Chapter 12: Five Days

"Unity… Full… SHROUD!"

The small group of five UA staff members were watching as much of the footage that was taken from USJ, trying to understand what had happened back there. Sadly, they didn't have much to go on due to the destruction of the surrounding cameras from the power exuded by one of their students.

Nezu (Power: High Specs) kept his smile as the footage ended. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

The rest of the staff deadpanned at the principal.

"I… thought you were the smart one, sir?" a hesitant Seikijiro Kan (a.k.a. Vlad King, Power: Blood Control) responded.

If anything, Nezu's smile grew wider. "Yes, I do have a couple theories, but not enough evidence for any of them. Nothing I am willing to disclose yet, either."

"Sir, with all due respect," Shota Aizawa (a.k.a. Eraserhead, Power: Erasure) responded, ignoring the numerous wraps of bandage around his body and face, "if we're going to train Midoriya to wield that power, we need to know what happened there."

"Oh, don't worry," Nezu smirked as he sipped his tea. "Everything will be revealed in due time. Isn't that right, Author-san?"

… What?

"What?" Everyone else asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Yep. Nezu is crazy, and there is no denying it.

"What's more important right now is," Nezu set his tea down and looked back up at his underlings. "What will we do about this development?"

Aizawa started. "It is quite lucky that the only Peacekeepers there were me and All Might. We both have rather well hidden abilities, and the students aren't, luckily, asking questions about Yagi's strength either."

"Anything from their police reports?"

Kan looked back down at a set of notes in front of him as he responded. "Nothing we didn't expect. They are still in shock after being revealed to the world of powers, but we've made them all sign the NDA as you requested. Not only that, we have the Cloak and Dagger duo following them too, ready to check and fix any leaks."

"And did any of them see Midoriya in the act?"

"Only those that recognized his power could recognize his lightning. No one else reported to know what happened."

"Good. It almost seems made to be that way by a specific someone." Nezu sneered at a direction that no other person in this story could locate, while I'm sweating. "Casualties?"

Aizawa carried on. "A few students were shot and had broken bones, and excluding Midoriya, the most injured was myself and Yagi."

"Could you please explain the extent of Young Midoriya's injuries again?"

Aizawa picked up a list sitting by his side, then just put it back down. "Lucky for him, he isn't as injured as he should be. Apparently, his new move held his body together, letting him survive that strength. It still doesn't deny the fact that he broke every bone in body.

Nemuri Kayama (a.k.a. Midnight, Power: Somnambulist) interrupted. "Wait, what would have happened if that move hadn't held him back?"

"According to Recovery Girl, his body would have vaporized."

The woman winced. "Yikes. That doesn't sound comfortable. Hope he's alright."

Aizawa shook his head. "That's alright. Yagi's with him right now. He'll update us for any developments."

"I've been meaning to ask about this earlier, but why isn't All Might in this meeting instead?"

Eraserhead deadpanned at the woman. "Yagi's his father. He has a right to be with him."

Kayama shook. "O-Oh, I didn't know. They look nothing alike. W-Well, what did Recovery Girl say about his treatment?"

Nezu took over this one. "She said that Midoriya can be healed with extreme recovery methods and surgery up to the duration of five days, but there are still chances that he won't survive. Although, I personally don't believe he will kick the bucket just yet." Nezu shot a beady-eyed wink to nowhere.

At this point, the staff knew better than to question Nezu, so they took his word as fact. So, the trio exhaled in relief, knowing that Midoriya will be alright.

"Sir," Hizashi Yamada (a.k.a. Present Mic, Power: Voice) cut into the silence. "What about the sports festival? What will we do about that?"

"Postpone it." Nezu quickly concluded.

Yamada was taken aback. "Sir, are you really sure we should have it in the first place? Who's to say that they can't attack the festival as well? We all know what All For One's capable of from the reports."

Nezu shook his head. "We have Young Midoriya to thank for that. All For One's ability to steal powers may be strong, but I don't believe he can recover from his injuries that quickly. The postponing is mainly to let the students recover from their trauma and their injuries, especially Midoriya. It will also be a message to the public that we are ensuring our student's safety, letting them reinitiate their lost trust in us."

"That reminds me, Kayama," Nezu continued, "What about the other measure we've introduced?"

"Yes." Midnight flicked through her own files and changed the image on the screen. "Cementoss has agreed to do the job as always, but I still don't understand how we will manage power training with this new system?"

"Don't worry. That plan will be explained somewhere near the end of this chapter. What about parental consent?"

"That is another issue," the woman continued, "After our failure in USJ, I don't really expect parents to just hand their children to us. We will have to double up on security as well, for this and the sports festival."

"Don't worry, we will. And I do believe that parents will be okay with their children living here after a little convincing." Nezu looked at the screen, which was showing the concept of a brand new building on the UA campus dubbed 'Heights Alliance'.

Ochako Uraraka was lying down on her bed. She wanted to sleep due to the absolute lack of things to do, but she couldn't. It was a good thing that UA gave them time to recover from the incident. A week-long break was what they got. Ochaco needed that time to acclimate to everything they learned.

'Superpowers. They actually exist, huh?'

The worst part of it all was that they had to sign an NDA about the events there. She was permitted to talk about it to a therapist they had assigned her, but no one else. That included her own family, which was slowly crushing her. The week-long break they were given didn't do much to help that pain.

Now as she lay on her bed, there were too many things distracting her. Namely, one boy who pushed her out of the way of danger.

"Uraraka, I'll be fine. Don't worry." The girl remembered the boy telling her.

'But he wasn't fine,' she felt. She had seen the wounds on everyone else who returned from those portals, and those made a small, cruel part of her happy that Deku pushed her out of the way. But all those injuries paled when compared to what happened to him.

'The worst thing is that I don't even know what happened to him.'

Midoriya's body was covered by a tarp back then, oddly reminding the poor girl of a body bag. The nurses said that he had a few more broken bones than everyone else and he had only passed out due to exhaustion, but Uraraka knew they were lying. They seemed oddly stressed in his presence, and that tarp wouldn't have been there for no reason either.

'Even weirder was what happened back there.'

She still didn't understand it all. That man in the suit was the boss. He could do so many things: he made those portals, he gave them all those guns, he gathered all those people to kill them, and so much more. And that wasn't all. Then there was that weird, yet oddly familiar green lightning that popped out of nowhere, followed by that blur zipping around the whole area in a flash, knocking that boss around faster than anyone could even see. That blur had saved them, but no one knew what it was.

How could those two be that powerful?

Quite honestly, the girl was still scared. Knowing that there were people out there like that unnerved her more than anything else.

Ochako slowly closed her eyes for a bit. 'What… what should I do? How can I ever hold my own against anyone like that? What would I have done to protect myself if Deku hadn't saved me?'

Feeling herself about to go on yet another rampage of self-doubt, she forced herself to take a breath. 'Okay, putting that aside, how is Deku, anyway? I really should check in on him at some point.'

"Ochako, can you come here?" her father called from the main hall.

Sighing, the brunette picked herself up and walked to her father, only to see him standing next to Ms. Kayama and a heavily bandaged figure.

"Uraraka," the bandaged man said, voice resembling Mr. Aizawa's, "we're here to talk about our introduction of the new dorm system, starting this Monday."

Toshinori Yagi and Inko Midoriya were in the waiting room in the hospital, expecting the doctor to come out soon and update them on the progress of the recovery of their only son.

Yagi looked down at his bandaged arms and legs. They were quickly healed by Recovery Girl, but the wraps had to remain to keep up appearances. But now, seeing those feeble little scratches, he had to chastise himself for getting worked up on those while his son had his entire body broken.

The man suddenly felt a hand wiping away a tear from his eye that he didn't notice forming. Turning to his side, he saw Inko looking at him with puffy, yet concerned eyes.

"Toshi, it's not your fault." Inko reassured with a light smile on her face. "From what you told me, Izuku had to be hurt to push that monster away. Even though I hate seeing my son this way… I know that I would have done the same if I was in his place."

Upon seeing her ex's head still low, the lady chuckled as she carried on. "I guess that stupid recklessness of ours is in our blood. My old captain would never let me hear the end of it at times."

Yagi slowly chuckled a bit as well. "Yeah, I guess so. I've done some pretty stupid things myself, too. I think my old friend David still keeps a metal chair to whack me around for whenever I'm in my 'Hero Mode'."

Inko turned to her ex. "Wait, a chair?"

"Heh, don't ask. People say that while my weapons are my fists and Muscle Growth, his is that goddamn chair. If I didn't know any better, I would've said that that was his power. He's smashed so many people up in the noggin with that thing. He even has this incredible supermove where he just throws the chair at some poor person in a frenzy. I always called it Rage Quit."

Although she froze for a moment, Inko let out a full blown laugh. Seeing her reaction, Toshinori laughed as well, leaving the troubles of their injured son aside for a moment.

Soon enough, the spell faded, leaving Inko and Toshi in the silence yet again. "Inko," Toshi started, "I tried to stop him, you know. That man, All For One, he's a monster."

Inko nodded. "I've actually heard that name running around the grapevine back in my day. I always thought he was just a myth. Like the boogeyman. A man so powerful that he's the king of the global underworld…"

All Might shook his head. "I'd never heard of him, but the mere sight of him gave me shivers. He shook off my full-powered punch like it was nothing."

Inko smiled. "I'm glad to know my son is so strong that he's a threat to someone like that. Even though he hurt himself, that thing will now know better than to target whoever he wishes to."

Inko looked down, a frown befalling her features unexpectedly. "Toshi, I don't know what to do. A part of me wants to be proud of Izuku for his work, but another is so scared for him. I don't want to see him hurt." The woman turned to the hero. "Am I… a bad mother for that?"

Toshi shook his head and rubbed Inko's back as he explained. "Inko, all that tells me is that you love your son. There is no right answer for that, because that is the sign that you are a good mother. That conflict about whether your choice is the best for your kid, I think that's something every parent should have."

"But… it still hurts."

"It will. That is the burden of every mother and father, after all." Toshinori smiled. "This love you have for him is why he treasures you so much."

Inko whimpered a little and fell into Toshinori's chest to wail her eyes out. Toshinori pat her back, keeping from her his own heavy heart for ignoring his responsibility as a father like he had.

'I will live up to my son's expectation of me.' All Might decided. 'All For One, you vile creature. I will do everything in my ability to bring you to justice.'

"Inko Midoriya?" a voice announced from outside the waiting area.

"Ah, that's us!" Toshinori pulled away a weeping woman from his body and stood her up. "Let's go, Inko."

Hand in hand, they went to see their son.

Izuku was in darkness.

He could feel the pain in his body, but it felt oddly muted. Like there was supposed to be more, but he just couldn't feel it.

Worst of all, he felt like he wasn't in his body. He was deeper. He was back in that place where he unlocked Full Shroud. The place with green veins running through the non-existent walls.

He saw those four figures again. The same as he had seen before. But this time, things were different.

The two clear figures walked up to the boy and rubbed a dark hand on either cheek of the boy. A single phrase resounded in the boy's head.

'Not yet.'

The figures faded away into the darkness, leaving the boy alone with the writhing figures. Slowly, the tendrils of their body coiled together, forming two far more familiar shapes in their place. The green darkness of the place was also getting replaced with a gradual light.

"Izuku… Izuku!"

Izuku Midoriya opened his eyes to see his father and mother standing in front of him.

"IZUKU!" His mother yelled as she almost tackled the bedridden boy into a bear hug. Hearing the boy wince, she immediately pulled back.

"Izuku, I'm so sorry!" the woman frantically bowed to her son. "I forgot that you were injured, I just couldn't bear seeing you hurt on this hospital bed and you were out for five days and I was so worried I had absolutely no idea what I would do if you were gone you are my son I couldn't simply lose you and I couldn't simply let you go I know what you did and I'm proud of you for it but you didn't have to get so injured in the process why don't your teachers take care of you a little better like-"

The woman was knocked out of her spree by Toshinori's flick to her forehead, much to the relief of all the nurses who were standing a few feet away from the creepy mother.

All Might turned to his son. "If it were up to me, you should be getting ten more of those." He threateningly flicked his finger in the air.

Izuku nodded, recognizing his own mumbling habit from anywhere. "Y-Yeah, I know." He let out a sheepish smile but winced as he tried to raise his hand.

"Please don't move," a voice said from by the door. The family found the source to be Recovery Girl. Midoriya grimaced a bit upon seeing her deep dark circles. "Midoriya, your injuries haven't faded yet. Five days of surgery could only do so much to the extent of damage you went through."

"Wait, five?!" Izuku reflexively tried to shoot up but yelped out loud yet again.

"What did I just say, you idiot?!" Recovery Girl picked up her cane, but hesitantly put it down remembering her patient's condition. She immediately shooed off the other nurses. "As for what happened back there…"

Izuku would have shivered if he could upon seeing the glare that Recovery Girl was giving him. The ones shivering, however, were his parents and the nurses who had already run out of the room, not willing to see what the old woman would do to that poor boy.

"Do you have any idea… how dangerous that stunt you pulled was?" Recovery Girl asked with an unnerving calm.

"I-I-I d-didn't know I-I could do it? M-Mutation?" Izuku tried to answer, failing to remove Recovery Girl's expression.

The old woman continued. "You called that move Full Shroud, right? You need to make this promise right now. You will never use that move again."

"W-What?" Izuku was taken aback. "All For One is still out there! This is the only way-"

"Peacekeepers exist for a reason, you dolt!" Recovery Girl yelled, interrupting Izuku. "Full Shroud is by far the most dangerous ability I have ever seen anyone use!"

To prove her point, Recovery Girl gently pressed Midoriya's arm. "Can you feel that?"

Midoriya's eyes widened. "Wait, no. I… I can't feel it!"

"Relax!" The doctor reprimanded. "It's temporary, for now at least. You will get your feeling back again. This is all because of Full Shroud."

The old lady continued. "Full Shroud, if left uncontained, should be able to kill you by vaporizing your body from the abnormal levels of strength it gives you, but it doesn't. This is because of that immense energy around your body, that shroud, repelling your body back into its original shape. It contained it well enough to not let it explode immediately. But it has a severe side effect, nullifying its benefit. Tell me, Midoriya, do you know anything about electromagnetism yet?"

"Y-Yeah, I've done some spare reading." Midoriya said. "That's the creation of an electric current from an external magnetic fluctuation and vice versa, right?

"You're not failing science class, huh?" Recovery Girl chuckled a bit but lost the expression quickly. "Yes. Do you know what back current is?"

"A form of resistance in inductors." Izuku quickly responded. "When an electric current creates a magnetic field through a solenoid, induction allows the field to generate a current in the same circuit flowing in the opposite direction of the original current, impeding it."

"Excellent." Recovery Girl nodded. "Now, tell me how nerves operate."

"By channeling electrical… impulses…"

"You see it, don't you?" Recovery Girl sighed. "You generated so much energy with your power that it created a massive back current from within your nerves. Even though your nerves are used to it due to your constant use of Unity, if given too much time, the impending electrical overload can easily damage your nerves to the point of no repair. This means that even though we may be able to heal your bones, you would be in a catatonic state. You would be awake, but you wouldn't be able to use your body at all. We'd have to kill you just to end your misery."

All three members of the family blanched, imagining something like that happening.

"Lucky for you, you only used it for a moment." Recovery Girl reassured. "Your body will feel extra sensitive or numb for a while, but it will recover. Don't be surprised if you are unable to feel in parts of your body, especially in your right arm. That's the area that had it worst of all. But during your recovery period, obviously no strenuous activity at all. You'll be stuck in a wheelchair for days after a little more healing. And for your power training, you can watch from the sidelines, but absolutely no participation without my approval, got it?"

Gulping, Izuku muttered an approval, bringing a smile to the doctor's face.

"Good. Now, I believe you're due for your next bout of healing. Good night."

Upon being kissed by Recovery Girl, Midoriya felt himself go drowsy and drift off to sleep.

Mina Ashido found herself going to the UA gym upon a message that her teacher gave her before he left from his visit to invite her to the dorms.

"So…" the redhead next to her spoke up. "This is actually gonna happen, huh?"

Mina chuckled a bit as she heard Kirishima's comment. She was lucky to have remembered Kirishima when Aizawa had come over. Gladly, Aizawa allowed her to bring Kirishima along once she explained that he found out.

"You know, it still feels a little weird." Kirishima commented. "You've got… superpowers…"

Mina chuckled. "Yep. And a cool new one as well!"

The redhead cocked his head. "New?"

Mina rubbed a hand on the nape of her neck. "Y-Yeah, well, we have this thing called mutation, where our powers evolve over time…"

As Mina was talking, the duo opened the door to the gym, revealing Todoroki already waiting inside.

"Mutation? That's incredible!" Kirishima laughed. "A whole new world to learn about…"

Todoroki shot an odd glare towards Ashido.

"He found out in USJ, don't worry," the girl quickly reassured the heterochromatic boy, letting the boy's expression fall back to neutrality.

Kirishima waltzed over to the dumbbell corner in the gym, picking up one of the sets sitting there. "Why are we meeting here, of all places?"

"Apparently, this place is supposed to be secure. No one can listen in." Mina responded.

"Nice." Mina shot her buddy an odd look as he started working the dumbbells. "What? I just found out that superpowers are a real thing. I'll need to stand up for myself the next time someone like that shows up. I need to get ready for that!"

"That won't help," Todoroki interrupted, earning him an odd glance from the duo. "You'll need a power to fight a power-user. You won't stand a chance otherwise."

"Really? That doesn't make sense though." Kirishima let down his weights. "Even if someone has a knife, they can still lose to someone using their fists, right? This should be like that too. If I train hard enough, shouldn't I be able to beat someone like that?"

Todoroki kept silent, pondering Kirishima's words. Mina, on the other hand, beamed. She was proud that Kirishima hadn't felt threatened, but only felt the need to get stronger upon hearing about power-users.

"Hello?" a cough resounded from the entrance.

Tsuyu Asui approached the trio. "I'm here for… um, what was it… Pawns to Bishop?"

Pawns to Bishop:

Differents are supposed to go to the gym for training. Normally at the end of the school day unless otherwise specified.

"Tsu?" Mina asked. "Did you find out too? Why do you know that code?"

Tsu rested a finger on her chin. "Mr. Aizawa told it to me. J-Just want to confirm. Are you all… differents?"

Mina grinned. "Differents… you found out from Midoriya, huh? Well, you're the second one who learned. The only power-users here are me and Todoroki. Kirishima's normal like you."

Tsu cocked her head with a smirk. "Oh, I'm not normal, kero."

The trio flinched. "A croak…?" muttered Kirishima, voicing the thoughts of the other standing there.

"Y-Yeah." Tsu quickly lost her composure and looked away. "I-I'm like a frog. Sticking to walls, long tongue, pretty much e-everything a frog can do, I-I can do." To demonstrate, Tsu stretched her tongue out, waving it around her like an additional limb.

The trio widened their eyes. "Woah, that's kinda creepy." Kirishima admitted.

"But that's so cool!" Mina almost screamed, making the frog girl step back from her enthusiasm. "Why didn't you join us earlier? Every power-user out there knows about UA!"

"I… d-didn't know there were others like me," the girl confided, letting Mina's smirk fall away. She had never experienced it, but she could understand how hard it would be for someone to not tell anyone about such a big part of themselves.

"H-Hey, don't worry." Mina smiled consolingly. "You've got us now. You're not alone anymore."

Tsu paused, then let out a rare smile with a light-hearted croak.

"H-Hey, looks like you guys are getting along."

Turning to the door again, they saw Midoriya wheeled into the gym on a wheelchair by a skin-and-bone blonde.

"Midoriya!" both Tsu and Ashido ran up to the boy. "Are you alright?"

The boy chuckled a bit, seeing the girls concerned for him. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I'll have to take it easy for a while, and I can't really move yet, but I'm good otherwise."

As the girls let out a sigh of relief, Todoroki walked up to the greenette.

"Midoriya," he said, "I don't understand how you suddenly got that strong, but I look forward to facing that power for myself someday."

Midoriya's smile faded away. "I-I'm sorry, Todoroki. I c-can't ever use Full Shroud again. The p-price is too high."

"Price?" Todoroki asked.

"L-Let's just say that if I held it up any longer, I would have been in a state much worse than death."

The other three had brief confused expressions, but they seemed to accept the comment.

"Wait," Mina questioned, turning back to the blonde who was wheeling him in. "Who're you?"

Yagi chuckled. "I'm your PE teacher."

"W-What?!" Kirishima yelped. "How badly hurt did you get?!"

"O-Oh don't worry!" Yagi reassured, immediately bulking up in front of them and wearing his signature grin. "I AM HERE TO ESCORT YOUNG IZUKU! AND I AM THE ONE AND ONLY ALL MIGHT!"

As Yagi debulked, relishing in Kirishima's bewildered expression, Midoriya winced. "T-Toshi, not so loud…" he whispered.

Tsu rested a finger to her chin again. "I don't get why you don't want people to know that Mr. Yagi's your father, kero."

Kirishima's and Ashido's eyes widened. "MR. YAGI/THE MIGHTFIST RIPOFF IS YOUR FATHER?!"

Izuku winced a bit, as All Might bashfully scratched his chin.

"Y-Yeah…" Midoriya slowly admitted. "H-He's my dad."

The now skinny All Might laughed too. "Told you they'd find out soon enough, kid."

Midoriya just dryly chuckled.

"Hey, um, Midoriya?" Kirishima cut in. "I just want to ask… how badly hurt are you? You haven't moved your body at all since you came in here."

Midoriya tilted his head and saw the person he didn't expect to see here. "Wait, Kirishima? Do you have a hidden difference, too?"

"Wait, difference?" Kirishima questioned. "And no, I found out about all this from Ashido. Coming back to my question, what happened to you, dude?"

The boy chuckled. "I almost defeated All For One by breaking the bones in my entire body and almost frying my nervous system."

Kirishima winced. "I… don't know how to react to that. Damn, you guys have interesting lives, huh?"

The trio grinned at Kirishima's reaction. Even Todoroki gave an almost unnoticeable smile.

"Good, you're all here," another voice came from the door. Aizawa walked in wearing his signature sleeping bag while dragging in a cement block on a cart.

"Mr. Aizawa are you alright?!" shouted Midoriya, who had almost shot out of his chair if it wasn't for the wince that cut him off.

Aizawa scratched his face under the tape. "Don't worry about me. I could even say the same thing about you, Midoriya. I'm not the one who was in surgery for a week after all."

"A WEEK?!" yelled the others, save Todoroki who still had raised eyebrows.

"W-Well, a week is an exaggeration. It's more like five days, and-"

"FIVE DAYS?!" they insisted, to which Midoriya let out a nervous chuckle.

"Enough." Aizawa gladly interrupted. "Kirishima, assume that everything discussed here is a part of your NDA. You absolutely cannot talk about this to anyone else, no matter the situation. Got it?"

Kirishima frantically nodded upon feeling the seriousness of Aizawa's tone.

"Very well." The bandaged man sighed. "I will say this upfront. Just because your friends know about powers doesn't give them the right to know about us."

"Wait, what?" Ashido asked. "Shouldn't they know the whole truth?"

"And how will they react?" Aizawa responded, earning silence from the pink-haired girl. "They already have a terrible view of power-users after witnessing All For One in action. They won't accept power-users among themselves so quickly. Especially not after only knowing each other for only a week."

As much as they hated to admit it, the power-users of 1-A agreed. Kirishima may have accepted them but he knew Mina from middle school. He trusted one of them already, making him an exception.

"Now, for the new dorm system," Aizawa continued. "This would have been implemented much sooner if it weren't for our practice sessions. Thankfully, Nezu decided to introduce clubs for the first years sooner."

"Clubs?" Tsu asked.

"Yes. However, for obvious reasons, none of you are permitted to join these clubs. Instead, you will have to sacrifice another aspect of your education. Your marks."

Upon seeing their confused expressions, Aizawa continued. "We will be holding a couple of quizzes in the future. You four will have to fail on purpose. Get something from 1 to 10 out of 100, zeroes are always an oddball. Because of this, we will assign you four into remedial classes during the time allocated to clubs. However, instead of bringing you to the allocated remedial, you will all move to a separate gym that was built for your exclusive training. Because of this, all our practice sessions will be pushed back to when the remedial classes are set up."

"Um, sir?" Kirishima interrupted. "I know I'm not gonna be in that group, but I feel that a lot of us could use remedial classes."

Yagi quirked a brow from behind Midoriya's wheelchair. "UA is a highly academic institute. I wouldn't imagine any of you would have issues with your studies."

Kirishima winced. "Hehe, well, I'm not really supposed to say this, but Kaminari told me that he had passed through sheer luck. He would have failed otherwise."

Aizawa sighed. "And he was the lowest scorer. That's just perfect."

Yagi then turned to his fellow Peacekeeper. "Surely we can come up with something else?"

The bandaged man shook his head. "No. There's not much else we can do without rousing suspicion. We'd just have to keep the others out of the sessions as much as possible. That means that you four will have to constantly get low grades. Don't worry, if it's anything important, we'll let you rewrite it in confidence."

Mina whined. "We have to write exams twice?! That's literal torture, godammit!"

Ignoring Ashido's comment, Eraserhead turned back to his students. "If there are no more questions, then I can continue. Mina Ashido, I'm led to believe you mutated?"

"Oh! Yeah!" The pink haired girl cheered as she produced a liquid from her hands that sizzled as it fell to the ground. Her had turned a little pink after the creation as well. "I can make actual acid now!"

Midoriya grinned. "That's not a mutation, isn't it?"

Mina cocked her head. "Huh?"

"W-Well, Yanagi explained her mutation in the entrance exam to me. S-She said that that was something she could have always done, but she d-didn't because she didn't know she could. Y-Your development is l-like that, isn't it?"

Mina frowned, but slowly nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. My mom did tell me my power was acidic, after all."

Aizawa sighed again. "If that's all, I will move on to our final segment of conversation. Tsuyu Asui."

The frog girl perked up upon hearing her name. Aizawa fished out a Deviation Level Tester from his pocket and opened it. He explained its use to Tsu and held it out to her.

Tsu hesitantly placed a finger on the hole and felt the signature prick of drawn blood. In a few seconds, the screen showed 45%.

"45?!" Mina yelped upon peeking into the screen, earning widened brows from the other two power-users as well.

"Is that bad?" Tsu hesitantly asked.

"On the contrary," Aizawa clarified, accepting the device back to double check it. "No one has ever crossed 40% in their first years in the history of UA. And you had more than that in your very first assessment."

Pocketing the device, Aizawa continued. "However, that is to be expected considering the type of power you wield."

"Type of power?" Izuku echoed in confusion.

"Powers are traditionally divided into three categories: Emitter, Transformation and Mutant. You three are Emitters, meaning you can create something or manipulate something outside the realms of your body. Transformers can modify their physical body with their ability. Mutants have permanent effects on their bodies that cannot be concealed. Asui has a Mutant power. They tend to give the greatest deviation levels. Some think that that's better, but they'd be wrong. Let me show you why."

Aizawa then went back to the box he brought in with him and knocked on its top. Suddenly, the material parted and revealed a hollow interior, from which a greyish blocky body rose out.

The other four, especially Kirishima, did a double take upon seeing the man in front of them.

He had small eyes and a small bun for what you could call his hair, but other than that his resemblance to humanity was non-existent. He skin was a brackish grey and shaped in such a way that it seemed like he was made of blocks. His head was a literal cuboid, housing a flat face with no visible nose and an incredibly wide mouth.

"Hope you're doing well, Ishiyama." Aizawa said.

"Don't worry, Aizawa," the being replied sounding a lot more normal than those listening had expected. "I'm just glad to leave that box for a while."

Nodding, Aizawa turned back to his students. "Everyone, this is Ken Ishiyama. He has a Mutant-Emitter power, enabling him to manipulate cement to his will. He's one of the most vital members of UA, yet he has to be dragged around in a box because of his deviation level of 78%."

The entire class flinched at that comment, Tsu especially.

"Please," Ishiyama added, "call me Cementoss."

"Um, sir?" Tsu began, hesitant. "I-If I can ask, h-how do you handle it? I mean, being a mutant, kero?"

Ishiyama chuckled. "I don't. You did see me step out of a box, after all. Lucky for you, you look human enough to pass off as one."

Tsu let out another nervous croak at his comment.

"Wait," Midoriya interrupted, speaking more to himself than anyone else. "I wonder what Nezu's deviation level is…"

Aizawa deadpanned at the kid in the wheelchair. "He's not human in the first place. He obviously has 100% deviation." That forced a chuckle out of the greenette, who went back into a wild mutterstorm.

Tsu and Kirishima looked at the rambling boy with a mild trepidation. "Is this… normal?" Tsu asked.

Mina laughed. "This is actually much better. Normally he would drown out any other sound in the room and would be scribbling in that notebook of his. Pretty valuable info, though. You'd learn something incredible about your power if you take the time to listen in."

Todoroki looked away with a sour look, a motion that Tsu did not leave unnoticed.

Aizawa called their attention back to him. "Alright, everyone. If you want to talk with Ishiyama anymore, you can do so now. He won't come out for you anytime soon."

"Cementoss, sir!" Midoriya immediately called out, earning him a groan from Mina. "To what extent can you manipulate cement? Are you able to liquify it or will it be solid as you control it? Are you the secret behind UA's impossible construction ability? Are you-"

"Midoriya, stop!" Aizawa immediately flared out, forcing Midoriya to jerk back in his seat with a wince. Calming down, Aizawa continued. "Take it easy, you're still hurt. I don't want the old lady on my case anymore. And stop treating Ishiyama like a tool."

"A… a t-tool?!" Midoriya immediately flinched and turned back to Ishiyama, rapidly bowing his head from his wheelchair. "I'm so sorry! I hadn't realized I was insulting you!"

"Please, stop." Ishiyama calmly called out, freezing the boy. "Aizawa said you're hurt. You shouldn't move so much right now." Luckily, Midoriya stilled some.

The blocky man then turned to his colleague. "I appreciate the concern, Aizawa, but as always, there is absolutely no need for any of you to coddle me. As for your questions, Midoriya. That's what I believe your name is? Anyway, I can do both. I can liquify cement and reform it later as well as manipulate it while it is solid. Also, you're on the money. I am the secret to UA's construction." The man reassured with what seemed like a smile on his large mouth.

'Cute,' Tsu reservedly thought.

Aizawa sighed as he carried on. "Alright, well I asked Ishiyama to come here because I wanted to let you know why your deviation levels wouldn't go abnormally large. For most emitters, the cap is at 50%, while transformers can go up to 60%. Mutants, however, can potentially go all the way up to 100%, although the only example we have of that is the principal."

Aizawa nodded once again. "That is all I want to discuss for now. Kirishima, once again, I'd better not hear you spread this to anyone else. If you do…"

Kirishima widened his eyes as Aizawa's eyes burned red under his wraps and his hair soared around his head with his scarf.

"… You'll know why us power-users should never be meddled with."

The redhead audibly gulped. Even the other differents stood unnerved in the room.

Eraserhead withdrew his power. "That is all I have for today. You all can follow Yagi for one last thing he needs to show you. I'd come with you, but I need to bring Ishiyama here back to his work."

With his last comment, he crawled back into his sleeping bag and let Cementoss get back in his box. He then pushed him out of the room while waddling in his sleeping bag.

"Alright, students." All Might called out. "Follow me."

As Yagi started pushing Midoriya forward, all the other power-users of 1-A along with Kirishima started following them. They quickly caught up to Midoriya.

"So, Midori!" Ashido immediately called. "Tell us about that new move of yours! I know you said it was dangerous, but what was it like?"

"Honestly?" Midoriya replied. "I didn't really like it. It was like I had gotten angry for some reason. I suddenly felt like All For One was the worst person in the world when he tried taking my difference from me. It seems like Unity responded with me too. Yet again, I don't really understand it otherwise."

The group made it out of the building and were walking across the UA front road.

Tsu placed a finger to her chin yet again. "You make it sound like there are more things you don't understand about it."

"Well, it's true." Midoriya agreed. "During the entrance exam, I was able to somehow take Toshi-sorry, All Might's strength out of nowhere, even when he wasn't within my range at all. I still haven't investigated that yet. And now there's Full Shroud. The craziest thing is that I don't think I'll ever be able to assume that kind of strength normally. No matter how many people crowd around me, I won't ever be able to make Unity act the way it did. But for some reason, it did back there."

As the group went quite upon hearing Midoriya's rambling, they turned the corner of one of the side buildings next to UA.

"Alright, we're almost here." All Might declared.

Todoroki spoke up. "That's odd. Isn't this a teacher's office center?"

All Might sniggered. "You're right. Ishiyama's, to be precise. But that's not all there is to it."

The skinny man started walking ahead. "You need to count the tile panels on the walls as you walk. Stop once you reach the 10th panel."

Sure enough, Yagi stood in front of one of the tiles. He walked away from Midoriya's chair as he rested his hand on the panel to the right of the one he chose. All of a sudden, the panel pulled back and slid away, revealing a dark room inside.

As the students entered with Mina pushing Midoriya in, the lights in the room turned on to show the area around them. There was a clear path in the middle which could be used to access the zones around it. As for the zones, there were numerous kinds. The floor was completely made of cement and some of it was jettisoned off the ground as non-supporting pillars or plateaus.

"Welcome," Mr. Yagi stepped in as the hidden door behind him closed, "to Gym Epsilon."

As the students looked around, Yagi continued. "This is where we will hold all your power training from now on. Cementoss will be working with you all here, creating obstacles and projectiles for you to train yourselves with. Not at all surveilled, along with soundproof barriers along the walls that block out noise and a recognition software for entry that will ring an alarm every time an unauthorized person tries the door panel. There's a tunnel leading straight to Recovery Girl's office in case of questionable injuries, as well as emergency buttons to call her here. This is a haven for you to practice your powers as much as you want. However, don't forget that you'd have to share it with Class 1-B."

The students nodded as they kept looking around.

"Well," Yagi declared. "Ishiyama's busy, but you can try breaking the ground for a bit. I won't say anything, heh."

The three uninjured power-users grinned as they rushed forward, while Kirishima and Midoriya sadly stood back, unable to join them.

Chikara Yotsubashi was sitting in his office when he got the footage from the villain attack on UA from Nezu.

"Unity… Full… SHROUD!"

And boy, was that incredible.

Yotsubashi could hide his grin as he saw the immense amounts of opportunity available from that one clip.

'So much power,' he pondered, 'all for us to use once the time is right. Judgement Day is coming to town…'

A/N: Nezu is the ideal 4th wall breaking character in MHA, and you can't tell me otherwise!

"Nerufufufu... Don't worry. I won't."

H-Huh? W-Well, whatever! And you're not Korosensei, godammit!

Sorry I took so long. My semester's back in full swing, and let me tell you, its absolute fucking hell. I probably should be studying instead of writing this, but hey, a guy's gotta have his moments, right? No, but seriously, I really should be studying now. I just got out of a hell period where I had three assignment submissions and a quiz back to back. My next one is coming up in about two weeks, so I gotta be prepped for that. Curse my inability to sit down and study.

Anyway, not much happening in this chapter other than random introductions. Now you know why Full Shroud is absolutely messed up. I did absolutely no research on the science behind that, just pulled it all out of my ass and a basic semblance of reasoning. Well, for an engineering student, that is. Hopefully it makes enough practical sense.

Now, onto the review corner!

Yamajiji: Glad to hear that. Honestly, offing AFO and Shigaraki here would be way too early and disappointing. Thanks for the words!

ay phoenix: Well, yes, but actually no. It is true that pre-canon All Might is stronger than current, but this story's All Might wouldn't even hold a candle to them. All Might doesn't have One For All in this story, he has Muscle Growth. That's a much weaker ability than OFA. I've reflected this weakness in other places too, like how he was defeated by Muscular and how he's not a top Peacekeeper. Glad to hear the question, though!

dragonightmare: I like the way you saw that symbolism, but from what I could make out, your interpretation of Unity isn't really accurate. If Midoriya could convert other people's differences into strength, then how could he assume the strength of non-differents? It's a fair theory, but the real concept is actually a major spoiler that I won't get into here. Just know that it will all be explained in time, just like Nezu said. Keeping those consequences were something I had planned ever since I thought of this scene. Such a mad power boost couldn't come without a price, after all. Also, know that I like romantic stories as well, but I don't have enough extroverted experience to properly write something like that out. If I did, the IzuOcha would've popped up so much sooner. I have a couple plans for it though, but as you said, it's not in the forefront.

That's the end of Review Corner!

Some good news: We've hit 5,000 views! Now I know this wouldn't be impressive for some people, but this is my first story! Let me relish in this!

Also, for once, I'm gonna be a cheapskate and ask you to pick up David Shield's chair and Rage Quit on that favorite and follow button. (The fanfiction author pen-named ZepphireOS is in no way responsible for damages to anyone's devices.) All for the memes.

Welp, that's it for now, folks! Next chapter will be moving into the dorms, and it will be a bit late. Uni work should take the cake now. But until then, I'll see you lads and lassies next chapter!