Chapter Text
Tenko Shimura was anxious. It only made sense, he’d already decayed an entire box of packing peanuts, and while they had plenty, he didn’t want to test Zuku’s prospects. Tenko went to a good middle school but he never really connected with anyone there. They didn’t avoid him or treat him cruelly but were just distant. And now he had made, hopefully, two new friends. He just hoped he didn’t drive them away. He didn’t want to destroy any chance of friendship at his hero school.
So Tenko stood, holding his phone closely and sending out a message to a group chat with Uraraka, Iida, Hitoshi, and himself.
Tenko Shimura has added Ochaco Uraraka, Tenya Iida, and Hitoshi Shinso to the chat
Tenko Shimura has renamed the chat: Anxious UA Hopefuls
Tenko Shimura: hey fellow gamers, it’s me, Tenko. Made a chat with everyone, hope you all enjoy
Ochaco Uraraka: when I took the test I didnt expect to make so many friends
Ochaco Uraraka: hi everyone!
Tenya Iida: Hello Uraraka! And hello to you too Shimura! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful start to your day!
Hitoshi Shinso: damn u tenko, u woke me up
Hitoshi Shinso: get ready for me to attack u at some point, u wont survive
Tenko Shimura: maybe you should stop being an insomniac. It’s not good for you
Hitoshi Shinso: its my quirk dumbass
Hitoshi Shinso: u cant tell me ur brother the quirk nerd didnt ever tell you that shit
Tenya Iida: You shouldn’t speak about Shimura’s brother that way! He’s likely a very upstanding gentleman!
Ochaco Uraraka: calm down iida, im pretty sure shinso isnt insulting him like you think
Tenko Shimura: yeah, it’s cool, I don’t mind. We should all meet up and hang out, we got time to kill
Ochaco Uraraka: oh! that would be awesome! i dont live in musutafu so if one of you natives wants to give me a tour i wouldnt mind!
Tenya Iida: That sounds like an excellent idea Shimura! It would be good to de-stress after the UA Entrance Exam!
Hitoshi Shinso: i know that if i said no tenkun would drag me there anyway so im legally forced to say ye
Tenko Shimura: then let’s meetup here: <ping> tomorrow at 12 PM. We can get lunch and then spend time in the mall
Ochaco Uraraka: sounds like a plan
The day after Tenko arrived at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall dressed in a red Deku shirt and shorts. He wore his black gloves with his red shoes as he slowly made his way to the designated meet-up point. He found Iida was already there on his phone, occasionally glancing around. As soon as he saw Tenko, he walked over to him with a smile.
“Shimura! It’s good to see you. I hope you have been well!”
“Hey Iida, I’ve been good, thank you. I’m just glad I get to spend some time with friends today,” he replied, returning Iida’s smile with a soft one of his own.
Immediately, Iida’s face grew determined. “I must apologize to you beforehand. I admit my nerves likely got the best of me and I was abrasive and rude during the exam. I hope you may be able to forgive me.” Iida did a deep bow.
Tenko was pleasantly surprised. He was glad to know the guy was simply earnest and not genuinely rude. “Hey, raise your head, it’s fine. I’m glad you apologized and I accept your apology. You seem like a genuine guy if a bit stiff. I hope we can be friends.”
Before Iida could respond, they saw both Uraraka and Hitoshi approach the duo. Tenko waved a little to draw their attention and finally, they were all together.
“Hey Toshi, Uraraka. How was the trip here?” asked Tenko, an eyebrow raised inquisitively.
Uraraka responded first. “It was fine Shimura. Had to take the train from Mie but it isn’t that far from here all things considered.”
“I think dad was just excited I actually was spending time with friends. Not that he’d ever admit that,” replied Hitoshi, with a hint of
mischievousness in his voice.
Tenko clapped his hands once. “Alright, time to begin the Uraraka Musutafu exploration event! I’m glad to have you all as part of my party. I stopped us here since it’s a good place to eat, and from there we can explore the rest of the mall.”
And that’s how the quadruplet spent their day. First, at the restaurant, they saw Uraraka ordering very modestly compared to the other three. She explained that she didn’t have a lot of money because her family is poor and Tenko forced her to order more stuff and let him pay for it. Being Number One’s brother comes with perks.
After eating, they made their way around the mall looking in stores, shopping, etc. They were all pleasantly surprised to see Iida cut loose a lot more than they expected. He was still stiff but he could joke around and tease, even if sparingly. Uraraka immediately called him out as a rich kid to which he responded by saying he was Ingenium’s brother. Tenko had been around Zuku long enough to name a couple of facts about any hero, including Iida’s brother. Once Iida opened with that fact, Hitoshi straight up said his parents were both heroes. Uraraka was shocked and went to ask Tenko if he had the same relationship.
“Well, I am related to two heroes, but I’d rather not say who. What I can say is that they inspire me to work harder and harder to achieve my dream of being a hero, and I was lucky to have them in my life.”
Uraraka felt a little out of place after that since everyone around her came from families with heroes. Hitoshi assured her he was adopted and not born into it, same as Tenko. And Iida reassured her that she doesn’t need to come from a family of heroes to want to be one, that she’ll do great regardless. Her confidence spiked after that.
They chatted about nondescript things like favorite foods, hobbies, and more. Tenko found himself laughing more often than not, he was really glad he met these people. While not having friends at school wasn’t the end of the world, it definitely got lonely. Now that he was hopefully going to UA, it’d be a chance at a clean start. And he was going to make the most of it.
At around three, Iida had a wonderful idea. “Hey! Do you all see that arcade over there? Why don’t we go and play?”
When Tenko grinned, combined with his blood crimson eyes, it sent shivers through everyone’s spines. “That sounds like a wonderful idea. Let’s go.”
Everyone proceeded to get absolutely curb stomped by Tenko in most of the games. The only exception is Iida at racing games. The cackles that could be heard from the arcade would rival those of Nezu as Tenko went game to game, destroying his friends.
“Man! Shimura, how are you so good!?” asked Uraraka, exasperated.
“Well, it’s because of my quirk in a way.”
Everyone’s eyebrows rose at that. “But isn’t your quirk disintegrating?” asked Iida, perplexed.
Tenko nodded. “It is, but it gives me the innate desire to destroy things. In both my house and brother’s home, I have a lot of packing peanuts for when I get the urge to decay things. I also found that playing video games satisfies my urges a lot. It isn’t the same, but when I play games with a lot of fights, it makes me feel very at peace.”
It was one of the first lessons Zuku taught him about quirks and how they work.
“Your quirk is a muscle, it wants to be used constantly. It’s why you’ll see me sometimes sparking with lightning or with a tendril of Black Whip out and about helping me. The muscle doesn’t want to atrophy, it wants to grow. Your body sends you signals that make you want to use your quirk. For some there are ways to bypass those signals, others just simply need to use their quirk. For you, it makes you want to destroy it because that’s the way your quirk thinks it can get you to use it. So don’t be afraid, it’s your blessing wanting to be used. It isn’t a curse.”
Uraraka nodded. “That makes sense, I love lifting and whenever I go to the gym, I use a lot of weights.”
“I never thought about it that way, but I enjoy running a lot. I always thought it was simply because it’s a family thing, but it’s likely because of my quirk,” supplied Iida, and then he followed with another question. “Shimura, why do you know so much about quirks?”
Tenko laughed a little. “It’s because my brother is a bit of a quirk nerd. He’s a hero, but I swear if he wanted to he could be an analyst for any top agency. I picked up a couple of things, though I’m nowhere near his level.”
Once it was 4:30 PM, they parted ways after asking each other to call them by their first names. Once Tenko arrived home he greeted his dad with a hug.
“Hey dust mite, did you enjoy spending time with your friends?” Toshinori said, parting from their hug.
“Yeah… I’m excited dad, they’re all good people. I hope I get in and we’re all together.”
He soon began to make dinner. Sadly, dad was pretty useless in the kitchen. Not surprising since he can barely eat at all, but Zuku and Auntie Inko showed Tenko the ropes and he’s able to do decent. Except for the one time he accidentally decayed the ladle and it fell inside the pot. Not a fun time, that one.
Once he sat down to eat, dad asked Tenko a pretty surprising question. “Tenko, how would you feel about moving into young Izuku’s home?”
Tenko bluescreened. When he finally rebooted his OS, he looked very surprised at his dad. “R-really? I mean, sure, it would be awesome! But why now and not before?”
“Well, before young Izuku had an extremely demanding hero career. He still does, but now that he’s teaching I feel like he’ll be around even more. Combine that with a shorter commute to UA and I asked young Izuku myself. He said if we were fine with it, we could move in with him.”
Tenko instantly jumped in excitement. “Yes! Yes, yes! I would love to be closer to Zuku! I’ll be able to kick his ass-“ “Language.” “Sorry, butt, way more often!”
Dad smiled. “Well, I’m glad. I’ll inform young Izuku at once.”
And that’s how Tenko and Toshinori found themselves living in Izuku’s house. They moved in by the end of the week and they received their admissions letters.
Tenko was looking at the letter with shaking excitement. Izuku already knew what the contents were, but he’d said nothing the entire week, much to Tenko’s ire.
“So dust mite, wanna open it up with us, or alone in your room?” said Toshinori, with a grin of excitement.
Tenko thought about it for a moment before saying “Here, I’ll do it with all of you. It’s because of you all I can get a chance at my dream. So let’s see if I can do it…”
Tenko cracked it open and a projection came to life of… “Zuku!?” “Young Izuku!” “Me!”
They all looked at Izuku at that last statement and he laughed sheepishly.
“Hey everyone, it’s me! Pro Hero Deku, here to inform you about the entrance exam!” The projection had a bright grin on his face. “Tenko Shimura, you scored 92% on the Written Exam! This means you pass and automatically qualify for General Education. Now, onto the practical exam! You scored 43 Villain Points, which was just barely enough to pass.” Tenko breathed a huge sigh of relief when he heard that.
“However! That’s not all there was to the exam.” At this, Tenko straightened himself out. “I’ve always said that a hero’s first job is saving people. And as such, UA gives what we call Rescue Points for any type of supporting action, whether recon, saving someone from the rubble, or helping out a fellow examinee! You earned 45 Rescue Points for your takedown of the Zero Pointer and rescue of Ochaco Uraraka. That means you’ve passed the practical portion with a score of 88 points, making you first place at the practical! You’ve beaten my lowly score of sixty by a mile and a half. Welcome, Tenko Shimura, to your Hero Academia!”
By the end, Tenko was in tears hugging his brother and father. All Tenko could think about was that he’d make them proud. He’d make his family proud. And he’d honor his mom, sister, and grandmother by being the best hero he could possibly be.
Inside the rest of the letter were details about the final submission for hero costumes, class schedule, etc. Tenko was getting his costume designed by David Shield at I-Island as congratulations from his dad for passing.
Once he had finished seeing the contents, he checked his phone and found it bombarded. It seems that all of them had passed and been put into 1-A. Hitoshi especially was ecstatic. He said to them that he got barely enough rescue points to pass the exam and when he read the letter he wasn’t ashamed to say he began to cry. And so after two weeks, the start of class was upon them.
“Now, Tenko, remember. When we’re at school, I’m Deku-sensei, alright? I don’t care if you tell anyone we’re brothers but I’m not gonna go easy on you just because we’re family. I’m just another teacher,” said Zuku, setting ground rules. Zuku didn’t mind others knowing, but he knew Tenko probably didn’t want that kind of attention during his first year. If Tenko wanted to tell his closest friends, he’d let him. Zuku wasn’t one fond of secrets, even if he knew they were important.
“Yes Zuku, I get it, don’t worry. Now, you need to get going. I can tell when you’re procrastinating.”
“Fine, I’ll see you at the end of the day, Tenchan!”
About an hour later, Tenko was making his way toward the prestigious UA. He was still amazed at its majesty but took a deep breath and started walking. He made his way to the gigantic doors saying 1-A. He could hear muffled speaking and opened the door. When he saw Tenya scolding a guy for having his legs on the desk, Tenko immediately closed the door and stepped back out. ‘Nope, too early for this.’
He felt a tap on the back of his shoulder. “Tenko”, she instantly hit him with a hug, “I’m so glad we’re all in the same class!”
‘Finally, support.’ “Yup! Tenya’s in there scolding someone for putting his feet on the desk. I was staying out here until I got support. Wanna go in?”
Ochaco nodded. “Let’s go!” They opened the door once again and this time Tenya noticed them. “Tenko! Ochako! How nice to see you all here!”
“Hey, Tenya! Yeah, I’m glad we’re all here together,” replied Ochako, vibrating with excitement.
Tenko walked in and scanned the room. The first thing he noticed was that there were blondes. So many blondes everywhere. He saw what seemed to be 6 blondes, 5 guys, and 1 girl. One of the guys seemed to be the one Tenya was scolding, who still had his feet on the desk. The girl was playing with a knife. ‘That can’t be safe.’ He walked to the front of the room and saw the seating chart. Once he found his seat, he went there and saw he was behind the blonde with spiky hair and in front of Hitoshi. He went to greet his friend and quickly sat down. He wasn’t the most social.
A minute later and a tired but familiar voice boomed from the front of the classroom. “If you’re all here to make friends, you might as well leave now.”
When Tenko looked at the front of the classroom, he saw Aizawa in his yellow sleeping bag with his usual dead stare. Everyone else started to scramble for their chairs. “Eight seconds huh? You lot are illogical. My name is Shota Aizawa and I’ll be your homeroom teacher. Grab your things, we’re going to the field. Take your clothes from the front of the classroom and change them up in the locker rooms. I’ll be waiting, you have 15 minutes.”
Everyone automatically scrambled to grab their gym clothes and change.
While Class 1-A were terrified for their lives after seeing their homeroom teacher, Izuku was annoyed. Nezu had said he’d want to introduce Izuku at the opening ceremony. So he went to the ceremony only to find out it was one of Nezu's long-winded speeches. ‘Damn chimera did it to annoy me personally, I bet. Well, two can play that game.’ So while Nezu was talking about the importance of proper education and instruction in the hero world, Izuku left to go and find Class 1-A at their quirk assessment.
Aizawa thankfully informed Izuku about the fact he’d be skipping orientation and so Izuku was able to find them. He decided to watch from afar. It’d help as he’d be able to get a better grasp on all of their quirks so he could help them later. ‘I hope he doesn’t go crazy and expel everyone again. I doubt it since Shinso is there but you never know with Aizawa.’
Izuku saw almost all their faces pale simultaneously and ‘oh he just threatened them with it, well, Tenko I pray for you to have a peaceful reincarnation. Maybe you can make it as a cat…’
“Whoever comes in last place will be expelled.”
The silence that followed could be broken by a bead of sweat dropping on the floor.
Suddenly someone shouted “That isn’t fair!” and Aizawa glared so strongly it’d kill almost anyone. But before he could speak the girl with blonde hair and twin buns spoke. “Life isn’t fair. You don’t get to choose natural disasters, how people treat you; where the fire goes, or when a villain attacks. Life isn’t fair, so why should this be?”
Everyone stared stunned but Aizawa gave an approving nod. “Sosaki’s right. The world isn’t fair, it’s a hero’s job to make it fair. So do your best, that’s what Plus Ultra means!”
The quirk assessment test seemed to follow the usual couple of tests you’d get at school. The 50m run, side steps, long jump, ball throw, etc. Naturally, some quirks were better suited than others for the tests. On one hand, Tenko had no way to apply his quirk to the test. Thankfully, he was very agile and strong due to his training since he decided to be a hero. This allowed him to perform decently well. He turned out to be one of the fastest in the class, even compared to those with quirks since he got 5.2 seconds in the 50-meter run. He did above average compared to those with quirks that couldn’t help them. There were two big surprises: first, when the blond twin-bunned girl, Sosaki if he remembered right, transformed into Pixie Bob of the Wild Wild Pussycats, manipulated the earth, and got a score of 4.05 seconds, impressing everyone. Second, when another blond seemed to copy the explosion boy’s quirk and started flying through the air, getting a similar score to him of 4.3 seconds.
After that, Tenko approached the girl after she turned back to Sosaki. “Hey, that was awesome! How did you transform into Pixie Bob? Do you have a copy quirk?” Tenko had picked up Izuku’s habit of asking questions, but he didn’t have the same gift for quirk analysis, so he stopped much faster than Izuku would have.
The girl turned to him, seemingly surprised anyone would want to talk to her. “U-um, yeah! It’s part of my… quirk.” She seemed to look down ashamed.
“Well, I think it’s awesome! I’m Tenko Shimura, what’s your name?”
“Himiko Sosaki!”
They talked a bit between the assessment tests. Sosaki seemed to be able to turn into any of the Wild Wild Pussycats but seemed to focus on Pixie Bob and Tiger. She seemingly could use their quirks too, though she said her quirk is not really a copy ability even if it has some of those properties. That allowed her to excel in things like the seated toe touch. By the end, Tenko ended at a respectable 11. The lowest place was a girl named Toru Hagakure. ‘That’s a shame, her quirk is extremely powerful for hero work…’
“Oh, by the way, it was a logical ruse. I wasn’t going to expel anyone. It was simply a deception to make sure you all did your best.”
Everyone in class sounded absolutely flabbergasted. Well, everyone except for one ravenette. “I thought it was clear no one would be expelled… should I have said something?”
Everyone stared at her, deadpanning. Tenko spoke up though, knowing Aizawa’s track record. “Ummm…” all eyes suddenly turned to him. ‘Damn me and my big mouth, well, too late to back out now.’ “He’s expelled an entire class before… last year in fact.”
Everyone looked even more scared than before somehow. And the black-haired girl looked completely blindsided. Aizawa merely smirked, sending shivers down everyone’s spines. “He’s right, if I deemed any of you without potential, I’d have expelled you without a second thought. Now change and go back to your homeroom. The syllabus should be there.” And Aizawa suddenly vanished.
The blonde-haired boy with a lightning streak through his hair spoke up. “Is anyone else fucking terrified?”
Aizawa approached Izuku’s location. Izuku was looking at the group as they began to disperse and already had many thoughts.
“So, why were you stalking my class? I thought you would be at the ceremony like everyone else.”
Izuku scowled momentarily. “Nezu-sensei was doing one of his ultra-long speeches and I wasn’t about to sit there twiddling my thumbs for 4 hours. I’ll meet the other classes later.”
“But why my class?“
“Well, I wanted to see how my little brother would do. Additionally, wanted to get a read for the quirks in the class, very interesting ones too from what I saw. And also way too many areas for improvement.”
They stared at each other for thirty seconds before he sighed. “I can tell this class is gonna be a problem, please don’t make my life harder.” As Aizawa walked away, he wasn’t encouraged by the cackling. ‘Damn rat corrupted him all those years ago…’
Back in the classroom, they decided everyone should introduce themselves, and their quirk and say a hobby or something they enjoy to the class. The moment this was suggested, a couple of people went pale but it wasn’t noticed. They started in seating chart order, with Yuga Aoyama.
“Hello! My name is Yuga Aoyama, and I will dazzle the world with my brilliant sparkle. I enjoy watching the stars. My quirk is Navel Laser!”
They continued in that fashion, following him was a girl with an acid quirk named Mina Ashido. Then a girl with a frog mutation named Tsuyu Asui. Then both Tenya and Uraraka. A blond with a tail quirk named Mashirao Ojiro, the guy with the lightning bolt named Denki Kaminari, and the man who says manly once every sentence, Eijiro Kirishima.
“Hello fellow members of class 1-A, I am Neito Monoma, my quirk is called Copy, which allows me to copy quirks. I also enjoy theater and opera!”
Tenko spoke up at that introduction. “Wow, my brother would love to talk to you probably. Your quirk sounds really interesting.”
There were general murmurs of agreement. And while Monoma might not have shown it, he was happy that his classmates thought his quirk was good.
Following him was the girl who did really well in the quirk assessment. She looked pale and very nervous, fidgeting. Tenko felt really bad for her, and apparently so did a lot of other classmates. Kirishima was the one who spoke up first though.
“Hey, if you’re too nervous and don’t wanna introduce yourself, that's fine. It isn’t manly to force someone to do something they don’t want…” he said, with a kind smile on his face. The rest of the class voiced their agreement.
She shook her head. “N-no. I promised mom I would tell e-everyone,” she then took a deep breath and seemingly calmed down. “My name is Himiko Sosaki and I like cats. My quirk is Transform. It allows me to become someone if I drink their b-blood…” By the end, she had her eyes closed and expected the usual mockery and fearful eyes. Until one voice spoke up.
“Wow! That’s an awesome quirk. You were able to use the quirks of the people you turn into as well huh? I think you have a great quirk.” Her eyes opened immediately to see that Shinso was the one who spoke. Her eyes became cloudy.
“R-really? You don’t think it’s a… villain’s quirk?”
This time, the boy with the head of a bird spoke. “Those who dabble in the dark arts are not evil themselves. They are capable of immense good, just like those who dwell in the light.”
Everyone stared confused until from behind his shadow helped clarify. “Fumi just means that your quirk doesn’t make you bad, it’s just about who you are!” Everyone in the class voiced their general agreements.
At this, Himiko gave a big, catlike grin and thanked everyone as she sat back down. Unbeknownst to her, Shinso also had a big grin on his face, seeing his classmates accept her. It made him feel better about his own quirk.
From there, introductions continued like normal. Mezo Shoji had multiple arms, Kyoka Jiro had her headphone jacks, Hanta Sero had tape and the boy who spoke earlier, Fumikage Tokoyami, had a sentient quirk named Dark Shadow. The next big introduction was the heterochromatic boy with split hair.
“I’m Shoto Himura. My quirk is Half-Hot, Half-Cold but I barely use his fire. I like Cold Soba.” He sat back down immediately afterward. The whole class was super confused but shrugged. Following him was Toru Hagakure, quirk: Invisibility. Then, was the explosive boy who Tenya was scolding earlier.
“My name is Katsuki fucking Bakugo and you all better remember it. It’s the name of the future Number One Hero, so get with the program or get the fuck out! My quirk is Explosion!” And promptly he sat back down.
‘He didn’t even say everything we asked for…’ thought the whole class.
Tenko stood up, bringing a couple of packing peanuts with him. When he got to the front, he took off a glove. “My name is Tenko Shimura and I love playing video games. My quirk is Decay, and it allows me to basically disintegrate anything.” As a demonstration, he closed his hands around the packing peanuts and they quickly turned to dust. He sat back down.
Behind him, Hitoshi stood up. He walked to the front of the classroom before speaking. “Hello everyone, I’m Hitoshi Shinso. My quirk is called Brainwashing, though it’s more like low-level possession. I love sleeping, but I can never get enough of it.”
Tenko couldn’t help but snort at the last statement as Hitoshi returned to his seat. Last was Momo Yaoyorozu who had the absolutely insane power of creation. He knew Zuku would have a field day with her when they got the chance to meet.
Once introductions were done, they all decided to head home since they had no actual classes that day. Tenko was going to walk to the train station with Ochako, Tenya, and Hitoshi when suddenly Sosaki appeared.
“Hey, guys, you’re all going to the train, right?” she asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.
Tenko answered her. “Yeah, want to come with us?”
“Yes! Awesome!”
And from that day Sosaki became Himiko to the group.