This was it. He was finally here. Having managed to pass the entrance exam thanks to the Rescue Points, Izuku Midoriya was now one of the newest first years at U.A. High School.

Oh man oh man oh man! Izuku thought, grinning from ear to ear as he entered the school. I made it, All Might! I wonder where my class is? Class 1B, right? Yeah, yeah it is. I wonder how many unique quirks my classmates will have? Oh, and who will our teacher be!? It'll be a pro hero, right!? I wonder- Oh craaaaaap. A bolt of fear shot through the green haired teen, instantly crashing his mood. Kacchan was also going to be here. His excitement at finding his class had lessened and now he was trembling. What are the odds of being placed in the same class? Too high. Way too high. Oh man, junior high had been rough enough trying to avoid him, but now-

"Hey dude, you good?"

Izuku yelped and shot a foot in the air. Hurrying to pick up his dropped bag, he turned to whoever the voice belonged to, face bright red as he realized he had been muttering aloud. Another green haired teen, albeit a darker shade than his, quirked her eyebrow at him. She placed a hand on her hip, her grin full of sharp teeth. "What's got you so wound up?"

"U-uh," Izuku felt himself go even more red, if that was possible. A g-girl!? Wha-what do I do!? What do I say!?

The girl frowned, then spotted a piece of paper on the ground at the nervous boy's feet. Scooping it up, she peered at its contents. Her smile returned. "Hey, would you look at that. You're in Class 1B, like me."

"I, uh... huh?"

The girl rolled her eyes. Someone obviously had social issues. I can work with this , she thought with a devil's grin.

"I could help you find your way to class," she said, holding out the paper to her fellow student.

"I, th-thanks," Izuku said, trying to calm his nerves, Kacchan all but forgotten as he reached out to reclaim his paper, only for the girl to hold it up higher away from him. No, that wasn't right, her hand was-

"First I'd like to know your name," the girl teased, flapping the paper in the air with her detached hand. "If you'd like, I can go fir-"

"Ohmygoshhowdoesthatwork!? Canyousplitotherpartsofyourbodyorisitjustyourhands!? IzukuMidoriyabythewaynicetomeetyou! Whatkindoftimelimitisthereonhowlongyoucankeepthemdetached!? Whathappensif-!?"

"Woah there," the girl stopped him by chopping his head lightly with her floating hand, breaking him from his obvious fanboying. He blinked, glancing from his open notebook, already having scribble down notes and predictions on how her quirk functions. "Cool your jets, Broccoli Head."

"Broc-broccoli head?" Izuku stuttered.

"Yeah, couldn't catch your name, so now your Broccoli Head," the girl shrugged, walking away, her hand trailing behind, flapping Izuku's paper. He hurried to keep up. "I'm Setsuna Tokage by the way."

"I-Izuku Mi-Midoriya," Izuku squeaked out.

"Uh huh, sure, Broccoli Head," Setsuna said with a grin. "Here, you can have this back now," she dropped the paper and Izuku caught it. "So what's up with this journal? Or is it a diary?" She asked, her other hand floating in front of her face as she glanced at the page he'd been writing in.

"Ah!"

"Huh," Setsuna raised an eyebrow and it rose above her head. "Not bad. Really, not bad, with only having seen me detach my hand. Though my quirk is called Lizard Tail Splitter, not Body Separation." She tossed the journal back to Izuku and he caught it gratefully, rubbing clean the quirk name with the butt of his pencil and writing "Lizard Tail Splitter". "What are you, some sort of stalker fanboy?"

"N-no not a-at all," Izuku stammered, going bright red again. "I, uh, I j-just l-like analyzing he-heroes and th-their q-quirks. It's a, uh, a h-hobby of mine I-I guess."

"Huh," Setsuna was intrigued. She'd seen two sides to this strange boy already. One was an easily frightened and timid individual. The other was a hardcore fanboy. "Relax, Broccoli Head. I'm only messing with you. But," she detached her head, her body continuing to walk as she zoomed her face close to Izuku's.

T-too close! Izuku's face went supernova as he jerked his head to the side to avoid looking directly at her.

Setsuna cackled. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun. "But," she repeated, grinning like the madwoman she was. "That does show that you have quite the interesting brain. What, is that your quirk or something? Super analysis that requires only basic information to get the metaphorical engine going?"

"Uh, n-no," Izuku glanced away, unable to meet her gaze. "M-my quirk is ca-called, uh..." Crap, what should I call it!? I can't say One For All! But I gotta come up with something! Anything! "It-it's called S-superpower. Y-yeah, it, uh, g-gives me, um, superpower..." he trailed off stupidly.

Setsuna blinked at the very weak explanation. "O-okay," she floated her head back to her neck, reattaching it. "Hey, we're here."

Izuku stopped beside her, turning to also stare at the tall door with "1B" engraved on it. He gulped. If it hadn't been real before, it sure as heck was now. Right behind that door was his class in UA's Hero Course. He bounced his backpack on his shoulders, rolled them, and tried to smile to hide his nerves. It was time.

Setsuna tried to hold in her laughter at the display of self-confidence. She failed, pressing her head against her stomach to stifle her giggles.

Izuku opened the large door and was able to take in the chatter of his new classmates before he found himself tripping over his own feet. Welp, so much for my dreams-

But just like the last time this happened, he didn't hit the floor. He was floating midair, similar to the nice girl's gravity quirk. But unlike her quirk, this one didn't feel like zero gravity as he flailed his arms in a panic.

"You should watch your step. You could hurt yourself." Izuku felt himself being lifted and placed back on his own two feet. A gray haired girl stood to his side, her bangs styled to cover most of the left part of her face, leaving only one blue eye revealed. He noticed that it had a dark circle under it, as if she didn't get much sleep. He then noticed the way she held her hands, holding her arms up with her hands pointed down, much like how ghosts would.

"I, uhm, th-thank y-you v-very much!" Izuku bowed his head several times while Setsuna could no longer contain her laughter as she reattached her head.

"I gotta hand it to you, Broccoli Head," she said, patting him on the back. "You're one funny guy. C'mon, let's go find our seats."

"Y-yeah, sure," Izuku nodded, turning to say thank you one more time to the girl with the levitation quirk, but she'd already moved further back in the classroom to talk with a- Wait, was that-!? No, nevermind. She looked like the nice girl from the entrance exam, but she was shorter and her bangs covered her eyes. Her hair style almost looked like a brown mushroom.

Shaking himself from his stupor, he checked his paper again. He was seat number 18, so that would be... He looked up, counting in his head, and landing on a window seat 3 seats from the front of the class. He made his way over to it, sitting down. The desk behind him was empty, but the one in front already had an occupant. A rather loud person reclined atop it, one foot dangling over the side as he conversed with... was that a glue dispenser for a head?

"Well hello there," the blond swiveled around as Izuku took his seat. "Are you going to play the role of the lead or that of a support?"

"H-huh?"

The blond ran a hand through his hair, chuckling. "Sorry about that. Just a funny question I like to ponder for myself from time to time. I'm Neito Monoma." He held out his hand for Izuku to shake.

"I-Izuku Midoriya," Izuku shook his hand, rather hoping that Monoma couldn't feel how clammy his felt nor notice the subtle shaking. But Izuku also felt relief. So far, no Bakugou. Which must mean he was placed in Class 1A. He could work with this.

"Hey hey!" Setsuna butted in, plopping herself onto the desk behind Izuku, grinning widely as she folded her legs up. "This here is my green headed buddy. Find your own."

"I'm sorry?" Neito knitted his eyebrows together as Izuku went red again. "Yours? Do explain, Set."

"Green hair," Setsuna pointed to her hair, then to Izuku's. "Doesn't need much explaining."

"Hm." Neito turned his attention back to Izuku. "Anyway, what's your quirk?"

"Oi, don't ignore me copycat-"

"It's, um, S-superpower," Izuku said, feeling a tad more confident in his answer. Not by much though.

"Huh, that's an easy enough quirk to handle," Neito tapped his chin. "Main character then. Well, I should try and copy your quirk later. Might help me out."

"I-I'm sorry, but... copy?" Izuku asked, eyes widening.

"Yeah, a weak quirk, I know," Neito shrugged, smiling. "But what can you do? I am satisfied filling the suppor-"

"It's amazing!" Izuku exploded excitedly, startling Neito so much he nearly fell off the desk. He watched as Izuku whipped out a notebook and pencil, scribbling furiously. "You said Copy, right? Man, that has so many uses I couldn't list them all if I tried! But there has to be some sort of drawback. Time limit perhaps? Oh, and how many you can copy." He glanced up quickly, eyes practically shining with interest. "How many can you copy!?"

"Uh..." Neito was at a loss of what to say while Setsuna sniggered at his expense. "One."

"Maybe with more training you could handle more," Izuku palmed his mouth, thinking aloud. "But still, even only being able to copy one quirk at a time has its uses. If you're able to copy one quirk and then switch it with another, it could allow you to confuse your opponents. But that's only if they don't know who you are. They might be careful not to let you get too close. With the right teammates, however, doubling up on the same quirk..."

Unbeknownst to Izuku, he'd started gathering the nearby attention of several of his classmates. Bored listening to the steel-haired musclehead talking loudly with a bug-faced classmate, the student with a skull-like appearance due to his teeth being exposed found his attention moving around the classroom. Drawn naturally to the two students sitting on desks, he found his attention instead shifting to the boy sitting in the desk between those two. He was muttering into his hand while writing with the other. Intrigued, he leaned forwards, resting his arms on his desk as he listened in. And what he heard was utterly fascinating.

A shaggy brown haired individual with small, square glasses resting on his beastly face, stopped mid sentence while conversing with the foreign exchange student from China. He glanced around to the fluffy green haired kid muttering aloud while the girl sitting on the desk behind him stared at him, a smile slowly gracing her features. The blond guy sitting in front of him, however, was growing increasingly flustered. It was... quite a sight. The Chinese student, confused on why his conversation partner had stopped talking, glanced around the furred student. His thin eyebrows raised the more he heard.

A girl with vines for hair was momentarily distracted from her prayer by some sort of constant mumbling sound. She paused, hands pressed together as she glanced up to watch her fellow greenette talking about something or another while writing it all down. She was so fascinated, she didn't even notice the short brown haired girl inspecting one of her vines, one of her fingers hovering hesitantly over it, as if wanting to touch it, but was restraining herself, while the spooky gray haired girl snickered at her friend's hesitant nature.

An orange haired girl, who had been trying to engage a rather stoic faced girl in conversation, both found themselves glancing over to Izuku. The former rolled her eyes as she watched one of her best friends laughing at her other friend's expression. Though, it's nice to see that Neito can look flustered like that instead of his usual brashness, she thought with a smirk of her own.

"-And since you can only keep the quirk for a set amount of time, you'll need to find a way to copy more quirks on the fly. I wonder if you had a part of that person, like hair, if you could still copy their quirk, or-"

"H-hey now," Neito interrupted him weakly. "What in the world, Midoriya? You got all that just from hearing my quirk is able to copy quirks?"

Izuku blushed, rubbing the back of his head as he turned away. "I, uh, I guess? I-I really love quirks. I can't help but analyze them..." He trailed off, just now realizing several of his classmates were staring at him. Wait, scratch that. Just about every single one of them was watching him. He blinked and the temperature in his face skyrocketed and he quickly stared down at his lap. So much for making a first good impression with his classmates. He could see it now. Maybe Monoma would follow the other blond in his life and proceed to mock him and his hobby. Or perhaps Tokage's jokes would turn nastier. Or maybe-

"Aw, ain't that cute," Setsuna cackled at his blush, making him wilt in his seat.

"Is that notebook full of other quirks you've analyzed?" Neito asked, genuinely interested and trying to cheer the guy up. He shot a glare at Setsuna, who gave him a confused look.

Izuku nodded, not trusting himself to speak and very busy trying not to look in his class' direction, as he was confident they were still staring. Neito tilted his head to view the words written on the front cover better. "Hero Analysis for the Future" . Just below that, "No. 14" .

Neito felt his eyes widen. Number... 14!? That meant this kid had 13 other notebooks full of quirks he'd analyzed. Just who was Izuku Midoriya?

Before he could say anything, however, the door to the classroom slid open and a hulking figure in a red tight bodysuit entered. Shelving those thoughts for later, Neito slid off the desk and into his chair, glancing back once at Midoriya, who was quickly rifling through his schoolbag now, still a bit red in the face. Setsuna glanced up at the ghost-like girl, who had come to sit only to find the green haired girl sitting atop her desk. Setsuna let out a small "Oops" followed by a giggle as she hopped off and quickly took her actual seat. Which (she thanked the gods for their blessing) was right next to Midoriya's. Fun was going to be had with this boy.

"Ahem," the man said, setting his papers down onto his desk as he stood in front of the class. "I will be your homeroom teacher and the one who will be not only helping you grow as students, but also as future heroes. My name is Sekijiro Kan, but you can just call me Kan. I don't care much for formality from my students. But some of you may have heard of me back when I was more active as a pro. Vlad King." He paused, waiting to see if that got any reaction. The class just blinked at him. Well, except for-

Izuku's eyes widened and immediately said aloud, "Vlad King, the Blood Hero! Now I recognize you! Your quirk is Blood Control and you're especially good at capturing villains with the blood you eject from your arms-"

"Oh fuck no, that's disgusting," the boy in Seat No. 1 with a blue on white zigzag patterned headband holding back his spiky black hair voiced, scooting back his chair into the desk behind him, earning a glare from his brown haired classmate. "Imagine getting his blood all over you. Yuck!"

"I can assure you, Awase," Sekijiro spoke to him sternly. "Unless you happen to force my hand, there is no need for me to use my quirk on you. Moving on," his voice became gruffer. "In about 30 minutes we'll be heading over to watch the opening ceremony. So in the meantime I'd like to discuss what you as students should expect from your lessons here at UA and me as a teacher, as well as some general rules." He huffed, sliding one paper off and underneath the stack. He glanced at the clock. Yeah, there would be enough time to quickly go over names and quirks. He scowled suddenly. He had a feeling Aizawa would be skipping the ceremony again and getting his students straight to the apprehension test. While Aizawa generally had great success with his students, Sekijiro still preferred sticking to the order of things. The opening ceremony existed for a reason. No need to let some of the kids get big heads, thinking they were too good for certain aspects of UA.

He coughed once into his fist to bring his focus back to his class. "First off, you all should have gotten a time schedule with your other school supplies prior to today. If you did not receive one, I have extras." He held up a small stack of them, but none of the students needed one apparently. "This will be the normal weekly schedule, barring any special exercises that may come up on short notice. In the mornings you'll attend regular academic lessons, Japanese, Math, English, Home Ec, the works. The afternoons, after you've all had lunch, will be devoted to hero lessons. Those will range from theory to practical lessons. As Class 1B, practical lessons, if applicable, will be held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. That's because Class 1A has Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for such lessons. But for now, don't worry about the schedule too much until the start of next week."

With that finished, he eyed the class. "Alright, as for me, like I said I'll be your homeroom teacher. I'll be here to support you when needed. Should you need extra guidance or even training with your quirk, you can ask me first before anyone else. One day you all will be heroes. But for now, you're just high school students who still haven't reached the full potentials of your quirks. Your time here at UA will help define what kind of hero you will become and what kind of image you will embody to those you will undoubtedly inspire. So should you need a firm hand or a gentle push in the right direction on this path of yours, I will be most glad to give it."

The class was silent for a moment before they erupted into a momentous applause. One student with a speech bubble for a head clapped his hands while the word "clap" appeared within the speech bubble, creating extra clapping noises around him. Meanwhile Izuku's eyes had watered up. He'd managed to resist truly crying, but he couldn't stop all the tears. It was so... different, hearing supportive words like this from a teacher. For once in his life, he actually found that he liked a teacher. All the ones he had in Junior High... Well, they ignored whenever Kacchan and his goons picked on him for starters. But Kan-sensei was a totally different story. He was a shining example of both a teacher and a hero in his eyes.

Setsuna quirked an eyebrow as she noticed Broccoli Head wiping away tears from his eyes. This kid really was strange. But there was something nagging at her. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but there was just something... off.

Sekijiro waved his hand, fighting hard to keep a blush from his face. It was for reasons like this he wished he could control the blood while it was in his body instead of solely when it was outside. It would be so much more useful to keep any excess blood from entering his face at unfortunate moments.

"Now for some general rules," he went on as the class quieted down. "There will be no tolerance of using your quirks against fellow students or teachers in a harmful or deceitful manner. That includes using your quirks to help you or others cheat during tests." He went on to explain more basic rules, not all of which were related to quirks. Setsuna found herself yawning and distracted herself from falling asleep by watching Broccoli Head out of the corner of her eyes, who would be switching between watching Kan-sensei and writing something down in a journal. Not his hero journal, Setsuna noted. Looks like he's actually taking genuine school notes, even if they're just the rules.

Forcing herself not to giggle, she focused back on Kan-sensei, who seemed to be wrapping up his spiel on rules. Whoops, looks like she missed half of them. Too bad.

"Now," Kan glanced back at the clock mounted on the wall again. "We still have time. You all can introduce yourself to your classmates. Be sure to include your quirk. Later, you should all get the chance to see your classmates' quirks in action, so only include brief explanations if need be." He nodded to the loud kid, Awase, from before. "We'll start from the first seat."

Awase stood, turning to the class while he grinned cockily. "The names Yosetsu Awase. My quirk is Weld. It allows me to fuse any objects together, inorganic or organic, it doesn't matter. I can do both."

As he sat down, Setsuna whipped her attention back to Broccoli Head. Sure enough, he was already jotting down notes in his quirk analysis notebook. It was faint right now, but she could hear him mumbling beneath his breath. She caught Neito's eye, who was also finding himself glancing at his mumbling classmate. The ghost-like girl, since she was situated right behind Izuku, found that she too was glancing at him occasionally.

"Blades from any part of his body," Izuku murmured as his pencil began to blur. "I wonder if he can make any type of blade as well." More scribbling. "She's able to enlarge and shrink nonliving objects. Interesting that two of the students here have quirks related to size changes. Though I guess enlarging your hands is fundamentally different." Lead is gone. Quicker to switch pencils than sharpen the dull one. "Shoda could do a lot of damage with his quirk, or use it effectively during rescue operations..."

Setsuna was really enjoying the show. It amazed her that there was just no end to this side of Broccoli Head. She noted with a smirk that at this point, his neighbors were now much too distracted by him to pay any real attention to the rest of their classmates.

"-air prisons. Oh, steel- wait, Tetsutetsu... Tetsutetsu... Huh... Steel though. That would be very handy in a fight. I wonder if he needs a diet with high iron content to make it more effective."

Setsuna tore her focus away from the mumbler (oh yeah, now there was a nickname. Broccoli Head might get retired early) as Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (oh my god that was a mouthful, he better just go by Tetsu or I swear-) finished speaking and sat, arms crossed as he grinned. Setsuna stood, smirking with a hand on her hip. "Setsuna Tokage. My quirk's name is Lizard Tail Splitter. As the name suggests," she wiggled her hands, which were now floating above her body alongside her floating head. "It's great for party tricks." She plopped back down as the very enthusiastic Manga Fukidashi went next.

Once things got around to Monoma did Izuku realize he would have to speak soon. Mentally preparing himself, and hoping he wouldn't make a fool out of himself, he clenched a fist beneath his desk. This time things would be different. This wasn't Junior High and Bakugou wasn't here either. Well, not in this class at least. So he had a chance. Time to make a real first impression!

When Neito sat down, all eyes turned to Izuku as he stood. For a moment, he was surprised that he wasn't shaking. This was great. Now all he had to do was not stutt-

"H-hi, my n-name is I-Izuku M-Midoriya a-and my q-quirk i-is S-Superpower."

Welp, so much for that.

...

"Don't worry about it too much," Neito told Izuku as they followed the rest of their class to the auditorium where the UA Opening Ceremony would be held. "Once we start our Quirk Apprehension Test, you'll be able to show everyone just how great of a quirk yours is."

"Y-yeah," Izuku said aloud, still a bit red. Silently, Heh heh... Yeah, breaking my arms in front of the entire class will definitely show them, that's for sure.

As they had finished up introductions, Kan-sensei had informed them that after the Opening Ceremony they would go have lunch, then go straight back to homeroom to grab their gym uniforms for their Quirk Apprehension Test. Izuku already had an inkling he was gonna bomb that one 100%.

Setsuna quietly observed Izuku as he conversed with Neito. She's come to a conclusion as to what felt off about the green haired boy. When talking normally with others, he had a stutter. Definitely nerves. What was odd about that was that it seemed to come naturally for him. At first she'd believed it was just because he had zero experience communicating with girls (okay, that was probably still true), but then when he talked with Neito he still acted nervous. And not to mention when the class caught him geeking out. Thinking back, she now realized the way he acted was really not normal. It's as if he was expecting to be ostracized or something.

Neito, having known Setsuna for a while, tended to be on the same wavelength as her. He'd noticed the stark differences in Midoriya's personality and took special note of his hero analysis notebook; Number 14. If each notebook was as big as this one, then he must've logged hundreds of quirks over the course of years. He was a nerd and a fanboy, plain and simple. And that meant school life would go either one of two ways for kids like him. They either were able to connect with a lot of people based on similar passions, or they were the subject to ridicule and bullying. Neito feared it was the latter based on Midoriya's behavior. Not to mention...

"Yo, Broccoli Head," Setsuna interrupted Neito's thoughts. "Why do you keep glancing over your shoulder like that?"

"Eep!"

Neito frowned. Midoriya looked as if he'd just been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. "I, uh, j-just looking to see i-if I see my, uh, my friend a-around."

"A friend?" Setsuna cocked her head, her hand floating up and pointing at herself. "I'm right here though?"

"I, uh, w-wait, h-hold o-on-" Izuku stuttered, his brain short circuiting. When had they become friends!?

Neito sighed, flicking Setsuna in the forehead, making her back up and stick her tongue out at him. "You'll have to excuse lizard brain over here. She likes her jokes." He gave the green headed boy a smile. "But, I would like to think we're at least good acquaintances already. After all, we are seat buddies."

"Hey-"

"I said seat buddies," Neito wagged a finger in Setsuna's face, smirking. "Not green headed buddy."

"Hmph," Setsuna crossed her arms. "It's only fun when I do it."

Izuku wasn't paying attention to them. Good acquaintances... He had a goofy smile, feeling as if we were walking on cloud 9. I don't think I've ever had good acquaintances before... What Izuku didn't realize was that he said that aloud. He also definitely didn't notice both Setsuna and Neito exchanging worried looks as they entered the auditorium.

As they found their seats, Izuku glanced around again nervously. He didn't see Kacchan, but... Wait. "Where's Class 1A?" He wondered aloud, seeing a whole section of seats empty. Neito blinked, glancing around as well. "Huh, you're right. Where are they?"

"Only one way to find out," Setsuna smirked and leaned back as her left eye popped right out of its socket and soared back the way they'd come, managing to slip past the doors unnoticed before they were closed.

"Setsuna," Neito groaned, palming his face. "You're going to get in serious trouble one day for doing that."

"What?" She asked innocently. "Not like I'm using it to cheat on a test. If anything, this is good practice. See, Broccoli Head thinks so." She pointed to him, who had his notebook out again, updating Setsuna's quirk page.

"You carry that wherever you go?" Neito asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yep!" Izuku said with a wide smile, beaming down at his Hero Analysis notebook. "For a while my dream of becoming a hero wasn't possible. So I studied heroes whenever I got the chance. I, well, I thought that if I couldn't become a hero by skills alone, then knowing all there is to know about heroes would do the trick..."

"But... why?" Setsuna asked as she leaned towards him, careful to keep her bangs on her left side to cover the fact that her eye was going AWOL. "Superpower sounds like such a useful quirk for heroics."

"Uh..." Izuku was saved from answering by the appearance of Nedzu. He tapped the mic on the podium and everyone immediately put their attention onto him. It was remarkably similar to other opening ceremonies, just with more emphasis on heroics. As he introduced the Pro Heroes who were going to be teaching them, Izuku whipped out his notebook so fast he nearly beaned Monoma in the head. But once Nedzu got to talking about UA's statistics compared to other hero schools, Izuku paused. The number of applicants that had attempted to get accepted into UA had been 973. That made him frown. Usually there would be at least a couple thousand applicants each year, if not thousands more. It was the top hero school for a reason. Now that he thought about it, he had looked through the odds of getting accepted into UA back before All Might had given him One For All, and there had been a decrease in applicants in recent years.

Come to think of it, Izuku frowned, tuning out Nedzu's speech. Maybe the trend started after All Might went into retirement. Without the Symbol of Peace, crime has gone back up. Maybe parents are worried about their children going into the hero business-?

"Yo, he's done," Tokage nudged him with her elbow. "Finally."

"Gotta say, I think I found Kan-sensei's speech more inspiring," Monoma shrugged as Class 1B stood along with the rest of the students in the auditorium and began walking out to head to the cafeteria.

"That's a first," a girl with orange hair with a messy left ponytail said, joining the trio as they walked. "You usually go on about how teachers are, and I quote, 'idiots that wouldn't recognize talent if it hit them in the a-'"

"Yeah," Setsuna agreed, eyes bright with laughter. "Just because Slice 'n Dice didn't choose to recommend you-"

"Ah shut it," Neito grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Izuku glanced between the three. "So, uh, you three knew one another from junior high?"

The orange haired girl nodded while chuckling. "Me and Set have known each other since primary. This piece of work known as Neito Monoma wormed his way into being our friend during the final year of junior high." She stuck out her hand to the green haired boy. "Kendo Itsuka by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I-Izuku M-Midoriya," He stammered, shaking her hand. He prided himself with not feeling nervous about touching a girl's hand. Well, at least not too much.

Itsuka smiled, then frowned as Setsuna winced. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but when Setsuna noticed her looking she turned away. After a couple seconds she turned back, smirking proudly, her bangs no longer covering the left part of her face...

Kendo crossed her arms, frowning at her friend. "Okay, what was that?"

"I dunno what you mean."

"You know very well what I mean, Set."

"Ugh, fine. Bossy much? You think you'd grow out of that by high school."

"Excuse me?! "

"Anyway," Setsuna turned to both Neito and Broccoli Head. "I found out what Class 1A was up to."

"So you did use your quirk-"

"Well, enlighten us," Neito urged her, interrupting Itsuka. Izuku for his part, while he didn't say anything, was just as curious to know.

"They were taking their Quirk Apprehension Test," Setsuna revealed. "Some dead tired looking pro is their teacher. At one point something he said made a lot of them look worried."

"What did he say?" Itsuka asked, curious despite still being slightly annoyed.

"I only sent my eye, so I couldn't overhear what he said. And I'm still learning how to read lips. Which ended up away past the time limit. Thankfully these puppies grow back fast."

"Set."

"I'mma just ignore that disapproving tone in your voice. It grew back fine."

"So you were using your quirk without permission to spy on a fellow class, Miss Tokage?" A voice rumbled behind them. The four quickly turned, and Izuku feared that a teacher had overheard them and was about to punish everyone involved, but it was just their shaggy furred classmate. Shishida, I think. Midoriya's mind reflexively reviewed the information he'd jotted down when he'd heard what Shishida's quirk was.

Quirk: Beast. He said he's able to transform into a powerful beast, but apparently he's not as in-control like he is normally. Becoming more beast-like must enhance his strength, speed, well, really anything beast-related, while taking away from intelligence. Yet from how he's spoken and carries himself, he obviously very well mannered-

A cough drew Izuku from his thoughts. His, once again, aloud thoughts. So naturally he grew bright red again.

"That is quite the analysis you have on me," Shishida commented. "But it might be best that you don't mumble stuff like that aloud about others. It can come off as rather rude."

"Sorry!" Izuku bowed as low as he could.

"It is quite fine," Shishida assured him. "No need to bow." He turned to Tokage, frowning. "As for you, miss, it is rather rude and unheroic of you to spy on our sister class."

"Puh-lease," Neito rolled his eyes as they entered the large cafeteria. "If anything it's Class 1A that's being rude. The gall they have to skip the opening ceremony! Stuck-ups, the lot of them."

"U-uh, wouldn't it have been up to their teacher to make that decision though?" Izuku asked. He found that he was able to talk somewhat normally now. He relationed that to the fact that both Tokage and Monoma had proven to be nice people, despite having unique personalities. And Kendo was their friend and she seemed nice enough. Well, they're not Bakugou, so in a sense, anyone with a decent personality is better, he thought privately. And this time he made sure those thoughts were private.

Monoma waved his hand as they joined the end of the forming lunch line. "It's Class 1A. They're bound to be stuck up in some regards."

Izuku opened his mouth to argue, then remembered Kacchan would have to be in Class 1A. He couldn't find it in his heart to fully disagree with Monoma.

As if picking up on his thoughts, Tokage continued on about her conversation with Shishida frowning at her, but doing nothing else as they all left the classroom. "They had some impressive quirks. Like, not even kidding, they got some real powerhouses. They got a guy that can create large amount of ice, another guy with engines in his legs-" Izuku did a mental double-take at that information. He remembered that guy quite well. While not in the same sense as Kacchan, he was rather afraid of his intense personality.

"-create anything from her body. Oh, did I mention the guy who got the farthest ball throw? Blasted some gnarly explosions from his hands. Now there's a-"

Izuku actually reacted physically that time by accidentally crashing into Monoma's back. Izuku apologized profusely while Monoma assured him all was fine. He was so distracted with his own thoughts while they got their food he failed to notice that the famous Pro Hero Lunch Rush was serving them the food. He was so lost in his thoughts, he jerked when Tokage prodded him with her chopsticks.

"Earth to Midoriya, you in there Mumbles?"

"M-Mumbles!?" Izuku squeaked.

"Yeah," Tokage was smirking as she waved her chopsticks at him. "While I'm still partial to Broccoli Head, I think Mumbles suits you far better don't you think."

"Setsuna," Kendo said dryly. "Stop teasing him."

Setsuna chewed on her food. "But it's so fun."

Itsuka rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you okay, Midoriya? You seemed out of it."

"Oh, uh, n-no, I-I'm good," he said shakily, stuffing some food in his mouth. He stared at his plate, swallowing. "Oh wow, this is really good."

"I know right," Monoma twirled his chopsticks around. "While school food has never been terrible, comparing that to Lunch Rush's cooking-"

"Lunch Rush!?" Izuku interrupted, eyes wide. "He's here!?"

"Uh... yeah," Tokage swallowed and jerked her head back. "He served us our food. Wow, you really were in the zone huh."

"I gotta go ask for his auto-!"

"I SAID SHUT IT SHITTY HAIR!"

Izuku froze, turning his head away from Lunch Rush towards the front of the cafeteria. It seemed Class 1A was finally joining them for lunch. And walking in front next to a red haired guy was Kacchan.

"Damn shitty extras," Katsuki Bakugou muttered beneath his breath, trying to leave the people following him behind as he forced his way past two students, nearly making them trip and spill their food. Then he stopped. And stared.

Izuku felt himself go pale. The cafeteria was big. Way bigger than the one at Aldera Junior High. Yet despite that, they'd locked eyes. For a second, Izuku thought Kacchan was going to start screaming bloody murder and begin exploding. But all he did was sneer and stalk towards the lunch line.

Izuku let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"That's the guy I was talking about," Setsuna pointed to the ashen blond angrily making his way to the back of the line, snarling at someone who tried to get there first. "The one with the explosion quirk."

"No kidding?" Monoma raised an eyebrow. "His attitude is, well..."

"Expressive," Kendo sighed. "Guess you even get people like him at UA. Oh wait," she smirked in Neito's direction. "Forgot about one."

"Hah hah, very funny," Neito rolled his eyes.

"Yo, Mumbles? You okay? You're looking a little pale."

"H-huh?" Izuku whipped around to look at her. "Y-yeah, I-I'm perfectly okay! Really!" He then proceeded to stuff food in his mouth, hoping to avoid talking. He knew he'd see Kacchan around, but it still came as a shock. Especially since he wasn't trying to start something. Which was unlike him. Then again...

"What's a shitty nerd like you going to do, huh!?" Kacchan had slammed Midoriya back up against the wall after the greenette had tried acting brave, saying there was nothing Kacchan could do to stop him from going to UA. He held up his hand to Izuku's face, the sparks from the small explosions stinging his cheek. "Cheated your way into UA, ruining MY moment!? You'll be lucky if they allow a quirkless idiot like you finish the first day! Mark my words, Deku, you have no chance of becoming a hero! So give up before I make you!"

Maybe he's waiting to see if I make it to the second day of UA before he does anything, Izuku thought worriedly. His hand clenched around his chopsticks. No, I won't let him intimidate me. I will be here tomorrow, Kacchan, and you can't do anything about it.

Izuku was silent for the rest of lunch, and the others left him be. Even Setsuna opted to not tease him, seeing that something was clearly up with the boy. And Neito was frowning. Midoirya's reaction to Class 1A was troubling. No, not 1A, Neito's frown deepened. Just him.

He'd already guessed Midoriya might have had a tough time before coming to UA. And then there were his actions earlier, before the opening ceremony. How he kept glancing over his shoulders anxiously. His lame excuse about looking for a friend rang in his ears.

I wonder ...

Neito glanced back around, observing the blond student with the explosion quirk. How he carelessly and disrespectfully sat down, and propped his legs up on the table as he ate, yelling angrily at his companions, who appeared to be fawning over him. One was a guy with pointy red hair and the other a yellow haired individual. A girl with pink skin and horns and black eyes joined them along with a black haired guy with weird elbows.

Neito's eyes narrowed. Maybe he was reading too much into things, but for whatever reason he couldn't just dismiss these thoughts. And it wasn't long later that his worries seemed to have some merit to them.

...

After lunch, Izuku and the rest of his class had gone back to the classroom and retrieved their PE uniforms before heading to the locker rooms to change. The silver haired teen in particular was very loud and expressive, talking animatedly with Awase, Tsuburaba, and Kamakiri. He tried blocking them out as he focused on the upcoming Quirk Apprehension Test.

I won't be able to rely on One For All for the most part, Izuku thought as he began slipping his shirt off. At most, I might be able to bust out one, two powerful demonstrations, but that'll bust up both of my arms, so it might not-

"Midoriya."

Monoma's voice cut through Izuku's thoughts and the boy made another startled "eep!", fearing he said that aloud. But Monoma's question thankfully had nothing to do with his thoughts. Not so thankfully, it ended up raising another issue.

"Where'd you get those scars from?"

The world felt like it had gone very still. Izuku could feel himself paling. There could only be one thing Monoma was talking about. Throughout his junior high experience, he'd been the subject of bullying. From one person in particular. Kacchan. Now, for the most part his little explosions were mainly directed at his stuff. But Kacchan liked to get physical on occasions. Whether he was pretending to act friendly or pushing Izuku up against the wall, he'd commonly grip Izuku on the shoulders. Sometimes the chest or back if he went for a push with his hands and not tripping him. Izuku liked to think Kacchan didn't mean to do a lot of damage (even thinking that sounded laughable to Izuku), but he had a couple of faded minor burn marks on his shoulder areas, from when Kacchan was particularly upset.

Absolutely none of that could be used as an explanation here. So Izuku said the first thing that came to mind. "Uh..." Which was nothing, as he stared at Monoma with widening eyes. Shaking his head to try and force his brain to come up something, he stuttered out, "I, uh, I-I did a l-lot of t-training b-before coming to UA." Izuku tried pouring more confidence into his words. "On a b-beach, so I guess I m-may have burned myself a-a couple times out there. Heh heh..." He finished with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head with his eyes closed, praying that when he opened them Monoma would look satisfied.

Neito Monoma prided himself on having an above average intellect. So instead of calling out Midoriya's blatant lie to avoid the truth, he just said, "Oh, do try and avoid doing that. It can't be good for your health."

"D-duly noted," Izuku said hurriedly and he went back to getting into his gym uniform.

Neito was concerned. Sure, he barely knew Izuku Midoriya, but not only was he his classmate and seat buddy now, he found that he was already liking this stuttering mess of a guy. So naturally, when his thoughts had thus far been leading to the conclusion that Midoriya may have had it a bit rough before coming to UA, he started feeling a sense of pity for the boy. As a result, and as much as Neito didn't want to think about it, he was beginning to feel kinship with the greenette.

"Do you really think you're gonna become a hero just by the borrowed powers from others? Hah! Dream on, you worthless copycat."

Neito almost reflexively went to touch the back of his head, before stopping himself. He had hoped that he'd finally gotten rid of that memory when he opened his acceptance letter to UA. Apparently not.

Glancing once more at Midoriya's shoulders before they were covered by his PE shirt, Neito couldn't help but remember that guy with the explosion quirk from lunch. If his suspicions were correct, that Midoriya knew the guy, then those burns could be...

Shaking himself from his stupor, Neito hurried to get dressed. Midoriya was already finished and pouring over his notebook by the time he was fixing his clothes to make sure they weren't crooked in any place.

"What are you doing now?" Neito asked.

"Going over our class' quirks again," Izuku said excitedly. "Everyone has such cool quirks and it'll be really interesting to see how everyone uses theirs for this test." He looked up from it and smiled at Monoma. "I can't wait to see yours in action especially!"

Ah, there it was. The other reason he couldn't help but like Midoriya. That smile of his when he wasn't being held back by his meek personality. It was just so damn precious!

I'm back! And with a new story that isn't Pokemon related. Apologies to all those who were looking forward to updates for RoC and whatnot, but... Well, just go and check out my random book for more info on the matter.

Anyway, there is a startling little amount of good quality fics revolving around Izuku being placed in Class 1B. Then again, I've been doing most of my reading via AO3, so I dunno how much is on Wattpad. But this story will also be a heavy AU, which means no AFO and no league of villains. I have my own plans, so I hope you all enjoy what I have to offer!

Side note, swearing will be a thing in this story. I'm being a bit more realistic when writing these characters. These are teens in high school. Trust me, a bit of swearing is really light compared to what you'll actually hear in school. But I also won't overuse the swearing, I only use it if the character would do it. Like Bakugou for example. Fair warning when we get to him eventually, he uses very creative word choices.

And, yes, chapter lengths will indeed be long like this one, much longer than what you all are probably used to me writing. So enjoy! Toodles~!