Curate, connect, and discover
⬐ U.A. High School is known for producing Japan’s greatest heroes. With legends like All Might and Endeavor paving the way, Class 1-A is expected to uphold that legacy. They train, they fight, they grow stronger every day. And then there’s (Y/N). No one really talks about (Y/N). Not because they’re weak—oh, no. If anything, they might be the strongest in the class. But there’s just… something off about them. The way they tilt their head just a little too far. The way they appear in places they shouldn’t be. The way they say things that don’t make sense—until they do.
⬐ anothers note : full story is here on my quotev page, A Totally Normal Student
⬐ fandom : MHA x Duolingo Reader ᓀ ᵥ ᓂ
masterlist
chapter 2
The classroom smelled like dust and old paper, the kind of scent that settled into the walls of every school, no matter how new or well-kept. The overhead lights flickered once before steadying, their dim glow casting long shadows across rows of students slumped in their seats, waiting for yet another lecture about the future—one that most of them weren’t ready to hear.
The teacher stood at the front, balancing a thick stack of papers in his hands, adjusting his glasses as he glanced over the class with the kind of tired patience that came from years of watching students do everything except listen. “Alright, everyone, it’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures.” His voice carried the weight of routine. He had said this same line to countless students before, and he’d say it again next year, and the year after that. “I’ll be handing out printouts for your desired career paths. It’s important to start planning now, especially for those of you applying to high-ranking schools.”
A groan rippled through the class, some students resting their chins in their hands, already tuning him out. The only real reaction came when the teacher added, almost offhandedly, “But I already know you all want to be heroes.”
That got their attention.
Excitement crackled through the room like static electricity, students perking up, quirks activating instinctively—tiny flashes of fire, sudden gusts of wind, the faint hum of energy vibrating beneath fingertips. Someone’s chair levitated an inch off the ground before clattering back down. A few sparks danced between fingers, fizzling out as the teacher let out an exasperated sigh.
“You know quirks aren’t allowed during school hours,” he scolded.
Most of them ignored him, their attention shifting toward one person in particular—the boy who had already made it clear he was on a different level.
Katsuki Bakugo smirked, arms folded as he leaned back in his seat, radiating the kind of confidence that made it impossible to look away. “Don’t lump me in with the rest of these extras,” he said, voice dripping with superiority. “I’m not just trying to be a hero—I will be the top hero. Better than All Might himself.”
A few students groaned at his arrogance, but no one could deny the weight of his words. Katsuki had already aced the mock exams. Everyone knew he had the skills, the drive. He was going to U.A. High School, no question about it.
Then, someone spoke up.
“What about Midoriya?”
The entire classroom fell silent for a moment before erupting into laughter.
Izuku, who had been diligently scribbling in his notebook, tensed as every pair of eyes in the room turned to him. He clutched his pen tighter, shoulders drawn in as if he could physically make himself smaller.
“You?” One of the students scoffed. “You’re still trying to get into U.A.? Seriously?”
Katsuki snorted, rolling his eyes. “Tch. Don’t make me laugh, Deku. You think they’d let in a quirkless loser like you?”
Izuku didn’t say anything. He just lowered his head, biting the inside of his cheek as the laughter continued around him.
In another classroom, just a few doors down, a completely different scene was unfolding.
The teacher wiped at her eyes, sniffling dramatically as she looked over her students. “I just… I can’t believe this is my last year with you all. You’ve grown so much…”
Groans and quiet complaints filled the room, students shifting uncomfortably in their seats as they endured the teacher’s sentimental rambling. Only one student remained still, unbothered.
(Y/N) sat perfectly straight, eyes half-lidded as they listened—not just to their own classroom, but to everything. The hum of the fluorescent lights. The rhythmic tapping of a pen two rows back. The scrape of a chair against the floor in the hallway. The faint, distant voices from the other classrooms.
And beyond that? The breathing of students down the hall. The sound of shoes scuffing against linoleum. The way their voices wavered, the subtle shifts in their tone—things no normal person would ever pick up on. But (Y/N) wasn’t normal.
Their head tilted slightly, watching as the teacher dabbed at her eyes again, voice thick with emotion.
A beat of silence.
Then, (Y/N) muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear
“Llorona.”
“Crybaby”
The effect was immediate.
The entire class stiffened. A few students coughed awkwardly, shifting in their seats. One boy let out a snort before quickly covering his mouth, eyes darting between (Y/N) and the teacher. Even the teacher, despite her flustered attempt to compose herself, hesitated for just a fraction of a second.
It wasn’t just the word itself—it was how (Y/N) had said it.
Flat. Unfeeling. Like an observation rather than an insult.
As if they had simply named something that had already been true.
The teacher cleared her throat, clearly choosing to ignore it. “Now then,” she said, regaining some composure. “Let’s talk about high school applications. We have many promising students this year, and I’m sure you all have big plans for the future. (Y/N), what about you?”
All eyes turned toward them.
(Y/N) was, without question, the top student in the school. Their grades were impeccable, their test scores untouchable. But unlike Katsuki Bakugo, they weren’t loud about it. They didn’t boast or draw attention to themselves. They simply existed—a presence that should have been impossible to ignore, yet somehow always slipped through the cracks.
A few students exchanged glances, whispering amongst themselves.
“What even is their quirk?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them use it.”
“Are they quirkless, too?”
(Y/N) ignored them.
They waited just long enough for the tension to settle, then answered, “U.A. High School.”
The words were spoken with such perfect timing that, in another classroom down the hall, Katsuki Bakugo unknowingly echoed them at the exact same moment:
“Don’t lump me in with everyone else—I’m going to U.A.”
The whispers in (Y/N)’s class quieted, but the unease didn’t fade.
They had heard him.
Every syllable, every breath. Even from this distance, through the walls, through the overlapping noise of a hundred other students, they had heard it as clearly as if he had been sitting right beside them.
It was an ability no normal human should have.
But then again… (Y/N) wasn’t human.
Not really.
The room buzzed with murmurs as the students debated the difficulty of the U.A. entrance exam. A few of them whispered about the acceptance rate, the insane expectations, the kind of raw power and talent needed to even stand a chance against other applicants.
Katsuki Bakugo had heard it all before, and it didn’t matter.
He scoffed, leaning back in his chair with an easy arrogance, stretching his arms behind his head. “Like any of that matters. I already aced the mock exam. I’ll pass the real thing just as easily.”
His grin widened as he added, “I’ll be the best—better than All Might himself.”
The room filled with chatter again, a mix of impressed nods and skeptical side-eyes. But no one dared challenge him outright. No one except—
“Well, Midoriya wants to go to U.A. too.”
Silence.
For a moment, the only sound in the classroom was the hum of the fluorescent lights. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the entire class turned to look at Izuku.
And then—laughter.
It started with a few chuckles, then erupted into full-blown cackling. Someone slapped their desk. Another wiped at imaginary tears. The mockery was deafening, drowning out everything else in the room.
Izuku stiffened, clutching his notebook tightly against his chest. His ears burned, his nails digging into the worn cover of his notes.
“You?” One student sneered. “You really think you’ll get into U.A.?”
“There’s no way,” another chimed in. “All you ever do is study. What’s that gonna do for you in the hero course?”
Izuku opened his mouth, scrambling for a defense, but before he could get a word out—
BOOM.
An explosion crackled in the air, heat licking at Izuku’s skin as smoke curled between them. He flinched back instinctively.
Katsuki was already in front of him, his hand still sparking from the blast, his expression unreadable except for the sheer contempt in his red eyes.
“Don’t put yourself on the same level as me, Deku,” he spat, voice low, dangerous.
Izuku sucked in a sharp breath, stepping back, but Katsuki followed.
“I-I’m not—” Izuku stammered. “I know I can’t compete with you, Kacchan. But this isn’t about that. I just—I’ve had this dream since I was a kid. And if I don’t at least try—I’ll never know if I could have—”
“Tch.”
Katsuki’s lip curled. “You don’t get it, do you?” He turned slightly, addressing the rest of the class without taking his eyes off Izuku. “The entrance exam’s impossible for someone like him.”
The class murmured in agreement, some shaking their heads, others smirking.
Izuku swallowed hard, looking down at his shoes.
The laughter wasn’t as loud this time, but it was still there.
Elsewhere…
A scream split the air.
The streets, once bustling with casual evening activity, had fallen into chaos.
A villain tore through the city—a writhing, amorphous mass of dark green sludge, slipping between alleyways and leaving a foul-smelling trail in its wake. Its liquid body sloshed unnaturally, eyes blinking open and shut across its surface. People scrambled out of its way, some running, others watching from what they hoped was a safe distance.
“There’s no end to villains like this…” someone muttered from the crowd.
A shadow shifted above them.
“No,” a voice answered, deep and powerful. “There is an end to them.”
Because he was there.
Back at the Middle School…
The school day had ended, students pouring out of the building in clusters, their chatter fading into the distance.
Inside an empty classroom, the air was thick with the fading scent of burnt ozone and old chalk. The last golden rays of sunlight filtered through the windows, casting long shadows across the desks.
Only four people remained.
Izuku Midoriya stood near his desk, fumbling with his things, head down as he tried to ignore the presence looming behind him.
Katsuki Bakugo leaned lazily against a desk, arms crossed, crimson eyes locked onto Izuku with an expression that was both smug and irritated. His two lackeys, sitting casually on desks nearby, watched the exchange with quiet amusement.
It was always like this.
“You seriously think you can get into U.A.?” Katsuki scoffed, pushing off the desk and sauntering over. “You?”
Izuku stiffened.
Katsuki snatched the notebook from his hands before he could react, flipping through the pages with a sneer.
“You’re still scribbling in this dumb book?” Katsuki shook his head, his grip tightening. “You’re wasting your damn time, Deku.”
Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but—
BOOM.
A small explosion erupted from Katsuki’s palm, searing the edges of the notebook. Ash curled into the air as the pages darkened and crumbled, bits of burnt paper fluttering to the floor like dying embers.
Izuku’s stomach twisted. His hands clenched at his sides as he bit back the urge to reach for the ruined book.
Katsuki chuckled, letting the notebook slip from his fingers, the smoldering remains hitting the floor between them.
“You’ll never be a hero, Deku,” he said, voice light but laced with something sharper underneath.
Izuku swallowed hard, forcing himself to meet Katsuki’s gaze.
“I—”
But Katsuki cut him off with a laugh, shaking his head as if the whole thing was some grand joke. He took a step closer, lowering his voice just slightly.
“If you really wanna do something useful,” he murmured, his tone almost casual, “why don’t you take a swan dive off the rooftop?”
The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.
Izuku froze.
The classroom felt smaller, the walls pressing in, the silence deafening.
For a moment, his breath hitched.
Then, slowly, he forced himself to move. He bent down, ignoring the scorch marks as he picked up what remained of his notebook.
Katsuki watched him with a smirk, waiting for some kind of reaction—anger, tears, anything.
But Izuku didn’t say a word.
He turned, clutching the ruined book to his chest, and walked out of the classroom without looking back.
(Y/N) who had been passing by when the words reached their ears.
They had heard everything.
Not just the conversation, but the subtle shifts in breathing, the steady thrum of Katsuki’s heartbeat, the way Izuku’s hands trembled for just a second before he steadied them.
They heard it all.
But they didn’t stop.
Didn’t intervene.
They simply walked past the open classroom door, glancing inside just long enough to commit the scene to memory. Their eyes landed on Katsuki, scanning his face, his posture.
Then, just as quietly as they came, they kept walking.
At the end of the hall, their lips curled into something unreadable.
And when they spoke, their voice was soft—almost playful.
“It seems someone’s in need of Spanish lessons.”