It wasn't unusual for reporters to stand outside the school gates. U.A. High was, after all, one of the greatest hero schools in the country. And so many newspapers were interested in what kids made the cut this year.
Normally, there was only a handful of reporters looking for some easy and simple news. Maybe get little interview with the students about their hopes and expectations for the upcoming year.
The mood at the gates today, however, was different.
Following the attack by Golden Sun, it wasn't long before the news found out about the students of U.A. being involved in it even if entirely by accident. And when people heard about one of those students ending up in a hospital as a result of this?
It must have been an early holiday for them.
"Are you concerned about Golden Sun coming after you?" One of them shoved his recorder in Izuku's face. "He is know to hold grudges against anyone who gets in his way."
"Did U.A. prepare you for such situations?" Another group crowded over Ashido and Mineta. "Did you feel overwhelmed by the sudden villain attack?"
"Do you have anything to say to the people caught by your Quirk?"
The last question alerted everyone to Kaminari's presence, drawing the reporters away from the rest of them and towards him. He was of special interest to the news, being both a victim of the attackandan involuntary accomplice to the villain.
"Was your Quirk affected as a result?"
"Are you going to continue attending the school?"
"Why did you approach the man without confirming his identity first?"
They were swarming him with questions and implied accusations. Some suggested he should've controlled his Quirk better. Others even subtly suggesting that he shouldn't have been in that cafe in the first place.
They rushed to their classmate's help, forming a small shield between him and the cameras. It was hard not to get angry or frustrated as the questions and accusations continued to pile on, drowning out any of their polite attempts to push past the crowd.
The situation was getting out of control fast. The reporters refused to leave without gettingsomethingfrom them. If they couldn't get the news about the villain attack, then perhaps provoking the students into saying something or doing something in the heat of the moment might have been just as good to them.
Izuku briefly wondered if that was their intention.
"Your friend must answer for what he did!"
"Oh, for the love of-" Mineta snapped before turning to the reporters. "How about you all just go f-
"You three," Aizawa-sensei interrupted Mineta as he stepped in between them and the crowd. The man acted like he didn't even see the reporters and their cameraman as he stared the kids down. "You are late for class."
"What? The classes don't start until-"
"Oh, you are so right, sensei," Ashido covered Kirishima's mouth, quickly jumping at the opening their teacher made for them. "We are so so late! Let's go before we miss anything important!"
Once they were away from the gates and the crowd near those, the five students took a moment to relax and unwind from the sudden morning stress. They had a little under twenty minutes until the first class and they were making use of every second of it.
They didn't try to pretend that none of this happened, instead choosing to let out their frustrations and sheer disbelief over the whole thing. It was much better to talk about how ridiculous the entire thing was rather than pretend it was nothing at all.
"Seriously," Kirishima chuckled nervously, clearly not any more used to how intense reporters could be than any of his classmates. "I almost thought they wouldn't let us through."
"They might have not," Ashido huffed. "I mean, I get that they want an inside scoop but they could at least not crowd around Kaminari that much. Speaking of, are you alright there?"
"I am fine," the boy rolled his eyes with a smile. It was clear that neither Kirishima nor Ashido really believed him. "Seriously, guys, I am. No need to fuss over me that much."
Soon, their small group arrived at the class where, predictably, they were quickly surrounded by their classmates. All of them expressing varying degrees of concern and shock at what happened.
"Are you sure you are good for today's class?" Sero asked. "I mean, didn't your body explore with electricity or something?"
"The doctors said I should be fine. That guy forced more energy out of me than I am used to handling, sure. But I guess all that training I did to apply here helped out with the aftershocks," Kaminari shrugged. Then, with a casual grin, he added, "So you guys better not hold back against me today!"
Their first classes passed with no major interruptions after that.
Because everyone was too excited for their first combat class. While Aizawa-sensed stressed the importance of taking things seriously just a day prior, it was hard for Izuku not to get excited at the idea.
It was a chance not only to use his powers in a simulation's of a real-life villain situation. But it was also an opportunity to see how he fared against his classmates. And judging by the hushed whispers and barely held back grins, he was not the only who thought that.
Unlike other students, Izuku didn't have the suitcase with a brand new hero suit waiting for him in the locker rooms. A few of the other guys raised a curious eyebrow at that, probably wondering if his suit got lost. In reality, he simply checked it off the list of requests seeing no need in bothering the school for a suit when mom gifted him one.
Though maybe, he should've asked just to be safe.
As they all stepped into the streets of a replica city, Izuku felt like he was seriously underdressed. It sounded vain and almost childish but his snow-white spandex looked almost entirely too bland when he stood next to the rest of his class.
A fact that didn't escape the curious eye of Ashido.
"So… All white and grey, huh?" She smiled, her tone more cheeky than mean. "Pretty bold choice for a fighting day."
"I think it looks pretty cool," Kirishima said supportively. "Did you make it by yourself?"
"My mom made it for me, actually."
"Awww, that's so sweet!" Ashido smiled. "She must have worked quite a bit on it, then. Colours aside, the material looks pretty nice. Did she ever tell you what it was made of?"
"I don't think so," he said awkwardly. Maybe he should ask about it later. "I guess I could ask the school if I could have some colours added to them."
Maybe some green? Green sounded good.
Before he could discuss potential design choices with the rest of their small group, the gates behind them opened once again.
Aizawa-sensei did say that their class would have a different teacher in charge of it. But Izuku doubted that anyone expected it to be someone from Guardians of the Globe. Especially someone as busy as War Woman.
"Good day to you all," she smiled, speaking in almost fluent Japanese with just a bit of accent. "Starting from today, I am going to serve as your school's combat instructor. While my civilian identity is something I cannot disclose, you may refer to me as Helella-sensei. It was the name given to me by my sisters on the Isle of Amazonia. Any questions so far?"
No hands were raised on account of everyone still being in shock at their new teacher.
The heroine took their silence well and simply went on with her lesson.
"As future heroes, you will always find yourself drawn to the battlefield. Whether it will be to defeat enemies or to rescue civilians, your choices will determine whether lives are lost or saved. For the purposes of this exercise, you will reenact one of the missions I took on at the beginning of my career."
Behind her, a holographic screen brought up the picture of a bomb. Next to it was the picture of a man in black and green jumpsuit with red hair and magenta eyes.
"Anyone knows who this is?"
"That's Survivor, right?" Uraraka said before Izuku could answer the question. "He is one of Martian Man's villains."
"Correct," Helella-sensei smiled. "As you may know, the man is obsessed with the idea of weeding out the weak among the population by conducting mass-scale acts of destruction and terrorism. Back when I only returned to this world, he tried to set off the explosive of his own design in my city. That's the scenario for your today's exercise."
Behind her, a holographic screen with their names and faces appeared. The ten slots indicated that they would be divided into teams.
"After we have captured him, the man made several attempts to retrieve his device from the GDA headquarters. Me and my teammates had to stop him on those occasions. And that is why, for the purposes of this exercise, all teams should operate as heroes in the situation."
So there no villains in this exercise. All of them were heroes?
"If you are going after the device, then you will do so as heroes trying to stop the villain from activating it. If you are defending the device, then you must do so as you would against a dangerous villain trying to take it back. Your conduct is just as important as achieving those objectives. So keep that in mind."
With that, their names started to spin on the screen, stopping one by one as the pairs were made.
"Now let's begin with the first team."
-I-
Ever since he decided to be a hero, Katsuki knew that he would attend U.A. He was born with a powerful Quirk and always had the talent for growing stronger no matter what he faced. So it was only natural that he would one day graduate at the top of the country's best hero school.
And from there, he would only continue to climb higher until everyone knew just who he was.
He knew that his path would not be without pebbles in the road. Obstacles were just part of any real hero's journey. And Katsuki had no doubts about his ability to overcome those and leave any naysayers in the dust.
But one particular pebble just refused to get out of his way.
When Deku first awakened his Quirk, Katsuki knew that it would straight to the idiot's head. And of course, he was right about that. The moment Deku got this power he decided that he could just ignore him. Act as if he was better than him.
The little nerd was just too lucky that his sudden Quirk compensated for all the years he spend on his ass with his head in the clouds. But Katsuki would soon tear down whatever delusions Deku built about himself and bring him down to Earth.
But, sadly, it would not be today.
"Uh, we are supposed to be working together, you know?" the raccoon eyes girl said, clearly missing that she was not needed. "Shouldn't we discuss the plan before we walk into the building?"
The plan?
Like he needed one.
"I am taking the villains down. That's the plan."
She shouted something behind. He didn't care for it, though. He already knew everything he needed.
Their opponents were the silver-spooned glasses and the heiress. Neither of them were much of a threat to him. Based on what he saw from the two, he had the rough idea of what to expect from them.
The glasses would rush him down, using his speed to overwhelm and keep him away from the bomb. That would give the heiress enough time to make as many traps and weapons as she could in case her partner failed to stop him.
There was nothing the two could do to surprise him.
"You have arrived, villain" The glasses' voice boomed through the corridors. The armoured speedster stood with his face off the side before he turned to the blonde in what could only be described as an attempt menacing glare. "Prepare to face justice!"
Okay…that?
That surprised him.
"Halt, evildoer!" the weirdo raced towards him, his kick telegraphed to hell and back. "You're alone so I'd suggest you surrender!"
Katsuki stepped into the other boy's range, catching his leg before his kick could gain more speed and power. In his annoyance at the boy's theatrics, he forgot how the glasses' Quirk worked.
The torques on his calves roared to life. In an instant, Katsuki found himself thrown at the wall. If it weren't for his timely use of Explosion, he would actually take some damage.
The glasses caught him off guard. It was almost impressive.
But it wouldn't happen a second time.
"Die!"
The other guy might have been fast. But Katsuki could tell that between the two of them, he was the one with better reaction. And more importantly, he was a much more vicious fighter.
The glasses had good physique. But he didn't have the proper mindset to use it against him. And Katsuki proved it by keeping the speedster on the defensive. He stayed close to him, never letting the speedster gain much distance for another attack and blocking any preparation for a kick.
All while he landed every punch and every blast of his own, rattling the guy in his own armor. Blow after blow, he could sense the speedster's endurance being chipped away until a single blast of explosion was enough to knock him down.
"If you wanted a chance at winning, you should've taken the heiress with you!"
High on his victory, Katsuki rushed towards the top of the building. Just as he predicted, the heiress prepared several traps and snares for him at the door. Not that any of those mattered once he blasted them away.
As the metal bits and pieces of her traps fells to the sides, Katsuki could only sneer in disappointment.
"Is that the best you got? You might as well give up!"
She didn't. He'd give her that. Even if the gap in their combat skills was ridiculously large, Katsuki would at least give the heiress credit for not giving up immediately. She even managed to get a hit in before he blasted away her shield, her spear and every single weapon she made.
With both of his opponents taken down, Katsuki raised his hand and roared out in victory.
Let Deku watch and learn what a real hero looked like!
-I-
"Bakugou Katsuki, you fail."
"What the fuck?!"
Holly sighed as she watched the young blonde glare at the hologram screen with confusion and rage. While Iida and Yaoyorozu received the average scores, there was a green mark that indicated that they passed the exercise. And even Ashido had the neutral white circle around her, which meant that she neither passed nor failed.
On the other hand, both Bakugou had the bright red cross over his picture.
"But I won!"
"Yes, you have," she confirmed. "And if I were to judge this exercise solely on your combat ability, I would consider your performance to be one of the best today. However, that is not all there is to combat in my class."
She brought up the footage of his fight. Two windows displayed what Holly considered to be Bakugou's main mistakes in today's match.
"First of all, you have split away from your teammate. While Ashido is also at fault for just staying behind, she repeatedly tried to communicate with your via your earpiece. Something that you ignored until the end of the exercise," she turned towards Ashido. The girl eventually tried to sneak in to the top of the building but came right when Bakugou delivered a finishing blow. "I would encourage Miss Ashido to be more proactive in the future."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I still took down both of the villains by myself," Bakugou protested. "Is that not the objective of this whole exercise?"
"Let us review how you took them down. More specifically, let's review the final moments of your fight with Yaoyorozu."
The boy was a talented fighter. No, calling it a talent was a disservice. It was clear that the boy spent a significant amount of time training both his Quirk and his body to achieve his current condition. However, his combat ability was not the only thing she judged today.
She paused the video right at the moment when he started to blast through the girl's shields and weapons. She was standing right between the boy and the bomb, using her Quirk to protect the device as much as she did so to protect herself. That was one of the reasons why she earned the highest mark among the four.
"You, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned by your surroundings. If it were a real device, you would have already triggered it, causing the very destruction you were supposed to prevent," she hesitated for a brief moment, wondering if she should end her dressing down there or not. In the end, she chose to be honest with her students. "It was the same mistake that I almost made."
She was just back on Earth. She wanted to prove that she was different from a spoilt and ignorant child she once was. And Survivor's blatant disregard for human life only made her all the more eager to take him down.
Holly managed to get her emotions under control before she caused unnecessary damage. But she was close that day. Closer than she felt comfortable admitting to even herself.
She could see that the boy had potential to be great. He also had the desire and ambition. Which is why she knew that he would take her criticism and learn from it well. As all children here would.
"I can understand the desire to triumph over enemies. However, you should remember that you are not training to be just warriors. You are here to learn how to be heroes. And heroes' main focus should always be on how to save lives. Make sure to remember that."
-I-
Anyone else would have said that Denki lucked out the most with his partner. And in a certain way, he had.
Midoriya was a solid guy with enough power to kick the asses of half the class. Hell, Denki was pretty damn sure that only two other guys could be of challenge to him. And one of those two guys was on the other team.
Which is why being paired up together with Midoriya seemed almost like an easy win.
But Denki didn't want it.
After his experience of being used as a battery by a villain, he wanted to prove to himself that he could handle things on his own. It was a selfish and, admittedly, stupid thing to do. But it was something he had to do.
He didn't know much about either Todoroki or Jirou. But he did get the feeling that the former was not the type to rely on others. During the Quirk assessment tests, the boy seemed to keep distance away from everyone and he doubted that this would change today.
Most likely, the loner boy would come in first. Maybe he would even pull a Bakugou and go at it alone. Whatever the case, Denki didn't have much of the idea on what to do besides blast his opponents with as much charge as he could handle.
Worst case scenario, he would shock the entire building. He did warn Midoriya to stay in the air for the time being just in case. So he wouldn't hurt his teammate even if he did go all out.
Would it even work, though?
Shit… Why am I getting cold feet now?
This was not a figure of speech.
The boy felt a sudden and distinct drop in temperature around him. His body started to shake as he felt the air itself grow heavy with cold, making it almost heard to breathe.
The cause of this cold walked into the hall shortly, meeting Denki with cold and empty look in his uncovered eye. It was almost as if Todoroki wasn't even looking at him.
"I would advise you to surrender. We both know the outcome of this fight."
Just to further demonstrate his point, the boy covered the entire room with thin layer of ice. It wasn't instant. But with how fast the ice spread over the walls and the ceiling and the floor, it might as well have been. Denki tried to move away only to find himself frozen to the floor as well.
And he did that with just one step.
"Is Jirou behind you?" He asked, not seeing the girl in their vicinity. "Cause she might like a warning before you start freezing the entire building."
"I told her to stay outside."
"Oh, really? That's great!" He grinned, channeling his Quirk through his body. The sparks of electricity danced around his body as he built up the charge. "Cause I am not surrendering!"
He shattered the ice shackles around his feet by pushing the energy out of them. It was a shame to ruin his new shoes just when he got them but it was a worthy sacrifice.
With someone else, a smart thing would be to keep his distance and try to find a moment to strike him down. But Denki knew that he wouldn't be able to get a drop on Todoroki a second time. Any attempt to draw the fight out would work against him.
Which is why he was going to bet it all on this one attack.
He charged at the boy, smashing through the solid wall of ice with his charged fists. He ignored the biting cold and sharp ice shards digging into his flesh. He pushed through the pain and managed to grab onto the other boy's collar and belt.
Already, he could feel the much thicker layer of ice form around his body, crawling up his legs and rushing towards the rest of his body. But before he could be encased in the solid ice block, Denki willed as much of electricity to gather and form at the tip of his fingers.
Then, with chattering teeth forming his widest grin, he announced:
"I-Indiscriminate S-S-Shock! One Million Volts!"
He passed out shortly after, not even sure if he managed to take down the ice user or not. But it didn't matter.
Because seeing that brief moment of shock on Todoroki's normally calm and dispassionate face was enough for Denki to call today's battle a win.
-I-
Izuku knew that Kaminari needed this fight. Even though he put up a nonchalant front well, it was clear that the guy was still shaken up from his encounter with a villain. Especially when his Quirk hurt other people.
So even though Izuku thought it would be better if they stayed together, he didn't protest when Kaminari chose to go out on his own. And so he floated in the same spot and waited.
"Oh, come on!"
A sudden cry of frustration startled Izuku out of his thoughts, simultaneously alerting him of the intruder. Floating just a step or two away from the fake bomb, Izuku was surprised to see Jirou climb into the room from outside.
"You are the one that stayed behind?" She groaned. "Just my luck."
Kyouka knew that her Quirk wasn't all that impressive compared to her classmates. It was good for reconnaissance. But in a direct confrontation? Not so much.
So when Todoroki told her to stay back, she agreed to do so despite her annoyance at his casual dismissal. She wasn't quite sure what he was planning. And it was clear that he had no intention of including her in his plans.
But that didn't mean she was going to just sit and wait for him to do all the work.
The moment he stepped inside the building, she looked for another way in. She spotted a fire escape and quickly started her own race to the top. She expected the other team to separate as well.
It made sense for Midoriya to face off against Todoroki while leaving Kaminari to guard the bomb. But of course, the universe hated her and one of the strongest kids in their class was floating next to it instead.
"Will you hand over the bomb if I just say 'please'?" She asked, half-joking and half-serious.
"Afraid not."
Go figure. Asking didn't hurt, though. Especially when she used those precious few seconds have her jacks connect to her boots. The moment he moved towards her, she activated her Quirk - sending out sonic blasts to push him away.
She knew her Quirk wouldn't be strong to hold him back indefinitely. Her best bet was to keep him away and wait until Todoroki arrived. Then the latter could keep Midoriya occupied while she secured the bomb.
That was until Midoriya fell out of air and crashed by her feet.
"W-What… What did you do to me?"
He seemed just as shocked as her so this wasn't some attempt to make her feel better about herself. She watched the boy struggle to get back on his feet, stumbling and wavering as if drunk or sick.
She knew that all Quirks came with a drawback or limit so it made sense that Midoriya would have one as well. Was he weak to the sounds? Some specific frequency?
The answers could wait until later. She saw her chance to secure the bomb and rushed towards it. She was mere inches away from getting her hands on it when Midoriya snatched it out of her grasp.
"Don't hold back for my sake," he said, surprising Kyouka. "We are both supposed to do our best here, aren't we?"
Just as he was doing his best to keep the bomb away from her, he expected her to do her best to take it away. Even if it meant using this weakness she found by accident against him.
It didn't make her feel any better about taking advantage of it.
But he was right that they had to give it their all here.
The two started a game of cat and mouse. Izuku didn't dare to fly at the risk of being knocked back down. He still had his speed to push Kyouka away from the bomb. Every time she tried to make a run for it, he would be there to push her back.
But every time he did, she made sure to give him a little dose of her heartbeat. And every time she did, he got just a tiny bit slower. His body grew just a bit weaker. She didn't know whether it was volume or frequency but she was able to wear him down hit by hit.
She couldn't fire off her heartbeat indefinitely, though. Already, she could feel her jacks burning and aching. Her stereo boots were also not built to be used so much without an cooldown. Any second now, she would either run out of juice or have her equipment crash.
And then it would be over. She just needed to get one or two solid hits on the boy and then they would win. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. A risky one that she hated herself for having.
But time was ticking away and it didn't seem that Todoroki would come anytime soon.
The two watched each other, waiting for the other person to make the first move. As usually, Kyouka made the run for the bomb. Already, she could see Midoriya move to intercept her.
He dodged her usual blast of sound, docking under her arm and grabbing her by the jacket. She wasn't sure whether he was going to carry her outside the building or just the room. But she wouldn't give him a chance to do either.
She disconnected her jacks from her boots and had them extend towards Midoriya's ears. He realized her plan immediately and moved to drop her. She refused to let him go, wrapping her arms around his face and holding on for dear life while her jacks started bombarding his ears with her heartbeat.
The two dropped down on the ground in an awkward mess of limbs.
Midoriya was unconscious.
She managed to beat one of the strongest kids in their class!
She would throw her arm up in victory if she could. But she was too exhausted to get up much less have a victory dance. And so she laid under the boy, wondering why War Woman wasn't announcing the end of the match.
The answer came in the form of Todoroki walking up to them. His ice armor was gone. As was the mother half of his suit and his belt. Other than a few scratches, he looked almost entirely unscathed. Unsurprisingly, he must have won against Kaminari with relative ease.
His expression said otherwise, however.
"Do you want me to help?"
"Yes, please," she let the other genius of their class help her up to her feet. "There is no way I am letting you capture the bomb after I did all the work."
Todoroki didn't react to her little joke. But he still carried her all the way to the bomb that she happily placed her hand on. As she did, War Woman's voice announced the end of the match and their victory.
-I-
As the school day came to an end, Izuku couldn't help but wonder what exactly he felt after the battle trial.
They lost. And while Helella-sensei commended Kaminari for his sacrifice and Izuku for his willingness to accommodate his friend's request, she made no pretended about how poorly they prioritised things in this exercise.
Today, their failure to prioritise meant a lower score. Tomorrow, it could be a matter of life and death.
"Sorry about that, dude," Kaminari offered him a drink. "I should've stayed with you."
"It's fine," Izuku smiled. "I am not exactly blameless in this either."
While he let Kaminari go off on his own to help him, he also did so because he believed he could handle himself alone. In a way, he made the same mistake as Todoroki or Kacchan. He assumed that he was strong enough to do everything by himself.
Who knew I would be weak to the sound.
Almost a year passed since he awakened his powers. And in all that time, he never felt himself as weak or vulnerable as he did today. He could feel things like punches and kicks and everything else. But those were always muted to him now that his Viltrumite endurance kicked in.
What happened today was… different.
Jirou's soundwaves didn't just disorient him. They actually hurt him. Made him feel sick and weak. And it was only that much worse once he got attacked directly through his ears. He doubted that it was the effect of the girl's Quirk. She seemed just as surprised by his reaction as he was.
Which meant that this had to be a Viltrumite weakness.
And there was only one person who could help him find a way around it. Even if she no longer had her powers, mom had to know about this particular weakness.
It was time to ask mom for some training advice.