Disclaimer: I do not own Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia.
I want to clarify that I absolutely love the BNHA Manga, especially from the Villain arc onward. However I dislike young canon Izuku a lot, he only knew how to talk the talk but never walked the walk. 'I want to be a Hero like All Might' but he couldn't even stand up to his own bullies, never bothered to exercise, never bothered to research and improve his mind, never bothered to hone any skills.
I don't blame All Might for telling him to stop dreaming, just look at him, a scrawny, nervous, incompetent fanboy. Like, what did he expect anyone to reply? You want people to acknowledge you but you don't even put in any fucking effort...
That said I love the current Izuku and his character development. Okay enough ranting from me, on to the story.
Side note: Izuku using 8% OFA Full Cowl was almost able to beat Bakugo, so my Izuku at almost double that at 15% is already overkill for the start of the series.
Chapter 3: Shadows on the Horizon
"DAMN YOU HONENUKI!"
"Ah sorry Monoma-kun, I thought it'd be better if we could finish it without hurting anyone."
It turns out that Team I, composed of Neito and Kinoko, did not have the chance to show off their abilities at all. The plan concocted between the intelligence of Jurota and the flexible thinking of Juzo proved to be their undoing.
"Young Honenuki is right in this case! Of course there will be times where lethal force must be applied but if a conflict could be resolved without force, that would be for the best!" All Might appeared a lot less stiff, having gotten used to his teaching role.
"To prevent unneeded structural damage and civilian casualties right All Might-sensei?" Kosei asked.
"Indeed young Tsuburaba! Now can anyone tell me who the MVP of the match is?"
"Honenuki-san would be the obvious choice. The plan they had executed was a combination of their efforts but it would have been impossible without Honenuki-san's Quirk and his control over it. Shishida-san had used his enhanced strength to toss him up onto the roof before rampaging through the lower floor to cause a distraction. Honenuki-san then proceeded to soften the roof just under his feet to pass through, dropping down behind the bomb and Team B. He then used his Quirk again to soften the entire floor, effectively incapacitating the villains and securing the objective in one shot." Izuku methodically listed out the entire strategy, though his hand seemingly continued writing away on his notebook.
"W-Well said young Midoriya! I could not have said it better myself!" All Might faked a cough at being upstaged, the rest of the class staring at his secret apprentice in awe.
"It is unfortunate that the preparation time was five minutes, that rendered any advantage that Monoma-san had mute due to the time limit of his Quirk. Komori-san's Quirk also requires time to build up, which was countered by Team B's plan. Part of it boiled down to a bad match up in opponents, of course not discounting how efficient Team B's plan and execution was." The green-haired teen added on.
"V-very good young Midoriya! That's exactly what I was going to say! HAHAHA!"
"Wow Broccoli here is the whole package huh? Cute, hot and smart!" Setsuna smacked him playfully on the shoulder, causing him to blush at the praise.
'And the fact I forgot to control my rambling again...'
"Okay next battle! It will be... Team J Heroes versus Team F Villains!"
"So what's the plan Shiozaki?! We just head in and knock them out?!" Tetsutetsu asked, turning around he found his partner for the exercise with her eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer.
"Fear not my fellow classmate. For evil shall be punished by my hand, no villains shall escape their judgement! Oh Lord! Bless your faithful servant!"
"BEGIN!"
There was a short period of silence followed by Ibara's hair bursting into action, the vines shooting forward into and around the building. They snaked up the side of the building, through the windows and up the stairs. Bypassing all the glue traps laid by Bondo and immediately ensnaring both him and Rin, the vines then proceeded to wrap around the bomb and secured it too.
"Ugh... Team J Heroes wins!"
"S-so manly..." Tetsutetsu shivered at the sight of the vine-covered building.
'S-scary...' Class 1B had similar thoughts upon witnessing how fearsome the Quirk belonging to their gentle classmate could be.
"...remind me to never piss Grass off." Setsuna gulped, getting nods from the rest of the group.
"Agreed."
"Given how... quick that match ended, there will be no need for an overview. Moving on to the next battle... Team H Heroes versus Team G Villains!"
Unfortunately the match turned out to be another bad luck of the draw, for the Heroes this time. Yui had used her Quirk to increase the size of pieces of rubble while Yosetsu welded them across all the entrances to the room. Reiko could not exert enough force with her Quirk to move said obstructions and while Shihai could sneak in with his Quirk, he could not contest the Villain team in a numerical disadvantage fight.
"Do not be disheartened my students, this sort of situation happens in the field too! Take this as a lesson to learn to broaden the usage of your Quirk usage. Good job on the part of the Villain team as well! You showed great thinking in the usage of your Quirks that led to your victory!"
While the rest of the class were listening to All Might, Itsuka leaned over to glance at what her green-haired friend was scribbling within in notebook.
"Hoh I see you still have that habit of researching Quirks." Her voice startled him slightly, calming down when he noticed that it was only his friend.
"I can't help it, everyone has such amazing and unique Quirks. My brain just seems to switch to another frequency and I find myself taking down notes." They both noticed that the current page held the information about their telekinetic-using classmate, from her Quirk to a rather accurate sketch of her in costume.
"That's a pretty good sketch. You never told me you could draw so well Izu~" Her teasing comment caused him to let out a nervous chuckle.
"Well it's not like I draw as a hobby, it's just something I've always done while researching Pro-Heroes over the years... guess practice does pay off."
"Alright final match of the class! Team E Heroes versus Team C Villains!"
"Alright finally! Looks like I get to be a bad girl this time heh!"
"Good luck Setsuna/Tokage-san!"
"Thanks Carrot, Broccoli! Just watch me heh!" Setsuna waved with a smirk as the four students made their way out to the battleground.
"This will be an interesting fight to watch... all four of them have very flexible Quirks." Izuku muttered as he started scribbling on his notebook.
With Team C (Villains)
"Yo Airhead, how durable are those air constructs of yours?"
"...Airhead? Err I can use them as platforms to stand on but a hard enough hit will cause them to break and dispel. So I can't close off the room like Kodai and Awase if that's what you were thinking." Kosei replied while performing some deep breathing exercises.
"Ah okay, guess we can scrap that plan. I was thinking you could probably use it to set up traps since they're invisible and all." Setsuna hummed as she stared at the wall.
"Do we know where they're coming from though? Don't want to set too many traps and hinder ourselves too..."
"They're gonna come in through the window."
"Huh?"
"I have a hunch." Setsuna smirked as she swept up her hair, revealing that one of her eye and ear was missing.
"...I hope you know that looks extremely morbid."
"Meh you'll get used to it."
"Didn't All Might-sensei say we have to stay in this room until the signal?"
"I am in this room."
Kosei paused a moment to think about it, she was right technically and since All Might had yet to call them out on it...
With Team E (Heroes)
"Alright you know the plan?" Manga asked his partner for the exercise.
"Yes!" Pony clenched her fists and nodded rapidly.
"Exercise begin!"
"Alright! Let's do this!"
The duo ran around the corner of the building, right below the window of the room where the bomb is stationed. Manga took a breath before shouting.
"BOING!"
The word materialized in front of them, the Quirk causing it to take on the property of the sound effect and turning it into a giant trampoline. Manga and Pony leapt onto the word and catapulted themselves up and through the window in the bomb room.
"Horn Cannon!" Pony immediately fired out a pair of horns at each of their opponents, Kosei ducked under the attack while Setsuna split her body up into several pieces.
"Fwwo-!" Manga was interrupted when he suddenly tripped on the invisible air construct on the floor when moving forward.
Pony ran to assist him, ending up slamming face first into another air construct. She stumbled back, disorientated, and got tripped by a disembodied foot. Manga tried to rise but found that he was pinned to the ground by Setsuna's floating hands.
"Airhead!"
"Right!"
Kosei exhaled a lungful of air, creating an air construct above Manga, effectively trapping the teen against the floor.
"Horn Ca-oof!" Pony attempted to fire her horns at the air construct, but Setsuna quickly interfered with a solid kick to her stomach.
With her hands now freed, the seaweed-haired girl easily out maneuvered her fellow female classmate and managed to knock her down and secure her with the capture tape.
"Match over! Team C Villains are victorious!"
"All right!"
"Nice one!" Kosei ran up and high-fived his partner, before the two of them quickly assisted their downed classmates.
"Woah Tokage-san has really good control of her Quirk! Not only is it useful for scouting and information gathering but it's also super versatile in combat, with that many parts to keep track off, the opponent is bound to make mistakes. That also means she has to be really smart and good at multitasking to fully utilize her Quirk like that!" Izuku was already talking to himself as his pen blazed across the notebook surface.
All Might chuckled slightly, realizing that he did not even have to ask the question and just let his student ramble off his own analysis.
"Of course Fukidashi-san and Tsunotori-san probably had a good plan, surprising your opponents through the window would give you the advantage. However they didn't account for Tokage-san spying on them using her Quirk, thus nullifying the advantage they had and instead turned it into an advantage for the Villain team. This allowed Tsuburaba-san to set up traps around the windows, further hampering the Heroes team and allowing the Villains an easier time in subduing them."
"Young Midoriya is right! There will be times in the field when your information is faulty or leaked to the Villains, you must always be prepared for the unexpected! You won't always be facing run-of-the-mill purse snatchers or petty thieves, sometimes they will be smart, cunning and you will have to be able to handle yourselves if such a thing were to occur!"
"All Might! If they're smarter than us, how do we know how to fight back?!" Tetsutetsu asked, knowing he was more of a punch first, ask questions later sort of guy.
"That's what you're here for young Tetsutetsu! I, and my fellow colleagues here, will do our best to prepare you for the duties of a Pro-Hero! This exercise is but the first of many to come, best be ready for U.A. isn't know for holding back HAHAHA!" Seeing the nods of understanding from his students, All Might smiled and jerked a thumb back at the screens. "Now since a lot of the matches seemed to have ended early, those that want to get in more combat practice raise your hand."
His grin only seemed to get wider upon seeing every single student raise their hand, the next generation of Heroes were already taking their first step into the world.
The rest of the day at school seemed dull in comparison to the Hero class they had in the morning, most of the lessons being stuff that would have been taught at a normal school. Izuku logically knew that the lessons were there to ensure an all-round education so that Pro-Heroes did not seem like uneducated brutes that only knew how to fight. They also had to consider the fact that their profession was highly hazardous and they would need alternative forms of employment if they were to suffer career-ending injuries.
'Doesn't make it any less boring though...' Izuku thought, his hands fumbling with the flash-drive in his pocket.
He had requested for All Might to send him the recording of all the fights from Hero Basic Training, wanting to study the footage to see how he could better himself as well as his classmates. The man had readily agreed upon hearing the reason, copying all the recordings onto the flash-drive before handing it to the teen.
"Yo Izuku, anyone at home?"
"Hmm? O-oh sorry Itsuka, was just thinking about something."
The duo were currently walking home after classes had ended for the day, having bid farewell to their classmates at the gate. The orange-haired girl teasingly rolled her eyes before nudging him in the ribs.
"You're always thinking about something. So what's it about this time?"
"Well... it just kinda hit me. Like we're really in U.A. after working hard all those years. All Might is one of our teachers. And our classmates are all amazing people with amazing Quirks." He let out a sigh and looked down at his hands. "I'm just wondering if I'm doing enough."
"Izuku... it's literally the first day of school. And those amazing people with amazing Quirks? You're one of them too!"
He looked away so she could not see him biting down on his lip gently, struggling not to tell her the secrets he had been keeping from her.
Izuku lay panting on the dirt, after having his butt kicked for the dozenth time by his teacher. He was still getting used to regulating One For All throughout his body instead of temporary bursts through his limbs.
"Young Midoriya, please come over here for a moment."
He looked over to see both of his teachers seated at the sheltered table near the house, besides the deflated form of All Might was a short elderly man dressed in a white and yellow outfit.
"Hai Toshinori-sensei, Torino-sensei!" Izuku called out as he flipped onto his feet and jogged over.
"I... We... think it's time to tell you the whole story behind One For All." Yagi gestured for him to sit before pouring him a glass of water.
"...the whole story?"
"Yea the whole story, so you better listen up brat!" Gran Torino snapped causing him to straighten up in his seat.
"I am... was the eight holder of One For All. My Master, the one who held One For All before me, was the seventh... and her name was Shimura Nana. She was the one who told me this tale, as the one before had told her, passed down through generations like One For All itself." The man seemed to get misty-eyed as he spoke, remembering his deceased teacher.
"It all started with two brothers. The older brother, a man capable of stealing Quirks and giving them away. The younger brother, a weak, frail man that seemed to be Quirkless. The older brother decided to give his younger brother a Quirk, one that stockpiled power within the body, so that it may cure the man of his condition. What neither of them knew was that the younger brother had a Quirk, one with no other power than that it could be transferred to another person. So the two Quirks merged into one... One For All was born." Here he paused, licking his lips as a haunted look crossed his face. "And the older brother is the man who has been hunting down One For All holders... All For One."
"All For One..." A chill passed through his body just from the name leaving his lips, Izuku could not imagine what such a man could look like. One that could strike such terror into the number one Pro-Hero All Might.
"My Master... she died protecting me from All For One. Fighting him one on one to stall for time so I could escape..." Yagi was shaking, hands clenched tightly into fists.
"And I was the one she entrusted Toshinori-kun to..." Gran Torino continued, the teen had never heard him speak in such a soft tone before. "We fled Japan. Out of his reach... that's how Toshinori-kun ended up having his Pro-Hero debut in America instead of in Japan."
Any other time, Izuku would be having a massive fanboy moment from learning all these unknown information about his favourite Hero. However the atmosphere was so heavy, it felt like it could rain at any moment even though the sun shone brightly above.
"I trained there for years, mastering this power that my Master had entrusted to me. And when I was ready... we returned to Japan. And I spent every waking moment... hunting down every single one of the crime syndicates connected to that man. Using all of my strength and resources, I finally dragged him out of the shadows... and we fought." Yagi hissed as he pressed a hand to his side, the side that held the mortal wound inflicted by said man.
"Five years ago... the fight that gave you that wound..." Izuku pressed a hand over his mouth, horrified at the though of someone being able to almost kill All Might at his peak.
"Yes. I managed to catch him off guard after he had wounded me. I put everything I had into that final Smash and I believed that I had killed him... everything in the area had been obliterated. However recently... I've had a bad feeling. Like the embers of One For All are trying to tell me something."
"What Toshinori is trying to say is... we think that All For One might still be alive. Just that we have no evidence to support our claims." Gran Torino sighed as he massaged his temple.
"Still... alive? Then..." Izuku gulped, he could feel his hands shaking slightly.
"Sorry Midoriya Izuku... it looks like the burden might have fallen onto your shoulders." Yagi reached out and grasped his shoulder tightly. "I had not wanted to tell you so early but... they convinced me it was better to break the news to you earlier... so you could prepare."
It was world shattering knowledge, especially to a teen that was barely sixteen.
They had sworn him to secrecy, not to tell another soul of the information they had given him. And everyday, his steps felt heavier with that knowledge. Which is why he realized he could not place such a burden on her, as much as he wanted to tell her.
"I mean like my Quirk kicked in late so I feel like I should be working harder to master it and all haha..." Izuku cringed and mentally cursed the fact that he was always terrible at lying.
"You need to stop being so hard on yourself! You seem to have a pretty good handle on it despite only having it for a year!" Itsuka pat him on the back in an attempt to cheer him up.
"Yeah... I guess you're right."
"Aren't I always hehe~ anyway it's not like we will be facing some disaster anytime soon!"
Izuku felt a shiver course through his body at those words.
"Interesting... it seems like he is now a teacher at U.A. High." The voice belonged to a strange being, one that seemed to be composed of dark purple mist, the being wore an elegant suit and had a metal brace that went from around his collarbone to below his glowing yellow eyes.
"Playing babysitter to some... brats? What is this final boss doing..." A younger voice growled, his hand absentmindedly scratching at his neck.
He had messy grayish-blue hair that hung around his head, his outfit consisted of a black long-sleeved shirt and matching pants. The oddest and most morbid part of his ensemble were the embalmed hands that held different parts of his body, including around his neck and over his face.
The purple-mist man placed the newspaper down onto the bar counter top, silently observing the young male seated in front of him.
"Hmm well no matter, I can always play on a different stage. I wonder... what would happen to society... if Villains managed to kill the Symbol of Peace?"
In the shadows of the room, stood a giant monstrosity.
Next Day
"What... is that?" Itsuka whispered as they approached the U.A. entrance gate, outside which stood a huge crowd of people clamoring among themselves.
"Looks like reporters." Izuku replied, seeing the multiple cameras and microphones held by the people in the crowd.
"Think they're here because of the news about All Might taking a break to teach at our school?"
"Definitely." Izuku noticed that several of the reporters were starting to approach them.
"Hey! Can you tell us what it's like learning from All Might?!"
"Ah sorry we're from the business course so we don't know anything!" Itsuka spoke loudly, causing them to lose interest immediately.
"Quick thinking." Izuku whispered as they fast-walked through the gate.
"Thanks." She whispered back, both of them ignoring the other students that got stopped at the gate.
Class 1B
"Everyone! I just want to say you did an excellent job yesterday during Battle Training, All Might had nothing but praises for you all." Vlad King patted the stack of reports on his desk, prompting a cheer from his class.
"Does that mean we get to skip Maths?!" Kosei shouted out in excitement.
"Ahahaha NO! Just for that, I'm telling Ectoplasm to double your homework Tsuburaba!" Causing said student to slump down in his seat, Vlad King coughed before looking over the rest of the class. "Of course this doesn't mean you can slack off, there are still much for you to learn and improve on!"
"Yes sensei!"
"Very good. Now onto other matters... now this might seem rather mundane but I need for all of you to select a class president and vice-president. This is mainly to facilitate easier communication between teachers and students as well as someone to keep the class in order in different situations."
It was a near instantaneous reaction, almost the entire class surged to their feet and started shouting over one another.
"Me! Pick me!"
"Hell no! Pick me sensei!"
"It would be my pleasure to serve as the shepherd to these lost sheep!"
"HAHAHA! It is obviously I, Monoma Neito, who would be best suited for this role!"
A sudden loud clap echoed throughout the room, Itsuka having enlarged her hands to produce the sound.
"Alright everyone settle down. How about we just settle this through votes?" She suggested, getting some nods in agreement.
"Kendo-san, would not everybody just vote for themselves in this scenario?" Jurota spoke up, adjusting his glasses.
"Well that might be true... but hey that means anybody that gets more than one vote would be the best person for the role right?" That line of thought seemed to convince the rest of the students, along with their teacher who just shrugged.
A few minutes later and the votes were all tallied up.
"Huh?! I got six votes?! I didn't even want the position!" Izuku was flustered that so many people had voted for him, especially since he had not even voted for himself.
"Guess you're my boss then!" Itsuka laughed, having come in second with four votes.
"Midoriya are you okay with taking the position? You can say no if you really don't feel up for it." Vlad King said with a firm tone, wanting him to know that he was not being forced into it.
'More responsibility... but they believe in me... just like All Might.'
"Y-yeah, I will do my best."
"And I'll be there to help!" Itsuka's voice helped him to calm down, reminding him that he had someone to share the burden with in this case.
"Very well then. Midoriya and Kendo will be your representatives for the year, please approach them if you require any help. You all have my number, but the other teachers will only leave their numbers with these two."
The rest of the morning passed in a blur, English class with Present Mic followed by Modern Literature by Cementoss. Pony excelled in the first class as it was her first language but ended up struggling for Modern Literature since it was in Japanese. Izuku ended up having to switch seats with Itsuka for the class to assist her in translating, which was tough even for him.
"Ah yes finally lunch!" Setsuna cried out in relief as she placed her tray down on the table, causing Itsuka to raise an eyebrow.
"Really Seaweed? You didn't seem to be struggling at all from what I noticed."
Setsuna laughed as she wagged a finger, "Now just because I have no problem with the material, doesn't mean I enjoy sitting through all those classes."
"As much as it pains me to say this, I too find such lessons rather drab in comparison to our Heroics classes." Ibara mentioned before clasping her hands in prayer for the meal.
"It's not mush fun..." Kinoko admitted, gaining a small grin as the others laughed at her mushroom pun.
"Yes! Modern Literature is very hard!" Pony huffed as she dug into her food.
"Hey at least you have our resident cutie here to help you~" Setsuna teased, causing both parties to blush.
"I was just helping out since I saw her struggling..." Izuku muttered as he shoved a spoonful of Katsudon into his mouth, his favourite dish making him feel better already.
"See, you're already being a great class president!" Itsuka pointed out, getting hums of agreement from the rest.
"Thanks everyone..."
"Well that's enough about school stuff! Let's talk about something more fun!" Setsuna said suddenly, everyone turning to look at her.
"Knowing your antics in the two days we've known you, I shudder to think what your definition of a fun conversation topic might be." The roast from Ibara was unexpected, getting a laugh out of everyone including the target herself.
"Don't worry Grass, I'm sure you'd find this interesting too~" She placed an arm around Itsuka's shoulder before turning her grin towards the green-haired male opposite. "So I've realized, the past two days you two always walk home together... do you live in the same neighbourhood or something?"
The question caused both teens to freeze, realizing that none of their classmates are privy to the information that they lived together. At the same time, they realized that there would be no way to live down the aftermath if their classmates found out.
"A-ah you see-"
VREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
A shrill alarm blasted throughout the campus, the school intercom system crackled to life.
"Attention staff and students, Security Level 3 has been broken. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion. Pro-Hero staff members, please report to the main entrance."
"What's Security Level 3?!" Pony shouted over the chaos of everyone rushing to the exit, their own group moving together to avoid getting trampled.
"Level 3... it means that someone has managed to infiltrate U.A. main building! Something that hasn't happened in years!" Izuku called out while moving forward, using his arms to protect his classmates from getting shoved around.
Despite his best efforts, the flow of the crowd was too strong and they found themselves pressed against the cafeteria wall. Izuku made sure that Kinoko was against the wall, so the smaller girl would not run the risk of getting crushed. Though this resulted in Izuku facing outwards and the rest of the girls being pressed up against him, with Setsuna directly in front of him.
"Fancy meeting you here~" She teased, though her own face was pretty red from having her body contoured right against his well-defined body. 'Muscles...'
"Tokage-san this is hardly the time!" Ibara cried out, her own face flushed as Izuku had wrapped his arm around her in protection.
"Setsuna! Can you use your Quirk to scout, see what's happening at the main gate via the windows!" Izuku's voice was crisp and clear despite the chaos, the girl nodded and disconnected the upper half of her head to float it over to the windows. "Itsuka! Can you use your Quirk to clear some space around us?"
The girl set to work almost immediately, slowly enlarging her hands so they formed a barricade between the panicking masses and their group. This allowed them some breathing room so that he could release the girls from his grip, he took a look at the chaos unfolding around him with a grimace.
'Are these really future Pro-Heroes?'
"Izuku! It's just the media! An entire crowd of reporters broke into the school, I can see some teachers holding them back at the gate!" Setsuna reported, her mouth still attached to the rest of the body with them.
'Reporters? It doesn't make sense, how could reporters... nevermind.'
"Shiozaki, could you use your vines to create a platform to lift me up over the crowd?" The vine-haired teen did as he asked without question, raising him up on a vine platform.
Channeling a minute amount of One For All into his lungs and throat.
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN! IT'S JUST THE MEDIA! A BUNCH OF REPORTERS! STOP PANICKING LIKE A BUNCH OF CHILDREN! ARE YOU NOT U.A. STUDENTS?! IS THIS ANY WAY FOR A FUTURE HERO TO BEHAVE?!"
The chaotic atmosphere in the crowd settled down in a few seconds, his words having knocked some sense into the students. Most of them looking ashamed at having lost their composure over such a silly ordeal as the media breaking in.
"Woah good job Broccoli!"
"Indeed, you would make an excellent preacher if you were to pursue a more religious path!"
"H-haha thanks... I sorta just acted before I realized what I was doing."
Class 1B
"So we managed to hold them off until the police came to escort them off our premises..." Vlad King explained the earlier situation to his class, though he had a rather serious look on his face the entire time. 'Though the damage to the gate is no joke. Something like that is definitely the work of a Villain but who...'
"Don't worry sensei! Our class prez managed to keep us safe!" Pony shouted from her seat.
"Ah yes I heard about that, good job and quick thinking Midoriya. Keep it up!" Vlad King praised, the teen in question bowing his head shyly in acceptance.
"Yeah! Midoriya was super manly!" Tetsutetsu cheered, getting mutters of agreement.
"Yes Midoriya performed remarkably! He will definitely be a boon to our class HAHAHA!" Neito cackled to himself once again, everyone rolling their eyes at his antics.
"Right since we're on the matter. Midoriya, Kendo, I hope you have settled the other student positions like I texted you earlier." The rest of the class perked up upon hearing that.
"Hai sensei! I discussed with Itsuka and we agreed on the students to fill the other positions, of course subject to their acceptance." Izuku spoke clearly, eyes darting down to look at his notebook page quickly. "For secretary, we decided on Tokage-san since she has proven to be well versed at multitasking."
"Mou~ I told you to call me Setsuna or by a nickname... but I accept!"
"For treasurer, we chose Shishida-san as he seemed to have a good grasp on mathematics from what I observed."
"I am honoured by your faith in my ability representatives-san. I humbly accept the position and will strive to do my best to meet your expectations."
"R-right, thank you Shishida-san." Izuku coughed, slightly thrown off by his fellow classmates polite way of speaking. "And finally for Fire Safety IC, we decided that Tetsutetsu-san would make the most sense as his Quirk would be effective in evacuating a burning room."
"Alright! I accept! I'll show you how manly my Quirk is!"
"Alright now before I release you for your afternoon classes, just a heads-up that all of you are to report to school tomorrow morning in your Hero outfit." Vlad King raised his hand to preemptively stop any questions. "You will be doing rescue training tomorrow, we will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning to the training site."
'Rescue training! Another integral part of becoming a Pro-Hero, I'll have to do my best as always.' Izuku smiled, clenching his fist.
The following morning, the students of Class 1B were gathered in front of a school bus and all of them were decked out in their Hero outfits. Izuku and Itsuka did a quick headcount before reporting to Vlad King that everyone was accounted for. Once everyone was on the bus, it pulled out of the school via a smaller back gate.
"Yo Midoriya."
Izuku looked up from his notebook to look for the source of the voice, it turned out to be Juzo who was seated opposite from him.
"Honenuki-san-"
"Ah feel free to call me Juzo, I'm not very big on formalities~ Can I address you as Izuku?"
"I don't mind either. So Juzo-san, your question?"
"Hmm it is just an observation but... your Quirk is pretty similar to All Might's yes?" The teen with the skull-like appearance hummed, catching the attention of a number of their classmates.
"Now that you say it... it does seem pretty similar." Sen scrutinized his classmate, hand on his chin.
"I agree... there is Mush resemblance between the two." Kinoko whispered from her seat, though she was close enough to hear.
They could not see it but Izuku was pretty much having a nervous mental breakdown in his seat.
'Oh my god, it's only the third day of school and everyone already suspects me of having All Might's Quirk?! Am I that bad at keeping a secret?!'
Fortunately, Hiryu came to his rescue albeit unknowingly.
"However their styles are extremely different right? Midoriya-san seemed to be more focused on speed than power, favouring technique over brute force."
"Hmph I agree! While Midoriya might pack quite a punch, our match taught me that he is much more of a technique fighter compared to All Might." Togaru pointed out, being one of the few people with first hand combat experience against him.
"Well I'd hope he is, otherwise all those years training in martial arts would have gone to waste." Itsuka snorted from her seat on his left.
"Anyway! Midoriya your Quirk is super cool and flashy! Like I love my Quirk, but being able to weld stuff together is pretty boring." Yosetsu spoke up from the back of the bus.
"That's not true! I think your Quirk is amazing Awase-san! Like you could easily capture Villains by welding them to the floor, strengthen yourself by welding armor plates on or reinforce an unstable building by welding the supports!" Izuku rattled off a number of different ways to use the Quirk, surprising his classmates once again.
"A-ah you really think so?" The usually brash teen felt embarrassed at having his Quirk complimented so highly by a fellow student.
"Yeah! I think everyone has an amazing Quirk! I don't think it's about how flashy your Quirk is or how powerful it is, instead it should be how well you utilize your Quirk and what situations you can excel in." The class unknowingly got absorbed into his ramblings about different Quirks and their applications.
'Heh if he keeps this up, he is gonna end up replacing me as their teacher.' Vlad King chuckled, mentally patting himself on the back at having taken this gem of a student from Aizawa.
"WOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Class 1B were shocked the moment they entered the training site, inside the dome lay an enormous plot of land that had been divided into different sectors. Each of them with a different theme, some completely flooded and another with raging flames.
"Welcome students, I see you have found yourselves enamoured by the training facility that I have built myself. The flood zone, landslide zone, conflagration zone and other zones are all built to simulate real life disaster zones. Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint (USJ)!" A muffled female voice greeted them, a reflective black dome helmet with white eye-spots painted on appeared over the top of the steps.
"It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! She's one of the top ranked Pro-Heroes in disaster relief efforts in Japan!" Izuku blurted out, unable to repress his inner fanboy. 'I wonder if she purposely tried to name it USJ...'
"My my, it's nice to see a fan. Yes I used to work mainly in rescue operations, but I could not resist the offer to teach at U.A. once Principal Nedzu had reached out to me. Now usually All Might would be here to oversee the training alongside myself, but he will already be helping me with 1A this afternoon."
"Huh?! Those Class 1A scrubs think they're better than us? Hogging All Might to themselves? Who do they think they are?! Well they probably need all the help they can get against a class like ours! HAHAHAHA!" They did not even need to look to know who it was that had said that, Vlad King pressing a hand against his face in annoyance.
"O-kay... well before we begin, I do have a few points that I want to go over. The first being my Quirk, for those that are unaware, it is called Black Hole. It grants me the ability to turn my fingertips into miniature black holes, including the suction force of one." Thirteen pointed one of her fingers up to the sky, revealing that the cover over her finger could be remotely opened and closed.
"It also has enough force to tear apart rubble, that's how you managed to save people from all sorts of different disaster zones!" Izuku added on, getting a nod in response.
"Indeed, yet such power could easily kill as well. The power to rip a human body apart with mere suction force... I'm sure plenty of you have Quirks that could easily be used to maim or kill. In our super-powered society, the usage of Quirks have been heavily restricted and monitored. It might seem like a stable system but it only takes one mistake with an uncontrolled Quirk to result in people dying!" Thirteen observed several of the students gulping, glad that her warning was being taken seriously.
"So are we learning how to use our Quirks safely here Thirteen-sensei?" Ibara asked with a hand raised.
"Something like that Shiozaki-san. During your Quirk Apprehension Test with Vlad-kun here, you came to learn of the potential of your Quirks. With All Might's Battle Training yesterday, you experienced how to use your Quirks in combat and how dangerous they could be to fellow humans. This class will show you another perspective! How to utilize your Quirks to save lives, which is the number one priority of a Pro-Hero!"
"Listen up class! Thirteen is right, never forget what it means to be a Hero. Fighting against Villains is only one aspect of our job-scope, winning doesn't mean anything if you fail to save someone." Vlad King added on his own teachings.
"Exactly, your powers weren't granted to you so you could harm others. I hope that you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to HELP people. For now that is all, I thank you for listening." Thirteen ended her speech with a bow, earning a loud round of applause from the students.
"Alright class, I have already decided to split you up into groups of four based on your sitting arrangement. Team A will be Awase, Kodai, Midoriya and Yanagi! Team B will be Kaibara, Komori, Kendo and Tokage! Team C will be Kamakiri, Shiozaki, Tsunotori and Shishida! Team D will be Kuroiro, Honenuki, Tetsutetsu and Fukidashi! And finally Team E will be Monoma, Tsuburaba, Rin and Bondo." Vlad King called out the groups, the students automatically moving into position.
"I'll take over from here, let's move to the first disaster simulation zone. As you saw before, there are multiple different simulations here and you all will eventually be intimately familiar with all of them. However for today, we will start with one of the more common types of rescue scenario." Thirteen explained as the group walked over to a large mass of water with a single yacht in the middle. "Water rescue! Be it a simple drowning case or an entire shipwreck!"
"So we gonna be rescuing someone that's drowning or...?" Manga asked.
"That's a pretty close guess, we will be using a dummy as a substitute for a live victim. Of course you all will have to treat the dummy as if it were a living human, points will be docked if the dummy is placed in danger or harmed by your actions. For this exercise, you will be working in the assigned team. Your goal will be to secure the dummy, scour the yacht and it's immediate area for any other survivors, you will have five minutes to plan and five minutes to execute your plan." Thirteen gave them a thumbs-up before taking a step back, indicating that their five minutes to plan had started.
"Alright we got this, Midoriya what's the plan?" Yosetsu, and the others, turned to face the green-haired teen.
"Eh?!"
"As our fellow classmate has spoken, you are the obvious choice to plan and coordinate us in this scenario as you have proven that you are both analytical and intelligent in forming strategies." Reiko explained their reasoning.
"Mmm... Midoriya-kun is smart." Yui added on.
"Ahaha I appreciate the votes of confidence... okay Yanagi-san, what were the limitations of your Quirk again?"
"I can control multiple objects telekinetically, but they can only weigh up to roughly my weight."
"Hmm if you were to control a piece of wood, could you then place a heavier weight limit on top of the controlled object?"
"Unfortunately it seems to accumulate towards the total weight I can handle, I have tried such an experiment in the past and my control faltered after exceeding the weight limit." Her answer caused him to close his eyes in thought, the others keeping silent.
A few moments later, he opened his eyes.
"Alright, here's the plan."
"Students! Your five minutes are up! I would like Team A to step up, you will be the first to attempt this exercise." Thirteen called out once the planning time expired.
Izuku walked out to the water's edge with his team, all of them looking confident. Thirteen held up a digital timer, took a final look at the team before pressing down on the device.
"Begin!"
"Kodai! Yanagi!" Izuku shouted, the two moving even before he finished.
Yui pulled out a flat piece of metal from one of her pouches, using her Quirk to enlarge it until it was large enough for a person to stand on. Which was what Reiko did, followed by using her Quirk to lift herself up by controlling the piece of metal.
"Scout ahead! Look for any survivors! Hover over the highest risk once you are done!" Izuku called out as he scooped his two remaining teammates up under his arms, carrying them easily.
"Dude you're pretty damn strong." Yosetsu commented, getting a hum of acknowledgment from Yui.
"Midoriya. Nice muscles."
Deciding it was better to tune their banter out, Izuku fired up his Full Cowl up to 15 percent and the familiar green sparks danced to life across his body. Judging the distance between the yacht and the shore, he brought up the percentage within his legs to 30 percent before crouching down.
"Hang on tight and don't scream."
Izuku jumped. One moment he was crouching on the shoreline, the next he was soaring across the open water with his two teammates under his arms.
"That crazy bastard HAHAHA!" Togaru laughed even as the rest of the class stared with their jaws dropped.
Once he started approaching the yacht, Izuku angled himself feet first and flicked out with his free fingers. The finger flicks generated a shockwave that slowed their descent, allowing him to land rather gently on the roof of the yacht.
"Yanagi report!"
"There are three survivors, all of them bare no severe injuries. Two are off to that side, relatively close to the ship. The final one is further out that way." Reiko summarized the situation as best she could, gesturing with her hands in the general direction.
"Awase, Kodai and Yanagi secure the two closer survivors. I will handle the one that is further away." Izuku turned and leapt off the side of the boat, his team doing the same on the other side.
With the power of One For All coursing through him, Izuku shot through the water like a torpedo towards his target. He could easily make out the beige-coloured dummy bobbing among the waves, it only took him a few seconds to arrive and secure it. From there he tucked the dummy under one arm and swam back using his other, arriving back at the ship at the same time as the rest of his team.
"Team A clear!"
The group cheered and exchanged high-fives upon hearing Thirteen's voice echo ring clear through the air.
"So did our security cameras managed to catch the perpetrator of our little break in attempt by the media yesterday?"
Inside a dark room, lit only by several large monitors, stood two figures. Nedzu, the one who had spoken before, took a sip from his cup. Ectoplasm, who was the other figure, tapped on the control panel a few times and pulled up a still image on the main monitor.
"This is our guy. He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood obscuring most of his features, the most we could tell was the fact he had messy grayish-blue hair and dry, damaged skin around his lips."
"Concerning. Even with my intellect and photographic memory, I don't seem to recall any Villains that had such a Quirk."
"I've ran his appearance and Quirk through U.A.'s database on all past and current Villain records. The closest we got was a Villain from ten years ago who could turn non-organic objects he touched into sand." Ectoplasm tapped a few keys and brought up the image of a man with slicked-back hair and a long stitched scar across the bridge of his nose. "He's been locked up in Tartarus for the past ten years though."
"Looks like we might require some external help for this case. I will get All Might to send the details to his detective friend, he might be able to get some information on our mysterious vandal."
The first hour of their class was spent on the rescue exercise, with each team taking their turn before returning back to the group to get a debrief from Thirteen as well as their final score. Izuku and his team was the only group to get a perfect score, having completed the exercise in record time and saving all the dummies without repercussions.
Team B had performed excellently as well, with Setsuna being the core member of the team. Her Quirk allowing her to split up both her eyes to scout for the survivors, her hands carried Itsuka and Kinoko over to the Yacht in the meantime. Sen showed his creativity by using his Quirk to turn his feet into propellers, jetting him across the water like a speedboat. They only got points docked for coddling Kinoko and not allowing her to help.
Team C had points docked for the same reason, though it was Kamakiri himself who had chosen to sit out due to the reasoning of his Quirk not being useful in such a situation. Pony had been the aerial support for the team, flying herself over the area by skating on two of her horns. Jurota had taken on his beast form to swim over with Ibara holding onto his back. Upon reaching the yacht, Ibara had used her vines to secure two of the dummies while Jurota handled the last one.
Team D had it rough with all of their members having Quirks that did not directly help with the scenario, they tried their best though. Shihai had melded into the black under-suit of Juzo's Hero Costume, after which the teen sunk into the ground and opted to travel via the artificial lake's floor. Tetsutetsu and Manga had to tough it out by swimming towards the yacht. Juzo and Shihai reached the yacht first and set about locating the dummies, the other two soon joined up and they managed to secure all three objectives. Thirteen did not mark them down too much since she also noticed how incompatible their Quirks were in this scenario.
Team E had Neito copying the Quirk of Kosei, the two then taking turns to create an invisible air bridge across the water to the yacht. Working together, they quickly located the three dummies and brought them back aboard the ship. Their team had performed with little issues, only having points docked due to just barely exceeding the time limit.
Izuku had appreciated that Thirteen had made sure to emphasize that her own Quirk was pretty useless in such a scenario as well, helping to reassure the students that had struggled with this exercise.
After a short break, the class proceeded on to the second part of the lesson. It was a hands-on tutorial on how to perform CPR, an essential skill for any aspiring Pro-Hero out in the field. Thirteen had brought out several dummies, different than the rescue ones, with the technology to detect proper execution of CPR technique.
Midway through the lesson, Izuku was pulled aside by Vlad King.
"Midoriya, All Might just messaged me to inform you to stay back here after class. Something important he wanted to talk to you about. Ah don't worry about your next class, he said he had already cleared it with the Principal."
"Okay thanks sensei... did he mention what it was about?" Izuku asked, only getting a shrug from his homeroom teacher.
The rest of the lesson had passed without much issue, though Setsuna had opted to tease him several times about some private CPR practice. Fortunately Itsuka had stepped in to save her friend before he could get any more red from the mental images.
Bidding farewell to his classmates for the moment, Izuku found himself seated opposite Thirteen within the main control room of the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. He had lamented that he had left his notebooks back in school, having no way to write down any details about the Pro-Hero in front of him.
"Oh my gosh, I have so many questions to ask you. You're one of my favourite rescue-focused Pro-Heroes!" He was practically vibrating in his seat, earning a laugh from said Pro-Hero.
"I would be glad to answer any questions you have Midoriya-kun. Oh! Just let me..."
Izuku stared in wide-eyed fascination as Thirteen unsealed her dome-shaped helmet, a hiss of air escaping as she gave it a twist and lifted it up. Shaking her head to clear the strands of hair from her face, Izuku suddenly realized that his cheeks felt really warm.
"Wow..." He was at a loss of anything else to say, she had neck-length auburn hair with two bangs that framed the side of her face. The most defining feature was without a doubt her eyes, the iris was molten-gold and the pupil resembled a planet with a horizontal planetary ring around it.
"I know, my eyes tend to have that effect on people. Ahaha..." Thirteen nervously laughed, rubbing the back of her head after placing her helmet down on the table.
"I can see why, your eyes are so beautiful...ah! I'm sorry! I sometimes tend to say things before I think it through!" Izuku fumbled over his words, getting a more natural laugh out of the Pro-Hero.
"Don't worry Midoriya-kun, I appreciate the compliment~" Thirteen said, a hint of pink fading from her cheeks. "I do suppose it could be considered an honour... you are one of the few to see my eyes ever since I debuted."
"I-wait really?!"
"Yeap! When I hang out with the other teacher's outside of school, I use coloured contacts to hide their appearance. And well, I didn't have much of a social life while working as a rescue Hero." She smiled sheepishly at that.
Izuku displayed one of his rare acts of social wisdom by not asking her for the reason.
"Thirteen-san-"
"Ah feel free to address me by my name while I'm not behind the helmet. Anakuro Hirooki at your service, you may call me Anakuro-sensei if you wish!"
"Anakuro-sensei! I wanted to ask about your Quirk, Black Hole. Can you control the strength of the suction force of it? Do you have a maximum amount of mass you can absorb? Does your Quirk only work from your fingertips? Can you use it from other parts of your body? Does your Hero Costume help you use your Quirk more effectively?"
Hirooki felt metaphorical sweat forming on her forehead at the barrage of questions being thrown at her, she had heard every single one but could not formulate a reply before the next one came. She was about to interrupt him but he came to a halt by himself, a blush on his face.
"Sorry I'm still trying to control that..."
"N-no worries Midoriya-kun, well to answer your questions... yes I can control the strength of the suction force. Everything that gets absorbed is reduced to dust so I don't have a maximum limit. So far I've only managed to make it work from my fingertips. And yes, my Hero Costume helps to direct the flow of the suction so it doesn't vacuum indiscriminately from the area around me."
"Woah that's super cool!"
An hour passed as Hirooki regaled him with tales of her past exploits in the line of Hero work, Izuku eagerly absorbing every single detail as well as returning questions of his own. Though their time was cut short as she took a look at the clock on the wall before picking up her helmet.
"Well Midoriya-kun, I thoroughly enjoyed our talk together but I have to do my routine inspection of the grounds before the next class arrives. Feel free to rest here until All Might arrives."
Izuku waved her off before looking around, seeing that there was not much to do besides staring at the camera monitors. He decided to take a short nap, thinking that All Might would just wake him up when he arrived. Closing his eyes on the couch, he found that sleep came to him easily.
It was dark. He could not see anything in this darkness. It was silent too. He could not hear anything within this darkness. He tried to move. He realized he could not feel his body or the floor beneath him. It was like he was just floating in this dark space.
'…Izuku.'
He thought he heard a voice calling his name. It was soft, barely a whisper. Straining his ears, he tried to focus on it.
'Izuku...'
He heard it clearly this time. A voice, a woman's voice calling his name. It was not his mother's voice, it was not the voice of someone he knew. Yet it sounded familiar.
'Izuku.'
Then there was a small flash and a glowing pink light appeared, floating just a meter away from him. He tried to call out to it, yet nothing emerged from his throat.
'Looks like you can hear me but can't speak yet...'
He did not understand what the voice was talking about. Despite his best efforts, he only managed to twitch his finger and made a gasping sound.
'Incredible... you are already adapting to this area... maybe...'
The voice faded away after that. The glowing pink light too. He was plunged back into darkness, unable to cry out or move.
And then he woke up.
"AH!"
Izuku gasped for air, his hands flying all over his body and touching his face as if to ensure everything was in place and working. The clock on the wall showed that two hours had passed already, even though his nap felt like five minutes thanks to the strange dream. Rubbing the leftover sleep from his eyes, he stumbled over to the monitors.
'Oh, I see Bakugo. So this must be Class 1A.' He mused, moving on from the spiky blond hair of his longtime rival. 'They sure looks strong... oh it's her.'
He recognised Uraraka Ochako standing among the students, where he also spotted the blue-haired younger brother of Ingenium. He was glad that both of the people he had met at the entrance exams had managed to get into the Hero Course as well. He saw that Thirteen was already giving them the introductory speech.
'Hmm I forgot to ask her if the name USJ was a pun...'
And that was when things started going wrong.
Through the monitors, Izuku stiffened when he saw a purplish-black mist appear near the fountain plaza of the facility. The mist swirled and expanded into a portal, through which an entire army of Villains emerged. He felt a chill travel up his spine when he saw the hulking, muscled figure with a bird-like head and exposed brain step through the portal.
Things only seemed to get from bad to worse, the situation was deteriorating quickly.
The male teacher, Izuku easily identified him as Eraserhead, managed to fight off a couple of the Villains for the moment. There were still plenty more, not even considering the humanoid monster or the guy with hands covering his body. The Mist-Villain even had a warping Quirk, having teleported to intercept the class at the exit.
He did not need to see any more, there were people in danger. Before he knew it, he was sprinting out of the control room and, for the first time, pulled the cowl of his outfit down over his face.
Thirteen was not one to curse usually, but she felt like it would be fine to break character in a situation such as this. Part of her students are now missing, having been warped away by the Villain's Quirk. The remainder were relying on her to protect them, yet she was a Hero who focused on rescue efforts and had barely any combat experience.
"Iida! You have to get out of here and warn the school! Only your Quirk can do this, use it to save us!" Thirteen shouted again, seeing the hesitance on the young man's face. "Go! I'll give you an opening but you must take it!"
Dashing in front of her students, Thirteen opened the caps on her fingertips and activated her Quirk to drag the Villain in. If she could pin him down for a few seconds, the Engine-Quirk user could easily escape and get their reinforcements.
However she miscalculated.
"Thirteen the disaster relief Hero... looks like you can't measure up to even the most ordinary of Heroes when it comes to a real fight. Now have a taste of your own power." The Villain expanded his neck until it formed a vortex in front of him, at the same time, a similar vortex formed behind Thirteen.
"SENSEI!"
She heard the students cry out, but her Quirk was too effective and needed time to wind down. She could already feel the back of her suit ripping apart under the suction force, pain arced across her back as bits of her skin started flaking off.
"SMAAASSSHHHHHH!"
A green blur rocketed right into the Villain's back with a flying kick, disabling his Quirk and smashing the target into the ground. It was one of his lower-powered kicks but it still formed a crater under the Villain and rendering him immobile for the moment.
"Thirteen are you okay?"
"Y-yeah... it barely clipped me since you managed to stop his Quirk in time. The other students! The Villain used his Quirk to warp them around the facility, he said that there are other Villains spread throughout the area!"
"Got it."
However before anyone could make a move, there was a shout of pain from the central plaza area.
"That was Eraserhead!"
Izuku was already gone. Leaping through the air, he spotted the man in question and grimaced. He was currently being pinned to the ground by the humanoid monster, his right arm was clearly broken and blood was pooled around his head. There was no time to hesitate.
'One For All: 40%...'
Sparks of green lightning intensified around his legs, he landed in the plaza and immediately launched himself at the creature. Once he closed in, he kicked off with his right foot and went into a controlled spin before lashing out with his leg.
"CYCLONE SMASHHHH!"
His kick connected with the bird-like face, the impact launching the monster away in a blast of wind and sent it tumbling through the fountain and into the forest zone.
Izuku stood over the crumpled form of the teacher, his eyes in the cowl glowing like twin emeralds while arcs of bright green lightning cloaked his figure. His posture firm, as if daring any of the Villains to make a move on the downed Hero.
"Surrender Villains. For I am here."
YES! I had this scene in mind since the start, it's such a badass way to end the chapter.
Did I just give Thirteen more character development? Hell yes, she is so criminally underused. I'm even considering using her in the pairing, probably replacing Reiko since I don't really want to expand the Harem too much.
Also damn Manga readers will know... Lady Nagant. I need to find a way to include her. She is 100/10!
Harem Candidates:
Itsuka Kendo
Setsuna Tokage
Nejire Hado
Reiko Yanagi / Hirooki Anakuro (Thirteen)
Rumi Usagiyama (Mirko)
Ryuko Tatsuma (Ryuku)
Now I noticed some people wanting to keep the harem to this size and I understand your reasoning, I would like to keep it small too. However I actually have a plan and a reason that I wanted it to be 8 members, won't spoil it.
Thanks for reading, do let me know your thoughts.