We live in a superhuman society, where about 80% of the population possesses some uncanny ability. These powers, called quirks, transformed civilization as we know it into something more. With the emergence of these powers came a bright new profession: Heroes. To become a hero was not easy. It was more than making a costume and making a name for yourself. In order to become a hero, one had to enroll and pass through a specialized Hero Academia. Enter: UA High School. Renowned as one of, if not the world's greatest school of Heroes.
The day was new. Sunshine gleamed off of the buildings which decorated the property of the prestigious UA High School. Students of all varieties were making their way through the front gates, most of them walking slowly with their eyes locked on a specific subset of heroes-in-training: Hero Course Class 1-A. Most of the students of the famed class kept their heads down; following the events of the U.S.J. Incident, they knew why all eyes were on them. There were a choice few, however, who enjoyed the attention. Students like Denki Kaminari and Eijiro Kirishima were proud of their exploits against the League of Villains, while the perverse Minoru Mineta enjoyed the extra attention from UA's feminine beauties.
Class 1-A was a spectacle for all of Japan, and was the talk of the town since the incident took place. As each of them arrived at their home room, however, they began to realize that they were not the only talk of the town. Only a few of them had read about it, but the chattering of young teens spread the word like fire. The well-liked Izuku Midoriya sat at his desk reading aloud the article posted a few days prior. Listening intently were his closer friends, the fleet-footed Tenya Iida and the bubbly Ochako Uraraka. Listening in as well was arguably the best student in the class, Momo Yaoyorozu. Katsuki Bakugou was sitting in the desk directly in front of Midoriya's, but he paid them next to no attention. Instead, he just seemed irritated that his assigned seat was so crowded.
"Witnesses of the attack in Minato describe the perpetrator as taking the form and powers of a demon," Midoriya read. "Like the personification of the devil, reaping the souls of those unfortunate enough to cross his path."
Uraraka was gripped by the news story, leaning in close as if doing so would grant her a greater idea of the events which transpired. "Like the devil? Must've been a strong villain."
Midoriya offered no response, and simply continued to read. "Pro Heroes Death Arms and Gunhead fought tirelessly to hold the villain back as they awaited backup from any nearby pros. The villain, who called himself Akuma, seemed far too strong even for that. But as is always the case, it was only when all hope seems lost that the brightest stars shine. A first-year hero course student of Seijin High School was able to aid the heroes by using his quirk to distract the villain."
"A hero-course student? Any villain that could hold off a pro like Death Arms is not one to be taken lightly," Iida stated.
"Witnesses described his actions as nothing short of miraculous, summoning angels from heaven itself to do battle with the Akuma. His intervention was enough to give the Pro Heroes time to regroup and prepare for a counterattack, which drove the villain into a hasty retreat. The student, Akihiko Ketsuba, offered no statement on his actions. No further information on the identity of the villain has been released at this time."
When Midoriya had finished reading, both Yaomomo and Iida had come to attention. "Akihiko Ketsuba? I recall that name," Momo said. "He was an applicant for UA, if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes, I recall hearing it once as well," Iida seconded.
Midoriya was confused by this new information. Very quickly, he began muttering to himself. "Wait, if he applied for UA, then why isn't he here? By the sound of it, he has a summoning-type quirk. Not to mention it's strong enough to hold off a villain that even Death Arms struggled with. Is it possible that he really failed the test? The likelihood of a quirk like that not scoring enough points is pretty low. His combat power would be off the charts, comparable to most of this class. If he could pull off a stunt like they describe…"
All who were listening to Midoriya ramble were more than a little creeped out. He took no notice, though; lost in his own mind. Little by little, the students of Class 1-A began returning to their own seats. Midoriya was finally silenced when a cute female voice wrang out from it's invisible body.
"You guys! did you watch the news last night?" Toru Hagakura asked, looking at the two others seated to her right.
"Yeah," one of them, Mashirao Ojiro, replied.
"It was so cool that we got a few seconds of screen time! Though I bet nobody noticed me hanging out in the background," she stated, sounding slightly forlorn.
"Probably not," replied the other, Mezou Shouji.
"It is difficult to stand out when you're just gloves," Ojiro added.
Kaminari was the next to chime in, saying cockily, "We're totally big deals. Those news channels love us; we're basically celebrities!"
"Yeah, it's kinda crazy, right?" Kirishima agreed.
Seated next to Kaminari was another young girl by the name of Kyouka Jirou. With a sigh, she retorted the two boys, saying, "get over yourselves. The hero course that pumps out pros was attacked, and that's what they care about."
"Who knows what could've happened to us if the teachers hadn't shown up," Hanta Sero replied from beside Kirishima.
"Why'd you say that!" Mineta exclaimed, flailing his arms in apparent panic. "I'm gonna pee myself just thinking about it-"
At that moment, it seemed that Bakugou had heard enough complaining. His voice cut off Mineta's with its usual angry tone. "Awe shut up! Grow a pair, loser!" Mineta was silenced outright.
The next to share his opinion on the situation was Rikidou Satou from the back of the class, who wished to praise one particular battle. "Did you guys see All Might fighting the bird guy? That dude was super strong and he still destroyed him!"
Fumikage Tokoyami was quick to agree. "Yes, his strength is truly a thing of wonder."
Suddenly, all conversation was cut short as the class representative, Tenya Iida, rushed to the front podium and called for silence. "Attention! Home room class is about to begin. Everyone stop talking and take your seats!"
"Uh, we're all sitting."
"Yeah, you're the only one standing."
After realizing his folly, Iida was quick to return to his seat, obviously feeling the embarrassment of his actions. Some encouraging words from Uraraka were all that were offered to him. The next voice to be heard was from Mina Ashido, who leaned back in her seat to speak with Tsuyu Asui.
"Hey Tsu. So, uh...who do you think is gonna teach class today?" She asked.
"No clue. Mr. Aizawa is still in the hospital recovering from his injuries," Tsu replied.
As if on cue to that statement, the front door to the classroom slid open to reveal one Shota Aizawa, completely wrapped in bandages. "Morning, class."
"Mr. Aizawa, what are you doing here?" The entire class asked in unison.
"Whoa, what a pro," Kaminari praised softly.
"Mr. Aizawa, I'm glad you're ok!" Iida exclaimed.
"You call that ok?" Uraraka said to herself.
"My well-being is irrelevant. What's more important is that your fight isn't over yet." Mr. Aizawa's words had the entire class on edge. "The UA Sports Festival is about to start."
The entire class erupted, both in excitement and exasperation. They were so concerned for a few moments that a collection of villains was on the attack once again. A great many students still could not contain themselves. The entire reason for some of their attendance was to participate in the festival.
"But before I get to that, I have something else I need to talk about. Something unusual for this school, and as such, much more important," he continued. At this, the entire class came to attention. "Many of you have likely read about a villain attack in Minato a few days ago. It was kept under wraps due to a lack of information, but the story finally went public this morning. In the aftermath of this incident, UA has made a special exception and we will be granting one more student enrollment."
As soon as those words left Mr. Aizawa's bandage-covered mouth, a new face entered the room. He was average height, only slightly taller than Izuku Midoriya, and wore a nicely ironed UA uniform. He appeared to have a medium build, but it was hard to tell through his uniform. His hair was brown and mostly pulled back save for a small amount in the front, but his eyes are what drew the most attention. His pupils were a more solid black than any had seen before, while each had an iris of glimmering gold. The young man smiled and bowed.
"Everyone, welcome class 1-A's twenty-first student, Akihiko Ketsuba," Mr. Aizawa announced.
"Ketsuba?" Midoriya asked silently, thinking back to the article he had been reading only minutes prior.
"This certainly is a special exception. If this is the same Ketsuba from the Minato incident, then he already failed the entrance test," Iida thought to himself.
Mr. Aizawa continued. "To answer all of your questions, yes. He is the same hero-course student who aided Pro Heroes in the Minato incident you were undoubtedly reading about before I arrived. He will be joining you for the remainder of your time at UA."
"Hah!" Bakugou laughed, glaring at the new student who had still said nothing. "I heard this loser flunked out of the entrance exam. Why would this stupid school give a weakling like him a second chance?"
"Bakugou, show some respect!" Iida retorted. "If he is here, that means he earned his place just like us."
"By what? Fighting one villain? So have all of us, me more than any of you. And this loser doesn't even compare to the weakest in this school. I bet I could blow him away with one shot!"
Throughout this talk, Ketsuba stood at the front of the class feeling like the freak of the year. The young blond loudmouth at the front of the class seemed adamant about making his place at the bottom of the totem pole known. Mr. Aizawa, however, did not intend to let that stand.
"Bakugou, are you really that sure of yourself?" He asked. The question surprised everyone. "Class, meet on the P.E. Grounds in ten minutes. Wear your gym uniforms."
Midoriya paid close attention to Mr. Aizawa as he spoke. The entire time, his eyes were peering through slits in his bandages, and were trained to his left on the newly introduced Akihiko Ketsuba. Ketsuba, at the same time, had his eyes locked on their home room teacher, and when he gave his final order, Ketsuba nodded in approval. In his eyes, Midoriya saw a desire; a need to prove himself before what would become his class. Ten minutes later, Class 1-A's students were all standing on the dirt field where they had originally tested the extent of their quirks. Mr. Aizawa had positioned Bakugou and Ketsuba ten feet away from one another, while the rest of the class stood a good distance away. It was obvious what he intended to have them do. All listened intently when he finally spoke.
"Some of you are wondering if Ketsuba is worthy of being here. This should be a good way to tell. Bakugou, you have arguably the highest combat power of any first-year at UA," he stated.
"Arguably?" Bakugou shouted angrily.
"You said you can blow him away with one attack, so I want you to do that. But first, some rules. You can use your quirk, but if you go too far, I will step in and stop the fight. Do not use excessive force at any point in the fight. And if Ketsuba loses, I'll have him expelled."
Many in the class sighed. "Not this again."
With a malicious grin, Bakugou took a low stance and eyeballed Ketsuba. "If I were you, I'd just quit right now. You don't stand a chance," he stated, creating small explosions in his palms to intimidate his opponent.
Ketsuba took a normal fighting stance not uncommon among combatants, but he was calm. His breathing was rhythmic, and a small grin crept up on his face. In this position while wearing his uniform, it was much easier to see that he was muscular and toned. His body was sleek, but strong.
"You shouldn't show off your quirk like that. Now you've given me the advantage of knowing what you can do," Ketsuba said, letting his voice be heard for the first time to the class.
"Like I care. You couldn't beat my quirk anyways, you damn reject! Besides, I already know what you can do. Yours is a summoning-type quirk; you can summon angels to do your fighting for you. Summon as many as you want, I'll just blow them all to hell!"
Without another word, Bakugou charged forth. In his classic fashion, he began with an attack from his right hand. Aiming straight for Ketsuba's head, he ignited his explosion and let his power loose. The explosion was strong enough to cover the area in a smoke-screen, which dissipated after only a few seconds. Many of the spectating students grew weary of the situation, especially Midoriya, who knew all too well how merciless Bakugou could be. But as the smoke cleared, all he could do was gawk. There Bakugou stood, his right arm still extended, but Ketsuba was no longer where he had been when he attacked. Instead, Ketsuba was now a few paces forward and had turned to face Bakugou, who was frozen in disbelief.
"He's fast," Midoriya thought. "How did he dodge that attack? I didn't even see him move. His quirk wasn't a speed-type, so what am I missing here?"
After only a moment, Bakugou finally turned to face Ketsuba again. "How did you get behind me?" He demanded.
"I walked," Ketsuba stated coldly, still holding that grin on his face.
"A kidder, huh? Man, I'm gonna love knocking that smile off your face. Come on, let's see what you've got!"
Once again, Bakugou charged. This time, he was much more observant. He tried his best to seek out any minute movements, but Ketsuba never flinched. As soon as he was in range, Bakugou went for a two-handed explosion. Instead of being precise, he chose to go with a blanket attack to remove his chance of missing.
"How do you like the taste of death, reject!" Bakugou shouted.
The sound of a hard impact struck everything else silent. Every observing student went speechless when Bakugou was kicked from behind. To everyone's eyes, it seemed that Ketsuba had materialized out of nothing behind him, and delivered a powerful blow. Bakugou was knocked painfully to the ground, but was quick to his feet.
"Now you're gonna die!" He shouted, going for a combo of hand-to-hand attacks. None of them made contact.
Ketsuba was dodging each one quickly, not needing to block at all. Sometimes, it would seem that the attacks would come impossibly close but still miss. The frustration was clear in Bakugou's eyes, and even Yaomomo could not figure out how he was doing it. After a few moments, Ketsuba retreated back a few steps with Bakugou in hot pursuit, however when he caught up and attempted a strike that was certain to land, he was again struck from behind. Ketsuba had materialized behind him again.
Mr. Aizawa was the only one not surprised by the state of the fight, and for good reason. As he watched, he also recalled back to a few days before the USJ Incident, when he was told that another student was to be tested and possibly added to his class. He had been called in on a Saturday to talk with the new recruit and was told that he would be the one to decide whether the young man be granted entry or not. Of course, he was against it from the start. So against it, in fact, that the test he chose for this young man was to fight him himself. Mr. Aizawa knew that if he was worthy of being a UA student, he would prove it in the most practical way. He recalled with some embarrassment the initial state of that fight; he spent much of it getting pummeled in the same way Bakugou was. In fact, he was enjoying watching the same moves from the eyes of a spectator.
"Why don't you hold still!" Bakugou shouted, going for another explosive attack only to be hit from behind again.
Midoriya was watching intently. He was beginning to see a pattern. "I'm still not sure how his quirk works, but every time Kachaun goes for a big attack, it's like he warps behind him. Kachaun is bound to figure it out, and when he does…"
"So, you think you're good, huh?" Bakugou shouted. "Maybe you should be less obvious." That said, he went for another big attack. This time, however, he stopped at the last moment. "Maybe you should stop doing the same thing!" Quickly fading out of his attack, Bakugou turned around and threw a large blast where he predicted Ketsuba would appear. He was pleased to glance the new student materializing just before the explosion went off. Once again, the area was covered in smoke. Everyone in the class was completely silent; they couldn't bring themselves to speak on what they were seeing: Ketsuba was still standing in the spot that Bakugou was charging at.
"Special move," he said, making his presence known to his opponent, "Multiplication!"
In an instant, nine copies of himself appeared in a ring surrounding Bakugou. Ten bodies in total, each identical to the others and each moving independently. Bakugou was in complete shock, but tried to keep his demeanor by throwing out a guess as to the true nature of his quirk.
"So, that's how you're doing it. You can make clones of yourself at will, so each time I've been attacking you, it hasn't really been you. The real you has been sneaking around while I'm distracted. I'll admit, that's pretty good. But it also makes you a one-trick pony!" He shouted, charging the nearest clone.
He stopped in his tracks, however, as all of the clones began running around him in random directions. Sometimes it would seem as if one were about to attack, but would fade out and continue to dodge around. Every few seconds, Bakugou would send out an explosion in an attempt to thin out the herd, and every so often, one of those explosions would land and a clone would disintegrate. Feeling his confidence return, he grew more aggressive, until only one clone remained. That one was certainly the real one; he was sure of it. With a malicious smile, he used his explosions to boost his speed and went for one final attack to finish the fight. Ketsuba looked scared, seeing no easy way out of his situation; at least, that is how he looked. Within inches of impact, his cocky grin returned. The explosion cut off all visibility of the fight.
The class all gasped in concern. The ground itself shook with the power of the final blast, and the smoke took significantly longer to clear. There were a few in the class who even beckoned for Mr. Aizawa to step in, but he simply chuckled and motioned for them to keep watching. "There's no need for me to step in; the fight is over." When the smoke cleared, it was easy to see what he meant. Bakugou was pinned to the ground, growling in anger, while Ketsuba was bearing down on him to keep him there. "Ketsuba is the victor."
The silence was tangible. Not a single student was expecting Bakugou to lose; he possessed one of, if not the strongest combat power of all the first-year students at UA. Midoriya was the most surprised of all, not sparing a single moment before beginning an intense analysis of the fight. His first task was to discover the nature of Ketsuba's quirk.
"I'm not done!" Bakugou shouted, twisting back one of his hands and attempting to fire off another explosion.
"Yes you are," Mr. Aizawa replied, already having cancelled his quirk. "Let him up."
Ketsuba was obedient and released Bakugou from his grip before quickly stepping back, reaching a safer distance. His hot-headed opponent was slow to stand, massaging and stretching his right shoulder which had been contorted by Ketsuba's grasp. Angrily he glared and softly he spoke, but there was no doubt of the anger in his voice.
"Don't let this go to your head. I'm gonna murder you in the Sports Festival-"
"I get it!" Midoriya exclaimed, grabbing all attention. He seemed to even suprise himself, evidently not having meant to say those words aloud.
"Deku…" Bakugou muttered, annoyed at his interjection.
"Really, Midoriya?" Mr. Aizawa asked. "Well then maybe you'd like to step into the spotlight and test him yourself."