Chapter 2

"-this is your Hero Academia!"

Izuku smiled as his acceptance finished playing for the fiftieth time, his stomach fluttering with joy. He'd known after the exam that he'd done well, but while waiting for the results his mind had gone crazy. Had he gotten enough points? Had his destruction of the giant zero-pointer actually worked against him?

Had they found out who his father was?

"Izuku, you're going to be late!"

Izuku jumped in his chair, his eyes flicking over to the clock. Oh no - he should have left five minutes ago! Had he really spent that much time watching his acceptance? Hastily standing up, he scooped the holoplayer up from his desk and stuck it into his uniform blazer's pocket. Grabbing his backpack from his bed, he flung open his bedroom door.

His mother was standing there as he came out, teary-eyed but smiling. "Do you have your notebooks? Your handkerchief?" she asked, trotting along beside him as he headed towards the door.

Izuku grinned at her, torn between amusement and anxiety. Putting on his red sneakers, he said, "Yes, mom, I've got everything. I packed last night."

She pulled a crumpled tissue from the sleeve of her pink cardigan and began dabbing at her eyes. "I know," she said, "I just - I'm so proud of you. You worked so hard -"

"We worked so hard," Izuku said, standing back up. He walked back over to his mom and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "I couldn't have done it without you."

His mom hugged him back, squeezing him tight and sniffling into his shoulder. Then she pulled back, smoothing the lapels of his uniform's blazer. "You're going to be a really cool hero," she said, smiling through her tears. "And some day, you're going to take down your father." Reaching up, she pulled his head down and kissed his cheek.

His own eyes were feeling a little hot. He kissed her cheek back and with one last squeeze, stepped back towards the door. "With you supporting me, I know I will," he said, grinning at her.

"I'll pick up the things for katsudon before you get home," she called as he stepped through the door. "Good luck!"

"Thanks mom!" he called over his shoulder. "I love you!"

"I love you too!"

As he trotted down the street towards the subway, Izuku found himself thinking back to the exam again. He'd been so worried coming out of it - he'd had a late start thanks to his habit of getting caught up in his thoughts, and the others had swept ahead of him.

He'd known that he should have just run along with all the others when the huge zero-pointer had appeared, but then he'd seen that girl that had kept him from falling on his face trapped underneath some rubble and it had been like his legs were moving on his own. He'd totally forgotten everything that he'd promised to himself and just moved until he was right in the robot's face, putting his fist through the solid metal until it gave out, its joints collapsing from the force.

He still kind of wished that he'd had a chance to find out the girl's name.

Well, she'd been doing pretty well from what he'd seen during the exam. Maybe he'd see her around the school.

Stepping into a subway car, he fingered the tiny holo-projector in his coat pocket, wondering if she'd had All Might welcoming her as well. He'd taken to carrying the device around with him everywhere as a talisman for good luck, and more than once he'd found himself re-watching the acceptance video in the middle of the night when he'd woken up, convinced that he'd dreamed the whole thing.

But he didn't need to watch it now. Crammed into the subway car, he scrolled through his news feed on his phone. Everything was dominated by the news that All Might would be starting his new teaching job at today and Izuku found that he couldn't keep a smile off of his face at the news.

Everything was finally going to be alright.

It was only with long practice of melting into the background that he was able to slip through the crowds surrounding the school's gates without being stopped. He was lucky that he did, too, because it took him nearly fifteen minutes to find his classroom.

Class 1-A. Izuku looked up from his phone where his school schedule was downloaded to the sign above the giant (for mutation quirks, perhaps) red door. Taking in a deep breath, he gripped his backpack's straps tight. This was it. The start of his career as a hero.

"Excuse me, are you going to go in?"

Izuku choked. Whirling around, he flailed and backed into the door with a thump.

It was her - the girl! He would recognize her bobbed hair and rosy cheeks anywhere!

She didn't seem to recognize him though, just smiling and politely ignoring his overreaction. "I take it you're nervous for your first day too, huh? I still can't believe I got into UA, can you? Especially after the exam - I got trapped under some rubble while a zero-pointer was attacking and had to be rescued!" Her nose crinkled and she cocked her head to one side. "It was sooo embarrassing, and I didn't even manage to thank the boy that saved me 'cause the exam ended right after!"

"O-oh, is that so?" Izuku babbled inanely, internally wincing at his own words. "W-well, don't worry - I don't think that you embarrassed yourself, I mean, when I punched that zero-pointer -"

The girl's eyes were as round as her cheeks. Her mouth dropped open, and then she was suddenly leaning forward to examine his face closely. "It was you? Yeah, now I recognize you!" She rocked back on her heels, her eyes squeezing shut as a sunny grin spread across her face. "Your quirk is so cool and gross!"

Izuku's stomach plunged. "Y-you saw? My arm?" He'd thought that he'd been moving too fast - but then again the school had taped the entire thing -

Your quirk is a natural part of your body, Izuku, and nothing to be ashamed of, murmured a voice from his memories.

The girl ignored him, karate-chopping the air in front of her. "The robot was like 'aaahh' and you were like 'wachaaaa' -"

Someone cleared their throat.

The girl paused and looked around. Izuku joined her. It looked like they were alone out here -

"Down here."

Izuku looked down and saw a yellow caterpillar. "What -?"

The caterpillar moved. Rolling onto its side, it revealed a pale, tired-looking face surrounded by a thick tangle of dark hair. "Class starts in thirty seconds. It would be a shame to be marked late on your first day."

Izuku looked down at his phone.

His eyes bulged - the caterpillar spoke truth!

The bright red door bounced off of the wall as the two of them rushed through, nearly tripping over a desk and garnering stares from the rest of the kids in the room. Grabbing the nearest empty one, Izuku sat down and tried to ignore them. The heat creeping up his ears told him that he had failed.

The caterpillar followed them in. Rolling up behind the teacher's desk, it rose from the ground until it was standing and split open, allowing a man in dark clothes and a pile of bandages wound around his neck to step out.

"My name is Aizawa Shouta," he said without preamble, "and I will be your homeroom teacher." He pulled out a pile of Yuuei gym clothes from the sleeping bag and tossed it onto the desk. "Now get dressed and meet me outside. We're doing Quirk Apprehension testing." Ignoring the protests that began to rise up, he turned and headed out of the room.

Once everyone was dressed they followed Aizawa-sensei outside to large dirt pitch. Milling around as they waited for everyone to finally arrive, Izuku finally found himself with the time to look around at his other classmates.

No one appeared to be entirely comfortable with how things were going. A few people had formed small groups of two or three, mumbling to each other. A few others were standing alone, their faces set in expressions of concentration, clearly trying to hype themselves up for the coming tests.

"Alright, listen up," Aizawa said, and despite the fact that they all had only met him less than twenty minutes ago they all quieted down in a few seconds. "Softball pitch, standing long jump, fifty meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, sustained sideways jump, upper body tests, and seated toe touch. You all know these tests from middle school, where you were banned from using your quirks." Pausing, he pulled what looked like a phone from his pocket.

"You're not in middle school now, though. You're in the top school for Heroics in the country. If you want to exceed your limits, you first have to know where you're starting. And since the MEXT have yet to start keeping track of such things, establishing that baseline is up to us. Bakugou."

The man's gaze flicked over to a blond boy standing apart from the rest of the class, his face creased in a dark frown.

Izuku frowned to himself. Bakugou - that name was familiar; could it be?

Aizawa tossed a softball at him. "What was your best for softball throw in middle school?"

The newly-named Bakugou's expression didn't change even as he caught the ball and began to walk towards the pitch that Aizawa was gesturing to. "Seventy-six meters."

"Try doing it with your quirk this time," the teacher ordered, holding up his phone.

Bakugou looked at him for a long moment, something calculating in his eyes. Then he turned and rearing back readied himself for his throw.

"DIE!" he howled as he threw, an explosion erupting from his hand.

Dust flew through the air, making Izuku's eyes sting. By the time he was done rubbing at them, Aizawa was holding up his phone with the screen towards them.

705.2 meters, it read in tall, white letters.

"This is the start of your hero foundations course."

There was a beat of silence. Then -

"Awesome!"

"So cool!"

"We can use our quirks? That's the department of Heroics for you -"

"This is going to be so fun -"

"Fun?" Aizawa's voice cut through the chatter like a knife. "Is that why you came to Yuuei? Were you planning on spending the next three years just having a good ol' time?"

A chill raced down Izuku's back at the look on the man's face.

"New rule, then. Just to keep things interesting, the last-ranked student in these trials will be immediately expelled."

…Shit.

It turned out that the toss was just a demonstration of Aizawa's expectations. Instead of continuing with the softball toss, they started anew with the fifty meter dash. First to go was the tall boy with engine legs that had scolded Izuku for talking during the exam explanations, against a girl that seemed to have a mutation-type quirk that made her look like a frog.

Distantly, Izuku was aware of the part of his brain that never shut off carefully watching and tabulating the racer's quirks. The vast majority of his brain, however, was taken up with figuring out how he was going to play this.

He had placed well in the exams, but going all out meant - well, nothing good. But neither could he pull back too much, that would be suspicious. Perhaps towards the high-end of the middle of the pack? His quirk was supposed to be just run-of-the-mill enhancement, well-suited for the flashy Heroics course…

"Midoriya."

Izuku jumped. Aizawa looked at him from underneath his hair, his face expressionless. "You're up."

Shakily nodding, he headed towards the starting line. His opponent was the boy from earlier - Bakugou. He was still scowling, his hands flexing, and his expression only darkened further when Izuku tried to smile at him.

It was just a physical test, he told himself as they got ready. He could easily time this so that he'd fall in the middle of the pack. The boy with the engines had the best time so far so just one leg-strengthening Quirk and a mild amplification Quirk would probably be enough -

"Go!"

There was a loud crack beside him and the other boy was launching forward, explosions roaring from his hands like he was some sort of rocket. It was very impressive, Izuku thought as he shot forward, just barely feeling the strain.

"Four point one four seconds," the timing robot called out as he passed the line.

Oof, a little better than he had wanted. Izuku swallowed and hid a wince.

The other tests went much the same way. Some students shone particularly well in one test, where others struggled. After that first test, Izuku was careful to keep himself in the middle of the pack, all too aware of Aizawa's burning gaze. He wondered if they were doing particularly poorly - every time Izuku looked up, he seemed to be frowning at his phone where he was recording their marks.

Finally, though, they were at the last test - softball throw. The other kids were panting and sweating, their limbs trembling, and Izuku wondered if that was the point of putting this test last.

"Midoriya!"

Izuku nodded politely and tried not to wilt underneath Aizawa's gaze. It had been getting more and more sharp as the tests went on. Maybe a strengthening and an enhancement Quirk, this time? Impress him a little? Izuku took the ball from his hand and went to the pitching mound, slotted in his Quirks, wound up and threw as hard as he could -

"Forty-six meters."

…What?

"I erased your quirk."

Izuku whipped his head around to see Aizawa standing behind him with his hair floating upwards and glowing red eyes. Reaching up, he loosened his scarves around his neck and began to walk towards him, each step carefully placed like some stalking big cat.

"Midoriya Izuku, placed first in the entrance exam and single-handedly took out a zero-pointer robot with one punch." Step. Step. Step. The bandages had loosened entirely and were now floating around the two of them, winding around Izuku's arms as he stood there, feeling paralyzed by his teacher's red-tinged, unblinking gaze. "That's not an easy accomplishment. Your marks on your written exam were quite high as well. So tell me, then - why have you been half-assing these tests?"

Half-assing - the recording. Of course, of course a teacher would watch the recordings before starting the class -

"I - I didn't want to ruin my gym uniform on the first day," Izuku stammered, "and I didn't want to damage the pitch either -"

The scarves tightened as Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "That's not good enough. Being a hero isn't a job where you can just coast by and choose when you want to work hard. If you're not going to use your quirk properly in something as simple as a set of Quirk Apprehension tests, then you shouldn't be here at all."

It felt like those red eyes were burning through him, seeing every secret that he was trying to keep hidden. He'd seen the video, seen Izuku's arm -

The scarf abruptly let go of him. Aizawa's hair fell back down and the red glow disappeared. The stern look didn't, though. "I will worry about the possible damages. You worry about excelling." Turning, he walked back to where he'd been standing before. "This is the only chance I'll give you. Throw properly, or I'll throw you out."

Izuku realized then that he was trembling. Looking over at the other kids, he saw that most of them were looking confused. The girl that he'd saved looked upset and was glaring at an unruffled Aizawa. The blond boy he'd raced was glaring at him.

Izuku looked down at the dirt. He didn't want to - but he couldn't say that Aizawa was wrong -

He put the ball down carefully and began to pull his shirt off.

"Woah, dude, this is school -"

"Wait, he was serious about his clothes?"

"Wow, he's ripped -"

Izuku ignored the chattering that started up and neatly folded the shirt. This would be for his future, he told himself. It's not like this would never come up.

Walking down the pitch with his shirt in his hands, he headed to the one person he sort-of knew and held it out. "Here," he said the brown-haired girl, "can you hold this while I take the test?"

The girl blinked rapidly at him, her face bright red. "I - guess?" she said in a squeaky voice, taking the shirt. Her eyes were bouncing between his chest and his face.

Izuku nodded, not saying anything about her gaze. "Thank you." Then he headed back to the pitch, picking the ball back up. Aizawa's gaze was burning a hole into his head.

Alright. For his future.

A strength Quirk, to start with. He could feel the energy filling the muscles of his arm. Then another. And another. Three was enough. He didn't need to look down to tell that the muscles all along his right arm had gotten significantly more defined. Then came the magnification Quirks, two in all. From the gasps behind him, the bulging of his muscles had become noticeable even to the other students. He gritted his teeth as the burning started, his skin stretching until it felt like it was going to split. Finally, reinforcement, strengthening muscles and bones and tendons so that he didn't snap his own spine with the first swing.

Behind him, people were muttering.

For my future, Izuku thought to himself, looking up and trying not to look at his mutated arm. This is all for my future.

He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his head.

He reared back, the sounds of his audience fading away in his ears, and threw.

KRA-KOOM

The shockwave of his throw sent the dirt of the pitch flying. People screamed and covered their eyes; in the distance, he could hear the sound of breaking glass. He couldn't even see the ball anymore.

As the dust settled, he turned to look at Aizawa.

The man was grinning and holding up his phone. On the screen, he could see in large white digits -

Eight oh three point nine meters.

They were let go after the rest of the class had finished taking the test. Their rankings were revealed, and the purple-haired boy with balls on his head that had ended up in last place was told not to come back tomorrow.

Watching the boy sob, Izuku had felt sorry for him. He didn't doubt that the boy had tried his best, but Yuuei was one of the best in the world. If he hadn't done any physical conditioning before starting, then there wasn't much that could be done.

The rest of the kids had been pretty quiet after that. No one had seemed to be in the mood to hang around, and Izuku had decided that just going was probably the best thing he could do. His mom would want to know how his first day went, at least, and he wanted to talk to her about having to use more Quirks than he originally intended.

His arm tingled at the memory. Turning his arms into those grotesque mockeries of limbs - he had never liked doing that. Even back then. After he'd found out where the Quirks had come from, he'd liked it even less, feeling like it was reflecting the source of his power. Having to whip it out already, so soon in the year had his stomach churning.

Yeah, it was definitely best to just head home. Talking things out with his mom always made him feel better.

As he was trudging towards the school gates, however, a hand clapped down on his shoulder and began to drag him towards the trees on either side of the walkway.

"Wha -"

He was hauled around and pinned up against one of the trees before he could even finish the word.

"Oi, what the hell was that shit during the tests?"

Izuku blinked, staring at the person confronting him. It was the kid that he'd raced against, that had demonstrated the ball throw - what had the teacher called him? Baku-something?

"Uhhh, I'm sorry?" he tried. "I'm not quite sure what I did -"

The boy's frown, which had already been present on his face, deepened.

"God, Deku, stop with the bullshit. I'm talking about how you were holding back in the tests!"

Deku. Deku? Could it really be?

"Kacchan?"

And somehow, the frown became even deeper.

"What the hell's with that surprised tone?" he snarled. "Did you fucking forget who I was when you changed your name? What the hell type of name is Midoriya, anyways?"

For a moment, Izuku didn't answer.

Kacchan. Bakugou Katsuki. His childhood friend, from before - everything. He hadn't seen him in years, hadn't expected to see him - but then, why wouldn't he? Getting into Yuuei had been Kacchan's dream since they were children, just learning about how to become a hero.

Despite still being pinned against a tree, Izuku keep from grinning. "Kacchan!" he said happily. "It's great to see you, I didn't realize you got in too!"

Kacchan's lip curled. "'Course I got in, you stupid Deku! Now stop avoiding the question, what the hell was with you holding back in those tests?"

Oh. Crap. Izuku slid his gaze away to some point just beyond Kacchan's ear. "Like I told Mr Aizawa, I was worried about the destruction. That last throw shattered a bunch of windows -"

Kacchan let out a frustrated snarl and wordlessly pulled him forward, only to slam him back against the tree. "Not that! I'm talking about the other tests, your other powers!"

Izuku's stomach dropped. That's right, he had known Kacchan when they were little. Back before he figured out the secret behind his multiple quirks and stopped showing them off to his friends.

Those had been such good memories, before everything.

"What other powers?" he asked, making the snap decision to play dumb.

Whoops, that was the wrong decision, judging from how Kacchan's expression became thunderous.

"The fuck are you saying, 'what other powers'?!" he snapped, raising his voice. "The powers I remember you showing off like the shitty Deku you are!"

Izuku raised his hands and tried uselessly to shush him. "I don't know what you're talking about," he babbled quickly, "I've only ever had a strength quirk -"

He was let up off of the tree just enough so that Kacchan could slam him back against it hard enough to hurt. Kacchan pushed their faces in close, close enough that Izuku could smell the pickles they had had for lunch on his breath.

"I told you to stop with that shit," he growled, his red eyes boring into Izuku's. "Do you think I'm some fucking extra that'll just smile and nod at you fucking around? I remember you teleporting, Deku." His hands began to smoke. "You could breathe fire, and see through walls, and it was so fucking annoying!"

Kacchan was shouting again. Izuku gritted his teeth and made a shushing motion with his hands. "You're remembering wrong," he said. With a quick wriggle, he managed to slip away from Kacchan's grip and straightened his jacket. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he slipped it out. "I have to get going, my mom's going to be worried if I don't come home on time -"

As he had been speaking, Izuku had been unlocking his phone to see what his mother had sent him. He didn't blame her for worrying, and honestly, if Kacchan was recognizing him they'd probably have to talk anyways. As he opened the messaging app to see what she was saying, though, his stomach dropped.

There was no message. No text message, at least. Just a notification of his mother's location.

He could feel the blood draining from his face.

"Deku?" Kacchan's voice was rough, but Izuku could hear the sudden concern underneath it from long practice. "The fuck -"

"I have to go," Izuku said, stuffing his phone back into his pocket and hoisting his backpack higher. He couldn't look at Kacchan now. He'd break down, say something. "I need to go home."

"Deku, you fuck -"

Izuku dodged Kacchan's hand and speed-walked away from the other boy. He needed to get away - get away -

His phone felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket as passed through the school gates.

No message. No explanation. Him and his mom had come up with this signal five years ago, as soon as they had gotten away. If one day he got just a notification of her location, or if she got a notification of his location, with no message attached, then that meant -

He's found us. Don't come home.