Authors note:
Speaking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
___
"Who wants to go next?" their professor asked.
Almost immediately, two people raised their hands.
"Ah, come on, my fair lady. Let little ol' me go first. I promise it'll be a great show," Haruki proposed to the bored girl with the headset, bowing respectfully and extending his hand.
"If you think I'm as dull as Iida and would fall for your electric handshake, then you'd be wrong. I'll go first and finally be done with it," the girl answered in a bored tone.
"Why the hurry? What makes you think I'll just—" the prankster began before noticing his tattoos blinking red briefly.
"Well, fuck," he muttered in disappointment—just as he exploded into a cloud of pink smoke.
When the smoke cleared, all that remained in his spot was a chicken with an unusual neon green and blue coloration.
The animal looked at itself, confused, before screaming loudly, "BWAAAAK!" and running around in circles.
"Dude, did he just turn into a chicken, or am I going crazy?" the yellow-haired boy whispered to the bird-headed teen.
"It does look like it," his classmate responded baffled.
"You pulled a misfire again, huh?" Ayato approached the chickenified Haruki, picking up the panicked animal.
"A misfire?" Toshinori asked, stepping into the conversation.
Holding the nervous chicken in his arms, the mostly black-haired teen explained, "Yes, a misfire. Haruki's Quirk is completely reliant on luck, and a misfire is the bad consequence that comes with gambling."
"Hold on, what even is his quirk?" the pink-skinned girl asked.
Now, with the whole class listening in, Ayato began nervously explaining, "Well— his quirk is Trinity Roulette. Picture it like this: he has three wheels of fortune that he can spin. Each wheel has ten outcomes, with every single one having a ten percent chance. The first eight are unique abilities assigned to each wheel and remain constant.
"However, the last two are different. One is the Wildcard, which gives him a completely random ability, something entirely unpredictable, from turning giant to summoning an explosive rubber duck. I've seen it all. The other is a misfire, which gives him a random negative effect. Now, unlike the normal abilities and wildcards, which he can hold onto as long as he doesn't spin again or use them, the misfire triggers instantly as soon as he lands on it. So things like this tend to happen pretty regularly. Honestly, I'm surprised this is the first time it's happened during school."
"Then for what reason did he spin the wheel of fortune now, if he was not in a spar with the professor? It is a violation of the law to use your quirk without permission on public property," Iida sternly demanded, chopping the air with his hands.
Sighing, the blue-eyed teen responded, "Well, he's pretty much gambling whenever he gets the chance, hoping to land a good ability for a prank or an upcoming fight, like he did with you on the first day of school. The sticky chair? That was a wildcard ability."
Gasping, the strict teen launched into a rant about the audacity of using quirks for pranks.
"If you ask me, having a ten percent chance of turning into a chicken every time you use your quirk sounds kind of annoying," a tall male student with a face mask and six arms commented, speaking from a mouth that had formed on one of his wrists. "Especially if you consider fighting."
"It's not just turning into a chicken. Yesterday, he was stuck dancing for half an hour. Honestly, anything can come out of him, from turning into a god to his hand morphing into a snake. The question isn't if it's possible, but when it'll happen. That's why he's still set on becoming a hero, he wants to show people that even with an uncontrollable quirk, you can still be great." Ayato explained, looking down at the chicken in his arms, which had a sly smile on its face.
"I guess if he's stuck as a chicken for half an hour, I can just go now," the violet-eyed girl stated, turning around and heading for the battlefield.
'Reina Tanaka, Quirk: DJ Pult. She has an invisible turntable that she can use to create sound-based illusions, sound shockwaves, shields, and even throw solid music discs as projectiles. From what I've seen so far, she's got exceptional talent in using it, but unfortunately, talent alone won't be enough to win.'
Shoto observed as she pulled a card from her pocket, the Queen of Spades, which had a female DJ design on it.
Her costume had a futuristic design based on a DJ's aesthetic, a white hooded sweater that transitioned into purple and blue at the sleeves and hem, paired with black baggy pants featuring multiple blue and purple belts and accents. Her headset rested around her neck.
Hearing the teacher's cane tap against the ground, the battle began.
"Alright, time to make some noise," Tanaka said calmly, making strange hand gestures reminiscent of a DJ scratching a turntable.
A second later, a shrill sound echoed across the field like a shockwave, hitting the teacher, but leaving him standing, unscathed.
"You'll need more power if you want to damage me, Tanak—"
"Call me Reina. I hate it when people use my last name," she interrupted boldly.
"Fine, Reina. Show me your skill," Midoriya invited, gesturing for her to attack.
As she began her charge, she pulled up her headphones and worked her invisible turntable. Suddenly Hearing the chirping of birds, wood creaking and leaves rustling the class found themselves surrounded by a lush green forest. Hidden among the trees, she thought she had escaped the teacher's sight before launching a barrage of music discs at him.
Midoriya didn't move an inch as all the discs vanished upon impact. Then, without turning, he reached his hand out as if catching something, before using his cane in a blocking motion.
"A well-crafted illusion," the teacher noted. "Doubling yourself as a decoy while turning yourself invisible... You have an excellent sense of hearing to pull off illusions of this caliber."
As he spoke, the students saw their classmate's form materialize, her sound-enhanced fist stopped by the cane, and a music disc caught between the teacher's fingers.
"You knew, huh? Well, I'm not done yet," Reina said, a look of bored confidence on her face as her other hand worked the turntable.
A sudden bass drop shattered the concrete around them, sending debris flying. Using the chaos to escape, Reina fired multiple sonic blasts at her opponent.
The battle continued with Reina primarily using long-range attacks and illusions in an attempt to confuse Midoriya, to no avail, of course. As soon as her two minutes were up, Midoriya began counterattacking with precise thrusts of his cane, which Reina blocked with a sonic shield.
However, the shield couldn't hold for long and eventually shattered, leaving behind an illusionary decoy.
"I can still feel where you are, Reina. System call, generate luminous element: burst element," the teacher announced.
An orb of light exploded from his fingers, momentarily blinding everyone. The illusion shattered, revealing Reina running in the opposite direction across the field.
Preparing a flame spell, he aimed at his young student.
"Well then, try hitting me when there's no solid ground for you to stand on," Reina said calmly.
A bass drop shockwave struck the ground to Midoriya's left, forcing him to dodge. As he adjusted his aim, another bass drop forced him to evade again.
This pattern repeated, keeping Midoriya moving.
Then Shoto noticed something, an excited smile on their teacher's face.
'That's it... she's toast.' Shoto thought
Midoriya seemingly vanished, reappearing behind the unsuspecting Reina.
"Discharge," he muttered.
The flame spell hit Reina point-blank, sending her flying out of the field.
As soon as he reached the crater where she had landed, Midoriya used healing spells to erase her burns and bruises. Reina promptly stood up.
"So... what's the verdict?" she asked.
"Straight to the point, huh? No use delaying it," the teacher responded. "You're in the support unit as an area controller."
As he turned to leave, Reina spoke up.
"Support unit? So... did I not do enough damage to get into the combat unit?"
Midoriya turned back to face her.
"If that's what you think, then not only have you misunderstood the purpose of this lesson, but you also know frighteningly little about your own quirk's strengths and weaknesses."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her usual bored tone unchanged.
"Think back to the battles before yours. While neither of them landed as many hits as you, if their attacks had connected, they could have done significantly more damage than you did. You, on the other hand, landed tons of hits, but they barely scratched me."
He let that sink in before continuing.
"However, that's not a bad thing. What you did accomplish better than anyone else today was controlling my movements. Your illusion skills are great at confusing enemies. Your discs and sonic blasts serve as area denial. Your sonic shield can protect allies. And don't even get me started on your bass drops, they're basically airstrikes, forcing your opponent to move, even against someone as skilled as me.
"As long as you don't understand that, you'll never be able to stand at the level of someone like Shoto. Talent alone won't be enough anymore."
With that, the teacher walked away, leaving Reina deep in thought.
After that, all the other matches of the class continued, with the exception of Haruki, who was still a chicken at the end of the lesson, so his match got postponed. The results were as follows:
1. Yuga Aoyama (Four of Diamonds) – Quirk: Naval Laser – He can shoot a laser from his belly button. Support unit, sniper.
2. Mina Ashido (Six of Diamonds) – Quirk: Acid – She can secrete acid from her skin. Support unit, tank buster.
3. Tsuyu Asui (Five of Hearts) – Quirk: Frog – She's a frog. Combat unit, water combat/spring trap.
4. Tenya Ida (Jack of Hearts) – Quirk: Engine – He can run really fast using the engines on his calves. Combat unit, speedster.
5. Ochaco Uraraka (Nine of Diamonds) – Quirk: Zero Gravity – Anything she touches with her fingers can be made completely weightless. Support unit, capture/ meteor shower
6. Mashiro Ojiro (Four of Hearts) – Quirk: Tail – He has a muscular tail. Combat unit, close-quarters.
7. Denki Kaminari (Seven of Clubs) – Quirk: Electrification – He discharges electricity from his entire body. Support unit, walking battery/lightning rod/human bomb.
8. Eijiro Kirishima (Ten of Hearts) – Quirk: Hardening – He can harden any part of his body in a rock-like manner. Combat unit, tank.
9. Koji Koda (Nine of Spades) – Quirk: Anivoice – He can give any animal (except humans) orders that they will carry out if they can hear him. Support unit, scout/intelligence gatherer.
10. Reina Tanaka (Queen of spades) – Quirk: DJ Pult – She can summon an invisible turntable that can perform various sound-based skills. Support unit, ground area control.
11. Mezo Shoji (Ace of Hearts) – Quirk: Dupli-Arms – He has six arms from which he can grow additional body parts at the wrist (it stacks). Combat unit, combat scout.
12. Kyoka Jiro (Six of Spades) – Quirk: Earphone Jack – She has a pair of headphone jacks as earlobes that she can stretch. Support unit, scout.
13. Hanta Sero (Seven of Spades) – Quirk: Tape – He shoots tape from his elbows. Support unit, trapping/capturing.
14. Fumikage Tokoyami (Ace of Diamonds) – Quirk: Dark Shadow – He controls a dark shadow bird that emerges from his stomach and grows stronger in darkness. Combat unit, aerial defense/rampage.
15. Shoto Todoroki (Ace of Clubs) – Quirk: Half-Hot Half-Cold – He can create ice on the right side of his body and fire on the left. Combat unit, all-rounder.
16. Toru Hagakure (Six of Hearts) – Quirk: Invisibility – She's invisible. Combat unit, sneak attack/spy.
17. Haruki Masaki (Joker) – Quirk: Trinity Roulette – He has three wheels of fortune he can spin, each with eight fixed abilities, one wild card, and a misfire. Unit to be decided.
18. Ayato Masaki (King of Diamonds) – Quirk: Superpower – He can strengthen his entire body or isolated appendages. Combat unit, all-rounder.
19. Inasa Yoarashi (King of Clubs) – Quirk: Whirlwind – He can control the air around him. Support unit, sky area control/sky combat.
20. Momo Yaoyorozu (Queen of Diamonds) – Quirk: Creation – She can use the lipids in her body to create any inorganic object she knows the chemical composition of. Support unit, strategist.
"Now, take these roles with a grain of salt. I'm not teaching you how to be heroes; I'm teaching you how to fight. In most hero work, these archetypes won't matter. However, when fighting one or multiple strong enemies, these roles can bring out your maximum combat potential," the teacher explained to the students and Toshinori, who was writing everything down in a notebook.
Turning to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and added, "Oh, and before I forget, Shoto, I assign you as the leader in combat, and Yaoyorozu as your second-in-command."
Shoto and Momo stared at him blankly before simultaneously bursting out, "Why the hell me?" and "Ah, I don't think I'm qualified for this position!"
Turning his head briefly, the green-haired teacher simply replied, "Because you have the most combat experience, and you're the strategist. I'm sure you can figure it out." He then tapped his cane on the ground and vanished.
Kicking a rock away, Shoto complained with mild annoyance, "Why can't I ever catch a break?" He sighed and turned to his second-in-command. "Well, I guess we're in this together. I hope I don't disappoint as a leader." He bowed slightly to the onyx-eyed girl.
"It seems so... but I don't think you have to worry about that. I'm sure you'll be a great leader. I'm more anxious about whether I'll be a good strategist," she answered nervously, bowing as well.
"Don't worry too much. I'm positive he'll teach you how to be a good strategist. Besides, it's not like we're going to be doing much actual fieldwork in the first year anyway," Shoto reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. With that, the students headed back to their class.
___
Hitoshi's POV
Same time, Shiketsu High entrance gate
Walking toward the school gates while talking to Igarashi, whom he had gotten relatively close to over the last few days, Hitoshi was on his way home. Their day was over, and as they reached the gate, they exchanged goodbyes before heading off in different directions.
As he went through his pockets, the violet-haired teen suddenly felt a cold metal plate in his hand. Taking it out, he noticed a short message engraved on it:
"Meet me at the usual."
As soon as he read the message, the metal plate briefly glowed red and black before dissolving into the air.
'What the hell does he want now?' Hitoshi thought, looking up at the sky.
'Probably nothing good. That guy is trouble. There's always this air of unease around him whenever you meet. I don't like him,' the Demon Princess in his mind stated.
'Well, it's not like we can just ignore Master. And since when do you care about anything other than poker?' the violet-eyed boy retorted before severing the mental link and heading off somewhere.