Katsuki woke with a start, sitting up with bloody red eyes. He was met with the smell of disinfectant and white walling. He quirked an eyebrow before the memorizing flooded back to him. He groaned realizing he passed out after being slapped. That was embarrassing, he inspected his hand, noticing the lack of pain. He also felt fine, if not extremely exhausted. Those ten minutes were hellish, and the zero-pointer. Just thinking about fighting it both made him exasperated as well as pleased.

He killed that scrap piece of bolts. His smile became a feral recalling it.

"Oh good you're awake."

Katsuki's smile fell, and he turned to face the voice. A small elderly lady was walking from one bed to another, seemingly distracted by him.

"You talking to me ha-" Katsuki stopped himself.

He was in UA's infirmary. That meant this old lady, the nurse had to be a hero herself. Calling her a hag, perhaps not the ideal course of action.

"Smart boy, and yes I was. I have a gummy for you, here," The elderly lady said, walking up to him and reaching for her pocket.

She pulled out a small gummy, one that Katsuki scoffed at seeing. He wasn't going to be given candy for a doctor visitation, how old did she think he was?

"Don't give me that face, my quirk takes a lot of stamina out of my patients, this gummy will restore it. Now here, I won't tell you again."

Katsuki clicked his tongue in frustration but popped the gummy into his mouth. His eyes bulged at the taste and he almost threatened to gag. He swallowed it nevertheless and grabbed his coat from the corner of the bed.

"Good, now out with you, I have many others to attend to!" The lady said, shooing him with her hands.

He rolled his eyes but obliged, leaving the infirmary. He reached into his bag, and picking out his phone. He had a few messages from Deku, prompting his eyes to roll. He was also invited to hang out at an arcade with some of Deku's friends.

Katsuki wasn't particularly interested, whatever the quirk was, definitely drained him, and the suppose stamina gummy only left a bitter taste in his mouth more than anything else. He typed a quick refusal and pocketed his phone, opting to examine his to be school.

He aimlessly traversed the halls, ignoring any strange stares faculty or applicants gave him. He wouldn't peek into rooms but pause enough to read over the signs. Just as he was satisfied and ready to head home, he heard the sound of chatter. Not to be an eavesdropper, he clicked his tongue in frustration and did a 180.

"… has an angry scowl, blond spiky hair, kind of like a pomeranian."

He froze in place, his left eye twitching. Katsuki was conflicted, on one hand he didn't want to eavesdrop on the other, he absolutely wanted to give that shitty extra a piece of his mind. Her voice sounded familiar too. Was she the one who slapped him? Wait, did she slap him unconscious?

Mortified, Katsuki opted to wait behind a corner, hands crossed over his chest as he waited impatiently for whatever the girl was talking about to end. Eventually, the brunette passed him with a confused yet satisfied expression.

He rolled his eyes, "Oi, round face, I have something to say to you."

"Round face?" She asked, pointing to herself.

"I had it under control, who do you think you are slapping me?"

The brunette blinked stupidly before nodding slowly. She quickly slapped her hands together and bowed in a quick apology.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to of course, I just wanted to use my quirk, and I can only do that if I touched you with all points of my hand. But you were falling too right? I couldn't be gentle about it either," She explained a bit too quickly.

Way too quickly, Katsuki found the winds taken from his sails. He slouched instinctively as she continued to explain to him the intricacies of her quirk. Something he vividly recalled not asking for. After a certain point, his patience dried up and he bristled as the brunette kept chattering at him.

"Shut up! I don't care. Don't think about getting in my way again."

That seemed to somber her up quickly enough, not that Katsuki was paying her any attention. He felt satisfied getting that off his chest. He knew something was off about that whole ordeal. He couldn't care less about her shitty reasons, the fact she even thought to meddle with his perfect ru-

"No."

"What… was that?"

"If you're telling me not to help others if I can. Then, no. I refuse your request," She responded with a serious expression.

His eye twitched in response, "I'm not saying that you shitty round face, just don't mess with me!"

"Even you then."

Katsuki took a step back, a migraine threatening to make itself noticed. He just wanted to take her to a sparring ring and blow her up honestly.

"A hero has to help others even if they don't ask for it," she explained after his silence stretched.

Great, she was of the same opinion of Deku. That was perfect, where was that mentality when she was stuck and panicking under the stone. He scoffed and buried his hands in his pocket.

"Whatever round face, out of my way," he said, brushing pass her.

"Goodbye pomeranian!" She said back deceptively cheerfully.

It made his eye twitch.

A group of silhouettes sat in contemplated silence, their thoughts in overdrive as they dutifully attempted to go through the multitude of test scores.

And as if that wasn't already a daunting task for the dozen shadows, the inclusion of a subjective scoring method meant that each individual examinee had to be meticulously looked over. Complacency was simply unacceptable.

It was a time drain, going over thousands of applicants like this. Not to mention everything needed to be marked and checked by the end of the week. As UA prides itself in it's fast responses. It served a dual purpose though, far more childish than one would think. For Nezu, it was simply an enjoyable means of tormenting his cute teachers.

Everyone hunched over screens typing away grades and marks. Nezu did too, he would not be so cruel as to not bare the burden he cast on his fellow educators. But he always enjoyed looking over the exams with a nice cup of tea. So, if anything it was a break from the usual forms and papers he'd have to sign or look over.

It was an interesting night, that's to be sure. It took a bit longer than expected, but only due to the surprising number of trainees that showed exemplary levels of altruism and willing to help their fellow competitor. It put a smile on Nezu's face, to see humans grow and see beyond their own motivations and benefits to help others.

Well, perhaps that's not entirely true given how said humans were the ones being rewarded for the selflessness. But he digressed. At the end of the day, this year's applicants were considerably better than average. He'd daresay they have the potential to create a wonderous generation that could become close to that of All Might's.

It's not a fair comparison, he understood. He'd be hard pressed to find a generation that could rival Enji and Yagi's, let alone beat it. Still, the fact that this batch of applicants could garner such a reaction out of him was testimony to their potential.

The not-mouse creature leaned back into his chair, feeling surprisingly content with the turn out. All that was left would be to send in the marks via letters. Oh, and the recordings, now that he thought about it. He probably should get Yagi to start those.

"Shota, I'll trust you'll not expel your entire class like the last one?" Nezu called out throughout the room.

The typing stopped, and multiple heads turned to face the rat-bear-dog principal. A mangily haired sleep-deprived hero responded with a tired sigh, "If they have potential to be heroes."

"I'm sure you'll be quite pleasantly surprised," Nezu responded easily, taking a sip from the tea.

Izuku woke up with a yawn. He quickly stifled it as he got out of bed. He went through short stretches and finished up his morning routine as per usual. He made his way downstairs, his mind feeling slightly more refreshed.

It's been a week since the entrance exam, and although grueling as it was satisfying to complete. He would refuse to grow complacent. His friends from Chiba had went back the day after the exam, but he was given plenty opportunity to catch up with them.

As well as learn more about Kirishima. Something happened that made him waver in his own motivations. It happened all the time to most people, especially when he was frightened to face off against a villain with aspirations to be a hero. A direct conflict, it ultimately put Kirishima in a really bad mood. Thankfully, Ashido was able to talk to him. And although that part was more or less brushed aside. Izuku could tell the pair were much closer than before.

Still, it was a sobering realization. Izuku wasn't sure if he'd be ready to face a villain right now. It's easy to say he would, while not being in the situation. But when the die's cast, would he really? He couldn't be 100 percent sure. His dependency on his quirk was still too high.

He'd have to change that, his uncertainty as well as dependency. The only way he knew how was by constantly getting battered by his friend.

But perhaps if he learned actual martial arts, as a foundation at least. Then, maybe he'd feel more confident in the face of violent villainy.

He gently opened his laptop and quickly typed his password in. He started surfing the net for some dojos nearby, looking at prices. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, they were far cheapter than he anticipated. But, that likely was a result of the quirk wave, and priority having a strong quirk took over a strong understanding of martial arts. Dojo's played second fiddle to quirk facilities. Izuku wasn't exempt from that belief. He looked for a quirk facilty first after all. Still, this was wonderful news for him.

Failing the recommendation exam meant he would have to cover costs himself. Or rather his mother, so he couldn't take many additional expenses. It was something to look into. And if not that, perhaps there would be assets at UA. Assuming he got in.

Before Izuku could ponder any more, his phone buzzed, prompting him to grab it.

LordExplosionMurder: meet me at Mizuhas.

LordExplosionMurder: spar you me

Izuku smiled ruefully. If dojo's might be too expensive, he would use whatever resources available to him. Kaachan's battle prowess was second to none. He could always learn from him.

Sore, Izuku walked back up his porch and into his home. Inside, his mother was fretting, pacing nervously, prompting Izuku to quirk an eyebrow. It came to him a second later and he found himself panicking just as much as his mom was.

She turned to him and stumbed as she reached for an envelope on the counter. He stared at it with wide eyes. He knew what it was immediately, the red UA stamp drew his attention the most.

"It's here Izuku, it's here, I called you but you didn't answer."

He cringed at that and hastily apologized. That meant Kaachan likely didn't know his envelope made it home either. Nevertheless, sparring until they couldn't use their quirks anymore more or less meant that they were far too preoccupied.

"Open it Izu!" She urged him nervously.

He nodded and took the envelope from his mother, Not wanting to ruin the envelope he meticulously, almost painstakingly pried the stamp off and poured the contents onto the counter. First, a small letter, then a grey cylinder. It looked a bit like a bracelet.

It was a hologram device. A recorded message lit up the kitchen dining area. He stared wide eye as he saw All Might of all people delivering him news about his acceptance. He gapped like a fish as his favourite hero of all time told him how his written portion was exceptional.

It reigned in his excitability somewhat as he found himself nodding to the praise. He knew he aced it, being able to cross reference the answers after the exam. It made his chest swell a little to hear his idol praise him for it.

"With 36 villain points, you would have just barely passed the exam," All Might explained in his booming voice.

Izuku's brows raised, he… he admittedly didn't expect that. He found his brows narrowing shortly after. That was a bit eye-opening. Failing the recommendation exam could be excused due to his quirk not providing any mobility compared to multiple others. But the entrance exam? Inexcusable. Despite what he said, he was becoming complacent. His eyes steeled, he would improve.

"However, that is not all, what kind of Hero school would we be if we didn't mark you on heroics? Young Midoriya, you scored 51 Rescue points due to your due diligence and desire to help others in any way you can! A selfless soul in the face of competition. With a total of 87 points, you're our third highest accepted applicant," All Might said.

Izuku buckled under the news, finding his arm flail a little until it caught a chair and escorted the rest of his body to shakily sit. The other hand went to his mouth. That, now that was much more relieving. He, was it naïve to say didn't expect that? Superficial? He couldn't say. He helped others because he wanted to, or rather, he found himself doing it before he could even rationalize it. The one time his body reacts faster than his brain.

He teared up as All Might reached forth, his holographic hand just a few inches away from Izuku.

"Young Midoriya, welcome to your hero academia."

He mustered a smile through watery eyes. His mother hugged him tightly, proclaiming her unyielding support. Something Izuku found himself immensely grateful for, turning to return the hug.

The moment didn't last long, his phone vibrating non-stop. He wiped some tears away as broke off the hug and reached for his phone. He apologized once more as he saw the multiple phone calls from his mother. His attention was brought back to his phone as another vibration went off. He noticed some messages from his friends.

LordExplosionMurder: 106. First place applicant

LordExplosionMurder: indian food Deku

R3dR!0t: I passed! How did you do?

PinkAlienDnceQueen: yo yo yo

PinkAlienDnceQueen: guess who's in UA?

PinkAlienDnceQueen: :3

PinkAlienDnceQueen: Itss me btw

Izuku found himself smiling despite the fact he was undoubtedly going to be forced to eat spicy food.

He fidgeted with the tie, finding it way too stuffy. His first attempt to tie his own tie left it scrunched up by his neck and looking entirely out of place. Seeing it like that immediately urged him to look up videos. 20 minutes later, and his tie looked relatively presentable. Add his white button up and grey blazer, his UA attire was complete. He was a bit giddy looking at himself in the front mirror, his mother practically fawning over him.

She kissed his cheek as she sent him off, Izuku smiled as he waved back. Kaachan was waiting outside on the porch, grinning viciously at him. It made him smile uneasy, his thoughts going back to the spice that made him feel like he was breathing fire.

He could tell.

"Hey there Kaachan."

"Deku. Ready?"

Izuku nodded, his face becoming serious, "yes."

The two traveled to UA together ,taking the train and eventually finding themselves at the front of the school. The two of them were in the same class, 1-A. Something Izuku was incredibly grateful for. If there was anyone who could push Izuku to his limit, it was Kaachan.

But not only that, Ashido and Kirishima were in his class as well. The fact the top four highest ranking applicants were in the same class felt a bit suspicious to Izuku. That discovery in itself wasn't a hard one to make.

Ashido scored 89 points, Kirishima 82, For second and fourth, respectively. Izuku was between the two and there was Kaachan's monstrous triple digit score for first. It was a bit amazing to think Izuku knew all of the top shot first years.

Recommendation students exempt from that of course. Nevertheless, it was still a very exciting turn of events that had the three of them feeling even more motivated than ever. Kaachan begrudgingly admitted that they perhaps weren't extras after all. A feat that had Izuku become watery eyed and Kaachan incensed.

"Quit dozing off, we're here," Kaachan said.

Izuku blinked and stared at the massive door, floored a little seeing the entrance stretch up to 20 feet. He turned to Kaachan, pointing at the door with both of his fingers. The blond clicked his tongue in annoyance and slammed the door open.

Given how eager the two of them were to join UA, they naturally arrived at school early, which meant that 1-A was all but empty. A single student with glasses was seated at a chair, who frowned seeing Kaachan walk in as if he owned the place.

Izuku found himself quickly sighing and taking the seat behind Katsuki.

"You… you were the one who destroyed the zero point obstacle," The bespectacled student said standing from his chair.

Izuku nodded as Kaachan smirked triumphantly. Izuku never doubted Kaachan's claim. His blond friend could be many things, but a liar, was not one of them. If he said he destroyed the zero pointer, then he did. Izuku was impressed regardless, it probably contributed to the 106 point tally in some way, the irony wasn't lost on him.

"My name is Ida Tenya. I must admit, I did not expect someone like you to discover the true nature of the exam. For that I apologize," The student said, bowing a few times.

Kaachan's expression fell, frowning at the boy with a murderous glare. Izuku quickly stepped in.

"H-hello Ida, this is Bakugo and I'm Midoriya Izuku. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise Midoriya, I look forward to learning alongside you," Ida responded, chopping his hands amicably.

Amicably? Izuku quirked an eyebrow and smiled nervously. In any case, Kaachan only stared viciously as Ida went back to sit at his seat oblivious to the glare. More students soon joined the class. Izuku was already at a desk, new notebook in hand and hastily sketching each classmate that walked in.

A girl with headphone earlobes, a boy with circular elbows, another with a tail, The invisible girl from the exam! There were just so many students and quirks. Izuku's eyes were practically glowing. Eventually, he spotted the pair from Chiba.

Well, he heard Ashido before he saw her. She was full of energy, practically buzzing around an equally excitable Kirishima. Izuku perked up from his seat and waved at the two.

"Hey! Good morning Midori," Ashido greeted.

"Morning Ashido, Kirishima, how are you guys?"

"Great, I'm all pumped up," Kirishima said, flashing two thumbs up.

"Oh wow, even your grumpy friend's here too," Ashido said, turning to face the blond.

"Tch. So you're second place? If you can beat this guy, then you're worth fighting against," He said grinning ferally, thrusting a thumb behind him towards Izuku.

The greenet recoiled a bit before rubbing the back of his head. Ashido blinked a few times before gasping loudly.

"Was that you being nice? Oh my goodness, it was, it was!"

"Piss off Racoon eyes."

"Raco- gaaah, I knew it was too good to be true," Ashido said, bringing a hand to her forehead dramatically.

"But I do like your eagerness, we should definitely fight," Kirishima said with a toothy grin, hardening his arm as a result.

Kaachan smirked smugly, having his sweat pop in micro explosions on an open palm.

"No way, pomeranian is in this class too?"

That caused his blond friend to nearly fall from his chair, looking at the door with a twitching glare. Izuku was stupefied and followed his gaze. A cute brunette girl had her hands on the straps of her bag, she looked shocked to see Kaachan.

That in itself was shocking. Since when, wait was that the same girl from the entrance exam? Izuku was just about piecing things together when he spotted a yellow worm slowly slide itself into the classroom.

"If you all are done socializing, get to your seat."

Everyone turned to face said worm, who now had a face of shaggy black hair and big bags under his eyes.

"Who are you?" Someone asked.

Izuku knew better, closing his 1-A Student Analysis notebook.

"Aizawa Shouto, your homeroom teacher. Now, to your seats, I won't repeat myself."

The class scurried.

"15 seconds to behave as an appropriate class from the Hero Course. Disappointing," The worm stripped out of his yellow sleeping bag, revealing a black track suit.

"Everyone was designated a number and seat, go put on your gym uniform, we'll be doing a quirk evaluation."

"What about the entrance ceremony?" the brunette asked.

"Illogical, every moment should be used to hone one's quirks and skills. Meet me outside by the track field," the man said, sucking down a pouch drink.

Izuku shovelled his notebook into his pocket and grabbed the gym uniform from the side of the classroom. It was in his size, which wasn't at all that strange since his measurements were given when he submitted his hero costume design.

Kaachan, having explored beforehand lead Izuku, and subsequently the rest of the class to the changerooms. It was a quick change before the class filed out into the open field.

Everyone gathered around their teacher, who was standing by a circle that led to a massive stretch of open field. He spoke in a really lethargic drone, explaining just how lazy the ministration of education was, using quirkless evaluations. Izuku was deep in thought as their teacher explained the purpose of this quirk apprehension test.

He felt familiar, not in the sense that he met the person, but that he should know of him. After all, all staff in UA were heroes. And Izuku prided himself in his researching ability. He should know who this person is.

"Bakugo, you scored the highest in the entrance exam, how far could you throw in the softball pitch?"

"67 meters."

"Now try it with your quirk," Aizawa said, tossing the ball to Kaachan.

His friend caught the ball easily enough and walked into the circle.

"Only rule is to not leave the circle as you throw."

Kaachan smirked. Izuku already knew what was going to happen, and took a few steps back. He plugged his ears.

"DIE!" Katsuki shouted as he tossed the ball.

The explosion that followed was enormous, the cloud of smoke lingered just a few yards ahead of Katsuki before a lone streak pierced through skyward. The ball was sent soaring. Izuku fetched the notepad from his pocket, and started writing down his findings.

"717 meters. Find your limits, so that we can start to improve them," teacher Aizawa said, raising a small measuring device.

Likely a chip in the ball that measured distance travelled. But, that probably meant that the ball would have to pass a certain point, or someone could just spin in circles and accumulate distance that way without even tossing the ball. How would he even use his quirk? Perhaps ask Katsuki for fuel? Was that allowed? But even then, he'd need to hit the ball in the air, would that launch it forward? Or sear it entirely? What does destroying the ball entail? Automatic failure, zero meters crossed? Or the amount before destruction?

All very serious thoughts that circulated through his brain, enough that the startled shouts, protests, and gasps snapped him from his musings. He snapped his notebook shut and turned to look at his teacher. Why did it look like the man was staring at him, was his eyes glowing too?

It came to him like an epiphany! His teacher was Eraserhead, the underground hero who refused public meetings or interviews. But what did he say that warranted such a strong reaction from the rest of his classmates? The talk of natural disasters, villains, unfairness in general.

Izuku had a sinking feeling.

"Plus Ultra," His teacher said, smiling.

Expulsion? Izuku read up on UA, he knew that the year before him was expelled by a teacher who remained anonymous. All that was disclosed was that the students lacked the potential. Untrue, most of those students went to other hero schools and were readily accepted.

Was that teacher Aizawa? No point working off assumptions, he shuffled awkwardly towards Kirishima and tapped his shoulder. His redhaired friend smiled brightly at him, although Izuku could tell the smile was forced. Too tight to be natural.

"I didn't quite catch that, what did he say?" Izuku asked awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, uh, well, the person who ranks 20th will be expelled," Kirishima said, his smile faltering as a serious expression took over.

Izuku nodded. That was still ruthless on the first day of class. But at least it wasn't the whole class. He tapped Kirishima's shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"We just have to do our best, right Kirishima?"

"You said it!" He responded, smashing hardened knuckles together.

He was fired up easily.

"Well begin with the distance run, everyone gather at the track," teacher Aizawa said.

He turned before receiving an acknowledgement and headed towards the designated area. The class followed and lined up against the white line. Aizawa took the class to a small 400m track, as opposed to the massive one that ran around the whole campus.

"Each lap will be tallied to you, after 12 minutes, your scores will be suspended. Your uniforms have chips in them to keep track of the distance travelled. On my mark,"

Izuku took the chance to inspect the blue uniform. The white Stripes kind of made the English letters of U and A, he suspected that to be intentional. It looked nice, and felt nice too, very form fitting perhaps but very breathable.

"Begin," the teacher droned out.

All 20 students started their run. Some sprinted to get ahead, Kaachan being one of them. Another, Ida, as recently introduced zipped by using his quirk. Izuku found himself in the middle of the pack, not wanting to shave too much energy initially, wait for people to break off naturally as opposed to wasting energy trying to get by them.

They were unintentional obstacles that would dissipate on their own. Still, looking behind, Izuku was floored to find the same girl from the recommendation exam. She was the one who made the moped! Sure enough, she passed the group, catching everyone's attention.

A purple haired boy groaned and complained at the sight. Not that Izuku could blame him, it felt like cheating. But, whatever that quirk was, absolutely deserving of the recommendation and subsequent acceptance.

The rest of the run he finished quite satisfied having completed 7 laps. He had hands on his head as he tried to steady his breathing walking pass panting and exhausted students.

"8 laps," Kaachan said smugly.

Izuku nodded his head, inadvertently causing his vision to swim.

His blond friend clamped his hand on Izuku's shoulder, mumbling something about being an idiot. Izuku just smiled.

"Now that you all gathered your breath, we'll be moving on to the grip strength test," The teacher said, once more moving pass the students and towards the indoor gymnasium.

The students groaned out their complaints but made to follow.

"Midori, you're actually quite fast! Pyrokinetic breath make you a good runner or something?" Ashido asked skipping up to him looking perfectly recovered.

"Actually, yes. I read up on breathing techniques to help maximize my fire output, but that actually contributes a lot to running and most activities in general too."

"Oh," she responded numbly.

The class filed into the gymnasium, it felt refreshing being out of the sun, the air conditioning was soothing in a sense. There were water bottles lined up on a counter inside, with a crowd of students huddled before it.

Izuku patiently waited his turn before grabbing a bottle, after taking a swig he went over and grabbed a grip machine from a bucket. He squeezed to the best of his ability, and got a personal best. Something that had him feeling quite happy about.

Even if someone had a grip of nearly 550 kilograms, or if the ponytail girl broke the device with some a pincer tool. He beat out Kaachan, something that had his blond friend fuming. Kirishima's hardening gave him a bit of extra strength too, since he was able to crush the machine in hand for nearly 20 kilograms higher than Izuku and Kaachan respectively.

The next was sit ups in a minute. Something almost everyone excelled at. Again, without a quirk, Izuku didn't have an advantage. However, he did work on his core muscles first, as it helped with dynamic movements the most. It lead to having an exceptional score of 56.

He lost to Katsuki by a single sit up. But even then, the floating gym uniform had beat them both with 58. There just didn't seem to be something Izuku truly excelled at. But, he was still steady and consistently top 10.

From there the group finished with some seated-toe touches. Much like the other tests, Izuku did well. He was quite flexible, usually able to touch his toes from a standing position. Paled in comparison to Ashido, she could put her whole palm and some beyond her toes.

The class was taken outside once more where everyone was placed in pairs for the 50 meter dash. He watched as Kaachan and Ashido raced. The two were fast, zipping through the 50 with ease. Kaachan was just a hair faster, and both of them knew it. He instantly turned to gloat, much to Ashido's chagrin, the way she gripped her hair and sobbed dramatically was telling she wasn't all that bothered by it.

Izuku was paired up with a boy who had white and red hair parted down the middle. A nasty red scar just covered his eye. It was a bit attention-grabbing but Izuku knew better than to stare.

"Good luck," Izuku said, nodding towards the boy.

There wasn't a response. It made Izuku cringe a little, but he at least turned to focus on the sprint ahead, he took a few steadying breaths, and lunged forward when the drone fired off. He got a lead on the boy easily, but that was quickly circumvented when he saw his partner zoom ahead on a perpetually conjuring platform of ice.

Izuku's mind was whirling but he pushed himself regardless coming up with a time of 6.68 seconds. The other boy easily got less than 5.50. Izuku took a moment to collect himself, which didn't take too long with the proper breathing. He watched as his fellow classmates ran the 50 meter. It was impossible not to compare himself to others given the circumstances. He found himself again, middle of the pack.

There were too many people with exceptional quirks, Ida came to mind in regard to the 50 meters. His acceleration was a bit slow, but even then he still managed just a bit over 3 seconds.

Next was the ball throw. Kaachan already went so he simply lingered lazily, watching others throw without the looming stress of needing to do so himself. He looked quite smug, as if he knew no one could beat him.

Izuku couldn't blame him for that sentiment, 717 meters was impressive no matter how one looked at it. Still, he felt a little relieved when the ponytail girl made a cannon of all things for her ball. Said relief became a bit embarrassed when she lifted her shirt above her midriff and had something pool out of her stomach. The look on Kaachan's face was dumbfounded shock before resigned understanding.

After a few moments, Izuku dared parting the fingers covering his face to see the cannon go off. She got 1447 meters, beating Kaachan's score out of the water. The way he bristled was a clear sign of seeing a challenge. His ego wasn't going to appreciate that too much.

Still, at least, he know knew Izuku didn't make it up. She needed skin to make her quirk work. That's something he hastily made sure to write down in his notebook.

"Midoriya Izuku, you're next," teacher Aizawa said.

Izuku stuffed the notebook into his pocket and grabbed the ball from the outstretched hand. He stepped into the circle and stared down the long strip of dirt. Lines marking every 10 meters or so.

"Kaach-Katsuki, could I possibly have some of your explosions?" He asked a bit sheepishly, turning back to the students.

Kaachan rolled his eyes but walked over, creating micro explosions from his palms.

Izuku opened his mouth, sucking up the heat and small flames that the explosions produced. This went on for nearly a minute before Izuku stopped and nodded towards his friend. He turned to look at his teacher and quickly thanked him for allowing the accommodation.

Aizawa yawned but returned said nod.

Okay, he wasn't sure if his flames would work for this. But, given his position, excluding some outlier results some people had. He'd still fall in the mid-pack. He could afford to experiment, no, rather, he felt like he needed to. He hadn't used his quirk at all up to this point. If the point of this examination was to determine just how potent quirks were. Then not using any would go directly against his teacher's request. Even if he didn't fall in 20th, what would stop teacher Aizawa from expelling him due to a lack of potential or creativity.

He needed to use his quirk, Izuku spun on his heels and looked at the ball. He grimaced a little as he plopped the ball in his mouth. He heard Kaachan snickering a little from the back.

Izuku sucked his breath, and exhaled violently. Flames erupted from his mouth, shooting outwards in a fiery torrent. His teeth, gripping the ball slowly released, letting the ball be taken by the flames skyward. Satisfied he continued using all the fuel Kaachan gave him, not stopping until he was empty. The ball was propelled a certain distance before the flames no longer carried any weight behind it.

The force did launch the ball however, and he turned to look at Aizawa expectantly. The teacher looked at the machine in hand before turning to show Izuku.

201.47 meters.

Izuku pumped his fist, feeling quite happy with that score. Especially given it was entirely based off an experiment. To be rewarded, it felt exhilarating. Even when the girl that followed scored an infinity, Izuku didn't feel deterred or defeated. Kaachan on the other hand was blowing a gasket.

The events that followed were much of the same. Repeated side steps had the purple haired boy bounce from side to side nonstop earning the greatest score. The standing long jump had multiple people clear the sand pit, some include the frog looking girl and the boy with a laser from his stomach.

By the end of the tests, the score results came in. The group watched dreadfully, hoping to find their names near the top as opposed to the bottom. Izuku scanned down the list feeling more and more stressed until he finally spotted his name, a few coming after. It was an abysmal score all things considered.

1st: Yaoyorozu Momo

2nd: Bakugo Katsuki

3rd: Todoroki Shoto

4th: Ida Tenya

5th: Ashido Mina

6th: Tokoyami Fumikage

7th: Shoji Mezo

8th: Kirishima Eijiro

9th: Mashirao Ojiro

10th: Uraraka Ochaco

11th: Asui Tsuyu

12th: Sato Rikido

13th: Koda Koji

14th: Aoyama Yuga

15th: Midoriya Izuku

16th: Sero Hanta

17th: Hagakure Toru

18th: Kaminari Denki

19th: Jiro Kyoka

20th: Mineta Minoru

"Everyone go change, Mineta stay."

Ponytail- no, Yaoyaorozu stumbled a bit, looking surprised as the purple haired student started crying. Izuku's mouth thinned, Mineta would be expelled, evicted from the hero course.

Izuku knew UA was competitive, but this? This felt like too much. He knew Mineta would likely find a place in another hero academy, but UA was the best. Did that warrant the right to expel students on a whim? Was he being pretentious thinking he knew better than his teacher? And by extension the school itself?

It was hard to say, he couldn't for certain anyways. He turned and followed his classmates.

Author Note: Not much to add here. I decided I'd get rid of Mineta and see what kind of ripples it'd have in conjunction with Izuku's quirk already being here.