Prologue I

"You…!"

"Aw, I was hoping you wouldn't find me…"

"Why?! Why would you do such a thing?! I thought…I thought you wanted to be a hero! Didn't we promise that we'd do it together?!"

"Hero?! What do you mean, hero?! What a fucking joke—look at me! Just look at me, look at what I've become already! Don't you get it? It's too late for me already—!"

"It's not! It's not too late, it's never too late to turn back, so please…please, you don't have to do this…just come back to us, come back to me, everything will be okay—!"

"You're a fucking riot! Nothing will ever be okay as long as the society remains this way…but I'll change it, and I'll make it okay."

"NO—!"

"Sorry. You tried your best, but it's too late for me now."

BANG!

Click. Click. Click.

The sound of footsteps echoed chaotically against the walls, piercing through the permanent, shrill silence that had the entire building engulfed in its suffocating grasp. The hallway was as icy and unforgiving as he remembered it, holding nothing but ugly metal surfaces in all directions along with the overwhelming smell of rusting iron.

Renjou Hijiri hated every inch of it.

"Here you are, sir."

There was a click followed by a long, ugly creak of metal as the door inched open, moving as if it was awakening from hibernation. A dim spotlight automatically flickered on inside, highlighting the lone figure seated in the empty room. Hijiri released a breath, hoping that he let out whatever tension and anger he had with it. He had to be controlled.

The kid needed him, after all.

Hijiri gave the warden a pointed glare and waited until the door was slammed shut again to make his way across the room, taking the seat at the metal table in the center of the room wordlessly. The silence of the holding cell was even more unbearable compared to that of the corridors, and Hijiri took another moment to collect himself and examine the state of the fifteen-year-old child seated in front of him.

The more he looked, the more he could feel his heart break.

Kannou Mitsuki appeared to be more and more worn out with every visit. He was still so young, and yet he always appeared as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was ghastly pale, accentuating the darkness and trauma in his gold eyes that was as clear as day. His expression was always so, so carefully blank when Hijiri first entered. And then he looked up at Hijiri with wide eyes and, every single time, whispered quietly in clear surprise, "You came back."

He was going to get the kid out of here, Hijiri promised himself.

"Of course I did. I did promise, didn't I?"

Hijiri's voice didn't tremble or waver in the slightest, and he mentally applauded himself for it. He couldn't waver here, he had to be strong. For Mitsuki's sake.

Mitsuki didn't respond, his gold eyes lowering to the table. His nod was clearly more out of habit than of actual trust, and Hijiri very carefully looked past it.

"How was your week? They haven't been treating you too horribly, have they?"

Mitsuki shook his head without hesitation.

(It was an obviously conditioned lie).

Hijiri let out another breath and naturally put on a casual, only slightly forced smile. "All right. Oh, that's right, did I ever tell you? Haruko and I have decided to open up a hero school." For a moment, there was no response. Then the boy gave a sharp bob of his head to show that he had heard, and Hijiri reluctantly accepted that as his cue to keep talking. "And Haruko probably is going to have my head for this, but I've pulled some strings and figured some things out, and—well, might as well get right to it. Mitsuki, how would you feel about being a hero?"

Mitsuki startled something violent at that, confusion clear in his eyes. "Me? I-I can't be a hero."

"Why is that?"

Mitsuki was looking at him like he was asking a trick question. "I'm a monster, all I ever do is hurt people. I can't be a hero."

There was no hesitation or doubt in his voice. That hurt.

That was it—Hijiri was going to get this kid out of here today.

But for now, he needed to remain calm and make it clear to the boy that what he said was most definitely wrong. (Some part of him knew it was futile already). "Mitsuki. You are not a monster. You were a child, and you made a mistake."

As expected, the disbelief in the boy's eyes was as clear as day. He was clearly hesitating to respond, but Hijiri waited patiently, and eventually he did get a weak protest. "But um…you…my—my file, you read it, right? I—I killed—"

"Mitsuki," Hijiri broke him off gently. "Yes, I did read your file. It was clearly labeled as a case of loss of control of a volatile Quirk. The situation was completely beyond your control, especially since you were six. It was a mistake, and your mistakes do not define you. I'll say it again: you were a child, and you made a mistake, and you have already been held accountable for it for far too long. And I will get you out of here."

There was only one way to describe Mituski's expression right then, and it was sheer panic. "No—"

"I will," Hijiri repeated in a tone that booked no argument, and Mitsuki immediately flinched and backed down. "I think you're an incredibly kind person, Mitsuki. You would prefer to keep yourself locked up because you're afraid of hurting others, and that's a level of selflessness that not everyone has. You have a big heart and a pure soul; you've simply been led down the wrong path by the people around you. But I'm here now, and I'm going to take you by the hand and help you down what might not be the right path but a better path, one that you choose to travel."

When he saw the first signs of tears, he finally gave into the instincts that he had been fighting against from the very beginning of their meeting. Standing up quietly, he walked around the table and carefully, gently, pulled the fully sobbing child into a hug.

"…s-sorry…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to, I promise, I was just…s-scared—I was so scared—"

"It'll be okay now. I'm here to save you. That's what heroes do after all."

He waited for the boy to cry the rest of his pent up emotions out (he clearly hadn't ever been able to show any emotion, and listening to his near silent, painful cries was so, so heart wrenching). Then he smiled and lightly ruffled the boy's soft black hair.

"Then, as of today, you're officially the first student of Shinraikai Academy's reform program. We'll make a great hero out of you yet, Mitsuki, I'm sure of it."

To Renjou Hijiri and Renjou Haruko,

The government has reviewed the details of your request. It was after much debilitation and…

…we have officially decided to grant Shinraikai Academy the right to conduct a vigilante reform program for children between the ages of 14-15 who are currently imprisoned. Please contact us before conducting the requested interviews…

Renjou Haruko could feel the way her brain halted on those words and temporarily shut down. She dropped the paper onto the desk in front of her and placed her face in her hands before groaning loudly, her head pounding due to the sheer number of thoughts she had mentally berating her twin brother. She allowed the thoughts a few moments to settle before she picked the paper up again, making sure to read every word this time instead of skimming for the part she was looking for, thinking that perhaps there was something else written in the document that negated anything at all—nope, it was decided, she was going to kill Hijiri the next time she saw him—

It was just as this thought was flitting through her mind that she heard the front door open and close, and she immediately shot to her feet to hunt down her stupid brother who had just returned, with a sharp holler of "HIJIRI!"

As she slammed open the door to the living room, preparing to rain her full fury on her brother, she startled slightly at the sight of the young, teenage boy sitting on the couch. She took in his pale, sickly state and the stiffness he held, and she immediately could hazard a guess as to what was going on, which in turn only served to fuel the swirling rage inside her.

She closed her eyes and took a controlled breath, inhaling and exhaling deeply, and then made sure her expression was relaxed and showed no signs of her contained fury before murmuring, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Did you come with Hijiri?" The boy gave a timid nod, although he didn't lose the tenseness to his frame in the slightest, and she decided to leave him alone and asked instead, "Do you know which way he went?" At this, the boy seemed to hesitate, biting his lip as his sapphire eyes flickered all up and down her form, clearly looking for something (the depth of her anger, she assumed), and when he appeared satisfied with what he found, he awkwardly nodded his head towards one of the doors in the room.

She'd thought so.

"Thank you," she said to him softly, and then swiftly marched in that direction, following the hallway down to the study. Then she proceeded to throw the door open and clear the distance to her brother in a blur, aiming a swift karate chop right where he was standing. Despite having his back to her as he scanned through one of their files critically, he stepped to the side to avoid the strike at the last second and then sighed loudly before shutting the file to look at her. The moment he did, she shoved the government mandate into his face and said in an icy tone, "Care to explain this to me?"

"I did explain it to you, three weeks ago—"

"Three weeks ago, we said we would talk about it later," Haruko interrupted sharply, scowling. She hadn't intended on coming off so strong, but her bubbling frustrations were overriding her logic and spilling out of her in a rush before she could control herself again. "You can't just do things behind my back and not tell me until you've literally adopted a kid and have him in our living room—"

"I haven't adopted him, that requires a shit ton of paperwork I don't ever want to have to deal with," Hijiri claimed. Haruko could easily see the defensive walls he was putting up, the way he was trying to brush her off with a joke the way he usually did, and it only made her angrier.

"You're utilizing the school dorm system we'll be implementing, that's basically the same thing," She said flatly. She paused briefly, pinching her nose and taking controlled breaths to try and calm herself down a little bit before she jumped into the argument, but it was no use. She rounded on him again, yanking the file he'd picked up from his hands to get him to pay attention. "Hijiri, we're supposed to do this together. What am I supposed to do when you keep doing these things without letting me know about it?"

"You never would've agreed—"

"I was going to agree eventually!" Haruko protested. "I'd just hoped—I just wanted for us to get a stable standing first! This is going to be our first year of opening, you know, the news of having a vigilante reform program isn't exactly good publicity! I know you want to help these kids, and so do I, but you can't help them if we get shut down before we can even start! You know how the media is, they'll never approve, and they're vicious about these things—I wanted to wait at least a semester—"

"But it'll be too late by then!" Hijiri was yelling now, his voice raw with emotion and his eyes slightly wild with desperation as he ran his hands through his long hair in frustration. "I-I know that what you're saying is true, but we can't wait that long! There are kids suffering, Haruko, you saw what they were doing in there! We can't just leave them alone—look at Mitsuki, he's been imprisoned for more than half of his life because of one thing he did—"

A sudden realization dawned on Haruko, and she grabbed him by the shoulders in a panic. "How long have you been talking to him?!"

"What—?"

"Hijiri. How long have you been talking to that boy?!"

Hijiri instinctively avoided her gaze, and she could feel her heart sinking the longer the silence stretched on. She went to shake him again, desperate, and he finally muttered at a volume she almost missed, "…five weeks."

"Five weeks?" She repeated numbly, releasing him and standing back again. She could hear the way her voice started to take a hysterical edge, but she was far too drowned in her emotions to control it. "Five weeks?! You've been talking to him for five weeks and you didn't even think to clue me in?! This wasn't spur of the moment at all! You—what—how could you?! We promised we'd do this together, didn't we?! I understand how you feel, but you can't just decide things on your own like this—!"

He shoved her off, his voice hoarse with emotion as he yelled, "You don't understand how I feel at all, Haruko!"

"Of course I do—"

"No! You don't! How could you understand?! What happened before—I can't ever—not again—"

"OF COURSE I UNDERSTAND IT, I WAS THERE TOO THAT DAY!" Haruko exploded, not missing the way he flinched at her response. "You're not even—you weren't even the one who had to watch your twin almost die after that either! Tell me, what part of it am I not supposed to understand?! You weren't the only one who was betrayed that day, Hijiri!"

The tense silence following her claim was so thick it could be cut with a butter knife, both of their harsh breathings feeling extra exaggerated with the lack of other noises. Haruko took a moment to try and calm herself down, sorting out the hurricane of emotions that was starting to tear her apart from the inside and separating them from her thoughts and arguments she wanted to make. She could see her brother doing the same in front of her, and the moment they both went to speak again, hopefully in a much more civil conversation this time around, there was a quiet creak from the doorway that had them both turning their heads already, the motion interrupted only by the sudden fizzle and pop of the wireless printer in the corner before it abruptly went up in smoke. Haruko didn't let that distract her for too long though, as she moved quickly to approach the young boy that had been trying to run away before he could get too far. She tried to keep her approach nonthreatening, but it seemed to be fruitless as the timid boy instinctively flinched at the sight of her and broke out in apologies.

"I-I'm really sorry, I-I didn't mean to eavesdrop, it's just that I heard arguing and I wanted to make sure that everything was okay, I'm so sorry—u-um, it's not Hijiri-s-sensei's fault! I-It's my fault, if you'd rather send me back, you can, I don't mind—"

And it was right there that Haruko could physically feel her resolve crumble and wash away. His gold eyes were so, so bright, and yet she could see the trauma present so clearly. Gently, very, very gently, she made sure he could see her hand as she reached forward and ran her fingers through his soft hair, patting his head as she squatted to ensure that their gazes were level. "Your name was Mitsuki-kun, right? Is it alright if I call you that?"

Mitsuki gave a jerky nod of his head, his movements stilted. Haruko sensed his discomfort and retracted her hand, noticing the way that his frame immediately relaxed slightly.

"Alright, Mitsuki. I need you to listen to me. None of this is your fault, okay? I know you were in a bad situation, but you're safe here. I promise." Mitsuki clearly didn't believe her, but that was all right. They'd have to ease him into it; they had time. To lighten up the mood a bit, she smirked and added, "In fact, this is entirely my stupid brother's fault, because clearly only one of us received the brain cells when we were born, and it wasn't him. Can't fault you for that, but I can fault you for not telling me things when you're supposed to."

There was a notable glint of gratitude present in her twin's eye, but Hijiri was quick to follow her lead without acknowledging it outwardly, crossing the distance of the room to join them in the conversation. "I can live with that, since receiving all the brain cells seems to have made you an absolute grump. I'm going to be the cool headmaster that everyone loves and adores when school starts, you know."

"Yes, and that's why I couldn't let you run the school by yourself, because you'd run it to the ground in the first two weeks," Haruko rolled her eyes, standing up and making her way to the printer to assess the damage. She clicked her tongue upon realizing that there was no repairing it, but she didn't say that with Mitsuki still in the room, knowing that would only send him spiraling again. Speaking of which—she raised an eyebrow at Hijiri expectantly. "Well, if you're going to adopt a child—"

"—I'm not adopting him!"

"—then do it properly and have the decency to take the kid shopping for starters," Haruko finished without acknowledging Hijiri's interruption. She paused before tacking on, "Out of your personal budget, of course, because you're not touching our funds. We're on a limited budget as it is."

Kannou Mitsuki had never seen so many people in one place before. In fact, seeing this many people at all was incredibly intimidating and overwhelming at once. He almost wanted to turn around and ask Hijiri to take him back, but that would be really very rude of him after Hijiri had taken the time to bring him out here at all, so he swallowed the words back and resorted to hoping that the people would look past him if he occupied as little space as possible.

It hadn't ever worked back when he was being held in the Institution, but then again, that had only been because he was the only one in the room.

It was fine, he told himself, hoping it would stick with him eventually, it was fine, he was fine, he was just completely overreacting. Just look at all of these people around him, laughing and enjoying themselves so happily. He was being completely unreasonable.

You can't compare yourself to them, a voice said in the back of his head. You'll never be able to be like them anyway. They're not monsters like you.

And while he knew that already in his head, it was so hard to remember when his heart filled with pure longing. Still, he shook it off as best as he could, directing his focus instead to making sure he didn't run into anyone as he navigated the crowded area—mall? That was what Hijiri had called it, anyway.

Still, if nothing else, it was so nice to be back under the sun. He'd been allowed every once in a while, but that simply didn't compare to being here, of his own will, free.

He wasn't sure how long it would last, so he'd enjoy it while he could.

"Mitsuki."

He flinched at his name. Upon spotting Hijiri's—well, he wasn't quite sure what that look was, but he'd been seeing it quite a lot on both Hijiri and on Haruko as well. Either way, it brought a familiar wrenching guilt to his gut, and he tried (and failed) to relax his completely locked joints, dropping his eyes and forcing his tongue to move. "Y-Yes?"

His voice came out in a barely comprehensible squeak, and he flinched again.

"Don't be afraid to look around and buy whatever you want. That's what we're here for, after all, so go wild. Whatever catches your eye, just let me know and we can get it, okay?"

Mitsuki swallowed. His mind was screaming immediately, because there was physically no way that was the truth; everything came at a price—but at the same time, he knew the only acceptable answer was I understand. Just as he had finally forced himself to settle on the safe answer as per habit, three loud, consecutive BOOMs rang out and he found himself not having to respond at all.

They both instinctively turned towards the direction of the sound—with Mitsuki flinching yet again, good God he really needed to stop doing that—and immediately caught sight of the smoke billowing from a building a few blocks away. Nervous, Mitsuki didn't stare for very long before glancing over at Hijiri to gauge his reaction, and was not surprised to see the man with a slightly strained expression. He did remember the man mentioning being a hero once.

"Um," He spoke up, and had to repeat himself when it was lost under the noise. Hijiri glanced at him, and he quickly fumbled out, "You could go help them, if you want? I-It just looks like you…I mean—"

"No," Hijiri interrupted with a forced nonchalant tone. "I'm here to look after you today, I'm sure the other heroes have it handled. And I'm technically not a full-time hero anymore, anyway, so it's not like they can fault me for it~"

That strained expression was still there. Mitsuki might have been considered defective already, but he was not going to become a burden on the person who had rescued him.

"But—"

"What's going on over there?"

"I dunno, but it's been like that for an hour now. Apparently reinforcements got delayed or something."

"Wow, sucks. What heroes are on scene anyway? Think we can still make it if we go now?"

The overly loud (why was everything so loud here, it was terribly jarring after a life of near isolation and Mitsuki hated it) conversation passed by them at just the right time, and he knew Hijiri had not missed it either with the way the man's features tightened. Encouraged now, he pressed with a shaky smile, "I'll be fine. Someone might need you, right?"

He wasn't going to be a burden no he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't—

Hijiri seemed to read some of the desperation present in his eyes (even as he tried to hide it) and finally let out a long exhale. "Man, what the fuck. Haruko totally has claims on the entire luck factor too, I swear, my luck has always been shot. All right, fine, whatever. Taking you into battle right away would probably be a bit much, so I'll be right back, so stay here and don't move, okay?"

Mitsuki nodded. Now that was something he could do.

(He didn't feel uneasy or scared upon seeing Hijiri leave. He didn't.)

And so Mitsuki sat at the circular benches to stew in his thoughts and wait. He couldn't help but notice that the many (too many) people of the mall continued to mill about despite the possibility of an imminent villain assault, all of them acting as if nothing had happened at all as they continued on their shopping spree. How often did this have to happen for it to be so normal?

Just thinking about the dangers of the world made his stomach twist uneasily once again upon being reminded of his very presence in such a crowded area, and quickly set about redirecting his thought process before he started hyperventilating over the misplaced trust Hijiri had in him for the second time that day.

In fact, what did that say about heroes? The only heroes he'd ever seen were Hijiri…and Haruko, too. But even then, he hadn't seen either of them in action, and his memory of watching heroes on TV as a child were…vague, far too vague. Hijiri had saved him, yes, but somehow, he knew that this was different. There was something more about heroes that he simply didn't understand (probably because he was defective that way, but still). Honestly, what did Hijiri even see in him if he couldn't even understand? How was he—how was he supposed to be—

"Oi, get the fuck out of the way, you're occupying my space. I was there first, asshole."

The voice was loud (again), and much too close for comfort, and Mitsuki flinched as he snapped his head up to look the man looming over him in the eye. The eyes were dark, and Mitsuki could easily spot the malicious intent they held, so he quickly averted his gaze again in hopes of preventing trouble. Still, he had promised Hijiri he wouldn't move, so… "Um, I—"

"Didn't you hear me? I said, get the fuck out of my seat."

Mitsuki was on his feet and a safe distance away from the man before he'd even realized it. The man had moved to grab him, and he realized with relief that his defensive reflexes had kicked in to avoid the hand the second he'd sensed it coming.

That's right, there were always going to be people like this too. He'd have to find somewhere else to wait then. Hopefully Hijiri would understand. If not…well, he was sure that whatever punishment Hijiri dealt out couldn't be as bad as some he'd endured before. He could take it.

He'd naturally assumed that that would be the end of that, but instead, the man only seemed to look even more enraged, turning to face Mitsuki with an aggressive stance. "You think you're all that, do you? Think you're better than me just because you act like some kind of spineless puppy adhering to all of society's wills?"

And well. Wasn't that ironic.

Some part of his bitter amusement must have shown on his face (even though he was typically way better at controlling his expressions; it must have been the anxiety of a new location) because the man sneered again and suddenly swung his fist back. Mitsuki felt the panic overwhelm him at the sight of the strike, and his reflexes kicked in once again at the sight of it, swiftly dodging the punch and pushing the man's arm to the side in an easy block.

(Thankfully, he'd felt the familiar spark of his Quirk and had suppressed it immediately).

Still, the man looked incredibly close to popping a vein with how red his face was turning. Mitsuki had seen that expression before, and it wasn't ever a good one. He stepped back and lowered his hands. "I-I'm sorry, that was—"

The man struck again, and this time Mitsuki's hands merely twitched—then stilled. The punch landed squarely on his cheek and sent him soundlessly to the cold, hard ground.

"You're just a fucking brat, just who do you think you are, giving me attitude like that, huh?! Fucking piece of shit, someone needs to put you in your place, clearly."

The feeling of pain was familiar now, and resigning himself to the beating, Mitsuki simply covered his head with his arms in preparation for the next assault.

It was fine. It was normal. He deserved it, after all.

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Mitsuki's gold eyes flew back open at the sound, and, bewildered, he watched as a girl swiftly moved in between them and kicked the man's pivot leg out from under him, knocking him harshly to the ground mid-kick. The man sputtered and scowled, immediately scrambling back to his feet, but the girl (no older than him, with a well concealed athletic frame, he noted) confidently took on a defensive martial arts stance.

"I don't want to fight you, but I won't let you lay another finger on him. So you should scram while you can!"

…what?

The man sneered and threw another sloppy punch, but the girl swiftly dodge and used his momentum to grab his arm, twist him around, and neatly throw him over her shoulder. Mitsuki winced a bit when he hit the ground, choking and instantly falling unconscious, but the girl simply frowned and dusted off her hands before digging into her pocket for her cell phone. The cute decorative keychains clacked together as she swiftly punched in a couple keys, and then she tucked it back in her pocket before approaching Mitsuki slowly and with a bright smile.

"I reported the situation to the mall security just now, so it'll be okay! Your cheek will bruise for a few days, but it'll heal by itself. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Mitsuki shook his head wordlessly.

"That's good!" The girl beamed (her smile was so bright and easy, Mitsuki really didn't know how she did it). "I'm sorry you had to go through something scary, but I'm glad I was able to help you! I kind of saw the beginning more or less from a distance, but it took me a while to get here. Honestly, I thought you had it for a second, too! But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that what happened wasn't your fault at all, so you shouldn't pay any attention to what he was saying!"

…no, that wasn't how things worked for him.

But still, Mitsuki nodded, not wanting to say something wrong and ruin the girl's obvious good mood.

"Hey," The girl's features and her voice both softened suddenly, her magenta eyes staring directly into his gold ones without hesitation. "Don't worry. Things will get better, I promise."

Mitsuki could only stare at her. Then it occurred to him that he hadn't said a single word to her, and since she'd saved him, that was really rather rude of him. So he forced his voice to work again, no matter how raspy it came out. "Th-Thank…you…"

The girl's blinding, peppy smile was back again, and it almost made him feel like he should be smiling with her. "There's no need to thank me! Just take care of yourself from now on, okay? I have to go now, but security will be here in a few minutes to look after you!"

He nodded again with a whispered "Okay…"

The girl stood from where she had squatted in front of him, her long platinum blond hair swishing in its twintails as she moved. Mitsuki's eyes tracked the way her phone fell out of her pocket in the process, and he reflexively reached out to catch it before it could hit the floor. She startled and then laughed, accepting it from him gratefully. "Oh shoot, thanks! Wow that could've been a disaster. Ah, it's not turning on…oh there it is! Thank goodness~" She tucked her phone away again and smiled at Mitsuki once more. "Hey, what's your name?"

"…Mitsuki…"

(Strangely, for once, Mitsuki didn't feel compelled to answer because he'd been asked a question, but because he wanted to.)

"That's a cute name, say it with more confidence!" She grinned. "My name's Riri! I'm sure you'll see me around somewhere again, Mitsuki-kun, so make sure you come say hi! By the way, you should smile more, it looks great on you!"

Mitsuki's eyes widened in a mix of surprise and confusion as his hands flew to his mouth. Did he really…?

Riri simply laughed and then with a cheerful "See ya!" took a running start before springboarding into the air, covering the distance of the mall in large kangaroo-sized hops.

Mitsuki stared after her, still completely perplexed and even more overwhelmed than he was before.

Is that what a hero is like?

Could…someone like me…really be like that?

But he knew from experience that hope was a fragile, painful thing to have, so he shook his head and mercilessly crushed the fluttering butterflies before they could take flight.

Miyabishi Ririka was going to botch her landing again.

—Or wait, maybe she could still make it! She still had some room left, so if she executed this properly, she could probably land on the porch and use the door as a cushion!

That decided, she neatly tucked her limbs in and turned an elegant 360 in midair, carefully keeping an eye on her landing spot. At the very last moment, she stretched out again, but as her Quirk kicked in to prevent damage to her knees, her momentum proceeded to carry her forward. Having expected this, she let out a triumphant "Hah!" and reached out to steady herself—

The door opened.

"Waah!" Her surprised squeal mixed with her brother's alarmed shout as she toppled on top of him, sending them both sprawling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. "Nii-chan!" She whined in complaint as she pushed herself up. "I almost had it!"

"Ow, my head—what do you mean, you almost had it? Didn't Mom and Dad tell you to stop using your Quirk in public anyway?!"

"Whatever, it's fun, and I'm being careful!" Riri reached out and helped her older brother to his feet, reaching up to press down the lock of brown hair standing up on his head while she was at it. In return, he rolled his eyes and tugged on her hair lightly, but she still yelped and place a protective hand over the three small braids woven into her ponytail. "Hey! Watch the braids! They took forever this morning, don't ruin them!"

Kazuya rolled his eyes as he reached around her to shut the door, giving the pink tips of her long hair another yank because he could. She glared at him, but he said flippantly, "I know, you were in the bathroom for like forty minutes this morning."

"Beauty like this takes time, you know!"

"What beauty."

Riri feigned offense, reaching over to lightly smack her brother on the shoulder. (By the way he winced and rubbed at it, maybe it hadn't been as light as she'd intended, but he'd live). Before she could give a proper scolding, another girl's gentle voice rang out from the kitchen, "You wouldn't understand, Kazuya. And don't tease Riri too much, she's cuter than you are."

Forgetting about her brother entirely, Riri squealed and raced past him to find the source of the second voice. "Wakana-chan is here!"

"You're my girlfriend, you're supposed to be on my side," Kazuya complained as he trailed after them, huffing out an exasperated breath at the sight of Riri immediately tackling the older girl into a tight hug.

Riri waited until he had picked up the cup of tea on the table before saying smartly, "She might be your girlfriend, but she's my future sister-in-law, of course she'll side with me." She broke out in laughter when her brother choked on his drink and Wakana turned cherry red.

Letting the two lovebirds collect themselves again, she casually grabbed a small container of strawberry ice cream from the freezer and plopped herself down in the seat next to Wakana. Finally, Kazuya glared at her slightly before sighing and asking instead, "So how was school today then? You mentioned having your high school application counseling today, right?"

Riri sighed. She'd been hoping to put this conversation off for a little longer, but oh well. "I mean, it was fine, I guess. Everyone keeps saying I should go to UA if I want to be a hero though, like UA's the only hero school ever. I told them I don't want to, and do you know what they said? 'It's such a waste, you have the potential.'" Riri threw up her hands.

Kazuya's gaze was sympathetic, but Wakana blinked slowly, confused. "Is there something wrong with UA…?"

"No, there's nothing wrong," Riri insisted, sticking another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth so that she could gather her thoughts. "I just don't want to go there. I'd rather go to a smaller school and make my own path to being a hero, since I don't think where you go to school should be such a big determinator in your hero career. Plus, wouldn't it be nice to give the lesser known hero schools some recognition by becoming the best hero there is after graduating?"

Wakana clearly didn't understand, but she offered a polite "That's a very interesting mindset to have."

Kazuya rolled his eyes. "Don't fall for it, she's just salty that UA rejected our parents in the past. Even though you know their Quirks weren't suitable for hero work anyway."

Riri flicked a spoonful of ice cream at him. "Okay, so that might be part of it, but that doesn't mean everything else I said isn't true!"

"Speaking of which, there was something I wanted to show you," Kazuya said suddenly, digging his phone from his pocket and searching something up quickly. He slid the device across the table so that Riri could pick it up (not without silently judging his poor choice in phone case). A video was loading slowly, and then a woman appeared on the screen, her short brown ponytail and glasses completing her sharp, slightly stern appearance. "Isn't that the hero you said you ran into a while back?"

It was.

Riri didn't respond, magenta eyes wide and bright as the video continued playing, revealing the interview setting clearly featuring the hero (the Speed Hero: Inazuma, she thought, recalling the research she had done after that night, real name Renjou Haruko).

"So I hear you and your brother decided to start a hero school instead. What made you come to that decision?"

"Honestly, I don't think the two things have to be completely separate ideals. Nothing about us has changed: we still want to help people however we can. We've simply chosen another route to go about it, that's all. We both met people, children, that have influenced our decision, and we decided it would be more to our preference to watch over and instruct the next generation. Because ultimately, that's what it comes down to, isn't it? Everything as we know it will change one day, and our era will come to an end. So it's important that we instruct and lead the future heroes, the ones who will be the next to save this planet, down the right path. Hijiri and I both came to an agreement that this was more important, and that's how Shinraikai Academy came to be."

"That's certainly an interesting mindset to have. Do you have any words to say to the future heroes who will be attending your school?"

"Being a hero is not an easy path. It's all right to turn around and decide that it isn't for you. Heroes will inevitably walk a bloody path more often than not; that is the unfortunate truth of the society as it is today. However, we will do our best as your instructors to give you the best education and training we can possibly manage, so that you all can be the ones to help society get back on its feet and pave a cleaner, brighter path to the future. It will be hard, and you will want to give up. But don't. One day, there are people who will need your help, and there are lives that you will save. As long as you have the desire to listen to and answer the calls of the people, Shinraikai Academy welcomes you as your new home."

The video ended abruptly, and Riri found herself wishing it hadn't. Her brother was calling her name, but that was background noise to the awed thoughts floating around her head. Something about the interview was dragging her in, was calling to her, and she was going to answer it.

"—oi, Riri!"

"I've decided!" She announced, almost throwing Kazuya's phone in the air in her excitement. As it was, she knocked the chair to the ground as she jumped up, causing Kazuya and Wakana to both startle at the sudden movement and noise. "I've decided, this is it, I'm gonna do it, Nii-chan you're awesome—"

"Wait, hold up, what?" Kazuya said over her, trying to calm her down. "What are you talking about? Don't tell me you—"

"I'm going to attend Shinraikai Academy, and from there, I'll become the greatest hero you've ever seen!"

A/N: Okay! Hihi, thanks for stumbling across my story! This will be my second attempt at an SYOC, and I'm sorry that my first one died, but now I have wonderful friends on my side, particularly the phenomenal amazing heartattak and Monty's Cloudy Day, and since I did have a pressing idea, here I am! I'm really, really excited for this, and I hope this prologue was able to convey that! I actually have pretty much an entire plotline detailed out, so no worries, I know exactly where I want this to go!

But enough rambling! Um, to give all of you submitters some clearer ideas of the set up, this is a canon-parallel story taking place at a hero school called Shinraikai Academy! As you can tell, there's more to the academy than meets the eye, and the truth is that it will be split into two separate classes: the regular hero class, the Gold Class; and the secret reform class, the Silver Class! It's inspired by Vampire Knight's Day Class and Night Class, in fact! But well, obviously, the two classes will end up interacting and bonding later on down the line~ And this is an SYOC, so if you're interested, I'll be accepting 14 students for the Gold Class, and 14 students for the Silver Class!

Rules and forms can be found on my bio! Again, thanks for checking this out and reading, and I hope you enjoyed the prologue! (Would love to hear thoughts and feedback on it too, of course~!) Submissions will close March 10, and I'll be sure to post another chapter before then! Until next time~

Chikage