"I wish you were here to see his face light up when the U.A school uniform arrived!" Inko whispered excitedly into the phone pressed against her ear. "Izuku looked as if he'd received a brand new All Might figurine!"
"Oh, I'm sure!" The jaded voice of her husband, Hisashi, responded through the line with a chuckle. "I haven't forgotten what the look of wonder and excitement looks like on our son. In fact, it's practically engrained in my memory!"
Inko was pacing up and down the hall of their apartment erratically as she waited for Izuku to finish dressing and emerge from his room. She could hardly believe the last month and some change that's passed since the U.A Entrance Exam! Her baby boy had finished up his junior high work with no further issues (related to either schoolwork or magic) and was now transitioning into one of the most prestigious high schools the entire country had to offer!
The door to Izuku's room suddenly slid open and out stepped said boy, tugging at his U.A tie unconvincingly and looking himself over with a constant, critical gaze, as if he was unsure he'd put the uniform on properly. Inko, however, seemed convinced, judging by her cries of joy anyway.
"Oh my goodness, you look so dashingly handsome!" Inko cried to Izuku as the phone trembled in her hand. "Hisashi, if only you could see him now! Our little Izuku all grownup and actually attending U.A!"
Izuku appeared quite flustered with his mother showering him with praise, but the boy soon became pale and stiff as a board once he realized that she was on the phone. All embarrassment suddenly flew out the window as Izuku briskly walked past his mother, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and making his way to the door as quickly as possible.
"W-well, I better get going Mom!" Izuku said a little too forcefully. "I wouldn't want to be late for the opening ceremony, right?"
"Izuku, wait!" Inko called out to her son, smiling tautly as Izuku slowed to an uncomfortable halt. "It's...your father on the phone. Won't you talk with him for a moment before you head off to U.A?"
Izuku said and did nothing in response, his body not moving an inch besides the rising and falling of his chest as he breathed. Without turning toward his mother, Izuku slowly stretched out his hand to accept the phone.
"...Hello?" Izuku asked quietly as he pressed the phone against his ear.
"Izuku, my little champ!" Hisashi spoke excitedly to his son, though the exhaustion and fatigue from what had to have been his long work hours continued to bleed through into his voice. "You must be the most excited young man in all of Japan right now, actually attending the most esteemed Hero Course in the nation!"
"Yeah, it'll be great," Izuku responded flatly. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Well, uh...good! Good, I'm glad you're excited for it!" Hisashi stammered, drained from both overtime and a dwindling sense of confidence in sustaining this conversation. "I just wanted you to know that, er, even though you may be a late bloomer when it comes to your Quirk, it won't stop you from becoming a Hero! Just remember to never stop working hard!"
"You mean like you?" Izuku replied with a bit more bite than he was probably aiming for.
"Um, yeah, I suppose like myself..." Hisashi said, sighing in defeat.
"I'm going to be late for school, Dad," Izuku said, not-so-subtly indicating that he wanted this talk to end already.
"Sure, sure, I'd hate to make you late for your first day...hand the phone back to your mother, will you? And Izuku," Hisashi called for his son right as the boy pulled the phone away from his head. "I'm proud of you, son."
"I'll...see you after the ceremony, Mom," Izuku said emotionlessly as he handed the phone back to his mother. He was out the door without another word, and Inko couldn't think of any other thing to say to get him to stay any longer.
"I'm sorry," Hisashi sighed again into the phone."I'm so sorry, Inko."
"Hush, my dear," Inko replied quietly. "We both know well enough of Izuku's discomfort when it comes to our circumstances and your oversea assignment. He just...doesn't understand. But he will one day."
"I couldn't turn down this opportunity," Hisashi said lamentably. "The money guarantees you and our son's quality of living, but...these past couple years I've begun to ask myself if my work with the Tastu Corporation has been worth the cost of being kept away from my family all these years...and if it was worth causing my own son to think I abandoned him for being Quirkless."
"You're not to blame, Hisashi..." Inko consoled her husband. "I understand why you did what you did, even though I miss you terribly. If anyone is to blame, it's that sanctimonious boss of yours, Martin Li! How could such a generous man work his employees like horses on their last legs?"
"Mr. Li is indeed a generous man, but he isn't really my boss," Hisashi replied. "He merely owns a majority of the stocks put into the corporation. I rather wish he would involve himself more, though...still, I appreciate your indignation, dear."
"Anything for my hardworking 'little dragon'!" Inko giggled.
"All these years and you still haven't given up on that old nickname of mine?" Hisashi asked amusedly.
"Even though by now it's probably more smoke than fire," Inko replied mischievously.
"Hey, hey, give me some credit here!" Hisashi laughed before falling silent. "Listen, Inko, I don't think Izuku quite heard me when he gave the phone back to you. When he comes home, can you tell him again how happy I am for him? How proud I am of him?"
"Yes, I can do that, dear."
"I'm happy he could awaken his Quirk before the Entrance Exam, even though I certainly didn't love him any less before," Hisashi sighed. "I just hope that when I return he'll realize that..."
And with that, Hisashi hung up the phone with an audible click. The line fell dead on Inko's end, and the poor woman dropped the phone rather haphazardly on the closest shelf. She shuffled her way to the couch and promptly slumped down on the cushion. The guilt hurt, having lied to her husband-lying for her son-regarding his new powers.
Hisashi was not aware of Izuku's new magical abilities or his status as a now Disciple of Stephen Strange. She had told her husband the same story as most people that were aware of the sludge villain incident had been told: that Izuku Midoriya, traumatized by his friend's capture by a ruthless villain, awakened his Quirk and rushed to save Bakugo's life.
Inko had not been able to relay this information to her husband until the middle of that summer, while Izuku was off training with Strange at Kamar-Taj. And then she learned of the attack by what Strange called a 'fallen zealot' and her worries over Izuku's new life as a sorcerer have only expounded since. She had fainted twice when being told of the attack on Izuku during the Stark Expo and nearly cried herself to exhaustion when she'd been informed of the attack on the Sanctum and the near-death experience Doctor Strange had suffered through.
After every incident that had occurred since her son began wielding magic, a voice in the back of her mind urged her to pull her son out of it, for his own safety if nothing else. The world of a Pro Hero was fraught with danger, and her son's reckless and self-sacrificing nature proved the life of a sorcerer could be doubly so.
But could she do that to him?
Inko could wield her authority as Izuku's sole present legal guardian and forcefully usher him into a life of relative normalcy, if not obscurity given what was once his supposedly Quirkless nature. But how would Izuku react? Would he begin to resent her as he had come to resent his own father?
Would it even be fair? And not just to Izuku, but also Stephen Strange. The man had been terribly sincere in his oaths to protect her son from harm, and it was obvious the two had bonded as the training progressed over the months, to the point where the Sorcerer Supreme was an active father figure in Izuku's life, one he needed in the absence of Hisashi. So giving in to her overbearing motherly instincts could be doubly negative for Izuku: it would not only end his training and deprive him of any chance of attaining his dreams, but it would also potentially end the budding father-son relationship Izuku had begun to foster with Strange.
Inko just...couldn't do that to him. The poor woman already felt like as if she'd failed her son in the past by not truly believing in his convictions to become a Pro Hero. She failed him by not having hope; she wouldn't fail him again by taking his hope away.
Even in spite of all her apprehensions-in spite of her fears that a terrible future could await her son if he continued on this path-Inko Midoriya just didn't have it in her to put a stop to Izuku's ambitions.
The alternatives just seemed so undeniably worse.
One would think that Izuku Midoriya, the technically Quirkless and once powerless boy with boundless aspirations to become a Hero, would've been profoundly ecstatic upon wading through intrusive reporters and crossing the U.A barrier. After all, his first day in the hero course was upon him! Alas, his morning was marred with brooding thoughts concerning his biological father.
I can't afford to think about him! Izuku shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as he mindlessly trudged down the halls of U.A toward his class, the cheerful banter of fellow passing students tuned out entirely. Why did he have to call on my first day? I didn't need to be reminded that you aren't here...and you haven't been for years...
Izuku blinked as he suddenly found himself standing before an abnormally large door labeled '1-A'. It was...slightly intimidating, to say the least. Were there students in the past with large height-related Quirks? Would there be any giants in his class today? Speaking of which, what would his fellow classmates be like? U.A only had room for the best, or at least those that showed the most promise, so he knew Bakugo was a given. That overly stern boy with the glasses he encountered outside the gates on the day of the Entrance Exam seemed a shoe-in, too.
I just really hope we aren't all assigned to the same class... Izuku silently prayed as he grabbed the door handle and slid it open, revealing...
"Hey, don't put your feet up on your desk! Don't you think that's incredibly inconsiderate to the upperclassmen and carpenters who made that desk!?"
"Shut the hell up already, you damn elite!"
Izuku resisted the urge to fall right on his face in defeat. He'd already suffered through countless hostilities during his junior high years, he didn't need any more antagonism as he went through U.A!
"Hey! You passed after all!" A peppy, feminine voice exclaimed before Izuku found himself surrounded by several of his new classmates, one of them being a floating uniform that seemed to have no body accompanying it. Izuku realized it had to have been the invisible girl he'd encountered during the exam. "I'm Toru Hagakure!"
"Name's Rikido Sato," The tall, full-lipped boy introduced himself. "I heard you helped keep me from becoming a flattened shortcake during the Entrance Exam."
"Same here!" The grape-headed boy he'd also spotted said tearfully. "Thanks a bunch!"
"You helped me as well, right?" An orangey-blonde haired boy approached Izuku next. "Name's Kaminari Denki! And I won't let you outdo me with your superior Quirk!"
Izuku recoiled slightly, flustered by the sudden and unexpected attention he was receiving and also Kaminari's words. Superior Quirk? Izuku knew he was in the same testing area for the Entrance Exam, but he'd only seen this guy in a stupefied state, babbling uncontrollably. What exactly had he seen before that?
"So, you made it after all!" Another cheerful voice sounded through the crowd, and Izuku soon found himself facing a crop of red, spiky hair and a familiar face pushing his way through the crowd.
"You're...Eijiro Kirishima, right?" Izuku asked. He knew the boy had taken the top score of the Entrance Exam, with himself behind in second place, but it had still been over four weeks since the test; he wasn't totally sure on any names yet besides Bakugo's.
"Glad you remembered!" Kirishima said, giving Izuku a supportive slap on his shoulder. "But I'm way more glad we ended up in the same class together! Manly students like us work best when they stick together!"
"Uh...yeah!" Manly students?
"Ah! You there!" The stern-looking guy with glasses caught sight of Izuku and marched his way over to him. "So, you were accepted into U.A's Hero Course as well, hmm?"
"U-uh, yes!" Izuku shivered under the boy's intense gaze. "And you are...?"
"Iida Tenya, from Somei Private Academy!" The boy responded with a dramatic arm chop. "I hope that you do not dawdle your way through your classes like you did before the Entrance Exam while you're in the Hero Course! We now have reputations as fledgling U.A students to uphold!"
"Relax, relax!" Kirishima jumped between Izuku and Iida, trying to calm the overly enthusiastic student down. "It's just our first day!"
As all the students surrounding Izuku engaged in rambunctious discussion, Bakugo sat in his seat quietly, drilling red, indignant eyes into the green-haired boy he'd known since childhood.
First he defies me by applying to U.A, then he has the gall to one-up me in the Entrance Exam!? Bakugo stewed in his anger, trying to wrap his mind around how Deku of all people scored higher than him. Sure, it was only by a single point, but a loss was still a loss in Bakugo's mind. A loss by one point might as well have been a loss by a hundred points. He had to forcibly resist the urge to walk over to the boy and throttle him, demanding answers. Something's definitely up...there's no way the training he got from that 'Doctor Strange' flunky could've caused him to improve so drastically, right!?
"If you're just here to make friends, then I suggest you go somewhere else," An exhausted voice broke all the students out of their conversations.
Izuku peered through the crowd of students that had crowded around him and felt his jaw drop as his eyes settled on whoever had spoke. In the hall right outside the class laid a yellow sleeping bag with an unkempt face poking out of the top, jumping from student to student with an unimpressed gaze.
W-who the heck is here!? All the students collectively thought as the sleeping bag rose and opened up. A rather worn-out and tired-looking man stepped out, sporting a ragged black outfit with a scarf of sorts wrapped around his neck.
"Hmph. It took over eight seconds for you all to get quiet," The unkempt man said. "Time is limited and it doesn't appear that you kids are rational enough. I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota."
"Homeroom teacher?"
"So does that mean this man is a Pro Hero, too?"
"But he looks far too tired to be a Pro..."
"This may sound sudden, but I need you all to put these PE uniforms on and assemble out on the field," Aizawa pulled out of his sleeping bag the standard blue and white gym uniform all U.A students wore. As the students passed one by one to the changing rooms with their gym uniforms tucked under their arms, Aizawa cast a wary glance toward Izuku and Kirishima, the red head chattering excitedly as the other boy listened on with a far more quiet demeanor.
Now then, Aizawa thought as he made his way to his desk, opening a drawer to fetch his eye drops. He then reached back into his sleeping bag, pulling out a manila folder that was labeled 'Izuku Midoriya' on the tab. He quickly scanned through its contents, his eyes briefly stopping on the part of the file that listed the boy's Quirk which had seemingly bloomed far later than normal.
It read: 'Izuku Midoriya, Quirk: Energy Reign.'
Time to see if these students have any potential.
Author Notes
At long last, U.A begins! I kept things short, sweet, and simple for this chapter, seeing as it's essentially the beginning of Act II, but that certainly doesn't mean there isn't plenty to talk about!
For starters, there's Izuku's father, Hisashi Midoriya. I have interesting plans for him in this story. Most writers in the fandom seem to portray Hisashi as either a villain (All For One or otherwise) or as a deadbeat or even outright abusive father. I will definitely be taking a somewhat different route to make my portrayal of him stand out more. But some of you probably figured that when I name-dropped his boss, didn't you?
The other big takeaway in this chapter was the reveal of Izuku's cover Quirk: Energy Reign. This will be the cover for the myriad of magical abilities he is capable of using. The next chapter will detail this a bit more as Izuku takes Aizawa's test along with the rest of 1-A.
I feel like I need to detail what Izuku's current abilities are, so no one is lost from this point going forward:
-Levitation/flight: While he has his Cloak of Levitation equipped, Izuku is capable of sustained levitation and minimal flight.
-Eldritch whips: Izuku can harness energy in the form of flaming whips which he can use to lasso or lash at enemies or grab and sling objects. His whips have a range of about 20 feet.
-Barriers: Izuku can harness energy and form basic barriers around himself and others for protection. He can also use these barriers as makeshift platforms. There is a limit to how large he can make his barriers; the larger it is the less sustainable it becomes. Izuku's barriers currently are only about 50-100% more durable than Tsuburaba's air barriers.
-Bolts of Bedevilment: Izuku can harness energy and focus it through his hands in the form of lightning, which he uses to shoot toward enemies, shocking them. Unlike Kaminari, he can aim and somewhat control the trajectory of the electricity he creates.
-Portals: Through concentration, Izuku can conjure portals to various locations so long as he can muster a clear visual image in his mind. The clearer and more accurate the picture, the better. This is kind of a big one because I received more than one comment last chapter about Izuku using his portals for the ball test, and all I can say is...it won't be that simple. There are going to be very clear limitations on Izuku's portals as the story progresses. He can't just open a portal to just anywhere after all.
Those powers are what Izuku is capable of as of right now in the story, and he will continue learning new abilities as the story continues.
Now onto another character people have been asking about repeatedly: Thor.
For the sake of this story, Thor and the Asgardians will not be literal gods. They will be god-like and will be far more like their MCU counterparts. In fact, don't expect any Marvel character in this story (hero or villain) to be as powerful as their 616-counterparts. The feats of the characters in that reality are astronomically ridiculous compared to the context of an MHA-based world (616 Thor has lifted the equivalent of like, 20 planets). Besides that, Norse/Asgardian mythology is ridiculously complex, and nothing that I've got planned for this story requires an in-depth know-how of Norse mythology. I will adapt what I need and that will be it. The people of this world are almost entirely unaware of the existence of aliens anyway, so Asgardians will not have much sway over Midgard in this story. Yes, there will still be an arc on Asgard in the distant future.
I think that squares everything away that I wanted to go in detail about. Next chapter will be the actual test where we'll see if Izuku can maintain his cover Quirk.
Until next time! Plus Ultra!
