Disclaimer: I do NOT own BNHA/MHA or any of its characters, but I certainly wish I did. :)
AN: Urgh, do you remember when I said I'd veer further away from cannon. Well, I'm trying and it does get pretty far of course at some spots, but I really like some parts of the original so I'm keeping them. Otherwise, enjoy!
Chapter 7: Yuuei's Youth
She felt claustrophobic, having been stuffed in her room for days, but she didn't want to leave until she knew her exam results. Like Shinsou, she did sign up for General Studies as well, just in case, but, in her mind the Hero Course was still the best way toward achieving her dreams. Izuki's nervous fret was what kept her in her room, she knew her anxiety would only put pressure on her fragile mother, and this state of hers wouldn't change until she got notified. She hoped, by some impossible miracle, that she passed.
An excited squeal inadvertently alerted her to the letter's arrival. Dismissing her apprehensive mother from the room, Izuki pulled a black box from the mail, examining the digital divide with nervous curiosity. She retched back in surprise when a holographic figure of All Might appeared.
"I am here...to tell you of your new greatest achievement that others will envy! You, Midoriya Izuki, have passed the Yuuei Exam!" Before Izuki could start the celebration, he interrupted her with a booming continuation.
"You may be wondering how you did it. Well, even though you began quite rockily, your score improved in fighting skill, technique, and rescue points when you faced the Zero Pointer and saved young Iida. Your combined abilities were more than enough to gain acceptance. Good job Midoriya, I can't wait to see you in my class!" Suddenly, the screen morphed into another miniature video sequence with Iida addressing the judge's column. He stopped in front of Present Mic.
"Excuse me, do you know the messy-haired girl who aided me?" The heroes nodded, and he gave them a determined stare.
"Could I gift her some of my points, I wasn't acting heroically and yet she didn't judge my reaction to the simulated bots. I think she deserves my points more than I do." The boy, who she now knew as Iida, spoke with clear conviction, ready to debate with the ones in control. Present Mic grinned and put up a hand.
"That's generous of you, but the charity isn't needed, nor is it allowed." He finished explaining things and Iida eventually left, although he seemed unsatisfied. Izuki meanwhile, was surprised that her risk paid off, and eternally glad that the thing called Rescue Points existed in this competition-based business. After a ten minute self-joy basking party, she went out with a smile, deciding to recondition her muscles. They needed movement and oxygen.
As soon as she left her room, her mother was there. Izuki noticed that she looked poised and ready to comfort her. Inko believed her daughter didn't pass the entrance exam. Izuki wallowed for a few moments about the fact that her mother apparently had no faith, but she did as she'd gotten used to over the years and looked past the subtle rejection. Her mother's genuine surprise hurt her even more, but she didn't show it. They embraced for a while and Inko declared a victory feast. Izuki smiled, but her heart cracked a little at each recalled memory. It was only a matter of time before it completely fell apart.
…...
Izuki was on the search for Class 1-A. She passed a guy with white patches around his eyes and shark-sharp teeth. She pivoted to ask for directions, but abruptly remembered her current lack of the ability to speak. Even if the dude knew sign language, she only knew a bit herself and didn't want the lines to get blurred. So, turning back toward the unknown, she marched onwards. She came to a towering door with astonishment. It was way too huge for a high school, she thought. Izuki reasoned that it was probably installed for Yuuei's own purpose of ease with the varying types of quirk their students and teachers have. She entered using the smaller of the two doors, and inside she found a most interesting scene.
Bakugou was sitting with his legs kicked up on his desk, wearing a condescending smirk. Iida looked seriously pissed, but in a subtle kind of way. His brows were drawn together in frustration and his voice was set with prickles. She was a tad scared to interrupt. Before she could make a full approach however, the preppy Iida saw her and immediately zoomed over. He extended a hand stiffly.
"Iida Tenya, from-" Midoriya cut him off by putting up her hands and gesturing to Bakugou, it was meant to indicate she'd already heard. Iida continued by asking her name, but she couldn't answer so she signed hopefully, "can't speak" wanting someone to understand. To her surprise, the translator came from behind.
"She said she can't speak." While Izuki stood, thoroughly shocked, more students sat in their seats and the translator bobbed her head to the side. Brown locks of hair slid over her face as she smiled tentatively, gesturing to herself.
"I'm Uraraka Ochaco, what's your name." She gracefully signed along with her speech to be polite to Izuki, and probably partially out of habit. Izuki grinned back and spoke in their mutual language of silence.
"I'm-" Izuki cut off when she saw a mysterious yellow blob poking out from behind Uraraka. All the students observed in horror as the caterpillar-like thing unfolded to reveal an overly-exhausted zombie of a man. Izuki thought briefly that she might have recognized him, but she couldn't place it. He pushed past them rudely and dragged himself to the front of the classroom.
"If all of you could sit your asses down, that would be nice." He waited for a few moments, blinking in a slow, methodical way.
"I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher." Several students gasped their dissatisfaction, someone as unfocused and drowsy as him wasn't what they expected from the revered Yuuei High. After all the obnoxious opinions were stated, Aizawa-Sensei spoke again, disregarding their rude comments.
"Follow me please." He left without changing his expression or checking to see if they tagged along like good kids. Luckily, with no one else to lead them, the class did as he ordered, and exited the safety of their shiny-new homeroom chairs.
…
The school's campus was overwhelmingly humongous. At the moment, the students stood clumped together, for security, on the obstacle-ridden yard. Aizawa appeared almost excited, but his scarf covered his mouth so no one could tell for sure. The color-absent fabric didn't muffle his voice, which made her wonder what it was made of.
"Does anyone remember the physical tests they had you do in junior high?" After about half of them nodded, he pointed at Bakugou expectantly.
"What was the furthest you could throw a ball?" He muttered the number reluctantly, a tik working under his jaw. The teacher then asked Bakugou to step forward.
"Alright, now do the same thing, but use your quirk to make it go as far as possible." Bakugou's face lit up almost as much as his palms. He chucked the ball enthusiastically, lighting up his quirk at the last second. The students gaped in appreciation. His throw was well enough to reach a whopping 702.3 meters. Aizawa gave them their example on how quirks can be used to enhance physical abilities, and they used that to get through his tests.
"The person who places last will be immediately expelled." Most everyone gasped and their expressions changed to ones of determination. He led them to the starting line, which was a short-distance sprint. Izuki feared that all the tests would give her a disadvantage as her quirk was more mental than physical. Before she could think too much, the trials began.
…
She tried her best without using her quirk, and she did get ahead of some people, but, like she'd predicted, most of them were based on strength and endurance enhanced by physical quirks. So while each of the other students found a field to dominate in, she was left to worry about simply placing second-to-last. Finally, they came to the ball throw, and, for a time, it looked like nobody would beat Bakugou, but that didn't last. Uraraka sent it flying into infinity, and it earned her a competitive glance from Izuki's favorite ash-blonde. Izuki knew she couldn't beat Uraraka's score, but she still stepped up to the plate, scrunching her brow in concentration. She needed all the points she could get. Izuki wound up her arm, and threw it as far as she could. It landed pitifully on the ground only meters away. That's when she noticed the odd tingling sensation in her nerves. Izuki glance behind her and suddenly knew exactly what was happening to her. Aizawa was erasing her quirk. Oh, crap.
Her power had been in dormancy before and she hadn't stopped using suppressants yet, but Aizawa couldn't have known. He also wouldn't guess that her quirk activated in succession to her nerves and therefore flowed through her very soul, ingraining itself on her, so anything that was used against her quirk was enacted on her body as well. Of course, she didn't blame Aizawa for what occurred next; he didn't know the depth of her quirk's connection to her body. Since the drugs and the partially unbroken dormancy were interlaced with her quirk, shutting it off allowed all the negative effects of it to enter her blood stream.
The students watching got a fair fright when her veins began turning black and the grass around her drooped in death. She convulsed from the absence of her most important asset, her nerves, and therefore, her brain. The blades around her crumpled to dust as she tried to suppress the seizure that worked its way up her spine. It was just about to start degrading when suddenly, the pain vanished. She moved tentatively, stretching and standing up shakyly. Izuki turned to Mr. Aizawa, saw the terror and regret on his face, and quickly signed to Uraraka, giving her teacher an apprehensive smile.
"Just don't do that again and we'll be good, Eraserhead." Everyone took their time in composing themselves, only refocusing when she plucked another ball from the dirt, tossing it back and forth between her hands. She then used the idea that she'd prepared for this test while observing her classmates stances. She the pressurized oxygen that surrounded her palm's nerves and set the baseball in her hand. Without the introduction of new oxygen, the pressure tried to fill her newly created vacuum, but couldn't succeed because of its ball-blocked pathway. Naturally, the ball couldn't be pulled into her pores, so instead it acted on the air around it, shooting outwards at top speed. It skidded to a halt at 702.4 meters. She'd barely beaten Bakugou's score.
Izuki impulsively looked at him, knowing he'd be at least slightly angry by her sudden achievement. She was shocked to find that his face was pale and his eyes trailed onto her every move with deep worry. He muttered to her softly when she approached.
"Don't ever do that again Deku, never again." At first she thought he meant succeeding, but the look in his eyes said otherwise. Her fleeting pain had clearly scared him even more than it did herself. She didn't give him an answer, but instead left the yard in pursuit of the infirmary. There, Recovery Girl was waiting with her usual smile. The nurse gave her a lecture on hurting herself and told Izuki that Aizawa probably felt much more guilty about what had happened than he let on. Once again, she found herself thinking that the only reason for her success, was another person's pity.
…...
At the end of the day, she walked quietly away from Yuuei's campus. Before she could leave, Iida raced up to her purposefully.
"I believe I still don't know your name miss." She smiled and shrugged. He adjusted his glasses and gave a quick bow.
"Please excuse my impoliteness in forgetting your current predicament. Perhaps I can attempt to guess it?" She grinned and patted his shoulder to let him know he was forgiven. She sometimes forgot the restriction herself. Suddenly, a brown-haired blurr raced over, shouting out enthusiastically.
"Deku!" Uraraka waved to the awkwardly silent pair. They waited as she skidded to a halt and put a finger on her lips questionably.
"Your name is Deku right? I heard Bakugou call you that earlier." Izuki cringed and started signing.
"My name isn't Deku, that's more of a...nickname Kacchan gave me." Uraraka quickly translated to Iida and they both shared a thought. Her and Bakugou must be close to have such teasing names for each other. They waited for the green-haired girl to continue.
"I'm known as Midoriya Izuki." She signed her name with the ease of practice. The newly acquainted group shook hands and headed off together. Izuki felt a thrill in her heart as she had achieved something she never would've dreamed of. She'd found real friendship, and an opportunity for teamwork.
…
"So, since you know him, I don't need to introduce Class 1-A's new Hero Training Course teacher." Aizawa gestured to the door as a colorfully clad blonde burst through it. Izuki almost went crazy with excitement. The number one hero was here, to teach this class! She knew All Might was going to work here from the exam letters, but being here and actually mentoring the freshman was a whole different ballpark.
"I am here! Coming through the door like a hero!" He shouted over-zealously and then muttered under his breath.
"...and not paying for the damages." The class cheered and got even louder when he asked them to calm down. Teenagers, so rebellious. He ordered them to grab their hero suits, which were apparently completed by the support class, and meet him in the fake city. He said they'd know it when they saw it. Class 1-A happily collected their costumes and simultaneously entered their assigned locker rooms, Izuki felt like the only one with dread. She was sure Midnight's company wouldn't send her a modest cloak like they'd promised. She gasped in relief when the case popped open.
The costume Midnight had chosen to send her was all green with Japanese-style leaves curling in golden stems along the pieces curves. It was in five parts. The top was a supportive bra with a gold band across the bottom and leaves around the breast pads. Second, was a skirt with pocketed spandex underneath and fish-net stockings to "cover" her legs. The boots were stylish and comfortable with gold-plated soles and dark green padding. Next, were her gloves. They matched the boots style and were easy to remove. Lastly, was the cloak. It loosely enmeshed her, but could not be taken off unless she wanted to do so. It was attached securely by a golden leaf-shaped brooch. If it got windy, she suspected that her legs would probably show, but otherwise, it wasn't too embarrassing to wear. The company had also included a gold mask, similar to Midnight's red one, and a gold ribbon to tie up her hair. With her cloak's hood swaying rhythmically against her shoulders, Izuki merged with the marching crowd of flashily-dressed heroes-in-training. Uraraka approached her with a nervous gate.
"I should've asked for a cloak too, my suit is way too skintight." Izuki examined the pink-clad girl and nodded in agreement. Her arms were placed protectively over her exposed curves. Izuki signed,
"Flashy outfits these days are a must have, especially for female heroes, but I still enjoy my privacy." She sighed and patted Uraraka in reassurance.
"It does look great on you though, no worries." The brunette blushed and thanked her, saying something along the lines of wanting to see what was under the cloak. Izuki shook her head with a rueful smile.
"I hope nobody does." Suddenly, as if to spite her, a grape-haired boy shot under her protective barrier and felt-up her thighs. He darted out again before she could catch him. Blushing furiously, Izuki balled her fists and went to pursue him. Delivery of a punishment however, was cut short when All Might began an explanation of the rules. He got halfway through when there came some interruptions. The blonde snow-plowed over them with his booming voice.
"This is my class, you will listen." He continued when the offensive inquiries halted. "The pairs will be split into heroes and villains who will face each other in a quirk on quirk battle. The villains will protect their lair and set traps for about two minutes. Then, the heroes will arrive to take them down by capturing them or touching their bomb. Your partners will be determined by lots!" There were a few outcries of dismay, but Izuki solved it by signing an explanation.
"Heroes are often thrown with a random team, so this method is the best option for a real life simulation." The outrage grew thinner and All Might drew the first of the sticks from the lottery. His face was set in a wide, sorta creepy, grin.
"Team A: Hero Team, Bakugou and Uraraka." Before Uraraka could react to her scarily temperamental partner, he listed off the next team.
"Team D: Villain Team, Midoriya and Iida." Once again, she found herself in a villain's shoes. Today was a day of spite, fury, and revenge. All Might listed a bunch of other teams, but Izuki gave up on listening. Instead she, both figuratively and literally, prepared her nerves for the upcoming face off.
AN: Bada bum, I'm done. Thanks for reading!