Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

11. The Curious Miss Hadou

The night after they had been sent their acceptance letters, Itsuka had texted the group chat she and her two training partners used in order to call an impromptu meeting at the beach. Thankfully, after a long day of everyone doting on her - her mom was probably still skipping around the house in her delight that her daughter not only got accepted into her dream school, she scored at the top of one of the hardest schools to enroll in - she finally managed to explain to her family that she needed to meet up with Izuku and Ochako, and slippped out of the house to catch the bus.

As she finally reached the beach, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she breathed in the evening air, jogging down the stairs onto the sand. Her shoes crunching in the sand, she walked a bit closer to the water, unable to stop herself from looking around the beach with pride - not a single piece of litter visible even two months after they finished cleaning, almost as though the citizens of Musutafu saw their efforts and decided to respect by keeping trash away from the beach from now on. Hell, if she looked over at the pier, she could make out a couple watching the waves as well, so seeing people enjoying the beach they had cleaned up put a smile on her face.

Itsuka returned her gaze up into the night sky, smiling at how many stars were visible amongst the clouds tonight. Getting the letter from UA after one long week of stress and mini-panic attacks had been the most heart-stopping moment of her life - her dad had carried it inside from the mailbox with the same air of someone carrying a bomb, her mom had scrubbed the plates from supper with a focused intensity, and when Itsuka had excused herself to head into her room for privacy, her grandfather had merely sat down and waited - although when she had looked closely, she could make out that his shoulders were tensed. Hell, even Gūdo had seemed to be nervous, letting out a small whine as he curled up outside her door and waited.

Honestly, Itsuka couldn't quite blame them for their nervousness - she had been shaking like a leaf herself, opening the letter carefully and pulling out the hologram device to see her results. So it was to her relief that All Might had appeared in the hologram, apologizing for his lack of communication over the last week or so, and told her with a wide smile that she had aced the exam! When she had run out of the room at full speed, barely managing to jump over Gūdo and not trip over him, her mom and dad had squeezed her in such a tight hug her eyes had almost popped out of her head.

And not only that, but All Might confirmed that Izuku and Ochako had passed as well, so there was her last little anxiety that thankfully got resolved. And they had also made it to the top five! Or top three in Ochako's case. Well, anyway, that didn't matter, since -

"Kendou!"

She jumped a bit at the sound of a familiar voice calling out her name, and looked around with a smile. Speaking of her training partners, there was Izuku and Ochako hurrying down the stairs to the beach, both of them dressed a bit warmly for the early March evening and looking really happy to see her, Izuku excited and Ochako beaming at her. Indeed, Itsuka felt her heart lighten at the sight of her friends - this long week waiting for the results, with none of them going to the beach or dojo, or meeting up at a cafe to study for the written exam, meant that this was the longest they haven't seen each other since they started working together on this very beach, and - okay, she'd admit it, she missed them.

Only a little bit. Not too much. Definitely not a lot.

"Hey!" She greeted them, giggling when Izuku skidded to a stop and nearly toppled over onto the ground, being saved by Ochako grabbing his shirt and making sure he didn't flop face first into the sand, "Thanks for meeting with me so soon, guys."

"Of course! Is - is everything okay?" Izuku looked a bit worried for a moment, glancing down at the phone in his hand and then back up to her, "You wanted to meet up with us so late - are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, everything's fine! I mean -" Itsuka glanced at her phone to look at the message she had sent them, and blinked when she realized that it was … well … a little vague. Letting out a little chuckle, she raised a hand to scratch the back of her head sheepishly.

"- okay, I kinda see where you're coming from, Midoriya, sorry about that. Everything's okay, honest. I just … well, I wanted to see you guys. I've spent all day getting congratulated by everyone who came into the dojo for my grandpa's lessons now that we aren't gonna be doing those every weekend anymore, so I haven't been able to escape the house until now."

"I mean, I don't blame them for being excited," Ochako balled her fists excitedly, bouncing a bit as she beamed at her, "you scored first place! You're top of the class!"

"I mean, if we're being technical, I'm top of the class, excluding the recommended students," Itsuka shrugged, blushing a bit at the praise but still making sure to high-five Ochako when the brown-haired girl raised her hand to her, "but let's not forget that you scored third, Uraraka, that's awesome! The only reason I'm in first place was because I was working with the best partner I could've had. Uh - no offence, Midoriya."

"None taken, I completely agree," He chuckled, waving it off as he also looked out at the water with a soft smile. "Our acceptance letter kind of showed us what you two did in your exam - you guys were awesome together!"

"But Deku, you scored fifth place! And you did that all by yourself! That's even more awesome than us working together!"

"O-oh, no, I - I wasn't alone, Occhan. I had … uh … that girl," He blushed a bit over how little he knew about the girl who had helped him, and let out a sigh as he sagged his shoulders, looking a bit disappointed in himself.

"I just … I wish I had gotten her name before I passed out. Now I don't even know if she passed too. I - I hope so, at least. I don't ... I don't think I would've done so well if it wasn't for her."

Ochako and Itsuka glanced at each other, a bit taken aback by Izuku's sad face, and Itsuka smiled as she reached out to pat his shoulder.

"I'm sure she did, Midoriya," She comforted him "whoever this girl was, I'm sure that she passed. I mean, from the sound of things, you teamed up with her for your whole exam, right? If you scored so high, odds are she might've too. Who knows, we might see her again one we start attending UA, and you can thank her for helping you out."

"I … guess so," Izuku sighed, shaking his head and trying to smile at her again. "Still … yeah, sorry for bringing the mood down, guys. We - we should be celebrating. Kendou, you actually beat Kacchan's score!"

"Oh, I noticed that," Itsuka grinned proudly and mischeviously, looking out at the water while Ochako giggled in glee, "what are the chances he's freaking out right now? Like, temper tantrum level, banging his fists against the ground kind of freaking out. Because that's the vibe I got from him."

"Oh, pretty high," Ochako freely admitted, while Izuku winced a bit and nodded reluctantly in agreement, "ooooh, he must be having a full on meltdown right now, you beat him by only six points!"

"Well, as funny as it is to think about how much he must be melting down right now," Itsuka shrugged sheepishly, "getting first place doesn't really say much unless I keep working as hard as I can to stay on top. This probably just means I'll be having lots people looking at me expectantly from now on - y'know, teachers and other students wanting to be my rival."

"I mean … wasn't that what was going to happen anyway? What with All Might making you his successor?"

"... oh, shit, I didn't even think about that," Itsuka groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head while Izuku and Ochako giggled a bit, "I just ... kinda assumed it'd always be on the down low that he taught us. I never actually considered that everyone'll eventually find out about that."

"I mean," Izuku shrugged, the small trio turning to start walking down the beach together, "I always figured that All Might would tell everyone he taught you, but he wouldn't say anything about training me or Occhan - n-not that we're bitter, or anything! I just always thought that you were the priority, and we were just two middle-school students that he wanted to help get ready for the entrance exam."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, putting her hands in her coat pockets, "no one's really going to be interested in two kids All Might trained to use their quirks when they also have you to compare us with - y'know, All Might's actual successor. Still though," She smirked over at Izuku, tapping his shoulder with hers, "you think we can put that on our resumes? Got told to clean a beach by All Might."

"Did a spring internship with All Might," Izuku chuckled as well, joining in her giggling, "put it in the 'other experiences' column, as a footnote."

"'Mr. Midoriya,'" Ochako imitated an older man's voice, "'it says here that you cleaned a beach during your last year of middle school. Could you elaborate on that'?"

"'W-well, I cleaned up a beach,'" He played along, smiling at Ochako's giggling, "'helped out my best friend and our mutual friend, and … hm, what else, uh … oh, and All Might supervised, but that's not a big deal, did you know I carried an entire bench around the beach? Now that was heavy.'"

While the two friends giggled and joked together, Itsuka leaned off slightly to the side, letting them be adorable beside her - but her smile had slipped off her face, looking away from Izuku and Ochako over to the water as she frowned to herself.

"No one's really going to be interested in two kids All Might trained to use their quirks when they also have you to compare us with - y'know, All Might's actual successor."

Honestly, that didn't sound very fair, Itsuka thought to herself as she put her hands in the pockets of her brown coat. She had reluctantly accepted that there was going to probably be a lot of attention on herself when she finally got to UA in a month or so, seeing as she scored first place in the exam, and like Ochako said, eventually everyone would find out that she was All Might's successor, thus bringing even more attention on her. But hearing that Izuku and Ochako would probably have to be put on the side, and the two of them willing to take a backseat for her … it didn't sit very right with her.

She didn't want her training partners to be cast off to the side while everyone paid more attention to her, she thought with a pout. Although ... to be honest, she never really considered what would happen once they did get into UA, a thought that made her stomach clench slightly - what would happen if, for some reason, they had to drift apart? There would be internships and exams and all that stuff that she might have to do without them - but would she even be able to do that? Of course she would, she shook her head, but ... but she probably wouldn't like it.

She'd much rather ...

"Uh - anyway," Izuku looked around a bit at her, which drew her attention and brought her out of her suddenly morbid thoughts, "do you know if All Might is going to meet up with us at any point, Kendou? I know that he said that he's been getting ready for - y'know, teaching at UA, apparently - but I thought that he would've tried to arrange a meeting with us before we start high school."

"Huh? Didn't he tell you in his video?" Itsuka blinked, looking over at Ochako as the brown-haired girl also looked confusedly at her. "He said in my acceptance letter that between getting ready to teach at UA, and the dumb investigation that made him miss out on the last two months of our training, he's probably not going to be able to actually see us in person until we get to UA. Which … sucks, but, y'know, what can we do? It is what it is."

"That's true," Ochako hummed, pouting slightly at the thought of her mentor as she put her hands in her pockets, swinging around to walk slightly in front of Izuku and Itsuka as she walked backwards to still look at them, "still, him and me are gonna have a few words once we actually see him in person again - he freakin' faked us out and made us think that we failed our exam during his message to us."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah! He was all, 'ooh, you three didn't score high enough to get in … if not for the rescue points'. Gave me a heart attack."

"Oh. Well, in that case, yeah, he's a dead man the next time we see him," Itsuka lightly agreed with her, making Ochako giggle and Izuku gulp nervously for their mentor, "but that'll come at a later time. Right now, we should be focusing on the positives."

"Uh … okay? And … what are the positives?"

"Well, how about the fact that in a month or so, we're all going to be in the same class?"

Ochako gasped, lighting up excitedly. "That's right! We don't have to see each other only on the weekend or after school anymore, we can hang out all the time!"

"Plus, we can meet up at the train station and walk to school together."

"T-that sounds great!" Izuku nodded happily, all three of them beaming at the thought of their school situation in a month or so. "We can hang out more often now, and we can also meet up with Tokage, Kodai and Kirishima now that we're going to see them more often! Just …"

The two girls blinked, looking around at Izuku as he faltered as a thought obviously came to him, and then he sighed and sagged his shoulders.

"... we'll also probably have to deal with Kacchan eventually, too. He's … probably not going to be very happy with any of us."

"Well, that's a bridge we can cross later," Itsuka shrugged, putting the thought aside as she moved to wrap her arms around both her friends' shoulders, Izuku blushing a bit at the contact and Ochako giggling as she wrapped her own arm around the pony-tailed girl's waist, "and I've already promised him that he and I are gonna be having a discussion eventually, anyway - and we all know that's gonna be a loud conversation. But I'm not going to worry about it right now - we passed the exam, we're going to UA, and we're going to be in the same class. I'm sure life's not going to be throwing us any more curveballs than it already has."

---

"…"

"…"

"… Deku -"

"No, Occhan."

Ochako pouted, and returned her gaze to the window, fuming as Izuku scowled in the seat beside her. They sat in silence for a few more seconds, the train they were on rumbling on the track as people chatted around them, and then she let out a little whine and wheeled back around to Izuku, who had his arms crossed high on his upper chest, preventing her from reaching out and fixing the problem herself.

"It's just - grr, Deku, ties don't look like that! Just let me fix it!"

"This is how my dad does his ties!" Izuku defended himself, leaning away from Ochako as she tried to pry his hands away from the red tie of his new school uniform, "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Deku, the knot's too big! The tail's bunched up too short as well! Just - Deku, stop swatting my hands, I can fix this!"

"There's nothing to be fixed!"

"Deku, it's either going to be me fixing your tie, or it's going to be Kendou, and if you're as sassy with her as you are with me, I'm not gonna defend you when she decides to choke you with it!"

Izuku merely pouted, pathetically fighting off Ochako's equally pathetic attempts to move his arms away so that she could fix his tie as the train began slowing down, heading into the train station where they would meet with Itsuka, Setsuna and Yui. After a long month of waiting at Aldera, their shellshocked and gape-mouthed classmates throwing them dirty looks at their success and Katsuki ignoring their very existence as he glared a hole into his desk, the time had come. Now, it was time for them to head to UA High School, this time as students. Izuku and Ochako had met outside their apartments in the morning after their parents had sent them out the door, both of them looking around beaming at each other and wanting to have a look at each other in their new school uniforms … only for Ochako's eyes to immediately trail down to his tie, and after that, they had spent the entire trip to the train station with Ochako being fended off by Izuku in her attempts to fix it.

Once they stepped off the train, Izuku vainly trying to bat her hands away from his neck again, they suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out to them.

"Yoo-hoo! Future classmates!"

Blinking and looking around, Izuku and Ochako saw Setsuna running over to them, a large smile on her face as she waved at them in a uniform the exact same as Ochako's, albeit without a pair of tights on her legs. Coming up behind her from another train was Itsuka and Yui, both girls looking around at their arriving friends with smiles (or a singular smile, in any case - Yui's eyes immediately flickered to Ochako's legs and let out an approving hum) as they hurried over towards them.

"Looking sharp, you two!" Setsuna giggled as she reached them, patting Ochako's shoulder and grinning up at Izuku, "I mean, we're all looking pretty kick ass right now, but you two especially. All of us in our cool skirts, and Midoriya being the only one here with pants. Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous."

"Me too," Itsuka shook her head, smiling as she joined the small circle, shivering a bit, "it's still a little breezy, socks don't do much for bare legs. Honestly, Uraraka, you got the right idea for leggings, I should've thought of that."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, keeping his eyes up at the top of their heads - he'd already somewhat blushed at how nice Ochako looked in her new school uniform this morning, no way he'd be able to look down at Itsuka and Yui in that attire as well without bursting into flames - but he was soon distracted by Ochako grabbing his shoulder and pointing dramatically at his tie.

"Kendou, look at this!" She insisted, ignoring Izuku groaning tiredly as he realized that she really was going to drag their training partner into this. "There's no way that we can let him walk around like this, can we?"

Izuku rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in slight defeat, giving the arriving three girls a look at his tie. Itsuka stared at it for a moment, glancing around to Ochako as she gestured wildly to it - and then she sighed, her shoulders drooping slightly.

"Nope," She shook her head, walking over and swatting Izuku's hands aside to get to his tie, "we're making our high school debut, Midoriya, there's no chance I'm letting you walk into UA with a tie like that. Just give me a second, I'll have it fixed in a second"

"Not you too - it's fine!"

"It's not fine, you look like a fashion disaster, just - let me - stop struggling -!"

"Kendou, c'mon, it's fine!"

"Let her do it, Deku!"

"Midoriya, I will kick your ass in the middle of this train station, move your arms!"

With that, the small group began walking out of the train station towards their high school, the walk to UA consisted of Yui and Setsuna leading them forward and glancing behind them occasionally to look at the trio bickering about Izuku's tie, the fashion disaster now having to deal with two girls fighting with him to take off the tie around his neck and fix it, with Izuku's arms somewhat getting pinned by Itsuka while Ochako worked to get the tie loosened. As they fought the hard fight, Setsuna checked her phone, and blinked when she saw that they had received a text message in the main group chat, opening it up to have a look.

"It's Kirishima," She informed Yui as the stoic girl looked around at her curiously, "he's wondering if he could meet up with us before we head into the school. Says he's got something to show us."

"Well, we're almost there anyway," Yui looked around, pointing at the tall main building of UA coming up in the distance as they moved up the hill, the cherry trees lining the path gently raining down pedals around them. From what they could see as they walked down the sidewalk, they could make out one red-haired student standing near the gate, checking his phone, but seeing as they had no idea who he was, they paid him no heed, instead looking around for Eijirou as Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako fought for control of the tie around his neck, Itsuka threatening to choke him out with it while Ochako pinned Izuku's arms to the side.

And then, once the sound of their voices reached the red-headed student, he looked around at them with a weak smile.

"Hey, guys!" He waved to them weakly, gulping a bit nervously.

The boy calling out to them made the group freeze in their tracks - Izuku barely fighting off Itsuka while Ochako pinned his arms, Yui leaning back to take a look at Setsuna's rear as the green-haired girl tucked some of her hair behind her ear - and slowly, they looked around at the boy with spiked up red hair, two tufts spiked up on either side of his forehead like horns, and a nervous grin on his face as he waited for their reaction.

"... huh?" Itsuka squeaked quietly.

"What in the ..." Ochako stared at him in surprise.

"Huh." Yui raised an eyebrow.

"That's, um ..." Izuku trailed off, not really sure what to make of this, "... wow."

"Dude!" Setsuna was the most vocally surprised, pointing up in shock. "What happened to your hair?!" Hurrying forward, she got up in Eijirou's face and stared up at his new hairstyle in delight. "Trying to look nice and spiffy for high school? It's a nice look! If I'd known, I'd have styled my hair too! Does Mina know about this?"

"Uh - y-yeah, I - I already met up with her, she's gone ahead to the classroom," Eijirou pointed weakly over his shoulder through the gate, and going red as everyone stared up at his new hairdo, "and just … uh … oh, come on, Tokage, don't tease me about it!"

"Oh, I'm not, bro!" Setsuna raised a finger to poke his hair experimentally, as though wanting to see if it was pointy enough to draw blood, "I mean it, it's a good look! Very eye-catching!"

"I -" Eijirou hesitated again, and then sighed and slumped forward a bit, running a hand through his hair, "- okay, look, you guys remember that time I told you that I was … y'know, that I thought that I was a coward? Back last summer?"

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blinked at that question, glancing between each other. Remembering back to the slumber party during the summer, Ochako looked around and nodded.

"Uh … yeah, Kirishima. I think you said that you - what was it - that you wanted to be someone who believes in living a life without any regrets?"

"Yeah," Eijirou nodded, straightening up slightly, "and … well, I think this is my first step towards not regretting anything anymore - y'know, trying to stand out instead of fading in the background. I'm gonna leave my old lame self behind. So … uh … I know you guys won't judge me over this, but … can you keep my dumb middle-school self on the downlow? At least for now, until I'm confident enough to tell people?"

The group paused, glancing between each other as Eijirou tried hard not to appear too desperate - and then Itsuka giggled, nodding and finally giving Izuku a break by letting go of his red tie to approach the now red-haired boy.

"Alright, Kirishima," She moved forward to punch his shoulder, "your secret is safe with us. As far as we know, you've always had red hair that looks like you put a fork in a light socket to get it that way."

"Hey!" Eijirou laughed a bit, clearly relieved as he punched her shoulder back. "This took a lot of effort, you know! I've been up since, like - three in the morning to get my hair this way!"

"Anyway," Itsuka turned to look back at their group, rolling her eyes as Izuku very subtly slid behind Eijirou and Setsuna as human shields, hiding so he would be out of reach of the two girls who had been fighting with him all the way up the mountain over his tie, "we'd better get moving, people - we don't wanna be late on our first day of school. Midoriya, I'll let you keep the tie that way today, but just so you know, this isn't over."

Izuku let out a small sigh of relief that he would be spared from getting choked for at least a bit, and took a moment to also compliment Eijirou's hair, which made the taller boy beam and give both him and Ochako fist bumps. Together, the group walked through the main gate, giggling slightly in glee as they pressed the student badges they got in the mail a few weeks ago against the scanner to get in, and they all moved up the path, walking past the various busts of pro heroes that were former students of the academy, and towards the large doors.

Granted, the small group only got lost once, which no one could really fault them for seeing as the main building was a large labyrinth of glass and doors to other classrooms, but after Itsuka had asked an upperclassmen for directions, they were soon on the right path, heading up to nearly the top floor and walking along the glass windows that showed off the city and ocean, and together, they began scanning the signs on the doors.

"1A … 1A …" Itsuka muttered to herself, reading each door sign they walked past as everyone nervously adjusted their bags, "... 1C … 1B … oh! Right here, 1A!"

"Huh," Yui looked up at the door as they stood in front of it, raising an eyebrow, "much … bigger than I thought it was going to be."

That was a bit of an understatement, the group thought to themselves as they looked up at the door that easily dwarfed them in size. It was as though the staff were expecting utter giants to attend the class - although maybe they were, depending on a student's quirk, so maybe it was for accessibility. Still, they couldn't think of any other comments to make about the door's size since they were more than a little relieved that they arrived before the bell, and the group nervously began prepping themselves about heading in - unaware of the sound of a pink-haired girl going into the door of Class 1B while loudly telling her friend to behave herself over in the sister class.

"So ..." Setsuna adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, trying to look confident but unable to fight down a slight wobble in her grin, "shall we go in?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, gulping a bit nervously as he adjusted his yellow backpack on his shoulders as well, "let's - let's just hope that we don't - you know - we don't have to deal with anything unpleasant."

While Yui, Setsuna and Eijirou looked confused at that, Ochako and Itsuka shared a small, knowing look as Izuku tried to hype himself up. They had a feeling that they both knew exactly who Izuku was thinking about - Katsuki, for reasons that should be obvious, and the obnoxious glasses guy who had called him out in front of literally all the examinees. Letting out her own sigh, Ochako tried to look encouraging, moving forward to pat her best friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Deku," She smiled comfortingly at him, deciding to just get this over with and reaching out to slide the door open, giving their small group a first look into the classroom they would be in for the next few years, "I'm sure that everything's going to be fine, and we won't be in the same classroom as -"

"Remove your foot from that desk!" The guy in glasses barked loudly, pointing.

"Eh?" Katsuki sneered back up at him, relaxing said foot on the desk he had taken even though his designated desk was over near the window.

Both Izuku and Itsuka paused at the sight of literally the only two people Izuku didn't really want to see in this classroom having a rather loud argument, with the guy in glasses yelling and pointing scandalously at the offending foot on the desk whie Katsuki smirked confidently, leaning back like he was the king of the castle. As Izuku smiled stiffly and Itsuka's shoulders drooped, they both looked around at Ochako, who likewise slumped forward in defeat and nodded glumly.

"Yeah, this one's on me." She accepted before either of her friends could point it out.

"Don't you think it's rude to the UA upperclassmen and the people who made this desk to have your foot up there so carelessly?!" The guy in glasses tried to argue, unaware of the arriving students and everyone already in the classroom watching the argument awkwardly. "Such an action is insulting to those who came before us, as well as the craftsmen of this desk!"

"Is it rude? Hm, let me think …" Katsuki snarked, leaning back with a mock-thoughtful gesture, "... no. As a matter of fact, I don't think so. What middle school are you from, you two-bit extra?"

"What?! 'Extra'?!" The glasses guy gasped, appalled as he raised one hand indignantly to his chest, "I'll have you know that I am from Somei Private Academy! I believe I've already introduced myself, but perhaps you didn't hear. Please, let us start over - my name is Tenya Iida."

"Somei?!" Katsuki's sneer widened in delight. "So you're a damn elite, huh? Think you're better than me? I'm gonna have fun blowing you to bits!"

"Blow me to bits?! You would threaten your fellow classmate?! What nerve! Do you really wish to become a hero?!"

While the two boys continued to bicker, the group at the door watched with less and less enthusiasm by the minute, Yui being the only one slightly positive as her eyebrow raised in intrigue the longer she looked at the glasses guy, who's name was apparently Tenya; Setsuna glanced between the arguing boys with a tired, already-over-today look; Izuku felt his shoulders sag and a weak smile come to his face at the fact that the two people who had a bone to pick with him were his classmates; Itsuka slowly massaged her forehead as though she had a headache already; Ejirou glanced between the two arguing boys in concern; and Ochako looked like she was about ten seconds from dropping out of her dream school and going literally anywhere else.

And then, from behind them, they heard someone gasp.

"It's you!"

Izuku blinked a bit, suddenly straightening up at the sound of running feet - that voice was familiar, he realized, looking around in curiousity. However, he didn't have much time to think about where he had heard the high-pitched, almost childish voice before, as someone had charged right towards him and slammed straight into him in a large hug, making him stagger away from the door with a yelp and almost lose his footing as someone very soft and very enthusiastic held on to him tight. Itsuka and Ochako jumped a bit at the noise slightly behind them, and looked around in confusion - only for their eyes to blow open in shock at the sight of a girl embracing Izuku tightly, the green-haired boy finally registering what was happening and freezing up in horror as his face exploded into a blush.

"It's you! It's really you!" The mysterious girl happily said, and finally moved her head off his shoulder. Izuku felt his eyes immediately flicker to the girl holding on tight to him, feeling himself tremble with the subtly of a washing machine from the sudden hug as she backed up slightly - and then he stopped, feeling his eyes widen even more and his jaw drop.

"I-it's you!"

"Yeah!" The blue-haired girl nodded enthusiastically, her hands holding on tight to the back of his uniform as she gave him a joyous look. "It's me! And it's you! Gosh, I was really worried about you, you know! They took you away after you fainted! That was really scary! I wanted to make sure you were okay, but I completely forgot to get your phone number afterwards, and I didn't see you leave the school after the exam, and Yuuyu got tired of waiting and dragged me away. Ah, but if you were unconscious, I wouldn't have been able to get your contact info anyway. But I should've tagged along with you to the nurse's office to make sure you were okay, so that's probably on me ... oooh, but I'm just so happy to see that you passed, too!"

With that, she went back in for another tight hug, which made Izuku freeze up in horror again as something soft pressed against his chest. His hands stuck out stiffly out from behind her, feeling himself shake as he got a small whiff of her perfume from how closely she was clinging to him -

- wait. Something … soft was pressing against his chest? They were practically chest-to-chest right now with how close she was to him, so that must've been her -

- that was her -!

As Izuku looked ten seconds from fainting, all the blood in his body rushing up to his face with shocking speed, Itsuka and Ochako felt the life drain from their eyes from what they were looking at, Ochako slightly tilting her head with her mouth slowly closed, while Itsuka's one hand balled into a surprisingly tight fist, her fingernails digging into the skin of her palm as it began shaking.

"Er …" Setsuna coughed awkwardly a bit, drawing the blue-haired girl's attention as she lifted her head off Izuku's shoulder to look around at her in curiosity, "... what's up, girl? Who … exactly are you, and why are you clinging to Midoriya?"

"Ooh! Yeah, I should probably do introductions before I forget again!" Finally, mercifully, she let go of Izuku to back up a bit, the green-haired boy sighing a bit in relief as he tried to get in control of his blush, unaware of Itsuka and Ochako turning their lifeless eyes from him to the girl in their uniform as she curtsied a bit, "My name is Nejire Hadou! I guess this means that I'm going to be your classmate, since we're all in 1A! Or maybe some of you guys are in 1B, and you mistook the door? This is 1A, in that case, the door for Class 1B's over there! But when Yuuyu went into 1B, it looked kind of full, so you guys are all probably in 1A with me too. But wait," She suddenly blinked, her eyes trailing to the top of Setsuna's head and then back to Izuku, unconcerned about why exactly he had his arms wrapped around his very red face so tightly, "hey, hey, I just noticed, you two both have green hair! Are you siblings? Or maybe it's dyed, and you're doing a thing. Should I have dyed my own hair green? That would take a lot of effort, my hair's pretty big - I'd have had to start a few days ago to get it all the way green."

"Uh - heh," Setsuna chuckled a bit weakly at how fast the girl before them was talking, "you'd, uh - you wouldn't be the only one that noticed our hair being similar, but no, we're not siblings - we just both have green hair, complete coincidence."

"Wow!" Nejire nodded happily, unaware of Yui's eyes flickering down to her chest and nodding with satisfaction, as she wheeled around to Ochako, glancing down at her hands and blinking. "Ooh, and you look like you have cat beans for fingers!"

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked, taken abruptly out of - whatever the hell mood she was in when she had seen that hug - and looked down at her hand, turning it around to look at the pads on her fingers. Without warning, Nejire surged forward, grabbing Ochako's hand to take a closer look at her fingers in curiosity.

"Yeah, they look like tiny cat toes!" She noted, giggling a bit as she smiled at the taken aback Ochako, "I have a cat too, I love playing with her little fingers. But wait," Nejire's gaze flickered upwards, behind Ochako's shoulder, and her eyes widened, "you have green hair too!"

"Kero?"

The small group outside the door blinked a bit at the new voice - or ribbit - and looked around, realizing … oh.

Oh, great. They'd managed to catch the attention of the entire class with their little, not exactly quiet conversation. As in, every student currently seated was giving them a confused or bemused look, which made Izuku stiffen up at the sudden attention and Ochako going a bit red in embarrassment.

Nejire, however, didn't seem to mind at all, seeing as she ran into the classroom without an ounce of shame and leaned against the desk of a green-haired girl with a strangely frog-like appearance, with a wide mouth, big dark eyes, and hair tied up into the shape of frog-legs.

"Ooooooh, you're a frog!" Nejire gasped, looking absolutely delighted, "What kind of frog are you? You're a tree frog, right? Not a toad!" Her gaze flickered around, catching sight of another boy. "And you've got a lightning bolt in your hair? Is that a natural thing, or did you dye it in to look cool? And wow, your ponytail is awesome! So much hair! I wish I could tie my hair up like that, but it's really long and heavy. And you! You keep glaring at me like you want me to shut up - but you were yelling a little bit earlier, I could hear you from down the hall, so I don't think you can say anything. Also, your hair's really pointy. Ooh, and you! You've got horns! And so do you! Can I touch them?"

"Hhhhhhuh." Itsuka tilted her head a little bit as Nejire zoomed around the classroom asking question after question, not entirely sure what to make of the energetic girl - she seemed more air-headed than anything - and moved aside so that Setsuna and Eijirou could walk into the room at long last. Not as embarrassed that she had been the centre of attention a few moments ago, Setsuna waved at Mina sitting at the front of the class in the desk beside her, the pink girl smiling up at her and then turning to wiggle her eyebrows at Eijirou's hair, the boy trying his best to ignore her teasing look as he made his way over to his desk. Suddenly, the attention of the trio turned to the glasses guy, who had straightened up at the sight of them.

Clearing his throat, Tenya began walking determinately towards Izuku, arms swinging around stiffly as he marched over. Blinking, and realizing that he was looking straight at the boy on either side of them, Itsuka and Ochako moved protectively in front of him, as though to act as his human shields in case the blue haired boy decided that in addition to insulting Katsuki (who, by the way, was giving the trio at the door the stink eye while Yui continued to stare up at Tenya in intrigue), he wanted to drag Izuku through the mud a bit more.

"Good morning!" He greeted them loudly, his eyes locked on Izuku as he marched over, "I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is -"

"I heard!" Izuku managed to squeak out, going a bit red when Tenya stopped in his tracks and looked taken aback by the interruption. "I'm, uh - I'm Izuku Midoriya. It's - it's nice to meet you, uh - I-Iida. I mean - er - formally, this time, we - we've already kind of met."

Tenya paused at that, not even minding Itsuka and Ochako giving him twin suspicious looks, and then put his hands down on his sides, giving him a serious look, "Midoriya. You perceived the true nature of that practical exam, didn't you?"

"I - huh?" Izuku tilted his head slightly in confusion, while Itsuka and Ochako blinked and exchanged an unsure glance.

Dramatically, Tenya chopped his hands into a weird gesture, a look of regret on his face, "You realized there was something more to that test. I had no idea … I completely misjudged you! I hate to admit it, but you are a far superior candidate, and student, to me. Please, accept my apologies for my harsh judgment of you during the orientation and at the test."

"Uh - er -" Izuku stammered a bit, feeling himself blush again in embarrassment while Itsuka and Ochako felt more than a little confused by the complete one-eighty this guy had apparently gone through since they had last seen him, "- I - I didn't - er - I didn't perceive anything, Iida, I - I promise! I swear, I didn't know anything about the r-rescue points until after the exam, please - please don't put yourself down. I - I couldn't have rescued Shoda without you showing up to help me, so I - I don't think I'm the better student."

Tenya looked surprised at that, but still nodded and gave him a smile. "Well, then, I must apologize for making that assumption! I will take your word for it. But regardless, your modesty only proves your worthiness!"

Izuku let out a weak laugh at that, but still gave the taller boy a wobbly smile as Itsuka and Ochako relaxed a bit to his sides - it appeared that Tenya wasn't actually a dick, he just had a bit of a stick up his ass. Once they had gotten past his stiffness, Izuku could see that he was really just a bit too earnest. Regardless, Izuku hesitantly stuck out his hand to offer to Tenya, who happily took it in a firm handshake.

"A-anyway, like - like I said, I'm Midoriya, and - and these are my friends." He gestured to the girls standing beside him. "This is Itsuka Kendou, and Ochako Uraraka, and Yui Kodai."

"A pleasure to meet you!" Tenya politely said as he likewise shook their hands, and then once Itsuka and Ochako introduced themselves to him, he moved to take Yui's hand as well. The stoic girl continued to stare blankly up at him, which made Tenya pause for a moment and feel slightly taken aback.

"Er … Kodai, was it? Are you feeling alright? You seem to be staring at me for some reason."

"Mm-hm." She nodded, and then slid her hand out of his grip and walked into the classroom, flipping her hair nonchalantly as Tenya looked at her in confusion. Itsuka and Setsuna, meanwhile, blinked at that action from their best friend, Setsuna turning in her seat to look after Yui as she moved down the rows to her designated seat. Itsuka wrinkled her brow a bit as she leaned in to look after the quiet girl, wondering what exactly the hell that was -

"If you're just here to make friends, then you should pack up your stuff now and go play somewhere else."

The trio standing at the door jumped a bit, Nejire pausing her interrogation of a student with a raven's head, and Tenya blinking his confusion at Yui's weird coldness, and everyone looked around to where the flat, deadpanned voice came from - and then looked down. Laying on the ground before them, on his side, was what appeared to be a giant yellow caterpillar - no, wait, that wasn't a giant bug, it was a sleeping bag, and inside it, zipped up all the way to his chin, was a pale man with long black hair, some serious scruff on his face, and looking so worn out Itsuka briefly thought for a moment that his blank stare meant that he passed out.

"Welcome to the hero course," He said in a droned voice, unzipping the bag a bit from the inside and bringing a jelly bag out of … somewhere to put in his mouth and immediately begin sucking on it.

What … Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka thought with a bit of terror, while Tenya gulped nervously … what is that thing?!

Slowly, the yellow caterpillar man stood up, and let out a small grunt as he zipped the bag down, revealing a slender man wearing a black, baggy t-shirt and pants, with a utility belt around his waist and a gray scarf wrapped securely around his neck and shoulders.

"It took you all nearly eight seconds to shut up. Time's a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you?"

"Uh … rational?" Itsuka gulped a bit, watching as the man stepped out of the sleeping bag and held it loosely in his hand. "W-wait, are you - do you work here?"

"That's right," The man nodded, looking around at the students as they muttered quietly to themselves, letting out a tired sigh. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you."

Homeroom teacher?! Seemed to be the collective thought of everyone in the classroom, staring at the worn out man in shock, but Nejire gasped, running around the desks to approach him in glee.

"Oooh! So you're our teacher!" She squealed, hopping up and down as she looked up at him. "Do you know the other teachers too, or are you new? I know Present Mic teaches here since he was the one who was in charge of our orientation, and I know Midnight teaches here since she was the one in my video telling me that I passed - or wait, maybe they're only spokesmen of UA? Is that a thing? Does UA use heroes to announce their thingies? Kinda like Shishido, he does promotions for shoes, I think I had a pair a year or so ago before they ripped, and … um … Uwabami! I know she did some modeling for a bra company, I bought a few! And now that I'm thinking about it …"

As the energetic girl babbled on, Itsuka gulped and took a step back. Honestly, kudos to Nejire for somehow making a man who already looked dead inside look like he was slowly decaying the longer this girl chatted aimlessly to him, and they watched as he raised a hand, making Nejire blink and pause her rambling.

"I'm only going to ask you this once - are you supposed to be in Class 1B?"

"Hm? No," Nejire shook her head, "Midnight in the letter said that I would be in Class 1A."

"Of course you are," Aizawa groaned, reaching into his bag and trying not to expel the blabbermouth before him right out of the gate (while making plans to immediately have her transferred over to 1B so he could hopefully get a little peace and quiet in this classroom), and then pulled out a PE uniform - a dark blue pair of pants with while vertical lines going up the legs, and a dark blue short-sleeve shirt with white lines that formed the letters 'U' and 'A' with red highlights. "In any case, this is sudden, but change into your gym clothes and head out onto the field. You all can find your own pairs inside your desks."

The students blinked at him, and with that, he turned on his heel and began walking down the hall and away from the classroom, leaving the students inside confused and uncertain about what exactly was going on.

---

"A ... quirk assessment test?" Itsuka repeated, feeling a bit confused.

"But - but what about the entrance ceremony?" Ochako asked, feeling more than a little concerned that they were missing it when they heard the bell distantly ring throughout the school grounds behind them. "And - and the orientation?"

"If you're aiming to become heroes," Aizawa said in his emotionless voice as he looked up at the cloudy sky, putting his hands in his pockets, "you won't have any time to waste on such leisurely events. UA's known for its freestyle educational system, and that applies to us teachers as well. If I say that you won't attend the entrance ceremony, then you won't. We have work to do."

The students weren't exactly sure what to think about that, Izuku glancing between Itsuka and Ochako in his confusion, Setsuna on Ochako's other side shuffling her feet, and even Tenya looking more than a little lost by the unfolding events. Indeed, instead of weird class exercises where they introduced themselves and gave one cool fact about themselves, instead they were standing outside a gym in a field beside the main building of UA, in a dirt field lined with white paint.

At the current moment, they were watching their apparent homeroom teacher stretching, staring up at the sky and trying his best to ignore Nejire's whispering questions to the other students, the already dead inside teacher looking like he was going to die again if she didn't shut up soon.

"You kids have been doing these kinds of tests since junior high, right?" He cracked his neck, grunting when they heard it pop, "Softball throwing, standing long job, fifty meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper body training, seated toe touch. Your standard, no-quirks allowed tests. This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the averages of these kinds of records, but it's irrational. The department of education is just procrastinating. Well, that can happen in your middle schools, but not at UA. Here, we can get proper answers."

Itsuka, who was standing there quietly and listening to their teacher talk, quirked an eyebrow when Aizawa turned and pulled out a softball out of nowhere, tossing it up and down in the air once before his dark eyes turned to her.

"Kendou, you finished first in the entrance exam," He pointed out, throwing the ball up and down absently, "how far could you throw in middle school? Your best result."

"Middle school? Uh … I think it was about sixty-four feet."

"Alright, then. Try doing it with your quirk," Without warning, he tossed her the ball, making her squeak and move forward to catch it in both hands. "Do whatever you need to. Just don't leave the circle. Give it all you got."

With the teacher gesturing to the white circle drawn in paint in the dirt, Itsuka gulped at suddenly being put on the spot, feeling everyone's eyes on her, but still complied with his order and walked forward to stand in the ring. Once she was standing in the middle, she glanced behind her at Izuku and Ochako, both of them giving her a thumbs up while Setsuna winked at her and Yui nodded. Taking a deep breath, and not looking over at Katsuki watching her with a weird kind of dark attentiveness, Itsuka grew out her hand to its full size, pinching the ball between her two giant fingers as she looked up at the sky, hyping herself up.

"Okay …" She muttered, screwing one eye shut to aim as she threw her giant hand back in a pitcher's stance, "... here goes!"

With a grunt, she threw her giant hand forward, letting go of the ball between her fingers as it was sent flying through the air. Everyone in the crowd of students let out small gasps and 'oohs' as the ball was sent flying into the sky, a lot farther than sixty-four feet as it soared upwards in an arch, before eventually slowing its ascent and coming down, landing somewhere out on the campus and out of sight.

"Oh, crap," Itsuka realized with a start, wincing, "I didn't check to see if anyone was around before I threw it. Should I - uh - should I go get it?"

"It's fine," Aizawa paid half-attention, checking something on his phone, "it's got a remote device in it, it'll automatically come back. In any case, as Kendou just showed you all, it's important for you to know what your real limits are." Turning back to the crowd, he held up his phone, showing the apparent distance that Itsuka had thrown the ball was around five hundred and forty-eight meters, "That is the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

"Whoa! That's awesome!" Eijirou balled his fist from where he was standing in the back of the group. "Five hundred and forty-eight meters, Kendou!"

"This looks really fun!" Mina gushed, hopping up and down as Itsuka hurried out of the circle and back to her spot between Izuku and Yui.

"So we can use our quirks in whatever way we want?" Another boy with weirdly shaped elbows grinned, looking around excitedly. "Man, the hero course is great!"

"Oh?" Aizawa tilted his head, "Awesome, you say? Fun, is it?"

The way he was repeating their words, however, made everyone in the crowd pause as he raised a hand to scratch his beard - and then, for the first time since they had met him about twenty minutes ago, his face shifted, and his usual deadpan look was replaced by a smile.

This was not the friendly kind of smile, however. It was the kind that made their blood freeze looking at it and realize that they were all in terrible danger.

"You're planning to become heroes after three years here," He raised an eyebrow, "and you expect it to be all fun and games? Right then. If this is going to be a game, might as well make it a penalty one. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless - and then swiftly expelled."

That, of course, caused all the students gathered around to gasp and take a terrified step back as the teacher grinned wickedly. Expelled?! Just like that?! Not even twenty minutes after getting there?! Aizawa smirked and pushed his hair back, giving his class a good look at the utterly terrifying expression on his face.

"Us teachers are free to do whatever we want about the circumstances of our students," He revealed, looking utterly delighted by that fact, "so that means that your future at this school depends on how well you perform in the next few hours on these tests. Welcome to UA's hero course - for however long you all may be here."

"W-wait!" Another girl called from her spot near the back, having to step on the edge of her - hooves? - as she raised a frantic hand, looking terrified. "It's only the first day, teacher-san! I mean, even if it wasn't, isn't that unfair?!"

"Unfair?" Aizawa scoffed. "Natural disasters are unfair. Highway pileups are unfair. Rampaging villains is unfair. Calamity is always right around the corner, so I'd say Japan is full of unfair things. Heroes are the ones who are supposed to correct all that unfairness. If you were all hoping to spend your evenings hanging out at WcDonald's, well, I'm sorry that I'll have to be the one to tell you that's not going to happen. For the next three years, UA's going to run you through the wringer. That's what 'Plus Ultra' is. So use your strength to overcome it all."

As the teacher put his hands back in his pockets, waiting for his students to get over the terror of expulsion so they could get to work, the muttering students turned to look at each other.

"I suppose …" Tenya shook his head, having his own issues with what was about to happen but knowing better than the question those in a position of authority, "... if this is to be a trial by fire, and what it's like to be at the top, then we have no choice!"

"Heh," Katsuki huffed, rolling his shoulder while looking over at Itsuka with a smirk - looks like fate was on his side today, with these tests being a perfect opportunity to show up the bitch who showed him up.

"What fraught madness," The guy with the raven head shook his head with subtle drama, unknowingly drawing the attention of a girl with silver hair, "to determine our destinies in this academy with volatile competition."

"Alright," Aizawa shook his head, turning on his heel and beginning to walk away, "now that the demonstration is over, it's time for us to get started. We'll begin with the fifty meter dash."

As the students jumped, realizing that they were getting started immediately with no prep time, they quickly hurried to follow their teacher over to where they would be beginning their tests. There was a nervous energy in the air, some students anxious and hoping that they would be able to perform well enough to pass their unexpected trial by fire, as Tenya put it; some excited to compete a little bit, or else to show off their skills to their new classmates.

Izuku was … well, definitely the first thing. The 'anxious and hoping he would do well enough' thing. Mostly because he realized that he would immediately be at a disadvantage here.

"Deku?" Ochako asked softly, both of them walking with Itsuka and Yui as they moved right behind Aizawa. "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"I - I'm fine, Occhan. It's just … er …" Izuku shook his head, stealing a nervous glance down at his wrist, "... I'm not really sure how well I'm going to do with these tests without … you know, the Full Gauntlet."

"Oh, shit!" Itsuka gasped a bit, looking down at his wrist to confirm that, yes, the red bracelet that helped Izuku control his quirk wasn't currently on his wrist. Izuku winced a bit - he had sent it off with the jumpsuit his mother had made for him to the support company to make his costume, so it was probably at UA right now - but not on his person at the moment, and there was no way Aizawa would let him run and go get it.

As Ochako also looked down in brief panic, Nejire looked curious, angling herself from where she had been walking behind the group to look at Izuku.

"Wait, do you need the bracelet thingy?" She asked, raising a finger to poke her cheek, "Y'know, I did notice that your arms were looking kind of cooked when you melted that giant robot's head, so do you need the gauntlet thing to help you out?"

"I, uh … yeah, Hadou," Izuku nodded, turning around to quickly explain it to her while not being aware of Aizawa slowing his walk some in front of them, "it's … well, it's a long story, but I've had a lot of difficulty controlling my quirk in the past. The Gauntlet's supposed to help me discharge my quirk in lesser blasts so it doesn't hurt me as much as it does firing at full blast. The only reason I had used my full power against the zero-pointer was because I didn't - y'know, I didn't have much choice, it was bearing down on us and neither of us were really doing anything to it. But honestly, even if I did have the Gauntlet right now … well, I'm not really sure how it's supposed to help me with these tests."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking around at him in question. "What do you mean, Midoriya?"

"The tests," Izuku sighed, scratching his cheek, "I'm not really sure how my quirk would even help me out here. I mean, maybe in the fifty meter dash, I could fire out two blasts behind me to propel myself, but if I didn't make it I'd have to get up and do it again, which would probably hurt my time. Upper body training and the seated toe touch are also out, there's no way I can apply my quirk to those tests anyway. Maybe with the softball throw when we get back to it, I could possibly …"

With a tug of his lower lip, Izuku devolved into yet another mutter spree, talking a mile a minute under his breath as he thought. Itsuka and Ochako nodded, long used to their friend's antics, and looked around to see Nejire blinking in surprise and a bit of confusion, looking around at Ochako and pointing at Izuku questioningly.

"You get used to it." Ochako assured her.

"You got used to it, it's still fucking creepy to everyone else," Katsuki growled, stomping past Izuku and elbowing him, which knocked Izuku out of his thoughts, "shut the fuck up, Deku."

"I - oh! S-sorry, Kacchan."

"No," Itsuka shook her head, giving Katsuki a glare while Ochako similarly gave him a heated, angry look, "Midoriya, you're fine. He wasn't bothering anyone, but you definitely bothered him by elbowing him."

"What the fuck ever," Katsuki scoffed, looking around at Itsuka with a scowl, "just remember to fucking watch me, Ponytail. I'm going to blow your score completely out of the water."

Itsuka looked confused and a bit annoyed by that, seeing Katsuki smirk as he moved on ahead in front of them. The small group was completely unaware of Aizawa glancing subtly back behind his shoulder, studying Katsuki's actions for the last few seconds, and then back to Izuku as the green-haired boy looked worried and patting Ochako's shoulder to calm her down.

Well, this was just great, the teacher thought as he looked back around, raising a hand to rub his eyes. He'd organized this little trial by fire as a way to test Izuku, to see if the boy was as utterly idiotic as he had been in the entrance exam. While the other teachers had been cheering and jumping up and down at the sight of a student straight up melting a hole through a zero-pointer's head, he had remained at the back, watching with narrowed eyes as the camera zoomed in on Izuku's arms - his raw, burned arms, the lightning in his arm having injured him as badly as it injured the zero-pointer.

He had shown no control over his quirk, abandoning his previous strategies and any other potential plan to brute force his way out of the situation. He had purposefully thrown away the support item that he had been using to just punch his way out. He was a liability, someone who couldn't do anything without being injured, and thus, had no potential.

But hearing that Izuku purposefully used the Full Gauntlet to temper his quirk … having problems with control in the past … using this support item to prevent his quirk from hurting him … only throwing it away when he had no other option … Aizawa sighed, grabbing his bottle of eye-drops. He'd use this test to see what Izuku could do, and if he yielded poor results, he'd be expelled, no question. But knowing that he had forced the boy into a situation without the only way he could control his quirk safely, Aizawa frowned.

He'd have to wait and see what Izuku could come up with. If he did well, Aizawa would take the necessary steps to make sure Izuku got control of his quirk. If not … well, it wouldn't be his problem once the afternoon came around.

But those thoughts would come later - it was time to get started with the fifty meter dash, with the robot recorder at the end of the track ready to record their marks.

It was pretty clear once the test got started that there were a few students far more equipped to deal with this test than the others. For example, Tenya easily cleared the track with a burst of super speed in three point four seconds, the engines on the back of his legs immediately fascinating Izuku as he whipped out his notebook and began jotting down notes; Setsuna, her usual snarky and carefree personality surprisingly nowhere to be seen as she squared her shoulders in determination, got a slightly lesser score at four point twenty-three seconds by simply launching her upper torso through the air and past the line, which apparently counted according to Aizawa; and Katsuki shot his way through the air at four-point thirteen seconds, turning to smirk at Itsuka as she rolled her eyes. She, Izuku and Ochako, meanwhile, got similar marks at around sevenish seconds, their quirks not really equipped to deal with this test and instead relying on their own training from the beach, while Nejire had gotten distracted by a butterfly and floated across the line at nine seconds.

The second test after that was grip strength, a test that they entered the gym to collect the equipment for. Izuku and Ochako were satisfied with their results, and Nejire showed off her surprisingly tight grip that she eagerly showed them. Itsuka, meanwhile, ended up crushing hers in her hand, making her squeak in embarrassment and apologize to Aizawa, who merely shook his head and went on with his day. After their marks had been written down, they turned to watch the other student at work as well, Izuku watching as a boy with multiple arms squeezed tight at around five hundred and forty kilograms, and the girl with silver hair, who they overheard was named Reiko, glanced around as she lifted the grip strengthener with her quirk to make sure no one was watching, and then used her power to apply pressure to it.

After that was the long distance run, which everyone lined up to do at the same time, and once the robot had fired its shot into the air, everyone took off, either assisted with their quirks or running. Itsuka had thought that she made some pretty good layaway as she sprinted ahead, still behind Tenya as he ran ahead, Nejire flying around at shocking speed, and Katsuki firing off blast after blast to propel himself, which meant that she wouldn't get a high mark but pretty close to the top - and then she heard the sound of a horn behind her.

Blinking in confusion, Itsuka looked around, and felt her jaw drop at the sight of a scooter driving behind her, easily catching up. The girl on the bike, her black hair flying in the wind, drove up beside the orange-haired girl and got ready to put her foot to the pedal.

"You kidding?!" Itsuka gasped, which drew the attention of the girl on the scooter, "Where'd you get a bike from?!"

"I used my quirk to create it," She explained shortly as she pulled ahead, easily outstripping Tenya and Nejire as she moved past the finish line. Once Itsuka managed to get in fifth place, panting slightly, the girl with the spiky ponytail got off the scooter, approaching Itsuka with a small, cautious smile.

"I realize that it may not be entirely fair since everyone else was exerting themselves, but Aizawa-sensei did emphasize the use of quirks in these challenges."

"I mean, I'm not judging you," Itsuka giggled, managing to straighten up and pushing her bangs up off her sweaty forehead, "I might have used my quirk with the grip strength test - just don't ask why there's a broken one in the corner."

The girl laughed at that, and extended her hand. "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. It's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope we get along."

"Kendou," Itsuka grinned, accepting her hand and giving it a shake, "and the same here, Yaoyorozu, I hope we get along."

"Oh!" Momo gasped. "So you're Kendou - the one who placed first in the entrance exam. The results had come along with my own letter of recommendation, and I was curious as to who placed first."

"Yeah, that's me," She smiled sheepishly, "just, uh … just got a bit lucky with the points, I - I didn't really expect to get first place."

Behind her, Katsuki huffed, which drew both girls' attention and made Itsuka's smile drop.

"You got something to say?"

"Nope," Katsuki shook his head, smirking a bit as he walked away, "you just clarified something I was thinking. Don't mind me, Ponytail. No wonder you aren't all that impressive now that I actually see you in action - you just got lucky."

As he stomped away, Itsuka glared after him, flipping her ponytail behind her shoulder in her own huff while Momo gave the pomeranian boy a confused look.

After the sprint was completed and everyone crossed the finish line, they moved on to the standing long jump, Itsuka felt her bad mood evaporate as she watched Ochako simply opt to float over the box, which made the class chuckle when that got her the highest score. Yui, meanwhile, hopped in, lost her balance, and, with her face not changing from its stoic expression, flopped straight onto her back with her feet in the air, being helped up by a sympathetic boy with a bandana wrapped around his head. After that came the repeated side steps, which Izuku, to his relief, had shown a surprising talent in, mostly thanks to Teko having made that exercise a punishment for him whenever he failed in the dojo - which he had done a lot, so he was well experienced. Setsuna, meanwhile, was still in her strange, determined mood, which made Itsuka look at her confusedly at how intense she was about these tests, and sighed - she'd ask about it later.

And then, finally, they returned to the white circle to perform the ball throw. While they lined up, Itsuka felt a bit confused, looking around at her teacher when he had picked up the white ball with the blue and gold band around it.

"I've already counted your example," He waved his hand without even looking at her, "you're fine, Kendou. Bakugou, you're up first."

"Finally," The boy in question grunted, smirking a bit as he stomped past Itsuka. Izuku and Ochako, standing on the side, blinked at the heated glare both of them exchanged, and glanced at each other worriedly. They knew that Katsuki wouldn't like their presence here, but for some reason he had been fixated on Itsuka all day long, barely acknowledging their existence. Normally they wouldn't really mind, but he was starting to give her some really dirty looks, as though he were fantasizing using his quirk to blow her up (which was an expression they'd seen more than once) and that worried them.

Soon, the class was watching as Katsuki wound himself up, stretching a bit as he looked up at the sky.

A little extra blast, he thought to himself as he smirked, just to show the bitch up a little more.

Throwing his hand back and shouting "DIE!" at the top of his lungs, he threw the ball as hard as he could, the explosion he unleashed to propel it upwards making everyone wince and back up a bit from the unexpected heat. They watched as the ball disappeared into the sky with a trail of fire escaping from behind it, going so far they couldn't make it out for a moment, before they saw a distant speck begin to fall back to earth.

Studying the phone in his hand, Aizawa droned out, "Seven hundred and five point two meters."

Pumping his fist and hearing the people behind him gasp and mutter a bit at the accomplishment, Katsuki stomped back out of the ring and back into the crowd, continuing to sneer at Itsuka as she gave him a look that clearly showed how unimpressed she was. Well, whatever, he smirked as he walked away from the ring, she could act all haughty, but he just showed her up. The more tests that went on, the clearer it was that the entrance exam was just her getting lucky and finding a few more robots to destroy than he did. He wasn't really sure what the fuck 'rescue points' were supposed to be, but that didn't matter now. He had all the time in the world to show these extras that he was number one.

His smirk did lessen slightly, however, when Ochako went right after him and just threw the ball into the air, where it went up, up and away, and scored herself the top marks of this test by having the result be literally just 'infinity'. But whatever, he expected that, and he kicked her ass in every other test. Nobody else got close to his mark - the annoying blue-haired bitch got up to six hundred meters, the weird horse girl stabbed her horn through the ball and sent it as far as she could, the weird gray-haired girl with her arms bent forward floated it out as far as she could, and the other ponytail girl just made a fucking cannon and shot it out - but no one reached his score.

Not until near the end.

"Midoriya," Aizawa gestured with his head, "you're up."

Gulping a bit, Izuku nodded, and quickly moved into the circle to take his turn. He could feel Katsuki's eyes on him, glancing around to see the blonde boy huffing and smirking as he crossed his arms, already certain that he was going to fail. Feeling himself shaken a bit, Izuku took a deep breath and picked up the ball, taking a moment to think to himself as everyone watched.

He knew that from the other tests, he wasn't doing too bad, but he hadn't done anything flashy enough to guarantee that he wasn't going to be the one in last place. Ochako had aced this test and the standing long jump, Itsuka had aced the grip strength test, and Tenya had aced the fifty meter dash. Nejire had also been scoring pretty high herself, and Setsuna and Yui had been doing a good job as well. That meant that it was now up to him to try to get an impressive mark, and that probably wouldn't happen with the last two tests - so it was here that he'd have to use his quirk.

Not only that, but he could feel Aizawa staring at him, and that made him feel more than just a little nervous. He had this weird feeling that the teacher had been watching him specifically throughout these tests, but they weren't good looks. Rather, it felt like he was being scrutinized, and that didn't bode very well for him - if he didn't do something impressive soon, he had a feeling that it would be his name at the bottom of whatever list the teacher was making on his phone at the moment.

"C'mon, Deku!" Ochako cheered from the crowd, which made Izuku start a bit and look around. He saw his best friend throwing her fists in the air for encouragement, Itsuka flashing him a thumbs up, and Momo, who was standing beside Itsuka, at least giving him a polite nod while Nejire likewise imitated Ochako and threw her hands in the air. Still, seeing his training partners encouraging him did make his heart lighten a little bit, and he sighed as he looked down at the hand he was holding the ball.

Turning his palm slightly, Izuku stared at the scars that had originated from using his quirk, making him gulp. It was probably obvious to everyone that he was purposefully holding back on using his quirk, which made him frown - he didn't want to come across as though he wasn't trying, but honestly, he was scared of blasting his arm apart. He was scared of hurting himself, like he had back in the entrance exam, with his arms burnt, his skin raw, his hands shaking -

- wait.

Izuku stared blankly down at his hand for a moment, and felt himself blink. Wait, the entrance exam - what was he thinking? What he had done in the entrance exam had been different! Sure, firing full blast hurt him, but - but the only reason he had been as injured as he had been was because he hadn't let off with the blast, and insisted on continuing to fire without any breaks. Back on the beach, he knew how to fire blasts of lightning quickly - sure, it would still really hurt, but it didn't damage him too much. So that meant …

Taking one last deep breath, Izuku moved the arm he held the ball in back as he stared up at the sky. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, including the teacher as he studied him closely, but Izuku couldn't concentrate on that - not when he had finally mustered up the courage to use his quirk. Feeling sparks pop out of his palm and electricity run down his arm, he stared determinedly ahead, unaware of Katsuki flinching slightly at the sight of his quirk activating (although the blonde boy immediately chastated when he realized what he had done), and then, Izuku began throwing the ball, concentrating on one blast.

Charging the electricity to the palm where the ball was his leaving his grasp, Izuku fired, letting out a yell as the blast of lightning shot out of his palm with violence, slamming straight into the ball and sending it straight up into the sky - and fast. Everyone in the crowd winced and covered their ears at the sudden explosion of sound, but their eyes still widened in amazement as the ball disappeared into the sky with a thin trail of smoke. Aizawa's eyes, however, hadn't followed the ball at all, instead locking on the arm Izuku had used his quirk with - and narrowing them slightly when he didn't see much damage, other than it looking slightly red and Izuku waving it around a little bit with a pained expression, but from the looks of things it only stung.

Turning his gaze down to the phone as the ball finally landed and stopped rolling, he nodded slightly, and turned to show the students Izuku's score: eight hundred and two meters.

"Holy crap!" The guy with the headband yelled, staring at where the ball had disappeared with wide eyes. "That's gotta be second place, right?! After the infinity score!"

"Ah, man, another electric quirk!" The guy with blonde hair and the black lightning bolt in his hair looked enthusiastic at least, "That's awesome! I gotta get some tips, I can't do that with my quirk!"

"Whooo!" Nejire hopped up and down, cheering.

"No way he's beating Uraraka's score," Eijirou balled his fist excitedly, "but holy hell, that was awesome, Mido-bro! You told me your quirk packed a punch but I had no freaking idea how much!"

"It looks like his arm is a bit swollen," Tenya noticed, humming a bit, "and with the entrance exam … indeed, that is a strange quirk."

Itsuka beamed proudly at her friend as she joined in the cheers of the crowd, laughing along with Ochako as Izuku turned back to them and smiled a bit bashfully, waving his arm back and forth slightly - and then Itsuka heard a breath escape someone to the right.

"What the hell," Katsuki muttered, staring at Izuku with his jaw dropped, a vein appearing in his forehead. Itsuka turned to look at him, her eyes narrowing slightly - was he really that surprised? - and then, before she could even blink, Katsuki suddenly bared his teeth, and small explosions escaped his palms.

"DEKU!" He suddenly shouted, and began sprinting towards Izuku, everyone in the crowd looking shocked as he charged at the confused boy still in the circle. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! EXPLAIN NOW, SHITRAG!"

Izuku flinched, jumping back in terror as Itsuka and Ochako's eyes widened, realizing that Katsuki was going to attack him, and began running forward to stop him - hopefully by slamming him into the ground and punching him into unconsciousness - but before they could even step one foot forward, long straps of gray cloth suddenly shot out and wrapped themselves securely around Katsuki's upper body and face, stopping him in his tracks.

"What - the fuck -!" Katsuki gruned, looking around in rage at whoever dared to stop him from getting answers out of Izuku. "What the shit is this - this cloth?! I can't - it's -!"

"It's my special capture weapon." Aizawa shortly said, dragging Katsuki away from Izuku and glaring at him. The drowsiness the teacher had for the last few hours of the tests was gone - he was standing upright, his face angry as he pulled on the scarf. "It's made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire. Now cut it out."

Katsuki growled, and tried to fire off another explosion to intimidate the teacher - this was the first time in his life a teacher was ordering him around instead of letting him do what he wanted, and he wouldn't stand for it. However, Aizawa's hair suddenly began standing upright, showing off a pair of red glowing eyes, and giving them all a look at a pair of yellow goggles around his neck. Suddenly, Katsuki's explosions evaporated in his palms, making him look down at his hands in shock.

"What the fuck - why can't I use my quirk?!"

"I erased it with my quirk," Aizawa snapped, continuing to glare unblinkingly at him, "jeez, making me use my quirk when I don't need to … I have a serious case of dry-eye, you know. Now stand down."

"Erased his quirk?" Izuku blinked, looking around at the teacher in shock - and then his gaze flickered down to the yellow goggles around Aizawa's neck, and he let out a gasp. "Wait … those goggles … erasing people's quirks just by looking at them … of course! You're the erasure hero, Eraserhead!"

While the rest of the class muttered to themselves over this shocking revelation (mostly along the lines of 'who the hell is that supposed to be'), Aizawa finally released Katsuki from the binding, the cloth returning to wrap around his neck, and his hair falling back down as he deactivated his quirk, although he gaze remained locked on Katsuki in case he tried anything. "This was a waste of time. Both of you get back in line so we can wrap this test up and prepare for the next event."

Izuku quickly nodded, glancing a bit worriedly at Katsuki as the blonde boy continued to glare menacingly at him, and then quickly headed back to the rest of the class, where Itsuka and Ochako quickly reached out to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him along as Katsuki turned his head slowly towards the former pebble in his path.

For some reason, the scars on his chest and arm from years ago were aching, but Katsuki pushed it out of his head, in favor of staring at Shitty Deku in rage. He'd completely discarded Izuku when he had shown up at UA this morning, instead focusing on Itsuka and becoming determined to show her up. And he hadn't even registered Round Face's existence, knowing that he could easily crush her. But Deku using his quirk … beating his score easily … it made him shake.

He'd only been beaten once in his life, and it was because Deku had pulled something out of his ass and sent him to the hospital. And now - now he had done it again. Taking a quirk Katsuki had been sure he was too batshit terrified of to even use, and beating his score.

The injuries Deku had given him … they were supposed to be a small hiccup on his path to be the greatest hero. Deku acting like a pathetic little dweep, as Round Face's little fanboy … that was all he was supposed to be. A pebble on the road that he was supposed to kick away, not even realizing he had done it.

And if Deku was capable of that … what about Round Face? Was she hiding shit up her sleeve?! What the fuck happened to those two?!

---

Thankfully, after the near fight, no other altercations took place. The rest of the tests were finished in the blink of an eye - Izuku's arm stung slightly, but not enough to hinder him as he did the sit-up test, Ochako holding his feet down as he eared one of the higher scores (Teko's punishments also included a lot of situps, so he, Ochako and Itsuka easily breezed through this test) and then stretched forward as best he could for the seated toe-touch, and finally, after a few stressful hours, all eight tests had been completed.

As soon as everyone was standing outside the large gym they had conducted their test at, Aizawa stood in front of them as they gathered around and waited anxiously for the results as he pressed a few buttons on the phone. They didn't doubt Aizawa's claim that he would expel the person who ended up in last place, but still … they could all feel their hearts hammering in their chests as Aizawa nodded to himself.

"Alright," He grunted, pressing another button on the phone, "moving along, it's time to show you all the results. Your total scores simply reflect your performance in each of the events, and explaining the process that I used to score you would be a waste of time, so all you're getting is the final rankings."

As he pressed the button, a large holographic board emerging from the phone, Aizawa blinked as though he remembered something. "Oh, and I was also lying about expelling the person in last place."

As the results of the test shined in the air, Aizawa looked up at the class, unable to suppress an absolute shit-eating grin at the sight of most of the students gathered around staring blankly at him, eyes as round as dinner plates and jaws dropping, while Momo nodded off to the side as though she had predicted this all along.

"That was a rational deception," He grinned, "meant to bring out the best in all of you in the tests."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Well, of course it was a ruse," Momo shook her head slightly, putting her left hand on her hip as she looked over at Izuku and Ochako looked absolutely flabbergasted, while Itsuka dully stared at their teacher as she slumped forward, "it didn't take much to figure that out - I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out. I'm sorry, I guess I probably should've said something."

"Yeah," Setsuna shook her head as she tried to catch her breath, looking up at her fellow recommended student with a small pout as a girl with earphone jacks for ears gave Momo a similar disgruntled look, "maybe you should've."

"Anyway," Aizawa huffed, turning to walk away as the students continued to either stare at him in shock or frantically checked the hologram for where they placed, "we're finished up here. We're now done for the day, and you're all formally excused. When you get changed, head back to the classroom and pick up a syllabus to read over before tomorrow morning. Things are going to get tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins, so make sure you're prepared."

With that, the tired teacher walked away from his class, staring ahead as the students behind him read the results of the tests, and where they had placed:

01. Momo Yaoyorozu

02. Katsuki Bakugou

03. Tenya Iida

04. Itsuka Kendou

05. Eijirou Kirishima

06. Mezo Shouji

07. Fumikage Tokoyami

08. Ochako Uraraka

09. Setsuna Tokage

10. Nejire Hadou

11. Izuku Midoriya

12. Mina Ashido

13. Tsuyu Asui

14. Hanta Sero

15. Pony Tsunotori

16. Denki Kaminari

17. Yui Kodai

18. Kyouka Jirou

19. Reiko Yanagi

20. Yosetsu Awase

Hopefully, seeing where they placed in the tests would mean that they thought a bit more about their shortcomings. He knew Yosetsu was going to at the very least, due to how the boy with the bandana around his forehead had collapsed right onto his butt in terror when he realized that had Aizawa been serious about the test, he'd be on a one-way trip out of the school. As for Midoriya -

"Aizawa, you big fat liar!"

Feeling his eyebrow twitch at the sound of a familiar, loud voice, Aizawa stopped and turned around to see the familiar ugly yellow suit of UA's latest inclusion to the staff, letting out a small huff as he faced the man who was honestly kind of a pain to look at.

"All Might," He nodded, "so you were watching, I thought I saw you poking your head from around the corner. Good to know that you don't mind wasting time. No talk shows to keep yourself distracted with today?"

"I could say the same thing about you wasting time, Aizawa," All Might smiled cheekily, leaning in slightly, "a 'rational deception'? April Fool's was over a week ago, and even then you're not exactly well known for being lighthearted. I had a look at the faculty's directory when I got here this morning - last year, you expelled an entire class of first years."

Aizawa merely raised an eyebrow.

"You mercilessly discard those you deem having zero prospects. But now you go back on your word? Let's not kid ourselves, this wasn't just a test for your students - it was one for Young Midoriya."

"Oh?" Aizawa smirked a bit, "Sounds like you've got me all figured out, All Might."

"You were after him specifically because of the entrance exam," All Might guessed, putting his hands on his hips, "because of the way he defeated the zero-pointer."

Aizawa huffed, and looked back to the ground, frowning a bit, "It's not the entire reason, but sure, whatever floats your boat. Perhaps I was using these tests as a way to check his potential."

"Is that so … and?"

"He doesn't have … no chance. That's all I can say. I expected him to be an idiot about using his quirk, but then he mentioned that he had trouble in the past controlling it. I considered confronting him and putting him on the spot if he used his full power on the ball throwing test, but he managed to think of a way out of that." Raising a hand to run through his mangy hair, he sighed. "If he had no prospects, he'd be on his way out the door right now. And it's not like he's out of danger just yet. I can kick out anyone whose chances drop below that mark at any time. It's not a cruel thing to end someone's half-baked dreams."

All Might chuckled weakly. "Right … let's … agree to disagree about that."

"Right. But just before I go, you have your first class tomorrow with that class." Aizawa looked back around at him, giving him a serious look, "I know it'll be recorded for us teachers to observe, but I want to give you a warning. Keep an eye on Bakugou."

"Young Bakugou?" All Might blinked, looking around at the retreating students who were unaware of the teachers conversing. He could make out Katsuki stomping away, not talking to anyone. "If I'm not mistaken … that's the one who got second place in the entrance exam."

"That's right. Eighty villain points and no rescue points."

"Yes … so is he a problem child?"

"Has the potential to be one," Aizawa shrugged, "I noticed him being confrontational and always looking at Kendou when he performed higher than her, so he's definitely competitive. That wouldn't be too bad in itself - we can't do anything to prevent our students from forming rivalries, as long as it's healthy and benefitial to both parties. But he rushed out onto the field after Midoriya outperformed him, and if I hadn't stepped in, he probably would've attacked him."

"Is that so?" All Might straightened up, looking back to Katsuki.

"Eight villain points and no rescue points … it's a red flag." Aizawa shook his head. "Most kids would've scored at least one rescue point, even if it was an accident. If he didn't score even one, that means that Bakugou specifically went out of his way not to help anyone. I'm going to be keeping an eye on him, but I want you to do the same in your class. UA doesn't want the credit of raising a second Endeavor, and if I think he's going to drag down the rest of the class with him, he's out of here. I don't want to think of that possibility, but he's definitely going to need a reality check, and soon."

"Right. I will … well, I will keep an eye on Young Bakugou."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go meet with the rat. I want to talk to him about getting Hadou transferred over to 1B by tomorrow."

"Hm? Hadou? Another troublemaker?"

"No, not a troublemaker. She just won't shut up. I'm already tempted to turn to alcoholism after spending a day with her, no chance I'm going to deal with her for the rest of the goddamn year."

All Might nodded unsurely, not really knowing what to say to that, and Aizawa began walking away again. With a small sigh, All Might glanced back at the retreating students. He could make out Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku walking together, the blue-haired girl who had assisted Izuku in his exam walking behind them and talking excitedly with them, and All Might sighed a bit.

Sorry, you three, All Might thought, but you haven't got any time to relax. The real test starts tomorrow ... and after that, Young Kendou, we'll need to have a talk at long last about One for All.

---

With a small sigh, Izuku picked up the yellow backpack and put it on the chair, opening it so he could slide the syllabus inside beside his notebooks. He gulped a bit as he glanced up, seeing Katsuki slam his own book into his bag on the desk in front of Izuku's, which made him shake as he realized he was going to have to sit behind his old friend for the rest of the year. Thankfully, Katsuki didn't seem to want to get into any other confrontations with Izuku today, closing his bag and stomping out of the classroom as everyone chatted with each other.

"Scary," Izuku heard someone mutter behind him, and looked around to see the girl with large horns coming from her head, brushy blonde hair, and large, doe-like eyes watching Katsuki cautiously as he moved out the door.

"Er - Kacchan's - well, he's not that bad," He tried to assure her, although he winced at how obvious that lie was, "he's just - well, he's just frustrated for some reason."

"Um … I guess so." She shrugged, but tried to give him a small, shaky smile, "O-oh, I'm Pony, by the way - Pony Tsunotori. I guess I'm sitting behind you from now on, Midoriya-san."

"Y-yeah," Izuku smiled at her in return, although he was a bit curious at the accent in her voice. "Er … sorry, but - are you a foreign student? Your accent's kind of …"

"Obvious? Shaky?" Pony giggled a bit, nodding. "Yeah, I'm a foreign exchange student - I was born in Japan, moved to America when I was a baby, and now I'm back here! I'm still kinda working on my Japanese - is it bad?"

"No! Not at all, it's really good!"

"Thank you!"She happily said in English, putting on her backpack and starting to walk out the door, her hooves clopping against the floor. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Midoriya-san!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku waved to her, "see you, Tsunotori."

As she left out the door, Izuku pulled his bag over his shoulders and looked around for Itsuka and Ochako as they finished putting away their own stuff as well. At the very least, those two were sitting close together - Ochako at the back of her row, and Itsuka sitting in the fourth row in front of Yui, beside Tenya, and behind Eijirou. He felt a little sad that he was the only one in their friend group not at the other side of the classroom, but there wasn't much he could do about it - that, and Pony at least seemed nice, and Momo was sitting behind her as well, and she was polite.

Smiling, Izuku waved to his training partners as they looked around at him, clearly waiting for him to walk home together with -

- and then Nejire popped out of nowhere.

"Midoriya!" She happily greeted him as he let out a squeak, immediately backing up in terror (god, how did she get so close with him even noticing?!), and, seemingly oblivious of Izuku's embarrassment, began to inch closer as he leaned back, "Wasn't today really exciting?! I was kind of nervous about the tests, but I think we did pretty well! I was in tenth place, which wasn't really that bad, but it's not too good, y'know? Middle of the pack. I think I would've done a lot better if I hadn't been distracted by that butterfly in the first test, but it was so pretty! Very red and black and white. But anyway, are you busy? Are you going home? Are you gonna stick around?"

"I - I -" Izuku stammered, now leaning back against his desk as Nejire got in his face while not even noticing how red it was becoming - but thankfully, Itsuka pointedly cleared her throat behind them, catching Nejire's attention and making her look around curiously. Itsuka was doing her best to smile at the sight of Nejire practically leaning against her friend, which pretty much amounted to a very stiff upward pull of her lips while her eyes remained devoid of emotion and a vein throbbed in her forehead.

"You know, I'm sure that you're excited, Hadou," She tried to keep her voice even, although there was a subtle shake there, "but let's give Midoriya a little space, okay?"

"I guess!" Nejire threw her hands up, undeterred as she looked around at Ochako giving her a blank, dull stare, "But anyway, Midoriya, are you busy? Are you, are you, are you? I wanna introduce you to Yuuyu, she didn't believe me about a green-haired guy saving me from going 'splat' on the ground after we destroyed the giant robot! Not only that, but she's also got an electrical quirk, but not as super as yours, kind of -"

"W-wait, what?" Izuku blinked, looking around at Nejire as she hopped from one foot to the other. "An - an electric quirk? Your f-friend has one too?"

"Yep! Not as big and scary as yours, though, even though it's pretty cool too! Her electricity's shaped like arrows, I think she was talking about getting a bow support item! That'd be really cool, wouldn't it?"

"Y-yeah …" Izuku stood up a bit straighter, staring at Nejire as she adjusted her bookbag over her shoulder, since it had been flying around with all her bouncing. She had a friend who had an electric-type quirk as well. Maybe … well, maybe if he talked to this friend, he could get some tips for his own quirk, since he was still flying blind with his own. So …

"Er ... Hadou, uh ... that sounds great. Y-yeah, I'd - I'd love to meet your friend."

"Would you?! Great! Let's go!" Faster than any of them could even register, Nejire grabbed Izuku's hand, making him squeak and his face burst instantly into flames as she wrapped her fingers around his hand, and then yelped as she began pulling him right out the door, her grip surprisingly strong. Itsuka and Ochako stared blankly after the two of them as they moved out of the classroom, Itsuka's hands unknowingly clenching into tight fists, and then together, they quickly hurried out of the room after them, leaving behind a befuddled Setsuna, Eijirou and Yui.

"Oh, god," Setsuna sagged her shoulders while giggling reluctantly, "and we thought that this little situation was complicated before."

"Hm?" Momo blinked as she stood from her desk, looking around at her fellow recommended student in confusion, "What's complicated about that, Tokage? From what I saw, it just seems like Hadou is trying to become Midoriya's friend."

"Indeed!" Tenya brought his bag over his head to hang off his shoulder. "From what I have observed, it's clear that Hadou, albeit quite loudly, is simply attempting to befriend Midoriya. Why would you consider that complicated?"

"Oh," Yui shook her head, "oh, you sweet summer children."

Outside the class, Izuku continued to stammer as Nejire dragged him down the hall slightly, continuing to hold his hand as she stopped and stood up on her tiptoes, looking around. From what they saw, it was clear that their sister class had also been excused a bit earlier than it usually would, the students moving out of the classroom talking and laughing amongst each other in small groups. Finally, Nejire spotted who she was looking for, squealing and waving over to a girl with short, pink hair and earrings, a piercing also visibly in her nose.

"Yuuyu! Yuuyu, Yuuyu, Yuuyu!" Nejire happily called out to her, getting her friend's attention as she looked around and saw Nejire using her other hand to point at an embarrassed Izuku. "Look, look, it's the guy! The guy who saved me during the exam! He actually exists! I found him!"

"Hm," Yuuyu looked around at Izuku as he gave her an embarrassed wave, seeing how red he looked with Nejire holding his hand, and let out a small sigh as she walked over to her best friend, "Yeah, that's definitely him, Nej. You can let go of him now."

"Huh? Let go of him?" Nejire blinked, as though confused about what that was supposed to mean, so Yuuyu sighed again and moved forward, grabbing the hand Nejire had around Izuku's and managing to pry his hand free. As Izuku backed up in relief (and maybe a little regret) and Ochako and Itsuka finally managed to catch up, Yuuyu sighed a bit as she grabbed the back of Nejire's head, making the confused girl sink into a bow as Yuuyu likewise imitated her.

"I'm sorry about her," she apologized on behalf of both of them, "I figured that she would be a problem on the first day, but there wasn't much I could do about it since we've been separated into separate classes. My name's Yuuyu Haya, and - well - I guess since she's been clinging to you, you've already been introduced to Nejire."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded a bit, gulping and blushing as Nejire looked back up at him with a smile, "we've - uh - we've already met Hadou. Er, obviously. I'm - I'm Midoriya, and this is Kendou and Occhan - er, I mean, Uraraka. It's nice to meet you, Haya."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Yuuyu waved to the other two girls before turning her attention back to Izuku, "and - well, I guess I should probably thank you for looking after Nej during the entrance exam. I'm pretty sure you keeping her on track's the only reason she passed."

"O-oh, no, she - she did well enough on her own," Izuku tried to wave that off, gulping a bit, "but - but thank you, it - it wasn't a problem to help Hadou out. Anyway, uh - Haya, I think Hadou said something about you - you know - having an electric-based quirk?"

"Hm? Yeah, I do," She shrugged a bit, removing her hand from the back of Nejire's head so she could stand back up properly, "it's called 'Electric Arrow'. Lets me control electricity and discharge it from my hands in the shape of arrows."

"Interesting …" Izuku nodded, pulling out his notebook while Itsuka and Ochako rolled their eyes at how predictable he was, "... it's similar enough to mine that … Haya, do you mind if I ask you -"

"Kendou!"

The four girls and Izuku looked around at Itsuka's name being called out, and they saw Momo walking out of the door, followed by Setsuna, Yui, Eijirou and Tenya, the boy in glasses unsure as to why Yui insisted on looking away from him while flipping her hair nonchalantly, as though wondering what he had done to earn such coldness. Unbeknownst to any of them, Setsuna blinked at the sight of the students of 1B moving out, her eyes quickly scanning them, and then darkening as her shoulders slumped, frowning a bit.

"I hope that I'm not impeding you," Momo said, giving Itsuka a small smile, "but I had spoken with Tokage and Kodai when we were coming back from the tests, and I found out that you three are taking the train home. If you'd like, I do have a car waiting for me in front of the school, and you are more than welcome to get a ride back to your home, it's not trouble. Ah, and that also applies to you as well, Midoriya, Uraraka, Hadou, and … er …"

"Haya." Yuuyu gave her a wave.

"Haya! You're more than welcome if you would like a ride home."

"Oh, thanks for the offer, Yaoyorozu, but …" Itsuka hesitated, glancing around at the five of them gathered near the door to Class 1B, and then back to the other five people standing at the door, and let out a weak chuckle, "... I don't think you have room for all of us in your - er - car."

"Hm?" Momo blinked. "Oh, no, Kendou - space won't be a problem."

Everyone had been a bit confused by what that exactly meant - space wouldn't be a problem for ten people? - until they had gotten out to the front of the school, and they had all felt themselves pale comically at the sight of a long limoscene waiting for Momo, the strict looking chauffeur opening the door for Momo to step in, and the polite girl had enthusiastically invited them inside. Izuku had to help Ochako into the limo, seeing as stepping into a car so fancy was enough to make Ochako almost faint from shock. Once everyone was inside the limo, glancing around nervously at how fancy everything looked, the chauffeur got all of their addresses - Izuku and Ochako were heading back to their apparent in the Shizuoka prefecture, Itsuka, Yui, Eijirou and Setsuna going back to Chiba, Nejire and Yuuyu to Akita, and Tenya and Momo returning to Aichi, where Tenya was staying at an apartment owned by his family from Tokyo.

Once the limo started moving, everyone began conversing amongst themselves, hoping to get to know each other better now that they didn't have the stress of expulsion hanging over them. Momo sat between Itsuka and Setsuna, happily chatting with them about the recommended students' exam and commending Itsuka for scoring high enough to get first place; Eijirou and Ochako decided to chat a bit with Tenya, finding him less scary and more bumbling and super serious, while said boy didn't notice Yui sneaking glances at him occasionally; and Izuku talked to Yuuyu more about her quirk and how it worked, the pink-haired girl bemused but still willing to explain how exactly her quirk worked and giving him pointers, while Nejire bounced in her seat next to him and tried to find opportunities to ask more questions.

It was pretty loud in the car, sometimes people could make out what others were saying over the sound of noise … but it was alright, Izuku supposed as he glanced around, seeing Ochako and Itsuka happily talking with their classmates. Izuku honestly couldn't really recall when he had been surrounded by people his age that weren't making fun of him, that Ochako didn't have to stand up and defend him from bullies, that he felt somewhat safe in. He couldn't help but beam around, realizing that he and Ochako were now surrounded by several good people.

It had been a pretty hectic first day, but … he was at least grateful that they had gotten far enough to make some new friends.

---

Thankfully, their second day didn't start off as hectic and scary as their first, with no threats of expulsion and harsh training being given to them the moment they walked through the door. Once Aizawa had finished up with homeroom and excused himself, they had English, taught by Present Mic enthusiastically cheering them on in English while Pony was the only one easily writing down and speaking phrases while everyone else tried not to die of boredom.

At lunch time, Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako went with Nejire, Tenya, Yui and Momo to the lunchroom, while Setsuna stayed behind to have lunch with Mina in the classroom ("I can't just abandon my side-piece," she had winked while Mina laughed) and Eijirou decided to get to know a few other people, sitting with the kid named Denki and the other guy named Hanta in the classroom. At the cafeteria, they got treated to some top-notch food made by Lunch Rush himself, who Izuku fanboyed over excessively while Ochako and Itsuka had to drag him away so other people could get their food. After lunch came art history, with Midnight herself strutting through the doors provocatively and giggling at the blushes appearing on her students' faces at every innuendo that escaped her mouth, and after that, math, taught by Ectoplasm.

And finally, in the afternoon …

"IIIIIIII AAAAAAAAAAAAAM ..."

Izuku let out a small gasp at the familiar voice, smiling with big, bright eyes as he looked around at the door.

"... coming through the door like a normal person." All Might announced, definitely not doing that, what with his posing dramatically, his cape somehow blowing even though there wasn't any wind.

"Holy crap, it's actually All Might!" Denki shook in excitement.

"He really is a teacher!" Eijirou pumped a fist enthusiastically, watching as All Might moved towards the podium at the front of the class, "I know it got announced a few days ago, but it's way different than actually seeing him here!"

"That's a costume from the Silver Age, isn't it?" Tsuyu poked her lip curiously, not paying any mind to Nejire grabbing her shoulders from behind and shaking her in her excitement.

While All Might made his way to the front of the class, grinning widely at the sight of the students fanning over him, Itsuka and Ochako were trying their best not to giggle too loudly at his antics, far too used to him acting like a dork to take this as seriously as the rest of the class, while Izuku bounced a bit in his seat, smiling widely at their mentor's dramatic walking. So it wasn't too much different than how they all got along on the beach, except this time it was in the nice, air-conditioned classroom instead of on a hot summer day.

"Good afternoon, students!" All Might put his fists on his hips as he finally got behind the podium, looking around and grinning at how excited the students were to see him, "As you all may have guessed thanks to your schedules, I teach Hero Basic Training. The class that'll put you through all kinds of special training to mold you into the best heroes you can be! We'll be covering many subjects in this class, so you'd better be ready!"

Suddenly whipping around, he posed dramatically, raising his fists in the air and hiking up one leg, while pretending not to notice Itsuka and Ochako's increasingly weakening attempts not to burst into laughter, "But there's no time to dilly-dally. Let's get right into it! Today's activity will be -" Turning back around, he flashed the kids a card with two words written in bold red writing: "- combat training!"

"Combat training?" Izuku gulped nervously.

"Combat training!" Katsuki grinned with a feral expression.

"And of course, if we're going to get started with hero work, to go with that will be - these!" Turning, All Might pointed to the far wall, and as if on cue, the walls began sliding open, revealing about twenty containers that, behind glass plains, a series of gray and black briefcases that had numbers on each of them rested.

"In accordance with the quirk registry, and the special request forms you all filled out before you were admitted to UA … costumes!"

His grin widened at the sight of the entire class getting pumped up, Eijirou jumping up with a cheer, and even Itsuka and Ochako calming down their sniggers so they could look excitedly at the briefcases.

"Now then, there's no time to lose! After you all get changed, come out in ranking order to Ground Beta! I'll meet you there!"

"Yes sir!" Came the collective voices of the classroom, hurrying over to open the glass containers to get at their briefcases, and All Might zipped out the door, hurrying ahead so he could get ready for the presentation. Everyone left the classroom in a hurry, more than a little excited to finally get into their hero costumes and flaunt their stuff, and the boys and girls separated into their change rooms so that they could get ready.

A few minutes later, Itsuka sighed as she clipped the vest together around her waist, looking at the mirror and making sure that everything was properly adjusted. Right now, she had on most of her stuff, the dark blue vest with gold highlights covering her turquoise qipao, her brown belt secured around her waist, and her elbow and knee pads clicked on. All she needed now was to put on the special gloves that reached her elbows, and her domino mask, and she'd be ready to go.

However, before she could reach for the gloves, she heard Ochako mumble embarrassedly beside her.

"Kendou," She said in a quiet, small voice, "I think I just remembered what we forgot to add in my notes to the support company."

"Hm?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, looking around, "What do you mean, Ura- oh, wow."

She immediately figured out what Ochako was talking about the moment she had looked around at her, seeing the girl shuffling a bit and her face going red. She wasn't wearing the two white wrist guards or her large boots yet, and had elected to just put on the jumpsuit. And that jumpsuit was … well … pretty snug around Ochako. As in, it was pretty much skintight, showing off Ochako's muscular yet plump body under the costume. Itsuka felt her cheeks go slightly red as Ochako scratched her face, her own face burning.

"It, uh … it isn't uncomfortable to move around in," She explained, sounding very quiet and very timid, "I can move just fine, it's just … uh …"

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, putting her gloves down so that she could approach and pat Ochako's shoulder, "I know what you mean, Uraraka. It's … well … at least it looks good on you?"

"It looks hella fine!" Setsuna catcalled from her own corner, the two girls looking around to see Setsuna having Mina zip up her costume from behind, grabbing her purple mask to put on. "Seriously, girl, you're lookin' good!"

"You can say that again!" Mina joined in, grinning as she looked around at Ochako. "Looks like we got a mini-amazon in here! Nice arms!"

"I - oh, n-no, you're - you're just saying that," Ochako shook her head, feeling more embarrassed by the minute as she covered her face in her hands, careful to stick up her pinkie, "I didn't even mean this to happen, I thought - I thought it would be a thicker material, I didn't know they defaulted to skintight if you don't clarify."

"It's okay, Uraraka! You look great!" Nejire complimented her from the side, both girls looking around to see her attaching two thick wrist guards around her forearms while absently using her quirk on her hair, twirling two locks into a spirally hornshape, "Like, we look like a pair of besties! Both of us are going for the skintight look! At least it's not latex, that'd be uncomfortable."

"I, uh … I guess you're right," Ochako sighed, turning back to the rest of her costume as Reiko beside her secured the kimoto around her waist, fluffing up the furred collar and raising up her mask to cover her nose and mouth, "it's just … not exactly what I had in mind."

"Well, look on the bright side," Kyouka shrugged as she put on her jacket, "it looks … kinda comfortable? At least you aren't just wearing that, you got all that support stuff as well."

"Indeed," Momo nodded, grabbing the zipper to her hero costume and pulling it up to cover the exposed part of her upper body, not aware of Yui leaning over a bit to look, "it's a very nice look, Uraraka, even if it wasn't exactly what you had in mind. And if all else fails, we'll eventually go through some costume redesign, so if you don't like it, you can change it in the future."

"Just don't wait too long," Itsuka helpfully pointed out, grabbing her mask to start tying around her face, "or else you might get seen in that getup and that'll be what everyone knows you for. Kinda like Midnight's first costume - you know, the one where she pretty much wore a belt and a coat and that was it."

"So comforting," Ochako groaned, grabbing her boots to put on, "thanks, Kendou."

"You're welcome."

---

Meanwhile, in the other changing room, Izuku sighed as he clicked the strap on his chest in place, taking a second to step back and look at himself in the mirror. He was relieved that the jumpsuit that his mother made for him fit, although he gulped a bit nervously at how dumb he looked with one sleeve ending at his elbow, which he remedied by turning on the Full Gauntlet, being sure to tap it twice for Melissa to look at later for its second run.

The red belt around his waist fit perfectly, the elbow and knee pads weren't uncomfortable, the pair of red shoes that were modified with rubber for his quirk gave his toes a bit of wiggle room, and the white glove on his other hand without the Gauntlet fit nicely. As well, red straps lined with copper wrapped securely around his upper chest and biceps, and if he flexed a bit he found that it wasn't too tight, along with a pair of red shoulder guards. With a sigh, he grabbed the hood/mask part of his costume, a mask that obscured every part of his head except his eyes and mouth, and flipped it over his messy green hair, making sure no other strands got caught in the eyeholes, and sighed in relief that the ear-like protrusions on the top didn't flop over as he reached over towards the respirator he was going to wear over his lower face.

"Whoa, Midoriya, looking fancy!" He looked around at who had talked, seeing the kid named Denki giving him a thumbs up as he put on his own dark jacket. "Where'd you get the red glove? I'm not really sure if metal is supposed to go along with electricity, though."

"Er … usually it doesn't," Izuku chuckled weakly, glancing down at the support item on his wrist while the guys around him glanced around curiously, "but the Gauntlet was specifically designed with my quirk in mind. It absorbs the electricity I generate and lets me release it in smaller blasts so I don't hurt myself. That and, uh ... well, I'm not entirely sure how my quirk works, myself. I'm still trying to figure it out"

"Is that right?" Tenya put on his helmet from where he had been changing beside him, wearing a shining armor that looked somewhat familiar to Izuku, but not really sure where he recognized it from. "So that large blast of lightning from the entrance exam hurt you? That's extremely dangerous, Midoriya - are you sure that you should not have another one of these Gauntlets to support you?"

"W-well, it's not supposed to be something I use forever," Izuku explained with a bit of a blush behind his mask, "I'm supposed to use the Gauntlet until I learn how to lessen my quirk by myself without the use of support items."

"Well, it looks cool anyway!" Denki flashed him a dorky thumbs up. "I should probably take some pointers from you, Midoriya - you seem like you know what you're doing with your quirk. I'm kinda in the same boat as you, I'm still trying to figure mine out."

"A-ah," Izuku straightened up, looking at the blonde boy as he adjusted his collar - he'd forgotten that Denki's quirk was also an electric-type, which immediately grabbed Izuku's attention as he looked around at him, "so - so you also struggle with your quirk, Kaminari? Do you have any support gear to help you out?"

"Just this!" He pointed at the single, square-shaped earphone in his right ear, the design somewhat resembling a radio antenna. "Helps me pick up the radio waves around me!"

"... and … what about your quirk? Do you have any support for that?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna fire it out, see what happens! What could go wrong?"

There was a small silence in the changing room, everyone looking around at Denki as he flashed them all a goofy thumbs up - and then Yosetsu, standing off to the side wearing a burgundy bodysuit with a vest and white boots, let out a weak sigh.

"Just … try not to cook anyone, okay?" He patted Denki's shoulder, looking around at the other boys assembled in the changing room. "Anyway, should we get going? We don't want to keep All Might waiting."

"Right!" Eijirou punched his fists together, grinning around at everyone. "Let's go kick some ass!"

The boys agreed, and together, they started heading out of the room, Izuku hurrying to follow Tenya and Eijirou - and then a shoulder slammed into his, making Izuku yelp as he lost his footing and fell to the side. Thankfully, he fell towards Mezo, who was sure to catch him before he slammed against the ground.

"Out of my way, shitty Deku," Katsuki growled, stomping out the door after the group. Letting out a small sigh, Izuku straightened up, glancing up at the tall boy who had caught him with gratitude.

"T-thank you, Shouji."

"No problem, Midoriya," The tall, stoic boy nodded at him, "although I guess you should be careful. It seems like Bakugou has it out for you."

"I … guess you could say that," Izuku sighed, looking back around at the door where his old friend had vanished through - it seemed like Katsuki was more than a little excited for today's exercise, and had kept sending glares at Izuku while they had been getting changed, making it pretty clear that Katsuki was hoping that today's exercise would give him an excuse to take out his apparent aggression on his favorite chew toy. Hopefully, whatever All Might had in mind would keep Katsuki satisfied and away from Izuku.

Or Itsuka. Or Ochako.

Exiting the changing room, the boys started walking down the tunnel towards where All Might would be waiting for them, Izuku nervously adjusting the white glove on his non-dominant hand, and then behind them, they heard the sound of the girls' changing room door open. Looking around, Izuku gulped a bit seeing all the girls coming out in their hero costumes - some of them, like Kyouka and Pony, looked pretty conservative, but others like Setsuna and Mina were clearly enjoying wearing something a bit more … er … risque, Izuku supposed.

"Deku!" He looked around at the sound of Ochako calling out to him, and saw her and Itsuka hurrying to catch up with him, Itsuka moving her eyes to the top of his head and blinking while Ochako gave him a weak little wave, still obviously embarrassed by her costume.

"I, uh … hi, Deku," She cleared her throat, "we, uh … we might've forgotten to add something in the notes for my costume."

"H-huh?" Izuku wrinkled his brow, trying to remember what they could've possibly forgotten as he looked down - and then squeaked when he saw the problem. Yui, meanwhile, merely adjusted the hat on her head as she turned to look at Momo, the taller girl making sure to keep the zipper of her suit up as she looked around in curiosity.

"Is there something wrong, Kodai?" She asked innocently, not catching Yui's eyes drifting down to her legs, "I just noticed, you seem to be staring at me for some reason."

"I'm looking at your costume," She technically said the truth in a stoic tone, "we're both wearing red and white, I just thought it was cool."

"O-oh! Then - then I suppose this makes us 'twinsies'? I'm sure that's what Tokage would say."

"Mm. That's right. Twinsies."

Itsuka gave Yui a suspicious look, being sure to lean over and pinch her in the side to keep her from looking at Momo any longer than she needed to, and then turned to look over at Izuku, who was still staring at Ochako while his hands grabbed at the reciperator over his mouth, eyes wide and shaking while Ochako shook in embarrassment. Letting out a small sigh, she walked over, trying not to smirk, and flicked the ear on Izuku's mask, which thankfully did its job to distract him and look around at her in shock.

"Gotta say, nice ears, emerald rabbit." She giggled, poking the extension of his mask again while he sputtered.

"W-what? No, it's - it's supposed to be All Might's hair, it's - it's a shoutout!" Izuku looked panicked, reaching up to grab the ears. "Do - do they look like rabbit ears?!"

"Uh … kinda?" Ochako shrugged, making Izuku wheel back around at her.

"Occhan, why didn't you say anything before?!"

"I - I thought that was what you were going for!"

Nejire giggled a bit at Izuku's indignation, reaching forward to touch the ears as well and not noticing Itsuka's head snapping towards her so quickly there was an audible 'crick' in her neck. "It's cute, Midoriya! Like Kendou said, you look like a big emerald rabbit! Is that what you want to be called? Rabbit? Uh … Green Bunny? I'm no good with hero names, Yuuyu always made fun of me whenever we played heroes as a kid."

As they finally reached the end of the tunnel, that thankfully gave Izuku a reason to stop talking rather than address Nejire's 'cute' comment, which made him burn bright red under his mask while Itsuka and Ochako glared at the both of them.

Stepping out of the tunnel, the crowd of young students finally reached All Might as he gave them all a once over, hands on his hips as he smiled proudly at them. He glanced at Itsuka and Ochako, giving them a subtle, approving nod, and when his eyes flickered to Izuku, he briefly glanced away, raising a hand to cough into his hand, "So obvious." (which made Izuku give the two girls beside him a 'see?!' expression, both of them shaking their heads). With that, he turned back to the students, and nodded again.

"They say the clothes make the pros, your men and ladies," He laughed, "and behold, you are the walking, talking proof! Take this to heart ... from now on, you are all heroes in training! Oh, you all look great! You look so cool, I'm getting pumped up! Now then, shall we get started, you zygotes?!"

Turning around, All Might looked up at the sky, trying to look like he was being philosophical or something while in reality he was desperately trying to remember the next part of his speech that he had memorized last night with Tenko's help. "Now then!" He remembered, clapping his hands and deciding to start off small. "It's time for us to begin the combat training! Time to see what you're all made of!"

"Sir!" Tenya raised his hand, unaware that Yui, standing beside him, was looking up at the costume that covered him from head to toe in armor with an air of slight disappointment. "Regarding the performance ground we're currently using, is this the mock city from the entrance exam? In that case, are we conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite! We're actually going to be moving forward a few steps! Today's lesson will be an indoor battle trial! Most of the time, fighting villains or villain cleanup usually takes place outside, but statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job! Most acts of villainy are committed indoors: imprisonment, house arrest, the black market, in this hero saturated society - ahem - why, any villain with intelligence is lurking in the shadows!" Putting his hands on his hips again, All Might's grin widened, "In this exercise, you'll be separated into 'villain' and 'hero' groups for a two-on-two team battle!"

"Without basic training?" Tsuyu asked from her spot on the side.

"Well, this is foundational training! This is a real battle to understand those basics! However, the key this time is that there won't be any robots that it'd be okay to just destroy! You'll have to get creative!"

"How will wins and losses be determined?" Momo asked.

"Is it alright if we just beat them up anyway?" Katsuki growled.

"Is there a threat of expulsion like with Aizawa-teacher'sexercise?" Pony asked in a small, scared voice.

"If we're separating into different groups, what would be the best way to do so?" Tenya raised his hand up high.

"Is my costume cute?" Nejire asked curiously, poking her cheek.

All Might let out a pained groan as he clenched a fist and looked to the sky. "I ... will answer all your questions! I will tell you all how wins and losses will be decided in a moment! No, you can't just beat your opponents up! There is no threat of expulsion! I've got an idea in mind for making groups! And your costume looks very nice, Young Hadou!"

Quickly pulling out a script, which made Itsuka snort and Izuku look shocked at the sight of it, All Might cleared his throat, "Now listen here: For this training scenario, we'll have some 'villains' guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying! The heroes must stop them and their nefarious scheme before it's too late! Standard golden age American superhero stuff! If the heroes capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before the time runs out, they win! If the villains manage to keep the core the whole time or capture the villains, they win!"

Pulling out a box from behind his cape ("How was he keeping that there?" Setsuna asked in confusion), he held it out to the students, giving it a small shake, "Now then, teammates and opponents will be chosen by lottery!"

"Is that really how we'll do it?" Tenya went frigid with shock, taking a step back as though he couldn't believe the audacity. "They're being decided so haphazardly?!"

"Well, pros are often to make impromptu team-ups with other heroes they might not know very well," Izuku pointed out to him, "so maybe this is something to give us experience with that sort of thing?"

"Plus," Itsuka shrugged, "real life doesn't really give the option to do something in an orderly fashion. You just kinda have to adapt, so this'll give us some practice."

"I see!" Tenya clapped his hands together, nodding at both of his friends. "Always with our eyes on the future ... the discernment to look ahead ... I apologize for the interruption!"

"No big!" All Might threw his arm into the air, "Let's get this thing started!"

Very quickly, everyone lined up to pull out a ticket from the box to determine who they were going to team up with, excitement in the air as they waited to see who would be teaming up with who. Thankfully, it didn't take too long, with everyone pulling out a piece of paper, moving to the side, and waiting for whoever pulled out the same ticket to join them. Momo had nodded when Yosetsu pulled out the same ticket as her, the boy in the bandana glancing at her costume and gulping nervously; Setsuna raised an eyebrow when Hanta pulled out the same ticket as her, the teasing girl giggling a bit at the tape accessories on his costume, which he thankfully took in stride and laughed along with her; Pony looked nervous that she was paired with Mezo, glancing at his multiple arms, Denki got partnered with Kyouka, Eijirou with Katsuki, who merely scoffed at him, Yui with Reiko, both girls quietly looking at each other, the raven-headed boy named Fumikage with Tsuyu, and Tenya with Mina.

All Might had gulped nervously when Ochako and Itsuka ended up pulling out the same ticket, both girls giving each other a big high-five that they were getting partnered up again. Izuku had tried not to shake his head and laugh at the cheeky looks they had given him as he pulled out his own lot - although the cheeky looks and Izuku's grin had been pretty much wiped out instantly when Izuku's partner was determined.

"Oh, this is going to be great!" Nejire bounced around happily, lightly tapping Izuku's back with her fists while he internally panicked and went bright red, cursing his luck. "This is gonna be fun, Midoriya, let's do our best! Like back in the entrance exam!"

Oh, god, Izuku thought in panic, how am I supposed to look at her in the face without feeling embarrassed, let alone work with her?!

"Now then," All Might grinned, ruffling through two separate boxes labeled 'hero' and 'villain' respectively (while making a mental note to figure out if the lot box was rigged, staring at his former pupils confusedly), "the first teams that we will have fight ... will be ..." Suddenly yanking out his hands, he showed the two balls to the students with a victorious grin, "... these two!"

There was a few seconds of silence on the field as the students looked up at the balls in confusion, and Yosetsu raised his hand.

"Uh ... All Might?" He gulped, pointing up at his hands, "They're backwards. We can't see the letters."

"Huh?" All Might blinked, looking up at the balls to confirm that, yes, they couldn't see which letter was painted on, and letting out a surprised laugh. "Ah! So they are. Well, I can always count on the universe to humble me, young students. In any case -"

He turned the balls around, inspecting the letters, and then spun them around to show the students - the white ball with the letter 'C' and the black ball with the letter 'A'.

Oh, boy,All Might thought weakly, feeling a bit of sweat slide down his forehead, this'll be interesting.

"And there you have it!" All Might announced, throwing the two balls behind him dramatically. "We have our first combatants! Itsuka Kendou and Ochako Uraraka on the hero team, versus Nejire Hadou and Izuku Midoriya on the villain team!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... huh?" Izuku squeaked.

"Excuse me?" Itsuka blinked.

"Sorry?" Ochako asked.