The sky was full of crimson lights. The red glow of an ambulance off in the distance, the embers of golden rain, the banners of a group hungry for power. Red was the colour of the night this beautiful, dreadful, weary night, be it blood or the uniforms it stained. Practically overnight, the town of recovery had become the town of battle, a warzone encompassing the entire city. Anarchy, put simply.

The hills were alight and smouldering, the city itself erupting in chaos - just thinking back to even a day ago, even a few hours ago, and one could hardly find it within themselves to see how such a beautiful, hardy city had transformed into Hell itself. It gave a new, almost laughably ironic meaning to the name 'Jigokuraku Academy', loosely translated to "Hell's Paradise" or "Heaven Hell". By day, Kirisama was a piece of Heaven, of paradise. Yet now... with such an eerie glow to it, fire and fighting and more fire, the Hell part felt incredibly accurate. And with the dancing lights of a red aurora above, not unlike those seen in the arctic, and the oppressive sun which bathed the city in heat and scarlet hues, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference at a glance.

Yet if you looked closely, one could make out small beacons of light -- hope -- which raged as passionately as the red aurora above. They came in many colours: the blues of someone confronting their fears, the golds of the inexperienced inspiring those in need, the greens of ingenuity and kindness, the greys of desperation and a fighting spirit. There was a sage who showed bravery in the face of peril, a sapphire finding spirit amidst hopelessness, a pink sharing wisdom and knowledge, an orange rejecting their past, a red going beyond their natural limit, a yellow who discovered focus, a black showing true heart. There was a purple who could mask the fear of others, a lime who could save those around them, and a bronze doing absolutely everything they could to shine gold.

And uniting all of those beautiful colours was a pure, unfiltered white, rejecting the darkness around them with all that they had.

All-Might set the standard for being a Symbol of Peace many, many years ago. It was through his radiant lights, of many colours, which could shine to the darkest reaches and fill those most troubled with hope. This was not the same; the man had no successor, both to his quirk nor to his title, and the next in line would build themselves up to his image in their own way. They rejected the many colours he had set for them, and instead used them, combined them, to fully encompass what they were with purity. The colours which made a hero, embodying all sorts of ideals, values, beliefs and virtues, could be summed up with that one word alone: heroism.

And that white light? Whoever was the source of its glow was a true hero. Unlike any that had come before. The next generation of heroes had come, and with it a new Symbol of Peace, and with that an array of vibrant colour embodying heroics. And the darkness creating that red aurora, causing pain and misery in its wake? That couldn't even be considered a true villain. That was a monster, so destructive and fierce it could threaten the world, and drown it under an abyssal blanket.


Frost was uncommon to the people of Kirisama, though not completely unheard of, either. While the city had a remarkable tendency to draw fog, supposedly due to the surrounding terrain and wind currents, frosting over windows and sidewalks was a rare occurrence. The winter chill hadn't quite left the weary city, so it would seem, even though summer would be dawning on them in the coming season. Still, the new school year was upon them, as evidenced by pretty pink petals drifting at five centimetres per second.

Speaking of, Jigokuraku's doors would be opening today, literally the day after they sent out letters informing the chosen few of their place. Some might call it tardiness, however with the exam called in early, they undoubtedly had to make a change in judgement. Point-based entry wouldn't cut it when so many failed to even acquire a single point, after all. Those lucky enough to get that short and simple proof of verification would have quite the morning ahead of them, with temperatures a few degrees above zero Celsius and a climb up one of Kirisama's steeper trails. It might have left a bad taste in the mouths of some, yet there were undoubtedly those who appreciated the simplicity and challenge.

Of course the only student who had a letter of recommendation fit into the latter of those two sides, perfectly comfortable with the cold most would find too bitter to bother with. Having woken up incredibly early out of habit, they were most definitely the first to partake in the climb up those steps, and climb they damn well did! Fuelled by excitement from their letter, they practically raced to the top, only stopping to catch sight of the view from the three quarter mark. The fog didn't intrude upon the sights today, it would seem, giving them a moment to bask in the morning sunrise, its orange glow stretching across the vast seas, skies, and soil.


As the student took the steps to complete the rest of their journey, those who had found acceptance in Jigokuraku were at the beginning to a journey all their own. Some were only just waking up, admittedly, starting that journey later than others. What mattered was that they were chosen - accepted, even, and found a path they would not have been able to take without the help of Jigokuraku.

What they didn't know was just what this journey entailed. The laughter and the tears, the friends and the rivals, the hope and despair, the heroes, the villains, and the in-between. The heroes of this particular journey would undertake challenges not many could safely say they had handled at their age, crawling their way from the mud in a race to reach their peers. Starting in dead last sucks, and it requires a special kind of student with a special kind of teacher, teaching in a certain, probably unconventional way, to get them up the ranks. But it truly was up to them if they would actually achieve that growth or not. The true weight of their actions would never really hit them until they reached Day One, and determine whether they shared inspiration or hopelessness. But for now, the first of many challenges lay before them:

---

---

Tachibana Souta woke up at five AM. He remained in bed, wrapped in the covers and with his eyes closed until eventually he realized that he wasn't going to get back to sleep. He growled and tossed his covers off, standing up with a slouch in his back.

Well, he'd passed the entrance exam. That was good. He had no idea what he would have done if he failed. Not that he exactly wanted to be a professional hero. It was a career he supposed.

Souta wandered over to the window and pulled the blinds open, watching over the dark city. Chima prefecture was a strange place, especially for someone from Shikoku. He'd spent the last day getting called a hick, and to be honest, he was rather sick of it.

Hopefully tomorrow would be okay.

Well, he just hoped he woke up happy at some point.

---

Well, he guessed that he fell back asleep. It was a good assumption to make considering it was ten minutes to school starting and he was currently somewhere between the bed and wall with his alarm impotently screeching at him.

Souta didn't move any faster despite this, he was going to be late no matter what he did, so why stress about it.

He put on his shoes, ate a granola bar, and tossed a few ball-bearings onto the ground. He stuck them into the purposefully drilled holes in the soles, and used his feet to make them spin.

Souta remained motionless as his quirk carried him into the hotel elevator, suitcase in hand. He thanked the receptionist, then rolled out onto the road ahead. Ten minutes had gone to five. He was definitely going to be late. Well, he probably wasn't going to be the only one, hopefully. He didn't know what to expect of the other students, he hadn't spoken to them much during the entrance exam. Hopefully they weren't dicks. He'd prefer not to get into any fights on his first day.

Climbing up was a boring hell. His ball-bearings kept him going, but there wasn't much he could do but keep using his quirk. Around halfway up he began to feel dizzy, and had to stop for half a minute before continuing on his way.

Finally he came within sight of the school. He moved his weight to his heels, sending the ballbearings scattering across the ground. He spent a minute or so picking them off the ground before continuing on his way towards the doors.

He sighed as activity began to build up.

"Let's see how this goes."

---

It was far too early for Shun's taste when he boarded the bus to Kirisama, having had little time to prepare after receiving his acceptance letter the day before. Seriously, what kind of horrible logistics was that? He stumbled groggily into a seat, bundled up in a fluffy jacket and a painfully bright pink scarf that covered most of his face. Naturally, he'd already been mistaken for a girl twice on his way to the bus station. Great start. Shun leaned against the window, pulling his jacket tighter to expedite the process of warming up. His eyes fluttered open and shut as he tried to blink away sleepiness, but his legs were already jiggling up and down with anticipation. This was just like the bus ride to the exam; except better, because there was no nervousness or uncertainty involved this time. He had gotten in to hero school. Definitively. It was still so surreal.

Shun still had a while before school was slated to start when he disembarked the bus, but he didn't really feel like he had time to linger before he made the climb up to the Academy. Besides, he was pumped up now. Just seeing the rubble belt outside the town from the window had ignited that same vigor he had brought to the entrance exam. He quickened his step as he made his way ever-closer to the mountain that Jigokuraku Academy sat upon, pausing only to purchase a can of coffee from a vending machine - he couldn't risk letting a lack of sleep slow him down on the first day. He started up the stairs to Jigokuraku, craning his head to gawk at the sheer scale of the mountain. If getting there alone was a workout, Shun couldn't imagine what they'd be doing once classes started. The excitement of it all would've been enough to get him to start running up the stairs, if not for the fact that he still had a drink in his hand. He settled for warping up a few steps periodically, taking care not to use his quirk at a tiring frequency. It wouldn't do to exhaust himself before he even got to school.

As he finally crossed the threshold of the gate, a stupid grin plastered itself on his face from ear to ear as an audible "Wow," escaped his mouth in hushed reverence. He was actually standing in a hero school. As a student. Take that, muscle quirk guy from that one kickboxing tournament who said he couldn't be a hero one time.

Wow, he really needed better rivals.

Unfortunately, he had overestimated the time that he'd need to scale the mountain; no one he knew was here yet, as far as he could tell. Shun settled for pacing toward the main school building and taking a stand near the door, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet in an ineffective attempt to keep warm while he scanned the entrance patiently for a classmate to otherwise occupy his attention.

---

---

It has been a stressful three days since the entrance exam took place. Shiki couldn't remember the details of the exam's conclusion, but he does recall the dastardly "villain" who was responsible for putting him out of commission in the first place. The Dragon's sadistic laugh and her intimidating silhouette still haunts him while he sleeps. He will never forget that frightening experience of being thrown across the examination zones like a rag-doll.

Due to his recently developed night terrors, Shiki was unable to get a proper good night sleep and suffered occasional headaches throughout the day. At least the letter he received from the academy brought some positivity in his life. All this time Shiki believed he wouldn't be able to pass through the first milestone, it was quite relieving to see that he was wrong. Perhaps, he does have what it takes to be a hero after all...or maybe he just lucked out. From that line of thinking, he began to doubt himself once again in this never ending cycle of uncertainty.

The morning routine went by as normal. Today, Shiki packed sealed cups of pineapple tidbits in his backpack for both snack and lunch. He didn't make the mistake of forgetting his bottled water this time around either. After grabbing his puffy winter jacket, he exited from the apartment an hour earlier than usual. Reason being, he wanted to get a head start into discovering a route with the least amount of walking by using his quirk. There were just some areas the GPS failed to properly map, which created difficulties with his ever changing schedule.

Eventually, Shiki finally arrived at the front entrance of the school by the end of the extra hour. He managed to pick up some pineapple flavored coffee along the way to keep himself awake. Scaling up the mountain wasn't too difficult than he originally thought, after all he did pace himself.

It was there he spotted the energetic Shun, one of the participants he teamed up with during the entrance exam. There was a blank expression on Shiki's face, he knew it was too late to turn back now. Shiki was cautiously approaching Shun, contemplating whether to greet him or be on his way.

Why did he feel so hesitant? It was because Shun was drinking coffee. Shiki was well aware of how hyperactive Shun was in the short time they've spent together. He simply didn't want to know what a can of coffee will do to him now.

---

The academy just had a way to piss Hiroki off. He read maybe the first two sentences of his letter before tearing it up and throwing it in the trash. Another failure, he first thought, despite all that wasted effort. Giving it everything. He didn't leave a dummy, civilian behind even though it was a trap. He fought a villain that was essentially immune to his power, but he still fought. He forged a team, saving at least one of them. He investigated the bus, tripping up another villain whom was essentially taking hostages, and was maybe two feet away from apprehending him, only to have the buzzer call it. Every time he thought about it, he burned with rage.

He sat back at his desk. He was staying in a hotel for the night, his parents paid for it. They'd have take care of him a bit longer. He set his head down, looking at his hand, how scrapped skin was healing over after the efforts he put into it. He'd have to tell his parents. He'd have to find another school. The application, the drive, the preparation, just to have it stolen away from him again.

Was he a failure? Was he meant to just be? What? He remembered all the good times. How he wow'd his friends, announced he was going to be a hero, how his family rewarded him for every school medal, every physical trophy. How could he screw up so bad. He didn't, it was obviously that damned school. Screw Jigokuraku.

He got up, looking at the trash bin. He hesitated, going back the torn letter.

---

Winter was coming in earnest considering how cold it was. He was happy for his leathery furred flight jacket this time. No uniform yet. He guessed that's what the first day would be a bout. He hated that he had to do this. If they had such a rubbish first test, what was the rest of the year going to be like. He tightened up his backpack and took a deep breath starting up the long path towards the next few years of his Heroing Career.

Deep calming breath. Deep calming breath.

The climb wasn't a problem. Not even close, considering his propensity for running, his athletic physique. The climb was just a good workout if he was on the move. He gave himself plenty of time to get there, plenty of time to figure out the lay of the land, figure out which one of the losers were going to be his lackeys, his rivals, and specs of dust to be left behind. It was a crude school. Bottom of the barrel, and he was UA material. He wondered how long it would take him to get to the op. 2nd semester at best.

His glum expression and pissed off face made its appearance at the gate, standing alone, engine whirling a little as a nervous tick to psyche him up. He looked over his first step to number one.

Jigokuraku. You're mine.

@Scribe of Thoth

And thats when he saw that one kid from the exam. The guy had stupid puffy hair, a big grin and seemed to be so pleased with himself. Hiroki spit as he saw him while he remembered what happened. How he managed to teleport through a bus, gun in hand. So he got accepted too. Atleast they had the common decency to get the kids that had some guts. Catching his eye he raised his chin in a bit of a greeting.
Bare minimum. It felt... meh to see a familiar face.

---

It was another cold morning in Kirisama as Mari walked from the homeless commune under the bridge towards the post office, dressed in a dirty hoodie, and with all her belongings packed in a duffel bag slung across her shoulder. When she had made her intention to apply to Jigokuraku and 'move' to Kirisama, she had set up a post office box at the nearest post office in town just so she could receive mail. She had enough money saved over, and had made some from recycling litter, that she could continue to pay for the P.O. box for the time being. She wasn't sure if she should put in the effort of finding more permanent lodging, and an actual job, or if she should just skip town, and look for warmer climates.

Mari had expected judgment at the end of the exam, but they didn't even call out the points they had earned (or not earned). The faculty instead had asked the students to wait a few days for a letter. They did at least, tend to her wounded foot. So Mari stuck around, just trying to make ends meet in the chilling fog of Kirisama, among the forgotten. She didn't know why she stayed. Having disappointed herself at the exam, she knew what her result was going to be, yet a shameless corner of her mind still held out hope that she would be accepted. When she left the commune, she had wrapped up everything that was hers and said her final farewells to the others who lived under the bridge, whatever the result, she wasn't likely coming back. Arriving at the post office, she walked up to her box and unlocked it with the key the office had given her, pulling out the letter and tearing it open.

‘Haruishi Mari

The sacrifices you’ve made for yourself are admirable, as is your level of perseverance. We would’ve completely understood if you felt unable to continue due to the injuries you’ve sustained to your leg, and yet you’ve decided to press forward. That said, try not to be so reckless in the future; it’d be unfortunate to lose a good student over something we are more than capable of preventing.

Please make your way to the school hall at precisely 8:00AM tomorrow. Your fellow students and teachers will be awaiting your arrival.’

Mari's knees went weak as, leaning against the wall of P.O. boxes, she slowly slid down into a crouching position, one hand against the wall, the other hand gripping the letter like her life depended on it, her arm covering her eyes as she bawled.

---

Mari arrived the following day at Jigokuraku at 7:45AM, after making a detour to her gym to shower. Like during the exam, she was dressed in her middle school winter uniform, as it was the nicest set of clothing that she owned, and she didn't want to show up in her worn, dirty, threadbare hoodie. Though she wore a stern look on her face, neither that nor her shower could hide the redness and puffiness around her eyes. She looked around to see if anyone else from the exam had arrived. If they accepted her, then surely most of the others had made it in as well. With deliberate, shaking steps, she walked up the steps, and hoped that feeling of giddy, light-headedness was her past rolling off her shoulders. She would be able to live in a dorm. She would be able to pursue her purpose; to save those without saviors and to prove that her life has meaning. Yet mentally she held herself back. There was no point getting too optimistic only to be disappointed. Joy was for the greedy and indulgent. She needed to mentally keep some weight on her back-foot if it turned out that this place would not accept her and her past. She needed to be prepared for the potential eventuality of returning to the streets.

Mari notices Hiroki, Shiki, and Shun. A flash of streaks of black and white somewhere in her peripheral suggested that Azukina was here too. Did Mari deserve to be here among them? Mari bit her lip, as she thought of her poor performance during the exam. She had rescued one civilian, though she had requested to the exam proctor that the point be 'donated' to the student who helped her retrieve it. And then she botched it hard when she allowed the faux villain to hijack the bus that held all of the precious civilians. She hadn't even successfully stopped him, even getting in Hiroki's way when he attempted to do so. What was effort without results? How many times had she plotted to run from home and failed? Only the last time mattered, only success mattered. Effort without success was failure. Mari was unable to contain herself anymore. Facing Hiroki, Mari straightened up, her arms at her sides, and bowed deeply.


"Sakimoto-san, I apologize for the altercation before the exam! I was ignorant! I just want to save people, but I know nothing at all about what it means to be a hero! I misread you, made assumptions, and said unkind things! I hope you can forgive my hubris and accept me as a fellow classmate, despite my inadequacies!" Mari declared, and stayed bowed, waiting for a response from Hiroki, despite being in full view of Shun and Shiki, and possibly Azukina.

Kenji Ito

Quirk: Beetle!

---

Somewhere in the forest at the base of the mountain a sleeping bag hammock was tied firmly between two trees, the mustard yellow color of the thick insulated fabric made the sight reminiscent of a huge cocoon. Inside was the sleeping form of a young student, Kenji Ito.

Kenji woke from the sunlight seeping through the fabric of his sleeping bag that cold morning. Day 3 of his personal journey to Jigokuraku Academy, for the past days he had walked by himself from an entirely different prefecture to finally reach Kirisama. It was a self-imposed challenge to turn the transit into it's own workout regime. The night before he had reached the base of the mountain, but decided to set up camp and wait until morning to make the climb and see the academy itself. This morning he would be expected by the staff, but as far as he knew none of the students even knew about him yet. Suddenly the realization that he was far behind schedule dawned on him just as the sun had and he began to panic. Suddenly trashing about inside the bag caused a supporting branch to snap on one of the trees and he tumbled out of his slumber.

He had been planning to be one of the first, if not the first to arrive at the academy, but as he reached into his pockets to retrieve his old flip phone those hopes were dashed. The phone displayed the time 7:35, enough time to reach the top by 8:00 but by the time he would make it up most of the other students surely would have been there. However this gave him no reason to slow down on his way up the long stair climb to the top.

“Pathetic!” Kenji shouted at himself as he quickly rolled up his sleeping bag and went into a full sprint to reach the stairs. “I wont be known as the first tardy student in Jigokuraku Academy’s history!”

Unforeseen to Kenji however, was how he appeared as he finally reached the top of the stairs. He was on time, sure, but when he got there he had run out of stamina and was barely moving at the top steps. To students already waiting at the top, what they might have seen was the sight of an overweight chump that only barely survived stairs.

What a hero.

Akeno jogged up the path leading to Jigokuraku academy, ponytail bobbing behind her as she took the steps two at a time on the stairs and her long strides ate up the distance to the summit when the trail levelled out. Neither the distance to the school nor the steepness of the climb seemed to faze the athletic girl, though she passed a few people along the way who appeared genuinely shocked by her quick pace.

The cold as well offered no obstacle to her, it never did, and she was dressed lightly enough to show it; a thin dark blue tracksuit over a plain white t-shirt was all she wore aside from her white trainers. Even if the jogging alone didn’t keep her feeling warm enough, whenever the cold air of early sprint began to bite at her Akeno just activated her quirk for a second or two to send her body temperature skyrocketing. It was one of the few areas that her quirk actually excelled in; she’d never needed winter’s clothing or a heavy jacket no matter how cold it got ever since she’d first found out what she could do.

By the time she reached the top there were already a few students milling around, including one overweight boy who she had been catching up to for a while now. He’d just about managed to make it to the top ahead of her but looked like he was paying the price for making the climb unprepared. By comparison Akeno barely looked like she’d run at all; her face was a little flushed from using her quirk and she was breathing slightly heavier than normal but that was it.

As she walked by him, Akeno gave him a light punch to the shoulder. “Chin up, you made it. Hold your head high.” They’d both made it, as unlikely as that was. The entrance exam hadn’t been easy for her; she’d basically been forced to complete it quirkless, since heating herself up wasn’t going to help her rescue a dummy. Even so, Akeno had apparently done enough to be recognised as having potential and her letter of acceptance had come a few days later.

Maybe she wasn’t U.A. material, or any of the other big schools, but she’d found a school that was willing to give her a chance and that all that mattered. She was going to train to become a hero. She wasn’t going to let this chance go to waste.

@Jojo

Kenji Ito

Quirk: Beetle!

---

The sudden small playful punch to his shoulder jolted Kenji out of fighting with his breath, and he turned to find the culprit was Kudo Akeno. He was surprised yet oddly relieved to see that she made it in too. During his entrance exam he took quite the beating to defend other students rescuing the hostages, but never got any of his own. If they were going by a simple one dummy equals one point rule he would have failed spectacularly. Despite this they had both been invited here, and Kenji had the chance to shed his damaged skeleton before he even made the trip. By appearance now, one might think he had never done the exam in the first place.

"Ah Kudo-san. It's good to see a familiar face up here, haha." he laughed, though it might have just been the last efforts to catch his breath. He couldn't wait to remove the hiking pack he had brought up the mountain with him, it was almost comically huge and getting heavier the longer he had it on. "It's great to finally be here but I hope we get to where we're staying sooner rather than later." he admitted while adjusting the weight on his back.

Kenji's antennae moved about on his head and he almost wished he could turn off his sense of smell right about now, while others probably didn't notice it the stench of all these kids fresh from a mountain scaling was a bit much for him.

You guys smell...
@King Cosmos

The long and tedious climb up the mountain was a pain, but a pain Yasu could stand to endure. This place might be a sixth rate academy for tenth rate students, but she'd rather be here than at Nosaka High. That place had almost made her yearn for her days in the orphanage. The students at Nosaka would roar with laughter at her if they knew she was now attending a hero school for the least important students in the country, but they would have laughed at her for just about anything. At least here, she would never have to hear their obnoxious voices ever again. That was partially why she was a touch concerned about the possibility of her getting kicked out. She had already gotten abrasive with one of the staff members back at the exam. Normally she wouldn't give a damn, but the fact was that if these people got all offended at her, she might find herself sent on to somewhere far more insufferable at her parent's bequest. Knowing them, it would be some ridiculously pretentious boarding school for troubled, yet wealthy youths. It would no doubt be populated by less openly well behaved kids than Nosaka, which was something to be seen for sure. As long as she was at Jigokuraku, Yasu figured, there would probably be a bare minimum expectation of her to show up and do well enough. Anywhere else might actually expect a certain standard of their students. She was almost thankful no self-respecting school like UA would deign to accept her.

This was, of course, all thinking based on a flimsy premise. The assumption that at this deadbeat school the student body and staff couldn't possibly be so vain and proud of themselves that they would act anything like the people from Nosaka. There was every possibility that, in spite of being at one of the least prestigious schools possible, they might carry themselves as if they were destined for UA anyway. That they would think of this place as but a temporary embarrassment on their path to being Japan's number one hero. She spotted one dude that sure looked like he had a huge attitude problem. Turbine boy gave her the worst vibe possible. She made a mental note not to waste her time on that one. She really didn't want to recreate the Nosaka High dynamic here. Then again, she didn't look forward to meeting anyone here. For all she knew they all had their heads up their asses about how everything was going to turn out at this school. Maybe they all expected to be the next big thing and would look down on anyone that wasn't giving 110 percent. It was nothing but peachy prospects for Yasu. Either they were as pretentious as this school was poor, or they were all resigned to their fate like her. What fun.

Yasu elected to spend her time waiting for school to begin resting against a tree. She had no pressing desire to socialise, so she would just wait in silence and hope that this was over with quickly.

---

Shun's gaze locked onto Shiki the moment the other boy crossed the school gates, unfortunately for him. Shun had been extra vigilant in his watch over the entrance, given that the scenery of the super cool hero school lost its charm after the initial hype had faded and it finally sunk in that this was quite possibly the worst hero school in Japan. Nevertheless, Shun was undeterred in his enthusiasm. The coffee helped.

"Shiki!" He called out in an excited sing-song voice, rocking back and forth on his heels like an overeager puppy as the pink-haired boy approached. Before he reached him, Shun briefly tilted his head to gaze past Shiki, spotting - what was his name again? Airplane Arms? - acknowledging him. Or maybe the dismissive boy had just shifted his head a little and their eyes happened to meet. Was that even a full nod? Then again, they didn't even know each other's names, so it wasn't like they had much reason to be social.

Whatever, he still had Turbine's attention. Shun perked up on his tiptoes, obnoxiously waving his unoccupied hand over his head in greeting while giving Hiroki a toothy grin. His head snapped back to Shiki as he sunk back down to a normal stance, continuing off his earlier hello without skipping a beat.

"I wasn't expecting you to get in," Wait, no, that came out wrong, "I-I mean, not that I thought you couldn't! I just heard you got hurt, though, so... I figured... Y'know... You failed." He coughed awkwardly, toeing the ground. Smooth. "That doesn't matter, we did it!"

He quickly seized upon Mari's outburst as a good distraction, looking pointedly away from Shiki and enthusiastically waving at her like he had done to Hiroki. Not that it would do him much good, given her eyes were fixated firmly on the floor, but he needed some reason to not have to acknowledge the foot he had just shoved in his mouth.

---

@Animal@ShwiggityShwah@Stern Algorithm

---

It was a long and tiring ascent, and Suguro Umi had been shivering from the prolonged exposure to this white frosty morning. Ordinarily, one would've thought to bring warmer clothing for such an occasion, but while she at least remembered her jacket despite being so panicky over the aspect of failing to arrive on time, Umi didn't have the luxury of any adequate thermal leggings. As such, all that cold had dug in from the lower half of her body and worked its way up. What made it all the worse was the fact that Umi would have to endure so much more, as she'd barely even started her climb up the treacherous mountain path that was to take her to Jigokuraku Academy.

Still, Umi trudged onward for a few more steps, unwilling to allow her difficulty in handling the cold to stop her from making it to school on time. She made a valiant effort, but in the end, it was too much for her, and she collapsed instantly. Her saving grace would come in the form of a pair of headlights shone from an SUV, which had maneuvered to pull over the second its driver saw she was there.

"Oh, hey there!" a cheerful female voice called out as the left side window rolled down, "Need a ride?"

"I, uh... th-thank you, I..." Umi hesitated on taking up the offer, unable to help but wonder if it really wasn't a problem for the SUV's driver. Judging by the direction it was going, Umi guessed that the woman was a fellow teacher of the academy; after all, why else would one want to drive up an old beaten mountain path. However, their was still the chance that the seemingly friendly woman was going out of her way completely, in which case she'd be expending valuable time and fuel already.

With a small nod to herself, Umi decided to accept the kind offer, and reached for the passenger door...

---

---

After waiting for her newfound passenger to clamber in and buckle up, Tanifuji Egao shifted her SUV back out of park and slowly applied the gas. No doubt the poor Umi was shivering from her failed attempt to climb the mountain, but thankfully Tanifuji had the air conditioning set to warm her back up in no time. Now it was just a leisurely drive up... a few bumps along the way aside.

"It's a shame the bus can't take you guys all the way up today..." Tanifuji noted, "At least this girl can handle both the terrain and all this frost that's coming down right about now."

Umi remained silent for much of the ascent. She always was a rather shy girl, and had a tendency to look down, almost if she was ashamed. Noting this, Tanifuji shifted her eyes to face her reflection on the rear view mirror.

"Something wrong?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Oh no, n-n-not at all. I-I just..." Umi stuttered, "Er, h-how do I... a-address you, e-exactly?"

"Tanifuji-senpai; that's my official name on campus. People have called me sensei as well, but I'd rather stick to senpai. Sensei just makes me sound like an old hag," by this point, Tanifuji had managed to drive all the way up to the Jigokuraku Academy gates, and found a spare park that she was confident she could reverse into, "Welp, here we are..."

Bringing the SUV to a stop for the last time, Tanifuji undid her seat-belt and popped the trunk so that she could get what she needed to out of it. Umi had started to exit at around the same time as Tanifuji had opened her door, and while it took her a while to ensure she got out OK, she was able to grab her schoolbag out in due time.

"Th-thanks again f-for the ride, S-Sen..." Umi tried to account for the height difference as she looked up to Tanifuji but, now that she saw the young woman at her full height for the first time, she realized that said difference was something she'd severely underestimated, much to her shock. It was true that Umi had little to go on while the two were seated, but still...

"Oh! Did I surprise you with how tall I am?" Tanifuji had to bend her knees and lean forward slightly so that she could properly meet Umi's wide-eyed gaze, but she remained as cheerful as ever, "I was always big for my age even before this silly pituitary gland of mine decided to overdo the growth spurt thing, so I've got used to seeing looks just like that."

"Oh, I... I-I see..." Umi said, slowly raising a hand to wave goodbye, "W-well, I... I-I'll see you in c-c-class, I hope,"

"Who knows; you just might," with that, Tanifuji went around the back of her SUV to grab a dufflebag and a few items of equipment, before closing the trunk shut and locking it. She then went on her way, while Umi headed to where the other students were.

...

Now that she thought about it, Umi wondered what the students would think knowing she was the one to get a ride from Tanifuji, afeared for what kind of judgement would be passed onto her. Perhaps they'd show jealousy at her for not being picked themselves, or perhaps they'd express their pity for her in a baleful manner, for not even being able to make one lousy hike like everyone else.

It was safe to say that Umi would feel out of place compared to everyone... and worryingly quickly, at that.

^{Mentions: @AdmrlStalfos19}

---

Well, Souta had expected this.

He arrived at the top only to watch as almost everyone else joined into a blob of humanity, completely ignoring him. It was exactly what he had wanted when he woke up that morning, but he couldn't help being slightly offended. What, was he ugly? He didn't much think so, but maybe he wasn't the best person to judge his own attractiveness. Maybe it was because he had been awake all night and probably had bags under his eyes. He didn't know, he hadn't seen a mirror all day, but he could assume.

Or maybe they just knew each-other and he was over-analyzing. That could be it too.

He couldn't shake that feeling no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was wrong. Why did he care so much anyway? He never cared this much about anything before, not ever since baseball.

Well, whatever, he was here for his license, right? In however many years that took to get. He didn't want to make friends, right? He'd be cordial, but he didn't care enough to be friendly. Maybe that would change, it was doubtful, but maybe... right?

Ergh, why'd he have to go and screw it all up, he was good at baseball, when he played, his team-mates loved him, he didn't need to prove a goddamn thing. Now he had to work to get a job that he didn't care about so he could work at that until he died.

Well, whining about it to himself wasn't going to do anything, he needed to prioritize, and then let things fall where they may. Souta could eventually find at least contentment if he just calmed down. Let the past lie.

Like that was gonna happen.

Right, goals, okay, now he needed to figure out where the hell he needed to be. Maybe the girl that just got dropped off could help him figure it out, it wasn't that she looked like she had her stuff in order, she was just alone, so he didn't have to deal with anyone else. He sighed, and trudged his way over to her, putting on his least-frowny face.

"Hey, do you know where we're supposed to go?" Souta asked simply. He sounded more gravelly than he intended, maybe an after-effect of the sleep deprivation. Oh well, he didn't much care what this girl thought of him. He was more focused on just figuring this whole situation out and-

Her eyes are different colors.

The realization immediately brought his eyes from a lazy scan into a focused glare. Those eyes were definitely different from each-other. Was this a quirk mutation like his hands? Maybe, though he recalled this being one of the mutations that occurred even before quirks showed up, if his history teacher was telling the truth. Well it drew one's eye, he couldn't tear his own eyes away. The realization that he was staring caused him to let a sneer cross his face, directed internally of course, she'd understand that. Not that he cared. He never cared, never.

Why did he feel that he was trying to convince himself rather than stating facts?

---

Stopping, Akeno turned to face the boy she had just walked past when she heard a response to her offhand comment. It seemed as if he knew her from somewhere, though she did not recognise him in turn at first; after taking another look it was easy enough to place him as one of the applicants from her entrance exam. There were few people she remembered from that time in all honesty, so focused as she was on passing that she hadn’t paid much attention to those around her; Kenji, however, had made an impression.

The fact he had held back some of the ‘villains’ trying to prevent them from rescuing the dummies was probably the only reason she had been able to retrieve any at all and return them to the bus. If she’d had to complete the exam while also dodging or fighting the villains then she would have struggled a lot more. “You seem to be fine now, but you took a beating during the exam. Is everything okay?” He must have had some kind of toughness quirk based on what she had seen; maybe some kind of healing as well, unless one of the teachers had taken care of that later on.

When Kenji mentioned the place they were going to be staying, Akeno turned around and surveyed their surroundings. The welcome letter had said to make their way to the school hall, but hadn’t been as forthcoming on where that actually was. Akeno was expecting some kind of welcome committee or at least some signage showing the way but aside from a gaggle of other early arrivals there was nothing of note. “Do you have any idea where we need to go from here? The main hall shouldn’t be too hard to find if we just walk around.”

Just then a car drove past them and up to the gates, pulling up to park before someone who was clearly too old to be a student stepped out. They popped the boot to collect a duffel bag and a few other things before walking away. “I guess we can follow that teacher.”

@Jojo

Haruka Fujimori

---

The advantages of being the beloved daughter of a member of Kirisama's supply and demand chain came to shine at this particular day, as her father drove her all the way from the coast to the first step of the stairs on the family's van, saving her the hassle of waking up absurdly early in this chilly winter morning. Haruka's family had taken the news of her being accepted into Jigokuraku rather well and threw a big dinner party for the ocassion. Her uncle had even tried to push her into drinking a bit of wine, but she managed to politely decline the invitation by stating that she needed to be up early now and waving goodbye to the rest of her relatives.

Haruka made sure that she had brought everything needed. Notebooks, pens and pencils in their case and a couple of bottles filled with mineral water to keep herself hydrated, one of which was actually a spray bottle she pulled out of her bag and began to use on her face and hair. The transition from winter to spring had her in a rather good mood, if she was to be honest to herself, and to cause a better impression on her classmates she had spent the last few days making sure that her mane of hair was lush and verdant. Not only that, but since this morning she had been preparing a special flower for the ocassion and to ensure she had a good first impression on those that saw her today: a large hyacinth blossom had grown on the side of her head, the sweet fragrance making her father complain and roll down the window. She hoped that her future classmates would be more understanding.

When she was done grooming herself, she pulled out her phone to check the time and smiled to herself at the fact she didn't have to hurry up the steps and take the ascent at her own pace. After all, winter ugg boots weren't particularly good for running up half a thousand steps. Her choice of an outfit clearly veered towards fashion rather than practicality, being composed of a light brown coat with a belted waist that reached down to her knees, after which one'd see that she was wearing black tights to protect her legs from the cold weather.



After a bit of time, Haruka had reached the end of the ascent and she took the liberty of sipping from one of her bottles. She was mildly agitated for the lengthy trek, but she made sure to not show it and instead look as prim and proper as possible. A quick glance was given towards everyone and her attention was fixed for a moment at the stocky man or, more specifically, his moving antennae. That was certainly unfortunate, but she hoped that they wouldn't have to interact further from exchainging pleasantries and ocassionally aiding each other. There were only a few kind of bugs that she was willing to let near her, one of such specimens having taken to follow her on the last part of the ascent. As such, when Haruka began walking closer to the group, they wouldn't only be alerted by the approaching fragrance of her purple blossom but also the light buzzing of a bee that couldn't manage to rest on her head. With this, she hoped that she wouldn't need to go out of her way to get closer to anyone personally.

---

---

With one big gulp, Umi took a look around and surveyed the student body that had arrived. Some of the students, she partially recognized from the exam that she took to get into Jigokuraku Academy that day; others she could've sworn she never saw in her entire lifetime. She only knew two that she could truly consider acquaintances, and neither of them looked to have turned up just yet. However, there was one student in particular that stood out: a tall, dark-skinned girl who looked very familiar in appearance somehow. She wasn't quite as tall as Tanifuji, perhaps five or so inches shorter. But she still towered over Umi effortlessly, if memory served the latter correctly.

Umi was mesmerized by the sight of a strange, unexplainable familiarity when suddenly...

"Hey, do you know where we're supposed to go?"

Try as she might to muffle her scream with the clasp of her own hands around her mouth, Umi was caught too far off-guard to react in time. And who more plausible to have managed such a feat than a complete stranger coming from her left side? Red with flustered embarrassment, Umi clutched her heart, only to be met with a scowl from the strange boy. She knew that type of scowl all to well.

"Er... a-actually, y-you're as c-close to the h-hall as you c-can get," Umi eventually answered the boy, if only whilst under immense pressure, "W-We've still got ab-bout five minutes b-before it'll open, so... I-I-I'm really sorry,"

With a half-assed couple of bows, Umi took off in a hurry. She didn't know which direction she was going; she just wanted to find someone that was just a little more familiar so she could stop the dread of vulnerability. This is turn lead her to the group of students that were there that day, who'd all conveniently bundled up in one big group. That at least made it a little easier.

Umi reached out to tap the dark-skinned girl on the shoulder and then, as if she received an electric shock from such contact, sharply recoiled her way back a few steps. She really needed to handle the whole social thing better; now she was just coming across as weird.

"I... I-I don't m-mean to pry, but... m-m-may I ask h-how your leg is?" she eventually managed to spit out, "I-I noticed you h-hurt it badly b-back at the e-exam when I... I-I br-brought my first d-d-d-dummy in..."

She could only hope that the dark-skinned girl didn't take too much pride in herself, and want to kick Umi in the face just to prove her leg was A-OK...

Interactions: Mari@Stern Algorithm; Shun@Scribe of Thoth; Shiki@Animal; Umi@AdmrlStalfos19

---

Hiroki remembered the girl. The loud mouth. The teachers pet. The runner. She was the one on the battlefield against the bus hijacker villain. So she was here. Yeah it was like Hiroki called it. They picked the ones that had guts at the very least. He knew that exam was a sham but atleast they recognized talent when they saw it.

Her behavior was... He expected a stand down from the much taller girl and instead she was bowing, talking, well, screaming at him. She pretty much gave him a prepared speech about how she screwed up, how she underestimated him. How she didnt know things and he was great. In essence she was hitting all the right buttons. Hiroki gave a bit of a smirk. She even remembered his name, and honestly who wouldn't after that performance (As ill it was).

He raised a hand up, maybe it was the flattery, maybe it was cause she was a pretty cute girl despite being a giant. He raised a hand to settle her. "Easy there stretch. I wasn't being too cool to you either." She was pretty tall and he didn't remember her name but he did give her a smile. "Personally I think we would have had that loser in the bag if we had a few more seconds." He put his hands in his pockets of his jacket and grinned, yellow intense eyes with an almost evil looking grin, but that was just his face. "Didn't catch your name before. Next time, we're grabbing the one and two spot."

Shun and Shiki got his attention next, and to be honest, Shun giving him a big grin with a fluorescent pink scarf almost knocked Hiroki off balance. He didn't like the look of that kid. Not one bit. Too preppy, too colorful, too... spazy. Everything about him was kind of that way and Hiroki bristled underneath the site. He turned his head away to not have to look at him immediately regretting his decision to get the spaz's attention. Him and that other nerd. Hiroki definitely didn't catch the hipsters name either but here they were. Atleast spaz could teleport. He had no idea what Hipster was after. The sight of both of them pissed him off on an aesthetic level. "They got here too..." So maybe this wasn't the best school ever... their picking process wasn't as exclusive as he thought.

A little squeak got the attention of an annoyed Hiroki who gave the interloper a very stern and irritated face. Here he was trying to get in good with Stretch and all of a sudden a bunch of students were gathering in their group, AND NOT ASKING ABOUT HIM. So apparently it wasn't going to be the best time to make a few friends. The tiny girl, looked like a pokemon or something... a jittery little thing. He almost spat. "She's shaking like a shaved poodle." He said aloud.

He wondered if everyone was here...

"Right then... Wonder who else made it. I'm going to scope the competition. Get this show on the road."

---

Of course a moment later, scoping the competition was seeing what other cute girls had made their way here.

His eyes scoped out a auburn haired girl @Naw. Looking in her direction for a second he sized her up. She was... okay looking. Not as bombastic or seemingly social as the other ones. He smirked at her. Maybe she was the goth of the group. He tried to think of a nickname to help remember her, but she wanted to be unnoticed and thus he gave a smug little smirk, shoke his head and moved on to Greener pastuers.

The smell of flowers definitely got his attention first, the buzzing came later, but seeing something that was so inhuman looking, discolored, like him. But, if anything, the flower girl @SubjectVision definitely knew how to catch the eye. Hiroki's eye widened a little as he saw her walk, seemingly in line with the slow motion falling petals. She definitely was up his alley and his yellow eyes and attention showed it. If they locked eyes, he would give her a bit of a head nod out of greeting and respect. It would be enough, honestly who could resist the Number One hero in this school? Well soon to be anyway.

That kind of snapped him out of it. There was a crowd going and the doors were supposed to open in less than a few minutes. Bollocks to that. Hiroki went right up to the doors. He tried to open them. Locked. "What a piece of crap school. Not even opening on time."

He took a step back, looking up at the second floor windows, raising a hand to his mouth he shouted with a rather impressive volume.

Interacting with; Yasu @Naw

---

Kiko arrived at Jigokuraku in a foul mood. She'd gotten in through the exam, but it wasn't nearly the smash hit she'd hoped for. Apparently, her success was attributed to her "guts and determination" rather than her mad skills with a tommy gun. She was sure that guy she fired at had crapped his pants at the sight of her laying down the fire. So why was she being treated like she'd scraped by on a technicality? Mom had told her she needed to stop shooting at everything that came into sight, but that was the fun in having a Quirk like this. She tried getting dad to explain it to her, but he just said he wasn't getting involved. Leave it to a professional Mafioso to stay tight lipped in a tense situation. It didn't help her out at all, though. She was still on thin ice, and if she didn't get back in everyone's good graces, she'd be getting put on ice soon enough!

She didn't have to worry about that right now, though. She was in, and now she was at the top of the mountain and the foot of the Academy. She could take some small satisfaction in having made the long an arduous climb to the top. It was a simple enough deduction to realise that the school hadn't opened yet. It looked like everyone was just milling around and waiting. That was A-okay with Kiko. She was in no hurry to hit the books. Seeing as everyone else was making idle conversation, Kiko figured there was nothing else for it but to chat people up too. Of all the people here, there were a few that she knew had taken the exam along with her. There really wasn't anyone she truly "knew", so picking a partner would make for an arbitrary decision.

Deciding on Eeny-meeny-miny-moe, Kiko settled on the angry looking wallflower hanging out by a tree. Her disposition should have been a warning sign to Kiko, but she was never the best judge of character. Strutting up to her with all the bravado she could muster, Kiko greeted her with a cheery "Buongiorno." She extended her hand to the other girl. "The name's Kiko Mazzini. Pleased to meetcha." She usually introduced herself as just "Kiko Mazzini" because she preferred the way it sounded. She loved her mom, but "Mazzini-Ishikawa" was a mouthful with no pizzazz.

Not long after she introduced herself, some dude started bellowing at the school, demanding the teachers showed up. "Get a load of this putz. Got a real set of lungs on him, amirite?" Even if he was shouting obnoxiously, at least he made a decent ice-breaking topic.

Kenji Ito

Quirk: Beetle!

---

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got a few bruises but that's nothing new. No worries there." Kenji assured, rather quickly. He knew more than anybody that his quirk wasn't exactly obvious. To everybody else he just looked like an unassuming overweight dorky kid. The beatdown he received while trying his best to stop the efforts of the mock villain probably looked like a lot more than he could actually handle. It didn't matter now, soon he'd have the chance to change that view.

Taking the advice of Akeno, started wordlessly following the teacher. He was relieved to see that he wasn't the last up the mountain after all. Students were still following in, some even got a ride all the way up the mountain. It wasn't really a competitive thing to him, well, not entirely anyway. It was more about his own need to show that he was up to the challenge, and a driving desire to improve upon himself. He believed that chance was here. And that feeling that further cemented by seeing the building up close for the first time.

This academy was new, underfunded, underdeveloped, and underwhelming. It was like looking into a mirror. In that moment he saw the building for the first time, he knew that coming here was the right choice. If any place could help him grow, it was this academy. Kenji felt the tingle of excitement running up his legs under his chitin, or maybe that was just the cold morning breeze. Either way, he couldn't help but smile here.

Suddenly, over the low roar of the other students, one voice called out much louder than the others. Someone was at the doors leading inside, shouting into the sky like the world needed to hear what he had to say. Kenji didn't quite catch all of his monologue as he was lost in his own thoughts about the school, but what he did hear was that the number one hero had arrived. That was a new kind of excitement all together for him. He had never seen her before except on tv, so he eagerly called back to the voice with his antennae suddenly perking up straight as if trying to sniff her out of the crowd.

"Magical Miracle Purity Light?! Where?!" Kenji buzzed, his eyes filled with starry wonder.

---

Interactions: @King Cosmos @ShwiggityShwah

---

Shiki had to readjust his glasses with his index and middle fingers after Shun's remark. His lenses were fogged up from the cold weather, hiding the eyes from his rather annoyed expression.

"I don't mean to boast...but I was technically the first one to complete the objective before the uh...incident. That had to account for something, at the very least." He responded to Shun with a stronger tone, but was still quiet nonetheless. It was the only real accomplishment he achieved during the exams, everything else he did was mediocre. He then turned his head after hearing somebody else approach them.

Ah, how could he ever forget about the blue skinned loudmouth. In fact, his blunt motivational speech at the very beginning of the exam allowed Shiki to act on his own, which didn't really end well for him. Regardless, he wished to express his gratitude, but was unsure how to approach the guy. He remained quiet and averted eye contact with the loudmouth, feeling intimidated by his hostile presence.

It wasn't until he came up with a brilliant plan soon after Mari arrived and apologized to Sakimoto. At least knowing one half of his name helps. However before he could execute it, Sakimoto went off to do his own thing. Darn, maybe it can wait until he was finished.

The amount of people gathering around caught Shiki's attention. Everyone who participated in the same exam were coincidentally brought together he noticed, go figure. Although, Shiki was highly curious of the individuals who were not present during his exam. There were little to no data on any of them, excluding Shun. He established a goal to thoroughly analyze every single one of his classmates for educational purposes.

After wiping his glasses, he briefly observed the others standing in the same spot next to the gates. What were their entrance exam like? His concentration broke when Sakimoto's obnoxious shouting started ringing his ears, but what followed soon after caused Shiki's glasses to slide down his nose in disbelief.



"T-This guy...D-Did he really just call him that?!..." He asked those nearby, sounding concerned for the husky student. Unintentional or not, shit was about to go down.

---