To the surprise of absolutely nobody in the Midoriya family or the League, Izuku was caught off-guard by the revelation that his father and cousin had gone into politics while he wasn't looking. Himiko's awkward reaction to the Izuku's enlightenment turned out to be due to her role in their campaign, acting as Tenko's campaign manager and now as treasurer for the A.F.O. Party. However, the greenette was taking the new level of influence they'd gained through his father and cousin's little side project in stride, though their new status as public figures meant Twice would be very busy during future operations.
Yagi's new gym gave Midoriya the perfect opportunity to keep improving his physical strength in preparation for the Entrance Exam, lifting more and more weight and increasing his running distance as fall slowly became winter, the holidays flew by, and eventually the days began to lengthen again as the exam day (February 26th) drew closer.
As for Aldera? Well, after his little "lecture" on the day of the Sludge Villain Incident, as the media was now calling it, much of the school - faculty and student body alike - was far too scared of him to even talk to him. Even Bakugo had backed off after that day's events, probably more out of confusion than anything resembling gratitude. This didn't make things any less confusing when several of his classmates not named Bakugo cornered him after class two days before UA High's Entrance Exam.
"And how can I help you four?" the villain leader asked, looking up at his classmates Ai Hououmaru, Shinichiro Kintsugi, Anko Suika, and Osamu Mokuno. His eyebrow raised slightly as he took this small group in. "Kintsugi, where's your shirt?"
The muscular teen's eyes widened in surprise as he realized he'd forgotten to put his gakuran jacket on yet again. "Oh no, not again!" he shouted, turning to fumble in his school bag for the missing garment.
The other three stood around awkwardly until Kintsugi returned, now wearing the jacket he was supposed to. Midoriya blinked a few times, looking around at them. "So…hello?" he wondered aloud, only to be caught off guard as all four dropped to the floor in a bow.
"Please forgive us!"
"What?" the greenette asked in surprise, caught off guard as an apology out of the blue was probably the last thing he expected from any of his classmates.
"For years, we've stood by and watched as Bakugo and his lackeys insulted, beat and humiliated you, and we didn't stop for a second to realize that we were wrong to do so," said Mokuno. "We all came here to humbly apologize for everything that's happened to you here." Kintsugi nodded along in agreement.
"During our freshman year here, you saved me from Bakugo once and I never even thought to thank you because I'd fallen into the same viewpoint everyone else had of you" Suika added. "All that kindness, and what did I do to repay you? I laughed at you, like everyone else in the school!" The water-user was on the verge of tears.
"We're all guilty of bystander syndrome," Hououmaru said, slowly standing up from her dogeza. "I don't think any of us deserve your forgiveness, but I hope you can at least move on from here without worrying that we hated you."
Midoriya sighed. "And what could you have done otherwise? Become victims of Bakugo's inflated ego and explosive temper as well?" he asked. "Because if that was the alternative, I can see why you'd choose to stay on his good side instead, even if you did so unconsciously."
"Bystander syndrome usually isn't something you choose; it's something that happens through either mob mentality or peer pressure" the greenette continued. "Knowing how screwed up human psychology is, it wouldn't be right for me to stick the blame for his misdeeds on you. Besides, the worst any of you ever did was laugh at me or ignore me. Compared to Bakugo's history with me, that's not going to keep me awake at night."
"But-!" Suika began to object, only for Midoriya to cut her off.
"Look, if you want to make it up to me and feel like I've really forgiven you, there's one thing I'd like you to do. When you start high school, no matter where you go, then be the person that takes the plunge and breaks through bystander syndrome. Befriend the one kid alone at their lunch table; I can promise you it'll make all the difference in the world to them.
With that, the teenager turned around. "I have to go now to get ready for UA's entrance exam, but if you can do that, then maybe you'll feel like I've forgiven you. Then all you'll have to do is figure out how to forgive yourselves." As he began to walk away, the other four called after him in support.
"Knock 'em dead, Midoriya!"
"Don't give Bakugo any satisfaction; you'd better get in!"
"We're all rooting for you!"
"Good luck, Midoriya-kun!"
As he left Aldera Middle School that day, a small smile graced the greenette's features. Maybe he had a few good memories from that hellhole after all, and maybe there was still hope for his classmates to become good people…maybe even for Bakugo.
February 26th, 7:30 AM, Musutafu…
Finally, the long-awaited day arrived on a crisp February morning, when Izuku Midoriya finally arrived at Ultra Academia High School to embrace his destiny. "UA High, huh?" he muttered, chuckling slightly. "Guess this is really the start line for me and everything else up until now has been just practice."
"Get outta my way, you useless nerd!" an all too familiar voice came from behind him. Midoriya sighed and turned around in time to see Bakugo storming up the steps to UA's front gate.
"Well good morning to you too, Bakugo!" he said, plastering the most blatantly fake smile possible on his face. "Ready to take second place?"
The blond's face contorted in an expression of absolute fury. "You fucker!" he shouted. "I can't wait to kill you here!"
Midoriya laughed in a completely deadpan manner. "You have fun with that then; in the meantime, I'm going to be passing the exam."
Bakugo quivered in sheer, total, utter fury for a few moments, before letting out an incoherent yell at the top of his lungs and storming off towards the school. The green-haired teen watched him leave, a smug smile on his face, then cracked his knuckles. "Here we go then!" he said, before stepping forward…and immediately tripping on a loose paver.
Before he could fall into a front roll to regain his balance, Midoriya's fall suddenly stopped. Not in the "oh whew, I caught myself" way, the "oh crap, I hit the ground way" or even the "someone grabbed me by the collar" way, but in the "somebody hit the pause button on the movie that is my life" way. "Huh?"
"Sorry about using my Quirk on you without permission" came a slightly familiar voice from behind him. "I just thought it'd be bad luck to trip on the day of the exam, wouldn't it?" Turning around, Midoriya was met with the sight of a somewhat plain-looking brunette girl with round, blushed cheeks. A sense of familiarity struck him as he looked at the girl for a few moments longer.
"Wait a minute…don't I know you?" he asked, noticing the padlike mutation structures on her fingertips. "I could swear I've met you before."
The girl jumped back, a nervous expression on her face. "What? I-I've definitely never seen your face before!" she said just a little too quickly.
"Is that so?" Midoriya asked, looking her up and down. "Tell me, what do the words 'Hassaikai', 'Overhaul', and 'Prometheus' mean to you?" Immediately, the other teenager's eyes widened almost comically, before she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him away from the front gate.
A couple of other prospective students noticed the interaction, causing some of them to laugh. "Already getting steamy without knowing each other's names? Two less competitors in the exam today!"
Meanwhile, Izuku Midoriya found himself pushed against a wall with a knife pointed at his throat, an angry expression on the other teen's face. "Tell me how the hell you know about that incident, or I'll make sure Prometheus has you as a captive within the next 24 hours, whether alive or dead" she growled.
"Well, it would be rather awkward if you sent me to my own hideout; Tenko would never let me hear the end of it…Miss Inversion" Midoriya responded. "Sorry to have spooked you like that; I forgot that you hadn't seen my uncovered face at any point during our mission to get rid of Overhaul."
Inversion laughed and exhaled in relief. "If we're going to be taking the hero exam together and hopefully getting in together, we should really stop calling each other by our villain names. I'm Ochako Uraraka; how about you?"
"Izuku Midoriya," the greenette responded. "Future hero, Quirk analyst, and definitely not the leader of the League of Villains. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Uraraka-san."
"The pleasure is all mine," Uraraka said, bowing slightly. "We should save the chit-chat for later though; it's almost exam time."
As the two of them ran off towards the lecture hall, neither realized that a third person had heard their conversation. "Inversion, the famous Levitating Thief of Mie, is also taking the hero exam?" wondered another prospective student, her enhanced hearing having picked up the conversation between Uraraka and Midoriya. "I don't particularly have any qualms with her, and that Prometheus kid saved old man Oguro the headache of taking down the Hassaikai, so I'll let them go for now…but if they do anything rash, I'll be the first to teach them a lesson."
On that note, Kyoka Jiro - musician, middle-schooler, and also the vigilante Vibe, renowned for her brutality towards her opponents - continued towards the lecture hall. Little did she realize that someone else with enhanced hearing had also heard the conversation. "So two of the individuals responsible for taking down that yakuza psychopath are aiming for the hero course as well?" thought Mezo Shoji, also known by his codename "Hydra" as a member of the Meta Liberation Army. "Perhaps I should notify our leadership."
Just two hours later, Midoriya had finished the written exam and, since he'd been deemed to have had a passing grade, he was called back to the auditorium. To his dismay, however, he'd been parked next to Bakugo again, since they were both applying from Aldera.
"Ugh…I see you somehow fucking passed, you stupid nerd" the blond growled. Midoriya rolled his eyes.
"Of course I passed. Who do you take me for; you?"
Before Bakugo could attempt homicide on UA's campus, the lights dimmed in the room and a spotlight illuminated the podium at the front of the auditorium, revealing a blond-haired man in a leather jacket. "HEY HEY, LISTENERS, IT'S ME, THE ONE AND ONLY PRESENT M-I-C, HERE TO START OFF YOUR EXAM!"
"The Voice Hero? I didn't know he was part of UA's faculty…" Midoriya murmured to himself.
"Shut up!" Bakugo growled.
"AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW, YOU'RE ALL HERE BECAUSE YOU PASSED THE WRITTEN EXAM AND QUALIFIED TO TAKE THE PRACTICAL FOR THE HERO COURSE!" Present Mic continued. "IF YOU FAIL THIS PART, DON'T WORRY; PASSING THE WRITTEN EXAM GIVES YOU A DIRECT PATH INTO ANY OF THE OTHER CAREER TRACKS HERE AT UA! LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE EXAM!"
The screen behind Mic changed slides from a generic welcome logo to a short animated GIF of Mic himself running around a city, defeating some military green-colored robots of various designs. "YOU'LL ALL BE EXPERIENCING COMBAT AGAINST ROBOT ENEMIES WITH VALUES OF ONE, TWO, AND THREE POINTS EACH - DEPENDING ON THEIR MODEL, OF COURSE - IN ONE OF OUR TEN URBAN BATTLEGROUNDS!" the Voice Hero elaborated. "ONCE YOU GET TO THE BATTLEGROUND ON YOUR TEMPORARY ID, DEFEAT AS MANY ENEMIES AS YOU CAN TO EARN AS MANY POINTS AS POSSIBLE - THAT'S HOW YOU'LL GET IN!"
"Excuse me!" a voice echoed from the top of the auditorium, another spotlight training itself on a bespectacled teenager with dark blue hair. "This handout shows four types of faux villain, yet you only mentioned three! If this is a mistake on official UA material, it is utterly shameful!"
"And you there!" he shouted, pointing at Midoriya as another spotlight lit up where he was seated. To his credit, the greenette simply raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself in mock confusion. "Yes, you with the green hair! Your muttering at the start of this seminar was rude and distracting! You should leave if you're not going to take this seriously!"
"If I may continue to be so rude" Midoriya replied, channeling a little of One For All into his vocal cords to make his voice louder. "Then I'd like to ask you to explain why you interrupted Present Mic and assumed the worst about the pamphlets when he was about to get to it?" The sheepish expression on the other teen's face as he sat down was totally worth it to Midoriya.
"ERM…WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, I'LL EXPLAIN THE LAST ROBOT! IT'S AN ARENA TRAP DESIGNED TO GO BERSERK IN TIGHT SPACES AND IS WORTH ZERO POINTS, SO I'D STAY AWAY FROM IT IF I WERE YOU" Mic finished his speech. "A WISE MAN ONCE SAID THAT A TRUE HERO OVERCOMES ADVERSITY TO BRING A BETTER DAY, SO AS OUR MOTTO SAYS, GO BEYOND…PLUS ULTRA!"
Bakugo immediately stormed away to the lockers to change into workout clothes for the exam; Midoriya followed at a somewhat more leisurely pace, unaware of several sets of eyes on him among the crowd and throughout UA. A pair of tired triangular onyx ones, some on the ends of odd tentacles, round brown ones, grey orbs behind thick square glasses, green eyes behind tinted amber lenses, and a pair of beady black ones watching from behind a security system.
"Oh dear."
All of ten minutes later, the greenette teenager stood in a slightly baggy teal tracksuit outside of Training Ground Beta, doing a quick set of stretches while talking to the voices in his head.
"So remember, Ninth, all you have to do is feel my awesome power, and then Blackwhip will do the rest!"
"Thanks but no thanks, Banjo-san; that'd be an awfully weird thing to try to explain to Yagi-sensei. Shinomori-san, could you…?"
"I'll give you a heads-up whenever you're in danger, Ninth; don't you worry."
"Good luck, Izuku; make our family proud!"
"What Seventh said; knock it out of the park, nephew!"
"Right!" Midoriya thought, re-opening his eyes and spotting Uraraka nearby
"Hey, Uraraka!" he called, waving at her, only to be surprised as a hand landed on his shoulder. Turning around, the greenette resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he came face to face with the teenager who had scolded him in the auditorium earlier. "And how can I help you?"
"Were you hired by UA to disturb other applicants?" the other teen asked. "Can't you see that girl is trying to concentrate-!"
"Midoriya!" Uraraka said as she walked up behind him. "Perfect timing; my nerves were starting to get to me and a familiar face is just what I needed!" Seeing this, the blue-haired provocateur backed off slightly, surprised that they knew each other.
"Good to see you again too, Uraraka" Midoriya responded. "Are you ready-?"
"GO!" Present Mic shouted from a tower that overlooked all eleven sites, each with a hundred applicants assigned to them. "THERE'S NO COUNTDOWN IN REAL LIFE!"
"Good luck!" Midoriya shouted, clapping his former contract employee on the shoulder before turning and running towards the entrance, his legs already pumping with a solid Five Percent of One For All and carrying him far ahead of the competition. The rest of the applicants started running merely a moment later, which brought them into the training ground just in time to watch as the greenette sheared the head off of a Two-Pointer with an uppercut and then leap off of its headless corpse to soccer-kick its cranium into a pair of One-Pointers further down the street. The projectile ricocheted between them for a moment, thoroughly destroying the bots as their attacker scaled a nearby building for a better vantage point. "Four!"
"Odd, I seem to remember him being Quirkless when we were taking on the Hassaikai," Uraraka thought, touching a trio of Three-Pointers and allowing them to float above the rooftops of the fake apartment buildings before dropping them to the street, gravity doing the rest for her. "Maybe it was a recent development?"
"This feels incredible!" Midoriya laughed, skipping across the rooftops. "Any tips, Shinomori-san?"
"There's a boy over there about to get ambushed" the long-dead Fourth Holder replied, Danger Sense pinging slightly to direct Midoriya towards a blond teenager clutching his stomach. A pair of Two-Pointers were rapidly approaching the boy until Midoriya drop-kicked one, shrouded in green lightning from One For All. Then, in a single deft movement, the greenette grabbed the scorpion-like stinger off of the broken one and launched it through the eye socket of the active one.
"Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to the other teenager. "Also, I guess that's eight now."
"Mon dieu," the blond muttered. "I just need a minute for my stomach to settle."
"We don't have a minute to spare," Midoriya replied. "I'll carry you until you feel better. Grab on."
"Wait, what-?" was all the other teen could manage before Midoriya hoisted him onto his back. At this point, Yuga Aoyama had no idea what to do other than hang on for dear life as green electricity crackled around them, his savior taking a moment to rip a stop sign from the ground and shove it through another robot's severed head as a makeshift hammer before demolishing a Three-Pointer with it.
"Eleven!"
"As you can see, there are a variety of different strategies and combat styles that can be employed in this exam," said Nezu, the Principal of UA High, as he and the other faculty sat in a viewing room to judge the examinees. Behind them sat the four Recommendation students admitted - Momo Yaoyorozu, Shoto Todoroki, Setsuna Tokage, and Juzo Honenuki. Each student was seated with their sponsor to the exam - Yaoyorozu Group CEO Ringo Yaoyorozu; the Flame Hero, Endeavor; the Magic Hero, Majestic; and the Shield Hero, Crust, respectively.
"Gathering intelligence to locate your opponents." Mezo Shoji stood atop a roof in Training Ground Beta, using his enhanced senses to find robots to ambush and destroy.
"Quickly traversing a wide area." Tenya Iida drop-kicked another Two-Pointer, the engines in his calves working overtime as he sped off in pursuit of new prey.
"Raw combat power." Katsuki Bakugo leapt onto a Three-Pointer from above, shredding its armor with a series of precise attacks while surrounded by the corpses of other destroyed bots.
"Staying calm under pressure." Kyoka Jiro calmly slid under a One-Pointer's outstretched limb, shorting its circuits out with a quick burst of sound by plugging one of her headphone jack-shaped earlobes into its armor.
"Outwitting superior opponents to gain an upper hand." Minoru Mineta dropped into an alleyway from above as he yanked a number of purple orbs off his head, their adhesive properties sticking a group of Two-Pointers together.
"And the willingness to lend a helping hand, even with no apparent benefit." Izuku Midoriya tossed Yuga Aoyama into the air, where the French teenager unleashed his Quirk again to blast apart another robot while Midoriya dispatched two more.
"The best heroes combine all these traits, even in the face of our final test" Nezu continued, gesturing to the deflated All Might. "Yagi-san, would you do the honors?"
"I would be delighted," the incognito Symbol of Peace responded, opening the plastic cover over a red button labeled "Kaiju Switch" and pressing it.
In each of the eleven training grounds, a false building exploded in the middle of the arena, revealing a colossal robot. Military green and shaped a little like an insectoid centaur, the Executor Bots towered over their surroundings and elicited immediate reactions of shock and fear from the examinees.
"That's the Zero-Pointer?!" Midoriya shouted as he looked up at the metal colossus, Aoyama gasping for breath on the ground behind him. "I knew UA's donors had some deep pockets, but this is ridiculous!"
Ground Beta's Zero-Pointer raised its fist and punched downward, a massive shockwave sweeping examinees off their feet. "Aoyama-san, please evacuate to a safe distance," the greenette said, removing his track jacket to give his arms greater mobility, his upper half now clad in just a short-sleeved black base layer. "This robot poses a risk to every examinee here; I'm going to take it down."
The French blond nodded in affirmation, blasting a robot away from another examinee as he ran. "I currently have around 56 points from combat; helping Aoyama-san slowed me down," Midoriya said, doing some quick stretches. "That's probably enough to get in safely." At that point, the villain leader noticed another figure running in his direction among the crowd of fleeing examinees. "Uraraka!"
The brunette brightened and changed course to stop in front of him. "Yes, Midoriya?" she asked, panting slightly.
"I need you to nullify my gravity for a moment and release me when I'm on a collision course with that thing," he said, pointing to the Zero-Pointer. "I'm going to take it down."
"Are you sure?" the brunette asked. "I know you're capable, but the collateral damage from that is on a whole other level from Overhaul."
"Positive" Midoriya responded, One For All flaring around him again. "First though, we'll have to get in closer. You think you're up for the challenge?"
For just a moment, the thief's resolve wavered in the face of this challenge, before coming back fourfold. "I was born ready!" she shouted. "Let's do this, Midoriya!"
The two teenagers rushed back towards the arena trap, getting in closer and closer to the robot of deadly proportions. Chunks of concrete began to fall around them from the Zero-Pointer's frenzied attacks, but Danger Sense warned Midoriya any time that either he or Uraraka were at risk, allowing him to dodge or deflect incoming projectiles. "Now!"
The brunette thief touched her right hand to his shoulder. "Go, Midoriya!" she shouted, leaping backward as the greenette blurred out of existence with his jump. "Now I just have to stick the exact timing to release him!"
"In all truth, there's really no practical point to this move on my part," Midoriya thought as he soared into the sky, his trajectory taking him directly between the Zero-Pointer's fingers. "I don't earn any points for it, everyone seems to have evacuated a safe distance, and the exam will end in just a minute or so anyway."
"But…where's the fun in all that?" the greenette asked himself mentally as a grin crossed his face. "This moment isn't for the other examinees or the judges or even my friends. This one's for me!"
"Release!" Uraraka shouted, touching her fingertips together and returning Midoriya's weight and inertia to him.
"One For All! Shock Absorption! Adrenaline! Overhaul!" Midoriya called up his Quirks, channeling the stockpile's full strength into his arm, Shock Absorption amping his durability with Overhaul on standby to fix his injuries and Adrenaline to buff the effects of his other Quirks. "Heroes and villains the world over, bear witness to me! New York…SMASH!"
The effects were nearly instantaneous. As soon as Midoriya's jumping uppercut smacked into the Zero-Pointer's chin, backed by over a century of stockpiled physical strength, the robot was lifted clear off the ground and carried high into the air, soaring out of Training Ground Beta, over Training Ground Alpha and into the forest of Training Ground Omega, which was thankfully not in use at the moment. And in an instant, all across UA's campus, jaws dropped in awe at the display of pure strength.
"He's that strong?!" Uraraka thought in awe, having just watched a building-sized robot take flight directly in front of her.
"What the fuck was that?!" Bakugo wondered, having just seen the Zero-Pointer fly clear over Training Ground Alpha and narrowly avoid hitting that exam site's own arena trap.
"So…manly…" Eijiro Kirishima muttered, watching thousands of tons of metal soar over the street he'd just cleared of robots.
"Mon dieu…he will need to hear of this applicant," Aoyama thought, unaware of the connection between his "dearest uncle" and Izuku Midoriya.
"That strength…it rivals All Might's" was the sole thought that flashed through the minds of Endeavor and his son, eliciting two different reactions - jealousy from Enji, and cold hatred from Shoto.
"Oh my goodness!" Momo Yaoyorozu thought in surprise, a hint of worry and self-doubt creeping into her head and telling her she couldn't compete with someone of that caliber.
"Magnificently done!" the Principal thought, outright cheering and jumping up and down on his seat.
"I knew I chose right…Young Midoriya, you'll make us all proud." Toshinori Yagi stood just as Present Mic called the end of the exam, watching Midoriya make almost perfect landing preparations just in time for Uraraka to catch him with her Quirk. "There's no way they don't both get in."
One week later, March 7th:
"It's here, Izuku-niichan!" Eri shouted, waving a letter in her hand that Inko had given her after going to check the mailbox. The greenette was so surprised that he fell off his desk chair, having been writing a Quirk analysis in one of his new notebooks.
"Coming!" he replied, scrambling to his feet and running into the common room. Sitting down at the family's dining table, the teenager opened the envelope marked with the UA High seal and reached in, grabbing a metal object of some sort. To his surprise, the results weren't on paper, but rather in a hologram projector that activated as soon as he dropped it on the table.
"I am here, as a projection!" All Might shouted, projected into the Midoriya family's house wearing a garish yellow monstrosity of a suit. On the couch nearby, Hisashi wrinkled his nose in disapproval. "Sorry about the recent radio silence; I was getting ready to do my duties as the newest member of UA's faculty!"
"What?" Izuku and Hisashi asked in unison as Inko poked her head around the corner from the kitchen.
"Let's get on with your results before the production team shouts at me again for taking too long! You placed second on the written exam with a score of 96.2 percent - only a couple of missed questions, and Ectoplasm called the essay portion 'flawless'!" Yagi said. "And as for the practical, you knocked it out of the park! 55 points were earned for destroying robots, which was enough to get you into the Top 10…but that's not all!"
An image was displayed on the screen behind All Might, showing the scoreboard for the top 10 examinees. "UA also awards Rescue Points, for doing the right thing to save other examinees from harm's way! You earned 25 Rescue Points for aiding Yuga Aoyama, and hit the maximum of 60 Rescue Points for saving the other examinees from the arena trap! That grand total of 115 points is the highest seen in 20 years, and puts you solidly in first place!"
Sure enough, the scoreboard behind All Might showed a breakdown of the points for the top 10 examinees, and Izuku's name was easily in first. Looking down the list, the greenette smirked as he noticed Bakugo in only third place, with Uraraka also ahead of the eternal pain in his rear.
1. Izuku Midoriya: 55 Combat, 60 Rescue
2. Ochako Uraraka: 40 Combat, 45 Rescue
3. Katsuki Bakugo: 77 Combat, 0 Rescue
4. Eijiro Kirishima: 39 Combat, 35 Rescue
5. Ibara Shiozaki: 40 Combat, 28 Rescue
6. Itsuka Kendo: 25 Combat, 40 Rescue
7. Tenya Iida: 52 Combat, 9 Rescue
8. Yosetsu Awase: 54 Combat, 6 Rescue
9. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 49 Combat, 10 Rescue
10. Fumikage Tokoyami: 47 Combat, 10 Rescue
"Allow me to make it official - Young Midoriya, welcome to your Hero Academia!" Yagi shouted as the projector shut off. Izuku barely had time to breathe before Eri tackled him in a hug, with both of his parents quickly wrapping him in their embrace as well.
"You're going to make us proud, son," Hisashi said, ruffling his son's hair. "Make sure UA will never be the same again."
"I'm so proud of you, Izuku" Inko sobbed in joy.
"Yay, Izuku-niichan!" Eri cheered, happy for her favorite big brother.
"UA isn't ready for me," Izuku responded. "I'll leave them wondering what happened on my way to the top." The greenette then smirked as he enhanced his hearing with One For All, focusing his improved senses on a certain household in another part of Musutafu…
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN I GOT THIRD PLACE?! HOW DID DEKU BEAT ME?!"
"Yep, wondering what happened indeed," he thought, his smirk growing slightly wider.
Author's Notes:
Happy Friday, everyone; have an early update as a treat.
The Entrance Exam is all wrapped up and it's time for the first day at UA to happen. In this chapter…
Some of Midoriya's classmates at Aldera apologized for their bystander syndrome.
Uraraka was revealed to be Inversion, a Peerless Legacy member hired to help with the Overhaul raid. Additionally, we also learned that Kyoka Jiro is Vibe, a member of Vigilantes Anonymous, and Mezo Shoji is Hydra, one of Skeptic's subordinates in the Meta Liberation Army.
Being able to use One For All competently makes a world of difference in the Entrance Exam arc. Additionally, Midoriya and his father's spy have now made contact, though neither yet realizes the other's identity.
I am incredibly proud of the little mental monologue I had Midoriya do when he defeated the Zero-Pointer; I feel like it's a little window into who this version of this character is and how he's different from canon.
Oh no, Bakugo only got third place?! Sad!
Next chapter, we have the first day at UA! As ever, follow/favorite if you're on FFN, leave kudos on AO3, and share this around! Thank you!
~DVD181
Next update: November 12th