The audience was stunned by Izuku's sudden halt, and Present Mic went on about how this kid could be amazing despite not standing out before.
"What do you mean he didn't stand out? We've seen him a bunch of times the last few episodes." Sero said.
"Well, just because we've seen him doesn't mean the audience did." Izuku said. "I mean, the only reason we really recognize him is because he met us outside class that one day, and they wouldn't know about that."
Uraraka nodded. "Yeah, and with all the flashy stuff going on with you and Todoroki and Bakugo, most people probably didn't notice him at all."
"Perhaps that was what he was hoping for, like how 1B used the chaos of the obstacle course to try and figure out how to defeat us." Momo theorized.
"That could be a viable strategy, depending on how his quirk works." Iida conceded. "Still, I feel as though we've seen him more than many other participants, despite him 'not standing out'."
"That's an interesting point." Nedzu piped up. "I believe the way we've been seeing events purposefully drew our attention to this young man, where normally the events involving him would have garnered little notice save for the few interacting with him directly. Most curious."
Aizawa interrupted Present Mic's surprise, saying this pairing showed off a flaw in UA's entrance exam. Shinsou had a very useful and powerful quirk, but it was one that didn't work on robots, so he couldn't get points when he tried the practical hero exam. The entrance exam was biased toward those with very physical quirks.
"Is...is that true?" Iida asked, shaken at the thought of such a huge flaw being inherent in the entrance exam of his esteemed school.
"It is." Aizawa confirmed.
"And he'll take pretty much any opportunity to point it out." Present Mic said.
"That's because it keeps going unchanged and no one else seems to care."
"I do regret that." Nedzu actually did sound sincere. "I've been attempting to find a way of evening the playing field a bit for cases such as Shinsou's. However being principle does not give me absolute authority over such things, and those that provide our funding do not see any problems with how the exam is currently set up."
Aizawa grumbled under his breath while some of the kids looked at each other in confusion.
"Doesn't it just make sense that physical quirks are favored a bit? I mean, a hero should be able to pack a punch and take a hit, right?" Kirishima asked.
"That's true." Aizawa conceded. "but physical defense can be made up for with things like body armor and other support items. Being able to deal a lot of damage isn't always important, either. If you can stop a villain in their tracks with a word, like Shinsou appears to be capable of, then it wouldn't matter as much if he could cause a lot of damage. Because he'd be able to stop the villain before they can get close to himself or anyone else."
"It would also mean he could take villains down quickly, without a big battle, which would lead to a lot less property damage. That wouldn't be a spectacle though, so he might not score as well on popularity, so that could be a problem, unless he wants to be an underground hero..." Midoriya had gone into one of his mumbling trance again. Aizawa did manage to hear the bit about Shinsou possibly going for underground heroism, and that set a few wheels turning in his brain.
"I guess I'm lucky then, since I have a quirk that's not super physical but made it through." Hagakure said. "I'm lucky I got some rescue points, and that I was able to find the robots off switches and stuff. I probably wouldn't have passed otherwise."
"Don't even talk about such a horrible possibility!" Ashido cried, dramatically flopping onto Hagakure.
Shinsou called Izuku lucky, then told him to walk out of bounds. Izuku turned around and started to do just that. Then the show did a close up quirk explanation for Shinsou.
'I know I'm lucky for having met All Might and inherited his quirk, but why would he call me lucky?' Izuku wondered.
"Well that certainly answers a few questions. No wonder he wanted to keep a low profile earlier." Jirou said.
"Yes, if anyone found out that his quirk had such an easy work around, it could cause him trouble." Momo agreed.
"Easy, yet the nerd still managed to mess it up." Bakugo grumbled.
The jab made Izuku wince and derailed his thoughts, though that might have been a good thing. His mind went straight from wondering about Shinsou's comment to analyzing his quirk, and if he stayed like that he might have missed something. It was already harder to focus than normal, since his head started feeling funny ever since Shinsou's quirk activated.
Aizawa's was shown thinking to himself. Given the scores they got on physical's, Midoriya could likely beat Shinsou even if they fought without quirks, but he'd have to break out of the brainwashing first.
Izuku leaned forward in his seat, and begged his other self to figure out how to break out of Shinsou's quirk. 'It can't end like this! I'll disappoint All Might, not to mention everyone else!'
On screen Izuku was shown to be having similar thoughts, desperately trying to make himself stop. He remembered back to his conversation with Ojiro, where he learned that a physical shock could break the control.
'But there's nothing for me to bump into, or even trip over. How am I going to give myself a shock?' Izuku wondered frantically.
Suddenly, as Izuku struggled mentally, something happened. In a stadium doorway, shadowy figures appeared, staring at Izuku. Sparks traveled across Izuku's body, like his quirk was activating. Just as Shinsou ordered Izuku to lose for the sake of Shinsou's own dream, Izuku's fingers twitched.
Izuku yelped and held his hand close to his chest. His friends fussed, but he couldn't be more relieved. Because if broken bones weren't enough of a shock, nothing would be.
The camera showed that Midoriya had come to a halt just before he reached the boundary line.
Uraraka, Iida, Ojiro, and All Might all sighed with relief alongside Midoriya.
"Okay, I'm happy for you, don't get me wrong, but I gotta ask: What the heck was that?!" Kaminari blurted. The numerous expectant stares at Izuku and All Might showed he wasn't the only one wondering what had just happened.
"You haunted or some shit, Deku?" Bakugo asked.
"I-I don't know! Nothing like that has ever happened before." Izuku turned to his mentor. "Have you ever seen anything like that?"
"I believe I have once, in my younger days. From that brief glimpse, I believe it was the previous holders."
"You mean the people who had All for One before me and you? Do you know who they are?"
"Aside from my master, no. But I do know how many have held it before, and it looked like the right amount of people to represent the previous holders."
"Okay...so...what does that mean?"
"Well, from my experience, it means you're getting a better grasp of One for All."
"Really?" Izuku asked excitedly. Seeing himself manage not to break his bones a couple times had been encouraging, but the idea of this vision being some kind of milestone was even better.
"Indeed," All Might smiled proudly at him "but perhaps a more full explanation can wait for another time, so we don't hold up the rest of this episode."
"Oh, of course! Sorry everyone."
The crowd went wild at the turn of events, and it was shown that Izuku had broken his fingers to get free.
"And now back to our usually scheduled programming: Midoriya breaking his bones to progress his budding career." Sato said in his best announcer voice, which earned him a few laughs.
"Dang it, I was doing so well." Izuku said, clenching his teeth. Though it was hard to tell if this was from frustration, pain, or both. 'All Might said I was getting a better grasp, but it doesn't feel like it right now.'
"I would hardly call this instance a break in your record. After all, you were not in complete control of your faculties when you used your quirk this time." Tokoyami pointed out.
"Indeed, it is quite impressive that you were able to break out of Shinsou's brainwashing, even if there were consequences." Iida agreed.
Shinsou started demanding to know how Izuku broke free, but Izuku knew better that to reply now. He tried to figure out what happened, and his mind flashed back to the strange figures he saw.
Everyone made sure to get a good look when those figures appeared on screen again, trying to glean some detail.
"Even if we're pretty sure those are all good guys, they still look creepy." Hagakure murmured to Ashido, who nodded in agreement.
All Might quickly counted the figures, and found he'd gotten the number right the first time, which made him more sure in his theory that this was brought on from the traces of the previous holders. He'd never had an instance of the holders moving parts of his body before though, or helping him activate his quirk, but that could just be Izuku's mind misinterpreting what happened. One for All was supposed to get more powerful each time it was passed on though...perhaps that power was manifesting in a new way? If he didn't find the principle so terrifying, he might ask Nedzu for his theories.
Izuku shuddered when he saw the figures again. Not because he found them scary, but because he could now see that one of the figures looked a lot like All Might. Which made sense given what his mentor had said, but he REALLY didn't like the image of All Might looking so much like a ghost.
Midoriya started coming to the same conclusion All Might had given the class, but his thoughts were interrupted by Shinsou, so he was forced to focus on the present. Shinsou wondered if Midoriya had figured out how his brainwashing worked.
"Well, he always knew about it." Tsuyu pointed out. "He's just controlling himself better now."
Shinsou tried to get him to talk again by telling him to say something.
Jirou snorted. "Good job, very clever. I'm sure he'll fall for it."
"He's probably feeling very unbalanced after Midoriya's unexplained recovery." Momo allowed gracefully. "Still, he would have done better to go for another insult, or something with shock value if he wanted Midoriya to talk despite his foreknowledge."
Shinsou started ranting about how privileged Izuku was for being born with an amazing quirk. Izuku managed not to respond, despite how much he empathized.
That was a bit of a jolt for some of the audience. With all the excitement from the USJ and then the sports festival, it sometimes slipped their minds that Izuku had been born quirkless.
Izuku ran forward and started trying to push Shinsou out of the ring. Shinsou fought back.
"Ah!" Izuku cried, his hand going to his face. "Dang, he might have scored lower on the apprehension test, but he still knows how to throw a punch." He yelped when Shinsou hit him again. Recovery Girl took that as her cue to hop up and make her way over to him.
Uraraka had to hold in a sigh. She hated how much Izuku always ended up getting hurt when he fought. Even in a fight like this, where he could have won without using his quirk, he still ended up with broken bones.
After a bit more struggling, Izuku managed to pull of the same move he used on Bakugo during training and threw Shinsou out of the ring. Izuku was declared the winner.
The class cheered.
"Great job dude!"
"You pulled it off!"
"Rough start, but you made it!"
Izuku blushed at the congratulations being thrown at him. Then he caught sight of Todoroki's cold gaze, and he remembered what this meant. Assuming Todoroki won his own match, which seemed highly likely, then the two would be facing off soon.
Suddenly, the scene changed to three years ago at an unfamiliar middle school.
Needless to say, the change caused some confusion.
"What the heck?! Bring us back to the festival! I don't care what happened at some shitty high school years ago." Bakugo griped. He wasn't the only one thinking that, though most wouldn't have phrased it quite like that.
"You'd be surprised over what past events can be relevant to what is to come." Truth finally spoke after so long, startling the room.
The school turned out to be Shinsou's, as he was shown interacting with his classmates. It seemed fine at first, with classmates complimenting his quirk, but soon it devolved into comments on how easily it could be used for evil. Shinsou's thoughts revealed that his quirk had always gotten him labeled as a villain.
"Huh? But why?" Hagakure's confusion was clear in her voice. "I mean, I get how it could be used for bad stuff. But why would they call him that if he didn't use it to actually do anything bad?"
"That does seem like an extreme label to jump to." Momo agreed.
"You don't always need to do something bad for other people to treat you poorly." Yagi said, an uncharacteristic bitterness in his voice.
"Yeah, some people will take any reason to make fun of someone else, even if it's something that they can't help." Present Mic agreed. Nedzu nodded along.
"I will admit, that is one of the problems human society has with how quirks are viewed. It is far to easy to put damaging labels on someone who has done nothing to earn them. Society's views on what is 'acceptable' for quirks really is too narrow, causing a lot of unnecessary pain."
Midoriya hunched in on himself a bit. Shinsou's bullies sounded so much like his own; they'd just used different words. Uraraka didn't hesitate to scoot a bit closer and offer him some subtle comfort. She could empathize, to some degree, with both Shinsou had Izuku. She hadn't really been made fun of for her quirk, but her family's financial troubles had forced some stigma and assumptions on her.
"I guess I can see that." Hagakure said. "I mean, it's not as nearly as bad, but my quirk did make me miss out on some stuff. Like sometimes kids would pretend I wasn't actually there, and school pictures were always weird for me."
"Mutant type quirks can get some of that too." Shoji said. "It's harder to find stuff made for us, and it tends to be more expensive."
"I didn't realize how quick to judge some people were about such things." Iida said.
"Well, I suppose privilege does tend to be hardest to see when you're the one that has it." Momo said. She knew there was some stuff she tended to take for granted, having grown up so well off.
"Wise words, Yoayorozu. Still, it seems like more people should realize how damaging it is to judge someone for their potential actions rather than what they actually do."
"I think it's less about the potential to do bad, but more how much potential people see for heroics." Izuku finally spoke up.
"What do you mean, Midoriya?"
"Well, a lot of quirks could be used for bad things, even ones in here. Kaminari could hurt people a lot with his shocks. Yoayorozu could make weapons or fake money. You, Iida could use your speed to rob places and people. Kirishima's, Sato's, and Shoji's quirks would serve a mugger well. But have any of you ever been told you're destined to be a villain?" He wasn't surprised when they reported they hadn't. "Right, because all of your quirks can be used for hero work too. People like Shisnou and people like...people who are quirkless, others have a lot harder time seeing how their abilities can be heroic."
"Put like that, hero and villain seem like pretty subjective terms." Tsuyu noted.
"Yeah, think about if Bakugo's explosions got labeled as villainous instead of heroic. He'd probably be even louder than he is now!" Sero teased.
"WHO THE HELL YOU CALLING A VILLAIN?!"
"See?"
Izuku flinched when Bakugo yelled, which made him press against Uraraka a bit more, so she put her hand over his. For once, it didn't make him blush like crazy.
"There really should be more of a middle ground between hero and villain. Or hero and useless." Uraraka said softly. Izuku swallowed hard, and nodded.
Aizawa had to intervene briefly for the yelling to stop. Before he retook his seat, he decided to make sure the message of what they'd just been talking about got through.
"In the end, quirks are just tools you are born with. While some can more easily be used for one thing or another, how it's used is up to the individual, not the quirk itself." 'Damn if I don't feel like I'm delivering the moral of a story. Still, too many people forget that; I won't have my class be a part of that number.'
Aizawa was shown thinking about how Midoriya was really using his previous experiences to add more and more to his arsenal.
Now Izuku did blush a bit. Aizawa made it sound so impressive, but he was just doing his best to learn from everything. They should all be trying to do that right?
Present Mic declared the first match to be kind of boring.
"Speak for yourself, I was on the edge of my seat!" Ojiro said.
"Same here!" Uraraka, Iida, and Izuku all called out.
"Well, most of the audience isn't so personally invested." Mic defended.
Izuku asked about Shinsou's motivation to be a hero, and the boy said "You can't help the things you long for.". Izuku's thoughts showed he used to feel very similarly before meeting All Might.
"I hope he's able to make it, some day." Izuku said. He kept his eyes on the screen, so he didn't see it, but several people nodded in agreement.
"I'd say he has the potential for it." Aizawa said. Everyone knew that was high praise coming from him.
Before Shinsou could leave the arena, he was stopped by a group of kids calling out encouragement to him from the audience, and several pro hero audience members were shown complimenting Shinsou's quirk.
"It appears he's found some friends that aren't as biased as the students at his middle school, that is good to see." Iida said. Izuku couldn't help smiling at his friend.
"Yeah, UA's pretty good for that."
Aizawa was heartened a bit by the scene too. It was good to know the boy's quirk would be appreciated if he finally made it where he wanted to be. Plus, seeing Miss Joke being serious was very refreshing.
Shinsou reminded Izuku that he could still get transferred to the hero course some day, and declared that he'd become a better hero that any of them!
"That's the spirit man!" Kaminari gave the screen a thumbs up.
"That determination is so manly!" Kirishima cried.
When Izuku responded to him, the brainwashing activated again, but Shinsou dropped it and then told him not to lose too embarrassingly. Izuku got caught in the brainwashing again when he replied.
"I think he's trying to tell you not to be so gullible." Jirou pointed out.
"But we're not fighting anymore."
"The fight is over, but with him still in general studies you still count as his competition." Ojiro countered.
Izuku was shown getting treated for his broken fingers. He talked to All Might about the match, and how challenging it was for him, but he knew he had to win. Which resulted in Recovery Girl smacking All Might for putting such pressure on the boy.
"Gak! Easy! That right where the old injure is!"
"The scar is on the other side of your chest." Recovery Girl retorted.
"The two sides are pretty close to each other these days."
"Well maybe if you took better care of yourself they wouldn't be!"
Izuku started telling All Might about the vision he'd had, and All Might's response was about the same as what had already been discussed, but now he went more in depth. He explained how he thought the figures were like imprints left over from the previous holders, and that it was Izuku's own will that managed to break the brainwashing, not those in the vision.
Izuku's pen tapped his notebook as he thought. It's not that he didn't believe All Might, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than that. What would be the point of seeing the previous holders if they couldn't actually influence each other? And why would seeing them be a part of the quirk? He really should ask All Might more questions about how One for All worked, both in general and if it affected everyone the same. Assuming he had those answers. All Might never talked about the person who held it before him, and Izuku didn't want to pry into anything personal, but he couldn't help but wonder...
Apparently, the on-screen version had wanted a more in depth answer too, since Izuku said the answer wasn't satisfying at all. All Might barked back not to get so hung up on it.
Izuku's line and All Might's reaction got quite a few snickers from those watching.
Next thing, Izuku was running off to see who he would be fighting next.
"As if we don't already know." Mineta said. Sero scowled.
"Stop acting like I already lost! I bet I put up a heck of a fight!"
"That sort of makes it sound like you think you'll lose too." Kaminari pointed out.
"Shut up."
"Indeed, the flair is a very important part of the fight!" Aoyama flicked his hair and it practically sparkled.
Sero kind of wished he had a desk to smack his head on.
Recover girl pointed out that Midoriya had seen All Might in the vision, and the hero said that was good.
"Good? Why is it good?" Izuku asked, still a bit hung up on how ghostly All Might had looked.
"Because, while I still have access to some of the quirk's power, it shows it now views me as a past holder instead of the current one."
"I see..." that made sense with what All Might had said about the vision's meaning. Still, he found it hard to think about his mentor not being able to use One for All at all, which is what would eventually happen.
Todoroki was shown walking to his first match, and met his father in the hall.
The tension in the room instantly spiked, with the majority of people now glaring or scowling at the screen.
"What does this asshat want?" Bakugo growled. For once, no one disagreed with his language.
Endeavor scolded Todoroki for his rebellion, reminding him of his 'duty' and what a 'masterpiece' he was compared to his siblings. Todoroki kept walking, but it was clear that the words were getting to him.
"Nobody cares about your stupid inferiority complex or whatever it is, so stop putting it on Todoroki!" Uraraka yelled at the screen.
"And stop talking about him like he's a thing!" Kirishima joined in.
"Your flair will never make up for the grime you hide underneath!" Aoyama declared.
While on-screen Todoroki was angry, the one in the room looked at his classmates in surprise, and seeing the expressions most of them wore made him even more surprised. He hadn't expected them to react so strongly to hearing his story, and wasn't sure what to make of it.
'He has siblings.' Izuku thought to himself, his own eyes boring holes into Endeavor's image. 'Did they get treated as badly as Todoroki? How many people has Endeavor hurt with his obsession?'
Todoroki declared his intention to only use his mom's power to fight, and Endeavor taunted that he'd soon reach the limits of that.
The whole room was taken aback when Todoroki's face was shown. None of them had ever seen him look so angry.
Midoriya found his seat next to his friends in the audience, since they'd saved a seat for him, and was there to watch the match start. Mic announced the competitors, and overly commented on Sero's plainness as he did so.
"Dude." Sero made a show of looking hurt at Mic's description of him.
"I call it like I see it kid."
Midoriya was having a bit of a moment, caught up in the happiness of having friends who would do things like save a seat for him.
Sero shot out his tape at Todoroki the instant the match started, and yanked him toward the boundary line.
"Whoa! Nice shot man!" Kirishima praised.
"Clever, making it look like you were overly relaxed to hide what you were planning." Iida said. Kaminari's eyebrows shot up.
"Huh, maybe you actually could win this."
Before he could reach the boundary, Todoroki used his ice. Within seconds, there was a glacier so big it nearly touched the audience and rose out of the top of the stadium.
Everyone gaped at the screen. Todoroki shivered slightly. Sero shivered a lot.
"Well, I suppose it's a good thing we opted for open air arenas." Nedzu said.
"I...I'd like to think I'd have kept it from the roof if there was one." Todoroki said softly.
"That was just a little joke. I'm sure you would have, you made it stop before reaching the audience after all."
"Y-yeah, thanks for stopping it there." Mineta was shaking a bit himself after seeing how close the ice came to their section of the stands.
Todoroki was declared the winner, since the icebeg kept Sero from moving. Once the audience got over its shock, they actually started trying to comfort Sero, rather than just cheer Todoroki.
"There's a reaction you don't see at most sports festivals." Mic said. Aizawa nodded. The loser of a match getting sympathy for an unbalanced pairing wasn't so unusual, but it being so unbalanced that the whole audience went into comforting mode was pretty rare.
Todoroki apologized to Sero for taking it so far. Todoroki started melting the ice, and said he'd just been angry.
"I am sorry for that...and the pain you must be feeling now." Todoroki said, partially turned toward Sero.
"D-don't sweat it. I m-mean, I g-get it. I-I, ugh..."
"I think what's he's getting at is that we don't blame you for being angry after seeing your dad and having him say all that stuff to you. We only watched it and we are plenty angry." Ashido translated. Sero pointed at her and gave a shaky thumbs up.
"Still, I should have controlled myself better."
"It would have been better to control yourself yes, but someone with such a negative influence on you should have access to you before a fight like that either." Aizawa said. "As we've said before, letting your emotions influence a fight can be dangerous, but almost no one is perfect at control at this age. It's just something we'll have to work on."
"Yes sensei."
Aizawa made another note to himself. He'd like to work through this problem of Todoroki thinking of his quirk as 'half my mother's and half my father's' rather than as his own, but now didn't seem like the best time to bring it up. He'd have to talk to Nedzu during one of the breaks about his growing list of 'students who should get some kind of therapy'.
Sero continued to shiver even as Todoroki began to melt the ice on screen. He'd never be able to perfectly describe oddity experiencing the heated hand on his chest second hand, not to mention the radiating warmth it gave off.
Izuku's voice over stated that Todoroki seemed sad.
Todoroki clenched his teeth. He'd already said he wasn't looking for anyone's pity. 'But you are sad. Sad that you let your father get to you once again and that you let it show in such an obvious way.'
He scowled to himself, and avoided looking at anyone else. He didn't want to know if that last line made them look at him differently. He didn't need to know anyway, it didn't matter what they thought. He'd find his own way to deal with this, just like he always had.
A.N.
I don't know if what Nedzu said in here about why the entrance exam stays the same like this is at all accurate, but I like to think he'd incorporate a way for non-physical quirks to be assessed properly if he could given his own isn't physical. So I went with the explanation that he's dealing with some red tape.
