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Both Aizawa-sensei and Principal Nedzu were already on the observation deck by the time Izuku arrived. Spotting them caused him to cut off in the middle of explaining to Ashido and Kaminari precisely how they could have still won if they just used their brains a little more than their quirks.
Kacchan immediately used the opportunity to call them hopeless extras.
“Rude, Kacchan,” Izuku tried, but his voice was weak, wheezing.
Kacchan’s attention shifted to him right away, his hands holding on to Izuku’s elbow.
“You okay?” He signed quickly.
Izuku tried to nod his head but changed his mind halfway through the motion, shaking it instead.
“Ah, Midoriya, you’re back,” Principal Nedzu broke into a smile as he turned to face them. All Might and Aizawa-sensei followed his gaze. “How did you find the class?”
Izuku tried to speak, but couldn’t quite manage.
“It ended up alright,” he signed eventually. “Me and Kacchan reached an understanding.”
“Kacchan?” Aizawa-sensei repeated his gesture questioningly.
Kacchan dismissively indicated it was his name.
All Might sighed. “Can’t you speak normally?”
Several of the other students flinched at that, up to and including Aizawa-sensei.
“Excuse me?” The teacher signed at All Might indignantly.
All Might seemed shocked at that. “Oh no, not you too! Is that a quirk? Just Erase the kid’s- Oh, it’s the mask, isn’t it?”
Izuku recognized what All Might was going to do a brief second before he moved. But his speed was incomparable, and before Izuku could as much as twitch, All Might had ripped his mask off of his face.
“It’s you!” All Might gasped. Izuku took a step back, Kacchan stepping forward to somewhat shield him against the hero. “That quirkless kid!”
“I’d love to hear more about how you’ve met before,” Principal Nedzu said flatly. “In my office, if you would.”
“Of course, of course,” All Might turned towards the principal, and even just from that expression, Izuku knew he didn’t consider himself in trouble. “But the class-”
“I’ll handle it for now,” Aizawa-sensei interrupted. “Everyone, follow me.”
“But- Where are you taking them?”
Aizawa-sensei didn’t even turn around as he answered. “It’s their first day in the costume; they should have never been allowed to fight each other straight out of the gate.”
Some groans sounded from the departing group, but most of them appeared relieved.
Kacchan didn’t budge.
“Bakugou,” Aizawa-sensei called.
“I’ll be fine,” Izuku managed to whisper. “Go.”
With one last look at Izuku, Kacchan stepped forward. Ripping the mask out of All Might’s hands, he handed it back to Izuku before leaving.
Izuku did not put the mask back on just yet.
The walk back to the office didn’t last long, though the presence of All Might made it a little nerve-wracking. Izuku kept firmly to Principal Nedzu’s side.
He didn’t sit down, prioritising the ability for quick attack, although he did put his mask down on Principal Nedzu’s desk.
All Might didn’t sit down either, standing intimidatingly off to the side, glaring slightly at Izuku. He didn’t deflate yet - even though Izuku already knew about his injury - for intimidation purposes, Izuku supposed.
What a waste of his limited hero-form time.
“Well, then,” Principal Nedzu folded his paws together. “Let’s begin, shall we?”
“I don’t know what he told you,” All Might began immediately. “To get you to admit him, but he’s quirkless, he said so himself.”
“I know.”
All Might flailed slightly. “Then… Why is he here?”
“Because a quirk doth not a hero make,” Principal Nedzu said slowly, enunciating clearly. “His skills and current level of experience are akin to any second, possibly even a third year here.”
The Symbol of Peace frowned at that. “How’s that possible? He’s quirkless.”
Principal Nedzu shook his head. “I’m disappointed in you. I allowed you to take this teaching position because I thought you could do better.”
“I thought I was doing well.” All Might frowned. “Is it about the training exercise?”
“Yes,” Principal Nedzu nodded slightly, somewhat relieved.
“I wouldn’t have let him do it if I knew who he was,” All Might said, relaxing slightly.
Sighing, Principal Nedzu moved some papers around. “That’s not what the issue is.”
“I don’t see what else it might be,” All Might was frowning slightly. “He’s quirkless, of course it’d be too dangerous-”
“I remind you, he had won that match-
“You seem rather strangely fixated on that fact,” Izuku finally spoke up, interrupting both of them. “That I am quirkless. Considering you were born quirkless, too.”
Both All Might and Principal Nedzu stared at him, shocked. The Symbol of Peace was startled enough to drop his handle on his quirk, the body deflating with a spray of blood leaving his mouth, his hero costume now hanging sadly off of him.
“How-” He whispered.
“Your body changes based on whether or not you’re using your quirk,” Izuku said. “It was pretty obvious. It wouldn’t have happened like that, you wouldn’t be able to move back to the form of your prime, if it was the quirk you were born with.”
Nedzu, chuckling slightly, quickly turned into full-blown cackling.