Haruto was returning from a shopping trip with Taiga a week after the exams when the results came. She was sitting on his shoulders looking around the neighborhood still trying to learn where everything is and when she doesn't know what something is she'd pull on Haruto's hair and point to it.
Haruto was still the only one she'd let touch her. Which made him happy and sad at the same time. They were walking into the gate when Taiga tugged on his hair for what he felt was the tenth time today and Haruto sighed and looked to where she was pointing and saw that there was a letter sticking half out of the mailbox.
Walking over he took it out and nearly dropped the groceries when he flipped it over and saw the red seal of UA. Taiga bent down over his head trying to peer down and see what it was. "What is it?" She whispered, barely audible.
Haruto smiled, turning his head up towards her, their noses nearly touching. "It's a letter from UA," he said and she got the biggest grin he had ever seen on her face.
"C'mon let's go open it oniisan. She said in an almost normal tone of voice, which for her might as well have been yelling. Haruto chuckled and entered the calling to see if anyone was home. When they didn't get an answer, he looked back up to Taiga. "They must still be at the park. He sets down the groceries on the counter and sets Taiga in a chair at the table. He handed her the letter. "Hold this for me ok. We'll open it together after I put everything away." He got hum in response as the little girl stared at the ready to rip it open.
He quickly puts the groceries away and returns to the table picking up Taiga and setting her in his lap. "Alright little tiger, let's see what's inside." Now with the needed permission, she rips open the letter and a round metal disc falls on the table, along with a page full of instructions. They both stare at the disk and jerk back when there's a bright flash. Now in front of them is a rectangular hologram.
"I am here as a projection!" There on the screen is All Might in a yellow pinstripe suit, his usual smile on his face. Taiga shrinks back into Haruto's chest, scared of the large man. He gives her a squeeze to reassure her that he is there, that nothing bad will happen.
"Young Namikaze, you passed the entrance exam with flying colors, while your written exam was about average, your practical score was exceptional with a total of 79 villain points," All Might said, giving Haruto a big thumbs up. "But that's not all. There was another set of points. Rescue points. What kind of hero course would we be if we didn't reward those helping others. Your heroic deeds were rewarded, Young Namikaze, with 60 rescue points. Bringing you to a total of 139 points."
With that said a scoreboard popped up showing Haruto that he placed first by a wide margin. The closest to him was Bakugo and he already knew that that was gonna be a headache. Taiga looked up at him in awe, making him grin. "No need for that face imouto. I'm your oniisan, that's all that really matters," Haruto said, picking her up and placing her on the counter. "Now do you want to help me make dinner? You can be my sidekick." Taiga grinned at that, nodding her head.
Haruto stood in front of the door to his new classroom. 1A one of the two first year hero courses. He got here early so he could pick a seat near the window. Inside the class he found that he really was the first one there. He grinned and sat at the desk in the back corner as close to the window as he could get. And the desk was already bathed in a pool of light from the rising sun.
He soon dozed off from the combination of an early morning and the sun warming his skin. It didn't feel like he slept for long when the familiar sound of Bakugo's voice woke him up.
"Oi, Katsuki, do you always gotta yell?" Haruto asked, standing and stretching to a chorus of cracks. At the front of the room was Katsuki with his feet on the desk and the glasses wearing boy from the exam. Around the room eyes looked him over, curious about the boy that was sleeping at the back of the class. Most got awkward when they got to the scar over his eye except for a small boy with purple balls for hair who muttered something about being jealous of a cool scar. The other to not look away was an interesting looking girl with bicolor hair and a burn scar over her left eye. When he looked closer he saw the girl's eyes were different colors too.
"Yo," Haruto said with a lazy wave, a smile coming to his face and sat back down.
"What'd you say Scar-Face," Katsuki yelled again getting up.
"Nothing, Second-Place," Haruto said, smirking as he saw that small explosions were starting to go off in Katsuki's hands. Before Katsuki could yell again the door slid open and it was Izuku shaking as always, Haruto remembered from the scoreboard that Izuku exclusively got in through rescue points. The glasses wearing boy moved and introduced himself, saying his name was Tenya Iida and that he was from Somei Academy.
That's probably what riled up Katsuki first. Rich boy from a rich school. Another girl walked in talking to Izuku who looked even more nervous than he had before. Before anything else could be said a tired voice called from the door looking down Haruto saw it came from what looked like a giant yellow caterpillar.
"If you're here to make friends you're in the wrong place," a man said as he stepped out his sleeping bag. "It took you eight seconds to notice me and four more to settle down. Time isn't a luxury we have. Wasting it is the height of irrationality. I'm Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher," He pulled a bag from his sleeping bag and tossed it to Iida who pulled out UA's PE uniform. "Put those on and meet me in the field outside."
"Um Aizawa-sensei aren't we going to miss the opening ceremony?" The round-faced girl who was talking to Izuku earlier. It was a little late for that wasn't it, Haruto thought as he stood with all his classmates out in the field.
"You are Uraraka, yes?" The girl gave a nod.
"You are here to become a hero are you not?" She gave another nod.
"Then why would we waste time with a frivolous ceremony like that. I said earlier we would waste no time here. That in mind Namikaze, you placed first in the practical exam correct?" Aizawa-sensei asked.
Haruto looked up to the teacher and could have sworn he'd seen him somewhere before. Haruto inwardly shook his head and let out a smile. "Yes sensei."
"In middle school what was your average for the ball toss?"
"65 meters, sensei," Haruto said and caught a ball that Aizawa-sensei threw to him.
"Go stand in the circle," Aizawa-sensei said. "In middle school you weren't allowed to use your Quirks to keep the illusion of fairness. It's very irrational, it won't be like that here. Namikaze, use your Quirk to throw the ball. Anything is fine as long as you don't leave the circle." Haruto nodded to his teacher.
Haruto stood in the center of the circle and lifted the ball forming a shield completely enclosing it. The class watched as it moved back, the shield around the forma drilling motion. Some of the class started to laugh about it going the wrong way, making Haruto grin. The ball was then launched with incredible force, the rifling of the barrier adding to the travel distance to the ball. Haruto looked at Aizawa-sensei who had turned away from the class.
"Know your maximums. That is the most rational way to form the foundations of a hero," Aizawa- sensei said, holding up the phone showing the distance Haruto threw. 4023.6m.
Everyone in class was stunned at the number including Haruto who had never used his Quirk for something like this.
"This sounds like fun," a pink girl with horns said, while others around her started to agree.
"'It looks fun', huh?" Aizawa-sensei said, his bloodshot eyes scanning all the students. "You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that this whole time?"
Aizawa-sensei gave a sinister smile looking over the whole of 1A. "All right. Whoever comes in last place after all eight tests will be deemed to have no potential and be expelled." Around Haruto the rest of class seemed to be worrying at least the ones who weren't sure of themselves were. The bicolored hair girl next to him had the same cold expression she has had the whole time.
Haruto turned to her, shooting her a grin. "Give it your best, eh?" She looked him in the eye then turned back to pay attention to Aizawa-sensei welcoming them all to the hero course in a dramatic fashion.
"Last place gets expelled? It's the first day of school. No, even if it wasn't the first day, this is too unfair!" Uraraka yelled. And Haruto chuckled at her naivete, she hasn't had to go through much has she.
"Natural disasters, big accidents, selfish villains," Aizawa-sensei stated. At the words 'selfish villain' Haruto's mind went back in time to a blood soaked alley and an evil chuckle. Shaking his head clear of the dark thoughts, he turned back to his teacher. "The world is full of unfairness and it's the job of heroes to reverse those situations. If you wanted to talk to your friends at Mickey D's after school, too bad. For the next three years UA will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. Go Beyond. Plus Ultra." Aizawa-sensei's smile took a keener edge and he used a finger in a come-at me gesture. "Overcome it with all you got."
Haruto looked around and saw that the rest of the class was starting to get serious and it made him grin. He rubbed at his scar and looked up at the sun basking in its glow. Let's do it, he thought.
"The demonstration is over. The real test starts now."
The tests started with the 50-meter dash. Haruto watched as his classmates went, the only stand outs so far were Iida and Momo Yaoyozoro, who pulled an electric bike out of her skin. When his turn came he was lined up against the cold girl, who he learned was Shoko Todoroki. She must be related to Endeavor. Haruto ignored where those thoughts were headed and leaned forward creating a board that wrapped around his feet.
"Ready!" Haruto took a slow breath releasing all his tension.
"Get set!" He allowed a grin to form on his face, his eyes glued to the far end of the field.
A shot went off and he launched forward the wind ripping at his clothes, eyes tearing up from the speed. The grin never left his face as he brought the light board around to a stop near the rest of his classmates releasing it. He looked at the timer and saw that his time came to be 2.98 seconds.
The next test was the grip strength. They were each handed a silver grip tool and told to squeeze as hard as they could with their Quirk. Haruto looked around and saw that Momo had pulled out a hydraulic press to squeeze the trigger and in the center of the room Izuku seemed to be shaking with the effort he was putting into the test. Haruto created a hand of light not much bigger than his own to squeeze the device. He put as much mental effort as he could to add pressure. There was a loud crack and the device broke apart making Haruto smile.
He was about to call for Aizawa-sensei when he noticed that the teacher was next to him with his usual tired gaze fixed on him. "You're gonna be a problem child aren't you?" Aizawa-sensei asked what Haruto believed to be a rhetorical question.
The next test was the standing long jump and Haruto cleared the pit easily with another light board. He saw that Izuku still hadn't managed an interesting score, making him worry slightly for the green haired boy.
After this was the ball throw which Haruto didn't have to do since he did it already. Haruto watched his classmates go one after another. Uraraka got a score of infinity and the last to go was Izuku. He heard Iida and Uraraka murmuring together both worrying over Izuku's results so far.
"Of course he's doing terribly. He's Quirkless," Bakugo explained, and Haruto had to agree. He thought Izuku would be doing better from all the hard work he'd been seeing, even the invisible girl was performing better.
"Quirkless? Do you not know what happened at the entrance exam?" Iida asked, sounding completely dumbfounded by the idea of Izuku being Quirkless. This made Haruto very curious. What happened at the exam?
The class watched as Izuku threw the ball with all his might and it made it 46 meters. Izuku was looking down at his hand as if he couldn't believe what just happened.
"I erased your quirk," Aizawa-sensei said, his scarf rising around him to reveal a set of slatted yellow goggles. The sound of boots splashing through a bloody alley sounded in Haruto's ears. The copper taste of blood filled his mouth.
"Eraserhead," Haruto muttered under his breath. Memories of that dark alley flooding his mind threatening to drown him. He felt a tap on his shoulder and it broke him from his thoughts. Next to him was Shoko who was staring forward as if nothing had happened, her face neutral as ever. "Thanks," Haruto whispered to her and she side-eyed him offering a barely noticeable nod.
Haruto drew slow even breaths pulling on the light inside him to sooth his racing heart. He watched as Izuku retook his position in the circle. Izuku wound back and found his arm forward. As the ball was leaving his hand there was an explosion force launching the ball high into the sky and came crashing down at 705 meters. How curious. Haruto wondered how Izuku got his Quirk. His eyes narrowed when Izuku brought up his fist and he saw that the finger that had last contact with the ball was purple and swollen. It was clear to Haruto that Izuku hadn't trained enough with his Quirk if it was breaking his body like that.
"DEKU!" Bakugo screamed, rushing towards Izuku with explosions going off in his hands. "What was that you damn nerd!" Haruto was about to raise a barrier when the explosions stopped and Bakugo was wrapped in their teacher's scarf.
"Stop making me use my Quirk over and over. I have dry eyes," Aizawa-sensei said, frustrated by the rampaging blonde. "You're wasting time. On to the next test," he said, his scarf settling back around his shoulders.
"Yo, Izuku," Haruto called before the boy could get too far away. "C'mere." Izuku came closer to Haruto, his left hand still cradling his right.
"What is it, Namikaze-san?" Izuku said, looking a little shaky.
"Is that finger broken?" Haruto asked a serious look on his usual care-free face. Izuku answered with a nod. "Hold it out then," Haruto ordered, with a voice that wouldn't take no for an answer.
Izuku did as Haruto said, holding his hand up resting in the palm of his other. Izuku's jaw dropped open as a ray of light shined over his hand, erasing any sign of previous damage. Haruto grinned at Izuku, who was hurriedly looking between his hand and the boy who had healed it.
The rest of the tests went quickly, Haruto's Quirk not having much of an effect on the situps and toe-touch. He tied with Momo in the long distance run having relaxed himself on another of his light boards.
Haruto and his classmates were now gathered back around where they started the tests waiting for Aizawa-sensei to reveal the results. Without preamble their teacher pressed a button on his phone and a holographic list popped out showing the standings. Haruto saw that he placed first and shrugged, not caring much for his place. And down at the bottom in 20th was Izuku who had, to Haruto's amusement, dropped down to his knees. A little dramatic there, eh Izuku.
"By the way the person in last isn't being expelled. It was a logical ruse to bring out your full potential," Aizawa-sensei said, turning and walking away from the class. "Make sure to grab your syllabus from your desk and you are dismissed for today."
The whole class let out a breath of relief. Haruto heard Momo tell everyone it was an obvious ploy but he wasn't as confident in that assessment.
Haruto walked over to Izuku, lifting from the ground by the shoulder, laughing. "You sure do have some luck Izuku." Izuku gave him a nervous smile. "Aizawa-sensei must think you got what it takes. Now c'mon me and you need to have a little talk."
Haruto dragged Izuku along by his shirt until he found an empty classroom full of instruments and entered it, closing the door and its blinds behind them.
"Now are you gonna tell me what the fuck happened out there? Cause that sure as hell looked like a Quirk and I know you don't have one," Haruto questioned, staring down Izuku arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.
Haruto could see Izuku was sweating bullets looking anywhere but at him. "Um.. I-I'm a late bloo-"
"Bullshit," Haruto interrupted, not taking his eyes off of Izuku. "The only time a late bloomer gets their Quirk is during a traumatic event and when it happens they usually awaken violently. Trust me I know. And you, my little friend, I saw the only two events in the past year that could have awakened your Quirk and that never happened."
"What do you mean you know?" Izuku asked, his nervousness forgotten.
"Tch, course you would pick that out," Haruto grunted. "I know because I experienced it myself. I didn't get my Quirk until I was eight. And before you ask, no I'm not gonna tell you how." Izuku''s mouth slammed shut a bright blush across his face, making Haruto smirk before growing serious again.
"I don't know what you're hiding and I damn sure don't know where you got your Quirk. All I want to tell you is make sure you know what you're getting into and for the love of God get a handle on it, I'm your friend I don't want to see you hurting yourself over and over again." With that Haruto turned and left, reaching for the door.
"T-Thanks for understanding," Izuku muttered. Haruto looked over his shoulder at Izuku who's eyes were filled with unshed tears, and nodded leaving.
AN: Another chapter down. Hope you are liking the fic. Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think so far.