Eraserhead frowned as he stepped through the front doors of UA's main office building.
The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, leaving the campus bathed in the soft glow of countless lights hidden in the foliage of the gardens. They illuminated the winding pathways, the meticulously tended gardens, and a lone figure who clearly didn't belong.
He paused, his sharp eyes narrowing at the sight of a young woman standing near the gates. She was ordinary save for her blue skin, which shimmered faintly under the artificial lights, and the whites of her eyes that were instead black, highlighted by her gleaming gold irises. Additionally, she looked like she wasn't here by accident.
It had been a long day. The staff had stayed late to finalize evaluations for the applicants, all of whom had left hours ago with their sponsors. So why was she here now?
The question answered itself when her eyes locked onto his. With an energy that felt out of place given the hour—and her choice of footwear—she strode toward him, heels clicking sharply against the pavement.
"Excuse me, sir!" she called, her voice laced with practiced cheerfulness. "I noticed some commotion happening on UA's campus and wondered if you might tell me anything?"
Eraserhead inwardly sighed. Of course. A reporter. Her demeanor and polished appearance gave her away even before she spoke. He regretted being the first staff member out of the building—though his schedule left him little choice.
"No comment."
"But—"
"I said no comment," Eraserhead repeated firmly, his tone flat. "I have nothing to say, and I am leaving."
The woman pouted, a gesture Eraserhead found more irritating than endearing. "Harsh," she muttered, but her attention quickly shifted, her eyes lighting up as she spotted someone else.
"All Might!" she exclaimed with excitement.
Recognizing this as his cue to leave, Eraserhead began walking briskly away. He preferred to avoid reporters altogether, and with All Might now drawing the spotlight, he doubted anyone would spare him a second glance. Still, he found it unusual that she was alone. Reporters typically traveled in packs, especially when pursuing high-profile figures like UA.
Best not to linger, he thought. No sense waiting around for others to join her.
"This morning, you stood aside and did nothing during a villain attack. Why?"
The pointed accusation halted Eraserhead midstride. The surprise in All Might's response—a cough, followed by a confused "Excuse me?"—only piqued his curiosity further.
He turned slightly, keeping himself just within earshot. He had to hear this.
"Oh, my apologies!" The reporter smiled sweetly. "I'm Chitose Kizuku, from Shoowaysha Publishing. I was present at the southeastern Musutafu incident this morning, the one involving rising stars Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady."
Recognition flickered across All Might's face as he nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chitose cut him off before he could get a word in.
"I also happened to see you, All Might," she continued, her tone taking on an edge of what Eraserhead considered feigned concern. "You were standing on a nearby rooftop, watching. The villain had hostages and seemed poised to escape, yet you didn't intervene. Why?"
Eraserhead fought the urge to groan aloud, he felt a pang of sympathy for All Might. This woman's tactic was clear: frame the situation in a way that forced a defensive response from All Might, so that she might control the flow of the conversation. She was young, but her confidence and sharp delivery suggested she was no novice, even if Shoowaysha wasn't a traditional news outlet.
"Oh, that!" All Might's laugh rang out, hearty and genuine. His signature smile didn't falter, even under the weight of the accusation. "I admit, it might have looked like I wasn't concerned about the civilians, but I assure you that wasn't the case."
"Are you saying your help wasn't needed?" Chitose's eyes narrowed slightly. "What if the villain had acted on his threats to harm the hostages?"
"Then I would have stepped in," All Might replied simply.
"Then why didn't you?"
"I admit, I was about to," he said, his smile softening. "But I remembered why I've stepped down from heroics."
"And that reason is?" Chitose's eyes gleamed as if she'd struck gold. She leaned closer, her pen poised to capture the scoop. None of the major outlets had pinned All Might down for an in-depth explanation of his retirement. Beyond his formal speech earlier that year, speculation was all they had.
"Those two heroes you mentioned—Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods?" All Might asked. Chitose nodded eagerly.
"They represent the generation I'm entrusting to lead heroics after me. Call it a moment of selfishness, but I wanted to see if I'd made the right decision. I needed to know if they could handle things without me."
"So the goal was to test their competence?" she pressed.
"No," All Might said, shaking his head. "It wasn't about their ability to stop a villain. I wanted to see evidence of something greater—proof that they could uphold the essence of heroics, inspire hope, and lead when it matters most."
Chitose leaned forward, her pen racing. "And what was your verdict?"
All Might's smile widened, his tone brimming with optimism. "If they keep growing, then I believe the next generation of heroes is in very good hands."
Soon after this the conversation drifted into territory Eraserhead considered irrelevant and he continued his walk out of the premises.
After all, he still had a late night patrol to do, and then he'd have to look at the list of 16 students they'd narrowed the mass of applications down to. Choose the eight he wants in his class. Not that he wanted any products of nepotism in the first place.
As the cool evening air brushed past, he pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. Tonight was going to be long night.
"Hi mom." Izuku smiled softly, dragging his feet through the entrance to the apartment. Though, in order to prevent the need for more housework, he slid off his shoes by the front door and carried them with him.
"Hi, Izu." Inko greeted warmly. "How was training today?"
"Still difficult, as usual." He smiled as he walked past her sitting on the couch. She seemed to have made herself something to eat, as a dinner plate sat on the coffee table in front of the television. The TV had been muted shortly after he came in, though she seemed to be watching a rerun of one of her favorite shows.
A while ago, such a question would have never been asked, and he would have dodged around the topic. However, ever since she's found out about the quirk, she's been distantly supporting him with his training. It was nice that she was invested, considering her past opinions.
It was nice... even if it had felt strange at first.
"Sorry, honey, " She said, sparring a glance at him, though her gaze lingered on his hands, the still healing scars from when One for All shattered his hands barely visible. "Is the issue still control?"
"No, it's improved quite a lot." He said, stopping at the entrance to the hallway. "Ever since the quirk went wild, I've had a lot more control, but at the same time it's like its restraining my power. My hands cramp up every time I try using even 10% of what I used to use."
"Do you think your hand is still recovering from the injuries?" She asked, turning in her seat to face him fully.
"No, they say it's healed completely." He said, moving one shoe to the other so that he could show off one of his hands, flexing it to show it's fine.
Inko studied him for a moment, then picked up the empty plate from the table. Without warning, she tossed it toward him.
"Catch!"
Startled, Izuku instinctively reached out, but his attempt to catch the plate turned into an awkward fumble. It hit the floor with a sharp crack, shattering into pieces.
"Mom?!" Izuku stared at the field of ceramic landmines the living room floor had been turned into, guilt and confusion written across his face.
"You didn't use your quirk," she noted calmly, her tone almost teasing.
"I didn't think I needed to, I could've caught it with my hands." he protested, carefully avoiding the shards as he navigated his way to the kitchen and placed his shoes down on the ground. "Why'd you throw it? Now it's broken."
"I see that." She said, surprisingly calm about the broken crockery. Which further bewildered him as he began looking for something to clean up the mess.
"We needed new ones anyway, they were starting to crack and chip."
Izuku stopped his hand as he reached for the cupboard where they kept the broom.
"Mom, is everything alright?" He asked, trying to figure out why she was behaving so weird.
"Oh, I'm fine." She smiled sweetly. "It's you that has the problem with your quirk."
"Problem? What problem?"
"That quirk isn't yours, that's the issue." She said.
"I know." He deadpanned. "Someone gave it to me."
"Yes, he gave it to you." She said. "But it's not truly yours yet. I know that because it wasn't your first reaction to use your quirk to catch the plate."
"Oh." Izuku realized what she meant. "So I need to figure out how to make it my own? How?"
"Like this." She said, as she gestured towards the pieces of ceramic on the floor, and began making a feint pulling motion.
One of the pieces on the ground lit up with a feint green light, glowing as it began floating towards Inko with every gesture of her hand. Until it arrived at her hand and she released her quirk, catching the piece as it fell from the air.
"Using it to do every day tasks that you could do just as easily, if not easier, with your hands, or..." She gestured to the cupboard with the broom. "with tools made for the job."
Izuku's hand pulled back from the cupboard handle and found its way to his chin as he began considering his mother's words.
It made sense, everyone else have had their quirks since their birth, it would be a natural instinct for them to use it in situations where applicable. He knew a lot of people struggled with controlling their quirks in such cases, which is why quirk use that didn't harm anyone usually resulted in a slap on the wrist or a fine rather than a villainy charge.
His eyes darted to the hundreds of ceramic shards on the floor, and fixing his face with a determined grin, he began to...
"Ahh ah ah." Inko chided, and Izuku looked at her to find her pointing at his red shoes with a stern motherly look. "Shoes first."
Excitement bubbling, Izuku dashed back to the doorway. He crouched by his shoes, the grin still plastered on his face as he decided to take the lesson to heart right away—using his quirk to put them on. He failed miserably, though both he and Inko knew that he would improve over time.
He didn't see his mother watching fondly from the couch, as he struggled in silence. Nor did he see her open her mouth to bring up a new topic before she closed it, and turned back to her TV show instead.
Eraserhead wasn't sure whether to be grateful or wary of the quiet evening.
Patrols had gone smoother than expected—he'd completed both planned routes in record time and even checked in with his usual street informants. That was a rare luxury to talk to one of them, yet today he had found the opportunity to talk with several, all repeating the same information. Nothing notable was happening in the area.
As such he had arrived home an hour earlier than usual, a fact that felt both like a blessing and a warning.
It was good to have more time for sleep, and even better not to have been forced into action tonight. But the saying "silence before the storm" lingered in his mind, gnawing at his instincts. Quiet nights rarely lasted in his line of work.
He shook off the thought as he unlocked the door to his small, spartan bachelor apartment. The faint creak of the hinges greeted him. Tossing his keys onto a barren kitchen counter, he moved to his desk—a plain, functional surface in an otherwise empty corner.
Dropping a file onto the desk with a faint thud, he sighed, before pulling out the chair and turning the pages.
He skimmed over the names that hadn't stood out to him that much. Those that he would indifferent about should they be in his class or not.
Such names included:
"Yuga Aoyama, Quirk: Laser Body."
"Juyona Bushijima, Quirk: Mustard."
"Yu Hojo, Quirk: Crystalize."
"Juzo Honenki, Quirk: Softening."
"Neito Monoma, Quirk: Copy."
"Hiryu Rin, Quirk: Dragon Scale."
"Kashiko Sekigai, Quirk: Infrared Gate."
"Nirengeki Shoda, Quirk: Second Impact."
"Pony Tsunotori, Quirk: Horn Cannon."
"Ibara Shiozaki, Quirk: Vines."
"Setsuna Tokage, Quirk: Lizard Tail Splitter."
"Momo Yaoyorozu, Quirk: Creation."
These students weren't necessarily unremarkable, in fact a number of them impressed him greatly, he just didn't have a preference in regards to teaching them or not.
Momo Yaoyorozu, the heiress of Yaoyorozu Inc, had a particularly versatile quirk, the type that many would be jealous of. Her parents were one of their new major sponsors, still contributing a large chunk of the total funds despite the mass of sponsors that began inpouring following Nezu's display.
Despite this, Eraserhead was sure that her parents position played little role in her admission, as her talents spoke for themselves during the exam. This, he doubted was the case for another admitted student.
"Minoru Mineta, Quirk: Grape Balls."
Eraserhead had to admit that the boy didn't exactly lack talent, it just wasn't the level of talent that would get you into UA without someone arguing on your behalf.
Said person was Nezu, who had argued that they needed a student with a quirk that was frustrating to deal with to expose students to annoyance. The boys purple balls created from his hair were annoying enough to deal with, but his small frame and incredibly elastic and durable body meant that taking him down in a combat scenario would be difficult.
Eraserhead suspected one of the reasons Nezu had argued for the boy's enrollment, was because of the massive cheque they were getting from Onomura Pharma Corp. Coincidentally owned by this boys parents. The boy radiated the energy of a spoiled brat.
This was why Aizawa would request that this boy be in his class. Not just to spare Vlad King from the headache of an arrogant nepo baby, but because the boy's attitude and social position could prove useful for his custom curriculum.
There was also another problematic student that was a child of one of their major sponsors. One he wished to avoid, though not because of their family, but because of their quirk.
"Saiko Intelli, Quirk: Tea Q."
The CEO of Intell had personally written the introduction to his daughter's letter of recommendation, but the rest she had written herself. Her quirk allowed her to obtain various mental boosts based on the type of tea she drank. These boosts were all targeted on her brain, and could range from drastically increasing her physical co-ordination to increasing her analytical thinking. Aizawa admitted that her quirk had plenty of potential, but her presence could reduce the efficacy of his plans for his class. She would always be a sip of tea away from being able to solve whatever he throws at them. She was far better suited to the orthodox methods Vlad was planning to use, which was we he was requesting she not be in his class.
Finishing writing his notes on this student, he sighed as he thought of the remaining two.
"Inasa Yoarashi, Quirk: Whirlwind." and "Shoto Todoroki, Quirk: Half-Hot Half-Cold"
The names of their quirks did not do their raw power justice. Eraserhead hadn't missed All Might's narrowed eyes lingering on the page with Endeavors prodigy on it. He suspected the muted conversation they had during their match was related to it, although he didn't know why All Might appeared so concerned about the young Todoroki.
Not until he used his quirk.
Many emitter types were limited by either requiring a resource, be it energy, a stockpiled resource such as fat or the consumption of an external resource, or by backlash caused to the body. Endeavors quirk worked this way, he could theoretically produce endless flame, but was limited by the fact that his body would eventually overheat, or if pushed too far, burn.
This boy's quirk worked the same, but the weakness of once side countered the other. Not that it was necessary, the sheer amount of ice he produced in a split second was already enough to almost make him the strongest entry of the recommendation exam.
Almost. That title went to Yoarashi.
The boy had created a category 2 tornado as his choice of demonstrating his quirk. A demonstration that had paled All Might nearly as much as Todoroki's.
Many orchestrator quirks had a hard upper limit on how much mass they could move, and how much power they could put into moving it. This limit could be increased, but often not by much, so many heroes with orchestrator quirks focused on control rather than improving raw power.
This boy didn't seem to need to worry about power, as apparently his quirk had an upper limit so vast that it seemed near endless. In exchange for this power, it seemed he had a relatively limited range to use his quirk. Although the nature of the wind he controlled meant he could artificially extend his control far further than the fifty yard radius around him.
Should these two powerhouses develop a rivalry, they could each grow to a strength that would easily place themselves in the top 10 international heroes.
Unfortunately, their clash of personalities seemed to lead to a toxic combination, that meant it would be best to minimize contact between the two. So one of them would go to Vlad, and the other would come to Eraserhead.
Between the two, Eraserhead would prefer to have Endeavor's brat. Largely because his quirk erasure was more potent on emitter quirks than orchestator quirks. The logic was simple, his quirk didn't erase the effects the quirk had already created, it just silenced the quirk from doing anything more.
If Yaorashi lost control of a tornado, Erasure wouldn't get rid of the tornado, it'd only prevent any chance of the student being able to help calm it down. Whereas if Todoroki was unable to stop producing either ice or flame, Erasure would shut it down.
Marking down his preference, Eraserhead flipped through the pages once again, scanning each page lightly to ensure he felt happy about his decisions. He felt slightly curious that none of the students jumped out at him as All Might's protege.
He had considered that it was Yaorashi, but All Might seemed just as surprised with him as everyone else. The rest, just didn't seem to cut it as what Eraserhead imagined as the herald of the next generation of heroes All Might was championing his student as.
Perhaps All Might hadn't recommended his protege? If so Eraserhead was tempted to think it was merely an attempt to subvert his criticism, considering how he had openly declared his bias against whoever All Might had chosen.
Although, a small part of him felt he had to allow for the possibility that it was a genuine attempt to allow the student to grow without being spoiled by the systematic advantage being the protege of the number one would otherwise provide him.
He begrudgingly felt a little bit of respect to the number one.