Gray spent the rest of the night simply watching TV and the news. He knew tomorrow would be a busy day, but canon was finally kicking off. He couldn’t wait to see the kids overcome the next obstacles that were bound to happen soon.
As for the villains... well, he was definitely going to try to mess with them for a while. He already had a few plans in mind, but they’d have to wait until he actually saw them face to face.
He leaned back against the couch, watching the screen as midnight bled into the early hours of the morning. The media coverage remained relentless, showcasing the aftermath of the Shie Hassaikai raid from every possible angle. It didn’t matter. His mind was already focusing on the upcoming week at UA High School. The board was officially set, the pieces were moving, and day one of the academy’s first term was just around the corner.
As it turned into morning, Gray had already made breakfast for himself and Eri. He checked the time and saw it was around 8:30, which meant classes had probably already started. As far as he remembered, Aizawa would do the Quirk Apprehension Test on the very first day. He didn’t want to miss how Izuku would do with his improved physique and Quirk. After changing into more casual clothes, he also gave Eri some easy-to-move-in clothes.
They went out and started exploring the training grounds. Gray made his way towards the place where Aizawa would do his tests, with Eri holding his hand.
Once they made it there, Gray sat down on a nearby bench as he waited for them. While he waited, the clock finally hit 9:00. He opened the system interface and bought the next upgrade.
[New Upgrade]
(300,000 Gold) 12,000 Gold/Hour ✔
[New Hourly Rate]
36,694 (24,463) Gold/Hour
Gold: 6,715
Not even 30 minutes later, he saw movement. He saw all the students he knew from the anime. All of Class 1-A had made their way into the training grounds. Some of them started whispering to each other once they spotted Gray. Gray, meanwhile, simply waved at them. Some looked shocked to see the person who had been on the news non-stop for the past two weeks sitting down like a normal civilian.
"What the fuck is he doing here!?" Bakugo shouted.
Aizawa, seeing Gray, simply sighed. "He’s not rational enough..." He turned towards all the students. "You guys would have found out soon enough anyway." Aizawa turned towards Gray. "This is Gray. He will assist you all with physical training on the weekends if you want to. It is optional, so if you choose not to partake in it, you don’t have to." Aizawa let the statement hang in the air for a while. "But I will say this. If you guys want to be top heroes or even be able to graduate, I would advise every single one of you to take it, and take it seriously. Now, ignore that guy and follow me. We will do a Quirk Apprehension Test!"
Ochako raised her hand, looking visibly confused by the sudden change in schedule. "Um, what about the orientation ceremony? And the counselor meetings?"
Aizawa didn’t even look back as he walked toward the center of the field. "If you’re going to make the hero track, you don’t have time to waste on such unessential ceremonies." He stopped, turning his tired gaze back toward the crowd. "UA’s selling point is its unrestricted school style. That applies to us teachers as well."
The students shifted uncomfortably, the relaxed first-day atmosphere evaporating instantly.
"You’ve been doing these standardized tests since junior high, right?" Aizawa continued, pulling out a digital clipboard. "Physical fitness tests where you weren’t allowed to use your Quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results split by students who aren’t allowed to use their powers. It’s not rational. The Ministry of Education is just putting off the inevitable."
He panned his eyes across the crowd until he spotted the ash-blonde teenager standing near the front. "Bakugo. You managed to finish first in the practical entrance exam, right? What was your junior high softball throw record?"
Bakugo stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking thoroughly bored. "Sixty-seven meters."
"Fine. Step into the white circle," Aizawa commanded, tossing a standard baseball toward him. Bakugo caught it effortlessly with one hand. "Try doing it with your Quirk this time. As long as you stay inside the lines, I don’t care how you do it. Give it everything you’ve got."
Bakugo went into a wide stance, bringing his arm back as his palms began to violently spark. ’Everything I’ve got, huh?’ he thought, a confident smirk spreading across his face. As he released the ball with a massive, deafening blast from his palms, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "DIE!"
The ball flew high into the air, the intense shockwave kicking up a massive dust cloud around his boots. Aizawa turned around and held up a digital device to show everyone how far it had gone: 705.2 meters.
"Know your limits and improve," Aizawa stated plainly.
Some of the girls started giggling to each other, whispering about how amazing the score was and how fun the training looked.
"Fun?" Aizawa murmured, his voice dropping. "Fine then. Let’s make it interesting. Whoever comes in last place across all eight tests will be judged as having no potential, and they will be expelled."
As everyone’s world started to crash down, the students panicked at the sudden threat of their dreams ending on day one. Aizawa ignored the crying and moved them towards the 50-meter dash. He had a mechanical bot set up at the finish line that would automatically time everyone’s speed.
First up were Iida and Tsuyu. Iida took off instantly, winning by a wide margin as his automated timer clicked stop at 3.04 seconds, with Tsuyu finishing right behind him at 5.58 seconds. Iida Tenya’s Quirk was called Engine, giving him literal exhaust tips coming out of his calves. Gray looked at them from his bench with some genuine interest, thinking they looked kind of gross, but he chose not to voice his inner thoughts out loud just in case he ruined the kid’s mood. As for Tsuyu, well, he didn’t really know who to get for her inside the training dimension yet. But he figured some physical enhancements and Master Roshi’s drills would do everyone some good first. He still had plenty of time to pick out custom, personal trainers for everyone later.
Next up, it was Ochaco’s and the tail guy’s turn, each one finishing with a pretty normal, baseline human time. The next pair, however, made Gray pay a little bit more attention.
’The guy with the laser is the traitor as far as I remember... I’ll just keep an eye on him for now,’ Gray thought, watching Yuga Aoyama blast himself backward over the line. He didn’t plan on exposing the kid to the faculty just yet... he wanted to see how the League would try to use their mole first.
Finally, Bakugo and Izuku stepped up to the starting blocks. Bakugo kept mumbling angrily to himself, glaring sideways as he cursed under his breath, thinking it was pure bullshit that Izuku had made it into the same elite academy as him and that the quirkless nerd had somehow just gotten lucky. Izuku, on the other hand, ignored the glaring completely. He took a deep breath, bent his knees, and instantly activated his One For All Full Cowl at a stable 10%. Green sparks of crackling electricity erupted around his hyper-conditioned frame, his skin glowing with pulsing red veins as his trained muscles locked into place. This, of course, was not visible to anyone else but Izuku.
The machine’s automated voice blared out, "GO!"
Bakugo tried to get ahead instantly by throwing his arms back to trigger his palm explosions, but before he could even activate the first blast, Izuku had already blurred past him. The green-clad kid vanished from the starting line, leaving behind a massive trail of thick dust as he crossed the finish line in under three seconds.
Bakugo, seeing what Izuku did, froze on the track, flabbergasted and shocked to his core. ’What the hell was that!?’
Coming out of his stunned state a second later, a wave of fury took over his mind. He activated massive explosions on both hands, desperately tearing down the track to finish under 5 seconds. But before anyone could even get ready or process the impossible times, Bakugo swung around, his face twisted in pure rage as he lunged straight toward Izuku with his hands smoking.
"What the fuck was that, you nerd! Explain yourself!" Bakugo roared.
Aizawa, having already thoroughly read everyone’s junior high files, knew the kid was highly prone to violence thanks to his Quirk, which made him possess a naturally "explosive" temper. Letting out a sigh, Aizawa instantly activated his Quirk. His hair floated up into the air as his eyes glowed a vibrant crimson, erasing Bakugo’s explosions in a fraction of a second. Right before the blonde could even reach Izuku’s shirt, Aizawa’s capture weapon launched forward, wrapping tightly around Bakugo’s torso and pinning his arms firmly to his sides.
"You’d better keep that temper down if you wanna study here, Bakugo," Aizawa continued, his voice dripping with annoyance as he pulled the capture scarf tight, forcing the teenager to a complete halt. "This isn’t middle school anymore. You’d better behave, or you’ll pack your things and get expelled before you can even launch another explosion."
Once everyone calmed down, they continued with their tests. Next it was the grip strength test. Shoji came out on top with 540 kilograms of grip strength, causing a wave of murmurs to ripple through the stunned class. Izuku, still using Full Cowl, focused the energy to 15% on his arms alone. He squeezed the device hard, the plastic casing groaning under the pressure as the screen flashed to a near-identical 500 kilograms.
Bakugo’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, his jaw tightening as a cold sweat broke out across his palms. ’What the hell happened!? He was quirkless!’
Over the next few tests, Izuku was either the top scorer or very close to it, easily matching the high-tier recommended students step for step. Thanks to his all-around physical and quirk improvements over his two months of non-stop training in the Training Dimension, the old, fragile Deku was completely gone. Gray kept watching all the students doing their best from his spot on the bench. At the rate things were going, the shift in scores meant someone else might be at the bottom of the list instead of Midoriya, and who knew what would happen then if Aizawa chose to enforce his strict rules.
On the endurance run, the gap became even more laughable. Izuku’s trained stamina was so immense that he could have easily kept running for hours without his heart rate even breaking a steady rhythm. Aizawa, watching the boy glide across the track with effortless form, knew this too. Once every single other student finally dropped from exhaustion, panting and clutching their knees in the dirt, the underground hero raised his hand and told Izuku to stop.
Finally, they cycled back to the softball pitch test. Izuku stood inside the white circle, weighing the baseball in his hand. He could have gone with a massive bang and used his absolute full strength to shatter the record, but once he noticed Gray sitting on the bench nearby and looking at him with a calm, measuring gaze, he decided to be smart about it. Using only 15% Full Cowl, he prepared for the throw. He could actively maintain 15% for a few minutes now, but if it was only for a single instant, it shouldn’t matter or strain his body much. Taking a stance, he brought his arm back and launched the ball.
The ball went high into the sky, cutting through the air before finally dropping at around 400 meters. It wasn’t the infinite score Ochaco had secured, but it was still an incredibly high record that left the remaining students completely speechless. The next few tests were pretty standard and not really that interesting to see. Once the final parameters were logged, Aizawa gathered everyone around the digital display as he showed them the compiled rankings list.
1.- Momo Yaoyorozu
2.- Izuku Midoriya
3.- Shoto Todoroki
4.- Katsuki Bakugo
5.- Tenya Ida
6.- Fumikage Tokoyami
7.- Mezo Shoji
8.- Mashirao Ojiro
9.- Eijiro Kirishima
10.- Mina Ashido
11.- Ochaco Uraraka
12.- Koji Koda
13.- Rikido Sato
14.- Tsuyu Asui
15.- Yuga Aoyama
16.- Hanta Sero
17.- Denki Kaminari
18.- Kyoka Jiro
19.- Toru Hagakure
20.- Minoru Mineta
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