24

Chapter 24: Chapter #24 | Sticks and Stones

Notes:

Sorry about the delay everyone! It's been one hectic weekend both with family coming in from across country to visit as well as preparing for this weekend! I wasn't able to get the chapter to my proofreader until late last night and I wasn't about to force them to not do their work to proof the chapter.

That being said, be excited for this weekend! I'll be releasing two chapters. One Saturday and one Sunday. A normal chapter and a Halloween special!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Aizawa watched as Midoriya changed from his cover identity back into himself. He watched as the shock leached into their eyes, followed by anger and confusion. Aizawa watched as that shock transformed into cognizance, as the lights changed to violet and then into fear as they looked at one another.

Yaoyorozu was the first to realize what she was seeing, and it showed when the blood drained from her face. It wasn't long before students began muttering uneasily as they looked around at their fellow classmates' simulated wounds. It was an even shorter period before the class zeroed in on the two members of their class without any wounds at all and would have returned their gazes to Midoriya to ask questions were they not all caught off guard by the glowstick in the middle of the room.

Tokoyami was doing his best to shy away from his classmates' eyes but found it quite difficult when he glowed like he'd been dipped in a vat of fluorescents. "That is enough of that, I think. Everyone take one and meet me out on the grounds. You all have ten minutes. Anyone late is expelled."

The class blinked as the lights flicked back into the normal spectrum and stared forward at their apparent homeroom teacher as he walked out of the room without another word. The moment the door closed behind him, chaos erupted. Questions rained down on Midoriya at varying pitches.

Calmly, Izuku picked up a uniform in his size and, turning to the class, raised one hand to the wall of noise. It took a few moments, but eventually, the cacophony settled and Izuku was able to speak. "I am sure that many of you have questions. Many of them will be answered in this coming test. Others I'll be happy to answer myself later. But now isn't the time. Aizawa wasn't saying that to scare you all. He will expel you if you are late."

The class was shocked. Someone they had thought they'd known had turned out to be someone else, their teacher was evidently more than happy to expel them on the first day, and Midoriya had dropped that on them before calmly turning and walking out of the room. It wasn't long before everyone was scrambling from their seats to find their outfits and head for one of the many training grounds of U.A.

Izuku watched for a moment from the doorway as the situation sank in and everyone began to scramble. As he walked down the hallway, he reflected on the seething crimson eyes that had been pinning him since he revealed himself. Well, Bakugo, have you changed for the better? Or has all the counseling simply made things worse?

…

"Don't you think that might have been a little overkill, Midoriya?"

Izuku couldn't help but quirk his eyebrow at their teacher. Both of them were standing alone on the field, waiting for the class to finish changing. "You told me to scare them, didn't you?"

Aizawa sighed heavily and shook his head. "I swear, the more time you and that damn rat spend together, the worse you both get. We both know they aren't failing, nor did they need to be exposed to the idea of death on the first day. We both know you could have spurred them into trying harder without the dramatics, problem child."

Izuku gave a small, grim snort before shaking his own head. "I could have, you're right. But the fact of the matter is that too many of them clearly don't understand what they are getting into. I'm not expecting them to know how to pick out a spy on the first day. I'm not expecting them to be alright with the idea of dying. I'm not even expecting them all to have perfect reasons for being a hero, sir. But I'm damn well not going to stand by and let one of them get killed because they treated this as a game."

"That's my job to worry about, Midoriya. Not yours. If they don't have any potential, then they won't be staying. But if they do, then there is no reason to eliminate them in their first year over their convictions, most certainly not on the first day. Even then, it isn't your decision about what happens. Do I make myself clear?"

The two were still staring each other down when the other students all trickled out onto the field. The tense atmosphere did nothing to calm their nerves, and when Aizawa glanced down at his watch, the feeling didn't abate. "Two minutes left. I expect that to be cut down to taking two minutes by the end of this year. Now, let's get started."

Uraraka wasted no time snapping her hand up with a confused expression on her face. "What about the entrance ceremony, sir?! Or the guidance sessions?!"

Aizawa glanced at her before looking back down to the clipboard he had. "A waste of time. You are all here to become heroes, not play around with school ceremonies. U.A. is known for the freedom it grants its teachers to create their own lesson plans. Today, we'll be repeating athletics tests you've been given yearly since middle school. Softball toss, standing long jump, fifty-meter dash, long-distance running, grip strength, sit-ups, pushups, and your flexibility. This time, however, you'll all be using your quirks. At this point, the Department of Education is just procrastinating the inevitable, and it's illogical to not allow people to know what they are capable of. Midoriya, you are dismissed."

The class had been relatively silent throughout their professor's explanation. They hadn't said a word when he'd called the opening ceremonies a waste of their time. They had only made some excited rumblings when he had told them they would get to use their quirks. Now, it would seem, the peanut gallery had found a reason to speak up.

"That isn't fair! Why doesn't Midoriya have to do this as well?" Aizawa quirked his eyebrow at Sero and responded as if it were the most unreasonable question he'd gotten all day.

"Because I can't accurately gauge his abilities with these tests obviou-" Bakugo snorted and interrupted Aizawa, causing that quirked brow to become furrowed.

"Isn't it obvious, soy sauce? It's because Deku's a fucking useless quirkless. The damn invalid wouldn't be able to keep up with those of us that are proper people." Aizawa felt his eye twitch at the blatant quirkist attitude. He'd barely opened his mouth to reprimand the behavior when a chill went down his spine and he saw Midoriya smile sharply from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, Bakugo. I see that you've still not grown out of that quirkist bullshit. I wish I could say I'm surprised, though I'm not, since you live in a gods damned echo chamber of mindless drivel." Izuku practically purred his words as he stepped out in front of the student's line. "Let's settle this right now. How many of you think that the reason I was dismissed was my quirklessness? Go ahead and be honest. I won't be angry with you. It is a fair guess, after all, even if it could be phrased better."

About a third of the class raised their hands, and Izuku couldn't help but feel a warm spot in his chest because, except for Katsuki, the rest at least seemed bashful about their assumption. Izuku nodded. "Like I said, fair enough of a deduction. I think it would be best if I participated, sir, if only so they don't think I'm getting special treatment."

Aizawa rolled his eyes and sighed. "How utterly illogical. Fine then. Throw the damn ball and get back in line. And no, I don't need to keep it. I have a bag of them. Do whatever as long as you don't leave the circle." Aizawa tossed a slightly larger than average baseball to Midoriya as the two passed each other, one heading to the sidelines and the other to the painted circle on the ground. He's about to do something dramatic again, isn't he? At least Nedzu might get some accurate data out of this at least.

"Kyoka, do you have your sound dampers on?" The girl looked confused for a moment but nodded an affirmative. She didn't tend to go anywhere without them. Izuku nodded and gave a small, pointed smile, showing off his sizable incisors. "I'd plug your ears, everyone. This may be a little loud."

For the most part, the class complied, albeit a bit confused and slow on the uptake. Izuku took a traditional pitching stance and scanned the sky, as if he were looking for something special, and then smiled, muttering a single word with a genuine grin this time. Kyoka bit down on her lip, letting out a surprised snort before she could help herself. The class hadn't heard, clearly, else they'd be confused.

Nothing they imagined did the actual toss justice. Izuku snapped his arm forward towards the sky faster than their eyes could see, and mere moments later, the air sundered apart with a boom that shook the earth where they stood. Even through the earplugs Momo made herself, her ears were still ringing as if a bomb had just gone off next to her. Several of the other students had fared even worse, as they were seemingly gesturing that they couldn't hear a thing. The most startling to her, however, was that Jiro hadn't even flinched. Doesn't she have heightened hearing?!

Himiko was startled, because what the fresh fuck was that Izuku?! But Kyoka hadn't taken her eyes off of Midoriya. He might be good at masking the pain, but she'd known him long enough that she saw it behind his eyes and in the way he held his right arm. Dumbass overdid it again.

It wasn't even a minute later when Mina popped up from her place on the ground. "THAT WAS AMAZING! This is going to be so much fu-" She didn't even get through the words before her own voice was being overshadowed by the inane screaming of Bakugo and the repeated admonishing hand waving from Iida. So this is what set Midoriya off.

A glint of red flashed in everyone's field of view, only to be followed by Aizawa's angry voice telling everyone to be quiet, danger practically seeping from him. "Please, Ashido, go ahead and finish that statement." Several moments of nothing followed and Aizawa continued. "No? Well, that is likely for the best, because this is not supposed to be fun. We have only a few short years here to turn you all into respectable heroes. The people whose job it is to stop the many injustices in this world.

…

Aizawa was, frankly, impressed with this batch of first years. Most of this was owing to Midoriya and his cohorts, but he was mildly impressed all the same. The fifty-meter dash had been dominated by Tensei's younger brother, and the similarity in their speed was there, even if Tenya was younger and less experienced than his older brother, clocking in at almost sixteen and a half meters per second.

What surprised the man, however, was that both Himiko and Jiro clocked in just behind Bakugo. They continued to impress him in their other examinations, as well, with Himiko transforming into Shoji to excel in grip strength, Jiro using her earjacks as an atlatl for the ball toss, or just by their general fitness, which as was proven in the sit-ups and push-ups. They were already far ahead of their peers.

That isn't to say that there wasn't potential in the rest of them. Yaoyorozu had taken second while Todoroki had taken third, firmly showing off exactly why they were recommended students. Iida had been consistent across the board, Tokoyami had worked decently well with his quirk to pull into seventh place just ahead of Himiko. Though, considering that Jiro had evidently been training with Midoriya longer, it wasn't surprising that she pulled sixth and Himiko eighth.

Even the ones that had fallen into last place as the tests went on seemed as if they were giving it everything they had. Whether it was fear or determination, Aizawa couldn't tell, but for now it didn't matter. Even if they didn't have training coming in, it didn't matter. They'd get it here or drop out of the course.

All of this, of course, wasn't even mentioning Midoriya. Frankly, Aizawa didn't even want to rank Midoriya because it was such a bad test of his maximum capability. Cleared the long jump, maxed the grip strength machines, had literally blurred in the side steps, had folded into a damned pretzel during the flexibility tests, and had kept up with Yaoyorozu in the long-distance test. She had made a motorized scooter and he'd kept up with her. While holding a conversation. All of that didn't even touch the damned ball toss number that came up or the fact that he beat Iida's time by almost two seconds, clocking in at forty-one and a half meters per second. Honestly, Aizawa was starting to get worried that he was growing numb to Midoriya's bullshit.

"With that, the testing is over. For those of you in last place, try harder. If you're in front of the class, good. Don't let your training slip. This is the starting line for each of you. I expect you'll improve heavily from here. Here are the results."

1 - Midoriya Izuku

2 - Yaoyorozu Momo

3 - Shoto Todoroki

4 - Katsuki Bakugo

5 - Tenya Iida

6 - Kyoka Jiro

7 - Fumikage Tokoyami

8 - Himiko Toga

9 - Shoji Mezo

10 - Mashijiao Ojiro

11 - Eijiro Kirishima

12 - Mina Ashido

13 - Ochako Uraraka

14 - Koji Koda

15 - Tsuyu Asui

16 - Pony Tsunotori

17 - Hanta Sero

18 - Denki Kaminari

19 - Hitoshi Shinso

20 - Toru Hagakure

"Go pick up a syllabus from the classroom and head back to the dorms. You're all done for the day." He hadn't expelled anyone today, but it had been close. If Hagakure hadn't put in the effort she did, he wouldn't have hesitated. I'll need to keep an eye on Bakugo though… Aizawa could accept stupid. He'd worked with quirkist assholes before, just look at Endeavour. But there had been too much anger in his eyes for that, and if Aizawa wasn't wrong, a hint of fear.

…

The atmosphere when Aizawa left was notably relaxed. Many of them didn't realize just how much tension there'd been until the man had left. Mina couldn't help but sink to the ground with a cry. "I can't believe we all survived. I could have sworn one of us was going to get kicked out. You know, after Midori's stealth operations and our teacher apparently being so scary."

"Obviously it was a lie. Didn't take much to figure that out. There's no way Aizawa would expel anyone on the first day." Everyone that hadn't trickled back to the locker rooms turned to Midoriya as he gave a mirthless laugh.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Last year, he expelled his entire class in the first week. There is a reason there is no class 2-A. Besides that, there are only a handful of students left in class 3-A. He wants to see that everyone has the potential and drive to succeed. That's what our little game was about. Bringing the best out in everyone."

Izuku had no doubt that would startle a few of their less serious classmates once it got around to them, but it didn't really matter. They would either survive the course or not. "Ah, I just remembered. Uraraka, Hagakure, could I talk to you two for a moment?" Both girls nodded, or at least as far as Izuku could approximate with Hagakure, and gestured everyone to head on without them.

"What's up, Midori?" Izuku arched an eyebrow at Hagakure when she bounced up to him. Seemingly sensing his question, Hagakure rapidly explained, the embarrassment evident in her voice. "Oh, ah sorry. I just heard Mina call you that and she said it was the least you could do since you marked us and all…"

Izuku chuckled and waved her off. "Don't worry about it, Hagakure. I'm used to being called by my first name, so call me whatever you want. It won't bother me. Now, I wanted to talk to you two for separate reasons. I'll start with you, so you can get going. My partner and I have been working on technology that is very similar to your quirk, and while we're able to get it working for a stationary target, we're having issues with a moving version. Your quirk may just hold the key to us solving that issue. As such, I'd like to ask for your help. Of course, you'd be compensated for your time."

Hagakure was silent for a long moment. Long enough that Uraraka got a little concerned before a soft whisper came out of the girl. "Can you get rid of it?" Uraraka barely caught it, but Midoriya had certainly heard her if his hiss of a breath was any indication.

"Can I what?!" Hagakure started waving her arms around wildly in panicked motions, having realized the implications of her phrasing.

"No no no no. I don't want to get rid of my quirk. I mean, like, if you can make something to replicate my quirk, couldn't you make something t-to" Both Uraraka and Izuku were looking at her with concern now, and that almost made it harder for Toru to get it out. "Could you make something to make me visible again! I-I haven't been able to see myself since I turned four and I just want to-"

The girl choked on her words now, and she could feel the warmth of tears on her face, even if the others couldn't see them. Uraraka pulled the shorter girl into a hug, and Izuku couldn't help but feel pity for the poor girl. Both of the girls jumped when a new voice spoke from their side. "Yeah. Yeah, I believe we can do that for you. Right, Izu?"

The girls whipped around to find another girl wearing the same black uniform as Midoriya. Her hair was tied back, much like Midoriya's, but instead of the green, it was bubblegum pink. "Yeah. We can, Mei. Shouldn't be too hard. We'll talk about this tomorrow, though. Go ahead back to the dorms." Shakily, Hagakure bowed before heading back to the locker rooms.

Both of the young CEOs then turned to Uraraka, who was smiling nervously. "I, ah, I'm guessing that you also want my help with some kind of project?" The nervous smile turned to one of shock quickly when Hatsume spoke up first.

"Nah, why are you using your quirk so wrong?" Izuku could do nothing but facepalm.

…

It took a few moments for Momo to orientate herself in the locker room. It was their first time using them, and the girl she was looking for had slipped off into one of the corners with Himiko as soon as they'd grabbed their clothes. It took her a few more moments to walk over and call out to Jiro.

Both girls turned to look at Momo, and although Jiro seemed wary, Himiko tensed rather rapidly. Momo looked at both girls and had to resist the urge to hiss when she saw dozens of white lines and welts trailing down Himiko's otherwise blemishless skin. Are those whip scars!? Kyoka stepped in between the two and Momo did her best to stutter out an apology. She didn't want to be rude and hadn't meant to stare.

She got halfway through that apology when she found herself heating up. She had been staring again, but instead of old injuries, it was Jiro's fit and toned body. Suffice it to say, she was sufficiently mortified of her behavior when Kyoka's now concerned face became the focus of her vision.

"I just wanted to ask, ah, you seemed to not be affected by the shockwave earlier. How is that? Oh, and did you catch what Midoriya was saying before he threw the ball?"

Kyoka blinked before chuckling. "Oh, that. Izuku and Mei made me these for my birthday a few years back." Kyoka brushed her hair back, revealing the small silver disks she always wore. "They filter and dampen sounds above a certain threshold so I don't suffer from my heightened hearing. As for what he said," she couldn't help but smile now as laughter bubbled up in her throat, "he said Hawaii."

…

It wasn't long after Aizawa finished his paperwork that he found himself sitting in the president's office, trying not to scowl. "How is the investigation into Midoriya's past going? Anything new?"

Calmly, Nedzu placed his tea back into its saucer before shaking his head. "Nothing new. Or that is to say, nothing at all. I take it that the glowering you're doing means that you didn't get anything out of Midoriya?"

Aizawa let the frown come now because, evidently, he wasn't doing too well at hiding it. "Oh no, I got something out of him. He threw the ball really far." Nedzu just raised his eyebrows at Aizawa, prompting him to elaborate on what he meant by really far. Aizawa, in response, simply put his device down with the distance on the screen.

"Oh. Oh, dear." Nedzu couldn't take his eyes off the blinking number, because that was outside of his calculations. Well outside, in fact. On-screen blinked a red number that should have been impossible for someone that was quirkless. Hell, with a few exceptions, such as young Uraraka, it should have been impossible for someone with a quirk. On-screen blinked 6,625,669 meters.

Notes:

Fun fact, many birds feathers do actually glow colors under UV light! Owls, puffins, parrots, etc. So my headcannon is that Tokoyami absolutely is a glowstick in UV.

Also for anyone concerned that Bakugo is off from canon here it is because he is. He's a massive quirkist. This combined with a certain idea he's gotten into his head will come into play soon. In the meantime into the Battle Trial arc!