The Pop Hero

by OmegaBox

If you were born without a Quirk, it was impossible to be hero. But what if you were a majority if the world's population with a Quirk that can hardly qualify as "Hero-worthy". Born with a party trick for a Quirk, Hajikeru Utakata strives for the dream that many made fun of him for. OCs insert into main storyline.

1. Beginnings

The following is a non-profit work of fiction based on a much greater work. My Hero Academia is owned by Funimation, Studio Bones, Viz Media, Shueisha, and Kohei Horikoshi. Please support the official release.

"Do you believe this is the right course of action, sir?"

"Of course. It may be a tad unexpected, but most of the faculty agrees that this year's bunch is too good to pass up. There are hardly any repercussions to could come of this, so it will be perfectly fine. Thankfully for you, we will only be accepting four more applicants and they will be split between classes 1-A and 1-B."

"As long as they don't waste my time, they will get instruction."

"It's only two extra students so you won't hear any complaints from me, sir."

"Excellent! I'll inform All-Might of the additional accepted students. You gentlemen are free to your own devices. Good day."

One Week Later

"Ugh! This is too stressful! When the heck is it going to come?! How are so calm with this?!"

"Because I have a strong feeling I passed. I got 45 bot points, so I know I have a strong chance of getting in. You can't keep stressing over this all the time, you know."

"I know… I know… It won't stop my thoughts, though."

"Then you'll have to deal with it."

It has been about a week since the U.A. entrance exams took place and at this time, many of the applicant's psyches are slowly deteriorating from the suspension of being accepted or rejected into the most prestigious hero school in Japan. For some, it's already too late and the only pick-me-up that could fix their broken minds is the honor of being accepted. For others, they are holding out until the bombshell hits their mailbox. This brings us to two applicants waiting anxiously or calmly, in the calm teen's case, for their results.

Sitting on a twin sized bed reading a hard-cover novel was a young man of 15 with short, spiky, coal grey hair that pointed up and forward at a discreet angle. He has equally coal grey eyes and a bored expression currently occupied his handsome face. He currently had on a beige long sleeve and grey pajama bottoms with several large green lightning bolts spread out.

Leaning on the frame of the side of his bed was a much larger teen of 15 with short, but much longer than the other boy, navy blue hair slightly flared out. He had cartoonish eyes that consisted of strawberry-pink rounded rectangles and his head was almost completely spherical, his nose and eye sockets being the only features keeping it from being completely rounded. His large frame was clothed in a sky blue T-shirt with an image of All Might flexing in a front double bicep pose with an explosion of red, white, and blue in the background and black pajama bottoms with azure blue bubbles peppered throughout the clothe.

They were two applicants that recently took the entrance exam for U.A. and were waiting for the results to come to their mailbox. They lived with their mothers in a rather large two bedroom apartment. They were roommates since early grade school and they were also best friends for a while.

"I'm home!" called a familiar voice belonging to one of the boy's mother. "Boys are you here?! I got takeout! Me and Seiryoku are too lazy to cook, so come and get it!"

"Coming, Mom!" replied the larger boy. "C'mon, Denryo. Let's see what she got this time."

"It's probably ramen," said Denryoku as he placed a bookmark in his book and set it down on his computer desk. "I bet Mom doesn't even know about Auntie buying take out again without telling her first."

"Yeah… I wonder how Aunt Seiryoku will react this time."

Both boys left their room to find a lithe woman with a familiar appearance akin to the larger boy, save for the frame, eyes, head shape, and hair style. She was shorter than her son with a smaller, frailer frame. Her eye color was the same, but their appearance is circular compared to his rounded rectangular iris and pupils. To wrap it all up, her hair reaches down to her shoulders and were wavy towards the tips. Other than that, she looked very much like her son.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about ol' Seiryoku giving me the stink eye; she actually texted me to pick up food," cheerfully spoke Hatsumi. "So, no harm, no irritated anger speech."

"I'm guessing she's getting home late, Auntie?" Denryoku said.

"A little! Now dig in boys. I got thick noodle chow mein, mandarin style teriyaki chicken, tempura vegetables, and miso soup. I'll be in the kitchen making some rice for when Seiryoku comes home. Oh yeah, there's also some shrimp chips in there too. I know how much you boys like them."

"Thanks, Mom," spoke Hajikeru as he picked up one of the paper plates in one of the bags. Denryoku followed suit while Hatsumi went to the connected kitchen to make rice for her roommate for when she returned home.

The two young men sat in their respective seats at the wooden, rectangular table, taking in the quiet atmosphere of the apartment. From the kitchen, Hatsumi could be heard humming a popular pop tune that recently reached the top 5 in that week's music charts. This, in-turn, got Hajikeru humming along with her from the dining room with the addition of finger tapping on the table. This was followed by some light head bopping and some quiet lyric mumbling. Denryoku was mostly amused by the similarities between his friend and his friend's mother. Besides looking so much like her, they also shared many traits, such as music choice, food preference, personality, ect.

A small part of him was relieved by how relaxed his roommate/friend was at the moment. Since they returned from the entrance exams, Hajikeru hasn't stopped worrying about his results. His normally happy friend was riddled with anxiety and fear. He was very quiet throughout the week and it had him worried. At this moment, however, he saw what the norm was for him and he knew his friend forgot all about his worries.

Soon enough, all his worries were to be alleviated with a single call out.

30 minutes later

"Boys!" yelled a voice from the entrance of the apartment. Barreling into the dining area was a lean woman in her late 30s, about as old as Hatsumi, wearing a garnet pea coat, grey office trousers, and a caramel brown, leather hand bag. She has straight, silky, brown hair with small curls at the very end that reached down to the small of her back and electric green eyes. In her left hand is an entire wad of mail that no one cared about, like bills, ads, and other junk. In her right hand are two envelopes that have a considerable bulge in the middle. But the major kicker is the U.A. wax seal that held the overlapping flap to the main portion of the envelope.

"Mom, are those-…" Denryoku was cut off before he could finish his question.

"Yes, these are your test results," spoke Seiryoku. "Haji's came with yours, Denryo. Here."

As both boys got their respective letters, they each had their own different reactions. Denryoku knew he had a strong chance of getting in, so he wasn't too worried about his results. Hajikeru, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. His large hands were visibly shaking and his eyes appeared to be unfocused. The smaller teen knew that it was judgment time for his larger friend, but he didn't know how to approach this.

"Haji, do you want to open your letter by yourself?" Seiryoku asked in a concerned tone. "We can give you space if you need it." While not one of her own, the brown haired mother viewed the large teen as one of her own; the same view shared by her friend towards her own son. So when she sees one of her boys in pain or peril, she goes into autopilot to alleviate the pain.

"Sweetie, you don't have to open it now," Hatsumi spoke with a soft tone, hoping to ground her son from outright panicking at the dining room. "You can take as much time as you need. There's no need to rush this. But you need to face this eventually. You tried your hardest and if U.A. didn't accept you, then they are missing out on one of the hardest working heroes that will ever attend their school."

Hajikeru seemed to calm down slightly, as the shaking in his hands lessened in intensity from his mother's words of encouragement. It's true he needed to work harder just to keep up with other kids with more powerful or versatile Quirks. His own Quirk, which he promptedly named Bubble Breath, was once labeled off as a worthless Quirk. Simply from the name itself, it didn't seem like a heroic Quirk. If anything, it will only amuse them for a little bit before he was promptly handed his ass over. From the way his Quirk was exhibited, his peers from his younger days say he may as well be Quirkless. But his drive to be a hero was unbreakable after he was saved by a U.A. student and a police officer that will later be known as the Pro-Hero: Fat Gum. He can still recall that conversation as if it were yesterday.

Nine Years Ago

'So, you wan' tah become a hero, but yer Quirk is nothing but a neat party trick 'cause a couple o' kids said so?'

'Ye-yes, and they're right… I can't become a hero with this useless Quirk.'

'And? Mah Quirk ain't up tah snuff, but I'm still considerin' going Pro.'

'You're not a hero?'

'Nope, still on da police force. But once I get certified, I'm openin' an agency. Wanna know what mah Quirk is, kid?'

'Yes.'

'Mah Quirk is called Fat Absorption.'

'Ab-abso-abso…'

'It's like I'm storing food in the refrigerator, but replace the fridge with my body.'

'Ooh… But how are you going Pro with that Quirk?'

'Well, I can capture villains using mah fat and I have a higher pain tolerance.'

'A what?'

'Not important right now. But usin' dat pain tolerance, I can use up mah fat and release a powerful attack with it.'

'Wow… That's amazing.'

'Yeah, well I didn't think so at first.'

'But why? Your Quirk sounds so cool!'

'Think about it for a sec kid. Mah Quirk's name is Fat Absorption and it works by stockpilin' the fat I get by eatin' food. Meaning dere's little to no way mah body 'ill actually use it up naturally. I was constantly teased for mah weight and I wondered why I had dis Quirk instead o' teleportation or flight or anything other dan dis Quirk.'

'So what did you do?'

'Heh… I made dis useless Quirk o' mine into somethin' hero worthy. Dat's what I did.'

'Made it… hero worthy?'

'Lemme tell ya somethin' right now kid. As ya are now, you ain't stoppin' any villain. Amuse 'em, maybe, but dat's about it. But you wan' tah be a hero, right?'

'Y-yes!'

'Den you got tah make your Quirk into one suited for a hero tah use! If it ain't got spunk now, work until it leaves an impression on everyone ya meet!'

'B-but… how can I…'

'A Quirk is only as useful as you intend tah make it to be. If it ain't hero worthy now, den build it up, make it hero worthy for when it matters later on. Make it so people will see how dedicated you are towards being a hero, kid.'

'… Okay, I'll try Mr… um…'

'Officer Taishiro Toyomitsu, kid. But when I leave da force, I'll be known as da BMI Hero: Fat Gum!'

'BMI?'

'You'll find out when yer older, kid.'

Present Day

Thinking back to the kind and uplifting words Fat Gum gave him as he was escorted out of the hospital with his mother gave Hajikeru the kicker he needed. From that day, he made it his mission in life to turn his 'worthless' Quirk into one worthy of a hero. And the letter in his hands contains the results of his hardship, the amount of dedication into his dream, and all the blood, sweat, and tears he shed when he was weakened. This is it.

"No…" Hajikeru spoke with conviction in his voice, his shaking stopped entirely. The most important women in his life and his best friend were looking at him in surprise. The shriveling leaf that was the large teen was standing tall, strong, and ready for what was in the envelope to his future. "This is the most important moment of my life. And I want everyone to be here. What comes next will either make or break me. But if it does break me, I won't let it destroy me."

Hatsumi could only look in pride at her son. This was the same young man that asked her to time him when he was going to try to break his record of 50 bubbles in 60 seconds. The same boy she would drive to his martial arts lessons twice every week to compliment his style of combat. The same boy that hugged her out of joy when he made his first reinforced bubble that withstood a strong swing from a broomstick. All of those accomplishments over the years lead up to this moment, her son's moment.

The large teen tore off the envelope's paper flap to find a thick disk. Confused by this mysterious object, he inspected it further by looking for something that grabbed his attention. He flipped it from one end to the other, only to find a few words printed on what he assumed was the bottom:

'This side down'

Hajikeru sweat dropped as he placed it on that side down. As if on cue, a holographic projection appeared and within said projection was-

"HAHAHA! I AM HERE! AS A HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION!" yelled a very, very muscular man in a yellow suit with blonde hair with two groups of hair standing up from his forehead like eagle wings.

"Wait, All Might?! What the hell are you doing here?! I thought this was from U.A.!" Shock was clear in Hajikeru's voice and face. The same shocked surprise, with an additional blush, could be seen in both mothers, and a wide eye Denryoku was staring at the screen in awe.

"FEAR NOT! FOR THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE! I HAVE AVOIDED TALKING ABOUT THIS TO THE PUBLIC, BUT I SIMPLY WANTED TO WAIT UNTIL IT WAS OFFICIAL. FROM NOW ON, I WILL BE TEACHING AT U.A.!"

"Really?! That's so cool!" Hajikeru was star struck to find out the Number 1 Hero is going to be teaching at U.A. It only seemed appropriate that the best hero in the world would teach at the best hero school in Japan, and arguably the world.

"BUT THAT IS ENOUGH ABOUT ME, YOUNG UTAKATA. Now, as you may be aware, you only received 26 villain points. The cut off for getting into U.A. is around 40 points. So that means you failed…"

A collective gasp was heard with the mothers, who snapped out of how hot and muscular All Might was and drew their attention to the large teen. Denryoku only stared at his closest friend in shock. This same guy that worked to the bone for almost a decade didn't get into U.A.? He felt unprecedented emotions bubble up from his inner being and he could feel his Quirk act up from the circular metal studs on his finger tips. But he took a look at Hajikeru's face and saw that he was smiling. It was a smile of melancholy, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Well," spoke said large teen, his tone almost vacant of cheer. "I guess that was that. I suppose I could always try ano—"

"…IF THAT WAS ALL THERE WAS TO IT!"

Hajikeru's words were cut off by the booming voice of the man in the hologram. He drew his attention back to it, not daring to get his hopes up too much.

"YOU WEREN'T MENTIONED THIS DURING THE BRIEFING BACK IN THE AUDITORIUM, BUT IT WAS NECESSARY TO FIND OUT WHAT YOUR TRUE NATURE WOULD BE ON THE BATTLEFIELD. IN ADDITION TO VILLAIN POINTS, YOU WERE ALSO REWARDED RESCUE POINTS!"

"No way…"

"LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING, YOUNG UTAKATA. WHAT KIND OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE, IF WE DIDN'T REWARD THOSE WHO STROVE TO HELP THOSE IN NEED? WE HAVE A PANEL OF JUDGES GIVING OUT POINTS TO THOSE THAT DISPLAYED THOSE ACTS OF UNSELFISHNESS!

HAJIKERU UTAKATA!

VILLAIN POINTS: 26

RESCUE POINTS: 37

WITH A GRAND TOTAL OF 63 POINTS!"

"I can't believe this…"

"YOUNG MAN. I HAVE A FEW CHOICE WORDS FOR ALL WHO EXHIBIT THE ACTS OF A TRUE HERO. 100% IS NEVER YOUR LIMIT. YOU MUST ALWAYS GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!"

"...*sob* Yes sir! *sob*"

"NOW, TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP TOWARDS A GREAT CAREER OF HEROISM, YOUNG UTAKATA. THIS IS YOUR HERO ACADEMIA!"

"I will sir!"

And there you go. I've had this idea of a Bubble Quirk user for sometime after the second season of MHA, but I never got around to writing a story about it until now. Anyway, nothing much for this chapter besides giving a taste as to who this OC is and how he may affect the timeline of the story as it progresses. To be fair, I know this doesn't seem like much, so let me know what you think. Also, I'm uploading a side story along with the main chapter for whenever I feel its necessary, but not particulary important to the point where its absolutely necessary to read. It's only for context really. Speaking of which, here you go. (And I promise this is the only time you will see an author's note in the middle of the page. Right pinky swear. (My left pinky is a liar!)

Side Story: Acceptance Aftermath

It was a good few minutes that Hajikeru was openly crying into him mother's shoulder. He couldn't believe All Might, of all people, was congratulating him on his acceptance into U.A. Seiryoku didn't take long to make herself a part of the hug, practically dragging her son with her to her friend and pseudo-nephew to make him a part as well. Denryoku immediately pulled back from the close contact, but settled on placing a hand on his large friend's shoulder.

It would be another 10 minutes before Hajikeru calmed down enough to pull away from his mother, thus ending the hug. When he glanced at the hologram projector, the bubble teen noticed a twice folded piece of paper within the envelope next to said projector that he somehow missed, along with some paper work he may need to fill out later. He also noticed his friend and pseudo-aunt were missing from the dining room, but judging from the booming voice in the living room he knew his friend was watching his acceptance letter. There wasn't a doubt his friend would make it in. And when said friend walked back into the dining room with a rare, open mouth smile, it only confirmed his suspicions. Hajikeru lifted up his fist towards his oldest friend, which Denryoku promptly returned without hesitation.

Going back to what drew his attention; he separated the folded paper from within the envelope and unfolded it to find the various scores of all the accepted applicants in the hero course. Denryoku craned his neck to get a good view of the scores.

They went as such:

1st Place: Katsuki Bakugo (Villain: 77/Rescue: 0) Total: 77

2nd Place: Eijiro Kirishima (Villain: 39/Rescue: 35) Total: 74

3rd Place: Ochako Uraraka (Villain: 28/Rescue: 45) Total: 73

4th Place: Sherry Teikiatsu (Villain: 40/Rescue: 30) Total: 70

5th Place: Ibara Shiozaki (Villain: 36/Rescue: 32) Total: 68

6th Place: Denryoku Emera (Villain: 45/Rescue: 20) Total: 65

7th Place: Itsuka Kendo (Villain: 25/Rescue: 40) Total: 65

8th Place: Hajikeru Utakata (Villain: 26/Rescue: 37) Total: 63

9th Place: Tenya Iida (Villain: 52/Rescue: 9) Total: 61

10th Place: Izuku Midoriya (Villain: 0/Rescue: 60) Total: 60

11th Place: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (Villain: 39/Rescue: 20) Total: 59

12th Place: Fumikage Tokoyami (Villain: 47/Rescue: 10) Total: 57

13th Place: Yosetsu Awase (Villain: 40/Rescue: 16) Total: 56

14th Place: Tsuyu Asui (Villain: 20/Rescue: 36) Total: 56

15th Place: Yuga Aoyama (Villain: 32/Rescue: 24) Total: 56

16th Place: Hanta Sero (Villain: 35/Rescue: 20) Total: 55

17th Place: Sen Kaibara (Villain: 41/Rescue: 12) Total: 53

18th Place: Koosei Tsuburaba (Villain: 33/Rescue: 20) Total: 53

19th Place: Neito Monoma (Villain: 48/Rescue: 5) Total: 53

20th Place: Denki Kaminari (Villain: 35/Rescue: 16) Total: 51

21st Place: Hiryuu Rin (Villain: 43/Rescue: 7) Total: 50

22nd Place: Juurouta Shishida (Villain: 40/Rescue: 10) Total: 50

23rd Place: Mashirao Ojiro (Villain: 31/Rescue: 18) Total: 49

24th Place: Togaru Kamakiri (Villain: 33/Rescue: 16) Total: 49

25th Place: Kyoka Jiro (Villain: 30/Rescue: 19) Total: 49

26th Place: Rikido Satou (Villain: 40/Rescue: 8) Total: 48

27th Place: Reiko Yanagi (Villain: 43/Rescue: 4) Total: 47

28th Place: Kojiro Bondo (Villain: 32/Rescue: 15) Total: 47

29th Place: Mezo Shoji (Villain: 20/Rescue: 26) Total: 46

30th Place: Mina Ashido (Villain: 29/Rescue: 17) Total: 46

31st Place: Pony Tsunotori (Villain: 22/Rescue: 23) Total: 45

32nd Place: Shihai Kuroiro (Villain: 39/Rescue: 6) Total: 45

33rd Place: Niregenki Shoda (Villain: 30/Rescue: 14) Total: 44

34th Place: Yui Kodai (Villain: 15/Rescue: 28) Total: 43

35th Place: Kinoko Komori (Villain: 23/Rescue: 19) Total: 42

36th Place: Minoru Mineta (Villain: 18/Rescue: 24) Total: 42

37th Place: Tooru Hagakure (Villain: 24/Rescue: 17) Total: 41

37th Place: Manga Fukidashi (Villain: 30/Rescue: 10) Total: 40

39th Place: Koji Koda (Villain: 9/Rescue: 31) Total: 40

Out of the corner of his eye Denryoku could see his large friend glare at him from the corner of his own eye, no doubt irritated that he got two points fewer than he did.

"You're not really mad over that small difference, are you?" Denryoku asked with a quirked eyebrow. The smaller teen got a vigorous nod in response. "Ugh, would you grow up? Honestly I thought you would be all over how the scores were panned out from this exam." This snapped the large teen out of his glaring contest in the flick of a switch and immediately jumped onto the outlying points.

"Oh yeah…" Hajikeru got into his 'focused mode'. "I think I want to start with the first place guy: Katsuki Bakugo. No rescue points? The other top five members had at least 30 points in addition to their villain points. It would have been top eight, if it wasn't ruined by a certain electro-guy!"

"Get back to your observations. I'm going to get more food." Denryoku said as he got more of the chow mein that was left. From the living room, he could hear his mother and his friend's mother chatting with the television on.

Hajikeru simply shook his head in slight distaste before he continued. "Anyway, I think you can get an idea as to how much of a monster this Bakugo guy is. That or he's a jerk or something, I dunno. Here's one that doesn't make much sense: Izuku Midoriya. I could only assume he spent the entire exam trying to save anyone that needed help, but that's still an absurd number of rescue points. More importantly, we weren't told about the rescue points, so he should have been actively hunting down villain points, but he didn't get a single one… This is weird."

Despite his nonchalant demeanor, Denryoku was interested with how this Izuku Midoriya passed.

'How can someone pass the entrance exam without knowing about the secondary point system? It just doesn't add up… Wait a minute…'

"Hey," the electro-teen called out to the bubble-teen.

"What's up, pally?" Hajikeru was still pondering how someone could accumulate that many rescue points in a single 10 minute period.

"Remember back near the end of the exam, when there was a large crashing noise from Section B?"

"Yeah, I was in Section E helping some examinees get away from the stupid Giga bot when that happened. Later when we were in the locker room, I heard some guys say something about some dude with green hair jumping up and punching it square in the face. Seriously, whoever took that thing down deserves props for that act alone. Why do you ask? Wait, you don't mean—"

"It's only speculation right now, but it does make some sense. Think about it, the Zero-bot is worth zero points, as Present Mic said. And we weren't informed of the Rescue Points, as All Might said in both of our hologram projections. So, it could be possible that Section B got the worst of it when the Zero bot appeared, like it toppled some buildings or some examinees were too close to its appearance zone."

"Yeah, that makes sense. That's the way I would put it. Call it a hunch, man, but don't think this guy is a threat."

"Why not? He must have a powerful Quirk to take down the Zero-bot in one shot." Denryoku flattened his eyebrows as he looked over to his smiling friend.

"True, his Quirk must be insanely powerful to one punch the Giga bot. But I think he knows what it takes to be a real hero, to be completely selfless and always put others before yourself." Hajikeru's eyes were shining in determination as he spoke.

"Hm… You have a point there."

"Darn right, I do."

"Well, we still got a few hours before bed. Let's get some gaming in. There's a new weapon assignment in Resistance: France and I want to try to finish it before midnight."

"All right! Is it an automatic rifle? Or a light machine gun?"

"Neither, it's another bolt action rifle."

"Another one?! You got to be kidding me!"

"You want to laugh some more?"

"No."

"The developers made the weapon from scratch. It's not a real weapon."

"Oh that is just lazy!"

"Mhm."

"Mother of… Ugh, I really hate game developers sometimes."

"Then find another hobby."

"Never!"

Quick Note: They never went over the scores beyond the top 10, did they? Well, here's my attempt to the best of my understanding of every student in Class 1-A and 1-B (I say understanding, but I simply guessed based on their Quirks and next to non-existent personalities in some cases). Though I will admit, it's a bit blotchy in a few places. But hey, at least I tried.

-OmegaBox

(Edit: 11/4/18

I changed some bits of dialogue, added some missing letters from words [why they were missing, I'll never understand] and I slightly changed some of the applicants' scores [total is the same, though]. One of many changes I'm going to make with this fanfic. 3-4,000 words down… just under 100,000 to go… Mother Fletcher, I need another hobby… Eh, maybe not.)

(Edit: 11/16/18

So, new manga chapter dropped this morning… Turns out Setsuna was one of the recommended students in Class 1-B… Thankfully, this one of those edits that doesn't affect the overall story, but it's still a bit annoying to put in these unnecessary edits. At least the classes are balanced for having two recommended students now, and it gives me an idea on how the classes will balance out, though that won't be for a loooong time.)