A/N: So yeah, this chapter will be 2020's last chapter of this story before I take a Christmas break. I'll still upload this to AO3 to catch up, and I'll be uploading a little on Decay, but I'm mostly going to take Christmas with the family, enjoy fiddling with the road ahead, and return anew on 9/10 January 2021. I can't wait for the break.

LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END, OKAY?

Best see out the year with a bang, so, let's have another chapter!

(***)

If anyone had told Izuku that this would be how his day at the UA Entrance Exam would have turned out, he'd have accused them of trying to mess with him. Even now as he stood with his arms by his side, awaiting instructions from Sir Nighteye of all people about how he was to demonstrate his Quirk, a little bit of his inner fanboy was worried he might have to pinch himself and wake up from what was in front of him. Of all the people to examine him!

Izuku, and anyone close to Izuku, knew of his admiration for All Might growing up, and how it practically had transcended fanboy moments into a form of worship. He of course wasn't alone- All Might was universally beloved across generations who had been born into different stages of his hero career, and up until his death crowds would gather from miles around if they heard that he would open something, would be somewhere. But Izuku had replayed the old videos and devoured the books on a level like very few other people, to a point where All Might's mother might have struggled to match Izuku's knowledge of her son. Everything that was All Might, he absorbed like a sponge.

That extended, of course, to Sir Nighteye. The sidekick had only really become public knowledge in the couple of years leading up to Incident Zero, but for almost as long as Izuku had been alive, Sir Nighteye had been standing behind All Might ready to support him through thick and thin. Izuku would be lying if some of his analytical obsession had not been inspired by watching the old documentaries and interviews, seeing how thorough Sir Nighteye had been in driving All Might forward. He was an indisputable genius and the unsung hero for some of the Symbol of Peace's greatest victories, a tactician and strategist who could find weak points and play the game three steps ahead of some of the worst villains in Japan.

Everyone wanted to be All Might when they grew up, and Izuku was no exception to this rule, but Izuku saw things in Sir Nighteye which he wished others had seen too. Perhaps it was how ordinary the man looked standing at the right hand of All Might, his bland suit and lanky frame a complete contrast to the bulging muscles and distinctive blonde bangs of society's Number One Hero, that spoke to Izuku back when he was Quirkless. Maybe there was enough of the average person in Nighteye that made it more easy to imagine Izuku becoming a Pro Hero in future.

Of course that had all changed when he got his Quirk. Or Quirks, more accurately. But now there was a slight element of risk to all of it.

Izuku couldn't fathom why, standing across from someone he had idolised for as long as he could remember, he had thought such dark thoughts about Sir Nighteye to think that he couldn't be trusted. This was All Might's former sidekick, after all, one of his heroes growing up. He could trust that he was in safe hands with him. But... the issue wasn't Nighteye, it was himself. Nobody in the world except Tenko and his mother knew the truth of all he was capable of, of all the powers he currently had at his disposal. He wanted to prove himself to get into UA, but he couldn't let anything slip about the powers he had taken for fear that Nighteye and the school would throw him out of the door...

He had to be careful and keep his secret, still. As far as they all knew, his Quirk was Aerokinesis, and he would keep it that way.

Keep that guard up, Izuku.

For once, he agreed with his often rebellious inner voice.

"Is there a problem, Midoriya?"

Izuku shook his head and realised that he had spaced out in front of Nighteye, and quickly flushed red in embarrassment. "N-No Sir! Just a little stage fright, th-that's all!"

"Hmm." Nighteye looked at him for a second while sat behind the desk, and scribbled a precise little note in the corner of the page. "Your cousin was one of the students I tested before you. She suggested that you might be a little nervous to fail today."

"Yes sir. I..." Izuku paused and took a moment to clear his head, hoping his stutter wouldn't come through in his voice. "I guess I've always wanted to prove I can do it, prove I can become a Hero. Ever since All Might died I've worked so hard to try to get this chance because... I want to help people. I'm... tired."

"Tired?" A faded eyebrow rose. "How so?"

"I'm tired of seeing people think they have no hope. All Might... gave me hope. He put a smile on my face and on the face of other people because he kept them safe... so if I can do that then I'll do anything I can. I want to come to UA like he did, and show the world they don't need to be afraid of everything."

"Hmm." Nighteye gave nothing away as he scribbled another note. "I suppose when you say that he gave you hope, that might be related to your previous Quirkless status?"

Izuku gulped. How did he know that? "Sir?! What do you-"

"Please, Midoriya, try to relax." Nighteye sorted through the small sheaf of papers on the desk and pushed one sheet to the edge. "UA has its Entrance Exam, and the preliminary tests, but it also does its own background research into matters. Your medical records and your school record are among those items the school seeks in order to build a background picture, and of course I have considered the same."

Izuku took a moment to compose himself. He didn't know what Nighteye had concluded from reading that, but he had to keep calm in case something unexpected came up. "Oh, I s-see. And you saw that I was Q-Quirkless?"

"I did." Nighteye put the pen down and looked at him. "When did you develop your Quirk?"

"A f-few years after Incident Zero." Izuku's mind flashed with images of his eleven year old self, and the moment Bakugo pushed him to defend himself with a power he didn't know he possessed. "It came out when-"

"When another boy attacked you at school." Nighteye ringed around something in his notes which Izuku couldn't see. "That's a fair delay to find your Quirk. It really didn't manifest until that late in your life?"

"I'm... kind of a late bloomer I guess?" Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It's made it harder to train to get into UA when I'm less used to my power, but-"

"I admire the tenacity to apply yourself to that goal all the same." Nighteye folded his arms and the corner of his mouth twitched. "And before you say anything out of panic, young Midoriya, while I cannot condone fighting among students, I do not propose to rebuke you for acting in self-defence."

"... Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me, Midoriya. It should be the reaction of any reasonable adult aware of your... circumstances. Quirkless abuse is unfortunately a problem endemic in our society, as much an issue as the rise of criminal groups and the increase in Mutant-type discrimination." Nighteye seemed to drum his fingers on the desk. "I too experienced something similar when I was young."

"Y-You did?" This wasn't something Izuku had seen in any of the interviews.

"Indeed. While I do not propose to reveal my Quirk to you-"

"It's a closely guarded secret! There are so many theories-"

"And I will allow those to continue to profligate without providing conclusive answers to anyone as to its true nature," Nighteye interrupted, before Izuku could go off on one. "What I will say to you is that my Quirk is one of great power, but one that is not obvious or easy to demonstrate. As such, a large part of my youth was spent living with others believing that I was Quirkless... I cannot say I enjoyed the attention that brought."

Nighteye nodded to Izuku, gently, and Izuku felt genuine sympathy from the former sidekick. "For my part, I am sorry that it took until you developed your Quirk for matters to be resolved to any degree. I hope at least that since then, your bullies have been silent and that you have found things easier."

You have no idea.

Izuku swallowed, and was conscious that a small tear had formed; eager to prove himself and not allow the classic Midoriya waterworks to take hold, he wiped it away quickly. "Thank you, Sir."

"Not at all. Now..." Nighteye flipped to another sheet of paper. "Your Quirk is described as... Aerokinesis. Funny, your cousin said that you call it Air Force."

"That's r-right," Izuku confirmed, and his inner nerd revelled in the opportunity to talk about his power. "When I first developed my Quirk, I could only use it to push out a blast of air from my palms, and I called it Air Force because of that. I was also... kind of an All Might fanboy-"

"You don't say," Nighteye remarked drily.

"-And so I called it Air Force because..." Izuku fidgeted slightly. "I watched all those videos of All Might's moves, Texas Smash, Detroit Smash... All Might could change the weather with a punch and make the air move. I wanted to make it a little tribute to him."

If Nighteye was moved of the mention of his former mentor and partner, he didn't show it. "So what changed, Midoriya? What did you find you could do?"

Toya Setsuno happened.

Izuku brushed aside that traitorous memory of the past and flexed his fingers. "The more I practiced, the more I realised I could change the output of my Quirk. Smaller blasts from my fingers, beams of air, delayed reaction air pockets... I can apply the force differently."

"And the kinesis element..." Nighteye stared at a corner of the page in front of him and adjusted his glasses. "Your mother has a telekinetic Quirk, correct? Attraction of Small Objects? I presume some hereditary element of that is present in your own Quirk, if you're defining it as a kinesis Quirk."

"That's right." Izuku took a second to answer. What he would be describing at this point would effectively be Steal, the Quirk he had taken off of the Yakuza. He didn't want to make his power look suspicious. "It's not... as effective as other parts of my Quirk, but I can pull objects. It works best when it's being held off the ground by someone, but... I can pull it to me if it's airborne too."

He had never tested that theory before, but he couldn't let on that Steal only worked on things being held. His Quirk needed to look authentic, and someone like Nighteye would spot the gaps if the different parts of it looked too disconnected. For his part, the Hero's brow creased as he heard that. "Really? How interesting..."

"Sir?"

"Catch." In an instant Nighteye had grabbed a pen, thankfully not the limited edition All Might one, and threw it into the air. This was the test then?

Pull. Izuku felt his head tingle as it normally did when he used his Quirk, and as he splayed his fingers out he felt the air around them as if it were ready to be pushed. This time though, he clenched his fingers and in his mind, he imagined pulling a tablecloth from the surface of a table, drawing the air towards him...

At the top of the arc of its throw, the pen twitched and flew towards him, and it took an instinctive catch from Izuku to grab it in the air. "Yes!"

Nighteye scribbled a note and nodded approvingly. "Good. Fine control of your abilities. It takes one thing to use a Quirk like yours to push the air and cause a blast, but pulling requires good senses and a lot of practice. I can see you've put good work into refining your control."

Izuku bowed, and tried not to let his relief show. "T-Thank you Sir!"

"Although on the subject of push..." Nighteye hefted a metal ball which had been on the floor for some reason now. "Can you demonstrate?"

"Um, we're kind of inside-"

"Don't worry about the room, Midoriya. Frankly, as much as Nezu's funding has been cut, the nature of some of the Quirks of the applicants this year requires them to let loose. If one of his classrooms needs a new window or some paint, then it's for the best if you can show your full potential."

"R-Right!" Izuku subtly shot a look over to the glass window looking out on the grounds, and in his head apologised for what he was about to do. "Ready!"

"Play ball." Nighteye threw the ball into the air, and as the ball began to fall to earth, Izuku felt the energy ball up in his palms...

Maximum efficiency. He cannot be shown the truth yet.

"Hah!" With a cry, he let loose, blasting out the air at the most power he could manage, and the ball went flying. Not that Izuku needed to worry that the ball would break the window he was aiming at- the force of the air blast he had pushed out had shattered each of the windows before the ball got anywhere near, sailing through into the grounds.

Nighteye raised an eyebrow, adjusting his glasses where the wind blast had skewed them. "Well done, Midoriya."

Where had the lightning been? "Huh. Strange."

Nighteye frowned. "Is there an issue?"

Izuku was oblivious, staring at his own palms and arms as he muttered under his breath. "That's not usually how my Quirk works. Usually when I use it I feel this energy build up in me and sometimes it crackles around my arms, but this time it was like none of that was there, it was just an easy push out. I don't know where the energy went but-"

Enough talking.

"Midoriya, you're muttering."

Izuku's head told him to snap out of it at much the same time as Sir Nighteye called him out, and he snapped to attention. "Sorry, I-I just got carried away!"

"Quite alright, although I think I've seen enough to satisfy my curiosity at this stage." Nighteye circled something. "Your Quirk gives you... feedback, sometimes?"

"Yes, Sir." For some reason, Izuku found himself biting his tongue about the energy his Quirk produced. "It sometimes gives me nosebleeds." That wasn't untrue, even if it now happened a lot less than his first uses.

"Intriguing." Nighteye ticked a couple of boxes, although Izuku didn't have the courage to see what they had been in relation to. "I just have a couple of other questions, if I may."

"S-Sure."

"The first is relatively simple." Nighteye gestured to his notes very briefly. "I have assessed a number of people today, not least your cousin, but also a boy who I believed is your best friend. Tenko Shimura, his name was."

"Ah yeah, I heard his name get called first-"

"Correct." Nighteye folded his arms and looked at Izuku. "His Quirk is something rather unique, and not something I have seen myself in my years of analysis. But more importantly, Tenko appears to be a little bit of a mystery. The boy lost his family young, and it seems from the school records he has become very close with you. His teachers report that he's been highly critical of some Pro Heroes, and that he seems willing to criticise the system on a regular basis, yet he wants to apply to become a UA student with you."

"Sorry, Sir, what are you-"

"I am simply asking about Tenko Shimura, to you, the person he is closest to in the world." Nighteye tapped his pencil. "Do you believe he has what it takes to become a hero?"

Izuku spoke without hesitation. "I know he'd be a good Hero!"

"No stutter," Nighteye observed. "You have incredibly firm convictions in your friend. Do his beliefs not cause you concern?"

"I don't..." Izuku paused now to get it right; he owed Tenko that much. "He's more blunt than me for sure, but I... get what he's saying. I think the reason things are as bad as they are now is because we lost All Might, because he meant so much and did so much. I don't think we have Heroes who live up to that right now."

"And you believe Tenko Shimura can live up to it?"

"He can be one of the ones who does, yeah." Izuku nodded to himself and smiled, all the memories of their work to get to this point flooding through his head. "He's the reason I'm here, after all. He believes in me, more than anyone ever has except my mom. And he wants to do things right for people, so they have something to believe in again. He might not be the one, but... maybe it's best we don't have one person to pin all our hopes on going forward. He could be one of them."

"A bright future in the next generation..." Nighteye leaned back for a moment in his chair. "We can but hope."

"You... had a second question, sir?"

"I did, but..." Something in the older man's voice cracked. "Something tells me I know the answer anyway. Do you believe in destiny?"

"Destiny?" This was not what he was expecting.

"Fate, destiny, an immovable future. You have hope that the future is one of happiness again, but... do you think our paths are set for us? That the future can be changed to a better one?"

Izuku found himself blindsided by the philosophy in front of him, but shook himself mentally. "I... don't know. Nobody does. But... I hope it can. Someone has to try to make it better for everyone, right?"

"... Hmm." Izuku couldn't read Nighteye. "Curious. You may go, Midoriya. I've seen enough."

"Are you... sure?"

"Positive." The former sidekick flashed him a little look. "Be sure to send the next student in when you go through, won't you?"

Whatever was going on behind those eyes, Izuku couldn't guess, but it wasn't worth wasting any more words over it. He didn't know if he'd passed, didn't know if the last questions were part of the test, didn't know if he had said the right thing. But he had come to the exam, done as he had been asked, done as much as he could, and so he turned his back on Sir Nighteye and walked through the door back to the breakout room, to join Tenko and Setsuna, Himiko and the other applicants.

Not long now, and he would learn if he had made it into UA.

(***)

"You're naive, Midoriya."

Sir Nighteye sat at the desk, staring at the report from Izuku's school, staring at the notes he had made on his Quirk during the assessment, shuffling papers so he could look at the medical documents provided to him. The assessment was done, and he had the chance to take stock of what he had seen.

"Rather too naive," he said aloud, to himself. "To believe that hope of all things can conquer the inevitable... can change the future? Destiny may defeat you yet."

Midoriya was fierce in his defence of his friend, that much had been clear. If Nezu had any concerns about the goals or motivations of Tenko Shimura, then Midoriya did not share them; in fact, it was clear that he idolised the older boy to a degree. But nothing in what he said was anything less than genuine; he really did believe that Shimura could become a Hero, and really did believe that the next generation could change things for the better.

There was still something strange about him. The level of detail which he deployed to talk about Quirks was on a level with the analysis he and Nezu could provide, and yet came from the mind of an awkward, stuttering teenager who seemed incapable of talking about anything else without stumbling on his words. He had seemed unsure about his own power when he used it, and easily lost in his own head, and Nighteye couldn't help but notice him hesitate when he was asked a couple of questions.

But there was no doubt about it. Izuku Midoriya really did want to change the future for all...

"You are a boy of ideals, Midoriya..." he said, reaching for a stamp on the edge of the desk and inking it up. "And I don't know what destiny has in store for you..."

"But you're just like him. And maybe that's what we all need."

The stamp came down...

(***)

The rest of the exam day had taken an age to Izuku.

Izuku had slid into a chair in the main classroom, uncertain how things had gone, and had been immediately greeted by a grinning and wide-eyed Himiko, who had flustered him by wrapping herself around his arm and pressing herself up against him. Her affection wasn't something he was going to complain about by any means, and he was flattered just how interested she was in how his exam had gone, but he wasn't sure how much help it had been to him. The more he went over it, the more he wondered whether he had done a good job at all. That said, the more he watched the confused faces on some of the other applicants as they came out of their exams, the more he began to think that maybe he wasn't the only one who had been given a little bit of a rough time.

Tenko seemed to have had it worst of all. Setsuna wasn't around when he came out of his exam, having gone off to look for his best friend wherever he had been hiding; whatever had happened in his exam, Izuku could only think of the questions Nighteye had asked him about whether he thought that Tenko would be a good Hero. If that was what Izuku had received, he couldn't imagine what had been put to Tenko directly.

Nearly all of the classroom full of applicants had been assessed by the time that Tenko returned, and Izuku was so preoccupied discussing what the Quirk of the last student to be assessed by Nighteye would be with Himiko (he was SURE there was more to it than the boy's raven head) that he missed Tenko slinking in the door. It was only when Tenko slid into an empty chair beside him, with Setsuna wrapping her arms over his shoulders to give him a hug from behind, that Izuku realised. "W-Wait, Tenko?! Where were you-"

"Around," his friend replied bluntly, interrupting him. "I just... needed some space, you know?"

"Are you alright? Did something go wrong in the exam or upset you or-"

"It's... complicated. Wasn't expecting flashback scenes in the middle of the exam, you know?"

Izuku frowned, but as he opened his mouth he caught sight of Setsuna and the look on her face. He didn't see his cousin plead much, but even without her mouthing 'don't push it' to him, he could pick up the warning signs. It was clear that whatever had happened to cause Tenko to feel upset and withdraw into himself, he didn't want to be pushed further. "I'm... sorry, Tenko. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"Yeah. I don't." Tenko paused, groaned, ran a gloved hand through his blue hair. "Damnit, I'm sorry, Izuku. I'm kinda taking my shit out on you, huh?"

"Hey it's okay. I'm not going to push-"

"You aren't, trust me, I know you're looking out for me. I get it." Tenko tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. "Some stuff came up in the Exam with Nighteye I wasn't expecting... it's about my family."

Izuku ignored the look from Setsuna- she hadn't been told about what happened to Tenko's family before- and gave his friend a look of sympathy. "I... I'm sorry, Tenko."

"Heh, you didn't examine me, don't apologise. I just..." Tenko shook his head and smiled weakly, and Izuku tried not to falter at how small and forced it looked on his best friend's face. "I hope it was worth it. I'll tell you all later about what happened but... I hope we get through it after that."

"M-Me too, Tenko."

"Yeah. It would suck to not even make it through the tutorial." Tenko shook his head with a look on his face, and the smile was slightly more genuine this time. "Although from what I hear, you kept yourself busy with Himiko while I was gone."

Izuku felt his face flush as Himiko giggled. "Yep! He kinda made sure I was able to get the most out of the Exam! If I pass I guess I owe him another kiss!"

"H-Himiko-"

"I leave you unsupervised for five minutes..." Tenko shook his head as Setsuna smirked behind him. "Only you could turn up at UA on the most important day of your life and unlock the hidden romance options too. You're out of control, Izu."

"I d-d-didn't mean-"

"Sure ya didn't," Setsuna said, rolling her eyes in an overly dramatic way. "You just happened to slip and make out in a corridor, I get it."

"GUYS-"

Luckily for Izuku as Himiko opened her mouth to make the situation worse, his blushes were further spared with the sound of the door to Sir Nighteye's Assessment room opening. The last student to be assessed, the bird-headed boy, came back through to join his peers, and despite feeling sympathy for him Izuku took a brief moment of reassurance out of the sweat on the other boy's beak and brow. At least Nighteye was consistent in how he treated everyone.

"At least it's not just us," Setsuna muttered, echoing his thoughts, as the bird boy nodded to Izuku's group in a friendly way and took his seat.

"I'm starting to think I got off lightly with Midnight," Himiko said, under her breath, before the door swung open again. There was a ripple of murmurs among some of the students who had been assessed by Sir Nighteye as the phantom menace of their Quirk Assessment Entrance Exams loomed through the doorway and strode straight over to Midnight and Present Mic, lounging at the front against the wall with very little cares in the world. "He looks scary as hell."

"You have no idea," Tenko said ruefully, as the serious Pro Hero passed one sheet of paper to the two teachers. It was clear that the discussion between them was short, and one which was ended with a knowing nod and smile from Present Mic, and a mouthed 'thank you' from Midnight. Izuku didn't know if Present Mic was capable of whispering and he didn't want to find out the hard way that he couldn't. "If you gave me the chance to replay that exam or replay that level with the Yakuza again, I'd take the shark guy."

"I dunno. Feels like we bit off more than we could chew with that one?"

"Setsuna that was months ago, the jokes were crap then and they're crap now."

"Hey, my comic genius is refined, thank you very-"

"Ahem." Everyone in the room, even the students who hadn't been assessed by him, stiffened up and silenced themselves as Nighteye made a noise to gain everyone's attention. "Thank you. I won't be staying for the results of this test, as I've been informed of a lead on one of my Agency's investigations-"

"Some bullshit excuse if I've ever heard one," Tenko muttered, dodging a jab in the ribs from one of Setsuna's detached arms.

"But I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your demonstrations with your Quirks." Nighteye straightened his glasses and gave it a nod. "My decisions were fairly easy today and while I will leave news of the outcome to your actual teachers, I hope you all take pride in making it this far. Go beyond, and I'll see you in the field in future, I hope."

As Nighteye gave a curt bow, turned tail and left the room, the murmurs started up again. Himiko's yellow eyes narrowed. "Making it this far? Really?"

"He knows we're on edge," Setsuna added, balling a fist. "He didn't need to remind us we might not make it through."

"I'd like to take this chance to invite you all to join my vigilante team if we don't make it in," Tenko said darkly, with a humourless chuckle. "Instead of UA, we can be AU for Alternate Universe. Let them know what could have been."

"Let's do it! I know a couple of guys I could introduce you to!"

"... I'm not even going to ask how you know, Himiko. Or question the fact that you know."

"Uh, yeah, oops. Forget I said that?"

"Said what?"

"... Heh. Thanks Tenko."

Izuku didn't engage with his friends as they bantered (at least, he hoped they were bantering). His head was down and he could feel his legs twitching, his feet nervously tapping the floor. The weight of what was about to happen was not lost on him and he could feel his nerves shredding and remaking themselves with every second that passed. This was it.

In the next few minutes, he would learn if he would get into UA. If the years of tolerating the shouts of those who mocked and belittled him at every turn as a useless Deku could finally be left behind. If the hours on hours of practicing with his new Quirk and learning to control and mask his other new Quirks had been worth it. If all of the work of his friends and his mother had been in vain, if all of the stories that had inspired him to want to act were good enough for UA to put their faith in him.

This was it. The moment that he would find out if he, Izuku Midoriya, was good enough to be a Hero.

Moment of truth, Izuku.

"Alright, children." Midnight had clearly had enough of the terrified murmuring from the gathered applicants, and dragged her whip out of god-knows-where to crack it against the desk. "If we sit here and debate what will happen all day you'll never find out if you made it into UA, will you?"

That shut them up. Present Mic grinned even wider than usual in response to the sudden silence, and winked at them all. "That's right listeners! Now's the time in the show where we get to tell you who did enough to earn their place here at UA High! I'd give you a drumroll, but none of you want tinnitus, ya get me?"

"Before I do spill the secrets," Midnight continued, hiding the whip away, "I wanted to say thank you to all of you for working so hard to give us the best showing. I can safely say all of you deserve to be here to fight for your right to come to UA, and you all gave it your all."

"Plus Ultra, right?! YEAAAAH!"

"But of course, you all remember what was said at the beginning? The punishment that awaits you if you don't do well enough today?" Midnight smirked. "How only a select few of you would be making it through today to be our newest first-year Hero students?"

Izuku gulped and felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. This was not good for him, the longer this was drawn out.

So much pressure!

"Do you wanna tell them, or shall I?! OOHH LET ME LET ME!"

"I'll take this year, Mic, the thrill is just too much for me!"

"AW MAN!"

Izuku frowned. What were they talking about?

Midnight's smirk grew wide and she actually appeared to lick her lips out of some sense of sadistic enjoyment for what came next. "... None of you have failed this exam."

... What?

The group full of students, bated breath collectively held in anticipation and dread for what was about to come, were knocked for six by the revelation. "WHAAAAAT-"

"It's just like one of our old friends would say..." For a moment the teacher paused, and Izuku watched some pain flicker in her eyes. "It was a rational deception."

"Hell yeah it was!"Present Mic took over at this point, and Izuku swore that his grin could blind people. "Go beyond, Plus Ultra is our motto, and we wanted to make sure that when we picked the chart toppers to make up our class of first years! But nothing motivates like a little pressure- it's what makes diamonds out of coal after all!"

So that means...

"Each one of you went above and beyond to show your Quirks to us and show how much it meant to you to be considered for a place at UA," Midnight said, her smirk softening and fading into a genuinely happy smile. "Sir Nighteye and I were equally impressed by the vigour and passion you all showed in proving you deserve to be here, and I have no hesitation in welcoming you all into my new Class 1A next year! You really did go Plus Ultra!"

"No way..." Izuku murmured, under his breath, the weight of years of hopes and dreams and expectation breaking into tears that spread down his cheeks, as he looked at his little crew.

"We made it," Tenko managed, the shock catching in his voice.

"Nobody's splitting us up," Setsuna breathed, her eyes wide as they had ever been.

"They... want us all to train here," Himiko said, a glint of happiness in her eyes that had never been there before.

"We will be Heroes," Izuku finished, the tears beginning to cascade now with the emotion of the moment.

"And so, without further ado, I wanna do a big old roll call, ya dig?" Present Mic carried on, as the gravity of the announcement seemed to roll through the gathered group of students. "Nemuri gets to do this all of next year, but I wanna bring the hype right now, YEAH!"

"Get used to the names and faces you hear now, my students," Midnight cried, eyes shining with glee. "I'll be greeting them every morning for morning homeroom next year, and these are the young Heroes you'll graduate this prestigious institution with! Ready when you are, Hizashi!"

"GOT IT!" Present Mic was practically bouncing where he stood. "Tenya Iida!"

The rigid boy with the glasses stood up and chopped the air vigorously. "It is my honour to accept a place, sir!"

"Momo Yaoyorozu!"

"I won't let you down!" A girl with black hair in a ponytail and a refined aura cried, clasping a hand to her chest.

"Mina Ashido!"

"Aw yeah!" The pink-skinned girl Izuku saw at the start of the day punched the air. "Let's do this!"

"Eijiro Kirishima!"

"Alright!" The red-haired boy sat with Ashido stood up and clenched a hardened fist. "This is the manliest day of my life!"

"Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!"

"Funny!" A boy with wild eyelashes stood up, clenched a steel fist, and grinned at Kirishima. "This is the manliest day of my life too!"

"Ibara Shiozaki!"

"Thank you for your faith in me," the vine-haired girl first to be assessed by Midnight replied, bowing her head solemnly.

"Neito Monoma!"

"Heh," the blonde boy who had been commenting on Midnight said. "Not bad."

"Itsuka Kendo!"

"Thank you!" A ginger-haired girl flashed a peace sign. "This is gonna be a good few years!"

"Mezo Shoji!"

"Hmm." The giant boy with six arms bowed his head. "Thank you."

"Fumikage Tokoyami!"

The bird-headed boy nodded sagely. "I hope to be good company to you all."

"Yui Kodai!"

"Mmm." The stoic girl with the black bob barely moved a muscle.

"Juzo Honenuki!"

"Nice to meet y'all," a lipless boy with jagged teeth said, with a wide grin.

"Toru Hagakure!"

"That's me!" Izuku strained to see a floating school uniform, its invisible owner waving. "Hiya!"

"Tsuyu Asui!"

"Please, call me Tsu, ribbit," a girl with a wide face, big eyes and green hair said.

"Yosetsu Awase!"

"Um, hi," Bandana Boy said, scratching the back of his head. "Can't wait."

"Reiko Yanagi!"

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," a grey-haired girl with bags under her eyes said in an eloquent voice. "I look forward to making your further acquaintances."

"Setsuna Tokage!"

"Reporting for duty," Setsuna called, with a wave of a detached arm and a smirk.

"Himiko Toga!"

"The one and only!" Himiko cried, bouncing up from her seat with glee. "I can't wait to get to know you all!"

"Tenko Shimura!"

Despite everything he had seemingly been through that day, Tenko gave everyone a wave while his head stayed down; Izuku nearly choked at the sight of a tear rolling down his best friend's face. "Level up."

"And..."

This was it. The moment he had always been waiting for.

"Izuku Midoriya!"

This is where the fun begins.

"H-Here, guys!" He replied, his voice wobbling and cracking as the tears poured down his cheeks and as the happiness overwhelmed him, all of the emotions of years behind his smile. "P-Plus Ultra!"

"Plus Ultra is damn right, Midoriya!" Present Mic turned to Midnight. "You wanna say it together?"

"You bet I do."

He had made it.

"Welcome, Class 1A..."

He could finally say it.

"To your Hero Academia!"

He was here.

(***)

Class 1A. Aged- 15.

(***)

A/N: Wow. 22 chapters and 140,000 words in, there we have it. Class 1A, reporting for duty, and the "end" of the unofficial "Act 1" of this story. Worth the wait, I hope?

When I was planning this story, it was important to me to keep Izuku in UA and not immediately chuck him off into the streets as some rogueish Quirk-thief vigilante. He'd be wildly out of his depth and struggle there, but the desire to be a proper Hero is embedded so deep within Izuku's character that I couldn't justify taking him out. UA lies ahead, and a lot of adventures too, and I hope you've enjoyed the emotion to get to this stage. As a proud author, I actually cried a little for Izuku at this point because of how much has gone into getting the story here.

As for Class 1A, it's been made clear UA in this world is smaller, more compact, and so 1A needed an overhaul (no, not that kind). Some people were clearly not going to make it- Mineta and Koda in the Incident Zero world would be scared off of becoming a Hero for example, Pony and Rin wouldn't travel abroad into Japan to study- and others have fallen elsewhere in the plot (Jiro, Todoroki, Bakugo, Uraraka, Shinso). This 1A is a fine mix of canon A and B, with a mix half decided by dice and half decided by who I wanted to write/thought could be a compelling addition. Nothing too wild, no Inasa or Camie, but hopefully a decent mix.

So yes, this is technically the end of my Act 1. When I come back to this on 9/10 January 2021, the next chapter is an "interlude" chapter dealing with some of the villains and setting them up for "Act 2". There will be Garaki and Kurogiri, there will be Overhaul, there will be Re-Destro and the MLA, and... there will be Aizawa. I know some of you are wondering, so watch this space.

I will be updating Decay/Harlequin and catching the AO3 version of this story up to date in the next week (please go show it some love), but other than that, I'll be back in January. And since I'm here, I wanted to say a massive thank you to so many of you for your support. At writing we have over 55,000 views, we have over 700 favourites (for which I am insanely grateful) and over 850 followers (how are there so many of you? Wow!). My heartfelt thanks to all of you, and especially to those of you who left one of the 380+ reviews we have received to date. I've found some regulars in that crowd who give me so much joy to talk to in PMs, and those of you who turn out weekly to devour this and chat to me, I salute you. You have made my 2020 so much better than it could have been.

If you want to leave a review, please, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and if you haven't already please do favourite and follow if you'd like. The response has been humbling so far.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and I'll see you on this story at the start of January 2021.

Guz