Author's Note: Jeez, over 100 unique viewers in less than 24 hours? Here, have another for your trouble. It was already half done when I uploaded the prologue anyways, and I'm in the mood for writing right now. I finished this about 20 minutes ago and only proofread it once, so please don't flog me if you find errors. More Author's Notes at the end.
=====Josuke=====
Standing outside the gates to UA High School, Josuke Higashikata gulps in nervous tension.
It isn't like him to be so high-strung, but this is a big day for him. He'd known for a few months now that he'd be applying for UA. When Jotaro had told him the Speedwagon Foundation wanted him to apply, he'd been floored. After thinking it over however, his only choice had been to agree.
He hadn't been one of those kids who'd grown up wanting to be a hero. Morioh was a quiet town, with a drastically below-average concentration of people with Quirks, and he'd been content to just spend his whole life there. And yet, after fighting all of those villainous Stand users... after fighting Kira...
Josuke cracked his knuckles as he thought about that man, his fists aching to hit something as anger and frustration bubbled up within him. There were other people like that - like Yoshikage Kira - and if the Speedwagon Foundation thought he had what it took to be a hero and fight those kinds of people on a regular basis, he definitely wanted to try.
For better or worse, Kira and the other Stand users he'd fought had changed him. He hadn't wanted to be a hero before, but with what he'd seen and done last year it felt like the best possible decision.
He is shaken from his thoughts by a familiar voice calling his name, and he turns around to spot two faces he'd been expecting, as well as one he hadn't.
"Hey Koichi, Okuyasu!" he calls out, waving at his approaching friends. "I was waiting for the two of you. And... good to see you too, Yukako?"
The last part comes out more like a question, and the young woman following behind his two friends gives him a sheepish look.
"Well," she begins, looking away from him and placing a hand on her cheek to hide her reddening face, "I know what you're thinking. I just couldn't imagine being away from my Koichi for so long, so I'm applying to UA as well."
Josuke just rolls his eyes, and Okuyasu audibly scoffs.
"Your Koichi, eh?" the latter remarks, causing Koichi and Yukako to both gasp in embarrassment as Okuyasu continues. "That's a pretty weak reason to apply for the Hero course, if ya ask me."
"Well what about you then?!" Yukako fires back, still red in the face as she stomps her foot and scowls. "You're only here because you're following Josuke, aren't you?"
"Hey, I'm just here to look after him," Okuyasu replies, flashing a grin. "Who knows what kind of trouble this guy's gonna get himself into without me watching him, eh?"
Josuke blanches as Okuyasu wraps an arm around his shoulders and jostles him playfully. Somehow, he expects he will be the one getting Okuyasu out of trouble, not the other way around.
"Eh heh... anyways," Josuke says, hoping to get a move on. "Let's continue on inside. The testing hall is a ways in, I think, and we don't want to be-"
"Move, extras," an unfamiliar voice barks, and Josuke stumbles as he and Okuyasu are shoved to the side. Josuke catches himself, but Okuyasu unceremoniously face plants from the shove as the culprit, a shorter boy with spiky blond hair, walks past without another word.
"Hey!" Okuyasu yells in a rage, pushing himself up with a look of fury. "What the hell was that, you slimy piece of-"
"Okuyasu!" Koichi blurts out, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder to both help him up and stop him from charging forwards. "You can't get into a fight right now! They won't let you enter if you cause trouble!"
The taller boy grunts, breathing out sharply as he tries to reign in his frustration. Josuke can't blame him, scowling at the stranger's back himself but making no move to stop him. On any other day he'd have Crazy Diamond teach the punk a lesson, but this was too important. He couldn't cause a scene now.
The stranger turns a corner, disappearing from view as Koichi helps Okuyasu up. Josuke sighs.
"Alright guys," he says. "Now let's go. If nothing else, it looks like that guy knows where we're supposed to go."
Okuyasu offers another grunt of annoyance, and surprisingly Yukako looks as though she has enough pent up frustration from the display to strangle someone, but nobody makes any complaints as the four of them head into the campus.
=====Josuke=====
As the group finally approaches the testing hall, they come up to a set of numbered doors. Without exchanging words, each of them pulls out a sheet of paper with their testing information on it.
"I think they put us all in different testing groups," Koichi mentions, "since we were in the same middle school."
"To avoid collusion, I guess," Josuke adds, looking at his sheet. He was in group 2, and a glance at Okuyasu's sheet indicated he was in group 1. He imagines Koichi and Yukako are in different groups as well.
"Damn," Okuyasu mutters. "Guess we're splitting up then."
He marches up to the door marked "1", and looks back at the others.
"See you all after, I guess," he says, giving a big thumbs up. "Don't any of you flunk out!"
As Okuyasu opens the door, a cacophony of noise can be heard for a moment. Silence returns as he steps inside and it shuts behind him. The remaining trio all look to one another.
"Honestly," Yukako says in a huff, "I feel like the one most likely to fail is him."
Koichi tries to hide a snort of amusement, while Josuke just shrugs and puts his hands behind his head. "Eh, I don't know. Okuyasu's not very bright, but he was pretty serious about this when I told him I'd be going. I don't think I've ever seen him study for school before, but he hit the books pretty hard this past month. Not to mention The Hand is pretty tough, so he shouldn't have a problem in the Practical."
He reaches up for a stretch, then looks back down to grin at Koichi. "I'll go ahead in. Good luck on your own exams, lovebirds."
Koichi blanches at the moniker, and Yukako giggles as he stammers out a response. "O-o-of course! You... you too Josuke!"
With that, Josuke jogs up to door "2", and heads inside himself.
=====Josuke=====
Glancing at his sheet, it takes Josuke only a moment to find his seat number. He sidesteps down the row, muttering quick apologies to the people already sitting as he bumps into their knees on the way to his own seat. Eventually, he gets to his spot and sits down. The desk in front of him already has a pair of sharpened pencils and a test packet with a seal on it. The words "Do Not Open Until Instructed" are printed in white on the tape seal.
With nothing to really do until the test begins, Josuke sits quietly and waits. He props his chin up on his hand and fiddles with one of the pencils. Idly he considers sending out Crazy Diamond to look around, but reminds himself that all of these people have Quirks. There hadn't been many people with Quirks in Morioh, but he remembered what Jotaro had told him about Quirk users being able to see and fight Stands. Bringing out Crazy Diamond now would just get him in trouble.
A couple of minutes pass, and someone takes the seat next to him. Josuke looks over as the young man takes his seat, noticing something hanging from his belt that he can't quite see before the boy sits down. His new neighbor glances at him, gray eyes narrowing a bit as he seems to examine Josuke for a moment.
"Your hair..." he begins, and Josuke bites back a groan.
Please, not here, he thinks. Not now. Don't you dare say anything about my-
"You're Joseph's kid, right?" the stranger finishes, causing Josuke's eyes to widen in surprise. "Caesar said I should look for the kid with the pompadour, but I didn't really believe him. Old man must've pulled some strings to have us seated together."
Recognition flashes in Josuke's eyes as he comes to understand the situation, and he nods.
"Yeah, I'm Josuke Higashikata," he says, putting a hand out for a handshake. "You must be Uncle Caesar's kid."
The other young man accepts the handshake, but an odd look comes across his face. "Yep, I'm Trevor. Nice to meet you Josuke."
Trevor glances to the side with a nervous expression, before looking back to Josuke. "Uh... 'Uncle' Caesar?"
Josuke rolls his eyes. "Eh, it's what pops told me to call him when he came to Morioh last year. He gave me a big spiel about it. It was strange, but I just went along with it."
It really had been strange. Josuke had only just met his father at the time, and he was immediately being thrust at other "family members" as well. Even if Caesar was more of an "honorary" uncle and was just his father's friend, it had been a bit overwhelming.
Trevor gives a chuckle. "Fair. I guess that sounds like something he'd do. Caesar told me a lot about you when he came back from that trip. I bet he had us seated together to make sure we'd meet each other."
Josuke raises an eyebrow at his new acquaintance. "You call him by his first name?" he asks. "Your dad, I mean. Not a lot of people do that."
Trevor brings a hand towards his mouth reflexively. "Oh! Uh, well... he's uh... he's actually my-"
"ATTENTION STUDENTS!"
The voice booms over the entire auditorium, silencing the chatter and hurting Josuke's ears a bit. Next to him, Trevor draws a sharp breath in surprise, and Josuke notices a few yellow sparks dancing across his skin when he does so.
"Good!" The voice bellows again, somewhat less loud this time. Josuke turns his gaze to the center stage, where the pro hero Present Mic stands as he addresses the crowd.
"Now that I have your attention," Present Mic continues, "please grab your pencils and get ready for the Written Exam!"
=====Josuke=====
An hour later, a loud bell rings, signaling the end of the written portion. Josuke idly wonders why they even needed a bell, when Present Mic could've just yelled at them again.
"Excellent!" Present Mic exclaims from below, as if reading his mind. "Just leave your tests right there on your desks. The proctors will come pick them up when you leave. Now, it's time for me to explain the rules of the second half of the exam: the Practical Exam!"
The whole auditorium listens with rapt attention as Present Mic explains the Practical Exam. Nobody but the pro hero below dares say a word, lest they miss out on some important details, but Josuke catches someone a few rows below him mumbling something. Probably just thinking aloud, if anything. It helped some people retain information, or so he'd heard. Josuke's remembers catching Koichi doing the same thing once or twice.
Except, some guy in the front row had begun chastising both the poor kid and Present Mic himself, somehow. Josuke tries and fails to hold back a derisive snort; how could someone be so pretentious? He'd make a point to go find the poor mumbler and give him some words of encouragement when they were getting ready to start.
Present Mic finishes the explanation, and just like that the applicants were hurried to a series of busses that would take them to their testing sites. Josuke and Trevor make it onto a bus and sit down, waiting to get things started.
"Hey, you saw that one kid right?" Josuke asks idly. "The one who was muttering. He got scolded by that guy in the front."
"Hmm?" Trevor hums in response. "Uh, yeah, I think so. Green hair, right? What about him?"
"Help me pick him out when we get to the site, alright?" Josuke replies. "He seems kind of nervous, and that dick with the glasses probably didn't make him feel any better."
Trevor puts a hand over his mouth as he chuckles. "Hah! I didn't guess you'd be such a bleeding-heart, Josuke," he quips. "But sure, I'll keep an eye out."
"Tch, it's not that," Josuke hastily denies. "He just reminds me of a friend of mine, is all."
Trevor rolls his eyes, grinning slightly. "Uh huh."
Josuke crosses his arms in annoyance, and in a few moments the bus rumbles to life and begins moving. Trevor eventually nudges him to get his attention, and as Josuke turns to him he gets in close.
"So what's the game plan?" he asks in a whisper. "We're at a unique advantage, since we kind of halfway know each other, which is something the test setup was trying to actively avoid."
Josuke thinks about it for a moment, then shakes his head. "Right, the test proctors are trying to avoid team-ups. I think it would be frowned upon if we were to obviously work together. Besides, the test's point system dissuades it too, since only one person can get points for taking down a robot even if two people work together to do it. If anything, it incentivizes 'kill stealing' and working against other competitors."
Trevor audibly sighs, but gives a reluctant nod. "Yeah yeah, I guess so. In that case, we shouldn't linger near each other if we both want to pass. We'll end up stealing each others' kills without meaning to if we do. When the test starts, let's split up as soon as we can."
This time, Josuke nods in agreement. "Agreed. I'd like both of us to pass, so let's avoid getting each others' way." He gives a reassuring grin and a thumbs up. "Good luck."
Trevor leans back into his seat, looking at Josuke from the corner of his eye with a thoughtful expression. "Yeah, thanks. You too."
=====Okuyasu=====
Standing outside the gates of "Testing Grounds A", Okuyasu taps his foot impatiently as he waits for the starting signal. The others in his group seemed to be milling about and chatting amicably, but Okuyasu was just getting more and more antsy. He'd been itching to bring out The Hand and do some damage all day, but now that the time had come all they were doing was waiting around.
"Aaargh, when the hell are we gonna get started?" he grumbles to himself, banging his fist a bit on the hood of the parked bus as he waits impatiently.
"Right?" a voice next to him agrees with an aggravated tone, and Okuyasu turns to see a youth with silver hair and wild-looking eyelashes. "I feel like we've been standing here for ages! Lemme get in there and hit something!"
Okuyasu, surprised and relieved someone else shares his sentiment, nods in agreement. "Yeah, I'm really gettin' anxious just waiting. The written test got me all stressed out; I need to relieve some tension!"
His new acquaintance gives him a look of sympathy. "You too? Hell, I thought it was just me. Sitting still for so long, it really gets me wound up. I'm uh... not a very good test taker."
"Me neither!" Okuyasu agrees, giving a hearty laugh. "But busting up some robots, that's the kind of activity I can get behind."
The crazy eyelashes guy grins in agreement, displaying a row of sharp teeth, and seems like he's about to respond when a loud chime echoes across the area. With a dull grinding noise, the gates begin to swing open.
"YOU MAY NOW BEGIN THE PRACTICAL EXAM!"
=====Koichi=====
Koichi dabs his forehead a bit with the sleeve of his shirt as he waits for the Practical Exam to begin. It isn't particularly hot outside, what with it being February, but the stress of the situation threatens to overwhelm him. He was confident in his performance on the Written Exam, but the highest grade imaginable couldn't help him if he failed the Practical.
He looks down at his hands, clenching them into fists as he grimaces. Why was he so nervous? It was just a test, against fake robotic enemies that couldn't kill him. It was nothing like last year, nothing like... like Kira, and yet he still found himself unable to pull himself together.
"Hey!" he hears someone nearby call out, and he looks up from his stress-induced stupor to see a taller guy in a martial arts gi trot over towards him. As the young man gets closer, Koichi notes to his surprise that the boy has a long, muscled tail.
"You look pretty clammy," the martial artist remarks, concern clear on his face. "Are you dehydrated? I'm sure one of the proctors can get you some water before we start, if you need it."
"De... dehydrated?" Koichi parrots, confused. "Uh, no. I'm just... nervous, I guess. I've never done anything like this before."
Well, he'd done things that were much worse than this if he was honest with himself, but he'd already told himself that a million times and it wasn't helping.
The martial artist just nods, giving a warm smile. "I imagine most people here haven't used their Quirks in a combat setting either, if that's what you mean. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine. The robots won't seriously hurt anyone, and if things get bad UA has some top notch medical staff on the scene to help out."
He gives Koichi a thoughtful look for a moment, then continues. "Besides, there's something about you that makes me think you'll be okay. You've got this... I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's a fighting spirit in your eyes; that's the only way I can describe it."
Koichi feels confused at the young man's observation. He sure didn't feel a whole lot of "fighting spirit" right now. The boy seemed sincere in what he'd said, but Koichi just wasn't sure. He opens his mouth to respond when a loud bell sounds out, and the gates begin to open.
"YOU MAY NOW BEGIN THE PRACTICAL EXAM!"
=====Yukako=====
"Hmm, I see," Yukako says with a nod. "Do you shampoo or condition it at all? Or does it not need to be treated that way?"
"I just clean it with water, actually," Ibara replies, fiddling with a strand of her vine-like hair as she explains it to Yukako. "It doesn't have a lot of the problems that normal hair does, and it doesn't react well to soaps and other cleaning products. Rinsing it with water every morning and evening keeps it fresh and clean."
Yukako nods once again, completely engrossed in the conversation. "Yes, that makes sense. That's very interesting. It's not exactly the same, but I've never met another person with an ability so similar to mine, so I just had to ask."
Ibara covers her mouth and giggles lightly. "Oh, of course. Think nothing of it. If you want we could exchange tips. I'm sure we've both come up with ideas for using our Quirks in ways the other hasn't thought of."
Yukako thinks better of correcting Ibara about her Stand. She is about to continue, but pauses as she catches sight of a familiar blond boy and scowls.
"Ugh, I was hoping not to be placed in the same examination site as him," she says with a disgusted tone, and Ibara turns to where Yukako is looking to spot the boy in question.
"Him?" she asks. "Why, do you know him?"
"Thankfully not," Yukako scoffs. "He manhandled two of my friends when we first arrived at the campus, completely unprovoked. Can you believe such a rude person wants to be a hero?"
Ibara nods. "It's certainly quite unbecoming, I must agree. Perhaps he is simply having a bad day, though? The stress of the exam could be taxing his nerves."
Yukako huffs again. "If that's the case, it still doesn't excuse him taking out his stress on other-"
She is interrupted by a loud chime, and the groan of the gates into the testing site swinging open.
"YOU MAY NOW BEGIN THE PRACTICAL EXAM!"
=====Josuke=====
"You see him yet?" Josuke asks, scanning the crowd around the gate to try and spot the green-haired boy.
"Nope, not... oh wait," Trevor replies, raising a hand to point into the crowd. "Yep, that's him right there. Wouldn't you know it, Glasses Dick is harassing him again."
Josuke follows where Trevor's hand points and sure enough, the poor kid is being scolded by "Glasses Dick" yet again. He immediately stomps over towards them, not bothering to see if Trevor follows as he approaches the two of them.
"...you perhaps planning on distracting her to ruin her chances?" he hears Glasses Dick accuse in a scolding manner as he approaches. The green-haired boy begins letting out a barely intelligible string of denials and weak defenses. As Glasses Dick opens his mouth to speak again, Josuke finally chimes in.
"And what about you, huh?" he asks, his tone laced with annoyance and disdain. "What are your intentions, harassing a kid who's clearly already stressed out about this exam?"
Glasses Dick turns on a dime to face him, looking both surprised and offended. "Are you accusing me of foul play? I am simply trying to keep things fair, and I suspect this young man of trying to gain an unfair advantage against another contender."
"That's a load of bull," Josuke fires back, crossing his arms and putting on his meanest scowl possible. "This is the second time you've singled this kid out without a real reason. What, did he look like an easy target to you? Someone you could stress out to the point of making them a non-threat? That's downright unforgivable, if you ask me."
Glasses Dick sputters, seeming both shocked and outraged at the accusations. He seems to be trying to form a coherent retort, but the poor kid he'd been pestering works up the courage to step between him and Josuke.
"H-h-hey now, you guys really shouldn't be arguing over me," he offers meekly, and Josuke doesn't know whether he should appreciate the concern or be disappointed at how little this guy seems to think of himself. "Really, it's more important for us all to get ready for the-"
A loud bell chime interrupts the kid, and Josuke looks up just in time to see the gates swinging open.
"YOU MAY NOW BEGIN THE PRACTICAL EXAM!"
He hears the sound of deep breathing, and before Josuke can even react to the announcement Trevor is already sprinting past him, body wreathed in yellow sparks. All around him, the rest of the crowd begins surging towards the gates as well.
The exam has begun, and Josuke groans at the realization that he's already off to a crappy start.
More Author's Notes: For now, Josuke is our main "perspective character". Not the only one, as you can see, but our main one. I want to shift to Izuku and Josuke having about equal share of the perspective later on, with a few scenes from the perspectives of other characters here and there like we see here, but for the first few chapters we'll probably be mostly sticking with Josuke and the Part 4 crew. We've already seen these events through Izuku's perspective after all, and not enough has deviated from BNHA canon yet to warrant getting his thoughts on the situation. Don't worry, it's my intent for Izuku to be one of the main protagonists in this still, he just has to share with Josuke now.
I was hesitant on introducing Trevor so early. There are a grand total of 4 major original characters in the story, three of whom you've heard about in the prologue but haven't met, and one of whom is Trevor. All 4 will have varying degrees of importance, but if things go as I'm currently planning Trevor is going to be the most important. Not quite "main protagonist" important, because I don't have the guts to put an original character at that level of focus, but up there. When I came up with the idea for this story I wanted a character that uses Hamon, and I wanted a character that could kind of "straddle the line" between the worlds of JJBA and BNHA. When I decided that people with Quirks couldn't have Stands, my only option was to combine the "Character with Hamon" and "Character with traits from both series" together. Next chapter I'll probably start doing stat cards for new Stands and Quirks at the end of chapters they appear in, so you'll get some background on Trevor's Quirk then.
Thanks for reading.
