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Koda Koji did not expect to be having a staring contest with a tiger today. He thought he was going to have a peaceful day at the zoo with his friend, Muto Junpei. The pair of middle school students were dying to see the new tiger exhibit like everyone else. However, Koda never imagined that he would be apart of said exhibit.
Well, he was getting ahead of himself. Maybe, if he handled things differently, he would not be in this situation.
Koda and Muto visited the zoo a week after the initial unveiling of the tiger exhibit. Neither liked crowds much, though for very different reasons. Surrounded by the jostling masses, Koda felt like he was being buried alive under the weight of hundreds of people, unable to speak much less breathe. Muto always tried his best to distract his friend from his growing anxiety, but in truth he had it worse as his Quirk was Good Ear, which allowed him to hear everything all at once.
Every thumping footsteps, screeching child, scolding adult, unruly teenager, noisy vendor, educational zookeeper, and naturally animal’s call were an audible assault on his sensitive ears and sometimes caused him to become disoriented when exposed too long. Thankfully, Koda was with Muto every step of the way, keeping a close watch on his friend and ready to whisk him to a quiet corner in a moment’s notice. Together, they faced the challenges of the modern world and becoming even stronger than before, bonding over the silent communication of sign language.
Unfortunately, despite all their preparations for their trip, the sunny day attracted all sorts of people to the zoo and the tiger exhibit was still wildly popular. Despite Koda’s size making a break through the sea of people, he could tell all the auditory stimuli was becoming too much for Muto’s green finlike ears. Using sign language, Koda asked the shorter boy if he wanted to leave.
Muto gave him a weak smile before shaking his head. His fingers with practiced ease told the big guy that he wasn’t leaving until they got to see the tiger as they had planned. He even threw in a thumbs-up to show his determination. With a nod, Koda started to lead his dark-skinned friend over to the exhibit. Suddenly, a massive lady in designer's clothes barged between them with her kid in tow and shot the pair of boys the dirtiest of looks before continuing on her way. Muto flinched as he heard the venom the woman spat under her breath.
What was that about? Koda signed to Muto, completely bewildered. The other boy only shrugged and tugged on his arm towards the exhibit. Maybe, if Koda had insisted on leaving at that moment instead of giving into his friend’s demands, they would not have ended up in the dangerous position that they found themselves in twenty minutes later.
The biggest draw to the tiger exhibit was the new balcony, which allowed visitors to stand right above the tiger exhibit and get an epic yet safe close-up on the powerful feline. That is, it was safe as long as one wasn’t foolish enough to lean over the rail like the various posters dictated, but one mother decided that those warnings didn’t apply to her and her little angel. The kid himself only looked about four or five years old and having the time of his life, but with his mother holding him over the rail in a Simba-style, he probably looked like lunch to the pacing tiger below. All that needed to happen for this to end badly was the irresponsible mother losing her grip on the squirming child.
Koda and Muto exchanged horrified expressions at what the lady was doing. To make matters worse, they both recognized the bottle-blonde woman as the one who had nearly run them over earlier. Since no one else seemed to be paying any mind to the mother thrusting her child into danger, Muto approached urgently. Koda knew Muto wasn’t one to suffer fools quietly, especially when it put others at risk. It made him proud to be his friend most days, glad that he could say whatever Koda never could bring himself to. However, today was different. Maybe, if he had made Muto find an employee to intervene instead…
“Excuse me, ma’am. That is very dangerous. Please bring your son back over to this side of the railing.” Muto stated in his most polite tone he could muster. The lady turned towards him sharply and narrowed her beady eyes.
“How dare you! My child wants to see the tiger and you would take that away from him! You spoilt, little brat!” She exploded, immediately drawing attention towards her. Muto’s face went white from pain as the sudden shrieking rattled his delicate eardrums. Koda could see the curly-haired boy struggling in not covering his ear under this verbal barrage, but the idea of confronting the she-devil himself almost sent him into a panic attack. If only he had not been so tongue-tied…
Frantically, the gentle giant glanced around for an employee before turning towards other bystanders pleadingly to help his friend, but no one seemed to want to get involved. That is, until a tall, almost skeletal man stepped forward. At his next words, Koda felt a surge of hope.
“Pardon me, madam, but the signs say to stay on this side of the fence.” The lady gave the lanky man a once-over before deeming him irrelevant. Setting her child on the edge of the handrail, she turned to point a fake nail in the direction of the newcomer with one hand still holding the floundering boy.
“If you don’t leave at once, I’ll call security here and have them arrest you and this little punk! What are you, anyway? His drug dealer? I saw him and that brute throwing gang signs earlier. With how rude they were to me, I bet they’re in with the Yakuza! You’re probably their supplier, aren’t you? POLICE! Help! Call the police!” As the screeching increased in volume, Muto was quick to notice that her grip was loosening. This was the moment where Koda realized his fate was sealed.
Muto surged forward and whipped the child back onto the right side of the balcony. Naturally, the little boy started to wail from being thrown so roughly to the hard ground, which made his mother go completely berserk. After enduring the equivalent to driving nails into his skull and now a new painful stimulus on top of it, it was quite impressive that Muto managed to keep his feet as it was clear his balance was off-kilter from the long exposure to the verbal abuse. Then, the hard slap sent him over the side. Koda and the blonde man both reached out for the flailing teenager, but both were too far away to do much. The entitled woman hadn’t even realized what she had done, too engrossed in how she would be suing all of them for assaulting her and her precious son. Her talons wrapped tightly around the arm of the man, who began hacking out blood as he tried to pull free from the witch’s grip.
Hoards of people had gathered to watch the spectacle while others were screaming about the middle school student in the tiger exhibit. Koda desperately pushed through to see Muto crawling out of the tiger’s pool, clearly injured and soak to the bone. His blood ran cold at the sight of the tiger approaching his fallen friend. Spectators began screaming at the dark-skinned boy to get out of there, but it was doing more harm than good as Muto curled into himself, hands over his ears. He didn’t realize the tiger was almost upon him. Employees were rapidly appeared, trying to figure out what was going on, but there was no time. The tiger was ready to pounce on the defenseless boy.
Koda jumped before anyone could stop him. He had much tougher skin than Muto; thus, he was able to take the impact against the water much better. It still hurt, but he could stand. He hurriedly limped in front of his friend.
And, here he was, still trying to figure out what he could have done differently to prevent this whole scenario from happening. Him standing between the person who taught himself sign language just so he could befriend the timid student and 670 lbs of rippling muscles ready to tear the two of them apart with people cheering on the rock monster while zookeepers screamed at him for his stupidity. In the end, it didn’t matter, because they were here now and Koda would not let anything happen to Muto.
Since Koda didn’t like to speak, people always assumed that his Quirk had more to do with his appearance. They assumed he had some strength enhancement or hardening ability. They would always push him to lift stuff or smash through something. When he wouldn’t, they had mocked him for being Quirkless. Koda was always too shy to correct them and never liked to resort to violence, but Muto was always there to stand up for him and fight his battles. This time, he was ready to show everyone what he could do.
“Stop!” Koda held one hand up in the universal sign, doing his best to keep from trembling as his Quirk went into effect. Immediately, the feline predator froze in place. A hush fell over the growing audience above as everyone held their breath at the epic faceoff.
“Y-You’re beauti-beautiful, my friend, my friend, but t-t-there is nothing for you here.” His nerves threatened to rob him of his voice once again as the effects of Anivoice began to wade. The tiger’s amber eyes locked hungrily on the writhed form just behind Koda, reminding him once more what was at stake.
“Go back to your den.” The clear command took effect instantly as the tiger turned away and walked towards to its den. Koda feared that any moment his heart will pound right out of his chest and the tiger will back to chow down on a pair of idiots.
“Have no fear, for I am… here?” All-Might suddenly landed in the exhibit, only to see the tiger was gone. Instead of pondering the events, the great hero grabbed the boys and leapt back to the top where paramedics were waiting. Koda collapsed in relief at the sight of his friend getting the care he needed. He almost laughed when Muto resisted being put on a stretcher and began signing at him for help. As he got back on his feet to go comfort his friend, the gentle giant heard some familiar screeches.
“That’s the mutt that assaulted my child. He and those other two nearly threw my poor baby to a ferocious tiger! I want them all arrested now!” Wildly waving her arms, the enormous woman spun an outrageous story, painting herself as the obvious victim at a poor cop while her face invented a new shade of red in her rage. Koda saw Muto tense at the use of the word, mutt. With a Quirkless father and a Korean mother, Muto had heard such comments like that all his life and developed quite the temper to match. Koda was already holding back his friend before he could do anything reckless, especially with all these officers around. With that said, he was not going to allow the old bat to get away with such vile accusations.
“H-He saved your, your child’s life! Muto pulled him, Muto pulled your kid to safety when you threw him off the balcony!” Confidence grew in each word. “We aren’t even in any gang! We were using sign language when you nearly knocked us over. The cameras would have caught everything!”
As angry as Koda was, he still couldn’t bring himself to insult the entitled mother, but he did allow himself a little smirk as the she-devil suddenly paled, only just noticing the cameras. Muto was too stunned, staring at Koda in complete awe, as he never heard the meek boy utter so many words at once before. Before she could say any more of her poison, the well-defined figure of Japan’s number one hero stepped forward with his patented toothy grin.
“I can also confirm that this is all true. This woman had put the life of her child at risk. When these boys confronted her about it, she knocked one of them off the balcony. With that said,” All-Might turned towards Koda, whose face went several shades lighter than his usual peach-coloring. “That was a very brave thing you did for your friend, but also very reckless. Still, you have the makings of a true hero, you and your friend. Believe in yourself and you will accomplish great things.”
“Y-y-yes… Yes, sir, Mr. All-Might, sir,” Koda stood straighter than ever before. The Symbol of Peace almost laughed at how much this young man reminded him of young Midoriya and hoped that he would see this kid again in the hero circuit. Unbeknownst to the All-Might, Koda had always harbored dreams to be a hero, but was too afraid to even try, despite Muto’s encouragement. Now, not only did he save his friend’s life, All-Might himself thought he could make the cut.
“It seems the police have everything well in hand. I’ll be off!” All-Might declared, as the woman, still screaming accusations, was marched away in handcuffs and another stood with her son, trying to get in touch with the little boy’s father. With a burst, All-Might was gone.
Koda had to sign everything over and over to Muto on the way to the hospital, just to be sure this had actually happened. It provided a good distraction until their parents showed up and both boys were treated for their injuries. Muto ended up spending the night in the hospital, but he bounced back pretty quick.
In fact, Muto walked Koda all the way to U.A. on the day of the Entrance Exam and gave him his pet bunny when they found out that Koda was going to be the newest student of the prestigious hero school. Despite their best efforts, the two boys would eventually grow apart as they attended different high schools, yet Koda never forgot what a true friend Muto was. Without him and his constant support all those years, he may never even applied to his dream school or meet All-Might. However, that also meant he would never had been face-to-face with a full-grown tiger and an entitled mother in the same day.
Still, as the Pro-Hero Anima, Koda would still think back to that fateful day at the zoo and consider all the things he could have done differently, only to realize that he wouldn’t change a thing.