Here we go again! Only this time, with a 4k word chapter!
Don't get used to this.
Enjoy!
(Warning: contains a limited degree of spoilers for the Fate/ Grand Order Camelot section and the corresponding movie. Why would a bnha fic have fate/grand order spoilers, you ask? Read to find out… or not… if you haven't played Camelot)
(Discord: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV)
Looking at the tall gates of UA once again, my black hair tussled in the wind. The grey uniforms with green accentuations for UA were actually pretty comfortable, but the shoes provided weren't.
A gym uniform in my bag, and my phone discretely hidden in a binder, I walked towards what was to be my doom.
I was reminded of the old movie "Into the Spiderverse", where they painted a mural in the subway about expectations. It was a very poetic scene, with the black void in the center of the colorful words "expectations".
Still, I knew that I wasn't the protagonist of this story. How did I know?
I had a quirk since I was four.
You see, one of the most common tropes in books these days were "quirkless kids suddenly getting a power that allows them to be a hero". So much so that it had actually driven a lot of quirkless kids to put themselves in dangerous situations just to see if they actually had a secretly overpowered quirk.
Spoiler alert: they didn't. And so many of them got critically injured that the government had to pass a law that banned the new publication of power fantasy novels.
Of course, there was outrage from the creative community, but Japan, following the law that the Chinese have implemented for the iseaki genre back before quirks were a thing (which involved a lot of people jumping off bridges to get to another world), was firm in its execution.
It was cruel, but well meaning at the same time. It both curbed the hopes and dreams of 5 percent of the population, but it also helped save their lives.
Bad literature and web novels aside, UA actually had a small forest inside its walls. The golden symbol of the letters U and A melded together. The building inside was also a shiny aquamarine, the greenery outside and the blue colors bringing great contrast to the grey buildings surrounding the colorful campus.
Such a beautiful –
"Meow" a demure yowl sounded behind me, and I saw the irritatingly cute face of High Priestess near my feet. Tail curled around her paws and tabby fur glistening in the sunlight, that damned cat that was the start of all my suffering looked at me expectantly.
And even if I didn't speak cat (or, of course, have the ability to read the thoughts of one), I knew the intentions of her following me here.
"No, High Priestess. You cannot come to school with me. It violates the rules."
Also, it was a common protagonist move to have an animal companion. But I hell bent on not becoming the protagonist. And even if, of course, terms like protagonist didn't apply to anybody in real life, it was still a good measure of "would you become famous and get involved in a bunch of shenanigans randomly".
Which was something I didn't want. I wanted to escape the hero course as badly as possible, but at the same time I couldn't because most of the people that knew me thought I wanted to be one, and therefore expected me to be one.
What I could do, however, was demonstrate that my "quirk" (my false one, the Moonlit gap), wasn't suited to being a hero at all. This, my quirk didn't stop.
I had prepared several "moves" that were totally impractical for a hero to have. Arash's Stella from Fate/Grand Order was a great example: A self destructive power that could only be used once.
I was also only going to use my shadow element (because some people expected me to have that power and thus I wouldn't need to come up with new chuuni phrases to activate that power), and then boost Tokoyami's Shadow quirk.
Assuming, of course, that we were in the same class.
I took a step forward, and then, under the watchful gaze of statues of the heroes of the past, began to apply my "hero" mask.
But before fully sinking into my hero-like persona, I glared one last time at High Priestess, who shrunk back on herself and began walking out of the gates. Good.
I slapped on wholesome smile number four (a combination of hopeful and happy), and then gait number three (slight spring in my step, though not to childish degrees), before integrating myself with all of the hero hopefuls.
Still, one seed of doubt remained. "Why was I monologuing in my head?"
Shaking off my insecurities mentally, I prepared to act like a totally fake, genuine hero.
Wait, that sentence didn't make any sense. I got what I meant, though, and then began lathering my prepared dialogue with goodwill and altruism.
This was the first day, and first impressions were important to keep up a farce. After all, if people first saw you as a total riajuu, your subsequent behavior deviations from the "hero norm" would then be attributed to personal hardship, which every single hero must have had or will have (according to internet forum speculations.).
All in all, heroism was a greatly romanticized thing. It was the focus of pop culture, and if the system of expectations was exploitable, I would definitely exploit it. (But not to the degree of becoming a protagonist!).
I adjusted my tie, making sure it was perfect but not too perfect, found the room for 1-A, and then pushed the door.
Thankfully, I wasn't late. I wasn't that early, either. I waved at everybody with a measured degree of awkwardness and friendliness, found my assigned seat, and then sat down. It was seat number ten, and then I was next to the turtle faced boy from the exam, and somebody with a lot of tentacles for arms.
They were all very tall, and I was sandwiched between these six foot genetic anomalies as somebody five foot four.
I mentally fist pumped. Perfect. The seat of obscurity was mine! And if I just maintained a moderate presence-
The door opened, and a bird-headed student strolled in.
"Tenshin-san, fellow disciple of darkness. It is fortunate that we meet again, here, in this very room."
I attempted to decode his speech, and then just began guessing.
"Yeah. I am glad that we are in the same class, my friend."
Tokoyami sat back on his desk, one behind me, and then began introducing himself to the other two besides him, the six armed student and… why was that other one looking at me with respect and fear?
"Oh, hey. By the way, I'm Yohaku Tenshin. What's your names?"
"Shoji Mezo." A voice besides my ear said. I turned and saw that one of his arms had grown a mouth.
The other boy just pointed to a sign on his desk. It read "Koji Koda".
"You all excited for UA?" I asked, bringing up my best hyped expression number two. I angled my head slightly upwards to reflect the light from the ceiling florescent lights and gave off a slight smile. I made my arms tremble a bit, and put it in my pocket to "disguise my excitement".
"To learn in such an establishment bathed in the light of our predecessors is overwhelming me and my Dark Shadow." Tokoyami said, putting a lot of emphasis on 'Dark' and 'Shadow'. "But I am nonetheless excited to turn my darkness into something akin to a boon for society."
Oh, so he was that dramatic all the time. It wasn't just a one time thing.
Inwardly, I sighed. This was my life now.
"Of course! Even All Might graduated from this school, and I'm here!" I said, rather loudly but not loud enough to catch the attention of the other students, who were slowly trickling in.
One particularly arrogant looking blonde slouched in, book bag slung over his shoulder, before slumping down and putting his legs up on the desk. Another student, one with blue hair, eyes already twitching because of Tokoyami (for some reason), went up to reprimand the miscreant.
I turned my attention back to the conversation, where Shoji and Koda were muttering to each other, though I could catch their excited tones. Tokoyami was content to remain silent, presumably because he had already given out his dramatic speech.
The conversation halted and stopped when the protagonist appeared.
As I continued my analysis, I nodded to myself. Red shoes, a perfectly worn tie, messy green hair (a unique color, which was also an indication of importance), and a nervous expression that fit all of the tropes.
It wasn't that my deduction was a feeling. No, this was all part of my calculations.
The protagonist was the one who arrived late, and the clock already showed that class was about to start. Then, as if on cue, the blue-haired student immediately strode up to him, introduced himself loudly, and then began dialoguing.
His name was Iida Tenya, and the green haired student's name was Izuku Midoriya.
I was content to fall into the background, because now was the protagonist's time to shine. Not mine.
Amidst the rounds of socializing, while the blonde kid grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes suspiciously,
Their camaraderie was interrupted by a low whisper.
"Go somewhere else if you want to make friends. This is UA's hero course."
Something in a yellow sleeping bag waddled into the room and stood before the podium.
"Hello. I'm Shouta Aizawa. Your teacher."
Outrage met his statement, with students whispering to each other and casting suspicious or pitying glances to our hobo-like teacher.
I was also skeptical, and was about to say some snarky statement, but then I remembered that riajuus didn't talk smack about their teachers, and held my silence.
"Right, let's get to it. Put these on and get outside."
There was a great rustling, and everybody, still in a haze of confusion because of these strange circumstances, followed suit. As we all filed out of the classroom, I noticed that a floating uniform was with us as well.
Was that… Toru? Was she in Class 1-A too?
I would talk to her later, if she even remembers me. The memory of several afterschool conversations between elementary schoolers came to mind briefly, before I focused myself on following the confused and sluggish motions of my classmates.
…
We were on the training fields now. The track field was the standard 400 meter variant, but there was grass way beyond that, as far as the eye could see.
…And we were doing a quirk assessment test. God, damn it. Really? On the first day?
When I didn't build up an impression with anybody yet? When I haven't even told anybody about my quirk?
"Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit. You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you never get to use your quirks in physical exams."
A lot of people looked excited, and I surpressed nervousness and tried to appear upbeat.
Thankfully, nobody noticed. Everybody was too engrossed in Aizawa sensei's explanation.
"The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day the ministry of education will learn that."
Listening to Aizawa Sensei's explanation, I suddenly understood something. This wasn't a propaganda class, and Aizawa wasn't your standard cardboard cutout hero. He was a realist, and something so very crass yet so very genuine.
So were so many others. Tokoyami with his chuuni delusions. Koda with his nervousness. I saw the earnest expressions on many of my classmates, all of them willing to try their hardest and become heroes…
And I was here… just a mask propped up with the expectations of others.
"Bakugo."
Everybody's eyes shot to the boy, whose hand was raised proudly. I was distracted from my inner monologue (And I really, really needed to stop that! Why was I becoming the one that narrated everything in my mind?) and looked at his scornful face.
"You managed to score the third most points in the entrance exam."
"Wait, third?" Bakugo shouted, his facial features distorting into one of explosive anger. "Which one of you extras did this?"
I tried to shrink back, but Aizawa sensei rendered my efforts useless.
"The first place scorers were Tokoyami and Tenshin, after their quirks worked together to destroy an entire exam center."
Everybody edged away from us, and I suddenly realized that Tokoyami was standing silently behind me. I guess birds of a feather flocked together, huh?
(Who was I kidding. We were nothing alike.)
"This is a competition, right?" Bakugo asked, turning to Aizawa, who nodded.
"You fuckers better watch out." The ashy blonde muttered, accepting the ball from Aizawa and stepping into the box where we were going to throw it.
"In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?" Aizawa said, ignoring the drama.
"Sixty seven meters." Bakugo stated, matter-of-factly.
"And if you were to use your quirk, how much would that number change?"
Bakugo grinned savagely, before glaring at me and Tokoyami. Then, he stepped up to the plate.
"Anything goes, just stay in the circle." Aizawa instructed.
Bakugo nodded, before grinning, palming the ball, shifting it around in his hand, winding back, and throwing his arm forward furiously.
"Die!" Bakugo shouted, explosions accentuating his shouts.
Phwooom….
The ball rocketed forward, creating shockwaves in the air as the projectile broke the sound barrier.
"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities."
After a moment of just standing there and waiting for the ball to land, some of us rubbing sand out of our eyes, the results came.
Aizawa's sensor beeped, and the results read '705.2 meters'.
"It's the best way to figure out your maximum potential as a pro hero."
The class stood stunned, at the display, before breaking out into a hubbub.
"Wow! 705 meters!" said a kid with yellow hair and a black stripe in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"I wanna go!" A bubbly, pink-skinned girl with black sclera said.
"What a mad banquet of darkness…" Tokoyami muttered. "To think that competitive spirit could drive one to such lengths…"
I nodded.
"So this looks fun, huh?" A cold statement from Aizawa cut through the enthusiasm.
"Today, you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential, and whoever comes in last has none. They will be expelled immediately."
A grim shadow fell over the faces of everybody, and intense looks soon replaced it, along with looks of depression and anxiety from Midoriya, further cementing his position as the protagonist.
As we got into position to continue the exercises, Tokoyami asked me the question that I had been both hoping for and dreading.
"How will your control over our shadows aid you in performing these tasks?"
I paused for a moment, thinking about a way to phrase my answer so that my quirk only seemed useful and not overpowered.
"My quirk isn't limited to control over shadows."
"Truly?" Tokoyami said, his eyebrows quirking. "Is your forbidden power truly so strong?"
"Nothing like that." I said, waving a hand. "Without your quirk, I could never have destroyed a city just with regular old shadows. My quirk is called Moonlit Gap, and it allows me to create territory where I gain a limited amount of strength, clairvoyance, and speed. I also have authority over the land that I create, which means I can bolster an element's influence."
"And one such element is darkness? I see." Tokoyami nodded. "Even if it is not as grand a power as I thought, it still does has its niche."
"I should get started." I said, muttering. "Territory this large takes a while to create."
"But you began infusing darkness into our UA exam almost immediately." Tokoyami said, confused. "Has your power weakened since then?"
"Of course not." I said, turning to him while still making random hand movements towards the ground. "I merely began preparing as we were walking onto the exam arena."
"Were we allowed to do so?" Tokoyami questioned.
"They never said we couldn't." I said, shrugging. "Besides, it is important for a hero to be prepared."
"That I can see." Tokoyami concurred.
His belief cemented in my quirk, I felt a warmth trickle to my fingertips and spread to the ground, sending subtle blue pulses across the track field.
"I should embody the wind element for the sprint." I muttered loudly, intentionally so that Tokoyami could hear me and then draw his own conclusions. "It's the only one that's moderately useful to me."
And so, the improvisational acting that was me using my quirk continued on.
…
At last, it was time for the ball throw, the fated moment where I needed to prove the impracticality of my quirk. The other tests, running, side to side steps, pushups, and grip strength couldn't properly demonstrate recklessness.
The ball throw, one movement that was going to bring out all of our strength in one stroke, was the perfect opportunity. I mentally prepared a speech that would possibly let me channel Arash's Stella, as well as mentally rehearsing the infamous Stella chant.
Of course, somebody had to beat me to the punch. Midoriya, who came in fourth in the exam with apparently nothing but rescue points, had green lightning surge throughout his entire being, was winding up to throw the ball. I could almost feel the wind pressure increase, and the friendship flashbacks running through his head. He released the ball, and then-
The ball flew a flat forty two meters, before plopping onto the ground.
This was totally unremarkable considering that a girl with a zero gravity quirk, Uraraka, had gotten infinity.
"I erased your quirk."
Aizawa stood there, menacingly.
"The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll in this school."
"Wait, you did what to my quirk?"
Aizawa continued staring at him, red eyes balefully glinting in the harsh sunlight.
"That scarf… You can look at somebody and erase their quirk… I get it now! You're the eraser hero, Eraserhead!"
"…Who?" the crowd of students behind Aizawa said.
Aizawa was unperturbed by his lack of fame. "You're not ready. You don't have control over your power. Were you planning to break your bones again? Counting on somebody to save your useless body?"
The protagonist vibes were strong in Midoriya as he stood up to Aizawa, spewing something about friendships and rainbows. I wasn't listening, though I looked like I was. I was already planning my stunt that would hopefully get Aizawa to expel me and get me out of this hero course.
"Hurry up and get your throw over with."
I looked up to see Midoriya gripping the ball with an iron hand, his knuckles whitening and his joints popping out as he crushed the volleyball. He the wound back, grit his teeth, and threw.
"Ssssmash!"
The threw was very similar to Bakugo's throw, and even beat his throw out by a hair. But to my shock, and many other people's horror, Midoriya's index finger was now a bruised purple.
"Mr. Aizawa… you see… I can still move!" Midoriya said, trying to hold back tears of pain.
As everybody applauded Midoriya, I realized that I was next.
Perfect.
"Alright. Yohaku Tenshin. Get ready for the ball throw."
I strode up to the plate confidently.
If this wasn't self-destructive enough to get me expelled, nothing would be.
"Heh. You think that was reckless?" I said, smirking.
I put my foot back into an archer's stance, holding another volleyball. "My quirk, the Moonlit Gap, is not only a territory creation quirk, but also something that dabbles in mythology."
"I see…" Tokoyami said, breaking the silence of my onlookers. "Not only is your quirk a territory creation quirk, but it is also a literal moonlit gap, where the world of mythology spills into the real world."
"What…" somebody muttered.
"Not just mythology…" I said, holding the volleyball in one hand but miming holding an arrow in the other. "But legends. The legend of Stella."
"No way…" a kid with purple balls on his head said. "From that video game?"
"Yes." I said, smiling. "From that video game."
"Oh, Holy lord…"I began the chant. The one that no doubt bought many to tears when watching the Fate/Grand Order Camelot movie.
"What's he doing?" somebody muttered.
"O Lord of Brightness, who bestows all of his power, sanctity, and wisdom to me…"
"Is he… praying?"
My heart tightened. Was that one kid's expectation enough for me to pull this off?
"See clearly my heart, my thoughts, and my skill…"
My heart hammering, I continued to the last lines of the chant.
"Now, O being who created the moon and stars…"
To my relief, the ball morphed into an arrow and a bow formed in my hand. The blue construct glowed, and the tip of the arrow swirled with seven color lights. My foot sank back into the sand, the tension in the bow strong enough to make the ground give way.
With the creation of the bow and arrow, everybody suddenly gasped, and I knew that they clearly expected something extraordinary to happen now.
"Behold my deeds, my death, my Spental armaiti which I must carry out…"
The courtyard was locked in a stunned silence, and though I couldn't see it myself, it was as if the lights coalesced at the tip of my arrow, the rest of the arena falling into obscurity.
It painted a truly poetic sight.
"With all my might, I shall release this one arrow, and let my body be shattered upon this place!"
I took a deep breath, and shouted-
"Stella!"
I let go of the bowstring, and my body burned. It felt as if I was deconstructing and constructing at the same time. My hands shattered, only to be reinforced as foreign energy swirled around inside me. I had channeled all of my nonexistent power into the shot, and through just one person's awe and shocked disbelief, my dramatic showing and the deeply ingrained cultural brainwashing that was anime, I successfully called upon a power that wasn't even mine. That didn't even exist in the first place.
And as I fainted, the blood slowly tricking out the cracks that now spread across my skin, I smiled.
"Is that.. enough… Now could I leave the hero course?" I croaked out these words, before the world fell to black.
…
The class stood in stunned silence as the seven colored lights soared through the blue sky, outshining even the sun. Somehow, though the boy known as Yohaku Tenshin only fired one shot, there were still seven streaks of light.
The shot streaked over the horizon, and the number on the distance tracker kept ticking up. It approached one kilometer… then two…. then three…
Before going out of the bounds of the tracker, and settling on the number 9999.999 meters.
"Is that… enough… hero?" the boy croaked, before his eyes closed and he gave into his exhaustion and… wounds?
The school stretchers were called over with haste, while a student created bandages with her quirk and applied it to the wounds of the student.
Aizawa really wanted to expel the student. But the sheer dedication of this student… the drive to excel and go beyond…
Wasn't that what UA was all about?
…
…
…(Character analysis #1)…
The naming conventions of this society were always reflective of their quirks.'
For example, Me. Yohaku Tenshin. My name roughly meant blank page, fitting, because of my very malleable actions and personality due to my quirk.
Another blatant example of uncreative naming was Denki Kaminari. The kanji that spelled out his name had several connotations with thunder. And his quirk? Electricity.
Hagakure Toru. Characters for stealth and clear/see through were in her name. Her quirk was being invisible.
It was in a society like this, that whenever somebody's name did not follow these conventions… you knew that something was up with them. Either they were really important, or maybe they were just quirkless, and therefore did not have a quirk to allude to with their name.
Izuku Midoriya... first with the "generic protagonist actions" such as gritting your teeth in determination, probably having mental monologues, and also being a self-sacrificing idiot. I destroyed my body to perform Stella to get expelled, while Midoriya pulverized a finger throw a ball and stay in the hero course.
Therefore, Midoriya was the protagonist of this story. The most genuine idiot of the whole bunch of genuine idiots in a hero course. And then, of course, there was me.
…(End Log)…
That last part was a fate/grand order reference. I couldn't resist.
If somebody's quirk was to call upon the expectations of others, why not make them make gaming references? Especially one as epic as Stella?
Really, I couldn't help it. All credits for the (slightly edited) Stella chant and "the seven colored lights" stuff that happened after that goes to the fate series.
(Arash is grand archer!)
Also, it would make sense that Mineta of all people would know what fate is. Fate was an eroge, after all, and why wouldn't Mineta play it?
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