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Chapter 12: Quirk Apprehension Test
🕑 Added 2024-01-23 16:03:42 +0000 UTCI played with dogs, and through how cute they were, my entire week has improved. Let's hope nothing happens to throw that into the toilet. But that only put me in the mood to make this a little more wholesome than I otherwise would. And because of that joy, this chapter is unusually long, enjoy!
Chapter 12: Quirk Apprehension Test
True to Hado's word, they had gathered the next night for a celebratory feast, one in which he and Amajiki were allowed free reign to pick what was on the menu, within reason of course as unlike the first time he went out with them, Hado didn't have access to crazy sums of cash, nor did the rest of them. Despite that, they had fun, first tracking down a place which they could afford but had all the options they wanted, which was entertaining in its own right as they jumped from place to place, looking through menus and reading reviews while they traveled.
Once they found a place, a rather simple noodle shop called Ramen Ichiraku which after their time there, they declared to be the best. The owner and chef was one of the most friendly people he had ever met and when he saw him sneaking food to Koharu, rather than get offended or kick them out, he laughed it off and merely prepared a smaller bowl for her at a discount. "It's a smaller serving, so smaller price." That was what he said when he tried to pay him full price. The food itself was out of this world as it was like the man could do no wrong, practically anything they asked to be in their ramen, so long as he had it, it went in.
He had never thought he would enjoy a ‘meat lovers’ ramen that had beef, port, chicken and fish in it but dammit was it satisfying. Koharu nearly lost her mind when she saw so much meat which he had even managed to season in a way that a reptile could enjoy to the fullest. With their bellies full and their wallets near empty, they had bid him goodbye, promising to recommend him to more U.A. students.
Back the celebrations came to an end as the day finally arrived; his first day at U.A. “Izuku, do you have your tissues?” Inko fussed over Izuku as he sat by the entrance, putting on his shoes, his uniform having been cleaned and ironed to perfection the night before already on.
“A full pack.” He pulled them out of his pocket and put them back in.
"Snacks for Koharu?" Koharu looked at him from her normal spot around his neck, the school having permitted him to have her with him.
"Double-checked, Iriko this time around." She seemed pleased with his reply, as she enjoyed fish over most other meats as he tied the laces on his one shoe and moved on to the next.
"A spare change of clothes?" His mom asked. He pouted a little at the implication that he had such little control over his quirk, but he also knew he wasn't the luckiest person out there most days.
“Right here, including underwear.” He reached for his bag and opened its second zipper, one that contained no books or other school supplies but a second uniform, ironed and folded into a plastic bag should an emergency happen. “Okay, I have to go now, mom.” With his shoes on, he went for the door and opened it.
“Izuku,” He turned again to his mom, seeing her watching with tears in her eyes, but they were happy tears as she gave him a wobbly smile. Reaching forward, she placed her hands on his face, even though the bandages, she wanted to feel it. But the moment passed as she wiped her tears away and took her phone out. “Wait a moment while I take a picture, I want something to remember my baby's first day at U.A.”
“I can help with that, Inko. Not every day the little squirt has a milestone like this.” Their elderly neighbor who was outside watering their plants spoke up, the retiree smiling at them as she thanked them, explaining how the phone's camera worked to them before standing next to her son and waiting for him to take the shot. With that done, he handed the phone back and returned to his apartment.
“It’s perfect,” Izuku smiled, seeing this visual proof of this day on her phone, noting that Izuku had truly grown as she could remember when he could hide behind her leg, or she'd carry him around while he had the biggest smile on his face. Now he was so much taller than her, much like his father. Even if his new hairstyle made it clear that they were very much mother and son his face and eyes didn't give the game away. Saving the image to her online profile to print later, she gave her son the biggest hug she could. “Burn bright, Izuku. I love you.”
Izuku warmed a little at that, as he loved hearing her say it, as it meant she accepted all of him as he returned the hug. “Love you too.” With that, he made his way to U.A.
Line Break
As he traveled, he thought about how U.A. operated, at least when it came to the hero class as they had just the 40 spots, 4 of which always went to the select few that were allowed the chance to take the recommendation exam, which he heard was even harder than the general one as anyone entering through that was sponsored either by a member of staff of a hero of notable influence.
Koharu asked why he wasn’t in that group as Ryukyu is the Number 9 hero, and she's in their corner so couldn't she have gotten the chance to compete in the recommendation exam he didn’t think it was all that complicated, she wasn't so much advertising his power and more advocated his case despite his history. Frankly, he was grateful that he had the chance to try for U.A. at all, regardless of the exam process. However, that meant that he had to compete for one of the other 36 spots, which sounds easier, but because most people take the general exam, it meant that he had a 1 in 300 chance, rather than the lower 1 in 100 for the recommendation exam.
But he did, and he passed so that was one hurdle that he had managed to clear. This meant he would be spending the next 3 years with the best of the best as U.A. didn't slack off with the other courses, even the 'easiest' to get into, General which was just a regular high school curriculum was a feat in itself. This only meant that the exams for the business and support classes were just as difficult as the hero course, but he would hear about them soon as Hado explained that it would be good to make friends in both, as one will help build up his brand and manage him once he goes pro, the other will handle building and maintaining all his gadgets and gear and while he didn't have too many ideas for what he wanted now, he was sure that a support student could help with that!
But back on track, according to the forms and other info, U.A. sent with his acceptance hologram, he and 19 others had been placed into class 1-B, so now he just needed to find it.
Why was this so hard?
After 20 minutes of looking, he finally found the frankly massive door for the class. Both he and Koharu couldn't fathom why he had to be so big, it was 4m tall at least, what sort of student or teacher was that large on a day to day? How would they even fit into the class if they were? Would the class need to shift desks around just to fit them? Wouldn't they need a supersized desk?
“Ow!” Koharu bit his cheek before he could go any further down that rabbit, rubbing at it, he muttered that she didn’t need to be so mean as he reached for the door handle. Reaching for the handle, he just hoped that the loud boy from the exam, and Bakugo, wasn't in his class. On the other side of the door, he found most of his classmates seemingly all already there, no doubt he's getting lost earlier, giving them time to arrive but no teacher so he wasn't late, at least, small victories.
While they all seemed to be doing their own thing, either at their desks by themselves, or in conversations with others, his attention was drawn by two of them, one of which was a blonde with an extremely confident smile while the second was a pale student who seemingly had no lips to speak of.
"Were the recommendation exams that much harder?" The blonde asked, standing over the second of the second boy.
The lipless toon shrugged his shoulders, coming off as more laid back and adaptable. “I wouldn’t know man, but I can tell you they put us through our paces. A simple race my ass. They didn’t make it easier for me as my group had two absolute beasts in it, damn well blew us away if not froze us.” That sounded like a story, but he didn’t hear the end of it as someone in the class saw him and perked up.
“Wait, I know you!” He wasn't the only one who turned as the blonde girl with large bright blue eyes and horns sticking out of her head approached him, looking pretty excited. “You from Exam, yes? Big fire, green fire.” She was a foreigner as her Japanese was terrible, but he could grasp the gist of what she was saying.
He blushed a little when she leaned in, her smile close to his face as he looked away, what was this, his lucky year? First Asui and now whoever this was? That was two girls in less than a month that talked to him! "That was me, were you in the same area?"
“Yes, back of the crowd. Saw big mecha, then saw the big explosion. It was huge! Like, how did you even do that?" She went on, switching to English in the second half which he, in turn, only vaguely understood but her words did get the attention of some others as that sounded like a tale to tell.
“Wait a second, you took out a 0-pointer? Holy shit, that is metal.” A boy with a blue and white headband realized, which got most if not all their eyes on him, which made him a bit uncomfortable, but recalling the fun he had helped keep him grounded.
“Yeah, that was me…it was fun,” Some blinked at how he chose to describe something that most of them had fled from. Turning to face them directly, he challenged as much Hado as he could before he spoke again. “Midoriya Izuku, it’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
“Wait, Midoriya? As in the guy that scored-the-top-spot-in-the-exam Midoriya?” The blonde boy from before asked, a glint in his eye which made Izuku think he was being seen more as a good-looking car he could sell to someone. Meanwhile, Koharu told him to keep his chin up despite the awed looks his classmates were giving him now that it was out, he scored over 100, he had earned that and if these humans couldn’t handle it, shit luck.
That same boy who looked like a used car salesman slid up to him, wrapping an arm around him, completely unbothered by the snake wrapped around the shorter boy's shoulders. "Of course, our class would get the top scorer of the general exams. Monoma Neito, currently a U.A. student, future top hero." Before he could question any of that, the door opened again and their teacher walked in. A wall of a man in tight red spandex and crisp cut white hair and an overbite, everything from the way he walked, to his gaze was powerful.
The man didn't need to speak for them to understand he was the authority as the students quickly dispersed to get into their seats, with Midoriya finding that his seat was in the last row, next to the windows in front of Monoma and being a large boy with mustard yellow skin and a strange glue-dispenser. With them seated, the man started. "Welcome to your first day at U.A., I'll be your homeroom teacher, Kan Sekijirō otherwise known as Vlad King. You may address me as Kan-sensei, Vlad King or Vlad-sensei, whichever works for you.”
“Yes, Kan-sensei.” The man nodded at their quirk response.
"Good, with that out of the way, form up in line of your row, starting from the first. We have an orientation to get to." He told them as he looked towards the person who sat in the first seat of the first row, in this case, it was the headband-wearing boy who quickly got up, followed by the one behind him till they were all out.
As the second row was getting up, Monoma tapped Midoriya’s shoulder to get his attention and once he had it, he asked his question. “I wanted to ask, but how did you get permission to bring a pet onto campus?”
Midoriya was appalled by that statement, a hand reaching out to Koharu on instinct, the serpent equally offended if not more so. “Koharu’s no pet, she’s a dear friend!” The snake hissed at him, making him flinch back as a girl in the third row with dark green eyes and sharp eyes the same shade as her hair laughed.
“Careful, Monoma, she might bite you or something.” She teased him as the guy worked to look as professional as he had before the little scare.
"Who knows, she might be poisonous, what a way to go." The lipless teen sounded far too chill about this, but Midoriya just guessed that he was joking...right?
“Keep it down you three.” Vlad stopped the conversation as at last, Midoriya's row stood and made their way out. As they walked towards the auditorium, they saw other classes, presumably first years as well if their different jacket designs were to be believed, Haya had mentioned that each course had a slightly different jacket design. However, while he could pick out jackets for general, support and business, aside from theirs, he didn't see any others making the hero course.
It seemed that he wasn't the only one who noticed as a few of his classmates looked around, confused as to where class A was. Were they already present? That would be impressive but when they finally arrived, they found that not only was it the first years who entered first, but that class A was still missing. One of his classmates, a dark-haired boy, asked Vlad about it.
“It’s normal.” Was his response, but what was normal about an entire class missing? Were they just always late? Were they not attending? Why? They didn’t get answers as once they had entered and taken their seats, the second years came in after them and then the 3rd years. He wasn’t able to look back at the entrance, but he knew that Hado, Haya, Amajiki and Togata were in that last group, somewhere.
With the last student seated, the principal stepped towards the podium but before he could say a word, an explosion was heard in the distance which caused the first years to jump in fright, while the second years were more collected and finally, the 3rd years were as calm as the staff who didn’t so much as flinch or look in the direction of the blast, which Midoriya swore came with a familiar yell, but it was too far to make out over said blast.
Nezu, in contrast to their confusion, only chuckled over the mic. "Well, we at least know where class 1-A is, same place as usual but let's start with orientation, shall we?"
Line Break
30 minutes later, the students were allowed to return to class, the orientation not being anything particularly special, the only noteworthy thing being that all the staff were pros which had him vibrating in his seat, so eager to ask for their autographs but containing himself, he didn’t want a repeat of the exam. Nezu served as the opener, giving an overview of the school, its history and its aims for the future.
Midnight came next and aside from making some of the boys, and girls, in his class look away, red in the face with just her mere presence, she explained that she was the one in charge of clubs and while hero and support students weren’t encouraged to join them, on account of their expected workload, they were no rule against them but she ran a tight ship and if their grades slipped, they were out the door.
Hound Dog was next who, through the growling, explained that he was the school guidance counselor so if any of them, regardless of year or course, had any issues that they needed to talk to someone about relating to their academics, college or career prospects or just their situations in general, that his door was always open and anything they speak about will be kept between them.
After them, Recovery Girl took the stage and explained that she was the school nurse but that didn’t mean they could go buck wild, so if she suspected that they were just fooling around like morons, they’ll regret ending up in her office as neither she or U.A. would tolerate pointless injuries or reckless behavior.
Then it came time for words from the 3rd years, as representatives of each course gathered on stage to pass on some words of inspiration which started with the hero course, much to the annoyance of the other courses but that annoyance turned to confusion as Hado took the podium and proceeded to lose the point for her entire time, asking them all questions and moving on before someone could even reply.
Midoriya was the only one of the first years who wasn't surprised by this, but he was by the fact she was selected a quick look behind revealed that the rest of the 3rd year students were either smiling or outright trying to hold back the laughter, so it was pretty clear she was picked just to mess with them. The teachers on the other hand, were either bemused, confused or just as annoyed but they didn't stop her and when her time ended, she gave up the podium to let the representative from general studies try and follow after whatever act that was, but he thought she did a pretty good job as she highlighted clubs general studies could join, classes to pay extra attention in etc.
Support and Business followed before it all ended as they were allowed to return to class, but Vlad didn’t let them sit down upon their return before he instructed them to get changed into their P.E. clothes and meet him on P.E. Grounds.
Line Break
“Quirk Assessment test?!” They repeated, having gathered on the P.E. field as instructed, Midoriya having tied his hair up in a similar fashion to his mother's to keep it out of his face.
Vlad stood with his arms crossed, observing them all like a hawk. “Correct, as hero students, first and foremost I need to see where you all stand. The exams you took to enter were good, but it helps immensely to have a more in-depth look through a uniform series of tests.”
One of his classmates, a girl with orange hair kept in a ponytail, raised her hands and when Vlad nodded at her, she spoke up. “That explosion earlier, was that class A doing this?” Others perked up at this, recalling that little incident.
"Yes, their homeroom teacher is an unconventional man, to say the least, but back to the matter at hand," Vlad confirmed, though he didn’t give them much with that statement. "These are all tests that you've done since middle school, ball throw, long jump, distance running sort of thing. The only change here is that you're not just permitted to use your quirks, but encouraged." However, when he revealed that part, the class got visibly excited.
“For real?” The blonde girl from earlier asked.
“Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!” A white-haired boy with shark-like teeth cheered, almost like he wanted to beat his chest or something.
“This will be fun.” His fellow green-haired girl, the same one that teased Monoma, smirked as she cracked her knuckles but Vlad was having none of that.
“Don’t take this lightly,” He stopped their excitement dead in its tracks, his frown ensuring that it might as well have been thrown into a shallow ditch on the side of the road. “This is an important step and is as much a part of your training as any other. But to ensure that you all do your absolute best, whoever scores the lowest overall score will be on classroom clean-up duty for the next 2 weeks. Understood? Good, let’s get to the first thing, the 50m dash.” He didn't give them time to breathe, much less accept that harsh condition before he turned and walked over to the section marked for said activity, the students having no other option but to follow.
Line Break
The first two up to the plate was a dark, shaggy brown-haired boy, with him was a literal beast of a student as covered seemingly head to two in thick brown fur, the second student fixed his glasses before getting into a runner's start, followed by the first as the robot counted down till it went 'start!'. As soon as that was said, the second boy grew in size, his fur lengthening as he dashed forward, leaving the second boy in the dust as he crossed the line in just 4.01 seconds. Letting out a beastly roar, he did beat his chest before calming down.
“That was quite the run, I should do that more often.” Was his comment as he stepped aside along with his race mate. As he did so, Midoriya was immediately in his face, his notebook in his hands.
"That was amazing, you transform too? Does it just boast your physical capabilities, or does it have other features?" Midoriya asked, star-for-eyes as the taller student blinked as he adjusted his glasses.
“Shishida Jurota. And my quirk is called Beast. As you suspect, it augments all my physical characteristics quite considerably, but it has the side-effect of increasing aggression and my beastly tendencies." He introduced himself and explained his quirk to his new classmate who seemed extremely excited by it, but there was also a glint of understanding in his eyes.
"I know the struggle, but it doesn't seem too bad. Transformation is part of my quirk, it's the last stage." Midoriya replied as he knew for a while now that when he went full flame mode, his pyro-loving ways only got stronger. It wasn't something to worry about, most times anyway.
“Stage?” Shishida asked him.
Midoriya popped his mouth before he replied. "Yup! My quirk has stages to it, full transformation is the last but strongest one." If these tests were meant to test themselves, he wondered if he'd need it as that seemed a bit extreme, but wasn't the point of U.A.? He'll have to think about it when his turn comes up.
The next two were the foreign girl against the boy with the glue dispenser head. When the gut fired, she didn't so much run as she fired off the horns from her head, which grew back near instantly, but what was cooler was that she rode those two horns to the finish line, finishing in 6.11 seconds, perhaps she could have been faster if she was better at it as it was a challenge for her to keep herself from falling over. Getting off her horns, she picked them up and tossed them aside.
“Dang it, I need to work my balance, I nearly fell, even if that was better than junior high.” She bemoaned in English again as Midoriya found himself captivated by her amazing quirk showing in such a short time. Being told U.A. attracted the best and seeing that in action were very different things, so much so that he nearly missed Vlad telling him to get to the starting position. His fellow racer was another green-haired student, this one a boy who kept its in a mohawk with his most striking features being the fact he shared a resemblance to a bug thanks to the way his dark green eyes pointed downwards to the center of his face, the lack of a visible nose and the two hooked blades jutting out of either of his cheeks.
“You gonna keep staring or get ready?” The boy's irritated question broke through his thoughts, leaving him to realize that not only had he been caught staring, and the person he was staring at was now actively glaring at him, but that everyone else had seen it too.
“Oh-Oh! Sorry about that, I can’t help myself when it comes to quirks.” He so wanted to be swallowed by the earth for that and tried to explain himself, but the boy barely paid him any mind, his opinion of him no doubt terrible.
“Riiiight…”
“I’m serious, quirks of all kinds interest me, I was just wondering what kind of quirk you have and how it relates to your mutant appearance.” He tried to convince him before Vlad yelled out.
“Racers, get ready!” With a yelp, he followed the instructions this time and waited for the start as he felt his body heat up, steam starting to flow out of his nostrils and open mouth, drawing the attention of his race partner before the gun as shot, much like the beast of a student, he didn't hesitate as he near flew off, his feet kicking off with enough face for it to be audible as he dashed towards the finish line, skidding to a stop, he smiled when he saw that his time as 4.67 seconds.
“A new personal best!” He jumped for joy at that while the other boy narrowed his eyes when he saw that he had come in at 6.31 seconds.
“Dammit, I’ll beat you next time, eye boy.” He told him as he walked back to the group.
"Eye boy? Hey, I said I was sorry for staring!" Midoriya chased after him, trying to apologize and explain himself. As he tried this, with little success, the foreign girl approached him again.
“Why you have snake? Pets a no for school.” She asked him.
Turning to her from his failed attempt to defend himself, he explained things. “I got special permission for her the other day, she can be present for most school activities except tests since she could look around and give me the answers she sees.” He reached for her head, letting her move into his hand where he moved his thumb over her scales, the serpent enjoying the gesture if her relaxed body was any indication.
“Oh, okay, that makes sense. Oh, I’m Pony Tsunotori!” The newly identified Pony, or was it Tsunotori as she was clearly not Japanese, he’ll have to ask her later.
The orange-haired girl spoke from close to them, her eyes never leaving the track as more people stepped up to do it. "Not a bad move on their part, though I can't say I'm not curious as to why you requested permission to begin with," She smiled as she reached out her hand for him to shake. “Kendo Itsuka.” He almost did the same, only to recall he already introduced himself to the class as he shook her hand, noting that she had a really strong grip on it, and it didn't even look like she was trying.
But where he picked up on that, she picked up on a unique feature of his. “Your hand’s warmer than most, are you like a human kettle or something?” She chuckled as they took back their hands.
“Or something.” Her eyebrow raised at that response, but whatever it was she was going to ask as a follow-up was forgotten when they heard someone cry out in disbelief.
"Damn, she can do that?!" Turning, they saw that the other green-haired girl, who seemed to planning something less than pure-hearted with that smirk of hers, had just finished the race but in a rather unconventional way as the last of her pieces crossed the line and rejoined her body-wait, she could just, detach pieces and they floated?
She could feel their attention on her as she merely sent them an air kiss and a flick of her hair over her shoulder. “That was a piece of cake.” If one thing could be said about her, it was she was confident.
Line Break
The next test was the grip strength, much like before when Midoriya's turn was up, he took a deep breath and heated himself, boasting his power as steam poured from his nostrils and mouth, which was an odd sight for some of his classmates but Koharu, ever wrapped around his shoulders, just found it relaxing. His strength properly augmented, and he squeezed as hard as he could, getting an exceptional score of 168 kg, getting a happy smile as he knew that it was 4 times greater than what his last P.E. class showed back in middle school.
However, he was still blown out of the water by several other classmates. The first was Shishida who perhaps unsurprisingly got a much higher score of 290 kg. But what was surprising was the fact he was only 3rd highest in the group as the lipless teen, Honenuki if Midoriya was recalling him introducing himself to someone right, used his quirk to turn the device to literal puddy before crushing it, which Vlad chalked up to a score of ‘undefined’ which just meant it was undisputed first, though he did mutter that it was a good thing they had over a dozen spares.
Second place went to a quiet but incredibly pretty girl who hadn’t said a word as far as he knew, used her quirk to increase the size of the device several times over before stepping into it and using her full body weight to push the grip back, scoring 280 kgs. Two other notable students were Tetsutetsu, the boy being pretty loud with his introduction as the shark-toothed boy's entire right arm from his fingers to his elbow were covered in gray steel skin, which must have increased his strength as he got a score of 180 kgs. Monoma went next and tapped Tetsutetsu's shoulder as he walked past, before doing the same thing as the previous student much to his shock, even if he scored a lower 163 kg.
Line Break
Third of the tests was the standing long jump which five of them easily cleared. The first was the girl who could split herself apart as she floated across in several pieces at a leisurely pace. The second was a quiet girl with white hair who held her hands up like she was a ghost, she too floated across but as a single piece, and it looked like she was visibly strained by the effort-perhaps her telekinetic weight limit wasn't that high.
The third was a brown-haired boy with oval-shaped eyes who took deep breaths, created solid air platforms and walked over. Vlad once more stepped in and explained that while he didn't jump, it was legal as he didn't touch the ground till he got to the end. The last was a vine-haired girl who used her quirk to turn her vine hair into a slingshot and throw herself across, where she landed with the issue and gave a humble bow before returning to the line. Monoma tapped the second boy's shoulder as well before stepping up, which must have been the requirement for his copy quirk but like before, he wasn't as skilled in it as the real user, so he only made it 2 thirds of the way before he run out of breath and fall into the sand.
Midoriya once more set an exceptional score as he managed to jump 8.56m, less than half a meter from the other side while Shishida getting cleared the entire in a single bond, marking him as the fifth and last person to do so.
Line Break
Repeated side steps came next as a short girl whose brown hair covered her eyes took the win. She created two mushrooms which were incredibly bouncy on either side of her and used them to bounce side to side till Vlad said she had done enough. The ball throw came next as the girl of many parts merely separated her hand from her body, which remained within the circle, and sent her arm floating seemingly as far as she could, before said disconnected hand finally threw the ball, giving her a score of 545.7m. After her, the white-haired girl did a similar trick, only she floated the ball as far as she could while the vine-haired girl(he should really ask for their names) made another sling with her vines and threw it like a rock, muttering something about how it worked for David.
The air manipulator made a bat out of solid air and smacked the ball instead of throwing it, the bat shattering from the effort but sending the ball quite a ways away. Kendo grew her hand to a superhuman size and threw it, the ball landing at a new record of 623m on the dot. Shishida once more got an impressive score as his throw sent the ball the furthest, 652.5m. Midoriya didn't score anything that impressive but his score of 231.64m was still in the upper levels of the class.
The rest of the tests weren't much to write home about, even if he came in the top 4 for all three as the distance run wasn't anything new to him while others slowed down if not dropped to their knees after 1 km's worth of running, he was still fresh as daisies, a fear made all the more impressive by the fact he wasn’t using his quirk. Pony, who had fallen flat on her face after 1.5km lifted her head to him when he returned to help her to her feet. “How?”
"I'm used to training in the mountains, this was more of a warm-up to that." He replied as he had spent months high up in the mountains, going up and climbing down whenever he went into town, often with his cart or when he had to climb higher to get water before he managed to get some sort of plumbing working, such distance and steep inclines forced one to adapt to them and near the end, he could jog up and down a few times with no issue if he wished.
She muttered something in English to softly for him to hear as they moved onto the seated toe-touch, where his partner was the vine girl who introduced herself as Shiozaki. While she managed an impressive 28 before she tapped out, he once more blew expectations out of the water as again, with no quirk to boast him, he called it quits at 76 if only to save on time, a score that only Kendo and Tetsutetsu could challenge as the orange-haired girl managed 70 while seemingly to set the highs score, Tetsutetsu pushed himself to 80.
Midoriya could acknowledge the effort, and praise him for getting that high but he also didn’t like that he was being shown up. Maybe it was his training with Ryukyu, perhaps it was the literal serpent around his neck whispering into his ear to set the record straight, all that he knew was that he smiled at the white-haired boy akin to a snake's, an unsaid promise to show him who was the top dog in the last of the tests, the sit-ups.
Vlad seemed to catch onto this little friendly rivalry as he didn't pair them up, but placed them side by side with Midoriya's partner being Tokage, while Tetsutetsu was with Monoma. Monoma wished to set a benchmark for them and did his best, going further than he perhaps was used to but at 52 sit-ups, he had to give in. Tokage once more thought outside the box as she separated her torso from her legs and just turned herself on an imaginary pivot point, getting a stupidly high score of 152, the highest so far with even Kendo having to admit defeat with her relatively measly 84.
Such showings from their classmates only fuelled their fire of competition for as soon as Vlad gave the go-ahead, both boys went at it like machines, easily passing the scores of the lower end of the class, and sync got up to 50 with no sweat, the two only started to sweat a little once they reached the 100 mark, having firmly set themselves up for a tie for second place. But they started to strain at the 120s, falling out of sync as Tetsutetsu started to slow down, but grit his teeth and pushed on ahead. Meanwhile Midoriya was closer to their original speed, but still slower as he tried to set a new pace.
This changed once more when Midoriya made it to the 150s first, but was visible slowing as his arms strained to keep up, Koharu egging him on all the while to ensure he wasn't bested by the metal head who hadn't given up yet, even if he was sweating up a storm. Midoriya could have used his quirk but chose not to as Tetsutetsu wasn't using his, and it refused to disrespect him in such a fashion, Vlad's words about quirk use being encouraged forgotten as the two struggled onwards, surpassing Tokage's score with little fanfare as while their classmates watched them force themselves on, they weren't paying much attention, focused only on the task at hand.
But alas, Midoriya felt his core muscles locking up from the burn, and not the fun kind when he hit the 180s, before he went down but couldn’t pick himself up, no matter how hard he tried. Tetsutetsu seemed to get a second wind upon seeing him go down, but he only had another 15 in him before he had to call it quits. Sore and sweaty, they looked at each other as they tried to catch their breaths.
"I totally beat you," Midoriya told him, out of breath.
An equally exhausted Tetsutetsu still pushed back against that statement. “No way…I wasn’t the one that went down first.”
“Well, I was ahead of you for most of it.”
“As if that matters, haven’t you heard about the hare and the tortoise?”
"As homoerotic as it is watching this," Tokage interrupted them, getting snickers from some others while Shiozaki looked and gave her a scandalized look for her comment. “Do either of your knuckleheads even know what your final score is?" That gave them pause as they blinked, before turning back to the other, trying to answer.
“You forgot, didn’t you?” Tetsutetsu pointed out the obvious as Midoriya balked at that.
“It’s not like you remember!”
“Tetsutetsu, you managed 182.” Vlad spoke up again, breaking up the pissing contest between them. It was good for their growth, pushing them forward, but they had to get on with things. Hearing his score, Tetsutetsu managed to lift a hand to the sky in victory.
“Oh yeah, new personal, baby!” Vlad nodded at that statement, but he had to rain on that parade.
“It is, but it’s second to Midoriya who managed 185.” His hand dropped as Midoriya smiled and let out a cheer, exhausted as it was.
“Yes…” The teacher rolled his eyes, but he didn't dislike the two antics, he wanted to see such healthy competition between his students after all, one where they could do all that and bear no grudge as evidenced by how the two just traded trips on exercise and parts about their quirks. With the rest of the class moving on, neither boy on the floor made a move to stand, leaving two blondes to look them over.
“Are you going to get up?” Monoma asked them both as they laughed in return.
“I would love to, but my core muscles are currently fighting a rebellion against my brain.” Midoriya’s response made the boy roll his eyes, but his smile didn’t change from its amused and friendly state as he moved to help the taller of the two up. Tsunotori doing the same with Midoriya.
“I help you!” The foreign girl chirped as she bent and pulled Midoriya to his feet, letting him use her as support so that they could move on.
"Thanks, Pony," Midoriya replied as the four moved to rejoin the rest of the class to see their scores.
“No problem, class people help class people.” She replied with a cute smile-hold up, why did he think that? Oh no, he just realized she was cute and didn’t know what to do with that! Lucky for him, he didn't need to worry about Koharu's knowing eyes or his thoughts as long as they got back to the main group where Vlad waited for them.
"I would say that, except Midoriya and Tetsutetsu forgetting to use their quirks at the end," He gave the two a pointed look as they had the sense to get embarrassed by that. "That exercise was a productive time. Before I show you your results, I would like to remind you that this is merely your starting line, you'll have 3 years here to better yourself. That being said, I don't want any inflated egos from those who performed well, that rank can change any day and there is a reason pride comes before the fall, understood?" He instructed them.
“Alright then, here are the results.” Nodding at their reply, he revealed the results to them.
1. Tokage, Setsuna
2. Honenuki, Juzo
3. Shishida, Jurota
4. Midoriya, Izuku
5. Kendo, Itsuka
6. Tetsutetsu, Tetsutetsu
7. Tsuburaba, Kosei
8. Monoma, Neito
9. Shiozaki, Ibara
10. Kamakiri, Togaru
11. Kaibara, Sen
12. Rin, Hiryu
13. Tsunotori, Pony
14. Kodai, Yui
15. Kuroiro, Shihai
16. Fukidashi, Manga
17. Bondo, Kojiro
18. Yanagi, Reiko
19. Awase, Yosetsu
20. Komori, Kinoko
Midoriya cocked his head to the side to see himself at 4th, but then again, he only came in first in a couple of the events. Meanwhile, the person at the very bottom, Komori deflated.
“Dang it!” She cursed out, revealing herself to be the girl with the hair covering his eyes, as Koharu asked how she could even see through that which he didn’t know, there was a reason he tied up his hair after all.
With the results revealed, Vlad continued with the closing parts of the lecture. “Remember, this is just the beginning. I expect you to see this as just an incentive to give 110% in your training and classes, to go Plus Ultra is that understood?” He gave them a stiff smile, not so much because he couldn't as it was him maintaining that drill sergeant energy. Regardless, being reminded that they had 3 years at the best school in the country raised everyone's mood, even those with lower scores.
“Yes, sir!”
"Good, you're dismissed. After you clean yourselves, you'll find your schedules and other important stuff on your desks, Midoriya." He called his attention. “I’ll like a word.” The others gave him concerned or confused looks but left the field. As far as they knew, he hadn’t done anything wrong and scored pretty well, so they just assumed it was something private and left them to talk.
“You held back.” Vlad didn’t mince his words as Midoriya winced. “Why?”
Midorya didn't know how to answer that, having hoped that he wouldn't need to when he scored well above the average each time. "I didn't want to paint too much of a target on my back with my classmates, and didn't want to make any of them angry with me." Middle school flashed through his mind, and he didn’t want to repeat that here.
“That might sound like a kind thing, but it’s cruel.” Vlad kept it blunt, but his statement confused Midoriya as the man explained what he meant. “They’re all here to train to be heroes, the best in the country. They passed the same exam as you, if not a harder one.” He reminded him of that fact, that he might have scored the highest in general, but that didn't mean his classmates were inferior to him.
"To be a hero is to always give it your all, rain or shine, night or day. Everyone is trying their best to live up to that, so what do you think they'll think when they learn you're not only insulting them by holding back but everything U.A. stands for?" He asked him, with Midoriya wilting as he could see what the man was talking about, but at the same time, he seemed to be making progress, having talked to his classmates, learned their names and made gains to making friends again. He didn't want to compromise that by showing what he normally looked like, or let loose when so many others were terrified of it.
Vlad seemed to see that as he added something. “Don’t underestimate them, Midoriya. If you show your stuff, they get over it. Besides, you’re here to train, even if that just means getting a little better day by day. They’ll just train harder to match and surpass you. So I expect you to do the same.” Midoriya smiled, trying to trust his teacher's words.
“Yes, Vlad-sensei.” When he didn’t move to leave, the man raised an eyebrow.
“Anything else.” He asked as the boy felt his cheeks get a little red as he pulled out his notebook, having filled a few pages with notes on his classmate's quirks.
“Well, you see…” Taking a breath, moving before Koharu could smack him. “Could I get your autograph?” The question caught the man so off guard that he couldn't help but laugh at it. How long had it been since a student asked for one?
Wiping the amused tear from his eye, he took the offered pen from the kid’s hand. “Sure, kid.” As he signed the boy's notebook, what neither was aware of was the floating eye and eye above them, organs that belonged to a fellow green-haired student who covered up the fact she detached them to observe by moving her hair over the side of her face. But thanks to that, she managed to learn something interesting about little Green as she wondered just how capable he could be if he didn't hold back.
This chapter took longer to write, mainly due to its increased length, but I'm happy with it all considered. The events of the first day were handled, and I managed to start early with the differences between Vlad's and Aizawa's teaching methods as he doesn't threaten to expel a group of kids with no training and sticks to a more traditional penalty. Even how Vlad encourages his students to be more friendly which will make interactions between the two classes later on all the funnier:
Izuku: Man, I can't believe that! Last place is to clean the class
Asui: That’s all…?
Izuku: Yeah, why?
Asui: (Kero) He threatened to expel last place. He only told us after showing the results he was kidding
Izuku:…You’re right, Koharu. That sounds insane.
