The day started off well. Really, it did. Izuku got up on time, still filled with warm fuzziness from the time he spent with his friends (friends!) the afternoon before, had a good breakfast, left early enough to catch an earlier train, saw an interesting hero fight, and then...
He was hit with a wave of nausea as he caught sight of the crowd outside UA's gates. Was it a mob? An attack? Terrorists?
... Reporters?
Yeah, those were cameras and microphones. But why was a crowd of reporters making him feel this way?
Maybe they were terrorists disguised as reporters. Or, maybe Izuku had picked up some paranoia to go with his anxiety. How fun.
If they were real reporters, they were probably here about All Might. Him cutting back on active hero work to teach had been big news.
Ughhhh. What should he do? Whoever they were, they weren't likely to leave. He didn't want to walk through them, though. What if they were dangerous? (And even if they weren't, he didn't want reporters looking at him, asking him questions. What would he say to them?)
He bit his lip and watched the crowd from around his chosen corner. Why did he have to be so wimpy and timid? He was a hero student, now. He should be better. Braver.
Oh! There was Iida!
He scuttled over to his friend.
"Ah! Midoriya! You're early today! Few people arrive at school at the same time I do!"
"Y-yeah! I managed to catch the earlier train today, so..." He looked back at the crowd of reporters. Maybe reporters. Maybe terrorists. "I think, maybe we should wait to go in as a group, though. I mean, it'll be more efficient than trying to fight through those reporters one at a time, right?"
"An excellent idea, Midoriya!" exclaimed Iida, waving his hands enthusiastically. "It's very admirable of you, to always be thinking about how to help others."
"W-well," said Izuku, blushing. It wasn't untrue, but it also wasn't the whole story. "I mean, I don't... It's more that they kind of freak me out a bit? The reporters..."
Iida nodded sagely. "There are heroes like that, too. Are you planning on going underground, then?"
There was a certain amount of appeal to underground heroics, but he was supposed to be All Might's successor. Then again, if One for All never worked properly for him and Mr. Yagi asked for it back... Quirk or not, Izuku was here, now, in UA, in the hero course, and Mr. Yagi had said he could be a hero without a quirk.
"I haven't really decided yet. But UA teaches all hero course students the three main branches of heroics, so we don't really have to choose a specialty until later, and even then there are heroes like Sir Nighteye who blur the lines, right?"
"Yes, it's one of the things that make UA such a superior institution!" chortled Monoma.
"Ah, Monoma! I agree! It is important for all heroes to be aware of the work their colleagues do, and to be well-rounded individuals!"
Monoma!?
"Um," said Izuku. "When did you get here?"
"Just a minute ago," said Monoma. "I was looking for a way around these savages when I overheard your conversation. Really, it's a shame that UA allows such rabble to prevent students from entering. If only there was something they could do..."
"I'm afraid I must disagree," said Iida. "Freedom of the press is exceedingly important for the function of society!"
Monoma looked slightly alarmed. "I don't mean to say it isn't, it's just-" he gestured at the gates, "-we can't get in. The other entrances are like this, too. It's aggravating."
"There... might be another way in," said Iida, after a moment.
"Oh?"
"Yes, my brother told me about a hidden entrance that was here when he attended UA. I suppose... I suppose these would be the right circumstances to use it."
"Lead the way, then, Iida," said Monoma.
Iida nodded stiffly. "We should wait and see if any of our classmates would like to come with us."
Several of their classmates did want to come with them, including Uraraka, Asui (who was still a little under the weather), Tokoyami (Dark Shadow was not a fan of flashing lights), and Hagakure. They were also joined by a couple of 1-B students, a cadre of business course kids, and a pink haired support course girl who seemed very interested in Iida's legs, much to his flustered confusion.
Kacchan did not join them, much to Izuku's dismay, instead choosing to bulldoze his way through the ranks of reporters, nearly giving Izuku a heart attack when he body-checked a man with blue-white hair.
At this point, their group was becoming rather large and noticeable, and Iida was getting antsy about the time, so off they went.
Iida led them to what appeared to be an entirely unnoteworthy piece of wall and knocked. There was a pause just long enough to make Iida start to sweat, and then the wall opened, revealing Midnight- Ms. Kayama!
"Oh?" she said, clearly delighted. "Chibiida using the top secret teacher's entrance? Has high school done what we couldn't? Are you finally loosening up?"
Chibiida.
Chibiida.
CHIBIIDA.
First: how? Why? Iida was over ten centimeters taller than Izuku! Secondly: Iida was never going to recover from this.
"That- that's not it! At all! I am simply attempting to help my fellow students enter the school without being harassed by reporters, Ms. Kayama!"
"You can still call me big sis Nemuri, you know."
"I refuse! It would be inappropriate of me as a student!"
Ms. Kayama sighed. "Well, you aren't wrong about those reporters. They can be a pain. So, just this once, let me welcome you kids to the forbidden environs of the staff area!" She made a grandiose gesture with her arm. "And it's all thanks to Chibiida here."
Iida started muttering about propriety and rules.
Izuku had the feeling it would be a long day.
.
"All right, Hikage, in your professional opinion-"
"What does building inspecting have to do with anything?"
"What?" said Nana. "I didn't say anything about building inspecting."
"You asked for my professional opinion."
"Yes?" said Nana, already dreading where this would go.
"I was a vigilante. For the purposes of money, I was a professional, licensed building inspector."
"I thought you were a professional hermit," said En.
"I was an amateur hermit. You don't get paid for that."
En blinked. "I can't believe people let you into their buildings."
"There were a few times-"
Nana decided to table the question of how neither she nor En had known Hikage was a building inspector. "Okay, fine. Forget the professional part. In your opinion, what was going on with that one reporter guy?"
"Oh," said Hikage. "He's definitely planning a murder."
"A murder!" exclaimed Yoichi.
"Yes, and probably of someone close to Ninth."
"Why didn't you say something?" demanded Yoichi, attempting to lift the taller man up by the front of his shirt and failing.
"Because there's not much we can do about it?"
"Just because you're right doesn't mean I have to like it!" He spun on his heel and stalked up to the silent and incomplete ghost of Toshinori. "It had better not be you, do you hear me? Don't you dare pull an Obi-Wan on poor, sweet Izuku!"
"Does anyone know what he's talking about?" asked Nana.
"Not really," admitted Banjo.
.
"Today," said Mr. Aizawa, after he finished passing out feedback from the battle trial, "you'll pick a class president."
All around Izuku, his classmates threw their hands into the air, eager for the chance to show off their leadership skills.
Izuku kept his hand down. It wasn't that he didn't want to stand out or do the work! It was just... between training after school with Mr. Yagi and Aizawa and trying to get his anxiety under control, he didn't think he'd do a very good job.
.
Yoichi started disappearing his "Izuku for President" banners.
.
Iida, though... Iida would do well, Izuku thought. Look at him, organizing everyone into a vote.
"You're not running, Midori?" asked Hagakure.
"N-no, haha, I have too many other commitments to do a good job, I think."
"That's too bad! I would have voted for you."
There was a smattering of agreement, mostly from Iida and Uraraka. Izuku started blushing.
"R-really? Why?"
("Strawberry," someone whispered.)
"Well, you helped me out during the entrance exam, and you were pretty cool during training yesterday." More agreement. "But if you're not running, I guess I'll pick Monoma. He did get rid of the purple creep."
"Ahahaha, yes, I am clearly the superior candidate!" crowed Monoma, standing up and putting his foot on his chair to pose.
"But his personality's really weird, which is why you would have been my first choice, Midoriya."
"I think Iida would be a good choice!" said Uraraka, raising her hand. "He's super organized and he helped a bunch of us get past the reporters this morning."
More general agreement. Then Todoroki cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him.
"Yaoyorozu," he said.
That was it.
"Good point," agreed Jirou.
.
"A TIE?!"
.
As the only one who hadn't voted for one of the three in the tie, Aoyama was forced to be the tiebreaker. This was done as dramatically as humanly possible.
Yaoyorozu was now president of class 1-A.
This led to a ferocious battle between Monoma and Iida that Iida won by a single vote. Monoma was promptly chosen as class treasurer. Just in time for their other classes.
.
"Those who possess forbidden knowledge should stay together," said Tokoyami gravely as he sat down with Uraraka, Iida, and Izuku.
"Are you talking about the staff area?" asked Asui, who slid in after him.
"Indeed," intoned Tokoyami gravely. "The dark path we have all walked-"
"Fumi is just bad at asking people to be his friends!"
"Dark Shadow!"
Izuku almost started crying into his rice. Having friends was so great.
"I'll be your friend!" said Izuku.
"Me, too!" said Uraraka, pumping a fist.
"Ah," said Tokoyami, coughing into a fist. "I am sure we will be great companions in the darkness of the coming days."
Speaking of darkness... Izuku couldn't help but feel uneasy about... something. He had been ever since seeing those reporters.
"So, Midori, is your hair full of secrets?"
"Wh-what?"
"Don't listen to her! She's just being silly! Like a little sister."
"It's what you always say about that actor you like! His hair is fluffy because it's full of secrets!"
"So, you and Dark Shadow are like brother and sister?" asked Midoriya, changing the subject.
The conversation segued into discussion of their families, and just when Iida was extolling the virtues of his older brother, Izuku's unease spiked. He dropped his chopsticks.
"Is something wrong?" asked Uraraka.
"I... don't know? It just feels like something bad is going to-"
The school alarm promptly went off.
.
"Wow!" said Kirishima. "Iida can do entrances and exits! Manly!"
.
"Wow," said Banjo, "I guess they picked the right guy for the job, after all. He can find entrances and exits! More than my class vice president ever did..."
"Are you copying the small red child?" asked Hikage.
"What?"
"Never mind."
.
"Today's heroics class will be focused on how to fall safely and other basic combat techniques. Before we begin, although you may practice these techniques on your own, outside of class, if you want to spar with others, you need adult supervision until you reach a level where I'm satisfied you won't seriously injure yourself or others by mistake. Now, firstly..."
.
"Mr. Aizawa? Is- um. Was it really just the press breaking in earlier?"
It was time for his first special quirk training with Aizawa, and he should be asking what they were doing today (especially since Aizawa had him change out of his gym uniform and back to his regular uniform), but he couldn't stop thinking about the break-in.
"What makes you think otherwise?"
"I'm, well, I'm not sure? I just, this morning, when I saw them, I got a really bad feeling? Like something bad was going to happen. And it doesn't seem, um, logical, that normal reporters would be able to do that to UA's gate. I mean, anyone can have any quirk- no such thing as a villainous quirk. But someone with a quirk like that, they'd put a lot of effort into controlling it and stuff so stuff like this wouldn't happen by mistake. I guess a reporter could have done it on purpose, though, but then it'd be really easy for UA to find out it was them, wouldn't it? Or the police. Since heroes and police have access to the national quirk registry, so you just have to cross-reference reporters with the registry to find quirks that could fit. But would they know that? Anyway, it seems more logical for a third party to have used the press as cover to infiltrate the school. But why? If nothing is missing and no one is hurt, which would be grounds for school being canceled, the next conclusion would be information gathering. But that still leaves the question of the ultimate ends- Mr. Aizawa? Are you okay?"
His teacher had been glaring at a camera mounted in the corner of the classroom and mouthing things at it.
"I'm fine," said Aizawa. He sighed. "You are right that we haven't located the person who destroyed the gates, but please be assured that we are investigating the incident throughly. Especially Principal Nezu." He shot another glare at the camera, as if to say he'd better be.
"Regardless, it isn't something you need to worry about as a student. We're adding more safety protocols to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Oh, okay. S-so, what are we doing today? Sensory deprivation? Electric shocks? Stress positions? Bean bag barrage for dodging? High stakes hell exam?" He was ready for anything and very excited.
Aizawa stared at him flatly. "We're... doing quirk counseling."
"Yes?"
"Kid... except for maybe the last one... what exactly gave you the idea that any of those things had anything to do with quirk counseling?"
Izuku started to get the feeling he'd seriously messed up. Except he didn't feel particularly anxious about it.
"Oh, uh, Mom used to get brochures like that in the mail, after I was diagnosed? She didn't ever answer any, but... Apparently, some people originally thought to be quirkless got quirks after being in a high stress situation."
"But no one actually did any of those things to you."
"Not really?"
"Midoriya..."
Izuku looked away. He shouldn't have said anything. He didn't like the quirk counselor at Eisley Elementary, but he didn't want to get her in trouble, either. After all, he was the only one she had to do that stuff with, since his quirk hadn't shown up...
Aizawa sighed with the air of someone exercising a lot of self-control. "Except for that last one," said Aizawa, "and that's debatable, all of those are torture techniques."
Ah. Well. That maybe explained a few things.
"They are not a normal part of quirk counseling. At some point, we may incorporate some combat into this, but that will be to help you become more familiar with your quirk. Not just for the sake of making you stressed."
"But if we aren't doing combat, what are we doing?"
"Well, first we're going to try to figure out what your quirk is. Why don't you sit down." He took out some papers as Izuku made his way to his desk. "Alright. I'm going to go through these questions and write down your answers... then we're going to go through them again while I'm canceling your quirk." He paused. "Actually, first. What did you mean when you said you had a bad feeling about the reporters?"
.
"If I were alive," said Yoichi, "I would be committing so much murder right now."
"I thought we left this behind when Ninth graduated," said Nana. "I thought you said you were going to forgive them because they were stupid kids and Ninth forgave them."
"Well, first off, I lied. Secondly, teachers aren't kids. If we ever get hit by a quirk that brings us back to life, the quirk counselor at his old school will be my first victim."
Nana sighed. "That isn't going to happen."
"Who's going to stop me?"
"Less a who, and more the fact that there has never been a quirk that could revive the dead."
"Meaningless!" exclaimed Yoichi. "Death cannot stop me!"
"Think he's finally lost it after all this time?" asked En, leaning towards Nana.
"No, I think he's just messing with us," hoped Nana.
.
"Alright, kid," said Aizawa exhaustion evident in his tone. "Between your answers, your exam results, the battle trial results, how you react when I use my quirk on you, and Monoma's assessment... Your quirk is at least partially sensory.",
Izuku tried not to feel disappointed, but that seemed rather incomplete as a conclusion. Even though he knew about Danger Sense and this probably was Danger Sense.
"Yeah, I know, it's underwhelming, but remember this is the first session. Whatever your quirk actually does, though, you seem to be using it to detect threats."
Okay, that was more in line with expectations.
"I mean... maybe? I think so. That feels right."
"We also need to figure out what it's stockpiling. Have you ever felt any particular draw to certain situations? More than your peers?"
"Um. I watch a lot of hero fights?"
"You're a fight chaser?"
"A little bit?" admitted Izuku, squirming a little.
Aizawa sighed heavily. "I seriously hope your quirk doesn't stockpile danger- don't test that."
He wasn't going to!
Probably.
Speaking of, though, what did One for All actually stockpile? Power was a very vague description... He'd just went along with it because a) quirk and b) All Might, but it would probably be good to know.
"Next time we meet, I'll be running you through the basic quirk assessment battery- that's a series of tests usually given to five-year-olds to help their pediatric quirk doctors and quirk counselors identify difficult or stubborn quirks. You should have gone through it when you were younger."
Izuku shook his head. "All I remember is the x-ray."
"Why would you get an x-ray?"
"For the toe joint? To tell whether or not I was quirkless?" Why was he saying this? He was going to blow his cover and his secret out of the water! This was so dumb.
But he did say it. Maybe it was his guilty conscience from lying to and misleading Mr. Aizawa so much.
"That's a myth," said Aizawa.
"What?"
"It isn't true." Aizawa began to slump down in his seat. "It's an old wives' tale. Everyone quirkless has the double joint, but not everyone with the double joint is quirkless. I have the double joint, as do about twenty-five percent of people with meta quirks." By the time he finished, only the top half of his face was visible.
"Oh," said Izuku. He wasn't sure what else to say. At least the secret of One for All was completely intact.
"I hate to say this, kid, but it sounds like everyone involved in your early quirk education was incredibly incompetent. You shouldn't have had to deal with that, even if you were truly quirkless. It takes just as much counseling to deal with that in today's day and age as something like, say, Ashido's quirk."
Izuku had never heard it put like that before. "Okay."
"Now, before I send you off for today, do you have any questions about anything we'll be doing? Any of the tests we'll be running, normal quirk counseling procedures, anything. It's important for you to feel comfortable about this."
Izuku's eyes teared up. This had already been a very emotional day, and he wasn't sure a teacher had ever asked him that and meant it. "Mr. Aizawa," he said, earnestly, "you're the best teacher I've ever had."
"Is that a joke?" asked Aizawa, flatly.
Izuku shook his head, centrifugal force flinging his teardrops away.
"That's messed up, kid. I'm terrible."
"You're the best," protested Izuku.
"I just need you to know how incredibly low that bar is. Your other teachers must have gotten shovels to dig tunnels under it. They must be dancing limbo in hell."
Izuku blinked. He had no idea what that meant. "I think they're all still alive..."
"Not for long," muttered Aizawa.