(A/N: Here we are with another BnHA story, and this one will be a little bit different. Instead of a story about one of the 1-A students, this one takes place during the time Aizawa and Yamada are in high school.
Originally, their time in high school was just going to be a part of a bunch of flashbacks, but I quickly realized that all of the things that I wanted could be enough for an entire story. So, I scrapped the original idea and decided on this one.
Well, that's probably enough background information, which means it's time for me to get to work. I hope everyone has a great time reading this.)
U-V-U-V-U-*0*-U-V-U-V-U
A tall, older woman with graying black hair opened the door to a bedroom. In the bed lay a teenage boy with black hair, lightly snoring as he slept. She shook her head with a smile and slightly opened the door wider to allow a dog to enter the room. Immediately, the canine went to the sleeping boy and eagerly licked his face.
He woke up with a disgusted groan and wiped his face with his arm as he used his other to lift himself, "Ahiru!" He gently pushed the dog away with his palm when he tried to lick him again, "Why is he in here?"
"Because it's time to get up, Shota," the woman smiled. "You don't want to be late. Especially when today will determine the rest of your life."
He groaned again before he lifted himself out of the bed. His messy hair covered his eyes as he stared at the floor, lazily making his way out of his room.
He went into his bathroom and took a quick shower, though he struggled slightly to stay awake. It was not until after he was finished, when the cool air in the bathroom clashed with the warm water drops on his body, that he felt his sleepiness fade away.
When he returned to his room, he saw Ahiru asleep on his bed, laying on his back and moving his paws as his canine mind became active with dreams. He knew he would awaken the second he closed his door, which he would scratch on as he whined until he was let out.
He would have woken him up and ushered him out, but he had very little time to do so and expect himself to be finished with his clothes at a reasonable time. Especially when he knew the dog would pretend he did not understand him in order to coerce him into playing.
'I know every trick with this dog,' he thought.
He gathered his clothing and left his bedroom, making his way back to the bathroom. He used his towel to dry his slightly long, chin length hair before he started to put his clothes on.
He looked at himself in the mirror once he was finished. He wore a dark-colored uniform, which was nothing more than a blazer and dress pants, worn by all males of his middle school.
Upon seeing his own reflection, he sighed, 'This will be the last time I wear this.'
He walked out of his bathroom and went towards the kitchen, where he could smell breakfast cooking. He saw the tall woman in front of the stove, and a man similar in age to her sitting at the dining table with a newspaper and an oxygen tube in his nostrils; his grandmother and grandfather.
He took a seat at the table while he waited for breakfast to be finished, "Good morning, grandpa."
"Good morning, Shota," he said with a raspy, airy voice, never looking away from his newspaper.
The food was done sooner than expected, though it would not have surprised the dark-haired teen if his grandmother had been preparing it since before she awakened him. It was a simple breakfast of miso soup, white rice, fried eggs, and grilled fish.
"Are you excited for today?" his grandmother asked.
He swallowed his rice and frowned, "I don't know if 'excited' is the word I'd use."
"But why?" she inquired. "Dear, you have an amazing power-"
"Grandma, I can take away a person's quirk until I have to blink! What the hell is that good for?!" he yelled, his eyes glowing bright red as he stood up with his palms on the table.
"Shota," his grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes returning to normal instantly due to his neutralization quirk.
"What?" he questioned harshly.
It was not until after he saw his grandfather's glare that he realized what he had said, and who he said it to. He calmed himself and slowly sat down in his chair with his head hung.
"I'm sorry, grandma," he muttered in a low, guilty voice. "I… I shouldn't have said that."
She leaned closer to him and gently rubbed his back, "It's alright, I'm not mad, I promise."
He knew that no matter what he said to her, she could never become permanently upset with him. He also knew that his grandfather was the same, despite how strict he could be towards him occasionally.
She moved her hand from his back to wrap her arm around his shoulders, "I know you've been through a lot and you're only fifteen, but it breaks my heart to know how you view yourself and your quirk. How would your parents feel to hear you say that? I know my daughter, your mother, would hate to see you like this."
"So would my son," his grandfather added. "You may not remember too much about him because you were so little, but your Dad wouldn't tolerate hearing anything negative you have to say about yourself."
He remembered very little about his parents and he was unsure about what happened to them. He had vague memories, but there were times where he could not distinguish real-life past events and dreams. For all he knew, most of his memories of them were dreams, fantasies his child mind developed after seeing pictures of them, a desire to have a normal childhood.
"Okay," he uttered quietly.
He finished his food and silently left the table, returning to his bedroom. He grabbed his empty backpack and filled it with a change of clothes and several long yet thin strips of cloth, similar to scarves.
While he was putting his clothing inside of his backpack, Ahiru woke up and jumped down from his bed. He approached him and sniffed his face, intending to lick him again, but he held his hand up.
"No, don't." He pushed him away when he tried licking him. He opened his door wide enough to allow him to leave, "Out. Out, Ahiru."
The dog finally left and he finished with his backpack, closing it. He wore it over his shoulder by only one strap and left his bedroom, closing the door to prevent his family's pet from entering it again.
When he returned to the kitchen, he saw his grandmother cleaning the dishes and his grandfather still sitting at the table, checking his hand-held health monitor, "Um, I'm leaving now."
She checked the time on the clock, "Oh, it's in an hour. Do you want me to drive you there, honey?"
"No, I… I can walk," he replied, his hold on the strap of his backpack tightening slightly. "Thanks anyway."
His anxiety did not escape her, nor his grandfather, they had both seen it before. He was at a vulnerable age where such a thing was almost expected to a certain extent, but they knew it was something not to be taken lightly.
"Alright. Call when you get there," she told him.
"I will," he responded.
He turned to leave when his arm was grabbed by his grandfather's hand, "Do your best out there, okay? Don't beat yourself up if you don't make it. And don't talk down to yourself."
The shock from his actions was replaced with a respectful nod and a small smile, "Okay."
By the time he arrived at the campus, he could feel his nerves boiling inside of him. The sheer size of the school was enough to make him shake, and that was purely from what he could see at the entrance.
He gathered himself together and continued to walk forward, onto the grounds of the school many aspiring heroes would die to get into. He was one of those hopefuls, and no different than anyone else in all but one way, his quirk was not worthy of allowing him attendance.
There were three types of heroes: battle, rescue, and entertainment; he was unsuitable for any of them. His quirk could not be used in any kind of combat situation and it certainly could not save anyone on its own, and his naturally gloomy exterior and aloof, pessimistic personality made entertaining people an impossibility.
There was a crowd of students waiting outside for one of the school's staff members to take them inside a lecture hall. He estimated the number of people to be well over one hundred, he maintained his distance to not overwhelm himself.
He noticed that one of the hopeful students seemed to be trying to excite the crowd. He was blonde and wore sunglasses over his eyes.
"C'mon, people! Look alive! It's the day of the Entrance Exam!" he exclaimed. His voice was loud and carried on for quite a distance, like his throat had a microphone built into it.
Another student, a boy with light blue hair that almost seemed to defy gravity, joined the blonde and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Yeah! It's a fun day for everyone!"
He knew he would try to stay away from those two as much as he could. He could already tell they were the type of people he tried to avoid the most.
From where he stood, he watched as everyone interacted with each other, some excited about the exam, others cripplingly nervous. He heard countless voices, but he could not hear one sentence clearly.
Suddenly, he heard a couple of female voices not too far from him. Given how he was capable of listening to what they said, it was likely they were a mere ten feet from him.
"Do you see that guy over there by himself?"
"Yeah, why's he just standing there and watching everyone like a creep?"
"I dunno, but he looks disgusting."
"I know. Does he even wash or brush his hair?"
He reached his hand to touch the back of his head, feeling how matted his hair felt despite the shower he took that morning. It made him regret his decision to walk to the school instead of accepting his grandmother's offer.
'Did I even wash it?' he thought insecurely. 'Jeez.'
He stared at the ground as he kept his hand on his head, his eyes seemingly fixated on the concrete. The gray-colored ground was not spotless, there were wrappers, crumbled food, and blackened spots caused by people carelessly discarding their chewing gum everywhere. It saddened him slightly, he respected the school, but it was clear to him that quite a few people did not; and these people were hoping to study there.
"Um, hey, are you okay?" he suddenly heard another female voice ask, and this one was much closer to him and the question directed at him.
He looked up and saw a girl with white hair and purple eyes, like violets in full bloom. She wore the uniform of a middle school he could not identify, a plain white shirt with a dark blue bow and a navy blue skirt.
'Is she… talking to me?' he mentally asked in disbelief. 'No, that can't be it. I'm a mess.'
"Why are you standing by yourself?" she asked again.
This time, he was certain he was the one she was talking to, she was looking directly at him. However, he knew better than anyone that it likely meant nothing, just a kind girl who wanted to see if he was alright.
He was quiet as he recovered from his shock before he answered, staring at the ground to his side to look away from her, "I… um…"
Before he could finish, there was a voice originating from the speakers outside the building, "To all those participating in the Entrance Exam, please enter the lecture hall."
The white-haired girl was approached by another girl with platinum blonde hair, bright silver eyes, slightly dark skin similar in color to powdered chocolate, and elven ears. "We better go now, Kiki."
She looked at her friend, "Okay, Aiko." She walked away with the other girl, turning her head back to him to briefly wave, "Bye. Good luck."
"Uh, thanks," he replied, even though she likely did not hear him.
He waited a couple of moments before he followed the other potential students to the lecture hall. As he approached the steps that led to the entrance, someone walked into his shoulder and caused him to falter.
"Outta my way, wimp," a tall, muscular boy with pink hair that resembled an oddly pointed mullet growled impatiently.
'What's his problem?' he thought, rubbing his shoulder.
He walked up the steps and saw a man with tired, almost paranoid eyes wearing a combination of common safety gear and militaristic armor giving each student a piece of paper. He recognized the man as a rescue type Pro-Hero called Hazard, he used his quirk to take apart buildings and uplift the ground to save people in dire situations.
When he was in front of the door, he was given his own paper. He looked at it and saw a number, it was the seat he was supposed to be in. It was also likely his participation number as one of the examinees.
He silently sighed, 'Shota Aizawa is now just another number.'
He went inside and he was guided to the row he would be seated in by someone he assumed was a faculty member, but the lights were dimmed and it was difficult to see many details. He was placed at the end of the section his assigned seat was; meaning, if he wanted to run, he could.
"Ah, man! Looks like we're not sitting together, Oboro!" the blonde boy he saw earlier complained to the blue-haired boy.
His friend laughed in a reassuring and nonchalant manner, "Don't worry, Hizashi! We'll fight together in the practical! Hey! Maybe they'll let us sit next to each other in the written exam? Cuz you know I suck at those things!"
The other boy returned his laugh, "Yeah, I know! I guess we better find our seats. I'll see you in a few minutes, 'kay?"
"Right!" he grinned. "See ya in a bit, buddy!"
Shota shook his head, "God, they're loud."
Suddenly, he heard the blonde ask himself, "Now, where's seat 1651?"
He looked at his piece of paper and on it was the number 1650. The seat he was looking for was directly next to his.
He leaned back as he sighed, "Shit."
He walked down the rows as he looked for his seat, "One, four… no. One, five, nope. Ah! Here it is! Mind moving for me?"
Without a word, Shota moved his legs to allow him access. He walked past him and sat down next to him, folding his arms behind his head as soon as he did.
'Please, don't try to talk to me. Please, don't try to talk to me,' he mentally pleaded.
His wish was unheard as he saw the loud blonde turn his head in his direction, "Hey, I'm Hizashi Ya-"
The dimly lit room darkened and he raised his hand to stop the boy next to him, "Shh."
A light turned on from above a large screen in the middle of the room. Standing under it was a woman wearing a two-piece dress made up of every color of the rainbow. Over it was an equally colorful cloak made of a strange material that almost seemed holographic as the hues changed under the light with every movement.
"Good morning, future UA students!" she began her speech with a bright smile. "I'm Danaus, a member of the school staff, and a UA High School Alumnus. Many things have changed since my days as a student, I'd say it's harder now than it was back then. Regardless, I have faith in you and I know each and every one of you will try your hardest."
"Yeah!" the blonde suddenly exclaimed, his voice's volume was enough to echo throughout the room.
Shota covered his ears and flinched away from the loud boy, 'The least he could've done was give me a warning.'
"Now," her face became serious, "let's get started."
The screen behind her turned on and her cloak opened, revealing it to be a pair of wings similar to those of a butterfly. She used her wings to fly closer to the screen as the image changed from the school's golden logo to a couple of humanoid silhouettes, one feminine, one masculine. To the side of them were three headbands, each colored differently as red, yellow, and green respectively.
"Capture the flag is the name of today's game. You'll have to battle these fake villains and steal their headbands. Red is worth one point, yellow is five points, and green is worth ten. In addition," a blue headband appeared underneath the rest of them, "there's at least one blue one hidden among the fake villains that's worth fifty points. They have full authority to do whatever it takes to protect their headbands, and so will you to take them. Oh, and there's something else," her face twisted into a dark smirk, "you're allowed to steal from each other."
'Steal? But that means everyone will be a target,' he thought anxiously. He gripped the ends of the arms of his seat, sweat from his neck soaking into his hair.
"We understand that it's a competitive, unfair world out there," she continued. "So while this may seem unorthodox, we at UA believe it to be the most efficient and effective way of determining who is the most worthy of attending this school.
'Unfair?' he mentally repeated. 'You don't have to tell me that.'
The screen changed to a layout of what looked like a city, "Once you complete the written test, you'll be taken to Ground Beta. There, you'll have fifteen minutes to collect as many headbands as you can before time runs out. Only the top forty students will be considered for enrollment. Even so, it will not be guaranteed for everyone, so don't get your hopes up if you manage to earn enough points." The image disappeared, replaced with the UA logo, and the lights were turned on. "I wish you all the best of luck."
Faculty members began to give sheets of paper to the students, the first half of the Entrance Exam. Shota looked at the questions and realized it was primarily about hero laws, the names and attributes of heroes and villains, and other informatics.
'This is the test? I can do this in my sleep,' he thought, underwhelmed. 'You'd have to be a complete idiot not to pass.'
"Hizashi!" The blue-haired boy ran down to the section his friend sat in, standing next to Shota, though he did not seem to notice him. "I just asked if we could sit together for the test and they said it's okay."
He grinned and gave him a thumbs-up, "Awesome!" The blonde looked to his side and noticed that many of the attendees had left to sit elsewhere. "Why don't you move on down?"
He nodded, "Sure!"
Shota did not need to hear him ask for him to move to allow him access into the row to be next to his friend. He sank his feet and legs into his seat and the jovial boy moved past him to join his energetic companion.
'He didn't even ask,' he noted. 'Does he even know I'm here?'
He started to take his test and found himself repeatedly glancing at the lively duo next to him. They playfully grinned and occasionally hit each other, but tried to stay as quiet as they could so that they did not disturb anyone.
He never had a friendship like theirs before; in fact, he never had a friend in his life. It was something he neither concerned himself with nor cared for.
No one ever talked to him outside of school, they often whispered about him behind his back, even if he was within hearing distance. He always had his matted hair that he kept relatively lengthy, he was constantly tired, and he often wore a cat themed sweater he was given as a gift. In the eyes of most people his age, he was strange and they were disgusted by him.
He held up a hand to the side of his face to prevent himself from looking at them, 'Stop it, Shota! Stop being a creep! You'd be nothing but a third wheel!'
It did not take him long to finish his test and stood up to give it to one of the school's staff. Now that the lights were turned on, he could see that most of them wore costumes, they were heroes.
Danaus was flying around the room to see if the students were taking their tests when she noticed him leave his seat. "I can take that for you."
He held up the paper to her, "Thanks."
"Can you take ours too?" the blonde asked her loudly, holding up two tests.
She nodded and flew over to them, taking their papers, "Now that you're done, you can go ahead and change for the practical. Just go outside and Hazard will show you."
The two friends left their seats and ran to the entrance with their backpacks. Shota grabbed his own and slowly followed them, his eyes glued to the ground. He caught up to them just as they were walking away, following the rescue hero.
He took them to a locker room that looked as though it was barely in use. It was clean with a bit of dust and there were benches for them to sit on as they changed.
"You can change here, or you can use the restroom if that's more comfortable for you. Just put your bags in a locker and don't forget which one," Hazard said. "Return to the lecture hall when you're done."
"You got it, sir!" the blue-haired boy smiled with a thumbs-up.
He and his blonde friend wasted little time changing out of their identical middle school uniforms. For several moments, Shota stood frozen as he tightly clenched the strap of his backpack.
He turned around and walked out, 'Maybe it's better to change in the bathroom instead.'
Once in the restroom, he removed his dark school uniform and changed into the clothes he brought with him. He now wore a black sweatshirt with matching shorts and wrapped the long, scarf-like cloths around his neck and shoulders.
He looked at himself in the large mirror when he was finished. The layered bundle that covered the upper section of his chest and the lower portion of his face seemed out of place, yet it belonged where it was at the same time.
He took a piece of the fabric in his fingers as he looked down at it, "Please, work with me today. Please, work with me today."
Turning away from the mirror, he picked up his backpack and his discarded uniform, stuffing it inside. He left the school restroom and went back to the locker room.
The energetic friends had changed into exercise outfits for the practical portion of the Entrance Exam. The blonde boy wore a black shirt and dark red shorts while the blue-haired boy wore a dark blue shirt with identically colored pants and a sweatband. Two lockers were opened adjacent to each other as they held their individual backpacks.
The locker room had been filled with other examinees since the last time he saw it. It was empty when they were brought there, but it now held enough people inside it to have at least half of the lockers full of backpacks.
He decided to open one himself to put his own bag inside of it. Once he settled on one, he looked at its number to memorize it.
The arrogant student with the unusually pointed pink hair pushed him aside as he walked out, "Move it."
He rolled his eyes as he closed his chosen locker, 'If I ever see that guy again, it'll be too soon.'
He left the room and started to make his way back to the lecture hall. He was only ten feet away when the two friends ran out of the locker room and passed him.
"We better hurry back before they start without us," the blue-haired student grinned.
His blonde friend laughed, "Oh, no! They better not before the life of the party arrives, yo!"
He momentarily paused his steps as he watched them, the distance between them increasing with each passing second, 'They're loud but at least they keep to themselves.'
He resumed his walking until he arrived at the lecture hall for the second half of the Entrance Exam. Most of the examinees were already there, but it was likely it would be some time before the practical began.
'Hopefully, this wait won't be forever,' he mentally commented, slightly impatient.
As he waited in anticipation, he started to think about what he was going to do to pass the test. There were many ways he could fail, but he knew he could pass it if he had a strategy.
He knew that the primary target for most would be the blue headband, it was worth more than enough points for a student to be a highly ranked candidate for the hero course. With that in mind, he knew the most rational thing to do would be to find as many lesser headbands as he could. The small amount of points each one was worth would eventually congregate into enough for him to potentially enroll at the school.
As simple and ingenious as this strategy was, he understood that it had one major flaw. The more headbands he managed to collect, the bigger the target on his back became. Since they were allowed to steal from one another, it meant if someone saw him with a high concentration of headbands, they would attack him for them, regardless of how much they were worth. He would have to refrain from too many of the smaller numbered ones, and try for the moderate points. Unfortunately, those were the ones that would likely be the most desired.
'The factor that'll make or break this is going to be speed,' he thought. 'If I move too slow, I won't get any points. And if I move too fast, I may not have full awareness of my surroundings. The "villains" in this test won't just hand their headbands over, and they may use their quirks to defend them. The best thing for me to do is erase them and steal their headbands before they get a chance to react.'
"Attention, examinees!" Everyone looked up to see Danaus flying overhead with a megaphone in her hand. "Please follow me to the Ground Beta."
She flew ahead of them at a steady pace as she took them to the area where the practical would occur. A mixture of excitement and anxiety, arrogance and insecurity, was a thick fog hanging over the students.
Shota played with the cloths around his neck as he tried to calm his nerves, 'Remember your strategy, remember your strategy, remember your strategy.'
It was not long before they arrived at the location of the practical. Ground Beta was more than just a testing field, it was a model of an entire city. Everywhere, there were buildings and structures of all sizes, many of which were several stories tall.
Seeing the place where they would be fighting 'villains' and each other was more than a little nerve-racking for some. It was at that point when they realized they were no longer watching heroes fight in an urban battle, they would be the fighters in the arena.
It did little to calm Shota's anxiety, 'This is the place?! It's huge!'
He could feel whatever confidence he may have had quickly diminish the moment he saw the interior of the mock-city. It gave the 'villains' plenty of places to hide and would undoubtedly induce a state of confusion in those with low self-esteem.
As he stared at the large test city, he suddenly felt his breathing increase rapidly. With each heavy, nervous breath, the pace of his heartbeat quickened.
His brain raced at a speed that nearly matched the pace of his heart rate, 'What the hell am I going to do now?! There are so many blindspots! Any of the other examinees could easily ambush me and steal the flags! Not to mention that the fake villains know this place, they have a huge advantage! How do I do this?! My quirk isn't useful here! How can I possibly pass this?! What was I thinking?!'
He glanced at the other participants as his eyes wandered anxiously. Inadvertently, they landed on the two jovial boys, he could tell they were nervous as well, yet they kept smiles on their faces like there was nothing to be afraid of.
"Hizashi, let's team up for this test," the blue-haired boy suggested. "That way we can grab more flags and it'll be easier to defend them. We can watch each other's backs too."
The blonde smiled and gave him a thumbs up, "Yeah! Let's do it, Oboro!"
He smiled back at his friend, "I bet we could grab a bunch more together than by ourselves too!"
"Two heads are better than one!" he grinned.
'They're so confident and bright,' Shota thought, his mouth slightly agape. 'They're just as scared as everyone else, and yet they're still able to smile.'
"Hey!" Danaus spoke through the megaphone once again as she flew overhead. "It's time to begin! Good luck, everyone. Plus ultra!"
"Plus ultra!" Nearly all of the examinees excitedly replied to her in unison.
"Yeah!" the hyper blonde enthusiastically yelled.
His blue-haired friend beamed, "Let's do this!"
Inhaling deeply and exhaling with a shaky sigh, Shota gripped his cloths, 'It's now or never. There's no time to hesitate.'
U-V-U-V-U-*0*-U-V-U-V-U
(A/N: I think this is as good a place as any to end the first chapter. I hope I did a decent job with it and I hope for it to get better from here.
If you've read the School Days Arc in "Vigilantes", then you know what's going to happen in the future. Fortunately, that won't be a good long time, so there's plenty of it for our favorite trio. Unfortunately, there's going to be more than just what happens during that fateful work study (more on that in the future).
I liked the idea of Shirakumo and Yamada being friends before they enrolled at UA and met Aizawa. Their personalities are just so similar and I felt like it wasn't really explored enough since the School Days Arc focused primarily on Aizawa and Shirakumo. That's not to say that you couldn't tell how much all three of them cared about each other, but I kind of wish they showed a little more of that side of the three-way friendship.
The Pro-Hero Danaus is an OC I came up with specifically for this story and she will play a major part in a future chapter. Originally, I was going to name her Monarch because of the monarch butterfly, but I thought it sounded too masculine for a woman with a butterfly quirk. Hazard, on the other hand, is meant to be the rescue-type hero teacher seen during the origin story for Aizawa, Yamada, and Shirakumo. Of the three teachers we met in that arc, he was arguably the easiest for me hero name-wise and quirk-wise.
In case you're confused by Aizawa's grandparents, that'll be explained in full later on. For now, I'll just clarify that his grandfather is his paternal grandfather (his father's father) and his grandmother is his maternal grandmother (his mother's mother). They live together for reasons that will be explained in the future. One thing that I will say right now is that I wouldn't get too attached to them.
The white-haired girl will play a major role in this story and she will be an important person in Aizawa's life (though that won't be for quite a while). With that in mind, one thing I should note immediately is that she won't be the focal point of the story, she plays a big part in it, but she is not the main character.
Well, I think that's enough background information for now. There's half a dozen things I could further explain, but I'll save all that for a later time.)