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Chapter 11: Entering the Gauntlet
🕑 Added 2024-07-08 15:09:04 +0000 UTCI've started to make a habit of writing chapters like this, and these introductions to the U.A. are seen through the eyes of the hero course. Hopefully, I'll make enough progress on one of my WIPS that I don't have that I won't have to repeat stuff like this again.
That said, this chapter had more planned than the last. As I admit, I was winging it for some parts, and it clearly showed. This chapter had more concrete direction and goal in mind, and I had more extensive notes prepared.
“Text” – Normal speech
‘Text’ - Thought
“Text” – Radio/Communication lines
“Text” – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 11: Entering the Gauntlet
After a fun time meeting some of their fellow tenants, Aoyama and Midoriya retired for the night. When morning came, they were up bright and early. They didn't even need to talk about the bathroom situation as they had sleepovers at Midoriya's place, a much smaller place than the homes and apartments the Aoyamas had. Because Aoyama took longer, Midoriya went in first and came out 20 minutes later.
By the time Aoyama came out, Midoriya had managed to both get dressed, U.A. being one of the few universities that still required students to wear a uniform, and was nearly done making them their breakfast. Despite how long the man could spend fussing over his hair, Yuga dressed like he was being timed as he was in and out of his room before Izuku knew it; looking his friend over, he couldn't help but muse.
"You still can't tie a tie, right? I thought Intelli showed you how." Yuga asked with an amused smirk. While Izuku's uniform was clean, ironed, and worn as intended, his tie stuck out like a sore thumb. The red piece of clothing was illprobably tired and short, looking closer to a fluffed-up ascot.
Izuku was less than amused by the inquiry. "And mom, and your parents, and even your maid. Look, I just can't do it. It's like a universal force prevents me from doing it right." He grumbled, just fiddling with his tie, taking twice as long as usual to dress. He should have asked his mom to pre-tie it, but that would still mean he'd need someone else to do it after laundry day.
“Sounds like you just forgot. Again.” Yuga laughed as he sat at the kitchen table. Izuku's cheeks got a little red from indignation as he put a plate of food in front of Yuga. A simple meal of fried eggs, sunny side up, toast and tomato with a side of dried grasshoppers and tender shoots.
"Just eat your breakfast," Izuku muttered to his French friend to laugh at his misfortune.
“Whatever you say, mon ami.” He relented as he started to eat his meal, Izuku joining him soon enough as he began to eat his food, which was similar to what Yuga got but where the tender shoots and grasshoppers were replaced with a couple slices of bread with a generous spread of peanut butter. At the same time, his eggs were glazed with shredded cheddar. Yuga would need to see if they couldn't order real cheese, but he supposed he could tolerate it now.
“Any idea what our first day will be like?” He opened up another conversation.
Taking a sip of his orange juice, Izuku hummed in thought. “Aside from orientation? Not much, U.A. alumni are surprisingly cagey about how the school does things.”
Yuga shrugged, as he figured that would be the case, but had some hope that Izuku would have created a theory or two about that. “Probably to ensure that it can’t be easily replicated. A place like Shiketsu would love to learn U.A.’s secrets.” Shiketsu might have been seen as U.A.'s equal. Still, it was its equal in the same way Endeavour was All Might's rival, as they might also produce capable heroes, U.A. held the monopoly on the best, with 4 of the current top 3 heroes all being U.A. alumni.
Hawks was the only Shiketsu student to make that and was recognised as the third-place holder. But even then, his education had been entirely different from the standard model, which saw him essentially be trained by himself, as he once explained in an interview. So many wondered if he could even be considered a Shiketsu student when he was so far removed from the rest of the school.
Perhaps that was a topic for another day as the two finished their meal, with Aoyama cleaning everything before they exited. But Yuga recalled something he wanted to do as they stepped outside their apartment.
“Izuku, hold on.” Midoriya turned to Aoyama.
“What’s up?” He asked as the blonde reached into his pocket and whipped out his phone, its case as pretentiously shiny and polished as one would expect should you have a conversation longer than 5 minutes with Aoyama.
“We should commemorate this day with a picture, wouldn’t you agree?” He waves his phone around, which Izuku chuckles but moves to follow as the two pose outside their day, the unmistakable mark of U.A. it along with their uniforms.
“Say ‘Hello, U.A.’” Holding his phone up to capture them, both repeated that phrase as Yuga snapped the picture. Looking at it, both smiled as Yuga quickly sent a copy to his parents while saving the original to his cloud account just to be sure. Pocketing the device, Yuga started to walk towards the elevator. "Great, this is the start of a wonderful journey for us."
Midoriya followed along, agreeing wholeheartedly with him.
Line Break
They rode the bus to the main campus as their apartment was far from U.A. proper. As they did so, Yuga was in his own world, whispering so silently that he could barely hear him make a sound. Probably conversing with his quirk, Izuku thought about how things were meant to go down. While U.A. offered a wide range of courses and degrees, their hero course was smaller, only having around 40 seats compared to a liberal course like Physics or Teaching which had classes of 90 plus.
Getting into the hero course was a miracle, as 4 out of the 40 seats were reserved for recommendation students, people from wealth or already established hero families. It sounded like nepotism, but considering that U.A. produced the best heroes, at least in this case, it was not something worth complaining about, though it did reduce one's odds of getting in through the regular exam. But, he and Yuga could take solace in the fact that they quickly cleared that, placed in the top ten even.
“Don’t let that give you a bid head.” Faunalution appeared next to him, deciding to manifest in the real world and converse with him from his inner world. That didn't mean she was visible to anyone bar Yuga, who spared them a glance before going back to whatever he was conversing with his quirk.
With Faunalution, she wasn't in her human form but in her multi-tailed dog form, which, despite being as big as a Doberman, still reminded him of a Pomeranian. With her warning against ego, Hiroyuki was the next to appear, the boy also not in his human form but an Arctic fox form made from shades of blue fur and ice.
Upon his arrival, the bus passengers shivered a bit, but no one commented on it. "But he got in and was number one on the test!" Midoriya smiled at how innocent the boy sounded, a reminder that despite his user's fate, he still retained that light in him.
"An entrance exam. All you managed was the chance to start an endurance race lasting 3 years, with each step harder than the last." Shigeru countered the younger boy's optimism, appearing overhead, lounging in a space between bags. His non-humanoid form being a purple oriental cat with large alert ears, a bright red gem on his forehead, and a tail that midway splits into two.
“They’re right,” Izuku agreed with the two quirks he'd been with the longest, speaking just as softly as Yuga was to keep attention off himself. "U.A. isn't going to be easy, and I don't want it to be. We'll be put through our paces and pushed to new heights through blood, sweat, and tears." He added, eager for whatever they could throw at them; they'd be some of the best-trained heroes if they could make it through.
Appearing on his lap, Hinata looked like a highly fluffy angora rabbit whose fur was all shades of peach and orange. Looking up to him, she smiled. “You’ll have us with you the entire time. you know that, right?” He returned the smile as he hugged her closer to his chest.
“I’ll never forget.” The group shared the joy of the moment, remaining a moment longer in the real world before vanishing back into his inner world, never noticing that Tokoyami, near the back of the bus, had seen the entire thing, or it would be more accurately that Dark Shadow did and relayed to his holder in real-time.
'It's true, his quirk manifests in such a unique way. But why?' Tokoyami thought to himself, not needing to speak to converse with his quirk as his interest in this strange all but assured classmate of his continued to rise.
'Beats me, first time I've ever seen stuff like that.' Dark Shadow shrugged before retreating back into his host. With Aoyama and Midoriya, they remained silent for the remainder of the 20-minute bus ride to campus. When they arrived, they grabbed their bags and disembarked with the rest of the passengers. On one side, they could see other busses arriving. In contrast, on the other side, they saw students walking up from the underground subway while a few drove up in their own cars or rode motorcycles.
They could eye up the rides of their fellow students later, as right now, they had to make it to class, which proved to be a more extended trip than they imagined, as U.A. was large. They had known that, but for freshmen like themselves, they hadn't entirely understood how big the campus was. Their group walked for a good 20 minutes, sections of it breaking off as they found signs that led them to the support building, business, liberal arts, etc.
It took another 10 minutes of walking, paying close attention to the many signs on the path, before they found the building that housed the hero department, one shaped like a giant H and standing 8 stories tall. "Hey, is it just me, or were all the buildings built like the first letter of the course they house?" Aoyama asked, and once he did so, the group thought about what they had seen, even from a distance of the other places.
Tetsutetsu groaned as he slapped his forehead, Hagakure and Midoriya sighing. They couldn't believe they missed that! It was so obvious, in hindsight, it was embarrassing. Feeling a little silly, the group of students who shared their apartment building walked into the building, taking the stairs up to the 3rd floor, where, at last, they found their lecture hall entrance, the door marked with a giant red A.
The door leading into the place was massive, standing well over 4m tall and well over twice as wide as a regular door. "Damn, it must be for students and staff that are on the larger side." Kamakiri whistled, wondering if a more petite person could open the door, given its size.
"Do they even have seats that big for people like that?" Ojiro asked, as the bus sure as heck didn't seem built for such folk, but then again, maybe U.A. had unique accommodation and transport for such.
"There's only one way to find out, right?" Tetsutetsu said as he walked up the door, opened it, and slid it back, noting that it was much easier than he thought it would be.
"Don't push your feet on the desk! Don't you think it's incredibly disrespectful to the school and our seniors who sat there before?" Their eyes and ears were immediately drawn to the corner of the room, where next to one of the window seats, a spike-haired blonde sat with his feet on the desk, which seemed to be something that the tall, spectacled student standing over him was against.
The spiky-haired boy, a familiar one to Midoriya and Aoyama, just laughed in the other's face. "Hell no! A desk is a desk; that doesn't change even if All Might's ass sat here before me! And what about you? What kind of pompous-ass high school taught you to respect something as dumb as furniture, your side character?!"
The spectacled boy leaned back in surprise and, no doubt, irritation at being referred to in such an insulting way. Still, he seemed to collect himself and try a different approach. “I attended Somei Private Academy. My name is Iida Tenya.” Midoriya and Aoyama recognized the name, as their old high school was in that group. He was pretty sure they had regularly met each other at the nationals for debate, karate, and archery.
Their old, Midoriya wasn't sure what to call him, friend? He seemed to also recognize the name, but that only made him more antagonistic. "Somei? Isn't that a school for the damn elites? Oh, I'm gonna have fun beating you into the dirt!"
“Beating? Good sir, are you sure you want to be a hero?” Iida asked him a question that Midoriya was sure many had before, as it would seem that Bakugo was just as abrasive as ever. Still, he lacked the young age from when it was more cute.
“The fuck is their deal?” Kamakiri didn't mince his words, watching as the two argued. At the same time, the rest of the class barely seemed to care, engaging in their own conversations.
"Of course, he got in," Midoriya muttered, shaking his head as he hoped that they didn’t pick the same electives as he already would need to see the very confrontational Bakugo most of the day.
“Oh cher, it would seem that the exam wasn't a fluke; he hasn't changed a bit since we were kids." Aoyama rested his cheek in his palm, recalling how when Bakugo had seen them prior, he had been every bit the aggressive, demanding and disrespectful boy he remembered from their youth. But at least he held it back because he thought they would fail the exam without any quirks.
He wondered how he'd react when Yuga revealed the majesty that was Luminance. She seemed to be just as eager for that as he was.
“You know them?” Ojiro asked, noticing how the two were reacting. His question drew their attention, and once Bakugo laid eyes on them, his arrogance was replaced with anger as he jumped to his feet and pushed Iida to the side, not caring that the guy nearly tripped and fell.
"What the fuck? I thought I told you two to stay the hell away!" His fury got the attention of the rest, who turned to see who Bakugo had picked a fight with now.
“Nice to see you as well, Bakugo. I hope you’re doing well.” Aoyama ignored the anger, as he felt addressing was an exercise in futility.
Proving his point, Bakugo flipped him off. “Can it, Cheesehead!”
“Kacchan, can’t we be civil like at the exam?” Midoriya begged. They really didn't need this, and the last thing he wanted was for their teachers to see them getting into a fight on the first day, for crying out loud.
"He sounds like a major dick," Hagakure stated, getting Bakugo's attention. However, he was briefly surprised that she didn't have a face for him to clear it, merely a uniform over an invisible body.
“You want to repeat them?” he growled at her, which caused Hagakure to take a step forward, along with Tetsutetsu and Ojiro, who were far from fans of Bakugo's attitude.
“You deaf too? She called you a major dick, and I agree with her.” Tetsutetsu glared at Bakugo, who popped some small explosions in his palms.
That didn't dissuade them from standing up against him; it emboldened them, as Ojiro was the next to speak up. "We're training to be heroes, but you seem to lack enough discipline to be civil."
"Don't bother; he's as he was when he was young." Aoyama waved their efforts off.
"And you'll still be the crybaby that can't even defend himself; I see what you're doing, hiding in a group of extras." Rather than offended by his statement, Aoyama merely smirked at him, like a cat conversing with a mouse would.
“I’m standing right here, aren’t I? Not all of us are incapable of change, Bakugo. But I can't imagine a rabid dog like yourself can understand that.” He insulted him, with Bakugo's eyebrow ticking in frustration.
“Be careful, Yuga. He might have learned French.” Midoriya reminded him, speaking in French as well, which meant that most of their new classmates were in the dark, except 3 of them, a boy with white and red hair, a girl with a large ponytail, and Iida who seemed to be the most expressive with how appalled he was at Aoyama's casual insults.
Aoyama rolled his eyes. “Doubtful, you can see it in his unenlightened eyes. He’s not angry that I’m calling him what he is, he’s angry-”
“Speak Japanese, you little shits!” Bakugo interrupted him.
“-That he couldn’t understand us.” He finished, getting a sigh from Midoriya.
"Either way, we would like to avoid getting into a fight and just find some free seats for ourselves." He walked further into the room, the rest to his back. When Bakugo tried to stop him when he grabbed his shoulder, he turned to his old friend with a frown. "Unless you'd like to explain how a fight broke out on day one."
That seemed to be enough to get through to Bakugo, but as Midoriya and Aoyama had expected, he didn't apologize for anything, instead shoving Midoriya back a couple steps before stomping back to the seat he had taken for himself, pulling his feet up again and ignoring the rest of them.
Neither minded it, as it meant that peace would reign, at least for now, as they walked up to their seats. As the lecture hall was built in a way with 5 rows of 8 seats, they decided to take the line of free ones in the 3rd row, closer to the wall and far away from the window seats where Bakugo sat. As they sat down, the door opened again, letting in voices.
"You that we'll make it, oh-I remember you, it's the sparky one!" The short brown, a haired girl with a perpetual blush waved at them, more accurately, towards Aoyama while the girl she was leading, a vaguely familiar white-haired lady, nodded at him but walked over to where a spiky-haired redhead was waving her over.
“Sparkly one?” Kamakiri raised an eyebrow at the nickname, and Aoyama shrugged as if he was as lost as the rest.
Midoriya, on the other hand, feared what this could be. “Please tell me you haven’t already slept with her too, Yuga.” This time, Iida was too occupied to hear them, but the dark-haired girl with the large ponytail was seated in the seat directly behind Midoriya. Her cheeks went red as she buried her face into the book she was reading.
“I have not, she’s from the entrance exam.” Aoyama glanced Midoriya's way before returning to speak with the girl. "Aoyama Yuga, it is a pleasure to meet you once more. I'm glad that you passed." He went as far as to stand and bow to her, kissing her knuckles, which got more attention. Hagakure giggled at how hammy he could be, me.
The girl tried to regain her composure with her cheeks much redder than they had been moments prior. “Yeah, it was a little scary, especially since my quirk was acting up and well, you know-Oh! It’s Uraraka Ochaco.” She hurriedly introduced herself. "I asked around for you while I recovered, but Recovery Girl wouldn't give up names; I was pretty sure you passed, but it's nice to see that you really made it."
Aoyama smiled, a little happy that she worried for him, but he could pass that exam. Flicking some hair back into place, he posed for her. “Well, after such a dazzling performance, it would have been criminal if I wasn’t given entry into these hallowed halls.” Uraraka giggled at his actions as they started to talk about the finer points of their experience with the exam, with Tetsutetsu and Hagakure joining soon afterward.
With Midoriya, he was approached by the white-haired girl from before, who bowed her head to him in greeting. "Greetings; I would also like to thank you for helping me during the exam." Her thanks helped jog his memory as he finally recalled where he had seen her from now.
Scratching at his head, he didn’t feel all that heroic about the event. "In hindsight, it was probably unnecessary; after all, you couldn't have possibly been in real danger." He could have her to be saved by the bird-headed boy and the redhead, who he also now recognized from that day.
The girl hummed, a small smile appearing on her face. “As that 0-pointer didn’t seem close to stopping, I would beg to differ. Yanagi Reiko.” She counted while also introducing herself.
Midoriya offered his hand to her to shake, which she did. “Midoriya Izuku, and let’s hope that U.A. doesn’t make a habit of nearly killing us,” He paused, thinking it over for a moment before correcting himself. “Or they wait till our second year for that.”
Again, the girl hummed, but seeing that her other rescuer was eyeing the back of Midoriya's head, she couldn't help but ask a question. “Pardon me, but do you happen to know Tokoyami?”
Midoriya looked confused by the question. “Who?”
"It's your first day, yet you're already not disciplined enough to be in your desks." Whatever she would say was cut when a new, tired voice spoke up. The entire class turned to see that not only was the door open, but a human slug had managed to crawl in without them noticing, the face looking drained of life or joy as if this was his 18th consecutive hour in a shift for a job he hated.
The man continued to speak, acting like this was an entirely typical scene. "If you want to waste time, try community college, as that won't be tolerated here, especially in my class." He glared at that towards the end, his face conveying that he meant every word of it and wouldn't take shit from them on it. However, his serious demeanor was weakened by the fact he was still in a yellow sleeping bag and because the students were still wondering how he got in without anyone noticing. How quiet would you need to be for that?
Getting up from the floor, the man fiddled around inside the sleeping back for a bit before finding the zip and pulling it down, revealing more of his form, a tall but lanky-looking build covered in all-black clothing, all of which looked as raggy and unwashed as he did.
Stepping out from his sleeping bag, he casually collected it and a mag that looked like juice to drink as he walked towards the podium. Shoving the sleeping bag into the compartment of said podium, he frowned at their dumbfounded faces. "It took you 11 seconds before you were quiet. You're all nearly 18 and yet still act like middle school students. We just have 3 years to turn you into heroes worth the title; time is a luxury you don’t have.” Midoriya would counter that what he just did was far too not everyday that they couldn't help but gawk, but he suspected the man didn't care.
Speaking of the man, he found that he didn't recognize him as U.A. was famous for exclusively hiring pros to teach everything, not just the hero department but even their liberal arts department. Granted, few pros made the top 100, but they were still essentially household names, respected in their fields. But this guy couldn't put a name to his appearance, one that looked so…ragged compared to pros who always tried to look their best. Mixed with his demeanor, Izuku wondered if the man even wanted to be there.
“So let’s just get on with it: Morning, class, I’m the academic advisor of the first year hero course, Aizawa Shouta.” Aizawa introduced himself, either seeing his real name as more important than his hero name or not caring enough to have used it.
“Him? I thought those people were meant to be super excited and approachable." One of the others, a tall boy with blonde hair and a black lightning streak in it, thought aloud.
“Tough luck, now let’s keep the ball rolling,” their apparent academic advisor pressed a button on the podium, revealing compartments in front of all their seats. Inside, they found P.E. uniforms. Put those on and meet on out on the field. You have 10 minutes; anyone late gets 5 demerits. And keep in mind 25 is suspension, and 50 is expulsion." And with that, Aizawa left them, not even bothering to tell them which field they needed to meet in.
Pulling the P.E. uniforms out, they found that they were all contained in plastics with their names written on them, along with the name of the field they were meant to meet on.
Okay, maybe he didn't just forget to tell them where, but that being the case, they quickly tossed around clothing bags, making sure everyone got one that was meant for them before they rushed out for the nearest bathroom or changing room.
Line Break
When the last of the group made it, they did so with seconds to spare, and Aizawa was already on the field waiting for them. Said field looked like any other sports field they had seen in their lives, with a large building off the side, an on-site gym, they reckoned, and a large swimming pool off to the side, kept separate from the rest of the area by a tall chain-link fence.
But while they could wonder about how many of these areas U.A. had, or why they were told to meet here, Aizawa told them something upon Shishida’s arrival that took priority. “A quirk assessment test?!” The group said as one, the man nodding at their question.
“B-but Aizawa-sensei, what about orientation? Shouldn’t we be there right now?” Uraraka asked, others nodding as they might miss it if they didn't go now.
Aizawa frowned at her for the question. "A waste of time. If you're going to be a hero, you'll need to take every moment to make the most logical use of it to better yourselves."
“U.A.’s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are, and the freedoms it gives its lectures and professors in handling their classes.” He reminded them, and that fact, which had sounded fun when they applied, came off as more of a threat as the man set the tone early as he showed them his tablet, on it a list of exercises ranging from weight lifting, running to swimming.
“You all have been doing stuff like this since elementary, right?” Even though the man continued to sound exhausted and uninvested, they carefully followed his words. “P.E. tests where you couldn’t use your quirks. MEXT needs to catch up with the times. Just telling people not to use their quirks isn't logical; if need be, tests should include and exclude quirks so that people have a better baseline of what they can do and how to manage their quirks."
Midoriya didn't know how to feel about that, even if he could see the idea behind him as quirk laws were hardly enforced, as he had seen classmates break them in front of cops and not even need to worry about getting chewed out. Most people followed only when quirks were used for crimes but for more minor, more mundane stuff? Well, law enforcement could find something better to do with their time.
While the argument could be made that training people to manage their quirks to a certain degree means training potential villains, villains already existed. If someone wanted to do wrong, they'd do it and just practice somewhere without supervision. Hell, doing more to recognize how much quirks had changed the game could go a long way in helping a lot of people.
"Midoriya, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?" Midoriya was pulled by his question from his analysis of their teacher's words. He didn't even notice the attention of the rest of them on him as he nodded. "What was your best result for the softball throw in high school?"
Midoriya thought back to their last sports festival before answering. “61.6m”
Nodding, Aizawa instructed him to try it again, this time with his quirk. Giving him a modified softball, one with tracking tech built into it designed to give them an extract distance once it came in contact with the ground, he was directed towards one of the two shock-put style areas.
Taking a step back, he gave the stipulation for the test. “So long as you remain in that circle, you can do as you please. Remember, give it your best here.” Aizawa blandly told him. Looking at the ball in his hand, he threw it a couple times to get a feel for its weight, noting that it was around the same as any standard softball. He wondered how he would do this, as while a few of his forms offered increased strength, he figured that Aizawa wanted something big; he needed him to be their benchmark so he couldn't underperform. Besides, he didn't seem like the type that would tolerate it.
As he thought about it, he heard Hinata in his head offering a suggestion that sounded like it wouldn't fit the rules but also felt like it could work. Turning to Aizawa, he needed to make of it. “Sir, just to be clear. Anything goes so long as my body doesn’t leave the circle, right?”
"I just said that. Get on with it." Aizawa replied with less bite than expected; perhaps he suspected Midoriya was up to something.
"Okay…" Closing his eyes again, he had a quick chat with Hinata about it, along with (?), who was standing in for their newest member who was still asleep, a concept he still didn't fully grasp about his quirks. Ending it before he was scolded for wasting time, he turned to his teacher and the rest of them. "You might want to take a step back."
Aizawa cocked an eyebrow, but as the closest one to him, he relented, taking several steps back from Midoriya and standing closer to the rest. That done, they could see him speak, but only one of them heard, a girl with triangular, lazy-looking onyx eyes and short dark purple hair.
"Burn through the darkness, Hinata." With that apparent activation command, Midoriya's belt buckle burst into flames, and his body was quickly engulfed in it, a familiar sight for Tokoyami and Aoyama. The flames took on different shades of orange, with the darker portions congregating around his hands, ankles, neck, and head while the lighter shades coated the rest of his form. In only a few moments, the flames dissipated, leaving him in his transformed state.
Seeing it, Aizawa noted that while the class was largely impressed with it, Bakugo seemed to be almost…shocked by it, as if he didn't see this coming, a strange reaction from the kid, but not one he needed to focus on as his attention went back to Midoriya who crouched low, his legs catching alight before he started to spin. 1 rotation-2-4-8, he kept gaining speed; around him, a sphere of flames formed, shielding him from view, as they could only see his vague figure through the fire.
He paid little attention to how his new students were awed by the distance. His keen eye was more focused on the fact that he saw Midoriya shift, his hand extending outwards, giving the man an idea of what his plan was. No sooner had he figured it out than the ball went shooting out of the flame sphere like a cannon ball, smoking from exiting through the hurricane-like inferno around Midoriya. With the ball still in the air, Midoriya ceased his spin, but he wasn't done.
Pointing at the still-flying ball, he formed a gun sign with his hand, copied by his other hand, which he placed close to his right and moved down it before gripping his bicep. At the tip of his fingers, a bright flame started to form.
Taking aim, Midoriya didn't waste a second, for as soon as he saw the ball start to droop and fall to earth, he fired a bowling ball-sized fireball towards it. The attack hit its mark and launched the now thoroughly burnt ball even further. The ball finally came down 13 seconds after he threw it, so far down the field that they couldn't even see it properly anymore.
"Before we can make any improvements, you need to know your maximum." Hearing his tablet, synced to the ball beep, Aizawa looked down at it. Turning to them, he continued. "With that baseline, we can take the necessary steps to form your foundations for the heroes you want to be." With that, he showed off what Midoriya just got, the screen reading 817.99m
That stunned the students, who looked at Midoriya in shock as he returned to the group, his form reverting to normal. "What the hell, over 800m?" Kamakiri asked.
The blonde with the lightning streak from earlier scratched his chin in thought. “He did have to add to it with some sick aim. I wouldn’t want him gunning for me if he’s that accurate from a distance.”
"Still, boasting his score like that was a pretty good idea. You'll never see that in a high school P.E. class," a lipless boy mused aloud. Meanwhile, the girl with the large ponytail glanced Midoriya's way as he returned to Aoyama's side, giving the blonde a high five.
"That is what it means to use your quirk then? That's the kind of thing that is expected of us." She thought aloud, but where she was thinking of ways to follow suit, others were more excited with the idea of using their quirks at all, with a pink-haired and skinned girl summing it up with a single statement.
“That looked like fun, I can’t wait for my turn!” She cheered, the mood in the air high.
"That looked like fun." That mood was mercilessly killed by Aizawa. The man's dispassionate face looked towards Mina, freezing her in place as his gaze seemed to pierce her to her core. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? Or am I hearing things, Ashido?”
The girl, so bubbly before, seemed extremely timid now with his attention on her. “N-no…I said that…sir.”
Granting her some mercy, he shifted his gaze to the group. “It seems that 3 years might not be enough if that is the mindset I have to deal with from you all.” while some tried to hide it, he could see it in all of them. They feared him, as they should be, as he was made a first-year teacher for a reason. His skill in snapping freshmen out of whatever delusions they held about being a hero, or a U.A. student for that matter.
He was consequence-given form for them, and he enjoyed every minute of it as he smiled. However, it only made his students anxious, as he went with his serial killer one. "But I have a fun way to shake you out of it. Do you think of this as a game? Let's make it a game, but one with some real stakes." He told them that the students no doubt thought he would do something small, like make them clean up the lecture hall, do extra homework, or give them demerits.
Oh, if only he were that merciful. "Whoever gets the lowest average score in all 14 of these tests will be judged to have no potential and be expelled on the spot," he announced, the group collectively turning white.
“Huh?!”
Line Break
And that is that! I planned for more to be here, especially since part of my method to make this different from the other 2 times I've written this scene in the last year was to make sure that classes A and B were combined but also added additional tests to it. But, if I said them, I wouldn't have a better place to end the chapter. It also gives me time to better write the following chapter because I made those changes…well, there's a lot to do.
Also, I should have another 2 chapters of my O.G. work done by Saturday, though I'll probably only post the one if something slows me down.
