For the first time this week, Izuku felt like he finally had a regular night again, which isn't saying much since it was already the final day of the first week. It was times like these where he was glad UA was one of the Japanese schools that switched to the five day week not too long ago. He had no idea if he could survive six consecutive days at UA like this with only one day off. Izuku hoped that today would also be equally as uneventful as last night, but that totally depended on how the student council meeting this afternoon was going to go.
The door to the classroom slid open, and Aizawa-sensei walked in with his usual 'I am solely awake because of caffeine and pure spite' posture. "Alright class, I know yesterday gave you a bit of a scare, but the surprises aren't over just yet."
'…Or the chances of today being uneventful could be ruined during homeroom. Great job, Izuku, you just had to jinx it.'
Aizawa-sensei either didn't notice or just didn't care about the tense mood that arose in class, and continued. "In about two weeks' time, UA will be holding its annual Sports Festival."
Everyone gave a sigh of relieve, and the mood was quickly replaced by joyful excitement. Aizawa-sensei was clearly not done speaking yet, given his fierce stare, and everyone stayed quiet. Izuku suspected that flashing Erasure in front of everyone was Aizawa-sensei's go-to method of silencing a classroom, but, with Starborn's…peculiar and dangerous reaction to being erased and his lack of control over which quirks are affected, Aizawa-sensei was deprived of that method here.
"Thank you for being rational for once. As I wanted to say, this Festival, despite being very close to the start of the year, will be one of the most important events during your schoolyear. There will be a lot of pro heroes watching for potential talented youngsters to extend internships to, either from the stands or from the live broadcast. These will be a valuable but limited resource for experience, as most pros only have the capacity to take on one student at a time. The second and third years will be competing on the same day as well, so if you want to be picked over them you'll have to give a good showing. We will use the Heroics lessons in the upcoming two weeks to help prepare you all. That's about it, I guess."
And with that, the rest of homeroom was a free session like usual while Aizawa-sensei seemed to catch up on sleep in his corner. Izuku hadn't thought about it much after Aizawa-sensei used his quirk on him, due to the whole burping incident and everything else, but he finally remembered it last night and went on one of his nightly information searching sprees. Finding out that his homeroom teacher was Eraserhead: arguably the best Underground hero there was in Japan, was quite exciting. He already had so many questions about his quirk, like why his hair stood up. 'Excess energy from Erasure? A secondary quirk that activated after a traumatic event?' Or how it could even erase a quirk. 'Does it actually inhibit the Plus Alpha gene? Or does it inhibit the signal coming through the nervous system from the brain?' But after the last four days, he decided that those questions probably wouldn't be welcomed by his homeroom teacher.
The next interesting thing that day happened during lunch, because apparently lunch was the time when things decided to happen to Izuku. The Izucrew -Yes, the others had stubbornly stuck with the name and though Izuku acted embarrassed whenever they said it out loud he did secretly adore the moniker- had been eating at their now regular table, and eventually got to the topic of the Sports Festival.
Chako-chan was the one who first brought it up, suddenly falling into an uncharacteristically intense mood. "Hey guys, you ready to crush this Festival?! Cause I'm ready to show those pros what I got!" She aggressively jabbed her fist into the air.
Kaminari-kun nervously looked around as the surrounding tables turned towards them. "Holy crap, Uraraka, I think we're all excited but tone down the murder face please. It's scaring me."
Kacchan, who had been silently eating his curry, decided to tease him. "Hah? Scared of a girl, Pichu?!"
He turned his attention to Chako-chan next. "Seriously though, Round-Face, didn't peg you for the murderously competitive vibe."
Chako-chan had already shown herself to be the only one besides Izuku himself that could talk back to Kacchan in a way that wouldn't set him off, and responded with a smirk. "Oh, is the mighty Kacchan scared this girl will steal his trademarked vibe?"
Before he could bite back at the unlicensed use of the nickname, she settled back down in her normal personality. "Seriously though, I'm actually really nervous for the Festival. I really need to do well here, I'm kinda counting on it since it's a big reason I'm going to UA."
Kaminari-kun responded next. "I mean, I'm pretty sure we all are, Uraraka, so I don't see the big deal. Like, I definitely don't want to go dunce mode and embarrass myself in front of the world on live TV." He flashed his thumbs and moved his hands back and forth for emphasis.
Mei-chan, who had forgotten to get or eat lunch for at least three days in a row already and so was now eating from a bento box Izuku had asked his mom to prepare this morning, was the next to respond with a shrug. "I'm just excited to finally show my super-cute babies to the world! I definitely have a lot of tweaking, testing, and training to do with them still, so I'm gonna ask for your assistance again really soon, 0-pointer-kun!"
While Izuku still wasn't very pumped about the prospect of another one of those all-nighters, he remembered their promises and trusted Mei-chan to not go about it as hectic as last time.
Chako-chan was the one to start the conversation up again and let her accent slip through, which she had apparently been hiding the past few days. "To tell ya guys the truth, I kinda feel like an impostor. I mean, you guys are all city folks with such heroics ambitions, and then here ah am, a dirt-poor country girl who's just in it for the big bucks."
Izuku scooted closer next to her and reassuringly rubbed her back. "I don't think it's a bad thing to have selfish motivations, Chako-chan. I can't speak for all of us here, but I know Kacchan wants to be a hero because he wants to show he's the strongest and to fight strong opponents, and if I boil it down to the basics I want to be a hero to be recognised and famous."
His hand left her back and she looked at him in surprise. "Honestly, I don't think heroes having selfish motivations is that bad. Selfishness is the whole reason the current pro hero system exists, anyway. There'd be too little heroes to fight against all the villains if they weren't promised any pay as a reward. As long as those selfish motivations don't start to interfere with your ability to be a hero, I think it's totally acceptable, expected even."
Chako-chan gave a soft smile. "Ya always know just what to say, huh, Midori-kun? I guess I can elaborate. Mah parents are dirt-poor, so ah want to earn enough to pay them back for their support."
Izuku mulled that over, an interesting thought popping up in his mind. "You know, Chako-chan, that already doesn't sound very selfish, but if you were truly only interested in making money to provide for your parents, then you could've picked from a wide array of jobs. I don't like to think about it, but most employers favour people with strong quirks, even if those quirks aren't applicable for the job. That, and the average salary of a pro hero is pretty mediocre; you probably only get to the big pay-outs if you're in the top 20."
He gestured to Kacchan again. "Not to repeat myself, but if Kacchan simply wanted to fight strong opponents he could've gone to an underground quirk fighting ring. And if I just wanted fame and recognition I could've become an actor. But neither of us did, since beyond our selfish motivations I know that we do want to save people. And I'm pretty sure you're the same in that regard, Chako-chan, and that's what counts in the end."
She beamed a smile that could rival Izuku's own, but it disappeared quickly when a tired, baritone voice spoke up, and Izuku could be forgiven for thinking that Aizawa-sensei had somehow manifested behind him to finally get his revenge on the burping incident. "You know, when I pictured the Hero course I was already expecting the feel-good shtick, but you somehow still exceeded my expectations."
Turning around, Izuku found himself facing a student with purple hair that looked like it had just survived a category seven tornado, and eyebags that rivalled Aizawa-sensei's. 'Maybe I wasn't so far off with my first guess.'
Izuku started getting lost in his thoughts again, but Chako-chan saved him by speaking up in his stead, back to masking her accent. "Uhm, excuse me, but did you have a reason to come up to us?"
The guy gave a half-hearted shrug. "Not really, I was just scoping out you Hero course students for the Sports Festival after the announcement this morning and couldn't help but listen in. Judging from how you five decided it was your job to be heroes in a hero school and boss around the others during the blackout I'm guessing you fancy yourselves the top of the Hero course, huh? I already knew you guys were happy to look down on us commoners, but it seems you lot can't help but divide yourselves up as well."
It's not often that Izuku got angry, but he definitely had to suppress a flash of anger at the insult towards his friends and put on a strained smile. "I don't know what makes you think they're like that, but I am certain that every single one of my classmates worked hard and proved themselves to be part of the Hero course!"
The guy, who Izuku guessed Kacchan was probably gonna call 'Eyebags', rolled his eyes. "Oh, you really are the stereotypical Golden Boy, huh? Hard work doesn't matter in the face of that biased Entrance Exam. I worked my ass off and in the end the effort wasn't even worth jack shit because of those robots, so get that naïve head of yours out of your own ass."
It seemed that that final comment triggered the hornet's nest, as Izuku felt palpable anger radiating from his friends.
Kacchan, predictably, was the first to speak up. "Oi, Eyebags-" 'Called it.' "-I don't know what kinda hot shit you think you are, walking up to us and antagonising my friend, but either show us you're not spewing fucking garbage or go back to the trashcan you came from!"
Chako-chan came up next. "What did Midori-kun even do to you to warrant this?!"
Kaminari-kun followed up straight after. "Dude, not cool. Everyone's watching us now."
Mei-chan was the last to respond in an indignant tone. "I'm not even in the hero course!"
'Eyebags' gave an unimpressed look and seemed to ignore all previous statements, instead focusing on the last one. "Oh right, you Hero students also get your very own Support lackeys, another benefit you can laud over us peasants. Well, I'll keep it short and simple for you guys: If one of us does well enough during the Sports Festival, the staff will consider transferring them into the Hero course, and the opposite is equally true."
The tired, indifferent look in his eyes was suddenly replaced by a dangerous glint as he stared down their table. "So consider this a declaration of war. Watch yourselves, Hero course, cause if you don't, I'll be taking away one of your spots right from under you."
Despite the previous comments Kacchan seemed to give a small grunt of respect for the confidence, but Izuku's mind had already latched onto something by that point and he couldn't stop himself from voicing his confusion right before 'Eyebags' could turn around and walk away.
"That doesn't make any sense though?"
'Eyebags' halted mid-turn and faced him again with an incredulous look lifted straight off of Aizawa-sensei's face.
"If I remember this correctly, there's no reason why the hero classes are capped at 20 students each beyond just for convenience's sake. It'd be especially weird for UA to transfer out a Hero student they already put time and effort into just to transfer in a prospective hero student, especially if the Hero students and the prospective student all did decently enough. Our class definitely has room for another row of desks in the back, so I don't see why you couldn't be student 21 in the future."
Izuku finished up his quick ramble with a bright smile. "If you're confident in yourself and you've worked hard for it then I'll look forward to seeing you in our class. And I hope I'll get to personally introduce you to everyone in 1-A when you do!"
'Eyebags' looked bewildered for a few seconds, but suddenly snapped out of it and promptly turned around, Izuku could see a hint of something in his eyes as he did. He spoke up one final time as he left, but it sounded less confident than his previous declaration. "The name's Shinsō, so you better remember it for when I walk through that door."
When Shinsō finally left their view and the other cafeteria-goers went back to their own lunch Kacchan started cackling. "Oh my fucking god, Zuku, you completely trashed that Troll Doll in front of everyone! Man, I knew you could be a sassy little shit but-" He broke down again in another fit.
Kacchan wasn't able to finish his sentence and Izuku looked at his friends in confusion. "Eh? Did I do something wrong, you guys?"
Izuku pouted at the weird looks they were giving. "I was just giving him some nice words of encouragement."
Chako-chan and Kaminari-kun's faces turned red from holding in laughter and in the background Kacchan's cackling devolved into a belly laugh, which attracted attention from nearby students again when it was suddenly interrupted as he choked on some of his curry, and Mei-chan proceeded to perform a -scarily efficient and nonchalant- Heimlich manoeuvre. 'How many times has she needed to do that to get so proficient at it?'
The strange encounter at lunch was quickly pushed to the back of his mind as the remaining classes went by, and eventually Izuku found himself walking with Yaomomo to classroom 1-J of the Management department, where principal Nezu had said the council meeting would take place through a curt but polite email. The walk was pretty long since, unlike the Support and Gen-Ed departments, the Management department was in the tower that wasn't adjacent to the Hero course one.
When they got out of the Hero course section and waved goodbye to their classmates Yaomomo spoke up. "Midoriya-kun, I was recently told something about the Sports Festival that I think you might find useful."
"Oh, well I'd love to know, of course." Izuku was just glad that the walk wasn't going to be filled with awkward silence since he had no idea what to talk about.
"Aizawa-sensei told me that the first year that scores the highest in the Hero course Entrance Exam is going to give the opening speech and student pledge as the first year representative."
Izuku pictured the crowds intently listening in on one student and shivered. "Oh wow, I feel sorry for whoever has to- WAIT, I'M THE ONE THAT PLACED FIRST!"
Several heads in the hallway turned at his sudden outburst and Izuku hunched in on himself while his head was doing the impression of a strawberry. "I-I mean, not to sound like I'm b-bragging, of course. Everyone who passed the exam d-did their best."
Yaomomo giggled and gave him a consolatory pat on the back. "I don't think there's any way you could make yourself sound like you're bragging, Midoriya-kun."
His head turned back to a normal shade, and he tried to find a way to steer the conversation away from that embarrassing outburst. "Wait a second, why'd Aizawa-sensei tell you about it and not me?"
Yaomomo adopted an amused look and answered. "He said it was going to be a logical ruse for you. Something about 'testing speech improvisation under significant pressure', and that it'd be on you anyway if you didn't realise that the first placer always does the opening speech during prior Festivals."
Apparently Izuku not being fully satisfied with that answer showed on his face, as Yaomomo continued. "Oh, I guess you didn't notice me get pulled aside by Aizawa-sensei at the end of the rescue exercise yesterday. Apparently his 'the reward of knowing my future logical ruses was a logical ruse' thing was in and of itself…a logical ruse."
"Eh, why?" 'Hold on, now I'm getting confused. How much does Aizawa-sensei love his logical ruses?'
"He said it was to avoid our classmates constantly crowding me for answers and ruining his teaching style."
'Ah, well, at least it was reasonable.' "Thanks for the heads-up, Yaomomo. Wait, so does that mean you got the most rescue points then?"
The proud look that showed up in her eyes already answered that question. "Yes, I just about beat out Jirō and Shōji. Your impromptu plan at the Mountain zone, as well as my help with that lone reporter at the end, was enough to get me first place. Oh also, you placed just below them at fourth place, for the same reasons I assume, so I think congratulations are in order."
"That's great, Yaomomo! I'm really happy for you…Just don't forget about me when Aizawa-sensei tries to screw me over with one of his ruses again ." He chuckled nervously.
She suddenly paused her walk, and Izuku looked around in confusion, only to spot the bright-red 1-J on the door he was about to walk past. "Oh, we're here already. Uhm, ladies first?"
She gave one final giggle before they headed in. "I see you were raised a gentleman, Midoriya-kun."
Upon entering, Izuku noticed that the 1-J classroom looked much like the 1-A classroom, except it was clear that the desks had been neatly rearranged for a meeting. The Management students seemed to have gone for a traditional U-shape, with the teacher's podium and desk standing at the open end. Several student Reps were already present and casually talking with one another.
Approaching the desks, Izuku noticed nameplates neatly placed on top of them. 'Eh, how'd they know all our names already?' He then noticed a small inked pawprint next to the names. 'Oh, I guess it was Nezu then.'
As he and Yaomomo made their way past each desk, looking for their names, they got glares from who seemed to be the 1-C Reps, but eventually found their places at one of the ends of the U and set down their bags before looking around the room more carefully.
Yaomomo apparently spotted someone across the room and walked over to them. Izuku quickly followed suit since he didn't recognise anyone besides Yaomomo, and they had a little while before the starting time Nezu had given them.
As they reached the other side of the room, Izuku noticed the person Yaomomo was walking to. At first he thought she noticed her because the girl in question looked like she had the same eye and hair colour as her, with her hair being much shorter and in a ponytail that split in two halfway down, both sides of which miraculously stayed up in the air. 'Is that her quirk, a vestigial effect, or just hair gel?' but he then noticed the tightly wrapped bandages poking out from under her sleeves and a few on her exposed legs, thanks to the female outfits' skirts. 'Oh, is she Yaomomo's support partner?'
"It's good to see that you're doing well enough to come to school toda,y Gendeki-san." Yaomomo greeted her, confirming Izuku's hunch.
The now named Gendeki turned around and greeted them with an eager smile. "Oh, hello hello, you must be Momo Yaoyorozu."
She extended her hand, which Yaomomo took for a polite shake. "It's nice to finally meet the girl I landed in the hospital for, no hard feelings by-the-by. I'm the 1-G class Rep, call me Warushi if you'd like. You practically bought permission with that 'pocket money' of yours."
She winked at Yaomomo and turned her gaze at Izuku while cocking her head to the side, the two floating ends of her split ponytail bopping slightly from the motion. "And if I remember right you're Midoriya, huh? I hope you got yourself a Support partner. Your quirk was a bit too much for me and my peers, and apparently one Hero course student didn't get any volunteers, despite them having a really good quirk."
Izuku put his hands in front of him after hearing her apologetic tone. "Ah, no, it's alright, someone really wanted me in the end. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out."
He cleared his throat. "Uhm, anyway, I guess it's not really necessary, but my name's Izuku Midoriya, class Rep of 1-A. I heard from Yaomomo that you got assaulted during spring break. Did you have a reason for wanting to be her Support partner?"
She blew a stray lock of her hair away from her eye. "Yaoyorozu wasn't my first choice. Ironically, I think it was gonna be one of the two that assaulted me. Pfft, serves them right. I'm really into chemistry so I wanted that Ashido girl, but someone else got to her first."
Gendeki held her hands up to the sides of her face, palms facing him. "You see, my quirk is called Extraction. It's practically a chemist's wet dream! I can separate components from any mixture: solid, liquid, gas, you name it, so long as I know the thing I want to isolate. All I have to do is touch it with one hand and the pure compound pops right out the other. Fluids even come packaged in a handy-dandy membrane to avoid spills, which I'm very happy for."
Izuku was already raring to get into a quirk ramble, but Yaomomo piped up. "Gendeki-san, I was wondering if you might know why the 1-C Reps have been glaring at us several times already. I don't think I've seen them before, so I'm not sure what we might've done to warrant it."
Gendeki paused and looked over their shoulders at the girl with chest-length, light-brown hair, and the guy with brown hair and a strong jawline, who both scoffed and looked away. "I'm not sure, but it's probably cause they're in Gen Ed. Unlike the other courses, a good portion of Gen Ed are there because they failed to get into the Hero course, so they might just have a chip on their shoulders."
Yaomomo didn't seem fully satisfied, but Gendeki moved on with the conversation. "Oh, I almost forgot." She turned to the guy with dark-blond hair slicked to the side next to her. "This guy's my Vice. Kikōgu, try and introduce yourself for once!"
In the meantime, if Izuku hadn't been facing towards the door while talking to Gendeki he wouldn't have faulted himself for missing someone else quietly entering. The guy was clutching a suitcase right up to his chest and was silently jittering all the way to the 1-F Rep desk, where he sat down in a hunched posture. 'Hey, that short, black, curly hair and the freckles kinda make him look like…oh!'
~"Y'know, now that I think about it, he actually kinda looked like you."~
Izuku got tired of all the introductions, so he left Yaomomo and Gendeki behind to approach his lookalike. He probably should've remembered what happened the last time he did this with Jirō as he tapped the lookalike's shoulder and spoke up. "Hey, I was wondering if you were Kacchan's-"
Several loose papers that had previously been in the suitcase went flying in the air as the poor guy practically jumped out of his chair.
"-Support…partner…Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for startling you. Are you alright?"
The lookalike panickily grabbed the papers out of the air and shakily turned around. "Oh, uhm, h-hel-hello, I- uh, m-my n-name is M-Mi-Mikumo A-Akatani. I-I'm the c-class 1-F R-Rep." 'How in the world did he end becoming Rep? I hope it wasn't his classmates pranking him or something.'
Izuku flashed a bright smile. "It's nice to meet you, Akatani-san. I'm Izuku Midoriya from 1-A."
"Sorry, I- uhm, d-d-didn't h-hear your q-question before."
"Oh yeah, I was asking if you are Kacc-Bakugō's Support partner." He quickly corrected himself for the use of Kacchan's nickname.
"Uhm, y-yeah, that's me."
"Oh wow, I saw Kacchan's modified costume. It was amazing! You must be really smart!" Akatani shrank in on himself, and Izuku realised he was probably getting a bit too overwhelming, so he calmed himself back down. "No, really, I'm a really big quirk nerd and I've been friends with Kacchan for most of my life, and I never even thought of his quirk having a safety trigger mechanism that could be replicated. And you did on your first go!"
Akatani hid his mouth behind his briefcase but Izuku could see the embarrassed blush. "I-I- uhm, th-thank you."
Akatani awkwardly went back to shuffling around the loose papers, and Izuku looked around the room again to see that almost everyone had made it except the 1-B Reps and-
"Hey, Akatani-san, where's your Vice-Rep? The desk next to you doesn't have a nameplate, so I was just wondering."
Akatani's eyes darted towards the empty desk and blanched. "Uhm, my c-classmates didn't r-really want to b-bother with this, so they j-just all pointed at m-me and l-left it at that."
Izuku pursed his lips from that revelation 'So my hunch was right, the homeroom teacher didn't even intervene?' "That's not very nice of them, Akatani-san. Are you sure you can handle this on your own? I might be able to ask one of my classmates to help you if you'd like that. They're very…passionate about this stuff, but they would be a great help."
His lookalike paused and looked at Izuku like he had grown a second head. "Th-There's n-no need, I-I'll be fine. My classmates p-probably think I c-can do it because principal Nezu w-wanted me as his-"
"OH MY GOD, WE'RE SO SORRY FOR BEING LATE!"
Akatani threw his papers in the air again as the door to the classroom slammed open and a girl with orange hair in a sideways ponytail ran in, accompanied by a chubbier guy with ice-blue hair, panting as they sat down at the 1-B desks.
The 1-C Rep huffed in disdain. "Typical Hero course, showing they're better than us by arriving last and holding everyone else up."
The ginger, who sat down at the 1-B Rep desk, ignored the comment and spoke up. "Once again, sorry for being late, guys. I'm normally always on time but there was an…incident between one of my classmates and one from 1-A in the hallway that I had to break up before coming here."
Izuku and Yaomomo made it back to their desks and sat down next to the late arrivals as the 1-C Rep- 'I wonder if Shinsō is in the same class as her with the matching attitudes' -commented again. "Oh, so you guys are infighting now too? And you're supposed to represent our school." She scoffed.
Izuku saw the ginger give an annoyed look, which quickly settled back to a more neutral face as she extended her arm. 'She somehow seems composed, probably used to handling jerks then.' "I guess we had some bad first impressions, so let's start over. My name is Itsuka Kendō, I'm the 1-B Rep, and this is Nirengeki Shōda, my Vice."
Before the 1-C Rep could reply and probably escalate things again, they got interrupted by the sound of a chair sliding back, and everyone looked towards the teacher's desk to see a teen with slicked back, dark-green, bordering on black, hair with a singular tuft sticking out the front stand up with a tablet in hand and adjust his glasses. "I'm glad to see everyone has made it. I hope you don't mind, but me and the other Management Reps thought it'd be more fair to implement a rotation for which class is in charge for each meeting."
Izuku looked around to see everyone nodding, or shrugging apathetically in a few cases. Judging from the nameplates, the Reps and Vice-Reps were sitting in a specific order. Starting at Izuku and Yaomomo's end there were four desks for the two hero classes, followed by six desks for Gen Ed, and six for Support, with four more desks on the opposite end of the U for Management, with the Reps of 1-J, the classroom they were in, standing at the teacher's desk instead.
Deciding that it probably wasn't a great idea to let his attention wander much longer, he tuned back in to the 1-J Rep just in time for his introduction. "Now, with that out of the way, my name is Miko Sukaiwa, the representative of Management class 1-J. For transparency's sake, I think it's necessary to inform you of my quirk before we start. My quirk is called Spoiler Alert. It's a mixture of a predictive analysis and minor mindreading ability, which allows me to know exactly what anyone is going to say if I hear the start of a sentence, even if they're eventually interrupted from completing it. I can't turn it off, but you have my word that if you were accidentally going to slip sensitive information, it won't be revealed by me." 'Oh wow, that's a really cool quirk.'
"I don't want to delay this meeting much longer though, so let's begin. Is there anything that needs to be discussed first?"
Kendō immediately raised her hand, and spoke up after Sukaiwa gave a nod. "Well, I know we're all thinking about the upcoming Sports Festival in two weeks' time."
Izuku could practically feel the 1-C Rep rolling her eyes. "Yeah, right, maybe you and your 1-A buddies are, but the rest of us aren't really looking forward to a mandatory event that only caters to the Hero course. I personally never tried out for it, but I know several people here in Gen Ed who were wronged by that biased Entrance Exam, and aren't looking forward to having to spectate those that succeeded while they know they don't have a chance of ever getting in."
Kendō turned her head and probably glared at her. "Excuse me, I don't know why you feel the need to antagonise us when we haven't even done anything to warrant-"
As Kendō went on to berate the 1-C Rep, Izuku frowned as he mentally pulled out one of his 'interesting but probably not useful' facts much earlier than he had expected, and intervened before the meeting could devolve into a shouting match, abruptly standing up from his chair. "Wait, hold on! Isn't it UA protocol that any student who performs well during the Sports Festival is allowed to transfer into the Hero course?"
Izuku squirmed a bit as the 1-C Rep's glare switched to him, and he slowly sat back down. "So Shinsō wasn't just talking outta his ass, huh? Doesn't matter though, it just sounds like it's put in there to appease the Gen Ed students that want to get in the Hero course. I don't even remember a Gen Ed student ever making it to the third round anyway." Her Vice gave a grunt of agreement.
Despite the rebuttal, Izuku wasn't ready to let it go just yet, and argued back. "W-Well, yeah, the Entrance Exam is pretty biased, and some people with great quirks fall through because of the robots. But I think the main reason Gen Ed students don't get far enough in the Sports Festival is because they don't get any help or advantages. Hero students get supervised quirk and combat training and free access to training grounds, while Support students are allowed to use their own inventions."
Yaomomo whispered into his ear. "You aren't really helping your case right now, Midoriya-kun. Did you have a solution in mind when you stood up?"
He gulped but continued. "A-Anyway, what I think needs to happen is for the four departments to work together to give the Gen Ed students as many advantages as possible to make it more fair."
The 1-C Rep retorted again. "I guess I'll introduce myself before arguing further with you, 1-A Rep." 'Oh, oops, I forgot to introduce myself after my outburst.' "The name's Miya Rukangaku, and I was chosen by my classmates because I promised them that I wouldn't let the other departments, and especially not the Hero course, overshadow us like in previous years. So excuse me if I'm not jumping on the opportunity to accept the help of other departments."
Kendō spoke up in Izuku's stead. "Well, it's just like you said earlier, there haven't really been any Gen Ed students in the final round of the Sports Festival, so if nothing changes, then this year isn't going to be any different for your class, which doesn't sound that great on your part. Does it really matter where you get the assistance from if it helps you out in the end?"
Rukangaku leaned back in her chair but didn't say anything, so Izuku took that as a sign to speak up again. "S-so anyway, my name's Izuku Midoriya, sorry for the outburst at the start. Uhm, what I was thinking is that there are probably a few Gen Ed students that would want to use the Sports Festival to transfer into the Hero course, and I think the other three departments should work together to give those students as high of a chance to transfer in. F-For example, the Hero students could help them catch up on quirk and combat training in the next two weeks and-"
Before he could continue, he got interrupted by Rukangaku again. "Nope, not gonna happen. Look, I personally don't really care if others know about my quirk, I can tell exactly where any person or camera is observing me from if I don't notice them visually, but I know some of my classmates want to keep their quirk secret for an advantage during the Festival. I don't see why I, or they, should trust Hero students to not use that information to curb stomp them instead. Some of you Hero students might be too naïve to think it, but I'm convinced some of your classmates would give it a try." Izuku gulped as he thought about Kacchan 'Well, I guess she has a point there.'
The 1-D Rep, who also had light-brown hair that instead reached her shoulder and seemed like she had been absently staring into space with her red dots floating inside void-like eyes since the start, suddenly spoke up in a sophisticated voice. "I, Kaesu Sugukuri, also from Gen Ed, currently find myself on the fence regarding Midoriya-san's proposal. I share my reservations with Rukangaku-san, as my quirk, Deja Vu, has a notable weakness that could be exploited if it were public knowledge. I will acknowledge, however, that aid could be crucial for a higher chance of success in general, and would feel like this could be a wasted chance if it were not chosen."
Apparently the remaining Gen Ed Rep, a more childish looking girl with brown hair put up in two bushy pigtails and a large red bow adorning top, decided to speak up as well. "C'mon you guys, stop being the fun police! The name's Mocha Shūseno from 1-E, but everyone calls me Mocha, and I think it'd be really fun to change things up for once! I think my quirk is pretty cute, I can move ten separate objects towards and away from me like supercool, big Yoyo's"
She proceeded to pout. "But those robot meanies were way heavier than people, so my quirk couldn't do anything to them. I'd love to get some help and see how far I can get during the Festival!"
The 1-K Rep, a guy who had his dark-blond hair in an…impressively large hairdo, who had been in a pensive pose for the past few minutes, opened his eyes. "I think letting Midoriya finish explaining his idea first before debating it would be the best course of action."
One of the remaining Reps that hadn't spoken up yet, a girl with chin-length, greyish-purple hair, and two small, lighter coloured cowlicks sticking out at the front- 'Wait, is that the student I almost hit with my iron soles in the 1-H Studio two days ago? Does she recognise me? Does she hate me now?' -decided to speak up as well. "It has been approximately 68.349 seconds since Midoriya was interrupted again, and I'd like to hear him out as well, if that isn't too much of a hassle."
Sukaiwa nodded from behind the teacher's desk, and motioned for Izuku to continue. "Uhm, alright. So, what I was thinking is that the other departments can help out the Gen Ed students that are trying to transfer into the Hero course. The Hero students could help catch them up on combat and quirk training. I also know that not every Support student is fit enough to compete and show their inventions on their own, so they could at least supply the Gen Ed students with non-combative quirks with their inventions for publicity. And lastly, the Management students could help market the Gen Ed students on social media for further exposure. With all the pro heroes in the actual stadium, as well as the live broadcast, the Hero students don't need that extra coverage."
Sukaiwa had busily been typing on his tablet behind the teacher's desk since Izuku first started talking, and readjusted his glasses. "Alright then, now, are there any objections?"
Perhaps predictably at this point, Rukangaku put up her hand. "Like I said before, I still don't trust the Hero students with assisting in quirk training while not making use of the information themselves."
Izuku fumbled a bit, but as his gaze fell on Akatani, who had been looking down at his desk for most of the meeting, he got a solution. "Y-Yeah, I do agree with you on that risk, which is why I think you could go to an independent party for possible quirk analysis and individual training suggestions instead, like Akatani-san, for example?"
Said teen jerked up and gave Izuku a panicked look. "W-W-W-What, me?!"
Despite the distraught reaction, Izuku kept talking. "He's the Support partner assigned to my childhood friend, and I can assure you that he's really good at analysing quirk based on what I saw."
Everyone's gaze fell on Akatani, who squirmed under the attention but still managed to squeeze out some words. "I-I mean, if they s-send me some c-c-clips of th-their quirks, I c-c-could try m-my best?"
At that, Rukangaku seemed to give a begrudging grunt of acknowledgement and leaned back in her chair, the debate firmly closed from her side.
The next one with an objection turned out to be the one Rep that hadn't spoken at all yet. The guy from 1-I, who straight-up looked like a gender bent Jirō with swirly cheek marks, surprised everyone when he started talking fast enough to put Izuku's quirk rambles to shame, while somehow being fully understandable all the way through. "There's one hole that needs to be ironed out before this plan is solid. I've given the guidelines an in-depth look as well, and according to the Sports Festival rules, other students are only allowed to use support equipment, licensed or from the Support Course, if the principal signs off on it beforehand. While principal Nezu has sent all of us an email to organise this first meeting, I've heard from our senpais that it's notoriously difficult to reach out to him, something about a 'maze from hell' and answering 'these riddles three'…I didn't quite understand that part." 'Holy whoa, I can totally see why he kept quiet for the entire meeting, I feel worn-out from listening to him already.'
Then, to everyone's surprise, Akatani raised a trembling hand. "I-I think I c-could help with th-that as w-well."
He started fiddling with his thumbs when the others looked towards him again. "Uhm, before the s-start of the y-year, principal Nezu asked me to b-be his personal s-student. I have s-several private lessons w-with him every week outside of r-regular lessons."
Gendeki leaned over the empty chair between them and gave Akatani's shoulder a playful shove. "Hey, how come you never told me before?! That's awesome, Mikumo! Midoriya must be right then. You have to have a pretty impressive brain in there to impress Nezu of all people."
Akatani pressed his suitcase up to his face again, probably hiding a blush. "Th-Thank you, Warushi-chan."
Sukaiwa spoke up. "Well then, that seems to take care of everything for now. Does everyone here agree to implementing Midoriya's plan during the upcoming two weeks?"
Izuku felt vindicated as every hand in the room rose up, including Rukangaku's, albeit more reluctantly than the others. Shūseno whooped and made one final comment. "This is gonna be really fun you guys, I can feel it in my fingerbones!"
Sukaiwa wrote some things down on his tablet and looked back up. "Now, on to the next thing, according to UA's guidelines we are permitted to plan one excursion per department every term, so-"
With that, the meeting went on in a much less nerve-inducing way, and they quickly found themselves wrapping it up. As everyone started leaving, Izuku walked up to Akatani, who had just finished packing his suitcase. "Holy whoa, Akatani-san. I guess that's what you wanted to tell me before the meeting started, right? Kacchan was right when he called you 'a giant quirk nerd' then. I was wondering though, since most of the others mentioned theirs, I'd love to know what your quir-"
"HAHAHA, I AM HERE…FOR A SURPRISE VISIT!" Izuku didn't get to finish his question, as Akatani completely shrivelled up at the voice. 'Wait, that voice is-!'
Izuku turned away from Akatani, who had turned back to his desk, and couldn't believe his eyes when All Might himself was proudly standing in the doorway, scanning the remaining students, who had all turned to look at him. Izuku barely missed it, but he thought he saw something flash through All Might's eyes as his gaze fell on Akatani, which disappeared as quickly as it came when his fierce blue eyes focused on Izuku of all people instead.
"AH, MIDORIYA-SHŌNEN, AIZAWA-KUN TOLD ME YOU'D BE HERE! I WAS HOPING TO HAVE A PRIVATE CONVERSATION WITH YOU BEFORE YOU GO HOME, IF THAT'S ALRIGHT WITH YOU."
Nobody could turn down an invitation to a private conversation with All Might himself, of course, so Izuku followed him away from Akatani and the other remaining students until they entered a cosy-looking lounge room.
Izuku eagerly sat down on one of the couches as All Might carefully sat down at the other, the couch in question creaking under all the pounds of pure muscle.
After an awkward impromptu staring contest All Might began talking. "RIGHT, YOU'RE PROBABLY WONDERING WHY I ASKED TO TALK WITH YOU…ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU HAVEN'T BLINKED YET SINCE WE SAT DOWN."
Upon hearing that observation, Izuku blinked, and winced at the dry eyes. "Sorry, All Might, I just honestly can't believe that you're actually here at UA. I know I saw you on the acceptance video, and my classmates told me you brought me to the nurse's office on the first day, but I was starting to think it was just a big prank and you weren't actually teaching here."
All Might- 'Holy crap it's really All Might' -awkwardly scratched the back of his head as Izuku's mind screeched into the void. "WELL, THAT IS ENTIRELY MY FAULT, MIDORIYA-SHŌNEN. I DID NOT EXACTLY…PROPERLY PREPARE MYSELF FOR THE JOB, AND I AM CURRENTLY ATTENDING A TEACHING CRASH COURSE DESIGNED BY NEZU, BUT I SHOULD BE READY TO GET IN FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM ONCE THE SPORTS FESTIVAL HAS COME AND GONE. THOUGH I HAVE ASKED AIZAWA-KUN TO OBSERVE SEVERAL LESSONS TO GET MYSELF ACQUAINTED WITH YOU STUDENTS IN THE MEANTIME."
Izuku got confused. "Eh? But I haven't seen you in either of the two Heroics lessons we've had so far."
The myth himself tilted his head back and laughed his trademarked laugh. "YOU DEFINITELY WOULDN'T HAVE RECOGNISED ME, BUT THAT REMINDS ME. I DO HAVE SOMETHING I NEED TO SHOW YOU BEFORE I CONTINUE OUR TALK."
All Might's signature smile faded a bit as the mood got more serious. "PROMISE ME YOU WON'T SCREAM…TOO LOUDLY."
"Why would I do that, All Mi-" Izuku was saying as the room was suddenly filled with white smoke. He coughed and waved away some of the smoke, hoping there weren't any fire alarms in the lounge, until it eventually dispersed and he noticed the scrawny, blond-haired skeleton on the other cou- "AAAAAAHH! The stray reporter?! How…What?! Do you have a transformation quirk?! Is that how you were able to stay on campus this entire time?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ALL MIGHT, YOU IMPOSTOR?!"
The scrawny skeleton, Yagi, if that badge was right, placatingly waved his arms around. "Hold on, Midoriya-shōnen! It's really me, All Might! That reporter act was just the way Aizawa decided I would observe that lesson. He said it would be a-"
"Logical ruse." Izuku finished in a disbelieving tone, but was internally despairing. 'Holy crap, how much does Aizawa-sensei love ruses?! Yaomomo, please save me in the future!'
Izuku calmed back down, but several questions were already floating around his brain. "I- I still don't really understand. Why do you look like that, All Might? A-And were those injuries yesterday real?"
The man's electric blue eyes focused on him intently. "Please call me Yagi when I'm like this, my boy. As for your questions, they're both related to what I wanted to talk to you about. Most of my injuries yesterday were faked except…"
All Mi- Yagi's voice trailed off as he lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing a grotesque web of scarring on his left side.
Before Izuku could break out of his shock, All Mi- Yagi continued. "Pretty gross, huh? I got this injury about six years ago. Right now I can only be in my hero form for about three hours a day because of it, but it was worth it in the end. I do hope you understand that you should keep whatever we talk about in this room secret." Izuku bobbed his head up and down alarmingly quickly for someone who had a regular neck.
"Before I tell you more, I have to confirm one thing with you. You were kidnapped six years ago, right?"
Izuku's mind stuttered at the sudden question. "I- uh, y-yes? How'd you know that?"
All Mi- Yagi- 'Screw it, now's not the time!' All Might's face turned solemn. "Because I was involved in that case, my boy, though not directly. It's where I got this injury from."
Izuku was still speechless as the man continued. "I didn't even know I was involved in it until I saw your final attack during the Entrance Exam. It reminded me of back then, and I asked my friend in the police force to look into it. Once he confirmed my suspicions I decided I wanted to talk to you, as I think I owe you an explanation for what happened to you that night, especially since you inadvertently were instrumental towards my victory against my nemesis!" All Might bumped his own chest for extra effect.
Izuku blanched. "Your nemesis? But you've never had one! Nobody's strong enough to rival you!"
All Might chuckled. "If you haven't heard from him, that means everything was kept under wraps as intended. But do not fret, I finally managed to defeat him back then, though not without gaining this injury from him first."
"W-wait, but you shouldn't be thanking me then! It's my fault you got injured!"
All Might gave an amused but fond look. "There's nothing to apologise for, my boy, if I had to choose between ending that monster of a villain and being completely healthy again I'd choose the former every single time."
All Might walked to the coffee machine and dispensed some hot chocolate, before sitting back down at the table. "Have some hot cocoa my boy, this is gonna be quite the story."
Izuku grabbed and blew at the steaming cocoa, settling down as All Might spoke up, not wanting to break it to him that he really couldn't drink the beverage without puking it back up immediately. "It was about six years ago that I was chasing down an important lead in the warehouse district of Miyazaki…"
Toshinori Yagi, number one hero and symbol of peace: All Might, was tense as he covertly navigated the abandoned Miyazaki warehouse district. Well, as covertly as a wall of muscle could anyway, but he didn't pay as much attention as he probably should've, as he was deep in thought. 'I am grateful for O'Clock's detective work and bravery. Without his constant attempts at taking Overclock we never could've gotten this far. Without it we could've never narrowed it down to this district. Now all that stands between me and my final fight against All For One is a few empty warehouses. Your greed will be your downfall, All For One!'
He clenched his fists. 'I promise that tonight I will finish what you started, Nana. I will bring justice to the monster that murdered you and our predecessors amongst countless others!'
Toshinori was startled out of his internal monologue when an explosion of extreme light and heat erupted from one of the district's central warehouses, but he wasn't fully paying attention anymore at that point as-
~"All Might, I'm counting on you."~
~"SENSEI!!!"~
~"Thank you for such wonderful comedy."~
He forced himself back into reality and leapt directly towards the dimming light, landing on the remains of a warehouse floor at the centre of a giant crater. "I SEE YOU'RE STILL USING THE SAME TRICKS, ALL FOR ONE! HAVE YOU GOTTEN STALE WITH OLD AGE?!"
Toshinori expected a surprise attack or a clever retort, but was instead faced with the most surprising scene in his entire hero career so far. Somewhere to his left, on another circular-shaped area of the remaining warehouse floor, a bald, stubby old man in a lab coat was lying unconscious on the ground. Somewhere further away, he could hear another person running away behind the rubble with quick footsteps, but he ignored both of them as the ageless monster himself stood in front of him, clutching his wrist in pain.
Years of brutal training by Gran Torino should've taught Toshinori to take advantage of any weakness, but he was just taken too off-kilter by the scene. All For One quickly composed himself when he heard the loud voice, and in the corner of his eye Toshinori could see the stubby old man's unconscious body sinking through a purple fog and disappearing.
"All Might, such annoying timing; how typical of you. You know, normally I would've had my associate teleport me away so I can face you in a more suitable situation. But since a brat just put me in a terrible mood, I think killing you and ending my little brother's pesky line of mindless fools right here, right now, will be just what I need to make myself feel better."
Toshinori sensed that he would probably only be able to retort one more time before the most important fight of his life would begin. "YOU WILL REGRET DECIDING TO FIGHT ME TONIGHT, ALL FOR ONE! AS YOU SAID: THIS WILL END RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
A sinister chuckle came from the Symbol of Evil. "Your comebacks have improved since I murdered that pathetic woman you call your sensei. She was such a blemish on a moniker I use myself, as well as on my brother's quirk and legacy. I suppose I will just have to beat those comebacks right out of you."
And with that, the two giants clashed their fists for the first time of many that night as a small, scared child ran away from ground zero, eventually getting found and picked up by the local police force, not getting to know the truth behind his kidnapping until many years later.