*Midoriya's P.O.V*
"Okay... it should be around here." I muttered as I placed the flier in my back pocket.
I'm an aspiring guitarist wanting to get my name out there... maybe I shoud go into more detail about that. I had this dream when I was six. It manifested about a month after my dad left, leaving just my mom and I. My dad leaving broke my heart back then, and in order to stop my crying, my mother would always play her acoustic guitar and sing me a song she heard when we took a trip to America... anyway I'm rambling. I picked up the guitar when I turned seven, mainly practicing with my mother's guitar... though she gave me pointers here and there. It was when I turned 8, when it all came crashing down. My mother came into contact with an illness, but due to her being super good at hiding it, I didn't know until it was too late. The ambulances came to take her to the hospital,leaving me alone with some adult to look after me... I think his name was Aizawa? Anyway, I learned a few month's later, that Leukemia took my mother's life... but in a written letter she gave me her acoustic guitar, and told me to pursue my dreams. Alone with nothing but the acoustic guitar and the clothes on my back, I was taken to the nearest orphanage.
That's where I spent the rest of my days up till now.
To entertain myself, and to help with the manditory 5 stages, I played my mother's guitar. I was terrible starting out... and most of the kids there were more than willing to tell me that. I just ignored them, and through many trial and error I started sounding like I at least know what I'm doing. A lot of what I did at the orphanage was the same; Get out of bed, hygene, grab my guitar, sit at the nearest corner, play for a while, eat, rinse and repeat 2 more times for lunch and dinner, and go to bed. All of that changed when some random 4 year old, who I had no past interactions with by the way, came up to me and told me I played the guitar good. That alone brightened my day up, after being told how horrible I was by literally every kid, it was a breath of fresh air hearing any form of praise.
She was the reason I escaped my depression phase, and went to acceptance. But anyway I'm rambling again. My new pattern was wake up, hygene, eat, wait for the girl who told me her name was Eri, play for a while, eat together, and rinse and repeat. Basically the same as before but with a friend. Now everything changed... again, but this time for the better, when I was 14, and Eri was 5. There was this man, a rather skinny man, who had a bizarre sense of hair style come into the orphanage. I thought he was coming to adopt some of the other kids... so I just kept playing for Eri. What caught me off guard was the shadow covering me and Eri.
"Hello there young man." The man said as he squatted down at our eye level, "I see you are playing the guitar."
"Yes, Zuku is really good!" Eri exclaimed, yeah she was having a hard time saying my name Izuku Midoriya... so to help her I said just call me Zuku.
"Indeed he is." He said as he looked at me dead in the eyes, "How would you like to be adopted young man?" He asked.
Now that took me by surprise... a chance to leave this place away from these demons they call kids, was worth about as much as winning the lottery... actually a lot more. Then I looked at Eri, I can't leave her here, I just can't.
"Can Eri come with us?" I asked... well pleaded was a better adjective for that.
He looked hestiant, I assumed that he was just looking for one, but he soon realize I won't say yes unless she came with us. "Okay, fine with me." He said.
Now Eri was beaming, I'm certain she had a equally if not worse time here than I did.
We packed out stuff... or lack there of, and after the man filled out the paper work we headed to his car. We drove in silence... until we hit gridlock traffic, then the man decided to spark up small talk.
"So... when did you start having interest in playing guitar?" He asked.
"My mother, she knew how to play, and she even gave me pointers." I answered.
He put two and two together, "Oh... I'm sorry." He said.
"Don't worry about it... I had about 6 years to grieve." I said as I stared back out the window, as traffic wasn't moving... at all.
Then his head shot up in realization, "I've never introduced myself have I?" He asked, "My name is Toshinori Yagi, pleasure to meet you two." He greeted.
I didn't respond back initially, mainly because my mind was going crazy as to where I heard that name before... then it hit me. "You're a famous guitar player! From that famous band called 'The Pro Heroes'." I exclaimed.
"I WAS a famous guitar player, I retired a short while ago when the band broke up." He explained as traffic cleared up a tad bit for us to continue moving.
"B-But what were you doing at an orphanage of all places?" I asked.
"See, I was looking for a student." He said, "The reason being... I wanted something to keep me occupied during the long retirement I have waiting for me." He explained, "I looked everywhere; Random guitar stores, people playing at the side of the road, and finally, an orphanage. See before I met you, a lot of the other guitar players, while good, didn't have the heart you have." He explained.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, as traffic finally cleared up, so we were driving at normal speed again.
"Simple, they were playing their guitars only for monetary gain. While that isn't a bad thing, you played for the sole purpose of entertaining Eri back there." He explained, "That's what I want from my student. A person who plays to entertain first, and everything else second." He said, "Now what do you say Young Midoriya?" He asked.
"Do it Zuku!" Eri exclaimed with excitement in her voice.
Any form of hesitation I may have had just left my body, if I have her support... then how can I say no? "Alright Toshinori I'm in." I said.
"That a boy, we'll start tomorrow." He said as he pulled up to a store complex, "But first, we need to get you two some new clothes."
We exited the car, as Toshinori grabbed a pair of shades and a hat, "Can't have people know who I am out in public." He said.
Actually a good point, the last thing we want is some rabid fans to swarm us. Once we headed inside we looked around for new clothing. Eri's eyes was gleaming, she was looking at all of the clothes in the store. While I was staring at this jacket on the hook. The problem wasn't the size, it was three sizes too big sure, but I prefer bigger clothes, the problem was the price, 8,287 Yen... Once Eri made her decision to pick two dresses one white another grey, 2 pairs of sweatpants, 3 pairs of shirts, and a pair of shades to match Toshinori. It was kinda cute actually. Anyway, both her and Toshinori came to check on me. He must have noticed my deliemma, but grabbed the leather jacket off the hook anyway.
(A/N: I might have gone a little cheap on the leather jacket...)
"I may be retired, but I saved a lot of money from my past gigs, don't worry about the price." He commented as he handed me the jacket, "Now, Young Eri grabbed... that many things, I think it would be fair if you picked the same amount." He said.
I was hestiant... then I remembered I only have two sets of clothes that the orphanage, so I grabbed 2 pairs of black jeans, 3 tanktop shirts, a pair of pajama pants, and a pair of shades as well.
After paying for the clothes, and garnering some looks from the other patrons, we exited the shopping complex, and headed to our new home. The house was a two story home in the suburbs, it was rather quaint. We were then led to our rooms, they were right across from each other. After we were told that dinner would be ready in about 2 hours, gives us enough time to unpack.
I finished early, so I decided to make good use of my time, and head on over to the living room to pick at my acoustic. Soon Eri finished unpacking and came over to listen to me play. Then we heard the door open slowly.
"Aren't you reti-" A guy with a really long scarf around his neck said, as he stared at us confused.
"Um... hello." I greeted, not sure what else to do in this situation.
"Hello... is Toshinori here?" The man asked.
"I'm Here!" He exclaimed as he walked out of the kitchen in his apron, "Oh Shota what a nice surprise." He said.
"Surprise? I live with you." The man said.
"Oh right, my mistake, anyway might as well get aquainted, Midoriya, Eri this is Shota Aizawa, Shota Aizawa, this is Midoirya and Eri." Toshinori said as he returned to the kitchen.
"Hello!" Eri greeted with a smile.
"Hello, I see you are playing an acoustic." Aizawa said as he snatched it from me.
Before I could rebut, he sat down, tuned it and started playing. He was actually pretty good. No scratch that, really good!
Once he finished Eri gave him a round of applause, while I just stood there stunned.
"Seems you still got it." Toshinori said as he set us plates full of pasta.
"It would be really sad if I lost my touch considering the band hasn't broken up for even a year yet." Aizawa muttered as he ate a fork full of spaghetti.
"Wait you two played with each other?" I asked.
"Yeah, in fact." Toshinori said as he fished out his wallet to pull out a picture. There were 4 people on the picture, "The one on the middle is me, the one on the far left is Aizawa, they used to call him Eraser Head on stage." He commented as Aizawa scoffed, "That lady over there was and still is called Midnight, and that blond guy over there, is called Present Mic." Toshinori explained.
"Wait how come they still are called their stage names, while Aizawa isn't?" I asked.
"Simple, they continued to pursue music as solo careers." Aizawa explained as he picked up his plate, "Toshinori and I on the other hand retired after those two left. I'm a High School Teacher now." He added as he entered the kitchen, the sound of running water can be heard.
"Oh right, I never told you my old stage name, they called me All Might." He said.
Okay that... sounds really cool.
Soon Aizawa re-entered the living room with a glass of water, "So you never told me... why are these kids here?" He asked.
"Simple, I adopted them." Toshinori said as Aizawa nearly choked on his water.
"Y-You're joking." Aizawa said as Toshinori shook his head.
"Nope, 100% genuine, I said I needed a student remember?" He asked.
"Yeah, for your bloody mid-life crisis... but what's with the girl?" Aizawa asked, "Unless you are going to say she can play that massive acoustic guitar."
"Well, I don't know unless I try, but no, Midoriya said he would be adopted if I brought her along, so I did." Toshinori said, "Which reminds me... are you two related?"
"Oh, no not as far as I know." I said, "But that orphanage was horrible, and all we had were each other." I said as I ruffled Eri's hair, "I didn't have the heart to leave her behind, so it was either all or none of us." I explained.
"See, I'm certain he's the student I was looking for." Toshinori said.
Aizawa just scoffed, and handed me back my mother's acoustic back.
"Well, having this 'heart' and being able to play are two different things." He said, "We'll see how much work you have to do." Aizawa said.
I took that as I need to play the guitar now.
I got into position and started playing, after about a minute he stopped me.
"Well, I will say one thing, you sound like you at least know what you are doing, and not just strumming it and hoping for the best." Aizawa commented, "But still, he needs a lot of work you know."
"Of course, I'm more than willing to do what ever it takes." Toshinori said.
Aizawa just chuckled, "Well I can't stop you there." He said as he stood back up, "Well I have papers to grade see later." He said as he headed into his room.
"Alright, we'll start practice tomorrow, so rest up till then." Toshinori ordered as I nodded.
That's now my life was for about 10 months. Practicing, practicing, running the occasional errand, practicing, and more practicing. One day however, All Might exclaimed I was ready and handed me a flier. He told me auditions were being held in town, and I should go try out. His reasoning was that experience outweighs any amount of study. I scanned the flier and glanced at the clock, it was 6:45 PM, and the auditons were being held at 7:30.
I got up, put on my designer tanktop, leather jacket, and jeans and headed out. Eri asked if she could come with me to watch. but Toshinori said no, due to it being too late for her to be out. I said I was sorry, and told her she could come next time. She looked sad but perked up again, as I headed out to the audition.
Now were back to the present, I managed to find where the location is and checked my watch, 7:24. I have enough time to do one last check up before I audition for this band.
I replaced my strings last night, guitar... tuned, nerves... on edge.
"Okay, I'm ready." I said.
"You can do it Zuku!"
"Yeah, than- Eri?!" I asked as I turned to see Eri right behind me, "W-What are you doing here?" I asked as I looked all over her seeing if she was hurt... but now, she's fine?
"I came to watch you play." She said with her trademark smile.
Toshinori is going to give me so much heck for this... "Okay, but no word to everyone right?" I asked.
"It's fine, Mr. Toshi said it was fine if I'm with you." She said.
...I'm even more nervous, but I can't take her back right now, I just grabbed her hand and lead her inside.
As we walked down the aisle, I ran through the preliminary research results I did before coming here. The person in charge of the auditions is the band's bass player Kyoka Jirou. The reasons they are even holding these auditions becasue she kicked out a member due to 'Creative Differences'. She wanted this to be a rock band, while the ex guitarist wanted it to be something else entirely.
"Hey! Thank goodness, someone actually showed up." She commented.
Wait... no one showed up? Seriously? None?
"So what's your name kid?" She asked.
"Oh, my name is Izuku Midoriya." I said.
"Ah, short, sweet, and quick to the point, bonus points. Literally everyone before you told me their life story, while I couldn't care less about it, if you play a guitar well, then I'll care about your life story, until then, save your breath." She commented.
She's a blunt one. I just pulled up a stool and positioned my mother's guitar on my lap.
"Wait wait wait- An acoustic guitar? You do know we're a rock band right?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah." I stuttered, but still intend on playing.
She just stared at me for a few second before slumping back onto her seat, "Alright, proceed." She said as she readied her pen and paper.
I was nervous for a second, but I started playing. I didn't realize what I was playing until the sound started to sonud familiar. It was that song my mother used to play me, the one she heard from America, I remember her saying the title was 'Cough Syrup' or something like that. She must have played it so much, that it's muscle memory at this point. Or maybe it's her influence guiding me through this audition. Either way, it's too late to change songs, so I played it too the very end.
Once I finished I got up and took a bow.
"Well, Midoriya, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to audition for this band, if you would please..." She said as she turned a clipboard with some sort of sign-in sheet clipped to it, "Sign your name and contact info, and we'll get back to you with our decision." She said.
Considering I have heard the distaste she had when she saw I had an acoustic. Regardless I signed my name and contact info, who knows maybe she'll say yes.
I hooked my mother's guitar over my shoulders and took Eri home.
*Jirou's P.O.V*
"Ughh... this never gets any easier." I moaned.
"I thought he was pretty good." A joivially irritating voice I know all too well rang throughout the theatre.
"I thought you didn't want to deal with auditions." I asked as I turned to see Ashido Mina, the lead singer, standing right next to me.
"Ehh, I was pretty bored, and he was pretty good." She restated.
"But it was an acou-"
"So?" She asked.
"So? We're a rock band. Those two don't really go together." I said.
"But he was really good." Another voice chimed in, as Denki Kaminari, our head technician, stepped in as well.
"Okay, is there anyone else here?" I asked.
"No that we know of, anyway, give him a chance, it's not like we have a gig in a few months that we need to practice for." He said.
...I hate it when he is right. It's rare but it's frustrating when he is and rubs it in.
"I'll think about it and call him tomorrow. Happy?" I asked.
"Yup, now come on, there is a place near here that has happy hour until 9!" Ashido squealed as she rushed out.
"You're 16! Don't even think about it!" I yelled... I swear sometimes I'm like their mom.
...I'll think about it.
End of Chapter