Chapter Text
This is stupid, Toji thinks as he stares up at the massive H- shaped building in front of him.
It wouldn‘t look out of place in a mall or a city center, but for a school…?
He shakes his head and walks through the gates, his feet silent on the red-bricked way. UA was a hero school, the hero school, they were practically swimming in money. Why waste it like this?
The closer he gets, the more impressive and intimidating it seems, with wide reflective windows and tall enough to touch the clouds. If Toji really was the fourteen year old boy he is currently masquerading as, maybe he would’ve been impressed.
Maybe.
Soundlessly, he walks through the entrance gate and past a few other hero- hopefuls. He’s somewhat late, so the few kids that he sees are hurrying past him, trying to get into the building on time. Toji doesn’t hurry- could you imagine? No, he takes his time walking through the corridors, with seemingly no care in the world. He didn’t bother reading the information online or memorizing the school’s structure, instead relying on his senses to guide him through the maze that is the school, walking past countless seemingly identical closed doors.
Not this one, not this one… not this one either. Ah, probably this one. The chatter of hundreds of people slips past the walls, like the senseless muttering and buzzing of fly heads.
Toji opens the door and slips into the auditorium silently. No one notices him as he keeps to the shadows, not even the man explaining the exam to the students at the front.
(Toji has to hide a snort at the man‘s get up. Even for a hero, this is just plain ridiculous.)
He slips into an empty seat soundlessly, not even alerting the students next to him to his presence. One seems to have tentacles (?) dangling from her ears and the other‘s head is that of a shark.
Toji eyes the images being projected on the screen, tuning out the hero‘s blabbering as good as he can. Large mechanical structures take up the space on the image, with built in lasers and other weapons meant to seriously harm. Toji grins. Robots… so their goal is to destroy them? He looks at the numbers written on their backs and sides- a pointer system then.
“Excuse me!“
Tojis attention snaps to the right, where one of the examinees is standing up and shouting at the teacher.
“-have clearly listed four types of faux villains, not three. With all due respect, as a highly prestigious academy-…”
Toji rolls his eyes. What are they teaching the kids nowadays? The fourth type, without numbers, is probably just meant to be a hindrance. Even an idiot could guess that.
Toji observes, uninterested, how the student turns around to berate some poor kid in the back for… muttering? Toji yawns and leans back in his chair. This school is nuts. Is Toji the only sane person here?
His eyes catch on the robots again. As boring as it is, this is probably the best case scenario for him. No need to hold back in fear of injuring someone. That wouldn’t be very heroic.
With so many participants Toji would need at least… fifty or forty points to pass. No, make that sixty or higher. He needed to compensate for his probably abysmal written test scores.
He is barely aware that the hero dismisses them and the teenagers start to stand up. He sighs and follows, preparing himself for a disappointing battle.
(He doesn’t notice the girl next to him startling as she notices him, asking herself how she didn’t hear him come.)
Toji scratches his chin as he scans the mock city opening up in front of him. UA really does have a lot of money to throw around. Robots, an entire fake city… what’s next, an unnecessarily expensive security system?
(Nedzu, who is watching the examinees from said unnecessarily expensive security system, suddenly sneezes. Hmm, better prepare an herbal tea… wouldn’t want to get sick at the start of the school year!)
He double checks his equipment strapped to his utility belt and his back. None really come close to his cursed tools back in his old life, but they will have to do for now. A katana at his belt, multiple knifes, a good old grappling hook, some smaller blades hidden in his shoes and under his loose shirt for emergencies. Sadly, his trusted curse worm also doesn’t exist here, so he’ll have to do things the old fashioned way. He just hopes no one suspects the gun.
He stretches slowly, ignoring the looks lingering on his weapons. From what he sees, almost no one brought anything besides the clothes on their backs, relying on their quirks to carry them through the exam. Well, it’s their loss. Wait, bringing his own weapons is allowed, right? Ah well. Someone would have stopped him by now if it wasn’t.
The obnoxious voice of the hero from before rings out, blabbering some other unnecessary nonsense, but Toji only registers one word:
“START!”
He shots off, faster than the other students can comprehend, already nearly out of sight when the rest starts moving. He grins, unsheathing his katana in one smooth move and slicing an incoming robot in half. The two parts emit sparks, stuttering before shutting down completely, but in that short time Toji already took down two other three- pointer robots.
He grins, rolling his shoulders. This is going to be fun.
Five minutes and two dozen robots later Toji is starting to get annoyed by the other kids butting in. There are still more than enough targets, but the multitude of quirks being thrown around is throwing him off course.
One kid fried himself and half a dozen other robots unlucky enough to be in his vicinity, and it’s probably just through sheer dumb luck that he didn’t take out other students with him. Toji, who was at the edge of the attack’s range, contemplates ‘accidentally’ tripping the now incoherent kid but he decides against it. If he’ll make it into the hero course they’ll have enough time to duke it out.
He runs past a few other students, searching for the now rather scarce robots.
His instincts tingle, and he throws a knife in the direction of a dead end alley, nailing the one- pointer in the head just as another student was about to finish it off.
“Tough luck”, he sneers as their face scrunches up in fury. He runs past them, hopping on a fire escape and quickly onto a roof. Jumping from building to building, he spreads his gaze through the alleys.
There- he jumps off, readying his katana and slicing through two robots at once before turning his jump into a roll. When he stands up, he dodges another robot’s laser and slices his arm off before delivering a fatal kick to its head. The dented-in area smokes faintly, and Toji jumps back as it explodes. The hairs at the back of his neck stand up and he ducks under the body of a student being thrown back. He turns and stabs the offending robot.
He doesn’t bother checking for the student and rushes past.
Toji is on the roof again when the ground starts to tremble. He swears and starts to fall as the building under him caves in. He jumps, landing on another roof, casting his gaze out towards the disturbance.
In the north of the fake city, at the edge of the exam area, a giant green something emerges from the rubble.
Its massive body rises like a phoenix from its ashes, moving slowly and sluggishly due to its size.
Toji starts to grin as he realizes that its shape matches the one of the zero pointer- just a thousand times bigger.
Students start to run away from the emerging monster as the end of the practical exam draws near, but Toji stays motionless on the roof, his hand flexing around the hilt of his katana as he thinks.
He sheathes the sword, crouches down at the edge and stares down the robot as his mind starts to work.
As much as it annoys him to admit it, he can’t brute force his way to victory with this opponent, however it shouldn’t be very hard to destroy the robot. The head is where the important technological stuff usually is right? If Toji manages to destroy it, it might stop the robot too.
With a nod Toji stands, taking a few steps back before vaulting over the edge of the rooftop. His feet barely make a sound on the concrete as he lands on the next building, accelerating more and more. The ground blurs beneath his feet as the robot comes closer and closer, until there is no steady roof for him to step on anymore. Toji exhales, putting enough force in his legs to crack the cement beneath them and jumps.
He soars through the air, longer and further than any normal human, until he hits his target, the right arm of the robot. His hands quickly find ridges in its metal armor and he clings, gathering his feet under his body for support. The arm moves, rises slowly upwards, and Toji steels his nerves. His feet kick off as he jumps further up, climbing higher and higher. He gains enough movement that he can almost run on the arm, pushing himself further until he reaches the top- and jumps off, just before the arm crashes back down in a cloud of dust and debris.
Toji grunts as he lands on the metal head, skidding over it and dangerously close to the edge until he stabs a knife in the surface to slow his fall. He exhales, hauling himself back up and inspects the metallic mechanism beneath him. Distantly, he hears an announcement warning the students that time is running out.
Toji grins. Better make this quick then.
He raises his knife above his head and stabs down with as much force he can spare, right he is to one of the robots many red eyes.
Glass and metal shards fly everywhere, but Toji doesn’t waver. With a wide slash he carves his head open, exposing a whirring system of wires and sparks as the electricity escapes its bounds. Toji digs deeper, twisting the blade left and right and up and down until the robot starts to stutter. After another minute, sparks fly from the separated wires, and Toji feels the ground under his feet heat up.
His eyes widen as he flings himself downwards, his katana digging into the metal on the robots side. Not a moment too early, for the head explodes seconds after toji left it.
The deafening sound echoes through the fake city, the students turning around to check for the noise. Many of their jaws drop to the floor as they see the now beheaded robot.
(“It’s a malfunction, right? No one would be suicidal enough to actually fight it.. right?”
“Better not question it, in my opinion”)
In the resounding silence, present mics voice is all too clear.
“AND TIME IS OUT! Dear contestant, please head towards the exit! If you’re wounded or otherwise incapacitated, stay where you are, our staff is on the way!”
Toji exhales as clings to the hilt of his katana, his body dangling hundreds of feet in the air. He carefully keeps his breathing under control as he starts to swing his body. After he gains enough momentum, he hauls himself up to stand on the sword hilt, surveying the damage.
The robot is dead, the head still smokes faintly, but all movement has ceased. Its body lies motionless amidst the destruction it caused, but the dust is slowly settling.
Toji extracts his grappling hook from his belt, swinging it towards a nearby building. After making sure his katana is firm in his hands, he swings down, trusting the chain to carry his weight.
His controlled fall turns into a roll as he hits the ground, and he grunts as he feels a painful pull in his shoulder.
He stands up, sheathing his weapons and starts to dust himself off.
“Are you hurt boy? Let this old woman take a look at those scrapes...”
Toji freezes, turning his head to look down on the small elderly woman that suddenly appeared next to him.
“Are you lost, grandma?”, he says, scratching his head. How did she even get in here? Unless it was a contestant? What an absurd quirk.
The woman just chuckles, pointing with her hand at a badge attached to her lab coat:
Shuzenji Chiyo- recovery girl, medical staff
“Huh”, says toji, eyeing the woman. He remembers the loud, yellow haired announcer from before and starts wondering if this entire school is just made up of a bunch of weirdos.
“Sorry, what did you say?”, he asks.
“Your injuries. Do you have any that you want to have looked at?”, recovery girl says with a wrinkly smile.
Right, medical staff.
“I’m good, thanks”, says Toji, ignoring the twinge in his shoulder and the burning of the many, many scrapes and bruises scattered over his body. “I heal fast.”
And it’s the truth- by tomorrow his body will be as good as new. Already he notices the wounds starting to stitch themselves together.
“If you say so”, the granny says with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. Toji scowls, feeling the common teenage urge to disrespect his authorities. Before he can open his mouth, the woman takes something out of her coat pockets. “Take these, at least.”, she says.
Toji stares dumbfounded onto the… gummies?
“They’re full of vitamins!”, she says.
“Uh…” Toji still eyes the candy as if it might kill him. “Thank you?”, he says, but the old woman is already scuttering away to her next victim patient. “What a weirdo”, Toji mumbles, shoving the gummies awkwardly in one of his pockets.
A white- furred paw moves over pages over pages of documents, the chatter of coworkers in the background.
Nezu's eyes are fixed in the screen in front of him, an ever-present cup of tea in hand.
Slowly, he sips the hot liquid as his mind whirls.
“- I swear, these kids are getting more powerful by the year! Did you see the one who fucking melted the robots? Insane, I tell you!”
Yamada’s excited rambling rang through the room, accompanied by grand hand gestures and his waving arms.
“You say that every year, Hizashi”, Nemuri sighs, adjusting her glasses. “Besides, I think the most impressive candidates have to be our recommendation students, no? The Yaoyorozu girl and Endeavor’s son.”
Aizawa grunts next to her, nursing his ninth cup of coffee, still half submerged in his sleeping bag like a particularly ugly butterfly in its cocoon.
“What about you, All might? Taking favorites as well?”, Nemuri says with a teasing smirk, well knowing that the man was replaying the recording of a certain green haired kid over and over with a proud smile on his face.
Said man coughs blood in surprise (that is not healthy??? Someone should take a look at him) and turns around with a nervous smile.
“No, not at all! We simply have similar quirks, that’s all! As a teacher, I cannot become partial to one student in particular!”
“Relax, all might!”, Yamada says as he strolls over and eyes the screen behind him. “We all have favorites! Even Shota, but he always picks the troublesome ones”
“I don’t”, they hear said man grumble from the distance.
“Who’s your kid, all might?” Yamada looks over his sunglasses, only to burst out in snickers at the sight of the kid.
“Seriously? The bone breaker kid? Jeez, you really got your work cut out for you here!”
“Oh?”, Nemuri says, scooting closer.
“Hmm… I do see a certain resemblance… say, All Might, are you keeping an illegitimate child of yours running around?”
She laughs as all might turns red and starts to cough up even more blood in an effort to correct her (seriously, what is wrong with this man) before she waves her hand dismissively. “Relax, I’m just pulling your leg. You’re too much of a softie for that.”
“You’re making a good point, Nemuri!”, says Nezu over All Might’s sputtering.
“The bone breaker kid should be put in Aizawa’s class this year. Nullification will surely play a crucial part in keeping this one at bay.”
Aizawa just grunts into his coffee as confirmation, but Nezu believes he sees a triumphant glint in his eyes.
“Hold on!”, Kan butts in out of nowhere, “there is no way I’m letting you take all the powerful ones this year Aizawa! If you get the bone breaker kid then I want Bakugo.”
“Bad idea”, says Aizawa with his eyes still glued on the screen. “He’s got a dangerous quirk and a temper that’s just as explosive. You’d never get him to respect you.”
Aizawa ignores Kan’s following screeching and hides his smirk in his cup as Nezu scribbles Bakugo’s name down under Midoriya’s in Aizawa’s column.
“Give me the copy kid at least! And I want Todoroki on top!”, Kan shouts, his face as red as his costume.
“I’ve already put him in 1A along with Yaoyorozu. However, I think Monoma will do well in your class, along with the remaining two recommendation students.”
That seems to calm Kan down somewhat, though he still crosses is arms in a pout.
(Aizawa sends him the barest if smirks and mouths the word ‘loser’ at him, which sends him into another fit, though by now every teacher is long ignoring him. Except All Might, who debates reaching out to him before deciding against it.)
“What do we do about the big shot?”, Nemuri asks, her fingers clacking away on a keyboard as she searches for the right file.
The room falls into silence as they all turn to one of the bigger screens, displaying an image of the top ranking student, frozen in time atop the hilt of his sword several hundred feet suspended in the air.
They all had watched starting out with interest as the boy mowed his way through the faux villains, turning into awe at his capabilities, incredulity, fear at his acrobatic stunts, and at the end, shock. the teenager had broken the school record by miles, leaving in the dust Endeavour’s and even All Might’s scores by more than thirty points.
By then end of the exam, one question was in all their minds: who was this kid?
“His name is Fushiguro Toji”, starts Nemuri, eyes scanning his file. “Born on December thirty- first, age fourteen,gGender: male. His quirk-“ Nemuri cuts off. She readjusts her glasses, squints at the screen, but the answer doesn’t change.
She turns to Nezu, eyes wide open in shock. “Principal, is this true?”
“What?”, Yamaha asks curiously, sensing the tension in the room.
“You’re not reading it wrong, Nemuri”, Nezu says, a small smile playing on his lips. “Fushiguro-kun doesn’t have a quirk. He’s quirkless.”
There is a moment of silence before shocked and outraged voices fill the room, everyone gathering around Nemuri as they stare at the boys file.
“I thought it was just basic strength enhancement… but quirkless? Are we sure this is true? Could there be a failure in the system?”, Cementoss’ voice questions.
Nezu shakes his head. “I have to deny. I’ve already checked his file multiple times.”
The murmurs resume, filling the air with incredulous mutters. The only ones who haven’t said anything are Aizawa, and, surprisingly, All Might.
“Is this even allowed?”, the letter breaks his silence with furrowed brows, wringing his hands in an uncharacteristic display of unease.
“I mean… can a quirkless student truly protect themselves in the workplace of a hero?”
The voices die down, one by one every person in the room turning to look at All Might.
“Wow”, Nemuri breaks the silence after a while. “That was pretty quirkist. I wouldn’t have expected that from you, All Might.”
Said man starts to wave his hands in upset.
“That’s not what I meant at all! I’m simply worried for the student’s well-being, without a quirk to protect himself!”
“I don’t know”, Aizawa says, his tired eyes boring into All Might’s. “I think the results speak for themselves.” He nods over to the screen, clicking through some of today’s footage. Fushiguro climbing the zero pointer, Fushiguro beheading two robots at once, skillfully dodging projectiles and performing multiple complicatic acrobatic sequences, all seemingly without breaking g a sweat.
“Fushiguro is obviously highly trained”, Aizawa says, “or he would have gotten himself seriously injured.” The footage jumps to Fushifuro rolling skillfully on the ground, turning the momentum of his fall into a boost of speed.
“He knows what he’s doing.” On the screen, he jumps off the zero pointer only to stop his fall with his sword.
“He might seem like any other attention and adrenaline seeking teenager, fighting the biggest target just to prove he can, unregarding of the consequences” Aizawa shoots All Might a look “but he clearly engaged the zero pointer with a plan in mind, which can’t be said for other contenders” another look ” he doesn’t panic, doesn’t even waste a single move, and he deserves his spot at the top, regardless of quirk or no quirk.”
Fushiguro stands in the middle of the debris, the destroyed, smoking robot behind him, sheathing his katana.
“Denying him a spot in UA or even treating him differently would be not only a great act of cowardice and discrimination on sides of the school, but would also cause the loss of one of the greatest talents UA might have ever seen.”
The assembled staff watches in silence as the recording ends, showing the still picture of the teen with recovery girl by its side.
With his posture and the sword hanging off his waist, he already looks more dangerous than all students in that area combined. Dangerous, and deadly.
“Well spoken, Aizawa.”, Nezu says in The resounding silence. In fact, I’ve decided to put him into 1A as well.” He raises a paw before Kan can open his mouth. “While Fushiguro has more than enough destructive strength, it’s time to test if he is willing to work together with others as well. I think Aizawa and the many other strong personalities in his class will be able to teach him that.”
Aizawa shoots him a look. “You intend to pit him and Bakugo against each other.”
Nezu shrugs. “From what I’ve seen of Bakugo, they are going to clash eventually, different classes or not. Better suffocate that problem in at the source than let it fester and explode in our faces later.”
The practical exam goes… well. It goes.
Toji thinks he at least passed the math part, but he fears he botched the entire section on history and literature. And it he’s written even one sentence right in the English part he’ll consider himself a lucky man. Well, now he can’t do anything about it. It would be embarrassing though, to pass his chance to enter UA because it his written test, of all things. Toji grins at the thought that the best scoring participant in the practical exam doesn’t even make it into the school.
Because, let’s be real, even with his stunt with the one pointer, there is no way anyone destroyed more robots than him.
Still, his confidence wanes every day without an answer, and Toji contemplates saying fuck it and applying to another school rather than being ignored, but that’s just the day his fingers finally brush paper when he checks the mailbox.
One hundred and thirty eight points. Not bad.
With a satisfied grin, Toji scans the ranking list, his eyes catching on his name at the very top, more than sixty points above the second place. He feels a familiar elation curse through him, the satisfaction that despite countless contestants with incredible quirks, incredible powers, he is the one who outshines them all, who stand so high over them that they can’t even hope to reach him.
He closes his eyes, a sense of calm washing over him. He barely even registers the projection of All Might still rambling in the background.
A quirkless monkey against hundreds of powerful, deadly quirks- and he still won.
When Toji reopens his eyes, they are steeled with determination.
I’ll show them all.
“This is your hero academia!”
“-emia”
“-Hero academia!
“How do I turn this thing off-“