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All men are not created equal a phrase I learned from my mother when I was four. 200 years ago a glowing baby heralded the dawn of quirks. The world as we knew it changed completely creating a world of superheroes and of supervillans. But not everyone is an equal some people are born strong with heroic quirks like my friend Kacchan with his quirk 'explosion'. But some are born weak like me who had no quirk 'quirkless' it is a death sentence for the modern age. Because when everyone is born super but you, your at best your dead weight or a liability. That's what mom said, that's why kacchan would beat me all the time, that's why dad left when I was young. Everyone even the teachers and people around the neighborhood said it so it must be true.

Mom worked a lot because I was dead weight. So that we could eat well and have a roof over our heads. She died a few days ago of a stroke, people came and said a whole bunch of sweet honeyed words about how she'd be proud of me and they'd keep an eye on me on her behalf. Of course none of them actually did so, hence how I ended up on a flight to Houston Texas to go live with my father. Naturally because my bad luck is the strongest force known to man I ended up on a flight that was being hijacked by villains.

Three guys they seemed to have a variety of mental quirks as nobody could get up out of the seat. Even I was stuck fast, despite trying desperately to get up, it was like my body wouldn't listen to my mind. The lead villain raised a gun of some kind I didn't know guns like I knew quirks. But he started firing, section by section he went firing his gun. People were shouting and trying to use their quirks but there bodies weren't cooperating. People seem to forget in this age or superpowers the simple firearm was the preferred weapon for almost a thousand years by their simple efficiency at dealing death out. In any case it didn't take long for everyone to die I closed my eyes tight and waited for the bullet to come take my life. But it never came, instead I got grabbed harshly as my seat belt was unbuckled and I was hauled to my feet.

“So this is the boss's son eh.” said the lead villain. “Looks puny and doesn't even have a quirk to speak of All for One must be so disappointed.” said Goon #1 “Obviously considered he's paying us to kill him” deadpanned Goon #2. “M-my dad. I-i-is a villain?” “Yup. The kind of villains in fact. But you see that creates a big issue for him having a worthless son that's no good to anyone. So he hired us to kill you and everyone else on this plane.” the leader said with a smile as he pushed the boy through the open cabin door.

If Izuku had been born before the dawn of quirks he likely would have died from the impact as it was he survived but wasn't exactly in good shape. He quickly looked around he was in the middle of the ocean nothing to be seen to the horizon except a single island with a lighthouse on it in the middle of nowhere. After a short swim he came to the steps of the lighthouse he quickly climbed to the top of the staircase where the door to the lighthouse had been cracked open he stepped inside quickly asked a timid “H-hello?”. Almost in response the door shut closed behind him. The lights flickered on inside in front of him was a bust of a man and the words “The Great Chain” down yet another set of stairs was a sphere with a lever inside of it. Not seeing an alternative path I stepped inside and pulled the lever and as the sphere sealed inside and started it's descent I was greeted with a voice of a man I would come to look up to and hate with equal fervor asking a simple question “Is a man entitled to the sweat of his brow?”

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Rapture was heaven turned into hell. That was his considered opinion things were alright for the first year or so he lived there. Despite the fact that Rapturians weren't typically fond of outsiders Andrew Ryan and his security officers worked out my past pretty quick. After word got out of my tragic backstory many Rapturians who had issues with me being present in the city quickly changed their tune on the subject I had been a “parasite spy” now I was a kid who'd “bravely escaped” from the “parasites” despite the fact they'd been attempting to murder me at the time. After asking around, I found out my attempted murder had been changed and covered up as me fleeing from an abusive home, nobody would tell me who did it but plenty of the Council tended to get evasive when it was mentioned. I ended up staying in a small apartment in Poseidon Heights with a technical chaperon in Bill McDonagh in reality I was pretty much my own man. I also ended up helping anybody who asked which of course the papers loved I ended up becoming known as “Runaway Timmy” to the papers on the other hand most of the residents would teach me a thing or too for my help. I was a goodhearted young boy horribly abused by the parasites and topsiders that's what the papers saw. Who, after being given a fair environment to work in was able to flourish and learn even being able to manufacture my own plasmids. Alongside Johnny Topside, Frank Fontaine, and Ryan himself I was a regular personality of most of the publications. Eventually Mr. Fontaine would mosey down from his penthouse to chat on occasion, he was interested in the young 9 year old kid who was able to manufacture a plasmid on his own with only minimal help from Dr Sucheong and Miss Tenebaum. After a lot of talking he ended up taking me under his wing where I would develop my defensive and passive plasmids, things that weren't overtly hostile but would help you protect youself. Mr. Frank who outright refused to be called Fontaine when we were alone explaining he also grew up alone as an orphan. Convinced me to lean into the Runaway Timmy persona as it would help me launch my own line under Fontaine Futuristics. The sweet innocent runaway who created defensive plasmids to help protect people from those who would hurt them.

Sanctuary would be the first plasmid launched under this line it was for all intents and purposes a bubble the would block a set amount of damage or last for so long. It was for all intents and purposes a solid defensive plasmid, great for those in a bad spot, or just not inclined towards brawling it out. The second would be the biggest seller of the line for a myrad of reasons and more than a few of them unsavory. The Houdini plasmid allowed it's user to become invisible for a while but do to this cost a hefty stream of EVE and the user unable to do anything else leaving it hard to do anything especially useful save run away for long spurts. These would be rectified with later versions of the plasmid such as Houdini 2 and Houdini 3, both being far more energy efficient but still costly and Houdini 3 allowing the user to interact with the environment without disruption it's operation. These however wouldn't be released to public use due to reasons I wasn't made aware of at the time (I was 9 going on 10 people, you can work out what it was, would you tell a 9 year old?).

Other plasmids would be Aero Dash which sent the user on a high speed dash that could temporarily overwrite physics while on-going , at the admittedly large cost of being unable to stop or change direction and it being a set distance. These particular plasmid wouldn't change much receiving only a single updated version due to the impeding Civil War. I made or modified various other plasmids throughout my time in Rapture even during the Unrest and Civil War that would change this Heaven into Hell. Tinkering with plasmids became one of my main stress relievers and coping mechanisms during my off time. But these moments would get father and farther apart as things went more and more into chaos and everyone was just trying to survive.

Things had been brewing badly for almost a year by that point. Largely between Ryan and Mr.Frank I wanted them to just talk things out seemed like the most sensible thing to do according to their own respective ideals. Again I was young, people will say most anything to sound great. Ryan was one of those touting high minded ideals when the going was good but unwilling to stick to them when things went sideways. Not that Mr.Frank was innocent in the matter because he certainly wasn't. He'd done plenty of illegal and unethical things by this point.

I will point to the Little Sisters on this matter, just their existence innit of itself. Granted you can't exactly run a business of the seaslugs rate of a half a unit of ADAM per week. You could develop with that, or create plasmids for personal use if you generally knew what you were doing but you couldn't do anything past that, the rate was just too slow. So while that was the rate of new ADAM being made the demand never stopped growing even when Rapture was more flooded tomb than city. It never stopped so what did Fontaine do he put Miss Tenebaum and Mister Sucheong to work making nice little girls into slaves who lived for one purpose harvest the old ADAM from dead splicers.

In any case things eventually came to a head over of all things it could have been a contraband
ring people bringing bibles and media and a bunch of other random crap in at a premium. I mean certainly this could have been worked around like people can place orders at a few select businesses and get them filled once a year or so. But nope Ryan was paranoid, and Fontaine was money hungry, so no compromising to avoid war today. Fontaine allegedly died during the raid, I heavily doubted it as they didn't have a body, I mean come on rule number one of confirming the kill where's the body, and if it was destroyed where's a picture of the body. It could have ended there too if Ryan had decided to adhere to Fontaines will, why exactly he had one I don't know wasn't exactly like he'd planned to die anytime soon to my knowledge. And parted out Fontaine Futuristics to the people it was too go to in event of Fontaine's death most of it too the board of trustee's of The Poorhouses and the Little Sister's Orphanage, course I'm glossing over the fact I was supposed to get The Runaway Timmy plasmid department and Fontaine Fisheries. And no, I'm not at all bitter about this. Ryan decided to nationalize it claiming the economy would destabilize somehow by break up too a half dozen different companies from a bi-nobly.

Yeah, I'm not smart enough to be dumb enough to figure out the logic he used ether, so let's move on. Things pretty well went straight to shit after that. Bill Mcdonagh resigned from the council in protest and would attempt an assassination a few months later. A revolutionary of all things named Atlas would start causing waves until his imprisonment. And I went underground with a small plasmid development business. I would make small runs of highly modified plasmids bought from the Gather's Garden, and resell them to scared citizens. It definitely wasn't the most ethical thing I've ever done, but it kept me in food and ammo, which was about as close to a currency as anything in those days. About a year would pass like this after the civil war proper. I'd eventually hear about a man named Jack who was from the topside and was working with Atlas to take out Ryan. At this point I was willing to do whatever I needed to survive and get out of the hellhole so I reached out when he was passing through Neptune's Bounty. But that's a bit of a tale for another occasion.

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Kodai Yui was a quiet girl by all accounts. She tended to avoid saying all that much, it wasn't that she thought she was above others. Like some people thought she thought. But that she didn't like to talk much about pointless matters. Who cared about the relationship troubles of some fictional character in the latest teenage drama series (that would be recycled for the next 40 years.). When you could have real honest conversations about things that mattered in life. She much preferred talking about matters of importance, and with little or ideally no, double meaning or veiled speech. That said it was rare that other people cared for these sorts of conversations. So she ended up not having all that many friends or conversation partners in high school. Hopefully it would change when she went to university but who knew really.

That said her general lack of conversation plus her relatively good looks tended to cause her no shortage of trouble. Hence how she found herself in her current situation. A couple girls had cornered her after classes, because she had been looking down on them, according to them anyway she just hadn't cared to gossip about various love or home lives of various other students. Among them being various 'villians quirks' 'mutants' or even a few dreaded 'quirkless' status people. She didn't really want to spread rumors about people who's lives were hard enough as is. So when she had heard about some people making up a rumor about the brainwasher boy who's name she didn't know she had refuted it asking them to provide proof. This of course meant she was looking down on them. That could be the only conclusion that these upstanding citizens with heroic quirks. Could be doubted on the accusation of armed robbery of someone with a villains quirk. The quiet girl must be stuck up, after all she doesn't talk, she must think she's better then us. But she ain't since she's a villain sympathizer.

But enough about the various thought processes of idiots as well as the circumstances of how we got here. She was cornered in the back alley that lead to the maintenance buildings nobody was likely to come through here except the maintenance crew, who wouldn't intervene because they would lose they're jobs for risking the future heroes. There was four of them in total the leader had her by the front of her shirt she had a mild strength quirk, just barely outside of civilian grade as far as strength enhancers go but hey she's a a hero candidate, thus the world's at her finger tips. Second and Third were flanking on opposite sides and down a way they were sisters if memory serves and most of elemental emitter quirks wind and water if she remembered. Finally and most troubling was the Forth she wasn't as much different in status as the brainwash boy. She came from a poor family and had a quirk called Territory Control basically she had total say so of who can do what inside a zone she designates. It wasn't as overpowered as it seemed at first glance she could set people in groups of ally or enemy and allow them to use there quirks or allow them to hurt one another. She couldn't force people to do things against their will, but that didn't help her reputation in any case. She was about 90 percent sure that the same girls she was helping corner her, were the same that spread rumors about how she had forced people to be her friend against there will. Some people will do anything to make themselves feel like there worth something.

But pity party over she was there to make sure she couldn't use her quirk which took her only method of combat away. With her quirk Size she could change up objects sizes to be ether bigger or smaller than they currently were, the trade off was that she couldn't change the size of living things. Which was rather regrettable but hey, quirks. It's not like being able to use her fist or any kind of weapon was taught or even encouraged really unless it favored her quirk. Her quirk fought best from long-range hence she was a long range fighter. Nobody was inclined to interfere with that fact the few that were, tended to be on the villainous side. So given a strength quirk user was literally holding the front of her fist she was about to be receiving a beat down. The Leader picked her and shoved her down say “Well Bitch, since you think your so much better than anyone, we're going to teach you a bit of a lesson to knock some sense into you. I mean you hang out with villains and you think your all that huh.” she didn't think she was better than anyone else nor did she hang out with anyone much less villains. “Hey, what if the brainwash villain, brainwashed her into helping him?” asked the Third “We ought to knock her back to her senses, before he makes her do something bad. And if we get a little rough, well, it's that villains fault.” she giggled sadistically. The leader smiled at this and reared back her fist to punch her. She screwed her eyes tight waiting for the hit to fall or for them to start laughing but neither occurred, she tentatively pried her eyes open and was shocked at what she saw. A pale green bubble was in place between her and her attackers. The leader was backing up and clutching her hand, she realized this a bubble between her and them had managed to hold back a hero grade strength enhancer, it was a powerful quirk but who's was it? This kind of quirk would be talked about it's user would be known but it wasn't hers and it wasn't any of the girls so who did it belong too and where were they? The later question would be answered as a voice sounded out through the alley from the maintenance shacks. “If you all don't mind all that much, could you do this some other day I'm a bit busy and having all of you shouting out here is rather distracting.”. The voice belonged to a young man with messy green hair pulled down into a pony tail. In his right hand a smaller green bubble hovered in his left he twirled a pipe wrench the size of her leg. “Or if you don't feel like leaving peacefully” the young man started while snapping the wrench up to where it covered his face “I can cave your skulls in and have someone drag you out.”. He finished with a small smile, as if to show the sheer difference between him and them. This was someone who didn't need to act dangerous, because he simply was that dangerous. He didn't need to corner someone with superior numbers this was an apex predator and he knew it. And right now it was standing between her and the lesser predators, she hoped for her sake, it stayed that way.

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The sudden appearance of a third party who could generate shields stalled things but not for long as the leader shouted back “Oi, cancel this fuckers quirk, that cheap shot hurt pretty fucking bad” the boy popped an eyebrow at this as if amused as the girl replied “I am.”. All eyes started looking at a now badly flustered forth girl as the bubble was still between Kodai and the rest of the group clearly not disabled as the girl claimed. “The fuck you are it's still there look cancel his fucking quirk before I-iiii..” the wind girl started before shutting up as a arc of electricity flew through the air causing her to seize. Once more all eyes moved as one back in the direction of the electricity now arcing around the boys right hand in place of the bubble from before. The water girl seeing her sister(?) go down charged forth to avenge her sister obviously not thinking about things and just seeing red. The boy just shook his head sidestepping the failing girl and socking her across the jaw with the wrench. “Two more, can we hurry this up, like I said I'm busy.” the boy stated looking annoyed at the interruption the leader had apparently decided she's had enough and ran at the boy she had some basic boxing skills looked like and shot a series of punches at the boy who … didn't bother to defend himself? The boy was just sitting there and taking it not reacting at all. Then the lead girl gave a cry of pain and dropped to her knees crying both of her fist covered in blood. The boy gave a tired sigh and looked at the now fully terrified forth girl and asked “Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you unless you try me. But would mind taking this lot to the nurse's office and be sure to tell them what they were up to and what they forced you to do.” the boy asked calmly. The girl quickly nodded back to him and started moving the two now unconscious girls while the leader started moving away. He looked back at her with a measured glance and with a flick of his wrist to bubble around her popped.

Well at least that's settled for now.' Izuku didn't think it was done for good, no, as long as an enemy could still retaliate they would blood answered blood. Rapture had taught him that much. However he couldn't just go around offing people who would cause problems later no this was a civilized place where people got locked up for decades to rehabilitate, aka, get a lot better at being a criminal. Honestly spending a few years in a prison around more especially for young crooks is such a bad idea. I mean here's a 20 something who got caught stealing tvs let's send him to lockup with people running armed robbery rings for 30 years so he can get a mentor and be better at it, why not? With one last roll of his eyes he looked back at the black haired girl who'd been staring and not saying anything for the entire time. Also not fighting back or doing anything really to save herself, yet another example of modern civilized society.

Since quirks are so very important and needed for everything. People are encouraged to only use or know thing related to their quirks makes it easier for the people in charge to keep them on a leash. Because just like Frank said you don't have to build a city to lead just show them there worth something. If they know they can fight for themselves then why exactly do we need these pompous ass-hats in spandex calling themselves heroes. Answer we don't if you give a half a dozen people who have weapons and quirks and know how to use them vs 2 dozen people who don't have any idea what they're doing. Odds are the trained group will win because while sheer numbers count for a lot, competence can even things up tremendously.

But I'm losing myself in thought while this chick just stares at me so let's start this conversation before we stand here all afternoon. “You good? Not concussed or bleeding or anything?”. This seems to wake the girl up and she says no, looks like I'd made it in time to avoid having to patch her up or take it to the infirmary herself. “Who are you?” the girl asked “Who are you?” I ask in return. “I asked first.” “and I asked second.”. “I'm Kodai Yui I'm a third year here at the school, class 3-C and you are? I haven't seen you around.” the now named Kodai replied which was surprising I'd expect us to go a few rounds of deflecting questions “I'm Izuku Midoriya er Midoriya Izuku I'm in class 3-B. I've been here three years since moving to the area. As for why you haven't seen me around I make it a point to go unseen unless I have no choice but be visible. No I'm not a criminal just prefer not to be seen it's an old habit stemming from personal past.”. “Your past?” Kodai asked her face remained blank seeming to not change she'd be a hell of a poker player with that face. “Yes my past, no I won't be talking about it with a stranger. And as I mentioned to the others I am rather busy at the moment so I'll be heading off. Good luck with the rest of your endeavors.”.

With that rather curt statement the green haired boy gave a quick bow and headed off in the direction of campus noticeably opposite the way he came. There was no way out of the maintenance shed area except through that alley and he'd obviously come from that direction when he interfered with the fight. She headed that way herself she was curious sue her. But she couldn't find any sign of his presence no signs he'd been eating lunch or smoking the too main reasons for students to be back here and all the doors were locked so it's not like he could get into the sheds themselves. So where'd he come from?

This was question that would haunt her the next couples of days the bullies kept quiet and kept there distance from her in fact all of the bullies kept there distance from her. Like someone had seen to it that she wouldn't be bothered by them. She did look for the boy in 3B all she got was that a largely slient boy matched the discription of the boy who'd intervened was indeed a member of the class. But while he got third in the class overall behind a few hero quirk kids nobody knew his name or quirk. In fact the leading theory was that he had some kind of prescence hiding quirk. Kodai knew that wasn't the case due to the fact if she really focused on her environment she'd notice a head of curly green hair duck around a corner or into a doorway on occason. Not enough to be a prescence hider but enough that it would appear that way to someone who wasn't looking for him in particular in other words he was very good at it and very practiced at going unseen and unnoticed. So the question at the front of her mind was 'who is Izuku Midoriya'?

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Dxun Middle School was an interesting place all told. Not like Rapture was of course, but interesting all the same. There was a definite pecking order people who were easily the most skilled and had the most potential. Were often passed over for those who had more immediate obvious promise but were already largely tapped for what they would be able to achieve as far as they're quirks went. But just like Frank often said you help the downtrodden they'll help you. Hence after a few “fights” with some the “heroic” types who were harassing the maintenance staff I ended up with a spare key to one of the extra sheds that weren't in use.

While I didn't exactly need to keep creating plasmids as what I had was more than powerful enough to protect me no matter who I was accosted by. I was a scientist at heart, even if my interests had moved from various bio-chemistry and physics questions into a more desperately trying to make weapons out of what little could be found towards the end of the civil war. To say nothing of what happened during my time of freedom while the Family came to power. 'No, were not going through that thought process today.' he could indulge his hatred of the Rapture Family later on right now he needed to focus. He'd been working on a new version of Hodudini trying to make it a bit more efficent on EVE usage. It was a eternal issue with that plasmid despite how useful it was. The dang usage was ridiculous especially when you considered the fact that EVE wasn't exactly plentiful up topside. 'You could change that. Just a few people who wouldn't be missed' Another thought process that got shut down hard. While he was aware that he'd done plenty of unforgivable things to survive down in Rapture, he was free of that damn city, and he had been for 3 and a half years now. He liked his semi peaceful lifestyle here at Dxun Middle School and in the surrounding neighborhood.

Semi-peaceful while you could take the Survivor out of Rapture you can take Rapture out of a survivor. The Greater Dxun area was a largely industrial district manufacturing on the east side middle class housing on the west minimal shopping and recreational areas scattered about. Well minimal legal shopping or recreational areas. If you knew where to look there were plenty of unlicensed bars and dives around the place. He wasn't exactly a prude he didn't mind if somebody had a few drinks too many or had a hit or two of the hard stuff. But when they starting exploiting people especially children they rapidly learned why you don't fuck with Rapturians. Because when there's nothing but 20 feet of sealed tube between your base and your enemies base things get bloody in a damn hurry. I didn't know how to react when I heard what the various groups had begun calling me in hushed tones full of respect and fear. 'Don't sell to or hurt kids because if you do Big Brother will come calling' the first few times I didn't realize they were talking about me. But as I would learn later on I'd apparently wiped out 4 different organizations for selling drugs to kids and another for human trafficking.

Cops probably had a file open on me as a violent vigilante not realizing I'm just marking a line in the sand. I hadn't expected to wipe out an organization let alone multiple, I just was used to dealing with things on a Rapture stranded. Which I suppose is extreme prejudice, compared to Topside methodology. In the end however I'm no hero nor could I become one if I tried. I've got too much blood on my hands both as Izuku Midoriya and as Big Brother to be one of those costumed clowns. To say nothing of my dignity. In any case I was just an old habit I was a scientist and no more. The pulse and beat of combat didn't draw me in anymore, ... it didn't.

BEEP BEEP CLICK

The alarm I'd set while waiting for this latest batch of Hoduini to finish mixing went off knocking me out of my thoughts. I'd apply this run later on when I got back to my apartment, while the maintenance staff were friendly with me I didn't think they'd cover me if they thought I was doing drugs rather the chemistry experiments they thought I did. To be fair I did do some basic chemistry work here alongside my plasmid tinkering. Better chems were how I supported myself up topside some minor upgrades to stuff like paint thinners, and cleaners. Things people weren't likely to go looking for the inventor of since it was dull. Besides given the fact that outside of support gear technology was far behind I figured Rapture was about 70 or 80 years ahead as far as general technology went. So I had a healthy amount of time of easy work before I had to start trying to be an innovator.

As I stowed my equipment and new plasmids, there was a knock at the door. Opening it up partially was the maintenance lead an old man named Norio with what could only be described as a shit eating grin. “Hey Izuku you in here?” “Yeah I'm just finishing up here Mr. Norio. What's up you seem excited.” the pair had become friends of a sort considering Izuku's skill at handling sensitive matters quietly. As well as Old Man Norio's patience at helping the younger mans, social problems, as he'd been through far too much to interact properly with his peers. “Not much your admirer is looking for you again.” the old man said in a tone almost dripping with smugness causing Izuku to sigh. It'd been a a few weeks since he'd intervened in that little scuffle and most of the maintenance staff had heard about by the end of the day off. They seemed convinced that he had a thing for the girl he'd saved it hadn't helped that the he'd leaned on the local bullies to ensure she wasn't bothered towards the end of the week.

“She's not my friend Norio. I wish she'd leave me alone. but I'll go deal with with her so she doesn't cause trouble for you lot.” “Yeah I'm sure that's why your going with her but in any case take her to dinner. Boys say she's been asking around about you. She might be a keeper.”. I roll my eyes as Norio laughs gathering the rest of my belongings double checking my equipments stowed (don't want to answer questions of why there's lab equipment in a maintenance shed after all). And head off to find a nosy black haired girl.

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After far too many questions to far too many people. She finally found out that basically nobody knew anything about Midoriya. He came to school did well disappeared very often and spoke to nobody that he didn't have business with. What business you might ask well he seemed make a habit of intervening in fights and bullying. Just like with her he would appear out of seemingly thin air, handle whoever was causing trouble and the disappear with only terrified or beaten opponents to prove his intervention. The only people who reacted to his description were the villain or weak quirked who reacted to her story and description with tales of they're own and surprisingly the maintenance staff who seemed to know his name. After a few more interactions with them he found out that Midoriya had a spare key to a disused shed that was given to him by the maintenance lead under the table.

She didn't really know or understand why that would happen. Though considering her utter lack of other leads, why not check it out and see what happens. She hadn't expected him to be waiting for her in the same alley he saved her in. His eyes swept over her as if checking her over. “I hear you've been asking about me.” despite the fact it was a question it sounded like a simple statement of fact. Which it was she had been asking a lot of questions about him apparently he had heard about that. “Mmm I wanted to know why I didn't know about you when your quirk is hero material.” his eyes took on an appearance of utter annoyance as she said hero material and quirk. “I'm no hero, nor would I ever be” Midoriya spoke very slowly in a tone that guaranteed violence if she argued it. “If your not going to be a hero than why help me?” “I was busy and that lot was being an annoyance. If I'd left you it would have taken longer for them to wander off.” he said not meeting her eyes. She didn't quite believe him on that, maybe he did speak in veiled speech like eveyone else but then why make so blunt a statement to start with. She needed more info to make a call so she needed to spend a bit of time with him to know what he was about.

“Well are you busy now?” “No I've concluded my work for the day at least.” Midoriya replied quickly. “Good then you can come get lunch with me.” Midoriya half opened his mouth to try and form a protest at this but she crossed the distance between them and had her arm around his dragging him away before he could protest too much. So they set off in the vague direction of the cafeteria as a single sentence flashed through his mind. 'Welp guess this is happening now.' as the pair wandered off to the land of overpriced and under prepared foods.

After a brief meal where Yui had learned that Midoriya enjoyed katsudon but otherwise preferred western style food. She also learned that he didn't start conversations without a good reason too. Since she also kept small talk to a minimum, they passed the meal in almost total silence after they're orders arrived. After he finished the first half of the food she chanced a small opener. “So what's your plans after you graduate from Dxun?” “I'll probably go into chemical engineering and medical technology what about yourself?” “I'm going to be a hero.”. “Can you fight without your quirk?” Midoriya asked while raising an eyebrow. “No I'm a long-range fighter with my quirk.” Yui replied a bit confused as Midoriya rolled his eyes mid sentence. “If you can't fight without your quirk your already dead. If you plan on stepping onto a battlefield then always keep a plan B and an ace up your sleeve. If you don't then might as well ether stay on the sidelines or put a bullet between your eyes yourself it'd be a lot quicker than being taken alive.”. Yui watched the boy as he practically growled those words and his eyes darkened and took on a dangerous gleam.

Deciding to change to a lighter topic and lighten the mood. “Well could you teach me? You seemed like you know how to fight with ether your quirk and other methods.” Midoriya blinked at this blunt question which seemed to be all this girl used. “Information belongs to those who seek it. There are plenty of others who could teach you better than me. I would recommend going to them, I'm more brutal than most and my training would accurately be called inhumane.” Midoriya said trying to dismiss the girl but not lying to her. “But I asked you about it.” Yui replied quickly “So, would you be willing?”. Heaving a sigh and knowing she'd probably drop off within the week “Alright but I won't slow down for you. If your crazy enough to try then meet me at Dagobah beach at 5am tomorrow.”.

Yui all but collapsed trying to get any amount of air back into her lungs which didn't seem to be able to get any in them. Midoriya was stretching nearby looking neutral but she was fairly sure he was smug about this. “I told you I wouldn't slow down for you.” the definitely smug boy stated. They'd just finished a full out half marathon. Well he had he'd started doing sucides within about 8 minutes while she was beginning to start dying and just attempting to keep moving. The girl gave the boy a death glare at that statement but said nothing. “Well we're definitely going to need to work on your stamina adrenaline can do a lot in a fight but it's not a miracle worker to be used in place of prep. After you finish recovering from the run, we'll do some strength training. Now I know you heroic types are all about plus ultra and other such non-sense but don't push yourself here. Pushing beyond your limits mid fight or in this case mid test is just asking to get yourself hurt don't do it. I want to know where you are now so I can get a plan together to get you ready to fight. A good saying is everyone has the will to fight on but few have the will to get ready to fight . After strength training we'll finish with a sparring session and go get something to eat.”. Yui didn't respond to this immediately still attempting to get her lungs to hold air eventually however she asked. “Why are you so focused on quirkless training shouldn't I be mostly focusing on my quirk since I'll be using it.” Midoriya rolled his eyes at this “90% of battles are won before they begin Heroes and most Villains are practically the same thing. Both have no prep focus and just rely on raw brute force to win they're fights. Comes down to it if one person focused on just strategy and tatical thinking they could take down everyone in heroics with just simple counter tatics. You wouldn't have a problem until the low 300s as far as real difficulties.”.

The boy would continue on this train of thought for a while. Making statements of how if you really had too you could take done most heroes with little more than a baseball bat. The girl would eventually start poking fun at the boy and his statements about the heroes. And the boy would return fire with comments about the state of heroism and of society. In this bizzare manner the pair who would in the future revitalize the heroics industry, would come to get to know one another.

Chapter Text

10 months, 10 months almost a full year. That's how long Yui Kodai had kept up with his hell training and kept coming back for more. It was honestly rather impressive, she had guts to be sure. But in the end she was still here so he docked her on the count of brains. UA High School entrance exam which really ought to ether be a university or a vocational school for heroics but it's a high school with math and chemistry. Of course he was here too so he couldn't say much on that front, why was he here again. Oh he remembers now, of all things to get me involved in this spandex-ed nonsense it was a bet.

The day had been hot and long the hottest on record for almost a hundred years by that point. Kodai sat drinking from her water bottle her third of the session. Which he couldn't really fault her for it would be bad enough if it was just ungodly hot but of course it had to also be severely humid. Which while it didn't bother me all that much due to spending a healthy chunk of my life at the bottom of the god damn ocean. It was not doing Miss Kodai any favors whatsoever. Which while she had yet to actually comment on this matter she did make her opinion of this known non-verbally as they tended to communicate these days. Honestly he's mildly surprised that it took this long considering her preference for general silence and his experiences during the civil war that they would arrive at a mostly non-verbal way of communication. Well general for general purposes at least high detail talks still had to be done verbally as well as when needing to communicate with outsiders. But after a long while of heated glares and harsh words exchanged with a glance. They eventually sat down to eat at a dinner near the beach which had been being cleaned by someone over the months. They ordered some light food and cold drinks and sat down a few quiet words exchanged as far as important matters went. Thus they mostly theorized who was actually cleaning the beach and their training. Eventually after they had mostly finished the meal and they're discussion of the training they spoke once more of the cleaner in earnest. Eventually deciding to settle it with a small wager. They were divided over if it was the blonde haired boy who was seen there on occasion. or the black haired pony-tailed girl who was seen leaving in the mid morning. The decided on stakes not long later if Midoriya was right Kodai would buy the pairs after-training meals for the next 2 weeks. If Kodai was correct however, then Midoriya would apply to the hero course.

Judging by the fact that he was standing outside the gates of a U-shaped building in a tracksuit you can imagine who won. Now while he had to apply they hadn't said that he had to pass, is this kind of a scummy move, absolutely, but do I want to be in here longer than I have to be hell the fuck no. To be frank a business course or gen ed course would be best for my end goals. Support course is like everything else hyper fixated with heroics and thus does little of actual note. But business course while still overly concerned with spandex clad idiots does offer a very tempting resume towards colleges more specifically, colleges with hefty scholarship funds. Even if I got gen ed as long as I placed highly I could still pay for a hefty chunk of a degree with scholarships. Why is it even a question of me placing highly when Rapture for all it's faults was far more advanced technologically, (and ain't that a blasted statement) UA and in fact most high school and colleges added questions to do with Heroics ... yay. Yup there's no getting away from the damn egomaniacs in this country folks.

So sighing as I sat down for my third god damn written test of the day (thank whoever for staggered start times.) late I might add. As I get the stink eye from a blue haired boy and a 'ah this kids an overachiever great' look from the proctor I sit down and blast through any questions that have actual relevance on the world outside of 'who punched who In which colors' that is professional heroics. I slow to an almost crawl on the overly large part of it that is dedicated to actual pro heroism history. I'm going to be blunt. I probably got less than half and most of that was likely luck towards the end I was fully 'pick D for everything and you'll pass' (authors note aka how I got through high school math irl).

Which finally brought me to the final question which was an essay question. It was a simple one probably there to fill a quota or something the question was 'what are your thoughts on the modern heroics industry?' oh they did not think this through I think devilishly. This will probably get me ether thrown out entirely or at a minimum put on a watch list. But hey whatever gets me disqualified from the heroics course.

'The modern heroics industry is as a whole a complete crap show. It highly favors having raw brute power over any clear forethought or usage of tactics and gear. This is most clearly shown in The Symbol of Peace All Might who has minimal interaction with other heroes and relies only on his brute strength to finish his affairs. To keep my personal opinions of the man to a minimum I'll keep this example as short as possible. He creates a very lone wolf centered industry since the man has only taken one partner in the entirety of his career which is ideal for almost nothing except media relations and stifles the usage of tactics and teamwork. If All Might doesn't need a team then why do I, is the thought process of every overconfident young man or woman entering the industry thus perpetuating the problem. He also uses exactly no support items thus making it so, few if anyone outside of underground heroes uses support items outside of costumes. While I admit and to a degree agree with the fact it would be difficult to find a way to support his main “fighting style” of flail at them. He could be easily improved with having a ranged weapon while firearms would be ideal for most situations the man's absolute refusal to take lives would require a net guns or something non-lethal the sad fact of the matter sometimes lives must be ended. But while I could write a novel on situations where negative outcomes could be mitigated or outright avoided with the taking of a single life that's already over in practice but in fact, where here to talk about gear. Not only does his over dependency on his brute force hurt himself and others, the thought process he started also is the main cause of the current state of the support item industry. Where it is almost entirely controlled by half a dozen corporations worldwide. Finally the whole notion of solo limelight heroes is absolutely stupid you could organize teams to have every eventually (disasters, villain attacks, search and rescue) covered instead of trying to have every hero be everything which leads to nothing but failure as that's completely unattainable. As for my ideal heroics industry I would organize the industry into separate companies that each have an assigned jurisdiction they cover. Each company would then be broken down into teams organized for certain specialties such as rescue or support or villain capture. Finally have a rotation of combat focused teams to work overnight shifts everyone has to take so many overnight shifts a month with no clever way out of it. Because contrary to apparent belief most crime happens at night not during prime television hour.'

I finished up my up my essay with a few more nothing lines. And then double checked my general work handed in my packet to the proctor and went on my way to the wait room for the practical. Oh yeah I'm definitely not getting into this course so I may as well have fun with it.

Chapter Text

Hellllooooo listeners, welcome to UA High School. Can I get a yeaahhhhh?” Hisashi looked out at the crowd nobody would respond nobody ever did “YEAAAHHHHHHH!” a single voice roared back at Hisashi or Present Mic. Looking out he could just make out a single head of green hair nestled between a few students who looked rather off put by having someone scream right next to them. Smiling because lord knew he also got a lot of those looks growing up he shot finger guns “And that's the kind of energy I like to see listeners. But let's talk about the test coming up. You'll be facing down artificial villains worth 1, 2, or 3 points. Also there is a-”.

“Excuse me you didn't talk about forth kid of robot from the booklet. If this is a mistake then a prestigious school such as UA should be ashamed of itself. And you in th-. “Oi blue hair if your going to try and stall things now then it's already too late. So why don't you let people who prepared listen to the briefing that you interrupted.” the green haired boy who shouted back interrupting the boy who interrupted first before he could go off on an purple haired teen.

“Settle down listeners.” Mic continued the string of interruptions before the now embarrassed boy could rally back and further delay the instructions. “The last robot is worth zero points and is more of a gimmick due to being unbeatable. And with that we've discussed everything so head on out to your assigned buses and do your best PLUS ULTRA!”.

At that the various kids trudged out of the auditorium they were in and headed out to the buses they'd been assigned via pieces of paper when they first entered the auditorium where the brief had happened. Izuku took a minute to glance at the other applicants taking the test. While not many still practiced it up Topside body language was still a science back in Rapture and Frank had ensured he'd learned it. It had become even more of a skill during the Civil War and under Lamb's lunacy after Jack's departure, wherever the man was know he hoped he was doing well. But focusing back into the current task at hand prepping for the oncoming combat. He had 4 plasmids that would come in handy against robots. Old Man Winter would be helpful for freezing them.

Incinerate might be handy if they could be burnt into ash, a gamble to be sure but a safe one considering how many people had fire quirks. Telekinesis was always handy considering it's versatility and finally Electro Bolt was literately made for anti-electronic usage. As for gene tonics I had Armored Shell and Wrench Jockey on deck. Alongside Bloodlust and Eve Link for sustainability. So plasmids and tonics were set. I doubted I could get away with using hypos mid-test so those were back at my apartment.

As for weaponry I had dick all no guns no chem thrower not even a wrench, the plan here was to scavenge as soon as possible once I got in the area. Nonetheless it still annoyed me as well as pissed me off that the scenario of this test is basically a raid into a active combat zone. And we can't bring any weapons or gear some armor a pistol something. Taking a breath I steady myself and get into combat mode I can almost hear the blood pumping in my veins and my pupils dilating. A sinister smile settles on my face as I think maybe I wasn't as free of this addiction as I thought. Rapture was one giant battlefield the size of a city with nowhere to go but through others, probably wasn't the healthiest place to grow up as far as mental health. Ah who gives a crap not like I'm here to pass.

While the boy thought through the mental health concerns of existentially being addicted to combat. He failed to notice that the blue haired boy had attempted to reprimand a red haired boy who was attempting to clam a brown haired girl. But what did not fail to notice was the opening of the gate, not standing still to ask questions in a battle the boy took off running into the fray. Since Electro Bolt would only stun until it could be finished he'd need a weapon so he started with a local favorite 'Incinerate!'snapping his fingers like some penny pinching soldier, He burned the first half dozen robots he met to ash and ducked into the first industrial looking building he found UA was through he'd give them that. A rapid and well practiced search of the building netted him a baseball bat (wasn't a wrench but wrench jockey would still work) and a few chemicals. Sadly but not unexpectedly little he could use as a container for homemade demolitions he'd have to scavenge a bar or restaurant for those.

He ran back out almost running into more students a quick glance at their bodies said these weren't speed focused fighters putting him into the middle of the pack of fighters. He needed more points and he now had a weapon so he had more options both in straight combat (a bat would be better than his fists) and plasmids 'Old Man Winter' and 'Electro Bolt' could both be fatal now. So off he went taking out 1 points with just plain melee combat and 2 and 3 points with 'Old Man Winter'. This wasn't designed for veteran fighters which made sense nobody was supposed to have combat experience here if they were a legacy student they were in the recommended exams so we are the grunts. Regardless if you approached the battles with any sort of tactical insight you could dismantle the groups of any number as they always left at least one approach open letting a smart fighter take a few out quietly.

That said even people who had mental or stealth based quirks weren't attempting to play it smart as a young girl who appeared to be invisible had grabbed a pipe and purple boy who looked like he had a mental quirk given his scrawny frame. These both had likewise grabbed a weapon of some kind and was attempting to fight head on despite that being nowhere near they're strong suit. While others would focus on just racking up points so as to place higher I was attempting to throw the test so I helped out people here and there. Mostly quietly handling a robot or two when groups attempted to rally or coordinate. As the halfway point was called out I was pretty sure I was out of the running but having a great time. So I went looking for a restaurant to scavenge. I hadn't seen the so called zero pointer yet, and since it called a obstacle it would likely be released towards the end to see how the applicants handle a no-win scenario.

A few cans and plastic containers were hidden among-st the for some reason fully stocked shelves. Not wanted to do the thinking of why the shelves were stocked or how much money this cost. The young man started emptying out the contents of the impromptu bomb casings and started mixing in chemicals he'd kept on him from the industrial store. As he was finishing up the bombs he felt a big rumble in the ground. With more than a bit of caution he went outside looking for the cause as it was unlikely a natural earthquake and if a applicant had an earthquake quirk it would have occurred before a minute left. It didn't take too long to locate the cause because standing at the other end of the street is a fuck off 80 foot tall robot smashing it's way through like a dumb-ass. Unfortunately for him Izuku had just made some bombs beforehand and they'd likely get confiscated by UA if he didn't use them oh well.

Much later on in Midoriya's apartment “as well as your use of improvised explosives to defeat the Zero Pointer welcome to your hero academia.” the Mouse looking being on the recording finished as Izuku had only thing to say that was likely heard on the other side of the city “MOTHERFUCKER!!!!”.

Chapter Text

Aizawa Shouta was tired, this of course was something of a standard way of being due to the fact he was both a teacher who worked early morning to early evening and an underground hero who worked late night to early late morning. His sleep and meal schedule was 'when possible' aka not good in any capacity for anyone long term. But if he didn't want his job field to get even more polluted with muscle-headed morons he needed to teach. And if he wanted his neighborhood to be safe while said muscle-headed morons ignored it, he needed to do it himself. So, he wasn't getting out of either job however much he wished he could.

There were days when he really, really wished this wasn't the case such as today the UA entrance exam was, like most things. Catered to the strengths of power quirks meaning that most people without said quirks were stuck fighting to get a transfer via the sports festival. Which only had one spot per year. One, single, transfer a year. Yeah, inadequate didn't start to cover it. But such was life in Japan these days if you wanted logic you have to go elsewhere. But since he regularly complained about the entrance exam he often got the worst of the practical exam. Well, the worst as he could get since he lacked the cloning quirk of Ectoplasm (for working as a safety feature) or the medical and technical knowledge of Recovery Girl and Power Loader. He got it in the neck as deep as the principal could manage he was the guy who graded and checked over every, single, applicant. Of which there were usually at least 25,000 needless to say this took about a week before the actual test to a week after the test. Meaning he pretty much lived on caffeine pills and coffee this was not the best for his health but needed nonetheless.

Today was the exam itself meaning that until the written exams were done he was mostly free (sans emergencies). Of course, this can't last forever, and once the first batch of hopefuls finish their tests and head off toward the staging ground for the practical. He started with the grading, some were good, some were bad, and most were mediocre. Every year it was more of the same after all. The practical had started while he was head down in tests. “What's that student doing?” came the voice of his counterpart Vlad King. “He seems to be mixing chemicals together.” replied the suddenly very wary voice of the rescue specialist Thirteen. “Somebody call Ectoplasm and tell Recovery Girl to prep for chemical burns for when he fucks it up.” Vlad King continued as he started flipping through the stack of passing applicants looking for the student in question. Aizawa scanned the screens before finding the student in question a green-haired teen that had jury-rigged a harness with several empty glass bottles and a few plastic jugs. And was currently pouring several different chemicals into one of said plastic jugs.

“What's his quirk, he seems to be using multiple elements” That was Yagi right the king meathead himself. He did seem to be somewhat concerned for some reason probably that someone was using their brain instead of their fist. “He claims not to have one” came the far too cheerful voice for the Rat that knew he was tossing a bomb into the conversation. The Rat in question was Nedzu the principal of the school and an all-around sadist. He knew fairly well he was stirring the pot but was doing it nonetheless. Yagi had gone pale for some reason but the rest of the examiners were up in arms about the gall of this kid to lie on the applications. He watched for a second before going back to his work if he got through this then he'd deal with it.

Vlad King was deeply annoyed, as he usually was these days due to the number of students who thought they could get special treatment due to their quirk or connections he dealt with more than his share of those. After all his class tended to be the swiss knife to 1A's sledgehammer. Where Aizawa got the powerhouses Vlad's 1B got the 'needs guidance' and 'versatility' projects. People with good instincts but personality problems were almost universally his issues (Save one or two a year that went to 1A to be either tossed or run weaker students out, not that Aizawa noticed. It was the top school in the country did he really think Nedzu would just let him throw away students unless that's what the rat wanted?). I mean was Aizawa going to sit down with a kid and try to talk through why they have major anger issues and a killer instinct nope so long as they do what they need to do Aizawa tended not to care.

So when he heard Nedzu's pot-stirring (if it wasn't for the fact the man was a certified genius and political mastermind he would petition for him to step down) about the green-haired kid currently mixing chemicals, no mixing bombs (fuck, he was making bombs, why? For what purpose?!?) he went looking for him. Midoriya Izuku. From Dxun Middle School the school had a massive number of applicants from it over 60. That said none of them were going very far save for two, well three but the third was a mental quirk user that Aizawa seemed to be eyeing when he thought nobody was looking while slacking off on paperwork (they all did equal shares over the entrance exams Aizawa just was dramatic and a poor-me type).

But the remaining two were Midoriya himself and a young black-haired girl named Yui Kodai leafing through the paperwork they were in different classes but could be spotted together Kodai seemed to have a great deal more information on her, while Midoriya had almost none that wasn't test related, the school seemed to do a number of physical exercises that were team-based. Midoriya did have some things written there where he was described extremely poorly. Not working as a team in a team exercise, being excessively violent, not using his quirk in favor of scavenged weapons, and burdening his teammates. When he looked through Kodai's files same general things grades were good but not at Midoriya's level somewhat condescending but with begrudging respect for her solo exercises but poor marks on teamwork for the same 'problems' as Midoriya. The thing was the only difference (save wording) was that Kodai had good marks for supporting a 'non-viable teammate' and bad marks for being 'non-verbal'. He didn't know what the hell 'nonviable' was supposed to mean. And non-verbal wasn't all that bad for a twilight or underground hero. As he read through the notes left by staff he noticed that the condescending tone and down marks for nonsense for Kodai started about 10 months ago while Midoriya only started attending these exercises (sans token mandatory ones) 10 months ago. So it sounded like he knew what 'non-viable' meant. He made a note of the probable MLA sympathizer in that particular school and moved on it looked like he'd have a pair of students with very insular tendencies soon.

Chapter Text

Rei Kodai liked to think that she was a caring mother. So she definitely noticed when her daughter started coming home more tired than usual and with a hefty amount of bruises. At first, she thought her daughter was being bullied. But as she paid attention she noticed she'd check her phone more often and had started eating more at dinner. It took her until a bashful Yui asked to go clothes shopping with her which was a very rare thing for the girl to do. What ultimately gave it away was when her girl who usually went for comfy casual or lounge-style clothes almost exclusively picked several pairs of workout clothes. A chat over coffee later she found out that she'd made a friend (a friend yayy!!!) and was training with him for the UA exams.

She hadn't met the boy who she learned was named Midoriya Izuku. By the time of the exams so it seemed to her like a grand idea to invite him over after learning the results. He didn't tend to talk about his quirk all that often which meant it was likely very weak, which while she didn't mind all that much. It did mean it was a very, very long shot for him to pass. Assuming they didn't toss his application out on principle (she was a housewife, not an idiot she knew how people seen as lesser were treated). So more than likely the boy who as far as Yui knew didn't have (or at least didn't speak of) family would have support as his future crashed. Not that she wanted him to fail, not at all she hoped he'd pass (it would mean Yui had a friend going in). But she was honest and knew it likely wouldn't happen. So when she heard he did pass and had agreed to come by for dinner to celebrate and swap stories. She was rather surprised and interested to find out how he'd managed it. And of course to finally meet the boy who was spending so much time with her daughter.

Yui was ecstatic that Midoriya had managed to pass the test. Knowing him he probably had intended to only halfway try on. Though she was a little disappointed that they'd be in separate classes as he'd gotten class A whilst she was in class B. She was still excited the rather morose and sometimes extreme boy would be able to see that while yes the world was on fire at the best of times There was still some light in it worth living for. That said she was very interested in hearing how precisely he'd managed to pass. She knew he was handy with nearly any bludgeon he could lay hands on but that didn't exactly help at a range where despite the top ten being full of melee fighters. Range was as she had learned the king of combat for a reason. She knew he had those bubbles and she'd seen him shoot electricity when they'd first met but otherwise, she hadn't seen that since. It worried her since trying to get him to talk about his quirk was a bit like trying to shave a cat. In a word unpleasant and somewhat dangerous for all parties involved. But quirks were quirks even if some didn't mind those in authority would very much care that he didn't like to talk about his it was at best suspicious and at worst a threat. It made her worry quite a bit because not talking about his quirk and being even less talkative about his past made it easy for people to make up their own 'truths' about him.

It was even more concerning that she wasn't in 1A with him. While she openly accepted that he was a monster in combat and nigh unbeatable in that area his social skills on the other hand. Well, she could call them transactional, besides herself and to a lesser extent Norio the maintenance lead back in Dxun. Midoriya never spoke of anyone in his life that didn't have a deal associated with them. Sure there were business contacts that provided him with chemicals (finding out her friend was a genius chemist had been an interesting day). And local contacts like old ladies who he watched dogs for in exchange for spare cash and baked goods, or store owners he worked as a handyman for in exchange for various things (she wasn't privy to which was typically a bad sign he wasn't that slick she knew he did something outside the law). Outside of herself (which he wasn't all that for in the beginning) Midoriya didn't really have any ties to the world. He just existed. She hoped that people in 1A would take that against him yet she was almost certain that they would. I mean it's not like someone could have even worse social skills and would be in 1A (elsewhere in Japan a dual-haired boy sneezed).

Midoriya was conflicted he definitely didn't want to become a hero. He was attempting to throw the exam and just have a good time. He assumed that there would be a system filtering out 'high-risk' candidates. He was good in a fight, too good by topside standards. Which is pretty much the only point in his favor of becoming a hero. But what exactly could he do here. He topped the exam, which coupled with his at-the-time funny but at the current moment stupid. Comments about the system if he went to the proctors or whoever was in charge of admission in UA and said he wanted to drop out. Then he'd be put on a list to be 'watched'. Which was a can of worms that he didn't want to deal with. So he needed an out something that could be looked at as me getting my first taste of danger and saying 'nope'. That way my criticism (a completely valid criticism) of the system would be written off as some armchair general who didn't know what they were talking about running their mouth. It would hurt my credibility and pride but I could deal with that. What I couldn't was being named a pro.

So the fact of the matter was I'd be a reluctant member of UA's class 1A until internships at the worst. Kodai, Kodai might be a problem but I could always say I gave it a good old college try. No, I can't see that working on her. I'd figure something as far as she was concerned. She was my friend, as surprising as that statement was. I would help her if I could. But, I couldn't be a hero there was far, far too much blood on my hands for that. Hell, I had a higher body count than most major villains thanks to Rapture. On the other hand, it's not like Heroes meant all that much. Most were in the field for the money or the glory. Come on Midoriya you know that's not the point just because it's a cesspool doesn't mean you need to add to it. In any case, he thought as he checked his hair one last time before heading out the door. He had a dinner to go to with his friend and her family. He chuckled once as he headed out into the cool evening air 'Ain't a statement boyo'.

Chapter Text

The Kodai residence was in a relatively upstanding area of Mustafa that was quite near to the old neighborhood where he lived before he ended up in Rapture. That said it wasn't so near that he'd end up there passing by but if he wanted to it would be within a 20-minute walk (he most certainly did not want to). He eventually came up to an apartment complex that he'd been told to go to. He was both excited and scared. I mean he wasn't exactly the best at social situations and he didn't know Mr and Mrs Kodai. He was far less worried about Yui she knew him well enough to gloss over his many social screwups. But he didn't want to cause her more grief which would definitely happen if her parents thought one of her closer friends (her closest and only friend but he didn't know that) was a sociopath (technically a psychopath but let's not get technical).

He was willing to admit to himself that she was a friend, a good friend. One that if he was frank he really didn't deserve after all he'd done. Melodrama aside he didn't plan on telling the girl or her parents everything about what happened down in Rapture. Topside was peaceful despite what the HPSC or whoever said, it flat out was. People up here wouldn't understand nor would they try to and he didn't know if he could stomach that from Yui. Let's be honest, he absolutely couldn't, but he didn't want to admit that as a definite. If he did that meant he was tied entirely too closely to the girl.

But telling them about Rapture wasn't on the docket for today and thinking about it (and accompanying issues) didn't help his headspace for a mildly stressful social encounter. Damn, maybe he could say he got caught in a villain attack, No, he was already here and Yui would sniff him out in no time flat. As if summoned by that thought he felt a familiar presence at his side looking to his left he saw Yui leaning up against the wall of her complex. She was dressed in..., his eyes widened and heat rushed to his cheeks, She was wearing a blue sundress going down to just below her knees with a floral theme to it. It was wildly out of character for her but it was stunning on her. Realizing I was staring I jerked my gaze up to her eyes only to notice. That, she, was, wearing, makeup!? Ether I wildly misread signals for tonight or her parents wanted her to dress up for some reason (her mother was involved she wanted grandkids someday and knew her daughter wasn't going to get anywhere fast under her own power). Finally and the only thing he'd known her to wear before was an old super sentai show baseball cap. He then noticed the red in her checks, and how she wasn't looking at him, well shit, she noticed me staring. For a moment he swore he heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Frank laughing at him from the back of his mind.

Yui was rather concerned, not because she knew her friend would likely cause her parents some concern. She knew she could smooth things over with them she'd already told them he was a loner after all. No, she was concerned because her mother was a crazy lady who'd gotten a wildly wrong idea about her relationship with her friend. Her mother had somehow gotten the idea that she had a crush on Izuku or that he had a crush on her (she didn't and was sure he didn't either). But she'd said something about grandkids and given her a dress and forced makeup on her, makeup! She never liked using makeup beyond basic concealer or light touch-ups. She generally didn't mind light touch-ups or minor things but her mother had gone the full nine yards with it. Eye shadow, concealer, blush, lipstick, foundation (AN can you tell I'm a dude writing this?), and everything else she could think of.

She didn't know why her mother felt the need to do this. And when she looked to her father for help he just raised an eyebrow at her. As if asking her what she expected him to do about it. I expect you to help that's what I expect you to do. He then got a call in from work and went off. So he wasn't even around to blunt her mother's 'ideas' anymore, hence the dress. She didn't even know where she got this thing she didn't own it and it wasn't her mother's size so it wasn't a hand-me-down. So where did it come from (her mother bought it the last time they went shopping due to Yui's aforementioned lack of progress under her own power)? She was shaken from her thoughts by Izuku's arrival he was deep in thought or at least he was until he saw her. His eyes practically bulged out of his skull at the sight of her. Trying to ignore it she looked over what he was wearing. Bad idea, he was wearing a white button-up shirt with a pair of faded black jeans tucked into a pair of brown leather engineering boots. It suited him very well far more than the workout outfits she'd seen him wear so often. She belated realized she was staring at him and quickly averted her eyes suddenly becoming very interested in the choice of paint color for the walls.

Until a cough was heard in any case. She looked up and saw her mother standing by the hall that led to their apartment she could practically taste the smug on her mother's face. “Well you must be Midoriya I asked Yui to go see if you'd made it yet. Why don't you come on into the apartment. The food is almost ready after all.”. With that, she smiled gave one last smug look to Yui, and went back down the hall to the family apartment. Yui made one last glance at Midoriya heaved a little sigh and followed. This was going to be a long night, wasn't it?

Chapter Text

Sorry guys need to take some time off until I get some reserves up. Work is still kicking my butt, but hopefully it'll cool down soon. Dunno when I'll manage to come back but when I do it'll be going on bi-weekly

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Rei had wondered what had happened to her daughter after she'd slipped out after Rei had gone to check on the casserole. So after making sure the casserole wouldn't end up brunt, she went looking what she found surprised her. She expected to find Yui tucking in some nook of the complex where she thought she couldn't be found. What she hadn't expected was to find her daughter blushing something fierce alongside a young man with green hair who likewise had a decent amount of red on his face. Given the odds that a random young man would be blushing along with her daughter, she assumed that this was the infamous Izuku Midoriya.

The boy seemed to clean up well with a button-up shirt and a good pair of jeans he'd rolled up his sleeves which likely had something to do with Yui's blush. Given that he was also blushing and with Yui being who she was. This was likely the first time that he'd seen her dressed up in any major fashion. She smiled to herself they were going to be fun to tease. If Yui didn't like it then she needed to start teasing back. She was far too stoic for her age after all. It wasn't good for a girl her age to be all serious all the time, these were her golden years after all. If some light teasing and embarrassment were what it takes to get her out of her shell then that's a small price to pay. She hoped that the young man could help with that or at least wouldn't mind too much.

Izuku tried to get his head back on straight after seeing Yui in a dress and in makeup. This was embarrassing more than anything seeing his friend acting wildly out of character was enough to send me blushing like some schoolboy (he pointedly ignored the disembodied voice of Sinclair telling him he was a schoolboy and the southern bastard could go hang). He focused, Yui was in a dress and makeup given what the older woman who he assumed with Yui's mother Rei said. She was probably forced into it for some reason. I mean if she was shooting for first impressions then that ship sailed almost a full year ago at this point. Eh, it probably didn't matter too much at this point parents were weird he supposed (he didn't really know that but he heard about it plenty from scuttlebutt). So he sat down at the table and tried to make small talk while his friend and her mother bickered.

The talk was a bit awkward but manageable Rei kept trying to dig into my past which I most certainly didn't want to talk about. So I kept dodging and changing the subject which probably didn't help her ease with me being around her daughter on a constant basis. Yui's father Sojiro was at work and couldn't be here so it wasn't like he could intercede. If he didn't want to make Yui's mother want Yui to cut ties with him he needed to throw them a bone. Not that he actually thought that Yui would cut ties (at least he didn't think that she would) he didn't want to make things difficult for her either. But what to say exactly, he couldn't say anything remotely truthful if he wanted them to be at ease. Growing up in what was essentially a drug-fueled forever war. Fought by things that resembled humans less and less as the days went by. But he couldn't exactly lie either so what to do. Absently I flicked my gaze along the walls seeing the newly framed hoping for an idea to swap topics. Conveniently the newly arrived and very (concernedly so) rapidly framed acceptance letter not questioning it (nobody can say crap about a dues ex machina if you own the fact that's a dues ex machina).

I spoke up while gesturing to the frame on the wall “So, are you excited about UA? What class did you get into?” glad to put a stop to Miss Kodai's not-so-subtle digs. Yui perked up from where she'd been trying and failing to focus on her food in the steadily more and more tense atmosphere. “I'm going to be in 1B under Vlad King. What about you?”. 1B eh, well on one hand it'd be some distance for when I dropped out but on the other, we'd be separate. Then again eventually we'd be forced to cut ties when she went on to join heroics as a whole. “That's nice I ended up in 1A. We ought to have lunch together.” Yui had initially seemed down after finding out I'd be in the other class but perked right up after I made the offer of lunch. “So have you sent in your costume and gear requests?” I inquired somewhat interested in her choices. I figured she'd make some she knew my philosophy around combat well by now. While range was king close quarters couldn't be dismissed entirely even if only lightly prepped you needed something on hand for it. That said I didn't really expect what I was about to hear.

Yui was rapidly beginning to think that this whole evening was a bad idea. Her mother had been prodding Izuku all night long about his past and his living situation. Which he was evasive about even with people he was close to (i.e. her) to the point that outside of knowing he was born here in Mustafa and rented an apartment she didn't know any details. Her friend was honestly a little shady … ok more than a little but he was good to his people. Be that her or Old Norio or any of the local old folks or small business owners. So she was rather glad when he changed the subject even if she didn't miss her mother's eyes narrowing out of the corner of her vision. “So, are you excited for UA? What class did you get into?” She was more nervous than excited to be frank it was a major thing going to UA's hero course. “I'm going to be in 1B under Vlad King. What about you?” She hoped that he'd also be in 1B but knew the odds were 50/50 and this particular coin flip turned out bad. Her nerves spiked when she heard him say “That's nice I ended up in 1A. We ought to have lunch together”. For the entire first half of his sentence her anxiety which was already sky high with just going to UA was shooting even higher with the fact that she'd be separated from one of her closest friends. So the offer of eating together was a welcome comfort. “So have you sent in your costume and gear requests?” Izuku continued asking she had actually which she hadn't shared with her mother (she could imagine the 'suggestions' her mother would make she didn't want to end up like Mt. Lady thank you very much). She had picked a very simple (tonkatsu-inspired of course) costume as well as including a slingshot and a pipe wrench (a not-so-subtle nod to her friend who despite using whatever blugeon he could lay hands on always seemed to prefer wrenches in their spars). While her melee weapon was a nod to her friend the slingshot was a nod to her quirk. A slingshot paired absolutely perfectly alongside her quirk almost turning her into a powerhouse via becoming an artillery piece. Think about it, mass times acceleration equal ouch her quirk allowed her to change an objects mass and a good quality slingshot can match a small caliber handgun (AN outperforming 22 magnum and a number of budget calibers as well as matching 380 acp (As far as I can tell I'm not a gunsmith and arms manufacturers really don't like to standardize their numbers) so a metal fastener like a nut or a bolt suddenly has the same amount of power as a artillery shell). Izuku seemed surprised at the reference but nodded after a moment at the mention of a slingshot the guy was quick like that.

Rei Kodai was getting rather concerned with her daughter's choice of friend. This was a bit of an understatement of course. The boy hadn't been able to (or worse willing to) answer so much as a single question of hers aimed toward his living conditions. She was at the end of the day a mother and Dxun had some very rough parts to it that no young lady should be caught dead in. She knew that the boy had apparently rescued her daughter from some bullies. And while she was thankful for that she was beginning to wonder did he really save her or did he just happen to protect her. I mean he was enrolling in UA but he was very rough around the edges when it came to fighting which was only supported when she understood that he'd convinced her daughter to use a wrench as a support weapon. While she didn't particularly like the slingshot (her quirk was more than powerful enough without external aid) but she could deal. She really didn't like the idea of her daughter toting around a gigantic wrench to smack people with. So now that she found out that he was behind her daughter's use of such brutal tactics she definitely did not want this boy anywhere near her daughter. She'd need to address this, this would hurt Yui something awful but ultimately it was for her own good.

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Izuku sighed for what had to have been the half-billionth time today. When he found out that his teacher was a dumbass he'd dialed down his already low expectations. But this fucker, this fucker was even stupider than he'd thought. The first thing he did was show up in a sleeping bag which just really set the tone of professionalism that he was attempting to hold us to. When he finally decides to function as a human being and not a giant caterpillar he somehow manages to be even less of a professional appearance. He was wearing a black jumpsuit that clearly had stains and didn't seem like it had been clean when he put it on or he'd put it on a long time ago. There were clearly stains and dried fluids of some description on it (might be ketchup might be blood, who knows?). Then informed us that we'd be skipping orientation in favor of a fit test. Well, that did make a little sense, in a vacuum. Here in the real world, however, that fucked us all over. Think about it for a second, we didn't go through orientation which means we have no information that this sleep-deprived caterpillar doesn't feel the need to share with us. Such as but not exclusive to, the location of the cafeteria which we'll need to find in a couple hours, and the location of the nurse's office which we are all going to need at some point. The tuition office you know, where we pay to stay here. The guidance office which we'll need both for mental care and career advice. Or even the location of the locker rooms, training fields, or where to meet up with our sibling class or support techs. You know the guys that we'll probably be working with for at least the next three years. And likely much, much longer. None of that is things we know and somebody will have to find out second hand. Which given internal politics may or may not be listened to. In summary, this isn't smart it's to establish a pecking order.

This crap happened a lot back in Rapture, put any amount of people in a group together and they'll gravitate towards roles they fit by their personality and quirks, sorry, their social quirks. Me, I tend to end up as the lone wolf connected to the group at large by a few connections. But doing it this way meant that he wanted the pecking order done by physical ability alone. Which if it means anything like it did back in Rapture means he holds combat power over everything else. This coupled with his appearance and I'm suddenly working out why so many people don't pass this guy's classes. You either came in with the firepower and thus waltzed through. Or you got lucky and found someone else to teach you what you lacked. So, I have a 'if you can't keep up, that's your issue.' for a teacher. Why in the French hell is this man a teacher again.

Ok Izuku, take a breath, in, and out. Repeat the process twice, now analyze. Personal opinions aside I needed to know the field not counting myself and the caterpillar there are nineteen people on the field. Taking it from the top with good old seat number 1.

Seat number 1 was a blonde-haired teenager who seemed to be a bit, out there. To be honest he looked like some of the guys who tried Sinclairs 'Third Eye' plasmids and were ranting about how we were only fictional concepts at the mercy of deranged demigods. Most had ended up offing themselves by the time of Jack's visit to Rapture but the ones still alive said he was the 'demigod's avatar' I mean if I didn't know he bled red instead of gold. I'd think he was a god too, the dude literally killed like a 1/3 of Rapture's population at the time. Singlehandedly I might add, as for the kid, I'd keep an eye on him in case he started taking something harder no sense having a druggie watch your back. They'd stab it for the right fix. He'd have to ask his name at some point hopefully he wasn't too baked to remember it. He didn't see the guy being a major social or combat figure. He was far too much of a druggy the make friends outside of said demographics which I didn't see any more of. And his conditioning and quirk the ability to fire a laser beam at the cost of lactic acid buildup didn't inspire much hope for combat importance.

Moving right along to seat number 2. An energetic girl named Mina Ashido, who was rather memorable for the fact of having pink skin. Pink skin, honestly it was kinda attractive in an exotic way. But she was way too peppy for anything along that road to develop. Her quirk was acid and she seemed to be able to use it for mobility as demonstrated against the blonde druggy in the 100-yard dash. Given her flexibility was among the best in the class and her generally peppy attitude he suspected she was a dancer. This was confirmed as people talked between tests (the caterpillar glared at the people doing so, but fuck him) and I overheard. High in the social hierarchy, but unknown in combat skill, acid was handy in combat. But 'heroes' tended to get squeamish about injuries. So she probably wouldn't use her quirk to its full potential. If she was a dancer already she might could look into learning how to use a knife or find a teacher for Capoeira. But heroes rarely did such things so he doubted that'd pan out either.

Number 3 was Asui 'Call me Tsu' Tsuyu and was a weird one. She was a full conversion frog mutant and hit that uncanny valley at Mach 1. My heart bled for her it really did. Social wise she seemed like she was headed for a big sister type she already slapped and tongue whipped (things I never thought I'd see for 400 Alex) the little purple perv. Combat wise I really don't know, what did you think I know everything. Rapture was a lot of things but humanoid frogs weren't a combat scenario there, well not that I ran into at least.

Number 4 was Iida Tenya and to tell a long story short he was a low-end, both combat and social-wise. Why, I hear you ask. Well, the man was so rigid in mindset that once he got out in the field and saw the reality he'd snap. Either he'd end up as a templar type like that Stain guy and try to force his viewpoint via violence. Or he'd end up a substance abuser wonder what his choice would be Percs or Alcohol would be my bet. As for combat he ran and kicked sometimes he'd change it up and kicked and then ran. His quirk was called Engine and it gave him engines (you don't say) in his legs. So naturally the guy picked the most obvious fighting style and put no further variety or gear into the mix. Let's keep going this guy is almost as bad as the caterpillar.

Hero number 5 is a brown-haired Yui clone who I'd apparently saved during the exam (I don't recall doing so nor do I recall attempting to). She seemed to be friendly in a somewhat stereotypical girl-next-door type vibe and was becoming fast friends with Engine Boy. She'd been trying to get me to join in but I had no interest in making that a trio. I mean can you imagine the child solider from an undersea hellhole, being a social trio with the girl-next-door and a stick-up-his-ass hardass. No, no that would definitely not work out the way she hoped. Moving on to her quirk it was called Zero Gravity and it basically said 'fuck physics' and called it a day. I could explain in detail but I'm just going to keep moving on and not have an extensional crisis about the fact that a teenage girl literally has partial control of a fundamental force of reality.

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Izuku shook his head and refocused on the tests pointedly ignoring a dirty look from the caterpillar. Izuku should probably pretend to be scared of the guy since he's already kicked two students to the curb. I mean it's not like the two expelled students managed to get into one of the most exclusive hero school in the country. And due to being expelled on the very first day would likely not get into another school, let alone hero school, ever again. So that's two students who will likely have to resort to crime at some point to survive because this guy can't be bothered to beat in the basics of 'don't make yourself a liability' and 'if you can't avoid becoming then this probably isn't your line of work.'. Nope just kick em' to the curb.

We started doing a distance run at this point and outside of the chick who somehow made a bike nobody here was built for long-distance running. So, despite not having much of anything gene tonic or plasmid related to this particular subject I was somehow in second place overall. Honestly, that had been the case for every test so far. I was always the best outside of the kids with suited quirks for the task at hand. The sprint was dominated by guys like Boom Boom Boy and Iida. Same for the grip strength for the guy with multiple hands. And so on and so forth, to the surprise of nobody those with quirks suited to the task being done scored high in their areas and when not suited scored middling to low results. I on the other hand outside of the possible usage of aero dash to speed through the 100-meter dash nothing I'm packing today would have helped me so far. Though by my count I should be either one or two overall.

In any case, several largely pointless tests that were meant to show you, your current level of fitness had been repurposed to show a largely arbitrary pecking order to justify this man's prejudices (seriously the guy was starting to give me 'Ryan during the Civil War' vibes) we were on the last round of this pointless endeavor. A ball throwing contest as I waited for my turn I decided to go through my thoughts on a few more members or formers in some cases.

Starting strong was number 6 is a blonde guy with a tail named Ojiro. Nothing to write home about as far as I can tell has a big ass tail as his quirk and seems decently in shape. But yeah average in just about everything we did and not all that interesting. NEXT!

Number 7 was named Kaminari or something he didn't know nor would he, it looked like he'd gotten hit by a quirk side effect and was out of everything for a good 10 minutes. The thing was the caterpillar noticed this and decided he didn't want to deal with teaching the idiot not to run headlong into backlash. And promptly told the nearby robots (robots the one thing that Topside had that Rapture generally didn't) to take him to the principal's office for expulsion. RIP blondie the punk-rock chick looked heartbroken at this factoid. Made you wonder why seat number 1 blondie didn't get kicked too considering that he was a druggie but maybe I'm adding too much logic to it.

Number 8 was a redhead named Ejiro Kirishima and he was MANLY. He knew that because the guy kept saying 'x was manly' about every 5 minutes or so. He was doing good on the tests and while socially he wasn't all that great the man had a trump card. Said trump card was in the form of the pink-skinned acid girl we discussed last time she was with him whenever she wasn't talking to someone else or doing a test. Considering his quirk was Hardening and let him turn his body to stone (or near enough anyway) they might have a pretty solid 'Sword and Shield' duo in the works might be something to keep an eye on.

Number 9 was a literal rock-headed kid named Kouda I think. He was a pacifist and likely in the wrong line of work. A self-defensive pacifist along the lines of 'won't start anything but will finish it' isn't a particularly bad thing to work with. But in this sort of career where even the non-combatants (ie the rescue heroes) have to fight on occasion isn't going to work out well. Poor kid I felt for him I really did but doubted he'd still be around by the end of the year. Still might be a decent guy to chat up on occasion before he gets cast off.

Number 10 was cast off number 2. Nobody knew his name yet as far as I can tell. Also as far as I can he powered up by consuming cocaine... I'm not joking. Honestly can't blame the caterpillar on this one I may not mind a hit or two of the hard stuff and I don't have a stone to throw against him for needing substances to do his work. But the difference is that I know my drawbacks and how to counteract them. In a perfect world, he'd learn the same but my personal demons lurk far too close to the surface for me to help. And the caterpillar has no interest in helping so that's just bad luck for him. Better to cut it down now than wait until it gets someone killed.

The caterpillar glares at me while I walk up to do the ball toss flaring his quirk to add glowing red eyes to it. This would scare me if I gave even a little bit of a shit about the man when you've faced strung-out splicers who can't feel pain or emotion beyond bloodlust jumped up schoolteachers don't really have a pizazz anymore. He obviously didn't notice I wasn't shitting my pants that I'd somehow made him angry or at least he didn't show it if he did. The man attempted what I guessed was his attempt at a growl which considering the amount of cameras recording this campus I don't he'd try and do anything to me physically. “While I personally am happy to have someone who's capable of using their brain more than their fists. I am personally against admitting someone who lied on their application forms, especially with lies that don't take more than a moment's observation to disprove.” the caterpillar growled out before tossing me the ball.

I pointedly ignored the gasps and shouts of utter nonsense going on behind me and raised an eyebrow while waiting for him to continue. “Despite the fact you claim not to have a quirk it's incredibly obvious that you do in fact have a versatile element one” a dual hair colored boy perked up at that but I promptly ignored him in favor of the anthropomorphic caterpillar before me. My eyes narrowed “Well guess teachers give out personal information around here good to know. Not that you can be bothered to do much research but I am in fact quirkless I have done, at some expense I might add every test pertaining to quirks currently available to modern science, and all have turned out negative. So in the eyes of this institution and the government, I am quirkless, all I have is training and support gear. If you have a problem with that take it up with the principal, because I really don't care about your personal biases so long as you do your job.”. The man stops at that as do most of the students I'm sure from their perspective it's a rather absurd sight. The student and supposed fresh-faced recruit to heroism, taking absolutely no shit from the supposed teacher (he definitely wasn't given this fucker the honor of the title) I tossed the ball getting a decent 98 feet before nodding at the silently fuming 'teacher' and walking back to the line of now openly gawking students. Everyone on the field was staring in one way or another, I got the terrible feeling this wasn't over. Was it too late to drop out?

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Yui had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Not wrong with her classmates no, they were great she was finding a good group with Kendo and Pony. Kendo was a girl with long red hair tied into a ponytail going down the side of her head. She had blue eyes and her quirk was called 'Big Fist' which let her grow her hands in size which helped her in close quarters. Beyond that, she was nice and almost immediately started sticking up for the more introverted students. Which included her (she was a lot tougher and meaner than before she met Izuku but she still didn't like needless chatter.), Pony on the other hand was a blonde-haired blue-eyed transfer student from America, Texas specifically apparently that mattered a lot. The bedrock of the relationship was that outside of Pony herself she and Kendo were the only girls who spoke English (Izuku had only spoken in English after learning she was struggling with the language it wasn't fun but it was helpful) there was also a blonde haired boy named Monoma but he was a little … much. The girl seemed to be nice if a major otaku. Outside of them, she'd met most of the girls in the class and they seemed decent she hadn't spoken to many of the boys yet. She could definitely say that a few of them would clash with Izuku (the vine-haired Christian Shiozaki would hate the heavily pragmatic Izuku, and the excitable Komori would be far too much for Izuku who was even more insular) when they met but his class hadn't been at orientation for some reason. She asked the teacher about a hero by the name of Vlad King who could manipulate blood. He said that 1A's teacher tended toward skipping the orientation to get a head start on testing his students. He'd grumbled quite a bit about the man after making that statement which was somewhat unprofessional but from what she'd heard she figured that Izuku would be fine and went back to helping Kendo work out how to explain the greenete Setsuna's dirty joke to Pony while Ibara was in full on lecture mode.

Aizawa was utterly fuming he'd been attempting to get a solid read of where each of his students was and which ones would be a waste of effort. So when one Izuku Midoriya refused to use his quirk that he 'didn't have' and proceeded to insult him. Well, the teacher had decided right off to get rid of the kid. Heroics wasn't a place for dead weight and the kid would only get himself killed however he'd been the last student to perform the last event and had scattered pretty quickly like all the other students (Yaoyozuru had been near catatonic) after the fact. So since the kid had rabitted before he could recover from the fact he'd been publicly insulted by one of his 'students'. He decided that since the kid couldn't be bothered to try during the tests and didn't have the guts to take responsibility for his actions (in disrespecting a superior) he'd go to Nedzu to have the kid expelled. Only for the Rat to back the kid's utterly absurd story and bar him from expelling the kid. So if he was reading this right the brat had the Rat's eye, wonderful.

Momo Yaoyorozu was the heiress to one of the top 5 companies in Japan and top 20 in the world which she was expected to run one day, as was tradition. That said it was also tradition for the family to go into public service to 'show their support for the common people' which the family had been doing for the last 500 years or so. In the past that meant working as soldiers or as police. Nowadays that means working in heroism. While most of her extended family was able to get away with using the family's connections to get the role of 'Sidekick'. This of course meant sitting in a nice desk well away from any sort of risk or danger and doing paperwork maybe even working dispatch. But this wasn't to be the case for her, after all, she was the heiress. So when her mother and father decided that it was time for her to start fulfilling the family traditions, she hoped (rather foolishly) that she'd be allowed to do the same thing as her cousins and extended family. This hope died a very painful death not long after being called into her father's office. She was going to UA a friend of the family had recommended her and her parents were expecting her to be the top of the class in all aspects. This didn't seem like it would be difficult at first. Her academics were top-notch, and the class presidency and leadership positions were just a matter of politicking (she was from a large family and knew that game by heart). That said this was a hero school so a rather large portion of her grade would come down to combat ability and given that combat ability tended to mean quirk power to most people. Well, she didn't exactly like her odds against the various others in her class (even after they'd lost members which had shocked her that it wasn't a bluff at all.). Between Todoroki's overpowered ice quirk (which she totally didn't know that he had a fire half people did gossip after all) and the various other combative quirks her 'Creation' didn't seem all that useful in a fight. Her family was expecting her to be the best but she didn't really see a way for her to do that with her skill set, she just didn't know what to do here.

Izuku was fuckin' lost. That was what he was he had precisely no idea of where the hell he was in the maze of tunnels. Seriously this place was Arcadia without the trees he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. At least everyone else in his class seemed to be in the same boat. He'd seen multiple members of the class in various places as he blindly turned corners at random. Groupings he'd known about Iida and the Yui-clone whose name he really needed to learn at some point was one. The punk rocker and the Yaozoryu heir was another. But he didn't expect Kirishima the pinkette Ashido and the explosive asshole blonde to form up. They didn't seem like a great trio but what did he know?
Not wanting to focus on his non-existent social skills and continue speculating on the social connections of people he probably wouldn't get to know all that well before he executed phase 2 of his plan and left the school entirely. He continued turning corners randomly in this damn near literal labyrinth. As I continued my rat-in-a-maze (somewhere above me the principal of this institution sneezed) impression I turned a corner rather sharply and then ran face-first into someone going the other way. That someone turned out to be a rather equine-looking blonde girl. Who was muttering something that sounded like English before somewhat awkwardly stopping and trying to swap to Japanese.

Seeing that the girl was too flustered the swap back to Japanese and considering that the language was likely a second language I decided to make it easy on the girl and swapped over to English myself. “Are you ok?” her head jerked up at that making eye contact before asking. “You speak English?!”. It took some real effort not to make a sarcastic joke to the girl but she seemed to be having a day long before I turned up so I abstained. “Yes, I can speak English. My name is Izuku from 1A what's yours?” the girl smiled a mite sheepishly before introducing herself “My name is Pony from 1B.” “Nice to meet you then. Might I ask where your heading?” “Oh I'm heading to meet my classmates at the cafeteria.”. I blinked before asking “Oh mind if I tag along my class skipped the orientation so I don't know how to get to the cafeteria. And I would love to meet the members of my sister class.” She grinned at this taking my hand and dragging me down a random direction whilst babbling something in English. Well in the end I'd get to the cafeteria and probably see Yui soon.

Chapter Text

Itsuka Kendo was the mom friend she'd been ever since she was 8 and had been told to watch her grandfather's kids' karate class. So she'd gotten a bit concerned when Pony had gone to the restroom and had been gone for over 10 minutes. She didn't want to hover but she was starting to get a bit worried since she was pretty sure that the nearest restroom was just down the hall from the cafeteria entrance (she was pretty sure anyway the building was confusing to say the least she was pretty sure she's heard a rumor where the building is consistently being changed by Cemetoss). So she was rather relieved when Pony was escorted back into the cafeteria by a rather built green-haired boy. So of course when the pair walked over to their table Setsuna gave a low whistle while leaning in and saying in a not-at-all whisper “Dang Pony works quick.” she rolled her eyes and elbowed the now cackling girl.

She offered her hand to the boy “Nice to meet you I'm Itsuka Kendo of 1B, what's your name?” the boy looked at her hand for a second before gripping it in a firm shake she could feel the calluses that had built up there and coupled with the strength he was a fighter, there wasn't any doubt of that in Kendo's mind. That fact only became more certain as she took in the boy's build in more detail his arms were solid but not oversized like someone who trained for aesthetics but small and somewhat wirey, in short, all usable muscle. He had broad shoulders but was only a bit taller than Kendo herself then there were the boy's eyes. Don't get her wrong she wasn't in the habit of staring into a boy's eyes but they drew her attention due to how they were constantly scanning the area marking exits and figures. He was a fighter, that she already knew, but this kid had some experience behind him. Most likely vigilantism, heavens knew there were plenty of heroes who did that before starting schooling in some fashion. She figured that he was most likely in the hero course or possibly the support course she couldn't honestly see business or general putting in the time and dealing with the danger that came with the trade. Vigilantism was far and away more dangerous than being a hero or villain, due to the fact that both sides wanted you behind bars or dead. She should know since she had been a part-time vigilante named Sleight.

She imagined the staff or at least the principal knew about her little side hobby. The principal was famous among certain sectors of the internet for being near-omniscient. The alleged rodent that ran the school, was as infamous for finding and exposing things he didn't like such as experimentation or slavery. As he was for (allegedly since nobody could prove anything) hiding things he did approve of such as young vigilantes provided of course they knew when to fold and leave things to the pros. And given that her old antics were well within the Principal's unofficial fief of Mustafa, well she was pretty sure he approved given she wasn't in a cell at the moment.

Going back to the young man he'd nodded at her and Setsuna and went back to talking in English to Pony and Kodai who outright beamed at the boy who gave a small smile in return. The girl had been very insular from what she'd seen and it was nice to see her light up at what she assumed was her friend. She wondered for a second how the pair became friends before mentally shrugging and deciding it wasn't her business and turning her attention towards her food.

Izuku smiled at Yui and nodded at the other girls at the table after following Tsunotori back to the cafeteria and fielding (read deflecting mostly) her questions about where I'd learned English. He made vague answers about deceased family members to kill that alley of conversation. After all Frank, Ryan, McDunagh, hell even Sinclair and Atlas were dead or worse than dead. Miss Tenebuam was still around somewhere but he had no idea where. And Johnny Topside, Elanor, and Jack were MIA going on Presumed KIA, nobody in Rapture or those few folks who managed to escape Rapture knew a single bleeding thing about what happened to them. This of course made it so my words had a glint of truth to them just in case anybody had a truth-telling quirk.

'Hey Yui, so my biological father was basically villain Jesus. And since I was born quirkless, he hated me and wanted me dead. So when my mother died and I was sent to live with my father in America he hired some thugs to hijack the plane and kill me and everyone else on board. Only after it crashed I didn't die but found my way to an island with a lighthouse on it and inside of it there was a bathy-sphere that took me down to an undersea city called Rapture. Life was good for a while even starting a small business. But greed, addiction, and stupidity took its toll. A civil war broke out I went undergroundselling plasmids to survive. Oh, what are plasmids? They're this chemical that gives abilities powered by other but similar chemicals pulled out of corpses by genetically modified orphan children. Yes, that's horrible, don't worry it gets worse. The war goes on for a while getting worse and worse people steadily becoming Splicers. Plasmid addicts that no longer can think beyond more, more plasmids more Adam, more Eve. They were little more than animals hell animals may have been better off. In any case, eventually Ryan the city's founder decided to end the war by mind-controlling literally everyone who used plasmids. I was safe from this because I didn't use any plasmids that I didn't personally make. Yes, I use plasmids, no I wasn't aware of how most of it was made until after I was a user and you can't go back without dying. After this Atlas, the guy who was trying to take over the city played his Ace in the Hole. A genetically engineered and aged-up child of Ryan's named Jack to take over the mind control device and thus take over the city. Which we didn't know at the time and I did help him get out when Atlas betrayed him. Only finding out later that it wasn't Atlas but that Atlas was an alias of my old mentor and surrogate father figure named Frank Fontaine. So we worked together to kill Frank eventually succeeding, Jack disappeared and I saw to making sure the Little Sisters made it out of Rapture. Only to nearly completely miss the formation of the Rapture Family who captured, tortured, and modified me. While the Rapture Family and my time as Big Brother are a can of worms that we'll get into later.'

Yeah, that conversation can only go well. I chuckled bitterly before shaking my head at Yui's worried look sending a 'it's another matter that I'm worried about' glance back at the girl. I continue eating my food and start making some small talk, ugh. I still didn't have a plan for having that conversation or the likely to-be even worse talk about Big Brother. But I could be a kid for a minute and chat with my friend, friends. Naturally as soon as had that thought the alarm went off.

Chapter Text

Izuku's POV
If you assumed that a school full of heroes and one of the top training grounds for future heroes would be up to date on their emergency drills. Then congrats, because your dead wrong. Absolute pandemonium started the minute the sirens started blaring. People rushing all around trampling others and cussing others out. I'm pretty sure I saw a fistfight start over towards the entrance. Pony was flinching at the sounds and while not understanding (hopefully) the strong language being sent her way I sent some glares out memorizing faces for later. She was scared, now normally I wouldn't bother with dead weight. You have to focus on making sure you make it out, not stressing about the people who will only get you killed. And if she was freaking at something this minor (minor riot that it was) she was unfortunately dead-weight once we got down-range.

But she was a stranger in a strange land and I definitely understood that. Between Jack, Johnny Topside, Elanor and myself post-Rapture Family. There was little worse than being an outsider. Normally you just ran with the punches and hoped you'd find someone willing to show you the ropes. I wasn't that guy but I could certainly lend a hand to Yui and Kendo who seemed to be taking the role for Pony. While they were nice (nice people tend to die first a voice that sounded suspiciously like Frank spoke in the back of my mind) other students were and I was pragmatic. Others were considerably less decent. “Move your asses you second-rate losers!” roared a voice that came from a blonde haired boy who I hadn't learned the name from my class he tended towards explosives however. “Why don't ya make me ya punkass!” shouted another voice this time from a bug mutant boy with green hair styled into a mohawk. I didn't know him ether but given the girls reactions (Kendo's eye twitch, Setsuna sighing, the Ibara girl start praying and Yui deadpanning) he assumed that mohawk boy was they're pain in the ass.

Looking to Yui I nod towards dumb and dumber silently asking if I was correct. She gives me back a seemingly blank look alongside a tight smile that was her version of 'unfortunately'. Whelp, seems both classes have they're problem children. I absent-mindedly watch as the pair make a spectacle of themselves and Engine-boi has the Gravity Chick float him to the top of the exit door where he calms the crowd by shouting at them. That he did all this while balancing on an exit sign with his legs trembling was truly a sign that he was a true example of heroism. I sigh and shake my head as things oh so slowly simmer down from a small riot (save of course dumbass 1A vs dumbass 1B now backed up by a blonde haired boy who would be called Dumbass 1B#2 in the future). I heave one more sigh (of the far, far too many sighs I'd heaved that day) before giving Kendo and Yui a nod before moving towards the dumbass trio. I cleared my throat once, then twice, then three times to no avail. Then having had enough of it I rapped my knuckles on the heads of Dumbass 1A and Dumbass 1B. To the sounding of gasps and choked laughter from behind me. The blonde idiot puffed up his chest while slowly backing up and started spouting off some nonsense I couldn't be bothered to listen to before Kendo decided to follow my example and karate chopped him in the back of the neck. I give a second polite nod and grab my idiots collar and start dragging him towards the exit. There may have been a riot, but we still have English. And someone needs to make sure this bozo gets there.

About half an hour later Present Mic a blonde haired man who wore a leather outfit as his 'costume' and worked three jobs as a hero, a radio host, and a teacher. He ether had god-level time management skills or wasn't particularly good at any of them. He paused a minute as he looked out onto the class. The class of course was behaving in a truly 'heroic' manner (can you hear the sarcasm in my voice). Dumbass 1A Edition who for future reference will be refered to in shorthand of Dummy was attempting to cuss me out and was being scolded in turn by Engine-Boi. I of course ignored them both in favor of going over my notes on the latest attempt at 'Houdini'. The Punk Rocker had he ear-jacks in her phone presumably listening to music and ignoring the world (mood) and was being joined in this endeavor by the Bird Headed Guy.

He kinda stopped and stared for a minute at the chaos and then elected to use some mildly illegal quirk usage. “SAAAAYYYY HEYYYY LITTTTLLEEE LISSSTENERSSS!”. This of course caused literally everyone to drop what they were doing and cover they're ears but did succeed in making us focus so hurrah for small crimes I guess. He gave a dopey smile like he hadn't just deafened half the bleeding room and said (thankfully at a decent volume this time) “Good morning listeners now that your all tuned in. Let's start going through the wonders of English. Can I get a YEAAHHHHH!?!?!?” I heaved yet another sigh as the man ruined it at the last minute. And likely would continue to just casually use super high volumes randomly throughout the day. Lovely, at least I didn't have enhanced senses. I couldn't (nor did I desire to) imagine the agony that this class would be for those who did have such senses. Fortunately I did not, and I was already fluent in English (Rapture's main language it wasn't my first but it was what I mostly spoke for the majority of my life) it was a rather boring hour for me. After said hour he ended the class and handed it off to Ectoplasm for math.

Ectoplasm was a double amputee (both legs) who wore a kind of gas mask setup and a nice tan trench coat for his hero costume. It was better than most as that the gas mask actually was a working example of one. And that trench coat had armor inside of the lining. Yeah, it was vinyl mesh, and so only decent against blunt force and not stabbing or ballistics. But it helped against the most common quirk type (physical enhancer). His quirk was creating clones. It wasn't the best quirk out there the clones were slightly weaker and less durable versions of Ectoplasm himself. But as Joesph Stalin himself said 'Quantity is a Quality all its own' and most street level (which Ectoplasm focused on) crooks didn't have an out to dozens of dudes with above average physique (Ectoplasm may not have a physical enhancement quirk but he definitely had a gym membership). He was also according to hearsay a damn fine grappler. Mostly Brazilian Jujitsu and Greco-Roman wrestling. It wasn't a whole hell of a lot being two of the most common grappling styles (seriously those styles were to grappling what western boxing was to striking). But considering that 90% of heroes started and ended their capabilities with there quirks it was rather nice to see. As for the class itself it was bog standard high school level math so a lot of nonsense that rarely gets used outside of engineering or scientific careers It would have been useful for me if I didn't already know it and had largely moved past it. So I just zoned out while my classmates struggled through the class.

Eventually getting passed onto Midnight, who someone greenlit as not only a teacher but an art teacher at that. Yeah not like the chick who was so oversexualized that she get the government to actually make rules. Think on that for a moment. This one chicks actions that caused the old rich men to put aside their egos and political stalemates. To define and agree to what amount of of skin a costumed women who goes around punching poor people can show. I say again this chick made a bunch of old rich MEN to put rules on how LITTLE clothing heroines could wear. Impressive for all of the wrong reasons. As for her current gear and training set she had a bull whip and a pull apart white skinsuit. First of all, dear god, what is the maintenance budget for her costume the damn thing had to be repaired literally whenever she uses her ability. Then the whip, a whip …. why? I mean a whip was technically a weapon I guess. But there's so many better options. Whip's are lashing weapons good for offense or for things who can't fight back all that well. Offensively they let you keep mobility, and stung like a bitch for unarmored foes. Downside was they can't parry or block with them so all defense was down to your mobility. Which given Midnight's choice of stripper heels for footwear wasn't much of a defense. The offense also wasn't much to speak of given how many people could move around or protect against lashing weaponry with quirks. It just wasn't viable save in niche circumstance (was admittedly cool but cool got people killed in real life) Moving on to more schoolwork angle the woman's persona interacting with minors was a scandal waiting to happen. Moving on.

Thankfully we moved onto Cemetoss and modern literature. No real comments here the man controlled the very earth. If you managed to close to melee range he severely fucked up. With that kind of battlefield control you can manage to go without real independent combat skill. It's certainly better to have the ability to fight without powers but not really needed. As for looks he had this kind of red and black shirt with a pair of shorts. Simple, practical, if a bit dull, not anything to really complain about. The class I had a lot of trouble with I mean a lot of trouble. Modern Literature was a gimme class for most of my classmates it was literally just required reading and some essays, easy. But it was 'modern' literature which like all too much in this society meant 70% heroes and villains crap. A lot of my classmates could coast through the class just on culture osmosis and things they've read for fun. Me due to being in Rapture for the bulk of my life. I knew next to nothing about heroes and villains. There was still the occasional thing I'd read or knew something of philosophy books mostly (blame Ryan and Fontaine for that one). For the most part I was starting from square one and given that most of my class treated this as a gimme class and the staff expected it to be such. Meant that we set one mean pace, to the point where I was probably going to have a finish a book every other day or so. It and Art (which had a lot of the same problems) would be eating most of my free time until I could cut and run.

Final teacher of the normal class was Snipe the gas mask wearing cowboy. And I had absolutely nothing unkind to say about this guy. He was great all around. He wore a classic WW1 style gas mask and tan cowboy hat alongside a poncho. As for gear and training he carried a heavy semi-automatic that was styled like a revolver (wasn't crazy about the pure cosmetic changes but hey everyone has they're vices). Alongside a bowie knife and hatchet, while the hatchet was more a tool for search and rescue the knife was something he definitely knew how to use. Finally and closer to the training side of things he wore a pair of gloves and knew a fair bit of western boxing. Like Ectoplasm his gas mask worked and he wore a flak jacket beneath his poncho (once again vinyl mesh unfortunately). Anyways he covered general science the major fields each having a unit of them that would last for a few weeks while we got an overview. Again not much to write about given topside was largely behind on scientific studies barring a few fields (robotics mostly). This was another gimme for me. Leaving only the mystery heroics teacher to be met hopefully it would be an underground who somewhat understood the reality of the streets and how to actually fight. Naturally that's when All Stupid came barreling through the door.

Chapter Text

Izuku's POV
“I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!” came the extremely loud voice of a large blond man while he came through the door. As he slammed the door open while screaming every word. You know, like a normal person. At least that's how the man in question thought, so judging by how everyone else in the class seemed star-struck, he must have been a big deal. It wasn't until snippets of conversation and comments went by that I placed him. All Might, the Symbol of Peace, aka the muscle-head that was responsible for the way the hero system is nowadays. “-LOOKIN GOOD'” he'd apparently been talking about something while everyone else was as well, but I could only make out the last few words among the racket. He pulls a remote with a single red button on it before pressing it, having the opposite wall fold out into row upon row of briefcases with our seat numbers printed on them. On one-hand neat. On the other hand, how expensive was that to make for a once-a-year thing?

Oh shit, people are getting up. Looking up at the front, All Might is nowhere to be found. So I decided to do what everybody who didn't pay attention during instructions does and just follow the crowd and hope. The front runners grabbed their briefcases and started all but sprinting for the exit. Grabbing mine and following along at the back of the pack, I arrived at a simple (gasp sensically designed!?) locker room where several of my classmates were already changing. Looking at what they were going with, some were… unique, I'll say. But not my problem long term, I head over to a corner locker and start changing. My costume was simple and built around field work. In my experience, you could look good or be practical. I chose practical. A good pair of work pants with a tool belt/hostler combo around my waist. A button white shirt with a shoulder rig, with a pair of hostlers under each arm. With a minute decoration of a green tie. On my feet and most impressively, were combat boots, which I had spent the bulk of my budget on. At least that's all I asked for. In reality, I got some kind of hover-steampunk sabatons in place of my boots. My tool belt was replaced by a fucking bulky ass green and red belt made of what looked like trading card boxes? The white button-up was intact, but the tie and shoulder rig had been changed for an aquarmarine opera cape of all things, with some kind of smiling rabbit logo.

Finally and most daringly, my gear. Oh fuck, they fucked with my gear instead of my wrench. I had a collapsible button. That wouldn't have been too bad by chance, but whatever they made it out of was flimsy as hell. This wasn't a tool or a weapon, it was a toy. That fact is supported by the fact that it had like a halfway multi-tool built into the hilt. A can-opener, a corkscrew, and a nail file? Fuck it, moving on. I hadn't filled up my tool belt, or rather, I hadn't written anything to put there save extra zipties. Why zipties? They were easy to carry and legally gray since we couldn't actually handcuff people. Instead of those simple instructions, they gave me 'capture tape' which not only was it not adhesive but it was made of a cheap vinyl-ish material somewhere between vinyl and denim in durability. It was okay I suppose, not like I was actually planning on going into heroics. But what I absolutely was not okay with was that they filled the belt pouches to bursting. And not with useful crap either, according to the paperwork in the case, I had everything from lead-lined pepper bombs to sonic diffusion grenades to nullify soundwaves. In other words, a lot of weird niche crap that won't come up. Even better, I got a notice that this crap was included under my budget, which was now MAXED. And would stop me from requisitioning or subsidizing anything from UA until the second year. I was pissed, to put it mildly. Last on the gear front, my guns were missing, full stop. Not my pistol or shotgun or even the oddball stuff like the crossbow or the chem-thrower. It was all gone. Needless to say, I was going to be having some very pointed words with the teachers about where my shit is and why my 'costume' is nothing at all like what I asked for.

So, not wanting anything to do with all this nonsense, I started diving through the lockers and found a pair of workout pants. That, alongside the button-up shirt, would have to do for my outfit until I could get this bullshit sorted. I'd like to have a tool belt for consumables and other assorted gear, but that wasn't going to be happening. So what did I have? I had a button-up shirt and a stolen pair of workout pants, no weapons worth a damn, and a lot of issues. I mean, I'd worked with less, but not often, especially since I did have weapons and equipment, it was just ignored and done who knows what with. I quickly tore off the cape (pointedly ignoring the glare from engine boi). And put on the pants, I was going to be basically down to plasmids for this fight. Not great, not at all, but I could work with that. Closing my eyes for a moment, I went over the plasmids I had installed. Electro Bolt III formed my primary offense alongside Insect Swarm III. Electro Bolt for anti-electronic and anti-person roles, and Swarm for shock value, nobody was staying calm with an entire cloud of bees coming for them. Telekinesis was equipped as always because it was just that versatile, it could always help. Houdini was equipped, but the lack of EVE Hypos meant I couldn't afford to use it. Finally, Aero Dash was equipped for mobility.

Not much to work with. But hopefully I could make it work, ultimately I was up against unblooded students. So I likely wouldn't face too much opposition. Then again, an amateur was often more dangerous than a professional due to not knowing what they're limits were as well as not knowing tactical thinking. I joined the various folks wandering aimlessly looking for the Training Ground since we still didn't know where anything was (Thanks Aizawa)

“Uh, are you guys lost?” a somewhat nervous-sounding voice called out. As the combined male population of UA Heroic Course Class 1A. Had valiantly walked into the same dead-end hall and had proceeded to break into a screaming match of Dummy screaming at a dual-hair boy (henceforth known as Candy Kane) who ignored him and was yelled at in turn by Engine Boi. The voice belonged to a shorter girl in a polka dot dress and a kind of cap that made her look a bit like a toadstool. Going by topside standards, I'm guessing her quirk had something to do with mushrooms or with swamps. Either way it didn't matter. If she was in a hero costume, she'd be in heroics and likely knew where we were supposed to be.

“I AIN'T LOST YOU MUSHROOM BIM-” I slammed a palm over Dummie's mouth before giving the girl a tight smile. Not noticing the multiarms kid does the same on Engine-Boi in the background. “Yes, just a bit, our teacher wouldn't let us attend Orientation. Would you happen to know where training field 8 is?” The girl looked a bit taken aback as she was closed in on by our somewhat rowdy bunch, but did nod her head before heading off in the presumed direction of the training grounds. Closely followed by our bunch. Poor lass, she didn't know what kind of headache she'd just brought upon herself.