100 favorites, holy shiiiit…
"Genuine forgiveness is participation, reunion overcoming the powers of estrangement… We cannot love unless we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience of forgiveness is, the greater is our love." - Paul Tillich
One fire lit, then another, then another, then another, small chants hummed out through the dark cove as the sound of water crashing against the cave echoed. At the very center of the cove stood a temple of illustrious design and massive size, the temple's main entrance stood above the rich blue water and stood several hundred meters tall, tremendously sized stairs began at the entrance and sunk deep into the watery cove.
Drums joined the chanting, faces with tribal paint were illuminated by the fires as song reverberated across the ceilingless temple. The melody grew increasingly and increasingly more intense as a loud rumbling could be heard across the cavern, a foretelling.
A hand raised from high up on a tower, the chanting ceased and the drumming ended. A masked figure spoke softly, her staff hitting the ground thrice as the unknown language reverberated across the grounds of the temple, her position on the towering structure signified great importance.
A triple set of spines seperated the water as they leisurely cut through, the figure stopped. Standing up, the gargantuan beast shined as thousands of tons of seawater flowed from off his body. His orange eyes penetrating through the dimly lit cavern.
The beast trudged on as it surfaced, water falling from his scales as each footfall shook the entire cavern. Making his way into the temple, the miniscule figures of an intense mass of humanity before him. They prayed in silence as the king trudged through his temple like a moving mountain, fish and other sea animals falling off his body in the hundreds to the floor below, surely a feast for man.
His movement ceased as he reached the tower at the center of the immense temple, the crack of one last footfall echoing as metallic rumbles could be heard from the king, the soft chanting returned. His tail gliding through the air, intense gaze set on one figure.
Burning orange eyes stared onto the lone human figure, but she was not afraid. With a hand raised, the figure began across the flat headed tower as the grey beast breathed softly, the mist from his exhalation cascading across her entire body as she continued.
Her hand pressed against the beasts snout, the immensity of his size contrasting against the tiny hand.
A green light filled the room, the world fell away into blinding warmth.
Her eyes slowly slid open, slowly but surely she acquired her bearings on reality as soft rumbles could be heard around the room. Arms wrapped around her stomach, she was entrapped by a sleeping marble statue.
Memories filtering back through her mind after recovering from the calming dream, she remembered sneaking into his room last night, Setsuna felt the grog of the morning as she gently returned to her lover's embrace, his left leg in between her two while her head settled on his softly rising and falling chest. Judging by the dim sky, it was hardly 5 AM.
The calmness of her dream left her in a sleepy state, she had time before she had to return back to her quarters. Setsuna recalled in her groggy state what exactly she saw, a dimly lit cavern, a mass of humans from down below, she saw it all from a highground. She had no control of her own actions, her body moved on its own and silenced the tavern with a mere hand raise. It all culminated in the leviathan… Izuku, rising from the water. She touched his face and a green light blinded her, ending the dream… Or vision?
She shook her head, now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Her groggy thoughts weren't in the best form to really decipher what she saw, the most vivid dream she had yet. It was a miracle she could remember it much less remember it detail for detail, she hardly dreamed before meeting the very boy who held her close at the moment.
She considered waking up the boy before her, Setsuna shook her head. Now wasn't the time, she'd tell him after their first day in the privacy of their room. She would have the day to process it, what was happening to her?
Relaxing, the green haired girl let out a sigh as she pressed her body against the warm teen once again, she'd been half tempted to drift back to sleep in the comfort of his arms.
"Alright everyone! Make sure you have all the necessary items and school utensils!" The bespectacled teen shouted out through the halls as the first period approached, groans from the late risers following his shouts.
Setsuna giggled at his behaviour, Izuku conveyed that the engine-quirked teen wasn't a very bad guy after all, recalling how he'd apologized the day before. He was just earnest.
Taking hold of her new school uniform, she held it against her body for a small moment. Nodding, she slid it on in no time at all and did her tie quickly. Twirling in front of her mirror, she smiled as she came to a stop. It was a cute uniform she had to admit, the skirt was on the shorter side but thankfully they had leggings to go with the outfit.
Sliding the door open, Setsuna took in a heavy breath and exhaled before donning her typical toothy grin and confident visage. It was time.
Izuku was struggling, this outfit was a conundrum for him.
He growled as he tried to fix his tie for the fifth time in a row, it simply wouldn't go like he wanted it to. He'd never done it before.
Finally he relented, a second later a light bulb sprouted above his head.
Ask Setsuna, of course she could help him.
Frustrated, the reptilian boy left his quarters.
"I would've been toast without you two, for sure! Even if that robot didn't crush me like a bug my legs were still broken!" Setsuna smiled.
After eating a large breakfast consisting of fluffy eggs, toast, and sausage. All this courtesy of Sato, he had experience with making protein rich breakfasts. Setsuna was greeted by the brunette girl she'd saved at the entrance exams, they hit it off instantly.
"If you can believe it, Izuku was actually intending on losing all his points. He didn't know there was a hidden goal to the practical, heh… dumbass." She chuckled warmly at the memory, in hindsight obviously it wasn't going to squish her. He just gave into his adrenaline, luckily it was a ruse.
"Wow, he got top spot anyways so it must've been worth it in the end though right?" Setsuna nodded at her question. Before the two girls could continue chatting, Setsuna caught the familiar sight of orange eyes walking towards them.
"Oh there he is." She turned to wave him over, "Sup bab-" words caught in her throat, Setsuna snorted as she fully processed his state of dress, his uneasy smile followed by a pathetic warble.
"Oh no!" The brunette laughed along with her at his disorderly outfit, Setsuna had to forcefully calm herself down from laughing to hard. Truthfully she expected something like this to happen, he'd never needed to use a tie before today.
Not only was his tie not tied anywhere near close to properly, but the jacket wasn't buttoned and his undergarment wasn't tucked in. His scruffy look caused Setsuna to roll her eyes before gesturing for him to come over.
"Knew something like this would happen…" the orange eyed teen growled as she pulled on his tie roughly, he had to crouch down slightly so she could properly reach it. The orange eyed teen quietly rumbled at his self demeaning posture and incapability to tie his own tie.
"Quit whining, and watch how I do this. It's not too complex." He nodded and relented, letting his body fall lax as the brunette approached him.
"Thank you Midoriya… I didn't get to thank you beforehand for catching the big robot hand for me." She smiled up at him. "So thank you." He wasn't expecting the sudden gratitude, but he quickly recovered and smiled back anyways before being yanked down again.
She wrapped the tie around his neck, flipping the larger end over the smaller and wrapping it around before pulling it up and wrapping it again and again before finally pulling it through the gap and tightening it. She dusted off his outfit and straightened his jacket before gesturing to tuck in his shirt and buttoning his jacket, stepping back she glazed over the now proper uniform.
Appreciating her handy work, she gave the orange eyed teen a thumbs up. "See that wasn't so hard was it, and wow they even made accomodations for your spines and tail. Saves us the trouble huh?" He nodded and smiled, his eyes showing thanks.
Gratitude
She hummed and held out her left, "Come on, we should get to class."
The orange eyed teen quickly fit her small hand into his own as they began their journey towards the main building, the brown haired girl looked on at their behaviour with a small sigh and smile.
"Come on Uraraka, don't wanna be late do ya?" The voice snapped her out of her daze, she donned a more frantic face as she ran to catch up with the pair at the entrance. "Right!"
The bell stopped ringing.
The small slurping noise sounded out in the quiet and trepid room, reverberating against the wall as the last drop of the juice pouch was sucked out. The man at the front of the room tossed the pouch away and cleared his throat.
"As many of you know already, I am your homeroom teacher Aizawa Shota." A small 'called it' could be heard.
"It took you lot 4 seconds to calm down and take your seats, good enough considering many of you have already met me."
Setsuna thanked fate for putting her right behind Izuku, now she could guide him through class with little issue. But now was not the time for chatter, she kept her mouth shut.
The bad news was that sparky was also in front of Izuku, at least he looked more mellow and less murderous than yesterday. Setsuna noticed glances at him all the same, many were uncomfortable by his presence.
The man pulled a bag from his sleeping garment, the container held UA themed uniforms.
"Take these and go change, then meet me at the PE grounds. Don't take more than 5 minutes, thanks."
The students quickly filtered out of the room after grabbing the gym uniforms, idle chatter beginning as they made their ways towards the changing rooms on this level.
But one, one remained.
Aizawa raised a brow as the ashen blond teen stood alone in the classroom, his face a mute calm compared to the day before.
"I know something's going on at this school." Aizawa didn't blink.
"Do you now." He looked bored, why did this kid insist on being a thorn in his side?
"Whatever…" the boy brushed past the pro hero as he grabbed a uniform and quickly power walked down the hall with a slight snarl.
Izuku quickly tore off his outfit, annoyed that he went through all that trouble to put it on only to take it off instantly.
"Aren't we supposed to be at orientation?" Idle conversation reverberated through the changing room, Izuku stood shirtless while glaring at his discarded school uniform.
"Hey look, Midoriya really is shredded!" His eyes snapped into their usual soft orange as his name popped up, Sero leaned on his shoulders and gave him an odd sounding impression of Sato.
"Nice delts man aha." The full lipped teen sputtered for a second at the mockful impression, Sero laughed at his expression.
"Not cool man..." Fake tears streamed out of his eyes as the boys all laughed, bar two, one couldn't care less and the other was too busy brooding.
Izuku shook his head, these guys were goofy in a way he couldn't quite understand sure, but he found it funny.
"A quirk apprehension test!?!"
"Yes, here at UA we are far more liberal than most other schools, especially when it comes to quirk use. Nezu himself has to fight the establishment to keep it that way, bubble wrapping hero prospects is irrational. Here at UA we teach you not only to become heroes but to become outstanding individuals in the hero industry, not just another drone of the state." Aizawa went on as Izuku processed this info, he mentally tallied points to Nezu for that policy.
His mind shifted to his classmates, each one had a unique power. Setsuna had her splitter power, Bakugo had his explosions, there was the invisible girl. Shoji of course with his many arms and others were less obvious. The orange eyed teen wondered about his classmates' quirks and abilities until someone spoke up.
"Mr. Aizawa sir, what about orientation?" A small tick appeared on his forehead for a second before disappearing.
"If you were listening, I said we were far more liberal than most schools. This applies to our curriculum as well, seeing as all our staff are indeed pros. We all have experiences to share, denying a state provided curriculum is why we are the top hero school in the country after all this time." Uraraka eeped before blushing in embarrassment, he did say that.
Aizawa gestured to the field, "Here we will be doing an assortment of tests most of you should be aware of. Except this time of course, you get to use your quirks." The prospect of finally using quirks in action donned on the students, some grew excited while others grew nervous. The two recommended students plus Iida didn't react, they had plenty of opportunities to use their quirks thanks to their backgrounds.
Katsuki smirked, all the training he went through was finally about to pay off. While these sniveling sheep grew afraid of their own power because of some stupid law and wristband, he honed his quirk. Honed it to the point where it was TOO powerful… powerful enough to slag concrete instantly.
His smirk grew tenfold, he was going to crush this test. A small blue glow seeped through his bandages as he reveled in the prospect.
The blue glow caught the eyes of the reptilian teen, frowning. Why did he wear those bandages? Izuku didn't really want to know... His musings were cut short as the red eyed teen caught onto his gaze, Izuku couldn't tell fully but he was obviously pissed off at him if those slanted eyes were anything to go by.
The orange eyed teen hardened his gaze, he felt that at some time the angry teen in question would have struck fear in his heart. But now? The red eyed teen looked away with a grimace. The green haired boy was shocked from his musing as a ball went soaring towards his head, he caught it instinctively and raised a brow.
"Midoriya Izuku, you didn't go to public schools before today so you never had to toss the ball. However, as first in the practical exams, you will be my example." The orange eyed teen nodded slowly, the gasps of a select few students reaching his ears.
The pro pointed to the white circle in the dirt, "Throw it in that circle and do your best not to hold anything back." Izuku caught the specific wording.
He nodded again, mutters could be heard as he made his way towards the circle.
Todoroki spoke for the first time, "I knew he was strong, but he actually got first in the regular practical… interesting."
"Yep, 130 points in total." Setsuna proudly recited.
"130?!?" The pink skinned girl yelled out but was quickly silenced by a glare from Aizawa.
"Man… no wonder none of us could win against him last night." Sato sweat dropped, the memories of their utter failure against the other teen fresh in his mind.
Izuku stood tall at the center of the circle as the conversations continued, his mind racing and blocking out all background noise.
All he had to do was throw the ball as hard as he could, right? Nodding, Izuku quickly mentally pictured the best form to throw a ball this size. His musing fell away into a determined visage as his body began to shake, his muscles tightening while his eyes burned a fiery orange.
His upper body struggled against the strong fabric of his uniform as grew thicker and slightly taller, scales growing in mass around his arms and eyes while his breath became less controlled. Claws sharpened and his tail erratically swiveled.
Aizawa prepared to clock in the distance as the teen took a few steps back into position. Raising his left leg and his arms straight into the sky, his entire body tensed. Muscles ready to spring into action as his teeth clenched and eyes burned like two infernos, his muscles contracted in a split second.
The motion was quick, springing forward at high speeds in his lunge while twisting his hips, the energy in the air shifted. All the potential energy built up inside his body coalesced into a single point, from from his feet, to his legs, to his hips, to his chest, to his shoulders, and finally into the tip of his finger.
BOOM
The crack of the sound barrier breaking shot across campus, the ball soaring into the sky as a cone of air beheld its ascent into the air, hair flew back a tad bit as a decently intense wind kicked up around the outstretched teen, blowing dust all around.
Izuku stood like a statue until the resounding beep finally sounded out, he returned back to his standing position and breathed in softly. The shocked eyes of his class drilled into him while the ball began to descend.
Katsuki growled at the display of power, he wasn't sure how far away it was yet but it was definitely visually impressive.
Aizawa held up the device. "601 meters." An impressive distance, Setsuna cheered out softly. She did not want to draw the ire of Aizawa, the rest of the class looked on in shock at the large score.
"Nice!"
"Over half a kilometer…"
Before any further comments could be made, Aizawa quickly put a stop to it.
"This is what I expect of you all, we at UA will destroy any inhibitions you have on your quirks. If you can't handle that, you'd best quit before you get burnt."
"Welcome to the Hero Course!"
"Moving on, let's get this done quickly."
"First event up, 50 meter dash."
Izuku was up first against the frog girl, Asui Tsuyu he remembered.
The crowd watched with bated breath as the first test was about to begin, most expected another impressive showing from the orange eyed teen.
Preparing to sprint, Izuku began to shift his body composition, his scales became more prominent around his arms, eyes and legs. His claws elongated and his body buffed up once again, orange eyes inflamed as he employed the runners starting position.
The chattering from the crowd faded out as fiery eyes zeroed in on the end of the track, he didn't even notice the slight tremble of his competition as he was in full focus.
The shot rang out and shattered the silence, tendons pulled and muscle groups roared as cracks in the hard ground below formed from his first step.
Izuku shot across the track, each footfall cracking the ground as he blitzed through. His eyes a glowing orange as he scaled the track like a man possessed.
Skidding to a stop as he made his way over the ending line, the bot recording him beeped out the time.
"2.91 seconds."
Iida shifted his glasses at the announcment, at his top speed he could reach almost a full second faster than that. But he needed time to accelerate and shift gears, making his burst speed lacking in comparison.
Asui quickly hopped past the finish line a few seconds later, the bot beeped out again.
"5.56 seconds"
"Ribbit."
Setsuna stood casually with a small as the boy next to her got into the runners position, the bespectacled teen had just downed a box of orange juice and was getting ready to bolt.
At the shot Setsuna quickly split into dozens of dozens of parts, instantly accelerating to her top speed. Telekinetically soaring down the track, the other form behind her doubled in speed. The blue haired teen caught up quickly before slightly edging out in speed as the engine-quirked teen shifted to third gear, he slid over the finish line with steam still funneling out from his calves.
Setsuna reformed right next to him a small moment later in the same standing position she started in. Her breath laboured slightly but otherwise she was fine, her power allowed Setsuna to move while retaining any initial position she had when reforming.
"3.04 seconds… 3.30 seconds." Pumping her fist, Setsuna turned back into the crowd who'd been shocked at how close it was, all the while Iida mused at the results from his still stopped position.
"I barely had enough ground to shift to third gear, but it was close thanks to the acceleration of her power…"
"Next."
Katsuki finished stretching his arms and got into a wide position, orange electricity cackling across his forearms and palms as he smirked from his stance. His opposition was Todoroki, the non surplus teen barely giving any effort to his surroundings.
The shot sounded out again, Katsuki instantly leapt straight into the air as a medium scale explosion shot from his outstretched palms, the blast shooting him forwards like a cannon as the heterochromic teen slid on ice down below.
The red eyed teen flew past his competition at breakneck speeds, his eyes watered as smoke trailed his rocketing form. And an immense show of skill, he quickly twisted his body mid air and jetted his hands out behind him, using rapid scorching hot explosions to slow his landing as he passed the finish line.
He smirked as the ground tinged from his quirk, his time beeping out.
"2.60 seconds."
Then
"4.09 seconds."
The bandaged teen quickly returned back to the group, his shit eating grin not leaving his face. It felt good to let loose. The bicolored teen retained his deadpan, not noticing Aizawa's slight glare.
The spikey haired teen, Kirishima, put a hand on his shoulder after he returned to the crowd. His smirk shattered at the contact, Katsuki froze in place as the encouragement shocked his system.
"Nice work man." The bandaged teen recovered quickly, brushing the hand off and grunting.
Aizawa's suspicion was confirmed, Katsuki had too much fine control and skill with his quirk for a kid who's moved around constantly in the foster system, much less a regular kid. He practiced illegally, likely in a remote location where no heroes patrol.
"Hm, problem child indeed." The scruffy pro hero muttered before announcing the next event.
"Grip test."
The device crumpled in his hand, barely withstanding the pressure of his full strength for a second or two before breaking. Orange eyes drifted up towards the pro hero's unamused face. He smiled awkwardly.
"That's expensive equipment you know."
He gulped.
"Whatever, top score."
The device beeped, a large 60 popped up on it as she squeezed with all her might.
"Alright!" That was nearly double her score from the last time she had to do this, she looked around to see more impressive scores… But improvement was improvement.
"Trial 3, standing long jump."
Bakugo used his explosions to cross the gap with ease, landing in the same way he did in the 50 meter dash.
Setsuna dashed over the sand pit clearing it one go.
Izuku leapt as far as he could standing, making it close to the other side before he fell into the sand pit. He likely would have made it all the way if he tried harder.
Setsuna caught her breath as she came back from the repeated side steps, her quirk took a lot out of her as much as she tried to hide it. It was like exercising a muscle you'd neglected for years on end, it felt good.
She turned to Uraraka, "Man, using our quirks like this is really exhilarating huh, Urara?" The cheerful girl nodded as she watched the furious teen blast back and forth at rapid speeds, yelling all the while.
"Yea… It's super cool to see everyone's powers first hand like this, everyone is super strong. Other than the long jump I haven't really stood out too much though…" A small smile. The green haired girl frowned at her casual depreciation before patting the brunette on the shoulders.
"Your quirk is crazy strong, though. You could just touch somebody and they'd be powerless really, actually maybe not Bakugo. You'd probably make him even more powerful, but that's besides the point."
Her cheery smile grew once more, "Thank you, but in terms of powers I think you're definitely the super strong one." Setsuna was going to respond but Aizawa beat her to it.
"Next trial, ball throw."
Katsuki grabbed the ball out of the air instinctually, his smirk widening behind his bandages as the sphere began smoking.
Taking a stance similar to the one Izuku employed earlier, he raised his arms to the sky as his muscles tensed.
"Gonna send it flying!" His arm rocketed forwards, orange lightning cackling across his arm and hands as the ball released from his grip for a millisecond before the air heated to an insane degree.
BOOM
The explosion aided throw sent the surrounding dust flying along the lines of an immense shockwave, the explosion sending winds hurdling across the entire class behind him as most of the students covered their eyes from the intense heat.
Katsuki stood with his outstretched arm, a smirk on his face from under the bandages. He waited for the beep.
His eyes widened and shot around to the pro hero, there was no beep to be heard.
"Perfect, now I can make an example out of you." The angry teen felt shivers run down his spine at that comment.
"What we just saw was an example of unrestrained quirk use, as you can see…" He gestured in the direction the ball would've gone, only for there to be nothing.
"The ball was vaporized before it could even fully leave his hand." The revelation struck the class, faces turning white. Kirishima especially looked terrified, he was nearly at the other end of that explosion before.
"V-vaporization?" Yaoyorozu stuttered out, to instantly vaporize a ball… even that tiny would require a tremendous level of heat energy.
The red eyed teen grit his teeth, he even held back a bit. He wanted to get the best score, what was the point of all this power if using it was too deadly? The ashen blonde curled his fists in anger, a new conflict surfaced in his mind.
"Yes, let this be a lesson to you Bakugo on getting a reign on your impulses. Or do you plan on vaporizing every villain you come across? Learn how to control your power or get out." He tossed another ball to the trembling teen who'd looked to his hands in shock, he caught it absentmindedly.
"Your power is not a toy, it's a tool. You could easily kill someone, remember that and try again."
Katsuki grimaced while staring holes into the ball, gripping the spherical object tightly as retook the throwing position. Forcing himself to calm down, he took in a large breath.
Detonate less, use less force, decrease the heat.
Don't Kill.
He threw the ball.
750
The number popped up on the screen, the smoking ball smoldering in the distance. The red eyed teen silently stood up straight and made his way back towards the rest of the students, a few took a step back as he settled into the background again without a word.
Aizawa sighed, at least it survived the launch this time.
"Next."
"Infinity?!?!!" The ball kept flying into the air at a constant speed, not coming down for anything as the device displayed an infinity symbol.
"Yes! Go go little ball!" The brunette giggled and cheered as the sphere continued unperturbed into the atmosphere, Aizawa shook his head at her genuine innocence.
The next trials went by quickly, Izuku excelled at the long distance running thanks to his immense stamina and Setsuna didn't do too badly either thanks to her new found stamina from her training.
"Seated toe touch."
Setsuna and Mina tied in the seated toe touch, getting the top scores easily. Izuku did decently for someone of his stature, but it wasn't his most impressive showing.
They quickly wrapped up the tests.
"Alright, look to the screen and you will see your results."
1.Midoriya Izuku
2.Yaoyorozu Momo
3.Bakugo Katsuki
4.Todoroki Shoto
5.Iida Tenya
6.Tokage Setsuna
7.Tokoyami Fumikage
8.Shoji Mezo
9.Sato Rikido
10.Mashirao Ojiro
11.Kirishima Ejiro
12.Asui Tsuyu
13.Ashido Mina
14.Uraraka Ochako
15.Sero Hanta
16.Kaminari Denki
17.Koda Koji
18.Hagakure Toru
19.Aoyama Yuga
20.Jirou Kyoka
"There." Shouts sounded out across the PE grounds as the students deciphered the screen.
Her eyes glared holes in the floor as she grimaced, the purple haired girl was embarrassed to be this weak. Not only had she embarrassed herself the other day but now the entire class knew how weak she really was, she sighed as the rest of the class congratulated each other.
Setsuna cheered out, almost top five was a good score. And Izuku got number one of course, his power was just that straightforward and made him stronger with no drawbacks… for the most part. But It wasn't really a source of excitement for the orange eyed teen, he just nodded and accepted the congratulations with a smile while a certain angry blonde in the background looked away, grunting.
"Good work, most of you performed decently well despite the irrational quirk laws hindering your progress…" they sensed a but coming, red eyes shot to the heterochromic teen.
"But, one of you hasn't been giving it his all..." The temperature dropped, silence across the grounds as the atmosphere tensed.
Todoroki finally snapped from his deadpan as he realized the pro was singling him out, the words finally registering in his mind. A glare grew over his face as the pro approached him, the crowd distancing themselves from the two quickly.
"Explain to me Todoroki, why haven't you used your other power in any of these tests?"
The question drew a confused glance from the orange eyed teen, all Izuku could recall from passing conversation is that the heterochromic teen's power was to manipulate and generate ice. What other power was Aizawa talking about?
"I read your file, "hesitancy to use his flames" is a large understatement. You downright refuse to use them in any of the tests, even if it could've been beneficial. Why is that?" Putting him on the spot like this was a risky move, but this hero course wasn't fun and games. Aizawa wasn't their therapist, he was their instructor.
The ice user grit his teeth, "What's it matter? I still got high enough on the scoreboards, what if my ice was all I needed?" The tense staredown continued as the other teens started muttering, Aizawa sure liked to make examples of his students.
"What if? What if you come across a villain in the future, a villain who completely negates your ice. What do you do? Say sorry to the parents of the kid you couldn't save because you refused to use an entire part of your power? Is that the type of hero you want to be?" His words struck the heterochromic teen as he recalled something… his knuckles draining in color as he clenched them to his sides.
"I'm giving you two options, either retake the ball throw while using your fire, or agree to quirk counseling. If you refuse either you can kiss your place at UA goodbye, recommended by the number 5 hero or not." His ultimatum reverberated through Todoroki's ears, he was not prepared for this.
Uraraka came to his defense, "But Mr. Aizawa Sir, that's unfair! We just got here and he did do amazing on the test." The scruffy pro sighed, he couldn't blame her for being naive but this was getting ridiculous.
"Fairness… such concepts don't exist in the hero world, this unfair reality is what we heroes are bred to battle every single day. What's unfair is the fact that Todoroki has one of the most powerful quirks, yet only uses it to half of it's potential by his own choice, it's irrational and self destructive." Uraraka realized yet again she should've kept her mouth shut, her gaze turns down as Setsuna puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Aizawa turns back to the shaking heterochromic teen, his glare softening slightly. "There is no spite behind my words, but if you aren't willing to put in your full effort into this class you will only end up as another kid we have to bury." His words held depth to them, All Might's retreat from Japan led to the obvious increase in crime levels nationally. Heroes had to adapt, and heroes in training had to be ready…
A lot of the time they weren't.
The bicolored teen sighed after letting up his anger, "I understand sir, I'll take the counseling."
Aizawa wondered if he pushed too far and too fast, while he was for getting students especially the ones with strong quirks out of their comfort zones, at the end of the day these were still kids who needed a transition from civilian life to the hero life.
The scruffy hero grunted before turning his eyes to the rest of the class, "Alright show's over, go change and the class schedules will be on your desks so take a look when you get the chance. If you thought today was difficult, tomorrow will throw you for a loop."
The scruffy hero waved, taking his typical exit suddenly and without warning. After setting up quirk counseling for Todoroki, he'd be getting some well deserved sleep.
The scruffy hero yawned while walking down the path, glad his day was finally over and he could get some rest in before going on patrol. Of course, something would interrupt him.
A figure in the shadows made his presence known, "Going soft Shota? You didn't even rag on the beast for holding back, you forgive too easy." The scruffy hero stopped, a frown growing on his visage.
"Iwao, it's been years. He was only a child." The figure took a swig from his beer flask before wiping his mouth and grunting.
"Yeah, he was. So? I don't gotta hate the kid, I just want to give him a few bruises. Give him a little taste of the suffering he's inflicted, not much different than what I usually do. Character building like that is vital to heroism." He was eccentric as usual, Aizawa groaned.
"Just don't hurt him too bad." He deadpanned.
The figure cracked his knuckles, "No promises, been waiting for a good punching bag these days. The last few groups you've sent my way have been too squishy for me, let's see if that's changed with this batch."
Aizawa shook his head and continued his trek, the figure already disappeared by the time he glanced back.
"Wow, Mr. Aizawa doesn't screw around huh." Setsuna took the taller teens hand as the students all returned to the main building as a group after a few moments to digest the test and discuss it.
Agreement
"Although he kinda went too far in my opinion, at least for the first day Y'know? Really gave Todoroki the lashing, didn't know he had a fire part to his power… still he has a point." She shrugged, suddenly deep in thought her mind relapsed back to this morning.
Her dream or vision stuck in her head all day, she had to physically resist from uttering anything about it the entire time. Thankfully the quirk assessment trials helped block it from her mind, now the end of the school day drew close.
"Finally…" The reptile quirked a brow at the shorter teen, she waved it off and mouthed "later."
Mina giggled as she noticed Yaoyorozu stay behind, "I wonder if she's got a crush on Mr. Hottie, such a worried face eh?" The frog girl put a finger to her mouth.
"You know, Ashido, not every relationship between a female and a male has to be romantic, she could just want to be friends, ribbit." Setsuna hadn't really noticed it until now but the amphibious female was quite logical and straightforward.
"Well duh, but that's too boring." Tsuyu shrugged, not feeling the eyes on the back of her head.
Izuku frowned, he remembered the glare she gave him just last night. Was it really just a trick of the eyes, he couldn't tell. Tsuyu hadn't shown any signs of anger towards him or Setsuna, come to think of it the only one who really had was Tokoyami who'd been noticeably quiet.
His stomach growled suddenly. Yeah, it was time to eat. What used to be a luxury became one of the reptilian teen's favorite activities. He wondered if he could try and replicate those pork cutlet bowls Yaoyorozu made, Izuku was no cook by any means but he'd gladly learn.
The bicolored teen still stood back at the PE grounds, slightly trembling even still as the other students disappeared from sight.
Yaoyorozu worried for her fellow recommended student. She was the only one who knew about his vow, his vow to never use his flames no matter what. Something she learned when they only had each other's company plus the odd reptilian boy on the first day, while she couldn't understand why… She felt bad.
"Are you quite alright Todoroki? Do you need to see the nurse?" The teen was shocked from his grimace at the motherly tone of voice, he let out a small breath before returning to his usual deadpan.
"I'm fine." She pursed her lips, Todoroki was obviously not fine by that vacant expression...
"I'd like to say we are friends, if not then acquaintances." The inexpressive boy shrugged his shoulders causing her to frown, the raven haired girl almost gave up then but something about the silent suffering she saw in his eyes made her motherly instincts kick in.
"I may have only known you for a few days Todoroki, but even so… you're not very good at hiding your inner turmoil." Her observation drew a small dark laugh from the other teen, the first one he'd made. She frowned again.
"We should help each other, we are all allies now yes? I can help you Todoroki, I don't know particularly how to do so but I can surely try." She felt sad for the teen, being the first student at UA who spoke to her. Yaoyorozu could easily tell he was suffering turmoil from day one.
"You couldn't possibly know how, but…"
"That's what heroes do, huh…" The heterochromic teen smiled, a small one that only lasted for a second, but surely enough… "Let's get back then, I'm sure Aizawa wouldn't be happy to see us standing around like this." The raven haired girl saw him smile for the first time, it was a good feeling to know at least she achieved that after a few days of seeing only his vacant expression.
Of course, it could quickly be ruined if Aizawa decided to expel them. She sweatdropped as she recalled the intense encounter from before, he seemed trigger happy to get rid of someone.
"Yes, good idea."
The day continued by quickly, the quirk assessment trials taking up the day where typically you'd go to orientation. Many of the 1A students were rather grateful for the fact they didn't have to sit through something so arduous. Most of the students returned to the 1A dorms, some retreating to their rooms after the intense test. A few had other plans.
Since they were on campus, they were permitted to use the many facilities provided by the institution until curfew. And so a few of the boys decided to hit the gym to pass time until dinner.
They were walking towards the dorms, Setsuna had to do his tie again after they changed back into the school uniforms. Izuku was currently fidgeting with it, trying to understand how she did it so expertly before he was stopped by a large hand.
"Hey Midoriya!" The form of Sato appeared behind the two, "Wanna go to the gym with me and the other guys? I'm going to teach them a few things about the weight room." The full lipped teen invited him to exercise, the prospect was immediately desirable.
He turned to nod his head with an enthusiastic smile before his arm got tugged, the green haired female shook her head. "No way, we just got out of class and you want to ditch me for your new guy friends? Yeah nope."
The reptilian teen frowned as he made eye contact with her, Setsuna winked at him. His eyes widened, she needed to say something in private.
Talk?
An imperceptible nod.
Izuku nodded, the full lipped teen was confused at the wordless interaction. The reptilian teen gave him an apologetic look as he was dragged away, Sato shrugged and waved it off before making his way out of the building.
Setsuna dropped her smile and yanked the teen towards the elevator.
Izuku looked around the room as he sat on the bed, Setsuna peeked through her door and scanned the surroundings for any evesdroppers before shutting it softly and sighing. They'd both quickly changed into more casual clothing and gotten a quick bite to eat before meeting in her room.
The orange eyed teen relaxed onto the bed, his legs falling off the side. She sure loved her dinosaurs, it was almost overwhelming with how much memorabilia filled her dwelling. He picked up a dino figure from her night stand and observed it, holding it up in the air as he fidgeted with it.
Setsuna split into many pieces and curled across his body, reforming on her back as Setsuna settled her head between his clavicle and neck.
"Ah, Therizinosaurus." The teen raised his brow at that, what sort of name was Therizinosaurus? Setsuna reached up to touch the figure unbeknownst to his inner mocking.
"The largest clawed dinosaur ever, funnily enough it was a herbivore. The first remains of this creature were founded in the Gobi desert in Asia, these large herbivores could grow up to 10 meters long and weigh 3000 Kg…" He stared at the transfixed girl as she laboured on, rambling about the history and biology of such a creature.
She stopped suddenly, blushing slightly. Setsuna looked up from her position, smiling. "A girl's got to have a hobby Y'know, sorry for getting all nerdy on you." He didn't mind it but...
Hobby?
She gave him an odd look, "Well yeah, something you can do to pass the time or for fun, doesn't have to be constructive but it can be. It's something most people have, and you've been writing a lot lately…" she suddenly arched her back, stretching slightly. "So… you could make that your hobby, won't hurt to try. All you need is a good push." He nodded, he rather enjoyed the quiet moments where he could enjoy his thoughts. His animalistic urges have become more and more simple and easy to control thanks to these humanizing moments, at least now it wasn't constantly at the back of his mind.
Control of his instincts… that's what he needed. He was already powerful enough, but Izuku NEEDED to control his strength… or something terrible could happen again, and he could never live with himself if he allowed it to happen again, he cherished humanity too much.
Izuku tensed slightly, the memory of the entrance exam fresh in his mind. He thought it was an ample opportunity to cut loose, but he lost sight of what his actual goals were. He wanted to protect people, a value he'd always had in the back of his mind for as long as he could remember. He'd lost that in his rage and nearly succumbed.
The reptile shook his head, refocusing back on her.
Why?
"Because I admire them, dinosaurs were strong, large, quick, they came in all shapes and sizes. Especially raptors, I love raptors." The orange eyed teen smiled as her face lit up adorably, just talking about her hobby made her happy.
"They are perfect in teams, they hunt intelligently and efficiently and at the end of the day they didn't let small troubles affect their goals, that being to survive of course. Humans would be so much better off if we could live life simply like that, not like I'm saying we should just go abandon technology or anything I just…" She trailed off, pausing for a small moment.
"I just wish people were closer, I've said that before huh?" He grunted, "People shouldn't fear physical contact or comfort from other people, and yet they do." Izuku listened on attentively as she held his hand against her stomach.
"Heh, some people would lose their shit if they knew I slept in your bed last night. But what other reason would I need other than I was cold? Many animals sleep in large piles to conserve body heat, why not us? Being close to somebody you care about… It's just instinctual." He shrugged his shoulders, to him it made perfect sense. Most societal inhibitions against touch for example were useless to him. He wasn't solely human to be fair, but even so.
"Heh, anyways. We need to talk about something important, I promised I wouldn't keep it from you anymore." He shook from his musings and squeezed her hand as the atmosphere got more serious.
"I had another dream last night, even more vivid than last time…" it was barely a whisper, thankfully he had enhanced hearing.
Putting a picture frame down gently and giving it a small smile, she burned the image of the balding woman into her mind. She wouldn't cry but it was tempting, did she really belong here? She could hear her disappointment… Last place…
How did she even manage to get in?
Her sensitive ears picked up the muffled sound of conversation from the other side of her door, she heard a door open slightly before shutting quickly. Putting an ear against the wall, Jirou trembled.
"What am I doing…" The purple haired teen blushed as she stood awkwardly in her room against the wall, the next room holding the two individuals she'd heard once before with her earjacks unintentionally when trying out her quirk. Normally the walls were sound proof, it was impossible to hear anything less than an explosion through them with normal hearing.
She fidgeted with her two jacks, "It's not like they'd ever know…" She occasionally listened in on other conversations like this for the past day or so trying to train her ability, Jirou knew it was an invasion of privacy and tried not to eavesdrop but it was just too easy with her quirk…
Besides, Setsuna embarrassed her yesterday. What's wrong with a little karma?
Her face lit on fire as she jabbed the earjack into the wall, her face transforming from embarrassed to confused, to concerned as she listened in to the quiet conversation.
Eyes widened, her mouth began trembling as sweat dripped down her ghostly pale face.
Izuku looked on intensely as she explained to him what exactly she saw, the temple, the cove, the masked figure.
"I touched… You? Or something that looked like you, whatever. After that, a green light filled the cavern and then that's when I woke up." The orange eyed teen frowned, he's never been to a temple much less to one that worshipped him of all things. "It doesn't make any sense why I would be dreaming these weird things…" She laughed a little.
"We never really questioned all this stuff in depth have we? I mean quirks have done stranger things before but this is getting ridiculous. Firstly why me?" Izuku frowned, did she regret having this connection?
"Not that I hate it, I treasure our bond Izuku you know that… It's an intimate connection between just us, but it doesn't make sense WHY it's just us…" Setsuna trailed off.
The orange eyed teen assumed it was his quirk, but what does being a giant lizard man have to do with telepathy? Did it have something to do with his parents' quirks? What did it all mean, why couldn't he remember his past? His parents? All he remembered now was the anger and rage, and then the inferno. The reptilian teen was deep in thought before Setsuna flicked him on the forehead out of the blue.
"Heh, don't start pulling hairs over it, I'm just curious really." He sputtered a little from his intense thought process, smiling awkwardly and taking a deep breath.
The orange eyed teen warbled, releasing the heavy grip on her hand. Izuku didn't even notice, he mentally apologized to Setsuna and rubbed the top of her head with his cheek.
She giggled, "Who would've thought that the leviathan was just a misunderstood gentle soul…" Her face became determined as she rolled over on her stomach.
"I promise to you Izuku, one day we'll take back that image. I'll help you repent and atone for it, as long as it takes." They shared soft smiles, a tender moment in the quiet of the room. Setsuna felt a weight lift off her shoulder, thankful she could share these dreams with one person. So far so good, their time so far at UA proved to be a resounding success.
A small muffled scream rang out through his enhanced senses.
His eyes widened as he shot off the bed suddenly and without warning, eyes blazing as he had Setsuna held close to his body. "What is it!" His heart was beating in his ears as she slid down from his embrace, she shook his form aggressively questioning his state of duress.
Jirou
"T-the girl with those weird ear jacks? What about he-" he pointed to the wall, Setsuna quickly connected the dots when she remembered what exactly she could do with them.
"Oh shit."
Izuku burst through the door, tripping and rolling over to the far side of the hall before lunging at the other door. The entrance to the girls room was unlocked, Izuku quickly tore it open and dashed into the room.
Orange eyes darted around the room, it was empty. His eyes landed on the opened window, narrowing eyes filled with frustration, he grit his teeth.
"She's going to warn the teachers… What should we do, they already know but- HEY WAIT!" Her screams sounded out after the reptilian teen leaped from the windowsill in a single movement, the air blowing against his face before he fell into a roll.
The dirt splintered into cracks as he sped off, his burning eyes transfixed.
Her heart was beating erratically as she barreled through the trees, she needed to get to the teachers as quickly as possible. The purple haired girl shed tears as she ran, fumbling over branches and bushes as she struggled to breathe.
A shift, she could hear another set of heavy handed footsteps far away but closing in on her. Her heart beat ever faster as her eyes darted behind, he was already on her trail.
"Oh man I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die-" She tripped.
Groaning, the petite girl shakily pushed herself up from off the ground. She'd never ran so quickly in her life, she felt bile in her throat as she tried to breath.
A crack, a branch behind her broke. Her eyes widened, her gaze stuttered as she turned to look at him with a trembling body.
The reptilian teen stood a dozen or so feet away, his face emotionless and shadowed by the trees above. Fiery orange eyes blazed like two suns, two hellscapes.
Jirou trembled, kicking herself towards the tree as she tried to escape in a last ditch attempt. Doubling her efforts as the orange eyed teen began a slow gait towards the petite female, his face unreadable.
Breath stopped in her throat as her escape ended against a tree, she was pinned there. Nowhere left to run.
She choked on her tears and began grinding her teeth as she realized there was nothing else, angry eyes narrowed hatefully at the boy. This single boy who'd taken everything from her, he stopped a few feet away from the downed female. Defiantly, she stood up and wiped her eyes, "You… it really is you isn't it, it's jarring to think that you're the one who ruined everything… at a first glance you behave like you're innocent, but I know the truth." She spat out at him, tears still streaming down her face.
"I know WHAT YOU DID!" She roared.
"And if I survive, I'm going to tell everyone. How the hell did some… THING like you even get in here!" Her earjacks raised up coiled to attack at any sudden movement, the reptilian teen's face was shadowed as they stood in the quiet forest.
"Do you even know what you did? What's with that blank ass look Midor-" She stopped.
"No, you don't deserve that human name…" Izuku caught the pain in her eyes, the swirling oceans of emotion struck his heart.
Memories resurfaced and so did tears, "You took her from me… all she wanted to do was help people and YOU took her from me!" Knuckles were white, Jirou could barely contain herself.
His eyes widened in shock, his knees began trembling as he realized what she was talking about. The past has come to haunt him yet again, was he a fool to believe he could live without constant regret?
She wiped her eyes again before regaining her venomous hate filled glare, "You killed my mom, you made her… suffer!" Nails dug into her hands, the memories of her encouraging family bringing more tears.
She shut her eyes tightly trying to contain them, the pain becoming too much to bear as she choked back on her sobs. "Y-you... you damn killer…"
The reptilian teen clutched where his heart would be as he fell to one knee and grabbed the ground. Claws sunk into the dirt as his entire body shook. Letting out a struggling choking sound, the reptilian teen's eyes began to water. He could feel her pain, on her face, in her eyes, in her voice. Another living reminder of what he's done and how it's broken and destroyed families all across Japan, it wasn't something you could just move on from.
He kneeled fully, putting his face as low to the floor as it could go as claws dug into the ground, a tear or two dropping from his face. There was nothing else he could do but this, but apologize for everything and beg to be forgiven, only his actions spoke never his garbled attempt at words.
She laughed bitterly before sniffling, "You think an apology is going to help? You think that fixes anything!?!" He winced at her raised voice, he felt something crash into his back. It was a soft blow, a kick.
"You can't bring her back by groveling at my feet you fucking monster!" Her voice cracked as she screamed at him and continued her assault, the blows were doing no harm to him as he trembled on the floor.
Jirou roared and screamed as she laid down blow after blow, her hands bruising. The pain from what felt like punching and kicking a brick wall suppressed by adrenaline. Suddenly stopping, the purple haired girl gazed down below at the trembling teen. She wanted to release her frustrations from yesterday, but...
Jirou covered her mouth at the horror of what she was doing, stepping back once and then twice. She dropped to her knees, the reptilian teen remained kneeling in front of her. A hero wouldn't do this… Or would they?
"You done?" The petite girl snapped her head to the voice above, Setsuna landed right besides the two softly and reformed before making her way over to the kneeled girl with an unreadable expression. "Had to release some frustration Huh."
Jirou snapped to her feet and began shaking her head, "I-I-Im s-sorry." She choked out as she backed away from the green haired girl frantically, beating on her defenseless lover was bound to anger her beyond belief. The girl already didn't like her very much, the purple haired female remembered her sly comments from last night.
"Do you hate us?" Setsuna watched her eyes for a reaction, it would tell the splitter quirk user all she needed to know.
Stuck against the tree once more, Jirou looked to the floor, "I-I-I just-" she was cut off as the green girl grabbed her shoulders, her eyes closing in fear preparing for the worst. She deserved this didn't she?
… a sigh.
It was a soft feeling, one that didn't make any sense. Her body was filled with an unexpected warmth, one that didn't follow the previous events.
Instead of pain, she felt comfort. Setsuna softly embraced the still shaking girl, holding her close while she buried the shorter female's face into her bosom and stroked her hair, Setsuna looked on without expression. shocked eyes slowly opened at the turn of events. Not quite comprehending, the girl began sputtering, "B-but I was hurting him, w-why are you doing t-this? I'm basically a stranger to you..." Setsuna didn't respond to her choked out sobs for a small moment as the girl cried.
"It's ok." Setsuna gently rubbed the shorter girl's back as she frigidly sobbed against her embrace, she held on for a few seconds before completely breaking down and latching onto the taller girl with desperation. All her sorrow from the past, all her frustration in the present.
"I know what it's like to be alone, to feel like everyone is against you…" She spoke softly as Jirou wreathed her shirt in tears, her mind traveling back to last night.
"You have every right to hate him, even if I couldn't possibly understand. You have the right…" Izuku watched on dumbfoundedly, was this really happening?
"It's ok."
Sniffling, the earlobe jack user sat back down. Her gaze looking off into the distance as Setsuna checked on the reptile, she sighed softly with red puffy eyes.
What hero would attack a defenseless person? … even considering what he was.
"Y'know, he was only 4 when it happened." Her head drifted to the green eyed teen sitting next to her suddenly, she didn't even hear or see her move.
Processing the info, she turned her head away again with a minor grimace. "It was an accident, his quirk was too powerful for him to control. You know how bad cases like that can be, that day we all were unlucky."
"None of that fixes anything…" Jirou mumbled, resting her face into her knees.
"I know." Setsuna said sighing, shifting in place to get more comfortable.
"I'm not asking you to forgive him, I'm just asking you to understand." Jirou attempted to summon anger at that comment but couldn't, she mashed her face down again.
"We all were affected that day, directly or indirectly. It's why he's here." She pointed to Izuku, he was beating himself up again mentally from the looks of it. The boy was grinding his fist against a tree and she could feel his frustration.
"He wants to atone, repent somehow. I know it in my heart, he wants to undo the wrongs he committed..." She trailed off, trying to see a reaction.
"And how does he expect to fix something… that is too terrible to be fixed?" An almost imperceptible mutter, you couldn't bring back thousands of lives. Even if he was a mere child, that level of mass death has never been achieved by a quirk user in all of history.
Setsuna paused for a second, "I… don't know. I don't know, but I will help him reach it. Whatever 'it' is. I love him, you might hate me for it too but I love him." The girl didn't respond, Setsuna opened her mouth again. "Just don't reveal this to anyone, ok? Not yet…" no answer.
"Please Jirou, my family would be hunted and UA would be attacked if you revealed this to the world now." She tried an emotional appeal.
"Ok." She sniffled.
"Thank you." Setsuna stood up, arching her back as she stretched and yawned. She held out her hand to the purple haired female, the girl contemplated not taking it for a small second.
Setsuna didn't just pull her up, she pulled Jirou into another hug. The shorter girl stiffened, her face becoming slightly dejected as she stood like a plank in Setsuna's arms.
"You're pretty touchy, aren't you?" She spoke in a small voice as Setsuna let her go and smiled softly, "Yeah, and you looked like you needed it." Jirou tried to return it but couldn't find the strength, she brushed past the girl.
Jirou walked past the two, sparing a sideways glance at Izuku before looking forward again. She stopped in the clearing and took a deep breath, "I… I won't tell a soul what I learned tonight…" Izuku let out a sigh of relief before being interrupted by a soft glare, "But I'm not going to forgive you for what you've done to me and everyone else, just don't count on it." She turned again and began her way back, waving.
"Thanks, Setsuna." And with that, she left the two in the forest.
The two locked knowing glances, the orange eyed teen had a somber sadness to his eyes. Setsuna held her hands out, gesturing for him to come. The lush grass foiled away as he made his way towards her, tripping and tumbling before he desperately wrapped his arms around her waist. Falling to his knees the boy shoved his face against her stomach, Setsuna could feel his face scrunching up as she caressed his hair softly.
The silence perpetrated, only the soft sound of the forestry sounding out around them as the tall and threatening predator was reduced to the boy... the child who'd killed more than most villains could dream of, their lives ended through him. And there was nothing taking them back.
Setsuna deflated, the tension seeping from her skin as Izuku stood up. "Holy shit I feel like I just ran a mental marathon, you want to get a bite to eat?" The boy she directed the question at looked on with a frown, tugging at his hand, she interlocked their fingers and leaned against the lumbering teen.
"She'll come around, that was the first step and it's usually the hardest, but I know with time we can fix this." She caressed his arm, the reptilian teen contemplating something. He doubted she was going to forgive him, not that he deserved it. As much as Setsuna said otherwise, what he did no matter how young he was… it was simply unspeakable.
"Come on, let's go eat." The boy nodded at her words, mutley following along.
Tragedies couldn't be forgiven after a heartfelt conversation and an apology, these things took time. He knew that, he just wished it was a little easier. If it was this hard with one person, how hard would it be with the entire country?
Izuku rued the day that all would be revealed, whenever that day was.
A fist hit his arm, breaking him from his concentration, "And next time don't barge into a girls room like a crazy person you dumbass! What if she was naked huh?!?" The teen warbled pathetically as they walked back to the dorms.
Jirou quickly made it back to her room, only to find a crowd of three girls surrounding it and investigating. She steeled her resolve, "Hey guys." Casual.
The muttering ceased as all eyes turned to her, a sweatdrop forming on her face from the attention. The girls quickly surrounded her.
"Dear heaven's Jirou, what form of roughhousing did you perform to acquire such a roughed up state?" The rock girl rolled her eyes at the verbose language.
"Chillax, I'm fine so don't worry about it. Just tripped and fell." Yaoyorozu was not convinced.
Suddenly pink hands covered her own, "I never apologized for last night Jirou! I'm super sorry for being insensitive like that please forgive me!" The horned girl was almost crying, comically.
"Uh, ok fine I forgive you?" The pink girl cheered and took her hand, dragging her along as the group began walking back towards the elevator. A warm feeling filled her chest, was she just being dramatic for nothing yesterday?
"Were you scared? Ribbit?" The question came out of the blue as a near whisper.
Jirou didn't know how to respond to that, her attention fully on this feeling. Even in this short time period, these girls welcomed her with open arms despite her differences. A warm spirit filled her chest, she really was worried for nothing.
"Thanks, you guys…"
A yawn.
"The quirk assessment test and the drama? That's gotta make anyone tired. Just glad it all turned out ok..." Izuku chuckled as he tore off his shirt and shorts, the lights were already off as the cold night winds filtered through the room.
He quickly laid under the covers as Setsuna latched to his side again, the splitter quirk user sighing as warmth cascaded across her body once more.
Goodnight
"Goodnight." She chirped at him softly, snuggling close.
Another day, another challenge overcome. Izuku rumbled softly, the lull of his chest settling her to sleep quickly. He was soon to follow, his mind flashed to everything that happened. Her dream, the tests, the confrontation. This was only the beginning, all he had to do now was endure it. The storm would come one day, but for now? It was manageable.
But their challenges had only just begun.
Izuku found it… Surprisingly simple, going to public school that is. The classes were hard, sure but he was a quick study, his brain just absorbed information like a sponge. Maybe he was dumb compared to everyone else, but he would he damned if it stayed that way.
The classes were entertaining enough, all the teachers were pro heroes who mixed in tidbits of heroism in their actual core classes which consisted of typical Japanese subjects such as quirk history, world history, English, maths, etc.
Whatever he didn't understand Setsuna would easily explain to him thanks to her being seated right behind him, her chattering sometimes annoyed Bakugo although. There was an unresolved tension between the 3, all for different reasons...
After lunch, which was a fairly standard ordeal of teens testing the waters to see which group they fit, a few females sat next to him because of his proximity to Setsuna who'd become a class favorite overnight. The teen caught the form of Kirishima attempting to sit next to Bakugo, the latter kept moving seats to no avail. Izuku thought it was odd behaviour, he quickly caught the irony, him of all people thinking that.
Their last class of the day sounded promising, but none of class 1A could've predicted what was in store for them.
Quirk development 101 was their last class of the day.
After lunch, the students all returned to their classroom and followed Aizawa to gym B after changing into their gym uniform. The massive building perfect for quirk related exercises.
Aizawa stopped, the class mirroring him. "This is quirk development 101, a fairly new addition to our curriculum where you will be taught to use, apply, and defend against quirks. As well as break any psychological conditioning." A few sweat dropped, this sounded more like boot camp than a hero course.
"Sounds cool, when do we get started?" The Electric teen spoke out leisurely not fully registering what Aizawa said, the pro began walking away as a response, the eyes of the students followed his form with question marks over their heads.
"I don't run this class, he does." His hand pointed behind them, their eyes slowly turned back as something comparable to electricity coiling across a metal rod sounded out. A figure seemingly appeared from nowhere.
"I head this class, you bunch of punks!" The dark haired figure was masculine, seemingly the very concept of it. His unshaved scruffy beard beheld a powerful jaw. His jeans, green shirt and jacket made him look like a regular guy but his physique said otherwise. The man carried a beer flask oddly enough. His body was well built and held many scars, the man's half grin and enthused eyes put many at them at unease. His gruff and rough voice not helping, he looked and sounded dangerous.
"I'm only here to make sure none of you go too far, including him." Aizawa's pointed finger lowered.
"Meet a retired hero from an older age, he has hundreds of villain captures and defeats under his belt and peaked at the number 8 hero before retirement." Eyes collectively widended, this guy was number 8?
"Hero name, High Speed Hero: O'Clock, aka…" He trailed off.
"Oguro Iwao." The man cracked his knuckles and neck before pointing to his face with a meaty thumb.
"But you brats can call me master." The class collectively gulped.
Nabe-Chan: what gave you that impression? They haven't even really fought yet and Izuku only kneeled because of a mental relapse. Trust me their conflict is far from over.
Saramus92: hehe just wait and see, won't reveal it but damn I'm excited when we get there.
Ranger McAleer: a theme song? Never really thought about it but holy shit bro, I've been listening to the MGSRV and MGSV ost as I write this out lmaooo. My favorite ost to write this with is rules of nature but I've listened to countless ost. And I'll check out nuclear, if I like it I may just add it as the theme to this story… The tracks I usually listen to along with those are;
My hero ost (mostly you say run and other hype soundtracks like all might with UA students or Bakusatsou)
One punch ost
Dororo opening 2 english cover by Mr Goatee (oddly specific but his versions lyrics hit home with me for this story)
Godzilla theme song but it's heavy metal by artificial fear, just a badass song for any Godzilla moment or fight in this fic.
And many more. Maybe I'll add a key one of these days for select soundtracks to play during the chapter, for example when I did the entrance exams I had jet set run playing. When I had Izuku fight Tetsutetsu I had the battle ost from opm season 1. I often write fight scenes along the tempo of a song.
Anyways, glad you enjoyed the romance bit too. Sometimes i feel like it's too corny but you guys seem to love it, thanks for the review. Stay awesome.
AnimeFan13579: hehe…… right
Thanks for the review.
Fishcake-chan: Haha glad you feel that way, it's still kinda odd as a guy like me who in real life you'd probably never expect me to be well Y'know, a hopeless romantic at heart because I look like an unfriendly person at first glance. I'm the lumbering fitness guy at school, I put people off and it sucks because I really like to talk and interact with my peers. Heh, I don't know, just ranting to anonymous people online. Thanks for the review, stick around cause their relationship is 'key'. Hehe, call back to the summary? Yep.
Fishlord17: damn bro writing entire essays in my review section haha. This gonna be long. I've made slight changes and additions seeing as not only has the world changed but like you said, if I'm going to make it vanilla I need to spice things up.
I haven't revealed why Tsuyu dislikes Izuku yet, she's very good at hiding it. Most cases of prejudice or dislike are often subconscious, or just really well hidden. Tokoyami for example just wants nothing to do with him and is perfectly ok with showing that but Jirou is more nuanced about it, Tokoyami may have prejudice because he lived in shizuoka or some other reason… We will see.
Oh yeah, I've been planning Setsuna and Bakugo's rivalry since day one (Best fight of the joint training arc imo can't wait to see it animated, even if I think it was too easy). Felt great to write that scene and show off her aggressive side (While fun to write isn't how she ought to fight, you'll see.)
Her fighting style will be more and more refined as the story goes on until it's something entirely new but familiar with canon, while Izuku can't go through much more than mental growth and control with his admittedly overpowered abilities, (just be glad I'm exempting the deadpool on roids regeneration powers from his kit else he'd be completely unkillable like Heisei Godzilla) Setsuna can make growth in his place.
And just in case, Izuku and Bakugo ain't through yet though don't worry, but I don't plan on handling it like typical. Glad you caught onto his tones, he's a child who lived near ground zero of the incident, obviously he would not get away unscathed and without a few scars… and a few actual scars. It's very vital to his character and hell even his power. How did he survive? That will come in time.
Yeah, I really don't want their relationship to be seen as horny or the likes, they aren't a fling, it's something deeper than that. Their mental bond doesn't just allow Izuku to speak to her and her alone, it's a special thing. Sexual content is an obvious thing that comes with the territory of any M rated story(we should be seeing some REAL violence soon enough), I just think it should be handled with care, I'm a minor myself so this is something I think about a lot. You're really perceptive with these observations, nice work.
Oh I know and I agree (Tbh I should have switched out the invisible girl with someone who'd actually be useful), but I have a few wildcards set up for this story and tbh I really like the vanilla set up for class 1A (I appreciate underlooked characters like Ojiro, a lot.), although if there was ONE mixup I would die to do it would be with Jurota, fucking love that dude from 1B and would replace the invisble girl in a heartbeat if I hadn't already uploaded the last chapter. Speaking of 1B, who's replacing Setsuna? Hehe, it won't be anything you expect. Class 1B won't be neglected I assure you, and Setsuna in my story is the type of girl to make friends with a lot of people.
Thanks for the review, can't wait for your reaction to this chappie.
Swoogan (guest): aw man… I just don't know what to say, I wake up in the morning and or during my break and see your reviews. it leaves a warm feeling in my heart, especially because I've never really tried this before so I expected to be criticized (which I was ready for of course) but yall just seem to like my story i guess, I'll keep trying to write to yall standards. Ty for the review.
Vince Fangway: yep, in the my hero world mutation quirk users are already discriminated on some level. The face everyone has to put to the destruction of musustafu is a giant lizard, most video footage of the event was erased along with everything else in the surrounding radius. So his existence and how people picture him might change from person to person but the overall theme is a giant lizard.
Glad you don't mind it, I love writing long chapters. And I get what you mean, a lot of stories will sit there and explain how a character thinks instead of showing you. Glad I achieved that, it's something I think really hard about when I'm writing each chapter.
I like him, especially in the manga. The issue with him is for the first 2 seasons he is really just a dick until you realize he's a victim of society as well. Where as I believe true strength is carrying a big stick but speaking softly, I still understand why he is the way he is, especially considering how he foils Izuku.
Hehe, I think his gimmick (perverse) is just overdone in anime, like it's just kinda awkward at this point. If they made him slightly less perverse, made him like 5 foot (still insanely short for a dude) instead of literal child height, changed his hero design a little. He could actually be cool, but nah.
Thanks for the review.
EndlessChains: Katsuki is a huge part of this story, definitely. He's taken the background for a little while, but he is definitely a huge player. And interestingly, you won't have a clue why until it's revealed. Stay tuned. Sorry for the short response.
Thanks for the review. This review section is nearly 1000 words by now isnt it.
Sidenote: dont feel like you need to reply to these, I just want to engage with the wonderful people who leave nice comments on my review page.
Onto the rant (skip if you want, these are just gonna be me talking and reflecting mostly)
Ok firstly before we get into ANYTHING else, I saw Godzilla vs Kong on the 3rd. Holy shit was it good, I've been waiting for Godzilla to really come into himself like this for ever. Easily my favorite version of him from the monsterverse, he is no merciful saviour but a vengeful God. Ok but I won't spoil, go watch that shit now (In hindsight when i was writing this, kinda dumb). Thank god I could see that shit in imax, never had so much fun in theaters since 2014 revived the franchise.
Ahhh, Knuckleduster is teaching at UA? But didn't he lose his quirk? Well yes he did, but guess what? There are certain things that are changing for this story, Knuckleduster lost his quirk after All for One was injured meaning it was at bare minimum 5 years before the events of MHA. But let's just say this, all might didn't choose to stay in America for no reason. If All Might who is the super man of MHA isn't present, then what about the flash/batman of Mha? Let's just say the teaching process will be… different. Tell me how I portray him, admittedly I haven't read the vigilante manga in a while. I just remember this guy being the shit and a total gruff badass.
Ok, now here's something I want you to understand and picture about Bakugo. If you've seen the hero's rising movie, imagine his explosions now to be somewhat on that level but obviously not quite to that degree in terms of raw power but more so heat (he literally melts an entire fucking mountain lmfao) I'll have a very important reason for why this is, but picture the explosions in that movie. It's why I added the orange lightning. Trust me it will all make sense soon (if you can't already discern why).
On a side note, holy shit I didn't even realize Ya Boy Guzma was the dude who wrote Incident zero when he typed that review. Bro, sorry I haven't been keeping up on the story (been busy writing my own and all) but I love your work. If you're still reading this lmao, holy shit.
Anyways, if you're wondering why Aizawa didn't threaten expulsion for last place you have to take into consideration the new world background, he'd love to expel these kids for lackluster results but it's no fault of their own that they couldn't use their quirks for most their lives. His character gimmick is being the rational one after all, as you saw with Todoroki though I was always wondering why he got off scott free in that test. If he got on Izuku for not using his power correctly why would he give Todoroki the pass for literally holding back on purpose? Nah son not in my story. It made Todoroki confront his past (a small bit) a little bit earlier than in canon and sparked an early friendship (probably his only friendship for a while)
I feel like Todoroki and Yaoyorozu would become friends as the only two recommended students and they basically only had each other's company on their first day, not that Todoroki is eager to socialize, even if a lot of things have changed from canon thanks to the G incident.
I really think Setsuna has a super powerful quirk if you think about it, she can split and move her body around in the air at high speeds, she could easily utilize that to be mobile and jet around in a fight, dodging, misdirection. Honestly, her power might be my top 5 favorites based on how it could possibly be used to fight and I plan to fully explore it as time goes on and use it in unique ways. I made the slight adjustment to make it so she splits into more parts, mainly to make it easier to picture and cooler to picture but either way it basically achieves the same thing ( with a few minor differences of course ) also, can you guess what pro hero her power somewhat resembles here? Hint, in top ten.
Finally some tension and conflict? Been a little while huh, yeah if you were wondering why I was putting attention on Jirou… There ya go. Even after that heartfelt moment, you can't let go of things overnight that's for sure.
End rant. Tell me what you thought, shit or bad or good? I dont know, I just want to hear what you think. Makes the writing process more enjoyable, later nerds.