"You finally got your results?"
Today was a slower day at Spirits n' Such. The only people here were Reigen, Serizawa, Teruki, and Mob.
"Mhm."
Mob handed his letter to Reigen who looked it over.
"That's definitely UA's seal…"
"Did you already open yours, Hanazawa-kun?"
Teruki gave Mob a firm nod.
"Yep!"
"Did you pass?"
"I'll let you know after you open your's."
"Eh? Why not now?"
"There's no fun in that, is there?"
Teruki gave Mob a smirk, eliciting a deadpan expression.
"Jerk."
Teruki continued to smile as Reigen handed the letter back to Mob.
"Weird though. It feels like there's something other than paper in this. You don't think this is a bomb, do you, Mob?"
"Even if it is, I'll be ok."
Mob struggled with ripping the letter open for a moment before it finally ripped apart, revealing a round metallic disc.
"Put it on the table, Kageyama-kun!"
He put it down and the moment he did, a hologram began to emanate from the disc, revealing someone who Mob recognized as the same big-haired sunglasses-clad rocker-esque teacher who was at the entrance exam ceremony.
"What's up, yo! I'm Present Mic, and I'm here to- what's that? You want me to tone it down a bit?"
After receiving a thumbs up from the side of the screen, Present Mic continued, not shedding an ounce of energy.
"Alright then! I'll just cut right to the chase and spell it out for you! You, Shigeo Kageyama, managed to pass the written exam and scored high enough on the practical to get you through on villain points alone! However, for your…"
Present mic appeared to check his notes before continuing.
"...display of compassion by helping out another examinee, your show of concern for the other examinees when the arena trap attacked, and your attitude towards collaboration, you have been awarded an additional 47 rescue points, tying you for first place in the practical! Congratulations on your results and I'll see you in class 1-A!"
With that, the hologram dissipated and all eyes turned to Mob.
"I… I…"
Mob's eyes began to water as the reality sunk in.
Progress to Mob's explosion: 80%
He had done it. He'd successfully entered one of the best hero schools in all of Japan.
Progress to Mob's explosion: 90%
"Wait, this is awesome! I'm in class 1-A too! That means that we're together, Kageyama-kun!"
"Really?"
He could be in the same class as Teruki? This all seemed to good to be true.
"I'm really…"
Progress to Mob's explosion: 92%
"So…"
Progress to Mob's explosion: 95%
"Happy."
Happiness: 100%
The moment that Reigen saw Mob's hair begin to float, he began looking around the room to see if anything was happening, but even while everything that wasn't bolted down in the room began to float and whirl around in the air like mad, Reigen also noticed that the tomato plant he kept in the corner beginning to rapidly grow. The vines began spreading out of the pot and into the rest of the room and before anyone could do anything, the plant had covered all corners of the roof.
"Ah, sorry! I'll fix it-"
Before Mob could react, He watched Teruki pluck a tomato off of the plant and pop it into his mouth. Immediately, a look of horror appeared on his and Reigen's faces as Teruki began to chew.
"Hanazawa-kun? You shouldn't-"
"This is delicious!"
Eh?
Skeptical, both Mob and Reigen plucked a tomato off of the vine to eat themselves. The moment that they sunk their teeth into it, a sudden realization washed over them, that being:
These are amazing!
Reigen plucked another, tossing it to Serizawa.
"Hey, you try one! These are actually great! How'd you do that, Mob? Have you been practicing?"
Mob shook his head, still in a mild state of shock.
"No, I just… I was happy that I got accepted, and then… I'm sorry."
"You're sorry? What for? Look at these beautiful tomatoes! We'll have to get rid of the plant since this office is terrible for growing them, but you've just got us a whole bunch of tomatoes that'll never spoil! I won't have to buy any more tomatoes for a whole year!"
Mob and Teruki decided to exit the building before Reigen started creating a tomato empire, thus leaving poor Serizawa to fend for himself.
"So how many rescue points did you get, Hanazawa-kun?"
"Me? My total was the same as yours. They said that I got them for helping out with the 0-pointer. Something about 'Strong moral fiber'."
"That's good. I guess we tied then."
"I guess we did."
At that moment, at the exit of the Spirits n' Such building, Mob felt his phone vibrate.
"Oh, it's Shinsou-kun. It looks like he got 22 rescue points for helping people escape the Arena trap."
"Good for him."
"And he's going to be in our class! That's great!"
"Now you're making me want to meet him!"
The 2 of them started walking but right when they were about to part ways, Mob had an idea.
"It's still pretty early, isn't it?"
"It's about 4:30. Why do you ask?"
"I thought that I could introduce you to Shinsou-kun."
Teruki appeared to think about it before giving a shrug.
"I've got time, so what the heck? Sure. Can you message him to see if he can hang out?"
"Mhm."
But when Mob got a response, Teruki noticed his expression falling from its lighthearted smile back to his stoic expression.
"It looks like he can't come. He said he was doing something with his family."
Seeing this display from Mob, Teruki walked up to him and put his hand on Mob's shoulder, lightly shaking him to get his attention.
"Hey, don't sweat it. We can still celebrate with your little brother, can't we? He'll probably be ecstatic when he hears the news."
After staying still for a few more moments, Mob put his phone back in his pocket and began to walk towards his house.
"Yeah. You're right."
Progress to Mob's explosion: 4%
###
"You got into UA?!"
The 4 of them (Mob, Teruki, Ritsu, and Suzuki) were now in Ritsu's room. Upon hearing of Mob's acceptance, Sho nearly dropped his controller while Ritsu actually dropped his controller which was fortunately caught and returned to him by Teruki.
"Yep. Hanazawa-kun and I even tied for first place on the practical, though he probably did way better than me on the written."
Ritsu closed the TV, much to the chagrin of Sho, and began ransacking the building for any board games he could find.
###
"What have I just walked into?"
Mrs. Kageyama wasn't quite sure what she was looking at. It appeared to be a game of twister, what with the dog pile of bodies on a white mat.
"I have no idea."
Sho seemed to be in the corner, suppressing laughter and spinning the spinner for the 3 players.
"In any case, dinner's ready. You guys can all come down once your game's done."
"Right." x4
"Oh, and one last thing…"
Right as Mrs. Kageyama was about to exit the room, however, before she did, she turned around one last time, looking directly at Mob.
"Congratulations, Shigeo. I always knew you had it in you to be something great."
Hearing this, Mob's eyes began to water and his body began trembling as he said:
"Thank you, mom!"
Progress to Mob's explosion: 7%
"Uh, niisan? You might want to watch your balance-"
A loud crash was heard as Mob toppled over, creating a chain reaction where he, Ritsu, and Teruki were all knocked straight to the ground. Sho couldn't contain his laughter as his guffaws resounded throughout the entire Kageyama household while they went down for dinner.
###
"So, where do you want to go for high school, Ritsu?"
Ritsu raised an eyebrow at his brother's question.
"Where'd that question come from?"
"I was just curious."
"Well, I've always wanted to go to UA. I used to think that I couldn't because I'm quirkless, but because of my psychic powers, I think I can get in now."
Teruki nodded at this, turning to Sho after.
"What about you?"
"Eh? I think I'll go to a normal high school. After all, I'm still… I still don't really like using my psychic powers anymore."
"How come?"
Everyone turned to look at Mob who immediately began sweating from this, but continued to clarify.
"I-I mean, I've done some pretty awful stuff with my powers, but our psychic powers are a part of who we are just like quirks or other personality traits."
Sho appeared to think to himself for a moment before shrugging.
"I guess you're right about that. Still, I'm not sure if I'd want to be a hero. To many press conferences, you know? Then again, I've still got a year to decide, so it's whatever for now. What about you, Niisan-kun?"
Mob shrugged.
"I'm not really sure. At first, it just sounded cool and I decided to apply because why not, but I've thought about it a little bit and I just thought it sounded better than any other path I could take right now."
"So, you don't really know why you're going to hero school yet?"
After a moment of contemplation, Mob gave Sho a nod.
"Alright then. How about you two?"
Sho gestured at Teruki and Ritsu. Teruki gestured for Ritsu to talk as his own mouth was full.
"I'm applying to UA because I want to use my psychic powers to help people in need."
Teruki swallowed, giving an affirming nod.
"Same here. I want to get strong enough to beat Kageyama-kun while helping out anyone I can."
Suzuki nearly let out a large laugh, but stifled himself in time.
"You realize that you're never gonna surpass this guy, right? Remember what happened last time you sparred?"
Teruki and Mob thought back to the events of their previous training session the week before the entrance exam. They'd dedicated that time to written study and combat training, but after the first training session, the 2 of them had quickly learned that any real fight between Teruki and Mob would, well, it would probably end with Teruki half-buried in the ground. In the end, they'd settled for a different kind of training. Teruki would teach Mob the various techniques he'd picked up over the years - those being things like pyrokinesis and the ethereal bodies technique - while Mob would help Teruki train by exerting just enough effort to keep Teruki on his toes, but not enough to completely blow him away.
As for their academic studies, well, let's just say that Mob had slightly less to offer in that regard.
Where was I? Oh, right, dinner.
"In that case, I'll just have to surpass him in other ways, like by saving more people or something. I'll figure something out eventually."
All the other teens at the table gave a laugh as Mob's parents merely looked on with amusement.
"So, Kageyama-kun. After dinner, you wanna take a walk or something? It's only 5:30."
Mob considered Teruki's offer for a moment before a smile formed on his face.
"Yeah, that sounds great."
###
"Your little brother is something else, huh?"
"Yeah."
"I knew he was energetic, but I didn't think he was 'a single 4-hour game of twister' energetic."
"Mhm."
The 2 of them fell silent for a few moments, taking in the atmosphere of the park they were walking through. The wind whipped through the air and trees whistled in the breeze as Mob and Teruki found a park bench to sit on under the shade of a cherry tree.
"So, Kageyama."
"Yeah?"
"We live pretty far away from UA, don't we?"
Mob gave a nod, maintaining eye contact with Teruki..
"Mm. My family and I already discussed housing plans and I'm getting ready to move in two days. I thought that you had plans too?"
"That's actually what I was getting at."
Teruki turned away, looking off in the distance.
"I was actually planning on asking you if you wanted to room with me, Kageyama?"
Mob didn't say anything for a few moments, but Teruki noticed that the wind that was gentle before had suddenly picked up and that the trees around them had begun to shake more violently. When he looked at Mob, he noticed:
"Kageyama-kun! Your hair!"
Mob's hair quickly returned to his bowl cut as the wind subsided and he turned away, looking to the ground.
"Ah, sorry."
Progress to Mob's explosion: 10%
"Don't apologize. No one's hurt, so no harm, no foul. Sorry for springing that question on you, by the way. We don't have to room if-"
"No, I think that it's a great idea. I think that it could be fun. Plus, you've been living by yourself for a while, so it might be less lonely for you. I'd also like to have someone to keep me company."
Teruki stared at Mob's face for a few moments and before he knew it, a smile had found its way onto his face.
"...I guess that that's a plan."
###
The house that Mob was staying in seemed compact on the outside, but it was much more spacious once he entered it.
Over the course of the rest of the break, Mob and Teruki had learned several things about one another. They already knew of one anothers' interest in baking as they'd been doing that together for almost a year now, but Mob didn't know of Teruki's cooking ability. It made sense; he lived by himself for an extended period of time, but Mob didn't expect Teruki's home cooking to be so good. It almost rivaled his own mom's food. The next natural course of action was for Mob to insist that Teruki teach him which inevitably led to them having to restock on groceries every other day for the rest of the break.
When they weren't getting used to their new home or burning dish after dish, Mob and Teruki were often wandering through the streets of Musutafu, using the purpose of getting accustomed to their surroundings as an excuse to go on walks.
"You're getting better at cooking, Kageyama-kun. A week ago, you could barely fry an egg and now, you're making fried rice!"
"Mm. I- wait, do you hear something?"
The 2 of them were now close to a middle school, walking by it when they started hearing two voices coming from the roof. Teruki nodded, yellow energy beginning to glow around him.
"Yeah, I do. Wanna investigate?"
"Sure, just-"
The moment that Mob affirmed him, Teruki leapt straight onto the roof of this school, Mob following closely behind.
"Wait up, Hanazawa-kun!"
Upon reaching the top of the school, Mob resisted the urge to vomit, but before he could protest the speed at which Teruki dove in, the voices he'd heard from earlier had gone from barely audible to hurting his ears.
"I'm supposed to be the only student from this crappy school to get into UA, but you had to go screw that all up!"
Mob and Teruki peeked around the corner, seeing a blonde-haired boy who appeared to be pinning another boy to the wall. His features distorted, and his voice went even more shrill as he yelled!
"I warned you not to apply!"
That was enough for Mob to begin stepping in, but Teruki pulled him back, gesturing for him to keep listening.
"Kacchan?"
They watched as the boy who was pinned against the wall looked up, tears in his eyes as he said:
"Someone I look up to told me that I can become a hero. That's why I'm going."
While he was the one who'd prevented Mob from jumping in, Teruki couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for not having stepped in by now.
The boy's voice began to grow more wild and his gaze determined as he screamed at the top of his lungs:
"Like it or not, I'm going! You can't stop me!"
Amazingly, Teruki watched as the blonde boy let go, turning around with a scoff. Maybe he wasn't so hot-headed after all. Still, this kind of physical intimidation didn't sit right with him and ignoring Mob's protests, he stepped around the corner, arms crossed.
"Hey."
The setting sun's light shone down on the rooftop as these two stared one another down.
"Who are you? How'd you two get up here?"
Teruki shrugged.
"What matters right now is that you shouldn't be treating your classmates like that."
"And who are you to say that to me, dumb-hair?"
Teruki raised an eyebrow in surprise before returning to his composed grin.
"Oh, I apologize. My name is Teruki Hanazawa. And you?"
The blonde appeared to roll his eyes before barking out his name.
"Katsuki Bakugo. Now, if you'll excuse me-"
All of a sudden, his expression went from annoyed to outraged as his face began to twitch.
"Wait, you said Hanazawa was your name?"
Teruki nodded.
"So, you're the jerk who stole first place from me!"
The moment that Bakugo moved, Teruki instinctively put up a barrier, but to his surprise, Bakugo ended up simply turning around and walking towards a set of doors as he said:
"Just know that the entrance exam was a fluke! The next time we fight, I'll murder you so bad that your parents won't even recognize you anymore!"
Teruki rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath.
"I'm sure they won't."
And with that, the doors slammed behind him as he exited the scene. Quickly, Teruki ran up to the other boy who he expected to be a snivelling mess on the ground by now.
"I'm so sorry for that, I didn't mean to scare you-"
"Oh. My. God!"
Teruki was more than a little confused when he saw a look of immense admiration on this boy's face rather than fear. Meanwhile, as Mob came over to see what was going on, he recognized this boy.
"You're Teruki Hanazawa! The guy who scored first on the practicals- Wait, are you Shigeo Kageyama?"
Mob and Teruki were both slightly puzzled at this turn of events, though Mob nodded in affirmation.
"What's your name?"
The green-haired boy looked at Mob, remembered he forgot to introduce himself, then lowered himself in a bow, much to the surprise (again) of Teruki and Mob.
"I'm Izuku Midorya! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"H-hey, you don't have to bow like that, Midoriya-kun."
Both Mob and Teruki extended a hand for Midoriya to shake which he gladly accepted. After this, Teruki put his fingers to his chin as he thought to himself.
"Midoriya… you were the one who got to the top 10 via rescue points, right? I saw you demolishing the 0-pointer in 1 shot! That was pretty impressive."
"Ah, thanks, but I really don't deserve that praise. If anyone deserves it here, it's you guys! You two got first in all of Japan!"
Mob looked away, rubbing the back of his head.
"Thanks, but I'm really nothing special. The practical just happened to be something I'm good at."
Teruki nodded along.
"Same here. It just played to our strengths, that's all."
If the 2 of them thought that their modesty would shake Midoriya's admiration, they would be dead wrong.
"Yeah, but your quirks must be amazing if you could take down that many robots! You two are amazing!"
Mob shook his head.
"No, you're wrong. We might have strong powers, but at the end of the day, we all have something to improve on. My powers are a part of me, but they're not who I am. I know it might be a bit silly, but I try to make sure that I can be proud of myself even without my powers."
This seemed to get through to Midoriya. His posture slumped slightly as he looked to the ground, his energy appearing to wane.
"You think that people can be proud of themselves even without quirks?"
"Yeah! My master doesn't have a single quirk, but he's one of the best guys I know! You don't need a quirk to be a hero. You just need to be a hero to yourself."
There were a few moments where none of them spoke. Quickly, the awkward silence caught up to Kageyama as he began waving his hands in front of him in denial.
"Ah, I'm sorry. That was a kind of presumptuous thing of me to say-"
"Don't worry about it, Kageyama-kun."
Mob turned to Teruki who had put a hand on his shoulder before giving a nod. As the 2 of them began to walk off, however, they heard a voice from behind them.
"Wait!"
They turned around, seeing Midoriya standing tell, a determined look on his face.
"Thank you! You probably don't have any idea what those words meant to me, but… thank you! If we're in the same class, then I'll look forward to spending my next year with you!"
Mob and Teruki stood still for a moment before they both flashed a thumbs up and a smile at Midoriya before jumping down and heading home.