Chapter 41: Quirk assessment test (II)

"No. He's a true pro hero."

"Huh? How do you know?" Hanta asked curiously. All the other boys were no exception and leaned in to hear Izuku's answer. Even the stoic Shoto had taken an interest in this conversation.

"After all, he was one of the few people who had trained me."

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"Bakugo Katsuki, quirk: Explosion. Be it in technique or mastery of his quirk, he is way ahead of most examinees. His only problem is his bad temper. He was ranked second with 85 villain points and 0 rescue points."

While waiting for the students to gather at the PE grounds, Aizawa and Shido were discussing about the class.

"Midoriya Izuku, quirk: Super Power. A quirk surprisingly close to the one of All Might's. His technique and use of his quirk are refined, clearly the work of a good master. His problem seems to be a body too weak to contain the full power of his quirk. He is ranked first with 70 villain points and 60 rescue points. Of course, this is not counting the recommendation examinees." Shido informed him about the various results of the public exams while Aizawa just nodded his head as he listened closely. Currently, he wasn't in his sleeping bag and was standing there in the middle of the field while waiting for the students to change.

Aizawa didn't really mind the data, but he was more of a realist, and he preferred to see for himself rather than get the impression of students from mere data. He wasn't that he didn't believe in data, he just thought that the performance in real, actual situations would be much more accurate than some datas.

"So do you think you'll expel anyone this year?" Yoshinon, who had hidden inside Shido's clothes from morning popped out and casually asked Aizawa.

Aizawa glanced at him for a moment before replying,"I don't know. I'll only see from their performance later on."

"I hope no one fails this year though. The class would be depressed if someone failed on their first day of UA." Shido shared his thought, though the smile on his face didn't convince anyone.

"But at least they'll be more motivated to work harder in order to not get expelled."

Shido merely shrugged his shoulders when he heard Aizawa's words and did not continue the conversation as the students had arrived.

Aizawa didn't wait for them to settle down and started speaking once everyone had arrived. "I see that you have respected the time. Today, we will be doing something known as a 'quirk apprehension test'."

"Quirk apprehension test?" One of the students asked.

Aizawa stared at her and replied,"Did you do the eight classic exercises to test your physical performances?"

At his questions, all the students nodded their heads.

Seeing their confirmation, Aizawa continued his explanation,"Softball pitch. Standing long jump. 50 meters dash. Endurance running. Grip strength test. Sustained sideways jumps. Upper body exercises. Seated toe-touch. They are all of the activities all of you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks. The country still hasn't gotten around to standardising those sorts of records if keeping track of average performance levels. Well, that's negligence on the part of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, better known as MEXT."

"MIdoriya, Todoroki, you two finished at the top of the practical exams, right? Midoriya for public exams and Todoroki for the recommended. In middle school, what was your best result for the softball throw?"

"I didn't go to middle school and test for my results." Shoto's ever stoic face remained as he replied emotionlessly.

"A-Ano, 40 meters." Izuku answered nervously as he blushed a little. His results in PE were really bad in the past.

Aizawa had to stop a little at those answers. One didn't even throw before, while the other threw so close it was pitiful. However, he felt weird. Midoriya's quirk was a strength type. Even though it wasn't passive, his normal strength should still be higher than normal. He looked at Shido and saw that his expression never changed.

'He knows something.'

Aizawa narrowed his eyes a little before they returned to their usual gloomy stares. Well, it didn't really matter. He was about to continue speaking to them when he realised that all of their attention was on Yoshinon, who had inserted himself on Shido's left hand and was currently munching an apple.

"Ahem..."

The students immediately changed their attention back to Aizawa after hearing that cough, and Aizawa continued after ensuring that all the attention was on him.

"You two choose one and try doing it with your quirk. You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle."

Shoto and Izuku shared a look before Izuku offered to let him go. Shoto didn't shy and stepped forward and took the ball. Shoto didn't care who goes first since everyone would eventually get it done either way.

"Giant hand." Shoto didn't have super strength, and relied on his right side to throw the ball as hard as he could. He created a gigantic hand entirely made up of ice and picked up the softball. Swinging back the hand, he used the momentum to toss the ball when he swung the arm forward.

Aizawa took his controller and watched the number before whistling in admiration. "You guys should know your own maximum first. That's the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero."

He showed the number present on the controller to the class.

"OH!!!"

Cries of admiration sounded in the classroom. Why? Because of the controller, the number '873.5 meters' could be seen.

"More than 850 meters? Seriously?"

An orange haired boy could be seen talking.

"Awesome! It looks so fun!"

"We can really use our quirks now? That's the department of heroics for you!"

However, it seemed that the two teachers did not really like how the students reacted.

"It looks fun, huh?"

Shido couldn't help but let out a big grin. It seemed like these kids (even though they were actually older than him) needed a wake-up call.

Aizawa was no different as he also let out a shit eating grin. "So you were planning to spend your three tears here having a good ol' time? What happened to becoming heroes? All right then. In that case, a new rule: the students who rank last in total points will be judged 'hopeless'...and instantly expelled."

"Our 'freedom' means we dispense with students as we please! Welcome to this...department of heroics!" Aizawa lifted his bangs and fully revealed his face, which was currently sporting a large grin.

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"So they got the devil duo huh...oh bother...they're really in for these guys." All Might couldn't help but let out a sigh in the staff room as he looked at the teacher allocations for this year.

"I hope this class will be fine..."

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"The kid who ranks last...gets expelled...?!"

"Wait! You can't do this to us! We just entered UA Highschool!"

"This is our first day here! But even if it weren't...that's just too unreasonable!"

"Natural disasters...massive incidents...ego-mad villains...all kinds of calamities can happen when we least expect them. Japan's now positively drenched in 'unreasonable'. And it's our job as heroes to reverse it all, and restore reason." Aizawa said as he adjusted his scarf back to its usual position, hiding everything but his eyes once again.

"If you were counting on a friendly chat at the local McDonald's after school, that's too bad. From now on, for the next three years all, all you can expect from your life at UA, is one hardship after the next." Shido continued Aizawa's talk, and everyone shifted their attention back to him. "This is 'PLUS ULTRA'. We expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top."

"So, let's get going, shall we?" Aizawa ignored all of their shocked expressions and went at his own pace.

Trial 1: 50 meter dash

The first ones to go were Tsuyu Asui and Tenya Iida. Shido was interested in Tsuyu's quirk: Frog. He felt that her quirk has lots of potential to be tapped. On the other hand, Tenya's quirk was much simpler: Engine.

Tenya's quirk was completely geared towards speed, making it useful and simple. 'Frog', however, was a mutant quirk, and thinking back on all the information he knew about frogs, Shido knew that Asui would have a lot of potential if she was trained properly.

In his mind, he had already passed these two just for the sheer usefulness of their quirks. But ultimately, it could still change if they didn't properly develop their quirk. No matter how powerful a quirk is, if it wasn't trained, it was no better than being quirkless.

Everything was going well, with Tenya being uncontested in this assessment, since he specialised in speed. But it was when Izuku and Katsuki chose to run that things degenerated fast.

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!!"

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A seconds earlier, Katsuki stood on the starting line while looking at Izuku. He couldn't help but let out a smirk.

'I don't know how you cheated to reach the first rank but now, everyone would be able to see that you're nothing more than a quirkless small fry.'

After stretching a little, the two of them took their positions on the starting line. A robotic voice sounded,"On your mark, get set, start!"

Katsuki immediately activated his quirk to propel himself. He didn't look back, he was sure that Izuku was far behind him.

Yet, just as he was about to reach the finish line, a green flash went past him. It was...Izuku?

Katsuki couldn't help but have his mind blank out.

'How was it possible? How could it be possible? Deku was quirkless. They had known each other since they were kids. Everyone's quirk manifested by the age of four. Deku didn't have a quirk!' This was unthinkable to Katsuki who had always thought that Izuku was quirkless. Otherwise, why was Izuku bullied so badly in the past ten years and never retaliated?

'What was the meaning of this? Perhaps...HE LIED TO ME?!'

The moment this thought entered his head, anger instantly clouded his mind. He couldn't help but activate his quirk and rushed towards Izuku while screaming his head off.

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!!!"

He could see Izuku take a fighting stance.

'This bastard wants to fight with him?' This thought angered him further.

However, just as he was about to reach him, he suddenly felt all his power leave him while his moments were restricted by some sort of bandage.

'What's happening? These clothes are so hard!' Humans are naturally afraid of the unknown, and it only amplified when the thing he was so dependent on, his quirk, was taken away. He struggled to turn his head towards the source of the clothes, and saw Aizawa sensei and Itsuki sensei beside him smiling.

"They're weapons for capture made of carbon fibre woven together with a metal wire made up of a special alloy." Aizawa monotonously spoke before sighing,"Sigh, please don't make me use my quirk so fast on the first day. I HAVE DRY EYES!" He shouted the last sentence to emphasise his main point.

"WHAT!!"

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Shido observed the situation with interest. If Aizawa didn't manage to stop him in time, he naturally would have stepped in. But it seems that his worry was for naught.

'As expected of him. Despite being so low-key till the point where no one knows about him, his quirk and fighting style is truly top notch, especially in this quirk-orientated society of ours.'

Shido nodded his head in acknowledgment when he saw Katsuki completely restrained. It seemed that he wasn't needed.

Aizawa's quirk: Erasure. He is able to erase the quirks of those he looks at. The effect goes away when he blinks. In a society where all villains relied on their quirks, this quirk was really important and crucial in being a hero.

Meanwhile, Izuku had reverted back to his 'hero fan-boy' state.

"Kyaa!! It's Eraser Head!! That disheveled and sloppy look and that fighting style! There's no mistake, it actually Eraser Head!!"

When Aizawa heard this embarrassing scream, his eyes twitched a little at that insult in the scream and mentally decided to punish that guy later before releasing Katsuki when he saw that he had calmed down sufficiently.

"We are wasting time. Whoever's next, get ready."

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