Chapter 1: To Get a New Start (Ep. 1-4)

When the moon exploded, it finally dawned on Izuku how weak they all were.

He had spent his whole life enthralled with displays of incredible abilities; of the feats of heroes as great as All-Might, who could stop any villain and save hundreds, thousands of people at once. They gave him hope that anything was achievable and that anyone, including himself, could be a hero. But then the moon burst, leaving only thirty percent behind and a permanent crescent shape. And it made Izuku realize that, while many things may be possible, there are some things that will always be inevitable.

Because not even heroes as great as All-Might could stop the destruction. The Symbol of Peace, the Number One Hero, proved secondary to the new Purveyor of Terror. A giant, yellow octopus man with a smile arched like the new moon. A completely unknown threat launched into the spotlight as the new Number One Villain the moment he declared responsibility and immediately turned himself over to the authorities. No one knew his name before this; no one after either, but the media settled on one for him: The Tentacle.

His arrest did nothing to quell the fear sent throughout the world; if anything, it exasperated it. To everyone else, the message was clear: it didn't matter if he was in custody; he could still wreak havoc everywhere. And he did. Crime rates spiked exponentially after the moon incident — everyone seemed to have it in their minds that the earth was next, so many turned to anarchy as the only proper way to live out the world's final days. Every hero, cop, paramedic, firefighter, and military personnel worked double time, while the rest of the population cowered in terror.

Not even All-Might could bring hope. Not anymore. For the hope of the earth was no longer in the Number One Hero's hands.

It was in the hands of the Kunugigaoka Junior High Class 3-E. A class with a roster filled with delinquents, quirk failures, ill-motivated students, and, recently, Midoriya Izuku. And this was the story of how the Number One Villain, who stole hope from the world, became their shining beacon in the darkness.

-.-.-.-

When Izuku came home bruised and bloodied for the third time in a week, all thanks to Bakugou and his goons, his mother finally decided enough was enough. The next day, Izuku was withdrawn from the school and registered to transfer to the ever-prestigious Kunugigaoka Junior High. His mother hoped it would help him get into an academically strong high school. Izuku just hoped U.A. would think as highly of it as well.

Before he could attend, however, he was first required to take a written test, followed by an 'evaluation,' to determine what class placement he would receive. Apparently, class placement was a very sacred thing here at Kunugigaoka, judging by the secretary's expression as she explained it all. The written portion of the test was by far the hardest test he had ever taken, but such was to be expected of such a prestigious program. He felt confident in his answers, though. He's competed for top of the class against Bakugou since they were children; surely nothing could be more brutal than that. The evaluation was the real source of stress, though. There wasn't much explanation on what it entailed; he didn't know if it was going to be more practical based or a physical exam. He just prayed going in that it wouldn't require too much running.

It turned out to be way worse than running.

He walked into a dimly lit room where a panel of teachers and administrators sat at the front to 'judge him and the resourcefulness and strength of his capabilities.' The intimidating, deep-voiced man sitting front and center then asked him to present the best merits of his quirk.

To this day, there was nothing more humiliating than having to look the faculty board in the eye and tell them he was quirkless.

The intimidating man unabashedly laughed at him, and all the other adults followed suit. A woman with a firework hair quirk laughed so hard she let off sparklers, while another man shaped like a literal egg rolled out of his chair and across the floor. The intimidating man's mockery cut off abruptly, shifting into the image of perfect composure and oppressive authority, forcing the other faculty member's to scramble sobering up.

"The gap between the strong and weak grows larger every day," he said, his voice low and mocking. "There's no doubt where you belong. You may leave now."

Izuku ran out of there so quickly, it probably looked like he had a speed quirk all along.

He got his official acceptance letter a few days later. He was honestly surprised to see it but figured that maybe they were the type of school that accepted anyone offering to pay their outrageous tuition prices. The letter was quite simple in layout, with its main message in display in large, red letters.

Class: 3-E

-.-.-.-

Class 3-E was unlike any other class in the world.

For starters, it was located high on a mountain next to the main campus, so students had to trek up it every day just to get to class. Secondly, it was held in a run-down wooden building with no air-conditioning and barely functioning water. There was no available cafeteria set out for the students, or designated sports facilities to hold athletics in. Thirdly, the students were ostracized and isolated from the rest of the student body as punishment for their poor performance, as well as motivation for those on the main campus to work hard to stay there. This meant 3-E students couldn't participate in any extracurricular activities or clubs provided on the main campus.

And finally, the students were the most disheartening people Izuku ever laid eyes on. Apparently, if you were a part of 3-E, it meant one of a few possibilities: your grades fell so low you were ranked at the bottom of all the school, you had disciplinary issues or conflicts with school policy in the past, or your quirk was deemed to hold 'no potential.'

Or you were quirkless, in Izuku's case.

The teacher was nice, at least, if not a little eccentric. Her fashion choice was questionable at best, and her jokes often fell flat, but her concern for and dedication to her students was undeniable. She welcomed him warmly the first day, even when he came in a little late (he had gotten terribly lost in the woods, and even almost fell upon a snake's nest at one point), and happily introduced him to the class of hopeless misfits.

"Hi there, you must be the new student!" she said, her smile unceasing. "I'm Yukimura-sensei! Why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us your name, and maybe even a fun fact about yourself. Oh, and also your dream in life! I know many of your classmates have lost a lot of motivation for their dreams, but our class goal this year is to get all that drive and inspiration back!"

"O-okay," he replied awkwardly before turning to his classmates. He could feel their burning stares and lowered his eyes to the floor instinctively. "My name is Midoriya Izuku. I just transferred here from Aldera Junior High, which is in Musutafu, where I, uh, just moved from. A fun fact about me is that I love studying heroes and their abilities and even have all of the Top 50 hero's action figures, except for Endeavor because his is always so much more expensive for some reason-" Izuku cut himself off with a deep, shaky breath, his cheeks heating up. He sucked at being put on the spot. His brain always went haywire and could never focus on what he was actually supposed to talk about. "Right, and um...and my dream is, well…" He clenched and unclenched his fists, building up the nerve to briefly look his classmates in the eye.

"My dream is to become a hero as great as All-Might."

His second of courage dissipated and he immediately dropped into a deep, ninety-degree bow. Why? Why did he admit that out loud? It never did him any good back at Aldera. He probably sounded so stupid in front of them, and now they were probably all going to make fun of him, and it'll be like he never escaped Bakugou—

"Is your quirk speed talking? Because you sure can mumble, man," said a strawberry blond-haired boy. A girl with pale brown hair pulled back in a pony sent the boy a sharp look.

"Be nice, Maehara," she said before turning back to Izuku. "It's nice to meet you, Midoriya. I'm Kataoka Megu, one of your class representatives. And I would just like to say, I think your dream is very honorable. There's no need to look embarrassed about it."

A dark-haired, handsome boy with golden eyes nodded eagerly. "A lot of people like to think they could be a hero, but only a few would be able to honestly admit it as their greatest dream."

That...was not what he expected. Only about a minute in, and these people were already more accepting than anyone else in his life; even more than his mother. Izuku felt like he could start crying right then, right there. No, wait, he already was — a stinging pool formed, blurring the corners of his vision.

It's because they don't know you're a quirkless loser yet, Deku, Bakugou's voice seemed to echo in his head, and Izuku slammed his eyes shut. The tears stopped immediately as he grounded himself in grim reality. Despite it all, he put on a brave smile.

"Thank y-you!" he said.

"Hey, didn't Shinsou say he wanted to be a hero too?" a blue-haired androgynous-looking student commented. "Maybe you guys could train together!"

An athletic boy with black hair and red sweatbands on his wrists snorted loudly. "He'll have to wait until Shinsou gets back from suspension later this week, remember?"

"Okay, okay, you can all get to know each other more at lunch," Yukimura-sensei said. "It's very nice to meet you, Midoriya. Why don't you take the seat next to Nagisa? I believe it's empty."

The androgynous student waved and Midoriya swiftly sat at the rickety desk. He took off his backpack and started pulling out his materials while Yukimura-sensei got started on their first lesson.

"You keep data notebooks too?" a quiet whisper came from next to him. Izuku jumped and saw Nagisa staring down at his bag, where all of his most recent Hero Analysis for the Future notebook sat in plain sight. He could feel a blush creep up his face and scrambled to make up an excuse, but stopped short when he noticed the other student pull out a small notebook labeled Quirk Potential and Limitations Study.

Even with Bakugou's insults swimming in his head, Izuku couldn't help it; a bright smile lit up his face, and Nagisa easily matched it. A strong, unexpected sense of trustworthiness overcame Izuku when he looked at the blue-haired student. Before today, Bakugou was the only person ever as interested in quirk data analysis as Izuku, and all he did was treat Izuku cruelly for it. But in an unexpected turn of events, now he has Nagisa.

Class 3-E may be in the boonies with little accommodations, and they may be a bunch of destined failures, but at least he has a friend. It was more than he ever had before.

-.-.-.-

He met Shinsou Hitoshi two days later. The boy looked like death itself (except more...purple) with a face ready to kill. It set off all the alarm bells in Izuku's brain. What did Sugino say about him again? That he got suspended? But what for? Izuku never asked, feeling rude to pry. Curse his kind instincts!

As if he could hear Izuku's anxious thoughts, the purple-haired boy turned his direction. Izuku glanced up and down, unable to hold the dull, intimidating gaze as Shinsou approached closer, and closer, and closer until he was right next to Izuku's desk. Wait, could he actually hear thoughts? Was that his quirk? Was it all thoughts or just anxious thoughts? Or just thoughts about himself? I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to offend you-

Shinsou continued past, falling into the desk right behind Izuku. The same desk that's been empty since Izuku joined the class. Oh. Right.

Embarrassed and a little ashamed he thought so cruelly of someone he didn't know, Izuku steeled himself to make it right. As his mother always said, you should never let your first impression of someone be nothing more than assumptions. Shinsou could be the best person Izuku ever met; he just needed to give him a chance.

He turned around, smiling awkwardly. "Uh, um, hi...I'm Midoriya Izuku, I'm new-"

"I don't care," Shinsou snapped immediately, almost like an instinct. His lips pursed together, face twinged as he actually looked up at Izuku. "Huh..."

"Huh?" Izuku said it genuinely, confused and frazzled, and it only got worse when Shinsou raised his eyebrows. Great, he probably thought Izuku was mimicking him.

"Has anyone ever told you...that your hair looks like a bean stock?" Shinsou said without an ounce of emotion.

"...Huh?!"

"I'm serious. It's like, freaky similar. Got anything growing up there?" His eyes narrowed, inspecting Izuku closely. Unsure how to react, Izuku just froze — well, sort of. His hands kept trembling. With his anxiety levels, even if he wanted them to stop, it wouldn't matter. Shinsou's eyes dropped down, noticing as well, and he frowned. So he was capable of showing emotion on his face after all. Izuku might've laughed at the joke in his head, but instead, his head quickly became consumed by a dense fog. The kind of fog he felt when he stayed up all night watching Hero Report on a school night, where his brain felt a million miles away from his body. Something more powerful than his own mind overcame him, tying him down effortlessly. He was still in his body, but it was like it was just out of his reach.

"Hey. Calm down."

And Izuku did. His heart rate slowed; his hands stopped shaking and sweating. It was unnatural and completely unstoppable. As quickly as they appeared, the imaginary bonds faded and Izuku's brain met his body once again. He flexed his fingers experimentally, expecting them to go right back to shaking. They didn't. Izuku's head shot up, a million questions on the tip of his tongue, only to bite it the moment he saw Shinsou. The boy's head was turned, staring out the window, displaying the tense muscles of his clenched jaw. Anger blazed in his purple eyes, and Izuku got the feeling it wasn't directed at him.

"I-" Izuku started. Shinsou's jaw clenched tighter. "...uh...thanks."

Izuku spun back to the front of the room before it could get any worse, scrambling to catch up on his notes as Yukimura-sensei started the lesson. He blocked all thoughts on brain fogs and quirks and bean stocks and focused only on the math equation on the board — or, he tried to, at least. He's never been very capable at controlling his own brain. Not at all like...

"...welcome," a small voice whispered behind him. Izuku paused, risking a glance over his shoulder and offering Shinsou a small smile. The boy stared back, and Izuku could swear the corner of his mouth flicked upward before Shinsou laid his head down to nap.

-.-.-.-

The next morning, Izuku showed up to school with a cup of coffee he got from the batch his mother made that morning. Shinsou already sat at his desk, staring blankly out the window, chin resting on his palm. Izuku took a deep breath — All-Might would never get nervous like this — and placed the cup on Shinsou's desk, along with a copy of all the notes the boy missed while out on suspension. Shinsou startled, eyeing the offerings suspiciously. Izuku nodded jerkily, brimming to say something but his throat seemed to close off completely. He settled with collapsing in his seat and praying the boy didn't think he was a complete weirdo for that. He couldn't take another year of people calling him a freak.

He couldn't handle another bully making his life hell all because he tried to be nice.

A light hand tapped his shoulder, and Izuku startled, jerking his arms and dropping the pencil he was chewing on. He spun around, mentally bracing for ridicule and jeers. He didn't realize he was physically bracing until he saw the sad, pained expression on Shinsou's face as he pulled his hand back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Shinsou shook his head, muttering something to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. Izuku blinked. For a moment, it felt like looking in a mirror. "I just want to say thanks. You didn't have to. I don't have anything to give you right now..."

Izuku shook his head aggressively, waving his arms to sell his point. "No, no, you don't have to, I swear! I just thought you might need it! You looked really tired yesterday and I saw you dozing off during a lot of the lessons and I didn't want you to fall too far behind in class-"

"Hard to fall behind when you're already in the end-class." Shinsou shrugged, smirking. "Appreciate it, though. Midoriya, right? The Jolly Green Bean Stock?"

"Yeah...w-wait, what did you call me?"

Shinsou grinned for the first time, all toothy and terrifying, and Izuku officially gained his second friend.

-.-.-

Every day, he continued to bring Shinsou coffee (with extra creamer, upon his request), and in exchange, Shinsou would bring him a small sweet from the convenience store he worked at. Their conversations got more frequent and less awkward, and they even started hanging out with Nagisa and Sugino at lunch. Nagisa and Izuku spent most of lunch geeking out about heroes and comparing separate notes. They usually had the same data and analysis, but that didn't stop the fluttering excitement Izuku felt knowing he finally had someone to talk to about it. Compared to his old schools, his time at Kunugigaoka was going perfectly. He's made multiple friends and no enemies yet, and the rest of the class seemed to really respect him, recognizing his strong academic skills. Based on Izuku's analysis, this difference could only be based on one blaring variable.

No one knew he was quirkless.

Because that would change everything, wouldn't it? How could it not? It did for all of his old classmates, for Bakugou, for his mom... If they knew, things would never be the same, and he'd go back to being useless Deku, pitiful, annoying, stupid Deku that no one wanted to be friends with.

Besides, it's not like he was lying to his classmates about his quirk. Because the truth was, in all his time in 3-E, not one person ever brought it up. No one in 3-E ever talked about their quirks; it was like it was some unspoken rule. Aside from those with mutation quirks, who couldn't hide them, no one else ever displayed them in class to show off or even help themselves with simple tasks. Even Nagisa deliberately talked about any quirk but his own. The only quirk use he witnessed was Shinsou the day they met, but that was the last time he used it, and he never explained what it was.

It was like the end-class mentality extended further than grades, and they all gave up on their quirk to the point where they'd rather pretend they didn't have one. Even Yukimura-sensei, with all her encouragement, learned to stop persuading them to embrace their quirks.

It was strange. It was unlike everyone else in the world.

But then again, it was E-class.

-.-.-

A week later, the moon exploded, Yukimura-sensei resigned and disappeared, and government officials showed up at their class with the world's new Number One Villain, who declared that he was going to be their new teacher (and, apparently, blow up the earth in a year).

"I'm Karasuma," a dark-haired agent said. "This is classified information you're about to be told, so what is said in here, stays in here. And, well, for the sake of mankind, I'm going to need you to kill this thing."

The whole class blanched at the exact same time, unsure if they actually heard the man correctly. "This...this is a joke, right?" someone voiced. The agent sighed loudly.

"There's only so much I'm at the liberty to tell you, but what I can say is that The Tentacle is still very much a threat, and this March he is going to obliterate the earth as well. We haven't been successful in killing him yet, no matter how hard all the world leaders tried. The greatest heroes can't even touch him. He's too fast — topping off at Mach-20 — and is superiorly intelligent in every way."

"It was quite amusing watching those little heroes try to stop me, but hey, I got to groom All-Might's impeccable eyebrows! Who else can say they've done that, huh?" the octopus bragged. "But then I ran out of eyebrows to groom, so I made them a deal to become your teacher at this shining institution!"

"What the hell?" Shinsou muttered.

"Look. We didn't have much of an option here, but we did make him swear to never let any harm come to the students in any way," Karasuma said. "This means, however, that we have a very important mission for you. We need you all to train to become assassins and kill him before he can blow up the earth."

The gasps were audible. Izuku's jaw dropped. His brain still felt stuck on the mention of All-Might and his eyebrows. There's no way he heard the agent right. Absolutely no way, because what he said was insane. Absolutely, utterly, completely insane, and no government, no hero would ever agree to a deal like that. Did he mention it was insane?

Shinsou blinked widely and rubbed his eyes as if he was trying to wake himself from a bad dream. Izuku instinctively pushed his coffee toward the other boy to encourage him to take a sip. Maybe this was a bad dream. Wouldn't be the worst dream Izuku's had about the terrifying octopus villain since he blew up the moon. It also made 1000% more sense if this was all some weird scenario concocted in his head.

"Oh. And if you succeed, you all get to split 10 billion yen. A small thank you for saving the entire planet."

Shinsou choked and spewed out his coffee. Some of it splashed on Izuku's arm, and he marveled at how realistic the liquid felt in his dream. His sleeve actually felt wet.

"Oops, no worries! I'll clean that up for you boys!" A slight breeze rustled his hair, and suddenly, the Number One Villain stood right in front of him, terrifying crescent smile and beady black eyes aimed down at him. Cleaner and a rag seemingly materialized from nowhere hovered in his tentacles, and Izuku realized with a delayed jerk, all of the coffee was cleaned spotless from the desk and his sleeve. Something about it seemed off though...

"I also resewed the missing button on your jacket sleeve! You're welcome!" The Tentacle declared, showcasing a tentacle holding needle and thread. Izuku poked the button that he knows was not there seconds before. It felt real. This was all...real.

Izuku screamed.

-.-.-.-

From that point forward, it became their mission to assassinate their teacher.

And they were really terrible at it.

It wasn't entirely their fault. When your teacher can go Mach-20, it's understandably difficult to hit him. Even when they all opened fire on him at the same time using their anti-sensei bullets, the man was still able to dodge every single one. It didn't matter how many of them came at him, or how many different weapons they used, the man was too superior to be touched.

The day after he arrived, Izuku drew out a page for the creature in his notebook during lunch and began to fill out what he knew:

Name: Unknown

Alias: The Tentacle

Quirk: Undefined. Seems to be an accumulation of quirks, if such a thing is possible. Known abilities extend to- super speed (up to Mach-20), invulnerability (save for anti-sensei material), tentacles (mutation quirk?), superior intelligence

Weaknesses:

Other information: Has strange cleaning fetish.

"Don't forget he also seems to change colors based on his mood," Nagisa commented, watching what Izuku wrote as he filled out his own data. "Remember, Karasuma said that they know he gets green stripes on his face whenever he's feeling arrogant. I'm trying to figure out what the other colors mean…"

Izuku hummed and added that information to the creature's known abilities. He was about to ask Shinsou if he noticed anything useful, but it seemed the boy fell asleep on the ground and Izuku decided against it. They might need to save the earth from being blown up, but more than anything, Shinsou needed his rarely achieved sleep.

"I think I'm going to focus more on gathering his weaknesses," Nagisa said. "We can use it to finally devise a plan to kill him."

Izuku sighed. "If he even has weaknesses…"

-.-.-.-

After Nagisa's unexpected suicide bomber attempt, Izuku added two things to his notes on the Tentacle.

Known ability- molting (sheds skin once a month, can act as a protective shield)

Name: Korosensei

-.-.-.-

"Have you come up with a plan to kill him yet?" Shinsou asked one morning after they exchanged the coffee and sweet. Izuku awkwardly fiddled with the packaging on the treat.

"Um, not anything special, really. He just seems so strong, and well. I don't see how someone like me could even come close."

I don't see how a quirkless failure could even think about defeating a creature more powerful than All-Might…

Ever since the government gave the assignment to kill Korosensei, Izuku grew increasingly uneasy. Not with the prospect of killing a teacher per se (though that was pretty unnerving), but with the fact that someone like him was expected to do it. Someone who didn't have a quirk to help him. If he ever really tried, he would just make a fool of himself. The only time he attempted so far was when the entire class decided to open fire on the creature during roll call. Any other plot, he stayed far away from.

"What about you?" Izuku asked.

Shinsou shrugged. "I'm not sure yet."

-.-.-.-

When Izuku walked outside and found Sugino trapped and suspended in the air by Korosensei's tentacles, a number of things happened.

Firstly, he screamed very loudly. Like a girl, Shinsou told him later.

Secondly, though he didn't remember telling his body to do so, he started running towards the yellow octopus and his friend. Even though in his mind he knew there was no point, and it probably would just get him in bigger trouble, he didn't care. Sugino was in danger. His friend needed his help. Izuku must save him.

Thirdly, at some point, he pulled out his anti-sensei knife and began stabbing sporadically at the tentacle man. It did nothing; Korosensei didn't even need to use super speed to dodge Izuku's panicked attacks. Just like Izuku's brain said; he finally attacked sensei one-on-one, and he looked like a total idiot. But how he looked didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting Sugino to safety.

"Stop! Sugino didn't do anything wrong, he was just trying to kill you! Put him down!" he cried. "We were just doing our job! And-And you promised you wouldn't hurt any of us!"

To Izuku's utter surprise, the octopus actually listened and placed the baseball player back on the ground.

"My, my Midoriya. I was beginning to worry this day would never come. I think that's the first time you tried to kill me with effort! And all to save your classmate!" Korosensei sniffled and pulled a handkerchief out of nowhere, whipping his tearless eyes. "I'm so proud!"

The creature began to ugly sob and blow his nose for dramatic effect.

"You don't even have a nose…" Sugino muttered.

"Minor details," the octopus said, instantly composed. "Now, I didn't mean to give you such a scare, Midoriya. I was just using my tentacles to get a full understanding of your classmate and his pitching potential, and I've come to my conclusion! You've been trying to mimic the pitch of pro-player Arita, correct?"

The question was obviously pointed at Sugino. The boy nodded, shocked, and Korosensei grinned almost menacingly.

"Well, I am pleased to inform you that you will never be like him!"

Their teacher said it as if he was praising them, and Izuku blanched. "Hey, you- you can't just say that to a student!" He tensed, prepared to fight to defend his friend again, but stopped when Sugino put a hand on his shoulder and scowled up at their teacher.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Your shoulders aren't flexible enough to throw the famous Arita fastball that you try to mimic," Korosensei explained. "So, what I mean, is that the pitch you idolize is simply never going to be your thing."

No. Izuku wouldn't stand for that. He couldn't. "What makes you so sure?" he cried, trying not to snivel. "What gives you the right to say he can never do it?! Is it just because we're E-class? Lost causes at best, right? Well, you're wrong! We can be even better! We will! Because when we take you down, we'll...we'll all be heroes!"

He locked teary eyes with his teacher, and an unidentifiable spark passed through the creature's beady eyes. His smirk softened.

"I never said you were lost causes," Korosensei said softly before suddenly perking up, holding a newspaper showing a major league baseball player suspended in the air by tentacles. "I'm just speaking through first-hand experience!"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Sugino and Izuku shouted at the same time.

"You see, Sugino is different from his idol in many ways, so trying to follow in his footsteps completely is redundant. That doesn't mean, however, that you don't have any talent. You're more flexible in your wrists and elbows than Akira, so you should put your focus there when you throw," Korosensei explained. "In the end, while those we idolize help us dream, we shouldn't dream to become exactly like them because, well, we aren't. But just because we have different talents or quirks doesn't mean we aren't strong. Instead, strive to become your own person; to be better."

Izuku could only blink. Inside, it felt like something was cracking. No, not just something. His very foundation; the ideology he built his dreams, his motivations, his goals upon, brutally slammed by the words of the Number One Villain. Becoming a hero like All-Might wasn't just his dream like he told E-class weeks ago. It was his reason for existing, for getting out of bed every day and going to school, even when it meant dealing with torment from bullies or risking snake attacks climbing a mountain. It's all he's ever wanted. He practiced all of All-Might's best phrases for when he finally makes that daring rescue in his hero debut; every design sketch for his hero costume was a deliberate and direct personification of the Symbol of Peace. Korosensei said to be the hero he's envisioned, but to not be All-Might...but Izuku only pictured himself embodying everything he could about All-Might. So if what Korosensei is true...then where does that leave him?

"Oh, and by the way," Korosensei added, his expression suddenly becoming dark. Izuku stepped back. "There's been a suspicious trend I've picked up on since my arrival, and I believe Sugino's assassination attempt with the baseball has only confirmed it. What is your quirk, Sugino?"

No, the rule. You broke the unspoken rule, Izuku wanted to shout. His eyes darted to Sugino, who shuffled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, it's called Energizing, sir. It allows me to take kinetic and potential energy built up in my body and thrust it into inanimate objects I touch to increase their energy."

Korosensei hummed. "And doing so, would you say, has the potential to drastically increase an object's speed, correct?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, basically."

"Then why," the teacher began, towering over the two students. His face became a shadow and eyes a glowing red, and his voice deepened. "Did you not use it to increase your pitch speed when you tried to assassinate me?"

-.-.-.-

"It has been brought to my attention," Korosensei started after he finished calling roll. "That you all have developed an odd aversion, so to speak, to using your quirks, and I cannot fathom why. I am a superior being with numerous quirks. Even the one quirk you all possess has little on me, but it at least gives you more of an edge than not using it at all. So why wouldn't you take advantage of that? I mean," two pink dots, like a blush appeared on his face as tears streamed down his face. "If you really didn't want to kill me so badly, you should've just said so! We could've gotten over the formalities days ago and gotten right to becoming best friends forever!"

All he got was silence. The students diverted their eyes or busied themselves with something else entirely. Izuku sunk down in his seat, trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. Anything to avoid the conversation he's been dreading since his arrival.

"Anyone? Isogai?" the teacher asked. The male representative jumped slightly at his name being called.

"Um, well," he said hesitantly. "We are E-class, sir. A majority of us are here because our quirks were too weak or useless to compete against our classmates on the main campus, and we kept getting ranked last in quirk evaluations. It's not that we didn't want to use them to kill you, it's just that…well, most of them wouldn't really make a difference."

Murmuring rolled across the room, and many students nodded absentmindedly, including Nagisa. Shinsou laid his head down on his desk.

"Hmm," Korosensei hummed. "Do you all feel this way?"

No, Izuku cried in his head. I feel even worse.

A loud crash echoed through the class as Terasaka — a large, delinquent boy with a mutation quirk that made him look like a lion-human crossbreed — stood up so fast he knocked over his chair.

"Well, I sure as hell don't," he snapped. "Unlike most of these posers, me and my squad don't have quirks that we can hide or pretend don't exist. So just you wait. We may not have the brains to come up with elaborate plans like some people, but we sure do have the brawn. We'll take you down soon, I swear."

Izuku wasn't quite sure how he never noticed before. Granted, he always avoided Terasaka and his little gang like the plague, especially after what they put Nagisa up to, but still. Analyzing quirks was his thing. How did he ever notice all of the students with visible mutation-based quirks were in Terasaka's gang? Muramatsu was like Terasaka, only he took on coyote features (even his head was shaped exactly like the animal); Yoshida had some metal-looking mutation, considering most of his skin was steel and random body parts resembled that of a car, like his left eye being a headlight; and Hazama, the lone girl, was a constant literal shadow with dark, undefinable features.

Having such obvious quirks in a class that never discussed quirks...no wonder they stuck together.

(That, and they were all delinquent punks.)

Korosensei smiled widely. "That's the spirit!" he said. "And on that note, I am hereby adding an additional course to your workload: Quirk Training! I am going to teach you to take advantage of the true potential of all your quirks, and no matter how useless they seem now, I promise by the end of the year that you will be the most powerful in the whole school!"

"What?!" a barrage of students shouted.

"Are you crazy, sir?" called out Nagisa.

"Oh, and by end-of-term finals, I want all of you to have used your quirk in an assassination attempt, or you will face extreme consequences," Korosensei added menacingly. Izuku gulped, all the blood draining from his face. In more ways than one, his worst nightmare came to life, and it was going to ruin everything.

-.-.-.-

Izuku finally got to meet the infamous Karma — the famed delinquent king of 3-E, suspended even longer than Shinsou for something allegedly so bad, the rumors couldn't even compete. The boy was violent, calculating, and downright insane. Within his first minute back in class, he was able to injure Korosensei, blowing off a tentacle by gluing strips of an anti-sensei knife to his palm — a feat no one else was remotely close to achieving. Then, just later that day, he did it again by leaving anti-sensei bullets on the ground and riling the villain up so he was distracted. He found a weakness in their teacher and instantly exploited it. He was ruthless, clever, and powerful.

And he seemed to do it all without using a quirk.

It drove Korosensei mad.

He just started trying to prove to the students that they shouldn't be shunning their quirks and using all their talents if they want to win, and yet here was a boy defying it all.

It only lasted so long, though. By the second day, Korosensei thwarted all of Karma's numerous attempts with ease. It infuriated the red-haired boy, but even after his apparent suicide attempt by throwing himself off the mountain, Karma decided to fuel his frustration into determination. He may have stopped his elaborate schemes to assassinate Korosensei, but he continued to torment the villain unceasingly.

And just like that, everything seemed to go back to normal.

Well, as normal as a class of assassins can be.

-.-.-.-

The first time Karma and Shinsou met, Karma immediately mocked Shinsou for his eyebags and insomniac tendencies. Shinsou, a bitter smile on his face, bit back with a comment about Karma's dramatically temper-tantrum plunge off the cliff.

"Two good moves, but you lose a pawn and you went straight for exposing your king. Nothing less impressive."

Karma leered back. "Well, we'll see who's the real Chessmaster in a year, won't we?"

Clearly, they hated each other. There was no other way to interpret that. Bitter rivalry, if Izuku wanted to be really generous. Yet when he went to the usual tree they ate lunch the next day and found the two calmly playing a game of chess (no insults, no dirty tricks), Izuku knew he lost his mind. He turned to Nagisa, relieved to see an equally baffled look on his face.

"Should we be worried?" Izuku asked. Nagisa nodded slowly.

"Very."

-.-.-.-

When it came time for P.E., they were shocked when Karasuma revealed they wouldn't be needing their weapons today.

"We're having a different training lesson today," he explained. "I have decided to personally take charge of your Quirk Training class — at least for the first few lessons. I figured it would be an unfair advantage for Korosensei to teach and learn all of your quirk's abilities before you can ever use them. We don't want to lose the element of surprise."

"What's to keep him from sneaking in and learning all of our quirks without us knowing?" asked Nakamura. Karasuma coughed awkwardly.

"We, uh, hired someone to help keep him distracted for a while. Or today, at least," he answered and motioned to the front of the building. Korosensei stood there, his face a new pink color Izuku took note of to write down once they got back to the classroom. A blonde foreign woman with a giant bust clung off his tentacle flirtatiously. While most of the boys fawned, the girls looked extremely irritated — though because of the boys or the woman, Izuku couldn't tell. Probably both.

"Wow, what a knock-out!" Okajima commented, practically drooling.

"Why is she here? And why is she all over Korosensei?" asked Fuwa.

"She's here as an English teacher. Her name is Irina Jelavić, a highly trained professional assassin. I'll formally introduce her later, but for now, I asked her to distract Korosensei. Such a task is, uh, kind of her specialty," Karasuma explained.

No kidding. Even when he tried to, Izuku couldn't seem to keep his eyes off her. Every time he tried to look away, there was this incessant pull to just look back again. It was mortifying on every level; Izuku felt like a huge pervert! At least he wasn't the only one affected. It seemed like every boy in the class was enraptured with the woman. Even Karma looked intrigued, though his expression bordered cynical. The only ones who didn't seem affected by the strange spell were the girls, Karasuma, and…

Shinsou?

His friend pulled out his phone to play some game, completely disinterested in the scene. How...odd. The woman obviously had some kind of dull hypnosis quirk that targeted men. It would explain why the girls could still function normally, and, well, Karasuma probably couldn't experience such feelings for anyone even if he was brainwashed. But why wouldn't Shinsou be able to…?

"Oh, Korosensei," the woman said. "Do you think we could go somewhere with more fresh air? It's getting awfully hard for me to breathe, you see?" For effect, she pulled at her extremely tight shirt, revealing even more of her bust to the point everyone could see the entire top of her bra. Izuku's cheeks flamed up so bright it felt like he was sunburned. Look away, look way...please let me look away...

"Ugh, stop watching that. It's practically soft porn," Shinsou commented, giving him a weird look. Izuku tried to formulate a sentence, but the spell was only growing thicker. He shouldn't stop watching it. No, he should get closer, maybe even run to her. It wasn't fair Korosensei got to be so close to her while Izuku was over here...

"Okay, man, you just look like a traffic light now. Cut it out, won't you?" Shinsou said, slapping a hand over Izuku's eyes.

"D-Don't!" Izuku cried out, the desire to stare too strong. But then, just like that, the sweet spell dissipated, pushed out by that familiar fog, his mind tied down with tight restraints, entrapping his body as well. Any urge to fight, to run after the woman disappeared, and in the misty blur, Izuku was more embarrassed than ever. Sure, he knew it was a quirk, but that didn't make him look any less like a creep! The forced restraints, disallowing him from any movement or intense thought was a welcome change from that woman's sweet spell.

"I'm not sure what's up, but you need to cut it out," Shinsou said, uncovering Izuku's eyes. Izuku couldn't even blink. He could blink and move relatively for himself with that woman's quirk, but this...nothing. Absolutely nothing. "She should know better than to carelessly use a quirk like that on so many people."

A quirk like that...like yours? Izuku wanted to ask, but his body was still not his own. All he had was the drowsy fog of his mind.

The invisible restraints disappeared just as the woman and Korosensei launched into the sky, supposedly to find 'fresh air.' With groans and shaking heads, their other male classmates shook off trance, some even having to wipe drool off their chins. Shinsou returned to his phone, rolling his eyes.

"What was that? You were all, like, totally enthralled with the chick. It was freaky!" Okano commented. Karasuma coughed sheepishly.

"Sorry, I should've warned you about that," he said. "Ms. Jelavić's quirk is called Honeypot Trap. She can put off an aroma at her control that puts any men in the surrounding area that smells it under a spell-like state in which they are completely entranced by her. It has no proven effects on women, however."

"It must be crazy strong for Korosensei, then. His nose is like a bloodhound," Mimura observed.

Maehara snorted. "Well, that and he's also obviously tit-crazy. The dude couldn't stop staring at her boobs the whole time!"

"Hey, if it only targets men, then how come you were unaffected, Karasuma-sensei?" asked Yada, and a curious murmur erupted among the class. The spiky-haired man sighed.

"I don't have a sense of smell."

-.-.-.-

For Quirk Training, Karasuma asked for any volunteers to demonstrate their quirk. After a moment of silence, Okano finally raised her hand. Their teacher motioned her to the front.

"Um, well, my quirk is called Boneless, and it lets me do this." She bent backward and pulled her head through her thighs until it was at her belly button, while her elbows bent past the point of extension. To finish the display, her knees folded in the opposite direction and she rolled backward until she stood upright again. A tiny drop of blood dripped out of her nose.

Muramatsu threw up furballs. Izuku scrambled to sketch up a page in his notebook, frantically writing while the memory was fresh. The sudden elasticity of her bones was gruesomely amazing. It reminded him of Edgeshot and the way he could fold himself thin. So cool!

While Hara instinctively cared for the coyote-boy, Karasuma handed Okano a tissue. "Does your nose always bleed after you use it?"

"Not always, I was kind of showing off there," she answered, quickly wiping away the blood. "It's mainly when I bend in an extremely odd way or use it non-stop. My organs get a little jumbled inside and they just tend not to agree with me."

So the organs remain the same, it's just the bones that get affected...not quite like Edgeshot, and Izuku could definitely see how it might cause problems, especially since bones were mean to be the organ's protectors. Did they become more vulnerable when she used her quirk? Could she still over extend a muscle? Oh, Izuku had so many questions.

Karasuma nodded, turning to the class. "Now, how would you say Okano's quirk could help with assassination?"

Nagisa rose his hand first. "She could contort her body into unexpected places for a surprise attack."

Karasuma nodded. "Correct. Anyone else?"

"She can act like a freaky demon-possessed girl and scare the crap out of him," Kimura added, making multiple students giggle.

Izuku raised his hand anxiously. "She could use it to maneuver her body in an unexpected way after Korosensei dodges her initial knife attack."

Karasuma arched his eyebrows. "Interesting observation, Midoriya. Would you mind elaborating?"

"W-Well, you taught us defined techniques for dodging and defending knife attacks. It makes sense that Korosensei has his own odd way of calculating and dodging attacks he expects to come. If Okano were to suddenly, say, bend her elbow the opposite direction immediately after her initial strike, it might throw him off."

Karasuma nodded, looking very pleased. "Very creative, Midoriya. Good job. And good job to you too, Okano." Warm excitement filled Izuku's chest, his heartbeat spiking. He hardly remembered the last time he received such open praise from a teacher. "Now, who wants to go next?"

-.-.-.-

They did that for the remainder of the lesson, and Izuku felt all of his nerves about this new training melt away. Because while he may not have a quirk to show off, he was completely in his element. He and Nagisa bounced off each other with ideas on the person's quirk potential and their ways to apply it to assassination. He was practically on cloud nine.

Just wait until you're the only one left to go, and you have to expose yourself as the quirkless loser you are, Deku, the little Bakugou in his head said.

Isogai volunteered next. His quirk was Merging, which let him combine two inanimate objects he was holding into one. He created a bayonet-like weapon by combining his knife and rifle together. However, he couldn't unmerge the objects afterward, so he needed to be smart about what he created.

"Well, as you displayed, you can create new weapons. You could probably use it to camouflage the current ones so they don't seem so obvious," Izuku commented, flipping to the next page with fervency to keep up with his writing pace.

"Or create ones that are even more powerful," added Nagisa.

Sugino went next. Izuku already knew what his quirk, Energizing, could do in theory, but it was amazing to see in practice. Especially with the new and improved pitching technique he developed; Izuku could barely see the ball move at all.

"That was so cool, Sugino! Do you think you'll be able to throw as fast as Korosensei can move?" Kurahashi asked enthusiastically. Sugino laughed and looked to the recently dubbed 'Data Duo' for answers.

"In theory, it could be possible. It would take a lot of energy expenditure from you, though," Izuku said.

Nagisa nodded. "You'd probably need assistance from an outside source to give you the energy force. Something really strong, like a chemical reaction that results in an explosion."

The usually silent Okuda gasped suddenly but didn't say anything, looking lost in her own thoughts. Karma let out a sharp laugh.

"Ah, great idea, Data Dorks. Get Sugino blown up; that'll help him for sure."

"Enough. I just received a message from Ms. Jelavić. She and Korosensei are almost done getting tea in Vietnam," Karasuma said. "We have time for one more volunteer. Who wants to finish us up?"

The class went silent after that. It was clear why. The three who went had pretty amazing quirks; they were probably booted down to E-class for different reasons. Their downfall wasn't related to their quirk at all.

Izuku didn't want to pry or pressure Shinsou — there was nothing more hypocritical — but he couldn't help but...wonder. Shinsou clearly didn't have an issue with using his quirk, at least on Izuku. And whatever it was, that fog, the way it took control away from Izuku, it was all the makings of a powerful quirk. One that might even make the Number One Villain fear. Izuku would expect someone with a quirk so powerful to display it proudly and get Korosensei's challenge done early. Yet Shinsou stayed totally silently, not even offering advice to the other students, his attention switching between his phone and the sky.

"Oh, what the hell, I'll go next if none of you wusses will," Terasaka said, stalking up to the front. "As you can see, I have a badass mutation quirk that gives me lion qualities. Besides the mane, tail, and claws, it also makes me stronger." To emphasize, the boy pushed at a nearby tree and knocked it over. "So basically, if you try to mess with me, there's gonna be consequences."

Karasuma sighed. "Thank you, Terasaka. Now, how might Terasaka use his quirk to kill Korosensei? And how about we let someone other than the…Data Duo answer?"

Izuku awkwardly lowered his hand that had already been up in the air, chuckling quietly alongside his classmates.

"Well, he's definitely going to have to be sneakier about it, with it being a mutation quirk and all. Korosensei probably already knows a lot of what you can do," Kanzaki observed.

"He could also use that to his advantage," Kataoka added. "Like Nagisa's notes say, Korosensei's main weakness is arrogance. If he thinks he knows all there is to know about Terasaka, but instead, he pulls out a surprise new ability — a secret weapon, so to speak — then maybe we could get him that way."

"Yeah, but who's to say I even have a 'secret weapon'?" argued Terasaka, smirking haughtily. "It's my quirk after all. I think I would know if I had a hidden ability."

"Isn't the point of calling it hidden to say it hasn't been discovered yet? Idiot," Shinsou scoffed, scrolling through some news article. Terasaka snapped his sharp teeth at the boy threateningly, a vein almost popping out of his head.

"WHAT'D YOU SAY, TURNIP-HEAD?"

-.-.-.-

Not long after Ms. Jelavić and Korosensei came back, the honeypot tried to assassinate him.

She failed miserably.

The woman was so arrogant that she apparently didn't even pay attention to the briefings. When she lured the villain away to the activity shack, she and her three hired goons opened fire on Korosensei with lead bullets, which of course had no effect on him. Their teacher revealed that while her honeypot aroma was powerful, he quickly could tell something was wrong in his system and used his mucus to create nose plugs. Everything else was just an act to humor her and teach her that she better do her homework like all the other good students if she wanted to succeed in the class.

Which led them to where they are now. Sitting in English class, doing absolutely nothing as the woman assassin tapped angrily at her tablet.

"Hmm? Something wrong, Ms. Yellow-Bitch?" Karma asked, overly butchering her name. The woman growled threateningly.

Isogai hesitantly raised his hand and asked if they could have Korosensei come in and teach instead. This only seemed to upset the pissed-off woman even more, as she broke into a loud rant.

"Do you really think you'll pass your entrance exams anyway? You're just a bunch of E-class losers; it's not like you'll ever have a future that matters," she sneered. Izuku clenched his fists, tempted to stand up to her when his mind begin to cloud, and his desire to argue long forgotten. Why would he even argue with her? He should just listen to what she said. She was obviously right...

"How about I offer you male specimen a deal? Help me kill the octopus, and I'll give you some of the reward money. Any of the ladies can have in too, so long as they obey."

Yes. Yes, that's exactly what Izuku should do...right? A spec of doubt floated in his head, tickling his nose. But no, it's nothing. He grabbed his notebook with his notes on Korosensei; Ms. Jelavić would like his notes, right? He sure hoped so. He stood up, about to hand it over when an eraser sailed across the room, hitting the chalkboard right next to Ms. Jelavić's head.

"Get. Out." Shinsou said, voice low and threatening. The honeypot blinked, looking completely flabbergasted.

"But- how the hell-" she sputtered, but never got to finish before all of their female classmates followed suit, throwing paper and pencils and any other material they could use as ammunition. The sweet honeypot spell dissipated once again, clearly Izuku of any unnatural thoughts as the assassin focused more on dodging stationary than her quirk. Many other freed male students wasted no time in joining in.

"You're just a grumpy old bitch!" Yoshida cried.

"Go back home, big boobs!" Hazama shouted.

It was complete chaos, people throwing every small item in reach. Isogai even took two pencils he merged together earlier and a hair tie from Nagisa to merge into a slingshot. Laughing at the absurdity of it all, Izuku glanced back at Shinsou and saw the boy actually smiling for the first time that day. It made Izuku smile as well.

At least until he grabbed his box of flashcards. He wasn't one for violence, but she nearly made him give up his notebook. That was unforgivable. As he chucked them at the conceited woman, he unleashed a little of his inner Bakugou.

"DIE!"

-.-.-.-

"You know, since she apologized and everything, Ms. Jelavić doesn't seem too bad," Izuku commented as he and Shinsou made their way down the mountain after school. "And her lessons seem like they'll be very practical in application."

Shinsou snorted, stretching his arms over his head. "If you're planning on getting a foreign hottie in your bed anytime soon, sure. But yeah. Bitch-sensei doesn't seem as incompetent as I thought. I think she'll fit in well enough."

"You shouldn't call your teacher a bitch, even if she does act like one at times, you know. It's not very nice."

"Sometimes, Midoriya, you can be too nice."

"Uh...is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?"

"Yes."

-.-.-.-

So maybe he'll always be a quirkless end-class loser. Maybe he'll always be the one society was designed to step on. As he carefully practiced each knife stroke, or mimicked a defensive maneuver Karasuma displayed, or made a bullseye with his rifle, he couldn't help but feel strong — that he could actually become something.

Maybe this wasn't the rigorous U.A.-prepping education he anticipated, but hey. He'll take his assassination academia over that any day.