Before things could go from bad to worse, a familiar face barged into the room, nearly knocking Todoroki over.
"I'm not late!" Rumi yelled while her hair and uniform looked a bit haggard. It was clear to everything that she seemed to be in a full sprint towards the class in order to beat the bell.
Iida was there in an instant. "Miss, it's unbecoming of a UA student to not arrive at least fifteen minutes before the bell rings!" He said with swift, sharp chops.
"Shut up! There was a villain attack near my train station and I had to go wait!" Rumi shouted back before her eyes scanned the room then immediately lit up in recognition. "It's you!" She said while pointing at Ryoya.
"It's...me?"
"Yes, you!"
"...what about me?" Ryoya asked with a raised brow while everyone looked between the two.
"You got some nerve, don't you! I've been to your dojo four times in the past week looking for my rematch but it's closed. What gives?" Rumi spoke in an accusatory tone while marching up to Ryoya's desk, not regarding Izuku, Momo nor Ochako.
"Rematch...?" Momo inquired silently.
"Four times...?" Ochako questioned.
There were just so many questions Izuku wanted to ask.
"Um, it closed and I moved?" Ryoya said simply, but he sounded just as confused as Izuku felt.
"And you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't know I was supposed to."
"Of course you were!"
"But why though?"
Rumi opened her mouth and closed it. Then opened it again only for no sound to come out. Then she coughed awkwardly. Then suddenly, Izuku, Momo and Ryoya all perked up and turned their heads towards the door to see a large, yellow sleeping bag worming it's way inside the room.
"If you're here to make friends, get out." The weird sleeping bag then turned over to reveal a man with black hair, slightly blood shot eyes and scruffy facial hair. "This is the hero course." The man produced a jelly packet and finished it in one strong slurp. 'Three students noticed me. Two of which are the problem children and the last one is problem child B's friend.' "It took you lot six seconds to quiet down. That's irrational. Time is a valuable resource."
Izuku leaned over to Ryoya. "I think I recognize him from somewhere, but I can't remember where."
"Tournament where we met everyone."
Izuku clicked his tongue as recognition filled his face.
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Pleased to meet you." Aizawa said, not sounding pleased in the slightest. He reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a blue UA branded PE uniform. "Change into your gym clothes and head to the grounds."
"Sir! What about the entrance ceremony!?" Iida asked with a swift chop.
"Waste a time. You're here to become heroes." With that, Aizawa left.
"He didn't even tell us what grounds." Ochako said glumly.
"Let's just get changed, we can just sense him, right guys?" Ryoya and Momo nodded.
Changing in the locker room was a needlessly tense experience for Izuku. Ryoya was his usual aloof self, only really making conversation when someone spoke to him directly.
And Todoroki seemed to take that personally.
He hadn't stopped giving his friend dirty looks this whole time, and completely brushed off any attempts at conversation by anyone. The area around him seemed much colder than anywhere else in the already air-conditioned room, and the fact that he walked with the wet, crunching sound of ice beneath his heel was more than enough to give people a pause.
Izuku really hoped that whatever issue those two had could be resolved without violence, but he knew Ryoya was literally raised to believe that random street fights were simply just a thing that happened normally and you have to be prepared for it. Why Ryu-sensei and Ken-sensei taught him that, he didn't know, but he was really hoping that for once, Ryoya would at least stop and think before randomly kicking someone in the face.
"UA is known for several things, one of which is it's 'freestyle' educational system. That applies to both you lot and the teachers." The literal second all students got within ear shot, Aizawa started explaining. "Soft-ball throwing, standing long jump. The fifty meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength. Repeated side steps. Upper body training. Seated toe touch. These are all things you should've done in middle school, right? Your standard quirkless gym tests."
He reached into his scarf and pulled out a baseball before throwing it at Midoriya who caught it easily. "For some reason, this country still would rather prohibit quirks when calculating averages of those records. It's highly irrational. The suits in the Department of Education are just procrastinating. Midoriya, how far could you throw in your final year of middle school?"
"One hundred meters." Izuku responded easily and took the wind out of the class.
Aizawa honestly wasn't expecting that and gave the boy a flat look. "Do you take this as a joke, Midoriya?"
Izuku immediately started to panic. "N - no sir, that's actually what I got."
His eyes immediately turned towards the group of students, all of which had matching shocked expressions save for Harushi and Bakugo. Harushi simply gave a disinterested nod of confirmation.
"Bakugo. You two went to the same school, is this true?"
Bakugo growled and grinded his teeth. "Yes." Was all he said, and frankly, Ryoya was impressed he said that without exploding.
"Fine. Now try it again, but this time with whatever your power is. Do whatever you need to do, I don't care. Just don't leave the circle." Aizawa gave Izuku a hard stare. "Give it everything you've got."
When Midoriya turned and looked at the ball he noticed something. "U - um, sir. Is there metal in this?"
"Yes, there is metal in it to track the distance. Is that going to be a problem?" The teacher's stare somehow got even harder.
"N - no sir." Izuku says before stretching his right arm a bit.
"Mo-chan." Ryoya's smooth voice suddenly said. "Make two sets of ear muffs for Bunny-san and Violet-san, please."
Rumi and a short girl with violet hair and long ears both gave Ryoya a confused look while Momo simply nodded.
"It's going to get very, very loud." Once they were made and given to the respective people, Ryoya simply walked behind Momo and covered her ears with his hands. "All clear, Izuku."
In that moment, Izuku's ki flared around him, sparking green electricity to life with a low humming sound. He looked at the ball closely before letting his magnetism's effect grow, giving the ball a few test push and pulls before his face changed into one of determination.
Aizawa watched very, very closely. In a split second, he activated his quirk, Erasure. To his immense surprise, nothing happened at all. Midoriya didn't even seem to notice him and not two seconds after he deactivated, Harushi's warning rang true. Midoriya's electricity pooled around his arm and got so intense, that the low humming transitioned into a loud, sharp crackle like the sound of one thousand birds all chirping at once.
Midoriya got into a pitcher's stance and the crackling sound got uncomfortably loud before he threw the ball with an audible boom, and making the ball vanish in a trail of green.
Students were, very understandably, floored by this display.
"H - holy hell."
"Dude, that's insane!"
Bakugo looked seconds away from a conniption.
Ryoya however, slowly removed his hands from Momo's head and grinned sharply in a way that the light reflected off his fangs. "Not bad, Deku." He teased. "Is that what you were trying to hit me with that day?"
Izuku sheepishly scratched his cheek. "As if you'd ever let me hit you with that."
Then a machine in Aizawa's hand beeped.
"It's important for everyone to know your limits." He said flatly, though inside, he was intrigued. He turned the device for everyone to see. "It's the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."
"749 meters, seriously!?"
"I can't compete with that!"
"Whoa! This is awesome, this'll be so fun! We can use our quirks for real!"
Then, the air around Aizawa changed. "...fun? Awesome you say?" His already intimidating stare turned harsh and foreboding. "You're trying to become heroes after only three years here and you think it'll be 'fun and awesome'? You think is is a game?" The look in Aizawa's eye now was enough to give lesser men heart attacks. "Okay then. The person with the lowest score across all events will be deemed as hopeless and will be expelled."
"W - what?!"
"You can't do that!"
"That's totally unfair!"
"Oh?" Aizawa challenged. "Why can't I? Didn't you hear me before? UA is very much based around it's freestyle system. I can and will expel you if I deem you as unfit to be a hero." He then ran his hands through his hair and gave the students a piercing look with a sneer before raising a hand with three fingers up. "Natural disasters, highway pile ups, rampaging villains. Anything can happen at any time. Problems are always right around the corner, the world is full of unfair. It's going to be your job as heroes to correct that unfairness." He then sighed behind his scarf. "If you think this'll be a walk in the park, you may as well just go home now. For the next three years, UA will run you ragged. That's what our motto is for, Plus Ultra."
Izuku and Ryoya shared a look. After all, those two truly understood what it meant to be born in 'unfair' conditions.
'A trail by fire huh?' Ryoya thought. 'Fine.'
"Now that that's over, it's time to get serious."
The first event was the fifty meter dash and Izuku was feeling confident honestly. The first two people to go up were Iida and a girl with a frog mutant quirk. As expected by someone with literal engines in his legs, Iida took to the race like a fish to water and scored an impressive 3.04 seconds. The frog girl leapt with grace and finished with a respectable time of 5.58 seconds.
Then came the second set, being Uraraka and Usagiyama. "Bring it!" Rumi declared while bounding on her feet in place.
Ochako immediately entered "Competitive Uraraka" mode and exuded a tense aura. She powered up One For All at 5% and got down into a sprinters position. The second the gun fired, both girls were off.
The robot at the other end beeped. Ochako won with a time of 3.5 seconds while Rumi finished with a time of 4.03. Both very respectable and both girls gave each other an intense fist bump on the other side.
"Todoroki. Harushi. You're up." Almost immediately, the whole class went tense. Harushi and Todoroki both nodded impassively, but the subtle glance they gave to one another was definitely not helping.
"Oi, Moptop." Izuku heard from his side, and upon turning, saw it was Rumi. "What's the deal with all of that? I could almost taste the tension and they barely even looked at each other. What gives?"
"I honestly don't know, Usagiyama-san. Todoroki-san just seems to have some issue with Ryoya and we don't know why."
Rumi huffed. "Well tell him knock that shit off. Pretty boy is my rival and I'm not just gonna stand around and let someone else beef with him, got it?"
Before Izuku could question what that all meant, Rumi walked away.
Then things got heated, both figuratively and literally. Todoroki created a large amount of ice, way more than one would assume he'd need for such an event and coated his entire lane. He was extra careful in making sure just enough frost was made on Harushi's side that it would go unnoticed by Aizawa and Harushi would be off balance. His hopes were dashed immediately.
Ryoya activated Heat Rush and all but melted all the ice in the immediate vicinity. Even the ice on Todoroki's side turned into a puddle of water as the boy got ready to move. Todoroki, not willing to take such a slight laying down, just created more ice.
Aizawa watched this interaction like a hawk. 'Great, two of my more powerful students already have animosity towards each other. This year is already starting terribly.'
Then the gun sounded and the boys moved.
When the robot beeped, the tan skinned boy didn't even bother waiting to see his score, nor did his turn around to look at anyone else, but Todoroki as he came sliding through a second or so later.
Ryoya Harushi: 3.20 seconds.
Shouto Todoroki: 4.30 seconds.
The dual haired boy clearly took issue with this. He glared at Ryoya once more before both wordlessly went back towards the rest of the class. Todoroki stood off to the side and a ways away from everyone else, while Ryoya simply stood near Izuku with his arms crossed and mouth thinned into a line.
"W- whoa. I didn't know Harushi-san was that fast." It was Ochako who whispered over Izuku's shoulder. Harushi-san was even faster than her! And she had One for All!
"He's always been fast." Izuku says fondly. "Ken-sensei made sure we understood how important speed was. Some of his speed drills were... less than pleasant." That was putting it lightly honestly.
Ochako shuddered at the faraway look in Izuku's eye. One day, hopefully soon, she'd have more insight into their training. Sure, when she met Ryu and Ken, they were nothing if not a couple of characters, but they didn't really strike her as the sadist taskmasters that Izuku seemed to imply they were.
"Midoriya. Bakugo."
"Oh, looks like I'm up."
Ryoya, who's largely been quiet for most of the day outside of a few one word responses, gave Izuku a hard stare. "Don't you dare lose to that guy, Deku." He said only partially serious.
"And risk having to deal with you later?" Izuku said with a smile. "No chance."
Ryoya just nodded while Izuku walked up the the starting line.
Bakugo looked positively ferocious and Izuku was honestly amazed someone could have such an expressive face. Aizawa gave them both indecipherable looks before calling for a start. Izuku's Denjin Renki flared around him and so came the low humming that usually accompanied it.
"I don't know what bullshit you did to get a quirk, Deku but I'm going to prove you're still nothing compared to me." Bakugo said with a vicious sneer while crossing his arms like an 'x' in front of him with his palms pointed back.
"But I don't have a -"
Before Izuku could finish, the robot ticked and they both took off at the same time, keeping pace with each other for most of the way before Izuku put a bit more ki into it and over him at the end.
Izuku Midoriya: 3.65 seconds
Katsuki Bakugo: 4.13 seconds
"Hah? What the fuck is that speed, Deku?" Was Bakugo's immediate reaction. There was simply no way useless Deku was faster than him, no fucking way. "Explain, now!" He raised a sparking palm. The next thing anyone knew, Aizawa flicked out his scarf, wrapping tightly around Bakugo's wrist and torso, completely locking him in place. The sparks in his hand slowly ceased to exist. "What the fuc - ?" Bakugo tried to say.
"What do you think you're doing, Bakugo?" Aizawa said, voice rough and hard like a steel knife. His once black eyes turned a bloody, bright red, his hair and scarf floating in the air loosely around his head. Izuku's eyes lit up in recognition upon seeing the quirk in action, especially after his floating scarf revealed a pair of yellow goggles hanging loosely around his neck. "You will not attack another student, do you understand?"
Bakugo grumbled out a confirmation. Aizawa let him go and both he and Izuku went back to the rest of the class. Bakugo didn't spare him some much as a second glance, but he could feel Ryoya's heated glare burning the side of his face. Students shuffled around him as he got near, but Ryoya seemed to be the opposite, walking closer to Bakugo with his intent clear, but was stopped when Momo placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He seemed to calm down. If only a tad.
"Eraserhead." Izuku suddenly says. "He's Eraserhead! I can't believe it took me so long to figure out! He's literally one of my favorite heroes because of his quirk!" He could he not recognize him? Was it because the few photos of him were taken at night and so grainy that you could barely tell the difference between him and an ink stain? Was it because he didn't have his normal tactical knife? Were his goggles simply that recognizable?
Ryoya gave Izuku a flat look. "Nerd out later, focus on events now." He made a mental note to talk about how Bakugo nearly attacked him in broad day. Sure, he wasn't particularly worried about Izuku anymore, he knew the boy was more than capable of handling himself, after all. But that still didn't mean he needed to be so nonchalant against such a glaring issue.
With that done, the rest of the tests continued.
To Izuku's concern, Todoroki very openly antagonized Ryoya at every possible chance while being extremely annoyed that his score was either tied or outright beaten. It didn't take long for Ryoya to return the favor. At some point, Aizawa and the whole class were giving them suspicious stares, but neither seemed to notice nor care.
It was after Todoroki did something again - which was aggressively keep eye contact with Ryoya while he simply threw the ball up and slammed his right foot on the floor and using the sheer stopping power from the glacier to send the ball flying - that Aizawa finally lost his patience. He read off the score, an impressive 734 meters, then sighed deeply. "Alright, enough of this. Harushi, Todoroki. What is the problem?"
The rest of the class could only watch on awkwardly and it was then that Ryoya realized that people had given him and Todoroki a wide berth several tests ago. Even the ever battle hungry Rumi seemed to look at him a bit differently. He made very, very slightly startled eye contact with Izuku before turning his eyes back to Aizawa and trying to bring back his aloof façade.
"It's nothing, Hobo-sensei." Ryoya said coolly.
"Nothing at all, Sensei." Todoroki echoed with the same cold, disconnected tone he'd had all day.
Aizawa gave the two a very hard stare. It would take a fool to not notice the sheer amounts of hostility emanating off the both of them, despite how cool they tried to play it.
Izuku gave a look to Momo, who simply looked a bit nervous herself. They both realized at the same time that there was nothing either of them could say to make the situation better.
"I believe we're done," Ryoya said evenly. "I apologize for any disruptions."
Aizawa seemed to accept the answer, but not before activating his quirk for a split second to glare at the boys once more. Todoroki, very begrudgingly, eventually gave his own apology for the little... competition. Aizawa made a sound of discontent, turning his tablet to face the class. "You're up for the ball toss, Harushi."
Ryoya just nodded and walked towards the circle. Once he got there and activated Heat Rush, he immediately moved to the side and snapped his wrist up to intercept Aizawa's capture scarf. He rolled his hand a few times to lock the scarf, and subsequently, the teacher in place.
'Geez, kid is strong.' Aizawa thought after a few test pulls. "What do you think you're doing, Harushi?"
"Defending myself, Hobo-sensei." Ryoya spat.
"Let go of my scarf."
After a painfully awkward and tense ten seconds, Ryoya let go of the offending fabric, but not without giving Aizawa a mildly intimidating glare.
"Harushi." Aizawa said after he secured the scarf back in it's place. "Do you think this is a joke?"
"No, sir. I do not."
"You have not used your blue flames once this entire day despite me making it very clear that I'll accept nothing but your best. Why?" Aizawa injected just enough of his 'no-bullshit' energy into the question to make Ryoya flinch the slightest bit. Good. It was about time he got a reaction out of the boy.
"There is simply no point, Hobo-sensei. My fire's temperature only increases my destructive potential since the flames burn hotter. It does not make me perform any differently physically." Ryoya explained. "Had I done the 50-meter dash with blue flames, all I would've done was scorch the ground and injure you or Todoroki with the heat. I wouldn't have gone any faster." The shade thrown was not missed by anyone least of all Todoroki, who's right side started to bleed frost and cold air.
Aizawa nodded slowly and accepted. "I understand. Throw whenever."
Ryoya gave the man a flat look before nodding. He activated Heat Rush and threw the ball up, and in a move that no one besides Izuku expected, Ryoya displayed just how much Ken-sensei improved his footwork. He spun quickly before jumping and kicking the ball as hard as he could with the back of his heel. It sounded like a gunshot and actually made several people jump as the ball disappeared in a blaze off into the distance.
Ryoya landed and clicked his tongue. "Ah, fuck me. Mistimed it. It won't go as far now." He seemed actually annoyed at himself for the blunder.
After a few more seconds, the device beeped.
"770 meters."
"Holy hell, Harushi."
"That was you messing up!?"
"Fuck yeah! That's my rival!" Rumi said enthusiastically.
"Settle down." Aizawa commanded with a brief activation of his quirk. "Usagiyama, you're up."
When she walked past Ryoya, she made a point to hold up her hand to high five with a feral grin. Ryoya just looked at her plainly before returning the gesture with a very small grin of his own.
"Now, pretty boy. I'm gonna show you how it's done!" Rumi declared as Aizawa threw her the ball. Instead of catching it however, she stepped back and allowed it to hit her shoes before juggling it with her feet. 'See mom, told you! It wasn't just for fun, I was training!' Rumi juggled for a few seconds before finding her rhythm, and once she did, she lobbed the ball up and kicked it with the top of her foot.
The ball flew off into the distance much like many others had done previously. Then a beep.
704.3 meters.
"Really nice form, Bunny-san." Ryoya teased. "Did someone finally listen to my advice?"
"Oi! To hell with you and your advice!" Rumi immediately shot back, but when she got close to the rest of the class, Ryoya simply raised his hand to mirror the gesture she did before. Her cheeks turned a bit red, but she accepted the high five nonetheless.
Off to the side, a pink skinned girl was watching the whole thing from start to finish. She was watching the Harushi boy all day. Sure, he was hot as hell, but she also was smart enough to not get between whatever he and Todoroki, the other hot as hell boy, were doing. But the more she watched him, and specifically his interactions with Yaoyorozu and Usagiyama, her shipping senses were tingling to the point where it got hard to contain herself.
"Uraraka."
Ochako strut up to the circle with a smile. "Oh, geez. This one should be easy." She chirped before simply touching the ball with all five fingers and letting it fly away.
"Infinity!?"
"Wow, the infinity sign actually popped up!"
"Bakugo. We're ending this with you." Aizawa said before tossing the boy a ball.
"Fuckin' finally. I was getting sick watching all you extras." He walked with an exaggerated swagger and a scowl.
Ryoya did what he did before, and that was walk up behind Momo and put his hands on her ears. "Violet-san, Bunny-san. Ear-muffs."
'These worthless fucks have been looking down on me all day. Watch closely Deku. I'll put a little extra boom on this one just for you...!'
Bakugo stretched his right arm and wound back. "DIE!" He yelled while throwing his hand forward and creating a big explosion.
'Die?'
Aizawa just stood there with an unreadable expression before the device beeped and revealed Bakugo's score. The blonde's eyes went wide. 705.2 meters. A whole 44 meters below Deku's shitty score and fucking 65 meters below Piss-Eyes. Bakugo, for the first time in his life, seemed to angry to form words.
Aizawa took it in stride however, completely ignoring the child who seemed seconds away from a stroke out of sheer rage.
"Moving on, its time to show the results."
1. Momo Yaoyorozu
2. Ochako Uraraka
3. Ryoya Harushi
4. Izuku Midoriya
5. Shouto Todoroki
6. Katsuki Bakugo
7. Rumi Usagiyama
8. Tenya Iida
9. Fumikage Tokoyami
10. Mezo Shoji
11. Eijiro Kirishima
12. Mina Ashido
13. Rikido Sato
14. Tsuya Asui
15. Yuga Aoyama
16. Hanta Sero
17. Denki Kaminari
18. Kyoka Jiro
19. Toru Hagakure
20. Minoru Mineta
"Mineta, head to the Principal's office immediately, you're expelled."
"W - what? It wasn't just a ruse?" Momo said with wide eyes.
Mineta immediately dropped to his knees and bawled and Izuku felt bad for him honestly. He couldn't imagine spending his whole life training, honing his skills with a quirk only to get expelled on the first day. A part of him wanted to walk up and console the boy, but -
"Now I'll never get all the ladies! I'll never get the see the Yaoyorozu oppai or the Usagiyama thighs!" Mineta suddenly shouted and Izuku no longer felt bad for him. Well, he did, but not in the same way.
"Oh no, he's a dead man." Izuku said gravely.
Momo gasped, but not for the reasons people thought. She and Ryoya had an... interesting relationship. Not quite romantic, but a bit beyond best friends. One thing she learned pretty early on was that Ryoya was extremely overprotective of not just her, but anyone he deemed a loved one. Ryoya had attacked people in her honor for way less than this, and this boy just blatantly made lechrous comment about her body. Her body; that Ryoya knew she was a bit self-conscience of because of how mature she looked for her age. She knewthis would not end well.
"Oh," Ryoya said in a foreign tone. "And here I thought I'd make it through the whole day without kicking someone's ass." In an instant, he vanished from the middle of the group of students and appeared behind Mineta and picked him up the back of his neck.
Izuku moved to prevent the slaughter that was seconds away from happening, and managed to tackle Ryoya before he could very publicly set someone on fire. As they laid on the dirt, Ryoya gave Izuku a flat stare. "Izuku, what are you doing? I simply wanted to talk to him."
"With your blue flames!?"
"...it would've been a very long conversation. Or a short one. Really depends on how chatty he feels."
Izuku groaned, exasperated. Aizawa looked even more so.
"I'll say this. Normally, I don't expel students fully. It was supposed to be a logical ruse to push you try harder. Mineta would've been in class tomorrow morning, but after that very blatant outburst, no. You are removed from the Hero Course and will be until you get your act together." Aizawa said coldly. He's run into far too many perverts in the line of duty and wouldn't allow such a person around his young, hormonal teenage class. "Everyone else, you're dismissed. You have some forms for you back in class, make sure you look over them thoroughly." With cat-like grace, Aizawa threw his scarf and wrapped up Mineta's small body and dragged him away.
Izuku was honestly a bit tired after the first day, if his slumped over gait was any indication. Ryoya was to right, walking with the energy of a dying cat.
Then a hand snapped up and grabbed Izuku's left shoulder, startling both boys, who immediately dropped into combat ready stances.
"Ah, Midoriya. I wished to speak to you." Iida said stiffy, seemingly completely oblivious to how closely he came to getting torched and/or electrocuted.
Izuku relaxed. "Ah, hello Iida-san." Izuku greeted while Ryoya barely regarded him.
"You have proven to be quite powerful, Midoriya." Iida said with a sharp chop. He then bowed at ninety degrees. "I am once again sorry for ever doubting your skills."
Izuku, in typical Izuku fashion, immediately blushed and attempted to wave Iida off. "No - no. It's fine. I - I know I'm not the toughest looking guy out there. I'm honestly pretty unassuming but that's a good thing right? Villains would underestimate me and it would make it easier to beat them." Izuku reasoned while Iida stood back up only to swiftly chop his hand once again.
"An excellent rational, Midoriya! You've once again proved your heroic value!"
Izuku sweat dropped lightly at the scene while Ryoya simply looked tired beyond words.
"Hey!"
Everyone turned to see Ochako running up to them while waving. "You three! Heading to the station? Wait for me!"
"Ah, infinity girl." Iida said with a nod.
"Hello, Pink Cheeks-san."
"I'm Ochako Uraraka!" She introduced bubbly to Iida. "You're Tenya Iida right?"
"That is correct. It's nice to meet you, Uraraka-san."
"Well, Deku," Ryoya dragged. "As much as I'd like to stay here and chat, and believe me, I do. I have to get home to feed my pets."
"You have pets!?" Izuku nearly shouted.
"Two of them, yes."
"Since when!? I thought your apartment didn't allow pets!"
"They don't."
"Then why do -"
"We both know the answer to that, Deku." Ryoya cut him off coolly.
"Harushi!" Iida looked scandalized. "It's unbecoming of a UA student and an upstanding citizen to completely disregard the rules of his living establishment! Release your pets at once!" Iida immediately went into his lecture and Ryoya simply gave him a blank look as if he couldn't believe this was happening. While they were talking, (read while Iida was talking at him and he only partially listened), Ochako made a sound that got Izuku's attention.
"Say, that's the third time I've heard him call you 'Deku' today. What gives?" Ochako asked innocently.
"Uh, well. Right. 'Deku' is just a childish name Bakugo gave me when we were kids and he was being a bully... Ryoya calls me that because he thinks it's funny." Izuku explained, clearly unsure if he wanted to talk about that.
"Aw shucks. Sorry to hear that. But 'Deku' kinda sounds cute you know?"
"No, it doesn't." Ryoya said immediately, but Ochako continued on as if he hadn't spoken.
"It's kinda like 'Dekiru', ya know? Like 'You can do it!'" She said with a bright smile and raising her fist in the air. Izuku could only stare on in growing admiration.
"It doesn't sound like that at all." Ryoya tried again.
"Ya know, I've never thought about it like that." Izuku said while putting a finger up to his chin in thought. "I wouldn't mind you calling me that."
At this point, Ryoya had long since given up and just resigned himself to letting his friend have his moment. But then, a fifth party entered.
"Oi, pretty boy." It was Rumi, walking with far too much energy for the occasion. "Don't think you can get away from me so easily. I want my rematch."
"Bunny-san," Ryoya just sounded tired. "I promise, you'll get your rematch at some point. But I have to catch my train." Ryoya had absolutely no issues whatsoever getting into a random street fight with strangers, after all, that's exactly what Ken-sensei's surprise training was for. But he was mentally tired and just wanted to go home.
"You taking the train too? Which area? I'm going two stations down to Shizouka."
"Same."
"Huh, no shit." She then grabbed his hand. "Well, let's go. The train leaves in fifteen minutes." She started to drag him away.
"Wait what -"
"What? We can't miss the train dude." Rumi said firmly.
"But we -"
"No buts!"
Ryoya sighed then stood up still, stopping her in her tracks. She didn't let go of his hand however. He didn't even know if they were actually even classed as friends at this point, but every time she randomly appeared, he just felt compelled to keep up with her oddly boundless, aggressive energy. "If you're gonna hold my hand, at least do it comfortably." He whispered before adjusting her grip so her much smaller hand fit easier around his. "Fine, let's go to whatever adventure you're dragging me on, Bunny-san."
Rumi at this point, grinned like an animal with a blush on her face. "Fine then, pretty boy. We've got some time to kill. Let's take the scenic route."
"I don't have a choice in this matter, do I?"
"Good, you're learning."
Izuku could only watch on in amusement as his friend was dragged away. On the outside, Ryoya seemed disinterested, but he saw the faint ghost of a smile when Rumi grabbed his hand. It was nice to see him being nicer to people who weren't in their immediate circle. He knew his friend was pretty upset about being left alone but he seemed to slowly be getting over it.
With that, Izuku looked forward with Iida and Ochako on either side of him. Today was a bit rough, especially in the morning, but tomorrow is shaping up to be better.
A/N: There's just so much passion in 1-A. There's going to be the triple threat between Rumi, Ochako and Momo. The four way deadlock between Izuku, Ryo, Shouto and Katsuki. Can't everyone just get along? The next chapter is the much anticipated battle trials, and if you're wondering the two students who got replaced are Ojiro, and Koda. Nothing against the two of them, they're just boring. Now, who's replacing Mineta? Ohoho.
solbandgus: It def was an interesting assessment. They are physical monsters due to how ki passively makes them stronger than most people, even mutant quirk users. Thanks for the review!
Born-From-Black-Lightning: Thanks so much for the positivity!
James Birdsong: Thank you and thanks for the review!
Ryuujin96: Thank you. Midnight is going to have a hell of a time trolling the students, especially Ryoya. Someone help him.
Ryoya and Shouto's dynamic is going to be very interesting to explore going forward. The battle trails will be coming up very soon to throw a wrench into that little growing rivalry.
Katsuki just really doesn't like when anyone does better than him lol, dude's a menace.
Keeping Izuku in character and trying to have him grow organically was one of the choices made early on. I don't want to turn him into super serious badass fighter guy, since that's not who he is. Even now that he has power, he's still the same guy as he was before. Thanks for the review.
NinjaFang1331: Thanks for the review!