23. Dragon Gate

"Alright settle down. We're beginning homeroom.

I am Aizawa Shota.

And first in the order of business is a physical assessment test.

Get dressed and meet me in the sports field. That's all." Aizawa said with a yawn as he slid back out of the class.

As we got ready, I pulled out a book and pretended to read through it, as Deku got dressed.

"Now listen up, Deku. When we get put there, remember, innovation and tool use are the reason humans are the most superior race on the planet. So use 'em. Got it?" I said.

"Uh...okay? Very unnecessarily cryptic, but okay. But why did you sud- oh. It's going to be a quirk assessment test isn't it?" Deku realized.

"Clever boy!" I said, patting his head, as he glared at me.

"Matsun!" He protested.

"Did Widdle Deku say something? Yes?" I mocked, putting a hand around my ear.

"Tch. I'll show you! And then you better keep your word!" Deku spat out, storming out of the room.

"What was that about?" Kirishima asked.

"Nothing. Just a running bet we have." I answered, smiling mysteriously.

Once dressed we got to the field to find Aizawa-sensei, tapping his feet impatiently, looking gruff and annoyed at our lethargy.

"Alright. Fall in. We're doing a quirk assessment test." He announced, much to our chagrin, as groans sounded out on the field.

"But sensei, what about orientation?" Uraraka asked.

"If youre going to become heroes, you don't have time for such leisurely events." He replied.

"UA's selling point is how unrestricted it's school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes.

You guys have been doing these since junior high too, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results from students not usings their quirks. It's not rational. Well, the ministry of education is procrastinating.

Bakugo, you finished second in the entrance exam right? In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?"

"67 meters." Bakugo answered.

"Then try doing it with your quirk." He said, handing him a ball.

Bakugo nodded and went into the circle pointed out.

"You can do anything you want as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up. Give it all you've got."

"Well then,..." Bakugo said, preparing an explosion, before launching it with a cry of "DIE!".

"Know your own maximum first." Aizawa explained.

"That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." He added, holding up the measuring device. It read 705.3 meters.

"700 meters? Seriously?" Kaminari exclaimed.

"This looks fun!" Mina added.

There was serious excitement in the class at the result.

"It looks fun, huh? You have 3 years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?" He said as a smirk rose up his lips.

"Alright then. Whoever comes last in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and expelled."

"Huh?!"

"That's not fair sensei!" Kaminari cried.

"Life's not fair. Deal with it. Besides, this batch needs some culling. The exam let some undesirables slip in, people who don't belong here.You want someone to blame? You know who...." Aizawa said, riling everyone up, looking straight at Deku.

Heh, rookie tactics. But still enough to get to a certain developing pickle for brains.

Especially after my poking earlier.

"Excuse me?!" Deku said, confronting the teacher, "Do you have a problem with me? If so, say it straight to my face instead of pussyfooting around it like a bitch!"

Damn Deku! You finally grew some balls!

"Is that how you talk to a teacher?" Aizawa asked.

"No. This is how I talk to arrogant pieces of shit who don't have the balls to man up and speak straight." Deku fumed.

"If that is how you want it, yes. You are the malcontent. There is no place here for quirkless brats who piggybacked off of others effort and rolled in with rescue points. Here, you'll need to earn your keep. And I'm not sure you're worthy of this institution.

Not to mention, I could expel you right now, just for the attitude. So I'll ask again. Are you going to apologize to me or ..." Aizawa warned in a sinister fashion.

"No. I won't apologize. It took me nearly an year and almost dying to get this attitude." Deku replied, "So you can keep your ivy league stick right up your hobo looking butt and I'll keep my attitude."

"You're okay with getting expelled? Not becoming a hero?" Aizawa exclaimed, shocked.

"That's where you're wrong. The choice isn't mine here. I made a choice months ago. It's yours.

I will become a hero, with or without UA.

There are many other hero schools out there. And even if you interfere with my admissions from here-on-out,

I will still get a hero license. And that's about all I'll need to become a hero in this society." Deku countered.

"And if you turn out to be the sort of human scum that'd go to the Hero Public Safety Commission and stop me from getting one, I'll still be a hero, if only for standing up to your kind, for speaking truth to power."

Deku pointed at the rest of the class, and added, "The rest of them may be willing to fork over their dignity and self respect for a sniff at you golden farts but I won't.

And any school that requires me to disregard my basic human dignity and scrape my nose at their feet is no hero school at all!

So the question remains.

I will become a hero with or without UA!

Will you support me or become a stepping stone on my path?"

Aizawa smiled, clearly amused.

"If you're so against it, why are you even still here? Why not just walk out of here and be done with it if you believe that you can become a hero even without UA?"

"Out of respect. Not for you. Your words mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you tick.

Like monkeys to a tune.

I did it for Matsun. He worked hard to train me so I could fulfill my dream.

And I didn't want to let his efforts go to waste.

All my life I've been told that I'm some sort of lower life form because I'm quirkless. That an extra inch of finger or pointy ears somehow makes people superior to me.

And I learnt that early. All men are not created equal.

From the time I was four," Deku continued, pointing at Bakugo, "Kacchan, my best friend, has bullied me into submission, to the point that I hated living itself.

No heroes came to save me, the school and teachers turned a blind eye to his misuse of quirks.

I have broken bones and torn muscles from his explosive punches.

Hell, he even told me to kill myself and hope I was reborn in the next life with a quirk like his.

But there was one thing I wanted to do still. The one thing that kept me from nosediving off a skyscraper and giving the Musutafu a new modern art exhibition.

Then, ten months ago, All Might, my hero told me to my face, that a quirkless person can never become a hero.

That just about shattered me. I was resolved to kill myself that day.

Because this world had no place for someone like me.

But then, I met Matsun. I saw him rush into the fray to save Kacchan. With nothing but a torch and a taser.

The pro heroes stood by doing nothing. But not him. He saved Kacchan when the heroes didn't dare to.

And he told me, quirks don't make heroes, brains do.

He stopped me from killing myself. He believed in me, when All Might, my mother, and even I myself had no faith in me. He-" Deku shouted at Aizawa as I interrupted.

"Deku, listen you don't nee-"

"No. You listen, Matsun. Shut up and listen." Deku snapped.

"Even when he had to train for the exam himself, he sacrificed his time to bring me from the brink of despair to the point that I could clear the entrance exam even without a quirk. And I did clear it. I passed the same exam as every single one of them. And I deserved this seat as much as any other.

But that's not the reason I refuse to apologize either.

I will never apologize for this, because doing so would mean shitting on the sacrifices that my friend made for me.

And I refuse to do that.

Not in a million years."

Aizawa glared at Deku, snorting in disgust.

Holy Fucking Baby Jesus. Deku might very well be fucked.

There goes my effort. Ten months of work, down the drain.

On this fucking idiot!

Fuck!