Chapter 9: Conversations, Confrontations and Criticisms

The class watched the green haired boy follow Aizawa off the field in shock. It had been a ruse. Their teacher had admitted that it had been a ruse. Surely he couldn't possibly be leading Midoriya away to expel him, could he? He didn't even come in last place. It was their first day. But as Yaoyorozu looked around, she could see that everyone else was thinking about it. Maybe it was his quirk? No, it must have been his quirk. That was the only logical explanation as to why Aizawa would expel someone from their class on the first day. Her stomach twisted itself into knots. Just what sort of teacher had they been put under?

"This isn't right." Yaoyorozu blinked as some gave voice to her concern. It was the brown haired girl, the one who'd thrown the ball infinite distance. "He can't really be kicked out, can he? He didn't even do anything wrong!"

"He deserves it." Katsuki replied, looking far too pleased with the way things had unfolded. The arrogant blonde shoved his hands into his pockets, "Him and his freak quirk."

Iida threw his arms out before him, "How can you even say that? He's a fellow student. It hasn't even been a full day yet!"

Katsuki snorted, "You don't know him like I do. He's a useless minion; he should be kicked out of UA alongside that villain friend of his."

"Minion? Villain friend?" Iida drew back sharply, "UA wouldn't let a villain into their school. Do you know what you're talking about?"

Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Whatever extra, don't believe me if you don't want to." He began to head off, shuffling a bit in his overly baggy pants.

"What's with that guy?" The brown haired girl asked, shaking her head. Yaoyorozu had to agree.

"In here." Aizawa's voice was more tired than anything as he opened the door to his office and walked in, "Shut the door behind you." Izuku winced, doing as he was told. He'd managed to suppress a handful of panic attacks as followed Aizawa, nightmare scenario after nightmare scenario playing through his mind. There hadn't been anything to distract him either, which had made it all the worse.

Aizawa sat behind his desk, "Sit." Izuku swallowed, and took the uncomfortable seat, Aizawa looking right at him. He tried not to shift around.

"What did you want to talk about?" The words were difficult to speak, but he forced them out in a rush.

"You have something to tell me." Aizawa's eyes bored into him, "Whatever you would have told Bakugo you're going to tell me."

"What?" Izuku's eyes widened, "What are you-"

Aizawa's lip curled, "After he charged you. You said that if he had asked you like a person you might have told him. I need to know what you would have told him."

Midoriya's jaw dropped, "You heard that?"

Aizawa huffed, "Just answer the question." Izuku's mouth opened and just hung there. Aizawa held his gaze, but apparently he had short circuited his student, "It was about your quirk. That much was obvious." At that the boy drew back, somehow growing even more flustered, "It was enough hearing your classmate from your previous school mention that you didn't have a quirk, and his obvious surprise when you sent that ball flying, but you almost confirmed that there was something odd when you talked with him before heading back to the rest of your peers. And that's not even touching on the lack of information I received about your quirk. So what is it?"

Izuku wanted to cringe, to slink away somehow, but he couldn't. He appreciated Aizawa's reasoning, even if he was being questioned. "I'm waiting." Aizawa said, irritation growing.

Izuku swallowed and looked his teacher in the eye, "I, uh, I only recently developed my quirk."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, "How recently?"

"Four weeks ago." Aizawa remained silent, eyes searching, and Izuku felt compelled to continue, "The quirk councilors said it didn't manifest until now because my body wouldn't have been able to handle it until now."

Mercifully Aizawa cut off his ramble before it could devolve in earnest, but the harshness in his voice offered slim chances of salvation, "How many times have you even used your quirk?"

Izuku swallowed, "Twice."

"Twice." Aizawa repeated the word and Izuku nodded quickly.

"They said I should wait until I got back to UA to try it again, since Recovery Girl is here."

Aizawa's expression turned, and Izuku had the image forever burned into his mind as the very picture of contempt. Then he shook his head, "I should expel you."

"Wh-what?"

Aizawa shook his head, "I'm sorry, but you just don't have the experience or control to stay in this course."

Izuku's eyes widened in horror, "But-"

Aizawa plowed over him, "You haven't used your quirk without hurting yourself. You don't even know if you can use it without hurting yourself."

"I can! I know I can!" Izuku's heart was practically beating out of his chest, but he couldn't let Aizawa just talk him out of the course, not now. Aizawa was silent again, searching, and again Izuku realized he was expected to continue. But how? He couldn't just reveal All Might's secret. He couldn't say nothing. He clenched his fists and immediately regretted it. Involuntary as it had been, pain was shooting up from his finger.

Wait. That was it. His eyes widened in realization and he looked at his hand, "This is why." He lifted it to show off the bruised purple finger, "This is why you let me continue before, isn't it? That I figured out how to limit the damage to myself?" He was reaching, grasping with a broken finger, but Aizawa's gaze was appraising. "Isn't it more impressive that I managed to reduce the damage I did to myself that quickly?"

Aizawa was still appraising, but not agreeing, "That doesn't mean you will find a way to use your quirk without hurting yourself. You can't go into the field like that."

Izuku seized the opening, "Hero course students can't enter the field for a year. We won't have the opportunity to apply for provincial licenses until we complete our first year." He drew in a breath, and looked at Aizawa, "I can be ready by then. I'll be able to use my quirk without breaking my bones before the provincial license exam."

Aizawa grinned, "Good." Izuku tensed, that smile looked far from genuine, "And if you're not, I will expel you." Izuku felt his mouth falling open, but his new teacher dropped the false humor, "You don't have zero potential, not just anyone could destroy a zero pointer in one punch, but if you don't learn to control your quirk you're not just a danger to yourself but to everyone around you. It will distract your fellow heroes and give villains openings to use you against them. I cannot hold your late development against you, but I also cannot allow someone unprepared to continue on the hero course. The logical thing would be to expel you. Do not make me regret not doing so now."

Izuku hung like a puppet with strings cut that somehow continued to stand. He was being given a chance, but on a time frame. Still, he wasn't being expelled, "Thank-"

Aizawa held up a hand, "Save it. Just get your quirk under control. Now go see Recovery Girl."

Izuku exited the building Aizawa had lead him to. He wasn't even sure if he should have left, but there was no way he was sticking around Aizawa's office after that conversation. "I wonder where I can find Recovery Girl? Maybe I can find someone else and ask?" He murmured, glancing about.

"Looking for some direction? Don't worry, for I am here!" All Might's voice boomed and Izuku almost jumped out of his skin as he looked over his shoulder.

"All Might!"

"Indeed." His hero nodded, his trademark smile reflecting the sun into Midoriya's eyes. He blinked hastily, "I was watching Aizawa's testing earlier, you did well. And you figured out how to break less of yourself, a considerable improvement in such a short time frame." He nodded approvingly.

Izuku glanced down at his purple finger. It was an improvement sure, but he still had a long way to go as far as he was concerned. Then he stopped, "All Might, why were you in that building?"

His hero faltered, "Well, you see I…" All Might's trademark confidence dimmed considerably, "It's not that I don't trust you my boy, but Aizawa is a talented interrogator on top of being a very critical teacher." He tried to wave it off, "Regardless, you did a superb job of explaining the problem without revealing our secret. That quick thinking of yours will come in handy when you're out in the field."

Izuku let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks All Might."

"Now then, we really should get you to Recovery Girl. I'll lead the way!"

Izuku stumbled to his locker, opened it, grabbed his normal school clothes and more importantly his phone, and sat down. His phone was buzzing, and he fumbled with it for a few seconds, fatigue gnawing at him. Hitoshi had sent an impressive number of texts, a mishmash of letting him know that his class had let out early, that he was waiting at the entrance, that he was sick of waiting at the entrance and had gone to the library, that he had found the library, an assurance that Izuku would love the library, where he was sitting in the library, and then, just as he sat down, if he was receiving any of these messages.

Izuku drooped. He was sorely tempted by the library, but he wanted more than anything to just go home. Avoiding his healing index finger he typed out a request they meet at the front entrance. He'd be able to make it there no problem. He hoped.

Recovery Girl was silent for a time after Izuku left, puttering around her office, pointedly ignoring All Might until she was sure his successor was gone. She didn't even look at him to ask the question that was niggling at her, "How long do you think it will take him to adapt?"

Toshinori let out a breath and scratched the back of his head. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation, not one bit, "He's already improving."

Recovery Girl turned away from the balls of gauze she'd been fiddling with to look at him, "That didn't answer my question All Might."

"I don't know." He refrained from grimacing like she did, but only just, "But he's a smart kid."

"He broke his finger to throw a ball." She groused.

"Because he thought he would expelled if he didn't." All Might countered, "And you know Eraserhead would have. He almost expelled him anyway." The conversation was abruptly cut as the door opened and the haggard looking 1-A homeroom teacher shuffled in.

"I assume Midoriya was here already?" He said without preamble, ignoring All Might in favor of Recovery Girl. She nodded and he frowned, "You have his medical records?"

Recovery Girl arched an eyebrow, "I do. Why? Do you need them?"

"After the quirk exam he admitted that his quirk only recently developed," He opened his mouth to continue, but stopped. Recovery Girl's expression had flickered, just for an instant. "Is something wrong?"

Recovery Girl frowned, "No. Go on."

Aizawa frowned, though it was only a subtle change from his previous expression. "Have you ever heard of anything like that before? I thought quirks were supposed to manifest much earlier."

"It is very unusual," Chiyo answered, "But it's not unheard of for quirks to manifest after age four."

"He claimed it first manifested during the exam." Recovery Girl developed a pinched expression, "I thought the timing was suspect, does he have any history of broken bones?"

"No." She answered stiffly.

Aizawa's frown deepened, "If he's not lying, the entire class has a decade of experience on him with their quirks. We can't afford kid gloves in the hero course, but if taking out that zero pointer really was the first time he used his quirk he still has some potential." Aizawa watched Recovery Girl's grimace, "Do you know any competent quirk councilors, someone who could help speed up his quirk training?"

"No." She nearly spat the word in sheer frustration.

"Then I expect you'll be seeing a lot of him." He turned to leave, but stopped at the door, "If he risks permanent injury let me know and I'll have him transferred out."

"Finally." Hitoshi muttered to himself when he finally saw Izuku exit UA High, pushing himself off the wall he'd been leaning against as he waited. He gave his friend a quick wave as he walked down the steps of UA High, "What took you so long?" Izuku didn't respond, walking slowly enough that Shinsou headed to him. As he got closer he felt his enthusiasm draining. Izuku looked haggard, hands stuffed in his pockets, hunched forward as he trudged towards the exit. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Izuku lied, "Tired."

"Uh-huh." Hitoshi fell in at his side, matching his speed, "You look like hell."

Izuku's head dipped, "Gee, thanks."

"Welcome, now why do look like you're about to fall over?" How strenuous could the first day of the hero course possibly be?

Izuku sighed and pulled his recovering hand out of his pocket, "Our teacher had us do quirk assessments. I needed to show off at some point, chose the ball throw."

Hitoshi stared at the bandaged finger, then looked at his friend, "You already saw Recovery Girl?" Izuku nodded and Shinsou drew in a sharp breath, dropping his pack and pulling out a notebook, "Tell me everything. Did you get an x-ray? Can I see it?"

Izuku shook his head wearily, "She used her quirk. It takes a lot out of you."

HItoshi bit his lip, "Sorry man. You need a lift? I can call my dad; he might be able to pick us up."

Izuku chuckled and ducked his head, "Nah. I think I can manage."

Hitoshi let out a breath, and strapped his backpack back on, "Alright, but if you need to stop, tell me. That brown haired girl isn't around to stop you from falling right now."

Izuku sagged further, "I still don't know her name."

"Eh, you'll learn it eventually." Hitoshi shrugged and flipped his notepad open, "Now, tell me everything about what happened when you used your quirk."

Toshinori sat down on the nearest bench and groaned. Chiyo's lecture, more of a screed in retrospect, on the stupidity of giving the boy his quirk the day of the exam had lasted nearly an hour. He couldn't remember seeing her so angry, but it had really gotten bad when he'd had to admit he didn't really know what advice to give the boy. She'd nearly torn strips out of his hide when he'd admitted it, but calmed down, barely, after he managed to explain that he hadn't gone through what Izuku had. Nana had trained him longer than he had Izuku, but even then he had never broken bones the way Izuku had.

Of course, Recovery Girl had decided the best response to that was to question whether or not One for All was becoming too powerful to use. The thought that One for All, and all the good it had brought the world, might have to be abandoned was a dagger to Toshinori's heart. And the thought that he had placed such a curse on Young Midoriya was a second blade working its way in between his ribs. Perhaps his obvious horror had been what finally got him off the hook, since she had kicked him out of her office shortly after.

"You okay Toshinori?" He looked up and spotted his purple haired pupil staring at him, "You look worse than usual."

He waved off Shinsou's concern, "Fine. Fine. I've just had a busy day." And if you haven't, it's about to get a lot busier, he added silently. "Start stretching and you can tell me about your first day at UA."

Shinsou nodded reluctantly and began limbering up, stretching his arms across his chest. Toshinori was watching him, and Shinsou frowned, "Today kinda sucked." That was, evidently, not what Toshinori expected to hear since his jaw dropped. "I walked Izuku to class, got to my class late, there was the speech by All Might, and it turns out that the guy who blew me up during the exam sits next to me and is as much of a jerk as I could have imagined, and Izuku broke his finger and got it healed without having it checked." And I couldn't even bring myself to tell my classmates my quirk.

Toshinori boggled, watching as the boy went to his next stretch. Some of it made sense, arriving to his first class late and finding out that he was sitting next to the person who injured him during the exam were obvious, and he could certainly empathize with feeling bad for Young Midoriya's broken finger, but the rest of it went right past him. And somehow his speech had made the list. How had that gone awry?

"Sorry." Shinsou said, dragging Toshinori from his reverie, "Didn't mean to unload on you. Just… frustrated."

"No problem at all, my boy," Toshinori waved it off, trying to put the boy at ease. "We all have bad days. I was having one as well." He gave an easy smile, "Would you like to talk about it?"

Shinsou rolled his shoulders, and then continued to do so as he continued stretching, "Not much to talk about."

"Well, I understood some of them, but could you break them down?" He gave a crooked smile, "Maybe I can help."

Shinsou opened his mouth, but then his eyes widened, "You know All Might."

Toshinori nodded, "That's right, and I'm sure he'd be interested to hear how his speech made your day worse."

The boy stopped stretching; looking horrified, "Couldn't we just pretend I didn't mention it?"

Toshinori shook his head, "If he doesn't hear what he's doing wrong, he won't improve." The crestfallen look on the boy's face was almost comical, "Don't stop your stretches or I'll have you start them over. Now talk."

Shinsou jumped a little at the admonishment, then sighed as he resumed, "It was the way he spoke to the different courses. I mean, he's a hero and he's teaching the hero course, I can't blame him for favoring the hero course, but then he said how the heroes would be working with the support course and then he said how the business course would help them build their careers." Toshinori nodded, and Shinsou huffed, "But then he just said good luck to the general studies course."

Toshinori hesitated, "And that bothered you?"

"Yes."

The word came out a little harshly, thought that could have been the exercise. Toshinori gnawed on his lip, mulling it over, "Can you explain why?"

Shinsou stopped again, giving him a withering look, "You can't tell me that doesn't sound insulting." His mentor looked blank, and Shinsou shook his head, "The hero class is important. It's the whole reason UA exists. And the support and business classes help the hero class. They're still special. But the general studies course doesn't, and he didn't have anything good to say about them."

"I-I'm sure that's not what I meant." Shinsou glanced at him with an arched eyebrow and Toshinori blinked, eyes widening, "What was meant." He clarified, his nonexistent stomach tightening into a ball.

Shinsou shook his head and finished his stretches, "No offense Toshinori, I know everyone would like to be the guy, but you're not All Might."

"Right," Toshinori nodded, breathing an internal sigh of relief that the slip had been glossed over so easily, "But I will let him know."

After that came normal training, Shinsou was learning the basics rapidly. It wasn't quite like cardio or strength training; the goals weren't exactly the same though they helped. Building a routine, trying to ingrain the various motions needed to move around quickly in an urban environment, had taken some time. Making the motions fluid was key, being able to get over obstacles while maintaining speed, or even using obstacles to increase your speed, was the key to parkour. It was made all the harder for the boy since he didn't have a visual demonstration to go with it. Or, at least, it had started off as harder. Toshinori's suspicions had been growing since the second week, but Shinsou slipped up when he nodded along with a bit too much understanding as he had tic tacs explained to him.

Seeing him succeed on his third attempt led Toshinori to sigh, "So how long have you been practicing?" Shinsou practically jumped as he landed, turning to look at him sheepishly, but Toshinori kept a level gaze on him, "I'm not angry, but I would like to know what you've been doing, I know it's tempting to do training outside of my tutelage, I just want to make sure you're doing it safely."

Shinsou collected his breath and sighed, "I started watching how to videos after the second day." He looked pained at Toshinori's wince, "It's not that you're bad at teaching it, but I needed to see what I was trying to do. I couldn't understand what you were trying to explain and…" He gestured at the frail looking man.

Toshinori coughed blood and then nodded, "And I can't show you. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you're pretty good at research." The boy blushed and looked away, "Well, I can see you've been paying attention. Keep up the good work, start researching vaults and wall climbing." Shinsou grinned, but Toshinori shook his head, "Don't get cocky, you'll be eating walls for a while before you're good at it." I would know, Toshinori thought ruefully, but then dismissed the thought and pulled out his phone, "Looks like training is just about done anyway." He fished the list out of his pocket, "It's the normal Monday route, they'll update me you make your deliveries. I'll meet you at the last stop."

Shinsou took the list and sighed, it was groceries again.

S-Effect waited in the teacher's lounge, running through her syllabus in her head. Captain Amazorific sat beside her, likewise prepping, but honestly, both were just waiting for the man approaching the room. She glanced as he opened the door and watched him shuffle in, yellow sleeping bag and all. "So, how many students will I have tomorrow?"

Eraserhead glanced at her for a second and then continued towards the coffee, "Twenty."

S-Effect glowered at his back, "Damnit Aizawa, don't tell me you kicked out the entire class on their first day, that's just cruel." He ignored her entirely as he poured himself a cup and she twitched, "I don't care how poorly they did during your evaluation, you can't expel everyone. And even if you did, Nedzu won't let you dump an entire class on one teacher again."

Aizawaw turned and gave her a dull look, "I said twenty."

S-Effect opened her mouth, but hesitated, "Wait, do you just twenty?" He didn't answer, shuffling away instead. She shot Captain Amazorific a skeptical look, "Has he ever not expelled someone on the first day?" Her fellow general studies teacher could only shrug, just as puzzled as she was.

"And time." Toshinori clicked the stopwatch function on his phone and looked at his panting pupil, "You shaved five minutes off your trip. Good job."

His student held up a hand, catching his breath, "Would have been…" He drew in a deep breath, "quicker, if I wasn't waiting for people to come to their door."

"People aren't always convenient." Toshinori said with a shrug, "You'll find that out when you join the hero course." Shinsou nodded ruefully, and Toshinori chuckled, "All right then, you should head home. I'm sure your father will want to hear about your first day too." Shinsou made a face, but nodded and turned to walk away before stopping. Toshinori paused as he turned to walk home himself, "Something wrong?"

Shinsou turned back to him and he could see something gnawing at him. It was a bit of a surprise, he almost looked more upset than when he'd been forced into spilling the beans about his problem with All Might's speech. "Toshinori, I know you said you were going to pass on what I said about All Might's speech to him, but…" He looked awkward, frustrated and worried all at the same time, "He's going to be teaching Izuku right?"

Toshinori nodded slowly, "Yes."

Shinsou hesitated, "There's someone else in his class, Bakugo Katsuki. He hates me and Izuku." The young man shook his head, "In Aldera I could always keep him from going too far, but…" He trailed off, looking almost ill.

"But now you can't." Toshinori found himself incapable of not finishing the thought, "And you're worried that he'll try something?"

The young man bit his lip and nodded, "Can you ask All Might to keep him away from Izuku? Please?"

Author's notes: Well this took longer to write than expected. I got stuck on the Shinsou and Toshinori scene (as well as the bit between S-Effect and Eraserhead). The next chapter will get into All Might's combat exercise. I wonder if Toshinori Yagi will pass along Shinsou's message, and if he does, will All Might listen? *taps chin* Well, I suppose you'll just have to wait to find out.

Also, if you haven't already I suggest you take a look at my other story: Analytics, which also updated this week. It was originally going to be in a later part of this story, but I decided to spin it off.