After a few seconds of agonizing pain, Izuku dropped to his knees. The impact he withstood from the giant metal fist was unlike anything he has ever had experienced before!

It was like a giant's tantrum attack all combined into a single punch!

"D-Deku!" Ochako called out and tried to rush towards Izuku. Who else would the stone titan be other than Izuku who she saw running towards her earlier? But rather than being able to run straight into the stone titan, Ochako fell back down to the ground because of the sprain on her ankle as she hissed in pain.

Izuku on the other hand popped a vein when he heard the degrading nickname. So, without even turning his head, more focused on trying to catch his breath, Izuku let out a single sentence which quickly denied the nickname.

"My name's not Deku," even though it didn't affect him that much than before, being called useless still stings a bit, what with him being unable to save the people back in Lordran. Basically, he didn't want that nickname to spread, ever.

"Note to self, whack Bakugou when you see him," Izuku thought as he got his strength back. Ochako however had a confused face. Izuku turned towards her and saw the confusion on the brunette's face.

Izuku unequipped the Havel Set and returned back into his track suit. This made Ochako wonder what kind of quirk Izuku had. But forgetting that for a moment, Ochako quickly bowed her head towards her savior, or in this case, perform a dogeza.

"T-Thank you for saving me, boy who's name I still don't know," Ochako stated with fierce emotions. Seeing this, Izuku's lips twitched slightly upwards, relishing in the fact that he had finally saved someone from certain doom.

"By the way, how did you know my nickname?" Izuku asked, curious about how she knew that degrading nickname.

"O-Oh, that?" Ochako blushed and rubbed behind her head. "You see, I heard it from that loud blonde who called you at the entrance."

Once he heard this, Izuku rubbed his temple with an irritated look. A few seconds later, Izuku stared at the brunette with an expressionless gaze.

"And? Do you know what it means?" Ochako blushed even harder, embarrassed and shamed on the fact that she called someone useless. Other than that though, Ochako had other thoughts.

"I know it means useless, but to me, it sounds like 'You can do it!'" Ochako stated with a shy smile. Izuku raised his right eyebrow in amusement, only to be called by someone right beside him.

And that someone was an incredibly short granny.

She wore something like a mix of a doctor's uniform and a hero costume. Helping her walk was a solid, wooden cane, though Izuku guessed that it was more than a walking instrument.

"You good there, sonny?" the granny asked, concerned about Izuku's well-being. Well, anyone would after seeing him tank that goliath of a fist made of metal.

"Yeah, all good," Izuku just nodded, making the granny raise an eyebrow.

"Huh, you have a good body under your head, sonny," the granny complimented while she headed towards the downed form of Ochako. After inspecting the injury on said teen, her lips stretched and kissed the injured ankle, grossing out Ochako. Izuku, not so much, Blighttown was more gross than this scene.

"Oh!? I'm healed! But I feel so tired…" Ochako beamed up, only to feel drained after a few seconds of joy. Ochako was then handed a gummy bear by the granny.

"Eat up, you'll need it," Ochako nodded and nibbled at the treat, smiling in glee once she found the taste just right. Izuku just watched it all with indifference. He had the Estus Flask, and some Green Blossom for that job. Only, it was too early to show them.

Rather, he really hoped he didn't have to show them.

"Anyway, scurry along now, the test's over. You'll get to know the results in a week," the granny said and walked away looking for more injured examinees to heal. Seeing that there was nothing left to do, Izuku went on his way, back to his loving mother.

Only if Ochako didn't stop him.

"Hey, wait up!" Ochako called out to the emerald teen who was on his way to meet with his mother. "Don't leave me like that! I still didn't get to know your name."

When Izuku heard that, he knocked his head upside down for not introducing himself earlier. Solaire did it, Siegmeyer did it, Andre did it, and hell, even Lautrec did it!

"Sorry," Izuku apologized to the curious brunette. "My name's Midoriya Izuku of Musutafu."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

This earned an even more curious expression from the brunette, causing Izuku to curse his old habit.

"Sorry, force of habit," Izuku explained with an indifferent face. This got Ochako even more curious, but relented for the sake of the emerald teen.

"So, Midoriya, mind if I call you Deku?" she asked, causing Izuku to almost tell her off, almost being the keyword. With what she said earlier, Izuku found that nickname not full of negatives anymore. So instead, Izuku nodded in agreement.

"Yay! By the way, can we exchange contacts?" Izuku nodded once again before exchanging their contact addresses. Once that was done, both of them went their separate ways and Izuku was going to plan for the future for if he ever met with an anomaly.

[][][][][][][][][][]

Fast forward to a week later.

Izuku was busy organizing his Dimension Storage since he took a fancy to that name, when he heard a loud shuffling coming from outside his door.

"I-I-Izuku! I-I-It's h-here!" the stuttering of her nervous and flustered mother brought a smile to his face. He was really relieved that she hadn't changed ever since his suicide attempt.

For the record though, Izuku refrained from speaking about his experiences in Lordran. That, he would bring with him to his grave if possible. He doesn't want his mother to learn about how many times he died in horrifying ways back there.

Izuku opened the door while leaving the sorting of the Dimension Storage for another time. Once he did so, he saw the figure of his nervous and anxious mother just outside the doorway. Izuku smiled and took the letter from his mother's hands and closed the door.

He could hear her pacing back and forth outside, which made him chuckle a bit.

"Please don't change, mom," Izuku muttered as he opened the letter, which resulted in a mechanical disk falling to the ground. Izuku was a little confused, but his gut didn't warn him of any danger, so he just let it be.

A few moments later, a hologram popped out of one side and in it, the number one hero, All Might.

"Everything is fine now! Why? Because I am here!" and without even hearing what came next, Izuku tuned him off completely. He still held a grudge towards All Might for crushing his dreams like that. Not that it mattered anymore. Izuku doesn't hate All Might, instead, he respected him for continuing being a hero after he had that kind of injury. But really, he could've laid him down gently instead of flat out denying him!

A few more seconds and the results were finally brought to life. He was first in the rankings, with Bakugou being the second.

"If I see your face in class Bakugou, I will whack you if you call me Deku," Izuku swore in his heart. He wanted to throw a dung pie, but after doing it before, he refrained from doing it again. Seriously, the smell stuck with Bakugou for a week!

With that out of the way, Izuku went back out the door and told his mother the good news.

[][][][][][][][][][]

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, Izuku now found himself standing outside U.A. once again, this time, not as an examinee but as a student. Following the map that was plastered near the entrance, Izuku found the door leading to his class.

"Class 1-A… That's a huge door…" Izuku looked at the door that was about three times his size, then shrugged. "Not the biggest door I've seen though. Those belong to Anor Londo."

Without hesitation, Izuku went inside to greet his classmates, only to see the blunette teen that berated him in the orientation arguing with Bakugou.

"Great…" Izuku sighed, tuning out the argument of the two teens and went to find his seat. Once he took a seat however, he found the blunette teen standing right in front of him with a glint in his eyes.

"What do you want?" Izuku asked, wanting to just get this over with.

"Forgive me for my rudeness back in orientation," the blunette bowed in a 90-degree angle, surprising Izuku for a moment, though he didn't let it show on his face. "If it's okay with you, may we start over?"

Izuku pondered before nodding. He seems polite enough.

"Alright, name's Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you," Izuku stated, this time without revealing his hometown. He did it once, he didn't want to do it again.

"Likewise, my name is Iida Tenya," Tenya held out his hand and Izuku grabbed it, both shaking hands. Bakugou who saw this just stared at Izuku.

When they were called to the principal's office back in Aldera for congratulations, all Bakugou thought was Izuku. How he bullied him, how he…

Almost killed him…

If it weren't for his mother blasting his ears off back in the house, he would've never realized what his childhood friend tried to do, and he would've continued to torment him for being weak.

That was not what a pro-hero does. That's a villain's doing, and if anything, Bakugou detested villains.

The teachers and his classmates never tried stopping him, so he thought what he was doing was right, that the strong trampled on the weak. But after having that ear rape of a sermon from his mom, he realized that he was incredibly wrong.

And with his newfound morals, Bakugou wanted to make things right. Sure, he might be loud and obnoxious, and toxic… incredibly toxic, but he too has a conscience, one that did not pop up for most of his life until Izuku's attempted suicide did it for him.

It made him feel incredibly guilty, and thus, wanted to apologize to the emerald teen. But every time he tried doing so, Izuku avoided him, one time throwing shit at him that the smell stuck on him for a week. And he knew, he deserved it.

But now, now is the chance to do so. But before Bakugou could act, someone interrupted the entire class.

"Ah! Deku!" a brunette chirped happily as she skipped towards the emerald teen. Izuku just nodded back towards the brunette while Bakugou had his mouth open in shock.

"Deku is okay with his fucking nickname!?" Bakugou just had his mouth hanging most of the time, but then another hindrance just popped up from nowhere.

"If you're all here to make friends, then I suggest you get out and leave," the voice silenced all students that were chattering in the room. Once all was silent, the man who said it walked up to the desk and began talking. "8 seconds, that's how long it took for you all to shut up. It's not rational, all of you are here to learn to be heroes, and time is limited. My name is Aizawa Shota, you're homeroom teacher."

The man took out track suits from his… yellow… caterpillar… sleeping bag and laid them on the desk, not minding the shocked looks of the students.

"Put these on and meet me at the sports track. And do not keep me waiting," Aizawa stated then went on his way towards the sports track.

The students quickly scrambled for the track suits and got into the locker rooms separated by gender.

"Oh joy… Looks like U.A. will be fun after all," Izuku said in his mind, amused at such a scenario.