AN: Thanks for the interest and reviews everyone!
Ricardo Valencia - The Villain Katsuki Bakugo tag will come up later. Needless to say, he's not going to UA and is going to have quite a different story than his canon-self.
Maximum Rhapsody - Given how far back in the timeline I'm starting, I'd say that there's time for Melissa to unlock other OFA abilities, yeah. As for Ochako getting a quirk awakening - we'll see what happens! David probably wouldn't directly create costumes for students at UA, but I could see a partnership between his company and UA for costume creation.
ReviewerPops - Mirio isn't in general education. Rather he is in 1-B (In canon Nejire and Tamaki are in 3-A while Mirio is in 3-B). So he's still a hero student, just not in the same class.
The next morning, as Izuku was jogging to the beach he felt anxiety welling up within him. He knew his decision was rash - would All Might and Melissa be disappointed in him? Would they even be ok if Ochako joined them? Would Ochako get along with them? What about the secrets involving One For All and All Might?
Izuku was so caught up worrying about these questions that he didn't even realize his body had carried him to his destination until All Might's voice broke him out of his spiral of thoughts.
"Young Midoriya! Is something the matter?" All Might asked, concern laced in his words.
Izuku skidded to a stop and raised his hands defensively. "No! Yes! I, um, hope not?"
"What a straightforward answer!" Melissa teased.
"Why don't you explain what happened then." All Might suggested.
"So, um, there's this girl in my class, and she's also a transfer student!" Izuku began. "And well, yesterday we ate lunch together, and we started talking, and she wants to be a hero too!"
"Of course she does," Melissa giggled. "You must have some sort of sixth sense for that sort of thing."
"Y-yeah," Izuku felt his face heating up as he rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway! Her old training methods don't work now that she's moved here and so I sort-of kind-of offered to let her train with us?"
"Young Midoriya, don't tell me there's a third copy of One For All out there!"
All Might's attempt at humor fell flat, and instead caused Izuku to panic. "N-no! Why would you even ask that?!"
Melissa and All Might looked at each other awkwardly. Izuku's reaction reminded them that they had kept Izuku in the dark about their visitor from the future.
"I think we need to tell him," Melissa said.
"Are you sure?" All Might began rubbing the back of his head. "It's very personal for you."
"I don't mind," Melissa turned toward Izuku and smiled at him, causing Izuku to turn bright red.
"I- uh- tell me what?" Izuku asked lamely.
Melissa closed the distance between them and held up her hand, wrapping it in a golden glow. "Do you remember when we first visited your apartment and told you I've also got a copy of Uncle Might's quirk?"
Izuku nodded vigorously. "I was wondering about that," He placed his thumb on his lip. "My first guess was that since the quirk is both an accumulator-type and transferable, he somehow managed a partial transfer, giving you a portion of the quirk while saving the rest for someone else."
Melissa giggled. "A good theory, but you're wrong. Not that I blame you, given the truth," the glow faded and she folded her hands behind her back. "You'll probably find this hard to believe, but my copy of One For All actually came from the future."
"Wait- the future?" Izuku's eyes went wide in disbelief.
"Young Midoriya, why do you think I really came to your school that day?" All Might asked as he approached the pair.
"U-um, well…" Izuku rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I never really figured that out. I thought maybe you were there because of Kacchan, because everyone is always there for him, and I just… got lucky?"
All Might sighed and shook his head. Even though Izuku had come a long way since they first met, he still had a long way to go. "Young Midoriya, it wasn't luck. You see, months ago I received a very strange phone call. It was from the very same person who gave Melissa her copy of One For All, in fact! And that was when I learned something very important about One For All."
"T-that it needed to be given to someone who's quirkless," Izuku replied.
"Indeed! And alongside the warning, they gave me a name. Someone with a heroic spirit, who refused to give up despite his lack of a quirk: Izuku Midoriya."
"Me?" Izuku blinked before looking at Melissa. "But what about Melissa?" Izuku asked incredulously.
"Uncle Might didn't even have to consider me," Melissa admitted, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Because right after calling him, I got a visit from our future traveler: Me."
"You got a copy of One For All from… yourself?" Izuku asked in disbelief.
"Mhm," Melissa nodded. "She gave me a gift, so that I could fulfill our childhood dream of becoming a hero."
"So when you asked about a third copy of One For All…"
"I was making a joke," All Might rubbed the back of his head. "At least, I hope so! If there is a third copy out there, they would have the good sense to track us down."
"I-I see," Izuku said. "It's not like that though! Uraraka… she already has a quirk. I just… she's nice, and I wanted to help her?"
"Aww, you're so cute!" Melissa exclaimed.
"WHAT?!" Izuku jumped as if he had just touched a live wire, his face turning bright red.
Melissa giggled at his reaction. "Just you being-" she waved her hands at him. "-you! You found someone who wants to become a hero and the first thing you did was invite her to train with us."
"Is that a bad thing?" Izuku asked.
"Not at all!" Melissa shook her head vigorously. "I don't mind if we have another training partner."
"It is risky," Toshinori said. "It means we are going to have to be mindful of our discussions - if this Young Uraraka was to find out about my injury, or One For All-"
"I understand!" Izuku exclaimed. "I actually told Uraraka my cover story. About being a late-bloomer, I mean," Izuku added. "A-and it worked!"
Melissa nodded her head before she turned toward All Might. "As far as she'll know, I'm just a UA student helping you out with the training due to my own dangerous quirk!" Melissa said, before pointing to All Might. "And of course, you're just Toshinori Yagi, UA's newest teacher!"
Toshinori put his hand on his chin and looked at the two thoughtfully. "If you two are sure about this, then I don't have any problems with it. However, I would appreciate it if you asked first before inviting anyone else to join us," he added awkwardly.
"Ehehe," Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I'll keep that in mind."
Despite his initial awkwardness, Izuku felt the tension draining out of him as All Might and Melissa accepted his request. Ochako was so nice, he just wanted to do something to repay her kindness! And what better way than to help her realize her dream, the same way All Might and Melissa were helping him realize his?
Toshinori nodded thoughtfully. "In that case, you can invite her to start training with us as soon as she can. However-" Toshinori disappeared in a cloud of smoke, transforming into All Might as he smiled at Izuku. "-I believe we've delayed today's training for long enough. This beach isn't going to clean itself, after all!"
Izuku and Melissa just gave each other resigned looks before they walked to a nearby pile of trash.
When lunchtime came, Izuku tried not to jump when he saw Ochako's shadow fall over his desk. "Hi, Uraraka."
"Hey Midoriya," when Izuku looked up he saw Ochako smiling at him. "Want to eat on the roof again?"
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Gathering his things, Izuku stood up and followed Ochako out of the classroom and up to the roof. When they arrived, they saw that the same spot from yesterday was open.
"I guess that's our spot now, isn't it?" Ochako asked awkwardly.
"I-" Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat. "-yeah."
Once the pair had gotten situated, Izuku turned toward his companion. "I um, talked to the teacher who's training me this morning. A-about letting you join me for training, I mean!"
"Hrm?" Ochako quickly swallowed the food in her mouth. "What did he say?"
"They said you can join us!" Izuku said a little too loudly.
"Really?" Ochako's eyes lit up. "When can I start?"
"As soon as you're ready! Um-" Izuku began rubbing the back of his head. "-Your parents are ok with this, right?'
"Mhm!" Ochako bobbed her head enthusiastically. "I told them a teacher at UA was helping you train, and they were happy I found someone to take me on so quickly."
"That's great!" Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Izuku found himself smiling. "We start at 5:30 in the morning at Takoba Beach."
"Eh?" Ochako's arm froze in midair, her eyes going wide. "That's so early though!"
"Yeah," Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "My training routine is intense. I wake up early, then take a thirty-minute jog to the beach, followed by two hours of cleaning the beach and another jog home."
"You- you did that this morning?"
"Mhm," Izuku said as he opened his bottle of water before he noticed Ochako looked a little pale. "Is everything alright, Uraraka?"
"Yeah!" Ochako said a little too loudly. "I just didn't realize how intense your training was going to be!"
"Oh, well Al- Mr. Yagi actually said that he'd be willing to create a custom schedule for you. You don't have to worry about your routine being as intense as mine! Since you're not dealing with the same… issue I am." Izuku's voice fell as he said the last part.
Izuku's words seemed to flip a switch, and suddenly the shocked girl was gone, her surprise replaced by a fierce glare. Izuku found himself shying back, wondering what he said to insult her.
"Midoriya, if that's what you're doing to become a hero, there's no way I'm going to settle for anything less! If you can do it, so can I!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head nervously, suddenly very glad that they were friends.
As Melissa was packing up at the end of the day, she saw Tamaki nervously walking toward her, his hands covering his face as he approached, nervously looking around to make sure nobody was watching him. She stopped packing and folded her hands on her desk, waiting patiently for him to approach.
"S-Shield, are you in a rush to go to the train station?"
Melissa shook her head. "Nope! I've just got to examine diagnostics for my armor tonight."
And write the next chapter of my story, but he doesn't need to know that!
"I-I was hoping to introduce you to my friend Mirio after school."
"Sure!" Melissa smiled up at the nervous boy. "I've been wondering when you were going to introduce us."
Tamaki made a strangled noise and quickly turned away from the desk. "Mirio said the same thing. I should have never told you two about each other."
Melissa giggled. "I appreciate it. It's been a little overwhelming - moving to a new country and leaving my friends behind."
"Y-yeah," Tamaki rubbed the back of his neck. "I- Mirio would be better at this than me."
"I'd say you're doing a good job," Melissa tried to reassure him as she shoved her remaining books into her bag before she stood up. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"R-right!"
After Tamaki retrieved his bag, Melissa followed him out of the school. There on the side of the path was a large muscular boy with swept-back blonde hair, and as soon as he noticed the pair he began waving.
"See Tamaki? It's the second day of school and you're already making friends!" Mirio began.
"You're always so mean to me," Tamaki responded, as he tried to pull his jacket up around his face.
Melissa giggled. "Is he always like this?"
Tamaki sighed and nodded. "This is my friend, Mirio Togata."
Melissa smiled and bowed her head. "I'm Melissa Shield, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you!" Mirio replied in English, causing Melissa to gasp. "Not bad, eh?"
"You don't have to go out of your way for me!" Melissa insisted in Japanese.
"It's good practice!" Mirio replied. "I do not mind."
"Okay then!" With a smile, Melissa switched over to English. "Tamaki said you have trouble controlling your quirk as well?"
Mirio laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Haha, yeah. My quirk requires a lot of focus to use properly. Otherwise, it gets embarrassing!"
"Better than what happens to me," Melissa responded.
"Tamaki told me," Mirio said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"I-it's fine!" Melissa insisted, waving her hands in front of her. "I have to get better at controlling my quirk anyway!"
Tamaki's face began to heat up as he turned away from the pair. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to make it awkward."
"You're ok!" Melissa insisted. "I just - it's embarrassing, seeing everyone with these amazing quirks, and I can barely use mine."
"We can form a club!" Mirio gave Melissa a thumbs up. "For people with hard-to-use quirks!"
"You're going to make me join, aren't you?" Tamaki complained.
Mirio laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder. "Of course! Even though you have a strong quirk, you need to meet more people!"
"No, I don't," Tamaki insisted.
"How will you be a hero with that attitude?"
Tamaki looked ready to respond but was interrupted by Melissa's laughter. "You two are pretty close, aren't you?"
"Yep!" Mirio replied. "We've been friends for years!"
"I don't know why I put up with him," Tamaki insisted.
Melissa smiled at the pair, before turning toward Mirio. "I wouldn't mind being part of your 'hard to use' quirk club. And once we've figured out how to use them, we'll be unstoppable!"
"That's the spirit!" Mirio grinned at her.
"Can I go home now?" Tamaki asked.
"Nope!" Mirio said before turning toward Melissa. "We were going to go to a cafe to work on our homework together. Would you like to join us?"
"I'd love to."
Melissa returned to her apartment hours later. Once inside, she dropped her school bag and dinner onto the table before she changed into something more casual.
Given her split schedule, she would be spending the next day taking classes with the support department under Power Loader. Although she wanted to keep her skills sharp and create new support gear over the semester, she always knew that her primary project would be keeping her suit in top shape and further refining it, especially as her mastery of One For All grew.
To prepare for that, she had programmed her suit's self-downloading diagnostics data herself. Pulling out a gauntlet from her bag, she gently set it on the table and connected it to her laptop. With a few strokes of the keyboard, she watched as the control panel lit up and data began downloading to her computer. With a satisfied smile, she let the program run while she went to heat up her dinner.
As she was watching the timer on the microwave tick down, she heard a familiar cough and turned to see the vestige of Toshinori standing near the entryway to her apartment. After one too many jump scares, the pair had worked out a system so he could announce himself when he wanted to talk to her. Melissa smiled and waved toward the table. "I was wondering when you'd show up."
"I didn't want to intrude," Toshinori admitted as he walked up to the table and sat down in one of the chairs. "You've been busy after the entrance exams, after all."
"Mhm!" Melissa pulled her food out of the microwave and sat down at the table. "I don't mind if you want to talk, though! After all, it's not like you're going out of your way to see me."
The vestige chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess that's true!" With a sigh, he looked at the gauntlet on the table. While he had some vague understanding of the text that was being displayed, it was moving too fast for him to keep up. "How's your support equipment?"
"It works great!" Melissa beamed. "While we haven't been able to successfully replicate the material used in the Full Gauntlet yet, this has held up so far."
"Have you tried what we talked about yet?" Toshinori asked curiously.
"No…" Melissa put her food down and looked at her uncle. "I didn't want to try it until I was sure my armor was working properly."
The vestige looked at her thoughtfully before nodding. "You don't want to risk part of your armor failing and hurting yourself in the backlash."
"Exactly," Melissa put down her food and looked down at her lap. "I- I can't help but think about what Aizawa told me during the first day. About how I can't rely on my equipment, but right now." She looked at her fist and watched as it began to glow golden.
Toshinori let out a loud sigh. "Aizawa he… meant well. But he expected too much from you. He-" Toshinori closed his mouth. "Well, let's just say he had his reasons. But he forgot that you are first-year students, and that many of you haven't even had proper quirk training yet."
"True," Melissa put her index finger to her lip. "I forgot how restrictive Japan's quirk laws are."
"While I know you want to get better, please remember you're only a first-year student. Moreover, you've only had One For All for a short time - and you already have developed an impressive control over your output." Toshinori smiled at his niece. "I am sure next year you'll look back and wonder what you were scared of."
Melissa smiled back. "Thanks, Uncle Toshi."
The two sat in silence after that while Melissa ate her meal until a soft beep informed them that the diagnostic was complete. Wolfing down the last few bites, Melissa discarded the carton before she looked at the results.
"Any problems?"
"Nope!" Melissa leaned back in her chair and threw her arms in the air. "All systems are operating at one hundred percent! We are amazing!"
"As to be expected of you and David."
"And about what you were saying-" Melissa looked up from her screen. "When we visit the USJ on Thursday I think I'll try it. I'll try channeling One For All through my entire body instead of just using it on one limb at a time."
Toshinori smiled at his successor. "I can't wait to hear about the results!"
The next morning Izuku and Melissa were already working on cleaning garbage when they heard a voice calling out.
"Hey! Where are you guys?" The voice of Ochako drifted from the road.
Izuku set down the microwave he was carrying and walked out to the road. "We're down here, Uraraka!"
A few moments later he saw Ochako coming down the beach to where Toshinori's truck was parked, her cheeks flush from her morning run. "Sorry I'm late," She bowed to the three. "I set my alarm but I overslept and then I didn't realize how long it would take for me to jog here!"
"It's ok, Young-err…"
"Oh, I'm Ochako Uraraka!" Ochako gave a bright smile to Toshinori. "Please take good care of me, Sensei!"
Toshinori smiled down at the little girl. "I'm Toshinori Yagi, although you can simply call me Yagi. I know you're acquainted with Young Midoriya already, and this girl happens to be my niece."
"Hi there!" Melissa gave a small wave. "I'm Melissa Shield! A first-year student at UA! I just transferred from I-Island, so I volunteered to help my uncle with his training to get to know people. Please call me Melissa."
Ochako fidgeted slightly. Her English was not the best, and she always had trouble with pronunciation. "Me- Mer- Marissa?"
Melissa gave her a sympathetic look. "If you want, you can just call me Risa instead."
For a brief moment, Ochako looked disappointed in herself, before she nodded. "Ok Risa!"
"Now then," Toshinori looked at the brown-haired girl. "What kind of training have you done so far?"
"Umm," Ochako fidgeted nervously. "Nothing really formal. I just helped my parents around the construction sites - carrying materials around and patching up the workers whenever somebody got hurt."
She was too nervous to acknowledge the times she used her quirk to break somebody's fall, or that she sometimes used her quirk to make a pile of material weightless, because she didn't want to get reported for using her quirk without a license.
"Hmm," Toshinori pressed his thumb to his chin before nodding. "Ok then, today I'd like to see what you are capable of. Then I'll be able to prepare an exercise and meal plan for you."
"M-meal plan?" Ochako asked nervously. "Aren't those expensive?"
Toshinori looked taken aback. "I-no," He frowned. "With the amount of exercise you will be doing, I want to ensure your body gets a healthy amount of protein and nutrients to develop properly. If money is an issue I'll be able to arrange funds through the Mighty Agency-"
"No-no, that's ok!" Ochako quickly said. "My parents have steady work now! It's just-" She dug the toe of one of her shoes into the sand as she looked down at the ground. "When I was younger money was inconsistent. It's why I want to become a hero! So that I can take care of them!"
Toshinori smiled gently at the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I understand; supporting others is a noble endeavor. And I'll do my best to help you achieve your dream!"
"T-thank you!" Ochako looked up at the skeletal form of Toshinori and he could see the stars in her eyes.
"Think nothing of it!" Toshinori began to strike a pose, only to realize at the last moment he wasn't supposed to transform, leaving him standing awkwardly before he slowly returned to a standing position, rubbing the back of his head. "It's my job to help future heroes, after all! Now then, why don't we see what you can do already?"