"Seriously, Author-san needs to get his shit together. If you're lucky, this might continue as a series of short drabbles."
(-)
As far as first meetings went (at least in a society filled with people who possess a wide variety of superpowers), it was uneventful -if overly casual, given his position as a teacher- and by-the-books. Izuku was one of numerous students who comprised the freshman student body for UA, and the man standing in front of him was the homeroom teacher for his class.
"As much as I'd like to let you all go about your idyllic first day of high school, my occupation as a teacher requires me to ruin the mood." the newcomer remarked as he lifted the clipboard off of Izuku's head, the object having been used to break said student out of his stupor with a light tap. "Why don't you all take your seats while I stand in front of the blackboard and tell you how things are gonna play out?"
Taking the hint, the remainder of the students who had been standing were quick to grab a seat at one of the unclaimed desks and quiet down. Standing behind a desk of his own, the teacher grinned once he had everyone's attention. The man was dressed in a dark-blue/almost black uniform with a matching blindfold covering his eyes. His hair was practically white, with the oversized blindfold pushing it upwards to create a very wild look. With a laid-back attitude, the teacher grabbed a piece of chalk and quickly scribbled something down on the blackboard; it was his name.
"Yo! The name's Gojou Satoru, which naturally means you'll be addressing me as either 'Gojou-sensei' or just plain 'sensei', and I'm none too fussed about which one you choose." he explained with a with a small grin. "Now, I'm not actually supposed to be your homeroom teacher, but since the stick-in-the-mud who was originally gonna be here is currently recovering from laser eye surgery, you get me as a consolation prize for a couple weeks. But don't be too disappointed, you'll see me later for the class I properly am teaching."
The man looked slightly aggrieved upon performing his next action, reaching under his desk and picking up a cardboard box, which he proceeded to place on the table. "Unfortunately, I'll be needing you all to grab a gym uniform from this box and meet me at the PE field. Oh, and make sure you put on the uniform before you go~." he finished explaining with a joking tone before leaving the room.
And so Izuku's first encounter with the somewhat eccentric man came to an end.
(-)
As the final member of Class 1-A joined the congregation of students in the field, Gojou loudly clapped his hands to get their attention. "Alright kiddos, I got bad news and good news. Bad news, under normal circumstances we'd be going to the entrance ceremony and doing freshman orientation, but Aizawa-sensei left strict guidelines as to how we go about class. And trust me, if you get on that guy's bad side, he'll make your life unbearable with his nagging. So here we are instead. Good news, we're gonna get right to the exciting stuff!"
The rowdier members of the class got a bit riled up at that remark, while others were disappointed at the lack of a 'normal' first day of school.
"We'll start the day off with something simple, a Quirk assessment test. For those of you who aren't aware, this means I'll be assessing your Quirks based on your performance across a variety of challenges. Primarily, the same stuff you did in junior high, but with one little caveat; I want you to use your Quirk for this." their teacher explained as he pulled a softball out of his pocket. "For reasons that can only really be attributed to chronic stupidity, the Ministry of Education gauges your average physical fitness by restraining your full potential. At UA however, that nonsense no longer applies. Bakugo!"
Upon hearing his name be called out, said teen perked up and stepped forward. "Yeah?"
"Since you finished with the top score for the practical exam, I want you to show me what you can do." tossing the softball to the student, Bakugo caught it with ease. "What was your best result for the softball throw in junior high?"
The blonde snorted in pride. "Sixty-seven meters."
Gojou nodded with a grin. "Great, now I want you to do it again, but this time give it all you got and then some." he responded as he pointed at a chalk-drawn circle on the ground. "You can use whatever means necessary so long as you stay in the circle."
One explosive-propelled softball throw later, and Gojou presented the result on the screen of the tablet he was holding. It was 705.2 meters. "In order to measure your growth, it helps to know your current maximum. Let's see how much you can improve."
"Seven-hundred and five meters?! That's insane!"
"Alright! We get to use our Quirks as much as we want! The Hero Course is awesome!"
"This is gonna be so much fun!"
"You're right, it is gonna be fun!" Gojou smirked as he repeated that last remark. "So let's make it a little more interesting by adding a punishment for the worst performers."
The mood instantly plummeted from cheerful to nervousness.
"The four students who have the lowest average score across all tests will be staying afterschool with me for detention this entire week."
"What?!"
"The bottom four?!"
"That ain't manly at all!"
Gojou scratched at his head in mild dissatisfaction. "You don't think it's enough? Okay, then I'll also call home to let your parents know how disappointed I am and tell them to take away your videogames for a week."
Needless to say, the mood was lowered even further.
(-)
For Izuku, things were past the point of looking bleak. No matter how hard he tried, he could not activate his Quirk. With the repercussions of overdoing it firmly at the forefront of his mind, he had created a mental-block that prevented him from using One for All. Given his performance thus far, he was already guaranteed a place in the bottom four, but he refused to finish the test with a whimper. Consequences be damned, he needed to produce a result that was somewhat impressive, and the softball throw was his final chance.
"Infinity huh… Guess you and I got something in common!" Gojou said to the gravity girl as he gave her a high-five.
It was do-or-die now. Izuku grabbed the softball presented to him by Gojou and stepped into the circle. Time to see just what he was capable of. Holding the ball in a tight grip, Izuku leaned back as he took a position more conducive to throwing, all-the-while pumping the strength of OFA into his arm. The limb rocketed forward but came to a sudden halt, the remaining forward momentum causing his body to jerk ahead before he stopped himself from stumbling. Looking to his arm to see what the problem was, the teen noticed that a hand was clamped around his wrist. A hand that belonged to the blindfold-wearing man who stood next to him. Izuku had no idea how, but his teacher managed to bring his arm to a halt despite the amount of force being put into it.
"Whoa there, hotshot. Giving it all you got is all well and good, but not if you wind up incapacitating yourself in the process." Gojou scolded with a grin. "While I don't know the specifics of your Quirk, after watching your performance during the practical exam, I can tell that you're something of a glass-cannon. So I'm gonna stop you before you hurt yourself to an unreasonable degree."
Izuku began to sweat bullets as he feared what the teacher would say next.
"B-but sensei, h-how can-"
"I guess I'll just mark you down as DNF for this test. Not like it would have helped your overall score even if I did let you throw it."
His piece finished, Gojou released Izuku's arm and turned to walk away. "If you can't cope with your Quirk and the damage it causes you, then you'll just be a liability."
Head turned down in shame, Izuku almost felt like crying. His teacher was right though; if he cannot keep his body intact in a safe environment like this, then he would just be dead-weight in a fight. Tightening his hand into a fist, Izuku realized that Gojou-sensei had left the ball with him. No, the test wasn't over yet! He refused to let it end like this!
Mind racing a mile a minute, Izuku struggled to figure out some kind of solution before Gojou-sensei calls him back over to the rest of the class. After what felt like hours of grasping at straws, the green-haired teen at last was able to grab one.
Gojou looked over his shoulder to call out for Izuku to follow. "Hey, Midori-"
"SMASH!"
The teacher grinned. "That's more like it."
