"Izuku! Are you ready?"
"Y-Yeah. So... can I open my eyes now?"
Instead of responding verbally, you gently cupped his cheeks, prompting his eyelids to flutter open. Right on cue, you took several steps back and grinned widely, twirling in a circle so that your skirt fluttered around.
"How is it?" you asked eagerly. You were starting to get a bit dizzy from spinning so much, but you were too excited to stop. "This school uniform is so much cuter than our middle school one. I love it!"
It didn't take long for Izuku's cheeks to darken.
"You look r-really nice," he mumbled shyly. "But you always look nice, no matter what you wear, so I guess it's nothing new..."
A grin stretched across your lips. Even though you felt confident enough as it was, Izuku's words of praise certainly didn't hurt. Plus, he always looked so adorable while trying to give you compliments. You doubted you'd ever get sick of his flushed freckled cheeks.
"The uniform looks great on you too!" you enthused. "Starting today, we're U.A students, huh? I always knew we were awesome, but now we're extra awesome."
"Yeah... it does feel pretty awesome," he couldn't help but admit, flashing you a wobbly smile.
Despite how excited the two of you were, the person who was most looking forward to this was undoubtedly Inko. She was so agitated that she could hardly sit still, and you had to remind her to take deep breaths every so often.
"Did you both pack your tissues?" she fussed.
Izuku nodded. "Yes, mom."
"What about a handkerchief? You can't just leave without a handkerchief!"
"We packed that too, mom. Seriously, it's fine. We should leave soon so that we don't end up being late!"
Inko paced back and forth, clearly unable to calm down, but eventually, she stopped and clapped her hands together.
"Right!" she exclaimed. "I need to take a picture of you two! Just one picture, nice and quick. Get in close, okay?"
Izuku let out a weary sigh, and you could tell that he was anxious to hurry up and leave already, but surely a few extra moments wouldn't hurt.
"Pose with me," you grinned, pulling him so close that your cheeks were nearly plastered against each other.
Izuku let out a nervous little squeak, and while you lifted up your fingers to form a peace sign, Inko snapped a picture with her phone.
She gazed at her screen happily. "It's perfect! I'm going to have this picture framed soon."
"Mom, please don't do that," Izuku whined.
"But both of you look so good! It'd be a waste not to. Anyways, hurry along now," she waved off. "Otherwise, you'll be late!"
Izuku stammered out the beginnings of a protest-most likely to point out that she was the one who'd been keeping you longer-but ended up letting it go. It was an important day, after all. Your very first day at U.A, but it was more than just that.
It was your first real step towards becoming a hero.
I wonder what my parents would think if they saw me now.
Honestly, you were probably better off not contemplating such things. It wasn't as if you'd get answers anytime soon, after all. And just because you were devoting yourself towards being a better person and helping others didn't mean that your parents would be proud of you all of a sudden. They'd chosen to cast you out of their lives. You doubted you'd meant much to them to begin with.
You scrunched up your brow. Yeah, fuck them. They didn't even deserve to take up space in your thoughts.
Izuku gave you a puzzled look. "[Name]? Are you alright?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah! I'm doing super-duper," you grinned, quickly recovering your spirits. No point in letting yourself feel down for no reason. Today was a good day. That's what you were going to focus on.
Apparently, on average, only 1 in 300 applicants passed U.A's entrance exam, for a grand total of 41 new attendees in the Hero Department this year. If you'd understood things correctly, these 41 students would be split into two classes. So, 21 in one class, and 20 in the other.
That was another reason you were excited. Because you already knew from texting with Kaminari that he'd been sorted into the same class as you and Izuku-Class 1-A.
"It's so cool that Kaminari will be in the same class as us!" you beamed, happily skipping down U.A's long winding hallways. The school was humongous, so it was easy to get lost, but you were rapidly approaching your destination. You could see the door to 1-A from afar, mainly because it was needlessly large. Or perhaps that was by design, to accommodate certain students with mutant-type Quirks.
Whatever the case, you were here now, and you couldn't wait to walk in.
But when you tried, Izuku grabbed you by the hand and pulled you back.
"Wait!" he spluttered. "I, uh... I think I need a moment or two to prepare myself. To be honest, it still hasn't fully sunk in that I'm actually a U.A student. Without having a Quirk all these years, it always seemed like it was practically impossible..."
You smiled patiently. "I'm sure it might be a bit overwhelming, but you're here because you deserve to be. Just like with your Quirk, you earned this. It'll be fun meeting new people and finding out about all their unique abilities, right? Just focus on the stuff you're looking forward to. This is going to be great!"
"Yeah... you're right." Izuku let out a weak chuckle. "I guess I'm just a bit worried about ending up in the same class as Kacchan. I realize I'm already blessed enough to have gotten here, but I would really prefer it if he got sorted into the other one."
"It'll be fine," you reassured.
Probably.
Smiling encouragingly, you slid open the door.
Only to immediately eat your words from a few moments ago.
"Don't put your legs on the desk! Don't you think that's disrespectful to your fellow classmates?!"
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't! Which middle school are you from anyways, you piece of shit extra?"
You shook your head in dismay. Meanwhile, Izuku looked like he was biting back the urge to start crying from frustration.
It was literally the first day of class-the actual class hadn't even started yet-and Katsuki was already picking a fight with someone.
Some poor bespectacled student by the name of Iida Tenya was doing his best to sort out Katsuki's unruly behavior. Unfortunately, Iida hadn't yet realized what a hopeless endeavor that was. Katsuki was an incorrigible little bastard, after all.
Well, maybe he's not all that bad. He did save me big-time by letting me drink his blood after the entrance exam.
Then again, Katsuki had also kicked up a massive fuss when he'd found out that both you and Izuku had also been accepted to U.A. He'd been hellbent on being the sole graduate from your middle school to end up here, and needless to say, his reaction hadn't been pretty.
Whatever. You'd expected as much. Besides, Izuku deserved this more than anyone else. Katsuki could whine about it all he wanted. It wasn't going to change the fact that Izuku had every right to be here.
Katsuki's crimson eyes eventually drifted towards you, and when he caught sight of you and Izuku standing together, it only took a second for his crude smirk to twist into a hateful scowl.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but against all odds, actually managed to keep his mouth shut for a change. For the sake of maintaining some semblance of peace in the classroom, you decided not to provoke him this time.
"Ah, it's you! Curly-haired kid!"
The one who'd snapped you out of your thoughts was a friendly-looking girl with rosy cheeks and mid-length brown hair. She was grinning ear-to-ear in Izuku's direction, and unsurprisingly, he was stiff as a board and didn't quite know how to react.
"I'm so glad you made it in!" she enthused. "And wow, that punch during the entrance exam was seriously out of this world! You took down that huge robot with only one swing!"
Oh. She must be the person Izuku saved during the entrance exam.
All Might had explained that the system used to evaluate applicants also weighed in heroics efforts, such as saving others. Even though Izuku hadn't scored any points by destroying robots, he'd earned enough to pass the exam by going out of his way to protect someone. It wasn't entirely unexpected, given that this was a hero school, but you hadn't really stopped to think of it that way in the heat of the moment. You tried to recall if you'd helped anyone that was in trouble during the entrance exam, but you didn't remember much considering you'd blacked out in the middle of it.
The details didn't really matter, though. You were here, and that was the most important thing.
"Izuku is super cool," you grinned widely. "I'm kind of bummed I missed out on seeing his punch for myself. How big was the robot he went up against?"
"It was gigantic!" the girl huffed, making broad motions with her arms to fully convey its magnitude. "I seriously wasn't expecting him to have that much power!"
"I-I'm really nothing special," Izuku insisted, burying his face in his palms and blushing violently from the incessant praise. You chuckled softly. Apparently, the girl's name was Uraraka, and given her sunny disposition, she struck you as a good person. The scent of her blood was also very pleasant. It was only the first day of class, but you had really high hopes for this place so far.
Right when you thought your grin couldn't get any bigger, a familiar voice called out to you.
"[Name]!" Kaminari beamed, rushing over. "And Midoriya too! Awesome, we seriously all ended up in the same class!"
You instantly met Kaminari in a high-five. "Yay, go us! We said we were going to do it, and we actually pulled it off!"
"I'm pretty lucky that the content of the exam was going up against robots," Kaminari chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't have to bother controlling the output of my Quirk since I was up against non-human opponents. I didn't see either of you at my test site, but I'm guessing you both did great. Anyways, we made it, and that's all that matters!"
The three of you, plus Uraraka-who was clearly a bit out of the loop, but still smiling happily-went on chatting for a while longer. Up until someone rudely decided to put a damper on the mood.
"If you're looking for buddies, you'd be better off doing it someplace else. This is the Hero Department, after all."
Nothing could have prepared you for the sight of a scruffy-looking man with long disheveled hair, curled up inside what looked to be a yellow sleeping bag. He was quite literally lying on the floor outside of the classroom. His eyes were so heavy and wearied that he barely looked like he was even conscious.
"Mister, are you okay?" you fretted, crouching down in front of him. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
Without wasting a beat, the man peeled himself out of the sleeping bag, then stood up. The rest of the class had gone awfully quiet, although you couldn't blame them. This was pretty damn strange, after all.
"Took you a bit too long to quiet down," the man drawled, letting out a soft yawn. "We'll have to work on that. If you want to become heroes, you'll need to take things seriously. Anyways, I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. It's nice to meet you."
Izuku stiffened up. "Wow. So, that means this guy must be a pro hero too. I don't recognize him, though, which is kind of weird..."
He was right. Even if you'd spent less than a year in this world, by now, Izuku had more than drilled various heroes into your memory. But Aizawa wasn't ringing any bells, and you were quite confident that you would've remembered someone with his appearance.
Without stopping to explain anything, Aizawa pulled out what looked to be a P.E. uniform. "All of you should change into these," he said. "Once you're ready, meet me outside on the field."
You and Izuku exchanged confused glances. Even Kaminari seemed to be a bit perplexed, and he was the type to normally go with the flow without questioning much. Nonetheless, Aizawa was your teacher, so you had to follow his instructions.
It turned out that your first day of school was far from being uneventful.
"Quirk apprehension test?! What about the entrance ceremony and all that type of stuff?"
Aizawa's expression was deadpan. "If you really want to become heroes, then you should understand we don't have time to waste on all those niceties. Us teachers have total freedom over how we choose to run our classes, and I've decided that I want to evaluate you all and see how you stand."
He proceeded to explain that you would be undergoing a sort of trial where your physical capabilities would be tested, except this time you were allowed to use your Quirks. Supposedly, these were all activities that were commonplace in middle school, but because you'd transferred in late and only spent a few months in school, you'd never actually had the chance to try them before. They didn't sound too difficult though, based on their descriptions alone.
Aizawa glanced towards Katsuki. "Bakugou. Do you remember how far you could pitch a softball back in middle school?"
"67 meters," Katsuki replied without wasting a beat. At first you weren't sure why exactly Aizawa had chosen to single him out, but then you remembered that he'd officially placed first on the entrance exam. As much as his personality left a lot to be desired, his strength was no laughing matter.
Hmph. I could still kick his ass. Probably.
"Try using your Quirk this time," Aizawa said, then gestured for him to step up. "As long as you don't exit the circle, anything is fair game."
By sheer instinct, Izuku took several steps back, even though Katsuki was more than far enough away. You watched as the blonde revved up his right arm, a look of absolute concentration settling across his face. He took one step forward and threw the softball-at the same time, he used enough explosive power to send the ball rocketing up towards the sky, releasing plumes of smoke in its midst.
"DIE!" Katsuki screamed.
You shook your head. "This dude seriously just told a ball to die. That's called being cringe, right, Kaminari?"
"Pretty much!" the lightning-user grinned. "You're finally starting to get the hang of popular expressions, [Name]!"
"Hehe. It's lit, bro."
Katsuki angrily glared in your direction. "Shut it, you assholes! The hell are you mumbling about behind my back?!"
"All of you should shut it," Aizawa sighed. He proceeded to hold up a device that read 705.2 meters, which you could only assume was the distance Katsuki's softball pitch had traveled. "What we're interested in measuring today is the basis of your hero foundation. Before you make efforts to improve, it's important that you know exactly where you stand."
After Katsuki's impressive display, the rest of the class was visibly eager. The prospect of testing their abilities seemed to excite them a great deal. Most of them said it looked like a lot of fun-something that Aizawa didn't take too kindly to.
"You say this looks fun?" he glowered. "Oh, I see. So, you were planning to spend your next three years here having a good old time, is that it? Whatever happened to becoming proper heroes? It seems to me like you're all taking this much too lightly."
"We can work hard and still have fun while doing it," you felt compelled to counter.
That was a mistake, because Aizawa just looked even more irritated now.
"Right," he commented dryly. "Well, in that case, I should add a new rule. After undergoing all of these trials, the student who ranks in last place will be judged as hopeless and instantly expelled. How is that? Do you all still think it sounds fun?"
Your jaw dropped open. Um, what the fuck?! It was literally the first day of class and your homeroom teacher was already threatening to expel people?
It's okay, though. I can do this. I'm pretty confident in my physical abilities.
You were doing your best not to get too worked up, but the same couldn't be said for the freckled boy beside you. He was already a mess of nerves, unable to keep his body from shaking. You considered asking why at first, but you realized quickly enough why he looked so afraid.
He still couldn't control One For All. It wasn't even close. If a single punch would instantly break his arm... then how was he supposed to get through all of the trials?
Realizing that looking concerned wouldn't do his self-esteem any favors, you hurried to smile. It was alright. You needed to believe in Izuku. He'd already proven time and time again that he wouldn't give up even when the odds were stacked against him, so why should this be any different?
"You're going to be just fine," you reassured. "I know you'll make it work."
As always, Izuku looked appreciative of your support, but still somewhat doubtful. He swallowed hard and slowly nodded his head. "I... I have no choice. After all," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper so that no one else could hear, "All Might chose me."
Putting your faith in Izuku hadn't failed you thus far, and you doubted it ever would. As much as you couldn't help but worry about him from time to time, he was incredible. There was no way he was going to let things end after coming this far.
You decided to focus on your own exploits for the next little while. The first trial you were set to do was a 50-meter dash. As the name suggested, it was just a short-distance sprint. You'd always been a fast runner, and if you concentrated extra hard and channeled all your strength for a few brief moments, you could probably land a pretty good time.
You lined up next to the student who was running alongside you, who as it turned out, was a boy with a rather distinct appearance. His hair was dual-colored; split clean down the middle into red and white. He even had two differently colored eyes. You were vaguely familiar with the term-something called heterochromia, if you weren't mistaken. His left eye was surrounded by a noticeable scar, but it didn't detract from how handsome he was. You were a bit embarrassed to admit that you'd been staring at him for longer than intended.
But his good looks weren't the only reason you were staring.
A part of your chest felt tight and unpleasant. He was right next to you, awaiting the signal to begin the 50-meter dash. His eyes didn't so much as flicker your way, but even though he wasn't paying you any attention, the impact he left was undeniable.
You bit down on your lip and instinctively glanced the other way.
The scent of his blood... for some reason, it makes me sad.