Izuku took a deep breath as he stood by his bedroom door. He knew as soon as he exited his room, his mother would hound him with questions. Like if he only packed action figures, or if he packed enough tissues. Izuku felt embarrassed by the first question since he had done that in kindergarten when Inko was not paying attention. She continued to bring it up every year, much to his embarrassment. It was now or never; he had to make it on time to UA.
Izuku ran through the halls of UA, chanting 1-A in his head. He had known the school was huge, but the inside felt like a mountain rather than a school. Aldera Middle School was a dark pebble compared to this school and its windowed walls. Izuku's eyes had widened as he spotted the door to his classroom.
'What a giant door,' Izuku thought, 'Though I guess it has to be accessible to everyone, no matter the Quirk or size of a person.' He imagined the door was about twice the size of All Might and Fat Gum.
'I guess I should go in... Though the students in there are the elites from the exams.' Izuku had held his breath before he reached for the door. It felt like sweat was dripping from him as he gripped the doorknob. As soon as the door opened, an argument assaulted the quiet air of the hallway.
"Remove your feet from the desk this instant! It's disrespectful to former students and the craftsmen who created the desk!" Izuku watched the blue-haired student as he yelled at Katsuki and just shook his head as he walked over to an empty desk.
"You think I care! These desks are made to be durable," Katsuki yelled, "What middle school are you from anyway, EXTRA?!" Izuku awkwardly chuckled at the insult that Katsuki had used since middle school; it was solely used when a so-called 'Extra' said anything to him or so much as look in his direction.
"I'm Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy." Iida had made a gesture like a prince trying to escort a princess to a dance. It looked funny to Izuku, as he knew what Katsuki was like and what he was about to do as he stood from his chair.
"Somei?! I should blow your stuck-up ass to pieces!" As a gesture, Katsuki had produced small explosions from his palms. Izuku's chair suddenly clattered to the floor when he stood.
"Kacchan, don't!" Izuku called, "You could get expelled for fighting in a classroom!" The entire class had looked at him for the outburst, causing Izuku to hide behind his arms in embarrassment. His face felt like it was on fire. Katsuki scuffed before he sat back down and shot a glare at Izuku.
"He's right," a disembodied voice said, "This is the Hero Course! If you are here just to fight or socialize, then leave." Everyone was dead silent before a man wearing a yellow sleeping bag stood up in it behind the podium.
'How long was he there?!' the class thought collectively. They began to whisper among themselves but had stopped as the man glared at them.
"Eight seconds... All of you aren't very rational if you don't know the value of time. Now that that is out of the way, I'm Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher." Many students had given each other looks that roughly said, 'He's our homeroom teacher? Really?'
"Go change into your gym uniforms before heading to the grounds, and make it quick," Aizawa said, "I don't like wasting time." Every student quickly stood up and had begun to rush out of the room. Some of them were yelled at by Iida for 'running' in the school.
"It's not very manly to give orders when you aren't in charge."
"If they kept it orderly, I would not have to," Iida commented. He had begun chopping his arm as he spoke, which seemed to be a weird habit he had.
"Aizawa-Sensei said to hurry," Izuku said as he passed the two students. Without skipping a beat, they had joined him on his walk to the locker room.
"You've done your standard 'No Quirks Allowed Gym Tests', Correct?" Aizawa said. It had seemed rhetorical, so no one bothered to answer; they all knew what he was talking about anyway. Those tests consisted of Softball Throwing, Standing Long Jump, a couple of runs, just to name a few.
"This country still insists on doing these tests without Quirks when calculating the results, which isn't rational. They are just procrastinating the inevitable, since being a Hero had been a popular occupation for decades." Aizawa scanned his group of students before his eyes landed on Katsuki.
"Bakugo, how far could you throw in middle school?"
"Sixty Seven Meters." Aizawa had gestured for Katsuki to enter the circle beside him before throwing him a soft-ball.
"Great, now try it with your Quirk. As long as you don't leave the circle, you can give it all you got."
"Awesome," Katsuki said. He had given a cocky grin as he brought his arm back and threw it with all his might. At the last second, Katsuki let loose an explosion that had sent the ball flying into the air at an 80-degree angle with a "DIE!" After a minute, the ball had fallen to the ground; which caused Aizawa's phone to beep.
"705.2 meters!" the phone readout. Katsuki flashed a cocky smile in an attempt to say he was superior to the 'extras'.
"It's important to know your limits, so you know where to improve," Aizawa said. The students had begun clamouring about how the Hero Course and Katsuki were awesome, while Izuku was stuck in his thoughts.
'Great, my Quirk won't help at all. I'll be at the bottom of the score chart.'
"You're hoping to become Heroes in three years, but if you think it will all be fun and games? Then, you are wrong," Aizawa said, "If that's the case, the person with the lowest score will be deemed hopeless and will be expelled."
'Oh, god! I worked so hard, and I'll be expelled on the first day!' Izuku internally cried. He had to start thinking of back up schools now, or maybe they would let him into any of the other courses at UA.
"Alright, let's begin, student of UA's Hero Course!"
The first test Aizawa had them do was the 50-meter dash. Izuku had not been confident about this event, even more so as he saw Iida run through the course in 3.04 seconds. His best score in middle school had been about 7.49 seconds, which was a good score. Although most of his classmates beat that score by seconds.
'They're pushing their Quirks to the limits to see how far they've progressed. Now I can see what they are capable of,' Aizawa thought.
Izuku nervously swallowed as he and Katsuki stood on the starting line. His nerves were going to be his downfall in these exams, but he could not give up. Mirio was counting on him, as was All Might. There was no room for failure here, even if hope had been rapidly fading.
"Go!" Aizawa called. Both Katsuki and Izuku had begun running at the same time, but the former left the latter in the dust as he literally exploded forward. Izuku shut his eyes and ran as fast as his legs could push him.
"Bakugo, 4.13 seconds. Midoriya, 7.20 seconds." Izuku had gripped his gym pants tightly as he was breathing heavily from the run. That time was barely better than his middle school score, and it stung like a bee.
'There are seven more tests, but...' Izuku thought, 'Everyone will be able to use their Quirks to better their scores while I can't.' Izuku had felt tears prick his eyes as he walked towards his classmates to watch the final two students participate. What he did not notice was Aizawa watching him, as if the man was studying him. Izuku had continued to worry about being expelled as the tests continued.
Izuku had drawn in a deep breath as he held the grip strength machine. He wanted to draw out the best possible score he could, even if it was not great. It just had to be better than his previous score of 40kg (88.185lbs). As the machine beeped, Izuku raised it to see a score of 46kg (101.413lbs). He had not been feeling too bad about the score until he heard some classmates talking.
"540 kilos (1,190.5lbs)! Are you a gorilla?! Actually, you look more like an octopus."
"Octopus? Sexy." Izuku had to hide his disgust at the short kid's comment. Though that was not the only emotion running through him. He almost resigned right there, but ultimately he had decided not to give up just yet. There were six more, six more chances to prove himself.
Stomach lasers, reduced/zero gravity, explosions, whatever those head balls were; they all proved to outmatch Izuku even as he pushed himself passed his limits. Dejection had hit him like a truck, he was so outmatched. It almost seemed unfair that his Quirk was so limited.
'Dammit!' Izuku thought, 'I barely did better than my middle school scores. I'll be expelled after this last test...' He picked up his head just in time to see that Uraraka had thrown the ball to infinity and beyond. Yep, Izuku was right about his classmates being elites.
Izuku had picked up a ball after the invisible girl had thrown since Katsuki's throw from earlier was set as his score. He was beyond nervous, but he was determined to think of a solution to send the ball as far as he could. Izuku stepped into the circle as a plan sparked to life, hopefully, the ball was fireproof.
"Midoriya's not doing too well, is he?" Iida said. Katsuki had scoffed at the question, of course, he was not doing well.
"His Quirk may be good, but it isn't something that can help that idiot with these kinds of things," Katsuki said. Iida and Uraraka had looked at him as if wanting to elaborate, but Katsuki ignored them.
Izuku had placed a bandage on his thumb before he took a pitcher's stance. He gathered all of his strength and threw the ball. As the ball began its descent, Izuku snapped his fingers as he let out the deep breath he had taken earlier. A small fireball had begun to shot towards the softball before it encompassed it. With intense concentration, Izuku moved the ball as far as he could before he lost control of it.
"60 Meters!" Izuku had paled at that moment, he could not have pushed the ball more than an additional 20 meters. This was it, expulsion was waiting for him after this test was officially over.
"It's time to announce the results." Izuku had shut his eyes after that was said. It was obvious what was about to happen, or so he thought.
"I'm just going to show all of the results at once, it will take too long to go through them one by one," Aizawa said, "Also, I was lying about expelling someone." Most of the class froze in place at the shocking revelation.
"It was a logical ruse to pull out your best performances. Don't get me wrong though, I will expel any of you if you prove my assessment wrong."
"I guess that makes sense, but you really had us going there sensei," Uraraka said.
"Of course it was just a ruse," Yaoyorozu said, "Do you really think UA would allow students to be expelled on day 1?" Izuku had sighed in relief before the results appeared in the air via a hologram projection.
'Thank god Aizawa-Sensei was lying,' Izuku thought.
1 Yaoyorozu Momo | 11 Koda Koji
[Plus Ultra Cannon Positions!]
10 Uraraka Ochako | 20 Midoriya Izuku
At the end of the day, Izuku had been lost in his thoughts as he began to walk home. There was a lot to take in, especially the tests Aizawa made them take. He assumed if he had not used his Quirk, he would have definitely been expelled. It seemed like a logical assumption that Aizawa had noticed that was the only time he could have used his Quirk.
"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Izuku had jumped at the sudden voice, but he calmed down when he saw it was Iida.
"Not at all."
"I have to say, Aizawa-Sensei really got me. It made me think that was how this school was operated, but now I can see that a teacher can encourage with deception; I can only hope he doesn't make a habit of it." Izuku had only nodded when he deemed it necessary, as he listened to Iida talk. It was not long before another student decided to join them.
"Hey guys, wait up! Are you headed for the station?" Uraraka said. Izuku and Iida stopped as they had waited for her to join them.
"You're that infinity girl, right?"
"My name's Uraraka Ochako! You must be Iida Tenya, and I already know Midoriya from the entrance exam." Izuku happily smiled as the group had continued on their way to the station making small talk as they went. It was this exact moment that made him glad that lady luck shined down on him in his time of need.
A/N: I know Izuku's scores are pathetic even though he has been training in a gym, but remember he was not working out as much as he had in the canon material. If you do have thoughts on this chapter, I would love to hear them, even if you think something should be changed. Do not be afraid to let me know, I promise I do not bite if I am given criticism (as long as it is constructive :P).