Chapter 12: Reaper of Hope
"A Quirk Apprehension test? What about the ceremony!? And meeting the guidance counselor!?"
The brown-haired girl, who Kai had now gathered was named Ochako Uraraka, cried out in disbelief. This was not how the first day of high school was supposed to go. Everyone was just reaching the PE grounds, and she still couldn't believe it. Kai shook his head.
Oh, innocent child, there is always more in this world.
Clearly, Kai was the only one who had done proper research. Then again, how many people in Japan read American blog posts? Or even had the English skills to do so? UA was known worldwide, and there were always a couple of international students every year. Some… didn't make it all the way through. And most of them would make complaints online.
Good old Reddit. If you are looking for a story on some topic, you will find it. Especially when the story dealt with complaints. Or you could look for relevant memes and Tumblr posts. However bad Americans could be when they did so, they were expressive about everything.
Everything. Which, when you needed to hear rumors like this, was good.
In this case, there were rumors about how teachers at UA could be. Especially about one "unnamed" teacher with messy black hair, black clothes, and a scarf tool. While the phrasing and level of vulgarity varied, everyone agreed that this man was strict. Some had taken to calling him "the Reaper of Hope" for how many students had been expelled on his whims. In fact, he had apparently expelled the whole class last year.
So, with that in consideration, Kai knew that something was about to happen, but warning his classmates wasn't going to do much, so he held his peace.
Besides, they would find out soon enough. Aizawa-sensei spoke up in response to Uraraka without turning around.
"You all understand the reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that freedom goes for us teachers, too. Softball pitch. Standing long jump. Fifty-meter dash. Grip strength test. Sustained sideways jumps. Upper body exercises. Seated toe touch. These are all activities that you know from middle school, naturally- physical tests where you were barred from using your Quirks. The country still hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, that's negligence on the part of MEXT.
"Bakugou," he said, turning to the blond wamp-sack. "How far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"
"67 meters," Bakugou replied with a "tch" of annoyance.
"Try again using your Quirk this time around. As long as you don't exit the circle, anything is fine. Don't hold back."
"You got it," Bakugo said, winding up. As he threw the softball, he did two things. The first, of course, was activating his Quirk, creating a sizable explosion in his hand as the ball left it.
The other made Kai sigh- he screamed, "DIEEEEEEE!!!!!"
This is what you give me to work with? Kai looked up to the sky and closed his eyes. Someday soon, this guy was going to be in over his head, be fully confident that he was the most powerful man in the world, and then die as someone else's afterthought. Kai could only hope that there was more to this guy than met the eye, but so far, he was far from impressed. Some intervention might be needed…
"Before anything else, one must know what they are capable of," Aizawa-sensei spoke again, pulling a smartphone out of his pocket and turning the screen to the class. 705.2m, it said. "This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your 'Hero Foundation.'"
Kai nodded in understanding. While this test was a little unbalanced, these physical basics were going to be important for every hero. Not every Quirk would help with these tests, including Kai himself, but finding a way or at least being physically proficient was going to be important.
Meanwhile, the class was impressed by Bakugo's performance.
"Awesome! That looks so fun!"
"705 meters? Unreal!"
"We can really use our Quirks now!? That's the department of heroics for you!"
Kai pushed his face into his palm. If there was going to be anything that would trigger the "Reaper of Hope," taking heroism lightly was going to be one of them. Looking around, he noticed one anomaly- Midoriya. Rather than excitement, he looked nervous. Did he know the same things Kai did? Or did he have more reason to fear than most? Did he just not know his power. Impossible- he took out Zero Point…
"It looks fun, you say?" Aizawa said with a slight note of anger in his voice. A note that grew in volume as he continued. "So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good old time? What happened to becoming heroes? All right, then. In that case, new rule: the student who comes last in total points will be judged 'hopeless' and instantly expelled."
On hearing the last word, most of the class gritted their teeth, determined to not be that person. Then there was a smaller group like Midoriya and ball boy, who looked terrified, as they could easily be that person. Then there was Uraraka.
"The kid who ranks last… gets expelled!? It's just our first day! Wait, even if it wasn't our first day, that's just too unreasonable!"
Aizawa-sensei sighed and pushed his palm into his head. In the same bored tone he had greeted everyone with, he spoke. "Natural disasters, massive accidents, 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.
"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 you can expect from your life at UA is one hardship after another. This is 'Plus Ultra.' I expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top."
Everyone nodded. Now that they had had a few precious moments to mentally digest it, they were ready.
"Now then, that was the demonstration. Time to step up to the plate."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Tvrkm
Tvrkm So, I'm guessing you can see what kind of videos I've been watching. Idiodysseys, a made-up word that means a long struggle against the idiocy of others, is fun to hear stories about. Which makes those reddit videos funny.
And frankly, it is weird that UA, or at least Aizawa, doesn't have this in their reputation. I mean, someone would have talked about it. I concluded that the reason must lie in Japanese culture. Either they aren't rude enough to complain online, or they just have stricter control over the rumor mill.
Hence bringing up Reddit, Tumblr, and memes. Because whatever else we are good at, Americans talk about stuff. And argue and dumb stuff, but only the talking and complaining are relevant here.
I will refer to people with names as Kai learns them. Until then, or sometimes, even after, I mean, I think that Mineta as Ball Boy will stick to him. After all, his head is all balls. Kai might say that line. And no further explanation.
Anything else I want to say... not really.
Sorry as always for being inconsistent. But I think that with the next chapter, we see Kai in a different light. Still not quite sure how he gets to being friends with everyone. I mean, he asked for heroes. And he got Aoyama, Mineta, Bakugo, Uraraka, and basically... kids.
Well, the next generation of heroes starts somewhere.
As for what Kai is... well, I'll let his imminent rant say.
Perhaps I should do some more editing, but, I'm doing this anyways.