Renji walked down the stairs, each step echoing loudly through the dark house.
Despite his endurance, a yawn escaped him. Shaking his head to snap out of it, he turned and headed toward the kitchen.
With a sharp click, the lights snapped on, one blink was all it took for Renji's eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. The kitchen was spotless, even though he spent most of his time here. Cooking was simple, but it did help that he had all the time he needed to test and learn.
Ignoring the blinking light on the fridge door, Renji swung it open and swiftly caught the stray bowl that decided it'd rather die on the hard floor instead.
"Don't you dare do that again," Renji scolded, placing the bowl of leftovers back in the fridge. "I had plans to savor you later, I'd hate to throw you in with the rest of the garbage."
Settling comfortably next to the other ingredients, the bowl stayed perfectly still, no sign of rebellion left in its system.
Nodding in quiet triumph, Renji reached deep and pulled out a dense protein bar. Chewing away, he maneuvered his way to the couch and turned on the news.
"Haha," Renji chuckled as clips from his fights were playing on the screen again. Multiple news stations were continuing to comment on his performance. Specifically the final battle against Todoroki. My fans just keep on growing.
Midoriya would love this. One such station was focused entirely on the latest hero news and was known to analyze every major scene occurring as of late.
"Student Kanzaki has truly shown his prowess yesterday during the Sports Festival." The host announced, "It's been a while since we've such a full blown knockout!"
"You can say that again, Nakamura-san!" His partner said, tapping on the desk animatedly. Her silver hair glinted in the spotlight, a light smile on her face as she commented further.
"The boy who claimed the number one spot yesterday is rumored to have attended the prestigious Shinkou Academy here in Tokyo." She continued, "From the quick interview the other day, the staff at Shinkou only have beneficial things to say about the boy."
"One of the instructors even mentioned that Kanzaki was one of the most disciplined students they'd ever seen," she went on, flipping through her notes.
"Another staff member described him as quiet, but incredibly focused. Said he was always able to work even under pressure."
Renji leaned back on the couch, smirking around the last bite of his protein bar. "Well, they're not wrong," he muttered.
The male host chimed in again with a laugh, "I also heard he broke several of the academy's equipment before he graduated. Science waits for no man and it appears Kanzaki was thinking the same."
Snorting, Renji got up from his seat and slid his way back to the fridge to grab a drink.
"Given his record and showmanship the other day, it's only a matter of time before we see which agency he ends up at."
With a snap of his fingers, the screen switched to a channel featuring a very different perspective.
"Is Kanzaki Renji really the rising star everyone is claiming he is?" the new host said, his tone noticeably sharper than the previous.
"Because from where I'm sitting, yesterday's performance looked a lot more like unchecked aggression."
His co-host adjusted her glasses, nodding along. "He dominated each round with overwhelming force. While it may have been an entertaining showing, some critics are already questioning if his display is appropriate in a school event meant to showcase growth."
"Many students fought hard, but some of the general studies competitors weren't even able to showcase their abilities. None of them stood a chance once he got serious."
The male host leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. "Well, that's the issue, isn't it? Plenty of heroes are strong, but refusing to hold back? That's the mark of someone who hasn't learned control."
"The boy will need to prove he's more than a walking catastrophe." The co-host nodded firmly.
The camera cut back to the male host, who finished with a pointed stare.
"So the question stands… Is Kanzaki Renji the next big hero… or just the next big problem?"
Loosening the grip on the mug he'd been holding, Renji carefully set it down on the counter before gritting his teeth.
"'Refusing to hold back?'" Renji spat, "Did they even watch the same live stream?"
"Tch. Let them speculate." Walking up the stairs back to his bedroom, Renji let out an annoyed sigh.
"'Hasn't learned control'." He whispered, the door closing with a soft creak.
—
—Class 1-A, U.A. High—
Settling into his seat, Renji peered around at his peers. They were chatting as usual during the morning before Aizawa comes in.
From the corner of his perception, he could vaguely see Todoroki sneaking glances his way, like he had something to say.
Stop looking at me, people are going to get the wrong idea.
"How was your weekend, Renji?" Hagakure asked from beside him, flashing him an invisible smile.
Renji tilted his head, the weekend for him wasn't much to celebrate. Just another couple days of the week, and that wasn't even considering how his weekends were always longer than everyone else's.
"It was alright," he finally said, raising a thumb up. "Been working on a few gadgets in my spare time, spent some time with my Aunt."
"Sounds cool," Kirishima butted in. His signature red hair looked on fire today, even sharper than before.
He redyed it? Plain as it was, it really suited the boy.
"I want to go home…" Kaminari complained from the side, drooping down in his chair and resting his head against the hard desk.
"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes, dude."
"Shut it, Jiro! Fifteen minutes is long enough," He reached over to scratch his head. "I was training the other day and now I'm sore all over."
Mina looked at Kaminari in shock, absolutely flabbergasted. "You?! Training?!"
"Do you even hear yourself?" She asked again, shaking her head.
"Mhm…" Kaminari muttered into his arm before jumping up with a bitter look on his face.
"It's all this guy's fault!" He yelled, pointing toward Renji, who had just finished scouting the area around the building for their teacher.
Renji looked up in mock surprise, curling a finger at himself with a silly expression. "Who? Me?"
Kaminari's ears grew heated as he continued pointing. "Yes, you! We barely see you do anything but you're still the strongest guy in the room! The only way we can catch up is if we train our butts off on our days off."
The others perked up at his loud but impactful words. They'd all felt the crushing defeat a couple of days ago, some more than others.
Renji was somehow already in cahoots with the principal himself, spending time in restricted areas of the campus.
The only thing saving a few from embarrassment was the fact that some of them were actually able to make it to the tournament portion of the Sports Festival.
"Just because you don't see me doing anything doesn't mean I actually am." Renji said offhandedly, waving his head as if he were swatting a fly.
"It's cool that you want to catch up, but at your rate, it'll take a lot more than just training extra."
Renji looked at each individual face throughout the room, taking note of each stare, each stray thought that was revealed on their naive faces.
Memories of the past few weeks raced by, training sessions with All Might, going to the gym with Kirishima and the others, hanging out at the arcade… Yamamoto and Ingenium's lifeless bodies.
Coming to a decision, he abruptly stood on the chair, raising his head and letting out a sigh.
"I am at the top already." He pointed a finger around the class, an almost frustrated look on his face. "At this point in time, you're all dirt underneath my boots."
That elicited a few looks of surprise, others choosing to glare at Renji instead while Kirishima stared in shock.
"Instead of whining about it…" Renji took a breath, "Compare yourselves to me."
"Every day, every hour, every minute."
He slammed his foot against the table with a hard thud.
"I am your challenge. You'll either overcome me and reach heights you've never dreamed of before, or fall back into the mud with all the other helpless idiots."
Silence washed over the classroom. The air seemed thicker than it was just a few moments ago. Kaminari's joke had grown into something far larger than he would've liked.
Midoriya had frozen mid note, pencil hovering over his notebook. Meanwhile, Bakugo stared at Renji with a razor thin smirk, remembering his fight but not letting it get the better of him.
Kirishima swallowed hard. "Wow… that's intense even for you, bro."
Mina clutched a hand over her chest, dramatically offended. "First dirt, now mud—Renji, do you even hear yourself?"
"Your strength is impressive, Kanzaki, but we are classmates, not debris." Tokoyami declared, shifting in his seat. "It's disrespectable to say such things."
"All of you are weak and that's the truth." Renji finally spoke, "It's hard to swallow, but it's true. There are more dangers out there than you expect. Comparing yourselves to the other students in Class 1-B is useless, even the students in the next year."
Before anyone could recover enough to throw a retort—or a chair—the classroom door slid open.
Aizawa entered with all the enthusiasm of a man who'd slept four hours across an entire weekend. He scanned the room, saw Renji standing, saw the rest either horrified or offended, and let out a deep sigh.
"…Do I need to yell at you again, Renji?"
"No, sir." Renji replied with a flimsy salute, dropping back down onto the chair.
Glancing briefly at the others, Aizawa exhaled again. "Whatever. If there's no fire, explosions, or screaming, I'm not dealing with it."
He dragged himself to the podium, burrito bag in hand.
Mina shot Renji a glare and whispered, "You're lucky Aizawa-sensei is half dead right now."
Rubbing his temples, Aizawa set the bag aside and tapped his knuckle on the podium.
"As you know, the Sports Festival is one of the events that can truly kickstart your hero career."
"The festival was broadcasted all around the world, it's become a long lasting tradition at U.A. And with it, comes the invitations."
Ignoring what had happened just moments ago, the class immediately fired up, albeit slightly less than they would have before.
"Settle down, settle down," Aizawa repeated, leaning on the podium. "I'll be distributing the internships each of you have received. Most of the offers will come from an agency nearby, but don't worry if the location is farther than you expect."
Coughing into his fist, he continued. "Also, don't feel too bad if you don't receive an internship, most pros don't even draft first years. You'll have opportunities to improve."
"That being said, Midnight will be dropping by soon to help pick out your hero names," Aizawa said, handing each student a small tablet connected to their U.A. student IDs. "It's nothing permanent, just some brainstorming."
Aizawa paused, glancing at the empty desk where the class president usually sat.
"Anyone know where Iida is?" He asked, gesturing to the desk.
"No idea," Kaminari replied, only now realizing their over the top representative was missing. "I haven't heard from him since the festival last week."
Aizawa turned to Renji, his tired eyes squinting with an unspoken question.
Renji simply nodded subtly, easing into the seat. "He's…busy. Expect a call from him by the end of the day."
"Hmm," Aizawa continued passing everyone a tablet as looks of confusion passed everyone's faces before being overtaken by excitement as they viewed their offers.
"Woah!" Kirishima yelped, scrolling past all the pages on the tablet. "There's so many!"
"I'm not surprised," Mina's lips quirked into a gentle smile. "A ton of people were watching your fight against Tetsutetsu, it make sense, don't you think?"
Kirishima nodded enthusiastically, his red hair took on a sheen when his smile stretched across his face. "Hehe, I was pretty great, wasn't I?"
Settling down, he placed the tablet back on the table. "But still, I never would've expected any of this to happen when I first got here."
"You can say that again!" Kaminari sprung from his seat with newfound energy, waving the tablet in the air as if he had won the lottery. "They all want me! They really do!"
The class burst out in laughter, encouraging him as he danced around like a clown. The air was filled with electric energy, quite fitting since the main attraction was a boy with the powers of an electric eel.
Ignoring their antics, Renji glanced at some of the top offers, somewhat disappointed at the size of his list. Noticing a blinking icon on the corner of the screen, Renji tapped it, revealing a dancing icon of Nezu with a short quip.
"I had the honors of filtering all of your offers for you! Can't have any American agencies clouding your judgement!"
This damn rat!
He really doesn't want me to go to America. "But what about Star and Stripe…" Renji muttered, scratching the side of his neck in irritation.
Swiping further down, an almost bored expression settled on his face before widening slightly at one offer.
Now we're talking, Renji thought before a soft voice echoed beside him.
"Isn't that Endeavor's agency? Is that I-Island?!" Hagakure asked while tapping the desk. "That's some serious stuff, Renji."
"Did you say I-Island?!" Midoriya practically teleported next to Renji's desk, staring intently at the tablet in his hands and scanning the picture of the island.
Soon enough, the rest of the class was huddled up around Renji like they were fighting for warmth inside an igloo.
"That's pretty cool," Jiro said offhandedly, her eyes betrayed the uninterested tone of her voice. Every so often she would sneak glances to Renji's tablet before looking back at her own offers.
"Cool? That's hella manly, dude." Kirishima exclaimed, giving Renji a clap on the back. "They've got the best of the best on that island. I wonder why Nezu's busy principaling the school when he could be there with the rest of those geniuses."
Even Bakugo spared a glance at the growing circle, but most of his attention was centered elsewhere. Particularly the offer he'd gotten from Best Jeanist.
As the class's voices grew louder into a crescendo, Aizawa's eyes seemed to grow even more tired and dry. He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out one of the longest sighs of the day and abruptly clapped his hands loudly.
"Enough, people." He yelled, stepping towards his students. "We all have our own internships to worry about, stop bothering Renji and get a move on."
"No way, Sensei!" Kaminari chuckled, "You've got an internship too?"
The blank look on Aizawa's face immediately shut him up as he turned back to his offers with a sheepish expression.
Turning back, Aizawa made his way back to the podium. "As I said earlier, Midnight will be here soon to discuss hero names. Think long and hard about both your internship and your future name. Trust me when I say this, it'll stick."
Hero names… so many great options to choose from…