Chapter 2: The first step on the long road to (Heroics) (Recovery)

It's Friday so here's another chapter for you all! I'm thinking about maybe also uploading on Tuesday too but I'll leave that one up to you guys!

Welcome to UA heroes! What challenges will your first day bring!?

"Somehow, designing a hero costume completely slipped my mind," Nathan said in an exasperated tone.

"Oh! I guess I forgot to mention that! Sorry Relnor-san," Midoriya said, his voice coming from Nathan's phone.

"I've got a couple of people helping me out with it so it should be good to submit before our first day."

Yes.

They had both made the cut.

Midoriya had called him the day after the exams sobbing about how he had utterly failed to score a single point in the practical exam.

Nathan had tried his best to reassure him that there was no way simply destroying robots was all that mattered. After all, evaluations probably wouldn't take a week if that was the only metric they were measuring.

Unfortunately cold logic could not penetrate Midoriya's disappointment in himself. Despite Nathan's best efforts he languished for the entire week until his acceptance letter came in.

Midoriya had gotten in on his excellent written exam and a healthy supply of rescue points he'd earned from saving a fellow student from a Zero Pointer. Apparently he'd destroyed one of those goliaths as well.

Nathan felt a little bad that they'd have to replace two expensive pieces of machinery but they had an entire year to do it so he was sure they'd manage something.

Nathan's own acceptance letter had been glowing. He hadn't really been counting so when his villain point score came in lower than he expected he wasn't too surprised.

It was still fairly high at 47, but his rescue point score was just as high, giving him the top score of the entrance exam.

Apparently this meant he had obligations which was something he wasn't looking forward to. When he saw his score he honestly wished he'd held back a little more.

"Alright. What do you think of ths?" Hokusai asked, holding up her latest sketch.

She'd been through about half a dozen designs at this point and was growing increasingly more frantic to produce something that he approved of.

He looked at it pensively for a moment before nodding. He reached over and grabbed his phone from where he'd placed it on the table.

"Hm. Yeah. Yeah I like this one a lot… Hey Midoriya I'm gonna switch to video real fast tell me what you think of this one."

"Ok!"

After fumbling with his phone for a moment he pointed the camera at Hokusai and her design.

"Oh! That is really nice! Minimalist but with enough unique features to make it identifiable! It looks a bit like a modern take on a silver age design!"

"Haaaah! Finally! I'm glad you like my design Master-dono and friend!"

Nathan held his right hand over the speaker causing it to give a bit of feedback in order to drown out her use of his title. He didn't want Midoriya to get any weird ideas.

"Sorry bout that," He said after turning off the video feed, "Anyway I'm gonna go get this workshopped a little more, thanks for helping out Midoriya."

"It's no problem at all! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah. See you then, UA Student Midoriya Izuku."

With that he pocketed his phone before turning back to Hokusai.

"I am sorry Master-dono but I really just can't bring myself to use your name… It's embarrassing."

"I understand. Don't worry about it. I think we're still good… Thank you for all your hard work on this. I know I put a lot of unreasonable requests on the table…"

"Master-dono, I pledged my brush to your cause a long time ago. Besides this is nothing compared to some of Toto-sama's more demanding clients." She responded with a playful laugh. A small octopus hovered up from behind her, having darted out of sight when talk of video calls started.

"Let's get this to a couple of the Casters and see if we can figure out how to staple some mystic codes onto it after UA puts it all together."

"Sure thing Master-dono!"

With a yawn and a stretch of his arms Nathan got up from the table they'd been working at. His door opened automatically as he approached it, revealing a sleek white hall.

They walked together chatting aimlessly until they came to a door that required a passcode to open.

The electronic door slid open revealing a massive multi tiered room. Its contents were difficult to process as it seemed to contain several different personalized spaces that wildly clashed when taken as a whole.

"Oh. Hello Master. What brings you to the Workshops today?" A woman garbed in a purple robe asked as she floated down to meet them.

"We finalized my hero costume design and I was wondering if we could give it the good ol Chaldean treatment of trying to shove as many mystic codes into it as possible."

"I WANNA HELP!" Another woman, wearing a white robe who's neckline dipped all the way to her waist glided down. She furled her black wings behind her as she landed, giving Nathan an excited smile.

"Oh? Do my ears deceive me? The Master of Chaldea has come to the Workshops? I suppose I'll have to lend my support as well!"

"You're the one that dragged me here saying that Master would need us, so please stop with this surprised act."

A flowery man dressed in elaborate white robes approached flanked by a sharply dressed man who looked like he hadn't slept in five years.

"This should be more than enough," Nathan said with a smile, "Let's get to work."

Yes.

On paper Chaldea was a reserve unit of powerful heroes that responded to emergencies exclusively.

That was the cover they used to integrate into modern Japanese society as smoothly as they could manage.

They played the role of a mysterious organization with shadowy leadership that existed only to help people.

But in reality they were an organization from the other side of the world. The side that practiced and coveted the mysterious power of magic.

Chaldea was an organization that had been dedicated to preserving the integrity of proper human history, using a combination of magic and technology to call forth Heroic Spirits of all kinds to aid in their cause.

Those heroes were tied to one person that served as their anchor in the modern era.

Five years ago, an 11 year old boy joined Chaldea by chance having been picked up during a villain incident by its founder.

When the worst came to pass he was the only one standing with the capability of becoming that anchor.

Thus, Nathan Relnor became the Master of Chaldea.

Here he was. Despite everything. He had hesitated every step of the way but he had finally been given the right shove.

He walked down UA's halls towards his classroom. He'd wanted to go with Midoriya but he'd run into a few unexpected snags.

Having over 50 parental figures try to personally see him off had slowed his departure considerably. He'd been forced to ask Gilgamesh to give him a ride on the Vimana just to make sure he wasn't late.

Pushing the massive door aside, Nathan entered the class and was immediately accosted.

"Eeeey! You made it! Electricity bros for life!" Kaminari shouted, beckoning him over to his desk.

Nathan nodded, passing by a boy with rough blond hair arguing with the one that had singled out Midoriya as a distraction during the entrance exam.

"Ey high five man! I knew that'd be no sweat for the two of us right!?" He held his hand up expectantly. Reluctantly Nathan completed the gesture with his right hand. Since holding it as an open palm was one of the few things he could actually make it do he figured it'd probably be alright.

"Glad to see you made it too Kaminari Denki," Nathan said, offering the boy a light bow. The seats around his Quirk partner were taken so he opted for one in the far corner. Not quite in the back, but enough to make him feel comfortable.

He placed his bag before regarding that rough boy once again.

Although he supposed he already knew that student's name.

Bakugo Katsuki.

Midoriya had mentioned him a few times in moments of self doubt.

They had come from the same school and apparently Bakugo had made Midoriya his personal punching bag.

It left a bad taste in Nathan's mouth, but he had become friends with people who had done far far worse.

"Oh. Hello." A girl with long black hair wrapped in an odd ponytail greeted him formally.

"Hello. Was this seat taken?" He asked giving her an equally formal greeting.

"No no… I was just going to sit behind you if you don't mind."

"No worries. My name's Nathan Relnor."

"Yaoyorozu Momo. A pleasure."

She certainly gave off an upper class air. It was something he was all too familiar with given the absurd amount of royalty he had to deal with on a daily basis.

"Truly a banquet of madness." Another voice cut in. Briefly Nathan's attention fell to the boy who had a stylized crow's head before his attention was drawn to what that boy was commenting on.

Midoriya Izuku had walked into class.

At least that proper glasses clad boy was giving him his dues. Although Bakugo seemed to be building up more and more tension as Midoriya spoke.

An explosion was imminent, Nathan just wondered how long it'd take for his fuse to burn up.

He was about to wave Midoriya over when another girl approached him and began talking to him.

She sure did say some interesting things.

"Oh? So that's why he pushed himself so far," Nathan said softly.

"Hm?" The boy with the crow head turned to Nathan.

"Ah. Sorry. I was just listening in on them. I know the curly haired one," He explained.

"I see. He's one of the ones that took out a Zero pointer yes? Truly a mighty power… Tokoyami Fumikage by the way. I overheard you introduce yourself earlier Nathan-san so no need to repeat yourself."

Internally he scolded himself once again, "Sorry, Relnor's actually my family name, I'm from the UK."

"Oh. My apologies."

"What brought you to Japan if you don't mind my asking?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"Family business."

"I see."

Before the conversation could continue further a figure announced itself before crawling into the classroom in a sleeping bag. He shed the bright yellow bag and revealed himself to be their homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota.

"Put these on and shove off to the PE grounds immediately."

Holding that uniform in his hand, he wasn't entirely thrilled with it. It was short sleeved which was convenient. His quirk tended to blow away fabric if he used with too much force. But. His left arm. No. His entire body…

"You gonna change or you gonna just stare at that thing all day?" A student with black hair asked.

"I guess I don't have any other options…" Nathan said in a hushed tone. As soon as that boy stopped paying attention to him he altered his breathing. Everything about his movements became smooth. He let go of his presence and to everyone else in the locker room he almost completely disappeared.

It was a skill he'd picked up during his travels. It was a far cry from true Presence Concealment, but against untrained people around his age? It would be just good enough. As long as he didn't draw attention to himself there was a good chance he would go unnoticed by the rest of the boys.

He slipped off his blazer and quickly changed into his PE uniform.

Since no one had stopped to gasp and remark at the state of his body he assumed he'd managed to keep himself hidden in plain sight. With his period of exposure over he allowed his breathing to return to normal.

He joined up with the others as they made their way to the designated area.

They found Aizawa already waiting for them.

"This is a quirk apprehension test," He announced simply. He was met with a few murmurs but continued anyway, "The physical exams you took in school where you were barred from using your quirk, we will be redoing them here. But this time you're not to hold anything back. Bakugo, step up to the circle,"

The boy compiled before being tossed a ball.

"How far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"

"67 meters,"

"Use your quirk this time. As long as you don't step out of the circle anything is fair game. No holding back."

They watched as Bakugo took a step back, steadied himself, and launched the ball with a blast of explosive power.

It was immediately obvious how much further using his quirk allowed him to pitch.

This was hammered home when Aizawa held out his phone.

705.2 meters.

"Before anything else, you must know what you are capable of. This is your starting line."

Excitement spread through the class. To be allowed to use their quirks on an assessment like this was something they had only dreamed of before.

Nathan furrowed his brow.

He did not share this feeling with his class.

'I wonder… What my scores were back then…'

Aizawa was quick to head off the class before they got too excited. His presence shifted ever so slightly as he declared that the person who scored the lowest would be expelled immediately. It was a brutal reminder of the stakes that came with being a hero.

But after all the rigermerol of actually getting into UA, Nathan wasn't about to lose his cool here. Especially considering how much worse the trials he had already faced were.

Trial one was a 50 meter dash. Nathan was in the middle of the pack so he simply watched as the others took their turns. At least until he noticed Midoriya sweating bullets next to him.

"You still can't properly use your quirk without breaking anything can you?" Nathan asked.

"No…"

Nathan looked furtive for a moment. Midoriya had trained and trained and yet he still couldn't quite get a good handle on his power.

"Once we clear this we should talk about your power. I feel like I've been a bad friend for waiting so long to try and actually help you manage it but I guess I just didn't realize how bad it was…"

"Th-That would be great! And- and you don't- You're not a bad friend if I'm the one who never told you!" Midoriya said firmly.

Nathan just offered him a smile. Upon hearing his number he took place next to one Yaoyorozu Momo.

"Stay clear of the end of the track, I'll need room to slow back down."

The congregation of students who thought they were far enough away simply shrugged and shuffled over.

The maximum amount of Gs an unprotected human could handle without passing out was around 5.

Power that had nothing to do with his quirk flooded his body.

Yes.

In order to hold the title of Master of Chaldea Nathan had been forced to enter the world of magic. He wasn't a particularly skilled magus by any stretch of the word, but it was a power that was a part of him and he'd been told to hold nothing back.

And one of the most basic applications of that power was Reinforcement.

He could now push himself to 7Gs of acceleration. With his body reinforced he would not pass out from that extra force.

Thankfully there was a large building behind him that he could repel himself from. He generated power throughout all of his scales. His limbs gave off an odd hum as they reached the level of energy they'd need to push him somewhere close to that speed.

Fainty he registered the starting signal.

He reached 50 m/s in just under a second.

He counted to one after hearing the signal and immediately started pulling himself towards the building he'd initially pushed off of.

He ground to a halt, using his left leg and right arm to dig into the earth without endangering himself. He'd overshot the end point by quite a bit but he was supposed to be going plus ultra.

Standing up and dusting himself off he glanced back to his opponent who hadn't even gotten off the starting line before he exploded past her.

At least he hadn't broken the sound barrier.

"Fucking hell…" He heard one of the girls mutter.

Nathan returned to Midoriya's side while shaking the dirt out from between his scales.

"Dude what was that!?" An empty gym uniform ran up to him and Midoriya.

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"How'd you go that fast!? That was insane!"

"Electromagnetism. I generated a ton of power and used it to push myself off of the frame of that building over there."

"Duuuuude! So you've got an electricity quirk!?"

"Only technically. My quirk is called Surge Scale," Nathan said, holding his right hand out, "I can grow these scales that have the ability to generate and discharge electricity."

"Wooooah! So you covered your whole arm in them?"

Nathan opened his mouth before pausing. He did not want to start lying to his fellow students before he even learned their names.

But admitting he had actually lost his arm and replaced it with his quirk was a lot.

They were supposed to be pushing past their limits.

"No."

Midoriya's head turned towards Nathan in the next instant.

"This is my arm."

A crack sounded as his right hand split open, revealing nothing but scales all the way through.

"What!?" Midoriya called out, inspecting Nathan's hand carefully.

There was simply no flesh to be found.

"So your eye and your leg?"

"Yup."

He knew what the burning question on their minds was. They could see some of the scars on his left arm. If they looked hard enough they could probably see the ones at the base of his neck too.

"That's unreal!? How did you even get it to do that?"

"Lots and lots of trial and error." Nathan said with a casual chuckle that perhaps should not accompany talking about replacing missing limbs.

"17 and 18, you're up."

Midoriya looked pensive.

"Hey. Relnor-san. If you want to talk or anything…"

"Maybe. But you have a trial to overcome. Focus on getting through this first and everything else can come later."

He gave a small wave as Midoriya left to take his place at the starting line.

"I'm Hagakure Toru by the way, nice to meet ya!" The invisible girl finally introduced herself.

"Relnor Nathan," He said with a smile. He felt like he'd overcome a massive obstacle but in reality he'd only remembered to flip his name because Midoriya had just addressed him directly.

Still, he needed to take wins where he could. He started to reform his hand into its default state, scales clicking back into place as he watched Bakugo literally blast past Midoriya.

If he could not use his quirk he would be near the bottom of the bracket.

Everyone here had a quirk that would let them excel in at least one of the 8 trails.

If Midoriya couldn't get that one exceptional result he was in trouble.

But would their teacher really expel them on day one?

Nathan's eye trailed its way over to Aizawa.

From how he'd spoken he definitely sounded serious.

But was it a ruse to pull out the best in everyone?

Or was it a ruse to pull out the best in a single person?

The next trial was a test of their grip strength so they went inside to get to the proper measuring equipment. Nathan had no real way to give himself an advantage here. That right hand that could only mechanically open and close and did not do so particularly forcefully. He decided not to even bother with reinforcement as he squeezed that device with his left hand.

They moved back outside for the next trail. A standing long jump. Another simple task Nathan could excel at. There was no need to test his acceleration to its limit again so while his strategy was the same as the 50 meter dash he did not push off with nearly as much force.

He didn't really feel the need to land either. Ever so gently he pushed off of the trace metals in the ground beneath him and allowed himself to hover until he ran into the far fence.

His antics earned him a tired expression from Aizawa and yet more cheers from Hagakure and Kaminari.

The fourth trial was a sustained side jump competition. Perhaps the first true dud of the trials Nathan had faced so far.

The second he planted on his left leg wrong it bent at a 90 degree angle and he went tumbling out of the side jump. Much like his right arm, his left leg was entirely constructed of scales. Continuous side jumping was not something Nathan had bothered to account for when designing how to fit scales into a new leg so it was only natural that it would fail here.

A prosthetic, no matter how good, had its drawbacks when compared to the thing it was replacing.

"You ok?" Yaoyorazu asked, flanked by a girl with black hair and… Headphone jacks coming out of her ears?

"Yeah. Legs not designed for that kind movement so it just buckled."

"I saw, it looked like you sprained your ankle pretty bad!"

He dusted himself off before stepping down on that left leg a few times. The two girls flinched the first time he did it but when he didn't react at all they relaxed.

"It's fine, I don't really have to worry about injuries like that with this leg."

"Is it a prosthetic!? Made out of your quirk?"

"Yup."

The two girls gave him a horrified look.

He turned away from them before they could start asking questions he had no intention of answering truthfully.

The fifth trial was a ball toss. Nathan stepped up to the circle. The ball had sensors in it but it wasn't made of enough metal for him to launch it properly. If he tried it would just explode the moment it left his hand.

So he switched to his left and reinforced his arm. Reinforcement magic gave him about a sixty percent increase on whatever demand he was making of his body. In this case his arm strength had been the target.

His throw registered at 93 Meters, which was respectable for a normal person but after watching that gravity girl float her ball into the atmosphere it was entirely unimpressive.

No matter, he already had two ridiculous results to his name.

He took a step back as he watched Midoriya get ready to throw.

The boy looked like he was about to lose it on the spot. The desperation was getting to him. He just needed one exceptional result, but how far was he willing to go to get it?

"He's not doing too well today is he?"

"Course not, he doesn't have a quirk!"

"What? Did you not see what he did at the entrance exam!?"

While the glasses boy and Bakugo were arguing the gravity girl slid up beside him.

"Hey. You're his friend right? What do you think is going to happen?"

"He will sink or swim," Nathan said, eye firmly fixed on Midoriya.

He watched with senses honed from countless magical battles.

He could see it, ever so faintly.

Power.

Power too great for the human body to handle without shattering.

Midoriya flooded his right arm with power as he swung.

His arm would be destroyed but he would receive that exceptional result.

Nathan watched Midoriya commit to that sacrifice.

But that result did not come to pass.

The moment of his throw Midoriya's power was suppressed by an outside influence.

Nathan turned to Aizawa, who had affixed a glare on Midoriya.

"46 meters."

Midoriya looked like he was about to fall over dead. Aizawa stepped up, announcing that he'd erased his quirk and going on about how Midoriya couldn't become a hero if he himself needed to be saved every time he acted.

Nathan didn't entirely agree with that assessment but he recognized that he had an extremely loose definition of hero at this point.

After all. At the beginning hadn't he needed saving every time he took so much as a single misstep?

Aizawa released Midoriya from his own quirk, stipulating that he would surely fail if he destroyed his arm.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Use his quirk to achieve an exceptional result and prove Aizawa right, or preserve his body and take last place. But.

"After all that hard work, you can see between that binary can't you Midoriya?"

He didn't realize he'd spoken that aloud until the gravity girl gave him an odd look.

Once again, Midoriya took to the circle.

He reared back his arm.

Nathan could not see that welling of power.

What would he sacrifice to follow his dream?

He threw.

The ball exploded forward, registering at 705.3 meters.

"How…" Nathan muttered before the realization struck him. Midoriya's finger was broken. He waited until the last possible moment to unleash his power in such a way that it did minimal damage while achieving such a result.

Nathan was about to call out to congratulate his friend before Bakugo stormed forward. He'd been so relieved that he'd forgotten entirely about the simmering teen next to him. Thankfully Aizawa reacted faster than he did, wrapping Bakugo in his capture weapon and preventing him from whatever he'd been planning to do.

"Nice work," Nathan said with a smile as Midoriya approached him.

"Thanks!"

Midoriya's smile was wide and there were tears in the eyes from the pain he was enduring, but he had truly cleared his first hurdle.

"I've got a long way to go so I need to work ten times harder if I'm going to catch up to everyone."

"You'll get there. I know you will. You've got the makings for a great hero Midoriya Izuku."

The sixth trial was a seated toe touch.

Perhaps the easiest of the trails so far for Nathan. He was already fairly flexible despite the massive accumulation of scar tissue.

Not to mention that his left leg and right arm were prosthetics with some amount of give to them. He didn't even pay enough attention to the trial to figure out how exactly they were being scored.

And he wasn't the only one.

After seeing that throw from Midoriya, Aizawa seemed to be less interested in the results himself.

Had he really gone that far just to see if Midoriya deserved to be here?

He would never argue that this whole exercise hadn't taught Midoriya a lesson he desperately needed to learn.

But wasn't this all a little on the extreme side?

The seventh trial was endurance running.

Aizawa had a headache as he watched Relnor not even bother with actually running. He used the same trick he had on the long jump and simply hovered a few inches off the ground while pushing himself around with electromagnetism.

It didn't help that Nathan's quirk would be difficult for him to work with.

His quirk could not cancel mutation type quirks.

Nathan grew physical scales with his quirk and those scales in turn produced the electricity he was flying around with. The electricity itself was not his quirk.

He was dealing with an overachiever that had actively sought out and destroyed a monstrous target in order to protect the other examinees. One that could not be easily stopped.

The final trial was upper body exercises. Another dud for Nathan. His right arm was simply not as sturdy as his left. If it reached its limit it would break and he did not exactly feel the need to push himself far enough to have to replace his arm on his first day at UA.

Nathan came to a stop next to Hagakure and Yaoyorozu.

"Haaaaah… I'm really worried about this!" The invisible girl said in a panicked tone of voice.

"It will be ok." Nathan said with a smile.

Hagakure opened her mouth to chastise him but something strange happened.

He was looking her directly in the eyes.

Clothes usually helped people guess where her body was just by how they moved. But even then it was a rare thing for someone to actually look her in the eyes. She'd gotten so used to conversation partners not quite meeting her stare that it wasn't something she considered rude anymore.

But when the opposite happened…

"Well… Time to present the results."

Midoriya looked despondent, he had only scored well in that one trial. Nathan wanted to reach out to him but…

"Oh yeah that whole expulsion thing was a lie."

He didn't really need to.

"It was a logical ruse to get you to push yourselves," Aizawa said with a grin that looked positively manic.

Yaoyorozu just let out a sigh as she watched about half of the class break down in cheers.

"It was obvious wasn't it? There was no way he would expel us under such a flimsy pretense."

Nathan had to disagree with her evaluation. Aizawa had been serious when he made that proclamation. He had simply changed his mind halfway through.

Aizawa handed Midoriya a slip to go see the nurse before the rest of the class returned to change out of their PE clothes.

But Nathan held back a moment.

"Aizawa-sensei."

"What is it Relnor?"

"Is there any way I can change in private?"

Aizawa paused to look at the student before him. Nathan pulled up his right sleeve over his shoulder revealing about six horrible scars.

"It um… It makes me uncomfortable. At least right now. I'm sure I'll get used to it over time but I've been-"

"You can change in the nurse's office for now. It's not too far away from 1-A."

"Thank you very much Aizawa-sensei!"

Aizawa watched the boy leave.

He would need to submit another request for information on the boy.

It was odd that Relnor's files were coming from Chaldea but apparently that's just where the boy lived.

What exactly had he endured during his time there?

"What even leaves scars like that…" he muttered to himself before turning.

He was met immediately by All Might which did absolutely nothing to help his mood.

"How do you feel?" Nathan asked.

"Exhausted," Midoriya muttered. Briefly Nathan wondered if he should just carry the boy. Apparently UA had a nurse on staff with a powerful healing quirk. It used the targets stamina to speed up their natural healing ability which explained Midoriya's general lethargy. Nathan could relate to something like that considering how demanding his treatments tended to be.

At least it had only been his finger.

"But. I'm still here. Last place isn't exactly a good start but I'm still here…"

"Of course. Being on the playing field means you have the opportunity to pull ahead."

"How's your finger?"

The glasses-clad boy approached Midoriya from behind.

Nathan had once wanted to fight him for calling out Midoriya at the entrance exam, but now that he knew him just that little bit better he could tell that he hadn't meant any malice by it.

He was just earnest and straightforward. He went off about how Aizawa had really fooled him with that quirk apprehension test before pausing mid sentence.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. My name is Iida Tenya," He said to Nathan.

"Nathan Relnor."

"Relnor-san."

"Sorry, Relnor Nathan." He broke eye contact with Iida to silently admonish himself. He'd done so well earlier! Why was this habit so hard to break? Thankfully Midoriya quickly cleared the misunderstanding with Iida.

"Hey! Hey you three!"

"Oh. The infinity girl?"

The three turned their attention to the student approaching them.

"Hi! I'm Uraraka Ochako. And you're um… Iida Tenya! And uh-"
"Relnor Nathan,"

"And you're Midoriya Deku right?"

"Deku!?" Midoriya snorted out.

"Isn't that what that Bakugo kid called you?"

"Y-Yes well um… My name is actually Izuku! Deku is just what Kacchan calls me to demean me"

"So it's an insult!"

Nathan's eye narrowed. Maybe he could indulge in a little friendly fire at some point.

Just a little.

"Oh I'm sorry!" She gave a quick bow of apology before continuing, "But. I kind of like Deku for you! It gives the whole 'never give up' vibe you know!"

"Hi I'm Deku!" He immediately shouted, his face a deep red.

As Iida protested Nathan let out a hearty laugh. This brought the other three, Midoriya especially, to a halt.

"You really are something else Midoriya Izuku," Nathan said after quickly getting the laugh out of his system.

This was… This was good. UA was a human institution but it was extreme enough to feel familiar. That something could make him drop his guard enough to genuinely laugh…

"Are the three of you heading to the station? Do you mind if I join you?" Uraraka asked.

"I'm actually getting picked up at the gate again."

"Oh in the convertible?" Midoriya asked.

"Doubtful. There was… A bit of a commotion this morning. Apparently giving me a ride is a hot commodity with them now."
Iida and Uraraka were completely left in the dust by the conversation.

But even Midoriya Izuku with all of his familiarity with Nathan was lost when they reached the gate and a large heavily armored centaur greeted them.

A centaur with a horse's head.

"Oh. You're the one taking me back Red Hare?" Nathan asked, completely oblivious to his new friends' confusion.

In fact his words only brought them more confusion.

He'd switched languages the moment he started speaking to that hero.

"Yes! I won the ancient right via rock paper scissors!" The boisterous man let out a sharp neighing noise before gently bending down so Nathan could more easily climb on his back.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow I suppose. Have a safe trip home."

"Uh-"

"LET US RIDE TO THE EDGE OF THE EARTH!" Red Hare shouted before exploding forward. It was only barely enough warning for Nathan to grab a hold of something before he actually took off.

"WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIIIIIIIS!?" Nathan shouted.

After a frankly delicious meal Nathan set aside some time to finally call his erstwhile friend. He took the time to set up a small fort of pillows for him to relax in while he talked.

"Hello Midoriya Izuku speaking?"

"Hey Midoriya, it's Nathan," He said, "I wanted to talk to you about your quirk. Is this a good time?"

"Oh yeah! I just got finished with dinner so it's a good time for me!"

"Good, good. So what exactly do you experience when you use it?"

"Um. Like an overwhelming swell of power. I try to ground myself but I still end up releasing too much and breaking my bones…"

"So it's all or nothing, you can't tone it down at all?" Nathan asked.

"Not really. I don't have it refined down enough…"

Nathan sat silently for a moment, mulling over Midoriya's description. The description was rather vague so he couldn't figure out any concrete place to start.

"I could see it, very faintly, as you were pulling power into your arm. We'll have to meet up sometime over the weekend and see if there's anything else I can tell just from looking at it."

"You could see it?!" Midoriya shouted perhaps louder than he'd intended.

"Only when you were pushing a lot of it through your arm. I couldn't see anything on your actual throw."

"Is it related to your electromagnetic sight? But then what does that mean for-"

Midoriya started to drone on about the possibilities Nathan's inexplicable vision could bring. He was happy to let Midoriya speculate but he couldn't exactly tell him that he'd learned how to do so magically.

"Midoriya."

"Ah! Yes! Sorry! What is it?"

"What do you think about meeting up?"

"Oh right! Yeah that sounds good! Thank you so much! I'll take any help I can get honestly."

"Alright. Sounds good. I might poke around and see if anyone else can help too. Talk to you later Midoriya."

"Right! See you tomorrow!"

In case it isn't super clear, Nathan's replacing Mineta. I thought about trying to have him as well but having an uneven number of students in 1-A was going to be a huge pain later on. I've also always wanted to use the tag Mineta doesn't exist so here I am.

If you guys have any questions about the fate side of things I'm trying to stagger explanations because it's just so much. If there's anything that's unclear but you feel is critical to understanding what's going on please let me know and I can do some revisions. For now though I hope you enjoy Nathan's misadventures with his new friends!

Next time! Take a step forward! On to the indoor battle trial!