"Will you tell us about what the Symbol of Peace is like as a teacher!?"
"What he's like!? Um… He's very muscular!"
"What do you think of All Might as a teacher!?"
"He made me recognize anew that I attend an educational institution that is the best of the best. Of course, his dignity and character go without saying, but we students are constantly able to see his humorous side. It is a unique opportunity to learn about being a top hero directly from one!"
"Excuse me! Can you tell me about All Migh-!?"
"Friggin' stop it!"
"Um, about All Might… Woah, you're scruffy! What's up with that!?"
"You're disturbing the classes. Please leave." I can't believe All Might was able to work as a Hero with all this…
"Oi… Just a little time is enough! Just let me see All Might-!"
BEEP!
"WOAH!"
"Good work on yesterday's combat training. I saw the videos and the results. Bakugou, Midoriya, you two are talented- don't act like idiots."
"I know."
"'Kay~."
"Minoru… Control yourself."
"Y-yes, sensei!"
"Now, let's get down to homeroom business. Sorry about the late notice, but today I'll have you…"
The class leaned in, eager yet scared to hear his next words. Is it another special test?
"Decide on a class representative."
The room burst into cheers, everyone relieved to finally be doing something normal. Then, once the words sunk in, they erupted into less-than-pleasant pleas for the position.
"Me! Pick me!
"I'll be the leader!"
"I wanna do it!"
"My manifesto is that all girls' skirts will be at least thirty centimeters above the knee!"
Wait, that kid sits right behind me? Izuku wondered, not having noticed it before. That put a slight damper on his mood, but he just dropped his head onto the desk, letting the world fade away. Katsuki would wake him up if something important happened.
"Oi, Izuku, wake up."
The green-haired teen woke up slowly, shifting around a bit before picking his head up. He yawned, incredibly tempted to just fall back asleep, but Katsuki normally only woke him when classes started, so he kept his head up.
"Izuku, go up there."
"Huh? Go up where?"
"Go to the podium, dipshit."
Confused, but still in a state where he would listen without too much complaint, Izuku rose to his feet and stumbled over. He stopped behind the podium, leaning against it so he didn't fall over or anything.
"Midoriya-kun, say something," a familiar voice whispered to him. He blinked blearily, and looked in the general direction. He recognized that hair style, vaguely…
"Momo? What're ya doin' up here?"
"I'm the Vice-Representative."
"Oh, really? Congratulations, you'll probably do great."
"Well, thank you, but I can't exactly start yet if the Representative doesn't have an agenda."
"Who's that, then? Kick their ass into gear for making you wait."
"...MIdoriya-kun, you're the Class Representative."
"What."
"You're the Class Representative. Address the class you will be representing."
"What the fuck?"
"What's wrong? Weren't you paying attention?"
"No! I was sleeping! You should already know this, Momo! How did this happen!?"
"W-we had a vote, and more people picked you than anybody else. Look," she said, pointing behind them to the blackboard. A list showed the names of nearly every student in the classroom, with a number next to their name. For most, it was one. However, for Momo and Izuku, it was three and four, respectively.
Izuku grimaced, before an idea popped into his head. He slapped a hand down on the podium, startling most of the class.
"Alright, I'll take it. And now, using the power bestowed upon me, I hereby delegate my position to... Iida. If anybody has an issue with that, we can take it outside," he finished, gripping the sides of the podium so hard that the wood audibly cracked.
Nobody spoke up for about five seconds, until…
"Mi-Midoriya-kun, you can't just do that!" Momo cried. She yelped and stepped back when Izuku's head snapped to the side, his teeth bared ferally at her.
"Out. Side," he ground out through gritted teeth.
"That's-!" Momo protested, but shut her mouth when he straightened up, and she finally noticed he was nearly a head taller than her.
"Now," he growled, and the girl obediently fled out the door, followed by the green-haired teen.
"Tell me, Momo; why, exactly, do you think I shouldn't give the Class Rep position to someone who can actually do it?"
"Y- you are also someone who can do it! You are a competent person, both in combat and out. Even though you may seem like you don't pay attention, you still give out the correct answers in class, and I've seen your work. It is neat, precise, and well thought-out! In battle, you are nearly a completely different person; you can take charge, even if it seems like you would rather not, and you have the strength to protect those around you!"
Izuku dragged a hand across his face. "We must be seeing two different things, because I am an exhausted, irresponsible little bastard who can barely take care of myself! Why else do you think I'm always so tired!? Half the time, I don't even know what's going on, and the other half I'm too busy sleeping to care! That is not Class Rep material!"
Momo was silent for a moment, before her face lit up. "Most of your issues stem from fatigue, right?"
Izuku narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Yeah, so?" he asked cautiously.
"Then I'll just give you coffee everyday!"
Izuku blinked slowly, then again. "Hah?"
"You said my coffee woke you up, right? So, I'll just make you some everyday! That way, you're awake enough to complete your duties as the Class Representative!"
"...Is this blackmail?"
"Well, not quite, but it can be. How about this? If you don't accept the position, I'll never make coffee for you again- how's that for blackmail?"
"That's… That pretty damned good…" Izuku muttered, twitching. He was so tempted to accept, but…
"What about what I told Iida? What if he doesn't want to let me take back the position?"
"You probably didn't hear, since you were asleep, but Aizawa-sensei said the person who got the position would be stuck with it until next year, when we choose another one."
"So… I never really stood a chance, did I…?"
"Nope!"
"Oi, aren't you too cheerful about that?"
"I still think you guys made a huge mistake," Izuku said at the lunch table. He was sitting with Iida, Uraraka, Katsuki, and Momo. The rest of his class was scattered throughout the cafeteria- not that he really cared.
"I'm telling you, Midoriya-kun; I believe you can do a good job of this, so long as you have some coffee in you. Besides, it's not like the Class Representative has too many extra duties. There's only some paperwork, assisting Aizawa-sensei during homeroom, organizing class events, keeping the class in order, and of course, representing us at council meetings!"
Izuku stared blankly at her. "Yeah, that sounds like a lot."
"I find myself agreeing with Yaoyorozu-kun, Midoriya-kun. Even if you may not seem to be the most… Academically inclined individual, you are still quite intelligent. And your actions during the Entrance Exam have made it clear to me that you have a true hero's heart! It is an honor to be represented by you!" Iida says enthusiastically, chopping his arms.
"Yeah, yeah, Midori-kun! You're super heroic!" Uraraka chimes in.
Izuku stares at her for a long moment, causing the round-faced girl to fidget awkwardly.
"W-what?"
"Who's Midori-kun?" he asked disdainfully.
"Oh, that's just a nickname Mina-chan came up with for you! She said it's 'cause your hair's green!"
Izuku digested this, slowly raising his mug of coffee- courtesy of Momo, bless her soul- to his lips. "Maybe I should have a little chat with her about doing unnecessary things…" he muttered, taking a sip of the sugary drink.
"Midoriya-kun, no," Momo said sternly, glaring at him. He met her eyes straight on, letting her know that he would not be cowed.
"Midoriya, yes. How is she gonna give me a nickname when we've never even had a proper conversation? She needs to learn some damned manners."
"Violence is not the answer!"
"Violence is always the answer!"
Then the alarms started.
"I told you Iida would be a better representative than me!"
"One incident does not change everything, Midoriya-kun," Momo replied, exasperated.
"It does when it's the only incident- that means Iida is 100% more effective than me at being a leader. Henceforth, I should hand the position of Class Rep over to him!"
"Do you want to lose your coffee privileges?"
"...No."
"Then stop trying to abdicate responsibility."
"...One of these days...:"
"For today's Foundational Hero Training, I'll be assisting All MIght, along with one more person who we'll meet up with at a separate location."
"Excuse me!" Sero said, raising his hand, "What'll we be doing?"
Aizawa held up a card, reading RESCUE in large blue letters, saying nothing.
The class broke into excited chatter, the more rambunctious students crying out with their fiery passion.
"Oi. I'm not done."
And just like that, the flames were quenched,
"You can choose to wear your Hero Costume or not," Aizawa continued, "Because some of you might have designs which limit your abilities outside of combat. Decide quickly, then meet me out in front of the building. The place we're going is a few kilometers away, so we'll be taking a bus. Don't keep me waiting."
"Class 1-A, gather round!" Iida cried, blowing into a whistle. "Form two lines by your student numbers in order to make the boarding of the bus go smoothly!"
Izuku rounded on Momo, mouth opened to complain about his continued role as Class Representative in the face of such competence, but received a smack to his face via paper fan for his troubles.
"Don't," she commanded, pointing the impromptu weapon at him. He growled, teeth bared, before opening his mouth again. This time, when Momo swung, he ripped the fan out of her hand with his teeth, grinding it between his pearly whites.
"Midoriya-kun!" she cried, Creating another fan. He had not been expecting it, and thus took the hit. His next growl was incredibly loud, attracting the attention of the rest of the class.
Most of them watched in fascinated horror as Momo played a dangerous game, beating the strongest student in their class over the head with something as mundane as a folded-up piece of paper. Going by the increasingly more feral growls, and the way his eyes had gone white with apocalyptic rage, they feared for the Vice Representative's life.
Finally, Izuku seemed to use his brain, and yanked his hands out of his pocket to grab Momo's wrists. He pushed her slightly until her back was up against the bus' exterior, hands pinned to the metal, and his height towering over her.
"Will. You. Stop!?" he snarled, leaning close enough that their foreheads bumped together.
Momo, despite the terror she was feeling, stayed strong. "I'll stop when you stop!" she snapped back, sticking her tongue out at him petulantly.
Izuku was tempted to lean down just a little bit and bite her tongue clean off, but a cough resounded behind him, distracting him.
"Are you done?" Aizawa asked dryly, eyes barely regarding their existence. "If not, hurry up. We need to go soon."
Eyes narrowed into slits, Izuku slowly let go of Momo, taking a step back. He was watching her, waiting to see if she would try anything, but she seemed a bit more concerned with rubbing at her wrists in irritation.
"Honestly, Midoriya-kun, I don't understand why you are so against being Class Representative. It's an honor, and many people would fight to be in your position."
"If you don't understand, then that just means you haven't been paying attention to a thing I've said for the past few days."
"I have been listening, but it simply does not make sense to me."
Izuku glanced around at their audience, then shook his head with an exhausted sigh. "Whatever. We're not having this conversation now."
Momo looked like she wanted to say something, but Izuku's phone chose that moment to begin ringing. Looking confused, he pulled the device out of his pocket, glancing at the caller I.D. He stared at it for a second, before grimacing and turning away from the bus.
"I have to take this call," he muttered, wandering a couple meters away. The rest of the class took this as a cue to load up onto the bus, though Momo lagged behind slightly. She gazed at Izuku's back, wondering who could evoke such negative emotions in the young man with just their name. HIs tightly clenched fist did nothing to assuage her worries, nor did the steadily-sharpening, aimless glare.
On the bus, Momo was too busy staring at Izuku to pay attention to the conversation of her classmates. He was in the seat directly on her left, since it was the only one the other students left open. The seat itself was located in the front of the classic rows, on the right side of the bus, overlooking the open-floor seats.
Izuku was slumped against the backrest, arms crossed and chin pressing against his chest. Whoever had called him must've upset him incredibly so; even in his sleep, the green-haired teen's eyebrows were furrowed in anger.
Momo was debating the merits of waking the boy up to ask about it, hand twitching to shake him, when his eyes opened of their own volition. Izuku shifted to sit up straight, his usual post-nap haze suspiciously absent.
"Midoriya-kun?" she asked softly, voice nearly drowned out by her rowdy peers. However, Izuku still seemed to hear her, since his pupils moved to side-eye her.
"Are you okay?" she asked, peering up at him.
Izuku's gaze shifted so he was looking straight ahead now, staring out the front window of the bus. "I'm fine," he replied, though the statement lacked any real conviction. His body language also did not match up with his words; he was tense, eyes sharp, obviously ready for something to happen.
She was about to call him out for his blatant lie, but her classmates decided to get the Class Reps involved in their conversation.
"Hey, Midoriya-kun, you want any chips?" Sato asked, holding up a cellophane bag. Izuku shook his head silently.
"Don't worry about being rude, man. I've got more."
Izuku shook his head again, with more vigor this time.
Katsuki scoffed. He was sitting down in one of the open-floor seats, fiddling with his phone. "Good luck getting that fucker to eat anything. I swear, it's like he's anorexic or something- he's been over to my house nearly every day for, like, ten months, and not once have I seen him ingest anything other than coffee and water. Even though he stayed over until evening, and he never ate anything at school."
"Actually, come to think of it, I've never seen Midori-kun eat anything at lunchtime, either…" Uraraka said, a finger on her chin in wonder.
"Midoriya-kun, it is not healthy to regularly skip meals! As a hero-in-training, you will need all the stamina you can get to keep up with the rigorous curriculum of U.A!" Iida cried, making his normal hand gestures. "Is this why you are always sleeping!?"
"Yeah, something like that. I'm allergic to damn-near everything, so I just don't eat."
"Midoriya-kun, that is incredibly bad for your wellbeing!" Iida said loudly, voicing the thoughts of everyone else. "You should speak with the school's cafeteria staff- surely they would be willing to accomodate you?"
"Trust me, Iida, trying to find something I can actually eat without throwing up ten minutes later is way too difficult. Besides, I can handle this much," Izuku said, waving the concern off casually.
"When was the last time you ate a proper meal!?" Iida shouted, standing up as if ready to walk over and shove food down Izuku's throat.
"Ah…" Izuku muttered, holding his chin in a hand thoughtfully. "Well, last time I ate anything was… Three…? No, maybe four…"
"Four days!?"
"Four months."
The entirety of the bus was shocked into silence at that admission. Iida was flailing like a fish out of water, and jaws everywhere were dropped.
"H-how are you still alive?" Jiro whispered fearfully.
"Don't worry, I've still got at least another few weeks in me- I haven't even started hallucinating yet!" Izuku said, tilting his nose up into the air pridefully.
"That-! That's not funny, Midoriya-kun!" Momo shouted, grabbing onto his arm with desperation in her eyes.
"I wasn't laughing," he said flatly. "Anyways, I don't understand what you guys are so scared of. My Quirk might make it hard for me to find food, but it also makes it so I hardly have to eat. I do this all the time, so trust me when I say this; I'm perfectly fine."
"What… What happens when you do start to get hungry?" Kirishima asked, uncharacteristically quiet.
"Hm? Oh, I just go insane until I get some food. Kinda sucks, but I don't remember it, so it's not really a big deal or anything."
The bus was silent, everyone staring at Izuku in varying degrees of horror, for the remainder of the trip. Momo kept her hands wrapped her hands around his arm, as if reassuring herself that he wasn't wasting away on the spot.
Finally, they reached their destination, and Aizawa stood up.
"Alright, we're here. You can leave anything you don't need in here, since we'll be using the same bus to get back. And Midoriya."
"Yeah?"
"When we get back to the main campus, you and me will be having a little chat about your eating habits."
"'Kay~."
"Everyone, I've been waiting for you!"
"Oh! It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! I love them!" Uraraka shouted excitedly. The tension from the discussion on the bus evaporated in the face of such a gentle hero. Thirteen's vibe seemed to set the majority of the class at ease.
"Let's go inside without delay! There's a lot I have to tell you!"
"A shipwreck! A landslide! A fire! A windstorm! And more! This is a training ground I've made to simulate many different types of accidents and disasters! It's called, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!"
"So it really is U.S.J!" Kirishima cried, forgetting that copyright laws existed.
"Thirteen, where's All Might?" Aizawa asked, walking closer to the rescue hero to have a quiet conversation. A few words were exchanged, and Thirteen held up three fingers, which meant nothing to the students.
"...That's the height of irrationality," Aizawa said loudly, almost sounding as exhausted as Izuku normally looked. "Well, it can't be helped. Shall we begin?"
"Ah, let's see…" Thirteen began, "Before we start, let me say one...two, three, or four, or five, or six…"
The astronaut continued on in that vein for a few more seconds, much to the exasperation of the class, but Izuku had long since tuned it out. His instincts were screaming at him, the hair on his arms and neck rising. He began to feel twitchy, adrenaline being released into his body and amping him up to a ridiculous degree.
Looking around, something down in the center of the massive caught his eye. A black swirl, which was slowly growing larger. A hand poked out, followed by the rest of a body, then more bodies…
"Sensei!" Izuku cried, cutting off Thirteen. Aizawa snapped to attention, and looked to where the green-haired teen was pointing. His bloodshot eyes widened, and he grabbed onto his capture scarf with one hand. The lights flickered out, and the fountain in the plaza started to stutter.
"Everyone, get back! Thirteen, protect the students!"
"Sensei, is this part of the simulation!?" someone asked, their voice melding together with the cacophony of sound being produced by the students.
"No," Aizawa said, even more serious than normal. HIs tired eyes were focused, his body tense and ready to move.
"Those… Are Villains!"
Panic ensued, several of the students freezing up at the mere notions, while others set their jaws in an attempt to stave off the fear. It was a losing battle, however, when they saw the sheer amount of people pouring out of the black fog. Within moments, the plaza was teeming with criminals, all looking bloodthirsty and ready for a fight.
Aizawa moved to the top of the stairs, quickly doing an estimate of how many bodies were standing down there.
Looks like at least forty or fifty…
With a quiet curse, Aizawa bent at the knees, preparing to engage in combat. Somebody walked up next to him, however, disturbing his concentration.
"Midoriya, I said to get back."
Izuku barely spared him a glance. "You might be able to take down a decently sized group of Villains, sensei, but you specialize in one-on-one fights and sneak attacks. Even for someone as experienced as you, this is too much."
"And? You think you being there will even the odds?"
This time, Izuku turned to look him in his eyes, which he quickly covered with his goggles.
"Only one way to find out, right?" Much as Aizawa hated to admit it, the kid had a point. He was the most skilled in Class 1A, standing head and shoulders above the majority of his peers, with the possible exceptions of Bakugou and Todoroki.
"...Detention when we get back for ignoring my orders. Now, let's go!"
