"Alright. Enough standing around. Let's begin."
Izuku walks with his new class to their first test in thought. Despite all the time he's spent with Eri over this past year, he hasn't had that many one on one conversations with Aizawa. The man usually preferred to brood in a corner.
Or sleep. Or both. Can someone brood while sleeping? He's not sure but if anyone can, it's Aizawa.
Either way, even with his limited interaction with the man, he knew some things. Firstly, these tests were less about how far physically their quirks can be pushed, and more about how they could creatively apply them.
Secondly, the threat of expulsion was very real. Izuku didn't know why at first a UA teacher had so much time on his hands during the school day, until he learned he expelled his entire class. Now granted, expel was a bit harsh of a word.
Most were sent to general studies with only a few being kicked out of the school completely. After the sports festival, Aizawa re-enrolled them back in along with adding a few general education kids. Eri was watched by rotating staff throughout the school day who each carried a panic button that went straight to Eraser if something went wrong.
But the point is, not everyone made it back in. And it wasn't the first time. One day, someone had carelessly left Aizawa's teaching file on a desk. The lock of the cabinet it was in was picked.
Is that why he wasn't allowed on campus while waiting for his entrance exam results? The cameras clearly showed whoever picked the lock was a broad man, with a flaming beard. What Endeavor was doing there was anyone's guess.
Anyway, he walked into the lounge, and Aizawa's file had just been left sitting out open to the page of his expulsion record. It was extensive. And he couldn't guarantee the hero would re-enroll anyone in his class, so if he had to take matters into his own hands then so be it.
The first event was the fifty-meter dash. At the end of the track was a small robot with a camera that was recording their times, so he had to physically be there and couldn't just drop a decoy at the end of the track. That's fine…he's got another idea.
Izuku watches several pairs be called up by Aizawa, his conjured notebook in hand. He hears a whisper of 'where was he keeping that?' but ignores it.
Up first is Iida and a girl, Asui, with some sort of frog mutation? Pretty sure he had heard her croak earlier. Next is the nice girl, Uraraka, and a boy with a tail, Ojiro. Ok, that's awesome. He's gotta shapeshift into him at some point to see what that tails like.
Then, it's a kid with a bird head, Tokoyami, and the boy with off-blue hair, Shim-oh, he's faster than he looks. After that, a blonde boy, oh he's French judging by his muttering, walks away from the track looking distraught.
"C'est d'accord. Tu as fait de ton mieux!" Izuku tells him with a thumbs up.
The boy looks at him in shock at first, before giving him what could only be described as a dazzling smile. "Merci, ami de la culture."
Izuku is called up next with Kacchan as his racing partner. Oh, it could not get any better.
"Let's see your little tricks help you here." Kacchan sneers, shoulder-checking him on his way to the track.
Izuku doesn't respond, instead, choosing to stop by their teacher. "So sensei…what are the rules?"
Aizawa's look clearly conveys, 'what now?'
"Rules? It's a race, Problem Child. Go."
Welp.
Izuku slips away invisible. Letting a decoy line up next to Kacchan. He knows from his experience in the entrance exam that UA robots can't see him while he's invisible and now, standing in front of the robot at the finish line, he's relieved that it still holds.
By the looks of it, Kacchan is getting ready to blow him up the second the race starts. Even better! The smoke will hide what he does.
Shota watches Midoriya very carefully. He knew a lot about the boy from the time he had spent pretending to sleep around him. And one thing he knows is the kid is very particular about how he words things.
Still, he couldn't figure out why he wanted to know about the rules of a race? It should be self-explanatory.
The robot begins it's countdown. "On your mark…get set…go!"
"Explosive speed!" Katsuki Bakugo yells, throwing an explosion in Midoriya's face for good measure as he propels himself forward, both boys hidden for a moment in smoke. He sighs. Maybe it wasn't as obvious as he thought.
"No quirk usage on others," he states. Bakugo huffs but says nothing. He clicks the tablet to announce their results.
"Katsuki Bakugo! 4.13 seconds!" Maybe he should just have Midoriya run it again? Probably would be better now than when he's tired lat- "Izuku Midoriya! .02 seconds!"
Shota falters. He refreshes the tablet. And again. And again. The increasingly weary teacher looks up to see Midoriya standing at the finish line with his arms crossed. There's not a mark on him? Giving Bakugo the biggest shit-eating grin he's ever seen from the kid, he says, "something wrong, Kacchan?"
"You!-you…youuu…" Bakugo's teeth will probably shatter if he grinds them any harder.
"Woooooah!! Can you teleport?!" One of the kids says from the murmuring observers. Denki Kaminari, his roster provides.
Midoriya vanishes in a green light and appears in front of Kaminari, causing the boy to let out a high pitched-shriek, much to the enjoyment of his peers. "Not exactly," Midoriya replies, a grin still plastered on his face.
"Can you keep your screeching down a bit," says, Shota glances at his tablet, says Kyoka Jiro, rubbing her ears.
"Hey, I never get scared," Kaminari lies, turning to face Jiro.
"But…he just scared you," Jiro says in a deadpan voice that gives Shota hope for his new class.
"Ok but he's never scared me twice!" Midoriya placing his hands over his ears from behind Kaminari is all the warning Jiro gets before a second Problem Child appears in front of the other boy.
"What was that?!"
"Ahhhhh!" Kaminari's head swivels between the two Midoriyas. "How-"
"Enough." Shota's voice cuts through before, whatever this is, gets too out of control. "We don't have all day, Midoriya, traumatize your classmates later. Kirishima, Sato, you're up."
"Yes, sensei!" Shota just barely contains his groan at the third Midoriya standing beside him, saluting. "But you didn't say how much later!" And he's gone.
It was going to be a long day.
The rest of the fifty-meter dash passes by without incident and Shota thanks however many gods he can think of. Next up is the grip strength test. Straightforward. Simple. Like the race was supposed to be…
"Anything we should know about-"
Shota thrusts the device into Midoriya's hands. "Just. Squeeze." Surely, Problem Child couldn't find a way to mess this one up.
He was wrong.
After giving the students a minute to complete the test, they line up to present to him their scores as every device had a screen displaying their results. First up was Midoriya. The hero takes the gadget and looks at the score. 99999kg. The max score.
"Wow! Guess I'm stronger than I look!" Midoriya smiles and tilts his head.
'Eri loves him. Eri loves him. Eri loves him.'
Hanta Sero is up next and hands over his own device. 99999kg. Shota's eye twitches while he shows his student the number.
Sero gawks. "What? That's not my-"
"Wow! What a great score!" Shota has no holy water to interrupt Midoriya as he walks up next to the other boy. "You're stronger than you look too, right?" Midoriya gives his classmate a look that clearly says, 'go with it.'
Realization dawns on Sero. Please god no. "O-oh, yeah! You're right, man! Went really plus ultra in that training! I'm glad it's paying off!"
What did he do in a past life to deserve this?
One by one, every student goes, all of their devices showing the same score. Meanwhile, Midoriya stands next to him trying and failing to hold his laugh.
Iida questions his score but quickly changes his tune when Midoriya asks him if he's really criticizing the equipment of the top hero school. Eraser quickly squashes any internal compliments to the boy's manipulation.
This continues until Bakugo hands his over. 1kg. Shota raises his eyebrow and shows the boy.
"WHAT?! That's not what it said a second ago!! The stupid thing's broken! Let me try again!" Shota obliges out of morbid curiosity. Bakugo squeezes the device and the screen lights up green.
.05kg
"WHAT THE FUCK?!!" Bakugo takes another.
.04kg
"GIVE ME MY REAL SCORE YOU SHITTY MACHINE!!"
Shota watches as, without Bakugo doing anything, the screen changes.
No.
Shota is just quick enough to get the thing away from Bakugo before he smashes it in his scream-filled temper tantrum. He tells the class it's time for the next test. Midoriya clutches his stomach on the ground.
The third test is the standing long jump. The kids attempt to jump as far as they can over a sandbox while a robot identical to the one at the fifty-meter dash records them.
"Anything you'd like to say about this one, sensei?" The little green nightmare next to him asks.
"There are many things I'd like to say right now, Problem Child."
Bakugo and Aoyama clear the sandbox with relative ease before Midoriya steps forward. Shota braces himself. It seems his antics have started to be noticed by his classmates, many of them leaning forward to watch.
Midoriya places a hand on his chin for a few seconds before nodding and smiling. Green lines envelop the teenager and a second later, standing in his place, is a goddamn kangaroo.
'What is happening'
The creature makes clearing the sandbox look like nothing before it reverts back to Midoriya, smiling brightly.
"You can turn into animals." It wasn't a question. At least he's pretty sure.
The kid has the audacity to shrug. "Some. Takes a lot of practice."
"Why a kangaroo…" He both wants to know and doesn't want to at the same time.
"My uncle lived in Australia for a while and told me about them. I thought they were cool." How does that answer the question and not at the same time?
Koji Koda shows an emotion that isn't dread for the first time that day, walking up to Midoriya and signing excitedly with his hands. Because of the angle he's at, he can't read what they're saying but he does see Problem Child smile and sign back.
In another green flash, Midoriya is replaced by a small dog, looking up at his classmates, and wagging his tail. Several 'awwws' are made by both guys and girls as they surround the dog, petting it. Do they even remember his threat anymore at this point?
The fourth test is the repeating side steps. Each student stands on top of three painted lines and does as many side steps as possible within a minute while a robot watches their progress, eliciting a small beep for each of their steps.
The underground hero raises a finger to his green-haired tormentor when he opens his mouth, opting to just point him over to the test.
On his signal, they begin, every kid going as fast as they can. All except one.
Midoriya goes slow for the first few seconds, taking very deliberate steps. It looks like he's studying when the machine beeps. The kid brightens, which is ironic since his brightening darkens Shota's mood.
With a wave of his hand, the three lines under Midoriya disappear and he starts tapping both of his feet anywhere on the ground, each one getting a beep from the machine. Without the lines, the thing doesn't know what to count so it's just counting all of the steps now.
Another wave of his hand and most of everyone else's lines disappear too. Almost immediately, the rest of the class picks up on it and abandons the side steps for just tapping their feet as fast as possible.
The exceptions are Bakugo, whose lines were still visible, and Iida, who continues to do his side steps despite his lines no longer being there.
Yet another green flash. What could he possibly-oh for fucks sake. Midoriya had transformed himself into a rabbit and was thumping the ground at breakneck speeds.
The fifth test had the class returning to finish the ball throw, with Uraraka impressing everyone, himself included (not that he'd show it), with her score of infinity.
It was Problem Child's turn and Shota is proud of himself for not wrapping the kid's mouth in his capture scarf when he opens it. "So what were we supposed to do in this one again?"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he replies, "you can do whatever you want as long as you stay in that circle."
"So what you're saying is…" Remember, Eri will give you the sad eyes if you hurt him. "Is that we can do whatever, as long as it appears we're in the circle, correct?"
No. Not this time you little bastard.
"You have to physically be inside the circle, Midoriya." It shouldn't be this satisfying to see a teenager's eyes widen. "You. Yourself. Your physical body must remain inside the circle or you forfeit this round."
Midoriya scrunches up his face for a moment in thought before it returns to it's normal smiling state. "Ok! I promise not to leave the circle!"
Alarm bells begin to immediately go off in Shota's head but he can't figure out what the kid's gonna do so he answers with a grunt before backing up.
Problem Child eyes the ball before dropping it on the ground and lifting his arms. Crossing his hands in front of him and placing his wrists together, Midoriya's hands emit a light green glow. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.
At first, nothing happens but an awkward silence. But then, the circle around Midoriya disappears and a bright green light surrounds them all. A weight in Shota's stomach is getting heavier and heavier until…
The light disappears and it's confirmed. Almost the entire field they're on now has a giant version of the original circle surrounding them.
Midoriya exhales and looks way too satisfied with himself for his liking. He picks up the ball and begins walking toward the rest of the class.
"Midoriya!" Iida calls out, his hand chopping vigorously in front of him. That's not something he normally does, is it? "You must cease your journey to us! Sensei clearly stated that you must remain in the circle!"
"And I am," Midoriya replies smoothly. "Look around Iida, the circle is surrounding us all now. And sensei said I could do whatever I want in it."
The hand ceases mid-chop. Iida whirls around, mouth open, it's as if Midoriya told him he was an alien or something and his whole worldview was shattered. He might as well get used to it, it's not the first time he's seen someone react to Midoriya this way.
Speaking of the hellspa-oh apologies. He means…no he means hellspawn, it approaches the class and walks up to Uraraka and something truly amazing happens.
The little shit's smile disapears and he makes a very conscious effort to not look directly at her. "H-hey, um, c-could you…I mean! W-would you help me out? L-like you did before…" Midoriya rubs the back of his head with one hand and holds the ball out to her with the other.
Whatever she's doing to reign in this creature, it's working, probably some form of blood magic.
Wait.
They're teenagers.
Oh, goddammit.
"Sure!" Uraraka replies smiling. "You've been helping us all day!" She's either too nice to say something or doesn't notice but judging from the snickering from Ashido, Midoriya's behavior change could be seen.
She places all five fingers on the ball, a pink glow radiating from each finger. Midoriya's smile returns. "Thanks!!" He turns around and tosses the ball up and just like before, it sails away never to be seen again. "That is so cool!"
Because his back is to her, Midoriya doesn't notice the blush on the girl he just complimented.
Nemuri is going to have a field day with these two.
And he won't lie, he feels bad. For Uraraka. Midoriya deserves everything coming to him.
Shota displays the infinity score and Midoriya's cheer is interrupted by a shout.
"DEKU!!" Bakugo begins to charge at the greenette, hands smoking. What the hell does he think he's- "you think you can cheat all day and get away with it?! Die you!-"
Shota activates his quirk in the same instant his capture weapon wraps around Bakugo. The boy struggles. "My quirk?! What the hell did you do to me?!"
"Shut up. You're giving me dry eye." Bakugo complies, barely. Shota looks over at Midoriya, expecting to see the kid laughing at Bakugo but no, it's something else.
Midoriya's eyes are as wide as dinner plates. His face is full of emotions that Shota can barely begin to place. But what's most striking is the kid's hand. His right hand is turned back and in it, two knives that were ready to throw.
"Midoriya, put those away," Shota seethes. Apparently, he should've taken the kid's threat to stab Bakugo a little more seriously. But that's a bit of an extreme reaction to what he assumed is just a petty rivalry.
"He's the pro hero Eraserhead, Kacchan," Midoriya tells the boy still on the ground, his usual enthusiasm gone from his voice. "He can erase anyone's quirk by just looking at them."
Shota unwraps the still Bakugo. Usually, the fear this strikes in his class when they learn it is pretty satisfying, but something is different this time.
"Midoriya." Shota walks up to the boy and lowers his voice so only he can hear. "What happened? You know I am more than capable of stopping any unprovoked attacks, why would you think I wouldn't stop Bakugo?"
The kid won't look at him as he begins to fidget. "D-don't get me wrong, Eraserhead. Y-you're great. But it's just…I mean…" He can barely hear what he says next. "You're still a teacher…"
Okay, he doesn't like those implications. Despite the two knowing each other and Shota being a fully licensed hero, he didn't expect him to stop Bakugo just because he's their teacher?
Another thing Shota knows about Midoriya is the kid is a talk first, stab second kind of person. So for him to react violently to Bakugo was telling in on itself.
Normally, he doesn't look at his student's files but he may make an exception in this case.
"Well. Despite any past experiences you may have had, that won't be the case here." Midoriya looks up. He doesn't believe him. Definitely making that exception. Shota shifts his head to tell him to get back in line. After a deep breath, a smile, though not as bright as before, returns to Midorya's face.
And after that whole debacle, Midoriya's turn finally ends. Unfortunately, what doesn't end is the size of the circle. The rest of the class, again, take notice immediately.
Don't get him wrong. Using every advantage you have is essential for hero work. And while he could put an end to this by erasing Midoriya's quirk, he's curious about how his new students will react.
After the next five students have Uraraka also give them scores of infinity, he calls it and they move on.
The next two tests pass by without too much incident. Midoriya and Ashido do well in the seated toe touch, Midoriya's explanation being he has to be acrobatic for his fighting style, and after the few spars they've had when the kid actually got him to do it, he'd have to agree.
The sit-ups were a different issue when Shota made the mistake of counting the students himself. Every time he went to watch one of the kid's sit-ups, a stupid copy of Midoriya appeared in front of him, chattering aimlessly and blocking his view. Again, Bakugo was left out.
Lastly, mercifully, was the long-distance run. All they had to do was run around the track until they couldn't anymore. Most of the kids were done by the first hour. Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Yaoyorozu on a scooter were the only ones left.
By the second hour, it was just Midoriya, Iida, and Yaoyorozu.
The third hour had the scooter running out of gas leaving Iida and Midoriya.
"How much longer do you two have?" Shota tried not to let his annoyance bleed into the question.
"I probably have another hour in me, sensei!" Iida responds.
"As a friend of my uncle's used to say, I can do this all day!" Midoriya says, his smile back in full force by now.
"Alright, whatever. I'll mark you two down with your answers. Now get over here."
Iida stops and takes a long drink from his bottle while Midoriya vanishes and reappears in front of him. "Great!"
It's almost over. Your sleeping bag is only minutes away.
Shota gathers the class together. "There's not enough time to go over all of you individually so just check over the results." He clicks a button on his tablet and a hologram of the results appears in a green flash.
When the students start giving him weird looks, Shota turns around and very nearly slams the tablet into his face.
1. Izuku Midoriya
1. Momo Yaoyorozu
1. Shoto Todoroki
1. Tenya Iida
…
Shota narrows his eyes and reloads the results. Nothing. All the way down, every name has the number one next to it, until he reaches the bottom.
1. Kyoka Jiro
1. Toru Hagakure
1. Katsuki Bakugo
2. Shota Aizawa
What.
"Well look at that guys! I guess we're all winners!" Now he's stopping himself from slamming the tablet into something else.
Midoriya steps forward. "For the record sensei, I don't think you're hopeless." It's becoming more difficult. "But it is with a heavy heart…" Is he really taking a dramatic breath right now?! "Yes, sensei. I will accept your resignation."
All the kids freeze behind him. Even Bakugo. Iida is swaying, he may pass out. "Give me a second," Shota is barely able to grit out before opening an app on the tablet.
UA Teacher Chat
Eraserpillar: What was the policy on pummeling kids again?
Rattator: Not on school grounds.
Kneecaps Beware: NO! Not anywhere!!
Rattator: Oh, you are correct. I often get that rule and our body disposal system confused. My apologies, Chiyo.
Kneecaps Beware: Thank you.
Kneecaps Beware: Wait, our what?
DJ Cockacool: Aww Sho! You wouldn't beat your son, would you?!
Eraserpillar: For the last time, he's not my son, Hizashi.
DJ Cockacool: He is! Ok, first. Eri is your daughter
Eraserpillar: She is not. I have not adopted her nor am I sure she would want that.
DJ Cockacool: But you do!
Eraserpillar:
DJ Cockacool: So, she IS your daughter. And Midoriya is pretty much her brother, we all know it.
Eraserpillar: stop
DJ Cockacool: So since he's Eri's brother and you're Eri's dad, then LOGICALLY, that would make him your…
Eraserpillar: I quit
Rattator: Denied :)
Shota drops the tablet on the ground. "I can't expel myself, Problem Child. And the rat won't let me quit."
"Oh! But everyone else tied? Well, I guess that means no one gets expelled then!" Midoriya says with the brightest smile he's seen on the kid all day.
Shota sticks his hands into his pockets and speaks in a dangerous voice, making sure everyone can hear, "and what's stopping me from expelling you?"
Midoriya's smile turns sharp, mirroring Shota's pose. "I did nothing wrong. You never said I couldn't do any of the things I did."
"Technically true. But you ruined the whole point of the exercise," Shota counters. "The point was to find the upper limits of everyone's quirks."
"No, the point was to make sure we'd all try our hardest and find ways to creatively use our abilities. I'd say we all did that. I used mine to support them and they took advantage, as heroes should. Seems pretty logical to me." The verdant's smile turns sharper with a few teeth showing.
"Heh." Shota hides a tiny smile inside his capture weapon before walking forward to address everyone. "He is correct. I put you all in a situation where not all your quirks were useful and wanted to see how you would adapt."
He gives them a few seconds to whisper amongst themselves. "Learn to think rationally and keep working on adapting to any situation. It's what heroes do. Oh, and I was lying about the expulsion. It was a logical ruse to make you all try your hardest."
The class explodes in protest. A few of the kids even falling in relief.
"I thought it was obvious. I'm sorry, should I have said something?" Yaoyorozu asks looking around, earning her a few glares.
"But what about that entire class you expelled last year, sensei?" Midoriya asks in a way too innocent voice.
It is dead quiet. Yaoyorozu is as pale as a sheet.
Shota can't hold back his dead smile. "Plus ultra. Now go get changed. Your syllabi are in the classroom. You're done for the day."
Kids fall over each other trying to get off the field as fast as humanly possible. Once they're all gone and it's just him and Midoriya, he asks, "you're not gonna tell them about the re-enrollment?"
"It's better this way."
Maybe this year won't be so bad after all.
After picking up a few things off the field and dismissing all of his illusions, Izuku picks up his stuff from the classroom and makes his way toward the front gate.
He doesn't get far before Tenya Iida is next to him. "Midoriya! I must be honest!" Is he always this loud? "At first, I did not approve of the antics you pulled during our tests!"
It seems like he wants to continue so Izuku says nothing. Iida goes on. "However! After considering Aizawa-sensei's words, it seems your out-of-the-box thinking is what allows you to achieve things like figuring out the secret of the entrance exams!"
"Yeah, about that-"
"So I will strive to learn from you if you'd allow me!" He sinks into a deep bow.
Izuku flails his arms. "Y-yes yes, that's fine! Just please stop bowing to me!"
Iida straightens and looks down at him with a small smile on his face. The glare from the sun hits his glasses, hiding his eyes. "Be that as it may, I still intend to make sure you don't go too far in your outlandish ideas."
It just keeps getting better and better. He loves a challenge. Before he can respond, a new voice interrupts them.
"Hey, you two! Wait up!" 'It's her?!' "Are you going to the station?!"
"Ah, infinity girl."
She catches up to them. "Yup! I'm Ochako Uraraka." She looks at Iida. "You're…Tenya Iida." She turns to him. "And you're…Deku Midoriya, right?"
"Deku?!"
"Yeah! It's what that scary blonde guy called you?"
Izuku scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. "Actually, that's just a name Kacchan calls me to make fun of me. My real name is Izuku…"
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Uraraka apologizes before pumping her fist. "It just sounded like the word for 'you can do it!' You know? Plus I thought it sounded kind of cute-"
"Deku it is!"
"Midoriya?! You can't accept that quickly!" Keeping his thoughts about it being like a Copernican Revolution to himself and trying to will the heat in his face to go away, the three start their walk to the station together.
"You've gotta tell me more about your quirk, Deku!" Uraraka smiles at him again. He tries to keep eye contact with her, he really does.
He fails.
"Oh y-yea, sorry about that." He laughs nervously. "I know it's kinda weird…"
"Weird?!" Uraraka yells in disbelief, getting way too close to his face. Will it ever cool off?! "You can do so many things! Anyone who thought it was weird didn't know what they were talking about!"
"True." Iida bends forward putting his chin in his hand. "Your quirk looks to have a variety of applications that would be useful for hero work."
Izuku looks between them incredulously. No, it doesn't look like they're joking. "U-uh, thanks guys." Huh.
'What the heck is going on?'