Chapter Three: Interrogations

UA faculty simply watched in horror as the video playing on the screen repeated itself for the third time.

One teacher spoke out what was in everyone's mind. "That isn't a hero's quirk…"

Aizawa never liked when teachers said anything remotely similar to that. Children couldn't control what quirks they were born with. It wasn't the quirk that made someone a villain, it was the villain itself.

But the sheer viciousness the boy had struck the robot and how horrifying his transformation looked, he couldn't blame the others.

No matter how many good deeds the boy could do as a hero, he would be shunned by a good crowd for his appearance alone.

"It doesn't matter how scary it looks, ya hear me? That was straight awesome!" Present Mic exclaimed with a fist to the air.

His enthusiasm didn't spread well to the others.

"What about the other examinees?" Present Mic asked, trying to spark some kind of conversation in the oddly silent room.

Cementoss cleared his throat. "Well, the number one examinee seems to be the clear standout. Katsuki Bakugo—not a single rescue point needed to pass."

"An impressive quirk to say…"

Aizawa was zoned out of the conversation.

His mind continued to focus on the boy from before.

Not because of what his quirk was, but because of how it looked.

It was disturbingly similar to a villain they had once encountered. Switch the chainsaws with…

I have to tell Nezu about this.

Getting a personal call from UA itself was nerve-wracking enough, but then coupling it up with having to go to the school in person was even worse.

His mom had looked at him with worried eyes, but he had simply told her it was an introductory class.

He was at the UA entrance, this time as a student of the academy. But for some reason, he felt more anxious than before. As expected, there were no other students gathered. Why had they called him specifically?

But deep inside, he knew the reason. Or at least a part of it.

His quirk. If he could even call it that.

"Izuku Midoriya?"

The boy in question snapped his head to the right.

A white, abnormally tall mouse stood boldly, its hands tucked behind its back. A clean scar crossed its right eye, not feral enough to make the creature look intimidating in the slightest. The suit it wore didn't help the cause either. W

A hand—paw?—put itself up in greeting. "I'm Principal Nezu of UA. A pleasure to meet you, Izuku!"

"O-oh hello—wait did you just say Princi—"

The mouse interrupted quickly. "As much as I would like to talk, and I know exactly how abrupt this whole meeting is, there is quite an urgent issue which we have to resolve immediately. Again, I sincerely apologize for any inconveniences, but we must hurry, Midoriya-san. You aren't in any trouble, either."

Izuku just felt confused, the pumping of his heart dying down a bit, but he relented anyway. "Of course, sir."

He followed Nezu deeper into the labyrinth that was UA, eager but also worried to find out why they called him here.

They reached a dark-brown door inside one of the hallways. Izuku followed the Principal inside.

The room was spacious, bigger than what Izuku expected. The first thing he noticed was the large TV which was placed at the front. The large number of seats and papers scattered around the room made the purpose of the setting obvious.

This was where they observed the examinees.

The lack of teachers was painfully obvious. There was absolute no hero in sight—

"Is this the boy?"

Izuku could only flinch in surprise at the deep voice that echoed slightly in the otherwise empty room.

Principal Nezu facepalmed. "Yes, it is. I would appreciate it if you didn't intimidate the student beforehand, however."

The only thing visible about the man in the dark environment surrounding them was his scraggly hair and white scarf.

The man sat down in a vacant chair before him. "We are interrogating him, correct?"

Interrogate? Me?

Principal Nezu, noticing Izuku's discomfort, quickly intervened. "An interrogation which doesn't entirely involve the person in question, yes. After all, this is simply coming from a hitch on your side."

Izuku could tell the scarfed man was glaring without the lights. "A hitch? You call this a hitch? Don't play around, Nezu. This isn't just a coincidence, you know it isn't."

The mouse sighed. "A coincidence, it most definitely isn't. But does that give you a right to act tough with a kid who probably doesn't know anything about it? Not at all."

"Whatever, let's just start. Where's Tsukauchi?"

"I decided not to bring him."

Aizawa's glare deepened.

"Again, this is only a meeting to see how the boy responds, and whether he knows anything about him. Police will not be needed."

Aizawa nodded his head in acceptance, before closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair.

Izuku sweatdropped. This guy is weird.

Principal Nezu focused his eyes back on Izuku, who felt his heart rate spike at the sudden attention. He palmed a remote before pressing a single button.

"This is a picture of your performance during the Entrance Exam."

And there he was.

What the…

Izuku blanched.

"No-n-no…that can't be me…" He began to say, only to be interrupted right after.

"It's you."

He stood up in fear.

The…thing he stared at couldn't be him. He wasn't that terrifying, that revolting to look at. A hero was someone who could make anyone smile, and a quirk was a main part of that. If a hero's quirk made themselves grimace, how would he make anyone feel hope?

Nezu sighed. "I won't lie to you, Izuku Midoriya. Your quirk…isn't regular. But it's not the quirk that decides a hero's quirk. It's their actions. You get to decide your own future as a hero, I can't stress that enough. But enough of that, we have to get back to business."

He clicked another button.

"This is a villain that Aizawa, the man next to us, and some other few heroes encountered while on duty. It is confirmed to be a mutant type quirk, as Aizawa wasn't able to disable it. I'm sure you can see why we called you?"

Izuku nodded in even more fear. Dark trench coat, hat, and full pants. But the katanas embedded into his head and arms were obviously the distinctive features. In the bleak darkness that the photo was taken in, many of the features were blurred, but Izuku could see how villainous the villain looked. The quirk was frighteningly similar to his.

An image of a red dog came to his head.

Maybe…

"Your quirk allows you to transform into a mutant when you pull on the cord on your chest, and gives you enhanced agility and strength. The unnamed villain we see here most likely has a similar quirk, unless the hunch is just a hunch. But finding similarities between already irregular quirks is not a coincidence. What that gives us…is far more terrifying. Someone with a quirk like that can be hidden like a regular human anywhere, and we may never know. Izuku, do you have any idea about this person?" Nezu asked seriously.

Izuku could only frown. "I-I've never seen him in my life."

Principal Nezu sighed. "That's what I expected, I guess. You may go now, Izuku, do you require an escort?"

"Um, I'll be fine, thank you very much!"

With a bow, Izuku went for the exit.

He could have spoken about the thing fusing with him, but something made him not want to. And if he had, he had a feeling the world wouldn't be ready for it. Plus, he didn't want any more attention on him or his quirk. He was glad to be in UA, after all. All that business with the katana villain wasn't a part of his business, even if it somehow seemed to be.

And his quirk…Izuku grimaced.

A week later…

"Izuku! Is everything ready?"

His mom's voice cleared all the exhilaration in his head.

He nodded. "Yep."

"Did you pack your books?" Nod. "Pens?" Another nod.

Izuku smiled. "I'll be fine mom. I need to go—don't want to be late for the first day."

He opened the door.

"Izuku!"

"Hm?"

"I'm really proud of you."

The green-haired boy grinned. "You bet!"

Finding his classroom was tough. The academy was incredibly huge, a single building probably bigger than his middle school.

"Class 1-A…there it is!"

With a deep breath, he opened the door.

"I insist that you take off your feet this instant! This amount of disrespect during the first day is unacceptable and violates school property!"

Izuku resisted a groan as Bakugo and the glasses-kid from before began arguing.

"My name is Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy. This behavior wouldn't be accepted over there, much less in UA!"

"Somei? So you're a rich snob, huh? Whatever, destroying you will be even more fun."

"Threatening your own classmate?" Iida asked, bewildered. He shook his head in disbelief, before his eyes met Izuku.

His eyes brightened in recognition. "Oh!"

"H-hello."

He put a solemn hand to his chest. "I'm Ten—"

"I heard. I'm Izuku Midoriya! Awesome to meet you."

Tenya's eyes gleamed. "I must apologize for my impudence during the entrance exam! I should've known that there was something more to the exam. Perceptive to a fault—as expected from a fellow UA student."

Izuku just stared at him before shaking the confusion away. "O-kay."

"Oh! You, green hair!"

Izuku turned around, to find the nice girl from the entrance exam.

"H-h-hello!"

"I wasn't really able to see what you did but the way you beat the robot was amazing!"

Izuku blushed, even though he didn't really agree with that after seeing how he looked. In fact, he was glad the girls didn't see his quirk. "Ah, I guess I should be thanking you? For talking to the examiners, I mean."

"Huh? Where did you learn about that?"

Izuku fumbled the next sentence completely, probably because he could feel Bakugo's glare from behind him.

Considering their last encounter in their old school, he wouldn't be surprised if Bakugo still thought he was quirkless. And he was able to overhear him defeating the giant robot…this wasn't going to end well.

"I'm so hyped for today! The orientation is obviously gonna be awesome, but other than that, I really want to know what the teachers are like," Ochako gushed.

"If you're here to fool around and make friends, I suggest you leave immediately."

His ears perked. Izuku knew that voice.

Ochako slightly yelped as she realized the voice was from behind her. A yellow sleeping bag laid still on the floor, zipped all the way until a tired, scraggly haired man's face poked out from the entrance.

Izuku gasped. "Aizawa…"

"This is your first day of the UA Hero course. For now, all of you are disappointing. Eight seconds to shut up? Not quick enough. My name is Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher. For now, put these on."

Everyone kept on a face of shock.

Why is my luck so terrible?

"A Quirk Assessment Test?"

"Don't we have an orientation?"

"This isn't fair!"

"Pointless, pointless, pointless. Time is precious if you wanna become big. It's my class, and therefore I can run my lessons however I want. UA isn't like regular schools."

Doesn't mean you can just skip the orientation!

"We've all had to do the standardized tests to gauge our fitness during middle school and elementary, but Japan never allowed actual quirks to be used during those instances. Which is totally illogical considering some are born as mutant-types, but I digress."

"Bakugo, you scored the highest on the entrance exam," Aizawa continued. "Can you recall how long you could throw a softball in Junior High?"

"Sixty-seven meters," Bakugo replied.

"Fine then." He threw a ball to Bakugo, who caught it with ease. "Go to that circle and try throwing it again, this time, with your quirk. As long as you stay in the circle, anything is allowed."

Bakugo only laughed evilly. "Anything? Watch this then old man!"

"DIE!"

A large explosion escaped from the boy's hands, making it almost impossible to see the ball escape his grip, but it was obvious it went far.

"Learning your maximum capabilities is crucial for gauging your potential as a hero. See this."

Gasps of awe erupted from the students.

Seven-hundred meters! That's amazing.

"That's awesome!"

"I wanna go next! Seems fun!"

"Hell no! I'm going next!"

"Using our quirks all we want is definitely fun!"

Aizawa's words cleaved through all the excitement. "Fun? You think this is for fun? Three years. Do you assume it will be filled with games, playing, and having fun? Idiots. There will be eight physical tests assigned to everyone, scores will be accordingly taken, and whoever comes last, will be expelled."

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Expulsion? Physical tests? Is he trying to get rid of me? I can't use my quirk in front of everyone!

An invisible girl consisting of only floating clothes spoke out. "This isn't fair! We just got into school—"

"Life is unfair, kid, deal with it. Tornadoes, earthquakes, are these all fair too? Monstrous villains who kill for no reason, is that fair? You want to be heroes? Then learn to expect unfairness. This isn't Junior High, brats. We aren't trying to teach you to pass an exam. We're teaching you to save people.

Aizawa sighed. "There's gonna be a lot more than surprise tests for the next few years, and if you can't handle this…I expect you to leave right now and save the least physically capable of you all. It's UA. Aren't you supposed to go Plus-Ultra in the face of hardships?"

"I'm in last place…" Izuku mumbled to himself in exhaustion.

Ochako looked at the results, shocked by what she saw. Was it really the same boy who completely destroyed the Zero pointer?

In the end, he hasn't used his quirk once. Ochako got infinity on the ball throw, Bakugo aced all the exams with his quirk, and Iida easily passed with his agility. And Izuku, with his out of shape body, did worse than a quirkless person.

Everyone looked between Izuku and Aizawa carefully.

Izuku looked at Aizawa, whose face was solemn. The neutral expression on his face was terrifying.

Until it started to crack.

A grin slowly crept up on their teacher's face.

"No one's getting expelled. It was just a ruse to make you guys do your best."

"HUH?!"

"Of course it…"

Izuku tuned out the voice, his own relief enveloping all of his senses.

"Everyone, go back to classes, you'll find some important papers. Izuku, stay back for a bit."

The other students looked at Izuku in pity but went away nonetheless, except for Bakugo who sneered before putting his hands into his pockets like always.

Izuku went to the teacher with obvious shame in his eyes.

Aizawa's expression remained constant. "You didn't use your quirk."

Izuku gulped. "Yes, sir."

"Why?"

"My quirk isn't suited for these types of exams. I can't throw a ball with chainsaws, sir. Nor can I fully control my quirk either."

A brief pause.

"Now tell me the real reason."

Izuku froze. How did he know? He slowly contemplated his answer.

"I'm a-afraid."

Aizawa's look made him elaborate further.

"You saw my quirk. It's not…heroic like the rest of them. I'm not myself when I transform; I don't know why. Moreover, my quirk is horrifying to even look at. How will I become a hero if others don't instantly smile when they see me? My classmates…they'll be scared too."

His teacher chuckled. "I can tell you're an All Might fanboy. Listen here, not every hero is fit to be the symbolic figure of peace and heroism. Does anyone look at me and smile? And aren't you selling your classmates short? What's to say they will be scared?"

"Ugh. I'm not the correct teacher for giving pep talks. Kid, you're gonna have to use that quirk of yours eventually. And if you don't…you won't ever be a hero."

Izuku clenched his hands. You won't ever be a hero. He hated those words so, so much.

What was stopping him from using his quirk? Why did he have to care about what others thought? As long as he was doing the right thing, nothing else mattered.

A look of determination crossed his features.

"Sensei…I won't let you down!"

All Might, I'm gonna prove you wrong.

I will become a hero!

Somewhere, sometime.

"Have the preparations begun?"

"Of course. I have already made ties with the League of Villains."

"And the Chainsaw Devil?"

"We-we've lost track of it."

"Could it be…"

"That's what we're thinking as well."

A drawn out sign.

"Our power is weak in this world. Stories of devils are long since forgotten in this world of quirks. The only way to get stronger…is to make them fear us as villains. And to do that…"

"Understood, we'll get right to it."

"Cut the call."

An ominous, echoing laugh bellowed.

"We're coming for you, Chainsaw Devil!"

Annnnnnnndddddd cut.

Yo-yo. Even more amazing response. Definitely makes me hyped to write more.

Here are a few review responses:

ZepphireOS: Canon until this point is practically a given. The story just started (literally below 8000 words). While writing what's necessary is a good technique, I find that the story might become too fast paced than necessary, because I'm trying to build realistic relationships between characters that adjust to a different Deku.

For your second point, you practically guessed what this whole chapter is mainly about.

Third, idk what to say. Low self esteem…uhhh maybeee? Who knows anymore. Otherwise, thanks for the much appreciated, and long (double appreciated) review. You certainly gave me a lot of ideas to work with.

Karlos1234ify: Thanks!

Cor Aurum: More is coming!

SirMaou: Is that really how it worked? Nothing happened to Deku so I won't really focus on it on this Fic.

sgtwist: Thanks for reading!

Guest: Your wish came true.

FFWhale: Once again, thanks!

That's it for today, folks. I don't own Chainsaw Man or MHA.

As always, please review and all criticism is accepted. Review what you want to see, what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. Chapters are still short, and will most likely get longer by the next one.

Cya' next chapter.