It only took a few exercises for the trend to become apparent. In the exercises that were boosted by their quirks, the drop in their scores was expected. Aside from Bakugou, Yaoyorozu,Todoroki, and a blond guy whose quirk seemed to be a tail though, everyone's scores dropped in every other category as well. Nothing dramatic. A few meters here, a couple of seconds there. And maybe it could be attributed to the fact that they were running through the exercises a second time, but Izuku doubted it. The trials weren't that strenuous, and the drop remained consistent across the board. No, there was a better explanation for the change in their scores. One that, from the look on Aizawa's face, he had been expecting.

One by one, Aizawa passed out the reports with their scores listed by category, barely glancing at the students as he did so. Izuku's only had the one score written, but they were exactly what he had been expecting-well above the national average but still normal enough for someone without a quirk. Izuku's own scores weren't the point of Aizawa's exercises though.

"Take a moment to look over your scores," Aizawa said when all of the pages had been passed out. "Look at your classmates scores as well, if they are willing to share. What do you notice about your own performance?"

The whispering picked up again at Aizawa's instructions as the students started to move around, comparing their papers with the people standing around them. Thinking that there was no reason for anyone to compare their scores to his when he only had the one, Izuku started to move to the outside of the group, but Kaminari stepped into his way, his grin bright as he reached out a hand towards Izuku's paper.

"Hmmm, just as I thought," Kaminari said, taking the page and holding it up to his own. "You're going to be some kind of secret ninja, aren't you? That's how you got into Yuuei."

"I don't know about that…" Izuku said. "These are just the exercises we do in gym class. It's not anything special."

"Not anything special?" Kaminari replied. "Even going by the quirk round, you did better than me in almost every category, and I know exactly what an average score looks like from class, and this," he shook Izuku's paper, "this isn't average." His words were punctuated with an even wider grin and a tilt of his head.

"All right," Izuku said, "You caught me. I've been training with a secret organization for assassins for the last few years. This is all an elaborate trick to infiltrate the pro heroes and learn all of their secrets, and now you've discovered my plan!" Izuku would like to think that Mei's flare for the dramatics had rubbed off on him, but if he was being honest with himself, all Mei had done was teach him the most opportune time to use it. Deflecting what was bound to be more questions about how he got into Yuuei seemed like just the time. The laugh he got out of Kaminari was an added bonus.

They had a story in place, of course. Izuku's status as the fifth recommendation student wouldn't stay secret for long, and there would need to be an explanation to give the rest of his classmates when they inevitably asked why Nedzu had gone through all of the extra trouble of creating that spot and letting him in when he didn't even have a quirk.

On the surface the story stayed the same. Izuku wanted to be a hero even though he was quirkless, so he tracked down a hero he thought could help him. The hero agreed to train him, and this led him to meeting Nedzu who offered to let him into Yuuei once he had proven that he would be able to handle the rigor of the coursework. While training he had been kidnapped by villains who wanted revenge, and so his mentor decided to keep their connection a secret for the time being.

All technically true, even if it was leaving out most of the important details. It would be simple enough to explain when he had to, but Izuku didn't feel like launching into that explanation at the moment. Kaminari, as nice as he had been so far, seemed like the kind of person who would have questions that Izuku wouldn't want to answer at the moment. Better to avoid the conversation altogether until a time they weren't surrounding by fifteen of their classmates who might be just as curious about their quirkless classmate.

"You'd make a terrible villain, Midoriya, giving your evil plans away this early in the game. Some spy you are." Izuku waved him off, taking his paper back so that Kaminari could move onto the next person. Talking to Izuku wasn't going to help him realize Aizawa's point, and Izuku would prefer it if his classmates could make it longer than the previous years' students.

The students circulated for a few more moments, before Aizawa called for their attention. "What did you notice about your scores?"

"Our highest scores were in the areas we could use our quirks in?" Someone called out after a few seconds.

"That is true, but to be expected. What else?" He looked at them expectantly. Aizawa may have a bad reputation for the students he kicked out of the program, but Izuku knew that he wanted more than anything for his classes to succeed. He wasn't going to hand them the answers if he believed they were capable of figuring it out on their own.

Izuku should have known who would be the one to point out what everyone else was missing.

"Their scores dropped," Bakugou said, his tone matter of fact. "They dropped when they couldn't use their quirks."

"What do you mean 'their'?" Another student called out. "Your scores dropped too."

"Even in the categories where their quirks couldn't have helped them in the first place," Bakugou continued without looking at the person who had spoken.

"Correct," Aizawa said. He looked over the students gathered around him. "And why is that? Even those of you whose quirks don't affect any of the exercises directly had a drop across the board in the second round. I told you that it is up to you what you make of your potential, and this is the first thing you need to address in order to do that. So why do you think that your scores dropped?"

No one else spoke, but Izuku refused to be the one to explain Aizawa's theory. Why open himself up for another reason for resentment when he didn't have to? Aizawa knew that he knew the reason, and that he had put together their possible problem the moment his mentor explained what they would be doing for his first class. Izuku didn't need public validation, especially at the potential cost of the long game.

"Anything you notice," Aizawa continued. "You aren't going to get in trouble for wrong answers in my class. That would be pointless. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have things you needed to learn."

"Umm…" The girl who had greeted Bakugou started, raising her hand. "Even though I knew that you were using your quirk during the second round to make sure we couldn't accidently cheat, I was still focusing on not using mine to boost my score."

Aizawa hummed. "That is a good point, and something else that you will be working on this year. If so much of your attention is spent on using your quirk-or not using your quirk in this case- you are wasting energy and focus that could be put towards the problem you are facing. What else?"

"A block?" A student towards the back asked. Izuku turned, craning his neck to see who had spoken. Why were all of his classmates so tall?

"Can you explain that a little more?"

"It might be a mental block?" The blond guy whose scores hadn't dropped asked again, stepping towards the front of the crowd. "We all expected to be tested on our quirks today since quirk development is a huge part of the program, but then you announced the second round and, well...I don't think many of us were expecting that."

"You've done these exercises countless times in classes before mine. None of them are new to you. How many of you panicked, even for a second, when I said that you wouldn't be able to use your quirk? Raise your hand."

The class hesitated, and Aizawa sighed. "Be honest. This is the entire point of this lesson. You aren't going to be expelled for admitting you did not like the prospect of not being able to use your quirk." There was another moment of hesitation before hands started to raise around their small cluster.

"Quirks are unique, but that doesn't mean that you aren't going to eventually come up against someone with a quirk similar to mine or find yourselves in situations where your quirk will be a hindrance rather than advantage. As a pro hero you will still need to be able to work in both of those situations, and the sooner you realize that your quirk is not the solution to every problem you face the better. I know that this seems to go against the image that Yuuei has to the public, but this is the reality of the situation. Your other teachers will be working with you primarily on developing your quirk and your ability to strategize. In my sessions you will be working to find a balance between understanding how to use your quirk and knowing when not to. Today's exercises were familiar for a reason. Use your reaction today to think about what you personally need to do. We will be coming back to this, so don't just push this out of your mind and forget about it. This is extremely important."

"Are there any questions?" Aizawa asked. Every raised hand dropped. "Head back to the classroom then. Your next class starts in five minutes. Mineta? Stay behind."

He couldn't be one hundred percent sure why Aizawa held Mineta back, but Izuku had a pretty decent guess. Mistakes on exercises and things like that his mentor could tolerate, but there was a line of what he would and would not allow to pass in his classroom. Some actions Aizawa would not let slide even once, and the Mineta, well. The discomfort from the girls in 1-A during that short period alone said more than enough. Mineta would have the chance to right his wrong and if he didn't, then he shouldn't be in the hero course to begin with.

Whatever Mineta decided, Aizawa would handle it. For now, Izuku needed to focus on how he was going to get through the rest of the day. Somehow he and Aizawa had managed to make it through that first class without completely giving themselves away, but Izuku wasn't in the clear yet. He would have a break for a couple of periods, but then he would still need to deal with Hizashi, and that was bound to be the more difficult of the two.

Izuku followed his classmates as they filed back into the building, resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder at Aizawa. He had almost made it into the building when Iida Tenya stepped into his path. They still had five minutes until their next class, so Izuku made no move to go around him, watching as the last person entered the building. Iida did not look as angry as he had before, but that did nothing to make Izuku feel better about whatever this conversation was going to entail.

"Class is going to start soon," Izuku said, calling back to Iida's earlier frustrations. "Was there something you needed?"

Iida pushed at his glasses with a finger, for the first time looking unsure about what he wanted to say. "My family are all pro heroes. My parents and my brother."

It was an odd way to start a conversation, but Izuku had met All Might so he couldn't say it was the most bizarre introduction he had ever had. "That's good?"

Iida shook his head. "And you really are quirkless?"

Izuku needed to start a tally of every time someone stated the obvious, otherwise that question would grow old extremely fast. Maybe Mei could rig him up some kind of dispenser. Let him have a piece of candy or something for every ten times he had to deal with the same nonsense over and over again. At least Kaminari had seemed genuinely interested in what skills he might have had to get him into Yuuei. Izuku didn't know Iida, to be fair, but he doubted their conversation would be as light.

"That is what Aizawa-sensei said."

Iida pushed at his glasses again. "I do not mean to overstep-"

"Starting your sentence with that phase means that you most definitely are going to overstep, and you know that you're going to before you even say anything." If Hizashi had been there, he would have called Izuku out on how much he sounded like Aizawa then, but Izuku didn't care. Sure, Iida might have meant well with whatever advice or warning he wanted to give, but well intentioned intervention or not, Izuku could recognize the look on his face. The look that said that he had already decided Izuku was incapable of becoming a pro hero if he didn't have a quirk.

"You must have done well on the entrance exam," Iida continued. "You wouldn't be here if you hadn't, but I've seen what pro heroes go through with my parents and my brother. Even with a quirk it can be dangerous. I understand that you want to be here just like the rest of our class, but what if you get hurt? What if-"

"Iida-san. As you said, I don't mean to be rude, but I did consider all of this before applying to the school. As I'm sure every student who took the entrance exam did. Obviously there are dangers to being a pro hero, but that is a risk every student and teacher at this school has made the decision to take. My lack of a quirk does not make me unique in this regard. Will I need to be a little more careful? Sure. But if we are taught well here and are doing our jobs correctly, then that's what we should all be doing."

"But-"

"I appreciate your concern, Iida-san. I really do," Izuku nodded towards the door. "But if we don't leave now, we really will be late to class, and I've heard detention here is the worst."

Iida Tenya did not try to talk to him for the rest of the day, but Izuku could feel him watching him as their new teachers cycled in and out. Whenever Iida's attention slid back to their lessons, Izuku found himself watching his classmate as well, wondering if this was going to become a bigger problem or if Iida would accept that Izuku was there to stay and let it go. Mineta never did return to the classroom, and none of their teachers questions his absence.

On the one hand, Izuku could understand where Iida was coming from. If his parents and brother were pro heroes, he would have grown up with an inside look at what being a pro hero actually meant. All the paperwork, the training, the press, and the dangers. Iida, along with Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, would be in the best position to judge not only him, but the rest of their classmates as well against their 'standard' of what being a pro hero entailed.

Now that Iida mentioned it, Izuku could see the resemblance between his classmate and the pro hero Ingenium. They had the almost the same hair style, the same shape to their faces. If Iida took off his classes, Izuku was sure that they would look even more alike. What was the age gap between them, Izuku wondered. What would it have been like to grow up with two pro heroes in your house and an older brother who went pro years before you even entered high school? The pressure that Iida must be under to follow in his family footsteps must be enormous.

And if Ingenium was his brother, that made Iida's decision to address Izuku make a little more sense, especially when the boy didn't seem all that social to begin with. If Izuku was remembering correctly, Ingenium had a close call not too long before the end of their second year of middle school. What had it been? A teenager who had lost control of their quirk, maybe?

Izuku couldn't remember the exact details, but he did remember the press that followed the incident. Ingenium had put himself in serious danger to rescue the kid before she managed to herself or someone else, and the media had sung his praises for weeks afterwards.

So yeah, Izuku could understand where Iida had been coming from. To a point. He could also understand why Iida would feel the need to tell him his opinion since he seemed to be pretty big on rules and obligations. That didn't mean that Izuku would be willing to listen to him try to tell him he shouldn't be at Yuuei though, and it didn't mean that he would continue to give him the benefit of the doubt if he ended up being obnoxious about it.

Izuku was already getting tired of having to prove to people that he deserved to be at Yuuei, and the school year had only just started. It would all be fine though, he told himself. Yagi-san had let slip that he would be teaching a practical the second day of school, although he hadn't given Izuku any of the important details in the interest of fairness.

He would put an end to all of the doubt then, but not for them. He would do it for himself. One last opportunity to show himself that he could keep up with his classmates-quirk or no quirk. Ending the pitying looks would simply be an added bonus, and if Iida, or anyone else in 1-A, still had a problem with him being at Yuuei then that was their issue. Izuku didn't owe them anything.

AN:

Next chapter is already completed and will updated on Thursday!

A few things:
1) From the comments, I will be waiting to add the relationship tags as they appear in the story. If you have a serious NOTP that you want to be warned about or just want to know for peace of mind, feel free to message me on Tumblr at theslytherinpaladin, just make sure that it is not anonymous so I can answer privately.

2) About Mineta. A little more detail about Mineta's fate will be given in the next chapter, but I didn't want to go into detail about why Aizawa held him back for two reasons. The first being that you all know what he does, what his role in canon is. The second being that EP is my fun project, and I don't want the kind of gross statements that Mineta makes here. There's enough of that in canon and in everyday life.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments regarding school! They have really helped to keep me motivated to work on this project even when I can't actively sit down and write as much as I would like. I'm going to try to get a back log of chapters done over the rest of my break so that next semester won't be as sporadic.