A/N: Don't forget to check out my Instagram baachu_mha! It'll show you what Koteki Hoshi looks like, if you are curious! Again, a special thanks to Lightgiver for giving inspiration for his quirk!
—
It was Friday morning.
Shinso-Sensei glared across the stiff and nervous classroom as he walked through the rows of desks, putting papers on each one.
The written test was not easy. Not by a long shot. Eiji was only able to glean off of what Koteki took notes of, and never before had he felt so reliant on another person. If he had been paired up with anyone other than Koteki, then he'd be screwed.
He might still be screwed, coming to think of it. Quaking, he turned the paper over to witness his fate...
"Oh my God..."
He passed!
By exactly two points.
He curled over at the close call. He knew it was going to be close, but that? That was too close for comfort...
"I am going to tell you all this to get it out in the open..." Shinso began as he leaned on his desk, "You all passed the written final."
"We all passed!?"
"Blub! Nice work everyone!"
"Oorah! Go team!" Kenta Taurosu whooped and bellowed. With one stare Shinso managed to silence their excitement.
"But the majority of you barely passed. One of you only passed by a mere two points."
Eiji wanted to smack his head against the table. So he scored the lowest... Why couldn't he be smart like his dad?! Ugh...
"And if you fail to pass the final today, then you will not go to the summer training camp."
Oh man. If Eiji barely passed the written by the skin of his teeth, then who knows how well he'll do in the real final today...
"Meet in the courtyard in two hours dressed in your gear. Be prepared."
With an audible gulp, Eiji nodded to his friends. They were all going to give it their all. Let's just hope that was good enough...
## The locker room
Hopping on one foot to put his shoe on, Eiji hobbled himself over the mentally preparing teen.
"Koteki!"
"GAH! U-Umm, s-sorry..."
"Hey, don't mean to bother you while you're in the zone, but I was thinking we should come up with a plan!" Eiji said as he finished strapping on his boot. Koteki nervously pulled up his hood and made sure his horns poked through their respective holes.
"Umm, I was thinking of that, and I made a plan already- Not that we have to use it! I-It's just a suggestion-"
"You have a plan! Perfect!" Eiji laughed, relaxing his tense friend, "Alright, Koteki! I am putting my faith in you this final!" That immediately stressed Hoshi out again.
"Oh no..."
"And with your brains and my, uhh... whatever I have... we can take down any of the Yueei staff!" Eiji said with unsupported confidence.
"Well... about that..." Koteki Hoshi tugged his ear nervously, "I thought of different ways we can, erm, use our quirks together that can um, take down each of the staff..."
"Perfect! I'm so glad I'm teamed up with you-"
"All the staff... except one..."
Eiji didn't like that "except one" part. But they had an hour before going into the final, so what were they going to do?
"Oh. Well, what are the chances we'll be pitted against the one person you haven't thought of a strategy for? I think we're going to ace this final!"
"B-But now that you've s-said that, you've probably jinxed it!" The nervous teen stuttered and shook.
"Pfft! You're too superstitious! We've got this final in the bag!" Eiji laughed and patted Koteki a little too heartily on the back, making him wince. A quiet second passed before Eiji asked,
"So... what is your quirk?"
"...Haven't you noticed before? In Heroics class?"
Eiji paused and looked around the room. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Yes... I've been paying attention- I'm sorry, that's a lie."
"..."
"But I'm paying attention now! Show me what you got!"
Koteki sighed and began,
"W-Well, my quirk is called Pocket Dimension. Whatever zippier I unzip opens up to another realm which I call... The Void."
"Cool! Can you show me?!"
"Umm... I s-suppose..." Koteki unzipped his satchel and opened it up for Eiji.
It was a soft white glow, and it almost absorbed the sound in the room. It captivated Baachu.
"Woah... can you go in?" Before he could stupidly stick his head into the bag, Hoshi zipped it closed.
"I-I can't!" He screamed, shocking his partner.
"Gasp! What is it?! Does The Void suck you in?! Would it have suffocated the air from my lungs?!"
"N-No. You can breathe in there. In fact, it's quite peaceful and serine."
"...Then why can't I go in?"
Koteki looked side-to-side with fear trembling his body. Calming himself down, he whispered,
"There is something in there... that I cannot bare to face..."
The mystery and intrigue captivated Eiji's whole being! Was there a monster in The Void?! A creature with unimaginable terror ruling its territory, looking for unsuspecting prey to enter in?! What was so horrifying that Koteki himself couldn't bring himself to enter The Void?!
"Now that I have explained my quirk, m-maybe I should explain some strategies to defeat the t-teachers?"
"Yes! Good idea!" Eiji chose to move on. He'll ask about the monster another time...
## The courtyard
As students garbed in the finest of gear gathered at the ready, the staff mentally prepared as well. This wasn't going to be easy for either parties...
"So explain to me one more time..." Mirio whispered to Shinso with a snarky smile, "Why'd you let Young Bakugo go home on Monday?"
Glaring death at the overly bright man, Shinso growled,
"You were adamant that Koteki Hoshi be paired off with someone like Bakugo Eijiro's personality."
"That still doesn't answer the question, Hitoshi..."
"...We agreed Bakugo Eijiro would be the much needed emotional support for Koteki Hoshi, and he couldn't very well do that while his own emotions were compromised." Shinso said as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.
"Are you sure it isn't because his cat died and you're a big ol' cat-loving, student-caring softie?" Mirio smirked; Shinso glared. He was playing a dangerous game...
"Shut up."
"Alright, energetic Yueei students! Are you ready?!" Kaminari screamed enthusiastically to the nervous students, "Let's draw our attention to the one, the only, YaoMomo!"
"K-Kaminari... I asked you to address me formally in front of the students, please..."
"Principal YaoMomo!"
"...That suffices..." She sighed and turned to class 1A, "Dear students! Know that this final is designed to push you past your limits both physically and mentally, so the staff will be giving it our all. But, we also want to give you a greater chance of success."
"That is why we have let you research us in advance." Shinso nodded, "But other than that, we will have no handicaps."
The class gulped. Most of them have done their research, but that won't feel like much when the time comes to actually fight. Yaoyorozu stood at the podium and overlooked the small crowd with a looming authority.
"We will be listing off the team's opponents! Midoryia Maru and Candy Okashi will be put against... myself!"
Oh snap. Maru and Candy were not ready to fight her! She's number six in the top ten heroes chart! How were they even going to compete against her?!
"Meiwaku Basuji and Iida Tasen will be put up against... Shinso Hitoshi."
"Cussing heck..." Meiwaku wanted to grind his teeth out. If either one of them spoke a word they'd be brainwashed, and he had quite a few words he wanted to shove at that apathetic, good-for-nothing, care-free Iida!
"Bakugo Eijiro and Koteki Hoshi will be against..."
Eiji felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck as his opponent came into the sunlight.
"Mirio Togata."
The teacher gave a mighty smirk, its usual warmth now sent shivers down Eiji's spine. This was going to be some challenge. But it was alright! Koteki had a plan!
"So what's the plan on defeating Mirio-Sensei?" Eiji whispered over. But Koteki simply stood, absolutely quaking. "There's a plan, right?"
"..."
"Koteki?"
With tremors shaking every inch of his body, the teen finally replied,
"I-I don't have a plan... I... don't know what his quirk is!"
Baachu immediately felt sick.
This... was not good.
## The final...
"Get ready, get set, begin!" A robotic voice commanded as the nervous teens stepped out into the field.
"Alright, my friend, we need to think of a plan and quick!" Eiji whispered as they quietly dashed into the arena full of partially demolished buildings. Everything was covered in vines and on the verge of collapse, and only the sound of wind covered the echoing of their footsteps. "We have to figure out what his quirk is in order to defeat him!"
"H-He's our heroics teacher, so maybe he has a quirk that'll help him with teaching class?" Koteki huskily whispered, keeping careful watch over the abandoned cityscape.
"Right! Who taught the class before him?"
"...I'm not entirely sure, but I know All Might taught the class at one point..." Koteki gulped.
"Wait... ALL MIGHT?!"
"Yeah, why?"
"I remember Shinso-Sensei told us that Mirio-Sensei was the best heroics teacher they ever hired! He's better than All Might?!" Eiji was nearly pissing himself now. And only adding to his horror was the fact he was completely clueless about his quirk! It was more powerful than All Might's?!
Wait...
Mirio-Sensei was more powerful than Uncle Deku?
"Whatever we do, Koteki..." Eiji whimpered as they hid in the darkness, "We can NOT fight Lemillion..."
"Good luck with that!"
"AAAHHH!" Eiji and Koteki screamed as the mysteriously quiet man snuck up behind them. Baachu quickly grabbed Koteki under the armpits and shot two palm trees out from under his feet! They rocketed into the air!
"Oh my God oh my God oh my God!" Hoshi was having trouble breathing as they were flung into space!
"This is gonna be a rough landing!" Eiji winced as he curled in and grew hardened plates of wood on his back. They skidded hard against the rooftop before coming to an abrupt stop right at the edge! They were safe! For now...
"He almost hit me! Oh man- he almost hit my face!" Panicked the shy boy, "I could've died! I could've been dead-"
"Pull yourself together, man!" Eiji smacked his partner, "He could be circling this building right now, climbing up the stairs to reach us!"
"Or waiting for us to come down!"
"Or stalking you two from above."
"Exactly! Wait-" Eiji and Koteki stared at the sky in confused terror. A cape blotted out the sun as the powerful hero loomed overhead.
"AAAHHH!"
"HAHA! You boys are cracking me up!" Mirio declared before landing on their shoulders and kicking them off the building, "Don't die!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
They were going to die, weren't they?!
"H-Hold on!" Koteki opened up his satchel and started digging around as they fell.
"Hurry up!"
Quickly, Hoshi pulled something very large out his bag.
"What are you going?!"
"Trust me! It's almost... out!"
"Wait a second, are you... pulling a mattress out of your bag!?" Eiji wasn't liking this situation one bit.
"Just trust me!"
"We're gonna die-"
BOINK! BOING!
Rolling softly onto the concrete, Eiji shook the dizziness from his body and stood upright.
"...We aren't dead! Alright! Good instincts!"
"Th-Thanks..."
But before Eiji and Koteki could have one second of reveling, a voice boomed from above,
"POWER!"
"Hide!" They scuttled under debris, skirted through the abandoned buildings, and found a single place of refuge.
So far, they seemed to have avoided their sensei...
"I... think I see the gate from here..." Koteki whispered. Then, much to their dread, Lemillion landed himself directly in front of the gate. Nothing was going in their favor...
"Koteki! I think I just thought of a way to defeat Lemillion-Sensei!"
"There's no way! We don't know what his quirk is, and he's got us cornered! I didn't think of a strategy to defeat him, and now we're doomed and-"
"No! We got this! We just need to think on our toes!" Eiji said with a thumbs-up.
"But how! I can't think, I'm-"
"We've been going about this the wrong way, Koteki!" Eiji whispered as he looked over his shoulder, "He's been playing mind games on us this whole time! He need to fight fire with fire!"
"But how?!"
Eiji squinted at the hooded teen's face and hummed to himself.
"You know, I get the feeling Mirio-Sensei has a soft spot for you. Who's that other hero Lemillion hangs out with a lot? Uhh, I don't remember, but you seem a lot like him, from what I can see."
"...I don't understand."
"Here, I have a plan, but you'll need to say something to throw him off first..."
Mirio stood by the gate, keeping watch over the dilapidated buildings. No sight of the teenagers yet. They were plotting something against him, weren't they? But he was prepared for anything!
If Eiji is anything like himself, then his weakness is protecting his teammates. But that is also his strength.
Koteki, though, was almost a carbon copy of Tamaki. His personality, mannerisms, and weaknesses reminded Mirio of Amajiki in his younger years. If he attacked Koteki head-on, then he'd be frozen in fear!
But that weakness needs to be broken one way or another. Might as well break it early.
"Where are you, young heroes?" Lemillion said with an evil a voice he could muster.
Suddenly, behind a building in the distance, the flutter of a cloak caught his attention.
"There you are!" He guffawed.
Koteki didn't get a moment to think. Lemillion leapt over him, sending punches flying down!
"Ah! Wh-Whoa!" Hoshi gasped as he barely evaded each and every one of Lemillion's shooting fists! He backed away from the fight, slowly cornering himself against a wall of concrete!
"Where is your teammate, Suneater-"
Before Lemillion could send a fist directly into Koteki's face, the teenager inhaled a deep, prepared breath. He reeled back and shouted with all the determination he could muster,
"F-F-FUCK!"
"Ack-"
Mirio ran right into a wall.
Out of all the things he expected Koteki to scream, profanity was not it. Tamaki would never ever swear under any circumstance! Oh right- this isn't Amajiki. His brain almost forgot!
"I-It worked! Get him!"
"Got it!" Baachu jumped up from behind Togata, spiraling a barrage of vines around his Sensei!
But he jumped out of the way! He landed behind and sent kicks flying, and evaded every single stick Eiji sent his direction! Togata gave Eiji a chop over the back and sent him into the dirt, nearly smashing Baachu's face into a slab of concrete!
"Poweeeeeeerrrrr!" Mirio was having too much fun with this. His instincts were so amazing Eiji barely knew what to do with himself.
Well, he knew one thing to do.
"Run!"
He and Koteki got outta there as fast as possible! Mirio was too powerful! But how?! He hasn't even shown them his quirk yet!
"Is he just toying with us?! Why hasn't he used his quirk on us?!" Eiji gasped and panted heavily as they ducked in and between slabs of concrete.
"Th-This may sound c-crazy, but... what if... Mirio-Sensei was quirkless?"
Okay. Now Koteki was just spewing crazy-talk. Yueei doesn't accept quirkless people into hero course, let alone hire them to teach it!
"No, that's crazy. He's got a quirk, it's just some mind thing or something! That's gotta be it!" Eiji said as he continued to run towards the gate.
"I s-suppose..." But Koteki wasn't so sure. He's been studying all of the staff this last week, but... no one knows about his quirk.
Suddenly, the gate came into view! There was hope! They could escape!
"We're almost there! See? We can win this thing-"
But Eiji's hopes were dashed once more. Mirio slid in front, standing between them and the gate. His cape fluttered in the wind, and his clenched fists shone with trouble. They didn't have time to think, and Lemillion already knew exactly where they were. No time to turn back, either.
They had to fight him head-on.
"Koteki! Go to the gate while I hold him off!"
"What?! But he'll knock you out cold!"
"And you'll go through the gate and win this thing for us!
"No! I won't go if you're gonna get hurt!"
"Go! Run, Koteki! Get to the exit and I'll block his path!"
"But I can't just abandon you-"
"Win this for us!" Eiji screamed. Mirio came up to Eiji with fists flying at him from all sides, nearly making contact with each one.
"Man, you sure are having trouble beating me, young Bakugo..." Togata chuckled, "You can't bring down your poor, old, quirkless teacher?"
"...What?" Eiji gasped. He must've heard that wrong. There was no way.
"You've had to have gathered that by now, right?" Mirio laughed once more, but Eiji literally could not understand. He was being absolutely pummeled... by a quirkless man?!
"You?! You're just some quirkless guy?!"
"Youch. I'm a little more than just 'some quirkless guy.'" Mirio laughed before reeling back a fist,
"I'm Lemillion!"
Mirio was inches away from his target! Baachu felt sweat pool in his hands. He was about to dash it across the ground- to create a wall between his Sensei and his friend! But before he could flick his wrists- before he could burst life forth from the grounds besides him-
His vision went white.
Wait...
What?
Did he pass out? No... he was far too conscious of everything around him. Was he falling? No... Floating? Wait, his feet were on the ground...
"Where the hell am I?" Eiji asked, his voice not returning a single echo. There was only a low, swishing hum in the background. It reminded Eiji of the warm noise the dishwasher would make at night as his dad tucked him in...
So this is what The Void felt like...
Koteki zipped his bag up and held his fists out in front of himself, knowing too well he wasn't going to win this war. But for some reason he couldn't leave him there!
That wasn't the heroic thing to do.
"You are fighting me head-on to save your friend?" Mirio smirked proudly, "Now that you have him, why don't you run, Suneater-"
"I'm not Suneater! Wh-Whoever that is!" Koteki screamed. Mirio threw a fist directly at Hoshi's face!
But it made contact with nothing.
Koteki's face was but an empty glow and a quiet hue over vast landscape. He had opened The Void over his face! Gawking at the power move he just witnessed, Togata just stood there with his jaw hanging open.
Koteki grabbed Mirio's arm and dragged him closer until nearly his whole limb was in The Void. With a dark tone, he spoke from behind the portal,
"My name is Gatekeeper!"
And he locked a handcuffs around Mirio's wrist!
"Woah!" That was freaky. This kid could be scary when he wanted to! He went head-on! Literally! Mirio was super impressed.
"Congratulations! You won!" The robotic voice blared. Koteki pulled Mirio's arm out of The Void and opened his hood, revealing the cutest little awed smile.
"We won! We- Oh, he's still in The Void!"
"Let's get young Bakugo out, shall we?" Mirio laughed, playfully pulling the hood over Hoshi's eyes.
"Hello?!" Eiji cooed out into the expanse. Still nothing. How long has he been in here now? He was getting very sleepy. It was nothing but an stretch of space. His limbs folded a little closer to his body. He could hear his own heartbeat and the hum of the ground. Maybe he could go to sleep-
Wait...
Wasn't there a monster in here?
Eiji suddenly didn't feel so sleepy. He immediately went into panic.
"Koteki?! Can you hear me?! Get me out of here!" Why did Hoshi throw him in here if there's something he himself cannot bare to face?! Did he secretly hate Eiji?! No, of course that wasn't the case! Maybe he was going to keep Eiji here for a minute and bring him out again? But then...
Why was Eiji still here?
Oh God. What if Koteki got hurt?! What if Mirio-Sensei sucker-punched him and then Koteki fell into a coma and Eiji was stuck here for eternity!
"Get me out! Get me out! Please!"
But it was nothing but a white glow. A foggy haze that lingered just outside his reach.
"Get me out! Somebody! Get me out of here!"
Suddenly, right in front of Eiji's face, a portal opened up! It was barely big enough for Eiji to squeeze through, but he was going for it! A hand reached through, and he took it without hesitation! He was hoisted out of the hole!
But as soon as he popped out, he saw that it wasn't a hole, just a small satchel. He wiggled his legs around The Void in awe. From this side, it looked like his bottom half was just a bag!
"Woah... wait! The final! Koteki! What-"
But it wasn't Koteki helping Eiji out of the bag- it was Mirio-Sensei! He had a wide smile, but upon closer investigation, Baachu saw a handcuff on his other hand!
"Congratulations, young Bakugo and young Koteki! I have been captured! You two have passed!"
Eiji blinked a few times.
"Ha?" He turned to the sheepish, but proud teen, "Koteki?! You captured him?! All on your own?!"
"Heh... I couldn't have done it without you-"
"You're amazing! I can't wait to watch the replay! You are the real MVP!"
"Yep. Gatekeeper here surprised me multiple times today." Mirio said with a proud smile at the shy kid.
"Yeah! Go Gatekeeper! Woo!"
With a mustard seed of confidence, Koteki stood a little taller. Yeah. He really did well. Maybe he was cut out to be a hero after all...
## The observation room
As the team came back into the room with a couple other students, the remaining few cheered and praised Koteki. He deserved it- he won the battle for them!
He won the battle, not Eiji.
Mirio stood next to Eiji with a warm smile, but Eiji didn't feel very full of smiles. Not only did he feel like no help whatsoever, but he felt like a total jerk to Mirio-Sensei while doing so...
"You got me! I woulda never of guessed you'd have Koteki say that swear just to shock me."
"Heh... than plan kinda fell to the gutters, didn't it?" Eiji said as he rubbed his fingers through his hair, "But I'm glad whatever he did got you. As for me, though... I'm not sure I even passed..."
Mirio pursed his lips and looked over to Koteki. Hoshi wasn't exactly like Tamaki, why did he expect Eiji to be exactly like himself? Eiji was different than him, and that's alright.
"You know, he was only able to become himself because somebody believed in him. I think you really did help."
"..." Staring at the ground, Eiji mumbled, "I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"I... didn't believe in you, either."
Mirio understood what he was talking about. He couldn't understand how Lemillion could be a hero and be quirkless.
"Young Bakugo... do you think you might have some prejudice against quirkless people?" Togata asked, making the teen jump.
"What?! No! One of my best friends is quirkless! I'm not-"
"You can't be a hero!"
"...prejudiced..."
Eiji looked at the ground with a hint of sadness. He had said some pretty mean things to Kōkyō in the past, hasn't he? He really didn't think he could become a hero. But if Mirio-Sensei has shown him anything, it's that a quirkless person could easily beat anyone's ass.
"...Maybe I am..."
"...It's alright." Mirio smiled, "I was too, before I got my quirk stolen away."
"What?!" Eiji gasped, "Stolen?!"
"Hai. When I was eighteen. Right before I was about to graduate Yueei."
"That's terrible! All of that training, your hard work, your dreams-"
"Paid off." Togata beamed. It took Eiji by surprise. "In fact, Eri-Chan could've helped me get my quirk back, but I decided against it."
"You... chose to be quirkless?" It wasn't something Baachu understood.
"Hai. By the time she gained enough control of her quirk, she offered to turn back time to before my quirk was stolen. But... by then, I was married, had my three daughters, started my organizations..." Looking into Eiji's eyes with a warmth he hadn't known before, Togata nodded, "By that point, being a hero wasn't about my quirk. I will always be Lemillion. I finally understood it."
"Yeah..."
"Plus, it would've been really weird for my family if I looked eighteen again."
"Heh! No kidding! Heheh!" It was alright. Eiji could learn to understand Mirio-Sensei. And maybe he needed to rethink his perspective on the quirkless community as a whole. Maybe Baachu really needed to apologize to Kōkyō one of these days.
Slowly, Nurse Eri approached the heroes with a kind smile and sweetly spoke,
"Wonderful work out there! I'd say you are ready to go for the summer training camp!"
Eiji's eyes went wide before a big, bright smile smacked onto his face.
"Hai! I am so excited! I've never been to a summer camp before! I can't wait for campfires, hanging out with my friends, and-"
"Getting your butt kicked?!" Eri laughed with a hint of sadistic laughter in her eyes. It threw Eiji off a little bit.
"Umm, yeah?"
With a fit of giggles, the kind woman shook her head and laughed,
"Good! Because I've overheard what my husband has planned for you all... and it isn't gonna be pretty! Hehe!"
