Midoriya opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the darkness of the room, before he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Shinsou just shifted slightly, mumbling something under his breath as he continued sleeping, as Reiko and Ryuto unconsciously tried to find the warmest spot on the best that was also the most accessible.

He knew that it was morning, and that they had to start getting ready so that they could attend lessons at the right time, but he was really not looking forward to the week at Ketsubutsu Academy.

Midoriya was lost in his own thoughts for a few minutes, before Shinsou's phone alarm rang, indicating that it was time to get up. The taller boy let out a groan, flipping over to silence the alarm, before he just pulled the covers back over himself, going back to sleep.

The greenette just raised an eyebrow, and poked Shinsou in the cheek.

"Morning..." Shinsou muttered, opening his eyes slightly, "I want to sleep."

Midoriya let out an incoherent grumble, and Shinsou sighed, looking up at Midoriya, his eyes glinting slightly in the darkness of the room, "I know you don't want to get here either... but we're here now... We don't have much of a choice, you know..."

He knew that Midoriya was worried, and he trusted Midoriya's instincts and gut feeling, but until something actually happened, they couldn't do anything about it.

Before Midoriya could reply, Shinsou yanked the small boy down, wrapping his arms around the greenette, before he went back to snuggling under the covers, "You do know that you set that alarm like... an hour too early... And the teachers did allow us to sleep in a little on the first day here... I know you like being over-prepared but... we can stay here for a little longer..."

Midoriya let out a small rumble from the back of his throat, shifting closer to Shinsou, cuddling up to the taller boy.

Everything would be fine. He should stop overthinking things so much.


The UA students slowly pushed their way past several Ketsubutsu students, moving down the stairs as the others tried to make their way up.

Each class' homeroom teacher had given the students a brief tour of the school and the various facilities that they would be using, as well as going through other administration stuff like safety protocols, and they were going to be introduced to the various classes they would be joining in the period before lunch.

The halls were filled with students who were going to and from classes, and Midoriya was really doing his best to try and not bump into anyone.

Suddenly, he felt a familiar aura behind him, but before he could do anything, a familiar voice rang out, "Oops! I didn't see you there!"

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Midoriya had time to react, but he didn't have any space to move without disturbing anyone else, and before he knew it, he was tumbling down to the stairs, landing on his arm harshly. Luckily, nothing was broken, and he just pushed himself up, slightly dizzy.

Midoriya could hear faint laughter in the background, as Shinsou rushed down the stairs to check on him, pushing past other students who didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that someone had been pushed down the stairs.

"Are you okay?" The lavender haired boy asked, and Midoriya nodded slowly.

"Who was that?" Shinsou growled, turning towards the top of the staircase, but it was clear that the perpetrator was long gone.

The teacher they had been with was nice, but he was really oblivious, and he didn't even seem to notice the commotion. He just turned around, gesturing towards the duo, "Come on, kids, we don't have all day! We need to pick up the pace if we're going to start lessons on time!"

They made it back to the rest of the group, and Monoma leaned over, and whispered, "Is he okay?"

"He seems okay." Shinsou whispered back, "But I don't know who pushed him."

"Someone pushed him on purpose?" Kendo asked, alarmed, "I just thought he tripped or someone bumped into him by accident. Those stairs are a little slippery, and many people were going up. Who was it?"

Shinsou did catch a glimpse of a boy with black hair, but really, that wasn't enough to incriminate anyone; black was a really common hair color.

"I don't know. We'd just need to be on the lookout. I think I'd recognize him if I saw him, though." Shinsou sighed, turned to check on Midoriya. The boy seemed a little dizzy, a bit worse for wear, but overall, he seemed alright.

Midoriya just lowered his head and continued walking. He knew who it was, but he wasn't going to say anything. He didn't need to stir up any more trouble.


Monoma, Kendo, Shinsou, and Midoriya stood awkwardly at the front of the classroom.

"Alright, I'm sure you've all heard of this, but the UA Hero Course students would be joining us for lessons for the week." The homeroom teacher glanced at Midoriya briefly, before looking back at the rest of the UA students, "So... uh... do you four want to introduce yourselves?"

It didn't take too long for Shinsou, Monoma, and Kendo to do their introductions, while Midoriya just gazed at the floor, "Midoriya... Izuku..."

"Speak up!" A boy with black hair raised his hand from his position at the back of the classroom, and drawled in a sing-song voice, "We can't hear you!"

Shinsou glared at him. Same voice. That was the guy who pushed Midoriya down the stairs.

The teacher sighed, before he glanced at Midoriya again, talking in a kind tone, "Would you mind speaking up?"

Midoriya just wrung his hands together nervously. He couldn't find his voice; no matter how much he tried to even say a single thing, the words just refused to come out of his mouth.

"His name is Midoriya Izuku." Shinsou spoke up, looking at Hareda distastefully, only for the Ketsubutsu student to just grin maliciously, "Aww, he can't speak on his own? Are quirkless people really that useless?"

"Hareda, be nice. Don't be rude. You're a representative of this school." The teacher sighed exasperatedly, before he told the UA students to take a seat at the back of the classroom, where four sets of tables and chairs had been set aside for them, before he proceeded to start the lesson.

Shinsou gritted his teeth, and glared at the back of Hareda's head as the boy turned around, snickering at Midoriya as the greenette put his head down, trying to draw less attention to himself.

This fucker was probably one of Midoriya's old classmates, and if he was openly making fun of Midoriya with a teacher in class, there was no doubt that he would be ramping up the harassment if there were no authority figures around. He was going to try and keep him away from his boyfriend as far as possible.


Once the lunch bell rang, it didn't take too long for the UA and Shiketsu to regroup, before making their way to eat. There were some tables reserved for them on one end of the cafeteria, and they quickly settled down; the Ketsubutsu students were actually pretty loud and rowdy, and they weren't really sure what to do.

Plus, they had to keep Midoriya away from the other first years, who seemed to be classmates with the greenette before, and were actually being pretty nasty towards him.

With the Ketsubutsu second years' help, it took a few minutes for the students to figure out how to get their food, and it wasn't long before all the students had gotten their meals.

Shinsou was sharing his sushi with Midoriya, though the greenette didn't seem to like it too much despite not having anything for breakfast; Midoriya felt that something was off about his food, though he really couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Hey, Hareda, you were classmates with that quirkless boy before, weren't you?"

That should immediately got the attention of the UA students, and they looked up from their meals, turning towards the other end of the cafeteria, at the black haired boy with spiky hands who was standing up. Hareda laughed, "Oh yeah, that Deku? So what about him?"

Shinsou let out a growl. So these were the people that coined that disgusting, derogatory nickname.

"What was he like back in junior high?"

"Oh! He's a complete attention seeker!" Hareda laughed, waving his fist around, the spiky ends poking out from his knuckles, "He can't do anything right. He's a careless idiot who's always tripping down the stairs and getting himself injured! He's always getting detention for something or another. Hey, hey, Nagai, you remember Deku, don't you?"

"Of course I remember him!" The boy who was supposedly named Nagai chirped, "He can never hand his homework in on time, and he's always cheating on tests and exams. I have no idea how that loser managed to get into the Hero Course, in UA, no less."

1-A knew that this was all lies. Midoriya was always doing his homework the second that it was given to him, and finishing it the day that it was distributed, way before the deadline. He was always scoring very well, if not, full marks on his tests, papers, and exam scripts, so there was no way he could be cheating off anyone if he was the one with the best marks.

Plus, the boy could barely even lie properly, let alone cheat on tests. And tripping down the stairs? It was clear that there were people like him just pushing him down the stairs and hurting him any chance they got.

Midoriya just lowered his head, trying to make himself as small as possible. Shinsou looked like he was going to stand up and say something, but the smaller boy just tugged on his sleeve gently, "Don't."

"You're just going to let them spout all sorts of nonsense about you?" Shinsou hissed.

Midoriya just looked up slightly, his expression completely empty, like a blank canvas, "It's alright. It's normal. I'm used to it."

Shinsou flinched slightly. It's not normal for someone to be used to people talking shit about them right in front of them, but in Midoriya's case... sadly, he knew that this was normal. He wasn't quirkless, and before UA, there had always been people talking crap about him and his quirk, whether it be behind his back, right in front of him, or just outrightly making fun of him.

There was no doubt that it would be worse for someone who was quirkless and had grown up without any support.

And he knew that the rest of his classmates, and even the Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu students that they had known for some time, could tell the drastic change in Midoriya's demeanor. It felt like the very first time Shinsou had invited the boy to their table in the cafeteria; Midoriya had closed himself off again and reverted back to his old self, his eyes were dull and cold, his face completely void of any emotion.

There was more talk about Midoriya, until Hareda laughed, "I bet UA is just all bark and no bite! That's actually kind of pathetic! They think that they're so good, but in actuality, they're no better than any other school out there. They may have the name of the best hero school in the East of Japan, but they're students are clearly garbage if they're being bested by a powerless loser!"

Everyone could see Midoriya tensing up slightly, clenching his fists slightly.

"I mean, they keep getting involved in villain attacks! Obviously, villains would think that they're useless if they're accepting quirkless people instead of students who are actually good. This year's batch of students must be terrible! I mean, having a quirkless person as one of their top students?" Nagai joined in.

Shindo frowned, having joined the students from the other schools at their table for meals instead of eating at his regular table. Heck, he didn't even know Midoriya that well, and he could tell that those were big fat lies.

He turned to Nakagame, "Where are the teachers? Doesn't this count as harassment?"

"They have a meeting about... something... as well as the teachers from the other schools." She replied, shaking her head, before she looked at the first years who were still spouting crap about UA, "I'm sorry about them. They give us a bad name."

"Can't you stop them?" Iida asked, and Toteki shook his head dejectedly, "Not... really. Ms Joke just told us to report any harassment cases, and she'd look into it. Otherwise, we could also get into trouble just by participating. Of course... that only applies to Ketsubutsu students... I'm sure your other schools have different rules..."

"... oh yeah, I also heard that this other kid in the Hero Course has a villainous Brainwashing quirk!"

"Oh, you mean Shinsou Hitoshi? I went to Nabu Middle School with him, honestly, even the teachers don't like him. Honestly, pretty sure no one ever spoke to him. He could just brainwash us to get us all in trouble, and get away scot-free."

"Wait, Shirogane, you actually went to school with him. What the heck is he doing in UA?"

"I know, right? I have no idea how he managed to make the cut with that kind of quirk!"

Hareda laughed out loud, "He's just a villain in the making, he shouldn't be there! They should have just locked him up and - YEEEP!"

A loud shriek rang out, and everyone looked up, only to find that there was a knife lodged in the wall, mere millimeters away from Hareda's neck.

The entire cafeteria froze and fell silent, with the only noise being the sound of ventilators, everyone trying to figure out how and why there was a knife embedded in the wall.

Midoriya was standing up, though no one had even noticed that he had done so. His hair cast dark shadows over his emerald eyes, and he just glared at Hareda, staying completely, eerily silent. He fiddled with another knife in his hands, twirling it swiftly, expertly between his fingers, as he kept his cold, hard gaze locked onto Hareda.

Hareda looked at the knife, then at Midoriya, before he put two and two together.

He smirked, "You missed. Are you really that bad of a shot? Maybe you should just quit before you embarrass - "

Another knife whizzed past his neck, embedding itself perfectly within the wood handle of the previously thrown knife.

Midorita just glared at Hareda, before he got out of his seat, slowly walking towards the other end of the cafeteria. The other students who happened to be standing parted like a wave, giving Midoriya more than enough space to get to where Hareda was standing.

"What, you think you're so great just because you got into UA?" Hareda goaded, but Midoriya just glared at him, as he walked past his former classmate to retrieve his blades.

"You want to fight, Deku?" Hareda growled, lunging forward with an open hand, but Midoriya easily sidestepped the other boy, and hooked his knee over Hareda's neck, flipping him onto the ground without even batting an eyelash.

A dark aura burst out, further darkening the atmosphere, and Midoriya just stared down at Hareda. He silently walked back to his seat, sitting down, before using his chopsticks to pick up another piece of sushi, like he hadn't just threatened a student with a bunch of stabby kitchen utensils.

It wasn't long before the regular chatter of the cafeteria started back up again, though everyone was much quieter, and many glances were thrown Midoriya's way as he drank his water, ignoring everything around him.

"Maybe that would get them to shut up." Ashido huffed, and Midoriya put his cup down. He knew that they would still find some way to pick on him, but hopefully, they would leave his friends and school out of it.