The Okami Hero: Amaterasu

Arc 9: Academy of Heroes

Chapter 3: The Quirk Assessment

[Sunday 2nd April 2282]

[Assessment Field Alpha, U.A High School]

Most people would think a group of twenty brand new High Schoolers training to become Heroes (plus one who already was a Hero) would be noisy and boisterous, and in most cases they would be right. But for the members of 1-A, they'd just been given an ultimatum that stunned everyone to silence.

Score last place in the Quirk Assessment Test, and you're expelled from U.A, even before the official first day of school!

"B-But expelling the lowest scorer on the first day is so unfair!" Ochako protested, breaking the silence.

Aizawa-sensei was unmoved by her pleas; "The life of a hero is full of unfair situations. Natural disasters, highway accidents, villains on a rampage… every step we take in this life is fraught with peril and one misstep can mean our deaths, or the deaths of others. Its unfair, but for a Hero in real life, coming last means someone is dead or seriously hurt." the man lectured. "As is my right as a teacher, I try to run my class as a microcosm of the Hero Industry, and in the industry we either correct the unfairness of the world or we lose and are no longer considered Heroes. For you in my class, "death" here is merely expulsion, but either way, there is no coming back."

Izumi frowned, but ultimately she couldn't completely disagree with Aizawa-sensei's logic. It's harsh, but there really was no room for failure in the world of heroes, especially as every mistake could cost lives.

Their Homeroom Teacher saw a few of the changing expressions and smirked, realising he was getting through to them. "Sorry, but if you were expecting this to be like a normal school were you can spend your days having fun with friends, then you're in for a shock. U.A is going to be putting you through hell, so that you don't die the instant you step out into the REAL Hero World." Aizawa grinned at them, "You'll need to do better than your best… that's the way of things at U.A. That's Plus Ultra. If you want to survive the day; bring it on."

Tenya narrowed his eyes; "A Trial by fire. Its the Entrance Exam all over again. For those at the top, there's no end to the pressure, so we've got no choice but to surpass ourselves!"

Katsuki sneered; "I'll blow through this crap. If this class is a Microcosm of the Hero Industry, then I'll take the top position here too!"

Himiko frowned; "With Transform's new ability to copy the quirks of the people I turn into, I should be able to at least get close to Kacchan… still, I kind of want to get as far as I can go under my own power..."

Eijiro began to look excited, inspired by their teacher's speech, and Hitoshi looked torn between starstruck at his teacher and horrified since his quirk was useless in physical tests. Ochako and Izumi exchanged looks, both nodding determinedly at the other. Izumi, with Ishiko once again sitting on her shoulder, noted that Eri seemed surprisingly relaxed considering what Aizawa-sensei had said, so Izumi assumed he'd warned her what he would be doing and saying while the students were getting ready so as not to scare her. The others in class had been similarly motivated; they had all worked hard to get here, so they'd work even harder and prove they deserved to be here! Aizawa-sensei grinned at their expressions.

"Finally sunk in has it? Good, the Demonstration is over. Now it's for real." he said, walking over to where he could better observe the assessment. As he did, he walked past Izumi, subtly whispering a message to her; "You're included in this. Don't let on who or what you are, and do your best. Last place is expelled, even if its you. Don't forget; your teaching position is dependent on your student one."

Izumi felt a brief flash of fear before shrugging it off. She was confident in her abilities; based on what she knew of the others present, only Kacchan, Shoto, and Yaoyorozu could potentially give her trouble since their skill and versatility was on the same level as hers. It would be tough, but Izumi was sure she could reach the Top three!

After that, there was no standing on ceremony, the tests began immediately with Aizawa organising them all into place. The first test was the 50 Metre Dash, with Aizawa calling them up in pairs based on their eventual seat positions in class. It gave Izumi the perfect chance to put names to faces and hopefully see her classmates quirks in action.

The first pairing was Yuga Aoyama, the pretty blond from Izumi's section of the Entrance Exam, along with the Pink Girl with horns; Mina Ashido. Ashido got into the starting position at the dash, but Aoyama just chuckled.

"That's unimaginative, Ma Cherie." Aoyama said, giving Izumi a wave of bizarre deja vu as he addressed Ashido. "If we can use our quirks, we should show off a little." he said, turning his back on the finish line and jumping into the air just as Ashido began running. The moment he was in the air, Aoyama fired a glittering blue laser beam from the belt on his stomach, which propelled him backward across the track at high speed. He was doing extremely well, until he suddenly stopped his beam, fell to the dirt and repeated the process for the final couple of metres. That odd fall had allowed Ashido to pass him, surfing along the dirt by producing some kind of softening agent from her feet to let her slide across the ground.

"Ashido; 5.43 Seconds. Aoyama; 5.51 Seconds." the Robot at the finish line announced.

Aoyama, his expression unchanged, brushed the dirt from his clothes; "If it'd fired a moment longer, my stomach would have burst." he commented, making Ashido eye him incredulously. Izumi, who had asked Ishiko to run and collect her current notebook, rapidly wrote down everything she'd seen of their quirks. Aizawa-sensei had been irritated however, as Ashido's quirk had torn up the track they were using, forcing them to move to the next one in the area while the Robots repaired it. Izumi would have fixed it herself with Rejuvenation, but it wasn't her who caused the damage and she didn't want to waste stamina. The class got a brief lecture on not causing collateral damage unless you could fix it or absolutely needed to, which left Ashido apologising nervously.

The second dash was between Tenya and the second green haired girl; named Tsuyu Asui. Naturally, as this was a speed based event, Tenya blitzed through it with his Engine Quirk, scoring an impressive 3.04 seconds. From the look on his face though, Izumi suspected he'd have done better if the track had been longer. Asui had managed to get 5.58 seconds and had run on all fours, or more accurately, cleared the course in a few long hops. Her stance while jumping reminded Izumi of a Frog, and the little ribbit she gave as she got her score confirmed Izumi's theory of her quirk.

Ochako was next, dashing alongside the boy with the tail; Mashirao Ojiro. Ojiro used his powerful tail to launch himself forward, giving him a decent score of 5.49. Ochako used her quirk to remove the gravity from all her clothing, and managed to shave a few fractions of a second off her Middle School score, though her time was still the longest so far with 7.15 seconds.

The next few dashes passed quickly. The Thunderbolt boy; Denki Kaminari, and Eijiro couldn't use their quirks for speed, so just ran normally. Kaminari's score was average for a teen boy, but Eijiro managed a pretty good score with raw athleticism. Next was the boy with the oddly shaped head; Koji Koda, and the thick-lipped boy; Rikido Sato. Koda was in the same league as Kaminari and got an average score, while Sato chomped down some sugar cubes and buffed up all his muscles, giving him the leg strength needed to improve his speed to well above average, though his increased weight and size did offer some resistance from what Izumi could tell. Next was Tentacle Guy; Mezo Shoji, and Earlobe Girl; Kyoka Jiro. Shoji's score was above average through plain fitness, while Jiro got the new lowest score due to being slightly below average for a girl her age. Round Elbows: Hanta Sero, and Bird Head: Fumikage Tokoyami went next, with both getting super scores by using their quirks to pull themselves quickly towards the finish line. Sero used tape shot from his elbows, while Tokoyami produced a bizarre, shadowy creature from his abdomen that stuck its claws into the ground and used its connection to pull Tokoyami to it. Shoto, and the Invisible Girl: Toru Hagakure were the next ones, with Shoto winning easily by freezing the track and skating along it, while Hagakure got a similar score to Jiro. Thankfully, since Shoto could thaw his ice, there was no damage to the course this time.

Then it was Himiko's and Katsuki's turn. Since their times didn't start until they crossed the starting line, Himiko held back until Katsuki finished so that she wouldn't be disrupted by Katsuki's explosive dash, and so she could observe and see how he did it for her own attempt. The boy threw his arms back behind him and shot explosions from his palms to propel himself through the air. With All-Might's teachings in his head, Katsuki angled his body to minimise wind-resistance and carefully regulated each explosion to provide an additional burst of forward moment just as he was about to lose speed from the previous burst, ensuring he maintained high speed without wasting energy on needless explosions. It landed him with a nice and even score of exactly 4 seconds.

Himiko grinned and transformed into Katsuki, glad that the U.A gym clothes were loose enough to accommodate the slightly larger body. Then she mimicked his attempt, propelling herself forward with his quirk while angling herself as best she could and trying to regulate the explosions. Her inexperience compared to Katsuki prevented her from matching his score, but she got close with 4.21 seconds.

The second to last dash was between Yaoyorozu and Hitoshi. Hitoshi did his best, sprinting as fast as he could with only raw power since his quirk was useless for physical tests, and thanks to the training he put himself through to prepare for U.A, he managed an above average score of around 6 seconds. Then Yaoyorozu used her quirk to create some kind of rocket powered scooter and blew them all out of the water by moving back from the start line and driving up to it get full speed before even crossing the start line. Her score was 1.22 seconds, earning her first place with ease.

Izumi couldn't help but gape at Yaoyorozu, who was now politely eating some kind of protein bar while guiding her scooter to the next location. The Greenette had been sure she'd manage the top three, but she'd hoped to get first place since she was already a trained Hero, but Yaoyorozu's quirk was even more versatile than Izumi's power! It was literally a godly power in the form of a quirk, making it nearly impossible to match. Izumi was sure she could outmatch Yaoyorozu in any real heroic situation, but in the strict guidelines of the exam, there wasn't much she could do.

Since Izumi was student 21, she went last and by herself (which meant all attention was on her, to her annoyance). She created a Cherry Bomb as large as she could and carefully rolled it away from the robots taking their scores, before sitting on the bomb. Since she was immune to her own techniques, Izumi detonated the bomb and it launched her rapidly towards the finish line, while Izumi used the flames of the explosions with her Inferno Technique to boost her even further. She stopped her technique as she crossed the finish line, grinning as she received her score; an excellent 1.45 Seconds!

"Holy crap, did you seriously just blow yourself up!?" Kaminari exclaimed.

Izumi smiled nervously; "No worries, I can't be hurt by my own quirk." she explained as she repaired her clothes damaged by the explosion.

"Good for you, not for the course." Aizawa said dryly, directing her attention to the sizeable crater her bomb had left. The rest of the class winced, expecting another lecture, but Izumi simply used Rejuvenation to repair the damage.

"No problem." she said as her technique ended and the crater was repaired. Aizawa nodded approvingly, then continued the assessment.

With everyone having finished the dash, they moved on to the other events. The next event was Grip Strength, and there were fewer impressive scores than in the dash, but some people that excelled there failed here and vice versa. Aoyama, Ashido, Tenya, Ochako, Kaminari, Shoto, Hagakure, Katsuki, Himiko and Hitoshi all scored averagely, while everyone else got a fairly high if not superhuman score. Eijiro had used his quirk for the first time, which allowed him to harden his body, by hardening his arm and using that combined with his strength to increase the pressure on the gauge, getting his first super score. Asui showed how tightly her frog-like tongue could grip, while Jiro did the same with her earlobes (which Izumi finally noticed looked like headphone jacks) and Sero used his tape. Ojiro did the same thing with his tail, smiling as he got to show off his rather simple quirk. Koda, who hadn't revealed his quirk, proved to be as strong as he was large, giving him a high, though not super score. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was also above average in strength, while Sato's sugar-based muscle quirk and Shoji's six arms allowed them scores well over 500kg. That had made Sero exasperatedly ask if Shoji was an Octopus or a Gorilla with that kind of strength. Then, in a repeat of the dash, Yaoyorozu earned herself first place by creating something, this time a hydraulic press that actually broke the gauge. Aizawa grumbled as he recorded Yaoyorozu's score as the highest available on the gauge; 999.99kg.

Yaoyorozu had sheepishly begun to create a new one as Aizawa-sensei glared at her, but Izumi simply fixed the broken one to save the other girl some trouble, getting a thankful smile in return. Izumi justified it as an easy way to get some Praise for relatively little effort, since the broken machine was smaller than the track that Ashido had damaged. When it came for Izumi's turn, she used her Wolf Form, to squeeze the gauge with her powerful jaws, getting a score of 680kg and a solid second place behind Yaoyorozu.

During the third event, the standing long jump; Aoyama shot himself across with his laser, Asui and Tenya leapt with their powerful legs and Ochako floated herself over by removing her gravity (and almost throwing up from nausea for her troubles). Ojiro, Sato, Sero and Tokoyami all used the same strategy that had in the dash, though they focused more on distance than speed. Shoto created a burst of ice to shoot himself into the distance, while Katsuki literally exploded himself across the sand pit. Himiko also repeated her earlier trick from the dash by mimicking Katsuki, and actually managed to beat him by accidentally using more force than intended and hurting her arms (thankfully without any real damage). Yaoyorozu, as usual, beat everyone else by removing one shoe and creating a pole of some kind from the sole of her foot, extending it continuously as she flew through the air and landed past the rest of her classmates. When it came to her turn, Izumi actually managed first place, since by manipulating flames with Inferno, she could essentially manage a rudimentary kind of flight, and theoretically "jump" any distance, giving her a score of infinity! Izumi was so happy that she finally beat Yaoyorozu at something that she barely noticed the others moving on to the next event. She was also lucky; using Inferno to fly was very draining, and Aizawa-sensei had gotten bored of waiting for her to land before her energy gave out, though she would have managed first place anyway since she'd gone further than Yaoyorozu.

The fourth event, the Repeated Side Steps, was fairly mundane since few people had quirks that could be used for such things, with only Katsuki, Izumi, Himiko and Yaoyorozu getting super scores. Katsuki simply held his arms out in different directions and alternated his explosions to leap back and forth at incredible speed, while Izumi mimicked him by making and detonating Cherry Bombs from each hand, one after the other, though the alternating made her slower than the other three. Himiko ended up in second place, as she copied Katsuki's efforts while Yaoyorozu did something clever with a pair of small vertical trampolines, bouncing back and forth, though not fast enough to match Himiko and Katsuki, getting third place as a result.

The fifth event was the Softball Pitch, and Izumi opted out of repeating it since she couldn't improve her score and didn't want to waste energy, something Aizawa-sensei approved off. Most people used their quirks as Izumi had come to expect; Aoyama shot the ball with his laser, Asui used her tongue to toss it, Tenya kicked it like a soccer ball, Ojiro smacked it with his tail, Eijiro hardened his arm to increase the weight and put more momentum behind his toss, Sato used his muscle augmentation, Shoji used raw strength, Sero shot it with his tape, Tokoyami had Dark Shadow toss it and Katsuki threw it with a carefully shaped explosion (getting an impressive 743.4 metres), and Himiko copied Katsuki (managing 673.6 metres due to her inexperience).

Yaoyorozu, as Izumi had come to expect, got an amazing score by making a small rocket that she could fit the ball into, getting a score of 1456.6 metres, the second of her scores that didn't defeat Izumi's. Jiro, somewhat unexpectedly to Izumi, stabbed the ball with her jacks and then swung it around in her hands like bolas before releasing it, managing almost 400 metres in distance. Then Ochako decided to essentially flex on the entire class by simply touching the ball and erasing its gravity, allowing it to float away into space and earning the second infinity score of the class. Izumi couldn't help but smile widely at that; she liked Ochako showing off her talent.

However, there were two people that gave Izumi pause. Yuga Aoyama and Fumikage Tokoyami; the two boys were still watching her whenever they thought she wasn't looking and Tokoyami reacted with an almost imperceptible widening of the eye every time she transformed into a Wolf or used a Celestial Brush Technique. Izumi didn't understand why, but she assumed they'd recognised her (quite a few students had by that point, though they didn't say anything). Aoyama gave Izumi the most infuriating sense of Deja vu, and she couldn't figure out why! Tokoyami was less concerning, but Izumi was fascinated by his quirk; Dark Shadow, which seemed to have a cute side to it and was very interested in Eri, though the little girl had avoided looking at the Shadow or Tokoyami. Izumi would need to ask her about that later.

Unfortunately, not everything was going well for everyone. Hitoshi had once again managed a decent score for someone effectively quirkless, but thanks to all the super-human scores, he'd come next to last in almost every event so far, only outmatching a few people who couldn't use their quirks effectively for the current event. Worst off was Hagakure, the Invisible Girl whose quirk appeared to solely be invisibility and whom had come last in each event so far, her posture growing more nervous with every passing moment.

Izumi didn't have time to focus on this though as the final three events came up; Endurance Running, Pull Ups and Push Ups. Since all three of these tests were solely stamina based, most of the class failed to get any more then average scores, as they were all exhausted from the previous events. Izumi and Yaoyorozu both nearly managed Infinity Scores in the Endurance Run, since Momo used her scooter from the first event and Izumi just ran as her Wolf Form, both of them running out of fuel just before Aizawa's patience was exhausted. Izumi also got an incredible score on the pull ups by using Vines to pull her up to the bar repeatedly, but after that she was too tired to do anything fancy for the Push Ups and just relied on her physical conditioning to carry her through the last test. The only other people to do much good in these events were Tenya, who had the stamina of a long-distance runner, Eijiro, Shoji, Shoto and Katsuki. Katsuki actually thanked his lucky stars for All-Might's Hell Training, as without it he wouldn't have gotten as good a score. Himiko couldn't match him there though, as she'd exhausted her own stamina much faster than he had since she wasn't as experienced with his body.

Finally, after the tiring battery of tests, the class gathered in front of Aizawa-sensei, who was looking at them with the same bored expression he'd worn through most of the tests. "Time for the results then. Your total scores are a reflection of the combined results of each event. Explaining the math behind it all would be pointless, so I'll skip it and go right to the final class rankings." he said, fiddling with his phone. A holographic display shot out of the phone and formed a leaderboard in the air in front of the man, displaying everyone in the order of their class ranking.

1. Momo Yaoyorozu

2. Izumi Midoriya

3. Katsuki Bakugou

4. Shoto Todoroki

5. Tenya Iida

6. Himiko Toga

7. Fumikage Tokoyami

8. Mezo Shoji

9. Mashirao Ojiro

10. Eijiro Kirishima

11. Mina Ashido

12. Ochako Uraraka

13. Koji Koda

14. Rikido Sato

15. Tsuyu Asui

16. Yuga Aoyama

17. Hanta Sero

18. Denki Kaminari

19. Kyoka Jiro

20. Hitoshi Shinso

21. Toru Hagakure

Everyone stared at the display for a few moments, each deathly silent as they searched for and found their names. Izumi beamed with pride at scoring second place, while Yaoyorozu gasped and covered her mouth, eyes sparkling with joy at her own score. She looked to Izumi, clearly knowing who she was and being shocked that she beat her in the ranking. Izumi smiled kindly at her and the two girls exchanged congratulatory gestures. Katsuki wasn't too pleased at coming third, and was more than a little peeved that Yaoyorozu had come out of nowhere to steam roll him and Izumi, but he comforted himself with the thought that he'd conquer her eventually. Shoto narrowed his eyes on the scores; clearly unhappy to not be in the top three. The others with high scores were happy to have done so well, especially Himiko in 6th place, while the lower scorers were a mix of irritation that they hadn't done better and relief they weren't last. Hitoshi especially was thanking his lucky stars while Hagakure was visibly shaking, wet spots in her clothes showing where she was sweating nervously as she waited for Aizawa to inevitably make good on his earlier threat.

Izumi frowned; it was such a shame! Hitoshi was a good, heroic person that deserved better, but his quirk simply wasn't suited for physical actions (at least Izumi assumed so, since she didn't know his quirk). And Hagakure had to have proven herself in the Entrance Exam if she got into U.A! Tossing her aside because of a test where she had a disadvantage was unfair!

Aizawa-sensei turned off the display and turned to Hagakure, his eyes narrowed. "Hagakure, come here." he ordered. The invisible girl gulped and shuffled over, like a condemned woman approaching the chopping block.

There was a quiet sniffle as Hagakure approached her teacher, beginning to shake with every step. Her face was invisible, but her posture was so terrified that it was unnecessary to see her features. Everyone else watched grimly, preparing to see Aizawa-sensei complete his promise; the expulsion of the Last Place Position.

Once the teen was shaking in front of him, Aizawa eyed her coldly; "That entrance exam of ours is utterly ridiculous. Because of that irrational exam, a hopeless case like you managed to slip into the Hero Course." he said harshly.

Everyone flinched, and something that sounded suspiciously like a sob came from Hagakure. Aizawa wasn't done though; "You managed pitiful scores, Hagakure. You've done nothing to improve your body, leaving you weak and unable to measure up even against others whose quirks couldn't help. Its clear to me that you haven't put in the proper effort, nor have the right attitude for this course. I'll be heading to the Principal's office immediately to submit forms for your expulsion. I certainly hope you didn't bother unpacking yet."

That statement hit everyone hard, with even the stoic members of class grimacing while everyone else looked on in sympathy. Eri, still on Aizawa's shoulders, was burying her face in his hair so she wouldn't have to see or hear what was happening. Hagakure was clearly trying to keep her own crying from getting louder as tears slipped down her invisible cheeks and left small wet marks on the ground.

Izumi, who valued the smiles of others more than money, saw those tears and immediately, her fear and sympathy turned to anger. She was a hero, and also a teacher now, and Hagakure was one of her students too! No true hero would stand for such injustice, and no decent teacher would allow their student to be treated so cruelly!

"Stop!" Izumi demanded, shocking everyone as she took a step towards Aizawa, "That's enough! I won't let you keep talking to her like that!"

Her classmates looked at her like she was insane, while Aizawa simply cocked an eyebrow at her; "I warned you all; last place gets expelled. Hagakure came last, so she's gone."

"I don't care what you said! If Hagakure got this far, then she at least deserves a real chance! If any of them were already good enough to be real heroes, they wouldn't be here!" Izumi yelled. "This is a school right? Then it's your job as a teacher… no, it's OUR job as teachers to help improve them!"

The class looked between each other with shock and confusion, so Izumi turned to address them, "Some of you will have recognised me, but for those that didn't, I am the Okami Hero: Amaterasu!" she declared, earning gasps from those that hadn't recognised her, "You're probably wondering why a fully licensed Hero is in the Hero Course. The answer is; I was placed here because I was hired as an Assistant Teacher for the Heroics Classes, and was put with a Hero Class so my student and teacher schedules lined up properly. That means that I am both your classmate, and one of your teachers!"

She turned back to Aizawa, tuning out the shocked muttering of the students behind her so she could glare at the Erasure Hero. "Since I'm already a Pro, competing against brand new students should be considered cheating, therefore my score should be expunged! That leaves ME in last place, not Hagakure."

Aizawa frowned, and in an instant, his capture weapon wrapped around Izumi and dragged her closer to him, his quirk active so that his red eyes could glare into her own emerald ones. "Don't talk out of turn, Midoriya. Don't think I won't expel you, or are you under the impression that the Principal or School Board will stop me? I assure you, they won't be able to. I ordered you not to reveal who you were or your unique position in the school, and you defied that order."

Izumi grit her teeth and a growl rumbled up from her throat. She grabbed the capture weapon and yanked it, pulling Aizawa to her just as he had done. "I take my job seriously. I am a Hero, and you said it yourself, Heroes put their lives on the line! I'm also a teacher now, and a teacher protects their students! Hagakure passed the Entrance Exam, which is something you couldn't do as a student! If you could become a Hero after failing that test, then surely she can become a hero too after failing this one!"

"Oh, and are you willing to sacrifice your chance for her sake? I said someone would be expelled; are you willing to have your score dropped to zero for her?" Aizawa asked coolly, trying to hide the worry he felt at Izumi's eyes, which were slowly turning silver.

"In a heart beat!" Izumi declared, making Hagakure gasp while the rest of the class gaped, "I told you! Heroes risk their lives for others and teachers protect their students! You know that I've already faced death for the sake of others; mere expulsion won't scare me. Attending U.A has been a dream of mine… but I'll never accept a dream that can only be achieved by crushing the dreams of others!"

She and Aizawa glared at one another for a few seconds, neither blinking and neither giving an edge. Ruby eyes clashed with Silver ones, until finally, Aizawa released Izumi from his capture weapon and straightened out. "In that case..."

Everyone braced themselves while Izumi maintained her stubborn stare.

"No one will be expelled." Aizawa finished, "It was a lie from the beginning."

"WHAT!?" everyone screamed. Hagakure was on her knees, gaping at their teacher and praying this wasn't some cruel joke.

"A-A lie!?" Izumi exclaimed, as shocked as everyone else.

"It was a logical ruse, to make you all work your hardest." Aizawa explained, giving what could only be described as a shit-eating grin.

"S-So we aren't expelled?" Hagakure sniffled, "None of us?"

"No, none of you." Aizawa said, now looking a little guilty, "Hagakure; for the record, while I stand by the core of what I said; that your body need serious work, I apologise for the distress I caused you." he said, bowing politely. "As an apology, I'll arrange for private training for you, to help you overcome your weaknesses."

"W-Wait!" Izumi yelled, "If it was all a lie from the beginning, then why not just say that! Why make her so scared? Why give me that ultimatum?" she demanded.

Eraserhead turned to smirk at the girl; "Another ruse. I accepted your appointment as a teacher here, but I had my doubts and decided to test you. I knew you'd save people as a Hero, but I wanted to see how far you would go for the sake of your students. I wanted to know if you could be a leader. As someone in a position of authority, you'll sometimes be faced with unreasonable higher ups gunning for your subordinates. It happens often between the Government and various Hero Agencies. I wanted to make sure you would do your duty as a teacher and leader, and stand up for those people you've been placed in charge of, even if they aren't in mortal peril and even if you have to be punished in their place."

Izumi's jaw hung open, and Eri peeked nervously out from behind Aizawa-sensei's head. "Um, I'm sorry Mama..."

"Eri? Sorry for what?" Izumi asked, her head still spinning.

"Aizawa-sensei told me what would happen, but made me promise not to tell… I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you Mama..." Eri said sadly.

"I told her so she wouldn't be afraid of me." Aizawa clarified.

"Ugh… you jerk… It's okay Eri; I'm not upset with you. Aizawa-sensei was just being tricky." Izumi sighed, rubbing a hand over her face.

"That is so messed up. What if Amaterasu hadn't spoken up? You'd have traumatised Hagakure for nothing!" Eijiro yelled.

"Be glad she did." Aizawa said ominously, "My second plan was much more unpleasant for everyone here. Now, Amaterasu, since you're the Assistant Teacher, you're in charge whenever no other teachers are present. Everyone get back to the dorms; we've got stuff to go over." the man said, putting his hands in his pockets and lazily walking away, Eri still sat on his shoulders and chattering away now that she didn't have to keep a secret and she knew her Mama wasn't upset with her.

Class 1-A just stood there in stunned silence for a minute, unsure of what to do or say. Finally, Hagakure broke the silence… by wailing loudly and throwing herself at Izumi.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Hagakure cried, hugging Izumi tightly, "I thought I was a goner!"

"I'm glad you're okay. It would have been awful for anyone to be expelled." Izumi said, awkwardly patting Hagakure's back.

"That was quite something." Yaoyorozu said, "Honestly, I thought Aizawa-sensei was lying about the expulsion from the beginning, but when he started going off on poor Hagakure..." she trailed off. Apparently Aizawa-sensei's acting had been good enough to give even the top student in class doubts.

"Izumi, that was really scary! I thought for sure you'd be expelled!" Ochako said, hugging Izumi as well, making the Greenette blush.

"It was rather nerve-wracking. For Aizawa-sensei to trick us all so effectively… I'll admit to being very surprised that you will be an Assistant Teacher, but I think you have the right character for it!" Tenya declared.

"Hey yeah, it was pretty cool, Teach." Kaminari smirked.

"It was so damn manly! Giving it all for your comrades… I can barely contain the manliness!" Eijiro yelled, pumping his fists in the air.

"It makes me feel a little better knowing I was never in any real danger. Still, having someone my age as a teacher is going to be weird." Hitoshi commented, slightly annoyed with Aizawa (even if the man was still his favourite Hero).

"You were very brave. I like you." Asui said simply.

Katsuki rolled his eyes and flicked Izumi's forehead; "Don't do that shit again. My rival can't be getting kicked out." he ordered.

"I never knew Eraser could be so scary! Guess we know why he didn't want you spilling the beans about your job before now!" Himiko said, wiping her forehead of sweat.

A few others made similar comments, while Shoto Todoroki watched Izumi curiously. The dual-coloured boy had been curious about Amaterasu for a while, ever since discovering that his wretched father had some sort of interest in her, and now that she was one of his classmates/teachers, Shoto was sure he could find out why.

Izumi chuckled nervously. Everyone in class seemed to be impressed with her standing up to Aizawa, but she'd never expected to be tested as an Assistant Teacher before the first official day of school! She'd appreciated the lesson Aizawa-sensei was trying to teach, though not his methods, and she was glad she'd chosen to follow her gut. Unfortunately, with Aizawa's apparent love of logical ruses, Izumi felt like she'd now have to pay extra attention to everything he said.

"So, Aizawa-sensei is waiting for us at the dorms. What should we do now, Amaterasu-sensei?" Ashido asked excitedly.

"Uh, can everyone just call me Amaterasu, or Izumi if you prefer, at least outside of class. Calling me sensei all the time will make me nervous." Izumi said, gently removing herself from Ochako's and Hagakure's hugs, "And I suppose we best get back to the dorms. Aizawa-sensei said he was lying before, but I'd rather not test him."

Everyone nodded in agreement and the group of students walked slowly back to the dorms. Upon arriving, Aizawa told them to head straight to the showers to bathe and change, so he wouldn't have to deal with the stink of twenty one sweaty teenagers, a comment that earned a giggle from Eri, who was happily colouring in a new colouring book (a bribe from Aizawa to keep his test a secret from Izumi). Obediently, everyone grabbed their normal clothes from wherever they left them and ran to the showers. Aizawa watched them go, then returned to his spot on one of the sofas so he could go over some paperwork while he waited.

A small smirk pulled at his lips as he looked over the papers, Eri sat comfortably beside him while she waited for Izumi to come back. He had quite the interesting class this year… he wondered how long it would take for them to drive him insane.

Next Chapter: Meet and Greet

To be Released: December 4th 2021

So, I'm going to guess a few of you are going to be mad about Aizawa in this chapter. He was definitely ruthless in this chapter, going arguably too far in his logical ruse. Aside from him making it a kind of test for Izumi, Aizawa was being extremely strict as a kind of wake up call to the students. He saw one of his best friends die while still a student, and it scarred him for life. As such, he rationalises his super strictness as it being better than letting his students get too complacent and suffering as a result. He's also far more on edge than canon, since the Zero Pointer Incident happened AND he knows there are Demons lying in wait. At least, that's the way I look at it.

Next chapter will have everyone finally meeting each other properly, some class bonding, a certain somebody getting a few clues as to who Izumi is, and the whole class learning exactly what happened with Orochi.

Thank you all once again, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on this chapter and the ones to come!