Aizawa called out the names without looking up.
"Iida. Bakugo. Midoriya. Todoroki. Yaoyorozu."
The room went still.
"You all left during the recent incident to rescue Hado and Hagakure."
A murmur rippled through Class 1-A—then died just as fast. Judging by their faces, Aizawa realised something and sighed.
"…So everyone already knew."
No one denied it.
"In normal circumstances," he continued flatly, "I would have expelled every single one of you involved—except Hado, Hagakure, and Jiro."
That finally got reactions.
"You acted recklessly. You disobeyed direct orders. You made professional heroes clean up your mess." His tired eyes swept the room. "You've lost trust. From me. From the staff."
A pause.
"So you'd better work hard to earn it back."
No shouting. No theatrics. Just calm words from their sleep-deprived sensei. Somehow, that made it worse.
The dorm explanation followed—rules, curfews, common areas. When Aizawa mentioned the shared laundry room, Mineta opened his mouth with an unsightly expression.
Aizawa's scarf twitched.
"Say one word," he warned, "and you'll be sleeping outside."
"yes sir..." Mineta sealed his lips as his life depended on it. Which it did.
"Alright. You guys are dismissed for the day. We will start your preparation for the Provisional License Exam from tomorrow. Make sure to move in properly."
***
Later that night, Mina clapped her hands dramatically.
"ROOM PRESENTATIONS! Let's see who has the best room."
Midoriya panicked immediately. "N-no! Absolutely not—!"
He was the first victim.
"Damn... you really are a fanboy." Haru looked at all the All Might merch. Even his own otaku merch collection falls short of the sheer density of Izuku's repertoire.
Tokoyami refused to move from in front of his door, arms crossed. When it finally opened, the room was dark—tastefully so. Cool purple lights lined the walls.
"Is that a sword? That's so cool." Izuku leaned closer at a sheathed sword.
"Don't look!"
Haru's room came next.
The door slid open to reveal screens.
A massive monitor was mounted on the ceiling. One wall held several smaller screens. Others were scattered strategically.
Silence.
"One, two... Ten. Ten total monitors." Yaoyorozu broke the silence.
"…Yeah," Ashido muttered. "That checks out. Hacker." She forgot that her classmate was technically a hacker. It's just that his quirk in the field wasn't used to do the tech related hacking.
"That's so cool. I guess that's how professional hackers are." Kaminari had stars in his eyes.
Haru nodded proudly, his nose pointed at the sky, until—
"Don't you just use these to watch anime?" Toru suddenly said.
Haru didn't expect his girlfriend to betray him again.
"It's multitasking," Haru said defensively. "I watch multiple shows at once. It's training."
Denki looked at him with a betrayed look. "Bro..."
Mina squinted at a framed photo of Sayaka on the desk, with the rest of his family. "…Wow. I officially lost my chance. She's also a bombshell. Then again, it makes sense."
"What chance? Stop speaking like you had any chance with a married man." Haru retorted.
Mineta, unfortunately, noticed the same photo.
"Your mom's kinda hot."
Haru's smile widened.
"Minoru-kun. Remember your last internship?" he asked pleasantly.
Mineta stiffened. "…Right."
"Anyway, you shouldn't say such things about somebody's parents out loud. You might get beaten one day."
"I only said it because it's you." Minoru defended himself.
"Fair."
Mineta's room was next.
"Come in. Come in, guys. I will show you something amazing." He said...with an unsightly look.
No one entered. No explanation needed.
Iida's room was spotless. Haru tried on Iida's spare glasses and posed.
"How do I look?"
Toru hesitated, then said shyly, "You look…
dumb." She laughed immediately.
'She got me on the first half.'
Todoroki's room stunned everyone. Fully remodelled. Clean lines. Minimalist. Expensive.
"…You did this yourself?" Haru asked.
"I worked hard," Todoroki replied simply.
Later, Haru quietly asked, "How's Endeavour taking everything?"
Todoroki's jaw tightened. "…Angry."
"Figures."
***
Haru overslept the next morning.
His door was locked, and he didn't respond to any of the shouts. So, someone had to go through the window to wake him. There were only a few people who could safely go to the window with their quirks.
After a round of rock-paper-scissors, Mineta had to go to wake him—using his quirk.
"What the fuck!?"
Seeing Mineta's face, the first thing in the morning wasn't on Haru's bucket list.
"Bruh... I came to wake you up. Now, hurry up. I don't want to be late for class. I am already on edge when it comes to sensei."
Haru nodded. "Alright, give me 5 minutes." He quickly went to the bathroom to freshen up.
When Haru finally returned to this room, he froze.
Mineta stood there, holding something very familiar.
A magazine.
"…How did you find that?" Haru demanded.
Mineta grinned. "A pervert knows another pervert's hiding spots."
"DON'T LUMP ME IN WITH YOU!"
***
Ectoplasm stood with his arms crossed, identical clones flanking the training zone like mannequins waiting to be used.
"So," he said, voice dry. "What's your idea for an ultimate move?"
Haru nodded, mask hiding his mouth, but not the seriousness in his eyes.
His hero costume was pretty simple. Tailored, slim-fit combat suit styled like a formal suit. He wears a mask covering his mouth and nose. Gray-coloured theme.
Blue-black tendrils slowly unfurled from his arms, brushing the air like invisible fingers.
"It's another move set of the Reality Warping Series. This time with the help of my tendrils." Haru said. "It's pressure control."
Ectoplasm raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
Haru extended a tendril forward. The air around it shuddered, almost imperceptibly.
"Air moves from high-pressure to low-pressure region," Haru said. "I'm not pushing myself. I'm letting the atmosphere do it by creating those zones."
The tendrils were directly in contact with the air around the area where they appeared.
"By spreading my tendrils," he continued, "I define a volume of air I can interfere with. Wherever they touch, I can alter pressure gradients."
He demonstrated, one of the tendrils stretched in forward direction. Haru focused on it.
A few seconds later, the air in front of Haru changed.
Haru shot forward—not explosively like Bakugo, not smoothly like Iida—but with a sudden, unnerving lurch, as if something was pushing him.
"I create a low-pressure zone ahead of me," Haru explained, stabilising himself."The higher-pressure air behind pushes me forward."
Ectoplasm narrowed his eyes. "You're not accelerating yourself by controlling the air. You're being accelerated."
"Yes."
That distinction mattered. Energy consumption betwen the two were pretty different.
Haru spread several tendrils outward like a net.
"Inverting it works on others. Though I also need to make sure that I don't get pulled in."
Haru focused again.
A low-pressure pocket formed near the tendrils.
One of Ectoplasm's clones staggered forward, boots scraping against the floor as the air itself dragged him in, which it did.
"I'm not pulling them," Haru said. "The air is."
Haru clenched his hand.
The pressure spiked.
The clone was pushed a few steps behind.
"High-pressure zones repel," Haru finished. "This is scalable. Precision depends on control, and currently, it might take me a few seconds, but if I train it for the next days, I could do it subconsciously and even increase the power of those attractions and repulsions."
Silence.
Then Ectoplasm nodded. He didn't show it, but he was pretty impressed.
"…You're weaponising fluid dynamics."
Haru tilted his head. "Basically." 'Air is a fluid, right?'
"And the drawback?"
Haru didn't hesitate. "Mental load. Maintaining multiple pressure zones feels like holding several equations in my head while they keep changing."
Ectoplasm nodded. "That tracks with your previous moves. I take that this all could be converted to be done sub-consciously?"
Haru nodded.
"Then, let's begin."
With that, Haru begin his training arc.
On the first day, his progress wasn't much, but he was getting faster.
On the second day, he was paired up with Ochaco. His goal was mainly to quickly create pressure zones in various places and cause as much motion sickness to Ochaco as possible.
Haru really liked seeing the expression on her face when he did that...until she vomited on him.
That day, he wasn't able to eat food.
Third day, he played tag with Toru. He had to trap the invisible girl by attracting her to the tendril. It would have been a scene straight from a hentai, but unfortunately, Haru wasn't able to catch her even after a 6 hour straight. It was truly disappointing for him and some others, who were hoping for his success.
Fourth day was again with the old man Ectoplasm.
Fifth day, he played tag with Mina, but unlike with Toru, this time, he was the one being chased. He had to literally dodge acid beams. Mina was training her aim, and her concentration of acid during this.
By the end of the day, most of his clothes(Sports uniform, not his hero costume) was mostly dissolved.
He felt a twinge of satisfaction whenever people sneaked a glance at him, especially girls.
'Maybe, I am awakening my exhibitionist tendencies.' Haru immediately thought about Midnight and Mount Lady.
He dodged another beam of laser, albeit barely. Haru glanced at Mina. 'Is it just me, or is she purposefully aiming for the lower region?'
Looking at her concentrated expression, Haru shoved the useless thoughts out of his mind and focused on training his quirk.
The sixth day was with Tenya. Seventh with Izuku. Eighth was with Ecotoplasm. Ninth was a spar with Katsuki.
The final day, he trained with Ectoplasm again.
And just like that, the exam day finally arrived.
***
Author here!
(This chapter is 1.6k words long without the author note.)
Holy Crap! 500 Collections within 24 hours. This is insane. Last time I checked, we are in the top 20 in Collection rankings. Cheers!
That's why I posted this chapter today instead of Wednesday.
Let's keep the momentum going. If you want to support the book, then please shower it with Powerstones.
Chapter no: 1/3 (For week)
Powerstone Goals: 16/100 (For Bonus Chapter)
Anyway,
How was the chapter? Does the pacing feel too fast? I would have liked to have more character interactions with other main cast before the license exam, but I just felt that most of the characters would be busy before the exams, so I will have them after the exams.
Next, was the explanation for Haru's new move clear? Basically, he is hacking the air, which his tendrils touch (in 5 metre range. It's not a domain/spherical, but more like a linear area affected by one tendril, and doing some complex calculations to alter the pressure.
It's pretty similar to his move, Reality Warping series: Featherless Current. In that move, the air that comes in direct contact with his skin would be hacked, and he uses it to decrease air resistance. (His hero costume had pores).
One of the things I have done in this fic is not give an over-detailed explanation of Haru's quirk. I plan to reveal the major advantages and flaws of his quirk through the battles or the situations in which he could use his quirk.
What do you think?
Actually, I have only put a basic explanation in the synopsis and not in the story, so some people might have gotten confused, especially at the start, as Haru was able to directly 'hack' Shigaraki's body.
Lemme know your thoughts.
Also, what are your expectations from the romance between Toru and Haru? They are childhood friends, so they won't be embarrassed by hand-holding or normal dates.
Kisses and other things are a different thing. I have initial plans to make it wholesome, but I would like some of your ideas.
Thanks, RandomOtakuXD, for the review.