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Chapter 1: It Begins

Today was Nezu's favorite day of the year. The UA entrance exam. Oh how he loved seeing the next generation of hero hopefuls, and would always watch the camera feeds of the entrance. His main reasoning is his desire to see better in humanity. His own past makes it difficult at times, but seeing that drive to help in the younger generation helps a lot. Sadly the number of students he finds with that desire has slowly been dropping. But the ones he did find shine so brilliantly that he hopes they will be the guiding stars for the future.

Except this year something felt.... Off. He couldn't put his paw on it, but something in his gut told him today was going to be a monumental day. It also said that based on what happens will determine the future of not just heroics in general, but all of Japan, if not the world. He's only had the feeling twice before, and both times were correct, so he decided it was wiser to keep vigilant.

Sipping his favorite tea he relished in the flavor as he continued watching the feed, spotting one of his favorite types of applicants. They are always distinguishable by the simple fact they always stop in front of the UA gates before entering and just stare at the school. Most of the time it's simply someone staring in awe, but every now and then he witnesses the very thing that helps get him up in the morning. Eyes full of determination. Those are always the students that go on to do great things.

He still doesn't know why they all do that despite all his observations, humans were just hard for him to understand sometimes. Zooming in hoping to find another one of those students, his typically cheerful smile fell in an instant. Oh he found what he was looking for alright, as he was awed by just how much determination he saw in the young man's eyes. It blazed brighter than any he's seen in the past, and he used to be one of All Might's teachers.

But there was something else that made his smile disappear. A few somethings in fact. The first was the most obvious, the scars. The boy had a really nasty scar on the side of his face that not only cut into his hairline but extended down his neck into his shirt. Rubbing the scar over his eye, familiar dark memories resurfaced. His empathy for the boy grew tremendously, as he doubted that scar came from a simple accident.

The second thing was what worried him the most, and solidified his belief when it came to the scar. Aside from the determination, there was nothing else in his eyes. Not kindness, not fear, and not hatred. Just nothing. In fact, if he didn't know exactly what to look for, you could easily mistake his eyes for being dead.

What's more, the feeling in his gut amplified the moment he got a good look at the boy. It practically screamed at him to keep a watchful eye over him, that he would be central to the future.

And he wasn't one to ignore his gut feelings. So he quickly turned off the feed and started going through the hero applications. The screen changed so rapidly that a normal person wouldn't be able to keep up, but for someone like Nezu it was mere child's play. He would actually be flipping through them faster if his computer was able to keep up. It took him a few minutes to finally find the application, but it made his stomach sink.

The boy is named Midoriya Izuku, and the image that came with the application showed him that the scar was more recent. But what was worse was how empty certain parts of his file were. The only thing that remained was loads and loads of school records calling him a problem child, and about him constantly getting into trouble. If it wasn't for the fact that certain parts showed signs of redaction, he might have dismissed his feeling as just him having an off day. But his parents weren't even listed. This had never happened to Nezu before and he found it extremely strange.

Re-reading the file once more, a detail he missed the first time stuck out to him. Typically he doesn't look at the quirk on applications, finding them wholly irrelevant until they become students. Afterall, it's not about the quirk that determines hero potential, but the person themselves. But in his search for answers, he glanced at it and suddenly pieces were starting to fall into place. And he hated what was being shown.