Chapter 5: A Fresh Start
This is it, this is my time to make my dream come true… All on my own. I can do this!
Right in front of him, Izuku stared down the doors of the prestigious hero school that he was being examined for today. This was it, this was the moment of truth. Just one week ago he had been here registering his prized pair of inventions for this very moment. And now it was time to put it all to the test. Everything he'd done in the last ten months brought him right here to this spot. And clearly, it was not time wasted for the boy, because he was feeling something that he was still getting used to experiencing.
Confidence.
With a competitive smile plastered on his face, Izuku began taking his first step towards the incredible building before the familiar tingling of his spider sense rang in his head.
Recognizing the danger instantly, Izuku quickly and smoothly leapt forward a few meters and turned around, seeing someone he hadn't thought about in quite a while.
Standing before him with his arms out in front of him in a failed attempt at a shove, Katsuki Bakugo glared daggers at him. Obviously at least a little bit shaken by his quick reaction.
"Kacchan…"
"Hmph," Bakugo began, bringing his arms back to his sides. "I told you to stay away, you shitty Deku."
"Y-yeah, you d-did Kacchan," Izuku wavered for a moment before clenching his fists and hunkering down. No! I'm not doing this again! C'mon! You're Spider-Man! Don't take crap from anyone!
"I know you did Kacchan," The green haired boy restarted, this time meeting the blonde's eyes. "But I don't care. I'm gonna take this exam and pass it just like I passed you back at Aldera."
The blonde's red eyes lit up with fury at that statement from Izuku. It seemed that he hadn't quite gotten over that very real fact.
A few weeks back, right after final exams, their homeroom teacher back at Aldera Middle School posted the last official grade ranking of the year for final year middle schoolers. And much to the astonishment of Katsuki Bakugo, the first spot in the school didn't belong to him, but Izuku instead. It appeared as though all of the studying he had done over the last ten months had rounded his grades out quite nicely.
Back to the present though, Katsuki's blood was boiling over, and he honestly didn't trust himself not to blow his top and start fighting the super-powered teen right here and now. So without another word, he walked forward and bumped shoulders with Izuku. Blowing right past him and storming off into the school. He couldn't risk trying anything in front of everyone right here. He would have his chance to beat the nerd down later, he was sure of it.
Izuku on the other hand was on the verge of panic on the inside, finally letting out a huge breath that he had been holding. Did I really just say that to Kacchan!? How am I still alive right now!? What have I done!? He's totally gonna murder me!
After mumbling to himself for a few more seconds, Izuku looked up and found that the courtyard was now almost empty.
Crap! What am I doing!? I'm gonna be late! He thought frantically, taking off in a sprint for the school.
Was that really the U.A written exam? That felt way too simple! Izuku thought as he walked up to join the crowd forming at the starting line of the practical exam. He was wearing a green pair of track pants and a simple black long-sleeved shirt.
They had all just finished the written portion of the entrance exam and were now moving on to the practical portion.
Alright, here we go, just attack the smaller robots and leave the huge one alone. Should be simple enough. The boy thought to himself, remembering the words of Present Mic from before when he gave the synopsis of this particular exam.
Finishing his adjustments on his web-shooters, Izuku rolled his sleeves down, hiding them from view and using his remaining time to observe the other examinees he would be testing with.
Present Mic said they would separate the people who knew each other, so I don't need to worry about Kacchan right now. I can focus solely on getting points.
As he looked around with curiosity, Izuku noticed a very wide variety of individuals. Some big, some small, some even with multiple limbs. It was safe to say that these were some of the best aspiring heroes in all of Japan. He was gonna have to watch his back out there.
Soon the super-powered teen's eyes landed on a boy with yellow hair and a streak of black running through it. What stood out to him though were the words that came out of his mouth loud enough for him to hear.
"Are you kidding!? That written exam was the hardest test I've ever taken! I'm really gonna have to try hard on this part or I'm screwed!"
Hard? Is he serious? There wasn't a question on there that was even remotely hard.
Shaking himself from his insignificant thoughts, Izuku focused up again and went back to scanning the crowd. Doing his best to try and spot any obvious quirks that he could gather information about.
Alright, that six armed guy looks like he's a mutant type, so he probably has a ton of tricks up his sleeve, I better watch out for him. And that boy with glasses seems to have mufflers of some kind protruding from his legs. Could it be some kind of speed or vehicle related quirk? That would be my best guess. And what about that fancy looking guy? That looks like a support item of some kind around his waist. He must be the one Midnight talked about, the one who can't control his quirk without it. Still though, I shouldn't underestimate him, maybe that belt enhances his quirk on top of giving him control.
Izuku's eyes continued to look around and gather information on his opponents. If his eyes glanced over someone who didn't have an obvious quirk that could be seen, he simply moved on to the next. This went on for a few more minutes until his eyes landed on an oddly familiar head of orange hair.
"W-what? No way… It's that girl, the one from-"
"WHAT ARE YOU KIDS WAITING FOR!? THE VILLAINS AREN'T GONNA ANNOUNCE WHEN THEY START! GET GOING!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the loudspeakers.
Being forcefully shaken from his thoughts, Izuku looked up to see that everyone was already running onto the city-like staging area and starting the exam.
"Crap!" He shouted, sprinting after them and leaping as high as he could to clear the pack.
As soon as the green haired teen was at the peak of his jump, he threw his arm out and pressed his middle and ring finger to his palm, shooting out a web line and beginning to swing when it connected with a building.
Now in the air and moving quickly through the training ground, Izuku smiled as adrenaline took over and wind began hitting his whole body. Swinging never failed to calm him down, and now was definitely a time when he needed it, because before long, he spotted his first villain bot.
Time to take advantage, I need to get all the points I can before everyone catches up.
Staying true to his thoughts, Izuku wasted no time in crashing into a three-pointer with a swing kick. Detaching from his web line after impact and jumping up to avoid a metal arm that he detected with his spider sense.
Now standing on the ground, Izuku faced the pair of three-pointers and the single one-pointer that now stood in front of him.
Ultimately, it was the one-pointer that made the first move, running at him with an arm raised and ready to crush him.
But he never allowed that, jumping up on its head to avoid the attack before his spider-sense could even warn him. From there, he shot a web line with each hand at the two three-pointers respectively, pulling them towards him with all his might before leaping up and clinging to the wall of a building.
*Crash*
Looking down at his handiwork, Izuku smiled when he saw exactly what he had planned come to fruition. What remained of the three villain bots was a stack of robotic limbs and scrap metal as all three laid in a pile together, awarding the boy another seven points to his first three.
Yes! Perfect! That was so cool! I could totally see Peter doing something just like that! The boy thought with excitement, quickly swinging off in search of more points.
If there was one thing that Itsuka Kendo didn't expect from the practical portion of the U.A entrance exam, it was how easy it turned out to be. Sporting a very eager and focused demeanor, the orange haired teen was wearing a teal t-shirt and black leggings, cutting down robots left and right with both her skills and her quirk.
Come on! These robots are practically made of paper! The orange haired teen thought to herself as she crushed yet another one with her enlarged hands. Of course, she also already knew that the metal opponents would be relatively weak because of some inside information from Tamaki, but still, she at least expected more than this.
"Shit!"
Itsuka didn't hesitate to turn around and face where she heard the frustrated yell come from. Narrowing her eyes as she prepared for action again.
"Shit shit shit!"
Now being able to identify the angry shouts, the orange haired teen ran in the direction of the danger, her eyes taking in as much information as she could.
About twenty meters ahead of her stood a boy with slick blonde hair parted to one side wearing a black shirt and black pants. And it looked like he was frustrated by the fact that, at the moment, he was surrounded by three one-pointers and backed all the way into a corner.
Oh come on! They're one pointers! What the hell are you even doing here!?
"Oh well, more points for me," Itsuka said with a confident grin taking over her as she leapt up at the robots and enlarged her hands.
After that, it took very little effort to completely annihilate the three one-pointers, mentally adding the three points to her total tally.
"Wow! That was incredible! I can't thank you enough!" The blonde boy shouted a little too enthusiastically in her opinion. But nonetheless, she wasn't about to just completely ignore him.
"Yeah uh, sure dude, it's no problem, just-woah!" She began before stopping mid-sentence as the boy ran up and shook her hand without any warning.
What's with this guy? Why is he so touchy?
Starting to get a bit annoyed, Itsuka prepared to tell the boy that he was invading her personal space when just as quickly as he began, the boy let go and backed away. The thing that still perplexed her though, was that he was now grinning almost… Evilly?
"Hmph, thanks for the help red. That's a pretty handy quirk you've got there," He said smugly before enlarging his hands in a very familiar way.
"What the hell!? Is that my quirk!?"
Rather than answering her, the blonde boy simply took off down the road in search of more villain bots. No longer seeing any point in talking to the girl anymore.
"Damn, leaving just like that? What a jerk," the girl huffed. Bringing her hands back down to normal size just before hearing more commotion behind her.
"Hey man! What the hell! You stole my points!"
Itsuka turned around and yet again inspected the new commotion in front of her. This time it appeared to be a sharp red haired boy reprimanding a green haired boy as two three-pointers fell to the ground in front of him, a white string-like substance covering them.
"Oh! I-I, I'm so sorry! I-I must not have seen you! I was really starting to get into the zone, y'know?"
Although the red haired boy still didn't look too happy, he still managed to shrug off the boy's apology and give the other boy a thumbs up. "Yeah yeah, don't worry about it man, I understand. I'm glad you didn't do it on purpose, that kinda stuff isn't manly at all."
However, Itsuka stopped listening long before the red haired boy spoke, instead focusing on this green haired boy that was sure she knew somehow.
What the heck? Why do I feel like I've seen him before? Even his voice sounds kinda familiar…
"Hey! Watch out!"
Suddenly and out of nowhere, the orange haired teen felt something impact her stomach, pulling her both out of her thoughts and off of her feet as she was yanked forward.
Right as she landed back on the ground again, Kendo heard a crash right behind her, presumably right where she had just been. And as she took a moment to gather herself, she glanced down at her stomach to see a line of some kind of glue looking substance… Except, it was stretchy?
What the hell?
Figuring she could think about that later, the girl got up and recovered quickly, standing up and turning around just in time to see the same green haired boy shoot another line of his adhesive material out of his wrist and pull himself towards the robot with incredible ease.
"Huh, now that's a weird one alright," she said out loud to herself, referring to the boy's quirk.
After the boy smashed the three-pointer that had almost squished her, she made her way over to thank him.
That, and also to ask him how she was supposed to get this goop off of her. She had already made the mistake of touching it and now her hand was stuck.
"Hey, thanks for the save," she began, causing the boy to turn around as she gave him a warm smile. "I guess I wasn't really paying attention, hehe."
When the boy only fidgeted to himself uncomfortably and didn't respond, Kendo awkwardly continued to try and keep the conversation going.
"Heh, so uh, yeah, also, do you think you could help me with this stuff you shot me with? My hand is stuck and I kinda need it for the rest of the exam."
This seemed to finally sober the boy up as he jumped up in embarrassment.
"Oh man! My webbing! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to handicap you by accident!"
"Woah, relax dude, It's cool. If you hadn't pulled me out of there I would've gotten crushed by a weak robot. Now that would have been embarrassing." She said with a bit of a chuckle. "Just tell me how to-"
"FIVE MINUTES LEFT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT!"
Everyone in the exam arena froze as Present Mic's voice died down, an uncomfortable silence falling over the battlefield. And rightfully so, because after only a few more seconds of dead silence, a ground shaking rumbling could be felt all throughout the staging area. Even knocking some of the lesser students off of their feet as it grew closer and closer.
"There it is! It's the arena trap! The zero-pointer!" A random student called out in panic, his knees practically trembling.
And true to his word, after another few seconds of waiting, said zero-pointer was clearly visible to everyone on the battlefield as it walked down the main street where a large number of examinees were gathered.
That thing is as big as a building! Izuku thought to himself frantically, even taking a few steps back out of pure instinct.
Before long, everyone was in complete panic. And Izuku did nothing but stand there and stare as a number of students passed him on their trek to run away from the enormous robot.
"What are the two of you doing!?" A sophisticated looking boy with glasses and dark blue hair yelled as he sped down the road, coming to an immediate stop in front of Kendo and Izuku. "It's unsafe to be in this area right now! We must evacuate! Hurry!"
"R-right," Izuku nodded in agreement. One look back at the orange haired girl's expression told him that she was in agreement as well, so that was all it took to convince him.
That is, until he heard someone cry out further down the road where the robot was coming from…
Turning around in a heartbeat, Izuku squinted and noticed a girl with short brown hair laying on the ground right where the giant robot's foot was going to be in the next thirty seconds or so.
Why isn't she getting up and running!?
Hey! Come now, hurry! We don't have much time!" The glasses-wearing teen insisted, this time grabbing a hold of Izuku's shoulder.
"Help! My foot is stuck! I can't-" The helpless girl began but to no avail. Not only was rubble covering most of her lower body, but she could barely talk without wanting to puke her guts out. All she could hope for now was that the robot would shut down before actually stepping on her. Which was likely, right? It's not like they would kill a student during the entrance exam. There was never any previous record of that happening…
Right?
Clenching his fists and shutting his eyes tight, Izuku felt his body begin to move before his brain could even give it commands. It was the exact same feeling as before when he went to stop the mugging a couple months back, acting completely on instinct.
"Hey! Where the hell are you going!? Are you crazy!" The sophisticated teen yelled out, trying to stop the boy one last time.
It was no use though, because once Izuku got up to full speed in his sprint, he leapt as high and as far as he could, shooting a pair of web lines at opposing buildings and pulling himself the rest of the way effortlessly.
Itsuka watched in awe as the boy not only went in for the ballsy rescue, but how gracefully he flew through the air after detaching from his pair of webs. That was what he called them right? Webs? I wonder if that's his only quirk, because you need to have some crazy upper body strength to pull yourself around like that with just your arms.
The girl fell out of her thoughts just long enough to see the boy land with a casual frontflip before coming to the aid of the brown haired girl. But when it was apparent that the zero-pointer was gonna get there before he could rescue her, the boy ended up doing one of the craziest things she'd ever witnessed in her fifteen years of life…
The second Izuku landed on the ground in front of the girl, he immediately got on his knees and started digging through the rubble to try and get her out.
"Heh, thanks for trying to get me out of here, but it's too late. Don't worry though, I don't think they'd actually squish us. It is just an entrance exam after all," The girl said in almost a whisper, her stomach still bothering her and making ungodly noises.
For a moment, Izuku believed her, and paused his panicked digging momentarily. She had a really valid point, he could already imagine the severity of the lawsuits that the school would face if someone who wasn't even a student at the school died during something as meaningless as an exam.
But then, Izuku received a very convincing counter argument that made him flip the script and begin panicking again. And that counter argument was his spider sense, and as far as he knew, that never lied to him.
Crap crap crap! The boy thought with wide eyes as darkness enveloped the spot that he and the girl were both occupying.
Feeling ringing in his ears like he'd never felt before, and the ground shake like a magnitude eight earthquake was going on. All the boy could think about was his one and only option of getting out of this situation alive.
Needless to say, he chose it in a heartbeat.
Right as the foot was coming down onto them, the brown haired girl could do nothing but scream and close her eyes. Doing her best to embrace the darkness and hope that her death would be quick. But when she wasn't feeling anything at all, and instead heard the loud sound or metal being crushed, the girl opened her tear filled eyes and looked up to find something too incredible to describe.
Right before her very eyes, the plain looking boy who had come to save her was squatted down with the weight of the zero-pointer's foot pressed firmly on his shoulders and arms. Which was obviously a lot judging by the way the metal was bending where his hands and shoulders met it.
How could this even be possible!?
This was something Izuku was asking himself right now as well.
Yep, this is definitely above my weight limit. The boy joked in his head, doing his best to not focus on the pain. He didn't really know the logistics of why he was able to do what he was doing right now, but he figured he would find that out later. Right now he had better things to do, like trying to keep his spine from becoming a pool noodle.
Before long though, the zero-pointer buckled a bit before coming to a stop. Almost as if it couldn't move forward with something in its way like this.
Well, that's a relief, At least I won't get to experience it's full weight…
As his attempts to lighten the mood in his own mind failed, Izuku felt himself begin to fatigue under the enormous amount of pressure. It had only been about twenty seconds or so since the thing had stepped on them, but to him it felt like an eternity as his body finally gave in a bit and he fell to one knee.
Looking the brown haired girl in the eyes. Who by the way, had an expression on her face that couldn't have shown more fear or worry if she tried. Izuku did his best to smile in the midst of the gruesome situation. But he had a feeling that it ended up coming off more like a struggling face that showed immense pain.
Which was actually an accurate descriptor of how he felt right now.
Now having been holding this thing up for almost forty five seconds, Izuku saw the end draw closer as his vision began to blur. This was way too heavy for him, he needed a nap.
NO! He screamed in his head, shaking it violently in an attempt to keep himself awake. If I fall now, this girl dies. And I'm not gonna allow that! Come on! I'm Spider-Man!
Ok, calm down, he could do this. Peter had been in situations like this before and walked away. A really big one that came to mind was in Amazing Spider-Man #33. If Peter could push past his limits with his tenacity, then so could he!
Come on! I can do this! Push!
To the boy's absolute bewilderment, the robot's massive metallic foot actually began to budge upwards a little at his command.
But after taking a moment to look around, he found out that none of it had been his doing. Because all of the sudden, there was a familiar orange head of hair standing next to him with large hands pushing up on the weight as well. And doing a bang up job of it as a matter of fact, at least from his point of view. Wow, she got out of my web AND she's helping out with this much weight? She must be really strong.
Seeing his chance to get back on his feet, Izuku urged his burning legs to stand up and take on the burden once again. Grunting loudly as he pushed as hard as he could, this time with less pain since the weight was split between him and the orange haired girl.
Breathing heavily, said orange haired girl spoke in between large breaths as fatigue began setting in for her quickly. "I hope you know, you're crazy for doing this."
The boy couldn't help but give a small strained smile at her somewhat playful comment. The Peter in him that had been growing more and more not allowing him to stay silent. "Oh yeah? Well I guess that makes you double crazy for following me."
Not bothering to reply to his witty remark, Kendo instead brought all of her attention to not dying by straining even more against the weight on top of her. How the hell did he hold all of this by himself before!? We're splitting the weight right now and I'm already out of gas!
However, before either of the teens could plunge any further into their thoughts. The loud sound of an engine brought their attention to the entrance of the little roof that the zero-pointer's foot was making. Showing the tall form of the sophisticated teen from before as he crouched down and crawled towards the group of three.
"About time!" Kendo complained to the boy as he reached the center of the foot where they were. "I thought your whole schtick was about being fast!? Weren't you right behind me!?"
"Yes, I very much was, but I had to get some help first."
"Huh?" Izuku and Itsuka said in unison.
Before anyone even had the chance to blink, a whole slew of vines emerged from the ground.
Immediately getting to work, most of the vines came together to make one big green pillar that crushed itself into the robot's foot, easing up the weight on Izuku and Itsuka that much more. While a smaller group of vines began rapidly clearing rubble from atop the brown haired girl. Having her free in a matter of seconds.
"Perfect!" The blue haired boy shouted enthusiastically. Not hesitating at all in picking up the brown haired girl gently in his arms. "Now, can you two get out without the foot collapsing? How much of the weight are those vines holding?"
"Not. Much." Izuku strained through gritted teeth. He could've sworn that he was starting to see spots in his vision.
Kendo on the other hand didn't even bother replying. The grunts and groans she was giving out telling the blue haired teen all he needed to know.
"I see, that's not good. I'll have to go back out and see if anyone else has a strength quirk. It won't take long, I'll be ba-"
"No! Wait!" The brown haired girl said shakily from the boy's arms. "Just get to the exit and get ready to run. When you're ready, I'll touch it and make it weightless with my quirk. It won't be for long, and I'll throw up the second I touch it, but It'll give you two just enough time to escape. Got it?
Kendo only nodded, barely even listening as her muscles screamed at her to stop.
Izuku nodded as well, slowly and shakily lowering one arm from the robot foot and firing a web line at the sophisticated teen's chest.
"What on earth? What's this for?"
"J-just go!"
Quickly nodding and following orders, the speed enhanced boy crawled out from under the foot quickly, wasting no time in standing up and taking a track starting position. "Whenever you're ready!"
Nodding gently and holding her mouth shut, the brown haired girl took a deep breath, ready for all of the contents of her stomach to cover the ground as soon as she touched the enormous robot.
Reaching out and touching it with all five fingers, the girl instantly felt sick as her control wavered and her stomach began pushing everything out. "Go! I'll only be able to hold it for one sec-" She warned before the disgusting sounds of her regurgitation took over her.
The glasses-wearing teen got the message though, putting everything into his thrusters and taking off in a mad dash.
As soon as Izuku felt the weight of the robot completely vanish, he wasted no time in grabbing the orange haired girl around the waist and tightening his grip on the web line.
"Shrink your hands down! It's gonna be a tight escape!"
And that it was, because as quickly as the weight left the giant robot, it came back just as fast.
Shrinking down her hands like she was told, Kendo shut her eyes and grabbed onto the boy with what little strength she had left. Feeling absolute relief when their bodies were dragged forward at an incredible speed until light hit her eyes.
"Ughhh," she groaned painfully from the ground, not even realizing that the boy had let go of the web and was laying right next to her.
"Oh goodness! Are you two alright!?" A girl with long and prickly green hair asked, standing over them with a worried expression.
The pair of teens never even bothered responding, opting instead for the sweet relief of sleep as their consciousness slipped away.
"WOOHOO! TIMES UP EVERYONE! HOPE YOU'RE SATISFIED WITH YOUR POINTS! CAUSE THIS TEST IS OVER!"
"Wow! What awesome talent we've got this year! YAHOO!" Present Mic screamed out. Only this time it wasn't on the loudspeaker for the students, but rather, for the judges and faculty that were currently occupying the viewing room.
"Tallying up final scores now Principal Nezu."
Said white creature stayed silent and motionless while he waited for the results to appear up on screen. Giving an innocent smile when the names began to display one by one with their tally of points next to them.
1st Place: Katsuki Bakugo
Villain Points: 85
Rescue Points: 0
2nd Place: Izuku Midoriya
Villain Points: 19
Rescue Points: 65
3rd Place: Ochaco Uraraka
Villain Points: 28
Rescue Points: 50
4th Place: Ibara Shiozaki
Villain Points: 36
Rescue Points: 40
5th Place: Tenya Iida
Villain Points: 52
Rescue Points: 23
6th Place: Itsuka Kendo
Villain Points: 25
Rescue points: 49
7th Place: Eijiro Kirishima
Villain points: 35
Rescue Points: 35
8th Place: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Villain Points: 52
Rescue Points: 10
9th Place: Fumikage Tokoyami
Villain Points: 47
Rescue points: 10
10th Place: Mezo Shoji
Villain Points: 49
Rescue Points: 6
Many sounds of both surprise and approval could be heard among the staff of teachers as they read through the top ten. With one of the most ecstatic reactions coming from one of the hero course homeroom teachers.
"Haha! It looks like fate has smiled on me today!" The blood hero Vlad King laughed joyously. He was a very tall and wide framed man with a red jumpsuit and white hair. He also seemed to be extra giddy for some reason.
"What are you going on about Kan?" A very tired and bored looking man asked with a yawn.
"Hmph," Vlad King smirked as he prepared to explain himself to his rival teacher. He wasn't really much of a bragger, but he did love indulging in some friendly competition every now and then. "Oh nothing Aizawa, I'm just extremely pleased with the results of the entrance exam. Would you like to know why?"
"Enlighten me," The man said bordley through the wrappings covering his neck.
The blood hero gritted his teeth at the uncaring attitude that his rival was putting up. He always did this! And it always managed to get to him! "I'm pleased because you're stuck with that kid in first place with zero rescue points! Sure, he may be strong as all hell, but I was watching him. He was practically throwing other students out of the way to get his points. And meanwhile, I'll be getting the well rounded gentleman in second place. Who might I add, risked his life and showed off an incredible feat of strength there at the end. Whew, I sure am glad I lost that coin flip with you yesterday!"
The other teacher known as Aizawa rolled his eyes at the new information that was brought to his attention. It didn't matter who was in his class, he would push them harder than anyone and still come out on top. Though he does have a point about this kid in first place. Doesn't really look like much of a team player. Shit…
As the two kept up their chatter and their playful banter back and forth, one specific teacher sitting in the back, who also happened to be a symbol of peace, was sweating profusely with a concerned look on his face as many wild thoughts bounced around in his mind.
That boy, Could it really have been him!? He told me he was quirkless!? No, no, I must be thinking of someone else. There's no way for someone to just randomly get a quirk. Unless…
With his eyes turned to saucers, All Might stood up with his fists clenched as tight as humanly possible. "No…"
When Izuku finally woke up and fluttered his eyes open, he was in an unfamiliar room. Just by looking at it for a few seconds, he could obviously tell that it was some type of medical ward, but that was about it. Was he still inside the school?
"Finally! It's about time you woke up."
Izuku jolted in his bed at the loud interruption to his thoughts, looking over to the source of the feminine voice he just heard.
"Did you know you mumble when you sleep?" Kendo jabbed playfully from her seat on a bed adjacent to his.
W-what!? What is she doing here!? The boy thought nervously as his mouth went dry. All of the sudden it was kinda hard to form words in his head…
"Well? Say something! You've said like two words to me since I met you this morning," the girl grumbled.
Izuku on the other hand was quite satisfied with all of the information he was just given. Taking time to work it all out in his head.
She said she met me this morning! That means she doesn't remember what happened last year! So she doesn't think I'm a weirdo!
Another crucial piece of information that the green haired boy picked up on was the fact that she had said this morning. Reminding him that it was definitely later in the day, the orange sunset in the window giving him confirmation.
Now he just needed the rest of the stuff in between…
"Uh, sorry, I-I guess I just don't talk a lot. I've been trying to get better at that. But if you don't mind me asking, where are we? And why are you here?"
The girl smiled warmly and stood up from the bed, still wearing the same thing as before, only now her shirt had a fair bit of white, splotchy residue around the stomach area. "We're in Recovery Girl's office, she brought us here because we passed out from exhaustion and she couldn't exactly heal that," she finished with a chuckle, meeting his eyes and seeing that he was looking at her stomach. "Oh yeah! And you totally owe me a new shirt! When I woke up this stuff was all melted into the fabric and wouldn't come off!"
Not even getting a proper chance to geek out when hearing about Recovery Girl, Izuku brought a hand up and scratched the back of his head uneasily. "Oh yeah, s-sorry about that, I-I designed the fluid to dissolve after about an hour. It should wash out though, I've tried it."
"Oh, that's a relief. I really like this shirt," she smiled before backtracking for a moment. "Wait, what do you mean you designed it?"
In an instant, Izuku's eyes widened, quickly patting his wrists and going into full panic mode when he felt the absence of his web-shooters.
The girl seemed to pick up on this and put her hands up to calm the boy down, all of the pieces in her mind finally coming together and making sense. "Woah, calm down! Are you looking for your stuff? It's right there" She finished, pointing to a tray sitting at the foot of his bed containing both his backpack and his web-shooters.
Izuku wasted no time in jumping out of bed and collecting the tray, putting on his pair of spider gadgets right away.
Kendo observed the boy with curiosity for a moment before voicing her thoughts. "I was wondering what those were, do they help you control your quirk?"
Once his web-shooters were properly fastened to his wrists, Izuku faced the girl and gulped. They were about the same height, which didn't do his confidence any favors as he opened his mouth and began to speak.
"Uh, no, when I said I designed them, I meant my webs. They're artificial, see?" He said softly, reaching out and showing the girl the device on his wrist.
Kendo eyed the bracelet-like item for a moment, becoming more and more impressed once she saw how complex it looked.
"Wow, you made that yourself? Along with the sticky stuff? That's amazing!" She called out genuinely. She was also very much relieved that the stuff on her clothes did not come out of this guy's body. But of course, she wasn't gonna say that out loud. "What is it made out of? I'm guessing just a bunch of chemicals?"
"Heh, thanks, but it's not really all that complicated," the teen lied, scratching the back of his head once again as he shrugged off the compliment. "And yeah, just a few chemicals I managed to get my hands on. I don't wanna bore you with it though."
Nodding gently, the girl smiled again,satisfied with the little amount of information given. "Alright, that's fair. But I'm serious, dude, you must be crazy smart to invent something like that all by yourself."
"Yeah, that's actually one of the reasons the school let me register it in for the entrance exam. They saw that I had made them all on my own."
"I bet," she laughed, getting to another thing she was curious about. "But one more thing. If the webs aren't your quirk, then what is it? Some kind of strength enhancement I'm guessing?"
"Oh uhhh," Izuku froze as he tried to gather his thoughts for what felt like the tenth time since he woke up. Why did talking to girls have to be so hard?
"Uhh, are you ok?" Kendo asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Luckily she had the patience to deal with this because of Tamaki.
"Oh yeah! I-I'm fine. Spider! That's my quirk!"
"Huh?"
Ugh, why am I so stupid!? The boy thought to himself before taking a big deep breath and starting over.
"Spider, It pretty much allows me to do everything a spider can. Like uhhh… Here, maybe it'll be easier just to show you, check it out," He finished before jumping up and attaching to the ceiling with his arms and legs.
"Woah! That's awesome!"
Izuku could help but grin a little bit at all the praise he was getting. He had never really been complimented genuinely before, so this was a very new and welcome feeling. "Heh, thanks," He replied. His cheeks turned a bit pink as he let go of the ceiling with his hands and hung only from his feet. Something about standing on walls and ceilings just felt amazing ever since he perfected his wall run a while back. That, and he was sure the blood running to his head would help hide his blushing.
"But wait," Kendo began again. "I guess that explains why you chose to make the webs, but how are you so strong? I saw you swing from them like it was nothing. Not to mention that huge robot that you were somehow able to hold up before I got there."
"Oh, well uh, I'm actually still confused about the robot thing too. See, I'm normally able to lift a hundred seventy five times my own body weight give or take, just like a spider. But that thing was way over that amount. I think that maybe since I was only holding it up and not lifting it, my limit was higher, but I don't know, that was still way too heavy."
Can my powers grow to new limits like quirks can when they're trained? Or were my emotions helping me push through just to save that girl? That would make the most sense since I've seen Peter do it a couple of times.
"Oh wow, I guess that explains that. I forgot that spiders are supposed to be crazy strong for their size."
"Heh, yeah, It's a weird quirk, that's for sure," Izuku shrugged off again, falling back on the floor and collecting his things. "So do we have to wait for Recovery Girl to come back? It's getting pretty late and I'm sure my mom is freaking out already."
"Ugh, tell me about it, my dad wouldn't stop texting me while I was waiting for you to wake up. And no, Recovery Girl said we could leave whenever. I just waited for you because of my shirt."
"Wow, how thoughtful," the super-powered teen said sarcastically as he put on his backpack.
"There it is again! You're so weird you know that? One minute you're all shy and timid, and the next you're all witty and sarcastic. Weirdo."
Izuku couldn't help but laugh audibly at the girl's observation, glad that some lessons he'd been teaching himself from Peter were starting to show. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"Hey, wait up! I still have to get my stuff!"
The walk to the train station for the teens ended up having quite the looming awkward silence for most of the time. Kendo would usually be the one to break it with a question of some kind about his powers, but Izuku would only give quick and short answers. Killing any chance to start a real conversation.
It wasn't until the two actually boarded the train that an interesting topic that they could actually discuss came up.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot to ask, but how do you think you did on the exam?"
"O-oh, well uh, the written portion was really easy," Izuku mentioned with an innocent smile.
This however, almost caused the orange haired teen to facepalm. "That's not what I meant you nerd! I meant the practical exam! Y'know, the one that actually matters."
Izuku didn't know why, but this girl calling him a nerd didn't have nearly as much bite as when Bakugo said it. In fact, call him crazy, but he actually found it kinda endearing.
"Oh yeah, s-sorry. Uh, I'm pretty sure I only ended up with nineteen points. I had to stop a few times to save a couple of people."
"Yeah, I feel that. I ended up with twenty five, but I also stole some from some people I saved, so that was pretty lucky." She stated matter-of-factly, connecting some dots in her head about the boy's explanation. "Hey wait, I was one of the people you saved, thanks a ton! I almost forgot about that."
"N-no! If anything, I should be thanking you! If you hadn't shown up when you did to help me out with that robot foot, I would be kissing my spine goodbye right now."
The orange haired teen managed a decent sized giggle at the boy's figure of speech. "Yeah, I guess I did save your butt huh?"
Izuku managed to summon a grin to his lips at the thought of making her laugh like that before getting excited all over again. "Heck yeah you did!" He said, nerding out about the power the girl displayed. "Your quirk was awesome! Does your strength multiply when you grow your hands like that?"
Now it was Itsuka who was scratching the back of her head somewhat nervously. "Heh, yeah, something like that. I don't have the exact number like you do though. I can usually just tell if I can lift something by looking at it."
"That's so cool!" He said energetically as he scribbled information down in his notebook.
What the hell? Why is he writing stuff down? And when did he pull that notebook out? His backpack hasn't left his shoulders since we got on the train...
Abandoning the meaningless thoughts, Kendo just shook her head at the boy's antics. And before long, he began muttering what he was presumably writing down.
"Wow, you really are a nerd," she giggled lightly once again.
Coming up and out of his notebook, Izuku blushed a bit, but ultimately accepted the nickname with a nod. He really had no problem considering she wasn't saying it to actually make fun of him like Bakugo did. Plus, as much as he hated to admit it, it was kinda true, he was a nerd. That became all but certain as soon as he began enjoying studying over the past ten months.
"Yeah, I guess I am a nerd."
"Yeah, you definitely are, but that's not a bad thing. I bet you can come up with some awesome strategies if you like writing stuff down about random people's quirks."
Damn, was he really that easy to read?
Before the boy had a chance to respond, the orange haired girl looked out the window of the moving train and turned back around. "We're coming up on my stop, it was nice to meet you uhhh, oh my goodness, I never got your name!"
"I-Izuku Midoriya!" He sputtered out a little bit too fast.
Shaking her head at the boy's odd persona, the girl put her arm out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you Midoriya, Itsuka Kendo."
"L-likewise Kendo-san," he replied as he felt the train come to a slow stop. "Good luck on getting your r-results."
"You too. Hope to see ya there!" She finished quickly, hurrying to step off the train before the doors closed.
Even after standing and staring at the door that she had exited out of for a solid five minutes, Izuku couldn't stop the same sentence from bouncing around wildly in his mind.
I just had a real conversation with a girl! And she doesnt think I'm a loser! This is the best day of my life!
All Might moved as fast as he could through the school in his weakened form. It had been a week since the entrance exams, and he had been putting off this conversation for far too long. He just hoped it wasn't too late.
"Nezu!" the sickly thin man yelled as he pushed right into the principal's office. He expected to only see the small director here in his main quarters, but instead he was accompanied by the two hero course homeroom teachers as well.
"All Might? What brings you here? We were just going over the final list of accepted students before sending the letters out," The small principal said casually. Gaining a pair of nods from the two teachers present.
"Perfect! I arrived just in time then! What class did Izuku Midoriya end up in?"
Even though the question was rather odd, Nezu allowed it, nodding for the blood hero to respond.
Stepping forward with a smug smile displayed on his lips, Vlad King answered the symbol of peace promptly. "That would be my class All Might, 1-B."
"I see…" All Might said with a hand coming to his chin in thought. This was not what he had hoped for at all. "Nezu, I need you to change that right away. I would not like to say why, but it is absolutely imperative to the safety of everyone that Eraserhead be this boy's teacher."
"What!?" Vlad King shouted in anger, directing a scowl right at the sickly thin man.
For a while, Nezu said nothing, opting instead to stare down the symbol of peace with an emotionless expression that could rival Aizawa's.
"Forgive me All Might, but could you possibly give us a little bit more insight on why this is so important? If you really wish to keep it a secret, I understand better than anyone. But could you at least outline the gravity of how important it is?"
…
"Right now it's not much, but I have a strong hunch about him being involved with some demons from my past," he said. Doing his best to be as vague as possible in front of the two hero course teachers. Nezu seemed to pick up on what he was saying though, because his eyes widened and showed emotion for a split second.
"I see..."
"Yes," All Might began again. "Not only can Eraserhead's specific skill set help with… Developing the boy. But I also wanted to test something out that requires his assistance."
"Very well then, Izuku Midoriya will be moved to class 1-A of the hero course at once." The principal said calmly, now fully supporting and trusting the symbol of peace.
"WHAT!?" Vlad King shouted in rage once again.
Aizawa on the other hand was still emotionlessly staring at the number one hero. What are you hiding All Might?
However, his thoughts were completely derailed when more of Kan's complaints rang in his ears.
"This is completely unfair Aizawa! If you get the number one AND the number two, then I get the next three on the list!"
"Fine by me, but that means I get to pick off of your plate too."
Needless to say, the second round of class picking did not go well for the blood hero...
