Chapter Text
Growing up without a quirk was one of the biggest fears for an individual. Both of Minami Kyoko’s parents were last ones in their classes to develop their quirks, leading to the fear that their child would not develop one at all. To their relief their first and only child, Kyoko, developed her quirk the day before her fourth birthday. She possessed the ability to manipulate light through the sun and the moon, the same as her mother. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had not gained the same quirk as her father. He was the pro hero Shade, and her mother the pro hero Solaria - both UA alumnus. Her father's quirk allowed him to freeze someone using the surrounding shadows in the area for a maximum of five minutes at a time. Each time he uses it, he requires another five minutes before he can use it again. Her mother's quirk was almost the same as her own, however her specialty was mirages. She could use heat rays to create mirages that would allow enough time for her to attack or distract the enemy. Her mother hoped that one day, as Kyoko's quirk grew, she would be able to harness that power too.
Growing up with pro heroes as parents was not the easiest for Kyoko. People would pretend to be her friend and suck up to her just to get on good terms with her father. Knowing their intentions, she would smile and nod as not to ruin relationships with her future business partners. This quickly led to her not trusting people and working hard to keep up a smile. Kyoko learned at a young age what professionalism meant, and steps it took to succeed.
When it was time to choose what she wanted to do with her future, it was no shock to anyone that Kyoko knew she wanted to become a hero. After talking it over with her parents, she was prepared to get accepted into UA on her own terms without their recommendation. She appreciated the offer, but she felt that if she failed the entrance exam then it meant that it just wasn’t her place to become a hero through UA. It wasn’t the only school around.
The time to apply for UA approached quickly. The day of the entrance exam, Kyoko met a shark-toothed, red headed boy named Kirishima Eijiro. He was cute and funny, she had to admit, but as usual she couldn’t trust that he wasn’t going to use her despite him throwing jokes at her to lighten the mood. After the first two rounds, the boy found out through other candidates who she was. He ran up to her and started telling her how amazing she was. He continued to tell her that he was really impressed by her abilities and would never have guessed that she was the daughter of two pro heroes. Kyoko began to think that this could be the start to a real friendship.
The day that she got her acceptance letter to UA was one of the best days of Kyoko’s life. Looking at the results, she placed third right under her new friend Kirishima. She not only proved to her parents that she didn’t need their help to become a hero, but that she proved to herself that she could do it herself.
Walking up to UA on the first day of school was a surreal experience. Kyoko had passed the campus many times before, but now it was official – she was officially a student at UA.
“Minami! Hey, Minami!”
Who would be calling her on the very first day of school? There was no one that she knew, at least until she turned around and saw none other than her newfound friend, Kirishima.
“Hey! You got in! I’m not surprised by it at all though, you were amazing out there, Minami! I’m sure we’re in the same class too. You're in 1-A, right?”
She nodded, as she was still new to this whole situation of making friends, “Yeah you’re right. I’m glad to know that I’ll at least know one person.”
During their conversation, she could hear some of the students whispering, “Hey isn’t that the daughter of Shade and Solaria? Didn’t she get in through the entrance exams herself without a recommendation? She must be really good.”
"I doubt it. She probably cheated her way in."
“You’re right! Let’s get going. We don’t want to be late on our first day, right?” He patted her back and got near to her ear, “don’t worry about them. You’re going to do great.”
She’d heard those words from others before, but something about them felt different. This was the start of a new beginning, the start of a new age, the start of a real friendship. Maybe the students at UA were different than all those other people since they all had a similar goal.
The two heroes in training walked to the door of class 1-A together and opened it to find very few students in the classroom. One boy stood out to Kyoko – a boy with a carefree and bitter attitude with his shoes propped on the desk, and jagged blonde hair. There was a larger boy with glasses bickering with him about “defacing school property.” It wasn’t the best first impression, but something about him picked at Kyoko’s curiosity. As she and Kirishima walked into the classroom together, she locked eyes with the blonde. Without breaking contact with the boy, she found her seat, to her dismay right in front of him. Why did he have such a horrible personality, and why did she have to be in a class with him? Kyoko knew how amazing his quirk was, as she witnessed firsthand in the entrance exam, but his attitude didn’t express that he wanted to be a hero.
The first week of classes passed quickly and Kyoko became good friends with the students in her class. She began to get close with some of the other students. She already knew Shouto Todoroki, who was the son of the hero Endeavor. They’d somewhat grown up together, both having pro hero fathers. Their seats in class were also near each other, so they were able to small talk here and there. Kyoko had never had many female friends before, so it was a new experience getting to know each of the girls in the class. She and Uraraka Ochako somehow grew close quickly. The two seemed to instantly bond, despite being seemingly opposites. Then there was the friendship with Kirishima that she’d had since day one of her UA journey. Ochako and the other girls asked if she and Kirishima were “a thing” and insisted that Kyoko had a crush on him.
“No, no, we’re just friends! We barely just met at the entrance exam,” she would insist. She truthfully didn’t have any romantic attraction to Kirishima.
“I bet they’ll end up together soon, just you wait,” Ashido Mina whispered to Ochako, resulting in a bright red Kyoko.
“It’s not like that!!”
Later at lunch, the students were all gathered up around the cafeteria to eat. The girls were sitting together at one table chatting, quickly joined by Kirishima and Kaminari. The group was chatting and making jokes until they heard a loud crash from nearby. They turned to see that a boy in their class, Izuku Midoriya, and tripped and his whole tray fell on Bakugou Katsuki. The two had grown up together, Kyoko had discovered earlier that week, so she wondered why he treated Midoriya in such a horrible way. The cafeteria had gone quiet. Bakugou began to shake, and yell at “Deku” as he seemed to have named him. Midoriya continued to apologize to the boy, but the latter didn’t budge.
“Deku, you IDIOT!” Bakugou cried out, hands sparking, seemingly about to smash the other with his quirk.
Something in Kyoko snapped, and she ran over in between the two of them.
“Hey, asshole! It was an accident! Calm down!”
“Get out of my way you stupid sunny bitch and let me fight him!”
“You’re going to get in trouble if you keep this up. You can fight him later after school has ended. Come with me and we'll get you cleaned up. You really don’t need detention on your first week.”
Still furious, the blonde turned around muttering. For some reason he agreed to leave with her – at the shock of everyone including Kyoko herself.
“Bakugou-“
“Shut up.”
“But I-“
“I said shut up! I don't need the help from a damn extra! I just wanted to kick that quirkless bastard Deku’s ass. I would’ve won too! Who are you anyway? Why are you trying to help? What are you trying to prove?"
Quirkless? Midoriya is quirkless? But we all saw him use it at the entrance exam? She thought.
Bakugou was cut off by a hard slap to the face. His cheek turning redder than the ketchup that was on his arm.
“For starters, my name is Minami Kyoko, and for your information I am a person. A person who doesn’t deserve to be talked to like that. In fact, no one deserves to be talked to like that, Bakugou. If you want to be a hero, I seriously recommend you watch your attitude. No agency will want to sign you if you keep that up. Next time I won’t help you at all, and just let you suffer. Keep this up and one day you might even get kicked out of UA, but that’s not my problem. Whenever you want to fight, come fight me for a real challenge. I’ll show you what it means to get your ass kicked.”
“At least you have a quirk. That damn Deku doesn't, nor has he ever had a quirk. Suddenly he has one? That’s impossible. I don’t understand.”
“Before you try to understand someone, maybe understand yourself first. It’s not all about you, you know?”
Kyoko walked away, leaving the boy astounded, and still covered in food. What she didn’t understand was how one person trying to become a hero could be so rude. She simply wanted to help him, and yet he treated her like that.
Midoriya quirkless? There’s no way. I saw him at the entrance exam. He has a strength quirk. What did Bakugou mean by he’s quirkless?