When Izuku Midoriya woke up the next morning, he felt a wave of soreness and numbness in his legs. Looking down at his thighs—which had already returned to normal—Izuku got out of bed and quietly left the house to go running, careful not to wake his mother.
"Running like this still feels really awkward. Looks like I'll have to start changing my running form," Izuku muttered as he jogged. "Otherwise, what happens if I get injured again in the future?"
As he ran, he nearly tripped. Fortunately, his reflexes kicked in just in time and he managed to stay upright.
"Whew… this won't do at all," he panted. "I really need to improve my control over One For All. If I don't, I won't be able to keep everything aligned."
With that thought, Izuku sped up again.
"Still, thinking about it… everyone else's Quirks are amazing too. No wonder they were all able to get into U.A.—ah!"
While running with his head lowered, Izuku suddenly slammed straight into a utility pole.
Running with only one arm really did mess with his sense of direction.
At seven in the morning, Izuku arrived at the classroom with a medicinal patch stuck to his forehead. He was the fourth person to arrive. The three students who had arrived earlier were desperately rushing to finish the homework due that day.
"Kaminari, are you done with your English yet?""Not yet! I'm copying math right now! Kirishima, are you done with Japanese?""Yeah! I'm doing English now!""Does anyone have math I can copy?! I haven't done any of the three subjects!" Mina Ashido cried in despair.
"Wow… this looks kind of intense," Izuku commented quietly as he sat down and began previewing today's lessons. His head still felt a bit foggy from the collision earlier.
At 7:30 a.m., Mineta Minoru and Iida Tenya arrived one after the other.
The moment Mineta stepped into the classroom, he saw the three academic disasters frantically finishing homework.
"Hmph. Academic failures will always be academic failures," Mineta said smugly.After all, his written exam scores ranked him within the top fifteen of the class.
"Tch!"Kaminari Denki—ranked sixteenth—clicked his tongue.Damn it! This short, perverted guy was supposed to be on our side! Why is he so good at studying?!
"Good morning, everyone," said Iida Tenya, who ranked in the top ten academically, as he took his seat.
"Good morning, Iida," Izuku greeted him blankly. "Did you figure out that question from last night?"
"Yes, I did," Iida replied. "And thank you very much, Midoriya. But… you seem a little out of it today?"
Only after setting down his bag did Iida notice something was off.
"Oh, I hit my head on a utility pole while running this morning. Still a bit dizzy."
"Did you apply any medicine? I happen to have some pain relief oil and herbal liniment," Iida said, pulling out two bottles.
"It's okay, I already treated it," Izuku said, covering his forehead with his left hand. A brown medicinal patch was clearly visible.
As time slowly approached eight o'clock, the rest of the class arrived. Only then did the three struggling students finally finish all three subjects' homework. Almost immediately afterward, their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, walked into the classroom.
"First," Aizawa said lazily, "I need to announce something. Our class needs to start electing a class representative and other officers. So—who wants to be class president?"
The moment the question was asked, hands shot up everywhere. The classroom instantly turned noisy, like a group of newly hatched chicks chirping all at once.
If I become class president, I'll interact more with students from other classes… and it could help with my future debut.But the class president does all the hardest work. Organizing activities, managing people… at least an extra hour every day.And another half hour just to get Kacchan to listen…Wait—yeah, that's a lot.Then why did you raise your hand?!
"Everyone," Iida said loudly, even though his own hand was raised, "a class president should not only be capable of managing the class, but also possess sufficient strength and negotiation skills. For the sake of fairness, I believe we should decide by vote."
His words were immediately met with agreement from the entire class.
"Do whatever you want," Aizawa said, picking his ear. "Just don't take too long."
Twenty minutes later, Iida wrote the final result on the blackboard.
"Based on everyone's votes, the class president will be—Izuku Midoriya!"
"Huh?! Me?!"Izuku shot to his feet. "No, no, I can't do it! I withdraw! I withdraw!"
"Why withdraw?" Iida asked in shock. "As class president, you could contribute greatly to the class, and you'd also have opportunities to interact with upperclassmen—"
"But Iida," Izuku replied seriously, "a class president not only has the responsibility to manage everyone's behavior, but also holds significant authority. For example, directing classmates to handle personal matters."
He paused.
"I don't think I'm someone who craves power—but to ensure I don't become obsessed with authority in the future, I refuse the position. That said… I can still help collect homework."
"That makes perfect sense!"Iida was the first to applaud, and the rest of the class quickly followed.
Hmph. At least he knows himself well, Aizawa thought, staring at Izuku with bored eyes.
"DEKU, you've got some self-awareness," Bakugo Katsuki snarled, slamming one foot onto Izuku's desk. "Then who the hell do you think should do it?!"
"The ideal candidate is standing right there," Izuku replied calmly, pointing at Iida. "Someone willing to take on hard work, handle tasks for everyone, and unify the class into a single group. Don't you all think Iida is the best choice?"
"Well… yeah, that's true.""No matter how you look at it, Iida's perfect.""And that nagging personality of his—it's just like an annoying mom or dad, right?"
In no time at all, almost the entire class agreed that Iida was the obvious choice.
"DEKU's brain works pretty well," Bakugo muttered as he sat back down.
"Hey, Deku. What happened to your head?"
"Oh, that? I ran into a utility pole while jogging."
"Hmph. Just like a useless idiot."
At lightning speed, Ochaco Uraraka put away her phone.She had already taken a picture of Bakugo stepping on Midoriya's desk.This is definitely going viral later.
"Then it's decided," Aizawa said. "Iida Tenya will serve as class president, and Momo Yaoyorozu as vice president. Alright, Iida, go back to your seat. This is my class period, but since elections took so long, I'll just cover a little and assign homework. Open your textbooks…"
By noon, Izuku went to the infirmary during break and asked Recovery Girl to restore strength to his right hand.
"Uraraka," Momo asked during lunch, as Momo, Izuku, Iida, and Ochaco sat together, "I'm curious—why did you vote for Midoriya?"
"Huh? Why would you ask that?" Ochaco tilted her head.
"Because only you and the class president voted for Midoriya."
"Because… when Midoriya smiles, he looks really nice," Ochaco said, staring up at the ceiling.
"Is that… judging by appearance?" Momo said, visibly struggling to accept this. "Then what about you, Iida?"
"I believe that a true leader must have strength, intelligence, and the ability to act decisively in critical moments," Iida replied formally. "From every perspective, Midoriya is someone who puts others at ease."
"Huh? I'm that good?" Izuku pointed at himself, completely unconvinced.
"I agree," Ochaco said cheerfully. "Whenever I see Midoriya smile, I feel really calm."
"But wait," Izuku said suddenly, catching onto something. "Iida, that way you refer to yourself—'I believe,' or rather, that phrasing—don't tell me… are you actually from a wealthy family?"
"Huh?!""So Iida is actually a rich kid?!"