Chapter Text
It was another day at U.A. high school. Hero students were all training hard to become pros, particularly the ones within Class 1-A. Within the school, Class 1-A students were in the middle of training under the surveillance of their teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Each student’s goal was to use their quirks against large pillars of stones and boulders, not just to practice using them but to discover new techniques using the large objects as targets. Among those students was a friendly, energetic boy named Denki Kaminari. He was not the strongest or the brightest, but just like the rest of his classmates, he had the potential for heroic greatness, and he was more than happy to show off that potential.
Denki stood in front of a patch of boulders, wearing his hero costume as the students were required to wear them during training. He took a breath and charged himself up, releasing a wave of electricity towards one of the boulders. He watched in satisfaction as the boulder cracked and crumble from the force of the electricity. It wasn’t even his strongest shock – had it been, the rock probably would’ve exploded.
“Heh, piece of cake.” Denki boasted, dusting his hands off.
Kyouka Jirou – his less enthusiastic classmate – noticed this from nearby. She rolled her eyes. “Y’know, Kaminari, the goal isn’t just to break the rocks,” She criticized. “We’re supposed to be trying different techniques and strengthening our quirks. You need to be taking this more seriously.”
“She has a point, Kaminari,” Eijirou Kirishima added right after destroying a boulder with one swift punch, sending the pieces flying. He casually wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to face Denki. “You gotta challenge yourself. Look at you, you’re not even sweating!”
Denki sighed and let his shoulders slump, pouting. “You guys sound like my parents.”
“Whatever. Just don’t complain when we all have cool new moves and you’re still dorking out over one attack.” Kyouka teased then turned away to continue her training.
Denki’s face flushed, feeling taken aback by that statement. “Hey! That only happens when I exceed my limit!”
“Hehe, it’s so funny when that happens.” Minoru Mineta interrupted. Denki turned to his side to see Minoru sticking to one of the boulders using his hairballs. “It’s like you turn into a giggly zombie or something.”
“Grr, who asked you?” Denki threw the little grape-headed boy an annoyed look and held his palm out towards his direction, sparks emitting from his hand. Minoru squeaked and scrambled away. Once he was gone, Denki huffed and crossed his arms. Why was everyone nagging him all of a sudden? It’s just training after all; it’s not like they were fighting real villains.
What do they know anyway? It’s my quirk, I can use it however I want! Besides, it’s not like the other classmates are-
Denki's thoughts were interrupted as he saw his other classmates training. It's then that he realizes just how hard the other students were working. Katsuki Bakugou exploded pillars of stone back-to-back while flipping through the air, using the force of his explosions to keep him afloat. It was almost like a combo move from what he could tell. Denki had never seen him use such a move before. Then he glanced over at Shouto Todoroki and sees him using both his fire and ice quirk on one pillar, one immediately after the other. Is he practicing how quickly he can transition from his ice quirk to his fire quirk? That's actually pretty thoughtful…
“SMAAAAAASH!!”
Denki snapped his head around, hearing a familiar battle cry from a green-haired boy. He watched as Izuku Midoriya smashed a pillar into pieces using his quirk, a loud boom echoing throughout the room and little bits and pieces of stone flying off into the distance. The pillar was completely obliterated after that one punch. Meanwhile, Denki’s smaller boulders – although cracked and partially broken – were still somewhat standing. That’s when his friends’ words truly started to sink in. Everyone else in his class seemed to be giving it their all. Even Minoru was putting in more effort than Denki was used to seeing. Is his class really getting that much stronger? If so, could he be falling behind? Denki looked down at his own hands.
Perhaps it was time to take his friends’ words into consideration.
Eventually, class was over. The students changed back into their school uniforms and headed out of the training room for their next classes. Denki waited for everyone else to leave before approaching his teacher. Mr. Aizawa was sitting against the wall in his sleeping bag, eyes closed and barely awake. He was just about to doze off until he heard someone approach and call his name.
“Um, Mr. Aizawa?” Denki called out.
Mr. Aizawa lazily peeked an eye open to look at the electric boy. Denki waved at him nervously.
“Yes, what do you want?” There was a hint of annoyance in Aizawa’s voice, like a grumpy cat who had just been disturbed from their nap.
“Well, I was just wondering, um,” Denki fidgeted. “Is it cool if I train more tonight in this room?”
Aizawa raised a brow. He hadn’t expected such a request from the teenager. Afterall, Denki wasn’t known to try very hard or go much over the bare minimum. Shouta looked the boy up and down, searching for any signs of suspicious activity. Denki fidgeted more beneath the teacher’s intimidating gaze. After a moment of silence, Aizawa responded. “Fine.”
Denki was already prepared to accept rejection until he realized what the teacher said.
“Wait, really?” Denki looked at his teacher in surprise.
Aizawa pulled out a pen and a small yellow notepad from his sleeping bag then scribbled something down on one of the slips.
“I’ll allow you to use this room after hours, but no later than 8:00 PM. Here’s a permission slip.” Aizawa held out the yellow paper to him. Denki gratefully accepted it.
“Awesome! Thanks, Mr. Aizawa!” Denki beamed. Aizawa hummed and closed his eyes.
“Just make sure not to overdo it,” Aizawa grumbled. “The training room is designed for basic training, so don’t do anything stupid.”
“You got it, sir!” Denki barely acknowledged what his teacher said as he was already half-way out of the room.
Aizawa peeked an eye open again, watching the boy leave. He wondered just what the boy was up to.
Denki entered the training room, yellow slip in hand. The room was dark and silent, not another soul in sight. It felt almost eerie without anyone else in the room, no loud sounds or explosions. Denki disregarded the slight unease and proceeded.
As he made his way further into the room, he looked around at the boulders and pillars of stone surrounding him. He realized that these weren’t the same stones from earlier; they were all new and untouched, not a single one cracked or broken. One of the other hero teachers, Ken Ishiyama or Cementoss was responsible for replacing these stones after every training session, so they must have gotten replaced right after his class finished training. Looking at the stones, it almost felt intimidating to be alone in the middle of so many large, unmoving obstacles. Not to mention there was hardly any light coming in through the room, making it feel even creepier.
Denki stopped at the center of the room and took a deep breath.
“Alright, let’s do this!” Denki said with a sense of determination.
Denki activated his quirk, yellow sparks of electricity emitting from his body. With solid concentration, he released a shockwave towards the surrounding stones. Electricity shot out from Denki’s body, lighting up the dark room as it hit the stone. Small cracks formed within the stone walls, but the stones themselves remained still. The electric boy blinked twice, facing the pillars. They were much stronger than the smaller boulders were. And yet other students like Katsuki, Shouto, and Izuku took out those pillars with ease. Denki shook his head and recomposed himself, charging himself up again.
“We’re supposed to be trying different techniques and strengthening our quirks. You need to be taking this more seriously.”
Kyouka’s words echoed in the back of Denki’s mind. His eyebrows furrowed. He focused again, his body tensing as he increased his voltage. He could feel his body beginning to strain as he pushed himself further. It probably would’ve been beneficial to warm up first, but oh well, too late now. He made a second attempt at electrocuting the surrounding pillars, releasing a bigger wave of electrocution. The cracks in the pillars spread, but still, they did not fall. Denki huffed in frustration.
“Come on, stupid rocks…” He grumbled.
“You gotta challenge yourself. Look at you, you’re not even sweating!”
Denki’s eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched as he thought about Eijirou’s words. More sparks began to fly from all around his body. He had to make the pillars fall. What good was he against villains if he couldn’t even break a few measly rocks? With a growl, Denki increased his voltage even higher. He grunted as a third electrical shock wave was released. Bits of the pillars began to break off. He could feel his head throb from all the energy and strain. He knew that any more above about 1 million volts would make his brain short circuit. But the pillars were still standing.
“Just don’t complain when we all have cool new moves and you’re still dorking out over one attack.”
Denki remembered the way his classmates looked as they were all training. The determination in their eyes. The way they moved with such power and confidence. His classmates were getting stronger, better by the day. You could tell they really wanted it – to be heroes! Denki really wanted it to. But how would they know that? He can’t exceed his limit, he can’t knock down walls of stone – he barely does well academically because he slacks off so much! Was this the best Denki Kaminari could do? Would his classmates continue to excel – to go beyond – while he gets left behind?
No. Denki is strong. Denki is determined. Denki can be a hero! And he’s going to show everyone! Denki channeled all the energy he could muster. Sweat formed on his forehead, only to be evaporated by the sheer heat the electricity was emitting. The strain on his body became almost unbearable, like pushing against a wall with all your might to prevent being crushed, but he ignored it. His entire body glowed yellow as electricity coursed through his veins. He went beyond his limit and reached 3 million volts, the highest he’d ever gone. Denki cried out and released the electricity, sending waves of power over the field. Uncontrollable electricity traveled throughout the entire room, bouncing and striking rocks. Sounds of destruction fill the room, both boulders and pillars exploding on impact, some crumbling and crashing to the ground. Dust settled all over the room. Then everything went quiet.
Denki was still standing in the center of the room, both figuratively and literally shocked. Then suddenly, his body collapsed onto the ground. He could hear ringing in his ears from the deafening sounds that occurred just now. The smell of smoke filled his nostrils, mainly from his clothes. His breathing was heavy, and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. His head ached massively, throbbing with pain. Everything was blurry and dark. For a moment, Denki thought his brain short-circuited again. That would make sense, considering he went way past his limit. But something was different. He didn’t feel giddy or babbly, at least.
“Oooooh…” Denki groaned and sat up slowly, arms shaking. He rubbed his head and glanced around the room. The taller pillars weren’t completely destroyed but most of the stone was no longer intact. As for the smaller pillars and boulders, those were obliterated. Denki should’ve felt proud. But instead, he only felt floaty and light-headed. Something warm dripped down from his nose. He reached up, touching his upper lip with two fingers, then looked back at his fingers to see blood. This wouldn’t normally concern Denki either, but there seemed to be a lot more of it than usual when he exceeded his limit. He could even taste the metallic liquid in the back of his throat.
Denki pinched his nose to stop the excess bleeding and stood up, stumbling and staggering. He wasn’t sure what to think or how to feel right now. All he knew was that he suddenly felt extremely exhausted and sore. If he didn’t go to his room now, he would surely pass out right here in the training room. He decided he’ll figure out how to feel tomorrow. Swaying, Denki made his way back to his dorm room.