-1week later-

It's been... a lot easier to hide his sudden quirklessness than he thought it would be. Apparently the excuse, "I don't want to rely on it" is acceptable enough to get him through every training period they've had so far.

Was he really that physically incompetent before? If so, why didn't anyone say anything? This is honestly kind of insulting.

"Time's up."

Izuku pauses from punching the punching bag and looks iver his shoulder to where Mr. Aizawa is staring at his phone. The other students pause as well.

Kaminari is the first to start forward. "Whoo! This was fun and all, but I can't wait to go back to class."

The rest of them follow suit and soon enough everyone is leaving the USJ and getting onto the bus.

Climbing the stairs, he looks around and sees Uraraka and Iida chatting in one of the rows. He's about to go over to them when someone grabs his arm.

Yelping, he's pulled onto one of the seats lining the side of bus. Asui is sitting right next to him, hand on his arm.

"O-oh hey T-Tsu." He says nervously, "W-what's up?"

She hmm's and then says, "Not much, I just wanted to see how you're doing. I've noticed you haven't been using your quirk."

Izuku laughs nervously. "I-I've been doing great! And about my q-quirk, this past week I've been training my body to get stronger so I don't have to rely on it so much. It won't be of much use during the sports festival anyways."

Asui tilts her head, "Why's that? Ribbit."

He scratches the back of his head. "Well, I can't exactly bring paper with me into the sports festival, not without a lot of paperwork at least. Hero course students aren't allowed to bring stuff to the festival without it being cleared by one of the teachers."

Asui looks up thoughtfully, "That makes sense, I guess."

"Yeah, it wouldn't exactly be fair to the other classes." Izuku agrees.

Silence reigns as the last of the students board the bus as it starts moving. Their other classmates are chatting to each other and ignoring the two completely, leaving them to come up with something themselves.

Suddenly something pop into his mind and shifts so that he's facing Asui more. "So you, Uraraka and Mina have been talking a lot."

Asui seems surprised at the topic, but then nods. "Yup. Mina was really the one to start talking to each of us and things just went from there. It's kind of nice, ribbit. I didn't really have a lot of friends at my old school."

Izuku blinks, surprised. "Really? I would've thought you'd have lots of friends."

She shakes her head. "No. I had to focus most of my time on studying and taking care of my siblings, ribbit. I never had the time to stay after school and make friends."

This threw Izuku for a loop. "Wait, where are your parents?" He may not have any experience with parents himself, but he thought they were supposed to take care of their kids, not the kids themselves.

Asui looks kind of uncomfortable, but she continues anyway. "My parents travel a lot for work, so they aren't home most of the time. So it falls upon me to look after my younger siblings."

Is that what all parents are like? No, he knows he's heard of other parents looking after their kids. Maybe they're just in a unique situation, like he is. Still, he wants to ask.

Lowering his voice he leans closer to her. "Um, is that a common thing? Or is that just happening to you?"

Asui looks at him in confusion and surprise, but then understanding crosses her face. "No," she croaks out, "it's not a common thing. Most parents stay home and take care of their kids, but I'm not the only one in this situation. It's kind of complicated, ribbit."

Izuku lowers his head in thought, "I think I understand. Most kids have their parents to look after them, but not everyone is the same. I know that. So some kids have the same situation, and I'm guessing some have it worse too."

Asui nods, "Like you."

Heat roses to his face and he quickly hiss it with his hands. "Not so loud! There are other people!"

Asui hums, "None of them are paying attention to us, and we're almost to the school anyway."

Izuku curls into himself, embarrassment tugging at his guts, "Still! What if they were?"

"They weren't, ribbit." Asui replies.

He doesn't know how to respond to that, but luckily the bus stops right at that moment, giving Izuku an out. Uncovering his face, a blush still dusting his cheeks, he faces Asui. "O-oh, well it been nice talking to you, T-Tsu."

She nods. "Likewise."

By this point everyone is crowding towards the front so Izuku quickly tries to leave through a gap, but Asui stops him. "Remember, ribbit, I'm watching." She lets go and slips past him and off the bus.

Izuku gulps and hesitantly follows. Her comment makes him nervous for some reason. He knows how to hid his wounds from watchful eyes, has had it drilled into him, but some part of him truely believes that she'll be able to spot anything, no matter how well he hides it. It's really making him nervous.

Thank god nobody's found out the real reason he can't use his quirk. It's the small things in life that one must appreciate.

Then again, having your quick taken away is a pretty out there theory.

Stepping off the bus, he looks around once more, finding Asui chatting innocently with Mina and Hagakure. He looks away and walks forward to allow other students off the bus and ends up standing near the edge of the group. The others all seem to be happy talking to each other so he just decides to pass the time by touching up his mental schedule for the next week. In order to perform his best at the school festival, he has to constantly be on top of his training. Like Mr. Aizawa said, slacking off is not an option.

"Alright class, you can go back inside now." Came the deadpan voice of Mr. Aizawa.

They all go inside and gather up their things. There's a few minutes left until the bell rings, so Izuku takes out his notebook and turns to a random page. He lands on Bakugou's. Raising and eyebrow, he shrugs it off and picks up his pencil.

Touching up the details on Bakugou's profile, not really having anything better to do, he completely zoned out. He almost misses the ringing of the bell and has to quickly shove his pencil and notebook back into his backpack. Zipping it up, he quickly joins the students trying to leave, but because of his delay, ends up near the very back. Even from here he can see the already congested hallway.

He huffs. How do people get out of their classrooms so fast?

Eventually he makes it out and tries not to get trampled on his way to his next class. Thankfully his entire class is in front of him so they mostly clear the way of oncoming traffic. Other students push at his back and sides though, making him almost fall multiple times.

They make it to the classroom and he breaths a sigh of relief that he didn't die. They cross the hall to file in, creating a traffic jam and he almost dies when most of the class is inside and students push their way past him.

Getting inside the classroom, he takes a moment to steady himself and make sure that he didn't get any injuries after that stampede. Sometimes he just has to make sure.

Afterwards he makes his way over to his desk, not even noticing how some of his classmates glance at him. Sitting down, he leans back and relaxes.

Class starts soon after the bell rings and he puts all of his focus into taking notes. It's one of the only things he's good at, after all.

Shutting the door behind him, he trudges to his room, feet scuffing the wooden floor. He almost makes it when Shigaraki appears from the shadowy hallway. He has the hand on his face.

"Hello, Izu." He says creepily.

Izuku freezes. "T-Tou-nii." He greets. "Do you, um, need something?" He really hopes not.

"Hmm, I don't," he says and Izuku nearly sages in relief, "but Sensei does."

Izuku feels flood his veins. "W-What does S-Sensei want with m-me?"

Shigaraki scoffs. "How would I know?"

He just shrugs.

The pale male looks away, obviously annoyed. "Annoying little brat." He says under his breath.

Izuku starts shuffling towards his room, only a few paces away. "Weeelll, I'm just gonna put my stuff dooo-oh!"

A yelp escapes him as Shigaraki wraps three fingers around his arm and tugs him towards the bar. "Oh no you don't. You're talking to him right now."

"But don't I need to go to the television room?!"

"Nope."

They stop in front a small television that Izuku had seen the recruits watching the news on before. Glancing around, Izuku notices that Kurogiri is minding the bar as usual, not even glancing up at them, and Shigaraki is looking at the tv screen expectantly, fingers still gripping Izuku's arm.

Izuku is just standing there awkwardly, not really knowing what he is supposed to be doing.

All of a sudden the screen comes to life, the out line of a person just visible beyond the static. "Shigaraki." It says. And Izuku's jaw nearly drops, because that is Sensei's voice. How come they never told him they could do this?! This is very important!

Shigaraki looks very happy as he responds. "Father." he says. And This surprises Izuku. He's never heard any of Shigaraki's conversations with Sensei before. Has he always called him father?

The figure that he now knows is Sensei shifts slightly. "Izuku." He says in a disappointed tone. As if Izuku didn't even deserve to have his name spoken aloud.

Izuku nods, taking the insult in stride. "S-Sensei."

"Hmm, straighten up, boy. If you're going to talk, don't stutter like an illiterate child." Venom laces his voice and Izuku quickly obeys.

Fixing the slump in his shoulders he lifts his head, but not too much now. That could be seen as rebellious. "Yes sir."

Seemingly satisfied for now, Sensei continues. "I've come to realize that hiding your quirklessness for the rest of your time at Yuuei would be... problematic. So I've come up with a proposition." Izuku feels hope rise in his chest and he unconsciously leans forward.

"Due to concerns I've had, I've decided that if you do well in the sports festival, you will show me your notes on your classmates and teachers at Yuuei. If they are satisfactory, I shall give you your quirk back."

Izuku's heart practically soars out of his chest. He can get his quirk back! But then it faltered and comes crashing back down. In order to get it back, he'll actually have to do well in the sports festival. And as a quirkless student no less. What Sensei is asking of him will be nearly impossible.

"That is all." The screen turns black.

Shigaraki chuckles from beside him and Izuku notices that at some point he had let go of his arm. "You really are in a pickle, aren't you? I'll enjoy watching you get torn to shreds."

Anger overflows from his chest and he glares at Shigaraki. In that moment he promises to himself that he will prove Shigaraki wrong, that he will prove everyone wrong. Just because he is quirkless doesn't mean he will let everyone trample all over him.

With his mind made up, he turns away from Shigaraki and walks determinedly towards his room. Shigaraki is laughing behind him as he walks away. "What's the matter Izu? Are you going to cry? That's all you've ever been, a crybaby. You've always cried too much. Only weaklings cry."

Izuku doesn't say a word. Instead of the tears he expects to come to his eyes, his fists clench and a fire rages inside of him. He will get his quirk back.

No matter what.

-1 week later-

"Hey Izuku!"

He turns and sees Uraraka walk up to him. He's just entered the gate so he's surprised Uraraka was able to spot him so fast.

"Hello." He greets awkwardly.

She grabs him by the arm and starts tugging him forward. "Come on! The class is waiting!"

It turns out that Kirishima was right when he was talking about this becoming a daily thing. Every day since then they've waited for everyone to get here and they all go up as a class. It's actually quite nice. Some of his classmates are saying that it makes them feel included and part of the class. Izuku personally finds that strange, but to each their own, I guess.

Everyone waves as he comes closer and he shyly waves back. About half the class is here, so he will have to wait a while before they go up. Which is perfectly fine to him, it doesn't make much of a difference, but he just worries sometimes if they will be late because they do this. But it's not like Mr. Aizawa can punish all of them, right?

...Actually, he doesn't want to know the answer to that.

Shaking that thought from his head, he greets his classmates when they arrive and soon gets swept up into the many conversations going on. He smiles, he likes the casual talk he has with his classmates. It makes him feel normal. It's strange, really. He's never gotten to just be normal before.

He decides he likes it.

They go up to the classroom and they enter the room. Mr. Aizawa isn't there yet, so they just do what they usually do and sit down in their assigned seats. Nobody talks to him as he sits down so he just pulls out his notebook again. He flips to a random page and nearly groans when he lands on Bakugou.

Again?!

He's been landing on Bakugou a lot this past week. It's almost as if his notebook is trying to tell him something.

Which is completely ridiculous. It's a notebook.

Staring down at the almost filled page, he ponders on what he could put down this time. Almost all of the information he knows is down already, and his picture is practically perfect.

Bakugou's is currently talking to Kirishima and Sero about something, most likely the sports festival. He's just half heartily listening when he hears Bakugou call Kirishima "hair-for-brains." Blinking, Izuku suddenly remembers that Bakugou has names for almost all of their class. And as much as he hates to admit it, the nicknames Bakugou's created for their classmates has kind of stuck. Sometimes Izuku almost calls people by the names. Not that he wants to! They just are so physically fitting that sometimes the nicknames stick more than their actual names.

It may not be important, but it's something he hasn't already written down, so he might as well.

Writing down the nicknames, he takes a moment to admire how absurd some of them are. One of the weirdest ones is raccoon eyes. It's for Mina, and he can tell why Bakugou chose that name, but still. Raccoon eyes?

He's just writing down the last one(he filled in the ones he didn't know as extra. It's seems to be what Bakugou calls most people who don't get a special nickname.) when the bell rings and Mr. Aizawa walks in, bandages still covering his entire face. Honestly, Izuku has gotten more used to the bandages than he has his actual face. It's kind of weird. Everyone falls quiet in anticipation.

"As I'm sure all of you know, the sports festival is today."

"How could you not know?" Kaminari interrupts. "People from all over Japan are crowding the front gates. We could barely get through ourselves!"

Many of their classmates mumble in agreement but Mr. Aizawa just ignores him. "In a few minutes we will head down to the first year stadium. There you will change into your gym uniforms and wait for the festival to start. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

He nods. "Good. We'll be leaving soon. Do whatever til then. Just don't wake me up." And with that he disappears behind his podium to presumably nap in his sleeping bag.

And Izuku waits.

The inside of the locker rooms are exactly like the ones in the school building. Which actually makes more sense than if they were different. He doesn't know why he was expecting them to be different.

Discreetly changing into his gym uniform, he goes into the 1-a waiting room where everyone who is finished changing is waiting for the festival to start. Mina is complaining about not being able to wear her costume and Shouji, Sato and Fukuyama are talking. Izuku wanders around, not really having any destination in mind and ends up in the middle of the waiting room.

Iida bursts into the room. "Attention everyone! The tournament is about to begin. We'll be going out into the arena soon."

Beside him, Mineta is trying to not freak out and he would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous as well.

"Midoriya." Shocked, Izuku looks up and makes eye contact with Todoroki's heterochromatic eyes.

"Y-yes Todoroki? Do you need something?" Izuku asks nervously.

Then Todoroki surprises them all by holding out his hand. "I just want to wish you luck in the tournament."

Izuku stares at the hand for a moment, surprise making him hesitate, but then he smiles. Taking the hand and shaking it, he says, "Thanks! You too."

Todoroki looks surprised, but then shakes his head. He turns away without another word and Izuku is left to stare at his back as he walks away. Izuku feels confused at his actions, but then happiness feels his body and he calls out to Todoroki. "Do your best! I'll be aiming for the top, so you better not fail before we fight!"

The dual haired teen continues on as if he didn't hear Izuku, but Izuku swears he saw him hesitate for just a moment. Smiling to himself, Izuku feels the nervousness melt out of his body, a blinding happiness replacing it.

The moment is quickly over though when Iida bursts into the room again. "It's time!"