"You're hopeless," Shigaraki sighed. "I didn't know someone could possibly be so bad at video games. I doubt you'll ever get better. It's like you're technologically challenged or something."
Well, yes—you were technologically challenged. All of this stuff was still super new to you, after all.
"I'll get better," you insisted. "I just have to keep practicing! You can keep teaching me, since you're really good and probably don't have any actual responsibilities to deal with."
"Fuck you. What the hell do you know about my life?"
"It's just a feeling I get," you shrugged.
Shigaraki rolled his eyes. "You're such an annoying piece of shit. I seriously wonder how you've made it this far without getting your ass beat."
"It's because I'm tough," you said, proudly flexing your bicep. "I set people straight whenever they try to fuck with me."
"Is that so?"
"Sure is! If you want to try your luck, you can step outside, like I said earlier."
"I'm good. I've decided to let you live for the time being. You're a total moron, but it's actually somewhat entertaining." Shigaraki's lips twitched into a cruel grin. "You'd better be careful so that I don't get tired of you, though. Otherwise, you really will die."
What a weirdo. He sure likes to say some creepy-sounding things.
You had a terrible sense for danger, so you of course didn't realize that all of Shigaraki's threats were all very much real.
"Try all you want, but you can't scare me," you mused. "What's your name, by the way? I'll probably come by here every now and then, so maybe we'll run into each other again, and you can help me get better at all these games."
Shigaraki scrunched up his nose. "Why should I tell you anything? Piss off."
"Aw. But don't you want to be friends?"
"Fuck no. I don't need friends."
"I bet you're only saying that because you don't have any," you quipped.
Shigaraki narrowed his eyes, but before he could say anything else—most likely threaten to kill you again—you let out a resounding huff.
"Well, fine," you said crossly. "Go ahead and be that way. I was going to tell you my name, but since you're being all stingy, then I'll do the same. I'm sure you'll change your mind about wanting to be my friend, and then you'll regret it big-time. I'll be laughing when it happens."
"Sure, keep holding out hope for a miracle," Shigaraki snorted. "While you're at it, maybe wish for the ability to suck less ass at games too. There are literal elementary schoolers here, and I can guarantee they're better than you."
You flipped him off, and Shigaraki did the same right back to you. It was hard to tell whether or not the two of you were actually getting along, but this had been a lot more fun than you'd expected. He still smelled pretty bad, but you supposed you would get used to it over time.
"Well, I should get going now, stinky guy," you said, collecting your belongings. "My friend will start to worry about me if I get home too late. That's right, you heard me—I actually have friends, unlike you."
Shigaraki wasn't impressed. "I feel sorry for them, whoever they are. I can't imagine the stupidity they have to put up with on the regular."
"Eat shit," you said, then flipped him off once more. It was difficult to keep the smile off your face, though. This stinky guy was kind of entertaining in his own way. "Anyways, I'm gonna head out now. Bye-bye!"
You waved him off with ample enthusiasm. Shigaraki couldn't be bothered to do the same. He just rolled his eyes again and went back to playing another arcade game.
As you walked home, you wondered when the two of you might end up crossing paths again. And even though you didn't know it yet, it would actually be very, very soon.
When you made it to school the next morning, you found that the gates were surrounded by reporters.
One of them jabbed a microphone in your face. "We've heard that All Might is a teacher here. What are his classes like?"
"What's this thing for?" you couldn't help but frown, tapping the microphone a few times. "Oh, wow... it makes my voice sound louder! Hello? Can you hear me? Lalalala! Wait a second, I'm gonna sing one of my favorite songs for you—"
Realizing you were too annoying to keep on interrogating, they tried asking Izuku a few questions instead.
But they quickly ran into a different problem.
"Um... I-I'm sorry, but I can't—I-I have to get going!" he spluttered, booking it out of there as fast as possible.
You smiled at the reporter, batting your eyes a few times. "So? Do you want to hear me sing my song now?"
It went on like this for quite some time. Pretty much all your classmates were being harassed by reporters, since they wanted the inside details on what All Might's teaching career looked like. Perhaps most people would have been overwhelmed by all their persistence, but you actually thought the whole thing was pretty fun. Plus, you had yet to have anyone listen to your song.
There was one moment that made you freeze up, though. Because something—or rather, someone—smelled awfully familiar.
Stinky guy? Is he here?
You tried to pick him out from the crowd, but there were far too many people for you to see clearly. Were you just imagining things? The scent of his blood was way too distinct to forget, so you doubted it. Maybe he actually did have a job, and wasn't just a total bum like you'd assumed. Maybe he was a reporter like the rest of these guys.
Still, no matter how hard you searched, you couldn't find him, so you eventually gave up and decided to call it a day. In any case, you would probably bump into him at the arcade again at some point.
Aizawa basically told the reporters to piss off, and then U.A's security barrier kicked in and locked all of the reporters out. After that, it was back to classes as usual. Aizawa spend a few moments briefly berating some people from yesterday's Battle Trial—mainly Katsuki, for acting so childishly, but he also told off Izuku for breaking his arm again. As if he really had a choice in the matter. He'd literally only just received his Quirk and was still getting used to it!
"Sensei," you huffed, crossing your arms. "I've got a bone to pick with you."
"What was that, [Name]?"
"Um... nothing."
He glared at you for a few moments, then eventually let out a sigh. "Anyways, now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time for our next order of business. Picking a class president."
Compared to all the stuff you'd done so far, it was surprisingly normal. You didn't really mind it, though. Being class president sounded fun. You actually kind of wanted to give it a shot.
Unfortunately, it seemed that just about everyone felt the same way, based on how aggressively they were raising their hands.
"Put that shitty hand down, [Name]," Katsuki gritted out. "We can't have a dumbass like you as class president. You'll lower everyone's IQ."
"Ugh!" you fumed. "Why does everyone keep calling me stupid these days?"
"Because you are stupid. So, put that hand down. I'm gonna be class president," he proudly declared, looking awfully full of himself.
You gave him a pitying look. "We're electing a class president, not a dictator."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Since everyone was way too gung-ho on filling the position, Iida suggested that the only way to fairly elect someone would be to put it to a vote. You kind of figured that people would all end up voting for themselves, though.
Oh, actually...
Come to think of it, Izuku was shyly raising his hand as well. Being class president sounded fun, but if everyone was just going to vote for themselves, you would never end up getting anywhere. It would probably be better to give your vote to someone who actually deserved it, like Izuku.
So, you did just that, and when the results were all tallied up and displayed on the blackboard, Izuku had won by a landslide.
"I-I got four votes?" he spluttered, clearly in disbelief.
Obviously, you'd voted for him, and he'd probably voted for himself the way most of your classmates had. The other two votes had most likely come from Iida, Uraraka, or Kaminari, since neither of them had any votes left.
"Aw, man," Kaminari whined. "I'm glad Midoriya won, but I voted for [Name], and she didn't even end up getting the vice-prez spot. I wasn't expecting her to cast her vote away too."
Second place had gone to the smart girl who'd spoken out during the Battle Trial, Yaoyorozu Momo, which made her the class vice-president. While it would have been pretty fun to help Izuku out with his presidential duties, this wasn't such a bad turn-out either.
Except for the fact that Iida looked devastated.
You poked him on the cheek. "Hey, what gives? You looked like you wanted to be president most out of all of us, but I'm pretty sure you voted for Izuku instead."
"It can't be helped," he sighed while adjusting his glasses. "I voted for the person I thought was most fit for the role. It's unfortunate that no one else felt the same way about me... but it can't be helped. It just means I still have a lot to learn."
"Hm..."
Morning soon gave way to lunch, and you sat with your usual group of friends. It was there that, after a bit of prodding from Uraraka, Iida revealed that he actually hailed from a prestigious family that had been in the hero business for many generations.
"So, you're like hero royalty?" you affirmed.
Iida awkwardly cleared his throat. "Um... I think that's perhaps taking it a bit too far. I'm definitely not royalty. But I want to make my family proud and act in a way that won't tarnish the Iida name."
You realized he was similar to you in the sense that his family probably had a lot of expectations for him, and he felt it was only natural to do them justice. Unlike you, he spoke very fondly about his family, though. Especially his older brother, who was apparently a well-known hero called Ingenium. Based on the sparkle in Iida's eyes while he talked about him, you could tell that he looked up to his brother a great deal.
Older brother, huh...?
You briefly thought back to your life before you'd come to this world. You had quite a few siblings, but the eldest of them all—your brother, Ambrose—wasn't someone you could say you'd ever gotten along with. He'd had it out for you since day one. He constantly accused you of using slimy tricks to get on your parents' good side and earn their favor. Naturally, you'd never done any such thing. It was just that, for whatever reason, you'd been blessed with the greatest strength your bloodline had ever seen, and so your parents had always had high hopes for you.
Not that it had really done you any good. Thanks to your lack of self-control, they'd still banished you. Ambrose must have been having the time of his life right now. He'd probably even thrown a party to celebrate.
"[Name]?" Izuku frowned. He leaned in closer, dropping his voice so that the others couldn't hear. "Is everything okay? You look a bit upset. Was it something one of us said?"
You hastily shook your head. "Of course not. Sorry. I was just remembering something kind of unpleasant to do with my family. You guys didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh." He slumped his shoulders. "Still... I'm sorry to hear that. If you ever want to tell me about your family, I promise I'll always be here to listen."
"Alright. Thanks, Izuku." You happily ruffled his hair, earning a flustered little yelp in response. There was no point in dwelling on these things. You weren't sure if you'd ever even see your family again, so why should you let them bum you out all the time?
You had a new life here, and you weren't about to let them ruin it.
Resolved to focus on the positives, your lunchtime was filled with yummy food and pleasant discussions.
Up until an alarm starting blaring, at least.
"What the hell is this?" you grimaced, pressing your palms against your ears to muffle the sounds. Your senses were sharp, which meant that you were much more vulnerable to sensory overloads from things like this. It was so loud that you could practically feel your brain rattling.
"It's a security breach!" one of the students running by cried out. "It means that someone's infiltrated the school! This hasn't happened in three years!"
You groaned, less concerned about the threat of an intruder and more so the fact that your ears felt like they were about to explode. Izuku grabbed you by the arm and did his best so that the two of you wouldn't get separated in the crowd. Students were already panicking like crazy, rushing through the cafeteria and trying to make it to the exit.
"I-It's going to be alright," Izuku tried to reassure you. He didn't dare let go of your arm, otherwise either one of you could easily get swept away.
You grimaced, squeezing your eyes shut. The sheer noise was starting to make you dizzy, and being pressed up against countless students with fresh-smelling blood wasn't a good combination. Between the blaring alarm and all the students that kept on shoving and screaming, you worried that you might be driven insane if this went on much longer, but someone soon came to the rescue.
In utterly hilarious fashion, you might add.
Using his Quirk, Iida had somehow managed to propel himself up on top of the exit sign, and proceeded to tell all the panicking students that there were no real infiltrators; it was simply those same reporters from earlier. The pose he was striking while standing on top of the exit sign was pretty funny, you had to admit. It even got a chuckle out of you, while you were wincing slightly from all the noise.
Thanks to Iida's efforts, everyone eventually calmed down, and you finally made it out of that suffocating situation. The police was called to chase off all the reporters too, but you still made it back to your afternoon classes feeling a little worse for wear.
"I get that it's a security measure, but did the alarm have to be that loud?" you muttered. "I can still barely hear myself think."
Kaminari frowned. "[Name], are you not good with loud noises?"
"Not really," you admitted. "I have pretty good hearing to begin with, so stuff like that can become kind of unbearable."
"Huh. Yeah, I guess having good senses still comes with its fair share of drawbacks."
You were ready to get on with afternoon classes and put all that annoying stuff behind you, but before you could, Izuku make a surprising announcement.
"Based on the way he handled the situation earlier, I really think Iida should be class president instead," he said. "He acted quickly and was able to bring everyone some peace of mind. The fact that he could unify people like that was really cool, and I think it's exactly the kind of leader this class needs. I-I'm really flattered that people voted for me, but I guess I still think Iida would be a better fit for the job."
Since Izuku was willingly handing his position over to someone else, you couldn't say that you were opposed to it. Plus, Iida looked overjoyed. He was a stickler for the rules and always wanted to make sure everyone was acting safely and accordingly, so this was actually perfect for him.
Aizawa was curled up in his sleeping bag, sipping tiredly at a juice box. "Whatever, let's just make it official once and for all. I'm not getting any younger here."
"How old are you even supposed to be, sensei?" you asked. "Can I guess?"
"I'd rather you didn't."
You went ahead and did it anyways. "Hm... forty? Forty-five? It's a bit hard to tell because you're so scruffy and tired-looking. You're not actually fifty... are you?"
"I'm barely thirty, goddamn you. You're really asking for it at this point."
"Asking for what?"
"It's just an expression—ah, forget it," he groaned. "You're giving me another migraine. Hurry up and get back to your seat."
You finally sat back down, and while Aizawa began going on about some basic school stuff, you hastily scribbled something down onto a piece of paper, then tossed it over to Izuku.
Unfortunately, Aizawa turned around at that exact moment, and saw everything.
"Tossing notes, I see," he glowered. "Let's see what you're written here. I'm sure it's incredibly relevant to what we're covering in class."
The note consisted of a rather shoddy drawing of Aizawa walking with a cane, then an arrow and text pointing towards him that read: Thirty-year-old grandpa. LOL.
Aizawa crumpled up the paper, smiling darkly. "Okay, [Name]. Come see me after class."
"...shit."
*****
Today was going to be a lot of fun. Your afternoon hero training would consist of what Aizawa had called a Rescue Trial, and it would take place far away from U.A's main building. You would need to take a bus to get there.
"Everyone can wear their costumes," Aizawa said. "Except for [Name], who decided to act like a brat yesterday for no reason."
"What?" you cried out. "No fair!"
"Maybe next time you'll know better than to pass around notes with poorly drawn versions of me."
"It wasn't that poorly drawn," you muttered.
"Do I hear more commentary?"
"...no, sensei."
Well, whatever. Your costume was rather simple, and you didn't need any special features or equipment in order to use your abilities. You ended up just changing into your P.E uniform, and this way you were actually matching with Izuku, whose costume had been torn up during the Battle Trial and was still being repaired.
You all boarded the bus, and the nice frog girl from before, Tsuyu, promptly decided to say something that nearly gave you a heart attack.
"Midoriya," she hummed. "Your Quirk reminds me of All Might's."
Izuku nearly fainted from the shock, and you hurried to cover for him. "T-They're actually really different," you insisted. "There are probably a lot of Quirks out there that allow you to enhance your physical strength. Even mine lets me do that when I drink blood. Plus, All Might doesn't get hurt when he uses his Quirk, so... they're definitely different."
"[Name]'s right," Kirishima thankfully chimed in. "Still, I can't help but be jealous of a simple enhancer-type Quirk like that. There's a lot you can do, and super flashily too! My hardening power definitely isn't bad for fistfights, but I kind of wish it was a bit flashier."
"It looks pretty flashy to me," you encouraged. "You can use it to change the appearance of your whole body, can't you? And then you go punch people like bam! And kapow! I think that's neat."
Kirishima chuckled. "Aw, thanks! I appreciate it. But if we're talking about powers that are super flashy and strong, then we can't leave out Todoroki and Bakugou."
"Who, Katsuki?" you frowned, pointing towards him. "He's strong, but he's pretty unlikeable, so I don't think he'll be all that popular with people."
"I second that," Tsuyu nodded.
Katsuki stood up and practically exploded. "What the fuck are you assholes saying?! Like hell I won't be popular!"
"Bakugou's personality is pretty turd-like," Kaminari couldn't help but snicker. "[Name], I totally get why the two of you are always arguing. It's hard to get through to someone like that."
"Now you're testing me too, you bastard?! Stand up and fight me right now! I'll fucking beat the shit out of you!"
"Sorry, dude," Kaminari shrugged. "I'm on [Name]'s side. She's cute and funny, so she automatically has my support."
Katsuki gritted his teeth. "Way to be a goddamn kiss-ass. What's so good about a freak like her with a blood fetish?"
"Katsuki has feelings for me, but he's just too shy to admit it," you sighed, shaking your head. "It's a real problem sometimes."
"Shut your fucking mouth!"
The argument went on for a while longer, until Aizawa decided he'd just about had enough of everyone's antics, and threatened you with yet another detention session with him. Since you weren't really in the mood to get bitched out again, you mustered up every ounce of willpower you had and zipped your lips.
Shortly after, you arrived at your destination—USJ.
It was a massive and incredibly impressive space, designed to simulate all kinds of different environments and natural disasters. Since the whole purpose of the Rescue Trial was to get you all acquainted with saving people under different circumstances, this was the perfect spot to get loads of experience.
There was another pro hero there, Thirteen, and they were apparently still waiting on All Might, who was supposed to have showed up by now. You wondered if he'd gotten caught up in hero work and that's why he was running late. He sure did like to push himself hard.
Still, even if All Might didn't get here till later, you weren't too concerned with it. This exercise seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun, and you could hardly wait to get started.
"But before we begin," Thirteen suddenly said, "there are a few things I wanted to touch on."
She proceeded to give you all a speech that ended up hitting remarkably close to home—about how your abilities could easily be used to kill someone if you weren't careful enough. Naturally, you knew this all too well. You didn't have a Quirk like the rest of your classmates, but you'd still nearly ended someone's life by draining them of their blood. What Thirteen had brought up was actually your biggest fear. The fear of losing control again and hurting someone beyond repair.
That was why, out of all of the students, you were the one who listened most attentively, and most fearfully.
It's never going to happen again. I've been doing a good job of controlling myself so far. I promised never to do that to anyone else.
With Thirteen's precautionary words out of the way, it was time to get started with the actual training exercise.
But life sure liked to throw a lot of curveballs at you.
"Hm?" you squinted, having noticed something forming from the distance. It was some sort of wispy dark thing that was swirling outwards, growing larger by the second. It kept on growing and growing.
Until it was wide enough that countless people came pouring out of it.
"Oh, yuck!" you couldn't help but grimace. A bunch of them had appeared out of nowhere, and for some reason, they all smelled really damn bad. Even from this distance, you were quite positive that the taste of their blood would hardly be palatable.
And yet, once again, there was one scent in particular that stood out from the rest.
There he was, right at the front of the crowd, wearing a bunch of artificial hands all over his body for some reason. You recognized that pale blue mop of hair on his head, and he was still wearing the same goddamn outfit you'd seen him in last time. You hoped he at least kept several pairs of those clothes, because you somehow doubted he was doing his laundry on the daily.
"Where the hell is he?" Shigaraki muttered. "We went through all this trouble and rounded up so many people... for nothing? You can't seriously tell me that after all this work, All Might isn't even here." His voice was the exact same as well. No doubt about it. It was definitely the same guy.
"Hey!" you cried out, waving your hands wildly. "Stinky guy! Over here! What are you doing? Did you show up to help us with today's training exercise?"
It was hard to tell because of the artificial hand that he was wearing as some sort of mask, but you got the sense that he was just as flabbergasted to see you as you were to see him.
Shigaraki let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, what the actual fuck?"