Chapter Text
The world isn’t fair. Not everyone can be a hero, despite All Might’s cheesy commercials, and Izuku Midoriya knows that better than everyone. After all, how can a quirkless nobody like him, with a dead father and a probably-dead mother ever be a hero? All Might had even said so himself that afternoon, bring Izuku to tears once he arrived home.
Izuku sighed when he opened his laptop, mindlessly opening up a new tab besides the dozens about U.A.'s heroics course, one he’d never be in. Quickly typing “Jobs for quirkless” into the search bar resulted in just more studies on quirkless people’s high unemployment rates, and how those who were employed mostly worked in terrible conditions for worse pay.
“Just another form of quirk discrimination”, Izuku thought to himself as he scrolled to the fifth page of search results, clicking on a forum post that seemed to contain more of the same. In the bottom of the page, obscured by more popular comments, was one left by an anonymous user.
“Well, you could work for an agency, right? While analysis quirks are helpful and all, most of the actual analysis can be honed as a skill, and there’s more to agency management than analysis anyways. You’d probably have to enroll in a business management class at a heroics school though, and those are competitive without being quirkless.” Izuku gaped at the comment, a million thoughts flying through his head.
Was this his key to U.A.? Was this his ticket to not being extremely poor, destitute, or dead? Would he even be able to get into such a highly selective program without a quirk to help?
Frantically, Izuku switched back to one of his U.A. heroics tabs and navigated to the business class’s homepage. There were four classes for first-years, 1-I, I-J, I-K, and I-L, which was a special class for the five highest scorers on the U.A. exams. Using this as a springboard, discovered that the entrance exams were the day before the hero class’s general admission(good, as there was no chance of running into Kacchan), and that admission was solely based on a written assessment based on a case study, the general admittance test all students had to take, and a portfolio consisting of anything business or analysis-related. There were exactly ten months until the entrance exam, and Izuku had to start preparing now.
He decided he would compile four notebooks of hero analysis, supplemented by mini-case studies on the hero’s agencies. In order to do that, he would have to learn about business management, which he had no experience in whatsoever.
“Is it even possible to learn all this material in ten months?” Izuku groaned aloud. “I won’t be able to use Hero Analysis for the future Volume 11 ever since Kacchan burned it, and I can’t bring any of the notebooks or my laptop to school for extra studying.”
Quickly logging onto Shishido Academy’s free business management class, Izuku slowly made his way through the curriculum. It was possible, but he'd have to devote a couple hours to it each night, and more on the weekend. Inko’s bank accounts had stopped working, but Izuku had found temporary employment at a local cat cafe which was so desperate for employees they hadn’t checked his quirk status. He’s probably only have the job for a month at best though; eventually they’d check and he’d be fired.
While working at the cafe two months later, Izuku noticed a black-haired man walk in and quietly order a black coffee on a mobile kiosk. At the same time, several of the older cats came up to him, rubbing against his legs. Glancing over, Izuku almost gasped in shock as he realized that the scarf around his neck could only belong to one man: the Pro Hero Eraserhead, who Izuku had idolized ever since learning about him.
As he prepared the man’s coffee, he noticed red eyes staring at him, to which he only smiled at. Walking over, he dropped his voice to only a whisper. “Can I have an autograph?” Izuku smiled, trying his best for it to not seem like the fake customer-service one he had given to the girl who looked suspiciously like a vampire the other day. “I hope you enjoy your coffee.”, the green-haired boy spoke in a normal tone.
“Problem child, how did you know I was Eraserhead? How do you even know who Eraserhead is?”, Aizawa asked, a glint in his eye.
“Well most scarfs don’t protrude like that.”, Izuku giggled softly. “But I’m, well, quirkless, and you fight quirkless which I’ve always admired about you, plus your stealth skills ar-”
“That doesn’t answer my second question, problem child. How do you know who Eraserhead is?” Aizawa asked curiously. “It’d take some expert-level analysis skills to even deduce that, and I don’t patrol here.”.
Izuku grinned sheepishly. “Oh! Well I’m applying for the business course at U.A., but back when I wanted to apply for heroics, someone mentioned you in a forum. It kinda sent me down a rabbit hole relating to you, and I’m even including you in my analysis portfolio, if that’s alright?”.
Aizawa’s face crinkled. “Business class, huh? Shame you aren’t applying for heroics, otherwise you might have me as your homeroom, but I guess you need to take this place from your parents eventually”. The Pro Hero’s gaze softened “But yeah, knock yourself out. I want to see it after you get accepted though.”
“Oh, this isn’t my family’s cafe. I’m just working here until they realize I don’t have a quirk. Kinda need it because of the whole dead-parents thing” Izuku’s face grimaced. “But I can’t do heroics because I’m quirkless, plus agency managers have more control anyways and get paid the same” he green-haired boy grinned.
Aizawa’s face tightened, “Problem child, you’re coming with me after your shift ends. As for the second thing, I’m an independent hero for a reason.” The man chuckled.
Izuku, in an utter state of panic, rambled on. “Wait, coming with you? First off, I have a home, even if it’s partially condemned. Second, I’d just be imposing on the shelter you take me to, or your family if that’s where you wanted to go. Also, I’m technically off the clock an-”
“Problem child, you’re coming with me. If it makes you feel any better, I’m a Pro Hero and that’s literally in the job description. We’ll go by your place, and you can get whatever you need. I have a foster license so you’re staying with me, and Hizashi and Hitoshi will love you. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.” Aizawa jumped up, leaving Izuku shocked.
“Are you coming or what?” Aizawa called from ahead of him as Izuku chased after the Pro Hero, determined to not let an opportunity fall from his grasp.
After all, that was Lesson #1 of Shishido Academy’s Hero Business Management Class for Beginners.