Chapter 38 - Nezu

(A/N: Maybe I'll post more, maybe not. It is what it is.)

Nezu led them to the cafeteria of U.A. High, where Izuku realized where he currently was, inside U.A. High. He felt the interior of this school perfectly fit with the image he had built upon the grandeur of the outdoor locations. Basically, it looked fancy and expensive as shit.

The five sat on a long table, with Izuku sitting alone, holding his cup and Lin sitting next to him on the table, drinking her milk.

"Is everything here made out of special materials?" Izuku asked, knocking on the unexpectedly sturdy cafeteria table. 

Nezu smiled and answered, "They're all made with the same material durability as quirk-resistant training rooms. So just in case some shit-eating villain humans attack, they will have a hard time destroying even our chair, NYAHAHAHA~!"

'...What mental shit is this rodent on?' Izuku thought but didn't show it on his face. It would be rude. Everyone's got their own issues after all.

"Uhum," Detective Naomasa looked uncomfortable by Nezu's maniacal laugh but coughed to reset the mood, "Anyway, let's get to the main point. Can you tell us what happened back then?" He said, opening his notepad and preparing to jolt down important things Izuku might say.

Izuku didn't bother to waste time since he just wanted to get this over with and go home. Although he was interested in this school's facilities and such, it can wait until he comes here.

"When Recovery Lady used her quirk on me, I felt a sudden burst of energy, the same one I felt when my quirk awakened and then I knew the same thing would happen. That's it really," 

"Could you have controlled the orb at any point?" Naomasa asked.

"No, everything was out of my control," Izuku said, causing Naomasa to scrunch his brows in worry. He then quickly added, "This won't ever happen under normal day-to-day circumstances, don't worry."

Even Izuku would be worried if his body forcefully let out Chibaku Tensei in intervals. It was a danger even to him, not to mention to everyone else around him.

"I'm counting on that," Naomasa sighed, thinking at least the worst possible case wasn't true. "Since this is unintentional, I doubt you'll get any blemish on your records or any punishment. You just need to redo your quirk assessment test for the records and sign some things and you're good to go,"

"That's it? Why are the rest of you here then?" Izuku asked. He also doubts an entrance exam calls for the presence of the no 1 hero who's probably busy as shit. Also, there was no way for him to arrive that quickly at his test area. "Why were you overseeing U.A.'s entrance exam All Might, if you don't mind me asking? I never knew you were related to U.A."

All Might looked a bit bewildered at the unexpected question. There was no way he could answer that he was looking for his successor from this test. And it was even more impossible to confess that he wanted to assess everyone up close.

"Ah yes." Nezu intervened and raised his tiny paws up in a jovial motion, "All Might will be teaching starting this semester! Please do keep it a secret from the public,"

"Oh really?" Izuku said, surprised. His gut tells him that something else is afoot. The no 1 hero relinquishing his precious time just to teach a bunch of aspiring heroes? 

It's as if a pro athlete teaches someone who has never touched the sport. All Might would need to dumb it down, reducing the efficiency of his teachings. It would've been a much better use of his time to teach his sidekicks or other pros than a bunch of kids who barely knew the basics.

However, Izuku kept his thoughts to himself and pushed this feeling to the side. "Then I must have been lucky to enroll at this time," Izuku said, smiling as if this was the best news he'd ever heard in a week.

Thankfully, the damages done can be considered as him using his quirk during the entrance exam, meaning as long as U.A. doesn't charge Izuku, he would leave scot-free.

Naomasa bid his leave to do the rest of the official paperwork and allowed the rest to discuss Izuku's quirk.

Nezu offered to do his official quirk assessment test in U.A. right now, both to finish it faster and let them learn about his quirk from up close. Izuku didn't see any reason to refuse and accepted. It would save him time and sooner or later, they would get his quirk's information anyway.

They soon arrived at the training room. As Recovery Lady was setting everything up. Izuku wondered why All Might was still here but didn't it really bother him. What did bother him, however, was how Nezu and Lin seemed to be able to communicate, or rather, converse, with each other fluently.

It only made Izuku wonder about what Nezu really is. He looked like an animal, but Izuku recalled seeing a standing humanoid frog, so he might actually be a mutant. But Lin could only communicate with animals, at least as far as he knows. 

Everything was set up and Izuku was given a form to fill out in tandem with the test. He read through it and felt all the questions were written much more simpler or dumber than he expected.

"It was made for 4-year-olds, what did you expect?" Recovery Lady said.

The whole test finished in under an hour. There wasn't much Izuku needed to show, just the basics that he can manipulate an object using push and pull forces with the black orb being the ultimate culmination of his quirk.

Nezu did ask some more in-depth questions about his quirk, which he answered rather dismissively. 

There were certain parts of his quirk that he wanted to keep as hidden as possible. One of those is his ability to push off any foreign quirks or forces enacted upon his body. Ochaco's gravity manipulation is one of them.

He didn't mind letting Ochaco know this ability because he also wasn't sure he could do it before testing it with her. And that she's a sweet little innocent girl. She's very easy to manipulate and Izuku knows after just one word with her that she will never tell a soul.

Just before Izuku was going to return and bring Inko back home, Nezu excused the others, including All-Might, to have a private word with Izuku. He led them to his office and sat before setting down a tea for the two.

Izuku felt that Lin was acting weird and wanted to follow him but Nezu blocked the door. His suspicions were quelled after Nezu turned his goofy side off.

"How did you find Lin?" Nezu suddenly said, turning his tone down. Izuku certainly didn't expect the casual and rather cute principal to suddenly turn grim as he stared down at the rat.

"I don't think that's relevant," Izuku said, not minding nor backing down from Nezu's stare.

"I think it does. Your answer might turn me into an enemy just as quickly as I ruin your life," Nezu said, drinking his tea. His small body didn't impede him from making an intimidating stature.

Izuku didn't really get where this hostile energy came from but he shrugged. Although he didn't really like Nezu's interrogating tone, making an enemy such as a principal of U.A. doesn't really seem like a good idea, "I didn't find her, she found me. You can ask her since you somehow understand her,"

Nezu kept his gaze on the nonchalant Izuku. He really can't be intimidated even if he tried, especially not when the other party is a small walking rat. However, Izuku still kept his guard up, since if the animal in front of him could beat all the odds and become U.A.'s principal, then he must be capable.

"Did you know there are labs experimenting on attaching and breeding quirks into animals?" Nezu asked. His tone was seething of grievances and rage.

"And you think Lin is from one of them?"

"I do not know. Yet." Nezu set his tea down and continued, "But what I do know is that it is a statistical improbability for someone like Lin to appear naturally. So, there are two ways we can go about this,"

Nezu raised his first paw up, "Either you tell the truth," He raised his second paw up and crunched it, "Or I break it out of your skinny disgusting human mouth,"

Izuku held his gaze on Nezu. The rat, bear, human chimera thing isn't relenting one bit and kept prying deep into Izuku.

Izuku downed his tea, enjoying the rich flavor of money from it, and got up. He opened the door and picked Lin, who was waiting alone at the door, up. All Might and Recovery Lady had left long ago.

"Here," Izuku put Lin on Nezu's desk and continued, "It's clear that you're biased against me, so talk to her instead. I can't be bothered,"

He didn't mind trying to explain whatever Nezu asked but it was clear that Nezu was only trying to push him down on the edge due to his bias against humans, so much so as to antagonize an innocent would-be student.

Even with the low probability that Izuku was involved in animal experimentation, Nezu is still willing to go quite far.

Anything that came out of his mouth will only be met with another prying, and possibly unrelated question. The interaction made Izuku sure that Nezu wasn't a simple human mutant.

*meow!*

Izuku felt Lin was complaining when he left her to talk and instead walked back and jumped, clawing herself onto Izuku's shirt.

Izuku relented and helped Lin up his shoulders while waiting for Nezu to say something. Had the rat not been an important figure in this school, and possibly Japan, Izuku would've already stormed off.

*Pof*

Nezu clapped his paws once. "I guess this is it. You're free to leave. We'll meet back when the semester starts," He said. His eyes dart into happy slits, void of the malice that once was present.

Thankfully, as biased as Nezu is, he isn't completely unreasonable. Though, Izuku was a bit surprised that Nezu just casually declared that Izuku passed the exam, but it was a given with his performance.

"Ah, also, will you bring Lin in once in a while, there's still much I want to discuss about her mysterious appearance," 

Izuku looked at Lin in his arms who had a lazy appearance. She did not seem to care at all about the current situation.

"I don't think she wants to,"

"Let her tag along when you're in class," Nezu then threw Izuku a piece of paper, "I'll pay more if you help convince Lin to come."

Izuku rolled his eyes when Nezu blatantly tried to bribe him in front of Lin, who definitely understood what was going on. He opened the paper, or rather, check, and his eyes opened wide.

"Are you trying to buy Lin off of me or what?" Izuku asked. The amount Nezu offered is outrageous. It was enough to fund even a hundred of his previous swords.

"Me buying Lin would be the same as you buying another human. Besides, money is just a piece of paper you dumb humans uselessly covet,"

Izuku shrugged at Nezu's snarky remark. He wondered whether Nezu was using his own bank or U A.'s, but it didn't matter. He pocketed the check and bid him goodbye.

Whether Lin wanted to come along is all up to her. At least, he now has the capital to do things he couldn't before.

~~~~~