Edit: I've stopped crossposting, by the way. Spacebattles has the fully updated one, it's up to chapter 35 when I made this edit.
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[Lina Deguchiya nee Schweinebauer]
"So the finals didn't happen." Said Netsumaru, to the general disappointment of her coworkers.
"I guess the kid with the super-strength quirk didn't get cleared?" Replied Nobi. Natsumaru shook his head in the negative.
"Nah, the other guy bowed out. That Midoriya kid's something else, but I really think he had a good chance. Couldn't have been harder than Endeavor's kid, you know?" He shrugged, ending the discussion.
"Hey, are you talking about the UA sports festival?" Said Hanabi, panting and sweating. She had just finished her shift in the reactor, which would then make Lina next.
On cue, the foreman called out. "Deguchiya, you're up!" Finally. Lina hopped off of her too-large seat in the break room, getting into her safety suit in precisely the correct amount of time. As she waited for her margin of error to expire, it occurred to her that even though she was busy eating, she probably should have watched the Sports Festival this year. Tenya was in it, after all, and he could probably still fly at least a little bit, so he would be easy to spot.
Then the hatch opened, and she shut out that scrap of doubt and went through the usual checks. After confirming that the reactor had been properly set up to handle her quirk, she splayed her fingers, focused the parameters of her quirk to the optimal temperature and power output, and launched ten searing white lasers at the designated points.
One very boring fifteen minutes later, her quirk was spent, so she stripped herself of her safety gear and returned to her coworkers. They immediately noticed her presence, and seemed… odd. She couldn't place their expressions, but it was definitely something new.
"Hey… Deguchiya, right?" Started Netsumaru. She nodded. Why did they suddenly take an interest in her? She thought they had a good thing going, she pretended they didn't exist, and they gave her the same courtesy. "Do you have a brother or something in the UA Sports Festival?"
Lina's eyebrow twitched. Calmly, she replied: "I have a son that goes to UA, yes. My little Tenya's in the business course, and I couldn't be prouder."
Netsumaru looked shocked, but Hanabi, who knew her actual age, whispered in his ear. Nobi saved him from embarrassing himself further by continuing the conversation. "I'll bet. He got second place!"
Lina's first impulse was to immediately scoff and ask why they're wasting her time when he didn't get first, but she stopped that to think. "In the first event?" While Tenya's quirk had a vastly weaker output then hers did at the same age, despite being much better fed, if he was practicing when he was off doing what middle school boys do in the afternoons between study sessions, he might have gotten his flight fast enough to manage an obstacle race, and she vaguely recalled Netsumaru saying that was what the first event was that morning.
Netsumaru shook his head. "The whole thing. He got first in the first two events." Now there was a surprise. While she never faulted Tenya's hard work in the various activities and sports, she was always rather disappointed that he never found his true talent, that would let him actually win instead of being the perpetual first loser. And he beat out the actual hero students? What kind of crappy hero program was UA running that they got shown up by her talentless son? Was he training in secret? She saw that he was working hard at the business program, and he never even hinted… Was she a bad mother for not supporting his heroic ambitions? She tried to push him towards finding what he was good at, so he could escape her own blue collar existence, but his hard work could never bridge the gap of talent.
"Really?" Lina floundered for a moment, trying to properly convey her surprise in a socially acceptable way. "How?" Drat.
"Shouldn't you know? He flew around, exploded things, carved a chunk of arena into a gun, completely shut down Endeavor's kid with some kind of ice-melting thing… What is his quirk, anyway?" Nobi's expression had become rather disapproving as he continued. Oh no, she is a bad mother, isn't she?
"It's Mathemagician. It's kind of like my Reactor, but much weaker, and he needs to math out what he's doing. He's always been such a clever boy, figuring out all kinds of tricks, but it's... " She gestured vaguely. "Slow, weak, and he runs out of energy so quickly… I don't even remember the last time I've seen Tenya practice…"
Hanabi came and gave her a hug. "Don't worry about it Lina, I'm sure he was just keeping it a secret. It's just how teenagers are."
Netsumaru couldn't resist putting someone down though. "Also, your quirk is literally the strongest in the entire japanese energy industry. You output more watts in two fifteen minute sessions a day than all three of us combined. Don't you think your standards might be a bit high?"
Lina could have said a lot of things to that. She could have pointed out the actual numbers she had on his maximum output. She could have pointed out that the six-hour rest and food breaks between those shifts were important to recover her quirk's strength. She could have used the tiny dregs of her quirk that she had recovered in the last few minutes to scold him. Obviously if she knew of Tenya's plans to practice she would have supported him… She realized that she was officially done with work, and so she didn't need to be here. Turning thought to deed, she turned around and left the power plant with all due speed.
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Lina's second priority at home was to catch up with the Sports Festival. Every bite of her dinner as she watched revealed new information. Her Tenya had not only crushed the competition, he made it look easy. She knew that the nature of his and her quirk made gauging their level of quirk exhaustion difficult, but if she compared his performance to the kind of power she could output at his age… It still fell short by a lot, but much less than she thought it did. Her boss always was very interested in her Tenya's development, she could probably arrange it so that he could test his output… Did UA even have that kind of equipment? It could certainly afford it. She'll have to ask when she gets the chance.
And the memes…
There's always memes for the UA Sports Festival. Even if you never watch them, there was no escape. No matter what she did this year, she would eventually end up seeing Togata Mirio in the buff. Fortunately, there are also websites dedicated to letting people like her keep up with the talking points from each one. Her Tenya had ended up making… most of them for this year's 1st year events. From the ones laughing at how easily the obstacle course was beaten by a flier, to the ones about his fully armed and operational war balloon in the second event, she had a harder time finding ones that didn't reference her son somehow. But the third event, as always, produced five times as many. From her son being referred to as 'better Tenya' (that poor Iida boy…) to the fact that #halfassedhero was now a trending thread highlighting times when heroes were being self-absorbed, and her favorite, someone's video slideshow of Tenya eating 17 slices of cake while watching the other fights, starting with the announcer's description of her son and his opinions on a seven course meal.
She was watching that video for the fourth time on her phone when putting the finishing touches on dinner when the front door opened, Tenya's greeting sounding out throughout the house. Setting down her phone, she went to greet him. "Welcome home Tenya! How was the Sports Festival?"
Tenya fidgeted. Oh, he was definitely embarrassed. "It was fine. I did better than I thought I would."
Is that what he's going for? None of that. "Come, have some dinner. Let's talk about it." She moved to the dining room, where some pork bowls were already waiting for the two of them. "So why'd you forfeit the finals?"
Tenya winced. "You watched it."
Nodding, Lina explained. "I couldn't during work" she lied, "But I caught up right when I came home. So?"
He seemed pensive. "I didn't have much left in my quirk. Midoriya is All Might's protege, I couldn't beat him and trying would have ended in broken bones." Lina wasn't so sure about that, but Tenya wouldn't lie to her, so she accepted it. He started on his first bowl.
Still, it was time to give him his well-deserved praise. "It's so exciting you got so far without even being in the hero course!" Tenya's eyes widened, she didn't even get to the good part yet. "I'm sure your father would be just as proud as me, I'm sure I could get a nice video call through, the JSDF is sure to allow it for such an extraordinary event, should I schedule it? You don't have school tomorrow..." Tenya coughed, spending a second pounding his chest before closing his mouth and focusing on his quirk. After a moment, he opened his eyes again and nodded.
"Ah, we should wait until tomorrow evening, I think. I've been asked to go to the school tomorrow to discuss… today's events." And there it is. In the various informational packets UA sent home, of which she of course read every one and made sure Tenya did too, Lina noticed that it was possible to transfer into the hero course if the administration thought the person deserved it. They must be wanting to handle all of the bureaucratic parts of that process, and Tenya wanted to surprise her. He started on his second bowl.
"So you are transferring to the hero course?" Lina asked. "I didn't even know you still wanted to be one." Whenever Tenya wanted to pursue some new sport or competitive whatever, he didn't hesitate to ask to join a gym or whatever else would be needed that required some money to be spent. But even the cram school he went to for the UA exams didn't cover the hero course, so this really came out of nowhere. "You did so well, Tenya!" Tears started to form in her eyes as she continued. "I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out when you've been training for this. You've always been such a hard worker, in everything you do, but I'm hurt you felt you couldn't get your mother's support." She gestured to the empty spot at the table. "I'm married to a soldier, Tenya. I know how to handle worry, we can easily afford to have gotten you enrolled into a quirk gym or whatever you wanted, why the secrecy?"
Tenya's words were blurted out, the honestly ringing clear as a bell. "I didn't, though." At her confusion, he elaborated. "I didn't train. I haven't flown anywhere in years, half of the stuff I did I made up either on the spot or right before the match, Todoroki was three seconds from roasting me to cinders, and..." Tenya buried his face in his hands. "All Might called me a hero. Why? All I did was just… fight people for the amusement of the masses. And I didn't even do that right, I didn't even try to fight Midoriya…"
Standing up and walking over to her kneeling son, she reached up and gave him the biggest hug her tiny frame could muster. "I think you should listen to yourself." At his confusion, she elaborated. "You said it yourself, after all. The only things that matter to a hero is how many people you saved, and how much you inspire people. " Lina poked her son in the chest. "When I saw your matches, you made your wins look easy. These were some of the best of the best in your year, and you just… walked over them. That's pretty inspiring from here."
Tenya slowly nodded, digesting the information. "That… does… make sense." Idly, he picked up his third bowl of food, starting on it as he thought. "I'll never be able to become number one."
Lina shrugged. "Being a hero isn't a competition. It's like being a soldier, what matters isn't your rank, but that you're there, saving lives, and protecting the peace." She patted Tanya's side. "I wanted you to go into the heroics industry so you could rise to the heights of our society, Tenya. There's nothing higher in this life than being a pro hero. If you follow this road, I will support you, one hundred percent of the way." Her pep talk finished, she started to clear the table, letting him eat in peace.
Yeah… she was an awesome mother.
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[Shota Aizawa aka Eraserhead]
Sometimes Aizawa wondered what was more unruly and distracted: a class of twenty teenagers, or the literal army of heroes that constituted the staff of UA in a single meeting.
This time was never when the meetings were happening, because there was no doubt at those times. He would really like to blame what he privately dubbed the 'retired' staff members, as in those who are employed by the school but don't do any active hero work, like Ms. Shisu aka the cutting hero, Kusanagi, the homeroom teacher for class 1-J. But he knows in his heart that the reason is because any meeting that those staff members attend involve matters that are purely related to the school, and so his coworkers don't take things at all seriously.
"Play it again!" Crowed Hizashi. Obliging him, Nemuri played the clip. It showed the newest anomaly of the school, completely destroying Todoroki, who was favored by the staff to win the whole thing, in seconds. The boy's fire and ice just… stopped. The ice melted in a second, the fires snuffed out, and four explosions, each rather small by Bakugo's standards, but directed precisely where they needed to go to unbalance and launch Todoroki out of the arena, and fired much faster.
Power Loader, always the reliable skeptic, voiced the question on everyone's minds. "Who is this kid?"
Shisu, the aforementioned problem's homeroom teacher, primly raised her pointing sword to gain people's attention. Wheeling herself to the center of the room, she brought up Deguchiya's file on the big screen. "Deguchiya Tenya, quirk: Mathemagician. He describes something with math in his head, then makes it happen. Temperature, movement, pressure… He can do a lot. When he described it to the class, he said it was only good for party tricks. It's… odd that he'd downplay his raw power." Left unsaid was the usual mantra. Odd meant suspicious.
"It ain't exactly the weirdest thing we've seen though." Interjected Snipe. "Could be lots of things. Didn't want the attention, wanted to surprise the hero course students, or hell, just low self-esteem. Remember that kid with the fire-eater quirk?" There were some scattered nods. "One simple trick learned and he went from mediocre to dead useful. Now he's #74 on the charts, and you know he couldn't imagine that happening when he entered these doors the first time."
"What's confusing me." Grumbled Kan. "Is why he never went through the hero exam. He would've passed, easy. Does he even want to transfer?"
Cementoss slammed a rocky fist on the table. "It doesn't matter. I've seen actual berserker-type quirk users less bloodthirsty than him. We shouldn't let him transfer."
Nemuri shuddered. "His passion… It was exquisite. The cool silent type, but when the blood gets pumping, his inner beast unleashed… That's the kind of thing I like!" After holding her thumbs up pose for a few more seconds, she flounced back into her seat. "But I was down there too, and you're making it into a bigger deal than it is. Yeah, his first few fights may have had a little bit of excessive force, but you saw the replays. He wasn't firing actual projectiles, and he seemed to have a pretty good handle on the power of his shots."
All Might, in his reduced state, nodded in agreement. "Indeed, young Deguchiya's explosions reminded me a lot of another one of the hero course students. Young Bakugo knows how to modulate the power of his attacks without us having to have taught him to do so, and young Deguchiya seems similarly capable. My only question is why the gun?"
Nedzu cleared his throat from his position nestled within Aizawa's capture scarf. "I believe it's for computational reasons. I've been thinking on how he could mathematically express his various tricks, and I think I've noticed a trend." He whipped out a remote and changed the primary screen to the video that was playing previously. "If you pay attention to his fight with Todoroki, the ice near his feet melted before the rest of it, when he landed. I suspect he was defining spaces and manipulating the temperature of that space. He had to stop flying and affecting the space immediately around him before affecting the entire arena and using his gun. He didn't need to do that to fight Ilda or Kendo." Another click and several pictures of Deguchiya in action showed, each one labeled with an effect along with a list of variables. "I suspect that he can only run so many effects concurrently, and how much of his quirk each effect takes up depends on how complex it is. So, instead of creating an explosion at some point within his sight, he uses the firing chamber as a reference point. Instead of creating some kind of barrier to protect himself from the explosion, he reinforces the cement to withstand the explosion. Instead of creating a big explosion, he creates a small one and funnels it through the barrel. Efficiency and simplicity. It's fascinating to contemplate. I had no idea my management students included such a gem!"
Kan grunted, claiming the room's attention. "And that's the thing. He's a management student. Not general studies. It's unprecedented. Again, does he even want to move to the hero course? He refused to even try to fight in the finals."
Aizawa sighed. "After the tournament, Yaoyorozu contacted me. She mentioned that Deguchiya's expressed significant amounts of envy for the hero course, and explained that the reason he didn't fight Midoriya is that he didn't know that Midoriya broke his bones when he used his quirk until right before the match. He refused to fight rather than let that happen. They're friends, apparently."
Recovery Girl snorted. "He certainly seemed to care more about Midoriya's health than the boy himself does." Not like that's a high bar.
Nedzu hummed, waiting patiently for the various side-conversations to end. "Now that we've determined that Deguchiya certainly has earned his place in the hero course, we move on to a followup concern. As he is coming from the management course, it's significantly less elegant than the usual 'demote the worst hero student' plan we usually go with. Nevertheless, let's start with the obvious question. Do we have a hero student to demote?"
Kan went first. "Not really. My students may have embarrassed themselves during the sports festival, there's none of them that won't become fine heroes. I could probably narrow it down to three or four options if I had to, but even then…" He started counting off fingers. "Monoma's hypercompetitive to an unhealthy extent, Kamakiri seems hostile to the concept of friends, Yanagi could use more spine… But they're small problems, especially compared to some of 1-A's personalities."
Humming, Aizawa commenced his own analysis. "None of my students are without potential, or else they'd already be gone. Sure, some of them have some problems, but it's all small stuff, for the most part. Bakugo's too used to being in a small pond, hopefully today will start him on the path to the humility he desperately needs. Mineta's just a horny teenager, when you get right down to it. I'd like to give him a chance to mature before kicking him out unceremoniously, we keep Midnight around after all." Nemuri had the grace to not look offended, merely taking out her compact and checking on her makeup. "Demoting Midoriya or Todoroki would be out of the question, regardless of any problems they have. If I absolutely had to remove someone from the hero course, I'd pick either Ojiro, Hagakure, or Koji. While they're all stable and altruistic, Ojiro's quirk is very weak, Hagakure doesn't take things as seriously as she should, especially her physical training, and Koji could also use some extra courage." Aizawa tapped his hand on the paperwork in front of him. "But we can't exactly move any of them into management." If looked at in the other direction, the list of students he'd be willing to send into Nedzu's clutches was very small. Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, or Iida for sure, anyone else would be iffy at best.
Nedzu nodded enthusiastically. "Agreed! Fortunately, I already have a student in mind for that end. Ugaki Masamoto, nice boy, shark quirk, smart enough but didn't quite make the 60-student cutoff for the management course. Currently in general education, but I'm sure he'll accept movement into the management course."
Well that simplified things… "We still don't have a candidate for demotion." Kan pointed out.
"We can table that discussion for now. After all, it's internship time. And you know what that means." Nedzu's voice took a diabolical cast.
Shizu chuckled. As the heroic statistics/infometrics teacher, she knew this more than anyone else. "40% odds at least one student gets hit with some scandal charge or another, usually vigilantism. Are you suggesting we make an example of a student for breaking those rules?"
Nedzu nodded. "It would make things simple. Can't let people think that breaking the rules will be forgiven if you think you have a good reason. If they're willing to put their careers on the line to save someone, well that's different."
Resolution made, they moved onto the final post-festival matter: vetting the internship offers. "How many different agencies this year?" Asked Hizashi.
Shizu easily replied as Nedzu walked along the table to his actual seat. "10,823 total, but we only need to go over new ones and ones flagged for review over the last year. So, 731." There was a collective groan at the number.
"I'll tell the robots to get us some coffee." Said Power Loader, to universal praise. It was going to be a long night.
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[Principal Nedzu]
Something about watching the prodigiously tall Deguchiya Tenya walk dutifully behind his diminutive mother was incredibly amusing. While her presence was not necessary for the discussions taking place today, it did allow for things to be finalized without needing to wait for a signature.
Normally, there would be some extra security measures for her arrival, given the sheer power of her quirk, but he knew for a fact that she had already expended her reserves earlier with a half-shift at her workplace, so no such thing was necessary. Very considerate of her.
The meeting was small, with only Kusanagi and himself present. Eraserhead was sleeping and Vlad King had to attend to some minor crisis with the living situation of one of his students. Less than ideal, but their presence wasn't necessary.
"Welcome, Mrs. Deguchiya. Have a seat, we have much to discuss." Wordlessly, Deguchiya helped his mother into the elevated seat to accommodate her height. He then sat into the larger seat placed for him. "First, let me congratulate you, young Deguchiya, on your performance in the Sports Festival. I don't think anyone saw your victories coming, except perhaps Miss Yaoyorozu. I certainly was, and must I thank you, for I love surprises." Nedzu observed the two humans, assessing their reactions. Mrs. Deguchiya seemed focused, and unperturbed on his appearance, and intrigued when the subject of Miss Yaoyorozu was brought up. Conversely, Mr. Deguchiya has put on a mask of seriousness, doing his best to conceal his thoughts. Black hair, glasses, a suit rather than his uniform, Nedzu realized his fur was starting to stand on end from the sight, and subtly signaled Kusanagi to buy time to calm himself.
"I'm Miss Shizu, Tenya's homeroom teacher. I also teach heroic statistics and infometrics. This meeting is to discuss what is going to happen, going forward, in light of the results of the sports festival." Kusanagi was one of his more reliable teachers, as her injury prevented her from doing anything beyond helping at the school and occasionally lending her quirk for some exercise or another. Mrs. Deguchiya smiled and nodded at her in acknowledgement. "As an overview of the process, at the end of this meeting we'll ask both of you to sign the paperwork that would officiate the transfer into the hero course. Then, Tenya will spend the next week participating in a crash course that will make sure he is up to par on the hero exclusive subjects, such as rescue procedure, civilian interaction, and villain engagement, as well as cover the lessons the hero course students will be learning during that time, particularly the selection of a heroic code name." Both Deguchiya nodded along, murmuring acknowledgement of the information. "The week after, he will be participating in the internship program, either one of the agencies that sent him a specific offer, of which there are 3,708," The elder Deguchiya's eyes sparkled at the high number. "or select from one of the open-ended offers the school has with certain agencies, which would expand that number by about four hundred. At the conclusion of the internship, he will commence normal participation in the hero course. Do you have any questions?"
She nodded. "Yes, do you have the equipment to measure his energy output? I was considering arranging for such a thing myself, but…" She trailed off.
Nedzu nodded. "The backup generators are set up for a variety of quirk inputs. We can easily retool one into a measuring device, and while we usually only test electrical quirks like that, adding it to the week's activities can be done, and we can provide certification for him as well." Mrs. Deguchiya nodded approvingly at the proposal. Power generation certification was an incredibly simple process, and quite handy for emergency service purposes. Perhaps it would be a good idea to call in Todoroki to undergo similar tests while the equipment is ready? Practicing to create a steady heat level would be good to get him started on controlling his neglected fire quirk… bring it up with Eraserhead.
The younger Deguchiya raised his hand, gaining attention before speaking, more softly than Nedzu would expect. Looking at his looming visage sparked another bolt of anger, but he forced himself to look at the boy's eyes. Those blue orbs dispelled the illusion, the uncertainty and worry completely removing Nedzu from his unpleasant memories. "Wouldn't my entrance into the hero course necessitate the removal of someone else? That would throw off class sizes in both the hero and management courses, right? Is that the correct move? Miss Shizu, I respect you immensely as a homeroom teacher, and I would consider it a waste if I was to miss your own classes, Principal Nedzu, your insights expand my worldview every class." As Nedzu stared into the eyes of the student, his thoughts whirled on the possible meanings to his question. As the silence stretched on, Tenya's eyes flashed with fear.
Ah, of course. "I see. Well, your solution is quite elegant, young Deguchiya. There was some concern in the teacher's meeting yesterday about how to shuffle things around, and the heroics teachers were quite reluctant to remove any of their students from the hero course." The boy's eyes relaxed, clearly glad that his request for special treatment could be granted. "You will remain in 1-J's homeroom, and we can accommodate you with a special schedule so that you may participate in both management and heroics programs. I fully believe that with your intelligence, you can easily handle the purely academic management programs alongside your heroics work. Certain projects will need to be adjusted, but here at UA, we believe in Plus Ultra!" Glancing to the smaller of the pair, Mrs. Deguchiya seemed ecstatic at the news.
Gesturing, Nedzu added: "I will need to write up new paperwork, Miss Kusanagi, could you give Mrs. Deguchiya a tour? I'm sure a trip to the cafeteria would be welcome for both of them." Acknowledging his words, Kusanagi wheeled herself out of the room, the two Deguchiyas standing up and following her.
After all the humans had left his office, Nedzu indulged himself in diabolical laughter. A human who feared to violate society's expectations more than he did villains? That was the most human thing he's seen all year. One of the most heroic, too. Deguchiya had what it took to become a fantastic hero, and in his generation, they couldn't afford to just let one go. It's a shame that he couldn't conscript people, but this was the next best thing.
After all, how's an animal like himself supposed to understand all of that complicated 'subtext'? Deguchiya only has himself to blame.
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So, Nedzu's just too smart to not realize that Tenya doesn't really want to be a hero. He is, however, kind of evil, and thinks Tenya has a very punchable face. So… Tenya needs to be fully honest in order to escape his fate.
In other words, he's doomed.
