Chapter 18: Quirky Test (Patreon)

Edit: 09-03-2024: Added back the last placer being transferred to Aizawa's dialogue.

[]

[]

[]

“16 minutes and 25 seconds.” A click of a button echoed through the open area. Aizawa then glared at the students who arrived and stiffened the moment his words came out of his lips. “That isn’t just rational enough. For each second you spend not being at the scene of a crime, is a second a possible accident or death could occur.”

“He ain’t wrong tho.” Izuku muttered as he got up from his spot, leaving an impression of his body amongst the flattened grass. He then sauntered up to the rest of his classmates who were all silent as they regarded their homeroom teacher with nervous gazes.

“Anyway, as for why I’ve called you here.” Aizawa pocketed his stopwatch and grabbed a clipboard with a pen inserted within its pen holder. “We will be conducting a Quirk Apprehension Test to better determine the limits of what your Quirk can do.”

“Uh, sir!” Ochako raised her hand and without even being prompted by their teacher, went off on her question. “What about the orientation?”

“As hero students, you have a limited amount of time to be trained by us pros before you all are put on the spot in the field.” Aizawa scowled and grabbed a ball from his other pocket. “We don’t have time for frilly niceties in the hero course, as such, I have deemed it important enough to get this test finished and done by the time homeroom is finished.”

“But aren’t you just a teacher? What about the principal?” The brunette continued. Good, a mind like that and she could no doubt be ready for the real thing in a year or two.

“Principal Nezu has given us teachers free reign on what to do with hour assigned classes, a sort of flexible learning practice that gives both the students and teacher time to have their obligations in their personal or career lives.” Aizawa then threw the ball towards Izuku, who snatched it out of the air without even looking at it. “As for the test itself, do you all remember the physical tests your previous schools had you undergo?”

“You mean the push-ups, curl-ups thing?” Eijiro replied, foot tapping on the dusty ground at a rhythmic pace.

“Precisely. 100-meter dash, ball throw, side-steps, endurance running, all of which you have no doubt been told to do during PE class.” Aizawa hovered his eyes at Izuku, who was gripping at the ball like it was a fascinating object of worth. “Midoriya, as the top scorer for the entrance exam, you will be the first to demonstrate.”

“Oh, cool.” Izuku gave the black-themed teacher a thumbs up.

“Step into the circle and when you’re ready, throw the ball as hard as you can with your quirk.” Aizawa motioned to the well-drawn circle on the ground. Izuku, seeing no excuse to not do so, quickly made his way to the circle with a pep in his step.

Once inside, Izuku stared back at Aizawa, who gave him a nod, and the rest of his classmates, who were eagerly waiting for the result. Frowning, Izuku rolled his eyes back to the ball in his grasp and hummed.

‘Never did test my strength in Lordran. It was all just fighting.’ Izuku briefly wondered how strong he was. Back in Lordran, all fights felt like his life was on the line. Even against the lowest of hollows, he never let his guard down. Especially against the dogs.

Fuck the dogs.

Cracking his neck, Izuku shrugged and put mental thought in the back if his head for now. Letting instinct take over, Izuku moved into a pose, before using all of his strength to throw the ball in his hand into the never-ending sky.

It never went back down.

‘Huh… Guess that’s how strong I am…’ Izuku stared at the sky. Squinting further, he could see a tiny hole through a cloud the ball passed through. ‘Wait, if that’s how strong I am, then how strong is my gear to even compare to the kind of output I keep on using? Actually, how strong is my armor? It got a good beating from the likes of the Four Kings and Seath, and it didn’t even make a dent… Patches better be giving back my gear when I find his sorry ass.’

With a newfound respect for his gear, not like he didn’t have it before when he still used it, he turned back to face his baggy teacher and the rest of his classmates, only to see that all of them had their mouths hung wide open save for Aizawa.

He also noticed something in Aizawa’s hand. Turning it to let the screen face both him and his classmates, he saw a symbol that was likely his result in the ball throw.

“INFINITY!?” The class roared as they stared at the looping symbol.

“As you can see, this test is designed to see whether or not you can use your quirk where it benefits you the most.” Aizawa then glared at Izuku after he said his words. “Midoriya, never do that again. U.A. equipment is fairly expensive.”

Izuku just gave him a two fingered salute, wincing slightly as the five-fingered appendage used to throw the ball twitched subtly, and Aizawa was back to addressing the rest of the class.

“As this was a demonstration, we will begin with far more practical tests than a simple ball throw.” Aizawa then motioned to the track, or more specifically, the 100-meter dash track. “Remember, anything goes as long as you don’t sabotage another student.”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Eijiro cheered, arms turning into hardened versions of itself as he smashed it together. “Manly test got my blood pumping!”

“This is gonna be fun!” Mina cheered alongside her horn buddy, the grin never leaving her face, until the air around her felt suffocating.

“Fun, you say?” Aizawa’s voice threw ice down their spines. “So this is what you all want? Fun? If you think that after school every day you are all going to be hanging out in your local WcDonalds for fun, you’ve got another thing coming.”

A grin full of malice slowly crept its way up to his face, his eyes glowing an eerie shade of red while his hair slowly defied gravity.

“Very well then, new rule. If I catch even a hint of slacking from one of you, I will instantly file a report claiming you are unfit to be in the hero course and shifted to the general course effective immediately. Additionally, the last placed student will be deemed as having a lack talent and will be filed for transfer to General Courses.”

If the horrified looks of his classmates were anything to go about, Izuku could guess they were apprehensive and anxious. Very much so.

“But… But that isn’t fair! It’s just the first day!” The same brunette that questioned Aizawa’s decision earned a snort from the black-themed teacher.

“Then what do you call a natural disaster if not unfair? Or how about power hungry villains that decided your right to live had ended because they said so?” Aizawa’s cold words caused Ochako to swallow her words and pucker her lips. “The world isn’t fair, and as heroes, it is our jobs to roll with the punches and correct that unfairness.”

Raising his hand, Aizawa grinned maliciously even more as he made a come-hither gesture. “This is what it means to be a hero. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be here, then show me. Go Plus Ultra.”

Aizawa’s speech turned the air around from ominous to that of heated desperation. A quick peek at his classmates and Izuku saw faces not one of resignation nor futility, but of determination.

Smirking, Izuku glanced at his teacher. Call him blunt or an ass, but he sure knew how to work with his students.

“Now then, when I call your name, head over to the track so we can begin.” Aizawa’s hair promptly fell down, now affected by gravity, and the red in his eyes vanished, replaced by his dark, lifeless ones. “Asui Tsuyu, Uraraka Ochako.”

And thus started the hellish first day any of them had never asked for.

[][][]

Izuku hopped in place while stretching his legs. He was kind of excited at the prospects of learning his limits. Never had he done these kinds of exercises back in Lordran. In fact, he never knew how his enemies matched to one another, what with him always fighting them and somehow, the other hollows being able to kill him if he got careless.

Might be their gear or whatnot, a very likely possibility seeing that even the cracked weapons those rotting hollows used didn’t suffer even a single scratch when bouncing against Havel’s Set of armor.

Weird, but who was he to question what the weapons did and did not do.

Point of the matter is that Izuku didn’t get a grasp of how strong he was compared to the rest, or how the rest matched up to the legends in Lordran. For all he knew, if a lowly being like himself could one day topple gods, then even those that were rotting in the streets could do it too, provided they had enough souls within.

Glancing to the person beside him, he caught his classmate staring right at him. His red, piercing eyes staring deep into his own green as a permanent scowl rose up on his face.

He didn’t say a word, other than staring at him, to which Izuku stared back. He remembered the ash blond, his tormentor for the better half of his 14 years of living like a coward.

He held no hate for his once friend. He was every bit of right in what he was trying to tell him through a series of unethical beatings and bullying. He might not like how he did so, but when a person walked in Lordran for as long as Izuku did, petty punches and scorching burns from mini explosions didn’t measure up to the truly harrowing experience of being sunk in a pit of lava.

So yes, Izuku didn’t hate, nor bear a grudge against Katsuki. He’s seen firsthand what happens to those unprepared. He’s lived through them all, experienced them through every part of his unnatural life.

He wouldn’t wish it upon his most hated of enemies.

Well, maybe except Patches. The bald man could live through a burning or two just to tone down his ego and backstabbing ways. Izuku still hadn’t repaid the man for causing his death in that turning bridge in the catacombs or kicking him off a cliff in the tomb of the giants.

‘Huh, now that’s a thought. Kick him off a skyscraper. Yeah, that could work.’ As Izuku mulled over his petty revenge against the bald annoyance, he heard Katsuki growl while still standing next to him.

“After this, we need to talk.” The blond then took his eyes off Izuku and prepared for the sprint. Slightly confused, Izuku gave Katsuki a shrug and did the same as well.

A loud bang later and the two were off, Katsuki propelling himself forward by using his quirk to create miniature explosions in his hands, effectively creating something like a jet propulsion pushing his body with the force generated.

“1.37 seconds!” Katsuki’s eyes bulged as he heard a robot still a long way ahead echo the result of the white-haired teen. Gritting his teeth, he roared and pushed his quirk to the limit.

Loud explosions carried the ash blond through track and netted him a promising result.

“3.42 seconds!” The robot’s voiced his result in monotone, surprising Katsuki with the time it took to get from point A to point B.

He didn’t expect himself to move that fast.

An ache in his arms later and he realized why. He pushed himself too hard.

Hissing, Katsuki’s arms trembled, but ignored them in favor for getting ready for the next test. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to pain. Every day since the day he got his quirk, he doggedly pursued his dream of being the best.

And the best needed to consistently do his best. Training, diet, exercise, studying, he didn’t slack on any one of them. It was why he was so pissed at Izuku before… the incident.

But no longer. He was a changed man. Countless visits to a therapist - someone who the old hag actually approved of because she went to him as well during her younger years - managed to simmer his scalding rage down into a cooling pot of anger.

He might not be as easily enraged as before, but he would still kick the ass of whoever would badmouth him. That, and also badmouth the bad mouther, before kicking his ass again and badmouthing him another time just to be clear.

Nobody gets to mess with the Bakugos and live to tell the tale without a limp in their steps.

Still though, he really needed to talk with Izuku right after the test. Set things right again, and hopefully, repair their broken bond. He was an ass, that much he admitted, but didn’t some villains get to have their redemption arcs because they wanted to change for the better?