My Hero Academia: Lion of Courage
Chapter 8: Start of the Battle Trials
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi.
Kaze Yonaka used his Quirk to get to U.A. since he had already been there. Unfortunately, the distance did cause some strain on him as the teleport left him a bit fatigued. Despite his parents' objections and insisting that he take another way, Kaze felt Shadow Flashing from his home to his school wouldn't be a problem. He was wrong.
"Ugh," he groaned in annoyance. "I should've listened." When Kaze looked up, he saw Takeo Raionhato walking alongside a beautiful black-haired girl and the two were talking. About what, he didn't know, but he didn't care.
"Raionhato…you scum," he growled quietly.
He had hoped that if one student had been expelled yesterday from Eraser Head's class, it was Raionhato. Apparently, it hadn't come to pass. At the least, they were in separate classes and he wouldn't have to be around him.
"Yonaka?" Awase addressed, immediately catching the martial artist's attention.
"Oh, hello Awase," he greeted. "What do you think of our class so far?"
"I like it," Awase responded. "You looked angry just now. You alright?" Kaze's stoic expression hid the immense contempt he had for Raionhato. When he looked back, Awase immediately caught sight of the Inventory Quirk user.
"You know him?" Awase asked, gesturing to Raionhato. Again, Kaze's stone-faced expression hid his hatred.
"Unfortunately," he responded.
"That's Takeo Raionhato," Chikao spoke out of nowhere, holding a briefcase in one hand and a large coffee cup in the other. Yonaka and Awase jumped in shock at Chikao having appeared just next to them.
"Kato!?" Awase gasped. "Shit! Don't sneak up on us like that. Where did you come from?"
"First off, I asked to be called Chikao," the brown-haired student replied. "Second, I just walked up a moment ago. Third, that's Takeo Raionhato, the 2nd Place winner in the Entrance Exam. I saw him yesterday during lunch."
"Oh," Awase replied, though Kaze didn't respond at all. Chikao looked past Awase and at Yonaka before taking a loud sip of his coffee.
"I don't know why you hate Raionhato so much, Yonaka, but I'd highly suggest-"
"Mind your own business," Yonaka interrupted. "And…wait, how…?"
"I merely saw the way you looked at him," Chikao responded. "It practically screamed 'I hate you!'."
Chikao felt his head start to hurt, so he sat down on a bench, placed his briefcase and backpack down and then opened his coffee. He reached into his backpack, pulled out a large bag of sugar, roughly the size of two fists together and poured it into his coffee. Awase and Yonaka both looked in shock and confusion at Chikao dumping loads of sugar into his coffee.
"Dude, that's unhealthy," Awase brought up. "You shouldn't be adding that much sugar."
"It's actually okay for me," Chikao responded as he took a sip. "I believe I told you…" He placed his coffee on the bench and fell asleep, snoring loudly.
"He got in on recommendation?" Kaze asked. "How?" Both of them were at a loss of ideas of how Chikao could've gotten in on recommendation.
"Wait a minute…Kato?" Awase remembered. "As in, the Kato Hero Detective Agency?"
Then a bell rung in Kaze's head as well. The Kato Hero Detective Agency were a Pro Hero Agency that specialized in detective work, considered one of the best in the prefecture, maybe in all of Japan. With a Pro Hero Agency as prestigious as they were, it was no wonder why Chikao got in on recommendation.
"Chikao," Kaze addressed, shaking his shoulder. When Chikao didn't wake up, he smacked the back of his head.
"Ow," Chikao whined. "What was that for?"
"You fell asleep and snored loudly," Awase brought up. "As I was saying, you shouldn't-"
"Awase, my Quirk gives me a superhuman learning ability, but using it can lead to headaches. Because of that, I need sugar to deal with the headaches. So, if you'll excuse me…" He took another long sip from his coffee, letting out a loud sigh of satisfaction now that his headache was getting better.
"Hey, guys!" a female voice spoke in a very cheerful manner. The three of them immediately recognized it as Kana Hironaka, who sat in Seat 22 in Class 1-B. She was a rather short girl with dirty blonde hair, green eyes and despite his short stature, she seemed well built like a martial artist. Besides her school uniform and backpack, she was carrying a white box. She put it on another bench and opened it, showing a lot of different colored cupcakes.
"Want some?" she asked with a big smile. "I made them for everyone in our class."
"Oh," Awase and Yonaka responded. Kaze then started with "I don't know if it's such a good idea to eat cupcakes in the morning..." He stopped when he saw that Hironaka's cheerful expression quickly changed to a sad, puppy-eyed one. Neither Awase and Yonaka could resist her sad face, so they each grabbed one cupcake each.
"Thanks!" she spoke with a big smile and a bright light aura radiating from her.
"So…bright…" Kaze groaned as he shielded his eyes. Kana then offered one to Chikao as well, who just looked back and forth at the cupcakes and at her.
"Hironaka, it's not healthy to eat such sweets in the morning. Perhaps it'd be wiser to wait until later to share them."
"Oh," Hironaka replied solemnly. "Maybe you're right." She slowly put the top back on the box and walked away. Again, her cheerful expression was now solemn, so Yonaka and Awase decided to cheer her up.
"These cupcakes look delicious!" Awase called out to her.
"Thank you!" she replied sweetly before leaving, presumably to share them with the rest of the class.
"I do not understand what caused the two of you to suddenly want to cheer her up," Chikao pointed out as he drank more of his coffee. "It is unhealthy to eat things like cupcakes this early in the morning."
Awase and Yonaka couldn't agree more, but seeing Hironaka down and solemn made them want to cheer her up. They didn't know why, though maybe because of how cheerful and kind she was. She did bake cupcakes for the whole class, after all.
"What's in the briefcase?" Awase asked Chikao, who took another loud sip of his sugar-filled coffee.
"It's my two revolvers," Chikao answered, much to the shock of Awase and Yonaka. Did they hear right? Did Chikao Kato bring a firearm into the school? Before they could ask, Chikao proceeded to explain.
After he got in on recommendation, Chikao requested that he be allowed to use a firearm as a weapon since his Quirk alone wasn't good for combat. U.A. had a policy about students who used firearms, demanding they sign a Gun Responsibility Form, a statement that was mandatory for any student who possessed a gun.
The GRF, for short, had three basic terms: the first was that the student had the firearm in a secure item, such as Chikao's briefcase, at all times outside of an Authorized Combat Session. The second was that the student didn't lend their gun to anyone for any reason without a teacher's permission. The third was that they not use live ammunition during combat sessions, using only blank rounds to avoid fatalities. If any of these terms were violated, the school had the right to confiscate the firearm from the student and even after if it was returned, the student could no longer use it.
"So as you can see, there are precautions in place to ensure it's not used irresponsibly," Chikao stated. "Now, if you'll…excuse me…" He fell asleep yet again.
"I'm just going to go," Kaze replied and then walked off.
"Okay, I see how it could work," Takeo replied to Momo as they walked to class together. "Just know that the way my Quirk works, I cannot exceed a certain weight. Right now, I cannot exceed 40 lbs and I think I'm currently holding…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook, the same one he wrote down names next to Quirks so he could remember them.
"I'm currently at 34.5 lbs," Takeo informed. "So if we end up as a team in a exercise, I can handle smaller objects as long as they're not too heavy. If I take on more than 40 lbs, my body will start to hurt, like it's being crushed under a heavy rock."
"That doesn't sound pleasant," Yaoyorozu replied.
"It's not," Takeo responded as he put his notebook away. "But after explaining all that, I do see how our Quirks could work together."
"I'm happy you see that," Yaoyorozu spoke with a smile, one that charmed Raionhato and made him blush a bit. He quickly shook his head to get rid of the blush and smiled back.
"It's very important to recognize Quirks that can work well together with yours," she continued. "It's a vital skill for future heroes." Takeo nodded his head in agreement as they walked up some of the stairs leading to Class 1-A's classroom.
Takeo already found himself being charmed by the intelligent, kind and beautiful Momo Yaoyorozu. But in truth, he honestly didn't feel like it could go anywhere. She was the daughter of a famous Hero Agency and he was someone without a flashy Quirk, without a family as prestigious as hers.
"Raionhato, is something wrong?" she asked with a concerned tone.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he assured. "In truth…I'm very glad we're in the same class together. You're very smart and kind." Yaoyorozu blushed from the compliment and smiled.
"Thank you," she replied as they kept going to class. As they made their way, they ran into another member of their class, a young man with a rather unique appearance. He had white hair on the right side of his head and red hair on the left side. As for his eyes, he had a gray right eye and a blue left eye. They both recognized him from the training yesterday, though Raionhato didn't know who he was.
"Morning," Takeo greeted to him. The student looked at him with a stoic expression and then walked off.
"All I said was 'Morning'," Takeo spoke.
"You don't remember who that is?" Momo asked the Inventory Quirk user.
"I remember I saw him using ice yesterday during our martial arts class," Takeo brought up. "But I didn't catch his name. Do you know him?"
"I just met him recently," Momo replied. "He got in on recommendation as well. He's Shoto Todoroki, the son of Endeavor."
Takeo was almost shocked to hear that. The young man they encountered, Shoto Todoroki, was the son of the #2 Hero, the Flame Hero: Endeavor.
Raionhato never met Endeavor personally, but his mother had worked with him a few times during her Pro Hero career. Based on what she said, Endeavor was a strong and smart hero, though he did possess a rather unpleasant personality. As soon as their work together was done, she'd leave, not wanting to spend unnecessary time with him. So suffice to say, Takeo Raionhato didn't have a high opinion of Endeavor.
But something baffled him. During the Martial Arts Class yesterday, Todoroki used ice, not fire. As the son of Endeavor, wouldn't he have inherited a fire Quirk? Perhaps Todoroki only inherited an ice Quirk, presumably from his mother.
"Did you get to talk to him?" Takeo asked Momo. She simply shook her head.
"Todoroki didn't really interact with anyone. He just kept to himself. I do hope he opens up to the class. Becoming a Pro Hero is not a journey anyone should travel alone, no matter how strong they are."
"I can definitely agree," Takeo responded, his admiration for Momo Yaoyorozu growing stronger.
On another part of campus, the ivory-skinned, black-haired, blue-eyed girl, Yukine, had walked to class from her current abode in the prefecture. It was needed since her real home was located far north in the Hokkaido Prefecture. It suited her just fine…and it would've been better had she not received a dreaded phone call.
When she took her phone out of her pocket, she let out an annoyed sigh before answering the phone.
"Yes?" she responded.
"Yukine, dear, why do you take such a tone with me?" a female voice replied. "I'm your mother and it's my responsibility as such that you behave in a way befitting of the Kuraokami name."
Yukine Kuraokami, daughter of Reitan Kuraokami, Governor of Hokkaido, and his wife, Kitamo Kuraokami, something she wanted to keep from her classmates for as long as possible. She had done what she felt was necessary to avoid that kind of attention, such as not revealing her last name, getting in through the Entrance Exam rather than recommendation, and saying nothing of her family.
"I got into the Hero Course, didn't I?" she replied.
"You got in through the ENTRANCE EXAM," the voice of her father, Reitan Kuraokami, spoke. "We set you up to get in recommendation, remember? But instead, you defied us and mingled with people so beneath you."
"Mr. Kuraokami, these people are not beneath me and I have no desire to be seen as 'above' them," Yukine responded. "In the end, we're all equals in my book."
"Then you clearly have your priorities misplaced," Mr. Kuraokami responded. "You are the heir to the Kuraokami Family, who have long held the responsibilities of governing Hokkaido. You are my daughter and you will behave in a manner befitting your family lineage."
Yukine didn't respond for several moments, her mind filled with anger and frustration at her parents. Family lineage this, family lineage that. Kuraokami name this, Kuraokami name that. All that mattered to them was their reputation and they expected Yukine to carry it with her at all times.
"How I become a Pro Heroine is my choice," Yukine spoke defiantly. "U.A. won't care about me being the Governor's daughter and they shouldn't."
"Yukine dear, we simply want you to be successful like we are. We don't want you to be a failure like your sister, Kori-"
Yukine, out of immense disgust and rage, hung up, not allowing her mother to finish the sentence. She then put her phone on mute so she could ignore her parents' phone calls. She could tolerate their arrogance, their condescending towards people 'beneath' them, but she wouldn't tolerate them calling her sister a failure.
"You, Ice Queen," Bakugo addressed rather rudely. Yukine turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I believe I gave you my name yesterday. It starts with 'Y', ends with 'E'. What was it?"
"Stop wasting my time, Ice Queen," Bakugo demanded. "We have Hero Basics Training today. If we get the chance, I want you to train with me."
Yukine didn't respond immediately, contemplating how to respond. After some thinking, and yelling from Bakugo, she smirked and thought of her response.
"May I ask why you want to train with you?" she asked. "Is this your idea of asking a girl out?"
"I'M NOT ASKING YOU OUT!" Bakugo roared, his face filled with fury. "I don't have time for romance, not when I need to show the extras in our class who's Number One around here."
"Right…" Yukine responded before following with "You mean that male student with the Engine Quirk? Blue hair, glasses-"
"NO!" Bakugo barked. "Me!" Yukine chuckled at Bakugo's reaction, which got more frustrated as she laughed at him.
"What is so funny!?" he barked, creating several explosions in his palm. "Are you going to train with me or not!?" Yukine waved her hand at him before she calmed down and looked at him.
"Sure, but why?" she questioned. Bakugo didn't answer and instead walked off, though she could already hazard a guess.
Bakugo had seen her Quirk at work yesterday several times, which she explained as allowing her to convert the moisture in the air into snow she could control. She had seen his Quirk as well, which allowed him to create explosions from his hands. Perhaps he felt that he could improve his own Quirk by training against one who's Quirk was opposite from his.
However, she couldn't say she was overly fond of Bakugo. He was very short-tempered, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful and violent, especially since she had been in the same Battle Center as him during the Entrance Exam. He was still carrying that attitude even now, which was quickly making him unpopular with the other classmates.
Then she remembered how hostile he was towards the green-haired boy named Midoriya. In contrast to Bakugo, Midoriya had quickly gained some admiration from his classmates, especially Iida and Uraraka. Did Bakugo see Midoriya as a rival for what he saw as Number One in their class? Whatever the reason was, Midoriya had earned Bakugo's ire.
For the first part of the day, things went relatively normal…or as normal as they could get, considering how Eraser Head was. When Hero Basics Training was about to start, the class was instructed to go to the Support Studio to collect their finished Hero Costumes.
Upon arriving at the Studio, the Hero Costumes had been placed in briefcases with numbers on them. Whichever seat the student sat in was the number on which their Hero Costume briefcase had. The briefcases were handed in order, starting with the student in Seat 1, Yuga Aoyama. After each student received their costume, they were sent to the changing rooms to change into their outfits.
When Takeo got into his costume, it offered a great deal of protection while not being overbearing. The gambeson was thick and strong, yet comfortable, making him glad that he chose this instead of chainmail as he originally wanted. As for the knee-high steel boots, they fit nicely and allowed him to move around well.
One thing was different: the steel gauntlets he requested were hardened leather. He saw a folded note in the compartment where the gauntlets were, so he picked it up and read it.
"Replaced the steel gauntlets with leather so the Concussion and Wire Gauntlets could fit better. - Satoshi"
After putting his hardened leather gauntlets, he summoned one of his Wire Gauntlets to see how it fit. As Satoshi predicted, they fit very well, presumably much better than if Takeo had retained his steel gauntlets.
"Wow, those are some big gauntlets," the scorpion tailed student commented towards Bakugo. Takeo looked over to see the two of them in their hero costumes and immediately saw the large, grenade-like gauntlets Bakugo was wearing.
As for the other student, his Hero Costume was a jet-black stealth suit with amber highlights, openings in his forearm sleeves and amber-colored goggles. On his belt were various vials of different colored liquids, which Takeo assumed were poisons of some sort. He wouldn't know considering he never studied poisons of any kind.
"What about them?" Bakugo asked rudely. "You got a problem, extra?"
"No," the scorpion student responded with a polite tone, not at all intimidated by Bakugo's angry response. "I'm just commenting that those are some pretty big gauntlets. This must be pretty heavy."
"Shut up!" Bakugo barked.
"You shut up!" Takeo growled. "Seriously, do you ever listen to yourself? How about you do us a favor and stop shouting so much?"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugo shouted at Raionhato. Takeo glared at Bakugo with immense contempt and was feeling the urge to draw Lion Saber on him, but Iida, who was in his armored Hero Costume, stepped in between them and held up his hands.
"Behave yourselves," he spoke with a stern tone. "This is only the second day. We should be developing respect and support for each other, not hatred."
"I said don't tell me what to do," Bakugo repeated. "And I don't need help from any of you extras." He then stormed out of the changing room, slamming the door as he left.
"He's not going to be here long, is he?" Sato asked.
"Hopefully, not," Takeo growled, not hiding his hatred for Bakugo.
"Hey, come on guys," the scorpion tailed student spoke. "You heard what Iida said; it's only the second day. Let's use this time to get to know each other before we pass judgment. For example, I'm Shin, Shin Zankoku."
"Shin Zankoku?" Todoroki asked, now in his Hero Outfit. "I remember you: you're one of the three students in our class who got in on recommendation."
Shin Zankoku bowed in a theatrical manner in confirmation of Todoroki's words. He was one of the six students who got in on recommendation along with Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. When he saw some of his classmates with questioning faces, Shin shrugged and decided to tell them.
"Unlike the rest of you, I'm just a lowly street rat," he started with a lighthearted tone. "So how did I get in on recommendation? Simple: a Pro Hero was fighting a villain where I lived. He was injured during the fight, so I used my Quirk to stop the villain. As repayment, the Pro Hero helped me get into the Hero Course on recommendation."
"What is your Quirk?" Midoriya asked curiously.
"Simply put, Poison," Zankoku answered before holding up his arm and protracting a blade-like stinger from his forearm.
His Quirk allowed him to absorb poison and reproduce it in his body, which he could then secrete through his tail and forearm stingers. However, he couldn't produce poison on his own; he had to absorb a poison through his tail or stingers first before he could reproduce it.
"I thought only four students got in on recommendation, two for each Hero Course class," Midoriya brought up. "Five got in this year?"
"Six," Zankoku confirmed. "The additional two were myself and someone named Kato."
"That's abnormal," Iida responded. "But we should think on that later. For now, we need to get to Hero Basics Training."
After everyone was dressed and ready to go, all of Class 1-A made their way to Ground B, where the practical test for the Entrance Exam had been held. They expected for Mr. Aizawa or Mr. Suzukaze to oversee their training today, but instead, it was none other than the Symbol of Peace himself, All Might.
"Welcome, Class 1-A!" he greeted in his heroic and cheery manner. "As you've already been told, this is Hero Basics Training. Today, we're going to be doing Battle Trials."
"Battle Trials?" a red-haired student asked.
"Yes," All Might responded. "I've randomly paired up all of you into fourteen teams of two. You will either be heroes or villains today." All Might then proceeded to announce the teams…and to Takeo's shock and Nagami's joy, he was paired with Momo Yaoyorozu as Team C.
Nagami Kiyama, who was wearing green-colored scale armor and in Team K with someone named Kumo Shiruku, looked over at Raionhato with a smirk. She had caught onto Takeo's growing feelings for Yaoyorozu and was filled with the energy to tease him, though it'd have to come later.
"He didn't think I didn't sssssee him walking with Yaoyorozzzzzu to classssss today, did he?" she thought mentally with a smirk.
"The rules for the Battle Trials are simple," All Might explained. "For each round, one team will be the heroes, another the villains. The villains will be given a nuclear warhead- fake obviously- that they intend to deploy. The heroes must find the warhead and capture it within fifteen minutes. If the heroes manage to secure the weapon or capture the villains within that time, the heroes win. But if the villains capture the heroes or keep the weapon safe until time runs out, the villains win."
"So the hero team won't know where the nuclear weapon is?" Ojiro asked.
"Before each round, the villains will be informed of where the weapon is and will have ten minutes to make defensive measures to protect it," All Might answered. "Once the ten minutes are up, the heroes can start looking for it."
After he was done explaining the rules of the Battle Trials, All Might announced that Team A, comprised of Midoriya and Uraraka, would be the heroes and Team D, Bakugo and Iida, would be the villains for the first match.
Raionhato couldn't shake the feeling that Bakugo may intentionally try or succeed in severely harming Midoriya. He had shown himself capable of being very violent and short-tempered and obviously had some form of hatred for Midoriya. He wondered what Bakugo would do, considering what he had seen from him. This would be his chance to see it.
"This is a great opportunity, Raionhato," Yaoyorozu spoke to him. "This'll be a great chance for us to see how compatible our Quirks are together."
"Yes, it will," Raionhato agreed. "I wonder who we'll be up against."
After the two teams were sent to the tall building where their Battle Trial would take place and the rest of the students gone to an observation room with All Might, everyone watched the screen to see how Teams A and D were proceeding.
It looked as though Midoriya and Uraraka were getting along just fine, but Bakugo was being very rebellious. Though they couldn't hear what the teams were saying, it was guessed that Iida was trying to come up with a strategy against Midoriya and Uraraka, but Bakugo wouldn't listen.
What Takeo caught was his face, a face filled with primal rage and hatred, almost malice. He looked as though he wanted to severely hurt someone, just as Raionhato feared he might. Luckily, All Might told them that if he felt the match was getting out of hand, he'd stop it.
"Why was he allowed here?" Takeo whispered. "That face…that's the face of a beast, not a man." If Bakugo was worthy of any respect from Raionhato, this would be the time to prove it. Not that his respect to Bakugo would mean anything, considering how arrogant and selfish he was.
All Might then picked up a small microphone, which he'd use to communicate with the combatants, and announced 'The first Battle Trial starts now!'
Author's Notes: Shin Zankoku and Kana Hironaka are OCs created by NightShock99 (he's helped me develop and create characters for the series), so credit goes to him.
As for Kumo Shiruku (my own OC), I was debating for a long while about Minoru Mineta. After some thinking for a while, I decided to replace him, so Kumo Shiruku will be Mineta's replacement. You'll learn more about him as the series goes on. I hope you like him.
In the meantime, keep reading and writing, my fellow writers!