Chapter 4: What Was That?

Two Weeks Prior to The First Term of UA

"Hello, Mr Aizawa! It's good to see you again!" Principal Nezu beamed, "Tea?"

Aizawa knew better than to refuse. He gave him a swift nod, and a cup was pushed towards him. The small, intelligent rat-bear (…thing) clambered down off his desk. He'd been standing on it to pour the tea. Now back in his chair, and Aizawa seated opposite him, they were ready to begin, "This time of year is always dreadfully exciting, don't you agree?"

"In some ways," Aizawa answered hesitantly.

"After your success in class A last year, I would expect you to be looking forwards to this one!"

"I can't know until I meet them."

"Of course not, but this is the first step."

Aizawa had been the leading role in UA's redemption class, commonly known as the A-class threat, for quite a few years now. Long ago, he would have never guessed he'd end up leading this class, but the cause was very meaningful to him, especially.

He'd seen very few failures, and most of his students had gone on to live fulfilling lives on the right side of the law. But he could never expect every year to be as simple as the last. Despite every student graduating before summer's end last time, Aizawa could not afford to rest easy. Some of those students too, had been particularly challenging. If they hadn't ended up at UA, who knows what horrors they could have found themselves a part of.

But whilst Aizawa was busy trying to turn these kids' lives around, Principal Nezu was already setting his sights on the next lot. And that's what they were here to do. Nezu had already finalised the students – organised the dorms and informed the families. But this was the first time Aizawa would see them all, at least, in their files.

The meeting was the same every year. A couple of weeks before term began, Nezu called the hero to his office so they could go through the files together. There was a couple of students this year, that Aizawa had known he'd be seeing for a while.

The game was about to begin.

"We have a very interesting group this year," Nezu grinned. He spread the twenty files out in front of him in number order. "What shall we start with?"

Aizawa wavered, "Let's go with the dangerous Quirks."

Nezu nodded, "Number 1."

He reached towards the file. "Yuga Aoyama – a laser power without control, huh? I can see why he's here."

"He has a specialised belt for refining his power and limiting outbursts."

"Belt?"

"It's a navel laser."

"Right…"

"Number 2."

Aizawa closed the first file and reached for the second.

They went through each and every student like this, assessing their dangers and the precautions taken. They had fewer dangerous Quirks than normal, but more vigilantes. The villains only made up half the class.

"Shoto Todoroki," Aizawa sighed, he knew he'd be seeing him here.

"I've been looking forward to having Endeavor's son in our halls!" Nezu beamed, "And for him to be in class 1-A? No one could have predicted it, not even me!"

"He'll be tricky," Aizawa warned, staring at the photo in his files. The boy had styled his duel coloured hair to hide his scar, and cover most of the red with white. "There's a story here we don't know completely – and we're no closer to locating Dabi. Has Endeavor said anything?"

"He insists Dabi corrupted the child," Nezu admitted, resting his paws on top of one another, "Although I agree. The boy disappeared without a trace, with no sign of a fight. He has been trained by his father from a young age to take up his mantel, yet he didn't fight his kidnapper… Yes, there will be a lot of work ahead of you."

"His Quirk is listed as ice and fire," Aizawa realised. He scanned over the pictures taken when he was fleeing the police and heroes. He only ever used ice, "He's repressing half his abilities…"

"Specifically, fire, an ability held by both Dabi and Endeavor."

The two met eyes for a moment. Aizawa didn't like this case one bit, and he knew Nezu didn't either.

"The way to him will be through the others," Aizawa insisted. "I'm a hero, a teacher, and an adult – there's no way he'll let me close to him. But if he lets one of the other students get close, he might lower his defences, and we can get to the bottom of this." He closed the file and pushed it back into place.

"Perhaps number 4 would be of assistance."

Aizawa knew who this would be as well. He opened the file, and the face of Tenya Iida stared back at him.

"This kid had so much potential," Aizawa sighed.

"He still does," Nezu reminded him. "He has learnt a valuable lesson. His elder brother clearly means a lot to him, and Tensei's paralysis by the hands of the Hero Killer, Stain, must have destroyed young Tenya."

"You think he could help us get close to Todoroki?"

"Well, what do you think?" Nezu asked, sipping his tea.

Aizawa closed the file, "No – they're too different. I know Tenya through Tensei. Tenya is usually rigid and almost robotic in personality. He won't click with Todoroki, even if they come from similar backgrounds. And Iida respects heroes greatly. Todoroki doesn't."

Nezu nodded, "I had similar thoughts. I simply wanted your opinion."

"Well, Todoroki will definitely be the biggest challenge this year."

But then Nezu smiled, and Aizawa knew he was in for a whole load of trouble, "Actually… there are two more we haven't had the chance to speak about yet."

Aizawa's eyes flickered to the two files he'd yet to touch, sitting right in front of him –

17 and 18.

"Open 17 first."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes as he did as he was told. Number 18 awaited him, the bold number plaguing the corner of his sight as he tried to focus on 17.

"I know this kid," Aizawa realised, "Katsuki Bakugo – he was on the news about a year ago…"

"Bakugo had great heroic potential," Nezu explained. "He has an immensely powerful Quirk that he has competent control over. Ten months ago, he was caught by a villain made of sludge, who tried to suffocate him. Bakugo panicked and started several fires. The heroes at the incident were not suited for the job, and all reports suggest that Bakugo would have died if All Might hadn't arrived just in time."

"But that wasn't all, was it?" he frowned, trying to remember. "There was another kid –"

"Yes, his classmate. He stepped in when he saw Bakugo in trouble – the heroes insist that he got in the way and could have made the situation worse, but I have looked through the footage. He bought them a few vital seconds. Bakugo would have died if he hadn't run in to save him."

Aizawa was getting more curious about 18 now. "But that's not the only reason he was on the news."

Nezu's smile grew wider, "A classmate of his gathered significant evidence to prove that Bakugo was a Quirkest bully. His victim suffered from frequent physical and emotional abuse, and the school did nothing to stop it. Bakugo was blacklisted from any hero school, and the school itself suffered greatly."

"But you believe Bakugo still deserves a chance?" Aizawa raised his eyebrows.

"That's up to you."

Aizawa grunted, of course it was. He put down the file, and finally reached out to number 18. After a glance in Nezu's direction, he opened it, and saw an eerily familiar face. Glancing at Nezu again, Aizawa threw file 17 back open.

"But… this is the kid who saved Bakugo," Aizawa realised. "This is number 18?"

"Izuku Midoriya," Nezu positively beamed. "He is also the student that Bakugo bullied."

Aizawa furrowed his brow. He'd just noticed some interesting information in 18's file. "He's… Quirkless…"

"I know – isn't it wonderful?"

Aizawa blinked at him, "Why is this kid here? What did he do?"

Nezu reached forward for file 18, still smiling menacingly, "Oh, poor Midoriya. He must have suffered much torment from Bakugo and many others for his Quirklessness. He didn't fare well after the sludge villain attack either. This was before he'd complied his evidence against Bakugo, of course. Yet, he still saved him. Threw a notebook at the villain's eye with astonishing aim, I must admit. It wasn't vigilantism – he didn't use a Quirk, obviously. And he still wasn't punished, when afterwards, he publicly shamed every hero present for not taking action like he had – for not trying everything they could. They were prepared to let Bakugo die, and Midoriya was furious. You should see the video. It's been taken down in numerous locations, but you can find it if you look hard enough. The boy wasn't even fond of All Might, despite him saving his life."

"So, the kid hates heroes," Aizawa assumed. "Why should he be in my class?"

"Well, he did also hack into his school's security system to gather evidence against Bakugo. Broke in at night to achieve it."

"His only crime is breaking and entering."

Nezu laughed, "He wasn't caught. No, no, he is much too clever for that."

"Then why is he here?"

Nezu paused, smile fading. "Eraser Head, you have seen hundreds of students pass through these halls – heroes, villains and everything in between. But this, small, Quirkless boy…

"This is the most dangerous member of class 1-A you have ever seen."

Aizawa looked him dead in the eyes, "Why?"

The smile returned – that damned smile. "Look at the world we live in – of heroes and villains. We, the heroes, stand as the leader of the pack. The villains are but a small percentage that we mercilessly try to stamp out of existence, but we will never succeed – that is but the way of life. Look at all these, once innocent children. They fell through the cracks – it is not their fault. We're here to… pull them back up again. But we can only help so many. The rest will fester in the darkness, and the best, or perhaps worst, of them will rise up to attack our light. They only go so far, of course. They never learnt to band together – the great powers face titans such as All Might, and the world rejoices in the villain's defeat.

"Now… imagine, in a few years' time, a young man, who has been toeing the line of the dark his whole life, slips over the edge. He has no power of his own – but great motivation and determination. He sees power in what once was powerlessness, and this wonderful, brilliant mind, stands up, and speaks to the rest who we have failed. Imagine a leader, who can tell the villains that they are not alone – that they are not powerless. He knows how they feel – he knows what it's like to be where they are.

"Imagine a leader – and take another look at that boy."

Aizawa looked back down at the face of Izuku Midoriya. The photo was taken recently. There was such anger in his emerald green eyes. And suddenly, he could see it too – the potential.

"He wouldn't go down in a battle of raw strength, where a hero would appear victorious and as legendary as the warriors of old," said Nezu. "If he so willed, I believe he could wage a battle of wits, unlike any of us have ever seen. All he needs to do, is slip."

Nezu was never wrong.

Never.

"Oh, and another thing. After some… accidental circumstances, moments before the sludge villain attack, our number 18 discovered All Might's power limit."

Aizawa's eyes grew wide, "That oaf – how did he let his secret out to a teenager?!"

"It was an accident, as I said. But it does raise some problems, considering everything else I have said. After all, young Midoriya just needs a group to lead," Nezu smiled, and he returned his file to its place among the rest of class A –

"And imagine what he could become."

Yes, this year would be interesting indeed.

One Week into UA's First Term

Midoriya had started adding his teachers to notebook A. There was plenty of space; it might as well be filled. Speaking of which, his notebook kept disappearing for short periods of time and mysteriously reappearing with extra notes added to the occasional page. It didn't take him long to realise that it was Uraraka's doing.

It was such a shame he was banned from the internet. None of class A were permitted to have contact with the outside world. Midoriya supposed individuals who had found themselves in more dangerous groups would be best completely isolated from that situation, and the rest of class A would have to be treated in the same way. Midoriya also had the sneaking suspicion that the staff were well aware of his more technological skills.

But if he did have access to the internet, he might have been able to find some more information on Mr Aizawa. He'd yet to figure out his Quirk, but the man was still somewhat familiar… He had to be an underground hero, especially with the getup he wore around school. All the other teachers wore their hero costumes at all times, and Mr Aizawa couldn't have been any different. If he was over-ground like the rest of them, it was bound to be a little more flashy, designed to grab attention. Midoriya did feel as though it was acceptable that he couldn't remember who Mr Aizawa was in this case, it just proved that he was a good underground hero.

And he was a good teacher too.

Midoriya had finally figured out what the numbers were all about – it definitely was a teaching method. And it worked. Addressing everyone as numbers initially dehumanises them – making them feel regretful for being there, feeling like they were in a prison, like they'd done wrong and that they didn't deserve to be called by their names. Which was rather horrible. But as soon as they started doing… better, Mr Aizawa would miraculously remember what they were really called. Midoriya wasn't the only one who lit up at the sound of his real name. He felt like he was a puppy in training, but he couldn't help it!

UA was a school unlike any other, and Midoriya… was actually starting to enjoy being there.

The only distractions in lessons occurred when the rest of the class decided they were bored of the teacher. On several occasions (all of which were Present Mic), they'd managed to actually chase them out of the room (screaming very loudly). Maybe Midoriya wasn't learning as much as he perhaps would have been, and not having the internet didn't help, but at least his stuff wasn't being burnt up and he wasn't hobbling home trying to hide his fresh injuries every day.

Maybe the rest of the school avoided them like they had the plague, always pointing and whispering, but Midoriya was used to that from his old school. At least it wasn't only him. Also, one glance from Shoto and most went running, so that was fun.

Maybe he was labelled as a villain. Maybe the outside world was watching and waiting for the Sports Festival, an eventuality which loomed over them like a death sentence. It would be the first time their families saw them since the start of school. Maybe Midoriya missed home – maybe he was ashamed.

Maybe… UA still wasn't all that great.

But he tried to forget about all that and focus on the best thing that had happened to him so far. He actually had friends. And they were the coolest people he had ever met.

Uraraka had a frighteningly good knowledge of martial arts that most likely came from an equally frightening source, so everyone decided to steer well clear of the topic. Student number 6, Ojiro, however, was extremely interested in her skill set. He was here for vigilantism, desperate to prove himself, and having Uraraka around for some competition in PE was probably good for both of them. It led the two teaching a few moves to whoever braved asking for it, and Midoriya was one of them.

Iida was strict, almost robotic, and desperate to not do any wrong, whatsoever. He was a nice person and seemed particularly protective of Midoriya, for whatever reason. He was obviously aiming for class president and had made the fact even clearer only a few days ago, when he shouted at Kaminari for not doing the washing up, since it was his turn. He ended up blowing the fuse in the building, since electric doesn't mix well with water. And the laughter ringing out in the darkness only grew louder when faced with the fact that Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was probably going to kill them all now. It was safe to say that they all survived; Tokoyami was rather proud of himself for not causing any disaster, and Iida was utterly mortified by the whole ideal.

Tsu was honest without a fault, and terribly blunt. She'd already thrown student number 19, Mineta, out the window twice for perverted comments, and refused to apologise. Her frog Quirk gave her some interesting abilities, which Midoriya had already interrogated eagerly and written all about it in his notebook. Most prominent was her abnormally long tongue, which she could use to slap Mineta around the face with from a distance.

Shoto was harsh, cold and merciless. But also, utterly useless at friendship. He didn't know what he was doing, and generally just lurked in the background. Midoriya took it upon himself to make sure he felt included, and eventually, everyone else started to see his charm too. Poor Shoto just didn't get it. It wasn't his fault – his frightening exterior hid a personality that Midoriya just… clicked with. Also, Kacchan left him alone when Shoto was around, which was an added bonus.

Finally, there was Yaoyorozu – with the coolest Quirk Midoriya had ever seen. She still hadn't revealed why she found herself in class 1-A, but no one was pressurising her (except Mineta, and that was the third time he'd found himself in the bush below the window outside the dorms). She revealed her Quirk to Midoriya first, and he did a double take. Ashido, who now insisted they all called her Mina, had accidently melted the bottom of Midoriya's mug. Iida had labelled them all from 1 to 20 after people kept leaving them in the sink and not washing up. After throwing it away and assuming he'd have to wait until Mr Aizawa ordered a new one, Midoriya turned around and found Yaoyorozu pulling a brand-new mug from her arm and pouring tea into it like it were a completely ordinary thing to do.

Midoriya had not fanboyed over something so intensely since he still liked heroes. He might have flustered Yaoyorozu a bit but come on – she could make anything she wanted at a moment's notice! All she needed was to eat the right diet and not overdo it, and she could quite literally pull a sword from her leg. Oh, my God – it was amazing.

And then, she finally admitted how she got into UA.

"My parents are overprotective," she admitted as they all walked up to the classroom for the beginning of the day. Mr Aizawa had let them walk their themselves after the first week, which made them all weirdly excited (puppy training). "It was bad enough to begin with, but when I got my Quirk, they just… became so constricting! I-I couldn't take it. I practised my Quirk to no end out of boredom, but when I ran out of ideas… I started… sneaking out."

She fiddled with her ponytail nervously, as if she were scared about what they might think of her after they knew the truth, but none of them seemed bothered so far. Midoriya certainly wasn't.

"I… wanted to do everything my parents wouldn't let me do. I… look a little older than I actually am, so I'd dress up and sneak into parties and… stuff… But it was nothing more illegal than sneaking in! A-At first. I met a group of girls and we became friends and then… there was this situation – we got mugged but we didn't have any money on us, and I panicked… I made fake notes and handed them over. They let us go but after that, the girls wanted to do so much more with my Quirk. A-And I just didn't want to disappoint them! I'd never really had friends before a-and… it just went wrong. I have plenty of money myself, but I couldn't take it from my parents without them noticing! I kept making fakes of that and so much more and it just got out of hand… They sold me out, eventually – when they got caught with the fakes. They said it was my fault and then my parents found out…"

"They don't sound like real friends to me," Tsu insisted.

"Yeah – don't worry about them ever again! You have us now!" Uraraka added with that glowing smile of hers.

Yaoyorozu sighed in apparent relief, "After everything that happened, I'm… happy I ended up here."

"Yeah, me too!"

"Me three, ribbit."

Neither Shoto, Iida nor Midoriya added to that. Maybe they weren't quite sure of their answer yet.

They reached class A. Iida was always insistent that they were the first to arrive, but everyone else wasn't that far behind anyway. Kacchan was still stewing in silence whilst his new, err, friendship group, laughed at him. Someone had written Kacchan~! in pink, permanent marker on the whiteboard back at the dorms. He'd spent the morning trying to rub it off, but Mina had accidently melted all their whiteboard pens, so he couldn't do the trick where you wrote on top of the permanent pen to wipe it away. But he had found the permanent marker, and now nearly everyone had ridiculous nicknames, in hot pink.

Right on time, as always, Mr Aizawa walked through the door and the class quickly grew quiet. He had that effect on them – especially when he was carrying a large, cardboard box as well as his sleeping bag.

Midoriya was tempted to ask if he was restocking the supply of fruit pouches he hid in his desk, or yogurt or jelly or whatever they were. But the way he slammed it down on the table and looked at them all, made him think otherwise.

"Congratulations, you're one week into UA, which means it's time for the next step," Aizawa announced, and suddenly everyone was far more interested. "Class A doesn't usually learn to talk to each other for a week or so, but you've out done yourself. These were initially implicated so that you could easily contact me if, for example, someone's Quirk is going haywire."

Without further explanation, Mr Aizawa picked the box back up and made his way around the room. Midoriya frowned in utter confusion when he was handed a brick phone, labelled 18 across the back, as well as a charger.

"You have each other's numbers already inserted, as well as mine –" he raised another brick phone that he had in his pocket – "and a few other teachers'. You should only be able to contact these specialised phones. If you even try to contact someone else, they will be confiscated. We can read all your messages."

Midoriya looked down at his and turned it on. It was primitive – only for texting and calls. He had contacts labelled 1 to 20, missing out 18, of course, as well as Mr Aizawa, Vlad King and even Midnight. Other than that, there was one group chat set up, which all his contacts, excluding Vlad King and Midnight, were in.

He could change the contact names – easy. The others wouldn't be able to see what he'd changed the names to, but no matter. There was no add new contact button – someone had somehow removed it from the screen entirely and likely disabled the function too. He couldn't delete any contacts either. But it wouldn't be hard to work around that – he could probably restore everything in under five minutes. The technology was too old to connect to the internet, but if he got Yaoyorozu to make him a couple of things then maybe he could –

"And 18?"

Midoriya flinched and slowly looked up at Mr Aizawa.

"Don't."

He gulped and slowly put the phone back down. It immediately let out a soft beep. Midoriya turned it over again to see:

[20 - 18] Don't?

Midoriya knew better than to answer whilst Mr Aizawa watched over them like a hawk.

"Principal Nezu can also see all your messages."

And everyone put their phones down; the beeping noises echoing around the room stopping immediately.

Mr Aizawa sighed as he flat packed the empty box and knocked it off the table. "One week in and I have something else to remind you of – choosing class president."

Midoriya saw Iida perk up from across the room. Being class president meant proving that you were responsible and the most trusted out of all of class A. When, in the future, you were questioned about your time in the infamous class, you could say, actually, I was selected as the leader and was highly trusted by my peers and my teachers. If Iida ever hoped to get back on the hero course track, being class president was his best bet.

Of course, it would be easy for Iida to get the role. He was the best behaved, already ordered people around, and kept the dorms clean. He was the perfect candidate. Only problem is that people didn't always listen to him, but that was class A for you – they'd never listen to any kind of authority.

"Usually, a class representative is chosen by the class," Mr Aizawa explained, "but it doesn't work that way here. I will select them when they fulfil the most important criteria."

Iida raised his hand, "And what would that be, Sir?"

Midoriya saw a few of his classmates roll their eyes and chuckle. He wasn't the only one who knew Iida desperately wanted the role.

"I've been teaching class A for years, and I know that you lot won't listen to me or anyone else as much as you would to one of your own. Your class president will be whoever ends up at the top of the pecking order."

Midoriya flumped back into his chair – it wasn't him then. But Iida still had a shot – he'd help him out in the best way he could.

"Whoever I choose can then select a vice president. Oh, and you can't back out of being class president – my decision is final," finished their teacher. "That's all, try not to kill your Japanese teacher."

"I think you'd make a great class president, Iida!" Uraraka exclaimed as they all sat down together for lunch.

"Thank you, but only Mr Aizawa can deem me worthy!"

"Sounds like it's the rest of the class which does that," Tsu acknowledged.

"Don't any of you want the role?" Iida frowned, "It could give you such opportunity in the future!"

"It's… not for me," Uraraka admitted, before shovelling more food in her mouth.

"I wouldn't mind it," Yaoyorozu interjected, "Although, I doubt I'll be selected. What about you, Midoriya?"

"Oh – I won't be chosen either. Top of the pecking order and someone everyone listens to? Sounds more like Kacchan to me."

Uraraka laughed, "The only reason everyone listens to Kacchan is because he's so loud! And no one takes him seriously!"

"Bakugo would make a bad class president," said Shoto, who rarely participated in conversations, probably because he didn't know what to say.

Uraraka giggled again, "Oh, just imagine."

"Bakugo trying to make everyone wash the dishes, ribbit," Asui grinned.

"Wash the dishes or I kill you! Die, die, die!" Uraraka mimicked, slamming her hands on the table as she did so, and Shoto had to hold his water still to make sure it didn't fall over.

"I think someone would frisbee a plate at his face…" Midoriya sniggered.

"Oh, my God, yes!"

"But you would break the plates!" Iida exclaimed, chopping his hands through the air like he always did when he was telling someone off.

"Exactly," Uraraka replied, "Then you wouldn't have to wash them up! And UA would just replace them – everything's practically free here, it's great!"

Midoriya was thinking about how especially great the food was, before his dropped his chopsticks in shock and held his hands over his ears.

A loud, shrill alarm had filled the hall. Within seconds, people had started to panic. Plates of food were abandoned, and the entire school began to run for the exit.

"Let's go, everybody!" Iida called out, getting to his feet.

Uraraka looked mournfully down at her food, "But lunch…"

Midoriya pouted, "Well, I think I'll just stay here," and he shovelled some rice into his mouth.

Everyone but Iida hesitated and sat back down.

"But… the alarm!" Iida exclaimed.

"Well, it's not a fire," Midoriya said. "We had one over the weekend, remember? Some support student set fire to something and the alarm sounded nothing like this."

"Oh yeah…" Uraraka remembered, "So, what's this alarm for?"

"I don't know, but they never drilled us for it."

"…I say it's their fault if something happens. They didn't tell us what this meant," Yaoyorozu decided, starting on her food again too.

"But everyone else is evacuating!" Iida persisted, gesturing towards the panicked stream of students.

Midoriya laughed, "They're not going anywhere in that corridor – it'll be filled to the brim! We're probably safer here."

"If it's a villain attack, why would they target class A anyway?" Shoto pointed out.

Midoriya nodded, "Exactly. Besides Shoto can fight any fire of for us."

Shoto didn't even argue with it. "Sure, whatever."

Iida looked lost for words. Perhaps he would have tried to get them moving again if their phones didn't beep at them in that moment.

Class 1-A Group Chat

[7] Does anyone know what's going on?

[8] Who's that not evacuating?

[5] We're hungry

[5] Midoriya said it's not a fire alarm!

[18] The fire alarm sounded different

[5] Also look at this food going to wASTE!

[5] Disgraceful

[4] May I suggest we all swiftly exit the building?

[7] Nah, let's burn to death

[18] We have Shoto

[7] Everyone but the guys with 15 – let's burn to death

[2] Death!

[7] Death!

[18] Can't the teachers read this chat?

[2] dEATH!

[17] You're all freaking idiots

[13] You're not moving either

[7] Does he care about us?

[5] Kacchan cares!

[2] Awwwwwwwwwwwwww! We wuv you, Kacchan~!

[17] YOU BETTER HOPE THAT FIRE GETS YOU BEFORE I DO

There was a yell and a small explosion from across the hall, and everyone in class A started laughing, the sound echoing around the emptied room when the alarm finally stopped blaring.

Jiro's yell of "FINALLY!" made them all laugh harder.

It wasn't until much later that they were finally told that the press had invaded campus, and that set of an intruder alarm. Mr Aizawa gave them some stern words for not leaving, but none of them took it to heart. Midoriya could have sworn he glared at him more than everyone else.

He gave him a look so menacing that Midoriya was quite certain his eyes glowed red for a moment, when Midoriya asked why the press felt the need to break in like that.

"The press always get excited at the beginning of UA," Mr Aizawa sighed, rubbing his eyes, "They want to know about you lot. With 15 here, they're slightly more desperate for information than usual."

Midoriya supposed that made sense. Imagine all the articles they could write if they got even the smallest story behind one of his classmates…

"Oh, and All Might's teaching the hero course this year, so they probably want to know about how that's going."

The entire class perked up. None of them had heard about All Might, the number one hero – nor seen him!

Midoriya's glare simply hardened, and he knew Mr Aizawa had noted the change in his expression.

"It's good to have dreams, young man. Just… make sure they're attainable."

Midoriya had met All Might. It must have been ten months ago now. His old idol, the number one hero of Japan, had rescued him from a villain made of sludge. When asking him if someone like Midoriya… could be a hero too. He… said no…

And then the man… deflated. The impossibly tall, muscular, symbol of peace shrunk into a skeletal man with an ugly scar on his side. All Might's Quirk kept up the illusion of near-to invulnerability – but now Midoriya knew the truth. After a fight, hidden from the rest of the world, five to six years ago now, All Might had been weakened.

And the whole encounter was stupid anyway. The sludge villain escaped, and almost killed Kacchan! If Midoriya hadn't stepped in, when all the other heroes he once admired had given up, he would have died. Sure, All Might turned up again at the last second, but Midoriya's point had been made – heroes weren't all they were cracked up to be.

After being scolded for jumping in like that, Midoriya ripped the hero posters from his walls, knocked the merchandise he'd spent years collecting into boxes, and hid it all beneath his bed. His room was bare – just like his dreams.

It was in that moment, that he had decided to make a difference – he stared at the last hero analysis book he ever made, one scorched and burnt after Kacchan had casually told him to just go and kill himself and tossed it in a pond. All Might had signed it too, ignoring the damage – just like everyone else – and Midoriya concluded that Kacchan needed to be dealt with.

The school knew what Kacchan had been doing to Midoriya. They turned a blind eye to it. If Kacchan got into UA's hero course, they could hail his successes forever more, as being because of their excellent teaching. But punishing him for bullying would ruin that, so they ignored it. They never expected Midoriya to hack into their security network and save the files they so carefully tried to dispose of and go to the police with his evidence.

The school was still under investigation, last Midoriya knew of it, and of course, Kacchan ended up in class A. It was all going so perfect, until… his mother got a letter from UA too.

It was All Might's fault Midoriya slipped. His fault it all ended up like this. Now Midoriya had thought through it, he was sure. Maybe it was him who recommended he were sent to UA!

Yes… Jiro was sent here because she knew something that she shouldn't have known… right? Did she know the same thing Midoriya did?

…Did she know about All Might's weakness too?

Or do the heroes hide even more dirty secrets?

When Mr Aizawa was leaving the classroom to let their afternoon lessons begin, he must have noticed Midoriya's smile, because he hesitated. He'd always paid particular attention to him, and now Midoriya knew why.

Oh, the heroes thought he was dangerous. They saw how angry he was at them after the sludge villain attack – saw how he brought Kacchan down without lifting a finger in any violent affair – and realised what Midoriya knew… And they thought the best place for him was class A – somewhere they could keep an eye on him, and maybe retrain a love of heroes.

Midoriya dared to look back at Mr Aizawa and smiled a little wider.

He knew why he was here.

Now he just needed to figure out what he wanted to do with it.