The moon is high in the sky, its light glimmering upon the lake. Resting upon the dock rest Seiryu Yamaguchi. Hearing footsteps approaching, he starts to get up, but as he notices his grandfather, relaxes.
"Oh, it's you Grandfather." stammers Seiryu
"Hahaha, what's with this oh" He laughs up a storm as he rests on the dock with his grandson. "Ahhh, now what are you so worried about? You've been out here all night, it's almost morning." He pauses "But I guess I just answered my own questions"
"Yeah, I just can't shake this feeling, and I can't name it." He sits up right and looks into the water, "What should I do Grandpa, I want to go, but I just don't feel…"
"Worthy?" He chuckles "Seiryu my boy, that's fantastic" The young man is taken aback by his words "If you feel unworthy, it means you care about what people think. You want them to like you." The older man looks up at the sky, full moon cascading its gentle light upon the lake, "You shouldn't shun this opportunity Seiryu. You've already proven yourself. What you did last week spoke volumes. It's something we've both known since your fourth birthday." He smiles and looks at his grandson, "There's not a doubt in my mind that you'll excel at U.A. and show the world that Yamaguchis can be heroes too" Seiryu smiles and yawns. "But you can't do that if you haven't slept, you've got a big day today." Seiryu stares into the pond once again, his reflection shimmering in the pond water. After a sigh, he follows his grandfather inside.
The following morning, Seiryu gathers his things. His room is best described as functional, everything has a clearly defined place and is organized appropriately. After everything's packed away, he looks into the mirror.
"I'm never going to get used to this uniform" He begrudges and continues out the door. His trip through Musutafu and to U.A. isn't as eventful as last time, no thugs taking advantage of innocent or garishly dressed punching boys, none of that. He hears his actions recollected by a few people, the man who he and Keiko rescued was actually a newscaster named Daikaku Miyagi, the day following the alley way incident, he praised two mysterious youths for saving him, but condemned them for using their quirk without a license. The two weren't charged for the crime, but were forced to remain anonymous as a result. As he passes U.A. 's large gates, he spots a familiar face, Keiko was waiting for him.
"Hey man, you remember me?" Keiko's face was beaming with positivity as he smiled widely
"How could I forget? You're the guy who can't use their quirk without hurting himself, right" Seiryu says sternly, but soft enough to hear the coiness in his voice.
"You're never going to let me live that down. Sorry if I can't punch people hard without risking my safety. But we should get going, don't want to build a reputation of being late do we?" The two started to walk in. "So what call are you in, dragon boy?" Keiko playfully taunted.
"1-A, you?" Seiryu responded back
"The main hero course? You're a lucky son of a gun, you know that?" Keiko laughed
"Am I?" Seiryu quietly pondered. The two continued until they saw the 1-A sign and two fellow classmates at the door.
"Well, I'm in 1-B so I'll see you later!" Keiko trailed off past the two. After a deep breath, Seiryu approached, hearing shouting from inside the classroom and the two aforementioned classmates, a green haired boy and brunette girl, the boy clearly embarrassed. As he drew closer he noticed two other figures, a taller boy with blue hair and glasses aggressively chopping the air and a moving sleeping bag?
"If you're looking to make friends, wait until after class. This is the Department of Heroics!" The sleeping bag unzips and a man crawls out, taller than Seiryu, he's wearing black clothes with what seem to be loose bandages around his neck. "And you!" The man looks at the newcomer, "Get over here or I'll count you as late, don't want to make it a habit now do you?" Seiryu quickly makes his way over to the classroom's doorway. "My name is Shota Aizawa and I will be your homeroom teacher. Pleased to meet you. We'll be making our way to the Training Fields soon, but first I have to announce a last minute addition to our class roster." The students murmur to themselves, Seiryu clearly hears phrases like "So that's why there's an extra seat." and "I wonder if it's another cute girl" as he enters the frame. "Introduce yourself." Aizawa gestures to Seiryu.
"My name is Seiryu Yamaguchi, I hope we have a splendid year" He bows.
"Alright, put these on and meet me outside" Seiryu watches Aizawa leave for the fields and looks to the rest of his class. Most look at him with curiosity and generally leave him alone until the class is outside. He's standing behind a really short kid with grape-like hair. When a student named Bakugo is up to throw, Seiryu is surprised by the power of his quirk. He created an explosion from his hand and launched the ball over 700 meters! The class stands in silence until Aizawa drops a bombshell, "the lowest score will be expelled!" The Class erupts in panic, but all Seiryu can do is stare at the ground, the words of the Grandfather echoing through his mind.
"You'll show the world that the Yamaguchi's can be heroes too" Seiryu's determination grows, he studies his competition, they all look capable, for the most part, and those who don't probably have a quirk to back it up.
"My Quirk increases my strength, but Bakugo launched that ball over 700 meters! There's no telling what the rest can do." When he's called, he steps into the circle and takes a deep breath. As he concentrates he activates his quirk transforming his forearm. The class looks in wonder as his forearm transforms. With a glint of determination it launches the ball. The flick of his wrist is nearly a snap, as the ball flies high. The class looks in awe, as the ball soars. Eyes aflame with determination with a glint of pride, Seiryu looks over to his classmates and Aizawa reads off...
"612.4 Meters" with his usual deadpan delivery
"612.4 Meters?!" exclaim some of the class, followed by some cheers and hollers. The apprehension test continues and Seiryu gives it his all, reaching the top five in the class. As the results were listed he sighed in relief as his name appeared, finally allowing himself to relax. The last name listed was "Izuku Midoriya", it was the boy he saw in the doorway. Seiryu felt his determination during the exam, reading his name dead last and seeing trying to hide his broken finger made him think of Keiko. In the split second before Aizawa could utter another word, Seiryu piped up
"I will not stand by as this young man to be expelled!" The rest of the class looked at Seiryu in the far back, "His showing during this exam has shown me that he's the determination to be a hero, possibly more than I. If he's dropped from the course, I might as well do the same." Seiryu stands proud, his confidence ablaze, until Aizawa is finally allowed to finish a syllable.
"I appreciated the theatrics Mr. Yamaguchi, but if you let me finish, I was about to come clean. I lied, no one's going home"
"What?" At that moment, Seiryu could barely muster a simple word, very soon his face was beat red, "Ah yes of course, this must've been used to push us to our limit" his nervous stammering couldn't be more apparent. Some of his classmates start to chuckle and Seiryu tries his best to disappear within the back of the class.
"Correct, Mr. Yamaguchi. That's it for today, syllabuses are in the classroom, read them" Aizawa walks away, leaving the students to their own devices, just before handing a note to Midoriya.
Seiryu waits until most of his classmates have left before grabbing a syllabus, wanting to minimize his embarrassment.
"Great… First day here and I already embarrassed myself" Seiryu thinks to himself. He rambles for a bit, studying his syllabus, until out of the corner of his eye he notices someone approaching.
"Excuse me, you're Yamaguchi correct?"
"Yes, I'm Yamaguchi and I know what I did was hilario-" He finally looks up from his syllabus, expecting some jeer back at him, but it's one of his classmates. A rather tall girl with long dark hair bound in a ponytail. "You're Yaoyorozu right?"
"Yes, I just wanted to say that I thought your actions were inspiring" as she finishes a smile spreads across her face, it feels genuine.
"Well, I wouldn't call embarrassing myself in front of my peers for someone I barely even know to be inspiring. More like idiotic, shortsided, and all around a social suicide" He rubs the back of his neck, blushing a bit when recounting the prior events.
"It was fairly obvious to me that it was a lie, but I felt your passion during that display. You put your tenure on the line because you felt he deserved to be here, I thought it was heroic." She smiles, " Well, I must be going, I hope we can talk again." She walks away, a strong sense of dignity in her step as she does.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow!" Seiryu shouts back, "I still wouldn't call it ``heroic ``" he murmurs to himself as he continues out the gate, seeing Keiko across the street and he walks over.
"So, Dragon boy, how was your first day? I didn't see your class at orientation." Keiko questioned
"Well, Sensei Aizawa has alternative methods, let me tell you." The two continue talking, Keiko laughs, and eventually both part ways.