Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Silence.

A blank room.

A two way mirror.

The interrogation room. A familiar setting.

“What’s taking so long …” A young man grumbled, arms crossed as he sat at the only desk in the blank room.

The only other objects in the room was the chair he was currently sat on and a glass of water in front of him, even though it seemed relatively untouched.

A sigh left the young mans mouth as he looked around the room for the twentieth time already, eventually, his eyes landed on the two way mirror. He already knew that there were people behind that discussing the future, his future.

His eyes then focused on himself, seemingly staring into his own soul. The clothes he donned were something a standard off-duty military personnel might wear, black combat boots, black combat trousers, and a white t-shirt. Simple, effective, and comfy.

Next was his facial features. His lips were big, but soft, having a very slight pinkish tint to them. His eyes a piercing blue colour, something that made them stand out much more. The hair seemed bland in comparison, a simple comb over at a medium-ish length. It was brown, with a few patches that seemed lighter than the rest.

The young man raised a hand to scratch his cheek, the white tone of his skin being on full display. It wasn’t ghostly white as he had saw in other people, it had a slight tan to it, with his arms being a shade or two darker than his face.

“Enough gawking boy,” A gruff voice stated as he walked through the, now open, door. The new man was old, greying hair on his head and face, wrinkles dotted every corner of his creamy white skin. He had saw things, too many things to count.

“Sir!” The young man immediately stood up as saluted, posture as stiff as can be.

“At ease,” The older man said, closing the door behind him before he adjusted his uniform. It was khaki in colour, had a number of medals on the one side with a few fancy looking golden ropes on the opposite. Every part of the uniform was in immaculate condition, “Me and the egg heads have discussed a few things,”

“Like what?” The young man sat back down, interested in what could have been discussed.

The older man sighed, his perfect posture relaxing as he stepped closer to the table. It seemed as if the world was bearing down on his shoulders and it wouldn’t let up anytime soon, “The wrong people are getting nosy,” He stated, “If we don’t do something the media will turn this base and our lives into a shit show,”

“What do we do then?” The younger man had let his hands fall into his lap, it was the first he had heard all about this.

“What I’m going to say next …” The older man sighed again, letting a hand come up and run through his grey hair. “You’re not going to like, but it’s for the best,”

“Sir?” Was the response, unsure, maybe even, scared.

“You can’t be here anymore, not in the base and not in the British Army,” His superior told, “I knew it was wrong from the start, but at the very least I can make amends by helping you now. You need a life, outside all this, be a kid, find some friends, pursue something because you want to, not because you’re told,”

The younger man had his mouth open, but no words came out, he wasn’t sure what words to say, it seems like in the span of a few minutes his entire life and purpose was going to be completely changed.

“You don’t have a choice, you need to move on,” It sounded rather strange, not giving the boy a choice, but if he did, the older man knew that the boy would want to stay in the Army and that was something he couldn’t allow, not anymore. “I know this is sudden, but we’ve been having problems with the media and other government officials for a while now, its only recently that it’s really became a problem …”

“And what … the solution is to throw me somewhere else?” The younger man frowned, this was his life! They can’t take that away from him, right? “I can’t do anything else! I fight, that’s all I’m good for,”

“And this is you’re chance to find something else. It’s unfair that this is what we made you, but now you have a chance, a real chance to do something that you want,” The older man said, clearly feeling the guilt in this conversation, but that is what he had signed up for, “Matthew Wright, you have been an invaluable asset to our operations, but I am asking, no, ordering you to take this step into becoming your own person,”

Matthew sat there, stunned, this was all he had, all he knew in life, and now thanks to some government officials and the media he had to move on, least he stir the previously mentioned shit storm, “General … I ...” He couldn’t form words, his brain too busy trying to process what he could even do. All he knew was fighting, what else was there?

“I don’t need an answer now,” The General reassured, “I’ve already had some paperwork send to your room, there’s not a lot, but it details a few jobs you could look into that might interest you,”

Matthew looked at the general, “Is this real? I seriously have do something else?”

The general nodded, “Yep, it’s all come rather sudden, but this is the best we could do,” He said, “Some of the others on the base suggested sending you to school, but, I’d reckon normal schools are out of the question now,” then adding, “I figured it should be your choice, and no you can’t stay here,”

Matthew frowned, “I don’t like this,”

The general let out another sigh, “Me neither, but at least you get to experience life outside this base and the missions,” He said, making Matthew question whether it was really that important to experience other things, “Head back to your room, read through those papers and give it some thought,”

Matthew stood up, already feeling some sort of pit in his stomach begin to develop, no, he hated this, but as the general said it was an order, “Will do General Wright,”

The general watched as Matthew left the interrogation room. He figured the teen needed some time to himself, he had certainly earned that much.

------

Matthew sat at the desk in his room, staring at the pieces of paper in front of him. The room was dark and quiet, not much different from that interrogation room hours earlier.

It was particularly empty, having only the bare necessities within. A bed, wardrobe, desk and chair. With a few other small things that might be needed.

Ever since Matthew left that discussion his mind never once calmed, running through possible solutions to the problem so he could stay on the base and participate once more in missions. Nothing seemed good enough, and would in fact create more problems than fix.

Part of him knew why he had to go. He doesn’t know much about the law, but it was clear that what he had been through was illegal.

He was a weapon after all, why couldn’t he just stay like that? It was the easiest solution to him anyway.

“Fucks sake man,” Matthew swore to himself, placing both hands under his chin as his eyes ready through the contents of each piece of paper.

There were a few jobs that immediately stood out to him, but that’s only because it seems more similar to his current occupation, “Police Officer, Firefighter, Prison Guard, Hero …” He stopped at that last one, he didn’t know all that much about Heroes to say the least. He knew they existed and what they did, but, other than that, what else was there, “Hero? Is that even an option for me?”

Matthew singled out the piece of paper that spoke about the Hero profession. Perhaps it was a potential pathway for the young man, after all, the General did put these files together in hopes he mind find something for him.

Before he could read further about the profession, there was a knock at his door, “Come in,” Matthew responded, causing the door to open, revealing a man that was 10 years his senior.

The man had much paler skin, but what stood out the most was his pure white hair that was tied up at the back. He had a few scars under his eyes and across his cheeks, and most of his lower face was covered in a pure white stumble, that almost blended in with his cold white skin, “Doin’ some studyin’ ay ya?” He chuckled, closing the door behind him before moving towards the desk, “Didn’t take ya for the sort,”

“What do you want Lewis,” Matthew groaned, not wanting to deal with the man right now.

“I heard what happened,” Lewis told honestly, “The General filled me in on the plan, and as much as I hate to admit it … He’s right ya know,”

Matthew sighed but nodded, “I know …”

“So what has you down then?” Lewis asked with an eyebrow raised as he leaned against the desk, “I mean, you get to experience something else, yeah?”

“I guess … But I don’t know why that matters!” Matthew complained, crossing his arms as he leaned back in the chair, “I wanna stay here, this is all I’ve known,”

“Exactly, it’s all you’ve known,” Lewis shot back, sounding similar to the General, “I wasn’t always apart of the army ya know?” He said, watching Matthew tilt his head, he had obviously never mentioned, “I used to be a secondary school teacher, taught some history for a few years, but I realised I needed something else … But I wasn’t sure what … Decided I’d join the military, figured it’d be the push I needed … Right on the money I was,”

“Really?” Matthew noted this new piece of information, it never occurred to him that everyone else on the base might have done other things, they had their own lives after all.

Lewis nodded, “Yeah, I also had a brief job in an ice-skating rink before teaching,”

“Let me guess … Your quirk?” Matthew raised an eyebrow, causing Lewis to chuckle, but give the boy a nod.

Lewis then lifted up his hand, causing a light blue mist to appear in his palm before it suddenly solidified, revealing a small misshapen piece of ice. He then closed his palm, causing it to shatter and disappear, “Yeah, back then I helped make sure the ice rink was always good to go, paid me pretty well for my age too,”

“Huh …” Matthew learn something new about one of the main people he’s known for, well, a while. His eyes then dropped back to the pieces of paper on the desk, the Hero piece still being front and centre, something that caught Lewis’ attention.

“Looking at being a Hero, ay?” Lewis took the sheet from the desk and read the contents, humming in satisfaction, “Honestly, I can see it … Every time we’re out on a mission you always seem to take blows for everyone … Really got that ‘my body as a shield’ thing nailed down,”

“It’s not my fault you guys can’t heal as well as I can,” Matthew grinned, causing Lewis to scoff.

“That’s cause my quirk doesn’t speed the healing process right to hell,” Lewis joked, before giving the piece of paper back to Matthew, “As much as I’d love to recount all the times you saved my arse, I need to get going, got a meeting in an hour,” He then placed a hand on Matthew’s shoulder, it seemed warm considering the nature of his quirk, “Trust me, this’ll be good for you, and if, in a few years you want to come back, we can easily make it happen,”

With that the older man left, leaving Matthew to his own thoughts on the matter. It was complicated, he understood what both men wanted from him, they had been the most supportive of him since, well, ever. The rest of the officers used him as a tool, not that he blames them, he was supposed to be a weapon for counter-terrorism and the such.

But the whole idea of being pushed to do something else, something that he wasn’t really prepared to do worried him. It filled him with feelings he never really had to deal with.

Looking at the piece of paper, the word, HERO, stood out like a sore thumb, he had to try at the very least, if it meant things would be easiest for the two and the rest in the base, he had to do it for them.

-------------

“So, Wright, have you made your decision?” General Wright sat at his desk, arms crossed as he stared at Matthew in front of him. It had only been an hour since Matthew had spoken to Lewis, but it was clear the young boy was eager to talk.

Matthew’s eyes briefly wandered around the room as he stood to attention. He had been in this very room more times than he could count, there was even a picture of him and the General standing side by side in front of the Union Flag, “I believe I have, sir,” He answered, still finding it so hard to believe that everything was going to change.

“Good, now let me guess …” General Wright smirked before saying, “You want to try being a hero, right?”

Matthew nodded, “Yes sir,”

“At ease, no need to be so stiff now,” The general chuckled, “But I thought you might, always making sure to prioritise everyone else’s wellbeing above your own,” He then gestured to the seat in front of his desk, signalling for Matthew to sit down, “I’ve already got it all planned, but before that …” He pulled out a cigar from his desk and lit it up, taking a deep inhale before blowing it out above him, “There’s a few conditions,”

“Go on,” Matthew nodded, already expecting as much.

“You don’t say a word about what happened here unless I give explicit instructions otherwise,” The General was suddenly very serious, “If anyone asks, you’re from Britain, your quirk is super regeneration, and your parents work for the military,” He then paused, thinking of anything else, “As for schooling just say you only took part in the Cadets program and basic English and Math,”

Matthew noticed he wasn’t supposed to say everything, which made sense, this was a very simple backstory aimed at making him seem average and not of any importance, “Wait … Why do I need to say I’m from Britain? Am I going somewhere else?” He questioned, earning a nod from the General, who then pulled out a folder from his desk.

“Japan to be specific,” General Wright smirked, “I have some friends there, so it wasn’t hard calling on some favours,”

“Why Japan?” Matthew tilted his head, “I can’t speak Japanese,”

“Then you’ll learnt it,” The General shrugged before adding, “Besides, you want to be a hero? One of the leading Hero academies in the world is in Japan and since its so different to the UK, you might learn a thing or two,”

“When do I leave?” Matthew couldn’t lie, he was kind of excited, perhaps it was at the prospect of doing something completely different.

“0800 tomorrow, I’ll have additional things delivered to your door tomorrow,” The general stood before he turned to look out of the window, it faced out into the base below, seeing various people moving equipment and supplies around, “These favours aren’t a lot, just from some old friends that I made during some joint military manoeuvres, but listen to me,” He turned his head to look at Matthew, “Don’t do anything rash, I’ve got all the documents to say that you’re my son, so whatever academy you go to, if they need some parental permission bullshit, you can give them specific contact details to me,”

“So … You’re my dad?” Matthew asked, having been the only thing to actually get from that speech.

“Was that all that got through?!” The General yelled, frowning at the young man, but it quickly disappeared, “But yeah, I suppose I am … Hard not to be,”

“I won’t let you down,” Matthew smiled, he’s never had parents before so this was already something new to him.

“I know you won’t,” General Wright smiled back, the older man already knew this was the correct choice for the boy. It would hopefully allow him to experience the world instead of the sheltered life he was given, even if he tried to make it slightly better for the boy these past few years.

----

“ETA 5 minutes to Musutafu,” A voice said over the intercom of a plane.

Matthew sat up straight, stretching his arms as he did so. The flight was gruelling, but it was something he was already used to having gone on so many missions.

The plane itself was the standard type used to carry cargo, he had simply been given a seat next to a bunch of boxes and other assortment of goods destined for Japan. The General also believed that would keep his departure on the downlow from everyone.

By his leg was a large military style camo bag, it held a few supplies for him to use when in Japan. The General had given him a phone that included the details of his own and Lewis’ in case he needed to reach them. There were a few books dedicated to learning Japanese, something that Matthew would undoubtedly struggle with. There was a lump sum of Yen to help him get by for the time being.

And some other knick-knacks from his room, but he didn’t have much for himself.

The General had already sorted out a place for him to live, an apartment complex that seemed relatively on the downlow. He had even agreed to pay for rent, as it was pretty cheap for the area, and send him additional allowance each week.

Matthew shrugged when he learnt it. Thanks to his super regeneration, he had no need to eat or sleep or drink. Though that could be thanks to something else as well.

“Who do I need to meet again?” Matthew pondered to himself out loud, “I think his name was … Yusei?”

The plan was that as soon as the plane had arrived in one of the many airports in the city, he would be picked up by someone right away. It definitely meant he didn’t have to worry about asking the locals for help in some pretty broken Japanese.

The rest of the fight went by quickly and smoothly, allowing Matthew to disembark soon after. Walking down the ramp at the back of the plane with his bag on his back and pulling along his additional suitcase he saw someone walk up to him.

It was an older Japanese man. Full grey hair, wrinkles across his face. He wore a neat and tidy black suit, but he was surprised to see that the man was considerably shorter than him, being at least 5’3.

Matthew himself sat around 6’4, which was both a blessing and a curse, “Are you Matthew?” The man asked in surprisingly good English.

The younger man nodded, “Yes, sir,”

“Sir? Now, now, don’t be so formal,” The man laughed as he gestured to the younger man to follow, “Call me Yusei,” He smiled at the boy, “Edward told me all about you,”

“Edward?” Matthew paused for a moment before realising that he was likely referring to the General, having rarely heard his first name, “Oh, right, good things I hope?”

“Only the best,” Yusei smiled as he lead Matthew to his black SUV, “I am to take you to the apartment and give you the run down about the local area, you’re in luck, I’ve lived in this city my entire life, no one knows it better, I assure you,”

Matthew smiled, already liking the personality of the man, so he proceeded to get all of his belongings loading into the back of his car before hopping into the passenger seat.

“If it’s okay with you, we’ll be taking the longer route,” Yusei explained, buckling his seatbelt and starting the car, “Less traffic and I get to explain all the good spots,”

The car ride was an eye opener for Matthew. It was like putting a fish into a different pond. All new experiences just waiting to happen. It was already looking completely different to his life back home, but that fact made it all the more exciting.

Yusei happily told him about all the places that stuck out the most. Places to shop, to get food, what food was the best. It surprised Matthew just how cheery the old man was.

“That reminds me, Edward mentioned you need to learn Japanese,” Yusei mentioned as he took a left in the car, allowing Matthew to watch as they drove past some sort of high school, “It’ll be a struggle, but I’m sure you’ll be fine, besides, most people here speak English as a second language so no need to worry,” He paused, pursing his lips together as he narrowed his eyes, making a turn to the right, bringing them into a neighbour area, “Well, depends on where you go, some places in Japan refuse to speak English at all …”

Matthew nodded, “That’s fair,” He shrugged, not surprised that there were places were the people didn’t want to speak English or any other language, “I take it this city doesn’t mind outsiders?”

Yusei nodded immediately, “Of course, of course,” He reassured, “Well, there might be one or two, but you’d get that anywhere … It helps that the place is a good tourist destination,”

Matthew nodded at the information, seeing as modest homes take up both sides of the road, “How much longer to the apartment?” He question, eager to start setting up and doing what research he can.

“Not long,” Yusei replied, stopping the car for a few moments to let a few people cross the road in front of him. The older man looked over to Matthew, giving him a once over, “Is it true?”

Matthew looked over to him, raising an eyebrow as the man started the car, “What?”

“You wanting to become a hero,” Yusei clarified, making another right, allowing both of them to see an apartment complex show up in the distance.

Matthew nodded, “It seems like it would be a good change for me,” He answered, “The General seemed to think so anyway,”

“When I said he told me all about you, he did,” Yusei smiled, making one last left turn into a seemingly full car park, “I think you’ve got a good heart, all things considered, and I think that’s what someone needs to be a hero,”

Matthew thought for a moment as Yusei parked the car. A hero. Something he never really imagined himself trying to do. It all seemed so alien to him. One second he was planning for future missions, next he was being told to leave and do something else with the life he was given.

He still wasn’t 100%.

But what else could he do?

------

Heyyy 

This is my first My Hero fanfic!

I've got some interesting ideas i think! So I'm kinda excited to see how this will play out!

Not sure how often I'll update, but I do know that I'm not gonna follow the episodes and stuff to a T, but we'll see!

Let me know what you think! Comments are appreciated!

I know its only the first chapter, so might not be much to say at the minute lol

But anyway, thanks for reading :D

Chapter Text

Matthew sat in the living room of the apartment. It wasn’t huge, but it was already miles bigger than the room he lived in back on base.

There were two small, low to the ground sofas, one facing the direction of the small flat screen TV and the other facing inward. Behind the main sofa was the front door that was slightly lower than the rest of the apartment, probably to keep the shoes by it. That was the first thing Yusei had taught him when he entered.

Opposite the living room there was the kitchen, small, but enough for at least three people to cook without getting in each other’s way. It had the usual appliances each kitchen nowadays required, oven, fridge, but no kettle.

Finally, there was a small hallway that lead to three additional rooms. Two were bedrooms, one was already claimed by Matt, the other was the spare, and the final room was the bathroom which was spacious enough and came with a small bath too.

Matthew hummed to himself, he still needed to unpack, not that he had much to unpack in the first place, but it was still on his to-do list. Yusei was the one to suggest a to-do list, he could tell that the young man was still unsure of the whole venture, even if there was still part of him that was excited. So, in order to ease his place in this cozy part of Japan, the idea of a to-do list would do the job for now.

On it held simple jobs like unpacking and even learning a few greetings in Japanese, but then there was the main ones. Yusei wanted Matthew to interact with people in the area, Japanese or English it didn’t matter, but he couldn’t become a hermit, that much was clear.

Then there was research for UA, what the school was like, what was needed to get in, things like that. And finally there was the prospect of training, Yusei made it clear that he couldn’t be a hermit and he couldn’t be lazy all day.

If he wanted to be a hero he needed to be serious about it.

“I wonder when he’ll come back to check on me,” Matthew pondered to himself, standing up to stretch. The older man had agreed to come by often to check on his progress and even help with learning Japanese, he wasn’t a formal tutor, but speaking to someone native in the language would be sure to benefit his progress, “Well, guess I need to unpack,”

Wasting no time Matthew picked up his bag and suitcase and took them both into the main bedroom, placing them on the bed. It was quick and ease work for him to divide the contents and put them into various parts of the room, most of it went into the wardrobe, and other pieces were placed on the night stands.

Matthew pulled out the to-do list and checked off the first one. The next one was to study some Japanese greetings, “I suppose I’ve got the time,” He said to himself, picking up his books from his bag and taking them back into the living room. It was either study or figure out what else he could do.

Before he could even begin to read, his phone began ringing, causing him to pull it out of his pocket and look at the caller ID. It was General Wright.

No seconds wasted.

“Hello Sir,” Matthew said formally, and respectably, but still curious to what the call would be about. It had barely been a day after all.

“You need to loosen up,” The General Responded with a gruff laugh, “No need to be all stiff when becoming a hero, they aren’t like the Military,”

Matthew nodded, even though the General couldn’t see him, “Will do,” He dropped the sir. He wasn’t really used to loosening up.

“So, how’s the place?” General Wright asked, clearly taking a puff of a cigar on the other end of the phone, “It best be good,”

“It’s good, bigger than my room on the base,” Matthew replied, “What’s the reason for calling? It’s only been a day,”

“Right to it, ay?” The General said, causing Matthew to already know he was wearing his famous smirk on the other end of the phone, “Well, it was a good thing you left, certain government officials came through and started poking their noses where they shouldn’t be … I imagine if you had stayed they would’ve asked more questions and … Yeah, it wouldn’t have looked good,” He sighed before continuing, “But I’m calling to check up, you packed pretty barebones when you left, caused Lewis to worry you wouldn’t have anything to do while settling in,”

Matthew nodded again, “He’s not exactly wrong … But I was just about to start practicing some Japanese if I could, Yusei said he’d start helping me when he drops by next,”

“Did he? That’s nice of him, tell him I said thanks,” General Wright said before continuing, “Before I forget, Lewis is gonna send you a list of stuff you should look at getting, he figured you might need more stuff to keep you occupied and it should help you with research,”

Matthew hummed, he did still have that envelope of the Yen still in his bag, couldn’t hurt to get a few things, “A laptop would be nice,” He said, more to himself than to the General, “Or a tablet … Something bigger than the phone,”

“Funny you say that, it was actually one of the main things on the list,” The older man chuckled, but quickly got back on track, “But its for the best, you need to apply to UA and I imagine doing it on the phone would be a right bitch …” The general then remembered something, “Right, speaking about UA, or any Hero school for that matter, you probably don’t have enough schooling to meet the grade requirements,”

“That makes sense,” Matthew shrugged, not surprised that they would have some sort of grade requirements as well as other stuff needed to get accepted onto the course, “What should I do then?”

“Well, I was thinking about that,” The General admitted, seeming rather relaxed about the whole situation, “The principal seems like a good enough fellow … For a bear, or mouse, or whatever he is … I think I might try and get in contact with him to explain your, uh, situation,”

“Is that really a good idea?” Matthew deadpanned, he didn’t move to Japan just to get exposed as the weapon he is straight away, “Can’t I just go to a different hero school? Or try and be a police officer, seems easy enough,”

“You could, but there would still be the grade requirement problem,” The General answered back, informing the young man that there were more layers to the Hero career path, “You could lie about your grades but … That’d only last so long … Hmm, I’ll have a think, see what we can do, but chances are I’ll be contacting that principle, see what we can hash out,”

“And what would you tell him?” Matthew questioned, curious to see how far the General would take it just to get him into the Hero course.

“Not the whole story, obviously,” He reassured, “But enough to explain why you don’t have the proper education, also I’ll probably throw something in about being a Foreign Exchange student to booster international relations, and something to do with resource acquirement,”

“Seems fair enough,” Matthew replied, still not entirely sure how it might plan out, but it’s not like he can do anything about it, if he could, he would’ve just stayed with them back at base.

Were it so easy.

-----------

Matthew was currently walking through the quiet streets of downtown Musutafu, having decided to venture out on his own. The place he was intending to go wasn’t far, only about a 5 – 10 minute walk from his apartment.

Yusei had mentioned that a few local shops that he could visit to pick up a few things for the fridge, something about him needing to try Japanese food.

Turning a corner he saw the destination at the end of the road in front of him. The main building was a shop that had large pink Japanese written characters on it, although he had no idea what it said. And the few shops surrounding the biggest one were less glamorous, but Matthew couldn’t tell what they all sold yet.

Walking closer to his objective, he noticed a few stares from the people he walked past, not unusual. He was a foreigner that did stand out, besides, its not like he could do anything about it.

It wasn’t too busy out, especially considering that the road he was currently walking on was still in the neighbourhood district, so there were homes either side. There was even another apartment block, looking oddly the same as his one.

Matthew soon stood in front of the main building, the glowing pink Japanese letters taking most of his attention. He had to admit, there was a sort of artistic style about them, even if he had no idea what they meant.

“Stop and shop,” A voice said out-loud, before a few coughs followed, “That’s what it means,”

Matthew looked towards the entrance of the shop, seeing an elderly man with a cane in the doorway, “Thanks, I can’t read Japanese,” He nodded to the man, “Though I am trying to learn to speak it,”

“I could tell,” The man laughed as he still stood in the doorway, “No one, except foreigners, stand and stare at my sign,”

“It is a nice looking sign,” Matthew commented, looking back up at it briefly before deciding to get back on track, “Alright if I have a look around? Need to get a few things for the fridge,”

The man smiled, stepping out of the way and gesturing for the young man to come inside, “Of course, got a fair amount of basic necessities,”

Matthew stepped into the shop, it was well lit, allowing him to see the countless rows of items up for sale. There was food supplies, drinks in open fridges, a toy section for children, and even a few clothes near the back, even if it did seem limited in that regard.

“If you need anything in particular, just ask,” The man limbed over, with cane in his left hand, supporting his weight, “I’m Ren by the way, been working this shop for the past … 20 or so years now,”

Matthew gave a thumbs up, “It’s a pleasure, I’m Matthew, recently moved into one of the apartments nearby,” He answered, watching as Ren went behind the counter and took a seat, obviously trying to give his legs a break. It was then Matthew noticed what the man was wearing, some Khaki coloured trousers and mahogany coloured jumper. His hair, or what was left of it was entirely grey, keeping to the sides and back of his head while the top was completely bald.

Ren’s face, while wrinkled, was still quite young looking is certain places, perhaps he had been given the good genes from his family, “Must be really recent, then,” Ren commented, looking Matthew up and down before continuing, “Haven’t seen you before,”

“Yeah, I got here yesterday afternoon,” Matthew replied as he moved further into the shop, looking at various shelves to see if something caught his eye. At first nothing of interest popped up, but after a few seconds, his eyes landed on a blue box covered in plastic wrap. Matthew picked up the item and inspected what could be in it, while he couldn’t read the Japanese on it, they were clearly some square biscuits covered in chocolate.

The box costed just over one thousand yen which did make Matthew question about buying such an expensive box, he quickly remembered the currency likely had a different value to the pound, so he kept it on hand before moving further into the school.

“So what brings you to Japan?” Ren decided to ask, his eyes watching Matthew closely as the younger man looked through the store shelves, “Any reason or just a vacation?”

Matthew shook his head, “Well, I gave it some thought, figured I should try and become a hero,” he replied honestly, picking up what seemed to be a box of tea bags that had a lemony flavour to them, “And my, uh, dad, thought that Japan would be a great place to study,”

“Hero? You’ve definitely got the build for it,” Ren laughed, slapping his knee before letting out a few coughs once again. The man then cleared his through before continuing, “It’ll be hard to become a hero, even with that build of yours, I’m guessing you’ve got a good quirk then,”

Matthew moved over to the cold section of the store before responding, “I think so, my quirk is Super Regeneration, so I heal any damage I might take,” He told, looking at the different cold drinks on offer, seeing what was clearly a Japanese version of Coca Cola, and because he recognised it, he picked up a pack of 4. Not that he needed to have any of this, but eating and drinking did feel nice from time to time.

“Now that would be pretty good as a hero,” Ren mused, bringing his hand up to scratch his face, “Regeneration quirks are pretty rare, but don’t they have that downside? If you take too much damage it overwhelms your regeneration,”

Matthew walked up to the counter, happy with the items he decided to buy, “Yeah probably, but mine doesn’t,” He shrugged, but then paused, should he have said that, too late now.

“Really? Now that’s rare,” Ren told, looking at the items the young man wanted to buy, totalling up the cost before pulling out a small carrier bag for them to be placed in, “That’s …” He looked at the cash register, “Four thousand yen,”

Matthew pulled out the envelope and looked inside, Maths was never his strong point, but the basic was fine enough. Even if using a different currency made things slightly harder, “Uh … I think that’s enough?” He questioned, handing over a few notes, but kept the envelope out in case he needed to get more.

Ren counted the noted, humming in satisfaction, “Perfect, first try too,” He complimented, opening the cash register and placing the notes inside, “Well it’s been nice meeting you, but I imagine you want to get back,”

Matthew nodded, he still had a few things to do at the apartment, “Nice meeting you sir,” He said respectfully, grabbing his bag of things before heading out. It was still bright out, no clouds in sight, but there were still things to do back home.

“I wonder if there’s anything good on tele,” Matthew mumbled to himself as he began walking in the direction of the apartment complex he now calls home.

----

“A house warming gift …” Matthew read the text that Lewis had sent him.

The young man was currently sat on the sofa with the tele on and a cup of lemony tea brewing on the table in front. It was weird not using a kettle to boil the water, but instead a pan on the stove.

“Thanks for that,” Matthew replied to Lewis’ text, saying it out-loud as he did. Apparently, the older man had ordered him a laptop that was supposed to be delivered to his door within the next few days, something about not wanting him to be ripped off especially since he’s a foreigner. Whether that actually happens Matthew had no idea, but he was still thankful for the gift.

The Slime Villian, that had kidnapped a 14-year-old high school student, has recently been subdued and captured by the Number 1 Hero All-Might.

Matthew looked up from his phone. It was the TV, he had managed to find a news station that reported in English, and was already learning about some of the few problems plaguing the country.

Grabbing the buttons he turned up the volume.

The child, who we will not be releasing the identity of, is safe and sound. Heroes are unsure to why the Slime Villian tried to kidnap the child, but it is likely due to the child’s powerful quirk.

Thankfully, other than damage to nearby buildings and the road, no one sustained serious injuries at this time.

Stay tuned for more.

A slime villain kidnapping someone for there quirk? “Sounds like Japan is like every other country in the world,” Matthew commented as he took a sip of the tea that had seemingly finished brewing, “Huh … Should’ve got some milk and sugar …”

Placing the cup back down, a knock sounded from the front door behind him. Moving swiftly, he got up and went over to it, opening the door revealed a very familiar Yusei, wearing the same black suit he had worn before.

“Nice to see you’re still intact after I left you here,” Yusei joked as he quickly shuffled his way inside, taking his shoes off and then allowing Matthew to close the door behind him. The older man then immediately spotted the goodies on the table that Matthew had brought from the shop, “And you left! Didn’t think you had it in you,”

Matthew tilted his head at the man, “Uh, is there a reason you’re here sir?”

Yusei waved his hand, “There’s no need to call me sir,” He chastised, not wanting the young man to be formal the entire time he knew him, “And I promised I’d visit,” He told before taking a seat on the sofa, “Also Edward filled me in on his plan which is not surprising all things considered,”

“How’s that?” Matthew questioned, deciding to take a seat on the other sofa, but still faced the older gentleman.

“The entry requirements into UA, and most Hero schools, are pretty steep,” Yusei answered, helping himself to a biscuit from the box that Matthew had brough since it was already open, “Oh these are good, you’ve got a good eye on you,” He complimented at the biscuit choice before continuing, “But since the requirements are pretty steep, and you don’t have any education to speak of really, its safe to say the written exam would probably stump you,”

Matthew nodded, education was never his strong point because it was never his focus. What’s the point of maths, English, Science, if he was just supposed to fight. Sure he knew the basics of each subject, but not much more than that.

“Which is why I suggested to Edward that he be upfront about you … Situation,” Yusei revealed, leaning back into the sofa in a more relaxed position, “And yes, he has already filled me in on it too,”

“Isn’t that … Risky?” Matthew questioned, not liking the idea of the General informing more people about what his purpose was and what that base was designed to do.

“For more people to know? Yes, incredibly,” Yusei agreed but continued, “But I think Nezu will be more than understanding, in fact, he went through a similar experience himself,”

“A similar experience?” Matthew repeated, already disliking the implications of that statement.

“Now, if you meet him I am sure he will tell you his story, it’s not really for me to say anyway,” Yusei cleared his throat, “What I’m saying is there is a good chance Nezu will hear Edward out … And if he chooses not to, I’ll try and assist, me and the rat have had a few chance encounters,”

Matthew remembered the fact that Yusei was a previous member of the Japanese Military, though he can’t remember if he was Army, Navy, or Airforce, so chances are he and Nezu met at some point.

“Enough about that,” Yusei waved off the previous conversation like it was nothing to worry about, “Let’s start practicing our Japanese shall we?”

Matthew was partially unsettled by his enthusiasm, but soon remembered something, “The General says thanks,” The young man nodded before adding his own appreciation, “Thank you … For the lessons,”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Yusei smiled at the boy.

-----

Chapter Text

“Come on you shitty thing …” General Wright grunted as he was currently sat in his office, curtains closed, doors locked, the place completely searched for listening devices or similar instruments. He was typing away at his laptop, but the thing continued to freeze up on him.

Edward took a puff of his cigar and the laptop made a refreshing sound, finally unfreezing and running normally once more, “Thank fuck,” He muttered, looking at the time, realising he had a few more minutes before his meeting with the Principle.

Edward had managed to contact the Principal, allowing them to set a time for a meeting online. Due to the time zone different, the General agreed to stay up late in order to get this done, it was his idea after all.

With a sigh of relief everything was operational, he leaned back in his chair, all he had to do was wait for the call. Part of him would have preferred to have met in person, Yusei had told him good things about the Principle, but with the situation at home being quite tense, he realised making a trip to Japan wouldn’t look so good to the Government officials currently breathing down his neck.

A ringing sound took the man out of his thoughts. It was Nezu, “Here we go,” Edward mumbled, taking one last smoke of the cigar before putting it out into a nearby ashtray. He then pressed the accept call button.

Suddenly, Edward was staring at Nezu. What even was he? Some kind of bear? Rat? Or Dog? Yusei never really said, “Ah! Good afternoon General Wright,” Nezu said cheerfully, placing his hands together on the desk in front of him, “Or should I be saying Good night?” He pondered before continuing, “I appreciate you scheduling this meeting for my timetable,”

Edward couldn’t see anything about the room that Nezu was in, only the wooden desk and two large windows behind him, “Nice to meet you Nezu, and don’t worry about it, I suggested the meeting so it’s only fair I fit it around your schedule,” He nodded, but cleared his throat, “Before we continue, is this line secure? I would prefer the information we discuss to not become public,”

Nezu nodded immediately, “Of course, I’m currently calling you on a line that only I have access to, if anyone attempts to gain access I’ll be alerted immediately and the call will end,” He reassured, “Anything you say here will be strictly confidential, only I will know,”

General Wrigh grunted, but nodded, “That’ll do,” He mused, “I suppose we should get into the meat of things …” He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what might be the best way to explain the situation at hand, “There is someone I would like you to meet, he’s currently living in Musutafu as we speak and looking at the prospect of becoming a Hero,”

“Really! How exciting!” Nezu said cheerily, “It is always a pleasure to meet young and up-coming heroes,” He then looked at the General with a neutral face, “If this is about bribing me to accept him onto the course without taking the entrance exams then I cannot help you unfortunately. Students must take the entrance exams, whether the standard or recommendation, to meet our requirements to, possibly, become heroes,”

“Nothing of the sort, I assure you,” Edward smiled, but internally he swore, one of his main tactics had been dismissed before he could even bring it up, “But I take it that’s fairly common for you to so boldly say it?”

Nezu nodded, letting out a brief sigh as one hand came up and starting twirling his whiskers, “I meant no offence of course, but with the next year starting in only 9 months, you’d be surprised the amount of effort some of the parents go through,” he answered, letting his hand fall back into position, “It’s quite admirable that they want to support their children, but when their children don’t possess any qualities we look for in up-coming heroes then there’s nothing we can do about it unfortunately,” Nezu remarked, but then shook his head, “Please continue General, I apologise for my interruption,”

“It’s okay,” Edward waved him off, “I do imagine your job being incredibly stressful,” He reassured that he wasn’t offended, “But this situation is, unique, to say the least. His name is Matthew Wright …” The general paused, does he describe his personality traits first? His behaviour? No, it should be the truth, Yusei seemed certain that Nezu would understand, “He’s a genetic experiment that was created in Britain, a handful of other countries were involved, but all the scientific work went underway here. He was raised to be part of the military, counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering, things like that,” Edward did take notice that Nezu seemed more interested than before, “And before you say, yes it was illegal, I wasn’t in the exact know until after Matthew was born, and at that point it was too late to turn back,”

The general scratched his chin before letting out another long sigh, exhaustion falling onto him, “It’s a long story, but certain government officials and the media have been putting their nose into this, you can probably guess why we can’t let it get public, so I gave him a choice that I should’ve given him much sooner …”

Nezu peaked up at that comment, “And what choice was that?”

“To move on, live life how he wanted, make friends, learn about the world,” Edward answered truthfully, “I suggested some jobs he could look into, Heroics came up, he expressed interest, and I figured Japan would be a good place for him,”

“Well you’re definitely not wrong,” Nezu smiled at the man, “I imagine being sent to Japan also meant you could deal with the stuff happening back home?”

“Spot on,” Edward complimented, running a hand through his grey hair, “That’s the gist of it … The only other thing worth mentioning is that he doesn’t have much education, only the basics and his social skills …” he made a motion with his hands, “Are non-existent to be honest, he’s friendly, but he’s never interacted with someone his age, so I have no clue how that would work,”

“Interesting,” Nezu pondered, his brain running though thousands of thoughts per second, “So many questions to ask, but so little time …” He mused, trying to think of the most important ones, “What is his quirk? Would it be beneficial to the hero profession?”

Edward rolled his hand, “That’s the thing, on all technicalities, he’s quirkless, but if he did have a quirk, it’d be Super regeneration,” He could see the Principle raise and eyebrow, so he continued before he could question, “I don’t understand the exact ins and outs of the experiments, but the idea was to create a human that possessed abilities without inherently possessing a quirk,”

“Truly fascinating!” Nezu remarked, his brain going even faster now as he pondered such experiments, “It reminds me of my time as an experiment all those years ago, such horrid memories,”

Edward sweat-dropped at that, “Sorry I didn’t mean-,”

Nezu held up a hand and interrupted, “Don’t be, what’s done is done,” He reassured, “You have definitely peaked my interest in this young man … What kind of missions did he undertake? From what age?”

Oh boy, The General thought, “Uh, I cannot disclose exact details of his missions or his age of when he started. He was young, unfortunately, and most missions involved hostage rescue, counter-terrorism … Assassination,” He coughed, already knowing how bad it sounds, “What I can say is the boy was determined to protect his teammates at any cost, even if that meant throwing himself in harms way, which of course, he could always heal from the damage, but he still felt pain,” He rubbed his tired eyes, already feeling sleep want to overtake him, “I should’ve done more to take him out of the experiments and the missions, it wasn’t fair to him, but there was only so much I could do. There’s still people that dislike me for letting him go so easily, but I’m putting my foot down on that one, it just isn’t fair to have a lifestyle like that forced upon you,”

Nezu hummed. It was quite a lot of information to digest, “I see,” he hummed, contemplating his options, “I cannot make any promises at this time general, but I see your reasonings. I would like to meet this young man, see if I can get a sense of him before I commit anymore to the proposal,”

Edward Wright simply nodded at that, “It’s all I ask,” He told, feeling thankful that the Principle had decided to investigate the matter further instead of shutting him down completely, “I can send you his details, both the home address and his phone number,”

“Perfect, I am already looking forward to this opportunity,” Nezu smiled widely, “But before we end the call, make sure not to tell Matthew about my visit, I believe the surprise will help me to see what he’s like as a person and whether he’s Hero material or not,” he then added, “If he’s not Hero material, that’s perfectly fine, because I would be willing to take him into the General Studies course at least,”

The General nodded, allowing both to finish up the call and saying their goodbyes. It had been more than reassuring to the man that Matthew would be placed in good hands from now on. That Yusei was right after all, Nezu was a fine bloke, even if he was a rat.

--------

Matthew stepped out of his bath and started drying himself with a nearby towel. It had been a few weeks since he moved here, other than the occasional text or call from Lewis or the General, he’s been by himself most of the time. Yusei does come by often to teach him Japanese or tell him stories.

It was the Japanese man that had convinced him to begin his training routine again. Now considering he doesn’t have much space to work with, a lot of the training consists of using the furniture as weights for simple exercises. While he doesn’t get tired due to the regeneration of his cells, he can still get stronger by creating those micro-tears within his muscles. The best thing is he doesn’t need rest days or to stop because as soon as his muscles experience those tears, they heal up stronger than before.

“That was nice,” Matthew commented as he walked into the bedroom, only in his birthday suit, throwing the towel onto the bed before turning to the wardrobe and picking out a set of clothes to wear. He went for the standard black cargo trousers, dark green t-shirt and his usual black combat boots. It was safe to say he needed more clothes to wear.

Walking out of the bedroom and into the living room, he paused. What was there to do? He had already done some training, and he wasn’t really in the mood to do more. He had already done some Japanese practice after Yusei left earlier in the day, and he’s getting better, but its far from anything usable.

Matthew scratched his head before deciding to just check out what was on the news, he could figure out a game plan later. Sitting down he picked up the buttons and turned on the tele, he immediately went back onto the news station that reported in English.

Thanks to the efforts of our Number 1 Hero, All-Might managed to successfully prevent a gang of armed robbers from escaping with millions of Yen worth of Jewels from a local Jewellery shop in Musutafu.

In other news, the Number 2 Hero, Endeavour, had stated that he will be redouble his efforts into becoming the new Number 1 Hero.

The station then began playing a recording of the Number 2 Hero, who was stood in front of some reporters. He was large, but the most distinguishing feature would be the fire covering his face – It was like he had facial hair made out of flames.

“While it is true that All-Might has been the main reason for the decline in crime across Japan, we cannot allow ourselves to become lazy. All it takes is one slip before crime threatens to rise once more, I’ll be doing my best to prevent that,” He then looked directly into the camera, “The next number 1 hero will be me, I assure you.”

Matthew just realised the man was speaking English, incredibly well, perhaps he had noticed he was giving an interview to an English only team of reporters? Or maybe it was a translation? He shrugged, either way, the station went back to displaying the weather for the up-coming week.

“He seemed very … Determined,” Matthew commented at the interview of Endeavour. He knew basically nothing about the man, nor about the Number 1 Hero All-Might, but he could tell there was something deeper between the two than meets the eye.

Before the young man could think anymore on the matter, a knock came from the front door. He paused, and stared at the door. It couldn’t be Yusei because he had started letting himself in now. It wouldn’t be the General or Lewis, they’re currently still based in the UK.

The only other person he could think of is the man he sees often when he heads down to the shop, but he didn’t remember telling Ren exactly where he lived.

Carefully, he got up from the sofa and walked over to the door. He looked through the small peep-hole, but could only see the top of a very furry looking head. Matthew slowly opened the door, deciding to just look through the crack at his surprise visitor.

“Hello there!” The small looking polar bear cheerily said, “I’m sorry to bother you so suddenly, but mind if I come in?”

Matthew noticed he was speaking English, maybe he recognised that he was a foreigner? “Uh …” The words got caught in his mouth, what should he say? “Who … Are you?”

“Nervous? I can understand that,” The polar bear nodded with a smile, “I’m Principle Nezu, from the Hero Academy UA, I’ve heard from your General that you were interested in applying,”

Matthew widened his eyes ever so slightly, “You spoke to the General? Wait … I didn’t think I’d meet you yet,” He said, unsure how to make the situation, but opened his door fully, allowing Nezu to enter, “Uhm …” He paused, suddenly feeling a lot of pressure from the meeting, why did things get so difficult suddenly? “What did you … Want to talk about?”

Nezu walked over to the sofa and got comfy, watching with interest at Matthew shut the door before joining him on the opposing sofa, “No need to be nervous,” The Principle reassured with a cheery smile, “I spoke with your General about your situation, and you interested me quite a bit, the only suitable thing was to meet with you personally to see what you’re like,”

The General never mentioned he had successfully spoken to the Principle, and what made him more uneasy was how much he knew about his situation, “What did … He tell you exactly?” He questioned, wanting to get a read on the polar bear, or mouse, or whatever he was.

Nezu placed his hands in his lap as he looked around the apartment, that cheery smile not leaving his face for even a second, “He informed me of everything that he could about the experiments you underwent and what your role was while with the military,” He responded, looking back to Matthew as if it was no big deal, “He didn’t go into detail about you however, but I’m happy to remedy that if you’ll let me,”

Matthew thought for a moment, for some reason he was nervous, a pit of worry started building inside him stomach. This wasn’t something he normally felt but he figured he had to deal with it anyway, “Yeah … Okay,” He nodded, already hating this new sensation. He wasn’t like this with the General or Lewis, or even Yusei and Ren, was it because the visit was totally unexpected? “What did you want to know?”

Nezu was not surprised at the sudden quietness in his voice, “I imagine you don’t interact with people often? No need to be so nervous, I mean no harm, I promise,” he tried to reassure, but he understood why the human was so nervous to begin with, perhaps it would have been better to announce his visit beforehand.

Matthew nodded, “There’s only the General and Lewis that I speak to regularly,” He said, his voice quiet as he spoke. There was no stutter to his words, but the quiet tone of his voice made it clear that he lacked any confidence in this interaction, “I guess there’s …” He coughed, clearing his throat, “Yusei and Ren now,”

“Oh so you’ve already made a few friends during your stay here?” Nezu cheerily said, placing one of his hands on his whiskers to straighten it out, “Have you spoke to anyone your age?”

“No …” Matthew shook his head, his stiff posture weakening for a second, “But I’d meet some at the school, right?”

His voice was slightly louder, almost hopeful, Nezu nodded, “Is that something you’d be looking forward to?” Nezu pondered that the child in front of him could be lacking in attachment to people his age, perhaps he wouldn’t know what to do or how to behave.

Matthew thought for a minute, he hadn’t even seen anyone close to his age back on base. All he knew were people who were much, much older than him, so the thought of dealing with people the same age as him was scary, to say the least, “I don’t think that’d be good,” He admitted, sure he liked the idea of getting to know people his age but, well, he isn’t exactly normal, “I’m a freak,”

“Nonsense, just because you were created in a different way to your peers does not mean they are automatically better than you,” Nezu comforted, seeing a lot of himself in the boy, “If it reassures you, I was also created through genetic modification. The experiments were painful and the research was supposed to see what would happen if quirks are directly placed into animal DNA, the result was … Me!” He smiled widely, even if there was an underlying sadness to his story, “I did not choose to be created, and I hold a resentment to those who created me, but now I’m the Principle of the best Hero school in Japan, I get to see young heroes prove themselves and change for the better. I must say, I’ve been quite lucky all things considered,”

Matthew stared at the creature on the sofa, was this what Yusei had meant when he said Nezu might understand him? “You’re like me?” He said, a sense of relief briefly filled his body as he realised he might not be the only freaky genetic experiment in the world.

“Not exactly,” Nezu stated, the smile still never leaving his cheery little face, “From what the General did tell me was how different the research for you was,” He continued as a hand scratched at his chin, “It is quite remarkable that they managed to accomplish it, to be able to place quirk abilities into a host without the quirk itself … Truly a discovery that would shake the world if revealed … Tell me, what are some of your abilities?”

Matthew figured the General would have told him some, “The main one is, uh, my super regeneration,” He explained, his voice returning to normal volume as he become more comfortable with the Principle’s presence, “I can heal any damage I take … Uh … I don’t need to eat, sleep, or drink … I don’t get fatigued …”

“Impressive, healing quirks are quite rare, but it appears yours might take the cake,” Nezu commented as he started messing with his whiskers once more, “Each healing quirk is different than the last, some only slow down aging, others heal wounds, but its not usually extreme, take enough damage and the body short circuits so to speak, do you have a limit on your healing?”

Matthew fiddled with his hands for a moment, but then shook his head, “No … At least, we don’t think so …”

Nezu raised an eyebrow, how would someone figure that out? Unless, “How do you know what you can heal from?” He questioned, it was an uncomfortable question, he knew it, but part of him needed to know.

“Some from the missions I was sent on …” Matthew answered looking down to the floor for a moment, “Most from the … Tests,”

“Tests?” Nezu repeated before clearing his throat, he knew what that meant and it disgusted him, “I appreciate you telling me, that must’ve been incredibly difficult,” He complimented, “While my experience is different to yours, I will say that they did various tests with myself as well, some more barbaric than the last,”

Matthew nodded, but chose not to say anything, Nezu noticed the shift so decided to move on, “Well, what makes you want to be a hero?” He popped the question to the boy, “Surely there must be a reason,”

The young man thought for a moment, “Well … I was pushed out of the base because … They didn’t want people to find out about me,” He told, earning a nod from the small Principle, “I needed to do something different … Heroes … They save people … I’ve saved people before on my missions and I liked the feeling it gave me,”

“A simple yet adequate response,” Nezu smiled at the boy, “If you don’t mind, I’ve got some other questions for you …”

Nezu ended up spending over an hour speaking with Matthew, trying to get as much information from the boy as possible. It helped develop his understanding of the young man and whether he was suited to go for the hero course, but there was more too it than that, Nezu felt a sense of familiarity from his situation, its not an everyday occurrence he gets to speak to someone that had similar experiences to his own, the Principle felt like he could do his part and help this young man fit into a society that never knew he existed in the first place.

“Well, Matthew,” Nezu sighed in content as he stood up from the sofa, “It has been a pleasure meeting you, but I’m afraid I will have to head back to the school, I imagine the other teachers will be worried about me,”

Matthew nodded, feeling more confident in himself after speaking to the Principle, “It’s been nice,” He told, walking the Principle to the door.

“I cannot promise anything just yet, but I will see what the plans are for the up-coming year and once I do, I will send you a letter as soon as possible,” Nezu told, letting Matthew open the door and allowing himself to step outside, “I will be more than happy to welcome you to the school in the up-coming year, whether that’s on the Hero course or in General Studies,”

Matthew paused for a moment, why would he be studying the General? Or would it be the Japanese Generals he would be studying? “No you’re not studying any Generals Matthew,” Nezu broke him out of his thoughts, “And no, I can’t read minds, but considering you don’t have an education and you spoke a fair amount about the general I guessed what you were thinking,” He laughed but continued, “We can speak more about it at a later time, do not worry,”

The young man nodded, “Okay, it’s been nice speaking to you sir,”

“Already calling me sir! Trying to get in my good books are we?” Nezu laughed again, he appreciated that the child was respectful, but he knew he was going to be too stiff when he started the school, “But yes, thanks again, goodbye now!”

Matthew watched as the little creature waved him goodbye before disappearing down the hallway. Leaving him to his thoughts, and even when he closed the door, they were not calming down anytime soon.

“At least that’s over now,” He sighed in relief, just wanting to take it easy for the rest of the day now. He had a long road ahead of him, he knew that for sure.

----------------

Chapter Text

There was a scream.

It was loud.

Close by.

Matthew looked around. It was dark, he had been out longer than he expected. His plan was to memorise the surrounding area, look for places that might be of interest later on, but he didn’t expect for him to be out once it got dark. That’s when shady stuff happened.

Moving towards the direction of the scream, he noticed it was coming from a nearby park. Looking around, there was no one really in sight, just a handful of people that were already speed walking away from the sound.

His instincts got the better of him, so he walked, towards the park, and the darkness that loomed within. Passing under the large metal gateway he was met with a large path that ran through the centre of the park, trees covering both sides of the pathway. There were two smaller paths branching off on either side.

The scream happened again.

It was coming from the left hand side.

Matthew wasted no time in travelling down the path. There wasn’t as much light down this direction, perhaps that is why someone needed help, the darkness can provide for a great opportunity to strike.

The scream happened once more, louder this time.

He was close. Moving faster he came upon a scene between two people as he rounded a bend in the path. One was taller than the other, but everything about it was obscured, he wore black, no discernible features, especially since his face was covered by a black woolly mask.

The other, a short but chubby woman was holding onto her purse for dear life as the terror was written on her face, “Let go!” She screamed out, trying to pull it back, “Just leave me alone!”

“Come ????? bitch! Just give me ????? shit ???? fuck off!” The man’s voice was gruff, he was speaking in Japanese. Matthew could understand a few of the words, but had to use his own ideas to formulate what he was really saying.

Without evening thinking, Matthew rushed forward, punching the man in the jaw as neither had noticed his sudden appearance. The strike sent shockwaves throughout the man’s body, totally unprepared for the force that suddenly hit him, it shattered his jaw with ease, causing the following dialogue to come out in Japanese gibberish due to the pain, “FUCK! WHO ???? YOU ????” He was thrown to the ground temporarily clutching his jaw in agony, the grip on the purse no longer as the woman secured it in her hands before quickly rushing behind Matthew to hide.

The man muttered in Japanese before rushing to his feet and running in the opposite direction, disappearing quickly. Matthew eyed the direction for a few moments longer before turning to the woman, he was much taller than her up close, but any thoughts of her were soon interrupted as she bowed, “Thank you, I ???? Don’t know ????” She said a hefty sentence in Japanese, but Matthew had only managed to understand parts.

The young man scratched his head, “Sorry … I don’t speak Japanese that well yet …” He admitted with an unsure smile, “I understood some parts of what you said, but not all of it,”

“Oh!” The Woman cleared her throat, “Sorry that was my bad,” She apologised in English, “I just expected you to be able to speak it, I never gave it much thought …” The woman bowed once again, “Thank you, for saving me, I dread to think what else that villain might have done if given the change,”

Matthew wasn’t used to praise, especially from someone he just met. It felt alien to him. It was nice to have saved her, but now he had to interact with someone completely new, “Uh … Don’t mention it,” He gave an awkward smile, all of that confidence he felt leading up to the confrontation disappearing in an instant. He briefly remembered Yusei mentioning that he could be socially awkward, and given his up-bringing he would probably struggle with certain social situations and cues, “What … Did he want?”

The woman held up her pursue, a tiny thing, “He wanted my purse!” She frowned, holding it tightly, “I don’t have a lot of money, but if he got this then things would get really difficult,”

Matthew nodded, but then pointed in the direction on where he came from, “Shouldn’t …” He cleared his throat, “Shouldn’t you be getting home?” It was then he probably got a good look at the small woman in front of him, he couldn’t guess her age, but it was safe to assume she was much older than him. She had long black hair that went to the middle of her back, her eyes were dark red, signifying something to do with a quirk. Her face was smooth and lacked any form of wrinkles, so it was incredibly hard to gauge how old she was from her face. The dress that she wore was business style, it reached down to her knees and was black in colouration, it hugged her curves nicely, even if Matthew never noticed those things.

The woman let out a nod, “Yes! I’ve been out long enough!” She then gave the young man an uneasy smile, “Sorry to be a bother, but could you walk me home? I don’t feel brave enough to be by myself …”

The young man felt a pit inside his stomach set, this meant more interaction with a person he didn’t know, but he couldn’t refuse, “Uh … Yeah sure …” He said quietly before taking the lead.

The walking speed was faster than the woman expected so she had to do a slight jog to catch up with her hero, “Woah! Slow down!” She complained, earning a quiet sorry in response, “What’s got you so nervous all of a sudden?”

Matthew slowed down, allowing the woman to finally keep pace with him as they began to make their way through the park. In the distance that large metal gateway was visible, “I uh …” He didn’t know what to say to be honest, interacting with people was hard, there were only a few exceptions he could think of.

“Are you socially awkward is that it?” The woman questioned with a slight giggle, “So you can save me but when it comes to talking you don’t know what to say,”

Matthew would need to search up that term later, but it seemed right for the time being, “I guess …”

“That is so precious oh my god!” The woman was laughing as if she hadn’t been screaming a mere few minutes ago. It seemed she moved on quite quickly all things considered, “That’s okay though,” She chirped before realising they didn’t exchange names, “I’m Mei by the way, thanks again for saving me,”

Matthew nodded as they finally exited the park via the gateway, “Don’t worry,” He told, noting really bothered about the praise, “I’m Matthew,”

“Oh, so you’re not from here,” Mei hummed, probably should’ve realised that by now, “I do like your accent, where are you from? Sounds fancy,”

“Uh, the UK,” Matthew responded as it was the woman’s turn to lead, since he had no idea where exactly she lived, “I’ve been here for … A few months now,”

“That’s nice, hopefully it’s been welcoming to you,” Mei smiled at the boy, hoping that he hadn’t had any other interactions with villains to speak of, “My house isn’t far, I usually walk through the park as it’s a short cut, but I did risk going though at night …”

Matthew nodded, “I don’t live far from here either,” he revealed, pointing in the direction of the apartment complex, “I was exploring … But I lost track of time,”

“Guess that’s a good thing,” Mei giggled, leading the young man across the road and towards one of the many neighbourhoods in the area. This neighbourhood was seemingly fancier than the rest, since all the houses on both sides of the road were quite big, had large front gardens, garages, and presumably large back gardens to boot, “Almost there now,”

The two continued the rest of the journey in silence, Matthew being on the lookout for any additional threats considering how dark it was getting while Mei just seemed happy to be safe and on her way home finally. It was hard to tell if the interaction between that mugger and her was effecting her, or if that’ll come later once the adrenaline dies down.

Either way, she was safe, and that fact made Matthew feel all warm inside, just like when he saves his squad mates on those missions, “Well, here I am,” Mei broke Matthew out of his thoughts as they stopped in front of her house. It was similar to all the previous houses they walked past, almost identical to but there were some personal touches that undoubtedly made it home, “I …” She looked down, the adrenaline seemingly wearing off as she realised the implications of what could have been had Matthew not appeared, “Thank you … For helping me and getting me home,”

Matthew nodded, “It’s okay, your safe, that’s important,” His voice wasn’t as quiet now, but there was still a slight unsure tone to it.

“Are you a hero?” it dawned on her to ask, “Only heroes help people,”

“Not yet,” Matthew corrected, “I’m hoping to start UA at some point this year … I think,”

Mei gasped, “You’re only a teenager!” She was surprised due to his height and build, “And yet … You still helped me,” She felt useless now, “I owe you one,”

Matthew wasn’t used to getting this much praise, so he shook his head, “No, seriously … Don’t, uh, mention it,” He said with an unsure smile, “You should head in … It’s only going to get darker,”

Mei nodded, allowing them to exchange farewells before she disappeared into her house, leaving Matthew alone with his thoughts once more. He looked down at his hands, that punch, if only a tad bit harder could’ve easily killed that man, he was lucky he didn’t accidently over do it because if that man died, even if it was to defend some woman, would’ve caused some legal problems down the road.

But he wasn’t even sure. How does quirk use differ in Japan? Why were there no heroes in the area to help her? Why did other people just run off?

It confused him.

But it did warm him that she was safe. Maybe being a hero wouldn’t be so bad.

------------

Nezu sat in his office, overlooking a portion of the school grounds from the two large windows behind in desk. It was a bright and sunny day in this part of Japan, everyone was moving between classes and mingling like they had no care in the world.

There was the Support Department, General Studies, and the Hero Course. Each student often stayed within their own bubble, but it was nice to see his students talking, learning, experiencing everything UA had to offer.

But even with that in mind, his brain could only focus on the person he had met over a month ago. That young man, Matthew Wright, peaked his interest in a way that he never thought would be possible with a student. It must be what All-Might was currently going through himself.

There was a knock at the door.

“Speaking of …” Nezu smiled to himself, turning around in the chair and pulling it closely to the desk, “Come in,” He said loudly, allowing the door to open and revealing an old friend, “All-Might, nice to see you again,”

The man in question walked through the door, closing it carefully behind him. While to everyone else, the man looked like some kind of skeleton, nowhere near what All-Might looked like, “Sorry for the delay,” He coughed, some blood painting his hand. This was his true form after some horrendous battle years prior, “I stopped a few villains on the way here,”

“I find it incredible that you’re still taking down villains even in your condition,” Nezu remarked as he watched the number 1 hero shuffle over to the chair in front of his desk, sitting down fairly gracefully, “It really is a testament to your strength,”

“I know I didn’t come here for you to butter me up,” All-Might laughed weakly, the previous round of hero work clearly taking its toll on him for the remainder of the day, “I don’t start teaching here until the new school year, what’s this about?”

“How is your successor getting on?” Nezu questioned, already knowing about the child since All-Might had informed him of his choice a few short months ago. It had surprised the Principle, he had planned to teach at UA in order to find a suitable successor, but it seems he found one just fine, “Is his progress enough?”

All-Might nodded without a second thought, “The kid has already went above and beyond my expectations, I have no doubt he’ll be ready to inherit my quirk for the entrance exams,” He told, a sense of pride radiating from the older man.

“That’s great news,” Nezu said cheerily, happy that his successor was meeting, even going beyond, his expectations. The pressure was immense, that boy would shoulder the burden of One for All, it wouldn’t be an easy thing to live up to, but if All-Might is confident, then there is no question, “I have news myself,”

“Go on,” All-Might said, eager to get into the reason behind this meeting. He doubted it was mainly to do about his successor.

“Just over a month ago I met a young man,” Nezu started, having gone through their discussion thousands of times since they last spoke, “He has potential to be a hero, that there is no doubt, the only issue I see is his up bringing,”

“I see,” All-Might narrowed his eyes, it was rare for Nezu to express interest in a particular individual, so this boy must have sparked his interest just as his own successor had done to him.

Nezu dropped his smile for a moment, looking uncharacteristically serious, it was a look that made even All-Might sweat drop, “What I am going to disclose to you does not leave this room,” He stated, firmly, “It could expose potential threats to the individuals involved, something that would likely come back to this school,”

All-Might nodded, gulping at the request. It wasn’t every day that Nezu became serious, so this must be important, “Of course, you have my word,” He promised, quickly bulking up into his bulky form to express that.

Nezu let out a laugh, going back to his usual demeanour as All-Might just as currently reverted to his skeleton form, “Very well …” Over the course of 10 – 15 minutes, Nezu went into detail about both the General and Matthew Wright, explaining his up bringing as a genetically modified soldier to him being moved to Japan and expressing interest in the hero course. All-Might, of course, was horrified at the prospect of such cruel experiments being done to someone from birth, no one should have to be forced into a life of mission after mission, even if the ends justify the means.

“That is truly disgusting,” All-Might frowned, feeling angry at the mere idea of it all. Part of him would label it as some sick joke, but with Nezu being an experiment, its not a surprise that someone else is the world did the same, “I cannot help but feel for the poor boy, to not know any other purpose than … That …”

“I know, it sickens me that people continue to conduct such experiments in the shadows of the public,” Nezu said, bringing a hand to scratch behind one of his ears, “But I’m telling you this in confidence because I believe we can help Matthew, it will likely be difficult as I imagine he has a lot of behaviours he’ll need to unlearn, but I have no doubt in the end, he’ll become a hero,”

“You’re starting to sound like me with Young Midoriya, sir,” All-Might chuckled at the parrels of it all. He, the number 1 hero, had found someone to be his successor, someone that was eerily like him in many aspects, it seemed the Principle had found someone to.

“Indeed I am,” Nezu smiled, he hadn’t expected to find someone that he could guide into becoming a hero, he had simply accepted job of Principle, “This could mean that both of them will be in the same class in the new school year,”

All-Might nodded, “Do you think he’ll get on well with people his age?”

Nezu hummed, “Unlikely, not because he would be rude in anyway, but because he’s socially awkward,” He explained, it wasn’t the end of the world for the young man’s hero path, but it would definitely be something they would have to help him overcome, “He admitted the others would probably think he was a freak,”

“I can see where he’s coming from,” All-Might answered, but continued, “He should get on swimmingly with Young Midoriya, the boy has proven to be quite the well-mannered fellow,”

“That is reassuring,” Nezu nodded, at least there was someone Matthew could potentially get along with, “I don’t need to remind you that any speak of his abilities, always go with the assumption that he’s got a quirk, even if all the evidence suggests otherwise,”

All-Might immediately nodded, “Of course sir, I can’t imagine how this would change the scientific community on the understanding of quirks,” He pondered the outcomes, “For all we know he could be a different branch of human evolution,” It sounded crazy, but with all this genetic modification, one could not be too sure, “Either way, my lips are sealed, not even young Midoriya will know.”

“That is all I ask,” Nezu smiled widely at the man before he pulled out a few pieces of paper from his desk, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a letter to write,”

-------------------

Matthew walked over to the front door. There was a letter that had arrived, it was pushed through the slot of the door, but there was no damage, it was in immaculate condition. He bent down, picking the piece up and inspecting it closely.

“Matthew Wright, Apartment 115, Musutafu City,” He read out the address, it was directed to him and not some mix up. Moving swiftly he went to the sofa and sat down, carefully opening the envelope and pulling out two large pieces of paper.

Dear Matthew,

It is me! Principle Nezu!

I am writing to you in order to congratulate you on being accepted for the recommendation exam for UA. The exam has two parts you need to complete before we see if you are to be accepted into the Hero course or the General Studies course.

The first part is a written exam held in one of the many exam facilities in UA. Now I already know about your situation, so there have been some slight changes in regards to how you will be graded. You won’t. Your written exam is merely meant to gauge how much knowledge is currently floating around in that head of yours, there is no need to pass. That doesn’t mean tell everyone that your exam is different. In fact, tell no one!

The second part is a practical exam held in a separate facility on campus that looks directly at your physical capabilities. No, I cannot disclose what the exam will entail as we are still trying to formulate a good challenge for all the other recommendation students.

That’s right! You won’t be alone!

Although we have yet to formally count the number of applicants taking the recommendation exam, we do know that there will be a handful of them. Do not fret, in these exams you are not required to work with other applicants to pass. The practical exam is something you are graded on independently.

I have no doubt of your ability and am looking forward to seeing you in action during the recommendation exam. I have no say on if you pass or fail, it is marked by a council of teachers.

I also hope to meet up with you soon enough to discuss what preparations you can do to begin life as a student at UA. If you fail to get into the Hero course, I will still be more than happy to accept you into General Studies.

Best wishes,

Principle Nezu

:)

“He even signs it off with a smiley face …” Matthew let out a chuckle, that polar bear, considering his background, was extremely cheerful. Not that he was complaining of course. Before he could think anymore on the subject, his phone began to ring, taking it out of his pocket he looked at the called ID, but it wasn’t a number he recognised.

Matthew hummed before answered, “Hello …?” He said, unsure on who it could be calling him at this time.

“I hope you’ve read the letter by now,” A familiar high-pitched voice cheerily said over the phone, it was the Principle himself, “It’s always exciting sending out those things,”

“Wait … How did you get my number?” Matthew said confused, he didn’t remember giving the tiny creature his phone number at all.

“Hm? Oh, yes, the General gave me your number,” Nezu answered, Matthew could already tell he had his signature smile on his face, “Well, don’t keep me waiting, what did you think? You’ll be quite busy once you get through the practical exam,”

Matthew nodded, even though the Principle couldn’t see him, “I’m …” He paused, trying to find the word to explain his current feelings, “Excited? But … Worried at the same time,” He said, not sure if the Principle knew what he meant, “The school will be busy, right? I don’t know how I’ll even speak to anyone my age …”

“A common worry, do not fret,” Nezu reassured in his usual tone, “Most students are probably feeling the same way you are, this school will be different to anything they’ve done before, so in that aspect, you’re all in the same boat as they say,”

“I suppose …” Matthew accepted that explanation, even if he was still unsure about it all. What if he was just too different from everyone else in the class? “How will I get to UA for the Recommendation exam?”

Nezu hummed, there were a few options he had already thought of, “You could catch the train, there’s a station nearby to UA, so the journey would only take 20 minutes,” he pondered, “You could hire a taxi which would be more expensive but it would drop you right outside the school gates,” He then clicked his fingers, “But if you’re not prepared to take either route, I am more than happy to collect you myself, and if for some reason I am busy, I can get another pro-hero to escort you instead,”

“I’ll have a look at the train first before I make any commitments,” Matthew decided to say.

“Very well,” Nezu nodded, not bothered in the slightest, “There is one more thing I wanted to discuss,” He didn’t give Matthew chance to speak before he continued, “It involves your living arrangement,”

“My living arrangement?” Matthew repeated in a confused tone, his eyes briefly looking up and around the room as he tried to figure out what was wrong with it, “Is something wrong with it?”

“Oh my no!” Nezu cheerily responded, “But if you would be willing, I think it would be best for you to live at the school when you start your studies,” He told, having various reasons for such an idea, “It would save travel time, and since you would likely be on campus before anyone else, it would give you time to adjust, possibly even meet a few members of staff in preparation for classes,”

Matthew hummed, he didn’t hate the idea because he had always lived on the base back home, so this was somewhat similar, “Yeah, okay, I can do that,” He shrugged, its not like he had many things that needed to be packed.

“Excellent! I’m happy you agreed,” Nezu felt relieved. The other main reason for him wanting the young boy to stay on campus was so he could see his behaviour in such an environment, it would allow him to make changes to his routine or give assistance on the fly. Whoever his homeroom teacher would be, he’d make sure they’d keep a close eye on his interactions and behaviour going forward, “While there are a few plans for students to live on campus, none of them are fully developed as of yet, but that won’t matter, I’ll be sure to change one of the empty rooms into your room before you start,” Even better, one of the rooms he was thinking about just so happened to be down the hall from the teachers lounge, he couldn’t even remember why they had stopped using it, all it was currently was just a supply cabinet.

Matthew nodded again, even though Nezu still couldn’t see him, “Thank you … I, uh … Appreciate the help sir,”

Nezu let out a laugh, “Don’t worry young man, I imagine you’ll be starting UA in no time at all …”

----------------

Chapter Text

The day of anticipation was here. Matthew had gotten ready at his apartment, wearing his usual military style clothing, albeit with a slight difference in the standard colouring. He wore the same black combat boots, light grey cargo trousers, and a black long-sleeve cotton shirt. It was a pull over, so no need to worry about any buttons, that was, if it even survived the practical anyway.

The young man was currently waiting for pick up by the Principle himself, he figured it would be easier than struggling with what train to catch, “Should be here soon …” Matthew commented to himself, looking over to a nearby clock, it was 10am, the written test was due to start in exactly 1 hour.

Right as he was about to sit down to wait, a knock came from the door, without missing a beat, Matthew walked over, opening it, revealing the same person he was expecting, “Matthew! Nice to see that you’re ready,” Nezu said in the cheery voice Matthew had grown accustomed to over the course of the past few months of living here, “We should be off, do you have everything you need?”

Matthew nodded, he was pretty sure he did at least, “Is there anything you think I need?” He questioned, making sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.

Nezu smiled, “Usually you’d need a whole assortment of things in order to even be let into the school,” the Principle began listing off some of the various things everyone else would need to bring, “Proof of identity, Quirk registration forms, Proof of address, Birth Certificate, health forms …” He looked as the terms seemed to go over Matthew’s head, “But you don’t need to worry about any of that … Everything will be provided to you when you get there,”

Finding the answer to be satisfying, Matthew stepped out and locked the door behind him, “How are we getting there?” He asked as the Principle started leading him towards a nearby staircase.

“Private car,” Nezu responded as they went down a flight of stairs, coming out at the bottom. Immediately in front of the exit was a parked black car, if Matthew remembered right, the long car in front of him was called a limousine, or something to that extent.

Entering the car at the back, Matthew couldn’t help but notice just how comfy it was, clearly designed for comfort and not the durability he was used to, “How is your Japanese coming along?” Nezu asked as the car still had moved yet.

“It’s … Okay I think?” Matthew responded, he appreciated that they still spoke English to each other as it was easier to follow.

“Try asking the driver to take us to UA,” Nezu suggested, wanting to see how his student would get on. He already knew it wasn’t going to be great, but it would at least give him something to work with.

“Uhh …” Matthew looked towards the front, seeing a small window that was open, it was the only thing that separated the back of the limo to the front. He could also see the person driving it, although he couldn’t quite make out their features, “Take … To ???? UA …”

There was a sudden silence, Matthew not being 100% sure if he said the correct thing, but the driver then spoke, “To UA right?” It was in English, maybe that was because he said something unintelligible in Japanese.

Matthew nodded, “Yes sir,”

With no time wasted the car started and began driving towards their destination, “That was okay, I can tell we need to work on pronunciation and your accent doesn’t help,” Nezu remarked, “But all things considered, it was good,”

“Thanks,” Matthew appreciated the honesty.

“It shouldn’t be long until we reach UA, so there’s a few things I want to mention,” Nezu looked to Matthew, making sure he was paying full attention, once he was sure he continued, “As I said in that letter a few months back, make sure you don’t mention anything to do with you test being different. Many parents and students alike would believe that you have an unfair advantage, even a leg up on other students,”

Matthew nodded at that assumption, “I wasn’t going to,” he replied, finding it unlikely that anyone would try and talk to him anyway.

“Good, but while it is true your entry requirements are slightly different, it is only to reflect the up bringing that you’ve had. We at UA believe that anyone with the potential to become a great hero should be accepted, even if it means bending the rules slightly,” Nezu said, stroking some of his whiskers with his hand, he didn’t do it often, but on occasion there had been some students, while not academically gifted, were very well apt with their quirks and battle scenarios, “The teacher, who you will meet soon, has already been made aware of your exam changes,” Nezu held up a hand to stop Matthew from interrupting, “No, he does not know of your situation, I simply explained that you were one of the only Foreign Exchange students taking the recommendation exam, so you would need a different written test to reflect it,”

“So … Will we be telling everyone that I’m a foreign exchange student?” Matthew understood the basics of the term, but that was about it.

Nezu nodded, “It’s not far from the truth really, but I have informed one teacher, who I trust greatly, about your situation,” He told, briefly remembering his conversation with All-Might, “You will meet him soon enough, but should you make it onto the hero course, I will be required to inform whoever your homeroom teacher is,”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Matthew felt unsure about it, it felt like the less people knew about it was the better choice.

“I understand, but we will need more teachers to understand your position if they are to help you develop into the hero I believe you can be,” Nezu reassured with his natural smile and cheery tone, “It will only be those two for the time being, no more, I assure you,”

There is also no doubt that, whoever his homeroom teacher would be, would quickly point out how far behind he is from the rest of the class. Even if he proves to excel in combat, the disparity between his academics and practical sessions would be too jarring to ignore.

“Okay, I trust you,” Matthew nodded, while he felt unsure about the idea of teachers in the know, perhaps it was for the best. If he could trust anyone, it would be Nezu considering his own up-bringing.

The duo then proceeded to sit the remaining leg of the journey in a comfortable silence. Nezu was in the mood to discuss more with Matthew about everything, really, but he got the feeling that the young man needed time to prepare himself for the exam process. Even if he didn’t interact with anyone, it wasn’t something he was exactly used to doing, so Nezu could respect that.

Thankfully, the duo didn’t have to wait much longer as the limo pulled into one of the various car parks that were dotted around the academy, allowing them to step out into the world again. The first thing Matthew could see in the distance was a large building, seemingly made from concrete, steel, and glass, but shaped like a massive H.

“I take it we’re heading there?” Matthew pointed to the large H.

Nezu nodded, “We’ll get there with 10 minutes to spare, how nice!” He cheered, leading the young man towards the main archway of the school. Beyond the archway was a path, a large one at that, with trees covering both sides, and right at the end was the main entrance to UA.

The walk was short and to the point, but Matthew couldn’t help but feel like the pressure was subtly building with each step. He knew there was no reason to worry about the written exam, but what if it reveal how stupid he was. He could only do the basics, and not much at that.

“Stop your worrying,” Nezu chastised, already sensing his student’s unease in the situation, “You’ll be fine, as I said, this is merely to gauge your knowledge, not to pass or fail you,”

Matthew took a deep breath, nodding as the two entered into the Academy. It was a fairly simple room, small desk for reception on the right, a large flight of stairs on the left, and an even larger hallway in front. There were rooms on the left and right, labelled with a number and a letter.

“This is where we part ways for the time being,” Nezu stopped and looked up to Matthew, he then pointed down the hallway, “The exam is taking place 3 doors down, on the left, the door should say 1G,”

Matthew nodded again, “Thank you sir, what do I do after?”

“You’ll be given a lunch break to prepare for the practical, so we can meet back here after the exam,” Nezu smiled widely before pushing the young man in the direction of the written exam, “Now go! You don’t want to be late!”

Matthew nodded for the umpteenth time before heading down the hallway, looking for the third door on the left. It seemed very surreal walking through the hallway as it was almost like the building was made for literally giants, the doors to each classroom were almost twice the size of Matthew himself.

Finally, Matthew reached the door labelled 1G. There was a window he could look through, peering inside revealed a handful of figures already seated and waiting, and what looked like the teacher at the front.

Taking a deep breath he knocked, watching through the glass as the teacher gestured for him to come in. He opened the door and was met with silence. There were only five other people in the room. One was the teacher who was sat at the front behind the main desk, and the remaining four were other applicants for the recommendation.

“I’m, uh … Here for the exam … Sir,” Matthew said uncomfortably, seeing the gaze of each other person in the room. His instincts wanted him to leave, but he had to push on.

“Just in time!” The teacher responded with more energy than Matthew had expected. His appearance was rather unique to top it off, he wore a black jacket with shoulder pads, black jeans and black boots. There was some sort of device around his neck, it had speakers and other buttons that Matthew didn’t know the purpose of. His hair was long, shooting straight up, the colour was a blonde with a few darker patches, “You’re the foreign exchange applicant right? Principle Nezu told me all about you,” He then shuffled through a few pieces of paper on his desk, “You can take a seat at the back,”

Matthew looked at where he was pointing. The front row of seats were all taken by the previous mentions applicants, so that left him with any seat behind them, “Thank you, sir,” He said, making his way towards the chair on the far right, behind a boy that had white and red hair, being split evenly down the middle. There was a sort of scar or burn mark over the entirety of his left eye, but similar to everyone else in the room, he was wearing some pretty casual clothes.

As Matthew walked, he got a good look at the remaining three. Next to the first boy was a girl, she had no real discernible facial features other than the messy brown hair that was shoulder length, it was straight as there was a very slight green tint to it. She wore some standard black shorts with a purple top.

After her was another boy, quite large in stature, but not as big as Matthew. He wore a light blue tracksuit, a shaven head and a incredibly defined jawline. He seemed the most basic out of everyone there.

Finally, the last one was a girl, who was on the complete opposite of the room from the white and red haired boy. She wore some dark grey shorts along with a red top. It seemed like everyone was dressed ready for the practical exam after. Her hair was interesting, well-kept, it was put up into a pony-tail, but there were a few thick locks that hung in front of her face, most likely for style.

Taking a seat, it was quieter than Matthew expected, but perhaps the school had rules in place for exams and such. The teacher was currently doing some final checks with paperwork, but then he suddenly stood up with a large smile, “You guys ready for this exam?!” He cheered, probably expecting a cheer in response, but was met with silence, “I’ll take that as a yes!” He started moving around, giving an exam book to each student, “You have one hour, answer as many questions as you can and try not to leave any blank …”

Once he handed out the books, the large boy with a shaved head raised his hand, “Present Mic Sir! Do we need any calculators for the exam?” He asked, quickly dropping his hand.

Present Mic, as Matthew had heard was his name but probably not his real one, walked back to his desk, “No calculators for this one I’m afraid,” He then pulled out a pencil case before walking back to the applicants, giving each one a pen, pencil, ruler, and rubber, “You’ll only be allowed to use what I give you,”

Matthew appreciated the fact that everyone was talking in English, he knew full well that if they all started speaking in Japanese, he’d have no clue what was happening. Whether that was for his benefit, or if that’s just what they decided themselves.

“Your time starts …” Present Mic looked at the clock, holding up his finger, waiting for the best time, “Now!”

Without wasting any time, the four applicants immediately got started with their test. Matthew already felt the pressure, even if he wasn’t supposed to pass in the first place. He let out a quiet sigh, wrote his name in the best writing he could muster and turned the page.

‘25 + 15,’ Matthew read the first question in his head. ‘Huh, that seems simple enough,’ He was taught to use his fingers to add numbers together, ‘25 + 5 is 30 … Then 30 + 10 is … 40? So that should be it …’

Writing down his answer in the section provided, Matthew proceeded to number 2. ‘Fully factorise f(x)’ Matthew stared at the page for a good minute, ‘Since when was this in maths’

Matthew flipped through the book briefly, seeing various different questions, some regarding hero ideologies, hero history, more maths, science, and English. Matthew wasn’t even sure he could finish the exam in an hour, but he had to attempt try.

-----------------

Matthew now stood in front of a large gate. The other applicants stood around, waiting alongside him as they were told to do so. From the outside, it seemed like some sort of arena as walls extended around the centre gate.

It was overcast, making it slightly darker than what would be at that time. It was also coming time to conduct the practical exam, something Matthew assumed they were waiting for.

Looking at each of the other applicants, they were all sticking to their own space, choosing not to socialise with the others, not that Matthew was complaining. He did briefly notice an interaction between the boy with red and white hair and the boy with the shaved head, but it was incredibly brief.

“LISTEN UP APPLICANTS,” The voice of that teacher appeared above them, he was standing on top of the gate, “Your job is to survive as long as you can! As soon as you enter, a holographic barrier will be pushing you towards the centre of the playing field,” Present Mic explained before raising a finger to continue, “Robots will be trying to push you out, fight them or not, its your choice!” He smirked, “The second you get pushed past the holographic barrier … YOU’RE OUT!”

Present Mic let the words settle in with the students, hoping they understood exactly what was required, “If you’re out, don’t worry, it’s not an automatic fail, we make various considerations to your final grade!” He cheered before raising his hand up to the sky, “ARE WE READY?”

No one cheered, each one had their own determined look as they braced for the start. Present Mic didn’t count down to say anything further, instead, the gates opened. Without wasting any time, Matthew began running, why wait for a countdown if battles start on their own?

All the other applicants just stared, shouldn’t there be a countdown? “I SEE ONE OF YOU HAS THE RIGHT IDEA!” Present Mic cheered, “THERE’S NO COUNTDOWN ON THE BATTLEFIELD, GO! GO! GO!”

Matthew ran past the gate, immediately being met with a recreated battlefield. It reminded him of the Musutafu neighbourhood area he lives, “Ignore the rest,” Matthew said to himself, running further towards what he believed to be the centre.

Quickly looking behind, he could see the other applicants disbanding, it seemed like they all had a route they planned to take, he would be on his own anyway, “Die human!” Time slowed down, allowing Matthew to look back in front, seeing a large hulking robot that moved via two giant treads instead of legs. It had one hand which was currently trying to take his head off while the other had a blaster of sorts. The head was a box design with a large square in the centre that was glowing a bright blue. Interestingly, there was a big number 3 painted on it’s forehead.

“What?!” The robot reeled back in surprise, not expecting Matthew to have reacted so quickly as he had caught the fist with his palm. It didn’t get to raise the weapon in its left hand as Matthew countered, pulling its fist past him and throwing a punch straight to its head, destroying it with ease and causing the threat to power down.

“THE BARRIER IS ON THE MOVE!” A voice, clearly present mic, said over a speaker. Matthew saw in the distance behind him, a weird bright red light phasing into existence. That seemed to be he holographic barrier he was required to avoid as much as possible.

Matthew let his eyes follow the surrounding barrier, it turned out to be dome shaped, and once he figured that out, he looked towards where the centre would now be. Shifting direction, he moved towards the new centre, he could hear the echoes of battles in the distance.

Even subtle temperature drops had been picked up.

“Could be a quirk,” Matthew pondered as two robots appeared at the end of the road, hoping to block his path and push him back. One began shooting with the blaster, it was clear they weren’t lethal, but instead concussive in nature, probably aimed to injure and slow.

“This human is fast!” The one robot shooting complained as he tried to lead his shots to slow the young man down, but it was all for naught.

“Take this!” The other robot moved closer to Matthew, meeting him halfway, instead of shooting he threw two large circular bins, hoping to either draw him into the line of fire, or to trip him up, making him easy prey to disqualify.

Matthew watched as time slowed down once more, he saw the concussive shots fly past, these robots were programmed to aim for key points on the human body, one shot from those would cause some incredible pain to anyone. Timing it perfectly, he jumped, flipping through the air over the obstacles. He landed in front of the closer robot, the sudden change in position caused the second robot to fire a few shots into the back of the first.

The distraction allowed Matthew to punch through the head of the robot, but he then moved, jumping onto the top and pushing himself towards the second, landing a swift kick to its head, taking it clean off.

One had the number 2 while the other was another number 3, whatever that meant, “Could be difficulty level …” Matthew said, picking up his speed as he continued towards the centre once more.

“Get ready cause it’s time to move!” Present mic cheered through the speaker system, and as he did the red dome began to shrink, moving quicker than expected, “New foes have entered the field!”

Matthew took a sharp left turn, deciding to take a short cut through a nearby alleyway. Right in the centre was another robot, but it was minimalist in design, similar to both the Number 2 and Number 3 robots, but way skinnier and weaker looking. It was also topped off with a large number 1 on its head.

“Stop hum-,” The robot tried to say, but was cut of with a knee strike to its head, causing it to be concaved, forcing an immediate shut down.

Coming out of the alleyway, he saw black and purple blobs flying through the air. One stopped, it was a forehead with a pair of eyes which gave the young man a quick wink before disappearing towards the centre of the dome.

“Quirk,” Matthew commented, narrowing his eyes as he swiftly started chasing the individual, not to fight, but because they were heading in the same direction.

The dome had shrunk, but it soon stopped in place, giving the applicants time to breathe before the next faze began.

A sudden explosion caused Matthew to snap his head to his right as he ran. The girl he had saw previously, the one with the pony-tail was currently falling from the top floor, being chased by the New foe they had been warned off.

Matthew changed his direction ever-so slightly, and before the girl could react, or hit the floor, he caught her, preventing any injury, “You okay,” He said, his confidence seeming at an all time high, but that was likely because his brain was focused on the battle at hand.

The girl nodded, “Thanks but I would’ve been fine without your help,” She pointed behind him, gesturing to he large bounce matt that had somehow appeared.

“Oh, I didn’t see that,” Matthew admitted, placing the girl down before turning to the new foe that was now behind them. It was a large robot, but this time in the shape of some kind of tiger, “Looks like we have to fight,”

“Indeed,” The girl got into a battle position, but that changed as another beast robot appeared to their right, “I’ll take this one, you take the other,”

Matthew nodded, charging the beast as it pounced. The young man landed an upper cut that threw it upwards, but as it went up, its hand slashed. There were no claws on the beast, likely to prevent serious injury to the applicants, so Matthew was met with an uppercut of his own. With the momentum from that attack, he black flipped, charging once again as the beast was still stunned. He couldn’t see an obvious weakness on the body so he jumped on top of it and started trying to pull out rods to damage it.

“I’ll go for the head,” Matthew commented, seeing that his attacks were affecting it, and they were instead angering the beast as it tried to throw him off. He moved upwards slightly, getting the robot into a sort of headlock, the grabble technique was not to choke it, however, he pulled with force, straining his muscles as he ripped the head clean off, deactivating the machine.

Matthew looked over to the girl, seeing that she was pinned by the larger beast, “Oi!” he shouted, briefly getting the robot’s attention, with that opening, he kicked one of the rods from the creature he had taken down over to the girl, hoping that would be enough to change the tide.

The beast couldn’t react quick enough as the girl grabbed the rod, thrusting it upward, dealing enough damage to deactivate the threat, “Thanks,” The girl appreciated, “I suppose teamwork is allowed,”

The young man walked over as he crawled from under the beast, there was a half-made weapon appearing from her upper arm, covered in a sparkly blue light, “You can create things?” Matthew guessed, watching as the metal bat finally finished forming, allowing her to grab it with one hand.

The girl nodded, “I can get into the specifics later,” She said, “While it was nice teaming up with you, we should continue on alone,”

Matthew gave a thumbs up, “Good luck,” he started running in the direction of that floating girl he had seen before.

“It’s that time again! Move! Move! Move!” Present mic spoke once more. Matthew correctly guessed that the dome would be due to shrink, pushing the applicants closer to the centre.

With a few swift steps, Matthew started climbing a nearby multi-story parking lot, once he reached the top, it gave him the perfect vantage point of the remaining space. There wasn’t much now, it seemed that the teachers wanted to push them to the centre quicker, “A new foe appears!” Present mic warns, and as soon as he heard that warning, the new threat began descending from the skies and tried to attack Matthew.

It was another beast robot, this time taking the shape of a popular prehistoric animal. The pterodactyl. Matthew ducked, seeing it go past in slow motion.

Getting an idea, Matthew allowed it to try a second attempt, but as it did, he jumped, grabbing onto it and mounting it like he did with the previous beast. It’s objective was obvious, it was to grab the applicants and throw them out before they could react, but Matthew used that against it, since it could fly, he forced its head towards the centre of the dome.

The creature was unfortunately forced to fly the applicant towards the exact opposite of its objective. Once the centre came in side, Matthew ripped one of its wings off before disembarking, landing in a space designed for open combat.

Matthew heard as the beast crashed into the road, presumably killing it. Looking around he noticed the centre was completely empty, it was just a flat piece of land with a concrete base. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one present, “Looks like we got here at the same time,” A voice called out.

The young man looked, it was the plain looking boy from before, wearing that light blue tracksuit and shaved haircut, “I guess we wait now,” Matthew responded, if the two of them were there the others would be sure to follow.

“Setsuna Tokage you are out!” Present mic said over the speakers, but then clarified, “Any part of your body outside the dome automatically takes you out of the game!”

“Four of us left,” Matthew commented, but noticed the dome shrinking at a much faster rate, it would be by the centre soon.

By the time it stopped, the two remaining individuals appeared from separate points. The girl, who was looking tired at this point, came from a similar direction Matthew had came from where the boy, who had some frost covering his right side, came from a completely different direction.

“Time for the final part!” Present mic announced, in the distance, on the outside of the dome, robots began to gather. More than any of the applicants expected, “The objective … SURVIVE!”

The applicants readied in their battle positions. The dome began closing in slowly, painfully, but the robots, they charged. Numbers 1 to 3, tigers, and even those flying pterodactyls launched their assault.

The ensuing fight was chaotic. Ice flew across the battlefield, wind was raging at the robots while both Matthew and the girl were fighting hand to hand, trying to keep the tides at bay while the dome got ever closer.

“Watch out!” Matthew called out, allowing the girl to duck just in time, saving her from being grabbed by one of the pterodactyls.

“Here!” The girl created a second metal bat, throwing it over to Matthew.

Time slowed, Matthew jumped. Reaching out he caught it, immediately swigging it across the swopping pterodactyl, cracking its skull. The attack deactivated it, causing the robot to crash into several more.

Landing he nodded to the girl as the two defended against the onslaught of the robots. Matthew briefly felt ice lace their side of the battlefield, it caused him to look over to the other applicants, “Are they fighting?” He commented, more to himself as he saw what he believed were their quirks clashing. It was hard to tell in the chaos, they were either fighting or their quirks were getting in the way of each other.

His attention was brought back to his side by smashing the head of the tiger that tried to get him by surprise, “We’re getting pushed back!” The girl said, destroying a number 3 robot as more began appearing from the edge of the dome.

“Shoto Todoroki and Inasa Yoarashi you are out!” Present mic announced, surprising the last remaining two that they had gotten out so quickly, “It’s down to the last two now!”

The dome began closing quicker, pushing the duo as close as possible to the centre. Robots were on all sides, and the dome was closing in. Time began to slow as the girl tripped, being pinned by a tiger, Matthew noticed immediately as he fought.

This was it.

There would only be one remaining.

His body moved.

Inexplicably. A mind of its own.

Rushing to her side he forced the tiger off, giving her enough space to recover. The dome was fast and if they weren’t quick then both would be eliminated, “Keep moving,” he told her, grabbing her hand and launching her towards the centre.

Once he did, the dome closed in.

Matthew Wright had been eliminated.

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Chapter Text

It had been exactly 2 weeks since Matthew had took the recommendation exam. He hadn’t heard much from Nezu, but the tiny bear had briefly informed him that he would be busy overseeing preparations to the regular exam and then looking at the results for all of them.

Matthew was sat on the sofa, staring at the tele that was currently playing some news in Japanese. He wasn’t paying attention as his mind was miles away.

That girl.

Was that the right choice?

It wasn’t a real battle, it was an examination.

Would they still consider him for the school because he worked with another applicant?

“My body just moved,” Matthew stated to no one in particular as he looked at his legs in front of him. He shook his head, “It was the right choice … She needed help,”

His mind then changed focus, remembering the other two applicants in the final phase. Were they fighting each other? Or had their quirks just gotten in the way of each other? “They didn’t seem very sociable,” Matthew brought a hand up to his face, scratching his chin as he thought. There was a lot of things he could have done differently, but considering the entire exam was an unknown, he did things the best he could have done.

There was a knock at the front door, taking Matthew out of his thoughts. The knock was followed by something light falling to the floor. Looking over, he could see some post had been delivered through the door.

Matthew wasted no time.

He stood up and rushed over to the door, picking up the one letter he had received. To make sure, he opened the door and checked outside to see if anyone was there waiting to speak with him, all he saw was the rain coming down hard on the world outside.

Humming in satisfaction he closed the door and took his place back on the sofa, staring at the letter with renewed interest. There was a wax seal from UA to enclose the envelope.

This was it.

The results.

Matthew broke the seal, allowing him to slowly pull out a circle metal disk. That wasn’t the only thing located within the envelope as he could clearly see various pieces of paper, but without reading them it was hard to tell what they could be.

He placed the envelope on the table first, deciding on trying to figure out what the metal disk could be. Feeling around the outside of the disk, he found, what felt like, a button. Pressing it down a blue light shot upward.

“Oh it’s a holographic message,” Matthew commented, placing the disk on the table to give the hologram the most space as it began loading.

The UA logo appeared before it faded away. In it’s place, the imagine of All-Might’s face suddenly appeared, it was large and took up the majority of the holographic screen.

“I AM HERE … IN A HOLOGRAPHIC MESSAGE,”

All-Might was still close to the screen, but it seemed he noticed, so he jumped back and bowed. It was difficult to see where he was recording the message, but the room was vibrant, the most identifiable features was the golden archway behind him that also had red velvet curtains drawn.

“I am sorry Young Man, I have no idea how many messages I’ve recorded …” All-Might smiled, but you could tell he was getting exhausted. It seemed possible that he had been recording messages for everyone that was accepted, that included the ones that went to the Recommendation route and the standard route, “My appearance in this city is not a coincidence because … I HAVE FORMALLY JOINED THE UA FACULTY AS A TEACHER,” All-Might flexed his muscles, keeping his posture for longer than he really should have, “But that’s not important right now because I imagine you want to know your results …”

Matthew noticed he was beating around the bush, did he avoid announcing the results in all the other messages too? “It was quite the spectacle to witness your battle in the recommendation exam. Many teachers were impressed at your ability, but most of all, your sacrifice was incredibly honourable. There was no doubt that you would have been the last man standing had you not have saved Young Yaoyorozu, but your self-less act had not gone unnoticed,”

Suddenly, a scoreboard appeared, showing the names of all five students that took part in the practical recommendation exam. In first place was that girl, who Matthew now knew her name to be Momo Yaoyorozu, 2^nd place was himself, followed by Inasa Yoarashi in 3^rd, Shoto Todoroki in 4^th, and Setsuna Tokage in last place.

“While you did get score from where you placed, you also got bonus points for defeating robots!” All-Might cheered with a wide smile, expanding the scoreboard to have the addition robot points counted, “That’s not all, we also considered teamwork and … RESCUE POINTS!” The scoreboard expanded once more, showing points for villains, teamwork, and rescue.

The final product went as follows:

1^st Momo Yaoyorozu – Standing 1^st 50. Villian points 50. Teamwork 25. Rescue 15. (140)

2^nd Matthew Wright – Standing 2^nd 40. Villian points 55. Teamwork 15. Rescue 25. (135)

3^rd Inasa Yoarashi – Standing 3^rd 30. Villian points 70. Teamwork 5. Rescue 0. (105)

4^th Shoto Todoroki – Standing 4^th 20. Villian points 70. Teamwork 5. Rescue 0. (95)

5^th Setsuna Tokage – Standing 5^th 10. Villian points 35. Teamwork 5. Rescue 15.  (65)

“Placing second with 135 points means you have passed the practical exam!” All-Might gave the camera a thumbs up with a smile, “And that means you have been accepted onto the UA Hero course … THIS IS YOUR HERO ACADEMIA!”

The holographic message ended, leaving Matthew sat staring at the metallic disk on the table. He had done it. The Hero course was now within reach. He wanted to call the General, inform him that he had managed to pass the practical and get accepted, but before he did, he needed to look at the rest of the information within the envelope.

Picking up the envelope, he reached in, pulling out a handful of forms needed for the school. There were basic things, one even gave the option to change course if he so wished, but each one just went into detail about what happened now.

One seemed more important than the rest.

“Hero costume request?” Matthew read the title of the paper.

Heroes are required to wear a costume that not only makes them identifiable with the public, but also fulfils their needs during combat or rescue missions. Use the following space to describe and design a Hero costume that would be beneficial to you.

Once completed, please deliver back to UA.

Matthew found the idea of a costume interesting, but had no idea what he would wear when doing Hero training. Either way, he would need to discuss his entry with the General, maybe even he would have some ideas he could use.

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Matthew’s phone was ringing, he was currently calling the General. Sitting on the sofa, the telly was muted as he tried to get in contact with his superior.

“Come on …” Matthew grunted, this was his third attempt.

The phone went to voice mail. For some reason, he couldn’t get in contact with the General, so, he decided to change. He dialled another number, this time he tried to get through to Lewis.

After a few rings, he picked up, “Matthew? Didn’t expect such a sudden call!” He said, smiling on the other end of the phone, “What’s the occasion? Wait, let me guess … Couldn’t get through to the General, ay?”

Matthew nodded, even though Lewis couldn’t see, “Yeah, got some news,” He responded, a smile planted on his lips, even he couldn’t believe it, “But what’s up with him anyway?”

“Oh, he’s been through half-a-dozen meetings by now,” Lewis responded, “Something to do with counter-terrorist missions going sideways,”

Matthew paused, were they going sideways because he wasn’t there to help? “I can still come back and help,”

“No, you know the general’s orders,” Lewis scolded, “Besides, nothing we can’t handle, just some logistical issues, promise,”

Matthew nodded again, he’d have to trust him, they weren’t push overs, “I suppose …” He reluctantly agreed, but continued, he did have some good news, “I passed the recommendation exam, I’m in the hero course,”

Lewis let out a cheer, “Wheyy! I knew you could, wasn’t really in doubt to be honest,” He chuckled before asking a question of his own, “When do you start?”

“Uh … In like a month or something?” Matthew vaguely remembered the date on the letter, but would confirm later, “The principle wants me to live at the school, so I’ll probably get to go there sooner,”

“I think the general mentioned that …” Lewis mumbled, clearly trying to figure out if he had or not, “The principle called him up one of the days to explain what he was thinking,”

That did sound like Nezu, so it wasn’t a surprise that the tiny creature had already informed the general of his plans, “I’ll probably find out when I’m going there from him at some point,” He said, not entirely sure as it had take 2 weeks to get the results.

Something happened in the background of the call, causing Lewis to start talking to someone else. Matthew couldn’t make out the conversation, but that didn’t matter, “Sorry mate, need to head off,” Lewis apologised, “Need to get to debriefing, got a mission coming up,”

“Alright,” Matthew said, he understood things could get hectic, “Just be sure to tell the general for me will ya?”

“’Course,” Lewis responded, “Talk to you later mate,”

“Talk to you later,” Matthew heard the call disconnect. At least he spoke to Lewis again, it’s been a few weeks since they spoke. He could only hope things were going smoothly back home, especially since he might not be able to speak to them when he starts his hero training.

One can always hope though.

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“Hey! It’s the foreign exchange student!” Present mic was stood at Matthew’s door wide smile on his face, dressed in the same clothes he wore for the recommendation exam, “I bet you’re surprised to see me,”

Matthew nodded, “What, uh … Brings you here sir?” He was not expecting a teachers visit, well maybe a visit from Nezu, not certainly Present Mic.

“Nezu filled me in on the plan,” Present mic crossed his arms, not dropping his smile, “Since you’re moving onto campus, we need to get you some supplies, I volunteered to go with you as the Principle is prettttttttyyyyy busy,”

Matthew forgot that Nezu was actually the Principle of Japan’s most popular hero academy, it was a surprise if he was never busy, “Oh … Really?” He said unsure, “I can … Sort it out myself …”

Present Mic shook his head, “Nah, I’m down to help,” He then leaned forward, “Besides, I get the rest of the day off so it’s a win-win,”

Matthew then nodded, he would appreciate the help, “Okay … We going now?”

Present mic nodded, “The sooner we get it done the better!” He cheered, watching as Matthew came out of the apartment and locking the door behind him, “Let me guess, you have the same clothes in different colours?” He was referring to the black cargo pants and green t-shirt, when Matthew hummed in response, “Thought so, you were wearing something similar on exam day,” The duo then started walking down a nearby flight of stairs, “That means we need to get you some more digs ya dig?”

Matthew wasn’t against that, “Sure,” He accepted, he had been meaning to pick up more stuff anyway, “Where are we going?”

“You been to the Musutafu shopping centre yet?” Present mic asked as they came to a Black Honda NSX. The strange thing that Matthew did notice was the speakers that were built into the sides of the car, but Matthew quickly remembered of the question he was asked, so he shook his head as they got into the car, “Didn’t think so, but that’s where we’re heading,”

“If I can get some stuff that’s fine …” Matthew said in a quiet voice, now he had to spend time with someone that he didn’t know much about.

“Nezu did say you were pretty socially awkward,” Present Mic laughed as he started the car, the journey from the apartment to the shopping centre shouldn’t be too long, “Don’t be so nervous, you’ll be starting the hero course soon enough,”

“I can’t help it,” Matthew let his head fall, he was so different to everyone, what if they notice just how different he was.

“Well I already know you’ll make a bunch of friends when at UA,” Present Mic tried to comfort him while he drove, “I saw how you saved Yaoyorozu, I bet she’ll try and become your friend,”

Matthew noticed that he winked at him, but he had no clue what that meant, “My body just moved on its own … It was either me or her … So I chose her,” He said.

“That’s what a hero does,” Present Mic smiled widely, taking a right turn before stopping the car. There were people crossing the road in front, “Besides, you really showed those robots what for, and all without a powerful quirk like the others had,”

“What were their quirks?” Matthew decided to ask as the car started driving again.

“Ask them if you see them,” Present Mic responded, not wanting to reveal anything about the students, “But it still stands though, they do have some pretty strong quirks, you have super regeneration which is good but … You know, you lack range …” he then quickly added, “Not that that’s bad! You did incredible just using your fists,”

“Thanks,” Matthew appreciated the compliment from the veteran hero.

The duo entered a comfortable silence as Present mic drove them to their destination. It didn’t take long and before Matthew knew it, he was currently following the older hero through a busy shopping centre.

It was a bright building that had multiple floors. If Matthew thought that stop and shop sign was amazing when he saw it before this was another level. There were an endless number of shops, all for different reasons. That also meant it was busy.

And oh boy was there plenty of people out in full force.

“Hey! Cheer up!” Present Mic must of saw Matthew’s unsure demeanour, “We’ll go and get some new clothes first!” He pointed towards a nearby clothes shop, Super Dry.

“Alright …” Matthew still seemed unsure but what else could he do? He needed to get new supplies, so he couldn’t just head home.

The search throughout the shop did prove to be useful, he picked up a jacket, some new pairs of trousers, and a few t-shirts. It wasn’t amazing, but it was a step up from what he currently always wore. Present mic also mentioned that it might help him fit in more if he wore brands the other kids knew about.

Leaving that shop the duo moved throughout the shopping centre, now they were looking for a shop that often school supplies since the young man would be needing a decent amount of them, “That’s a good one, come on,” Present Mic pointed out another shop, Stationary.

The search through the school supplies shop was more tedious for the young man. Present Mic, being a teacher, continued to point out various things he might need, telling him to get it anyway because you never know.

Whatever that meant.

“Okay, that was pretty successful,” Present mic smiled as they sat together on a bench. Five bags being next to the young man’s feet, he was surprised he could fit everything in just a few bags, “Now …” The teacher had a grin on his face as he looked directly at Matthew, “Why don’t we get something for that lady friend of yours?”

Matthew tilted his head, he had gotten somewhat more comfortable with the teacher who seemed oddly laid back, “I don’t think we’re friends …” he mumbled, trying to think back on his interactions with Momo, “We said …” He counted, “Like 6 sentences to each other …”

Present Mic huffed, “Maybe that’ll change when you start at UA,” Whatever that meant, he seemed to say a lot of things that Matthew didn’t really understand the context to, “Midnight is gonna have a lot of fun with the new students, that’s for sure,”

Matthew didn’t know who this Midnight person was, but if he guessed, they were probably another teacher from the school he would have to meet at some point.

The young man was brought out of his thoughts as he watched a group of young children approach both of them, “Present Mic … Can we have a Picture Please,” He actually understood the Japanese, it was nice that those lessons Yusei and him have are paying off. Although, he can already tell that it’s the bare basic of Japanese speech, more formal conversations will probably be a struggle.

“You bet we can,” It seems that Present Mic accepted the children’s request, so Matthew watched as he stood up and posed with the children, all of them smiling happily.

It put things into perspective, if he became a famous hero would he have to do that to? Or could he avoid it? He completely forgot Present Mic was a pro-hero, are all the teachers at the school pro-heroes?

“It’s nice meeting fans from time to time,” Present Mic sat back down, having dealt with the children, “Although …” he sighed, using one hand to come up and scratch his chin, “Some can be pretty annoying,”

Matthew nodded at the prospect, “Do you have to socialise with fans?”

Present Mic shook his head and waved his arms, “Not at all, just look at Endeavour, the guy barely acknowledges anyone,” He told, making Matthew think about the number 2 hero, he was pretty popular yet he didn’t acknowledge any of his fans? That was a surprise, “But enough about that, we should probably get going, unless you need any more stuff?”

Matthew shook his head, he had enough for now, “I think I’m good,” he stood up, grabbing the bags as best as he could, “Thank you sir, I appreciate the help and the escort,”

“Wow! Nezu was right, you are pretty stiff,” Present Mic laughed as they began making their way back to the car. Matthew knew he was stiff but he also knew the consequences for a lack of respect to his superiors.

Maybe he needed to lighten up to be seen as normal?

If he ever could be normal.

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