The School Year Begins

Name: Izuku Midoriya

Score: 81 Villain Points, Debatable (50-100) Hero Points; Total Inconclusive

Quirk: Sin

Description: According to the Quirk registry, the boy's Quirk manifested as a rainbow of energy which would later develop into multiple Quirk-like abilities in and of themselves. Of the seven-colored energies, only three have been somewhat understood and they are:

Red, which transforms the boy into a humanoid aberration with increased reaction time, power, endurance, and a sort of multiplier the further into the power, the boy taps into. Green, which apparently grants the boy Kinetikinesis-like power; the ability to manipulate kinetic forces on any object or person, including himself. Orange, which allows the boy to conserve abundant bodily resources like sleep and nutrition to keep him performing optimally for as long as he has said resources in reserve.

It is suspected that the remaining colored energies will follow the trend thus far shown by the boy's other powers, and awaken as a representation of the four deadly sins of Sloth, Envy, Greed, and Lust.

Performance Report: The boy has shown skillful, albeit savage, proficiency with his powers. He is powerful enough to destroy a zero-pointer robot with a single attack and accurate enough to hit targets hundreds of meters away with launched projectiles. He's shown a refined talent for hand-to-hand combat, evident despite his apperant lack of style; though, it is currently suspected that he may be hiding more discipline and control than he has shown during the majority of the practical exam.

...

Nezu, the principle of U.A, sighed as he read the file of the only examinee which his panel of judges couldn't sort out independent of his insight. "First things first, Midoriya's Hero Points," Nezu started, "Why is there such a massive gap in the possible points the panel wants to give him?"

"Midoriya managed to stop his mock-city's zero-pointer from crushing another examinee," a white-haired man, known as the pro hero Vlad King, said. "He even helped said examinee escape from some rubble that had prevented her from saving herself before destroying the zero-pointer. However, the panel is split on whether to give the boy a minimum of fifty points upto the full hundred due to the fact that he went out of his way to destroy the zero-pointer when it was easily within his power to just carry the girl out of harm's way until the exam ended mere seconds later."

"The kid was pretty gung-ho during the entire exam," a different hero, by the name of Ectoplasm, said. "Even outside of a confrontation with robots, he seemed eager to do his best to destroy the immediate environment around him, even after he later demonstrated that he could easily control his powers and was capable of dispatching robots in a hand-to-hand fight."

"Hmph," yet another hero, this time Midnight, said, "the boy was obviously just caught up in the moment after finally being able to use his Quirk as he pleased. Yeah, he did cause a ton of collateral, but he never so much as scratched another examinee. In fact, he went out of his way to attack the zero-pointer from a position where he could ensure that there would be no collateral to the other fleeting examinees."

"Still," now Recovery Girl chimed in, "I find myself of the opinion that we shouldn't overly reward the boy. I was actually present right after the exam in time to hear him quite arrogantly boast and taunt another examinee. It's true that Midoriya should be rewarded for his heroics, but with his arrogance, we should limit it so as to deflate his ego; especially after considering the nature of his Quirk."

"I'd be inclined to agree, but only if the boy was already a student of our school," another hero, Cementoss, said. "As an examinee, one straight out of middle school no less, he shouldn't be held to our standards; at least not until he's at least been taught and trained to understand them. His 'unstable' Quirk, tendency to overkill, and arrogance aside, the fact is that when push came to shove, he acted exactly how we wanted. His potential deserves no less than full marks; correcting his flaws can come later."

"Hmm," Nezu hummed as he closed his eyes and thought about everyone's words. When he opened them again, he honed in on the only panelist to have not contributed to the discussion. "Aizawa, don't you have anything to add?"

Aizawa Shota, also known as Eraserhead, said, "Not really, but if you're asking… I say give the boy more than fifty points but not the full hundred. He showed results, he acted heroically, but he was also petty and childish; not very rational, if I do say so myself. But that can be changed after I start teaching him."

"Ok, then… All in favor of awarding the boy 69 points, raise your hands," Nezu said as he raised his own hand.

"69 points? What calculation did you pull to propose that?" Vlad King asked despite raising his hand with the rest of the panelists.

"Well..." Nezu's beady black eyes gleamed, "I just think a final score of 150 total points seems appropriate enough. I mean, it's nearly double that of second place. It honestly doesn't matter much how many Hero Points he gets in the first place, considering his score with Villain Points alone would already ranked him first among this year's crop of examinees."

"Right," Midnight stifled a laugh as she winked at Nezu knowingly, "it's definitely not because that number is tied to other connotations."

"Moving on," Nezu ignored her in favor of addressing Vlad King, "Kan, you filed a request to add Izuku to your Class of 1-B?"

The question caused all eyes to fall on Vlad King; real name, Sekijiro Kan. "That is correct," Vlad King stood his ground.

"Strange," Eraserhead started, "you've never tried to take the highest ranking incoming student from me; what made you decide to start now?" He sounded less upset and more surprised.

Vlad King simply picked up a file before him and began to open it up as he said, "It's been five days since the Entrance Exams and during that time, I managed to find some pretty interesting information on the boy."

Vlad King began to read from the file, "Last year, about ten months ago, the boy was involved in a hostage situation right here in Musutafu; you all remember the Sludge Villain Incident, yes?" When he received nods from everyone in attendance he continued, "Izuku Midoriya had lived as a Quirkless until he came across that event and his Quirk reactivated, allowing him to diffuse the situation in seconds."

Ignoring the gasps and looks of shock, Vlad King turned to Recovery Girl, "Chiyu-san, you mentioned that the boy had some harsh words for another examinee." He pulled out a picture of Bakugo and asked, "That would be this boy, right? The one who came in second place with 77 villain points?"

After Recovery Girl nodded in confirmation, Vlad King sighed and said, "Well, this boy was the hostage Midoriya managed to rescue from the sludge villain. He's also had a… history with Midoriya; for about a decade, during the time he identified as Quirkless, Bakugo bullied the boy. And… well… it must have been pretty bad, as everyone I tried to question tried to hide the extent of the bullying, at most only admitting that it had been going on when the two boys went to the same schools growing up.

"I think it would be a good idea to put the two in different classes, at the very least for their first year so we may train Midoriya to better handle himself around Bakugo and not be influenced by his Quirk. Given the rest of the information I've managed to compile of their personalities, I think it would be best for Bakugo to go with Eraser while Midoriya can come with me.

"Outside of instigated hostility, Midoriya has no record of acting out, so I think he'll be safe enough for me to handle, while Eraser has his Quirk to put brats like Bakugo in their place," Vlad King concluded; he was more than a little disgusted by the implications his research on the explosive blonde uncovered.

"That's certainly something to think about," Nezu said with a seldom heard serious tone. "Tell you what, I'll make copies of this file and pass them for the others to read before we come to a consensus," he added after picking up the file Vlad King had made of Izuku.

While Nezu and literally everyone else present condemned bullies — like Bakugo — with extreme prejudice, they couldn't afford to reject him even if his past with Izuku was more horrible than Vlad King made it out to be.

Not only did they live in trying times, where society needed all the heroes they could procure, but the consequences of rejecting someone with a Quirk as powerful as Bakugo's, held by someone with a personality as rancid as Bakugo's… Suffice to say that it would be tempting fate to turn him away from heroics and potentially make the next supervillain.

…

"Greetings," Izuku watched as a projection of some sort of dog-bear-mouse hybrid spoke, "as you can imagine this will either be your letter of acceptance or rejection; but we all know you passed the Entrance Exams with flying colors."

The creature chuckled, "You not only managed to earn yourself a theoretical score of 98.7% on the academic exam, in record time no less. But, you also passed the practical exam with the highest amount of villain points, ranking highest among all the examinees with just that alone.

"However, as impressive as that mere score is, it pales in comparison to your total score after factoring the hidden hero point system." The projection cut to a playback of Izuku stopping the zero-pointer, helping Jiro out of the pile of rubble that pinned her, before annihilating the robot moments later.

"Congratulations, Izuku Midoriya. With a villain point score of eighty-one and a hero point score of sixty-nine, you've managed to set a record for the practical exam. With your total score of one-hundred-fifty points, U.A. awaits you for three years of the best hero training the country can offer. Come," Izuku swore he saw the creature's beady eyes twinkle through the projection as it said, "This is your hero academia."

"Hmm," Izuku groaned as he watched the projection end. He spent nearly an hour reading the packet-like dense forms that came with the projection disk that served as his acceptance letter, reading about how he would go about procuring his sets of uniforms and how he should design his hero costume, before he stopped at the sound of his phone ringing.

"Camie?" Izuku asked, having picked up the phone.

"I… I didn't get in," Camie said with as neutral a tone as Izuku had heard from her thus far into their friendship. "The letter came in today and I found out that I was only three points away from making the cut," she continued, sounding unsettling to Izuku from the lack of emotion and slang.

"Well..." Izuku faltered, having never experienced consoling a close friend, "I'm sure the other top schools won't be as unforgiving in their assessment of your abilities. Just do your best to prove U.A. wrong and show them how big of a mistake they made by not accepting you."

"Thanks, I… I needed to hear that," Camie said before going silent. When she spoke again, she tried to act as bubbly as she usually did, but Izuku could hear the straining emotion in her voice, "What about you, Izubro? Knowing you when you get all salty, you probably acted extra… extra."

"I got my acceptance letter almost an hour ago. Though, more than happy that I got in, I'm conflicted about my placement in the hero course."

"Is that tea I sense?" Camie knowingly said, "Go on then, fam; spill it for a homie."

"I… got first place overall on the practical exam," Izuku hesitantly said, knowing how it might make Camie feel, "but I still didn't make it into Class 1-A; I've been added to Class 1-B."

"You think they have something against our school?" Camie sincerely asked. It was one thing for U.A. to dismiss her for her non-combative Quirk, but to put place Izuku, who placed first overall in the practical exam, anywhere but Class 1-A, the premier class of the hero department… At this point she wouldn't doubt it if she saw a member of the school's staff publicly demean them.

"That's certainly possible, but I'll just have to wait and see when school starts." Izuku said, "If it turns out they have something against me, personally, I can only hope I'll find a way to make school miserable for the staff within the bounds of their own rules."

He didn't mention it, since Camie had no knowledge of her friend's history, but Izuku was secretly hopeful that his addition to Class 1-B would keep the current separation he had with Bakugo.

He wasn't so much afraid of Bakugo as he was afraid of what he might impulsively do to his bully. Understanding fully well how close he came to acting maliciously during the Entrance Exam, Izuku knew he was a long ways away from being able to ignore Bakugo. If the two were put together in hero training, where they could fight one another with Quirks, it could easily become a bloodbath.

"Anyways," Camie said, "You still up for some beach-side training, fam?"

"Eh, why not?" Izuku accepted. He'd taken a couple days off as the Entrance Exams had already come to pass; God only knows how much he needed it. Yet, despite the overwhelming dominance he held, he knew there were still many improvements he could make. Getting accepted into U.A. was just the start, he knew as much. Even after he became a licensed hero, the training would never stop.

Thus, he quickly put away the papers he had been reading before getting called by Camie, changed into a tracksuit, and ran to Dagobah Beach. He insisted they focus on Camie, as she still had to do her best to make it into a different hero high school, and though she fiercely rejected the special treatment, eventually Izuku wormed his way into making her accept it.

As Izuku was getting thrown around, only slightly capable of defending himself in a Quirkless Judo match with Camie, he asked, "So, what was that about three points you mentioned on the phone earlier? If I remember correctly, the cut-off for the hero course was thirty-eight points. Did you really get thirty-five points during the practical exam with your Quirk?"

"I met this dope invisible chick like three minutes into the exam," Camie said as she swept Izuku's feet from under him. "She told me about the robots' power buttons and I managed to snipe twenty-five points through those." She had Izuku in a chokehold as she said, "Then, in my rejection letter, the principal mentioned that the rest of my hero points came from distracting some of the robots from harming other examinees with my Quirk."

After tapping out, Izuku joked, "If only those robots were susceptible to your Judo. Hell, you might have even topped my score."

They continued on with their practice. Camie usually dominated Izuku, but he did manage to come out on top at least five whole times during their hundred-plus bouts. When the sun started to set, though, Izuku invited Camie over to his house, asking if she wanted to help him design his costume; she naturally accepted.

As usual, Inko was happy to see Camie. While she made dinner, Camie and Izuku sat on the living room couch as they came up with ideas for each other's costumes. Starting with Izuku since he was the one to use it as an excuse to have Camie over, Camie also had her turn in costume design after Izuku showered her with confidence in her chances of getting into at least of the other two major hero high schools in the country.

This became the slight shift in routine Izuku's life face for nearly a week: Dedicating most of his daily training to preparing Camie for other hero high schools, followed by gatherings either at his or her house to propose costume ideas. It naturally ended after Camie was accepted into Shiketsu. Thereafter, he returned to focusing on improving his strengths. Though, the gatherings only ended after both had to submit forms for their costumes.

…

Today was the opening day of the school year. There was a beautiful start to the day, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming… On days like these, kids like Izuku were excited to see the start to their new school year.

Izuku in particular was on his train ride over to U.A, listening to some obscure chiptune song when he saw Jiro slowly cross into his line of sight. As he took off his headphones and stopped the music, he said, "Looks like you got in, alright." The first thing he noticed was U.A's uniform on her.

"Yep, Class 1-A. You?" Jiro asked.

Izuku held a smug knowing look for a solid five seconds before responding, "Class 1-B."

"What?" Jiro faltered, "Didn't you get the highest score on the practical exam? Like, of all time?! Don't tell me you're just a muscle-headed idiot."

"Um, no. I scored higher than 90% on the theoretical exam," Izuku said, trying his hardest to not sound arrogant.

"Well, now I'm not sure what to think of my placement. Class 1-A is usually the dominant class every year at the school Sport's Festival, but if even you aren't in it…It makes you wonder what other monsters Class 1-B will have this year."

"Think of it like this: U.A. only accepts 'the best of the best,'" Izuku rolled his eyes. "So, it doesn't really matter which of the two hero classes you end up in. Hell, it probably doesn't matter even if you're in the General Studies or Support Departments. Everyone who managed to get into our school will be a powerhouse in their own right."

"Yeah, you're definitely not an idiot like Kaminari," Jiro joked.

Once the train arrived at their stop, they continued with their idle chatter as they walked through to the school and to their respective classes; naturally, they were right next to each other as hero course students.

They had made it to school rather early as Izuku found himself to be the very first person in his class to arrive. He took his assigned seat, on the column furthest from the entrance and the third row, and waited.

Eventually, his classmates started pouring in, but at most Izuku would just exchange his name or nod. It would take almost half the class to arrive before someone took enough interest in him to start a longer conversation.

"Good morning," a girl, with long blond hair that reached to her midsection and blue eyes, said, "I, Pony Tsunotori, and you?" Her proficiency with the Japanese language was questionable at best.

"Izuku Midoriya," Izuku said before he was offered a handshake.

As Izuku accepted it, Pony said, "Hope we friend. Sorry, bad language. First language English. I'm foreigner; USA."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Izuku switched to nigh-accentless English. "I've read, watched, and listened to enough English media to think myself pretty good at the subject." He also had perfect marks both in middle school and the English section of U.A's Entrance Exam.

"Wow, your English might even be better than mine," Pony said, having switched to English, with genuine shock. She never expected one of her classmates to be so articulate in her native language.

"Well… My Quirk might have a part in it. You see, part of it allows me to quickly learn and retain information, among other things."

"You wouldn't mind occasionally helping me out then, would you? Maybe even tutor me in Japanese? I could even pay you for it," Pony offered.

"Helping you out goes without saying," Izuku deadpanned. "After all, we're all trying to be heroes, right? It also wouldn't be a problem to tutor you; for free, of course."

"The school day hasn't even started and you're already putting on the moves for my deskmate?" A brown-haired oval-eye boy smiled as he gave Izuku a pat on his shoulder and half-jokingly said, "I have no idea what you said to her, but please teach me your ways!"

Right as Izuku was about to respond, however, Ibara had entered the classroom and spotted him. She approached with a smile and said, "Ah, Midoriya. I won't lie, while it's nice to see you again after the Entrance Exam, I was certain you'd be put into Class 1-A with your performance." She adopted a look of understanding as she added, "Must be the lord's work."

The brown-haired boy from before had a look of constipation as a single tear fell down his face. When that got Izuku attention, he said, "Please accept me, Kosei Tsuburaba, your disciple! I'm so impressed!"

Alas, Izuku's would-be response was not meant to be as his homeroom teacher suddenly entered the class, forcing everyone to go to their assigned seats and silence themselves.

Vlad King, in his general day-to-day costume, walked over to the podium which stood before the class and said, "Good morning, class. My name is Sekijiro Kan, otherwise known as the pro hero Vlad King, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the duration of this school year. Now, I know most, if not all, of you are excited to see the year start off with a bang, but something you'll quickly come to learn with me as your homeroom teacher over the year, is that all things must have an order to them.

"As is the case, you will all be following me to meet up with the rest of your peers, to attend the opening ceremony. Well," Vlad King sighed, "maybe not all your peers as Class 1-A will be having their Quirk Apprehension Test in the meantime. But, that works in our favor as we'll be having ours right after the formalities are over with.

"For now, just follow me out of the class and over to the assembly," Vlad King concluded. As he led his students, Izuku stuck to Pony and translated their homeroom teacher's announcement for her to be able to fully understand in English.

On their way, the students were quick to address the elephant in the room as a boy with short blond hair and purple eyes said, "Tch, why does Class 1-A get to both skip the opening ceremony and have their test before us? It hasn't even been a day and they're already getting special treatment," he shook his head derisively.

"I don't know about that, dude," A girl with wavy green hair, slightly darker than Izuku's, said. "If you think about it, either they'll have to make-up getting the information we'll be getting now at a later point, or they'll have traded in getting to leave early for missing out on the information entirely. I don't know about you, but I'd rather listen to the opening ceremony in person, than have to rewatch a taping or worse; read a transcript."

"Hmph," the blond-haired boy snorted. "I bet the only reason we're not out with them right now is for the school to save face and appease the other Departments. They'll make us, the lesser class of the Hero Department, show up for some pointless opening ceremony and waste time, while those privileged bastards in Class 1-A get ahead of us, even if it's only by a couple hours."

"I wouldn't put it past them, considering their blatant disregard for people with Quirks they seemingly perceive as lesser," Izuku added as he once more recalled the injustice they served Camie during the Entrance Exam. "I still can't fathom how little care U.A. showed for people whose Quirks serve little to no direct combat potential during the Entrance Exam."

"Tell me about it," the blond-haired boy nodded knowingly as he said, "Can you imagine they actually deducted points from my score just for the technical foul of having to use my Quirk on other people to have it to work for me? I mean, how were they going to expect me to pass, if not by using my Copy Quirk to borrow the Quirks of my fellow examinees at the time?!"

"Oh?" Izuku's eyes suddenly narrowed as he honed in on a particular thought, which he voiced rather carelessly, "So, I'm guessing you probably would have made the cut for Class 1-A had they not deducted those points, huh?" As he watched the boy nod, he muttered, "Maybe U.A. does have a bias against people like us; people with so-called villainous Quirks."