It would be a vast understatement to say Izuku and Katsuki were antsy as they walked through the hallways of U.A. to their homeroom. It's one thing to believe you did well in an exam, and it's another to learn you passed the exam. It's yet another to actually experience the fruits of your labor.

"I can't believe we're actually in Class 1-A, Kacchan; this is a dream come true!" Izuku practically vibrates in the air as he floats alongside Katsuki.

Katsuki snorts in amusement as he loosens his tie with a nervous twitching energy in his hand. "Cool your jets, nerd, don't wanna scare away the others."

In response, the greenette playfully shoved Katsuki with a chuckle. "I know, I know, it's just–"

"Yes, Izu, we've been working hard since we were brats, and it feels different. If I had a nickel for how many times you've told me that, I'd have two nickles."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "That's not a lot, Kacchan…"

Katsuki flashed an evil grin. "But it's annoying that it's happened twice."

"KACCHAN!" Izuku squawked in mock offense with a hand on his heart. "How could you wound me so?"

Katsuki simply laughed maniacally at his best friend's reaction. "Alright, I think we're almost there."

Izuku nodded as he looked at the wall as they neared the next door. "I can feel Ochako's energy here, so probably."

"Ochako? Who the fuck is that?"

Izuku waved off Katsuki's question. "That girl you saw in the projector that I saved. I told her she could use my given name, and she responded in kind."

Katsuki smirked as they reached the gigantic door labeled for 1-A. "I see~"

Izuku gently smacked his brother's shoulder in faux annoyance. "Shut up, bomberanian. You ready?"

The blonde gave a nod, and Izuku opened the door after steadying his breath.

/

All the students in the room turned as Izuku and Katsuki walked in. Most held neutral gazes, but a few were somewhat awestruck — the ones in Izuku and Katsuki's testing centers. Izuku noticed an energy behind and below them and glanced to see if it was another student. He met eyes with a disheveled man in a yellow sleeping bag. Probably our teacher, he thought. Eh, I'll leave him be for now.

Two students instantly recognized the pair and walked over.

The brunette girl, sporting a huge, excited grin, spoke first. "Izuku, you made it in! I'm glad to see we're in the same class! Thanks again for saving me back at the exam!"

Izuku chuckled nervously and waved off Ochako's praise. "I'm sure others would've done the same. It's good to see you too, Ochako." He motioned to his blonde partner. "This is my best friend Katsuki Bakugou."

Katsuki nodded with a small smile. "Good to meet ya'. Izu told me about you."

Ochako's eyes widened as her pink cheeks grew pinker. "Ochako Uraraka. I-I hope he said good things."

Izuku placed a hand on Katsuki's shoulder while keeping his eyes on Ochako. "Don't mind him, he likes being an ass and teasing me. I mentioned what happened at the exam since I told him I could sense your energy in this room."

Ochako nodded wordlessly as the blue-haired boy cleared his throat to get the boys' attention. "It's good to meet you two. I'm Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy."

Both boys nodded in acknowledgment of Iida's introduction before said boy bowed harshly. "I deeply apologize for my actions during the entrance exam, you two! Especially you, Midoriya."

Iida rose to meet the eyes of a now thoroughly confused Izuku, gesturing in a robotically-animated fashion. "You jumped in to save Uraraka without hesitation, and you were doing nothing but attempting to be helpful previously. I hope you can forgive me for my brashness! I will strive to do better as you suggested!"

Izuku placed a hand on Iida's shoulders. "I was simply doing what a hero would do, Iida. Don't take my criticisms to heart too much, though. I just want to see you do your best."

Before Iida could respond, the unkempt man in the doorway made his presence known, startling everyone sans Izuku.

"If you're here to just socialize, you may as well get out now."

Izuku walked to his seat without a word, with the other three quickly following.

"Only one of you noticed me." The man said as he stood up out of his sleeping bag, holding it in his left hand. "Situational awareness is a key skill to have as a hero. I'll have to drill that into you. My name is Shouta Aizawa, I'm your homeroom teacher."

As everyone looked at him with befuddlement, Aizawa pulled out a bright blue uniform with red and white accents. "These are U.A.'s gym uniforms. Each of you has one labeled for you in the locker rooms. Change into them and meet me at Field Alpha, the main P.E. grounds.

/

Izuku raised an eyebrow as he absorbed Aizawa's words. A quirk test, hm? Sure, we'll be using our powers as heroes, but these are all physical tests. What about quirks that don't improve a physical aspect, like the invisible girl?

"Look alive, Midoriya," Aizawa said as he tossed a modified softball to him. Izuku caught it without hesitation and gave it a cursory examination. "How far were you able to throw a ball in your last test?"

Izuku shrugged his shoulders. "Probably a few hundred meters. Honestly, our teachers weren't the best."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He had no idea whether his annoyance was towards Izuku himself or his teachers. "Step into the circle. I want you to throw it as far as possible, using your power. No holding back."

Izuku's eyes shot open as he walked into the circle. "No holding back at all? Are you sure, sir?"

Aizawa glared at him. "No holding back at all, so long as you stay within the circle's bounds. If you hold back using your power, you'll be given a month of detention."

Izuku held Aizawa's glare with a look of his own, though shock instead of anger.

I know he knows I'm a quirkless half-Saiyan, Dad told me after his meeting with Nedzu. He thought to himself. He's used "quirk" except when referencing my abilities. Dad also said Aizawa was a viewer during the exam, so he knows what I can do… does he really expect me to use that power?

Izuku sighed as he looked down at the ball in his hand. Before he did anything else, he looked over to the girl with earphone jacks for earlobes.

"If my assumption that you have heightened hearing is correct, you might want to close them as best you can. This is going to be extremely loud." She nodded and plugged the jacks into her arms – cool, I'll have to ask her some questions later – while holding her hands tightly over her ears proper.

Satisfied with her response, he closed his eyes and steadied his breath, rolling his head back and letting his arms drop to his sides. He shot his head back in place as he looked directly forward, clenching both hands and gritting his teeth.

The ground began to shake, particles of loose dirt and rock nearby floating into the air as a low, constant growling could be heard. The other students watched with rapt attention as Izuku's white aura enveloped him like gentle waves of water. His muscles expanded slightly, threatening to rip apart his gym uniform as he grew. His hair stood on end as his eyes shifted from green to gold.

Izuku raised his shoulders and took in a long, deep breath, raising his forearms parallel to the ground and palms facing downward. Then, he let loose a primal scream from the top of his lungs while raising his forearms. His energy was released in all directions as the earth cracked and shifted around him.

All of the spectators partially shielded their eyes as they steadied their footing lest they be blown back by the air currents blasting against them. When the wind subsided, Izuku stood in a pitching stance, finally ready to throw the ball.

In one moment, Izuku was in his pitching stance. The next moment, he was finishing his throwing motion with the ball nowhere to be seen.

And then came everything else all at once.

A scream could be heard through a deafening boom as a shockwave sent all of the students and Aizawa away and to the ground. The ground continued to crack outwards from Izuku, shaking the entirety of the U.A.'s campus.

By the time everyone stood back up and walked over, Izuku had already shrunk back down, tears all across his uniform clearly visible.

Izuku had the decency to look sheepish after examining the damage done to the environment. He looked over to Aizawa.

"I still had to tone it back a little bit; going truly all-out without any restrictions probably would've destroyed the ball and… a lot of other things. I still don't have full control over my Ikari transformation, either, so…"

The awkward tone with which Izuku confessed his disobedience to Aizawa would've humored the other students—and admittedly Aizawa himself—had the ominous ambiguity in his words not deeply unnerved them.

"...You get a pass, Midoriya. You don't have to go that all out for the rest of the tests."

Aizawa held the device in his hand, showing his class the score measured by the ball, an infinity symbol.

"It's important for you to figure out your limits. That's the first step for us to figure out what heroes you'll be and how best to teach you."

Everyone except Izuku started to clamor, exclaiming how it would be fun to use their quirks and how cool the hero course would be.

Aizawa growled, gaining the class' attention again. "You think this is going to be fun? Do you think the hero course is a game?"

A few students wilted under Aizawa's mirthless expression. "You'll spend the next three years at this school learning how to save people's lives. This isn't meant to be entertaining or amusing."

The disheveled man parted the hair from his face, revealing glowing red eyes with a manic, threatening grin across his lips that promised nothing but pain. "Let's play a game then: the student who scores the lowest across the exercises will be deemed to have zero potential and will be removed from the hero course effective immediately."

The students' looks of fear and trepidation, save for three of them, morphed into pure shock and terror at the threat.

Uraraka took the initiative and questioned Aizawa: "Are you really going to expel the lowest scorer, sir? It's only the first day. This is completely unfair!"

Aizawa silenced her with a look. "The world is unfair. There will always be chaos and unfairness, such as natural disasters, traffic accidents, and villains on a rampage. We heroes are supposed to combat the world's unfairness and bring hope to its citizens."

The entire class was left speechless at Aizawa's speech. It seemed to be compelling.

"I still call bullshit," Izuku spoke with an emotionless stare into his teacher's eyes.

"Excuse me, Midoriya?" Aizawa challenged.

Izuku crossed his arms. "You're right that the world is unfair, but this situation is different. You're supposed to be our teacher, and we're your students. You're in a position that's supposed to show fairness. We should trust you to be fair and impartial as you help us grow. Your apprehension test is already skewed toward physical quirks. What about heroes like Sir Nighteye, whose quirks are extremely niche?"

Aizawa's eyes once again narrowed as he let his student continue uninterrupted. "We have a student with an invisibility quirk among us. How would their quirk help them throw that ball? If we were to take your words at face value, they could ask someone else to throw the ball, but that shows teamwork and not physical ability."

Izuku then smirked, making Aizawa raise a confused eyebrow. "Tell me, Erasure Hero: Eraserhead, would you be able to do well in these tests if you were one of us, or would you risk expulsion yourself?"

Aizawa looked shocked at being recognized and at being called out. He looked to the ground as he processed the question the greenette posed.

After a few tense moments of silence, Aizawa sighed tiredly and bowed to Izuku. "You bring up excellent points, Midoriya. I seem to have internalized some of the biases I spoke out against. I will not expel anyone for their scores, and you all have my apologies."

Sighs and cheers of relief resounded throughout the class – though Izuku swore he saw the raven-haired girl pale and whisper, "he was really going to do it?" under her breath – but Aizawa cut the celebration short.

"Although I conceded that I wouldn't expel anyone, I still intend to ensure you all try your hardest on these tests – within reason." He pointedly stared at Izuku as he spoke the last two words.

"If I see any of you slacking off just because you won't be removed from the hero course for these tests, I will still give you detentions and extra homework. This is U.A., and I intend to run you through the wringer; that's Plus Ultra, so bring it on."

/

Aizawa pressed a button on his device, showing a hologram. "It would be a waste of time explaining exactly how your scores were calculated based on the tests, so I'll just let you look at your results and rankings. Your syllabi and other documents about the school and curriculum are on your desks in the classroom. Be sure to get them before you leave today."

Izuku smiled as he saw himself at number one, with Katsuki scoring third under whoever Momo Yaoyorozu was. Iida was ranked fifth and Ochako eleventh, which was good, too!

/

"Hey, wait up, Izuku!"

Izuku looked behind him to see Ochako and Iida speed-walking to catch up with him and Katsuki.

"You headed to the station, too?" Ochako asked with a smile.

"Yep. Katsuki and I live near each other, and the station this way is the closest." Izuku replied.

"Would you mind if we joined you since we're headed the same way?" Iida asked.

"I don't have a problem with it! Kacchan?"

Katsuki, for his part, shrugged with a bored grin. "Don't care."

Ochako and Iida's confused faces prompted Izuku to shove his blonde best friend playfully. "He doesn't mind. He just likes keeping his tough boy persona intact – not that I'll let him."

Katsuki mock-glared at Izuku as Ochako giggled. "Fuck off, Izu."

"No way, Kacchan! You're stuck with me, you know that!"

"Having friends is your thing, nerd."

"Wait, we're already friends?" Ochako asked curiously.

Izuku and Katsuki stared at her like she had grown a second head.

"Of course we are; at least, I hope we are. You two seem cool!" Izuku said.

"It would be an honor to be friends with you three!" Iida exclaimed.

"Yeah, I for sure want to be friends with you guys!" Uraraka said.

"That's that, then." Katsuki chuckled.