Chapter Text
Under a metal gate emblazoned with an insignia of the letter ‘U’ with an ‘A’ inside, students of countless different school uniforms filed through. One boy shuffled through the bustle, making his way between groups of people and nervously scratching his head of messy, dark green hair as he took care to avoid bumping into anyone.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” came a grumbling voice from another boy with spiky, pale blonde hair. “This is for people with Quirks, not wannabes. ‘You wanna die, just step in front of a train. You’re not worth the time here.” The green-haired boy gave no reply. The other started to continue on his way, and stopped, looking back at him. “Don’t think your little play for sympathy actually fooled anybody, Deku,” he smirked. “Nobody batted an eye when they heard you were gone. You’d’ve been better off not coming back at all. Pathetic loser.” The boy’s teeth gritted and head lowered. A silent “My name is Izuku,” was his only reply.
Hearing nothing, the blonde boy went on his way, keeping his smirk. Izuku slowly kept walking forward.
…
At the door, students were sorted into groups for written exams and seated at long tables with three feet in between each of them. Within three hours, Izuku’s brain felt picked bare of every ounce of academic knowledge. At last, with the final question, he filled in the last bubble with his pencil, and began to check back over his answers. Satisfied, he set down his pencil.
“Time,” the proctor announced. “Put down your pencils,” was followed by a chorus of clacking pencils, muffled groans, and sighs of relief. Under direction, the students were filed out several doors and into a dark auditorium. Once seated, an enormous screen lit up behind the stage, where the Sound Hero Present Mic stood behind a podium. Izuku felt his thoughts pulled back to a memory of listening religiously to his trademark radio show.
Where was he? echoed from the back of his mind. He pushed his thoughts aside to listen to the hero.
“You’ll be placed in groups and taken to different battlegrounds for the practical exam,” he began, moving his arms about flashily as he cued to the screen. “Once you hear the start signal, you’ll have fifteen minutes to score as many points as you can.” Silhouettes of video game-esque robots appeared, with a zero, one, two, and three overhead. “These are the types of bots you’ll encounter, and their point value for defeating them!”
“Excuse me!” came an astute voice from down in front marked by a bladed hand stuck straight up.
“Question?” Present Mic replied, pointing to him with gusto.
“Yes,” a tall boy with groomed black hair and glasses stood up. “Of the four robots, why does one of them offer zero points?”
“Excellent question! That robot is more of an obstacle to be placed in your path, so it’s better to just avoid it.”
“Thank you,” the student nodded, reseating himself.
“Any other questions?” No hands raised. “Oh, and by the way- Attacking other students won’t get you any points- Just thrown out!” he warned with a grin, adjusting his sunglasses. “Now, before you go, let’s hear a good ‘Plus Ultra’!” He turned an ear toward the crowd, but was met with a disheartening silence.”
“Savin’ it for the show, huh? Well, in that case, go show ‘em what you’re made of!”
…
After being directed by various faculty to locker rooms to gear up, students were met outside by a line of buses. In minutes, they found themselves miles from the main UA building, and still on campus. Stopping at an enormous wall as high as your normal corporate office building, two segments split and swung inward, revealing a perfectly replicated cityscape. Just inside the door was a street that ran as far as they could see. Curbing their awe, people began to take time- or, what time they thought they had- to prepare.
Now wearing a simple green tracksuit, Izuku stepped as close to the front as he could manage, blocked by a cluster of students hoping to seize even the least of any advantages. He sighed, his elbow brushing someone.
“Sorry”, he promptly replied.
“Oh, it’s no problem,” a girl with neck-length brown hair assured, waving a hand with a black sweatband around her wrist. “‘You nervous?” she asked, in a meager attempt to strike up conversation.
“A little,” he bared, glancing between her and the street.
“Heh,” she smiled. “Well, if you’re not scared of that guy from earlier, you’re probably gonna be fine!”
“The-…?”
“Sorry!” She scratched her head bashfully. “I noticed him walking in. I was trying to avoid him, and then I noticed him talking to you. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“What was with him?”
“He’s always like that-”
“-Go, go, go!” Present Mic’s voice suddenly boomed from overhead. “There are no countdowns in real life!” Everyone broke into a run. As they began to spread out through the street, Izuku picked up his pace. He felt the energy within him begin to course, and in less than a second, the street lines and buildings became something of a blur. He spotted two robots straight ahead and charged forward, launching into a flying kick at the first and watching it buckle, crumbling to the ground. Grabbing a blunt-looking piece of metal, he lobbed it at the thick tube neck of the second- a two-pointer. It landed a dent, but the robot stood standing, watching him blankly. Feeling a bit sheepish, Izuku spun around back to search the first robot’s remains, until his eyes settled on a hollow metal bracket. Stopping for a moment to grab it, he fit four fingers through it perfectly, and an idea formed. He whirled back toward the second robot’s remains, and readied his arm. He slowed just short of the bot and let loose. The bracket worked perfectly- like a rudimentary brass knuckle. That said, the legs, he realized, presented a more open target. He made a mental note. A smile formed, and he turned and bolted almost before he needed to think. The minutes that followed were a blur in more ways than one. He charged down the street at any robot he could see, angling and dodging around anything- and anyone- in his way. A few times- or at least, those he could count- he sped through to knock down a robot just before someone else did. He tried not to, but an exam was an exam, fair or not.
An equal number of times, he had to pull to one side just in time to avoid someone else’s attacks, whether flaring electricity or literally dropping a robot from above. He could have sworn he saw the girl from before doing that. He pulled his mind back to the present.
He let his fist fly through one robot’s legs, switched the makeshift weapon to his other hand, and sent it into a one-pointer’s side. That made about seventy-six points. He wondered how many bots they could have left to defeat. He rounded a corner looking for more, only to find scrambling students surrounded by scattered metal parts. He circled another block, and another. Nothing. He wove a larger radius among the buildings, still disappointed. He thought he heard a faint rumbling. What at first felt like wind in his ears suddenly deepened, shaking the ground under his feet. He turned to run toward it, and quickly found himself stopped in front of an enormous robot as tall as some of the buildings- a zero-pointer. People ran past him in a panic. Something caught his eye- the girl from before, struggling on the ground in front of the bot, as if pinned.
He didn’t think. Even more than before, the scene blurred in front of his eyes. He turned to run away, but spun back around at a fair distance, and broke into high gear. At some point, Izuku felt himself leap up and his feet leave the ground. He pulled back his hand, as if to push something back. It began to glow with more bolts of bright orange energy than the rest of him. He pushed his hand into the robot’s head, bracing his feet against the side. He could feel the energy course through its insides, wreaking havoc. In one fell swoop, the robot began to tip backward, and fell over with a loud-
CRUNCH!
He stood to his feet atop the head, looking around in a daze.
“Are you okay?!” He heard running footfalls, and turned to see the same girl running in his direction. Stooping down at the edge of the robot’s face, he slid down off onto the crumpled street. The girl stopped in front of him, a look of bewilderment on her face.
“Are you… okay? ”
“I-I’m alright. Just a little rattled, I guess.”
“How’d you do that?!”
“I…” He scratched his head, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “I guess I… don’t really know… I wasn’t really thinking…”
“Well, that was cool! I got stuck when that thing came out of the ground, so… you were kind of my hero back there!” Izuku’s face reddened.
“Yeah, are-are you okay?”
“Yeah, no worries! Wait- how much time is left?”
“I don’t-”
“That’s it, folks! The practical exam is now concluded!”
“That answers that question. By the way, I’m Uraraka Ochako!” She extended a hand.
“Mi-Midoriya Izuku,” he stammered, shaking it. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too! Um, what school are you from?”
“Aldera. You?”
“Rozaryu, in Mie.”
…
“I’m home!” Izuku stepped through the door of the Midoriya apartment, stooping down to exchange his red sneakers for house shoes. It had been at least a week since the entrance exam. “Mom?”
“In here,” a woman’s voice called back from around the corner. Izuku stepped into the kitchen to find his mother cutting vegetables next to a pressure cooker.
“Did anything come in the mail today?”
“Oh? Um, yes.” She turned to step to the kitchen table. She picked up a small white envelope and leaned over the table to hand it to him, her eyes darting periodically between the two.
He turned it over in his hands. The back bore the blue and gold UA crest. This was what he had been waiting for. Gripping the envelope, he felt nothing inside except a thick metal disc- from the feel, most likely metal. He sat down in a chair, resting his arms on the table as his eyes continued to bore with agonized curiosity into the envelope in his hands.
“Are you… gonna open it?” His mother stood where she was, her hands clasped and fidgeting.
“I…”She leaned forward, on her toes. Izuku’s fingers found their way to the lip of the envelope. Letting out a huff of a sigh, he pulled at the edge until the seal broke. He turned the envelope upside down, letting the disk drop into his hand. It was concave on one side. He set it down on the flat face. Immediately, a two-dimensional projection appeared above, displaying All Might in a yellow pinstripe suit, in front of something reminiscent of a game show background.
“I AM HERE! As a projection!” Izuku jumped back in his seat, almost falling backward. “Greetings, young man! I expect you have been awaiting anxiously your examination results!” the Symbol of Peace exclaimed in all his trademark flair. “So, without further ado: You demonstrated excellent academic knowledge in the written exam, placing in the 95th percentile!! As for the practical exam, you earned second place among your other examinees, scoring seventy-six combat points! Congratulations! You have earned your place as a student at the prestigious academy of UA High!” He held up an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “However, that is not all that matters for a hero! Being a hero is about more than just defeating villains! Observe!” He stepped to one side as a video appeared to the left, depicting a city street that Izuku recognized instantly. He watched the zero-point robot that had just emerged, as Uraraka struggled below to dislodge her foot from a small pile of rubble behind her. He watched a green blur strike the robot’s head, and orange bolts bounced across the plated surface as the robot tilted and fell. The video stopped, and All Might stepped center-screen once more. “The core of being a hero is saving the day, and it’s clear that I don’t need to explain this to you! In addition to combat points, you have also earned forty-five rescue points! For this reason, I am glad to welcome you, Midoriya Izuku—” He pointed a finger at the camera. “—to the Hero Course- Class 1-A!”
…
Aizawa Shota sat down on one of the blue sofas in Principal Nezu’s office, hunched over, as always.
“How do you feel about your new class?” the mouselike principal wondered jovially aloud from his desk. The black-clad hero scoffed lightly.
“They haven’t begun to show what they can do. Or what they can’t. I’ve looked over each and every file, but I’ll reserve my official judgment until after the Quirk assessment test.”
“As ever,” Nezu remarked with a smile. Without warning, the Symbol of Peace burst through the door.
“I AM HERE! For the staff meeting!”
“Sit down, All Might,”Aizawa directed gruffly. The hero scratched his head, confused.
“Am I too early?”
“Not at all,” Nezu replied. “However, this only concerns a select number of faculty here; Namely, us.”
“I see,” he rubbed his chin. “What’s this about?”
“It would be best if we reserved that for once our other two colleagues arrive.” All Might nodded. A few moments later, the door opened, and two men walked in. All Might promptly stood up.
“Detective Tsukauchi!” He shook his hand with a broad smile. “It’s good to see you! How have you been?”
“I’ve been well, thanks.“ All Might turned to the second man.
“Agent Togashi, from the Hero Public Safety Commission.” He shook the hero’s hand, unable to ignore his towering height. Nezu stepped out from behind his desk, making his way to the sofa as the four men followed suit.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” Togashi began. “The concern is regarding one of your prospective students.“ He reached into his briefcase to retrieve a stack of four folders, distributing them as he spoke. “These are duplicates for your reference.”
“I remembered this name when I went through the new 1A students’ files,” Aizawa noted, glancing over the first page of the file. “He was the subject of a suspected kidnapping two years ago, but there was no conclusive evidence.”
“Correct,” Detective Tsukauchi affirmed. “From day one, we never found anything. No eyewitnesses, and no evidence. He practically dropped off the face of the earth. Apart from distributing reports to nearby prefectures, there was nothing we could do, and the case went cold.”
“But eventually…” All Might led.
“-Five months later, we found him. He was over a hundred miles from home, somewhat malnourished, and had a visible mark on his hand that resembled an IV scar. The report from the hospital where he was brought that day specifically states that it resembled the same sort of scar seen in coma patients.”
“Do you have any new leads?”
“Unfortunately, no. The victim still has no recollection of the event, nor anything that followed. When he was first debriefed, he said the first thing he remembered was walking by the road where he collapsed. He was found by two passersby.”
“That said,” Togashi chimed in, “we have two recent developments that the Commission believes are of concern to your school: First, less than a few months after he was found, the victim manifested a Quirk, despite originally being diagnosed as Quirkless.” All Might leaned forward, poring over the folder in his hands.
“What information do you have on the original diagnosis?” he asked, in thinly-veiled earnestness.
“The whole thing. It’s all in there.” All Might flipped further through to find a photocopy of a foot X-ray and a briefly typed report.
“Hmm…” He rubbed his chin. “I… think I understand now why it is that you called us here. Hypothetically, how likely is it that his Quirk simply manifested late?”
“Based on the latest statistics? Astronomical. Especially, given the prior diagnosis,” Togashi replied astutely. “We’ve done our homework. It’s as unlikely as can be, short of utterly impossible.”
“What was the other development?” Aizawa inquired.
“It concerns the physician behind the victim’s original diagnosis, a Dr. Tsubasa. I did some digging into him. Up until twelve years ago, he didn’t exist, and he ceased to as of six months ago. Everything linked to his name seems to trace back to some form of fictitious identity. There also seems to be a record of a missing boy with the same surname. We’re looking into that, too.” Aizawa sighed, closing the folder in his hands and setting it down on the table in front of him.
“What’s the Commission currently doing about this?”
“At the moment, not much. We’ve had the victim under consistent surveillance for about six months. So far, nothing else has occurred out of the ordinary. The same goes for his manifested Quirk, according to regular reports from his Quirk specialist.”
“That’s awfully thorough,” All Might remarked.
“I can understand that. Unfortunately, he’s our only link to the original incident.” Aizawa’s brow furrowed. He turned to Principal Nezu.
“What do you propose we do?” The dog-mouse-bear hybrid folded his hands, placing them in his lap.
“Mr. Aizawa, do you remember the campus modifications that I proposed last month?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I believe we have just found another use for them.” Aizawa rubbed his eyes, glancing back down at the name of the lip of the folder:
“Midoriya Izuku”