21 MHA : Evolving : Chapter 21

' Izuku '

Sitting with his back against a locker, Izuku focused on his breathing, leg bouncing as his class milled about, the room full of nervous energy as they awaited the signal to enter the arena.

Around him, he could see his classmates all making their various preparations ranging from Aoyama ensuring his support belt was in good order, to Yayorozu muttering to herself while she flipped through a large book that was full of chemical compounds, and Mineta…praying to a shrine in his locker that seemed to be just dedicated to boobs.

Around him, his closer friends of Mina, Kirishima, Hagakure, and Ururaka were adjusting their gym uniforms or doing stretches, Todoroki and Kendo standing a bit away but also 'subtly' glancing their way every now and then.

Ever since Aizawa had told him about the death of the Water Hose heroes, his friends had never let him alone so long as they could help it.

Trips to the Karaoke bar now included Ururaka and Hagakure with talks of inviting some of their other classmates in the future.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu would each take him to their favorite workout spots, the two seeming to be in competition on who could find the best place to 'get them gains'.

Mina would take him to her favorite arcades, more specifically the dance games at said Arcade where she was insistent that he'd get good enough to put his name on the high score chart.

Ururaka going with him as he showed her around the town more, his gravity defying friend still new to the area so she'd roped him in as her unofficially official tour guide.

Tokage would take him to different fun hole in the wall places…as well as anything that related to Dinosaurs what so ever. His fellow greenete was as nerdy about dinosaurs as he was about quirks.

Hagakure had been taking him to various malls, more specifically the clothing stores within. She'd mentioned that since her body couldn't be seen, she'd gotten used to expression herself with her clothing and personality.

Given that high understanding of clothes and fashion, his casual clothes of funny shirts, such as his favorite T-shirt that was labelled 'T-Shirt', she felt utterly upset at his choice in wardrobe and kept making threats to break into his home and destroy his shirts.

Izuku was…ninety percent sure his mom wouldn't let her…maybe eighty-five. As she'd yet to succeed it was more often her flustering him by making him give opinions on whatever she chose to 'model'.

Yanagi had started taking him to small internet cafes where they could browse the web together, his verbose friend being a veritable meme lord. When not doing that though they'd often hit up bookstores or even just go to the beach he had cleared up, enjoying taking walks together and seeing how people reacted to beach that had once been a garbage dump.

His Mom had joined in on their efforts too, often having him help her in the kitchen as they cooked or baked together before finding new shows or movies to watch while they ate the fruits of their labors.

She'd also been frequently inviting his friends over to all hang out together, having given all of his friends bone breaking hugs the first time he brought them over.

Although he didn't need the teasing about 'how many pretty girls my handsome young man spends time with'. Tokage and Mina were still teasing him about that one.

"There's the light." Yayorozu looked at the light above their locker room door "Let's go everyone!"

"You heard the boss lady, put on your game faces!" Kendo added, trying to psyche everyone up as they began to march out towards the stadium, the booming voice of Present Mic reaching them as they exited the tunnel.

"And first to the field we have Class 1-A!" Present Mic shouted as they stepped out into the light, the roar of the eager crowd giving him chills "They already survived a villain attack and are ready to show if they're ready for the big leagues!"

"They've been working hard and are more than ready to show they're growth." The tired, but faintly proud, voice of Aizawa came out from the announcer booth next, Izuku just as surprised as the rest of his class that the perpetually tired man would agree to the role of announcer.

"Well said Eraser!" Mic continued, not losing any momentum or energy "And next, they might not have fought villains yet but don't put them down for it.

Class 1-B is here and ready to show they're just as skilled as their counterparts in 1-A!"

"Darn straight!" the voice of Vlad King, the 1-B homeroom teacher announced with a happy laugh from the booth, Present Mic having apparently invited both homeroom teachers in to help announce for the first years, likely to avoid favoritism.

The awkward self-censoring from the blood hero was amusing though "I'm telling you Eraserhead, my students are going to win this whole thing!"

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't!" Present Mic cut off any further goading or retorts.

"But these two courses aren't the only ones competing today! These students might be from 'General Education' but there's nothing general about them! Coursed C, D, and E are here to show what they can do, many even here to claim a coveted seat in the U.A. Heroics course!" the three general ed courses stepped out next, most looking genuinely surprised they weren't being brushed off by Present Mic.

"It'll be interesting to see if they achieve it." Aizawa piped up, "Back in my U.A. days, I was such a student myself." That little bit of trivia was a shock to hear, for his own class as well as the General Education students who started to look a bit more hopeful. Some of the people in 1-B, like Bakugo, just sneered.

"After them we have our favorite little mad scientists!" Present Mic pressed on, the support students, all decked out in various pieces of shiny equipment and many even seemed happy at the unusual term of endearment.

"Here to show off their gear and their brains, we have courses F, G, and H!" within those classes, Izuku noted a familiar head of pink hair bouncing around, pausing once to give him the stink eye, before bouncing around again.

"To those unaware, the support course are permitted to bring any three pieces of gear that they themselves have built which have also passed their teacher's inspection so it will be quite interesting to see what the end result will be." Vlad King added helpfully.

"And last but certainly not least, we have our Masters of Management!" Present Mic's volume hadn't dropped once the entire time "If people call Heroes the backbone of society, then the Management students and its graduates are the backbone of the Hero industry. Please give it up for Classes I, J, and K!"

"My colleague has that summed up quite nicely." Aizawa confirmed, "Now we turn things over to the field where Midnight shall act as master of the games…wait, who approved that?"

"Nezu." Present Mic and Vlad King answered in tandem as Izuku could feel Aizawa's frustrated sigh.

"I can feel the love boys." Midnight rolled her eyes although it was clear this kind of interaction was the norm among the Heroic faculty "But you old fuddies up there aren't what's important today.

No, it's you youthful heroes and heroines who get center stage here! And to start us off we have the Student Representative Izuku Midoriya, who placed first in the Hero Course Entrance Exam!"

Taking a steadying breath, and ignoring the familiar sound of Bakugo's palms filling with angry explosions, Izuku walked towards the podium, his friends giving him reassuring pats on the back as he passed them.

"Thank you." Izuku nodded to his professor who handed him the Microphone as Izuku readied himself, focusing on his fellow classmates rather than the crowd. Taking a deep breath, Izuku focused, his gaze hardening as those watching blinked in surprise.

"I know many of you will expect a happy flowery speech, something full of positive words, empty boasts, and no real meaning. Originally, that was even what I'd planned to do. But then, a few weeks ago, we lost the Water Hose heroes." Izuku felt a single tear go down his cheek at the memory but pressed on.

"More than just amazing people, they were my personal heroes. They saved my life, they were some of the first to ever truly believe in me. Losing them…made me think about being a hero. Both why I want to do it and the kind of person I want to become.

So, to that I say to myself and to all of you here, if you aren't going to take this seriously, then leave." You could hear a pin drop in the stadium at that ultimatum.

"I don't care if you want to be a hero to make money.

I don't care if you want to be a hero because you want to use your quirk more openly, because you want fame, because it's a family business, or even if you just think it's cool. But if you ever put those aims before saving others, what it actually means to be a hero…then you don't deserve to be one."

The teachers hadn't stopped him yet, so he kept going "We're at UA, the time to hone our skills so we can save lives, and with the attack on the USJ it's clear that the real world won't wait for us. I plan to fight my hardest today, to treat everything like it's the real world and give every event my all.

This is the best chance to become stronger, to push our limits! If you're going to hold back, going to try and manipulate the odds for a trophy rather than improving yourself as a hero, then you don't deserve to be in a hero's course.

I'm not here to win, I don't care if I get a shiny gold medal, all I care about is being a hero.

I will become a Hero that the Water Hose duo could respect, a man that I can be proud of, and to the villains who attacked us, who would attack others…I'll become your worst nightmare." With that, he handed the microphone back to a stunned Midnight and rejoined his class.

Several of those assembled to compete were looking stunned but others were clearly affected by his words, looking pumped up and ready to fight their hardest.

"Y-yes."

Midnight coughed, shaking herself, "Well after that…intense speech from out student representative we can get ready for the first event. The first even as always will be a free for all event to eliminate all but the top forty students so I hope you're all ready…for the U.A. Obstacle Race!"

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