Shinsou Hitoshi walked toward the lecture hall with slight anxiety and contempt, and plopped down at the back row away from the many cliques.

For every other freshman, they would probably be filled feelings of anticipation. For many this was the first day of many, a new beginning as they transitioned from the bore of high school to a glimpse of the industry they've been anticipating since they were kids.

But for Hitoshi, this was the first day that reality would set in.

This was the first day of his failure.

Hitoshi like many others had failed the entrance exam to the hero course. The entrance exam that had been completely biased towards people with strong physical quirks.

He knew that UA loved students with flashy quirks, anyone with a brain could tell by looking at the list of their alumni. World renown tailor and hero, Best Jeanist. The man who had the most solved cases out of any hero or law enforcer, the fiery Endeavor. And of course The Symbol of Peace himself, All could Hitoshi hope to compare to such great heroes and their powerful quirks with his brainwashing?

How could Hitoshi compare with their strong, flashy quirks with his villainous quirk?

Hitoshi saw them when they skipped orientation, he saw that one guy blast a baseball to kingdom come with his bare hands. What could he do in comparison?

What could he do when all of them won the genetic lottery, while he was stuck with a villainous quirk like brainwashing?

*Creak*

Hitoshi turned to glance at the hall entrance, no one should be coming in at this time. While he was deep in thought, an hour had already passed. Who would be late for the very first day of college?

But against all odds a green haired boy slowly tiptoed his way into the lecture, crouched like a soldier in enemy territory.

Hitoshi raised a brow, the shaggy haired boy must have overslept. "Hey idiot."

Caught red handed the boy froze like a kid stealing cookies from a jar.

"Toss your stuff over here, Present Mic can't see you from all the way in the back."

The scruffy looking boy breathed a sigh of relief and crawled over the old creaky chairs.

"Thank you." The boy thanked him with a shimmer in his eye, as he pulled his desk up from the side.

"Whatever…" Hitoshi turned back to the loud, slightly irritating english lecture.

After Mic had finally finished Scruff boy thanked him again and scurried out of the hall.

Hitoshi thought he was weird, but who knows? Maybe he actually managed to make a friend in this depressing school.

But Hitoshi wouldn't see him for long anyway, there was a reason why he came to this school in the first place anyway.

Shinsou Hitoshi was going to be a hero.

It may have made more sense to apply to another hero school with a less physically focused entrance exam, but Hitoshi had a plan. After all there was one thing that UA had that other schools didn't.

The Sports Festival that outshone even the modern Olympics.

If there was anywhere that Hitoshi would be able to shine, it was there against the entire first year in front of an international audience.

If there was any place where Hitoshi would be able to shove it in all their lucky, privileged faces it was there, the hero course wouldn't be able to lay a finger on him and all he had to do was open his mouth.

If there was any chance that Hitoshi could make it into the hero course and prove to the world that he could become a hero, even with his villainous quirk it was there.

Hitoshi resolved himself as he clenched his fist.

All he needed to do now was wait.

A trimester had came and went.

Because the UA Sports Festival usually took place after the second trimester, after the hero students had been given sufficient training with their quirks, Hitoshi was stuck in Gen Ed biding his time.

In that period of time he tried to cram as many classes as he could into his schedule, trying to get his general classes out of the way so he wouldn't fall behind when he finally transferred.

But Hitoshi was right about one thing.

He didn't see the boy for long at all.

At first the boy missed a class, then he missed an entire week, eventually the meetings became far and few between. Hitoshi only saw the boy for a few more lectures before the end of the trimester, but each time he did the boy kept looking more beat up, more depressed and angry? Hitoshi didn't understand, nor did he care enough to pry.

But as the first weekend rolled around…

"Oof!" Hitoshi accidentally bumped into a little girl on the way back.

The little girl with white hair and a single horn on her head, never shed a tear but still looked at Hitoshi in fright.

Great, now little girls were scared shitless at the sight of him. But whether this girl saw him as nothing but a scary villain or not, Hitoshi didn't care.

"Here, are you hurt?" He offered his hand.

The girl seemed apprehensive whether to take Hitoshi's help or not. Was he really that scary?

"Ah! Eri-chan!"

Hitoshi looked up to see the green haired boy for the first time this trimester, running toward them with a bag of groceries and a concerned look on his face.

The little girl almost instantaneously ran toward Scruff boy, was he her dad or brother? They looked nothing alike.

"Ah, gomenasai! Umm… Guy I sit with in English class?"

Hitoshi was amused that he actually remembered that much. "It's my fault actually, I wasn't looking and accidentally knocked into your… into Eri-chan there."

"It's fine, I think. She doesn't look hurt, are you Eri-chan?"

The little girl held onto the boy's shirt, leaning in to whisper something in his ear.

"Ah! Where!?"

She pointed to her right hand that had a small cut on it.

'Shit!' Hitoshi thought, he really was acting the villain today.

"Look, uhh… guy. I'm sorry about all this, how about I make it up by getting her a bandage and maybe an ice cream pop?"

"Nah it's fine, I'll just…" The boy reached into his pocket, eyes widening as he turned to peak at the full bag of groceries in his other hand.

"Take you up on your offer kind sir."

Hitoshi sweat dropped. "Right… The name's Shinsou by the way, Shinsou Hitoshi."

"Oh right! My name's Midoriya Izuku, and this is Eri!" The little girl squirmed beside Midoriya, still looking a little scared of Hitoshi.

They walked toward the closest convenience store on campus, Hitoshi walked on Midoriya's left while little Eri was holding onto his right hand with a vice like grip.

"So… you dropped out of college to take care of your daughter?"

"What!?" Midoriya's eyes bulged out.

Hitoshi was never the best at small talk. "I mean… I haven't seen you in class lately, and you have a little girl there so I just connected the dots and…"

"Oh no no no no no! Eri's just… Wow, I never had to explain this before had I?" Midoriya realised.

"The short version is I took her in after I beat up a thug posing as her father with my right hand that disintegrated the wall he built. The long version has more context and would probably make more sense."

Hitoshi was dumbfounded. "What?" He really needed that context.

Midoriya sighed and started from the top.

"And then we hugged… For a few hours."

Of all the things that could've come out of Midoriya's mouth Hitoshi was not expecting that tall tale of unlikely events.

"You… have an interesting life." Hitoshi commented as he took another taste of his ice pop.

Midoriya sighed. "Tell me about it…."

They simply walked and talked after grabbing a few sweet apple pops from the convenience store.

"Was that the best idea though? Like you said you're pretty ill equipped to take care of a kid."

Midoriya gave a soft smile. "I admit it was stupid and impulsive, and that she'd be better off with literally anyone else, but…" He clenched his right fist and stared at it. "I thought that I ought to. After all this girl has been through, I thought this was the least I could do. If Pro-Heroes could save thousands on the daily, then this useless Midoriya-san could try to save a single girl completely."

"Completely?"

Midoriya nodded. "I realised that saving her from the clutches of that villain was only half of the real rescue, the other half comes after I make sure she recovers from that trauma and smiles again. If All Might could make a pathetic boy smile just by smiling himself, then at the very least this pathetic boy could try to make her smile with his half functioning brain and a right hand that can safely reach out to her. Once she's finally happy and healthy enough to control her quirk, only then I can entrust her to someone else. Only then can Eri have the family she needs."

Hitoshi didn't fully agree with Midoriya's reasoning, but he at least understood him. But he was wrong about one thing, no Pro-Hero would have gone the lengths that he had. Most of the time even if they would save a child from disaster, only to find out that child had been orphaned after the incident. None of them would go the lengths to adopt the child and raise them as their own.

What Midoriya probably hadn't realised yet was how attached he had become to Eri, and how attached the girl had become to him. Hitoshi doubted that they would be able to let go of each other after all they been through together.

"But can you really cope with that? You still planning on continuing classes? I mean this is still freshman year." Hitoshi inquired.

Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, right now the plan is to graduate and get a stable job to take care of Eri."

"Plan huh?" Hitoshi mused.

"So what's your plan?" Midoriya shot back as Hitoshi winced.

"…You're gonna laugh."

"What? Yours can't possibly be more ridiculous than mine."

"…I want to transfer to the hero course."

"Eh?"

Hitoshi sighed. "Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a hero. But then I got this stupid brainwashing quirk, and everyone thought I was going to be a villain instead. So I wanted to prove them wrong…"

Hitoshi gave him a determined glare. "At the end of this trimester I'm going to wipe them all out with my quirk in the sports festival, and wipe that smug grin off their faces they've probably had since they got their flashy, powerful quirks."

Midoriya took a minute to process what he just said. "Really?"

Hitoshi narrowed his glare. "What do you mean really?"

"I mean no offence dude but… you're built like a purple leaf twig. I may not have any flashy quirk or whatever but I've gotten into my fair share of fights, you'd probably be taken out bare handed if everyone in the hero course trained like K-… my childhood friend did."

Hitoshi looked at his skinny arms and torso, while it was true he was planning on using his quirk to breeze past the hero students, there was a chance that they simply wouldn't answer him. At that point he probably would need to rely on his weak, untrained body in order to even the score.

"And besides, theres more to the sports festival than one on one matches. If you couldn't get through the hero entrance exam, then you'd probably be crushed at the first event. Trust me, I've watched and recorded every single year."

While he had an idea of how to get past the preliminary events by using his brainwashing quirk, Hitoshi also couldn't deny the possibility that he may not even get to use it before he got left behind in the dust. But the thought still frustrated him to no end.

"Then what do you suggest? That I just give up and submit to the system? That I should just roll over and let those privileged idiots take their 'rightful places' in the hero course is that it?" Hitoshi snapped.

Midoriya simply gave him a kind smile. "I suggest getting in shape, no matter how little it may do against someone with a powerful quirk that can blast you into oblivion, it will help. Take it from an idiot who didn't start training until it was too late, an idiot who disappointed everyone that supported him, an idiot who couldn't save someone until he realised he was too weak."

Eri tugged Midoriya's hand with an empty ice cream stick in her other.

Midoriya took both their trash and threw it into a nearby bin. "Eri? What do we say to people who buy us nice sweets?"

Eri still looking apprehensive, shyly thanked Hitoshi. "T-Thank Y-You… H-Hito-hito!"

'Hito-hito?' "It's no biggie…" Hitoshi waved.

Midoriya held her with his right hand once again. "If you need any help just ask, I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other Shinsou-san. Just trust the advice of someone who wanted to be a hero too, and who knows…" Midoriya smirked.

"Maybe I'll be gunning for that spot in the hero course too, so watch out."

That was the beginning of Shinsou Hitoshi and Midoriya Izuku's strange friendship. Both young men who failed the hero exam, had begun training together in hopes of getting into the hero course.

So how did it end up like this?

Midoriya Izuku walked toward the staff office with Aizawa.

Nedzu in his depressed stupor had told Aizawa that he could punish Izuku in any way he see fit.

Which lead him right here.

"Don't worry problem child, the rat has done stupid shit like this before."

"He did?"

"I truly wish to forget, but his stupid internet cafe phase is still etched into my nightmares. Now he started playing retro games instead of chess and shogi for god knows what reason. Something about 'the new meta' or whatever."

Izuku didn't know what that meant either, why did he suddenly feel so old.

"So where are we going exactly?" Izuku was slightly concerned.

"You'll see…" Aizawa cryptically answered.

"Ok…"

"By the way, since your work-study contract was signed under UA not Midnight's agency. Technically I get to supervise you, even though she's officially your mentor."

That didn't reassure him at all.

Aizawa must have sensed his concern. "The point is you're getting paid for this, and from what I understand you're pretty strapped for cash now."

Oh! Well that was rather nice of him.

As they arrived Aizawa flashed his keycard and opened the door to the staff room.

"Shinsou! Come on!"

The purple haired teen looked up from his seat by Aizawa's desk, eyes widening in slight shock when he saw Izuku with his mentor.

"We're going on patrol, all three of us." Aizawa declared.

"Wait what!?" / "Wait what!?"

His body was not prepared for this.