Author's Note

Let's keep this train running baby!

I've put together a new and final cover art for the story, it's worth checking out.

Uploaded

02/12/2025

LEGEND BELOW

"So you want to be a hero?" = Normal speech.

''He's not serious...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 9

Rated-M

M rating for violence, mature themes, romance, and language.

Music of the day

My Hero Academia ost - Among Kosei

He didn't see Shadow again after that, a week coming and going with total radio silence from the girl as he waited for the results of the exam to come in the mail. It had been agony, many missed calls all not returned, going straight to voicemail.

He couldn't even focus on anything else, nothing to spend his days doing with school being out and Shadow's sudden disappearance. By day two he'd sought out Bakugo for games or anything to distract him, and the teen had spent surprisingly less time poking and prodding him than he usually did.

Maybe he could tell how worried he was about her…?

Either way, when the news finally came that he'd managed to get into the school he'd been ecstatic! He knew that Bakugo had gotten in, there had been no doubt there, but he'd not been extremely confident that he would pass too. Color him surprised when he'd found the total score reaching a whopping thirty villain points plus the secret hero points, of which he'd secured forty five in total. Combined he'd achieved a score of seventy five, managing to land him in second place within the confines of his exam arena.

Bakugo had been quick to point out that he'd scored eighty three by just villain points alone, zero on the secret hero scoring system. He didn't really seem to care that much about the secret score after he'd learned about it.

Izuku sighed…

Typical.

Still, however, with the end of the week arriving saw it finally time to venture forth into the esteemed facility known as the one and only Yuuei hero school.

Was he excited? Yes.

Was he nervous? Absolutely.

Was he still worried about Shadow?

Did you even need to ask?

Either way, as he made his way down the long tall hallways of the prestigious hero school he'd found his ears picking up the tell tale sounds of an argument brewing.

And he already knew who was guilty…

Reaching the door for classroom 1-A, he slid it open with a feeling of dread already building. His eyebrows twitched at what he saw, lips forming a thin line.

Why had he expected anything else?

"Remove your feet from this desk at once! Don't you see that you're bringing disgrace to those that had used these desks before us? It's barely the first day and you're already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin." Tenya exclaimed in horror at the sight of Bakugo's dirty shoes up on the desk, the explosive teen leaning back in his chair without a care in the world, the smirk on his face downright devilish.

"Huh?!" Katsuki intoned lowly, sharp red eyes glinting in excitement as he leaned forward. "You're kidding me, right? Your old school put a stick up your ass or were you born with it?"

Tenya recoiled in disbelief, unsure how to handle the brazen insult. Yet he quickly gained his composure, clearing his throat as he held a hand to his chest. "Let's start over." He tried earnestly, holding his hand out to the red eyed teenager. "I'm Tenya Ida from the Somei Private Academy."

This only seemed to egg the explosive teen on even further. "Somei huh? So you must think you're better than me. I'm gonna have fun tearing you a new one." He exclaimed as he leaned forward, that wild grin on his face practically a trademark by this point.

Tenya gasped, recoiling in shock. "You would threaten me? Your own classmate? Are you sure you're in the right place?" He exclaimed in bewilderment.

Izuku sighed deeply. "Kacchan would you stop hectoring our new classmates on the first day?" He practically whined, stepping into the classroom. He practically became the center of attention as the first and only one to dare to stand up to the violent teenager, his long white locks fluttering about as he stepped forward. His golden eyes sparkled in the light of the room, seemingly drawing a couple sighs from somewhere else in the room.

But what was arguably more surprising than that was the fact that it had worked. Katsuki made a noise of irritation as he removed his feet from the top of the desk, smirking towards his white haired friend. "Way to kill the mood, jackass. I really had him worried for a minute there." He muttered, huffing as Tenya stepped away, thoroughly surprised by the encounter.

And speaking of Tenya. The tall blue haired teen approached Izuku with a brisk pace, holding out his hand as if asking to his own. "Izuku Midoriya, correct? We met shortly before the exam." He introduced himself, shaking the shorter teen's hand. "I wanted to thank you for your hasty response the other day. Thanks to you that examinee was able to be safely sedated without much trouble before I gave her to Recovery Girl for medical aid."

Izuku's eyes widened slightly once he realized who he was talking about, a smile crossing his features as he instead took hold of Tenya's hand with both of his own. "I should be thanking you for your help that day, not the other way around. I truly appreciate your help in taking care of her." He smiled genuine look that managed to take the breath away from a handful of voices in the back.

Tenya's eyes sparkled in surprise, touched by the genuineness of this young man before him. He was the total opposite of the explosive teen behind him, able to defuse arguments with ease, his kind eyes practically banishing the tension in the room instantly. "O-Of course." He hummed, reaching up to adjust his glasses to regain his composure.

"Hey I remember your face! You were in the exam city C, right?" A new voice called out, pulling the white haired teen's attention towards a particularly pretty girl in the back, her bright pink skin and hair accentuated by her sharp black eyes and wide teasing smile.

Izuku's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! Mina Ashido, correct?" He remembered correctly, smiling happily across the room to her. "I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to talk to you much before the exam, please forgive me." He offered her a short respectful bow that had her grin widening, her cheeks turning a darker pink.

"And he respectful too..." She whispered under her breath huskily, licking her lips. This went unseen by the rest of her classmates as the conversation instead served as the perfect time to bring up introductions.

The sound of a chair scuffing the floor echoed out as a spiky red haired teen's stood up, an excited grin on his face. "My name's Eijiro Kirishima!" He introduced with a thumb pointed at his chest proudly. "You seem like a cool guy, Midoriya!" He grinned widely in a sort of bro-ish sort of way.

The rest of the class seemingly took that as their cue to begin introducing of their own one by one. "The name's Denki Kaminari, at your service!" Another boy stood up, smirking in a friendly way. He had long yellowish hair that reached down to his neck, a black lightning bolt zigzagging through his left bangs like the tail of a Pikachu.

"Mezo Shoji." A tall six armed six foot two teen introduced, his face covered by a dark blue mask. He was bulky, tall and built strong. "Happy to meet you."

"Hanta Sero!" A rather plane looked guy exclaimed, offering a peace sign with a chill grin. He had black short cropped hair that hung simply in front of his face cut just above his eyes, which were also black.

"My name is Fumikage Tokoyami." The next guy to speak up was all around normal looking, save for the fact that his head was that of a raven with few if any human features above the neck. His voice was deep, and he didn't seem all too interested in speaking further than his introduction, but he wasn't rude about it either.

"I'm Toru Hagakure!" A female shaped Yuuei student uniform exclaimed in a bright and cheery voice, her body entirely one hundred percent invisible. The only thing he could note about her was how her clothes clung to her body to identify her rough femininity through contact on her body. Still, she seemed happy enough. And definitely cute.

"I'm uh, Kyoka Jiro." The edgy dark haired girl murmured with a faint flush to her cheeks, her fingers nervously coming up to twirl around one of her earlobes that seemed to double as headphone jacks. She was a petite fair skinned girl with onyx eyes and a long eyelashes.

"It's yours truly! I am the extravagant Yuga Aoyama, monsieur." The next to speak up was a flamboyant teen with long blond hair and an impeccable smile, literally sparkling in the back of the classroom. His inclusion of French wasn't missed by the rest of the class.

"U-Um, my name is Tsuyu Asui, ribbit." There was a sort of froggy tone to the next girl who introduced herself, slightly hunched over with a slender yet slightly plump build around her chest and hips. She had wide staring eyes and long black eyelashes, dark sea green hair that grew down to her rear end in length as well. She seemed nervous, not of him particularly, but of everyone. Although that could be said for a handful of them.

"Mashirao Ojiro." Another plain looking boy introduced himself calmly, a friendly smile marring his face. He had short cut dark blond hair and jet black eyes. His outstanding trait had to be the large muscular tail protruding from his rear end, something he seemed to have great control over.

The next girl to stand up was undeniably gorgeous looking, beautiful long black hair pulled up into a tight ponytail that accentuated her sharp intellectual onyx eyes. She had a sort of mature business woman air about her, likely coming from a rich family. Holding a hand to her more then sizable chest, she addressed him as well as the class. "Hello. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. Pleased to make everyone's acquaintance." She offered a curt respectful bow, before taking her seat once more.

"Shoto Todoroki." The handsome if cold gazed teen with the hair color split down the middle introduced without seemingly any warmth in his voice whatsoever. The right side of his head was covered in frosty white locks, with the left a faded red. Curiously the left side of his face was burned around his eye, subsequently changing it to a bright cyan as well.

"Hello everyone! My name is Ochaco Uraraka! It's a pleasure to meet everyone, and I hope we can all become good friends!" The brunette he'd met at the hospital had made it into Yuuei as well, and it just so happened that she made it into his class. She tossed him a friendly wave when she'd seen him come in, a genuine beaming smile that lifted his spirits almost immediately.

"I'm the super powerful Minoru Mineta!" A rather short boy exclaimed with an audible lisp, barely standing at three and a half feet tall. He had a rather suspicious look on his face, and although Izuku wasn't one to jump to conclusions…

Well…

Anyway.

"Yo! My name's Rikido Sato. I know I can look pretty mean, but it's nothing personal." The six foot one buff teen muttered nervously, clearly self conscious about it. He was also very well built with short cropped brown hair and pronounced lips.

Izuku let out a breath, doing his very best to commit each and every one of their names to memory. There was eighteen of them, classmates besides him, totaling nineteen. Each and every one of them were completely different from each other in big, big ways, and he couldn't wait to get to know them all over the course of his hero career here.

But, with introductions out of the way, it did bring up something concerning.

The class was supposed to be twenty large.

They were missing a student.

"Are we missing someone?" Momo spoke softly, hands carefully laid in her lap.

"Yeah what gives? We're supposed to be a team of twenty!" Kirishima grumbled, his boisterous attitude faltering slightly in worry. "You think they forgot about their first day at Yuuei?"

"Nah! No way man!" Sero laughed his concern off. "Who sleeps through a day like this?" He shook his head.

"Anyone know who it's supposed to be?" Mina chimed in, resting her cheeks on her hand, elbow up on the desk.

"Pshh, if they ain't here then they don't deserve to be." Katsuki snorted.

Izuku sighed. "Kacchan…" He whined, tugging on the explosive teen's arm.

"Tsk, fine! If they manage to get here on time then maybe they deserve a second chance." He, (corrected) himself with barely restrained irritation, to the disbelief of most of the room.

Izuku nodded to himself. "Better." He clicked his tongue, ignoring the wide eyed shock that most of the class sent his way. How he seemed to be able to defuse the crazy blond they'd no idea. But either way, it seemed as if true to Katsuki's words the final arrival was late.

"Oh god I hope it's not that crazy lady from my exam! She was terrifying!" Mineta whined, looking as if he wanted to hide underneath his table in fear. "She was blowing up robots left and right by just touching them! She'd move so fast that you couldn't even see her, there one second then gone the next! She even blew up the giant Zero Pointer!"

Mina raised an eyebrow in a mix of disbelief and awe. "She sounds amazing. What are you whining about?" Her eyebrows raised teasingly. "A boy like you salty that a woman can be amazing too?"

Mineta looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Y-You don't know what I saw! She had these evil red eyes a-and those large fangs and glowing red hair and that sneer on her face! I'm pretty sure she would've killed me if I looked at her wrong!"

"What uh… did she look like?" Mina raised an eyebrow, her face beginning to flush as he looked towards the entrance while everyone else stared at the short guy like he was crazy, yet were too invested to look away.

Like watching a car crash…

The purple haired boy hid underneath his table, shivering as if he could feel her very gaze upon him right then and there. "She was five foot six with these long legs with nothing covering them save for those super short cut black shorts that hung super low on her hips, which was super sexy because she's got that snatched waistline and those rippling abs that flexed every time she moved. Her boobs are nice too, not too big and certainly not small, probably a good high c cup, very respectable for a woman as fit as her. And her hair? It flared out backwards in that cool main character kind of way from those super hero anime's, but like the under half of her hair was this bright red and it's like hot and cool at the same time! She's got these furry ears poking out from the top of her head like the catgirls from that cafe downtown and a tiny tail sticking out from that spot just above her butt, did I tell you she has an amazing ass? Her thighs are plump but in a good way, somehow shapely despite how strong they are and she's got this wicked tan that makes her skin this sexy milk chocolate tan to it that's just unbelievable! I bet she spends a lot of time outside in the sun with nothing on, god I could only hope to see that…" He drooled, head lost in the clouds.

"U-Uh… dude?" Sero tried, sweat pouring down the side of his face as he glanced fearfully towards the doorway. "You should probably stop-"

"Hey Mineta-?" Kirishima called out, but it was of no use.

"Dude, and she's got these fangs that make her look like some kind of like vampire chick which is super hot and scary at the same time. Her eyes are always super angry though, a total turn off in my opinion. I mean what guy wants to be looked at like that all day? Sheesh."

"Dude, shut the hell-" Denki hissed.

"All in all, total drop dead gorgeous baddy who's a total steal! She's super scary though, like the kind of girl that'll kill you if you look at her wrong or like talk shit about her. Which like, is sort of a turn on too in my opinion. Those teeth might get in the way if she wants to go down on someone, but maybe that's the thrill of-" Mineta finally came down from his cloud of self indulgent thoughts and daydreams when he realized that the classroom had grown significantly hotter.

Suddenly feeling as if he'd made a grievous mistake, he slowly turned towards the door to the classroom to find the girl he'd literally just stripped naked in his head standing there with a disgusted and dare he say it, horrified look plastered across her face. Her upper lip was pulled back in something akin to mortified fury, the act exposing her extra long sharp incisor as her red slitted eye twitched violently, brain short circuiting as she tried to contemplate what the fuck she'd just stood there and listened to…

From start to finish.

"What the fuc-" The words ripped out of her mouth without her even noticing, feet rooted to the spot as she tried to decide the next course of action. The decision to murder him and threaten every else in the room into silence, or just pretend like everything she's just heard hadn't happened and continue on with her day. Which all things considered she was totally tired and she wasn't feeling too interested in letting this pervert ruin her first day by getting to her.

At least he wasn't talking shit like those posers from the exam a week ago. He was just describing her in a very…

Very detailed way.

"Affectionate-!" Mineta squeaked, as if adding that last bit of context to his rampant perversion would clear everything up and save his sorry hide. The girl stared at him with murder floating around her head for a grand total of three seconds before she blew out a sigh, closing her eyes as she took everything that had just happened in the last two minutes and tossed it out the window never to be seen again.

"Right…" She murmured, opening her eyes to level a gaze at the rest of the class seeing as she had their undivided attention. The thing was, she wasn't as offended as they probably thought she'd been at hearing what he'd said, mainly because it was all technically true, and it sort of stroked her ego hard. It was pretty much the only reason he was still breathing through his nose, or at all for that matter.

"I'd introduce myself but I guess that cat's out of the bag." She murmured with a hint of red dusting her cheeks, hand reaching up to grasp the strap of her backpack. "My name's Shadow Robotnik." She introduced lamely, much to Katsuki's disappointment.

"Come on! What sort of entrance is that?" He scoffed.

Her row of sharp teeth, much like a certain redhead in the room, flashed his way in a low growl. "Suck a dick." She murmured lowly.

He grinned. "See! That's the spirit."

"Robotnik? You mean like the same multi billion dollar company Robotnik?" Denki exclaimed in surprise, looking at her like she'd grown a second head.

"The one and the same, indeed." It was Momo who answered for the, shooting the other black haired girl a friendly familiar smile. "I'm glad to see you passed the entrance exam as well, Shadow." She said with a genuine little smile.

"Fancy meeting you here Momo." Shadow smirked over at the other girl.

"Y-You two know each other?" Jiro gawked, glancing between the two rich girls.

"Our parents often met for business related reasons when we were younger, so we've known each other since we were kids." Momo explained simply, happy to see a familiar face in her classroom.

Simply put they knew each other because their parents were filthy stinking rich, but that went unsaid. But everyone was thinking it...

Shadow glanced around the room for a moment, taking in everyone's face before she clicked her tongue in contentment. She let Izuku go, smiling down at him in such a way that it made that heat rise to his cheeks very quickly once again, her fanged grin sending a pleasant shiver down his spine. What Mineta said earlier about her teeth rang out in the back of his mind with vivid imagery, only making his blush worse. His embarrassment, however, faded away when he realized that the reason she wasn't wearing the stockings like the other girls was due to the fact that her right leg was still bandaged up from her injuries.

"I uh.. broke my leg destroying that Zero Pointer. Woke up in the hospital a couple days later I guess…" She muttered in embarrassment once she saw his worried look, knowing that she was in for an earful from her worry wort of a boyfriend.

"Hah! Told you she'd fuck something up!" Bakugo laughed, an approving smirk on his face. "Battle scars, bitches." He exclaimed aloud.

"Would you quit it!" Mina hissed at him.

"Bite me!" The blond snapped back.

"Don't threaten me with a good time." Mina suddenly stood up, the dangerous look she sent the other teen had him flustered.

Izuku already knew how she'd gotten herself hurt, but it still worried him that she was still wearing those bandages. But before he could even get a word in edgewise, someone else beat him to it. Shadow's face flushed when Ochaco smiled her way, the girl she'd risked her life to save waving her over. If everyone thought Mineta nerding out over her escapades during the exam were a bit much then they hadn't heard the brunette's retelling of the scene.

"She was all, "don't worry my lady, I'll save you!' And then bam she destroyed the Zero Pointer with a single kick! Next thing I know she was carrying me away from the explosion at this crazy speed, my eyes couldn't even keep up!" Was the over enthusiastic retelling from the brunette's perspective, put together with expressive arm swinging and sparkling eyes to boot.

It was something that Ochaco was apparently all too eager to recount as well, with the amount of excitement and energy like that of a fan running into their celebrity crush for the first time. Shadow herself found it strange having someone fawning over her for what she'd done, never really having had someone beside Izuku be this excited about something she'd accomplished before.

However…

"You." Tenya suddenly spoke up, approaching the ruby red eyed girl briskly. Shadow found herself unconsciously tensing as the guy she'd had multiple bad interactions with on the day of the exam approached her with a sudden intensity. She was expecting him to cut into her again like he'd done twice over already, and her shoulders squared up tightly in preparation for a fight, an almost fight or flight response overtaking her as all those emotions he'd conjured up in her that day came rushing back to the surface without warning.

Tenya felt like he'd been struck with a weapon upon seeing her unconscious and fearful response to his approach, realizing in horror that he'd left the worst possible impact on her that day. Swallowing his pride he tried not to take offense upon seeing her take a precautionary step back from him, the lean muscles in her legs tightening in response to his close proximity.

"Please, don't be alarmed." He exclaimed as softly as he could, bowing lowly before her, blue hair flopping in front of his eyes. Shadow sucked in a breath, but didn't say anything in response. "I wanted to sincerely apologize for my words and my actions the other day at the exam center. What I said to you was out of line and completely uncalled for, and for that I apologize." He was curt and almost aggressively polite, but not in a way that made him seem fake or uncanny.

Shadow's cheeks heated up as he suddenly grabbed her hand, looking at her with a strange level of intensity as he stood back up. "You showed me that day what a true hero was like, rushing in to save Ochaco here without any hesitation. That's when I realized that my prior estimations of you were wrong. I only hope that with fate bringing us together in Yuuei that you can find it in yourself to forgive this foolish man for his mistakes. As a student, no, a hero in training you are far superior to me."

Shadow didn't say anything, voice getting caught in her throat, unable to hide the way her hand quivered in the grasp of his own. He probably didn't mean it but just bringing it all up had the unfortunate side effect of making her insecurities rear their ugly heads at the worst possible time.

Didn't he understand? He wasn't wrong about his assessment of her, he'd hit the nail on the head that day and that's what scared her. He'd not been wrong about her being a faker, he'd sussed her out immediately, even if he was now under the impression that he'd been wrong about her.

Saving Ochaco was…

W-Well obviously she was going to do it! It didn't make her some sort of hero or anything, it's what anyone would've done in her position. Just doing what needed to have been done in that situation didn't make her any better of a person, she was still that same selfish self centered woman that she was before the exam…

Didn't he understand that?

Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

All this noble speak of being a great hero was seriously wrong, because those words shouldn't have been wasted on someone like her.

Mood suddenly turning sour she yanked her hand away from him, holding to her chest like it had been burned by his mere presence. Biting her lips to hold back the strangled internal screaming that had threatened to burst forth she at least tried to be somewhat polite, as rude and curt as it ended up coming out. "Thanks…" She muttered sharply, not at all intending to use that much heat in addressing him but she couldn't care enough to try that again.

Tenya recoiled slightly at the vitriol in her tone, but refused to make a face about it, knowing that he was entirely to blame for her misgivings about him. His presence there today certainly must had shocked her and he knew when he was unwelcome. Bowing his head in defeat he offered her another sincere apology before moving to take his seat across the classroom from her.

With that conversation having come to an unsatisfactory and abrupt end, no one really felt the need to start one back up again as they all sort of took their seats, mood's having diminished a bit since her arrival even though she wasn't really to blame.

Shadow heaved a quiet sigh as she took the last empty seat beside Mineta, the short boy freaking out when she slumped into her seat with a particularly sour expression on her face, that one incisor of hers revealing itself from the unconscious sneer that had taken up residence on her face, as well as the rest of hwr sharp teeth. "What?" She snapped lowly upon seeing his staring, a low animalistic growl emanating from the back of her throat in warning.

He squeaked, moving to look forward so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. "N-Nothing!" He cried, sweating bullets at the horrific reality that he'd landed the seat directly next to her. What was his horrible luck today?!

Either way, however, all conversation if there had been any left stopped when the classroom door opened one final time.

"Huh, surprisingly quiet in here today. Good." A rather unkempt man muttered as he stepped into the classroom, his long messy black locks draped down over his white scarf and jet black uniform. He was overall a bit slender, tall and pale skinned with an unkempt look about him that seemed to elude to a terrible lack of sleep especially given the bags underneath his black eyes. Either way his presence seemed to demand a certain amount of respect and attention as everyone waited for him to introduce himself.

He blew out a sigh as he stood behind the front desk. ''Maybe they have some talent yet.'' He thought with a tired voice inside his head. "Alright kids, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. I'm Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher."

The class blinked in surprise, clearly having not been expecting that this scraggly man was to be their teacher. They supposed that looks could be deceiving…

"Now put on these PE outfits and meet me outside in five minutes. Clock's ticking." He muttered, pulling out a generic blue and red uniform before tossing it to Izuku who caught it without thinking.

"B-But what about orientation?" Ochaco raised her hand to ask in worry, feeling as if they were going to miss it entirely at this point.

"You want to join the big leagues then you don't have time to play around. Outside, five minutes, let's go." He practically ordered, leaving the room behind.

Izuku looked between Shadow and Tenya, feeling utterly helpless so as to find a way to resolve whatever issue had arisen. She'd not mentioned anything about whatever had happened to him, but it wasn't like they'd talked at all since the exam began, so he was left thoroughly lost in this situation. He just hoped that it wouldn't cause a problem in the class symmetry in the future...

Chapter

9

End