"Hey Eraser, can I ask you something?" Ms. Joke asked moving closer to the already irritated Aizawa.
"I'm not gonna go out with you."
"THAT'S FUNNY!" Ms. Joke burst out laughing before clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "I was actually wondering why you didn't tell your students about the crushing of U.A."
"What difference would it have made?" Aizawa said scratching his neck before crossing his arms and keeping his attention on as many of his scattered students as possible.
"What do you mean?"
"Let me tell you something about my class: they need to prepared for anything. Sometimes we get thrown into the fray with barely any details about what we have to do. Me keeping things from them is to get them ready for any situation." Aizawa explained before sitting back and keeping his attention on four students in particular.
"I think you like your class this year."
"Don't be stupid."
"I'm just saying, we all saw the Sports Festival and while we saw what they could do: there are things only people who are already leading others can see." Ms. Joke said as she looked at Izuku, then Katsuki, then Shoto, then Hayato.
"What are you going on about?"
"Playing dumb? Fine if you really want me to explain myself: you have four people leading the charge for your class. The son of the new number one who's a prodigy with an already powerful quirk." Ms. Joke said as they watched Shoto battle against a group of students in ninja-like outfits, creating a wall of ice to shield himself from nuts and bolts that were growing in size before unleashing a stream of fire to try to melt them. "You've got the winner of the first-year division. You see his rough personality and you'd think he's more fit to be a villain at first glance. But his drive to be number one and skills with that powerful Quirk of his makes him quite a force to reckoned with." Ms. Joke said as they turned their attention to Katsuki who was firing several compressed explosions at a group of other examinees with Denki and Eijiro getting ready to charge behind him. "But your golden boys are the real stars of the show." Finally they both split their attention between Izuku who jumped into the air ready to unleash his ranged attacks with Ochaco and Hanta in the air behind him, and Hayato who ran with Hitoshi on his back and Kyoka in his arms to avoid a flurry of balls being thrown at them. "We all know about Togata being the closest to being number one, but I think those two are going to give him a run for his money. I'm not gonna sell my students short...but those four are setting the bar higher and higher, and they don't leave everyone else behind. They keep their hands out and pull their classmates up with them." Ms. Joke said closing her eyes and smiling while Aizawa simply shook his head and kept his attention focused on as much of his students as possible. But when he felt that she wasn't looking, Aizawa smirked as he silently agreed with her.
"See you guys!" Mira yelled waving to her group of friends as she arrived at her family's apartment building after a day out with them. She happily went up the stairs and skipped all the way to the door...only to be met with a group of police officers standing outside. She stopped and walked forward, confused as to why they were there. "Ummm...hello?"
"Do you live here?" One of the officers asked turning to the young Kiryuu.
"Yeah? Did something happen?" Mira asked before watching the officer turn around and quietly speak into his radio. After a few seconds and hearing a hard to understand voice come from the radio, the officer turned around and opened the door for Mira: revealing her parents and Detective Tsukauchi sitting in their living room. "Mom? Dad? What's going on?"
"Is this her?" Tsukauchi asked making Raito nod. He turned to Mira and stood up, walking over to her and extending his hand to her. "I'm Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, I'm a friend of your grandfather's and of your brother."
"Um...hi I guess? Why are you here?"
"Mira, I don't know how to tell you this...hell, I don't even know how we're even going to be able to break it to Hayato." Tsukauchi said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Your grandfather went missing. He was following a lead on the League of Villains and I wound up losing an entire squad of S.W.A.T. officers, but the biggest loss was the disappearance of Gran Torino." Tsukauchi said making Mira drop her phone as she suddenly felt her heart drop further and further with each word he spoke.
"H-How do you know he's not..."
"Your grandpa is a tough old man. He won't go down that easily, but we need to locate him as quickly as possible before I get proven wrong." Tsukauchi said turning to the older Kiryuus behind him. "I promise to you both, especially for Hayato's sake, we will locate Gran Torino."
"For Hayato's sake? What does that mean?" Mira asked as she reached for her phone, ready to dial her older brother, while Tsukauchi remembered the first time he met Hayato.
"When I first met him, I was investigating the USJ Incident. It was when the League of Villains attacked U.A. on their campus but Hayato missed out that day. It was the day he lost your other grandfather, and he's currently taking his exam for his Provisional Hero License. I saw how he was that day and I doubt he would take this sort of news well. Gran Torino would kick all of our butts and tell us we have no right to take his grandson's focus away from one of his biggest checkpoints towards his hero career." Tsukauchi said reaching for his hat and coat and began to head towards the door. Before he opened it to leave, he turned towards Mira and gave her a hopeful smile as he remembered a conversation he had with Gran Torino the week before. "He's going to be fine, don't worry."
"Heads up!" Hayato yelled catching a ball and throwing it back at the crowd of examinees chasing them while Hitoshi and Kyoka stood behind him breathing heavily.
"Damn it, how the hell are we gonna deal with these people?" Hitoshi asked as he held his throat in pain after trying to use his Quirk on as many enemies as possible. They then looked up in the distance to see a cyclone with several of the balls swirling inside it before suddenly shifting down. The three 1-A students then took the opportunity while the other hero students hunting them were looking where the cyclone was in shock to escape and hide in a nearby building.
"Wh-What?! There were 120 people eliminated?! A single person took out 120 people by himself?!" The three's eyes widened as they heard the announcement making Kyoka gulp, Hitoshi grit his teeth, and Hayato cover his face with his hands.
"What kind of monster could do something like that?" Kyoka asked making Hitoshi shrug before they noticed how the white haired Speedster in front of them was silent, as if he was...afraid. "Hayato?"
"Kiryuu, what's going on with you?" Hitoshi asked only for Hayato to start trembling before bursting out laughing. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Sorry sorry. I was just thinking about what kind of guy could do something as crazy as that, and I felt my heart begin to race because it just makes me excited to think about." Hayato said taking off his cowl and fixing his hair.
"Well unless you were also thinking about a way to make sure we pass, then keep it to a minimum." Hitoshi said jamming his index finger into Hayato's forehead.
"Look at Aizawa junior over here."
"I think I've got an idea." Kyoka spoke up catching the two's attention and pointed at the device around Hitoshi's neck. "You can mimic voices with that right?"
"Basically."
"Hayato, you and I are going to let him take the lead and..."
"We're pretty much pinned down, aren't we?" Hanta asked opening his visor to look at Izuku and Ochaco who were hiding next to him, all three of them breathing heavily after spending most of their time after splitting up with the rest of their class running from the other students hunting them.
"Yeah. Don't you think we should take the offensive now?" Ochaco asked looking at her boyfriend who shook his head in disagreement.
"It's that moment of desperation to escape that they'll take advantage of. You heard that over a hundred examinees just got eliminated, we need to play it safely even if it means hiding until the last minute." Izuku said closing his eyes to think before feeling an odd sense of excitement make his heart begin to race. He then began to laugh before suddenly seeing an image of Hayato sitting down as if he was speaking to someone. 'Hayato?' The image of Hayato suddenly turned around as if he had heard his voice. But then Izuku's eyes snapped open feeling something wrap around him and looked to see he was in the air with some of Hanta's tape wrapped around him.
"What are you doing dozing off like that, Midoriya?!" Hanta asked making Izuku grit his teeth and look at the group of examinees they were running from before beginning to reel his arm back.
'I don't know what I just saw, but it's clear that I can't take my time and fall behind here!' He pushed One for All to his current limit and burst free from Hanta's tape, surprising both him and Ochaco as the green haired Hero got ready to attack. 'We're going to make it! And no one is going to stop us! One for All: Full Cowling! 25 percent! Detroit Smash!' Izuku swung his arm forward and unleashed a burst of wind, hitting several examinees to the ground and creating a cloud of dust that hid both him and his two classmates once they landed on the ground. Izuku, Hanta, and Ochaco all smiled as they took advantage of their situation to eliminate three downed examinees and the three targets on their bodies lit up with a blue light.
"Three people have been eliminated and three have passed!" The three 1-A students lit up with smiles on their faces with excitement hearing the announcement before hearing another voice come from their targets. "This brings the number of those that have passed up to 56, come on and hurry up! We're already past the halfway mark for passing numbers so if you want to pass you better hurry and finish!"
"Those who have passed should go to the anteroom." The three nodded at one another before a thought crossed Izuku's head again as the shocked expression on Hayato's face reappeared.
'What was it that I saw?'
"More than half have passed already? Oh man this is gonna be hard." A group of three examinees stood near where they had last seen the three 1-A students run to.
"And all 100 spots have been filled!" The group looked up in shock hearing Mera's voice announce the end of the exam, only for their bodies to suddenly freeze as if they lost control of them. "Or so you think. Thank god I trained my Quirk to affect more than just one person at once." Hitoshi walked out of the building adjusting the respirator-like face mask he moved from his neck to over his mouth with his voice changing from Mera's back to his as he fiddled with a knob on the side of it. "You really thought you had us trapped didn't you? Be good heroes and stand still while they take care of you lot." Hitoshi said removing the mask from his face back to his neck as he walked to a lizard-like examinee and pressed a ball on all three targets.
"I hope you're fast enough to get them in mid-air, Hayato!" Kyoka yelled running out as well and connecting her jacks to the speakers on her boots. "Heartbeat Distortion!" Kyoka yelled using her super move to snap the examinees out of Hitoshi's brainwashing and make them cover their ears, revealing all of their targets for one quick moment. "You're up, Breakneck!" Kyoka dug into her jacket pocket and threw three balls at the group.
"I'm just taking orders today aren't I?" Hayato asked as time for him came to an almost complete stop as he walked up to the scene and looked at the situation closely. He then walked over to an examinee wearing a tiger-like outfit with his targets in an almost perfect position to where Kyoka's three balls were headed and moved him in front of them. He then walked to the last one that looked as if he was made of rock and took out his ball quickly pressing it on all three targets. He then walked over to Hitoshi's side as the light purple haired hero was walking away and took off his mask. "And time resumes." Hayato chuckled deactivating his quirk making everything resume at normal speed and watched as the examinee he moved had his targets hit by Kyoka's balls.
"And another three have passed, bringing the total that have passed to 64!" The actual Mera's voice echoed through the stadium as Kyoka ran to the two's side and high fived them with a proud smile on her face.
"We did it!" Kyoka said before hearing the same message from their targets that Izuku, Hanta, and Ochaco had heard.
"Those who have passed should go to the anteroom."
"You heard her, let's move." Hitoshi said walking away from the two towards where a large sign that said "Anteroom" was pointing.
"I think we both know that he's actually excited he made it past the first stage. And it's all thanks to your genius plan." Hayato chuckled smiling at Kyoka who returned it with one of her own and a happy nod. As the two were beginning to walk away, Hayato looked up at the sky as something strange had been bothering him: right before they executed Kyoka's plan...it was if he was looking at Izuku behind him, clear as day, and even his voice sounded like he was right behind him. Except when Kyoka had gotten his attention after he turned around to look at him, he was gone.
"Wait, is that who I think it is?" Ochaco asked as their group arrived at the anteroom and they looked to see the group of Hitoshi, Kyoka, and Hayato arriving at the same time they were. "Hayato! Jiro!" Ochaco yelled waving to them.
"Oh, Ochaco! You guys passed already?" Hayato asked raising a hand to greet them while the brown haired girl smiled and nodded.
"Yup! Thanks to Deku." Ochaco said skipping over to Izuku and planting a kiss on his cheek, making the ninth One for All user blush and hold his cheek.
"That's great to hear, I wonder who else is inside." Kyoka said looking at the door to enter.
"You guys go ahead and check, I wanna talk to Izuku for a sec." Hayato said making Kyoka and Ochaco nod and walk in, followed by Hitoshi and Hanta who looked at each other without knowing what to say to each other.
"What's up?"
"How much were you holding back?" Hayato asked crossing his arms.
"Um...I accidentally went overboard and used 25 percent. That's why Ochaco said we passed thanks to me." Izuku explained rubbing the back of his head. Hayato chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving his brother a reassuring smile as well.
"Practice makes perfect, partner." Hayato said before looking up again.
"What is it?"
"I dunno...I have a bad feeling about something." Hayato said crossing his arms and looking down back to Izuku.
"Like what?"
"No clue, I just feel like something bad's gonna happen." Hayato explained before shaking his head and turning to the door. "Come on, Jiro had a point with wondering who passed already."
"Yeah, let's go see." Izuku said following Hayato inside to see the crowd of examinees that had already passed. They looked around to see who they recognized from their class until they saw Shoto standing with a cup in his hands. "Todoroki!"
"Midoriya. Kiryuu." Shoto said turning to see the two as they walked up to him. "I'm relieved you two made it."
"Glad to see you did as well, but what else could we expect from the son of the new number one hero?" Izuku asked making Hayato lightly slap the back of his head while Shoto shook his.
"It's unofficial still, we'll have to wait for the Hero Billboard Chart in the coming months." Shoto said before smiling at the two. "There's 15 of us that have passed now."
"15? Who else passed?" Izuku asked making Shoto point out their classmates.
"Shinso and Sero just walked in with Uraraka and Jiro, that makes four. Before them Bakugo, Kirishima, and Kaminari came in as well. And shortly after I did Yaoyorozu arrived with Ojiro, Ashido, Asui, and Shoji. And counting the three of us that makes 15." Shoto explained pointing at each classmate before turning back to look at Izuku and Hayato, only to see the Speedster was missing. "Where did-"
"Where do you think? Lover boy's excited to see the love of his life passed." Izuku said chuckling as he knew where Hayato went before noticing Shoto looking slightly uncomfortable. "You alright?"
"I'm fine."
"You sure, because the moment I mentioned Hayato and Yaoyorozu you looked bothered." Izuku said before a thought crossed his mind. "Wait do you like her?" Izuku whispered making Shoto shake his head. "Then...what is it?"
"Well, can I count on you not to tell Kiryuu?"
"If you don't want Hayato to know, does it involve him?"
"In a way, yes. You see..." Shoto leaned in and whispered into Izuku's eyes widen more and more with each word that was whispered. Meanwhile on the far side of the room: Momo was speaking with Eijiro about how they had passed until she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, making her yelp slightly from surprise.
"You guys make it out alright?" Hayato asked looking at Eijiro while Momo tried freeing herself from her boyfriend's hug.
"Yeah! A little banged up thanks to this weird meatball Quirk this guy from Shiketsu hit me and Bakugo with. But we're good now and we passed the first test!" Eijiro explained as quickly as he could while giving him a thumbs up. Hayato chuckled and gave him one as well before the red haired boy decided to go speak with Mina who was talking to Kyoka and Tsuyu nearby as well.
"Well that was a little rude." Momo whispered as she couldn't help but blush slightly from Hayato's warm embrace.
"Sorry, I was just so glad to hear and see that you passed the first exam." Hayato said before planting a kiss on the back of her head. "Was it difficult for you guys?"
"We were trapped by students from Seiai Academy led by this girl with strategies and counters to virtually everything we did. She knew I would have to use my lipid supply by rendering everyone else useless and worked hard to try to take me out, even after losing her group to a plan I came up with taking inspiration from Jiro's Quirk." Momo explained leaving Hayato speechless as she explained what her group went through. "Lucky for me, Ashido wasn't one to just leave me behind and used her acid to melt the door after she locked us in the hallway in a last ditch effort to eliminate me."
"Sounds rough."
"You could try being a little bit prouder of me." Momo scoffed before feeling his arms wrap tighter around her.
"Momo, you beat someone who's Quirk sounds like it was literally being super smart. There are no words, in any language ever created, that could describe how proud I am right now of my beautiful and wonderful girlfriend." Hayato said making Momo smile and place her hands on his.
"I love how sappy you can be sometimes."
"Probably not as much as I do you." Hayato whispered making Momo's eyes widen and her blush grow.
"M-Me or that I'm sappy."
"You, duh." Hayato chuckled before an announcement snapped them out of their moment.
"And all 100 spots have been filled! Now I must regretfully tell everyone else that they must withdraw now." Mera announced shocking the Class 1-A students as they noticed that Tenya's group hadn't arrived yet.
"Oh no..." Izuku whispered before the door to the anteroom opened and in walked Tenya's group of him, Toru, Yuga, Fumikage, and Koji with victorious and relieved grins on their faces. "Iida!"
"You guys made it!" Momo yelled as their classmates minus Hitoshi, Shoto, and Bakugo ran up to the missing five to greet them.
"It was pure luck for us, honestly." Tenya admitted letting out a sigh before feeling a hand on his shoulder, opening his eyes to see it was Izuku giving him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, as long as you all made it. That's all that matters." Izuku said before all of Class 1-A raised their hands victoriously.
"All of U.A. made it! It's time to keep going beyond!" Tenya yelled making his classmates yell in agreement.