Here's the first part of the Assessment Test! I hope you guys enjoy it!
As always, there will be an author's note at the end if you guys want to read it.
For those of you still wondering who Izuku got traded for... pay attention, and you'll be have your answer!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: This story will be slow going, and I tend to be a bit excessive with words. I apologize in advance if this bothers you.
I do not own My Hero Academia.
Lunch was an extraordinary treat for the students of Yuuei. Lunch Rush's quirk allowed him cook and create any kind of food while packing it chock-full with super nutrients and megavitamins almost instantly. This guaranteed that students were getting the proper nutrition that they needed for their training, while maintaining the maximum tastiness; the fact that the students got a more than fair price for it was a steal by itself.
Throughout the lunch period, students carried on with their activities- talking, eating, joking, and arguing without a care in the world. The cafeteria was a wonderful sanctuary protected by Lunch Rush, and every student enjoyed their time here greatly while they took a break from the demanding courses that the number one school in Japan brought upon its pupils…
…Well, almost every student.
While almost every student was getting their lunch and socializing during the one hour period, there was one who was not. Even though Izuku had headed towards the cafeteria his thoughts were elsewhere, and his eyes remained glued to notebook #6, only occasionally glancing up every now and then to make sure he didn't run into a wall or a stray student. Even as he had gotten his food, his eyes never wandered and his mind remained focused on the one task he wanted to accomplish. He absently selected random food from the lunch line- without even noticing that the Cook Hero: Lunch Rush himself was serving him- and had somehow found his way to a small courtyard just outside the cafeteria, where he sat himself under the shade of a Japanese cedar tree.
He barely touched his food as he continued his very specific search: heroes who had trained their bodies and quirks through the use of sensation, by using them in normal exercises and everyday activities.
It was quite the net to cast, and it required a great deal of digging, but after forty-five minutes of cross-referencing his notes with online articles and interviews (even as a kid, he knew to site his sources), he was rewarded with the information he needed from a few particular heroes. He spent the rest of his fifteen minutes religiously pouring over his findings and committing everything he read to memory, determined to not forget even the tiniest detail. He was startled out of his research when he heard the sound of the first bell, and he picked up and threw away his barely eaten food with haste before bolting for his homeroom, barely making it in seconds before the final bell could ring.
There were a few seconds of idle chatter before the door opened once more. Vlad King looked inside his classroom with a bewildered look on his face, scanning the expressions of his charges as they all stopped their conversations to turn their attention towards him.
"Well, come on then!" he barked with excited authority, causing half the class to jump. "Get your gym uniforms on, and meet me outside near the north-western entrance of the school. We have a quirk assessment test to perform today!" As he turned on his heel to leave, he quickly turned back around while snapping his fingers. Clearing his throat, he added, "Sorry, sorry, I was, ah, too excited to remember that you guys don't know where anything is. Follow me, I'll take you to one of 1B's locker rooms. Please don't bring any equipment with you, unless you absolutely need it to manage your quirk." As soon as the words left his mouth, his students hustled to follow him, grabbing their brand new gym clothes on their way out the door.
Ten minutes later, the twenty students found themselves outside in the warm spring air, in a field not unlike a baseball diamond. It was complete with a ball throwing ring, a couple of sand pits, a race track around its perimeter, a pull-up station with about five bars side by side to each other, and a large container right next to them. There were robots all around the area, their recording devices primed and ready for the action.
Vlad King was waiting for them on the eastern side of the racetrack, standing next to a large water cooler and holding a thick metal storage clipboard in his hands. Even though his students only saw a scowl on his face, Vlad King was secretly excited; according to the records of his students, this year's class 1B, as a whole, held lot of promise and potential. He couldn't wait to see what they were capable of, and how they would rise to the challenges before them.
The students slowly formed a semicircle in front of the pro-hero as he flipped through the papers in front of him. He was mentally going over a checklist to see if there was anything missing before he started the assessment. Pleased that he found nothing was amiss and confident that he had everything covered, he returned his papers back to their original state and looked up to meet the expectant stares of his pupils as the last of them joined the huddle.
"Good Afternoon, Class 1B!" After a few smatterings of the returned greeting, Vlad King continued on with the introduction to the afternoon's activities. "Today, you will be doing a quirk assessment test from now until the end of school, or until we finish, whichever comes first. Now, who here can tell me the purpose of these tests?"
He was met with silence, which to be fair, he expected. This was their first day of high school after all. But… a gentle prod in the right direction wouldn't hurt them any.
Heaving a sigh and feigning annoyance, he grumbled out, "Come on now, really? In this class of elites, none of you has any idea why you have to take these tests? No one wants to speculate as to why they're important?"
As he'd hoped, a few students rose their hands in response to his antagonizing. Four hands in total had been raised, but only one of them looked confident enough to answer. Turning his attention to the orange haired girl with a side ponytail, he gave her a nod of approval while subtly glancing at his clipboard to make sure he got her name right. "Yes, Kendo-san? What's your guess?"
Kendo replied with her teal eyes full the relaxed kind of confidence. "To see how well we can utilize our quirks within certain parameters, and to test our creativity under those situations."
Vlad King nodded in approval. "I like the way you think, Kendo-san. Excellent answer. However," he turned his attention back to the rest of the class, "there is one more equally important variable we are testing here today: your limitations. Without knowing them, you can never improve yourselves from where you are right now."
He turned his body sideways to gesture to the area around them, to all that the field had to offer. "To test our limitations, our utilization, and our creativity, we use the nationwide no-quirks-allowed fitness tests as a baseline. You guys are familiar with them, right?" he turned his head back to his students to see most of them nodding in confirmation. "Excellent. Because to perform the assessments, you will be given free reign of use to use your quirks as you see fit during all the events of the fitness test."
With the reveal of that particular piece of knowledge, the students began to whisper among themselves, some in an excited manner and others with a bit more disbelief in their tones. As the students talked to their neighbors, Vlad King gestured to two robots, one of which promptly turned around and headed to the far side of the racetrack 50 meters away. He looked again at his clipboard before calling out a name his group of strudents.
"Shiozaki-san!"
The class quieted down again, turning their attention once more to their teacher. A girl of medium height with green eyes and vivid green hair that looked like a healthy briar patch stepped forward gracefully, a polite curiosity gracing her features. "Yes, Vlad King Sensei?"
Clearing his throat, he briefly turned to the rest of the class. "From here on out, you guys can just call me Vlad, or Kan. There's no need to be formal or to use my full hero name in this setting, when it's just us." Turning back to the young woman in front of him, he addressed her fully this time. "Shiozaki-san. Out of everyone in this class, you had the best score in the practical portion of the entrance exam. Would it be alright if I used you for the assessment demonstration?"
The girl gave a polite, graceful bow and spoke humbly, her gentle voice filled with good will. "I feel blessed for having the opportunity to assist you in such a manner. Please, how may I help you, Vlad King Sensei?"
Vlad King paused for a moment, trying to see if she was being sarcastic in the slightest; he was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn't, and he gestured for her and the class to follow him to where the stationary robot remained.
As they walked, the hero talked to his demonstrator. "In middle school, do you remember what your time was for the 50 meter dash?"
"Yes, Sensei. My time was 9.93 seconds."
"Excellent! That's pretty close to the national average for women of your age, if I remember correctly." They had finally gotten to the starting line of the sprint when he turned to her fully, looking her in the eyes. "However, I think you can do better."
He gestured to where the other robot was standing, making sure to speak loudly and clearly so that there would be no confusion whatsoever. "I want you to cross these 50 meters as fast as you can. And I want you to use your quirk in any way you can think of to help you out- just make sure you get across that finish-line as quickly as possible."
Nodding her understanding, the green haired girl took a deep breath, before she crouched down into a runner's position. Then, as if she had a change of mind, she tentatively stood back up, interlocking her hands in a manner similar to praying. As she did she closed her eyes, and a look of serenity came across her features.
"Are you ready?" Shiozaki only nodded in response, her eyes still closed and the calmness still prevalent on her face. "Alright. Start running when I blow the whistle." After another nod, Vlad King brought the whistle to his lips and blew a short trill.
Instead of launching forward into a run, Shiozaki's hair began to dance and expand. A moment later, her hair had separated itself into seven different stalks, each about the thickness of a small tree trunk and as thorny as a rosebush. One of the stalks wrapped itself around her body for support as the other six lifted her up about two meters into the air. At the same time, she began to move forward on her stalks, similar in the way that a massive green bug would scuttle about.
Faster than most of the students could believe, she crossed the finish-line and came to a halt, gracefully lowering herself back to the ground as she did; the extended portions of her hair began to separate from her body, returning her hair back to it's normal waist length and leaving a bunch of briars off to the side of the track. Turning around with a glowing smile on her face, she jogged back to where her teacher and her classmates were standing as the latter group began to chatter excitedly among themselves.
"What was your time?" Vlad King asked, willingly not showing his eagerness for the result and ignoring the slowly rising volume of the group behind him.
"5.09 seconds, Sensei! This has been an exhilarating experience!"
"Excellent," he said, with the shadow of smile. At the same time, her classmates' conversations erupted into excitement after hearing her result firsthand.
"Five seconds?! Dude, that's on the same level as some professional athletes-"
"She literally almost cut her time in half-"
"Wow! What a neat quirk! I bet she can-"
"I was not expecting that at all. We really can do anything we want, eh?-"
"Now this is a quality education!-"
"Wow, she's kinda cute, don'tcha think man?-"
"Dude, this assessment is gonna be lit as fu-"
"Shiozaki-san, if you'd be so kind, could you please stand with your classmates? I have a few more important items I want to discuss with everyone before we start." Vlad King's voice boomed gently over the sound of the rising chorus of his student's excited discussions. Instantly, they quieted down and the girl with thorns for her hair went to join her classmates once more. Once the hero felt he had all of their undivided attention, he pressed on with his advice and his warnings.
"I have three things I want each of you to keep in mind as you perform these tests. Please pay attention, as it may influence the results you produce." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, and then continued on. "First, you're all going to do each of these tests three times, with the exception of the endurance running at the end. Your final score for an event will be the average of your three results, so keep that in mind as you progress through the assessment. If you gaff off in one event, it will bring down your average, which will ultimately lower your overall score. It would be very wise to perform to the best of your abilities every chance you can."
He turned to the girl who had just done the demonstration. "If you want the run you just did to be one of your three results for the 50 meter sprint, I will allow it." The thorny-haired girl nodded in understanding, before she looked off to the side, no doubt thinking over her choice.
"Second, I want all of you to approach this with a different mindset." He paused once more to briefly glance at a few of their expressions, and saw nothing but confusion at his words. "Let me clarify. Right now, I'm pretty sure most of you are thinking along the lines of, 'oh, this is just another stupid test,' or, 'I wonder how much this will affect my grades?' Am I wrong? You can be honest, I won't be mad." After a few hesitant and quiet agreements, he spoke again with finality. "Well, that needs to stop. Right. Now."
"As of today, you are all heroes in training. And I need you guys to start thinking along the same lines that a hero does. I need you all to get into a hero's mindset, otherwise the results you create from here on out will not be enough when the time comes for it to count."
There was nothing but silence as the twenty teenagers in front of him absorbed what he said. As they did, Vlad King once again turned his body and pointed towards the racetrack where Shiozaki just ran her event. "Don't think of this event as just a 50 meter sprint. Instead, start thinking as if there's a civilian at the end of these 50 meters, and they are in the crossfire of a villain's reckless attack; you need to get there as fast as you can to save them." He then turned his body and pointed towards the sand pits. "Don't think of the long jump event as just another form of exercise. Think as if you are chasing a villain, and they're about to make their getaway; this may be your one last attempt to catch them before they escape."
He turned his attention back to his class with a somber, yet intense look in his eyes. "It doesn't matter what you think about, so long as you're able to get into a hero's mindset. Nowadays, the younger generations are taught what to think instead of how to think, and sadly that includes the up and coming heroes. When a hero develops an improper mindset, they either fade away into mediocrity, or they are killed in the line of duty. And I will be dammed before I let either of those happen to any of you. Training begins with the mind, and it starts now."
He let his words soak the air momentarily so that his pupils could take in their seriousness. For the most part, it looked like the class was beginning to get a good grasp of the reality of the vocation that many wished to pursue, if only by a little bit. Slowly, their expressions became more focused and determined, ready to embrace the mentality of what it meant to be a hero. Looks like they're starting to get serious now. Good. Because the next thing I'm about to tell them will either crush their desire to perform, or make them strive for greater heights...
"Speaking of mediocrity…" he pulled out a different sheet of paper, holding it out for all of them to see. "Class 1A has done pretty well for themselves on their assessment tests. They've produced some of the best results seen in years, and some of them even set new records. There is no doubt in my mind that they will grow to become great heroes in the years to come, which brings me to my third item."
"You will perform better than them." After a slight pause, the students began to realize that this wasn't a motivational speech; it was a statement, like it was already a proven fact. "When I train heroes, I do not settle for averageness. I will not have you producing lackluster results for yourself, and if you do, we are going to do whatever it takes to remedy that." He lifted up a sheet of paper with a lot of writing on it, and gave a predatory smile to his students; somehow, all of them got a collective sinking feeling in their stomachs, waiting with dread for what their teacher was about to say to them.
"In my hand, I have the calculated results for class 1A. The formula to get these results is super complicated and boring, so I won't explain the process to you. But, this is the important part for you to understand." His 'smile' became slightly more sadistic as his canines seemed to grow a tad more sinister.
"Every student who does not get a higher final score than at least four people from class A will start having to take my own personal remedial physical training course, starting tomorrow. Twice a day, if need be, until they are able to achieve my standards. Also, anyone who scores below class A's test average will be subjected to some Soul Crushers every day this week at the start and end of your heroics courses."
There was a bit of silence at the end of his declaration, before the young man with messy steel- colored hair spoke up, with some interest apparent in his voice. " Hey Sensei... what are Soul Crushers?"
"I'm glad you asked! Since you're so interested, you will be my first demonstrator, Tetsutetsu-kun. After we finish the assessment test, of course," replied Vlad King without missing a beat, his smile tinged with victory as one of his students fell for the bait flawlessly. His peers around him gave him subtle sympathetic looks, but the muscular boy remained steadfast and confident, his mouth contorting into a challenging sneer. Oh, don't you fret boy. You'll learn soon enough what they are, and you aren't going to be smiling when you do.
"Now, enough of me running my mouth! Everyone get in line for the 50 meter dash! And when it's your turn to run, introduce yourself! Tell us your name, your quirk, and a hobby of yours if you want! Let's do this with some Plus Ultra spirit!"
"Yes Sensei!"
Izuku thought he had prepared enough for the test.
Turns out, he was wrong. Wrong on so many levels.
His mind knew what he had to do, what he should be doing… but it was kind of a moot point since his body didn't want to respond.
His natural instinct to watch and observe, to catalogue and to speculate was taking priority only out of habit; for the first time in his life, Izuku just couldn't see himself getting too excited at the prospect of witnessing so many new quirks in action at once. Not when Vlad King Sensei had made that last declaration right at the end.
He wanted everyone to perform better than at least four people from class 1A? For probably everyone else, with their 10-15 years of experience handling their own quirk, that was certainly possible. They might have felt the pressure, sure, but at least they all had a decent chance for the success they were capable of. But for Izuku, whose control was nonexistent and whose mind was sabotaging him with anxiety and inability before he even began? Whose chances at success was undeniably stuck at 0%? There were no other words to describe his predicament- he was royally screwed.
As he stood on shaking knees waiting in line to run the 50 meter dash, he watched his classmates perform with a weird mix of envy and glee. One part of his mind was giddy; he was getting a front row seat to watch future heroes perform to the best of their abilities. He greedily drank in everything he saw, subconsciously committing everything to memory and immediately forming theories from his observations out of a deeply ingrained habit. This was every hero fanboy's fantasy, and he had been given the chance to live in it!
But as for the other part of his mind… said future heroes were performing really well.
Like, really well.
And with each of their performances, he felt his already diminishing confidence plummet even further.
This was only the first event, and there were already some pretty heroic scores. It was only the first event, and Izuku saw the unfortunate reality as clear as day: there was absolutely no way that Izuku, with less than a month's experience of handling his own quirk, could ever hope to stand in the same ring as his peers…
Shaking his head to clear away those depressing thoughts, he began to internally ramble to himself. No! No, do not think like that! That nice girl gave me a tip, and I put it to good use to find a way to control myself. She helped me out, and All Might believes in me, and so does Mom… I got this… I can do this…
But try as he might to steel his resolve, he couldn't help but stand in awe at his peers, his subconscious already knowing that all of his efforts would simply pale in comparison...
In the 50 meter sprint, there were a handful of students who didn't, or couldn't, use their quirk to benefit them in the event. But there were also a handful of students who had found a way to use their quirks rather resourcefully, getting them spectacular scores.
Shiozaki, who led the event with an introduction as gentle as her voice and as graceful as her movements, did the exact same thing she did in the demonstration. Her scores got increasingly better with each run (Does her quirk require her to stand still? If so, this is a pretty clever work around for it!).
A guy with a short braid that reached his shoulders was next. He introduced himself as Rin Hiryu with a simple smile and a wave, and his casual voice was laced with a subtle Chinese accent. He had taken off his gym top and rolled up his pants for his run. The reason became apparent when his body became covered in small green scales at the start of the whistle. (Ah! Probably to help reduce drag! That's pretty sma- focus.)
Tetsutetsu, who had proudly (and loudly) pronounced his name, seemed to have a similar idea and had done the exact same thing. However, instead of being covered in scales his skin turned into metal, and his footsteps left cracks in the racetrack. (Hmmm, is that from the added weight of the metal, or does his quirk also boost his strength?)
There was also a tall, thin guy who looked like an insect, complete with greenish-grey skin, mandibles that looked more like blades, and a fuzzy lime green mohawk. He didn't even bother to introduce himself; instead he just faced forward with a snarl and a sneer while also taking off his top. At the blow of the whistle, two extremely long and surprisingly thick blades burst out of his skin from his back, propelling him upward and forward half the way before they shrank back into his body. As they did, he continued his sprint to the other end, his long strides and quick movements assisting his time. (Is that the reach of his blades? Can he produce them anywhere on his body?)
A boy with pitch black skin and fluffy white hair ran the event with him; he looked like he had toyed with the idea of an introduction before he shrugged and neglected to do so as well. He simply melded into his partner's shadow at the blow of the whistle, reappearing at the same time the insect guy crossed the finish line for all three attempts. (Oh neat, he uses shadows! I wonder if he can- no. Stop it.)
And then there was a guy covered head to toe in thick brown hair with fangs jutting out from the bottom of his jaw. He honestly looked more like an animal than a man, but when he introduced himself as Shishida Jurota in the most formal and regal voice out of everyone so far, that thought was immediately banished. After he finished his introductions, he simply removed his top as well, took off his shoes and glasses, and ran on all fours. He outran everyone in the event so far, with each of his times faster than the last. (He said his quirk is Beast, right? I don't know what it does, but his physical ability alone is amazing!)
And… how did Izuku do?
Well, he didn't do too badly. At least he got a better time than he did in middle school, that's for sure. And he only stuttered twice when he introduced himself, so that was a plus…
Although, he could have done better when it came to introducing his false quirk…
… A lot better…
But when it came down to it, he realized he had been too preoccupied with watching everyone else get amazing results; he could only focus on the fact that he was expected to do better than at least four members of class A.
But the biggest factor that lead to his slightly-better-than-average results… was completely forgetting to apply what he had learned the last hour or so from his research into practice. He realized his mistake when he finished his sprints and berated himself for his nerves, swearing that he would do better in the upcoming events.
But… did he actually do better?
Well… yes and no.
After the 50 meter sprint was the long jump, and once again, a lot of people produced spectacular results. Shiozaki, the mohawk guy with blades, and Shishida all got excellent results in a similar fashion to how they did during the sprint. However, they weren't the only ones to get a good score.
The orange haired girl, Kendo Itsuka, did a running handspring after her good natured introduction. At the last second of her vault, her hands expanded to the size of a classroom desk; essentially, she pushed herself across the pit using nothing but her upper body strength and her momentum. (Oh wow, that's so cool! And really smart too! Can she expand the other parts of her body as well?)
There was also a rather short guy who had a speech bubble for a head; when he had introduced himself, his name, Fukidashi Manga, also appeared in Katakana across the surface of the speech bubble as his head shape-shifted accordingly to fit his name.
When he cried "BOING!", the actual words came out of his mouth and materialized right underneath his feet, launching him across the pit in one go before they dissipated; as he was about to crash land, he shouted "WHOOSH!" and the same thing happened as before. This time, when the word materialized, he crashed into it almost immediately and a gust of wind slowed down his fall... right before he landed ungracefully on his face. (Can he bring any words into existence to create their effect? Or is he limited to specific words? Either way, that's an incredibly versatile quirk!)
The chubby kid who sat in front of Izuku had introduced himself as Shoda Nirengeki in a modest voice and went soon after Fukidashi did. While he was doing his attempts he surprised everyone when, after he jumped and right as he was about half a meter from the ground, he jumped again with far greater strength and power. (He literally did a double jump, just like in Super Mario! Does he have some kind of recoil quirk? I wonder- no, wait… I need to focus.)
Then a pale guy whose teeth sat outside of his skin was next. He had introduced himself as Honenuki Juzo with a friendly wave and a pleasant smile, with all the nonchalance of a cat about to take a nap. But as he turned to face the jump pit, his nonchalance turned into seriousness as he proceeded with the event. As he jumped, it looked like the very ground around him in a decent sized area began to suck him in, as if he were sinking into the ground. Suddenly, the ground had reverted back to normal and he was launched into the sky as if he had jumped on a big trampoline, clearing the pit in one go as well.
His landing was just as well executed, just as graceful and smooth- it was like watching a competitive diver breach the water. He landed so smoothly that when he sunk –literally- into the ground from the jump, he created a single ripple before he popped right back up to the surface without a single scratch on him or a single indention in the earth. (Wow! The… the control he has over his quirk… he must be exceptionally skilled…)
Some of the other students had to get a tad more creative on their attempts. The pitch black kid, for instance, had picked up a decent sized clump of dirt and threw it as far as he could while quickly melding into the shadow created by it. He jumped out of the shadow at the last second to give himself a little extra distance.
A boy with spiky brown hair and wide eyes, who had eagerly introduced himself as Tsuburaba Kosei, also came up with a creative solution. Before he took his jump, he took a deep breath and exhaled a lot of air. When he was seemingly satisfied, he went on ahead and jumped on top of the air itself, walking across it with a very pleased look on his face; he repeated the process a few more times and soon enough, he had cleared the same pit that many others before him had as well. (Oh wow, that's really cool! It seems like he would have to do a lot of breathing exercises to get the full use out of it, though...)
Izuku had finally learned the name of the green haired girl who had helped him out earlier, as she had cheekily introduced herself as Tokage Setsuna with an outgoing wave and smile to everyone. When it was her turn to cross the pit, she did so in a… rather interesting way. As she stepped forward for her attempts, she began to take off her uniform top. Almost as soon as she moved to unzip her top, Kendo yelped and bolted to the front of the group to stand right next to her, expanding one of her hands to the size of a dresser as she did and glaring with a slightly flushed face back at everyone who was behind them.
After a frantically whispered conversation, the redhead grabbed something from the other girl, and the two of them began to walk side by side as Tokage crossed the pit. Apparently, she had cleared the entire pit in one go all three times as well, although no one, save for the two walking across the pit and Vlad King -who was pointedly looking away from the them as they crossed- couldn't see what actually happened. (Hmm, she said her quirk was call Lizard Tail Splitter, so I assume she can willingly sever any part of her body. But why was she taking off her clothes? Does that mean- Ah.)
Izuku immediately ceased all trains of thought as he put the pieces together and flushed a deep cherry red, looking away from the two girls as Kendo discreetly handed back one article of clothing at a time back to her friend.
Once again, Izuku did better than he did in middle school. But as he tried to execute the techniques he had studied, all he could think about was how broken his legs were after he confronted the 0 pointer in the entrance exam...
Needless to say, his jump wasn't as good as it could have been.
The side to side jumping agility test was next. Surprisingly, there weren't as many spectacular results as there were in the previous two events, but that didn't mean there weren't any students who performed admirably.
Shiozaki and Shishida did well, with the former simply having her vine-like hair move her back and forth with as much ease as thinking, while the later was once again on all fours, where he was probably more agile down there than most people were on two. Honenuki did something similar to what he did in the long jump, getting himself a decent score as well, and apparently, Tokage shattered a school record… but not without enlisting Kendo's help, who had, once again, created a large wall with her hands, separating the more than likely nude girl from the curious-now-suspecting onlookers.
The thin, short girl with brown hair who sat behind Izuku in class also did splendidly in this particular event. Earlier, she had shyly introduced herself as Komori Kinoko, and during the other tests, large mushrooms had suddenly sprang out around her to give her a slight boost to her running and her jumping. Now, she was happily jumping on the tops of two other large mushrooms, using their natural elasticity like trampolines as she bounced back and forth between the two, getting herself a surprisingly high score. (Oh! Can she produce any kind of mushroom? Can she alter the characteristics of the mushrooms she grows?...please... please focus, Izuku...)
Being not able to find a way to implement his research into the side to side agility test, Izuku simply opted to do the best he could. Again, it was an improvement from his middle school results, but...
There was just simply no way he could compare himself to the superhuman scores that his classmates were consistently putting up.
The crunches, part of the halfway point in the test, were a rather dull event to watch. No one really stuck out very much, but the average result still ended up being respectively high.
Kendo ended up enlarging the hands wrapped around her body, using her enhanced strength to just hoist herself up in conjunction with her abs. Both Shiozaki and the insect guy had similar ideas where they had vines and blades, respectively, assist in pushing their bodies up during the event. Shoda's performance was a surprise, since he had set a rhythm that allowed him to propel himself forward quickly every other one. Tokage had effectively removed the top half of her body from her abs, and was moving them freely and frequently without the extra weight to slow her down.
There was also a blond girl who had horse-like features- such as her hooves, tail, and snout- that had gotten one of the higher scores in the event. She had introduced herself as Pony Tsun- Tsunotori Pony in a soft, yet cheerful voice, filled with broken Japanese. For this event and the others, she had removed the horns on her head to assist her; this time, she held one in each hand while crossing her arms in front of her chest. Somehow, she was using them to hoist her torso up and push it back down- without even having to rely on her abs- at a speed that few could match. (She must have complete control of her horns, similar to the way Tokage-san has complete control of her body parts…)
But the one who got the best score in this event was the girl with pale skin and white hair that Izuku had seen earlier, who had quietly introduced herself as Yanagi Reiko. Somehow, she seemed to be moving without much effort or exhaustion as her upper body flew faster than any of the others during the event. She only paused a couple times to close her eyes, deeply breathe, and massage her temples, as if she had a headache building up and she was forcibly beating it back down. (Her quirk is amazing! You can't even tell if it's in effect or not! She'd be perfect for stealth missions!)
Izuku's score in this one was much better in comparison to his others, but that honestly wasn't saying much.
As the fourth event came to a close, Izuku couldn't help but feel the dread and panic festering in the pit of his stomach. They were already halfway done with the test, and he still hadn't been able to utilize his quirk at all, nor had he been able to put his research to good use. The same horrible feeling of disappointing All Might that he had felt at the entrance exam was beginning to well up inside him once more, and it was taking every conceivable bit of unused willpower to keep himself from spiraling out of control.
Had he been more cognizant of his surroundings, he would have noticed a certain green haired, green eyed girl watching him curiously with a cocked eyebrow.
The upper body endurance portion of the test actually consisted of three parts. The first one was where the participant did as many pull-ups or chin-ups as possible. The second was to do as many pushups as possible. Both of these allowed the examinee to take as many breaks as they needed so long as they either didn't drop from the bar or drop onto their knees. The third portion was timed: you did as many pull-ups, chin-ups or pushups as you could within a 90 second period. In this event of the assessment test, there were many who had put their quirks to creative use.
For example, Tsunotori simply used her horns as footholds or resting points for the events. The same went for Komari with her mushrooms, Shiozaki with her vines, the insect guy with his blades, and Tsuburaba with his… breaths?
There was also a guy with a... glue dispenser (?) for a head that had used a clever idea to get himself some great results. His hulking figure contradicted wonderfully with his stammering introduction of Bondo Kojiro, and he used his impressive physique to great effect.
For his pull-ups, he had created some sort of adhesive from his... face and had applied it liberally over the top portion of his chest. As he did his first pull-up, he made sure that his chest touched the bar, and when it came away there was a trail of the stuff that connected the boy to the post. The adhesive retained the same consistency, and it began to act like rubber band, with the adhesive doing most of the work and his powerful build doing the rest. For pushups, he did the same exact thing but when he needed to rest, the glue would harden, allowing him to lay on it until he was good to continue. (Wait, can he change the rate at which his adhesive dries? And then can he reverse the effect?! That's so…!... I need to focus…)
Kendo, Tetsutetsu and Shishida had simply dominated the event with her empowered hands and the boys' sheer physical ability. Tokage basically separated her body into pieces so that she didn't have to support as much body weight, while keeping her separated parts aloft.
A boy with dark, shaggy hair, who had introduced himself in a bored, solemn voice as Kaibara Sen, performed this event unbelievably well. At first it simply looked like high tiered athleticism, but Izuku watched him carefully as he did his chin-ups and pushups. He noticed that several different parts of his body were rotating independently at a different speeds and different directions. So, if he was simply hanging from the bar, his forearms would rotate in opposite directions while his upper arms would rotate opposite of them, creating the illusion of one smooth motion when instead his muscles remained mostly unused. (Oh! He has a simple quirk, but he really knows how to get the most out of it! That's amazing, that must require a lot of focus!... Like, what I need to be doing…).
The stoic-faced girl, who had simply introduced herself as Kodai Yui with an impassive face, scored well in this event too. When she had touched the pull-up bar, it shrunk to the size of a stick, and she ended up basically curling the thing until she got bored… which was rather hard to gauge from her lack of expressions. (I wonder what kind of limitations she has when she alters an object's size… Would it go by mass, volume, or surface area?...).
Izuku had, once again, gotten a slightly better than average score.
The sixth event was the grip test. There were many students who dominated this particular event.
Shishida and Tetsutetsu used their natural strength to their advantage. Kendo's enlarged finger, while barely small enough to squeeze into the device, produced one of the highest scores in the class. Kodai did something similar, but instead she made the device smaller while using the same principal that Kendo had done to great effect.
Then Awase, who had introduced himself in a rather harsh manner, somehow permanently attached the trigger to the sensory plate, using the pressure created from the nature of his quirk to achieve what physical strength alone could not. (That was really creative! Even if he wasn't training to be a hero, he would have so many job opportunities lining up for him!)
Bondo did something similar with a quickly drying solution, although admittedly to a lesser effect. After seeing what Awase and Bondo achieved, Tsuburaba tried to copy them and blew air in the space between the trigger and the display monitor. It worked, but apparently he couldn't get the breath quite right for this event, scoring even lower than Bondo.
Yanagi, however, simply blew every one away again as she simply concentrated on the device in question as it lay suspended in midair in front of her. Everyone watched as the display monitor continued to climb higher and higher through sheer willpower until her nose started to bleed, once again getting the highest score in the event.
Although he wasn't the only one who didn't use his quirk this time, Izuku still only got 56 kilograms. He tried, he really did, to implement his research but each time, his brain had decided to interrupt him with vivid flashbacks of his encounter with the 0 pointer.
By now, Izuku was panicking and for good reason. So far, he was the only one who had not used his quirk at all, and by now, everyone was starting to notice; he was, after all, the only one in the group without a single hero-like score. The metaphorical weak link in the chain. And from the whispers, pitying looks, and hard stares he was receiving, he knew exactly what everyone was thinking…
Why is this guy even here?
Is there something wrong with him?
Why isn't he using his quirk?
There's no way this guy is gonna make it…
Had his brain not been filled with anxiety, he would have given a melancholic sigh at the realization that his life in high school would be no different than his one in middle school…
And further down into the hole his mind sent him…
Now, it was the seventh test- ball throwing. In this test, everyone decided to put forth one last ditch effort for a hero score, since the final event wasn't going to be one where that would be easily possible. With everyone really going at it, the high scores just kept on coming.
People like Kendo, Tetsutetsu, Shishida, and Shiozaki were obvious in their approach- they just threw the ball with their elevated strength to great effect.
Others had to get slightly more creative. Awase had, somehow, made a baseball bat by pressing the sand together around him really hard, and he used it to great effect; Bondo, Tsuburaba, and the insect guy all did something similar after seeing his success, much to Awase's chagrin (Seriously?! You guys couldn't have had your own fucking original idea?!). Bondo's adhesive dried quickly enough to solidify into a makeshift bat, Tsuburaba blew out a similar shaped breath of air for the same reason, and the insect guy produced a hooked blade that fit the ball inside it perfectly, allowing him to throw it as if it were using a lacrosse stick.
Kaibara surprised everyone by rotating his high arm at such a high speed that no one could keep track of it, and then he launched it well over 420 meters. Yanagi, with the strength of her mind alone, willed the ball to rocket away from her at a distance a little less than that.
Izuku was the last one to perform this event, and his nerves were absolutely eating him alive. It didn't help that as he made his way to the ball throwing ring, all he could hear were the telltale signs of mockery and judgement being whispered behind his back.
He... he had totally blown it. He had so many chances to use his quirk... so many chances to try out his research... and now, all that opportunity was gone. Wasted.
Desperately, he tried to gain some semblance of control back... but his heart was heavy as it rattled in his chest, and his mind refused to listen to reason.
His state of mind only continued to worsen when his teacher had tossed him the ball.
As he stepped into the ring, all he could think about was how disappointed All Might would be with him…
He raised his arm, dejection written clearly upon his face, and was about to throw the ball with his normal strength when a sharp voice interrupted his muddled thoughts.
"Just a moment, please."
Behind a window on the third floor of the building adjacent to this field, a skeleton of a man sat leaning forward with his hands on his knees, watching the test progress with worry. He had been watching since before the assessment had even began... which meant he had seen his successor succumb oh so slowly to his own mind. He wasn't upset at all with his apprentice's performance, only concerned. And angry.
Concerned about his disciple, concerned for his well-being, for his state of mind...
And angry at himself. For allowing Young Midoriya to descend to such a state in the first place.
He had been beyond lucky to have heard in passing where and when class 1B was performing their assessments, so he had decided to go ahead and look around for a nice place to view its progress without being disturbed or noticed. When he had found the perfect spot, he grabbed some binoculars and prepared a pot of spicy chai tea, eager to watch how his successor would fare. Even though the young man had only been gifted the power for a month, the predecessor was confident that the boy would do just fine. But now...
He was sick to his stomach.
Here was his disciple, alone and lost... as he, the greatest hero to ever live, watched from afar and did nothing. Here was his successor, struggling to move forward... since he, the predecessor, neglected to guide him along the path he chose. His successor sat there, with the weight of the world on his small shoulders... and he, the strongest hero in existence, hadn't even bothered to share the burden.
He hadn't been reminded of his shortcomings in a while, but now, as he watched his pride and joy suffer because he had been so thoughtless on how ill prepared for the future the young man was?...
His master would be ashamed of his inaction, and his mentor would probably flay him alive.
The gaunt man felt his eyes drift to Vlad King as Young Midoriya entered the ball throwing ring. Having had a little free time this morning, Toshinori did a little bit of research on the homeroom teacher of 1B. And honestly? He had nothing but respect for the hero.
And he was immensely glad that Young Midoriya hadn't ended up with Aizawa-kun...
While Vlad King had always done well in hero work and civil service, the same could not be said for his teaching career once he had started it. The first classes he had taught were, to be blunt, average. Nothing more, nothing less. They didn't fail to meet the standards of heroism... but neither did they really go beyond them. But from then on, he began to progressively raise better students.
According to the principal, apparently Kan-kun had asked the experimented animal for extra guidance numerous times over the course of the last five years or so, whether it was for educational pointers, for help on proper guidance techniques, or other topics that revolved around the betterment of his pupils.
And as a result, the fruits of his hard labor were shown year after year, as each of his new students steadily became better than the last. It was inspiring how far he had come, and in all honesty, it left the great hero feeling even more inadequate with himself as a mentor when he read about his colleague's success...
Especially right now, since he was seeing him in action.
It was comforting to know that his ward was in such capable hands. He only wished that he, as his mentor as well, would be able to provide just as much support for the boy in question as this teacher could.
The old blonde snorted bitterly to himself. Instead of feeling envious of Kan-kun's teaching progress, he really ought to be thankful. Especially with the future so uncertain, and his time slowly running out.
As always, here is the author's note.
So, first off, I hope this was a satisfactory introduction to the students of class 1B. I apologize that the chapter was so long... I got, ah, carried away with some of the introductions. If you have any concerns with how I interpreted any of their quirks and/or personalities, I will be more than happy to explain my reasoning. Who knows, I may have completely misinterpreted their character and their quirks, and you guys might be able to connect some of the dots for me so that I can better understand them.
Also, here is the way I have the students arranged in the classroom, for anyone's curiosity. Windows are on the left, doors on the right, and teacher's desk is at the bottom.
Kamikiri Yanagi Kuroiro Honenuki
Komari Kodai Awase Tsuburaba
Midoriya Tokage Tetsutetsu Kaibara
Shoda Kendo Bondo Tsunotori
Shishida Fukidashi Shiozaki Rin
Seriously guys, I can't thank you enough. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be out soon!... I hope...
See ya next time!
