The results of the first semester final exam are finally out after a few days.
Following the original timeline of My Hero Academia, only Denki Kaminari, Hanta Sero, Eijiro Kirishima, Rikido Sato, and Mina Ashido flunked the practical test. The rest of the class aced both the practical and theoretical parts like champs. Aizawa's cold-ass warning - "If you fail this, you can say goodbye to the forest training camp " - turns out to be, once again, just a load of motivational bullshit to push us to our limits. Classic move - talks a big game but never follows through. Like clockwork.
But when it comes to me and Himiko… our results are so bizarre they're practically unreal. Himiko's scores not being public? Yeah, that tracks - she's still not an official U.A. student, just on some kind of probationary leash. But me? What the hell is going on with my results?
Let's start with the theoretical exam. Everyone else gets a clean 100-point scale, crystal clear. Me? I get a vague-ass 9/11.
Nine out of… eleven? Yo, what the fuck? This is Japan, not America, and there's no way that tragic incident is referenced here. What the hell happened to U.A. teachers????
Fuck it... Just...put that aside.
Then the practical part - while the rest of the class gets actual numbers, mine's some flowery, pretentious nonsense "Excellent for a chess play"
Yeah, about that, I did play chess with Principal Nezu once only - I remember it clear as day, during the downtime while 1-A was finishing their practicals test. But I'd have never guessed they recorded it, spun it into some "live exam," and freaking livestreamed it. Are you kidding me? What kind of grading system is this?
Whatever. Doesn't matter. Passing's enough.
All things considered, I should be grateful Himiko and I are still at U.A. after all the chaos we've stirred up. Pretty sure this is Nezu's way of keeping us on a short leash while still giving us some wiggle room - not exactly trust, but not paranoia either. We've got backing, at least.
...
Summer break for Japanese students - whether in anime or real life - lasts about six weeks, and the Forest Training Camp arc is still a ways off. So, Himiko and I figure we'll take a few days to chill, recharge, and brace for whatever mess is coming next. Where to? I-Expo on I-Island.
Why pick that over some laid-back spot like a hot spring or a beach? Got a few reasons, and they're big ones.
First, Himiko needs a hero costume - top priority, no question. Her Quirk, to put it bluntly, lets her cosplay anyone as long as she's got their blood. Sounds dope, but there's a catch that's straight-up ridiculous: she's gotta strip naked to make it work properly. Otherwise, the fake clothes her Transformation Quirk creates get layered under her real ones, which is a pain in a pinch and a total disaster if her Quirk wears off or actives in public - something I'm not a fan of, to put it mildly. The goal is to find a design that kills that flaw completely - sleek, practical, letting her transform without a hitch. This is My Hero Academia, not The Boys - we can't be too wild.
Second, the Shields - David and Melissa, the father-daughter duo who are straight-up geniuses with high-tech gear. I need their brains. David's experience could solve Himiko's costume issue, or at least lay the groundwork for future collabs if it doesn't pan out right away. As for Melissa, her potential outshines even her dad's down the line - her knack for inventing and support gear could be a game-changer. Since she's "Quirkless," I've got a plan brewing, tied to some shady dealings with All For One later on. It's fuzzy, but step one is getting them on my side. Help Melissa awaken a Quirk, and in return, I get their long-term support? That's a deal too sweet to pass up.
Third, it's simple. After I-Expo, I've got a few days before I'm dragged off to the forest training with 1-A and 1-B. Himiko can't come - she's stuck at U.A. doing some "hero internship" in-house, and she's not even an official student yet. So, spending a bit of time with her beforehand? Yeah, that's way more fun than sweating it out with the class.
Neither of us had ever set foot in I-Expo before.
For Himiko, that fact alone was enough to send her over the moon. The moment All Might mentioned it, her eyes practically lit up, her excitement barely contained—she kept pacing back and forth, talking a mile a minute about cutting-edge support gear, foreign heroes, experimental tech, and "all the fun stuff normal students never get to see." If enthusiasm had a physical form, it would've been her bouncing on her heels like a kid before a festival.
Me? I was excited too—but carefully so.
I-Expo wasn't just some flashy exhibition. It was a convergence point: heroes, villains, technology, politics, attention. Too many variables stacked in one place. The kind of place where things went wrong fast if you weren't prepared. Still, the early-access invitation All Might handed us made it hard to say no. Officially, it was a privilege. Unofficially, I was pretty sure Nezu had dumped the responsibility of "keep an eye on these two" squarely onto All Might's shoulders.
And since All Might already had I-Expo-related duties to attend to, his solution was simple—drag us along with him.
Babysitting, hero-style.
The guy didn't complain, but I could tell. Between coordinating schedules, security briefings, and making sure two walking anomalies didn't cause an international incident, he was in for a rough few days.
Izuku was coming too, of course.
After the whole hospital mess—where Himiko's "special student" status nearly got us detained by half the staff—he already knew more than enough to connect the dots. So when he heard we were invited to I-Expo, he didn't look shocked. Just… intensely curious. The kind of curiosity that made his brain start spinning the moment he opened his mouth.
Sure enough, it didn't take long.
"So, um—Toga-san," he started, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes flicking between us, "can I ask… about your Quirk?"
Himiko didn't even blink. She answered smoothly, casually, laying out a perfectly rehearsed explanation—nothing false, nothing too revealing. Just enough truth wrapped in ambiguity to satisfy a normal listener. I could practically see Izuku's notebook instincts fighting to kick in.
Then she tilted her head, clasped her hands behind her back, and added, with a deliberately soft, almost playful tone:
"Only Ryuu-chan gets to see me when my Quirk's turned off, though."
She even threw in a fake-shy smile for good measure.
Izuku short-circuited.
His face went red in an instant—ears, cheeks, everything. His mouth opened, closed, opened again, but no sound came out. Whatever follow-up questions he'd been preparing evaporated on the spot, replaced by pure, unfiltered embarrassment.
I sighed internally. Trouble-maker.
But before we head to I-Expo for a few days later, we've gotta hit the shops first. No way I'm going there - or the training camp after - without prepping. That'd be a death sentence.
...
Saturday night, half of a day before the shopping trip.
According to canon, tomorrow's the day Izuku runs into Shigaraki Tomura at the mall.
Real talk - if I could just take out that crusty bastard now, the whole story might wrap up stupidly fast. But the risks? Way too high. His "Decay" Quirk is a hard counter to my "Matter Manipulation." Sure, I could turn his hands or arms to stone or something, shutting down his Quirk completely, but banking on pulling that off without getting dusted myself? That's a gamble I'm not sure I'd win.
And even if it could be done, my Quirk wouldn't be able to transform the organic matter I touch into inorganic matter quickly. Its limitations are too many...
Firstly, this cross-transformation is very slow because the atomic and molecular structure of organic compounds is much more complex than that of inorganic ones, so to reconstruct the matter it would take quite a while for my Quirk to completely change. Directly switching lives with Tomura would be a suicide mission, let alone killing him fast enough.
Secondly, even if I could transform one organic matter into another with my Quirk, it would be as fast as the transformation of inorganic matter, Organic Chemistry is much more difficult than Inorganic Chemistry. Even though I had enough knowledge of chemistry before I crossed over here, if I misunderstood the formula even a little bit, the consequences of doing it wrong would be extremely disastrous...
And finally, assimilating matter into its body... was too dangerous. Granted, my body could adapt quickly enough and could completely heal the wound immediately and indirectly - like turning my whole body into clay and "kneading" the wound closed - it was still extremely risky if the wound was not treated properly when returning to normal.
Assimilating aphrodisiacs and sedatives into my blood when I first stalked Himiko, and then Cyanide later when I planned to hunt Stain, also completely turned my body into a walking weapon, but that didn't mean I was 100% immune to their effects.
Even though I might be immune to those things next time since it's been engraved into my Quirk's memory mechanism, I'm afraid I might not be able to pass the first time. The fact that it takes so long for the body to synchronize and become immune to these substances is also a critical issue. If I had replaced cyanide with VX, I wouldn't even be alive now.
Plus, how do I even find him? And if I do, who's to say All For One doesn't pop up early and obliterates me before I can blink?
Guess it's just a pipe dream for now - until Himiko bursts into the room, holding a photo with a grin so excited it's almost contagious.
"Ryuu-kun, check this out!" she chirps, voice sweet as honey. She hops over, shoving the picture in my face - close enough I have to lean back to avoid a paper cut on my nose. "Look, look! Recognize this?"
I squint, grabbing the photo. It's a 3x4 of Izuku - probably something she swiped somewhere. That goofy smile, freckled face, and messy green hair? Unmistakably him. "Yeah, Midoriya. What's wrong? You planning to prank him or something?" I smirk, trying to play off the weird vibe creeping up.
Himiko shakes her head, clearly not buying my deflection. "Nuh-uh, Ryuu-kun! Look closer! His face… it's like, super similar to yours!" She jabs at the photo, then points at me, eyes wide and sparkling like she's struck gold.
I freeze for a second, then look in the mirror and look at the photo again - this time, really looking.
She's right, somehow. The more I compare, the more it's like...cloning. Facial structure, nose, eyebrows, even the eyes - almost identical. Only differences are his green hair versus my jet-black (though mine's just as messy), and I don't have his freckles. Everything else? Practically a clone. Even our builds - Izuku's a tad shorter, but we're close enough.
Weird... I know for a fact we're not related at all but this… It's uncanny as fuck...
Things are starting to get a lot more confusing than they were in the beginning...
Adding to that, during a night we spent together in Hosu, she even mentioned her old crush, Saito, through my reflection. I initially thought it would just make me feel a little wistful, but now that I think about it, it's even stranger than canon.
I have a face like Saito, and Saito looks like Izuku and me. Either I'm related by blood to one of them, or the one who sent me to this world didn't check the host's face, so I end up looking exactly like the main character.
Damn it...
Himiko grins, smug like she's got a secret. "Ryuu-kun, what if… he's your brother?" She clasps her hands together, squealing in delight, spinning in place, blond hair flying everywhere. "Think about it! You two look so alike! How could no one notice such a suspicious coincidence?"
"Himiko, that's the most bullshit thing i've ever heard," I sigh, shaking my head, handing the photo back. "And even if that were the case, how would it all be explained? Random?"
But, let's just say, if I were Izuku's brother, the original timeline would be a mess right now. And how could I be related to that guy by blood?
"Nevermind. Similarities like this are not that rare. Forget it. Besides... I'm different from him."
"What do you mean?" she frowns, grabbing the picture, holding it up against me. "You look almost exactly alike."
"Guess what..." I said, walking out the door and closing it, then looking at her meaningfully... "You gonna figure it out...whole night..."
"...Okay, come here you naughty hero..."