Chapter 2: The Entrance Exam
Izuku Midoriya stood on a bed of nails.
If he lost concentration, faltered for even one second, the nails would pierce his flesh. It had happened before, and even though the pain had been mind numbing, his flesh bore no memory of the incidents. He'd checked the soles of his feet multiple times for wounds, but after wiping away the blood, his feet were bare where there should have been multiple gaping holes.
He'd been subjected to this torture many times. This was the eighth time he was forced to walk onto the pile of upright nails. Even then, he couldn't tell if he was improving. His mind, feverish in its delirium, barely picked up the surrounding sounds—
Except for him. The man in the black suit. His voice rang clearly throughout the void of silence.
"You've improved. Congratulations."
Izuku brightened a bit at that. That meant food for him tonight. Excellent.
—This was a dream that he never remembered.
A memory that did not exist in his conscious mind.
A vision of a forgotten past.
Unbreakable
The Entrance Exam
U.A. University's entrance exams were split into two parts: the written exam and the practical exam.
While the practical exam was more famous for obvious reasons, that didn't mean that the written exam was a cake walk. A fair share of students failed the entrance exam by underestimating the written exam, but Izuku… overprepared and overstudied did not even begin to describe the boy's state.
Finishing each section with ease, each time having the time to double, triple check his answers, Izuku felt confident in his exam score. It would be near the top, if not the top, of scores in his year, without a doubt. Academics had always come easily to him, and U.A. was more famous for its heroics course, so it didn't put the most difficult questions on the written exam.
He wondered what it was like for the general studies course and how Himiko was faring. He absentmindedly toyed with his bracelet he'd gotten with Himiko on her birthday as he waited for the exam papers to be collected. Once collected, he was ushered with the rest of the students applying to the heroics course into a large auditorium.
He spotted Katsuki on the way over, but the teen merely greeted him with a glare and stormed off. Their relationship had been sour ever since the explosive teen found out that Izuku was trying for U.A.'s heroics course, and Izuku wasn't really in the mood to patch things up.
He sat in between a blonde haired boy and a brunette girl. The girl gave him a shy smile before their attention was captured by the man greeting the nervous applicants.
"WELCOME EVERYONE TO MY SHOW!" the man roared. "EVERYBODY SAY HEYYY!"
The auditorium was silent.
But Izuku—Izuku was near hyperventilating. "That's the Voice Hero Present Mic! It's him! I listen to his weekly show all the time. I wonder if his loud personality is just a by-product—"
The people around him were a bit creeped out by his muttering, but Present Mic paid him no heed and continued. "TOUGH CROWD, AHAHAHAHA! WELL, I'LL JUST GET ON WITH IT THEN. NO USE DILLY-DALLYING." He paused as if to check if anyone laughed, and seeing that no one did, he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"WE'LL BE SEEING IF YOU HAVE THE SKILLS TO ROCK THE HOUSE IN THE FIFTEEN MINUTE PRACTICAL EXAM!" Present Mic shouted, carrying on. "GATHER AT YOUR DESIGNATED SITE AFTER!"
"—and he's really loud," Izuku continued, "loud enough that I have trouble—"
"THERE WILL BE TONS OF FALSE VILLAINS AT THE SITE, EACH RANGING FROM A ONE, TWO, TO A THREE POINTER. YOUR JOB IS TO TAKE DOWN THESE VILLAINS AND RACK UP A HIGH SCORE WHILE DOING SO! BUT BE WARNED, THERE IS NO DIRECT SABOTAGING OF OTHER STUDENTS ALLOWED! THAT IS UNHEROIC AND WILL RESULT IN DEMERITS!"
"Excuse me!" A listener in the stands shouted, standing up and drawing all eyes to his figure. He was tall, with ramrod stiff posture and a square jaw. "The handout clearly lists four villains. Are you telling me that the prestigious U.A. would make such a mistake?"
Suddenly, he turned to Izuku. "And you! You've been muttering to yourself this whole time, are you even taking this seriously? U.A.'s standards have surely fallen if—"
"HEY SHITTY FOUR EYES!" a new voice roared, once again drawing all eyes to a seething blonde boy. Katsuki raged, "Find your own nerd to bully and shut up!"
Izuku, surprised by Katsuki's reaction, could only gape at the scene before him.
Before tensions could escalate, Present Mic cut in. "AHEM. VERY ASTUTE OBSERVATION. THE FOURTH TYPE OF VILLAIN IS, HOW TO PUT IT DELICATELY, A HUGE DISTRACTION. I WOULD AVOID IT IF I WERE YOU! IT'S CALLED A ZERO-POINTER FOR A REASON!"
"I understand. Forgive me for interrupting!" the tall boy said, sitting back down.
"NO PROBLEM. NOW, I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS ACADEMY'S CATCHPHRASE, SO TO SPEAK. THE ABILITY TO GO BEYOND, TO GO EVEN FURTHER." He paused for dramatic effect.
PLUS ULTRAAAA!"
.:.
"Toshinori," a bored voice said.
"Yes, Aizawa?" The skeletal form of All Might responded. They, along with a handful of other teachers, were gathered in the practical exam's control room. Monitors showed every inch of every test site, and teachers sat at the ready with pencils and paper to record villain takedowns. Another team of teachers were ready to record the hidden rescue points.
He had originally planned on keeping his skeletal form a secret, but ever since giving Izuku One For All, it became too taxing on his body to stay in his muscular form. After some internal fretting, he decided to trust the other teachers at U.A., telling them about his current state and limitations. As of now, he could maintain muscular form for a couple of hours at best.
The reply was terse. "Which one is yours?"
All Might sighed as he felt the gazes of every teacher in the room save for Nezu on him. The cat was out of the bag for sure now. "Izuku Midoriya, screens seven and eight. He has green hair, so you can't miss him."
The teachers crowded around screens seven and eight, all aiming to catch a glimpse of the one who inherited One For All. They found him, clad in black sweats and a green top, jogging in place to warm himself up. He was isolated from the other test takers; they were obviously miffed and confused by the boy's actions.
"He seems… normal," Midnight said, before peering a bit closer at the screen. "Definitely muscular, though not on your level, Toshinori."
"Eh, just wait and see," All Might dismissed. "His hard work and dedication wasn't just for nothing, you know. He's trained for years for this day. I have the utmost faith that he'll not just succeed—he'll surpass even my grade from way back."
"Oho~ are you willing to bet money on that?"
All Might grinned cheekily. "Yep."
.:.
Izuku jogged in place outside of the exam site, warming up his body for the practical exam.
Remembering something, Izuku reached into his rucksack and pulled out a pure black breathing mask. The carbon mask had been a gift from Himiko on his seventeenth birthday, and it had two functions: one to limit breathing, to make a workout harder, and another to make breathing easier, to make it easier to take deep gulps of air. He set it to the second function before slipping it on, sliding snugly against his face until it settled in with a click!
Slowly, the doors to the testing site opened. Izuku, not wasting a second, walked into the darkness.
What awaited him on the other side was a miniature city, of sorts. People started filing in after him, gathering at a literal starting line. They waited for a cue to begin.
"… alright, you can start," a tired voice said.
Izuku activated 50% and immediately sped off, not needing a second cue.
He didn't see it, but the rest of the examinees stood there, dumbfounded. The tired voice from before said, "Do I need to repeat myself? GO!"
The examinees got going, heading deeper into the city only to find the ruins of robots, smoldering in the afternoon breeze. A streak of green light disappeared behind a corner, leaving devastated one, two, and three-pointers in its wake. Seeing as how there weren't any surviving robots to attack, the examinees split up, each going their separate ways to salvage a point or two from the evident madman.
Izuku lept from robot to robot, using Blackwhip to slingshot him between robots and One For All to dismantle them handily with a punch or a kick. He kept track of how many robots he destroyed and the points he gathered mentally, making note of the bright numbers plastered on the bots indicating their point worth. He was somewhere at sixty—sixty-one, he rectified, striking down a one-pointer, and he was indiscriminate in his robot destruction; one, two, three-pointer, they all met their demise by his hands.
It was a sort of mindless task, Izuku lamented, picking up his seventy-fifth point. It also favored combat Quirks over all other Quirks. While he did understand the basics of why it favored what it did, he couldn't help but think that a lot of potential would be wasted. Combat Quirks weren't everything, especially when dealing with rescue missions and the like, and it seemed unfair to disregard them in the exam for the heroics course.
His mind drifted to Himiko. From what he understood, her Quirk allows her to transform into whoever she drinks the blood of. It can be an extremely useful Quirk for stealth or sting operations, but in this exam, it would be useless. He idly wondered if that was why she was applying to the general course instead of the heroics course.
Izuku was getting off track. Focusing in, he doubled down on the motions he went through. At the dojo he'd fought and sparred against real people. These robots didn't give nearly the same challenge, especially now that he was using all of his Quirks.
Activate Blackwhip. Slingshot to a two-pointer. Kick it with 50%. Smash its friend with a fist to the face. Repeat.
He whipped Blackwhip around a pole, sliding on the ground in a ninety degree arc before detaching, barreling headfirst into a group of one-pointers. A blistering combo later, they were all dispatched with ease, and Izuku reactivated Blackwhip, saving time by sliding around another corner.
Seeing a group of people fighting robots ahead of him and to the right, he decided to turn left to avoid others. He didn't want to poach other people's points, sure, but what was more important to him was that there weren't any people around him to slow him down.
It really was a mindless process. Izuku found his focus slipping, but he reined himself in and steeled himself. He only needed to concentrate for fifteen minutes, not just to pass, but also to get the highest score in U.A. history. That was the goal he set for himself, and he'd be damned if he didn't achieve it.
He blitzed through a group of three-pointers, destroying them with a one-two combo, an uppercut, and a brutal haymaker. Ninety-two points, and how many minutes left? Izuku had the feeling that it was just about eight minutes left, give or take a minute, but he shook it off and got back to focusing on the task at hand.
Izuku kicked the next three bots, denting the metal hard enough to completely deform it. He smoothly moved on, taking out a group of two-pointers in a flash of green light. Using Blackwhip to shoot himself around yet another street corner, he nearly crashed into a brunette making robots… float?
Yeah, she was making robots float by tapping them as she ran by them. The girl looked queasy, but her tactic was working. The robots would float up three, four stories before being unceremoniously dropped, shattering into tiny fragments upon hitting the ground.
"Oops, sorry for almost running into ya," Izuku said before taking off, not even giving the girl a chance to respond.
Izuku continued on his rampage, obliterating robots left and right. It was a one-sided slaughterfest; he could often destroy them before they even registered that he was standing in front of them. It made the exam a complete bore and incredibly easy, but Izuku decided to count his blessings and not complain. He didn't know what the record for the exam was, but he was confident that he was close to it.
Little did he know that he was being heavily scrutinized.
.:.
"Toshinori," Midnight said, still staring at the screen, "what… what have you been feeding this kid?"
"Steroids," he deadpanned.
That earned him a smack on the shoulder. "I'm serious. This kid's a blur of green and black. The cameras are even struggling to pick him up, and that's not counting—"
"Soooo," All Might drawled, gazing back at the woman, "how much money do you owe me?"
"Getting a bit cocky, eh?" she huffed, crossing her arms. Midnight didn't want to admit it, but if Izuku kept pace, he would blow the previous record out of the water.
Aizawa didn't comment save for a: "I call dibs on teaching his class."
That earned a fair amount of debate and yelling, forcing Principal Nezu to cough. He said, "Well, let's see how he faces a real challenge."
"Wait, wait, wait," Power Loader said, "isn't it a bit too early to release the zero-pointer?"
The principal just stared at him blankly.
"… I'll take that as a no."
.:.
Izuku just finished mopping up his one hundred and eighth point when he felt the ground rumbling.
He spotted a group of people running… from something, it seemed. They passed the alleyway he was in, shrieking and sprinting as if their life depended on it. What followed after them was a robot leg—no, scratch that. A gigantic robot was chasing after them, the leg merely being an extension of a much, much larger whole.
Out of curiosity, Izuku ran out of the alleyway onto the street. He gaped at the sheer size of the zero-pointer. That thing had to have been at least fifty feet tall, if not more. And that wasn't the only one. More kept on popping out of the ground like moles. He counted three of them in total, and they all split and went in separate directions.
He knew he should've left it alone, but… Izuku wanted to test his strength. And, if he was being honest, this feeling of domination, of utterly outclassing the robots, was frankly exhilarating.
Just as a zero-pointer trapped a group of examinees against a corner of the road, Izuku blitzed onto the scene. Not wasting a moment, Izuku whipped up to the head using Blackwhip and scissor kicked it. The force of the impact sent him flying, so he readjusted Blackwhip to latch himself against the building before observing the robot. It had sustained noticeable damage, but not enough to put it out of commission.
"Well, if 50% doesn't work…" Izuku murmured, cocking back his right arm. He grunted as he felt the full force of One For All seep through his muscles before rocketing off of the building, using a solitary strand of Blackwhip to make sure his aim was true.
He zeroed in on the giant robot, punching it with the full force of One For All. Since he somewhat crossed it, the robot went flying to the left, even leaving its treads as it smashed into the building next to it. As he fell to the ground, he admired his handiwork. The robot was utterly smashed, a heaping wreck of scrap metal in a collapsing building—
Wait. Collapsing building?
Izuku's mind briefly went into panic mode as he saw the building crumbling. There were still examinees under it, examinees who just looked up and saw giant shards of glass and concrete falling down at them.
Before he even knew what he was doing, he'd extended Blackwhip at the three furthest examinees, throwing them gracelessly to safety as he ran to the last two. Using a 50% boost, he reached them and grabbed their hands, not waiting for their consent or even bare acknowledgement. He yanked them to safety, the glass and concrete falling harmlessly upon a spot where they'd been moments before.
"Sorry 'bout that," Izuku mumbled in apology before taking off once more, leaving a couple gaping examinees behind. Their whole encounter took less than a minute, and Izuku didn't slow down.
Sprinting after one of the zero-pointers, he rounded a ruined street corner using Blackwhip and saw the levitating-girl from earlier stuck on… something, he couldn't tell from his location what pinned her to the ground. The massive robot towered over her, priming to strike before Izuku immediately sprung into action.
As the gigantic fist came flying down at the levitating-girl, Izuku barreled into it with a kick to send it careening off-course. As it slammed down harmlessly into the ground a fair distance from the downed girl, Izuku shot a strand of Blackwhip to coil around the robot's dome, slingshotting him forward towards its head where he met the robot with a brutal, 100% uppercut. He felt his arm tweak in protest, but Izuku fought through the slight pain and finished the swing, sending the robot flying off of the ground a dozen feet or so. It crashed to the ground with a mighty thud, electrical sparks going haywire.
Fearing it might combust or explode, Izuku quickly went to free the levitating-girl. There was a bit of vomit to the side of her, but Izuku paid it no special attention as he lifted the heavy slab of concrete on her right leg.
"You alright?" He asked, helping her up. She gingerly put weight on her right leg before settling in on it fully.
She stared at him and then at the vomit on the ground, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "Y-Yeah. I… I don't know what happened, I lost control and—"
"No worries," Izuku dismissed. "My apologies, but I've gotta go and…" He gestured wordlessly at the ruined robots that lined the streets.
She nodded numbly, still staring at him with a peculiar expression.
He stared back at her, not quite sure what to say. After a brief moment of silence, he said, "Well, stay safe. See you later."
Without another word, he raced off using 50% of One For All. Following the loudest sounds of screaming coming from somewhere to the right of him, Izuku dismantled robots left and right with a second objective in mind: find the final zero-pointer and defeat it.
There was no real benefit to doing such a thing, but…
A smile appeared on his face. He'd gone for so long being weak, being Quirkless. Now was an opportunity to show All Might the fruits of his training, to prove to the hero that he'd made the right choice in picking Izuku to be his successor.
.:.
The teachers, save for All Might, gaped as Izuku seemingly made a beeline for his area's final zero-pointer, destroying robots on the way.
"Um, someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but…" Midnight began, "doesn't it seem like Midoriya is actively pursuing the zero-pointer?"
No one refuted the statement.
All Might sat there, happily humming to himself. Izuku was putting on a show. He was broadcasting to the entire faculty that he had exactly what they looked for in a student. Izuku was strong and intelligent, sure, but his care for the other participants of the exam and his act of saving the others truly set him apart from the rest.
Sure, there were other students racking up a few Rescue Points here and there, but none of them were as seemingly quick or as eager to do them as Izuku was. The kid saved others like it was his first instinct, the natural thing to do.
And that made All Might proud, happy, and content that he had chosen the right person to be his successor.
He looked up just in time to watch his successor slingshot off of two adjacent buildings using Blackwhip, flying high above the final zero-pointer before shooting a third strand of it directly to the robot's head. Using the connection to reel himself in, he delivered a ground-splitting kick to the top of the robot's head, causing the robot to essentially cave in upon itself. Seemingly satisfied at the result of the destroyed robot, Izuku leapt off again in a blur of fragmented green energy and black shadows.
Yeah. His previous record stood no chance.
.:.
The bells ringing signaled to Izuku that the test was over.
He was on his 157th point when the robot suddenly stopped moving. Not that it was going to make much of a difference as to what the end result would be, but it still miffed Izuku that technically he hadn't gotten his 157th point. If that was the deciding point in whether or not he beat All Might's record, he might just cry his eyes out.
As Izuku walked towards the exit, the original starting area, he couldn't help but notice a large amount of staring and whispering going on. Seeing as to how they pointed at him and no one else, Izuku surmised that he was the hot topic issue of the day. Blushing slightly in embarrassment, he took off his face mask and stored it away into his rucksack that was tucked away inside one of the provided lockers before promptly getting out of there.
He made his way towards the main gate of U.A. while pulling out his phone. Scrolling through his very sparse contact list, he found what he was looking for and shot Himiko a text.
Izuku: Hello!
Izuku: I was just wondering if you were done with your exam. I'm done with mine.
Izuku hesitated for a moment, mentally gathering the courage he needed, and proceeded to type.
Izuku: I would like to see you and talk to you about how it went.
His confidence failed him.
Izuku: That is, only if you want to talk about it.
Izuku shut his eyes and resisted the urge to chuck his phone into the sky with an One For All-enhanced arm. Cringe! He was so utterly cringe! He really wished that there was an un-send button for text messages. It was a shock that Himiko even bothered hanging around him considering how damn awkward he knew he was.
His phone buzzed multiple times, and Izuku cracked an eye open to look at his screen.
Himiko: yayyyyyyyyy!
Himiko: izu would like to see me! Yay
Izuku flushed madly. His stupid, dumb, dopey, foolish mouth—
Himiko: ive been done for a while
Himiko: waiting for u at the main gate
Himiko: lets go grab some food too :3
Izuku replied with an okay, subconsciously grinning to himself. He jogged to the main entrance of U.A., spotting a blonde girl with twin buns leaning against one of the many pillars. She was on her phone, ignoring the groups of fellow hopeful students chatting beside her as they waited for the bus or their ride to pick them up.
"Hey, Himiko," Izuku said shyly, walking up to her. At this point, he knew what would be coming.
Himiko looked up from her phone, instantly recognizing his voice. Without a second thought of where they were or who was watching, she glomped him. "Izuku! Hiiii."
Izuku lightly patted her on the back, a bit embarrassed by the many amused looks they were receiving and of the fact that he was still sweaty from the exam. He dimly caught the words oh? Boyfriend and girlfriend? or ooh, are they dating? Himiko, evidently hearing the same things, hugged him tighter before letting go of him. "Well then," she said, a cat-like grin appearing on her face, "where to?"
Izuku thought for a moment before responding. "The usual ramen shop?"
Himiko smiled brightly. "Yep!"
Seeing as how they weren't in a rush, Izuku and Himiko decided to walk to one of Izuku's favorite ramen shops. It was where they'd spent Himiko's birthday together all those years ago, and they visited it fairly regularly, or at least regularly enough to the point that the kindly old lady that ran the shop remembered their faces and orders.
On the way, they chatted about the differences between the general studies entrance exam and the heroics course entrance exam. To Izuku's surprise, the general studies exam seemed to be the same as the heroics course's written exam save for one thing. Himiko's contained two categories: reading comprehension (essentially reading and writing) and math. Izuku's also contained an additional section regarding the history of heroics and hero regulations.
"But that one was easy," Izuku sighed. Any hero-geek worth their salt would've been able to answer that section perfectly. "I mean, it even asked about the largest known villain group to be squashed in the last century. Anyone should know it was the Chameleon guild, and it was destroyed by All Might and Sir Nighteye in the Fifteen Nights of Summer's Tide. The four heads of the Chameleon were Tobayashi, Rize, Sonaka, and Ted, but they didn't even ask about them!"
Izuku huffed, before going off onto another rant about the disappointingly easy heroic history section. Himiko, to her credit, tried to follow along at the beginning, but eventually gave up, opting instead to watch her Izuku rant passionately about the subject.
Her Izuku.
Her Izuku.
She loved how he ranted passionately about subjects he was interested in. She loved how his eyes lit up, flashing green. She loved how he lost track of everything else, only focusing on her and the topic at hand. She even loved how he reacted when he realized he'd been ranting, flushing red with embarrassment and offering a meek apology.
She loved him.
She loved him. She loved him. She loved him.
She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him. She loved him—
"Himiko?" Izuku said, worriedly glancing at the girl beside him. She seemed to have an almost manic expression on her face, but that face instantly disappeared, leaving him to wonder if it ever truly existed in the first place.
"Yes, Izuku?"
"Oh," he murmured, flustered at even the sweet tone she answered him in. Steeling himself, he offered, "I was just wondering if you've got anything on your mind. You've been quiet for a while."
She giggled. "Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the view." Her eyes never left Izuku's.
Perplexed, Izuku looked behind him, completely missing Himiko's teasing. There was nothing of note around them, but Izuku supposed she was free to enjoy whatever view she wanted to enjoy. He told her that, and to his surprise, she burst out into laughter.
"Sometimes you can be such a dork," she said fondly.
Their afternoon passed by pleasantly, with the two ordering their usuals at the ramen shop. Even though it was too early to be considered dinner, Izuku wolfed down his share and then some when Himiko tantalizingly offered him the remnants of her meal. The two killed some time milling about, even hitting up an arcade where he tried—and failed—to get Himiko the prize plushie.
The damn thing was so, so close, and it was only at Himiko's suggestion that they get back before the last trains that he finally gave up. He'd have his revenge, though. That thing took out a sizable chunk of his monthly allowance.
When they reached his apartment, he immediately offered, "You know, I'd be more than willing to walk you back to yours first."
It had become a ritual of sorts. Whenever they hung out, Himiko would walk with Izuku back to his home, but she would adamantly refuse letting him walk her to her home first. He asked every time, but she was stout in her refusal, not budging one bit. Izuku never pushed on the subject, though, respecting her desire for privacy.
"Nope, there's no need for that." Her reply was terse and final.
Izuku sighed. "Thought so. Just know my offer is always open."
Himiko smiled, revealing her fangs. "Awwwww, Izuku, worried about me?"
"Honestly, yes." He looked at her surprised expression before continuing, "I care about you, so I'll always worry. Even if I know you're capable of protecting yourself."
She looked down, hiding her eyes behind a curtain of blonde hair. With an odd, but cute squealing sort-of sound, she lightly hit Izuku's shoulder with a closed fist and held it there. "… being that honest is unfair."
Izuku brought his hand up and grasped her wrist, bringing it down to their waists. "Well, it's how I truly think."
He looked down at her fondly. She was blushing—well, to be exact, her face always seemed like it was blushing even in the most mundane of situations, but this time it was much more pronounced. Grinning, he said the next thing that he knew would make her happy. "Hey, Himiko… want some of my blood?"
She instantly looked up. Even after all this time, years of him offering blood to her occasionally, the delight on her face hadn't faded one bit when she heard his words. She had the barest of patience, though: "Are you sure?"
Izuku rolled his eyes. "Yes I am. Here."
He leaned down a bit and tilted his head, exposing his neck and relaxing it to deactivate his other Quirk. Himiko shivered in anticipation and without a second of hesitation, she bit into his neck. The slightly painful pricks were quickly replaced with a dull sensation of her tongue lapping back and forth. She hugged him close, digging ravenously into his neck, and Izuku flushed at the intimacy of their position.
When she was done, she licked his neck slowly, sensually before peeling off. Both of them were panting and just a bit hot and flustered, Izuku more so than Himiko. He idly wondered if he was developing a fetish, but quickly shook off the thought when Himiko shot him a bright grin. Unable to stop herself, she gave Izuku a quick peck on the cheek, smiling toothily at him before offering a, "Well, I guess this is goodbye."
"Not for long," Izuku reminded, blushing crimson. "See you soon?"
She giggled. "Yeah."
.:.
Izuku stood on U.A. University's dorm grounds, idly wondering why All Might had called him there.
A sudden thought struck him. What if he failed the entrance exam? He knew it was unlikely, but what if he'd hurt someone accidentally during the exam? Wouldn't that be grounds for automatic disqualification? Oh God, what if he—
"Izuku!" All Might called, walking over in his deflated form. Oh no, All Might thought. He's muttering to himself again. "Izuku!"
"All M—no, Toshinori-sensei," Izuku turned to him,"did I fail the entrance exam?"
"What? No," All Might cut in, "you passed with flying colors. I called you here today to help the students that got in on recommendation move into their dorms. They're going to be in your class, 1-A."
Izuku blinked. He definitely was not about to bawl his eyes out at having realized his lifelong goal of going to U.A. Yep. Definitely not. All Might, noticing his reaction, smiled gently and patted the boy on his back. "Congratulations, by the way. And thank you for earning me some spare change."
Izuku sniffled but then paused. "Wait. Spare cha—"
He was interrupted by All Might's typical boisterous laugh. "Don't worry about it, young man! Now pull yourself together, we're going to meet two of your future classmates."
Izuku watched All Might walk off after that, steeling himself, but he took the time to do a happy dance. He got into U.A.! He tried to suppress a massive smile but ultimately failed, and it was the sight of Izuku smiling that All Might turned around to. Shaking his head, he decided to let the boy have his moment.
Once he was composed, he followed his mentor to his future home. The place they arrived at was a huge "H" shaped building with the sign 1-A Alliance written on the front of it.
"The left wings are for males, and the right wings are for females," All Might explained, morphing into his muscular form after checking that no one was nearby. "The boy is young Todoroki, and the girl is young Yaoyorozu."
Todoroki? That was curious, very curious. It wasn't, by chance, the same Todoroki as the number two hero Endeavor's Todoroki, was it?
He asked All Might that question, to which he answered, "No, it's the same Todoroki. He's Endeavor's son."
Izuku nodded, mentally remembering the names as they walked into the common room, which was surprisingly full of clutter. Wait. It wasn't just clutter… the boxes all had PROPERTY OF MOMO YAOYOROZU splattered in bright red font on the front of the boxes. Only one or two had SHOTO TODOROKI written plainly on it.
"Alright kids, the helper I told you about is here!" All Might all but roared. After a couple of seconds, two people emerged from opposite staircases.
The boy who emerged from the left staircase had red and white hair and an angry red scar across his face. He regarded Izuku with a cool look before walking up to him and offering a terse, "Todoroki." He held out a hand.
"Hi, Todoroki," Izuku greeted a bit shyly, shaking his hand. "I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Hi Midoriya!" the girl said happily, sending the men in the room a polite smile. "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu. You must be All Might's errand boy!"
Even with his limited social experience, he could discern that she wasn't trying to insult him. Her bright, pure eyes only indicated her excitement and curiosity without a trace of maliciousness. He fidgeted, saying awkwardly, "… yep."
"And he'll be helping you move in! I've gotta go now and patrol the town and stop any wrongdoers!" With an almost apologetic look on his face, he quickly left the building.
Wait, Izuku thought, did he just shove off his work onto me?
"Hmmm," Izuku hummed thoughtfully before turning around, looking at the boxes, "I'll do Todoroki first since it appears like he has less stuff. After we get him squared away, I'll come help you out, Yaoyorozu."
With their assent to his plan, he got down to business. Bending down and activating 10% of One For All, he easily picked up Todoroki's boxes and headed over to the left staircase. When doing so, he unknowingly missed the shocked expressions of the two. It had been surprising when Izuku suddenly glowed, shooting off ethereal sparks of green electricity, but when he bent over and easily picked up not one but two of the heavy boxes they'd been struggling to even lift off the ground, Shoto and Momo were downright flabbergasted.
"Todoroki, can you show me where your room is?" Izuku asked, peeking out from the side of two gigantic boxes.
"… yeah," the taller boy said after a somewhat lengthy pause, taking the time to get over his slight shock. "Follow me."
Shoto walked ahead of him, guiding the way. He watched Izuku climb up the left staircase, ready to offer a helping hand if need be, but it seemed that such help would be unnecessary. The other teen smoothly carried the boxes up to the third floor where his bedroom was. Setting it on the ground easily, Izuku asked, "Need help unpacking it?"
"No." Shoto gave him an uvaluating look before finally saying, "Thank you, though."
"No problem!" the other boy smiled widely. "I must say, I really like the aesthetic of this room—a very traditional, Japanese-styled room."
"Thanks."
It was plain and some people might even call it boring, but it was what Shoto liked. He was glad that there was another that seemed to share the same tastes that he did.
"Well, if you need anything just holler," Izuku offered. "I'm gonna go help Yaoyorozu. She… looks like she'd take a bit more time than you did."
Shoto snorted in amusement at that comment.
As Izuku walked down to the first floor of the dorm, his phone buzzed, signalling the arrival of a text. Whipping it out, his eyes widened when he saw it was from All Might.
All Might: Forgive me, I couldn't tell them you were a student before the exam results came out
Izuku: Yeah, I get it. It's fine.
Izuku: By the way, were you originally supposed to help them set up their rooms?
All Might: hehe
The number one hero sent him an emoticon of a cutesy anime girl hitting the side of her head with a fist, shutting one eye in a wink, and sticking her tongue out.
He could only laugh quietly at the sheer ridiculousness of that.
"Midoriya!" Momo called out as he rounded the corner, bounding over to his location. She asked, "Are you done with Todoroki's room?"
"Yeah," Izuku said simply.
"Yay! Then, it's time to do my room next?" she beamed with tangible amounts of excitement.
Izuku nodded, saying, "Yup." Bending over and picking up one of the many large boxes after activating One For All, he idly wondered why the girl seemed to be so excited over something as mundane as moving in, but hey, who was he to judge what people found exciting? "Can you show me where you want me to move them?"
"Yes," she smiled, "follow me." As she led him to the girl's side of the building, she asked, "So, how long have you been All Might's personal errand boy?"
"Urk." Izuku nearly stumbled at the sudden question, but he luckily caught himself. "A couple of years. He saved me from a villain a while back, and I've been in his debt ever since."
"Oh! What type of villain was it?"
"Um… he had a sludge-type Quirk that could immobilize people when in contact with it."
"Scary stuff~ ooh, so what type of things do you do for All Might?"
"Ah, just typical things. Like—um, you know, the usual." Let it be known that coming up with stories and lies was never Izuku's forte.
Momo stopped in her tracks, sending a curious glance at Izuku, prodding him to continue his explanation.
Izuku spoke as if he were verbally walking on eggshells. "Well, as… payment for helping him with… uh, things, he helps me workout sometimes."
That got Momo's full attention. "You get to work out with All Might!?"
Now that he mentioned it, Momo took a closer look at All Might's errand boy. He was obviously well-built, but the clothes he wore made it difficult to discern just how toned he was underneath that outfit. Then she madly blushed at what she was picturing in her head.
"Yeah," Izuku said, happy to see that this girl seemed to like All Might. "It's really cool. He shows me the workouts he does."
She instantly stopped walking and turned around, grabbing his forearms. "You've gotta tell me what type of workouts he does!"
While Izuku was initially taken back by the suddenness of the contact, he quickly got into his comfort zone as he talked about his favorite hero: All Might. Momo listened, enraptured, hanging off of his every word. Through her excited reactions, he could tell that she was just as big a fan as he was, and he was glad to find some common ground between them.
The time passed quickly as he discussed his favorite subject with Momo and helped her unpack. It was nice to have someone to discuss hero-related stuff with—his mother couldn't keep up with all of their names, and Himiko was strangely apathetic towards heroes in general. The way Himiko's face crinkled up at the mention of heroics was a telltale sign for Izuku to avoid bringing up the subject matter in front of her.
Momo, he discovered, was also a massive hero geek, and she grew excited over seemingly the smallest and most mundane things. She explained how it was always her dream to attend U.A., and now that she was going she was determined to be the best. During this time, Izuku kept quiet about the fact that he, too, was going not just to U.A. but also to be in the same class as her.
An hour later, the two decided to take a breather, sitting down on the sofa in the common room.
"Sorry for making you help me with all of this." She gestured out at the plethora of boxes still remaining on the first floor.
"No need to be sorry," Izuku responded. "Plus, it's fun talking to you."
Momo smiled bashfully. With a cough, she said, "It's odd, though. My family paid the movers a decent sum of money, but they just left it here instead of moving it into my room, saying that their job was done technically once they moved the boxes into the dorms."
"That sucks," Izuku said sympathetically. "Just curious though—and not to be rude and pry, or anything—but how much did you guys pay them? If they were paid too little, they could've just done it out of spite."
"Hmmmmmm," Momo thought, "probably seven hundred and fifty-four thousand yen. Somewhere around that number? As I said, a decent sum of money."
Izuku blanched at the number.
She sighed. "I think that might have been too little, yeah."
"No no no no no," Izuku deadpanned, "if anything, that's way too much. They may have been too excited to get all that money and were rushing off to spend it."
"Oh, I get it." With the way her eyes were looking at him, wide and unblinking, and combined with the general confused expression on her face, he could tell that she did not, in fact, get it. He idly wondered if her family was stinking rich or something like that.
Before any further conversation could happen, the front door clicked open and a disheveled man walked through. Clad in a black long-sleeve shirt and similarly colored pants, the man looked more like he was sleepwalking with the dark bags under his eyes and how languidly he moved about.
"Is that Eraser Head?" Izuku stage whispered to Momo. "He's rarely seen these days! Is he a teacher at U.A., too?
"Yes, I think it is!" Momo said, barely suppressed excitement coming clear across her voice.
"I can hear you two, you know. Come here."
With an eek! the two jumped to attention, walking towards Eraser Head. Izuku stopped right in front of the pro hero, offering, "What did you need us for, Eraser Head?"
"Call me Aizawa. Or sensei." His gaze fell on Izuku. "I was just checking on whether or not my new students got the help they needed to move in successfully. I was expecting All Might to be here, but since you're here, Midoriya, I can guess what happened."
Iuku nodded, but then he realized something and said, "Wait, Aizawa-sensei, you know who I am?"
Aizawa stared at Izuku apathetically. "Of course I do. It's not every day that you see someone break All Might's record in the entrance exam and get the highest score, so I tend to remember who it is when it does happen. Also, I'm going to be your homeroom teacher, so it's only natural for me to know your name."
A beat passed.
Momo screeched, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—"
She wanted to hide away in some desolate region of the world for the rest of her life. It was so embarrassing, it was so embarrassing, it was so embarrassing—the highest ranking student from the entrance exam, and she thought he was a mere errand boy! Her words from the day came crashing back to her, making her cheeks flush a delightful shade of red.
Had she known he was going to be a student, just like her, she wouldn't have shown him such an immature side of her! Her geeking out over All Might would've been kept under wraps! Could she be blamed for thinking that talking withAll Might's "errand boy" was just a chance, one-time meeting? No, absolutely not! For the sake of her family's name, pride, and honor, she had to rectify her mistake and patch her image up with Izuku.
She got in on recommendation. She was supposed to be mature, dignified. She was supposed to be amongst the best U.A. had to offer, and the "best" behaved a certain way. Those values were instilled within her by her parents, and she wasn't about to let them down. She couldn't be outed for being a hero-obsessed geek before school had even begun!
"Um, Yaoyorozu, are you alright?" Izuku looked over at the still-panicking Momo, who flushed an even darker shade of red. "You kinda let out a weird noise…"
"Y-Y-Yep! Totally fine. Just gotta…" She fumbled around for an excuse. Work brain, work! "… go to the restroom all of a sudden, so please, excuse me."
Without another word, she rushed into another room. Izuku was a bit confused since he was pretty sure that there was not, in fact, a bathroom in that room, but he could've been wrong. His attention suddenly snapped to Aizawa as the other man began talking.
"I just want to come out and say it," he said, checking around to make sure Momo was out of earshot, "I'm not going to treat you differently because you're All Might's successor." Aizawa's voice was flat and as hard as steel. "If I find you lacking, I will not hesitate to expel you."
Izuku gulped, but then he looked Aizawa hard in the eye and said, "I don't know what expectations you have of me, Aizawa-sensei, but I swear I'll not just meet them, I'll surpass them."
"Decent answer," the older man acquiesced. "I specifically asked to be assigned as your homeroom teacher so I could judge, for myself, whether or not you're worthy of All Might's power. I—and Toshinori—have high expectations. Do not let us down."
Izuku looked down at his closed palms. " I still don't know if I deserve this power, but I will prove to you that I am worthy."
Aizawa huffed. "Mere semantics." With a wave, he took his leave, leaving behind a slightly shaken but no less determined Izuku.
He was shaken slightly due to the sudden pressure placed on him to perform, but soon, that feeling dissolved into a fierce determination to prove to the world that he was worthy of One For All. He didn't know how much longer it'd take, but he would be able to take control of the Quirk in its entirety, at 100%. That was a promise he made himself. If he had to rely on his other unnamed Quirk to do so, then so be it.
Little did he know, Momo was in the next corridor over, hiding behind a wall with her hands pressed against her mouth.
She couldn't help but think she intruded upon something intensely private. It's just—the words All Might's successor caught her interest, and before she knew it, she was hiding and listening to their quiet conversation with a hastily constructed hearing aid. It was such a short conversation, but the implications of it…
Just what the hell did that mean? Momo thought desperately to herself. Worthy of All Might's power? What… is All Might's Quirk transferred or something?
She'd never heard of such a Quirk. It should be impossible to transfer power or Quirks or whatever to another person. She… she must've misheard. Yup, she'll go with that. She misheard, and that conversation Izuku had with Aizawa was just a completely normal conversation devoid of earth-shattering revelations.
In the slight off chance that she did actually hear them correctly, the very slight chance, the 0.00001% chance that she heard them correctly…
No. It was impossible.
I'll just keep a close eye on him, she decided mentally. Yeah, that was a good idea. She needed more information.
You could just go up to him and ask, you know? one part of her brain argued.
Okay, that was a poor idea already. She already exposed herself to him—she didn't have the guts to even look him in the face anymore after her folly. To just up and go ask him what being All Might's successor meant was just… impossible. So, yeah, observing him it is, then.
With a deep breath, Momo composed herself and—
"What are you doing?"
Momo outright screamed, causing the person who asked that question, poor Shoto, to jump back in surprise. In an instant, Izuku appeared before them, arcs of green electricity still leaping off of his frame. "Are you alright?" he asked sincerely, gazing at her with pure eyes.
Momo instantly looked down and away from his eyes, fumbling to hide away the hearing aid and feeling herself blush madly in embarrassment. She wanted to die. She wanted to perish on the spot. She would have to add Todoroki to the growing list of people she showed an unseemly side of herself to. Her face rapidly overheating, she managed a soft, "Yes, I'm alright. Todoroki just caught me off guard."
"Sorry," came the terse response. To his credit, Shoto looked genuinely apologetic, or, at least as apologetic one can look with such an impassive face.
"Well, I'm glad you're alright." Izuku said, releasing his tension and settling back to normality. "Anyways, Yaoyorozu, we've still got like… roughly half of your stuff to unpack. Shall we get to it?"
"Y-Yes, of course." She smiled politely at him, but didn't quite meet him in the eye.
Over the course of the next hour, Izuku returned to helping Momo move things up and set up her room. Though, something about the way she was acting was slightly off putting. Ever since their encounter with Aizawa, she had been oddly quiet. Gone was the excitable girl spouting All Might facts, and in its stead, Momo Yaoyorozu, the prim, proper beauty, remained.
It was a shame, really. He had liked the Yaoyorozu that seemed to be super into heroes. This polite Yaoyorozu kept him incessantly on edge. But… no matter. She was going to be a classmate, so Izuku would like to be friends with her. Same with Todoroki. Izuku was fine with being a loner, as he had been throughout all of high school, but now, he wanted to change. He wanted to have people he could call friends.
Himiko… had been the primary reason for his newfound thinking. She showed him that human interaction didn't have to just be the bullies and the bullied. She showed him that, beyond family members, people could be friends, could be something more.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, Izuku stood in a now boxless common room with Shoto and Momo. Shoto had come downstairs to bid Izuku goodbye and thank you, bowing slightly, a gesture which Izuku promptly returned.
"Don't worry about it!" Izuku said.
After a moment of hesitation, Momo shyly added, "I look forward to being in the same class this year, Midoriya. Thank you so much for your help."
To Shoto's credit, he didn't look surprised when Momo dropped that bombshell. He only raised a single eyebrow before looking at Izuku and saying, "Likewise."
His reaction was such a far cry from Momo's cute shriek that Izuku couldn't help but inwardly chuckle. "Well, see you guys soon. I'm heading home now."
"Goodbye," Shoto and Momo chorused, waving goodbye as Izuku left the building. As soon as he left, Shoto excused himself, leaving Momo all alone in the common room—
Where she promptly collapsed onto her knees.
This, she thought, has been an exhausting day.
.:.
"Mom! Moooooooom! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
"What's the matter, Izuku?" Inko Midoriya said, coming into the living room. Izuku sat on the couch clutching a letter-shaped envelope.
"It's here." Izuku said cryptically.
"Honey, what's here—"
She froze when she recognized the seal on the envelope: U.A. University, the foremost college for all things heroics.
Her blood ran cold.
"Mom, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this sooner." Izuku took a deep breath, glad to be free of the burden of keeping a secret from his beloved mother. "I didn't apply to Aldera High's affiliated college. I've been training, all the time that I've gone out for the past few years, to take the entrance exam for U.A. And not the general course. I applied for the heroics course."
Inko could only laugh weakly. "… and with what Quirks, dear? I remember how pained you were when the doctor said that you were…"
"But I'm not, mom," Izuku said patiently. "I'm not Quirkless."
Inko remained silent. Her fears, the ones she held for all these years, rose to the forefront. "W-What Quirks do you have, then?"
Chrono Force. Regenerator. Electromagneta. Hydro Cannon. King's Will. And so many more, more to the point that she'd forgotten all of them. That monster that tried to make her baby into a monster of his own. The police said that they locked away his latent powers by suppressing them behind a fog of partial amnesia, but what if that wasn't enough? What if his powers, along with his influence and the memories of the atrocities they forced her son to commit all came back—
To Izuku's credit, he didn't seem to notice that she referred to Quirks as plural. But her fears were rendered partially null by the story her son told her. He told her of All Might, and One For All, and Blackwhip, and the yet unnamed third Quirk of his. All of this talk made her feel relieved that no, her son was not getting his memory of that horrible time back, but her fears temporarily resurfaced when he talked about the unnamed Quirk. It sounded like Chrono Force or Regenerator had appeared in his son without him having memory of how he got it.
Oh God. Inko was beside herself with worry. If he remembered that time… she wasn't worried about him regaining use of the monstrous Quirks he'd been given, no, she was worried that he'd remember what he did with them. The police said he couldn't take the blame for his actions simply because it was obvious that he was being forced and acted largely in self-defense, but Inko knew that her little Izuku could never forgive himself if he knew what actually happened to those children. What he did to them.
"Anyways, well," Izuku paused, not noticing his mother currently lost in her thoughts due to his nervousness, "this is the notification from U.A."
He ripped open the letter and selected the play button from the device he unsheathed from its remains.
"I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"
Instantly a fully muscled-out All Might popped up in the air, wearing the U.A. colors. Having been a teacher at U.A. for several years by now, it made sense that he was wearing the school colors, but Izuku wanted to see All Might in his proper hero costume.
"Hi, All Might!" Izuku responded.
"As this is a pre-recorded message, please do not do something as foolish as greeting me back. Ahahahahahahahahaha!" Izuku flushed in embarrassment while his evidently still lost in thought mother only let out a chuckle in response.
"Young man, I will make this short since you already know the results of the exam. I don't know what fool told you before the exam results came out though. Ahahaha!"
Izuku held back a facepalm at his mentor's antics.
"Anywho, you passed the written exam with only one wrong in the entire exam. Very impressive, but you should brush up on your theoretical mathematics. You still got the highest score, tied with one Tenya Iida." He coughed a bit of blood, alarming both Izuku and Inko, before continuing.
"As for the practical exam… well, I'll just let the results speak for themselves." All Might turned the camera to a scoreboard of sorts, comprising of names and two additional categories for points: villain and rescue. It read:
10—Yosetsu Awase, Villain Points: 50, Rescue Points: 6.
9—Fumikage Tokoyami, Villain Points: 47, Rescue Points: 10.
8—Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Villain Points: 49, Rescue Points: 10.
7—Tenya Iida, Villain Points: 52, Rescue Points: 9.
6—Itsuka Kendo, Villain Points: 25, Rescue Points: 40.
5—Ibara Shiozaki, Villain Points: 36, Rescue Points: 32.
4—Ochaco Uraraka, Villain Points: 32, Rescue Points: 45.
3—Eijiro Kirishima, Villain Points: 39, Rescue Points: 39.
2—Katsuki Bakugo, Villain Points: 88, Rescue Points: 0.
1—Izuku Midoriya, Villain Points: 156, Rescue Points: 102.
Izuku gaped at the number of rescue points and at the huge jump of points from second to first place. The villain points were to be expected, but he never expected his rescue points, whatever they were, to be that high.
As if sensing his feelings, All Might quickly said, "Highest in both villain and rescue points for a total of two hundred and fifty-eight points. The former is to be expected, but the latter shows that you are truly special. We had a whole extra team of judges watching purely for one thing: laying your life on the line and saving other people. What kind of hero course would we be if we didn't acknowledge true heroism?"
That made… sense.
All Might continued. "You saved people without a second thought. It was like watching a well-oiled machine! You blended helping others perfectly with taking villains down. That is the true quality we are looking for in a hero, and you've got it in spades!"
On screen, All Might held out a hand. "Welcome to your hero academia!"
Even though he'd known about it for a few days now, hearing All Might welcome him made Izuku tear up again. Wrought with emotion, the boy wiped at his eyes with the back of his palm, struggling to keep his countenance calm.
On the other hand, Inko could only look at her son with worry. She didn't dare bring up what happened all those years ago; doing so, she was warned by the doctors and specialists, could trigger unwanted memories. But, she had to make sure.
"Izuku," she started slowly, "are you sure that this is what you want?"
Izuku looked at his mother. In those evergreen eyes of his, she could only see fierce, unwavering determination behind a thin veil of tears. "Yes, mom. And I'm not just going to become a hero…"
His eyes narrowed.
"I'm going to become the best hero there ever was."