Chapter Eight: The First Day
For the remainder of their Middle School life, Izuku did his best to avoid any discussion about acceptance into U.A. Luckily, Bakugo was the only one accepted into the Hero course, so all the talk was about him and nobody focused on what Izuku was doing.
"I'm just the fuckin' greatest like I've always said," Bakugo said loudly with all of their fellow students crowded around him.
Izuku sighed at this. Kacchan… When I'm ready to face you, you'll be surprised by how much stronger I've become!
He closed his notebook, the cover of which stated "Support Hero Deku Vol. 3".
When the bell rang on their final day, Izuku was quick to slip away. He wasn't sure if he would be able to contain himself if Bakugo started to taunt him. He needed to keep it a secret for as long as he could to take him by surprise!
"Midoriya!"
Izuku jumped and looked over at the nearby bushes at the front of the school, where Mei had popped out, all covered in leaves.
"W-what are you doing? Why were you hiding?"
Mei grinned and held out something to Izuku. He took it, looking it over. It was a sort of thin capsule of sorts with a pin at the top, like a grenade pin, which only worried him.
"For when Bakugo hunts you down! It's a smoke bomb!"
"What?! Why would he do that?" Izuku looked around then leaned in close, whispering. "He doesn't know yet!"
"What? Why not—" Izuku stopped Mei from speaking by putting his hand over her mouth and dragging her over behind a wall, peeking out as people started exiting the school building. He let go of Mei who took a breath and continued. "You totally should've taken him down a peg!"
Izuku shook his head. "Not yet… I'm going to avoid it til I'm ready to face him."
Mei huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from him. "Well, sounds to me like you're just scared."
Izuku was going to retort, but loud yells from the front gate made him peer around to see Bakugo exiting the school, a small crowd following him.
"Deku! Already ran off with your tail between your legs?" Bakugo laughed as he called out to him.
With a sigh, Izuku turned to Mei, only to find her gone. He looked to see her leaving the cover of the wall, pointing to Izuku.
"He's over here!"
Izuku froze up as she called that out. She winked to him and waved before running off. Before Izuku could go after her, Bakugo came around the corner in an explosive blur. He smirked widely at Izuku, who gulped.
"So, nerd, you finally see the gap in our skills? I'm destined to become the #1 Hero," Bakugo taunted.
The other students began to crowd around. Izuku clenched his fist around what Mei had given him, thinking about what she had said.
Stand up to him? But I… It's not… He thought about what to do, as the boy approached him and pushed him. Usually, Izuku would've been knocked to the ground, but he merely took a step back. Bakugo noticed the resistance and frowned.
"What are you gonna do? Throw tears at me?" Bakugo held his hands up, making mini explosions on them. "Come on, do somethin!"
Izuku held up his fist, gathering his nerves as he closed his eyes, focusing on stopping his shaking.
"Is Deku going to do it?"
"Whoa, a real fight?"
As the other students began to murmur, Izuku took a step forward, raising his fist— And he slammed the smoke grenade into the ground, the pin spinning around his pointer finger. As soon as it made contact, a wide cloud of smoke burst out, making everyone panic. Bakugo shields himself from surprise, then begins to swipe it away, looking for Izuku.
"What the hell? The nerd's a magician now?" Bakugo scowled and looked around for the green haired boy.
Izuku was already long gone, having escaped the scene as fast as he possibly could.
Dammit Mei! I can't unlive that embarrassment now!
A couple of weeks had passed, and it was finally time for their first day at U.A High School. Izuku was suited up in his grey uniform and red tie, with his Flow hidden within his yellow school backpack, something he had worked on doing since having Flow out in the open at all times was a detriment.
"Izuku!"
Izuku turned as he was putting his shoes on, seeing his mother coming up to him with her usual expression of worry.
"Mom, I might already be late at this point…"
She shook her head and smiled. "You just… You look really cool."
Izuku blushed slightly and smiled. "I'll tell you all about it later! Cya!"
With that, he headed out, quickly making his way to the school grounds.
U.A was a massive school, so even with directions posted around, it was incredibly hard to find his classroom. Though he made sure to take a detour, making his way past the 1-A Hero Class and 1-C and 1-D General Education classes to try and sneak a peek, before finally reaching a large door leading to the 1-F class. He continued moving along that corridor, arriving at the end where Class 1-H was located.
After taking a deep breath, Izuku slid open the large door slowly and peeked inside.
"You're lucky you're really cool and tall or I swear—"
The shouting made Izuku look over to one of the desks where he noticed the very short Shiro pointing up accusingly at the tall and stoic Yuki, who seemed mildly annoyed.
"Shut up," he said simply before sitting down at a desk.
Shiro was absolutely steaming over something, so Izuku tried to sneak inside. However, this proved fruitless as Mei came out of nowhere and threw her arm around Izuku's neck, making him jump in surprise.
"Hey Midoriya! I figured you'd be late!"
"N-No way! I thought you might if you stayed up all night," he commented.
Mei laughed and shook Izuku a bit. "Never! I got at least three hours of sleep like you taught me to!"
"That's… definitely less than what I said," Izuku retorted.
"Ehh? Eight, three, what are numbers anyways," Mei said with another laugh.
Izuku smiled until he saw that Shiro and Yuki were sending them very annoyed looks, making him gulp. H-Hopefully we can all become more friendly through our classes…
It wasn't long before Power Loader arrived, his presence making everyone stop and look his way. He looked around the room, seeing many not having taken a desk yet.
"So this is a classroom, maybe you guys should sit down?" The suggestion from the man had quite the serious undertone to it, making everyone scatter and quickly find a seat. "Good."
Izuku and Mei had found seats at about the middle of the class, though, to Izuku's dismay, Shiro was on his left and in front of her was Yuki. He could only hope on the thought that the class might help bring them together more, instead of feeling like enemies.
The desks themselves were a bit bigger and wider than typical school desks, Izuku assumed that was so they could be used for creating things perhaps. The class had fifteen students total in it, so perhaps bigger desks helped fill the room a bit more.
Power Loader took the front podium of the class, holding onto it with his metal-tipped fingers. He was still wearing his usual yellow helmet in the shape of an excavator claw, but now was wearing a sleeveless white shirt, which was different from his usual look.
"You probably know me as Power Loader, but Mr. Maijima works too. I'll be your Homeroom Teacher," he explained. "We've already met for your examination, but nice to meet ya regardless. Also— They made me wear a shirt for my first day, so don't get used to that."
Both Izuku and Mei couldn't help their excitement at seeing a Pro Hero, practically bursting with readiness, though both for different reasons as for Izuku getting to be close to a Pro Hero was like a dream, and Mei was ready to create amazing things under this sensei's guidance.
"While a typical school might focus on orientation and an opening ceremony… We won't be doing any of that," Power Loader said before pointing up at them all. "As far as I'm concerned, if we don't get started as soon as possible, then the Heroes will be too far ahead of us to truly Support them!"
So the U.A program really is atypical huh, Izuku thought with a smile.
A hand was raised, so Power Loader nodded to them. "Urushima, correct?"
It was a fair-skinned girl with curly red hair swayed to one side. She stood to ask her question. "Um… Is it true that most of our work will be outside this classroom?"
"I see some of the older students got to you first— But yes, this is your Homeroom Class. I expect you all to not dirty it up or destroy it," Power Loader warned. "Your teachers will allow a bit of tinkering as long as you aren't disturbing the lesson."
He turned towards the chalkboard behind himself, taking some chalk and beginning to write with an elegance that they wouldn't have expected, given his large hands and the metal pieces on his fingers.
"As I assume you read before coming, your schedule will go as follows— Core classes in the morning, then lunch, followed by Support specific courses with me in the afternoon and free workshop to end the day," Power Loader explained. He then turned to the class again. "Don't exhaust yourself by overworking on projects. You can't flunk your general studies here ya know."
Now. Yuki's hand went up, and he stood when acknowledged. "I have an understanding that the Support classes are very competitive, unlike the Hero and Business classes," he began, "What sort of things should we expect then?"
"Ah more rumors, not baseless though," Power Loader said with a big grin. "It's true you might need to help each other out and share inspiration, but generally I've seen students excel when they have to go against each other."
Power Loader suddenly produced several more pieces of chalk between his fingers and began to rapidly write something on the board, managing to write so many things in only a few moments. The title at the top read:
"Power Loader's Challenge Course!"
"In this class, you will be allowed to challenge others to any competition you agree upon," their teacher explained. "It doesn't even have to be related to Support, this is just to ignite your spirits."
Competition! I thought we'd be able to get closer in this class! Izuku looked over to see Yuki eyeing him, while Shiro was seemingly sending dirty looks over towards Mei. T-This is going to be a difficult year…
"That being said, I expect all of you to take part in challenges, if you don't and the year passes by, I will fail you," Power Loader told them. "Don't worry though, I'll only allow one challenge to be issued upon a person per week, less you all duke it out every day and hate each others guts. But you can challenge as many people you want otherwise. It'll affect your overall class placement in the end!"
Izuku began to take some notes, already preparing himself. He could see many other students doing the same, feeling a rising tension in the air as everyone thought about the challenges ahead.
Power Loader took notice of the atmosphere and smirked. Another fresh year, should be entertaining.
"Well anyways, in place of your general studies for this first day, we'll be doing Support work instead. So, I'll show you all the Workshop."
~Late Chapter Break~
Name: Maijima Higari 'Power Loader'
Age: 40
Quirk: Iron Claws - Iron tipped fingers allow him to burrow through the ground and other things with ease.
Personality: Stern, competitive, secretly caring.
Power: 5 / 5 A- Speed 3 / 5 C- Technique 2 / 5 D - Intelligence 4 / 5 B - Cooperativeness 3 / 5 C
They accompanied Power Loader to the school's Workshop down the hall, past the other two Support classes. Everyone was keeping a bit of distance from each other, as if highly wary of everyone.
"Don't you think making us this cautious of each other early on is a bad thing," Izuku whispered over to Mei.
"Nope! If anything it gets me more fired up," Mei said back louder than Izuku would've liked.
The workshop was much smaller than the one they had taken the first phase of their Entrance Exam in, but it was still about three times as big as their homeroom class. The walls were filled with various tools and unidentifiable objects, with many long workbenches strewn about as well.
"This is the first workshop of many on campus," Power Loader explained. "As it's the closest one to the classes, you'll often find yourself here to do your work. I've snagged it for us this morning, but we'll move to the second workshop for the afternoon class."
He looked to all his students, who all still seemed a bit squeamish.
Jeez, they're really taking this too seriously, I'm sure they'll loosen up after someone—
"Sensei, if you don't mind, I wanted to ask when it's appropriate to challenge someone," Yuki spoke up.
"You can issue a challenge anytime, and I'll let you know when we can do it," Power Loader told him.
Yuki nodded at this and turned to Izuku, who blinked up at him in confusion. He pointed down right into his face, making Izuku panic a bit.
"Then I will be challenging Midoriya, because he's the weakest willed of everyone here!"
Everyone was surprised by the sudden issuance, but nobody more than Izuku, who took a step back and looked around.
"B-B-But—"
Power Loader laughed. "Of course, if you want. You'll both need to decide the terms and we can do it in the afternoon."
Yuki dropped his hand and crossed his arms, turning away from Izuku but giving him a sidelong glance.
"I'll show you just how much you drag others down," Yuki muttered.
W-What did I do to deserve this?!
The first morning went by quickly, with Power Loader having them experiment with devices the first year students of the previous year had created.
Mei had fun with it, excitedly going through the devices and seeing what she would have done differently or how their design was similar to something she had made before.
Izuku, who was still worried about the challenge, ended up messing up when fiddling with the circuitry of a device that was supposed to constrain a villain's arms the more they moved, ending up bursting it into a poof of smoke and fire which he put out in a hurry.
With a sigh, Izuku looked around, hoping nobody saw. But, of course, Yuki had noticed, turning away and shaking his head.
"Don't let him get to you," came the voice of Shiro. Izuku looked nearby to see the short girl hopped up onto his workbench. "He's a big jerk— But he's totally dreamy right?"
"I-I don't know about that," Izuku said with a nervous chuckle. He slid slightly away, only for Shiro to scoot closer. "U-Um…"
Mei came in, dumping some things in front of Izuku, surprising him as usual.
"Midoriya! Look at all this stuff! Isn't it cool?"
"Uhhh—"
Izuku wasn't given anymore time to think about later, being constantly brought into more stuff by the two girls, but that was a good thing. He quickly found himself enjoying the way the class was going so far.
I can feel myself growing better at this, he had thought while fixing up the device he had broken. Maybe Mei is rubbing off on me more than I thought.
When lunch came, Izuku, Mei, and Shiro headed to the lunchroom, though Izuku practically had to drag Mei there due to her unwillingness to stop working.
The Cook Hero Lunch Rush ran the cafeteria, and went around to greet all of the new students, much to Izuku's glee. The food was insanely good, just as amazing as Izuku had imagined it would be when he saw the Hero on TV.
Mei let out a loud exaggerated sigh as she slammed her empty bowl onto the table.
"Thanks for the meal! Now here I go—"
The girl turned and left before Izuku could say anything. He got a bit nervous as he looked over, seeing Shiro giving him an odd look that he didn't quite understand now that they were alone.
Luckily, or unluckily, he was saved when a new figure sat down in front of them. Izuku looked up to see it was Yuki.
"We need to discuss the challenge," he spoke firmly.
"R-Right…" Izuku watched him intensely. "What do you have in mind?"
"How about something casual, simple games of skill," Yuki suggested.
"Games of skill…?" Izuku thought.
Yuki smirked slightly, but hid it quickly so Izuku wouldn't notice. "That's right, things like darts, pool— Maybe a best of 5 of different ones?"
"That sounds fun— Er, I guess it's not for fun," Izuku caught himself, shaking his head. "D-Did I do something wrong?"
Yuki shrugged and stood with his food tray. "If you don't see your own incompetence, then this challenge will do you nicely. But glad we decided on something. See you then."
He walked away, leaving Izuku and Shiro there.
"Why won't he talk to me too," Shiro muttered.
Izuku found himself smiling a bit now, surprising himself.
A challenge then… You're on, Yuki!
He clenched his fists tightly as he felt a spark inside of himself, ready to show what he's got in front of the class, no matter the challenge.
To Be Continued
Next Chapter: Challenge: Yuki vs. Izuku