Mr Yagi

by SassySovereign

It just didn't make sense for All Might to become a teacher at U.A. But perhaps it would work alright for Toshinori Yagi, a secretary-manager with years worth of experience of working at a hero agency who can teach the kids how to navigate working at an agency as a Pro. Hopefully no one at U.A. figures out that he and All Might are one and the same.

9. Chapter 9: Murphy's Law

Chapter Summary: "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming."br /

– Paulo Coelho

A lot of things went wrong.

First, Izuku lost track of time while he was working on the beach and wound up scaring his mother half to death when she couldn't find him. As a result, he had to lay witness to his idol and mentor getting yelled at by his mother in her bunny pajama set while All Might was backed against a wall with his hands up like a kid who got caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Even though All Might had been able to take it in stride, Izuku still rode that wave of mortification for hours to come. Second, when All Might was kind enough to offer them a ride back to their apartment, Izuku and his mother very awkwardly sat in the backseat together as the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace drove them back to the apartment. The sight of All Might's hair pressing flat against the ceiling of his car while he sat hunched over in his driver's seat was an image that left him in a daze as he stepped out of the car with his mother. With a beaming farewell, All Might drove off and Izuku could only wave him goodbye with a blank look on his face.

"That was weird, right?" his mother said as soon as All Might was out of sight.

Izuku nodded. "It was."

"Alright," she affirmed, "I was just checking."

Third, Izuku had to eat a cold breakfast. Were he and his mother not so focused on trying to get ready, he probably would have been stunned to tears over the fact that she made him a nice breakfast for his big day, but instead, both of them scarfed their food down in record time before Izuku had to hop into the shower to wash off the sweat and sand that covered his body. Even after he shook all the sand out of his boots and changed into new socks, he was certain he could feel the remnants of grit between his toes with every step he took.

Fourth, Izuku just narrowly made it in time to U.A. and nearly tripped on his way in. A nice girl with brown hair managed to stop him with her Quirk, though, so it wasn't exactly the worst thing to happen that day. However, hours later, it finally hit him that the fifth mishap of the day was that he hadn't said a single word to her during their interaction at all. To make matters worse, he made an idiot out of himself in front of Kacchan on the way inside, so that became mishap #6.

Then, for mishap #7, as Izuku was getting ready for his written exam, his thoughts found their way out of his mouth and into the ears of his peers without meaning to, gaining the ire of a fellow test-goer. Izuku's ears still burned at the thought of the nearly six-foot student staring him down and scolding him in front of everyone, including Kacchan and that nice girl he ran into. He would later have the misfortune of getting scolded again by that same student before the physical test began, which became the preamble to mishap #8, where he fumbled on his start into the exam.

Despite that, however, Izuku was not going to allow himself to be deterred. He had spent far too long training with All Might and working alongside his mother to allow all of his efforts to go to waste, especially during a day as pivotal as the exam. Months ago, he likely wouldn't have stood a chance up against the arsenal of robots that U.A. had sent his way were it not for the support of his mentor and mother throughout the changing seasons. So, with tired feet that couldn't rid themselves of the gritty sand between their toes and aching shoulders that had no business hauling heavy items so early in the morning, Izuku pushed ahead.

He'd be lying if he said that he kept track of how many robots he took down during his run. Driven by pure adrenaline and caffeine, the foes all began to blur into one another with every single flick and punch he sent their way. Besides, even if he were trying to keep track of all the points that he had accumulated, he was certain that he would have lost count the second that he came across the behemoth that left its shadow across the makeshift cityscape. Even the skyscrapers were no match for the pure destructive qualities of those mechanical beasts, their mere movements to advance forward tearing the streets and buildings asunder. Perhaps that had been why, despite his insomnia-driven fearlessness, Izuku found himself turning tail to run from the robots alongside the rest of his fellow examinees.

'I just need to focus on the ones with points,' he remembered telling himself, 'it's not worth it to go up against that thing.'

Then, his feet came to a still when he heard a voice cry out in pain. He whipped around and his heaving, sweaty body felt as though it turned into ice upon seeing a familiar head of brown hair. Trapped beneath debris, his heart leaped into his throat when he recognized the sweet face of the girl who had saved him from face-planting just moments before coming into his dream school. His mind screamed at him to run, to turn back around and run, that U.A. wouldn't let a student die for the sake of an exam- but those shouts were drowned out by the pounding of his feet across the pavement.

When his fist first made contact with the Executor, his lips had spread into the most incredulous smile as the metal crumpled beneath his knuckles. That had approximately lasted for a total of five seconds as his eyes trailed down to his fist and, with a shuddering gasp, found his sleeves destroyed. He didn't even have the grace of mourning the loss of one of his favorite track suits when he registered just much pain he was in. That was what led him to realize that he had come just shy of rounding out his long morning of mistakes and misfortune with his ninth mishap of the day: Breaking a majority of his bones and nearly dying in front of everyone.

Then, as his limp body drew closer and closer to the debris-covered cityscape below, a harsh slap across the face snapped him out of his teary prayers for survival. His momentum slowed to a still and he peered out with blurry vision to see that same girl, floating in the air just a couple yards from him. She shakingly brought her hands together and uttered a word that he couldn't quite hear. Gravity quickly took hold and the both of them fell to the ground, his savior falling into a slumped pile on top of the Executor's now-severed artillery. Izuku willed his upper body up from the gravel with his good arm and sucked in a gulping breath in an attempt to stifle the pain. He wanted to find something, anything to say to thank his guardian angel for saving him, and opened his mouth:

"I really scrambled my egg, didn't I?" he blurted out instead.

Instead of responding, his savior ducked her head down and retched into her hands. Overtaken by equal parts of immense pain and incredible shame, Izuku fell facedown onto the pavement.

All in all, it wasn't exactly how he wanted his day to go.

So, one could only imagine how he felt while he sat in his living room a week later, trying not to let his thoughts get the better of him as he squeezed a grip strengthener absentmindedly. His mother flitted to and fro around the house to keep busy while he sat still on the couch and stared at the wall for an indiscernible amount of time. She was naturally very concerned when she found out he got hurt after the exam and burst into tears when she saw his arms wrapped up in bandages when he came home that afternoon, and ever since then, she had been worried and fretful. He assumed that she was trying to bide her time by being productive, which only made him feel even more useless. He could hardly focus on anything without his mind circling back to the exam and the inevitable rejection that would come as soon as his letter came.

'I wonder how All Might is handling it,' Izuku mused, 'I haven't seen him since that morning…'

He couldn't imagine that All Might was pleased with his performance. After all that time and work, he just had to go and mess it up on the day of the test, didn't he? It was just his luck for things to go wrong like that. Although All Might had sent him texts of reassurances and told him when they'd be free to meet up again, Izuku found it hard to respond to his messages. How was he supposed to face him after he failed both of them?

'But I couldn't just leave that girl there…' Izuku thought. With a sigh, he set down his grip strengthener and picked up one of his weights to start lifting. 'What good would passing have done if I had just left her?'

The image of the girl's pained expression as she struggled to escape the debris was enough to cause a weight to settle at the pit of Izuku's stomach when it came to the forefront of his mind. It would have been so easy for him to turn and run in a last ditch effort to gain some points, but his heart got the better of him in the end, so he threw all caution to the wind and ran towards her before he realized it. He couldn't bear to see someone in pain like that and not do something about it, not when he finally could fight back with the power All Might gave him. He knew more than anyone just how scary it was to be rendered helpless and unable to do anything but pray for someone to come save him; were it not for All Might, he could have been killed by the sludge villain, never to be seen or heard from again.

Kacchan's wide, terrified eyes flashed across his mind, causing him to nearly drop his weight. Izuku closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. What good was his power if he couldn't control it? He saved that girl just like All Might saved Kacchan, but it wound up breaking everything inside of him in the process. How was he supposed to measure up to his mentor if he couldn't throw a punch without hurting himself?

"Sweetie?" his mother said softly, breaking him out of his thoughts. Izuku turned to see her standing nearby with a duster in hand. "Are you feeling alright?"

Izuku almost put on a smile. However, as he tried to, his eyes fell downcast and he frowned instead. "Not really, no."

"Oh, honey," she replied. His mother set the duster down on the coffee table and took a seat beside him on the couch. "I know you feel pretty disappointed right now… You worked so hard these past few months to train for the exam and it didn't go how you planned."

He managed a snort. "Yeah… I wound up going way over what I could handle." Izuku plopped back against the couch. "I let the egg explode."

"You just turned the wattage up a bit higher than you meant to," she told him, which nearly made him smile. He liked that he didn't have to explain his metaphors or thought process to her; she just understood. "But just because you made a mess doesn't mean you can't clean it up and start over."

"I made a pretty big mess," Izuku responded. He leaned back and closed his eyes. "I wound up with egg all over my face."

It was his mother's turn to snort. "Well, for what it's worth, I still think you're pretty cool. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did and I'm very proud of you for seeing it through, even if it didn't go the way you wanted it to." She tapped him on the nose, causing him to open his eyes and look at her. "And I bet All Might is proud of you, too, sweetie."

Izuku smiled weakly. "You think so?"

"I know so," Inko replied, nudging him playfully. Then, her eyes softened. "I know that it's probably embarrassing to hear from your mom, but I am really, really proud of you Izuku. You're doing something amazing and…" She sniffled. "I'm really happy for you."

Izuku blinked. "Mom…"

"Sorry," she said, bringing her hand to her eyes as they welled up, "I didn't mean to get emotional… But I still mean it, sweetie. I am proud of what you're doing." She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a warbling smile. "It feels like just yesterday that you were running around the house in your little All Might onesie."

"Mom!" Izuku protested, his cheeks burning.

"Oh, relax , it's not like I'm gonna go and tell All Might about that!" she exclaimed with a laugh. Her smile faltered a bit. "But, I am proud of you, Izuku. I wish I made that more clear sometimes."

As he tried to ignore the sting in his eyes, Izuku smiled back at her. "I already know you are."

Her bottom lip warbled and before Izuku could process it, she pulled him flushed to her chest in a fierce hug. A sob broke past her lips and she hugged him tighter.

"I can't wait to see what you do as a hero," she whispered, sniffling a bit, "you're gonna be amazing , Izuku."

Izuku could feel a lump start to rise in his throat and he leaned into her hug. "Thanks, Mom."

She pulled away to look at him and Izuku saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sorry for falling apart… That's probably not the energy you need right now." His mother swiped at her cheek fiercely with a watery chuckle. "I should probably go grab the mail. The sales circulars are supposed to be coming in today."

With one more gentle squeeze on his shoulders, Izuku's mother got off the couch and departed shortly after. As soon as she was out of the room, his smile started to drop. Even if he managed to get into a different hero school sometime down the line, U.A. had always been his dream school since he was just a little kid and he couldn't imagine going anywhere else. He let out a weak sigh and slumped back against the couch.

'I'm sorry, All Might,' he thought, 'I really messed things up…'

Then, the door to the living room opened up and Izuku turned in time to see his mother drop to the floor frantically. " A letter! Izuku, they came, Izuku, look!" She held up a white envelope. "You got a letter! "

Izuku froze when he spotted the red wax seal. "Is that…"

"They're here!" she exclaimed, still panicked. His mother shot up from the ground in a hurry and scrambled over to him. "Your test results from U.A.!"

Still frozen, Izuku stared as his mother drew closer with the envelope in hand. With shaking hands, he took the envelope from her, fearful of what was inside.

"Do you want to open it by yourself?" she asked, noting his hesitation.

"I…" he began, stopping to swallow. Then, as he looked into his mother's eyes, he shook his head. "No. Let's open it together."

She blinked, but after a moment, she smiled. "Alright… We'll do it together."

Izuku offered the other half of the envelope to her and met her gaze as she took it. He gave her a shaky nod.

"On the count of three," she told him, gripping her end tightly, "one…"

"Two…" Izuku drawled, still not sure if he was ready. Then, he closed his eyes and prepared himself to pull.

"Three!"

It was times like this that Toshinori became fundamentally aware of how out of his depth he was when it came to teaching. As a student, all he had to do was enter with an open mind and heart, then let his teachers right whatever he got wrong in the process. However, after he saw young Midoriya take down that behemoth of a robot during the entrance exam and fall to a crumpled heap to the ground, Toshinori realized that being the one to right the wrongs was far more challenging than he had realized. After all those months of work, his young protege lost control and wound up hurting himself so badly that Recovery Girl was left stunned.

So, one could only imagine how he felt while he sat alone in Nedzu's office a week later, trying not to let his thoughts get the better of him as he drank the tea Nedzu's secretary brought him. His associate was busy at the moment, likely tending to all the preparations that were to come with the coming school semester. That, and he might have been trying to distract himself like Toshinori had been for the past week. Alongside Toshinori, Nedzu had been present for the entrance exam and saw Midoriya's performance firsthand, his shock nearly causing him to drop his teacup as the young boy launched off into the air and took down the Executor model with a single hit. His elation only lasted for a moment, however, when he watched alongside Toshinori as Midoriya came falling down with his limbs practically destroyed and nearly hit the ground before one of the test-goers stopped him with her anti-gravity Quirk. They both stared in stunned silence as the time ran out and Midoriya simply passed out on the pavement to be hauled off by Recovery Girl, and ever since then, Toshinori had been trying to keep himself busy so that he wouldn't have to let his mind circle back to the exam and its results.

'I wonder how young Midoriya is handling it,' Toshinori mused, 'I haven't seen him since that morning…'

He couldn't imagine that the boy was pleased with his performance. After all that time and work, Toshinori had still dropped the ball, hadn't he? It was just his luck for things to go wrong like that. Although Toshinori had sent him messages to reassure him and try to plan a time to meet up with him again, Midoriya had yet to respond to his messages, which he supposed he couldn't blame him for. How was he supposed to face the young boy after he failed both of them?

'But he couldn't just leave that girl there…' Toshinori thought. With a sigh, he set down his cup and picked up one of the napkins to dab his lips. 'What good would passing have done if he had just left her?'

The image of his protege's pained expression as he struggled to get up was enough to cause a weight to settle at the pit of Toshinori's stomach when it came to the forefront of his mind. Even despite all the pain that he was feeling and how broken his entire body was, the young boy just didn't know when to quit. Had he been more prepared, he might have been able to land some more points, but Toshinori's instruction had ultimately failed him.

"I know what it's like to be helpless," Midoriya's voice echoed in his head, "to not be able to save the people you care about…" The flash of sadness in his eyes brought forth a twinge of pain in Toshinori's chest. "And I don't want anyone to ever feel the way I did during those times."

The memory of the young boy who was held in the sludge villain's clutches flashed across his mind, causing him to crumple his napkin up in his hand without meaning to. Toshinori closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. What good was his power if he couldn't use it when he needed to? It was his fault for being so reckless and letting the sludge villain fall out of his custody in the first place. He saved that boy from the villain, but it wound up costing him less time on his hero form in the process. How was he supposed to measure up as a mentor if he couldn't even save someone without destroying part of himself in the process?

"All Might?" Nedzu said, breaking him out of his thoughts. Toshinori looked up to see him take a seat back at the chair across from him. Had he come in without Toshinori hearing? "You said you wanted to speak with me. Something on your mind?"

Toshinori huffed out a sigh. "I suppose so."

"I see," Nedzu replied. He leaned forward and set his own cup of tea down. "You're worried about your protege's performance on the entrance exam, aren't you? It didn't exactly go as planned."

A snort escaped Toshinori. "It really didn't…" He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "He let the egg explode."

Nedzu arched his brow. "What?"

"Nothing," Toshinori amended, "it's just… it's just a metaphor young Midoriya started using for One For All." He closed his eyes with a frown. "And after all that work we did together, he wound up hurting himself. God, he must be so disappointed in himself…"

"Oh, All Might," Nedzu chided, "you're being too hard on him."

"I'm not ," Toshinori countered, his tone holding far more sharp than he meant it to be. With a sigh, he put a hand over his eyes. "I'm not angry with him… I'm angry with myself ."

Nedzu's gaze softened. "You feel like you failed him."

"I'm his teacher , Nedzu," Toshinori stressed, dropping his hand to look at him, "it's my job to instruct him and set him right, but… How am I supposed to offer him aid when it's my shortcomings that got him hurt?" He pursed his lips. "If Recovery Girl wasn't there…"

"Now, now, don't you go down that road," Nedzu told him, his tone firm, but not unkind, "you'll drive yourself mad if you keep asking yourself all the things that could have gone wrong."

Toshinori frowned. "But things did go wrong, Nedzu… really, really wrong. And on the day of the entrance exam, no less." He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "How am I supposed to be a teacher to an entire class of hero students if I can barely handle one student? It's my fault that Midoriya won't make it in—"

"Who said he wouldn't make it in?" Nedzu interjected suddenly.

Almost instantly, Toshinori went still. He stared at Nedzu's face in bewilderment, unsure of what to say or do until the full weight of his words sunk in.

"Nedzu," Toshinori breathed, "Nedzu, don't tell me you let him in because of me ."

Aghast, Nedzu's paw went to his chest. " All Might! I can't believe you'd assume such a thing about me! And after all we've been through!"

Toshinori wasn't convinced. "How could he have possibly passed? I-I know he scored his share of combat points, buthe broke his arms and legs in the process. Surely such an injury disqualifies him from being considered for entry?"

"'Disqualifies him from being considered for entry?'" Nedzu repeated. A chuckle rumbled out of him. "Oh, All Might… Did you really think that we'd only grade examinees on their combat abilities?"

"There… were other elements to the exam?" Toshinori questioned. He furrowed his brows. "Like what?"

"Think, All Might," Nedzu told him, and the smile on his face caused Toshinori's irritation to rise. Why did he always have to make everything into a guessing game? "What kind of things do we cover during the hero program here at U.A.?"

Toshinori's lips drew into a thin line. Taking into account the litany of things that he covered throughout his three years at U.A., there were a lot of things that could have been the answer. Combat was a thing, sure, but Quirk assessment was a core factor in a lot of exercises and simulations. That wasn't even taking into account the different scenarios that they had to run through to prepare themselves for disasters, like search and rescue—

Then, the lightbulb lit up over his head.

"You mean…" Toshinori began, his eyes wide.

The smile on Nedzu's face only grew. "Now what kind of a hero school would we be if we rejected a student that has committed himself towards saving others, no matter the cost to himself?" His eyes closed blithely. "After all, that's part of what makes you such a good hero, All Might."

The image of Midoriya leaping up into the air with his fist raised flashed across Toshinori's mind. His shaking hand went to his lips with shock and he could only stare at Nedzu with wide eyes, his words eluding him.

"You may have seen the panel of judges for combat," Nedzu continued, "but we also had a panel of judges for rescue." He opened his eyes to meet Toshinori's wide-eyed gaze. "And your boy got tens all across the board."

"Did…" Toshinori said, his voice small. He swallowed hard and dropped his hand from his face. "Was that enough for him to pass?"

Then, his phone rang loudly. Blinking, Toshinori pulled his phone out and was startled to see "Young Midoriya" pop up on his screen. He looked up to Nedzu, who gave him a nod.

"If I'm to guess by the look on your face, then young Midoriya is calling you," Nedzu stated. He nodded again. "Now why don't you see what he has to say about the letter he got today?"

With a swallow, Toshinori tapped the "answer" button and brought his phone to his ear. "Hello—"

"I got in!" Midoriya screamed, causing him to jump in his seat. A choked sob garbled its way out of his phone speaker. "All Might, I got in!"

"My baby is going to U.A.!" he heard Mrs. Midoriya cry out in the background. "You're going to your dream school!"

An unexpected sting came to Toshinori's eyes and he let out a shuddering breath. He hadn't realized just how heavy the weight on his chest had been until it was finally lifted in that single moment. He had done it. Despite all odds, the boy had actually done it .

"Congratulations, my boy," Toshinori finally said, unable to stop himself from smiling "you're a part of the hero academia."

A lot of things went wrong.

First, the hag barged into Katsuki's room while he was in the middle of getting ready and knocked him off his routine to yell at him to get up. That led to a shouting match that caused him to lose track of the time and bring on another bout of screaming that his father had to break up with the reminder that Katsuki still needed to get ready. Even though he was silently thankful that his father managed to step in to keep things from escalating further, Katsuki still rode that wave of anger for hours to come. Second, when Katsuki finally did manage to get his things ready, he realized that he left his favorite pair of headphones in his pants and found out too late that they had been run through the wash. Much to his frustration, the sound of his favorite playlist became garbled with static, meaning he would have to suffer through his trip down to U.A. while listening to the sounds of the train and strangers. Third, his mother scolded him for failing to take care of his things and complained about how she would have to buy him a new pair as he shoveled his breakfast into his mouth, trying his best to ignore her.

Fourth, stupid Deku showed up to the entrance exam in his school uniform to show off that Katsuki wasn't the only one from Aldera Junior High that was trying out for the school. Katsuki should have figured that the stubborn little worm wouldn't leave well enough alone and decided to make his life hell, but it was still annoying nonetheless. As Katsuki made his way past that bumbling idiot, he encountered annoyance #5 when some stupid extras recognized him from the sludge villain attack and he nearly blew a gasket over it. He already had to put up with people staring at him everywhere else and stupid Deku just made it worse by calling attention to the both of them.

Sixth, Deku wouldn't shut his stupid mouth until some nerd from another school stood up and told him to can it. Were Katsuki not so annoyed, he almost would have been pleased to see that whelps like Deku weren't welcome at other schools and that he would have been dealt with similarly to how Aldera's populace handled him. Still, the fact that the nerd showed up was enough to annoy Katsuki to the point that he struggled to focus on his exam and wound up blanking on some questions despite all the hours of prep work he had done to get ready. Annoyance #7 was the knowledge that it would definitely be reflected in his score, which he couldn't change at all.

Then, for annoyance #8, as Katsuki was getting ready for the physical exam, all the other extras started paying attention to stupid Deku again when he gained the ire of that nerd from before. Everyone laughed and made jokes at his expense, which only made Katsuki more frustrated. If everyone else could see what a pathetic loser he was, then what did it mean for Katsuki that the damn nerd thought he was on the same level as him? His irritation became the preamble to his annoyance #9, where he failed to immediately take the lead because he let himself get distracted and lost focus on the goal at hand.

Finally, rounding out his long morning of irritation and aggravation, it was all topped off with annoyance #10: Deku somehow managing to pass the entrance exam and getting into U.A. like Katsuki.

All in all, it was the exact opposite of how Katsuki wanted his day to go.

He didn't care that he got into U.A. He didn't care that he scored higher than he thought and landed first place in the hero course division. He didn't care that his mother and father were proud of him. Because none of it, absolutely none of it mattered when that goddamn nerd made it in, too. He didn't know how that nerd was lucky enough to make it in or what he did to convince the top hero school in Japan that he was somehow on the same level as someone like All Might or even Katsuki. All he did know was that Deku had managed to undermine him in the one thing that he thought he never could.

Katsuki ignored the gasp of pain Deku let out as soon as his back hit the wall. He gave him no reprieve and grabbed him by the collar to slam him back into the wall, his teeth grit with anger.

"What'd you do to pass the exam?" Katsuki demanded. "You must've cheated somehow, right?" When Deku's answer was a shuddering breath, he slammed him into the wall again. " I'm supposed to be the first and only student from this crappy school to get into U.A., but you had to go and screw all that up!" For added measure, he pushed Deku back into the wall more firmly. "I warned you not to apply!"

He was always trying to one-up him, always trying to undermine every damn thing he did. He had done it since they were kids and people just kept letting him get away with it. His own mother pitied the damn nerd and even had the gall to tell Katsuki to be more like him. Anytime he would try to argue and tell her he didn't want to be Deku's friend, she would rebuke him because "he already has it hard enough," and "why can't you just be nice to him?" It gave the nerd a complex where he felt he could get away with anything because people would always feel sorry for him and as result, Deku had yet to come to terms with the simple fact that there was no way in heaven or hell that he would ever be able to come close to All Might. So he kept trying and trying and trying , and in the end, all he did was show Katsuki just how worthless and pathetic he was. Why did Deku have to make a fool out of him by applying? Why did he have to make Katsuki look so damn weak?

He went still when a hand gripped his wrist. Startled, he looked down and saw Deku's hand wrapped around it.

"Kacchan," Deku said, and were Katsuki not so angry to hear him use that stupid nickname, he likely would have been startled to hear the resolve in his voice, "someone I look up to told me… That I can become a hero."

Almost instantly, Auntie Inko's face came to the forefront of Katsuki's mind and it caused his grip to weaken.

" That's why I applied," Deku continued, " that's why I'm going."

Then, as he lifted his head up, Katsuki went still. His emerald eyes shone with a determination and fire that he hadn't seen before, giving him pause. Deku grit his teeth and held Katsuki's wrist with a steely resolve that actually hurt .

"Like it or not ," Deku proclaimed, his voice rising, "you can't stop me!" Katsuki's eyes widened when he wrenched his hand off of his collar. "I had to fight to get into U.A., Kacchan… And I'm going to keep fighting until I become the Number One Hero!" Then, to Katsuki's absolute shock, he smiled at him. "My egg isn't cooked yet! "

"What?" Katsuki blurted out.

Deku blinked, and just like that, the fire was gone. Scarlet spread across his freckled cheeks and he let go of Katsuki. "I… What I meant was…" He straightened up and practically darted past Katsuki, who was still stunned. "I gotta go!"

Before Katsuki could even think of how to respond, Deku was out of sight. With another surprised blink, he stared at the wall for what felt like an eternity, his anger and frustration completely gone from his mind. Then, with a scoff, he turned to face where Deku ran off to.

"Oh, your egg is gonna get cooked alright," he snarled to himself. Katsuki raised his hand and watched as an explosion sparked from his palm. "I'll make sure of it."

A/N: So, a note- in the original version that was posted to AO3 in 2021, this chapter had Izuku not getting any combat points. I have since gone back and retconned that to the version you see here. yes, he still broke his bones, but that is something that plays a part in future chapters of this AU.