UNION
#announcements

Midoriya Izuku
everyone I want to make sure you're all capable of using your quirk in combat so I'll be pulling you out of classes in small groups.
And you may be asking yourself: What if my quirk is non-physical?
Well too bad, you're getting pulled out anyway. We'll figure something out.

He almost exits the server when he sees he's getting pinged in general chat.

UNION
#general

Miyamae Chouei
Midoriya Izuku I will never use my quirk, you can skip me

Midoriya Izuku
Can I ask why?

Miyamae Chouei
just google my name and 'accident'
it will come up

Izuku narrows his eyes. That doesn't sound good. That doesn't sound good at all. He does as instructed and gasps softly as the results load.

There, on the first page, is written: Deadly accident during quirk manifestation. 3 dead, several injured.

Three dead.

UNION
#general

Midoriya Izuku
upon consideration anyone that doesn't want to use their quirks can not come, just DM me so I know who to pull out when
and uh
my condolences Miyamae

Miyamae Chuei
Thank you

Midoriya Izuku
…do you want to skip the classes still…?

Miyamae Chuei
man, you know how to cheer me up

Kezuro Kunimi
This is unbecoming of UA students
We should not skip classes just because!
You're in the Hero Course, you should be a role model.

Midoriya Izuku
I can have a little rebellion
as a treat

Still a little shaken, he starts drafting up plans and making up teams. It's a little hard. He supposes non-physical quirks should go together, physical too… but the finer details? He is struggling.

He bangs his head against the wall behind him. He's supposed to be the smart one, he's supposed to have this thing figured out. Quirk analysis is his hobby, something he's good at. Why can't he be good at it now?

The logical part of him knows that it's because he only has descriptions to go off and he hasn't seen any of those quirks in action yet, but he's still mad at himself.

A ping from his phone redirects his thoughts.

UNION
#brains

Anno Chieko
Midoriya Izuku all spider-gauntlets have been made
we can start training with them tomorrow

Kishi Moe
we have also finished making enough web polymer to last us a month!

Midoriya Izuku
You guys are literally the best

He spends another two hours making teams and sends out the groups in the late hours of the evening.

The rest of the night is spent on further planning out the assault teams. It's harder than he anticipated, but he manages. Somehow.

The next day he wakes up as per usual, which is to say early, and goes on his morning run, thoughts clouded by his yesterday's musing. He second guesses himself a lot. Did he make good choices? Is he setting them up for a win or for a loss?

By the time his anxiety decides to eat his heart out, he's back home, packed for school and leaving the house after wishing his mother a good day.

He should talk to her, probably, about the exam, about his anxieties. It always helps a little. But he also doesn't quite… want her to know. That he's been singled out again. That his friendships that he so carefully created were failing.

He doesn't even notice that he's on the same train as Kacchan until he raises his head absentmindedly to check which station he's on, and finds his red eyes boring into his own.

It's a mix of bitterness and fatigue and the burned state of his mind that the anxiety from earlier left behind, that makes him greet the blonde with less fanfare than usual. He doesn't feel like a stuttering mess, which is weird, but he won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Kacchan, apparently, feels more social and less angry than usual, because he nods at him in acknowledgment that he exists, then goes back to messing with something on his phone.

Izuku is more than fine with that.

Once it's time to get out of the train they fall into step with each other, in easy silence. For once Kacchan isn't screaming at him to walk behind him, for once Izuku's not scared enough to do that either.

Kacchan only removes his earphones and says something once they're right in front of the school, safe behind the gates.

"Just so you know, I will crush you all equally. Quirkless, quirked, you're all weak and useless," he says and speeds up, leaving Izuku behind.

Well, there goes his potential good mood.

However before Izuku can dwell on what Kacchan said, and what even prompted him to say it, he spots Aizawa-sensei approaching him.

"Midoriya, a word," the teacher says, then turns around intending for Izuku to follow.

Once they're in the teacher's lounge, Aizawa finally turns towards him, and sighs. If Izuku had any more anxiety to spare he would probably feel something at that moment, however he does not so he feels a grand total of nothing.

"You've been using the permission slips to skip classes rather liberally," Aizawa-sensei says. "I asked around so I know you're actually pouring every single resource you have into making sure you win, but as your teacher I want to make sure you're not going to burn yourself out before you even enter the exam ground."

Izuku thinks then briefly, about returning to his classes instead of going with his previous plan, about hearing Kacchan's boasting, seeing Yaoyorozu's unflinching cold gaze, having to sit through another 'concerned lecture' from his so-called friends… He shakes his head.

"Thank you for your concern, Aizawa-sensei, but I have to stay on top of the schedule for my plan to work."

"Very well, your choice," the teacher grunts out. "Would you have some time now, though?" Izuku is taken aback by the question and tilts his head. He dares to think that Aizawa-sensei's face softens. "By that I mean, do you need to get back to your schedule immediately, or can we do the planned consultation now?"

"Oh!" Right, the planned consultations that were supposed to happen during classes. "Yeah, I have time." But do you? He wants to ask Aizawa-sensei. He doesn't get a chance though, as the man starts walking towards a secluded part of the teacher's lounge. He follows hesitantly.

Aizawa-sensei sits down on a comfortable chair and motions for him to sit on the sofa.

Izuku wrangles his hands together, wondering what those consultations entail.

"First and foremost, do you have a plan for the exam?" Aizawa-sensei asks, almost gently. "You don't have to disclose it, I'm just asking if you do."

"Yes, we… we hope to do good. We have a few plans… hopefully we won't have to use them all."

Aizawa-sensei nods. "It's good to be prepared. I'm glad you're taking this seriously."

"I-I mean, this is the exam, the results are in our records forever, a-and I really want to go to the summer camp, and I want my teammates to win to pass their exams too, so… Yeah. Believe me I am taking this seriously." He clasps his hands and awaits Aizawa-sensei's judgement.

"Of course, sound reasoning," the man just states, his expression unchanging. "And how are you getting along with your teammates?"

"I uh," the question catches him off guard. "Um, I—" Why would Aizawa-sensei want to know that? "Good…?" he eventually chokes out. "I-I mean, everyone's really pumped to fight with the Hero Course, so we all have the same goal, so…"

"Do you now?" Aizawa-sensei asks quizzically. "You are part of the Hero Course, aren't they against you too?"

That makes Izuku stop and think. Not for long though, he knows what he has to say now. "I don't… fit. With the Hero Course, I mean. I think that's why I was chosen for this exam. A black sheep if you will. And…" he licks his lips, "And I think the other courses see that too."

Aizawa-sensei nods at him slowly.

"Alright, last question." He makes an unnecessarily long pause. "Are you ready?"

Izuku smiles. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"You're free to go in that case."

Izuku nods and legs it, uncomfortable with being in the teacher's lounge without a reason.

What follows is several gruelling hours of the most batshit insane conversations he's ever had.

He gathers together Shinsou, Inoue and Yamato, as they all have some sort of mind-controlling ability, and makes them list off ideas on how to use it. They spend over twenty minutes like that. He has to pick up the speed after that.

Some quirks are completely useless in combat unless you count distraction, like Shimabukuro's Colour Change, which, exactly like the name suggests, changes the colour of things he touches. Others are… questionable in their usefulness, like Minamida's Otter, which makes them an otter Asui.

Higashio's Make-up Artist is great for camouflage but not much else, Goto's Veil is… Well. Izuku finds several uses for it in their quick talk, but Goto himself firmly states that the voidbeings, who are apparently a thing that exist, won't be cooperative.

Izuku wants to explode his brain. A little. Just a liiiiitle bit.

Thankfully other quirks are much more straightforward, like Super Hearing, or Mida—which is probably a typo and should be called Midas, but he'll let it go—which turns anything Yamazaki touches into brass of all things.

There are also quirks that he feels… icky about giving a go-ahead to use them. Like Fujimura's Mind Exchange, which makes her able to switch people's minds for thirty minutes. In Izuku's humble opinion that's thirty minutes too long, but he can't say it wouldn't make a wonderful distraction, and reduce her opponents to ash as they struggle to use the other person's quirk.

Another quirk is like that is Ichimida Miwa's Mind-to-mind Photos, which is an ability to channel images into someone's mind telepathically. Izuku is so so so tempted to ask her to remember a bunch of horrifying pictures to mess with his classmates… but he's not quite that cruel. They come up with another tactic instead.

Another switcheroo quirk is Akiho's Quirk Switch which does exactly what it says on the tin. It would no doubt wreck havoc. Unfortunately both Mind Exchange and Quirk Switch have cooldowns so Fujimura and Akiho could only change one pair around before having to tap out and escape.

Another powerful quirk that could change the game was Metamorphosis, the ability to change someone into someone else, as long as the user—Hisayuki—touched the person he wanted to turn another person into before.

…that's an awful lot of using the words 'someone' and 'person'. Oh well.

There were, of course, also other, more physical quirks, like Hair Detonation, Werewolf, Centaur—and he wonders how he had missed her until she informs him she was missing from school for a few days because of an illness.

There are also more straightforward quirks like Strength Enhancement and Stretchy Skin.

His head spins from all the quirks he has to review… until he meets with his last group, that has Mizuhara, and he realises what exactly Merging entails.

It's a strong quirk, a very strong quirk, but one that requires cooperation to work. Ability to temporarily merge two beings into a single being which results in a completely new and stronger being.
Izuku has, in his fatigued haze, assumed that 'beings' referred to like, animals, or something. Not humans.

Mizuhara informs him that her quirk works on both.

His mind is instantly filled with plans.

This is gonna be good. This is gonna be so good.

That day's training session is filled with people going absolutely bonkers. Why? Kishi wasn't lying, they really had enough polymer to last them a month, and she promised that she already requested materials to replenish whatever they used during training later.

Because of that the entire gym they currently reside in is filled with target practice covered in said polymer. They were all testing their aim aside from Minamoto who was showing off, her quirk making her aim perfect.

That was just the first part of the training that day though.

Izuku makes a chart quickly and employs Mizuhara to fuse any pair that finishes the aim training.

Newly made people appear all around the gym, testing their strength, their quirks, their new identities.

Izuku smiles. Oh yes. It's all coming together.