'
Noriega carefully went through his filing cabinet for what felt like the hundredth time, his old hands shaking ever so slightly; not out of nervousness, but out of a deep seated feeling of wrongness.
"I don't want to be right,' He muttered as he slowly flittered his hands through the files, "but if I am, then this might be bigger than we originally thought…" his finger touched the last file, arguably one of the largest ones there, and as soon as the skin grazed the file, Noriega pulled away and closed the drawer, eyes slightly out of focus.
"Be a good time for lunch isn't it?" he asked his helper, who immediately slapped him, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"
"Mr. Noriega, you told me to slap you if you suddenly turned away from your filing cabinet and talk about lunch." The young man said, shaking in his boots as the older man growled.
"I did...damn it, that means…" he turned and held a hand up, thick chains wrapping around the simple filing cabinet, 'No ones allowed to go through this filing cabinet unless authorized by myself."
"W-why? What's wrong with it?" the young man asked, taking a couple of cautious steps away from the filing cabinet.
"One of the files in there is a cognito hazard, i'm not sure which one, but once I get Hermit in here he'll be able to disable it so we can find out just what's been hidden from us." he sniffed disdainfully, "we may have to check the other files as well, if there's one, there's bound to be more."
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Izumi stood in front of Nezu, doing her best to not reach out and try to pet the chimera as he droned on about proper hair care.
"-and you must make sure it has the proper amount of keratin-"
"Can we get this meeting underway?" Hermit drawled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "I have a class in a few hours."
"Of course, Ms. Midoriya, it's been made apparent that you are being targeted, who is targeting you and why is currently under debate; currently that's not our main focus, our main focus is making sure you're kept safe so you can be a part of class. To accomplish this, we have taken the liberty of hiring Hermit as the foundational hero studies teacher, alongside Voltha the Valiant and Clara the Elf; they will be on the lookout for anything of a magical persuasion while the rest of the teachers will focus on the mundane. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir," she said.
"Also, as the first year representative, you will be required to give the sportsmans oath at the sports festival, so be prepared for that."
Izumi blinked, "uh...what's the sportsmans oath?" she asked.
"i'm not entirely sure." Nezu said jovially, "usually the representative just says whatever comes to mind, it changes every year."
"Great…" She sighed in exasperation.
"Well, I think that's everything for now, so why don't you run along to your homeroom."
Yes sir." she muttered, walking out.
"Have we found any more information on who is targeting her?" Nezu asked, looking to Hermit.
"Not yet, but Noriega sent me an urgent message, said he found something. I'll be checking out this afternoon, I'll keep you posted."
"Please do."
Izumi paused at the doors, taking a deep breath before she opened the door and immediately wanting to close it again.
"GET YOUR FEET OFF THE DESK!"
"FUCK OFF!"
"Both of you can it." Izumi snapped, making Iida and Bakugo look at her, "first day and you're already picking fights Bakugo?" she asked, smirking when the boy narrowed his eyes at her.
"Four-eyes started it." he growled.
"Well I'm ending it, shake hands like adults or I'll restrain you both upside down to the ceiling with your hands stuck together until you do."
Bakugo grumbled but turned to Iida, holding his hand out, "lets just bury the fucking hatchet."
"While your words are vulgar and inappropriate, I agree." Iida said, shaking Bakugo's hand before turning to Izumi, "it is good seeing you up and about, I was worried you were injured after your fight with the Zero-Pointer."
"Please, I just needed a nap." she said dismissively.
"Hey! You made it!"
Izumi's grin widened as she turned around, "well, if it isn't the cute girl from the exam." she practically purred, making Uraraka blush.
"Hehe, yeah," she said, giving a flustered giggle, "i'm so glad you're okay! They said you just needed sleep but I was worried you had gotten hurt."
"Nope, all fine thanks to you," Izumi said, putting an arm around Uraraka, making the blush deepen.
"If you're here to make friends then leave."
As one the class looked at the door, where a man in a yellow sleeping bag was slowly standing up, "It took you all eight seconds to quiet down, in the future you'll do so faster, understand?"
"And who are you?" Izumi asked carefully.
"I'm Shouta Aizawa, I"m your homeroom teacher; now, get these on."
Izumi grunted with the impact of a fairly large sack, looking inside she found over a dozen UA gym uniforms.
"Hurry up, once you're dressed meet me on the athletic field."
With that the man walked away, leaving the class slightly confused.
"Welp," Izumi sighed, pulling a uniform out, "let's get going!"
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"A quirk apprehension test?"
"Exactly." Aizawa said, "in years past you were put through a state test to determine where you are physically only, no quirk usage allowed; this is unreasonable and tries to promote the false ideology that all of you are equals, but this isn't true for some cases. Midoriya."
"Present!" Izumi said, jolting upright, worried she had been caught daydreaming.
"What was your farthest softball throw?"
"Um...well I haven't exactly been in middle school these last few years." she chuckled uneasily, "b-but I would say I could get a good fifty meters?"
"Try again, and this time, use your quirk." with that he tossed a weirdly shaped ball towards her, which she caught easily, "you can do anything you want, just don't leave the circle."
Izumi thought about it, then nodded, stepping forward as she held her hand out, wincing when the shattering of glass echoed across the grounds, "Sorry," she apologized as her staff came rocketing into her hands, "Get ready," she called back, tossing the ball lightly in the air, eyebrows raised when it stayed in the air, unbeknownst to them, several miniscule magical circles were forming on the balls surface.
"Alright, lets see," she held her staff like a bat, lazily pointing out into the distance with her finger.
"Hurry up." Aizawa snapped, making her jump a bit.
"R-right!" she agreed, setting back up and swinging her staff hard, connecting with the ball and sending it rocketing into the sky with a sonic boom.
'Jesus-" Mina yelped as she was thrown back into Kirishima.
"Fuck." Hagakure finished as she hid behind Ojiro.
"Keep watching." Izumi grinned as she leveled her staff at the rapidly falling ball, "Concussive FORCE!" she shouted, sending several beams of energy shooting out of her staff. Each one connected to the ball and sent it a little further .
"You all need to think outside the box, and go beyond, plus ultra." Aizawa said, showing them the results of Izumi's throw.
"Fourteen kilometers!?" they all shouted in awe while Izumi gave Bakugo a smug smirk; making the explosion user bristle.
""Oh man, using our quirks as much as we want!" Kirishima cheered.
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Mina exclaimed.
"Fun huh?"
Izumi shivered alongside Uraraka at the tone and look of their teacher.
"You are all here to be heroes, there's no room for fun, but if you want to have fun, then fine; lets make this assessment fun. Whoever comes in last today, will be expelled."
"What!?"
"You can't do that! It's not fair!" uraraka exclaimed.
"Do you think natural disasters are fair? What about robberies? Muggings? Life isn't fair, the sooner you wrap your head around that, the better off you'll be, now, let's get started."
Fifty meter dash.
Izumi sat cross-legged in the air as she lined up alongside Bakugo, "try not to pout too much when I beat you." Izumi drawled.
"I'll show you ya fuckin' nerd." he snarled as they listened to the robot count down.
"3...2...1 GO!"
Bakugo shot off like a rocket, Izumi right beside him, staff extended in front of her and her body in a classic superman pose as she raced against Bakugo, a look of fierce determination on her visage as she passed the finish line a split second before Bakugo.
"3.3 seconds! 3.4 seconds!"
Izuku let out a relieved sigh as Bakugo fumed beside her, "better luck next time sparky." she snickered as she jogged back to the others.
Standing long jump.
Izumi looked at her staff, contemplating how she would do this, I could just float over, but that's no fun...besides, Aizawa said be creative...hmmm. She smirked as she stepped forward to do her attempt.
"Hurry it up nerd!" Bakugo snapped.
"Yeah, yeah, i'm doing it." Izumi shot back, bringing her staff forward, she slammed the end into the ground, and disappeared in a powerful explosion that had everyone covering their eyes as Bakugo began practically frothing at the mouth.
"YOU STOLE MY GIMMICK!?" Bakugo roared as Izumi landed on the farside of the field, slightly smoking.
"Too much power…" she mumbled as she pushed herself up, looking back to where everyone was standing, cheering for her, she gave a small thumbs up before falling back over.
Grip test.
Izumi stared down Shoji as both of them increased the pressure on the gauge, Izumi's hand was glowing a purplish black that seemed to crackle with electricity every now and then while Shoji simply continued to flex his muscles more and more until-at about the same time-both of their gauges shattered.
"Whoa…" Mineta whispered,
"They broke them…" Kaminari sighed, "they're crazy."
"You're strong," Shoji said as he extended one of his arms, a mouth forming at the end, "didn't think you would be."
"Appearances are deceiving," Izumi said with a shrug, then looked him up and down, "you know, you're actually really cute once you get over the whole 'hulking behemoth' thing."
Shoji blinked, a blush showing at the tops of his cheeks.
"W-wait I thought-" Uraraka started, looking and sounding completely confused.
Izumi quickly turned to her and put an arm around her, "oh don't think I forgot about you," she practically purred, making steam shoot out of Uraraka's ears, "I learned over my travels that I'm not only Bi, but I'm also Poly, so…" she turned a flirtatious wink to Shoji, "the more the merrier."
"I...think I need some water." Choji stuttered out, quickly walking away while Izumi kept Uraraka up as the girl practically fainted.
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"Alright," Aizawa began, looking everyone over, "telling you your scores individually would be a waste of time, so here." he clicked a button and made a nearby electronic board light up with their names and scores, "note your weak points and work on them."
Izumi smiled at seeing her name at the top of the board, "energy manipulation, gotta love it." she sighed, giving Hagakure a sympathetic look as the girl started to cry quietly.
"Oh yeah, and no ones getting expelled." Aizawa said, smiling creepily as everyone gaped at him in shock.
"It was a logical deception, a ruse to make you give your all!" the teacher turned away, "syllabus is in the classroom, you're all dismissed for the day."
"...so he's an asshole." Izumi stated, making several around her snicker as Iida began to huff indignantly.
"Midoriya! You shouldn't talk about our esteemed homeroom teacher!" Iida exclaimed, "though he did trick us, he is still a faculty member!"
"It was fairly obvious though," Momo said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, right." Izumi snorted as she began walking towards the locker rooms with Uraraka.
"It was," Momo huffed, "it's a classic strategy many teachers use-"
"-newsflash princess," Izumi began, turning around to give her an unamused stare, "that was erasurehead, a notorious figure around UA for expelling anyone and everyone he feels like; i'm almost certain he was planning on expelling at least ball-boy over there until he started taking these tests seriously."
"You're being ridiculous!" Momo shouted, making Izumi sneer, ; "why would Mr. Aizawa, a teacher, wants to expel anyone!?"
"Lack of skill, weak quirk, treating this like their 'rise to stardom' debut, perving on the girls and pretending like he's not." she listed off as she narrowed her eyes at Mineta, who was currently ogling Momo from the side, he quickly flinched back when all the girls began glaring at him. "Either way, for a pro-hero known for his harsh stance and views on heroes like Mount Lady, Kamui woods and even All-Might, you'd expect him to keep his word, I think we should all count ourselves lucky he didn't expel anyone."
"I think you're overreacting."
"Good for you, now, I"m off to the showers." she said, once again turning around and walking away, "Care to join me?" Izumi whispered into Uraraka's ear, making the girl shiver slightly.
"T-that's okay!" Uraraka squeaked out, "I'll just go in after you."
"Suit yourself!"
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Izumi sat outside of the locker room, idly swinging her feet back and forth as she waited for Uraraka to walk out, the bubbly girl slowly stepped out, warily watching Izumi as she stood up.
"Hey,' Izumi said softly, "I uh...wanted to apologize."
"Huh?"
"I've been coming on a bit...strong today, and it occurred to me I made you uncomfortable; believe me when I say that was not my intention."
"Oh! Well...you were a bit...forward…" Uraraka said with an awkward chuckle, "I'm not used to people being like that with...you know, with me."
"What do you mean?" Izumi asked as they started walking down the hall.
"Well, I wasn't exactly the most popular girl back in middle school," Uraraka continued, eyes downcast. "most guys wouldn't even look my way."
"But you're gorgeous!" Izumi blurted out, making Uraraka blush, "I mean, you're so cute, and nice; how could anyone overlook you?"
Uraraka shrugged, "They just didn't." she mumbled, "you're the first person who ever has, It was so unexpected. It made me feel all...fluttery."
Izumi smiled at that, "That's good isn't it?" She asked, nudging her shoulder gently and making her smile.
"Yeah...but...I barely know how to feel right now, much less with the whole poly thing…"
"Deal breaker for ya huh?" Izumi asked.
"Yes? No? I don't know." she sighed in frustration, "i've never thought about it before!"
Izumi slowly nodded, then stepped in front of Uraraka, stopping their walk, "I know it's a lot to think about," she said, putting a hand on the girls shoulder, "but I promise I would never do anything to make you uncomfortable, if you want to keep it exclusive we can, if you want to take it slow then we can. All you have to do is tell me."
Uraraka looked into Izumi's eyes, noticing for the first time how there seemed to be specs of starlight in the other girls' irises, she saw no signs of trickery or malicious intent, only a gentle warmth that made her feel warm. "Okay," she said quietly, giving the girl a smile, "b-but slow, I don't know the first thing about relationships."
"I barely know anything about them." Izumi chuckled, returning to Uraraka's side and trailing her hand down the other girls arm, intertwining their hands, "but I'm sure we can learn together."
"MIDORIYA!"
Both girls jumped as they whirled around, surprised to see Iida power walking down the hall, "public displays of affection should be kept outside of school hours!" he said, hand moving in a fast karate chop, "it is disrespectful to the institution!"
"Relax Iida, it's only hand holding." Izumi said with an eyeroll, giving Uraraka a sympathetic smile as the girl hid her face in Izumi's shoulder in embarrassment.
"Be that as it may I would still like to ask you to refrain from such displays in the halls! At least wait until we're outside!"
"I can live with that." izumi sighed dramatically as all three began walking down the hall, talking about their first day, with Izumi discreetly wrapping her hand around Uraraka as they walked.
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Hermit walked around the filing cabinet that Noriega had sectioned off, "and you're sure there's a cognito hazard in there?" he asked the older man.
"I tried to get lunch eighteen times yesterday, I'm sure." he growled, "i don't know which drawer, when my assistant tried to tell me he went off to go look for his pen."
"So definitely a cognito hazard," he muttered, "and a powerful one if it won't even let someone say which drawer it's in…" he lifted his wand and began chanting, golden thread weaving around the filing cabinets as he moved until-with a snap of his wrist-the threads shot through the cabinet. Coming out black on the other side and disappearing in a plume of smoke, "can you remember now?"
'Yes," Noriega grunted, going to the third drawer and opening it, hands easily ruffling through the files until he pulled a hefty sized leather-bound file out, "this things still swamped in all kinds of enchantments and spells." Noriega muttered, hand running over the ancient leather as he narrowed his eyes, "it'll take me weeks just to get half of this deactivated, and there's no telling what kind of code it was written in."
"You think they wrote this file in code?" Hermit asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If they're putting this much effort into making sure we don't find it, then they definitely did." Noriega sighed, pulling his own wand out and summoning a ward box, placing the file inside and securing it, "this is bad Hermit, someone went through extreme lengths to make sure no one could find this file, yet have it somewhere that it's easily accessible which means-'
"-which means someone on the council is involved." Hermit finished for him, "which also means you probably don't have long before someone goes looking for it."
"I already filed a complaint with the council," he said as they began walking out, "all of the council members were worried about a potential cognito hazard in the filing system, and they want me to make sure it's nothing to worry about."
"So they're playing along right now," Hermit muttered, "probably means that there's nothing incriminating in it to place blame on any of the council members...regardless, maybe I should take it with me and research on my own-" Hermit froze as Noriega whirled around on him, wand pointed at his throat.
"-who here is a Magus?" Noriega asked coldly.
"You are.'
"And who here has delved into every kind of spell, enchantment, and ward known to Man, Elf, Orc, Dwarf, Faun, Dragon and demon?"
"You have." Hermit sighed.
"And who here has to get his ass bailed out of trouble every other hour because he doesn't know how to play nice with other wizards?"
"I do.'
"Exactly." Noriega huffed, "I will handle taking apart this file's security, you just make sure no one kills Izumi while I"m doing it! Or you for that matter."
"Glad I can count on you Noriega." Hermit said as he turned away from him, 'keep me updated!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Hermit sighed as he reached the exit and inserted his key, stepping out into his classroom, where a familiar figure waited for him, "All-Might," he greeted the muscle bound man, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"WELL MY OLD FRIEND I FIGURED I WOULD COME BY AND TALK ABOUT OUR TRAINING TOMORROW!" All-Might boomed out, "AFTER ALL, WE HAVE SEVERAL POWERFUL STUDENTS AND I WOULD LIKE THAT THEY DON'T GET HURT."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Hermit sighed, sitting down, "why I chose to be a co-teacher for those brats instead of security is beyond me."
"BECAUSE NEZU CHOSE YOUR JOB!" All-might laughed, "HAD YOU SIMPLY SAID YOU'D BE SECURITY YOU WOULDN"T NEED TO TEACH."
"Right," he muttered, leaning forward, "So, Battle Trails, this is a chance to see what our pupils can do in a controlled environment."
"THAT IT IS! AND I BELIEVE AN INDOOR BATTLE TRAINING WOULD BENEFIT THEM ALL!"
"I agree, a good majority of their fights are gonna be inside," Hermit mused, "let's talk about teams-"
"-I WAS THINKING THEY SHOULD BE SET AT RANDOM!" All-Might suggested, "GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO ADAPT UNDER LESS THAN IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES."
"I would agree, but I believe whether we make them random or not, they'll still be going into this exercise at a disadvantage; most don't know each other's quirks and skillsets, meaning even if we pair them up beforehand, they still won't have very long to strategize."
"GOOD POINT!" All-Might boomed, "THEN I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A SUGGESTION FOR ONE OF THEM!"
"Before you do, go ahead and deflate," Hermit drawled, leaning back as he flicked an eraser at All-Might, "that can't be comfortable."
All-Might sighed as steam puffed out around him, when it cleared it revealed a skinnier, sickly looking Toshinori, "didn't think you knew." he muttered.
"There's not much that escapes Noriega's eye," hermit said quietly, standing and walking around this desk, "besides,I knew that hit you took was more serious then you let on; how bad is it?"
"It's not as bad as it could have been had you and Izumi not been there." All-Might said, sitting down heavily in one of the desks, "I lost a lung and part of my stomach. Most of my other internal organs were affected as well. As it stands I have about five hours a day to be All-Might, but that time is dwindling."
"I'm sorry my friend," Hermit said, placing a comforting hand on Toshinori's shoulder, "had I known-"
"-had you known then there would've been nothing you could do," Toshinori cut him off gently, "some of the strongest healing quirks were used to try and help me, they all fell short; and I know how much you like to say Magic can't heal everything."
Hermit nodded slightly, then stepped back, "so, it's safe to assume that your suggestion for one of the teams is to put Izumi with the student you want to choose as a successor? "
"I've already chosen," All-Might rasped, making Hermit raise an eyebrow, "I met him a few months ago, he accidentally learned my secret and we got to talking afterwards; I believe he can become the next symbol of peace when I can no longer carry the mantle, I passed One For All to him just a few weeks ago; he's still having trouble with it, but I know he'll get the hang of it."
"If you believe that to be true then I won't argue, who is it?"
"Kirishima, Eijiro Kirishima."