A/N: My exam went well! Thank you for those who wished me well. Now let's see how far off I am when I actually get my grades.

Well done on those of you catching who Compress' daughter is in the story. Several of you have guessed correctly, as several of you have guessed the mystery member of Garaki and Kurogiri's crew who they've recruited from Giran. I won't completely confirm the Compress one yet, because that's something coming in future, but you'll get the Garaki answer soon enough.

Anyway, more normal UA stuff this chapter, and I hope you enjoy. Before I do, two shout outs, as per usual. This week, they've got a theme, and that's everyone's favourite green-haired menace... Setsuna Tokage. What? You thought I meant Izuku? No chance! I'd never describe Izuku as a menace, I swear. No, it's Setsuna (my underrated favourite writing this story) who prompts the shout-outs this week.

The first goes to Burning burning burning, who is the author of Daikaiju on this site. It's Izuku x Setsuna, which actually works as a pairing (just because I choose to write them as cousins here, doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good ship), it's well charactered, and it's got Izuku with a Godzilla Quirk. What more could you want? Go and check it out, and show Burning some appreciation!

The second shoutout goes to theantumbrae, who wrote Flight of the Dragonfly and has started a new story, A Hushed Whisper. Flight has recently concluded and is one of the first fics I picked up on this site, so I have a soft spot for it and want more people to enjoy it- it's got light Setsuna ships with Izuku, she's bang on, and Ant is responsible for a brilliant Nezu who is part crack, part psychopath, part genius. It's definitely filtered into how I write Nezu, in one-shots in particular. If you want good content, Ant is someone you should consider.

Anyway, did I hear you all cry "Izuku chapter"? Oh, go on then. Have one on me.

Enjoy!

(***)

"It's been nearly ten minutes since lunch ended and there's no sign of our teacher in class. I understand the need to punish certain behaviour from Shimura and Monoma, but this is eating into our valuable learning time!"

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle as he sat at Tenko's empty desk, the last seat on the second column of seats in their classroom, and watched Iida chopping the air in front of him, the tall boy's eyes fixed firmly on the classroom door. "Iida's really passionate about his education, huh?"

"Yeah, sure." Setsuna, sat on top of her desk beside him, rolled her eyes. "It's day one, and you've brought the biggest nerd in the class into our group. Good going, Zuzu."

"H-Hey!" Izuku shot her a look, as Tetsutetsu in the seat in front of him couldn't help but laugh, and turn around from his conversation with Kirishima. "He's a nice guy, he's-"

"Hella intense, don't ya think?"

"Nah, the guy's got passion!" Tetsutetsu's suddenly-metal fist pounded his desk, and a concerned Izuku couldn't help but look to check if the boy had damaged it; it was almost impressive how quickly Iida's head snapped around to check the exact same thing, and returned to staring at the door on satisfying himself that no valuable UA property had been broken. "It might be about different things to me, but I like him already!"

"You too, Metalhead? I'd have thought you were the one I could rely on here to not get me surrounded by nerds at every corner." Setsuna groaned, over exaggerating it, and tipped her head back. "I'm doomed."

"In Izuku's defence..." Himiko, who was sat on top of the desk in front of Izuku (much to his teenage panic when she first arrived, given that she was wearing a skirt), grinned at him. "We kinda all were nerds in this group already."

"Just because you and your boyfriend share those notebooks of yours-"

"Setsuna!" Himiko went red, although not as quickly as Izuku. "B-Boyfriend?!"

"Oh, right, you guys don't wanna force the PDA down everyone's throats and admit you're dating yet." Setsuna leered at them both, completely unapologetic. "My bad. You were saying?"

Himiko coughed, and there was still a slight blush on her cheeks as she carried on. "Tenko's got his games too..." Suddenly she grinned, as if realising something, and pointed at Setsuna. "And you're a pretty high scorer yourself, right? Entrance Exam?"

"Hey!" For the first time, Izuku saw his cousin taken off guard by something. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone-"

"Tell what?" Himiko leaned forward, and her fangs were showing in the grin. "That you beat Tenko in the written exam? You're the one who bragged to me about it, so now who's the nerd?"

"Gah! You traitor!" Setsuna clutched at her heart and dramatically slid out of her chair. "We had a special bond, the girls in the gang! Did I mean nothing to you?"

"There's no shame in being a nerd, Tokage!" Tetsutetsu weighed in. "You got one of the best scores in the whole class, if you beat Shimura. You should totally own that!"

Setsuna detached a fist to punch Himiko in the shoulder. "... I hate you guys."

"You wouldn't change us for the world." Himiko giggled. "You want to talk about being one of the nerds, you're dating Tenko."

"Yeahhhh, I know. Can't help but be a little worried for the guy, when he takes this long to come back to class. We might actually be recruiting Iida to fill a vacancy in the nerd crew, at this rate." Setsuna made a face. "That, or Midnight's done a number on him. Hey, I might have competition now. I wonder if she gives tips?"

"..." As Tetsutetsu did a spit take, Izuku glared at her, noticing how the corner of her mouth twitched and betrayed her poker face with the grin she was badly hiding. "What's wrong with you?"

"Oh cousin of mine, you do not want to get me started on that one." Now the trademark Setsuna grin returned. "Let's all relax, anyway. They'll be back soon, I'm sure. She's not gonna be too brutal on day one."

She's R-Rated for a reason, you know.

Izuku couldn't help but agree with that thought, and worry a little about Tenko. He hoped that whatever dressing down he was receiving, it wasn't going to be the end of the road for Tenko in their class.

The mood in the boy's changing room had been good after the Quirk Apprehension Test which Midnight had set up for them. Although the tests had been tiring, and intense, and so many people had given it everything they had to do well, it seemed like there was a mutual respect growing among the class for just how much people had pushed themselves. Izuku himself had been clapped on the back by both Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, who somehow both had unrelenting energy for the rest of the day even after a beasting, but as much as he returned the smiles, his mind couldn't help but drift away to Tenko. Being singled out for punishment with Monoma would have had that effect, of course.

Both boys hadn't got changed at the end of the session, instead falling in step behind their teacher as she marched away to places unknown within the school to tell them off. Izuku understood why there had been a need for it, because Tenko looked like he would have willingly come to blows with Monoma over the way they were talking, and Monoma's comments to him were well out of line. He just wished he had been able to grow a spine and say something to Monoma himself, rather than watch as Tenko stood up and fought his battles for him. Monoma had called him useless, something which had prompted him to rise to the challenge in the test, but just maybe he could have spared Tenko from taking the fall.

That thought had been on his mind even during the lunch break. The last he remembered, Midnight had told Tenko and Monoma that they would be spoken to after class, but they hadn't returned even as the others got changed and left to go to the cafeteria. Over a bowl of katsudon which was almostas good as his mother's (almost being the key word), the discussions with Setsuna and Himiko flowed about how their classmates had responded to the tests thrown at them, and just how much food Yaoyorozu seemed to be packing away at another table (Izuku knew her Quirk must have required it). Quirks and their special applications were of great interest to Izuku, so his notebooks got more than a few pages added as they discussed it, but all the while Izuku's eyes kept flitting over to the doors, expecting his best friend to walk in any time soon. It hadn't happened, strangely, and Tenko had missed out on fine Lunch Rush food and fun analysis. It was weird.

One thing that had heartened Izuku to some end was Himiko's lunch. He had almost been too busy having a fanboy moment over the world-renowned Lunch Rush still being behind the food at UA (although what effect Incident Zero might have had on Lunch Rush was beyond his imagination), that his reaction to Himiko nearly got missed. As she smiled weakly at the chef, there had been a nod of understanding, before the Hero returned with an incredibly rare steak, and Izuku could have sworn he saw hearts in her eyes for just a second. She had told Izuku before that she managed the sometimes-harsh side effects of her Quirk by drinking from blood bags and eating rare meat, but it appeared someone in the faculty was looking out for her in that regard too.

That wasn't what had heartened him most about the whole thing, though. What had got through to him most was that Setsuna perked up and ordered the exact same thing on seeing her plate, her tongue running across her sharp teeth in anticipation. Izuku hadn't even thought about ordering the same thing as Himiko (his eyes were only for katsudon from the second he saw it on the menu), but seeing Himiko's face light up at having someone share her tastes was so worth it. Maybe, just maybe, he would see Himiko share the truth of her Quirk with Setsuna at some point sooner, because of how Setsuna was making her feel comfortable.

Wouldn't that be nice? Then you can share yours with her too.

Izuku's rogue train of thought was interrupted by the door creaking open, and as much as he did it as well, a small part of him laughed inside at how quickly the heads of everyone in the room snapped towards the door. It was almost as if they had a teacher-related sixth sense. "Oh, they're back-"

"Coo-ee, students!" Midnight was remarkably chipper as she walked through the door, almost bouncing as she walked; it was hard to tell she had just spent the last hour talking to two delinquent students to give them a dressing down. "Hope you all enjoyed your lunch with Lunch Rush, and sorry to keep you waiting! I didn't want these two naughty boys to miss out on some food, so we swung by after you all left to pick something up."

"That makes sense..." Iida mused, hand on his chin, as Monoma slouched across the front of the classroom without another look to any of the class. "It wouldn't do to leave others hungry in the middle of the afternoon classes. I should have considered their essential needs too."

"You really don't relax, do you?" The green-haired girl Asui had been across the classroom talking with Tokoyami, but as she returned to her seat in front of Iida her blunt analysis caused an affronted sputter from him, and Izuku could have sworn he heard a croaking laugh from her at his reaction. "Ribbit."

Tenko followed on behind, and to Izuku's great relief there was no look of sheer desperation or terror on his friend's face after being talked to by Midnight. There was just a hint of a smirk, as if relieved to be back in one piece, but if that was the worst thing that was present, he could take that. "Tenko! You're back!"

"Heh, yeah." His best friend looked back at the teacher before shooting him a look that Izuku recognised, and he knew what Tenko meant. Whatever the teacher had said to him and Monoma, Tenko wouldn't be sharing any of the details any time soon, and judging from the wry look on Midnight's face as she looked at the pair of them, she would know if he had. "Still standing."

"Good. Can't have you screw this up on your first day, can we?" Setsuna's snark was betrayed by the relief in her eyes. "You had me worried, Ten."

"Eh, I'll live. She was fairer than I thought she'd be." Tenko didn't reveal any more beyond that, before looking at Himiko and frowning, as she remained sat on his desk. "Please tell me you showered after the end of the level, and that you haven't just parked your sweaty ass on my seat before class. I might get mad."

"S-Shimura!" Iida was scandalised, as even the normally stoic Asui's eyes went wide at that comment. "You can't just speak to a girl like that-"

Ignoring the interruptions, Himiko's response was to smirk and wiggle on top of the desk, something which made Izuku gulp from his position at the chair and try not to go bright red in front of everyone. "I don't know, did I? Enjoy class, Tenko, we kept everything warm for you."

Iida's mouth fell wide open as Himiko's response prompted loud laughter from Tetsutetsu and Setsuna. "I, how could you-"

Tenko too chuckled, as Himiko slid off his desk and pulled a dazed Izuku up out of his chair. "You're gross. Go on, get outta here before I get in more trouble. I'll see you and Izu later."

Iida's glasses looked like they had practically misted over. "But what-"

"Oh, sweetie." One of Setsuna's hands detached itself, and she patted Iida on the back in the seat in front of her. "You'll get there in the end with us."

"Thank you, Toka-" Iida turned to see that a severed hand was responsible for what he felt on his back, and he gave a very high-pitched scream before spinning back in his seat to face the front, practically vibrating from how stiff he had gone. Izuku couldn't help but chuckle on the way back to his seat, reminded of Iida's reaction to finding Tokage's severed fingers in his pockets for the sprint test. "... what have I gotten myself into?"

"If you're all quite finished..." Midnight's voice cutting across the classroom was enough of a cue for Izuku to make the dash across the room into his seat, Himiko sliding into hers not long after him. "Much better. I see you've not quite mastered the UA student skill of teleporting into your seat when a teacher arrives. Maybe I'm being too soft on you all."

"It's the first day, right?" Awase, the spiky-haired boy who seemed to be good friends with Monoma, called from the front row. "Plenty of time to whip us into shape, huh?"

"Oh, thanks for playing!" Midnight seemed to wiggle a little bit at the front, before pointing at a smirking Awase. "You and I are going to get on well, Awase. After you get yourself out of the bottom three performers in the class, of course."

"Damn..." Awase scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk, I guess?"

"Exactly! You're learning well. Now..." Midnight's gaze turned to the rest of the class. "I'm sure some of you have heard me mention a friend of mine who used to talk about rational deceptions and threaten to expel first years. Up until two or three years ago, he would have been the homeroom teacher for Class 1A, and I've tried to keep to some of his old ways in teaching you all, for example with his favourite Quirk Apprehension Tests on day one."

"I sense more darkness approaching," Tokoyami muttered from the seat behind Himiko, and judging from the small noise made by Kodai in the seat behind him, Izuku guessed that she was in agreement.

"One of his other favourite things to do was to front load your first week activities, so that your first day had all of the most intense classes you will face during your time at UA. I guess it was his way of making sure that anyone who came to UA could handle the pressure of such a prestigious academy." Midnight adjusted her glasses. "Normally, that would mean that your class this afternoon would be a Combat Training class."

"A... Combat Training class?" Izuku muttered, shooting a look over to Himiko as the murmurs began to spread. "So soon after that Quirk Apprehension Test?"

"Surely she won't make us do that?" Himiko pursed her lips, frowning. "I'm not scared about fighting people, I could take most people here, but... some people are on their last legs. Throw them in at the deep end and they'll drown."

"R-Right." Izuku shook his head at her dark analogy, but it made sense. "Wait, she said 'normally'-"

"You're very perceptive, Midoriya." His teacher's voice made Izuku's head shoot up and slammed the brakes on any muttering and hypothesising from him, and she laughed to herself. "For those of you who didn't catch that, Midoriya recognised that I said 'normally'. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Combat Training as much as anyone, and in a world like this, we all need to know as Heroes how to get down and dirty to handle whatever villains come crawling our way. But you're here to learn, and to give things your best shot."

She looked up at everyone again. "So yes, 'normally' you would be heading into Combat Training now. I've decided against that, today. You'll be going into it tomorrow, and if some of you are still feeling sore and drained tomorrow, then that's a tough lesson that you'll need to shape up. The world out there doesn't wait for a time that's convenient to you. Villains won't wait until you've had your eight hours of sleep a night. But I'm your teacher, and I'm not going to burn you out on day one, and I'm not going to treat Combat Training like it's your priority."

"That's fair..." Yaoyorozu seemed to thinking aloud at the back. "As Heroes, saving people has to be our priority-"

"Precisely, Yaoyorozu. That means I'll be staggering it over the week. Combat Training tomorrow, and then Rescue Training later on. You'll get to go Plus Ultra in all of it, rather than feel you've overexerted yourself for one and can't give your best for the next. You'll get the full flavour of Heroics, and all the highlights of what we do here at UA, but in a manageable way. Plus come on..." Midnight shrugged to herself. "I need something good to mark you all on, right?"

"Excuse me?" Shiozaki's hand was raised at the back. "Midnight-sensei? What is the plan for this afternoon if we aren't to be taking part in Combat Training?"

"I'm glad you asked. This is a school, after all, so as much as it's a crazy world out there, let's not shy away from actually doing school stuff, shall we?" Midnight parked herself on the front desk and smirked. "How about... we elect your class representatives?"

A chorus of voices cried out in union in sheer relief that it was a normal school activity, closely followed by Tenko's distinctive voice calling. "Okay, how the hell did you all do that at the same time? What sort of bullshit programming led to that-"

"Okay, settle down." Midnight's whip was out, prompting everyone's excitement to die down immediately. "This usually gets chaotic, so I'm going to set some simple ground rules. You need to elect two representatives, your Class President and your Vice President, but you're only going to get one vote. Most votes gets President, second most gets Vice."

"Excuse me!" Iida seemed to shoot up from his chair, ramrod straight. "If everyone votes for themselves, we will have a twenty-person tie for President-"

"Thank you, Iida, you make a fair point. That's precisely why I wanted to step in now." Midnight gave them all a cool look. "You can't escape from ranking and popularity as future Heroes in the making. If you want to climb, you have to seize every opportunity you get. That said, while I'm not going to forbid you from doing it, I strongly discourage you from voting for yourself." The whip tapped against the desk, as if to emphasise her point. "Heroism isn't about egos, and it certainly isn't about putting yourself first all the time. I won't bar you from doing it, but... I'd consider thinking most about who would be good in the role, rather than whether you want it."

How badly do you want it, Izuku?

Izuku shook his head at the treacherous suggestion that he could vote for himself, in his own head. That just wasn't right. It was about putting others first, like Midnight said. "That's fair." He turned to Himiko. "I guess I need to decide who I'm voting for."

She looked him in the eye, and snorted. "Please don't tell me you're considering voting for me."

"..."

"Oh, Izu." She flushed slightly and smiled, but shook her head. "I don't want it, so as much as you're being cute, don't. I'd only step down from it even if I did get it, so vote for someone who's going to be good at it, okay?"

"... Okay, fine." Izuku smiled to himself at her little laugh beside him. So she was out? Who else-

"No bribery is a given, so I shouldn't have to say it, but one other rule?" Midnight's whip pointed at Monoma, and then Tenko. "Shimura and Monoma are excluded from the running as Class Representatives. They can still vote, but... any votes towards them aren't going to be counted. Boys, I know you know this already, but there's the punishment. Do try to keep in my good books from now on, won't you?"

"Party lead never suited me anyway." Tenko looked up, not worried in the slightest. "That's cool. I can take it."

"... Whatever." Monoma's sullen response made Izuku lean back a little. Clearly he hadn't taken the dressing down well.

"Well, I'm glad that's sorted." Midnight put the whip away and grabbed a box from under the desk. "Any more questions before we vote, or-"

"I GOT ONE, LADY!"

Izuku had seen Tokoyami's Quirk in action already during the tests in the morning, and so he didn't quite leap out of his skin like he had on first seeing it. Everyone had; the revelation that one of their classmate's Quirks was the harbouring of a sentient creature of darkness inside their very soul wasn't exactly what they had all been expecting at the long jump pit. That said, even after seeing it before, the sight of a billowing shadow emerging from his classmate's chest and taking demonic form in front of everyone wasn't exactly how he had imagined the voting would start. "D-Dark Shadow!"

Dark Shadow rose to its full height as best as it could in the confined space, and appeared to leer at Midnight. "CAN I GET A VOTE?"

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami called, looking completely embarrassed and trying to wrestle the cord that tethered the wayward Quirk to him. "This is not the time-"

"I can honestly say I've never had this before in my years of teaching." Midnight appeared to reach up and pat the shadow creature on the beak, making it preen from the attention. "Then again, I've never had a sentient Quirk in my class."

"SEE! SO ON THAT LOGIC, I SHOULD GET A SAY TOO!"

"C-Cursed demon..." Shiozaki seemed to be glaring from the back row, and Izuku remembered her terrified reaction during the Quirk Apprehension Test. It appeared she was quite religious, based on how she began to pray for Tokoyami's safety before the long jump. "And I suppose y-you would vote for your master, hmm?"

Dark Shadow swooped behind Tokoyami to face off with her. "HELL NO! I'M NOT VOTING FOR FUMI! HAVE YOU SEEN HOW QUIET HE IS? HE'D BE A SHIT PRESIDENT!" Dark Shadow took a second to stare at the vine-haired girl, and the sign of the cross she was making in front of herself. "... SERIOUSLY? WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO DO?"

"Right, before anyone starts performing an exorcism in my class," Midnight interrupted, and Izuku tried not to laugh as he saw Yanagi's shoulders slump at that, "I'll give Dark Shadow a vote, on the condition that he doesn't vote for Tokoyami, and that his vote doesn't count as a tiebreaker. It's still not the weirdest thing that's happened to me in a classroom, by a long way."

"SCORE!"

Tokoyami took a second from trying to bring down his Quirk like a wayward kite in a storm to stare blankly at Midnight. "Wait, what's the weirdest thing?"

"Never you mind." Midnight paused. "Am I going to regret asking if there are any other-"

"So, if Tokoyami gets an extra vote for Dark Shadow..." Setsuna's head, arms and lower legs detached themselves from her torso which remained in her chair, and hovered behind Iida. "Can I..."

"Setsuna, no," Izuku groaned, head slumping forward onto his desk.

"Setsuna, yes. Come on, my Quirk should get a little more than one vote, don't ya think?"

"Tokage, your Lizard Tail Splitter is an amazing Quirk, but I'm not allowing it." Midnight shook her head at the exaggerated groan from the back of the class, disbelieving. "Right, on that note, I'm not allowing any more questions before anyone tries something stupid. Hagakure, I'm giving you the voting slips, take one and pass them backwards. Put your name and your vote on your slip, then come up here and put it in the box. I'll give you ten minutes!"

As Monoma handed back the paper to Izuku, Izuku paused before he realised just how determined the other boy appeared to be that he wasn't going to make any contact with Izuku, whipping his hand away in an instant. Midnight's comments to Monoma, whatever they had been, clearly had resulted in some desire to keep distance from Izuku, and as far as he was concerned that could only be a good thing for him.

Passing the voting slips to Kodai with a small smile, he looked down at the paper and wondered what he could do. Not voting for Setsuna would result in her throwing something at him, but she would be chaos, and he wouldn't pick her over Himiko who had already told him not to vote for her. Even as much as Izuku wanted to do something nice for her, she had a point with what she had said. He should pick someone who would be good at the job, and there were a few good options out there in the class for that.

Don't sell yourself short. You could do it too.

... No. He wouldn't entertain that idea. It was a nice one, for sure, if people within the class wanted him to be the one they came to when they had problems. But he certainly wouldn't be able to keep a low profile in a position like that, as he wanted to try to do with his Quirk, and he probably wasn't the best person to come to about stuff like that. Compared to the maturity of people like Iida, Kendo, Yaoyorozu and Shiozaki, he probably didn't have a chance anyway.

As Himiko received her slip and immediately scribbled beside him, Izuku smiled, reflecting on the fact that they had a good group of people in the class, on the whole. Whoever got it, he was sure they would do a great job.

(***)

Midnight finished tallying the votes on her tablet, the last scrap of paper voting slip being carefully placed back into the box, and leaned back in her chair with a wide grin. "Well, well. How invigorating!"

Izuku could feel the tension vibrating in the air as the noise of people chatting to their neighbours died down, and he leaned forward, genuinely curious as to how things would go. There were a few people who had quite hopeful looks on their faces, who clearly looked like they wanted the position, and to his relief that included the person he had voted for. It was nice to know his vote was in the right place.

Midnight fixed them with a look. "So, I'm going to go from fourth place up, and I'll say who placed in what position, with the people who voted for them." As a few murmurs started up, she held a hand aloft to silence the class. "What, did you think I'd keep this all secret? Isn't it much more interesting when you know who in the class wanted to give you the chance? Maybe you can make friends with people you never expected would be in your corner, hmm?"

"That's actually kinda fun!" Hagakure said, one sleeve of her uniform cheerfully waving in the air to give everyone a hint as to where she was. "So we can talk after, and get to know more people besides the ones we knew from before, right?"

"That's the spirit!" Midnight chuckled to herself. "Quite interestingly, I didn't have to sort through a load of individuals with one vote, so thank you for that. On that basis, fourth place upwards had more than one vote per person, so I'll focus on them. And without further ado, fourth place with two votes... is Tokage!"

"Woo!" Setsuna, true to form, clapped herself despite not getting the position, and Izuku tried not to laugh at his cousin's antics. "Close enough!"

"Right..." Midnight fixed her with a look. "You know, of course, who one of those votes came from, don't you?"

"She knows..." Izuku realised what his teacher meant, and he spun around to look at Setsuna. "You voted for YOURSELF?!"

Ignoring the hubbub that arose around her, Setsuna shrugged, toothy grin on full display. "Hey, Midnight said she discouraged us from voting for ourselves, she never said she forbid us. Can you blame a girl from trying? And anyway, I was student council president at Fondo before I came here- I kinda enjoyed it! Why wouldn't I want to do it here?"

"..." Izuku slumped forward at his desk. "You're so lame."

"See, what did I tell you? Student council head?" Himiko couldn't stop laughing. "She's as much a nerd as the rest of us."

"Hey, I'm nowhere near as bad as Zuzu over there!" Setsuna turned to Tenko beside her. "Wait, Midnight said I got two votes? Aw, Ten. Did you really-"

"Uh..." Tenko shifted awkwardly in his seat, and picked at the edge of his desk with a gloved hand, as silence descended. "Oops."

"Trouble in paradise," Tokoyami muttered besides Izuku, and the snort of laughter from Himiko and Dark Shadow nearly broke Izuku's complete poker face too.

"Ha! You traitor. If you've done what I think you've done I can't say I blame you, but damn. Real supportive of your girl, huh?" Setsuna shot Tenko a mocking look, and Izuku inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that the two of them weren't going to fall out over that- Setsuna was a good sport, and from the look on her face, she hadn't taken it badly at all. "So if Tenko didn't vote for me, Midnight-sensei, who did?"

"YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE IT!" Dark Shadow chose that moment to swoop over the heads of everyone and linger in front of Setsuna, holding a clawed hand up to her. "YOU SAW WHAT I DID AND THOUGHT YOU'D TRY AND DO THE SAME? GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE, PARTNER!"

"There's your answer," Midnight said, trying and failing to keep a straight face. "Dark Shadow and Setsuna Tokage, for Setsuna Tokage. Two votes."

"... Heh. I like this bird already." Setsuna took the high-five and smirked. "Whatever the rest of the results now, I feel like I've won, and none of you can change that."

"DREAM TEAM!"

"An unholy alliance," Shiozaki murmured, from the back of the class, and Izuku couldn't help but agree with her just a little.

"Anyway... moving on from the comedy act in fourth, I think you'll all be interested to know we actually had a tie in third." Midnight rolled her eyes at the antics going on, but didn't do anything to stop them. "One of those, with the votes of Monoma, Honenuki and Shiozaki, is our very own... Kendo!"

"Aw, really?" The martial artist with the impressive Big Fist Quirk that Izuku had marvelled over during the strength tests looked a little embarrassed at the result, but gave a wave in the direction of the three people who voted for her. "Can't say I was expecting that, but thank you! Who did I tie with?"

"I'm glad you asked. With the votes of Yanagi, Shoji and Midoriya-" Izuku perked up at the mention of his name, not expecting to hear that so soon- "and tied in third place, it's... Iida!"

"It was an honour to receive your votes!" Despite looking bitterly disappointed at coming in third, Izuku's new friend rose to bow stiffly in his direction, and towards the other two who voted for him. "I appreciate you putting your faith in me, and wish the successful representatives all the best."

"Woah..." Izuku sat back, as Iida took his seat again, half talking to Himiko and half talking to himself. "I would have thought he was guaranteed to get at least one of the roles."

"I came to the same conclusion as you, Midoriya." Yanagi's voice was soft and eloquent, and he wasn't expecting her to turn around from her seat in front of Himiko and address him, pushing her fringe out of her face as she did so. "His passion for his education and desire to be a model student comes across rather strong, more so than anyone else here. I believed someone with his desire to achieve and his organisation would have been a natural fit for the role."

"Exactly!" Izuku nodded at her, grateful she managed to sum it up better than he could. "Both of them would have been great for the job-"

"If you're all ready for the big reveals..." Midnight's voice drew attention back to her again, and she coughed, ready for the flourish. "That leaves our second place student, with four votes, to take the role of Class Vice President. With the votes of Ashido, Hagakure and both of our third place candidates Iida and Kendo... it's Yaoyorozu!"

Izuku hadn't spoken much to the girl since they started at school, as she seemed to have mostly kept the company of Kendo and Shiozaki during the day; it was hard not to be a little in awe of her, even without the realisation that she was the heiress to the Yaoyorozu hero dynasty, a family so rich it had considerable ties to support item manufacturers across Japan. Her Creation Quirk had been remarkable to witness in action in the tests in the morning and Izuku wanted to learn so much more about what she was capable of. She seemed, from what he could tell of her so far, to be genuinely nice, and it was clear from the way she was gratefully thanking those who voted for her that it meant a lot to her. "I... thought she might win."

"Over Iida? Nah, I'm a little surprised." Himiko's eyes widened, and she grinned. "Oh. So that means..."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just... gonna enjoy this." She sat back in her chair, leaning so far back that it touched Tokoyami's desk, and winked at him. "Surprise."

"Wait-"

"And so, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen of Class 1A..." Midnight paused for dramatic effect, clearly soaking up the attention on her with a grin as several people leaned forward. "It's my pleasure to announce your Class President, with six votes. With the votes of Tetsutetsu, Kirishima, Shimura, Tokoyami, Kodai and Toga..." The bullwhip in her hand cracked once, and then pointed right between his eyes. "Well done... Midoriya."

... I love democracy.

"Wait, what?!" Izuku's head whipped to her, whipped to Himiko, whipped to the back of the room where Tenko was grinning like an idiot, and whipped back to Midnight. "M-M-Me?!"

"Is there another Midoriya in this class?" Midnight asked, voice heavy with sarcasm. "Well done. Six votes is a pretty comprehensive victory, young man."

"Eh, let's call it five," Tenko called from the back of the class, pointing at a grinning Kirishima and Tetsutetsu. "I'm still not convinced these two aren't two halves of the same person."

"Hey! How could I not pick Midoriya after how manly he was in the test?!" Tetsutetsu cried, raising a fist above his head. "That's my Class President!"

"He got us all to go Plus Ultra!" Kirishima also had a fist raised and a spiky-toothed grin on his face. "That's a man I want to be like!"

"... See? I just can't decide which one is the original and which one is the remastered version."

Izuku shook his head in disbelief, turning to Himiko. "But I th-thought you said not to vote for you! Why did you vote for-"

"You shouldn't need to ask that, Izu." Her smile was bright, and so were her eyes. "And you never said I couldn't vote for you, anyway."

"I..." She had a point. "But I-"

"Hey, don't tell me you don't deserve it." Her eyes met his, and he was struck for a second of how much pride they contained. "You're gonna be great, Izu."

"Mm." Kodai behind him had been silent the whole time, but hearing her make that noise, her normally impassive face seemed to twitch ever so slightly to look happier than usual, and she nodded. "... Well done."

"Indeed, I have faith in you, Midoriya." Tokoyami gave him a stoic nod too. "I wish you all the best with it."

"Guys, I..." Izuku trailed off, completely unsure what to say as the expectant gazes of the rest of the class turned his way. He didn't feel ready in the slightest to be the one that they all looked to, to be the one they came to with their problems. For some reason these people, his friends, had seen something in him that made them want him to be the centre of their attention. It completely wasn't what he had been after when he started at UA, completely not the role he would have put himself forward for at all. He didn't think it was a good idea for him to be their Class President at all...

And yet the pinnacle may not be so bad. A network of those around you to support you on your path forward, to look to you... is no bad thing.

Izuku's often treacherous mind could come up with some strange (and sometimes surprisingly dark) thoughts that were completely unlike how he normally felt. However, what was weird about that thought was that for once, it actually stuck by him. Maybe there was something in it. Since developing his Quirk, he had always said that he wanted to try to go to UA and follow in All Might's footsteps, to become a new Symbol for the world after Incident Zero.

To become that sort of figure, he would need to rise to the top. He would need to prove himself, to stand out among his peers. Maybe the fact that his classmates had already supposedly seen enough in him to want him to be their President, their outlet and their champion, was a good thing. He could embrace it for the opportunity it was, and he in turn would benefit from becoming closer with them as they came to him.

People had put faith in him. To not accept that and prove himself would be a step backwards, a reminder of the past and how he hid away, just hoping that he could get by without people like Bakugo paying much attention. He couldn't let people down.

He wouldn't let them down.

"I..." Izuku swallowed, nervously, and looked up to Midnight. "Thank you, everyone. I'll do it."

"Such determination to do a good job! Ooh!" Midnight appeared to swoon, and it took Izuku a second to realise she had actually seriously done it. "Now I appreciate this may be new territory for you, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, but I promise on behalf of all of the staff that we will be gentle as we teach you what you need to do-"

"P-Pardon?!" Shiozaki spluttered from the back row. "Midnight-sensei, did you just-"

"R-Rated Heroine, remember?" Midnight's grin was feral. "Oh Shiozaki, you're so pure. I'm going to love this next year."

"... May the Lord have mercy upon my soul."

"Anyway..." Midnight clearly didn't want to push Shiozaki any further, and turned back to both Izuku and Yaoyorozu. "You'll have student council duties later in the week, and all sorts of roles in homeroom which we will go over at the time you need to do them. For now, the only thing that remains is an introduction."

"An... introduction?" Yaoyorozu asked, her eyebrows knitted in a frown. "To whom?"

Midnight's response was to clear her throat and turn towards the door. "You can come in now, sir. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, but I couldn't wait! Please accept my apologies, Midnight!"

The entire room had turned to stare at the classroom door, but the voice that responded to Midnight, high-pitched and cheerful, stunned them all by coming from behind them, at the very back corner of the classroom by Yaoyorozu's desk. As Izuku and everyone span around, the sight was unmistakeable, as one of the most famous and notorious faces in all of Japan now stood on a chair underneath the window. Not even a metre tall, clad in a ridiculously well-tailored suit and tall shoes, and with silky white fur blemished only by the scar over his right eye, there could be nobody else quite like him in the world, and Izuku found himself taking a breath in awe. "No way! That's-"

"The final boss," Tenko breathed, also in awe across the classroom.

Despite everything that's happened... he still remains here.

"Hahaha! I could be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but most importantly... I'm the Principal!" Principal Nezu, the controversial chimera who had withdrawn UA from the influence of the Hero Commission and effectively turned the school into his own Hero Agency so that it would survive untouched, gave a cheerful wave to the room, and bounced on the chair. "Greetings, Class 1A! I see you have elected your Representatives. They'll be spending some time with me on the student council, so I thought I'd swing by and say hello!"

"Okay, is anyone going to ask how he got over there without opening the window, or without us seeing him-"

"Awase, one of my closest friends used to drive himself mad trying to answer those sorts of questions," Midnight said, with a long sigh. "It's best left unknown, dear boy."

Nezu had decided to completely ignore his colleague, in favour of offering a paw to Yaoyorozu for a handshake. "Miss Yaoyorozu, it is a pleasure to see you at UA and a pleasure to welcome you as Class Vice President for the Hero Course this year. I hope your mother is keeping well? If I remember correctly, she studied here at this school-"

"In the Support Course, Principal Nezu," Yaoyorozu beamed. "She said that she remembered you as a teacher, but never had any classes with you."

"Is that so? It's a shame. She would have been one of the few able to keep up with my more advanced classes at the time." Nezu beamed at her, a weird look on the face of a small mammal. "Do pass on my regards to her and your father when you next speak."

"I certainly will, sir!"

"Right! And now, young Midoriya!" Before Izuku could even blink, the chimera was standing on his desk, and Izuku took a moment to even process how the creature had moved so fast to appear in front of him. "Congratulations are in order for your performance this morning. Your Quirk managed some spectacular results, if my reports are correct?"

"O-Oh!" Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, I m-may have gone a little overboard-"

"There's plenty more students who could say the same over the years at UA. Why, All Might himself once studied here! Can you imagine what he did to a training ground?" Nezu's voice was cheerful and melodic, and the smile on the face of the chimera was disarming. Izuku couldn't shake the air of familiarity, which was strange in of itself- this was the first time he had met Nezu, after all- but he wrote it off to seeing so much of Nezu in press conferences growing up, especially after Incident Zero. There was nobody quite like him after all. "You seemed to have inspired a few people here. That's a good quality to have so early, Midoriya. I'm impressed."

"T-Thank you, Principal Nezu!" Izuku nodded, enthusiastically. "I'll do my best as Class President, I promise-"

"I don't doubt that you will. I look forward to working with you, Class President!" Nezu stretched out a paw, offering it to shake. "To the year ahead?"

Izuku took the paw, and at the moment he did looked up, and saw into Nezu's eyes. For a moment he was taken aback by the depth of emotion and wisdom he saw in them. Nezu was a unique creature, that much anyone could tell you- Quirked animals were a rarity in the world, and certainly none of the ones that had been identified elsewhere possessed something as powerful as High Spec, boosting their intelligence to beyond human levels. But it was so much more than intelligence that Izuku saw; so much emotion, so much heaviness as if burdened by knowledge that could break the earth, and surprisingly, so much pain. Izuku saw the look buried deep in those eyes, and recognised it from his own path- the eyes of someone who had suffered, and would never quite tell the full story as to how.

Izuku blinked as he came to his senses, and realised that he had held onto the paw for a handshake a second too long, held onto Nezu's stare for a second too long, he blinked again and let go, stammering awkwardly. "S-Sorry! T-To the year ahead!"

Nezu laughed, a tinkling little laugh, and a flash of mirth lit up in those beady eyes, completing masking any trace of what Izuku might have glimpsed. "That's quite alright, Midoriya. I can tell this is going to be a very exciting year!"

"If you're quite finished with my students, now..." Midnight had been patiently waiting, the rest of the class seemingly transfixed by the mammal at the same time. "I'd like to get all the less exciting things like timetables and Development Studio access out of the way before lessons properly start tomorrow."

"Oh, of course! Silly me. I am rather intruding now, aren't I?" Nezu hopped off of Izuku's desk and ambled down to the front of the classroom, where Midnight very graciously scooped him up and allowed him a spot on her desk to address everyone. "Please accept my apologies for not coming to speak to each and every one of you, but I wouldn't want to get in the way any longer. All I ask, dear students, is that you remember that my office is always open should you ever have concerns, or want to come for a talk or some guidance. I may even share a pot of tea with you, if I feel generous-"

"If he does, tell me. He's not offered me one in eight years." Midnight rolled her eyes, and waved as Nezu hopped off of the desk and made his way to the door with a chuckle. "I'll see you after school, sir."

As the door clicked shut behind Nezu, several people began to mutter, before Tenko's voice cut across the rest of them. "So that's what the final boss is. Midnight-sensei?"

"Hmm?"

"Has he ever confirmed what he actually is? When he asks if he's a dog or a mouse or a bear?"

"No, and I doubt he ever will. So don't go running any bets on it." Tenko looked crestfallen, but Midnight continued on. "Toga, your hand is up?"

"Uh, yeah." Himiko looked distracted, to Izuku's great surprise. "Do you know where-"

"The bathroom is? Second door down on the end of the corridor. We'll take a five minute break for you all to have a chat and a rest if needs be, and then we'll come back to start talking about your normal lesson timetables. English, History, Mathematics, etc." As a mutual groan went out, and Himiko rose from her seat to walk out of the classroom, Midnight tried not to laugh. "Come on, guys, you're at a school, remember? We had to do them at some point!"

As the noise grew, and the door clicked shut behind Himiko, Izuku sat back and relaxed. Tenko and Setsuna were both coming over with a big grin on their face, closely followed by Iida and Tetsutetsu who waved; it seemed like they wanted to congratulate him on the win, and before anything else happened he allowed himself a little smile.

That was... certainly unexpected. He wouldn't in a million years have imagined even getting one vote in that kind of contest a couple of years ago, so to have enough to win a class representative role was completely beyond him. Now, he had the chance to really make something of himself, to make more friends and get the most out of being at UA. And if people trusted him enough to give him that role, he wouldn't throw away such an opportunity and mess it up any time soon.

Class President had a nice ring to it, really.

(***)

The bathroom was the second door down on the end of the corridor, but just in case any of her classmates decided to take advantage of the break, Himiko avoided it. It wasn't what she needed, really. What she needed was somewhere quiet.

She found that a little further down the corridor, and when she saw it she realised just how perfect it was. UA had cut down considerably on the number of classes it ran per year, with the Hero Course being cut to one and General Studies being cut to one not long after Incident Zero. What transpired since was that UA's General Studies course had become incredibly unappealing, in the wake of rising anti-Hero sentiment and continued pressure against UA by the Hero Commission. Most students had looked at the troubled UA and, no matter how historic and prestigious, decided that their general education needs would be better suited elsewhere, more often than not in schools not linked to Heroes and therefore not potential targets for the growing number of villains.

Classroom C looked like it hadn't seen anyone in a few years, the door ajar and swinging open on a light touch to reveal dusty and undisturbed desks. It was practically a museum piece, and it was a perfect little hideaway to be able to avoid being disturbed.

Finally, she could answer her damn phone. Only two people had the number of the phone tucked into the holster on her thigh (it felt weird to replace her knife, but there was no way she could argue it was school appropriate), and yet the phone had been consistently ringing for the past few minutes during Principal Nezu's arrival into their class. Calling her on that number during the day? Something was up, and she needed to know.

She retrieved her phone, tucked the door shut behind her, and picked up the call. "You know I'm supposed to be in class, right?"

"... You're taking this call in class?"

She groaned, exasperated at Spinner's complete inability to understand sometimes. "Supposed to be, big bro. I stepped out for a toilet break just to get this, because you didn't stop ringing me-"

"I wouldn't call if it wasn't important, okay?" Spinner huffed on the other end of the line, before composing himself. "It's the Yakuza. That warehouse we found out?"

Now he had her attention. "W-What about it?"

"We got new intelligence from monitoring them. They're moving it all out tonight and packing up the warehouse. I'm not sure why, but they're going somewhere new, I think."

She whistled softly to herself, surprised. "That's... sooner than we thought."

"A lot sooner." The rasping voice made her smile, as she realised Spinner had put his phone onto speaker. "Himiko, if we want to do anything, we need to go tonight. It's a short window, and I don't want to interfere, but I need to know if you still want to come-"

"Hell yeah." She didn't even need to hear the rest. Her mind had been made up a long time ago. "I can't go as far as you, Chizome, but I wanna help. We've got enough blood to get through it, so... let me come, okay?"

"... Good. I'm glad you're coming too." The appreciative tone in Stain's voice was clear, as was the sound of him unsheathing his sword on the other end of the phone. "Get home by six. We'll go over the plan then. For now, go. Don't risk yourself with UA any more."

Himiko rolled her eyes at the irony, coming from the two who had been calling her to get her to speak to them during UA school hours. "Sure. Later, Chizome."

The line went quiet, and Himiko took a deep breath in, the news coming suddenly to her. She had known this was coming for quite some time, and she hadn't changed her mind about wanting to take part; no matter the risks, it was just too important when they were working so hard to try and take down the filthy Yakuza thugs dealing Trigger in the dark. That said, it didn't change the weight of it happening tonight, and she knew she wouldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day, partly from nerves and partly out of excitement.

Himiko stashed her phone away, straightened her skirt, and began to head back to class with her head spinning. Finally, tonight they got to make the move, and try to make the Shie Hassaikai bleed.

(***)

A/N: What do you mean, Guz, you wrote normal school activities? Outrageous.

In all seriousness, one of the things I really wanted to change up here was the schedule, to try to reflect Midnight being a slightly more caring teacher than Eraserhead (don't get me wrong, he's a great teacher, but he's a right bastard in the start). It seemed nuts to me that what appeared to be UA Day 1 had the Quirk Apprehension and the Battle Trial, and so I'm splitting the two up.

I'm also keeping a slightly more popular Izuku as class representative, because ultimately (as one reviewer pointed out) he is more sociable here. He's not completely unused to the attention because he's had Tenko and Setsuna and Himiko to deal with, and he's not going to give it all away. And besides, a position of authority in a hierarchy? For the holder of All For One? It's no less than the Quirk deserves, right?

Next chapter isn't an Izuku chapter, and neither is the one after that. To be clear, I've been building up to Stain vs the Yakuza for quite some time, and so that's coming very soon. Next chapter I want to touch base with someone else, and slightly stagger into the raid, but then... we get the Hero Killer squad trying to strike a blow at the Shie Hassaikai. That really can't end well for someone, can it?

As ever, if you enjoyed this please feel free to review- I love hearing your thoughts and theories and I always welcome what people think of the newer cast members in 1A, as I really want to get them right. We're so close to 1400 followers and 1200 favourites, and we're nearly at 700 reviews: those stats are madness and honestly I'm so grateful for all the attention this gets. If you haven't already, please consider a follow and favourite on this story, and feel free to consider my other work too!

Until next time, folks. Ya boy is out.

Guzma