บท 11: Ch. 11

Izuku took stock of everyone's suits when he reached the training ground. Some seemed to benefit the user. Bakugou's, for instance. Izuku could see the storage of nitroglycerin on his arms using Mind's Eye. It was a clever way to maximize the use of any sweat that would otherwise be useless.

Most seemed largely useless, though. Was Mineta wearing a diaper? How could that possibly help him in a fight?

Well it's not like Izuku had much room to talk. His hero suit was just that, a suit. The same one he wore to the entrance exams. Not that it was useless, the fiber was insulated, and practically impossible to tear.

Aoyama's looks like it helps with his naval beam. That was smart thinking. He supposed that those were just more of the obvious ones. Perhaps Mineta's diaper actually did help with something.

Izuku kept up his watch as people came out. Hagakure appeared as just a pair of gloves. He couldn't really find fault in that one, considering her quirk.

Iida looked like he put a lot of work into his costume. It was more like a full suit of armor than it was a costume, but Izuku figured that's what he wanted. He wouldn't deny that it would be plenty intimidating to the average villain.

What Izuku would deny would be that his eyes may have lingered just a touch longer than necessary on some of the girls. He definitely did not stare at Yaoyorozu when she walked out wearing what seemed to be the bear minimum. Really! He didn't!

Hormonal teenage thoughts aside, Izuku wondered why she chose such a revealing costume. She seemed like a smart enough person to realize that costumes should benefit the wearer.

Izuku didn't know what her quirk was, so he just assumed she knew what she was doing. Perhaps something to do with skin exposure?

"Midoriya, it seems you are wearing the same suit you wore to the entrance exam. Is this something you got custom made from outside the school?" Asked Iida curiously when he saw Izuku's costume.

"Actually, I made this myself." He answered, slightly embarrassed, but still with a bit of pride. He was able to hold his head high, knowing the quality of his suit.

"I see! That is quite the impressive feat. I wonder what effects come with it." Wondered Iida aloud. He closed the space between him and Izuku, and proceeded to thoroughly inspect the suit Izuku had on.

Izuku was slightly uncomfortable with the close proximity. His only solace was that Iida wasn't actually touching him. The only people he could comfortably let touch him were his mother and Kacchan. Because of that, he didn't know what to do in this situation. Naturally, he opted to just freeze.

"Hmmmm, it certainly doesn't look like anything I've seen. Not that I'm particularly well read in terms of fabric. Perhaps the fabric itself enhances your quirk." Said Iida, though it didn't seem like he was actually addressing Izuku. He broke away from Izuku, his eyes, obscured under a pair of glasses, still searching for something unusual.

The free space let Izuku breathe freely again. "Um, a-actually, it's nothing specific to me. Just general upgrades. Tear resistance, insulation, and most importantly, a perfect fit." Listed Izuku. It didn't sound all that impressive, but he really put some time into this suit, he was proud of the outcome.

"Not to mention how dashing I look in it." Izuku flamboyantly said in a burst of confidence.

He immediately regretted it.

The roaring laughter of Kacchan could be heard from just a few feet away. Izuku hung his head, face bright red. He didn't think he'd ever been so embarrassed before.

He peeked a glance towards Iida, hoping that in some stroke of fortune he hadn't heard what was said. Izuku was met by the sight of a stony faced Iida.

The well built boy's face was going red, and Izuku nearly panicked at the thought of accidentally offending a new friend. He was just trying to make a joke, so that he wouldn't come off as boring. His ramblings in obscure sciences have often resulted in such an outcome. It's the reason why Kacchan was his only friend. Izuku dreaded the thought of messing up so quickly at his new school.

This train of thought was derailed quickly.

"Pfffftttt" Came the sound from Iida. Izuku was, suffice it to say, shocked. However, it was soon overcome with a quiet sigh of relief. So Iida just wanted to be polite by not laughing at him. Izuku realized that his previous thought process was almost laughable when compared to the truth.

Izuku was so relieved he could almost ignore Kacchan, who was laughing so hard he was having trouble breathing. His laughter started to die down, and with it he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Izuku was soon able to get over his embarrassment, and chuckle a little at himself. This elicited laughter from Iida, a boisterous but somehow not over the top sound. They both soon found each other lightly laughing with the other.

Before they could continue with the conversation, the final person finished donning their costume, and All Might addressed the crowd.

"ALRIGHT STUDENTS. YOU LOOK LIKE GENUINE HEROES IN THE MAKING. REMEMBER, YOUR COSTUME IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR IDENTITY AS A HERO." Said All Might, giving the class his widest, shiniest grin, and striking an inspirational pose.

"TODAY, YOUR HERO TRAINING BEGINS. YOU WILL START WITH MOCK COMBAT BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR CLASSMATES." This caused a commotion within the class. Questions about the safety of it, why they weren't doing the basics, and how it would work.

"CALM DOWN CHILDREN. FIRST OF ALL, THESE ARE YOUR BASICS. ALSO, I'M CONFIDENT IN MY ABILITY TO ASSURE YOUR SAFETY. I'M NOT THE NUMBER ONE HERO FOR NO REASON AFTER ALL, HAHAHAHA!" Laughed All Might.

"NOW, AS FOR HOW IT WILL WORK." Started All Might as he brought out a stack of cards, quickly reading through them, muttering to himself all the while.

The students watched as the number one hero nervously looked through the set of notecards. It was a bit of a culture-shock for them. They saw All Might as this insurmountable force that couldn't be comprehended. However, now they could see that the man so idolized by the people was still human.

The more determined students in the class saw this as a reaffirmation of their drive. The place of number one hero wasn't held by some god that might be replaced, but never truly equaled. It gave them a sliver of hope, that maybe, just maybe, they could reach the level of All Might.

Izuku noticed some of these reactions. It made his admiration for All Might rise even higher, in a weird way. Even in showing that he isn't perfect, that he does have flaws, All Might is still inspiring the next generation to be the best. It was astounding, that by admitting incompetence in some way, others would sharpen their resolve.

Don't get him wrong, Izuku understood what they were feeling. After all, his resolve was to one day be an even greater hero than All Might. The proof that it could be done ignited feelings of passion.

"ALRIGHT, LET'S SEE HERE. EACH ONE OF YOU WILL DRAW NUMBERS, THIS WILL DETERMINE WHO YOUR PARTNER IS. YOU WILL THEN BE SPLIT UP INTO EITHER HERO OR VILLAIN GROUPS…"

He then went on to explain the combat part of the training. A paper mache nuclear weapon would be guarded by the villains. The heroes have to touch it for three seconds, or capture the villains in order to win.

Izuku looked at the slip of paper in his hand, he drew a four. That meant he was paired with whoever else drew a four. He looked around, forgetting who else had drawn a four. While looking around, he saw a hand wave him over.

It was Yaoyorozu, the girl who scored second in the quirk apprehension test. From what he knew about her, she got in on a recommendation, and her quirk involves creating things. Everything else was a mystery to him.

"Hi, I'm, um, Izuku Midoriya. It's nice to m-meet you." He said awkwardly. Izuku then realized a fatal mistake he had made in growing up. He had no idea how to talk to girls.

Well, he didn't know how to talk to people in general, but girls were even harder to grasp (could he say it like that, or is 'grasp' inappropriate?). He was unsure of what stance he should take as he would talk to the barely covered girl in front of him.

Putting his hands in his pockets wouldn't work, that would make him look introverted or something. That's exactly what he didn't want. Also, should he have shaken her hand? It was too late now anyway.

As Izuku was silently cursing his social ineptitude, Yaoyorozu was sizing him up as well. His build wasn't obvious through the layers of his suit, but he seemed fairly fit. A bit shorter than average. However, she also recognized that his quirk most likely didn't rely on physical strength. As far as she could tell, his quirk had some base in moving things with the mind, and it was extremely powerful.

Also, he was awkward. Why was he constantly shifting the position of his arms? It was pretty weird. However, she knew to hold off on making a definite judge of character just yet. She could do that later.

"Nice to meet you as well. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu." She said, finishing her mental examination of the so-called thousand-pointer.

They just stood there together and watched the others pick their numbers. When all the numbers were picked, they noticed something unusual. This class has 21 students, yet there were only 20 slips of paper to draw.

They both looked at Hitoshi Shinso, the only one to have not drawn a number. He looked confused as well, even if it wasn't that obvious. Just a slight furrow of his eyebrows.

All Might soon addressed the problem, "ALL RIGHT, SINCE I'M SURE SOME OF YOU HAVE NOTICED WE HAVE AN ODD NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN THIS CLASS, THE 21ST STUDENT, THAT IS, HITOSHI SHINSO, WILL BE JOINING AS A THIRD HERO ON ONE OF THE TEAMS. THIS PLACEMENT WILL BE BASED OFF RESULTS OF THE QUIRK APPREHENSION TEST, AND WILL ATTEMPT TO BALANCE OUT THE TEAMS."

"THAT BEING SAID, YOU WILL BE JOINING HAGAKURE AND OJIRO AS A VILLAIN TEAM." Both Hagakure and Ojiro nearly took offense to that, as it insinuated that they were weak. However, when they saw their opponents, they were only grateful for the extra person.

One of them was Shoji, an intimidating figure, with monstrous strength. What really made them wary was the other person on that team. Shoto Todoroki, who got in on recommendation, and with an impressive ice quirk. He was also in the top 5 of the quirk apprehension test

Swallowing any arguments they might have had against his joining, they instead welcomed Shinso with open arms. They were glad to have some backup, even if they didn't know what his quirk was.

Izuku was unsure how that battle would end. Even if it seemed to lean in favor of the hero team, with Shoji and todoroki, Shinso was an unknown variable. He didn't use his quirk at all during the quirk apprehension test. That meant that his quirk probably needed certain circumstances to trigger, or that it perhaps affected other living things around him.

Izuku looked toward the team he would be against. It was his best friend Kaachan, and Iida, who might be a friend. He wasn't really sure when it was okay to call someone your friend. He seemed friendly enough, though.

He looked over at Yaoyorozu, who was examining their competition. He figured that this was an area he could help with.

"Um… I'm good friends with Kacchan- er- Bakugou. His quirk makes it so that he basically sweats nitroglycerin. That's how he makes his explosions." Said Izuku, happy to end the somewhat awkward silence that was hanging between them. Or maybe he was the only one that thought the silence was uncomfortable? He wasn't sure.

"Oh really, that's pretty interesting. Sorry, but I don't really know much about either of them, apart from what's obvious. Like how Iida can't immediately go full speed, or how Bakugou's skin seems to be extremely tough in order to deal with his explosions." She sighed at their lack of knowledge of their enemies.

Izuku nodded along, also slightly regretful that he didn't know much about Iida.

Some others in the vicinity who had been eavesdropping wanted to scream. How were those things obvious!?

"Of course, I'm sure that with your quirk, this will be a breeze for us." she said after she finished lamenting. She was looking toward Izuku with a slightly expectant look on her face.

"Ah, well. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything, but I can prob-probably render both of them useless." Replied Izuku with a blush. He was anxious that she would think he was just bragging. He did sound a bit full of himself there. But it was true!

Kacchan was easy enough, just deconstruct the nitroglycerin in his sweat. Then simply holding him in place would work. Deconstructing the nitroglycerin was important because Kacchan could make some creative long-range attacks with his explosions. Leaving him with that part of his quirk was practically asking to be blindsided by a giant explosion to the face.

As far as he could tell, Iida's quirk was just those engines on his legs. If that was true, then he was a bad matchup against Izuku. Izuku could just lift him off the ground, and Iida would most likely be unable to do anything in retaliation.

Izuku was almost embarrassed by how easily he knew he could defeat the other team. As far as he could see, they really stood no chance against him. Though, he wouldn't put it past Kacchan to surprise him with something. That was just the kind of thing Kacchan did.

"I'd be more surprised if you couldn't. With the rumors about you being the 'thousand-pointer' and your scores during the quirk apprehension test, you can probably stand up to most pro-heroes." Said Yaoyorozu with confidence. She was absolutely sure that her assessment was correct.

Izuku quickly began to deny that, not confident enough to say that he could compare to some of his idols. Yaoyorozu repeatedly assured him that she was right. After that, they drifted into more normal conversation topics.

"So what was it like getting in with a recommendation? I don't really understand how it works." asked Izuku, curious about this new aspect of UA that he didn't even know about.

"Well, we still had to take tests, that were arguably harder than the ones everyone else took. They were better for me though, and had a smaller group competing for the places." She said with pride. She wanted to show off a little, considering the fact that her partner was already outshining the entire class.

"Cool, I guess that's something some people would rather do than just take the normal entrance exam. On that note, how do you even get a recommendation?" He asked curiously. After all, he didn't even know it existed before, and it surely wasn't common knowledge that he had just missed out on. He had studied UA pretty extensively, he doubted he would miss something like that.

"Oh, well, um, my family is actually pretty big and wealthy, and we have some connections to the current principal." Answered Yaoyorozu, slightly apprehensive. She didn't want him to think that she was haughty, or that she thought she was better than him.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome. For me, it's just my mom and I. No connections or anything, but I wouldn't ever ask for more." said Izuku with a happy, reminiscent smile on his face. His eyes seemed to look through everyone else, at a memory only known to him.

Yaoyorozu was relieved when he didn't react negatively to her being rich. It was something that some people had avoided her for in the past. She didn't want it to affect her interest in this school as well.

Glad that that was over, she was able to converse more freely with Izuku. They continued to talk to each other as the other groups faced off against each other.

While they were happily chatting with each other, another group was sneakily glancing at them from time to time.

"Alright, listen closely Engines." Said Katsuki seriously as he looked at his partner.

"Wha!- Engines!?" Yelled Iida incredulously, mouth hanging open. He seriously didn't even bother to remember his name!? Iida wanted to cry as he realized the personality of his partner. This would be a gruelling experience for him, wouldn't it?

"My name is Iida!" Shouted Iida.

"Yeah, whatever. More importantly, we need to address who our opponents are." Said Katsuki with a pained look on his face.

Iida nodded, "Yes, good point, even if I feel you should still remember my name. With Midoriya there, we will be hard-pressed to pull off a win. He has shown extraordinary ability thus far."

"'Hard-pressed' my ass! We basically don't stand a chance! He could probably destroy us with his eyes closed," admitted Katsuki, gritting his teeth. He was slightly unwilling to accept it, but he ultimately knew it was true.

"If we want to even stand a chance, we'll have to pull off something BIG! And I've got just the idea." A wicked light entered Katsuki's eyes as he said that. He was already calculating and imagining different scenarios.

Iida was slightly scared by the look in his partner's eyes. He seemed more like the villain than the hero he was supposed to be in this scenario.

By the time Iida knew the whole plan, his face had been drained of all blood. He looked at Katsuki as if he were a madman. Although, it certainly looked that way from the way he was cackling and the evil glint in his eye. The surrounding teams were backing away slowly from the fiery, and also possibly insane, boy.