Two Truths and a Lie, Part I

Izuku watched the exchange between Bucciarati and the capo known as Mr. Pericolo with a stoic expression. While he was glad that the man had improved his rank in Passione and would continue to help him in his quest to overthrow the boss, he had to maintain extreme caution when it came to talking about Polpo or his reasons for wanting to join the mafia. There was just no telling what would happen if the circumstances for the man's death ever came to light.

He needed to see his dream and his goals through. For him, and for the man who saved him, all those years ago.

"While I know you've only just taken over Polpo's position," Mr. Pericolo began. "You will also have to take over any jobs that he had, and there's one that he's left unfinished. Is that all right with you?"

"There was a job he left unfinished?" asked the white-clad man known as Bruno Bucciarati. "What is it?"

"It's a direct order from the boss." Izuku sharply inhaled through his nose at the man's words. The others in Bucciarati's team were also surprised at the mention of the elusive head of Passione.

"The boss...?"

"The boss that no one's ever met, the boss?"

"And an order that he directly gave out..."

"Indeed," the capo replied. "Actually, I'll just tell you right now: you'll be guarding his daughter. This is arguably the most important mission he has ever given anyone, as no one else except myself even knows about it. And now, so have you." Izukucouldn't believe what he was hearing...the boss, the man that he and Bucciarati needed to overthrow to destroy the drug operation...had a daughter. This...complicates things. How much, however, he didn't know.

"Actually," he continued, turning around and motioning towards a young man holding a mop. "You'll be guarding her starting right now."

Izuku eyed him in confusion, before turning to his side as he came to a realization. "Bucciarati..." he began. "That guy behind Pericolo...that's not a guy at all. That has to be the boss's daughter." Collectively, the entirety of Squadra Guardie del corpo looked to the now revealed female in shock as she walked up to stand beside the capo.

"This is Trish Una," he said. "And you'll be risking your lives to protect her as you escort her to him. Even sacrificing yourselves, if need be."

---

"Pencils and pens?

"Check."

"Notebooks?"

"All of them including the 'Hero Analysis' ones."

"Snacks in case you get hungry before lunch?"

Izuku discreetly rolled his eyes from where Inko couldn't see his face. "They're in here, too." After checking that he had everything he needed, he zipped up his backpack and proceeded to put it on, before turning to face his mother. "It'll be fine, mom. It's still just the first day of high school."

When he looked back up, his mother enveloped him in a warm embrace. "I know," she replied. "I know I'm kind of overreacting here, but I can't help but be so proud of you!" Izuku softly smiled at his mother's excitement. "My baby boy's gonna learn how to be a hero! If only your father were here to see this...

It was then that his smile turned into a frown, as his face morphed into a sad expression. "Yeah...I wish he was here, too..." He couldn't remember much of his father, but Inko had told numerous stories of how he had worked overseas to provide for his wife and newborn son, and how he'd always come back with a large smile on his face. But when he had turned three, Hisashi was one out of many that were killed in a violent villain attack.

His body was never found.

Before the happy-turned-sour mood of the mother and son could get worse, however, they were interrupted by a knock on the door to their apartment. Inko rubbed her son's back before letting go. "I'll get it. That must be Katsuki." Moving across the living room, she open the door to greet her son's friend. "Good morning, Katsuki!" Almost immediately after greeting her friend's son, she noticed the person standing semi-awkwardly behind him. "Oh, and who's this? A friend of yours?"

Izuku grew curious at hearing his mother's words, and so walked over to see who it was that his friend had brought him. When he realized who it was, he froze. "Uh, h-hey, Uraraka-san."

When she saw the person standing at the door, Ochako visibly lit up as she waved to him. "Hi, Midoriya-kun!" Izuku tried to maintain his composure as he saw her smile and heard her bright voice, but the truth was...

He was really happy to see her.

"As much as I'd like to ask you how you know this girl, Izuku-" Inko interrupted. "-it's nearing eight o'clock. You three are going to miss the train if you don't get moving."

Izuku quickly looked towards the clock on the wall of the living room to confirm what she had said. "Oh shoot, you're right!" Moving with haste, he put his shoes on and made his way out of the door, before briefly hugging his mother goodbye and rushing out of the door. Katsuki sidestepped out of the way to let his friend pass through, and was about to move to follow him and Ochako towards the complex's entrance, when he was stopped by a hand gripping his arm.

"Wait, Katsuki."

He looked towards Inko with a quizzical expression on his face. "What is it?"

"I know he doesn't really need it," she began after taking a deep breath. "But please. Look out for him, will you?"

Katsuki's expression softened once he saw how she was overcome with worry. "Always, auntie. Not that he needs it, but...always." She let go of his arm, and he proceeded to make his way towards the other teenagers, who were patiently waiting at the base of the stairs.

"What took you so long, Kacchan?"

"Had to tie my shoes," he lied effortlessly. Izuku nodded in reply and the three teenagers began to walk towards the train station.

After several moments of silence passed, Izuku made an attempt to strike up a conversation. "S-so, Uraraka-san," he began. "How did you, uh...know where I lived?"

Ochako rested a finger against her cheek as she thought of her answer. "Well, your place is on the way to the station, and I noticed that Bakugō-kun was wearing the boy's uniform," she said. "So I thought I'd say hi and that the three of us could walk together!"

"Ah," he replied, nodding slowly. Another silence befell them, as he put his hands in his pockets and was trying to think of something else to say. "So what do you think will happen once we get to class?" he eventually asked. Ochako repeatedly tilted her head sideways as she thought about how U.A. would possibly handle the first days of school.

"Well, there's the entrance ceremony..."

Katsuki, meanwhile, had settled into pace behind them, and watched the exchange between the two with a calculating look in his eyes.

---

Upon finally reaching U.A.'s entrance, Ochako let out a low whistle as they walked past the massive gate. "I still can't believe I actually made it in," she said, admiring the scenery of the school. Cleanly cut trees were spaced out throughout the courtyard, and several buildings the size of skyscrapers loomed over the three students.

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "It is pretty amazing."

Katsuki, however, was busy noticing a detail he had admittedly forgotten to ask All Might about. "The view's nice and all," he cut in. "But do either of you see a map anywhere? 'Cuz I'm fairly sure they didn't give us a map in the acceptance letter." Izuku and Ochako paused when they realized that he was right, but when Izuku was about to suggest they find an upperclassman and ask them, Katsuki was already beginning to walk away. "Never mind!" he said loudly "I found it!"

After studying the map that was displayed in front of the buildings, the three students eventually made their way towards the elevator, and towards the direction of the classroom marked '1-A'.

Katsuki craned his neck upwards to see that the door was large enough to have even reached the ceiling. "That's a pretty damn big door."

"I think it's to accommodate for students with mutation Quirks that greatly increase their height," Izuku remarked.

"Or," Katsuki retorted. "It's there to look intimidating and remind everyone that U.A. doesn't fuck around." He reached for the handle, and upon opening it, they were greeted with the sight of several students chatting with each other throughout the classroom, while others were just sitting in their seats, either reading or attempting to sleep.

One student in particular, however, enthusiastically moved towards them. "Salutations!" he began. "I am Iida Tenya." He deeply bowed to them in a perfect ninety-degree angle. "It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Uh, hi," Izuku greeted in return with a bow of his own, unsure of how else to respond to the other boy's enthusiasm. "My name's Midoriya Izuku."

"And I'm Uraraka Ochako!"

Katsuki silently nodded in greeting and grunted out a "Bakugō Katsuki."

It was here that Tenya had realized just who Izuku was. "Midoriya-kun, I must apologize for my behavior towards you during the entrance exams," he said, bowing once more. "It was highly rude of me to assume that you were there to disrupt the other examinees, but in reality, you had realized the true meaning behind the exam, and were about to tell them, didn't you? That was why you were the only one to move to rescue Uraraka-kun!"

"No, no, it was nothing like that," Izuku said, waving his arms in front of him as he tried to diffuse the misunderstanding. "I honestly didn't know about the rescue points until after getting the acceptance letter."

"Truly?" Tenya asked in astonishment, before pushing up his glasses and slapping his fist onto his palm. "Then I must endeavor to act as you do, so that I, too may eventually call myself a hero!" With a nod, he turned around to mingle with the other students, but suddenly let out an audible gasp when he noticed Katsuki. "Bakugō-kun!" he exclaimed. "This behavior is outrageous! You should not desecrate the esteemed facilities of U.A. by putting something as filthy as your shoes on the desk!"

Katsuki frowned. "You need to chill, Glasses," he replied. "It's not that big of a deal."

Tenya made an indignant expression as he moved to start chopping the air with his arm. "I will not 'chill'. It is a highly disrespectful act that tarnishes the memory of the student who sat in that chair before you! Honestly, I didn't expect such behavior to come from the student with the highest number of villain points."

Katsuki was getting increasingly irritated as the exchange between him and the other boy continued. He had initially wanted to rest his feet on his desk in an attempt to calm his nerves from the prospect of his first day of high school, but this hardass was making it near-impossible, and was now just complaining about simple things like predecessors. "And who are you to-"

"If all you're going to do here is bicker, then just leave and stop wasting my time."

At the sound of the tired voice, the ambient chatter of the classroom soon decreased into silence, as they all collectively turned to see a long-haired man wearing a black jumpsuit and gray scarf, along with a very bored expression on his face. When the room was finally silent, the man continued. "It took you five seconds to quiet down as soon as I spoke up. Not bad, but not good either. We'll have the rest of the semester to work on that."

He walked into the room as he was speaking, while also dragging what looked to be a yellow-orange sleeping bag. "Anyway, my name is Aizawa Shōta, and I'll be your homeroom teacher the whole time you'll be enrolled in the hero course." The man now known as Aizawa reached into his bag and pulled out a gym uniform. "I apologize for being sudden, but I need you all in your gym clothes and onto the field as soon as possible." With that, the man left the room, leaving the other students to start following him and file out of the classroom to walk towards the locker rooms to get changed.

---

Once all of the students had changed and were now standing on the field, Aizawa opened the wagon that he had seemingly brought with him, which was revealed to hold a numerous amount of softballs. "It's about time," he said, turning to face the class. "Today we're going to be doing a Quirk assessment test." At that, the entire class was surprised and confused at the activity, especially since it was out of the blue.

"But what about the entrance ceremony and the orientation?" Ochako asked him.

"It's a waste of time to spend hours just sitting around for such pointless events," the man replied, fishing out a softball and casually throwing it in the air. "If you want, I can assign you to read the school handbook. It's simpler, and it gets the job done much faster. The teachers here at U.A. can generally do whatever they want, so long as it's effective in teaching the students. The administration will only really step in and take over if we're doing a piss-poor job." Turning back around, he looked towards Katsuki. "Bakugō." At the sound of his name, the boy stood at full attention. "You ended up with the highest score in the practical exam. What was your softball throw record in middle school?"

"About sixty-seven meters," he replied.

Aizawa nodded and tossed him the softball and pointed towards a large white circle that was drawn on the field. "Now try doing it here, but this time with your Quirk. I don't really care what you do, so long as you stay in the circle."

With a nod, Katsuki walked over to the circle and proceeded to lightly stretch, before getting into a pitcher's stance, and then throwing the ball with a cry of "ORA!". A loud boom suddenly shook the field, and the ball was sent rocketing into the air (and even breaking the sound barrier), as he activated his Explosion Quirk to give it a large boost.

Aizawa nodded in approval at the display, before turning back to the class. "You should always know your maximum limits first. If you never try your very best, then there's absolutely no foundation in which you can grow to become a hero." With a beep of his phone, he held it up to show the distance the ball had traveled.

705.2 m

The class was shocked at seeing the large number, with Izuku smirking as he shook his head. 'Always leave it to Kacchan to go all out...'

"We get to use our Quirks however we want?! This is awesome!"

"I can't wait to see how I'll do here!"

"This looks so fun and exciting!"

Aizawa turned to look at the person who had made the last comment. "Really, now?" he said. "You think this gonna be fun? That this is gonna be some recreational icebreakers activity where you and the other students will get to let loose and have fun?" With a slight grin, he continued. "I'll tell you what, whoever ends up in last place...is who I'll be expelling. Let's see how fun you can make it."

"But that's not fair!"

Aizawa turned to look at Ochako with a blank stare. "Life is never fair," he countered. "In the world of heroics, mediocrity is forbidden. Failure to put in all of your effort out in the field could result in a villain's escape, or even worse: the death of a civilian." He then started to look at the class as a whole. "Many of you have sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears in order to be accepted into the highest ranking hero school in Asia," he continued. "But that doesn't even scratch the surface of what you'll be facing during your time here. Even if you find the odds stacked against you, you must always find a way to go above and beyond. That is what it means to go 'Plus Ultra'."

The mass of students were left in a solemn silence as Aizawa's speech sunk in, fully comprehending just what was in store for them, now that they were in the hero course. One student in particular, however, broke the silence with a sniff as he wiped a single tear from his eye. "That was pretty manly..." Izuku found himself nodding in agreement. Although Aizawa was being unnecessarily strict, that really was a cool speech he just did.

"Now," Aizawa continued, with a small grin breaking out onto his face. "Let's begin."