AN: Mugen-Muse - Well, you'll find out in this chapter if Izuku meets anyone! As for Aldera itself - I actually don't like the fanon that they're a secret MLA facility, if only because of how badly they do that job. If I were re-destro and found out that the school has never had anyone of note before Bakugo and Izuku as its graduates, I'd be wondering what my money was actually going toward. That said, I have plans for when the investigation happens.

Oujiswan - glad you're enjoying the story!

Maximum Rhapsody - The meeting will come in due time! As for changes - there's a lot of butterfly effects already in motion, and even more to come, despite Risa/future!Melissa being very careful about her changes. And yes, there are some fundamental changes from previous timelines, such as Ochako wearing glasses in this timeline. As for ships, the Big 3 are going to be a polycule since they'll be getting a solid chunk of screen time here, and there will be some other background ships in 1-A when we get there.

Az-Bebere - Courtesy of vestige!Toshinori, All Might also picked up his 'Teaching for Dummies' book months ahead of schedule, and that alone was a huge boon to his teaching ability!

Melissa began taping up the final box before she set it on her bed. She then picked up the remaining clothes she was having shipped to her new apartment and carefully laid them in the box.

"How's it going, Mel?"

Melissa turned to see her dad standing in the doorway, one hand casually holding the top of the door frame. "Great! Just one more box and then I'll be done."

"It's gonna be a lot quieter without you around," David said as he entered the room.

"I'm sure you'll find ways to keep yourself busy," Melissa smiled at her dad. "Or you could always move to Japan. They still don't have a branch of Shield Industries there."

Her dad chuckled as he grabbed her chair and spun it around before sitting in it backwards. "I don't think I'm ready to pack up and move quite yet."

"At least we'll still have our projects," Melissa said fondly. "Even if we're not sitting next to each other in the lab anymore."

"That we will," Her dad agreed. Remembering something, he reached down to his pants pocket and pulled out a thin case, offering it to Melissa. "Speaking of - I brought these for you."

"The pogo sticks?" Melissa asked as she took the case and opened it. Sure enough, inside were four pen-sized cylinders.

"I'm sure you'll find them useful getting around Musutafu."

"Thanks," Melissa closed the case and returned to the task at hand, a comfortable silence settling in between them as she finished packing. "Even though UA's going to be exciting. I'm still going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Mel."

"I just-" Putting down the handful of clothes, she held up her hand and it began to glow. "Everything's happened so fast. I just - haven't really had a lot of time to process it yet."

"Think about how I felt. Ever since Toshinori gave me that panicked phone call and scared me," He closed the distance between them, his hand wrapping around hers. "I thought I was going to lose the only family I had left."

"Sorry," Melissa felt herself blushing as she turned away. "Do you - do you ever think about her?"

"Sometimes," David admitted. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Melissa bit her lip as she nodded. "I keep asking myself 'why'. Why did she come back? Why did she do what she did and what she's doing now?"

"I'm sure she has good answers to those questions. After all, she's just as smart and clever as you are."

"You're right," Melissa smiled back at her dad. "I just - am I doing what she wanted me to do? And if- will I ever see her again."

"If you do, make sure to tell her to call her old man, okay?" Melissa giggled at his joke, before he continued. "I'm sure you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing."

Melissa seemed to consider his words before nodding. "You're right!"

"And besides, if anyone was able to guess what she wanted you to do, who would be better suited to figuring that out than you?"

"I-" Melissa's cheeks heated up in embarrassment. "Thanks. I think I just needed the reminder."

Her dad chuckled fondly at her. "Well, if you're ever feeling lost you can always give your old man a call and I'll remind you. It'll be a nice break from us talking circuits and diagrams."

Melissa laughed. "Thanks, dad."

"Now come on, I've only got a few more hours left and I know just the place to visit."

Melissa's eyes lit up as she followed her dad. "You're still not topping my high scores!"

Izuku tugged at the collar of his new uniform. The black of Aldera had been replaced by the bluish-gray color that Chandrila Middle School wore, and ever since he pulled it out of the closet he'd been fighting with a wave of anxiety.

How do they treat quirkless people there?

Will they believe my story about being a late bloomer?

Will they think I'm weird because of my notebooks?

His spiraling thoughts were interrupted by his mom coming up behind him and placing her hands on his shoulders. "Oh Izu, you look great!"

"T-thanks mom," Izuku looked at her and forced himself to smile.

"Nervous?"

"Mhm," Izuku nodded. "Training has been going great, and Melissa's really nice, but…"

"But you're worried that they'll treat you the same way they did at Aldera."

"Y-yeah," Izuku looked down at his feet.

"Honey, don't worry," Inko's grip tightened on his shoulder. "I looked into the school, and they have much stricter discrimination guidelines - both for mutant quirks and for quirkless people - than Aldera did. And besides - you can tell them you do have a quirk! You don't even have to lie about the fact that you're training so your body can handle it."

Izuku looked at his mom, the ghost of a smile forming on his face. "Thanks. I think I needed that."

Inko pulled her son into a hug. "If anything happens at school, you tell me, ok?"

"I will, I promise!" Izuku said as he returned the hug.

Releasing her son, Inko looked at him with teary eyes. "You'd better get going. Don't want to miss the opening ceremonies on your first day!"

"R-right."

It was almost surreal, arriving at Chandrila. There were no snide comments, no pitying looks, and no fear of Bakugo lurking around, ready to attack him or one of his classmates.

Entering the building, Izuku made his way to the teacher's lounge, where he was to meet his homeroom teacher ahead of orientation. As he slid the door open, he was surprised to see a short chubby girl standing there, her hands fidgeting nervously behind her back. Noticing the door open, she spun around to look at him and he got a clearer view of her face - she had short brown hair and auburn eyes hidden behind a pair of round frameless glasses, and two permanent blush marks dotting her cheeks.

"Oh, hello there!" The girl said. "Are you new here too?"

"New… too?" Izuku parroted. "Y-yeah! I just transferred here," Izuku rubbed the back of his head.

"Me too!" The girl said. "My family just moved to the area! I'm Ochako Uraraka," She bowed her head slightly. "Nice to meet you!"

"Izuku Midoriya," Izuku bowed his head back. "N-nice to meet you."

Izuku was thankfully saved from having to come up with small talk by the sound of the door opening and a tall, thin man with gray hair and eyes stepped through. "Ah, you two must be my new students. I'm Mr. Iwai, your homeroom teacher."

"We're both in the same homeroom?" Ochako asked curiously.

The man nodded affirmatively. "I hope that won't be a problem."

"Nope!" Ochako said before turning to Izuku. "Let's do our best this year!"

Izuku offered her a nervous smile. "Y-yeah!"

After Mr. Iwai explained the basics to them, he opened the door to escort the pair to their new homeroom ahead of opening ceremonies. Izuku let Ochako go first before he stepped out behind her, and followed the pair to their new homeroom.

If all of the students here are as nice as Uraraka, maybe it won't be as bad as Aldera, after all.

Once again, Melissa stood in front of the gates of UA, this time as a student. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the threshold and made her way to the main building.

After changing her shoes, she followed the map she had memorized, easily making her way through the building to the door of her classroom: 1-A. As she approached, she took a moment to appreciate how massive the door was.

I guess they need to accommodate everyone, including people larger than Uncle Might!

She slid the door open and glanced around; a few of her fellow classmates had also arrived early and were sitting by themselves or in pairs, getting to know each other. In the corner, she saw the turquoise-haired girl from the exam, the wreath of water still present around her neck. As soon as she glanced in her direction, she saw an eye appear in the water, looking at her with great interest. She gave the eye a nervous smile before quickly looking away.

In the opposite corner of the room, she saw another familiar face - the boy from the entrance exam. She felt her nervous smile turn genuine as she walked over to him.

"Hey, you made it!" Melissa said.

"Oh!" The boy seemed to jump in his seat at the sudden noise, only relaxing slightly as he recognized her. "I-it's you. I guess our rescue operation worked?"

"Yep!" Melissa said proudly. "I actually wanted to thank you but you ran off while I was with Recovery Girl."

Tamaki gave her a nervous smile before he turned away, looking down at his desk. "I'm not very good around people."

"Oh," Melissa was suddenly reminded of her training partner. Although the boy in front of her seemed even more nervous than Izuku. She had to admit it was an impressive feat. "Well, thanks for your help during the exam. I'm Melissa Shield, nice to meet you!"

"T-Tamaki Amajiki," The boy looked at her. "I-it was my pleasure."

"And I'm Juno! Nice to meet you!" A watery voice came from next to Melissa, making her jump.

"Eeek!" Melissa whipped around, seeing a tendril of water with a vaguely humanlike face staring at her, with two now-familiar eyes filling the sockets. "W-what are you!?"

"Juno!" The turquoise-haired girl scolded as she approached the group. On further inspection, Melissa noticed that the wreath around her neck looked like it had unfurled and stretched out across the classroom, with the end of it forming the face that hovered mere feet away from her. "I'm sorry about them, they don't know how to mind their own business."

"Pfft, speak for yourself!" Juno shot back, giving an annoyed glance to the girl. "You're sitting in the corner being antisocial and I'm here trying to introduce myself to our classmates!"

"I-is this your quirk?" Melissa asked, recovering from her shock.

"Yeah, it is," The girl confirmed. "I'm Arabele Yung, and this is Juno, my quirk."

"You're a living quirk?" Melissa asked, her eyes going wide. "I've heard about them, but I've never seen one before!"

"Yep!" Juno said proudly.

"Don't worry, Juno knows how to behave," Arabele said. In response, the air seemed to be filled with a mixture of faint whispers and record scratching as several more eyes opened along the tendril, all of them looking at Arabele. "Mostly." She glared at the eyes closest to her.

Juno looked like they wanted to say something, before the face suddenly turned toward the door. "Teacher's here!"

The three students turned just in time to see what could best be described as a yellow caterpillar appear in the doorway. Melissa found herself impressed by his speed and silence - if she didn't have the warning from the living quirk, she didn't know how long it would have taken to spot him.

"I see at least one of you is aware of their surroundings," The gruff voice of the teacher said. As Melissa watched, the zipper began to lower and revealed the form of Shota Aizawa, their homeroom teacher. Surprisingly, despite crawling out of a sleeping bag, he looked like he could sleep for days and not be caught up.

Carrying the bag under his arm, Aizawa crossed the room to his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a pile of uniforms and placing them on the desk. "Your training starts now. Put these on and meet me out at the training field."

"What about the opening ceremonies?" A short white-haired girl asked defiantly.

Aizawa's response was to glare at her. "They're a waste of time. You've got three years to reach your full potential if you plan on becoming a hero. You don't have time for such pointless frivolities."

Melissa heard the whispers again as Juno retracted back to its 'default' form of a wreath around Arabele. "He's not going to change his mind," Arabele said as she began walking to the front of the room.

Realizing there was no room for argument, Melissa followed the duo to the desk and picked up a uniform, Tamaki right behind her.

The students changed and assembled on the training ground, where Aizawa was already impatiently waiting for them. When the final student arrived, he held up a tennis ball. "Hado."

"Yes, sensei?" A girl with long periwinkle hair asked as she stepped forward.

"You came in first in the entrance exam, right? How far was your ball toss score in middle school?"

She pressed her index finger as she thought about it, before answering. "About 70 meters."

Aizawa held out the ball in his hand. "Let's see how far you can toss this now."

With a silent nod, Nejire took the ball from her teacher and stood in the circle, before throwing it with all her might.

Aizawa watched impassively before he held up a handheld sensor and pressed a button.

71 Meters.

"Good, but unimpressive for a hero. Now try again, using your quirk."

"My quirk?" Nejire asked, her head tilting in confusion.

"Yes," Aizawa then turned toward the rest of the class. "So far in your lives you've been taught not to use your quirk except under very narrow and specific circumstances. But as heroes, you will be playing by a different set of rules, and the villains you face will ignore the rules altogether. The sooner you recognize that fact, the better." He offered her another ball. "This time, I want you to use your quirk when you throw it."

Nejire seemed to examine the ball as she thought about it, before looking back at Aizawa. "Alright."

She returned to the mound and wound up, and when she threw the ball the students saw a blast of energy spiral out from her palm and hit the ball, launching it skyward and out of sight. While the students tried to trace the path of the ball, Aizawa simply stared at the device in his hand, watching the sensor readings until it hit the ground. He then turned toward the class and held up the device.

710 Meters.

"Today, we're going to go through a standard set of tests to establish new baselines for all of you. It will also force you to think about new ways to use your quirks, and how to apply them creatively."

"This'll be fun!" A white-haired girl called out.

"Yeah! I can't wait to see what I can do!" A large boy agreed.

This seemed to annoy Aizawa. "You think school is a game? I have news for you - being a hero is dangerous," A sinister smile began to crawl across his face. "I had planned to wait for this lesson, but if you need to learn it today as well, so be it. UA doesn't have time for students who are giving any less than their best. If I see any one of you slacking off on these tests, I will expel you."

"Uh oh, he's serious," Juno hissed, having formed a small tendril to speak with, causing several nearby students to look at it with worry.

Melissa's eyes darted to the other students before locking with Tamaki's.

"Will you be ok?" The boy asked her.

"Huh?"

His eyes darted to her left arm. "I um, remember what you did to your arm during the entrance exam. You don't have any of your gear with you now, do you?"

"Oh," Melissa looked down at her left arm and made a fist. "I'll be ok! I can use my quirk a little bit without it, I just have to be careful!"

"That's good," Tamaki sighed in relief before he held his chin in his hand. "Now what did I eat today…"

Up first was the fifty-meter dash. Melissa couldn't help but be fascinated as she watched her classmates try and find creative uses for their quirks. While One For All was straightforward in how it enhanced her, most students had to apply their quirks more creatively for the exams.

Tamaki was one of the first students to be tested. As she watched, he transformed his lower half into a bull, and used the enhanced speed and strength to dash across the field. Nejire seemed to use her blasts as a form of propellant, firing one every time her foot touched the ground, giving her a boost of propulsion that sent her flying forward with each step.

Arabele seemed to be in discussion with Juno before the event, as Melissa heard that strange combination of whisper and scratching in between her words. They didn't seem to come to an agreement, however, as Juno didn't seem to assist Arabele in her race against her opponent - their energetic white-haired classmate.

As her classmate approached the starting line, Melissa watched curiously as she took off her shoes, wondering what she was doing until she saw the tips of her hair start to turn red and shimmer, giving the illusion that it was on fire. Seconds later and boots made out of blue fire materialized around her feet, much to the girl's satisfaction. Aizawa signaled for the two girls to begin and she took off, using the boots much in the same way Nejire used her energy blasts to propel herself forward, leaving Arabele in the dust.

Melissa flashed the girl an apologetic smile as she traded places with her, getting into position on the starting line. Calling upon One For All, she felt its warmth as she pushed its energy into her legs. A mere three percent of its power, by her estimates, but more than enough to give her a solid time, faster than half her classmates.

Next up were the grip strength and repeated side-steps. Melissa was thankful for her need to build her upper body strength which, combined with One For All, allowed her to take first place in her class, surprising many of her classmates. For the side-steps, Nejire tried to use her quirk to step back and forth, but to everyone's surprise she was hit by a wave of fatigue and fell over. After that, most students seemed reserved about using their quirks to accelerate their movements too much, to Aizawa's displeasure.

As the test moved on to the standing long jump, people became more comfortable with using their quirks again. This time, Juno seemed to cooperate and wrapped itself around the bar, being used as leverage to launch Arabele into the air and giving her distance to easily clear the sandbox. Nejire looked like she had recovered and used her energy blasts to push herself further into the air and clear the sandbox as well.

Melissa had started to feel nervous with how much Aizawa was seemingly staring at her and almost miscalculated how much energy she put into her legs, biting her lip as she landed to avoid crying out in pain. If there's one thing she hadn't built up yet, it was pain tolerance.

Something she would have to get used to if she wanted to live as a hero.

Next up was the ball toss.

"Melissa Shield."

Melissa looked at the impassive face of Aizawa looking at her as he called on her first, and suddenly she felt more nervous than she had been the entire exam.

Why is he staring at me like that?

Forcing herself to remain calm, she walked up to her teacher and took the offered ball before walking into the painted circle. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself before calling upon One For All, channeling three percent into her arm. She pulled back and threw the ball with full force…

…Only to travel a much shorter distance than she was expecting. Looking at her hands in shock, she realized that One For All's energy had been negated somehow. Turning toward the teacher, she couldn't help but gasp.

Aizawa was staring at her, hair standing almost upright and eyes wide open, his irises red. "It seems you aren't listening to my warning."

"What did you do to my quirk?" Melissa asked fearfully.

Aizawa's eyes returned to normal as his hair fell. "It's my quirk. As long as I keep my eyes open I can Erase someone's quirk, but it's only temporary."

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief, her worry that he'd done something more quickly disappearing.

"You're not taking this seriously," Aizawa said accusingly.

Melissa gasped and took a half step back in shock, new worry filling her. "What- No! I'm doing my best!"

"Then why aren't you going all out with your quirk?"

"I- because you didn't warn me, I don't have my support equipment," Melissa admitted. "I can only do so much without it."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "Villains aren't going to wait until you have your support equipment either, or they'll find a way to destroy it. You'd better be prepared to fight without it."

"That's what I was doing!" Melissa insisted.

"I don't believe you."

"What?!"

"I think you're over-reliant on your support equipment. Show me what you're really capable of," His face turned into a dark grin. "If you don't, you know what I'll do."

Melissa swallowed the lump in her throat. "You'll seriously expel me?"

Instead of responding, Aizawa held up another ball. Nervously, Melissa walked forward and picked up the ball before she returned to the mound.

If I show him what One For All can really do…

But my arm…

He sounded serious about expelling me though!

Maybe I can channel 10%? If I keep the window brief enough, maybe it won't mess me up.

Is that enough?

Doubt filling her mind, Melissa opened up One For All again, feeling the fire pouring into her arm.

Meanwhile, in the crowd of students, Juno suddenly paused its conversation to look at Melissa. "Oooh, this is going to be messy."

Melissa didn't hear it, but she certainly noticed when most of her class was suddenly looking at her.

No, I have to focus. I have to keep OFA under control!

Melissa pulled back and felt One For All's power flare up in her as she pulled back and tossed the ball.

The next thing her classmates heard was Melissa screaming in pain.

Nezu sighed as he drank his tea. While he was expecting to have a meeting with the faculty and staff to discuss the upcoming year, he wasn't expecting it to turn into a meeting discussing the habits of one of his newest teachers.

But thanks to Aizawa's rather unorthodox teaching methods, a student broke their arm in a very public manner. While Recovery Girl was able to fix the physical damage, that didn't change the fact that the entire class watched as a teacher threatened to expel a student because she refused to push herself to her breaking point.

"Now then," Nezu began before taking a long drink from his tea. "Mr. Aizawa. Would you please care to explain why you chose to have Miss Shield use her quirk the way she did."

Aizawa maintained an apathetic facade as he turned toward the principal. "It's simply logical. As heroes these students can't plan for ideal circumstances. If they aren't able to control their quirks under pressure, they shouldn't be here."

"And were you familiar with Miss Shield's file at all?"

"No," Aizawa stated simply.

"How could you-" Toshinori began to rise from his seat.

"I didn't need her file to know her connection to you," Aizawa countered, glaring at the number one hero. "Daughter of David Shield, your former sidekick who helped design your costume as well as much of the support gear at your agency. Of course you'd make sure she makes it into UA."

"How dare you!?" Toshinori disappeared, replaced with the form of All Might, his fist and teeth clenched. "I know you don't like me, but to project that dislike onto Melissa!"

"Gentlemen, please," Nezu cut both of the heroes off. "While you are correct that she has connections with All Might, I assure you that there was no nepotism involved in her admittance. In fact, I encourage you to review the footage in her file, showing both her exam scores and her actions during the practical portion of the exam."

Nezu paused, giving the teachers an opportunity to speak. Both had the good sense to stay quiet, and he continued. "While you are in the file, I also suggest you look up the specifics of her quirk."

"What about her quirk?"

"Unlike most children, she didn't manifest her quirk between the ages of four and five. Rather, she is a rare case of a late-bloomer. She has only had her quirk for about two months. In addition, due to the highly volatile nature of her quirk, she can only use a fraction of its power without hurting herself. She can use support gear to offset that drawback to some extent. However," Nezu gave a pointed look at his teacher. "Today she gave quite the demonstration of why she doesn't push herself."

"Then why is she even here?" Aizawa demanded. "We're here to train heroes, not babysit children who can't control their quirks."

"From what I have seen, Miss Shield already has displayed an impressive amount of control over her quirk. Considering she has only had it for such a short time, I believe that is proof enough of her potential. She just needs proper guidance and training."

"If she needs that much guidance then maybe she's in the wrong field," Aizawa said, an edge creeping into his voice.

"I'm sorry, but what are you saying?" Toshinori asked, trying to keep the tension out of his own voice.

"She's already dual-enrolled in the support department. If she needs extra help to become a hero, then she's not worth my time, and she should focus on becoming a support specialist instead," Aizawa replied, glaring at Toshinori.

"How can you say that? It's your job to provide that training-"

"It's my job to make sure these kids don't die!" Aizawa exclaimed, his hand slamming into the table.

Nemuri gasped. "Sho…"

"Shota-" Hizashi said.

Nezu placed his teacup down and folded his hands on the desk, his mind already analyzing the situation. For all of his intelligence, human emotions remained difficult for him, and took additional time. Even then he never got it quite right. Sometimes things slipped through, and he had to minimize the fallout.

"Mr. Aizawa, it sounds like you are speaking from personal experience here."

"I'm not talking about it," Aizawa said.

"Oboro," Nemuri spoke up, and Aizawa's head shot up to glare at her, confirming she had guessed correctly. "You're still carrying the burden of Oboro's death, aren't you?"

"Ms. Kayama, please explain," Nezu urged.

"I'm sure you are aware of Sho's, Hizashi's, and my friendship. However," Nemuri looked down at the table. "When we were students there was a fourth friend in our little group - Oboro Shirakumo. We were close. Closer than we are now, even. But then," She appeared to be wrestling with her own emotions.

"He died," Aizawa said. "During our second year. Because we didn't know what it truly meant to be heroes. Not until that moment."

"I see," Nezu said as he slowly rolled his chair away from the table and stood up. "And now you're trying to teach that harsh lesson to your students."

"It worked with last year's students," Aizawa pointed out.

"Indeed, but I seem to recall that last year you didn't force your students to injure themselves," Nezu walked over to a window and stared out of it. "While I pride myself on giving teachers leeway with how they run their classrooms, I am afraid I made a mistake this time."

"What are you implying?" Aizawa's eyes narrowed as he looked at the principal.

"I believe you have the potential to be a great teacher. Besides hiring you on Ms. Kayama's recommendation, you also have extensive practical experience and your quirk is uniquely suited to helping students with dangerous quirks. Students such as Miss Shield. However, it appears that you have a much deeper issue that needs to be addressed first." He turned around and stared at Aizawa. "As of now, you are to be suspended from teaching, and you are to enroll yourself in psychological counseling. If you are comfortable with Hound Dog, he can be your counselor. Otherwise, I'm sure he can provide you with a list of therapists who specialize in hero therapy, or someone who can help you cope with your friend's death."

"What's the point? Since I'm suspended," Aizawa responded dryly.

"While I disagree with your methods, I find myself agreeing with your goals. After all, heroics is a dangerous field, and you are correct that we must prepare our students so that they don't find themselves injured, or worse, in the line of duty. However, it isn't right to do so by projecting your own traumas onto these children. You are a teacher. You are supposed to guide them, to cultivate them and help them grow, so that once they leave our halls they can stand on their own." Nezu returned to his seat and sat down. "Therefore, once you have been cleared by Hound Dog, I would like you to resume your role as homeroom teacher for first years."

"What about his current class?" Toshinori asked.

Nezu sighed and looked at the file of Melissa Shield sitting in front of him. "It is unorthodox, but seeing as we don't have any available teachers, for the time being I will take the role of their homeroom teacher." He once again looked at Aizawa. "And I will step down once Mr. Aizawa returns to the classroom."

"Aren't you worried about the breach of trust that happened?" Toshinori insisted.

"Perhaps, but I believe it will be a good lesson, both for Mr. Aizawa and the students, to rebuild that trust."

Aizawa glared at Toshinori before he turned toward Nezu. At least the rat had the good sense to see the logic in what he was doing. If he had to go through this song and dance to avoid another tragedy like Oboro, it would be worth it.

"Fine, I'll do it."

AN: And we're back! Hope you all had a nice holiday vacation.

Special thanks to starlightroad for letting me use her OC pair of Arabele and Juno to help fill out class 3!