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U.A.’s athletic field went quiet.
“Kacchan!”
Midoriya held his injured hand and stared at Bakugo, who was still lying on the ground and refusing to rise.
His eyes were complicated.
He understood how Bakugo felt.
If anything, he understood it even more deeply.
The day before, he and Ren had both still stood at the same starting line in Bakugo’s mind.
Then morning came, and Ren not only knew All Might, he had somehow become Midoriya’s senior trainee.
Did Midoriya feel no disappointment?
Of course he did.
“Is your finger okay?” Uraraka asked, walking over with concern.
Midoriya snapped back to himself and panicked at once.
“Ah!
I am fine.
Totally fine!”
“All right,” Aizawa said.
“The scores for all eight events are ready.
Reading every name is too much trouble, so look at the screen yourselves.”
He lifted the remote and pointed at the projected display behind him.
“Tch.
Looks like someone is about to explode from nerves.”
Ren stood at the back of the line with his arms folded.
Through the crowd, he watched Midoriya clench both fists, his face pale with dread.
“The student with the lowest total score gets expelled.”
Midoriya squeezed his eyes shut, too afraid to look at the screen as it filled in.
“The only event I did well in was the softball throw.
My endurance run and the rest were awful.”
When he finally forced himself to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was the bottom of the list.
Twentieth place: Izuku Midoriya.
Class 1-A had twenty students.
Incidentally, in Ren’s memories, that seat had belonged to Koji Koda, whose Quirk, Anivoice, allowed him to command animals.
Because Ren had forced his way into the class, Koda appeared to have been assigned to Class 1-B instead.
‘I should find a chance to visit Class 1-B and learn that one too.’
While Ren’s thoughts drifted, Bakugo quietly dragged himself up from the ground. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
He did not check his own score first.
His eyes went straight to first place and stayed there.
Then he looked at Ren, who was staring off into the distance and clearly did not care.
His expression turned complicated.
“Thanks for earlier,” Ren said, noticing Bakugo’s gaze and raising his brows.
“If you had not lost your temper, Aizawa-sensei might not have used his Quirk.
That would have been annoying.”
Todoroki, watching from nearby, looked at Ren in silence.
He was strong.
Strong in more ways than one.
And then there was the softball throw.
Ren had thrown exactly the result he wanted without effort.
Ren noticed Todoroki’s stare and gave him a small nod.
After taking in the expressions around him, Aizawa pressed the remote and shut off the display.
“By the way,” he said, malice practically dripping from his voice, “the expulsion threat was a lie.”
The class stared at him.
For the first time, Aizawa’s tired eyes opened wide, his pupils shrinking as his mouth spread into a crooked grin.
“It was a rational deception designed to bring out the full potential of your Quirks.”
“What?”
The more straightforward students shouted in disbelief.
“It was obviously a lie,” said the tall girl with the striking ponytail.
Her exasperation was almost elegant.
“A little thought would have made that clear.”
“Not necessarily, young lady,” Ren said, turning toward her.
Momo Yaoyorozu.
Among Class 1-A, her Quirk had some of the greatest potential Ren could see.
She wore her long black hair in an exaggerated ponytail, spoke with the polish of someone raised in wealth, and really was exactly the young heiress she sounded like.
Her Quirk, Creation, allowed her to create any nonliving object as long as she understood its molecular structure.
Ren, in the noble spirit of scholarship, had already learned it during the test.
At the moment, though, his knowledge base lagged far behind hers.
Aside from water, he could not create much yet.
That did not worry him.
With Insight, what was there to fear about studying?
“That was stressful.”
“I was prepared to face the challenge at any time.”
Aizawa ignored the students talking among themselves and announced the end of the test.
Read them when you get back.”
Only then did Midoriya truly relax.
“Midoriya,” Aizawa said as he passed, handing him a slip of paper.
“Go to Recovery Girl and get that finger treated.
Starting tomorrow, the training will only get harder.”
Ren blinked.
Recovery Girl?
The way Aizawa said it sounded dangerously close to calling her old.
Aizawa-sensei was definitely on her blacklist.
“Aizawa-sensei, wait.”
Aizawa had just turned to leave when Ren called out.
In the next instant, Ren left an afterimage behind and appeared in front of him.
Aizawa’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That speed really was absurd.
Ren scratched his head, eyes bright with excitement.
“Sensei, after today’s test, I realized how many weaknesses I still have.
Please allow me to visit the library and build up my foundation.
I want to study.”
“Study?” Aizawa looked at him as if Ren had asked him to believe in a fairy tale.
“No.
You copied several Quirks during the test and now you cannot wait to practice them.”
Ren opened his mouth.
“Sensei, I really do want to study.”
“Fine, fine.
Go.”
Aizawa waved him away, already tired.
One student was explosive enough to go off at any second.
Another was so clever it made him uneasy.
Was he ever going to get to coast through this class in peace?
Probably not.
“Thank you, sensei.”
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Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.