BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I WISH I COULD TURN INTO ALIENS. BEING HUMAN IS BORING, AND I WANT TO SHOOT FIRE OUT OF MY HANDS, DAMN IT!
I'm so tired, but here's more story, because sleep is apparently for the weak.
…I should hang out with Eraserhead.
My Alien Academia
Chapter 3
Class
"Well… this is it," Izuku said.
"It is," Inko agreed, looking up at her son proudly.
"I'm glad we're all on the same page," Ben said, "but if you don't actually walk through the door, you're going to miss the train, and then you'll be late for your first day of school."
Izuku drooped. "Way to ruin the moment." When his mother giggled, he gave her a betrayed look. "Mom!"
"Sorry, honey, but it's true." She took a moment to try and fix the mess that was his red tie, but gave up. "Just do your best, okay?"
Izuku gave her a quick hug. "I will, Mom." He looked over at Ben. "Are you ready?"
Ben laughed. "Dude, I was literally made ready."
…
Midoriya felt as self-conscious as he usually did when he entered the campus. Sure, it was now the third time he'd been at UA, but it was the first time while wearing the school uniform—a grey coat with green highlights over a white shirt, green pants, and a red tie. At least Midoriya was able to keep his red shoes; for most of his life, he had been obsessed with having red shoes, something Ben had teased him about.
"So, I'm in Class 1-A," Midoriya muttered to himself, navigating through the hallways until he found the Heroics course. "I really hope Kacchan isn't in the class with me."
"From what I've seen, the universe hasn't been that kind to you," Ben, now speaking from the Ultimatrix, reminded him dryly. "Why would it start now?"
"Well, it sent you here, and you chose me, right?"
Ben materialized in front of him, albeit upside-down, and gave him a look. "Oh, so now you decide to be a little snarky? It only took ten months!" He glanced over Midoriya's shoulder, and then disappeared again. "Heads up, that Uraraka girl is coming your way. Try not to stutter, okay?"
"Deku-kun! Hi!"
Midoriya turned; there, walking towards him, was indeed Uraraka. She wore a uniform similar to his, but with a green skirt and black stockings. To his chagrin, her tie was immaculate.
"H-hi, Uraraka-san," he said.
"Oh, come on!" Ben shouted in Midoriya's ear. "What did I just say about stuttering?"
"I guess you got into UA after all!" Uraraka beamed at him. "I was worried I wouldn't make it in, but then I found out about Rescue Points, and I got enough to pass!"
"Y-yeah, so did I," Midoriya said. He didn't mention that, with eighty-six points in total, he'd nabbed the top score; he felt that bragging was uncool.
"Hey, what class are you going to?" Uraraka asked as they started to walk again.
"1-A."
Uraraka gasped. "No way! So am I! We get to be in the same class, that's so awesome!"
Midoriya gave her one of his wobbly smiles. He was more grateful to have someone he knew—and was on good terms with—in the same class, other than Ben, than she could ever know.
"I heard we're getting a short day today," Uraraka went on. "They'll probably just do an entrance ceremony and some orientation or something."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Midoriya said. "I mean, even if all the Heroics courses are nearby, this is still a big campus."
Uraraka suddenly grabbed his arm—with only four fingers, so that he wouldn't float away—and pointed up. "Oh! Deku-kun, look! There's our class!"
The sign for the class was so innocuous, but the door itself was huge, and Midoriya was almost overwhelmed. With trembling hands, he slid the door open—and almost closed it immediately when a familiar voice filled his ears.
"What, you think you're hot shit, you worthless extra?"
"I told you the universe wasn't that nice to you," Ben said, though he sounded annoyed at being right.
True enough, Bakugo Katsuki was in the class, his feet propped up on his desk. He looked all the parts of a school thug—he had ditched his tie, his clothes were rumpled, and his expression suggested he was just begging for someone to give him a reason to blow them up.
"How crass! Is that really the attitude a Hero student should be adopting?" And there was the other student Midoriya was hoping he wouldn't run into. It was the tall boy with the glasses, and he was doing his utmost to lecture Bakugo, who couldn't care less. The boy was waving his arm in a rapid, if stiff, motion as he tried to get Bakugo to take him seriously, but as soon as the door opened, he whirled, and his eyes settled on Midoriya. "You!"
Out of reflex, Midoriya flinched, especially when the tall boy marched up to him; he was then surprised when the boy bowed.
"You're the one who made the top score on the entrance exam! I am Iida Tenya, and I must apologize for my behavior towards you; obviously, someone who was able to glean the true point of the test must embody what it means to be a Hero!"
"I think he's talking about the Rescue Points," Ben said, sounding more amused than anything. "Also, if you wanted to keep your top score a secret, that cat is now officially out of the bag."
Sure enough, the entire class was staring at him—some with wonder, others with envy, and Bakugo with disbelieving fury. Even Uraraka gave him a look of astonishment as the class erupted with comments.
"Wait, that's the guy who got the top spot? So manly!"
"He's kinda plain, though, isn't he?"
"Hey, that just means he's got an awesome Quirk!"
"Deku," Bakugo growled as he got out of his seat; the sheer malice that came from that single word was enough to get the rest of the class' attention. "What the hell are you doing here, you fraud?"
For a moment, Midoriya thought that Bakugo somehow knew about the Ultimatrix, but then Ben's voice filled his ears.
"Easy, he thinks you're still Quirkless; I mean, you are, but whatever. Anyway, don't do anything to set him off, and you'll be fine."
I've already set him off by being here! Midoriya wanted to shout. Instead, he just backed up, until his heel connected with something soft; his stumble was enough to get even Bakugo's attention, and they all looked down.
Even Ben was stumped by what he was seeing. "Is that a yellow caterpillar?"
Before Midoriya could ask his own question, that squishy yellow caterpillar rolled over to reveal the most tired human face he'd ever seen, sucking on a juice box. The sheer randomness of what they were seeing made almost the entire class freak out; some students screamed about the caterpillar, others babbled, and everyone else just stared.
"So noisy," the caterpillar-man said, and unzipped the sleeping bag he'd been lying in. "This is a class for Heroes, and you're all being so irrational. Caterpillars don't talk, or drink juice boxes, after all."
"I think everyone is just weirded out that he's in a sleeping bag in a class," Ben commented. "Who is this hobo, anyway?"
That was something Midoriya was trying to figure out, minus the hobo comment. The haggard man had long, unkempt hair and looked like he hadn't shaved in at least two days. He wore black, practical clothes, and what looked like an incredibly long grey scarf around his neck and shoulders. Midoriya was positive that he knew who the man was, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Anyway," the former caterpillar said, "I'm Aizawa Shota, your homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you, I suppose. Now, I want all of you to head to the locker rooms, get changed, and meet me at the grounds; we have work to do."
…
Where the regular school uniforms were somewhat subdued, the gym uniforms were loud and bright. They were blue, with red and white highlights; the white parts spelled out UA across their bodies.
While changing, Midoriya did everything possible to keep Bakugo away from him; mostly, that involved putting Iida between him and Bakugo. For his part, Iida didn't seem to notice, even when Bakugo continued to send glares at Midoriya when the taller boy's back was turned. Eventually, the students made their way out to what looked like a fairly regular PE field; the only difference was that the field at the center of the track had several different machines in place.
Waiting for them with a scowl was Aizawa. "It took you all ten minutes to get here, even with those basic gym uniforms. A Pro Hero can get into the most complicated costume and respond to a crisis in five; not a good start." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the field. "Come on; we'll be testing your Quirks and physical abilities today."
"Um, excuse me, Aizawa-sensei?" Uraraka held up her hand. "What about the entrance ceremony?"
Aizawa looked like he would have scoffed, if not for the effort required. "Here at UA, we have a more freestyle approach to education; that means that I can drag you all away from that kind of thing if I so choose." He glanced back at the equipment. "You all remember the physical fitness tests you did back in middle school, right? They didn't allow the use of Quirks in those, but that's irrational; Quirks are just as much a part of the body as any muscle." He pointed at Bakugo. "You. What was your record for the softball throw in middle school?"
Bakugo raised an eyebrow. "Sixty-seven meters. Why?"
Aizawa pulled what looked like a baseball out of his pocket and tossed it to him. "Go stand in the circle over there. Use your Quirk to send the ball as far as you can; as long as you don't leave the circle, I don't care what you do."
Now, Bakugo grinned. "Awesome." He stomped over to the circle that surrounded a solid mound of dirt, and then sneered at Midoriya. "This is how the real thing does it, Deku." He drew his arm back, and then hurled the ball skyward; just before it left his hand, he unleashed a massive explosion.
"DIE!"
Everyone watched as the ball rocketed out of sight; most of them began murmuring amongst themselves, but Midoriya started to sweat.
Was he telling the ball to die, or me?
Aizawa pulled out what looked like a phone from his other pocket and looked at the screen. "Seven hundred and five meters." He looked back at the class. "It's important for us to establish a baseline of what you can do with your Quirks. That way, we know what to improve."
"That'll be hard for you," Ben said, materializing again—and wearing the UA gym uniform, for some reason—and leaning on Midoriya's shoulder. "I mean, you could do well on almost all of these tests with just a couple of aliens, and you've got a lot more in the wings."
The rest of the class was also excited.
"Man, did you see that explosion? That was so awesome!"
"We get to use our Quirks however we want here! This is going to be so much fun!"
The comments continued like that for a while, until Aizawa gave them a terrifying glare; Midoriya wasn't sure what the man's Quirk was, but it had something to do with the way his eyes glowed red and his hair rose up.
"Fun? You think this is all about fun?" The man seemed to ooze killing intent, to the point that most of the class was immediately terrified.
A few students were able to meet his gaze—Midoriya and Bakugo had already been exposed to near-death, thanks to their run-in with that Sludge Villain ten months ago. There was also another boy who didn't back down; he had a horrible burn over his left eye, and his hair was divided into two colors—pure white on his right, and red on his left.
"Here at UA, you've got three years to become the best Heroes you can be," Aizawa continued. "You don't have time for fun and games. Right now, I am the one who holds your fate in my hands; as far as you're concerned, I'm judge, jury, and executioner. If you really think I'm kidding, listen up: whoever does worst on these tests will be expelled, no questions asked."
"What!?" A pink-skinned girl with hair as messy as Midoriya's, albeit with short horns popping out, gaped at him. "That's totally unfair!"
Now Aizawa grinned; it was a little creepy, and promised untold pain. "Unfair, you say? The world is full of unfair things. It's better that you learn that now, while you still have opportunities in life. If you want really want to be Heroes, you have push through your comfort zones. That's what it means to go beyond, to be Plus Ultra." His grin turned even more menacing. "Now, show me what you can do."
…
Unbeknownst to 1-A, several pairs of eyes were watching what was about to unfold.
"Hey, hey, is Aizawa-sensei really going to expel one of them?" A beautiful girl with long blue hair grinned excitedly. "That's kind of mean, don't you think?"
A boy with black hair and an expression of abject misery pressed his forehead against the pillar they were hiding behind. "Better them than me; I know I'd fail if I was in their place."
"Oh, come on, they'll do fine," a tall, muscular boy with blonde hair said, and clapped the other boy on the shoulder. "We have to have some faith in those freshmen, right, All Might?"
The new teacher quickly wiped away the trickle of blood coming down his chin, and then gave the shorter blonde his signature smile.
"Of course, young Mirio!" Somehow, All Might managed to make his voice sound like a boom and a whisper at the same time. "Still, I'm just here to get a feel for my new students. Why are you three here?"
The blonde, Togata Mirio, grinned right back. "Well, I heard that the kid who got the top score at the entrance exam had an awesome Quirk, and I had to check it out!"
The other boy, Amajiki Tamaki, drooped. "Mirio dragged me here."
The girl, Hado Nejire, practically bounced in place. "And I snuck out to join them!"
All Might shook his head; when he had chosen Togata as his successor, he should have known that the other two members of the Big Three would be right behind him. They were practically a package deal; at least Togata had decided to keep the secret of One For All, at least until he could convince All Might that his friends could be trusted.
"Hey, hey, I think that boy you wanted to see is up!" Hado pointed at the green-haired boy as he walked up to the starting line of the fifty-yard dash. "What's he doing with that watch? Ooh, is it some kind of Support Item? Neat!"
All Might put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Just watch and find out."
…
Midoriya wasn't sure what terrified him more at that point—Bakugo's glare, Aizawa's threat, or Iida's earnestness as the two of them got ready for the fifty-yard dash. The taller boy had bowed, and then shook his hand before getting ready.
As he activated the Ultimatrix and began cycling through his aliens, Midoriya noticed that Iida was rolling up his pants to expose his calves. Aside from being incredibly thick, Iida's legs also had what looked like exhaust pipes poking out from his skin.
"If I had money, I'd bet he has super-speed," Ben said, almost eagerly as he disappeared again. "Give him a run for his money!"
Everyone closed their eyes when Midoriya vanished in a flash of green light. "XLR8!"
More than one student went slack-jawed at Midoriya's transformation, though Aizawa only raised an eyebrow. He had seen this one during the entrance exam—or, rather, a recording of the entrance exam, which Present Mic had shoved into his face and wouldn't leave him alone until he watched it.
Aizawa had barely started his stopwatch when XLR8 disappeared in a blur, only to reappear at the finish line. Aizawa was almost impressed, but waited until Iida finished—with a flashy burst of speed from the engines in his legs—before giving the results.
"Iida—four-point-three seconds. Midoriya—point-oh-eight seconds."
Everyone was completely flabbergasted; even Bakugo was reduced to confused anger.
Almost every other test was completed using Four Arms—and Midoriya was glad that he had asked Ben to change his outfit in that form, because the first one was so embarrassing. Instead of briefs and a harness, Four Arms now had dark blue jeans, a white shirt, a black open vest over that, and black fingerless gloves on all four of his hands; he even had a black do-rag to complete the ensemble.
Push-ups, side-stepping, long jumps—all of it was easy with Four Arms' physique. During the grip strength test, the only student who had come close to Four Arms' strength had been one Shoji Mezo, a massive grey-haired boy who wore a mask over most of his face, and had six webbed arms, who finished with an incredible five hundred and forty kilograms; still, Four Arms had more than doubled that. Even the seated toe-touch was a breeze, since his arms were long enough to reach his feet. The only other time he used a different alien was during the endurance run; he had gone back to XLR8 and ran laps around the other students until Aizawa told him to stop.
"It's obvious that you can go on for a while," Aizawa had said. "Stop wasting my time and head to the softball throw."
Midoriya turned back to human again—ostensibly to stretch for a moment, but really it was to let the Ultimatrix recharge—before heading for the circle. As he did so, the other students collapsed on the grass to watch.
"I wonder what he'll turn into this time," said Jiro Kyoka, a petite girl with short hair who had what looked like headphone jacks coming from her earlobes. "That one he called Four Arms was pretty strong."
"I hope he's got more than just those two Quirks." Kirishima Eijiro, a muscular boy with spiky red hair and triangular teeth, grinned excitedly.
"He does!" Uraraka smiled right back; Kirishima had an infectious enthusiasm that made him hard to dislike. "When I saw him at the entrance exam, he turned into this orange dog-thing, and then a giant that he used to destroy the zero-pointer!"
Kirishima did a double-take between her and Midoriya. "Seriously!?"
The entire time, Bakugo was seething; how did that worthless, pathetic Deku, who couldn't even get his parents' worthless quirks, become… strong? It had to do with that watch, obviously; Bakugo was observant, and he'd seen Deku twist that dial on the watch and then slam it down before transforming. What he couldn't figure out was how that factored in to his Quirk.
I'm getting some goddamn answers when this is over, he swore.
Then Midoriya vanished in a flash of green again; when it faded, the class was reminded that the plain-looking boy was full of surprises.
"ARMODRILLO!"
This new form looked like a ten-foot-tall yellow robot; the parts that weren't bright yellow were black, except for the silver claws, tail, and what looked like springs running through his arms. Those arms were huge, and went all the way to the ground, giving him a hunched appearance. Like all of his forms, this one had a green hourglass dial on his chest.
"Okay, I give up!" Kaminari Denki, a boy with blonde hair with a black lightning bolt running through it, threw up his hands. "Does he just have, like, unlimited Quirks or something?"
Rather than answer, Armodrillo stomped over to the circle and picked up the ball with one hand. He then lifted that arm up at a high angle; the piston coming out from his elbow pulled back, and then rapidly pushed forward. There was a loud bang, and then the ball rocketed out of his hand, followed by a tremor that staggered those of the class that hadn't been sitting.
Once the shaking stopped, Aizawa glanced down at the sensor and raised an eyebrow. "Not bad."
Armodrillo walked over to him. "How did I do?"
Aizawa turned the screen to face Midoriya as he turned back to normal; on it flashed the number eight hundred and eleven. More than one of Midoriya's classmates made impressed noises.
"DEKU!"
Midoriya flinched as Bakugo stormed up to him, one hand crackling and sparking, while the other grabbed Midoriya by the collar. At that point, Bakugo had had enough; not only had the 'worthless Deku' shown up the entire class in every other test, he'd gone and beaten his record. In Bakugo's mind, that was an unacceptable transgression that needed immediate correcting—and that started by getting answers.
"You're gonna tell me how you have a Quirk, and you're gonna tell me right goddamn now!"
…
"Hey, hey, that's not cool!" Hado frowned. "We should stop him!"
Togata looked like he was about to do just that, though Amajiki looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Before anyone could do anything, All Might stepped in front of them.
"Just relax," he assured them. "Aizawa has this covered."
…
Just as Bakugo was about to bring his sparking hand down, the glow in his palm abruptly vanished. Both he and Midoriya stared blankly at his hand.
"What the hell?" Bakugo reacted as he normally did when he didn't understand something—he got angry. "What happened to my Quirk!?"
"I erased it." Bands of cloth suddenly looped around Bakugo's head and shoulders and dragged him back. Behind him, looking bored, Aizawa's eyes glowed and his hair stood up. "This isn't how I want to spend my morning. I already have dry eye, I don't need this."
Finally, Midoriya realized why Aizawa was so familiar to him. "I know you! You're Eraserhead!" Aizawa looked surprised, but everyone else in the class was just confused. "You're an underground Hero that doesn't usually interact with the press, so most people don't know about you. Your Quirk is Erasure, and it lets you stop anyone you look at from using their Quirks, unless they're Mutant-types."
For a moment, Aizawa looked downright shocked, even as he secured Bakugo. "There's a reason I'm an underground Hero. How do you know so much about me?"
Midoriya suddenly found the ground very interesting. "Uh… Heroes and Quirks are a hobby of mine, Eraserhead-sensei."
"Just call me Aizawa-sensei," the Hero said. "Hero names are for fieldwork. Now then, Bakugo," he freed the student from his capture tool and gave him a stern look, even as his Quirk faded. "Consider this your only warning—if you attack another student, I won't hesitate to expel you. Is that understood?"
Bakugo was stuck staring at Aizawa in shock; in all his years at schools before now, teachers had just let him do whatever he wanted, especially when it came to Deku. After all, his grades were perfect, and he was destined to be a Pro Hero, so no one wanted to stop him. Apparently, the teachers at UA had more of a backbone; he found himself grudgingly respecting the sleepy man.
"Understood, Aizawa-sensei." Without another glance at Midoriya, Bakugo stomped off and sat as far away from the class as he could while still considered to be participating.
"Anyway, now that those two are done, everyone else can finish the ball throw." Aizawa sighed tiredly. "Everyone hurry up so that I can get some sleep."
With the excitement over, the rest of the test was mostly uneventful. Some of the students threw the ball further than others, but it was only when it was Uraraka's turn that it got interesting. Rather than throw it, she gave Midoriya a nervous smile, pressed her fingers against the ball, and gently tossed it up.
It never came back down.
Aizawa tried to get a read on how far it went, but his sensor just flickered and spouted a series of numbers and letters. He frowned and slapped the machine a few times; the screen fizzled, and then settled on an infinity symbol.
"Holy expletive," Ben said as he sat next to Midoriya, who gave him a quick glance when nobody was looking. "What? Ben programmed me not to swear!"
For his part, Midoriya was just glad that someone else was getting all the attention, though he did feel bad for Uraraka, because she looked incredibly embarrassed.
"All right, enough of that," Aizawa said as he applied eye drops to his eyes. "Your total scores simply reflect your performance. Oh, and I was lying about expelling anyone." He grinned almost maniacally. "It was a logical ruse to get you all to perform at your best."
Almost the entire class stared at him, dumbfounded.
"WHAT!?"
…
Togata struggled not to laugh. "Oh, that's hilarious!"
Amajiki slumped over even further. "No, that's cruel."
Hado giggled and turned to All Might. "Did you know he was going to do that?"
All Might kept up his famous smile, but inside, he was as floored as the 1-A students. "No, I can't say I did."
…
"Oh, please, it was obvious." The girl who had spoken—Yaoyorozu Momo, a beautiful, tall girl with her long hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail—looked disappointed with her class. "They wouldn't expel one of us that easily."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow, as if he was tempted to expel someone just to prove her wrong, but then pressed a button on his device, and a holographic screen came up. "Anyway, here are your scores."
Once again, Midoriya received plenty of glances when the scores came up; after all, he'd come in first place. Bakugo had come in second, followed by Yaoyorozu, and the boy with the two-toned hair, Todoroki Shoto. Iida was just behind him at fifth place, and all the way at tenth was Uraraka; when Midoriya looked at her, she seemed happy enough, probably because she wasn't in last. That dubious honor fell to one Mineta Minoru, a very small boy that had purple spheres instead of hair; he had also been the target of dirty looks from everyone else in the class for the way he'd been drooling—literally—over the girls in 1-A. At least his brush with expulsion had made him stop for a while.
"And that's all I had planned for today," Aizawa said. "Get changed and head back to class. You'll find more information about the curriculum on your desks. Take it and head home. See you tomorrow, I guess."
Even Yaoyorozu had nothing to complain about; few teenagers ever passed up on a half-day. Unfortunately for Midoriya, as they were heading back to the lockers, he became the class' focus.
"So, Midori, what's up with your Quirk?" The pink girl grinned at him. "The name's Ashido Mina, by the way."
"Yeah, I was gonna ask that!" An arm was slung around Midoriya's shoulders; the arm and its opposite had large, canister-shaped elbows, but other than that, the owner of the limb was fairly normal. He had black hair and an easygoing smile. "Oh, and I'm Sero Hanta."
Midoriya took a deep breath; he just had to remind himself that this was practice for explaining the Ultimatrix. "W-well, you see, I actually thought I was Quirkless until a little under a year ago. I can't actually use my Quirk, Unstable Genetics, without this." He held up the watch, but then quickly put his arm back down. "If I didn't use that to separate the different DNA, I'd never be able to transform… and if I could, I'd probably explode from all those different transformations happening at once."
Yaoyorozu frowned. "If you thought you were Quirkless, how did you get that device?"
Midoriya was grateful that she had brought that up, actually; Nezu had contacted him with some additions that he'd added to Midoriya's cover story to make it more believable. The hard part was addressing Yaoyorozu—he already had a problem talking to girls, and she was by far the prettiest he'd ever seen.
"Th-the thing is, I have a c-cousin in America—w-we're not related by b-blood, he married into the family. He's a s-scientist, and he d-developed new ways of testing for Quirks; when he figured out what my Quirk was, he designed my watch to help me become a Hero. He's a huge fan of Heroes and Quirks, just like me."
"That was really cool of him," Sero said. "What's his name?"
"Ben Tennyson," Midoriya answered. "He kind of forced me to always call him by his first name. He's kind of a recluse, though; I haven't even spoken to him in person."
That part was technically true; he had never met the real Ben Tennyson, and had only interacted with a hologram of him.
With his attention diverted by the rest of class as they asked him questions, Midoriya never noticed Bakugo stalking behind the group, hands shoved into his pockets. He listened to everything Midoriya said and filed it away; something about what he was saying felt off, but he couldn't put his finger on why.
He'd figure it out, though; there was no way that Deku could become strong by himself. The alternative was that the nerd was better than him, and that just wasn't possible.
…
"Aizawa, you liar!" All Might crossed his arms, but maintained his smile as he walked up to the other teacher.
"All Might." Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the Big Three until they ran off, and then turned his attention back to the taller man. "What did I lie about?"
"You know exactly what!" All Might pointed at him. "That 'logical deception', as you called it, was a load of hooey! Last year, you expelled an entire class of first-years!"
Aizawa shrugged. "That class was a lost cause; this one has potential. Anyway, why are you spying on what I'm doing? Shouldn't you be getting ready for your class tomorrow?"
"Don't worry, everything's been planned out!" All Might let out his signature booming laugh. "I just wanted to get a feel for the students before I actually met them."
"That's… actually a rational decision, and I hate you for it."
"Now that you mention it, I did have a question for you," All Might said, and his tone became thoughtful. "What did you think of young Midoriya?"
"Hmm?" Aizawa shrugged again. "His Quirk has more potential than any I've ever heard of, but if he doesn't have the mindset of a Hero, I don't care if he's more powerful than you; if he can't hack it, I'll kick him out so fast his head will spin."
All Might felt a drop of sweat roll down his neck. Well, young Midoriya, it seems that all of your teachers have high expectations of you! That just means that I can't afford to cut you any slack tomorrow; show me that there's more to you than a flashy Quirk!
…
"There you go, Deku-kun!" Uraraka smiled as she handed Midoriya back his phone. "Thanks for giving me your number. You too, Iida-san."
"Of course!" Midoriya leaned back to avoid Iida's rigid flailing of his arm. "Pro Heroes usually maintain contact with each other, especially if they operate in the same location!"
Midoriya nodded enthusiastically; while he wasn't as by-the-book as his taller classmate, he and Iida had discovered that they were equally enthusiastic about Hero protocols and patterns. That had led to them discussing team-ups, and during the energetic conversation, Midoriya had pulled Uraraka in, using her as an example of how she, Midoriya and Iida could complement each other.
That had then led to Uraraka suggesting that they exchange phone numbers. Midoriya had become flustered, but eventually managed to clumsily fish his phone out of his pocket. Iida had paused, pushed his glasses further up on his nose, and then took out his own phone.
"All right!" Uraraka pumped her fist. "Friends should always exchange numbers!"
Midoriya's eyes stung, and he tried to stop the tears before they started. "Y-you really w-want to be f-friends with me, Uraraka-san?"
Uraraka grinned. "Sure! You're sweet and you're cool, even if you're a little awkward, so why not?"
Midoriya managed a wobbly smile back, while Iida bowed.
"I am honored that you would consider me a friend as well, Uraraka-san," he said formally. "We have known each other for less than a day, but I am sure that we will all get along swimmingly!"
Uraraka giggled, but then she looked at the time. "Oh, man! I need to get going, or I'll miss my train! Bye, Iida-san, bye, Deku-kun! See you tomorrow!"
The two boys waved goodbye, and then Iida nodded at Midoriya. "I am afraid that I must say goodbye as well, Midoriya-san; my own train is at a different station."
"Sure thing! See you tomorrow!" Once Iida was gone, and Midoriya was sure he was alone, he turned to Ben, whose hologram had shifted back to normal. "I have friends! I have friends on my first day of school, at UA!"
Ben smiled. "Yeah, and one of 'em is really cute! Good for you."
Midoriya was too excited to be flustered at that moment. "She said I was sweet! She said I was cool!"
"She also said you were awkward," Ben pointed out. "You might want to work on that."
His ego checked, Midoriya sagged. "Yeah… I know."
"Come on, buddy, let's go home." Ben vanished once again. "Besides, the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can come back, and one of your classes is being taught by All Might! Get a little excited!"
Midoriya smiled. "Yeah, you're right! Tomorrow is going to be a good day!"
I hate long stretches of introductions and descriptions of characters, so I didn't get to the entire class. Next time, though, I'll have no choice; if you're a fan of MHA, you know what's coming, and that means everyone and their mother gets a description. Yeah, the Battle Trials are next! I'm honestly not sure if I want to give every match its own scene, but if I do, I'll probably break up the chapter into two parts. Also, while I do plan on Midoriya fighting Bakugo, I'm not sure who their partners will be. I'm gonna randomize it.
Also, yeah, I'm not surprised a lot of you guessed that Mirio would be All Might's successor. I love that Tintin-looking badass!
Something I do want to address, though: yes, Midoriya did earn first place at both the exam and here. Do you honestly expect him to do less for what are essentially the easiest parts of the story? His real challenge comes next; after all, he has no real experience fighting a person, and as Nezu said, he's had ten months to learn dozens of different powers, while his classmates have had most of their lives to master one. He hasn't quite learned which alien is the right one for the task at hand; he will, though.
Anyway, I know I said I'd take a while to get this chapter out, but I had some free time when I was at Empire Con. Sadly, that convention didn't do so well for me. If you want to help me fix that, you can buy my book, Alpha Sanction, on Amazon, or be an awesome Muffin/Human hybrid and donate on P-atreon.
And now, here's a list of my wonderful patrons:
Serious Muffins: CrazySith87, jafr86, SpaceEmperorSpar, Nimrod009, Anders Lyngbye, Krisjanis Jansons, Matthias Matanovic, ChaosSpartan575, Alexis Troy, John Collins, Calleo, Casey Pak, Red Bard, Ultimatrix10
Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, michaelb958, Crazyman844, Jaeger456, killroy225, Brian McGloughlin
Ultra Muffins: Adam Costello, Jeffrey Perigo, Matthew Bunting, RangersRoll
Next Chapter: Hero Costumes! Battle Trials! It's all here, along with a reunion between Midoriya and All Might!
Howitzer… Muffin!
