Chapter One: Musical Performance Audition - Bakugo Katsuki
My Muse Academia Soundtrack Now Playing:
Van Halen - Eruption (Guitar Solo)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan Cover)
Yamada Hizashi was glad he was sharing the judge's table with his fellow U.A. Arts Academy colleagues. Hosting a radio show every weekend for the past several years didn't exactly make him shy for public speaking, and if he wasn't a natural behind the mic, he wouldn't be the professional musician and DJ, "Present Mic". He was as charismatic as they came, a musical genius, a performance artist unlike any other...would anyone less be trusted as the head of the school's entire Musical Performance department?
Still, something inside him itched under the withering stare of the blonde boy that was waiting for his U.A. call back audition on the auditorium stage.
At least having the other judges at the table to absorb the fire in the kid's eyes helped to keep his own famous temper in check. Honestly, if it was up to him, he would let Aizawa do all of the talking in these final solo auditions. The uptight director was always better at the level of professionalism this kind of thing demanded.
Sadly, Nezu's rule was: When a kid is auditioning for YOUR program, YOU are the only one that talks.
All the other staff members were there for an outside opinion and to scope the incoming talent in all areas, but that was applicable only after the audition was actually over. This year's entrance exams and auditions for freshman and transfer applicants were the standard fair from when he'd attended the school back in the day.
Students took an academic exam to make sure they at least had the brains any other high school curriculum would demand, and they also attended open call auditions for the programs of their choice, usually run by an elite group of upper-class students. If the points on both the academic exam and the open call auditions were high enough, then they would call the students back for a solo audition in front of the actual celebrity staff of U.A. Academy, a treat few applicants due to the school's particular standards and tight staff schedule.
An honor that the kid in front of him seemed to regard with domineering fever instead of excitement.
"Hmm, I guess he's applying for a dual Major," Hizashi thought, giving one last scan of the applicant's pre-submitted resume. "In Musical Performance and...Dance?"
Hizashi skeptically took in the boy's appearance.
His blonde hair was explosive and ash colored, spiking out all over his face with bangs that shadowed intense red eyes. An attempt of dressing up for this audition was an untucked white collared shirt with no tie and baggy black slacks, vaguely accessorized with combat boots and grenade motif armbands.
He looked prepared for battle, and the white Fender Stratocaster electric guitar slung across his torso might as well have been a bazooka with the aura he was giving off. This kid was a dancer?
"Well, at least Nemuri will get to deal with him next when he's done with the music auditions," Hizashi thought relieved, and after receiving an irritated silent glare from Aizawa, he decided it was time to get this show on the road.
"All right!" He called, putting on his "Present Mic" persona to try to bring more positive energy into the room. "Mr. Bakugo Katsuki is it? How are you feeling today?"
"Ready to perform."
The kid's tone was blunt and impatient as Hizashi internally struggled to control his temper from screeching back in his reply.
"Ha, well, everyone here at U.A. Arts is glad you took the time to come to callbacks with us today!" The Music Performance director countered. "Before you begin, I usually like to ask all the auditioners why they're interested in the Majors they're reaching for, and why they think U.A. is the best place to be to chase those dreams! Mind sharing with us what's on your mind?"
Bakugo Katsuki made a tsking sound with his lips, as if finding the question inane. Still, he answered with a confident, gravelly voice as he balanced the weight of the guitar in his hands.
"I'm studying Musical Performance because center-stage is where I belong. I'm a quadruple threat, and honestly would have quadruple majored, but I was told that's not a 'thing' at this school." He made that tsking sound again, letting a cocky shrug and grin escape through his features. "I'm at U.A. because I'm going to be Japan's number one star. No questions asked. This academy is known for fast-tracking the careers of the best of the best. I don't have time to waste as an extra in an idol group or take back seat in agencies that value seniority over potential. If being here is what I have to do to make it, the way I want, no compromises, then I'm going to do whatever it takes."
Hizashi was half horrified by the boy's arrogance and half in awe of the blatant conviction and truth in his statement.
He peeked at his fellow judges around the table, seeing similar thoughts cross their minds through their expressions. Aizawa had a cryptic sort of smirk as he regarded the boy, but said nothing as to adhere to the audition rules.
Hizashi knew, through his own music career, that sacrifices were inevitable to succeed in the entertainment industry. However, when you began to sacrifice your artist integrity to keep up with the ranks, it got harder and harder to keep from blurring the lines that made you love performing in the first place.
So props to the kid for trying to stick to those artistic guns, but Hizashi's pen was still hovering over the "rejected" section of the judge's comment box unless there was mind blowing talent to back up all that bravado.
"Well, your honesty is refreshing, Mr. Bakugo!" Hizashi exclaimed cheerfully, ready to check out of this audition in his mind. "Let's not waste any more time then. I see you've brought your own guitar and some other equipment, so are you choosing to accompany yourself?"
"Yeah," Katsuki said, and cut Hizashi a seemingly suspicious look with his eyes. "Am I allowed to test a few chords on my guitar? I want to make sure I'm balanced the right way on your speakers."
"Sure," Hizashi said, not able to help a roll of his eyes. "Do whatever you gotta do, kid."
He felt Aizawa glaring at him from his slip of professionalism, but he was already irritated. Seriously, the first Music Performance solo audition had to be this? This kid's abrasive attitude would never in a million years earn him Hizashi's-
Katsuki played his first chord, sending the Stratocaster roaring to life.
Hizashi dropped his pen and his jaw.
That arrogant blonde was unmistakably playing "Eruption", the legendary guitar solo from the famous American rock band, Van Halen. One of the top ranking and technically difficult songs in rock and roll history, being pulled off flawlessly...as a warm up!
No wonder the blonde acted like he was some kind of musical demi-god.
Katsuki's fingers flew over the strings and frets of the guitar, too fast for Hizashi to even see them properly. He descended mountains to valleys of musical scales without breath, without effort.
Head bent down in hypnotic concentration, spiky blonde bangs shadowed his eyes, but his malicious grin shone brilliantly under the spotlight. He was on another plane of existence with his music as he left the room gaped at his technique.
The solo was condensed to around 30 seconds, but it seemed to last eons as the judges were so immersed that they barely noticed.
Katsuki finally stopped as his final chord echoed, and he rolled his shoulders as if finishing a light workout.
"All right, that should work," he said, that cocky grin now lighting up his entire face as he looked directly into Hizashi's soul. "Thanks a lot. It's all right if I play my actual audition now?"
His request to play was mocking. It was challenging Hizashi to dare doubt his abilities or turn an eye away from his potential.
"Go right ahead!" Hizashi piped, grinning through clenched teeth.
"All Along the Watchtower, the Jimi Hendrix cover," Katsuki announced and pushed forward a loop pedal with his foot that had been previously hidden behind his back during the Van Halen "warm-up" session.
"Another legendary Western artist?" Hizashi thought. "Is this kid obsessed with classic Americana? Or just showing off? Or both?"
The professional musician and his fellow judges watched expectantly as the kid began playing the basic beginning riff of the rock song on his electric guitar. Usually, the Hendrix solo in this version was hard to keep up with if there wasn't any backing accompaniment.
Katsuki activated the loop pedal that played back his beginning riff through the speakers behind him, as he then played the more complicated and funk-filled Hendrix guitar version over it and began to sing.
Hizashi didn't think he could be any more surprised with the kid's audition, but then he heard his voice.
"There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Business men, they drink my wine
Plowman dig my earth
None were level on the mind
Nobody up at his word
Hey, hey…"
Decent pronunciation of the English lyrics. Perfect pitch. His tone of voice definitely had the raw rock edge, but was still somehow melodic, like it was tinted with an R&B background. Maybe like a young Miyavi? He also kept up with all the accenting guitar riffs, which still never distracted from the vocals.
Katsuki had an intense stage presence, usually not developed by incoming students his age. He smirked the entire song, making direct eye contact with all the judges, daring them to find ANYTHING wrong with his performance.
Hizashi swore that Nemuri Kayama, "Madame Midnight" of the Dance Department, was about to implode in the seat next to Aizawa. Every time the boy shot daring eyes toward the judges during his verse, the woman pinked one more shade and was dangerously close to gnawing through her lip in excitement over "youthful charisma"...or however she'd define it.
"No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But, uh, but you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us stop talkin' falsely now
The hour's getting late, hey…"
The lyrics of the song choice were a bit above the paygrade of a classic teenager, especially when translated out of the foreign language. Katsuki performed them with a bit of presumption, in that way most people think they're superior for preferring classical music to pop music.
He sang like he put himself in the center of the song's story. Like he was the joker, the thief, making plans in the dead of night to escape and claim his own fate. Escaping the watch of those that controlled over him, and belittling those that remained slaves to it.
"Geez kid, lighten up," Hizashi thought, even as his pen migrated from the "rejected" section on the application sheet to just slightly near the borders of the "accepted" box above it. "You're freakin' 15. What slavery have you endured outside of chores and extra homework?"
Kayama was given a rough nudge by Aizawa, commanding her to behave herself. Still, even he, the legendary "Present Mic", couldn't stop a whisper of "holy crap" from escaping his own lips as Katsuki rolled out the final solo, pulling out all the dramatic stops.
Playing behind his head. Playing straight down to the floor. Hizashi even caught him periodically playing the guitar with his fucking teeth, in true Hendrix fashion.
Katsuki ended the song with an explosive finish, rocking the guitar back with a final strum, and leaving the judges in the wake of his musical nuclear blast. He exhaled a deep breath, a vicious grin on his lips as he rose onto his feet and back into his power stance, waiting for the praise he was sure to come.
"Thank yoouuuuuu, Mr. Bakugo!" Hizashi finished, his voice a bit higher than usual as he had mixed feelings over the young musician in front of him. "You'll receive our feedback and your results for this program in a few weeks, but for now you can go back and get ready for the dance auditions coming up next."
"Thank you for your time," Katsuki said with a brief bow and the world's most shit-eating grin twitched on his lips.
He assembled his guitar equipment together with the rapid efficiency of a seasoned troubadour, then exited the stage without another word.
Hizashi finally exhaled and let out an aggravated groan, really not wanting to check the "Yes" box on the boy's application, but now finding a hard reason not to.
"Any thoughts before the next one?" he asked his fellow judges, hoping for Aizawa to come in the clutch as a stick in the mud.
He was met with no reply, except the excited squeals of "Madame Midnight " as she showed everyone a video on her smartphone.
"What the hell are ya doing!" Hizashi screeched with a fist banging in the table in front of him. "We have dozens of interviewers cued up to go, and you're watching videos!"
Nemuri ignored him and shoved the phone in his face, her own malicious grin plastered a mile long.
"Do you even know who that just was!" she squealed as the video buffered before the replay. "I thought he looked familiar, but when he gave that little sermon before, I just knew it! This is amazingly delicious!"
Hizashi was about to swat the phone out of her hand and uncharacteristically yell at everyone to get their act together, but then he noticed the view count on the video.
Okay...a few million and counting. It was viral. So what?
Then the video started, and a familiar explosive blonde head of hair and angry red eyes appeared on the screen. The youth in the video began giving a "sermon", presumably in front of his phone's front-facing camera, about the "downfalls" of mainstream entertainment agencies and the idols they slave.
He preached about what makes a real artist, how it's sweat and blood, and kill or be killed.
He prophesied that he would be Japan's biggest star, no questions asked, proclaiming death on the charts to his rivals, though he never explicitly named who those rivals were.
As he raved, a music industry building, one that just so happened to rival the efforts of U.A.'s acquired talent for many years, was featured precariously in the background.
"My name is Bakugo Katsuki, and I'm going to be Japan's number one star! None of you out there have to like it. All you have to do is fucking watch. I'll make you believe soon enough!"
Oh...sweet...gods...
That video...from three months ago. It was eons ago in the realm of the Internet, and Hizashi had already forgotten since he'd barely given it a passing glance. But he DID remember the brief fuss that video had made online either praising or bashing the crazy kid's eccentricity.
He also remembered all the digging and discussion that had been done on the boy's past by "social media journalists" and the apparent history that accompanied it.
"He's got a big mouth," Aizawa suddenly said, an un-phased sleepy tone to his words. "That ego of his could definitely be a liability, even as talented as he is. Put a microphone in his hand, and who knows what barriers he'll try to break? Kinda gives me dejavu about another loudmouth. Definitely an omen he's too much trouble."
Hizashi didn't have to look at Aizawa to feel the devious toothy grin the insomniac director now had aimed in his direction.
Hizashi checked the "yes" box on the application in front of him, loathing the irony and himself all at the same time.
WE INTERRUPT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER FOR ANOTHER IMPORTANT BROADCAST FROM THE AUTHOR:
Whhhaatttttt issssss uppppp, my lovely fanfiction peeps? You're now chilling in the after party section for chapter one of My Muse Academia. I'm your host, DJ T-Time, and we're about to give the lowdown on what you all just read!
First up, let's talk about that new playlist! In this universe, I've decided there's going to be a mix of classic/mainstream celebrities that already exist (shown by Bakugo shredding that Van Halen and Hendrix homages), celebrity translations of MHA characters into the entertainment world, and maybe even a few fun cameos from character in other music/arts based anime that have real careers as well! If you have a favorite anime musician you want to pop up in reference in this story at some point, drop me a request in the comments!
Plenty of the MHA characters will also have some behind the scenes inspirations from real-life celebrities or Youtubers to help you guys get a better picture of what I'm trying to paint! I mentioned in this chapter that Bakugo is being compared in skill and voice to a young Miyavi.
LOOK INTO THIS ARTIST. He is phenomenal what I figure would be the personification of Katsuki's future abilities and career.
For the song that Bakugo covered for that in his audition (which ironically is a cover), Jimi Hendrix is going to be a huge influence on his guitar playing because of what a legend the man is. I haven't been able to find a cover online of someone playing the song and singing it like I imagine him to, but I HAVE found a wicked guitar of a kid playing "All Along the Watch Tower" with a loop pedal like I imagined Bakugo doing, but this is while RIDING A SKATEBOARD.
Check it out on the Youtube: Lukas Halfar - All Along The Watchtower (Skate Cover)
Now, can I hear a big roar of applause for the lovely individuals responsible for the 2 Favorites and the 4 Follows on this story so far? Not to mention 4 FREAKING REVIEWS!
Definitely not what I was expecting for a new story in the MHA section, and every new fan counts, am I right? Just wanted to say you guys rock, and as my way of thank you, I wanted to address a few reviews from folks who didn't have official profiles for me to slip into the DM's with!
First up, a response to Tsurugi no ken: United Artists actually is brilliant, and if I didn't think about it before, I did now, and you get full credit my friend. Also, it's funny you mentioned Marshmellow! I actually drew inspiration from him for another fictional (and aspiring) musician, but since there's more than one artist in that genre of music, I may lean toward that when Gunhead eventually appears. Keep your eyes peeled and the suggestions coming!
Second up, the OG "Guest": You, my man (or woman, or whoever!) are definitely on to something. ;) I can definitely let you know that All-For-One will be personified in a role just as villainous and fitting as the entertainment world can manage. Also…"League of Villains" isssss a pretty beastin' band name, isn't it?
Let me give a shout out to FFNET authors, JUNI ONIGIRI and DARTHLEXXOR! They have been the realest MVP's by replying to my messages and helping to give story feedback to make this fever dream fic the best it can be. They all have their own amazing MHA stories with lots of feels you should definitely check out!
To also address the musical elephant in the room: Yes, I do know that in canon, Bakugo's instrument of choice was the drums due to his involvement in the winter festival in the manga. Well, don't worry! He's a quadruple threat, isn't he? He plays those too, and bass...and is picking up some piano. The kid's a musical natural. However, when it came to translating our favorite Bakurage-Cage into an artist, I saw him as a do-it-all artist that gravitated first to the instrument that might make it the easiest for him to perform on his own. Like the spotlight-hogging little loner he is. Plus, a lot of the rock greats will come into play with his character with important guitar parallels, and how cool is it just to picture the kid melting faces with explosive guitar solos?
Next chapter, we meet another Musical Performance track hopeful with all the knowledge and skill in the world, but who's struggling to find their own identity behind the mic. Will this up and coming powerhouse find their voice in just enough time to blow the U.A. judges away to accept another rising star in their academy?
We'll see one way or another!
Leave them reviews! Leave them follows and favorites! Leave me more predictions and playlist suggestions for what you'd like to see the MHA gang cover throughout the turn of the story!
Thanks for chilling in this after party section, until next time-
This is DJ T-Time, signing off!