Izuku made his way home from the entrance exam in high spirits. He felt like he got enough points to get into UA, helped a girl out who needed it, oh, and he became more powerful than most humans could ever even dream. All in all, not a bad day.

He was getting off the train near his apartment when his phone rang. He looked down; he saw it was All Might calling. He probably wanted to know how well Izuku did on the exam.

"Hello?"

"My boy! Well done on the exam. I can't say if you got in or not, but you certainly impressed everyone watching. Let's meet at the beach. We have much to discuss!"

Izuku agreed and made his way to Dagobah Beach, which was not too far from where he was.

Arriving, Izuku saw All Might's skeletal form and jogged over to him. All Might saw him and smiled. "Young Midoriya! I am very proud of you for your performance today!"

"How did you see it? I didn't think you'd be there."

All Might turned a bit red and said, "I can't say, it's top-secret but nothing bad, I assure you. Though, I have no say on who gets in and who doesn't. So if you do get in…" All Might winked at Izuku. Subtle. "It is on your merit. I was planning to make you sweat for a week until your acceptance or rejection arrived, but when I saw your instant and instinctual mastery of One For All, I couldn't hold off talking to you for so long. I'm proud of you and how hard you worked today. Any side effects?

Izuku pushed his oncoming tears down as much as he could, but come on. He was allowed to cry now, right? All Might was proud of him. Izuku willed himself to stop thinking about that. He focused on the answer to All Might's question, voice quavering, "No real side effects, but during the written exam, I belched so loud the windows in the classroom almost shattered."

All Might threw his head back and laughed. "I remember that I should have warned you. Your body was changing to accept One For All. That shouldn't happen again now that the power settled inside you. How did it feel, my boy?"

Izuku looked confused for a moment but said, "Well, it felt like I lost a few pounds, and I was lighter after it happened."

All Might laughed again. "No, my boy, I meant how did it feel to use One For All."

"Oh," Izuku said as he paused to think about it. "It was intense. When I accidentally jumped to the far end of the city to start, I was surprised by robots and just remembered what you said about clenching and shouting. It worked well. But I quickly realized that it was way too much power. I think I damaged some buildings. I hope I don't lose any points for that! Oh, I changed the weather too! Did you see that part? It was so cool. I was all, 'SMASH,' and it started raining, and then I did another, 'SMASH,' and the rain stopped. To think I have that much power now, it's unreal. Like am I in a coma somewhere and going to wake up quirkless again?"

All Might laughed at his successor. "My boy, this is no coma. This is real, and you have power. Embrace it! You are a natural at using one of the most potent quirks the world has ever seen." Izuku composed himself during All Might's comments. Or tried to anyway. "What was that green-lighting power you used after a while."

"Oh! I call it Full Cowl! I realized when I smashed with a lot of power, it was me just focusing One For All into my arm. When I spread it around my whole body, it was crazy. I found I could use Full Cowl at different percentages for different effects. I bet I'm as fast as you at 100%!"

All Might laughed again, "My boy, you are probably faster than this tired old man. And if you aren't, you will be. Now tell me more about…"

Izuku and All Might continued talking until the sun started setting, and Izuku felt lighter than he had in a long time. All Might, his mentor, was proud of him. Even if he didn't get into UA, he'd always cherish this moment.

Needless to say, Izuku got into the Hero Course at UA. The letter came a week later, it was a fancy hologram, and All Might gave him the news.

"Young Midoriya, I am here because I will be teaching at UA this year! You did very well in the written exam, scoring in the 99th percentile. You were only beaten in this by one student who took the recommendation exam. But heroics takes more than brains; you need some brawn too!" All Might flexed his muscles and smiled at the camera. "In the practical exam, you did very well. Yes, there was some collateral damage at first, but the judges attributed that to your not knowing your strength, for where could you have possibly tested it before the exam?" All Might winked. He was doing that a lot lately. Izuku wondered if he thought he was subtle.

"Thankfully, you separated yourself from the other examinees, and so your massively overpowered attacks harmed none of them! You received 177 villain points. But that's not all! What kind of a hero school would UA be if they weren't on the lookout for a heroic spirit?" The image changed from All Might to Izuku jumping and destroying the zero pointer, with All Might's voice talking over it. "Right here, at this moment, you proved to the world that you were here. You saved that girl who was in trouble and gained 60 rescue points! That brings your total up to 237 points - the highest score ever on UA's entrance exam! My combined score was only 145! Very well done, Young Midoriya! Everyone here is excited to see your growth and progress. This is your hero academia!"

Izuku realized the next day at school that he and All Might had forgotten to discuss how to pass off the fact that he developed a quirk last week. He discreetly pulled out his phone to text his mentor.

Me: All Might, everyone 'knows' I am quirkless at school. What do I tell them for how I got into UA's hero course with the highest score ever?

All Might: A good question, my boy!

There was a delay, and no other messages came through. There was no sign that his mentor was typing either. His homeroom teacher came into the room at that point, looking a little confused and disoriented.

"Well, good morning class. We have a few more high school acceptances to go over today. One of them may shock you, but we even confirmed it with the school."

Izuku knew it was about him and tried not to smile. He felt his phone vibrate.

All Might: What I told people was that I was a late bloomer, and my body needed to be a particular strength before the power activated or else it would destroy my body. This would work for you too, and you've been training it for a year now.

Izuku hoped that would work on Kacchan. Well, he was more explosion resistant now, at least. And if he had to fight to the death, he might take the middle school with him. That'll teach 'em.

A thought hit Izuku then; All Might had to make up an excuse? Was he quirkless too? He made a note to talk to his mentor later about it.

"Congratulations to Midoriya for getting into the UA Heroics Course with the highest exam result ever recorded... We knew you had it in you?"

"DEKU!" Kacchan screamed. Izuku just smiled back. He was going to UA whether Kacchan liked it or not. He hoped he didn't say that out loud, true though it was. It would not help to deescalate the situation.

There was a scream of rage, and Kacchan almost threw himself at Izuku. Before the explosive boy could reach him, their teacher's long hand had grabbed Kacchan and pulled him away.

"Okay, enough horseplay. Bakugo, you also got into UA and second place in the exam! We're all so proud of you both here at Aldera!"

"I know I speak for Kacchan when I say we surely couldn't have done it without your wonderful help and support, Sensei," Izuku said this with his biggest smile and the most sincerity he could. He hoped it made the man uncomfortable for how he had treated Izuku all year.

There was quiet in the room as no one knew what to say to that, but Izuku was happy that no one was attacking him.

"Um, of course, Midoriya, it's our job."

"And you do it so well!" Izuku said with his bright smile still in place. "Thank you so much for everything, Sensei! Your encouragement to take the exam was just what I needed to score so well."

Okay, that may have been pushing it, but it did feel good to see Sensei squirm, and it's not like they'd punish him. If Izuku learned anything from this school, it's that they don't punish kids they think have potential. It's why Kacchan got away with so much.

And as if in proof in his theory, his homeroom teacher smiled at him and moved on. Izuku could feel the eyes of his classmates on him. Some were openly turning around and staring at him while the teachers lectured all morning. Izuku smiled brightly at them. Nothing was going to bring him down.

Well, hopefully.

Izuku knew it was coming, so when Kacchan and his goons cornered him on the way to lunch, Izuku smiled and relaxed. He could deal with this. He had a superpower now too. He was ready to active One For All in a moment's notice. Kacchan might be hale and experienced, but Izuku was stronger. Much, much stronger. It almost felt like cheating in a video game, but it was real life.

"Deku, I don't know how you fucking did it, but you must have cheated. I was supposed to be the only one from this shitty school to go to UA. I will find out how you cheated and expose your nerdy ass to the whole world."

"Oh, did I mess up your origin story, Kacchan? I'd apologize, but All Might always says you need to overcome adversity to be a hero!"

A vein in Kacchan's forehead started to pulse. Wow, provoking the beast was way more fun than Izuku ever thought it would be. If it weren't for the gross power differential between them before last week, he would have done it more often. "I don't know what's gotten into you nerd, but I'm not going to risk my place at UA by putting you in your place. All I can say is you beat me in this one test, but you'll never, ever beat me again, loser. You shouldn't even bother trying. I'm so out of your league; you have no chance to beat me."

Izuku steeled his resolve and smiled. He felt more confident than he ever has before. "Okay, Kacchan. Whatever you have to tell yourself. I will go to UA, and I am going to beat you every chance I get. Have a nice lunch!" Izuku smiled and pulled on the power of One For All and sped down the hall as Kacchan's hand punched the wall where he stood.

The other boy let out a scream, Izuku thought it was more anger than pain, but it could have been both. His mom made him a celebratory bento today, and he was looking forward to eating it.

Middle school ended quickly. Kacchan went back to ignoring him, and honestly, Izuku liked that a lot. He used to revel in Kacchan's attention, but for a few years now, his friend-turned-bully was mean. Maybe he was growing up, not needing validation from Kacchan anymore. Now that he had his own power, he'd show everyone what a Deku could do.

As the year ended, Izuku took great pleasure in being called up to the front of the school when they announced that he and Kacchan had gotten into UA. Kacchan looked more miserable than angry. Izuku couldn't stop smiling at the muted applause from his assembled peers. He even had to give a small speech where he damned the school administration and teachers with some faint praise.

Middle school ended in March, and high school starred in April. Izuku spent most of his time off training with All Might or following his mentor's instructions. They had more time to discuss Izuku's excuse for having developed a quirk suddenly and filled in all the holes they could think of.

They also had a long conversation where All Might talked about his own time being quirkless, and Izuku opened up more about the treatment he'd received for not having a quirk. However, he didn't mention Kacchan. He might not like his old friend much these days, but he didn't want to destroy his dream. And Izuku was working hard to move on from the years of bullying and abuse from Kacchan and others.

All Might and Izuku decided that they'd say it came in after the sludge villain incident and that All Might saw him there and knew he had a quirk because he was a late bloomer for the same reason. Close to the truth but not the total truth. They'd tell the staff that Izuku had been working with All Might for about a year to prepare for UA if it came up.

Izuku wondered if it would pass muster with Kacchan. It probably would, especially if All Might backed him up. Izuku decided that even if Kacchan didn't believe him, he'd play it as if it was true, and make it seem like Kacchan was crazy. Thankfully Kacchan did not usually make good first impressions, so he should be able to get his new class to believe him pretty quickly.

Neither Izuku nor All Might understood that this decision of All Might 'mentoring' young Izuku would create some exciting rumors among not only the staff of UA but also his class going forward.

Finding classroom 1-A was more challenging than he expected. UA was huge. He finally found the door with a few minutes to spare, and he saw Kacchan was sitting there with his feet on the desk. Another year, another class shared with Kacchan. Izuku held in his sigh and kept the smile on his face as the blue-haired boy introduced himself as Iida Tenya. He gave Izuku a lot of credit and apologized for his actions at the exam.

Then Uraraka Ochako introduced herself again, and before they could talk more, a yellow... caterpillar entered the room. That turned out to be their teacher, in a sleeping bag for some reason. He introduced himself as Aizawa Shouta and explained that they needed to put on gym uniforms and get to the ground beta. Aizawa-sensei said they would be doing a quirk apprehension test. Unlike the standard fitness tests they did in middle school, they could use their quirks in this assessment.

When everyone was changed and reported to ground beta, Aizawa-sensei called him out, "Midoriya, up here please. You got the highest score on the practical exam. The highest score ever actually. So you'll be our guinea pig. What was your score in the softball throw in middle school?

"About 45 meters, I think?" Izuku said. The last fitness test had been before he started training with All Might. He imagined that it would be higher now after de-trashing a beach, even without his quirk.

"Good, now don't leave the circle and throw the ball as hard as you can. Don't hold back at all. I'll know if you do."

Izuku caught the ball and looked at his teacher. "Are you sure I shouldn't hold back a little? I don't want to cause any trouble around the campus." He could hear Bakugo make his patented tch sound from the sidelines.

"No, go plus ultra."

"Um, okay, but you might want to move back a few dozen meters? And tell the class to brace themselves. Am I liable for any broken windows or anything?"

"Stop talking and throw. Any property damage will be on me." Aizawa-sensei sounded bored, but Izuku was nervous because going full 100%. If he did, the ball would sure go flying, but his experience with 100% was that it was a little bit of overkill. He decided to throw the ball at around a 75-degree angle, so it didn't kill someone when it landed. "Any day now."

"Right, sorry, sensei," Izuku said as powered One For All up, cocked his arm back, closed his eyes and threw the ball with all his might.

He opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was that it was raining. The second thing he noticed was that his class had was blown over and a few meters back from where they were.

The small purple boy with balls on his head had seemingly flow a dozen meters beyond the rest of the class. Aizawa-sensei was on his back, landing where most of the class had been before he threw the ball.

In the distance, Izuku heard alarms going off, announcing level two security breach and Izuku saw at least a few broken windows on various school buildings. A weather vein had fallen off the roof of a nearby building, and some nearby solar panels were shattered.

"Um, sorry?"

Aizawa-sensei was dusting himself off. "Okay, that one is on me. Good job with the throw, it went several hundred kilometers before the connection was lost, with the altitude it was at, it's more than likely flying in space now and will continue to do so until it hits something else." The rest of the class was slowly standing and gaping at him. All except for Kacchan, who was still lying on the ground, perhaps at a loss for the first time in his life. "I need to call the school to tell them we are not under attack. Don't kill each other or I'll expel you."

Aizawa-sensei stepped away, and Izuku stood in the circle awkwardly. He felt kind of bad for the damage, but he had warned his teacher. His classmates were chattering excitedly at what had happened. Deciding to apologize to his classmates, he walked over and bowed. "My apologies for knocking you over with my quirk. And for the rain. It can be problematic when I use too much power, but Aizawa-sensei instructed me to use my full power. So, I'm sorry?"

"No, dude, that was so manly!"

"It was like All Might himself threw the ball, kero."

"Perhaps you should tone it down for the rest of the tests."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Izuku replied to the taller girl with a ponytail while looking down and scratching the back of his neck.

It seemed Kacchan had come to his senses. Or at least was aware enough to throw himself bodily at Izuku, screaming, "DEKU!"

Izuku activated Full Cowl and was suddenly standing behind most of the class. He didn't want to fight Kacchan. "Can't we talk about this Kacchan?"

"Sure, I just want to talk, Deku." Kacchan was clenching his teeth do tightly, his jaw wasn't even moving when he spoke. "Just come over here, and I'll italk/i to you." Kacchan had a manic grin on his face that still scared Izuku on a primal level.

"Are you really trying to pick on the kid who literally just threw a softball out of the stratosphere?" A girl with earphones hanging from her earlobes asked.

That was a valid point. Sometimes old instincts, when it came to Kacchan, reared their ugly head. He could totally take Kacchan in a fight, but he didn't want to on the first day of school. Or really, not for a while, maybe. Or never?

Regardless, Izuku did the brave thing and stepped away from the protection of the class and moved towards Kacchan. He kept his arms at his sides and stood straight and looked the other boy in the eyes and smiled.

Needless to say, Izuku was slightly surprised when Kacchan was flying towards him in unbridled rage. Izuku didn't even have time to react when Kacchan was practically in his face. Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes and turned up his One for All durability and waited.

After a moment he took a chance and opened one eye slightly, only to see Kacchan struggling against a tentacle? What kind of anime was this again? Oh, it was a scarf coming from Aizawa-sensei. Their teacher was glaring at them, eyes red and glowing.

Izuku gasped and said, "You're Eraserhead! An underground hero who can cancel out other people's quirks. That's so cool—"

"What's going on here. Bakugo, stop using your quirk, you're giving me dry eye." That seemed to quiet Kacchan. He was always wary of new teachers until he knew how far he could press things.

Iida started to say that Bakugo had launched an unprovoked attack on their classmate, who made no aggressive moves, but he was interrupted by Aizawa-sensei, who said, "Never mind. I don't care. Bakugo, no fighting outside heroics classes. I am not shy about expelling students, and if you don't show potential as a hero, I won't hesitate to expel any or all of you. Whoever comes in last place in this assessment will be expelled."

That caused a clamor from the students. Izuku didn't feel much worry. He hoped he could do well in the tests, maybe not top them all, but he'd do his best. Once Aizawa-sensei explained that life wasn't fair and the tests started.

The first test was the 50-meter dash. Izuku wasn't concerned about this one at all. With Full Cowl at 100% he'd be over the finish line before the gunshot finished sounding. They seemed to be going in pairs by seat number, which meant he was against Kacchan. Izuku smiled a little because the other boy was going to be rather upset that Izuku could beat him. Again. Izuku really was enjoying the cathartic feelings he got from winning. He could see why Kacchan liked it so much.

There were some pretty impressive quirks here, which made sense for UA's hero course. The best score so far was by Iida who had a speed quirk and came in at 3.04 seconds.

When Izuku's turn rolled up, he was standing next to Kacchan, and Aizawa-sensei said, "Problem Child," Izuku looked at Kacchan. "No, I meant you, Midoriya. Please limit yourself to a level where you will not damage your surroundings too much."

"Um, yes, sensei. I think this one will be okay power-wise. Don't need too much power to run 50 meters quickly."

Aizawa nodded and started the race. Izuku had Full Cowl powered up and ready, so when the gunshot fired off, he moved very fast. In the literal blink of an eye, he was over the finish line. His score came up as .01 seconds. Kacchan launched himself with his explosives, and not a small amount of rage finished in 4.13 seconds. He let out a growl but made no move to attack Izuku. Progress? Yeah, probably not.

His classmates were very impressed with his speed, and even Iida came over to congratulate him on getting the fastest score. Izuku was feeling pretty good about his classmates as they moved to the second test.

The next test was grip strength, and Izuku grinned. This one would be easy. Izuku was very impressed with a classmate who had several arms (more tentacles?) and was able to get 540kg. The other standout was the ponytailed girl who used her quirk to create a device that overpowered the grip tester.

When Izuku's turn came up, Aizawa sighed and said, "We've already had one grip tester broken, do you think you can score over 999kg?"

"I mean, probably, sensei. I can concentrate my power into either one area of my body or across it. If I powered up my hand it would be able to put out a really strong force."

"Right, we'll just put you at max with Yaoyorozu." That must be the ponytail girl's name. He really needed to work on learning names.

Izuku smiled and moved back to the group of students. If Kacchan's looks could kill, Izuku would be dead and All Might would be looking for another successor. And Izuku had to admit to himself that if Kacchan was going to kill him, he'd probably have already been dead and would never have gotten a quirk in the first place.

The short purple boy with balls on his head was complaining it wasn't fair that Midoriya didn't have to take the test, but no one really paid him too much mind. He was mostly going up to the girls and looking at them with a hungry expression and Izuku could tell that the other boy was making them uncomfortable. Izuku would be keeping an eye on the little purple guy that's for sure.

The third test was the standing long jump. It had just stopped raining and everyone was pretty wet still. While waiting for his turn, he noticed Mineta was openly leering at the girls, mumbling about a wet tee-shirt contest, and Izuku felt bad he had made it rain.

When it was his turn, Izuku asked a question. Aizawa-sensei sighed but nodded, "Sensei, I can control my own lift with my quirk, I can basically float. How far do you want me to go?"

"Just keep going until I tell you to stop or you hit the ground."

Izuku nodded. He had played around a lot with his floating. Once he realized it was how he stopped in mid-air when destroying the zero pointer, he wanted to figure it out. And he was nothing if not an avid quirk analyst with a break between school years and zero friends.

Izuku stood at the end of the sandpit and activated Full Cowl at about 5%. Green lightning flashed around his body and he jumped. He easily cleared the sand before he even activated the float-y part of his quirk. When he noticed he was starting to slow down, he turned it on and instead of dropping towards the ground, he continued forward. Izuku made the mistake of looking back to see if Aizawa-sensei was stopping him yet, but timed it poorly and so he ran into the wall at the end of the school property. Oops. He wasn't hitting the ground yet but didn't seem to have much more room to go. Kicking off the wall he propelled himself back towards the class, still floating along.

Aizawa was rubbing the bridge of his nose and Izuku could have sworn that he muttered something that sounded like, "I need a drink." Turning to look at Izuku, Aizawa said, "Are you hurt Problem Child?"

Izuku turned his head, confused. "No? Why would I be?"

Aizawa closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "You hit the wall pretty hard."

"Oh! My quirk makes me pretty durable. Not even a scratch!"

Aizawa-sensei nodded and said, "You can land now."

Izuku blushed when he realized he was still floating there. He settled back to the ground gently and they moved on.

Repeated side steps was an interesting test. The small purple boy, who Izuku learned was named Mineta did very well here, bouncing back and forth from piles of his hairball things.

Izuku did well again, this time cranking up Full Cowl so he moved so fast that he got more side steps than everyone else had combined. He wasn't even tired afterward. He love, love, loved his quirk. Mineta seemed to be put out that his score wasn't the best on that test, if his walking over to Yaoyorozu and trying to grope her bottom was any indication. Izuku wondered who was going to lose and be expelled. He kind of hoped it would be Mineta.

The ball throw was next and Izuku again sat out since he had already thrown a ball decently far. Kacchan got over 700 meters and screamed, "Die!" as he threw the ball. He looked mad after he threw. Maybe because it didn't go further, or maybe because Kacchan always looked kind of mad.

Uraraka got a score of infinity, which was pretty cool. Granted Izuku's ball may have gone on for infinity too, seeing her lightly toss the ball that distance was pretty cool. He said as much to her.

She blushed and said, "It wasn't nearly as impressive as your throw!"

"Untrue! It was super cool that you got it to go so far without destroying this end of campus!" Izuku said.

The students around them laughed at that. Izuku felt like there were serval people here who he could be friends with. Maybe he was trying too hard, but he didn't want to give Kacchan the chance to define him here like he had in Middle School.

The next test was a seated toe touch. This was probably the one Izuku had the most trouble with. He was quite flexible and with a little One For All he went beyond what he normally could do, but he was outclassed by the frog looking girl who didn't seem to have bones with how she could contort herself quite impressively.

"That was really great, Asui-San!"

"Thank you. Call me Tsu."

Izuku blushed and didn't really have a response for her other than some stammering nonsense.

When the next test was announced to be sit-ups, Izuku grinned. He could do sit-ups for days. The class was divided into two groups. One to spot the other. Izuku was a spotter first and when it was his turn he sat down and went to town, Ojiro, the boy with a tail, keeping his feet down.

With Full Cowl at 20%, Izuku did about 200 sit-ups in the first minute. He was going faster than the eye could see and after the last student was done, Aizawa stopped him, checking the readout and shaking his head. Izuku looked over at the counter and he had done over 1000 sit-ups which was more than anyone else had done. And he could keep going if need be.

Izuku's chest felt a little sore but nothing like when he was overworking at Dagobah Beach a few months back. Just the burn of a nice workout.

The final test was the long-distance run. It was only 4km and Izuku could do that easily. As the class was lining up, he asked them to all stay out of the outermost ring on the track, so he didn't bowl them over. The track was 400m long so he knew he'd have to go around it 10 times. Easy with Full Cowl.

He took the starting position and fired up Full Cowl to 75%. This was the safest level to use because if he went much higher he was afraid that he might damage the track with his footsteps.

When Aizawa started the race, Izuku zoomed off. He lapped most of the class within the first second and had finished the 4km in 15 seconds. He looked over to Aizawa for instructions and his teacher sighed. "Just sit there, Problem Child. You did very well. I'm not sure how no one has heard of you before now. You could have gotten in on recommendation very easily. Why didn't you?"

"Oh, I wanted to prove myself. And my quirk came in late. I had to have a certain level of physical fitness before my body felt it was safe to use."

Aizawa looked him up and down, eyes squinting. "When did it come in?"

"About ten months before the entrance exam when I started working out with Al- my trainer. Everyone thought I was quirkless before that. That's why Kacchan is so mad at me, I think. He wanted to be the only one from our middle school to get to UA, and now someone he saw as quirkless and beneath him is here doing well." Izuku shrugged.

Aizawa-sensei made a noise of interest when Izuku heard the putter of a moped approached them. Yaoyorozu was riding it. Did she make it? Her quirk was so cool.

While they waited for the rest of the class to finish (Iida came in third, Kacchan in 4th), he talked to Yaoyorozu about her quirk. He was jealous of how useful it was.

When everyone finished, they all lined up waiting for the results. "I'm not going to bother going over this one by one, so just find yourself on here."

Their teacher used his phone and projected the results. Izuku was not surprised to see himself in first place. Yaoyorozu was after him, followed by someone named Todoroki. Izuku thought he might be the ice quirk guy because he was dominating on some of the tests. Kacchan was in fourth and looked more ticked off than usual. Izuku hoped that his old friend wouldn't direct his lousy mood towards him.

Izuku glanced at last place and saw Mineta there. He felt kind of bad that the kid would be expelled, but he really didn't scream hero material to Izuku. The boy in question was on his knees crying. He said, "But how am I going to meet hot babes if I'm not a hero?"

Aizawa-sensei had the same expression on his face that he usually did. Bland disinterest.

Yaoyorozu gasped when she realized that their teacher was serious about expelling the student in last place. Mineta was still crying as Aizawa led him away towards the principal's office to fill out the paperwork needed for expulsion.

Izuku went to change with the rest of the class. They made small talk, mostly talking about their scores and what they could have done better. Izuku doesn't say much, not wanting to set Kacchan off when there were no teachers around.

It went well, all things considered, and he made it back to the classroom, got his stuff, and headed home, happy to have done well on his first day of school.

Bonus

It was not unusual to see a teacher (usually Shouta) laying on the couch in the teacher's lounge of the heroics department. Today was no exception.

Nemuri walked in with Hizashi. They took one look at Shouta and laughed. "Oh, Shouta. It looks like you had a day. I assume the alarms going off during orientation was your doing? Or one of your problem children?"

There was a sigh from the couch. "It was my fault. The kid even warned that if he used full power, it might cause some damage. But no, I wanted to show the class they needed to go plus ultra in my test. So I told him to use as much power as he could to throw the softball. It left orbit and he caused it to start raining for twenty minutes. By throwing a ball. Who makes kids this stupidly powerful?"

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad!" Yamada said.

"He also finished the long-distance run, 4km, in less than 15 seconds and did about 1000 sit-ups before I stepped in. Oh, and he can fly or float because in the long jump, he hit the school wall waiting for me to tell him to stop. And then flew back to me, either doubling or canceling out his score. Regardless, he was safely in first place."

Both of Aizawa's friends laughed at him.

"It's the first day, at least you got to expel a student! That always makes you feel better."

"I don't like expelling students. Well, usually. This one was groping the girls on top of getting last in the test, so I really didn't mind. How did they let him in, in the first place? At least there's room for a kid in my class with potential now."

"Sounds like you need a drink, Shouta."

"A drink? I am going to be bringing my flask to school and drinking Irish Coffee every day come the Sports Festival. I know it." There was a lull while his friends laughed. "Oh, and the incredibly overpowered fifteen-year-old also knew my hero name. And another kid knew him in middle school. This other kid is mad that someone else from their school got into UA? And on top of that, Problem Child was a late bloomer, and everyone thought he was quirkless. So you know he's going to have great self-confidence in his ability to level cities when he sneezes."

"Don't be too hard on him, Shouta. That he got control of such a powerful quirk so quickly says something about the little listener."

All Might, in his small form, walked into the lounge with a smile and took in the scene. "Good afternoon! How was your day, Aizawa? I noticed your class was not at the orientation. All's well, I hope!"

All Might was not expecting a groan of existential despair from his colleague. Then Shouta sat up. "All Might, you know Midoriya, don't you? I saw your proud look when he destroyed the zero pointer in the entrance exam. And he said he was training with someone and started to say what sounded like your name."

All Might looked slightly taken aback by the question. "I do know young Midoriya. He has a similar quirk to mine, and he was a late bloomer, as I was. I helped train him for UA."

There was a silence as all three of them processed that. "Is he as strong as you, All Might?" Nemuri asked.

All Might laughed, and Shouta felt better until the number one hero opened his mouth. "Oh no, he's much stronger than I am now, certainly. As strong, if not stronger than when I was in my prime. Plus, he seems to be able to float! An incredibly useful power that my own master wielded. I can't wait to see how far he goes. Further, than I ever did, I'm sure."

It was at that moment that Shouta truly gave into despair.

Hizashi and Nemuri were looking at All Might. The way he was so proud of his student and they were not sure how to respond. It seemed as if All Might and Midoriya had more of a connection than just a mentor and student. Hizashi and Nemuri shared a look with each other but didn't say anything else.

Later, after All Might left, Hizashi said, "Okay, tell me I'm wrong, but All Might seemed to care for Midoriya more than a regular student, didn't he? He was all proud father for a minute there."

"You saw it too!" Nemuri said. "I was going to mention it. Do you think All Might is his father? He was adorable!"

Shouta looked up from the couch and closed his eyes, and sighed. "That makes too much sense. But I refuse to believe it."

"Nedzu would know. Betting poll?" Hizashi said.

Nodding and smiling, Nemuri said, "Betting pool."

Aizawa wished more than anything he could fall asleep and never wake up. It was going to be a long year.

Bonus 2

Orbiting the moon of the third planet of a relatively unnoteworthy world, a group of what humans would call extraterrestrials watched as a small spherical object approached their ship on its sensors. They were xeno-anthropologists, studying other less developed species and their cultures. It seemed that somebody might have discovered them.

"Scans are picking up nothing, captain. It seems to be a ball with some circuitry inside," one crew member said. "Perhaps one of their primitive location devices?"

"But why was it sent directly towards us? Could it be a probe?" Asked another.

"They've never noticed us before, and I'd think they would send one of their primitive radio messages before tossing a ball at us?" Asked a third.

"Bring it onboard. We will examine it further after it goes through decontamination," the captain said.

There had been an impressive force behind the ball's forward movement. The ball looked to have a little wear on it, perhaps from its achieving escape velocity from the planet's atmosphere. They used the ship's tractor beam to slow it down and brought it aboard the ship.

The crew member who picked it up from the docking bay decontamination unit wondered why there was a stylized 'UA' on it. What could it mean? Was it an intentional message?

Those on the ship never did figure out what the primitives were trying to say, but they sent the ball back to their homeworld to be housed in a museum of mostly plundered human antiquities.

It would remain a mystery for many decades. But an interesting one to those curious about the unknowables from other cultures. Several students even did their doctoral theses and further research on the strange ball and its purpose. All of them were, of course, dead wrong.

They were all a little disappointed when decades later, the human ambassador was able to track down what the story was. Having recognized the UA crest and correlating it with the date told them it was a fifteen-year-old showing off his superpowers.

No one ever said xeno-anthropology was a rewarding subject. But back on Earth, the legend of an already great hero grew a tiny bit larger.