"Yo, Midoriya-kun!" Fukidashi called, "Over here!"

Izuku jerked in surprise as he entered the classroom, still not really used to being paid much mind by his peers. At least, not in a positive way.

"H-hello, Fukidashi-san, Bondo-san," Izuku greeted as he made his way over to his friends, who were crowded around Fukidashi's desk along with another of their classmates - Nirengeki, if Izuku remembered right.

"We need you to settle a debate for us, Midoriya-kun!" Fukidashi explained, "You see, Nirengeki-kun here thinks that Hawks would beat Endeavor in a one-on-one fight, but me and Bondo-kun think Endeavor would win!"

Izuku blinked.

"Based on your interest in Quirks, as well as your vast knowledge of heroes," Bondo continued, "We thought it would be smartest to consult you on your opinion in this matter."

Izuku blushed. All he had done yesterday was ask about Fukidashi and Bondo's Quirks some more as they made their way to the train station yesterday!

And maybe ask a few extra questions.

And maybe go on a mumble rant about heroes with similar Quirks they could learn from.

And maybe -

Yeah, he brought this on himself.

At least they weren't openly mocking him for his interests, like he everyone at Aldera used to. That was a welcome surprise.

"Um… well…" Izuku responded quietly, "Hawks would win."

Fukidashi gasped dramatically. "No, Midoriya-kun! You're supposed to be on our side!"

Izuku flinched slightly, practically unnoticeable to the eyes of the guys around him. Did he mess up?

"S-s-sorry, Fukidashi-san," he tried, eyes darting down, "B-but, uh, no, Hawks would win."

Bondo hummed. "Why do you think so, Midoriya-kun? Endeavor is incredibly smart, and has an incredible Quirk. Hellflame would burn through Hawks's feathers easily."

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, that's true," he began, forcing an awkward laugh, "But Hawks is fast. Really fast. And the control he has over his feathers is absolute. That, combined with Hellflame's drawback of not making Endeavor immune to the heat it creates means the fight would likely devolve into a hit and run style battle where Hawks repeatedly forces Endeavor to activate his Quirk in order to avoid taking critical damage from Hawks, while Endeavor is unable to properly counterattack due to Hawks's raw speed. All it would take is one slip-up from Endeavor to end the fight. And even if he was perfect in his reactions, he has less time to win the fight because the longer his Quirk is active the likelier it is that Endeavor begins to take damage from self-inflicted burns."

Izuku finally took a breath, only to realize that Bondo, Nirengeki, and Fukidashi were all staring at him, eyes wide and mouths hanging wide open.

"Or something like that." He muttered quietly, eyes downcast as his blush returned full force.

"Woah," Fukidashi breathed out, "That was, like, a major nerd out! Awesome!"

Izuku looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

Bondo nodded in agreement. "It truly is incredible to see someone with such vast knowledge on heroics."

Izuku turned scarlett. "I-it's n-not that impressive. I j-just like heroes."

"We all like heroes," Fukidashi corrected, cackling, "You love them."

Izuku sputtered in an attempt to defend himself, embarrassed beyond belief, but that just made Fukidashi laugh harder. Bondo wasn't far behind him, a deep chuckle emanating from him, and even Nirengeki had to muffle himself with his hand.

Fortunately for Izuku, the bell rang, and with it Vlad King entered the room, an order of 'get to your seats!' on his lips, sparing him any more embarrassment this morning.

As he took his seat, he could only wonder if they had been laughing at him, or laughing because of him.

He really hoped they weren't laughing at him.

–

"Alright little listeners!" Present Mic encouraged, "Can anybody tell me what is wrong with sentence number four?"

Silence.

"Aw, c'mon!" He groaned, "I know all of you had to take English in middle school!"

Present Mic pointedly ignored Tsunotori, the only actual native English speaker in the class, who had her hand politely raised the entire time.

Izuku knew the answer, of course. He was pretty good with English - he attributed it to all the time he spent worshiping All Might and consuming as much media of the man as he could, including the half that was English.

Plus when he was younger he thought it would make it easier to talk with his dad, working overseas in America and all.

What an idiot he was.

Izuku let out a muted sigh. Present Mic was beginning to get disheartened, and looked like he was just going to pick a random student. He really didn't want to volunteer himself, but the look in the poor teacher's eye was just too much for Izuku to handle. He didn't want to disappoint the hero again! He already did that during the entrance exam, where he made a fool of himself with his muttering.

Present Mic zeroed in on Izuku's slowly-raising hand like a hungry shark to a surfer.

"Alright!" He shouted, "Let's hear it, Midoriya!"

Izuku tried not to wilt under the pressure of having so many eyes on him again.

"The sentence uses the incorrect form of 'their'," he said quietly, "And it uses the contraction for 'its', when it doesn't need to."

"Correctamundo!" Present Mic cheered, his volume perfectly countering Izuku's quietness, "Now, can anybody help me out with the next one?"

Silence.

Again.

Izuku wasn't going to volunteer himself twice.

Present Mic sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, although he didn't seem too mad. It was more like an exasperated fondness.

"Alrighty, little listeners!" He clapped his hands together, before pushing off the desk he had been leaning back on. "Since I can't get a measure on your English this way, homework! Textbook pages nine and ten, all the odd-numbered problems!"

The class groaned in unison. Izuku could pick out Fukidashi as one of the loudest complainers in the group.

"Settle down, settle down!" Present Mic laughed, "You don't have to make sure they're all correct. I'll be grading for completion, but please put some effort into it! It'll be a benchmark for you so I know where we're all at here."

Izuku listened to the class's murmurings for a few more moments, before quietly pulling out the textbook and simply getting to work, unaware of the stare he was receiving from a certain blonde girl.

–

Izuku stretched out his sore wrist, letting out a satisfied groan as it cracked and popped. Midnight-sensei had given them a pop quiz (which included several small essays) for their first class together, and it had put Izuku's writing hand through the wringer.

"Midoriya-kun!" Fukidashi called from a few seats ahead, things already packed, "Let's go get lunch! I'm hungry!"

"But you don't eat at lunch." Bondo pointed out, causing Fukidashi to huff and his speech bubble to deflate.

"I-I'm coming!" Izuku called, a small smile on his face. It really was nice to have friends. Fukidashi and Bondo were awesome! Fukidashi was funny and outgoing, and was the 'head' of their little group (ironic, wasn't it?).

Izuku didn't mind though, he wasn't one for the spotlight. Neither was Bondo, the boy even more of a strong-silent type than he was. Not that Izuku was strong in any sense of the word, but you get the point.

"Hey! Green boy!"

Izuku wasn't proud of the squeak he made at the shout, nor the fact that he jumped a solid meter off the ground in surprise. He had to put a hand on his heart to still it - it had begun to beat rapidly at the fright he had just received.

Damn, he really was a wuss.

"You okay?"

Izuku looked up, meeting the big, blue eyes of… a girl?!

…

has crashed.

"I-I-I-I-"

Damn, this was embarrassing. He couldn't even get a single word out.

He was pretty sure he heard Fukidashi snickering in the background, him and Bondo having been lucky enough to stick around to witness this interaction. It only made his face burn more.

The girl cocked her head at him, blinking her eyes slowly in confusion.

"Wow, he kinda looks like a strawberry right now…"She muttered under her breath, in English for good measure.

Izuku made a weird choking sound, like he was trying to hack up a lung. "S-s-strawberry?!"

The girl lit up immediately, pointing a finger at him in excitement. "So you do know English!"

"I-I-uh… y-yeah?" Izuku responded, rather lamely in his opinion. The girl didn't seem to mind though, as she was busy bouncing up and down happily.

"This is great!" She cheered, "I was really hopin' there was someone in my class that knew English, learning Japanese sucks!"

Izuku didn't say anything, out of a mix of surprise and fear of embarrassing himself even further, allowing the girl to ramble on and on in her native tongue.

"Oh shoot, where are my manners? My name's Pony!"She introduced herself with glee, still rocking back and forth on her heels with a bright smile on her face, "It's super nice to meetcha!"

"Um… N-nice to meet you too. My name is Midoriya Izuku." He stumbled through his words a bit. He was far from an expert in the language, and with the speed and emotion Pony was speaking with it took him a moment to grasp what she had been saying.

Pony gasped, hitting herself in the forehead. "Oh yeah, you guys call each other by your last names! In that case, my name's Tsunotori Pony! I'm from Texas! I wanted to go to U.A. just like All Might, but I didn't realize that nobody would speak English! I kinda thought it was a universal language, and that I could learn Japanese on the fly, you know?"

Izuku blinked, barely hanging onto what she was saying and still unsure exactly why she was talking to him. He was way out of his depth at U.A., where so many people were just so nice to him for seemingly no reason.

He still didn't trust it. The other shoe was going to drop at any moment.

"So anyways," Tsunotori continued, "I've been trying to find somebody else in our class who knows English, but had zero luck! The gals are cool and all, but they can't understand me half the time, and neither can any of the guys! And it gets worse! I can't even teach myself Japanese, it's just so hard, and I'm not a good teacher! And somehow U.A. doesn't have tutors for this kinda stuff! Can you believe it?"

"Uh…" Izuku's mind was spiraling. Tsunotori sure did talk a lot in one breath. What did she just ask him? "No?"

Pony let out a sigh. "Yeah, it's rough." She then locked eyes with Izuku, Prussian blue meeting Emerald green as she gave him a pleading look. "You know where I'm going with this, right?"

Izuku did not, in fact, know where she was going with this, and so he awkwardly shook his head.

Tsunotori didn't seem to be put off by his admission. In fact, it was as if it emboldened her as she grabbed Izuku by his hands -

Izuku's face erupted in an absolutely massive blush the moment she touched his hands, and it only got worse once she took a step closer to him.

"Please teach me Japanese!" She begged.

"..."

Izuku was trying to respond. He really was! But every time he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Talking to people was never his strong suit, much less talking to pretty girls holding his hands while pleading for his help.

He must've looked like a fish, with his wide eyes and gaping mouth.

"I… umm…" Izuku forced out, still barely conscious, "Okay?"

Tsunotori lit up like a Christmas tree, giving Izuku a smile so bright he nearly had to shield his eyes.

Which would have been an issue, given she was still holding his hands and all that.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" Tsunotori said happily, pulling Izuku in for a quick hug in the process.

Izuku went catatonic. Was he dead? Was this heaven? Was U.A. just magical?

Tsunotori let him go after a moment, seemingly unaware of the mental breakdown Izuku was experiencing. "So, how is this going to work?"

It took a lot for Izuku to ground himself back in reality after that hug. It had been a long time since someone got that physical with him - at least while they weren't beating him up.

It was nice.

Realizing Tsunotori was still waiting for an answer, Izuku shook his head. "Um, I-I'm not sure? I've never t-tutored someone on Japanese. Did y-you have a place and time in mind?"

Tsunotori looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking her head. "Nope! My schedule is pretty flexible, and this is super important, so It'll probably be better to work around your availability. Here, do you have a phone?"

He nodded, shakily pulling out his phone and offering it to her. He wasn't exactly sure why she wanted it, even though rationally there was only one reason she would ask to see his phone.

Sure enough, Tsunotori took it, and in one quick swipe handed it right back to him with a new number and name in his contacts.

PONY

He was happy she didn't ask about why he had so few other contacts in his phone.

"So just text me whenever you wanna meet up, or when you have an idea on when you want to, or whatever, alright?" Tsunotori asked, "Thanks again for agreeing to help, it means a lot to me!"

Izuku could only nod dumbly as Tsunotori left the room, practically skipping past Fukidashi and Bondo, who's jaws were currently on the floor.

Well, Bondo's was. Fukidashi's would've been as well if he had a jaw to drop.

"Dude…" Fukidashi muttered, "What the hell just happened?"

"I believe Midoriya-kun just got Tsunotori-san's phone number," Bondo said calmly, "I didn't understand what they were discussing, however, so I have no clue how he did so."

Fukidashi shook his speech bubble as if he were shaking his head. "Midoriya-kun!" He rushed over to the greenette, shaking Izuku out of his stupor (both literally and figuratively - Fukidashi had him by the shoulders and was shaking him aggressively), "How'd you do that? It's only the second day of school! You're a legend!"

"W-what!? I-I-I d-don't know!" Izuku sputtered.

"Dude! Teach us your ways! Please!" Fukidashi begged, Bondo nodding sagely in agreement behind him, "I want to get a girlfriend too!"

Izuku blushed hard. "Sh-she's not my g-girlfriend!" He denied, which caused Fukidashi to scoff in disbelief.

"Yeah, right!" He grumbled, "You can tell us all about how you wooed her at lunch! We've wasted enough time here as is!"

As Fukidashi dragged him to the cafeteria (with Bondo thankfully grabbing his bag for him), Izuku could only wonder how he ended up in this situation.

Surprisingly, he didn't mind it at all.

–

Izuku sat in his seat, simultaneously terrified and excited beyond belief for 1-B's first Heroics lesson.

Being excited was a given. He was going to be getting his first lesson on being a hero, who wouldn't be excited? A quick glance at his classmates told him that he wasn't alone in that mentality, many fidgeting impatiently for their teacher, or talking in hushed whispers that did nothing to hide the excitement in their voices.

But…

What if he wasn't good enough?

His classmates had been training for what was likely their whole lives to be here. Izuku was certainly going to be playing catchup - each of his classmates had nearly a decade on him at minimum.

And if what Bondo had said yesterday was accurate…

All Might might be teaching them.

Izuku wondered if the man remembered him. Probably not, all things considered - All Might probably met thousands of people per day, and he was just some crybaby teenager, but Izuku would never forget that day.

"Can I be a hero like you?!"

It was the only reason he was here right now, after all.

Izuku tried to banish those thoughts. No reason to focus on old memories, the past was in the past. Besides, what were the odds that All Might would actually be a teacher at U.A.? Astronomically low, probably.

That didn't stop Izuku from getting his hopes up.

Heavy footsteps from down the hall, making their way to the classroom, alerted the students to a new arrival. Nerves shot, Izuku immediately went ramrod straight in his seat. He couldn't make out who it was, but he could hear a deep voice coming from the other side of the hall.

Could it really be…?

The class awaited with bated breath as the door was flung open without a hint of effort -

Vlad King walked in, a somewhat disgruntled look on his face and a clipboard tucked under his arm.

Izuku blinked.

"Um, Kan-sensei…" Kendo asked, "Are you our Foundational Hero Studies teacher?"

Vlad King huffed, rolling his eyes. "No, I am only here as a substitute for today. Your Heroics teacher is… preoccupied for the moment." He paused for a split second, so brief it was almost unnoticeable to the class, but Izuku caught it.

Vlad King then pulled out a small remote, quickly tapping a few buttons on it. Almost immediately the back wall shifted, allowing twenty coat hangers to drop from the ceiling, each carrying one standard U.A. physical education uniform.

"Everyone grab one and go get changed," Vlad King ordered, "And meet me outside on the field."

A moment passed. No one moved, taken off-guard by the sudden instruction.

"Well?" Vlad King barked, "Get a move on!"

That snapped the class back into reality, as everybody immediately rushed to not be the last one out of the room.

–

"A physical?"

Vlad King nodded at Tokage's question, unbothered by the fact that her eyebrow floating comically high up in the air. "Yes. A physical with Quirks, to be precise."

He took a step back, giving the class a once over with a critical eye. "Fifty meter sprint, standing long jump, long distance run - you've done all of these in middle school, yes? This is merely to set a benchmark for all of you, to see where you stand. The Hero course at U.A. is extremely rigorous, and will be very physically taxing. It's important to set up a proper schedule based on your current limitations, something that you will be going over with your actual Foundational Hero Studies teacher soon."

Vlad King then pulled out a baseball from his pocket, tossing in the air a few times before speaking again. "The only difference is that now, you'll be allowed to use your Quirks. While raw physical prowess is valuable, this allows me to see your creativity in how you can apply your Quirks in various different aspects. Shiozaki-san, think fast!"

Shiozaki gasped in surprise as Vlad King tossed the baseball towards her, flinching back as her hair-vines instinctively reached out and blocked her face. The baseball landed harmlessly against her torso, falling to the ground right after.

"Right, we'll work on that," Vlad King muttered to himself before clearing his throat awkwardly, "Shiozaki-san, out of everyone in the class you scored the highest on the entrance exam. How far could you throw a softball in middle school?"

Blushing slightly, Shiozaki quickly picked up the baseball. "Around forty meters, sir."

Vlad King nodded, before gesturing to a white circle painted on the ground. "Step inside the ring, and without leaving it, throw the ball as far as you can using your Quirk. If you take a step out of the circle, your score will be voided."

Shiozaki hurried over, quickly stepping into the circle and clasping her hands together as she murmured something quietly to herself. Izuku almost thought it looked like she was praying, but he couldn't really tell.

After a moment (likely to figure out exactly how she would throw the ball), Shiozaki looked up, a neutral expression on her face. Immediately, her hair began to twist and writhe, growing rapidly and violently as each vine wrapped around another, creating what seemed to be… a slingshot?

Sure enough, Shiozaki tossed the ball into the air slightly, only for it to be snapped up by the massive braid of vine-hair that sat atop her head. It started to whirl around slowly, almost like how a helicopter blade swung, before picking up speed and absolutely launching the baseball.

Izuku and 1-B watched in awe as the baseball flew in the air for several seconds, before it finally became too far away to follow. The clipboard Vlad King was holding onto beeped, and Vlad King looked pleased as he read the results.

"Four hundred and eighty-nine meters, well done."

Shiozaki's expression remained neutral, but she had a small smile on her face as she rejoined the class.

Izuku's (and pretty much everyone else's) jaw dropped. Five hundred meters?! That was insane! How the hell was he supposed to compete with that?

"Holy shit…" Tsubaraba (a boy that almost looked like a brown-haired Bakugo) muttered, "That was awesome! Getting to cut loose with our Quirks? Awesome!"

There was a general chatter of agreement from a good chunk of the class, and Vlad King's eyes hardened.

"Awesome?" He repeated derisively, immediately cutting off any talking, "Do you think this is a game? Are your Quirks merely playthings to you all?"

Unsurprisingly, no one said anything, taken aback by the sudden change in tone.

Vlad King allowed his stare to pierce through everyone's soul for a moment more before giving up, sighing as he relaxed his posture a bit. "Look. I get it, you've likely never had the chance to show off with your Quirks," he began, "But all of you must remember: This is a serious matter. As I said yesterday, this will not be something you can simply float through or take lightly. Being a Hero is dangerous, risky work, and if you aren't giving it your all and using the utmost care things will end badly. So do try and take this seriously, yes?"

A few mutterings of agreement were heard.

"I said," Vlad King repeated loudly, "Try and take this seriously, yes?"

"Yes, sensei!" The class repeated, pleasing their teacher.

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Vlad King smirked. "Let's get to it!"

The class cheered.

Izuku gulped.

–

Izuku was worried. And not just the kind of anxious worry he lived with constantly.

He was really worried.

The tests weren't difficult - Izuku had done them all in middle school, and definitely had some marked improvement thanks to the 'training' he had been doing over the past year.

But the tests weren't the issue.

Every other person in the class was definitely outperforming him, all because of their Quirks. Sure, he wasn't the weakest physically, but when Komori could grow giant mushrooms to bounce off of for the repeated side steps, or Kuroiro could simply hitch a ride in Shishida's shadow to get just as good a time in the fifty meter dash, or Yui could shrink the grip strength device to get more pressure on it -

To put it mildly, he was screwed.

Izuku tried to reassure himself as best he could - it wasn't like he'd get punished for ending up in last place, right? He was giving it his all, just like Vlad King had said! Heck, he hadn't even said that he'd be keeping score (he definitely was, Izuku would have a target on his back for sure).

It was like the universe was playing another cruel joke on him. After all those years of torment, humiliation, and agony, he finally gets a Quirk, only for it to be just as worthless as -

"Alright, that's it for the tests!"

Izuku was quickly shaken from his thoughts, realizing that they had, indeed, finished. His stomach churned uncomfortably, unsure of what came next.

"You're dismissed."

"Huh?"

Vlad King ignored the surprised stares and raised eyebrows. "As the syllabus says, you will be having Foundational Heroics tomorrow morning, and the day after it will be at the end of day, and repeat. I shouldn't have to say this, but please don't do anything stupid. This class will be much tougher from here on out, and I don't need one of you falling asleep in the middle of your teacher's lesson."

"What about our scores, sensei?" A lipless boy (Honenuki, if memory served) asked, "Most of us thought we would get to see how well we did."

Vlad King rolled his eyes. "The only reason you'd be shown your scores is to arbitrarily see how you did in comparison with your classmates, and that's unfair. All of you are different people, with different strengths and weaknesses, and different Quirks. I'll keep these scores, as well as those from other exercises you do throughout the year, but only to compare your growth against yourself. Understood?"

Honenuki, and most of the class for that matter, just nodded quietly.

"Good." Vlad King smirked. "Now, as I said you are dismissed, but I would be remiss to not mention the plethora of after school activities U.A. provides to its students. As Hero Course students, your options are somewhat limited in comparison to general education in terms of sports and clubs, but the gyms, library, cafeteria, and more are available to you as long as campus is open. I recommend you get familiar with them, at the very least."

With that, Vlad King turned and left the class to themselves. Most of them left as well, either alone or in their own little groups, but Izuku stayed put.

"Midoriya-kun!" Fukidashi called, "Let's go! Me and Bondo were gonna go get some fast food! You in?"

Izuku offered them a shaky smile. "Um, I-I'd love to," he started, "B-but I was actually gonna go and explore the campus like Vlad King-sensei suggested. P-plus, I don't really eat fast food. S-sorry."

"It's okay Midoriya-kun," Bondo said, "No worries."

Fukidashi slouched over dramatically. "Aww, man! You gotta be down for next time though, okay?"

Izuku hastily nodded. "Next time, for s-sure!"

"Alrighty then, see ya tomorrow!"

And with that, Izuku was alone.

Idly, he let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. It hurt to say no to Fukidashi and Bondo, but he'd been through this sort of thing before. He liked them, and truly did hope they wanted to be his friends, but he had to play it safe for now.

He wasn't going to let his guard down so easily anymore.

Besides, he truly did want to explore the campus. He was hoping he could find the library - it would be a great spot to start writing new entries in his notebook for his classmates!

Not that he'd ever show anyone.