Chapter Text
Making it into UA was such a relief for Nagisa. He knew he was going to make it in, but hearing it for himself was different than confidence in his skill. Now he just hoped he had the confidence to tell his mother. Talking to his friends made him feel more comfortable with the idea of bringing his admission up with his mom, but that didn’t mean he wanted to do it in the first place. He would honestly be surprised if she didn’t allow him to attend, which he wouldn’t let happen in the first place. That being said, he would also be surprised if she didn’t give him any grief over it.
“Hey… mom,” Nagisa spoke as he entered the living room. He could tell his tone of voice put his mom off, but he could worry about that later. He expected her to flip out on him, at least a little. Despite UA being a good school, it wasn’t the school she wanted him to attend. She was a controlling woman who wanted everything done her way.
“What is it, sweetie?” Nagisa really hated it when she used pet names; it always felt fake to him when she did. She only used them to try to make him let his guard down, but jokes on her, he didn’t let it down anywhere near the vicinity of their apartment.
He took a deep breath and then continued speaking, “I’m going to UA high school, I already took the entrance exams and got the top score.” He spewed out the main points all at once so he wouldn't have to talk to her any longer than he needed to.
Her eyes darkened slightly, “And what? You didn’t think to ask me? You didn’t even ask just now! You just said, ‘I’m going,’ like it’s a done deal. You already passed the entrance exams for Keisetsu, so you’re going there.” Ugh, she was in one of her moods again. This wasn’t something she got to dictate, though. Besides, Mr. Karasuma was listed as his legal guardian on his application form; if worst comes to worst, he’d call Mr. K and have them talk it out. Nagisa really didn’t want to resort to that; he wanted to solve a problem on his own for once.
“Mom, I got the top spot at the best school in Japan, the top. I can show you if you want.” Hopefully, if she sees his admission letter, she’ll let it go–who is he kidding, she’d bring it up every chance she could get. He could already hear it, “Remember how I let you go to UA? Aren’t I the best?” She’d dangle it over his head for the rest of his life.
“You could barely make it into the 50th percentile at Kunugigaoka. Explain to me how you could possibly make number one at an even more challenging school?” So someone clearly didn’t remember his score from the finals. He got in the top 20!
“Well, I have my admission letter right here; All-Might is even the one talking. Why don’t we just sit down and watch it, please, Mom?” He always tried to sound as disarming as possible when talking with Hiromi, even at times when they’re just having a normal conversation.
His mother grumbled a bit, but moved to take a seat. He then set the disk down, and the hologram automatically played. His mom gasped when she actually saw All-Might’s face, like she didn’t believe her son was telling the truth. The number one hero went through the whole spiel all over again, announcing how many points he got in each category.
“You somehow racked up 127 points? You? Let me see the envelope the letter came in.” Nagisa groaned internally at that. It’s clear how little faith she has in her own kid. He didn’t know what kind of cheating or lying she thought she was going to find, and he really didn’t feel like finding out.
Begrudgingly, Nagisa handed over the letter with the wax seal hanging on by a thread. Hiromi snatched it out of his grip and inspected every inch of the poor thing; she even went as far as looking up what UA’s crest looked like. After all of that, she still didn’t look convinced.
“Where did you get this from?” Was she being serious? Where else did he get it from other than UA? You know, just like the wax stamp says. He didn’t want to test her patience, so he answered as soon as he snapped out of his disbelief, “UA, Mom. It’s on the seal, and All-Might says so in the video.”
“Don’t get smart with me, I can see that,” ‘then why did you ask?’ Nagisa held in his sigh to try and keep her mood a little higher. He wanted to say those words out loud so badly, maybe one day. Maybe one day.
“What do you mean then?” He just wanted to claw his face off. Genuinely, what did she want him to say? “When did you take the test? When did you get this letter?”
Nagisa really couldn’t understand her sometimes; if she wanted those questions answered then why didn’t she ask those questions from the start? “I took the entrance exams last week, and the acceptance letter came in earlier this evening.” Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, judging by the look in her eyes.
“So you just went off without my permission to take the test?! And on top of that, you hid it from me! I can’t believe you right now!” ‘I can’t either. How many parents do you know who would be mad that their child got into a prestigious school like UA?’ Nagisa asked himself internally; he really would never understand his mom.
“I’m sorry, I just thought getting into such a good school would make you happy.” Hiromi wasn’t the only one who knew how to guilt-trip. He’d have to manipulate her subtly since she already knew all of the tricks in the book.
His mom’s eyes widened, not having a comeback for his apology, “I wanted to keep it a surprise, that’s why I hid it from you. I wanted to show you just how much I've improved since last year. If you really want me to go to Keisetsu, I will without complaint.” When his mom looked off to the side, that’s when he knew he got her. It was clear in her mind that she was reworking his life plan for him.
“…Okay, I’ll allow it, but you have to keep up with your studies. Don’t fall behind like you did during junior high, or I’ll pull you out immediately. Do you hear me, Nagisa? I won’t miss a beat.” Nagisa internally smiled and put on his best grateful face, “Oh, thank you, Mom! You won’t regret it, I promise!” The teen successfully pulled his mom out of her bad mood and got permission to go to UA.
Nagisa wondered what the UA’s uniforms looked like, so he did a quick search and found blazers galore. Oh no.
It was the morning after he talked with his mom about attending UA. Never mind that! He needed a vest, BAD! He saw some images of the uniform with little, personal changes, like the length of a tie or something, so he knew he could request uniform tweaks, but he didn’t know how far he’d be able to take it. There’s a difference between tie length and chopping the sleeves off a blazer. He’d just have to call and see.
“Hello, I’m Nagisa Shiota, calling about my uniform.” He knew this was probably an impossible request, but he’d rather ask and be told no, rather than not ask and have a potential yes.
The person on the other end of the line responded, “I’ve got your profile pulled up now. What seems to be the issue?” A feminine voice played through his phone’s speaker. “I don’t know if this is possible, but am I able to request a change to my uniform?”
“You sure can. What were you thinking of changing?” The person on the other end of the line asked. “Are you able to change my blazer into a vest?” Nagisa popped the question and hoped his pleas would be met with a yes. “I’m sure we can make that happen. Was that all you needed, Shiota?” And the angel responds in kind, graciously accepting Nagisa’s cry for help.
“Nope, that’s all! Thank you so much, ma’am!” The teen all but shouted his gratitude at the employee before the call ended. Nagisa felt so much better knowing he could attend UA in a uniform that he was a little more comfortable with. The lady behind the phone was so kind; she almost sounded a little excited when he put in the request, maybe they don’t get them that often. He knew how the creative types could get. Sugaya and Okuda may be a special case, though.
Speaking of clothes for school, Nagisa needed to think up a hero costume. Well, he wasn’t actually going to do any thinking when he had a perfectly good outfit already, the class 3-E combat suits. He might change some things because in a public setting, some design aspects may not make sense, like the big, gold “E,” for example. Unless he somehow could concoct a hero name starting with the letter “e,” he’d have to think of some way to tone it down. Maybe he would be called “The Enigma.” Lame.
Nagisa would have to get the combat suit’s details; it would be suspicious if he just rolled up with a super high-quality hero suit out of the blue from an unknown source, so he couldn’t use the one from last year. He also wanted to compare UA’s tech to the Ministry of Defense’s. He is a bit biased since he spent a year working with people from the M.O.D.
Classes start in another two weeks, so he needs to have everything prepared in the next couple of days. It’s crazy to think a new school year is starting so soon. If only he could share the news with Koro-sensei.
Nagisa contacted Karasuma to ask for the combat suit blueprint, and he was then redirected to Professor Bitch, because apparently, she knew better than Mr. K.
“Hello, Nagisa. I heard you passed, good on you.” Ms. Vić has mellowed out somewhat after getting into a relationship with Mr. K, but she still has her eccentric tendencies. “Yes, hi Professor Bitch. I was told you were the better person to ask about the combat suits?” Her former student responded.
The woman giggled, “Oh, you know Tadaomi doesn't have a lick of sense when it comes to clothes. Well, he doesn’t have a lick of sense when it comes to a lot of things; he’s dense, you know this.” Well, he knew she had a hand in the aesthetics of the suit, not the functionality; turns out, he misjudged her.
“I just need to know the materials used, or a recommendation for better quality ones, and the pattern for it, please.” If anyone knew anything about anything, it was Professor B; you could never guess what she did or didn’t have information on.
“Well, your suits were made with the octopus in mind. They were made with anti-him cells, which wouldn’t be available to the people making your suit over at UA.” See, you never knew what she knew. Nagisa was a little surprised that she could give actual, accurate information that wasn't seduction-related.
“Ah, okay, do you know of anything that would be a good replacement for it? Considering I’m not going up against a Mach-20 super being, I think I can skimp out on that part.” It hurt to talk about Koro-sensei, but it also felt good to bring back some nice memories. It still stung whenever anything adjacent to him was brought up, though.
Ms. Vić laughed a little at his joke before answering, “How’s this: I’ll draw you up a draft design and label where all the fabrics should be used; one less burden off your shoulders, brat.” Okay, no eccentric Ms. B today, he’ll take it.
“Sounds good, and thank you. I’ll send you a pic when it’s finished!” Nagisa responded gratefully. The finished product should be finished before school starts, so he’ll be able to verify everything’s in order before having to wear it for real.
Yeah… no. It was three days before school started, and Nagisa’s hero suit was a wreck. His school uniform came out just as he requested; the vest, a snug, modified version of the regular blazer, no problems there. The problems started when his combat suit arrived.
The jacket that goes over the undershirt was cropped at odd lengths, bright blue, and instead of an embroidered “E,” there was a gold-plated “UA” emblem. He was on the verge of tears when he looked at himself in the mirror. He really didn’t want to show Ms. Bitch the travesty that was his hero costume, but if anyone could fix it, it was her.
————————————————————-
Prof. B
Nagisa: Help.
(Image of him in the costume)
Prof.B: wth is that 😨
Nagisa: I wouldn't be able to tell you…
Nagisa: I need you to have a word with whoever made this PLEASE🙏
Prof.B: what does the material feel like? Is it thin or does it feel heavy duty?
Nagisa: it feels like the fabric equivalent of a party city wig
Prof.B: okay firstly I need to laugh at the costume for a second then I’m going to have tadaomi add me as one of your guardians
Prof.B: I’ll go up to that place myself to make sure that disgusting thing gets fixed if I have to
Nagisa: you’re a life saver I don’t know what I would’ve done🥲
Prof.B: I got you dw
—————————————————————
Nagisa honestly wanted to burn the thing, but he didn’t know if that was even legal, so he just tucked it away in the very back of his closet. Hopefully, it never sees the light of day again
‘The improved one will probably be here when classes have already started, so I’ll have to just wear my P.E uniform in the meantime.’ The teen thought to himself. E-class used to train in their gym clothes last year until the government supplied them with actual gear, so it wouldn’t be too big of a deal for him. He would likely stand out, but that’s better than looking like he designed his costume with his eyes closed.
Nagisa was extremely thankful that Professor Bitch stepped in; he felt sorry for whoever was on the other end of her silver tongue, though. Actually he didn’t feel sorry, they’ve got some nerve making that thing and thinking it was acceptable.
It was finally the first day of school.
The past couple of nights, he did some research on heroes, ones that teach at the school and also some who don’t; mostly the top-ranked ones. Nagisa knew he was going to be in Shouta Aizawa’s class even before he was accepted due to the mission briefing. There weren’t many images or sightings of him because he was what the hero world referred to as an “underground hero.” If Nagisa were actually serious about becoming a superhero, that’s the kind he would strive to be.
Now that he knew about the kind of people he would be interacting with, he felt ready for his first day of high school. Kunugigaoka told 3-E students they would be condemned to the sticks for life, but just look at Nagisa now, going to the most prestigious academy in Japan.
‘I wish you could see me, Koro-sensei.’ Nagisa thought sorrowfully. He tried not to think about his former teacher, but it was hard when he could remember sinking the knife into his chest so clearly. It was going to be a long year if he kept having to stop himself from thinking of his teacher 24/7. Enough of that talk, though; he had a first day ahead of him and he didn’t want to waste it thinking about depressing things. With that in mind, he set off.
The UA school gates were still huge, and the building was still odd. Navigating the halls was tricky, but he eventually found class 1-A. ‘Weird being in A-class when I spent so long trying to compete with them,’ the thought crossed his mind as he began to open the tall door that led to his classroom.
Nagisa was one of the first people inside, aside from a few others who were talking to each other. The boy was typically pretty early; firstly, he found it polite, and secondly, he wanted to avoid his mom as much as possible. Even though he likes being punctual, Nagisa would rather not talk to people so early in the morning, so he immediately goes to sit at his desk. Little by little, people begin to trickle into the classroom. The first day of school, jitters were real, and he could see some of his new classmates visibly experiencing them.
‘That guy with the explosion power is most likely in my class, he was one of the few people who continued fighting the smaller bots when the zero-pointer appeared. There was also a mountain of robot scraps around him at all times.’ Nagisa definitely didn’t like the guy, but he could still praise people he didn't fancy. Just as he finished up his thoughts, he heard a familiar, loud voice. When you speak of the devil, he appears. Awesome. With the way the blonde wears his uniform and the way he speaks, he almost reminds Nagisa of Terasaka. Terasaka already went through his character development arc, though.
“Hey, blue hair.” The words that came out were hostile. It was clear he had a bone to pick with the shorter boy, but Nagisa wouldn’t be able to tell you what he did to tick the guy off. Maybe it was the hand shove? That guy was gripping his shoulder pretty hard, so it wasn’t uncalled for.
Nagisa let out a sigh and answered the person who was addressing him, “Yes, blondie?” A couple of their peers began to stare at the interaction going down. The assassin really didn’t want to draw in more attention than what was necessary, but people just loved to ruin that for him.
“What was that, shorty?” The kid had the nerve to get offended when he called out to Nagisa in the same way. Nagisa could tell this was already going to be a long day. “You know what, class is actually about to start, best take your seat. We can talk later if you are patient and wait for a better time.” The blue-haired teen easily dismissed the other boy’s attempt at riling him up.
People were really starting to stare now, “I wasn’t asking for your permission, dimwitt.” It was obvious that Nagisa’s taunts were getting under the taller kid’s skin, but Nagisa really just wanted the whole ordeal to be over already. “You can talk to me all you like, doesn’t mean I have to respond. Leave me alone, please.” If the kid didn’t have such a big ego, Nagisa might’ve actually enjoyed talking with him, but clearly someone doesn’t know how to take a hint. However, that would be the last time Nagisa would respond to him for the time being, so unfortunately for the temperamental kid, there would be no more hints for him to take.
Just as the blondie was about to respond, a man in a sleeping bag appeared at the door. Ah, it was Aizawa. “Good morning, sir.” Nagisa was the first to pinpoint who the man was and responded accordingly. The tired man’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before carrying on, “Yes, morning to you too.” The rest of the class was slightly confused, but eventually put the pieces together and quieted down.
Nagisa then looks around the room to really take in his peers. Apparently, he had gotten too absorbed in his little feud with the dynamite guy to notice Izuku was in his class and staring directly at him; Nagisa expected the green-haired boy to pass, but not for them to be in the same class, small world.
The two made eye contact for a second or longer before being interrupted by Aizawa speaking again, “It took you all far too long to settle down. If you came to this school to make friends, do yourself a favor and pack your bags now. You all came here to be heroes, so act like it.” The mood changed in the classroom immediately. Nagisa rather liked the change, though. The boy learned to take everything seriously after E-class and to always put 110% into everything. Nagisa would not be half-assed.
Before anyone could make a move to take their seats, their teacher pulled something out of his sleeping bag and held it up, “Put these on and head outside, I’ll give you further instructions then.” He was holding the UA P.E uniform; why he had them in his sleeping bag, no one would be able to tell you except for the man himself–actually, on closer inspection, it seemed he only had one in there with him, and the rest were elsewhere; that’s an improvement from the initial assumption.
Everyone filed out of the classroom to head to their respective, gender split changing rooms. Izuku’s eyes trailed after Nagisa, widening when he realized where the boy, who he thought to be a girl, was going. The green-haired teen’s face flushed a deep red in embarrassment. He couldn’t bring himself to talk to Nagisa about it because that would be admitting his mistake, so he very stiffly walked into the locker room after him.
‘Hey, Izuku.” Nagisa said once they made it into the room. Midoriya couldn’t look in the other boy's direction, so he looked away while answering instead, “Uh, yes?!” Nagisa looked at him a little weirdly before continuing, “Congrats on passing the exam.” Izuku blushed harder at the praise and thanked him sincerely.
As the two boys continued talking whilst getting changed, Nagisa could feel a pair of eyes staring into the back of his head, along with bloodlust emitted in the air. The blue-haired teen could guess who was doing the staring, so he just ignored it.
Once the entirety of class 1-A made it onto the field, Aizawa finally explained what they would be doing: a quirk apprehension test. Not the best thing for someone who didn’t have a flashy power. Nonetheless, Nagisa would give it his best effort.
Unfortunately for the top placing scorer, his new teacher expected far too much from him, “Shiota, come up here,” and so he did, gaining the attention of everyone, especially Izuku and bad attitude. The former was intrigued because he only knew the boy’s given name and didn’t expect Nagisa to be the one to walk up there.
“Okay, first of all, I prefer Nagisa. Secondly, my quirk wouldn’t be the best example to use for your demonstration.”
“Alright, Nagisa. I saw what you were capable of during the entrance exams. Explain to me how your quirk wouldn’t be good for this.” Nagisa himself wasn’t sure of the specifics behind his performance during the practical, so all he could do was answer the best he could, “My power relates to bloodlust; this baseball has no bloodlust.” A few of the better hearing students could hear what was being said and relayed it to the rest of the class. Midoriya was surprised to hear about the quirk. He tried guessing before, and true to Nagisa’s words, he wasn’t even close.
Aizawa merely sighed and called Bakugou up in Nagisa’s place. As the two students passed each other, Bakugou let out a cocky grin as if he had accomplished something. ‘What is with the one-sided hatred?’ The assassin asked himself. When Nagisa finally merged back in with the rest of the class, Izuku was staring at him with starry eyes.
“So what are the specifics of your quirk? You said it had something to do with bloodlust, right?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s just get through Mr. Aizawa’s little test first, though.” The green-haired boy shrank at Nagisa’s words, but turned to face the front again.
“You all did this back in your middle schools, yes? It’s the same concept here, only this time you get to go crazy with your quirks, have fun.” A somewhat sinister look appeared on the man's face. “Oh, and whoever gets the lowest score is expelled.” Now that was something to get excited for; Nagia knew what it was like to crawl his way to the top even when the odds were stacked against him. With this batch, though, it’d be a brisk walk.
Most of his classmates paled at the threat, especially Izuku; maybe he wasn’t quite used to the power All-Might gifted him yet. Nagisa felt bad for him, but he was fairly certain that the expulsion threat was just a ruse to make them try their hardest. For the people who didn’t try, that may be a different story. It kind of reminded Nagisa of the time Koro-sensei said he was going to leave if E-class didn’t do well on their midterms. It was flipped the other way this time around.
Nagisa was pumped to show Mr. Aizawa what he could do without his quirk. He noticed most people tended to heavily rely on their power without paying attention to their physical strength. Not to say he didn’t rely on his own power, just that he couldn’t a good chunk of the time. From the moment Nagisa had that thought, he made it his personal goal to help his new classmates grow as much as possible and find the traitor at the same time. He wouldn’t feel great leaving the school when the mission was over, knowing that he could’ve helped some people out in the process.
While he was lost in thought, a big explosion rang out in his ears. ‘Oh, yeah, the test,’ the impact created a bit of wind, which tousled his hair a little bit. Gasps slipped through his classmates' mouths when they saw how far Bakugou threw the ball, to which the kid smirked.
Aizawa then called Nagisa back up to throw because he was still the top scorer. “Don’t expect much, sir.” The boy then tried to imitate the form he’d seen Sugino use time and time again as best he could. Of course, he didn’t have the same kind of flexibility as his former peer, but it would get the job done well enough. With as much strength as Nagisa could muster, he threw the ball. He got a staggering 32 meters. He simply turned back to his instructor and shrugged; he had told him not to expect much.
“You’ll end up dead last with that attitude." His teacher grimaced as if he thought Nagisa wasn’t taking the throw seriously.
“I’m not much of a thrower, but my form was pretty decent, wasn’t it?” If Sugino were actually the one who threw it, then yeah, the form would be impressive.
Bakugou took Nagisa’s score like a personal jab. Unfortunately for both of them, that was one of his best throws. The blonde’s eye twitched with rage, vowing to himself he wouldn’t get a lower placement than the shorter boy.
In the 50-meter dash, Nagisa made a time of 5.01 seconds, in the grip strength portion, 54 kg, and lastly, he cleared the sandbox in the long jump. He placed 9th in the entire thing. It was clearly suited for people with combat or mutation-type quirks, so it was hard to beat the people it was catered to. He still did better than most people due to his background in training.
Somehow, Midoriya got dead last, which Nagisa was surprised about because he cleared an entire beach by himself, plus he saw his physique in the locker rooms. How Izuku let the walking grape beat him, he didn’t know.
Nagisa was genuinely surprised by how he handled the ball throw, though. Izuku was able to manage his power a little bit by storing the energy in his fingers. It was a gnarly sight, but still impressive. Nagisa doubted he’d be booted since he showed real determination and thought outside the box.
Izuku approached Nagisa, holding his broken and bruised fingers. The assassin really was right about him not being used to his power after all. He just hopes for Midoriya’s sake that he gets used to it quickly.
There was an earlier altercation between Bakugou and Midoriya, which Eraserhead put a stop to. It’s obvious the two of them have some sort of history together, but Nagisa didn’t want to pry. However, it turns out Bakugou wasn’t done with his little burst out because he still had some things to say to Nagisa.
The angry teen shoved Izuku out of his way to yell at the other boy, “What the hell was that?!” Nagisa tilted his head in the same way he did when the two of them first met. “Don’t piss me off with that shit! You got first place in the entrance exams and stopped a giant robot in its tracks!” Flattery wouldn’t get Bakugou anywhere with him, though he has to admit it's nice being complimented.
“You didn’t take this thing seriously at all! I’ll kill you if you pull something like this ever again!” What an empty threat. He should’ve stuck with the flattery where it was safe. The temperature around Nagisa began to change, and a glint appeared in his eyes. Everyone around him felt it, but didn’t know what it was. One person did know, though, Aizawa. The man knew the icy feeling all too well, pure, unadulterated, bloodlust. Thinking of Nagisa’s quirk, he tried to cancel it out, only for it to be ineffective.
‘That’s no power at work,’ the teacher thought as he rushed to use his capture scarf.
“I dare you to try it,” Bakugou backed up nervously at the words spoken to him, and Izuku gasped, as did a few of his classmates. Nagisa realized his words were effective enough and began to rein in his bloodlust. Just as he did, however, Aizawa’s capture tape wrapped around his small frame, “Shiota.” The teacher said sternly.
A classmate of his, notably, the pink one, tried to stop Aizawa, “Hey, why don’t you do that to Bakugou? That was the second fight he picked in less than 10 minutes. It’s not fair to punish Nagisa for something he didn’t even start!” A couple of their peers echoed the same sentiment. Aizawa looked at Nagisa and sighed; the teacher's students did not realize Bakugou was the one in danger during that interaction.
“You all are right, Bakugou. This is your final warning. Sorry, Nagisa.” It was a rare feat to find an adult who could admit when they were wrong (even if said adult was acting on pure instincts), and Nagisa respected it. The boy simply nodded in acknowledgement to the apology and moved on.
Three people were still extremely affected by the bloodlust Nagisa let seep out, those people being: Aizawa, Bakugou, and Izuku. Mr. Aizawa and Bakugou were reasonable; the former thinking his student was in danger, and the latter thinking he himself was in danger. Izuku being affected was something Nagisa just couldn’t wrap his head around.
If we take a look at Midoriya’s perspective, it should shed some light on what he’s feeling. The green-haired boy had noticed Nagisa exuded a sinister aura when they first met, and experiencing that aura in full force was something he didn’t expect at all. It left him feeling a little amazed, though, since it was directed at his bully, Bakugou. Izuku supposes he just saw Nagisa’s quirk in action. It was a scary power, sure, but it still interested him. He didn’t think the shorter boy liked questions, so he’d just have to take notes of his quirk throughout the year.
Taking notes of someone's power was a lot harder than expected when you couldn’t even tell when it was activated or used.
All-Might joined UA to teach heroics. Well, he was actually there to find a potential protege, but since he already had one, he was there to teach heroics. He had no clue as to what he was doing– he had trouble just trying to teach young Midoriya– and that was just one kid! Teaching an entire class of them was going to be a challenge he wasn’t prepared for.
The number one hero had a guidebook on teaching, but he wasn’t absorbing any of the information it gave him. He’d just have to come up with a lesson plan on the fly because he was running out of time.
As All-Might spoke, he noticed his wavelength was all kinds of wonky. The seven-foot man radiated confidence on the outside, but was nervous on the inside. As his classmate looked at the hero in awe, all Nagisa could think of was how horrible their lesson with him was going to go. The boy knew what good teachers looked like; he’d even consider Aizawa to be one. Good teachers could admit when they were at fault, but with the way things were looking, it was probably safe to say All-Might wouldn’t be acknowledging any shortcomings.
Just hearing what All-Might had in store for them made Nagisa nauseous. A two on two mock battle wasn’t the greatest idea when more than half the class couldn’t throw a punch if their life depended on it. Nagisa could adapt to anyone's fighting style, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the student body around him. The whole ordeal was going to be a train wreck.
Now he knew why they were all in their hero costumes, Nagisa being an exception due to his being in shambles. Looking around, though, his wouldn’t have been the worst one; Sato’s gaudy yellow suit, Todoroki’s immobilizing half ice armor thing, and Mineta’s… Everything. To his shock, the school issued P.E uniform got more questions than the walking safety hazards.
Nagisa was partnered up with Momo Yaoyorozu; not a bad partner, she seemed to be the logical type, but it looked as though she had little confidence in her capabilities, something Nagisa could relate to. All-Might decided to choose the pairs by drawing lots. Iida, the boy with engines in his legs, tried to combat the idea but was swayed easily. Which was an issue when you were going to make them fight alongside each other in a small, narrow building.
Nagisa knew he needed to speak up about it now or never, "Excuse me, sir?” All-Might looked around for a moment before he found the voice that spoke to him, “Yes, young Shiota?” the hero responded.
“Firstly, I prefer to be called Nagisa, and secondly, I don’t think this lesson will go well at all.” Some of his classmates turned to look at him with confused expressions on their faces. He could almost read their collective minds: ‘If All-Might says it’s fine, I don’t see the issue,’ is what their faces are screaming. They idolize the number one hero so intensely that they couldn’t even fathom the idea of him being wrong.
“I’m just saying that not everyone can control their powers safely, like Izuku over there. If he uses it literally at all, he’ll shatter his bones. I think it might be a good idea to take a step back and look at the students around you.” All-Might didn’t understand what he meant, but looked at them anyway. He could see a few confident children, but most of them had a nervous expression on their faces.
Nagisa could tell the hero was starting to understand what he met, so he continued, “How many of you have been trained professionally before?” The boy looked around and saw three hands raised, not including himself: Momo Yaoyorozu, Shoto Todoroki, and Mashirao Ojiro.
“I see what you’re getting at now, young Nagisa. I’ll be supervising the lesson, so all will be well.” Okay, so All-Might was further away from getting his point than he had hoped, but whatever happens next is on the hero’s shoulders now.
“Ah, alright, that makes me feel better.” It really didn’t, but what else could the teen do? He already spoke up, and it’s not like he was worried for his own safety; the rest was in All-Might’s extremely dense hands.
“Our friend, Nagisa, does bring up a good point, though. This isn’t like the entrance exam; these are real people you’ll be dealing with, so you’ll need to adjust your power levels. I’ll step in if things get out of hand, so enjoy yourselves!” The hero finishes off. Nagisa internally sighed. Maybe he’d teach the goof a lesson about what happens when you don’t take student safety seriously. He knows the hero is light on his feet, but even Koro-sensei would have a rough time preventing an accident when he’s in a different facility.
The first teams up were Bakugou and Iida versus Izuku and Ochaco; predictably, it went horribly. All-Might didn’t know the first thing about the relationship his students had with one another, and it showed. Izuku came out of the fight bloody and broken, just like Nagisa said he would. Not only that, the building they were using got blown to bits. Izuku’s team won in the end, but not without sacrifices.
Nagisa wouldn’t complain if All-Might went to stop them like he said he would, but he didn’t, and by the looks of it, he was going to continue with the battles.
Some of his classmates looked at him with a worried look on their faces. They took All-Might’s word, but Nagisa ended up predicting exactly what would happen, so they wondered if they would end up hurt too. Nagisa had to make a statement during his turn. He could either feign injury and embarrass himself or make a big, dramatic show, also embarrassing himself. Well, clearly All-Might didn't let his students getting hurt stop him, so he would have to put his best Irina impression on. The woman was a snake and a slippery one at that.
After that fiasco, All-Might asked them to determine who the MVP of the fight was. Yaoyorozu, with her sharp mind, deduced Tenya Iida as the most valuable player. Even though the villain team lost in the end, he was prepared for the hero team and didn’t get distracted. Her analysis reminded Nagisa of Fuwa in a way. Though he could see the manga-obsessed girl making a far whackier conclusion.
The plan was simple: fight until there was a minute left during his round, then release the hold he had on his bloodlust. With the way Aizawa acted when he let it slip, it should do the trick for the number one hero. Now, if All-Might thought his students were truly going to die and still didn’t step in, he’d probably report it to Principal Nezu. Since Nagisa can’t control his own bloodlust using his quirk, it’ll take a lot of mental effort to get himself to fully release his reign on it. It’s like trying to get yourself to touch a hot stove. Sure, it’s well within your physical capabilities to touch the burner, but your brain will not allow you to do it; it’s the same principle with Nagisa’s quirk.
Yaoyorozu went up to Nagisa to try and come up with a plan for their round. She came up with brilliant ideas, and the boy found himself rather impressed with her skill. Unfortunately, for someone so intelligent, her hero costume didn’t seem to reflect the same sentiment. He didn’t mind girls showing skin, so that wasn’t the issue, but the suit exposed her in dangerous ways and wasn’t at all practical; he doubted she even came up with the design herself. It’s not just with the female students, but also the male ones too. Kirishima for example; his quirk does provide protection, but why waste energy unnecessaryly. He’d talk to them later about it, though, since he still needed to formulate a plan with Yaoyorozu.
“Yaoyorozu, I’m going to do something during the last minute of our turn that will win us the match. I’m not aiming to be the ‘MVP’ or whatever, so don’t worry about me trying to steal the spotlight from you, okay?” The girl looked a bit confused but nodded anyway. She didn’t know what Nagisa was planning, but she saw him as a level-headed person, so she didn’t mind letting him have that minute.
“Besides that, do you have any other ideas?” She really wanted to get more of the boy's insight because he clearly knew more than the average person when it came to that sort of thing. It’d be great to learn a thing or two while they’re paired up.
“There are only a couple of people we could end up going against: the TodoShoji team, the Jiro-Kaminari team, or the MinaAoya team.” Just as Nagisa finished his sentence, the next battle was announced: “And the next showdown is between teams G and H!” Now the pair knew exactly who they’d be facing, which just made strategizing all the easier. With Todoroki’s loner attitude, he’s bound to take control, but Shoji could pinpoint them in a heartbeat with his quirk, so he shouldn’t be taken out of the equation.
Nagisa got out his notepad, a habit he built up last year, and began jotting down any weaknesses he could find. He let Yaomomo peer over his shoulder as he wrote, which she seemed enthusiastic about.
“I have a feeling Todoroki is just going to ice the joint.” Nagisa shared.
“What makes you say that?” Yaoyorozu questioned, not knowing how he could predict something like that.
“Look at them,” he pointed, “Notice how they haven’t even talked to each other. Their lack of communication leads me to believe at least one of them, namely Todoroki, thinks they don’t need the others' help.” The girl nodded along with his explanation, soaking up as much information as she could get.
“Look at Shoji, he’s fidgeting and lingering around Todoroki, meaning he probably wants to talk strategy but finds it difficult.”
“Ah, I see now. It’s amazing you can predict that with mere body language and social skills.” The wealthy girl praised. Nagisa thanked her and started explaining what they should do to counter half and half’s opening move.
“And that’s a wrap!” All-Might's booming voice echoed. The class went through the motions of determining MVP status and analyzing the match before moving onto the final battle.
“We’re up, Yaoyorozu.” Nagisa gave her a comforting nod that she returned in favor.
The blue and black haired duo were on the villain side, while the other two were heroes. “Okay Yaoyorozu, go ahead and make what I told you to. Don’t worry too much about defending the bomb unless the plan fails.”
On the observing side the class takes notice of what Yaomomo is making, snow cleats. “What’re they doing that for? The other side hasn’t even made a move yet!” Hagakure says.
Back to the YaoNagi team they clip the snow cleats to the bottom of their shoes and prepare for the starting whistle to go off.
A loud sound rings through the building and the match begins. A couple of seconds pass before a weird cracking noise is heard on the lower floors. “Jump on the count of three!” Nagisa’s partner nods and gets ready to jump.
The noise gets closer and closer, “1…2…3!” The pair jumps and avoids being trapped by the sheet of ice and land back down with their cleats digging into the newly formed ice rink.
“Well, your prediction was right, nicely done, Nagisa!” The girl praises. “Thanks.”
“But now, Todoroki should be making his way here since he’s under the assumption we’re trapped, so let’s get moving!” Yaoyorozu waits behind the door while Nagisa is standing in plain sight. When the two toned boy makes his way into the room Nagisa crouches down as if he’s trying to free himself from the ice.
When the taller boy gets close enough Nagisa whirls around and sweeps Todoroki’s feet from under him. Nagisa allows no time for the boy to recover before he sets up an axe kick aimed at the other’s head.
While those two are fighting, Yaoyorozu dashes out of the room to find Shoji. She creates a net to capture him when she does eventually find him.
Back in the room where the bomb is located, Todoroki rolls out of the way before the kick can land and gets back on his feet. Nagisa’s not the best at hand to hand combat, but a year of training does wonders.
“How did you avoid the ice?” The taller boy questions.
“No time for chitchat, sorry!” The shorter replies and makes his way back to Todoroki and as he does the boy he’s approaching takes a fighting stance.
‘Ah, so he’s trained’ Nagisa thinks to himself. Nagisa prefers to use his legs while fighting since it feels more natural and he’s strengthened them with all the parkour he’s done.
Nagisa aims a kick towards the others’ ribcage which is blocked, but he spins around and performs a hook kick on the boy's opposite side.
It’s hard to place what fighting style Todoroki is using, but it’s clearly something that he’s cultivated. The technique isn’t very refined, though, since he probably focuses on training his quirk rather than his physical abilities.
Nagisa goes in for another hit, but has to jump away when ice spikes come out of the ground. Just as Nagisa thought, his opponent relies on his quirk. Todoroki closes in this time and starts throwing haymakers which Nagisa either dodges or blocks. When the shorter goes in for a hit of his own it’s countered by an ice sheet blocking his way.
Nagisa’s internal clock is ticking and the one minute deadline is in the not too far off future.
Yaoyorozu is making her way down a flight of steps when she sees Shoji making his way into the building. ‘Todoroki must’ve had him wait outside, but due to his poor communication and over confidence, he didn’t think to tell Shoji a back up plan’ she deduced.
She hides around a corner and checks a timer she made at the beginning of the match. ‘Five more minutes till Nagisa puts his plan to action, I had better wrap this up’ Yaomomo loads the net into a net gun and waits for the tentacle boy to make his way closer.
An unsuspecting Shoji is ambushed by the girl and is trapped in the net with one fell swoop. She then drags the heavy boy outside to keep them out of the cold firstly, and secondly, in preparation for Nagisa to do his thing.
“The net was smart, but how’d you guys know Todoroki would ice the building like that?” The captured boy questions.
“Oh, it was all Shiota, he’s sharp.” She praises. Though the net was entirely her.
“He was the one to point out the flaws with this lesson, yet he’s taking it so seriously,” he says to which Yaoyorozu nods in agreement.
With 30 or so seconds left Nagisa puts distance between himself and Todoroki and prepares himself to let go of his control on his bloodlust. He counts down in his head while backing away from the other boy and lets go of control all at once.
In an instant Todoroki is frozen in place with a daunting chill creeping up his back. Instead of approaching like he normally would, he stands stock-still, waiting for the other to make a move.
Despite looking at the match through a screen, everyone in the observation room is frozen too, all sweating nervously. An ominous aura was felt and they all knew who it was coming from.
All-might was quick to act and bolted out of the tv room. The bloodlust he felt was on par with villains he’s faced in the past. He flew to the building as fast as he could in fear of young-Todoroki’s life. Though, the boy was in no real danger.
The building shook and Nagisa knew All-Might was there. He got there in 20 seconds while it would’ve taken Koro-sensei 10. The young boy doesn’t mean to compare the two, but the number one hero makes it so easy when he falls so short.
Nagisa quickly reigned in his bloodlust seeing as though the man’s attention he wanted to grab was there and the match was about to end anyways.
The faux whistle blew and Nagisa walked out of the building with Todoroki lagging behind stiffly. Outside stood All-Might, Yaoyorozu, and Shoji who was freed from the net. All-Might didn’t go into the building because the blue-haired teen stopped releasing his bloodlust essentially as soon as the hero got there.
Nagisa walked up to the pro hero, looked him dead in the eyes, and smiled that sickeningly sweet smile. All-Might all but flinched, but praised the boy nonetheless.
“Congratulations on the win you two, and good effort to young Shoji and young Todoroki.” Nagisa’s peers calmed down as All-Might spoke, the fear they felt from the bloodlust being forgotten.
“Alright children. Why don’t we go analyze this match and determine the MVP!” The hero’s voice boomed as the group walked back to the tv room.
The tension amongst the students who had already completed their trials was beginning to fade by the time the five of them got back and they were ready to dissect the battle.
“If I may! I believe the MVP is either Ms. Yaoyorozu or Nagisa.” Iida spoke and virtually everyone nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, even before they knew who they were going against they were already strategizing and getting to know one another!” Ochaco stated.
“While the other team didn’t communicate at all and suffered the consequences.” Ojiro pointed out to which most of the class agreed.
Yaomomo raised her hand, “I believe the credit should go to Nagisa, I was merely following the advice he gave, so it wouldn’t be fair for me to accept the title of MVP,” The boy whipped his head around to Yaoyorozu, because it was her who thought on her feet quickly; he wasn’t even trying to win, just trying to scare All-Might.
“That may be true, but you were invaluable and easily deduced the best way to capture Shoji while letting me do my own thing without complaint.” The boy waved the compliments away.
“Can there not be two MVP’s?” Ochaco spoke up again.
“Well, why not!” All-might said, “The two most valuable players of this round are none other than Momo Yaoyorozu and Nagisa Shiota!” The duo looked at each other and Nagisa initiated an elbow bump which was daily received by his teammate.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Nagisa’s bloodlust outburst apart from Nagisa himself, Todoroki, and All-Might. Todoroki was at a loss with how the match went and All-Might didn’t know what to make of the blue-haired teen.
Todoroki’s problem was soon solved when Shiota went up to him, “Hey, sorry about how things went during that final stretch. You’re skills aren't half bad, though, nice work.” The dual quirk user nodded and spoke, “yeah, you too.”