Chapter Text
The sky is a gentle blue when Haruki wakes up in the morning. It feels like clockwork in the way he gets up and turns off the phone alarm buzzing on his nightstand. He slides his feet inside slippers and proceeds to the bathroom to do his general morning routine.
He stares at his appearance in the mirror. His hair was slightly messy, navy speckled with green. An odd combination of his parents’ hair colors that most of his siblings inherited. Random moles were sparsely littered on his face. There was a tired, faraway look in his eyes, and he wondered if he hadn’t gotten enough sleep before brushing his teeth. Humming a tune to keep track of the time.
After exiting the bathroom, he looks at the dresser that sits opposite of his bed. The UA uniform lay neatly atop it. He stares at it for a minute, pondering. He hears the pitter-pattering of footsteps leading to his door and automatically goes to open it.
There stands a little girl, nearly 7 years old, with lopsided pigtails and a bright grin, staring up at him. Her hair was also colored strangely. Mostly green with chunks of blue and a cowlick that never went away, no matter how much styling was done. Her outfit was an elementary uniform complete with a little pink name tag that had her name messily scrawled on. She was nearly hopping on her tip-toes as she called out to her big brother.
“Haru-nii! Haru-nii! Look, I did my pigtails by myself this morning!” She beamed, doing a little spin to proudly show off her hard work. Haruki smiles faintly and pats her head.
“It looks great, Natsuya. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.” He said, trying to think of a way to fix them without breaking his dear littlest sister’s heart.
Backup would soon arrive in the form of his family’s eldest daughter, a 13 year old named Asami. A chatty otaku dressed in the lower secondary school uniform and long navy hair pulled back into a ponytail with bangs framing her face. She already has her phone out, snapping a picture of the two as she laughs. “Come on, Natsu, Haru-nii has to get ready for his first day at his fancy hero school!” She teased, flashing the awkward picture to Haruki.
“For the memories. Y’know, mom and dad don’t really mark important days like this.” She spoke as she ushered the younger girl down the hall while trying to convince her to redo her hairstyle and make it even better. He just watched and eventually retreated to his room to get dressed.
He buttons the shirt and blazer with a practised ease. Looping the tie and adjusting it snugly to his neck, he stares into the small mirror on the wall above the dresser. He looks presentable, he thinks, as he checks his bag twice before finally picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder.
There’s not much noise throughout the house as he walks through the halls. Decorated scarcely with weapons or portraits of ancestors, despite the rather large size of the family estate and its interiors. He passed the kitchen where most of his siblings were. The girls chat away with each other as Asami discreetly readjusts the youngest’s hair who refused to sit still. The second oldest son, Kyoya, sat around a large table with some coffee and his sword in his lap.
“Is Asa still here?” Haruki asked, grabbing a red apple that was sitting among others in a bowl.
“Ah, he just left a minute ago with Dad. Mom is in the backyard.” Kyoya answered, sparing a glance at his brother as he continued to polish his sword. There was only a short hum in response, followed by the gentle spray of water coating the sink.
After washing the apple, Haruki nodded towards his brother and then made his way to the door. His sisters jumped up, waving and calling out to him as he put on his shoes.
“Look at him, about to start the high school dream!” Asami poked as Natsuya just excitedly rambled goodbyes and miss you’s.
He waved back, taking a bite of the apple as he opened the door. He walked for a solid 10 minutes before reaching a bus stop where he stood and disposed of the apple he had eaten along the way. It would arrive after a minute delay, and Haruki would board it and stand for another ten minutes on the crowded vehicle before getting off at a busy street. From there, he carefully maneuvered around the crowds of people, careful not to make contact until he reached the gates of UA. The school that would ensure he’d taste the future he chose.
He passed through and went about getting to class, remembering most of its layout from a tiny pamphlet that came with his acceptance letter after taking the recommendation entrance exam. A rather complicated process of admission that will likely be unpacked in a later chapter.
Upon entering, Haruki noticed he wasn’t the first to arrive but far from the last, with only a few people scattered around in random seats. He decided to sit at the seat in front of the one in the farthest corner, where a familiar figure sat with a rather fluffy ponytail. He vaguely remembers seeing her at the entrance exams, but he never spoke to her.
As time passed, more and more people would trickle in. A guy with a bird head, a girl who somewhat resembled a frog, and eventually a spiky blonde who kicked his feet up on the desk as if he were at home. It caused an internal cringe that would soon be a minor headache when a classmate with glasses would immediately rise up to berate the blonde. There were some introductions involved, mostly by glasses, Iida, and a few other people who came in calling themselves Midoriya and Uraraka.
However, the festive chatter would be cut short by a man who emerged from a yellow sleeping bag like some depressed butterfly who happened to be their homeroom teacher. He wasted no time unceremoniously announcing he was the pro hero Eraserhead and their teacher, Shota Aizawa.
Only a blink later, Haruki would be standing outside in a UA gym uniform, being threatened with expulsion if they ranked at the bottom of the “quirk trials”. A series of 8 standard gym tests with the twist that one’s quirk can be used. Even if the threat of being expelled on the first day was something he could trust to be true, it’s not like he had much to worry about. Unlike a few of his classmates, who were sweating buckets before even starting the trials. Especially the green one. Ew.
The first test was the 50-meter dash. As Haruki kneeled down to the start blocks, he closed his eyes. This test had always been a breeze in middle school, considering the training he endured at home. Now with his quirk added to the mix, surely he’d be done in no time. His eyes opened, landing on the small robot that relayed people’s times, then to the two people on either side of him, also racing.
Everything and everyone was hot with the sun glaring down on high self-expectations, some people buzzing with energy or anxiety. He could feel his body absorbing every ounce of it. Then…
“Ready…”
“Go!”