Titanium Soul

[CHAPTER 9]: Salutary

In Which Izuku Socializes, God Knows He Needs It

Salutary (adj): promoting or conducive to some beneficial purpose; wholesome

"...could he make a clone chain? Like, can he use his Quirk on a rock to make one clone, and then that clone uses his quirk on another rock, making a third copy of himself spread across two objects instead of just the one? I guess what I'm asking is—"

Momo cleared her throat. "Izuku. We're there."

He snapped out of his analysis and looked out the cab window. He stared up at the imposing facade of the 1A Heights Alliance for a moment before sighing. "Momo, you've ruined fancy buildings for me. Two months ago I would've looked up at this building and been all 'woah, huge building.' But I've seen where you live, and it has forever changed me. The best I can muster up right now is general enthusiasm to be living on the campus of UA."

Momo leaned across the casserole to look out the window next to him. "Hm. I was thinking it looked kind of small, myself."

He sighed. "My point exactly. Do you know if Mei is rooming with 1A or 1H?"

Momo frowned. "I would assume 1H, since you said that was her official class designation."

He nodded. "So that's three stops we have to make, and right now it's almost eight… Do you wanna split up now and reconvene to actually unpack after whatever is happening at 8:30?"

She blinked. "What's happening at 8:30?"

Izuku shrugged. "No idea. My letter just said that Mei and I had to be at the 1A building by then for some reason. Did… do you not have to do that for your class?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm fairly certain mine didn't have anything like that, but it can't hurt to check. Do you need some help, or…?"

Izuku looked down at the still-asleep Mei slumped against the wall of the cab, and then at the industrial-size bakeware full of casserole on the seat next to him. He lifted Mei carefully and slung her over his shoulder before picking up the casserole and balancing it on his other hand. "I think I have it handled. 1B is the next building over, right? I'll text you whenever I know what's up."

She flashed him a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan. Good luck!"

He grinned back. "Likewise. Hatsume Industries, away!"

As Momo made her way over to the 1B dorm, Izuku turned back to face 1A. Now for his greatest challenge yet: opening the door with both hands occupied. Was Corpus Primus II flexible enough that he could get the handle with his foot without dropping Mei or the casserole?

[Patronizing: Might I suggest putting down the casserole?]

That… was a good point. Before he had a chance to put down his oversized payload, a friendly shout caught his ear.

"Hey! Robot guy! You're the one from the exam, right?"

Izuku blinked and looked up. A boy with spiky red hair and a sharp-toothed grin ran up to him. He couldn't recall anyone looking quite like that before—

Oh, wait a second.

Izuku raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "You're the one I threw Mei at, right? I almost didn't recognize you with the new hair. It looks really cool!"

The boy grinned self-consciously and touched the points gingerly. "Thanks! I thought it was about time for a change. New look, new me and all that. I'm Eijiro Kirishima, by the way."

Izuku smiled at him. "Izuku Midoriya. I'd shake your hand, but both of mine are a little occupied."

Kirishima's eyes widened. "Oh! Lemme get that door for you!"

Izuku dipped his head and stepped through the held-open door. "Thanks!"

Kirishima's grin widened. "No problem. So, how's, uh…" he trailed off as he looked around the room.

There were about ten people milling around the common area, all keeping a healthy distance from… some sort of giant lumpy banana hanging in the air, suspended by a grey web anchored on the nearby light fixtures.

Kirishima pointed up at it. "Do you know what that is?"

Izuku frowned. "It seems familiar for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Helpful: Checking against your archives returned an 82% image match with Pro Hero Eraserhead's sleeping bag."

Izuku tried to snap his fingers, remembered both his arms were occupied, and then just played a finger snapping sound through his speakers. "Right! He's a teacher here. Or at least faculty."

Kirishima blinked at the yellow cocoon. "That's a teacher?" He blinked again and turned back to Izuku. "And what was that just now?"

Izuku shrugged. "Probably. And that was HERoS, my… well, I guess he's my operating system? He's an actual AI."

Kirishima's eyes sparkled. "Dude, your Quirk is so cool. You're made of metal, you can survive as a decapitated head, and you even have an AI in there with you! All I can do is toughen myself up a little bit." He lifted up an arm and Hardened it demonstratively.

Izuku's eyescreens zeroed in on the rough, rocky surface of Kirishima's arm. Without even looking, he slung Mei across a couch and put the casserole on the floor next to her before taking a closer look. A plate on his thigh slid out, dispensing 'Hero Analysis For The Present (Abridged) Vol. 1' and a pen into his waiting hands. "Fascinating. What's it called? How does it work? Are you growing some sort of chitinous—or keratinous, I guess—shell around your arm? Are you rigidizing the cells? How do you rate on the Mohs scale?"

Kirishima blinked and stumbled backwards. "Uh, I just call it Hardening? And I just… harden. I'm not sure what "chitinous" is, but I don't grow anything extra, I just get harder? I do know that my hardness can change depending on how much effort I can put into it, but I haven't measured in a while."

Izuku stopped his pen and hummed thoughtfully. "Transformation type?"

Kirishima nodded. "Yeah."

A throat was cleared pointedly. "Excuse me?"

Izuku and Kirishima turned to face the speaker. It was a girl with bright orange hair up in a ponytail and a roll of "Hello! My name is" stickers in her hand.

She smiled. "Welcome to 1A! I'm Itsuka Kendo," she gestured towards her chest, where a sticker confirmed her name. "I was talking to some of the others and we figured that, since we can't exactly unpack right now, we all may as well spend this time getting to know each other! What are your names, so I can make your name tags?"

Kirishima nodded. "I'm Eijiro Kirishima."

Izuku raised a finger. "Izuku Midoriya. And, uh. Can you go back to that 'can't exactly unpack right now' thing?"

Kendo paused for a moment before continuing scribbling down their names. "Right, you two just got here. There's notes on all the doors saying that if we go to any of the other floors we're expelled? And all the dorms are in the upper floors, so we're all stuck down here until whatever was gonna happen happens." She handed them the stickers.

Kirishima slapped his tag onto his shirt. "Well, if we really want to know what's going on, we could always wake him up," he waved towards Eraserhead.

Kendo looked at him blankly. "The giant moth? We did call management to see if we could get an exterminator down here, but every time we explained the problem they just laughed at us and hung up."

Izuku laughed nervously, nametag carefully applied to his chassis. "Yeah, uh, that might be our teacher, in a sleeping bag?"

Kendo stared over at the lumpy yellow sleeping bag that apparently housed a Pro Hero. "Oh," she said quietly. "That would do it."

The door slammed open and the three of them jumped. A smirk spread across Bakugo's face as his angry red eyes swept across the room. His silhouette was ruined by the almost comically oversized backpack he was wearing. "What is this, the breakfast club? I'm not surprised Deku's standing around yammering on about pointless garbage, but the rest of you are disappointing. What a bunch of extras."

Izuku grinned. "Hey, Kacchan! Mom gave me one of her casseroles, I was just about to go set it up in the kitchen!"

Bakugo considered this for a moment. "If there's none left when I'm done unpacking, I'll kill—" he cut himself off, then continued. "Kick your ass. I'll kick your ass."

Izuku flashed him a thumbs up. "I'll be sure to save you a piece!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Izuku tilted his head as Bakugo made his way towards the elevators. "He's really mellowed out, huh."

Kendo's eyebrows rose. "That was mellow?"

Izuku nodded and picked his casserole back up. "Yeah, you should've seen him back in middle school. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go put this thing in the kitchen. If Mei wakes up, come get me."

Kendo blinked. "Who's Mei?"

He smirked and called back out over his shoulder, "Don't worry! If she wakes up, you'll know."

Izuku carried the casserole into the kitchen area of the dorm and glanced around. There was a small group of four loitering near the fridge, including a bird-headed boy, someone who was a solid black silhouette save for his eyes and messy white hair, a girl with dull grey hair that covered half her face, and a strangely familiar-looking boy with frankly impressive eyebags and a purple floof of hair that could have given Izuku's a run for its money back when he was, you know, alive.

They each glanced at him as he entered, but returned to their conversation.

"Anyways," continued the pitch black boy, "the end of days swiftly approaches."

The bird-headed boy nodded swiftly. "It is not a matter of if, but when. But even so, it is our duty to stave off the War of Gods until such a time that us mere mortals are strong enough to withstand their fury."

"As the prophecies foretold," agreed the grey-haired girl between sips of her drink.

There was a beat of silence, before purple floof boy snorted. "Wow, you guys really are full of shit, huh?"

"In my defense," said the silhouette, "I was making a joke."

The bird-headed boy stared up at the ceiling in dismay. "Is this how the prophet Cassandra once felt? To see the world for what it is, but receive naught but mockery for her insight?"

"Come back when you have better material than a public school unit on Norse mythology, edgelord," laughed purple floof boy.

"As the prophecies foretold," agreed the grey-haired girl.

Izuku set the casserole down on the counter and looked up at the many, many cabinets with a sigh. He looked back over his shoulder at the group of four and waved a hand at them. "Hey, uh, do any of you happen to know where the plates and silverware are?"

They each glanced at the grey-haired girl, who stared down at the mug in her hand. "I'm afraid I couldn't tell you, as I carried this vessel with me when I departed from my domain. I can, however, assist you in a different way."

With an odd sweep of her hand, every cabinet door and drawer in the kitchen swung open with a symphony of creaks and squeals. Izuku quickly spotted the stacks of plates in one and pointed at it. "That's the one."

She waved her arm again, and every cabinet save the one he indicated groaned shut once more. He smiled at her. "Thanks!"

He made it halfway to the cabinet before he realized what had just happened. He ran right back to the girl and pulled out his notebook once more. "That was so cool, what's your Quirk? How does it work? It's some form of telekinesis, right? Unless it's limited to opening doors, or manipulating wood, or operating hinges, or—"

She leaned backwards cautiously. "You're certainly, ah… unconstrained by societal conventions, I see."

He stepped back, thanking the gods yet again that he was no longer physically equipped to blush. He bowed deeply. "Oh, my apologies! I should have introduced myself first; I'm Izuku Midoriya! I really like analyzing Quirks, but I'm probably not all that great at it yet."

She smirked faintly. "This Medium is known as Reiko Yanagi."

The silhouette boy waved a hand and leaned back against the side of the fridge. "The name's Kuroiro. Shihai Kuroiro."

The bird-headed boy bowed dramatically. "The gods have seen fit to bestow upon me the name Fumikage Tokoyami."

"Pretty sure it was just your parents," muttered Kuroiro.

Purple floof boy smirked and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'm Hitoshi Shinsou. Y'know, the guy you saved from that Zero-Pointer? Thanks for that, by the way. I'm a huge fan of not being crushed to death by gigantic murder robots."

Ah, so that was why he'd looked so familiar.

Kuroiro looked up and raised his eyebrows. "Now that's a story I've gotta hear."

Izuku shrugged and waved him off. "Oh it wasn't all that interesting. It was chasing Mei, I was carrying her, he was stuck under a robot in the way, so I ran the other direction."

Shinsou rolled his eyes. "And then he blew it up."

Izuku scuffed the rubberized soles of his shoe-feet on the floor. "It was either it or me," he mumbled defensively. "I'd kind of overloaded my core and it was gonna blow up anyways."

Tokoyami's gaze dipped down to Izuku's chest for a moment. "A warrior forged from steel and lightning, forced to moderate his power lest he release indiscriminate destruction upon the world around him…"

Kuroiro nodded thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "I'm pretty sure I watched that anime."

Yanagi tilted her head. "You certainly tread the line between this world and the next, Young Automaton."

Izuku's face fell. That was a line he'd crossed long ago. "Yeah, um. That's one way to put it."

The group fell silent for a moment.

"Well, uh," continued Izuku, "it was nice talking with you guys. I should probably go cut Kacchan a piece of that casserole and get back to Mei. If you're hungry, feel free to have some!"

Tokoyami inclined his head. "Until the Fates bring us together once more."

Yanagi gestured vaguely. "May your paths be clear of fell machinations."

Kuroiro tapped his chin for a moment. "Uh, gimme a second. Oh!" He cleared his throat and continued in mock seriousness. "May the shadows shield you from those who mean you harm."

Shinsou grinned and gave a single, sarcastic wave. "Later."

Izuku re-entered the main common area just in time to watch Kacchan, who had apparently ditched his backpack somewhere, explode a sticker. "Name tag? I don't need no fucking name tag!" He jumped up onto a nearby table and shouted to the room. "MY NAME IS KATSUKI BAKUGO, AND I'LL MAKE YOU REMEMBER IT WHEN I KICK ALL YOUR ASSES!"

A black-haired girl with long dangly things on her earlobes rolled her eyes. "Inside voices, please? Some of us actually need our sense of hearing."

Kacchan swiveled to glare at her, but continued more quietly. "You trying to tell me what to do, jackass?"

She stared at him. "I wasn't, but now I am. Shut up."

He smirked and jumped down from the table. "At least some of you extras have balls. Which reminds me," he turned to face Izuku. "You saved me a piece of that casserole, right? I'd hate to have to kick your ass again."

Izuku waved an arm. "Wrapped it in foil and left it on the counter. If you want more, you'll have to serve yourself."

Kacchan rolled his eyes and pushed past him towards the kitchen. "I'm not a fucking idiot, Deku."

Izuku shrugged and dropped onto the couch next to Mei's lifeless form. He waited a moment to be sure Kacchan was gone, then nodded to himself. "Yeah, he's definitely mellowed out."

Kirishima sat down across from him. "So you know that guy? He seems kind of, uh…"

Izuku waved his hand vaguely. "He's just kind of like that."

Mei reached a hand up and knocked on his head. "Hey, are we having an insult-Bakugo party?"

Izuku leaned away from her and lightly pushed her arm away. "Good morning, Mei. Glad you finally decided to join us."

She swung herself upright and rubbed her eyes. "You didn't answer the question, Zuzu. Also, where are we?"

He sighed. "We're at UA, the 1A dorm building. And no, we're not having a 'roasting-Bakugo party.' There will be no such thing."

"That's a shame," she mumbled as she looked around. "Also, this place is pretty neat. Not as big as Miracle Girl's place, though."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, she said that too."

Mei hummed to herself for a moment. "Hey, we had something at, like 8:30, right?"

He leaned back in his seat. "Yup."

She tilted her head. "What time is it?"

He stared up at the ceiling. "8:27"

She twisted her mouth. "Three minutes to go and still no idea what it is?"

Izuku shrugged.

The door swung open once more. A large-eyed girl with dark green hair and a pointy-toothed grin walked in. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm almost late—woah, that's a big moth. Lemme take care of that!"

Izuku raised an arm. "Actually, that's—" he cut himself off as the girl split her arm into a dozen pieces. And the bits were floating around? "That's a cool Quirk."

She flashed a smile at him. "Thanks! Grew it myself!"

He blinked as the bits of arm flew up at the sleeping-bagged Eraserhead in the middle of the room. Oh, that's what he was going to say! "Wait, that's our—"

The bits of arm dropped limply to the ground as the glowing-eyed form of Pro Hero Eraserhead: The Erasure Hero burst forth from the yellow cloth cocoon. The greyish web that had suspended it unravelled, the sturdy-looking ribbons dancing through the air to settle in loops across the man's shoulders.

"—teacher…" Izuku trailed off.

Eraserhead landed lightly, catching the sleeping bag and swiftly rolling it up without breaking eye contact with the newcomer.

Eraserhead opened his mouth to speak.

The door slammed open and a yellow-haired boy ran into the room, immediately tripping and falling flat onto the floor. He held his phone up, on which the clock finally ticked from 8:29 to 8:30.

"Made it," he mumbled into the carpet.

The Pro Hero groaned and ran his hand down his face. "Right. I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa." He walked over to a nearby cabinet and opened it, revealing stacks of gym uniforms. "Put these on and we'll head out to the fields. We have work to do."

Kendo frowned and raised her hand. "Um, sensei? Don't we have another week until classes start?"

He shrugged. "Sure, but all twenty of you signed up to move into the dorms. If you're all already here, there's no point in wasting time. I only have three years to turn you lot into decent heroes, and trust me," he eyed the boy who was still laying on the floor, "you're going to need every last minute of it."

A girl the color of pepto-bismol pouted. "Was there a reason you didn't let us unpack first?"

He looked over at her as a sadistic grin split his face. "I haven't even decided how many of you I'm going to expel today. Letting you get settled in before that… well, that would be simply irrational, wouldn't it?"

A/N: Well, there's chapter 9. A very, very different Class 1A; the first of many divergences, arguably caused by Izuku messing up the admissions system. Most of the same people are still in the hero course (rest in rip, Ojiro), but Shinsou got in and the classes are scrambled! I was gonna include the quirk apprehension exam in here, but I had too much fun writing the new class 1A and accidentally ran up the word count.

You'll get a more in-depth look at who's in this 1A next chapter.