Third chapter now. I sometimes think that it might be better that I turn this into a full-fledged story, even though this storyline was created just two days ago. But that'll probably ruin the vibe I'm trying to channel. If anyone has read the BNHA fanfic pocket change on Ao3, you'll understand what I'm trying to get at. Actually maybe I should credit the writer for inspiring this work. Hmm. This was my way of trying to fix BNHA, because for all the wonderful things in its universe, I feel like the characters don't get justice. I went into the story thinking I'll read something about a boy fighting against the stigmas of his world. Not some bs "oh, you have a Quirk now" and suddenly years of trauma and abuse is just forgotten. Bakugou is forgiven. Endeavour is forgiven. It makes me mad every time I think about it. Part of the reason why I stopped reading the manga and turned to writing. Because if this was real life, it would not stand. And just because it's fictional doesn't mean it should. My thoughts aside, let's continue.
His three opponents were Bakugou, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari. More than one of his classmates sent him pitying looks as he played around with the technology that Mei had built into his suit, and the grin underneath his mask widened further when All Might designated him the villain of this exercise. If he had been a hero, it would have made his job significantly harder. Midoriya stands up, and makes sure to tighten the reinforced gloves just for dramatic effect. He presses the button on the side of his mask as he leaves the room and it whirs, clicking several times before unfolding to cover his entire face instead of just his mouth. A digital screen pops up in the corner of his vision, only seen by him so it just looks like he's swiping the air as he walks through the building and locates the bomb. Combine that with the unsettling image he has designed for intimidation purposes(a mouth that is stitched shut but smiling, accompanied by two black dots for his eyes and a single crack running the diagonal length of it all to serve as a taunt), it should appear that he has gone crazy. Good. When one becomes confident, they underestimate their opponent. While he is about 80% sure he'll win, it's always good to bump up the percentage whenever he can. He checks the comms' system, and isn't surprised when Mei is online and tuned in for some reason. Ensuring that the noise-cancelling function is on, he calls her and waits patiently for her to pick up even as he sets up the traps that will be needed for the game he wishes to play. Midoriya is stringing up the last
trip wire when she does answer the call, slightly out of breath and he can hear the distinct sounds of a teacher crying over an explosion in the background. He explains the situation, and then his plan.
Mei falls silent, and it is unnatural enough for Power Loader to approach and ask her what was wrong, judging from the increase in volume. She gives a vague excuse and shoos her teacher away and he does one final check of all his equipment and runs through the three plans in his head while waiting for her to respond. She gives her answer just as All Might announces the start of the Battle Trial, and he hangs up after they exchange hurried goodbyes. He goes into the back of his mind and opens the cage. The beast within smiles and looks at him, still shackled to its chains. He breaks them with a single thought, and the calm that he gets when he is truly furious relaxes his nervous limbs and he flexes his fingers. The scanner alerts him to the three heat signatures on the ground floor and he sighs at the long trek downstairs before a brilliant idea surfaces in his mind. He calculates the distance he needs...and jumps out the window. Glass shards bounce off him and he is grateful that Mei talked him into full body protection as he digs his hand into the wall of the building and allows gravity to do its job. The steel tips to his gloves sharpen just enough to turn his fingers into claws and he is thankful that he cannot hear what was probably a sound similar to nails raking down a chalkboard.
When he reaches the second floor, he breaks another window to reenter the building and turns on the thermal vision lenses. He sees three distinct figures below him, one already blasting off while the other two stay close together, more wary. He waits for about four seconds. There is a brief ping as the first tripwire is set off and Bakugou falls flat on his face just in time for the flour bomb he added to his arsenal for a moment like this one detonates to coat him and the air around him with the powder. He listens to the swearing before making use of the backdoor Mei created for him into their earpieces in the few minutes they were exchanging ideas to inform Bakugou that flour was flammable and he would blow himself up if he uses his Quirk even once. His tormentor curses even louder, but there is a lack of the steady crackling that he has long since associated with the blond and he laughs. Bakugou may be a bully and an egoistic asshole, but he was smart enough to understand the threat. It was also another reason why his actions were neglected, for it is one thing to punish a student misusing his or her Quirk, but another entirely to punish the star student of the school. He takes the stairs down this time, and turns off the lights before he steps onto the first floor.
He can hear Kaminari's breathing pick up and Yaoyorozu responds to the sudden darkness almost immediately by creating a torchlight. Unfortunately for her, all it does is illuminate Bakugou and an empty corridor. He purposefully makes his footsteps echo, and watches the beam of light swing around frantically, trying to search for his whereabouts. He lifts a finger to his earpiece again and taps it twice, opening a private channel to her earpiece(he really needs to take Mei out for ice-cream or something for doing such a wonderful job at creating a sentient computer virus for him to use) and softly whispers that he is behind her. She swings around once more, torch in one hand and a quarterstaff in the other. Kaminari shrieks and hides behind her. Bakugou is attempting to dust the flour off his body. This is all happening in the darkness, and in the land of the blind, he thinks, the one-eyed man is king. He turns on the eyelight of his left eye, bathing the duo in a sickly green light as the other remains in the land of thermal imaging. Their heads snap up to look at him crawling on the ceiling and the blond with the electricity Quirk screams as he disengages his boots and kicks off the ceiling to collide with him. He hears the slight crackle of electricity building up, grabs the shell-shocked blond with one arm and uses him as a human meat shield. Yaoyorozu's quarterstaff collides with Kaminari's stomach and the terrified student discharges. A shame the girl's weapon is metal. She seizes up and cries out in pain and he quickly pushes the now brain-dead student aside and wraps the capture tape around Yaoyorozu's neck. Not even pausing to listen to All Might's announcement, he turns the lights back on to see Bakugou's reaction. In all honesty, he is pretty disappointed that the remaining traps will no longer be of use. Bakugou snarls and sprints towards him, shaking off the last of the flour. Midoriya takes the few seconds he has to return his facemask to one that just covers his mouth.
Bakugou starts with his usual right hook. It appears he has not learned his lesson. Midoriya grabs the outstretched arm and slams him into the ground before backing away. Just to piss him off, the green-haired boy talks to Bakugou, in an almost conspirational tone like he is revealing a secret, that Mei has told him to raise hell. The blond doesn't know her, but he can almost see the synapses in his head firing as he makes the connection between Mei and the pink-haired girl who tazed him yesterday. He shrieks a battle cry(as per usual, "DIE!") and buries an explosion powered fist into Midoriya's gut. The shock-absorbers do their work, and he feels like he's been hit with a pillow. Bakugou remains in contact long enough for him to whisper the word discharge. And all the electricity that he had collected and stored from Kaminari is released from the power cells in his armour and by the laws of electricity, use Bakugou as a circuit. He grits his teeth as his muscles lock up and the paralysis gives him enough time to punch his opponent three times(twice in the solar plexus and once in the throat). He collapses like a puppet whose strings have just been cut, and Midoriya huffs quietly as he wraps the capture tape around Bakugou's arm. All Might declares his win, and he goes over to Yaoyorozu's unconscious form, carrying her on his back as he leads dazed-Kaminari by the arm towards the exit. He can hear Bakugou attempting to yell behind him, but can do little more than wheeze due to the jab to the throat. He wonders what everyone will think off him now before he hears a chime and the sound of a grenade pin being removed. On sheer autopilot, he throws Kaminari and Yaoyorozu as hard as he can, mentally apologizing when they land in an undignified heap and jumps for the ceiling.
The biggest explosion he has ever seen travels down the hallway, just very narrowly missing him. The heat, however, causes several warning signs to pop up on his interface and he can already feel the blisters forming on his legs. His eyes search for Bakugou, and find his tormentor several meters away from his original position, one of the ridiculous bracers he has is smoking slightly. His eyes are wide and manic, the grin on his face that of a rabid animal. Even as All Might demands that they stop fighting even though it is Bakugou doing all the damage, he is already reaching for the second pin. Time seems to slow to a crawl as he tugs off his left glove, knowing that if he dodges the explosion a second time the debris created might injure his other opponents. He charges up three fingers with One for All and feels the sensation of his bones shattering as fire consumes his world. The suit holds up tremendously well, all things considered, but the cooling system whines in protest and finally fails to keep the heat from the explosion out of his system. He feels his eardrums rupture but knows that he is lucky. The air blast from his broken fingers has dispersed the majority of the explosion and has prevented blunt force trauma. The heat is the problem. As short-lived as it is, he briefly cooks alive and struggles to breathe even as he detaches from the ceiling and darts forward to punch Bakugou again. His eyes roll into the back of his head, and Midoriya ensures that he takes a nap with an uppercut in the sweet spot. Panting, he rips the mask from his face and slumps to the ground, heart racing so fast that he feels his lungs protest at the demand for oxygen and the several burns he has developed even through the suit start to sting. A gust of wind alerts him to All Might. The urge to throw up intensifies and he picks up his mask, puts it back on his face and goes further into the building. He knows their teacher, his "mentor" will whisk the fallen trio away to the infirmary. Midoriya just basks in the glory of a well played fight and starts dismantling the traps. He doesn't know when he blacks out, but one moment he's staggering back to the entrance with three broken fingers and a boat load of contraptions, and the next time he opens his eyes he is in a familiar bed.
Recovery Girl immediately notices that he is awake, and chides him for breaking his body again. He is too tired to accept the good-natured scolding, so he confesses that the fingers he sacrificed were in the name of protecting his classmates from an explosion that All Might failed to stop. He notices Mei sleeping beside him, head buried in her arms and resting on the edge of his bed. His mask is slung haphazardly onto the side of her head, and he feels a rush of affection for the girl who probably rushed here as soon as she got the news. Then he feels a pang of guilt for making her worry about him again even as the elderly woman gains a dark aura and mutters angrily about skinning "that fool" alive. He reaches out, careful not to wake Mei, and starts running his fingers through her hair. Whatever tension her body still had while asleep is finally released, and she leans into his touch like a kitten. Recovery Girl briefly breaks out of plotting All Might's demise and her eyes soften when they meet his. She tells him once again that he needs to be more careful. He rolls his eyes and tells her that this was more of All Might and his classmates' fault than anything else, and explains how Kaminari had branded him Quirkless and the way the class had turned its back on him. The elderly nurse's aura seems to darken even further, but her tone is gentle when she tells him to get some rest. Before she can leave, he asks her if she thinks Quirkless means useless. Her tiny body stiffens, and it is with barely restrained anger that she spits out her thoughts("you did fine without a Quirk, and you wouldn't even be injured if you didn't have one). He thanks her. She inclines her head gruffly before stepping out of the room, leaving him and Mei alone in the infirmary. It's nice to see that at least one person thinks differently from the rest. He continues patting Mei's hair until fatigue drags him back into unconsciousness.
He wakes up again, and this time because of the sound of arguing. Mei is standing up now, posture defensive and radiating anger. He turns his gaze to the subject of her ire and feels the familiar mask slip back onto his face, filling his veins with ice. It is three people. Uraraka. Shinsou. Iida. She asks(read;orders politely) for them to get out. Uraraka protests that she just wants to check that Deku is alright, Iida's hand chops through the air as he says it is his duty to check on a classmate and Shinsou looks like he's been dragged here against his will. Before Mei can pounce on them(and she would definitely win the fight), he tugs on her arm and directs their attention to his lack of unconsciousness. Mei immediately throws herself onto him, much to the embarrassment of the other trio in the room. He calmly answers her rapid-fire questions before genty nudging her off him. Still, instead of getting off the bed, she chooses to curl into his side and close her eyes. Midoriya sighs, but says nothing of it, just shifting over to make room for his friend. He turns his first warm, now frigid gaze onto the three stooges and asks for their motives. When they repeat the same things they just said to Mei, he tilts his head in a mocking manner of an innocent child and asks them why they only cared when he got injured after winning, but didn't say a word when Kaminari called him a useless teammate. He is met with silence. Mei trembles against him, and his eyes narrow. He calls up the remnants of the cold rage he still contains from the Battle Trial and tells them to get out. This time, they listen.
The two of them stay like that until Recovery Girl comes back, although Mei gradually opens up after some gentle coaxing and he cheers her up with his praise of the suit she made. While she argues that it didn't save him, he points out that the injuries he got were from his own recklessness, and she couldn't possibly think that her handiwork would stand up to a point blank explosion, and the fact that he would have died without the suit. The reassurance just seems to fuel her determination, and she vows to make his suit everything-proof. He laughs, and laughs even harder when she says that she's serious while pouting. A nice change from the fighting earlier. When the elderly nurse walks in and sees them arguing over the balance between the strength of armour and the weight of additional protection, she smiles and gives him another once-over before concluding that he is in a good enough condition to be discharged. He thanks her, placing heavy emphasis on the words and a look of sadness flashes across her face before she replies that it was the least she could do. He tells her that it really isn't, and leaves before she can properly question him about his words. Checking the time, he notes that it is the end of school and just like the previous day, returns to class in order to grab his things. Mei's stun gun is drawn and primed, for both of them are expecting history to repeat itself. He opens the door carefully, and relaxes when there is an absence of explosions. Stepping into the room, he tenses right back up when he notices about half the class is still, well, in class. He can see the questions forming already, and shoulders pass the crowd to grab his bag. Ignoring the sudden eruption of noise around him and tuning out the louder ones, he hightails it back out the door. Mei looks even more unimpressed with class 1-A, and they continue the conversation from earlier even as several members of his class race after him and try to insert themselves into the conversation. A lifetime of tuning out the people who whisper about him definitely pays off now. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, Mei doesn't have the same experience and the hand brushing against her weapon starts to twitch even more. Rather than alienate himself even more, and perhaps give his hypocritical classmates the same treatment he gave Aizawa-sensei for daring to threaten Mei, he gets a far more interesting idea. He mutters a word of warning to Mei before grabbing her hand. She smirks and quickly clambers onto his back as he takes off in a sprint. In a brief display of insanity, he channels the slightest trickle of One for All to his legs and instead of breaking them, he feels a sudden surge of energy and the world begins to blur around them.
She cheers at the increase in speed("Onwards my noble steed!") and he laughs along with her. Only when UA fades into the distance does he cut off the flow of power to his legs. Izuku is sweating slightly and his legs ache, but he feels more alive than ever until he remembers that this is the work of a Quirk. Mei is still clinging onto his back and she seems to sense the speed at which his mood plummets, because she pats him on the head before tucking her head into the crook of his neck. He thanks her softly, feeling another surge of gratitude for his best friend. Unconsciously, he registers her scent as a mix of grease, coffee and just a hint of the soap she borrowed from him yesterday. Izuku tries not to think about how nice she smells. He tells her, not for the first time, that he's glad they are friends. Usually the energetic hurricane in human form would respond with a confident statement like "of course you are", but today she just tightens her hold on him and responds by saying she's glad they're friends as well. He almost blushes at that. He continues carrying her, just enjoying the silence for once instead of trying to fill the void with noise. The dark voices in his head are silent. He wonders if this is how it's like to be normal.
On the way home(somehow, Dagobah Beach has become more of a home to him than his own house), he brings up the idea of creating a shack or something at the beach considering how often they go there and Mei agrees almost immediately. The discussion of the structure and materials("No, Mei, you can't create an underground lair it'll cause the whole place to collapse.") helps to take his mind off the shock of the people around them as they see him carry Mei. Perhaps it's because they recognize him from the Sludge Villain incident, but he doubts it considering how little the media paid attention to the Quirkless kid, even if he was the one to save Bakugou after causing one of the villain's eyes to turn into pulp. There are whispers of the "cute couple", and many of the young couples that see them get into mild arguments(usually over "why can't you be like him?") while the older ones smile with something that looks like nostalgia. He just hopes Mei doesn't pay attention to them, because an embarrassed Mei is more than likely to cut off his air circulation considering her arms are around his neck. They resolve to start construction over the weekends, and she dismounts when the beach comes into view. He doesn't have much more energy to deal with chaos right now, so he faceplants into the sand and allows his friend to roll him over. He stays lying down, enjoying the feeling of warm sand plus a cool breeze even as Mei removes his bag from his person and starts to bury him under the sand. She uses a pocket shovel when digging by hand starts to get boring, and soon enough about three quarters of him is hidden from view. Unfortunately for him, Mei is a genius and an engineer, making sure to alternate layers of wet and dry sand to create makeshift concrete. Once everything from the neck down is under a mound of sand, she considers it a job well done and replaces the shovel with a marker. He struggles futilely as she starts to draw on his face, but is unable to do more than push a single hand out from his prison. She finishes after two minutes, snapping a photo and laughing at his disgruntled expression.
Now actively seeking revenge, he channels some of his own strength and the sand sloughs off his body like sludge as he springs up to a sitting position before grabbing the marker and pinning her using just enough body weight to make sure she's not suffocating. Mei squirms and pleads for mercy, but Izuku draws on a cartoony moustache and a monocle before inking the kanji for idiot on her cheek and letting her go. He snaps a photo in retaliation, and sends it to the chat between the two of them. Mei pouts, but looks delighted at her new decorations. A ping alerts him to an image sent in return, and he almost rolls his eyes when he notes the flowers doodled along the length of his forehead like a flower crown and the impressively detailed bird on one cheek. He snorts at the smiley face she has added to his other cheek, and saves both photos. Mei suggests that they take a picture together, and he agrees. It takes a little jostling and elbowing as they try to get their face as the main subject of the photo, and he relents when it seems as if they were at a standstill. The photo is saved as well, before he pulls out a pack of wet tissues to scrub the markings off Mei's face. She scrunches it up in discomfort, but says nothing as he rubs away the drawings before allowing her to do the same. Her phone chirps and she glances briefly at it before sighing and saying she has to leave. He nods in understanding, and they exchange a hug as farewell before she runs off. He watches her figure recede into the distance before flopping onto his back. It's mid-afternoon, so there are no stars in the sky. Instead, he puts on the mask and waits as it unfolds. Midoriya starts work on the profiles he has not yet completed, having a feeling in his gut that more situations like the one he has just encountered today will occur.
By the time the sun sets, he is half-asleep and only has two profiles left to complete(Asui and Hagakure). Not having enough intel on either of them, he presses the button to collapse his face mask and removes it gently, turning it over in his hands to gaze at the parody of a smile on its face. He briefly mourns the way his original costume design has been completely remodelled to something more practical instead of a homage to All Might, The ears were completely gone, and so was the obnoxious green colour. Instead, he has replaced the smiling mouthguard with a mask that is more suited for a serial killer, meant to inspire fear. His suit is black and has dark red lining certain seams, stabproof and bulletproof. It still resembles the jumpsuit he originally thought of, but the utility belt and holsters for future weapons once Mei creates them are testaments to how much he has changed. His eyes are starting to slide shut from sheer fatigue alone when a familiar face blocks out the last of the sunlight.
Mei prods him, but seeing that he isn't going to get up, she abruptly hooks both arms under his and lifts him into a standing position. Now awake, he grumbles that he was finally going to get a decent amount of sleep and she makes a face of faux hurt. In order to keep himself awake, Izuku rambles about the applications of One for All and gets a few useful ideas in return. He suggests that support items might lessen the strain on his body, and Mei only hums in response but he can see the gears turning in her head. She talks about I-Island, and he shoots down her insecurities when she mentions how the best minds work there, telling her that one genius is already enough for him. She punches him lightly in the shoulder, and then grabs his hand. He says nothing, choosing to squeeze her hand in response and gets a squeeze as well. The world doesn't exactly seem so bad anymore, and the dark path, the only path that he can see himself walking doesn't look so daunting anymore. He forces down the hope rising in his chest. When good things happen to him, bad things always follow. Still, he allows this moment of vulnerability, just enjoying the warmth in his chest and the revelation that Mei would stand by him come hell or high water. He would pick up his weapons and continue fighting in the morning, but for now, his mind was devoid of the contingency plans begging to be used, and the beast in its cage rattling the bars.
Mei says goodbye to him when they finally reach the doorstep of his house. He checks, and his heart deflates when there is no light to signal his mom was home, or any messages about where she was. He guessed that it was another long day for her. He fishes out the key from his pocket and unlocks the door, inviting Mei to come in if she wanted to. Izuku is mildly disappointed when she says that she needs to go home in order to finish up a pet project(they both pretend that he doesn't know what she's talking about) but before she leaves, she gives him a key attached to a keychain. On it is a tiny wolf plushie with green fur, and a pink eagle. He almost laughs at how nervous she looks before attaching his own key to the ring. She flushes when they make eye contact, and following an impulse, he leans forward to kiss her on the cheek before thanking her for the gift. Mei looks like she's found a way to turn into a tomato and he waves goodbye before shutting the door. Later, he is preparing to go to bed when his phone starts blowing up with messages from Mei in all caps and occasionally a keysmash. He is impressed by her sheer determination, and all things considered, it is a good end to a bad day. Izuku texts her good night, and she responds with stay safe instead, which causes him to chuckle. Ensuring his alarm is set, he lies back in his bed and breathes in the lingering scent of his friend. If he closes his eyes, he can almost visualize her being here. He wonders what life will throw in his face as retaliation for being happy, and that is the last thought before he goes to sleep.
They walk to UA together for the third time and he thinks that this is going to become a habit. A pleasant one, unlike the many he has developed over the years. Dodging the media is easy enough, he just needs to slip on the plastic smile and let a little of the madness leak through and they part before him like they don't want to touch him. Mei follows in his shadow, and he pins a middle-aged, bald man with a particularly piercing glare when his hand almost brushes her in a way that could be considered sexual harassment. Mei remains oblivious to it all, and that is good, because she would definitely kick the pervert's ass and he would even help her as she did so. As per normal, they exchange goodbyes and a hug before he enters class 1-A. Almost immediately after he is spotted, Midoriya is swarmed with his classmates. Kirishima and Sero are chattering and using unnecessary hand gestures to "depict his awesomeness" while Ashido congratulates him on a job well done. Uraraka, Iida and Shinsou do not join the crowd, clearly still wary of a tongue lashing. Todoroki doesn't seem to care, but his gaze holds a hint of interest now and Midoriya meets it with an unspoken challenge in his eyes. Kaminari apologizes with a bashful grin on his face, while Yaoyorozu just bows and apologizes for underestimating him. Bakugou looks like he is trying not to spontaneously combust, and the already forming blade of ice digging into his spine and ruining his mood twists in its place(it seems like UA has yet again turned a blind eye to his misdeeds). He knows that it's all in his head, but that doesn't make it any easier to handle. After the chaos dies down, the people talking realize that he hasn't spoken a single word, he laughs, a short and bitter chuckle that creates a ring of empty space around him. He speaks, in a low and scathing tone. Midoriya evisceratesthose that congratulate him on his win, pointing out how they pitied the boy with a Quirk that injured himself, the basically Quirkless boy, only to suddenly be on his side after he proves his worth. Then he sinks his teeth into Kaminari.
He softly dismantles Kaminari's Quirk before everyone's rapidly paling faces, and points out how he is even more useless because he essentially becomes a brain-dead liability when he overuses his Quirk. Midoriya half-jokingly tells him that he's the one who's basically Quirkless, and uses it to see the reactions of his classmates to the word. The blond looks like he has been punched in the gut, and several others wince in sympathy, which only fans the flames of his building anger as he mentally marks those who react to the word Quirkless like it is a slur. Then, just for good measure, he decides to knock Yaoyorozu down a peg. This time it's actually for her own good, rather than shaming her like he did the hypocrites around him, but it probably won't appear to be constructive criticism to the rest. He doesn't care. Midoriya points out how she mistook his confidence for arrogance, and then proceeded to become complacent because she thought he was going to lose from the beginning. Then he scoffs and imitates her tone, guessing that she "thought it was obvious" after the Quirk Apprehension Test when Aizawa-sensei revealed that he wasn't going to expel anyone. The flinch means he's struck the target and he presses his advantage by laying down the cold, hard facts. That Aizawa-sensei expelled the entirety of his class the previous year, and amidst the gasps, he calmly tells her that she has no room to judge anyone else if she makes poor assessments due to arrogance and knowledge without experience. His piece said, he walks towards his desk and the students in his way back off, parting before him like he is radioactive. He slips his earbuds in and starts listening to music in order to drown out the words that he knows are coming from the others(how he's harsh, cold and unfair, for example). Soon enough, Aizawa-sensei walks in and pointedly avoids Midoriya's gaze.
The man tries to be dramatic by acting serious but in reality the task he has for them is picking the class presidents. Midoriya lays his head down and closes his eyes, cutting himself off from the rest of the world. He lets three songs run by before opening his eyes(about twelve minutes) and deadpanning at the number of votes next to his name. While Yaoyorozu has gotten three, he has somehow managed to get five. He wonders what exactly would possess his classmates to vote for him, scrutinizing their expressions carefully as he watches all of them from the front of the class. It clicks in his head and he restrains the snarl beginning to form on his face when he sees that people like Kaminari and Sero are looking exceptionally pleased with themselves. The age old tactic of indirectly bullying someone by placing them into a position of leadership they do not want and then tormenting the victim by making his job almost impossible to complete. In his mind, a snapshot of the class from the view he has surfaces, and he crosses out the people he knows are already against him. Yaoyorozu looks even more crushed when she realizes that she has lost to him, and he makes a mental note to apologize later. Aizawa-sensei unzips his sleeping bag and starts class, but not before telling him that Principal Nedzu wants to see him. He shrugs(and files away the fact that some members of the class look pleased that he's "in trouble"), leaving the classroom. He pops into 1-C briefly to check on Mei and yells at her not to blow anything up unless that's what it's supposed to do. She looks like she has had an epiphany, and Power Loader almost has a mental breakdown as Midoriya realizes he has just given Mei a loophole for the "no explosions" rule because you must have explosions if your gadget is meant to cause explosions. Apologizing to the poor man, he continues on his way.
Principal Nedzu's office looks no different from a regular one, and that's already unsettling enough. When the doors unlock just as he reaches it, warning sirens blare in his head. He quickly flicks through the plans in his head before knocking gently and stepping through. The beady eyes of the principal are already trained on him when he walks through the door, and they gleam with intelligence. And hunger. He can feel the rodent attempting to pick him apart from his mannerisms alone, and when the hunger intensifies, he knows that the mouse with the intelligence Quirk has either found something interesting, or nothing at all. He is unsure which one would be worse. Instead of taking the seat he has indicated, Midoriya decides that if he goes down he will go down swinging and takes the one next to it. Nedzu smiles, and it is an ugly, fake smile that does nothing to conceal the sadism he can sense. Midoriya smiles right back, and is pleasantly surprised when the mouse's expression changes almost immediately(to Nedzu, his smile is that of a hunter, a predator locked in a cage that won't hold him back if he wants to get out). In an attempt to remove Midoriya's advantage, he lashes out with the fact that Midoriya had been blackmailing his teacher and it would be the right and just thing for Nedzu to expel him and send him to juvenile prison. He shrugs at the accusation, saying that he would rather play a few illegal cards than just stand there and listen to Aizawa-sensei ignore Bakugou's misdeeds. Not letting Nedzu continue his line of questioning, he tosses one right back("Why hasn't Bakugou been punished?"). The principal blinks twice, before stating that Bakugou had to undergo mandatory counselling for his actions. Midoriya laughs, then asks if you would give counselling to a murderer. Nedzu is momentarily thrown off by the accusation, but recovers quickly enough to state that Bakugou was not a murderer. Bingo.
He ticks the points off on his fingers. Refused to admit defeat and used a weapon that could kill, even though his teammates were in the danger zone. Ignores All Might's warnings. Fires a second time, aimed directly at him. He concludes with the fact that he would be dead if he had not used his Quirk. Nedzu absorbs the argument, before casually saying that it proved nothing. Because there were no serious injuries. He feels another part of him snap at how callous the rat was being and mentions that he'll make sure to ask Recovery Girl if she thinks the same way. Nedzu's expression freezes for a fraction of a second, before he laughs and waves dismissively. Too bad Midoriya already saw the hint of panic in him and in his mind, he confirms the fact that the kindly old nurse was on his side. The principal tries to salvage the situation by saying that it was All Might's fault for not properly monitoring the exercise, attempting to divert his attention from Bakugou's lack of punishment. Unfortunately, this just sets the stage for his next point. He agrees with Nedzu that it is indeed All Might's fault, and asks him if the Symbol of Peace has the necessary credentials and teaching experience. When he doesn't get an answer, he asks aloud, almost mockingly questioning why someone would place a teacher with zero experiencing teaching in charge of the newest members of UA. He also makes another reminder to turn the recordings of this session into both transcripts and several audio copies before asking Nedzu why he had "requested" for Midoriiya to be here.
The principal, still trying to regain the advantage, mentions One for All(unsurprising, really) and how he "has concerns over Midoriya's abilities". Hence the "supervision". He snorts lightly, and tells Nedzu that at least he wouldn't become an animal without his Quirk. His opponent takes offence almost immediately and in the first display of emotion of the session, he snaps at Midoriya, saying he was no better than an animal with a Quirk. He just leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. Insults didn't exactly faze him anymore, and he had heard enough that none surprised him. Even the hurt that would come with one has been snuffed out after his heart was crushed. Nedzu does not apologize, because that would admit that he was in the wrong. Another point to Midoriya. Nedzu's last card is that his behaviour was unbecoming of a hero student, and rattles off excuses like antagonizing classmates and threatening teachers. It is only when he says that Midoriya has manipulated Mei into being his weapon does he seize the whole argument and throws it back into his smug face. He calmly states that this is rich coming from the guy who turned a blind eye to one of his teachers straight up telling his students that standing up for yourself would get into trouble, who allowed a teacher with zero credentials to teach the new generation, who records and sees everything in school from hidden cameras and microphones, including the ones monitoring their conversation. If this was a game of chess, Nedzu had already experienced his pieces being crushed, and his king encircled. He deals the final blow by casually mentioning how Bakugou had abused him, and that he had the scars to prove it, pulling up a sleeve to reveal a distinct handprint. He didn't think that Nedzu could turn white, but he can sense the rodent's apprehension even though his face doesn't change. He stands up and thanks Nedzu for his time, offhandedly mentioning that maybe he should do his job instead of trying to intimidate his students into bowing under the pressure.
He steps out of the room even though the principal has said nothing, and slips on the mask in his pocket. It unfolds and he relishes the sight of the files in it that have been plucked from the school's security system, including the recordings of their conversation. He thanks Mei, hearing her chuckle over the comms and chatises him for being almost too cryptic for her to figure out. He almost uploads the files to his phone, and Mei's but doesn't. It would alert the principal. So he saves a copy into a USB drive and plucks it from his mask, making sure to look like he is just tapping on the facepiece. He slides it to the side of his head, not bothering to retract the mask and makes his way back to class 1-A. Aizawa-sensei's period is already over, and it is Kayama-sensei(Midnight) who calls for him to enter the classroom when he knocks. She and the rest of the class can barely conceal their surprise at the addition to his wardrobe, and he can hear the rumour mill starting up as he returns the hall pass and the written letter of excuse to her. She nods, and to his surprise, slips a piece of paper to him. He acknowledges with an incline of his head, before returning to his desk. When he is certain no one is watching, even Hagakure(it's useful to have a sixth sense honed from escaping bullies), he checks the piece of paper to find a series of numbers. He assumes that it's a phone number and his curiosity is piqued. Filing the information away and making sure to tear the piece of paper into tiny scraps after memorizing the numbers, Midoriya starts writing notes.
He avoids everyone by climbing into a tree and eating the snacks he brought as a meal. Eventually, Mei finds him and clambers up and onto the branch he was sitting on. He fills her in on what she has missed, and when he mentions Kayama-sensei's actions, she jokingly says that the teacher is hitting on him. He gently bops her on the head and pretends to push her from the tree. Done with his pathetic attempt at a meal(he really needed more calories to keep up his muscle mass), he mentions the idea of dense energy bars to Mei before hopping off the tree. Before she can ask, he tells her that he needs to find someone, and waves goodbye.
He takes about six minutes to locate Yaoyorozu sitting next to Jirou, the two of them almost concealed in the corner of the canteen. He blends into the crowd, avoiding anyone who could recognize him before taking a seat at their table. Neither girl notices him until he clears his throat, too busy talking about something. Yaoyorozu jolts slightly, while Jirou curses. He apologizes briefly before asking Yaoyorozu if she was comfortable with Jirou listening to whatever he has to say. She seems to struggle briefly, before nodding. He takes a deep breath before apologizing for being too blunt with his criticism. He waves off her half-hearted attempts to deny the way his words had cut into her, and tells her that he wanted her to improve, hence the almost-insults. A light bulb seems to go off in her head and he can see the moment she realizes the reasoning behind his actions. He smiles, careful not to make it look like a weapon, before telling her that she needed to build up some self-confidence. He lists a couple of things he finds admirable about her to emphasise the point and excuses himself so that she can absorb the information dump. Jirou thanks him before he leaves for his actions on day one. He replies that it was the right thing to do.
He is in the midst of a crowd when the sirens blare and announce a level 3 emergency. Someone shouts that it means the school has been breached, and he quickly presses himself against a wall as the panicked students start to stampede. He almost snorts with disdain at how easily the future generation of heroes was turned into a panicking mob. Soon enough, Iida whizzes over everyone's heads and announces that it was just the press. He lets out a breath when the threat of being crushed disappears, and returns to class. An idea strikes him as people congratulate Iida for being amazing, and Aizawa-sensei is still shocked by seeing him unscathed after an encounter with Nedzu. He points out that Iida was a better role model than him, and gives up his position. Unfortunately for the ones who wanted to mess with him, enough people cheered him on so that Midoriya could successfully escape the chains of leadership. Aizawa-sensei still seems a little angry that Nedzu hadn't done anything to him, but he stays neutral enough to tell them that they were going to have rescue training tomorrow. Midoriya spaces out, his bullshit quota for the day fulfilled.
Even so, there is a sinking feeling in his chest that something is not right.
And that's the end of part 3. Apologies, this one is even longer. I was hoping to finish this in three parts, but it might start stretching to five or seven at this rate. I didn't know I held so much hate for the BNHA system. Maybe I'll put a rant about that in another AN. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. See ya.