MHA/BNHA react to For The Want of A Nail by Clouds part 1

Toshinori didn't know what to think. When he'd first seen a little boy with green hair in the first year hero class, he hadn't thought much of it. The boy was familiar, but he'd been so busy training young Togata in the last few months that he was having trouble placing him. Toshinori's first thought was that the boy must be a fan or something, someone he had run into at a convention or autograph signing. It would be odd that he'd remember a face from something like that, but it would explain the uncomfortable feeling of recognition that he felt.

Everyone: He forgot him in this one too?!

All Might: What is wrong with the other versions of me?

But there was a problem. The boy didn't act like a fan. Someone who Toshinori would have run into at a convention would most likely be ecstatic to see him as their teacher, smiling brightly or even asking for an autograph like the other students. Instead, this boy frowned and tried hard not to catch his eye, practically running from the room the moment Toshinori told them to go get dressed.

Mic: Because he doesn't like you anymore after you broke his dream.

Then came the battle exercise. Honestly, Toshinori hadn't thought much of having the boy, Midoriya he'd learned, go first. It was just the luck of the draw, but he hoped that maybe seeing the boy fight would help him figure out where he recognized him from.

Watching Midoriya fight the boy with the explosion quirk, Bakugo, was... concerning. All Might listened to their conversation through the radios he had given them and didn't like what he heard. The two seemed to know each other, but weren't friends if the intense way they attacked one another was any indication. And then Bakugo had let slip that Midoriya was quirkless and suddenly it clicked.

Is it possible to become a hero even if I don't have a quirk?

Mitsuki: Now he remembers.

He looked different from the scrawny kid that had clung onto his leg almost a year ago. He had filled out, for one thing, and for another he carried himself with much more confidence than he had a year ago, but he was undeniably the same boy Toshinori had almost considered giving One for All to.

Midoriya: Huh so that didn't change...

Kirishima: But he didn't give it to you in that one for some reason.

Recovery Girl: Probably because he's a quirkist idiot in that one.

Toshinori had almost stopped the fight right then. He remembered how it had felt to be quirkless, to not be able to do anything because he didn't have any power. Someone without a quirk couldn't dream of facing down such a powerful opponent, but the boy had already done the smart thing and run away. Hopefully he'd have the sense to stay away from the fight and leave the fighting to those who were actually capable of fighting back.

Everyone: Excuse me?!

But then Bakugo had cornered him and unleashed an explosion against Toshinori's protests. He felt his heart sink when the smoke cleared and there was no sign of Midoriya on the cameras. This was why it was too dangerous for someone like him to try to be a hero. What had Nezu been thinking letting him into the hero course?

Nezu: That's he's smart and capable despite not having a power of his own.

Midoriya had reappeared, injured but alive, and taken Bakugo down quickly and effectively, although Toshinori wondered just how he'd gotten permission to use a gun. It wasn't long after that that he was able to execute a winning strategy with Uraraka to take down Iida and recover the bomb. The class had even been a 50/50 split on who the MVP had been, Midoriya or Iida.

Iida: I honestly have no idea.

Momo: Me neither.

So, in short, Toshinori didn't know what to think. On the one hand, Midoriya had won and Toshinori remembered from his notebook that the boy was intelligent, but at the end of the day he was still quirkless, which would always be an insurmountable liability in the field. Surely the other teachers would see it that way too?