Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
The plot bunny collection: Zero quirk, sole student
Chapter one: Eraserhead's golden boy
Izuku was fast asleep, tossing and turning in his bed ever so slightly, moaning out of mild fear as he was having a dream. A dream where nineteen persons all sided against him and decried him, all due to how he wasn't like them. They wanted him gone from their sight, to never be seen by anyone ever again, all because he didn't have what they had that made them, what had made most of the rest of the world, so special.
He, unlike them, didn't have a quirk. He was quirkless.
Izuku had made it into the hero course of UA High School, getting placed in class 1-A. However, Izuku's quirkless nature was exposed, and as such the doubts and belittling began pouring on in. No one wanted someone who wasn't special amongst their number, and one by one, they all more or less said that he ought to be removed from their presence. As it would turn out, Izuku Midoriya was removed from their presence.
...But not in the way that they were intending.
As the looming shadow that was the rest of UA class 1-A began growing to tower over Izuku, a yellow glowing oval of light, about at tall as a grown man, appeared between Izuku and the looming shadow of the rest of 1-A. The face of Shouta Aizawa, the pro hero Eraserhead, appeared near the top end of that oval, before the rest of the light broke away, revealing the whole of Aizawa who was looking as he always did, save for now having a giant pair of butterfly wings growing out of his back with said wings being big and strong enough to let him fly.
Aiming a pointing finger at the looming shadow, butterfly Aizawa declared in a loud bellow, "EXPELLED!" With that, the shadow was banished. After that, butterfly Aizawa turned around and landed on the ground. He walked up to Izuku, got him to raise his head, then gently threw his arms around the boy to hug him. "...The shadows are gone now, my student," butterfly Aizawa said, "You need not fear anything anymore."
Izuku then broke down into tears as he was hugged by the first teacher he could ever remember having who actually cared about him.
...
Izuku catapulted awake in his bed at home, looked at the time on the clock in his room. Fifteen minutes until he had to get up anyway. The green haired boy gently shook his head as he recalled the dream he had woken up from just now. Said dream basically replayed the events of yesterday, his first day as a student at UA High School. All of Izuku's classmates in that class, upon finding out that he was quirkless, began decrying him. But the teacher was not going to have any of that.
Shouta Aizawa, Izuku's homeroom teacher and the underground pro hero Eraserhead, expelled all of the students in class 1-A yesterday except for Izuku himself, because all of them had discriminated against Izuku because of his quirklessness; Izuku's childhood friend who also got into 1-A, Katsuki Bakugo, was also expelled but he had an additional reason tacked onto his discrimination against Izuku for being quirkless
The green haired boy couldn't believe that Eraserhead had actually done that, had taken a very firm stand against bias and quirkism. Izuku actually broke down into tears because of what all Aizawa had done for him. He felt that UA might finally be where he could go to school without worries about being discriminated against for his lack of a quirk. He felt that he might even be able to make some friends finally.
...Assuming there were students at UA whose line of thinking aligned with that of Aizawa's.
Later that day at UA, Izuku followed Aizawa, who said that they were going to meet with Sekijiro Kan, the pro hero Vlad King, who is the homeroom teacher of class 1-B. "Sekijiro already knows what I had to do yesterday," Aizawa explained to Izuku, "And right now he's getting ready to seriously questioning his students to see if any of them are quirkists or hold any manner of discrimanory views."
Izuku looked a bit concerned. "What... what will Vlad King do if he finds any who are like that?"
"Like me, Sekijiro was given the authority to expel his students," Aizawa explained, "Nezu granted him that authority the same time he granted it to me to cover my own students. However, he's far more hesitant to actually use it. Sekijiro told me that if he finds any quirkist or discrimanory views in his students, he'll try to stamp said ideals out until he can't anymore."
The quirkless boy nodded in understanding. UA really did play hardball when it came to enforcing their zero tolerance policy against discrimination. It made Izuku feel all the more better that there really were teachers who cared about him. Aizawa especially so, given what he did for Izuku the previous day. Speaking of the underground hero, he took note of Izuku's silence. Curious, he tried to lightly prod Izuku into talking.
"...Something on your mind, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked.
"Oh," Izuku spoke up, "It's just that..." Izuku let out a sigh. "...It's just that I'm still getting used to the idea that I have teachers who actively care about me and my well-being."
Aizawa arched a wry eyebrow at that. The underground hero wasn't dumb, he knew full well that Izuku had to of been subjected to discrimination over the course of his life due to his quirklessness. But Aizawa was getting vibes from Izuku that UA was literally the first school where the teachers did not discriminate against him. If what Aizawa was half-feeling half-fearing was true, then a good number of schools have records of committing child abuse.
Knowing Nezu, he'll love the chance to do some head hunting.
Wanting to know more, Aizawa prompted Izuku to talk some more. From there, Izuku told Aizawa about the dream he had, where Aizawa himself emerged from a yellow glowing oval of light like a butterfly from a cocoon, and flew before the shadowy specter of 1-A before banishing them, then going on to hug Izuku to let him know he was going to be fine now.
"...Please don't tell Hizashi and Nemuri about the part where I emerge from a cocoon of light with butterfly wings," Aizawa asked, "They tease me enough as it is about my habit of sleeping in my yellow sleeping bag, and always saying that I'm like a butterfly emerging from my sleeping bag cocoon everyday."
Shrugging, Izuku said, "I can just tell them that you suddenly appeared to save me from the shadows, no further details."
Aizawa nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Midoriya." Despite how he apparently really appeared in Izuku's dream, Aizawa felt that the whole of the dream was a reflection of how Izuku had been treated his life for being quirkless. He was going to formally ask Inui, otherwise known as Hound Dog, to do some digging to see the exact extent of the damage that had been done to Izuku over his life because people apparently didn't like that he was born quirkless.
Aizawa could already imagine Nezu gearing up to do the aforementioned head hunting.
...
A short while later, Aizawa and Izuku arrived to where Sekijiro had his students at. "Hey dudes," one black haired boy with a head band said to two other boys, one with sandy blonde hair plus a skull like face, and the other boy short with whitish hair and he was slightly plump, "Did you hear how the press tried to force their way onto UA grounds earlier?"
"I think they wanted to grill UA for the deets on All Might becoming a teacher here," replied the slightly plump short boy. Turning to the skull faced boy, the slightly plump short boy said, "What do you think, Juzo?"
The skull faced boy, revealed to be named Juzo, shrugged as he replied, "No clue, Nirengeki." Juzo looked to the black haired boy wearing the head band. "What say you, Yosetsu?"
"I got it from Itsuka who saw it that Sekijiro-sensei helped pushed the press back off and away from UA grounds," replied the black haired boy wearing the head band, revealing his name to be Yosetsu in the process.
The slightly plump short boy, having been identified as Nirengeki, gestured to where Aizawa stood off the side with Izuku while waiting for Sekijiro to show up; Vlad King may of had his students there, but Vlad King himself wasn't there, as he had to address something first. "I heard that Aizawa-sensei over there expelled all but one of his students yesterday."
Yosetsu folded his arms over his chest, wore a serious look on his face. "I heard talk of the rumors surrounding Aizawa-sensei. He's a teacher who, when others play Hardball, he plays Harderball."
"That dude with Aizawa-sensei must be the one student he decided to keep," Juzo said, "And judging by the dude's green fluffy hair that reminds me of a thing of broccoli, I'd say he's gotta be Izuku Midoriya, the rumored guy who essentially gave a zero-pointer robot during the entrance exams a big middle finger."
Yosetsu and Nirengeki both whistled in impressed tones. "So that's the rumored guy, huh?" Yosetsu said, "He looks unassuming, but if he really did stand up to a zero-pointer and live to tell the tale, then he's pretty gutsy."
As the 1-B students were talking as Aizawa and Izuku kept their distance, Sekijiro came walking on into the scene. "Sorry, had to answer a few questions about my involvement earlier with getting the press off of UA grounds," Sekijiro said to everyone. Focusing now on just his students, the Blood Hero said, "Now class, I bet all of you are wondering who our guests here are." Sekijiro gestured to where Aizawa stood with Izuku.
One of the girls, who had orange hair with some in a side ponytail, raised a hand. "Well I was able to guess that the teacher is Aizawa-sensei, since I ran into Nemuri-sensei yesterday and she pointed him out to me after I saw him exit the teacher's lounge."
"Right you are, Kendo," Sekijiro said, giving the girl identified as Kendo a nod of approval, "I'll let him make the introductions and explanations." At that prompting, Aizawa walked up to stand in front of class 1-B when Sekijiro gestured for him to join.
With all eyes on him, Aizawa said, "Alright, my name's Shouta Aizawa. Yesterday, I had to expel nineteen of the twenty students that I got in my class. I expelled all of them because they all held discrimanory views, also one of the nineteen also tried to attack another student in front of me so he's got two things against him."
Class 1-B all murmured amongst themselves out of surprise. "...So the rumors are true," one girl with long green vines for hair murmured to another girl who had long wavy dark hair.
Yosetsu raised a hand. "Is it safe to assume that the student you brought with you is the one you didn't expel?"
"Right you are," Aizawa said. Gesturing to Izuku, Aizawa said, "This is Izuku Midoriya, the only student left in 1-A, and the only one who did not take part in any of the discrimination that 1-A had committed yesterday." Folding his arms over his chest, the underground hero went on, "But then again, the reason he didn't take part in any of the discrimination yesterday is because he was the victim of said discrimination."
1-B all collectively gasped in shock. "Why were they all discriminating against him?" asked Kendo, "Isn't UA supposed to be a discrimination-free campus?"
"Which is part of why Shouta had expelled the other nineteen students that he had," Sekijiro said.
Nirengeki raised a hand. "Umm, can I ask why Izuku was discriminated against by his former classmates yesterday? Or is that too touchy a subject?"
Izuku sighed, having long since realized that things would eventually get to this point. "The reason that I was discriminated against was because I'm quirkless."
"Wait a minute, hold up," Yosetsu began, "Aizawa-sensei said that your name's Izuku Midoriya. Are you the same Izuku Midoriya who, during the entrance exams, essentially gave a zero-pointer robot the slip and got away with it?"
Izuku remembered doing what Yosetsu was talking about; Izuku acted to save a girl who was in trouble. He saved the girl, and she even ended up in his class. But she like the others didn't think that Izuku could make for a hero, and was expelled with the rest of the class. It was a damn shame too, given that she looked sort of like she was peer pressured into siding against him.
Not wanting to leave Yosetsu hanging, Izuku replied, "Yes. I am."
"Those things are total nightmares to deal with in a one-v-one from what I heard," Yosetsu began, "Even for those with the strongest of quirks. And yet you, who is quirkless, not only ran towards it but was able to dance around it and get away with doing so?" Shaking his head, Yosetsu said, "I'm going to have to take back what I remarked to some of the lads here about you being gutsy."
Sekijiro arched a wry eyebrow, a bit suspicious of his student. "...And why would you take back something you said about Midoriya that was clearly meant as a compliment, Awase?" Izuku, hearing that someone was potentially revoking a compliment, felt a bit disheartened.
...Only to immediately perk back up when Yosetsu began to explain himself. "Because calling him gutsy wouldn't be doing him enough justice, Sekijiro-sensei," Yosetsu said, "Izuku, who has no quirk, willingly rushed in to do something even those with very powerful quirks would be too scared to do. Izuku is more than just gutsy, he's ballsy."
Nirengeki, smirking in amusement, said, "Yeah, I have to agree with Yosetsu on this one. In fact, I'd say that Izuku is so ballsy, I'm surprised that he can fit his manhood into his pants."
Turning to look at the girls in 1-B, Juzo said, "Well now ladies, don't just stand there."
"Alright, alright," Sekijiro said, able to tell that the boys were, in their own way, impressed by Izuku's boldness from the entrance exams to the point they were trying to hype him up to the others in class. A bit crass in execution, but it was a sign of boys being boys. And it did seem to cheer Izuku up to a degree.
Raising a hand, a boy with neatly combed yellow blonde hair said, "Sir, with all due respect, don't you think that keeping a quirkless kid in UA is a poor idea?"
Sekijiro immediately turned to look at the boy who was now talking. "...I don't get your meaning, Monoma."
Gesturing to Izuku, the now identified Monoma continued, "Well I mean, come on. He's quirkless. How can he become a pro hero?"
"Well Monoma," Sekijiro began, "The first thing that Midoriya can do is to shut you up by proving you wrong." As some of the 1-B students snickered in amusement at their teacher telling Monoma to zip it, Sekijiro went on as he said to all of his class, "Attitudes like Monoma's just now, which are clearly forms of discrimination, will NOT be tolerated." Looking to where Yosetsu, Juzo, and Nirengeki stood, Sekijiro said, "You boys supporting Midoriya's rights is the right way to go, although you could be a little less crass about it."
...
Sekijiro dismissed his students at the end of the day later that day, save for Monoma who he had stay behind to write 'I will not discriminate against the quirkless' one-hundred times on line paper. As for Yosetsu, Juzo, and Nirengeki, they hung around a bit to find Izuku, but were found by Aizawa who, upon the boys explaining to him why they wanted to find Izuku, told them that Izuku was in a session with Inui and was going to head straight home afterwards.
"You boys ought to head straight home as well," Aizawa said, "That mess that occured during the lunch period earlier today where all of the press swarmed in like locusts has the teachers worried for all of the students."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that since my older cousin is one of the many journalists from that incident earlier today where she and loads and loads of others swarmed in during lunch," Juzo said, "I got a text from my mom telling me that my cousin is one of the many journalists who were arrested."
"Izuku's going to be alright, won't he?" Yosetsu asked the underground hero.
Aizawa looked at the three boys from Sekijiro's homeroom. Aizawa's expression didn't change, but he did consider each of the boys, saw that all of them were earnest in caring about Izuku. "...He will be fine, boys. The soonest I expect you can see him will be tomorrow during lunch." The three boys all breathed sighs of relief before taking off. After those boys left, Aizawa took off himself.
Sekijiro may have one apparent bad seed in his homeroom, but the other nineteen showed no signs of discrimination against others. Aizawa was particularly interested in Juzo, Yosetsu, and Nirengeki, as all of them showed honest signs of wanting to add Izuku to their little friend circle that the three of them had going.
The underground hero felt that it'd be a good thing, given that Izuku clearly needs friends who care about him if he's to begin healing from the emotional damage he's bound to have.
END, CHAPTER ONE
Author's notes;
This is the first chapter of a story idea that's been swimming around in my head ever since I'd read chapter 107 of Sweet Kagamine Kiss's 'Boku no Hero tales from the Multiverse', which is posted on Ao3. In said chapter, the rest of 1-A all express anti-quirkless attitudes against a quirkless Izuku on day one of school, only for Aizawa to expel all of 1-A except Izuku on the grounds of how they were discriminating against Izuku. This idea is further explored in chapters 112 and 212 of the same story (it's a collection of one shots from what I can tell).
Anyway, I wanted to get this out, partly because it's been swimming in my head for a bit, and partly because I wanted to give a shout out to Sweet Kagamine Kiss. His work in BNHA fics is excellent. More anyway, the next chapter will see Izuku start befriending others, starting with some of his more supportive peers at UA, assuming that this story sees enough support. Take care.
