Given a certain colossal event that happened this week, I managed to focus myself on writing the next chapter quickly.
Aztec 13: I won't answer every question (Can't go around giving away spoilers), but I'll give you this - Haruo will definitely receive plenty of different Godzilla powers, but not all at once. Gotta balance the character at least a little bit. Masaki and Yuri aren't Kaiju-based at all. Masaki is the character "Manual" from the canon My Hero Academia while Yuri is an original character by me. I plan to have a mix of OCs and canon characters (albeit with their own twists). And for the last question, just wait and see.
If you missed my update for last chapter, I have decided to use a Deviantart page to post some art I drew for this story (I'm not very good, but I'm passable). I can't post the link since this website can be kinda crappy, so you're just gonna have to try to look for a user named "MaleficKing" if you want to see them.
UPDATE (6/24/21): Some changes have been made to this chapter as of now.
Haruo slowly chewed his rice as he stared at the letter in his hand, the official emblem of U.A. Academy keeping the envelope sealed in wax. While he was confident in his acceptance, the teen couldn't help but feel some anxiety towards his results. The written exam wasn't so bad and destroying machines was fun, but U.A. was infamous for its high standards for students. Could it really be that simple or was his ego at play?
"So are you gonna open the thing or not? Your food's getting colder by the minute."
Haruo looked up from the envelope to glare at the slightly older woman sitting to his left. Her golden eyes stared curiously at the boy, a hand through her dark green hair as she leaned on her elbow.
From across the table, Dr. Serizawa softly answered, "Erika, have some patience. This is an important moment for Haruo." The three were seated for dinner, having just noticed Haruo's entrance exam results came in the mail. Meal times with the Serizawa household were often quiet, but moments such as these brought some buzz to the atmosphere.
Erika rolled her eyes and took a generous bite of her salad, softly speaking as she chewed, "He's been staring for 5 minutes. Is it a crime to know how well Spikes did?"
Haruo's eye twitched at the nickname, but his only response was to take his bowl of rice and shovel it messily into his mouth. Erika grimaces in disgust while Dr. Serizawa's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Haruo, table manners," His father sternly advised and was ignored.
Quickly chewing and swallowing his dinner, Haruo took to ripping open the envelope, no longer content with waiting in suspense. To Haruo's lack of surprise, he passed the entrance exam, earning by far the most Villain Points out of all the examinations. He started to smirk until he looked down at the listings of the highest scorers:
No. 1 - Miana Tomoyuki – Villain: 23 – Rescue: 60
No. 2 – Haruo Serizawa – Villain: 62 – Rescue: 20
No. 3 – Rumi Usagiyama – Villain: 45 – Rescue: 15
No. 4 - Akuma Honda – Villain: 58 – Rescue: 0
No. 5 – Kugo Sakamata – Villain: 25 – Rescue: 29
One point. Someone beat him for the top spot by one point. Where the hell did "Rescue Points" come from!?
As Haruo stewed in his silent anger, the paper was snatched from his hands by Erika. She stared at it for a few seconds before smiling and ruffling Haruo's hair. "Second place, not bad at all! Of course, that prideful pointy head of yours is probably only focused on losing first place. Right?"
Haruo growled at her tease until his father spoke up, "You should be proud of yourself, this just proves how well you've been progressing with your quirk control. Although, I myself am surprised you didn't receive a pure villain-based score."
Haruo raised an eyebrow, "You know about this 'Rescue Point' crap?"
"...I have connections."
Erika rested her head in her hands, "Well don't leave us in the dark, tell us how Haruo screwed up." Haruo glared his red eyes at her, but she nonchalantly covered his face with the acceptance sheet.
Dr. Serizawa cleared his throat, "From my understanding, while destroying mock villains was the primary goal of the entrance exam, there was also a secret objective: Rescue Points. Watching the exam take place were a set of judges, in which they judged how much each potential student exemplified heroic traits, which are added to their final score. Both points are highly important to the exercise."
Erika's eyes widened, "Wait, then Haruo actually did something unapologetically heroic? Really? Are we still talking about the same free-loading lizard?" She lightly flinched as Haruo threw the rolled up remains of the envelope at her head, not even bothering to turn her head and glare.
Stroking his chin, the doctor answered, "It's possible he received them for destroying the 0-Point villain. Due to another examinee's quirk, it went out of control and attacked indiscriminately. Haruo destroying it might've been seen as an attempt to stop it from causing more destruction."
Haruo thought back to the tall blonde who approached him after the fact and scoffed, crossing his arms, "I just wanted to test my power against it, that's all. Morality was far from my mind."
Erika clapped slowly, "How very heroic Spikes, you're an inspiration for us all. You also gonna help an old lady get across the street by stampeding over her?" This time, Erika shifted her head to dodge a rolled-up napkin.
Contemplating to himself for a moment, Dr. Serizawa asked, "Haruo, why didn't you just accept me recommending you? That test is guaranteed to be directly competition-based and would've been much less risk for your attitude getting in the way."
In response to the sudden question, Haruo's expression darkened, "...I don't need you to give me privileges to succeed. My accomplishments are going to be from my own efforts, not because you want to be some support stool."
His father glared back, "With your attitude, the chances of you lashing out weren't out of the question. Your prideful nature combined with your quirk's natural instincts could've ruined your chances in an instant. With the recommendation test and my supervision, any accidents could've just been excused as an over competitive persona."
Erika tried to speak up but the doctor quickly continued. "I may have taken a step back from supervising you, but if you can't reel yourself in, you may not only lose your chance at a pro hero career but you could jeopardize the best possible development for your quirk. It's both too powerful and too dangerous for you to mess around with as you please."
"..."
As the older man's harsh words sunk into his head, Haruo silently stood up and walked out of the dining room, heading upstairs to his bedroom with audibly heavy footsteps. Taking a moment to breathe, Dr. Serizawa let out a heavy sigh and stood up himself, taking both Haruo and his own dishes to the kitchen sink before heading off to his private study, barely batting an eye at the green-haired woman still seated..
Erika let out an aggravated groan, nearly tearing her hair out as she let her head hit the dining room table. She banged her head a few times before stopping and just laying her head there. She remained, sitting in the now choking silence.
She slowly lifted her head and stared at a family photograph, just barely visible in the next room. It's clearly an old photo, as Erika looked to be about Haruo's current age with the much smaller red-eyed boy hugging her leg. Behind her stood a slightly younger Dr. Serizawa, as well as a 20-year-old man with a similar physical appearance to the doctor. Next to Haruo's more timid form was another young child almost identical to him, with the most stand out difference being his bright orange eyes in comparison to Haruo's dark red, as well as stark white hair.
She softly sighed and let her head fall back to the table.
In his bedroom, Haruo laid on his mattress and put on his earbuds, listening to a song with his eyes closed. The frustration on his face slowly calmed as he listened. The song in question was rather old-sounding, the lyrics being sung by a woman in a foreign language.
"Dvarapala Upala, Prithvi Akash. Kirana hi kirana, Agadi Udgara."
Meanwhile at U.A. Academy, the tests created for the recommendation students have just ended, the conclusion being a race through a custom obstacle course. Quirk usage was heavily necessary for all who participated, leaving every examinee exhausted from the exam.
Standing to the side and leaning on one of the goal posts was the second-place examinee, breathing slow yet heavy breaths. He was tall, standing seven feet with practically bulging muscles. Brown hair covered his arms, reaching and connecting to the hair on his head and even extended into a beard that makes him look much older than a teenager. All round, the boy looked very apeish.
His eyes were closed as he focused on catching his breath, but they slowly opened as he heard footsteps approach him. His brown irises trained on a boy with silver hair and yellow eyes, complimenting his orange and white jumpsuit. This was the first-place examinee, Hayata.
"Hello there, Mr. Cooper! I just wanted to congratulate everyone else's performance, but you especially. You really gave me a run for my money. I hope to see you at U.A.!" He spoke with an excited but professional tone, clearly filled with enthusiasm but level-headed enough to keep calm. To the larger individual, it was agitating.
The much taller teen scoffed and walked past him, bumping him in the shoulder on his way. Hayata raised his eyebrows in surprise but merely shrugged his shoulders and walked off to talk to the other examinees.
As the muscled teen walked on, silently grumbling to himself, he stopped as he heard his name being called.
"Shoichi, my boy! How was it? Did they push you too hard?"
The tall boy, now identified as Shoichi, looked to see an older but smaller man run up towards him. The man wears a brown wrinkled business suit along with a black bowtie and a pair of glasses with large lenses, which almost distracts from his small yet bushy black mustache. The man's most prominent trait is the wide smile on his face paired with an excited gleam in his eyes, excitement practically radiating off his person.
Shoichi lets out a sigh and answers with a deep voice, "It went fine, Mr. Tako. I couldn't get to first place but I managed to land second. I guess I just wasn't good enough."
Mr. Tako patted Shoichi's shoulder (at least he tried to) and said, "Come now, there's no shame in that. This test is meant for some of the best of the best. You could've gotten last place and I'm sure you would've done fantastic, sometimes numbers don't really matter! Now I'm sure you're exhausted, so I made sure to order some of that Soma Juice you love so much ahead of time. Why don't we have some while you rest, yes?"
Shoichi didn't answer but he smiled at the kindness of the man. Mr. Tako had been his only family for many years and, while he can be overly eccentric, he always did the best he could to make the boy happy. And for that, Shoichi couldn't be thankful enough. Once he gets into U.A., he'll make the man proud.
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER...
Haruo loosened the tie around his neck, feeling uncomfortable in the U.A. standard uniform for students. The clothing was a lot tighter than he's used to, and the color scheme wasn't much better. He didn't complain though, merely he just shouldered his backpack and walked out the door with Erika right behind him. Like Haruo, she was also in uniform, a much more monochromatic black attire with a white lab coat with a symbol on the back resembling an infinity emblem. Her normally shoulder length green hair was even tied into a bun.
"You're not nervous, are you Spikes? U.A.'s a pretty big deal for a newbie like you, don't want you to embarrass yourself on your first day afterall. " Erika spoke with a teasing tone but was being honest, asking in case Haruo was actually having any doubts. Haruo always acted tough but he had his moments, Erika knew most of all.
The boy's only reply was a grunt before increasing his walking speed, seeing Miki approaching the front of the gate of their house. Like Haruo, she also wore the U.A. student uniform, albeit the female equivalent with a green skirt and black tights. Similar to Haruo, she managed to get into U.A. Academy's General Studies course without much difficulty.
Miki gave a small "hello" to Haruo as he walked up to her, then she turned to the older woman, "It's nice to see you too, miss S-…."
The younger girl was cut off as Erika lightly chopped her forehead, "You can just call me Erika, you know. No need to be so formal with family names." Haruo let out a small snort at the irony, given his and Miki's interaction after the entrance exam.
Rubbing her forehead, Miki replied "Right, sorry Erika, it's just been a while. Are you heading off to work at the lab now?"
Erika nodded, "That's right, I have a job to do whilst you two should be heading off to school. Make sure to keep Haruo out of trouble when you can, alright Miki?"
Haruo scoffed and walked ahead, "Oh please, sis. I don't need a babysitter."
As Haruo walked out of hearing range, Erika quietly spoke to Miki, "The way that boy's maturing, a babysitter is just what he needs. Either that or a capable housewife to keep his leash."
While she said it as a joke, the wink she gave to Miki caused the younger girl's face to turn red. Miki stammered uncontrollably for a bit, "I-I just-...I should...School. Bye!" She then quickly powerwalked to catch up to Haruo. Evidently, Haruo was the only one immune to Erika's teasing.
Erika snickered at the younger girl's reaction. Haruo may be ignorant, but Erika isn't a scientist for nothing. She then turned in the opposite direction of the two kids, heading down a path that leads to the same lab as Dr. Serizawa.
And that's another chapter down. So as to not beat around the bush, the Godzilla vs Kong trailer is out and I am HYPED! I'm Team Godzilla all the way but I'm just looking forward to a good fight. I thought about doing different questions per chapter so I guess to get that ball rolling:
What did you think of the Godzilla vs Kong Trailer? Are you excited? Are you on Team Godzilla or Team Kong? Please let me know.