Chapter 10

Evidently, it seems like Midoriya's stunt impressed even Aizawa a bit. 

"Over 700 meters?!" Someone exclaimed in shock. 

"Finally, a hero-like record!" Uraraka cheered in excitement for the boy while Iida instead commented on his swollen finger. 

"What is the meaning of this?!" Bakugo growled, drawing my attention to the sparks erupting from his palm. 

He seemed to have no problem displaying his aggression before an audience, suddenly making a dash for Midoriya, his palms facing out. 

"Hey! Tell me what's going on, Deku, you bastard!" He demanded, startling the green haired boy. I saw it as it happened, Aizawa's capture cloth extending and partially wrapping around him, stopping him just as he got close. 

The explosions he sorely wished to release from his faced out palm didn't erupt, erased by Aizawa. 

"What the hell? These clothes are hard..!" Bakugo strained trying to break free of them. 

"They're weapons for capture made of carbon fiber woven together with metal wire made of a special alloy. Jeez…" Aizawa complained, barely holding back a scoff. "Don't keep making me use my quirk over and over."

Withdrawing his capture cloth, Aizawa's gravity defying hair fell back down on his face and shoulders, signifying the deactivation of his quirk. "We're wasting time. Whoever's next, get ready."

As Midoriya slipped away from the violent boy, I couldn't help but notice the lack of an appropriate reaction from the rest of the class, a frown growing on my lips.

Bakugo and Midoriya have a history and obviously not a good one by the looks of it. So that's how it is here too…

Xx-Xx-Xx 

The next few tests were uneventful. Sit-ups, seated toe-touch and the long distance run. I did well in the first two and dominated the third. Even Iida with his engine quirk was left in the dust but unlike the frustrated expression I expected him to have, he held a determined one. 

He was probably too stiff to be a bully. 

Other than that, the only other noteworthy event was Uraraka getting infinity on the ball throw due to her gravity quirk. We were now all once again standing together with Aizawa in front of us. 

"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results. The total is simply the marks you got from each test." Aizawa started, before going into how it would be a waste of time to explain it verbally. 

I already know I'm definitely not in last place so I'm not that worried. I just need to see where my current level puts me among my peers who have had their quirks their whole lives. 

Pressing a button on a remote-like object, a holographic wall of text appeared before us, displaying the scores. Looking at it, I'm convinced that the scoring method was more complicated than just doing better than the others at each exercise. 

The person in first place, Momo Yaoyorozu, is someone I performed better than in a number of the tests. The only ones she outperformed me were the ball throw where she materialized a canon from…somewhere, and the grip test where she made a clamp. The scooter she made for the sprints didn't even come close to my speed. 

I outperformed her in the six out of the eight tests, yet, she was ranked higher. That means that Aizawa ranked us based on our usage of our quirks, hence it being a 'quirk' apprehension test not a physical aptitude test. It's either that or he just has something against me. 

Sitting at the bottom of the list was Midoriya who had an absolutely crushed expression on his face, his fist clenched tight. 

"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion. It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limit of your quirks." Aizawa said, as if he was talking about the weather. 

""What?!"" Everyone exclaimed in surprise, excluding Yaoyorozu who spoke up. 

"Of course it was a lie. It should have been obvious if you just thought it over." She explained and I would have been inclined to believe her if not for one simple fact. 

She was wrong. 

Aizawa was really going to expel whoever came in last. Midoriya's stunt with the ball throw got his attention and had he not come in last, whoever did would have been expelled. 

As he sent the injured boy to the nurse's office, my attention shifted to the boy, my eyes narrowing. Memories dragged themselves back up to the surface of my mind. 

The pain, the death and destruction around me as I laid amongst the remains of my parents, the two monsters still battling it out around me. 

Every kid no matter what age knows the name All Might, the Symbol of Peace. Not many can say they'd seen him up close but at this moment, all I wanted was for him to get away and take his fellow monster with him. 

His opponent, the white haired villain in the slightly torn formal suit, laughed as All Might grit his teeth, a frown replacing the hero's usual smile. 

"How does it feel, All Might, to fight so hard knowing it's futile? You can't win!" The man said with a tone filled with mockery and a smile on his face. 

From the little show I've been privileged to watch, he was more than capable of keeping up with the heroic symbol, having him on the back foot a few times. 

"All for one, I won't let you get away with this!" All Might growled. His costume was in a similar state of tear as the now identified 'All for One'. 

They were both too engrossed in their fight to notice the boy partially buried under the mess they made. It's a wonder I'm not already dead but I stay as silent as possible, not wanting to draw their focus to me despite the tears leaking from my eyes and the cough that threatened to leave my throat.

"I already have. Had I known Shimura had already passed One for All to you, I would have kept her alive to witness you fall. Maybe then she wouldn't have died such a pathetic death." All for One mocked once more, his words getting a rise out of All Might. 

I have no clue who Shimura is but she must have been important to All Might given how the man outright growls, moving faster than I could see and diving into another bout with the villain. 

My eyes couldn't follow but my body felt the shockwaves. 

"Don't you dare! All those quirks you've stolen, you'll pay each and every one of them, even if it's the last thing I do!" All Might declared, a shockwave particularly more powerful than the others pulsing out as something was blown away with terrifying force. 

Judging by how All Might landed back on the ground and chased after it, I can only guess that that 'something' was All for One. 

Stolen quirks? Quirks being passed on? I didn't even know that was possible but this wasn't the right moment to think about it.

Just like that, I was left in the ruins as All Might and All for One took their battle elsewhere. The tears I'd been holding poured at full force, my throat closing up from the surrounding soot and smoke. 

Needless to say, I wouldn't ever forget that day. Long after that, I researched the possibilities of quirks being stolen or transferred. All the papers and quirk theses said the same thing, that it wasn't possible. 

Even after things had begun settling down, the fight between All Might and All for One wasn't covered on any news outlet. The damage was instead attributed to his fight with another villain. That was a conspiracy if I ever saw it but it left me aware of the possibility of one thing; that All for One survived. 

I believe he did and I'm coming for him. I can't afford to believe otherwise because if I do…what other reason do I have to keep going forward? I need to see this to the end. 

Which side Midoriya fell into…well, I'll see soon enough.