4) First Day

Thoughts

"Whispering"

"Talking"

Shiyano lay on his bed, unmoving, still trying to process what the Director had told him just a couple of hours ago.

Nyie had been ecstatic when he had told her the news, she was so proud of him, even though he did not do the entrance exam but merely got in due to a technicality, a student being expelled. Still, that didn't make her any less happy for him, which in turn had made Shiyano happy. He had a good day.

Yes, he would be going to U.A., in three days, as a hero student. It was simply unbelievable. He had killed more people than any villains in the past twenty-five years, but they still sent him to U.A., the best hero school in the country, maybe in the whole world.

Why? Because they thought he would "warm up" and make friends with the hero students that they would be a good influence on him, Shiyano understood that, but this still felt surreal to him.

He thought about it, a long time, but still couldn't warp his mind around it.

And he wasn't even sure he wanted to become a hero. Sure, if he wanted, he could probably become one. Underground heroes weren't widely known, which would be perfect for him, it'd allow him to have a quiet and simple life, exactly like he wanted.

For that he would have to become strong, but Shiyano always knew he would have to become strong to stand a chance at controlling his future. That's why he had trained earnestly for the past years, and also to not accidentally kill people anymore.

Going to the hero school would also allow him to use his quirk more freely, something he craved, despite the inherent evilness of it, people weren't wrong when they said quirks were like another member or organ, and being deprived of it is never a pleasant experience, even in cases like Shiyano's.

Finally more or less decided about his future, he decided finally try to fall asleep. After all, he would be starting in only three days after.

The next few days passed in a blur, Shiyano had to buy uniforms, which needed to be custom-made because of the five quirk-suppressing rings that never left his right arm, and also order a hero costume and prepare anything else he might need for school, in top of his usual training. He had been busy.

But it was finally time for his first day at school, but not any school, U.A.! It would be a lie to say he wasn't excited, because he certainly was, it had been a long time since he had been at school. Ever since the incident at school five years ago, he had been educated directly in Project 4511 with the other kids there.

No, he wasn't the only child in Project 4511, but he was the first one and by far the most dangerous one. The others had similar situations to him, dangerous quirks that got out of control and caused great damage, often times resulting in deaths, but no one had the sheer raw power he had, he was the only one who still had to wear quirk-suppressing rings on his arms.

Thus, the other kids feared him, he was at least a couple of years older than even the second oldest and they knew very little about his quirk, only that it was the reason why the facility was created in the first place and that he had killed dozens of people. Those factors made socializing almost impossible, especially considering Shiyano wasn't the most social nor pleasant individual there was.

Said teen let his thoughts wander for a bit while he prepared for his first day of school, wondering how would be his classmates and teachers. He really didn't care about his classmates a lot, he had met a lot of different people in his life; some that pitied him, some that feared him, some that hated him, so it didn't matter what they thought of him, as long as they left him alone.

It was something else for the teachers, though, if they hated him, it would make his school life much less pleasant and quiet, it just wouldn't be a fun experience overall. They only knew that he had a very dangerous quirk, but nothing more about him, so they shouldn't hate him…maybe.

And there was one he was very curious about, Eraserhead who had the ability to erase quirks, which was certainly powerful.

The man, in addition to being a teacher, he was also an underground hero, so he was the only member of the faculty that Shiyano would be interested to have a chat with.

Mostly because he was an underground hero, something that interested Shiyano, but his quirk certainly was also fascinating. Though the scientists didn't know if it would be useful on Shiyano, something about his quirk being of an unknown, almost unheard type, a mix of emitter, transformation and mutant. They were really unsure about the potential effects of erasure on his quirk, so they had prompted the teacher not to use it on him unless absolutely needed.

Still thinking about U.A., the teen, now student, finished putting on his uniform, a white shirt with a grey jacket and a tie. Well, he chose not to wear the tie at all, he hated them and to unbutton his jacket. What were they gonna do, expel him?

Finally ready for school, he tried to get out of the complex stealthily, but was unfortunately unsuccessful, he was caught by Nyie, who eyed him critically as soon as she saw him.

"Unacceptable! Where is your tie? And button up that jacket, you look like a delinquent! You'd better not get into fights! The school and Director Yuio won't be happy, and you may be switched out for another student! And try to have fun, high school is supposed to be the best years of your life…"

"Yes, yes, yes Grandma Nyie…"

"And, most of all, good luck. Especially in making friends, this is a new start for you, nobody here will know about you, so try to socialize a bit, okay? You'll realize that having friends really is worth it…"

"Yes…-sigh-…I'll try, Grandma, now can you let me go, you wouldn't want me to be late on my first day, wouldn't you?"

The elderly woman reluctantly let him go, mumbling about disrespectful youngsters under her breath.

Shiyano walked out of Project 4511, thinking about what his grandma had told him, realizing that while it would be nice to make friends, he wouldn't deny that, it most likely wouldn't happen. Even while heavily suppressed, his quirk functioned as a deterrent for most people, making them feel uncomfortable in his presence the first few times they were near him.

But those were just excuse, the teen, deep down, knew he would be able to make friends if he tried…

He was in denial.

Shiyano looked at the ridiculously large door a moment before uncaringly pushing it open.

I get that some people have gigantification quirks but isn't this a bit overboard…The thought crossed him mind before he simply dismissed it, it was probably to intimidate students or something, not that he cared.

He entered the classroom, noticing he was one of the first ones there, there only was a girl with a spiky ponytail and a tall guy with blue hair present. Uh, I could've had ten more minutes of sleep…

He walked toward the left of the class, intending to take a seat in the middle of the utmost left row, but was interrupted midway by the blue-haired teen, who, now that Shiyano looked at him, seemed a bit snobbish and obviously came from a privileged background, it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

"You, -Shiyano looked at him in confusion- What are you doing with such disgraceful object inside this privileged institution! It is shameful for you to bring this item here, inside this establishment, the hero school that created some of the greatest heroes of our time!"

Shiyano realized that he sill had his bloodied baseball bat on his shoulder and that the two were eyeing him a bit weirdly. It seemed he had unconsciously brought his bat here. Some habits never die, I guess…

He had to hold back his laugh as he heard the way the other teen talk, if he wasn't sure before, now he was sure that he was born with a golden spoon. And the face he was making was quite funny, so Shiyano decided to "play" his game.

"Ah this?," he said, pointing at the still blood tainted weapon on his shoulder.

"Yes, this thing," he spat with disgust. "And what are those rings one your arm? And your tie! Jacket! How utterly disgraceful! This is not the uniform befitting this prestigious school…"

Shiyano, being shouted at for virtually no reasonable reason, was quite baffled at the moment, he understood that he seemed like a delinquent, and was kind of one, in fact, but it didn't excuse the other guy's attitude, so he decided to mess with him a bit…

"You see, not every one of us here was born in a 'distinguished' and 'privilged' household and district," Shiyano started, putting a lot of emphasis on the two words, "So to be sure I come to school safe, I need to bring this, you see. Otherwise I'm not sure if I would be safe when I walk to school. And about the ring, that's not of your fucking business. Finally, have you read the school rules? If you had, you'd know that there is nothing preventing me from wearing my uniform like this. Now, could you please move, I'm trying to get to my desk. And I think that there are other students arriving that you can harass instead of me…"

Of course, Shiyano had pulled the last part about the uniform straight out of his ass, but it really didn't matter much in this context. Yes, it was entirely possible the teen who had shouted at him really did read the rule booklet, but then what? He would shout at him again?

To say the rude guy was shocked was quite the understatement, his mouth was still partway opened, as if he would continue his tirade at any moment, but he didn't produce any sounds and his face was as red as a tomato. And fortunately, his message seemed to have the intended effect, as he left him alone and started greeting or harassing, it wasn't very clear, the other arrivals.

A few minutes of this charade later, that Shiyano had spent cleaning his weapon of the blood stains, the teacher finally arrived in front of the class's door, in a sleeping bag, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else than in a class full of wannabe heroes. Shiyano was already liking the guy.

He looked up from his weapon for the first time in a couple of minutes and had the opportunity to take a good look at the class. It was hard to tell what they were like as he didn't know them yet but they all seemed pleasant enough…until he noticed an obnoxious blond-haired boy that he could swear he had already seen somewhere.

He was shouting at some meek green-haired boy about…something, it didn't look very pleasant.

Scrunching up his brows, he tried to recall exactly who the boy could be until he remembered…he was a bully that he had beaten up a couple of days ago! If that wasn't ironic then Shiyano didn't know what was, it would certainly make up an interesting year and if the bully tried something again, well, Shiyano wouldn't mind reminding him of the last time they "fought". Though the scar above his nose told a lot.

It looked like the bully either hadn't noticed Shiyano or was simply ignoring him, it was impossible to tell which.

Shiyano was promptly expelled of his murderous thoughts when the teacher finally entered the classroom.

"If you're here to socialize, then get out…This is…the Hero Course."

It took a couple of seconds for the whole classroom to shut up and understand that the one that had just spoken was their teacher, and would be for the remaining of the year. Once they processed what they were seeing, though, everyone quieted pretty quickly.

"It took eight seconds for you to quiet down. Time is a precious resource, you lot aren't very rational, are you? I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, pleased to meet you. Now that the introductions are done, change into your gym clothes and head to the grounds. Quickly, time is precious…"

The command of the teacher was met with surprise from most of the class, but everyone just went with it and went to the changing rooms.

I already like this teacher…

A few minutes later, as Class 1-A got out of the locker's room and walked toward the training grounds, discussion erupted amongst the members of the class, people socializing and getting to know each other.

Shiyano, not the social type found himself walking at the back of the group of students and was a bit surprised when he noticed someone walking alongside him, at his left, who seemed equally not interested in socializing. Said person was a lithe teen, with a normal, albeit slim body but the head of a black bird, probably a raven or a crow. After they exchanged the usual greetings, they reached a silent tacit agreement not to speak to the other, as they both preferred quiet.

Sadly for the white-haired youth, his wish did not stay true very long, as their classmates finished introducing themselves to each other and finally remarked them.

"Yo, what's your name? Mine's Kirishima. Come here, with the rest of us!" A red-haired classmate said with way too much energy for Shiyano's liking.

"I'm Shiyano Monoki. And, no, I'm good here." Shiyano replied coldly, making it clear that he was absolutely not interested in his offer.

"Ok bro, no problem! But you gotta tell us, what are those rings on your right arm, we were all wondering. You see, Urakaka here thinks they're part of your quirk but I think they're not, though I have no idea to be honest…" Kirishima asked again, gesturing at the five one inch think metal rings on Shiyano's arm, the first one being a bit below shoulder and the last one on his wrist.

As Shiyano was being questioned, most of the class had paid attention and were now looking at him with curiosity.

Oh great, now everyone wants to know about me…Yay… -sigh- I'll tell them the truth, it's not like they won't eventually find out. And there's not use in keeping it a secret, as it's not one. At least this should get them to shut up…

"Oh, those are…"

He was interrupted when a pink-skinned girl began talking, with wide-eyed, obviously surprised by something.

"Are those like, quirk suppressing rings? I had one when I awakened my quirk, apparently people don't like being shot acid at. They're really not pleasant to wear, I had only one, and I couldn't feel my quirk at all! Those looks like quirk-suppressing rings, but I've never seen any this big, and this many on a single person! I'm Mina Ashido by the way."

-sigh-

"Yeah, those are quirk suppressing rings, my quirk is too dangerous to be let loose. In fact, the only reason why I'm here is that they don't want me to become a villain. So, before you ask, I'll answer your questions. No, I'm not a villain. No, I didn't do the entrance exam. No, I won't tell you what my quirk is, I'm not allowed to. Yes, I replaced one of your supposed classmates, but he was expelled because of sexual harassment, so I doubt you'd want him in your class. Any other questions? Great, because I won't be answering them."

Shiyano's rant temporarily silenced the class, and, most importantly, it got the point across, and the teen in question really hoped they wouldn't bother him anymore, but he knew it was a futile wish.

Also, the point about him not being allowed to tell others about his quirk was kind of true, they mostly didn't want him shouting on rooftops that his quirk could easily kill thousands, it would be the easiest way for him to become known by villains. Though he could still tell people whom he trusted.

Unbeknownst to him, who wasn't paying attention to his classmates, the explosion boy was seething in rage at the moment, he had just recognized Shiyano, when he had made his short speech, he was hard to forget after all, with his powerful build and white hair, and the "former" bully just wanted to explode him, but he also knew it would be the easiest way to get himself expelled.

So he waited and promised himself that he would get his revenge, not matter how long it took.

Fortunately, before anyone had the time to harass Shiyano more, or attack him, they finally arrived in front of the teacher, who stood, waiting in front of a field, looking immensely bored and done with life.

"I see you had the time to socialize… Be faster next time. Anyways, today, we're doing a Quirk Assessment test, any questions?"

The class was mostly surprised and deterred at the teacher's announcement, with a few of them looking positively sick and way too nervous for their own good. It was only a Quirk Assessment test, no one would be expelled…

And it's not like there was anyone quirkless here either. And if there was, they probably would be very fit or have a kind of advantage that negated them not having a quirk.

Just as the teacher was about to continue his explanation, a student got out of her stupor and managed to question him.

"What about the entrance ceremony or guidance sessions?" Urakaka asked, not yet over her surprise and confusion.

"No time to waste on that if you want to become heroes. And also, teachers at U.A. can do basically whatever they want and I don't want to do the entrance ceremony and the likes of it. Got it?"

Silence

"Good, the test itself will be simple: softball throwing, standing long jump, fifty-meter dash, endurance running, grip strength test, side-to-side stepping, upper body training and seated toe touch. All activities you did in middle school. Except this time, you can use your quirk however you want. We're at a hero school, and heroes use their quirk, so let loose. Understood?"

Silence

"Bakugou, how far could you throw in middle school?"

"About sixty-seven meters." The explosion blond-haired boy replied with a grin on his face.

So that was his name…

"Great, now try with you quirk."

Bakugou got into the circle and, with a mighty roar of "DIE!", he exploded the ball into the sky. Literally. And it was a sizeable explosion to boot, there was no denying that, as much as Shiyano disliked the boy, he had to admit that his quirk was something to behold.

And it produced results to match, sending the ball over the horizon, it was a good thing that U.A.'s campus was huge.

Aizawa, the homeroom teacher, watched the explosion, apathetic, and held a counter, which measured an impressive 705.2 meters.

"It's important for everyone to know their limits, especially when deciding what type of hero you want to be in the future."

"So we can use our quirks for real? Man, this is awesome, it's gonna be so much fun!"

The moment his classmate spoke, Shiyano knew, they, whoever they were, had made a mistake, mentioning "fun" and "awesomeness" clearly wasn't the best idea considering how cynic Aizawa was.

And he was proven right…

"Awesome you say…You think being a hero is awesome and fun? I'm gonna do something fun… Whoever gets last place is expelled…Fun isn't it? And don't argue about unfairness of it, life is unfair. So I hope you're all ready to have fun, because your fates are in my hands…For the next three years."

It seems I was wrong about the school expelling anyone, maybe this will be fun after all…But wow, that really killed the mood.

And boy, it did. A deathly silence hung in the air, everyone processing what the teacher had announced. Contrarily to most of his fellow students, Shiyano wasn't worried at all, he knew that, while he definitely wouldn't end up first, he certainly wouldn't be last either so he was fine. And also, even if he did end up last, he probably wouldn't be expelled either, he was a special case.

"You better do your best, because U.A. won't accept any less."

And on that note, the trial truly began.

The first trial was the fifty meters dash, nothing special.

Once his name was called, Shiyano positioned himself at the starting line, in a sprinting stance, ready to dash at full speed.

"Start"

Shiyano darted across the field in superhuman speed, focused on being the fastest he could possibly be.

And fast, he was, once he crossed the finishing line, he looked at the recording device and was quite surprised by the result: 3.86 seconds.

Wow, I'm impressed by myself, really, I never would've guessed sub-four seconds…

And he was not the only one surprised, the others were looking at him weirdly, probably thinking something along the line of "Wasn't he supposed to have his quirk suppressed? What is his quirk?"

An often forgotten and most unusual aspect of his quirk was his increased strength, resistance and endurance, since his quirk just wasn't that, and while his quirk was very heavily suppressed, he was still a couple of times the equal of a normal human, especially since he was also in very good physical condition.

Why did his quirk give him extraordinary capabilities? Well, that was a complicated question and Shiyano himself wasn't completely sure of the answer himself, but he sure wasn't complaining about it.

The second event was grip strength, which was nothing complicated nor special. Shiyano got a good grip on the handgrip dynamometer, the machine which measured his grip strength and gripped as hard as he could. Yet again, he was amongst the best, but not quite at the top of the class, with a grip strength of 205 kg.

The next event was the standing long jump, something that doubtlessly wasn't Shiyano's best ability. Consequently, he only jumped a less impressive 2.67 meters, putting him at the best amongst those that didn't use their quirks, but still worse than those that had quirks suited for it, which was a surprisingly high portion of the students.

Similarly, the fourth event, sidestepping, wasn't the white-haired teen bread and butter, but it wasn't really the specialty of anyone, so he again got a good score, but not the top.

During the first few trials, some students sill watched him, trying to guess what his quirk was, but they quickly found more interesting things to do or people to watch, as it seemed that his quirk was simply enhanced strength. Likewise, during each of the events, he had observed his classmates, to know of their quirks, but it really was at the fifth event that it became interesting.

It was ball throwing, and while Shiyano wasn't very good at it, he was still inhumanly strong, so he threw it 246 meters forward, which wasn't bad, but again, not the best.

Then, a girl got infinity by cancelling the gravity on the ball, making it weightless, and another one made a freaking canon out of nothing? It was her quirk, and there must've been more to it, but it was still mind-boggling for Shiyano.

But for him, the truly interesting part was when a supposedly quirkless? boy (Deku, if he recalled correctly), at his second attempt, threw the ball more than 700 meters. While that was certainly impressive, the weird part was that it cost him his finger, making him wonder if this Deku truly was suited to become a hero.

At least he assuredly had the spirit, and it was one of the most important things to become a hero, so…He would probably work something out.

Oh and the fact that he was attacked by the bully immediately after definitely was an interesting development, something that Shiyano would keep in mind, those two no doubt had history, and it wasn't hard when you knew Bakugou to guess what type of history they had together.

The rest of the testes were pretty straight forward and done quickly, with no additional drama, and Shiyano still getting pretty good results in them, better than average by a pretty good margin, especially since they were more physically oriented, which was more in line with Shiyano's capabilities.

It was finally time for the result, and to see who would be expelled, Shiyano honestly wasn't worried it would be him, he knew it wouldn't, but was still curious to see how he fared compared to the others.

But before announcing the results, Aizawa spoke again.

"Time for the result, it's the usual, a combination of your results on each of the eight tests, explaining everything would be too long, simply a waste of time, so here are the results…"

And he did well, surprisingly getting sixth place, behind a boy who could run very fast and after the only guy in his class who was a minimum pleasant, Tokoyami. The last one was, unsurprisingly, that "Deku" boy, who, while he had a powerful quirk, was not very fit and did very poorly on most of the tests.

Too bad for him. He really looked devastated. Shiyano thought he would feel pity for him but…no. Nothing, he was agreeing with Aizawa on this one, and this boy clearly hadn't been training for a long time, just looking at his build would tell that to anyone. Everyone in this class had probably trained longer than him, so if someone was to be expelled... And the fact that he had a self-destructive quirk didn't help.

Too bad for him, really.

…

"Also, I was lying about expelling someone. That was a rational deception…to bring out the best in each and every one of you."

Aizawa grinned evilly and it was evident that he definitely enjoyed doing this each year, with the new students… Shiyano found himself liking his teacher more and more.

Well, good for Deku…It seems he'll be going one more day to U.A. It seems we'll all be going one more day to U.A. Maybe school won't be too bad after all.

Later that day, at night-time.

Grandma Nyie verified once last time that Shiyano was really deep in the embrace of Morpheus, looking at the machines that constantly monitored him before, as she did every other night, entering his room and gently putting her hand on his forehead.

She sighed, deeply, but then again, as she did every other night, steeled her resolve, told her it was for the greater good, and she used her quirk, its true use, not the lie she told nearly everyone.

Her quirk was the real reason why she had been chosen as Shiyano's caretaker.

White light poured from her palm, entering Shiyano's head and she began whispering, as if she was reciting a mantra…

"I do not feel guilty for the past destruction caused by my quirk…I do not feel rejection of my quirk…I do not hate my quirk…I do not hate Project 4511…I will be confident in myself…I want to help others…I will protect those that need protection…I will fight those that need to be fought…I will protect those that I love…I love grandma Nyie…"

The light disappeared, and Grandma Nyie left the room, blinking away an unshed tear.

It is for the greater good, she told, no convinced herself, as she always did.

It is for the greater good…