Chapter 178: Give Me Something for the Pain and Let Me Fight by DarknoMaGi. (MHA)
Summary:
( Izuku may have been the luckiest man alive. He had a family. Friends who loved him. Teachers he trusted. The best Quirk in the world.
And even when it all came crushing down, his only regret was not having enough time to tell them how important they were to him. He wished for more.
Was he regretting that wish now? Yes.
Would he give up? No.
Would this be the last one? He wasn't betting on it.
Being stuck in a debilitating time loop tends to make things irritating. )
Chapter
Today he would take on U.A.'s exam. It was coming closer by the minute.
Izuku tried to ignore his sweaty forehead and shaky legs as he grabbed the handles of his bag tightly.
- Things have changed man! Just remember the past ten months! And- -
He stopped, his heart missing a beat as his eyes fluttered before focusing again.
He scanned his vicinity with a glance, taking in the crowd going for the entrance.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to distinguish dream from reality.
Fine on all fronts. As much as he could be, at least.
The U.A. Academy entrance exam.
His first big step towards becoming a Hero.
"And here we go again."
Ochaco grimaced, looking down and cursing her rotten luck.
Getting nauseous, stumbling and falling or twisting an ankle typically aren't a matter to cry and curse the gods over. In her case though, with a zero-pointer about to flatten her into a pancake and experiencing all of the above at once, she had her rights to.
She looked up, trying to wrestle herself to reach down and float the debris away from her legs, when a sudden burst of light caught her attention.
A boy was running her way, enveloped by what looked like flashes of green lightning.
She recognized him as the greenette she'd stopped from falling right before entering the school. Better not to trip before an exam, with bad omens and all that...
"Yes, I'm a bit nervous too. Thank you for the save," he had said, bowing lightly and showing a hint of a smile. "I'll see you later." He hadn't looked nervous at all to her. It was more like some kind of... boredom? His smile seemed genuine, but his green eyes and dark eye bags screamed "I'd rather be anywhere else right now." And his gaze had lingered a moment longer on her as his head turned... Though that had made her feel flattered, instead of uncomfortable.
Now that same boy's look was rather determined, with his eyes focused on the enemy and the jaw clenched.
She barely heard him whisper to himself. "Just fifty. Come on, it's just an arm and a leg."
Ochaco saw the teen lowering himself, putting all of his weight onto the left leg, as the crackling energy condensed around the limb. A second later, the ground shattered, and he was twenty meters up in the air. Another second passed, and with a swing of his arm the giant construct was blown away, its mid portion reduced to scraps.
She only had a moment to marvel at the destruction he'd caused: he was now in freefall.
Seeing him plummet, Ochaco did the only sensible things that came to mind: reach, smack, remove gravity, save life. And all without throwing up- or not.
As Present Mic called the end of the exam, she laid down, trying to make her stomach settle.
"Hey, are you okay?"
She looked up to lock eyes with those green orbs of his. His expression showed worry, care, and... pain?
Ah, that could be easily explained by how he was standing on one leg, or by how the arm he'd used to break apart a zero-pointer was just dangling limply on his side, reduced to a mess.
"I- I am, but s-shouldn't I be asking you that?" she grumbled, keeping a hand to cover her mouth just in case.
"I'll be fine," he moved his sight to the side, "Recovery Girl is coming this way. She'll need to see that ankle of yours." As the old Youthful Heroine reached them, he muttered a couple more words. "I'll see you at school."
The boy disappeared as she was getting taken care of.
Pity, she hadn't even asked for his name.
"What dirty goddamn trick did you use to pass the exam, shitheel?!"
Katsuki had the greenette grabbed by his collar and pushed up to the wall. He was seething, speaking while keeping his eyes locked onto the other's mop of hair, as it hid Deku's face.
"I was supposed to be the first to enter U.A. from here! ME ALONE. You ripped my future glory to pieces and pissed all over it! I told you to go someplace else, fuckmunch!"
It then occurred to him that the miserable pebble wasn't covering in fear as he'd done a thousand times. He wasn't reacting at all.
- You dare ignore me, DEKU?! -
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fingers harder, getting even closer.
"Speak, shitheel! You got nothing to say?!"
"You're annoying, Bakugo."
The blonde stopped. He hadn't heard his own surname from him in... well, ever. But what had he just said?
"The FUCK did y-"
Two hands gripped his wrist and his forearm, locking him in place. That grip wasn't normal.
"God, can you stop screaming?"
Deku raised his head, locking eyes with him. Katsuki saw those green orbs looking through him with a mixture of boredom, pity and annoyance that made his stomach churn and his brain question: who the fuck is this and what has he done with Deku?
"You've had your fun, but you should know better now. You want to keep up the bullying at U.A.? Fat load of good that's going to do for a Hero career. I'm in, Bakugo, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
With a single movement, the boy made the blonde lose his grip on his shirt, making him stumble to the side. He then put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away.
Katsuki couldn't believe those words. Had he even stuttered once? He must have been bluffing. Deku never had a spine, and certainly couldn't grow one out of the blue.
"You think that just 'cause you're in that makes you all better, uh?! You'll always be a useless DEKU!"
Midoriya stopped, his shoulders tensing for a moment before he let out a sigh.
"Either stay away from me or grow up, Bakugo. I know you can."
Watching the other leave, Katsuki didn't know what to think. But he'd show that pathetic rat his place. He just had to wait.
A Quirk apprehension test wasn't what most high school's classes would start with, but most high school's classes weren't U.A.'s Heroics Department's 1-A.
And, of course, most classes didn't have Aizawa Shota as their homeroom teacher.
Bringing his new batch of kids onto the training grounds, Shota started his show, and the students' first trial, by passing a softball to the kid with the highest entrance exam score.
"Midoriya, how far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"
"58 meters," the boy responded, his expression unreadable.
"Try using your Quirk this time around." He then added one more command, one that he'd always given, but for once he wanted to look at the kid's reactions. "Don't hold back."
Midoriya stopped, the ball firm in his fingers.
110 Points. The kid had reached a high score that was just a step behind U.A.'s standing record, All Might's 111.
The kid had stomped onto the concrete, gathered some pebbles, and gone on a rampage. He kept hitting the smaller enemies from afar and smashing the bigger ones directly. He moved like a fury, fast and precise, gathering villain points at a nearly unmatched speed.
And, having witnessed the entire thing from the teacher's assessing room, Aizawa had a feeling that the boy had somewhat held back. For whatever reason, he had intentionally missed or let go of some robots, ignoring easy marks and moving around a certain area instead of moving to all the places his speed would have given him access to.
Then he had pulled that unreasonable stunt with the zero-pointer. Most of the teachers had approved, dishing out a whole 60 rescue points, and even he had to admit that the action had been admirable. Dumb, but admirable.
So, he really wanted to see what this kid's problem was.
"Respectfully, I can't do that, sir," the kid said, not shying away from his narrowing eyes.
"Why not? Do you think you can make it without working hard? If you refuse to give it your all, you'll never make it as a Hero."
The boy shook his head, keeping eye contact. "I'm aware of that, sir, and I'll do whatever I can to reach the top. But I'm also aware of my limits. If you're asking me to go at 100% only to become a cripple and a hindrance to my companions later, I'd rather refuse such an illogical order."
Aizawa analyzed the boy's face: he was serious, he would be refusing an order like that.
- He does know what he can and can't do, and he's realized what would happen when he consumes himself by exaggerating. At last, someone with some sense. -
"Fine," he conceded, "do as you wish. But let's make this interesting. New rule: the student who ranks last in total points will be judged 'hopeless' and instantly expelled. You think you can avoid that?"
Most of the class responded with panic and muttering. Not Midoriya. For the first time since the teacher had seen him, the boy showed a hint of a smile. No, a grin.
"Don't worry, professor. I'll be the furthest thing from it."
He then proceeded to decuple his previous middle school score.
Aizawa would wonder later, and time and time again, why the kid's eyes looked as his own did in the mirror each morning.
To any and all outside viewers, the Quirk assessment test would define a clear line between those who either had a very powerful Quirk or were on their way of mastering theirs, and those who had a weaker one or hadn't worked on it.
As an example, we could use students like Mineta Minoru, Hagakure Toru, Jiro Kyoka, and Kaminari Denki, whose Quirk would be very useful in very specific situations, but didn't make them in any way "superhuman." They managed as well as students could, or had at most one good trial overall, which didn't scream "I'm now an incredible hero!"
Just above them you could find people like Sero Hanta, Aoyama Yuga, Asui Tsuyu, Sato Rikido, and Koda Koji, whose mutations or powers gave a little bit of an edge over typical baseline humans and Quirkless standards. A good start, but they had a lot to catch up on.
Then, there was the upper half, meaning those who had trained or possessed remarkable Quirks: Uraraka Ochaco, Ashido Mina, Kirishima Eijiro, Ojiro Mashirao, Shoji Mezo and Tokoyami Fumikage. They all showed impressive talents and that they had in no way shied away from training themselves. The resulting success was obvious.
But even then, it was clear who was a span above the rest.
Ida Tenya. With his speed and endurance, he was unmatchable in the 50-meters dash, and placed very well in everything regarding speed. The Ida family didn't joke around.
Bakugo Katsuki. His explosive bursts gave him an edge that, despite not making him unreachable, when combined with his training-honed strength made him an A-lister.
Todoroki Shoto. Despite wielding only half of his Quirk, its power was enough to utterly outclass the competition. Add what his father had put him through, and you got a monster.
Yet, the real fight for the top spots didn't include those three, albeit only by a little.
The two Aizawa had to keep his sight on the whole time were Yaoyorozu Momo and Midoriya Izuku.
Befitting her recommended freshman status, Yaoyorozu was able to find the best way to utilize her Quirk in response to the offered challenge. "Cheating" her way throughout all of the trials, she avoided having to deal with the tasks with her own body, which wasn't as physically strong as the boy's.
50-meters dash? Skates and a bit of a push. Softball pitch? Throw with a cannon. Endurance running? Ride a bicycle. Grip strength test? A vice could break the measuring tool.
The girl was clever, there was no getting around that. She would have surely gotten the first place with little to no effort... if it wasn't for the boy.
Izuku Midoriya was holding himself back. Yet, he wasn't only keeping up. He was winning.
50-meters dash? A lightning-fast burst to rival Ida's. Softball pitch? Half a kilometer without even stretching. Endurance running? He could have run a marathon without sweating. Grip strength test? Aizawa could have sworn he smiled at Yaoyorozu when the second tool broke, despite a flinch from the hint of pain on his fingers.
What was surprising about Midoriya wasn't his power, or how he used it. He was good at it, certain of his limits. No, what amazed the black-haired mess of a teacher was how precise the boy was in executing each and every one of the tests. His technique was more than simply remarkable.
Throwing a ball with all your strength was a thing, but to do so in the optimal position and the best movement, using your whole body instead of just your arm? That required experience. And boy, did he seem to have some. He'd probably be able to place high enough in national competitions to enter the Olympics.
How many times had he repeated those before? How was he this good in eight different disciplines? Was he capable of even more?
The trials proceeded, and the two were evenly matched all the way through the end, always just one or two points ahead or behind the other.
By the end of the seated toe-touch, where the two's nimbleness was only barely matched by Ashido's, Aizawa revealed his "logical ruse" and the overall ranking.
A certain 4th place wasn't that thrilled about the 1st one, but Eraserhead wasn't about to let an explosive confrontation happen between students.
Especially because his sixth sense was telling him that the green-haired boy wouldn't be too kind when attacked out of the blue. He could recognize a beast on edge.
Izuku moved his fingers around a bit. Even after all of his words to Aizawa, he had still exaggerated during the grip strength test. A little more than a month wasn't nearly enough to get a good grip back on his powers. At least it didn't hurt that much, so he'd be fine in an hour or two.
- Eh, whatever, it worked. Let's see, where do I start? -
"Hey! You were amazing back there!"
Ochaco was approaching as they moved back to class, ready to introduce herself.
"Thanks, O- Uraraka." He cut himself off. He was screwing up already. Why was it always so difficult?
"Oh!" She sounded surprised. "How did you-?"
"I paid attention when Aizawa called us during the test," he gave a reasonable explanation.
"Ah, that makes sense. And, if I'm not mistaken... Midoriya... Deku!"
"Bzzzz," he crossed his arms in an X sign, still smiling. "It's Izuku. Pleasure."
"Oh, sorry, I thought I heard that Bakugo kid scream that and-"
"You're not wrong, don't worry," he reassured her. "But that's a nickname he's used to demean me for a long while, and he stuck with it. I'd rather avoid that now."
He smiled as she apologized again, clearly taken aback by the revelation, only to immediately move on to how the nickname had a positive connotation for her. As if she needed more help to be even more adorable.
- You're always too kind, 'Chaco. -
"Hey, Midoriya!" A call from behind made him look back, to see Eijiro showing that shark smile of his. "I must say, that show you put on back there was really manly! Can't believe you kept up with that much!"
"Thanks, Kirishima, I've trained a lot," he nodded, getting it right this time. "You did pretty well yourself."
"Aaah, don't make me blush!" he continued to grin. "9th place is fine, but I've got a long way to go! Talk to you later!" He then turned to intercept Bakugo, who was stepping heavily, hands in his pockets. At least that would never change much.
Izuku moved his sight elsewhere, then smiled and moved forward as they entered the class. Some groups were already forming, and he had his work cut out for him.
"Yaoyorozu, nice work out there. It's been a while since someone kept me on my toes like that."
Not entirely true, not entirely false. Who knew how "a while" worked in his case? Had it been seven or eight months this time? - Ah, who cares. -
She turned to face him and, despite a moment of surprise, returned the smile. "Thank you, Midoriya. I'll say, it's been a fun challenge."
"Likewise. I can't wait to see what else you're going to come up with next time. Keep being this clever and I may start being in trouble."
His grin grew a bit as her surprise showed more on her expression. As smart as she was, Momo was barely above his original level of endurance in regards to teasing. She always needed a bit of a push in regards to self-confidence.
"I-I'll be sure to put up a fight then," she answered, trying to sound steady.
"Great." He then turned to the girls' smaller companion to the side. Speaking of needing self-confidence... "Oh, Jiro, you were incredible in that strength test! I didn't think you'd do that much, but you almost got fifth place! Those earlobes of yours must be tough as hell."
Another strange, confused look. Her jacks moved, the tips touching the way they did when she was thinking or fiddling. "T-Thanks, but it wasn't anything special," she waved at him as if to swat away his praise, "I was close to last."
"Just because your Quirk isn't suited for menial tests like those, it doesn't mean you did poorly. Everybody was well above what a typical freshman should be able to do, so I wouldn't worry that much."
- And Shota would have totally expelled our asses if he thought we had no potential, last place or not. - But that had never happened. Almost never.
"Hey, I wasn't worried!" she spoke fast, as if the thought would make her lose credibility.
"As you shouldn't, you were all amazing," he smiled, "but if you ever need a couple of extra pointers, just ask. You may be surprised by how much greater those jacks could be."
He turned to the whole class, raising his voice a bit. "That goes for everybody! If you want to exchange ideas, study together, or even spar, just ask! I know how to help you improve your Quirks and I've got time to spare!"
Some looked at him like he was crazy, making such claims after they'd know each other for barely half a day. Some looked with interest, the one that grows in those who strive to accomplish more, but have no idea where to start. Some did both, as even a madman could be entertaining for a while, and a gamble could yield something good every now and then. Only one grumbled and slammed the door, his angry steps recognizable all the way out.
- Aaah, these people need a therapist. -
"But look who's talking," a voice in the back of his head said. He just mentally sighed. It was too early for reprimands.
He scratched the number marked under his sleeve to calm down.
As he left the building, hopping between groups to chat with as many classmates as possible, Izuku crossed his fingers.
Maybe this one would be the one.
Maybe.
He wasn't betting on it.
Notes:
Next chapters 2-10 have been skipped and uploaded at the end after chapter 65
I've been reading a lot of MHA fics lately, and somehow this happened.
I will probably work on it when I have time, but the 2nd chapter is ready.
I'll be skipping and cutting a lot, since I don't want it to be a page by page retelling. But I will add a lot of stuff, since this is first of all a canon divergence.
The pairings are undecided as of yet because I can't settle for one. Probably Izuku won't either.
Things get worse before they get better. And better before they get worse. It's a mess. Izuku is doing what he can. Which means everything and nothing.
Outside of MHA fandom, but this work was inspired by:
"Life's a Joke, and I'm the Punchline" by RantingOverGlennFrey (Persona 5/Series)
"The Definition Of Insanity" by BkZa555 (Persona 3)
"Despair, For All of Eternity" by Xrangel (Danganronpa)
Edit 26/3/2023: To clarify the tags:
I added the tags (Romance, Polyamory, and Izuku/Toru) because I dislike finding fics that I wouldn't have read if the tags had been clearer. In the same way, I prefer to wait until the chapter were the tag gets relevant to use it, because I despise finding unfinished fics were ships are tagged, only to discover that there is no actual content for it as in only "in planning."
The "Other Relationship Tags to be Added" has been there for a while, and it's not going away, so you can imagine I'm not done yet.
The Izuku/Toru tag doesn't mean that it's the only ship that I care about, only that it's the one that is currently active.
I would add the tags for other relationships I have in mind (and there are quite a few, even as Background Relationships), but the tag "Pairings undecided" should give you an idea why I'm not doing that. If I'm not certain that it's going to happen until its written in my docs, I won't add it.
The Izuku/Everyone tag is not a wrongly worded Izuku/Harem or Izuku/All the Girls, no. I'll be honest and I'll say that I do prefer seeing Izuku with girls (Insert JoCat's "I like girls here"), it's easier for me to write and I won't force myself, since I'm doing this for my own enjoyment first and foremost. There are some guys that I can see him with, and he will improve his relationships with everybody, but it doesn't mean that everything will be romantic or sexual in nature.
Not all girls will end up with Izuku, and the romance won't be solely focus on the greenette. There are other ships that I'd like to see happen, including F/F, M/M, and Multi.
And if things seem to appear out of the blue, that's also fine. Relationships are complicated and these characters are just 15-16. They are entitled to explore and make rash, impulsive decisions.
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