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Chapter 13: First Hero Class
🕑 Added 2024-01-30 15:05:09 +0000 UTCAlright, we're picking up steam here, that's good. I have to say that it's nice to read the comments about things like how I'm handling his relationship with his quirk, people and the snake that I decided last minute to make bigger than just the pet that appears now and then. Also, before I go, do any of you read a good chapter, doesn't matter if it's fan fic or other, and you just hear the perfect song come in and the mood is just perfect. That happened as I finished this up. Also, another chapter that is not restricted to the 6K but a 9K limit, with this chapter being close to 50% longer than most! However, that could impact the length of next week’s chapter, we’ll see how it goes.
Chapter 13: First Hero Class
After that exercise, Midoriya managed to get back to the boy’s locker room in time to shower and change back into his uniform, being one of the last to leave before he got back to class, where Vlad was waiting for them. He spared the boy a look, but not much else as he trusted that Midoriya would take his words to heart and he would, he wouldn’t disappoint!
“With that exercise done, allow me to go a little deeper into things. While it's true that this time around the lowest ranking person is handling cleaning,” Vlad’s eyes landed on Komori, who groaned at the reminder that she’ll be staying behind longer.
"That isn't going to remain as for the 14 weeks that follow, the classroom clean-up duty will rotate randomly from person to person weekly. If you have something important, it better be good, else I won't excuse you and don't let me catch you getting someone else to do it for you." He finished the class paying special attention to him as he nodded and went on about other small things that weren’t covered in the orientation, such as school rules, regulations and other fine details.
After that, nothing much happened for their first day, as they were allowed to explore the campus a little, met some of their new teachers, in his case, gathered even more autographs which left him giddy as by the end of the day, he was skipping towards the gate, his hair bobbing with every skip as he smiled, ready to head home and tell his mom about the great day he had as besides the issue with Kamakiri, he’s pretty sure he has made a great impression on the first day.
“Midoriya, hold up!” He turned around to see three of his classmates approach, those being Tsunotori, Monoma and Tokage.
Wondering what they could want with him, he still stopped for them to catch up. “Umm, hello? Can I help you?” The way he asked that had them look at him funny, as they found it strange that he addressed them like co-workers asking for a spare stapler or something. Meanwhile, Monoma felt there was something more than a response, a cautious distance which he knew too well.
“Wanted to keep talking, is that okay?” Tsunotori broke through whatever that was, with Midoriya switching his attention to the smaller American, Koharu lazily watching the exchange between her human and this horned human. For Midoriya, hearing that she wanted to talk with him made him smile, as Hado said that was the first step to making friends, which was already further than he had come with someone in his grade in years!
"Oh! Sure, I'd love to!" He happily nodded his head as the group continued to move towards the gates.
“Why didn’t you go Diablo earlier? No big fire.” She asked him, though he didn’t quite get that middle part.
“Oh, well you see,” He scratched his head, till he felt something on it. “What’s on my head?” It felt like a hand, but that couldn't be right, no one was touching him as he reached for his head and found a bloodied hand! Upon seeing it, the group started to freak out with Tsunotori screaming something in English while Monoma was asking(yelling) where the hell a severed limb came from and how he didn't notice it this entire time!
“Oh, Kagutsuchi! Where did that-!” He freaked out, same as the others till Koharu rolled her eyes and called him an idiot and said the ‘blood’ smelled a lot of ketch-up. Looking at her like she was insane, he nevertheless sniffed the limb which was all kinds of weird, but he was able to confirm it-wait. “Tokage, that’s mean.” He pouted at the girl who crackled at the joke, the hand leaving him and floating back to her, where it reattached to the wrist which she had kept hidden behind her back to keep the rouse.
“You mean funny? Or it should be, it’s no fun when people don’t crap their pants over that one. I’ve been pulling it since elementary.” She replied as the group glared at her for nearly giving them a heart attack about that.
"I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, and that scares me," Midoriya stated, but setting that aside for now as he answered Tsunotori’s question, which got Monoma to cock an eyebrow.
“So, you were looking down on us or something?” Monoma's blunt got him sputtering as he tried to explain things, as the last thing he needed was to have an incident like with Kamakiri.
“Not intentional, I swear!” He held up his hands, before lowering them when he recalled Vlad-sensei’s words on it. “But Vlad did say it was pretty much that…yeah. But don’t worry, I promise to do my best from here on out.” He bounced right on back, a fire of confidence and honesty to him which had impressed them.
“Aw, he’s so cute.” Tokage took it a step further, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug, laughing on the inside as his cheeks flushed with blood.
“I-I I’m not cute!” He tried to retort, only for Koharu to mention that he wasn’t going to be winning any masculinity contest anytime soon. “You’re not helping!” He yelled back at the snake, who seemed to laugh at his misfortune as Tokage took this as a chance to attack.
“Look at you, you say you’re not cute but you look like a strawberry vine, how about I start calling you Strawberry.” She asked him, wiggling her eyebrows as his jaw fell open in shock.
“I’m not a fruit!”
“She’s not wrong, you know.” He looked on, betrayed by how casually Monoma just turned against him, the boy not even looking ashamed by it!
“Very strawberry. Snake makes it better” His head fell when even Tsunotori went along with it, but that statement about the snake got Tokage thinking as she let the boy go, her hand holding her chin in thought.
“You’re right, Tsunotori…in fact, that gives me a new idea,” Looking him over, he was still a little flustered, then there were the freckles and hair, but the snake added a whole other dimension to things, but this figured something out as she snapped her fingers, her smile causing alarm bells in his head. “I got it, how about Hebimi? It means ‘Snake Berry’ and it fits like a glove; wouldn’t you say?” She asked him.
“I didn’t consent to this,” He muttered, pouting again even if he had to admit it wasn't a bad pick, and he wasn't the only one who thought that as Koharu gave her support for it, citing that it had a nice ring to it. “When did you become an expert on names?” He asked her.
Seeing him converse with the reptile yet hearing no responses from her, Monoma had to ask. “Alright, I've been curious the whole day, but can you really hear her talk?” Midoriya turned to him, confused for a second.
“Of course, I can, did you think I was talking to myself?” He asked in return, as the blonde gave him a bland look as he asked because he didn't know, though he wouldn't put it past him to be one of those pet owners who acted like said pets talked to them.
“How does that work? We hear nothing, but you hear everything.” Tsunotori asked as he took a second to think about the best way to describe it, thinking back to what he told his mother, Ryukyu and Hado about it.
"I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's less her voice in my ears and more in my head like she's sending her thoughts to me. She does seem to like you all, even though you seem to tease me." He suspected that it was her quirk, or part of it as there was no way that she was as smart as she naturally was, but he hadn't yet taken her to a doctor to have them checked.
“Does she bite?” The American girl asked.
“Yes,” He replied without hesitation, before he felt and then saw Koharu glaring at him so he added some details. “But only when it’s justified, or when she’s hungry and I haven’t let her eat something like snacks or any rats or birds she can find.” This seemed to please her as she went back to relaxing, the exchange not missed by the trio.
“She must have liked seeing the principal then.” Tokage started as he grumbled
“Don’t give her ideas, I’m not sure if she’s joking about ‘playing’ with him.” He replied. Koharu seemed offended by that statement as he turned his eyes to her. “Yes, I don’t trust you, you once tried to eat a baby deer of all things.” He didn’t care that it was ‘really small’ and that ‘she thought she could eat it in bits’, he had to cut it up for her, after first ensuring that it was dead and its mother wasn’t coming back as the last thing, he needed was a mother deer out for blood when he worked.
“Where would you even find a baby deer in the city?” Monoma asked, as it sounded like the two had some fun at the zoo which probably banned them afterwards.
“You wouldn’t, it was in the mountains as I lived there for a bit.” He replied though he left out a lot of details.
“So, you’re like Tarzan?” Tsunotori asked him.
“Whose Ta-!” He didn’t get the chance to ask as a flying girl crashed into him, but not too hard as to send him onto his back.
“Midoriya!” That girl happened to be Hado, the cheery girl hugging him as she stopped using her quirk, having seen him in the distance and decided to cut the travel time.
“Hado-sempai!” Midoriya, despite the surprise, was just as happy to see her as she hugged him back, practically melting in her arms as she giggled, rubbing at his hair that made him vibrate in joy.
"How was your first day, did you make any friends? Hey, whose class are you in again, is it Aizawa-sensei? He's a really tough one, isn't he? Oh! But that would mean you missed the opening ceremony." She fired off question after question, the girl not even addressing the three others as Haya walked up to them, having jogged just to get there after Nejire flew over.
“Nejire, let the boy answer your stuff before you move on, will you?” She chided her friend(and crush) as she turned her bemused eyes to Midoriya, who might have been happy about Nejire’s physical showing of affection but was still as red as her current hair color thanks to how the girl was holding his face close to her bosom. “Yo, Midoriya. Was your first day as fun as you thought it would be?”
Midoriya nodded, if the boy had a tail, she was sure it would be wagging right about now as he was eager to tell them about it. “It was! I’m in Vlad-sensei’s class, I got to see so many different and new quirks, and we attended the opening. You were great on stage, Hado-sempai.” She was happy about that, as he had been a little nervous about it, but she had proven right that his nerves were nothing. It was a bonus he wasn't with Aizawa either as the boy had a heart like Amajiki's and he didn't recall their first year all that fondly party for how demanding and uncompromising the underground hero could be.
“Oh, stop it you!” Had took his praise with a laugh, having enjoyed the chance to give the speech for the hero course.
At least, the other three couldn’t keep quiet any longer at the strange sight playing out before them. “Am…am I missing something? Since when did you know 3rd years?” Monoma asked him, as he had known he was a high achiever, the dude scored the highest in the general entrance exam and seemingly had a quirk so powerful that even when holding back, he still managed to place in the top 5 of their class, but now he had connections in the upper classes to? What the hell
Realizing his mistake, Midoriya wiggled free of Hado and bounced over to them, pulling the three of them closer. “Oh, Hado-sempai, Haya-sempai! These are my classmates, there’s Tokage, Monoma and Tsunotori.” He introduced them, and the three added to this while Had and Haya also quickly exchanged their names so that everyone was on the same page.
“So, these are your friends? You work fast.” Haya noted, with Midoriya being a little bashful about the statement, even if it meant him warm inside, well warmer than normal to hear it.
“(Kero) I hope not,” They heard someone behind them, and the group looked back to see a familiar frog girl standing there. “That would be awkward.”
“Asui!” Midoriya, in a rare move, skipped over to her and hugged her, his excitement over seeing so many friendly faces at once forcing his nervous nature to the backseat for the moment while Asui took this unexpected move from the introvert in stride.
“Call me Tsu.” She corrected him.
“Tsu.” He didn't even question it, as he recalled what she said about it and felt like he was sitting in a nice toasty inferno with how happy he felt as he let her down so she could introduce herself to the,
“Asui Tsuyu, I’m in class A.” Midoriya nodded his head like an excited puppy as the two 3rd years could only laugh at it, as they could tell that she meant a lot to him, though they weren’t sure why.
"Oh yeah, the class that was too good for orientation," Monoma noted as Asui met his suspicious gaze with her remaining blank.
“(Kero) In our defense, it wasn’t our choice.” She told them as Hado stepped in.
"Oh yeah, that's Aizawa-sensei for you. When I was in his class, we totally skipped orientation too, and let me tell you, it's not easy to please, always made to do extra quirk training." She would have gone on if not for Hata reminding her that they must surely have trains to catch. As they left campus, they talked about one another with Midoriya and Hado revealing a summarized account of how they met over the winter and how she helped him when he was in a bad place that had him out of school for months.
That was enough for Asui to recall that he had told her during the exam day as he confirmed that he had been going through a lot at the time but thanks to Hado, Haya, Togata and Amajiki, he managed to it clear what he needed to do academically otherwise he would have been forced to apply the following spring with Hado and Midoriya more then little pleased with that, the two being near over the moon to be attending U.A. at the same time.
“Whoever says opposite attracts hasn’t seen these two. Cute clearly attracts cute.” Tokage joked, watching the two interact like excited children, hard to believe one was their senior with how bubbly and energetic she was.
Haya only laughed. “No arguments there, they’re adorable together. Like a baby snake playing with a cloud.” With the two, Hado opened her bookbag and started digging around in it.
“Hey, Koharu, I got you something from the cafeteria: Prime beef,” Much to the snake’s delight, the girl pulled out a small container housing said treat, when she opened it, they could swear that the snake’s eyes shined like diamonds. “It wasn’t easy, but I managed to convince them to hand some over.” She didn't even question or react with anything else than the laugh as the snake unwrapped herself from Midoriya in short order and jumped onto Hado’s shoulders, her head digging into the case to enjoy her treat while stating that stuff like this is why Hado was her second favorite human.
“Oh, thank you, you're my favorite snake!" Hado replied to the compliment, patting her head as she had, which surprised the group as only Haya had heard something, and it was in bits and pieces.
“She can hear her as well, what is that?” Asui asked, finding the sight to be intriguing as Midoriya didn’t seem to mind at all that his friend was on another.
"Well, the best way I can explain it is that it's like a video game companion system, where you unlock more peaks the stronger your bond." The boy explained
“So, you couldn’t hear her in the beginning either?” Tokage asked him, with him nodding.
“Nope, it was just the vibe.” However, with that explanation given, Tsunotori found that she had a question of her own.
“Would I be able to speak? She Japanese and I am English speaker.” Hearing that, Midoriya took a moment to think it over as he couldn't say it wasn't possible, as whenever Koharu said something, it didn't feel like it was Japanese, more like she was conveying the meaning of her words without using words. Did that make sense?
“Not sure, but it’s pretty much a quirk thing so I don’t see why a language barrier would matter.” He replied, before he looked towards his senior, and noticed that it was just them. “Oh, by the way, where are Togata and Amajiki?” He looked around, as he would have loved to introduce them.
“They went ahead; besides you know that Amajiki isn't the best with crowds, he needs to recharge his social battery in between stuff like that," Hado explained, which he took without question as she patted his head, turning him into hot jelly.
“Okay.” After a while, Midoriya worked up the nerve to ask for their numbers, which was weird as he went from happy as a kite to skittish as a mouse till they agreed and traded numbers, when he looked through his contacts and saw that it had expanded nearly by half with the four, he looked like he was about to faint from the excitement while steam shot out of his ears as he thanked them with the biggest smile the first years had seen yet before retrieving Koharu so that they could get on, as their train left first.
Watching him bounce off, humming a song that didn't know the lyrics of, Tokage commented on it. “Man, you would think he hasn’t had friends in a while.”
“That’s because he didn’t,” They turned to Hado and nearly did a double take when they saw that her earlier bubbly energy was gone, replaced with a concerned but hard frown which looked so out of place on her. She turned her gaze on them, her wide blue eyes narrowed and locked onto them much like a proper pro’s would. “I won’t tell you much, because that’s for him to decide when and how much, but he didn’t have the best time before this.”
But that faded, replaced by what they had seen before as she smiled at them, grateful for what they had done. “So, it’s really great to see that he’s making friends so quickly.” She had worried that he would only have her and the rest, but as 3rd years, there weren't a lot of times they could hang out together, which of course excluded most school stuff but when she had seen him with the three, he looked relaxed and happy.
Monoma could guess a reason why she would say that, putting together what he had seen so far and coming to the conclusion that Midoriya must have been bullied in middle school, though he didn’t know for what. Meanwhile, Tokage clapped her hands. “Got it, if we see someone giving him a hard time, we beat the shit outta them.”
“That’s right!” Hado shook her head as Haya sighed.
“Hado, please don’t encourage that.” The more level-headed of the two reminded her.
"As if you won't blast anyone who is mean to Hebimi.” Haya refused to confirm or deny that statement, but that was enough for Hado to know she won as she stuck her tongue at her like a victorious child.
Seeing the interaction, Tokage only laughed. "The name is already catching on if senpai gives her stamp of approval." She gave the senior a high-five, her hand falling off from the contact but to her slight disappointment, not even Asui reacted to it. Looks like she was going to need to get better stuff if she wanted to get reactions out of her classmates.
Asui on the other hand, was more focused on the fact Midoriya had a hard time in middle school, and that he seemingly dropped out for a time as she had a feeling she knew a factor relating to that. “(Kero) if that is the case, he should avoid my class. There is this pretty loud and obnoxious guy named Bakugo with an oversized ego and short temper.” She started to explain that while she didn't hate people easily, she could dislike them quickly and Bakugo hadn't won himself any favors with her, or anything.
“Will he be an issue?” Monoma asked as she thought about it for a second before nodding.
“Most likely, when he came in, he was yelling about ‘Where Pyro was and when we finally got him to give a description, I figured out pretty quirk he was talking about Midoriya,” He said some other distasteful stuff once it became clear Midoriya wasn't in their class, but she didn't wish to repeat it else she has to wash her mouth out with soap.
Either way, what she had said was enough for the group to get the picture. "Though I couldn't tell you why he seems to hate him so much." Hado’s eyes narrowed at that, as she had suspected that he had been bullied, as her saying he and Tamaki were similar wasn't out of no-where, her first friend in U.A. also had bad experiences with people and they were less than polite or accurate views on his quirk. The only difference was that he managed to shake them off by getting into U.A. and they didn't but it seemed that Midoriya didn't have that luck.
“Doesn’t matter, you keep an eye on him on your end, we’ll do the same on ours.” Tokage took charge, Monoma and Tsunotori being more than willing to keep this Bakugo guy as far from their friend as possible and if not, well…
They'll be more than willing to show him why that wasn't a good idea.
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Inko was still preparing dinner when the front door opened and her baby came barrelling in, hot to the touch from excitement. “Mom, I made more friends!” He barely removed his shoes and closed the door behind him as he shoved his phone in her face, the woman quickly dried her hands and took it from him and sure as day, there were 4 new numbers in his contacts, all listed with cute nicknames like 'Tsu', 'Dino-girl' and 'Florida gal'
Smiling at her son, she pulled him into a hug. “That’s great, honey! Why don’t you wash up and you can tell me about them.” Letting him go, he nodded his head and quickly headed for his room.
“Okay, be right back!” He called out to her as he closed the door behind him to get out of his uniform, coming out a couple of minutes later to use the shower. As he deposited Koharu onto the sofa, where she started to slither to her favorite spot, she reminded him of something important.
"And remember you still have an appointment on Saturday, so if anything comes up with your friends, you'll have to organize something for Friday or Sunday." Izuku nodded as he retreated into the show, still high in the clouds from joy at how great his first day of school had been, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow!
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The following day was the start of the school year in full, with the students informed that they'd be attending a full day of classes with the regular stuff as one would expect such as English, Math, Modern literature and Arts in the morning, with the only exception being that each was taught by a pro. Present Mic conducted himself in a very…Midoriya could only say un-Present Mic way in English as the man wasn't as loud and eccentric outside small bursts.
Ectoplasm as a Math teacher was the least jarring as the man carried himself similarly as he did when he was still fully active, though it was mercy for Midoriya who was still behind on some things as the man split himself off 19 clones. Each helped a student with their subject matter, which helped him understand the subject matter much faster than he otherwise would and left him with a great impression of how was going to be taught, at least in their first year.
Modern Literature was okay, as while Midoriya was never a big reader, he had gotten into it while he worked at the shrine, as reading was a good, cost-effective way to relax whenever he didn't have chores or training, and Cementoss was passionate about it as they finished the class having cleared the first 2 chapters of one of the 3 books they were covering that semester, in this case the book they were reading was Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.
Modern Arts on the other had been a challenge as Midnight brought the same energy, she did her hero work as she did her teaching, and her words almost always fused with double meanings and near-appropriate comments that ensured he wasn’t the only one hot under the collar, the woman giving him special attention when she saw him actually letting out steam after an especially spicy comment on the art they were discussing and the author that painted it.
But lunch was more than enough to make up for how Midnight made it hard to focus on her lesson, as everything was prepared by a world-star chef and pro-hero, Lunch Rush and available at affordable, downright impossible prices as he found that the cash, he had could get him a serving of fine Katsudon for himself and Miso-zuke Salmon for Koharu as the two sat in bliss as they ate their food. "I've never cooked for a snake before, but a good chef can handle any customer!" Lunch Rush gave them a thumbs up, having delivered the food to their table personable, a table that included Midoriya and Koharu, along with Monoma, Tsunotori, Tokage and the very welcomed additions of Kendo and Tetsutetsu.
“Thank you…this is good.” Midoriya seemed to be in bliss as he ate his meal, Koharu silent as she ate her fill of the delicious fish. Tetsutetsu couldn't help but look at the size of the serving Midoriya had ordered, as it was enough for 3 people and he asked if maybe he was overindulging as that couldn’t be good if he wanted to stay in shape. “It’s okay, if need be, I’ll just burn off the excess fat.” His reply left all but Tsunotori, who had seen him during the exam, confused by that statement as they thought he meant through exercise.
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But all that came second to the excitement that came when the afternoon rolled around as it was time for the class that made the hero course unique.
Hero training!
As they waited, Midoriya and the rest were restless, talking about it with bated breath as not only was U.A. renowned for its hero program, but that had taken on All Might as a teacher this year, and he was to handle the first-year hero classes! That was more than enough to send not so much a spark, but a lightning bolt of joy and eager anticipation through them, as they already heard that class A was meant to go before them, but that was fine as they could wait.
Midoriya had to control himself in his seat lest he burst into flames from the expectation of what was to come as All Might wasn’t his favorite hero anymore, now being his second but that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to this, a chance to train under the undisputed number one, the symbol of peace himself! What wisdom could he impart to them after decades of service, what tricks could be had for them to learn to use against villains and in saving lives? Oh, he hoped he'd get here soon!
Their prayers for the wait to end would be half answered as someone did arrive, just not the person they expected. The door was ripped open by none other than the Rated-R heroine herself, Midnight who came strutting in, a swing to her hips that she had long mastered that maximized attention on her curves, legs and bust. “Hello, students! Ready for your first hero class?”
Where this might have elicited the normal response, or made the boys and some of the girls read as they recalled her earlier class, the group just felt a collective confusion and then disappointed.
“It’s just Midnight…” Awase’s head hit his desk as he groaned out that this was bullshit while others visibly lost interest, which had the heroine blinking in surprise.
"Wow, never seen a room of people so unimpressed with me, outside the commission costume regulatory body that is." Midnight hadn't thought she'd ever meet a room of teenagers that could be so ineffective by her charm, and it wasn't because they were asexual or something, she had seen how most of them looked at her earlier.
Shishida took it upon himself to explain the situation to her. “Forgive the reaction, Midnight-sensei, it’s not that there is any issue with you but we were led to believe that All Might will be handling hero classes.” Oh, that made sense but it also meant they were sadly, in for some bad news.
“He is, but there was a last-minute change and he got pulled away for something, so I’ll be handling your first hero class.” She explained to them as the class groaned or muttered that wasn't fair, the woman keeping it to herself that the 'last minute' change was that All Might had used up too much of his time with class A and wouldn't have it in him to last a third of what he would do should he have stayed to teach class 1-B. Currently, the number one was hiding out in the principal's office just in case someone went by the teacher's lounge and saw him not busy with something important.
While the group seemed to accept that without much fuss, Monoma’s eyes narrowed as he had little suspicion, built on circumstances and his own bias, he could admit but it wouldn’t hurt to test it, now would it? "Was he pulled before or after he taught class A?" He asked, with Midnight not immediately giving an answer, which in itself was an answer as he scoffed, feeling a tinge of resentment in him at that truth. "Figures, not even two full days in and class A has already been decided to be the favored class." He crossed his arms.
His sentiment seemed to catch fire in some others, as despite Midnight's explanation, it did come off as strange that All Might was pulled halfway through his teaching day. Surely, they had planned to ensure this wouldn't happen. And even if it did, what could happen that would require All Might's presence? The idea that he would just be called away for something off campus came off as strange, not impossible but strange.
While Midnight tried to keep their sentiments in check, Midoriya did the math in his head on how long the classes were meant to last, and how long All Might told him he had and came to the conclusion that he would have just barely had enough for them, and that was if his heath hadn’t taken a turn for the worse in the over 10 months since they last spoke. With that in mind, he couldn’t just stand back and let people get angry about this and stumbled out something to distract and appease his classmates.
“C-come on, guys, it’s not that bad, is it? Sure, All Might had something t-to do, but Midnight is still a g-great pro, she’s managed an arrest rate of over 85% for the last 4 years in a row, is one of the most recognised and respected heroines active and was nominated for the heroine of the year twice in the last 6 years." By the time he finished his quirk speech, the rest had turned to him, leaving him like a deer in headlights, frozen and unsure what the hell he should do now, he didn’t think that far ahead.
"My, you know quite a bit about me," He yelped when he felt Midnight's caress on his cheek, how the woman had got behind him when she had been in front he didn't know, and more importantly why didn't Koharu tell him?
Midnight, both impressed that he managed to get them to focus less on All Might's absence and more on the fact they still had a respected pro handling their class, decided to play along with it and mess with the little cinnamon. "I hope that my name doesn't appear too much in your search history." Her joke turned him into a human tomato with how red he was as he tried to speak, but only puffs of steam came out of his mouth while the rest laughed at the scene, their earlier frustration and confusion forgotten.
“She needs Christ.” Shiozaki was the only one who didn't take any amusement in seeing the woman reduce the boy into a barely vocal mess. But Midnight took the chance to get things back on track.
"I'll be filling in for your Foundational Hero studies, which is your introductory class into all the basic things you'll need to know to one day be passionate youthful heroes and heroines in your own right. With you first being all about battle!" Midnight pulled out a large card, with the word 'Battle' printed clear as day on it. The reveal of such made sure to bury a lingering disappointment as the chance to test themselves in the most glamorized aspect of hero work lit a fire under them.
“Battle?” Shiozaki frowned, not too sure about this.
"We aren't wasting time," Honenuki noted as Kamakiri nearly stood up, but settled for slamming his hands on the desk.
"Bring it on!" The boy was eager for this, a chance to show what he could do!
“But before we get to that, you all need the one thing all heroes won’t be caught dead without,” Midnight pulled out a remote and licked her lips, pressing it, the wall opened up, revealing shelves with labeled briefcases sitting on them.
“Your costumes! Made to order as per your specifications, with only changes made for regulatory or practical reasons of course.” The students smiled in awe, before getting up without her permission to check out their gear, but she'll allow this around as the students figured out pretty fast that the number corresponded with their seat number so those in Midoriya's row started to hand them out to those that the case belongs too, with Midnight walking for the door, the tap of her reinforced heels catching their ears.
“Once you changed into your costumes, meet me on Ground Beta!” She instructed them with a smile that was as seductive as theirs were eager.
"Yes, Midnight-sensei!" Midoriya finally grabbed his case, holding it close to his chest with a sly smile as he recalled how he had designed it and what he hoped would be the finished product waiting for him.
Line Break
A week before the school was set to start, Midoriya found himself stumped on what to do. He had already celebrated his entry into U.A. but that now led to his current problem: His costume. Along with his acceptance letter were forms on what he wished his costume to be like, along with a stipulation of what the school would pay for the design and production as well as rules on what the costume could and could not be.
All to ensure that students didn’t design overly complicated, expensive or otherwise indecent costumes he was sure as one rule had been very clear on the amount of skin and other risqué features with Midnight’s original costume, the reason the law had been created at all being an example given of what NOT to submit, though he was pretty sure what she had now had been designed to spite those lawmakers seeing how the fabric matched her skin tone so much, it was hard to tell from a glance that she wasn’t naked. But that didn’t help with his issue.
What he was stuck on was what he was supposed to submit.
He sat in his living room, his mom out at work while he sat with sketches all over the coffee table, stuff that he had drawn recently to as far back as when he was 8. He had wanted this for so long, but looking through them, most were little more than poor fusions of Endeavour and All Might, not the best combination. So, he had to toss out most of them. Looking at what he had left, he had to toss those as well as many didn’t take into account the full scope of his quirk, some even undermined it having been designed when he was still suppressing himself to try and fit in!
“Maybe Hado will have a better idea for it,” He told Koharu as he reached for his phone, as he was pretty sure she'd be free right about now. He was right and she had picked up after the 2nd ring, expressing that she had similar issues when figuring out her own while she had managed to make several changes over her time at U.A. He wanted to have something good out of the gate, but one thing she said stuck out.
“You know, you looked good dressed like a Shrine Maiden, maybe you can dress like a hero maiden.” It was a joke, obviously, but then he recalled how he felt to wear the uniform. How much pride he took in it, how it felt like he had a purpose and immediately asked her over while he fetched his drawing tools.
By the time she had arrived, he already got all that he needed and had changed into that same uniform, having been given it after he had returned home from Ryukyu's agency. Pulling her in, he explained what he wanted and how he needed her help in getting pictures and sketches down of him in it for a base, which the girl had been more than happy to do, even calling in the resident fashion expect Haya who found them giggling as he modeled for Hado, the girl taking pictures and adding to the sketches, some of which Koharu was included in because 'Of course, she would be, she's always with me and I don't want the costume to clash with her pretty scales.'
With the four gathered, they would spend the next several hours going through ideas, color themes and styles, taking inspiration from Hado and Ryukyu to be added to the base idea of the shrine maiden attire. His mom would return from work to find the three, with at least 40 different rejected designs on the floor as they argued over shades of red and scale pattern designs but they would…eventually submit something they were happy with.
Line Break
Waiting for the students to arrive, Midnight smiled as she saw them approaching through the tunnel, each of them decked out in their costumes, offering a wide array of clothes, ideas and styles. “My, my, I’m liking what I’m seeing, boys and girls. Clothes tell you a lot about a person, which is a key component of being a pro as they help to tell the world what you're made up of, so wear them with pride and strut your stuff like you're on the catwalk at Tokyo Fashion Week.” She told them as the group appeared into the light of day, but one member that had most of their eyes on them was Midoriya and Midnight could see why.
What Midoriya had chosen to wear was perhaps the most unique of the group, especially amongst the boys. His costume consisted of heavily modified shrine maiden’s attire. The white kosode was now made up of three pieces, with the sleeves disconnected and held onto his arms via thick green bands just below the shoulder, while his left sleeve was flowing with green scale-like patterns along the sleeve. His right sleeve was tucked into a thick, bulky-looking blue snake scale patterned vambrace that connected to armor that covered his entire right side up to his shoulder, where on the final piece over said shoulder was a red kanji for snake written into it.
The center body was tighter around his frame, with the top part of his chest covered by a thin and flexible blue snake scale-like pattern protective armor. His lower half was covered by the red hakama, one that wasm't ankle length, having been shortened to just below the knees and designed to be much wider, almost like a kilt with a thick black and red sash around his waist. Not only were they more pieces of armor, these green rather than blue over this, acting as an armored skirt, but he wore green thigh-high boots, designed to be much thinner than what one would expect, but also incredibly durable as they were covered with large scale like pieces of armor, shaped to fit around his leg’s.
To top off the look, to his sides, larger but still flexible blue armor flaps that went all the way down to his shins and a blue and white headgear that looked like a cross between a crown and inverted snake fangs.
“Oh, what a bold choice there, Midoriya,” Midnight smiled at him, for one her eyes weren’t in bedroom mode as Midoriya shuffled his feet, not used to all this attention on him. “I like it!” But that seemed to put a nervous smile on his face as Koharu made herself known, wrapped around his right sleeve to his shoulder where her head rested next to his neck.
“Midoriya, is there a reason for your…choice of clothing?” Monoma asked him
In turn, the boy turned to his taller classmate, seeing that he sprung for a more gentlemanly evening wear sort of costume which from what little he knew about him, he could tell suited him. "Remember what I said I met Koharu up in the mountains. Well, I kinda lived in a temple for a little bit.” He smiled.
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain the outfit.” Tokage came up, wearing a simply blue scaly bodysuit with a matching mask over her eyes and black knee-high boots. It wasn't the flashiest but it was still well made.
“Yeah, why wear skirt?” Tsunotori asked him, which led to him pouting.
“It’s not a skirt, it’s a kilt. Like the Scottish, it offers great freedom of movement for my legs and doesn’t get in the way should I transform my legs.” He rebuked that statement as he wasn’t an idiot, he knew what he used as a base was women's clothing, but he also went to great lengths to make it unisex.
Still, that led to him having to give more details about his design choices, which meant talking about his past. “It was an abandoned place, and I needed a place to crash…so I stuck out and fixed it up, I found a shrine maiden’s old clothes and wore those and well, never stopped.” That was the gist of it, they didn’t need to know the how and why, even if they seemed to have more questions to ask so he cut them off with a twirl to show off the entire thing, front and back.
“So, I wanted my costume to be inspired by that because it was a fun time!" When he, Hado and Haya had finally finished designing this, having taken aspects from designs that they liked which didn't cut, he had been enthralled by it and when he opened the case, he had felt even better seeing that they managed to bring it to life.
Snapping her whip, Midnight brought the attack back to herself, though her gaze never left Midoriya. "That's a great reason to design your costume, we all have things we want people to think and feel when they see us, but it's just as important what you feel when you see your costume, when you put it on." She stated, crediting Midoriya for his reasons.
"And like any shrine maiden, I'm sure when the people see you in action, they'll be someone capable, dependable and friendly, all of which are important traits for a hero.” She finished, as this was the sort of creativity and freedom of expression, she wanted her students to display. One had to be comfortable with themselves to be at their best and despite the unusual nature of it, she wouldn't have it anyway with him as he blushed, happy that she approved.
Tokage threw her arm over his shoulder, avoiding the snake wrapped up around his arm and pulling him close. “Damn, Hebimi. You hear that? You just set the benchmark for the rest of us, maybe the rest of the boys should follow your example.” She stated, looking at the other boys who looked alarmed by that.
“Over my dead body.” Kamakiri shot that down, with her keeping the smirk up even as Midnight snapped her whip again.
“Come now, children, this isn’t the time to fight one another-not yet anyway as I haven’t even explained the exercise.” She reminded them as the group turned to her, the issue with Midoriya’s costume choice settled.
"Don't let the upperclassmen see you, they might ask you out on a date," Tokage whispered to him with a laugh before she separated from him, leaving him to think of ways to get her back…as if that would ever happen, he wore the boy's uniform and it wasn't like upperclassmen joined in on classes-if if they did, they would know by then he was a boy and that he wasn't into guys…
Right?
Koharu’s silence was not comforting.
“Tell me, how many of you have seen a villain incident? All of you I would assume?” Midnight asked, with the students nodding as villain attacks and their subsequent take-down and arrest were a dime a dozen, one happened just about every few days and those were just the ones that made the news.
“They often take place in the street, abandoned areas and other open spaces, relatively speaking, right?” They nodded, but she cut them off. “Well looks can be deceiving, by the numbers over 60% of villains appear indoors, away from the light of day in backroom deals, club brawls, bar fights, imprisonment and house arrests-you name it, and villains have probably used or been found there.” She explained that the news often only saw the more flashy, open stuff-they didn't see the messy aspects.
Komori raised her hand, her hair still covering her eyes. "Does this mean that our class will take place indoors?"
“Correct, little mushroom!” Midnight smiled at her. "In a world filled with so many heroes, the truly intelligent and dangerous villains operate from the shadows, so for this class you'll be randomly split into teams of 2 and paired up against one another in one of these buildings. One team will be acting as the heroes, the other the villains." She started to explain the exercise to them.
“Oh, so it’s a raid mission.” Awase guessed as he had seen more than a few of those, at least the aftermath reported on the news.
"That's right. The villain team will be charged with defending a bomb in their base, while the heroes have to secure it. The villains win if they can run out of the clock or capture the heroes using the supplied capture tape. Same for the heroes, they win if they capture the villains or one of them touches the bomb." She held up a roll of the tape for them to see.
"Why randomly split us up, wouldn't it work best if we could work with people whose quirks complement one another?” Fukidashi asked her, as plenty of heroes patrolled the streets in pairs if not groups.
Midnight nodded, as that was a good question. “Ideally yes, but when there is a situation, heroes must be able to respond quickly and decisively, even if that means working with people they might not know or actively hate.” She could say that she had worked with pros that she didn't care for but kept her feelings on them in check till afterwards and most times, she could at least say that they weren't bad or trying their luck-it was merely perhaps a clash of personalities or beef from their lives off the clock.
"Okay, it is very simple. Heroes find bombs, stop bad guys. Bad guys stop heroes, waste time!" Tsunotori repeated, pumping her fists.
“That’s right, Tsunotori. We’ll get to more complicated stuff as the year goes on but for now, it’s time to pick your lots.” She lifted a box for them and had them come up one at a time to draw a piece of paper with a letter from A to J, with there being two of each. When everything was done, the class had been split up like so:
Team A is made up of Awase and Tokage. Team B is made up of Bondo and Rin. Team C is Tsunotori and Midoriya. Team D is Kaibara and Yanagi. Team E is Kendo and Fukidashi. Team F is Kuroiro and Tetsutetsu. Team G is Kamakiri and Shiozaki. Team H is Kodai and Komori. Team I is Tsuburaba and Monoma and lastly. Team J is Shishida and Honenuki.
“Midnight then pulled out two other boxes, one marked as heroes and the other as villains, each had balls for all the letters which will be removed as they’re drawn. “All right, let’s see who’s going first, with the heroes and villains of the first group being.” She pulled out the ball marked with C from the villains' box and one marked with F from the heroes.
The four in question, Tsunotori and Midoriya on one side, and Kuroiro and Tetsutetsu eyed the other down, Kuroiro narrowing his gaze with a sinister smile, Tetsutetsu glared with a flex while Tsunotori matched his fiery gaze with her own while Midoriya waved.
"Everyone, to the monitor room. Villain team, you have five minutes to enter the building and do as you please to prepare. Heroes, here is a floor plan of the building, study it well, you don't know what the other side is plotting." Midnight instructed them as the rest of the class left, with Midnight leading the four to the building they'll be using, what looked like a small office-style one on the outside.
As the villain team was entering the building, she stopped them and handed the two their capture tape and earpieces. "And before I go, wear these. It's so that you can communicate with one another and keep me in the loop. Remember, you're not up against robots this time, show restraint else I will end the exercise and fail you, including the villains." She reminded them as she handed tape and earpieces to the hero team along with a map of the place.
“Yes, Midnight-sensei!” With that said, she left to join the others while Midoriya and Tsunotori entered the building, finding the bomb soon enough on the 2nd floor. Studying it revealed that the giant cartoony missile was made from paper mâché. Looking around the place for where they could hide it, Midoriya spoke up.
“Why would she think we’ll go overboard? It’s not like we want to be the bad guys.” That felt a little unnecessary to him, it wasn’t like he and Tsunotori were violent or had, okay maybe he could accidentally burn the building down but he’s never done anything close to that.
“It pays to be bad, learn how bad guys think.” Tsunotori looked over the windows, finding that they were locked from the inside, but could serve as entry points.
“I know, but it just feels weird.” Koharu nodded, as her human didn't come here to be labeled bad and even if you had the best meat out there, she would still bite anyone who called him such.
"Then let's be the best kind of bad guy, we can be campy as hell." At Tsunotori’s suggestion, Midoriya turned to her, his mind working as he thought of ways they could do that it seemed dumb, not practical even…but there was no rule against it.
“Tsunotori…that is genius.”
Sweet Mackerel, that was a long-ass chapter! This is being written before it’s edited but my word count for it is just a little over 9K, which means that I still managed to blow past the limit even after I increased it 50%. But despite that, it was fun to write and I think I managed to get across what I wanted with it. From how he acts in class, to the formation of this universe’s Deku squad which is already 5 people strong, if you exclude Midoriya, Hado and Haya.
For the costume, I used Yae Miko's outfit from Genshin Impact and Raiden Shogun's boss look from the same game as inspiration, but because I couldn't find an actual description of what they were(the wiki was no help for both) I had to go off what I could see with their official images, but also keep the description as short as I can. I would have used one of the NPC Shogunate forces as a base, but seeing how I made a big deal of his time at the temple, Yao seemed like the better choice.
One last thing. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going with the idea that Midoriya is more feminine than traditionally masculine as the boy, when shirtless is very much an attractive lad, but let's face it, when clothed, he's more a cinnamon roll, which is basically his unofficial fanon nickname at this point. In a way, he's like a combination of Haku from Naruto and Inosuke from Demon Slayer-ripped as hell but can also easily pass as a girl should he wish and like Haku, his fashion sense doesn't help his case.
One last thing: Hebimi(蛇実) translates to ‘Snake Berry’
