Izuku yawned as he got up from his new bed, stretching and popping his joints and back as he got up.
The move in had been easier than he thought it would be, though that was partly because he had help from Miyake-Kun and his friends offering to carry his stuff to 1-A's dorms.
He had only agreed since he knew it would save Kurogiri some time and effort and that both Amajiki-San and Hado-San could use the exercise.
His mom had even been able to keep from flooding the apartment from crying, his crying though had probably ruined that, and they still needed to mop up.
Speaking of which Izuku walked out of his room and to his new bathroom, a strange form of relief coming when he didn't have to see a tub in there.
He remembered when Nezu offered to give him the option of a shower/bath combo like the rest of the teachers, and he might have been a touch to strong when he said firmly said no.
It probably concerned some of his co-workers too judging from the way the others shared glances.
Hopefully no one would ask him why he shot that down, he would never be able to tell anyone the particular 'why' behind it, and never would if he could help it.
Even if it had been years ago and he trusted Nezu or Inui-San to not react harshly if he explained about what happened to him all those years ago, he knew that they would never be able to look at him the same or not think of what he almost did to himself.
No matter how adult someone was, no one could brush off hearing someone they knew unconsciously attempting to kill themselves as a child.
Shaking his head, Izuku showered and got dressed for the meeting they would be having about the exams.
He knew that he'd need to declare not only that he was friends with more than one future examinee for the public exam and that they also knew each other.
That part had been in the meeting outline that Nezu gave him along with the rule book of both exams.
Normally it was for when a teacher knew the family of the examinee or was related to them, but Izuku knew that he and his friends counted as well.
He would never tell them about the exam but them knowing each other would be important and he could not judge the public exams or their own work because of it.
Izuku put his hair in a low ponytail and then grabbed his bag.
He looked around his half put together living room and work desk and felt glad he had taken a couple days off to move in since he hadn't been able to get fully unpacked in the one day like he hoped.
Walking out he moved to the large kitchen space that he would be sharing with the students and whipped up something quick and ate his breakfast while reading the early reviews of Heroic Sacrifice.
They... weren't that nice, but he expected that and that was what he wanted.
The book was supposed to be uncomfortable and drive people to look deeper and question if it was true, and eventually there would be enough people that looked deeper for the truth and found his book wasn't in fact made up.
The references were all listed and wouldn't be hard to verify over half of them.
An alert on Izuku's phone made him place his dishes in one of the sinks and he'd have to remember to clean them later, he would not let them sit there for too long.
It would not do him well to start off his new living situation by leaving them to rot and draw flies.
Rushing out the doors he found he wasn't the only one on the way to the main building, Kurose-San and Sano-San seemed to be talking, and once she saw him Kurose-San waved to him.
"Good morning Midoriya!" She cheerfully greeted, Sano-San waving as well.
"Good morning, Kurose-San, Sano-San. How are you guys doing?" Izuku asked joining them as they started to walk over to the main building on the path that was paved for the students.
"I am so tired, moving is such a pain, and I am not looking forward to repeating this all over again next year." Kurose-San complained.
"You are quite lucky that you won't have to do so every year though, with Isamu-San moving into the teachers' dorms next year." Sano-San commented with a slight smile and his eyes a pale purple further showing his amusement with her.
Kurose-San immediately flushed "Right, sorry I didn't mean to-" Kurose-San tried to apologize but Sano-San waved his hand, eyes a deeper shade of purple.
"It's fine Kurose-San, the others packed light knowing this and already discussed room colors with each other." Sano-San assured her.
"If you'd like I could come over and help you Kurose-San, I'm already halfway done." Izuku offered.
Kurose-San shook her head though "No, no. You don't need to do that Midoriya-San, I handled this once and can do it again." Kurose-San promised him.
"If you're sure, if you change your mind, you can call me Kurose-San." Izuku told her.
"Speaking of moving, how are you settling Midoriya-Kun?" Sano-San asked his eyes orange now, showing his curiosity.
"I am doing alright, I need to get my bookshelves built so I can put my books up and still need to get all of my stuff put away." Izuku informed them.
"Oh, which books did you bring with you?" Kurose-San inquired just as curious.
Izuku's cheeks probably were a bit pink as he scratched at his cheek and a touch flustered.
"I have a few old school books that I reference for my quirk analysis but mainly I brought books I put together of the drawings and homework of my students." Izuku confessed.
"Awe, that sounds really sweet, would you mind showing one to me at some point?" Kurose-San inquired, innocently.
"Maybe." Izuku replied not committing to anything and switching the topic to something else since they were still quite ways from the main building.
"Is everyone ready to begin?" Nezu asked the group of people, just about everyone from Izuku's first meeting was there.
Getting a round of agreement from the nineteen people there, Izuku included.
With Maijima-San, Isamu-San, Yogi-San, and Hara-San there as the heads of each course.
Chuumoku-San, Kayama-San, Yamada-San, Aizawa-San, O toko-San, Baki-San, Genji-San, Ishiyama-San, Haruki-San, Sano-San, and himself there as the Hero course and first year homeroom teachers.
Kan and Kurose-San as the other teachers of the hero course.
And lastly Inui-San and Shuzenji-San there as the heads of the mental and physical health.
Yagi-San wouldn't join them for this meeting since he was going to just be a teaching assistant and Nezu would have a separate meeting for him and any other .
"Okay, does anyone wish to declare anything that could affect the talks about either entrance exam?" Nezu inquired.
Izuku, while the first, was not the only one to raise his hand.
O toko-San had also raised his hand which was a surprise, as had Kurose-San.
"Well, I believe we'll go alphabetically, Kurose-San what do you need to declare?" Nezu inquired.
"I would like to step down from judging the students, physical or written exams since I'm not comfortable with doing so yet." Kurose-San nervously confessed to the room of her co-workers.
"That will be fine, would you be amendable to conducting the recommended student exam one-on-one interviews?" Nezu asked.
"Oh, I can do that, I think." Kurose-San agreed nodding her head.
"Good, Midoriya-San?" Nezu asked turning to him.
"I wish to step down from judging the physical of the hero course public exam due to a conflict of interest but can still review the majority of the written students' exams if screened." Izuku informed the table.
"What kind of conflict?" Nezu asked.
"I personally know five or six people who wish to apply, depending on how you count students with sentient quirks." Izuku answered.
Nezu hummed "I shall need a list of their names but that should be doable as well Midoriya-San." Nezu told him and Izuku passed over his list, having it pre-made since he knew that Nezu would need it either way.
"Thank you for informing us Midoriya-San, what do you need to declare O toko-San?" Nezu said moving to look at the other side of the table, the note tucked away safely.
"I will not be able to help with the recommended exam since I'll be sponsoring a niece of mine and showing up as her support." O toko-San replied, also having his note with the girl's name prepared and passed it down the chain until it reached Nezu.
Nezu nodded taking the note and hiding it away.
"Anything else that needs to be declared?" Nezu asked, letting the room sit in silence for three minutes.
"Alright, O toko-San please step out so we may discuss the recommended exam." Nezu politely requested.
O toko-San nodded and stepped out without much fanfare.
"The recommended exam is a different each year, I've come up with an obstacle course this year given the types of students we can expect this year." Nezu informed them as he placed stacks of files on the table and trusted the people at the table to pass them around.
"The aim of the recommended physical portion of the exam is to see exactly how creative and adaptive the students are, whether with their quirks or what they can get their hands on during the test." Nezu explained.
"The interviews are so we can get a better idea of how the students think beyond what we can grasp from the advanced tests we've put together for them." Nezu said once everyone had a file.
"Please bring up any questions you have about the tests or interview questions you have." Nezu implored them.
Kurose-San was first to hold up her hand "What red flags should we look for?" Kurose-San inquired.
Nezu explained the guidelines for her and answered a few more and then they moved on to the public exam, with Nezu calling O toko-San back in so that he could help as well.
"The public exam, unlike the recommended exam doesn't change, there will be a set of robots labeled 1-3 that will give the examinees to gain villain points by immobilizing or destroying them. With a fourth robot labeled 0 that will act as a walking natural disaster or high ranking villain." Nezu told everyone.
Aizawa-San raised his hand, with a few people sighing and grumbling.
Nezu's ears lowering for a half second before he asked "Yes Aizawa-San?"
"I motion for there to be a secondary exam for those with certain quirks to take since the public exam is so clearly quirkist." Aizawa-San requested and Izuku looked at him surprised.
"Does anyone agree with Aizawa-San and think there should be a secondary exam?" Nezu asked, nearly half of the table raising their hands.
"Are there people against there being a secondary exam?" Nezu inquired, looking over at Izuku with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
Izuku did not hesitate to raise his hand, along with Haruki-San, Yogi-San, Kan-San, and Shuzenji-San.
More than a few people looking at him shocked for some reason.
"You don't want there to be a secondary exam Midoriya?" Genji-San commented, sounding confused.
"Yes, I don't see anything wrong with the current physical exam or think it needs to be changed after reviewing its contents." Izuku answered him.
"Really, I thought you of all people would want it changed Midoriya-Kun." Kayama-San said.
"Why? Because I'm quirkless?" Izuku asked, rolling his eyes when she and few others sheepishly looked away.
Izuku tsked.
"That's stupid, anyone could pass this exam regardless of their quirk, if they have one or not." Izuku defended.
"How? This test is clearly made in favor of flashy combat quirks?" Aizawa-San pointedly questioned.
Izuku gave Aizawa-San a look in return, there really must be something to that old saying about never meeting your heroes.
"Are you ignoring the whole test or just being intentionally dense because you didn't pass the exam when you took it?" Izuku questioned right back at him.
Well, if nothing else Katsuki would be proud of him for somehow being able to deeply offend his favorite hero in a single sentence.
"Well?" Izuku pressed crossing his arms, and raising an eyebrow.
"What part of giant robots don't you understand leads to mental and non-combative quirked examinees not having a chance?" Aizawa-San snapped back.
"For one, the robots have five second delay and announce said attacks, are kept slow moving so if the students actually pay attention to the information given to them can dodge, avoid and shut down robots with the large buttons placed on them." Izuku answered, 'counting' points on his fingers.
"Of course, that's not even bringing up the fact that there's a whole other world of points they can get for themselves, you know the ones called rescue points for doing the other parts of being a hero?" Izuku added.
"The students aren't told about those." Aizawa replied without thinking.
"Of course, they aren't. The whole point of the exam is to test the students' baseline for heroics and there would be no point in telling them that we're looking for empathy or they'd fake it!" Izuku argued back.
"The exam tests and has a clear focus on combat leaving other examinees at a severe disadvantage if their quirk isn't combative." Aizawa-San protested.
Izuku dragged his hands down his face and quickly took his gun out and passed it off to Nezu, ignoring the choked and startled gasp from Kurose-San to take a deep breath to calm himself.
Aizawa-San, a man that normally used logically ruses and constantly scolded people about overly relying on their quirks, somehow did not grasp how the test Nezu came up with really was supposed to work.
All because he failed it for a reason, the same reason he scolded most of his students.
"Aizawa-San the test while very physical on its surface, is just as importantly a psychological test which tells us far more about our students than it does about their combat skills." Izuku firmly stated, a vein he could feel pulsing in his forehead.
"Oh really?" Aizawa-San responded with a scoff.
"Putting aside the physical part of the exam to fight robots, how the examinees go in, act during before and after the 0-pointer, and to the aftermath of the exam all tells us very important information about how the students will think and act in the heat of the moment." Izuku told Aizawa holding up one hand to count on his fingers again.
"First by seeing how students go into the 'simple' scenario given to them, what did they bring? How do they prepare before the exam begins? How do they interact with the others that could become their classmates? There is a lot that we can see about them before they even fight the robots." Izuku sternly detailed for everyone.
"Then when the exam starts, we see who are confident in their actions, who hesitate in attacking. Do they use their quirks immediately if they can? How do they use their quirks? Do they take the other examinees or the space around them into account? If their quirks are no 'help' to them, how do they cope with this? Do they just give up or do they find a way to overcome this unexpected problem? One they could face in the real world at any moment?" Izuku questioned.
Perhaps rubbing salt in the wound knowing the last ones would really rub Aizawa-San's face in it.
Not that he allowed Aizawa-San to speak in that moment.
"And with the 0-Pointer, an obstacle they aren't supposed to overcome, how do they treat this unexpected threat? Do they run? Will they fight it despite it seeming unwinnable? Do the other examinees even register to them? Will they ignore someone screaming?" Izuku continued with a glare.
"When the exam is over what do they do? How do they react to the destruction of the city around them? Do they even think about it? Are they aware of how the other examinees are holding up afterwards? Do they make any effort to help post-disaster?" Izuku said basically ranting at this point as his hands waved with his emotions.
"And going back to the physical part," Izuku hotly snapped at Aizawa-San.
"There just three little things we gleam from it compared to all the rest, did they train themselves to last for even a short patrol? Are they using their quirk well? And how much combat experience do they have? That's all we learn from the physical part." Izuku told him.
"So just from the top of my head, that's twenty-one ways to gain rescue points, and three ways to get villain points. Please, tell me how is that unfair when a majority of how those points could be gained without the question of quirk even coming up?" Izuku pointedly asked with his arms crossed.
Aizawa-San sat silent, his mouth pulled down into a firm scowl.
"It's frustrating, I will admit that, but we are a hero school and most of the hero course students go straight into the field directly after graduation in three short years." Izuku conceded, facepalming.
"If someone comes to the exam with a mental quirk, powerful or not, they shouldn't be given a freeride after everyone else worked their asses off just to have a chance. There are many quirks that could be invaluable in the field, but we cannot let those people slide by if they have the wrong mindset or worse think they can glide on by just with their quirk while neglecting their physical health." Izuku told Aizawa-San.
"And if they couldn't pass the exam?" Aizawa-San quietly asked.
"Then they can work on themselves and try again, either with another school or through the sports festival." Izuku answered without hesitating.
"What about you Aizawa-San, would you really argue for a child that was spiteful of the world and actively lashing out at everyone around them, couldn't walk a mile without collapsing but has a quirk that was 'useful' for heroics?" Izuku pressed right back.
Aizawa-San clenched his jaw, but said nothing.
"I understand it's a sore spot. I've been the person spat on and had everything I wanted ripped away from me once people heard my quirk status, and it fucking hurts Aizawa-San. But we cannot lower our standards for every child that makes us remember all of the things wrong with our lives." Izuku said.
"Be honest Aizawa-San, if you were just given your spot would you have gotten better without having someone kicking your ass? Or would you have just relied on your quirk and bitch and moan 'quirkism' held you back when you couldn't keep up?" Izuku questioned finally.
Aizawa-San held his gaze for a very long tense minute before ducking his head.
Silently admitting defeat.
Yamada-San placed his hand on Aizawa-San's shoulder, offering him silent comfort while both he and Kayama-San warily looked between the two of them.
Izuku did not blame them, he had gotten quite heated with his argument.
"Well, are there any other questions about the public exam?" Nezu asked with a clap of his paws in order to bring all attention to him instead of the tense standoff that he and Aizawa-San just had.
Most of fandom *Changes the entrance exam if given the lee-way to do so*
Author: Why tho?
Aizawa: It's rigged for powerful flashy quirks
Author ...
Author: Your class alone has an invisible girl, a kid playing snow white, a kid with a tail and a frog Mr. Logical ruse, you're just being salty