CHAPTER 044(Mounting Pressure)

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CHAPTER START---

Entering through the back of his homeroom Horizon is greeted by the sight of most of the class, standing around and chatting with each other.

As he begins walking to his seat Sato gives him a polite but somewhat awkward wave, "hey Horizon, how's the new workout going?" Kirishima and Deku were standing at the back of the class with him chatting, all turning as Horizon joins them. "I was just telling these guys about the UA gym, man they've got everything here, I can even work out while using my Quirk since the weights go up to tens of tons," Sato excitedly says.

"Damn," Horizon says, genuinely impressed, but not really surprised. "I don't like sweating in this get-up so I'll keep working out at home, I even bought a new heavy bag, one of the kinds that Power Types use."

"No way!" Kirishima gets excited at the thought. "Those things are crazy expensive, I wanted to ask my parents for one, but honestly I'm not that strong yet, Hardening gives more physical power but nothing like Sato and Izuku have."

Deku just stays quiet, hoping and praying Horizon continues to ignore him.

"That's actually why he called me," Sato says. "Wanted to know my bench press record to compare or something, something about a training routine."

"Pretty much," Horizon nods. "Figured if I can get anywhere close to your current power -atleast before you activate your Quirk-, that will be pretty helpful in the future, even if my Quirk isn't really affected by strength in most cases."

"What's the record?" Kirishima asks excitedly, and all eyes shift to Sato causing him to blush a bit. "I'm at 250lbs -114Kg-."

"Oh," Sato rubs the back of his neck. "I just hit 800lbs -362Kg-, but honestly the last few years it's barely even moved at all so I think I'm at my limit, or at least close to it."

"That's almost nine of me," Asui says as she walks over to them with Mina and Uraraka. "Crazy strength Sato, I bet you're even more amazing when you use your Quirk."

"4000lbs is more than most thugs can handle," Horizon says. "Pretty sure Death Arms is only at half that...but he's one of those useless D-List heroes, you can definitely aim higher than that if you're this strong at the beginning of UA."

Once again everyone is genuinely surprised at Horizon for not being a complete jerk, even giving a compliment.

"Yeah!" Uraraka does a small hop as she cheers on Sato. "And most rescue situations can actually be solved by your current limit so you could already have a job out there, getting people out of car wrecks and collapsed buildings, things like that!"

"But wouldn't this also mean you've got Super-Strength too?" Mina asks Horizon. "Seems like a lot when you add it to the other things you do. But you do at least seem super muscly and big, like a smaller All Might! Atleast from what I can tell since you always have on a jacket and suit."

"Well, yes and no," he says. "My Quirk makes me...well the best way to think of it is like I'm a perfected human, meaning if someone without a Quirk can do it, then I can do it better before I even use my Quirk, this pretty much goes for everything, including muscles and strength. So I don't have any real Super-Strength like Sato or All Might, nothing that crazy, currently I can only bench 400lbs," he shrugs.

Tokoyami spins around in his chair to look over at them," it's concerning that I can't tell if you're serious or not when you call yourself a 'perfected human,' don't you think?"

"It's more factual than anything else," Horizon says.

Nobody is sure how to respond to that.

"So what's the new workout?" Kirishima asks, mostly to break the tension.

"Nothing really changes honestly, just more steaks, weights, and protein shakes," Horizon shrugs.

Sato snaps his fingers, "that reminds me, I already visited the support department this morning, they said they'll have the Power Pills ready by tomorrow for me, thanks again for that idea man."

"It was the least I could do."

"Oh yeah, Principal Nezu mentioned that remember," Asui says. "He said you're like a super genius at Quirks analysis, that you even knew how to fix Midoriya's problem by pretty much looking at a picture, that's incredible. Is that what you did for Sato?"

"No," Horizon says. "I just told him to get the support course to make Sugar Pills to activate his quirk so he doesn't look like a joke forcing down cupcakes before fighting villains."

"But you could help us if you wanted to, right?" Mina asks.

"Easily, I already know what all of you have to do to either improve or completely change the way you view your Quirks, some of you don't even know what your Quirk actually does or what class it belongs to," he turns to look down at Deku as he continues. "But it's your Quirk, so figure it out yourself, can't depend on people to hold your hand for you, right?"

"Well I guess I won't ask you to help Midoriya," Asui says bluntly.

"Smart move Asui."

"You can call me Tsu," she says. "Normally only my friends can call me that...but even if you're a huge jerk we're all in the same class and trying to be heroes, so I'm sure once we get to know you you're pretty nice."

"I'll take your word for it, Tsu."

"Oh yeah!" Hagakure rushes over into the circle, grabbing Mina by the arm and both looking at Horizon. "So we were wondering..."

"What do you look like under the mask?!" they both yell at once.

Mina continues, "so Sato may have mentioned in the group chat that this whole outfit can come off and we've been curious ever since, like is it for your Quirk like Aoyama's belt? Are you shy? What is it?"

"Yeah, what do you look like under the mask?" Jiro asks, walking over with Shoji and Momo.

"I must admit I've also been curious," Momo says shyly. "But it's quite alright if you don't want to tell us, we won't force you to do anything."

"You CAN'T force me to do anything," he corrects her. "But, muscled, well defined, tattooed, and handsome, what'd you expect?"

All the girls in the room were currently in the large group at the back of the class, and Horizon could see them all zone in and out ogling his body.

He smiles devilishly at that and enjoys it until Sero's loud groan snaps them all out of it. "Maaannnn, life really does play favorites..." he rests his head on his desk in defeat.

Kaminari copies him and begins sulking too.

'I've got everything and nothing,' Horizon thinks as more small conversations start up.

Eventually, he finds himself sitting at his desk, Tokoyami beside him in his seat, Sero on Tokoyami's desk, and Momo leaning against his with Jiro standing in the walkway.

"So you really think that...?" Sero asks Horizon.

"It makes sense," Horizon shrugs. "Why would the villains attack if the heroes will be on alert now, plus they know that I can shut down the Warp Gates, and while I'm doing that All Might can deal with the USJ Nomu, even if it'll take a lot out of him UA will have a lot of other heroes at the sports festival, including his dad," he gestures back to Todoroki, who was sitting quietly and ignoring everyone. "Attacking would be stupid."

"But they've also got whatever caused the jailbreak," Tokoyami says. "The police suspect it to be a Nomu with Gigantification, if the footprints are anything to go by."

"Won't matter," Horizon says. "The USJ Nomu was a very rare instance of anything taking more than one of my attacks, without Hyper Regeneration nothing else can do that, not even All Might."

"That's a bold claim," Momo says. "You may be overstepping a bit by saying that."

"Nah, I've spoken to All Might, among other things...I know the limits of his Quirk," Horizon says confidently, but everyone else didn't believe him.

Only Deku knew exactly how true this statement was, but he couldn't risk saying anything.

Sitting one seat away Shoto cast an icy glare at Horizon, and closer to the front Bakugo just sank lower in his chair.

"It makes sense that people would at least be worried," Jiro adds. "I mean the number is in the hundreds now, Hero Courses all over are either turtling up or postponing classes, it's kinda arrogant of UA to just expect not to even be attacked, even if All Might is here."

"Yeah, but if anywhere in Japan is safe, it's UA," Sero adds.

"Or Tartarus," Momo says. "Those are the two places in this half of the world with the greatest security."

Horizon grits his teeth, but immediately lets the feeling go, not wanting to think about Tartarus.

"I'm more surprised that everyone from the class got to come back," Horizon says. "I figured at least some of your parents would be smart enough not to send you back here."

"Well it wasn't that smooth for me," Sero says. "But I managed to convince them since All Might is here, it's either this or I go wash dishes for the rest of my life...don't really have much in the way of high paying skills," he admits nervously.

"This is the only place I can train my Quirk," Tokoyami says. "It's too dangerous not to control the darkness in my soul."

"Honestly you just need a therapist," Horizon says seriously, earning odd looks from everyone. "Your problem is all mental," he shrugs.

"Well in my case my parents understand how much this means to me," Momo says. "They argued of course but I was eventually able to convince them...it may have gotten a bit ugly at the end, unfortunately," she says sadly.

Jiro puts a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure when they see all the good you do it'll be alright."

Momo nods thankfully, "thank you Jiro."

"Couldn't be me," Horizon grits out. "If you were my daughter and told me some stupid shit about wanting to become a hero I'd lock you in the mansion until you got over it."

"How can you even say that!" Jiro takes an aggressive stance immediately. "You'd stop your child from following their dream just like that?!"

"I rather have a living kid that hates me than a dead kid that followed her dreams, yeah, she'd get over it."

Jiro just shakes her head and scoffs, "to think the only reason I got to come back was because we're in the same class," she rolls her eyes at that.

"Huh?"

"My folks saw some of the clips of Nomu at USJ... they figured if my Class Rep could take down something like that which was built to kill All Might, I'd be safe if you're around," she grumbles reluctantly.

"Awe, making sure your parents like me already?" Horizon teases jokingly.

Jiro blushes and turns to hide her face, only earning a fit of giggles from Sero.

"Those clips really were spectacular," Tokoyami says, getting them back on track. "To think you were able to keep up with that monster, it was so fast and strong...truly built for destruction."

"True, but if I lost to some meathead brute my mom would probably beat me into the hospital," he says jokingly, completely oblivious to the concerned glances of his classmates. "I mean she's been training me since I was five to kick ass and I lose to the first villain at UA...that'd be a pathetic waste of her time, complete failure," he scoffs in disgust.

Everyone took what he said at face value, although truthfully this was mostly his view on the situation, not his parent's. Failing in such a manner would make him a pathetic failure, undeserving of all the years of work they put into training him...in his eyes that is, because he knew their love for him is truly unconditional.

Put his classmates gave him sympathetic looks before quickly moving the conversation along, speaking of the protests and vigils held across Japan at various Hero Courses, about how faith in heroes has already begun declining.

Yet only one seat away Todoroki looks at Horizon in sympathy, lifting a hand to his scar as he suddenly doesn't feel so alone.

Coming to the very dangerous assumption that Horizon suffered exactly as he did, in the same situation as him.

With abusive parents and a traumatic childhood.

In a hate-filled household.

In a loveless home.

Because how else could someone be so strong, be everything his own father bred and trained him for, if not forged in hate and abuse?

He opens his mouth to simply ask, but just leans back in his chair, looking forward.

For a moment Todoroki considers reaching out to him, but he ultimately decides to stay put and just focus on his own issues. The best decision of his otherwise very short life...

"Get to your seats!" Horizon announces suddenly, and everyone scrambles about with no hesitation, already used to his strange ability to sense things.

"Morning class," Eraser enters a minute later, not even glancing at everyone, already knowing they were seated and waiting. "Horizon," Eraser immediately glares at him, then his eyes lighten up. "Good job dealing with the press this morning, but the other teachers and I would rather you not make any more statements, just in case you say something wrong eventually."

"Gotcha," Horizon says. 'I guess those reporters really work fast, perfect.'

"Alright class, today we'll be changing up the schedule for a while, as you all know, in two weeks the UA Sports Festival starts. This is your first of three chances to impress Pros, and the entire world, because everyone watches this event. Because of that, we'll be postponing your afternoon Hero Basic Training to allow you all to do more independent Quirk training, if you need access to the special training grounds tell your Class Rep and he'll submit the requests to me

Remember you're not the only people who will be training at school for this. UA has 100 Hero Course students who all want space to train as well, not to mention the hundreds of other students that may be training to get one of these spots."

Everyone gets nervous at that, "what do you mean sir?" Iida asks.

Eraser gives him a bored look, "what, you thought I was joking when I said you had to constantly prove you deserve these spots? It's basically impossible for anyone to transfer into the Hero Course from another course after the first semester because by then you'll be so far ahead that it would upset the lesson plan and they'd just flunk out, so this is their big chance to take one of their spots.

If any of them take a podium spot then we're making room by removing whoever gets the lowest spot between both Hero Course classes," he looks directly at Deku. "But honestly if any of them impress either Vlad or me we could just instantly swap you out."

"So no pressure huh," Kaminari says nervously. "Just perform or have our dreams crushed..."

"We crushed dreams by taking these spots," Horizons says. "Life isn't fair, and not everyone can be a winner, there are no participation trophies in the real world."

"Exactly," Eraser says, noticing how much he's been agreeing with Horizon since the second day. "But more than just keeping your spot, you need to impress the Pros and scouts that will be watching, this year especially since we're opening the internship program up to first years."

"Internships?" Mina asks.

"Think of it like being an unpaid assistant," Eraser says. "You get to shadow a Pro mainly to see the back-end of hero work, how to run an agency and handle patrols, things like that, it's not just all fighting villains. Your options will be based on who scouts you at the festival, so put your best foot forward."

"YES SIR!" most of the class responds, while Horizon just nods along.

As Eraser leaves everyone begins chatting and hyping each other up about the sports festival, but Horizon just takes out his phone and texts Nezu, requesting a specific spot for some more secluded training.

'With UA facilities and space available I'll be able to develop a lot faster...this'll be even easier than I thought...'

"---I guess you aren't worried."

Horizon looks to his right to see Tokoyami talking to him. "What? About the sports festival? Nah not really."

Behind him Momo was a nervous wreck, piping up in a shaky and shy voice, "I suppose you'll place highly, we'll all be fighting just to remain in the Hero Course..."

Horizon spins in his chair so his back is facing the window, leaving Momo to his right and Tokoyami in front of him, "you say that like your Quirk isn't Creation, but honestly if I didn't compete they still wouldn't kick me out," he shrugs.

Everyone around him is only half surprised by his blatant boast. "Do you think Principal Nezu would allow such a blatantly show of favoritism?" Tokoyami asks.

"Honestly no, but it would be really dumb kicking out the only counter to Kurogiri, don't you think?"

They all just silently agreed with his logic until Sero spoke. "Damn, guess you aren't under pressure like the rest of us...so that means you'll say, maybe just take it easy on us?"

Horizon laughs at that, "oh no, I'm gonna win, not just win, I'm gonna crush everyone so badly there is no doubt that I won...because when you're perfect, just winning isn't enough..."

And for some reason not a soul could muster the strength to argue with him...

END CHAPTER---

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