Chapter 4: Plus (Ultra) One

A/N: And here's chapter 4! Enter Midoriya Izuku, aka resident cinnamon bun! We're going to be getting into some plot set-up here in the next few chapters, so while the chapters may be important, they're not action-packed. That will be coming, I promise. Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows last chapter!

In addition, I said earlier that I calculated some statistics. Cue Midoriya being a secret master tactician and genius.

Also, warnings for Bakugo's language, though you honestly should be expecting his nonsense if you're familiar with the series.

It had made the news, and Izuku watched with wide eyes as the footage of the white-haired boy killing the massive creature that had attacked the U.A. Games played on the metro's TV screen again. The entire car was watching in silence, the unforgettable event from four days ago still a shock to most. Bakugo and Todoroki were still reeling from the incident, flabbergasted by both the rescue – which had been entirely necessary, despite all of Bakugo's fuming – and the instant kill of the gigantic creature.

One blink. That had been it, and then the massive thing had split in half, cut cleanly down the middle by the long blade the white-haired boy carried. He'd been injured though, and from what Bakugo said, it had happened when he'd tackled the two U.A. students out of the way. So not only had he instantly killed a beast thirty feet tall, but he'd also done that while injured. What sort of Quirk could enable someone to do that?

The ding of the metro doors opening broke off Izuku's hurried muttering, and he exited the train with the crowd of people, scurrying from the train station just ahead of the blonde ball of anger and confusion that was Bakugo following the U.A. Games. Several people called out to him as he passed, cheering and congratulating him absently on his success in the tournament, and he waved hesitantly back at them. The attention had been strange after that first day, and the second day…and the third as well…but he was starting to get the hang of it.

He pulled out his student ID as he walked through the gates of U.A. High School to defuse the alarm, then hurried up the steps through the crush of other students, his backpack knocking against his back. The TV screens inside the building also were playing the insane footage of the sword-wielding teen's intervention, and he glanced up to watch again as he rummaged through his locker, brow furrowing.

"Deku-kun! Hi!"

He whirled around with a startled yelp, books clenched against his chest. Uraraka was there, standing behind him with a pretty smile on her round face. Her brown bob bounced cheerfully, her pretty eyes blinking at him as she leaned up into his face. He couldn't help the sudden thudding of his heart, and his face steamed as he saw that wow, her eyelashes are so long, and does she have a few freckles on the bridge of her nose too-

"A-aah! M-morning, Uraraka-san!"

So close!

He breathed a sigh of relief when she backed up a pace and gave him one of those floaty smiles, but only because his heart had decided to stop humming in his ribcage and he could actually breathe again. They walked to class side by side, carefully maneuvering around the crowds of general studies and business students, then finally making their way up the less crowded floors of the school where their classroom was located. The door was open when they arrived, Iida already seated at his desk, poring over the chapter they were supposed to read the night before. Uraraka waved upon seeing the notoriously earnest teenager, bouncing over to him with a grin. Izuku followed, greeting Ashido, Todoroki, and Asui -Tsu-tsuyu-chan! – on the way past.

"Midoriya-kun, can you believe the complexity of the sentences we were assigned last night?" Iida wasn't holding back, already discussing the homework in full vigor, eyes still fixed on the textbook in his hands. "Three gerunds in sentence six alone, not to mention that the entire sentence was in past perfect tense."

Izuku blinked then took out his homework, finding sentence six further down the page. Then he looked at Iida's homework, puzzling over the difference.

"I thought it was in past continuous, Iida-kun," he said after a moment. "Aren't gerunds usually found with the continuous tense?"

Everything was quiet for a minute, and then half the class exploded with wails of 'nooooo' or 'I forgot about that!' Izuku went a bit pink in the face and held up his hands, frantically trying to reassure his classmates. Then Bakugo slammed the door open, looking surly as usual, and slouched over to his desk, where he put his feet up and leaned back to talk to Kirishima. And the happy chaos continued, until the door opened again.

In the blink of an eye, everyone was seated and silent, watching patiently as Aizawa-sensei rolled himself through the doorway, still wrapped in his sleeping bag. Today he had a juice box instead of the usual bagged juice, and he looked less than overjoyed about it. Then again, he looked less than overjoyed about pretty much everything, but today it was definitely more noticeable than usual. Izuku frowned, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. What if something had happened? Maybe All Might's time limit had decreased again? Or maybe there actually was something wrong with his eyes, an injury leftover from the USJ disaster?

But then class began, Aizawa first lecturing them about the internships they'd be getting to choose later in the week. Then he high-tailed it out the door about forty times quicker than usual, and Class 1-Awent straight into the usual routine math, science, and English classes that were standard for their grade level. In English, it turned out that Midoriya had been right about sentence six, but had completely mistranslated sentence two, so everyone had actually received about the same grade. Excluding Mineta, that is, as he had forgotten to do the homework entirely, and Yaoyorozu, who had miraculously gotten everything right (again).

However, towards the very end of their math class, just as they were about to go to lunch, there was a knock on the door. The teacher looked up in surprise, reshuffling her notes in preparation to leave.

"Come in, we've just finished." She said. The door slid open to reveal Aizawa, who was standing at the front of the classroom with a remarkably alert expression in his dark eyes. A little behind him was Principal Nedzu and All Might, who also had incredibly serious expressions. Nedzu climbed up onto the podium at the front of the room with an apologetic wave to the professor, then gestured for All Might to shut the door, and the tall hero did so, stepping back outside the classroom.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have an important announcement to make to the class of 1-A," he apologized, whiskers twitching. The entire class sat up at that, leaning forward in anticipation. "As you all are aware, there was an intervention in a potentially life-threatening situation at the U.A. Sports Festival by a boy supposedly on the run from the rescue hero Elasticity. After he was captured and placed in medical custody, he has been interviewed by both pro-heroes and police. We have jointly determined that he is not a threat to anyone's safety and is likely suffering from head trauma in conjunction with a difficult past, which would account for both his behavior and his lack of information about himself."

Izuku could hear Bakugo's knuckles cracking the laminate of his desk at the mention of the white-haired boy. He flinched a little bit at the noise. In the back of the classroom, he knew Todoroki was also stewing, puzzling over the mysterious character that had saved his life. Nedzu didn't even pause.

"However, his skill with his Quirk and combat techniques are far beyond what any normal fifteen-year-old could possess," the mouse said, his voice turning stern. "And beyond this, he does not appear to exist on any form of official documentation. However, since the police cannot justify keeping him behind bars, it has been decided that he will remain in a controlled environment where pro-heroes can keep an eye on him. To this end, I volunteered U.A. for this task."

The sudden ripple of realization echoed through the class, nervous titters whispering between Kaminari and Sero. Nedzu raised a paw, and Aizawa stepped forward, glaring drolly out from underneath his dark fringe. All Might was still noticeably outside, his voice distorted by the closed door but still faintly audible.

"Obviously, as some of you have realized, this means he is going to be placed in your class," the disheveled man grunted. "As my Quirk is suited for disabling others' Quirks, I'm the best suited to monitor and observe him. But before any of you kids jump to conclusions, there is something that the teachers and police think that you should know about this boy."

His tone was dark and grim, almost pained, and that alone was enough to make even Bakugo look mildly surprised. Izuku could feel his heart pounding in his chest, anticipation building. And then the words came out, and suddenly all that suspense was dropping into horror.

"He has seen far, far too much violence for a fifteen-year-old," Aizawa said quietly. "And he bears scars of those encounters, large scars, both mental and physical. Do not needlessly antagonize him, and if he acts hostile for any reason, try to placate him and report the incident – we are trying to allow him a safe environment for his mind to recuperate enough to give us clues as to his origin. Do I make myself clear?"

There was silence from the stunned class, and both Principal Nedzu and Aizawa-sensei correctly took that lack of response as agreement. After all, it took a lot to silence Bakugo and the other rowdy members of Class 1-A. So then Nedzu turned to the door and clapped his paws cheerfully, as if the warning he'd just given to the members of class 1-A hadn't been ominous.

"All Might, if you would?" he called, and then the door was flung open to reveal a smiling, muscled man in a golden pinstripe suit, who stood protectively beside a smaller figure. All Might held the door open for the smaller person, allowing them to slowly limp inside, hampered by a pair of crutches. The class tried to hold their breath as the shock of bright white hair and pale golden skin greeted them, wary of upsetting the teenager who had singlehandedly destroyed a creature taller than a house. The boy stopped beside Aizawa at the front of the classroom, his U.A. uniform perfectly creased. Izuku had to admit that the teenager's clean, well-kept appearance surprised him. He'd actually been expecting the mysterious kid to be more like Bakugo, all rough edges and spiteful comments, but except for the crutches and the bandages wrapped around his temple, he looked almost picture-perfect.

And then the white-haired teenager lifted his head, and Izuku quickly took all of those thoughts back, flinching away from the arctic glare and cold scowl that snarled the teenager's otherwise attractive face into terrifying heartlessness. All Might patted him on the shoulder, apparently unafraid of the brooding sneer on the white-haired teen's face.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself, young man," the Symbol of Peace said. "Greet your new classmates with a smile!"

Instantly, the air felt heavy and thick, like syrup, and the white-haired boy shot a dark glare up at All Might, the impossibly cold emerald of his eyes glittering. The boy's upper lip curled in a snarl.

"First, give my blade back," he spat. "You had no right to take it."

Principal Nedzu intervened here with a frown.

"It is against school policy to allow students weapons outside of training," the mouse said placatingly. The white-haired boy rolled his eyes with a sneer. Izuku shivered. The teenager would be very handsome if he wasn't so scary.

"Because your Quirks can't be more destructive than a blade, obviously," he drawled sarcastically, his fists clenched so tightly on the crutches in his hands that his knuckles had gone white with strain, and the metal trembled faintly. "…you have no right to keep that sword from me. You have no idea what it means to me."

Izuku opened his mouth a fraction, starting to see the cause of the boy's behavior as he analyzed the other teenager's body language, but just as he was about to start speaking, Bakugo let out a loud snort of derision.

"Oh, what a fuckin' pansy," he mocked. "Boo hoo, you can't have your stupid sword. If it's that big a deal to you, why don't you just chain the fuckin' thing in its sheath or something?"

Izuku shrank back into his chair as Aizawa rounded on Bakugo with a stern glare, but then Nedzu followed Bakugo's red eyes to where they were glued to the white-haired teenager's shaking hands and the white medical bracelet clipped around his wrist. The mouse principal appeared to consider this for a moment, then looked at All Might and nodded silently above the new student's head.

"That would be an acceptable compromise for the time being," Nedzu said decisively, and almost immediately the white-haired boy's head shot up, his brow and dark scowl smoothing into surprise. Something like relief shot across the faintly golden face, some sort of deep-rooted fear loosening in his posture, and he let himself slump forward. The trembling eased a bit.

"…thank you." Without the bite of cornered fury in his voice, Izuku abruptly realized that the boy, though still intimidating, seemed almost nervous, as if he was unsure of what to expect from a classroom of twenty students. Hesitantly, the teenager dipped his head, the closest he could get to a bow while stuck with crutches.

"My name is Hitsugaya Toushiro," he introduced himself politely. "…It's nice to meet you all."

Izuku bit his lip at the flat sound of the second sentence and glanced anxiously around at Uraraka and Iida to see if they'd heard the same insincerity in the boy's voice. It had almost seemed like he'd wanted to add on to his introduction, but hadn't quite managed to drum up the willpower, courage, or desire to do so. Uraraka's brown gaze met his eyes briefly – she'd heard it too, then.

Hitsugaya was directed to sit at a desk squeezed into the back of the room, and he quietly made his way there on his crutches. Aizawa followed him to the back of the room, as did All Might, and then Principal Nedzu waved his paws.

"Alright kids, go eat lunch." The order to leave was clear, and slowly, everyone in Class 1-A except the mysterious Hitsugaya left the room. Izuku shot one last glance at the other teenager, noting that the violent shaking of the teenager's fingertips hadn't ceased, and then quietly exited the room, following after Uraraka and Iida.

At lunch, almost all of Class 1-A grouped together, pushing a few tables together so they could talk about the new addition to the class. Even Bakugo sat with them, though he was separated from the rest by Kirishima and he was pretending to not be paying attention. For a moment, it was utterly silent, everyone picking at their food in confusion and anxiety. And then Hagakure broke the silence, her empty-seeming uniform bouncing around as she talked.

"What do you think his Quirk is?" she mused. "Do you think he can teleport like that weird smoky villain from the USJ?"

Iida, who was sitting between Uraraka and Midoriya, raised his hand and adjusted his glasses, a glum look passing across his face.

"I doubt it, Hagakure-san. He can't have been teleporting, otherwise the giant monster wouldn't have been harmed. It must have been a speed technique of some kind…a speed technique to make mine seem worthless…"

As Iida buried his head in his hands, Izuku hesitantly brought out the journal he'd been writing in earlier, looking over the brief analysis he'd made of the white-hair- er, Hitsugaya-kun's Quirk. Tsuyu nodded at him.

"Midoriya-chan, what do you think?" she asked, drawing attention to the fact that the green-haired teenager had one of his 'Hero Analysis' notebooks out. Like clockwork, all of Class 1-A except the snarling Bakugo leaned in eagerly, causing Izuku to stutter.

"I-I ah, uhm…uh, I was doing some calculations earlier, because I'm pretty sure it is a speed technique of some kind – or at least, I was…"

At that, Todoroki's interest was piqued, and his heterochromatic gaze locked onto Izuku's freckled face, blinking once.

"…You don't think it's a speed technique?" he asked curiously. Izuku shook his head, putting the notebook down in front of his lunch. Yaoyorozu and Iida leaned in to look at it, as did Tokoyami and a few others.

"I don't think so," Izuku explained. "After all, Hitsugaya-kun disappeared and reappeared so quickly that we barely lost sight of him at all, and when I looked up how quickly people can process images, I found that we only need thirteen milliseconds to recognize an image. And since I couldn't really estimate how far he went in that movement, I just assumed that he wouldn't lose speed over shorter distances, and tried to calculate how quickly he'd be able to get behind me and therefore disappear completely from my sight. Since making a movement like that would probably require him to move three-quarters of a meter, I gave him the maximum 13 milliseconds to make that movement and calculated the speed…and it's just impossible. He'd be going from standing still to moving over 200 km an hour at a minimum in less than a millisecond, and I don't think the human body can handle that kind of instant acceleration and deceleration."

Tokoyami looked up from the string of calculations in some confusion. Everyone else at the table looked at Izuku with some trepidation, and no little awe over Hitsugaya's insane Quirk.

"Then what could his Quirk be?" the bird-headed teenager asked. Izuku bit his lip, taking the notebook back and starting to pick at his rice again.

"I don't know. Some kind of time-warping Quirk? But that's not possible, otherwise he wouldn't have been injured rescuing Kacchan and Todoroki-kun, but…"

The rest of the table tuned Izuku out as he started muttering and theorizing, contemplating the information that the broccoli-haired student had put forth. Then Todoroki sighed, letting a puff of chilly mist escape from his mouth.

"Regardless of what his Quirk actually is, it's very powerful," he pointed out evenly, "And he knows how to effectively use it, as well, otherwise he would not have leapt in to save Bakugo and I."

At that, Bakugo exploded on his end of the table, looking surly as usual.

"You fuckheads, it's not a speed Quirk or any of that bullshit," he spat, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "I don't know what the fuck it is, but it's not a stupid speed Quirk."

Even as Class 1-A turned to stare at the blonde, Todoroki intervened, his heterochromatic eyes narrowing to thin slits of brown and blue.

"So he actually did something to you, Bakugo-san?" Todoroki asked, his voice stiff with trepidation. Bakugo snarled.

"Yeah, the little shit wrenched my arms behind my back. Felt like I was trying to break out of a fucking iron straightjacket. You lot tell me which fucking Quirk can do that with apparently-invisible handcuffs or whatever on top of making him a fucking bullet."

That seemed to break Izuku from his thoughts, and the green-headed teenager took this information in stride.

"Maybe it's spatial manipulation, then." Izuku chimed in again. "Maybe Hitsugaya-kun can manipulate spacetime and gravity enough to warp dimensions. I can't imagine that being a real Quirk though – it's far too complex to be easily used when he saved you, Kacchan."

"Shut up, Deku! I didn't need to be fuckin' saved by a pansy who whines just because he can't have his fuckin' kill-toy," the explosive teenager growled aggressively, glaring at his classmates, Izuku in particular. "Especially not if that shithead couldn't even jump in without getting his fuckin' leg nearly sliced off."

Kirishima grinned a bit at his friend, elbowing him in the ribs.

"What, Bakugo, you feeling sorry for him after seeing him hobble around on those crutches?" the redhead asked with a grin, causing Bakugo to vehemently deny the accusation and slam his hand down on the table loudly enough to break Izuku from his (second) train of thought. Quickly, the lunch discussion-group devolved into chaos, Bakugo at the center of it all, and all thoughts of Hitsugaya were temporarily set aside in favor of avoiding the food sent flying by the blonde boy's temper. And if Deku ended up covered in rice, well, Bakugo definitely hadn't done it on purpose.

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