Chapter 5: School Days
"And you're sure you have everything? Socks, shoes, extra pairs of underwear?"
"Yes mom, and please stop reminding me of that, you've asked six times already this morning,"
"I know, I know, I just worry! And you're positive that the rooms-"
"They're fully furnished mom, no need to bring anything else, I promise."
Izuku held back a sigh. He knew that his mother would have struggled with him leaving for school, but he might have misjudged exactly how bad of an empty-nester she would be. The poor woman had already had a few breakdowns that morning, and Izuku was hoping beyond hope that he could avoid another one.
"Gah! My baby boy is all grown up and leaving me all alone!"
Hopes effectively dashed.
Holding back a sigh, Izuku reached out and wrapped her back up in a hug. For the umpteenth time that morning, he allowed his mother to soak his shirt with her tears.
"I'm only a ten minute drive from here mom," he tried to soothe to no avail. "And I can try and come over on the weekends when I'm not drowning in homework."
"I know," sniffed his mother into his shoulder. "And I know you must think that I'm being ridiculous, making such a fuss like this over something so silly."
Izuku frowned.
"I don't think it's ridiculous at all."
He remembered how hard it had been for him when he watched his girls head off to college for the first time. It had been incredibly hard for both him and Annabeth, so he could absolutely empathize with the poor woman sobbing into his shoulder.
"Thank you, mom," said Izuku. "Thank you for always looking out for me. I don't know if I say it enough, and I know that the last couple of years haven't exactly been easy, but thanks mom. I love you."
"Oh Izuku!" Wailed Inko, and the sobbing just got worse.
He was exceptionally bad at the whole comfort thing.
It took some time, but eventually he had managed to calm his mother down enough to let him leave.
As a first-year, Izuku would be staying in one of the prefabricated dormitories on the main campus. While the upper-year students were allowed to rent units off-campus, in order to be closer to the hero agencies they worked at, first-years were required to live on-campus. According to the information he had been sent, the idea was to help the first-year students get to know and get close with the classmates they'd be spending the next several years with. As most of them were going to be working together as professional heroes in the future, it was important for them to grow those bonds of camaraderie as soon as possible.
The dormitories, much like the rest of the campus, was a modern marvel. It was a sleek newly-built building. All of the members of his class would be living there. It was another way the school helped foster those bonds of camaraderie. The incoming first-year hero students at U.A. were split up into smaller groups called cohorts. These cohorts would take all of their first-year hero courses together, would live and eat together, and forge the important bonds that would follow them into adulthood.
Izuku had been assigned to Class 1-A, the first cohort of the incoming class. Additionally, all of the First-Year Hero courses were going to be taught or observed by their academic advisor. According to the information provided to him, his advisor was someone by the name of Shouta Aizawa. The name was familiar to him, though Izuku couldn't place why.
Given his own later start, there was already a bustle of activity at the dorms. Some students he recognized from the entrance exam, and others he didn't. With all of the activity, and students saying their goodbyes to their parents or moving in, Izuku was able to slip in relatively unnoticed. That was all well and good for him, he wasn't particularly in the mood for trying to meet a million new people at the moment. He just wanted to get all of his crap packed away and unboxed before orientation that night.
There was a knock on his door a little after one in the afternoon. That was all well and good, he'd just finished putting away the last of his things anyhow. Opening the door, Izuku was greeted by a man about his age.
The first thing that caught Izuku's attention was the man's shocking red hair. Styled into messy spikes that came up into almost a horn, the hair looked like it was genuinely sharp to the touch. The man had a kind face, and an exuberant smile which was off-set somewhat by the rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"Hey man," greeted the man, "I'm Eijiro Kirishima, your new neighbor," he stuck a hand out to shake, which Izuku gripped firmly, matching the other man's smile.
"Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet ya."
"There's a bunch of people hanging out downstairs right now, wanna join?" Asked Kirishima exuberantly,
"Don't see why not, got some time to kill before orientation anyway," said Izuku with a shrug, and the pair of them wandered off down the hall.
"It's hard to believe it, ya know," said Kirishima breezily. "Being here, at U.A., man I've been dreaming about coming here since I was a kid,"
"I know what you mean," Izuku replied easily. "Been working towards this for what feels like my whole life. Don't think it's really set in yet that it's finally happening, ya know?"
"Man you can say that again," laughed Kirishima. "Oh wow, looks like even more people showed up."
They had descended down the stairs from their rooms on the third floor, and came into the common living area. There were roughly eighteen other students all milling about in the common area. As they walked up to the group of students, a familiar looking woman with shoulder-length brown hair looked up from her conversation with a woman with dark green hair and waved over at him,
"Oh, hey!" She called out, before jogging over to him.
"You know her or something?" Asked Kirishima, confused, and Izuku shook his head,
"I don't think so-oh!" He suddenly remembered, "You were in my group for the entrance exam, right?"
"That's right!" Said the woman happily, "I never got to say it because you rocketed off so quickly to fight that big robot, but thank you for helping me out." Her cheeks reddened a little, and she subconsciously began rubbing her hands together. Izuku noticed that she had strange-looking pads on the tips of each of her fingers.
"It's kind of embarrassing, especially given what my quirk can do, but using it too much makes me sick, and I was too sick to move during the exam, so thanks for stepping in and helping me out."
Izuku smiled at her. "We're all in this together right? Regardless of whether we're competing with each other, it doesn't change the fact that we all want the same thing, to be the best possible heroes we can be. Wouldn't be much of a hero if I didn't help someone in need, would I?"
"Yeah, I guess not," said the woman, "Oh! I completely forgot, I never introduced myself." She bowed her head, "Ochako Uraraka, pleased to meet you,"
"Izuku Midoriya,"
"Eijiro Kirishima."
"It's nice to meet the two of you," said Ururaka bubbly.
"It's nice to meet you too," said Izuku, before turning to the green-haired woman. Now that he had a chance to actually look at her, he noted her somewhat unusual appearance. She was a small woman, maybe a full foot shorter than Izuku. She had round, wide eyes that didn't seem to blink. Her tongue flicked out of the corner of her mouth, like it was too large to contain in her mouth. She walked with a bit of slouch, and her hands rested in a stage position, half-raised at her side. She clearly had a mutation type quirk of some sort.
"Midoriya Izuku , it's nice to meet you too."
"Tsuyu Asui," said the woman, "Kero, call me Tsu."
She had…ribbitted, like a frog…well that explained her quirk if nothing else.
"Nice to meet you then, Tsu," smiled Izuku,
"Yeah, nice to meet you Tsu!" Cheered Kirishima. The red-head was rapidly starting to grow on him, he had a good energy to him.
"Holy crap! The basement here is huge!" Called out a pink-skinned girl with horns as she came out from a door near the kitchen.
"You!" Said an annoyingly familiar voice. Izuku groaned as the blue-haired, bespectacled man with the stick up his ass.
"Should have known you'd be here specs," said Izuku, sighing slightly as the young man angrily chopped at the air in front of him,
"I see that you are still as rude and combative as ever," said the man, "But I did not come here to start a fight,"
"First time for that," muttered Izuku, and the other man glared at him, but otherwise ignored the slight jab.
"I misjudged you, back in the auditorium. I thought you little more than a hoodlum, someone trying to talk tough in order to play mind games on the rest of us. But I saw the way you acted in the exam, saw how you went out of your way not just to destroy the machines, but to rescue those who needed help. So, I apologize."
He stuck a hand out, though it appeared to Izuku as though it pained him to do so,
"I am Tenya Iida, I hope we can both help one another become exceptional heroes."
"Izuku Midoriya, and yeah, I look forward to that."
His statement might have come from a place of honesty, but Izuku rather doubted that he and Iida would be getting along too much. The man was bit too strict of a follower of the rules if Izuku had to guess. A bit too serious. Izuku was here to do a very serious job, that was true, bit he was more inclined to surround himself with people who tended to be a bit more relaxed about things.
A flash of ash-blonde out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He felt himself freeze, as did the man descending the staircase.
Of course, of course his luck would os bad that Bakugo would have been put into the same damn section as him. Izuku met the eyes of his former friend evenly. It had been years since either had said a single word to the other, and Izuku felt like there were a million things that needed to be said. A million wrongs that needed to be righted.
Izuku met the man's eyes. Neither of them said anything to the other, but it was almost as though the act of speaking itself was insufficient. Bakugo's faced morphed into one of determination. One of cold bitterness. Izuku matched the expression. It was clear that Bakugo realized he'd fucked up. He knew that he was responsible for what had happened to Izuku, but he wasn't willing to admit it. Bakugo had always been too damn proud for his own good, and it was that stubborn pride that kept the pair of them from repairing the relationship.
Though Izuku's own stubbornness also played a part in that. Izuku had once made a promise to himself that he would no longer be the pushover that he had once been. That he would not simply allow people to walk over him and get away with it. While there was a deep part of himself that wanted to forgive his former friend, the harsher side of Izuku. The Percy Jackson, side of Izuku, refused. Izuku might not have held onto grudges, but Percy Jackson sure as hell did, and this was one grudge he didn't see himself letting of any time soon.
"You're all obnoxiously loud," said a tired voice from the entrance to the common area. Every head in the room turned in unison to look at the new arrival. He was young, maybe only in his late twenties or early thirties. Long black hair tumbled down past his shoulders, framing his tired face. His eyes, what little that Izuku could see of them, were blood-shot and baggy, as though he didn't get nearly enough sleep. Around his neck was what Izuku recognized as Rescue Tape, a hero support item that was used to help subdue villains and rescue civilians. Given that only professional heroes were legally able to purchase and wear such a tool in public, it meant only one thing.
The man was a pro, likely the "Aizawa" man that was to be their class advisor.
"My name is Shouta Aizawa," said the tired man as the room fell silent, "Follow me," Without another word, the man turned and walked swiftly out of the room. For a moment, nobody followed, too stunned by the abrupt entry and exit. Then, seeing as nobody was moving, Izuku nudged Kirishima wish his elbow and jogged after their advisor. Spurred on by his lead, the rest of the class was soon to follow.
For a moment, Izuku assumed that they were heading back towards the main lecture halls for their orientation, but instead of turning in that direction, Aizawa instead began leading them towards a set of outdoor training grounds that Izuku had passed on his way into the dorms.
"Hey," whispered Kirishima, "What's going on, I thought we were going to Orientation,"
"No idea," whispered back Izuku, "But whatever it is, I don't like it."
Aizawa stopped just inside the training grounds. There was a large track around the perimeter of the grounds. Looking around, Izuku could make out various obstacles and training devices that had to be used for the students. Everything from exercise equipment to what appeared to be a shot-put circle. off to their left was a large building with a pair of doors, one labelled for men, and the other for women. Izuku assumed they were either locker rooms or bathrooms.
Aizawa didn't say anything until all of the students had been amassed in the yard.
"Head inside," said Aizawa, pointing over to the building, "There you'll exercise clothes. Put them on and meet back out here in one minute. Anyone not back in that time will be expelled." For a second, nobody moved, as they all thought that it had to be a joke of some kind. But Izuku knew the look in the eyes of the man, and he could tell from a glance that he wasn't the type to make idle jokes.
Once more, Izuku led the charge, and he was the first to bolt towards the changing rooms. Less than thirty seconds later, he and the rest of the class were darting back out onto the field, all in various forms of dress as they scrambled to get on the blue jumpsuits with the white U.A. insignia over the front.
"Hmph," grunted Aizawa, checking his watch, "All of you barely made it. A hero needs to be able to change quickly in a time of crisis, and if you can't even put on a jumpsuit in under a minute, then you won't be able to be trusted with changing into your uniform when the situation calls for it."
Nobody had anything to say to the ridiculous pronouncement.
"As you might have guessed," continued Aizawa, "Things are going to be going a little differently than you were anticipating. Normally, you would be going to Orientation right now, but you'll find that the professors here at U.A. have wide latitude over what they can and cannot do. I have decided to forgo the Orientation in favor of a simple exercise."
He paused, and his tired yet sharp gaze flitted over the assembled mass of students,
"We will be conducting a quirk evaluation. Anyone I deem to be unprepared to tackle with the difficulties of U.A. and being a hero will be expelled."
Several of the students gasped, and he could feel Kirishima stiffen beside him. Izuku felt his own stomach lurch at the suggestion.
"Y-you…you can't be serious!" Said Uraraka,
"I can and I am," said Aizawa, glaring at the woman, "As I said, professors at U.A. are given wide latitude and discretion. You're in one of the premier institutions for instruction on heroics in the country and the world. We are not in the business of coddling our students, but in preparing the future heroes. If you can't prove that you deserve to be here, then you have no place as a protector of our society."
"But that's not fair!" Cried out Uraraka,
"Neither is life," said Aizawa, "I just told you, you aren't here to be coddled. If you expect this to be easy, or even fun, then you're better off stopping before we even start. From the moment you walked through campus this morning, you were eno longer civilians. You were heroes in training. That means that you'll be expected to protect humanity from some of the worst that the world has to offer. Villains don't fight fair, and neither will we. You need to be able to learn how to deal with that, or you'll never make it as professional hero."
He turned to look at Izuku, "Midoriya,"
Izuku stiffened as Aizawa turned his stern gaze on him,
"You came in first in points during the entrance exam," Aizawa reached into his pocket and tossed a ball at him. Catching it in one hand, Izuku looked down. It was a simple baseball, but there was a strange digital counter along the stitching.
"So this should be simple for you. I want you to throw that as hard as you can," instructed Aizawa,
"As hard as I can?" Asked Izuku,
"Don't make me repeat myself," said Aizawa, and Izuku gulped. The man could have given Coach Hedge a run for his money in terms of intensity. Gripping the ball tightly in his hand, Izuku took a step away from the group and planted his feet. He was about to throw the ball, when a thought occurred to him.
Aizawa struck him as someone who chose his words extremely dilerbitely, and he had said to throw the ball as hard as he could. That, combined with the fact that he had said that it was a quirk evaluation test led him to believe that he was expected to use his quirk. It was a departure from normal society where it was illegal to use a quirk without special permissions. Which meant that it was a multi-faceted test. Aizawa was trying to see how well they paid attention and how well he could critically think.
Smirking, Izuku reached into himself and bathed himself in One for All. The familiar, comforting sensation washed over him. Aizawa had said to throw as hard as he could, so Izuku decided that this was an opportunity to try and push his limits. He knew by feeling how much he was comfortable using in one moment, and so it was a conceptually simple matter to use more power than normal.
However, just because something was easy in concept, didn't mean that it was easy in practice. His arm screamed in protest, and he could feel his muscles strain and scream as One for All threatened to tear him apart from the inside out. But Izuku fought through the pain, and with a might roar he threw the ball as hard as he possibly could. There was a concussive blast of compressed air as the ball blasted through the air. Izuku was thrown back as his shoulder popped out of place and something tore in his arm. It felt like he'd nearly shredded the muscles in his arm.
Panting, Izuku stood back up, clutching at his shoulder.
"1,512 kilometers," said Aizawa, looking at a small tablet in his hand. He looked up at Izuku and nodded in approval, "You used your quirk and pushed yourself to throw as hard as you could without pushing yourself to the point of risking detrimental injury. Well done."
"Woah," someone in the crowd whispered, "How the hell are we supposed to compete with that,"
"Well he did rank first in points during the entrance exam,"
"Can't believe he used his quirk like that,"
"That was the point," said Aizawa turning the rest of the assembled students, "You aren't in high school anymore. You're in U.A., you're here to become professional heroes. If you couldn't figure out that you would need to use your quirk in a quirk evaluation, then you might as well pack your things and leave right now."
Nobody said anything, but nobody left either.
"Good, now line up along those start lines over there, we'll begin our first evaluation in a moment." The students warily turned and began to walk off towards the designated start lines. Izuku began to walk over but Aizawa stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Do you need medical attention?" Asked Aizawa. Izuku's arm hurt like hell, and his shoulder was throbbing fit to burst, but he was no stranger to pain.
"I'll be fine, sir," said Izuku, and with a grunt, he shoved his arm back into place with a rather horrifying 'POP.'
Aizawa nodded at him, and left without another word.
For the next three hours, Izuku and the rest of the students in 1-A were put through a battery of tests. From sprints, to endurance runs, to strength training, they did anything and everything that their advisor told them to do. It was one of the most grueling workouts that Izuku had put himself through in some time. While he had been making tremendous progress with One for All, he had not consistently pushed his own limits so harshly as he was forced to do that evening.
After three hours of grueling work, the reassembled back at the entrance to the field. They sore, tired, and stank to high heaven. As Aizawa's cold glare swept across the field, Izuku felt his stomach constrict painfully in his chest. He had laid everything out, had pushed himself as far as he felt comfortable going and then some. But he still didn't know if it was enough. Aizawa struck him as the type of man willing to expel an entire class if he wanted to. Izuku wouldn't have been surprised if he had been correct earlier, and that he really did have the power and authority to do just that.
Pulling a remote from his pocket, Aizawa flicked on a small hologram. It was a digital scoreboard,
"I've gone ahead and ranked each of you based on individual merit, though you probably already have an idea about where you're sitting."
Scanning the list briefly, he was surprised by the results. He was sitting at number three, one behind Shoto Todoroki, and one ahead of Bakugo. Todoroki was a solemn-looking man. He had heterochromatic eyes, one dull gray and the other a shocking shade of turquoise. His hair matched his eyes, in that it too was split down the middle with half white as soon, while the other was a dull red. The person at the number one position was someone else that Izuku had yet to speak to yet. Momo Yaoyorozu was a tall woman, at maybe only a few inches under six foot herself. Her dark raven hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she had the confident posture of someone who appeared for all intents and purposes to be supremely confident in themselves.
Number three huh? Well, Izuku supposed he could live with that for the moment. As strong as he was, he didn't have the refined control over his quirk that perhaps some of the other students might have. Besides, what Izuku lacked in control for the moment, he more than made up for in terms of experience.
But all of that might end up not mattering whatsoever. It didn't matter if he was third in the class or first, if Aizawa didn't think he could cut it as a hero then Izuku was confident that he would expel Izuku and the rest of the class without so much as a thought.
"I was lying by the way, no one is going home,"
And just like that, Izuku decided that he rather hated Aizawa.
"What?" Shrieked a young man with bright blonde hair, "You mean all of this was just a joke?"
"Not a joke," said Aizawa calmly, "But a logical deception. You wouldn't have gone beyond and tried your hardest unless there was a possibility that you would be expelled,"
"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure it out," said Yaoyorozu, "I thought it was rather obvious,"
"Wow," said Izuku, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance, "It's been a while since I've heard someone be so condescending,"
"What?" Said Yaoyorozu, looking startled and surprised, then her face flushed, "That's not what I-"
"Enough," said Aizawa sourly, "Your work as the future heroes of society begins now. Don't screw it up. Dismissed. Midoriya, go to the nurses office and get that shoulder looked at." With his piece said, Aizawa trudged slowly back towards the campus.
The students watched as their advisor left, and Izuku leaned over to Kirishima,
"Any idea where the nurses office is?" Asked Izuku,
"No idea," said Kirishima, and Izuku sighed.
"Could have really used that Orientation."
BREAK
Izuku trudged back into the dorms, his shoulder securely wrapped up in a mixture bandages and ice-packs.
"Hey man!" Called out Kirishima, waving over to Izuku from a large couch in the Common Area, "We were just talking about the test and getting to know each other, come join us!"
Smiling, Izuku nodded and started walking over, plopping down on one of the couches beside Kirishima. He let out a soft groan of delight, maybe it was because his entire being was sore, but it must have been the most comfortable couch on the entire planet.
"You were awesome today with that ball toss Midoriya," said a large boy with brown hair and large lips, "Rikido Sato," he introduced,
"Thanks man, hurt like a bastard but you heard Aizawa," shrugged Izuku, "Lay it all out there right,"
"You're telling me," said the boy with blonde hair, "I thought for sure he was going to expel us! I thought my heart was going to explode. I'm Denki Kaminari by the way,"
"Nice to meet ya," said Izuku, "And I know what you mean. Been working towards this for years, when he said that I thought I was going to puke,"
"U.A. sure is different than what I was expecting," said Iida, "I had not expected them to just lie to us like that…to imagine that a university the likes of U.A. would be so willing to lie to its students," he shook his head as though the very thought was swarming around him like a pack of bees.
"I guess we should always be ready to expect the unexpected, huh?" Said Uraraka, "I mean we are in the hero course right? It's not like they're going to be making it easy on us."
"Ugh, it doesn't mean that they need to stress out like that!" Said a pink-skinned woman with dark yellow eyes, and strange little horns coming from the tips of her head that Kirishima had told Izuku was Mina Ashido, "I mean seriously, I was anxious enough before all of that,"
"How's your shoulder, Midoriya," said Tsu, changing the direction of the conversation,
"It's fine," said Izuku, "Recovery girl was already out of the office, so I had to do it the old fashioned way."
"Does your quirk always hurt you like that when you use it?" Asked Kirishima,
"Not really," said Izuku, "I mean, it did at first, but once I figured out how to handle it I stopped hurting myself. But if I push too hard then the excessive pressure becomes too much for my body to handle."
"Blech," said Ashido with a shiver, "Reminds me of when I was kid, before I got used to it, whenever I would use my acid I would burn my hands." Ashido's quirk allowed her to secret a natural acid that appeared as though it could burn through just about anything. It wasn't a surprise to Izuku that her power would have hurt her when she was starting to learn to control it.
Izuku was about to respond when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up, his eyes narrowed in agitation as he met the equally vitriolic glare of Bakugo.
"We need to talk," snarled Bakugo, "Outside, now," without waiting for a reply, Bakugo stalked out of the building.
"And I guess this is now happening," said Izuku with a sigh as he got to his feet,
"You good man? Asked Kirishima,
"Yeah, just some history there," said Izuku dismissively, "Don't wait up."
Walking out into the cool spring evening, it didn't take long to spot Bakugo. He was leaning against a lamp-post a few yards away from the building. Walking over, Izuku stopped a few yards short of his former friend, his hands in his pockets.
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Bakugo just stared at the ground, while Izuku stared intently into Bakugo's face who refused to match the expression.
"You going to say anything or am I just wasting my time?" Said Izuku, it was getting cold out, and he was exhausted. His first class was early the next morning and he still hadn't had a shower. If he was wasting his time with this, he'd rather get it over with and leave.
"Where the fuck did you get a quirk from?" Said Bakugo, his eyes still boring a hole in the ground.
"Same place as everyone else," said Izuku easily.
"Bullshit," snarled Bakugo, "It's not just the quirk, either. Don't treat me like an idiot Deku, you were a shrimp before. A shrimp and a wimp. Hell, you were afraid of your own fucking shadow, and now this? You expect me to believe that all of this is because of a fucking quirk?"
"You'd think you'd understand quirks a little better," said Izuku cooly, "Since you've had yours for so much longer."
"Don't talk down to me!" Snarled Bakugo, "And don't talk to me like I'm a fucking idiot,"
"Then don't ask stupid fucking questions," said Izuku,
"That right there," snapped Bakugo, standing up straight and for the first time actually meeting Izuku's eyes, "That's exactly what the fuck I'm talking about. When did you grow a backbone. What the fuck happened to you?"
Izuku was over the conversation. He was sore, tired, and dirty. The old Izuku might have wanted to rekindle his friendship with Bakugo, but the new Izuku was not about to fall back into that trap.
"You already know what happened." Said Izuku softly, turning away and walking slowly, "I just followed your advice is all. And as it turns out…you might have been right." Without another word, Izuku walked away, and back into the house.
Bakugo didn't try and stop him.