Sorahiko narrowed his eyes as he studied the man he presumed to be Mirai's younger brother hand his cup of coffee to one of the boys that had been pointed out to him earlier as one of Mirai's nephews. Feeling the need for confirmation he quickly leapt over to come and rest next to Mirai. "Isn't your brother young to have a kid that age?"
The man didn't even flinch at his sudden appearance unlike the detective who had brought along the vigilante kid who nearly jumped. "Hitoshi is adopted so not really."
Sorahiko scratched his head. "Huh. You sure? The kid sure does look like him."
"Given the only person Shouta has ever even remotely dated is currently doing the testing announcements, fairly certain."
"It is the combination of insomnia and picking up some of Shouta's habits from living with him for over 9 months now," the detective chimed in.
It took Sorahiko longer than he would care to admit to recognize the man as the detective with the lie detection Quirk that Toshi had told him about, though in his defense, he had never gotten a chance to meet the man in person. "You seem fairly certain about that."
Tsukauchi shrugged. "In addition to being the lead detective in his neglect case with his former foster family and the case of Quirk discrimination that he was dealing with from multiple sources, I was also living with the three of them for a few months for health related reasons since my sister both lives and works overseas."
"I assume that you are better now since you aren't living with them any longer."
"No, he is just living with my sister's family now instead."
The detective flushed in seeming embarrassment at Mirai's casual delivery of that fact. He looked around quickly, seemingly for a change of topic. "Uh- shouldn't you be paying attention to the potential students? Aren't you supposed to be acting as a judge."
Without looking, Sorahiko pointed up towards one of the several drones buzzing around the field. "My vision isn't quite what it used to be. I will review the brats later when I can see what they are doing better."
Mirai gained a small smirk as he watched the field. "You might enjoy this next one. Hitoshi and Endeavor's son Shoto are about to run."
Curiosity peaked, Sorahiko turned back to the field. Sure enough, next up at the starting line along with 4 other potential students he didn't recognize off the top of his head were a fluffy head of lavender and a two toned head of red and white.
As Present Mic gave the count down to start, the lavender boy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. "Go Beyond!"
A chorus of "Plus Ultra!" echoed around the field.
At the call of "Go" to his surprise not a single kid at the line up moved. Beside him both the detective and Mirai started to look around quietly laughing. "What's going on?"
Mirai, grinning gestured at the start line where the lavender haired boy had finally started to stroll casual out and along the line to stand in front of Endeavor's kid. "Hitoshi just used the UA motto to Hypnotize the other racers. His Quirk is call and response based."
Sorahiko turned back to watch as Endeavor's boy carried the other using his ice Quirk over to the finish line. "Impressive. Are there any limits to that or if he can get someone to talk to him can he control them like that?"
"So far, as far as we know, Izuku is the only one who can break free on his own but anyone can be broken out of it if they get jostled back awake. Basically he turns people into sleep walkers who are easily suggestible to his commands. The better he knows a person's mind the easier it is for him to give more and more complex commands which is why he picked Shoto out of the line up given he has been helping Hitoshi with his Quirk training."
Sorahiko winced as the realization of how a Quirk like that would be received by most people these days hit him. "I can see why he might have been having issues with Quirk discrimination now." He turned and looked over at the school board member joining him and Vlad King as acting a judge for the day as the man seemed to narrow his eyes at the poor boy suspiciously. "Unfortunately I am not sure how well the interview portion is going to go for him. This Mineta guy is a bit of a piece of work. I heard from Nedzu that the guy missed the cut off for finding a hero sponsor for his own kid this year so he is probably going to be extra hard on all the kids in some stupid effort to make it so there will be an extra slot or something in the general admissions."
Mirai winced. "So I heard. While I don't know what it is, Izuku did mention he and Hitoshi had back up plans for the regular exam as well as back back plans for getting into the course like Shouta did through the Sports Festival."
"For a couple months now, Hitoshi has been meeting up with Snipe here for some sort of weapons training but outside of that I can't say more," the detective offered.
Mirai narrowed his eyes at that. "Why would he go through weapon training with Snipe? I am pretty sure between Shouta, Izuku, Himiko, Iguchi and Oboro pretty much any weapon would be covered except for-" He paused and a look of resignation crossed his face. "Ah, well, I suppose that would most certainly work. Did he ask you first for help with certification?"
Tsukauchi shook his head. "No, I only know because Hisashi…offered to help."
Mirai closed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "Why does the fact he knows how to fire a gun properly not surprise me? Please tell me he has enough common sense as to have not offered the same thing to Izuku. The kid is already dangerous enough with a knife, I can only imagine how bad he would be with a gun of all things."
Sorahiko looked between the two of them slightly bewildered. "Wait, isn't that the name of your sister's husband?"
Mirai nodded, finally opening his eyes again. "My brother-in-law frankly has no understanding of what is normal societal behavior. When he found out Izuku had snuck out to be a vigilante for the first time, instead of stopping him he actively encouraged it by offering to help him upgrade his gear and proceeded to buy him a new set of throwing knives for his birthday."
Tsukauchi winced before he seemed to reluctantly nod. "I suppose that is true. All things considered it is not surprising he and Nedzu get along so well."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Izuku was a bit disappointed to notice that his Uncle Mirai and Dadtective were distracted talking with someone to the point that they missed his run after Hitoshi's and Shoto's. Of course his group had not been a very impressive one, with his training from all of his parkour over the past several months allowing him to fly through the course well ahead of the others in his group who clearly had no training in the skill. Time wise, he finished rather similarly with several of the leaders in the other races outside of the one Hitoshi had basically wrecked, many of whom had Quirks that boosted their own maneuverability like the one girl who could spilt herself in to a bunch of smaller pieces and fly them around and Yaoyorozu who had created a grappling hook, a vaulting pole, and a set of roller blades to speed through the course faster.
Izuku had been muttering to himself as he wrote notes on Yaoyorozu's Quirk in the pocket notebook he had taken to carrying as a vigilante when Hitoshi slung his arm over his shoulder. "You know most guys who saw her run would have been more interested in the fact that she ran in only a sports bra and track pants than the inner workings of her Quirk."
Izuku lightly tapped his cousin on the cheek with the top of his pen. "You weren't either."
"I'm gay, what's your excuse?"
Izuku looked up at that. "You are?"
"Yeah and I would appreciate it if you would stop adopting all the cute guys into our mess of a family. If you keep this up like you have been, then there is no chance of me dating anyone before we graduate."
Shoto, who had only been half listening on Izuku's other side from their spot on the field turned from where he had been chatting with Yoarashi about how much of an asshole his father was, seemed to suddenly be paying them both full attention. "Wait, you think I'm cute? Even with my scar?"
Hitoshi lightly swatted at him. "You are the token pretty boy of our group Hyouka."
Izuku patted Shoto on the shoulder. "Hitoshi is right, as far as conventional attractiveness goes you are the prettiest out of us. Honestly if someone can't see past the scar and see that, they are probably not worth your time."
Yoarashi gave them a puzzled look. "Hyouka? Like the dessert?"
Shoto turned back to them with a nod. "My future intended hero name. I only use my ice generally in combat since it is easier to control and the sweets theme is something I am sure my father is going to hate."
Yoarashi's grin returned with avengeance. "It is amazing to hear your passion on the topic!"
Shoto gave a small smile. "As is it to meet someone who can recognize that just because my father is the new number one, he is still a complete bastard."
As the last group was running the course, Izuku remembered the chat he had set up earlier or, well, late last night with his two fellow insomniacs. "Oh, before I forget, you have a HeroChat since you are here as a recommendation student right? I can add you to our chat so we can keep in touch even if things don't work out with the test."
Yoarashi's grin grew even wider. "Of course! Speaking of, I have given what you have all said some thought. I think I will request a chance to try the normal exam to help the two of you with leveling the playing field. You made excellent points and I find my honor won't allow myself to take one of the spots from those who clearly hold the right passion to join the hero course but would suffer in a test that works against your skillsets to favor those of us with the flasher Quirks. Especially since that with our race, you proved to clearly outmatch me Shinso!"
Izuku passed over his phone so that Yoarashi could add himself to his contacts. A moment of furious typing and he had it back. Izuku looked between Hitoshi and Shoto before standing up. "I am going to see if I can get Yaoyorozu's contact information too. I have so many questions about her Quirk to ask later."
Hitoshi gave him a shit eating grin. "You know most guys would just ask a cute girl for her number without all the Quirk pretense."
Izuku blushed before darting off before Hitoshi could tease him more. He found Yaoyorozu standing off on her own reading something on her phone while they waited for the interview portion of the exam to begin. "Yaoyorozu, do you have a moment?"
She looked up in a bit of surprise. "Oh, yes I was just studying up on the chemical compositions of a few things as a refresher. Did you need something?"
Izuku held up his phone. "I was wondering if you wanted me to add you to our friend group HeroChat? That way, even if things don't work out we can still keep in touch. I know you and Shoto were getting along at lunch and honestly, Shoto needs all the friends he can get since up until he started hanging out with me, he didn't exactly have any."
Her gaze softened and she held a hand up for the phone.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko was suddenly reminded why he hated dealing with the recommendations exams every year as a teacher. You can only hear kids repeat the same lines of how they had always dreamed of being a hero and blah blah blah. It was the kids that answered the questions in ways that stood out and made them memorable that got them in. So far the only one that had caught his eye had been the Honenuki kid who had mixed things up a bit by asking about if the fact he had fallen for Shinso's trick at the start of the race would affect his score before clarifying that he was not upset about it happening just that he wanted to know if he should sign up for the regular exam before it was too late to. He admitted to being a bit frustrated about losing so badly because of it but was clearly able to recognize the recognition that Shinso deserved for that clever play. As such he was the first kid to receive a green light from Sorahiko.
Now however it was finally Midoriya's turn and time for Sorahiko to see what all the fuss over the kid was about. Admittedly, he didn't look like much but the kid walked with both the confidence and lightness that Sorahiko would recognize as being native to most Underground Pros. Vlad King, as the one homeroom teacher, led them off. "Midoriya Izuku, aka the Quirkless Vigilante Loki. Unlike the rest of the people here today, you are not here to convince us that you would do well here at UA but why we should accept you here over sending you to finish your licensing and education with another school."
The boy gave a friendly grin. "Well it is here or Ketsubutsu given you are the only schools whose charters allow for a Quirkless student to join your heroics courses and given Nedzu himself is rather set on making me his next personal student, it would just be easier on everyone if I went here."
Mineta frowned and tapped his pen on his clipboard. "And you think you are capable of keeping up in combat scenarios with the far more powerful Quirked students?"
The kid looked at the man annoyed. "Sir, I am not sure if you are aware but my uncle Sir Nighteye's Quirk is essentially worthless in combat scenarios but despite that fact he fought side by side with All Might for years. A Quirk is just a tool that they have that I don't. My skills in other areas more than make up for that as proven by the fact that I am more than capable of continuing to function as a Hero without an official license. I am just here at UA to see about finishing my conventional education and to get a license. Surely the fact that I so easily outstripped the guys I was running against earlier on the obstacle course proves that I am not reliant on a hero school for the practical side of things."
Sorahiko felt the corner of his mouth twitch up. The kid had nerve, he would give him that. Honestly, had Toshinori not found his successor and burned any possible bridges with the kid, he would have been considering pointing him out as a possible future holder of One for All. "So what other skills are we talking about, kid? Besides the obvious parkour and stealth."
The boy smiled at him. "Well besides some training in close combat fighting, I have several years of Quirk Analysis practice, training in a number of bladed weapons with a bit of a focus on knives and am fairly fluent in not only Japanese but English and Japanese Hero Sign."
Sorahiko leaned forward. "Why the focus on knives?"
The boy shrugged. "My adopted older sister has a blood based Quirk and knows her way around them as a result. We hold regular knife throwing contests with my older brothers and a couple of their friends from time to time at my brother's bar in place of games of darts."
Vlad nodded. "Did your Uncles teach you Hero Sign or was that something you picked up while running around as Loki?"
"Oh I figured it out for the most part before I started middle school. I used to chase hero fights to study the ins and outs of the heroes' Quirks and fighting style and saw enough of it to start to pick it up. My uncles only had to help me learn a little bit to be considered fluent."
Mineta looked slightly put out about the kid tapped his clipboard again. "And English?"
The boy shrugged again. "I basically grew up bilingual. My dad works overseas in America a lot and has a fondness for old Hollywood movies, especially Star Wars. My older brother Dabi and my sisters are the only ones in my immediate family that aren't and that is only because my baby sister Eri is only six, Dabi grew up with his mother's family and dropped out of school, and Himiko was only adopted recently."
Sorahiko could stop his curiosity about Mirai's family. "His mother's family? Not a full brother then?"
The boy shook his head. "Yeah both my brothers are technically only half brothers. My parents didn't meet until after Tomura was born. After his mother died when he was seven, Dad got custody of him full time. Dabi on the other hand we only found out about recently since his mother never told Dad she was pregnant after they broke up unlike Tomura's birth mother."
Vlad cleared his throat. "As interesting as it is to hear about Aizawa's family since the man never talks about himself, I think that we are out of time." Midoriya dipped into a short bow and left the room. Vlad gave Sorahiko a challenging look. "I assume from your level of interest in him compared to most the others that you like him."
Sorahiko nodded. "Yeah I am looking forward to testing to see if he is all talk about his knife throwing skills or not during one of the first practical classes."
Mineta scoffed. "And why should I agree to sign off on the boy? He is a health hazard to himself trying for Heroics without a Quirk."
Sorahiko smirked lightly as he realized that Nedzu and the boy had outplayed the board member without really trying. "It is a good thing then that you don't have to. The kid only needs two of the three of us to sign off since he is here under the recommendation of the VRP. Assuming Vlad King here agrees with me, that is our first seat confirmed."
The man blustered slightly. "He still has to pass the written portion and be scored on the obstacle course."
Vlad rolled his eyes. "The kid passed the written entrance exam months ago and given his finish time he is in the top 10 of the runners for the practical in all likelihood. Give it a rest. The kid has the seat. Now let's call the next kid in, I would like to finish sometime today."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hitoshi felt the disgust that one of the judges held for him the moment he stepped through the door. "I am guessing Nedzu didn't have a say in who replaced him for the interview."
Kan gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry Shinso."
The man who Hitoshi could only assume was a member of the board of directors for the school leveled a glare at the 1-B teacher before turning back to himself with an icy look. "Shinso Hitoshi, Quirk Brainwashing-"
"It's Hypnotism." Hitoshi leveled a glare at the man before giving the other two judges apologetic looks. "I am not putting up with this bullshit. Kan, add me to the list of students for the regular exam. I'll just use plan B." He spun on his heels and stormed out.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko watched as Endeavor's kid strolled in immediately after the poor Shinso kid exited the door, casting a worried look over his shoulder at him.
Vlad cleared his throat. "Todoroki, could you wait just a bit? We will call you in when we are ready for you."
The boy shook his head. "I am not staying long. I am only here today because my father forced me to take this exam over the normal one like I wanted. If you could sign me up for the regular exam and tell him I failed the interview portion compared to whoever else you pick, that would be great." He spun on his heels much like the boy before him did and strolled back out.
Sorahiko burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh I like that kid. Shame he doesn't want one of the recommended seats, I would be more than happy to give him one."
Vlad sighed and flipped the page on his clipboard to note down the two boys to be added to the regular entrance exam practical. "It is not the first time we have gotten a student making the request but I always hate to hear when a Hero parent is refusing to take their kid's wants about the matter into consideration. Last time it happened the kid didn't even want to join the Hero course but wanted to join the Support department so at least the kid is at least interested in the course this time..."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Welcome to the Church of Nedzu
The Prophet added Yaoyorozu Momo and Yoarashi Inasa.
The Prophet: Welcome to the chat!
Feel free to change your name to whatever you want!
☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*(´∀｀)*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆
Yaoyorozu Momo: You are Midoriya correct?
Shun the Nonbelievers: yeah that is izu
this is shinso btw
Yaoyorozu Momo: Oh hello!
Can I ask about the names?
Yes This is Normal: Nedzu is referred to almost exclusively as Rat God by their family as a running joke.
This is Shoto by the way.
As I said earlier, I prefer my given name over Todoroki.
The Prophet: As Nedzu's future personal student I felt the name was only appropriate
You still need to pick a username or I will assign you one as a placeholder
Half the fun of these chats is confusing people trying to spy in on the conversations
Yaoyorozu Momo changed their name to Tea?
Tea?: Does this work?
Shun the Nonbelievers: sweet you are still on theme
Tea?: Really?
Shun the Nonbelievers: yeah rat god likes to passive aggressively serve people tea when he is annoyed with them
not that he doesn't offer tea all the time anyways
Tea?: Oh. I just picked the name because I like tea myself.
Yoarashi Inasa changed their name to Passion Is Paramount
Passion Is Paramount: Hello Yaoyorozu!
I apologize for not following Midoriya over to meet you in person!
How did everyone's interviews go?
Shun the Nonbelievers: horribly
the guy from the board is a quirkist dick
i am going to have to try and pass the regular exam
Yes This is Normal: I'm sorry Hitoshi.
The Prophet: I mean the only reason I think I might have passed the interview is because the I only needed to impress Vlad King and Gran Torino because of the whole vigilante thing
I think it went well
Passion Is Paramount: Well I am glad to hear that my decision to follow Shoto's lead and throw the interview to take the regular entrance exam was not for nothing
Tea?: You threw the interview?
Why?
The Prophet: It was to help increase the odds of both Hitoshi and me getting picked
They both have power flashy elemental Quirks which from what I have heard about the other exam would highly favor them.
Hitoshi's classmate Iida Tenya didn't even sign up for the recommendations exam despite being a Legacy as well for that reason.
You think I should add him btw?
Shun the Nonbelievers: up to you izu
Izuku switched chats.
Future Students of Class 1-A
Small for One: Hey Tenya I am going to add you to the group chat I made with a couple of recommendation testers
Remember you only have spoken with Hitoshi directly before and he is just another one of your classmates
Metal Sonic: Understood.
Bomberanian: This is fucking stupid.
What is the point of pretending that we don't all know each other?
Mewtwo: you didn't want to join our cult
you must be shunned
Bomberanian: Yeah, that is because it is a fucking cult.
Small Might: I'm gonna have to side with Katsuki on this one.
It just doesn't seem like something to joke about, you know?
As they continued to chat, Izuku flipped back to the other one.
Welcome to the Church of Nedzu
The Prophet added Iida Tenya.
Iida Tenya changed their name to Regrets™
Regrets™: I'll be honest I didn't actually think you were serious about your cousin starting a cult Shinso.
Shun the Nonbelievers: lol
you underestimate his thirst for chaos
btw if you could all pretend that my dad isn't the homeroom teacher for 1-a that would be great
i want to see how long it takes for everyone to catch on
The Prophet: Hitoshi the only reason people might doubt it is because Uncle Shouta is a bit young to be your biological father
Honestly I think most people will be more surprised to find out he is only your father through adoption
You look more like him then I do and I actually share DNA with him
Yes This is Normal: Actually when you use your tinted hair gel you do sort of look like him too, just not to such a large degree as you look like your uncle Mirai.
Regrets™: I feel a bit lost.
I mean I assume that Shun is Shinso from typing style and Prophet is Midoriya from context but who is everyone else?
Tea?: We should probably do introductions.
Hello Iida, I am Yaoyorozu Momo.
It is a pleasure to meet you.
Yes This is Normal: Shoto.
Passion Is Paramount: And I am Yoarashi Inasa!
You are a friend of Shinso's?
Regrets™: Acquaintance at least.
Shinso joined my class a few weeks into the first semester this past school year after transferring schools
We just happen to be the only two in our class aiming for UA.
Shun the Nonbelievers: we did a group project a couple weeks ago together
his older brother is also a friend of both my dads
not that it means much since they only really see each other when they go bar hopping when their days off line up
Passion Is Paramount: You have two dads?
Shun the Nonbelievers: i mean izu sort of does too
uncle hisashi is a polyamorous bisexual disaster
The Prophet: I mean that is accurate but you don't have to put it like that
Yes This is Normal: Izuku I mean this in the nicest way possible but your family is a complete nightmare in how unnecessarily complicated it is.
You are technically legally Hitoshi's uncle despite being two weeks younger than him.
Tea?: How did that happen?
The Prophet: My Dad technically adopted Hitoshi's Dad when he married my Mom since Uncle Shouta was living as Mom's legal ward after my grandparents abandoned them
Because of that he is simultaneously both my uncle and eldest brother
Shun the Nonbelievers: and makes uncle hisashi technically my grandfather
uncle hisashi clearly only thinks of me as his grandson though since unlike dad who oscillates back and forth between thinking of him as his dad or his brother-in-law, he almost exclusively refers to dad as his eldest son
Tea?: But you still refer to him as your uncle?
Shun the Nonbelievers: to be fair i didn't know about the whole mess until after i developed the habit
besides it is less weird to me then acknowledging the fact my youngest aunt is 9 years younger then me
if it was just izu being younger than i probs could have dealt with it since seeing dabi and tomura as my uncles given they are at least adults does make at least some sense
i could deal with himiko as my aunt because at the bare minimum she is older then me but there is a bigger age gap between me and eri then there is between me and dabi and that is just no
Passion Is Paramount: Why the larger age gap?
From the sound of things, Midoriya is the youngest besides his baby sister.
The Prophet: I am
Mom and Dad were only planning on spacing us about four years apart since unlike in Mom's family, Dad's has a history of Quirks with pretty bad backlash so they were waiting for my Quirk to come in before trying for another kid
When we found out I was Quirkless Dad got spooked about my health and they ended up waiting a few more years before Mom eventually told him he was being stupid and they had Eri
It was just me and Tomura for a good while growing up because of it
Tea?: What about your brother Dabi then? Shouldn't he have been living with you too?
The Prophet: In everyone's defense the only person who even knew Dabi was Dad's son was his mother and she fully intent on pretending he was her husband's son
Dad basically dated her for a few weeks a couple years before he met Mom and broke up with her when he found out she was using him to have an affair
The only reason we found out was the fact I accidentally met him and Himiko while I was out vigilante-ing one night about half a year ago and was immediately suspicious
He inherited a stronger version of Dad's fire Quirk, white hair, and sense of humor
He changed his family name to Midoriya after we got the paternity results back and has been living and working with Tomura at Tomura's bar ever since
Regrets™: I understand now why when I used to ask Shinso about his family he would only ever mention that your family would fit right in on a soap opera.