16

6:34 AM, Wednesday

"You know, Izuku-kun, we're basically living together right now."

Izuku stumbled next to her, nearly tripping over his own feet. 

"W-What?"

Ochako jogged on. "I mean, every day you wake me up super early every morning so we can go on a run, we come back to your house to eat Inko's delicious breakfast, and then we head off to school together. We eat lunch at the same table with our friends, walk each other home and train, then I have dinner with you guys again."

Whoa.

"...Yeah, I guess you have a point," Izuku paused. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Nope!" Ochako replied cheerfully. "I like spending time with you. I just think it's a little funny, that's all."

Izuku hummed.

They had gotten pretty close over the past two years, hadn't they? They were woven intricately into each other's lives, far beyond the partnership that had initially tied them together.

Izuku couldn't even imagine a day without her now. 

They ended their jog a few minutes later, careful not to tire themselves out before class, and stopped just in front of his house.

Ochako pressed her fingertips together in front of her, a slight blue glow shining through her hands at the contact. 

"Save; Wednesday, 6:41 AM." 

Ochako pulled her hands away to squint curiously at his face. "Anything?"

"Nope."

"Aww."

7:25 AM, Wednesday

"Are you two sure you have everything?" Inko asked again.

" Yes , we're sure Mom."

"Really? All of your pencils and notebooks? Even your bentos? What about your handkerchief? I know you both have that field trip today and-"

"Mom!"

7:50 AM, Wednesday

There was a huge pack of reporters outside of the school when they arrived, swarming around U.A's gate like hungry vultures. The clamor of voices demanded to see All Might- as if the man wasn't busy being a teacher and the Number One Hero. 

Clearly, the news that Yagi was teaching here had been leaked- though really, it wasn't going to have stayed under wraps for very long.

Izuku and Ochako pushed through the crowd as quickly as they could. As soon as they told them that they were 'General Education students' they were left alone(though that didn't stop a reporter or two from trying and failing to slip through the gate behind them). 

"Good morning, Uraraka-san, Midoriya-san!"

"Hey, Iida!"

"Hello, Iida-san."

"I am glad to see both of you arriving at class early!" Iida beamed. "Our academic studies are of utmost importance, after all."

"You say that, but Aizawa-sensei himself is probably going to get here late," Jirou said dryly. "He doesn't seem to care at all about homeroom."

Iida's eye twitched, but he didn't deny it.

"And all of those assholes crowding the gate don't exactly make arriving on time easy, either..."

"I know, right!" Ochako exclaimed. "Like c'mon! Do those vultures have nothing better to do than to harass some teenagers?"

"Oh hey, Midoriya!" Kaminari leaned over Jirou's desk to greet him with a smile. "I didn't get a chance to tell you how awesome you were against Todoroki yesterday! Where'd you learn to dodge like that, man?"

Izuku shrugged. "It's mostly experience. My quirk helps a lot with that kinda stuff too."

The blonde leaned further. "It does? Huh. What is your quirk, anywa-"

Jirou shoved Kaminari off her desk, sending him tumbling to the floor. Izuku blinked.

"Yeah, I didn't see you use a quirk on the entrance exam, either," Jirou noted casually, as if nothing had just happened. "So do you have some kind of analysis quirk, then? Or a reflex booster?"

"No, nothing like that," Izuku replied, abruptly realizing that most of the class was now paying very close attention to them. He tapped a finger against his temple. "My quirk gives me a photographic memory, letting me instantly recall anything and everything I've experienced in my life."

Yaoyorozu clasped her hands together, eyes gleaming. "That's an incredibly useful ability, Midoriya-san! Oh, what I wouldn't give for an infallible memory. The ability to permanently save all of my formulas..."

Oh! "So my theory was right, then- you can create anything as long as you remember the exact chemical makeup of its components! That's so cool, Yaoyorozu-san," Izuku gasped. "It must've taken so much studying just to make the basic items you've utilized so far! No wonder you're a recommended student. But how does the quirk work? An emitter like that must have several supplementary mutations, both physical and mental. How are you circumventing the Law of Conservation of Mass in the first place? Creation does make pink sparks and also seems to drain you ever so slightly, meaning that the quirk is likely using something inside of you as a fuel source-"

A poke to his side brought him back to reality. " Breath , Izuku-kun. You're scaring the poor girl!"

Izuku winced, glancing at an amused Ochako and then back to a stunned Yaoyorozu. "...Sorry about that, Yaoyorozu-san. I get uh, really into quirk analysis."

Jirou snorted at that. "Bit of an understatement there, dude."

Yaoyorozu just smiled. "Don't worry, Midoriya-san, I found it all quite interesting." Her cheeks tinted an embarrassed red. "As for how my quirk functions, well, my lipids are the fuel source you described. They transform into atoms that I use for my creations and therefore, I must intake far more calories than normal to power the process."

Sero's eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh, so like how poop works."

The classroom went dead silent. 

Then Yaoyorozu's head fell into her hands, the picture of absolute despair.

"Sero!" Jirou growled, her earjacks posed to strike. "Apologize!" 

"I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"

"Oh, I'll show you sorry-"

"...I mean, that sounds great for studying and stuff," Kaminari said thoughtfully, still laid out on the floor. He scratched his head. "But how does a good memory help you in a fight, Midoriya? Aren't you just fighting like, quirkless ?"

Ochako opened her mouth. "Well-"

"Are you fucking dumb, Pikachu?" Katsuki scoffed, his arms crossed over his chest. "The nerd can memorize every single thing you do and come up with a counter to your fighting style within seconds. If you think that shit isn't useful, then your brain's even more fried than I thought."

Izuku blinked, utterly baffled. Did Katsuki just defend him? 

Holy shit. 

8:01 AM, Wednesday

As predicted, and in true Eraserhead fashion, their teacher arrived at class over a full minute after the bell had already rung. All conversation was instantly cut off as soon as the ugly sleeping bag got to the podium, no one daring to risk incurring his wrath.

"So everyone's here," Eraserhead noted, bored. "Great. All you need to do in homeroom today is elect a class president and a vice president- I don't care how you do it, just tell me who your representatives are by the end of class. Bye."

With that, their homeroom teacher curled into the corner of the room and took a nap. 

Hmm. Did Izuku want to be class president of 1-A?

He had only taken the role once, for a single year of middle school. He didn't have many connections with anyone there, nor did he need it to boost his U.A application, so the whole thing had honestly just been a huge waste of time. 

Being the class president of 1-A, though, would be completely different. It was a position that would make finding internships and work studies far easier and also gave him influence in a school that, unlike Aldera, actually mattered.

But more importantly, it would make him the leader of 1-A. He wanted to create and lead an investigative hero agency like Sir Nighteye's one day, and this would give him invaluable experience towards that goal. 

And with Reset, well, having people listen to him in a pinch would be wonderful.

Ochako was looking at him. He gave her a small nod and she smiled back. Izuku raised an eyebrow at her in return, and the smile dropped away with a vehement shake of her head. 

Phew.

Iida sprung out of his seat. "Fellow students, I believe that we should decide our representatives through the tried and true method of democracy! The best candidate- the student with the highest number of votes- will win!"

"You say that," Ashido noted slyly. "But you really just want to be president yourself, huh?"

Iida wilted a little, then straightened up again. "...Yes, I cannot deny my own selfish desire for the position. But I shall endeavor to win it anyway!"

"But won't everyone just vote for themselves, kero?" Asui wondered.

Kaminari glanced at her. "Ah yeah, that's a good point..."

"Well, that just means whoever wins deserves it!" Kirishima claimed boldly.

There were way too many confident, outgoing people in Izuku's class who would probably try for president just for the popularity and prestige of it all. And more than a few people who deserved it.

"Not necessarily," Izuku spoke up. "I don't think that all nineteen of us even want the position. I mean, I was class president in middle school and all of those meetings and extra work could be a struggle for some people once U.A's courseload- described by many of its past graduates as 'terrifyingly vigorous'- really kicks in. This is one of the best hero schools in Japan, after all."

His perfect memory didn't miss how both Ashido and Kaminari flinched. 

"So while voting is a pretty good idea, we should nominate a couple of candidates first, maybe a few people who actually want the position, and then have them come up one by one to give a short speech on why they should be president."

"Then, after that, the rest of you all vote for your favorite nominee," Izuku finished. "Does that work for everyone?"

He got several nods, and a thumbs up from Ashido. Bakugou rolled his eyes, and naturally, Todoroki wasn't- 

No, wait, the apathetic Todoroki was actually paying attention to what Izuku was saying, and even watching him intently. Huh.

Yaoyorozu stood from her seat, narrowing her onyx eyes on Izuku. "So are you going to nominate yourself, then, Midoriya-san?"

Izuku stood up as well to meet her gaze with a smile. It was a good thing that their seats weren't close to each other- she was easily a fair bit taller than he was. 

"Yeah. You?"

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Yes, I will also choose to nominate myself."

"Great! We have two candidates so far, then." Izuku turned to the rest of the class. "Does anyone else want to run?"

No one liked public speaking, so the casual addition of a speech to the whole class(with the implication that they would need to do such things regularly as president) was a major factor.

And after the exercise yesterday, where Yaoyorozu calmly and intelligently broke down every single person's battle performance, it was clear that she was brilliant and exceptionally driven- the kind of person you did not want to run against. 

Both of these things further whittled down his number of opponents and in the end, Class 1-A only had five people running for class president- Izuku, Yaoyorozu, Asui, Bakugou, and Iida.

"Greetings, fellow students! My name is Iida Tenya, and I possess the Engine quirk." His hands chopped sharply through the air as he spoke. "My family has been in heroics for generations, carrying a powerful legacy of honor, courage, and responsibility, and I shall continue this noble line as the next Ingenium. As president, I will endeavor to follow and enforce every single rule in our U.A Student Handbook, as well as add some new ones! I will increase the penalty for tardiness and uniform misconduct, as well as the punishments for these 24 other infractions and violations..."

"Asui Tsuyu, quirk Frog." A short bow. "Please call me Tsu. I have been told that I am a very blunt person, so I apologize in advance if that throws any of you off. I will always be honest and upfront with all of you about myself and my actions. You can trust me, kero."

"Hello, everyone! I am Yaoyorozu Momo, the Yaoyorozu heiress and a recommended student for this course, and my quirk is called Creation," A polite yet genuine smile. "You might have heard about it earlier, but please allow me to explain my abilities once again. Essentially, my quirk lets me transform atoms into whatever I wish, a feat that requires no small amount of intelligence and management ability to perform. Luckily, those are two qualities I possess in droves! If you elect me as president, I will transform each and every one of you into brighter, better versions of yourselves as we head towards our shared dream of becoming Pro Heroes. Furthermore..."

"I'm Bakugou Katsuki, and my quirk's Explosion," A deep huff, hands shoved into his pockets. "Why should you vote for me, well, that's fucking obvious. See, I'm the strongest. I'll take down every shitty villain in my way, and if you follow me I'll make all of you dumbasses stronger too."

"My name is Midoriya Izuku, and my quirk is called Perfect Recall," A warm grin, emerald-green eyes sweeping over every single one of his classmates. "Simply put, I believe that I'm the best candidate for this position. My photographic memory will make the tasks and duties of the role as easy as can be, giving me plenty of time to lead and c-connect with all of you. I'm an expert in quirk analysis and know exactly how to improve each and every one of your capabilities. I will always be here to talk, listen, or help- I will never give up on any of you."

Izuku and the other four candidates stayed at the front of the room as the voting box went around, each student dropping in a single slip of paper(with Koda being the one to carry and hold it, naturally.)

The results came in. 

Midoriya Izuku: 7

Yaoyorozu Momo: 4

Asui Tsuyu: 2

Bakugou Katsuki: 1

Iida Tenya: 0

Nice.

10:05 AM, Wednesday

Yaoyorozu slid into her seat with a sigh, setting her huge bento down on the lunch table. "You had that won from the start."

Izuku paused, a spoon held halfway to his mouth. 

"You took total control of the class, and was the one to propose the whole election process in the first place," Yaoyorozu continued. "And your speech was certainly praiseworthy as well. I must admit that you are far more fit for the position than I, Midoriya-san."

Izuku smiled. "I think you're giving me a bit too much credit there, Yaoyorozu-san- I just did my best to win. If I hadn't made myself look like a good leader before the vote, you would've won by a landslide - heck, I would've voted for you if I wasn't running."

"...Ah, thank you."

"Besides, I had votes from Ochako and Koji before I even started talking," Izuku shrugged. "Still have no idea why Todoroki voted for me, though..."

"Probably 'cause you beat him soundly in yesterday's exercise," Ochako piped up from next to him.

"Maybe, but isn't that an even better reason not to vote for someone?"

Ochako shrugged. "I think you impressed him, or something."

"By jumping out of a window?" Izuku tilted his head, skeptical.

"And still tagging the objective? Yeah-"

"Wait a minute," Yaoyorozu requested, confused. "How do you know who voted for you? Did Todoroki and Koji tell you that they did?"

He gave her a puzzled glance. Did she forget what his quirk was? "We watched everyone write down their votes. I just traced their pencil movements."

"...Ah. I suppose I'm going to have to get used to that."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "I'm looking forward to working with you this year, Yaoyorozu-san."

Yaoyorozu smiled back. "To you as well, Midoriya-san."

The three of them enjoyed a peaceful, uninterrupted lunch period.

11:02 AM, Wednesday

"We don't need to arrange the seating for a bus ride, Iida," Izuku explained patiently, standing at the front of the class. They were all decked out in their hero costumes once again, all of their gear fully repaired. No one seemed to have made any changes yet except Aoyama who, thankfully, was now missing his long and flashy cape.

Iida blinked, an action that was barely visible behind his helmet. "But as students and future heroes, should we not proceed into our transport in an orderly, organized fashion?"

"We can do that by simply lining everyone up," Izuku told him. "We only have nineteen people in the class and don't actually know what kind of bus it is yet."

"Oh, I see!" Iida bowed at a complete 90 degrees. "I apologize for hastily questioning your judgment then, Midoriya-san!"

"...Uh, don't worry about it."

Now that he was president, Iida was treating him with even more respect than before. It was pretty jarring to someone like Izuku, who had had exactly one friend before entering U.A.

1-A filled into the bus in an orderly line after Eraserhead and settled in. Ochako took a window seat around the middle, and Izuku slid in next to her. The bus automatically started moving once everyone was seated- because of course this school had self-driving buses. 

"Todoroki-san, can I ask you something?" Asui spoke up, drawing the class's attention to her.

Todoroki seemed slightly surprised to be spoken to. "...Yes?"

"I heard that you actually have two parts to your quirk- the ability to create ice from one side and fire from the other. Why do you never use that fire?"

Todoroki narrowed his heterochromatic eyes. "I don't need it."

"Why not?"

The air temperature started to drop, and Izuku hurriedly intervened.

"Hey, I'm sure that Todoroki has his reasons, Asui-"

"Call me Tsu, kero."

Wasn't that a derivative of her first name? That was super informal!

"-T-Tsu," He held back a cough. "And it seems pretty personal, too, so we really shouldn't pry."

Asui nodded in acknowledgment. She turned back to Todoroki. "Sorry, Todoroki-san. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It's fine."

"But man, even with just his ice, Todoroki's quirk is so damn awesome!" Kirishima said, staring down at his palm. "I wish my Hardening was nearly as flashy as that..."

Ashido elbowed him lightly. "Don't sell yourself short, Ejirou-kun! Your quirk's pretty great in a fight, isn't it?"

"But-"

Ochako nodded brightly. "Yeah, I couldn't risk taking a single one of your reinforced punches yesterday! I had to float you off first, Kirishima, since you were the most troublesome opponent there- no offense to you, Shoji-kun."

Shoji just shrugged. "None taken."

Kirishima blinked, then burst into a grin. "Thanks, Uraraka!"

"No problem!"

"Hardening is a really useful quirk for a hero, Kirishima-san," Izuku chimed in. "You've got the perfect defense to protect yourself and civillians, and can pack a punch when needed."

"Yeah! Ejirou's totally awes-wait, Kaminari, are you okay?!"

Izuku followed her eyes to see said blonde hunched forward in his seat, hands clasped together tightly. His skin was paler than usual, and there was a single bead of sweat trickling down his temple-

And then a millisecond later Kaminari was looking up at them with a bright grin, his arms wide and his posture as cheerfully open as always. The change had been so quick that if Izuku didn't have his quirk he would've missed it.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm good. Just a little car-sick, that's all-or is it bus-sick? I'll be fine in a bit!"

"You really gotta sleep more, man- you've almost got bigger eyebags than Aizawa-sensei!" Sero joked.

Kaminari rubbed the back of his neck at that, sheepish. "Yeah. Honestly, I was too worried about this exercise thing to get much shut-eye. I mean, Aizawa-sensei told us literally nothing about what we were gonna have to do today."

Jirou snorted. "So you were so excited about the field trip today that you couldn't fall asleep? What are you, a primary school kid?"

"I mean, the man has a point," Sero said. "All we know is that this Heroics class is gonna take all day. With a teacher like ours, who knows what'll happen? What if he puts us in like, some kinda weird death maze-"

"Dude, you've been watching way too many shitty movies-"

"You never know, Jirou! It could happen!"

Jirou rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and pigs can fly."

Sero beamed. "Yes, exactly! I heard about this awesome quirked zoo in China the other day-"

"Oh for fucks sake, Sero-"

11:24 AM, Wednesday

Class 1-A followed their teacher off the bus and through a huge gate, stepping into a massive plaza. There were different areas visible in the distance, each with some kind of distinct terrain. A Pro Hero walked up to greet them-

Ochako screeched, bouncing up and down like an adorable mass of excitement. "Oh my god, it's Thirteen! Izuku-kun, Izuku-kun, look!"

Izuku stifled a smile, reaching out a hand to steady her. "Yeah, yeah, I see her."

"It's really her," Ochako breathed, starstruck. "What do I do, what do I do? I feel like I'm gonna faint!"

"I don't think that'd make a very good first impression on her, Ochako," Izuku teased lightly.

"Izuku-kun!"

Eraserhead asked the Space Hero something, and Thirteen raised three gloved fingers in response.

So Yagi had used up all of his time in his hero form. Izuku frowned. Unexpected situations and attacks happened sometimes, sure, but how on Earth had the man managed to burn through all three of his hours before he even arrived in U.A? 

If Eraserhead's scowl was anything to go by, the underground hero felt the same way.

Thirteen moved to introduce herself, her steps light and delicate despite the bulky white space suit she wore. "Hello, students, and welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, otherwise known as the U.S.J! My name is Thirteen, and I am a teacher and Pro Hero that specializes in rescue operations."

"As you all experienced in Aizawa's quirk apprehension exam and later in All Might's battle trial, your quirks are all incredibly powerful. This is wonderful for your future career, of course, but with that power, you carry a dangerous risk," Thirteen' said, her voice lowering into something more serious. "Take my quirk, for example- Black Hole has served me well in rescuing hundreds of people, yet at the same time it has the capacity to turn people into atoms with the slightest mistake."

"If we aren't careful as Pro Heroes, our abilities can easily harm or even kill other people."

He wasn't expecting her to bring that up, but it was true- every single person in 1-A except Hagakure, Sero, and Izuku had potentially lethal quirks. And even then, all it took to kill someone was a hard blow to the head. Every hero needed to be careful and trained.

"That said," Thirteen continued. "You students will have plenty of time to learn that control over your next three years at this prestigious school! That journey starts today, with-"

And then a portal formed into existence down in the main plaza, cutting her sentence off short.

The purple darkness widened further and further until it was wide enough for two figures to step out of it- a man with scruffy blue hair covered in severed hands and a huge, hulking figure with a beak and inky-black skin. The darkness itself revealed two glowing, yellow eyes in its center and settled in next to them.

Behind the three walked out dozens and dozens of more strange individuals, all wearing malicious smirks and grins and a variety of activated quirks.

Villains. 

Eraserhead cursed, stepping in front of them. Izuku watched as in less than a second their lazy, unkempt teacher transformed into full hero mode- his usually slouched frame turning tense and straight, his gray scarf uncurling from his neck to float threateningly off his shoulders. 

"Thirteen, get the kids out the gate and back to the bus."

"...Alright. What are you going to do?" Thirteen asked.

"I'll hold them off."

There were at least 30 villains down there, Izuku realized, ignoring the main three ringleaders. Eraserhead's style was specialized to quick and efficient take-downs, not fighting a huge group at a disadvantage, yet he was about to charge into them without hesitation anyway to buy their class time to escape.

"Kaminari. Use your quirk to push a signal through to the school."

There was no response. Izuku glanced over to see the blonde staring at the approaching villains and frozen in fear, hands trembling at his sides.

"Kaminari." Their teacher called again, stern and grounding.

Kaminari startled back to reality, fiddling with the device strapped to his costume. "Wh-okay, Aizawa-sensei!" 

Eraserhead pulled his gold goggles over his eyes and leaped into battle.

He was down the stairs in two seconds and facing the villains in three. They turned a variety of quirks on him, from sharpened hair to fired projectiles, but every single one suddenly failed at the crucial moment and their confused users were easily and cleanly knocked out.

Eraserhead fought with cool, calm efficiency. Every punch and kick landed with a pained hiss as he took down every single opponent in his path with brutal focus. His capture weapon almost seemed alive as it struck out at enemies, blocked attacks, and threw villains into each other. It was awesome.

Izuku tore his eyes away from the sight at Thirteen's shout. "Okay, let's go! Through the gate, students! Hurry!"

They rushed to the large doors in a panicked, anxious mess, half the class terrified and the other half itching to go back for their teacher. But he had ordered that they get out of here, and getting reinforcements would help him more than anything. They were almost at the gate-

Then the portal villain warped in right in front of them, cutting their escape short. 

"And where do you think you're going?" He asked in a deep voice, sounding almost amused. There was a glint of something silver in his dark, misty body.

Before any of them respond Katsuki and Kirishima attacked, a large explosion and a hardened fist striking the villain in the same instant. 

"Guys, no!" Thirteen called out.

The smoke vanished to reveal the villain entirely unharmed, his yellow eyes now narrowed. "How scary. I suppose you all are the cream of the crop after all, even if you are merely kids. Unfortunately, none of your attacks will ever reach me."

"We'll see about that, asshole," Katsuki growled, launching another blast at where the villain's face was-

Izuku yanked Katsuki away as the misty void expanded through where he just was. "Kirishima, get back! If you touch that darkness, he's going to warp you away!"

Kirishima hurriedly complied, his eyes wide, and the rest of 1-A took a step back as well.

"Oh? You've already figured out how my quirk works, boy?"

"I m-mean, you clearly warped all of those villains in here. It was pretty obvious."

"Fair enough."

Thirteen moved in front of Izuku, her finger pointed at the villain in an obvious threat. "Surrender now, villain! Or else!"

"Don't use your quirk on him, Thirteen-san." Izuku advised quietly. "If he can create portals, then Black Hole is way too much of a risk to use."

Thirteen flinched, then turned to Kaminari. "Kaminari, have you gotten through to the school yet?"

Kaminari shook his head, pale. "I fucking can't. They have somebody jamming all the signals!"

No reinforcements until they physically got someone out- something that wasn't going to happen with this villain in the way.

Should they Reset now? No, it was still way too early- he could get so much more information if he kept this loop going. He needed to focus on beating this warper. Unfortunately, warp quirks were incredibly rare- he didn't have the slightest idea what their weakness was.

Katsuki and Kirishima's physical attacks had done nothing, meaning that the darkness wasn't a part of the villain's body. So was he entirely intangible, or was there something underneath?

A strange, eerie chuckle. "So you're brains behind this group, Midoriya? What an interesting child. It's going to be a shame to kill yo-"

"Todoroki, freeze him!" Izuku yelled.

A huge mass of ice erupted in front of him, all-encompassing frost covering the misty villain in an instant. 

It seemed like they had got him for a second. Then it was all torn apart by two dark, purple disks that combined back into darkness as the villain flowed upward, rising above the shattered crystals to his full, massive height.

"How rude," The amusement was gone, replaced with cold apathy. "That's enough of that, then."

This time, Izuku wasn't nearly fast enough to escape the advancing void.

11:28 AM, Wednesday

Izuku snapped back into focus as his body hit the water and sank through, a thick yet slippery weight present around his skin and a new jolt of pain running through his side. He closed his mouth, oriented himself vertically, and kicked hard to the surface. 

His head broke through, arms keeping him afloat over the waves, and he took a greedy gulp of air. It looked like he was in some kind of lake-

A glint of white. Izuku whirled around just in time to dodge a lunge from a fucking shark, gleaming teeth chomping down where his arm was. Cruel laughter followed the near miss.

A lake filled with villains. Fuck.

"Oh, there's one!"

"And this one actually landed in the water! Haha!"

"Finally, those creepy fucks pulled through."

"I can't wait to rip him apart!"

No thanks.

Izuku desperately swam in the opposite direction, but from the gaining voices behind him, it was no use. Every villain here seemed to have some kind of water-based quirk, most of them aquatic mutations. 

He threw an elbow behind him, his gauntlet-covered arm bashing a woman who looked like an octopus in the face and swam even harder. He stood zero chance in a fight against all of them in the water, he needed to get to land. 

"Midoriya! Over here!" 

Kirishima? Izuku glanced over to see a giant white ship just floating in place and a familiar boy with spiky hair leaning over the railing. Ashido was next to him, her usual excited smile replaced with a tense frown.

Izuku doubled in speed, frantically shaking off villains to reach the ship. He scrambled up to the top, and Kirishima's strong grip pulled him over. He let out a relieved breath as he stepped onto the deck, his bodysuit dripping wet.

"So you two got dropped here, too?"

Ashido bobbed her head. "Yeah. We got trapped in the darkness before we could get away and next thing I knew, I was on this ship and staring at a buncha villains." She shivered. "Who all want to brutally murder us."

"At least we landed on the ship," Kirishima clenched his fist. "He warped you right into them!"

Izuku nodded. "A-And they'll be climbing up here to get us in less than a minute. We need a plan."

If only Ochako was here.

"We uh, have my Acid," Ashido suggested nervously. "I haven't used my quirk at all today, so I can spam 'em from up here for a while. But we can't hold off that many assholes with just the three of us forever, and as soon as this ship goes under me and Ejirou are like, super screwed."

Kirishima winced. "...Yeah. With my Hardening activated, I sink like a stone. And Mina's acid doesn't really mix well with water."

"So we need to get off this ship and onto land as fast as we can," Izuku concluded. "From the glass dome right above our heads we're still in the USJ, and I can just make out the plaza over there. There's probably more villains about in the rest of the facility, but our chances of fighting them off will be far better over there than here."

This USJ seemed to be a place to train their rescue capabilities, a huge facility filled with terrain simulations like this lake. That's how Izuku knew that this ship wasn't operable in the slightest and that there were no rafts or anything on board.

The three of them could try and swim for it, but they wouldn't make it very far before being caught by all of those aquatic villains. 

What to do, what to do?

Izuku looked down at his palms, uncurling and curling his gloved hands. He had been recently cleared to use electric-based support gear, hadn't he?

No, no, this wasn't a fucking movie- if he electrocuted all of those villains they would be seriously injured and maybe even drown. These were people , even if they were horrible ones trying to kill them. He couldn't just do that.

"They're almost here, Midoriya-kun!"

But did he have a choice?

"Okay, here's the plan," Izuku decided, unclasping his left gauntlet with deliberate, robotic movements. There was a slight chill as the air hit his now bare forearm. "I'm going to drop this in there, and when they stop moving we're swimming for it."

Ashido blinked. "Wait, what-"

"No time to explain," Izuku cut her off as he stepped over to the railing, watching the villains greedily swarm the boat like a bunch of hungry piranhas. He flicked on the circular device on his removed gauntlet, held it over the edge, and let go.

The screams weren't satisfying in the slightest.

11:33 AM, Wednesday

The swim back to shore was silent. Neither Ashido nor Kirishima seemed to hate him for what he just did, or even fault him for the decision, but it had thrown them off all the same. He didn't blame them.

And when they finally made it back to glorious, precious land and set foot onto the plaza again, they were greeted with a horrifying sight.

The huge, hulking figure they had seen earlier had Eraserhead's head slammed into the cement, bits of blood visible around the point of impact. His elbow looked like part of it had been torn off somehow, or even disintegrated. 

And the villain covered in hands was laughing down at the fallen hero.

"Your quirk's pretty neat, I've gotta admit," The villain told him casually. "Especially against people like me. But my Nomu here was built to fight All Might," The name was said with scathing, audible hatred. "Your Erasure's fucking useless against something that's just that strong."

"That said, the bastard still isn't fucking here- what kind of boss doesn't show up to his own boss fight?"

So the goal of this attack was to kill All Might, then. 

A familiar darkness materialized next to the hand villain. "Shigaraki Tomura, I have finished dispersing the students."

"Fucking finally. I've already dealt with Eraserhead over here. What about your mini-boss, Kurogiri?"

"Thirteen has been killed," Kurogiri responded, and Izuku's blood froze. Ashido and Kirishima went just as still next to him. "Though unfortunately, one student managed to escape during the battl-"

"Seriously? Damn it, this place is totally gonna be swarming with heroes soon- and All Might still isn't here yet!" Shigaraki scratched at his neck, agitated. Then he paused. "Though, I wonder..."

"...would killing some NPCs get him here faster?"

He knew they were there.

There was a blur of black and gray as Shigaraki suddenly sprinted towards them, accelerating to ridiculous speeds in under a second. His hand reached out, centimeters from touching Ashido's face-

Izuku's reinforced boot slammed into Shigaraki's solar plexus with every bit of force he possessed, sending the villain tumbling across the concrete in a jumbled mess of pale limbs. The hand on his face flew clean off from the impact and landed in the water with an audible splash as Ashido took a delayed step back, stunned.

Shigaraki finally came to a stop several meters away and rolled to his feet. His head snapped up in a harsh glare, chapped lips and burning red eyes freshly revealed to an unfortunate world. 

"Father! How dar-"

"You came here to kill All Might," Izuku stated. "I don't know why and honestly, I don't care- 26 different dumbasses have tried to kill him this week alone. You're not going to be reasoned by anything I tell you."

"What I want to know is why you're trying to kill my class instead. Why don't you just fuck off already and go fight the man himself?"

Surprisingly, the villain actually laughed at that. "Wasn't expecting that kind of language from a hero brat. Smashing him to pieces may be the main objective, yeah, but I'm not above completing some measly side quests beforehand. All of you heroes need to be destroyed eventually, anyway."

The words were said as a simple fact, as easy as one might say that the world isn't flat or that katsudon was delicious. 

Shigaraki's face twisted into a smirk. "And more importantly, well, I'd never turn down the chance to get some free EXP!"

The portal villain, Kurogiri, and the giant hulking figure were still standing still near Eraserhead's fallen form. It didn't look like they were hurting him, but the man clearly needed medical attention. 

For that, Izuku would need to get past these assholes first. He unclipped a hyperdensity seal from his belt and threw it right at the villain's face in a single, fluid motion.

Shigaraki's grin only widened as he tilted his head to dodge it, the projectile grazing his cheek by a hair. Damn it. Then he was dashing forward again, crossing the distance between them in an instant.

Burning red eyes met emerald green-

Shigaraki clearly had some kind of offensive touch-based quirk(he had just tried to grab Ashido's face, and was literally covered in severed hands) but its actual effect was unknown. He could very well be the villain who destroyed Aizawa's elbow. 

Ashido and Kirishima were still at Izuku's sides, Ashido now an extra step behind him. He didn't know skilled Ashido was, but Kirishima didn't seem to have much combat experience or training beyond some basic boxing skills- neither of them had been able to react to Shigaraki's lunge at all. With his hand-to-hand combat quirk and zero support gear, he was the worst off out of the three of them here.

-and Izuku leaped backward, yanking both students roughly with him by their costumes(something that was probably much more uncomfortable for Kirishima) making Shigaraki grab at nothing but air. 

"Both of you, behind me," Izuku ordered, firm. "Ashido, aim at his arms and legs. Kirishima, stay here and watch our backs."

"Gotcha, Pres." 

"Alright, Midobro!"

Despite the situation they were in, the instant trust they put in him made him feel warm, reliable. He wouldn't waste it.

Shigaraki pounced for his neck, his fingers curling in like claws into a motion that was far too practiced for Izuku's tastes, and he ducked low to avoid it. His right arm rose up- the one still covered in a metallic gauntlet- to smash hard into the villain's solar plexus in the exact same place he'd struck him before. 

But this time, Shigaraki didn't even flinch under the impact. He simply swung his forehead forward to crash into Izuku's with an audible crack. Pain exploded in Izuku's skull as he stumbled back, desperately blinking away stars. Fuck.

Shigaraki lunged again in the opening and Izuku brought his arms up just in time, right arm stopping the pale hands short- only to watch in horror as his gauntlet suddenly started to disintegrate before his eyes, black metal crumbling away into nothing under the villain's touch.

Holy shit.

Izuku jerked his arm away, horrified, and Shigaraki cackled at the sight. 

It wasn't a pretty sound. 

"There it is, haha! How I love the reactions. So what now, little NPC-"

Something white flashed by Izuku's vision. 

"-argh!" Shigaraki's voice broke into a startled scream as the glob of acid burned through his black pant leg. "The fuck?!"

Ashido fired again and the villain was forced to leap back, acid dissolving through the cement where he stood. It didn't look like she was lowering her dangerous solubility much at all.

"Back off, basic bitch!"

" Basic ?" Shigaraki repeated, indignant. "Take that back right now, you low-leveled piece of shit!"

"Make me, you pathetic excuse for a tutorial boss!" Ashido hissed, full of venom. "I mean, all black and a buncha severed hands- how fucking emo can you get? Get the fuck out of my school!"

Shigaraki screeched. "I'll kill you!"

"Shigaraki Tomura, do you require assistance-"

"Stay out of this!"

Izuku snuck in another kick on Shigaraki while he was distracted, his favorite red sneakers crashing hard against the villain's side. Shigaraki bounced back against the concrete and this time Izuku followed- dashing in before Shigaraki could recover and hurling blows with reckless precision.

Deadly pale hands flickered out in response, aiming to disintegrate Izuku's face and neck and limbs. But none of them came close to touching him.

Izuku had already memorized exactly how long the man's arms were, exactly how far he could reach. All of Shigaraki's attacks were fluid and blindingly fast, but the fact that every single one of them were attempting to achieve five-finger contact made them ridiculously predictable to Izuku- who had more than enough experience against touch-based quirks.

As a result, the once terrifying villain ringleader faced a total, one-sided beatdown as a first-year hero student weaved through every one of his grabs with calculated ease, sliding just out of reach and breaking him down with brutal focus.

The gauntlets lining Izuku's forearms were gone- one thrown away and the other destroyed- but he had one glove left and his iron-soled boots were still entirely intact. He had designed his hero costume like this for a reason, to make his normal punches and kicks into reinforced blows that struck hard enough to do actual damage. 

And it was working. Shigaraki only seemed to be getting more and more frustrated as all of his attacks failed to connect and every single one of Izuku's slammed into his body with painful accuracy. 

"Stop fucking moving -"

"Get 'em, Pres!"

A strike to the gut bent Shigaraki over with a harsh cough, a fierce uppercut sent him stumbling back, and a punch to the jaw nearly knocked him over.

Izuku thrust his gloved palm into Shigaraki's chest and the electricity glowed bright, a beautiful blue that glinted off Shigaraki's wide red eyes. And then it was over, the villain's muscles locking up as he fell backward onto the cement.

Finally. Izuku swung low to knock out the downed villain-

-only to instead hit something very, very solid with a sudden flash of pain. Izuku's right arm broke against it on impact with a loud crack. He screamed.

What the fuck?

He hadn't looked away. He hadn't blinked. In one frame of memory he was attacking Shigaraki, and in the next the hulking bird man had stepped in between them like a massive, inky-black wall. Beady eyes stared down at him, completely emotionless.

Some kind of teleportation quirk? He had arrived with the warper, but a short-range type was still possible. Wait, no- the concrete between him and a fallen Eraserhead was visibly damaged, he had simply dashed here. It was pure speed.

"But my Nomu here was built to fight All Might," The name was said with scathing, audible hatred. "Your Erasure's fucking useless against something that's just that strong."

This was why Shigaraki was so confident they could kill All Might- he had some kind of overpowered monster that could match him. Fuck. No wonder Eraserhead had been smashed into the ground so easily.

"Nomu!" Shigaraki barked from the ground. "Kill the NPCs!"

Izuku's brain kicked into overdrive-

Anything near All Might's level of speed of power was going to smash Izuku to pieces within a second-he only had time for one move. The Nomu was currently in front of him, with the muscles in its inky-black arm already bulging out. The most direct route to killing him would be a straight punch through his skull.

-and he instantly dropped to the ground, arms and body flat against the cement. A millisecond later a massive black fist burst into existence where Izuku's upper torso just was, the wind blowing over his face and sweeping back his hair. The air shook with the impact, and somewhere behind him, Ashido shrieked.

Holy fucking shit.

Izuku rolled to the side and stood, ignoring the jolt of pain in his broken arm. The Nomu's head snapped to him and its beak clacked shut.

"Ashido, aim for the legs!" Izuku screamed.

Two large globs of acid splashed onto the monster's massive knees. Ashido's control seemed to have vanished entirely now- her acid actually starting to dissolve through its durable flesh. The Nomu paused, looking down at its damaged, immobile legs curiously, but it didn't seem to register the pain at all.

Kirishima leaped in fearlessly with a hardened punch to the monster's head- that didn't even make it blink. Izuku climbed up its huge body frantically, letting loose his electric glove into its brain at maximum output. That finally seemed to do something, the disgusting smell of burning flesh and ozone hitting his nostrils and almost flashing him back to the day at the cafe-

And then a massive backhand hit him with the force of a train and Izuku was suddenly weightless, flying through the open air at supersonic speeds and tumbling, tumbling down for a single, strange moment until he finally slammed into the ground dozens of meters away and rolled to a stop in a heap of broken, aching limbs.

Fuck.

Every single part of Izuku's body hurt. He couldn't even tell what was broken and what fucking wasn't- wait, that wasn't true, his arms and ribs were definitely broken. And his collarbone too. 

Turns out that being punched by something made to fight All Might fucked you up. 

Izuku tried to stand and realized he simply couldn't, settling for raising his head. 

The Nomu was right in front of him, its inky-black skin taking up all of his vision- probably here to finish him off. But for some reason, Izuku wasn't dead. Its huge fist- bigger than Izuku's entire head- had been stopped centimeters from his face by an equally huge palm that was far lighter in color. 

Izuku blinked, his head swimming and aching like hell. Wait a minute, he knew that palm.

"You are safe now, Young Midoriya," All Might boomed, voice ringing through the plaza, and even through the haze that was Izuku's mind, he could recognize the burning anger in the hero's voice.

Whoa. 

"Because I am here."

The Symbol of Peace had finally arrived.

"You're-" Izuku coughed, and a new wave of pain wracked through his body. "-pretty fucking late, though."

All Might's huge, sturdy back flinched at that.

"I'm glad you're here, though," Izuku added, black flooding into the edges of his vision. His eyelids felt impossibly heavy- he was so damn exhausted but now that All Might was here, everything was finally alright. "H-Have you uh, seen Ochako, by the way?"

"I have, yes. She was by the gate when I arrived."

Izuku smiled at that. "When you beat up all of the villains, can you tell her to come here? There's-there's something I need to tell her to do."

"Of course, Young Midoriya."

"Thanks, Yagi-san."

Izuku let the comforting darkness creep in, and everything finally went black.

Notes:

This got to fucking 8k and is probably the longest chapter I've written. Somehow.

I honestly have no idea where the whole class president thing came from, but that actually ended up being a whole thing and felt a lot more logical than whatever canon did. Probably.

I tried to make USJ Shigaraki more of a gamer, cause I've always found that kinda hilarious. The Izuku Kirishima and Ashido team was also unplanned(I don't actually plan anything, cough) but I love them already.