"I guess we really did get away with it," Hitoshi said, once he and Midoriya were safely at the back of the room.
Midoriya nodded, letting out a little sigh of relief and slumping in his chair. They had snuck into class on Monday quiet as church mice, careful not to draw attention to themselves, but their homeroom teacher had given them a pointed look to show that he had not missed them. Fear had shot through Hitoshi's heart at the sight, but then their teacher looked away, allowing them to pass by his desk without comment.
"And here I thought the most we'd be doing to invite trouble was using the gyms meant for the hero students," Hitoshi said as he began to unpack his bag.
"There's no rule that says we can't use them," Midoriya insisted, struggling with the rusty zipper on his own bag. "They're for everyone."
"Just like there's no rule that says someone without a physical quirk can't apply to the hero course," Hitoshi grumbled. "Just because it's not supposed to matter doesn't mean it won't."
"There's always the possibility a student from another class will get in through the sports festival," Midoriya reminded him, finally getting the zipper to cooperate. "It's good drama for the press if that happens, so they don't do anything to discourage it. Besides, no one's said anything about us training in there for the first week, so I don't think it's going to be a problem."
Hitoshi opened his mouth to point out that it still wasn't a good idea to go pushing their luck by getting involved in highly public hero actions, when suddenly his blood turned to ice as the loud, boisterous voice of Present Mic came from the front of the room.
"Hey, what's happening Teach!" he nearly shouted, addressing their homeroom teacher. "Mind if I borrow Midoriya for a minute before class?"
Hitoshi and Midoriya looked at each other, and Hitoshi couldn't help but think Midoriya looked as nervous and Hitoshi felt. Present Mic and Eraserhead had assured them they weren't in trouble for what had happened last week, but what else could a teacher from the hero course want to talk to either of them about?
"Midoriya!" called their teacher, as though the entire room didn't know perfectly well who Mic was here for.
Mic struck a pose pointing two finger guns at Midoriya. "Do me a favor and bring your bag, will ya?"
Midoriya swallowed and stood up with his bag, looking like he was off the gallows, and followed Present Mic out of the room. Hitoshi let out a deep, nervous sigh. He hoped that whatever was going on, it at least wouldn't result in his first real friend getting expelled.
Izuku tried his best to keep his breathing even as he stood out in the hallway facing Present Mic. His fingers were clutched tight around his yellow backpack, holding it between them like a shield. He should have known. He hadn't even lasted two weeks at UA. Kacchan was right, he was always right, he was-
"No need to be nervous, 'lil listener!" Mic shouted, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. "You're not in trouble, I just wanna chat about that notebook of yours!"
"Oh," Izuku said softly in surprise, then cleared his throat and nodded. "I see. I promise, I really am very careful when I'm working on it. I don't get too close, I stay behind the police line and observe."
"I'm sure a smart listener like you knows better than to get underfoot," Mic assured him, smiling wide and reassuring. "I was pretty impressed with your analysis of my quirk though, that's some superstar insight you got going on! I've been experimenting with some of your suggestions, and I think I might be on the verge of a new special move that'll be a real chart-topper!"
Izuku stared at him. His cheeks were heating up, and he knew his face must be red. Extraordinary pleasure was radiating from his chest, seeming to fill all his limbs with warmth. His analyses had always been for his own benefit, and more recently for Shinsou's. They were just a way to understand how heroes operated better. The idea that they might be of interest to the heroes he was analyzing had never occurred to him.
"I, um, thank you," Izuku stuttered. "Glad I could help, I guess."
"No probs 'lil listener!" Mic gave him finger guns again. "In fact, I was wondering if that notebook had any entries for other heroes at my agency!"
"Oh!" Izuku said, more a startled exhalation of nerves than anything. "Uh, yeah, I've got entries for all the heroes that work in this area. I mean, I've analyzed lots of heroes from around the country, but I get better information if I can watch the fights firsthand."
He dug into his bag and pulled out his battered notebook. It felt almost shameful to give the raggedy thing to an actual pro hero, but Mic took it carefully, holding it as though it were something important. He opened it eagerly, flipping through the pages with obvious interest, and Izuku felt suddenly anxious again. Would he like what he saw in the other entries? Would he see whatever merit he saw in his own entry in the rest of Izuku's work? What would he think of Izuku as a result of-
Mic closed the book suddenly, snapping Izuku out of his musings. He looked up at Mic nervously, wondering what to expect, but Mic didn't look unhappy. In fact, he looked downright pleased.
"Mind if I borrow this?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.
"Sure," Izuku said on a reflex, still reeling from how this conversation had gone. "I guess I was almost done with that one anyway, so I should be getting a new one soon. Keep it as long as you like."
"Rockin'!" Mic said, once again full of enthusiasm, and Izuku couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Now head on back to class, don't want you to miss a beat!"
"Yes sir!" Izuku said, slinging his backpack onto his shoulder and skirting around Mic to get back to the door of class 1C.
Shinsou gave him a wide-eyed look as he slid into his seat, but class began immediately after and there was no opportunity to tell him what had happened. All through their first few classes Izuku was itching to explain, and as soon as the bell rang for lunch Shinsou was at his side, looking down at him expectantly as he gathered his things.
"He wanted to borrow my notebook," Izuku said, before Shinsou could even ask. "To show the other heroes at his agency."
"For real?" Shinsou looked shocked for a moment, then grinned. "I guess someone else finally realized no one knows more about heroes than you. Even the heroes themselves!"
"Don't make fun of me," Izuku pouted as he led the way out into the hall.
They stopped talking once they were out in the crowd, as neither of them particularly wanted to shout, but once they had their food and were outside under what had quickly become their usual tree, Shinsou fixed his grin back in place and Izuku frowned.
"Shinchaaaaaan," he whined. "Please don't make it into a big deal! They're probably passing it around laughing at my fanboy ramblings anyway."
"I don't know about that," Shinsou said around a mouthful of rice, "but they might just be getting an ego boost out of it. I'm sure they all love knowing someone loves their perfect quirks as much as they do."
Izuku gave a sad little smile and a nod of acknowledgement, then started in on his own food. He knew that Shinsou hadn't had any easier of a time in middle school than he had, and it had left him bitter at people who had stronger quirks. Izuku knew that was something he'd have to deal with constructively if he'd make it in the hero course, but he also knew how nice it was to have a friend to talk about that kind of thing with. Even just letting it out to a willing ear could be therapeutic.
"Still," Shinsou continued after a few bites, "it'd be cool if they actually acknowledged all your hard work. The notes you've made have already improved my training and I bet they'll really pay off in the long run."
Izuku couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah!" he said excitedly. "We'll train as hard as we can, and we'll construct you a fighting style that will really take advantage of your quirk! It'll have to be close range, so you can deal with more immediate threats physically while you catch farther away threats with your quirk. You'll need to have really tight control of your movements, so that you don't accidentally hit someone you've already caught and end up losing control of them when they feel the pain. If you could get some kind of capture weapon like Eraserhead that would be ideal-"
Shinsou's laughter broke through his thoughts, making Izuku realize he'd been muttering. He ducked his head, feeling his cheeks heating up, but Shinsou's smile was genuine, without any hint of mocking.
"You might be the best thing that's happened to me yet Mido," he laughed.
"You're the one with the cool quirk," Izuku pointed out, before taking a bite of his fish.
"And you're the one who was already training before we met," Shinsou countered, gesturing at Izuku with his chopsticks. "It barely even occurred to me to train my body when my quirk was what I wanted to show off, but you already knew more about improving different skills than me."
"I just wanted to learn to not be so helpless all the time," Izuku admitted quietly.
"You're not helpless," Shinsou said easily, and Izuku felt a little thrill of pride shoot through him at the idea that there was at least someone who didn't see him as weak. "If anything, you're terrifying. You weren't even afraid of my quirk when I told you how it worked, which means you've officially got more stones than anyone I've ever met."
"There's no reason to be scared of your quirk," Izuku said immediately. "A quirk isn't inherently good or bad, and you can control it just fine, so no one has any excuse to be scared of you because of it."
Shinsou's answering smile was shaky, and he looked away almost immediately. Izuku knew he wasn't used to hearing that he wasn't scary any more than Izuku was used to hearing he wasn't defenseless. It made Izuku all the more determined to say it over and over until Shinsou believed it.
"I'll get a fresh notebook," Izuku assured him, "and the first entry will be 'Shinchan: Future Hero.' As soon as we can find someone who will let us do tests on them I'll do lots of experiments, and we'll find out exactly what you can do. You'll be a great hero someday. I promise."
Shinsou grinned again, wide and genuine, and then after a moment he began to laugh. Izuku joined in, and it seemed for a moment like anything that might come of the borrowed notebook was a thousand miles away.
It was about three days before anything did come of the notebook, and by the time it did Izuku had almost forgotten about it. He was again sitting at the back of the room with Shinsou, chatting about training as they waited for class to start, when their homeroom teacher's voice rang out across the classroom.
"Midoriya!" he called, for the second time that week, and Izuku looked up curiously to find Sir Nighteye standing straight backed and stoic at the front of the room.
Izuku blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment, wondering what on earth Sir Nighteye, a former sidekick of All Might, could possibly want with him. Then Shinsou nudged him slightly with his elbow, and Izuku startled and leaped out if his chair like it was on fire. It wouldn't do to keep such an important hero waiting, no matter what his reason for being here was.
"Yes sir?" Izuku said questioningly as he reached the teacher's desk, looking back and forth between his teacher and Sir Nighteye.
"Would you mind stepping out with me for a moment?" Nighteye said, all business. "I won't keep you past the start of your lesson."
Izuku nodded, and when Nighteye turned and went out into the hall he followed. Nighteye closed the door behind them, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway, and suddenly Izuku wished fervently for his bag to hold between them again. Nighteye didn't say anything for a moment, looking Izuku up and down appraisingly. Izuku did his best not to fidget under the scrutiny.
"What can I help you with Sir?" he asked, more to avoid standing there like a gormless idiot than anything.
Nighteye looked at him for a moment longer, then reached into his jacket and pulled out Izuku's ratty notebook.
"You can tell me who taught you to do this," he said, his tone giving nothing away.
Izuku blinked, not sure he understood the question. "Take notes?"
Nighteye gave a sharp little exhalation that might charitably be called a laugh. He waved the notebook in front of Izuku's face, making the pages rustle.
"The analysis in this notebook is very advanced," he said, and Izuku gasped, feeling the same pleasure he'd felt when Present Mic praised his work shoot through him. "Are you telling me you developed this kind of technique on your own?"
"Yes sir," Izuku said, equal parts baffled and happy. "It's just a hobby I've had since I was a little kid. It's nothing special."
Nighteye looked down his nose at Izuku, and a little bit of unease creeped into his stomach. Still, the high of having his work talked about in such a way was still with him, making his heart feel full and light. He met Nighteye's gaze steadily, waiting for his final appraisal.
At last Nighteye held the notebook out to Izuku. "This has been passed around several different hero agencies," he said as Izuku took it from his hands. "Probably the whole thing's been photocopied by now. I noticed the number on the cover. You have more work like this?"
Izuku's stomach dropped as he thought of Nighteye seeing his first hero analysis notebook, written in crayon while watching the news before his mother would trust him with pens on the table.
"Uh," he said nervously, "a bit? This stuff is the most recent, but I filled up notebooks faster as I got better. Probably journal seven is where you'd start seeing real analysis."
Nighteye nodded his understanding, looking at the notebook contemplatively. Then he raised his eyes to Izuku's face, leveling him with a piercing look.
"This is the kind of insight that keeps heroes alive," he said seriously. "You should think about transferring to the support course. Your skills are wasted in Gen Ed."
"But," Izuku protested, trying to focus through the way his head was swimming with euphoria, "the support course is for people who build gear-"
"It's for people who facilitate the work of heroes," Nighteye corrected. "A professional analyst falls under that heading, you wouldn't be the first and you won't be the last."
"Would I get to work with the hero course students?" Izuku asked, his mind racing ahead to watching Shinsou's training, to a hypothetical hero course student who might help with his experiments.
"Probably," Nighteye replied, his tone suggesting something like amusement at Izuku's enthusiasm. "It would be the best way to hone your craft, and it would help them improve as well."
Suddenly Izuku thought of Kacchan, in the hero course now as opposed to when Shinsou would enter later. He wouldn't like taking Izuku's notes on his performance, if anything he was likely to react violently to anything like criticism. Izuku ran his fingers over the burn marks on his notebook.
"As long as he doesn't burn it up this time," Izuku muttered, internally steeling himself against the anticipated attack.
"Those burn marks," Nighteye said, causing Izuku to look up, not having even noticed he'd dropped his gaze to his hands. "A hero student made them?"
"Not here," Izuku said dismissively. "Earlier. We went to the same middle school."
Nighteye nodded, his expression unreadable. "I see," he said, then turned to go. "You should get back to-"
"Wait!" Izuku called quickly, then shuffled slightly when Nighteye turned back to him. "You really think I could do it?"
Then Nighteye did something he hadn't done since they'd stepped out of the classroom. He smiled, just a twitch of his lips, a small uptick at the corners of his mouth, but it made his face look infinitely softer.
"Any hero agency would be lucky to have you," he stated firmly, as though it were a plain fact, like there could be no refuting it.
"Thank you," said Izuku unguardedly.
Nighteye nodded in acknowledgment, then turned away again. "Get back to class Midoriya."
"Yes sir," Izuku said, then slipped back into the classroom as Nighteye headed off toward the wing where the hero classes were held.
Mirai generally considered himself someone with an eye for talent.
True he was also an excellent teacher, but it took dedicated students to make great heroes and all of his interns had left him with bright futures ahead of them. He vetted all his staff personally, and while some might consider the qualifications he looked for superfluous, it had never failed to net him the best workers money could buy. He didn't look into the future of everyone he met, but as someone with more of an eye for things to come than most, he knew the signs of someone destined for success.
Midoriya, he thought as he knocked on the door of the teacher's lounge nearest the hero course classrooms, had the potential for greatness in him. The story of how Present Mic had come across his notebook the first time had circulated along with the item itself, and Mirai knew that someone who could do a thing like that had a sharp, quick mind and the ability to think on their feet. The analysis only confirmed what he already knew, that Midoriya had a bright future in the hero industry, and he had already decided he was going to do everything he could to facilitate that future.
"Eraser, Mic," he greeted as he entered the room, then shut the door behind himself.
The two heroes in question had been standing by the coffee pot, but they turned to him curiously when he spoke. Eraser looked at Mirai over the rim of his mug as Mic poured himself a cup, then set the pot back down.
"To what do we owe the honor?" Eraser said, not sounding like he much cared.
Mirai adjusted his glasses. "I came here firstly to apologize," he said, earning himself a pair of puzzled looks. "Mic, you requested that when the other agencies were finished with Midoriya's notebook it should be returned to you so you could give it back to him. I circumvented you, and have just come from returning it to Midoriya myself."
Mic pouted, but before he could say anything Eraser stepped in front of him, effectively cutting
him off.
"That isn't your only reason," he said, perfectly certain of this conclusion.
Mirai nodded. "I also came to give you some information," he said. "I spoke briefly with Midoriya, and encouraged him to join the support class. However, when faced with the prospect of working with the hero classes, he seemed wary of one of your students."
"Wary?" Mic repeated, pout forgotten in favor of open concern.
"The burn marks on the notebook," Mirai said, "I take it you noticed them?"
"We did," said Eraser, eyes narrowing.
"Hold on now!" Mic exclaimed before Mirai could elaborate. "Are you saying it was a UA hero student who left those marks?"
"He confirmed it," Mirai informed them. "He said that he and this student attended the same middle school, but I take it they weren't friends."
Eraser and Mic turned to each other. "Bakugou," they said in unison.
Mirai looked from one to the other. "You already know about the student in question?"
"Not until just now," Eraser said, turning back to Mirai. "When we met Midoriya, he called the person who burned his notebook 'Kacchan.' There's only two students in the hero course whose quirk could leave marks like that. I'd have to double check their middle school records to be sure, but one of them is named Katsuki."
"Tell me," Mirai insisted, noting with detachment the distaste that had creeped into his tone, "what's your impression of this Bakugou?"
"He's proud, overconfident, violent, and at times downright cruel," Eraser said without hesitation. "He also got in with a grand total of zero rescue points, which is a huge red flag."
"If you don't mind my saying so," Mirai raised an eyebrow, "I think this is another huge red flag."
"It's more than a red flag," Mic said, his usual loud persona lost beneath a look of deep anxiety. "It's real cause for concern."
"I'll have to talk to Nezu about him," Eraser said, looking down at his coffee cup as he swirled the contents around. Then he looked up at Mirai. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
Mirai nodded. "Of course," he said shortly, then turned and exited the lounge, leaving two troubled teachers behind him.