Authors note:
Speaking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
___
Unknown Location
One day later
In an old, run-down part of Kamino, the moon dimly illuminated the streets as two shadow-clad figures walked toward what appeared to be a bar. Stepping into the glow of a neon sign, their forms became discernible. One was a tall gentleman in a suit, his head and hands composed of some sort of purple smoke. The other was a blue-haired man with a hunched posture and several dried hands mounted all over his upper body.
The smoky figure stepped forward, holding the door open for the blue-haired man to enter before following after him, closing the door behind them.
Unbeknownst to them, another presence was silently observing their movements. Several hundred meters away, standing on an electrical wire stretched between two buildings, a female figure watched from the shadows, the full moon glowing behind her. She was clad in armor, a helmet, and a hooded cloak.
Sighing, she muttered to herself, "Seems like they're finally starting to make a move. I better let him know." Then, letting herself fall backward, she continued, "Though I wonder why they're so important."
As she plummeted toward the ground, the concrete beneath her briefly turned pitch-black, allowing her to sink into it as if it were liquid. In an instant, she disappeared without a trace.
___
Shoto's POV
Three days later – UA Entrance Gate
Leaning against the cold steel of the gate, the bi-colored teen watched a video sent by a friend. It was a clip of a cat accidentally playing the piano.
"Heeeeey, Shoootoooo!" came a loud scream from outside the gate, prompting Todoroki to look up. A smile tugged at his lips as he spotted the source.
"Hey, Inasa. You've kept me waiting," he said, watching the nearly bald teen gasp for air in front of him.
Tapping his friend's shoulder, Shoto moved past him toward the school. "Come on, we're late for our first day."
"Hold on a minute, let me catch my breath real quick. I just ran five kilometers here because the train had a delay. I'll be right with you," the wind user gasped between breaths.
After a brief moment, the two new students made their way into the school, chatting along the way. Well, mostly Inasa did the talking while Shoto listened with a content smile.
Upon arriving at their destination, one of them gazed excitedly at the massive door labeled 1-A. Not wanting to waste time, Shoto simply reached for the handle and opened it, revealing a classroom filled with mostly unfamiliar faces.
Scanning the room, his eyes landed on the black-haired girl from the recommendation exam, sitting near the back beside a seat that bore his name.
Tugging on Inasa's shoulder, the heterochromatic teen gestured toward their seats. They were about to head over when a loud voice to their right caught their attention.
"What is the meaning of this?! Are you the one responsible for this mischievous deed?!" exclaimed a boy with rectangular glasses, black hair, and an impeccably straight posture. He was pointing at another student, who was lying stomach-down on a desk.
The boy on the desk had half neon-green and half blue hair, with his eyes sharing the same striking coloration. Unlike most students, he wasn't wearing the school uniform's suit jacket. Instead, the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows, revealing tattoos of what Shoto recognized as Norse runes on his forearms. Blue gloves covered his hands.
Grinning and kicking his feet in amusement, the neon-haired boy watched as the other student struggled to stand, his pants somehow stuck to the chair.
"Undo this trick at once, or I will be forced to report this behavior to the authorities!" the bespectacled boy demanded.
Still grinning, the prankster held up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright, I've had my fun. I'll let you go now," he said before snapping his fingers.
"Thank you for your compliance. I believe introductions are in order. I am Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy. It is a pleasure to meet you." Iida bowed formally.
The other boy smirked. "Well then, Tenya, today is your lucky day, because you get to be in the presence of Haruki Masaki, the greatest trickster the world has ever seen!" He struck a confident pose before extending his hand, without actually looking at Iida.
Noticing Iida's puzzled expression, Haruki grinned. "You may now shake my hand, astonished audience member."
Beaming, Iida reached out, only to yelp in shock as a small electric current zapped his palm.
"Hahahahahahaha! Quite a shocking turn, isn't it, my dear friend?" Haruki teased, pulling up his glove to reveal a tiny electro-shocker hidden beneath.
Recovering from the jolt, Iida straightened his posture, making firm chopping motions with his hands. "This is unacceptable! We are students of the country's finest hero school. I will not tolerate such childish behavior. Apologize at once, you heretic!"
Haruki caught his breath from laughing so hard, then stood up with a sincere expression. "You're absolutely right. My behavior was unacceptable. Please, oh great Iida, show me the path of a proper hero." He extended his other hand.
"See? That's more like— AHHHHHHHH!" Iida's triumphant tone turned into a pained yell as another shock coursed through him.
Haruki burst into another fit of laughter, pounding the table and wiping away tears. "Ahahahahaha! Seriously, how do you fall for the same trick twice?!"
Steam practically fumed from Iida's ears. "How dare you betray my trust not once, but twice?!" He stormed toward Haruki, ready to give him an earful, until another student stood up from the seat behind the prankster.
This boy had straight, chin-length black hair streaked with silver, blue eyes, and wore the standard UA uniform.
Before most of the class could even register his movement, he swiftly chopped Haruki on the head, knocking him unconscious. Then, grabbing him by the collar, the boy turned to Iida and frantically bowed up and down, still holding his limp classmate.
"Please, I apologize for my brother. He has a bad habit of making jokes at any given moment, but he has the heart of a hero," the younger Masaki sibling explained, his eyes squeezed shut and sweat dripping down his face. "I'm Ayato Masaki, by the way."
However, before the four-eyed boy was even able to attempt another scolding, a feminine scream echoed through the class. Turning their heads, everyone saw that it came from a brown-haired girl with noticeably pink cheeks, standing at the door. Looking behind her, one could see a yellow human caterpillar.
Inspecting it closer, Shoto recognized the face of the man inside the sleeping bag. 'So Eraserhead's going to be our homeroom teacher. That's gonna be a pain to deal with,' the candy cane-colored boy complained mentally.
Slowly rising to a standing position, Eraser pulled open the zipper of his sleeping bag and said in a tired tone, "Alright, class. I'm Shota Aizawa, and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. Take one of these gym uniforms and meet me at the P.E. grounds as quickly as possible." Then, without another word, he turned to leave the classroom.
"But sir, won't we miss orientation?" asked the brown-haired girl who had screamed earlier.
Turning with an annoyed glare, Aizawa answered, "UA gives its teachers full freedom over the curriculum, which means I get to do with you whatever I feel is best. Orientation is pointless, so I'll do something worthwhile with you instead. Now go and change."
With that, he left promptly, while most of the students simply stared at the spot where he had stood moments ago.
Of the twenty students present, only three didn't continue staring. One was Haruki, for obvious reasons. The second was a girl with violet hair that transitioned to neon blue at the tips, styled in a messy bun, with purple eyes and headphones hanging around her neck. She simply grabbed a uniform and headed to the changing rooms, her expression as bored as could be. She was accompanied by the last student who wasn't shocked, Shoto, who was already aware of Eraser's attitude.
As he walked, the heterochromatic teen glanced back and noticed how the others were slowly starting to follow them. Looking to his side at the violet-eyed girl, he couldn't help but think that she looked extremely bored and uninterested.
About ten minutes later, all the heroes-in-training had gathered at the P.E. grounds as requested, all dressed in gym clothing. The outfit consisted of a pair of blue long pants and a shirt, both with white stripes that, when combined, formed the UA symbol, with some red accents for both genders.
Standing before them was Aizawa in his hero costume, both hands in his pockets. Scanning the crowd, he found who he was looking for.
"Yoarashi, come here, please," he said, his tone soft but firm.
Doing as he was told, Inasa excitedly walked up to the man and waited.
"Here, take this ball and step into the circle over there," Eraser instructed, handing him a normal-looking baseball.
Now standing inside the circle, Aizawa asked, "Yoarashi, what was your record throw in the standard fitness tests at your previous school?"
Answering with excitement, much to Eraser's displeasure, the wind user loudly replied, "75.34 meters, sir!"
Sighing, the teacher then told him, "You don't have to yell. It's hurting my ears. But anyway, now try again, this time using your Quirk. I don't care what you do as long as you stay in that circle."
Nodding energetically, Inasa summoned a huge tornado around him, releasing the ball, which was caught in the swirling wind. As it rotated within the tornado, it gained speed. After a brief buildup, he launched the ball at blinding speed, then turned his head towards Eraser.
The underground hero, in turn, held up his phone, displaying the recorded distance: 755.6 meters.
"The government still believes in the outdated idea of equality in a world where people are born with abilities far beyond what was considered normal two hundred years ago. That's why they won't let you use your Quirks in these tests. However, here at UA, I can decide how I teach. This is the best way to determine your current upper limits, so do your best and, go Plus Ultra, I guess."
As the students began to get excited, chatter broke out.
"Man, this is awesome!"
"We get to use our Quirks in these tests, this is gonna be so much fun!"
"Fun, you say?" Aizawa's cold voice cut through the excitement. "You think I'm doing this for your amusement? Then let's add another rule, whoever comes in last will be expelled immediately."
Most of the soon-to-be heroes looked at him in shock. One of the girls, pink-skinned with matching hair, small light brown horns, and black sclera with yellow irises, spoke up.
"But sir, that's not fair! It's only the first day, we just got here!"
"Fair, huh? You think murder is fair? Natural disasters, villain attacks, or arson, are those fair? The world is unfair. That's just how it is. It's your job as heroes to combat that unfairness and keep others safe. If you want fairness, you can leave right now, because in the world of heroes, nothing is fair."
Silence fell over the class.
The test commenced, consisting of various disciplines: a 50-meter dash, grip strength test, standing long jump, repeated side steps, ball throw, sit-ups, seated toe touch, and lastly, a long-distance run, designed to push students to complete exhaustion. In the end, only two students were still going.
"I must say, your endurance is really good, even though you're not even using your Quirk," said the black-haired girl from the recommendation exam, riding beside Shoto on an electric scooter. "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, by the way. I believe we met at the recommendation exam."
"Well, my Quirk isn't really useful for prolonged use, so it wouldn't do much here. But I've been through worse. A little hour-long run won't kill me. I'm Shoto. Shoto Todoroki, by the way. Nice to finally meet you properly. And I saw you pull that scooter out of your stomach earlier, so can I assume that's your Quirk?" Shoto asked bluntly, a small smile on his face.
"Ahh, please don't phrase it like that! It makes it sound like my Quirk is just making scooters." Momo replied, blushing. "Anyway, yes, that was my Quirk, but it's a bit more complicated than that. It's called Creation, and it lets me use the lipids in my body to generate any inorganic object, as long as I know the chemical composition, not just scooters."
"Yeah, I guess that makes more sense," Todoroki said, looking up at the sky in a daze, oblivious to the fact that a certain black-haired girl had been staring at him the entire time.
"Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, the test is over. I'll just mark you both as finished. Now gather here, I'll show you the results," Eraserhead called.
Returning to the others, most of whom were still exhausted, Aizawa displayed a holographic screen, revealing the final rankings. Unsurprisingly, Shoto ranked first, with Yaoyorozu and Inasa close behind. Last place went to Toru Hagakure, whose permanent invisibility Quirk prevented her from improving her scores.
As she slumped to the ground, on the verge of tears, Aizawa walked past, muttering, "Oh, and the part about expulsion was a lie. It was the most rational way to motivate you to give your best."
The class was left staring in shock.
"Wait, you guys didn't notice? I thought it was obvious," Yaoyorozu said. "Todoroki, you caught on too, didn't you?"
"Sure, it was obvious," Shoto replied. "But I just didn't think Mr. Aizawa intended to keep all of us. I heard he expelled the entire Class 1-A last year. That's why there's no 2-A this year."
"Well, of course, it was a trick, a trick to get us all fired up, baby! Wow, yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. A good prank is always worth it," Haruki celebrated with an embarrassing victory dance before running up to Aizawa and throwing an arm around his shoulder. The markings on his forearms glowed in green and blue.
"I think you and I are going to be best buddies for the next few years, the deception duo, the gambling brothers! Doesn't that sound bombastic?" he exclaimed. Immediately after, his hair promptly exploded into a cloud of blue and green powder.
Wiping the powder off his face, the teacher stated in an irritated tone, "Do something like that again, and I'll expel you for real this time." He brushed Haruki's arm off his shoulder and left promptly, most likely to get changed.
"Mr. Aizawa, I'll promise to keep the jokes to a minimum... well, I'll try! They just explode out sometimes," Haruki added, winking at his teacher.
"And I'll promise to make your expulsion my top priority if you continue like this," the pro hero replied, continuing to leave.
"Tough crowd, eh? No matter, I'll get him to laugh sooner or later. Muhahaha, ugh!" The prankster boy was mid-laugh until Ayato chopped him on the head, causing him to fall unconscious.
"I'm sorry for him, Mr. Aizawa," the black-haired boy called after his teacher shyly.
'These two brothers are worlds apart. How does he honestly put up with these constant jokes?' Shoto thought as he observed the interaction between them.