[Vol 1 – 3: A Meeting of a Lifetime – Part 1]

[Uploaded - 2022-05-17 at 2:15 PM]

[Editted - 2022-05-17 at 4:15 PM]

Kokichi sat on one of the couches within the dormitory living room. In front of him was a giant packet of papers, all of which were filled to the brim with questions, questions that were of the academic variety. And while he was silently answering the questions, in the back of his mind, despite his verbal silence, Kokichi was screaming on the inside.

He hated school with a burning passion. He liked the social part of school, but the academics always made him want to slam his head into the dirt and scream. Don't get him wrong, he knew that if he didn't do it he wouldn't be able to be a "hero." Just because he didn't have to do the practical portion of the entrance exam, he still had to do the written portion of it.

So, right now, he was studying with all the material he needed to know for the test. Instead of getting that, he was given a practice version of the test. So, in lew of that, he had spent the past hour and a half sitting his but down on the brown leather couch slaving away on the test, and only now did he make it his way through half of the booklet. While he was doing this, he was triple-checking each answer that had an answer, and leaving the questions that needed to be reviewed by the teachers unchecked, because they were freeform.

He never understood freeform questions. The teachers in his old schools always told him that there was no objectively right or wrong answer to them, but whenever he got his tests with those particular questions back, they'd always be marked wrong. If there was no wrong answer, then how were his answers always deemed wrong?

He always automatically assumed that the teachers marked them based on their own biased views, so he never really put much effort into them. The same thing went for these questions here, though he still had to think about how to answer them, seeing as they were rather… interesting.

They were morality questions. For example: What should a Hero do when faced with a hostage situation?

Now, in Kokichi's mind, the answer was clear-cut and simple – Beat the shit out of the bad guy. But hostage situations were never that easy. Hell, he had been in far too many to count when he was younger because of what he did. The first thing that came to mind was making negotiations with the person who is holding the hostages, if possible. In fact, that was what he put down. However, he also elaborated that if it was impossible to actually make negotiations, then the hero should swoop in and beat the shit out of the villain in question.

He found it funny that he now actually had to consider things such as Heroes and Villains. The fact that heroes were a thing threw him in a loop and still did, but after watching some TV and footage from these battles, he saw just how terrifying Quirks were firsthand. They weren't just some tacky abilities that look cool for the camera, they were real things.

For example, the number 2 Pro Hero, Endeavour, had a flame Quirk he called "HellFlame," something Kokichi found cool both in concept and in execution. Not only was he brutal in how he dispatched villains, but he did so without remorse for the damage he caused. He was so focused on beating the bad guy that he didn't seem to care about his surroundings. He could think of several ways to beat Endeavour, such as dragging him out during a torrential downpour or simply lying about the strength of his flames to weaken them.

But he guessed he shouldn't think about it like that. After all, he could figure out how to dismantle certain heroes another time. Besides, it wasn't as if he planned on actually doing anything to them, or even considering fighting them. In Kokichi's mind, if you know the weakness of your allies, if they go rogue, you can take them out easier, and if they are in dire need of assistance, well, then do the opposite.

But seeing as that was unrelated to the actual test, he decided to purge those thoughts from his mind, and continue thinking about the stuff on the test instead of sabagoting hereos. After all, he wanted to make his academic first impressions pretty good. Of course, he could lie about being a super-genius, and he certainly thought about doing it, but he found it to be disingenuous.

That, and he didn't want to vomit up any more blood today. Popular to contrary belief, it hurt like a motherfucker.

After another hour of trying to get through the test, after doing his third and final answer check, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, stood up, and stretched out his back. His legs felt like jelly for sitting for as long as he did, and with the "practice" test finished, he groaned.

If that was the practice test, he didn't even want to think about what the actual test would've been like. Although Nedzu did say that it was more or less being used to judge his mental capacity as well as his education level, even still, he wouldn't know the results until a couple of days, at least, according to the chimera, that was.

"Fucking finally…." Kokichi moaned, trudging his way over to the stairwell on the left, which was where his bedroom was. As he climbed up the stairs, he reflexively glanced behind him, sighing—damn killing game and its traumatizing effects. But that wasn't his only problem. While he had many problems, he had one that was probably the most relatable.

He hated the silence.

He hated being alone.

It was one of the worst feelings imaginable, and the best part about it was that everyone could collectively agree with that statement. And if someone liked being alone… then what the hell was wrong with them? Something, probably. But he digressed. He climbed the stairs, ignoring the pounding headache he had from all the thinking he had to do. He pitied everyone else who had to do that bullshit.

Oh, right. He would have to… again. In other words, he pitied himself. But then again, when didn't he? He opened the door to his bedroom—the first one on the right of the hallway—stumbled inside and crashed onto his bed before flipping over like a fish on dry land, allowing him to stare up at the ceiling. Tomorrow was the start of his second week in this new world, and he still barely understood a goddamned thing.

Pro heroes, villains, superpowers—all of it. He barely understood what world he woke up in, and despite the information he had access to, he couldn't trust it to not be biased toward the current world leader and global belief in the good versus the bad type scenario heavily skewed towards the good. What most people probably didn't know about Kokichi, or even wanted to believe, was that he hated lies. Well, bad lies, lies that painted the bad guys as the good guys.

He didn't mind white lies, but it was the ones that actively hurt people that he despised. He never told them, not unless he had to in order to save his own skin. He especially hated the lies that the government or the EU spread to further whatever cause they had. For whatever reason to justify war against other countries. Although he had heard about the lack of wars after the Quirk boom of 2025, and that wars were practically non-existent nowadays, which was good, in the sense that the only real wars that occurred were the ones between the heroes and villains.

So, in other words, wars were more small-scale than country versus country and more like community versus community. He sighed, not wanting to think about the implications that meant for him, and instead he looked out the window and saw the starry night sky.

He loved the pitch blackness of the night. It reminded him of the good old days. Back then he would orchestrate a spraypaint party with him and the other members of D.I.C.E., back then, in the good old days, when he didn't have to live in fear and look over his shoulder every other second because an assassin was out to get him. Even now he still looked over his shoulder, despite knowing she wasn't around.

"Vindictive bitch…. Oh well, I deserved it. Whatever. That's in the past," Kokichi thought, sitting up from his prone position on the bed. He couldn't get it out of his head just how badly Maki wanted him dead. She had believed every single word of his, to the point where it bordered on insanity. He could see it in her eyes back in the hanger.

Those rage-filled black eyes that pierced his soul to its very core, to the point where he felt like he was being dissected without her even lifting a finger. Despite the mask of bravery he had put on when she showed up, he remembered feeling an insane amount of fear for the assassin. Because he knew that she wasn't there to mess around. She was there to take out another target.

But that wasn't what made him fear her. No. He had seen disturbed people like her before. He was used to seeing that. Corrupt cops, crazy parents, insane passersby. He saw that in all of them. But she was different. Her anger extended past rationality. It was driven by madness. By Despair.

But most of all, he could see the bloodlust. That cruel hatred for him she had since the beginning. If anything, she was just looking for a reason to snuff out his life, and him faking to be the mastermind and kidnapping Kaito had done the trick. And when those arrows struck their intended target, he could see the glee in her eyes.

She was happy. And he hated her for it. It took all the restraint in the world for him to not rush up to her and snap her neck with a well-placed kick. But of course, he knew that would be suicidal. She'd snap HIS neck faster than he could blink. So, he simply stood still.

He didn't know what happened in the trial, but if Kaito had won it, if he had stuck through with the plan, then Kokichi would've loved to see Maki's body get torn apart by whatever execution that Monokuma came up for her.

And speaking of Monokuma.

Nedzu.

The two were pretty similar. Their mannerisms, the way they spoke, and their overall chaotic manner of speech and forced mystery. Though for Nedzu, it was harmless, for Monokuma, it was pure evil, or despair, or whatever it was. They were both small, puntable creatures, and while Monokuma was the sole reason for his anger and hatred towards death—outside of a myriad of other, non-discussable things—Nedzu just fueled his annoyance at the education system.

Outside of that, though, he saw no reason to hate the… whatever the hell he was. He groaned, closing his eyes. He didn't want to think about this crap anymore. "It's getting late…." The purplette muttered, yawning. "I'm going to get some shut-eye…." And with that, he turned out his bedroom light, wrapped himself into the covers of his bed, and drifted to sleep.

At least there, he didn't have to worry about stupid things like the past.

xxXXxxXXxx

It wasn't normal. Nothing about the kid had been normal, and that was the conclusion that Hound-dog came to when he skimmed through the freeform answers in the test. The kid was tactical—too tactical. When asked what to do in a hostage situation, he replied with something that a swat-team member would reply with. And when asked about what he'd do in a one-on-one fight with a villain, the boy explained in detail what he'd do, from disarming them if they had a weapon to then kicking the ever-loving shit out of them till they admitted defeat.

From what he saw, the kid seemed to be a mix of a police officer and Endeavour, at least, when he approached villains. When it came to rescuing hostages, he seemed to be extremely polite and calm, at least, in his answers, stating to reassure them, even if a lie had to be told here and there—his words exactly. Overall, from his answers alone, he seemed like a mixed bag, and that wasn't taking into consideration his trust issues and his overall demeanour around Nedzu.

He was tense, 24/7, and never relaxed. Even in the dorms when he visited him to do a mental-health check, the boy never once relaxed his shoulders, never once took his eyes off of him, and seemed to be observing him. Almost as if he was the boy was looking for ways to stop the counsellor from attacking him—though he'd never do that, but he digressed.

The boy stayed away from knives, even butter knives, and instead used spoons or forks to cut things, and only used knives if he was handling meat—before anyone asks, he wanted to see if he could cook for himself. Turns out he could, so that was good. It meant the school's budget didn't have to go toward fast food for the kid. Though he did notice just how nervous he was when he used knives, so he added that to his list of concerns.

All he could think about now was what the boy could've possibly gone through to be this distrusting of people to the point of observation and paranoia around knives. He'd have to look into that.

Right now he was in downtown Esuha with the boy, seeing as Aizawa was on duty, he took over setting up a bank account for the boy. He didn't mind, but he did feel a bit annoyed having to go all the way out to Esuha. Although, Aizawa did state that the bank in question the boy wanted to use was only in that city. His records were uploaded to Japan's recognition system, so he didn't have to worry about being questioned.

Based on his mental health and how he was silent around everyone, he decided to just let Kokichi wander around the city, knowing he wouldn't get into trouble, all the while he set up a bank account for the kid.

And speaking of Kokichi.

Currently, the boy was wandering the city, sticking to the sidewalk, wearing a white tank top and black shorts, knee socks and his black runners. It was pretty chilly out, staying around 10 degrees with cold winds, but the boy didn't care. He was just happy to be outside.

Esuha was a beautiful city, that much he could attest to, albeit a bit obnoxious, what with the flashing lights and billboards everywhere. Regardless, he thought the place to be a nice breath of fresh air. Don't get him wrong, he thought U.A. was cool, but what he didn't like was the nonsense surrounding it. The bland buildings, the number of stores, the place just felt dead.

But compared to Esuha, it was more calming. He'd need to find a place that was more 'middle of the road,' to act as his chill-out zone whenever he wasn't at the Heights Alliance. Still, he liked the place. It reminded him of a toned-down version of Tokyo, or Akihabara.

And it was also here where he got to see the insane amount of diversity with Quirked individuals. People with animal parts, literal reptile people, people with gills, people made of paper, hell, he was pretty sure he saw someone made of slime jaywalk at a crosswalk just a few moments ago. Then there were people using psychic abilities, and some were just people with animal heads, and some people had blade fingers.

It was insane! Not only did he find it cool, if not a little bit creepy, but there was also a part of him that loved it! It reminded him of the old Manga he used to read when he was younger, like Two Piece or Karuto! He wondered if people in this future had similar powers? Who knows, if there were people like this, perhaps there were. He'd have to find out later.

He ducked into an alleyway, as there was a clump of people up ahead that seemed like trouble, and he didn't want to get into trouble for figuring out what it was about. When he did, however, he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. He stopped, his purple eyes fixing on the thing in question, that being a lump of light brown cloth with white hair, hunched over in a corner, legs tucked into themselves as they shivered. They seemed to be passed out, tired, and extremely malnourished.

And that was when Kokichi made the horrible realization that he wasn't looking at a cloth, or a doll, but something far more depressing.

It was a little kid, and they had a horn on their forehead, their eyes closed, huddled away in a corner between a dumpster and a pile of garbage bags. The kid had bandages covering their legs and arms, and from what he could see, bandages covering her upper body as well from the head-hole that had dropped to the side a tiny little bit.

A wave of despair washed over him as he approached the kid, praying that they weren't dead. When he pressed two fingers against their neck, he could feel a slight pulse. They were alive, but only barely. "Shit… whose kid is this? Or is it possible that they're a homeless orphan?" Kokichi thought, biting his lower lip. He looked around, seeing no one else in the area.

He didn't know if he should take them away from here and back to the Heights Alliance with Hound-Dog and himself, or if he should just leave them there. He weighed the pros and the cons of what to do and eventually came to an answer.

He wasn't about to leave a kid alone, starving in an alleyway. That would go against everything he stood for. Everything D.I.C.E. stood for.

Gently, he slipped a hand underneath the kid's legs, then did the same with her back, and slowly lifted them up, tucking them into himself, their head resting against his chest. They were so lightweight, it was almost sickening. They couldn't have weighed more than 10 kilograms, maybe 15 if they were lucky. 'They're lighter than a milk jug. How the hell does that happen?' He shook his head, dispelling the thought. The who, the what, the when, and the how could wait until later. Right now, he needed to get the kid to safety.

He moved quickly, exiting the alleyway as fast as possible, not looking back even in the slightest. He could hear voices behind him, followed by the sounds of running. He cursed under his breath, and then looked down in his arms, he saw that the kid was slowly waking up. Red eyes stared into purple ones, and after a few seconds, the kid's eyes widened to the size of saucers, but they did nothing to try and escape from his grasp. Perhaps they were too weak to do so, and if that was the case, that only made Kokichi think the worst of what had possibly happened to this poor child.

"GET HIM! HE HAS THE CHILD!" He heard one of the voices shout out to the rest of the group that had been chasing him, and that had been enough for him to make another stupid, albeit worthwhile choice. He sucked in a breath, looked over his shoulder, and saw the five thugs chasing him. He turned his attention back to the kid, then smiled.

"Hang on tight…." Kokichi said, frowning 'this is going to hurt.' "I have wings, and I can fly as if it were second nature." As soon as he finished that sentence, black, elegant wings ripped out of his back and shirt as he jumped up, taking off in the air as a small stream of blood leaked from his mouth, and a tight pang sent waves throughout his chest. The kid clung onto his shirt as if their life depended on it, which it pretty much did, as they soared into the clouds.

He only came to Esuha to get a bank account, and now he was taking a child back with him to U.A. How crazy was that? If Satoru were still around, the reaction that kid would have on his face would be priceless. "No need to think like that, let's just get the home... but first." Kokichi thought as he looked down at the thugs, who just stood there, dumbfounded. He stopped in mid-air, the wings flapping as he hovered above the buildings.

He used one arm to cradle the kid, their hands clinging onto his shirt harder when he did, but he didn't mind. Kokichi dug around in his pants pocket for his phone using his free hand, and when he pulled it out, he immediately dialled Hound Dogs' number—the pro had put his number as well as all the staff's numbers into his phone in case of emergencies, and right now was an emergency—and waited for him to pick up.

"What is it Kokichi, I'm busy setting up your bank account. This better be good," the man dog growled as Kokichi rolled his eyes, flapping his newfound wings and began to fly away, the thugs attempting to give chase, only to give up a little bit after the fact.

"I'd like to think of this as a "good" reason to call," Kokichi snarked, sighing. "Look, I got a kid, and by the looks of things, they seem to be malnourished and seemingly sick. They were being chased by some thugs for some reason or another, and now I have them with me. I'm going to head off to the Heights Alliance and take them to that nurse. Just wanted to let you know, kay, bye-bye," Kokichi said, hanging up the phone before Hound Dog could get a word in. Afterwards, he darted off into the direction of U.A., at least, where he thought U.A. was.

As he flew, he felt the wind hit his skin, and it felt refreshing, almost reassuring. If it wasn't such a dire situation, he would probably be doing flips in the air and whooping at how cool this actually was. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time for such luxuries and stuck to the path that he was going down, er, flying down. He saw the school off in the distance, even if it was pretty far away, and knew he was heading in the right direction.

He put the phone into his pocket in mid-air, and when he did, he shifted himself to carry the child comfortably so she didn't fall. The kid didn't so much as make a peep, but they had a scared look in their eyes. Time to change that "Hey, kid, it's alright, I'm not gonna drop you, Just hang on tight. You don't want to fall from this height," Kokichi said, getting to a slower speed to keep them from freaking out, the response from the child being that her hold began to weaken. That wasn't good, on top of that, she looked more than just ill. She clinging on to life, and her breathing had become slower.

He needed to get going, and fast. If this kid was going to make it to see the evening sky, he needed to pick up the pace.

"Nice flying, kiddo."

Kokichi immediately stopped when he heard the voice of someone new, and immediately straightened himself out as if he was standing. "Goddamnit, I don't have time for this!" Kokichi thought as he looked over to his left and right, and when he saw the person who had spoken to him, he raised an eyebrow, then immediately narrowed them, observing the person in question.

This person was a man that had bright red wings sticking out of his back, wearing what appeared to be yellow goggles over his eyes, underneath which were solid gold-coloured eyes. The man had ash-blond hair that had a feathery look to it, and he wore an aviators jacket and pants, underneath which was a black shirt with some kind of yellow wave-like pattern meshed within. On his feet were brown leather boots, and as he stared at the boy, Kokichi could feel the girl shiver. He really didn't have the time to deal with this.

The man looked at the kid in his arms, raised an eyebrow, then hummed. "Quite the cargo your carrying. I was going to ask you to quit your flying, but since you got something in your arms that seemed to need to be airlifted, I hope you don't mind if I check to see where it is you're going," the man said as Kokichi narrowed his eyes, scowling.

"And who exactly are you? For all I know, you could be with those thugs that were after this girl. So sorry if I don't trust you," Kokichi spat as the man shrugged, adjusting his goggles.

"Yeah, I saw that coming. Don't worry, kiddo, I'm a Pro Hero, names Hawks, ranked 3rd on the billboard. Funny you mention those thugs, though. I just finished wrangling them up. They talked about a kid with big black wings flying off a kid, and so I investigated. I'll take your word for it, just gotta know where it is you're going and I'll be on my way. After that, I should stress to you about getting a flying licence," Hawks stated as Kokichi sighed.

He closed his eyes, then decided on his next course of action. He knew he couldn't outrun nor outfly the guy, so he decided to comply with what the man wanted. "Fine. I'm heading to U.A. where the kid can get some form of diagnosis for what's wrong with them—I don't trust hospitals for several reasons that I'm not getting into—and then I'm heading back to my living arrangements on campus, hopefully with them. There, happy?" Kokichi said, scowling as Hawks gave him a thumbs up.

"Just peachy, kiddo. Happy flying," and with that, Hawks jetted away, leaving behind a red feather in his wake, which Kokichi took and slipped into his pocket. He didn't know why he did that, but he just did. The flight didn't last much longer, and when he got to U.A., he landed as gracefully as he could on the window sill just outside of the medical bay, which caught the nurse off guard, making her fall out of her chair.

When she opened the window, she raised an eyebrow at Kokichi, only to furrow them at seeing the kid. "Young man, what are you—"

"Take the kid, she needs medical attention. And no, I'm not taking them to a hospital. I Trust you more than those nutcases. That, and I don't have the money to do so," Kokichi interrupted, ducking into the room and gently putting the kid down on one of the beds. He double clapped, the wings entering his back as if they never existed, causing him to shiver.

Chiyo looked over to the malnourished, overly pale little kid, then back to Kokichi and grimaced. "Alright, Mr. Oma. I'll get right to it. Next time, warn me in advance. I'll call you once I figure out what's going on. Where did you find them?" Chiyo asked as Kokichi frowned, crossing his arms as he looked at the little kid, sympathy in his eyes as they shivered. Out of reflex, he put a blanket over her small fragile body and put a hand on her head, something that seemed to make her flinch, which in turn only served to anger him further, though it wasn't directed toward the kid, but to whoever did whatever it is they did to them.

"An alleyway. There were thugs after them, so I don't know what it was they were after them for, but I bet it couldn't be good. I don't know if they have parents, but even if they did, I'm not returning the kid to them. That much is for sure. They left the kid in the alleyway, and or had thugs chase after them, so I'll be damned if I'm letting that happen again," Kokichi said, a slight edge to his voice as he spoke, removing his hand from the kid's forehead, brushing over a small horn.

The elderly nurse grimaced, nodding before shooing him away. "You get back to the dorms. I'll talk to Nedzu after this. I'm sure we can arrange something," Chiyo stated, rolling her chair over to the girl as Kokichi left, looking over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Doc," Kokichi said, taking in a deep breath before leaving. Little had he known it, but in the mind of the child that he had just saved, she was repeatedly thanking him. She was too weak to talk or make it verbal, but she was crying. Crying tears of happiness.

Perhaps, life for the little kid would get better for her.

-To Be Continued-

Well, Canon? Shattered, Kokichi using his Quirk to save someone? Check. Kokichi now having an unknowing hate boner for Chisaki? Double Check. Let's see, I think I did good for this chapter. Also, Hawks showed up, so that's a double yay! Hope you guys enjoyed this one. The next few chapters in this arc will be Kokichi's reactions to just how shitty poor little Eri has had it and only further his anger towards Chisaki, despite not even knowing who he is. Until next time, hope you guys enjoyed this one, see you in the next chapter. Peace.