After finishing his ball throw, Tsutsumi calmly walked back toward the group of students. As he passed Aizawa, the horoom teacher gave him a lingering stare, watching him take his place beside Jiro without saying a word.
Aizawa frowned slightly but didn't comnt. Instead, he barked out, "Co on! Get ready already! Don't waste my ti!"
With that, the rest of the class started to prepare for the test. Nervous or not, scared or confident, no one could help them now. It was up to each of them to give their best in this physical exam.
What most didn't realize, however, was that two teachers were observing them from afar.
The first was, unsurprisingly, Principal Nezu. The bear-like mouse had a particular interest in one student and so far, that student had yet to disappoint.
The second was the Symbol of Peace himself, All Might, in his true, lanky form. But he wasn't watching the entire group. His eyes were locked on one person only, staring with the intensity of a doting parent who couldn't help but worry about their child.
Tsutsumi, of course, had already picked up on them.
His senses, honed through instinct, caught the faintest trace of their presence. He stopped mid-step, glanced toward the corner of the building, and, with a completely casual expression, reached under his shirt.
A cara sohow appeared in his hand.
Click.
The shutter snapped a single photo before he tucked the cara away like it had never existed.
Aizawa: "..."
All Might: "..."
Nezu: "..."
How the hell did he even manage to hide that cara in a skin-tight P.E. uniform? There weren't any damn pockets.
The physical test officially began.
There were several events: the 50-ter dash, grip strength, standing long jump, repeated side steps, ball throw, distance run, seated toe-touch, and sit-ups.
In the 50-ter dash, Tsutsumi casually activated the gas boosters on his Vertical Maneuvering Gear. With a sharp hiss and burst of pressure, he launched forward like a missile, crossing the line in 3.9 seconds.
Then ca grip strength.
Using his Ackerman Awakening, which gave him the raw physicality of a Titan compressed into a human form, he casually gripped the device... and crushed it with an audible crack.
Everyone around him froze.
Tsutsumi glanced at the ruined remains in his hand, then slowly turned his head toward Aizawa.
"I'm not paying for it," he said flatly.
Aizawa: "..."
In the standing long jump, using the Vertical Maneuvering Gear, he launched himself forward, passing the machine and sand pit before skidding to a stop.
The repeated side steps, Tsutsumi just does it normally, since he found no point in using his cards for sothing like this.
At the ball throw event, Tsutsumi didn't need to participate; he'd already demonstrated his power at the start of the tests.
Not far away, the round-faced girl, Uraraka Ochaco, managed to get an "infinity" result. Considering her Quirk seed to be gravity manipulation, Tsutsumi wasn't surprised.
But the real spectacle began when a boy nad Midoriya stepped forward.
Just before he threw, Aizawa activated his Quirk, causing Midoriya to get a normal high school student's throw.
Throughout the entire test, he didn't show his quirk even once.
Aizawa, surprisingly, gave him another chance. This ti, Midoriya wound back and focused everything into his fingertip.
"SMAAASH!!"
The ball rocketed into the air, soaring across the sky before finally landing. The distance displayed: 705.3 ters.
Gasps echoed across the field. A boy who hadn't shown his quirk once since the start of the test had shattered expectations and even impressed Aizawa a little.
Everyone stood there in awe.
Well, almost everyone.
Two students were staring. Both were confused, mixed with fury.
"What the hell is going on…?" both Tsutsumi and Bakugo muttered under their breath.
Bakugo's rage was boiling. Midoriya, his childhood friend, soone who was supposed to be quirkless, who had never once shown any power for years, was suddenly pulling out a destructive ability completely unrelated to either of his parents. It wasn't just a shock. It felt like betrayal.
Tsutsumi, on the other hand, was running through calculations in his mind. His experience traveling through parallel worlds gave him a different perspective.
In nearly every version of his world he'd visited, 9 out of 10, Midoriya Izuku was born quirkless. The one exception is a world where Midoriya wasn't even born at all.
He'd cross-referenced the constants of each universe: Bakugo Katsuki always had Explosion. Midoriya was always quirkless. Those were fixed points, as long as their parents remain the sa.
It all lined up like a formula: sa input, sa result, unless sothing dramatically changed the equation.
2 2 always equals 4, unless you swap out one of the 2s.
Still, the question Tsutsumi is wondering here is, how did a quirkless person suddenly gain a quirk that is completely unrelated to their parent?
"Hey!!" Bakugo roared, running toward Midoriya. "Tell what's going on, Deku, you bastard!"
Before Bakugo's hand could even touch Midoriya, Aizawa's capture scarf whipped forward at high speed, wrapping around the furious blonde and yanking him back.
Midoriya stumbled, terrified.
Aizawa's eyes glowed faintly red.
"That's enough," he said coldly.
"What the-?"
Bakugo thrashed against the scarf restraining him, but before he could break free, a blur of purple flashed past.
CRACK!
Tsutsumi's foot slamd into Midoriya's face, sending the green-haired boy tumbling across the field. A tooth flew from his mouth, the brutal impact silencing the crowd. Even Aizawa's eyes narrowed, Tsutsumi's speed and silent movent had almost slipped past his notice.
"So…" Tsutsumi said coldly, standing over the dazed Midoriya. "You're the bastard who almost got killed?"
He stepped closer, eyes unreadable. "Still… how does a quirkless suddenly sprout a power like that?"
Before Tsutsumi could go any further, Aizawa's scarf lashed out again, this ti wrapping around the boy's wrists. With a sharp tug, the teacher tried to yank him back.
But Tsutsumi twisted with the motion, spinning and launching a kick that t Aizawa's counter mid-air. Their legs collided in a thundering snap of force before both leapt back, the white scarf keeping them tangle.
Aizawa moved in again, jabbing with his left. Tsutsumi blocked it effortlessly, his gaze eting the teacher.
"You do realize," Aizawa muttered, "attacking your classmate and horoom teacher earns you an imdiate expulsion?"
Tsutsumi's reply ca without hesitation.
"How would you feel? You're seconds away from taking down a dangerous villain, then so idiot leaps in, steals your kill, and nearly gets you blown to pieces."
The words landed harder than any punch. Aizawa paused, realizing what he was referring to.
Indeed, Midoriya's action of taking down the 0-point robot was nothing short but incredible; however, his action ultimately hard another student and nearly got the other party killed.
Which, in turn, violated the rule of no attacking other examinees.
You can say Midoriya was only trying to help and save the girl under the rubble. But you could also say that Midoriya tries to sabotage Tsutsumi by sending the massive robot toward him and causing it to explode on him.
Regardless of whether Midoriya's intention to save the girl was genuine or not.
Normally, U.A wouldn't accept such an unstable factor like him. That is, until All Might decides to pull so strings, and with Principal Nezu's help.
Midoriya's action during the exam was given a blind eye, and thus he got accepted into U.A.
Aizawa knew about this deal since he was present at that ti, so he didn't answer Tsutsumi's question imdiately.
"That's not my decision to make, I'm just a horoom teacher." He answered dryly before trying to disengage, only to find himself being pulled back by his own scarf. Reacting fast, Aizawa blocked Tsutsumi's elbow strike, aiming for his guts before releasing his binding and jumping back.
"Still, you've got good techniques. Where did you learn them?"
Seeing that the teacher is trying to change the subject, Tsutsumi didn't bother trying to dig further, already knowing this teacher won't share anything useful.
"Inherited, I saw them in dreams."
That earned a few skeptical looks. No one was buying it.
Yeah, right, if you could simply dream up combat experiences, everyone might already have beco a pro hero by now.
Aizawa sighed, voice dragging with fatigue. "We've wasted enough ti. On to the next test."
Thus, the entire matter was swept under the rug.
The remaining tests, like the seated toe-touch and sit-ups, went off without much drama, though most students, especially the girls and a few of the boys, kept their distance from Tsutsumi like the plague.
"Tch. First day and you're already causing trouble." Jiro muttered, holding down his feet so he could do sit-ups.
"If I were really in trouble, the teacher would've expelled by now," Tsutsumi replied flatly, shooting a glance at Aizawa. The man noticed but said nothing.
"Still," Jiro continued, concern creeping into her tone, "even if you're pissed, you can't just attack soone in the middle of class. How are you even gonna make friends like this?"
"I don't need to."
"Humans are social creatures. You can't just isolate yourself forever and think you'll be fine."
Tsutsumi paused mid-sit-up and looked her dead in the eye. "I'll be fine."
She sighed. Honestly, how she'd survived over ten years of friendship with this guy, she wasn't sure anymore.
Finally ca the distance run.
Tsutsumi didn't even bother running. Instead, he summoned a bright red motorcycle, revved the engine, and sped off around the track, leaving everyone stunned and Aizawa visibly done with life.
By the ti the last test ended, the class regrouped, worn out and still processing everything.
"Ti to present the results," Aizawa said, holding up a smartphone-like device. A holographic screen flickered to life, displaying the rankings:
1. Yaoyorozu Momo
2. Tsutsumi Ryoko
3. Todoroki Shoto
4. Bakugo Katsuki
5. Iida Tenya
6. Tokoyami Fumikage
7. Shoji zo
8. Ojiro Mashirao
9. Kirishima Eijiro
10. Ashido Mina
11. Uraraka Ochaco
12. Sato Rikido
13. Asui Tsuyu
14. Aoyama Yuga
15. Jiro Kyoka
16. Sero Hanta
17. Kaminari Denki
18. Hagakure Toru
19. Mineta Minoru
20. Midoriya Izuku
"Oh, yeah, that whole expulsion thing was a lie." Aizawa suddenly said with a grin.
"WHAAAAATTTT?!"
The other shouted in shock while Tsutsumi, like normal, didn't care about whether the expulsion thing was real or not. He just looks at the result before clicking his tongue.
"Tch, can't even get into the top 10. Waste."
Everyone turned toward him in confusion. He ranked second.
Then Jiro's foot hit his shin.
"Oi! I tried my best! What am I supposed to do about that?"
Unbothered by her kick, Tsutsumi reply simply.
"Then aim for the top ten next ti. If you keep lagging behind, Mr. Kyotoku's gonna go bald from stress."
"Shut it!" She kicked him again.
Not far away, Ashido Mina narrowed her eyes. She leaned toward the girls and whispered, "Hey, are those two dating or what? They argue like an old married couple."
"They do, don't they?" Hagakure Toru giggled. "Totally has that vibe."
"Maybe," Momo added with a curious tilt of her head. "I'd like to know how they even t."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. No surprise tests, no classes, just the quiet hum of exhaustion. As the class slowly ward up to each other, several students decided to hang out after school and bond a little.
So accepted, while a few declined.
Tsutsumi was the first to turn them down.
Before Jiro could even think about dragging him back, he had already vanished.
...
In another world, Tsutsumi looks around.
He stood in a familiar place, Japan, by the looks of it, but sothing was off. The sky had a strange hue, almost tallic, and in the far distance lood an impossibly tall black wall, stretching across the landscape like a boundary between realms.
"…What the hell?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Raising the cara slung around his neck, he captured the sight with a soft click. The wall looked ancient yet artificial, pulsing faintly as if alive.
"If my mory's right… then this world should be…"
He trailed off, walking to the edge of a grassy overlook. Down below, a figure in vivid red and blue armor was locked in combat with a grotesque monster that seed to be made of wires and liquid tal.
Without hesitation, Tsutsumi lifted his cara again and snapped another shot.
"Build,"
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