We're baaaaack!

To all you manga readers, what was your reaction from the latest chapter (Chapter 290)? And to non-manga readers, what in the world are you even doing here? I mean, this story has maaaaajoooor manga spoilers. Seriously, keep reading at your own risk.

We're ten-chapters into this story and we're just starting the UA Entrance Exams. I feel a bit like I could have done this sooner, but I really needed to set the stage and establish the universe of APN and how it's similar, yet different from canon.

One major thing I'd like to point out, for those still reading, is to remember the ages of these characters. Apparently, one reader completely dropped the story because he felt, "Izuku should be smart enough not to do x or be wise enough not to do y."

I think a lot of people have completely forgotten what it was like to be teenagers, superpowers or not. Or maybe we just had entirely different types of teenage experiences. As a teenager, I was more worried about fitting in, getting a girlfriend, getting laid and trying to get good grades than I was thinking about my far (or even immediate) future. I personally did stupid stuff because I was either dared to, or because I caved into peer pressure to do it. Point is... I didn't have the wisdom I have now to know that the shit I did was dumb. Hell, I'm sure many of you can look back to your teenage days and come up with a laundry list of stupid shit you regret doing.

In Shonen/anime worlds, teenagers are nigh-perfect.

No, really. Almost everyone in Class 1A seem to have their whole lives figured out, know their dreams and passions, are determined to do achieve it, and have no toxic traits or personalities except Bakugo with his anger and Mineta with his lecherousness.

And surprise, surprise! The two characters with the most visible flaws are the most hated 1A characters.

They're all just... too perfect to be believable. An exaggerated/over-the-top flaw would make them feel more human than none at all. Just think about how flawed Konosuba characters are, and how memorable they are for it.

Whenever I think 'flawed but relatable teenagers' my mind goes to the OG Archie Comics. It's titular character was a womanising maniac, his best friend was an asexual, woman-hating glutton, one of the main love interests was a spoiled, bratty princess, and the other was a girl-next-door simp.

Yet I'll be damned if I didn't spend my allowance buying the comics just to read more of Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica.

Then CW came with that Riverdale shit and violated my childhood with a necrotic finger.

ANYWAY -

Let's get back to the story.


XXXXX


The Halo Effect, Izuku read, was discovered by pre-quirk era psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike. Thorndike concluded that a single quality, such as beauty, social status or age, produces a positive or negative impression that outshines everything else, and the overall effect is disproportionate.

Izuku's eyes scanned furtively through the psychosomatic illusion. The words were from the book: Quirk Tribalism: An Essay of the Biases of the Homo Superno, authored by a renowned quirkless scientist Dr. Viktor Yuval.

Beauty is the best-studied example, Izuku read on. Dozens of studies have shown that we automatically regard good-looking people as more pleasant, honest and intelligent. Advertising has found an ally in the halo effect, as TV ads, billboards and magazines picture smiling celebrities promoting arbitrary products to which the masses hurry to purchase. The public consensus of beauty and desirability has been the driving force behind not only the advertisement industry, but the entertainment industry as well.

"Thirty minutes remaining!" a proctor called out. Not just any proctor, but a Pro Hero proctor, Present Mic. "In exactly thirty minutes, your pens go up!"

Groans cut across the room. Muffled comments and swears hit Izuku's ears, as did the sound of pens furiously scribbling faster and faster on paper. Izuku glanced down at his own paper. His handwriting, so neat and refined one would have mistaken it for a printed computer font. He'd finished the written exam roughly ten minutes after he started, and spent the rest of his time idly perusing the pages of books he'd stored with his eidetic memory. There was no reason to leave the hall early, unlike those eager to prove themselves, Izuku didn't need to.

He had nothing to prove.

He turned his gaze back to the floating book in front of him, mentally flipping the next page.

One disturbing observation of the halo effect in the entertainment industry can be traced to the days before possessing a quirk was a widespread phenomenon. Izuku continued. Movies, comic books and various means of media portrayed the Homo Superno as the enemy – as vile monsters, despicable despots, caricatures of pure evil with the atypical goal of destruction and devastation, or the corruption of female homo sapiens to breed more of their 'misshapen spawn.'

Izuku's brow rose. However, as the Homo Superno continued to grow in population, the homo sapiens continued to dwindle, and as it was discovered that the acquisition of a quirk did not always mean the acquisition of 'obscene' physical alterations and deviations. Instead, the Homo Superno could appear physically indistinguishable from the Homo Sapiens, yet possess abilities all the same. In light of this, the media turned once more, displaying heroic characters and individuals who were 'pure' from physical alterations as heroes and champions, whereas depicting those with visible physiological differences as aberrations, villains, monsters and anomalies.

Izuku stopped reading for a moment and took a breath. He let his eyes glance around the room. There was, to no surprise of his, a variety of different individuals taking the exam to enter the top pro hero academy in the nation. Notably, he turned his gazes to the people whose appearances were… peculiar.

There was a blonde boy with a large, seemingly prehensile tail, which, as far as Izuku could tell, provided him with some discomfort in the generic seats which were provided and did not (could not) accommodate for every anatomical peculiarity.

There was a girl, far off, from his side with striking pink skin and slightly darker pink hair. Horns also seemed to be attached to her head, giving Izuku pause. Despite the difference in skin color and the horns, there were no other significant differences which would make her any more or less different from a normal person.

Izuku's lips thinned a bit at that word. Normal. It implied that two hands, two legs, two eyes, and a complexion in the range of pale to dark brown was the atypical 'norm' of what a human was supposed to be.

Muttering softly under his breath, he turned his attention back to his book.

Kobayashi and Halliday argued that the origins of the Quirk Purism movement began the moment individuals were born with characteristics deemed 'non-human' and is an unintended side-effect of years of tribalistic instincts deeply rooted in the human psyche. Race and color, which were once the defining factor for segregation were considered irrelevant in the face of this new unknown:

Did it look human?

Did it look more human than beast?

In several regions of Africa and the Middle-East, if the answers to those questions were found to be negative, it meant a forfeiture of fundamental human rights. Missionaries and tourists in areas of Western Africa reported that nearly 82% of children born with physiological differences such as an animal tail or head were either abandoned at birth by their parents, or killed before they reached the age of three.

Izuku closed the book. With a grimace on his face, he dispelled the psychosomatic illusion. He knew things were bad, but he had underestimated how bad it was. Knowledge was a curse. Of course, Japan was one of the more developed and open-minded nations in the world, so individuals like the girl with pink skin and the boy with the tail could live without (much) discrimination.

It disturbed him, that thought. That realization, that if they'd been born in a different country, in a less forgiving country, they would likely be dead.

Quirk Purism, they called it. The belief that anything that didn't look human shouldn't be considered human. It had a significant number of backers, with some using the Quirk Singularity theory to argue that if individuals with non-human physiological and anatomical traits were allowed to have children, in the future, it was possible for a 'human' to be born that would have no human traits whatsoever.

The infamous Centaur Argument was well known in academic communities. It stemmed from a joke that two centaurs had a child, but the child ended up being a human because it inherited the human half from both parents. In that case, was the child a centaur, or a human?

"Twenty minutes!" Present Mic's voice echoed. "Twenty minutes remaining!"

Izuku glanced down at his own paper, his own answers. The written exam consisted of basic tests of mathematics, language, science, civics and history. There was a portion which consisted of true or false questions about heroics and civilian level quirk law. Finally, there was the bit filled with ethics and morality questions which were painfully obvious as to what the 'right' answer was in all situations.

All in all, Izuku was somewhat disappointed. The written exam was ridiculously easy, especially considering this was the famed UA Academy – the institution responsible for producing a significant number of top ten heroes. People all over the world travelled to Japan with the desire to learn from the best-of-the-best.

Best-of-the-best?

Izuku's lips twitched uncomfortably at that. He knew Pro Heroes. Even in the days before he got his quirk, he'd kept a diligent journal of the strengths and weaknesses of majority of the Pro Heroes that operated in and around the country. If he were to be honest, the only Pro Hero who was beyond comprehension was All Might. Every other person had an exploitable weakness. From Endeavor to Mirko to Best Jeanist, Izuku knew exactly how their quirks worked, and exactly how one would go about besting them.

The problem was, if he, a middle-school teenager with roughly above-average intellect could so easily gleam their strengths and weaknesses from watching and following their exploits, what was to stop a dangerous villain with inhuman intellect from doing the same?

The Void.

Izuku shuddered as he remembered that event. The encounter with those thugs. The idea that there was some sort of teleporting villain out there didn't sit well with him. Yet, according to the laws of the country, he was to do nothing but leave it to the authorities lest he be branded a vigilante and face legal repercussions.

"Ten minutes!"

Izuku neatly organized his answer sheets, gathered his writing tools, and stood once the call was made. He drew a few gazes whenever he did something, or did anything, but he was trying not to let it bother him. He walked to the back of the class, handing over the papers to the proctor, Present Mic.

"Finally decided you were tired of sitting around?"

"I had to make sure everything was done precisely."

Present Mic muffled a laugh. "I'll bet." He collected Izuku's papers without much fanfare, before gesturing his finger to the door. "The practical exam starts in seventy minutes. Maybe that'll be enough to give you a real challenge."

"I… what?"

"You finished the written exam in under what, fifteen, twenty minutes?"

"Ten."

"Ten minutes," Present Mic sighed. "Ten minutes he says."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no – it's –" Present Mic pinched the bridge of his nose. He muttered something underneath his breath about difficult, principal, and prodigy which Izuku didn't care enough to gleam the finer details. "Just… get going."

Izuku did as he was told. Exiting the room, he found other examinees loitering about, awkwardly shuffling back and forth, or huddled in groups, attempting to make conversation. Numerous pairs of eyes focused on him as he emerged, and the whispers came.

Izuku was getting tired of the whispers.

MUFFLE.

With but a mental command, the soundwaves being sent to his ears distorted. Noise was all he heard now. Muffled, incoherent noise which neither bothered him nor affected him. Have to invest in a mask for my hero outfit. He already had some ideas in mind for that eventuality.

Now… Izuku took a seat a bit far off from most other examinees. Taking deep breaths, he searched his mental database of memorized books for something else to read while he passed the time.

I wonder how Kacchan is doing? Surely his friend should have also finished the written exam. Whereas Izuku considered it rather simple, he wondered if Kacchan would have any problems. Well… there's always the practical.

Leaning back against the chair, Izuku hummed to himself, and once more, began to read.


XXXXXX


The fuck is this shit?

"Examinee number thirty-seven! Kindly refrain from using your quirk!"

"Hai, yeah, whatever."

Katsuki Bakugo stared at the questions and his eyes twitched. He settled down the minor sparks flying from his palms in favor of rubbing his hands through his hair. What the fuck? What the fuck? Are they fucking insane?

This wasn't middle-school level. Nothing in front of him was middle-school level. The mathematics was probably high-school second year stuff, the language proficiency had references to hiragana and katakana that he was only vaguely familiar with, and that wasn't even getting into the specifics of bloody fucking quirk registration laws, QETA scores and classifications, infamous civil disputes and trick question after trick question.

The only fucking way anyone would ace this written exam was if they were either an egghead with nose buried deep in books, or went out of their bloody way to study shit that they didn't even teach yet in schools.

Just look at this shit! Bakugo stared at one of the questions.

Which of the following quirk classification systems was brought into existence following the capture and arrest of the S-Class villain Show Boy?

A. The Quirk Existence Threat Analysis (QETA)

B. The Mental Aptitude Quirk Examination (MAQE]

C. The Virtual Quirk Ubiquity Assessment (VQUA)

D. All of the Above

E. None of the Above

Katsuki ground his teeth. Who the fuck was Show Boy? He didn't pay attention to the names of villains or the shit they did. So long as they got fucking stopped in the end, what did it matter? They were beaten, so they were weak, and that was that.

Izuku would probably fucking know the answer… Of course he would. Shit like this was the nerd's bread and butter. The nerd would probably say something about how QETA was a classification system that came to be after some jerkass nearly wiped out humanity with a bullshit powerful quirk, and MAQE was basically the quirk-test for eggheads to decide who was the eggheadiest of them all.

Katsuki blinked.

Wait a minute…

Now that he remembered… Izuku had talked about this. MAQE was a test taken by people with intelligence-enhancing or precognitive quirks. Yeah, didn't Sir Nighteye take the exam? Katsuki was certain. All Might's sidekick, Sir Nighteye, had been one of the people to get ridiculously high MAQE scores which was what cemented him as one of the best, if not the best precog in Japan.

Izuku mentioned something about that girl he liked taking the test too. Saika? Meiko? Whatever.

Katsuki squeezed his face as he stared at the paper. Show Boy… did Izuku ever mention anything about him?

The answer smacked him in the face, not because of Izuku, but because of that perv Matsuda. Show Boy was also a perv, a perv with a quirk which let him enter into TV shows, home videos, movies and games and mess around with it. A massive perv who got off on being watched do perv shit, so he'd grope and fuck actresses on the big screen and mess around with gamers and otaku by cucking them and fucking their 2D 'waifus.'

that perv Matsuda was always going on and on about how he wished he could have that power.

Katsuki stared at the options again. Slowly, he ticked option C. It had to be the right answer. VQUA was a weird-ass test that was done to make sure there wouldn't be another Show Boy. Quirks which let people access virtual space in the first place were rare as fuck, but ever so often, they'd show up.

Show Boy was given a classification of S-Rank, QETA 5, because his power apparently did some weird ass shit like altering causality. If the perv were to enter a historical documentary made years ago, and do some-shit like killing a president in it, all of human history would change as every video of that incident would have him killing that president, and so, he would have actually killed that president.

Of course, Show Boy was an idiot and a perv, so all he ever used his powers to do was to fuck women that he didn't have the balls to fuck in real life.

Katsuki snorted. Horny idiots are the worst type of idiots.

Calming his mind, Katsuki reexamined the exam questions once more. From top to bottom, every time he came across a question that he wasn't sure of the answer to, he'd try and remember if Izuku had ever mentioned anything about it.

What… the… hell?

The method worked disturbingly well.

If there was something he didn't know, he'd ask Did Izuku ever mention anything about this? And every, fucking, time, the answer was: yes, he had.

This is fucking creepy.

Katsuki wasn't exactly one to believe in coincidences, and if he didn't know better, he could have sworn that the entire written section of the hero exam was just filled with shit that Izuku casually talked about every day. Izuku wouldn't even look at this shit as an exam, he'd probably just feel he was having an afternoon conversation over a cup of fucking tea.

Meanwhile, all around him, Katsuki could see people sweating bullets. People were swearing, cursing, staring up into the ceiling with emptiness in their eyes, and there was even one girl, in the corner, who'd simply started sobbing.

"I can't take it anymore!"

A student with a weird ass haircut and big muscly arms stood up, panting.

"Examinee number forty-three," The proctor said. "Kindly refrain from disturbing your fellow examinees."

"This," the boy slammed his hand on his paper. "This is bullshit! What's up with these questions? Who the hell knows any of this shit? This exam is rigged! Fucking rigged!"

"Examinee forty-three –"

"You guys all see it too, right? Come on! I – I'm the top of my class in my middle-school and even I can't answer most of these! There's no way this isn't rigged!"

"Examinee!"

The sound of a whip cracking brought complete silence to the hall. Footsteps clacked against the ground, boots, and Katsuki found his gaze following the rest of the hall to the door where the noises came from.

The fuck?

She was tall for a woman. Tall and fucking stacked with sky blue eyes, and long-as-shit eyelashes. She had spiky dark purple hair made up of layers, and the longest ones reached way down below her waist. There was a small mole under her left eye and her nails were painted red.

Katsuki was sure no one was looking at her face though.

Who the fuck invited the dominatrix?

Her hero costume, if he could even call it that, was a black leather breastless leotard over a white bodysuit. The outfit clung to her breasts, body, and legs so fucking desperately that it might not have been there. Then for fucking overkill, she had translucent black thigh-high stockings connected to a red utility belt decorated with gold studs around her hips, a matching pentagonal buckle in its center, and black knee-boots.

The small, red mask outlining her eyes and handcuff on each wrist was probably what got many people in the room turning red. Or maybe it was the fucking flogger-style whip she held in her hands, or the way her hips swayed as she walked.

"Oh? Does the little-wittle baby have a problem?"

The examinee who'd been shouting suddenly clammed up. Katsuki snorted as he watched the buffoon's eyes go to the woman's breast, and his jaw hang slightly open.

"Aren't you the naughty little one? My eyes are up here."

His gaze snapped up immediately. "Um – I – er –"

"Do you have a problem with the exam?"

"Um… it's…" the boy swallowed. "Hard."

The woman smiled. "Do you have a problem… with hard things?"

Katsuki could have sworn that room's temperature went up by a hundred-fucking-degrees.

"Ah – I mean… n-no – I like – like – um… hard things."

The sniggers in the exam hall made the idiot's face resemble a fat tomato.

"Then be a good little boy, sit down, and maybe things will get a little easier."

"Y-yes ma'am."

Whatever complaint captain-horny-face had was shot down as the idiot had a stupid, goofy grin on his face as he continued his papers. Katsuki scoffed loudly. The action brought the dominatrix's gaze swirling to him.

"Do you also have a problem, little boy?"

"Save that shit for your fucking clients, I'm not buying it."

"Oh?" The woman licked her lips.

Katsuki ignored the goosebumps that ran down his spine. He jerked his finger to the paper. "That idiot over there wasn't wrong. What's up with these fucking questions? Unless you went to some preppy ass middle-school with overeager teachers, you wouldn't know any of this shit."

She smiled at him. "You're applying to UA, little boy. Did you really think it would be an easy feat, to enter the top Hero Academy in all of East Asia?"

The woman moved forward, and pressed her finger against his sheets.

"Have you heard of Harvard, boy? Of Kyoto University?" She tapped on the desk. "It is no exaggeration to call UA the Harvard of Hero Academies. We only accept the best here. Only the la crème de la crème manage to make it in, and even then, only the very best of those manage to graduate."

Her finger rose from his papers. Her gaze, left him, and went round the hall.

"If you find yourself unable to answer these questions or do this much… them I'm sorry to say little ones, UA is not the place for you."

She smiled.

"But don't be discouraged. UA will always recognize those with determination and unyielding will. So perhaps… there may still be hope for you all."

The dominatrix walked towards the door.

"Or perhaps not."

The woman left the hall. Katsuki could almost taste the silence. Second later, a girl stood. The one who'd been sobbing her eyes out. Dejectedly, she grabbed her papers and turned them in to the proctor. The proctor said nothing. And, just like that, the cascade of students leaving the hall began.

The fuck…?

Katsuki was starting to understand just what type of place UA Academy was. It was, at its heart, no different from everywhere else and everything else in society. Those with power and merit rose to the top, and those without sunk to the bottom. The society of heroes was a dog-eat-dog world, but many were fucking deceived into thinking it was all glamor and fame and glory.

It was for the best, that they discouraged those who didn't have the guts or grit to do it.

Katsuki scoffed at them. He paid them no mind, no heed, as he turned back to his exam sheet.

I'm going to be the number one hero. If they think this is enough to stop me, they don't know who they're fucking dealing with.

Now, what did Izuku say again about Quirk Restriction Law?


XXXXX


Shota Aizawa was sleepy. He muffled his yawn behind his special bindings and reached into his satchel for his eyedrops. Raising his head high and pulling back his eyelid with his right hand, he squeezed the bottle. Nothing came. …I'm out already?

Today was already shaping up to be an even worse day. Sitting in the observation room, he muffled his second yawn, only to blink once a cup was handed in his direction.

"Coffee?"

He glanced at the woman. She rolled her eyes. "I didn't put anything in it. Really, Eraser, is it so hard to have a little trust?"

He politely reached out for the cup. First, he inhaled the scent. Inhaling the scent always made the caffeine kick in faster. Only after he saw her sip her own coffee from the corner of his eyes did he sip his as well.

"Has anyone told you you're the most paranoid person in this school?"

He let his shoulders rise and fall. "Did Nezu tell you to cut down those students?"

"…and annoyingly nosy too." The woman sighed. "A shame, Eraser. You're almost my type you know?"

"What is he thinking?"

The woman crossed her arms. "We both know we'll never be able to answer that question."

Admittedly, it was true. No one ever knew what Nezu was thinking. Probably not even Nezu himself. Still, Aizawa sipped from his coffee, and glanced to the cameras. The room the woman had been in less than a few minutes ago was all but empty save for ten or so people now. Whether or not her words had been the trigger, or whether or not it was the considerably more difficult exam, or a mix of both factors, Aizawa couldn't tell.

"At this rate, we might have less than thirty students admitted."

Aizawa shook his head. "There's still the practical exam."

"That's what worries me."

He stared at the woman. Slowly, he rose a brow.

"You didn't know?"

"I wasn't told."

"There was a memo – we had a meeting –"

"I was on call. The Hospital needed me."

The woman sighed. "Nezu completely changed the contents of the practical exam."

"Why?"

"Something about how destroying robots is a poor method to test people's heroic ability." The woman shook her head, her hand going up to her face. "He said it only really tested their combat prowess, and this is a hero school, not a combat school."

Aizawa agreed. He remembered his own academy days, and how he'd scored abysmally on the practical examination because his quirk did nothing against his mechanical opponents. He still managed to make it into UA, simply because his written scores were rather high and his quirk was considered too invaluable to not be in the hands of hero society. For others who weren't as lucky, they would never see the hallways of the academy.

"Not that I'm complaining," the woman crossed her arms. "My quirk puts people to sleep. When I took the practical exam, I was a sitting duck who couldn't do anything. It's just…"

"Why now?" Aizawa said.

Midnight nodded. "…the UA entrance exams have been roughly unchanged for almost three decades. Do you think the Principal got permission from the school board before doing any of this?"

Aizawa doubted it. "It's not like they can refuse him. Remember what happened with Dare Man?"

She grimaced. "A lot of heroes retired that day."

"The Board learned the hard way that things quickly go sour if you don't listen to Nezu."

His pager went off. The silent buzzing noise echoed in the room, and Aizawa let himself sigh again. He gestured his half-finished coffee cup to Midnight, seeing her smile awkwardly. "Duty calls?"

"Hopefully it's nothing major."

She nodded. "I'll record the highlights of the exams for you."

"…thanks. I'll be off."

Leaving the testing center, Aizawa took the paths with the least number of people. He avoided open spaces, large corridors and hallways, and places with exposed windows. Present Mic, Vlad and Midnight all joked that he deserved the title of the most paranoid hero, but none of them had survived thirty-seven assassination attempts, so it was easy to joke.

He made his way out of the testing center, his eyes darting back and forth around, the hair on his skin on edge, and his posture coiled, ready to spring into action. Slowly, he began to count. Three… two… one…

Nothing. No one seemed to be gunning for him yet. Doesn't mean they won't be gunning for me later…

Cars and public transportation were both out of the question, so Aizawa owned a bike. Parking his bike in any location whatsoever which was either unsupervised or open was essentially asking for it to be tampered with or stolen.

The pro-hero made his way over to a bunch of nondescript looking bushes beside the building moving them aside to unveil a hidden metal hatch, painted the same color as the surrounding environments. He reached into his back pocket, emerged the key, and unlocked it. Opening the hatch, he emerged a simple black briefcase and a plain black helmet.

He closed the hatch and locked it once more, sighing as he remembered how much of a hassle it was to get several of these hidden hatches placed around the city.

With a push of a button, the briefcase opened, and expanded, and began to shift and morph as more and more mechanical parts unfolding itself from within like an origami puzzle out of a jack-in-the-box.

The motorbike expanded in full, and Aizawa placed his helmet on. He took his seat, his hands gripping against the throttle. The machine lit up with lights, the engine sparked to life, a small screen appeared before him with a feminine artificial voice:

Biometric Data confirmed. Welcome, Eraserhead.

He exhaled, softly.

Would you like to enable Satellite Tracking for the least densely populated routes?

"Enable."

Satellite tracking enabled.

The ride to Musutafu General Hospital was relatively calm. He stuck to unusual roads, avoided major highways and zipped past traffic. The bike was given to him as a birthday gift by Nezu, built by Power Loader and came with all the essential features such as live GPS feed, emergency aid button, auto-drive and emergency escape features, a first aid kit, spare goggles and a backup supply of his eye-drops.

Aizawa knew the gift was more or less bribe, and Nezu's way of apologizing for the Dare Man incident. He didn't mind. The bike had saved his life on more than one occasion already. The most recent case was just two months ago, when somehow, one of the religious fanatics of the Followers of One managed to find out where he lived.

They'd spewed the usual nonsense at him: "Heretic!" "False Prophet!" "Bringer of Darkness!"

Fortunately, they'd been easy enough to restrain and stop. Unfortunately, they'd been psychotic enough to strap bombs to themselves. They all had physical quirks which would allow them to survive an explosion with ease, and they relied on that fact.

His home was blown to bits and he barely made it out. Had it not been for the bike's emergency-aid option sending out a distress call, and the emergency-escape feature scooping him towards the nearest hospital, he would already be dead.

The pro-hero swerved a hard right down into an alleyway, dodging obstacles and objects with ease. Maybe I should give it a name… like Midnight suggested? He felt the woman was only interested in his bike because she liked thrills. She'd been getting closer to him more recently, which made Aizawa suspicious.

Many high-ranking members of the cult of the Followers of One appeared like normal people. Many of them went on with their daily lives and businesses, wore suits and had lunches and dinners that made them indistinguishable from regular people. Not everyone wore their religious beliefs on their sleeves.

Aizawa wasn't naïve enough to believe that all of the Pro-Heroes or teachers he knew were above being a Follower.

He was aware how lucky he was to live as long as he had. Most people like him, born with a quirk which could disable or hinder other quirks, barely made it to adulthood. The Followers hunted them down with the same ridiculous zeal that they used to praise their so-called master.

At first, Aizawa thought the reason they had it out for people like him was because they felt no one should have the ability to 'take away' quirks except for their prophet. He wasn't wrong, except, it went deeper. Supposedly, in their holy books, there was some sort of prophecy about someone who would arise and 'plunge the world into darkness' by 'snuffing the illumination from mankind.'

They said the 'One' was a Prophet, and he had precognitive abilities. So his Followers feared and believed that 'darkness' was coming, and anyone who would appear in the slightest to be able to 'bring darkness' i.e. 'stop quirks,' was a threat and a danger.

Shota Aizawa was just unfortunate enough to be number one on their shitlist.

The hospital came in sight soon enough, and Aizawa stopped a fair distance away, reverting his bike to briefcase form, and carrying it his hands. He made his way to the rooftops of an adjacent building, moving into position at a location that would give him full and complete visibility of the building.

He swung his googles down, switching it from 'attack mode' with the visible lines which hid his gaze and let him stop quirks, to 'scan mode' which enabled him to examine the area properly. Heat signatures, suspicious movements and sounds… Aizawa wasn't above noticing the tiniest thing he believed was out of place.

It's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you.

His pager buzzed a second time.

The overly cautious pro-hero sprung to action. Rooftop to rooftop, he moved, his physical agility and prowess for an unenhanced human was likely the highest amongst all of the Pro-Heroes with no physical enhancing quirks in Japan. The reason being, for him, being fast and agile was a matter of daily survival than it was an issue of job performance.

He landed at the rooftop of the hospital, the helipad, and walked a short distance, before glancing at the person opposite him.

"Lovely weather we're having."

The man opposite him nodded. "Perfect to sleep in."

Aizawa was prudent. "Almost makes me miss my sleeping bags."

"Really Aizawa?"

He said nothing. Instead, he slowly reached for his bindings.

The man sighed. "And it makes me miss my Mahou Shoujo body pillow."

Aizawa relaxed, just minutely.

"Do we really have to do this every time?"

"Do you have to ask every time?"

The man crossed his arms. "If I was an imposter, you'd use your quirk and find out in seconds."

"Tsukauchi, has it never occurred to you that people can impersonate others without using a quirk?"

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, commonly known as True Man, uncrossed his arms. "Like what, with make-up and a mask?"

"Hmm." Aizawa nodded. He jerked his eyes around him, observing his surroundings. "I was in the middle of the UA Entrance Exams. Is this going to take long?"

Tsukauchi grimaced. "That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"On whether or not you've eaten lunch."

Aizawa sighed. "One of those huh."

They made their way down from the roof. Tsukauchi led the way, because Aizawa was uncomfortable with people walking behind him, even if it was people he knew. Down the stairs they descended, until they got the hospital's top floor.

Once they did, and once they were within the vicinity of nurses and staff, Aizawa subconsciously adjusted his facial bindings to be higher.

"Ah, Eraserhead-san! Thank you for last time! Morano-kun is doing much better!"

Aizawa merely nodded at the nurse.

"Eraserhead-sama, thanks for last week! Saki-chan still misses you!"

Aizawa offered another small nod.

"Eraserhead, oh thank god you're here –"

Tsukauchi cleared his throat to the nurse. "Sorry, ma'am. Eraserhead is here on official police business."

The nurse, short, with pink her, bit her lip and turned to him. "Please, this – this will only take a second! The case – it's – it's bad."

"Ma'am –"

"Please, I'm begging you. She's such a sweet girl and she's been in so much pain! If, if you could just – just for a minute –"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but –"

"It's fine Tsukauchi."

Tsukauchi's gave him a glance. "Eraserhead –"

The Pro-Hero turned to the nurse. "Where is the patient?"

"She – she's just down this hall."

Even as they walked, and as he followed the nurse, he found himself asking, why do you do it? It was entirely possible this was a setup, a trap. His instincts told him that this was the sort of rookie mistake that got people killed. His desire to help people whenever he could and however he could, would eventually end his own life.

Yet, he did it anyway.

He reached the room. The girl was young. Blood-red hair and in a hospital gown, he estimated she was maybe six, seven. She hooked up to several machines, her eyes were squeezed shut but she wasn't asleep. She squirmed on the bed, shook, jerked, and groaned.

"Yumi, Yumi-chan," the nurse moved forward and whispered. "It's okay Yumi-chan, I've brought someone who's going to help you."

Aizawa held his breath a bit. He closed his eyes.

Then, he snapped them open.

The girl stopped squirming. Her blood-red hair faded in color to a pale white. Her eyes, squeezed shut, lessened, and lightened, until softly, they rested. Her chest went up and down at a steady, gentle pace.

The nurse kissed the girl on the forehead, before turning to him. She bowed, as best she could. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Yumi-chan hasn't been able to sleep for days… she hasn't been able to rest at all."

Tsukauchi pressed his lips together. "Her quirk?"

The nurse nodded. "She recently awakened it. They termed it Hot Body. It allows her to superheat her body liquids… but…" the Nurse sighed. "It comes with a downside. She's always running a fever. Her body's average temperature is fifty degrees Celsius. We kept her submerged in a special cold bath at first… but once she came out, it only got worse. We figure over time she might learn how to control it or get adapted to the heat but…"

"She's just a child."

The nurse bit her lip. "She doesn't know how to control it yet. If she ever gets too upset… we're afraid she might boil herself from the inside out."

"She's not immune to being hurt by her quirk?"

The nurse shook her head. "It would be different if it was a mutant-type quirk. Her ability is the same as a boy who learned to shoot fire. Just because he can shoot fire, doesn't make him immune to it. She does have some level of resistance to the heat, but it only goes so far."

Tsukauchi frowned. "Is this common? Children accidentally hurting themselves with their quirks?"

"More than you know."

The words slipped from Aizawa's mouth before he could stop it. Tsukauchi gave him a strange look.

"It's why we're always glad to have Eraser-sama," the nurse grabbed his hands, and smiled at him. "If it weren't for him, coming in every other day, helping us with children whose quirks hurt them or who have wild and dangerous abilities… we don't know how much of this we'd be able to handle."

The physical contact was disarming. As was the nurse's true, earnest smile.

"Eraser-sama, if there's anything you ever need, anything at all, please, don't ever hesitate to ask."

Aizawa swallowed. He felt more out of his comfort zone than he cared to admit. "I don't do this for gratitude."

"I know," the woman smiled. "And that's what makes you even more of an amazing person, Eraser-sama."

He cleared his throat. There weren't any words he had that he could say. It unnerved him, the adoration in her eyes. The devotion. Unnerved him. Even years after becoming a Pro-Hero, Aizawa still did not handle spotlight effectively. It was one of the reasons he chose to be an underground hero from at the start.

Fortunately, Tsukauchi was there to save him.

"Eraserhead, we should get going."

"Right."

He glanced over at the young girl, Yumi.

"…I'll try to bring something for her, when next I'm here."

"Thank you, Eraser-sama."

They left the room. Tsukauchi led. Aizawa followed. Thankfully, the police detective wasn't the sort of person to ask nosy or impertinent questions. Aizawa needed the silence. He needed the silence almost as much as he needed the sleep. He'd been sleeping at the school for the past two months since his house got blown up. The sleep was never comforting.

"Hope you had a light lunch."

The door to the room opened, and at the sight of the groaning ball of flesh and metal, Aizawa knew he would not be sleeping this night.


XXXX


"The practical exam will begin in twenty minutes!" Present Mic shouted. "Everyone head over to Hall C for the practical exams. Twenty minutes!"

Finally. Izuku was more than ready to complete the final step of the UA Entrance Exams. A part of him wondered what the practical exam would entail, seeing as how the written exam had been easy. He truly hoped it wasn't going to be something as simple as a combat test…

"Um, excuse me…"

Izuku felt something grab the legs of his pants. He stared down, finding what appeared to be a grade-schooler with black hair tugging at him.

"C-could you s-show m-me to the bathroom? I – I need to pee."

It was a rare event for Izuku to find himself surprised. "How… did you get here?"

"…I really need to pee."

Izuku stared. I'm supposed to believe, somehow, a grade-schooler managed to make their way into this exams unknown and undetected by anyone, and she just happened to need my assistance?

"…Okay."

Is this part of the practical exam? It had to be. It made very little sense otherwise if it wasn't. Izuku took the girl's hand, fortunately his memory was flawless enough for him to remember were the bathrooms were.

"Um, what's your name little girl?"

"Yuno."

Izuku smiled. "Yuno. That's a nice name. How did you manage to get here, Yuno?"

"Bathroom."

Izuku realized he wouldn't be getting much out of Yuno. Still, if this was part of the practical exam, it was a rather weird way of conducting the exam. Not unless they had a small army of grade-schoolers just waiting to be used or something.

He made his way to the restrooms with little fanfare, before pointing to the female restroom. "There it is."

"Help me."

Izuku tilted his head. "Help… you?"

"Can't reach seats."

Izuku hesitated. "Ah, I'm not really allowed to go in." Unless he used the male bathroom, in which case, he didn't want to explain to anyone who'd come in as to what he was doing with a toddler in the toilet.

If this was a test, they were really trying to make him uncomfortable.

"Need help."

Alright… it's fine… I have sharp senses. Best case scenario, I'll be able to hear if anyone is coming…

Gently taking Yuno by the arm, he pushed open the door to the female toilet, quickly checking every single stall to make sure it was empty.

"Alright Yuno, I think it's –"

His senses blurred to life. His hand extended beyond his conscious control, smacking away the knife aimed for his back. Something lunged at him. He caught it, spun it around, and pinned it to the ground in a single heartbeat.

Ash blonde hair and yellow eyes stared at him, with an all too familiar smile.

"Mi-do-ri-ya-kun~!"

Izuku grit his teeth. "Himiko."

"I've missed you Midoriya-kun," she panted. "I've missed you! I'vemissedyouI'vemissedyouI'vemissedyou –"

Izuku's brain was running on overload. "What are you doing here?"

"You forgot about me," Himiko said. "After everything you did to me Midoriya-kun." She wrapped her legs around him, biting down on her lips. "You made me feel things I've never felt before."

"Stop – stop making it sound like we –" Izuku took a breath. "Himiko, why are you here?"

"You." She said. "I want to taste you again I-zu-ku~!"

"I gave you enough of my blood to last a year."

"A villain rampaged and the power got cut," Himiko said. "And all of Izuku's tasty, tasty blood got ruined." Her expression turned fierce. "I killed the bastard. Killed him, and killed him… killed him for ruining Izuku's blood."

"Then I'll give you some of my blood. Just, not here, not –" Izuku's brain blanked. "How… how did you even manage to get here?"

"I can go anywhere," she grinned. "Anywhere to get more of Izuku's taste."

This, Izuku realized, this is my fault. He never handed the girl over to the authorities, even though he knew he should have. He used her as a guinea-pig to improve and refine the trigger-drug, despite the ethical wrongness. He gave her his blood, enhanced the taste, texture and make-up just so she would never, ever, have to kill someone else ever again for their blood.

At the time, he'd felt it was the best option. He just hadn't expected her to get so addicted to his blood. It was why he'd been wary about Suzume being addicted to his 'happiness.' He managed to work out a place for her to stay with a freezer of his blood, a TV, and cash he earned from auctioning porn drawings of female heroes online wired to her for her needs.

Some part of his mind had believed it would be enough. Enough for her to be satisfied. Enough to ebb at the guilt he felt from what he'd done. So, for the most part, he forgot about her. Willingly did his best to avoid thinking about her.

Clearly, she had not forgotten about him.

"I'll give you my blood, but you need to leave. I'm in the middle of my exams and –"

Footsteps.

He heard it. He was absolutely certain he heard it. "Hide!" he hissed. He grabbed her off the ground and shoved them both into a stall. He locked it shut and put himself at an angle that'd prevent his feet from being seen. The doors swung open not a second sooner.

"I-zu-ku~"

He slammed his hands over her mouth. She moaned. Moaned!

"Um… hello, is someone there?"

Think, Izuku… think!

He remembered. When he'd first unlocked his quirk, how he used it to mimic people. Clearing his throat and willing Precision to guide his vocal chords, he opened his lips.

"Y-yeah!" Himiko's voice emerged from his lips with perfect enunciation. The girl stared at him. For once, there was clear focus in her eyes. A clarity he'd never seen. "I'm just… um… nervous, about the exams, but I'll be fine!"

"Oh. Do you need any help?"

Himiko bit his hands. Izuku grimaced. "No! Thank you… I'm – I'm fine!"

Blood dripped from his fingers. The girl, the shameless girl, started to suck on it. Her cheeks flushed read and she moaned again.

"Ah, haha – just – ah, don't mind me!"

"Alright."

The girl on the outside of the stall, whoever it was, entered the stall directly beside theirs. Izuku glared at Himiko, who was so enthralled sucking the blood from his fingers that she seemed to care very little for their situation.

It's fine… fine… I can work this –

His hand squeezed something. Himiko gasped. Izuku suddenly became aware that the girl in front of him was naked.

Oh god why.

Naked and sucking on his fingers, while they were hiding in a bathroom stall. Izuku almost wanted to laugh. It felt like he'd been transported into a scene ripped straight out of Matsuda's erotic manga.

Except, if he was caught here, with her, doing this, it would be the end. Any admission into UA would be out of the question, not to think about the eternal ramifications it'd have on his reputation.

"More –"

The girl was going for his wrist. Izuku cursed, pushing her unto the toilet seat and pinning both her hands to the wall.

"Izuku…" Himiko gasped. "Y-your knee –"

He knew where his knee was. In between her legs. Things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds, and if anyone was to come upon this scene, they'd only imagine the worst. If there is a Kami up above… please save me from this development!

The sound of a toilet flushing hit Izuku's ears. As did the sound of the stall door beside them opening. He waited, until he heard the bathroom door open, waited another few seconds after he heard it close.

He leaped away from Himiko as quickly as he could, opening the stall door and backing away from her. She didn't lunge at him, this time. Izuku was surprised.

She…is she… blushing?

"Um… Izuku… you're…"

She pointed. His gaze followed her finger, down to his groin. He felt the embarrassment before he squashed it down.

"This is… I mean…"

"I didn't know Izuku-kun liked me that much."

"It's just – it's a normal physiological reaction."

"…hey, Izuku-kun… you want to fuck?"

He spluttered. "What?"'

"You did a lot of things to me… but… you never touched me that way, even when you had the chance." She crossed her legs. "I thought Izuku-kun swung for the other team."

"I'm not that type of person."

She stared at him. Her brows furrowed. "Who did it?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"Someone messed with you. Who's the bitch? I'll find her. I'll kill her. I'll kill her I swear it."

"Himiko, just… stop."

"Tell me."

"You need to leave Himiko."

She crossed her arms. "If I leave… will you tell me?"

"…Yes."

"And you'll let me drink you as much as I want?"

Izuku was exasperated. "Yes, yes, but just – leave, and please don't get caught."

Himiko smiled at him. She did a twirl, and a cartwheel, landing in front of him before grinning. Slowly, he watched her transform into a completely different person. Judging from the clothes and ID, she'd transformed into a janitor.

"I'll see you around, Izuku-kun."

Once upon a time, Himiko Toga needed to drink the blood of people in order to transform into them. It was the major requirement. Now, she didn't need to drink anything. Now, all she needed, was to have licked something that the person had touched, or to lick the person themselves, and she could freely transform into them for however long she wanted.

Himiko Toga was Izuku's greatest success.

Himiko Toga was Izuku's greatest shame.

The janitor left the bathroom, and Izuku exhaled the deep breath he didn't know he was holding. After exhaling, he inhaled, and his nostrils detected something off. They could smell something… that didn't quite belong.

not perfume but…

Izuku glanced around the bathroom. He opened the door to the stall beside the one where he'd hidden. His eyes latched on to objects there. A bag, kept neatly. A phone, and…

"…clothes?"

A blouse, plaided skirt, pair of stockings, and pink underwear.

What in the…?

He emerged from the room, and for the second time, glanced around the bathroom.

"Precision."

He focused his quirk on his eyes. The seven million cones in his eyes multiplied by three. Colors, new and unfamiliar and impossible to describe to anyone who couldn't see them immediately flared. An entire world of observation made its way to him, and Izuku, realized, amongst these new colors, many belonged to the ultraviolet spectrum.

And… he was also seeing… a person.

A very naked person.

A very naked person, covering her mouth, and…

"What… are you doing?"

The girl froze. She stared at him. She didn't move. Didn't speak.

"Are you… I mean…"

She moved her hands –

"Please stop."

She flinched again.

"I can see you."

She still didn't respond. She must have thought he was bluffing.

"Raise any number of fingers you want. If I can't see you, then I won't know how many or which you raise. If I can see you – I'll know."

She hesitated. Curiosity won out, and her right hand went up.

"One finger. Middle finger. Not nice."

"Oh my god you can actually see me?" the girl blurted out. She seemed to realize something. "Ohmygod you can actually see me."

"Um –"

"Ah, ah, oh my god, oh my god, um – stop – stop looking at me! Pervert! Perv! Ah –" She was panicking. "This – this is new. Oh, oh wow, is this what embarrassment feels like? Ah, you're still looking!"

"Um – "

"Listen, this – this isn't what it looks like! I wasn't doing… anything… okay?"

"Ah –"

"It's just, when I saw you with your girlfriend I kinda got a little excited… and nerves! Nerves okay? I mean, the exam was really hard and I think I may have flunked it and I probably won't become a hero so I felt I needed to relax and – well – not -not that I was actually doing – I mean – you, you understand right?"

Izuku wasn't sure what he understood.

"Oh god. Get it together Toru! The first person who can actually see you is a total hottie you're ruining it!"

Izuku was getting tired. "Listen… can we just pretend… this never happened?"

"…the part about your shape-shifting girlfriend sucking you in the girls toilet, or the part of me staying behind to watch?"

"She's not my girlfriend… and… yes… all of it."

"Wait, really? She's not?" The girl crossed her arms. "Ah… so that means you're… that sorta guy?"

"Um, Toru-san, is it? We should probably be getting back to the exams."

"Ah! That's right!" She bounced. "I should get dressed."

"…you should."

"Aren't you going to turn around?"

"I've already seen you naked."

"…Am I hot?"

Izuku tilted his head. "This isn't a trick question... is it?"

"No, no, it's just… I've never seen my own teen reflection in the mirror and I don't even know how I look like… so… I've just always wondered…"

Izuku glanced over her.

"You're… beautiful."

"Wow." She giggled. Izuku saw the flush of red radiate around her face. "I always had a feeling but… it's nice to know it's true, from someone who can actually tell."

Midoriya wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure what to say to any of this. What was the right thing to say in this type of situation anyway?

"…Hey so, um… my lips are sealed about this. So if you wouldn't mind…" she cleared her throat. "I swear I'm not a voyeur or anything. It's just… I mean, when you're invisible… there's a lot of interesting... um… things… you get to see."

The girl put her clothes back together, and he realized he could still see her. He closed his eyes and tried to revert his eyes back to normal –

"…ah."

No cigar. It seemed he was stuck seeing these new colors and ultraviolent light till he died. In hindsight, he should have remembered that precision only let him make things more precise, and he couldn't un-precise things once he'd amped them up.

"Hey, hey, so um, after we're done with the exams, mind going out on a date?"

Izuku glanced the girl over. She was attractive, without a doubt. Still, he had more important things to do, really. Plans to make, things to happen… dating wasn't something he had his mind set on. Or rather, there was only one person he had his mind set on.

"Toru-san, I'm not looking for a relationship, right now."

"Whoa! Hold it mister! I didn't say anything about a relationship." She pouted. "A date. Just a date. Some fun, games, maybe a movie – come on, we're young, hot, desirable teens about to enter the best Hero Academy in Japan! Live a little."

Izuku wanted to blame it on his hormones, or blame the residual adrenaline from the events that happened earlier.

"I guess… it couldn't hurt?"

If it was just a date… one date… surely, it couldn't hurt.

She bumped her fist into the air. "Awesome! Ah – wait! Here I am asking you out on a date and I don't even know your name."

"It's… Izuku. Midoriya Izuku."

She beamed a smile at him.

"I'm Toru. Hagakure Toru. The girl with the world's brightest smile."

"Ah…"

"Oh shoot, you can actually see me, that means you're the only person who can disprove my claim. Damn you Izuku-kun!"

Izuku couldn't help the chuckle.

"Um… by the way… how much of the orientation for the practical exam do you think we've missed?"

Izuku sighed. "…a lot."

"How fast do you run Izuku-kun?"

"…Pretty fast?"

"…Race?"

"Can you keep up?"

Toru grinned. "They don't call me Vanishing Toru for nothing!"

"They don't…?"

"Last one there pays for the date!"

She did, actually, have pretty good sprinting speed. Izuku couldn't help the small smile on his lips, laughing at the absurdity of it all.

His time spent at UA might actually end up being more interesting than he ever imagined.