fortune favors the gold

6

Most of class A-1 is waiting in their seats, tense in anticipation for the day. The past two days have set the bar high, and they are hopeful that today will live up to their expectations. A majority, at least. As always, Kacchan, Izuku, and Todoroki aren't going with the flow. Kacchan is pouting at his desk over some news Aizawa told him that morning, Izuku has his face pressed against his desk, mumbling to himself, and Todoroki is watching Izuku. But other than them, the whole class is excited.

"You guys pick a class president and vice president. I don't care how, as long as it's done by the time class is over." Aizawa says, waving a hand at them dismissively. Shocked murmurs pass throughout the class at the normalness of the assignment. Then the class erupts into discussion on how to go about this important, normal business. Iida suggests that they do a vote and someone else brings up that everyone will just vote for themselves. Kacchan chooses this moment to kick Izuku's desk.

"What?" He asks, shooting up and blinking. "Just make a rule that you're not allowed to vote for yourself?"

"That is brilliant, Midoriya-san!" Iida booms. Izuku shrugs and gives Kacchan a look. He just shrugs, then raises an eyebrow. 'What are you zoning out about, nerd?' is the unspoken question there. Izuku shrugs back. 'Nonya' is the answer. Kacchan scoffs and turns to glare out the window. A piece of paper is handed to Izuku, who absentmindedly jots down a vote for Iida before zoning out again.

It's not that he doesn't want to pay attention to this show of democracy—though he sort of doesn't—but he's preoccupied. Aizawa had told him that there were demigods in the school than just the two of them, and Izuku was determined to figure out at least some of them.

The thing is, godly blood and quirks don't mix well. Demigods usually have more subtle or weak quirks because of this, or in some cases, like Izuku's, they're just quirkless. Since there was no way even he could make a comprehensive list of the students' quirks in a day, Izuku has been going through the teachers for suspects.

Aizawa, obviously, has a subtle quirk. Cancelling quirks could be something along the lines of nothingness or equality—using the most abundant pantheon, that could be someone like Nemesis. There was also Midnight, who Izuku was a bit hesitant about. Her quirk, sleeping gas, wasn't completely subtle, nor weak, but he had a feeling. Maybe... Hypnos?

Kacchan kicks his desk again. Izuku looks up with a frown, then notices Yaoyorozu standing at the board, where she's tallied the votes. 4 for Yaoyorozu herself, good, three for Iida, and..

Midoriya - 9

"What." Izuku says, eloquent as ever. He looks around the room to see most everyone staring at him expectantly. "What."

"Get up there, shitty Deku." Kacchan orders. He only looks a little disappointed in his one vote. When Izuku doesn't move, he glares and pops off a small explosion from his palm. Izuku jerks up out of his desk and goes to stand next to Yaoyorozu and manages to look just barely lost.

At lunch, sitting with Iida, Uraraka, and, surprisingly, Todoroki, Izuku is still having trouble wrapping his mind around the votes. When the topic is brought up, each person other than Izuku admits they voted for him. Izuku, mystified, blurts that he voted for Iida, making him blush. The conversation continues until Izuku is almost done with his bento, when he notices the small cake that Inko has decorated with a warning symbol.

"Sorry, I'll be right back, this is for Kacchan." Izuku apologizes, standing with the bento. Uraraka, strangely, yells a 'good luck' at his back as he walks away.

Kacchan is sitting with a group of classmates close to a window, and Izuku thinks he looks like he's enjoying himself. If Izuku shows up now, he'll probably get all embarrassed and shout, but what are friends for if not to embarrass each other? Izuku strides towards Kacchan's table, catching his eye halfway there and grinning. He starts to get up to intercept Izuku but both of of their plans are interrupted by a loud screaming alarm ripping through the cafeteria.

Izuku is swept away by the resulting wave of panicked students and ends up pressed against a window, bento pressing uncomfortably into his chest. He moves his arm to hold the box above his head, and in the process, notices the biggest flare of gold he's seen in a while. Izuku immediately focuses in on the source, zoning out the students, the alarm, and Iida's shouting in the background. Past the nearby wall of Yuuei, there's a person standing, halfway in the shadow of an alley. Though he's far away, Izuku can see their wide grin as they watch the chaos. Other than that, there's not much Izuku can make out thanks to the hoodie the person is wearing. They stare a bit longer then retreat into the alley.

Izuku frowns to himself and finally notices that the crowd of students is no longer stampeding or pressing him against the window. He steps away from the window, quickly drops off Kacchan's cake, then retreats back to his own table, deep in thought. Back in class, he takes a moment to drop from his leadership position, making Yaoyorozu the president and Iida the vice-president. He is much too busy to dedicate enough time to it, so it has to go.

Aizawa reminds them that they have a rescue training session outside of campus later next week before they go, and Izuku walks home thinking about the hooded guy outside the wall. He had passed by the gate, and it hadn't just been breached. It had been destroyed. He would bring it up to Aizawa after doing a bit of investigation.

Izuku wakes up on the day of his class' trip to the USJ training grounds to find his dad standing over him, mumbling. He had stayed up late the night before compiling a list of students in Yuuei he thought might be demigods and going through the quirk registry, and thus is tired enough that he just watches as his dad taps his chest, causing his body to glow briefly. Bishamonten looks pleased with himself.

"Dad." Izuku speaks up, voice gravelly with sleep. "What are you doing."

Bishamonten adopts a look not unlike a deer faced with oncoming headlights, makes a vague noise, and pops out of existence. Izuku drags a hand down his face and groans quietly. After a sigh at his dad's antics, Izuku looks at his alarm clock, making a sound of outrage when he sees that it's only two hours after he had gone to bed.

With a glare at the ceiling, Izuku flips over and pulls the comforter over his head to try and sleep a second time. He's woken again a few hours later by Inko, who makes breakfast while he gets dressed for school. Izuku kisses her goodbye then joins Kacchan going to school. And if he's still tired enough that he leans against Kacchan on the train, well, Kacchan doesn't say anything and neither does he.

Aizawa loads them onto a bus almost as soon as they arrive at school. Izuku ends up sitting next to Todoroki, who silently pulls out his phone and opens Pokémon: Plus Ultra where Izuku can see it. The rest of the ride after a quick exchange of trainer IDs is battles and Izuku gushing about all the cool pokémon that Todoroki has caught. Needless to say, the ride seems to end a bit too soon for Izuku, who begrudgingly puts up his phone and joins his classmates in the giant domed USJ.

Yagi was supposed to be chaperoning with Aizawa, but he's reached his time limit if the subtle gesturing Thirteen does is any indication. They're giving a speech when gold flashes behind them, giving Izuku a heads up to watch the black inky portal that opens up after. Someone asks if it's part of the exercise as he and Aizawa share a glance.

"Villains!" Izuku barks to his class, already pushing a few people towards the exit. Aizawa steps forward to deal with the avalanche of cronies spilling from the portal and Thirteen and Izuku heard A-1 towards the exit.

Another portal opens up in their way and a well dressed, voidy man with yellow eyes steps through. Thirteen, at the front of the pack, stops short, letting the students crash into them. The voidy man raises a hand, and Izuku's mind screams at him to get out of the way. He goes to grab the nearest person's arm—Uraraka—but a warp gate swallows her and Izuku just moves, sprinting away before one can get him too. He ends up behind a half wall, watching as most of his class disappears.

"It is done, Shigaraki Tomura." Voidy calls.
Another flash of gold draws Izuku's gaze to a man covered in disembodied hands stepping out of the main portal. He surveys the area, Aizawa fighting villains, a few classmates and Thirteen stranded and helpless by Voidy, and grins. Izuku gets the feeling he's going to need more luck than usual to survive this.