Chapter 43 - First Day

Izuku stood in front of his mirror, loosening the collar of his uniform with his finger. The uniform's material itself isn't bad but too restrictive for his taste. It was hard for him to do big movements with it. He couldn't feel safe wearing it.

'Hopefully, I land in the same class with Bakugou, it'd be too noisy,' Izuku thought before picking up Lin and set off to U.A.

However, he didn't really mind if he were to be in the same class as his stepson since Mitsuki had already given the ok for him to beat some more sense into the guy. Apparently at home, he had turned for the better this past year, albeit not by very much.

Bakugou's dream of becoming a hero is still a big mystery to Izuku. Everything about him screams villainous, so at least Mitsuki didn't let him stray too far away. 

It took Izuku twenty minutes to arrive at U.A. and marveled once more at how humongous the school was. Considering how little 100k means to Nezu, Izuku wondered how much they splurge on the whole building. He wondered just how much of those were taxpayers' money.

He still had some time left before the first class and decided to explore a bit after dropping Lin off to Nezu. He wondered what they were going to talk about but was just happy that Lin had something else to do other than sleeping and waiting for him.

Izuku wandered to the support department and saw heavy machinery all around. He tried to wander into one of the rooms but found it to be locked. He did notice various odd-looking raw materials stored inside different drawers. 

"Hello! Are you my classmate?" A cheery voice sounded from behind him and offered her hand "I'm Mei!". 

Izuku saw a pink-haired girl wearing steampunk-esque glasses over her head. Her gloved hands were dirty from what Izuku assumed was oil and cleaned it for her by pushing it off before taking her hand.

"Izuku, and no, I'm from the hero's department," 

Mei looked at her cleaned glove and Izuku in interest as her eyes glowed, "Your quirk is very handy, it removed it down to an immaculate level," She said with a hint of jealousy as she imagined the various things Izuku's quirk could help in fastening her invention processes.

"Anyway, why are you here Izuku-kun? Won't you be late at this rate?" She asked as she looked at the hall's clock.

Izuku dismissed her concern and shifted to conversation towards her line of study and showing interest in it. He was somewhat interested in getting new gear for Toga and himself, but specifically, Toga as she didn't have means like he does. 

Befriending someone he could use to get those would be the easiest way to get them secretly. It would after all be bad if Toga's equipment got traced back to him.

Mei was enthusiastic when Izuku talked about her work and began overexplaining her own inventions and thoughts. He merely pointed out her unique-looking glasses and yet she had somehow worked her way towards her dream of being the best support gear maker.

Izuku felt she was a bit eccentric, but if there's anything he realized over the years working underground, those who had some loose screws more often than not were the best at their field. Or at least had the potential if they aren't already off'd because of it.

Izuku soon said goodbye to Mei and left a fleeting comment about meeting again sometime before going to the other support students. He was curious about how their levels vary and wanted to gauge them firsthand. Even if it isn't a perfect measurement, Izuku felt that getting to know his choice of targets always helps in the long run. He wanted to find someone easily exploitable after all.

After meeting as many students as he could, Izuku made his way into his classroom, 1-A. There were only two hero department classes, 1-A and 1-B and he hoped to be in one where the stronger ones are. Other than the top pro heroes, Izuku isn't that well versed with the world's power level and wanted to see how he would fare against those with the highest potential.

He did hear that Endeavor's son would join U.A. this year as well and wondered whether he's a good benchmark or not.

As Izuku passed class 1-B's humongous classroom door, he saw a sleeping bag slowly rolling its way to his classroom. He saw some black hair coming off of one of its openings dirtying the floor every so often.

'...this shouldn't be normal right?' Izuku knows the world he now lives in is weird but it shouldn't be that weird. Using his quirk, he stopped the bag from rolling and pasted it to the wall, revealing a man with an extremely haggard-looking face beneath the long black hair.

The face turned from tired into an annoyed one as he stared at Izuku's innocent smile. "What are you doing, Midoriya Izuku-kun?"

"Stopping a potential villain attack," 

"...what, pray tell, made you think I was a villain?" 

"I think you look suspicious enough for me to make that assumption," 

"...well, whatever," The man looked at Izuku and sighed before getting out of Izuku's quirk and bag and ate a jelly pack.

Izuku was a bit surprised and piqued before shaking his head and saying, "Well, nice to meet you, Eraser Head-san," 

He looked at Izuku for a while before beckoning him to follow to the class, not minding his previous words.

Izuku felt a bit of a pity. Had he known the homeless-looking man was eraser head, he would've long tried dispelling his negation quirk. It was too late to test after he had gotten out of his sleeping bag and using his quirk again would be suspicious. Though seeing that the pro-hero would be his teacher, he'd have more opportunities to come and felt excited.

'Though, having my quirk negated is pretty weird. It felt like I lost a limb or something,' Izuku thought, not really wanting to experience it ever again.

~~~~~

(A/N: GIVE ME STONES!

Also, a lower-quality chapter I think cuz T1 vs JDG occupied my whole day. Another banger series!)