Izuku woke up to a bright light above him and the smell of medical-grade disinfectant assaulting his senses. He tried to sit up looking for Recovery Girl and immediately felt pain shoot across his chest. He looked down, surveying his injuries, his torso and arms were covered heavily in bandages. Izuku went to push his hair out of his eyes and was greeted by the sight of his hands wrapped by metres of white bandages.

"Don't move deary," Recovery Girl said from across the nurse's office as she hopped down from her stool. "I haven't been able to heal you yet because of your exhaustion."

She crossed the room, kissed Izuku's forehead activating her quirk and healing the worst of his injuries. Izuku quickly felt drowsy, leaning back on the bed before drifting to sleep. Izuku later woke up, the sports festival having long since finished, Recovery Girl allowed him to go home since school would be closed for a couple of days meaning he would have time to recuperate from his injuries.

Recovery Girl healed his broken ribs and did the best she could to heal his severely damaged hands but left the cuts and bruises to heal naturally, to teach him to be less reckless he supposed. Izuku spent the next couple of days resting and analysing the matches from the sports festival that he missed. Bakugo beat Kirishima by overwhelming his quirk with brute force. Todoroki beat Iida by freezing one of his engines after Iida had tried to throw him out of bounds with his 'Recipro Burst'. Bakugo then beat Tokoyami quickly due to Dark Shadow being weak to light.

The final round was between Bakugo and Todoroki, after a close match between Todoroki's Ice and Bakugo's explosions, Bakugo won as Todoroki went to use his fire quirk before he stopped fighting altogether. After blasting him out of the ring Bakugo charged down Todoroki, enraged by the fact that Todoroki won't use his fire against him. Midnight had to step in and use her quirk to knock out Bakugo. At the award ceremony, Bakugo had to be chained to the podium as he screamed about wanting a rematch and refusing to accept the win.

As he rode the train to U.A., his hood shadowing his face, Izuku read through the hero forums, many of the articles he read were about the powerful quirks showcased at the festival and who they might intern under. One article Izuku found was about the rumour of a quirkless student attending U.A. They were correct in their deduction that he was in fact the quirkless student, though many of the comments were disagreeing since a quirkless child couldn't have passed the entrance exam, and they definitely couldn't have placed so well in the sports festival. He had made it to the top 8 after all.

Some comments speculated about him having a mental quirk or a low-level physical enhancement quirk. And a large majority of the comments were arguing for him to be expelled if he was in fact quirkless. Their arguments ranging from patronising protection 'its too dangerous for a quirkless person to be a hero,' to stating he cheated using the examples of him using the scrap metal in the obstacle course and not having to rely on teamwork in the cavalry battle.

Izuku quickly put his phone away as he arrived at the station for U.A, he thought to himself as he walked towards the school, he needs to work harder. Obviously one day showing what he could do wasn't going to change anyone's minds but at least a few of them seemed nervous or angry which meant that they saw him as a threat, meaning he looked capable and strong.

As Izuku neared 1-A's classroom, he heard Iida shouting about being late as he ran past. He'd seen the news about Ingenium's injuries since he was attacked by the hero killer. Before he could ask though Iida spoke to him, a smile on his face.

"You needn't worry about my brother. I apologise if he or I caused you any undue concern."

Both boys then proceeded into the room hearing their classmates chattering about being recognised on their commutes. They found their seats just before Aizawa's voice broke through the noise, "Morning."

"Good to see your bandages off, Aizawa sensei." Tsuyu said.

"The old lady's treatment was excessive. But nevermind that. We've got hero informatics class. And a special one at that." Aizawa paused to rub his eye as the students began thinking about the class being about boring hero laws. "You'll be coming up with your hero aliases."

The room exploded in cheers.

It quieted down as Aizawa spoke again, "But first, concerning the draft picks I mentioned the other day. It's based on who the pros think will be ready to join the hero workforce after another two or three years of experience. It's a way for them to show interest in your futures, but there's time for their interest to wane before you graduate. Any and all offers can be arbitrarily revoked. It happens quite often."

"So if wee picked now, that just means there'll be higher hurdles in the years to come?" Toru asked.

"Yes. Now here're the complete draft pick numbers," Aizawa said as the board behind him displayed a number next to everyone's names. Everyone who made it to the third event was on the board with at least a couple of picks except Izuku. Uraraka had 20, Kirishima had 68 but both Bakugo and Todoroki had a couple thousand next to their names. "There's typically more of a spread. But our top two stole most of the spotlight."

Everyone began chatting about the number of picks everyone got. "With that settled, whether you were picked or not. You will all have a chance to work alongside the pros. It's true that you all have already experienced more than most, but seeing the pros in action and taking part yourselves will still be worthwhile training."

"That's where our hero names come in," Sato shouted.

"This is really getting fun," Ochaco said.

"They're only tentative, but you still want to pick something appropriate-" Aizawa said before he was cut off.

"Or else you'll know true hell!" Midnight yelled as she stepped through the door and cracked her whip. "The name you pick now may be what the world ends up calling you. That's happened to plenty of pros out there."

"Yes. True enough," Aizawa agreed. "And Midnight here will be assessing the sensibility of the names you pick. What future do you see for yourself? the name you choose will bring you ever closer to cementing a certain image... because names are capable of reflecting one's true character."

Everyone began brainstorming their hero names. Meanwhile, Izuku was taking Aizawa's words to heart. What future do you see for yourself? Izuku thought about that question thoroughly; 'I could be an underground hero, like Aizawa, taking down villains at night and being unknown to the public. Or I could help organises and strategies teams of heroes like Sir Nighteye, All Might's former sidekick. I could even join a team and help support others in fights and rescue scenarios.'

While Izuku could see himself doing all of those things and being almost any kind of hero, except a heavy hitter with a strong quirk, that's not what he wanted to be. With his mind made up Izuku walked to the front of that class after Iida who displayed the name 'Tenya'.

He turned his board around and displayed the words 'The Quirkless Hero: Zero' written in messy print due to his bandaged hands. There were a few murmurs within the class and Midnight simply asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I thought about it and I realised that I would probably make a better underground hero like Aizawa sensei." Hearing his name Aizawa unzipped the top of his sleeping bag to hear what his student had to say. "Taking down villains stealthily in one on one combat that I can control would make more sense for me due to not having a quirk to rely on." Izuku looked up at the crowd of his peers, his expression; pure determination. "But that's not the type of hero I want to be. I want to be a hero on the front lines, in the eyes of the public. I want everyone to know my name and to know what it stands for. I want villains and heroes alike to see my name, to know that I have no quirk and that I need no quirk.

I want to be an example for every child told they couldn't achieve their dreams because of how they were born. And I want to be the type of hero I needed growing up.

I will be the first Quirkless Hero!"

Finishing his speech Izuku looked around the room, at the faces of his classmates. Some were bored or whispering about his speech. Bakugo looked angry but simple sneered at him. The ones that really caught his eye were Uraraka, Iida, Tsuyu, Kirishima and surprisingly Todoroki. They each had varying emotions on their face though all seemed positive if not a little muted in Todoroki's case.

After everyone picked their hero names Aizawa announced that they had a 20-minute break before their next lesson where they would be receiving their Internship picks. Izuku got up and headed to the door, hoping to get some fresh air after his declaration. He might have gained more confidence since Middle school but standing in front of his peers and announcing his plan for the future was nerve-racking and had taken a lot out of him.

He made his way onto the courtyard behind U.A's main building and sat on a wall, watching students move too and fro. Almost as soon as he had calmed his nerves and got his breathing under control, Izuku was surrounded by familiar faces. Uraraka sat on the wall next to him and leaned into his side saying, "That was so cool. Your speech was super inspiring."

Iida and Tsuyu joined them on the wall and Kirishima shouted something about his hero name being really manly as he made his way to the cafeteria. Izuku enjoyed the company from who he now realised were first real friends. They were discussing each other's hero names; Izuku was commenting on how Tsuyu's name 'Froppy' would make her really approachable and popular with kids, when Todoroki walked over.

"Midoriya, can I speak with you for a minute?" Todoroki asked.

"Uh. Yeah sure," Izuku replied before turning back to the others sat on the wall, "I'll meet you guys back in class."

Izuku and Todoroki headed away from the others and into an alleyway, away from prying eyes. They stood there for a moment in awkward silence before Todoroki began to explain why he asked to talk. He told Izuku about his parent's quirk marriage, facilitated by his father's wealth. He spoke about his childhood, being raised for the sole purpose of beating All Might. And he told him about his mother, who scarred his face and was locked in a mental hospital by his father.

Throughout all of this Izuku stayed quiet, allowing Todoroki to vent his thoughts and emotions. Some of what Todoroki told him, Izuku had figured out; mostly his 'purpose' to beat All Might and his choice to not use his fire. The rest was new to Izuku but it wasn't until Todoroki thanked him that he was surprised. Apparently Todoroki had remembered some memories during their match. Memories that had long since been forgotten, locked away within his brain. It was these memories that drove Todoroki to visit his mother.

The bell rang and both Todoroki and Izuku rushed back to class. They were each handed a folder with their internship picks. The students that didn't receive any were instead given a list of 40 agencies willing to take interns. Izuku studied through the list he was given, marking off heroes that he would benefit from interning with and crossing off heroes that relied too heavily on their quirks since he wouldn't learn as much from them.

By the end of the day's lessons, Izuku had narrowed his list down to 3 heroes; Stubborn a hero who's quirk gives them nearly impenetrable skin, he tends to get villains to overuse their quirk and exhaust themselves trying to hurt him. So probably not a good idea to intern with a hero so reckless, especially if I don't want Recovery Girl to kill me, Izuku thought. He crossed him off the list.

The second Hero was Twindril, her quirk gives her two prehensile tendrils that come from her shoulder blades. She's primarily a rescue hero but since her tendrils can't lift much more than a normal person I could learn the best ways to be useful in a rescue scenario, Izuku's thoughts continued.

The final name on his list was Gunhead, His quirk 'Gatling' lets him fire bullets made from keratin out of his arms. He mostly uses it for suppressive fire or in conjunction with martial arts, it would be useful to learn more martial arts, Izuku's inner monologue carried on. Izuku then thought of another hero that fights quirkless, Eraserhead. Aizawa's quirk only lets him level the playing field, everything else he does essentially quirkless.

When class ended Ochaco came over to Izuku's desk to ask who he was going to intern with. Out the corner of his eye Izuku saw Aizawa about to leave the classroom, he interrupted Ochaco, "Sorry Uraraka. I need to ask Aizawa sensei something. I'll be back in a minute and we can walk to the station, yeah?"

He didn't wait for a reply, rushing out the classroom and chasing Aizawa down the corridor towards the Teacher's lounge. He caught up to him just before he entered, "Aizawa sensei. I have a question."

Aizawa just stared at him, waiting for the question.

"I was thinking, since you have to fight without a quirk, that maybe you could um..." Izuku mumbled. "I mean could I... maybe."

"What?" Aizawa said, clearly fed up with this interaction.

"I was wondering if I could intern with you?" Izuku asked meekly.

"Sorry. I'm busy during your internship," Aizawa said, his voice losing the irritated edge it had before. "You'll have plenty of time to learn from me later in the year and I already have an intern. Plus you said you didn't want to be an underground hero."

"Yeah, I did," Izuku replied while scratching at his cheek. "Who's your intern anyway?"

"Don't tell anyone," Izuku nodded. "Remember Shinso from the sports festival? He has potential and I want to help him. If the entrance exams were more rational he'd already be in the hero course."

"Oh. That's great, his quirks really cool," Izuku said, his earlier disappointment no longer evident in his face. "I can think of plenty of situations where his quirk would be great, especially de-escalating conflicts."

"Good. And when you get back from your internship we could work out a deal," Aizawa said. "I'll train you afterschool alongside Shinso and you'll make a good sparring partner for him."

"Yeah, that sounds good."