23.01.2023

It is I, the Absolute Madman and this chapter was an absolute nightmare to write! Still, it's done so that's that at least! But first, the comments!:

Digitalreaper360 - Glad to hear it!

William Nightmare - Sentient? Yes. Sword? Not exactly?

And now, the chapter!:

Izuku wandered the paths of UA aimlessly, having already explored the parts that he had personal interest in, but stayed vaguely in the vicinity of the campus' main gate in case Shiozaki messaged him to confirm her arrival. He was a man of patience so he didn't mind waiting really, besides, he promised Shiozaki that they'd have a tour of the school grounds together and he wasn't about to break a promise! He was however slowly growing bored as there weren't that many things for him to do while he waited. Kirishima and Ashido were still busy unpacking when he checked in on them some time ago and the rest of their classmates had yet to arrive so he was stuck praying for a distraction.

He was a man of great faith and as such his prayers had been answered.

As he was passing by the gate for what felt like the tenth time today, Izuku heard some commotion on the other side. His natural curiosity nearly forced him to check it out so he ended up waiting to see what was going on.

At first he suspected (hoped) that Shiozaki could've arrived but her phone had ran out of battery on the way so she wasn't able to inform him, but that line of thinking was quickly debunked as the noises outside clearly pointed to there being at least a couple of individuals on the other side of the gate. Izuku was curious as to why they chose to linger just outside instead of coming in, but his curiosity was quickly satiated when the small doors opened and a single, mature-looking woman stepped through.

"Not quite what I was expecting…" He thought to himself as he scratched his head in confusion. Still, the girl looked even more confused than he was so he decided to step in just like he did in the morning.

His approach was noticed quite quickly, he was tall and beefy so that wasn't a surprise at all.

"Hello." The woman greeted him with an air of elegance about her.

She was just a few inches shorter than he was and had long, black hair which was tied into a spiky ponytail, though one rebellious strand remained firmly on the right side of her face. Her sharp onyx eyes coupled with her short eyebrows made her look even more mature.

"Hello to you too." He replied as he bowed quickly. "Are you by any chance in need of assistance?" He asked as he straightened himself up from the bow.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to bother you sir." She tried to play it off, but Izuku could tell that she'd certainly appreciate help.

"Nonsense." Izuku assured her. "I'd be happy to be of assistance to you, you need only to ask." He pressed his offer and it worked wonders as the woman seemed to mull it over for a few moments before eventually caving in.

"Well, I was informed that there'd be someone here to help bring my stuff to my dormitory, but I can't see anyone waiting. The security said that they are on the way already, but I'd like to get settled in as soon as possible." The woman explained as she tucked a few other rebellious strands of hair behind her left ear before turning to look at Izuku. "Could you help me carry at least some of my things?"

"With pleasure ma'am." Izuku agreed instantly and a blush lit up the woman's face. He was about to ask if she was feeling a little under the weather or something, but he didn't have a chance as she quickly retreated outside the gate and began moving cardboard boxes onto the campus.

She settled at four boxes before rejoining Izuku who was already sizing the stack up.

"I-I hope I'm not asking too much of you…" She said shyly.

"Worry not ma'am, I'm happy to help any time." He answered honestly and heaved three of the boxes up, immediately noting that they were quite a bit heavier than he expected. "I wonder what she got in there?"

The woman grabbed the last box herself and the two set out in the direction of the dormitory.

As it turns out, the woman - who introduced herself as Momo Yaoyorozu - was a recommended student, one that didn't have to take the usual Entrance Exam to get into the school, but didn't get in for free either as she had to compete with many other recommended hero-hopefuls and only barely managed to pass. Not only that, she also happened to be assigned to class A which made the two of them classmates for the next couple of years.

Their trek to the dorms was a pleasant one as they spent the entire time making small talk and getting to know each other a bit. They arrived at the dorms in a matter of minutes and Izuku refused to put the boxes down until they were standing in front of her room so he ended up carrying them almost all the way. He was about to depart as Yaoyorozu opened the doors to her room for the first time to let her settle in in peace, but was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wha-?" He heard the woman utter and so he went back to check if something had happened.

He excused himself as he took a look inside without actually stepping through the door and instantly saw that the entire room was already furnished. They couldn't have gotten the rooms mixed up as the nameplate on the door clearly read 'Yaoyorozu Momo', so Izuku was confused as to what was going on. Thankfully Momo noticed his confusion and cleared it up for him.

As it turns out the furniture in the room were the very same ones that they left behind in front of the main gate, so that's one question answered. Still, how did they get here before they did? From what Izuku knew they took the shortest route possible so that didn't make any sense.

Well, no harm no foul he guessed and decided to leave the woman and let her unpack in peace.

He was halfway down the stairs when he remembered to check his phone and his entire face paled when he saw a text from Shiozaki.

"I should arrive at U.A. in about ten minutes, I'm excited for our meeting!"

"Alright, she should be here in about ten minutes. How long ago was it sent?" He wondered and scanned the message, looking for that evasive tidbit of information.

Received 8 minutes ago.

Izuku had never run so fast in his entire life.

He had somehow managed to get to the main gate right as Shiozaki arrived and he once again had to walk the path towards the dormitories with boxes in hand. This time however he passed by his dormitory and stopped at the next one over where class B - that his friend was assigned to - dormitory stood. Thankfully the distance between the two buildings was negligible so they'd be able to see each other easily enough despite being in separate classes.

Shiozaki didn't unpack right after arrival like Izuku expected her to do but opted to start their tour around the campus right away. Unexpected but definitely not unwelcome.

Their first stop was of course one of the nearby security checkpoints where Shiozaki retrieved her own student ID. Then they went to explore the points of interest that they'd talked about previously, stopping from time to time to check out something that they didn't notice on the map of campus earlier. They charted the route that they'd be taking to school once the classes start, visited the nearby training gyms that would be open for the during the school year and they eventually ended their trip in the garden that Shiozaki discovered on the day of the Entrance Exam.

Izuku had to agree that it was really beautiful and situated in a very quiet area, away from any hot spots that added an undisturbed, serene atmosphere to the place. He instantly knew that he was going to visit this place on a regular basis.

They managed to wrap up their small adventure just as the sun was beginning to set so Izuku offered to walk Shiozaki back to her dorm like the gentleman he was.

After that was done he headed to his own dormitory to see if perhaps some more people showed up whilst he was out and about. As it turns out more people did arrive while he was gone.

Kirishima and Ashido were currently in the common room chatting along with a few other figures that Izuku most certainly didn't meet yet. It would be rude to avoid the newcomers so he headed towards the group to introduce himself.

"There is the big man himself!" Ashido announced his arrival as soon as she spotted him from her spot right next to Kirishima.

"Tales of your stature were not nearly as exaggerated as I thought them to be." A… did that man have a bird's head? Well, Izuku had seen a sentient log in the past so this wasn't really that weird all things considered. A bird-headed man said, probably having already heard bout Izuku from either Ashido or Kirishima, probably the former if he had to guess.

Just as Izuku was about to introduce himself properly, a shadowy creature with glowing yellow eyes appeared from the bird-headed man's shadow.

"Exaggerated my ass Fumi! This man is not built like a brick house, he is the entire apartment complex!" The apparently sentient creature exclaimed, greatly puzzling Izuku with its words.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, but it's my pleasure to meet you all. My name's Midoriya Izuku, pleased to make your acquaintance." He introduced himself and put his right hand on his chest before bowing to the group, wanting to make a good first impression.

"Tales of your refined mannerisms weren't exaggerated too it seems." The bird-headed man answered as he got up and outstretched his hand for Izuku to shake. "I'm Tokoyami Fumikage and this devilish creature that plagues my soul is Dark Shadow." He introduced himself and his partner.

"Giving shelter to another being within your own soul sounds like a most noble of sacrifices." Izuku acknowledged as he shook the offered hand.

"The big softie in the back is Koda!" Ashido introduced the gentle giant that had even Izuku beat in terms of height by an inch or two.

His head was what caught Izuku's attention right off the bat as it resembled an uneven rock and was completely devoid of hair. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the guy wasn't very good with crowds, so Izuku opted to keep his distance and waved instead, receiving a grateful albeit tiny smile and a wave in return.

Last but just as interesting as the others was a man with jet black hair and strangely shaped elbows that sat on the couch next to Kirishima.

"You seem like a cool guy Midoriya! I'm Sero, Sero Hanta!" He introduced himself.

"It was nice to meet all of you, but if you'll excuse me I'd like to retire for the night." Izuku said and turned to leave once they said their goodbyes.

Izuku entered his room and immediately saw that something was odd. Something had changed while he was gone. Now normally that would be impossible as he had the only key to the room on him the entire day and he most definitely didn't forget to lock the door when he left, but he knew better than to assume anything was impossible. His eyes scanned the room in search of the culprit and he didn't have to look far as the one responsible stood directly next to the doorframe, propped against the wall as if nothing happened.

Izuku furrowed his brow in anger at the suitcase that he usually kept his sword in, well aware of what had happened during his absence.

"You didn't expect me to just sit tight locked up in this room did ya?" He heard a voice whisper directly inside his head. He was pretty spooked the first time it happened but he got used to it pretty fast. He had to or he'd go insane like the others that tried to resist this temptation for too long.

"Leaving this room should be the least of your worries, daemon." Izuku spat as he picked up the case and went to put it back in its place.

"Bold words coming from you, psycho! Must be nice to be able to leave anytime you want and go wherever you please… I must try me some of that!" The voice shouted even as the case was returned to its righteous place.

"And I've been entrusted with keeping that from happening ever again, so keep on dreaming." Izuku stated and waited for a possible response but after a few moments of silence he huffed and decided to head to sleep.

Just before sleep could claim him however, he heard one last whisper penetrate his mind.

"You didn't seem to mind the last time we bonded…"

Izuku spent the majority of the following week on familiarizing himself with the layout of the campus, trying to remember as many paths and potentially useful spots as possible before the school year started. He also didn't slack off on his training and made sure to wake up at sunrise every day to go for his morning jog.

He bumped into the pretentious blue-haired guy that had confronted him before the practical exam a couple of times but they didn't exchange any words besides greeting each other as Izuku senses that this guy wasn't very sold on the idea of talking to him. A fair assumption given how their last interaction looked like.

Izuku also got to meet all of his classmates over the course of this week and was happy to know that they were all splendid people… except for a select few.

As it turns out the rude senior that had yelled at him at the main gate was actually going to be their classmate and was even more rude than Izuku expected him to be, slinging out curses like it was nothing, quickly antagonizing many of their classmates due to him not even trying to remember their names or socialize as he resorted to calling all of them 'extras'. The level of ego on that man could even challenge Escanor's claim to the title of the Sin of Pride. Thankfully Izuku would be there to hopefully temper his character down a fair bit.

Another rather… unsavory character that Izuku had the questionable pleasure of meeting was Mineta Minoru. Now if Bakugo - for that was the rude blonde's name - was the personification of Pride, then Mineta would be the personification of Lust. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was ogling all of their female classmates in broad daylight, which resulted in him being quickly ostracized by most of his peers. There were a few guys that talked to him regularly and Izuku prayed every night that they were strong enough to resist his influence.

Still, even if they did fall to the temptation he'd show them mercy and try to save them from themselves. The little grape-head though was fair game.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!"

The introductory week had finally come to an end and Izuku along with his classmates were currently on their way to their first ever homeroom. First of many to come for sure.

Their trek to school wasn't uneventful however as just before entering the school Izuku was stopped by none other than the blue-haired guy himself. He wore a clearly uncomfortable expression on his face, one that indicated a weight on his soul.

Izuku motioned for the others to keep going as the two of them stayed behind.

"Is there something you wanted?" Izuku asked politely. He didn't exactly like the guy but he wasn't nearly petty enough to not show some courtesy.

"I wanted to apologize!" The blue-haired man exclaimed suddenly as he did a perfect ninety degree bow with his arms tightly against his sides. "I accused you of trying to cheat during the exam yet you were able to so quickly discern the true purpose of the exam! I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't suspect that there might be something more to it than what we were told!"

Izuku was confused at first, but quickly realized what this was all about.

"Are you perchance talking about the so-called 'rescue points'?" Izuku inquired to confirm his suspicions.

"Yes!"

"I didn't know about them." Izuku cleared up right off the bat. "I simply did the right thing. We all want to become heroes right? Heroes are meant to protect others even if it means putting yourself in danger."

"The right thing?" The blue-haired man asked in disbelief. "So your actions weren't motivated by the additional points then?"

"Correct. I helped people because I wanted to do so. I learned about the second scoring system after the fact, just like everyone else."

"Then I must apologize even more! First I accused you of doing something you didn't do and then thought that your motivations were quite shallow if you'd excuse my choice of words. Now though I see who you truly are and I hope that you'll forgive me for my past behavior!"

"Sure, just make sure to get better at judging people. Now let's go, we wouldn't want to miss our first homeroom now, would we?" Izuku said with a smile and the two rushed to catch up with the rest of their classmates.

They got off to a pretty rough start but Izuku felt that they weren't exactly that different from each other. Well, only time will tell.

Guys, the daemon something is getting talkative! At least it's not an anime girl or anything!

I got nothing to talk about so Imma skiddadle! Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!