A bit of a shorter chapter here, just setup for the Entrance Exam. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Culmination

Word Count: 2533

Kurogiri had been washing dishes in the bar when he received the familiar message from the boss.

The young Tomura had just finished dinner, retiring to his room on the top floor of the bar. Kurogiri stayed behind, performing his ever-vigilant duty of looking after the heir to the villain throne. He was scrubbing when his phone buzzed, and the specific ringtone he had chosen for the boss rang out into the air.

He set the dishes down, cleaned his hands, and went to pick up the device. Gazing over the screen, he saw the message telling him to quickly teleport to headquarters. In an instant, a purple cloud enveloped him and he stepped into the dark room where the boss himself sat, gazing over various computer monitors.

He was focused on one particular monitor that was showing the local news, displaying some random fire-filled scene. Kurogiri regarded the screen with mild interest, then turned to address the boss. "How may I help you, sir?"

The man turned in his chair, revealing his gruesome and scarred face. His skin was covered in scar tissue, enough to cover his eyes and nose. Small metal tubes connected his bare skull to various contraptions on the wall, and the smile that rested upon his face was enough to send shivers down even Kurogiri's spine.

All For One spoke at last, twiddling his fingers in anticipation. "He's there."

The frightening man had brief words, but those words were all Kurogiri needed. The well-dressed butler widened his bright yellow eyes. "You mean…"

"Yes." All For One's grin grew wider. "The news showed him for a brief second, but I used a Quirk to slow time and saw him rushing into the fire. There's some monster, trapping another kid. If he has it, it'll show now."

He turned back to the screen, eyes betraying a small ounce of hunger. "Open a tiny portal at the scene so that no one notices. Doesn't matter where, just within listening distance."

Kurogiri nodded and produced a much smaller clump of purple gas. Instantly, the sound of fire roared through the tiny hole, and dust started to seep through. All For One pointed to the portal, and out of his finger shot out a tiny rope with an eye on the end. The bare eye sped through the portal, rope continuing to unfurl.

He had seen All For One use this particular tactic several times. It was one of the man's favorites. Kurogiri would open a small passage to a location, and All For One would use his abilities to spy on the scene. He combined a Quirk that produced an organic rope that he could freely control and another Quirk that allowed him to grow body parts wherever he desired on his person. It was a foolproof way to gain information, and was a testament to the vast intelligence of All For One.

He watched the supervillain ponder, surveying the scene. Kurogiri himself couldn't see through his portals unless he was on the other side, and hopping through would reveal his presence. He chose to simply watch the boss instead, as the man's expression turned serious, a finger on his chin. Suddenly, All For One broke out into another wide grin, and Kurogiri knew he had found what he was looking for.

He retracted the rope, and Kurogiri closed the portal quickly after. Chuckling to himself, All For One met Kurogiri's gaze, and the butler couldn't help but share in the delight the supervillain was reveling in.

"So?" Kurogiri prompted, causing All For One's chuckle to grow louder.

"He has it. Now, all we have to do is wait."

The misty-headed man bowed his head and teleported back to the bar, quickly resuming his cleaning. There was no reason to stay any longer, after all. The boss was very busy, and besides, their plan was slowly falling into place. All they needed was patience. With time, All For One would reign over society again, and the heroes would finally be no more.

Izuku had accepted One For All without a second thought. The dream of becoming a hero was finally within his grasp, so why wouldn't he?

Poor past-Izuku. He had no idea what he was signing up for.

Every day, at five in the morning, Izuku was forced up by the obnoxious sound of his alarm blaring in his ears. He met All Might at the beach every morning, immediately going to work at the various mounds of junk littering the sand. Occasionally, All Might was kind enough to sit on his load, adding two-hundred-something kilograms to the already heavy appliances.

One day of the weekend, Izuku traveled to I-Island to develop his other Quirk, and the days there were even harder than lugging refrigerators everywhere. Izuku knew David Shield was a genius, but he was starting to understand how he became that way. The man was relentless, throwing test after test after test at Izuku to further develop and strengthen his Quirk. Breaks were few and far in between, and every day he traveled there, Toshinori had to calm David down, allowing the exhausted boy a small break.

David brought various subjects in as well, so Izuku would have experience borrowing a variety of Quirks. He had experienced so many Quirks, from Quirks that shook the earth with one stomp to Quirks that turned his hands into literal diamonds, and even a Quirk that reversed his arms and legs. Izuku had no clue why that Quirk was relevant to his training until David explained that he had to get used to even the most unusual of Quirks, always ready in any situation.

Detective Tsukauchi also occasionally popped by, whether to observe the development of Izuku's Quirk or just to chat. Ever since their first meeting, the detective and the young teen had become fast friends, despite the age difference. Izuku loved seeing heroes, whether pro or police, and Naomasa was very interested in the boy deemed All Might's successor.

On top of that, Izuku was slowly getting used to Naomasa's Quirk. The backlash he had felt the first time he used Lie Detector was slowly and slowly getting better as Izuku received more experience with the Quirk. Eventually, after hours of training, Izuku had been able to detect a lie without revealing any physical effect. Naomasa had smiled at that, emanating almost as much pride as All Might had on the day they had met.

Despite the extreme difficulty of his regimen, he stuck to it, sometimes running on sheer grit and determination. He knew he needed this to become a hero, and he was willing to pour his heart (and sometimes his guts) out to reach that goal.

The days turned into weeks, then into months, and before Izuku knew it, the morning of the exam was here. He had spent the previous night going to work on the beach, finishing the section of the beach All Might had tasked him to clear, then going further beyond (Plus Ultra!) and somehow cleaning the entire shore, as far as the eye could see.

As the sun peeked out from its hiding place beneath the horizon, Izuku stood on the final pile of trash on the otherwise shining shore. He looked over the work he had done over the past ten months, remembering how at first he had struggled to move even a large water cooler. Now, he could haul three refrigerators at once without breaking a sweat. It was incredible, seeing what he was capable of, seeing the fruits of his endless labor.

All Might found him there, letting out a guttural scream into the air, sweat and snot running down his skin. He briefly lost consciousness from the weariness and the sheer emotion, but the Symbol of Peace quickly rushed over to catch him. All Might expressed his wonder at the extra work Izuku had done, but Izuku was too dazed to process the words. Even with All Might ordering him to eat a strand of his hair, Izuku's surprise was subdued. He rushed home to get freshened up, downed a considerable amount of coffee, and finally found himself in front of what he had been training for all this time: U.A.

He stood there, staring in incredulous wonder for a solid few minutes until a strong force bumped into his shoulder. Grunting, Izuku rubbed the sore spot and looked at the intruder, coming face to face with none other than Katsuki.

Izuku jumped back, waving his hands in front of him in panic. "S- Sorry, Kacchan, I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!"

Katsuki simply observed the trembling boy, contrasting his usual furious expression. Turning back towards the school, he simply said, "Don't try to get in my way, Deku," before walking inside the building.

Izuku watched the blond boy with surprise. He had been expecting Katsuki to blast him across the city, but instead, he had been quiet, almost… speculative. In fact, he had been that way towards Izuku for quite some time.

Ever since the incident with the slime monster, Katsuki had avoided Izuku in school. The bullies hadn't targeted them, and aside from the laughter whenever the class discussed Quirks, Izuku had had no bothers at all. Katsuki hadn't spoken to Izuku since the event either, and Izuku had never really concerned himself with how the fiery boy had felt after, more worried about his new training regimen.

Maybe the experience had affected him? It would've been highly traumatic for anyone else after all, but Katsuki still had his swagger towards the rest of the class. It was only Izuku that he was mute towards. Now that Izuku actually thought about it, it bothered him. His whole life, Katsuki was brash and arrogant, even when they were friends. To see him so silent was… jarring, and put a bad feeling in Izuku's mind.

Without realizing, he had started to walk forwards in his contemplative stupor. Only when he had hit a snag in the concrete path and started to fall face-first had he realized his mistake. All this work… oh well, guess I'll just die instead.

He prepared for his inevitable embarrassment, his eyes rolling up into his head, until he realized that he wasn't actually falling. At least, not past a certain point. In fact, his feet were actually off of the ground. Frantically waving his arms around, he looked around until his gaze settled on a girl very close to his side.

The girl picked him up from the air and placed him on his feet, giving him a bright smile. "It's my Quirk! Sorry for using it without asking first. But it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?"

Izuku stood frozen still, baffled at the sheer thought of talking to a girl. It wasn't bad enough that he was finally communicating with the opposite gender after so many years, but the girl that he was talking to was a cute girl.

The girl's voice spoke up once again, banishing Izuku's nefarious thoughts from his mind. "Are you nervous?"

"U- Uh-" Izuku couldn't seem to remember the Japanese language, not that the girl realized.

"Well, let's do our best!" She went running into the school, leaving Izuku standing there, still frozen solid. Slowly processing what just happened, his face began to redden.

Holy crap… I just talked to a girl!

He would later realize he never talked to the girl.

Izuku took his seat in the orientation hall as the rest of the students filtered in. There were students of all statures, from big to small, from childlike to almost an adult, some not even fully human. There were just so many different people. Being the shy personality he was, he didn't meet many people aside from in hero battles or school. Seeing the sheer number of quirks and people… it made Izuku want to pull out his notebook and fill it up.

There was a time and place for everything, however, so Izuku just opted to sit still. He was watching Present Mic set up his presentation when he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. It wasn't the grip he recognized, but the feeling of dread that always succeeded it

"Deku."

One word, enough to send Izuku spiraling. It didn't help that Katsuki took a seat next to him, placing the name card they had all gotten at the door onto the tables in front of them. Katsuki faced straight ahead, not giving Izuku any attention, to which the small teen was eternally grateful for.

Before another word could be uttered, Present Mic started to shout his introductions, making Izuku focus on the delight of meeting Present Mic himself and not the fear of Katsuki being so near him.

"You will all be assigned to individual battle centers! Check your card to find out which one to go to!"

The students picked up the cards and scanned the content on the front. Izuku noticed a large 'B' on his card, and peeked over at Katsuki's card to see an 'A' displayed in the same place.

"So basically, they won't let you work with friends." Katsuki's voice made Izuku jump, and he opted to stay silent.

Katsuki then noticed Izuku looking at his card and bent it out of his sight. "Don't look, or I'll kill you." There was the familiar Katsuki that Izuku knew and feared.

Present Mic resumed his boisterous explanation of the exam. He explained the robot system to the students, talking about how they needed to defeat robots of different points to pass the exam. A formal blue-haired boy had shouted about how there were actually four robots on the handouts. He had also chastised Izuku for his mumbling, which had made the shy boy curl up in his hands.

Present Mic had simply laughed it off, explaining that the fourth robot was worth zero points and that it should just be avoided. Zero points? What's the point then? There has to be something more…, Izuku thought to himself.

Oh well, I just need to focus on the points I can get. After that, Present Mic finished off his spiel, and the students dispersed to board the buses. Before Izuku could move, however, he felt Katuski grab his shoulder again.

"Deku." Izuku reluctantly turned around, meeting Katsuki's… guarded gaze?

"Just… consider yourself lucky we're not in the same arena."

The blond-haired boy walked off in a separate direction, leaving Izuku stunned. It was something he'd expect to hear from Katsuki, but the tone had been strange. It was quieter than usual, less aggressive. He had seemed like he wanted to say something more as well, but couldn't bring up the courage.

Izuku shook his head, turning to the direction of his arena bus. He hadn't worried about Katsuki for months now, he wasn't going to start now. Not on a day as important as this. It was finally time for the U.A. entrance exam. It was finally time to see if his hard work had all been worth it.

It was time to see if he had what it takes to be a hero.

xDxMemeLordxDx: I don't get why you had Izuku's quirk be an "exact match" with AFOs quirk when they're clearly different at the moment. AFAIK, AFO can only transfer quirks, not copy them.

I didn't want to make Izuku too OP, so I took the Quirk in the same direction as One For All. Just like OFA, AFO is too powerful to be fully utilized at the start of Izuku's training. Therefore, Izuku can only unlock the basic abilities of AFO, which is copying. He doesn't know about the other stuff AFO can do, and assumes that his ability only copies Quirks. We don't know how All For One developed his Quirk as a child, so I'm just taking some liberties to make sure Izuku can have progression.

Leafy-tan: Is the copy of the quirks he gets gonna be permanent (can be accessed at any given time) or temporary? Also nice fic keep up the good work

Thanks! Currently, due to Izuku just starting his training as a hero, he can only copy Quirks with a time limit. With more power, he'll be able to steal Quirks just like All For One, making his duplication abilities permanent. I won't elaborate past that for spoilers' sake.

Leo8261: I have a pairing in mind for the story, Izuku x Melissa. I kinda like them as a couple since they have a lot of things in common like they were quirk less until Deku got his quirk

Yeah, I saw the chemistry they had in the movie and I think they could really work together! I do already have pairings in mind for this story, but I love the idea of a relationship between Izuku and Melissa and would love to see it in a work sometime.

Feel free to leave a review and thanks for reading!