Chapter 2: First Class

AN: So I will try to introduce characters as I go, but dont be surprised if your character doesnt show up immediately. I cant introduce everyone properly all at once, after all. Anyways, this story has been brought to you by a madman! Also, we will get to see a bit more of the world, so hope you enjoy!

Deru was practically seething with excitement. After all, he had been accepted to one of the greatest hero schools of all time, U.A. This was the dream of so many. The school that produced Deku. The school that All Might taught at. So many greats emerged from this school, it was practically staggering. And...he had even been accepted into Class A, the same class Deku was in!

This was practically his dream, but now it was his reality. And so, he took his first step onto the campus. He couldn't help but notice there was one building under renovations though.

"I wonder what is going on over there?"

It looked like it was construction work. If Deru remember properly, those were supposed to be the dorms...he had heard they would be closed, at least temporarily, for renovations and reconstructions. Well, Deru was okay reguardless, so it would be fine.

"Besides, I got mom's sandwhich, and that helps" he said to himself cheerily. That said, he wondered what his classmates would be like...

"Hey! Deru-kun!"

That was when he heard a familiar voice. He turned around, and saw Yusha Toshi, the other boy he had met at the extrance exam.

"Toshi-kun!" he shouted as he waved at him. Granted, the boy was still way taller then him. "There you are! I didn't see you after the entrance exam!"

"Oh...right...I kinda took a nap after all that" Deru said shyly. "So, wait...are you..."

"In Class A also? Yep! Come on, lets go find the classroom!"

Saying that, Toshi scooped Deru up into his arms and ran while carrying him on his back.

"Umm...hey...hey! I can walk myself!"

"Yeah, but with those short legs it would take forever right? What is the deal with your Quirk anyways? It seemed really cool!"

"Haha...yeah, I guess since we will be classmates and all...my Quirk is Inversion. Basically, I can invert all sorts of things. Its not as powerful as it sounds though".

"Still, that seems pretty useful! Can you invert time to help undo a wound?"

"Time is...a bit tricky of an answer. Its fairly complicated. Besides, it doesnt have the power yours does! You were able to create all those weapons, especially swords!"

"Yeah, thats my Quirk. Lightforge. It lets me create weapons and swords out of light and use them to fight".

"Yeah, that is super cool and powerful!" Deru shouted as his tag bounced and waved around energeticly. That said, it suddenly got really shaky for him as they ran up a flight of stairs.

"So then...that tail has nothing to do with your Quirk?"

"Nothing at all. I inherited it from my father" Deru told him. "And my mother has a Quirk different from mine as well. I am considered an abnormal case, as I developed a Quirk totally different from either of my parents. Though the tail is cool. I have gotten really good at using it".

"Awesome...oh, hey! I think we found it" Toshi told him, as they approached the doors to the class. Toshi put Deru down, and they stared at the massive door that made both of them feel small. "Wait...then why are you so short?"

"Ah..." Deru sighed, not entirely sure how to answer that. "Kinda an accident on my part. For a few years, my growth was Inverted without me realizing it in Elementry School. By the time I fixed it...damage had been done".

"Wait, your Quirk was just allways active doing that to you without you noticing?"

"Like I said, I am an abnormal case. Anyways, lets head inside" Deru said, as he opened the door. However, that was when they both saw something they were not expecting. Multiple girls in a serious state of undress, which completely caught them by surprise. And as such, someone who must have had super strength...or was just that angry...threw a desk at them. Deru managed to invert it at the last minute, but only enough so that they were not seriously injured when it hit them. "...owww..."

"What the hell are you two doing!" someone who looked like a nurse shouted at them.

"No no no! Its just...this is our classroom!"

"Well they are doing school physicals first, and boys of this class are supposed to go to the gym!"

"Right right, we will..." Deru started to say as he and Toshi tried to flee, but got grabbed.

"Oh no. First things first, since you saw them, they get to see you".

Deru started to remember something about this woman. Hero Name: Dr. Disaster. Supposedly, she became a hero after a bunch of women in her neighborhood were brutally victimized by men. Opinions aside, she is known as a great hero for taking down some of the worst rapists out there. But she is known to be at least somewhat biased towards women and girls, though if rumors are to be believed, this has something to do also with various failures to get a good boyfriend.

That said, the media does have a tendency to exagerate things sometimes...

"...and thats why you were so late?" Yaro asked, having heard everything from them. Along with the other males in their class, the three of them were lined up with the other boys in just their underwear, awaiting their turn. It used to be they didn't need to do this, but could use family doctors, but after all the chaos of the Great War, even ten years later, there was a greater strain on hospitals. As such, getting physicals from doctors outside the schools became much harder, and this was their method for doing them class by class. It was mainly to save time, but also there was quite a bit of standards and ethics shifting between before and presently.

"Pretty much" Deru mentioned, still extremely embarrassed. The reason was obvious, as his growth was lower then the others. Additionally, his tail made wearing normal underwear problematic, so he had to have a hole in back. it was small, and mostly occupied with the tale, but it was still a bit embarrassing.

It looked like everyone was going in on average groups of fours, which meant they would likely be going in with the classmate in front of them.

"Come on Deru-kun, cheer up" Toshi told him, patting his back. "Anyways, I dont think we met before. What is your name?"

"Nakamura Jiro" he replied in a rather mature tone. Which might have been calming to them, if...they had not noticed their underwear had disappeared all of a sudden.

"Oh, what is this?" another student said as he walked out. "Didn't you four know you could keep your underwear on? How embarrassing".

"What the...you did this!"

"How did...eek!" Deru muttered, before covering himself with his hands and tail. Toshi and Yaro also looked rather embarrassed, though part of it was being taken by surprise like that. The student then walked off while chuckling. "Who was that?"

"Probably a student in General Studies who we all beat out for the Hero Course" Toshi said. "Given what he just did, if I had to guess...maybe he has the Quirk to teleport small objects?"

"Thats about right" Jiro mentioned. "He was with my group in the exam. He was pretty helpless against the robots, and as such, didn't get very high. Also, quite a few people ended up saving him, so its possible he got embarrassed and is taking it out on us..."

"So...Deru-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Can you invert what he did?"

"Yeah...no. I cant invert a teleportation".

"Jiro, I dont suppose you have a creation Quirk?"

"Sorry, but my Quirk is Flexibility. I can basically change the atomic...basically, I can bend objects to my will, litterally".

"Great...so, we are stuck like this" Deru mentioned, with his face turning even more red. And then, to make it even worse...

"...also, if you are that small, are you really old enough to be here?"

"Oh dear..." Yaro said, as he face palmed. Out of them all, he was the only one who seemed to be a bit more relaxed, not bothering to cover himself. He then crossed his arms behind his head. "Not the right time to ask that".

"But he does seem like a ten year old..."

"My Quirk doesn't work well on other people, but on myself its good okay?" Deru said, clenching his fists downwards. Meanwhile, Toshi sort of sighed and let it go.

"I guess its really only guys here, so we will see each other in the locker room anyways".

"Yeah" Yaro said, leaning against the wall. In terms of height, Jiro and Toshi were about the same, and Yaro was shorter then them with blonde hair. He looked young for his age for sure, but nowhere near as young as Deru did.

And then, finally, they were called in to do the physicals.

"Alright Yaro-kun" Deru said as they left the dressing room, fully dressed. "How were you so comfortable and able to recover from embarrassment so easily?"

"YOu know, you recovered quickly as well..."

"I was the last one of the four of us though" Deru muttered.

"If you must know, I grew up on the edge of the Tokyo Decimation. My mother was killed, and my father worked overtime for me and my four older brothers. And due to all the chaos and economic problems, me and my brothers shared one room, lots of clothes, and we had to take our baths together...sometimes in the river" Yaro answered. "You ever grow up with four older brothers? Without much money or entertainment? There tends to be a lot of naked bonding. Or a lot of being tied to a tree naked. Or strip poker. You get the idea".

"Ah..." Deru replied, not sure how to answer that.

"By the way, Deru-kun" Yaro started as Toshi and a few others caught up. "Is Deru your given name or family name?"

"...its my given. As for my last name...well, its complicated" Deru told him, dodging the subject. He didn't want to bring up the truth, after all.

"I see...you know what my brothers also taught me? How to spot when someone is holding something back" Yaro mentioned, as he patted him on the back. "You know, I will find out eventually".

"You seem to be friendly all of a sudden, and talkative".

"What can I say, you feel relatable" Yaro replied, as they re-entered the classroom. However, Deru got no glares from any of the girls. "Looks like they have forgiven you at least".

"...thankfully so".

As they took their seats, Deru sat in the middle of the back row. Yaro and Toshi both took desks next to him at the same time. Incidentally, both of them were considering getting some revenge for earlier, though for different reasons. Toshi wanted to teach that guy a lesson, while Yaro wanted to do it as a deterance, so that he wouldn't bother them again.

They also never found their underwear either, so they had a constant reminder.

"You guys okay? I heard someone messed with you after I left" another classmate of theirs, Samuel McGrath, asked. Though he also lied and saw the whole thing, but thought sparing them that mention might help.

And then, their teacher finally entered. And their teacher was...the famous Sports Hero, Sporter Jack!

"Alright everyone! Sorry for that, but as you know, there are still not enough hospitals in the area to have reliable physicals, so we had to do all that. Anyways, welcome to Class A of the Hero Course!"

"Woo hoo!"

"And now that you all had your physicals, and we know you are healthy, we can proceed with a few things. First, your only assignment this week is to get to know your classmates! Hand out where they live, go to the baths or arcade together, play some sports! It is important to train your friendships well! After all, Heroes often need to team up with each other! That said, Deru-kun, get some meat and growth on you! You are the lightest and smallest in the class! You too Yaro-kun, you also are rather small for a boy! Additionally...its time for Quirk Assessment! So get back to those changing rooms, get your gym outfits on, and prepare for battle!"

ALthough their teacher seemed pretty gung ho, everyone got so into it that no one complained about the fact they had to go back to the changing rooms. Once they were done, they headed into the field.

"Alright everyone! Unlike those silly middle school and elementry school fitness tests, in these you are allowed to use your Quirks! So lets get this started! YOu need to get this baseball like object as far as you can get it in a single throw! First up...Yukari Yaro!"

"So, I just need to get it as far as I can?" Yaro asked.

"That is right".

"Alright...lets go with Hydralisk then" he said, as he summoned the creature. It quickly put it in where it fired out poisonous spikes, and then shot the ball out of the port. It went off flying.

"Alright...that should be good! Next...Deru? There is only one name listed here".

"Oh, thats me!" Deru yelled, as he came running out. A few people couldnt help but smirk at how earned he sounded. "So, I jsut need to throw this as far as I can?"

"Yeah, pretty much".

"Alright then...Invert...and throw!"

And so, the ball was sent flying...and flying...and flying...

"...what did you do to it?"

"I inverted gravity for it, and then threw it. Oh, yeah...you probably are not getting it back by the way".

"...I see. I will mark it as 'Infinite'. Alright, next student is...Nakamura Jiro".

Jiro came up next, and the throw was...average. Given his quirk could not really help much that is.

And then went Toshi, who used his quirk to construct a catapult and launched it really, really far.

After that was Sam. He launched it, but he used his smoke to give it an extra boost, causing it to go far as well.

And after that, the rest of the class went as well...

After class, as everyone was getting ready to go...

"Hey...Sam-kun, Jiro-kun, Toshi-kun" Yaro said, calling them over.

"Yeah...hey, are you thinking of trying to schedule something, to get to know each other better?"

"Well, in a way I do. But I am curious if any of you went to middle school with Deru-kun".

"No, not really. Why?"

"Its just...a lot of facts about him don't really add up. And I am not talking about his height or age. I mean, its the answers and responses he gave. When I asked for an address to put into my contacts list, he didn't know it. He doesn't have any last name listed. So, I asked a friend of mine to look into it, and he was listed as going to 'Tokyo Bay Middle School'".

At those words, Jiro frowned a bit.

"What...Jiro-kun, do you know something?"

"Tokyo Bay Middle School...it technically doesn't exist. To be exact, most of the school fell into a crater. Because of that, lessons to the people who made their homes in that rubble were considered to be from them. Generally they happened out in the open, in sunlight and in clearings. Its enough to be considered a real education, but...that would put him living right in the center of the disaster. Thing is...there are a lot of children who only use given names there, because their parents died when tehy were young and they didn't remember their family names".

"Hold on, are you saying that Deru-kun is living in the middle of that disaster zone? On his own".

"Not...necessarily. There are plenty of other reasons why he might not be using his Family Name...but, most of them are not very pleasant. It could be one of his parents ended up being an enemy combatant or related to one during the war, or that they abandoned their child and favored their own lives, or that they are hiding out there to avoid being found by someone or another. Like I said, not very pleasant".

"...I think we need to see where Deru lives for ourselves..."

The Tokyo Decimation ruined a massive amount of Tokyo's buildings. Massive destruction happened everywhere, across the city. However, at the epicenter of the event, it was worse. The entire area became full of ruined and collapsed buildings, ruined infastructure, and just a total mess.

So as the four of them went further in, they saw what they had expected. Streets that still had large cracks in it, buildings that didn't look entirely stable, and only a small amount of repair work being done. They even saw a few kids reading some math textbooks with someone who looked like a teacher, just like what they expected to be the true form of Tokyo Bay Middle School.

"So, where does he live?"

"Apparently...right there" Jiro mentioned, pointing over towards a building. Deru was walking up the stairs on the outside, heading to the second floor. At least the building was still standing, but there were a few stairs missing one would have to hop over.

"People live here?" Toshi asked as they approached where they saw Deru enter. Certainly, it did look like some things were rebuilt. If you avoided the major damage, the roads were drivable...sorta, and there were things like vending machines, everyday work, and it appeared water and electricity were both up. However, it was far from the comfort any of them knew. Things were broken, and at first glance they looked bleak. On the way there, they had seen several memorial sites set up by those who stayed...however...

"Yes. I believe they do" Samuel mentioned, pointing towards one thing in particular. A massive mural on the wall nearby, made from what appeared to be normal paint. It had a veranda above it, so it would stay safe from rain, but there were several points where it changed art and style, and had a wide array of colors. And in the center, it said "We Live".

And so, feeling especially moved and motivated, the group decided to head up the stairs and head towards Deru's place. It was not too difficult to find, since "Deru-niichan" was painted on one of the doors. And so, they knocked.

"Hey, you are early gu..." Deru started to say as he opened the door, dressed only in a T shirt and boxers. However, it seemed he was expecting someone else, and was surprised to see them. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, the teacher did say to get to know our classmates better. So we came to see you" Jiro mentioned, reminding Deru of that.

Yaro meanwhile took a glance in, and noticed a few things. Only one size of shoes by the door. Furniture that lacked a family feel, but more a solo feel. Some good furniture, but also a large fridge and cabinets from the part of the kitchen they could see. Sleeping bags scattered around. And of course, the overall size of the apartment...

"...Deru, you haven't been using a family name...because you don't know it, right?"

Yaro didn't go out and say it directly, but his real indication was clear. Deru...was orphaned at the age of four by the Tokyo Decimation.

Deru just gave them a smile however, as if everything was alright.

"Its fine" he said. "After all, everyone else who stayed around helped look after me. Everyone here has been really helpful, so helpful I have been helping back. I am actually expecting some kids to come soon. I have been helping them learn baseball".

"You have been here, for ten years? What about family services?" Toshi asked.

"After what happened, those services were flooded, kids moved around all the time. And only about half the people went into the system to start with, because the others knew how it would be. Besides, everything is all good".

At this point, Yaro slapped Deru.

"...you are inverting your negative emotions, aren't you".

"He can do that?"

"Its pretty obvious that is what he is doing. No wonder he ended up accidentally inverting his aging. He has been using his quirk on himself quite a bit".

"I am fine! I am just fine!" Deru insisted.

It did seem like Deru was doing well for himself here, so maybe they were overreacting...but it still didn't quite sit right with them.

"At least promise you will hang out some time and we will have some fun, okay?"

"Alright, alright" Deru replied.

But little did any of them know, that this was nowhere near the worst thing that any of them would be worried about soon enough...

AN: Poor Deru. But hey, now we got this rolling! Anyways, stay tuned and hope you enjoyed! Still though, that ominous note...fufufufufu.