In a dark room at U.A
"Let's take a look at the exams." Said a voice as they opened the board showing the results of the exam.
"Let's see… first place is Izuku Midoriya with… 82 total points." Said a female voice.
"Most of those points were from rescue points, yes?" Said another voice.
"True, and while only 32 villain points wouldn't be much to look at on their own, the way he got those points is intriguing." Said a voice as they replayed Izuku's lightning-fast teleportation and attacks on the one-pointers.
"This kid has teleportation?!" Said one voice in surprise.
"That's right. The boy's Quirk allows him to vanish and reappear within a given area it seems. With it, he was able to cover more ground than any other applicant and destroy more one-pointers than most others."
"Why only one-pointers though?" Said a grizzly voice with a slight lisp.
"His power isn't an especially combative type like our number two top-scorer. The boy understood his weaknesses with combat and adapted to use his speed and mobility to take down targets more in his range." A calm voice said.
"True, but not all enemies are going to be that fragile, and it seems like his only attempt at a larger one left him with some rather bruised up ribs afterward if that tail whip from the two-pointer is any indication."
"Well, whatever the case, the boy has style!" Said the female voice as it replayed Izuku's rescue of Ochako Uraraka. "It really lights my fire!" She said enthusiastically as the others just looked at her and sighed.
"Midnight please.." One of them said in an annoyed tone.
"Where our first place's score was based almost entirely on his hero points, our second place got 77 solely in villain points. Even as the other applicants ran and hid, he was blowing away robots left and right." Said a voice.
"A natural born warrior, huh? The kid was taking them down like an ace. Talk about remarkable…" The voice said.
Talk like this continued on for some time with a tired man standing in the back of the room looking on and yawning slightly. "They're making such a racket…" He said to himself as he proceeded to nod off slightly while leading against the wall..
The next day..
Izuku woke up early to begin his usual morning routine of working out. After all, he may have passed his exam, but he still had work to do. He had to get stronger, it was the only way he could become a hero.
He enjoyed a quick breakfast with his mother, his father was sleeping in rather late it seemed since he so very rarely got to sleep in an actual bed and had stated his intentions to wake up some time around dinner time, then Izuku headed out to Takoba Beach.
When Izuku got there though, he was surprised to see… well… people. Some were using the beach to walk their dogs, go for a morning stroll, or were even just staring out at the waves. Izuku was a bit surprised by this, after so long cleaning it by himself he hadn't seen a soul come around here any time. It made it perfect to train his Quirk here, but of course with so many people that wasn't going to happen.
Izuku then felt something hit his chest, looking to his right to see Mr. Satou holding a newspaper at him.
"You may want to read that real quick, kid." Mr. Satou said as he looked out at the waves.
Izuku took the paper and opened it, reading the headline aloud to himself. "Who did it? Takoba Beach mysteriously cleaned up. Now perfect for lovers and all-comers?" Izuku said as he looked around to see a few couples taking in the morning walk on the beach. He hadn't really given it much thought but it made sense that people would come back once it was clean.
"Yup, looks like the word got out. This place is going to be crawling with people from now on." Mr. Satou said as he looked to Izuku.
Izuku nodded and gave a bit of a melancholic smile. "I see, I guess I should have expected that much."
Mr. Satou raised an eyebrow. "What? Disappointed you don't have your own stretch of beach anymore?" He said with a slight grin.
Izuku blinked, eyes widened slightly and shook his head. "No, that's not it." Izuku said before smiling. "I am happy people can enjoy the beach without all the trash. I'll just… you know… miss training here is all. I mean I spent nearly a year here training and cleaning, feels a bit hard to say goodbye to that."
Mr. Satou looked at him and bumped his shoulder with his elbow. "Oh, don't get so dramatic, kid. It's not like it's going anywhere. Now you can bring a hot date with you here or something the next time you visit."
Izuku flushed heavily and looked at him. "Come on, Mr. Satou, not you too! I've gotten enough from my dad on this subject!"
Mr. Satou laughed at him then patted his shoulder. "Fine but keep it in mind. It's not a bad idea. Now, follow me and tell me, did you get in?"
Izuku followed Mr. Satou and relayed the events surrounding the letter, how even though he'd only gotten 32 villain points during his exam he'd still gotten 50 hero points for his rescue during the exam which gave him a total of 82, the highest score.
Mr. Satou laughed a bit. "Nice job kid, you really aced it, just like I figured."
The two walked until they got to the junkyard but actually continued over to the brick building beside of it that Izuku had figured was abandoned or something.
"Look kid, I know you're gonna need a new place to train, especially now that you've gotten into U.A." Mr. Satou said as he reached down to grip the handle of a large metal shutter, beginning to lift it up to reveal a rather spacious warehouse which had a very minimal amount of equipment for the junkyard next door, some boxes of various belongings, as well as what seemed like a set up to repair cars like a mechanic would have. "So, since Takoba is off the table, you can use this old storage building next to my junkyard."
Izuku blinked as he stepped in and looked around, Mr. Satou continued to speak as he looked around.
"It isn't much but with the shudder closed you can use your power without others seeing ya, plus it'll be good to use this place for anything besides storing old junk. Now, I can't help you with equipment. You find something to help you train, I'll let you keep it in here, or hell you could make use of some of the junk in my junkyard that I can't sell if you want. Just don't use it for wild parties, not unless I'm invited of course." He said that last part as a joke.
Izuku blinked some more then looked at him. "Mr. Satou, are you sure? Is it really okay for me to train in here?"
Mr. Satou raised an eyebrow. "Sure, kid, I own this place too. It might not be as expansive as a beach but it's still a good open space." He said before smiling. "Besides kid, you did good for the community by getting rid of all that junk, the least the community can do for you is pay you back a little."
Izuku sniffled just a bit though, able to hold it back a bit and rub his eyes with the sleeve of his dark blue track suit, Izuku looking down at the concrete floor. "But… can I really say I cleaned it for the community? My intentions weren't quite so pure. I needed a place to train and Takoba was the perfect place, I was working cleaning it into my training to better myself, the community thing was really only an afterthought. Am I really worthy after that?"
Izuku then felt a sharp chop to his head as he looked up at Mr. Satou.
"Kid, you gotta stop with that self-doubt stuff, you're killing me." Mr. Satou said plainly before continuing. "Look, maybe you got something out of it, and hell maybe it wasn't how the plan started, but you still did it. People who get paid to do good deeds hadn't even touched it, yet here you were, a kid just looking to better himself, and you got that place cleaned up even better than any of those bozos could. Whether it was the plan from the start or a happy coincidence, you still did it, so in my book that counts."
Mr. Satou then smiled after saying his peace. "Plus, I got a pretty penny for all that junk you've been bringing me, so as far as I'm concerned you've more than paid for your time to use this place."
Izuku looked at the man and nodded. "A-Alright, if you're really fine with it, then I promise to use this place to get even stronger!"
Mr. Satou laughed a bit then nodded. "That's the spirit! Just don't forget old Goro Satou when you become a bigshot Pro-Hero now!"
Both laughed a bit, and after a bit more talking between the two Izuku began to familiarize himself with the inside of the building, noting the open spaces and where to move stuff to optimize floor space.
The next few weeks would fly by for Izuku. He got to spend a considerable amount of time with his father, even going to Takoba like his father wanted, with Hisashi making pretty much the same comment about Izuku bringing a girl there like Mr. Satou did. Hisashi even taught his son how to tie a tie properly, that way when his uniform came and he had to tie it he wouldn't look ridiculous on his first day. It was sad to say goodbye to him after that time, but with a hug to Izuku and a kiss to Inko, Hisashi promised him that the next time he came back, it'd be to stay.
Spring was there before he knew it, and soon Izuku was waking up for his very first day at U.A.
That morning..
Izuku had woken up early like usual for a quick morning jog over Takoba, even if he couldn't teleport around now since there always seemed to be someone lingering over the beach, Mr. Satou was right to say that Izuku shouldn't feel like it was gone forever just because it had changed, and in actuality it had changed for the better.
After returning home and getting a quick shower in, Izuku quickly put on his new U.A uniform, making sure to get his tie right like his father had shown him.
There was just one little piece left though…
Izuku found himself sitting at his work desk again, looking down at the small leather case where his image inducer sat.
He had been staring at it for at least ten minutes now, debating with himself if he should even wear it. This was a new school year, and he was going to be around an entire new group of people, he could at least expect some of them to have some sort of physical abnormality, if not an extreme mutation. Mutations were powerful, they could make great heroes.. but he was still so nervous about it. The looks he got from others back then… the kid who called him a monster… all of it replayed in his mind as he looked at the watch.
Izuku stood from his desk and picked the watch up. He also recalled how much his father and mother had sacrificed to make it happen. The change had been fairly traumatic, and the new eyes on him was stressful enough without the hate filled glare of strangers. He thought changing his appearance and looking like he had before would solve the problem, and in a way it at least made him feel more comfortable in public… but school was always trouble. Bakugo was one of those reasons, he just never could accept him no matter what he looked like, and Bakugo made sure that others didn't either.
The boy found himself putting on the watch, turning it on to take the appearance of a pale skinned boy with freckles and green hair. "Someday… but not today." The weight felt off now and his fear didn't alleviate itself from him like it normally did when he wore it, he felt guilty about wearing it. It was his lifeline, something that he'd just put on so naturally so many times to make himself feel better, now it felt like an anchor dragging him down into the sea.
Izuku made his way out of his room and ate a hasty breakfast with his mom, he needed to hurry now and finish getting ready.
"Do you have everything you need honey? Tissues? Pencils? A spare pair of…" Inko started before Izuku turned.
"Mom!" Izuku said, slightly flushed.
"Oh alright." Inko said, not wanting to embarrass her son much further. She did notice an unusual sluggishness to his movements. "Izuku…" She said as she looked at him, Izuku turning to look back at her. "Are you feeling alright? You seem tired."
Izuku gave a bit of a tired smile to his mom. "Oh, I was just so excited that I didn't sleep much, plus I kind of overdid it on my morning jog. I'll be fine though, I love you, I'll see you later!" Izuku said as he opened the door.
"I love you too sweety, don't overdo it!" She called out, though she still got the nagging feeling something was wrong.
After a long ass train ride…
Izuku jogged to the gate of U.A, panting a bit as he stopped to catch his breath and look up at it. This was his first time back here after the exam, and it was also his first day here as an official U.A student. As he stood looking at the gate, his eyes drifted down to his watch, his hand moving to it as well. He considered it deeply, about just pushing the button and walking on in as his true, blue self...
"Am I ready for this?" Izuku asked himself absentmindedly.
"You had better be, you're already here after all." Said a voice behind him.
Izuku jumped slightly and turned, seeing a huge boy with white hair and rather long bangs that came down over one side of his face. Izuku recognized him as the six-armed boy that had been on top of the roof where he had jumped off looking for the one-pointers during the exam.
"H-Hey wait, I recognize you." Izuku said before smiling. "You're that six-armed guy I saw during the exam!"
"That's right, and you're the boy I saw jump off the building. Might want to give a guy some warning there, seeing someone swan dive off a roof isn't easy on the nerves, especially when it doesn't look like he has any kind of power to fly." The six-armed boy said as he looked at Izuku.
Izuku laughed nervously and rubbed his head. "Sorry about that, I was just really in the moment and I needed to get points."
The boy nodded. "Understandable. Still, that Quirk is really amazing. I got a good view of you in action out there. Most people dream of teleportation."
Izuku laughed more nervously. "Thank you." He said before smiling. "I think your Quirk is amazing too. Six arms and the ability to grow different appendages on each end, right?"
The boy nodded to him. "Correct. I can duplicate parts of my body at the end of my arms. Ears, eyes, mouth as you can plainly see."
Izuku nodded, he had noticed that one of the arms had changed into a mouth on the end. It was then that Izuku remembered he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh, right, sorry. I'm Izuku Midoriya. A pleasure to meet you." He bowed slightly to the boy.
The six-armed boy bowed back slightly. "Mezo Shoji. Nice to meet you as well." He said before motioning forward. "I don't know if that fancy watch of yours is off or something, but we should probably be heading in."
Izuku tensed a bit and laughed. He had just been about to turn it off, or at least, that was what he kept telling himself. Now though, after already meeting someone and them seeing him like this, could he really just turn it off like it was nothing, plus then there was that brown haired girl. While he didn't know if she had made it into U.A or not, if he saw her again… what would she think? What would anyone think? Oh well, what was another three years of hiding his true appearance…
"Yes, my watch… it tells time… and nothing else…" Izuku said with a nervous smile.
Shoji raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Yes… that's what a watch does… Perhaps you are a bit too stressed for today. It would be best just to get to our classrooms quickly."
Izuku nodded and walked into U.A with the tall boy, glancing down at his paper as he walked. "Let's see…" Izuku said to himself. "It says here that I'm in 1-A…"
Shoji looked down at him. "What a coincidence, I am in 1-A as well. Looks like we'll be classmates."
Izuku sighed with relief. "That's a relief, at least there will be one friendly face in the class. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about who all will be in the class with us."
Shoji raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
Izuku sighed a bit as they walked. "Well, you see, I went to the same middle school with a guy that I know is practically pro material already. Aced all his tests, passed the mock exams with flying colors, and I know he got in here because I beat his score in the exam. He and I… we're not exactly friends."
Shoji looked at Izuku then stared forward as they walked. "So, you're nervous that this rival of yours will also be your classmate?"
Izuku shook his head. "No, no, we're not rivals. I'm not trying to compete with him."
Shoji continued speaking, heedless of Izuku's words. "Regardless, even if he is in the class, he is your classmate. Like it or not, we'll all be comrades together, and we'll be expected to work together to become heroes."
Izuku sighed a bit. "Yeah… I don't know if Bakugo is that type of guy…" Izuku said as they reached the giant door of 1-A.
Shoji tilted his head. "How do you mean?"
Izuku opened the giant door and, unsurprisingly, found Bakugo with his feet up on the desk having an argument with another student, the blue-haired boy from the entrance exam.
"Remove your feet from that desk this instant! It's disgraceful, not to mention disrespectful to all the great students that came before us, as well as to the craftsmen that made that desk!" Barked the blue-haired boy.
"Quit your yapping, extra! Did they shove that stick up your ass at your old school or were you born with it?" Bakugo barked back at him with that cocky grin of his.
"S-Stick? There is no stick up my posterior!" The blue haired boy stated before taking a deep breath. "Look, perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Tanya Iida. I'm from Somei Academy!"
Bakugo's grin turned to a growl. "Ah, so a stuck-up rich boy huh? I should blow you to bits!"
"B-Blow me to bits? Your fellow classmate?!" Iida said in shock.
"I take it that's him then…" Shoji said to Izuku with a slightly deadpan tone.
"Yup, that's Bakugo." Izuku said.
Both the explosive blonde and the blue haired boy looked over to the two boys in the doorway watching their exchange. Bakugo gave Izuku what could only be described as a death glare. Izuku had noticed that ever since his score came back, that was the only thing Bakugo gave him. He never said a word, he didn't even pick at him, he just stared daggers through him whenever he saw him, like he wanted to tear him to pieces.
The blue haired boy turned with a robotic gesture and walked toward the door. "Hello, my name is Tenya Iida, I hail from Somei Academy!"
"We know." Both boys said in unison as Iida came over to them.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya, we met before the exam started." Izuku said. He was then surprised to see Iida bow in front of him again.
"Ah, yes, I recall. I'm terribly sorry again for disturbing you during your prep time." Iida said. "I had seriously misjudged you from the first impression of you I had during the practical exam meeting. You clearly are a superior candidate to have deduced the true meaning of the exam."
Izuku blinked. "Huh? Oh, the hero points." Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "No, I had no idea about that. I just jumped in to help."
That… left Iida speechless. All this time he had figured the boy knew something he didn't, that perhaps he'd figured out about the hero points, but no, the boy had just genuinely wanted to help that girl and make sure she didn't get hurt, like a real hero would. W-Well, if it hadn't of been a test, then he surely would have jumped in to help! "I… I see." Iida said, then looking to Shoji. "Oh, my apologies, hello, my name is Tenya Iida!"
Shoji nodded to him. "Mezo Shoji. A pleasure to meet you as well."
"Ayo, traffic jam!" Said a voice from behind them. "Clear a path for a girl! We got this giant door for the classroom and you both managed to block the way in!"
Shoji and Izuku turned to see a pink girl, literally, pink skin, pink hair, she even had two horns sticking out from her head. "She's so… pink…" Izuku thought to himself. Seeing her… made him feel worse about his decision to keep the watch on this year. Mentally, he saw himself with the anchor latched around his neck as he stood on a rock in the middle of the ocean and seeing her just made it double in size. His hand touched the watch but he didn't turn it off, just moving back of the way along with Shoji.
"S-Sorry about that, guess we got caught up in introductions." Izuku told her with a nervous laugh.
"Ah, no sweat, I'm just teasing. Name's Mina Ashido, nice to meet you guys."
"Mezo Shoji." The tall boy said with a nod.
"Hello, my name is Tenya Iida, I hail from Somei Academy, a pleasure to meet you." Said the blue haired boy with a bow to her.
The weight… That was all that was on Izuku's mind as he looked at her. She didn't wear something like his image inducer, she just displayed her mutation proudly, like it didn't bother her at all. Then again, from what the doctors told him, his change was different. Many were born looking like they did, Izuku had changed. Yet another reason to hide away, even among others with strange appearances he was a weirdo.
He found Mina snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Yo! You alright? You're freaking me out a bit with that blank stare." She said as she looked at him.
Izuku blinked then, his internal rant to himself halted as he snapped out of it. "S-Sorry, just the nerves is all." He bowed slightly to her as he spoke. "My name is Izuku Midoriya. N-Nice to meet you."
Mina laughed a bit then patted his shoulder. "Well just relax, it's just orientation today. No need to get stressed out like that."
"Not quite." Said a new voice. The group of four turned to look but saw no one. Izuku's eyes drifted down until he saw… a thing laying on the ground. It was yellow, and shaped like a worm, but it had the face of a man. No wait… this was just some guy, some extremely tired looking guy… crawling around in a sleeping bag it seemed. Slowly the sleeping bag was unzipped and the man came out of it. Was this man seriously a pro-hero?
"My name is Shota Aizawa. From now on, I'll be your homeroom teacher. It took you lot 12 seconds to quiet down. It's inexcusable. In hero work there is precious little time to be wasted, and you'll have to do better if you don't want me to send you packing." The dark-haired man said with a rather stern glare to not just them but the whole classroom it seemed.
Mr. Aizawa then reached into the sleeping bag and pulled out a stack of what looked like gym uniforms. Was he seriously crawling through the halls with those packed into the sleeping bag alongside him?
"Put these on then meet me outside on the grounds." He told the class before folding up the sleeping bag and heading outside. The class were left staring at each other briefly before grabbing one and heading to get changed.
After a brief change, everybody was out on the grounds where Mr. Aizawa was waiting for them.
"What about the orientation?" Came a voice from the back which Izuku recognized, turning to see the brown-haired girl from the exam. He was relieved to see her there, though he was curious as well.
"Don't worry about it." Was all Aizawa said as he took out some equipment. "Here at U.A, we have a freestyle teaching system. Teachers can run their classes however they see fit, and frankly we don't have time for pomp and ceremony. You've only got three years to train to become heroes, and we'll need all the time we can get."
Aizawa then cleared his throat before he continued speaking. "Now then, the Japanese government still insists on standardized fitness tests without the use of Quirks to keep things fair. Frankly, it's bullshit, and irrational."
Aizawa lead them over to the 50-meter dash area. "Izuku Midoriya, step up to the line."
Izuku blinked a bit as he was called out, stepping up to the line as Aizawa walked to the other side and turned on a little machine.
"Mr. Midoriya, what was the fastest time you had in the 50-meter dash back in middle school?" Aizawa asked plainly.
Izuku thought back a bit on it. "Umm, I think it was 6.49 seconds." He said, rubbing his head. It was slightly above average for his grade back then, but what was Mr. Aizawa thinking right now.
"Do it now but this time use your Quirk." Aizawa said, ready to start, holding his hand up.
"W-Wait… are you sure? I-I mean, you're the teacher so you know my Quirk, but is it really fair to…" Izuku started before Aizawa interrupted.
"I didn't ask for an explanation nor do I care about fair. I told you to use your Quirk for this test, Mr. Midoriya. I suggest you give it your all." Aizawa said with a glare, making Izuku shut up.
Izuku took a deep breath and shook his limbs a bit loose, he hadn't figured he'd be using his powers so soon into his schoolyear, especially for something like this. Nevertheless, Aizawa insisted he do his best, so that's what he'd give.
As soon as Aizawa's hand came down and the clock started, the boy would vanish in a puff of blue smoke right in front of his classmates before reappearing on the line at the other side. The robot read out. "0.05 seconds!"
The members of the class who hadn't seen or known about Izuku's ability were amazed and impressed, giving surprised gasps before impressed claps, making the emerald haired youth blush some.
"You must have an understanding of your abilities, limiting your potential by forbidding the use of your Quirks in testing is irrational. To become pros, you must know your limit and surpass them. That's what these tests will be for, to test your abilities then to go beyond those limits. That, is what it means to be PLUS ULTRA!" Aizawa said with the rare bit of inspiration from the scary man sending a shock through his students.
"0.05 seconds! That's incredible!" Said a girl… or at least the outline of a girl. As far as Izuku could figure, the girl was invisible, and the only way he knew she was there was because of the gym suit she was wearing.
"Yeah, this is going to be so fun!" Mina said with an arm pumped up into the air.
That changed the mood, a shadow covered half of their tired teacher's face as he looked at them. "Fun huh…" He said with a dull tone. "It'll be fun? You believe it'll all be fun and games here, do you?"
He glared at the group. "Then how about we raise the stakes of this "game" as you see it. The person who comes in last… is going to be expelled!"
That sent a shock through the entire group. This filled some with high levels of anxiety, while others were filled determination to succeed. This was the top hero course in the country, of course they were going to be held to high standards. To stay at the top, you had to fight and prove you were worth it.
Izuku looked among his classmates. Surprisingly, he wasn't concerned for himself in this. With the use of his Quirk allowed, Izuku didn't worry about whether or not he could score higher than the others… but he was concerned with losing a classmate on the first day. Would he really not see one of them after today? Would their dreams get crushed on the very first day they came to U.A? It wasn't even their first day of school, it was just orientation day.
Izuku then saw a small boy with purple balls for hair shaking nervously now and chewing his fingertips. He could tell he was freaking out. "Yeah… it's probably gonna be him I think…" Izuku thought to himself as he shook loose his neck and loosened up for the other events. Looks like today was going to be a long day after all.