My first day at UA was the first of April. I'd tried not to think too much about what had happened, but I couldn't help but think back to it every time my brother or my parents praised me for placing 6th.

At last, the big day arrived; I changed into my uniform, bid goodbye to mother and Tensei for the day, and took the bus to my new school - U.A.

UA High is shaped like a gigantic letter H, for Hero. It is plated in mirrors and stands atop a forest of trees, like the crown jewel in a field. I was assigned to Class 1-A, which the directory informed me how to reach in sufficient time.

I was the first to arrive; my seat was near the back of the first row. I waited and watched each new arrival to my class, wondering if my acquaintances from the entrance exam would be joining me.

I recognized one, though not the one I was looking for: The spiky haired, irritable boy who had sat next to my curly-haired, skittish rival. He was sitting most uncouthly, with one foot up on the desk. I stood up, indignant and offended, and stomped over to reprimand him.

"Remove your foot from that desk! Such an action is insulting to those who came to UA before us, as well as the craftsman who made the desk!"

"Like I care," he snarled back at me. "What middle school are you from, you extra?"

I was deeply offended, but checked it. "I-I'm from Somei private academy. My name is Tenya Iida."

"Somei? A stuck-up elitist, then? I should blow you to bits."

"You're awful!" I cried, starting back. Blow me to bits? "Do you really wish to become a hero?"

But he wasn't looking at me anymore. His attention had snapped to the doorway, where, standing and looking quite diminished in the frame, was his curly-haired classmate.

I swiftly approached him. "I'm from Somei Private academy - " I began, but he held up his hands, still looking as shaky and nervous as ever.

"I heard you before! Ah, I'm Izuku Midoriya. Pleased to meet you, Iida."

"Midoriya, you…you perceived the true nature of that practical exam. While I did not! I misjudged you. I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate," I said, through gritted teeth.

From behind Midoriya came a cheerful, somewhat high voice. "Ah, that curly hair!" From behind Midoriya came my third acquaintance of the entrance exam, the girl with the soft brown hair. "The plain looking boy!" You got in! Just like Present Mic said! Makes sense though, that punch was awesome!" She matched her words with a gesture like a fist pump. Midoriya was so embarrassed he could only mumble "No, I mean - I have to thank you for speaking on my behalf, i - well - "

"Huh? How do you know about that?" she asked. But before elaborating, her attention seemed to wander. "So, we've got our entrance ceremony and guidance sessions today, yeah? Wonder what our teacher'll be like? Boy, I'm nervous!"

From behind her, and down below her, a gruff voice said "If you're just here to socialize, then get out."

They turned and I followed their gaze downward. A yellow sleeping bag was suddenly on the ground behind the girl's feet, zipped up to the top, and the voice had come from inside. Looking closer, one could see the unshaven face of a man peering out from within.

"This is the hero course," said the unshaven man, as he stood up - still in the sleeping bag - and unzipped it, revealing a tall frame in loose black clothing, unkempt black hair, and impossibly tired eyes.

"It look 8 seconds for you to quite down. Time is a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you? I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa."

Our teacher?!

"Pleased to meet you. Quickly now," he said, rummaging in the sleeping bag and holding up a gym uniform. "Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds."

In a few moments, we were standing in the warm april sun, dressed in gym clothes and staring at our strange new teacher - and gaping at our strange new assignment.

"A test of our quirks?!"

"What about the entrance ceremony or guidance sessions?" asked the brown haired girl.

"No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes," said Mr. Aizawa. "UA is known for its freestyle educational system. That applies to us teachers as well." He turned to face us with a strange expression. "the softball throw, the standing long jump, the 50 meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-sidestepping, upper body training, seated toe touch. You did all these in middle school, yes? Your standard no-quirks-allowed gym tests. This country still insists on prohibiting quirks in calculating the national average. It's not rational. The department of education is just procrastinating." He then looked at the blonde boy. "Bakugou, how far could you throw in middle school?"

Bakugou, I recalled, was the name of the top placing student. Bakugou now said, "67 meters."

"Great. Now try it with your quirk. Do whatever you need to, just don't leave the circle. Give it all you've got."

The boy did as ordered, and fired some sort of explosion from his hand, and the softball threw from it an unbelievable distance.

Sensei held up a measurer showing 705.2 meters. "It's important for us to know our limits," he explained. "That's the most rational step to measuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

"Whoa, this is awesome!" I heard my classmates saying. "705 meters, seriously?"

"So we can use our quirks for real, man, the hero course is great"!

"Great, you say?" said Sensei. It seemed that was the incorrect response.

"You're hoping to become heroes after three years here, and you think it'll be all fun and games? Right. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless and will be expelled."

"WHAA?!" everyone cried.

"Your fates are in our hands," said Sensei with a strange grin. "Welcome, this is the Hero Course at UA."

"The lowest scorer will be expelled?" protested the brown haired girl. "It's only the first day! I mean, even if it weren't, that's totally unfair!"

"Natural disasters, highway pileups, rampaging villains," said Sensei. "Calamity is always right around the corner. I'd say Japan is full of unfair things. Heroes are the ones who correct all that unfairness. If you're hoping to spend your evening goofing off, I'm sorry to tell you that for the next three years, UA will run you through the ringer. That's plus ultra. Use your strength to overcome it all. So bring it."

Trial by fire, I suppose. This is what it's like at the top, so we have no choice.

The fifty meter dash was the first event. my time was 3.04 seconds, and for fifty meter I needed to switch to third gear. Of course, speed is my specialty with my engine quirk, so this wasn't an event I was worried about. Watching the brown haired girl use her power, it seemed she could make objects float by touching them, as on the softball throw she achieved a score of infinity by tossing it into space.

Midoriya, on the other hand, didn't appear to be using his quirk at all in any of the challenges, which was very odd. As we battled our way through grip strength, long jumps, side stepping, and more, Midoriya produced unimpressive result after unimpressive result. At this rate he'd be the one going home.

Far into the softball throwing contest, he still hadn't made anything happen. I found myself standing with Bakugou and the brown haired girl, who were also watching Midoriya's progress.

"Midoriya isn't doing very well," I mused.

"Well, duh! He's a quirkless runt!" spat Bakugou.

"Quirkless? So you haven't heard about his feats during the entrance exam?!" I cried, confused. I'd been under the impression that the two knew each other; Bakugou looked baffled, however, at my statement.

As we watched, Midoriya made a very basic softball throw, no use of his quirk whatsover, and was seized in Mr. Aizawa's Scarf, as the teacher seemed to be reprimanding him.

"Seems like he received some special instruction," I mused to myself; Bakugou immediately grumped back "Yeah, instruction to leave this school."

It certainly seemed like it…

And then, on his second try, Midoriya finally used his quirk - a distance even further than Bakugou's and an enormous blast.

I felt a wave of relief sweep over me. So I'm not losing my mind after all. Midoriya is a powerful quirk user.

Still, I couldn't help but notice the utterly flattened look on Bakugou's face.

It would be a very long time before I understood what that look really meant.