Chapter 7: Chapter 6: New Beginnings
The lock clicks as Toshinori relocks it after his entry. He tried knocking and calling, but it appeared that young Melissa got too lost in her own work again. The studio apartment she rented had been refitted with power tools, machinery and computers, practically transforming it into a workshop. He finds her sleeping, slumped over the table again with a couple tools in hand. He chuckles, with memories of seeing her father in the same position filling his mind.
"Young Melissa, it is unhealthy to sleep like that." He admonishes, shaking her awake.
She snaps awake and nearly stumbles out of her chair before realising who woke her up. It was still a sight to get used to, her hero in his skeletal looking form.
"Uncle Might?" she exclaims in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"Why am I here?" he chuckles, "I'm here to celebrate your acceptance into UA of course. And to explain myself. You probably heard from my message that I was going to teach at UA?"
"Yeah, it was a surprise." she nods, "I nearly fell out of my seat when I heard that. Is it because of One for All?"
"Well, to be honest, my position in UA was discussed far before I decided you would be my successor." he confesses, and Melissa looks surprised before looking down.
"Yeah…I guess that makes sense. Where else would you go to but the world's greatest hero school." she admits it was perfectly logical, because she would've done the same in his position to guarantee the best possible person to receive One for All, "Do you…have second thoughts?"
She asks worriedly before Toshinori laughs off her concerns, "Of course not. I don't regret choosing you one moment, besides the Quirk is yours now. I can't exactly ask you to hand it back like some old hat I lent you."
"Thanks Uncle Might." she smiles at the praise before looking sour, "But, really? The past week I've been wondering if I'm really cut out for this. Even with your power I barely got in, if it weren't for those rescue points I wouldn't have. And plenty of others got much more points than I did."
"Nonsense, Melissa." he admonishes as he chops her head lightly, snapping her out of her funk, "You got in because of your own will and determination. Who was it that designed the equipment allowing you to use 5% of OFA reliably? You. And who was it that leaped to rescue those two? You! The spirit of a hero burns brightly in you, you only need to have a little faith in yourself."
"You're right." she smiles as she rubs the spot that Toshinori smacks on her head, "I will. But if you don't mind, since you're here, I have a question."
"Hm? Go ahead, I'll do my best to answer."
"That boy who scored the Number 1 spot in the exam. What was his Quirk?" She asks as Toshinori's smile fell, "It's been bugging me all week. That girl, Ochako Uraraka, had some sort of touch-based Quirk that affects weight. And I saw that Ida kid has engines on his legs that lets him run fast. But I couldn't figure out just what that guy's Quirk is. Do you have any ideas? He's going to be a student after all."
She may be studying to be a hero but she was a scientist first. And the boy's Quirk made little sense, some sort of superspeed, being able to heal, some sort of telekinesis and she even saw what appeared to be a fireball forming before he almost collapsed from exhaustion. They just didn't add up, where was their common element?
"It was like he had multiple Quirks." she mutters before seeing the look at her mentor's face, "Is something wrong, Uncle Might?"
"It's…nothing. I'm fine, Melissa." He put on a smile immediately but she saw through it.
"Uncle Might, we promised no more secrets didn't we?"
She recalls as Toshinori sighs. He supposes this is what he gets for choosing a successor close to him, she'll see through most of his lies like they weren't even there. After that incident involving I-Island where he had run out of time and was caught by Melissa, after explaining about how he was crippled by a villain attack, after seeing her courage in action during the incident and deciding to make her his successor, she made him swear that he'll be honest from now on.
"Remember the fight I mentioned? The one five years ago that crippled my ability to be a hero?" he asks as he rubs his weak spot, "I can't tell you all the details but the villain I fought, he had multiple Quirks as well."
Melissa's eyes widened in shock as he continued, "For years he ruled the criminal underworld with an iron fist with his Quirk. The ability to take Quirks, not only that, but to give Quirks as well. Many of his most loyal and powerful followers would benefit from such a boon, obtaining a second or third Quirk."
Melissa widens her eyes at the implication, "So you mean that guy-?!"
"I'm not sure about that." he quickly interrupts her, not wanting to even entertain the thought, "I saw the bastard's corpse get cremated myself. Burnt it to ash and then I personally threw them into the nearest volcano just to make sure. He is gone. I'm sure of that."
She baulks at that, the idea of All Might killing a villain just seemed unreal. But then she thinks about how strong the villain must have been to do so much damage to him, and realised he may not have had a choice.
"But then, why are you so scared if this villain's dead?" she asks.
"Because this kid, Izuku Midoirya, went missing ten years ago. Reports said he had a teleportation Quirk of sorts. Now he showed up nearly a month ago, with completely different abilities and joined the UA Entrance Exam." he explains, "I could be wrong. This wouldn't be the first time I saw a variable Quirk and instantly thought of him. But he had a large empire, and his reach was far. He may have a handful of agents out there looking for revenge that I have somehow missed."
Melissa pales at the implications, "So…you're saying that a villain could be attending UA?"
Instead of nodding, Toshinori just sighs, "I truly do not know. It could be that this is just the paranoia of an old man. This could just be completely unrelated. I hope I'm wrong but if I'm right, then we could be looking at an insidious undercover agent."
***
"Look at you." Inko says proudly to her son in his UA uniform, "You look so cool, Izuku. Don't you think so, Eri."
The little girl shyly nods her head. But he notices that she looks sad and worried as well, so Izuku chuckles and kneels down to her eye level, patting her head.
"Hey Eri, don't worry. I'll just be gone for a few hours." he assures with a smile as he notices the puzzle box in her arms, "And look at that, you almost solved that? You're a smart girl, Eri."
It was a puzzle box gifted to him by Terferi a few years back on his birthday. It was a good exercise for his mind, and as he recently discovered, a wonderful toy for kids to keep their minds occupied. It's been taking her days and she's made little progress but she was enjoying the process of trying to solve it. Besides someone her age making progress on that puzzle box was astounding in his opinion.
"Maybe when I come back I can help you finish if you're still not done? Perhaps over some candy apples?"
She brightens up at the mention of that, "You promise?"
Izuku smiles and offers his pinky, "Yep. Pinky promise."
She wraps her own pinky finger around his as they shook on it, with Inko squealing as she snaps photos with her phone.
"I'm sorry, but this is all just too cute." She says, "Don't mind this old lady, just carry on."
Izuku laughs before turning to Eri, "Take care of my mother while I'm gone, won't you? I'll be back before you know it."
He says his goodbyes one last time before he begins his journey to the train station. It was cramped like before but he does his best to bear with the situation, pulling out his phone and checking it to take his mind off things. To his delight he sees a message from Kyoka Jirou.
"Almost at the station. Hby?"
When they discovered they were dropping off at the same station closest to UA they collaborated to meet up there and walk the rest of the way. He quickly types his own response,
"To Kyoka Jirou,
I will be arriving in an estimate of 15 minutes, I hope to see you there soon.
From Izuku Midoriya."
She sent a reply soon afterwards, "You know you don't have to write like that everytime. You're not writing a letter or anything."
"Sorry. Old habits die hard." he types back without the formalities this time. Sure he was used to writing formally in letters, but wasn't it more polite and respectful that way?
"You sure you're not an old man in some teen's body or something?"
They continued bantering for a while before the train screeches to a halt and he gets off, searching the station for a familiar purple haired girl.
"Yo, Midoriya! Over here." she waves from a few metres away and he heads towards her. Same with him, she was dressed in UA's school uniform with a blazer and tie but with a skirt instead of pants.
She greets him with a smile before looking at something and stifling a laugh.
"What's so funny?" he asks confusedly before she points at the crumpled mess that was his tie.
"What is that?" she asks while laughing, "It looks like a kid tried tying your tie."
"In fact, a kid did." he says with no trace of humour, "Out of all the attempts including my parents, this was the best result. On the bright side I now know over a dozen ways I can strangle someone with a tie and make it look like an accident."
Jirou chuckles at that before waving him over, "Come on, let me give it a try."
He shrugs and relents, allowing her to approach where she untangled the mess that was his tie before neatly looping it and tying into a knot. While they were doing this Izuku couldn't help but feel flustered at the lack of distance between them.
"That'll do." she declares as he moves back to look at her handiwork and indeed it was much better than it was before.
"Thank you." he smiles gratefully as he inspects his now neat tie, "It looks like you keep coming to my rescue, Jirou."
"It's kinda funny if you think about it." Jirou snickers, "You got the top scores in the practical but somehow you can strangle yourself with a tie."
"Yes, I'm glad my suffering amuses you." he rolls his eyes, "But I wouldn't have gotten the top score if it wasn't for Rescue Points existing."
"Bullshit, if we're going by Villain Points alone, you would've still scored pretty high." she says giving his arm a slight punch, "And you were still going on about how much you hated your performance. What the hell man?"
"It's true, it was a sloppy performance." he argues as he rubs the spot she hit on his arm, "If I had carefully regulated myself I would have scored at least a dozen more points. And I wouldn't have required that girl to save me."
As they exit the train station they catch a glimpse of the UA building towering above nearby buildings and houses.
"Are you excited for it?" he asks, nudging his friend, "Or nervous perhaps?"
"Of course I am. I barely got in with a couple dozen Villain Points and a few Rescue Points! Hell, I'm wondering if it's too late to drop out and join some other hero school. I hear Shiketsu is still an option."
He chuckles, "Well if it makes you feel better I'm nervous as well. I haven't been to school since I was 11 years old."
She looks at him in surprise, "You haven't been to school since you were ten?! Jeez, everyday I learn something new about you. You were homeschooled?"
"Something like that." he shrugs. If you could call being taught by some of the greatest Planeswalkers to roam the multiverse 'homeschooling', then sure, "This will be the first real class I've attended in a real school. I can only hope I don't embarrass myself."
"That makes two of us." she mutters glancing back at UA before jokingly asking "Is it too late to change our minds?"
"I'm afraid so, Jirou." he nods his head before straightening himself, "Well, in any case, we shouldn't be late on our first day. Onwards, I suppose."
They walked through the gates of UA once more but this time they were heading deeper into campus, through the halls with giant doors. Probably to accommodate for gigantic individuals, Izuku assumes.
As they near the door labelled 1-A, Izuku can't help but feel somewhat excited. He had fond memories of Strixhaven, working with fellow students on research, exploring ruins for artefacts and whatnot. He was confident that the experience in UA would be pleasant if it was anything like Strixhaven, full of professional students that-
"Remove your feet from the desk immediately!" a familiar voice declares, "Such action dishonours our seniors who came to UA before us, as well as the craftsman of this desk!"
"Like I care about that you fucking extra!" an even more familiar voice retorts.
It was Katsuki and the blue-haired teen from the exam. Once again he was reminded just how much the multiverse hates him.
"You good? You just stopped all of a sudden." Jirou asks from behind him as suddenly the two in front of him, as well as the rest of the class, notice their presence.
And here he was, hoping for a normal first day.
"Deku…" the blonde growls as he glares at him.
"Kacchan." he greets neutrally with a nod of his head. It appears he was still sour after their encounter some time ago.
***
"Deku…"
Izuku turns as spots the familiar blonde approaching him. He had been out for a short jog and didn't expect to run into him.
"Ah, Kacchan. How are you doing? I'm in middle of jogging but you're welcome to join-"
"I heard from my mom you got into UA." he snarls, interrupting him, "How the hell did you do it?"
Izuku looks at him confused before shrugging, "Well I merely-"
"And not just that!" he interrupts him once again, "But you got a higher score than I did?!"
"...I merely did the same trials you did and scored enough points." Izuku finishes his sentence before he can be interrupted again, "And technically you got more Villain Points than I did, you got 77 and I got 50. If it wasn't for the 45 Rescue Points you would've scored 2nd place while I-"
"Stop looking down on me, you damn nerd!" Bakugou interrupts again and rushes at Izuku, slamming him against the walls of a nearby house.
It was an easily telegraphed move that he could have avoided in a number of ways, but for the sake of de-escalation Izuku takes it calmly as he was pressed against the wall with a hand grasping at the collar of his clothes.
"Kacchan…Bakugou…" he says slowly and calmly, "Let's talk this out. What's the issue here?"
"The issue?! The fucking issue is that I don't fucking buy it!" Bakugou screams as he slams a fist next to Izuku's head with a small explosion but it doesn't seem to faze the green haired boy, which angers Bakugou even more.
"You've been gone for years! Ten fucking years! And now you come back somehow good enough to get into UA? Somehow you got more points than I did?! I call fucking bullshit! You cheated somehow!"
So that was the source of the issue? He believed he cheated?
"Well if you believe so, you can bring that up with the faculty of UA." Izuku calmly suggests, "I'm sure they'll be able to provide ample evidence as to why I did not-"
"And there it is!" he snarls, "Acting all damn conceited, thinking you're better."
"...What?" Izuku asks, just plain dumbfounded, "I'm just trying to be diplomatic about this."
"Shut up!" he yells as he punches Izuku in the stomach causing him to cough and wheeze, "Here's what's gonna happen. You're going to UA and dropping out right now!"
Izuku looks at Bakugou right in the eye with increasing annoyance and frustration, "I let you have that one. Don't try that again."
He warns as he moves to pry Bakugou's hand from his collar. Bakugou scoffs and goes for another blow but then faster than he could react, Izuku decks him across the face with a mana-infused punch causing him to crumple on the floor.
"Let us be clear on this, Bakugou." Izuku says as he straightens his clothes, "I am not dropping out of UA for the foreseeable future. Maybe one day you will have your wish, when circumstances force me to withdraw, but as of now you'll have to tolerate my presence. Are we clear on that?"
After an awkward pause, he doesn't get a response so Izuku bends down and nudges him, "Did you hear me? I said- Oh, you're unconscious. Apologies, I didn't mean to strike that hard. Let me just…"
He picks up the unconscious boy effortlessly before glancing around, "Now where do you live exactly?"
***
"You know those guys or something? They look pissed." Jirou asks as the blonde and blue haired teen stares at Izuku.
"Yeah, I punched them both in the face." Izuku whispers to her, "But the blue haired one was an accident, really."
"Well, let's hope he believes that." Jirou says as the blue haired boy approaches them. Standing upright and marching towards the two.
"Greetings, my name is Tenya Iida." he says as he bows towards him, taking Izuku and Jirou by surprise.
"Er… Hello. My name is Izuku Midoriya." he says as he bows back.
"Midoriya, isn't he the guy who scored the top score?" one of the students with blonde hair and a black lightning bolt pattern, asks.
"Yeah, that dude's manly as hell. Saved my butt during the exam too." a familiar redhead answers the blonde.
Muttering broke out amongst the class as Bakugou's glare somehow grew more intense but Iida ignored it all.
"Midoriya, you saw the true nature of the exam didn't you?" he asks.
"I did what now?" Izuku asks before realising, "Wait, you meant the Rescue Points?"
"Yes, you realise it earlier than any of us. That is why you went back to save that girl, correct? As much as I hate to admit it, despite your attitude, you are the superior candidate."
Izuku frowns at that, in fact he could say that he feels somewhat offended if someone would think of it that way. That he went to save people for a few extra points.
"No, I simply went back because it looked like she was in danger. There's nothing complex about what." he insists, "I only knew about the Rescue Points by the time I got my acceptance letter."
"Truly?" Iida asks before bowing again, somehow even deeper this time, "Then I apologise for assuming so! You have the heart of a hero Midoriya, I truly apologise for assuming the worst of you after you struck me."
"Yeah, I didn't get to apologise for that did I?" he asks before doing so, "I'm sorry for that but you surprised me. I don't do well with surprises."
"Gah! Then I apologise once more!" he says bowing for a third time, his forehead all but touching the floor.
"C-can you stop?" Izuku asks, seriously concerned for the guy, "It's not a problem, truly. We all make mistakes. Raise your head!"
"Speak for yourself." Jirou says over his shoulder, "I kinda want to see if he can bow even lower."
Before he can do anything, another familiar voice comes from behind them,
"Hey, it's you! I recognise that curly hair anywhere."
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." he mutters before turning to find yet another familiar figure, two in fact. A girl with short brown hair and behind her was a bespectacled girl with flowing blonde hair.
"Did you punch them in the face too?" Jirou whispers to him.
"No, they're the ones I saved in the exam, remember?" he whispers back before turning back to the two girls, "Yes, it's me. Forgive me, but I didn't really get to know your names unfortunately."
"Oh, I'm Ochako Uraraka, and this is Melissa Shield." She says excitedly as she pulls the blonde girl over who seemed to be staring at Izuku in surprise, "I ran into her in the entrance, and it turns out we were in the same class. And it's the same for you as well? This has gotta be fate!"
Yeah, the blonde girl does look familiar, except her hair wasn't in a ponytail like during the Entrance Exam. Sure enough, a quick sense of her mana revealed the same overwhelming presence. Across the multiverse you can mistake one thing for another, but there was no mistaking anything like that signature of mana broiling inside her body.
"Dude, is everything alright?" Jirou asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. It appeared that he had instinctively took a step back again, but he quickly recovers and bows to Melissa,
"It's great to see you again, Shield. I'd like to apologise for forcing you to intervene and rescue me during the Entrance Exam. Had I not been so reckless I would not have been in that situation in the first place, and you would not have to injure yourself."
Melissa immediately waves her hands in a panic, "What? No, no, I only got injured because I couldn't regulate my Quirk."
She speaks in fluent Japanese but has an accent that reminds Izuku of Ravnican. Jirou seems to notice that as well,
"Wait, that name doesn't sound Japanese. You're a Westerner?" she asks and Melissa nods.
"Yes, I'm American actually." she confirms, "Well, technically I was born in America but I grew up on I-Island."
"I-Island? You mean that floating island full of scientists and inventors?" Jirou asks in surprise. Izuku perks in curiosity as that sounded much like the plane of Kaladesh, the home plane for Chandra, which was similarly full of inventors.
"So a transfer student!" Iida says as he joins in on the conversation, "A pleasure to meet you Melissa Shield, I look forward to studying with you."
Actually, they were socialising right now weren't they? This was the perfect time to ask the questions he had on his mind about this girl's Quirk.
"If you're here to socialise, then get out."
Everyone nearly jumped when a figure appeared behind the group at the entrance.
Jirou was one of the most surprised since she had enhanced hearing, but somehow she was unable to pick up on the man before he announced himself. As the class just stares in confusion, Izuku immediately puts himself in front of Jirou in case this stranger means any harm.
"Who are you?" he asks immediately, readying a number of spells to protect or to restrain the man despite him appearing as a non-threat.
"At least one of you got enough sense." the man in a yellow sleeping bag grumbles as he sucks up a juice pouch in an instant before getting up. He had messy unkempt hair and dressed in black, loose fitting clothes with a strange scarf around his neck, "Name's Shota Aizawa. I'll be your homeroom teacher. Pleased to meet you."
"Homeroom teacher?" Izuku mutters as he searches his memories. He does recall seeing that name in the schedule given to him by UA. Immediately he ceases any spell casting and relaxes as Aizawa addresses the rest of the class that was starting to quiet down.
"It took you all eight seconds to quiet down. Time's a precious commodity in Pro Hero work, I expect better from all of you."
Before anyone could respond to that he grabs something from within his sleeping bag and tosses it toward the closest person, being Izuku. He catches it before realising it was some sort of clothes.
"I want everyone in their gym uniforms now, we're heading out to the ground." Aizawa announces before he pulls out more clothes from his bag and throws them to each student, "You're already wasting time dawdling like this, get to it."
The students immediately start heading out to the changing rooms the moment they catch their gym uniforms but Izuku suddenly realises something.
"Wait, there's twenty of us. How did you fit all these inside while sleeping in it?"
"You learn some tricks there and there." Aizawa waves him off, "Now stop wasting time."
***
"First day and we're already thrown into class? Guess that's UA for ya." the spiky redhead says as they arrive in the locker room, "What do you think of that guy, Aizawa was it?"
"Hm?" Izuku looks at the boy before realising he was being addressed, "Well he appears stern and serious. Good qualities for an instructor. But he does look a bit…like a vagrant."
"Midoriya! Comparing the faculty of UA like such would be a grave insult to them!" Iida cries out before coughing into his fist, "That said, he does look rather…unkempt."
"By the way, my name's Eijirou Kirishima." he says as he changes out of his school uniform, "It's great seeing you again after the Entrance Exam."
"Same to you. Glad to see that you made it." Izuk responds as he takes off his blazer and shirt. Truth be told he all but forgot about Eijirou after the exam but the redhead doesn't need to know that.
"Damn, those are some manly scars you got there!" Kirishima exclaims as most of the boys in the changing room turn to look at what he was talking about. Three jagged scars were seen on Izuku's back and chest, like he was stabbed clean through. Not only that but there were a couple of other minor and older looking scars through his body including some that looked like his ribs were broken.
Izuku's mood immediately soured as he put on the gym uniform quickly, "There's nothing manly about them, Kirishima."
"But it means you got through plenty of rough fights, right?" he asks, confused in Izuku's suddenly sour mood, "Aren't you somewhat proud of them."
"Not all fights are 'manly' as you call them." he says grimly before hurriedly leaving.
***
"Gideon, how easy it is to play the protector when you think yourself untouchable. How wrong you are."
The talon of Nicol Bolas punches through Gideon's magical barrier like a knife through tissue paper as he screams in agony.
"Stop!" a young voice cried out, "Leave him alone!"
Sparks of lightning flew out, not even leaving so much as soot marks on the dragon's scales as he scoffs.
"Again with this? If fire can't work, just throw lightning, right?" A single flick of his tail sends a twelve year old Izuku Midoriya flying, landing on his back but the shield that surrounds his body flickers on the verge of breaking. All around him, members of the Gatewatch lied in similarly defeated states.
"And this must be the child, Izuku. Last and most definitely least." he snorts, "Already at the age where children think they're invincible. Let this be a learning experience."
Izuku barely brought his arms up in a pitiful attempt to shield himself before the tail slams on him again, shattering his ribcage as he blacks out from the pain.
***
"Midoriya, you alright man?" Jirou asks as they gather in the training grounds, "Your hearts racing."
"I'm fine, Jirou." he exhales, sounding exhausted. Jirou frowns, not buying it but relenting and letting it off for now.
"Good, everyone's here at last." Aizawa says with a clipboard under his arm, "No time to waste, let's get started with the briefing first. All of you have done standard gym tests correct? Soft-ball throwing, standing long jump, 50-metre dash and whatnot, but without your Quirks."
Not everyone, Izuku thinks. He definitely hasn't been through any of that stuff. Unless morning PT counted, back when Gideon…
He shakes his head to rid the memories before they can assail him.
Aizawa carries on, "Our ever reliable Department of Education still insists on prohibiting Quirks when calculating the average of these records. Irrational if I say so myself."
Izuku agrees on that. Since Quirks count as natural born abilities, it'll definitely be more rational, as Aizawa described it, to calculate with Quirks as well. Knowing your true limits is an important thing if one wishes to improve themselves.
Suddenly Aizawa pulls out a softball and chucks it at Izuku who catches it.
"Midoriya, you got the top score didn't you? How far could you throw in middle school."
"I- Well…" Izuku stammers not having expected to be asked such a question, "I didn't actually attend middle school. So I never did any of this before."
He says somewhat embarrassed as some of his classmates look at him with a mixture of plain confusion and shock. Jirou, who already knew this, gives him a sympathetic look as Bakugou scoffs loudly.
Aizawa just sigh and waves it off, "Whatever. Get in that circle over there and use your Quirk to launch that ball as far as you can. Anything goes as long as you remain within the circle."
Izuku obeys and walks within the circle, staring at the softball in his hands as he ponders his move before raising his hand with the palm pointing downwards, emanating a stream of colourless mana. Nicol Bolas had been right on one thing, it definitely had been a learning experience.
"What do you think he's going to do?" Ochako whispers as she nudges Jirou who looks surprised at being addressed.
"Well, I don't really know." she shrugs. Honestly she doesn't even know what his Quirk really is besides that it was very variable, "Maybe throw it with some telekinesis?"
Bakugou scoffs at that, "His shitty Quirk ain't telekinesis. It's teleporting."
"What, that can't be it." Ochako says confused, "I'm pretty sure it was telekinesis. He used it to throw me at you, ain't that right Melissa?"
She asks the blonde girl who snaps out of her thoughts, "Well, yes. I do recall seeing that. But I also saw him throw lightning and move at super speeds."
"Perhaps it's a particularly flexible Quirk that allows him to do all these things?" Iida suggests before turning to Jirou, "You appear close to him, what do you think?"
Jirou, embarrassed at suddenly being the centre of attention, simply shrugs.
"I don't know, his Quirk just does plenty of weird stuff. We'll have to wait and see what he's going to do."
As she says that, Izuku finished with his preparations as he gathered enough mana to begin summoning an artefact. Everyone's eyes begin widening at the sight, especially the tall girl with a black ponytail, as Izuku summons what appears to be a scaled-down flak cannon with a wider and shorter barrel that was barely within the circle he stood inside of.
With a flick of his hand the ball flew from his palm with a blue aura as it was loaded inside the cannon. Izuku spares a glance back and looks directly at Jirou,
"You might want to cover your ears for this."
With that warning she hastily rolls up her ear jacks and clasps her arms over them in her best effort to muffle the incoming sound, backing up as far as she could. Many of the other classmates did the same as Izuku used his telekinesis to manipulate the strange cannon into aiming at just the right angle before engulfing his hands in flames and snapping his flaming fingers.
A loud roar erupts as the cannon fires its projectile leaving a blazing red trail, faster than most eyes could keep track of. Unfazed by this, Aizawa pulls out a measuring device that calculates how far it was before showing it to the rest of the class.
"It's important to know our limits, that's the first rational step you will all take to becoming Pro Heroes."
20,000 metres.
"Holy shit!" the blonde student with the thunderbolt mark on his hair exclaimed.
"That was manly as hell!" Kirishima erupts into a cheer, "So we can use our Quirks however we want? Man, the hero course is really awesome!"
"...Awesome, you say?" Aizawa asks frostily as the atmosphere shifts, "Is that how you view it."
"W-well, I mean…" he starts to say before Aizawa interrupts him.
"Do you expect this all to be fun and games?" he asks the crowd of students almost scathingly, "Then tell me, do you think natural disasters are fun too? Are villain attacks ecstatic? Do you expect to spend your time chatting with friends? Hanging out after classes at some fast food joint? Well let me break this illusion of yours right now. You aren't normal students, studying for college to find some job in the civilian sector. You are here to study in the Heroics Course. For the next three years we will be working you to the bones, putting you through the wringer. You will learn how to go beyond your limits, the true meaning of our school's motto; Plus Ultra. You aren't here to play heroes, you are here to be heroes. I expect all of you to act as such. I will not waste any time if you think otherwise, am I clear?"
Izuku believes he'll like this teacher. While he lacks a professional appearance it's clear that he more than makes up for it. He stands to attention and gives a clear, "Yes, sir."
The rest of the class mimics him with variable degrees of enthusiasm.
"Right, Midoriya, disassemble that cannon so the next person can get on with their test. Bakugou, you're up next."
Izuku nods and with a flick of his hands, returns the Mana Cannon he summoned to the Aether, disintegrating it into a shower of grey mist as he returns to the group.
"That was awesome!" Ochako exclaims, "How did you make a cannon?"
"I would actually like to know as well." the tall girl with a black ponytail approaches them, "Your Quirk, is it some sort that allows the creation of objects?"
Izuku shrugs, "Not exactly, it definitely is one of my skills but I can do other things besides creating objects."
Before he could continue, he reflexively reaches out and grabs one of Jirou's earjacks before it could strike him,
"What did I- Ow!" he cries as Jirou used her other ear jack to hit him, "What was that for?"
"For not finding a quieter way to do that." Jirou complains as she rubs her ears, "You should know how sensitive these are, jerk."
Izuku winces, "Yes, that did seem inconsiderate of me. Do they still hurt?"
"What do you think, of course they do. They're still ringing."
"Here, let me help with that." he says as he reaches out with glowing white hands and touches her ears, surprising everyone.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Jirou protests with a blush but then feels the pain dull and the ringing fade.
"Just something to deal with the pain." he says, "Is that better now?"
"Y-yeah, I guess so." she answers meekly, still sporting a blush from how close Izuku was and how he was touching her ears. The worried look in his eyes didn't help, the way he looked concerned for her. She hopes he can't hear how fast her heart was beating.
"So telekinesis, creation and healing?" the black ponytail girl asked in surprise, "What exactly does your Quirk do?"
"It does things. Lots of things" he answers vaguely before he spots Bakugou preparing his throw. Then he instantly presses his palms against Jirou's ears to block the incoming sound.
"Everyone, brace yourselves." he quickly warns as they confusedly cover their ears.
"Wha-?" Jirou asks before Bakugou releases a large explosion from his palms, the ball launching with a smoky trail as it flies over the distance.
705.2 metres, the readings on Aizawa's device announced. The ever present look of rage on Bakugou's face seemed to intensify,
"That can't be it! Give me another shot!" he demands to Aizawa, "I didn't put my back into it!"
"You only get one chance. If you didn't put your back into it, that's your own fault." Aizawa responded as he waved him off, "Now back in line."
But Bakugou wasn't giving up that easily, "This ain't fucking fair, I-!"
"Life isn't fair. The most anyone ever gets is one shot and you wasted yours." Aizawa cuts him off with a glare, "Now unless you want detention for disrupting the class, get back in line."
Growling, he storms back to the crowd while glaring at Izuku all the while. The green haired Planeswalker didn't pay him much mind as he released Jirou's ears.
"Sorry about that, it happened fast so I didn't have time to think." he apologises to a blushing Jirou.
"I-it's fine." she stammers out as she pushes Izuku off her hurriedly, before trying to change the subject and hide her blush, "Hopefully that's the last explosion today."
The black ponytail girl then coughed into her fist, "Well, actually I plan to pull a similar move like Midoriya did for my part in the test. Just forewarning you."
Jirou rolls her eyes, "Great. I'm probably getting tinnitus by the end of the week."
But Izuku latches on to what the girl just said, "Wait, does that mean that-?"
"Yes." she nods as she held out her hands and pink sparks emitted as she created a set of headphones, "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu, my Quirk is Creation. Like the name suggests, it allows me to create items. Here."
She offers the item to Jirou, "In case there's any more explosions. I take it your Quirk gives you enhanced hearing of sorts?"
"Great, thanks." Jirou nods as she accepts the headphones gratefully.
"So you two have the same Quirks?" Ochako looks between Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, "Are you related or something?"
"I'm certain we are not." they both say at the same time surprising each other, as Ochako chuckles.
"Yeah, you two even sound like rich kids."
"No, he sounds more like an old man." Jirou teases, "He texts like he's writing a letter, signing every message."
Ochako snickers at that, "Really?"
"Haha." Izuku sarcastically laughs, "It's simply more formal and polite that way. I can't be the only one who does that."
"He is right, such a format is definitely preferable." Iida says, "I do the same as well."
Izuku smiles vindicated but Jirou and Ochako just laugh even more, even Yaoyorozu seemed to be snickering at that.
"Yeah, laugh it up." he rolls his eyes before turning to Yaoyorozu, "I'd like to know more about your abilities actually. Perhaps after these trials?"
Yaoyorozu nods, "And I'd like to know more about yours as well. I wish you all goodluck."
*50-metre Dash*
"Don't even think of beating me, Deku." Bakugou growled as they stepped to the starting line, "You won't be able to cheat your way through this test this time."
"Whatever you say, Kacchan." Izuku sighs as he gets into a sprinting position. It was probably beneficial if he just tunes out the yapping blonde as most of what comes out of his mouth were either threats or a stream of expletives.
A small golem emits a loud bang signalling the start and Bakugou propels himself forward. But before he was halfway there, a streak of red lightning sped past him with a thundering crackle as Izuku skids to a halt a few metres ahead of the finishing line.
Bakugou: 4.13 seconds
Izuku Midoriya: 1.05 seconds
"Superspeed as well?" one of the students, a boy with strange elbows, exclaim, "Now that's kinda unfair. What else can he do?"
"Hey, Iida, do you think you're that fast?" Ochako nudges the tall boy with her elbow.
"I believe I could match that speed if I have time to shift into third gear." Iida says. Izuku was very fast, possibly more so than his elder brother, but if they were able to use Recipro Burst then he has no doubt they could outspeed him. From what he could recall in the Entrance Exam, Midoriya appeared to be only able to travel with his speed in short bursts.
*Grip Strength*
Izuku eyes the strange device in his grip. So apparently he just has to grab it as hard as possible and it'll measure his strength output? He has no clever tricks for this so he'll have to rely on sole brute strength in this case.
He mutters as he casts a spell, dragging his free hand across the arm holding the device. Red runes and marks appeared as he felt his strength increase. Not satisfied with that he used his telekinesis in conjecture to maximise it.
He looks down at the result of 798 kg. Nodding at the satisfactory results he takes a look around to see how everyone else was doing. Yaoyorozu appeared to have made a vice to do the exercise in her stead, which Aizawa allowed. Ochako and Iida didn't have appropriate Quirks that enhanced their results and Jirou was using her earjacks along with her hand for her test.
One of the strongest seems to be a boy with mutant Quirk, wearing a cloth to cover his lower half of his face. He seemed to have multiple arms that were gripping the device at the same time to grant a result of 540kg.
Mutant Quirks. They weren't odd to see as he had befriended creatures of different species with wilder appearances. But here they were not different species really, they were all humans. And what's more some Mutant Quirks appear to mimic modern devices like how Iida's Quirk mimicked engines of cars, and Jirou's earjacks. How does one naturally evolve a biology that resembles artificially made devices?
"Damn it…"
He looks over his shoulders to see Melissa with her hand glowing with power as she grips the device. He actually braced himself for a powerful blast of power to emit from her hand but to his surprise it fades quickly as the results show 135kg. It was higher than average but compared to the display of power she showed in the Entrance Exam, it was disappointing.
It was the same with previous results, decent but not as good as they could be. He knew she could do better but for some reason she was holding herself back. Was it because she would risk harming herself if she used too much? But surely this could not be her upper limit if she spent her whole life with this Quirk.
It was quite a paradox. Strong but weak. Old but new. The mana that dwells within her felt ancient, not millennia long, but definitely older than one would think. It did not fit the image of a struggling teenager he now sees.
"You got a very good taste." a voice interrupts his thoughts as he spins around to see the blonde with a lightning bolt hair pattern looking over his shoulder, "Looks a little bookish for my taste but damn she has curves in the right places."
"Pardon?" he asks surprised before realising what the boy was implying and cringes, "For your information, I am not eying her up. I am merely curious about her capabilities."
"Really?" the boy asks in disbelief, "She's a pretty hot foreign student and you're not interested in that?"
Izuku sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "No. I admit she's aesthetically pleasing but I'm only observing her for purely an academic interest. Now is there anything I can help you with, or do you simply wish to discuss how attracted you are to the female form?"
"...Jeez, that actually makes me sound like a creep. Wait, am I one?" he mutters to himself before continuing, "Actually yeah, I wanted to ask you about that whole lightning dash thing you did. How does that work?"
"Hm? Well it's a sp- I mean, move, called Expedite. It basically allows me to move at high speeds in short bursts. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it has things to do with my Quirk." he shows a hand sparking with yellow electricity, "Hard to do anything physically impressive when all you can do is throw lightning around. Wanted to know if you got any tips to share with a fellow electric Quirk user."
Izuku instantly brightens up. Now this was something he enjoys, exchanging theories and practical application of magic, or in this case Quirks.
"Well, what exactly does your Quirk do?" he asks as he pulls out his trusty leather-bound journal from apparently nowhere. The boy looks stunned at that before continuing,
"Well my Quirk's called Electrification. Basically it lets me generate electricity but I can't really control or direct it."
"Wait a minute." Izuku stops him incredulously, "You channel electricity through your body? Isn't that dangerous?"
"Well, I guess so." he shrugs, "My body's pretty used to it but whenever I use too much my brain gets friends and I kinda short-circuit myself."
Izuku's jaw slightly drops, "So you basically give yourself brain damage everytime you go overboard?"
"I mean, not really." he shrugs, "First time I went overboard my parents took me to the doctors, they said it doesn't really do any permanent damage to my brain so I guess I'm fine."
"That's very fortunate." Izuku says with relief, "But why not just channel it out of your body?"
To demonstrate he holds out his hand and creates a small orb crackling with red lightning. Comparing the two, the boy's yellow lightning seemed to course through his hand like a glove while Izuku's lightning gathered in a controlled but chaotic orb.
"Jeez, don't think I can do that." Kaminari says disappointedly, "Sorry, guess our Quirks aren't as similar as I thought."
"Don't apologise, there's nothing wrong with learning." Izuku assures as he dissipates the orb, "But anyways, you came for advice, I'm not sure how since we use different methods to channel our power. But if you're channelling electricity through your body, perhaps you can use them to stimulate your muscles. They won't exactly give superhuman strength but it should provide some little improvements."
"Really?" he asks surprised as he ponders that, "That's a thing? But my body's kinda used to electric shocks so will that even work?"
"Perhaps not." Izuku shrugs, "But if you wish I can assist with research of your abilities. Open new avenues and ways to utilise your Quirk."
"For real?" he asks delightedly, "Yeah, that'd be a great help if you really don't mind."
"Yeah, I'm always up for learning new things."
"Yeah I knew you were a cool guy the moment I laid eyes on you." the boy says as he wraps an arm around Izuku's shoulder. Sure the boy was initially annoying but he can respect the genuine desire to improve himself, "But there's also another thing you can help with."
"Hm?"
The boy subtly nudges towards Melissa, "You seem to know her. Mind if you introduce me?"
Izuku rolls his eyes at that but doesn't say no, "I'd need a name first unless you'd like me to introduce you as a stranger."
"Denki Kaminari." he eagerly introduces as he offers his free hand to which Izuku shook.
"Pleasure to meet you."
***
The rest of the trials were relatively uneventful. For the standing long jump he covered himself in blue mana that launched him through the sky, hovering for a few seconds before falling back down.
For the endurance tests like the distance run, sit ups, seated toe-touch and repeated side steps, there weren't really any spells that could help him with that so he performed it all using his base abilities. It wasn't that bad, people like Iida had higher stamina than him but he was sure he got above average score for them.
Honestly watching Yaoyorozu create a myriad of items to make those exercises easier made it feel unfair. But who was he to judge? He literally created a cannon to launch the softball. So did she actually, except it was a smaller handheld cannon with not as great of a range. Perhaps her creation abilities were limited in some way?
"Time for your results." Aizawa announces as a small golem on threads projected a display of blue light, "These are the total aggregate of your results, if we compare them individually we'll be here until graduation."
Izuku looked up and was pleasantly surprised to find himself in first place. Besides him Momo looked somewhat disappointed when she found she was second place but wasn't really that bothered by it. Third place belonged to a boy named Shoto Todoroki, which Izuku realises was the cryomancer boy whose head looks split in half between white and red, and fourth place was Katsuki Bakugou, with Tenya Iida taking fifth place.
Besides that he skims through the results for other familiar faces. Ochako got twelfth place and looked relieved that it wasn't any lower, with Melissa getting sixth but judging from her face she was disappointed with her position.
He looked at the very end and saw Kaminari and Jirou at 18th and 19th respectively. Both look equally crestfallen with their results. The one at 20th was someone called Toru Hagurake but he doesn't know who that was.
"This…what the fuck is this?"
Izuku turns to see Bakugou shuddering at the sight of the scores. If he had to guess it appears that Bakugou wasn't taking the fact he scored fourth place instead of first very well.
"What are you talking about, bro?" Kirishima asks, "You got fourth place, that's manly as hell! You should be proud."
But he pays the spiky redhead no heed as his head snaps towards the source of his rage, towards Izuku.
He raises a hand warningly, "Bakugou…let's not-"
But before he could finish the blonde launches towards him with his explosion,
"You fucking cheater!! You did something, didn't you?!"
"Again with this?" Izuku groans as he readies a blast of blue mana to counteract Bakugou's Quirk when suddenly he feels a pulse, and the roar of explosions silenced at the same time the blue mana he was gathering scattered like dust in the wind.
"What the-?" Bakugou looks at his hand confused before a white scarf launches out and wraps around him.
"Attacking a classmate isn't very heroic, Bakugou." Aizawa says sternly, his hair floating as red pupils stare at them, "I don't care what this is about, but Midoriya didn't cheat. He used his Quirk just like all of you. So shut it and stay in line."
"You…you can erase Quirks?" Izuku mutters surprised. Seeing as how his own spell was countered at the same time as Bakugou's explosions, it was a powerful one. He tries to gather some mana to test how strong it was but it slipped through his grasp like flour through a sieve. A very powerful ability for someone so unassuming. Goes to show that looks aren't everything.
Aizawa cancels it and rubs his eyes, "Damn brats, gonna give me a dry eye from all this.
He mutters and shuts off the display, "If that's all we're going to finish this up. Melissa Shield and Shoto Todorki. Step forward please."
Both glance at each other confused but do so, stepping towards Aizawa as he stares at them both.
"Out of everyone in this class, you two performed the worst. If I had permission from the Principal, I would've expelled you two without hesitation." he bluntly informs stunning the two, even the stoic looking Todoroki widened his eyes slightly at that and Melissa looks like she's panicking.
"B-but why?" she asks befuddled, "He scored third place and I got sixth! Why is that a failure?"
"Are you seriously asking me that?" Aizawa asks, annoyed as he facepalms, "It's very simple. I have no use for students who aren't bothering to give their all." he says pointing at Todoroki before pointing at Melissa, "And neither do I have use for students that are so strong she's useless, or too weak to be of any use."
"I-" she tried to say but was cut off.
"There are no excuses in this line of work. You either succeed or you don't." he growls, "If you don't push yourselves you'll never save anyone. What will you say to the families of someone you failed to save? That the reason they have to attend a funeral is because you couldn't even use your full power to save them?"
Todoroki just looks at Aizawa without emotion but judging from how he was tightening his hand into a fist, his words had an effect on him. With Melissa it was easier to tell as she looked down in shame.
"And that goes for the rest of you." he points at the rest of the students who most froze in shock, "I'm disappointed in the performance of a lot of you. In my opinion the Entrance Exam doesn't do a good enough job to weed out the best and if I had my way more than half of you would be out by the end of the day. But I can't, so I'll work with what I have for now. You all have a long way to go before I can call you Hero Course students, let alone Pro Heroes."
The class was silent as they let his words sink in. If Izuku had to describe it all in a few words, it was cold logic. But there was a slight bias in it as well. Like a past experience was influencing his thoughts and actions.
Aizawa sighs and waves them off, "You're all dismissed. Head back to your classroom, the rest of the period's free."
He walks off without so much as a goodbye, disappearing around a corner of the school.
***
"A bit cruel, don't you think so?" A familiar loud voice asks as Aizawa sighs.
"All Might." he greets gruffly, "What are you doing here?"
"Why I'm simply taking a look at my future students of course. As a teacher it should be my duty to get to know the capabilities of them, isn't it? That girl, Melissa Shield, she's got potential don't you think?"
"Just Shield?" Aizawa raises a brow as All Might stammers a response, "A little early to start picking favourites isn't it? But if you want the test results just now, I'll send them later then."
He moves to walk away before All Might stops him, "Come on, Aizawa. Don't you think you were being a bit too harsh on them? They're just children."
"Complaining about my teaching methods?" Aizawa rolls his eyes, "It's exactly because they're children they need this. They shouldn't be caring about fame or money or whatever that comes with being a Pro Hero. They shouldn't think of the job as fun or exciting. The sooner their delusions are broken, the more effective heroes they will be. Everyone should know that it's not fun and games."
Aizawa says eying the injured spot All Might was hiding. The large hero sighs as his wide smile drops slightly,
"Yes, that is true. But it doesn't change the fact they're still children. They have three years before they hit the roads as true blooded Pro Heroes. Let them have fun while they still can. You don't want your students to graduate hating you, do you?"
"Just as I thought. From our teaching philosophies alone, we won't be getting along." Aizawa sighs as he walks off, "Whether they hate me or not. As long as they're alive to do so, I might sleep a little bit easier."
***
"So much for a fun first day, am I right?" a pink skinned girl asks as they return to their classrooms in their school uniforms, "Who would've known our homeroom teacher would've been such a sour guy. That guy looks like he saw someone kicked his dog in front of him or something."
"You got that right." Kirishima agrees, "And what was that all about how we're not even Hero Course students yet? We all passed the Entrance Exam didn't we?"
"I think he's not being literal when he says that." Izuku pipes in, "It likely means he doesn't respect or recognise any of us yet, and will not until we prove ourselves."
"Yeah, I get that. I also get we're still kids and all but did he have to be such a dick about it?" Kirishima complains.
"Language, Kirishima!" Iida admonishes as he chops his arms in his direction, "We should not disrespect our teacher's style of teaching, it is unbecoming of us as students. Let us instead sit in silence and wait for our next teacher."
The pink skinned girl blew a raspberry at that, "Boooring. We got like 25 minutes before the next class! Let's all get to know each other or something. We're gonna be spending the next three years together after all."
"That…is actually a wonderful use of our time." Iida admits surprised by the good idea, "Very well, let us organise and begin from an alpha-"
"I'll go first." she interrupts as she vaults over her desk and onto the front of the classroom in a display of acrobatics, "Name's Mina Ashido, everybody! Glad to meetcha, my Quirk's called Acid and my hobbies are dancing and partying. Favourite foods are natto and okra. Hope to get along with you all."
The rest continue at a somewhat random pace as Izuku sighs and leans back against his seat. As far as first days go, it was definitely not like Strixhaven. Not even an orientation or anything. But he can't argue with his homeroom teacher's desire for results first and foremost. He can respect that.
The students were also another thing. Sure his fellow students in Lorehold were older and a bit more mature. Perhaps it was unfair to judge it by comparing it to Lorehold as this was high school, something he had never attended before. He wonders if feeling like an alien in this class was normal. They talk about how exciting being heroes would be, being unable to wait for training and fighting. It feels like he was griping, but he feels like that was a naive way of looking at things. Was this how Aizawa felt too?
He wonders if they'll think the same after facing a beast such as Nicol Bolas. Or facing the Phyrexians head on.
His attention shifts to the front when it is Melissa's turn to introduce herself.
"Hello, as some of you might know, my name is Melissa Shield. I'm a transfer student from I-Island and my Quirk is called Superpower. And actually I'll be attending a sort of hybrid course for the duration of my stay. Half the week I'll spend the Support Course and the other in the Hero Course."
He quickly raises a hand not wanting to waste this opportunity to finally have some questions answered, "Actually I have a question on your Quirk. You displayed significant amounts of power during the Entrance Exam, and yet I failed to notice any similar display in the most recent Quirk Apprehension Test."
"Yeah, he's right." Ochako nods her head, "You punched the head of that Zero Pointer!"
"That was her?"
"Really? She doesn't look that strong."
There were murmurs around the class as most who weren't there to see it was impressed by such a feat, causing Melissa to blush.
"W-well the thing is, my Quirk's a bit too strong for my body. So whenever I go beyond my limit my bones get damaged." she explains rubbing her arm, "But I'm getting a hang of it. I can use 5% of my power more or less reliably now."
"That was just 5%?" Kaminari whistles, "Damn, I'd hate to get hit by 100%."
"Yeah, you would. It's what I used against the Zero Pointer."
"But why do you get injured?" Izuku asks as he notes it down in his journal, "From what I hear, bodies are born to be resistant against the Quirk. Wouldn't your body be resistant to getting damaged?"
Now Melissa seems nervous and reluctant to answer, "Oh, that…The thing is…I only got my Quirk a few days before the Entrance Exam. Before that I was misdiagnosed as Quirkless. So yeah, that's why."
The entire class went silent at that, in awe of what they just heard.
"So you passed the Entrance Exam with a Quirk you only got some time ago?" Ochako asks, "That's so cool Melissa!"
"Indeed!" Iida agreed, "Now I understand why you were wearing Support Items during the Entrance Exam, you were still adjusting to your Quirk."
"That is very admirable." Momo nods in respect.
"Bitch just got lucky." Bakugou mutters under his breath but no one pays him and heed.
Everyone else seemed to be impressed by that feat as Melissa smiles bashfully from the praise. But Izuku jots it down and can't help but find discrepancies in her story.
"Wait, I-Island's full of scientists and inventors is that right?" he looks around for confirmation and Yaoyorozu nods.
"Yes, it's a mobile artificial island constructed to house some of the world's greatest minds and keep their inventions and families safe from harm or exploitation." she explains.
"So how did you get misdiagnosed there? Wouldn't their medical technology be very advanced?"
"Well they say I'm just a very late bloomer." she quickly answers. Too quickly, as if rehearsed.
"And then a few days after you got your Quirk you decide to go overseas and study in Japan?" he asks confused, "Is there no Hero Course in I-Island? It seems odd to travel a large distance when there are closer options"
"Well no actually. And UA is actually one of the few schools in the world that has a hybrid course between Support and Hero Course." she explained quickly again, "Besides I have been wanting to become a Hero ever since I was a kid. But when I was diagnosed Quirkless I decided it would be better for me to follow my dad's footsteps and become a Support Engineer. But once I found I had a Quirk, I decided to take my chance."
There it was again. Quick and clean answer that felt rehearsed. It made some sort of sense but it didn't really alleviate his doubts.
"And how did your Quirk get that strong in a few days?" He asks once more, "That much power doesn't come from nowhere. You don't go from zero to a hundred in a few days, do you?"
You don't get that much power in one day unless there's some sort of source. Like Chandra drawing mana directly from all the leylines of Zendikar to wipe out the Eldrazi. Or a multitude of other examples. To build up that much power takes years of accumulation, not an instant or something.
"Well…I guess Quirks are weird like that?" she shrugs but there was a nervous hitch in her voice this time, "A lot of Quirks disobey laws of physics regularly."
"...That is in no way a satisfactory answer." he deadpans.
"Well how about you then?" Melissa asks, turning the question back to him, "Can you explain how your Quirk works then?"
"Me?" Izuku asks. Suddenly the thought of speaking in front of the class terrifies him. There was a reason he was never the public speaker of Gatewatch, "Surely there's someone else to go first, I can wait last."
"Just get it over with." Jirou says, "If I have to do that, so do you."
"Wait, you already went?" Izuku asks, confused. Did he really spaced out that long?
Unfortunately that was possibly the wrong thing to say as Jirou's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, weren't you paying attention?" she asks, crossing her arms, "You were really attentive during Shield's turn."
"Er…well…" he stammers. There didn't appear to be any good answers to give her, was there?
"I'm sorry?" he tries but she just pouts in response, "It's nothing really, I just space out a lot."
"Oh but you were asking so many questions when Shield's turn came." she rolls her eyes.
"...Will free lunch at a venue of your choosing earn your forgiveness?" he asks hopefully.
She hums in thought, tapping her fingers on her arm, "It'll be a start. And I have eyes on some CDs actually."
"Your wish is my command." he says with relief. She was smiling when she said that so it was probably a good thing.
"Alright, alright, enough flirting." Mina cuts in, "You can kiss and make up with your girlfriend later, it's your turn!"
"She is/He's not my girl/boyfriend!" they both exclaim at the same time both sporting blushes at their cheeks.
"Ooh." Mina looks between the two curiously and entertained before realising the time left, "And we only got a couple minutes left until our next class. Hop to it!"
"Well…I guess I have no choice." he mumbles as he took Melissa's place in front of the class before waving awkwardly, "Uh, hello, my name's Izuku Midoriya. My favourite food is katsudon and my hobbies include research, training and meditating. But I'm sure you all probably have a lot more questions about my Quirk."
"Yeah, what is it exactly?" Kaminari asks, "Like we saw super speed and strength and you even made a cannon like Yaoyorozu."
He sighs, that was to be expected. But there was no going back, and he can't risk getting caught lying so his best bet was to be as honest as possible.
"Well, my Quirk is something I took to calling Three Colours. Technically four but these three are the primary ones. Red, blue, and white. They all have different functions. Red is what I go for when I want to deal damage directly and quickly with elements such as fire, ice, or lightning."
He demonstrates by showing the three elements, emitting sparks, then flames and coating his hand in a layer of ice before shattering it. This seems to catch the attention of Todoroki who was suddenly paying deeper attention,
"Or I can even enhance the physical abilities of myself or others." he says as red runes covered his other hand which he then used to easily lift the teacher's desk over his head before setting it down, "As for blue, it's a little more varied and less physical."
He coats his arms in blue, "If red is my offence, then blue is my support. I use it for information gathering, telekinesis, slowing down enemies or even disabling Quirks."
"Wait a minute, you can do that?" Kirishima asks, "Like how Aizawa did?"
Izuku shook his head, "No, from what I saw he turns it off before you can use it. Mine is a bit more… It'll be easier to demonstrate. Can I volunteer? Preferably an Emitter Quirk or sorts?"
"Oui, I would like to offer myself up for that." a blonde boy with a strange accent and belt says as he got up, "My Quirk is Naval Laser which allows me to shoot a laser. Would that suffice?"
Izuku nods, it was a bit weird for a location but who was he to judge?
"Yeah, step right there will you?"
"Midoriya, this seems highly irresponsible." Iida protests, "What if you get injured?"
"I'll be fine." he assures as he readies a counterspell. Hopefully it works like it did with Eri or it would be very embarrassing.
After the strange blonde strikes an even stranger pose and fired off a laser, Izuku blasts it with the counterspell, neutralising it midair with a blue wave.
"As you can see, the blast intercepts the Quirk and erases it." he explains as the laser blonde went back to his seat and sat down, "I don't really prevent it from being used in the first place, I just counter them."
"It's fascinating. This gives you a lot of options during combat." Yaoyorozu remarks, "And what did you mean by information gathering?"
"Well primarily I can use that for scrying or mind reading."
"You can read minds?" half the class ask in shock as he rushes to calm them down,
"Yes but it's difficult. I'd first have to be in constant contact with the individual." he says, "And it's only reliable for recent memories such as days ago or even weeks."
"Jeez, it's like you're a broken video game character." Kaminari complains, "And we're only halfway done?"
"No, next up is white. It's the defensive option out of the three." he demonstrates by coating himself in a white aura, "It enables me to protect myself from harm by using shields. Or as some of you have seen, even heal if harmed."
"So it's a lot like my Hardening Quirk. How strong is it?" Kirishima asks curiously.
"Very strong. You're welcome to test it out." Izuku offers before someone immediately throws a book at him that bounces off his shields, "Hey!"
"What? You fucking asked for it." Bakugou growls as Izuku sighs before returning to his presentation.
"But how about your creation? Which colour is it?" Yaoyorozu asks.
"Short answer? None. It's colourless." he says as he gathers the colourless mana in his hand to form a small orb of grey mist, "And technically I'm not creating a completely new object. I am simply creating a copy of it, based on my own memories and knowledge."
"My Quirk requires me to have knowledge of the item as well. I have to memorise the chemical composition and structure of said item. Is that similar for you as well?"
"Correct but not necessarily. Let's imagine a scenario where I create a sword. If I do so by just imagining a sword I will get one but it'll be terribly fragile and break before it can even cut something."
To demonstrate he created a bronze sword and slashed it against his hand despite the cries of shock from the class. It shattered like glass against a brick wall and they sigh in relief.
"But if I do what you suggest? Focus on its composition and structure? Focus on what makes a sword a sword? Then I'll get a battle ready blade fit for cutting down enemies."
With that done he throws the ruined hilt away, making it vanish into grey mist.
"Even then it's not a true sword. Just a copy of one, even if well made. But even then-"
"But there is no rule that says an imitation cannot defeat the original?" Kamanari quickly and excitedly throws in and Izuku nods.
"Yes, that's a way of looking at it." He agrees as he hears someone muttering about how he stole that quote from some anime. Whatever that was.
"I hope that satisfies you all. And I thank you for listening." Izuku finishes with a bow.
"Damn, that's such an awesome Quirk!" Kirishima says, "You're definitely Pro Hero material with that."
"Yeah…almost like you have four Quirks instead of one." Melissa says with a tone he can't place.
"Damn you hit the genetic jackpot with that." Kaminari moans, "And all I got was some electric Quirk that fries my own brain if I use it too much."
"It's not that impressive, really." he says honestly. Compared to the mages and Planeswalkers he's met, some on truly monstrous levels, he was quite middle-tier, "I only got this strong because I had a lot of help. It took me a lot of training from some of the strongest people I know to get this far, and I'm still miles away from getting on their level. We're all here to get stronger right? I still have miles to go before I can really call myself a hero."
There was some polite clapping after that as he returned to his seat. Honestly, public speaking wasn't as bad as he thought. Then again he had been mostly focusing on familiar faces throughout his presentation. Like Kaminari, Ochako, Iida, Jirou…
Jirou…she seemed pretty impressed didn't she? Then again most of the class was, why was he focusing on her?
He shakes his head as he thinks about his first day so far. It was… good, to be honest. It was weird at times and he may disagree with some of his classmate's viewpoints but it wasn't necessarily bad. They were good people, and he thinks they'll be fun to hang around. Certainly better than his Lorehold days.
Those were spent burying himself in work, searching for artefacts or scrolls that can even give him a hint on how to get back home. Every spare second he had was devoted to research. And honestly, he wished he had gotten to know some of his classmates a little better. Get to know them more than just their names that he could barely remember. One more regret he supposes.
Looking around at the classroom, where his classmates were already talking with each other and forming friend groups, he can't help but wonder if it could be different this time? He knows it's all temporary, but who knows? He could experience what its like to have friends his age for once.