Chapter 9

Moving house,

And the first day

The sound of a plush, yet cheap couch hitting the floor reverberated around the new apartment, echoing due to its emptiness. Izuku took a second to slump over the cushions of his new couch, sighing heavily, he almost wanted to cry.

Of course, the day he was scheduled to move into his new dormitory one of the staff broke the elevator causing him to lift a couch three flights of stairs and down a hallway. After a couple of seconds to gather his emotions and use self-control to not be a wimp he got up from the couch and began the trip downstairs.

By the time he got to his aunt's car downstairs, it seemed she had used her social butterfly skills to make a friend. It took him a second to recognize who exactly his aunt and mother were talking to given her outfit change. Of course, the person to make mom jeans, a baggy gray sweater, messy hair, and cork sandals look awesome would be Midnight.

Ignoring their conversation, Izuku reached into the car pulling two boxes toward him before stacking them one on top of the other. He turned toward the small group of women standing by the side of the car and interrupted their conversation for a second.

"Hey Auntie, Mom the elevators are broken right now so you guys just sit here with Miss Midnight and I'll take these boxes upstairs okay" After ignoring the surprise of his future teacher he abated his mothers request to help with the heavy lifting and simply told her to sit and talk.

It took a little more than five minutes to reach the apartment, set the boxes down, and return to the car. Once again approaching the trunk of the car and pulling boxes forward from the back where they were lodged, Izuku felt someone approaching from his peripheral. A quick glance told him that Midnight had taken to leaning against the side of the trunk.

"I'm surprised you recognized me out of costume, kid, not many people can do that, and the ones that can are people that already know what my face looks like uncovered." Izuku left the stacked boxes on the edge of the trunk leaning against his chest so it wouldn't fall.

"I saw a female with long black hair and glasses outside the U.A. teacher dorms, after that, I took a chance either I was right about who you were, or I gave a pretty lady a compliment with the comparison, win-win in my eyes." Izuku grabbed the boxes and started on his way from the parking lot towards the apartment building, Midnight walking beside him.

Midnight mulled over his words a second before responding, "Well no one knew Clark kent was superman, even when they were faced with evidence of it." She seemed proud not just of her superhero reference but also of her logic, which wasn't unsound, people often didn't see what was right in front of them.

Izuku couldn't pass up the chance to mess with her as they entered the lobby. "Of course someone as old as you would know who Superman is." The barb accompanied by his out-stuck tongue caused her to gasp and then grin evilly.

"Oh, really mister, well just to inform you while you do have a specific teacher for hero class we all help out, and I will remember that." Midnight raised two fingers to her eyes and rotated her hand between them in a 'watching you' signal before ripping the "out of order" paper off the elevator and taking the magically fixed elevator to the upper floors.

Izuku raised an eye at the now obvious test as he ascended the stairs. He wasn't exactly sure what the test was about, but he knew that it would make unpacking his boxes easier than before.


Of course, a particularly bad bout of anxiety-fueled insomnia had to strike the night before his first day at the prestigious U.A. high. The logic was simple and easy to understand as to why his brain was keeping him up until he was staring at the sun rising instead of the stars. However just because you understand the human mind and brain, and can even quantify its reactions and decision-making didn't mean you could always control it.

Izuku silently pulled his starched and pressed uniform on. It was surprising to see just how close he had already come to realizing one of his dreams. He would be the first one in class but he was perfectly okay with that, it let him size up his classmates.

He had been walking towards the main school doors enjoying the crisp morning air when the silence of the many nervous students was broken by an easily identifiable and much too cheery greeting from the entrance archway. As he turned around to face his aunt calling him he took in the bewildered expression of the older students around him wondering who the crazy lady jumping and shouting at the entrance was.

Izuku thought about ignoring his aunt's calls for a second and simply telling her he hadn't seen her later until he noticed something. Standing next to his aunt was his old rival Bakugou, he was currently being restrained by the iron grip his mother had on his collar, which was most likely the only reason why he hadn't just ripped the clothing and entered the building.

So between Auntie Mitsuki accompanying him, being restrained by her, her jumping, shouting, and rather bright rainbow-colored dress Bakugou looked PISSED. After a second thought, Izuku realized at the moment the best way to make up for his own grumpy demeanor and lack of sleep was to throw a little bit of fuel onto Bakugou's fire this wonderful morning.

Izuku took a moment as he approached them to hide behind a taller third year and screw his face up into the best bright-eyed bushy-tailed expression he could. "Auntie, how are you, I wasn't expecting you to come today."

"Oh I'm just amazing Izuku, and of course I would come. It's my baby's big day, and of course your mother had to work, so I got Katsuki out of bed and dressed hours ago and we've been waiting here to catch you and wish both my boys luck." He saw it then, the trademarked evil glint that would flash in the eyes of the Bakugou family when they were either performing a devious act or planning one, it seemed this was a punishment of some sort.

Bakugou growled quietly and pulled against his mother's grip prompting her to speak. "Well, I guess since I greeted you boys together I can let you get on with your school day, I love you baby." As she finished speaking Mitsuki pulled Bakugou into a bear hug, before she kissed him on the cheek leaving a humongous lip print from her hot pink, glittering lipstick.

Bakugou quickly made his escape the second her iron grip relaxed. Izuku let Bakugou's steps fade before he turned to his aunt, raising an eyebrow. "I bet he won't "forget" to do the dishes a week in a row again now will he? But I wasn't goofing for all of it, keep your head up Izuku, and have fun, after all not everyone gets to be a U.A. student."


When Izuku got to Class 1-A's homeroom there were only two other people in the room, at first glance. While taking a second to scan the room he noticed Bakugou with his feet propped up near the front of the classroom. The only other obvious person in the room was a girl sitting in the back of the class nearest to the window, who had quite frankly some of the most magnificent hair he had ever seen.

It seemed that it was a pick your desk scenario and since the desk he would usually take was already occupied he walked to the back of the classroom and took his new seat next to the girl. As much as he respected Bakugou as a rival and pseudo cousin, his perpetual anger and bad attitude would get old very quickly.

"Good morning, my name is Yaoyorozu Momo, it's lovely to meet you." The girl had stood on his approach and offered a hand to shake and an introductory comment. Sitting next to a pretty girl with a kind disposition and manners, oh yeah major step up from Bakugou.

"Izuku Midoriya, it's great to meet you to Yaoyorozu." He took the girl's offered hand and tried to give her the best smile he possibly could. It seemed to work as the now introduced Yaoyorozu sat down beaming. "So how's your morning been today?"

Before she could answer his question an angry snort came from Bakugou's form in front of them, still not happy about his mother's abstract punishment. After sending a scolding glance toward his cousin Yaoyoroza answered his question.

"My morning has been wonderful. Thank you for asking, I made sure that I could get here as early as possible so I would be as settled as possible when class starts." The girl seemed to vibrate with excitement before she leaned closer to Izuku and whispered covertly to him. "I was so excited I couldn't sleep at all last night, I spent the whole night reading all I could from our welcome packet."

Between her "secret" and the way she looked around like she would get in trouble for not sleeping properly, Izuku began to realize Yaoyorozu might have been a bit sheltered. After a bit more thought something in the back of his mind clicked. "Wait, Yaoyorozu likes corporations?"

Izuku was stunned by her shy nod confirming that the girl sitting next to him was a daughter to one of the most wealthy and influential families in japan. Her nod was followed by verbal confirmation, surprising enough to knock his cousin out of his mood to turn around and look at them. "Guess we went up a couple of notches huh Katsuki?"


Everything was going fine as the early morning progressed, he talked with a few of his classmates as they entered the room and the clock ticked away the seconds and minutes until their first class would begin. He even "met" his half-brother, a cheery guy apparently, who even tried to joke with Katsuki before backing away due to the death threats he got.

However, his morning suddenly went downhill when the little purple shit came in right before the bell rang to start class. He didn't have a problem with the kid even when he began talking to the other guys over listening to their Sensei that had crawled out of his sleeping bag to tell them about their schedule for the next month.

No, the issue was when the little shit got louder and thus much easier to hear and understand his conversation. He was talking about a woman he passed walking to school today, not a problem until it became obvious the way he was talking about the woman, and only got worse when both he and Katsuki realized exactly who he was talking about.

"I'm telling you man she was a total MILF. like no joke she must have had J-cups or maybe even bigger." Izuku was already getting up to try and tell the kid to shut up and listen before his next line changed his path altogether. "And she had this beautiful blonde hair, this tight little rainbow dress."

Reaching Katsuki as the blonde stood up suddenly and slammed his hands onto his desk most likely saved the purple twerps life. As he stood in front of his cousin blocking his path and grabbing him by the shoulder he wasn't worried about the kid behind him at all, he was worried about Katsuki.

Now that he had his cousin's attention and the threat of the kid's murder wasn't as close he pulled Katsuki closer, whispering in his ear. "Katsuki, think man, we're not like these guys, we don't have their influence or money, how quickly do you think they'd throw us out on our ass if we start something on the first day. Don't worry he'll get his. I already have a plan coming together alright."

Izuku got a nod from Katsuki giving him the go-ahead to start the plan and pushed him back onto his chair, raising his voice so the class could hear him. "Keep your shit in line, cousin."

He turned towards the midget now cowering in his seat. "And as for you, if you have any self-preservation instincts at all you won't ever talk about my aunt like that again. Or next time I won't even try to stop him."


The class was walking downstairs on the orders of their new sensei. Izuku wasn't sure what shook the class up more the theatrics put on by him and Katsuki or the announcement that whoever came in last place of the quirk apprehension test would be expelled.

"So, what's your plan huh?" Katsuki was attempting to be secretive and whisper as they walked downstairs. He shook his head, Katsuki never did listen well. Izuku explained his plan to his cousin. The person who came in last place would be expelled. All they had to do was make sure the purple shit made last place.

On the way to the field, Aizawa had told them to meet as it seemed that not one of his classmates noticed their sensei disappear from the stairwell they were traversing. Izuku took note of his disappearance and let it sit in the back of his mind, ready for an attack of some sort to test them.

When the class reached the bottom of the stairwell and left the building Izuku saw the reason why their Sensei had vanished. Aizawa was standing far ahead of him at the start of the field holding a rather conspicuous bag of toys.

"This is the quirk apprehension test, do well and you'll earn your place here at U.A., fail and you'll be packing your bags and walking home, bus rides are for winners." Izuku had to respect the way that Aizawa said it, he essentially told them that one of them would have a permanent black mark on their record with the same casual voice as someone commenting on the weather.

The first task was a simple fifty-meter dash. Going two at a time for the most part Izuku would only focus on three people's times, his, Katsuki's, and Mineta(AKA purple shit). Truth be told he only focused on his cousin's time to see how much power he could conceal from his classmates while still taking first place.

Making sure to line up with Mineta as the last pair Izuku realized at the very least he would need to show off his white flames, but if he timed the bursts right his classmates would only see a fraction of his power.

As he lined up with Mineta at the starting line Izuku thought of the time he needed to beat. The guy with engines in his legs had thrown out the best time at three-point zero four seconds in other words that guy was running at sixteen meters a second. Izuku crouched down spreading his feet and placing his hands between them pointed downwards.

At the start whistle, Izuku sent a white burst strong enough to send him forward. He went with the spin in a classic front handspring, every time his hands or feet touched the ground he sent another burst of flames and in a flash, he was at the end of the track.

As he slowed down his flips and landed he looked up grinning at the scoreboard. Take that Ida Tenya, the scoreboard read "Izuku Midoriya 1st place" He had dashed in two seconds flat. He was still smiling as he rejoined the group of students congratulating him on his score, except for Katsuki he was sitting on the side because he didn't get first place.

"Hey man, my name is Mashireo Ojiro." His blonde-haired peer looked almost embarrassed as he introduced himself though the reason was soon clear why. "I'm sorry man but I have to ask, are you Izuku Midoriya as in the undefeated Izuku."

With a small nod, he set off a time bomb of a fanboy he didn't know was ticking ever since Ojiro walked into class and saw him. He humbled Ojiro by talking about a couple of his fights before his classmate calmed down and they talked to each other like normal people.

The next test was just as simple as the first, they were given a bar to grip as tightly as they could which went pretty uneventful. Izuku came in second place for the second trial by igniting flames on his knuckles. He was proud that he managed two hundred kilograms without using a sustained flame but he did admit that coming in second place did rub him the wrong way.

The third test wasn't even a challenge; he just took the same position as he did for the first trial but put much more force into his blast. Being one of only a couple of students to clear the sandbox, Izuku realized that he and Katsuki didn't even need to do that much to make Mineta come in last place.

The next test was more tricky for Izuku to use his quirk. He stood like all the other students in the center of the line dividing two boxes that he would have to jump between at high speeds. If he simply pushed gouts of flame from his shoulders he would go back and forth just fine but he would lose time on the recovery and direction.

Instead of using flames on his shoulders, he used his palms situated on his hips to spin in mid-air so he would already be pushing off the ground when he touched each side. Apart from being more difficult for Izuku, this trial was unique in that it was the only one that Mineta didn't take last place in.

The last important trial was the ball throw, which was just as easy, but Izuku felt like showing off in all honesty. When he took the plate Izuku used much the same tactic as Katsuki, by igniting a flame at his shoulder and then his elbow and a final third flame at the back of his index finger in quick succession the ball flew away at a tremendous speed giving him a score of eight-hundred meters and change.

It was the end of the day, and the end of the quirk apprehension test putting Izuku in first place on the leaderboard, followed by Yaoyorozu, then Todoroki, and in fourth place Bakugou. As suspected without any interference by himself or Katsuki Mineta had placed dead last, you could tell this either by looking at the scoreboard or listening to the purple shit groveling at their Sensei's feet.

As they ascended the stairwell Sensei Aizawa disappeared yet again, although this time Mineta vanished with him. When class 1-A returned to their homeroom they only had a minute or two worth of waiting before their Sensei returned alone.

"W-where's Mineta sensei?" The question was asked by a disembodied voice that belonged to one Toru Hagakure. Izuku's classmates seemed to be confused, either that or they didn't think that Aizawa would expel the kid.

"Mineta will no longer be joining us in class, instead he has been transferred into general studies." It seemed that their Sensei had tricked them, Mineta was only expelled from the hero course, not U.A. in general. "Class is dismissed, make sure not to forget anything because I'm not opening up my classroom if you do. And Midoriya meet me after class, I'll be waiting for you on the room."

The dismissal from class wasn't surprising at all. It was only a couple of minutes until the school day ended anyway so it wasn't a problem to get out early. However, the request of him staying after class surprised him and put him on edge.


By the time he had reached the roof's entrance the bell had rung and he could hear the rumble and bustle of students below him. As he opened the door leading to the roof Aizawa instantly came into view leaning on the roof's ledge directly in front of the door.

Izuku stepped out and let the door close behind him before leaning his back against it. Aizawa's confusion was clear on his face as Izuku crossed his arms over his chest.

Apparently, his sensei had a nice laugh, it was deep and surprisingly soothing for someone so perpetually grim. "You really are a piece of work aren't you kid? No, I didn't ask you to come to the roof so I can attack, kill or capture you."

Aizawa sighed at him as he hadn't moved an inch and didn't believe a word his Sensei said. "Alright, then how about this kid." Izuku watched as for the first time he saw the pro hero without his scarf and goggles, seeing as how Aizawa had taken off his equipment and dropped it in a pile in front of him.

"How is that Midoriya? I'm now unarmed and alone. Will you calm down and listen to why I kept you after class?" Izuku stayed still and simply stared at the scarf pile, attempting to hide what he was really looking for before he was interrupted in his search by another of Aizawa's laughs. "Are you looking for shadows on the ground? No, there's no one on the entrance behind you. I just want to talk to you Midoriya."

Izuku took a second to walk a few steps from the door and look above it, his body poised for action should Aizawa decide to attack, after he scanned the parts of the rooftop he couldn't see before Izuku retook his place against the door.

"You are paranoid, I would judge but it'll most likely save your life in our line of work." Aizawa patted the ledge next to his one seat, beckoning Izuku to sit down as he pulled a rather thick folder out of his hero uniform. "I need your help with something."

"As you most likely know, heroes much like the police are highly advised to pick up case files and work them while they also go out on patrol and perform their daily duties in their assigned city. I have been working on this particular case for more than a year now, I am also the fifteenth person to attempt working on said case."

"As you can most likely tell that means this case was old, in fact, it's very old, pertaining to a very old organization you have a unique history and insight into, as such I'm hoping you can help me." Izuku groaned it was the second time today alone someone had mentioned the tournaments and he just wanted to forget about them. Until of course something Aizawa said clicked in his mind.

"Yes you heard right the tournament, all three of the leagues are illegal. I don't blame you for falling for all of their lawyers and merchandise and even TV shows, practically everybody in Japan has. Until I got this case from the fourteenth person I didn't even consider that they were illegal, after all even if many heroes spoke out about them and condemned their brutality, if it was illegal someone would have done something right?"

"Let me tell you why no one has done anything about what are literally child death matches. To do this we need to wind back the clocks to around two hundred years ago when quirks first appeared, after that crucial moment in time when we began regularly popping out children that could destroy buildings, as a race gore became almost expected as a quirk manifesting at the wrong time, could result in the death of quite a few people."

"Que those wanting to use those powers for evil, they realized quickly that as a society we were getting bored with things like boxing, karate, and MMA when literal children could breathe fire or create wind from nowhere. And thus the powers of evil organized villains made the tournaments, while simultaneously this case file was opened by a senior detective at the Tokyo police force."

"Shortly after opening this case file on the tournaments the detective was murdered, although you'll find his official death labeled as a heart attack. The detective had a heart attack at the prime of his life, at the age of twenty-nine, while also being the highest scorer in the department's physical exam. So the case was collected, and handed off to a rookie beat cop, fresh out of the academy and eager to please."

Aizawa finally opened the file and pulled out a picture of a young man still in his dress uniform. "Age twenty-one, heart attack. After being passed between two different officers, both of whom died soon after opening it, the file was named cursed by the officers and sat in a records room as nobody wanted to touch it. And then we have the tournament's bright idea, to pull the wool over the eyes of almost everybody in Japan."

"Through its armies of lawyers, walls of contract texts, and quite a lot of bribes thrown around suddenly it was on T-shirts, Tv stations, action figures were made, and people were recruited to fight. There was push back like with any new media form but slowly the leaders of each movement were either bought off, threatened away, had accidents, or just faded away altogether."

"With this file collecting dust and the tournament attempting to look as official as possible at all times, it worked. They fooled an entire nation of people into believing that they had pioneered and constructed the next biggest sport and legalized it." Aizawa paused his speech to pull out a picture of another officer. A female this time. "This is Miki, age twenty-two fresh out of the academy and eager to prove that she was just as good as anybody else even if she was quirkless she died from a heart attack." Another photo appeared. "Junior detective Subaru, age thirty picked up the cold case thinking he could slack off, heart attack."

Izuku's eye got darker and darker as his new sensei pulled photo after photo out of the bulging folder adding up to seventeen photos in total, he didn't like being tricked and he hated illegal activities, and yet the tournament had done both of these things at the same time. "This group are the only ones we know about and only the ones that worked on this case file specifically, I'm almost positive that the same case was opened in other departments, or maybe some journalist tried to oust the tournament, what I'm saying is their body count is most likely much higher."

"Between all the lengths they went to, to seem perfectly legal and the case being abandoned again and again somebody finally had a bright idea about a year ago. The seventeenth person to get the case was a former U.A. student and as soon as he realized exactly how deep it went he digitized the file and sent it through secure means to someone he trusted, a former teacher, he sent me the file."

Aizawa seemed to get angry, then sad, and finally ashamed. "I was too late to save one of my old students, Izuku, by the time he sent this to me whatever or whoever was cleaning up after the tournament already had his scent and got to him before I could."

"Since then I've been working it nonstop, and I've gotten this I could bury them, probably, there's still a chance that they could run or get out from under the rain of hail I'll be able to drop on them and I can't risk that. So I waited until I could find a way to hit them all at once and make every single charge stick to them. Who do you think comes in next."

It wasn't even a question for Izuku, the answer was yes even if he had to convince his mother and aunt to go into protective custody he would do it, after all, he was almost certain Aizawa wasn't the only one with a personal stake anymore. "So, you need me to testify?"

"That would be a great start, it would take care of half my goal and make the charges stick like glue to have a witness testify. But the other half is where it becomes difficult, I need your help to perform a mission, covert, off the books, and with a small, very loyal team."

That sounded interesting and very fun. But there was almost always a catch so what was it? "Do I need to get naked or something?" Note to self: Sensei doesn't like jokes when it's serious time.

"I would need you to get in touch with your contacts at the tournament to schedule another single fight. While digging as quietly as possible I finally learned why the time, date, and location of every fight was different, it wasn't just to protect against a police or hero raid, it was to protect against espionage. If an organization has many different outposts that makes it hard to find, if said organization constantly switches the location of the computer that contains the list of these outposts that makes it damn near impossible to find them all and strike at once, so I needed someone who wouldn't be scared to flip on the Tournament but also one who would be a fitting and willing distraction so I could get a team to that computer and access the list."

Izuku thought about what Aizawa was proposing. "So you need me to be the distraction while you get another hero into the back rooms of the warehouse and infiltrate the computer, gather the lists and when we have all the locations you can make sure nobody gets away. Sounds like a plan to me."


That was easily the heaviest conversation he'd had in a very long time. It even rivaled his sessions with Dr. Sakura about how it's important to feel empathy for people even if you don't like them.

He pushed his head to the right to pop his neck as he reached the main doors thinking about his scheduled meeting this Thursday, where he would meet the team so they could trust each other, and learn the ins and outs of the plan.

"Hey Izuku, are you ok?"


AN: Sweet Jesus 5,000 words in ~6 hours I know you veterans are probably laughing at me right now but I'm still new to this and now I have a migraine, but the impending doom of letting all of you down is gone. Also i told y'all i would address the matches, I hope it was pulled off well.

Now we need to have just a bit of a sit down so those who have gotten this far in the story and are unhappy can read this. Those of you who are somewhat satisfied and give me well thought out, constructive advice about my writing can skip this next paragraph but just know you are an absolute gem *mwah* kisses, and there are cookies and milk over there.

Now for you unexplainable few who don't like my story but for some reason continue to read it congrats this is for you. You have complained about Izuku's character, but I'm sure if you've read this far, you know that Izuku is slowly but surely changing. If you can't tell this will be a long story. I'm only like thirty thousand words in and Izuku just had his first day. And to the guy/girl/gremlin that keeps making spam accounts to PM me and send me flames about my story please break your keyboard over your head, that is all.

Hey you, you're done with that cookie cause I'm turning out the lights in 30 seconds so either scarf it down or put it in your pocket because I will lock you in here overnight. And no I didn't make any mistakes about Uraraka's name at all, because I am a literary genius in every form and everything I write is objectively perfect/s.

Date completed: 7/18/2021

Date edited: unedited