Chapter Text
It all started with a glowing baby in Qingqing city. The baby's parents were understandably confused and terrified as to what was going on with their child, and they weren’t the only ones. Not for long anyway. After that baby, people with superpowers, called Quirks, started popping up all over the globe. As cool and exciting as those powers were, there were also those who wanted to use their powers for evil, and they plunged the world into chaos. But from that chaos, one man emerged: All as One, a hero with the power to give and take Quirks at will. He stabilized the entire world almost by himself, amassing an unstoppable arsenal of Quirks by either taking them from those who would misuse them, or being gifted them by those who were no longer in a condition to use them effectively. And he’s spent the past century or so as Japan’s undisputed number one Hero, saving everyone with a smile.
Of course, Shigaraki Tomura had something of a unique perspective on all of that, given that All as One was his dad. Not his biological dad, but after his parents died in an accident when he was four, All as One had raised him as his own. Growing up, he often wondered why he was the lucky orphan who got to live under All as One’s roof, but he wasn’t going to question it. Tomura loved his dad, and all he wanted was to make him proud by becoming a Hero who saved people with a smile, just like him.
This led him to U. A., the best Hero School in all of Japan, which All as One had helped found after the chaos of the Dawn of Quirks died down. It could be called small, with only two classes of ten students being admitted each year, but Tomura preferred to think of it as being only for the best of the best. And apparently, he was included in that category, since he had passed the entrance exam with no strings pulled from his dad. So now Tomura was about to start his Hero Academia, ready to give his first day everything he had, and every day after that.
But before he could do that, he had to get through the mild embarrassment of his dad driving him to school. “You can literally teleport, why are we doing this! Or even better, I can just walk to school myself, it’s not like it’s far.”
His dad just laughed off Tomura’s concerns. “It’s your first day at U.A., Tomura. I want to spend some time with you to remember it by. It’s not like I’ll be driving you to school every day. As much as I would love to, I don’t think my schedule will allow for that.”
Tomura nodded. As much as he loved his dad, he realized that being number one meant that he didn’t always have time for Tomura. He’d indulge him with the drive to school. Besides, it’s not like his dad would let any of his classmates see them together: Tomura being his son was kept tightly under wraps after all.
And as embarrassed as he had felt at the idea of his dad driving him to school, Tomura ended up finding the drive pleasant. His dad was reminiscing as he tended to, talking about how U. A.’s founding went down, and Tomura half-listened as he looked out the window at the scenery. The scenery wasn’t new, they lived in the same neighborhood of Musutafu as U. A., but it gave him something to do while he processed the fact that this was all real. He had really made it into U. A.
And before Tomura knew it, the drive was over. His dad pulled him in for one last hug and one last wish of good luck, and then Tomura hurried through the halls of U. A., looking for his classroom. It didn’t take long, it was a small school after all, and as Tomura stared at the desks in his classroom, three rows of four desks, he realized he had a choice to make. Tomura had always been a back-row kid, but he wanted U. A. to be a fresh start, where he was more outgoing, and confident, the kind of hero who could smile no matter how dire things got. So he took a seat in the front row and waited for class to start.
Before class started, however, Tomura was approached by one of his classmates, a girl with shoulder-length purple hair. “Excuse me, you’re in my seat.”
Tomura just blinked up at her. “What?”
The girl pointed toward the teacher’s desk. “There’s a seating chart on the desk, and I’m supposed to sit where you’re sitting.”
Tomura nearly died of embarrassment as he muttered an apology and walked over to the desk, looking over the seating chart to find that the seat he had taken did indeed belong to one Tsutsumi Kaina. And his seat was… in the back. Well, he had tried.
Tomura took a seat in the back as he watched his classmates trickle in. One of them had a quirk that turned him into a lizard-man, which was cool. There was also a really cute brunette… and Tomura stared at the ground to hide his blush as he registered that thought. It wasn’t long before all of his classmates had arrived, and the bell rang to start class.
It took everyone a moment to realize that, while class had started, their teacher wasn’t anywhere to be seen. A blond girl with fangs was the first to speak up. “Wait, where’s our teacher?”
Almost as if on cue, there was a tap on the window, and the lizard-man, who was closest to the window, jumped in surprise. Right outside, sitting on a cloud, was a man in a traditional blue gi and a modern bomber jacket, a combination that could only have worked on a hero costume. He also wore a pair of goggles, pushing back light-blue hair that almost looked like it was made of clouds as well. He waved at all the students as they stared at him in disbelief, and he motioned for them to open the window for him.
The lizardman warily obliged, and the cloud that the man was sitting on shifted through the window as he ducked so as not to hit his head. “Hey guys, sorry about that! Coffee shop was busier than I expected. I know a lot of heroes skip the line, but I just feel like a pretentious jerk whenever I do that, y’know?” He seemed to register the entirely blank expressions that the entire class was giving him. “Sorry, that’s a tangent. Anyways, welcome to U. A.! My name’s Shirakumo Oboro, teacher by day, Pro Hero by... day. Anyway, I’ll be your homeroom teacher this year!”
Tomura glanced around at all of his classmates to see if they shared his confusion, and it looked like they did. None of them thought that this man should be in charge of a classroom. But their teacher didn’t seem to notice their doubts. “Anyway, first order of business, if you look in your desks, you’ll find your gym uniforms. Put those on and meet me in Gym B.”
Tomura had almost pulled his uniform out of his desk when the purple-haired girl, Tsutsumi, raised her hand. “I don’t mean to question your leadership, but the orientation packets we received say that we’re supposed to head to the front of the school for the opening ceremony.”
Shirakumo-sensei waved the question off. “Yeah, but the opening ceremony’s super boring! Let me put it this way, do you guys want to stand there for the opening ceremony, or do you want to show off your Quirks!” A few of Tomura’s classmates let out confused cheers, which Shirakumo-sensei apparently took as enough confirmation. “That’s what I thought! Let’s go!”
<->
After switching into their gym clothes, Class 1-A hurried down to the gym, where Shirakumo-sensei had them sit on the bleachers while he explained what they’d be doing. “Now that you’re all at U. A., you’ll be training and fighting alongside your classmates for the next three years, so the sooner you can get to know each other, the better. And since I’ll be teaching all of you for the next year, I need to know exactly what I’ll be working with regarding your Quirks. So, we’ll be taking down two birds with one stone! I’ll call you up in seat order, and you’ll each come up and introduce yourselves, and give a brief demonstration of your Quirks. First up, Tsutsumi Kaina!”
The purple-haired girl whose seat Tomura had accidentally taken walked onto the field, and now that she was in the shorter-sleeved gym uniform, Tomura realized that she was ripped. Whatever her Quirk was, she clearly wasn’t just relying on that, she had also put in a lot of work to be at U. A. She stood in front of the class, all but standing at attention. “Hello. As Shirakumo-sensei stated, my name is Tsutsumi Kaina. My Quirk is called Rifle.” As she spoke, she stretched out her right arm, and then her forearm snapped back as a sniper rifle emerged from her elbow. “As you can see, it turns my arm into a sniper rifle, and I can twists strands from my hair into bullets.”
Shirakumo-sensei came up next to her, looking closely at the rifle. “That’s wild. Like, I read your file, but seeing really is believing. Care to give us a demonstration?” He pulled a softball out of his jacket as he spoke. Tsutsumi nodded, ripping out a few hairs before shaping them into a bullet and loading it into her palm. Shirakumo then tossed the softball into the air, and Tsutsumi calmly shot it out of the sky. Shirakumo whistled in admiration. “That’s impressive. Anything else you want to show off?”
Tsutsumi shook her head. “Thank you, sensei.” She turned back to the rest of the class and gave a formal bow. “I look forward to working with all of you.” Then she returned to her seat, and Shirakumo-sensei called forward the next student.
“Bubaigawara Jin.” A boy with messy blond hair peeking out of a beanie that Tomura seriously doubted was an approved part of the uniform went up next. After Tsutsumi’s formal demeanor, his relaxed attitude and troublemaker’s grin were a serious contrast.
He waved at the class. “Hey guys, I’m Bubaigawara Jin. I’m excited to meet all of you. Fuck off!” He held his hands over his mouth. “Sorry, so sorry. My Quirk gives me… it’s like Tourette’s, I guess. Just, know that whatever I say first is what I actually mean.” He took a moment to compose himself before continuing. “Anyways, my Quirk’s called Double. I can create a double of anything as long as I know specific details about it.” He extended his hand, and a red bouncy ball appeared in it, before turning to goop and vanishing. “I can only make two doubles at a time, and they’re a good deal more fragile than the original. I can also make doubles of people, and the doubles can even use Quirks, but that gets a little too weird for just a party trick. You should see it!”
Shirakumo-sensei nodded along with the explanation. “That’s a really versatile Quirk. If anyone is uncomfortable with Bubaigawara using his Quirk to make a copy of you, please let me know privately. Otherwise, it might be best for him to have access to everyone. One question, can you make doubles of yourself? Because if the Doubles can also use Quirks, then each Double could create more Doubles to infinity.”
Bubaigawara’s smile cracked at the question, but then he composed himself. “I don’t make doubles of myself. That gets… complicated.”
Shirakuma-sensei nodded. “Good to know. If you’ve got anything else to share, go ahead, otherwise, you’re good.” Bubaigawara returned to his seat, so he continued. “Alright, Hikiishi Kenji.”
A taller… classmate of not immediately distinguishable gender with auburn hair and sunglasses went up front and nodded to the class. “Sup. You can call me Magne. She/her. My Quirk’s called Magnetism. I can give people magnetic charges, either parts of their body or the whole thing. If you’re biologically male, you’re polarized south, and if you’re biologically female, you’re polarized north. I also can’t activate my Quirk on myself. It’s kinda hard to show off, so…” She thought for a moment before looking over at their teacher. “Hey, teach.” Both of his hands gained a strange blue glow. “Try and stick your hands together.”
Shirakumo-sensei did his best, but as much as he struggled, he just couldn’t get them to touch. A grin appeared on his face as he kept pushing. “Alright! That’s so cool. If you don’t have anything else to share, next up is…” he checked his chart, “Imasuji Goto.”
A boy with short, blond hair went up next. He was just as tall as Magne, and he wasn’t just tall, he was muscular, like he had been working out every day of his life. “Hey. I’m Imasuji Goto. My Quirk’s Muscle Augmentation. It does what it sounds like it does.” To demonstrate, he stretched out both arms as muscle fibers appeared from nowhere, bulking each arm up to three times its original size. He flashed the class a competitive smirk “You all better keep up with me, you hear! I don’t want these next three years to be boring.” Tomura had to resist the urge to pick a fight with Imasuji then and there. Who did this punk think he was, acting like he was better than the rest of them? Well, he thought he was better than the rest of them, obviously, but how dare he?!
Shirakumo-sensei chose to ignore the fact that he had challenged the rest of the class. “Right, you’re the power type. How strong does your Quirk make you?”
“It’s hard to find gym equipment heavy enough to actually test me, but I can easily bench press a couple tons. That all?” Shirakumo-sensei nodded, so Imasuji returned to his seat.
“Uraraka Ochako!” The pretty girl from earlier went up. No, her name was Uraraka, not "pretty girl". She was pretty, of course, with the short auburn bangs framing her face, and the large hazel eyes, but Tomura needed to focus. He was here to become a hero, not get a girlfriend. Besides, he didn’t even know anything about her, she could be a jerk for all he knew.
She gave a nervous smile to the class. “Um, hi. My name is Uraraka Ochako. My Quirk is called Zero Gravity. It lets me remove the gravity of anything I touch, including myself.” She pressed her hand to the side of her neck, and floated up off the ground, before putting her hands together and whispering “Release,” returning her to the ground. Tomura realized that her Quirk was kinda like his, that was neat.
Shirakumo-sensei once again seemed excited by the Quirk. “Again, fascinating versatility on that Quirk. Is there a limit to how much you can use your Quirk on, weight or something like that?”
Uraraka nodded. “Yeah, if I use it too much, I get nauseous. Heavier things tire me out faster, but…” she gave a smirk as she glanced toward Imasuji. “I can easily lift a couple tons.” Tomura held his hand over his mouth to cover up his laughter as Imasuji grimaced at her. Uraraka was officially awesome.
“Next we’ve got Iguchi Shuichi.” The lizardman went up next, giving a nod to the class. “Hello. My name is Iguchi Shuichi. My Quirk’s called Gecko, and there isn’t much to demonstrate. I can stick to walls, but my Quirk is mostly just aesthetic. But!” He shifted with a start, “being a Hero isn’t just about a Quirk, it’s about spirit, and drive, and the determination to do all you can to help those around you. And I hope to prove and improve on these qualities in my time at U. A.”
Imasuji scoffed, firmly cementing himself as an asshole in Tomura’s mind, but Shirakumo-sensei gave a short clap for Iguichi’s little speech. “That’s the spirit! Alright, Toga Himiko, you’re next.”
A girl with blond hair pulled back into a pair of messy buns skipped up to the front of the class before giving them all a massive grin that showed off her sharp fangs. “Hey guys! I’m Toga Himiko, you can just call me Himiko! My Quirk’s kinda weird, it’s called Transform, and it lets me transform into anyone I want! Just as long as I drink some of their blood. The more blood I drink, the longer I can turn into them for. Oh, but I can’t use the Quirks of anyone I transform into.”
Shirakumo-sensei nodded along to the explanation. “That’s definitely unusual, but I can easily imagine how it could be useful. Do you create clothes when you transform?”
Himiko nodded. “Yep! Well, sorta. If I make clothes, then I have to take off my own clothes to sell the illusion. But then when I transform back… I’m naked.”
“Right. So we’ll try to avoid that. Anything else?”
“Nope!” Himiko flashed another grin toward the class. “I’m so excited to learn to be a Hero with all you guys!” Then she skipped back to her seat as Shirakumo-sensei called the next person up.
“Sako Atsuhiro.”
A boy with carefully combed brown hair walked to the front of the class and gave an exaggerated bow. “Hello class, my name is Sako Atsuhiro. My Quirk is called Compress, and as for what it does, I believe it is better to show, not tell. May I have a volunteer?”
Himiko immediately raised her hand. “Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!”
Sako called her up and had her stand by his side as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Now then, keep your eye on my beautiful assistant here as I demonstrate my Quirk’s capabilities.” Himiko giggled at being called his “beautiful assistant,” but then she suddenly vanished. Sako reached down to pluck something out of the air, and then held aloft a blue marble before the class. “As you can see, my Quirk lets me seal anything I touch within one of these marbles until I choose to release it.” Tomura nodded along with the explanation. It was like a Poke Ball. “With that, I believe the only question left is…” Sako clapped his hands together before closing both his hands into fists. “Shirakumo-sensei, which hand do you think Miss Himiko is in?”
Shirakumo made a great show of thinking over his answer before tapping on Sako’s right hand. Sako opened his hand to reveal a bright blue marble resting in it. “Well, it would seem you chose correctly. Let’s bring her back out, shall we?” The marble disappeared in a flash of light, but all that it left behind was an eraser. Sako held it aloft for the class. “As you can see, my Quirk doesn’t just work on people, but on whatever I choose. But this means that Miss Himiko was actually in this hand!” He opened his left hand, but his expression paled as he realized it was empty. “I dropped her somewhere. Shirakumo-sensei, help me find her, check your pockets or something.”
“My pockets? How would she-" Shirakumo-sensei let out a laugh. "You’re kidding. How’d you do that?” He pulled a marble out of his jacket pocket.
Sako gently took the marble from him. “A magician never reveals his secrets, sensei.” He placed the marble on the ground, where it disappeared to reveal Himiko, sitting on the ground confused. A few students started clapping, and Tomura joined in as Sako took a bow, because that had been some pretty impressive sleight of hand. Sako then gestured for Himiko to take a bow as well, and she did an exaggerated curtsy before they both returned to their seats.
Once Shirakumo-sensei had calmed down from laughing about the whole thing, he called up the next student. “Alright, tough act to follow, but next up is Kayama Koroki.”
After the stage presence of Sako, Kayama’s obvious shyness made for a clear contrast. He was already a smaller kid, but he was doing what he could to make himself even smaller as he stood in front of the class. “Um, hi. I’m Kayami Koroki. My Quirk is called Gas. It does… about what you’d expect. I can create and control a poisonous gas.” He held out his hand, and a few wisps of purple gas emerged from it. “Thank you.”
Kayama nodded a goodbye and was halfway back to his seat when Shirakumo-sensei stopped him. “Hold up. I have a question first. I’m understandably curious about a fellow gaseous Quirk, but I’ll keep it quick. How much gas can you exude at one time?”
“I- um, I don’t know.”
“Do you think you could fill this whole gym?”
“I don’t know?”
“Well then, I guess there’s just one way to find out!”
Kayama seemed terrified by what Shirakumo-sensei was proposing. “My gas is poisonous. I don’t want to hurt anyone by accident.”
Shirakumo-sensei waved him off. “It’s okay. I’ll keep everyone safe, you do your thing!” With that, he created a cloud around all the students that Tomura could only barely see out of.
Once the barrier was in place, Kayama took a deep breath and stretched out his hands. Then the same purple gas emerged, but instead of a few wisps, it was a torrent, filling the gym in seconds. And then just as quickly as it emerged, it was gone as Kayama sucked it back to himself.
Shirakumo-sensei cheered. “That’s was awesome! You’ve got a lot of power there.” His smile faded as Kayama dropped to one knee and started coughing. Their teacher hurried over to him worriedly. “Oh, I’m so sorry about that. I figured you’d be immune to your own Quirk, but I guess I was wrong. Are you okay?” Kayama just nodded and returned to his seat, so Shirakumo-sensei called on the final student. “Shigaraki Tomura.”
Tomura took a deep breath before stepping to the front of the class and giving his best Hero smile. “Hi everyone! I’m Shigaraki Tomura, and my Quirk is called Air Walk.” He walked as though going up a set of stairs, his feet resting on air as he slowly ascended. “It does exactly what it sounds like, it lets me walk on air, like all those video game bugs. I know it’s not the most impressive or versatile of Quirks, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Which was true, his dad had asked him if he wanted to switch out his Quirk for another one from his vast stockpile, but Tomura had said no. Air Walk was his, after all, and as cool as some of the Quirks his dad offered were, he would much rather just stick with his own. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to becoming Heroes with all of you!”