Izuku's first day at UA. Sothis scolds another Shouty Boy. Eraserhead throws down the gauntlet.

Divine Pulse Deku Part 2

Izuku frowned at his tie. He'd never had to wear one before, so tying one wasn't something he'd ever needed to learn. If it was up to him, he'd just do it and leave it however he'd managed to do

It.

"Are you truly so incompetent that you cannot dress yourself properly? You are not leaving until you are looking respectable! At least, as respectable as you can manage to look."

Sadly, such things weren't entirely up to him.

He pressed play again on the online tutorial he'd found. It wasn't helping. He could follow it for about half of the instructions, but as soon as the final stretch came along, it might as well have been magic for all the sense he could make of it.

Sothis sighed. Right in his face. She slapped his hands away. "Honestly, how hopeless are you? Let me do it, else we'll never leave. And I am not turning back time again so you won't be late, just because you can not dress yourself."

"I didn't ask you to do that," Izuku muttered. He would have thought it, but spoken aloud or internally, she'd hear him anyway.

"I will not have them think you are some...some scruffy rapscallion!" Sothis scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the tie. "This is your chance to make a new impression on a new peer group. There won't be any of those brutes and troglodytes that you have been stuck with for the past decade. Well, except Katsuki, but his opinion is worth less than my own body mass."

Considering Sothis didn't actually weigh anything- being a spiritual manifestation of his quirk- that was pretty harsh. Still, his eyes softened. Even if she was brash, Sothis meant well.

"Hm, of course I do. Do you think it enjoyable for me to see you be miserable? It brings my own mood down considerably."

And so selfless, too.

Sothis tugged on his tie a little too hard as she finished. He coughed. Smirking, Sothis loosened it to a comfortable level and floated back, nodding in approval. "Perfect. Of course, such a result is only to be expected."

Humble. At least he could actually leave now-

"Izuku! Do you have your key!"

Izuku sighed. Now he just had to reassure his mother...again.

Izuku gulped. The door to his homeroom was huge. It loomed over him like a...very tall thing.

"Your mind truly is a bottomless well of creativity."

Izuku rolled his eyes. Trust Sothis to snark his nerves away.

"You are welcome. What do you have to be nervous about, anyway?"

Well, he was worried that Kacchan, or that tall blue guy would be in his class. The tall guy was pretty intimidating, and Kacchan, well, need he say more?

"Of all the things to be worried about. Honestly, do you enjoy needlessly worrying over nothing? That rude tall boy has no reason to accost you, he has no memory of an issue with you. And as for Katsuki? You need to get over that boy! He is no friend of yours, and you have no reason to worry about him. Regardless, I won't allow any permanent harm to come to you."

Yeah, it was the harm part in general he was worried about, temporary or not.

"Oh, honestly. Would you just get in there already?!"

Well, he gulped, here goes. He opened the door-

"GET YOUR FEET OFF THE DESK! IT DISRESPECTS OUR SENPAI WHO SAT THERE!"

"HAH!? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

Oh boy.

"Must they be so obnoxiously loud?"

Izuku edged his way over to the seating plan on the wall, and winced. Of course he was right behind Kacchan. Wonderful. He wasn't all too interested in approaching his seat anytime soon. Maybe they'd stop if the teacher arrived?

The door slamming open nearly made Izuku jump out of his skin. "SUCH PASSION! I AM GLAD I CAME TO UA AFTER ALL!"

"Another loud individual! Izuku, are you sure you wish to attend UA after all?"

...He was having second thoughts.

"GREETINGS FELLOW CLASSMATES! MY NAME IS YOARASHI INASA! LET US GET ALONG WELL! PLUS ULTRA WELL!" Shouty boy number three bowed so hard that his head slammed into the ground.

...Blood?

"...I have no words."

Do wonders never cease?

"Quiet, you."

"Hello there, friend!" Inasa said, looming over Izuku. Izuku flinched. "What is your name?"

"U-Uh, um…"

"Oh, honestly, must I do everything?" Was all the warning he got before, in a sparkle of light, Sothis appeared in the room.

"Eh?!"

"What the-"

"Sudden loli!"

"First of all, stop shouting, you lout," Sothis said, crossing her arms as she floated up to Inasa's eye level, "use your indoor voice. Second, his name is Midoriya Izuku, since he is too hopeless to introduce himself."

Well that was a bit harsh.

"Third," she snapped her gaze to the short boy near the back of the room, "call me that again and I will not be held accountable for what happens."

No, but Izuku probably would.

"Excuse me! Who are you? Where did you come from? Are you a student? If so, why are you not wearing a uniform!?" The blue tall boy demanded, arms swinging around.

Sothis rolled her eyes. "Excuse you, indeed. It is rude to demand an introduction without giving one in return."

His eyes widened. "O-Of course, how rude of me! My name is Iida Tenya, a pleasure to meet you!" he bowed. Not as much as Inasa, but it looked spine breaking enough by itself.

Sothis huffed. "Now that is better. My name is Sothis, and I am Izuku's quirk."

Once again various members of the class reacted. There were several "Eh"s and even a "WHAT THE F-", but let's not be crude. Before anyone could question them further, a throat was cleared. Eyes turned to the doorway, where a man lay in a sleeping bag.

"...It took you all eight seconds to quiet down. That'll have to improve. If you get to stay here, that is."

And on that ominous note, they were off to the changing rooms.

A quirk apprehension test was the activity of the day, as opposed to the welcome ceremony or orientation that was the norm for a first day of school.

"Talk about irresponsible! What if there was vital information that students needed to know about at these events? Where are the fire doors? What is the protocol for emergencies? Where are the facilities? And what is with that man's appearance? He looks like he fell out of a trash compactor!"

Sothis wasn't thrilled, to say the least.

Kacchan was up first and he got an impressive showing with the ball throw. When some of the more rambunctious kids got excited, Aizawa told them that whoever came in last would be expelled. Which worried Izuku, naturally. His quirk wasn't exactly suitable for physical activity.

"Don't you worry about that. If you get a bad score, all I need to do is turn back the hands of time and you can do it again," Sothis said, back inside Izuku's mind. She had slipped back in before he entered the changing room.

That was reassuring. He'd have to be careful, though, he didn't want to overuse his quirk and get tired.

First up was the 50-meter dash. Izuku was up against Katsuki who blew ahead of him. Izuku managed a score of 7 seconds. He was sure he could do better, though.

…

He was sure he could do better, though!

…

Sothis?

"You were going to use your quirk, weren't you?"

Izuku looked to Aizawa. The man's hair was floating up and his eyes glowing red. "Huh?"

"I erased your quirk," he said, revealing himself to be Eraserhead for any in the know.

Izuku's eyes widened. That was why he couldn't hear Sothis? Wait, what happened to Sothis while his quirk wasn't active? Was she alright? That aside, "W-Why!?"

"Sensei? Isn't the point of this test to use our quirks?" Tall Blue Boy said, looking confused. Izuku was right there with him.

Eraserhead's eyes twitched. "Midoriya. Your quirk, Divine Pulse, lets you turn back time, correct?"

Izuku nodded, ignoring the cries of amazement and sheer dumbfoundedness.

"I watched you during the exam. You always knew where people needed help and you went to help them. That's how you got so many rescue points and got in, despite not defeating a single robot."

"Wow, that's pretty manly," Izuku vaguely heard behind him.

Eraserhead narrowed his twitching eyes. "Tell me, how did you know that people needed help? No, don't answer that, I know. You watched out for people getting injured or in danger, and you reversed time so you could go and help them. I'm right, aren't I?"

Izuku nodded.

"As I thought. Tell me, Midoriya. What do heroes do?"

Izuku frowned. "They help people."

Eraserhead nodded. "Yes. Heroes help people. What they don't do is let people get hurt, then reverse what happened so they can make themselves look good. Other heroes don't get second chances, they don't get to undo what's happened. Heroes prevent people coming to harm. They save them. So tell me, does someone who lets people get hurt so they can get a selfish sense of satisfaction from saving them sound like a hero?"

Izuku opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Picture this: you see someone get hurt and you use your quirk to turn back time. A villain nearby has a quirk like mine, or something happens to interrupt you. Or, the villain's quirk isn't something that can be fixed by turning back time. I accept that these are unlikely scenarios, but until recently I'd never heard of a quirk that reverses time, either.

"If you're going to be a hero, then you should always strive to save people before your quirk is necessary. It should be a last resort. Because letting people get hurt to be a hero? That sounds more along the lines of what a villain would do."

Silence. None of the other students had a word to say. Izuku didn't, either. Fortunately, Aizawa had more to say.

"You will do the entirety of this test without using your quirk. Think that's unfair? We've already had this discussion. The world is unfair," he pulled out a pair of bands. "These are made with the same material used on villain handcuffs, to prevent the usage of their quirks. You will wear these for the rest of the school day.

"I've read your file, I know that the longer you turn back time, the more tired you become. If you turn back time once they're removed, you'll be too exhausted to do a better job a second time. It will actively damage your performance. You get one chance, just like everyone else. If you can do that and get any position other than last, you will get to stay. But, come last or, and as illogical as it would be, turn back time and try again anyway, then you're out of here. Don't think I won't be able to tell if you suddenly look more tired. Do you understand?"

…

"...Yes, sensei."

"Good," Aizawa took his wrists and placed the bands over them. His hair dropped and his eyes turned back to normal. He blinked several times, and pulled out some eye drops. He muttered something about dry-eye as he applied a liberal amount.

"Izuku! What was that! Are you alright? What happened!?" Sothis said as she appeared, eyes wide. He'd never seen her so rattled.

Even so, Izuku sighed in relief. Sothis was okay, thank goodness. "I'll explain later, Sothis. For now, though, I can't use Divine Pulse for this test."

Sothis recoiled. "And why ever not?"

"I've already explained it to Midoriya," Aizawa said, still applying his eye drops. "I'm unsure why you can even appear while those bands are on, but it's logical that they're weaker than my own quirk."

"That was due to your quirk?" Sothis frowned. Deciding to test it, Sothis extended her hands...and nothing. No circle, not even a spark. "Hm. Well, as much as I do not like these circumstances, all Izuku has to do is rise to them, is that not so?" she was facing Aizawa, but Izuku knew she was talking to him.

Either Aizawa knew that or didn't care to answer, because he walked back to his previous spot. "Get out of the way, Midoriya. Let's not hold this up any longer."

Izuku moved out of the way as the next pair approached the track, Sothis vanishing as he went. "So, are you going to tell me now what that was all about?"

Izuku sighed as he set about explaining Aizawa's condition. Even as Sothis cursed the man out, Izuku found himself surprisingly okay with it.

A last resort...

Izuku still has a long way to go, it seems. He couldn't help but smile.

So, this is UA, huh?

How exciting.

Izuku stared at his position on the leaderboar.

20th.

Well, it was nice while it lasted, he supposed.

"This is an outrage!" Sothis hissed, her anger bouncing around his skull. "Why, I should go to the principal himself and demand that he fire this man immediatel-"

"By the way, that was a logical ruse," Aizawa said.

...

"..."EXCUSE ME!" Sothis screeched, emerging mid sentence.

Izuku blinked, the seeping numbness halting in its place.

Aizawa smirked. "I wanted to see if you would put the effort in, to see if you had the drive to be a hero without using your quirk. I put you in a situation that would tell me your character. If you were just someone who wanted to boost your ego by becoming a hero, if this scenario took away your enthusiasm because I wouldn't let you use play with your quirk, I would have kicked you out without hesitation. But you gave it your all and tried your best in every single test. You don't have zero potential, so you can stay."

The numbness vanished. Chased away by the sheer indignation he could feel from Sothis.

"..." Sothis stared at Aizawa for a long, long time. "...I don't like you."

Oh dear, she was so mad she couldn't even express it. He'll be hearing about it later, he was sure.

"Your quirk has immense potential for hero work, Midoriya," Aizawa said, utterly ignoring Sothis. "I just wanted to make sure the one using it has their head on straight. I also wanted to stress the importance of giving your all without tiring yourself out by using your quirk where it isn't needed. You should be both prevention and the cure, not just one or the other. The ability to prevent harm, while also being able to reverse any harm that you fail to prevent, it is both of these things that will make you a fine hero," Aizawa sighed, looking like the entire spiel took immense effort. "Anyway, that's enough for today. You can all go now. Shoo."

Izuku and Sothis stood as Aizawa walked away. Slowly, Sothis turned to Izuku. "...I hate that man with all of my being."

Izuku chuckled, awkwardly.

Maybe UA will be too exciting.