23Here it was, U.A., one of the most prominent and advanced high schools in Japan. Well, it was one of the best in the world. The school boasted a high success ratio and was one of the best places to nurture teens into adults to be ready to contribute to society.
Or at least it was advertised that way. The school was mostly meant to produce the best heroes for Japan, but it was also excellent for really any future a student wanted to pursue.
Though not much of that matters to Izuku, sure when he learned about heroes he wanted to be one, realistically though this school's greatness didn't fall under any of the categories that were advertised. Though he didn't want to think about any of that at the moment. He just had to focus on it being his first day, hopefully, things went well.
Izuku's POV
I walked through the U.A. entrance, hearing a bunch of students speaking and the feet tapping on the ground as I looked around. It was a normal-looking hallway, minus the humungous doors, I assumed it was in case someone was huge.
I made my way to my new classroom, one of which I hadn't expected to be in after researching the school, I was in class 1-A, which was meant for the Hero Course. I didn't mind my placement, I just didn't understand it.
Faintly from outside the door, I heard some commotion, more specifically I heard one person yelling. I guess someone immediately pissed somebody else off, poor soul. Well, I couldn't just stay out of my classroom, I'd much rather just enter, though I couldn't help but slightly curse myself when I realized how many people were there.
It looked like I was the last to arrive. As much as I love you mom, you screwed my plan to try to be inconspicuous. Though I can't fault you, it has been a long time since we saw each other. Considering I was with that man.
"Don't put your feet on the desk!" So the man who was yelling seemed to be the blue-haired guy in glasses.
"Huh?" The blonde boy, whom the glasses boy was yelling at, seemed to grin as he spoke. He seemed to either just not care at all or wanted to provoke the boy from his expression. I decided to assume the former for the moment.
If I just didn't stand out, I could go unnoticed. Closing the rather large door I scanned around the room to find an empty seat. I spotted one, just in front of a girl with short brown hair. I was relieved until I noticed something else.
A nameplate. And it just so happened to be behind the blonde boy who was currently talking about crushing the blue-haired boy.
My luck just wasn't on my side. Though I refused to give up, my only chance of avoiding the most amount of attention was to loop around and make it to my seat from behind. Hopefully, no one would acknowledge me, and even more hopefully, the blue-haired boy wouldn't acknowledge me. From the small conversation I could witness, I could tell he was the serious type. The kind who you'd assume was a student council president.
In other words, the one person who'd get angry at my later attendance, even though I happened to be a minute early.
I noticed a couple of people who eyed me, a girl with green hair a bit darker than mine, a blonde boy who somehow seemed to literally sparkle, and a girl with black hair in a spiked ponytail. Well, I didn't exactly expect to go unnoticed. It would be inane to expect as much.
Managing to loop around while attracting the least attention possible I was almost at my destination. My plan had seemingly worked, that was until I grabbed my seat.
"Oh sorry, did I block your path?" it was the boy with the glasses. His serious gaze now focused on me, and not the blonde boy.
"O-Oh... um... no you're fine. I just looped around," I sort of stuttered, I was kind of caught off guard, being so suddenly addressed. I soon noticed the blonde boy stare at me for a moment, before he just looked away uninterested. I could live with that reaction. I wasn't trying to stand out in the first place.
Fixing his glasses he addressed me again, "I see. Well, next time please refrain from doing so, if need be you may ask me to move out of your way instead of disturbing the rest of the students!"
Wasn't his and the other guys' outburst more of a disturbance? "Okay, will do," I decided to not voice my thoughts there. The last thing I wanted was for him to suddenly turn this into an argument. I just wanted to sit down.
After what I said the student began to leave, but as he turned in a perfect 90-degree angle, he turned back to face me. "Forgive me for my rudeness. My name is Tenya Iida,"
That caught me a bit off guard, I wasn't ready to just introduce myself. Introductions were important after all. It was one of the first times anyone would judge whether or not to be friendly with you. While I didn't want to stand out, I didn't want to be a loner.
Then again this wasn't like a class introduction. Contradictory that I was introducing myself in a classroom. I just had to give my name. "Izuku Midoriya,"
The boy seemed to want to say more but instead turned again, just then the door opened again, this time it was a haggard-looking man in a yellow sleeping bag. If I had to guess his age, it would be his early 30s.
"Oh, looks like everyone is here already, good. Okay, I'm gonna need you all to put these on," as he spoke he grabbed what looked to be a gym uniform with the letters UA on it. I guess that was one way to show the school's prominence. That or this school just really wanted to be different with its uniforms.
The man who I assumed was our teacher then scanned the room. His gaze served to discomfit me, which made my heart race. His eyes were cold and analytical. I felt like he was somehow looking deep into my very person.
Then our eyes met and he stared at me for a bit longer than I liked.
His name was Shota Aizawa, the pro known as Eraserhead.
Changing into our gym uniforms was quick, most students chose to stay silent whilst we were in the locker room. It took no more than 5 minutes for us to meet our teacher outside. He looked uninterested in us though. He was not what I expected when I thought about how my teacher would be.
"I see you've all arrived. Now then, it's time to begin your quirk apprehension test,"
Ah, a quirk apprehension test. That was interesting. Aizawa sensei didn't want to waste time in finding out what exactly we were capable of. Different from what I expected after seeing the way he acted before. Not that I particularly disliked it. I guessed we'd probably miss the entrance ceremony.
A brown-haired girl next to me seemed to voice what I was thinking about. Something that our homeroom teacher seemed to expect. "If you're training to be pro heroes then you don't have time for leisurely events. Remember that one of U.A.'s big selling points is how unrestricted its traditions are. This is also how the teachers run their classes,"
His statements were irrefutable, noticeably we tensed at this revelation. I was honestly starting to get used to his monotonous voice, his apathetic way of speaking was familiar.
"You kids have been doing stuff like this since junior high right? Physical fitness test where you weren't allowed to use your quirks,"
Was that really how it was done? I didn't know that, but the more I thought into it the more it made sense. In all honesty, people weren't supposed to use their quirks in public. It could have potential dangers, especially if you're talking about a bunch of overly-energetic kids. Plus even -generally speaking- quirks weren't exactly connected to a person's physical fitness. Mutant type quirks were of course an exception, but for instance, just because someone had a strength enhancement quirk didn't mean the person was particularly strong. Maybe the fitness test prohibited quirks in hope that kids would be forced to train their bodies anyway? It sounded logical enough.
Though our teacher thought differently, "The country still uses averages taken from results of students who aren't using their quirks. It's irrational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating," after explaining things he directed his gaze at the blonde boy who sat in front of me, "Bakugo, you finished first in the practical exam right?" The boy I now knew as Bakugo made a short audible noise after hearing his name, "What was the best result you got from the softball throw?"
"67 meters,"
Impressive.
"Then, try doing it with your quirk," Aizawa sensei said, throwing the ball to Bakugo.
Walking to the circle Bakugo looked at the ball with an intense glare. As if he was about to destroy the ball. Then he looked at the teacher as if waiting for permission. Aizawa sensei quickly responded in kind to his stare, "You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up and give it all you got,"
With that Bakugo spoke quietly enough to where I couldn't exactly hear what he said and began to stretch. He was planning to do something crazy with this ball, wasn't he? Soon after that thought came into my mind I thought about what kind of quirks everyone could have. Some were more obvious than others. Before I could think too deeply though Bakugo grabbed my attention, "DIE," he screamed as he threw the ball, an explosion coming from his palms as he threw it. A strong quirk.
705.2 meters, nothing less from someone who was number one on the practical exam huh?
What he screamed was a bit concerning though, "Die..?" Wasn't this supposed to be a hero-in-training?
As soon as the ball landed, Aizawa sensei spoke, basically reiterating what he claimed prior. What soon followed was the feverish cries of the other students, most people seeing this new kind of fitness test to be fun. Something that didn't sit well with our teacher, who soon after shut everyone up with a simple, "It looks fun, huh?"
His monotonous way of saying that didn't stop the sudden tension that grew, in fact, it may have increased that tension. The only thing everyone knew at this moment was that we wouldn't like what would follow. "You have three years to become a hero. Will this be your attitude the whole time?" The tension became so dense you could probably cut through it with a knife, Aizawa sensei then smiled, "All right. Whoever comes in last place after all eight tests will be judged as having no potential and will be expelled,"
"Huh!?" The class confused cry seemed to only make his smile wider. He was enjoying our agony, what a teacher.
"As I said earlier. The teachers are free to do what we want with our students. Welcome to U.A.'s Hero Course!" His monotone speech had begun to fade slightly as that smile grew. He had held his bangs up a bit to show us his eyes more clearly. They were wider than before, his smile big.
He was definitely enjoying this a bit too much.
Soon after though different expressions became apparent. Most notably, Bakugo seemed to grin at this revelatory announcement.
For my part, I was a bit worried. After all, I was nothing in comparison to the likes of these people. But my goal here would be to avoid last place. Though being in the bottom five would be troublesome, I hoped to aim between 10 and 14.
Aizawa sensei had moved on to give everyone a bit of a speech about Heroes, something that I listened to, though at the moment I didn't want to think too deeply. But one line did stick with me. "Japan is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations,"
In the back of my mind I couldn't help but think, where were they then? It may have only lasted a mere moment. But I didn't like the thought. I didn't wanna think about that stuff right now.
"Okay demonstration is over, let's get on with the test," Aizawa sensei said as he started walking toward the 50-meter dash. He got a couple of students to line up at a time.
After a bit, it was my turn. Troublesome as it was it would appear that Bakugo was gonna run this with me. Before the race began I started to stretch and side-eyed him, "Hey uh, Bakugo, do you know the average speed of the 50-meter dash?"
Bakugo turned his head toward me and glared, I immediately felt as though I may have offended him. "Hah!? Why would I need to know something so stupid? Just shut up and run behind me Greeny!"
Was that what he was gonna call me? I was sure he knew my name, considering that I introduced myself just behind him. Maybe he forgot? "Could you at least give me a number?"
His glare became more aggressive, his red eyes were like a raging fire. It was becoming increasingly obvious just how belligerent he was. Though I guess that should have been obvious all things considered. "You're annoying you damn Greeny!" He then looked forward as if ending the conversation. I sighed in defeat, there goes that. Or so I thought, until in a slightly calmer tone -not to mention quieter than his previous yelling- Bakugo begrudgingly gave me an answer, "Maybe about 7 or so seconds,"
At that I nodded, so 7 seconds was the goal then. I assumed that even with quirks being average would still get me to avoid expulsion. Not too long after that thought the robot at the end gave us the go. And as soon as that started Bakugo and I took off, but not even a second later Bakugo suddenly used his explosions to speed past finishing in an amazing 4.13 seconds, I finished in 7.02 seconds. Silently I thanked Bakugo for his incredible speed.
Though I guess my silent thanks came a bit too soon when the robot announced my time. As soon as he heard it he glared at me again. I began to shake slightly under an intense gaze. He gave Aizawa a run for his money with that.
"Is everything alright Bakugo? If so please get out of the way so we can get the next two. That goes for you as well Midoriya, " Aizawa sensei said. Bakugo's response was a loud tsk. He didn't hide his anger. But he did leave off to the side, I followed behind him.
Thank you Aizawa sensei.
Next came the grip strength test. I saw a few students struggle while others pulled off some crazy numbers, namely that guy with the six arms. 540kg was quite an insane amount. I had no hope of ever getting that high. I turned to my left, I could see that Bakugo was doing his grip strength test. But as soon as he eyed me he glared and turned around. So much for that. I instead looked toward a redheaded boy who wasn't too far away from me.
If I remembered correctly, Aizawa sensei called him Kirishima. "Hey Kirishima, do you know the average grip strength score?"
Immediately he looked at me and raised a brow. I guess asking such a question would be perplexing. But instead of yelling or glaring as Bakugo had, he scratched his head, "I'm not so sure, but I'm pretty sure it's around like 70 to 80 kilos? I can personally do around 138 kilos with my quirk," He looked excited as he showed me his grip strength test which showed the number 137.8kg. It was impressive. "What about you Midoriya? You look pretty strong,"
"Huh? Do I?" I looked at myself real quick. I honestly couldn't see what he was referring to.
"Yeah, man! You look so manly! You've got some toned biceps and forearms! How much do you exercise?" he looked more excited as he conversed with me.
"Oh uh, only a little honestly. I was just blessed with good genetics," I felt a bit awkward talking about myself. It wasn't something I was used to.
"Really? I didn't know genetics could work that way," he seemed a bit skeptical but he didn't press further. He was probably just being kind enough not to prod me for answers. Something I greatly appreciated.
With that, I grabbed the dynamometer and began to grip it tightly, I concentrated on the amount of force I used while I gripped the device until I heard a beep. Looking down it seemed I hit a pretty good strength, 74.3kg. Considering the dynamometer was digital I was satisfied with the score.
"Wow, 74 kilograms without using a quirk? That's impressive for a first-year high school student,"
"Eh?" I was so surprised that I let out an audible sound. Suddenly right next to me was a taller girl with a black spikey ponytail. She was one of the people who noticed me when I entered the classroom earlier. Her posture was slightly bent toward me as she eyed my result. Something that I immediately noticed. If it weren't for us being in our gym uniforms I doubt I would have been able to resist the urge to look her up in down.
To be honest I kind of wanted to anyway. Though I refrained, I didn't want her to misconstrue me as a pervert because of my natural hormones. I couldn't exactly ignore my libido completely. Though, unlike that Mineta guy, I could control it.
The girl seemed to notice my awkwardness as she quickly straightened her posture, giving me a warm and gentle smile. "Oh forgive me. I just so happened to overhear your conversation with that red-haired boy, Kirishima-san? And I had decided to correct him to give you a proper answer. But as soon as I showed up your grip strength results came in. Oh! Sorry I'm Momo Yaoyorozu,"
Ah, now it made sense. But damn, I really should have been more careful who I asked about this stuff. "Oh, thank you Yaoyorozu. Also sorry for my awkwardness, you caught me by surprise. I'm Izuku Midoriya. For future reference, could you tell me what the average grip strength is?"
She seemed to slightly brighten up a bit after my question. Maybe she liked helping people and answering questions? She seemed like a really intelligent person. "No problem Midoriya-san. The average grip strength for a male is around 40 to 50 kilograms," from her expression she was excited to answer me. She had a bright smile and her and her hands were just over her chin. Her obsidian eyes were sparkling... I think.
In other words, she looked extremely cute.
I didn't want the conversation to end so I had attempted to make use of this topic, "Thank you again Yaoyorozu. Out of curiosity what did you get as your score?"
"Huh?" At my question Yaoyorozu's eyes lost their sparkle, she was back to a more calm manner. Then she showed her forearm to me before suddenly it began to glow pinkish and soon enough a device was created. What kind of overpowered quirk was that!? She could just create things? "I created a good vice clamp and got a grip strength score of 907.1 kilograms. Though if you're asking my actual grip strength," as she gestured to my dynamometer, which I gave willingly. Soon after she gripped it, the result of 21.7kg came up. "There you have it,"
I nodded at that, but my focus was more on the vice clamp she created, it wasn't a small one. It was one of those really good vice clamps, maybe one of the best models out there. She had to have known a bit to create one like that. "Wow. That's an amazing quirk!"
At my compliment, she slightly blushed for a moment, before regaining her composure. "I appreciate the compliment Midoriya-san. Though forgive my rudeness, did you mean that? Your tone seems to speak otherwise if I'm honest,"
"My tone?"
She nodded, "Yeah, your voice never changes. Your monotone voice is hard to interpret. I'd argue you are far more monotone than Aizawa-sensei. I could even say for certain that every other student has had a range of reactions. Except for you really. Your face and voice never change. You're almost... robotic? Forgive me for being insensitive, but I'm curious as to why?"
I couldn't fault her assessment. After all, she was right. Although much to her disappointment I couldn't exactly give a reason as to why that was. I have just always been like this. "No offense taken, I completely understand what you mean. I'm sorry if I sounded ingenuine, but I do mean what I said. As for my, uh, apathetic behavior, I have just always been this way. Sorry," I was honestly sorry for how I acted. I couldn't change it really, but I at most hoped to not offend her.
As if she read my mind she again spoke, though not before having a rather animated reaction waving her arms, as if she was scared she hurt my feelings. "No no no! I didn't mean it like that! I wasn't offended or anything! I was just curious and hoped you were alright!"
That was nice of her.
After her little apologetic outburst, Yaoyorozu sighed in relief, "You're not used to socializing are you Midoriya-san?"
Was it that obvious? "Uh, no I'm quite bad at socializing, forgive me,"
She smiled at me. Was smiling really the right reaction there? "Oh no don't worry about it. I just mean, I can understand the struggle. I wasn't the most social person in junior high either,"
Ah, so she could relate to my poor social skills. I appreciated her attempt to console me. She was a good person.
Aizawa sensei interrupted us before we could continue our conversation, "Midoriya I need your results for the grip strength test." After getting the results we moved on to the next test. Which was the standing long jump.
The rest of the tests went kind of like the first two. I asked someone beforehand the average results of each test. I mostly asked Yaoyorozu, who seemed to know most of the answers. Though I didn't want to bother her every time I had a question. I just hoped the test results went well.
Aizawa sensei turned on the projector to show the results of the exam. I ended up getting 14th, something I was more than proud of that. I was just above the bottom five. The person in last place though -Minoru Mineta- was down on his knees wailing about how cruel the world was. "And I just got to see a bunch of hot babes too!"
Wait... That's what he was upset about?
Aizawa-sensei glared at Mineta, "I was lying about the expulsion but I'd be fine with going along with it,"
Ah, so it was a lie.
"Wait sensei! No! Please! I'm so sorry! I take it back! I wanna be a hero!" Mineta cried and pleaded, making an effort to crawl toward our teacher, who backed away from him whilst giving him a disgusted glare.
"Wait! You mean to tell us that the threat of expulsion was a lie?" asked Ashido. On a side note, Ashido had by far the most unique look out of all our classmates. Not to say she looked bad, she was actually quite attractive. She just had that extra alien look about her as well.
Somehow that felt rude to think.
Aizawa-sensei focused on us as soon as the question was asked, completely disregarding Mineta now. "Exactly. It was a necessary deception tactic to force you all to use your quirks to the fullest extent. So I could see your true potential,"
The class erupted with a "What?!" It seemed as though almost everyone had gotten tricked by Aizawa-sensei. Which was fair, he was quite the deception artist.
That was until Momo Yaoyorozu spoke up, "It was an obvious lie if you just thought it through." Everyone seemed to give her a look that said I didn't know!
Aizawa-sensei didn't waste much time after that, "With that, we're done here... That is what I would like to say. But there was a single problem child among you. And I'm not referring to Mineta," he sighed before he looked directly at me. His normally indifferent expression turned into a slight frown, "Midoriya. I noticed you unlike every other student held back,"
Interrupting Aizawa-sensei was the voice of a few students. They commented about how they never saw me use my quirk on any test. Then Bakugo had completely taken everyone's attention as he shouted.
"That damn Greeny isn't taking any of this seriously!"
Honestly, I probably should have expected this. I guess I was a bit careless.
Thankfully I didn't need to speak up, as a few of my classmates defended me from the evil Bakugo who was glaring daggers at me. People came up with a few excuses on my behalf. Maybe his quirk isn't physical? It's rude to assume that he isn't taking it seriously. What if he's just having an off day?
Though a couple of students, like Kirishima, asked Bakugo to explain himself. Something Bakugo quickly did as he made his way toward me, aggressively pointing his finger at my chest. "You asked me for the average result on the dash! When I told you to buzz off you continued to ask me! Then when I gave you a number you just so happened to get it! You think this is a game you damn extra!"
"Actually... Now that you mention it. He did the same thing with me during the grip strength test," Kirishima muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.
A couple of other students started to voice their opinions on the matter. Most of which started to become skeptical. Then suddenly Yaoyorozu spoke up.
My saving grace.
"Actually, it is rather weird. Now that I think of it Midoriya-san asked me that same thing on half the test. And each time he got around that number. One could have argued that maybe his quirk makes him extremely average, but that thought is immediately out when I think about the grip strength test. Kirishima-san was off by quite the margin and Midoriya-san somehow ended up around the middle of Kirishima-san's answer. Could you explain Midoriya-san?"
Maybe she wasn't my saving grace, "Huh, what a freaky coincidence."
Before anyone could say anything though, Aizawa-sensei spoke again, "Enough. Midoriya, this is serious. I get you don't have a quirk, but even so-"
"The damn extra is quirkless?!"
Aizawa-sensei glared at Bakugo, shutting him up. "But even so Midoriya, that only shows that you need to work twice as hard. Principal Nezu put you in the Hero Course for a reason, but do remember that I can and will expel you if I deem it necessary. I've expelled a whole class before, I'm not gonna spare one student,"
I couldn't tell if what he was saying was another deception technique or if he truly meant it. But I didn't want to test it. Expulsion was the one thing I needed to avoid.
Although I didn't react, Aizawa-sensei knew he made the message loud and clear, so he continued with what he wanted to say. Though as he spoke, Bakugo continued to glare at me. While others gave me subtle glances. But I guess that was expected, no one thought a quirkless kid would be in the Hero Course.
It seemed a good amount of people were worried about me. Which was unexpected.
Then there was one other stare that was different from the rest. It wasn't anger or worry. It was almost an empty stare. But I could just tell that the person who was eyeing me was studying me. He was looking at me curiously, but with some sorrow.
This was gonna be troublesome.
After the apprehension test, Aizawa told us that we were done for the day and all we had to do was go to the classroom to get our curriculum. So, of course, we went as a class.
It was awkward for me to say the least.
Everyone continued to stare at me. Except for Bakugo, he more so glared at me. He was definitely in a bad mood. "So Midoriya-san, did you hold back during the apprehension test?" Yaoyorozu asked, cutting through the silence as she walked next to me.
That honestly was not what I expected anyone to ask. It made sense, but I felt with the revelation of me being quirkless people would instead hone in on that. "No, I gave it my best,"
She gave me a skeptical look. I didn't expect her to believe me, but I hoped to avoid further conversation on the topic. Though that hope would be crushed anyway now wouldn't it?
"Then would you mind telling us how you got the around the score people gave you? Again I wouldn't be so skeptical if you were average in everything, but in the strength test, you scored far beyond the average,"
"As unbelievable as it sounds it really was just a coincidence..."
Unfortunately, Yaoyorozu didn't get the message, but a new person spoke up before she could speak, the green-haired girl with the frog-like quirk. "Then how do you explain asking people for the average during the test Midoriya-chan?"
"I was curious,"
"You're a pretty bad liar Midoriya," the reply came from the pink girl, a few people nodded in agreeance. I wondered then if I would get out of this situation at all. My classmates were persistent.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to refrain from lying to your classmates Midoriya-kun, lying is not the trait of a hero!" Iida also spoke up to reprimand me for my lying, though I wish he would reprimand everyone else for asking such invasive questions. Also, I would argue that if necessary a hero would lie. I wouldn't say that out loud though.
"Maybe we should leave it at that guys, it's probably something he doesn't want to talk about," said Kirishima. The one man who came to my rescue. My hero.
"C'mon Kirishima! We need to get to the bottom of this! What if it turns out he's got some like crazy abilities!" Ashido said excitedly. I guessed that her calling me a bad liar wasn't of ill intent then.
"I don't, I'm actually rather incompetent," I said immediately, shutting down her claim. I wasn't anything special, in fact, maybe the opposite was true. I don't have any special power like my peers. I just have what I can accomplish with the normal human limits. If I were to compare myself with my classmates, I'd probably be a pebble in with a bag of diamonds.
Or something like that.
"I really feel like we should leave the guy alone Mina, I mean it isn't manly to constantly ask questions he doesn't want to answer," Kirishima continued to fight on my behalf. Fight the good fight Kirishima!
"Aw man... yeah you're right. Sorry Midoriya, I was just excited," Ashido apologized while she scratched her cheek, her smile never fully faded, but it was going away. I never wanted her or anyone else to feel upset, with me being the cause. Direct or not.
"It's okay Ashido," I said. Though I could only wonder how much they thought I meant it.
Though I guess I wouldn't have to wonder for too long because Ashido's smile grew again. She gave me a happy nod before she started talking to her friend. Everyone else basically followed suit, the topic of me was gone at least for now. Though I could still feel a couple of stares lingering on me.
Eventually, people found new topics to talk about. Mostly about each other's quirks and how powerful they were. It didn't take long for me to fade into the background after that.
Or at least I assumed I did, "You hate attention don't you Midoriya-chan," it was the frog-girl again. I think her name was Tsuyu Asui.
"Uh. Yeah, I don't like it. What about you Asui?"
The frog girl put her finger to her chin as she thought. She looked toward the light fixtures ahead of us. Her innocent-looking posture would have most men foaming at the mouth. "I wouldn't say I care for it. Though I don't mind any good attention,"
I nodded, "Ah, I guess that makes sense. As a hero, you have to get used to attention anyway huh?" For the most part, a hero couldn't avoid attracting any attention while doing their duty as a hero. Even vigilantes got attention and they never talked to the media. It was just how it was.
The topic of heroes was something that remained foreign for the most part to me. The thought that a whole career was based on people's altruism seemed too good to be true. Though I guessed altruism as a concept didn't work here. If it was people being altruistic then heroes wouldn't need the pay. Though that was something I doubted I'd get an answer to. Since heroes wouldn't just suddenly lose their source of income. I still had to wonder, though, how many heroes would remain if they weren't getting paid? Furthermore were people like vigilantes more heroic considering the lack of pay for such a dangerous "job".
The question ate at me as we walked to the classroom. Our formerly empty desk now had a bundle of papers on them.
"Midoriya-chan you have a bad muttering habit don't you?" Asui asked as we entered the classroom. The question caught me off guard, I was unaware I was muttering, to begin with.
"Ah, maybe? I didn't know I muttered. What did I say?"
"I couldn't make out what you said. I just noticed you muttering after you didn't respond to my question," Asui said. She didn't seem to mind that I was unintentionally rude to her, or maybe she just understood that I was in deep thought and let it slide. Either way, I guess I should make up for it now.
"Sorry, what was your question?"
As soon as I asked Asui again put her finger to her chin, "I asked what made you wanna be a hero?"
Ah.
"Oh uh, I'm not so sure,"
At that, she cocked her head to the side. And noticeably a few pairs of eyes began to look in my direction. "Then why are you in the hero course?"
"I was placed here,"
At that Tsuyu Asui seemed to connect a few dots, her tongue shown a little, I wondered what exactly she could accomplish with that thing. "Are you saying you're a recommended student? So you didn't have to do the entrance exam?"
I guess that was obvious after a small amount of information huh? "Yeah, I was put here from official recommendation,"
At that, a few of my peers seemed more interested in me. All the eyes were making me feel awkward.
"I heard that this year UA had a record 5 students accepted on an official recommendation," Shoji said. His mask covered the bottom half of his face, but I could assume his reaction was one of approbation.
What he said sparked a new topic. About those who got here on official recommendation. Most people just seemed curious. While some were jealous. Bakugo for his part scoffed at me, as if not accepting me even more so because I didn't have to do the entrance exam. He would have to get over it though because I didn't control my acceptance and I had nothing to prove to him.
But I had to keep up my guard around him. He could be someone troublesome, whether it was just him acting derisive, aggressive, or if he suddenly started prying into stuff just because it bothered him.
"I also got here on an official recommendation," Yaoyorozu said, something that slightly interested me. It made sense, considering her quirk and just the way she acted, she seemed like someone who had connections, or just was held in high regard. An official recommendation wasn't uncommon for such an individual. She would be highly sought after.
"You too Yaoyorozu?!" Ashido shouted, her mouth hanging open a bit animating her surprise.
"I also got accepted here on an official recommendation," a rather cold voice said, from the corner of my eye I could see that it was the bi-colored-haired student who spoke. What an unsettling tone. Aizawa-sensei had addressed him as Todoroki earlier.
At this point, Ashido was in so much shock that it looked like she was about to explode. "Even the best-looking guy in our class is an officially recommended student! You three have to be like super-strong right?"
The boy seemed to lose interest in speaking further and he ended up leaving. As for Yaoyorozu she sheepishly denied it. She was being modest, I knew she was very strong. I had a suspicion that our fellow recommended classmate was also super strong. "I'm nothing special," I also denied Ashido's claim.
If I were to be completely honest I had no idea about my abilities.
"You're quirkless and you have nothing special about you? How the hell would you be accepted into this school then?!" Bakugo seemed suddenly interested as he yelled at me. He started to stomp over, but he was stopped by Kirishima.
"Calm down buddy!"
"Get off me shitty hair! You've got nothing to do with this!" Bakugo continued to get closer to me while Kirishima tried and failed to hold him back.
"You know, you can get mad all you want but I wasn't the one who chose to be here," before I could think to stop myself I had said what was on my mind.
"Hah?! I know that you damn Deku! I just don't believe that you'd just get into the Hero Course! You have to be hiding something!" He continued to yell as he grew close to me, he was close enough to punch me at this point. Well provided he could break from Kirishima's grasp while he was hardened.
His glare became intimidating, so I ended up averting my eyes, instead, I focused my attention on the top corner of the room. "Well thinking about it... No, I still can't think of a reason as to why I'd be put in the Hero Course,"
I looked back at Bakugo after saying that, he looked ready to throw a punch at me, his rage was unlike anything I had ever seen. But then just before I could think that I would be turned to ash, Bakugo calmed down a bit, "Tch, waste of time," Kirishima let him go.
As Bakugo turned around I decided to ask a question, "By the way why did you call me Deku?"
"Because you're a useless quirkless loser!"
Ah, that made sense. I decided not to respond and let him go. I had no real reason to continue a conversation, but I guess part of me wondered why he was so hostile. Especially to me.
The rest of the day went on as normal. We ended up missing orientation so we found a kind upperclassman to show us around. They were also in the Hero Course. The facilities were huge. They not only had "Simulation Joints" but they also had a regular gym. The machines all looked relatively new, except one Lat Pulldown, it seemed like a student completely ripped off its handle.
Another thing to note is that the range of colors everywhere was something I found to be cool. The school was very colorful, the vibrancy adding more life to the area.
"Alright, that should be everything, if you need anything else you can rely on your senpai! Have a good year first years!" with that goodbye the upperclassman ran off. Could he have been cut for time? Had we interrupted him from meeting with his friends?
My focus shifted when my classmate Denki Kaminari spoke, "This school is huge! Man, my friends are gonna be so jealous!"
"Oh oh are you gonna take a picture? Let me join!" Ashido bounced as she spoke. Did she have boundless energy or something? She didn't seem to be the type to sit still.
"Me too!" Kirishima wanted to join the picture as well.
I began to wonder if I should also ask to be in the picture. Though how should I go about asking? What would gain the best possible reaction from my classmates? How would I position myself when taking the picture? Would being a part of this picture help me make friends?
Ah, friends. I never had a friend before, I wondered what exactly made a friend? What counted as such? How did friendships form? How did people know they were friends? Was it after a meal? Was it after they exchanged info? Was friendship something deep and meaningful? Or was it meaningless and unnecessary?
As I was in thought, I noticed that the picture ended up being taken, I had missed my opportunity entirely. I had failed at my one real goal.
I subconsciously looked toward Yaoyorozu, the person I had spoken to the most today. She was currently talking to a girl with earphone jacks that were a part of her ears. I remembered her name as Kyoka Jiro.
I wondered if Yaoyorozu would consider us friends? I had no clue. Maybe we were just acquaintances. It would probably be presumptuous of me to assume we were friends. Should I ask her? That would be weird, wouldn't it?
Making friends sure was hard...
"Hey Midoriya-kun why are you staring at Yaoyorozu-san?" Uraraka asked looking at me with a grin. I had been caught.
I looked back at Uraraka and thought for a moment about how I should handle the situation. If I said one bad thing a misunderstanding could be created.
"Uraraka, may I ask you a question?"
Uraraka seemed disappointed by my response but she quickly recovered and gave me a soft smile. She looked cute. Did every girl in my class look cute? "Yeah, what's up?"
"What makes a friend?"
My question caught Uraraka off guard. She looked shocked by my question. "Why do you ask Midoriya-kun? Have you never had a friend before?"
Well, that just sounded rude. It was true, but it still stung when she pointed it out. Was I that obvious? "I'm just curious," I wasn't ready to admit something so embarrassing.
Uraraka didn't seem convinced by my reply, but she pondered my question anyway. I couldn't tell if it was out of pity or if she genuinely wanted to provide me an answer. Though I guess the reason behind her answering me wouldn't matter, as long as I got an answer.
"Well, it's hard to put into words... I would say that a friend is someone you enjoy being around. Someone that you can freely laugh with. Though I guess that would only be part of it huh?" she scratched her cheek as she spoke, the question wasn't something she could easily answer. So I guess my lack of understanding wasn't too uncommon. I hoped so anyway.
"Probably, do you have many friends Uraraka?" I asked. Uraraka turned bashful at the question. Was I overstepping boundaries with my questions. Maybe my curiosity was getting the better of me. "Oh if I'm intruding you're more than free to stop me,"
She exaggeratedly waved her arms, her face was starting to flush, "No no! You're fine! I was just caught off guard, haha... I have a few friends that didn't get into U.A., I'm pretty close to a couple of them,"
I wanted to continue questioning Uraraka about her friends, but I refrained. I didn't want to risk annoying her with such a weird question. "You said I was staring at Yaoyorozu earlier? How long was I staring?"
In my attempt to keep the conversation going I had made a blunder.
She looked at me perplexed, "Uh... I think a few seconds at least,"
That was interesting. Did she consider such a short time as staring? Or maybe she thought of a few seconds as a longer period than I did. Few was a vague measurement.
"Does that mean you were staring at me for a few seconds Uraraka?"
I did not mean to say that out loud. The words came out before I had the time to think through what I said. She was probably gonna laugh at me for that, but her reaction surprised me. Her face was flushed and she was saying incoherent sounds. She malfunctioned. "Are you okay Uraraka?"
"Huh? I-I'm fine! You caught me off guard that's all,"
"Sorry,"
Uraraka sighed, she had her hands on her chest when she took a deep breath, "You know I came here to get a reaction out of you, I never expected you to turn the tables on me!"
I was nonplussed at her sudden confession. "Reaction?"
She looked at me and chuckled, before giving me a small smile, "Yeah! You and Todoroki-kun are both rather expressionless. Even your voice hasn't changed its tone in the slightest. You're like a robot. Even when Aizawa-sensei or Bakugo-kun targeted you, you kept the same expression you have now. I just wanted to see if I could tease you into a reaction!"
Oh, I guess I hadn't expressed any emotions I was feeling. I wonder if that was off-putting for my classmates. "Sorry, I'm not the best at expressing my emotions,"
Uraraka in response shook her head and smiled at me, "No, no, you're fine! I will admit at first I was a bit intimidated by you, but after talking to you I realize you're just a bit awkward," after she said she smiled at me. Wasn't what she said an insult? Should I feel offended right now?
I was a little depressed at being called awkward. The truth really does hurt. "I'll do my best to be less awkward in the future,"
After I said that, Uraraka smiled at me before she got called over by Ashido. I looked around at the rest of my classmates, wondering if I would learn exactly what friendship was with any of them.
I had failed to make any friends, the only goal I had set for myself. As I exited the U.A. building I noticed the many groups of people that were walking home together. I felt a bit lonely at seeing all of them. I noticed an energetic blonde leading his two friends out the gate, his smile was so wide it made me want to smile. A few other groups had their own "leader" character, though some looked like it was just a bunch of people hanging around each other. I could overhear random conversations. Most of which people were just talking about the day they had, or the first years that interested them. Though strangely I heard one upper-classman talking about how he tried taking a teacher's underwear.
Actually, why had he tried to do that? I could understand trying to fulfill the rather lascivious hedonism of youth. But was going for something as dangerous as a women's underwear, especially a teacher's underwear just not worth such an action? He probably rivaled that of Mineta with such trivial pursuits.
"Midoriya-san! Wait up!" The shout from behind me took me out of my thoughts. It was Yaoyorozu.
As she caught up to me I decided to reply, "Yaoyorozu? Is something up?" She looked disheveled and out of breath. Did she run all the way here from the classroom? I remember she stood back with a few people. Mostly because she was stopped from leaving by a bunch of guys who asked for her contact info.
Now that I thought about it, I think almost everyone in the class had exchanged contact info with each other. I think other than me, Todoroki who remained silent for the most part was the only other person to not exchange his info with anyone in the class. Even Bakugo exchanged info with Kirishima after he asked him to a couple of times.
"Huh? Oh no... Sorry... I need to catch my breath a bit," as she said that she started taking deep breaths, while she clutched her chest. I decided to stop moving and let her catch her breath. I didn't know whether it would be rude to continue walking while she tried to do so. After she did we began walking toward the entry gate. "Thank you Midoriya-san. Anyway, I needed to catch you before you left so I could ask you to give me your contact info. I have almost everyone in the class, except you, Bakugo-san, and Todoroki-san,"
Was that why she found it urgent to catch up to me? She really was a nice person. "Uh, sure," I grabbed my phone and gave her it, "I don't have a lock screen at the moment so you can just unlock the phone,"
She nodded as she opened the phone, "Is the phone new? This wallpaper seems to be the default," I nodded as she opened the contacts app. She immediately widened her eyes for a second before she awkwardly started to just type her info. I guessed she may have noticed that other than my mother I had no contacts saved, "Okay I sent myself a text with your name. Here's your phone Midoriya-san,"
I looked at her info on my phone, it was nothing special looking, just her first and last name with her number under it. But receiving a girl's contact info for the first time was elating. Who would have thought that something so simple would make your heart race?
"Oh by the way are you taking the train home Midoriya-san?" Yaoyorozu took me out of my exhilarated state with a simple question.
"Yeah, are you also taking the train?" I replied, part of me hoped that she would say yes, simply because I wanted to continue talking to her. Was this what friendship was like? Or was this more so just acquaintanceship?
"No, I have a ride back to my home. Where are you headed?" She was pretty interested in my route home. I wonder if she was gonna offer me a ride?
"I don't need to head too far. I just need to take the train toward the south part of Musutafu, near Dagoba beach," I instinctively thought about the beach there, it looked more like a trash heap than a beach park.
"Oh? That isn't that far, I have to go up north a bit,"
I kind of thought she lived more up north, from what I knew, up north had a bunch of manors and mansions. I didn't want to assume she lived in such an estate but just from the way she spoke I had ended up coming to such a conclusion anyway. "North? Like with all the big estates? I wonder how it would be to live in such a big house... I would get lost quickly,"
She laughed a bit at my joke, which I was happy about. I didn't see myself as funny but if I could make her laugh then I could have at least a little pride in my comedy, right?
She waved her hand in front of her face as she calmed herself down, "It's really not as bad as it seems. Sure at first, you would get lost but over time you learn the place, similar to how you learn where everything is in a school,"
That made sense. I remember learning my way around big areas quickly. "I'll believe in your words,"
Soon enough we were outside the gate, Yaoyorozu spotted a black car, with what was assumed was her chauffeur waiting for her outside it. "That is my chauffeur, I wish you a safe trip home Midoriya-san,"
I nodded back to her as I began to turn, "Same to you Yaoyorozu,"
The chauffeur opened the door but before Yaoyorozu got in she turned back to me, "Oh a bunch of our classmates will be making a group chat, would you like it if I add you to it?"
I thought for a moment. More so I acted like I was thinking about it. I really wanted to be in the group chat, I just didn't want to seem too eager, "Yeah if you could? Thank you Yaoyorozu,"
She smiled at me and nodded, "No problem Midoriya-san, see you at school tomorrow!" as she said that she entered the car. With nothing else to say I turned around and once again began my journey home alone.
Soon enough the station was in sight, though as I continued to walk my phone started buzzing. My heart began to race and I hadn't even looked at who was calling me. Though I guess I was just excited at the possibility that Yaoyorozu would be calling me.
Though sadly much to my disappointment I saw that it was an unsaved number. That left a few possibilities, maybe Yaoyorozu had given it to a classmate? Though that seemed unlikely so I immediately shut that thought down. That meant there were only three possibilities. I debated whether or not to answer the call, as my thoughts ran the call had run out. Leaving me a missed call notification. Though that didn't last long as the ringer went again.
I was certain of the call now. I instinctively hung up. The caller tried again. And again. Each time I declined the call. "Sorry if I seem rude, but is it possible that call is important?" the voice was from beside me, it came from an unknown source. It was a girl with orange hair and teal eyes. She had the U.A. uniform on as well.
I thought about how I should reply. This call wasn't her business, my course of action also wasn't her business. But she seemed nice enough from how she addressed me. Also, she didn't understand the exact implications of this call. It wasn't her fault to assume the importance of the call. Also, she was technically right, the call was important, just not important to me. The person on the other end was someone I didn't want to deal with, at least not today.
"Hm, it could be. But the number is one I don't recognize though. So it could just be a scammer," I decided a nicer approach was the way to go. I didn't exactly want to be blindly rude to a schoolmate. What if I had to see her again?
"I guess that makes sense. I just think that maybe it would be a good idea to answer it, maybe it's a wrong number and it's an emergency?" She refuted my answer, her argument was logical. Something she probably expected me not to run from. Purely based on the number of times the call came through it could be assumed as such.
I nodded, "That is certainly a possibility, though I think if that were the case the caller would have called someone else immediately, not to mention would you continue contacting the same person over and over in an emergency scenario? Especially if that person declined your call three times after they missed the first call?"
The girl chuckled and shook her head, "I guess I wouldn't, but maybe depending on the situation. Like maybe if there was someone that needed my help but refused it,"
I raised my brow at that, "You would be stubborn enough to call the same person over and over again if they declined your call?"
She smirked, "Honestly if the situation called for it, I would show up at their door," she then looked at my phone again, the caller had once again called. "You gonna answer it?"
I really didn't want to... I looked at the phone, then back at her, she made a good point with what she had said. But I was certain that this caller was not what she was imagining. Though I hesitated, I ended up letting the ringer go through.
She looked at me again, "I guess we figured out the answer to that question. I'm starting to get curious about that caller though. The subject must be really important. Considering a scammer wouldn't waste their time calling this much,"
"Are you in the Hero Course by any chance?"
Her eyebrows raised at my non sequitur. But after being perplexed she laughed, "What gave it away?"
On a different side note. She had a nice bright smile. It was almost as good as Ashido's. I wondered if I would smile like that, or maybe mine would be more awkward. I had no idea.
"It was just a lucky guess," I shrugged after responding. I looked to the map trying to find where my train would be.
"Lucky guess huh? What course are you in?" she asked as she looked me up and down. "I would also guess Hero Course, but you seem too gloomy to wanna be a hero,"
Was that an insult? "I actually am in the Hero Course, though I guess your assessment wasn't that far off. I was placed in the course,"
She nodded and smiled, "By placed I assume you mean recommendation. That's impressive you know. You must be some amazing guy for you to be accepted through official recommendation. That means you also skipped the entrance exam. I kind of envy you, it was really hard and scary!"
It seemed like a lot of people were terrified of the entrance exam. I couldn't help but wonder how insane such an exam had to be to have this much of an effect on the students. "What happened in the exam?"
She looked at me with an eyebrow raised before she smirked, "The written exam was difficult, but it was fine. The real problem was the practical exam. It was a nightmare. Honestly, the school was lucky that no one got hurt. We were tasked with fighting a bunch of bots to rack up a bunch of points. But there was this one bot that was known as a 'Zero Pointer' and it was huge! The bot was bigger than the buildings, it destroyed everything in its path and almost ran over a bunch of kids. Though I guess it's alright because no one was hurt,"
A big robot? Bigger than buildings? For an entrance exam? This school was insane! Though I guess that it made a bit of sense because it was meant to test out people's quirks to see who qualified for the hero course. But what about certain quirks that didn't affect such a bot? Wasn't it a bit unfair? Like what if someone had to communicate to activate their quirk? Or what if a quirk worked to blind someone?
"Wow, that does sound scary,"
People started crowding the map so we left there and surprisingly instead of going our separate ways, she led me to a nearby bench, "You know, you say that, but neither you're expression nor voice hasn't changed a bit,"
I avoided eye contact with her, her gaze became uncomfortable, "Yeah I kinda have trouble expressing my emotions,"
She nodded satisfied, "I guess that makes sense. Oh! I'm Kendo, by the way, Itsuka Kendo,"
"Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya,"
She nodded and smiled at me, though this one wasn't as big or bright as the one that preceded it. I guess that was natural though, my communication skills weren't good, so she probably felt awkward. "I'm gonna guess you don't talk much Midoriya,"
I really was that obvious... "Sorry, I'm bad at talking,"
She laughed at me, something which I felt a little hurt by. I didn't say anything about it though, assuming she didn't mean it rudely. "Hahaha, you're fine Midoriya, I'm used to people who are bad conversationalists. Also, I'm wondering, why are you a recommended student? You have to be really amazing for that to happen," I understood what she meant when she said it, but the way she put it made it sound like she couldn't believe I was a recommended student.
With my sense of pride quickly dissipating I answered her question, "I don't understand why either. But if the school thinks I deserve to be in the Hero Course, I have no reason to say otherwise. I just hope I can live up to expectations,"
She put her finger to her chin and closed her eyes in a frown. Then she opened them and smiled at me again, "I was kind of more trying to find out what you could do. Like quirk-wise or something. But I'll let you be for now because you seem to be giving me roundabout answers when it comes to answering personal questions and I don't want to be annoying and pry. But I still want us to be friendly, especially if we're both training to be heroes. So how about we exchange contact info," she suggested with authority. She was so assertive that I felt even if I wanted to decline I wouldn't be able to. Though I had no problem with exchanging my info with her anyway. She was more forward than most of the girls I had met. She was blunt, which was something I found admirable.
I also noticed that she was quite perceptive. I couldn't tell whether or not it was just her intuition or if she was just that observant about our casual conversation. Either way, her perceptiveness might be something to be wary about. "Oh yeah, that's fine, here's my phone, I don't have a lock so you can just open it and do what you need to do,"
She accepted my phone and as soon as she did the caller once again rung my phone. I became a bit worried about what she would do. I had been careless. A bunch of questions could arise if she answered that call and that person was on the other line. Though to my relief, she declined it, most likely respecting my decision to ignore the caller.
She quickly typed her info and sent herself a text before giving my phone back. "Okay, you have a good day Midoriya! Let's talk again soon!" she said as she started to run to her train stop.
"Talk to you soon Kendo," I waved at her, I hoped that with my phrasing she would end up talking to me again. I probably wouldn't text first, such a task was super troublesome and nerve-wracking. Though from what she said earlier, I assume she already knew that and would eventually start the conversation.
I hoped anyway.
I began walking to where I needed to get on the train after everything was said and done. As I walked I got the call again. Though this time with no one important enough to hear my conversation I accepted the call. Though I didn't give the caller time to speak. I had never planned as such. As soon as I accepted the call I simply said "No," and before the person on the other end could even respond, I hung up.
Then I waited for my train in peace.
Hey! I hope you enjoyed the story to this point.
Allow me to say a few things. Yes, Izuku is VERY out of character. Yes, it is intentional. And yes, it will be explained later. I also decided to make him taller, instead of being 166cm (5'4"), he will be 171cm (5'6"). I mostly just wanted him to be taller, but I also think with his secret past it can at least make sense.
Or realistically right now. Izuku will be a lot like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from the series Classroom of the Elite. I wanted a story I found exciting while also making Izuku quirkless. Every other thing I tried doing I ended up finding it to be rather boring or just simple uninteresting. I wanted to do a sort of Iron-Man Izuku thing at one point, but it was in a direction I didn't want.
I wanted a more Izuku with cool gadgets rather than an Izuku who has a whole god damn insanely high-tech suit. I had heard that Horikoshi wanted to originally do something like that with him and I thought that was a super cool concept. And had been thinking about how to go about it. Which led me down a rabbit hole of making Izuku a genius somehow, but doing it as a natural thing just didn't feel right and kind of shit. So I thought of making him an artificial genius.
At first, I just wanted to make it that Izuku loved learning so much that he just y'know became super smart, but that just took out a bunch of elements that would be like plot holes. And just simply adding something like, "he just decided he had to be super athletic because how else would he be able to do stuff with his gadgets?" was acceptable but I still found doing so repetitive and boring.
So naturally, I began thinking of adding a place where Midoriya was forced to learn, and while researching things like that I realized that an original work already existed from this idea, 7 years prior... As you could imagine I was a bit upset, because I was so excited that I thought I had made something original, and then I just ended up thinking of fanfic that was exactly like another story. But then I realized that fundamentally they were different, specifically in the sense that BNHA has heroes and quirks, while Classroom of the Elite just has crazy cool and amazing MC Kiyotaka being a badass. (That's a simple and not very accurate summary. It's an amazing series, I started reading the Light Novel a month ago, if you haven't checked it out, you should. It's great.)
Anyway because of that I decided to give writing this a go and see how the masses reacted. Oh and those who came here specifically for the ship, it's Izuku and Kendo, because I love Kendo and she needs more screen time. Also of the three candidates, she was the one that my friends agreed was the best choice, me included.
This end card is way too big... So I will try to keep the rest as short as possible. I do not own any of the characters or anything mentioned, those rights belong to Kohei Horikoshi. As for the idea, Classroom of the Elite and Shogo Kinugasa is the originator of this idea. As much as I wish it was original...
Lastly, since this will be a gadget hero story for our MC, what gadgets do you wanna see? I have a few ideas myself but I don't have many that are fleshed out, I would appreciate any gadget idea thrown at me!
Anyway, I'll see all you people in the next chapter!