MHA: Thorny Path of a Pro-Hero

Actually, by this point, I had spent less than half an hour in the classroom, but I had already managed to become a local celebrity. It was the same in elementary school, the same in middle school… though the reasons were different.

Here, however, the explanation was simple: when my new classmates started getting to know everyone—some did it timidly, some boldly and charismatically, but everyone did it to some extent, even Bakugo—sooner or later, they would get around to me. And then the reaction was almost always the same:

"Niren… you mean, the Niren Shoda who scored ninety-four points and took first place? The guy who climbed over the wall and ran to another Training Ground? That Niren who took down a giant robot? That one?" (underline as needed)

For each such query to the server, we followed the same protocol. I would humbly respond that yes, that was me, but it wasn't anything particularly special. Yui would blush cutely but mutter with a poker face that she hadn't done it on purpose. And Setsuna would throw her hands up, shout, and vividly describe my "feat," which she hadn't even witnessed, including details no one had told her.

As a result, I learned from that pink ball of energy named Mina Ashido, who controls acid, that running from one Ground to another without getting expelled from the exam is "cool."

Tenya Iida, the bespectacled hypocrite whose quirk allowed him to run really fast, shared with us all that it was "irresponsible."

Thank you, Tenya!

The girl with earphone jacks, whom I met during the exam, introduced herself as Kyoka Jiro and, hesitating, thanked me for covering her from the robots—something I had completely forgotten about. In return, I praised her idea of using the robots as music players, which brought a faint smile to her face.

Eijiro Kirishima—who, as I suspected, was the red-haired Terminator capable of becoming practically indestructible—praised me for such a heroic act of saving a friend and gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder without waiting for a response.

In return, I set a mine under him… I mean, I sicced Mina on him. As it turned out, they had studied together before, like Yui and I, and so the poor guy was a priority target for this pink menace.

The blond Yuga Aoyama, who shoots beams of light from his stomach, boasted that he saw my jump with his own eyes.

And the other blond—Denki Kaminari, who controls lightning—lamented that he hadn't.

An invisible girl—seriously, I could see the folds on the inside of her clothes where her back should have been—introduced herself as Toru Hagakure and supported Yuga, saying "it was awesome." It felt strange, like receiving a compliment from a living school uniform.

I nodded appreciatively and introduced myself in return, although some vague, not-so-good thought regarding this girl scratched at the edges of my consciousness. But I didn't have time to catch it—someone new came to introduce themselves...

Tsuyu Asui, a slender green-haired girl with huge eyes—who could do everything a frog could do (her own words)—thoughtfully remarked that since I had so quickly understood Yui needed my help, I must be really smart and quick-witted.

In response, suddenly recalling Don Juan, I jokingly told her that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to assess her intelligence, but I could assess her appearance, and she was very cute. The girl croaked in surprise (I'm serious. She really croaks. Sometimes I think it would have been better to be reborn in a more sensible place) and blushed, and I modestly confessed that long female hair was my weakness.

Setsuna, on the other end of the class, smirked and straightened her shoulders, earning an elbow in the side from an eye-rolling Yui.

I stuck my tongue out at both of them and mouthed the words "your mom," which left both of them flabbergasted.

Yeah, if you only knew what a magnificent mane of hair Setsuna's mom has, folks...

Finally, the gloomy, bird-headed Tokoyami solemnly declared that during the exam, everyone was on their own, and by helping others stay on the side of Light, I risked plunging myself into darkness.

And his deskmate, Hanta Sero—the one with tape for elbows—advised him to lighten up. And offered us some wasabi peanuts.

At some point, the flow of people arriving in the class—and stumbling over me—almost dried up, allowing me to exhale and look at the clock in despair. Only twenty minutes had passed… yet I felt like I'd been welcoming guests at a formal dinner for hours.

Apparently, with my habits and activities, I had turned into a full-blown introvert.

But at least I got the chance to observe my classmates.

Yui and Momo quickly found common ground, so my first friend, in her usual manner, sat on my desk facing Yaoyorozu, and they quietly discussed some details of using their quirks.

Mina and Setsuna—the two chaos adepts of this class—hit it off instantly, and in the fire of their wit, the world burned, and people's nerves melted, and it was wonderful.

Seriously, I love watching some people annoy others.

Setsuna quickly explained to her newfound friend that it was best not to mess with me—I would sharply shut down any attempts at wit (I hadn't noticed such talents in myself, but she knows best). And although the bubbly girl occasionally tried to test my resilience, Tokage dragged her off to wind up easier targets. Look, Kirishima is already as red as his hair.

Or take, for example, the student council's spirit-obsessed Iida, who was pestering the delinquent Bakugo, who was settling into the "column" of desks next to mine, one row ahead. Apparently, the delinquent had put his feet up on the table. His own table, mind you. And in the neat world of the runner, where everyone lives by the rulebook and picks up after their dogs, this was unacceptable.

If there's a fight, I'm totally siding with the blond!

With twenty minutes left before the start of classes, only four people were missing, and I started guessing which original characters I wouldn't see in the room, squeezed in here along with the girls—instead of them.

The purple dwarf? Well, most likely… it's a lost cause.

According to Yui's story about their encounter, he behaved very unheroically during the exam. If the best institution in the country for training… blah blah blah… would accept such a person, I'd be very disappointed.

Pushing Yui off the desk, I dug into my backpack and began discreetly flipping through my notes about the original heroes. This particular one was encrypted anyway.

And yes, I brought almost all my main notebooks. Of course, they had long been scanned and printed, so the value lay elsewhere—I had an idea about how to use them...

Hmm. I remembered having some guy in my notes who looked like a banana. Something related to power, I think… nobody like that among us.

I mean, except for me and Midoriya...

Maybe that's the reason? Since both he and I—we're both "typical enhancer" quirk users, yeah—ended up in Class "A," this banana guy got assigned to Class "B" to ensure maximum diversity of quirks in each class, and we could learn to work as a team and face a wide variety of opponents. Makes sense?

Makes sense to me. It's just a pity I have little idea about most of the abilities of my parallel classmates. I remember there was some guy in Class "B" who could copy others' powers—I was impressed with such a quirk fifteen years ago, or rather, with the whining of its owner, considering how powerful it is and how much interesting stuff could be done with it. And I know of those who were unofficially recommended to enroll in U.A., like Ibara, the Catholic.

By the way, the fourth student, who was fully and officially recommended—instead of Setsuna—turned out to be a rather notable character I read a couple of articles about this month. Guevardan.

Returning to my new classmates… did I forget anyone else?

I glanced around. No Izuku. No Gravity Girl. Hmm. Well, no Mashirao, but that's understandable. Let's assume I'm here instead of him. The Banana-Man isn't here… well, let's assume Setsuna-Man took his place. Yui knocked out the dwarf...

I shifted my gaze to the door, lazily propping my chin with my hands.

Two people entered the class, almost colliding.

Wait.

Neither of them had green hair.

I suddenly focused, my brain snapping into combat mode, and my eyes darted from person to person in the room as I feverishly counted my classmates. Three in the first row, four in the second, three in the third, three in mine… no, forgot Iida, four… and only two in the last...

Sixteen. Whew. Sixteen. And two newcomers. There are still two spots for the main protagonist of the story because how could we handle all the events without One-for-All, I can't even ima...

I shifted my gaze back to the newcomers, one of whom—a girl, to be precise—was purposefully heading straight for me.

And in a moment, I finally realized who I was looking at.

And yes, at that moment, my elbows slipped, and my forehead helplessly hit the desk.

Lifting my head slightly, I continued to watch the new faces from under my brow, ignoring the surprise of a couple of classmates at my reaction. Look, even Setsuna had recognized her and was slightly frowning.

Although, to be honest, I'm probably the only one here who really knows her.

What the hell have I done...

So, two people entered.

One was a short, gray-haired guy, the same one who was following me during the exam. Kami-sama, how could he get into Class "A" of the hero course? Seriously? I left him with only a few robots he wouldn't even know how to handle properly. In future events, he's practically useless… yes, a sleep-inducing mist is great, and he's good with it, using his quirk wisely. But he has no combat skills! And because of the sleep-inducing effect, he can't use it as a screen in tandem with allies! Oh, what a hassle.

And the other person was that same blonde who was about to cut someone up at Setsuna's school. Now, I had no doubt that she would have done it if I hadn't intervened. And that same graceful girl, running on robots, whose movements I admired. My sharp reaction was because I… finally… recognized her. Damn, it took me meeting her THREE TIMES to finally recognize her. Since when did I become so dumb?

However, to be honest, I recognized her only because of her hairstyle: this time, she carelessly twisted her rather long hair into two messy buns on either side of her head, a style in the anime that was only drawn for her. Apparently, waist-length hair really is my weakness...

Toga. Toga, bloody hell, Himiko. One of the main antagonists of the series. One of the most deranged psychopaths in anime. She attacked people, she cut people, she drank other people's blood, she took part in terrorist acts, and, finally, she didn't shy away from mass killings.

It was her I stopped, apparently, just before she chose her villainous path. It seems it was me who convinced her not to fight society but to force it to accept her. It was I who brought her to U.A.'s hero course.

And now she's walking right toward me...

Probably, if she had kept her old school hairstyle, I might not have recognized her even now—loose hair, well… you get the point. Also, she was generally known in the anime for her acting skills. In fact, at Setsuna's school, I perceived her as just an ordinary girl. And her quirk, which turned Toga into a maniac, allows her to take on someone else's appearance. And in the future—even to take on others' quirks!

And all she needs for that is to sip someone's blood. If I remember correctly, the more, the better the effect.

Yes… an exemplary candidate for a pro hero.

My tense mind noted another fact: Toga and the as-yet-unnamed "fog-man" entered the classroom almost simultaneously; however, they weren't together. Instead, they came from different directions, and neither wanted to give way. This resulted in a brief hesitation: they nearly collided at the door, each reacting with an irritated look. Apparently, they're not acquainted.

However, while Toga just glanced at the fog-man with a dissatisfied look, as if he were a mere fly, and continued onward, straight and purposeful like an icebreaker... the fog-man clearly recognized her and froze in place, as if struck by lightning, tensely shifting his gaze from her... to me.

It seemed as though he had been planning to approach me…

But then he encountered Toga and changed his plan. Interesting—where could he theoretically know her from? Did he see her doing something scary in some alley? Or did they study together? There seem to be quite a few coincidences here.

On one hand, if the gray-haired guy knew the blonde psychopath, she would have recognized him too. On the other hand, Himiko shows no reaction to Setsuna, even though they went to the same school and definitely met each other. My green-haired friend clearly recognized her and was now watching her with surprise, having dropped out of her conversation with the pink, horned ball of energy.

Meanwhile, warily glancing around the classroom, the gray-haired guy slowly made his way to his desk, which was also in 'Siberia,' in the last row.

For a moment, our eyes met. I… didn't like his eyes. A very heavy gaze, as if this person—still quite young, judging by his slender appearance—had already made difficult decisions. Killed. And faced death.

I don't know what the eyes of such people look like, but that's the association that comes to mind.

Not good.

Neither he nor Himiko greeted or introduced themselves to anyone.

Meanwhile, Toga, nearly shoving aside a couple of girls standing between the rows, reached me.

Not sure what to expect, I still thought she might say hello. At least to me. Or introduce herself. Or, I don't know, give some speech about eternal love until sweet death, which is waiting for you tomorrow, or whatever else crazy yanderes do…

At that moment, it was decidedly impossible to mistake her for a hero: her face had an unhealthy flush, her eyes shone feverishly, and her lips stretched into such a predatory grin that Kuchisake-onna, meeting such a Himiko Toga in an alley, would have shoved her questions about beauty deep down and dived into the nearest sewer drain.

The girl's smile clearly showed her fangs.

She would pass by me in three, two, one…

… and Toga calmly walked past me without uttering a word.

Okay.

Uhh...

I think I understand her plan.

I slowly straightened up and just as slowly placed a hand over my face, covering my eyes with my fingers.

I barely know her, but I already feel embarrassed by her actions. As if feeling secondhand embarrassment for an awkward acquaintance or a chuunibyou sister. Speaking of chuunibyou, also known as "Eighth-Grader Syndrome" or, literally, "Second Year Middle School Syndrome," it refers to an unknown-to-science condition affecting young teens who are sincerely convinced of their exceptional and genius abilities and are thus obsessed with delusions of grandeur. Just like Todoroki and Bakugo in this class, hehe.

But, getting back to Himiko's actions... Kami-sama, why am I cursed with this other syndrome, the syndrome of secondhand embarrassment? What did I do wrong in this life?

Apparently, I just wanted to be a hero at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Behind me, it was quiet.

Turning slightly, I removed my hand, instead propping up my mighty chin, and began watching what was happening. I could have used some popcorn, of course. Let's see…

Himiko Toga was standing over a cowering and pale Momo Yaoyorozu's desk, just… staring. Well, not just staring. There wasn't a trace left of that creepy smile, but a frown creased her forehead, her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes, and her gaze carried a serious threat. It felt like she was just a moment away from hitting the poor raven-haired girl, who didn't know where to hide from those eyes…