A/N: Hello and welcome back to my spin on my favorite anime. I do hope that you enjoy what my mind cooked up, because I know I did. Also, a quick reminder that you can see my responses to your reviews thus far, along with my dramatic reading of this chapter, on my YouTube channel, NotYourAverage Productions. If you stick through the entire video, you will also get a look into my thought process concerning this story, and how some of the decisions were made regarding the alternative developments.

Okay, not that I got that out of my system, please read, review, and enjoy!

Phase 1: Chapter 2

First Day

"Okay, Iida, when are you going to remember that the general population does not have jet engines in their legs?!" Kurai complained to his friend as they walked up the stairs to what would be their homeroom. The two of them had been delighted to discover a few days ago that they would be in the same class: Hero Course 1-A.

"We should always arrive at least ten minutes early," Iida said stubbornly. "A good hero is always early whenever possible!"

"Not unless his sidekicks are threatening to unionize and revolt against him because he never learned how to relax!" Kurai groaned. He and his friend had met up to walk to school together- or so the smaller of the two boys had thought. As it turned out, Iida had decided to run all the way to school from their meeting point, forcing Kurai to keep up, much to his chagrin.

"Are you my sidekick in this situation?" Iida teased him.

"I'll show you just how good my side kick is the next time you make me run that far any time before noon," Kurai grumbled.

"But a run in the morning has always been shown to increase cardiovascular-"

"Iida, you sound like you swallowed a medical textbook," his friend interrupted as the emerged onto the floor where their homeroom was. "Some of us mortals like a little something called taking it easy."

"This is why you've never been able to match my test scores," Iida grinned as they came to a massive door with the designation '1-A' on it.

"You mean except for that one where I broke the school record for the practical exam?" Kurai shot back a little smugly.

"You're never going to let up on that, are you?" Iida sighed.

"Nope!"

With that, the two friends entered the classroom, surprised to find that a handful of students had already arrived. Two of them were girls that were talking quietly to one another, one with long black hair done up in a stylish ponytail, and the other with short hair of the same color. Neither of them looked too odd, though the one with the short hair did have what looked to be an auxiliary jack hanging from her earlobe.

Three boys were in the classroom, though none of them were speaking to each other. The one that grabbed Kurai's attention first was sitting in the back, his expression completely passive. His appearance would have been what one could call normal, if not for the fact that the right side of his face was framed by pure white hair and had a brown eye staring out of it, while the left side contained a sky blue orb framed by red hair. Perhaps even more startling than the variety of colors was the nasty burn scar that covered the majority of the left side of his face.

How on earth did he get that? Kurai wondered, then averted his gaze to another student before his glance became a full-on stare.

The next student that he noticed was a blond young man with a thick, muscular tail that reached up to rest on his left shoulder. The tail was hairless, save for a small tuft of blond hair that matched the student's head, which somehow made it look weirder in Kurai's opinion.

The last student in the room had spiky red hair and large grin on his face as he got up to greet his new classmates. "Hey there!" he said he came to stand a couple feet away from the pair. "You guys here for the hero course?"

"I was born for the hero course!" Iida said proudly as he reached out to shake hands with the red-head.

"Actually, Iida wasn't born; he was factory-issued," Kurai snickered, causing the other student to laugh delightedly. Iida, meanwhile, shot his friend an annoyed look, which he pretended not to notice.

"Nice to see this class'll have someone I can laugh with," the other boy said as he moved to shake hands with Kurai. "My name's Eijiro Kirishima. Who're you guys?"

"As my companion here stated previously, my name is Iida," the bespectacled teenager said by way of introduction. "It's good to meet you, Kirishima."

"And I'm Hikari," his friend added. He was surprised when Kirishima looked at him with something close to awe. So he asked, "What is it?"

"Are you that guy that took down over half the training robots on your own, including the zero-pointer?" Kirishima asked excitedly.

Kurai became uncomfortably aware of the other students looking at him with interest out of the corners of his eyes, but he forced himself to answer, "I guess so? I mean, I didn't know that I had taken out over half of them, though I'm sure that's just am exaggeration."

"Dude!" Kirishima laughed. "Some of the other students are saying that you're gonna be the next All Might!"

"I could believe that," a familiar voice said from behind them, causing the three boys to look around at the doorway. Mina Ashido stood there, smiling and bubbly as ever as she stepped in the class room to say, "I watched him take down the zero-point robot like it was a big piñata! Didn't even take him a big finishing move or hardly any time at all!"

"Yo, Ashido!" Kirishima said as he moved forward to hi-five the pink girl. "You saw this guy in action? What was he like?" It was apparent from the familiarity of his tone that the two of them knew each other.

Kurai reddened with embarrassment and spoke before she could to say, "I just took the opportunity that I saw, is all…" Mumbling an excuse, he went and found his assigned seat, which placed him against the far wall in the row second-to-last. As he sat down, he hoped that the spot would be inconspicuous enough to hide him from any further inquiries like Kirishima's.

Kurai was something an introvert, though he didn't have any issues with meeting new people, so long as it was one-on-one, like when he had met Mina, or if he was surrounded by several people that he already knew. However, if there were already rumors circulating about his skill in battle, he knew that he would hardly get a moment's peace outside of the classroom, if Kirishima's reaction was anything to go by.

The class quickly filled up in the next couple of minutes, and Iida made himself busy lecturing several of their new classmates about the proper treatment of their equipment. Kurai chose to keep his head down instead of arguing with his friend about making good first impressions, and instead concentrated on observing the people that he would be spending the next three years with.

He watched with mild interest as a dozen more students came into the room, some looking like comic book characters, such as a tall young man with six arms, and others just as normal as his own appearance. The boys outnumbered the girls by about three to one according to his estimate, though there were still a couple of people left that hadn't come in.

Everyone seemed friendly enough, with the exception of the half-and-half boy, and a blond boy with crimson eyes that was slouching in his seat two rows in front of Kurai. It wasn't that he was quiet like the other, though. This boy was loud and obnoxious, as if of the belief that the person in the room who shouted the loudest would command the most respect.

So of course it was only natural that Iida would butt heads with him. "Stop disrespecting school property!" the bespectacled teenager demanded of their blond classmate.

"Eh?" the other boy drawled, as if bored. Looking up at Iida, he asked, "Did they shove a stick up your ass at whatever prep school you came from, or were you born with it?"

Iida frowned, then to his credit, forced himself to calm down and extend a hand out to the blond kid. "Let's try starting over," he said peaceably. "I'm Tenya Iida from the Somei Private Academy. And you are?"

"Somei, huh?' the blond boy snorted, ignoring the offered hand. "That means you think you're better than me, huh? Well, I'm gonna enjoy tearing you a new one." At the last of his words, the boy's face split with what could only be described as a feral grin.

Iida recoiled a half-pace and gasped, "You would threaten your own classmate?! Are you sure that you're in the right class?" The blond boy scoffed and looked as though he was about to respond, but then the door slid open to reveal another newcomer, quieting them both.

The boy in the doorway looked a little frazzled when he saw Iida and the blond boy, but he said nothing as nearly every eye turned to examine him. He was incredibly plain-looking, with messy green hair, wide eyes of a matching shade, and a small dusting of freckles on each cheek. He was a little on the shorter side when compared to some of the others in their class, but he wasn't exactly small, either.

He looked familiar, but Kurai couldn't place why until Iida went over to introduce himself. Wait, that's the kid that he called out for talking during the lecture, Kurai realized with interest. Hang on, is Iida apologizing to this guy? He never apologizes to anybody except Tensei and his parents!

The blue-haired boy was still talking to him when the final member of their class showed up, a short girl with brown hair and rosy cheeks that gave her a very cute appearance. She seemed to know the green-haired boy- who had introduced himself as Izuku Midoriya- and went about congratulating him on getting into the school with an energy that seemed to rival Mina's.

"I wonder if he's the other one that people have been talking about…" the student sitting next to Kurai, a boy with the head of a raven, said in a low tone.

"What'd he do?" Kurai asked in spite of himself.

The other student glanced at him then replied, "Supposedly he took down a zero-point robot on his own, and with quite the display of theatrics if the rumors are true."

"Huh," Kurai muttered. Personally, he hadn't found the colossal robot difficult to deal with- its sheer size and slow movements provided anyone with the skills an ample opportunity to hit it in its critical areas, rendering it ineffective. To be fair, though, most people don't have my offensive capabilities, or the training to use them, he reasoned.

He was about to say something back to the bird-headed boy, but then everyone's attention was diverted to a most bizarre sight: a six-foot-tall caterpillar with a man's head lying on the ground, staring up at the students in the doorway with bleary, uninterested eyes.

Wait, is he a teacher? Kurai wondered as the man muttered something to the trio of students standing nearest to him that he could not make out. Are we gonna be taught by Butterfly Man? The thought made him snicker with laughter.

That is, until there was a sound of a zipper coming undone, and a thin man dressed in black with a gray scarf emerged from the sleeping bag he had apparently been getting around in. He transferred his disinterested gaze to the rest of the class as he mumbled, "Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa. I'm your teacher." His black hair was long enough to fall to his shoulders, almost covering his bloodshot eyes and thin face with a week's worth of stubble on it.

This guy? Kurai thought with polite disbelief. He looks like he needs a nap… or a fix. Not sure how he got hired in the nation's top hero school, but I suppose we'll all get an idea about that before long.

"Your reaction time is insufficient," Aizawa continued as he reached into his yellow sleeping bag without blinking. "It took you all eight seconds to shut up when I first got here- that won't do." His hand emerged, holding a medium-sized blue shirt with the school's initials done in red and white across the front. "Put these on and come outside."

"A quirk assessment test?!" The cry went up from at least a dozen of their classmates as they stood out on the P.E. field. They were all changed out of their day uniforms, and had exchanged them for the physical education clothes that their teacher had provided.

"Hang on, what about the introduction ceremony?" the brown-haired girl that had arrived last demanded. "We're gonna miss it!"

"If you wanna make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless parties," Aizawa replied without looking at them. "Here at U.A., we're not tethered to tradition. That means I get to run my class however I choose." There were some looks of dissent among the students, but no one was foolish enough to argue with him outright.

Turning around to face his class, Aizawa said, "You've all been taking standardized tests for most of your lives, unfortunately. The government is still trying to push the idea that all men are created equal- we're not. Someday, the learning systems in our country will realize that, but for now, I'll just have to correct their mistake. Hikari!" He called out the name suddenly, without any indication that he was going to ask for a volunteer.

"Er, present?" the boy said nervously as he stepped forward, aware of every eye that was on him.

Aizawa's gaze fell to rest directly on him, and he swallowed nervously as he felt himself being studied by his instructor. "You set a new record for the entrance exam," he stated, causing the boy to wince slightly as he heard several people behind him begin whispering interestedly. Then the man asked, "What was your longest throw with a softball in junior high?"

"Sixty-two? Sixty-three meters?" Kurai answered.

"Here," his teacher said, tossing him a large ball that looked as though it had been teched-out somehow. "Throw this, but use your quirk to get it to go as far as you can."

Kurai blinked at the ball a couple of times, then muttered, "Okay… Sure, I'll do that." Here's to hoping this thing can take the impact from my quirk.

As if sensing his concern, Aizawa added, "It's a lot more durable than it looks. Give it your all."

"Yes sir," Kurai nodded, feeling a little more confident now.

As he walked over to the pitching ring, he heard the blond boy from before muttering, "That guy set the new record? He looks even more boring than Deku. How's a small fry like him supposed to be the next number one?" His tone was laced with generous amounts of resentment that Kurai did not understand.

I haven't done anything to him, he thought with a frown as he stood in the circle. And who's 'Deku'? Taking a pitcher's stance, he thought, Doesn't matter. The only thing I need to focus on is keeping control.

Drawing in a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, then wound up his arm, even as he triggered his quirk. Letting out a raw-throated yell, he willed as much energy as he could manage into his hand, sending it forth just as he threw the ball toward the horizon. A yellow beam of pure energy shot out, propelling the ball far beyond what any normal throw might have. When he had lost sight of the ball, he ended the energy flow and lowered his arm, breathing deeply to keep his pulse settled.

Most of the students in the class were amazed by the display of power he had put on, but as he expected, the blond kid simply sneered at him before turning to look at the teacher, who was holding up a smartphone with blue numbers in the display that read '780.6 m'.

"Well done, Kurai!" Iida laughed as he returned to the group of students. "It's been a while since I've seen your quirk in action- you've gotten a lot stronger than I thought!"

"I'm sure I can say the same about you," Kurai grinned confidently at his friend. Glancing over his shoulder at the blond boy, he added, "Looks are often deceiving. What appears plain to the average eye can hold great potential, and those that look great are often idiots puffed full of hot air… among other things."

"The hell'd you say?!" the blond boy exploded- literally. Actual explosions lit up as he held out his hands in claw-like grips while his red eyes glowed with hate. "Wanna repeat that?!"

"Kurai, don't!" Iida said sternly as he held his friend back from doing or saying something he might regret later.

"Is there a problem?" Aizawa asked sternly.

"…No, sir," Kurai answered as he forced himself to break eye contact with the other boy. "Sorry, sir."

His rival continued to glare at him until Aizawa said, "Bakugo, unless you want to sit out the rest of today's activities, I suggest you simmer down." The blond kid snorted and let off one more small explosion before turning to face the teacher again.

"So today we get to take physical tests while using our quirks?" a boy with golden-yellow hair asked. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I wanna try!" Mina added.

"This looks like fun!" the brown-haired girl exclaimed.

"Fun, huh?" Aizawa asked them in a tone that immediately set them all on edge. "You all have three years to become pro heroes. You really think that it's all gonna be fun and games?" When no one answered, he gave them a chilling smile and said, "Idiots. Today you will all compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none… and will be expelled immediately."

Everybody reacted with shock and a bit of fear. He said they weren't tethered to tradition, but that's pushing it! Kurai thought a bit angrily.

The brown-haired girl stepped up and protested, saying, "That's not fair! We all worked really hard to get here! You can't just send one of us home after everything we've been through!"

"Not fair?" Aizawa repeated mockingly. "Do you think natural disasters and villains will care about what's fair? Life isn't fair, kids. It's a hero's job to combat that unfairness, understand? In order to become a pro, you will have to push yourselves to the brink. So for the next three years, U.A. with throw one terrible hardship after another at you. You will have to go beyond… plus ultra style." Adding another cold smile to his face, Aizawa made a beckoning motion toward them all and said, "Show me it's no mistake that you're here."

Iida and Kurai exchanged an uneasy glance. "I don't like this," Iida muttered. "But if it's how the school does things, I suppose we should respect it."

"Can't say I like it either, but I suppose I see the sense in it," Kurai replied, also speaking softly. "If they're training us to risk our lives, they can't really make room for people that could wind up getting themselves- or others- killed."

"If we're all done wasting time chatting, we should get moving," their teacher ordered as he moved away. "Let the games begin."

The first test was a fifty-meter dash. Kurai watched as the other students put on displays of their power, some of which were fairly straightforward, like Iida's Engine quirk that allowed his legs to carry him at speeds comparable to formula-one cars if he got into high enough gear. Others were less so, but several of them showed ingenuity, such a blond boy whose quirk allowed him to unleash a beam of sparkling energy from his navel which could propel him through the air if he jumped up first. Another was Bakugo, who used his explosive abilities to enhance his speed by propelling himself with combustions aimed behind him.

So he does have an impressive enough quirk, and the brains to use it, Kurai thought as he watched him blaze past Midoriya, whose quirk apparently didn't work well in a running situation, because he didn't use it at all. Trigger-Happy needs to work on that attitude if he wants to be a pro, though.

He found himself competing against a boy whose elbows apparently shot out strong adhesive tape named Sero. He used his quirk in the race to essentially slingshot himself toward the finish line, clearing it in just under six seconds. Kurai took a page out of the navel-laser boy and Bakugo's book, using his Energon quirk to send himself flying across the finish line in a little over four seconds.

He mistimed the landing, though, and wound up rolling in the dirt a couple of times before springing lightly to his feet. "Well, that was new," he muttered. "Might need to practice it some more before I try that in combat."

"Hey, you beat me, so I'd still count that as a win," Sero said as he walked up to him. "Nice quirk, by the way."

"Not so bad yourself," Kurai answered as he shook hands with the other boy. "Gotta say, I've never seen one like it before."

"And I'm hoping that'll be to my advantage once we start our careers," the other boy grinned. "The more unique the quirk, the more memorable the hero, right?"

"True enough."

The next event was the grip-strength test, in which Kurai scored an impressive 462 kilograms. The only student to surpass that was the boy with six arms, coming in with a score of 540 kilos. Kurai was surprised at first, but then he found himself smiling about it. It's good to know that I'm not in the top bracket for everything, he thought. If I was, what would be left for me to work towards?

He noticed that the plain-looking kid, Midoriya, was looking glum as he stared at his result of 56 kilograms on the grip tester. Seeing it, Kurai walked over to him and said, "Hey."

"Y-Yes?" the boy stammered, looking up and backing away a half-pace, causing Kurai to look at him curiously.

I know I'm normally more of a shy guy, but even I'm not that on edge around other people, he thought to himself. Pushing aside the observation, he said, "I don't mean to pry, but are you feeling alright? You've looked out of sorts this entire class."

"Oh, uh, well…" the green-haired boy stammered. "I'm just, uh… having trouble controlling my quirk, is all."

"Oh," Kurai said, a little surprised. If he doesn't have proper control over his quirk, how'd he get into U.A.?

"I guess I'm really just afraid of what'll happen when I use it," Midoriya added.

Kurai's head snapped up at that, and a measure of sympathy entered his heart. "I can understand that completely," he told the other boy. When Midoriya looked a question at him, he explained, "My quirk, Energon, is pretty powerful, right?"

"Yeah, I can see how you would have done so well in the entrance exam," Midoriya said, his eyes shining with admiration.

"Well, be that as it may, it can be just as dangerous to me as it is to others," Kurai replied as he reached up and tapped himself on the forehead. "The part of my brain that triggers my quirk is located in my frontal cortex." After a slight pause, he asked, "Do you know what part of the brain that is?" As they were speaking, the other students were moving to put away the equipment, so they moved to join them while talking in lowered voices.

"It's the area that keeps your impulses in check, right?" Midoriya guessed.

"Pretty much, yeah," Kurai nodded. "The more it's used, the harder it is to control darker emotions like rage, hate, aggression… you get the idea."

"Wait, so if you overuse your quirk…" Midoriya said in a low tone.

"Remember how I was ready to go all ham on mister firecracker?" the black-haired boy reminded his classmate. "Normally, I'm a lot more like you. Right now, I'm feeling pretty confident because I've been using my quirk a bit more than I normally do, which means my frontal cortex has been taxed a fair amount."

"Well, my quirk makes me super strong, but I can only use it once before I get knocked out of the fight," Midoriya admitted nervously. "Whichever part of my body that I channel my power gets broken really badly as soon as I use it."

"Broken?" Kurai repeated. "As in, broken bone?"

"Bones," Midoriya nodded with a wince.

"Ouch," his comrade grimaced. "So, you're pretty much counting on one excellent score to carry you out of last place?"

"Yeah," Midoriya admitted.

"Well…" Kurai muttered while scratching his head. "Have you tried to decrease the amount of power you're putting into each move?"

"Yeah, but so far all that's gotten me is not using it all," his classmate groaned. "I… My quirk didn't show up until last year, actually. And I haven't really had much chance to train with it so that I don't hurt myself every time that I use it."

"Ooh boy," Kurai grimaced again. "Well… Crap, man."

"How do you control your power?" Midoriya asked him. Before he could answer, Midoriya added, "I mean, it's probably different from how I need to control mine, but it would be helpful to have some kind of reference since I don't really have anything to go on myself, and at this point something is better than nothing, not to mention-"

"Midoriya!" Kurai exclaimed, cutting the boy off and startling him. "Sorry, just… Do you want my answer, or not?"

"Yes, please," the green-haired boy answered, abashed. "I have a habit of rambling, I guess."

"You guess?" his classmate asked dubiously. Before Midoriya could answer that, he said, "Never mind. The truth is that I simply have a lot of practice in controlling the energy output, and now it's more of an instinct than anything." Taking a second to marshal his thoughts, he added, "But when I was a kid, I did set up a sort of pattern that I would use before I engaged my quirk. It took way longer to use it then than it does for me to use it now, but maybe it's something you could try."

"I'm willing to try anything at this point," Midoriya said desperately.

"Okay, you said that decreasing the power output didn't help, right?" Kurai asked.

"Yeah."

"All right, so what I used to do was picture the energy in my body like a great big river headed for a waterfall," Kurai explained. By now the class was back outside in preparation for the standing long jump event and everyone was more or less milling about as they waited for Aizawa to call them by name.

"River headed for a waterfall?" Midoriya questioned, a blank look on his face.

"Just close your eyes and picture it as best you can," Kurai told him. "Although, word of advice? Don't do this when you need to go to the bathroom. Doesn't end well."

In spite of himself, Midoriya let out a short burst of laughter, but he quickly recomposed himself. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in concentration, keeping his breathing even as best as he could.

"Have you got the picture?" Kurai prompted him as Aizawa called up a student named Kaminari.

"Yes," Midoriya answered seriously.

"Okay, now picture yourself at the bottom of that waterfall, standing in front of it," Kurai ordered. "You're so close that you could reach out and touch it. Take one step and you'll be under the full force of it. Are you there?"

"I thought the water was the energy inside of my body, so how-?"

"Take it or leave it!"

"Sorry!" the other boy yelped.

Kurai took a moment to make sure that his own pulse was settled before he said, "This is a metaphor, so just humor me, all right?" When Midoriya nodded his agreement, Kurai continued on to say, "Now, in your mind's eye, I want you to reach out and try to keep your hand level under the pressure of the water."

"Why just my hand?" Midoriya asked, though he kept his eyes closed.

"Because if you attempt to put your whole body in and withstand it without first conditioning your mind and body to handle it, you'll be crushed by the energy," Kurai said dryly. "In your case, that's broken bones, if I understand it."

"R-Right."

"Just try to keep that image in your head the next time you try to use your power," the black-haired boy told him. "It'll be slow, but hopefully it'll help you gain some control." He clapped Midoriya on the shoulder and then went to join Iida.

"What happened to you?"

The other boy's question stopped Kurai in his tracks and made him turn around to look at Midoriya, confused. "What?"

"Sorry, I meant what happened to you when you tried to stand under the waterfall?" Midoriya asked.

Kurai's countenance darkened considerably before he answered, "I nearly died." Then he walked away, leaving Midoriya feeling quite stunned.

"What were you talking to Midoriya about?" Iida asked his friend as soon as he got close.

"He needs help controlling his power, so I gave him a few pointers," Kurai answered.

"Ah," Iida nodded, apparently unsurprised by the revelation. "Yes, I saw what happened to him when he used it against the zero-point robot. He nearly got himself killed, but it was quite an impressive display of power, nonetheless. Miss Uraraka actually saved him from death by a fall right after the fact, actually."

"Which one is-?"

"Her," Iida said, indicating the girl that had been talking to Midoriya and Iida during the beginning of class.

"Ah," Kurai said, apparently non-committal. She's pretty cute, actually…

For the long jump, Kurai chose not to use his energy blasts to send him flying again, but rather decided to reinforce his limbs with his Energon, like he normally would. This is a contest, he reminded himself. I can't take too many chances. Besides, I need to keep my head on straight, and energy blasts like that are more taxing on my brain to produce than just enhancing my body to achieve the same thing.

He scored fairly high compared to most of the other students, but the highest score went to Bakugo, who appeared very pleased with himself about it. Kurai ignored him, but felt strangely competitive when faced with the prospect of losing to such an arrogant person.

My quirk must be responsible for this, he decided. However, in the back of his mind, he knew that he was only making excuses for himself.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Midoriya take his place at the jump point. Come on, man, he thought, trying to send encouragement to his classmate through the silent message.

Midoriya met his eyes and flashed him a nervous grin before taking his stance, a look of intense concentration furrowing his brow. He held that position for a few seconds before Aizawa called out, "Are you going to jump or take a dump, Midoriya? We don't have all day."

"Y-Yes!" the poor boy stammered as he straightened. "Er, I mean, no! Uh…"

"Looks like Midoriya's gonna be the one to go home," Kirishima said with a slightly disappointed look.

"Of course he is!" Bakugo snorted. "He's a quirkless loser."

"He has a quirk," Iida protested.

"Eh?"

"Didn't you hear about what he did during the practical exam?"

"Just jump and get it over with," the teacher sighed while Iida and Bakugo began to squabble. Kurai considered jumping in, but decided against it. He had better things to do with his fresh air than waste it on the likes of Bakugo.

"Yes sir!" Midoriya replied to Aizawa. He took his stance again, and this time Kurai felt a change in the atmosphere around the boy. It was almost as though the air was shuddering where he stood, as if trying to get away from the impending storm about to break.

I really hope he's not about to break himself, Kurai thought with a grimace.

Then with a yell, Midoriya launched himself forward- and cleared fifty meters in the blink of an eye. Kurai blinked a couple of times to make sure that he wasn't seeing things, but his eyes did not lie. Midoriya was lying in the dirt, panting from the effort he had just exerted, but there was no denying that he had indeed cleared a great distance in less than a second.

Even Iida would need to be in a pretty high gear to cover that much distance that quickly, Kurai thought, impressed. At least now I see why he's been afraid of using his power. If that's just the tip of the iceberg, the full power he can wield must be something on a level that I've never even seen before!

Midoriya got to his feet, wobbling, but smiling as he turned to face Kurai, who gave him a thumbs-up. Then the green-haired boy's face went from one of triumph to one of fear, and Kurai realized that he wasn't looking at him anymore.

Turning slightly, he noticed that Bakugo looked as though he was about to have an aneurism. Then, without warning, he shot forward, an explosion lighting up in his right hand as he screamed, "DEKU, YOU BASTARD! Tell me how you did that, or you're DEAD!"

"Ack!" Midoriya squawked as he held up his hands to shield himself from Bakugo's fiery wrath.

Kurai's eyebrows met in a sharp 'V' and he aimed his palms at Bakugo, ready to pulverize him with a barrage of energy blasts.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Before either of the boys could harm anybody, a grey fabric shot out and wound itself around Bakugo multiple times, holding him in place more tightly than steel chains. At the same time, his explosions went out like candles cut off from any oxygen.

"What the…?" Bakugo snarled as he craned his neck to see who had bound him. "Is this… your friggin scarf?!"

Aizawa was glaring at his student, his eyes glowing crimson while his hair and scarf floated above his head. "This is a capture weapon designed for use on villains," he replied with a hint of anger in his tone. "Don't bother trying to use your quirk on it- I've erased it."

"Wait a sec…" Midoriya gasped, his eyes going wide. "I know you! You're that pro hero, Eraserhead! Your quirk lets you suppress the powers of anyone you're looking at!"

"Anything else that's blatantly obvious you feel like adding?" the teacher deadpanned, even while Bakugo struggled in vain against the scarf.

"N-No sir," Midoriya stammered as he backed away from Aizawa.

Fixing his attention back on his explosive student, the teacher said, "I expect better of my students than starting fights, Bakugo. This will be the last time I have to use my quirk on you, unless you want to suffer some serious consequences." Without bothering to wait for an acknowledgement from the boy, Aizawa released the tension on his scarf and stopped using his quirk, returning his appearance to that of a tired, haggard man. Turning to the others, he said, "Come on, then. We don't have all day." With that, he started to wade through his students.

Bakugo turned to follow, but not once did his eyes leave the ground. Kurai could practically feel his anger roiling off of him like a heat wave, even from the distance that separated them.

However, he did stop by Midoriya and say, "You surprised me, kid. I thought you were going to break yourself with reckless abandon again like in the practical."

Before Kurai could give his classmate another thumbs-up, Aizawa turned his withering gaze on him, instantly rendering him silent and still. "Next time you think about blasting one of your classmates outside of combat practice, remember what I told Bakugo," he said quietly. "I won't tolerate that kind of behavior in my class."

Once he was out of earshot, Iida muttered, "Only the first day, and you're already on his bad side. That has to be another new record, right?"

"Iida, I will rip the engines out of your legs and put them on my motorcycle."

The rest of the tests passed without incident, and Kurai was able to congratulate Midoriya on his use of his quirk without breaking his bones in between the ball-throw and the seated toe-touch. When he did, the freckled boy grimaced and said, "Yeah, well, I'm not broken, but I think I sprained my wrist pretty bad with the ball throw- I went and stuck my arm in the waterfall instead of just my hand." He held up his arm for inspection, revealing it to be swollen and slightly discolored.

"Ow," Kurai grimaced. "You should go see the school nurse after class, cos if that doesn't heal up right, you're gonna have bigger issues than just a sprain. Honestly, that looks kinda broken."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Midoriya groaned. "I'm back to square one if it is!"

"I wouldn't say that," Kurai said, trying to sound encouraging. "You didn't break your legs, now did you?"

"No, but they're kinda sore, too," the boy admitted.

"Sore like the arm?"

"No, more like I've just been walking on them all day without a break."

Kurai snorted with a hint of derision and said, "Then you're making progress. Don't be so hard on yourself, man. It's not like the world is counting on us yet."

"Uh, right," Midoriya said with a nervous laugh. "I guess that's true."

When the scores were revealed at the end of the class, Kurai was able to let out a breath of relief that he hadn't known that he was holding in. He had taken the top spot, just ahead of a girl named Momo Yaoyorozu, who had apparently gotten into the academy on recommendation, so he felt quite proud of that. Iida took fifth place, which he seemed satisfied with.

Midoriya, Kurai was pleased to see, had taken eleventh place with his newly-developed control of his quirk. He had hoped that his new classmate would score higher, but he had been impeded by the pain of his arm, and it had admittedly hurt his later scores. Still, he had borne the pain without complaint, silently working alongside the other students in order to try his best to win Aizawa's approval.

Unfortunately, someone had to come in last place, and it turned out to be a girl named Toru Hagakure. Her quirk was heteromorphic in nature, which basically meant that it didn't turn off, ever. The only issue was that, unlike the boy with six arms that could spawn different body parts on the ends of them, her quirk simply rendered her invisible. She had no edge over the others when it came to running fast or jumping high, which meant that she performed at the level of an average athlete from their age group. In a class full of people like Kurai and Bakugo, she never stood a chance.

The poor girl was bawling her eyes out when Aizawa said in a flat tone, "By the way, I lied about expelling the loser."

This took a few seconds for most of the class to process, and when they did, many of them let out exclamations of protest and condemnation. Their teacher simply gave them a crooked smile in response and said, "I just used a rational deception to make sure that you kids would give it your all."

"How are we supposed to trust what you say now?!" Kurai demanded angrily. He had been using his quirk to great effect for all of the tests, and it was showing in his flushed face and trembling fists that were kept at his sides.

"Kurai, you need you need to cool down," Iida said worriedly. Of all the people there, he alone knew exactly what happened if Kurai's temper exploded, and the consequences it could bring about. "I'm not happy about his methods, either, but this isn't the time or place to raise your concerns."

Kurai's breaths accelerated, and he glared back at his best friend, every fiber of his being demanding that he punch him for demanding restraint. In his head, he knew that Iida was just trying to help, but every other part of his existence craved violence at that moment. He was about to use an energy blast that would put Aizawa in his place when he felt something wet slide down his lips and fall into the dust with a minute plop.

"Kurai…" Iida said, his face going white.

Instantly, the boy's anger fled into the corners of his mind, where it would not be forgotten, but could be sorted out later when he was more capable of doing so. In its place came a raw, animal terror that saw him falling on his rump as he clutched at his face while blood sheeted from his nose and pain stabbed through his head before he blacked out.

Deku: What happened?! Is Hikari all right?!

Mataras: Relax, I'm not gonna kill him off just yet.

Deku: Yet?!

Mataras: Didn't you pay any attention to the prologue? This may still be the story of how you become the greatest hero in the world, but it is also the story of how Kurai dies. Make no mistake with that.

Deku: But... What happened to him?!

Mataras: Let's just say that with a quirk as powerful as his, there are compounded drawbacks, none of which are to be taken lightly. You already saw how his personality was drastically altered, just like during the entrance exam, only this time it was worse.

Deku: That's true... And I've never seen a quirk that negatively alters a person's personality before- not as a backlash from their own quirk anyway. But what about the last part?

Mataras: To be explained, next chapter. If you don't want to wait two weeks for the release on this website, check out my YouTube channel for the next audio chapter, coming out next Saturday.

Deku: Next time- New Friends!

Mataras: Don't miss the chance to see Kurai get on the karaoke machine!

Kurai: Wait, what?!

Deku: He's awake!

Mataras: Go beyond!

Deku: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Here Academia...

He was met with something completely unexpected as soon as everyone noticed that he was in the room. "He's okay!" Kirishima shouted with a huge grin on his face as he scrambled ahead of the other students to come up to the now-confused boy. "These guys were all worried about you, but I knew you were gonna be fine!"

"Your quirk sure has one hell of a kickback, huh?" a golden-haired boy named Kaminari asked from his desk. "Gotta say that the powers that it comes with are something pretty special, though. Good to see you on your feet, man." Kurai blinked a couple of times, unsure of how to respond.

"I was afraid you were gonna miss out on school, cos I wanted to hang out with you after!" Mina said excitedly. "That is, if you're free?"

"Yeah, some of us were gonna go for karaoke since we don't have much homework this afternoon," Sero explained. "We were all hoping you could join us!"

Iida joined in here, saying, "I'm sure that after his ordeal, Hikari would just like the opportunity to rest at home." He met eyes with his friend, his bespectacled blue orbs asking a silent question.

Kurai looked around at his classmates, more than half of them looking expectantly at him, then back to his best friend, all the while considering his own exhaustion, as well as the words Recovery Girl had sent him off with.

Finally, he said, "I can go with you guys for a little while, I suppose."