The next morning I awoke and started off on my daily routine. I had a nice, hot shower, brushed my teeth, then went for some breakfast. I had some pizza left over from the night before which I took over to Deku. I knocked on the door of his room and he replied, "Enter."
"Hey, Deku. Can I microwave this pizza?" I asked him.
"Uh, yeah. Sure. It's right over there." Deku replied.
"Thankya." I replied. I was really beginning to like Deku, he was such a helpful person. Once I microwaved my leftover pizza I went to the common room to eat with a few other people, who seemed to give me a confused look.
"Do you always eat leftover pizza?" Asked Jirou.
"When we have some leftover, yeah." I replied. I chatted with some of the others until Mr. Aizawa came in through the door up behind us.
"Haetch. I need to speak with you in my office for a minute." I gulped, knowing what he probably wanted to speak with me about. It was the confrontation with Bakugou last night. I always told myself I was above acting like that, but for one brief moment, I lost control and let my impulses take over, a mistake I told myself I wasn't going to make anymore. I quickly threw on my uniform and went to Mr. Aizawa's office, dreading what was to come. The door was open and a chair was waiting in front of his desk. I took my seat in front of my teacher, who wore a displeased scowl as usual. "Sit down. I'd like to talk about something Iida mentioned to me just this morning." I was trying not to make it look like I was nervous. "Last night, you and Bakugou almost got into a fight. Is that correct?"
"Yes sir." I replied. "I think it was from the fact that I eliminated him during the training exercise yesterday and he was mad at me."
"Hmm. Yes, Bakugou is like that. He's a fiercely competitive individual that will not accept anything short of the top." Mr. Aizawa explained. I remembered now. I remember watching the UA Sports festival a little while ago, where he clawed his way up the bracket and took home first place. He was savage. "In your report from your home school you have a disciplinary record from middle school." I remembered it all. Back in middle school I used to have anger issues. In many ways I was like Bakugou.
"You're doing it wrong! You're doing it wrong!"
"That's wrong!" Everyone shouted at me from behind as I worked out a problem in math class. I was frustrated with them and thought to myself,
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" I finally snapped and slashed the marker across the projector board, leaving two scratches in it. I then realized what I had done and I broke down, crying. The teacher we normally had was loud and forceful and would stand no nonsense, but today we had a sub. It would be even worse that she would find out about the whole incident when she returned. That was one of several incidents which landed me in trouble at school. After that whole ordeal I was left confused as to how I would prevent something like that from happening again, though I didn't let me stop this as I entered high school. Once again, I was being bullied at school by two people in civics class. It became so bad people started spreading rumors about me. I eventually had to get some counselling, and I then dawned on the fact that I should just not be around people that make me mad. It was as simple as that, and I started doing it immediately. The only power people have over me is that which I give them. This new tactic has a downside, however. In many ways, avoiding the people who make me mad makes it harder for me to learn how to deal with them because you can't always get out from them.
"Other than those slight problems, your file says you're an all around good student. Your grades are good, your quirk has amazing potential, and your extracurricular participation is exemplary. Don't let something like this hold you back from being plus ultra. We want you to get the most out of the training UA has to offer. Now get to class." Mr. Aizawa finished.
"Yes sir." I replied as I stood up, bowed, and left for class. I was a little shaken up after my talk with Mr. Aizawa, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my day. I was going to have a great day at school, no matter what. I confidently strode out of the dorm to the main building, ready to start school. The day went on as usual, despite my meeting with Mr. Aizawa. My classes rolled on, then I sat with Deku, Uraraka, and Iida at lunch again.
"How did you guys do on that math quiz?" Uraraka asked, trying to make small talk. That day we had a quiz over graphing inequalities in math class, and I felt confident enough to answer,
"Eh, pretty good. I hope."
"I guess I at least passed." Deku added.
"Inequalities are one of my strongest skills in math. I can help you if you need it, Midorya." Iida said. Iida then got out his notebook and began going over what we had learned in Mr. Ectoplasm's class before the quiz. I generally think of myself as an okay math student, tuning in and out of Iida and Deku's conversation as I ate my usual meal of teryaki beef with rice and soy sauce. The day really got interesting as my wish for it to be a great day was fulfilled, though I had yet to realize it. After lunch we had Modern Hero Art with Ms. Midnight. When I would look around sometimes I would see Mineta and Kaminari ogling her from their seats, foaming at the mouth as she strutted across the front of the classroom. I admit that I would sometimes catch a whiff of the fragrance her quirk emits made me a little drowsy at times, but today, as she was teaching the sunlight shone through her glasses just right and at just the right angle as she turned around to face us and I began to feel an acute tightness in my trousers. After class yesterday, Midnight pulled me aside and told me that for my introduction the next day I had to present a picture of a hero from America of my choice and some information about them like their ranking, their quirk, and how heroes operate under all of the state and federal hero regulations in America. It seemed easy enough. I actually know a part time pro-hero back in my hometown, the Breathing Hero Smotherload. He's kind of a klutz to be honest, but when there's people in trouble there's nothing that can stop him. I had decided to do my project on Smotherload and one of my teachers back at my school, the Highland Hero Dundee, just to impress the class and to make a good impression on Ms. Midnight. That night I had done everything I needed to when I made a digital presentation detailing both Smotherboard and Dundee, as well as some supplementary information about how there are two tiers of hero ranks in the United States, them being at the state and national level. The time had come when our teacher finally turned and pointed to me.
"And now, without further ado, Haetch, please come up and present to the class your presentation." She said to me. My pants now tightened more noticeably and I was flustered when faced with going up to the front of the class. Midnight licked her lips, patiently waiting for me to take my spot at the front of the class. "I know it's a lot of pressure, but you can't just freeze up like that, Haetch." She encouraged. I gulped nervously, still frozen and Mineta saw this and snickered to himself, knowing my predicament. Nonetheless, I thought to myself
"Come on, you can do this. Don't let this hold you back! PLUS ULTRA!" I staggered forward across the classroom to behind the podium and quickly pulled up the hologram projection of my presentation and set to it. "Alright, y'all, here's some info about some heroes from America. I actually know both of these guys in person." I said, and the projection then played a short ditty of the Star Spangled Banner as a bald eagle cried and there was an explosion of fireworks. Everyone seemed to be rather impressed. "This is the Breathing Hero, Smotherload. He's a part time pro who's also a carpenter that my family does business with from time to time. He actually built our house extension. His quirk is Deep Breath, where he can inhale huge amounts of air and then exhale it in a concentrated blast. He's primarily a long range fighter, but his quirk is great for extinguishing fires." I explained as a video clip of Smotherload in action against a villain and of him blowing out a fire played. So far, so good, though Mineta still shot me a pervy grin as I continued my presentation. "Next we have the Highland Hero Dundee. He's one of my teachers back at the hero program at my home school, and his quirk is Celtic. Okay, so let me start off with the fact that he's from the Scottish Highlands and is sometimes a little bit hard to pick out what he's saying through his thick accent. By speaking in Celtic languages, his power multiplies several fold and different languages give different power up abilities. For example, Scots Gaelic gives him all around heightened strength and speed. Irish Gaelic gives him heightened perception and reflexes, Welsh gives him a healing factor, Cornish improves his endurance, Manx acts as a booster for his other powers, and Ulster Scots lets him use a combination of any two of his powers! Speaking the various different dialects of these languages gives him other abilities, too. However, he's at his most powerful when he speaks Pictish. When he speaks Pictish, he can use all his powers at the same time. He's the number 3 hero in the state of Georgia and the number 7 nationally!" I then went on to explain how heroes are ranked in the US. In the US, there are hero rankings by state and there are about 52,000 full-time pro heroes currently active in the United States. All 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Marianas, have their own top 10 pro hero list. Out of these 540 pros, one hundred of these are the top one hundred heroes in the United States, and these rankings, like the J.P Hero Billboards, are announced every year. Everyone was quite impressed with my presentation, including our teacher.
"Splendid!" She cheered. "So impressive!" I had forgotten all about the tightness in my pants until she grabbed my hand and held it in the air "Everyone, I'd like to officially welcome your new classmate, Chris Haetch, the Farming Hero Siege!" She then let my hand down in a way that made my arm barely brush her side. The moment that happened I felt my pants tighten once more and I broke into cold sweats, and as I looked out across the room of my thoroughly impressed classmates I saw Mineta then give me an angry scowl after witnessing what had happened. After that was Hero Basic Training with All Might. We went to the locker room to change into our hero costumes, after which we would meet All Might at the forest training ground, whichever one that was. Today we would be conducting woodland rescue and survival training. As we were changing into our costumes, Mineta approached me.
"So Haetch, how hard was your presentation?" He teased. I then realized what he was talking about.
"It's...uh...uh...I didn't mean to! Iida, don't rat me out to Mr. Aizawa! It was an accident, if anything she caused it!" I exclaimed defensively.
"Whoa, chill out, Haetch. You're overthinking this!" Sero said.
"Look who's talking, Sero! You were the one all curled up in her lap during last semester's final!' Mineta retorted.
"That's enough, all of you!" Iida snapped. "Mineta, leave Haetch alone!" He turned to Mineta. "All of you, get your costumes on and report to ground Delta for our training!" Later that period, we gathered around All Might, who would brief us on our task.
"Listen well, my students. I won't repeat myself!" All Might boomed. "Today you will be working in teams of four in a rescue simulation. I have already chosen which students will be the victims. Those students are Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, Hagakure, Kaminari, and Uraraka. Each of you will pick three of your classmates to rescue you from different parts of the arena. Whichever team rescues their victim first will win!" He announced.
"WHAT!? I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF JUST FINE!" Bakugou snapped, furiously. He nonetheless had to pick three classmates to save him. "Kirishima..." His eyes wandered. "Elbow guy...and...foureyes." He grumbled, selecting his rescuers. Uraraka picked next.
"Hmm...who should I pick. She then eyed Deku and knew exactly who to pick. "Deku!" I saw him then tense up. "Tsu, come save me!"
"Ribbit!" Tsu replied, and she hopped next to Deku. Uraraka scanned the crowd for someone else to rescue her and her eyes then fell on me.
"Aaand...Haetch, you too!" She finished. I stepped forward to Deku and Tsu to form our trifecta. Kaminari chose Jiro, Aoyama, and Ashido to save him, Hagakure chose Ojirou, Shouji, and Tokoyami for her, and Yayorozu was left with Todoroki, Sero, and Mineta, who was more than pleased.
"Now's my chance to impress Yaoyorozu!" He mumbled to himself, rubbing his hands together. With the teams arranged, the five victims were then taken to separate clearings in the arena, where All Might then gave them a flare gun, with each victim having a different colored flare to identify themselves and in the meantime each rescue team was taken outside of the arena to conceal their target's location and for them to strategize.
"Back at home I used to always go far off out on our property on the fourwheeler. I'm really good at navigating through forests." I explained to Deku and Tsu.
"Then you'll be our front runner, Haetch." Deku said. All Might then came over a loudspeaker and told us
"The challenge has begun! You have twenty minutes to find your teammate!" The other teams sprinted off as flares rocketed into the air...