"Hey, Izuku. Izuku, wake up."
Midoriya could feel someone shaking him, and he blearily opened his eyes. He looked upwards, seeing Shinsou shaking him gently.
"You slept down here in the bean bag again. Come on, we're leaving for our exam soon and we should eat some breakfast. At least drink something." Shinsou muttered, as Reiko yawned and stretched, before hopping off Midoriya's chests. Ryuto was still snoozing by Midoriya's neck, and the boy gently picked the sleeping bird up before sitting up.
Midoriya stumbled to his feet, and carefully stretched, not wanting to wake Ryuto up. Midoriya flinched internally as his his joints made that weird popping sound; he was tired and aching all over from training, and while sleeping in the bean bag in the common room probably wasn't good for all his sore muscles, he could barely sleep in his own room for some unknown reason, and the common room was the only place where he could actually rest for the day.
Midoriya just placed Reiko and Ryuto on the table, before settling down in a chair, trying to ignore the feeling of unease bubbling in his stomach as he watched Iida wake up the rest of their classmates.
He could feel it. Something bad was going to happen, but he didn't know what.
You can't save anyone, Deku.
Shut up.
Midoriya kept a tight grip on his case with his hero costume, as Shinsou and Iida hopped off the bus. Shinsou glanced at Midoriya worriedly; ever since he had woken up, Midoriya had been tense, on edge, almost as if he was expecting something to happen.
"Eraser? It's you, isn't it, Eraser?"
Aizawa's face immediately twisted into a scowl as he turned to face the source of the voice, and Shinsou sighed, "Oh dear. Here we go again..."
"I've seen you on TV and at the sports festival, but it's been a while since I've seen you in person!"
"Ms Joke?" Uraraka raised an eyebrow, watching as the female pro hero walked towards them, "Aizawa-sensei, you know her?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Aizawa muttered, just out of Fukukado's earshot. Fukukado laughed, and grinned, "Let's get married."
"No."
Fukukado burst into laughter, "No? Good one!"
"You're hard to talk to as usual!" Aizawa sighed, shaking his head. Why did he have to put up with all the noisy, annoying people? Why him?
"If you marry me, we can make a happy family with never ending laughter!"
"A family like that can't be happy." Aizawa retorted.
"You two seem close." Asui spoke up.
Fukukado smiled, turning to Asui, "Our agencies used to be close together! In our cycle of helping and being helped, our mutual love for each other bloomed and -"
"No it didn't."
"I love your quirk retorts! You're so worth teasing, Eraser!" Fukukado laughed, jabbing her finger in Aizawa's chest. Aizawa swatted her hand away, grumbling under his breath.
Midoriya subtly moved away from Fukukado. He was getting pretty annoyed with Fukukado at this point. While Yamada, Kayama and Yagi were noisy, they were actually trying to teach them something, so they were doing something constructive at the very least. Fukukado was just here, wasting their time.
The lack of sleep, as well as his agitation, were probably not helping his mood. Something bad was going to happen; Midoriya could feel it, the feeling of unease bubbling up from the depths of his very being. Ryuto nibbled Midoriya's earlobe, trying to reassure him.
Aizawa sighed, and turned back to Fukukado, "Since you're here, that means -"
"That's right! Come here, everyone! It's UA." Fukukado turned around, as a group of students walked up behind her.
"Oh! It's the real thing!" A black haired male exclaimed.
"Wow! That's amazing! I've seen them all on TV!" The blonde female beside him patted his back.
"Ketsubutsu Academy, second years, Class 2!" Fukukado announced, giving Aizawa a thumbs up, "They're my class, please be kind!"
"If they're second years, then we don't have to be kind to them." Bakugou grumbled, explosions popping off his palms in annoyance.
Midoriya turned to face the batch of incoming students, narrowing his eyes.
"They seem friendly enough." Kaminari smiled brightly.
"Second years." Shinsou muttered, "They have more experience than us, and we're all fighting for limited positions."
The black haired boy ran up to Midoriya and grabbed his arms, smiling, "I'm Shindo! This year, UA has had a lot of trouble, so it must have been tough! But even so, you're all aiming to be heroes like this, huh?"
Midoriya flinched slightly, and tried his best not to pull his hands away on instinct as he stared at Shindo, his eyes glinting as he let out a hiss, baring his teeth in warning. Reiko growled at Shindo from her position by Midoriya's feet, exposing her claws. Ryuto seemed more chill about Shindo, but he did give him a screech as a warning.
Shinsou promptly pulled Midoriya away from Shindo, "Hey, leave him alone."
Shindo noticed the green haired boy's reaction, but just brushed it off, and outrightly ignored the two animals, "That's wonderful!"
Shindo took a good look at Midoriya, before he realised who he was, "Wait! You're Midoriya Izuku! You were in the center of the Kamino incident and - "
Midoriya barely reacted to the statement, but Reiko let out a particularly harsh growl, finally catching Shindo's attention.
"You brought your cat?" Shindo asked in confusion, before he looked back at Midoriya, "Anyways, you won the Sports Festival despite being in the General Education course! That means you managed to transfer into the Hero Course despite being quirkless!"
"That's cause Midoriya's super manly!" Kirishima butt in.
"Mhm! A heart of fortitude is what I believe all heroes from now on should have!" Shindo grinned.
"Yeah! Plus Ultra!" Kaminari, Sero and Kirishima cheered, only for another student to suddenly barge into their group in the middle of the cheer.
"PLUS ULTRA!"
Todoroki looked up at the student who had suddenly joined the cheer. He was familiar... but Todoroki couldn't really place where he had met the other student before.
"You shouldn't just barge into other people's huddles, Inasa." A male with dark purple hair grumbled, and Yoarashi stood up, perfectly straight, and promptly bowed down, bashing his head into the ground as he did so, "Oh no! I am very extremely sorry, UA, Shishikura-senpai!"
"What's with this guy trying to get by with just his enthusiasm!?" Kaminari yelped.
"Wait! That uniform! It's the famous school in western Japan! Shiketsu High school!" Jiro blinked in realisation.
"I just wanted to say it just once! Plus Ultra!" Yoarashi yelled at the top of his lungs, "I love UA high school! I am very honoured to be able to compete against UA students! I'm looking forward to it!"
"Yoarashi Inasa?" Shinsou muttered, thinking. He remembered that name... Aizawa had mentioned it once or twice during dinner, "Wasn't he one of the recommendation students that turned down his acceptance?"
The blonde from Shiketsu turned to the UA students, before her eyes landed on Midoriya, "That's the one from Kamino, fam."
"He's not from Kamino, Camie. He was involved in the Kamino Incident." Shishikura corrected, as the figure beside them that was completely covered in light brown hair chided, "Camie, Seiji, it's rude to talk about an event like that right in front of him."
"Yes, Nagamasa." Utsushimi and Seiji replied.
Suddenly, Midoriya felt a jolt run through his body, and he tensed up. He could feel that familiar playful, cheeky, and deranged aura somewhere in the area, and he clenched his fists. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest, as he bit his lip nervously.
What was she doing in a place like this?
"Izuku?" Shinsou noticed that Midoriya had tensed up, and he shook him gently, "Hey, Izuku, you okay?"
Midoriya raised his hands, signing, "She's here."
Mora frowned, "She's here? Who's here?"
"You know sign language?" Uraraka asked, and Mora nodded, "Yes. We learnt it in our second year. Most of us except for Inasa are decent in it. I think the students from Ketsubutsu Academy are also in their second year, and should also know basic sign language."
"The League of Villains. Himiko Toga."
Shinsou, Koda, Aizawa and Fukukado's froze up at the name.
"Who is it?" Todoroki asked, as Mora sighed, "Sadly, we're not proficient enough to understand names."
Yoarashi glared at Todoroki in mild confusion.
"She's here?" Fukukado asked, "How do you know?"
Midoriya shakily replied, "I can feel it. She's somewhere here. Something bad is going to happen."
"Alright." Aizawa nodded, "I'll inform the others."
"Eraser, you trust him?" Fukukado asked, confused, and Aizawa merely nodded replied, "Midoriya's instincts have never been wrong before."
Midoriya glanced at Aizawa in confusion.
He trusts me?
"I don't mean to be rude…" The teacher in charge of the Shiketsu students said, "But I believe we're all going to be late for the exam if we do not start making our way inside."
Aizawa checked his phone, "You're right. Thanks for the reminder. Midoriya, you know you can't bring Reiko and Ryuto with you, right?"
Reiko purred in irritation, walking up to Aizawa and sitting by his feet, while Ryuto looked at Aizawa, then at Midoriya, then back at Aizawa, before he realised what was going on. He let out a sad sounding whine, before huddling down by Midoriya's neck.
Midoriya let out a low rumble from the base of his throat, and Shindo blinked at the sound that Midoriya had made. Ryuto let out a desperate warble, but Midoriya just let out another rumble, gently picked Ryuto off his shoulder, cradling him gently, before placing him on the ground. Ryuto didn't look too happy about it, but he still flapped his wings and flew over to Reiko's side.
"So Midoriya can speak cat? Or bird? Whatever that sound was?" Ashido asked, but Koda just shook his head, signing, "I have absolutely no idea what he is saying to Ryuto."
"Anyways, I'll be doing my best while learning from you!" Shindo grinned, as Midoriya narrowed his eyes at the black haired boy.
He hated people like that; whatever they were saying didn't match the expression on their face. People like that couldn't be trusted.
"Hey, Deku, you should just kill yourself, you know. No one except your parents would care if you died. Oh wait, they're dead too!"
"Enough wasting time. Change into your costumes and go in for orientation." Aizawa ordered. Midoriya took one last wary glance at the Ketsubutsu students, before following his classmates as they filed into Takoba National Stadium.
"Midoriya Izuku, huh." Shindo muttered, "He's the one you told us to be wary of. Honestly, he doesn't seem like much. He's too meek and mild."
"Yeah... he's nothing like what I've heard from the other heroes..." Fukukado replied, her grin slipping, "Still, keep an eye out. Don't underestimate him. From what I've heard, he may seem mild, but once you piss him off, he's a real monster in battle. He's not someone you want to get into a fight with."
"Interesting..." Shindo grinned, his eyes glinting, "I can't wait to bring UA to their knees."
"I'm so excited, and nervous at the same time." Kaminari admitted.
"Shh. He's gonna start speaking." Iida hushed them.
"Well then… let's do this provisional licence exam thing… I'm Mera from the Heroes Public Safety Commission, the kind of sleep is non-REM sleep, nice to meet you. I've been so busy that I haven't gotten much sleep… We're too short staffed! I'm so sleepy! With that conviction, I will give you the orientation."
Midoriya looked up at the sleepy man, before glancing around the room warily. Toga was in there, somewhere, he could feel it, but he had absolutely no idea where she was. Then there was the Ketsubutsu students. He wasn't too sure about the others, but he could tell that Shindo was putting up a friendly facade so that other people would let their guard down. Midoriya knew he wasn't fooled, but some of the more naive ones, like Kaminari and Kirishima, were definitely fooled.
Fukukado seemed to be friends with Aizawa, and Midoriya didn't really want to take out her students, but worse come to worse, if he deemed Shindo a threat to his classmates, he'd take down the Vibrate quirk user on his own without any hesitation.
"About the content of the provisional licence thing, frankly, all of the one thousand, five hundred and forty examinees here will have to find a way to win through a free-for-all exercise. Ever since Stain was arrested, people have lost faith in heroes, even though our community is considered saturated with heroes. Well, as a private citizen, no matter the motivation, to tell someone risking their lives to save others to not seek any rewards... it's the ruthless story of these modern times."
Almost everyone in UA glanced at Midoriya. After what they had seen from the boy during the attack on UA, and his kidnapping at the training camp, they were pretty sure that Midoriya would risk his life for anyone and everyone and ask for nothing in return. That was the kind of person he was.
"But anyways, whether it's for compensation or for loyalty and courage, the result of many heroes working hard to protect people and defeat villains is that right now, the time from when an incident begins to when it's resolved is so short that it would make you sick. You're about to receive your provisional licences and finally throw yourself into these rapids. If you're not fast enough to keep up with the pace of society changing, or the influx of villains, you'll have a hard time ahead. So today, you guys are going to be tested on speed. The first hundred people to fulfill the requirements pass."
Shinsou froze up, as he remembered what Midoriya had told him the previous day.
"Stain's attack on Hosu shook the public's trust in Heroes. The fall of All Might's only increased that sense of unease. Do you really think that things are going to stay the same? After everything that has happened? They're most likely going to get us to fight the other examinees in order to pass, and they will probably lower the passing rate as well."
"Wait! Didn't they say half would pass?" Yaoyorozu gasped, and Shinsou glanced at the green haired boy beside him, who was looking more tense by the minute.
He knew, no, he predicted this would happen. Izuku really is amazing.
"Twenty one of us, and one hundred spots. The odds are against us..." Iida murmured, "We really need to stick together."
"I'm getting even more nervous..." Jiro sighed.
"Well, a lot's happened out there in the world, and you know, about luck and everything, so here are the requirements."
Everyone was given three targets that they had to place on their body, as well as six orange balls. The targets would light up if they were hit by one of the balls, and if all three targets of an examinee were hit, then they are eliminated. Each person had to eliminate two other competitors in order to pass, though it is considered an elimination if they hit another student's third target.
"That's it for the rules. We're going to open up, and then start one minute later. You all have terrain that you like and dislike. Use your quirks well and do your best."
The ground rumbled, and the room opened up, revealing the massive interior of the stadium that was made up of various different terrains.
"This was so unnecessary, and my sleep was disrupted... I hope the developments are speedy so I can rest as soon as possible." Mera mumbled.
"Eraser, your fly is down." Fukukado laughed, as Reiko and Aizawa both glared at the female hero, "I honestly can't believe you still have all your students. It's unusual for you to not have expelled anyone. In fact, you have twenty one."
"Midoriya was a special case." Aizawa groaned.
"You still like all of them." Fukukado pointed out. "But still, if you liked your students so much, why didn't you tell them about that. Every year, the test is different, but one thing stays the same; the crushing of UA. All the schools around Japan compete to pass the Provisional License Exam, and the only school that has lost the advantage of no one knowing their quirks is the top school whose sports festival is broadcasted across the country, showing not just the students' quirks, but their weaknesses and fighting styles. UA, your school."
Aizawa snorted, "If that's how you think, then you've already lost."
Fukukado looked at Aizawa in confusion.
"Let's just say that when it comes to information and analysis, UA has a trump card that is unmatched among all the examinees. And skills?"
Aizawa looked at Fukukado, his eyes glinting, "The Sports Festival might as well never happened. A hero is someone who can turn around a bad situation. This is no different."
"Everyone! Don't get to seperated! Move as a group!" Iida ordered.
"Shut up! I don't take orders from you, Four Eyes!" Bakugou roared, but instead of running off on his own, he remained with the group.
It didn't take too long for several schools to converge on UA, and balls rained down on the twenty one students, everyone doing their best to dodge the incoming barrage of balls from their position at the bottom of the valley.
"Yosh! I've got them!" A boy dressed as a battery yelled, aiming an electric attack at Jiro while she was distracted. Midoriya promptly turned around and pushed her away, taking the brunt of the electrical attack. He did his best to endure the attack; it wasn't that bad, honestly compared what he had experience with the League-
I'm not there... I'm not there... I'm out...
He could feel his heart pounding, a familiar phantom pain flaring through his entire being, the sensation of not being able to see, not being able to even make a single sound -
You can't protect anyone, Deku.
Something snapped.
"Midoriya!" Jiro yelped, hastily batting away several balls that were about to hit them, "Midoriya, are you okay?"
Suddenly, the air around Midoriya changed, and he looked up, glaring at the students who were throwing the balls at them, before he disappeared.
"Izuku! Where are you going?" Shinsou yelled, "You were the one who said we should stick together!"
Suddenly, the boy who had fired off the electrical attack at Jiro was sent flying, and he crashed into the ground a few feet away.
"What was that?" Someone yelled, trying to help the boy up, when a figure stood up, putting down the leg that was used to kick the boy.
"It's the quirkless one! The weakest one in UA!" A yell resonated, "Seperating yourself from your group, what a stupid mistake! We're going to take you out first and crush you!"
"Weakest?!" Kaminari yelled, "What kind of nonsense is that!?"
"That's so unmanly!" Kirishima retorted.
"How did he get up here to quickly though?!"
Midoriya didn't react, as the students started yelling again and throwing the orange balls at him, trying to hit his targets. The green haired boy easily weaved through the barrage of balls, using his bracers to block a few more balls,before spinning and kicking a ball, aiming right at one of the other student's targets.
"Shit! He hit my target!"
"How is he still not hit yet!?"
Midoriya simply disregarded the kids in front of him, before he suddenly gave off this menacing aura that made everyone freeze in their tracks, stunned.
There was a blur of green, as one by one, in quick succession, the other examinees fell. Midoriya kicked one student in the face, before crouching down and sweeping another two students off their feet. He quickly righted himself, weaving between two more students who tried to attack him, and kicked one of them in the back of his head, knocking him out, before digging his knee into the other student's gut.
There was a girl whose quirk allowed her to make nets out of thin air, and she tried to restrain the green haired boy, but faster than any of them could react, Midoriya had whipped out a knife, easily slashing through the net and slamming the butt of his knife against her temple, knocking her out.
There was another batch of balls being thrown his way, and Midoriya easily dodged them, kicking two of the balls towards the boy who had already been hit once. The balls made contact with the two remaining targets, taking him out.
"Let's go! Restrain everyone that Izuku's knocked out!" Shinsou yelled. Bakugou rolled his eyes, and cursed under his breath, but with a few well aimed AP Shots, Bakugou destroyed some of the rocky terrain, the falling boulders pinning several of the unconscious students down.
"Urg. This is boring. I'm going off on my own." Bakugou grumbled, but Kirishima grabbed his arm, "Come on, man, that ain't manly at all!"
"What is he doing?" Yaoyorozu yelled, and Shinsou sighed, glancing up at Midoriya, "He's just trying to protect us. But... something's wrong."
"Whatever it is, we can't let his efforts go to waste!" Iida ordered, "Everyone, restrain all the other examinees that had fallen! We need to take down forty two students in total to pass! Every single one counts!"
"He's fast," Shindo admitted, as he and the rest of the Ketsubutsu students observed the chaos from behind a rocky blockade.
They were originally waiting for the other schools to take down UA, before swooping in to take down whoever remained, except that Midoriya was easily ploughing through all the other students, taking down anyone who stood in his way, and showed no signs of slowing down. He had already taken an examinee out, deflecting his opponents balls instead of using his own.
"That's actually terrifying..." Nakagame muttered, observing as Midoriya's eyes glinted like a predator ready to strike.
"This is ridiculous! He's quirkless!" They heard someone yell, as some of the students started running away from Midoriya's merciless assault. Some of the braver ones remained, trying to take Midoriya down, but Midoriya merely dodged and parried away attacks with his knives and bracers, fighting like a well-oiled machine.
Another examinee with a speed quirk tried to attack him, but despite his quirkless status, Midoriya was easily able to evade all her attempts to take him down, merely sidestepping and tripping her up, letting her crash into the ground.
Shindo turned his attention back to the rest of UA. Uraraka, Shinsou, Sero and Mineta were easily restraining the downed students, while Yaoyorozu, Sato, Koda, Shoji and Jiro parried away any other attacks as the others took out any other student in the near vicinity.
"Come on. Let's go. It's too risky to be here. Let's go find some easier opponents to take down." Shindou grumbled.
"He's actually pretty good." Fukukado admitted, watching as Midoriya easily destroyed the hoard of students that tried to participate in the crushing of UA, "I didn't think he was actually capable of taking down so many people at one go."
"Everyone underestimated him due to him being quirkless. Their arrogance is going to be their downfall. We don't need heroes that underestimate opponents purely based on their quirk. They don't have the potential to react to threats in this fast paced society." Aizawa crossed his arms, leaning into his chair.
"I suppose that's the point of the first phase, huh, Eraser? Also, you really like your class this year, don't you?"
"I don't."
"Don't be embarrassed!" Fukukado laughed, "That's so lame! Your own kid is in there, of course you like your class. Eh? What's that?"
They spotted a huge tornado in the distance, as a voice rang out over the intercoms.
"Wait?! A hundred and twenty students are eliminated already? Only two people have passed?"
"That's probably Yoarashi. His quirk is wind based." Aizawa mumbled. With Midoriya practically mowing down students and the rest of 1-A either completely restraining them or taking advantage of the confusion to take out more students, it was only a matter of time until the remaining examinees would realise that they were no match for UA, and would retreat to find easier targets. So far, only two people had passed, so there were plenty of spots for his students to finish off their opponents and pass.
"Whew... this was easier than I thought..." Ashido sighed, "But still, is Midoriya going to be okay, facing everyone on his own?"
"I hope so... but we should have enough to pass." Kaminari added, "He took out a lot of people."
"Tch... this is boring..." Bakugou snapped, but Yaoyorozu turned to him, "Save your strength. I don't think the second portion of the exam is going to be so easy."
"Tenya, let's go check on Izuku. Ochako, can you send us up?" Shinsou asked. Uraraka nodded, activating her quirk on the two boys. Iida and Shinsou quickly made their way up to the top of the cliff, and Urarak released her quirk, before joining the others in activating the targets of the fallen examinees and passing.
Iida and Shinsou found Midoriya still going strong, taking out examinees one after another. Some had already retreated, and it didn't take too long for Midoriya to take out the remaining students.
The green haired boy looked around warily.
"Izuku, that's enough." Shinsou spoke up, "There's more than enough examinees here to pass."
Midoriya clenched his fist as he continued to survey his surroundings, before he walked over to Shinsou and Iida.
"Come on. The others are probably making their way to the resting venue." Iida nodded, as Midoriya let out a frustrated growl.
"If it's about Toga..." Shinsou started, as Iida blinked at the name, "If you say she's here, we trust you. But if we don't know where she is, neither we nor the teachers can do anything about it. Don't worry about it too much. Once she reveals herself, we'll take her down, alright?"
Midoriya gave Shinsou a confused glance, before he turned away, taking out the orange balls that he had been given and activating the targets on two fallen examinees.
Where is she? Why is she here? What does she want?
His hand shook as memories flashed through his mind; Toga's laughter, the pain flaring through his body as she dug her metallic blade deeper and deeper into his flesh, blood trickling out of his body like a leaky faucet.
You can't save anyone, Deku. Just give up!
Whatever the League was up to, he would stop it. Even if it was a trap, even if he was merely a puppet in their play, Midoriya wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt.
