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Chapter 2: Seeking Familiar Ground

Izuku Midoriya wasted no time bombarding Felix with information about his classmates’ names and quirks, despite the poor boy looking more and more confused by the minute. It didn’t help that the rest of the class were already busy discussing the sports festival among themselves, so there was no one else Felix could escape to.

“So, what’s your quirk?” Izuku repeated himself at the blank-eyed student.

“Q-quirk? What’s a-” Felix froze for a moment, as though he was unfamiliar with the term. “Oh, you mean my ability? I have E.S.P; I’m psychic.”

“Huh?” Bakugo butted in with a condescending smirk already plastered on his face. “You’re gonna bend some spoons or something? See my future with a crystal ball? Tch, do you really expect me to believe that the supernatural exists?”

“Kacchan, you’re being disrespectful!” Izuku exclaimed, but Felix chuckled slightly and waved his hand.

“Sorry, I think you misunderstood my words,” the foreign boy said. “I meant to say that I have psychokinesis.”

Pink flickered in Felix’s eyes, and all the furniture in the classroom floated upwards, carried by that same pink glow. Izuku’s jaw dropped, noticing that even the classroom fans had been forced to stop spinning by an invisible force.

Bakugo’s body tensed up as the whole class stopped talking immediately. Even the Number Two hero’s son, Shoto Todoroki, was staring apprehensively at Felix.

“Wow, that’s an amazing quirk!” Izuku clapped his hands excitedly as Felix relinquished his telekinetic hold on the objects. “You don’t even look the least bit strained!”

“That was nothing much.” Felix gave him a wry smile, before turning to Ochaco and Tenya bounding in their direction.

“Did you do that? That was amazing!” she piped. “Are there any drawbacks for you to do that? I get all nauseous when I apply my zero gravity on anything more than three tonnes.”

“Please respect school property in the future,” Tenya warned the boy with a stern look, before pushing up his glasses and breaking into a small smile. “But that was indeed awe-inspiring, Pagonis. I’m glad we have such a strong student in our class.”

Izuku took out his notebook and hurriedly noted down Felix’s ability, but was quickly interrupted by a war cry of some sort. He looked up at Ochaco, who had her fist raised and body bent low as though preparing for a fight.

“I’m going to do my best!” she growled with a darkened expression. Her classmates cheered her on enthusiastically.

“I said I’m going to do my best!” she turned around and repeated herself. Her classmates cheered her on awkwardly this time.

Izuku smiled at her energetic display, closing his notebook as the lunch bell rang. He got out of his seat quickly, and called out to her.

“Hey Uraraka, I have a question to ask.”

~ ~ ~

“I wonder what he wanted with Deku?”

“I heard that when All Might was attacked by villains during the USJ incident, Midoriya tried to stop him himself,” Tenya answered Ochaco. “Perhaps that’s what this is all about.”

Felix queued for his lunch silently, observing the crowded school cafeteria while his classmates continued their conversation behind him. Izuku had been whisked away by a huge blonde teacher named ‘All Might’ to have lunch for some reason, leaving his classmates to eat without him.

“All Might’s power is pretty similar to Midoriya’s,” a pinched voice spoke. “Maybe he wanted to mentor him personally.”

“How lucky!” Tenya nodded.

“Tsuyu Asui, right? Is it possible for two people to have the same power?” Felix asked, turning around abruptly at the pinched sounding girl, who looked like she had been fused with a frog.

“Call me Tsu. Ribbit. There are many quirks with similarities, but there has been no instances of any two people with the same exact quirk,” she replied. “That’s why it’s called a ‘quirk’, isn’t it?”

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“Yeah, that’s fairly common knowledge,” Ochaco said cheerily. “Unless things are different back in Greece for you?”

“N-no. Of course not,” Felix stuttered as he collected his food, using it as an excuse to avoid the topic.

His classmates collected their food soon enough as well, and sat beside him.

“So Pagonis, did you come to Japan by yourself?” Tenya asked the boy. “Or is your family here with you?”

Felix shifted uncomfortably as his face fell.

“My parents died in a traffic accident, and my sister…” He was struggling to form words. “She was murdered by… I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m here by myself.”

“I deeply apologise for causing you discomfort,” Tenya said solemnly as an awkward atmosphere fell over the group of classmates.

“Don’t worry about it.” Felix forced a smile again. “It’s not like you did it on purpose. By the way, what happened at the USJ? I’ve been hearing people talk about it.”

“Right, you don’t know about it,” Ochaco said as the table collectively relaxed their bodies, grateful for the change in topic. “To summarise, a group of villains calling themselves the ‘League of Villains’ attacked us during one of our training classes in the ‘Unseen Simulation Joint’. We’re all fine though, thanks to the teachers who protected us.”

“Well, I suppose it’s fortunate that your teachers arrived right on time to chase away the villains.” Felix chuckled. “Sounds like you heroes are in for a lot of trouble in the future. You must have pretty noble intentions to be risking your lives like that.”

“Funny, Deku said the same thing earlier.” Ochaco bowed her head slightly in embarrassment. “My family owns a construction business, so I wanted to be a hero to make enough money and help them with their business. It’s nothing noble.”

“Why not help them directly with your ability? You can make objects weightless, right?” Felix tilted his head. “Must being a hero be the only career path to success? Who’s to say that the public will even appreciate your efforts?”

“Being a hero is a prestigious job.” Tenya chopped the air, as if to emphasise his point. “I come from a family of heroes, so I’m obviously next in line to be just like them. My brother is the hero, Ingenium, and I aspire to save people just like him.”

“Ribbit. How about you, Felix?” Tsu asked. “Why did you agree to come to U.A. High for an exchange program?”

Felix continued eating his food as though he had not heard her the first time. Tsu opened her mouth to repeat herself, but he looked up again.

“Oh, you were talking to me?” the boy replied vaguely. “I… Erm- I guess I just wanted to see for myself what your hero school is like.”

Ochaco giggled. “You almost sound like you’re some kind of spy. Well, I hope U.A. High doesn’t disappoint you!”

Felix smiled wryly at her as the group of friends got up to make their way back to their classroom.

~ ~ ~

They had barely turned into the corridor when a loud commotion caught their attention. Tenya straightened up as he shifted into full class representative mode, and rushed towards the huge group of students blocking Class 1A’s doorway.

“Do you have some sort of business with our class?” Tenya asked in a calm, but authoritative voice.

“Stop blocking the doorway!” Kaminari’s voice could be heard from within the classroom.

“I won’t let you take us hostage!” Mineta’s familiar purple ball head popped up over Kaminari’s striking blonde hair.

“They’re scouting out the enemy. We’re the ones who made it out of the villains’ attack. They probably wanna check us out for the sports festival.” Bakugo’s voice sounded calmer this time, although it was still undeniably raspy. “There’s no point in doing stuff like that. At least they know what a real future pro hero looks like now. Out of my way, extras!”

“This Bakugo guy is pretty arrogant, isn’t he?” Felix nudged Ochaco, who was looking absolutely petrified at Bakugo’s rude demeanour.

“Dude, stop calling people ‘extras’ just because you don’t know them!” A red haired boy swung his arm around Bakugo. Felix tilted his head as he tried to recall his name. Was it Hirishima…? No, I think it was Kiroshima-

“Now, is everyone in the hero course delusional? Or is it just you?” A purple haired boy scoffed as the rest of Class 1A shook their heads vigorously. “I came to see what the famous Class 1A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this? That’s just disappointing.”

Bakugo stopped in his tracks, staring at him aggressively.

“There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn’t make it into the hero course,” the boy continued. “But fortunately, the school has given us a chance. Did you know that? Depending on the results of the sports festival, they’ll consider our transfer into the hero course. And it seems they may also transfer people out.”

He smirked audibly. “Scouting out the enemy? I came to say one thing. Even if you’re in the hero course, don’t get too carried away. Or I’ll sweep your feet out from under you. Consider this a declaration of war.”

The unknown student walked off silently, as though he was a politician who had just finished a rallying speech. Commotion increased as more students, including those from Class 1B, began yelling at Bakugo as well.

Felix turned back to wait the situation out until the next bell rang, and spotted Izuku walking out of the staff room with a huge blonde haired teacher. His expression darkened, observing their interaction carefully.

So this is who you chose, Toshinori Yagi…