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CHAPTER START---
"Don't waste that much time walking back to class next time," Aizawa grumbles as everyone enters the classroom, the quiet conversations going silent as they find their seats.
He looks over the class, and glances at Izuku, "how's your finger?"
"Much better sir!" Izuku answers, raising his hand and waving around the bandaged digit.
"Good, because this is how low the bar has been set, from this moment onward, I expect constant improvement from each and every one of you." Everyone stiffens up as his voice suddenly becomes strict. "Look around, there are twenty students in this class, and hundreds that want your spots, at UA we demand constant improvement, to stop improving is to fall behind, and people are just waiting for the chance to take your place."
Some people begin to sweat ever so slightly at those words.
"Sir!" Iida raises his hand.
"What is it?"
"You said twenty students, but..." he looks to his left, past Koda, past Tokayami, to the empty seat behind Izuku and in front of Yaoyorozu.
"He's a special case, and he'll be here shortly," Aizawa says. "For now I want you to focus on these," Aizawa taps the board and a long list appears. "These are your scores from the entrance exams and the test we just completed, the recommended students are colored in blue while everyone else is in white, only because they had a different practical exam during the entrance exam, you've all been ranked..."
A flurry of 'oohs' is heard as each student scans the board. Yaoyorozu fights the proud smirk on her lips, yet blushes slightly, genuinely surprised to be at the very top of the board. Scoring 92 on the written exam, 3rd in the obstacle course for the recommended entrance exam, and first in the quirk test.
The entire class turns to her for a moment causing her to blush even more. Todoroki is in third, with Bakugo between them.
And Bakguo's face splits into a devious grin, suppressing his rowdy victorious laugh as he sees Izuku down at number nineteen.
"As you can see," Aizawa says, "at UA, competition is one of our primary motivators. Every exam, every test, every mid-term and finals, you will be ranked like this and everyone will see your scores. You aren't just trying to surpass yourself from yesterday, but all the people here sitting beside you."
The entire room perks up at his words, suddenly feeling more and more pressure trying to crush them, the expectations of a UA student.
For some like Iida and Bakugo, it made them stronger, made them want to fight harder and surpass their limits.
For Yaoyorozu and Izuku, it made them feel to curl up into a ball and hide away.
But everyone felt something at this realization finally setting in.
"This year alone seventeen thousand people were competing for these spots. In this room alone we've got two recommended students," most of the class glances back at Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, "and seventeen public entrance exam students, if you slack off it's over..."
As Aizawa continues, most of the class does the simple math and can't quite get it out of their heads '17+2=19, not 20.'
They look past Aizawa and to the board behind him, eyes dropping to the very bottom of the list.
'Horizon
Entrance Exam Score:---
Written Exam Score:---
Quirk Apprehension Test:---'
Iida can't help it and raises his hand, unable to fight his desire to stand and confront this.
Eraser grumbles and glances over to him, "if you want to know just ask Horizon when he gets here," he says before going back to his terrifying speech.
Iida sits back in his seat impatiently.
Hearing that name and seeing it on the board confirms what All Might told him earlier, and Izuku begins sweating nervously, looking down at his hand. 'If he touches me he could notice how unusual One For All is, and connect me with All Might...no, with Toshinori Yagi, since he doesn't know he's All Might, I need to be careful,' he clenches his fist and nearly screams in pain, forgetting about his injured finger.
"Alright, now I'll give a short breakdown of the syllabus, in the hero course each homeroom teacher has complete control over their class, so---"
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
The massive door at the front of the room slides open.
All eyes are glued to Horizon and Nezu, stepping into the room with the metal case for his hero costume hanging in his right hand, and a notebook and pencil case in his left.
Towering over most of the class and taller than Shoji by just 5cm -2 inches-, making him look like a giant before some of his peers. The UA uniform didn't do much to stop the intimidating presence he gave off, silently turning his head, the black visor glancing about the room, completely unreadable.
But this presence caused everyone to get confused when they looked up to see Nezu sitting on his shoulder, happily smiling down at them.
'So cute!' most of the girls thought, while some people were just confused about the entire situation.
"Hello everyone!" Nezu excitedly waves at the students. "It's your favorite Mouse-Bear, impossibly adorable, and most importantly, your principal! Nezu!" he sees confused and amazed looks at his introduction. He taps the top of Horizon's visor a few times, "and this is your classmate, Horizon, sorry he's a bit late. He actually got to school early but I called him into my office to deal with some matters, and we decided to watch your Quirk test from there, excellent work everyone! I can tell we've got a batch of future heroes right here."
"You're really the principal?" Uraraka blurts out, "you're so cute!"
Aizawa groans which they all ignore, and Horizon just quietly listens, currently acting as a statue for Nezu to sit on.
"Of course I'm your principal Ms. Uraraka," he waves to her. "It was decided by who had the best hair, and naturally no human could ever match the luscious shine of my coat, so I've been the principal of UA for nearly fifty years."
All but a few people freeze at that, since Nezu isn't in the spotlight like most heroes young children will rarely know about him unless they have to.
"He's messing with you infinity girl," Horizon says, his slightly mechanical voice sending a chill down her spine. "He's a mouse that developed a Quirk, High Spec, gives him a brain better than a dozen supercomputers, 'intellect beyond human comprehension' is the official description, he also pays for all the robots that tried to kill you in the entrance exam...most important person in UA."
"And he's so cute!" Mina can't help but yell out. Earning a small chorus of agreement.
Aizawa grumbles loudly, "Nezu, here for one minute and already turned my class into a damn circus," he points at Horizon while everyone stares. "And you, don't get too comfortable because Principal Nezu is playing favorites, I expect you to work hard just like everyone else here, prove you deserve your spot."
"But I'm not playing favorites..." Nezu weakly defends, earning a doubtful glance from everyone in the room.
"Whatever, let's go, Vlad is waiting," Aizawa steps closer and Nezu hops down from Horizon's shoulder and onto his, getting comfortable in his scarf. He turns to the class, suddenly looking a lot less intimidating with Nezu on him, and speaks in a gruff voice. "I'll be back in a few minutes to explain the syllabus, don't get rowdy..."
"Good luck students, I'm expecting great things from all of you!" Nezu excitedly waves as the door closes, now leaving Horizon standing in front of the class.
ROOM
He immediately turns to look at Toru Hagakure, the formerly invisible girl, now he sees an adorable and slim girl with short white-green hair and eyes excitedly bouncing in her seat, mouthing the words to a song as she looks around the room.
'Guess it isn't a mutation, I should tell Nezu sometime...' he turns without saying a word and walks to the end of the room, directly opposite the front door.
"May I ask a question, Horizon!"
He stops and sighs, turning to see Iida standing stiffly, eyes completely focused on him.
"Well, I can't stop you."
"My name is Tenya Iida, it's a pleasure to meet you," Iida nods, and below his visor Horizon rolls his eyes.
"Get to the point Engine."
"Right, I'd like to know why you don't have any scores on the board," Iida points to the board behind Horizon, and he glances back for a moment to see.
"Oh, that. Question, why do those exams exist?" He asks nobody in particular.
"To test who is worthy of entering UA academy of course," Iida answers immediately.
"Exactly," Horizon places his one book and pencil case down on Aizawa's desk and continues walking to the far wall. "So why waste time and energy on someone who you know will always get a perfect score, and is incapable of losing to anyone else at the exam?"
"What are you saying?!" Iida asks, much of the class immediately got heated at Horizon's attitude and insinuation, Bakugo could almost feel his hands sweating as his veins bulged and eyes narrowed.
Horizon taps the wall, the closest of the four marked rectangles almost reaching from floor to ceiling to the front wall, and out comes a shelf with five similar metal cases.
He places his repainted case in the spot where number '19' would go while he answers, " I'm saying it's impossible for me not to get a perfect score, or to get beaten by any of you," he pushes the shelf back into the wall and moves to get his things from Aizawa's desk. Now turning to face the class, "so while all of you were fighting your little hearts out to get these precious spots...I took a day for myself and went surfing," he chuckles at their angry and horrified expressions.
Angry that he'd get such special treatment, and act like this toward them, but some were rightly horrified at a simple thought.
'If he didn't need the exams, just what kind of a monster is it?', mainly Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida, Izuku, and Yaoyorozu immediately thought of this, but over the next few seconds the thought entered everyone's mind, causing his already intimidating presence to appear downright monstrous.
And in their moment of horror and awe, that monster turned his attention to the most nervous, and sweaty person in the room, judging by how he was shaking and already had a layer of cold sweat on him. Izuku Midoriya.
Leaning back against Aizawa's desk Horizon keeps his arms at his side, palms down on the desk, and looks directly at Izuku.
"So, cripple boy, Izuku Midoriya, why the fuck are you still here?"
END CHAPTER---
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Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"So, cripple boy, Izuku Midoriya, why the fuck are you still here?" Horizon asks, earning shocked and angry looks from most of the class.
"U-uh, well," Izuku's voice is barely audible. "Mr. Aizawa said that he still needs to explain the syl---"
"At UA," Horizon explains. "Why are you still here at UA and not expelled, like you should be, well?"
Bakugo smiles so hard at those words, leaning forward and almost growling out, "yeah, answer the question Deku!"
"Hey stop!" Uraraka stands up and yells, "you can't just go around bullying people like th---"
"Heroes need to be able to stand up for themselves," Horizon says bluntly. "Let him talk, and honestly, you're in the same boat. How the fuck do you get your foot stuck under a rock and need saving, when your Quirk is literally to make things weightless, well?"
Uraraka freezes, and Horizon tilts his head, as if asking her to respond. "W-well my Quirk has a limit that---"
"Excuses that I'm sure the people you fail to save will appreciate at their funerals, right?" he asks, and Uraraka feels sick to her stomach. "Still not at bad as him," her gestures to Izuku, now covered in a thin sheen of sweat. "You plan to answer the question?"
Uraraka silently takes her seat, head hanging in shame, and after a few moments, Izuku finally finds a voice.
"Mr Aizawa said he wasn't serious about expelling anyone," he says in a shaky voice.
Horizon chuckles, "right, the guy who is our homeroom teacher because he expelled all of what would have been class 2A on their first day...was kidding, really?"
The entire class breaks into murmurs at that, those at the lower end of the list realizing how close they were to really going home.
Iida stands up and points to Horizon, "why are you bullying our classmate, are you really so insistent on him going home?!"
"It's not bullying, it's a reality check," Horizon says, causing everyone to look at him all confused. "Deku -nice name by the way- breaks his body every time he uses his Quirk, contrary to what you morons think, Recovery Girl doesn't fully heal anything, she stimulates the cells of your body, essentially cutting your lifespan to accelerate the healing time, and it doesn't properly fix things like nerve damage."
Deku looks down at his hand, a mortified expression on his face. "Wh---"
"Meaning DEKU, only has about, three or four more chances before he becomes a fucking cripple, or he just dies, his pathetic level of Quirk mastery doesn't deserve to be here, he can't even save himself..." Horizon says, but his true thoughts were so much different.
Everyone in the room casts a wary look at Deku, all horrified at the damage he really takes to use his Quirk.
"But I...I want to be a hero too," Deku declares, still sounding so unsure of himself.
"Why?"
"Why?" Deku somehow looks confused by the question. "Because, I want to help people, like All Might!" he finally sounds confident.
Horizon groans loudly, "you put yourself and your family at risk because you're a hero-worshiping piece of trash, even when you can't control your Quirk...you're even more pathetic than I thought, and you're selfish too, disgusting."
"What, how is that selfish? I want to help people," Deku mumbles out.
Horizon just shakes his head, "look, either you quit now, or you're gonna end up a vegetable with shattered nerves, or dead, that's my professional opinion, and as the only person in the world who'd be able to heal you...I promise I rather watch you die than heal some self-sacrificing moron," he says coldly, then gestures to the door. "So...decide..."
Deku stares down at his desk, hands kneading together, feeling the bandage around his finger.
His mind flooded with countless horrifying thoughts.
'All Might said Horizon really is the best doctor, so if he won't heal me then I'm done, I'll be a cripple for the rest of my life, I'll probably never be able to get out of bed. But this is UA, my dream, I can be just like All Might, I can help people,' he looks down at his bandaged finger. 'But I'll destroy my body if I keep doing this, and I'm nowhere near ready to control One For All...' he mulls it over for a long moment before speaking.
Looking directly at Horizon he has a determined look on his face, even as tears are flowing down his face and onto his desk, "oh great, it's crying..." Horizon groans.
"Sacrificing yourself for others is what it means to be a true hero!" Deku declares proudly. "I'll break my body as many times as it takes, if I can at least save one person!"
Uraraka and a few others look at him in amazement, awestruck by his determination, while others look at him like a moron, and Bakugo is seething with rage that he didn't just quit.
"Well if that's your choice," Horizon picks up his single book and pencil case from Aizawa's desk and looks at Deku, "honestly I was hoping when you quit whoever replaces you would actually be able to give me some competition... because this roster is disappointing enough without you dragging it down," he sees everyone glare at him as he begins walking toward his seat.
"But now I guess I'll wait for you to cripple yourself or just die," he shrugs, stopping beside Deku and looking down at the crying boy, towering over him. "I just feel bad for your parents, they'll probably have to take care of a vegetable for the rest of their life, but hey, maybe they'll get lucky and your Quirk will kill you, then they can start over with a kid that isn't a complete disappointment," he says before casually taking his seat.
Most of the class looks disgusted by his words, and questions why someone like him is even here in the first place.
"Dude what the hell is your problem!" Kirishima stands up and yells across at Horizon, meanwhile Deku breaks down into sobs, Uraraka and Iida already moving toward his desk to talk to him.
"I had a very low bar when I entered UA," Horizon says, leaning back in his chair and taking out his phone. "I expected all of you to have at least a decent level of Quirk Mastery, sadly only what...three of you aren't worthless. And one of you morons doesn't even know what your Quirk actually does, not to mention cripple boy and Naval Laser who actively hurt themselves...the bar was low and you disappointments managed to limbo under it."
"That doesn't mean you get to be a bully, not manly at all dude!" Kirishima insists.
"I agree," Momo says from behind Horizon, as he starts playing a racing game on his phone. "If anyone should be expelled, it's you, that behavior was inexcusable, nobody deserves to be spoken to like that!"
"Well, it's a good thing I and most of the staff don't care about what any of you think huh, they view this as practice for you to stand up for yourself and handle criticism from the press, another thing Deku is failing at. So why don't you go fuck yourself Momo," he says while enjoying his mobile game.
Momo looks mortified at his statement but can't think of a proper response, so she just sits down and hangs her head in shame, 'I can't even stand up to a bully, how am I supposed to be a hero...' she berates herself.
Everyone silently agrees to pretend Horizon doesn't exist, burying any spike of anger caused by his attitude, leaving him to enjoy a few races on his mobile game, the audio connected directly to his visor allowing him to better ignore all their chatter.
A few minutes later the door slides open, and Aizawa immediately spots Iida and Uraraka standing at Deku's desk. "Get to your seats," he mutters, not paying the crying boy any mind.
"Sir, we have a serious situation here!" Iida says, causing Aizawa to stop and look at him. "Horizon just verbally abused Izuku, I believe his behavior is unheroic and should be reprimanded," he insists.
Aizawa gives him a slow blink and sighs, looking between Horizon who was still playing on his phone, and Deku who was trying to wipe his tears. "Did he hit him?"
"W-what?" Iida asks.
"Did. He. Hit. Him."
"Uh, no sir," Iida says.
"Then get to your seats and start taking notes, I'm not repeating myself, and I'd like to make this quick to take a nap..." Aizawa turns his back to the class and begins writing on the board.
Everyone looks mortified at his non-reaction, and Iida casts an angry glare at Horizon, who actually responds. Letting go of his phone for a moment to give Iida the middle finger, earning more grumbles from his classmates.
With a final pat on the shoulder Iida and Uraraka return to their seats, both still occasionally casting glares back at Horizon, Momo and Tokoyami felt disgusted by having to be desk neighbors with him, but he kept playing on his phone until Aizawa began talking.
Opening his book and placing a pen on it, but just leaning back and listening, not writing at all.
"Listen up," Aizawa says in a tired voice, he can feel the animosity between everyone and Horizon but ignores it. "You can call me Aizawa or Eraser Head, I don't really care which, at UA your homeroom teacher decides pretty much everything, we stay with you from day one until graduation, then we get a new class. As you all know the Hero course has a six-day school week, with Sundays off. Before lunch is the regular classes but after lunch is hero classes, the procedure to use the facilities are in the handbook, if you have any questions they should also be in there or you can log in to the school website and search for an answer, be sure to do both those things before asking me..."
Aizawa goes on for almost ten minutes, occasionally glancing over to Horizon, noticing his pen and book hadn't moved once. The boy spent the entire explanation staring out the window at the massive forest outside while all his classmates had their heads down diligently writing.
Eraser shakes his head, 'thinks he's too cool for UA...people like that never last,' he thinks to himself. Something he's seen many times before.
"And finally," Eraser says. "This is your homeroom, so unless you need to use other facilities for a lesson your teachers will be coming here to have classes. Keep it clean and tidy, or there will be consequences..." most of the class shudders nervously at that, now knowing that he really does expel students. "Alright, that's all," Eraser says and immediately begins walking toward the door. "Be sure to be ready for your first real day tomorrow..."
While everyone breaks into chatter, excited about finally getting into their dream school, packing their books away in their bags. Horizon places his book and pencil case in his desk and gets up, pushing in his chair and scrolling through a few recipes, deciding what to cook for dinner.
A few people notice something strange about him, finally spotting the odd logo on the back of his blazer. Some faces warp in disgust, others in jealousy, all because he somehow got away with defacing the uniform of their prestigious school.
But a few others were already annoyed, believing to better understand him.
Seeing him walk away with his phone in his hand, and his other hand in his pocket, no bookbag at all, only coming with a single notebook in fact.
Almost everyone rolled their eyes, 'I thought UA wouldn't have those cliche bad boy types,' they thought.
But everyone could agree, even Bakugo, they did not like Horizon, either for how he spoke to their classmates, or how he blatantly looked down on them...
END CHAPTER---
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
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