Chapter 16: Hero 101
I exhaled deeply as I took a seat at one of the tables in the cafeteria. The morning of the second day had consisted of introductions to the subjects we'd be learning, with each class being crammed into a half period so that we could take various benchmark quizzes, much to the dismay of most of the class.
Being in the hero course, our curriculum was largely centered around daily combat and rescue training, as well as hero law, but other subjects were still distributed throughout the week, with general studies such as mathematics, history, English, and Japanese being thrice a week, and more cultural topics like literature and hero art being only once a week.
If the quizzes were any indication, then between Izuku's pre-existing knowledge, my adult comprehension, and the tutors All Might had provided over the previous year, I wasn't going to have any trouble with the general subjects. That was to say nothing of hero law, which Izuku had already memorized to a large extent by the time he had turned ten.
Modern art and literature on the other hand… Even in a different universe, I'm shit at liberal arts.
Digging into my food, I had to admit that Lunch Rush's cuisine was even better than Inko's cooking or that of any of the fancy restaurants I had been to with All Might since arriving in this world. Apparently, his quirk allowed him to near instantly heat organic material to a very precise temperature, allowing him to perfectly cook vast quantities of food at an astounding pace. That combined with his exceptional cooking skills meant that he truly was the ultimate chef.
People do tend to forget that a disaster doesn't end when the weather eases up or the villains are defeated. Infrastructure is often damaged or destroyed in the aftermath, and a hot meal can do wonders to ease the soul. Props to him for using his talents to help people instead of just opening another overpriced restaurant in Paris or New York.
"Hey, Deku!"
The happy voice drew me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see Uraraka waving at me as she approached with her own lunch tray.
"Hey, Uraraka. How's it going?" I greeted with a smile.
Taking a seat across from me, Uraraka grimaced slightly and made a 'so-so' gesture. "To be honest, I wasn't really expecting to take so many tests on what was pretty much our first day. I didn't do great on some of them."
"Yeah, I was expecting them to ease us into it with introductions and syllabuses, or if they did hit us with quizzes, that they would space them out with the normal schedule. Packing every class into a single day was an unpleasant surprise." I agreed.
"Please pardon my interruption, but are you still willing to assist me with my quirk, Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu asked as she walked up to the table.
"Of course! I made sure to streamline my ideas last night so that it wouldn't become another blob of random words." I replied with a chuckle.
Yaoyorozu smiled and took the chair beside me. As I pulled the notebook containing my ideas for Creation out of my backpack, I stifled a groan at the slight pout that marred Uraraka's features.
I should've sat next to Katsuki. At least he would have warded off all this high school bullshit. I deadpanned in realization. Oh my God. It's literally high school bullshit.
"I didn't mean to interrupt anything. Did you two want privacy, Deku?" Uraraka asked with forced cheerfulness.
I noticed Yaoyorozu wince out of the corner of my eye, and Uraraka must have as well as her expression quickly became panicked.
"I'm sorry! Did I say something I shouldn't have?" She asked alarmedly, her eyes darting between Yaoyorozu and myself.
I quickly raised my hands to try and calm her. "No, no, you're fine. Yaoyorozu just isn't used to people calling me Deku." I reassured.
Yaoyorozu smiled uncomfortably. "It's definitely going to take some getting used to, but I suppose it's fine as long as it really doesn't bother you, Midoriya. Though I still strongly disapprove of Bakugou calling you that." She added with a glare over her shoulder at Katsuki, the blonde in question aggressively attempting to dissuade Kirishima from sitting next to him.
"What's wrong with Bakugou calling you Deku? I thought it was just your nickname?" Uraraka asked bemusedly.
"Well, Katsuki was the one who originally gave me the nickname, but it was meant to be an insult. It's an alternate way of reading the kanji for my given name. It means 'worthless'." Seeing Uraraka's horrified expression, I quickly made to reassure her. "But don't worry! My friends call me Deku, too. I don't see it as an insult at all."
Uraraka sighed in relief and gave a shaky smile. "Oh, well that's good. I would've felt terrible if I was insulting you. I thought it was short for 'dekiru', you know, like 'you can do it'!" She finished, raising her fist in imaginary triumph.
"That's a good way of looking at it. Maybe I should start telling people that's what it means." I replied with a chuckle.
Uraraka beamed. "Yeah! It'd make a great hero name! Plus, I think it sounds kind of cute."
Silence swept over the table for a moment before Uraraka's eyes widened and she flushed an almost unnatural shade of red. Unable to contain my smirk, I raised an eyebrow in question while Yaoyorozu gave the petrified Uraraka a small, sympathetic smile.
Don't do it, Izuku. You want to be a hero. This would be cruel beyond all measure.
"Deku it is then! Who am I to argue when a pretty girl makes such a heartfelt suggestion?" I replied, my smirk growing as Uraraka squeaked and attempted to shrink inside of herself.
I'm a villain.
Yaoyorozu sighed in exasperation before fixing me with a disapproving look. Rolling my eyes concedingly, I turned my attention back to Uraraka, who was twiddling her fingers and pointedly looking anywhere else.
"I'm just teasing you, Uraraka, but thank you, really. That means a lot. I had actually been considering using Deku as my hero name, at least temporarily until I can think of something more permanent. Looking at it in that new light makes the decision easier." I reassured her with a smile.
Hesitantly meeting my gaze, Uraraka smiled shyly before breaking her chopsticks and acting as though her food was suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world.
Laughing good naturedly at her continued embarrassment, I decided to move on.
"So, Yaoyorozu, are you ready to talk about your quirk?" I asked innocently, as though the previous conversation had never happened.
Casting me another look of disapproval betrayed by the small twitch in the corner of her mouth, Yaoyorozu mouthed a quick 'You're terrible' before accepting my proffered notebook.
Shortly after we had begun brainstorming, Asui had taken a seat next to Uraraka, but aside from brief greetings, the two of them had mostly just sat in awed silence as Yaoyorozu and I had poured over every aspect of her quirk and how it could potentially be utilized. Yaoyorozu had already thought of some ideas such as higher density materials, but others such as creating liquids and gases were accepted with childish excitement I wouldn't have expected from the usually composed heiress.
Due to the complexity and oftentimes chemistry intensive nature of the discussion, the lunch period had proven woefully insufficient to go over every potential application of Yaoyorozu's quirk, so once we returned to class, I perched on her desk to continue our conversation. Yaoyorozu blinked in surprise but made no complaint, so ignoring Iida's outraged expression and Mineta's envious glare, I picked up where we had left off in the cafeteria.
"So your biggest constraint is going to be mental. While more durable materials like tungsten, iridium, and osmium don't exhaust more resources to create, they do require more concentration due to the complicated composition of the alloys that make them viable. If you are able to familiarize yourself with ultradense and lightweight elements, your creations will be far more adaptable and much stronger than basic steel." Humming in thought, I tapped my pen on the notebook in my lap. "Like I hypothesized, your quirk is immensely powerful, to the point of potentially rivaling Fate's Chronoshift, Starlight's Holy Light, or maybe even Star and Stripe's New Order." I began.
Yaoyorozu blushed furiously at being compared to China, the EU, and America's strongest heroes respectively, but I continued before she could attempt to argue.
"Unfortunately, mental processing speed is something that will only really increase with training and experience. That said, there are ways to mitigate your reliance on rote memorization. Do you have some kind of reference material you can use to find the chemical composition of something you don't know offhand?" I enquired.
I had almost forgotten. Time to address the fact that Momo uses a fucking bookshelf attached to her ass.
Yaoyorozu nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I have a pair of textbooks that contain a significant number of base formulas, as well as compositions for common items and a few more niche tools."
I deadpanned at Yaoyorozu until she began to fidget nervously under my gaze. "Wait, so you use an actual book to-"
"I am here, coming through the door like a hero!" All Might's voice boomed through the class.
Rolling my eyes at my mentor's taste for theatrics, I couldn't help but smile as I turned to face the front of the class.
The room immediately burst into a cacophony of noise as the majority of 1-A devolved into an awestruck mess. Glancing around the class, almost everyone was at a loss for words at seeing the number one hero for the first time. Even Katsuki was failing to contain his excitement. Only Todoroki appeared unimpressed, maintaining his usual bored expression.
Dramatically marching to the teacher's podium, All Might waited for a brief reprieve in the classes' excited mutterings before addressing us.
"Welcome to the most important class in the heroics course of UA High! Think of it as Heroing 101. Here you will learn the basics of being a pro, and what it means to fight in the name of good!" All Might explained.
Flexing into a pose, he continued. "Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!"
All Might procured a small card with the word 'Battle' stamped on it from within his costume before thrusting it forward. The class immediately descended into renewed chatter at the prospect of action to end what had to that point been a very tedious day.
Projecting his voice over the chaos, All Might pointed dramatically towards the far wall as cases began to emerge from within. "But one of the keys of being a hero is looking good! These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."
The commotion reached a new height, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of how Aizawa would respond to the noise if he were present.
"Get yourselves suited up, and then meet me behind the main building. We'll be taking a bus to Training Ground Beta!"
I was the last one to make my way out of the locker rooms attached to the entrance of the training ground. While the support items on Costume Alpha were relatively straightforward, I was careful to read the instructions provided by Melissa and the UA Support Company just in case they had added anything of their own initiative. As expected, the mid-gauntlets wouldn't be ready for several more weeks at minimum, but given that they were unlikely to be allowed in the Sports Festival as non essential gear, it wasn't much of an inconvenience.
Making my way down the corridor, I held up my right hand, studying the blue and gold trimmed white gauntlet. Despite everything that had happened since arriving in this world, I couldn't help the knot of anxiety that had formed in my stomach upon seeing Costume Alpha for the first time.
Everyone is going to think I'm a fucking tool. Izuku said he hadn't earned the right to take a name that ripped off from All Might, but me taking his color palette isn't much better. Even with All Might's blessing, I'm going to be getting some dirty looks for this. Maybe we should have done a more overt public display of our association sooner? Not going through recommendations was the right call, but I should have done something to make our relationship public knowledge. This is going to be so God damned awkward.
My rumination was cut off as I emerged into the sunlight. As if someone had cut the power, all discussion came to a halt as the entire class turned their eyes on me.
Pushing down the sudden nausea, I forced my smile to remain in place as I made my way through the parting crowd of students. Coming to a halt in the midst of my classmates, I struggled to suppress a tremble or any other sign of self doubt.
I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, but right as Uraraka took a step forward and opened her mouth to say something, All Might's booming laugh shattered the awkward silence and he made his way towards me.
Uraraka slunk back to where she had been standing and the other students backed away even further as All Might approached, leaving us alone inside the makeshift circle of aspiring heroes.
"Midoriya's fucked. That costume is pretty much just plagiarism." Mineta whispered from somewhere behind me, his hushed tone still clearly audible due to the silence around him.
"Nobody copies All Might's style. That's like defacing a temple or something." Kaminari agreed, too stunned to even attempt to lower his volume.
A familiar zipping sound followed by dual hisses of pain sounded from behind me, and my false smile became a bit more genuine.
Thanks, Jiro. I owe you one.
Coming to a halt in front of me, All Might placed his hands on his hips. "Young Izuku, I trust that the UA Support Company met the specifications you and I drew up with Melissa? Power stockpiling quirks like ours need to be carefully accounted for, or our clothes will blow right off from our own power!" He joked with another boisterous laugh.
I felt like I was going to cry as the rest of the class erupted into bedlam at All Might's use of my given name and the revelation that he not only approved of my costume, but actively participated in its design.
I love you so fucking much, Toshi.
"I'm glad you decided to take my suggestion and keep the cape!" All Might added with a knowing nod.
Laughing perhaps a touch forcefully due to my relief, I quickly retorted. "Of course I kept the cape! Capes make hero landings at least twenty percent cooler."
All Might's boisterous laughter echoed across the training ground once more before he ruffled my hair. "That they do, my boy. That they do."
As All Might turned around and made his way back to the front of the class, I took stock of those around me. Almost the entire class was staring at me, dumbfounded. Even Todoroki was gaping in surprise at the interaction. The only one that seemingly wasn't caught completely off guard was Katsuki, who merely stared at me with an unreadable expression.
All Might 'rescuing' me from that staged fall did make local news. Katsuki obviously hadn't seen it by the time I had my talk with him, but it makes sense that someone at Aldera would have shown him the video eventually. So he had to have known that All Might and I know one another. Still, this has to be surprising. Stoic silence is rarely a good sign from Bakugou.
Before I could give Katsuki any more thought, Uraraka ran up to me excitedly. "Deku, I love your costume! It looks super cool!"
I smiled at Uraraka's boundless enthusiasm before looking at her own costume.
Yeah. That's definitely um… Fitting.
Uraraka blushed under my gaze and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "I should've been more specific about what I wanted. This bodysuit is skin tight. Not really my style."
Noticing Mineta leering out of the corner of my vision, I cast him a withering glare. Surprisingly, he noticed, and whether out of fear for me personally or for my newly discovered association with All Might, he quickly averted his eyes and fled.
"Yeah, that's what I mean." Uraraka sighed morosely as she watched Mineta scamper away.
Turning back to her, I tried to assuage her concerns. "Ignore him. You could be wearing a giant trash bag and the perverts of the world would still creep on you. It's shitty, but it's a part of the job. As long as it's practical and you feel good in it, who cares what anyone else thinks." Uraraka gave me a thankful smile as I gestured to where Mineta had joined several of the other boys in very obviously ogling Yaoyorozu, who was doing her best to ignore them. "Besides, it could be worse."
Can't say I blame them for that one though. Momo's costume is Midnight tier.
Uraraka grimaced at the display, nodding her head in agreement.
As All Might began explaining what the day's exercise would entail, I took the time to observe my classmates' costumes. Mercifully, real life Todoroki had refrained from that terrible fake ice that covered his left side in season one, instead opting for his post season one utilitarian costume from the beginning.
Everyone else looked more or less like they had canonically at this point. I would have to talk to Yaoyorozu about her bookshelf, and I had a few ideas for Bakugou if he was ever willing to hear me out. Noticing Hagakure's gloves and shoes dancing side to side trying to keep warm, I also made a mental note to talk to her about an organic costume akin to Mirio's.
"Time's limited, and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!" All Might announced once he had finished his explanation of the exercise's parameters.
"Isn't there a better way?" Iida questioned.
"Heroes have to be able to cooperate in order to resolve incidents no matter the situation. A majority of hero work is spontaneous, so you won't always be able to choose who you team up with. It's best to get used to working with people you don't like or who have conflicting quirks now rather than in an actual emergency." I replied.
"Yes, I see. Life is a random series of events. Excuse my rudeness!" Iida apologized with a rigid bow to All Might.
Whipping around to face away from us, All Might thrust his fist into the air. "No sweat. Let's draw!"
As expected, I was paired with Uraraka, who immediately jumped in excitement. "Wow, what're the chances! We're a team!" She exclaimed giddily.
Patting the short girl on the head indulgently, I ignored her blush as I responded. "Yep. Kind of flies in the face of what I said to Iida about teaming up with strangers, but hey, I won't complain about being paired with a friend. Let's just try to avoid any more encounters with giant death robots, alright?" I joked.
Nodding her head in agreement, we both returned our focus to All Might as he drew the first teams to fight. Canon held true again, and Uraraka and I were drawn against Iida and Bakugou.
Once All Might dismissed the rest of the class to the monitoring room, I turned to meet Katsuki's glare with a neutral expression. Bakugou held it for a moment before sneering and stomping off in the direction of the target building.
I'm sure this is going to go just great.
Author's Note:
The next couple of chapters will hopefully shed some light on what Izuku's current relationship is with Bakugou. Guilt and regret clash with a crippling inferiority complex. Hurray!