Months prior, shortly after UA sent out it’s evaluation letters…
Two young boys, adorned in school uniforms, walked along the bustling city sidewalks while chatting away.
“Nah it was fine. To be honest I expected the entrance exam to be a bit crazier,” Koji muttered to his friend while staring down at the acceptance letter in his hands.
“I still can’t believe you got accepted. Such a simple guy making it in?” Joked Detsu, the small-framed, blonde-haired best friend of Koji.
“Simple, yeah? Sorry I lack the complexity of a damn turtle!” Koji retorted half-jokingly while quickly aiming to smack his friend on the back of the head.
Thewp~
Almost instantly, Detsu’s head sunk into his own torso, akin to how a turtle would retract into its shell. This caused Koji to totally miss his target and stumble forward a bit.
Detsu quickly peeked his eyes out over his collarbones, letting out a muffled laugh as he did so.
“You’re not supposed to be using your quirk in public spaces.”
“I know, but it’s funny!”
CRRSHH!
The boys conversation would be suddenly interrupted as the front exit of a nearby bank had its doors blown off the hinges by something inside.
Long locks of jet-black hair snaked out of the newly formed hole in the wall, eventually revealing a dark figure at their core.
The figure floating amidst the tangled mass of hair turned back towards the bank guards, a few of his locks holding out several rows of heavy duffle bags full of cash, “Thanks boys. This should last me at least a few months, so… I’ll see you again after that.”
“It’s a villain! We need to go!” Detsu whispered in a panic while gripping onto Koji’s jacket sleeve.
“Wait, look!” Koji replied while pointing towards a small child who was likely separated from her parents in the chaos. The girl was maybe five or six in age and was wearing a cheap, store-bought superhero costume. If that weren’t enough, she was running right up to the bank robber!
“Give them there money back!” The little girl shouted while coming to a stop, now only a few feet away from the man.
She held both of her hands out and began straining hard. After a few seconds of this, little, blue crackles of electricity began to dance across her fingertips. This only occurred for a mere moment, before the faint energy faded. It was clear the child had just recently unlocked her quirk… and it was even more clear that she wanted to be a hero.
“Koji we have to GO.” Detsu spoke up once again, this time forcing Koji to lock eyes with him.
“That kids gonna die!” Koji half-whispered, half-shouted while quickly shoving his smaller friend off his arm before dashing towards the scene in question.
“Hnhnhnnnn…heroes die, kid.” The villain let out a laugh through closed teeth, being genuinely amused by the child. But rather than waste anymore time on the subject, the man reared one of his tendrils back with the intent to whip the child to the side.
“HEY!”
The villain shot a look over his shoulder to locate the unknown voice, only to immediately be met by a concrete fist slamming into his lower gut.
“Gahag!” The villain was sent rolling from the impact, with the sudden trauma to the stomach causing him to gag a bit as he did so.
His massive locks of hair quickly recessed back into his head, leaving him with a relatively normal looking head of straight, black hair that was now only about shoulder-length.
“How about you let me finish this guy? You seem worn out from your battle with him.” Koji spoke warmly while turning towards the small child to give them a thumbs up.
“Woaaahhh…okay, thank you…” The small girl replied to Koji with stars in her eyes and a big grin on her face.
“INARI!” A middle-aged woman with tears streaming down her face came half-running, half-stumbling up to the young girl and scooped her up.
Even after the lady had embraced her daughter, her wails only grew louder.
“It’s okay, Mom. I was in a battle!” The young girl replied almost comedically as the mother quickly began fleeing the immediate area.
During all this, Koji had leaned down and began to absorb more and more of the concrete pavement beneath his feet, slowly converting his entire body into said material.
“You little bitch!” The man spat while climbing to his feet. Now in clear view, the guy very much looked like… an 80’s rocker. Black, leather pants with spiked, heavy-duty boots and no shirt. Though it would be fair for one to miss this as his entire torso was covered in tattoos, which could almost pass for a shirt from a distance.
He was rubbing the spot on his abdomen where he’d been hit with what felt like a sledgehammer. He looked around to see about half of his duffle bags had been ripped open during the tumble, allowing a large quantity of bills to spill out onto the sidewalk. The anger on his face only grew, causing his hair to once again began growing.
“Just give it up. You’re not making it away.” Koji shot to the man while lowering into a fighting stance, his body now completely made of concrete.
“We’ll see!” The man shot back while lashing out with a thick strand of his tentacle-like hair.
—————————————————
“Koji?! Koji? Oh thank god you’re awake.” The fuzzy yet familiar voice of Koji’s mother was the first thing the young man heard as he stirred back into consciousness.
“Mom? What happened?” Koji replied slowly through dry, cracked lips.
“You freaking stopped a villain, man!” Detsu, who was sitting opposite of Koji’s mom, shouted with excitement. This caused Koji’s eyes to finally snap open, allowing him to see his current situation.
He was in a hospital bed, fully hooked up to the monitors, wearing a gown, the whole shabang. Whats more, one of his arms and one of his legs were heavily wrapped in thick casts and elevated off the bed by the support straps. His other arm was covered in a plethora of scars that looked akin to cracks running through concrete. Needless to say, he was pretty messed up.
“I don’t really remember. How did it all happen?” A now slightly more awake Koji asked.
“You guys went blow-for-blow for several minutes! His spikey hair was cracking up your concrete, but you managed to just completely smash his nose! The guy was pouring blood like a faucet!” Detsu explained with a massive grin on his face, clearly finding the whole experience to be quite impressive.
“Yes. You did manage to injure him…” Koji’s mother cut in, giving her son’s friend a somewhat skeptical look before continuing, “…and then you were immediately knocked unconscious. Lucky for you the pro heroes arrived just in time to restrain him.”
“Sorry, Mom. He was gonna attack the kid. I had to help.” The heavily bandaged boy replied with a small smile.
“I know. I’m proud of you. That being said… if you ever scare me like that again I’m gonna blast you through a wall. Understand?”
“Yes Ma’am.” He replied, his smile quickly fading and being replaced with the all too familiar ‘I messed up’ face.
“Good, I love you. I’m gonna call your father and let him know you’re awake. He had to take an important mission so he’ll be a short while.” Koji’s mom finished while stepping out of the room, leaving the two friends alone for a moment.
“Hey Koji, I’m sorry I doubted you, man. You’re gonna make a great hero.” The small framed teen piped up while giving his buddy a small pat on his uninjured shoulder.
“Damn! UA! I was supposed to start soon. What am I gonna do? These injuries are gonna take months to heal!” Koji shot up in the bed, causing a sudden wave of ache and pain to wash over his body. Despite this, he remained up and propped himself up on his good arm.
“Woa, woah! Relax, man. I’m sure they’ll understand. Nothing wrong with starting a little late in the year.” Detsu replied while trying to make his friend lay back down.
“What if they retract their acceptance?”
“I’m sure we can work it out. They’d be stupid not to accept you, you’re a hero, man.”
—————————————————
Present day…
Shortly after Yakino’s arrival, another office worker shuffled into the classroom with Koji close behind.
He still had a few visible scars trailing up his neck and down his hands, as well as a small brace around his right wrist.
Truthfully, he’d rushed his way through recovery as fast as he could, which was likely irresponsible, but he couldn’t help it. He had lost time to make up for.
“Hey, could we not do a big class entrance, if at all possible? I’d rather not have all eyes focused on me until I’m back to 100%.” Koji asked the office worker, who gave him an understanding smile.
“I’ll let your teacher know. Go ahead and find an empty seat.” She replied while hobbling off to the front of the room.
Meanwhile Koji quickly slipped into a seat at the back of the room, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.