42 Chapter 42: Quirk assessment test (III)

Shido stopped paying attention to them when one of the two participating in the next race caught his eye.

"Shoto Todoroki..." He muttered under his breath while his smile deepened a little. A guy with white and red hair, and a burnt mark on his face.

Shido had read all the files on every student in this class, and now knew almost everything about them, including his mentally-ill mother and estranged father. His quirk: Half-cold Half-hot enabled him to create both fire and ice. What intrigued him was the fact that he had never shown his fire and only used his ice on every single occasion.

Shido had read quite a number of books on quirks before, and knew that most quirks had drawbacks. He was no different, he needed to use his lifespan to activate Zafkiel.

He knew the risk that Shoto was taking when he only used ice. Probability of frostbite and hypothermia are some of the symptoms when he only used his ice.

During the dash, Shido saw Shoto use his ice to propel himself forward at high speed and win his race.

He knew that fire would have a much stronger propelling effect compared to ice, but Shoto didn't utilise it.

'Is it because of his rocky relationship with his father? If so, then he is completely ridiculous. Wasting your potential and risking your safety just because it reminds you of something bad?'

But Shido didn't mind it for now. After all, he just started school, and the curriculum would eventually force him to use it even if he hates it.

'But aside from that, he's very good at using his quirk. He must have trained a lot, or at least been forced to train a lot...'

The rest of the trials continued with all of the students showcasing their best and most interesting usage in their quirks

In trial 2, the softball pitch, there was a girl who threw the ball towards infinity.

"Zero gravity? How does the physics behind it work?" Shido was very interested in figuring it out but for now, he paid attention to the rest of the class, especially a certain someone's successor.

Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses, and it was clearly evident who had put in more effort than the rest, and who had just relied on their powerful quirks to enter UA.

In trial 3, the standing long jump, Tenya and Ochaco did well, using their boosts and flight respectively. Momo and Izuku just jumped with all their might, with Momo creating a humping board to boost herself.

In trial 4, the Endurance running, Yuga showcased his interesting use of his quirk: Navel Laser, and both teachers were impressed at him blasting himself forward by facing backwards and releasing his laser.

Too bad, he needed to go to the toilet for a long time after the endurance run.

In trial 5, the grip strength test, Izuku aced it since his quirk was based on strength, together with Eijiro who could harden his entire body and kept shouting 'How manly!' at Izuku.

In trial 6, the sustained sideways jumps, the grape-head, Minoru did the best, with him plucking two balls off his head and placing them at each side of the sideways jump track, before bouncing himself between the two grape-like balls.

The last two trials were nothing special since none of them had quirks that boosted their flexibility, but it was clear that all of them had at least trained in their basics before coming here.

The time went surprisingly fast for Shido. Last year's class had very boring quirks, and together with the mediocre level of performance, time flew slowly last year.

But in this year, the standard had risen a lot, causing Shido to have high expectations for them. There were lots of interesting quirks this year, and he was very interested in studying most of them deeply, especially Momo's, where she could create non-living things with fat molecules.

Finally, Aizawa sounded the buzzer that marked the end of the assessment.

"Okay. I'll quickly tell you the results. The total is simply the mark you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain this verbally so I'll just show you the results all at once.

A screen of light was projected by the controller in Aizawa's hand.

The first was unsurprisingly Momo. Shido agreed with the list since she had shown some of the most versatile ways of using her quirks, like creating a bicycle to complete the endurance run, the springboard for long jump and so on.

In second place was Izuku, who blaster through everything with pure strength. Shido knew that he could have done better if he had chosen to sacrifice an arm or two, but it would not have been worth it since it was just an assessment.

Third was Shoto, followed by Katsuki, Tenya and so on. The last place was Toru Hagakure.

Shido felt pity for her since her quirk was not suitable for direct combat after all. Her quirk: Invisibility allowed her to go, well, invisible. The fact that she was even admitted into the hero course with no direct combat ability shows that she had put in a lot of work into her training her body. She was much stronger than some of the people in class, like Minoru, but was overshadowed by their combat-related quirks.

Just as Shido began to hear the murmur of uneasiness, Aizawa suddenly laughed as he shut out the hologram.

"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion. It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks."

Shido could see that Momo wasn't surprised at all as she confidently said to the guys who freaked out,"Come on guys, use your brains! Of course it was just a ruse!"

"And...right. Yep, with that, it's over. Your curriculum sheets are back in the classroom so give them a once-over." Aizawa stated as he started walking away.

"Yep! Although I am quite young, I look forward to working with you guys for the next three years! It seems that we have over-shot the time given to us. Oh well, if the teacher complains, just say that Aizawa-sensei dismissed you guys late. See you all later!" Shido also stated before leaving together with Aizawa, leaving behind a bunch of clueless kids.

"Oh and by the way," Shido turned around and said to the class,"Try and find out why there are an odd number of hero classes in UA. After all, not everything we said was a lie." Leaving behind this statement, he immediately left, not giving the students a chance to ask any questions.

A few of them looked at each other and asked,"Do you understand what Itsuka-sensei just told us?"

Momo turned her head to look at Shido's back. Turning back to look at her classmates, she just sighed at their low intelligence before signalling them to follow her back to class.

She was sure about her judgement on the lie about the expulsion of the class, but that was before she heard Shido's statement. Currently, she was in doubt, and decided to clarify with her seniors before coming to a final conclusion. After all, every year had two hero classes, and if there was an odd number, something was wrong.

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"Aizawa, you liar!"

All Might came out from behind a tree and spoke. He was currently dressed in a striped suit which did not match his looks at all. Shido, who was just behind Aizawa, sniggered at the sight of All Might in a suit.

"Uncle Toshinori...being in a suit...does not really...suit you." Shido laughed between his words, causing Toshinori's face to twitch slightly before turning his attention back to Aizawa.

"Oh, it's All Might. So you were watching, I take it? You must be free then."

"'A logical ruse'? April Fool's was a week ago! You expelled an entire new class of first-graders last year! You kick kids out without a moment's hesitation if you judge them as having 'zero chances'. This is a total 180 from what you used to always say!"

Aizawa stopped for a second and said,"So what?"

All Might didn't expect this answer, so with a smile, he said,"I'm sure you saw something in that class, right?"

"Not at all, I haven't seen anything particular in them, but surely they are not hopeless..." Aizawa replied mockingly to the hero who looked at him optimistically,"But...they won't go anywhere with their behaviour and nature. Overly optimistic, meek, perverted, explosive...these things would just drag them down in the future."

"Isn't this where our role as 'teachers' come into play, Aizawa-sensei?" Shido suddenly interjected from behind.

Aizawa turned to look at Shido, who remained there staring at them both with his never-changing smile. With an impassive look, he said,"I don't accept that future heroes have such behaviour and natures..."

"So, what if I told you that if you had expelled the whole class, the situation would have become very interesting, to say the least, and in the wrong way? Not that I care about any troubles." Shido replied with confidence.

'The successor of number 1 hero, the son of number two hero, daughter of the most affluent businessman in Japan...' Shido thought internally. 'A lot of trouble would appear for the school...'

At his words, Aizawa raised his eyebrows slightly before lowering them again,"It doesn't matter, it's not something I have to worry about now, after all, I'm exhausted after hearing them.." He spoke his last sentence before leaving the place.

All Might remained there stunned at that point and Shido in silence looking at that back.

"Hey, uncle Toshinori, what do you say if we go for a little spar after the lessons are over? It isn't easy for Yoshinon to remain quiet in school for the entire day, you know?" Shido asked with a mischievous expression as Yoshinon woke up at that point as well.

"Ne ne, are we sparing later? I want to see if we can finally beat with just my ice!" Yoshinon took out an apple from out of nowhere and began to chew on it as he asked his guardian.

All Might revealed a surprised expression, but then, after thinking for a few seconds about the intensity of the so-called 'spar', he showed a bitter expression. "Shido, Yoshinon, do you hate me so badly?"

"No, of course not. I'm just letting both of us benefit from this spar. After all, both of us grow stronger after each sparring session, don't we?"

All Might just sighed at his statement. It was true, but it was still tiring sparing for a few hours straight at his full strength. After all, apart from All for One and a few other old monsters, he rarely used his full strength against anyone since they were too weak.

Shido was one of the few in the world who could actually 'spar' with him evenly. "Fine, but let's keep it shorter this time, all right? We still have classes tomorrow after all."

Both Yoshinon and Shido grinned when they heard All Might agree. 'It's time to test how far I have managed to train my weapons.'

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"Damn, I'm exhausted." All Might said, throwing himself on the chair back at home,"I didn't think that being a teacher was so mentally draining..."

"Imagine that tomorrow will be the same." Shido said with a smile as he prepared supper, which unexpectedly, was an apple pie. He wasn't as tired as All Might, he had taught for an entire year last year after all. Most of his exhaustion came from the spar with All Might, since he was forced to raise the temperature to almost a thousand degrees celsius, and drop the temperature to almost absolute zero.

All Might was truly a monster. Even at near absolute zero temperature or high temperature, he could still fight as well as other pro heroes at normal temperature, although his ability had dropped due to the cold and heat.

"At least you know how to behave in front of various students..." All Might closed his eyes and rested for a while, ignoring the fact that he was baking an apple pie at eleven o'clock at night.

"I wasn't a teacher for a year for nothing, you know?" Shido replied to him, not letting his gaze stray away from the oven even for a second.

A peaceful silence descended as they rested for a while.

Not long after, Shido spoke again,"Tomorrow begins the course about heroics?"

All Might nodded at Shido's question, confirming what he said.

Seeing that the hero confirmed, Shido finally turned away from the oven as he revealed a small smile.

"Uncle Toshinori, what do you say if we show students a surprise tomorrow about how one should fight?"

Hearing Shio, All Might raised his eyelids slightly,"You want to bully them?"

Shido simply smiled without answering, but his intention was clear as day as All Might could see Yoshinon nodding enthusiastically at his words.

His eye twitched as he noticed Yoshinon's behaviour.

'Sigh, all children are equally hard to deal with...'

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A/N: Some of you might feel that All Might worrying for Izuku was completely unnecessary because Izuku was much much stronger than he was in cannon. But in this case, All Might is just impressed that Aizawa didn't kick out anyone, and he wasn't specifically talking about Izuku, so yeah. It might or might not make sense. But it is what it is.

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