U.A High. First day of school.
Kazuki Hayashi walked through its gates with his hands in his pockets.
Other students were everywhere. Some looked excited. Others looked nervous.
Kazuki just walked forward, yawning a bit. He didn't know anyone in this school as of now, except for Momo. Does this mean he had to make friends?
It wasn't necessary, but logically, it would prevent people from seeing him as a weirdo. That's acceptable.
He has been homeschooled ever since his mother went into a coma, the advice of his butler, taking note of his 'distraught mind'. He didn't really have a chance to make friends, even though he wouldn't take it even if it were presented to him.
He found Class 1-B without much trouble. The door was already open, revealing a classroom half-filled with students.
Kazuki stepped inside and scanned for an empty seat. The back seat in the right corner seemed vacant.
Kazuki sat down and pulled out his phone. Nothing important. Just a text from his father's secretary confirming his transport home schedule. He put it in his pocket and stared out the window.
The classroom gradually filled up.
The seat directly in front of him scraped against the floor. A guy with wavy gray hair sat down, immediately slouched back, and closed his eyes like he was about to take a nap.
Interesting start to the morning.
"YO! IS THIS SEAT TAKEN?"
Kazuki looked to his left. A guy with silver hair and sharp teeth was pointing at the empty desk beside him, grinning so wide it looked painful.
...
...
"No."
"PERFECT!" The guy dropped into the seat and immediately turned to face him. "I'm Tetsutetsu! Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! What's your name?"
"Kazuki Hayashi."
"Hayashi, huh? Nice to meet you!" Tetsutetsu extended his fist for a bump. Kazuki just stared at it. Tetsutetsu's smile didn't drop. "So... are you gonna just leave me hanging?" he asked.
Kazuki tapped his fist lightly.
"There we go! So what's your quirk? Mine's Steel! I can turn my entire body into steel!" He held up his arm and it immediately transformed into solid metal. "See? STEEL! It's perfect for close combat! I'm gonna be the kind of hero who punches villains straight in the face!"
"That's direct," Kazuki said.
"Hell yeah it is! No point in being fancy about it!" Tetsutetsu's arm turned back to normal. "Heroes are supposed to be strong and straightforward, you know? So what about you? What can you do?"
"Wind manipulation."
"Wind? So like, you can blow stuff around?" Tetsutetsu leaned forward. "Can you make tornadoes?"
"If I need to."
"That's so cool! Bet you scored high on the entrance exam with a quirk like that!" Tetsutetsu crossed his arms. "I got in on combat points alone. Didn't save a single person. Just smashed every robot I could find."
"That works too."
"Damn right it does!" Tetsutetsu slammed his fist on the desk, making it rattle. "I'm gonna be a hero who charges straight ahead! No hesitation! Just pure guts and determination!"
"Ah. Cool."
Kazuki was still waiting for Tetsutetsu to turn around, but unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.
"Can you please just tone it down a notch?" they heard.
Kazuki turned to the source of the sound, the guy sitting in front. "Some of us are trying to rest over here. A humble request," he said, falling asleep right after.
...
"Eh?" Kazuki could almost feel the long dialogue that was in store for him to hear.
"But it's the first day of school AT U.A. BRO! IS THIS NOT THE MOST EXCITING DAY OF YOUR LIFE?!" He shouted, but before he could continue, the door slid open.
The class fell silent, looking at who came inside. A pro hero. Probably their homeroom teacher.
"Settle down, kids," he said, standing right at the door, with absolutely no emotion on his face.
The ones who were standing immediately sat down wherever they could find a place.
The pro just looked at all of them in the eyes, at the same time, somehow- it felt like that, and exhaled.
"I'm Vlad King, your homeroom teacher," he said, crossing his arms as he stood in front of the chalkboard. "You will call me Vlad King or Kan-sensei. I don't care which."
Nobody spoke.
"You're in Class 1-B. Some of you are wondering why you're not in 1-A." He crossed his arms. "Stop wondering. It doesn't matter. Both classes receive identical training. The only difference is the letter on your door."
"Oh, thank god, some of us were thinking we were just worse than the others." Someone in the front said.
"Yeah, well, you were wrong. There is no difference in the way that both of these classes will be treated. Both of the sections belong to the hero course, and there will be no disparity. Whether you are better than the other section or the other section is better than yours purely depends on your merit, how you learn, and how you improve." He said.
"Now listen carefully." He walked to the center of the room. "You got into U.A. Congratulations. You beat out thousands of other applicants. That makes you talented, lucky, or both."
He paused.
"It also means absolutely nothing."
"Every year, students wash out. They fail. They break. They realize hero work isn't what they imagined. Some transfer to General Studies. Some leave U.A. entirely." His eyes scanned each face. "Statistics say three of you won't graduate."
Are these fear tactics or genuine warnings?
"Your Quirks are irrelevant. Your test scores are irrelevant. What matters is whether you can make the right choice when lives depend on it. Whether you can stand after being knocked down. Whether you can push past pain, fear, and doubt."
"U.A. will break you down and build you back up. I will personally make sure of it. If you can't handle that, the door's right there."
No one moved. Obviously.
"Fine, then, first things first. Introductions. Stand up, state your name and quirk. That's it. No speeches." He pointed to a girl in the front row. "You. Go."
The girl stood up quickly, her posture perfect. "Setsuna Tokage. My quirk is Lizard Tail Splitter. I can separate my body into up to fifty pieces and control them independently within a certain range."
"Useful for reconnaissance. Sit."
She sat immediately.
"Next."
One by one, students introduced themselves. Kazuki listened, filing away the information automatically. It was practical data that might be useful later.
A girl with vine-like hair stood up. "Ibara Shiozaki. My quirk is Vines. I can control and manipulate plant growth from my head."
"Versatile. Next."
"Yui Kodai. Size. I can change the size of non-living objects I touch."
"Good for rescue work. Next."
The introductions continued in rapid succession. Vlad King didn't waste time with commentary unless he had something specific to say.
"Nirengeki Shoda. Twin Impact. I can store kinetic energy from my first strike and release it with the second."
"Requires precision timing. Next."
The guy in front of him finally stood up and woke up from his slumber.
"Juzo Honenuki. Softening. I can soften any non-living material I touch."
"Dangerous if used right. Next."
"Yosetsu Awase. Weld. I can fuse objects at a molecular level."
"Next."
"Togaru Kamakiri. Razor Sharp. I can produce sharp blades from any part of my body."
"Next."
A girl with horns and an American accent stood up, smiling brightly. "Pony Tsunotori! My quirk is Horn Cannon! I can shoot my horns and control their trajectory!"
"Next."
"Kosei Tsuburaba. Solid Air. I can solidify air into barriers."
Kazuki slightly glanced at him.
"Defensive applications. Next."
"Shihai Kuroiro. Black. I can merge with anything black and move through it."
"Stealth specialist. Next."
Tetsutetsu jumped to his feet. "Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! My quirk is Steel! I can turn my entire body into steel!"
Vlad King stared at him for a second. "Sit. Next."
The blond guy to the side of Kazuki stood up, stretching lazily like he was doing everyone a favor by participating. "Neito Monoma. Copy. I can copy any quirk through physical contact and use it for approximately five minutes, though the time can vary depending on the complexity of the quirk."
Vlad King's eyes narrowed slightly. "Useful if you're smart. Dangerous if you're stupid. Sit."
Monoma sat back down with a slight smirk.
"Next."
Kazuki stood. "Kazuki Hayashi. Wind manipulation."
Vlad King's gaze lingered on him for several seconds longer than it had on anyone else. "The Starbuster kid."
"Yes."
"Your entrance exam scores were high. Don't let it go to your head."
"I won't."
"See that you don't. Natural talent only carries you so far. After that, it's just work." He jerked his head. "Sit."
Kazuki sat down. Tetsutetsu immediately leaned over, but Kazuki put his hand directly over his mouth. "Shut up, don't talk," he said, maybe it was an order.
"It's not that impressive," Kazuki muttered.
"Are you kidding? That means you're already on his radar,"
"That's not necessarily advantageous," Monoma said from the side without turning to them. "Being noticed early means higher expectations. Higher scrutiny. More pressure. If you fail to meet those expectations, the disappointment is worse than if you'd never stood out at all."
Tetsutetsu frowned, his enthusiasm dimming slightly. "That's such a negative way of looking at it... If the teacher knows you're strong, that just means he believes in you. He thinks you can handle more."
"Teachers here don't coddle students." Monoma finally glanced back, one eyebrow raised. "I'm just being realistic."
"You're being pessimistic, that's what you're being."
"Would you two please shut up?" The orange-haired girl, the one who'd been worried about being late, turned around from two seats ahead. Her expression was exasperated but not unkind. "It's pretty rude to interrupt people."
...
"I'm sorry," Tetsutetsu said, his voice shaking slightly with nervousness.
The rest of the introductions went by quickly. Kazuki counted nineteen students total, including himself. Smaller than he'd expected, but maybe that was normal for hero courses.
When the last student finished, a girl named Kinoko Komori whose mushroom quirk seemed both fascinating and mildly horrifying, Vlad King walked back to the front of the classroom.
"Good. Now that's done, here's how this works." He grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing on the board. "You will have standard academic classes like any other high school. Math, English, Japanese literature, world history, and modern hero art history. All the garbage society decided you need to know to be considered educated. Those classes happen in the morning."
He tapped the board with the chalk, leaving a mark.
"Afternoons are hero training. Combat drills, rescue scenarios, quirk application exercises, teamwork coordination, disaster response simulations. You will be pushed to your absolute limit in every single one. You will improve, or you will fail. There is no middle ground here, no participation trophies, no credit for trying your best. Results are what matter."
He set the chalk down and dusted off his hands.
"You'll have different teachers for different subjects. All Might teaches foundational hero studies. Present Mic handles English. Midnight covers modern hero art history. Cementoss does math. You'll meet them soon enough." He crossed his arms. "But when you're in this classroom, you answer to me. I don't care what your other teachers let you get away with. In here, you follow my rules."
Someone raised their hand.
"What?"
"When do we get our hero costumes?"
"Soon. The support department is finishing them based on the design specifications you submitted with your applications. You'll have them by next week, maybe sooner if the support course students stop blowing things up." He glanced around the room. "Any other questions?"
"Are we going to do combat training against Class 1-A?"
"Eventually. Joint training exercises happen later in the semester. For now, you'll train within your own class until you've proven you won't accidentally kill each other."
A few nervous laughs at that.
No one asked anything else.
"Then get out. We have a twenty-minute break. Familiarize yourselves with the campus. Explore. Get lost. Figure out where your next classes are. Don't be late, or you'll run laps until you throw up."
Everyone stood immediately and started going out, the noise rising again the moment they were in the hallway. Kazuki grabbed his bag and headed for the door.
"Hayashi."
He stopped mid-step and turned back. Vlad King was standing by his desk, arms still crossed.
"A word."
Kazuki walked back over while the last few students glanced curiously before leaving. The door closed behind them, leaving just the two of them in the suddenly very quiet classroom.
"You're the son of Hayashi Takeshi, correct? CEO of Starbuster Inc."
"Yes."
"And your mother is Tempestra. The hero."
"Was."
Vlad King's expression didn't change, but something in his eyes shifted slightly. "I know what happened to her. I'm not asking out of curiosity or pity. I'm asking because it's relevant to you being here."
Kazuki waited, not sure where this was going.
"I've seen your file. All the teachers have. Your quirk control is exceptional." He leaned back against his desk. "You also didn't save a single person."
"The robots were the priority. Destroying them prevented more damage."
"No. The priority was showing us you understand what being a hero means. Heroes save people first. Everything else is secondary." Vlad King's tone wasn't accusatory, just matter-of-fact. "Calculate the optimal solution, execute perfectly, move on. That's how you approach everything, isn't it?"
Kazuki didn't respond.
"I'm not saying you did it wrong. You passed. Your scores were high enough that the rescue portion didn't matter. But understand something, Hayashi." Vlad King's eyes narrowed slightly. "Skill alone doesn't make a hero. If all you care about is completing the objective, you'll be a weapon, not a hero. And weapons don't inspire people. They don't give hope."
"Noted."
"I'm serious, Hayashi. I've seen talented kids wash out of this program not because they weren't strong enough, but because they couldn't connect with people." He straightened up. "You have potential. Real potential. But potential means absolutely nothing if you waste it by refusing to engage with what actually matters."
"I understand."
Vlad King studied him for a long moment.
"Do you? Or are you just saying what you think I want to hear?"
Kazuki met his eyes directly. "I understand that heroes save people. I understand that's the job. I'll do the job."
"That's not what I asked."
"It's the answer I have."
The silence stretched between them as they both stared at each other in the eyes with the best serious faces they've had in their life. Finally, Vlad King waved him off.
"Go. Go on."
Kazuki just left silently.