14

6:22 PM, Monday

Sasaki Mirai- or as he was better known, Sir Nighteye- considered himself to be a very logical person. 

It was that very quality that made him one of the best investigative heroes in the business; his calculated decisions based on facts and pure, deductive reasoning were his strongest weapons in solving cases and locking away villainous scum.

Ever since that fateful day five long years ago, Mirai had put those very skills above his quirk, deciding to only rely on Foresight at crucial junctures. 

His loyal sidekicks assumed that he was managing his cooldown, or that he was going to further lengths to keep his activation requirements a secret- both valid reasons. However, the truth was far more selfish. Mirai was afraid of what he could see, afraid of what terrible future he could lock into existence. Good vision or bad, he'd be overpowered by the rushing stream of fate and dragged towards its inevitable conclusion. Foresight was never, ever wrong.

Until Prophet.

Now, when Mirai activated Foresight on Tsukauchi the visions he saw could actually change. He'd see no incoming calls from Prophet the rest of the week, and then there would suddenly be one the next day. He'd prepare for the fallout of a future incident and then watch it be completely averted. The future was malleable.

Prophet's quirk could overpower Foresight- and by extension, destiny itself- and fix it to their own whims. How utterly incredible.  

Where had such a powerful quirk user been all of this time, and why did they suddenly become active within the last two years?

6:23 PM, Monday

Uraraka Taichi was a tall, well-built man with little bits of stubble sprawled across his chin. He had large hands, kind eyes, and a wide smile.

On the other hand, Uraraka Hana looked like the spitting image of her daughter. She had the same short, chestnut-brown hair, the same round face, and the same constant blush around her cheeks.

Both of them were missing the little pads along Ochako's fingertips that indicated a touch-based quirk.

"It's been months since we've gotten to meet face to face, Midoriya-kun!" Uraraka grinned, always the first one through the doorway. "How are you doing, kid?"

Izuku shook his hand. "I'm doing great, Uraraka-san. Just a little busy with my new course load and all."

"U.A's not the top school around for nothing, huh?"

"No, sir."

His mother stepped out of the kitchen then with a welcoming smile, fully in host mode. "Oh, Taichi-san, Hana-chan, Ochako-chan! You're here!"

"Hey, Inko."

"Sorry that we're late!" Hana(as she insisted Izuku call her) apologized with a nod. "Ochako held us up a little, you see- she lost her phone and had us searching all over her apartment for it! And guess where I found it?"

Ochako visibly winced, her cheeks tinting an adorable red. 

Inko laughed. "The couch?"

"Inside the couch!" Hana confirmed, amused. "Really, I wonder sometimes how my little girl even lives by herself-"

"Mama!"

"Don't worry, Ochako-chan, I misplace my things all the time too. I'm so lucky my Izuku's memory is so good- he can always tell me exactly where everything is. Meanwhile, I can put my phone down somewhere and then immediately forget all about it!"

Ochako perked up. "I know, right? He has basically everything tucked away in that big brain of his! He has so many facts. I can ask him totally something random like uh, what the capital of Germany is-"

"That's just common knowledge, though," Izuku interjected.

"Germany?" Inko blinked. "Um..."

"It's Berlin, Mom."

"Thank you, honey."

"-and boom!" Ochako finished.

"I don't think that was much of a challenge, Ochako." Uraraka put in mildly. "How about this? Midoriya-kun, which country invented tea?"

"China, almost 5000 years ago now." 

"What color is a giraffe's tongue?"

"Purple."

"When was the first World War?"

Izuku searched through the history textbooks saved in his memory, flipping through hundreds of boring pages for stuff about- ah, there it was.

"1914."

"What mammal has no vocal cords?"

"Giraffes."

"How many eyes does an ordinary, quirkless bee have?"

"Five-" Izuku blinked. "Wait, aren't these all just trivia questions?"

And why were there two questions about giraffes?

"Yep, and you knew the answer to every single one of them!" Uraraka exclaimed. "I take back the skepticism, kid- you're amazing! I should bring you out to trivia night sometime!"

"I'm uh, pretty sure they ban memory quirks at those things..."

6:23 PM, Monday

As always, Mom's cooking turned out to be absolutely delicious. It automatically brought a smile onto his face and with his perfect memory, he could capture the exact moment that the taste set in for every person at the table and they visibly brightened up.

"How was your first day at U.A, you two?" Hana asked after a few minutes of bliss.

Izuku and Ochako exchanged a glance.

"It was uh, interesting," Ochako said. "We met our new classmates, and most of them seem pretty nice. Though we didn't really get a chance to talk to them..."

"Our new homeroom teacher, Eraserhead, didn't want us to 'waste any time' with side conversations," Izuku explained.

"I've never heard of that pro hero," Hana remarked. "Does he operate in this area?"

Izuku nodded. "That's because he's an underground hero- one of the best, at that. He doesn't care for rankings or appearances, instead, he's solely focused on logic and efficiency; getting us attentive, dressed, and ready as fast as possible."

"My, he certainly sounds quite strict," Inko commented. "But I'm glad that your new teacher is so serious, honey- I feel a lot better knowing someone like that is the one teaching you how to stop dangerous villains.

"Yeah, I get what you mean. And Eraserhead fights with a non-physical quirk, just like I do! But I still kinda wish he hadn't made our first day hadn't been so intense."

"Intense?" Uraraka repeated. 

"He made us skip the student orientation to take his Quirk Apprehension Test," Ochako took over. "He had everyone compete in these physical exercises with our quirks to see where we were. There was a ball throw, an endurance run, and a bunch of other stuff."

"Like a pre-test?" Hana asked.

"Yeah, but so much more stressful!" Ochako exclaimed. "He told us that whoever got last place overall would be expelled! Apparently, U.A teachers are given free rein to do that."

"To be fair, a lot of kids weren't taking the test seriously until Eraserhead said that," Izuku said. "But wow, that was a lot of pressure..."

Perfect Recall didn't give him an advantage in a single one of the exercises. It had been a tense few minutes as Izuku did his absolute best in every test, knowing that practically everyone he was competing against was better off here than he was. And if he let himself fall to the bottom, everything he had worked so damn hard for the past few years would just slip out of his fingers.

So he forced himself to do as many pushups and situps as he could, full of an odd mix of desperation and determination. His long jump had just been embarrassing, really, but his dash, grip strength, and repeated side steps had been decent enough, he thought. And he was able to somewhat replicate that frog girl's kick(he couldn't get his body into exactly the same muscle position and stability, since he simply didn't have her mutation) and shift its angle a little to get a very nice distance on the ball throw. 

Izuku was super lucky that the last exercise was an endurance run- with all these years of morning jogs and workouts and sparring he could keep going longer than almost anyone his age. 

All in all, he ended up in-

"-10th," Ochako said. "And I placed 7th. I'm pretty proud that we beat half the class, actually. A lot of them seemed super strong."

"That's great, Ochako! But what about the kid who got last?" Inko asked, worried. "Was he really..."

Izuku winced. "The guy in last place didn't seem to take Eraserhead's words seriously at all or put much effort into his tests. His quirk was pretty useful, and I did see him make use of a fair amount of its applications, but he uh, clearly didn't do a single bit of physical conditioning before U.A."

Not to mention his very...unheroic personality.

"Yeah. Eraserhead didn't expel him, but he did transfer him to General Education on the spot. We were all shocked that he actually followed through with the threat- and a little scared, honestly. But there wasn't any malice in the way he did it. He calmly and logically explained why he was kicking Mineta out of the hero course-"

Ochako huffed. "Mineta wasn't prepared to be a hero at all and was a total creep, sure. But just because kicking him out was logical doesn't mean that it was right, Izuku-kun. I don't think he would have made a very good hero, either, but Aizawa shouldn't have made that decision on just the first day using the results of his own weird pre-test."

"I guess. But he was only moved to General Education in the end," Izuku pointed out. "Not actually expelled. For all we know, Mineta could get transferred back in after he performs decent enough in the Sports Festival- a few current heroes have gotten into the Hero Course through that event."

"...That's true. Seems pretty unlikely to me, though."

"Oh yes, the Sports Festival's coming up soon!" Hana latched instantly onto the new topic. "How do you kids think you're going to do?"

"It depends a lot on what the events are this year, Mama. Like, I'm totally screwed if we have to do that maze thing..."

"I remember that one!" Uraraka chuckled. "It blindsided almost all of the freshmen last year."

"Izuku and I have always loved watching the U.A Festival every year," Inko said. "It's so incredible to think our own children are actually participating in this one, isn't it?"

Uraraka nodded in agreement. "Yes. In just a few short weeks, it's going to be our daughter up on that podium giving the annual speech to the entire country. I couldn't be more proud of her!"

Ochako froze in place. "...Speech?"

"Your speech, Ochako! You know, the one you get to give as the top scorer on the practical exam?"

A moment of startling realization and pure, dawning horror. Then-

" Fuck. "

"Language!"

11:02 AM, Tuesday

Every single person on U.A's staff was a licensed Pro Hero. 

Izuku was still getting used to the idea, honestly. Being taught by actual heroes and seeing them every day was practically a dream come true- even when he was stuck in Art History(Izuku could just memorize everything in the textbook if he wanted) or English(Present Mic had been excited to find another fluent speaker, but already knowing the language made the class pretty much worthless for Izuku.)

The chef was no exception. U.A students were served lunch by the Cook Hero: Lunch Rush; a rescue hero well known for his amazing culinary skills. 6 years ago, he prepared ten thousand, full-course French meals for victims of a typhoon all on his own. 

And in his cafeteria, he served a wide variety of food that Izuku and Ochako both loved. 

"I can't believe you never told me I was giving a speech, Izuku-kun!"

Today, though, the latter was a bit too distracted to enjoy her food.

"Honestly, I thought you already knew," Izuku replied. "That's why the top practical score's such a big deal in the first place and everything, and you told me you watched the festival every year."

"I totally forgot about it!" Ochako wailed, her face falling into her hands. "'I never even expected that I'd get the most points."

"On the bright side, you have a really good chance to get yourself recognized at the festival. A good speech will bring a decent amount of focus onto you before the competition even begins, and you're amazing enough to do the rest."

"But it's so much pressure, though! There are going to be thousands of people in that stadium, and so many more watching worldwide. If I mess up or say something dumb..."

"You won't," Izuku assured her. "We have weeks to prepare for it, Ochako."

Ochako sighed. "Yeah, I guess- I'll just need to practice a lot. Oh yeah, speaking of practicing, we have our first heroics class today, right? Wonder what Yagi-san's gonna make us do."

"He's going to throw us right into the thick of it," Izuku responded immediately.

"...Really?"

"Yep."

"I mean, U.A's a pretty big deal and it's his first day on the job. He'll probably start us off with something small-"

2:04 PM, Tuesday

"-a Battle Trial!" All Might grinned wide, standing tall in his Silver Age costume with his hands on his hips. "All twenty of you will form ten teams of two and then compete against each other in a designated combat scenario!"

The Symbol of a Peace was more a hero than an educator, and his time with Izuku and Ochako plus a few months of a teaching course simply wasn't enough to change that yet. 

On that note, The Symbol of Peace himself was currently in front of them in full hero mode- and this time, Izuku wasn't even reeling from a villain attack! If his four-year-old self was here, he'd probably faint. Heck, current Izuku might faint.

"One team will be acting as 'Heroes', and the other as 'Villians.' All Might explained. "The Villian team get five minutes to hide the paper mache bomb in any room in the building and prepare before the Heroes enter."

"The Heroes win if they manage to touch the bomb, while the Villians win if they can last the full ten minutes until time runs out! Alternatively, a team can win by capturing or knocking out both of their opponents."

"The building will have five floors," Eraserhead added. "And multiple entry points. You'll be provided with earpieces so that you can hear me once inside. All Might will be stationed inside the fake city and will interfere in the exercise if necessary. Any questions?"

The purple-haired girl with the ear jack quirk raised her hand. "...Isn't this a bit complicated for our first day, All Might-sensei?"

All Might chuckled. "I believe in learning by doing, you see! This is how my mentor taught me as well, and I trust you all are quite capable!"

Jirou blinked at the response but didn't say anything more. That was a lot of trust to put into a bunch of temperamental teenagers.

"Wait, where the fuck are the pins to my gauntlets?" Katsuki yelled out a moment later, holding up his grenade-like arms. Sure enough, their firing mechanisms seemed to be missing.

Eraserhead didn't even blink. "Until you pass the appropriate safety course, offensive support items of extreme magnitude will be disabled. Similarly, Midoriya, you're gauntlets will have their electricity function locked until you attend the required lecture. You'll need to sign up for that at some point as well, Kaminari, but you're allowed full use of your quirk for now. Ashido..."

So he'd gone through all of their support gear, Izuku noted. In contrast to their beloved mentor, Eraserhead seemed to be a very competent teacher.

Izuku's costume was a black bodysuit made out of smooth, protective fabric(some kind of polyester?) with emerald-green highlights along his limbs and sides. His boots were reinforced with iron soles and his forearms and hands were covered with thin, metallic black gauntlets to increase the power of his attacks. With a small button, he could unfold the part around his fingers to transfer memories. He had a green utility belt around his waist that was hooked with two hyper-density seals- 5 kg projectiles modeled after Sir Nighteye's unique, stamp-shaped weapons. 

There was also a circular device on his palm to deliver a wicked shock, though it was currently disabled. Ochako had given him the idea for that based on the very first villain they had encountered, and it was weirdly symbolic.

"If that's all, we're going to jump right into it!" All Might declared. "The first match will be Midoriya Izuku and Koda Koji as Heroes versus Todoroki Shouto and Ashido Mina as Villians!"

2:07 PM, Tuesday

A minute later, Izuku was staring up at a tall building. 

If he was with Ochako, they could probably just float up to the roof and work their way down to take the Villian Team on directly. Sadly, he wasn't working with her for this exercise.

He turned to his actual partner; a fairly well-built, quiet boy with a rock-like head. He seemed nervous, his hands currently clasped tight in front of his chest- probably because they were about to face the most powerful recommended student in their year.

Todoroki Shouto, the son of the Number Two Hero. He was rumored to have a powerful elemental quirk that let him produce both ice and fire in huge amounts(supported by the dual-colored hair) and six girlfriends(that last one was probably fake, but who knew?). So far, Izuku had only seen him use his right side- the ice part of his abilities.

He was very skilled with his quirk and his movements were clean and efficient, casually displaying years of experience. Izuku doubted that a man like Endeavor would loosen up on his son's training, after all.

Ashido Mina was an excitable, agile girl whose quirk seemed to let her create acid. She had several mutant aspects as a result- light pink skin, black sclera, and horns. She could control the viscosity of her acid, allowing her to smoothly slide to where she wanted to go or effortlessly dissolve steel.

In contrast, Izuku had a good memory and Koda could talk to animals. Not exactly the best odds.

"Koda, how exactly does your quirk work?"

"I..." Koda gestured something with his hands. 

Izuku blinked, confused.

Koda gestured again- oh, sign language!

Izuku leaned forward, staring closely at the boy's movements. "Can you repeat that again, but just a little slower?"

He'd never actually used JSL before or met anyone who did. However, Perfect Recall certainly had its perks, and with every hand sign saved into his memory combined with a collection of YouTube videos he watched on nonverbal communication when he was 8, Izuku could translate fluently.

My quirk is named A-N-I-V-O-I-C-E. I can talk to animals and ask for their help. What about you?

"Oh, my quirk just gives me a good memory," Izuku answered. "But I'm pretty skilled at hand-to-hand combat, too. Do you have any combat experience, Koda-san?"

Koda shook his head.

"...Alright. Try calling for some animals now, and let's see how many allies we can get before the exercise starts."

Unfortunately, it turned out that there just weren't many creatures to be found in a fake, cement city. Izuku was beginning to lose hope when finally, Koda found a passing hawk named Gary who agreed to assist them.

Gary was enthusiastic to be doing something, actually, since according to Koda he was 'very bored and lonely.' Izuku had eyed his classmate for a moment, wondering if the rock-like boy was messing with him.

It was simple enough to have Gary fly circles around their target building, carefully peeking through every window for the fake bomb until he found it in a room on the fifth floor. According to what Gary told Koda and Koda signed to Izuku, the bomb was placed in the center and the room was otherwise empty and untouched.

Todoroki was most likely in the hallway outside- the optimal position to attack approaching enemies and use his wide area attacks in an open space without hitting the bomb.

Ashido, on the other hand, will definitely split away to confront Izuku and Koda directly. She had the advantage in both mobility and range over them.

"So we'll enter through the front," Izuku decided. "And make our way up with Gary scouting out the way. You didn't use your quirk at all during the apprehension test, so a random hawk inside the building will confuse but not immediately alert her."

"We can probably eliminate Ashido with the both of us, but it'd take way too much time. Do you think you and Gary can hold her off by yourselves?"

Koda hesitated. I can try, but I doubt it. My skin is durable but not nearly durable enough to resist her acid. Sorry.

"That's fine," Izuku replied. "I just need you to buy me enough time to slip past her."

Okay. But doesn't this plan leave you to face off against ice boy alone? How are you going to beat him?

Izuku just shrugged. Honestly? He had no clue.

2:12 PM, Tuesday

"Start." Aizawa's monotone voice resounded throughout the fake city, and the Hero team was off and into the building. Koda sent Gary ahead to look out for Ashido, the hawk surprisingly agile in the tight hallways. 

Designed just for urban scenarios, everything inside from the floors to the walls to the steps was colored a dull, plain gray. Knowing exactly where the bomb was meant they didn't need to spend any time combing through every room. Instead, Izuku and Koda struck a direct path for the stairs up.

They found Ashido on the third floor, sliding down the hallway on a veil of white acid at high speeds. Her limbs swung back and forth in an impressive show of balance as a bright grin graced her face.

She never saw Izuku peek around the corner, a small stamp held tight between his fingers. He launched the projectile right into her path, striking her knee at the perfect angle and sending her tumbling down to the floor.

"Ack!"

A confused 'Villain' regained her bearings just in time to get divebombed by a hawk, wings flapping in her face and screeches loud in her ears. Of course, Gary didn't actually hurt her- Koda was way too nice for that- but it was extremely disorienting for the girl nonetheless.

Izuku gave Koda a nod before he ran right past their downed and distracted opponent up to the fifth floor. He picked up his fallen seal on the way- he'd probably need it.

The good news was that he knew exactly which room the bomb was in. Gary had described the interior of it to Koda, who'd translated the information for him in an interesting game of telephone. And well, the fact that the furthest room in the hallway had its door completely covered in ice and a tall, dual-haired boy standing guard in front of it didn't exactly hurt, either.

The bad news was that the room he needed to get into was far away, completely covered in ice, and had a tall, dual-haired boy standing guard in front of it. 

Todoroki turned, and heterochromatic eyes met emerald-green. Izuku broke into a sprint.

Time slowed to a crawl.

The distance between them was approximately twenty meters, all flat ground, and the hallway was only a few Ochakos wide. He had two hyper-density seals hooked to his belt and stamina left in spades. 

Beautiful white crystals bloomed into existence, sprawling across the gray floor within moments. He sidestepped the attack with casual ease, spikes piercing nothing but air.

Todoroki shifted his weight to his left leg, shoulders loosening out. The fingers on his right hand curled in before the rest of the arm swung forward, his entire body twisting in with the movement-

Izuku dodged to the right and a huge wall of ice rushed past him, chilly air brushing over his cheek. His next exhale was visible, his bodysuit tight against his skin. He put a bit more weight into his steps, maintaining his balance on the frozen floor. 

A twitch of Todoroki's hand and Izuku ducked smoothly, ice shards racing right over his head. Those heterochromatic eyes widened just the tiniest bit, his blank face expressing the slightest sliver of confusion. 

When Izuku was five meters away, the air temperature dropped, ice sliding out from every part of the hallway and stretching rapidly across the ceiling, floor, and walls like a contained glacier. And in the narrow hallway, there was no space to dodge an attack like that.

Izuku threw two seals.

The first one was effortlessly deflected by a mass of ice, making it nowhere near Todoroki and creating a sizeable dent in the wall.

The second streaked sideways, totally away from his opponent, and shattered the nearby window. Izuku dove after it just before the ice wave hit, tumbling through the new exit and right out of the building.

And then he was in terrifying free-fall and facing a five-story drop.

He shot out his arm, gloved, desperate fingers grasping a ledge and holding tight. 

Izuku crawled along the side of the building as quickly as he could, found the bomb room from the outside, and kicked his way in through the window. Surprisingly, Todoroki wasn't inside- why hadn't he burned through his own ice barrier yet?

There was no one to stop Izuku from stalking up to the paper-mache bomb and placing his palm on it.

"And the Heroes have captured the bomb, winning them the exercise!" All Might's voice rang throughout the building, carrying a hint of pride.

"Teams, please return to the monitoring room for the review!"

Notes:

I don't know much about sign language, so if I messed up that small bit with Koda please let me know!

I switched around all of the Battle Trial pairs because Izuku and Ochako vs Katsuki and Iida is boring in every way you spin it, and way too easy for both of them.

All Might jumping straight into the battle trials is kinda wacky from a teacher's standpoint(the whole fumbling with cards/script thing in canon really hammers home his inexperience) when the students haven't really gone through basic training and stuff. It's really in character, though, for him to 'learn by doing' and this All Might hasn't suddenly become Best Teacher Ever. Also, it's funny how in canon All Might is in the monitoring room with the class and places his students(the ones in a full-on combat situation) in a building far out of his own reach.

Aizawa is there this time, because really, why wouldn't he be?

Support gear is awesome, but why the fuck can Bakugo have a weapon of mass destruction that drastically boosts his EXPLOSION quirk on the second day? The fact that he almost kills someone first thing really shouldn't have been too unexpected.