"Life has no meaning.

Each of us has meaning, and we bring it to life.

It is a waste to be asking the question

when you are the answer."

-Joseph Campbell

(Aka the quote that I choose simply because of its' sheer amazingness.)

----------------------------------------

"We have all your other forms, but it seems that the form that detailed your quirk's abilities was lost. It's happened before, so you don't have to worry about it too much, but you do need to get it filed eventually. So do you just want to do it now, or-"

'It seems that All for One didn't totally abandon me. One of the things that I worried about most was what this guy's quirk was. I can't just show a quirk that's entirely different from the one on paper. I can also manipulate it to seem different from what the Pros have seen.'

"I can do it now, sensei. I doubt the post office back home will ever get it together, so I might as well just do it now."

A rising vein was the only foretelling of the end that he had. Except, he had the misfortune of not seeing that sign.

"...You're one cheeky brat, aren't you? Cutting me off in the middle of my sentence... Let's go visit Nezu, shall we? Get a refresher course on manners. I sure he won't mind giving you a rundown of alllll that he knows. Maybe he'll make an Etiquette class just for you..."

Then, as if it was the most natural thing, he grabbed him by his collar to drag him to hell.

"Sensei? No, no, sir? L-Let's not go that far... I apologize, I apologize, just please don't make me go through that again!"

The two teachers merely watched the transfer to hell in silence.

"...That kid's going to hell. Aizawa's as cruel as ever," He stated with a dispassionate sigh. "He probably could have gotten away with it too if it were any other teacher. Think we should save him? We're technically supposed to be heroes, you know."

His cohort lightly bopped him on the head.

"You're too dramatic. Nezu won't torture the poor kid for too long. Probably."

"Probably?!"

That probably turned into a definitely, later on, as the 'conversation' dragged on for four hours as the subject snowballed from waiting until the speaker was finished speaking, to ancient Japanese tea ceremonies. But, that's a story for another day. Now our hero... Anti-hero? Yes, now our anti-hero protagonist, Deku, was facing a new challenge. Or rather, Allen was.

In the form of a bunch of overexcitable puppies, ahem, teenagers. Rather heroic teenagers, thank you very much.

"Well, we've got a new exchange student, class. Allen, just introduce yourself to the class and tell 'em your quirk while you're at it. I'm going to take a nap. Tell me when you guys are done with everything."

Allen just watched onwards, speechlessly, as the grown man burrowed up in a bright yellow sleeping bag, and began to hibernate.

"This is a rather weird time for an exchange student to come over. Especially after that event two days ago..."

"Tch, why are the exchange students never girls?! This is, what's the word... Sexism! It's Sexism I tell you!"

Meanwhile, a certain brunette was trapped inside of her own world. Her parents had been home for once, and despite her repeated attempts to tell them that she was fine, they still took time off. She really liked that they took time off for her, but she didn't want to be the cause of her family's worsening financial situation either. That was the opposite of what she wanted; she wanted to provide for them. If they become worse off because of her... Well, she'd never be able to forgive herself. Still, she wasn't completely oblivious to the world.

Situational awareness was essential to a Hero, after all!

(She just wasn't all that good at it yet.)

"...Exchange student? Wait, Allen-kun?!"

The brunette burst out of her seat, surprised that he was actually in her class. It was fifty-fifty, after all, he could have been sorted 1-B just as easily. Although recently people had been getting the impression that 1-A was somehow better than B, neither class was better or worse than the other. They were just two classrooms that happened to belong to the Hero Course.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

In response, the gray-haired boy simply waved at her, making up a slightly embarrassed expression on the spot.

"Uraraka, you know him?"

"...Well, I wouldn't say I know him. I just met him a few days ago..."

Turning his attention away from that girl - No, it was Uraraka - he surveyed the rest of the class, seeing as they were all talking. He couldn't really introduce himself even if he wanted to. All of them had a colorful collection of quirks, ranging from a guy with six arms that could morph at will (Shouji Mezo) to a girl that looked like an alien (Ashido Mina).

'Oh goodie, he's here as well... All for One, you really know how to pick 'em.'

For right there, in the bare corner of the classroom, was a blond, red-eyed jackass.

'You really know how to make me irritated. To be in an environment where I can only look and not kill... There it is again. What it is, is the question. I need to investigate this further when I actually have the time. Well, that is if Nezu doesn't stop bugging me. I don't really like my chances, in all honesty.'

"Shut up, the lot of you. I can't take a nap with all of this noise! Allen can't introduce himself either."

Allen once more found himself speechless and at the mercy of his new teacher's quirks. But nonetheless, it allowed him to get his intro over and done with, so it wasn't the worst situation. He had a feeling that his new teacher didn't like him very much though, considering he was rooped in halfway through the 'conversation' as a tea partner for Nezu. It was very satisfying for him to see his dumbfounded face, so it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make.

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm an exchange student from America. I was supposed to be here at the beginning of the year, but there were some delays, so I could only come here now. Oh, my name is Allen Bowman. Feel free to call me Allen, it's slightly easier to pronounce in Japanese compared to my last name. My quirk is called Electric Hex. You can basically think of me like a curse magician in games, that comes with buffs as well. If you have any questions you wish to ask of me, feel free too."

Most likely from pure instinct alone, Aizawa's bandaged and bruised body popped out of his sleeping bag like a mole popping out of a whack-a-mole game. He surveyed the room with the only unbandaged body part he had, before reluctantly throwing away his bed.

"Okay, now that that's been settled... We've added one extra desk behind Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, so sit behind them, Allen. You two, raise your hands... Are you just gonna stand there, Boowman? There are still other announcements I have to make today, you know."

Taking the cue from Aizawa, Allen obediently waddled over to his seat.

"Moving on, I have a rather important announcement to make. The Sports Festival is coming, and it will be here before you kids know it."

He pinned the entire room with a dark glare that dissuaded anyone from making a peep, before continuing on with what he was saying. Usually, he'd let them pipe up a little, but this was not your usual situation. For once, he was regretting that he got out of the hospital as fast as he did. Because of that, he was forced to tag along with Allen and listen to the Principal talk at length. He couldn't get out of it either, because he was injured and 'We don't want to aggravate your injures, do we, Aizawa-sensei? You should just take it easy.'

He wasn't paid enough for this, damn it!

"This is your chance to promote yourself. At this festival that has surpassed and taken the place of the Olympics of old. It's one of the biggest events in all of Japan, and you can bet that Heroes will be observing. Of course, some get more coverage than others. The only real way to ensure that you'll be noticed is by climbing higher. Those of you that get internships in better and more influential offices will, in turn, get better careers as Heroes. Three years and three chances. That's all you guys get. Don't make the mistake of thinking the first one doesn't matter, got it?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Good. Homeroom is dismissed"

His face frosted over after carefully reaffirming that no-one was paying attention to his facial expression. Getting caught up in the excitement of the Sports Festival would do that to you, and his position in the back of the room made it even easier. He understood now that All for One didn't give him the assignment without reason. What was a better place to gather information about the students' quirk than in a tournament designed specifically to bring out the best each person could be? Still, he wished he wasn't the one chosen for this assignment.

It was too big of a risk, regardless of the potential rewards. Almost like the Mafia Game. Wasn't that an interesting concept?

A tiny little villain infiltrating the school of baby heroes, throwing the basket of apples into disarray. Will they have to throw out the good apples in an attempt to get rid of the one with a rotten core, or will the apple burn in the light of day? In the light of justice?

(Bakugo couldn't help closely examine the new exchange student out of the corner of his eye. There was nothing particularly wrong with the guy; he seemed like a serious, hardworking, to the point type of bastard. But something... Something felt wrong. Something about that guy felt familiar. In a bad way. The way he walked, his mannerisms, they were all giving him the weirdest sense of Deja-vu.

'It's probably nothing...' He continuously told himself.

If it was before, he probably would have just gone with his gut just to get it done and over with it, but... He hadn't noticed, hadn't even thought that something like... like that could be done by De-Izuku of all people. It disturbed him more than he would like to admit.)

Unknowing of Bakugo's increasing suspicions, Deku's mind stayed focused on the Sports Festival.

'This whole school is more to the point that I thought they would be. I thought they would be constantly spewing a bunch of hard work and Plus Ultra in every other sentence. I can respect them staying true to reality. The question is, how far should I go in this little tourny?"

2 weeks later:

'Apparently, the semi-finals. What did I do to deserve this again?'

The entire arena was a wreck at this point. Large wounds decorated the landscape where the Earth had been forcefully pulled up. All of this destruction had been caused by one man, one quirk. Truthfully, he thought they should at least say this guy had two quirks.

Come on, ice and fire? If that didn't qualify as two quirks than what di-

He lightly danced around the stream of flowing fire trying to make a home on his face.

'Why did I think it would be a good idea to help the enemy powerup again? Well, I certainly wasn't trying too... I was just trying to break his spirit, and it turned into a psychiatry session. Come to think of it, it was him that technically started this whole thing, wasn't it?'

All for One, that is.