AN: I forgot to mention, this story is also posted in AO3, and I always update there first (my name there is verymerrysioux). I highly suggest you check it out, because ffnet is absolute garbage when it comes to formatting anything and just... uglifies my chapters. There's even a small detail here that was removed because this site is incredibly limited in doing anything besides bold, italicize, and underline.

Sorry I posted this again, the link to the chapter doesn't show up? (In my end at least? Like wth I'm the author why isn't it showing up?)


Today's his first day of school.

"Do you have tissue?"

"Yeah," he wonders what his classmates will be like. He already knows he and Kacchan are in the same class (the blond had commented if he had a voice quirk to accompany that tear quirk because he swore he heard him bawling that night they got their letters).

Maybe he'll meet the interesting people Kacchan mentioned.

"And your handkerchief?"

And All Might was going to be a teacher.

"Izuku? Your handkerchief?"

He can't wait.

"Your hanky?" His mom frets, hovering over him. "You brought one, right?"

"Yes, kaa-chan, I did," he huffs, lifting his bag. "I'm gonna be late, so I have to leave now," he stands up and walks towards the door. "Bye!"

"Izuku!"

The door's halfway open when he hears his mom calling him again. He sighs and turns. "What?"

His mom is smiling at him, tears threatening to escape her eyes. "You're really cool," she says, clutching her chest.

He blinks, his cheeks heat up as he processes what his mom just said. He gives her a wide grin. "I'm off!"


Katsuki and his mother are having an intense stare-off, two pairs of vibrant red eyes glaring at each other. His father is sitting at his place in the dining table, drinking his coffee in a leisurely pace.

"He's going to be late, dear," he comments after a sip.

His wife ignores him, too focused on their hoarder of a son to be worried about trivial things like that.

"Quiver," she demands, stretching out her hand.

Katsuki pouts.

"That shit won't work on me, no matter how much you got my good looks," she snorts, her hand making an insistent "give or else" gesture. "I've dealt with Izu-kun, give me the quiver," she points at the side of his hip. "The bow," she points at his hand. "And the shield," she points at his back. "Now."

Katsuki holds his bow protectively and backs away, she wonders how he fooled everyone into thinking he was a serious and mature boy. "What if I need it?"

"It's school."

"It's hero school," Katsuki corrects. "What if I need it for combat?"

"You can make explosions with your hands," his father points out, placing his coffee cup down and reaching for the newspaper. "You scored the highest in the U.A entrance exams. And you said you fought killer robots in the practicals."

In that brief moment, both parents wondered why they weren't as worried as they should be.

"That's only good for close and mid range combat," Katsuki protests. "I have to cover all my bases."

"Maybe invest on smaller projectiles," his father suggests, turning a page. Hm, an ancient temple was discovered near Akara. Interesting. Oh, All Might closing down his agency? Was he retiring? "Doesn't Izuku use a slingshot?" He turns another page. More rumors of seeing All Might in several cities, now they're just making him sound like some kind of bigfoot sighting. What was the term people used? Cryptic? "How about darts? Needles? Shuriken? Kunai?"

"Where would I get that?"

"Your mother and I are still wondering where you get your shields."

"Both of you are covering all my annoyed bases," she snaps, she gives a pointed look to her son. "Now fork them over or else I won't let you eat Inko's cooking later—you know she and Izu-kun are visiting tonight."

Katsuki gives his bow a hesitant glance, he then looks at his father for help.

His father turns another page, unfazed as his son gives him a kicked puppy look. "I love you," he states. "But I also love Inko's food."

That's a no.

Katsuki sighs, letting go of his bow, unfastening his quiver, and removing his shield. At least he could bring his ocarina. "I'll be off."

"And don't start breaking any shit again!"

"I haven't done that since I was fucking ten!"


"Hey dude!"

Hitoshi turns to find a red-headed boy waving at him, jogging towards his direction. He squints his eyes, wondering if they've met before. Maybe he was mistaking him for someone else.

The boy grins, his sharp teeth glinting against the sunlight. It clicks. "Kirishima?"

"Shinsou!" Kirishima laughs, stopping in front of him. "You're in 1-A too?"

Hitoshi nods. "Just got here," he looks at the door. "That's pretty big," he observes. It was twice his height.

"Probably for those who are larger than average," Kirishima deduces, looking as well. "There was a student in my year that couldn't fit in the doors without crouching, I'm glad U.A takes that into consideration—I wonder if they have custom tables and chairs for stuff like that too?"

"If they can afford to build robots and miniature cities, then they can afford to make school chairs," Hitoshi says, taking a deep breath. He reaches for the handle, this was it.

He slides the door open.

And finds a green haired boy with glowing arms; holding up a table that had a tall stack of books, which had a Bakugou Katsuki tiptoeing and reaching in an opened part of the ceiling. Only his lower half was seen, the rest was up in the hole, doing does-he-want-to-know.

Hitoshi and Kirishima stare at the green haired boy.

The green haired boy stares back.

Bakugou is too busy doing he-really-doesn't-want-to-know to join the staring match.

"It's not what it looks like!" The boy says quickly, not sounding out of breath despite carrying a table, books, and a person for who knows how long.

"I don't even know what it looks like," Hitoshi replies. "Please elaborate." He hopes they don't.

"Quirk practice," is the muffled reply of Bakugou, who was still doing he-still-doesn't-want-to-know. "And treasure hunting, lot of Minish here—not surprised, heroes demand a lot of help, the school is teeming with hidden items."

"I understood those words but not in that order," Hitoshi states, regretting coming to school early.

It gets worse when a dark-haired boy with glasses walks by and sees them.

He really shouldn't have come here early.


"Defacing school property is unbecoming of a hero!" The boy with glasses lectures, hands chopping the air wildly. "It's disrespectful to the ones who worked hard to construct this room!"

"I put it back didn't I?" Kacchan asks, pointing at the section where he had been moments ago. "Looks good as new."

"That isn't the point! You shouldn't have done it in the first place!" The boy denies. "And put that chest back, that's stealing school property!"

Kacchan looks down at the small metal box he found hidden in the ceiling. "You realize I'd have to 'deface' the ceiling again, right?"

The boy with glasses jerks back, his face scrunched up in agony as his mind takes that into consideration.

Almost all of the students were here, looking at the two boys like they were an intense quirk-allowed tennis match.

"I am so sorry," Izuku sighs to nobody and everybody.

"What was a chest even doing up there?" A student wonders, scratching his blond hair in befuddlement. "How did he know it was there?"

"I don't want to know," the purple-haired boy who talked to him earlier says, looking more tired than he already was. "This was the guy who came to the exams in cosplay, I really don't want to know."

The boy with glasses seemed to have heard the last part, as he points to Kacchan dramatically. "That was you!" He accuses. "Peter Pan!"

Wrong, but okay.

"It's Zelda," the purple-haired boy corrects incorrectly.

That was on purpose, wasn't it?

"It's Link," Izuku corrects back, exasperated.

"Is that what Present Mic meant by hero of twilight?" The red-haired boy asks.

"Wait, that was him?" Someone behind them says.

"I'm Bakugou," Kacchan tells all of them. He gives the ranting boy an annoyed glare. "Geez, can you stop bitching for one second?" He grumbles. "And what the hell's your name? You keep yapping and you never even introduced yourself, fucking rude."

"Pot meet kettle," someone mutters.

"Such language!" The boy gasps. "First destroying property, then stealing it, and now swearing! Do you truly want to be a hero?"

Kacchan shrugs. "If nobody wants it, why not take it?"

"That's villainous thinking!"

"H-he's not really that bad!" Izuku defends, bringing up his hands in a placating gesture. "K-Kacchan doesn't mean any harm, he just likes exploring new places—and this is the first time we've been to U.A," he struggles for something to say. "Uh, I'm Midoriya Izuku!" He introduces quickly, hoping that would change the subject. "And you?"

He thanks the gods (and goddesses) that it works.

"My apologies, I really was rude," The boy bows. "I'm Iida Tenya, from Somei Private Academy."

"It's nice to meet you, Iida-kun," Izuku smiles. It was rare for Kacchan to be this talkative. Despite his sour words, he seems to like Iida (or he finds his reactions amusing, it could be both).

"Midoriya-kun," Iida says, looking at him intensely. "You realized there was something more to that practical exam, didn't you?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinks.

Iida gestures wildly and looks away. "I didn't realize it at all," he says. "I misjudged you! To think you knew the deeper meaning of the exam!" He clenches his hands and bites his lip, he looks back at Izuku. "It's frustrating, but you're better than me!"

There was silence.

Izuku stares blankly at Iida.

Iida stares back.

Kacchan looks at them in amusement.

The purple-haired boy glances at all three of them. "You didn't realize anything at all, did you?" He asks flatly.

Izuku says nothing.

"He didn't," Kacchan answers. "By the way, that's Shinsou Hitoshi—he rescued me in the exams, very heroic," he adds. Shinsou looks at him, wondering why he was giving such an odd introduction. "Kinda like what Izuku did," he smiles sweetly, Izuku wonders why he was using his actual name. "Their scores were pretty high in the rescue portion, maybe you should discuss it with them."

He doesn't mention that his rescue points were high as well, rivaling Izuku's and dominating Shinsou's.

Both Izuku and Shinsou look at him in slowly dawning horror.

Iida turns his head so fast that everyone in the room wonders if his quirk was owl-based, Kacchan quickly goes back into his seat as the boy targets on someone else besides him. Looking like a picture perfect model student. The red-haired boy looks at him, then back at them, then hesitantly goes to his seat as well—giving both of them an apologetic look.

There are times Izuku admires Kacchan's quick-thinking mind, this is not one of them.


They brace themselves for what Iida has to say when they are thankfully saved by an angel in the form of the last student.

"That curly hair! You're the plain-looking one!" A voice exclaims, distracting Iida. A girl enters the class and smiles widely as she looks at Midoriya. "It's just like what Present Mic said, I'm so glad!" She jumps in place and punches the air several times. "Not that I doubted it, you were so cool! Punching that huge robot like that!" She punches the air some more, shouting "Break!" for every punch.

Huh, that explains why he wasn't tired after carrying all that. His quirk must be a strength quirk.

Midoriya stammers, his face turning a beet red. "I-i-it was nothing!" He exclaims back, waving his arms. "A-a-anyone would do the same thing! You helped me too! Even when you were so exhausted!"

"Of course!" She says, surprised. "I had to try didn't I? I couldn't just leave you!"

"I couldn't just leave you too!"

"So everyone else but me realized the meaning of the exam?" Iida whispers, looking down at his hands.

"I don't think that's what happened," someone comments.

"I'm ashamed to call myself a student of U.A!" Iida wails.

"That's… that's okay, man," the same someone tries to comfort. "We're all learning here, right?"

"That is true!"

"Is everyone going to be this energetic?" Hitoshi asks himself tiredly. "Is our homeroom teacher going to be like that too?"

"God, I wish," an equally tired voice says below him, slicing the cacophony of voices like butter. Everyone goes silent, wondering where that came from. The voice sounded too low and gravelly to be a student. "The four of you, get back to your seats."

Midoriya glances down and lets out a tiny squeak, pointing at the floor frantically. Hitoshi blinks, then turns and looks down—Iida and the bubbly girl follow suit.

There is a gigantic yellow caterpillar in front of the classroom's entrance.

Hitoshi would like that pause button now.

"This is the hero course," the caterpillar says. Upon closer inspection, they all realize that the yellow body was a sleeping bag—and the one talking was a scruffy-looking man inside it. "And if you're all just going to play with your friends, then leave."

The strange man wiggles and brings out a juice pack, he takes a long sip from the straw.

Hitoshi is beginning to wonder if seeing all kinds of odd things was a norm in this school.

They all back away as the man stands up, unzipping the bag and revealing himself. Unlike his bright yellow sleeping bag, the man wore a dark jumpsuit—the only thing bright on him was the long grey scarf wrapped around his neck. "Right, time is limited," he says. "We wasted enough as it is, you kids aren't very aware with your surroundings."

Hitoshi blinks, could this man be their homeroom teacher? It's around this time that homeroom should start, and he was the only adult around. Judging from his outfit and the way he appeared unnoticed (students or not, it must take skill to sneak here looking like that), he must be a pro-hero.

Why did he look so worn out though?

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta," the man continues, verifying his thoughts. "Nice to meet you."

Everyone murmurs in surprise, whispering to one another.

The man pulls out a blue and white tracksuit from his sleeping bag. "Put this on and meet me in the field," he instructs. "We're going to have an exercise," he shakes the tracksuit some more when he sees that nobody has moved an inch. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

As Hitoshi joins his new classmates in rushing towards their lockers, he wonders why this feels ominous.


One of the things Helia doesn't like about Toshinori is his insistence on using his hero form as much as possible.

'Power down,' she demands, hands on her hips. Her voice hard and unyielding, so very unlike her usual chirpy tone. 'You don't need your hero form to spy on Izuku's class,' she floats in front of him, glare never wavering. 'In fact, that is the opposite of stealth, you big oaf!'

"But-"

Nope, she's having none of it, even if Toshinori looks like a kicked bunny.

'Listen!' She zips up to his face. 'You have three hours in that form, and another hour tops before you undo my healing. You need to use it wisely,' she points at him. 'Don't forget I know your body inside out, mister. Teaching is stressful as it is, but with you holding that form while doing it? It will take more than me and blessed food to help you recover—so save your strength for something more drastic than your fretting over Izuku on his first day!'

If anyone were present in the hallways, they would have been treated to the odd sight of a tiny ball of light cowing All Might to submission.


Hitoshi wonders if life just loves rubbing it in on how cursed his quirk was.

"A quirk assessment test?!" Everyone exclaims in disbelief.

"What about the entrance ceremony?" The bubbly girl asks. "The orientation? Why are we doing this? Shouldn't the exams be enough?"

He's pretty sure the man doesn't care.

"If you're going to be a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events," their homeroom teacher says. "U.A is unique because of how unrestricted its school traditions are," he glances at them. "And that also reflects on the teachers."

Of course.

This was the school that used killer robots for their exams.

Of course it was like this, why did he expect anything else?

"You kids have been doing these since junior high, right?" Their teacher brings out his phone, showing an app that listed down the usual physical fitness tests given in his old school. "Ones where you weren't allowed to use your quirks."

Hitoshi clenches his hands, trying to make them stop shaking.

"The country still uses averages taken from students not using their quirks."

Was this a pattern that's going to continue? Was there some deity who hated him?

"-inshou."

His whole life his quirk was called villainous.

(dangerous, scary, evil, stay away)

"Shin-…"

Now though.

"Shinsou."

Now it was just completely and utterly useless.

(useless, weak, pathetic, unheroic)

Someone pats his shoulder.

"Shinsou," Bakugou says firmly. He blinks, surrounding him were Kirishima, Midoriya, and the bubbly girl—all looking at him worriedly. "Do you need a breather? You can sit on the benches."

"No, I just," he sighs. "I'm fine, it's fine."

"You looked like you were on the verge of a p-"

"It's fine," he presses on.

Silence.

"It's really not," Bakugou states after a while. "Is this about your quirk? You were uncomfortable with Kirishima's question when we were in the bus."

"He was?" Kirishima asks, horrified. "Dude, I'm so sorry! I know it can be a sensitive subject and—oh man, I must have sounded like an ass-!"

"It's fine," he insists. "It's fine, it's nothing… it's just-" He takes a deep breath. Might as well get it over with, Hitoshi—rip it like a band-aid, a very sticky and large band-aid. "My quirk's brainwashing," he says, looking at all of them warily. "I can control people when they respond to my conversations."

The reaction from the girl wasn't anything new (the flinch and wariness in her eyes), but her shaking her head and pumping her fists quietly was.

(she's trying hard not to flinch, and there's determination smothering the fear—he's not used to that)

He figured Bakugou would be odd, so him humming, tilting his head, and saying casually, "Ah, that's why you said you didn't expect to have one point, much less four." Wasn't surprising.

He nods.

"Mind control quirks wouldn't be effective with robots," Midoriya muses, not looking scared or disgusted at all. Then again, he was friends with Bakugou. "But it would be effective with living beings, and all villains are living beings—… unless one of them has an undead quirk or something. Brainwashing a villain before they can do anything would lessen casualties tremendously, and imagine stopping civilians before they could hurt themselves! Oh, oh! Imagine just telling a villain to confess and they do! Now that I think about it, the practicals don't take many quirks into consideration, do they? The city didn't have much organic material for someone who had a, say plant controlling quirk or an animal calling one. Robots aren't a good real-world hero scenario—unless something like Skynet happens, which would be bad-"

"Time limit, Deku," Bakugou chides. "Prioritize and focus."

"Ah," Midoriya blinks, then laughs. "Right, sorry," he looks at him. "Are there limits to your quirk, Shinsou-kun?"

"External force on the," not victim, don't call them victims, he's not a villain. "Affected person snaps them out of it. The weakest has to be like… a bump, enough to feel a little jerk."

Midoriya purses his lips. "That's a troublesome limit."

Hitoshi gives a surprised laugh. Most would say it's relieving, that there's a blaringly obvious and easy weakness to use against his quirk.

"Bakugou," their teacher calls out. "You're first, step forward."

"Why do I feel that was deliberate?" Bakugou asks himself, giving the man a raised eyebrow. He looks back at Deku. "Seems I'll be first, so brainstorm without me." He nods at Midoriya and pats his back.

Kirishima, Midoriya, and the bubbly girl huddle around him—like this was a secret last minute meeting for a game.

"You don't have to," Hitoshi hisses. "Worry about your own, this isn't your problem."

Kirishima hits his shoulder. "Dude, you're our friend," he whispers. "And friends help each other."

"I… what?" He didn't, they never… they only met once! Was he for real?

"Anyone who's friends with Deku's friends is my friend too!" The bubbly girl cheers quietly. "I'm Uraraka Ochaco, by the way!"

"What?" Hitoshi asks.

"Deku?" Midoriya repeats.

They jump as they hear a loud echoing boom in the field, they glance back to find Bakugou on the pitching circle. His arm stretched out and smoking.

"Not much time," Kirishima says. "Look, any ideas would be great!"

Midoriya looks at all of them pensively, tapping his cheek. He surveys the field, sparing each area a short glance. He looks at Uraraka, then at Kirishima, then at his own fist.

"How much control do you have on people?" Midoriya asks. "Can you make them use their quirks?"

That was a common question that he heard, and he usually deflected it with a change of subject. If the one asking it didn't sound scared, then they would sound gleeful (almost greedy).

Midoriya asked as if it were something mundane, like cooking rice or feeding a cat.

"I don't know," Hitoshi admits. "I rarely use it, and when I do, it's only for a few seconds."

It's not something people liked, much less encouraged.

"Try it on me," Kirishima says.

"What? No."

"What, yeah," Kirishima shoots back. He looks at his face and smiles, demeanor softening. "Look, dude, I trust you—try it on me."

It's a little sad that this is the first time he's heard that.

It was always questions, always assurances that he wasn't using his quirk now, always a person nearby who would tap their friend just in case. Always wary and careful. Trust is only given to him when the prefix "dis" was added. Even the friendliest people he had would joke about them being brainwashed and not realizing it, that maybe he was tricking all of them.

(it hurt)

He didn't blame them, he'd probably act like that too if he were in the same situation.

(would he?)

He bites his lip, looks at Kirishima, and sighs. "What's your name?" He asks, allowing the power to flow out of his voice.

"Kirishima Ei-"

(haha, there, do you trust me now?)

(please do, I'm sorry)

The blank look doesn't suit him. Bakugou was right, he really was a vibrant and energetic character. Get it over with, the sooner this was done, the sooner Kirishima was back to normal.

"Harden," he orders.

Uraraka chokes.

He gives her an odd look, why would she-oh.

Wait, no.

Midoriya coughs.

No, no, no, that's not what he meant. Stop, rewind, undo, pause.

"You arm!" He adds quickly. "Harden it with your quirk. That's what I meant. Nothing else besides that." Please.

He hears snickers from the other two and pointedly ignores them.

Much to his relief (and surprise), Kirishima raises his arm and hardens his skin. He slaps his shoulder lightly to cancel the brainwash.

Kirishima blinks, deactivating his quirk and giving him a thumbs up. "It works!" He laughs.

He wasn't mad? Or wary? Or anything? He's just going to act like it's normal? Just like that?

"Give me a short rundown on how your quirks work," Midoriya demands. "I have an idea."


AN: And done!

Specific games mentioned: The Minish Cap, Twilight Princess
Terms mentioned:

Minish - Also known as Picori, they're tiny creatures who get energy (or something like that) by helping people. In-game lore explains that they're the ones that often hide rupees, hearts, and other useful items in things like pots or grass.