Izuku looks over the edge of the building, watching as the officers in the street try and figure out how he escaped the car. He holds back a laugh as Tsukauchi pinches his nose in frustration. Izuku reaches into his pocket and pulls out an airhorn. He stands tall on the rooftop and holds it up in the air, pressing the button. He can't help but laugh at everyone who startles. Tsukauchi slowly looks up with a tired expression.
"Love you Tsuki! HEY GUYS! He's the best detective! He almost had me!" He screams, tossing the air horn straight into Tsukauchi's hands. As Izuku turns around, he decides it best to greet his new friend. "Eraserhead! So are you trying to catch me because you're assigned to catch me?"
"Why would that matter?"
"There's a difference between a hero catching you because they think you're bad, and a hero being told to chase after you hopelessly."
"Hopelessly?" Eraserhead asks.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're smirking under all those scarves." Izuku teases. "Catch me if you can, fuckboi!" He laughs, dodging Eraser's scarf and dropping into the ally. He knows that Eraser can chase him as long as he keeps sight, so all he has to do is lose him. "Snap goes the ankle." Izuku whispers in a sing-song tone, feeling his ankles snap with the force of his landing. He can run on broken ankles, not gracefully, but well enough.
The sudden pressure of having a pro assigned to him gives the whole vigilante thing a new meaning. While he's not exactly sure what the meaning is yet, he does enjoy this change.
"Hey Eraser?" Izuku calls, well aware that the pro is close enough to hear him.
"What do you want." There it is! The sound of someone slowly becoming out of breath.
"If I'm a vigilante because the laws against me, does that mean I'm closer to a villain if the pros are after me?" Dead end, Izuku thinks as he stops before the brick wall. He faces Eraserhead, quietly letting his eyes scan for a way out of this.
"I don't know, are you a villain?" Under the man's mask, Eraserhead swears he sees an eye twitch.
"I'd sooner die than be accused of being a villain." Eraser charges at the kid, who swipes his legs out with a bo staff and quickly slams him into the ground. Shouta can't recall the last time someone's knocked the wind out of him.
"Where did you get a bo staff, Oni?" Shouta wheezes from the ground. The pressure in between his ribs is not pleasant. He silently wishes it was easy as asking 'can you take that thing off of me and let me up?' but Shouta knows that's not the job he signed up for.
"Really, Eraser?" Izuku snorts. "I'm Oni, and this-" He lifts the staff up, as if calibrating it to strike. "-is my iron club." Izuku brings the staff down and hits a pressure point. It's not that he wanted to knock the hero out, he just wanted an escape.
In all honesty, he's surprised it went as well. Running around all night with Eraser tailing him was on purpose. The hero would be easier to take down if he were tired. It's just that this was…. Too easy. A sinking feeling in Izuku's gut tells him to leave while he can.
Once home, he scales the side of his building and climbs in through the unlocked window, plopping down on his bed. He stares at the old All Might posters on his wall, a familiar feeling of anger filling his heart.
After the fire all those years ago, the building's management decided it was too much of a hassle to fix the place up and sell it again. Something about a dead child who was most likely killed for being quirkless wouldn't sit well with potential buyers. After learning more about the building, Izuku found that the apartments power can't actually be shut off individually. Sure, a major fault when considering the possibility of someone not paying rent. For Izuku, as a person who is most definitely not paying rent, it was a beautiful thing that he didn't think to question.
He sheds his costume, an all black suit with a green utility belt. The back has a space for his collapsible bo staff. Out of habit he reaches up and touches the smooth metal of his mother's wedding ring that hangs around his neck. Since he's lived in the same burnt down apartment, he's had time to go over the crimes scene. Every sign he can think of points back to his father. According to all the files he's gotten from the police, there's no suspect. It's been deemed an accident. He's long lost faith in the police force and most heroes, seeing as they don't even think to question that the autopsied corpse of a boy up and left with all their medical supplies.
There was never actually a need for the medical supplies. Well, not for him anyways. They were plenty help in emergency first aid to civilians. Izuku realized that his quirk was regeneration. It was missed because quirks were usually a mix of the parent's or one the parent's entirely. Who knew having a mutation in the way your quirk formed would lead to this mess of a life.
Izuku gets into the shower, co-washing his curls and scrubbing the grim off his skin. His body heals from everything, yet he has two scars. One is a scar that starts at the hairline and spreads over his left eye, from the impact of the apartment's support beam falling. The other is a large Y-shaped scar from the autopsy. All paths of theory lead back to the conclusion of them remaining as mental scars. Though he's gone through plenty torment in his life, Izuku must admit that that day was the most scarring in every meaning of the word.
There's no use thinking about it, he has an exam in the morning.
Aizawa Shouta wakes up with static in his head. It's not a pleasant feeling, so he forces it out. Panic rises when he realizes he can't see a thing but he settles when he realizes it's a paper over his face.
"Sorry I couldn't play longer, Eraser! I had an entrance exam tomorrow morning and I actually want some rest for once! I also didn't stay because it was a little too easy to knock you out and it made me feel uneasy. Have a good night! -Oni." Shouta blinks at the paper. I suspected it when I heard him speak. This vigilante is a kid! It seems that mentioning the entrance exams was a hint to his age. The detective told me he's fond of playing games. He takes his goggles off and rubs his eyes. The brat told me to have a good night.
Once at home he looks up all local high schools that have their entrance exam tomorrow morning. While most of them take place in the same time of the year, not all of them are on the same day, in case people want to apply for more than one school. Shouta can't help but give a deep sigh when he sees the only entrance exam tomorrow is UA. Of course it's the only one tomorrow! Hero schools tend to have their own day so students can take them as well as exams for normal schools. If this kid gets in, there's no telling what kind of hell would break loose.
Izuku stops a moment to take in the view of UA. It's huge! Now being a rooftop hopping fanatic, he'd love to see the view from the edge. He starts walking, his steel-toed boots dragging a bit. Ah, so this is how I go, Izuki thinks as he trips over a rock. Luckily, a girl catches him.
"Release!" She breathes, connecting all five of her fingers together. "Sorry for using my quirk on you! It'd be bad luck to trip right before the exam, right?" She gives a smile, and Izuku politely says his thanks and watches as she pushes on into the exam.
Once seated, he almost feels the need to hold his breath. That's Kacchan! Kacchan is sitting right next to him, but doesn't seem to notice. Hopefully his green hair doesn't give too much away.
It may be the years of torment, or the fact that I can no longer stand fire quirks, but I am really not enjoying being this close to Kacchan.
Izuku sits and listens as Present Mic himself explains the rules. The students have to destroy robots for points. That's not fair. What about students that don't have physical or combat-capable quirks? Let me guess, it's 'fair' because they'll be something else like points for saving people? For the sake of heroics they probably won't tell us about it, leaving people at a disadvantage no matter how you look at it. When he gets in, he'll be sure to complain until it's changed.
Everyone is divided into different arenas, probably to allow more than a few students time to shine. There's absolutely no way he didn't pass the written exam, so now is where he might actually have to work. The girl who saved him from a face full of concrete is here, as well as the loud boy from the auditorium. Maybe I'll just hang back here. He lingers towards the back of the crowd, waiting for the cue.
"Start!" Mic calls. He could've used an intercom of sorts, but he really hopes that Mic is just screaming from a rooftop somewhere. Okay, let's get this over with.
In the observation room, many people have their eyes on future superstars.
"Examinee 4225 seems promising. His combat is unrivaled so far." Ectoplasm notes.
"Katsuki Bakugou, quirk: explosion." Nedzu hums. "This student has only combat points. One the other end of the spectrum is examinee 4224. They sat next to each other, coincidentally." On the main screen, the teachers pull up examinee 4224. "Izuku Midoriya has more points than a good half of the students, but not a single combat point." The screen shows Izuku looking around and pulling fellow test-takers out of harm's way or out of debris and rubble. A particularly large piece of metal falls, and Izuku tackles the student out of the way. Angry green eyes meet the camera, and all of the teacher seem to feel a chill run down their spine.
"Did he just glare at us?" Mic asks, leaning forward in his seat.
"Midoriya's quirk is called Analysis. It does exactly as it sounds. There's no way to tell what exactly is going through his mind…. Oh, he's waving at us!" Nedzu squeaks in delight. "Zoom in!" It shows Izuku making a serious of hand gestures to the camera.
"'This exam is unfair.'" Mic starts translating the sign. "'This only benefits people with strong physical quirks, not people fit to be heroes. You didn't even tell those of us at a disadvantage about the chance of points for helping peopl--'" Izuku's rant is cut short as Nedzu hits the button to launch to zero pointers. The pros in the room laugh at the sigh Izuku gives before turning to face the monstrosity.
He turns to run, but stops when he hears a voice in pain.
"My, my. I wonder how he'll act." Nedzu chimes.
"What do you mean?" Midnight asks.
"His quirk makes him smarter than other contestants. He probably realized that if he ran and saved himself, we'd just have to stop the robots before it could kill the girl. Knowing the chances though. I think he'll…" The rodent trails off, watching as Izuku is already in a sprint towards the robot. He grabs a large pole off the ground and keeps going.
Shouta stands a little straighter in the back of the room, his eyes on examinee 4224. He's on high alert for Oni, and the fact that this kid picked up a pole raises suspicions. Then again, Oni wouldn't have done something that would draw eyes onto him like that.
He watches as the boy brings the pole up.
"He's pole-vaulting to the robot?" Vlad king asks, worry seeping into his voice.
Izuku flies through the air, grabbing hold of the robots arm and climbing up with little trouble. Once on the flat base near the head, he pulls a panel off the robot and hops in. Shouta can tell that everyone in the room is holding their breath, waiting for literally anything to happen. The robot comes to a halt and he rolls his eyes at his cheering colleagues. It's an exam, not a show! The leg of the robot is kicked out, a green-haired boy emerges.
"Looks like he got fried a bit." Mic says softly.
The child walks over to the girl as the ending announcement is played. He retrieves the pole off the ground and points at a purple haired student.
"What are they doing?" Ectoplasm asks.
"He's making a lever to get the debris off of her." Shouta finally contributes. He gives the other student the pole and instructs him to shove it under the rocks at an angle. Meanwhile Izuku gets a rock and puts it in place as a fulcrum. The two boys exchange a few words and switch places. He lifted that rock with ease, kid must be strong. The lever gets pulled, lifting the weight off the girl so the other boy can pull her out. The kid is smart enough to know when you can't help someone alone.
Shouta can't help wonder if Oni was serious about the entrance exam. It's not officially known what his quirk is. By the looks of it, a healing quirk of some sort but all suspicion of Midoriya dropped when his quirk was revealed.