MHA Art School: Volume One

Prologue

     "Izuku?"

     "Yeah mom?"

     "Are you busy right now? Can we talk?"

      "Sure, Mom. What's up?"

     Izuku Midoriya, more commonly known as Deku, sits up on his twin-size bed as his mom enters his small bedroom. The room is a huge mess; clothes are scattered all over his bed and chair. There are notebooks everywhere, filled with drawings and notes about heroes and their quirks. One notebook is sitting beside him, a bit charred and burnt, with a pencil holding it open to a page. His mom walks over and takes a seat on the other side of him, with a slightly worried look on her face.

      "Izuku, honey, it's been some time now since you graduated from high school and... you know you haven't exactly... done much since you've been home..."

     Deku turns to her, about to defend himself. "Actually, Mom, I- "

     "Honey, let me finish." Deku turns back, facing his computer desk. "Remember when we talked about all those schools you were going to apply to before graduation? What happened? Don't you still want to go further your education so you can get a high paying job and never have to worry about living expenses or bills or anything?"

     "I do, but..." he starts.

     "It's very important that you understand that money doesn't just fall off of trees, you know. I mean, you aren't even looking for a job!"

     "Mom listen please! I just don't know if the schools we looked at are good for me right now. I mean, I just now got a good handle on my quirk and everything, and I just feel like it'd be so much pressure to try to go to one of UA's recommended liberal arts schools. I mean, almost all the pros went there..." Deku fiddles with his thumbs nervously. Ever since he inherited One-For-All from his idol, All Might, Deku always felt pressure from everyone to be just as good, or better, than All Might. That not only meant with his newfound quirk, but with everything else too. The combination of training to control his powers, maintaining his grades, and trying to have a decent social life makes even simple things feel hard for him. He just wanted his mom to understand that.

     "Izuku... I just don't want you to end up lazy and unemployed. It's hard to find a job with good pay these days without a proper degree. Especially since the government isn't going to be paying you heroes anymore."

      Deku sighed. She was right. The government defunded the pro-heroes about six months ago, and they've been suffering ever since. Because of the sudden disappearance of many of the most dangerous foes, like Nomu and All-For-One, supervillain crime went down by 95%. It forced Musutafu's heroes to have to get new jobs to support themselves as well as occasionally save the people from minor criminals. Usually the pro heroes, whether directly connected to each situation or not, always get the publicity when a criminal is taken down. Big names like Mount Lady, Best Jeanist, and especially All Might are always in the paper, but even they had to get their own side hustle.

     "Remember, dear, I just want you to be happy... happy and comfortable." Deku's mother rests her hand on his back as she gives him a pamphlet for their local colleges. "Please look at those schools again and try to pick one by the end of the week. I want you to live better than I do when you're my age, okay?" She smiles and stands up. "I love you, Izuku."

     Deku looks down at the pamphlet and nods.

     "Love you too, Mom."

     "I mean I don't know what to do! There's so many different schools to choose from..." Deku mutters as he walks around his room flipping through the pamphlet. He facetimed his two closest friends, Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki, to help him make his decision about schools. Some of them were... more outspoken than others.

      "Relax, Deku! It's not even that big of a deal." Bakugo grunted as Deku stared blankly at his phone. "It's just some stupid school-"

     "School isn't stupid, Bakugo," Todoroki interrupted. "Don't worry, Midoriya, I understand where you're coming from. Picking an institution suitable for advanced education can be tough, especially with added pressure from your parents..."

      All of the boys are quiet for a moment. In one way or another, they had each had their own issues with approval from their parents. Even Bakugo sometimes feared letting his mom down.

     "I... I just don't know what I'll do, guys. I mean, neither of you have chosen your schools either, so at least we have that in common!" Deku shrugged as he plopped down onto his bed. The line went quiet for a moment.

     "Hey, guys?" Todoroki said, breaking the silence. "did you see this email from Mr. Aizawa just now?"

     Deku sat up, confused. "Just now? We haven't heard from him since graduation." He quickly went to his mail app and opened the newest email.

From: Shouta Aizawa

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to: class 1-a, class 1-b

Graduates of UA,

This is your former teacher, Mr. Aizawa. It's okay if you don't remember who I am, I'm neither offended nor surprised either way. I wanted to reach out and inform you all that haven't picked one of our recommended schools from the list, which was about 90% of you, have been dropped into our complimentary advanced education program. It's a four-year art program, designed to further your creativity and imagination, things that were slept upon during your three years at UA. There's a wide range of programs, taught by the same faculty from UA (quite frankly because now we have nothing better to do), so pack your things. Buses will be sent to each of your homes to bring you on campus next week starting Friday.

I may or may not look forward to hearing from each of you.

Shouta Aizawa

     "WHAT THE H*LL??????" Bakugo shouted, slamming his phone down on a nightstand. "THEY JUST PUT US IN A STUPID PROGRAM WITHOUT TELLING US???"

     "Bakugo calm down. There's no need to yell," Todoroki said, still staring at the email. "Although I do agree, maybe this was, a bit uncalled for. They could have at least told us we had a time limit to choose."

     Deku stared at the wall in front of him. There is a poster of his idol, All Might, graduating from one of the liberal arts schools UA recommended. "Maybe this is a good thing, guys. I mean, now we definitely don't have to worry about making a choice anymore." Bakugo and Todoroki watch Deku's screen as he gets up and walks over to his wall, resting his hand on it. "There should be less pressure to be big and successful, right?" Deku stares at the poster a little longer, finally turning around with determination in his eyes.

     "I mean, it's art school. How hard could it be?"