The Successor (My Hero Academia)

Chapter 8: The Quirk Apprehension Test



“Fine.”
 
Katsumi’s response is a grin so savage that it makes the hairs on Izuku’s arms stand on end. He quickly continues on, wanting to avoid her starting the fight right here and right now in front of the damn school, if possible.
 
“… But not now!”
 
Stiffening up, a mulish expression immediately begins forming on Katsumi’s face, her eyes blazing with anger and irritation. Still, Izuku doesn’t let it get to him. Put bluntly, he never had. Acting the part back in middle school of a Quirkless loser who got bullied by his classmates had all been part of his and All for One’s plan.
 
Being a ‘nobody’ who then went on to save lives and show that he had the real heart of a hero beating in his chest had been the whole idea from the get-go. While All Might came across as a boisterous, over the top man who wasted no time with the small things in life, the truth couldn’t be further from that reality. Izuku’s father had known that All Might would run an expansive and thorough background check on Izuku once he finally caught the Number One Pro Hero’s eye.
 
Izuku had spent his entire life preparing for that background check. He’d toiled for years to create a public persona and paper trail that wouldn’t ping any alarms or raise any red flags. But that didn’t mean he’d actually ever feared Katsumi or his other bullies. And he certainly wasn’t afraid of her NOW.
 
“If we’re not only late to class, but they find out it was because we were fighting, we’ll BOTH be kicked out of UA. I’m not going to let that happen… so we’ll meet in the park after school and settle this there, alright?”
 
Knowing precisely how much of a hot head Katsumi is, and really needing her to listen to him here, Izuku does not avoid bringing the same social quirks he used on Momo to bear. This time however, he’s not trying to smooth talk or infatuate the girl he’s speaking with, he’s merely trying to make her listen, trying to get her to see reason.
 
Luckily, Katsumi’s ire dies down after a moment, the raging inferno of her fury and anger becoming smoldering embers as she glares at him… but also backs off, yanking herself free of his grip and scoffing as she crosses her arms over her ample chest.
 
“… Whatever. The fucking park then, after school. You better not chicken out, Deku.”
 
Izuku tenses at that, but buries his anger for the moment. He’ll… he’ll put her in her place at the park. Maybe that’s what he’ll take, when he wins. He’ll order her to never call him Deku, ever again. Though that’s not necessarily one-for-one comparable to what Katsumi is asking for, is it? The explosive, ill-tempered girl wants him to leave UA entirely. Though she doesn’t know it, she wants him to not only give up on his dream but squander his entire life’s work.
 
… She wants him to turn his back on his father’s sacrifice. Izuku… Izuku refuses to do that. In fact, despite being a rather levelheaded mature young man, he can admit… Katsumi’s demands make him more than a little incensed. Though he’s not showing it to the same extent that she is, Izuku suspects he’s looking forward to their fight after school just as much as the explosive young woman.
 
For now, though, they both head inside, making their way to their classroom, which it would seem they’re going to be sharing. Class 1-A… needless to say, Katsumi is none too happy when she reaches the door first, only to glance back and see him following right behind her. Her eyes widen and her teeth grit as Izuku just gives her a single smile and a shrug of the shoulders. In the end… what can they do but put up with it?
 
Growling as if he’s personally offended her and all her ancestors, Katsumi storms into the classroom, Izuku following behind a moment later. They aren’t the last ones in by a long shot, but they also aren’t the first either, likely held back by their small altercation outside the school while a few others slipped in. That’s annoying, because Izuku had every intention of being one of the first to arrive. He wanted to make a good first impression, after all.
 
Not that their teacher is anywhere in sight. In hindsight, Izuku should have asked Nana to just tell him who his homeroom teacher was going to be. But maybe it was better this way, with it being a surprise. All she HAD told him was that he wasn’t going to believe his eyes when he saw them. Apparently, there’d been something of a faculty shakeup at UA this year, with Nana Shimura replacing Yagi Toshinori being only one of the changes.
 
As curious as Izuku was about his teacher, he was just as curious about his classmates. It was interesting, watching them all file into the classroom. Indeed, the number of Hero Course students who’s quirks altered their biology was higher than he had initially thought it would be. Of course, he’d done his homework here. He knew everyone who had passed the Entrance Exam, both Recommended and otherwise, and so he knew who might be in his class.
 
… Admittedly, he’d spent a bit more time researching the girls then the boys. He was a straight, hot-blooded young man in the prime of his life with a whole lot of power at his disposal. Yes, he had his goals, to become the new No. 1 Pro Hero and take the mantle from All Might so that he could effectively influence and change the world through popularity and being beloved by the masses… but he was also very interested in being personally loved as well.
 
There was also the fact that the girls of the class had the more interesting Quirks. And he totally wasn’t biased just because those Quirks were attached to nubile young women either, no sir.
 
Compare, if you would, Eijiro Kirishima and Ochaco Uraraka. The former was a young man with the Quirk of Hardening. It let him harden his skin to a highly durable level… but that was about it. Meanwhile, Ochaco’s Quirk, Zero Gravity, allowed her to nullify the effects of gravity on certain objects.
 
Admittedly, Izuku’s analytical mind, reinforced by his father’s teachings, could think up a dozen different unique ways to use both Quirks to their fullest potential. Especially if he could combine their effects with other Quirks, he had under his control… but that was neither here nor there! Ochaco’s Quirk was the cooler one, no questions asked!
 
Then you had comparisons like Mashirao Ojiro and Shouko Todoroki. One was a perfect combination of ice and fire Quirks, a real powerhouse when it came to exercising control over the battlefield and any would-be opponents. The other had a tail for a Quirk. Three guesses which was which and the first two didn’t count.
 
Even Katsumi’s Quirk stood head and shoulders above most of the guys in the class. And the other girls, like Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, Kyoka Jiro, and Toru Hagakure, were nothing to scoff about either, both in looks and in their Quirks. Of course, in Toru’s case, Izuku had absolutely no idea what the young woman looked like.
 
A floating school uniform, Toru was the Invisible Girl, and while the way the jacket clung to her body showed that she was certainly well-endowed for her age, none couldn’t really see anything else. Was it bad that that aroused Izuku more than he cared to admit? Perhaps with the right Quirks, he would be able to ‘see’ her, sort of like a sonar or radar pinging off of her invisible flesh. But that would almost certainly not go undetected, and the invasiveness of such an action might get him in trouble.
 
… Better to save it for later, even if he WAS incredibly curious. Heh, Toru Hagakure… he would definitely be keeping an eye on her going forward. Even if she was invisible.
 
And finally… there was Momo. Already in the classroom when Izuku and Katsumi arrived, the prim and proper heiress graces Izuku with a fond smile as he catches her eye. Having checked out the rest of the room for a bit and watched several more of their classmates wander in, Izuku finally decides to head over, noting that there’s still a seat available next to the one friend he’s made in the entire class.
 
Sitting down next to Momo, he gives her a smile as well and watches as she blushes a little and ducks her head. Still smiling, it seems that Momo nevertheless has a hard time actually meeting his eyes, a reminder that they hadn’t just become friends during the small break in the Recommendation Exam. They’d done more than that.
 
Or rather, Izuku had. He wondered how many times Momo had masturbated to the memory of his tongue on her slit. He hoped it was several, if he was being honest. Leaning over, he whispers to the blushing girl.
 
“You might want to think about something other than that day, Momo. You’re blushing up a storm. Maybe do some math in your head, or something?”
 
Stiffening up, Momo nevertheless gives him a thankful look, even taking his advice. Izuku knew she would appreciate it, that she wouldn’t want to be exposing her inappropriate feelings to the entire class this early. As far as he can tell, no one else noticed she was thinking about naughty things… not even the pervert who was already looking like he was going to be a problem child in the classroom, one Minoru Mineta.
 
Izuku was aware of Minoru and his unscrupulous actions. The boy wanted to be a hero but could barely go ten minutes without toeing the line and very nearly committing some sort of crime. Whatever UA might have been thinking, letting him into its Hero Program, he was already treading on thin ice with Izuku, thanks to Izuku’s research. Minoru might not know it, but if he stepped over the line, Izuku would do everything in his considerable power to have the other boy removed.
 
That might sound hypocritical, knowing that Izuku was also perving on the young women in their class, but the difference was, Izuku would never do anything without consent. Momo had appreciated his company and would appreciate his company in the future. Meanwhile, the others… well, he’d approach them in his own time, in their own unique ways. If they wanted anything to do with him, good. If they didn’t, that was fine too.
 
Minoru on the other hand, was already pissing off two of the less-human looking female classmates. Neither Mina Ashido nor Tsuyu Asui look at all impressed with Minoru’s perverted antics from what Izuku can see, and he’s pretty sure the short boy is about to receive a beatdown… when the back door of the classroom abruptly bursts open.
 
No, not just bursts open… it’s full on kicked off of its hinges, flying across the classroom over the heads of everyone and smashing into the back wall before sliding down. Luckily, no one gets hurt.
 
“Yo! Guess what kiddies, I’m your homeroom teacher!”
 
The entrance is so intense that there’s a cloud of dust and smoke kicked up, leaving some of them coughing and hacking before it finally clears and reveals the owner of the voice. Only, Izuku doesn’t need to see her to know who she is. He recognizes that voice, just like he would easily recognize the voices of every single Pro Hero in the Top Ten, by sheer virtue of always keeping up with all of their escapades and news interviews and what not.
 
As such, his mouth is agape even before everyone else’s, as Mirko the Rabbit Hero, grins a confident grin, standing there with her fists on her broad hips, her muscular and toned dark-skinned body perfectly framed within her white and blue leotard uniform. Everything about her screams power and strength… for all of half a moment more, before Mirko suddenly starts to sweat, her confidence disappearing in a second as she looks from the doorway she just came through, to the door she just kicked across the room.
 
“A-Aha… I uh… may have miscalculated the strength of UA’s doors. Hm, you don’t think they’ll mind, d-do you?”
 
And like that, while the mystique isn’t entirely broken, there’s no denying that it takes a heavy blow as the entire classroom sweat drops. Their new teacher is Mirko… who it seems is just as human and prone to making mistakes as the rest of them.
 
-x-X-x-
 
“Right! So, first things first, we’re handling the Quirk Apprehension Test. ‘Course, I’m sure most of you have already trained with your Quirks quite a bit. Sure, you weren’t allowed to use ‘em in middle school, but c’mon, you wouldn’t be here in this class if you weren’t skirting the rules and bending the guidelines to their breaking points, Bahahaha!”
 
After swiftly getting over her accidental vandalism, Mirko had introduced herself to the class properly, not that there was a single person in the room who didn’t know who she was. Somewhat stunned into silence, nobody had seemed to know what to say, so in the end the Rabbit Hero had corralled them all out of the classroom and down to the field for this, a Quirk Apprehension Test, apparently.
 
“Don’t take it too seriously! I just wanna get a good idea of where you’re all at and see what your strengths and weaknesses are. So, all those physical education things you weren’t allowed to use your Quirks on back in middle school, we’ll be using them now! Go all out, alright? It’s the school motto after all! Anyways, before we begin, any questions?”
 
A hand shoots up into the air and Mirko rolls her eyes good naturedly before pointing at him. A very stiff Tenya Ida steps forward, back ramrod straight and arms back at his sides as he swallows thickly.
 
“M-My question does not have to do with the Quirk Apprehension Test! I apologize, but my question is personal in nature. Why are you here at UA, ma’am? Weren’t you just named the Number Five Pro Hero by the Hero Association?”
 
There’s a heavily pregnant pause as everyone leans forward, anticipating Mirko’s answer and wanting to know just as badly as the bespectacled boy. Mirko’s smile, meanwhile, has become slightly frozen in place. Izuku is pretty sure he might be the only one who notices it, which is why he’s the only one unsurprised by her answer.
 
“None of your business! But hey, if it makes you feel better, you can think that I’m here because shaping the heroes of tomorrow is the most heroic thing that someone can do… or something! Hah!”
 
The way she spouts that out and then laughs at it makes it clear that that’s not it… but she’s also made it abundantly clear that she’s not about to tell all of them. With that out of the way, Class 1-A starts to get ready for the Quirk Apprehension Test… and Izuku knows he has a decision to make.
 
There are three options here, though only two of them really appeal to him. Going all out would… well, it might draw attention from the wrong people, or it might be impressive enough to get him extra private lessons or something. Meanwhile, middle of the pack would probably be safest, but was also boring.
 
And finally, the choice he really didn’t want to do, was to go as low as he could, to stay under the radar and not be impressive to anyone. But that wouldn’t really jive well with his Recommended Student story, would it? It was his least favorite option for a reason, he supposed…
 
Hm, decisions, decisions.


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