Izuku stood in front of the giant door to class 1-A- his class- mentally preparing himself. Inside would be some of the top students in the country, those bound to do great things in life, even if they ultimately decided that the Hero Industry wasn't for them. He wouldn't lie to himself; he was rather intimidated, regardless of the fact that he hadn't even met them yet.

Logically, he knew that very few of them were likely to be malicious, if any. However, after growing up in the same class as Bakugou Katsuki, Izuku had a rather skewed view of talented students. All he could really do was hope that their powerful Quirks and success in school hadn't made them as arrogant and conceited as his childhood bully. After all, this wasn't a dungeon. If someone made him uncomfortable, he couldn't just jam a dagger in their throat and call it a day. Here, he'd have to use his words, or risk being expelled. As someone whose voice had been muffled for just about his entire life, though, he didn't have much confidence in his ability to solve his problems civilly.

Maybe if I don't say anything to anyone, they'll leave me alone…?

Izuku sighed. That had never worked on Bakugou- only pissed the ash-blond off something fierce. Although, most of the bullying he'd experienced had been a result of being Quirkless. While he technically still was Quirkless, his Awakening could be passed off as one, so his classmates at least wouldn't have that to hold against him.

I really hope Bakugou's not in my class, but there's no doubt he got into UA. What if he tells everyone I used to be Quirkless?

"Um… Excuse me, are you going to go in?" someone asked from behind him. Izuku twitched, glancing over his shoulder. It was a short girl with brown hair that hung just above her shoulders, except for her bangs. There were these weird pink marks on her cheeks, like she'd stamped permanent blush onto her face. She looked cute enough, but then, so had a few of his female junior high classmates, and they'd ended up being some of his most vicious bullies.

"Yeah. Sorry." Izuku's voice was scratchy from nerves.

Okay, maybe I can't go for the entirety of high school without saying anything, but I can definitely keep it below ten words.

He slid open the giant- seriously, it was huge- door, and stepped into the classroom, keeping his eyes pointed at the linoleum floor. Some of his more volatile bullies took making eye contact as a challenge, and something so simple had led to more than a handful of beatings, so Izuku wanted to be extra careful not to cause any problems.

Of course, that was no longer possible when he read the seating assignment hung on the blackboard at the front of the room, and discovered he was placed right behind Bakugou Katsuki. His shoulders slumped a bit.

Kami hates me.

Izuku trudged to his seat as somberly as a death row inmate, doing his best to ignore the way Bakugou's heated glare tried to bore a hole into his skull.

Don't say anything, don't say anything, don't-

"Oi, Deku."

God fucking dammit.

Izuku shuffled past Bakugou, thoughtlessly avoiding the low-key swipe at his arm, and eased himself into his seat. He pulled his phone out, opening up the Hero Forums through sheer muscle memory, but he couldn't concentrate on anything his eyes passed over, the continuous stream of curses echoing too loudly in his mind for him to focus.

A crackling sound made Izuku stiffen. He wouldn't be hurt (couldn't be hurt, really) by Bakugou, but this wasn't Orudera. If the hateful teen used his Quirk on Izuku, they would probably both be thrown out; Bakugou for breaking UA's anti-bullying rules, and Izuku because he was Izuku.

"Stop fucking ignoring me, Deku," Bakugou hissed, turning to sit sideways in his chair, slamming an elbow on Izuku's desk. The green-haired boy pointedly kept his gaze on his phone, but his internal panic was skyrocketing to an all-time high. If Bakugou actually attacked him when he was so stressed, Izuku didn't know what he'd do. Maybe he'd just take it, stunned beyond belief at the lack of impulse control. At the opposite end of the spectrum, he might lash out in turn, accidentally killing the bully, and that would be the end of it.

"Oi, shitty Deku!" Bakugou barked, raising his hand to slam it on Izuku's desk in a puff of smoke- a favorite intimidation tactic of his.

[Dominator's Touch] activated.

Writhing emerald wisps surrounded both Izuku and Bakugou's hands, stopping the blond cold.

"Wha-!?"

[Bloodlust] activated.

Bakugou's voice died down to an involuntary whimper, and Izuku smiled at him tightly. "Please stop making a scene," he murmured, lowly enough that only Bakugou could hear. The blond only nodded shakily, turning around the instant Izuku released the telekinetic hold on his hand. Izuku could barely make out the shaking of his shoulders through the somewhat-thick uniform jacket.

Satisfied that the situation was dealt with (at least for now, Bloodlust might be Level 3, but it still only lasted for five minutes), Izuku cast a covert glance around the room. A few people were peering at him curiously, probably wondering what he'd done to make the obviously-hostile Bakugou stop his shit, but otherwise, they weren't paying attention to him. Izuku sighed in relief; crisis averted.

The door opened once more, and seeing as all the desks were already filled, Izuku could only assume that the man that walked in was their teacher. It seemed a bit unlikely, though, considering he looked homeless. Long, shaggy hair, an untrimmed beard, and black clothes. A roll of bandages hung around his neck like a scarf, and he was dragging a yellow sack behind him. The man stood in front of the podium, sipping quietly from a juice pack as he waited for the rest of the students to stop talking. When they did, he sighed raggedly.

"It took you twelve seconds to quiet down," the man rasped. "You kids simply aren't rational- you can't waste time like that. I'm Aizawa Shouta. I'll be your homeroom teacher. It's a bit sudden, but we'll be going outside now. Follow me to the locker rooms, and get changed into the track suits provided. Then meet me on the field."

With that, Aizawa-sensei shuffled out of the classroom, leaving stunned silence in his wake.

Apparently, Aizawa-sensei really wasn't the type of guy who liked to waste time, because they were already doing a Quirk Assessment.

"What about the Entrance Ceremony, or Orientation?" the brown-haired girl with pink cheeks from earlier asked. Izuku was wondering the same thing- would he have to use trial and error to figure out how to navigate the labyrinthine building?

"If you're going to become a Hero, you don't have time for such leisurely activities," Aizawa-sensei responded drolly. "U.A's selling point is the amount of freedom the students have- of course, that goes for the teachers as well, and that includes skipping useless stuff. Anyways, this is basically one of those physical fitness tests you've been doing since Junior High, except this time, you'll be able to use your Quirks."

"As expected of U.A's Hero Course- we'll be able to use our Quirks as much as we want!" One student said.

"This looks like it'll be really fun!" Another chirped. Aizawa-sensei twitched at that, and Izuku would bet money that he was hiding a frown behind his scarf. However, the man didn't say anything to broadcast his irritation, instead instructing them to get ready for the tests.

Up first was the classic 50-meter dash. The physical fitness test had been held before Izuku's Awakening last year, so his scores for that were pretty bad. He was kinda excited to see numerical proof that he'd improved, even if there was no doubt that he was basically a completely different person.

Some of his classmates did pretty well, like the blue-haired boy who'd harassed him at the Entrance Exam. He had Engines in his calves, so he was basically made for this kinda stuff. Then, there was the brown-haired girl, who tapped her tracksuit and shoes with glowing pink fingertips, and proceeded to run normally. Izuku had no idea what her Quirk was. Something that reduced weight, maybe?

Izuku was up fourth, next to Bakugou. He elected not to use the provided foot pedestal, instead sinking into a crouch, most of his weight on his front foot in preparation for an explosive first step.

"You're gonna eat my fucking dust, shitty Deku!" Bakugou growled, looking straight ahead down the track. Izuku ignored him.

[Sprint] activated.

"On your mark…" the robot announced. Izuku leaned forward in anticipation.

"Get set…" He tensed his front leg.

The gunshot sounded, and Izuku blurred forward, vanishing to the eyes of his classmates.

"0.1 seconds!"

He reappeared at the end of the track, skidding to a halt, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Straightening up, Izuku glanced back at Bakugou, who was frozen in place, staring at him wide-eyed. The green-haired teen held his gaze for just a moment, before moving back to his place in the line.

A series of Explosions propelled Bakugou across the finish line, clocking in at 5.49 seconds, but he didn't stop there. Instead, he rocketed straight for Izuku, reaching out to grab the back of the taller boy's collar and yank him backwards. Of course, Izuku simply turned to the side, easily avoiding it, but Bakugou wasn't deterred. The blond landed heavily, face set in a rictus of fury.

"Goddamned Deku! What the fuck was that!? Since when did you have a Quirk, you piece of shit!?"

Izuku just leaned back, hands in front of him like a barrier. He said nothing, letting Bakugou vent. He glanced at Aizawa-sensei, who was staring at the spectacle with a blank face rather than moving to break it up. Izuku sighed- another teacher who just didn't care.

Surprisingly, though, Aizawa-sensei did act when Bakugou drew back his hand, Quirk flaring. The ribbon scarf lashed out, wrapping around the bully and restraining him effortlessly. Meanwhile, Aizawa's eyes had begun glowing red, and his hair was floating. Hanging from his neck, now visible with the scarf out of the way, was a pair of yellow, slitted goggles that Izuku recognized as belonging to a little-known Underground Hero.

"Eraserhead…" he muttered, more than a little shocked. Aizawa-sensei seemed to hear him, and his eyes flickered to Izuku for a scant moment, but they turned back to Bakugou quickly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aizawa-sensei asked menacingly. Bakugou glared back, unfazed. He tugged against the capture gear to no avail. "Jeez. Making me use my Quirk for something like this- I have dry eye!" he barked.

Izuku almost laughed at the unexpected turn of events. For an amazing Quirk like Erasure, which relied on the user's eyes, it seemed like such a waste.

Aizawa released Bakugou, once he was sure the blond was done acting out. "Whoever's up next, go. We're wasting time."

The second test was grip strength. Aizawa-sensei led them to an indoor gymnasium nearby, and rolled a cart of sensors out of the storage room. Everyone grabbed one quickly, and spread out across the polished wood floor. Already, some groups were forming, certain students simply gravitating towards each other. As to be expected, Izuku was alone, so he just focused on the device in his hand.

"It's U.A, so they've probably got some pretty high-quality equipment, right? I guess I can just go all out, then," Izuku muttered to himself, squeezing the grip meter.

Crunch!

"...Eh?"

He uncurled his fist, watching with dread as shards of plastic and metal fell to the floorboards.

"You broke it?" a raspy voice asked, and Izuku felt his soul leave his body. He immediately turned to his teacher, bending at the waist in an overly proper bow.

"I- I'm sorry! I didn't think it would… I'll pay for the replacement!" he promised.

"It's fine," Aizawa-sensei said, waving him off. "They can pay for hundreds of robots with the sole purpose of being destroyed by a buncha loud brats. U.A's budget can handle something like this."

Izuku swallowed nervously, not entirely believing him, but also not sure the man would waste time lying about something this insignificant. "O-Okay, then. Um… Am I going to get a score?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah. They only go up to 999 kilograms, so I'll just mark that. You're not the first to ever break one."

That was a slight relief. Izuku relaxed a bit, nodding shakily. His part done, he glanced around the gymnasium once more, noticing a few students crowding around a large, multi-armed boy. With his high Sense, he could hear them chattering excitedly about him getting 540 kilograms despite not being very close to them. Izuku casually folded his arms behind his back, inconspicuously hiding the broken meter.

Luckily, nobody had tried to ask him about his incredible score on the 50-meter dash (they were too stunned to even consider it), but he didn't want to tempt them.

The less he interacted with his classmates, the better.

The third test was the standing long jump. The sand pit was 10 meters across, and there didn't seem to be any way to measure how far someone landed beyond that, so Izuku guiltily half-assed it, landing about 15 meters away from the starting spot. He could've gone further- much, much further- but again, there wasn't much point.

The fourth test was repeated side steps. Izuku did decently. He had just under 300 Agility, which definitely helped, but he still only came second, after a tiny kid with grapes for hair.

During the fifth test, the ball throw, Izuku saw something truly amazing. The brown-haired girl with pink cheeks threw the ball, and it never came back down. Eventually, Aizawa-sensei showed them his phone. Instead of a number, it displayed the infinity symbol.

Did she remove the gravity of the ball? Izuku wondered. She'd floated herself across the standing long jump in a similar fashion, but Izuku hadn't connected the dots.

Well, as interesting as her Quirk was, there wasn't any point in thinking too much about it at the moment. It was his turn, after all. Aizawa-sensei handed him a new ball (there was no way they were ever getting the previous one back), and Izuku walked over to the circle. He tossed the ball up and down a few times, the slight weight settling easily into his palm.

It's not that heavy. If I just throw it, it'll be slowed down by air resistance before it goes very far. I could maybe get 700 meters before that happened, like Bakugou, but it would probably go further if I tried something else.

"Rise."

From the darkness behind him rose one of his Shadow Wolves. This one had heavy scars, showing as glowing emerald-green gashes against its black skin. It was rather large- even sitting on its haunches, wagging its tail happily as it waited for orders, it was about as tall as Izuku. Standing, its shoulders were probably higher than his.

Izuku gently pushed the ball into his servant's mouth, and pointed in front of him, knowing the wolf would understand. With a shake of its shaggy mane, the beast took off in a harried sprint, powerful legs sending it bounding off past the treeline quickly. Before long, it was completely out of sight, leaving the class staring off into the distance.

"Midoriya, how far can that thing go?" Aizawa-sensei asked.

"Um… I don't know," Izuku admitted. "I don't think there is a limit, really. It'll keep going until I call it back."

Aizawa nodded. "I'll mark you down the same as Uraraka. You can get back in line." Because of her infinity score, the brown-haired girl- Uraraka- was going to be given the next highest score, plus one. He was more than satisfied with that. Unfortunately, it seemed like this was the straw that broke the camel's back, and his classmates had finally become curious enough about his unorthodox abilities that someone asked.

"Hey, what exactly is your Quirk?" a blond with a black lightning bolt pattern in his hair asked. "It looked like you teleported in the 50-meter dash, but now you have minions? Do you have, like, two Quirks?"

"There was the standing long jump, too," cut in a black-haired boy with tape dispensers on his elbows. "You did that without either of those. Maybe it's a Physical Enhancement Quirk?"

"I saw him break the grip meter because he squeezed it too hard," offered the tiny, grape-headed boy. "Super-strength, teleportation, and some sorta summoning? Does that mean he has three Quirks?"

WIth every word, Izuku's posture grew stiffer and stiffer. This was it. Before, he was a freak because he didn't have a Quirk. Now, he'd be a freak for having too many Quirks. He clenched his fists, wishing to god there was something he could hit to stop the inevitable conclusion, but there wasn't, so he just resigned himself to waiting for the jeering to start. Aizawa-sensei had actually helped him out earlier, so maybe… That hope died when Izuku remembered he only intervened when Bakugou tried to attack him. The man said nothing about the curses Bakugou threw his way. His shoulders slumped an unnoticeable amount.

Izuku pulled his wireless earbuds out of his pocket. He'd brought them by accident, so used to listening to music whenever he exercised that he'd slipped them into his tracksuit on autopilot, but he was infinitely thankful for that now. Dealing with the bullying would be a lot easier if he couldn't hear them, and he could at least count on Aizawa-sensei to stop them from trying to hurt him (they probably couldn't, even if they tried, due to his 45% Physical Damage Reduction and pure strength, but it would rip open old emotional wounds that had barely begun to scab over).

Izuku forced himself to ignore the indignant, disgruntled expressions of his classmates. The guy with tape dispenser elbows reached out like he wanted to tap Izuku's shoulder to grab his attention, but thought better of it. Izuku breathed an unnoticeable sigh of relief.

Once everyone had gone for the Ball Throw, Aizawa-sensei quickly put them through the Seated Toe-Touch and Sit Ups. The final test was the Distance Run. Everyone lined up on the running track, and Aizawa blew the whistle to signal the start.

Most of the students were running, since while their Quirks could give them speed in short bursts, they would quickly exhaust themselves if they tried to use them for extended periods of time. The kid with Engines in his legs- who Izuku secretly thought might be related to Ingenium- was obviously using them to pull ahead of the pack. Izuku's long legs put him ahead by a comfortable amount, but he also found himself unconsciously using more strength so that each bound covered more distance than they normally would.

By the end of the first lap around the track, Izuku and the blue-haired teen were a good few dozen meters ahead of everyone else. They were soon joined, then overtaken, by a girl with a spiky, swirling ponytail riding an electric scooter. The boys blinked and exchanged glances. By some unspoken agreement, they accelerated. Glasses' Engines roared even louder from exertion, while Izuku channeled more power into each step.

After five laps of this brutal pace, Glasses began to flag. As the meters continued to pass, he slowly began to fall behind, leaving just Izuku and the girl on a scooter. By now, they'd lapped several of the slower students multiple times, and a few of them were even veering off the track, unable to continue. As near as Izuku could figure, the track was a full kilometer around, meaning he was coming up on six kilos. He wasn't actually sure how long he could keep this up; a glance at his stats revealed that, even after the rest of the tests, his Fatigue was only at a whopping 10. That was mostly due to his Vitality, which was as high as the rest of his other stats. He'd discovered that a higher Vitality, besides affecting his HP and regeneration, led to him having more stamina, as well as an increased rate of Fatigue recovery.

Could he just keep running for the rest of the day? Honestly, probably. Even though he was running quick enough to keep up with a motorized scooter, which was going at probably 60 kilometers per hour, it didn't feel particularly fast to him. More like a loping jog instead of a dead sprint.

Another ten minutes and five laps, Izuku glanced to the side and saw that the girl with the spiky ponytail was peering at him quizzically. She… Seemed rather disturbed, actually. He debated asking her if she was alright, before deciding against it. He already told himself earlier that he wasn't going to interact with his classmates if he could help it- was his will so weak that he would forget that on the first day? He shook his head scornfully, turned up his music so he couldn't even hear the hum of the scooter, and increased his speed, leaving her behind.

Eventually, Aizawa-sensei flagged him down, motioning for Izuku to stop running. He slowed to a halt next to the man, plucking his headphones out. Aizawa glared at the tiny devices.

"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes. Don't play those so loud," he scolded. Izuku apologized, but he didn't really feel all that contrite. The slight burn in his thighs and the shot of dopamine that came from exercising had gone a long way to improving his mood, and he wouldn't let this hobo-looking man bring him down. When the class had regrouped, Aizawa-sensei turned to address them all. "It'll take too long to break down your point distribution, so I'll just show the placements." He tapped something on the smartphone-like device in his hand, and a holographic screen popped up, listing the name of all the students, along with the place they came in. Izuku was at the top, solidly in first. He'd outperformed the rest of the class on every single test except for the side-steps.

He glanced at the kid who'd managed to beat him for that- the tiny boy was staring in dismay at the leaderboard. "Last place…?" he murmured. His slight stature seemed to have been a major detriment to him for the rest of the Quirk Assessment.

"By the way," Aizawa-sensei said absentmindedly, "The person who came in last is expelled. Mineta, don't bother showing up tomorrow."

Izuku jolted, his reaction on the tamer side compared to some of his classmates.

"Oi, that's not fair! He did really good on the side-steps!" the blond with a lightning bolt in his hair called.

"And the rest of his scores were abysmal. A Hero cannot excel in one area at the cost of all the others," Aizawa responded instantly.

"You never said last place was gonna be expelled!" a young man with tape dispensers for elbows cried, "He probably would've tried harder if he knew!"

"If he wasn't trying his best from the start, then he doesn't deserve to be here," Aizawa retorted harshly. Tape Boy lowered his gaze, chastised. Their homeroom teacher fixed the class with a sharp glare, silencing other potential complaints. "For those of you who think this isn't fair, you're too naive. The world is not fair. People can die at any time. Natural disasters, Villain attacks, and freak accidents don't happen on a schedule. It's a Hero's job to turn the tides in spontaneous, catastrophic situations, and they can't do that if they have no potential." Several people opened their mouths to comment, but Aizawa shut then down quickly by saying, "The next person to complain is getting expelled alongside Mineta." Everyone froze at that. Aizawa nodded, satisfied. "The syllabus and stuff are in the classroom, so grab a copy when you get back. Dismissed." The Pro Hero walked away, leaving the class to stew in silence, save for the ugly sobs of Mineta.

Lightning Boy and Tape Boy tried, and failed, to console the crying Grape Boy, while others looked on awkwardly. Izuku sighed, starting the walk back to the classroom. As far as he was concerned, none of this was his business- and he intended to keep it that way.

Writing this made me want to die. College has damaged me in ways that I may never recover from ;-;

Discord invite link: dis cor d. gg /ZAME7AT9