I walked through the door to class 1-A, immediately my gaze landed on Kaminari, who actually sat behind me.
"Yo Arthur," he greeted, raising his hand with that characteristic grin of his.
"Hello Kaminari," I answered, drawing closer to our usual cluster of desks.
I then felt an arm land on my shoulders, the familiar weight of Kirishima's friendly gesture.
"Sup, guys, how you doing in this manly morning?" Kirishima asked, his sharp-toothed smile as bright as ever, he kind of looked like a shark with red spikey hair now that thought about it.
"I'm doing well," I replied, adjusting slightly under his arm.
"Same here, though I'm still recovering from Mina's attempt at that high note yesterday," Kaminari said with a mock wince.
I chuckled at the memory. Mina had tried to hit a particularly challenging note in one of the songs, and the result had been... memorable, to say the least.
"Oh, Kaminari, here you go," I muttered, my hand closing in on my wallet in my back pocket. I opened it up and carefully counted out the exact amount, making sure I had it right before handing it to him.
"Oh," Kaminari said, looking genuinely surprised as he accepted the money. "Thanks, but you didn't have to give it back right away. I appreciate it though, man."
He then went over to his desk, grabbed his wallet from his backpack and placed the money inside.
"So what do you guys think today's hero class is gonna be?" Kirishima asked, settling into his seat but still turned toward us, clearly excited about the prospect.
"No clue," I answered honestly.
Before Kaminari could offer his own speculation, the classroom door slid open with more force than necessary.
Present Mic burst through, his blonde hair styled in its characteristic directional spikes, wearing his signature leather jacket and orange-tinted glasses.
"Now students! Take your seats!" he yelled in his almost punk-rockish manner, his voice carrying that trademark energy that seemed to fill every corner of the room. And so we did. We all took our seats. "You probably all know me, but I'm Present Mic and I'll be your English teacher! Now open your books and let's get started with some linguistic adventures!"
The morning classes passed in a blur. It was hard to keep track. Mathematics with Ectoplasm, where I understood nothing. Literature with Cementoss, where I understood almost nothing.
The only class I wasn't lost in thankfully was Present Mic's.
Then came lunch, where I ate until I was full, actually no, I was never full, but the bell rang and I had to leave my food behind, and did I mention how good the food at U.A. was? You could just stuff yourself, over and over, and still want more.
The afternoon finally arrived, and with it came our daily class of Foundational Heroics. I heard it from outside, no, not just me, everyone in class heard it, a booming voice, joyful beyond measure, a voice I'd heard once before but never in this context and he definitely wasn't yelling as much.
"I AM HERE!" we heard him yell as the door slid open with dramatic flair, revealing All Might in one of his characteristic suits, his cape billowing behind him even though there was no wind to make it do so. His presence immediately filled the room with an almost palpable energy. "WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
The reaction from my classmates was immediate and electric.
"I can't believe it! All Might is gonna be teaching us!"
"That design's so silver age! That art style clashes so much it's giving me goosebumps!"
"This is so cool!"
I watched as several of my classmates practically vibrated in their seats with excitement. Even those who were trying to play it cool couldn't hide the awe in their expressions. It seemed like my classmates were having an even more intense reaction than mine when I had first met All Might, which I couldn't really blame him for, when you thought about heroes, no matter where you were from you'd picture All Might.
"Foundational Hero Studies!" All Might began, turning away from us with an almost theatrical quality. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundations through various trials! You'll get tons of credit for it too!" His voice carried that infectious enthusiasm that made even the most mundane statement sound epic.
Then he turned toward us, that wide, characteristic smile blazing across his face and a card in his hand that read BATTLE in bold letters.
"Let's jump right into this! The trial of battle!" he yelled, and I felt my heart slightly sink, I was going to have to restrain myself again? Wasn't I? "And to go with your first battle," at that moment, cases began to roll in on automated carts, each labeled with our student numbers, "we've prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks!"
"Our battle gear!"
"So awesome!" I heard Kirishima yell behind me, and I could imagine that shark like grin from before.
I looked at my case, trying to figure out what might be inside, but I couldn't tell much from the exterior. I just knew that it looked significantly larger than some of the others, which made me curious about what Nezu had actually designed.
"Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone, gather at Ground Beta!" All Might announced with a sweeping gesture. "The garb you bring into battle is vitally important, boys and girls! And don't forget, from here on out, you're officially heroes!"
Not officially, I thought. I still needed my license. That was what all of this was for.
When I opened my case in the boys' changing room, however, I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion. The contents were almost entirely metal, polished, segmented pieces with thin blue lines crossing each one, that clearly formed some kind of armor. There was a note attached to the top piece, written in Nezu's characteristic neat handwriting.
"This is plate armor made from titanium alloy, meaning it's pretty tough plus more flexible than you'd imagine. I put the instructions for how to wear it at the end of this note. When you're finally done with that, grab your scarf and place it at the back of the chest plate, then let it do its magic, well, it's science, not magic, but you catch my drift!" -N
So I did as the instructions said, putting on the plate armor piece by piece. The process had taken much more time than I'd imagined.
Once it was all said and done however, it all felt a bit... loose? Not uncomfortably so, but as if there was room for something more.
Still, I followed the instructions to the letter. I grabbed my scarf from the bench where I'd placed it and positioned it against the back of the chest plate as directed. Then I heard it, a soft click, like a mechanism engaging.
Then something else happened.
The sound of something moving, mechanical and whirring, like the sound of ringing in my ears. I felt it then, the scarf was slowly moving through the armor, and I could understand how. The golden threads Nezu had woven into it weren't just decorative silk; they were something else entirely, some kind of smart material.
But he had made the stitches when I'd come back from my las time as a vigilante, did he start building it then? Had he even seen my own specs yet?
I felt a smile forming on my face, at the thought of Nezu, using the specs thing as an excuse.
In mere moments, the transformation was complete. A blue knight's skirt had extended from the waist armor, and a blue cape now flowed from my back, with traces of gold slowly glowing along the edges, not so much that anyone aside from me or someone with enhanced eyesight would notice, but enough to give the whole ensemble an almost mythological feel to it.
I began testing the range of motion. Despite the apparent bulk, the armor moved with me like a second skin, never restricting or hampering my movements.
I walked out of the changing room to find Kaminari and Kirishima already waiting, both looking impressed as they took in my transformed appearance.
"Really going all in on the whole knight aesthetic, huh," Kaminari said, in a joking tone.
"I think it looks incredibly manly," Kirishima added with enthusiasm, giving me a thumbs up.
I smiled, adjusting to the weight and feel of the armor, then how well Avalon and Excalibur paired with it at my side. "I guess it does look manly."
We all walked out together and formed a line with the rest of the class. All Might stood in front of us, somehow managing to look even more impressive against the backdrop of Ground Beta's urban training environment.
"All right, let's see what you're made of, young heroes! It's time for the trial of battle! I'm liking everyone's styles, very cool!"
I looked around at my classmates, noting the variety of approaches they'd taken. I could see two others who had also chosen knight-like armor, one was Iida, whose costume looked both knightish and yet it had a futuristic look to it, and the other was Aoyama, whose armor looked a lot shinier than mine, it looked as if they had thrown glitter on it.
"Cool costume, Art," came a familiar voice from our side. Mina had approached alongside Tsuyu and Toru, all three in their hero costumes. "You and Watts look a little basic though," she added with a teasing grin toward Kaminari and Kirishima.
I had to admit, Kaminari's costume was fairly straightforward, a black jacket with a lightning bolt design and some kind of targeting device.
"Heyya," Toru said, waving at us with her gloved hand, one of the few visible parts of her costume.
Tsu, on the other hand, was wearing what appeared to be a form-fitting green suit with goggles and flippers, perfectly suited to her frog-like abilities.
"Why are two of you wearing skirts?" Tsu asked with her characteristic directness, looking between Kirishima and me.
Both Kirishima and I looked at each other, and before I could formulate a response, he jumped in first.
"Because it's manly, of course," he said, flexing and showing off his bicep with complete confidence.
"Hey, Toru, what's with your costume? You aren't you know..." Kaminari decided to ask the question that was clearly on everyone's mind. Her costume consisted of nothing more than a pair of gloves and boots floating in mid-air.
"Oh, it's specially made to refract light, making it invisible just like me," she explained cheerfully. "The bad part is that you can't really turn the effect off, so I decided to still wear normal battle gloves and boots so you guys could see where I am. You know, I don't want one of you to accidentally bump into me or something during the exercise."
That actually made perfect sense from both a practical and safety standpoint. Having some visible reference points would definitely help in team situations.
"Now then!" All Might's voice boomed across the assembly area, drawing all of our attention back to him. "Let us proceed to the building where you will be tested! After all, this will be an indoor battle!"
A/N: You... you guys did it. There was less than an hour left for the reset and you did it. FUCK!
It's fine, it's fine, I'm fine.
I owe you an extra chapter now, give me a few days pls, especially since tomorrow I'm spending most of the day with my friends.
Now onto this week's power stone goals. They are simple enough. Top 10. Top 5. Top 3. Top 2. Top 1
For each one you'll receive one bonus chapter. So if you want five extra chapters a week, start voting muahaha. Also some of you may think this is a bribe and you'd be right.
Plus, yeah, I changed Toru's costume, cause that was a really fucking weird idea by Horikoshi, like you're telling me she's just naked 24/7 fuck no, I'm not going with that.
Welp that is all, oh, I'm also gonna gloss over Bakugo's and Deku's battle trial since I really, really don't wanna write that. I'll write maybe 3 lines detailing Arthur's thoughts and that is it. Cause all of you know what happens during the battle trial it doesn't make sense to write 2k words for something you guys and gals already know. Arthur's suit btw looks exactly like the one in the cover.
I normally lurk around Bleap's discord server, so if you wanna ask me about this story here's the link: https://discord.gg/DxmWbuZn
Thx for reading. Author out.