Chapter Text
A beep rang out as Shouta pressed the button on the stopwatch and he took a moment to record the results of the test before calling out the result: “3.04 seconds.” Top record so far.
Had he been anyone else, Shouta might have congratulated the kid with engines in his legs (Iida) for good performance, but he wasn’t, so instead he gave a slight, approving nod at the student. This exercise wasn’t about praising the newest UA students for completing simple tests, it was about gauging their current abilities both, to see if they had any potential and to use the recorded results as a baseline for future exercises. In the coming months it would be good for the kids to see how much (or how little) progress they had made between now and then.
Though, for the data to be useful, the kids would first have to keep their status as UA students by proving their worth as potential future heroes.
Shouta had told the students he would expel anyone who came last as an incentive for the kids to do their best and judging by the serious expressions on the hero students’ faces it had worked as expected. There was no time to play on the hero course and that was a message he tried to drive home from day one.
However, while he had said that he was going to expel the student who came last, there was no doubt that if more than one student showed no promise as heroes then he wouldn’t be afraid to expel them all.
So far it was becoming clear which of the students showed promise under pressure and who were struggling with the unforeseen tests. The kids with previous training (Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, to name a few) were acing the tests, but there were others that were doing generally well in most of the tests despite (assumedly) having no such training (the explosive kid, Bakugou was one of them). Then there were the kids with quirks especially suited for one of the tests, who managed to increase their points by succeeding particularly well in those tests (as shown by Uraraka and her performance at the ball throw test).
Then, finally, there were the students who were struggling with the tests. There were kids who did not have physical quirks to aid them in the tests (Hagakure and Jirou, for example), and there were kids whose quirks didn’t get their chance to shine in this particular environment (such as Sero). Shouta didn’t blame them for not exceeding some of the other kids in tests that were, by nature, skewed against them – after all, it wasn’t like he had been much better at that age, what with his own non-physical quirk and lack of previous training. Those students just happened to be unlucky, and he couldn’t punish them for that (at least not unless they showed utter lack of potential).
No, what Shouta was more interested in was how the threat of expulsion affected those who were already struggling with the tests.
And so far there was one student in particular who stood out from the rest.
Midoriya Izuku.
A month earlier, after the entrance exam results had come out and the new hero students had been split into two classes, Shouta had taken time to look through the video feed taken during the practical exam, and Midoriya had caught his attention already back then. There was no one among the staff who wasn’t aware of the kid who broke three of his limbs during the exam, but while some of the fools (namely, All Might) had called Midoriya’s actions during the exam heroic, Shouta knew better than that. What he had seen in Midoriya’s behaviour hadn’t been heroism, it had been recklessness. Recklessness that, if left without guidance, would sooner or later lead to death.
So, from the moment Shouta had become aware he was going to be teaching that particular student, he had known he would have to keep an eye on him. Someone who’d acted so recklessly during an exam was bound to show the same signs of reckless sooner or later, and then it would be Shouta’s job to see whether that recklessness could be harnessed into something less destructive or whether he’d have to cut Midoriya’s path towards becoming a hero short.
To Shouta's surprise, instead of the recklessness he had expected, what Midoriya had shown during the tests so far was almost the opposite. Instead of throwing himself to tests without a care for his own health, Midoriya had approached each test with the confidence of a skittish animal, stopping before each task with a look of vague dread on his face. Gone was the kid who’d flaunted his destructive quirk by destroying the zero pointer, and in his place was someone who barely used his quirk at all. The sparkling green veins dancing on the kid's skin Shouta had seen in the videos from the exam were present from time to time, but they were always gone within seconds, wavering away the moment Midoriya got distracted by something. It was like watching a flickering lightbulb try to come to life before someone turned the power off.
It was odd to say the least.
With that oddity in his mind, Shouta watched Midoriya attempt the grip strength test, the now familiar green sparks running up the boy’s hand and arm before flickering out just when he’d been about to grip the actual device, just like it had done earlier the moment Midoriya had attempted the long jump. Had Shouta not known the truth, he would’ve thought he was watching someone who was just learning to use his quirk for the very first time.
And that was something Shouts couldn't allow to continue. The field of heroics was dangerous and they couldn’t let just anyone become a hero, especially not someone who seemed to be almost deathly afraid of his own quirk. In the field one has to act in the face of danger and there is no time for hesitation. In the field you wouldn’t be able to save anyone if you hesitated. And so far the only thing Midoriya had shown was hesitation.
You need to do better than that, Shouta thought to himself, his gaze drifting away from the green haired kid and towards the other students, ready to write Midoriya off so that he could focus on those who actually showed potential. However, before he could do that, his thoughts got interrupted by a low frustrated sound only a couple meters away.
“I’m trying”, Midoriya muttered, brows furrowed. “It’s not as easy as it sounds”, he huffed as he raised his gaze from the ground, their gazes meeting as he did so.
“Back talking already?” Shouta wondered, raising one eyebrow questioningly at Midoriya, the boy freezing like a deer in headlights with a bright red flush running up his face.
“Sorry, I wasn’t- I didn’t mean to- Sorry!”, Midoriya said hurriedly, waving his hands in front of him, face red and eyes moving around as if looking for something to hide behind as Shouta gave him a long, silent look, letting the boy squirm for a moment before taking pity on him.
“Midoriya, it’s your turn”, he stated, tilting his head towards the ball mound. He hadn’t actually been paying attention to whose turn it was to attempt the ball throw, but there hadn’t been a reason to keep record of turns as long as he kept record of the results so it was fine. The best part of teaching at UA was being able to teach just the way he wanted to and a logical ruse never hurt anyone.
Still red faced, Midoriya nodded before scurrying towards said mound, stopping only for a second before returning to retrieve the ball from Shouta.
And here I thought he couldn’t get any redder, he thought as he handed the ball over.
Looking mortified, Midoriya hurried to the ball mound Shouta following a few steps behind him, watching the kid’s each move closely as he got ready to record the results of the throw.
Just like before during the earlier tests, Midoriya tensed, his body full of jitters as he muttered to himself. Shouta wasn't close enough to hear, but he thought he heard the boy talk about only using one percent of something.
One percent of what?
Still stiff as a board, Midoriya got ready to throw the ball. Slowly, he pulled one arm back like a pitcher getting ready to pitch, the sparkling green veins flickering to life, running from his fingertips to all over his body. However, just as soon as they’d appeared, the veins disappeared and Shouts could see Midoriya’s visible confusion even before the ball had time to leave his hand.
“I erased your quirk”, Shouta explained as the kid turned around and let the effects of his quirk linger for a moment before turning it off and digging through his pockets for eye drops. With the way Midoriya’s quirk kept turning off on its own it had probably been unnecessary to erase it, but people usually tended to listen more keenly after having their quirk erased for a moment. “From what I’ve seen so far it’s clear that you’re not giving this your all. Are you afraid of breaking your bones again?”
There was a quiet squeak behind him that sounded vaguely like “again?”. With the other tests over, it seemed like there was a crowd of other students beginning to form around the mound. Shouta didn't pay them any attention, focusing instead on the kid standing in front of him.
Shouta wasn't sure whether it was his words or the realisation about Shouta being Eraserhead, but something seemed to snap Midoriya out of it, his earlier embarrassment replaced by a sudden calmness that hadn't been there just a moment ago.
“I don’t want to become a burden by accidentally hurting myself”, the boy answered, looking at Shouta for a moment before moving his gaze to his hands, clenching and unclenching them in the air in front of him. “I cannot help anyone if I’m hurt”, he said, finally clenching his fist into a fist.
Whatever had happened between the entrance exam and this moment, it had clearly been enough to change the kid's attitude towards his own quirk (though it wasn't yet clear if that was a good thing or not). It was something about the tone the teen used that made it sound like he was perhaps repeating something someone else had told him.
“As noble as that is, you cannot help anyone by being afraid of your own quirk either”, Shouta stated, using the moment to put eye drops into his eyes. “And from what I’ve seen you’ve let that fear sabotage you to the point of failing. In the field, that hesitation is something that will get you or someone else killed”, he continued, turning his whole attention to Midoriya.
“If you want to convince me that you have what it takes to be a hero, then you have this one chance to impress me.”
Let's see how you'll do under pressure.
No matter what happened next, Shouta knew this would be a turning point. Either Midoriya would give up and they would all know he didn’t have it in him, or he would think of something that would let him keep his place in the hero course. Either way, this test would determine how things were going to go from now on.
Midoriya swallowed, but didn't say anything, just nodded with a new sort of resolve in his posture. He too knew that this was his final chance, but instead of backing down he was going to use the chance to do his best, and that was enough to sharpen the look in Shouta's eyes.
He handed the student another ball, and took a step back letting the boy take a moment to gather himself. Another point in his favour; someone else might have rushed in panic after being given such an ultimatum, but Midoriya managed to keep his cool despite the nervous muttering.
“What do I do?” Midoriya muttered to himself, turning the ball around in his hands. He probably hadn't meant for Shouta to hear his words, and it seemed like none of the other students had heard the boy, too busy chattering amongst themselves about the approaching lunch and the orientation they were missing. It seemed that Midoriya’s stalling had lost their attention a while ago.
“Five percent? Really?” Midoriya continued his cryptical muttering before nodding to himself. “Okay. I’ll try.”
As weird as the boy’s words were, this wasn't the first time someone gave themself a pep talk, so Shouta didn't comment on it. There were weirder routines people did when preparing for tests.
This time when Midoriya activated his quirk the green sparkly veins were brighter – nothing nearly as bright as during the entrance exam, but no longer flickering between existence and non-existence – and that was enough to show that something was different from the previous attempt. Midoriya, who’d been afraid of his quirk just moments ago, had gathered the courage to try something new and that already was a good sign.
Then, with a careful breath, Midoriya pulled his arm back, the sparks growing brighter as he did so, and then, between one blink and another, he threw the ball with all of his sparkling might, the ball disappearing into the distance. After a couple of seconds, the measuring device in Shouta's hand informed him that the ball had flown a good distance away from them – not nearly as far as some of the other students’ throws but a decent amount further than what was the average result (excluding Uraraka’s infinity throw) of the test so far.
The moment Midoriya turned to face him it was clear that all of the previous fear was gone, the proud grin on his face enough to make the corners of Shouta’s lips curl up into a smirk of his own.
The throw was nowhere near enough to make up for the poor results of Midoriya’s earlier tests and he ended up in the last place, but no matter how ready Shouta had been to expel the teen at the beginning of the tests, he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t impressed by how quickly the he had been able to overcome his fear. Adaptability was a good quality in a hero and something he could appreciate.
It seemed like no one was getting expelled after all.