Chapter 3: New Environment
My life with the Midoriya's was different from my life with my father.
He was always somewhat, distant when it came towards his interactions with me. His approach to parenting was leaving me to my own devices. Mrs Midoriya however elected to be far more involved in my life to the same extent that she was with her own son. My own mother died when I was too young to remember her, so my experiences when it came to how mothers were supposed to interact around their children was limited.
Even still, regardless of my unfamiliarity with a more involved family I had little issues acclimatising to my new situation, for a few weeks I got the sense that the Midoriya's were walking on eggshells around the issue of my deceased father, presumably to give me a decent amount of grieving time. I was thankful that they didn't pry into it but I noticed that the sadness I felt towards the loss of my father remained in my heart despite how muted it became. Whenever my thoughts would drift to him I would always feel a sense of regret towards his death.
Was the cause of this regret being unable to do anything to prevent his death? Was my inability to even be present at the time of his death causing me sadness?
These questions were always at the back of my mind if I focused too much on my father but I did my best to ignore them and focus on my future. My lingering regrets would only serve to hamper my future. Or so I told myself.
My school life in the wake of my fathers death seemed to change, albeit briefly. Most would express their condolences and sympathies at my loss. Even Bakugo avoided direct confrontations with me for a few weeks, however a month after my fathers death my school life gradually returned to normal.
My relationship with Midoriya didn't change much either although considering we now lived together I got the sense that he began to view me more as a pillar of support for his dream. It seemed that ever since I told him that there was a possibility that he could become a pro-hero of some variety he began to feel less embarrassed when people called him out on his dream. Not by much but it was a noticeable improvement over our first encounter of him being a somewhat pathetic mess.
Mrs Midoriya or 'Inko-san' as she asked me to call her to avoid confusion supported me in the same way as her own son, I got the sense that she did care about my well being in some capacity and I did my best to hide my less desirable personality traits, despite my discovery that I could still feel sadness in the same way as other children I was still aware that the actions that brought me a genuine smile were still unethical and morally repugnant. I didn't want to worry Inko-san that she had brought a monster into her home no matter how tame it was.
My second year of school passed relatively quickly and despite the loss of my father my studies were relatively unaffected with myself still placing in the top of the class most of the time only being beaten by Bakugo. Although when it came to physical education I had him beat in natural stamina and strength, an aspect which seemed to anger him to no end with him at one point stating that he would surpass my 'Dead eyed ass'. I could still get some form of entertainment out of enraging Bakugo and many simply suspected it of being banter between the two of us.
It was during our third year however where I noticed a sudden shift in Midoriya's behaviour.
"Hurry up Kotomine-kun! We're going to miss it at this rate!" when news of a villain attack reached Midoriya he was instantly sprinting ahead try and get a glimpse of it, a habit he had never broken out of and one that I had no real issue with. I always got some warm feeling whenever I witnessed a villain fight, although whether that was because I saw a criminal beaten to a pulp or witnessed a hero victorious I still hadn't narrowed down yet. Ultimately whichever it was didn't matter, both myself and Midoriya would get something out of these routines of ours.
"Midoriya the villain has been on the loose for the last 10 minutes, if in that time he still hasn't been caught I very much doubt he will be captured in the next 20 seconds." I chastised him while easily keeping pace.
"But Kotomine-kun don't you want to be there when the nearest hero finally arrives? What if it's a debut or a really popular one?" Despite our rapid pace Midoriya quickly shot back at my arguments as we neared the train tracks where a gigantification villain had been causing havoc after snatching a purse.
"Still holding out hope of seeing All Might up close are you?" I could feel the smirk worm it's way onto my face as Midoriya sputtered in embarrassment at having been so easily seen through.
"So what?" he awkwardly sputtered at me while we come into view of the action scene. As the news stated the villain did indeed have a gigantification quirk of some kind and had placed himself on the train tracks just above the main road.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and see a debut hero Kotomine-kun!" Midoriya excitedly cheered next to me while I simply hum in response. Hoping that it will at least be a decent fight between the villain and hero.
Three minutes later as I find myself staring at a giant spandex covered ass stood next to Midoriya while surrounded my a crowd of easily manipulated fools I have deduced that it was not a decent fight between the hero and villain. Initially I had high hopes when the up and coming hero Kamui woods arrived on the scene to combat the villain, although any hope I had of a dignified fight was thrown out of the window when the new debut hero Mt. Lady drop-kicked the villain into defeat and proceeded to pose with his unconscious body for the cameras.
While Midoriya was taking notes on Mt. Lady's quirk I was staring in mild disappointment as the villain was quickly carted away in the back of a van while the "Hero of the hour" stayed around to get her fill of public attention. While she was waving at the cameras she and I briefly locked eyes, perhaps somewhat shocked by the vacant expression on my face she either consciously or unconsciously flinched slightly, which got me to smirk at her while she narrowed her eyes before ignoring me. At least I got something out of this fiasco.
I turned to Midoriya who was still taking notes at the time and jostled him slightly to get his attention. He promptly jumped slightly startled by me before turning to face me with a perplexed expression as if to ask why I interrupted him.
"We'll be late for school if we dawdle any more Midoriya." Having said that he adopts a sudden face of realisation as if he had completely forgotten that this was simply a pit stop on our way to school.
I grip his shoulder and begin pulling him along until he starts to keep pace with me, being late on our first day for out third year would look particularly poor for out school record.
We get to school on time and in our seats, the seating plan having changed very little although Bakugo is decidedly closer to both myself and Midoriya than he was before but beyond that I suspect this year will pass as swiftly as the last.
Midoriya and myself making conversation about this morning's villain fight and hero debut until our teacher arrives.
"Midoriya, she's a walking disaster. Her size alone is enough to cause serious structural damage to urban areas and she seems to lack any form of hand to hand combat training in the event of an equal sized opponent."
"But Kotomine-kun thing of the advantages of her size in an open environment! She can easily keep up on a chase and her naturally increased size makes her significantly stronger than your average villain in terms of physical strength."
"True enough but sh-"
"Alright class settle down!" our conversation is cut short by our teachers arrival with what I can only assume are our 'plan for the future' questionnaire sheets.
The teacher positions himself behind his desk and adopts an unusually serious attitude before continuing when he knows he has the classes attention.
"Since your all third year students, it's time for you to start thinking seriously about your future."
He holds up the sheets of paper he was carrying when he came into the classroom.
"I'll pass out handouts for your future plans but…"
He promptly flings the handouts into the air as if they didn't even matter and I'm left wondering how the man even obtained a license to teach at a professional level.
"You're all pretty much aiming for the hero course right?"
The class erupts into a cheer of agreement while Midoriya adopts a more sullen expression next to me, any further cheering it cut off when Bakugo decides to announce his presence to the class.
"Oi, teach. Don't lump me in the same group as these bottom barrel rejects."
I tune out his usual rant of self-appointed superiority while listening for anything new.
'Hmmm. Seems Bakugo is aiming for the U.A. Hero Course. Provided the teacher doesn't mention-'
"Oh yeah, Midoriya and Kotomine were also aiming for U.A. as well weren't they?"
I sigh as the class promptly descends into silence in the wake of this new discovery and focus shifts onto Midoriya, I pinch the bridge of my nose already predicting what will happen next. True to my predictions the class bursts into laughter, promptly shattering what little confidence Midoriya had.
"Ha? Midoriya? No way!"
"As if they'd let a quirkless guy in the Hero course!"
"I could see Kotomine doing it."
"Kotomine could do it."
Further insults hurled at Midoriya are cut off when Bakugo decides to hurl an explosion at Midoriya's desk knocking him to the floor. His face twisted into a cruel grin as he approaches his childhood friend.
"Hey Deku! If these rejects can't even stand in the same ring as me, what hope does your quirkless ass have!"
He then turns his attention onto me as I stand to prevent him to causing to serious and injury. Or destroying any more pieces of school equipment.
"This is your doing isn't it dead eyes!" I raise an eyebrow at his accusation waiting for him to elaborate "bad enough I have to content with you aiming for the same school as me but if you think you're gonna mock me further by bringing Deku of all people with you, you've got another thing coming!"
"I find myself confused by your accusations Bakugo" I smirk at him which causes his face to almost explode with rage "I have no true influence over Midoriya's aspirations for life. I simply provided him with advice. Ultimately it is up to him whether he takes it."
We stare at each other for a few seconds before he clicks his tongue and turns away from me before marching back to his desk. I turn away and help Midoriya back to his feet and return him to his desk. The sight of Midoriya is such a beaten state no longer brings me the sickening joy it used to, whether that is because I unconsciously care more him more now than I did in the past or have simply become desensitised to it I don't know but either way I'm thankful I no longer have the same feelings of joy when I see him in his injured state.
The rest of the day passes relatively quickly with a few more student coming over to laugh at Midoriya before narrowed eyes from me sends most of them away.
"Midoriya" I turn to him "I won't be able to walk home with you today, I've been meaning to attend the local dojo recently. Get myself a wider variety of combat forms."
Midoriya waves me off "It's no problem Kotomine-kun, I'll be fine walking home by myself."
I nod to him before leaving. The local Dojo run by the Kendo family recently started offering discounted lessons. I saw a usefulness in having an understanding of only one type of martial art, despite how common place Karate is, there is still merit in learning it.
I arrived outside the dojo just before the allotted 5pm time that lessons were scheduled to begin. I had already informed Inko-san that I wouldn't be back until 7pm so I could devote myself fully to the practice. Taking a quick look at the dozen or so others that had turned up as well I evaluated that a majority of them were lacking in experience when it came to this sort of thing. All of them except the blonde haired boy with the mutation quirk which granted him a tail.
Even without the mutation the boy's posture made him stick out like a sore thumb, his build was designed for close range combat and his muscle structure told me that he was on the more acrobatic side of combat.
The Sensei of the Dojo, a somewhat older man presumably in his sixties shuffled us all in before lining us up.
"Alright listen up!" He called to us to stifle any conversations that might have been going on "Before we begin I want to get an idea on your level of training so hands up if you've never tried a martial art before!"
Instantly I noticed that majority of the prospective students put their hands up, aside from the boy I noticed earlier, confirming my suspicions at the lack of experience the others had.
"Well that's actually better than I expected" I could make out the Sensei mutter to himself "Those of you who have experience" He gestured to myself and tailed boy "will have a preliminary examination by my grand daughter" he then gestured to the red-haired girl in the corner of the room "Everyone else, we'll start with some basic breath exercises before moving onto some stances!"
"Yes Sensei!" The room called out while myself and the other boy made our way across the room towards our prospective martial art teacher.
Both the girl and the boy were smaller than me although I suspected we were all of a similar age. She gave us a smile before crossing her arms and speaking to us "Okay so you guys have some experience in martial arts eh? That's good. That'll help you but first lets start off with some introductions our age and then what martial art we are trained in. I'll go first I'm Kendo Itsuka I'm 14 and I'm trained in Karate".
She looked to the tailed boy to follow her example "O-oh I'm Ojiro Mashirao, I'm also 14 and I'm also trained in karate"
I found expectant looks directed at me and seeing no real reason to disappoint them I finished the round of introductions "Kotomine Kirei, 14 and trained in Bajiquan." I raised my eyebrow when I noticed both of them staring at me with equal looks of disbelief.
The Kendo girl was the first one shake out of her stupor "You're the same age as us!?"
"Yes" I responded in an even tone of voice betraying nothing about how I felt.
Ojiro continued Kendo's line of questioning "How!?"
I adopted a faux confused expression as if I didn't know what they were so surprised about.
"You want to know how I'm 14?"
"No!" the Kendo girl shouted at me "How are you so tall?"
I shrugged my shoulders at her and left it at that.
Seemingly realising that she wasn't going to get an answer of me beyond that she promptly avoided making and further mentions of my height before going on to explain the exercises that we would perform.
"Okay so I'll spar with each of you to get general feel of how good you are, Ojiro you're up first. Kouhaimine make sure to pay close attention to the spar as you'll be going next and remember this will be a no quirks spar!"
I raise my eyebrow at the bizarre nickname but ignore it in favour of observing the spar between the two. The spar itself is relatively even for the early parts, as I already discerned Ojiro is the more flexible of the two while Kendo has the edge in experience. I suspect that it is Ojiro's experience combined with his acrobatic style which keeps him equal to Kendo for as long as he does before she eventually floors him.
Kendo is looking somewhat out of breath as she helps Ojiro back up to his feet "Nice spar, you just seem to lack experience when it comes to this sort of thing but you did well to keep up with me for as long as you did. Stick around long enough and maybe you'll last 5 minutes instead of 3."
Ojiro laughs her off while Kendo turns to me to signal that it's my turn into the ring.
"Okay Kouhaimine lets see how good you are. Remember no quirks, just need to see the extent of your skills."
I make my way to the other side of the ring and assume my stance.
Kendo locks eyes with me "Ready Kotomine."
I simply nod to her.
"Star-OH SHI-"
The words are barely out of her mouth before I cross the ring aiming to strike her stomach. Her surprise at my rush doesn't last long as she instantly responds to the oncoming threat with a right kick aimed at my head. I cancel my punch and raise my left arm to block the kick and lean in to strike her chest with my right elbow while she's off balance, striking her ribs I quickly move to follow with a shoulder strike but she catches me in the cheek with a quick punch and uses my temporary incapacitation to throw herself back to get some distance between us.
First encounter, I come off the clear winner with my elbow doing more damage than her punch if her slight grimace is anything to go by. I can't underestimate her though, that kick was strong enough to floor me if I hadn't blocked it.
I narrow my eyes at her and lower my stance preparing to charge again. Kendo moves first and charges me, I shift my stance as she looks to go for a left strike but slides at the last moment to wrap her legs around my shins and spin me. I face plant the ground. Signifying the end of the spar.
"Damn" Kendo wheezes out "You hit real hard Kotomine, that's a real brutal technique you got."
She picks herself off the ground and extends a hand to help me up.
"Your problem Kotomine is that you've got a lot of skill and power but you can't really read your opponent very well. I'm guessing you haven't really fought a lot of people have you?"
I shake my head.
"Yeah. Thought so but we'll work on that. Now you two" she gestures to me and Ojiro "We'll have you spar against each other. Kotomine watch your opponent and try and read his next move and Ojiro?"
"Yeah?" He looks at Kendo
"Seriously don't let him punch you it hurts." she grips her side where I struck her and adopts a more pained expression "Damn Kotomine what's your quirk anyway?"
"I can reinforce my body to enhance my basic strength or senses" I give the simplified version and she narrows her eyes in suspicion.
"You didn't use your quirk did you?" She subtly accuses me.
I raise an eyebrow at her before replying "Kendo-senpai I once put my fist through a concrete wall. I didn't use my quirk on you"
She pales at the implied image before nodding to me "Uh...Good job them Kouhaimine…" she gives Ojiro a thumbs up before walking off to catch her breath "Good luck Ojiro-kun!"
The spars continue for the duration of my stay, Ojiro quickly figured out that I had a hard time reading into feints and while I would sometimes catch him, a majority of the time I would fall for it. This led to him winning a most of the spars against me although he quickly learned as to why Kendo warned him about trying to avoid getting struck by me as despite losing most of the spars he was most definitely the more injured between the two of us.
With the Dojo training session finished up I left for home and arrived to find out that Midoriya and Bakugo had gotten caught up in a villain attack. It seems as though Midoriya decided to charge the villain holding Bakugo hostage and only through the timely intervention of All Might did the two of them survive.
"Midoriya I realise you were desperate to meet All Might but I do think there are easier ways of doing it that don't involved a potential trip to an early grave." Despite my jabs at his expense Midoriya seemed to have some larger than life grin on his face as if he realised his true calling in life. I chalked it down to his meeting with his idol and promptly ignored it.
"Kotomine-kun" The seriousness of his tone briefly surprised me before I turned my full attention to him "I'm going to become a hero."
I raised and eyebrow at him and simply shrugged.
"In that case I wish you the best of luck Midoriya."
I was under no illusions of how much of it he would need in order to fulfil his impossible dream.
AN: And Canon begins! Well sort of, we'll have another time skip after the next chapter to the provisional license exam. Well I decided to introduce Kendo and Ojiro a little early in the story but they won't interact with Midoriya until we actually get to U.A. I also felt that having Kotomine have the weakness of being unable to read his opponents was a pretty good handicap for him to have early on in his training. It'll get better by the time we get to U.A. but it'll still come up in the future.