow and it started to crumble along with his sleeve.

"When your hair falls down that's when you stop using your quirk, huh? You don't want to push yourself Aizawa." The man whispered into Aizawa's ear

Aizawa could only grit his teeth as a response, but kicks off of the man's chest to get away. Landing in the middle of a group of 4 big guys who tried grabbing at Aizawa's thighs.

Aizawa spun around trying to roundhouse kick one of the men in the side missed as the man had been shot by a reddish-black beams of energy

"Cognitive Destructuring."

"You've done enough, Aizawa. Take a break."

Aizawa looks upward to see The Star of Eden in the sky firing energy beams down at the villains with Izuku floating down to Aizawa.

"This brat!" The man repeated the same scratching movements like earlier but more frantically. "I was saving this for All Might, but if it kills some of you, All Might will have a reason to come here! Nomu! Kill the brat!" The man yelled pointing towards Izuku and Aizawa

Suddenly a big black bird man appeared in front of the two charged up a fist, Izuku grabbed Aizawa and twirled left, barely dodging the creature's right punch.

"Repulsion: Aka"

The red sphere shoots into the creature's stomach as it gets blasted back 10 metres.

"Tsu! Mineta! Take Aizawa back up the stairs, protect him!"

"Problem child!"

"You've done way more than enough, Mr. Aizawa. I'll take it from here."

"How touching. The student is now protecting the master. It won't matter anyway, this Nomu is as strong as All Might. With shock absorption and immense regeneration, there's no way a mere first year can hurt it, let alone defeat it. It's useless! It's completely useless! HAHAHAHA! I WIN!" The man monologued

Izuku turned his head back to see if Tsu, Mineta, and Aizawa have gotten a good distance away before starting

"I may be just a mere first year. I know I do not hold a candle against the number one hero. But what you fail to understand is that I am no alone. With my power, I share the will of everyone in U.A.. I, IZUKU WELT MIDORIYA, THE HERRSCHER OF REASON, GUARDIAN OF U.A.-" Izuku yelled to the villain while taking a few steps forwards

*BOOM CRASH CRACK*

The ground crashed and shaked as an army giant reddish-black robots dropped from the sky. Recreations of the 1,2,3, and 0 pointer from the entrance exam, created using the Core of Reason and blueprints happily provided by Principal Nezu

"-WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE POWER OF A HERO SCHOOL!"

The Zero Pointers were in view of the entire USJ, the height of them towering over everything in the vicinity, causing all the students and villains to turn towards the rumbling sounds coming from the centre plaza to see 10 story tall robots slowl...

The Zero Pointers were in view of the entire USJ, the height of them towering over everything in the vicinity, causing all the students and villains to turn towards the rumbling sounds coming from the centre plaza to see 10 story tall robots slowly walking in different directions like that scene from that one pre-quirk era anime. All of the robots, built with villain recognition software, spread throughout the entire facility, locking onto any villains they can find. Bullets from the one-pointer, lasers from the two-pointer, rockets from the three-pointer, shot all over the dome, explosions and bullet holes present everywhere. All of the petty thugs the LoV had hired all went down without any issue, the Nomu however requires more work.

"Do not dare underestimate our power, we are stronger, we are smarter, we are better, WE ARE U.A.!" Izuku continued as he directed the tip of his cane towards the Nomu, directing multiple three-pointers and two-pointers to lay waste to the creature

"Quasi Black Hole: Ansekishoku"

A massive maroon sphere engulfs the Nomu and the bullets and explodes, creating a mushroom cloud that reaches the ceiling, it quickly dissipates only for everyone to see nothing but the Nomu's legs left in its wake. The robots that Izuku had sent to the different sections of U.A. making their way back to the centre plaza putting down most of the students.

"YOU- YOU- YOU FUCKING CHEATER! YOU CHEATED! YOU CHEATED! YOU EXPLOITED THE GRAVITY SIMULATIONS AND YOU SEND IT OUT OF BOUNDS! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" The teal man screamed, his leg stomping on the ground in a tantrum.

"Master Shigaraki, we must go, there was a student who already escape and decided to report to U.A., without the Nomu we are no match for All Might. We have to cut our loses and get back before we are captured." The man made of mist said trying to open a portal

"The next time I see you, Izuku Welt Midoriya. I'm going to make you pay 10 times the humiliation." Shigaraki glared through his mask at Izuku

The robots gathered behind Izuku as he returned Shigaraki's glare with his cane firmly planted onto the ground "If you have learnt nothing from this encounter, remember one thing: Never underestimate the strength of U.A."

Shigaraki's glare faltered seeing the hero students slow surround him, he walked into purple mist while holding up a middle finger towards Izuku.

After the mist dissipated, the confident, monologue producing Midoriya falls face first onto the ground after the adrenaline has run dry. The robots turning back into energy dissipating as Midoriya goes unconscious

As if it was all planned, a small explosion and a cloud of dust appeared at the entrance slowly floating onto the floor revealing All Might in his yellow dress pants and dress shirt, suit jacket in hand, ready to protect his students.

"It's fine now. I am here."

Only to see the students wrapping up the unconscious villains with capturing tape created by Yaoyorozu, as Uraraka helped carry Izuku's unconscious body up the steps with help from Sato and Kirishima

Chapter Text

'Ughhh... where am I?'

Midoriya thought as he blinked multiple times, adjusting to the bright white light. Upon sitting up, he got the answers to his question, a hospital room.

"Young Midoriya, how are you feeling?"

All Might's booming voice was the first thing Midoriya could hear after returning back to the world of consciousness.

"What happened?" Midoriya said with a low grown

'We passed out, Midoriya. You expended your energy reserves, and you were only holding on with the help of adrenaline pumping through your veins.' Welt stated

"Did I pass out?" Midoriya asked All Might, who was standing to the side of his bed

"From what the students said in the USJ, you passed out after the villain left."All Might said. "The doctor has said that you passed out from exhaustion, that you wouldn't have any lasting injuries, and that you can be dismissed from the hospital. Your mother is outside waiting." All Might continued.

"Izukuu!!! Is my baby alright!?"

Inko rushed into the hospital room, leaving a trail of tears across the hospital floor, going into a hug with Midoriya

"Mum, can't breathe." Izuku said, muffled while lightly slapping his mother's arm

Inko let go of Midoriya, then slapped him hard. "Are you stupid?! Do you know how worried I was when I saw you unconscious being taken away in a stretcher. Why did you think you could fight an entire entourage of villains? The students even said that they had something that could beat All Might?! What made you think-"

"I wasn't thinking, Ma! Aizawa-sensei had his arm almost decayed, I had to do something, and I had to save them. What's the point of this power if I can't save people!"

"You and your ideology, it's good you want to save people, but you're barely in high school, don't you ever think about yourself, what if you died, what if you couldn't beat them, what then? You're my only kid, can't you just think about yourself and if you're prepared to face something like this before you recklessly rush into battle risking your own safety, you're only in high school, you still have an entire career before you!"

"Fine... I'll listen, I'll try to stay safe.

"Good. Please don't give me another heart attack like that."

"Erm, Mrs Midoriya, do you mind if I spoke to Young Midoriya in private?" All Might chimed in

"Oh sure, I'll see you back at home, Izuku. Just text me what you want for dinner when you're free." Inko said, giving one final hug to Izuku and leaving the room

"Did I do something wrong, sir?" Midoriya asked All Might

"No, not at all, Young Midoriya. I just wanted to catch you up with what's going on. We'll be having our Sports Festival after 2 weeks, so all the students with be having a 2 week long break to train, and I wanted to ask if you were free tomorrow to meet a few of your upperclassmen?"

"Oh yeah, sure! Why do you ask?"

"There's no grand scheme here, I was just wondering about your strength. If the Nomu they had was as strong as they claimed, then you should be in the same ball park as me, I took one of your upperclassmen under my wing, and I wanted you to meet him and the Big Three."

"Wait, Big Three? Aren't they like the strongest among all of the students?"

"Yes, they are. I was hoping you'd be willing to meet with them, and they might be able to give you some pointers."

"You want me to spar with them, don't you?" Midoriya asked bluntly

"Wait, wha- how did you?" All Might's eyes widened a bit with shock

"Quite obvious, you said that you had taken one of them under your wing. That must mean you think their skill must be in the same ballpark as yourself, so you wanted me to spar with them in a controlled setting to see my strength, and in turn using me as a sort of ruler see if the villains actually had a weapon that was stronger than you. Was I incorrect?" Midoriya sent a quizzical look towards All Might

"*sigh* Yes, that was my plan. If you do not wish to participate, I won't force you."

"I'm still up for it, I wouldn't say no to more training!"

"Thank you, Young Midoriya. You're a massive help!"

[Time skip to tomorrow]

*Knock Knock Knock*

"Come in!"

"Good morning, sir." Midoriya said as he closed the door to one of the school gyms

"Young Midoriya, let me introduce you to the Big Three." All Might started, "This is Mirio Togata." He said as he gestured to the tall blond boy who had a big smile and cartoonishly large eyes, "This is Nejire Hado." He said as he gestured to the girl with periwinkle hair who gave a big wave, "And finally, this is Tamaki Amajiki." He said as he gestured to the sheepish black haired boy standing behind Nejire.

"So you're the student from the USJ? What's what white patch of hair? Why the cane, is your leg injured? What did you do to them? Are you really strong?" Nejire asked a boatload of questions while floating around Midoriya, finally putting her face inches away from Midoriya staring into his eyes

"W-well um-m I-err, th-the hair came with my powers, the c-cane too." Midoriya was barely able to produce an answer with his face a bright red and stepping backwards

"Nejire, don't go scaring him like that, breathe Nejire. Give Midoriya time to answer your questions one by one." Mirio pulled Nejire back by her shirt collar "Are you alright, Midoriya?" Mirio asked while walking up to him

"Y-yeah, I'm alright. I just wasn't expecting that, sorry."

"No need to apologize, man. Nejire is just really excitable."

"*Ahem* I'm glad you guys are acquainted, but let's get back on track. Could Hado and Amajiki come with me to the side of the gym? Young Mirio, do you mind taking Young Midoriya to the centre?" All Might chimed in

"Wait?! We're gonna fight?" Mirio's head snapped towards All Might

"Yes, and use your full strength, Togata. Midoriya's something special."

'He called me something special!!!' Midoriya thought in his mind

"Ah... I see. Midoriya, you mind following me?" Mirio asked Izuku

"O-oh sure."

[Nejire and Tamaki moved to a table near the door of the gym]

"Alright, three minutes, Are you two ready?" All Might speaking into the microphone and winding the timer

Mirio's body starts glowing and yellow lightning dances across his skin, at the same time, black-red sparks flash on Izuku's arms

"yeah." Both of them said

Mirio's fist appears right in front of Midoriya's face, who tries to deflect Mirio's hand upwards with his elbow but only goes through it, which stuns Midoriya for a brief second, giving Mirio time to drive his other fist into Midoriya's stomach, sending him backwards a few metres, landing on his feet

'Midoriya, he has a permeation quirk, it lets him phase through objects, but also an enhancement quirk. Focus on dodging rather than blocking.' Welt said as he analysed Mirio's quirks

"what an interesting quirk, Togata-senpai." Midoriya complimented his opponent

"Show me your moves! All Might sensei said that you were quite promising, I want to see that quirk of yours in action!" Togata lightheartedly taunted back with a crack of his neck

"Togata really isn't holding his punches..." Tamaki said quietly

"Are you sure Midoriya's able to contend with One For All, All Might?" Nejire curiously asked her teacher

"If my theories and suspicions are correct, Midoriya could be equal to or even surpass One For All. From what it seems, Midoriya isn't even using his full potential. And if he is who I think he is, and if his quirk is anything like One For All, he should be even stronger than my theories." All Might plainly said

"Stronger?" Tamaki asked as he looked at All Might

"But All Might, didn't you say One for All was the ultimate quirk?" Nejire asked with a head tilt and a finger on her cheek

"Physically, it is the strongest, not even the current no. 1 hero of America could compare with me back in my physical prime, and young Togata had already surpassed that ages ago with all his new development. Midoriya's quirk however, is in a completely different classification of strength. His power comes not from physical prowess, but from its complexity. Midoriya's quirk is extremely similar to an old hero from America. He was the head of the support company and hero agency, Anti-Entropy. He called himself The 1st Herrscher, and was the previous Number 1 Hero in the US. His quirk was never disclosed to the public similar to One for All, but from what I remember..." All Might explained

Izuku and Mirio are still engaging heavily in hand to hand combat, both of them eyes trained onto each other, walking in a circle, Izuku was in a stance resembling Wing Chun with palms open, one arm stretched slightly further than the other. Mirio however had his arm close to his face, muscles tensed and ready to take a jab, in a stance that took after boxing

Mirio pushed forward with his back leg, golden lightning dancing across his body, he swivelled his hips to turn with his punch...

"...The power to attract, the creation of a gravitational singularity..."

Midoriya then clasped his hands together, and a small black sphere appeared a few feet away from both of them for just a fraction of a second, and almost in an instant, Izuku had disappeared from in front of Mirio to where the black sphere was

"...The power to repel, the dispersion of gravitational force..."

Midoriya had his hand in a finger gun pointing towards Mirios back, the latter only barely able to cross his arms to block, shooting him backwards.

a black tendril shot out of Mirio's leg to grab hold onto the gym floor. Despite looking like a cartoon character, he still had to take physics to better use his quirk. The red sphere was a force that acted in a straight line, Mirio used Blackwhip to anchor himself to a point so that he would rotate around it and Aka would continue moving in a straight line, all the while allowing him to counter attack.

The remaining two members of the Big Three, while strong in their own right could not compare with the two clashing students and their application of their abilities.

Multiple craters can be seen on the ground from effects of different quirks, mainly from One For All, but also multiple craters created by black whip. Midoriya and Mirio standing face to face 10 paces away surrounded by purple smoke and rubble, both with minor injuries and are catching their breath. Mirios starts spinning his right arm like that sailor guy from the really old cartoon, his arm glowing redder and redder with each rotation

'He's charging up a massive attack, this doesn't seem good. If this is something way more powerful that anything he has been outputting, it most likely would cover the entire width of this side of the gym.' Welt said thinking of how to counter

"All Might, Don't you think we should stop this?" Nejire looked over to her mentor

"Hm, that won't be necessarily, Young Midoriya has already grasped the basics of his quirk, and there is one more ability that he has yet to use" All Might assured her

'hrm...Wait a minute, I got it!' Midoriya shouted internally

'Well, I'm trusting you, kid.'

"LIMIT BREAKER: POPEYE SMASH!" Mirio shouted out while throwing his enhanced punch towards Midoriya

The area in front of Mirio is absolutely demolished, causing a massive cloud of dust and debris to fly into the air. The trio runs over from the other side of the gym to see a flabbergasted Mirio standing with his mouth ajar and Midoriya standing with his arms positioned in front of his body. The wall of the gym behind Midoriya completely intact, with midoriya sustaining no injuries to his body

"...and finally, the ability to stop."

"How... did you do that?" Mirio asked while slowly blinking

"It's a technique I've been trying to perfect after one of our hero studies class, despite it not taking too much effort to maintain consciously now, it still isn't fully automated yet. This is what I call Zeno's Paradox, where I bring the concept to reality, by warping the distance between the attack and I, it goes through space in ever decreasing increments like a converging infinite sum, thus never being able to reach me." Midoriya explained

"Haha! All Might sensei, you really weren't kidding, this kid is really something! Grappling the concept of infinity into his quirk is completely bonkers, and he's already mastered it by his first year, I'd say he could probably take on some pro heroes in this state!" Mirio complimented

"You flatter me too much Togata-senpai" Midoriya replied

"but Mirio really isn't, your quirk is like so cool and so versitile! Howfardoesitgo?Isitjustspace?Canyoubendtime?-" Nejire being her usual mile a minute self

"I really haven't fully understood how my quirk works given that it barely awakened last year..."

"L-last year?" Tamaki asked in a soft whisper

"o-oh... yeah, my quirk only awakened after something happened last year." Midoriya replied sheepishly

"So All of that was from a year's experience!? You're like some sort of.. (ugh what's that word again)... Pr-prodigy!" Nejire flabbergasted by Midoriya's insane growth yelled out

"You just get better and better huh? All Might-sensei, you didn't tell me about this!" Togata said while softly hitting All Might on the arm with his elbow

"It wasn't on Midoriya's application form or file, so All Might wouldn't have known it either." A lazy voice rang out from behind them

"Aizawa-sensei!" the students greeted the UA caterpillar

"Ah Aizawa, what're you doing here?" All Might asked

"I've come to remind you about our meeting" Aizawa ordered while pointing towards his watch

"A-ah! Right! Sorry to all of you, but I must cut this training session short, I forgot about my meeting. You can still stay in the gym until 4 and remember to give it your all, plus ultra!" All Might yelled as his ran out of the door to the gym

What Midoriya saw seemed weird, wisps of white smoking coming off of All Might's Arms, but Midoriya decided that questioning it was not worth the hassle

[Meanwhile right outside]

A small cloud of white smoke manifests as the door closes

"That really was a close one"

"Why were you not checking your watch, you should've known your time was almost up"

"I forgot, okay? Midoriya's skill is something to behold. With him being a prodigy with his quirk and it being almost exactly the same as Welt Yang, it's odd, don't you think?"

"I've had my queries, but it isn't our job to dissect our student's family tree. It wouldn't matter even if Welt Yang was related to Midoriya. Our job is to teach them how to develop their quirks themselves, we're their teachers for a reason."

Time passes, Midoriya and the Big Three start to train and hung out together almost daily over the two weeks, with Midoriya gaining more and more control over his quirk and how it functions even down to the molecular level

"Here it comes!" Mirio yelled out next to Nejire, and with Tamaki standing a bit further away, watching

Mirio held a sharpened pencil, Nejire, an eraser. On the count of one, both of them threw their respective objects towards Midoriya. The pencil was suspended mid-air, and the eraser bounced off of Midoriya's forehead and was caught.

"Woah! It worked!" Nejire cheered

"I AM HERE to watch you guys continue your training! So what worked?" All Might yelled, appearing out of nowhere

"Was it... The automatic distinction of your targets?" Mirio said, trying to remember the exact wording Midoriya used

Midoriya then grabbed the pencil out of the air and twirlled it in his hands

"Well, the target is me, but you're pretty much spot on. I turned the manual control into a semi-automatic mode, despite the fact that I still need to consciously activate it since it would take too much energy to have it active 24/7. Originally, just like Mirio's quirk, I wasn't able to breathe or see while I had it activated. Due to this new development where it detects the threat level of anything that enters the barrier of Zeno's Paradox, such as this pencil, since Mirio was the one that threw it, and quite fast all things considered, its threat level is super high compared to the eraser Nejire threw, so the barrier interrupted its motions first .Since the eraser Nejire threw proved no risk in letting it past, the barrier did not inhibit its path, and it bounced off of my head." Midoriya explained what he had been training

"And I thought my quirk was complicated, I think even principal Nezu would need some time to understand every part of your quirk." Mirio said while rubbing his temple, trying to understand what Midoriya just said

"Quite correct indeed, Togata. I have been observing your training sessions for quite some time now, Midoriya's quirk is one of the more complicated ones I have seen throughout my years as a principal. Midoriya has been able to push what initially seemed like gravity manipulation to its physical limits. Adding his second creation type quirk, it did take me quite a while to pick apart theoretically, but what I lack now is a physical demonstration. All Might, do you remember that favour you had from a certain hero?" Nezu said while sitting in Aizawa's scarf, the latter who was walking up to the four

"You're not seriously thinking about bringing HER into this, are you?" All Might questioned the rat's decision

"I am indeed, All Might. Now go make your phone call while I ask for you three to join us in the observation room." Nezu said, shooing All Might away and gesturing to the big three to walk with him

"What about me? What do I do?" Midoriya asked

"You should get some stretches in and get ready for a practical test." All Might said, looking away while typing in a number on his phone

...

"Mr. Nezu?" Nejire chirped up

"Yes, Hado?" Nezu turned his body to look at her

"What did All Might mean when he said 'Her'?"

"Ah yes, her. You'll see soon enough, but let's just call her... an old friend of his."

...

Meanwhile, in the city zone. Midoriya is giving his body a good stretch as per All Might's orders

'Mr. Yang, I wonder who All Might called, and what practical it is.'

'It is highly likely that it's gonna be a fight with a hero, given how Nezu said something about physical demonstration, it's gonna be someone strong, like-'

Before Welt could finish his sentence, both of them hear a crash from behind

"So you're the punk I've been told about!" A booming voice on par with All Might yells out behind them followed by a burst of air

"I-is that... Stars and Stripes!?"

"The one and only! And I got a call that I'm supposed to beat you up?"

'So that's what All Might's call was' Welt commented

"Come on then! Give me your best shot!"

Before Midoriya was able to act, the PA system made a sound reminiscent of a record scratch

"Midoriya, please do not hold back and use your quirk to the level equal to what you used against Shigaraki!" The familiar voice of Nezu spoke out

"HUH!? You were gonna hold back? Did you think I wasn't strong enough for that quirk of yours? Come on, give me your all!"

Midoriya silently apologised for what he's about to do, he puts his hand out, his thumb prepared to flick his middle finger

"Existence Erasure 200% Quasi Black Hole: Ansekishoku"

"NOW WE'RE TALKING! New Order, grant Catheleen Bates the ability to hold non-physical attacks" SS grinned while holding her hands up to block

In an instant, multiple cameras went offline, and all the other screens showed a different angle of SS, with a bit of her torso and entire left arm gone along with a massive stretch of the city behind her, leaving the Big Three taken aback, All Might stunned, Aizawa nodding, and Nezu smirking

"Hehehe. How interesting!" Nezu giggled

"If Young Midoriya decided to go for the head..." All Might muttered out

"SnS would've died, but he knew how powerful his strongest attack would be and aimed not to kill." Aizawa said

"How much was he holding back when we fought?" Mirio questioned

"If he wanted to kill you, he could've done so with the flick of his finger" Aizawa bluntly explained

"That's... terrifying to think about..." Tamaki said standing in the corner

"Woah! His quirk is crazy strong!" Nejire cheered with her eyes sparkling

"New Order, grant Cathleen Bates super regeneration." SS said gritting her teeth

In mere moments, SS's body and left arm was completely healed.

"Haha! you are way stronger than I first expected, but that attack wasn't gonna keep me down for long!" SS yelled out with excitement

"This is gonna be a great show of hax hehehahahaha!" Nezu said while sipping his cup of tea, with everyone in the surveillance room staring at him

SS rushes to punch Midoriya in the face, but is stopped by Zeno's Paradox, confusing her greatly

"What the-"

Midoriya then grabs SS holding her in place as a red blade protrudes from Midoriya's shadow, which stabs her right in the stomach. SS was able to shake off Midoriya and throw him into a building as her wound heals

"Right, I forgot to mention..." Midoriya softly says, stepping through the hole in the building unharmed, with an eight-handled wheel floating behind his head

"Wait, that wheel..." Tamaki perks up from the seat he was in

"Young Amajiki, What is it?" All Might expressed his concern to his sudden comment

"That's... the Wheel of Dharma, " Tamaki continued

"Isn't that from that one show you watch?" Mirio asked

"Yeah... the blade, too. This could only be..." Tamaki said

"...thus unable to harm me." Midoriya explained why SS couldn't hit him, "And this," He gestured to the wheel behind him, "is the wheel associated with..."

"The Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga." Midoriya and Tamaki accidentally said in sync

"Isn't that the one whose main gimmick adapting to any and all phenomena?" Mirio asked

"You... r-remembered?" Tamaki said

"Duh, I've been listening to you talk about it for ages, dude. It was gonna stick at some point" Mirio said while lightly punching Tamaki in the shoulder

"So... what does that mean?" All Might asked

"Y-you can see for yourself..." Tamaki said gesturing to the screen

Midoriya ran straight towards SS choreographing a large right hook towards her

"How sloppy. I'll show you never to make your strikes so obvious!"

Moments before Midoriya makes it to her, he claps his hand behind his back and disappears from her sights, appearing to her left, pointing his index and middle finger towards SS and flicking his wrist.

Reddish-Black lightning slashed across her back causing deep cuts which were healed within seconds.

*klink*

"Ooh! ooh! the wheel spun! That's good right, Tamaki?" Nejire asked Tamaki while pointing towards the screen

"N-not for SS... The wheel spinning means it's adapting to her..." Tamaki said "When it conpletes a full rotation, Midoriya will have fully adapted to SS"

"But what could it be adapting to, her durability?" All Might wondered

"Not what I think! It has to be her regeneration, her durability is pretty insignificant if his attack was able to just erase her entire arm with one attack, but her regeneration seems to be able to heal any attack that doesn't instantly kill her..." Nezu said "Each kind of super regeneration has different limits, I wonder how he's gonna adpt to hers!"

"New Order, grant Cathleen Bates the ability to ignore gravity manipulation"

"She's trading her regeneration for the ability to hit Midoriya" Nezu said aftee making an intrigued hm

SS launches into to punch Midoriya who tries to block with his hand, ending up with the bones in his fingers shattered, causing him to shriek and teleporting away

"You're not that strong without your quirk, huh?" SS said in a more mocking tone

Midoriya could only glare with his glowing red eyes, gritting his teeth trying to bear the pain of his absolutely destroyed hand

"Oh my god..." Nejire said while looking at Midoriya's hand with her palm over her mouth

All Might and Aizawa's faces turned serious, Mirio and Tamaki worried, and Nezu still grinning

"New Order, grant Catheleen Bates super regeneration"

"She's used both of her conditions to hard counter Midoriya" Aizawa muttered

'Midoriya, she has completely countered Star of Eden, your normal strategies aren't gonna work here, you lack the raw strength to harm her, and you can't boost your punches since she's immune to gravity manipulation.'

'I need Mahoraga to adapt to her regeneration before we can do anything'

'You're limiting yourself by trying to rely on Mahoraga, you have to be able to use your entire arsenal. Mahoraga can definitely benefit you, but you must be able to fight without it.'

'Hrm, I think I have an idea'

Midoriya creates bandages for his arm to keep it from injuring it further.

Suddenly, a large volume of reddish black smoke appears in front of Midoriya

"Smokescreen?" Mirio went from worried to confused

Multiple Reddish Black tendrils shoot out from within the smoke, some going towards SS, some grabbing hold of larger pieces of rubble

"Blackwhip" All Might said just as confused as Mirio is

"He's mimicking you, Mirio!" Nejire excitedly shouts

"But why he's doing that is my question." Mirio continues to watch seeing if he can get an answer

While SS was busy dodging the tendrils that were flying towards here, she had to block the debris flying her way from the sides, unable to focus on Midoriya himself

"T-there!" Tamaki whisper shouted while pointing to one of the screens

All of them turn to look and on the screen is a blur of forest green, then Midoriya appearing on a different screen with his hand in a finger gun

A laser right through the shoulder

*klink*

"T-the second turn"

SS turns towards the origin of the laser while the wound was healing

Bullets to the back

*klink*

"The third."

The bullet holes healed over within moments, with the bullet popping out

Another green blur appeared on the screens, ending up right in front of SS, stabbing a knife right into her abdomen

Midoriya then gets grabbed by the back of his collar and suspended in the air so he's face to face with SS

"And what was that knife supposed to achieve?" SS taunted while pulling the knife out

"This" Midoriya said with a massive grin

*klink*

"A full rotation! How exciting!"

In the blink of an eye, the arm holding Midoriya up was sliced off, with him landing onto the ground, the wheel disappearing, and from his shadow

"T-that's... Mahoraga"

A 11 foot tall mechanical being, with wings instead of eyes, a tail on the back of its head, the wheel suspended above it, and a blade on its wrist covered in what seems to be fire

"Ohoho, so that's how you're doing it!"

"This became a lot more interesting!" SS exclaimed with the crack of her neck

"...why is it not healing"

"Mahoraga has already adapted to your super regeneration"

"No matter, I'll deal with you just fine. New Order, grant Cathleen Bates the physical feats of All Might" Cathleen says while coming into contact with her severed arm which freezes instantly

In no time, Mahoraga closes the distance and stabs its blade deep into her stomach, making her couch up blood, with her punching it in the face, flinging it metres away

"New Order, grant Cathleen Bates the ability to ignore gravity manipulation" she whispered

SS charges Midoriya with her fist cocked back ready to punch him until

"The physical assessment has ended" Nezu's voice rang out across the mock city

Everything stopped with SS's fist inches away from Midoriya's face and Mahoraga's blade touching the skin on her neck

"That was an amazing show of strength, Mr. Midoriya! And thank you, Stars and Stripes for helping us with this small demonstration!"

"You really gave me a run for my money, kid!" Cathleen gave Midoriya a few pats on the back

"Stars and Strips, y-your arm! I'm so so sorry" Midoriya apologised for hurting her so badly

"Haha, it's nothing to worry about, I froze it to absolute zero the moment it touched the ground, and I have a medical specialist back at the plane, I'll be A-okay, how's your hand?"

"It is... completely numb"

"Yes yes I hear you, I'm coming" the sounds of an old lady was heard to Midoriya's left and Star's right

"Recovery Girl!"

"Hello Midoriya, just sit still for a bit as I *mwah*" Rocovery Girl kisses Midoriya on the cheek

*snore mimimimi*

Midoriya proceeds to just pass out with his broken fingers healing

"Woah, I guess he used a bit more of his stamina than I thought" Star commented

"And Miss Stars and Stripes, I... don't think I can heal that"

"Don't worry about it at all, I know a guy who knows a guy... that I should probably ring up... I need to make a call, I guess I'll be seeing you guys another time then. Ciao!"

Star goes to pick up her severed arm and flies off to her jet and to make a call, right on time with the arrival of those in the spectator room.

"What an exhilarating show of power!"

"How's Midoriya? Is he alright?" Nejire clearly worried flying over to where Midoriya was laying

"There's no need to worry, Hado. Just like every other time he's been in my office, it's only due to exhaustion. As strong as his quirk is, he really needs to work on his stamina. And you!" Recovery Girl reassures Nejire but then turns to Nezu

"What were you thinking putting a first year again Stars and Stripes. No, not even just a first year, someone with only a year's experience with their quirk, against the strongest person in America? As someone who claims to have the quirk High IQ, that wasn't a very smart move." Recovery Berated Nezu

"I understand how it would be idiotic if it was any other first year. But Midoriya had bested Togata multiple times during their sparring matches, this was the logical next step. Stars and Stripes is weaker physically, but has the means necessary to actually hit Midoriya. But! I would call this a win for Midoriya, if he were an American hero, he could've gone for the kill first move in and would've won. Maybe he could be considered to take the provisional exam..." Nezu explained

"Are you serious, Nezu? We are barely a month into the school year, the second years just heard about the exam. We are not sending a first year to take the exam with them!" Dadzawa strikes again

"He is clearly skilled enough already to take on anything they can send, smart enough to ace all of our tests, and you saw what he did when there were people that needed to be rescued in the USJ, I think he's ready."

"I agree that he does have the skills, but why do we need to rush his progress, we're already giving him enough special attention with this alone. If we push him to take the provisional exam, we would be pushing him up to mid second year progress."

"The thing is, he already aces the third year tests I have given him, he only lacks the experience, but from this battle alone, he already has more than enough battle IQ to contend with the third years, no hero in Japan has a quirk that can blatantly counter Midoriya's quirk like Stars and Stripes can. If Midoriya can be neck and neck with someone who has the ability to fully ignore half of his kit, he can content with anyone on the hero billboard. He can easily make it to No. 1 in this state."

"That does not justify the fact that we're sacrificing his social life here for a strong hero. These three years are the most influencial years in a person's social life. I met Nemuri and Hamada here when we were second years, and we're still in contact with each other and working together after more than a decade. Are we seriously discussing sacrificing Midoriya's social life just so we can have a new No. 1 hero a few years early?"

"Even I can attest to how lonely it is at the top, I met David when I was still training as a hero back in America, but we never had the time to talk after I got to no. 1 aside from a short phone call every few months. He was busy with making support gear, and I was busy saving Japan. If we rush him to be a hero, who will he have in his life. As strong as he is, he's still only 15, at least more than half the third years will be over 18, and some just shy of it by the end of the school year. Comparitively, he's just a kid." Small Might butted into the conversation

"I see how it can be damaging to his social life, my apologies. But you cannot deny how beneficial it would be for him to hold a Provisional Hero License." Nezu defended

"And have him skip the Sports Festival? Absolutely not."

"It would be worse for everyone involved if he were to take part in it. Midoriya has already outpaced everyone academically and practically in the third years, even more so the first years. A student with this much potential comes once in a millenia, not even All Might had this level of potential when he was a student here, and he completely demolished everyone in the sports festival. There's no point having Midoriya partake in the sports festival if we already know the outcome of it."

"Midoriya still deserves a chance to participate in this annual event, a chance to know the students from the other classes, the chance to work with his classmates."

"Be honest with me, Aizawa. Who can he work with without being held back. He has a better gravity quirk than Uraraka, a better creation quirk that Yaoyorozu, and I could go on. Midoriya's quirk is all of their quirks amped up to their max potential and then some, forcing him to stay back is inhibiting his potential."

"Hrmph" Aizawa could only grunt because Nezu made valid points

The Big Three could only stand and watch like children witnessing a divorce. All Might could only get one sentence in before he knew it wasn't his conversation to be a part of

"Then that settles it! Midoriya will be taking part in the Provisional Hero Exam along with the second years. I'll deliver him the news so you won't have to. Now can we take Midoriya into the medical room instead of laying on a pile of concrete!"

A/N Who did you think was right, Aizawa or Nezu or both. And sorry for the really late upload, got really busy with a new school and all that

Chapter Text

Near a river in Northwest Greece, a baby girl was born, olive skin, violet eyes with pink highlights that sparkled with a gleam of hope, her name, 雷電 アステリア( Raiden Asteria). Born to a Greek mother and a Japanese father. Her mother worked in newsletter writing. Her quirk allowed her to manipulate ink that were on paper, allowing her to fix mistakes even after printing. Her father was a hero, rank 97. He made his way to the top 100 with his quirk which allowed allowed him to create and manipulate purple lightning in a 2 metre radius, using his signature weapon, a gold and purple naginata, he was able to rise up the ranks through besting villains with a blade, his lightning allowing him to use his weapon like a taser, stunning and disorienting opponents with every slash. He was a man of honour through and through, choosing to only best villains with his skill and skill alone, which led to his downfall...

During one of his encounters, only a month after the birth of his child, he was in a stand off face to face with a villain in a cross road, roads were blocked off by the police force. The pitter-patter of rain hitting the asphalt, the booms and cracks of thunder in the upper atmosphere, the perfect scene for a duel. The hero, Raiden Shogun had stopped the police force and other heroes from assisting him, stating that it wouldn't be an honourable fight, standing opposite and glaring at him was the villain who had the ability to extend blades from his knuckles.

After a fierce battle, the victor was clear. Three blades were stabbed right through the hero's stomach, the hero dropping his weapon, the lightning that circled around the tip ceasing completely. The hero died a warrior's death. The villain had no underhanded tactics, not cards up their sleeves. The hero was truly bested in combat. The villain then surrendered, knowing he was surrounded by heroes and knew it was pointless to resist; the hero shared the same thoughts, but instead of heroes, it was darkness. The hero succumbed to the drowsiness and slept...forever.

All of this was broadcast live to the citizens of Greece, including a mother who was holding her newborn child. Tears streamed down the woman's face as she saw her husband, the father of her child, be murdered live on television. He know his personality, he knew how much he preached about having a "warrior's death" and how much of an honour it would be, she spent years trying to warn him, but he never changed, each patrol, each mission, worried her more. She could only stare blankly at the television, watching as the rain washed away the blood of her husband into the drainage system. She couldn't muster enough strength to scream or sob, she tried making any kind of sound, but only a choking sound could be heard, mucus building up in her nasal cavity, her throat muscles tightening. She looks at the child in her arms, her face, her violet eyes, the mole on the lower right corner of her right eye. It all reminded the woman of her husband.

"I won't let anything hurt you."

Years passed, and now it's time for Asteria to receive her quirk diagnosis

"Welcome, Mrs. Raiden. This must be your daughter, isn't she a cute little girl. So what brings you into my offices?" The doctor said as she pinched Asteria's cheeks

"Well, my little girl here had just turned 4 last week and was itching to know what her quirk was. She kept asking me day after day when I had a day off, and that day was today, haha." Mrs. Raiden explained to the doctor

"Ah, I see. That makes sense. Come on now, little miss..." The doctor stopped for a few seconds to look into her file "...Asteria. We'll need to do a few tests next door to see what your quirk is."

The doctor and Asteria went into the next room. After a few minutes, the two of them coming back out

"Mrs. Raiden, is this your daughter?" The doctor asked as she walked into the room holding Asteria

"Yes, she is? I thought I told you a few minutes ago." Mrs. Raiden said in a confused tone

"Oh... Her quirk is a lot stronger than I thought it was..." The doctor said, holding her head

"What do you mean, doctor?" The woman asked, worried

"Well... maybe you should see for yourself." The doctor said as she handed the woman a piece of paper

Name: Raiden Asteria
Age: 4 years old
Quirk: Living Shadow
Quirk type: automatic emitter
Quirk Description: All information and memories concerning the user will be altered. The quirk would increase in strength from age 4 to age 6. The user will be erased from the narrative, and the consequences of their actions remained, but the user themselves would not.

At age 4, the quirk makes people start forgetting the user, only sparing those closest to them. At age 5, documents referring to the user disappears, medical reports, birth certificates, etc. At age 6, the user will have completely been forgotten, and their identity completely erased from the narrative. Any new connections will disappear within minutes.

"Mommy! Mommy! What's my quirk, mommy?" A young Asteria asks

"I'm... I'm so... so sorry..." Mrs. Raiden says as she sobs and sobs cradling her daughter, the file dropping to the floor, its contents spread on the floor, hiding nothing.

The girl was only 4, she hadn't learnt to read or write, not understanding what the report on the floor said she could only look towards her mother and the doctor, the former not able to form coherent sentences, and the latter only being able to look away in pity. The raven-haired girl could only stare blankly at the ground, wondering what her quirk was that made the two adults act so weirdly

The mother and daughter finally made it back home. The mother left her daughter at the door and immediately rushed into her room and locked the door. First, she lost her husband, and two years later, she would lose her only child, too. Her mouth wouldn't form sentences, legs were weak, arms were heavy, she felt like she failed as a mother and as a wife, she could only sit on the floor, back pressed against her bed frame and break down.

On the other hand, Asteria, she slowly took off her shoes and placed them at the door and entered her home. Her movements were calm and collected, her face was aloof and distant, her mind was sprinting, she never got a chance to know what her quirk was, she thought that she had disappointed her mother with a weak quirk, she had to know what her quirk was and how to use it to its fullest.

It was the next morning and time for Asteria to wake up for school. Unlike every other day, her mother didn't come into her room to wake her up, the girl walked outside of her room to see her mother with dead, lifeless eyes staring at a wall while eating breakfast

"M-mommy?" The little girl asked

"Oh, hello, dear." The mother answered while still not averting her gaze

"I-I'm sorry about my quirk..." The girl said in a sad tone while walking to her mother

"No... it's my fault, I... failed you... I failed all of you, I'm so sorry..." The woman said as she dropped onto her knees to hug her daughter

The morning went by quietly, neither of them striking up a conversation. It was an awkward breakfast, to say the least. But, it was soon time for Asteria to head to school. Asteria at school was different from most kids. She never had many friends. It wasn't because other children didn't like her. The opposite, in fact, the others loved her. Asteria's violet eyes, long, raven-coloured hair, aura of mystery, it attracted the eyes and thoughts of many of the children. But when they tried talking to her, she'd only respond with short answers or she didn't pay attention to what was said. Some kids didn't mind. They liked how straightforward she was and didn't let much bother her.

"Hello." Asteria said, walking into the classroom

"Hi, Asty! How've you been?" A boy yelled as he ran up to her

"Good. You?"

"I've been really happy, mommy and daddy took me with then to McDonald's to celebrate me getting my quirk!"

"Fun."

"You also got your quirk checked, too, right?!"

"Yes."

"Do you know what it is?"

"No. The doctor did not tell me."

"That's weird, but I know you'll have a really strong quirk! Then we can both be the best heroes!"

"Maybe so."

The optimism from Asteria's best friend is a much needed distraction from the sobs and gloominess of her mother, but Asteria would never say that to her own mother.

The days seem to go by with nothing out of the ordinary until one day after school. Asteria came home from school with her mother. Her mother only had a sad expression, not a single word during the entire walk, until they made it into their house.

"Sweetie, can we... talk?"

"Sure, mum. Did I do something wrong?"

"N-no... I did something wrong, I- I'm sorry..."

Acheron could only flashback to her quirk diagnosis where her mother didn't say anything to her other than the word sorry

"Is this... about my quirk?"

"You were always so smart. I wish I could see you grow up..."

"Wha- what do you m-mean?"

"I've waited too long to tell you... it's time you know about what your quirk does..."

[15 minute explanation later]

"S-so... I'll - I'll lose everything?"

"I'm so sorry... it-it's all my fault... if - if you didn't get a quirk like mine... then you- you-"

Asteria's mother couldn't continue as she broke down in her living room, blaming herself for her daughter's condition. Aster was sitting next to her in the couch in shock over what her quirk was, complete alteration of memories and reality, it's the strongest quirk she has ever heard in her life, but a quirk that seemed so much like a curse. Her mind was flooding with ideas on how to use this quirk to her advantage, but it would always end up with her being all alone. Is this what they meant when they said "it's lonely at the top", she could become the best undercover hero in existence, but she undoubtedly would be completely without support, no friends, no family. She was completely conflicted with how to feel, causing her physical body to completely shut down, staring blankly at her sobbing mother.

Days would pass since the conversation, but their relationship would never be the same. They both cared for each other deeply but couldn't muster up the courage to look at each other, Asteria struck with sadness, her mother with grief. Asteria's relationship with her classmates weren't any better, those that were in different classes have all completely forgotten about her, those in her class have forgotten things like likes and dislikes, one of her classmates were spared though, a blue-haired boy named Михаил мечтатель (Mikhail Mechtatel'), a Russian transfer student, his quirk allowed him to manipulate dreams. He was the only classmate closest to Asteria, eventually Asteria told him everything about her quirk, saying there wasn't much time left, but as optimistic as Mikhail is, all he could think was how much they could make their last remaining time worth it.

That was Asteria's last year in school. She was pulled out of school by her mother before 5 years old because documents about her existence had almost all been erased or modified due to her quirk. By the time she left, no one cared, not even Mikhail, because even he forgot about Asteria, only existing in his dreams, never to touch and never to keep. Asteria watched as her only friend forgot more and more every day, until they were nothing but strangers.

The relationship between Asteria and her mother had slowly been restoring. Her mother had been teaching her life skills like cooking, reading, and writing. It was earlier than the mother expected, but knowing how Asteria's quirk worked, the earlier the better.

Time passes, and now Asteria is already at sweet 16, but her 16 really isn't that sweet. She's surviving off of stolen ingredients and plants she was able to grow out in the woods.

In Greece, there was a resurgence of one of their goddesses, Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft, a mysterious being unseen by mortal eye. Anyone who dared to enter the forest she resided in would not only lose their memories of their time in it and most of their money in their pockets. Who knows what the god wants with mortal cash.

Little do the people know, their goddess, was just a teen dealt a shit hand.

Soon enough, some basic necessities, fabric, a sewing kit, and a public shower.

"A-ah, sorry!"

"It's okay, no worries..." said a dashing young boy, with messy light blue hair

"Hm?"

"O-oh, nothing. You just seemed... familiar." 'Isn't this the young girl in my dreams? Who is she?"

"Ah... I see, I get that sometimes, it's alright." 'I'm sorry, Mikhail. I can never be your friend. There's no point in telling you either, because you'll just forget again.'

The two of them go their separate ways, both thinking of the other person, but for two completely different reasons. Mikhail returns to his land of dreams to see if he can find more information about this mysterious raven haired girl.

The girl has no energy to continue with her sewing, instead she sobs in her mattress thinking about the boy that she once called her friend, silently hoping the pain will go away, but it never does.

Between the sniffles, a voice could be heard from the other side of the window, the crying girl looks up into the starry night and sees... it. Saw what she considered a myth, a formless being made of pure darkness, an empty void, the fabled IX of Nihility. Legend has it. Only those who have had lost all hope are able to sense its looming presence. It requires a complete void of dreams and aspirations to be able witness IX.

The girl continues to stare at the being, confused and shaken by its sudden appearance, until...

IX is shifted around by one of the universe's cosmic rays and rotates ever so slightly, but just enough so that...

They make eye contact

A wave of drowsiness and emptiness washed over as she fell into a deep slumber due to a mixture of exhaustion from crying and the effects of entering IX's gaze...

*pitter-patter pitter-patter*

The recognisable sound of light rain beats against the girl's eardrums, which causes her to wake up. But this was not her room. This was someplace completely unknown.

Standing up, she realised what the floor was. It was a thin layer of water, under it was an inky dark void that only showed her reflection when she looked into it, there were no stars, not anything. Just and a dark void.

Suddenly, a row of red anemones flowers bloomed in front of her, a streak of purple lightning bouncing across them, guiding the girl forward.

"Mother?"

A wave of shock and surprise hits the teen as she sees a flickering red hologram of her and her mother from more than a decade ago.

She tries running towards it, but the moment she makes contact, it shatters into thousands of tiny shards.

Another memory flickers into existence metres away from the last one, showing a little boy and a little girl talking under a tree.

"Mikhail..."

New memories appear but are quickly destroyed over and over again, leading her further and further, until she's face to face with a black hole

The girl stares intently at the pitch black hole in space, not a sound escaping her lips.

She closes her eyes and stops fighting the black hole's pull. A single tear is shed from her right eye as she is pulled into the cold encompassing void.

The girl sits up in a patch of grass in the middle of nowhere, confused on where she is. Surrounding her, a patch of red anemones. In her hand, a long katana. Etched on the sheath "The Blade of Entropy"

She follows a dirt path down what she could only assume to be a mountain that she had awakened from. After walking for what seems to be forever, she sees writing on a sign a few metres away. It's in characters completely unfamiliar to her, but in really small font, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Decades have passed since her appearance in Japan. , now known as Acheron, for how they caused blood to flow like a river. An untraceable vigilante whose only proof of existence were the Red Anemone flowers that their blade leaves on the wounds of the fallen.

She had morals of her own that wouldn't coincide with those of The Hero Commissions. Acheron killed villains, heroes, and civilians. Her blade did not discriminate between what society deemed them to be. The blade is the final judgement of all, the catalyst for entropy. Acheron is guided by the blade to where her next mission is, without the need to stop for any bodily needs, for she is but a vessel for the universe's cosmic emptiness...

One fateful evening, Midoriya was walking back home from the beach when he heard a scream that was cut off and the sound of liquid splattering. He immediately runs over to see what was happening, to see the silhouette of a woman with a sword.

Hundreds of thoughts ran through Midoriya's mind when the pool of blood flowed past his shoes.

'The sword, the massive injury, the flowers...'

'She looks familiar... this can't be...'

The two, almost in unison

"Acheron?!"/'...Acheron?'

"Hmm?" The woman had a low hum in curiosity

She turned her upper body to glare at the boy that stood behind the hero she had just killed

"So you've heard of me?"

"How could I've not? You're... the untraceable vigilante who has been killing all these people."

"I only do as the universe guides me to. I do not kill out of enjoyment but of bringing the universe to its state of maximum entropy."

Acheron takes a small step towards Midoriya

"So you found out who Acheron is, what is it that you wish to do."

She takes another step

"D-don't you dare come closer!"

Midoriya readies for a battle with Acheron if she tried to do anything

"I would not wish to harm you in any way, child. It is not what the universe has planned for you."

Acheron starts to pick up her pace towards Midoriya, who, in reaction, starts to summon a black hole in front of him.

'Midoriya, if this Acheron is anything like the one I knew of, you are not ready to face her in battle.'

'You know who Acheron is?'

'Well, I know the Acheron that I met from an alternate universe. She was an Emanator.'

'Emanator?'

'Basically someone who directly obtains powers from an Aeon, a god-like being that embodies a concept. For Acheron, it was IX of Nihility. Emanators are immensely powerful mortals. If she is anything like the one I knew, then she too is one of the more powerful beings in the universe.'

Midoriya then suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder

"You should really pay attention when you're fighting someone."

"Wai- wha- You're not attacking me?"

"There wouldn't be a point. You won't remember who I am to tell anyone anyway. It's my quirk, like you said, untraceable."

Acheron just leaves a confused Midoriya in that alleyway

'Midoriya, we should probably high tail it out of here. If we leave any dna here, we're cooked. Is that how you use that word?'

'I'm... not that well-versed in slang, either. But you're probably right. We should get out of here'

"...my condolences to the family of that hero and to the community he swore to protect, thank you."

"Hey mum, I'm-"

"Are you hurt in any way!"

"Mum, I'm fine. Why are you asking? All I did was some light cardio."

"There was this vigilante here in Mustafu, and they just killed a hero, right next to the underground ramen shop we would go to."

"Wait, what?!"

Midoriya lied as naturally as he breathed. So, the discussion about Acheron continued in the Midoriya household, but this would not be the only time Midoriya would see this mysterious ̶m̶i̶l̶f̶ woman from the alleyway.

Chapter Text

"Izuku! The sports festival is today, isn't it? Are you excited? I'm sorry I couldn't buy tickets, but they were sold out so fast. I'll still be supporting you by watching it live on TV!" Inko said while cooking breakfast for Midoriya

"Ah... the thing is... I'm not gonna be participating."

"You're not participating? But you watched it every year saying how much you wanted to join. Why back out now?"

"It wasn't by choice. The principal signed me up to take the provisional licence exam..."

.

.

.

'Way too bright, but also comfy bed... wait, why am I in the medical room again?'

'We passed out again, Midoriya.'

'Oh.'

"Morning sleepyhead, you've been resting for a while." The voice of a familiar old lady was heard

"Ughhh... RG? Did I fail the practical?"

"Quite the contrary, Midoriya!"

Izuku failed to notice the small white chimaera that was sitting in a plastic chair right next to Izuku's bed

"Ah, Nezu! What are you doing here?"

"Well, the first thing on the agenda. I wanted to congratulate you. You did wonderfully against Stars & Stripes. You were quite close to defeating her, although you did miss two chances to win, I do not fault you for them as you have been taught to maintain a No Kill rule. Even so, you fared much better than even many fully-fledged pro heroes as a first year with only a year's experience with your quirk, no less, I'm very impressed."

"O-oh. Thank you, sir. It was an honour to spar with Stars and Stripes."

"Second thing, you know how you have been training with The Big Three for the upcoming Sports Festival?"

"Uhh yeah?"

"Well, change of plans! Instead of that, I've personally signed you up to take the Provisional Licence exam just a bit earlier."

"Wait, what?! When is the exam?"

"Oh! How eager, it's in a week!"

"HUH!?"

"You'll be fine. You've aced all of the tests I've given you so far, and I'm curious to see how well you'll do compared to some of the other 2nd and 3rd years taking the exam from other schools. Hehehe. BUT! We do have some paperwork we must go through..."

.
.
.

"...so that's what happened in the medical room."

"You're telling me you fought the number 1 hero of America and almost won?"

"Pretty much. I did get some pointers on how I could've won in that fight if I did some things differently."

"I'm so proud of how much you've grown. I... I said something awful to you... I've always regretted that. Back then... I just gave up on you... But you never quit, Izuku. You kept chasing your dreams. I'm sorry, Izuku. So now I'll be cheering you on with everything I've got! Now go get your provisional licence, I know you can do it!" Inko ran to hug Izuku and sobbed into his PJs

"Hey, mum, I'm fine. What has happened already has. I'll be late for the bus soon." Izuku said while patting his mother on the back

"Oh my! You're right, go go get changed!"

An hour later, in Class-1A's homeroom.

"Dudeeee, what happened to your hair!"

"IDK man! I just sneezed this morning, and my hair just won't work with me!"

In the classroom, there is Kaminari, with his hair spiked up like a super saiyan, Kirishima trying to help restyle his hair to no avail, Mina holding her phone up to take photos, laughing alongside Jiro.

"Could this be because of his quirk? Because from what I know, static electricity can cause hair to, quote-unquote, fly away. Since Kaminari can generate even more powerful electric pulses with his quirk, it could have caused the spiky hair."

"Alright, that's enough."

"Aizawa-sensei! I apologise, I was simply-"

"Yes, I know. Now get back to your seats, everyone. I need to make sure everyone's here before we leave."

"Wait, where are we going?"

"It's the sports festival, you Saiyan cosplayer."

"Oh my god! You're right!"

"But sir, Midoriya isn't here yet."

"He won't be here."

"Why, sir? Is he sick?"

"No. He's being taken out of the Sports Festival at the principal's request. Other than that, it's confidential."

"Why does that damn nerd get special treatment?!"

"I wasn't for the decision either, but the principal's words are final. He is being taken out of the Sports Festival, and that is it. Are there any other unrelated questions?"

Everyone shook their head.

"Good. The bus is already at the front gate. Follow me in silence, I have to deal with Present Mic yelling in my ears for 5 hours."

Meanwhile...

"Ah, Principal Nezu, it's odd to see you attend this in person. What's the occasion?"

"I have been personally tutoring a student, and I merely wished to see his growth myself."

"That's rare, I'll keep an eye on him."

In Takoba National Stadium, the students gathered in groups with their respective schools, all aside from one, Midoriya, who was standing alone in a pretty spacious zone.

The students were all looking at him as he walked up to where U.A. was assigned. Some had their eyes in a glare, and some started to chit-chat. Midoriya just looked at the podium, in front of the room waiting for something to happen.

"Okay, settle down. This is an exam venue."

The stadium chatter completely died down, and a skinny man in a charcoal grey suit with a light blue tie stood on the podium in front of the students.

"You all know why you are here, so I'll keep this short. There are two sections to the test. The first section is a free-for-all, though logically, you wouldn't target those from your school. You will be given three discs to attach to your hero costume. They are 'weak points', rubber balls will be placed throughout the arena that you need to find. When the discs are hit, they will change from green to red, if all three of your weak points are hit, then you have failed. The last twenty students who remain get to proceed to the next section. In the second section, the arena will be transformed into disaster zones. The pretence is that there was a villain terrorist attack, there are no emergency responders, and you will have to carry out a rescue operation. Have I made myself clear?"

The question was met with silence from the crowd

"Good. The exit into the arena is to your left."

The students rushed to the exit, trying to get it first. One of them tried to bump into Midoriya's shoulder only to be stopped by... nothing?

No reaction, Midoriya didn't stagger, didn't say anything. He knew the student did it on purpose. He did not need to reason to apologise, so he just stood there waiting for the people to funnel into the exits, not responding to the student's frustration.

After some time, the first part of the exam started, and students were randomly placed in a random portion of the arena to start, Midoriya was in a city area.

'I need to get something to throw.'

'There's a high chance that there are balls inside these buildings'

Midoriya walks into one of the buildings and sees the place ransacked, with open drawers and doors. Midoriya went up the floors, one by one. Until he sees a closed door

'There must be a trap here."

'Do I just blast it open?'

'You probably shouldn't. The other students might be behind the door, and besides, I'm pretty sure you're unable to be hit anyway.'

"True."

And as they expected, the moment Midoriya opened the door, he was pelted by red rubber balls.

The balls stopped mid-air and were pushed aside by Midoriya's hand

"Are you done with those?"

Reddish black lightning sparks from Midoriya's wrists, and tendrils shoot out, grabbing hold of all the rubber balls. Two words, bullet hell. With a few alterations to Zeno's Paradox, Midoriya made it so that the balls would bend around Midoriya while keeping their momentum instead of stopping. The black tendrils flung the balls all around the room, and within seconds, all of the students were hit and disqualified.

"You! You're that U.A. student, aren't you? Just because you got us doesn't mean it'll go that easily for you later."

"Allow me to let you in on a little tradition here. We like to call it The Crushing of U.A., you'll understand why it's called that later on! So long, U.A. scum!"

The students were promptly taken away from the battlefield

'Crushing of U.A. huh? Mr Yang, would you know of anything like that?'

'My apologies, I have never studied hero selections of other countries too in-depth. I can't help in this department.'

'If they're so interested in targeting me, I'll give them all I've got!'

The entire stadium shook and the ground cracked. A loud bellow came from the metropolitan zone, that of a large untamed beast. The students all turned their attention towards the southwest. A massive maroon-coloured reptilian head stretched upwards towards the sky.

Two students in the middle of combat stopped and looked towards the maw

"Holy shit! It's Godzilla!"

"It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not."

"Still! We should run like it is!"

"Even though it isn't."

The two scream in unison and run, a chunk of debris landing right where the two students were before they ran

A colossal mech rises from the city district, towering over the stadium at almost 80m tall. The teachers from the other hero schools look on in horror, while Nezu just grins and pulls a teacup out from his inventory screen.

Another roar came from the titanic mech, and a beam of concentrated fire spewed forth from its jaws, firing upon the masses while it ambled around the stadium. A silhouette leaps off the titan, a thin string attached to the back of the mech.

Students were suddenly hit by red rubber balls all around the mech disqualified. Students dropped like flies until, in an instant, the mech disappeared into wisps of red smoke.

600 students, now only down to 43, Midoriya saw no reason for the mech, now standing in a crater in the middle of the stadium, trying to catch his breath.

"There he is!"
"I don't think it's worth it, man..."

The crater was surrounded by the remaining students. They look at Midoriya, then back at each other, then at Midoriya again...

Then a stray ball hits one of the students. It was from among the crowd. They've given up targeting Midoriya. The Crushing of UA is over.

Midoriya stands alone in the crater and just watches everything unfold. They have turned on each other, and Midoriya was no longer the target and worth the hassle. He had survived.

[Some time la-]

A ball smacks right into Midoriya's face, his glasses getting hit off and shattering on the ground.

Midoriya turns to see who threw the ball. There was a girl, with short pink hair in a bob cut, floating towards him, dressed in what seemed to be a modified wedding gown.

"You. What is your name?"

"Wha- how did that hit me?"

"I saw what happened in the city district. Your abilities are familiar. You seem... familiar."

"What could you possibly mean? I don't think I have ever seen you before."

"You are a Herrscher as well, aren't you?"

This made Midoriya stagger slightly, not knowing what to do, he retreated into his head to think about his next course of action

'Mr. Yang, do you have any idea who this is?'

'Looking more closely, I think I have an idea of who she's connected to. The Herrscher of Origin, Elysia. I have never met her in person during my time as the Herrscher of Reason for she was a part of the Previous Era, long before I was born, but I have read about her in books. As her name suggests, she is the origin of what you now know as Herrscher cores. She was an anomaly, something similar to the glowing baby when quirks appeared. Not much is known about her aside from her control over Honkai Energy, so if the person in front of us knew that we were a Herrscher, it means two things.'

'She can detect Honkai Energy, and she knows what a Herrscher is, which means she must have some knowledge of Elysia or is Elysia herself.'

'Good analysis, from what I know, Elysia is dead, having sacrificed herself for humanity. Though, I cannot be sure if it was just a myth. She also must be rather sensitive to Honkai Energy, quirks and Herrscher Cores are both products of Honkai Energy, and thus, the ability to detect them assists in differentiating them, but doesn't guarantee it.'

"How did you-?"

"I was lying, you fell for it, bluff! Hm-hm!"

"Wait, what?"

"I could only see that you either had a really powerful quirk, or you got hold of a Herrscher Core. You took a real long time in that head of yours, so you must know what a Herrscher is! Am I right or am I right!"

Midoriya's face grew stern, glaring at the bubbly girl in front of him, not letting his guard down

"Who are you?"

"Oh my me! How rude of me not to introduce myself! My name is Eliza Conway, you can call me Elly!"

"Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya. How do you know what a Herrscher is?"

"Because I am one silly! And I had to read all the books about my family history, bleugh! You're a Herrscher too right! Who's Herrscher Core do you have?"

Elly was circling Midoriya at this point, floating around without a care for where they were.

"You first, and maybe I'll do the same."

Midoriya remained tense and on guard, observing her every move. Welt had said that Herrschers are not to be trusted, and he had first-hand experience with the Herrscher of the Void

"Oooh, you're feisty! I'm the Herrscher of Origin, my mentor passed it down to me! Now you HAVE to tell me yours, it's the law of equivalent exchange after all!"

"I am the holder of the Core of Reason. Why do you want to talk to me?"

"Well, I sensed a possible Herrscher and I had to check it out, besides I'm just like you, trying out for the provisional licence, and ain't two skulls better than one?"

"Hmm... sure."

"Aww c'mon! Why the long face? If talking doesn't get you to trust me, maybe something a bit more personal can?"

Elly's eyes signalled downwards with her arms moving inwards.

Midoriya followed her eyes to where she was hinting at and saw her "assets" squished between her arms. He covered his reddened face with both of his hands and turned away

"FJDSJHFJD! NOTHING LIKE THAT!"

"Hm-hm! That worked like a charm!"

Elly smugly laughed at the tomato in front of her with her hand in front of her mouth

Midoriya cleared his throat and regained his composure, trying not to observe the jiggle physics in the game

"Why are you so adamant that I should trust you?"

"Because Herrschers are scarily powerful! And you're kinda cute."

Midoriya choked a bit but elected to ignore the final comment and going back to his question about her.

"What did you mean by your mentor passing the Core down to you? Elysia died during the Previous Era, you cannot have been her successor."

A heart-shaped gem emerged from Elly's hand

"Well, the core has been passed down a lot! I'm not sure which generation I am in my family to possess the core."

"So you're a descendant of Elysia, I assume?"

"Indeederoonie! We've gotten quite far away from where Elysia originally was, from my name, you could probably tell I'm not from around here."

"You're originally from the United Kingdom, correct? Conway has both Irish and Welsh origins."

"Well not me, but my Father, yes. You do know a lot, don't you? It's due to the Core of Reason, isn't it? Your predecessors were kinda walking encyclopedias."

"How have I not read about your family and the Herrscher Core you possess?"

Before she could answer a voice came over the speakers

"That concludes the first section of the exam. There are water fountains and vending machines in the back if anyone needs a pick-me-up. To those who have passed, you have 20 minutes to rest and prepare for the next section. I look forward to your performance in the upcoming challenge. To those who failed, I hope you reflect on your performance and I wish to see you succeed the next time you attempt the exam. You may leave through the doors on your right or watch the next section in the stands. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Oh, huh. I guess we passed."

"Of course we did! Herrschers are on another power level from quirks, you'd know first-hand."

Midoriya could only look at Elly, who had a large grin on her face.

"*sigh* you're not wrong."

"I'm hungry, wanna go to the vending machines with me?"

"You know what, sure, why not? Not like I have anyone else to talk to."

The two walked out of the stadium into the back.

Meanwhile, in the stands. A white rodent watches as Midoriya leaves the stadium with a pink-haired girl

"Hm, it seems like our young student has met a new friend in here. This is bound to get interesting."

And at the same time, in a warehouse far away from the stadium

"This successor of Welt has interacted with one of them. If I don't take care of this soon, it will get rather... cumbersome."

There were a few vending machines, nothing too major, but enough to find something decent. Elly floated up to one and started looking over the options.

"You never answered my question about how I never read about your family."

Midoriya asked directly, with Elly continuing to eye the treats in the machines, not looking at his direction at all.

"Oh yeah! Whoops! My family kept it on the down low, none of us did much with the Herrscher Core, we only passed it down by tradition, and a sort of self-defence. Honkai Energy manipulation isn't the strongest unless it's trained well, and given what happened to Elysia, my family wasn't keen on being known, they never saw a reason to use it unless in a dire situation. But I was born here, where pro heroes made up 80% of all items. I grew up wanting to become one. My quirk was pretty weak, but that was common among my family. The Herrscher Core did stuff to the quirk gene or something boring like that. I was given my Herrscher Core not long after, then I trained and trained, so now I'm here! Now you have to answer some of my questions, capeesh?"

"You've held out your olive branch, I see no reason not to offer up my own. What do you have for me?"

"How did you get your Herrscher Core? Was it family? Or were you born with it?"

"I was given it by Welt Yang."

"But he died almost 40 years ago! How could he have given it to you?"

'Are you certain you can trust her?'

'I don't see why not. We're both heroes in training, and she seems friendly enough. I think it won't go terribly.'

'If you believe so, Midoriya. I have faith in your decision.'

"Well, you could say his conscious gave it to me. Mr. Yang was able to place his soul in the Herrscher Core. He was able to choose his successor in the afterlife or something, I'm not certain, but he chose me to carry out his legacy."

"Wow... That's like SUPER cool! Is he still in the core?"

"I assume so, because we communicate occasionally. I certainly hope that the voice I have been talking to was him and not a schizophrenic hallucination. Haha."

Midoriya's joke earned a light chuckle out of Elly

"Okay, that was pretty funny. One final question."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Is your hair as fluffy as it looks?"

"Wait, what? I-"

Before Midoriya could even react, Elly flew over and ran her hands through his hair

"omigod it is! And it smells like pine too! I'm gonna call you that from now on, Pine Tree! Hehe, it has a nice ring to it!"

"I- er- wha- you- my-"

Midoriya's face began burning as he felt every ounce of blood rush to his face and cheeks. The students around stared at the two next to the vending machines, some cooed, some scoffed, and some ignored the brazen public display.

"What do you mean 'from now on'!?"

"You didn't think this was the only time we're gonna be talking right? Give me your phone."

"I-"

"Just give it!"

Midoriya pulled his phone out, only to fumble with it and play hot potato with it.

"...here"

"Thanks!" She began typing into his phone like it was her own "Here's my number. We can talk more after this, Pine Tree!" She flashed a cheeky grin at him

Before Midoriya could react, the PA system went online once again

"Your 20-minute break is over, time for you to get back out there fellow heroes in training."

"I guess I'll see you later, Elly?"

"Definitely! You're not escaping me that easily, Pine Tree!"

"Would you stop with the name!"

"No can do, Pine Tree~" Elly said, purposely extending the ending syllable to tease Midoriya

The second section went on as planned, with the H.U.C. acting as injured civilians. The other exam takers did not expect Midoriya to summon a legion of U.A. bots to rescue civilians in other sections while he ran around doing what he could himself. The students were then attacked by the terrorists (Gang Orca and his sidekicks) to continue their assault

Midoriya was busy thinking about the survivors to respond with anything but Aka, sending the terrorists through multiple walls, knocking them out instantly

Soon enough, all of the civilians were in the medical area and accounted for. The exam was finally over, and now all Midoriya could do was wait for his results...

...and freaking out about how a girl randomly gave him her number.

Chapter Text

The scores would take a while for the Hero Commission to calculate and add up. Midoriya thought that the preceding time would be the most gruelling wait in his life. He was forced to sit alone, with only the company of his mobile device, but even that would prove fruitless due to the service there that is worse than on a remote island.

'Who knew with all the technology the Hero Commission had, the service would still be so terrible.'

'It's probably intentional. It could be another test. You know how heroes love throwing the unexpected at pupils. Stay alert.'

'Yes, sir!'

Midoriya looked around the room, scanning for information, trying to see if there were any hidden cameras or one-way mirrors.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden ping on his phone

'Wait, huh?'

Midoriya went to check his phone and saw the notification

Bubblegum B*tch: Pine Tree, I'm bored, wanna chat?

Matcha-riya: Elly, why is your contact name Bubblegum Bitch.

Bubblegum B*tch: um it's B*tch, thank you very much. But to answer your question, it's from a song my nan loved from the pre-quirk era. She used to play it whenever I went to her place when my family went back to the UK. You have to listen to it!

Matcha-riya: I'll check it out when I have service.

Bubblegum B*tch: Ikr, the service here is so bad. I wanted to watch some TikToks while I waited! But I guess talking with you isn't all too bad.

Matcha-riya: Well, I'll say talking to someone is better than sitting in silence for hours, but don't you have people from your school to talk to?

Bubblegum B*tch: No, not really. They're all so posh and stuck up. I don't really like them much. I like commoners like you!

Matcha-riya: Hey! What was that for?!

Bubblegum B*tch: I'm just kidding! We're anything but common, we're Herrschers, remember?

Matcha-riya: Still rude, y'know.

Bubblegum B*tch: Sorry! Sorry! I'll make it up to you. Wanna have lunch on Saturday to celebrate, my treat!

Matcha-riya: What do you mean by celebrate?

Bubblegum B*tch: Celebrate passing the exam, silly! We both know we're getting it!

Matcha-riya: Isn't that a bit too optimistic?

Bubblegum B*tch: We both saw what you've done during the exam, I know you'll be getting it. And I know my strengths, I'm sure I'll pass too! So, waddaya say, wanna have lunch with me?

Matcha-riya: Sure, I'd be glad to.

Bubblegum B*tch: *TITLE CARD*

*Insert Witches by Alice Phoebe Lou*

"Ghhsghgjfh WHAT!"

Before Midoriya could reply, Nezu entered the room along with a man with glasses in a grey suit.

"What's the matter, Midoriya?" Nezu asked, hearing him yell

"Nothing, sir!"

"Hm, if you say so. Can I safely assume that you've been anticipating your results for the test?"

"Yes, Principal Nezu."

"Well, you need not wait any longer because we have your results right here! Your performance was quite a shock to many of the other hero school teachers. I'll let Mr. Takahashi take over."

"Good afternoon, Midoriya" Mr. Takahashi extended his hand for a handshake

"Likewise." Midoriya stood up to shake it

"Let's get on topic. Midoriya, your performance has been exceptional. Your rescue skills are top-notch, and your control over your quirk is also unprecedented..."

'I feel a 'but' coming up'

"...but, you were rather reckless during the first portion of the test. The robot, while flashy and awe-inspiring, was extremely dangerous and could end up causing the deaths of civilians or fellow heroes."

"I see..."

"Do not be discouraged, Midoriya. This is more so a review on what you should try to change when you're in action."

"Wait, does that mean, I..."

"Yes, I am happy to say that you have passed the Provisional Hero Licence Exam."

"Oh my All Might! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"But do remember what I have said today."

"Absolutely, sir!"

The man handed Midoriya a plastic card and promptly left Nezu and Midoriya alone in the room. Nezu looked at Midoriya staring at his license teary-eyed

"How are you feeling, Midoriya?"

"Unreal. I... have to call my mother."

After a long phone call with a lot of crying and reassurance later. Midoriya walks out of the building holding his Licence.

"Time for me, to be a hero for the people"

Processional Hero Licence
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Birth Date: 15-07-20XX
Date of Issue: 20-05-20XX
Date of Exp: 20-05-20XX
Hero Name: The Ruler of Reason: Welt Mori

"I need to put this-"

Suddenly, a girl in a black and red double-breasted blazer pounces on Midoriya's back, wrapping her arms around his neck

"Hey, Matcha! I see you got your license, how're you feeling?"

"Surreal, I must say. I never thought I'd get to this. What about you?"

"I... I didn't pass..." Elly's eyes started watering up, Midoriya's reflection being seen more clearly in her eyes

"Oh.. But that's still fine, you still have time to prepare for next year, I know you can do it next time."

Midoriya starts listing out motivational words trying to comfort her, without even looking at her face

"I'm glad... But I'm just kidding! Of course, I got my licence! But you're good at this kind of thing, no wonder you want to be a hero. Haha!"

Midoriya looks up to see her grinning from ear to ear, holding out her licence

Provisional Hero Licence
Name: Eliza Conway
Birth Date: 23-03-20XX
Date of Issue: 20-05-20XX
Date of Exp: 20-05-20XX
Hero Name: The Origins Hero: Bubblegum Bride

"Bubblegum Bride, huh? I mean, your hero costume does look like a wedding gown."

"You like it? Thought of the name all by myself!"

"Yeah, it's a nice name."

"Welt Mori? I get why you have Welt in your name, you've taken up the mantle of the Welt name. I would've expected you to be named Welt Midoriya."

"Mori is my mother's maiden name. I want to honour her for raising me all this time, and not the deadbeat that I've never seen."

"I'm guessing you don't like your dad, huh?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what came over me. I don't hold much animosity toward him, he's just never been in my life. Leaving my mother to raise me by herself."

"I see. I'm glad you want to honour your mum like that, it's sweet of you. I think your teachers are waiting for you, I'll see you soon, remember our arrangement, ehe!"

She stuck her tongue out and walked the other way to where her classmates were. Midoriya couldn't help but slightly blush at their interaction.

Midoriya then walked to where Nezu was waiting for him next to a limousine, making Midoriya just stare, confused at why they got hold of a vehicle like that in the first place.

"So, Midoriya. The exam ended earlier than I expected. You have two choices now, we can drive you back home, or we could drive you to the stadium to watch the Sports Festival."

Midoriya took a few seconds to think about the question

"I wouldn't mind seeing The Big Three."

"Great. Let's go to the Sports Festival then!"

20 minutes later, the limousine pulls up to the entrance of a large sports stadium. The car was pulled to a sudden stop with the driver rolling down the window to talk to someone. Midoriya couldn't tell who it was due to the darkened windows. Soon enough, the limousine was let through and the student principal duo got off, while the limousine drove off back to wherever Nezu had hired it from.

"Midoriya, you should follow me up to the observation room. Your homeroom teacher Mr Aizawa will be there along with Present Mic, as well as The Big Three. So, let's get a move on."

Nezu then signalled Midoriya to crouch down, then jumped on top of his shoulder.

"A-ah Principal Nezu!?"

"It's quite a long distance we need to walk, and my small legs would be quite slow. Besides, would talking not be easier with me here?"

"No, sir. It would be easier like this."

Midoriya couldn't form a rebuttal and decided to accept it. And so, Midoriya walked through the sports stadium between the crowd while talking with his literal principal on his shoulder. The two got some intrigued looks and stares from the civilians and students in the stadium

"Isn't that Principal Nezu? Why is he on a student's shoulder?"
"Is that not a first year? Why haven't I seen him in the race?"
"What is he doing walking around?"

Midoriya started to turn his head to the students' direction, only for Nezu to whisper to him

"Ignore them, Midoriya. Continue to the Observation room. Pay no mind to what people say around you, they can talk all they want, you don't owe them anything."

"Yes, sir."

Midoriya did as he was told, he kept walking to the observation room, ignoring the words or stares around him.

Making it to the room, Nezu gave Izuku his key card to open the door, causing the people inside to look towards them.

"Izuku!"

The Big Three shouted out seeing their secret 4th member

"Hey guys!"

"You three- Midoriya."

Aizawa cut himself off after seeing Midoriya at the door, his blank face turned stern, his eyes narrowing on his student

"Y-Yes, Mr. Aizawa?"

"How was the exam?"

Midoriya fumbled a bit with his bag and pulled out his wallet, showing everyone there his Provisional Licence.

"Woo! That's our Izuku. I knew you could do it!"

The Big Three immediately cheered for the boy, but Aizawa maintained his glare for a few seconds longer, then dropped. With a smirk, Aizawa gave him a single amused hmph and allowed a bit of air to escape his nose.

"Hmph. You did well, Midoriya."

Midoriya released a deep sigh of relief. Aizawa was intimidating when he glared like he did just now, causing Midoriya to hold his breath, bracing for a scolding.

"Now, Midoriya. What are you doing here?"

"Well, the exam ended early and Principal Nezu gave me the choice to go home or here. I kinda... wanted to see The Big Three and watch my classmates."

"Awww, that's so sweet!" Nejire flew over and gave Midoriya a hug around his neck

You could almost hear a poof come out of Midoriya's head as he turned beet red

"Nejire, what did we talk about Personal space?"

Both Mirio and Tamaki could only sigh seeing Nejire fly at full speed towards Midoriya

"Oop! Sorry, Midoriya. You alright?"

Midoriya couldn't form any coherent words, and he could only hold up a thumbs-up.

'These problem children'
"Are you going to continue to gush over this or are you gonna let us do our jobs?"

"S-sorry, Mr Aizawa."

"Just stay silent, the finals are about to start. I don't want you to be found sitting here with us. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

The finals were between Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugou. The fight was close but the final victor was Bakugou.

"DAMN IT YOU TWO-FACED BASTARD! WHY ARE YOU USING ONLY HALF OF YOUR QUIRK! THIS WIN WAS POINTLESS"

Bakugou yelled towards the unconscious Todoroki lying in his ice. Bakugou tried walking towards Todoroki but was ushered away, Todoroki was taken on a stretcher to the nurse's office.

"And that's all for this year's first-year sports festival! The results and medals will be given out soon, so sit tight!" Present Mic announced over the speakers

"I need to talk to him,"

Time skip to Midoriya in the medical room

"Todoroki, are you in here?"

"What are you doing here, Midoriya? I thought you could not attend."

"My side of things ended early, so I was able to come back and watch the final fight."

"So you saw my battle with Bakugou then."

"Yes, and I'll cut straight to the chase. Why did you only use half of your quirk? You're an extremely strong and capable fighter. Why choose to limit yourself?"

"I won't use his power. It's a disgrace. I'll show him that I never needed and will never need that deadbeat."

"You're referring to your dad, right? My dad was a deadbeat, too. I never got to know him. But regardless, I know... certain events from Endeavour's past, despite the cover-ups,"

"So you know how shit of a father he is!"

"Yes, I do. But that does not pertain to your quirk."

"My fire side was given to me by him. By using it, I'm showing that I need his support, that I need him."

"Just because quirks share similarities doesn't mean they're the same quirk. I need to tell you a secret, Todoroki."

Midoriya holds out his hand, and a white crystal pops out

"Your quirk?"

"This is my ability. I grew up quirkless, but my mentor's ability was able to manifest itself as a physical object. Upon his death, he gave me this crystal. My ability isn't originally mine."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"It's because the power I possess now, despite being handed to me, is solely mine. I get to shape how people perceive it, and I get to use it to do what I wish. My desire to continue my mentor's legacy with this ability is completely separate from the quirk. You can do the same. Just because it's passed down to you by your father doesn't make it his. The quirk's destiny is your hand. What you do with it is up to you. I hope you think about that."

Midoriya eventually made his way back to the observation room with the Big Three, Aizawa, and Present Mic

"Izuku, what was so important that you had to rush to talk to him?"

"It's nothing really. I just hoped to see him alright and had a few questions about the fight, that's all.

Aizawa felt suspicious of his story but chose not to show it, while the Big Three bought it because it was Midoriya.

The Sports Festival came to an end, with All Might giving out medals to the three winning students, Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Bakugou, the gold medalist being held down by chains and a muzzle. Midoriya could only sigh seeing his childhood bully because it was expected of him.

Time flies and it was already Friday night

"Izuku! What are you doing cooped up in that room of yours? Come have din-"

Inko then barges into Midoriya's room to see the room covered in different clothes and his head deep into his closet

"Noth- Hey, mom. What'cha doing here?"

"Don't tell me, are you going on a date?!"

"I sjshdha MOM!"

"You are! I'm so happy for you! Who is she? Do I know her? Is she from school?"

"She's someone I met during my provisional hero licence exam. Her name's Elly, she's from Shiketsu, our rival school..."

"Hey, don't be so down. Your dad and I went to rival universities too, and we still got together. Pick that chin up, baby!"

"True, but from what I've heard in school and during the exam, our school hates each other, so that's kind of annoying."

"When you grow up and become actual pro-heroes, do you think something so minute as the hero school you went to would matter?"

"I guess that's true."

"You're thinking quite ahead for some silly date, you really like that girl, huh?"

"I WHAT I DONFNSNS, it's just lunch, mum."

"Are you sure?"

"Well... It's complicated."

"Take your time, just go on the date and see how you feel. Oh right! I have just the thing for you."

Inko rushes out of Midoriya's room to her own to look for... something

*ping*

Bubblegum B*tch: You ready for our date tomorrow? Got your outfit ready? I want to be blown out of the water when I see you. Got that, handsome?

The final sentence made Midoriya stutter in place until he was pulled out of it by another ping

Bubblegum B*tch: I guess that got you stuttering up a storm, huh? You're quite easy to tease, yknow.

Matcha-riya: Well, the lack of any female contact for 14 years does that to you.

Bubblegum B*tch: Seriously? Not one in 14 years. Hah! Their loss.

Matcha-riya: But to answer your original question. I'm still thinking about what to wear, I'll keep you updated.

Bubblegum B*tch: Nuh uh! Don't do that, I told you, didn't I? I want it to surprise me.

Matcha-riya: Yeah, yeah, I got it loud and clear, Pinkie Pie.

Bubblegum B*tch: Ooh Pinkie Pie, huh? What a cute nickname, I like it.

Matcha-riya: Weren't you the one who said equivalent exchange? These nicknames seem quite equivalent to me.

Bubblegum B*tch: Oops, drats! You caught me!

Midoriya hears the sound of a faint creak outside his room

Matcha-riya: I'll talk to you later, I think my mum needs me.

Bubblegum B*tch: Bye, Pine Tree~

Midoriya could only sigh as he turned the screen off to his phone before his mother came in holding something behind her

"You were texting the girl when I was away, weren't you?"

"How- How did you?"

"A mother's intuition is usually right, dear. Now back on what I wanted to give you"

She pulls out a folded-up garment bag which contains something on a thick wooden hanger.

"If you're struggling for an outfit for lunch, I think this might fit you."

From the garment bag, she pulls out an off-white, single-breasted linen suit with a green pocket square in a Christmas tree fold and a subtle light blue boutonnière. It looked rather expensive.

"Your father wore this exact suit on our honeymoon, this would definitely knock Elly's socks off."

"But... It's dad's..."

"I know that you don't love your father. But I knew him, he was a nice man. It's just... an unfortunate set of circumstances that led to what we have now."

"I know... at least he still sends letters to you, right?"

"Yeah, and money to support our family. What he's doing is important for the world. I know that if he could, he would've come home ages ago, but his work keeps the planet running, and there's no one else who can take over what he does. So please, go try on this suit for your mother."

"Sure, mum. I'll try it right now."

Inko then promptly left the room to give Midoriya some privacy. Moments later, Midoriya came out in his father's old suit. It fit him perfectly, accentuating his figure and making him look and feel like a million dollars.

"Izuku, it fits you perfectly."

Inko can't help but stare at her son. He was so dashing and charming, just like his father was when he was younger.

"I think this might actually work."

"I'm so glad, Izuku. I wouldn't want this good suit to sit around in our closet forever, maybe you could make use of it."

Soon the clothes that have been thrown haphazardly around the room has been cleared, and the green-haired prince returned to the land of slumber. Until he was woken up by an obnoxious buzzing noise that came from his clock.

It read 05:01, even though he had lunch with a girl in the afternoon, he still had his training regimen he needed to follow.

05:31, he had food, brushed his teeth, and changed into athletic wear

07:25, he made it back home after a long workout ready to hit the showers.

08:00, he is back in leisure wear, doing chores around the house and watching the news.

10:35, he had just finished with reviewing his study material, he got a text from Elly stating the address of the restaurant they were supposed to meet at.

10:52, Midoriya was already dressed and waiting for the train.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the prefecture, a 30-something-year-old coffee addict had just finished his shift as a hero and arrived back home to his 2 cats. Looking over to his coffee table, he saw an open string envelope on his table.

"I must've forgotten about this last night."

"Not at all, Mr Aizawa."

The voice of a woman spoke coming out of the balcony smelling faintly of smoke

"Madam President, what is your business here?"

"I decided to invite myself in because I had some rather important topics in need of discussion."

"What is it now?"

"Now, now. I'd rather you not have such an attitude. Have a seat and look at what's inside the envelope, you'll understand."

Aizawa and the woman walked further into the living room, and both sat on the sofa. Aizawa took the envelope to see what all the fuss was about to see photos of...

"Midoriya? Who is that with him?"

"I happen to know who she is. Her name is Eliza Conway. Does the name sound familiar?"

"Not particularly?"

"What about Elysia Conway?"

Aizawa's eyes widened a bit in reaction to the information, but his face remained stern and unreactive.

"Eliza is the heir to the Core of Origin."

"Correct, Mr Aizawa. What's troubling is how easily they're able to converse and play off each other. Midoriya chose the name Welt for his hero name as well. If my assumptions are correct, which they usually are, Midoriya possesses the Core of Reason."

"Why are you telling me all of this? There isn't much I can do regarding their relationship."

"Oh no, you misunderstood me, Mr Aizawa. I just need you to keep an eye on Pine Tree and make sure he doesn't fall to the wrong side. I know the power you possess and how useful it is to us. I don't expect failure."

"Yes, ma'am."

The woman then walked back out to the balcony and in a flash of blue disappeared into the night.

"Damn it, Caitlin."

Aizawa could only grumble at what he had just heard

'Maybe All Might was onto something. Midoriya must've gotten his Herrscher Core somewhere. Could it have been Welt himself? No, he's been dead for centuries now. Why was Midoriya rushing to see Todoroki?'

Aizawa started writing all of his ideas down and trying to link them together.

'Todoroki hasn't used his fire once in battle, only to defrost his opponents during combat training. He must see it as linked to Endeavour, and given his track record, it makes sense why he doesn't want to use it. If Midoriya truly is the Herrscher of Reason, then he knows what it feels like to possess another person's power.'

'And what of Eliza Conway. She's the Herrscher of Origin, yet her powers are either not publicly known or have been lost to time. From the footage of the PHL exam, she can shoot energy blasts, but that can not be it. She's a Herrscher. There has to be something else.'

Aizawa started to feel frustrated, which was out of the norm, and started to plot a table of every known Herrscher and their abilities to clear his thoughts

Herrscher of Origin:
True Name: Eliza Conway
Code Name: Bubblegum Bride
Abilities: Energy beams, ???

Herracher of Reason:
True Name: Izuku Midoriya(tentative)
Code Name: Welt Mori(tentative)
Abilities: Gravity manipulation, black hole creation, object creation, and photographic memory

Herrscher of Sentience:
True Name: Unknown
Code Name: Madam President
Abilities: Illusion creation, mind manipulation, and dream manipulation

Herrscher of the Void:
True Name: Unknown
Code Name: All For One
Abilities: Imaginary Space manipulation

Herrscher of Binding:
True Name: Shota Aizawa
Code Name: Eraserhead
Abilities: Honkai Energy nullification, ability hindering

"I wonder if all the other Herrschers have their successors or have they all died out. We know 5 of the supposedly 13 Herrschers....

Chapter Text

Midoriya is now standing in front of the address Elly sent him. A 50-story-tall skyscraper called The Spire with a grandiose fountain in front of it. A soft "Woah." being the only thing to come out of Midoriya's mouth. It has yet to be the agreed-upon time for them to meet yet, Midoriya went a bit earlier in case he got lost in the city and to give himself time to prepare what to say if he sees her. Midoriya patted down his suit and combed his messy hair with his hand, to basically no effect. A few deep breaths and he walked to what he deemed to be the front of the fountain reading the stone sign on the fountain's history and importance.

"This fountain was built here in 20XX to venerate the heroes who died in the Great Meta Conflict... Sacrifices made for the Public..."

Midoriya was suddenly blinded by a pair of hands covering his eyes while he was in the middle of a sentence.

"Guess who, Pine Tree!"

"I was in the middle of that, Pinkie Pie." Midoriya made a joking grumble

"Aww, come on! That boring old thing, let's do something else, Greenie! Like looking at that suit of yours. You're so dressed up, all for little ol' me?"

"Hah! No, it's for my- Woah."

Midoriya was about to sass Elly back for all the names she's called him, but was stunned when he saw her.

A girl with pink hair blowing in the wind, dressed in a long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder, frilly, off-white blouse, an above-the-knee, pleated, light pink, plaid skirt, knee-high, white socks, high-top pink Chuck Taylors, and a small, gold necklace to fill up the space around the neck (A/N: I hate English adjective order)

It was safe to say that Midoriya was stunned. The way the sun shaded her face and her figure, it's almost like she glowed, and it helped that so much light was reflected off of her pastel colour scheme.

She was gonna walk into the building until she turned her head back towards Midoriya. Noticing her date was just standing there, she had to get him moving somehow

She walked up to him and took his hand
"Come on, silly! Why are you just standing there? We're gonna be late for our reservation."
She started to slowly drag Midoriya into the building

"Y-you look, very pretty today."
Midoriya was barely able to utter that out with how much focus it took for him not to stutter

"Thanks, I tried a lot. But you look pretty good yourself, handsome. I'd like to see you rocking this some more!"

Elly could only hear the faintest "T-thanks" in her life, but she knew her compliment was appreciated.

Meanwhile in Midoriya's mind

"AAHHHHHGHDHGS! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? MY HANDS ARE SWEATY, SHE'S HOLDING THEM, I CAN FEEL MY HEART, THAT'S BAD!"

"Midoriya, calm down."

Midoriya continues to panic

"Izuku Midoriya!"

Midoriya snaps out of his muttering and shaking

"I apologise for using your full name, but I needed to grab your attention. What you're feeling is love, your palms are going to be sweaty, you are going to feel your heart beat out of your chest, you are going to make mistakes, but that is okay. Surprises are what make loving someone fun. When I was a pro-hero, I had a wife and child, Tesla and Joey. It was awkward when we first started dating. We were young and inexperienced. I felt all the same things you are feeling now back then, so you just need to trust your gut and your head, you'll do great. I'll leave you to it then, it would be pretty awkward to have an 80-year-old giving you tips in the middle of a date, would it not? You can come and find me after the date."

"Thank you, Mr. Yang."

In the real world, Midoriya closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then opens them. "Y-you look stunning."

"Ehh!? T-that was so o-out of the blue!"

Elly was not prepared to suddenly be complimented like that, the façade of confidence was dropped. For just a fraction of a heartbeat of a second, Midoriya could see Elly flustered with slight panic, until it switched back into her usual self.

"Says you, Prince Charming."

"That's a new one."

"I still like Pine Tree more though. You look like one, smell like one, you stood still like one when I first saw you in the exam. Pine Tree is the best nickname for you."

"Hey! Not my fault that you suddenly came up to me and asked if I was a Herrscher."

"Yes, yes, I know." Elly held her arms up in mock surrender

Midoriya's eyeroll was followed by the ding of the elevator.

"Ooh, look! We're here!"

"You never said where we were eating at, just the address of the building."

"Well, duh. It's a surprise! You're gonna love it!"

Elly rushed out of the elevator doors not realising that she was still holding Midoriya's hand dragging him almost into a tumble.

The duo walked up to a hostess stand, where a woman in a black kimono with gold flower embroidery stood.

"Greetings! You must be Miss Conway with the reservation for two. Please follow my colleague to your room."

They both followed who they assumed to be one of the servers in the restaurant. The high-quality walnut wood floor in the exterior, rooms separated by Shoji screens, tatami mats inside the rooms, and the scent of perfume and cologne exuded an air of inside voice superiority, Midoriya felt rather out of place.

"T-this place seems... kinda high class. I don't think I've ever been to any kind of place like this."

"I can't lie, I don't go to these kinds of places often, I thought it'd be better to treat you to something nice."

"This is your reserved room."

All three of them stopped in front of a pair of Shoji screens. The screens open up to a pretty spacious room. It was pretty much the same as all the other ones they've passed, tatami mat floor and wooden walls, but with one glaring difference, a large mirror overseeing the city, with sunlight glaring through it.

The two took their shoes off and went into the room, Elly went straight to sit down next to the table with midoriya in tow

"Why did you choose this place anyway?"

"I heard they made a banging katsudon! I wanted to see your opinion on it, you're my lab rat for today, Pine Tree!"

"You v-value my opinion?"

"Well, duh! Especially on katsudon, remember that time we called and you spent almost an hour just talking about katsudon and hero analogies?"

"Oh my god! You don't need to remind me, I'm still so embarrassed! Why didn't you stop me?"

"Your voice was pretty nice to listen to. I've always liked to hear people speak about stuff with passion, it gives it... personality, humanity. tl;dr I liked listening to you talk, silly."

"I- Really? T-thanks."

Elly leaned over the table to flick Midoriya on the forehead

"Don't ever think like I wouldn't value that brain of yours."

Elly then sat back down looking over the menu.

"Does anything on the menu strike your fancy? Don't worry about the price of stuff, I've got you. I'm ready to splurge today."

"I-I wouldn't w-want you to spend too much... I'll just have the Katsudon and some tea, thanks."

"Come on! Not even the gyoza? Or the sushi? Or onigiri?"

"A-ah... no, thanks. I'm fine with just the katsudon, really."

"Well, I'm ordering them anyway, if you want to try some feel free to take one."

"T-thanks for the hospitality."

"You can thank me by giving me your review of the place."

"A-ah. Of course. It's the least I could do since you're doing so much for me today."

"Good boy~"

"Wjadh- Excuse me?"

"You're excused, and I'm not your brah."

"HUH?"

"I'm kidding, Pine Tree. I've told you before, haven't I? Don't sweat about this, dude. My family's pretty well off. Today won't make a dent in my wallet, so you can eat till your heart's content... or maybe you'd want to spend a little more time with a certain somebody, wink wink nudge nudge~"

Even a blind person could notice the beads of sweat forming on Midoriya's forehead. He wouldn't say that he's uncomfortable per se about his interaction with Elly, but given the circumstances of Midoriya's past, Elly is just a slight bit too forward with the way she words and does things.

"Mmm... maybe. I'm not sure if my mother would want me back home for dinner."

"Well, you can always ask later! We aren't in a rush to do anything anyway. I've already sent your order to them, so all we gotta do is sit tight and wait to be served! So, whatcha think of the place?"

"T-these seats are way more comfortable than I expected, the decor is nice and easy on the eyes, and the window does give an amazing view of Tokyo. W-what do you think?"

"I love the Japanese style of the place, it really fits the vibe, and the window," Elly then looks at Midoriya, "That's why I chose this room specifically too, it has the best view of Tokyo, I thought it'd be something both of us would enjoy."

Midoriya then stood up and walked to the window, staring blankly out into the skyline, "I do, I really do. It's kinda surreal seeing Tokyo from this angle in person, my mum and I never had the chance to leave Musutafu. She works as a nurse and ever since my dad left, she has had to work almost every day. Even on days off, she'd take the day to rest. The farthest place we've ever gone to was the summer festival just outside of city." Midoriya then broke out of his stupor and turned his head back towards Elly, whose face had switched to one of sympathy, "A-ah! Was I rambling again? I'm so s-sorry, ImustveruinedthemoodtalkingaboutmyparentsagainIshouldnthave-"

Midoriya's panic suddenly stopped when he felt a pair of limbs wrap around his torso, and the heat of another body pressed up against his own. His breathing was a rushed tempo that started decreasing in rate, he was opening his mouth, but was cut off by Elly.

"Hey, Izuku. It's alright, y'know. We all have our moments when something reminds us of a memory. You don't need to apologise for anything, if anything, I should be the one apologising."

"W-what do you m-m-mean?"

"I saw how you looked a bit ago, I must've been overwhelming for you. I want to apologise for that. I've never met anyone who wasn't stuck-up, until I met you that day during the Exam. I've heard of you before, when the USJ Incident was on the News, a boy with green hair being carried into an ambulance, I couldn't see anything other than your hair. Your classmates did a great job of hiding you from the press! Anyway back on topic, you were... different than everyone else in the stadium, not just because of your Honkai Energy signature, but of the feeling you radiate, a calm, disarming energy, completely different from the controlled, sharp one your Herrscher core gives out."

"O-oh wow. I-I didn't know you thought about me like that."

"You don't need to apologise, you didn't ruin the mood, I'm glad you were able to say all of that, and to me too." Elly lets go of Midoriya and starts walking away "Wanna sit back down and wait for our food? I pinky promise I won't be so loud! We can talk about anything you want, as long as you're alright with it."

Midoriya took another breath to steady himself "Yeah, sure!"

Midoriya made his way back to his seat, and the two of them looked at each other. Midoriya noticed the way Elly looked at him, a look he's never actually experienced from anyone his age. It was a tender stare, a dilation of pupils, and a warm slightly upturned lip. It was soft and welcoming, like a gentle hug on a rainy day, it wasn't just love, it was the look of fascination for and focus on his entire being. Midoriya couldn't muster up the ability to speak, so all he could do was return a smile of his own

[Elly's perspective]

His smile, it's so warm, so familiar, so cute, and kind. But his eyes... there's a kind of pain in them, I can almost see him trying to logic his way through this, what was your childhood like for you to have to think about everything so logically? There's... so much guilt inside of you, it's eating you up inside, but am I worthy enough for you to tell me? I want to know you, you're so... interesting, so different, so... passionate. You've never had someone to tell things to, have you? I hope that can be me in the future. Lady Elysia, please bless me, you've passed down your love for humanity onto me and I wish you'd guide me on how to best use it.

There were no words spoken between us, only the soft stare into each other's eyes, it was as if we were holding each other telepathically. I didn't want to ruin the moment with any kind of movement so I just stared, and he did too. Only for the bizarre staring contest to be interrupted by the sounds of a sliding door and a man carrying a tray full of food.

"Here's your order of the katsudon set lunch, beef udon set lunch, extra sides of gyoza and karaage taster platter, and your iced tea. Thank you for your patronage! "

Has it really been that long? There's no way that we've spent so much time just staring, my face feels so warm

"Oh wow! That was way faster than I thought it'd be. I guess that's the kind of service-" Pine Tree suddenly stopped himself "Elly, are you alright?"

"Huh?" I said, clueless about what he was referring to

"Y-your face! It's flushed, and y-you're sweating! Are you feeling sick? Do you need anything?"

I quickly pulled my phone out and opened the camera app. There it was, my face, cheeks flushed red like a beet. My hand felt some kind of liquid when I dragged it across my forehead

"A-ah! It's nothing I'm fine, our food's here, let's just eat."

It's so awkward... I was blushing so hard looking at him, is this love?

An awkward 15 seconds of silence pass before Pine Tree takes his first bite. I look in anticipation of what he'd say. 5 seconds of chewing on a bite of Katsudon, his eyes widened at the start, then his face grew serious, his eyes focusing on a random point on the floor, it's like he's trying to discern something, finally, he swallows.

"Not as good as my mother's."

"What? Is it really?"

"I'm most likely biased, but to me, it's not as good as my mother's. I'll admit that the ingredients are perfect, and it tastes objectively amazing, but it lacks the love that my mum puts in it every time she specifically makes this dish for me. No matter how friendly the staff, or how high-class the restaurant. In the end, I am a patron and they are an establishment, there is no love between us. That's why I deem that it falls flat to my mother's katsudon."

"That's so in-depth, did you think of that on the spot?"

"W-well, it wasn't anything special, I just said what I was thinking at the time."

"Jeez, I knew you were quick on your feet, but wow."

Is he using the Core of Reason even now? There's no way he can improvise something like that on the fly, right? I don't feel any kind of Honkai Energy in use, so he can't be. This must be just how he naturally is when it comes to food.

"Do you want to try a bite?"

He pulls me out of my thoughts with just a single sentence, something so simple yet so captivating. I need to respond with something just as good

"Yes, please. Thanks, Pine Tree!"

"You don't need to thank me, it's still your money after all."

"It's the thought that counts."

[Third-person perspective]

Izuku took hold of his chopsticks and transferred a piece of katsu from his bowl to Elly's plate, glancing at the gyoza on it

"I see you eyeing my gyoza,"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Don't be shy, try one!"

Elly then took hold of her own and put a gyoza into Midoriya's bowl. Midoriya could only surrender to Elly's puppy eyes. There weren't any hiccups during their lunch, they chatted about pretty much anything their mind could think of. A lot of the time, Midoriya would suddenly go on a yapping session about a certain topic that led to a chuckle from Elly.

Eventually, the food had been had, discussions concluded, and laughs shared. The two leave the restaurant still laughing at something they had been chatting about. Soon a fateful question was finally asked

"You still up for anything?"

"I-I've never really been around Tokyo before, I don't really know-"

"Hmm, I don't go here often either... Cue the montage, Pine Tree!"

"Cue the wha-"

[TEXAS SMASH CUT]

Different scenes show Elly dragging Izuku by his hand around different parts of the area, weaving through the crowded streets of Shibuya, taking in all of its neon glory, to finding niche stores where there was a thinner flow of people.

Somehow the two had walked into a festival by chance. A scene of the two, arms linked, walking through the busy roads. Izuku's left hand was holding a skewer, but his wrist had been taken by a certain pink-haired gremlin trying to steal a bite of his yakitori. The small tug of war between them ended with Elly getting a nibble on the chicken and Izuku sighing. Izuku turned his head towards Elly, who had the largest smile known to mankind, causing him to just chuckle, and the both of them just laughed.

[Some time later]

The two are stood together at Shin-Yokohama Station. The platform for their trains are in the opposite direction, neither of them wanting to depart from each other and officially ending their date.

"I-I guess this is goodbye then?"

"You still have my number, silly! We can always still text, we have technology!"

"H-hehe, that's true too. It's gonna be quite late when you get home, I t-think it's best if we left it here... NOTTHATIDISLIKEDHANGINGOUTWITHYOUIJUSTWORRYABOUTYOURSAFETY!"

Elly puts her hands on Izuku's neck and makes him look at her.

"I know what you mean, Izuku. You don't need to worry about anything. I have a chauffeur picking me up from the train station anyway, I'll be a-okay!"

"A-ah, I see. I really n-need to apologise to my mother about coming home so late, she's probably worried sick, so I probably need to get home as soon as possible. W-we should keep in contact, b-bye!"

Midoriya's face now has a noticeable red hue across his entire face as he spins in place and moves in the direction of his platform

"Wait!"

"E-Elly!?"

"I... I'll make this quick, so I don't use up more of your t-time. I wanted to give you something!"

Elly shoves a box into Midoriya's hands

"E-Elly... you don-"

Elly puts her finger over his mouth

"Uh bup bup! I'm not taking no for an answer. You're accepting it! I-I made it just for you, open it when you're alone or after I go. Got that, Pine Tree!?"

Midoriya could only nod as his reaction

"Then I'll catch you later then, I've got a train to catch! Bye-bye, Pine Tree~"

Midoriya could only stand there, holding the box, muttering out a quiet "Bye", as he watched Elly's silhouette slowly fade into the crowd of people.

[Time skip brought to you by Aizawa's cats]

Midoriya puts his key into the lock of the door, but before he could even turn it, his mother opens the door

"Baby! How did it go? What did you do? How do you feel?"

"M-mum! I think it's went fine. We had lunch and walked around Tokyo. I feel..."

"Feel...?"

"I think I like her."

Midoriya rarely wears any kind of jewellery aside from the glasses he needs to see. He's usually as plain as it gets when it comes to styling an outfit. But right now, he does have an extra item on his wrist. A rope bracelet, with a small tag that says Eliza