-Arc III-
'Hero School'
Itsuka bit back a curse as she weaved to the side to avoid her opponent's strike. Ducking down she swept her right leg already knowing that it would fail to connect. She expected her opponent to leap into the air so she was shocked when the man instead merely took a step back. She mentally groaned as she launched the roundhouse kick, having already committed to the action and too late to change it. It was simple for her foe to grab the extended left leg and use it to pull her off balance.
As she bunny hopped forward, her leg still gripped in her opponent's arms, Itsuka gritted her teeth as she twisted her captive leg. It was painful, her opponent had quite the grip on it after all, but the small movement allowed her to twist her hips and swing her right up at the man's temple.
Even with the superior endurance bodies had now thanks to Quirks the power and momentum of the attack would have had almost anyone seeing stars, that was if the blow connected of course. Instead Itsuka's foe merely shoved the girl's captive leg towards her torso letting the limb go as he did so causing the airborne girl to fall to the ground in a heap of odd angled limbs and white fabric. As the orange headed girl sat up she found herself greeted with a fist hovering inches in front of her face. For a moment she stared at it, her eyes almost crossed before she closed them letting out a heavy sigh that both of them knew to be her admission of surrender.
Opening her eyes back up Itsuka watched not the least bit annoyed as the fist opened up into an inviting hand, one she took as she was helped to her feet. Letting out a groan the orangette took a moment to stretch her limbs, particularly her legs as she waited for the man to speak.
"You did alright today," he said after a moment, "you were a little slower than usual but that is to be expected since you weren't allowed to use your Quirk. As it was, your main mistakes were committing to your attacks beforehand. It left you open and once you fell into a pattern or over committed I was easily able to take advantage of them."
Itsuka nodded her understanding as the man let a relaxed, easy-going grin cover his face, "Now go upstairs and take a shower, your Mom's probably almost done with breakfast." Itsuka rolled her eyes but she nevertheless did as she was commanded.
Coming back downstairs having showered and switched her keikogi out for her new U.A. school uniform, Itsuka sat down at the kitchen table grabbing a bit of both eggs and rice with her chopsticks before shoveling the food in her mouth as her eyes flickered to the grandfather clock that stood near the doorway. "Eyes on your food, Missy." A calm voice interrupted the orangette's concentration and Itsuka couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine as she turned her complete attention to the bowl that rested before her. Moments later another bowl was set on the table and Itsuka raised her eyes slightly to look at her mom as the woman sat down across from her.
Dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt Aika Kendo looked like your average suburban housewife, something the red apron that hung from her neck and was tied tight behind her back did nothing to discourage. Aika's hair was the light orange of a tangerine in contrast to her daughter's dark pumpkin shading but the teal eyes the two of them shared more than affirmed their relationship.
"So…," the woman spoke her eyes on her daughter as she poked at her food with her chopsticks, "are you excited for your first day of school?"
"Yeah," Itsuka admitted, she shook her head. "I still can't believe I got in, I mean it's U.A."
"You deserve it honey," Aika said before pausing to take a bite of her own rice and eggs. "You worked hard to get accepted, I can barely remember the last time you worked on your motorcycle you spent so much time either studying or training with your father." Itsuka flushed red, bringing her chin to her chest in a vain attempt to hide her blush. "Speaking of your father, where is the man?, I would like to have a talk with him"
The woman's voice, formerly smooth and warm, became just a bit harder on the word 'talk' and Itsuka stiffened in her seat. Forcing herself to swallow, Itsuka opened her mouth only for her father to choose that exact moment to come bustling into the room allowing Itsuka to avoid speaking by shoveling some more food in her mouth.
"Hello, honey," Itsuka's father, Iai said leaning down to kiss his wife lovingly on the cheek, "what's for breakfast?"
"Itsuka and I are having rice and eggs," the Kendo matron said flashing the man of the house a small smile with her eyes closed. The woman's smile fell though as she raised a hand to her cheek and continued speaking, "Unfortunately it seems we're all out of eggs, so you'll have to make do with something else."
"Really?" Iai asked, his bright smile faltering briefly before it was put back into place. "I could have sworn I got some eggs when I went to the store earlier this week." Aika responded with a noncommittal hum and the man's eyes flickered to Itsuka who at that moment seemed to find something incredibly fascinating about the tabletop next to her bowl. "Oh well, I was in the mood for toast anyway."
The man's hand was reaching for the clearly visible bread that was out on the counter when his wife spoke again, her tone as warm as ever although his hand froze just short of the loaf as the words register, "Hmmm," she hummed, "but we're all out of bread as well."
Iai gulped as he turned towards his wife, his face pale while the woman gave him the same close eyed grin she'd sported since he'd first entered the room. "Honey?" he questioned.
"Honey?" Aika said, raising a finger to tap at her chin, each one reminding the unfortunate man of a judge about to hand out their final ruling, "I think we just might be out of that too."
"GottogoorI'llbelateforschool," Kendo blurted standing up from her chair as she dropped her chopsticks on the table and rushed for the door.
"It~su~ka," Aika called, drawing the name out and freezing the orangette in her tracks one hand actually on the kitchen doorway, "I don't recall you being dismissed."
Casting a longing glance at the front door and the freedom it would provide Itsuka reluctantly turned around and made her way back to her seat, collapsing into it roughly her expression downturned. "Now, now," Aika chided, "I just wanted to have a…" she seemed to ponder for a moment, "...talk with the both of you." Understanding the unspoken command, Iai took his seat as well. "Very good," Aika congratulated, her tone that of an owner who'd just seen their dog perform an amusing trick, "now would either of you like to tell me what you were doing this morning?"
Her companions were silent although their eyes briefly flashed to each other before returning to the table. "Itsuka?" Aika questioned, her daughter stiffened as she gulped before focusing her attention on a knot in the wooden table. The matron let the silence drag on until it became clear the orangette would remain silent, sighing the woman turned her attention to her husband.
"Iai?" she tried, this time the pause that followed was much shorter. "Iai, your wife is talking to you," the woman tried again in a singsong voice but the tone made it clear that if the man didn't answer he could expect to find a new place to sleep at night for the foreseeable future.
The man mumbled something. "What was that?"
He mumbled again, "Iai if you don't speak up the bed is going to be empty for the foreseeable future," Aika warned.
"We were in the dojo practicing," Iai caved, Itsuka shooting him a betrayed look although she quickly looked forward as her mother spoke.
"Really?" Aika said, her voice as cold and biting as ice, "You two were in the dojo 'practicing' on the first day of school? A heroic school that is known to take only the best of the best and that pushes its students to go, what's their motto again, Plus Ultra from day one?"
"Y-Yes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Itsuka."
"Aye!" Itsuka snapped to attention sitting ramrod straight in her chair.
"From now on you are forbidden to train with your father before going to school. You can train when you get home if you have the energy or on the weekends but I will not have you wearing yourself out only to get hurt from something that could have been avoided if you'd been at the top of your game. Am I understood?"
"Ayeee," Itsuka moaned a lot more downcast, although she didn't like her mother's ruling she understood the sensibility of it. She wanted to be a hero and although she'd pushed herself hard in the time she'd spent training with All Might the last few months she understood that it would be nothing compared to what it would be like at U.A. Maybe it was better to drop the morning training sessions, she could always start them up again later if needed after her mother had calmed down a bit.
"As for you mister," Aika continued, drawing her daughter's attention back to the conversation at hand, "you and I are going to have a… talk later."
"Yes, honey," Iai said, nodding meekly.
"Great, now Itsuka you should get going if you don't want to be late. Leave your bowl I'll clean up, have a great day at school, behave, make lots of friends and remember,"
"I know I know," Itsuka said standing up and heading towards the doorway, "I love you too." Striding towards the front door, Itsuka grabbed her bag from the coat rack tossing it over her shoulder as her hand landed on the knob before she was ambushed from behind and pulled into a hug.
"I still have to say it." Aika said flashing her daughter a smile, "We love you little tiger."
Itsuka blushed at the nickname, it was something her Mom had started calling her as a child and although she'd stopped using it over the years she still pulled it out whenever she wanted to embarrass Itsuka or just was feeling like her daughter was growing up.
"We're proud of you darling," her father spoke up, a hand on the back of Ituska's head pulling her gently to his chest, "you'll never understand until you have kids of your own but…"
"I love you too," Itsuka said, trying to muffle the tremble in her voice and hide the tears that sprouted in the corner of her eyes. She gave the two a squeeze before dropping her arms, her parents following suit a few seconds later. "I'll see you guys tonight," she said, pushing the door open and striding through it casting one last glance over her shoulder before she let it swing shut behind her.
Walking down the steps, Itsuka started heading towards the station. While not the longest ride in the world, it was still more convenient to ride to school on the bullet train rather than walk across the city to get to U.A.'s campus. Once she got on the train and settled in an open seat Itsuka pulled out a motorcycle manga she'd taken a recent interest in and began to read looking out the window every now and then at the buildings as they went past. She once thought she caught a glimpse of a Hero running or hopping across the rooftops but the figure disappeared before she could get a better look. After catching a glimpse of a limo stopped at a traffic light Itsuka finally acknowledged that she was spending more time looking around than reading and put the manga back in her bag. Normally the small paperback book would have been enough to occupy her attention but today Itsuka just couldn't seem to get into it. She figured it was nerves originating from starting at one of the top schools in the country but she wasn't sure. After all, how bad could her first day at school really be?
Sitting in the backseat of her limo Momo fit the description of the Yaoyorozu family heiress to a T. Back straight, feet crossed, dressed in a uniform ironed fresh that morning everything from the girl's stylized ponytail to her manicured fingernails and perfect posture gave the ravenette the appearance of a prim and proper young lady. In fact the only thing that seemed to detract from the image was the phone currently raised to her right ear that the girl was speaking into. "How is your Quirk training progressing?" she asked.
The voice on the other end of the line sighed, "It's going but that's not the real reason you called me is it?"
Momo was silent for a second before she spoke softly, "No, I suppose it wasn't." The silence that followed was her encouragement to continue, "I just- I am unsure if I will be able to pull it off," she admitted. "It's not that I intend to betray you or work against you, it's just…"
"You're worried about getting caught?"
"No, that's not it." She leaned back resting her head on the top of her seat as she looked up at the roof of the car above her, "I want to help you, I feel like I belong at your side assisting you however I can but at U.A. I won't be there to-"
"To what? Look out for me? Assist me? Momo do you know why I wanted you to infiltrate U.A. and spy for me?"
"You said it was so that I could provide you with information," Momo remembered repeating Izuku's words back as she pondered the purpose of his question. "So that I could look for potential allies while gathering information about students and heroes. I could also protect you, sabotage any information they might possess while working against them without their knowledge."
"That's right," Izuku said, "you doing this shows how much trust and faith I have in you. I know you can do this Momo, I know that you will make me proud. This is an investment in the future, you're a first-year right now and I honestly don't expect that you'll be able to do a whole lot. You shouldn't have a whole lot of action until your senior year and it's only afterwards when you go pro that you'll actually have access to the information I'll likely be wanting."
"Then why-"
"Because you're my friend Momo,"the voice said, cutting the ravenette off. "You weren't there after the raid. You didn't have to wonder if your friend, one of the only people you care about, was going to die because of something you ordered."
"Izuku-sama"
"No Momo, before the raid I was sending you to U.A. because I wasn't sure if you would be able to deal with everything we'd have to do as villains. I worried that you couldn't handle it. You might have been raised to be a villain, the next lieutenant in the family, but I was the one who met and trained with the girl underneath the 'perfect heiress' persona. The raid showed me that I was wrong but now I'm more worried about keeping my friend alive than about any information you might be able to get me."
"Midoriya-sama, if you are doing this to protect me then I swear on the Yaoyorozu name that-"
"Momo, stop talking." The command came through the phone crisp and clear and Momo fell silent as the blood within her heated up, the command imposing itself over her although it was weak, the greenete likely giving it unintentionally. "Momo, I don't want you to get hurt, not right now so soon after… that. I-" he paused, "I can't protect you, not right now. At U.A. you're safe and I promise, no I swear to you that I am not throwing you away. I need you Momo but not right now. Right now I need to focus on growing stronger, learn how to use this new Quirk of mine."
"And having me around would only distract you." Momo said bitterly, her voice cold.
"What? No, I-"
"It's fine, I understand. If I learn something I'll let you know."
"Momo, wait." Izuku begged, and although Momo wanted to hang up, the command strayed her hand long enough for her to hear Izuku's next line. "Look I'm sorry." He paused once more, "I know you have to go and Sensei wanted to speak to me so I guess just… don't hold back, show them what Momo Yaoyorozu can do." There may have been more but at that point the command had weakened enough for Momo's finger to hit the end call button terminating it having been in the middle of doing so before she'd been frozen and finishing the second the command weakened enough for Momo to do so.
Closing her eyes Momo's head fell forward to hang loosely the phone coming up to rest lightly against her forehead, "Idiot." the ravenette muttered. "Stupid, overprotective, heroic, idiot."
"Madame Yaoyorozu," the driver's voice made the girl sit up from her slouch, her back straightening automatically, "we're here."
"Oh, um, right. Thank you Sebastian." Momo said mentally cursing her brief stumble as she glanced out the window to see the famed U.A. gates and a steady stream of students flowing through them. Grabbing her school bag she pushed the limo door open and stepped out, closing the door behind her. As Sebastian drove off Momo paused in front of the U.A. gates looking up at the interconnected golden letters above them.
Momo knew that to all the other students standing where she was now was a source of pride. An elite school for only the best of the best, one Momo knew many others would kill to get into yet Momo would give almost anything to trade places with that person. To instead be standing by the side of an idiotic greenete in an isolated manor watching the cherry blossoms that gave the manor its name as the two drank tea and talked. For a moment Momo considered turning around, simply walking away but before she could even follow that line of thought a youthful face filled her mind's eye and her legs carried her through the gates.
The brick path was lined with concrete archways and stone busts of U.A.'s most famed alumni. Momo was surprised to see that it wasn't just the bust of famed heroes that dotted the path like Best Jeanist, Endeavor, and All Might but others as well. Famous inventors, businessmen, and even some she couldn't name was a subtle but nonetheless physical reminder that it wasn't just heroes that U.A. was famous for.
Entering the building Momo quickly found her way to the door to class 1-A pausing outside of the massive door clearly built for students with growth or gigantification Quirks. Taking a deep breath the ravenette pushed the door open and stepped inside.
As was normal for the first day of school the few students were already in the room milling about talking with one another as they waited for class to begin. Glancing at the chalkboard at the front of the room Momo quickly found her seat in the back right corner by the windows and made her way over hanging her bag beside it before sitting down and turning her attention to her classmates. A boy with dual red and white hair sat beside her a scar or birthmark of some kind covering a large area around his right eye. He too sat silently and made no move to socialize with the others instead taking them in just like she was. A glance up at the board informed Momo that the boy's name was Shoto Todoroki.
In front of Momo sat a vertically challenged boy by the name (courtesy once more of a look at the board) of Minoru Mineta. Purple ball-like objects - obviously related to his Quirk - made up his hair giving it a vague mohawk shape. He sat in his seat but his attention seemed to be focused solely on a pair of girls chatting at the front of the room.
There were two of them, both rather contrasting in appearance. The first had unruly pink fluffy hair rather reminiscent of cotton candy out of which poked two thin pale yellow horns that leant away from each other and curled into hooks. The girl's skin was a bright pink slightly lighter than her hair and contrasted sharply against her eyes, a pair of golden yellow irises against black sclera. The girl was obviously enthusiastic and rather outgoing talking animatedly with her companion.
Said companion was a girl although that was about all Momo could say about her, based on the skirt and the way the uniformed top pushed out slightly against her chest. The simple observation was because the rest of the girl was translucent, completely see through with no markings or body parts visible to the naked eye. 'I wonder if she's visible in infrared,' Momo wondered idly. 'She has to be warping the light around her otherwise any food she eats would be visible in her stomach. That means logically anything that enters her becomes translucent as well. But what if she was covered in something like paint or flour? Anything touching her doesn't become see through otherwise her clothes would be clear right now. That means-'
Momo's thought process was cut off as the door opened and two more people entered the room. One was a rather tall boy with square glasses and short dark blue hair that was flattened neatly down and parted to the right side of his face. The boy's right hand was chopping through the air rather robotically and he seemed to be lecturing his companion if the way the slouching spiky haired blond's twitching eyebrow was anything to go by.
Momo looked at the two studying them with interest and found it more than a little amusing that everything the blue haired boy seemed to say only made the blond madder. The two looked at the board but while the blond made his way to the vacant desk three in front of Momo revealing himself to be Katsuki Bakugo. 'Katsuki Bakugo,' Momo thought, studying the boy as he collapsed into his chair and raised his feet to rest them on his desk, 'why does that name sound so familiar?' The blue haired boy meanwhile merely hung his bag at the desk for Tenya Iida before returning to the blond to continue his lecture although this time it was about his disrespect to the desk and all those who'd both built and sat in it.
As the lecture dragged on the clock ticked closer to the start of homeroom and the students one by one began to take their seats allowing Momo to label the pinkette Mina Ashido and the invisible girl Toru Hagakure.
Just a minute before the bell rang an orange headed girl entered the class, her hair tied up into a high ponytail on the left side of her head while her right stuck up in unruly tufts. Her bangs split into three pointed clumps around vivid teal eyes that took in the class lingering briefly on Bakugo before turning to the board. The girl rushed to take the seat open for Itsuka Kendo which coincidentally was the desk vacant behind the delinquent blond and in front of the boy with the purple ball mohawk. Seconds before the bell rang Iida returned to his seat as well, his hands folding into a pyramid shape as his head hung low an aura of despair surrounding him making it obvious that the boy had failed to lecture Bakugo to his satisfaction.
As the bell rang signaling the start of school the door opened to reveal a giant yellow worm that fell to lie in the open doorway. For a moment the class started before they turned to face one another, low mutterings breaking out as the students pondered what to do before the worm rolled over to reveal a human face, one that looked at them with dark shadows under its half-open black eyes and a mouth that as they watched opened to let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
"Okay," the man muttered as he stood up the yellow 'body' falling away as the man unzipped it and stepped out revealing the yellow thing to be a sleeping bag as well as his actual body. "It took you all thirty four seconds to be quiet. Time is limited. You kids are irrational to waste it." The man paused then looking up at the class and allowing them a moment to take his appearance in.
He was slender and tall, pale-skinned with messy, shoulder-length black hair that partially hung loosely around his head. His face was lined with stubble and was was dressed in a baggy black outfit that consisted of a long-sleeved shirt and matching pants that were tucked into his boots. A utility belt was strapped around his waist and a long white scarf was wrapped repeatedly around his neck.
'This man is a teacher?' Momo wondered and she didn't need to look around to know that her classmates shared her thoughts on the matter. She didn't recognize the man - which considering the number of heroes spread throughout Japan and around the world wasn't surprising - but U.A. only hired Pro Heroes to teach at the school and Momo certainly didn't remember any Pro Heroes who looked like a homeless person in need of a shower, warm bed, hot meal, and maybe a trip to the groomers.
She was shaken from her thoughts however as the man spoke again. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you." Momo didn't react outwardly unlike several of her fellow students who she couldn't help but notice gaping in surprise although it was quickly silenced when the man reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out what the students all recognized to be a blue and white gym uniform.
"It's kind of sudden but go to the locker room and put this on." He muttered, blinking sleepily. "Then go to the field outside." All the students just looked at him blinking with confusion. The man sighed, "You have ten minutes." Then he walked away.
"A Quirk Assessment Test?!" The questioning shout, while not unanimous, certainly carried more than a fair share of the assembled students' voices with it as it echoed across the empty field the class of 1-A stood assembled in.
"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" A blushing brunette with a bob cut asked, clearly nervous that the class would be missing the normal things students did on their first day of school.
"If you're going to become a hero you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa said, earning some questioning looks at his turned back. "One of U.A's selling points is how much freedom the students are given but that also applies to teachers." He turned to look at the kids letting out a weary sigh at their confusion.
"You kids have been doing these since Junior High right?" He asked, holding up a list of eight events. "Physical Fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks? The Ministry of Education still takes the results from students when they don't use their Quirks." He sighed, "It's irrational." His eyes roamed over their faces before stopping on a particular one, "Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, in Junior High what was your best result for the softball throw?"
The blond looked at the black haired man sullenly, "67 meters."
Aizawa pulled out a ball, "Do it again with your Quirk." For a moment Bakugo looked at the man before walking forward and taking the ball from him making his way to the pitch where he took his spot inside the circle. "Feel free to do whatever you want," Aizawa said as he held up his phone to judge the distance, "just stay inside the circle. Give it everything you got."
The blond turned as instructed and took a moment to stretch his body, loosening up before all of a sudden reeling back his arm he brought it forward an explosion erupting from the palm of his hand as the ball went airborne. The majority of the students kept their eye on the ball as it emerged from the explosion trailing smoke and fire as it soared down the field before returning to Earth. Momo however found her eyes glued to the grinning blond as he smiled in satisfaction, smoke trailing from his hands. 'It's him,' she thought, her teeth grinding against one another as her fingers curled into a fist, nails biting into the palm of her hand, 'he's the one who made Izuku's life a living hell and now he's here, at U.A.?'
A soft growl slid from the ravenette's throat although she hid it as the violette with the ear jacks turned to look at her curiously. Momo's eyes were hard as she stared at the blond frostily but before she could do anything rash Izuku's last words came back to her, 'don't hold back, show them what Momo Yaoyorozu can do.' 'Don't worry Izuku,' Momo thought as a plan began to form in her mind, ' I will'.
Katsuki Bakugo was on top of the world as he turned to look at the reader in the teacher's hands. 705.2 meters, more than ten times as far as he'd been able to throw it without his Quirk. He couldn't contain the grin that spilled across his face as he made his way to stand back amongst the extras, so this was the difference huh and he would only get more powerful.
"All right," the teacher said, a dark grin spilling across his face catching Katsuki's attention, "you think is fun, fine let's have some fun. Whoever comes last after all eight tests will be judged to have no potential… and be expelled."
Protests broke out immediately upon that statement but Katsuki didn't even waste his breath, it didn't matter if the teacher was telling the truth or just trying to motivate them because Katsuki Bakugo was going to be first. Just like he'd been in the Entrance Exam, just as he'd been at Aldera, 'And just as you'd been at the slime incident?' a voice in the darkest crevices of his mind whispered, 'You certainly would have been the first to die if not fo-'.
"Us teachers are free to do as we want," Aizawa continued, raising a hand to push the hair out of his face. "Welcome to U.A.'s Hero Course, try to go Plus Ultra and all that."
The first test was a 50 meter dash but Katsuki didn't pay attention to anyone until it was his turn to go. As he set up on the starting block he cast a glance at his opponent only to freeze as he recognized the orange girl he'd saved at the entrance exam. As if feeling his gaze on her the girl turned to look at Bakugo before flashing him a competitive grin. "Good luck," she said, "I'll see you at the finish line."
"Huh?" Bakugo snarled, his temper as the veins in his neck and forehead throbbed. "What was that?"
A gun shot rang out and the girl pushed off her hand enlarging to grip the ground which she used to pull herself forward before shrinking again as she broke into a sprint. Bakugo reacted just a moment after she pushed off, cursing himself for getting distracted, he pushed off the starting block bringing his hands up behind him as he straightened up he activated his Quirk. Explosions blasted out of the blond's hands pushing him forward, as he rapidly overtook the girl passing in front of her and over the finish line. "4.63 seconds," the robotic voice reported. The orangette's came a moment later, "5.86 seconds."
Snarling, Bakugo stomped his way over to the girl, "What was that back there?" he growled. "Were you trying to distract me? Get in my head and screw me up?"
He wasn't sure what he'd expected, for the girl to rise to the questions and get angry at him, maybe that she'd break down crying, what he didn't expect was for her to flash him a genuine smile. "Good going," she said and he could feel the sincerity in her voice, "you did great so make sure to keep giving it your all."
With that she turned and walked away leaving a confused blond blinking dumbly in her wake. "Huh?!"
The next test was grip strength and Bakugo was frustrated to see multiple people score higher than him in the test. Explosions couldn't help him here it was all about physical strength and while he might be stronger than most it was nothing compared to some of those with Quirks suited to the task. An octopus looking guy got 540 kilograms while the orange headed girl he was starting to think of as carrot-top actually broke the thing. Not only did her hands grow which seemed to be her Quirk but orange glowing veins seemed to encircle her hand before the machine snapped. What frustrated him even more was that she wasn't the only one to break the machine, a black haired girl with a ponytail made some kind of clamp that pushed the reader to its limits before it snapped in two. The teacher didn't even get mad instead just muttering something about them giving it their all and being creative.
The third test was the easiest, the standing long jump all Bakugo did was use his explosions to stay airborne as he flew over the pit. Others seemed to share his idea though as five others passed the same way as well. A blond who shot a laser from his stomach, a boy with exhaust pipes growing from his thighs, a blushing brunette, a dual-haired boy with a scar, and the black haired ponytail girl.
For the repeated side-steps Bakugo just blasted himself back and forth with explosions and although he got second he still snarled as he lost to a midget with purple balls for hair. The boy had taken them off and made two piles bouncing back and forth between them at a rapid pace, so fast he actually left an afterimage in the air.
Next was the ball throw, something Bakugo didn't have to repeat due to his original score, and once more carrot-top and ponytail stood out. The former enlarged her hands and again Bakugo saw the weird orange veins wrap around it although only now did he notice how her hands seemed to be red as if they had a sunburn or something. She threw it 887 meters but the ponytail girl made a fucking cannon to shoot the damn ball out of. "T-three and a half kilometers!" the class yelled and even Bakugo couldn't contain his shock. However both of those scores might as well have been meaningless next to the blushing brunette Bakugo dubbed 'Round Cheeks' who got infinity on hers. Infinity. Even Bakugo couldn't compete with that.
Sit-ups and the seated toe touch followed although the only people that stood out in those were a violet headed girl in the toe touch who could use the earphone jacks that extended from her earlobes to touch her feet and the octopus guy from the grip test that's wing like arms who could easily do the same.
The long distance run was last and of course all ponytail did was pull a bike out of no where and ride the damn thing around until it ended. After that the teacher put up the results and Bakugo clenched his fists as he looked them over, stopping after he saw his name.
Momo Yaoyorozu
Shoto Todoroki
Itsuka Kendo
Katsuki Bakugo
Fourth, he'd gotten fourth. In the entrance exam he'd smashed everybody out of the park 79 villain points and another 35 for rescuing the orangette as she'd fallen because apparently there was a hidden category called hero points. Bakugo didn't care though he'd passed although he couldn't contain his ire that second place, Itsuka Kendo had gotten a total of 113 points 53 from villains and another 60 for heroics, one less than him. He'd put it off it didn't matter he was number one although now staring at the scoreboard he couldn't help the frustration rising up within him. He hadn't placed first in even one of the tests, sure he'd always been among the top scorers but what did that matter when he hadn't even made it into the top three. It irked him especially since neither Icy-Hot nor Big-Hands had gotten first in any of the tests either yet they'd beaten him all the same.
He wanted to challenge the three who'd bested him; beat them down and show them who was boss but he stopped himself. This was U.A. not Aldera his old way of doing things just wouldn't work, 'And if it did,' the voice he'd shoved down inside of him whispered, 'wouldn't you only be sending someone else to their death?' Bakugo was unable to completely stop the shutter that ran through his body at the thought. Images raced through his mind flashing by so fast he only got a brief glimpse of each of them; Deku's terrified face as he looked up at Bakugo, his eyes watering as he stuttered out words the blond couldn't make out which angered him almost as much as the damn nerd mumbling. His hand rising before he brought it down an explsoion filling his vision as the last thing he saw was Deku flinch. The look of terror on Deku's face as Bakugo looked at him over his shoulder, telling him just how he might go about trying to get a Quirk. His mother's tears as she sat at the kitchen table, her head in her hands and her eyes red as she turned to tell him that Auntie Inko and Deku were gone, forever. Then finally the last one, Big-Hands falling from on high, her limbs shattered and broken while her orange locks of hair streamed upwards in a last ditch effort to defy gravity it's due. He'd saved her, lied to himself saying he'd done it because she reminded him of weak, useless, defenseless Deku but here, now he couldn't stop the truth no matter how much he wanted to. And, just as it'd happened during the exam the broken body of the girl was replaced with that of a green haired boy in the black middle school uniform of Aldera; his image pressing itself over her like a second skin hiding her away completely beneath him, his ghostly visage so clear it might as well be solid, a look at a broken boy taking the last bit of advice from his childhood friend and tormentor, '
"By the way, the expulsion was a lie meant to draw out your full potential." Aizawa said, looking over the class with a crazed grin.
"Of course it was," the number one, Ponytail said, arms folded in front of her chest as she looked around. "It should have been obvious if you thought it through." The reactions of most of the class made it obvious that they hadn't noticed although Bakugo kept his eye on the teacher. Something about the man, the way he was standing and looking at them told the blond that Aizawa hadn't been lying and Bakugo knew that if the man had decided someone didn't have potential they'd be gone.
The man sighed, stuffing his hands in his pocket. "We're done for the day," he said as he turned and began to walk off. "Get changed, there are packets in the classroom with the curriculum and stuff so get one and look it over. Then feel free to do whatever, make friends, leave, I don't care."
For a moment the class stood there blinking in confusion before Bakugo took the lead stomping off towards the locker room. He had some things to think over
"Wow, that was exhausting wasn't it?" Momo looked over, taking in the girl with the perpetual blush. "Oh, I'm Ochaco Uraraka," she said sheepishly, raising a hand behind her head, "it's nice to meet you all."
"Yeah," the petite violette with the earphone jacks extending from her earlobes joined in, "I fell for Aizawa-sensei's lie completely. Although now that I think about it expulsion on the first day, that's just to harsh." She turned towards Momo, "You knew though, how'd you figure it out?"
"Well…"
"Jiro, Kyoka Jiro."
"Well Jiro-san," Momo said, raising a hand to rest lightly against her cheek, "it's like you said, it didn't make sense. Aizawa-sensei is clearly someone who cares about logic and expelling all of us on the first day based on a single test isn't logical in any sense. Some of us might not have Quirks meant for such tests or excel in other areas less physically demanding in nature. It would be better for him to wait to grade our potential based on a variety of factors before making such an important decision." As Momo finished her analysis she looked up taking in the shocked expression covering the faces of the half clothed girls. "What?"
'So smart!' The thought raced around the room striking everyone except for Yaoyorozu simultaneously.
'It wasn't a lie though,' Momo thought seriously inside her head, "I did my research that man had to be Shota Aizawa U.A.'s harshest teacher known for expelling over 150 kids throughout his career. Most infamously he expelled an entire class three years ago although a few were able to make it back in over time or transferred to other courses. I could let the others know, but if I did that I'd be going against what I said. No, better to play clueless and observe for right now.'
"I don't think any of us thought it through that much," the third placed orange headed scorer paused although it took the ravenette a moment to understand what she wanted.
"Oh my apologies," she said lowering her head in a bow which made her black lace covered chest do some very interesting things that caught the girls attention as she stood back up, "my name is Momo Yaoyorozu."
"Itsuka Kendo," the orangette, Kendo offered in return blushing slightly although she wasn't the only one, Jiro and Uraraka doing the same.
"Hey, hey, I have an idea," the pink horned girl said, waving her hand in the air to catch everyone's attention. "Why don't we all go to McD's to get to know one another better."
"Oh, oh, I'm in, I'm in," the invisible girl said, hopping around in nothing more than a pair of panties. "That sounds like fun Ashido-chan."
"Toru," Ashido said, looking up from the bench she was sitting on as she pulled on her shoeds. Pausing she grabbed seemingly thin air wher the invisible girl was standing and began pulling it in opposite directions, "what did I tell you to call me?"
"Mi-na," Toru or rather Hagakure moaned, "tha-that's not my cheeks you're, aahh, touching."
"Huh?" Ashido said in confusion, as she stopped pulling whatever she was touching apart. Instead with a frown on her face she began to play with it, moving it around and earning a high pitched 'eep' from Hagakure. "What am I touching then?" She seemed to find something and started rubbing it between her fingers. "What are these?" she asked, "They're hard or maybe stiff would describe them better."
"Yo-yo-you're touching my, mmh, breasts." Hagakure squeaked out causing all the girls in the room to turn away blushes covering their cheeks while Mina turned a vivid shade of lilac.
"So-sorry," the alien looking girl said immediately raising her hands skywards as she stepped backwards, almost falling down as she tripped over her gym uniform.
"It's-it's fine," Hagakure mumbled, clearly flustered as she slipped her school uniform on. "Anyway you were saying McD's?"
"Ye-yeah, would you guys like to come." Ashido said, turning to look at the other girls.
"I could go," Kendo said, a red blush covering her face.
"I don't have anything planned," Jiro muttered, still averting her eyes.
"Sorry," Uraraka apologized, putting her hands together and bowing slightly, "but I'm still moving into my apartment, the last of the stuff was supposed to be delivered today."
"I have to go pick my siblings up from school, kero." A frog-like girl named Tsuyu Asui said, "Maybe next time and call me Tsuyu."
"Well what about you Yaomomo?" Ashido asked, turning to look at the only girl who had yet to answer.
"Yaomomo?"
"Yeah Yaoyorozu Momo, Yaomomo" Ashido explained, before looking downwards, "Do you not like your nickname?"
"No, no I like it," Momo said, waving her hands in front of her in denial. "It's just the first time someone's given me a nickname.
"Great," Ashido said, her downcast expression disappearing instantly, "so can you make it?"
"Um," Momo considered it she truly did. The girls had been nice and she felt like she could be friends with each of them. Plus it could only help her cover however as she went to say yes an image appeared in her head of a young green haired boy on the ground, his back to the wall as he desperately tried to crawl away from a blond who stood over him. A viscous grin covered the blond's face and his hand was reaching downwards, sparks erupting from the end of it as if they were preparing to ignite something. The green haired boy meanwhile had tears leaking from his eyes as he held his hands up in a futile defense against his aggressor.
"I'm sorry," Momo said, her voice slightly colder than she intended. "But I have something else I need to do."
"Oh," Ashido said, uncertainly. "Um, okay. Maybe next time?"
"Yeah," Momo said, her voice trailing off as she started walking to the locker room door, "next time."
Author's Note:
*PLEASE READ 4 & 5*
Hello and happy April Fool's Day to you all. In case you can't tell this is no prank it is in actuality the first chapter of Arc III in all it's black and white glory. As promised we had the switching view points with this chapter focusing on Itsuka, Katsuki, and of course our favorite girl Momo. Now some of you may be wondering why Ochaco's in U.A. in the first place and it's because I'm to lazy to create an oc to replace her and I need her in 1-A for what I have planned so let's just say she destroyed some extra robots in the time she would have been trapped in cannon. As for Itsuka she replaced Izuku in 1-A and her spot in 1-B is filled by Inasa who in cannon attended Shiketsu but we'll get to him in the future. Katsuki still came in first in the entrance exam thanks to his villain points and the points he got for saving Itsuka, I just gave him an extra 2-pointer to come in first since Itsuka, unlike Izuku actually managed to destroy some villain bots which combined with her rescue points would have seen her in first without my score manipulation godly authorial powers.
Now for character development. First is Katsuki who has come to realize that he isn't the top dog of U.A. like he was at Aldera. This will play out over the next few chapters we see him in until we get to the sports festival as his superiority complex is going to take quite the beating. Of course Momo's come to realize who he is, months spent training with Izuku the greenete had to open up to her eventually about his 'best friend' Kaachan but we'll get in another chapter. The blond boy's Quirk makes him quite easy to identify and if the fourth to last paragraph is anything to go by Momo's out for blood. Wonder how that will play out.
As always thanks for reading and make sure to leave a review. I read them they are what gives me the motivation to keep writing. If you want access to chapters early go check out my P-atreon at D'yavol Lucifer and my T-witter under dyavolucifer if you want to be notified about updates first. Also I just found out that this story, Rival Heirs, is on page 10 of most followed MHA fanfics on this site and on page 13 when it comes to favorites [Please note that these results are when the browse is Anime/Manga: My Hero Academia, Rating: All, Language: English with the appropriately chosen Sort:] which is shocking considering there is SEVEN HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE PAGES of stories that share those search parameters or OVER EIGHTEEN POINT FOUR THOUSAND STORIES if you want to think about it that way. I don't know what number mine comes in at but still impressive at least to me since we're only now entering proper cannon.
The prices on my Patreo-n have been slashed and you can now read the next chapter of the story for the low price of a single dollar. The other tiers come with different benefits including access to more chapters, private commissions and more so if you're interested int that or just want a sneak peak at what's to come head on over there since it'll all go towards paying for college. You can find it at P-atreon /dyavolucifer. Also I HAVE A WIKI! I don't know who created it but it's at rival-heirs-mha. fandom. com (no spaces) so if you want to help it develop go over their and check it out. I don't think it has any pages but I don't care because I have a wiki! Yay! I look forward to seeing what you guys do with it and who knows maybe I'll post some bonus things on my Twitter about the story if you make it worth my while.
Lastly there is a new poll on my profile page, I'm struggling with how to add Midnight to Izuku's harem so I've offered up some potential replacements for her as well as a pro heroine I forgot to include in the previous pro hero poll. Head over there to vote if you want a say on who gets into Izuku's pants later in the story.
Please make sure to leave a review and until next time this is the demon lord floating around space on an asteroid who just got beamed in the head by Ochaco's softball signing off,
-D'yavol Lucifer 3:)
*IMPORTANT NOTICE*
All the cover art for my stories are ones I found online. I am really interested in using fanart provided by you the readers to replace them. If you're interested draw something up and pm me so I can send you the details on where to send it or pm me and I'll give you some details so you can draw one. As I say in my bio if I use it I may add you as an oc in one of my stories! Isn't that exciting!
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