"Are you kidding me?" Izuku backs off as he hears one angry Shinsou Hitoshi come for his throat. "You expect us to go against the hero course, right now, playing villains, because you ask us nicely? For what, for some measly points on our finals?"

"Hey, hey, no one said anything about being a villain—" Shibasaki tries to get in a word edgewise, but Shinsou only looks angrier.

"Oh don't you try to lie. No one said anything but the official documents Midoriya is carrying with himself right now do!" Izuku's eyes go wide. Shibasaki's too. "Surprised we know about that? Well, we have an amazing classmate who we can thank for this information."

Izuku wants to ask, he really does, but there's more pressing matters currently.

"We want to change that aspect of the exam, but to do that we'd have to show some initiative," he tries to speak evenly and somehow manages not to stutter. "We want to write a petition to the principal to change the exam slightly."

"And what guarantee do you have that he will?"

"None." Izuku says firmly. "Plan B is that we follow the changed rules anyway and stick to our morals, so we don't have to play villains. There's no risk for you, just for me. Worse comes to worst… I fail and have to deal with the consequences, but there's none for you, so maybe stop trying to one-up me in an argument, sit down, shut up, and let me explain!" At the end of his little speech he's shouting, but he doesn't care. He's angry, so, so angry at Shinsou and his lack of cooperation.

Surprisingly, Shinsou sits and blinks at him bewildered.

"You have ire," the boy half-whispers.

"Maybe I just don't want to deal with assholes," Izuku shoots back then sighs. "Look, our plan is fairly simple. Talk with the principal, plan the assault, organise the assault, and win. We don't have to put labels like 'villains' on ourselves. Kami knows I don't want to do that either." He rubs his eyes tiredly. Maybe sleeping less than six hours wasn't the best choice.

"There are additional points to that plan," adds Shibasaki, "But yeah, the barebones of it are that." He nods to himself, and takes out his phone. "We're asking you to join our group chat so we can communicate faster and more efficiently. Business Course, both people affiliated with this endeavour and not, are already drafting up a petition to the principal Nedzu that we'll bring him at the end of this school day once everyone affiliated signs it. So if you have something to prove against the Hero Course, and you want to fight or at least help, or maybe you need those additional points to pass…" He raises his phone and shakes it. "Well, I'm waiting for your account info."

Izuku watches with bated breath as the first person tattles off their nickname, and then another, and another, and another—

"Okay, add me too," says Shinsou, and Izuku can't believe his ears as he says his nick. Yes! He got him!

"Make me an admin," says one of the guys as he says his nick. "I'll add people who couldn't be here to hear about it."

"Thank you," Izuku breathes out, feeling his eyes water. So many people joined, so many people want to help, it is amazing.

"Check your phone, Midoriya," Shibasaki says, motioning at him with his own smartphone. "My guys made the first draft of the petition, you gotta tell them what to change or if it's good."

"O-Oh! Right! Thank you, that was fast…" he takes out his phone and checks it quickly, finding 99+ messages on a new group chat, no, server he was added to. He scrolls through the channel list and finds one where he was pinged.

UNION
#documents

Asoshina Fumiko
Midoriya Izuku
here's a first draft of the petition
edit it as you see fit
and send it back to us ASAP
document/d/1V5OkYIxIqu2tcUsMLbHYUNtKGn4omxZoe3iWVSJ_0x8/edit?usp=sharing

He loads it up and reads it, then smiles, delighted.

UNION
#documents

Midoriya Izuku
This is perfect!
I'll get it printed by the end of the day.

Asoshina Fumiko
great!
bring it over to support course folks first
before they start doing their labs
the rest of us can wait

He sends her a thumbs up and downloads the document in pdf to print it later.

The first bell rings out signalling the end of lunch and he nods at the people around him.

"I'd appreciate it if you could all stay behind a little to sign the petition. I'll bring it to the principal afterwards."

"Sure thing!" a guy with glasses answers him. "I'll make sure to make a list of everyone who supports your cause, and that they stay behind to sign the petition."

"Thank you, really," Izuku sends him a smile. "I'll be going then." He receives nods and runs off towards the direction of his classroom.

It only then hits him that he didn't manage to eat lunch. Oh well, things you do for the idea…

Tired, hungry, and ready for the day to end, Izuku rolls up to the library to print the petition, and then makes a beeline for the Support Course's building.

The emotionless girl from earlier is already waiting for him.

"Hello, I believe I didn't have time to introduce myself yet," she says quietly and as monotonously as before. "I'm Anno Chieko, the president of class 1-H."

"It's nice to meet you Anno-san." He bows a little and she bows back stiffly.

"Likewise. Let's go to my hellions first." Izuku chuckles, Anno doesn't even crack a smile.

When they enter the classroom they find every seat, save for three, full of waiting student mass.

"I didn't manage to convince two of our most stubborn classmates. Sorry."

"It's alright. This is more than I expected anyway!" He bows deeply. "Thank you so much everyone!" Once he straightens he puts the petition on the lectern. "Let's sign it quickly, others are waiting."

Anno waves a hand and the students move in orderly fashion, some visibly annoyed about it, but still organised.

Izuku can move on to other classes in no time.

The two other support classes are way less coordinated… but they're pretty fast too.

Izuku then moves onto the General Education Course building, as it's the closest. The glasses guy, who reminds him strongly of Iida, is there to lead him to correct classes.

Somehow, Class C is even more orderly than Class H, and in similar vein the other two classes are less organised.

Finally it's time for the Business Course. The fifteen people from there meet him halfway and use the wall to sign the document neatly.

And finally it's the time for the last signature—his own.

He counts the signatures as he walks towards the principal's office, accompanied by Anno, who appeared out of nowhere, Kezuro—the Iida-like glasses guy—and Shibasaki. There's around a hundred people. Holy cow, there's around a hundred people.

That's over two times more than there will be Hero Course students.

He can win this.

He just needs to convince the principal that he's the one in right.

The door opens before he can knock.

"Well, that's not ominous at all," he hears muttered behind him.

He breathes in, out, enters.

Principal Nedzu is sitting opposite to the door, sipping his tea with a smile.

"Welcome, what may I help you with today, Class 1-C President Kezuro Kunimi, Class 1-H President Anno Chieko, Class 1-I President Shibasaki Hiroyoshi and… Villain Team leader Midoriya Izuku?" The chimaera smiles sharply and Izuku knows he's gonna have to somehow go through this meeting without losing his shit once. And that it's gonna be hard.

"We've got a petition we would like you to consider," Izuku says, taking a step forward. The rest of the gathering follows.

"Oh? Well, as you know I don't have to look at any petition that is below a certain threshold of signatures, have you amassed them?" the chimaera looks at them with this unchanging smile, it's kinda creepy.

"Yes, we did."

"Very well then, let me see it." The Principal takes the document from them and carefully reads it, humming all the while. "I see, I see, I didn't expect you to not write your actual demands on paper…" he trails off and looks Izuku in the eye.

"So that they could be immediately declined?" he asks rhetorically, and barely stops himself from tacking on a 'No, thank you.' "We're willing to negotiate."

"A good strategy," Principal Nedzu nods his head and smiles a tad bit wider, showing his teeth. "Alright, I accept your terms. Since you're already here, why don't we talk immediately?" So we don't have time to talk about our strategy, Izuku thinks, but nods. He has already informed all the classes about his talking points, so it should be fine.

"Thank you for this opportunity," Shibasaki says bowing. Anno and Kezuro join him, and Izuku bows his head slightly, but doesn't bow fully. The Principal is still staring at him, and something tells him that losing this fight of eye-contact would do him no good.

"Sit, why don't you?" The Principal motions to the four chairs. That's a suspicious number of chairs to be out in front of the desk. Izuku is tired enough he didn't even notice that! Clearly the principal knew they were coming. "I'm surprised more people didn't come."

"We didn't want to appear unruly, so, alongside other class presidents, we agreed that one person per department is going to be enough for this conversation, sir!" Kezuro sits up ramrod straight as he says it. Iida 2.0, Izuku thinks idly.

"I see, I see. Tea?" Thinking Nedzu would consider it rude to refuse, they all accept. "Well then, tell me your ideas and we can 'iron something out' like you stated in the petition," he chuckles.

"We would like to not be scored on villainous behaviour for one," Izuku begins saying, but before he can flesh out his idea, Anno starts talking.

"The goals are extreme, the petition only mentions the ones we thought wouldn't look suspicious on a document you have to legally share with the school board," the girl points out, and the principal winces.

"I see, so you are aware of this fact."

"You knew we knew, sir," Kezuro speaks up. "As well as the possibility of us listing other things you put in the requirements section if this conversation goes nowhere." Huh. Izuku didn't think the prim and proper guy was capable of pressuring authority. Oh well, this is working in his favour so he'll take it.

Before the principal can say anything about Kezuro's observation, Izuku strikes with his own words. "That's why we propose a different system, in which neither team is a Hero or Villain team, but we both are scored on the same rules."

"This would not only be fair," Shibasaki interjects, "But also would allow those of us who wish to transfer to Hero Course to show off our skills and compare our abilities and attitude to those already in the course."

"We propose a system of adding and subtracting points, where both teams start at a hundred, and can lose or gain the points based on their failings and accomplishments," Izuku continues, easily bouncing off the boy. "Points could be subtracted for things like unheroic behaviour, not being able to save your comrade, improper civilian interactions etiquette and other similar things. Points could be added for every captured member of the opposite team, every survived day, or we could even go for a system where there's only points subtraction without points gain. It all depends on you, sir."

Principal Nedzu seems deep in thought as he closes his eyes and tilts his head.

It lasts a moment, a few minutes at most, but it puts Izuku on edge.

But then the principal opens his eyes and throws his hands in the air.

"Okay! I accept your proposal!"

All four of them exhale with relief.

"Thank you so much, sir."

"The changes are going to be announced tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for that," he winks, and gets up, strolling towards the window. "You're good kids, truly the creme de la creme of this generation." He sighs goodnaturedly. "I chose well by picking you Midoriya." Izuku feels warmth in his very soul. He made a good choice. "Now out you go, rest, tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for you, I'm sure," he chuckles.

"One more thing, sir," Izuku says before it becomes too awkward to interrupt. "We would like to also change the list of what we're allowed and not allowed to do. Mainly the really harmful things like lower grade explosives on people."

He waits a few tense seconds, but the principal only nods.

"Consider it done, Midoriya-kun."

Izuku and the class presidents exit the principal's office feeling like a weight was taken from their shoulders.

"Thank you so much for your help. I couldn't have done this without you," Izuku says sincerely.

Anno tilts her head quizzically, Kezuro blushes and nods, and Shibasaki pats him on the shoulder.

"It's fine! We should probably start planning in depth tomorrow though."

"Tomorrow?" Izuku laughs. "We're starting today."