Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A hole ripped through the sky, pitch black cracks extended towards reality, tearing it apart until pieces of the sky were falling down, shattering on the ground upon impact. 

The book page in front of Atsushi is the only thing that hasn't been swallowed by the cracks. But it, too, is slowly beginning to become warped beyond comprehension, turning into a mini black hole.

Hang on, weren't black holes supposed to suck everything around it into its centre and then shred them into tiny pieces of atoms?

He felt his body being pulled towards the page/blackhole thing.

Oh shit-

……

There are times when members of the agency can often be found at the top of the building by the others during night time, whether it could be Dazai, Yosano, the president or hell, even Atsushi sometimes.

It was times like these that reminded others of the type of world they live in and how horrible but beautiful it can be at the same time.

Though, of course, no one thought that any of them would consider jumping or anything. After all, they have abilities and Yosano Sensei, and the fact that this was merely a five-story building. To get a less painful one, you would instead need to go to the tallest mafia building to jump.

It would also increase the chance of actually succeeding upon impact.

Tonight is no different, brilliant stars up in the sky, a slight breeze brushing against everything gently, and the Moon offering those who travel under the night a sense of security and tranquillity.

"Couldn't sleep?" a quiet voice rang from behind, Atsushi didn't need to turn around to recognise his mentor's footsteps.

"It's called moon-gazing, similar to cloud-gazing, but it's the moon instead" Atsushi's voice is just as soft, "It's just as calming though, an easy way for thoughts to wander around your mind."

Dazai walks forward next to Atsushi, leaning against the railing, allowing his back to bask in the luminescent, cool moonlight.

"We've got a new case, a special request from the Special Division for Unusual Powers (SDUP), regarding something very important."

Atsushi turned to face Dazai with a serious but confused look.

"They requested a member of the agency to help with the destruction of the pages from [The Book] they hold, specifically you, Atsushi Kun."

Atsushi's eyes widened as shock filled his face, "What? But why? Why me instead of you? Wouldn't your ability work better against the [Book]?"

"No, they have already tried this before, I was called in about a few months ago, but nothing happened to [The Book] when I touched it." losing his relaxed expression, Dazai's face is now replaced with a seriousness that even beat Kunikida's usual seriousness.

"And they remember the rumour of the ability 'Beast beneath the moonlight' being an anchor to the Book, so they requested that you go in and try to see if anything happens when you come in contact with it, hopefully, able to destroy it as well……."

……

So that was how Atsushi got to the point of being sucked into a reality-collapsing black hole caused by a piece of paper; not really the ideal way to die, but it is one of the coolest ways to die, even if the actual cause is magical paper.

Of course, there's some plot or possible lore to the real reason why the page caused a black hole that seemingly ripped reality apart when nobody touched it before, but that's not why ya'll here for, right?

So let me just skippy skip to the juicy Isekai-of-sort transportation of Atsushi into the world of My Hero Academia!

Surely you've already read the tags and know what you're getting into, right? And the summery? Good, cause if not, then how did you find this thing?

So……

3, 2, 1 ——

Atsushi is no stranger to the sensation of free fall.

So when his body didn't experience the pain of being shredded into tiny, million pieces of himself but instead the familiar sensation of weightlessness, he did the only reasonable thing one can do in this situation.

He screamed.

"AHHhh!——"Bam!

Atsushi is pretty sure everything inside him is now broken beyond repair, but then again, he does have super regeneration from the tiger, so that was okay, probably……

"AHHHH!—", huh? Was he still screaming? But why does he sound more feminine now?

Wow, he must have really hit his head hard if he started hallucinating himself having a different voice.

Another sudden surge of pain flowed through Atsushi's body, adding to the already tormenting ache from his entire body being dropped from about 15,000 ft off of the ground. (Which is around 4572m)

Hot, white searing pain flooded Atsushi's mind causing him to pass out, in the middle of a sidewalk, in the centre of a big crater on the said sidewalk, in a pool of his own blood in the said crater.

The woman that screamed earlier, from almost being crushed to death by a white-hair teenager-looking person being dropped out of nowhere from the sky, accidentally activating her very painful quirk on the said person, is now running away from the crater to get the nearest pro hero to help.

There were, of course, bystanders to this whole scandal, but everyone took their phone out either to call for help or record what happened.

Soon police cars arrive, and sirens can be heard around the crater. The whole area is quickly sealed off, and a speedy ambulance arrives at the scene only to quickly speed off again.

So imagine Atsushi's surprise when he wakes up in a hospital bed with a bunch of pipes hoking onto him.

Painstakingly, Atsushi managed to press the 'call for help' button at the side of the bed only to realise what exactly happened before he passed out.

Oh, and the extremely bizarre and topic-heavy dream he just had during his mini coma about how he is now [The Book] 's protector and the fact that his ability has a consciousness of its own.

His name is Byyako, and he loves to talk in riddles for some reason?

And that whole rumour about Byyako being connected to [The Book] is apparently true?

Now he really wants to turn himself in for that bounty money……

A nurse rushes into the room and sees the fact that now Atsushi is back at fully awake and aware state, without any signs of potential brain damage, she is both happy and petrified at the same time.

"How are you still alive?" is the first thing the Nurse asks after she recovers from her initial shock.

"Honestly, I have no idea?" is the first thing Atsushi says after he arrives at this universe, using a very raspy voice.

"Well, since you are now awake, we would need to do a standard checkup on you first, then we would also need to bring you to the police for some questioning considering the whole 'dropped out of the sky' thing." The Nurse said as she began taking off the tube connected to Atushi.

Meanwhile, outside somewhere in the hospital, Tsukauchi Naomasa, a Detector from the Police Force with a very special quirk, is called in for a very recent case of either possible suicide or homicide.

His job is to investigate the scene and witnesses, as well as, if possible, the victim himself. However, the others that were also involved have very low hope for the kid to actually wake up or recover enough to actually tell them what happened.

They have already been informed of the woman who accidentally activated her quirk on the victim, which just makes this case seem even more hopeless to the others.

The woman's quirk is turning whoever she uses it on back to a fourteen-year-old, as long as they are not over the age of twenty and less than sixteen years old.

This quirk can be used on anyone but only one time on each person, with no way of reversing it.

The poor woman who is almost crushed to death by a teenager is now being detained for ten days due to quirk misusage. That's the way the law works, Tsukauchi feels bad for the woman.

But this also meant that he was very likely to be dealing with a twenty-year-old now stuck in their fourteen-year-old body. What a great way to start the day!

So Tsukauchi is both scared shitless and done with everything when one of the nurses comes rushing into the waiting room at the hospital (He is here to check for any previous record of the victim) to tell him that the kid is up and running, already back at full health, ready for questioning.

He strongly demands a rise after this case.

Atsushi is still in a hospital gown, stuffing his face with Ochazuke, when a detective-looking person walks in, holding a clipboard, looking like Kunikida when he is fed up with Dazai but even worse.

"Hello, my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, a detective from the Police Force here in Musutafu. Hope you don't mind that I ask a few questions regarding your earlier situation if you remember anything at all, that is?……."

Wiping any possible food on his face away, Atsushi put on his usual nervous smile when meeting a new stranger, hoping to seem at least somewhat presentable.

Well, as much as you can be when you're in a hospital gown.

"No, no, it's okay, I remember most of what happened, even if some of them seemed a bit bizarre, and I am fine with talking about it."

Tsukauchi looks at the now fully healed kid in front of him, he can't help but notice how malnourished he looks, but that is not the focus right now. He needs to do his job first.

"Alright, so we will start with the basics first. Name?"

“…… Nakajima Atsushi.”

……

Huh?

"I am sorry, but I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it?" Tsukauchi is trying really hard not to just give up and die right here on the spot.

Because apparently, this white hair kid with sunset-coloured heterochromia eyes has the same name as a famous writer from about two hundred years ago, and his quirk is telling him that it's the truth??

“It’s, um, Nakajima Atsushi……?”

Silence is today's theme.

"My parents really love him, I guess? And we happened to have the name Nakajima as our last name?"

Yeah, no, even Atsushi didn't believe himself, but what was he supposed to say? That he is a dimensional traveller, and the world he came from is filled with people who have the name of world-famous authors, but none of the actual authors exist.

Instead, it was just a bunch of people with tragic backstories and abilities named after their books and is simply just trying to live by? And the fact that their supposed relationship with each other is all messed up compared to their counterparts?

Yeah right, like anyone would be sane enough to believe that.

"Okay…… Let's…… Go with that for now, age?"

"Erm, do you mean biologically? Or mentally?" Right, Tsukauchi forgot a moment about the poor lady due to the whole name thing.

"Sorry, my bad, I meant mentally and gender as well as your race?"

"Eighteen years old, I am a male and Japanese."

"Do you currently have any living family or relatives?"

"…… no, I am an orphan."

"Sorry about that. What is your current occupation?"

Atsushi stopped on this, considering his ways of getting into the Armed Detective Agency were through some not-exactly legal means. He really doesn't want to upset Tsukauchi San even more.

"I was an assistant at an agency." Technically not a lie, as nowadays Ranpo San often just call him his assistant and makes him do some errands and get sweets for him and solve some of the minor cases.

"Alright, what happened before your drop from the sky?"

Ah, the multi-million dollar question.

"…… I think a Rat wanted to get revenge on me for a fictional character and a casino……? And since I am here now, I would say he is pretty successful at achieving his goal."

……

Maybe Tsukauchi needs to go see a therapist or a doctor because his quirk is telling him that, that the sentences he just heard are real and not a lie. Tsukauchi took a deep breath and tried to stop his hand from shaking.

"What is your quirk?"

"…… ah, I guess that would be being too nice to people, I guess? Seeing as I often got yelled at for being too nice…… ha ha?"

"Eh?"

Tsukauchi's brain stopped working.

"Eh?"

Atsushi just wanted to dig up a hole, crawl in and die.

Somewhere deep within his head, Atsushi can hear the sound of Byakko howling with laughter and clutching his stomach from the pain of laughing too much.

'Bitch Shut up! It's not my fault that [The Book] only told me that I am now in a new world, in a new dimension, far away from my own one, without telling me about all the basic knowledge of this world!'

Tsukauchi pressed the 'call for help' button.

Chapter Text

This world's society is weird, Atsushi decided after learning about the Hero system and this world's specialty: Quirks.

"What about the police? Why do they still exist if there are heroes now?" Atsushi asked Tsukauchi while waiting for their turn to evaluate Atsushi's 'quirk'.

After explaining how he is actually from another dimension, things started to make sense for Tsukauchi, from the weird name to the lack of basic common knowledge about the world, as well as a lack of records.

"The Police Force is in charge of apprehending and incarcerating villains the heroes captured, as well as the non-quirk related crimes," Tsukauchi explained.

He never really thought about this type of thing since he is devoted entirely to law enforcement due to his stupid sense of justice, which resulted in him following the system with no questions asked.

 "But what makes heroes so popular? Aren't they just the same as the police, then? But for the abi - quirk users?" 'Like the SDUP', Atsushi added in his mind, 'but not as secretive?'

"Well...... They are now like a symbol of hope, you can say. During the early era of quirk development, there were a lot of crimes happening. And no system to defend the quirkless from those 'Super villains'. 

So that began the trend of vigilantes, people with powers that are willingly saving others, like the Super Heroes from the comics," Tsukauchi have this expression that Atsushi didn't understand.

"Then, how do you define a villain? What if, what if they are only committing crimes because they are about to die? Like stealing due to starvation?" Atsushi questioned, as this all seemed so utopic to him. 

The concept of someone saving another simply because they are worth saving and didn't deserve their current treatment is not strange to Atsushi, but the notion of this idea being accepted worldwide is.

He grew up in a world where the only thing it has to offer is pain and suffering, no matter how hard he try. 

Tsukauchi remained silent. He did not know how to answer that question......

No, he did. He just didn't want to tell the scar-covered kid next to him what would happen. 

"Next! Nakajima Atsushi?" The doctor's voice called out from the room.

......

Atsushi is finally discharged from the hospital. 

Oh no, he is already fully healed within the first week, though the scars from his childhood remained, which scared the hell out of the nurses, as they have never seen these types of things before.

They needed to create the official documents to prove Atsushi existed, but doing so without attracting the attention of people in the Hero Public Safety Commission (HPSC) was quite difficult, but they powered through the whole situation.

With the help from Nezu, the well-known headmaster of U.A. High School, the Number 1 ranked Heroics School in Japan. 

Why did Nezu agree so quickly to help? No one knows, but the staff at U.A. can tell you that he laughed like a psychopath that entire day.

"Stay out of trouble, kid, a guardian that met all the adoption requirements, including the extra ones, is hard to find." Tsukauchi and Atsushi are at the exit of the hospital, waiting for Atsushi's new guardian to show up. 

"Don't worry, Tsukauchi San, I will do my best!" Atsushi happily said even if he is a bit nervous about living with a total stranger, he can do this with no problem, right?

"Hi! Sorry that I am a bit late. The train this morning was cramped! Hello, Tsukauchi San; it has been a while! So, you must be Nakajima Atsushi? Nice to meet you! I am Shirakawa Kairi, your new guardian for the time being!"

A young adult female with short white hair approaches them. She has golden eyes and a pair of glasses, a beige jumpsuit suspender over a white T-shirt.

"Nice to meet you, too, Shirakawa San! Please take care of me. You can also call me Atsushi," Atsushi bowed towards Shirakawa, who quickly waved her hand in dismissal.

"Ah, no need to be so formal, Atsushi Kun, just call me Kairi. Now then, Tsukauchi San, I will be taking Atsushi here. He's in good hands, so don't worry!" Shirakawa said as she nodded towards Tsukauchi, who also nodded in response. 

"Here, Atsushi Kun, a first-time meeting sort of gift for you!" Shirakawa hands Atsushi a Suica with a cute white tiger design and a golden colour scheme.

"Thank you so much! Shira-Kairi San! I like this very much!" Atsushi's eyes sparkle when he sees the card; Shirakawa also smiles softly when she sees Atsushi's expression.

"We'll be going now, Tsukauchi San! Bye-bye!" Shirakawa waves towards Tsukauchi as she begins walking towards the exit.

"Tsukauchi San! Thank you so much for taking care of me and helping me! I am very grateful for everything that you have done! I hope you have a good day!" Atsushi said as he bowed deeply towards Tsukauchi before getting up and catching up with Shirakawa while waving frantically at Tsukauchi.

"Take care, kid. And no need to thank me, just doing my job." Tsukauchi smiles warmly at the retreating figure of Atsushi as he reminds himself of the scars he has seen on the kid's body and the now warm smile on his face.

This is one of the reasons why Tsukauchi loves and is so dedicated towards his job at the Police Force.

"I hope that you can enjoy your new life here, too, Atsushi."

......

Shirakawa is the owner of a bookstore called 'BookHouse', a bit of a boring name at first glance, but it fits her store the best. 

Her bookstore is known best for its seemingly random collection of a huge variety of books, as well as the most up-to-date textbooks, and since the store is quite close to U.A., it is also quite popular amongst Musutafu and students. 

"As Tsukauchi San told you before, I own this bookstore! This is a two-level building with a storage unit at the back for the supplies; the lower level is the store itself while the upper level is the living area."

The bookstore has a calming aesthetic to it, and it also happens to be in a position where the sun would gently shine upon the store. 

"There is a guest bedroom upstairs that would be yours! What do you think?" Shirakawa closed the store today, so there are currently no patrons that usually linger around the store to read. 

Shirakawa turns around to smile at Atsushi, only to see him looking like a fish.

"Wah?! What's wrong?! Tell me! Did l do something? What is it?!" Shirakawa panicked. She did not expect such a reaction from Atsushi. 

"Sorry! It's just that I am very happy and grateful that you agreed to take me in and everything! I just didn't expect that I would get a whole room to myself......" Atsushi quickly recovers from his fish-like state, feeling a bit embarrassed that he acted like this in front of people.

"Aww, Atsushi Kun is so humble! Of course you will get your own bedroom! Right now, we are here to pick up some bags, and then we are heading off to the mall to get living supplies for you! Clothing, hygiene, food and stuff that you like personally!" Shirakawa reaches behind the cashier counter, grabbing a few big shopping bags.

This world is very different, Atsushi decides after he has finally walked down the streets of Musutafu.

"Kairi San, Tsukauchi San never told me about your, um, quirk? What is it?" Atsushi asks as they sit in a cramped corner of the train.

There are a lot of people around him with different mutations, which means unusual body parts, animal attributes, and inanimate objects replacing certain body parts. 

It made Atsushi feel like he was the normal one instead, as his white hair back in his world instead would attract a lot of attention due to his age.

"Hmm, mine doesn't really do much per se. I can summon these little holographic pop-ups! They are like computer monitors that grant me access to the internet anywhere, anytime I want!" Shirakawa summons a faint, cyan, floating window in front of Atsushi as a demonstration.

The window is shown scrolling through the weather and local news, and they are mostly about new villain attacks or new hero debuts.

"This is very cool! And useful, too! My abil - quirk is just turning myself into a tiger, which sounds kind of boring now that I think about it......" Hearing this,  Byyako is not at all happy being called boring.

He is a strong and fierce tiger that can and will kick anyone's ass if given a chance to; he is simply stuck with an owner that is too nice for his own sake.

"Nonsense! I think being able to turn into a tiger is cooler than what? 'Access to the internet', pfft, it's like one of the lamest things you can have if you want to be a fighter hero." Shirakawa dismisses her own statement while Atsushi shakes his head next to her.

"No way! With enough training, you can fight just as well! If not, even be the best at it!" Atsushi quietly exclaimed, mindful of not disturbing the others around him.

"Many of my senpais at work back at my home all fight without any special powers! And they are still able to beat me single-handedly!"

They have arrived at the stop for the mall and are now back to talking at a normal volume.

"Thank you, Atsushi Kun, for the high hopes you have for me, but alas, it is not my dream to become a hero." Shirakawa wistfully said, "I've dreamt about it before, but now? All I want is a normal, peaceful life with my lovely books."

Atsushi can relate to that; he one hundred per cent can relate to that.

'It's okay as long as I am alive', Atsushi remember his motto as he wonders what Shirakawa's could be.

They continue to walk in comfortable silence. Occasionally, Shirakawa would share random trivia about stuff that came to her mind, while Atsushi answered and shared some of his knowledge about his home as well.

There were quite a few things they needed to get for Atsushi, which Shirakawa summoned a pop-up to keep track of while they tried to remember all the things they needed to get.

First off, clothes.

The stuff Atsushi is wearing right now are the clothes he wore when he first arrived, but now just a bit oversized since he shrank back to his fourteen-year-old body.

As cute as the semi-formal attire on Atsushi looked, he would be seen as weird by the others his age, so they had to pick something else.

So he now owns a handful of clothes with either tiger or chameleon drawings/patterns on them and a black & white hoodie with cute tiger ears on the hood.

When he tried the clothes on, Shirakawa beamed. She smiles like crazy and immediately snaps a dozen pictures of Atsushi in different outfits.

"Kairi San!......" Atsushi is feeling super embarrassed right now, "What? You look so good! Like an idol, my boy!" Atsushi did not see the worker sneaking glances at the white-haired duo nodding along with Shirakawa's statement.

Secondly, hygienic products.

"Um, Kairi San?......" Atsushi is looking at the selection of toothbrushes, but there are some...... Interesting options for toothbrushes in this section of the store.

"Yeah? Oh! By the way, would you prefer white tea-scented shampoo or Eucalyptus?" Shirakawa turns around with two bottles of shampoo in her hand.

"Oh, white tea, please, and I want to ask...... What is this?" Atsushi holds up a toothbrush.

It is an All-Might-themed toothbrush, but his body is the handle, while the head and hair are the brush part.

Shirakawa stared at the abomination of a toothbrush, gently put down the two bottles of shampoo, and proceeded to slap the toothbrush away from Atsushi's hand back to where he found it.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Oh."

Atsushi got a white toothbrush with black cat paw prints on it instead.

Thirdly, bedding products.

Atsushi has never seen a fire-resistant mattress before, but there's a first for everything he guesses.

The mattress itself is watery-looking, liquid and solid at the same time?

He has no idea how it works, but it just does.

"Nah, Atsushi Kun, do you!...... Like this chameleon set of blank and pillow case, this white tiger one, or this cat one?" Shirakawa rushes toward an Atsushi that was staring at her like she is out of her mind.

"I am sorry, but..... I don't wa-" "You are right! We should just get all three of them!" Shirakawa runs toward the register, leaving a bewildered Atsushi behind.

Atsushi decided that he would work hard at Shirakawa's bookstore to earn enough money until he could get himself a simple colour and shape patterned one.

Oh, he also got an actual colour-changing chameleon plushie; Byyako immediately demands the plushie to be named after him, Byyako. Jr.

Lastly, food.

"Ochazuke? That's a good choice, I like Udons." Shirakawa said as they strolled through the food market section of the shopping district. 

It wasn't that there weren't any food stores within the mall, but everyone knew the best ingredients come from the elderly lady with a kind smile on her face as she secretly rips you off.

They taste even better when you manage to get a deal. 

Shirakawa can only stand at the side and watch with amazement as Atsushi wins over the heart of those old ladies with that bright smile of his and that smooth talk. 

Dinner is going to taste like gourmet dishes made by Gordon Ramsay himself. 

......

"Atsushi Kun, why do you like Ochazuke?" Shirakawa asked. They are now on the train back to the bookstore, Atsushi's new home in this dimension.

Silence falls between the white-haired duo, as Shirakawa starts to feel it consuming her little by little, scared that she have said something offensive towards Atsushi.

But the silence was quickly broken off.

"When I was little, I was...... Neglected by the headmaster of my orphanage." Atsushi quietly said.

The night train is filled with tired workers and students going back home after a long day, everyone kept quiet around the train.

"One night, I couldn't stand the hunger, so I snuck into the kitchen. There were leftover rice and tea on the counter. So I just put everything else I could find in the kitchen together and eat it." Atsushi had a far-away look in his eyes, a little bit more gloomy than usual, Shirakawa noticed. 

"It was the best thing I ever had in my entire childhood......" Atsushi looked at the moving view outside of the train, the dark blue sky mixed with splashes of orange and pink, casting a warm glow on his face.

"But you are not living at the orphanage anymore, are you?" Shirakawa asks. The light reflection on her glasses makes her expression unreadable, but the slight shaking of her hand says otherwise.

"Yeah, I am very lucky, you know? Someone very important and dear to me found me and gave me a job, a home and a family, everything that I ever wanted in my life. I am forever in debt to him......" Atsushi has a smile on his face that can rival the sun, his sunset-coloured eyes shining under the shadows.

"And now, thanks to you, Kairi San, I also have a new home here now." 

Serval pop-ups with videos of either people crying with happiness or hugging the living daylights out of someone appear around Atsushi, while Shirakawa herself sits face down, hands on knees, cheeks looking red like an apple.

Atsushi laughed.

Chapter Text

It's been a week since Atsushi started living with Shirakawa.

During this week, he got used to the bookstore's daily schedule pretty quickly. It opens at 8:00 am and closes at 5:30 pm, a usual schedule for stores like these. 

However, due to his life at the orphanage, he often wakes up at 5:00 am and is left with nothing to do, as Shirakawa will not wake up until seven.

So he decided to wander around the district and familiarise the area. There were quite a few things he noticed around the quiet neighbourhood.

One, there are a lot of strays in the area. Two, it is close to a trash-filled beach.

When he first told Shirakawa about the strays, she just took him to the storage unit, took out two bags of pet food and thrush it on him. 

So that's why there are always more strays around the bookstore! Atsushi thought the Calico cat that looked like Mii Chan was just a dream because he missed the agency so much, but now it seemed like the cat was curious about the new human that smelled vaguely like a big cat. 

"Cats are just a lower life form! A weaker version of me! How dare that cat compare me to it?!" Byakko howled in Atsushi's mind, very unhappy about the whole 'Tigers are just bigger Cats' thing going on on the internet after a video of a white tiger went viral.

They are very much aware of the monstrosity that is the Comment Section, courtesy of one Shirakawa Kairi.

"Comments are the best part! They give insights into deeper meaning, make things that are boring more interesting and always start fighting for no reason!"

That's what she said.

Working at the bookstore is very calming and relaxing, and it is so different compared to life back at home. The constant bickering between Dazai and Kunikida, the sound of Ranpo munching on snacks or weird noises from the Tanizake siblings......

Maybe not so much the last one, but he really did miss his co-workers......

Family back at the agency, but no matter, until he can find a way back or until [The Book] deems him fit enough to go back, he will have to learn to enjoy life here.

Speaking of the book, there is something that strikes him as weird, but it made sense after it was explained more thoroughly. 

The fact that he dropped next to a lady with an age-reversing quirk who activated it on him? It was no accident, [The Book] did it on purpose.

It wants him to go to UA for some reason, which, when Atsushi asks, it only replies with: "With power comes great responsibility. You are lucky that you even got a chance to learn how to harness the power at a safe and slow pace."

One day Atsushi will get [The Book] copyrighted or demonetised. 

[The Book] is thrown into a forgotten corner within Atsushi's mind by Byakko, who at the time is very tempted to just abandon his role as the [Book Protector], but alas, they are bonded forever. 

As mentioned before, Nezu helped Atsushi with some documentation when he first arrived, which meant Atsushi had U.A.'s principal's personal phone number. 

(Atsushi does not know that this is Nezu's personal use number, he thought it was just a work number)

So he called in and see if he could apply without a school record or anything that indicated he knew how to read and write, Nezu was thrilled when he received the call.

But these are events that occurred about ten months ago, quite a bit happened during these ten months.

There are only three weeks until the U.A. entrance exam, which goes on for two days since there are so many applications and a long screening process.

It also takes about a whole week for the staff to select this year's new students and record the introduction videos for every heroics student.

Atsushi doesn't need any more training for the practical part of the exam, but he does keep up with some daily exercise, which is what he does now after waking up so early.

But there is one thing that he needs, knowledge.

Especially history about this dimension, as well as maths and science.

But this part is not really a problem since Shirakawa offered to tutor him, and she is a surprisingly good teacher, especially at breaking down complicated subjects.

Life is good here in this new universe for the past ten months.

……

There are some regular customers that strike Atsushi as special, not in a bad way, more of a......

Main character syndrome type of thing? Yeah, that seems like the most accurate description for whatever that's going on around those people.

Dazai had been shovelling Atsushi a dozen of manga and comics at him back at the agency after the whole thing with the Decay of Angel, said to help him relax and understand the trends of kids his age better.

Naturally, this meant Atsushi was familiar with how the relationship between plots and characters work, and those special regulars really did remind him of the main characters from the mangas, where often the dramatic event happens around them to keep the audience's attention and engagement in the story.

He spent quite a while with these guys, he would know, if not, Ranpo San will be disappointed in him.

Case number one: Midoriya Izuku

Midoriya is a regular customer here, often coming in to buy new exercises and looking for new books of interest to read, according to Shirakawa.

He is quite literally the sun in the form of a tiny human with broccoli hair, in Atsushi's opinion, even if he tends to start mumbling to himself whenever something catches his interest. 

Like when he first met Atsushi. 

"Welcome to Book House! If you need any help, just let me know!" as the doorbell rings, a skinny teenager steps into the store. 

However, the green-haired teenager took one look at Atsushi, quietly letting out an "eh?"

"You're not Shirakawa San. Who are you?" stepping closer to the counter, the teenager curiously looks at Atsushi.

"Oh, my name is Atsushi, a close relative of Kai- Shirakawa San," Atsushi said, "I recently moved in with her because her place is closer to U.A., which I have applied for."

"Wow!! You applied for U.A.?! The number one most famous hero school in Japan! That's so cool! It's my dream school as well! I wish I could go there!......"

The green-haired teen's eyes lit up when he started talking about U.A., but it died down when he mentioned how he wished that he wanted to go as well.

"Huh? Why can't you go? I am sure you'll be great!" Atsushi offered a smile, hoping that he would come off as sincere.

"Ah, um, well...... That is because I am quirkless......" The teen adjectively said.

"Okay, so? I don't see what's stopping you from applying for U.A.?" Atsushi asked. He does not see how having no special power stops someone from going to the school of their dream.

The teen looked shocked for a moment, but he stopped to think about what Atsushi said, quickly shaking his head as he said again: "No, that's not what I meant......"

Atsushi only titles his head in confusion.

"Sure, I could get into U.A., but what I really want is to apply for the hero course, not the economics or the support course. Do you now see the problem of me being quirkless but wanting to be a hero?" The teen has a bittersweet smile on his face as he nervously looks at Atsushi.

"Oh, OH! That's what you are worried about? But you do realise that being a hero is more than just about having special abilities, right?" Atsushi looks at the teen in front of him, and he can vaguely see a younger version of himself in the teen.

The teen looks at Atsushi with a mix of shock and confusion.

"You, you think that I can be a...... A Hero?" The teen looks like he is on the verge of tears. Oh boy, Atsushi is bad at dealing with crying people. Usually, he is the one crying.

"Well, of course! As long as you have the heart and determination and work your bones to the core to achieve a dream, anyone can succeed!" Atsushi offers the teen a big smile, he won't say he is speaking from experience, but he can definitely relate somewhat to this.

The teen is now crying like a full-blown water fountain. 

"No, no! one has - hicc! Has ever said, said that to me!" Atsushi's heart broke hearing this.

"What's happening?! I hear crying?!" Shirakawa suddenly appeared out of nowhere near the stairs. The moment she saw the green-haired, she sighed.

"Oh, Izuku Kun......"

So that was how Atsushi first met Midoriya Izuku. Needless to say, Midoriya immediately sticks to Atsushi after that, often asking about random things and his 'quirk'.

Byakko is intrigued, at first, about the little green-haired boy but decides that he talks too much after spending two days listening to their conversation about how much damage can Atsushi's tiger paws do to a truck.

Case number two: Todoroki Shoto

Todoroki comes in two times a week, and every single time he tries to buy as many things as he can without him looking like he is going crazy.

He doesn't talk much at first, only nods of acknowledgement towards Atsushi, but after a few more visits, it turns into conversations about yakisoba for some reason.

"Why would you like cold soba?! The food is cold and does not taste as good!" Atsushi argued.

They are currently sitting next to a tiny table by the window, with a stack of books next to Todoroki that is dangerously high and looks like it's on the verge of falling.

"But why would you! Like hot soba? It just tastes weird and easily burns your tongue! And the preparation work to make one is just so much more work!" Todoroki retorted， making weird gestures with his hand to emphasise his point.

"Well, cold soba just tastes like kitchen leftovers you found, but you are just so hungry for food that you have no choice but to eat it!" Atsushi said. He crossed his arm, looking unhappy.

"Says you! Hot soba just tastes like something you get when your dad is disappointed in you, and he only heated it up because he knows you hate fire!" Todoroki yelled as he excitedly stood up and slapped his hand on the tiny table.

The stack of books crumbles upon the extra forces from the table, falling and hitting both of them on their way to the ground.

"Boys! Behave and be quiet in here, alright?" Shirakawa said from behind the counter, not looking up from the pop-up playing a strange animation in front of her.

"Sorry, Kairi San!" "Deepest apologies, Shirakawa San," came the muffled voices of Atsushi and Todoroki under the pile of books.

As they slowly sit up and stare at the pile of books on the floor, the two of them start to laugh at what they don't know, but it just seems very funny this entire situation.

"Tragic backstory?" Atsushi asked Todoroki as he picked up the last book, titled "Dracula". Atsushi raised an eyebrow at the author's name.

"Yeah, you, too?" Todoroki smiles a little seeing Atsushi nodding at his question.

"Yeah, parent abandonment and a headmaster who is a bit unhinged, you?" Atsushi has a slightly far-away look when he mentions the headmaster part, but he quickly shakes it off and turns to Todoroki.

"My dad." Todoroki only replied with. Atsushi instantly nodded in sympathy for the teen with red and white hair.

During his three weeks in the hospital, Atsushi is given a phone and unlimited access to the internet, so he does his job as a detector and begins scouting around for information about this dimension.

The Hero Billboard Chart J.P. is one of the things that strikes him as weird about this dimension.

It's a ranking system that takes into account several different factors of a hero and ranks them in terms of those factors, such as their strength, the number of cases they have solved, general popularity and their contribution to society. 

The top five of the current ranking are All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist and Edgeshot, respectively, in that order.

Atsushi is curious about these five heroes and does a more in-depth search about them, but the more research he does, the more confused about this system he becomes. 

But he did find out early on that Todoroki Shoto is Endeavor's son, though the flaming hero's first impression from the public is not that great judging by the online comments from his videos.

Atsushi could only offer a pat on the shoulder for Todoroki.

Case number three: Bakugo Katsuki

This blonde-haired, short-tempered teenager is not a regular customer. He only comes in whenever there are new textbooks or new manga series that have been released.

He is so similar to Akutagawa that it makes Atsushi suspect that he has died and been reborn into this dimension in the form of one Bakugo Katsuki, retaining that personality but no maturity at all, like all those isekai anime/manga he has read and watched before.

But no, Bakugo is very much his own person, alright.

"Who the hell are you?" Bakugo asks as he stomps into the store, noticing the white-haired stranger standing behind the counter with a nervous smile.

"My name is Atsushi, and I am a close relative of the store's owner. She is out for some supplies, and if you want to talk to her, you can perhaps leave a message?" Atsushi quickly calms down. He handled Akutagawa before without dying and somewhat earned his respect, he'll survive.

"HUH?! Why the hell would I want to leave a message to that woman?" With that, Bakugo walks away from the counter and into the manga section of the bookstore.

Atsushi quickly reassures the other concerned patrons around the store, and things quiet down for a moment.

Until a sudden gunshot ranged through the streets outside while the door shattered.

All of the patrons' except Atsushi have dropped everything in their hands and are frozen in terror. 

Atsushi only feels exasperation at the whole thing, don't get him wrong, he is upset that the door is now broken and they are under attack, but this is not the first time it has happened to him.

At least, not in this dimension.

Shirakawa had warned him before of potential villain attacks as their geographic location was so close to everything, like the big cross-section, the train station and UA. This meant that there were frequent villain attacks around the area. 

Usually, it would be away from this particular section, but since Atsushi likes to wander around the area (Atsushi blushes a little as he thinks he is being discreet with his morning walks), Shirakawa needed to warn him of the potential dangers.

The masked villain kicks down the broken door and rushes towards the counter while holding a gun.

"YOU! Scwney KID! Put your hands UP and walk out of that counter RIGHT NOW!!" The villain yelled loudly as he pointed the still smoking gun closer towards Atsushi's head.

Atsushi didn't want to cause any trouble, and since using his 'quirk' without a license is illegal, he could only put his hands up and walk out of the counter.

But before both the villain and Atsushi can do anything, a sudden cry and explosions are heard deep within the store.

"DIE!!" Bakugo screamed as he rushed towards both the villain and Atsushi with his hand having mini explosions coming off.

"WAIT NO-"

Boom! 

A bigger explosion is blown up at the entrance of the bookstore, causing a shocking wave that throws all nearby patrons out of balance and within the range of the fire.

......

The second explosion is caused by the combination of Bakugo's explosion and a special bullet within the villain's gun.

The villain's quirk is to enhance any metal objects he is holding in his hand, with the enhancement lasting for about five seconds after leaving his hand.

So you can imagine what would happen when an enhanced bullet met an intense explosion directed at it.

It blew up the whole front section of the bookstore, injuring three patrons near the front, almost killing the villain and breaking Bakugo's arm. 

Atsushi is fine after a few minutes, although his clothes are not so much.

Tsukauchi is not happy seeing Atsushi so quickly again, but he couldn't blame Atsushi this time since he did nothing wrong and didn't even try to use his quirk.

Shirakawa was on the way back when she saw the sudden blast of light from the direction of the bookstore, she immediately contacted the police and rang for the nearest pro hero for help.

They were extremely lucky that no one died.

Bakugo is not hurt by the explosion as it was his quirk that caused it, the bullet only enhancing the power of the explosion, but his arm did get wrecked due to the shockwave released by the explosion.

The villain, on the other hand, is hanging on by a thread, his entire body burned up, and internal organs all mushed up, as well as huge blood loss due to trauma on the back of his head.

But the Bakugo family paid for most of the damages which led to dinner and that meant getting to know the hot-headed blonde better, surprisingly Atsushi found Bakugo to be easier to get along with than Akutagawa.

But Atsushi is still convinced that these people are the main characters of this dimension, but that's okay because he is also one himself, so he will not die that easily.

Right?

Chapter Text

Yokohama back at home wasn't that populated, due to the presence of the Port Mafia and ability users. He was not allowed any human contact outside of the orphanage at a late age, even then he was going around being a detective and conversing with a small amount of people at a time. 

So he is not the most social person he knew, but that's not a big deal, he can socialise if he wishes to, Atsushi certainly does not have social anxiety by any means, just a bit awkward.

But this? No one would ever be ready for this.

Starting from the giant gates of UA, the huge line of people spread across the street and down the roads.

Despite having guards around containing everyone in an orderly fashion, separating the students and the parents, there is still an insane amount of people here.

"I am not...... I don't, I didn't think that......" Atsushi stutters, both awed and scared of the crowd before him.

"Aww, don't worry Atsushi Kun! You'll be just fine! I know it seems intimidating and all, that everyone else here feels so confident in themselves......"

Shirakawa rambles, calmly glancing over the crowd and assessing the people around the white-haired duo. One of her hands is over Atsushi's shoulders as comfort while the other has a window pop-up out showing the details for Atsushi's entrance exam.

"I am sure that they all feel just as nervous as you are! Maybe imagining everyone as something else could help?" Shirakawa suggests as they are slowly approaching the area where the guardians and students are separated.

"Like what?......" Atsushi warily asks, hugging his arm close to his chest. 

Usually, examinees are required to wear their school uniform for the written part of the entrance exam, changing into more mobile clothes for the practical part, but since Atsushi did not go to school at all, he just went with something that looked formal.

"Like imagining them all as cute, mindless jellyfish!" 

Atsushi stared at Shirakawa. 

"What? It's my second favourite sea creature! And really, they don't even have a brain, just a net of nerves!"

Atsushi walked faster, leaving behind a sad-looking Shirakawa.

"Hm, you're no fun...... But good luck out there!" 

Atsushi didn’t bother to turn around, instead, he just kept walking straight ahead while waving his hand back at Shirakawa.

It took a while to squish, no, swim past the human body sea that gathered outside the entrance to the exam building, and by the time Atsushi managed to get out, he had already been accidentally hit by many nervous students around him.

Byakko is not one bit happy about the number of times they were hit, but couldn’t do anything but growling loudly at whoever dared come close to Atsushi.

There were staff members and security around the exam room, he was only allowed in once he had shown the guards his identification card. 

The written exam is more brutal than he thought.

Many questions were history-related, which despite Atsushi’s desperate attempt at memorising the events of an entirely new world in just ten months, was still confusing as hell.

Like, how in the world does “List the names of scientists who developed heating seats for toilets,” relate to heroics? 

You certainly don’t need to know how to do calculus to fight a villain, unless their quick is related to that which would make sense, but it was just bad either way!

Granted, the written exam isn't as important as the practical one, but Atsushi just didn't want to screw his first-ever exam up.

Though, there are a few questions in here that caught him off guard, especially the last one:

"Why do you want to be a hero?"

"What is Justice and the Law? Define these two concepts in relation together."

"What is your idea of Justice?"

They felt more like a moral test rather than testing your theoretical knowledge.

After spending so much time here, Atsushi is very much aware of the way morals work in this world, it is very different to his world but also similar at the same time.

The base structure of 'Good vs Evil' is still the same in the two worlds, in here you have the heroes and villains, Yokohama back at home you have the mafia and the agency.

But here, the line between good and evil is very clear, a straight line, bright and noticeable to anyone simply glancing over it. 

If you commit a crime, no matter the crime, or the reason, you are a 'villain', and if you stop these 'villains', no matter the intention, you are a 'hero', someone in the eyes of the public, can do no wrong.

Back at home, reasoning matters, the motives, your intention, everything matters. If you commit a crime, depending on the level of harm and reasoning, there is a chance that you will get help instead of being punished for simply surviving. 

This is also the reason why the Triparty in Yokohama exists, despite the system being so easily infiltrated because it is all built upon trust. The protection and dedication of their home from all sides possible is very much real. 

As long as you are willing to give it all for the protection of your home, no one cares if you have blood on your hands or not.

Events of the Decay of Angels and Dead Apples flashed before Atsushi's eyes, but he shook it off.

There's no time to dwell on that, he has questions to answer.

However, Atsushi is sure that he would be deemed a traitor here immediately for even suggesting to team up with a villain to save everything.

He walked out of the room feeling half of his soul drained out of his body, not everything because the remaining half was still needed for the practical part. 

"Please come over here to collect your information booklets! Just grab one and head to the stadium for the briefing!" 

Atsushi stood scared at the side as the swarm of students pushed their way towards the poor staff lady, but a heavy stomp and a flash of red light quickly froze the crowding students.

He noticed all of the students who were using their quirk to try and push others away suddenly stopped using their quirk, but those with mutations still looked the same as ever. 

Looking towards the direction where the red flash came from, Atsushi could only stare as a dishevelled-looking man stood there, menacingly looking at everyone who was crowding the lady who looked moments away from fainting.

"All of you, get in an orderly line for the booklet or get out of here immediately!" His voice is just as coarse as he looks, a multi-layered grey scarf warped around his neck even though it is quite warm today.

"And you there, sliver hair!" Just as Atsushi was about to line up behind the students, the scruffy man unexpectedly shouted. 

"Eep! Are you talking to me, sir?" Awkwardly pointing to himself, Atsushi sees the man nodding and then motioning to go over where he is.

Atsushi can feel the eyes of all the students around him burning onto his back as he scurries over to the man's side, his long belt dragging behind him, swinging dejectedly like a cat's tail. 

Oh yeah, Shirakawa made him wear his normal outfit back home for the written exam part since it was normally school uniform but obviously, he didn't have that, that outfit was the closest thing he had to a school uniform.

"Come with me, Principal Nezu wants to speak with you before the practical begins, you can skip the briefing session, he will tell you everything you need to know as well."

The halls of UA are big and complex, one twist and turn after another, all of the doors in the classroom they pass are incredibly huge, and Atsushi feels like an ant in comparison.

They arrived at the principal's office, the maybe-staff-or-teacher man knocked on the door, and a chippy "Come in!" was heard as he pushes open the door, allowing Atsushi to step in first.

As Atsushi stepped in, the man let go of the door, closing it with a quiet 'slam!', it startled him a bit. Glancing around, the office has mini-sized furniture, while the big bookshelf at the side of the walls has stepping tools next to it.

The desk, however, is huge compared to the other furniture in the room, while the chair for visitors is normal-sized. 

"Hello there, Nakajima Atsushi Kun! I am Principal Nezu! It's very nice to finally see you in person." The chair that was backwards this entire time turned around, revealing the principal. 

"Nice to meet you Principal Nezu! I am very thankful for everything you have done for me! Please take care of me!" Atsushi blurs out, giving Nezu a standard, 90-degree bow. 

"No need to worry about that. Now, I have called you here to mainly check on how you are doing, I know how scary it is to be away from your home for so long." Nezu gestures to him to stand up, pointing towards the visitor's chair, and mentioning him to take a seat.

So Atsushi complied and sat down, the two got to talking, well, sort of. Nezu is mostly the one talking and asking questions, while Atsushi awkwardly answers.

Still, Atsushi felt better than he had before regarding this whole "I am stuck here with no way home" situation. Nezu told him that he had been looking for a way to help him home, hopefully somewhere around the end of the year.

Even though he already knows how that is going to happen, it helps to know there is someone out there who is willing to help a stranger.

He supposes that is what's endearing about this world.

One thing, however, lingered around his mind for a long time after the first face-to-face meeting he had with Principal Nezu, it's what Byakko said after the first few seconds of seeing the principal's fluffy face:

'Reeks of death and pain, the stench of blade lingers around this creature.'

Atsushi put a pin on that and then pushed it aside for later.

And so came the time for the entrance exam to begin, Atsushi was directed towards the battle centre he was assigned. Of course, he did change into more comfortable sports clothing before going.

“Centre B...... Just one is this big already?" Atsushi couldn't do anything but stare, the classroom doors that he had seen earlier had nothing on these enormous gates towering before him, and the crowd of students around him seemed like mere ants.

Just as Atsushi maneuvered his way towards the back of the crowd, he heard a small commotion going on behind him with a familiar voice and an unfamiliar one.

"What is wrong with you? Here to distract people from taking the exam?"

"AH! NO! Not at all! I was just......"

Atsushi instantly recognised that mop of green hair with the stuttering, it's Midoriya! Seems like he's also placed in the same sector as him. 

The poor dude looks so nervous and panicking, the blue-haired guy and whispers of mean words from other students are definitely not helping him whatsoever.

"SO! START!"

Just as Atsushi was about the go up and help his green-haired friend, a loud voice coming from above shot through the crowd of students, causing everyone to look up in anticipation as they waited for the countdown.

"WHAT?! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS FOR A REAL BATTLE! GO, GO! THE BATTLE HAVE ALREADY BEGIN!"

The crowd of students immediately beeline for the gate, hoping to get a head start before everyone else gets enough points. Lucky for Atsushi, his tiger reflexes allowed him to avoid the rushing students in time to not get dragged along with them.

That's when he noticed Midoriya's late reaction towards the disappearing students, before Atsushi could say anything, he screamed "I, I started Late!!!" and quickly ran after the others. 

Yeah, Atsushi didn't think Midoriya noticed him during his stage of panic, but then again, felines are known to be very stealthy......

Maybe later, for now, he needs to focus on the exam if he wants to get into UA.

Transforming his leg and hands into the usual tiger form, Atsushi took off into the battle centre with a sprint, easily scaling up the high buildings to scot the entire area out. 

Many clouds of smoke and sounds of explosions can be seen and heard, the sources sprinkled through the area, just as Atsushi spotted a lone two-pointer below him, the floor underneath him rumbled as the whirring sounds of machines filled his ear.

A three-pointer is right underneath him, attempting to ambush the white-haired teen. 

Atsushi quickly jumps away from the hole the three-pointer has created, its eyes locked on Atsushi as missiles begin firing.

He quickly doge away from the missiles, delivering a powerful kick towards the head of the three-pointer followed by a punch that smashed the robot into bits.

Feeling the build-up of adrenaline now pumping through his body, Atsushi swiftly jumped down and landed at the place where he saw the two-pointer earlier and destroyed it without too much drama.

As he is about to move on to another area to find more robots, he hears a panicked scream from the street corner right in front of him, he rushes towards the source without a second thought.

He got there just in time to see a boy trapped underneath a pile of broken rubbles as a one-pointer stood above the rubbles, raising its heavy machine gun about to fire. 

Atsushi immediately dashes towards the one-pointer and smashes it away before the machine even has time to register the oncoming projectile. 

He quickly cleared out the rubbles that were trapping the boy underneath, gently checking over him for anything that might potentially be broken. 

"You alright? Is there any part that hurts a lot more when you try to move it?" Atsushi didn't move the boy at first, opting to instead clean the boy out of as much broken concrete as possible.

"Ah, Thank You! Other than my ankles, everything else seems fine for now." The boy tried to stand up using Atsushi as support but quickly lost balance due to the pain that shot through his entire body from his ankle.

"Woah there, you are in no condition to walk right now, I need to take you somewhere safe! Risking your life for just an exam is not worth it!" 

Atsushi hears snickers from Byakko, but he decides to ignore him. 

Despite the boy now being carried piggyback ride style, Atsushi quickly went back to the entrance of the battle centre, leaving the protesting boy on the bus that they came in with to rest.

Rushing back into the battle centre with only five minutes left, Atsushi fell into a rhythm of looking for robots, destroying said robots, and looking for more robots while helping those who got injured during the process.

There is a lot of back and forth during this, which isn't a problem at first, but as time goes on, combined this with fighting those robots, Atsushi is wearing out quicker than usual.

"Um, Byakko?...... I may have lost track of the point I got...... Do you remember what I've got so far?" Atsushi suddenly stops, remembering this important detail of the exam. 

He's currently preaching on top of a half-demolished building, since this building is one of the highest ones and has already been cleared out of anyone alive or otherwise, it's safe to take a breath here. 

'Hmm, 21 points, and now we only have around two minutes left, most of which is spent on saving the others.' Byakko replied, his tone oddly calm despite the point they had gotten seemed quite low to be qualified to pass.

Throughout this eight minutes of back and forth through the battle centre, Atsushi saw Midoriya several times, but most of the time he seemed very fidgety and struggling to find a robot to battle. 

He did want to call Midoriya out, but every time he saw him Atsushi was carrying someone with an injury, so there wasn't a chance to stop and talk.

"Ahhh, that's not good! We have so little time left but so few points!" Atsushi's tiger twitched in agitation, he didn't regard saving those students, but he did want to have more points to have a greater chance of getting into UA.

......

"The practical exam tests students in many different ways, the ability and speed to reconnaissance, strategic thinking in the face of danger while remaining level-headed, agility in against complex surroundings and pure combat effectiveness."

"They weren't given any prior information regarding the whereabouts and numbers of the 'villains', and with such limited time and intricate grounds of a cityscape, they really need everything to be able to shine in this exam!"

"We got a good batch this year didn't we?"

"Not yet, it's still unclear so far."

"The real challenge."

A hand flicks open the protective cover around the big, red button that releases the Zero-Pointer.

"Is just about to begin."

Atsushi flinched as a loud rumbling from the ground sent a mini shockwave that washed through his entire body, a tall, looming shadow appeared in the middle of the battle centre followed by many shouting frantic students.

"Oh shit, that's big!" Came out of Atsushi's mouth before he had the time to process the presence of the massive Zero-Pointer.

Shaking off the initial shock of seeing the big robot, Atsushi began quickly making his way towards the Zero-Pointer. Why exactly he didn't know, but he needed to go in case there were people injured heavily when they were escaping. 

“In the face of a devasting threat."

He stayed on the high ground, occasionally looking down only to see a mob of students who were desperately running away from the giant threat looming over them.

"Actions that humans take at this moment are a demonstration of their true colours."

Atsushi is beginning to feel out of breath from using the tiger's regeneration so many times, alongside running back and forth from helping students while still looking for robots to fight.

But he is not the one to quit, even if the situation is as grim as it can get.

Atsushi manages to get there just in time to see Midoriya diving into a mad dash towards the Zero-Pointer. 

"Despite having no benefit in defeating the Zero-Point Villain."

Desperately hoping to get to Midoriya in time, Atsushi froze the moment he saw Midoriya getting into a crouch position, jumping ridiculously high with a streak of red lighting following him.

"That's why..."

The shockwave created by Midoriya's jump cleared out the smoke covering that area, revealing a distraught-looking girl also looking up at Midoriya.

"That bright, shining..."

Midoriya clenched his fist tightly, raising it to fight against the metal titan.

"Moment will be shone through even the darkest time."

The clenched fist smashed through the falling titan, rendering it nothing but a pile of scrap metal.

'SMASHH!!!'

That moment felt like an eternity, suspended in the air everyone watched in shock as the Zero-Pointer exploded in a blaze.

"One Minute left!"

...... 

The Tiger allowed its user to see many things, including the fact that Midoriya's legs and arm now seemed broken, swayed by the wind in all kinds of wrong directions.

'He can't land!' Atsushi screamed in his mind, watching in horror as Midoriya began plummeting to his death. 

Even if Atsushi jump off the building right now, he doesn't have enough strength to push himself towards Midoriya with enough momentum to break the fall.

But then, he stared as the moment Midoriya was about to hit the ground, the brown-haired girl right next to him, suddenly slapped Midoriya, who instead of plummeting to his death, is now floating inches off of the ground as he squirmed around the air.

The girl put her hands together and yelled: "Deactivate!", now the two of them are on the ground, looking extremely tired and worn out.

Atsushi let out a sigh of relive, he carefully made his way down, startling those standing by as some dude with tiger limbs just jumped down from a building.

"Izuku Kun? You alright" Atsushi crotch down next to Midoriya, who upon hearing his voice, lets out a weird voice.

"Eh?! atsushi kun?...... I must have hit my head hard if I heard his voice....." Struggling, Midoriya lifted his head, instantly frozen when he saw it was indeed Nakajima Atsushi who is talking to him.

"Atsushi Kun!!" He quickly tears up, desperately crawling away from Atsushi towards the still functioning but broken one-pointer, "I still need just one point!-"

"EXAM FINISHED!!" The alarm signifying the end of the exam rings loud throughout the entire campus. 

Midoriya stopped, tears streaming down his face as he once again fell limp on the ground. 

"Izuku! Hang in there!" Atsushi yelled, hoping to keep his friend still somewhat intact after everything, but it was no use.

The whispers of students around them once again filled Atsushi's ears, and to his surprise, most of which are merely discussing why Midoriya had done what he did. 

It seems like none of them noticed the brown-haired girl who was trapped at the time. 

"Alright! Everybody good job! You did well, you did well. Here, here, have a gummy, eat this gummy."

A small, elderly lady who was wearing a doctor's lab coat came out of nowhere and started handing out gummy candies to the students.

Atsushi noticed the people who ate the gummy seemed to regain their energy quickly, so he waved the lady over to their side, letting her treat Midoriya and the brown-haired girl.

While letting the lady do her work, Atsushi overheard a student loudly introducing to others about this lady. She is the UA nurse; Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl, whose quirk allowed her to speed up people's regenerative ability using their own energy.

'I guess that explains the energy gummies.' Atsushi wondered to himself, though compared to Yoasano Sensei, this quirk seemed a bit lacklustre in comparison, but still a very useful one. 

"Oh my! How did your own quirk hurt you so much!" Recovery Girl said to herself, but Atsushi's enhanced hearing allowed him to hear what she said.

His tail flickers a little.

Well, the exam is over now, and there is not much they can do until the announcement a week later, Atsushi only hoped Shirakawa wouldn't mother him too much during this time. 

......

A scruffy-looking man stood alone in the empty monitor room, all of the screens concentrated on different students as they replayed their performances during their exams.

There are three monitors the man pays special attention to, each displaying footage of a blond-haired teen with explosions, and a red and white-haired teen with ice around him.

"Tch, problem children's."

One monitor shows footage of a kid with grape-ball-looking hair, the monitor flickers, quickly replaced by another footage of a white-haired kid with tiger limbs.

The scruffy man's grey scarf slips a little, revealing a pair of yellow goggles around his neck.

Chapter Text

The cars rushed before me like a stream of river, not without the busyness of a heavy flow, but lacking the tranquillity of nature.

I took a step forward, into the stream, splashes of screams and screeching car tyres surrounded me, replacing the heaviness of my roaring thoughts.

My legs caught between the rushing water, my arms tangled with the invisible threads, my eyes blurred by the splashing tears that overflowed from the empty candy jar.

Red and blue lights flashed from a distance, an annoying alarm sound filled my ears.

I felt a small pair of arms wrapping around my torso.

She said something, but my ears were not concentrating on her words.

Another big and warm hand placed itself on top of my head, the thumb slowly rubbing against my unkempt hair.

Oh, it seems like I have lost my hat in the river.

Maybe it will just drift off into the stream, down the waterfall, crushed by the cruel water flow sinking deep underneath the pond never resurfacing again and buried forever under the depths of my memories—

Oh, it seems like I have started crying again.

The bitter tears filling the candy jars up overflowed with sourness.

“Thank you for visiting, have a nice day!” Atsushi waved goodbye to the last patron of the day, a wind chime ringing as the door slowly closed behind the leaving figure.

Looking around the bookstore, there are a few books that have been left scattered throughout the store, and the seats are a bit messy from people using them throughout the day.

Atsushi starts to clean up the mess, putting the books back and wiping down the tables, just as he is about to start sweeping the floor, the wind chime rings again, signalling the presence of another person.

“I am home! Atsushi Kun! There’s a letter for you, it’s from UA!” Shirakawa put it down on the counter while hurrying up the stairs to put away the heavy groceries.

“Welcome home!”, Atsushi said, before he suddenly paused. Turning around slowly to stare at the piece of folded paper, his gaze so intense it was about to set fire to the letter.

The innocent-looking letter sits on the counter, the giant emblem of UA sealing the fate of Atsushi’s future within.

For some reason, the letter doesn’t look completely flat.

‘Hey kid, are you going to read it or not?’

A gruff voice suddenly rang in his head, breaking Atsushi out of his trance.

Byakko shifts around in his mind, the white tiger letting out a chuff, stretching out like a big cat before curling up into a comfortable position. 

‘There are still those who await your return.’ 

Atsushi grabbed the letter and ran upstairs to his room, passing by Shirakawa who only blinked when something rushed by.

”eh?”

Closing the door behind him, Atsushi walked over to his desk, set down the letter, and took one last deep breath.

He carefully opened the envelope, not wanting to destroy the piece of paper contained inside.

There is a small metal disk that sits at the bottom of the envelope, with one single folded piece of paper inside.

”What is this?” Atsushi takes the small disk out, turning it over in his hand, inspecting the small thing.

The disk suddenly flashes green, causing Atsushi to drop the disk in shock, the disk lets out a weird noise, before projecting a video in front of Atsushi.

”Congratulations Nakajima Atsushi kun! You have passed the written section of the entrance exam with an adequate score!” 

The one who is presenting the news is Nezu, making Atsushi smile warmly as he is once again reminded of all the help he has received from the principal.

”As for the practical section of the exam, you have only gotten 21 villain points, which would have not been enough to get you a spot in the hero course.”

Atsushi froze upon hearing this, but instead, the projection just kept playing.

”However, these villain points are not the only scores you can get in the exam! As a hero school, it is only natural that we have a system to account for those heroic actions that are lost in the shadows, cast by the blinding light of flashy abilities!” 

Atsushi’s eyes widened when he heard this, his hands that were silently shaking before stopped, and a shaking smile slowly crawled up to his face.

”You have gotten a total of 35 rescue points! Normally it should be higher than this, as the amount of people you have saved far outweighs this flimsy score of 35.”

The Nezu in the projection smiled, as if sensing Atsushi’s shock even before he would receive this news.

”From our previous talks, I have the feeling that you would prefer to stay out of attention, so I went ahead of myself to help alter your score a bit, come see me if this is not the case, Atsushi Kun! I do enjoy our conversations together.” 

Projected Nezu claps his paws together, giving Atsushi one last smile before the video ends.

”There is the ranking chart for the top 20 students at the end of this projection which you can check, and the list of things you need to prepare for is in the paper provided. Welcome to your new life at UA High School, Atsushi Kun!” 

The projection ends on a screen with the ranking chart, where Atsushi saw that his score in total is 56, placing him in tenth, the same place as another stranger called Awase Yosetsu.

“I GOT IN!!” Atsushi yelled. 

“WHAT HAPPENED?!” Shirakawa yelled, as she slammed Atsushi’s door open.

“Kairi san I got into UA!” Atsushi beamed as he turned towards a worried Shirakawa and gave her a big hug. 

“Fuck yeah let’s go Atsushi!!” Shirakawa laughs and hugs Atsushi back, picking him up and spinning him in the air as Atsushi lets out a squeal at being picked up. 

“We need to go get something to celebrate!”

”Kairi san please put me down!” 

“We also need to go get you new stuff! And a new look!” 

“Wha?!-“ 

……

The paper provided informed them that the uniform would be sent in a package to their house in the next two days, though students are allowed to slightly modify the uniform to suit their needs, such as extra holes if they have extra limbs and so on.

However, students are not allowed to change the style of the uniform itself, including the colours, specific cuts and folds on the clothes.

”But they didn’t say anything about accessories and hair colour! Or any extra clothes that you want to wear underneath the uniform!”

Shirakawa had a glint in her eyes when she pointed this out. 

So right now Atsushi is being dragged by Shirakawa to visit a barber shop, to “fix up” his hair. 

The barber laid his eyes on Atsushi upon his entrance, a disbelief look on his face appeared, before smiling and walking over to the white-haired duo.

“Hello there! May I ask who is it that requires service today?” The barber gestured towards the salon chair, while Shirakawa nudged Atsushi forward towards the barber, putting a hand on his shoulder as reassurance.

”That would be Atsushi Kun over here, a new look for a new year of high school!” Shirakawa smiled at Atsushi, who also gave a smile back before turning towards the barber.

The barber gestures to Atsushi to follow him, leading him to get his hair washed first. 

The whole time when the barber was scrubbing Atsushi’s head during the washing, he was letting out small chuffs, as the head scratches felt comforting.

If the barber did notice it, he didn’t say anything, only slightly prolonging a bit in the time spent scrubbing his head. 

Atsushi’s eyes was closed, so he didn’t see Shirakawa taking videos of him chuffing while lying down, getting his hair washed.

After getting his hair rinsed and warped with a towel, the barber had Atsushi sit down in the salon chair, grabbing the tools needed for the haircut. 

“So Atsushi san, right? How would you like to get your hair cut?” The barber sits on the moving chair, looking at the big mirror in front of Atsushi. 

Atsushi’s hair is still wet, the lone stand of hair cling to his face, making water drip down on the cape. 

“I don’t really know, do you have any suggestions?” Atsushi stared at himself in the mirror, his face now less yellow compared to when he first joined the agency, instead it was now a more healthy-looking white

Ranpo san had been complaining that he was too thin, that he wouldn’t be able to carry all of his snacks if he was too thin and weak in the arms, before throwing a plethora of snacks and coupons for different restaurants at him. 

“Here, take these and use it, and as compensation! You will have to always agree to help me with snacks whenever I want!” Ranpo would cheekily say, before turning around to keep heading towards the crime scene of the day.

Atsushi didn’t have the heart to tell him that he would always do that no matter what. 

The barber gently took the lone stand of hair, smoothening it out. “Do you have any attachment to this lock of hair? Or do you wish to wait for it to grow out on the other side too?”

Atsushi opened his mouth to say no but stopped midway as the glint of metal scissors reflected in the mirror. The barber let go of the hair, going back to brushing Atsushi’s hair, sensing that the young man would need a moment to decide.

Atsushi did use to have another stand on the other side, and neither were his fringes this slanted upwards, he remembered his fringes would cover his view of the headmaster, providing him a false sense of security. 

But one of the girls in the orphanage complained how he looked creepy with his hair like that, that he looked even more like a monster with no eyes, so one of the boys, in an effort to impress the girl, stole a pair of scissors from the nurses’ office. 

The group of kids cornered him, one held his arms back, one held his legs to prevent him from kicking, and the boy with scissors grabbed all his fringes, one single cut across the bundle of hair. 

The grey locks falling like ashes back on his face, his last false protection, cut away from him by a pair of bloodstained scissors. 

The girl that complained before simply stood there, she didn’t look any happier at his lack of fringe, instead speaking up once more:

”I don’t like his side hair either, would you please cut it off for me?”

……

Atsushi looked at himself in the mirror again, the lone strand of hair cling to his face, and water was no longer dripping down on his face. 

In his mind, Byakko’s tail flickers, and the white tiger lies on his sides, chuffing while in a deep slumber.

He himself is asleep in the warm embrace of the tiger, face buried in the fluff, soft white fur. 

He smiled, “No, please cut it off too, I think I am ready for a new look.”

The barber gently took the lone strand of hair and trimmed it off. 

“If you want, I can also make your fringe longer? My quirk allows me to accelerate people’s hair growth, also why I became a barber in the first place!” Barber gesture towards Atsushi’s forehead, the slanted fringes sits flatly against his skin, as it is still wet.

”Yes thank you, I would like that.” Atsushi smiled warmly, the afternoon sun slipped through the window, a golden hue framing the whole barber shop in a gentle warmth.

”Now, for your actual hairstyle, I think we can have your hair frame your face a bit more…”

The haircut itself didn’t take as long as Atsushi thought it would, but instead, it was the process of figuring out hair products that suited his hair.

The barber saw the poor condition his hair was in, and was determined to get him to care for his hair better, Shirakawa got reprimanded by the barber for not taking care of him, and he forced a bunch of lessons on hair treatment on her.

But in the end, Atsushi is happy with how his hair turned out. 

“Damn Atsushi, now you look like a beast, a beast that is ready to take on the world, and face any challenge that would be thrown your way!”

Shirakawa beamed at Atsushi, taking pictures of him with his new haircut, a heavy blush dusting Atsushi’s cheeks, making Shirakawa coo at him even more.

”Th-thank you Kairi san, but shouldn’t we get going? It’s pretty late, and you wanted to go to this Chinese restaurant?…” 

“Oh crap you’re right, let’s go!”

Watching Shirakawa frantically pay the barber and dragging him out of the store, Atsushi thinks he is truly ready for a new beginning in life. 

And it starts with this new haircut.

……

The uniform arrived on the next day, it had both the summer uniform and the winter one, the inside shoes would be in school, so they don’t have to bring it on the first day.

And so, after serval trips to the mall and nervously checking the paper on the stuff they need for school, the first day of school arrived. 

Despite wanting to follow strictly the uniform rules the school have provided, Shirakawa has insisted that Atsushi keep his belt and gloves on, and frankly, Atsushi was secretly happy that Shirakawa had convinced him to do so.

But then she insisted that he keep his blazer unbuttoned to show off his belt, which he did agree that it did look better.

The bag that Atsushi bought (gosh, he finally earned enough money to be able to afford his own stuff for school!) was a simple white one, which Shirakawa had secretly painted some tiger paw prints on.

Atsushi pretended to be annoyed, but Byakko’s happy chuff was making it hard for him to keep pretending that he didn’t like it. 

Did he forget to mention it? The uniforms also came with a form for him to put in a costume design for his hero suit, which he literally had to pull Shirakawa away from, to stop her from making him wear a literal body suit that made him look like a giant cat. 

Damn it! He is a tiger, not a cat!!

But what is done is done, he could only hope that the people making his suit would be able to decipher his scribbles and the drawings of the suit. 

Shirakawa dropped him off at the gate, she had a bit teary eyes as she hugged Atsushi, bidding him goodbye with a promise to pick him up after school. 

“1-A, 1-A…… Why is the school so big!” Atsushi huffs as he walks through the big hallways, despite being here before, it still amazes him how big everything is. 

‘They could probably rival the Port Mafia in terms of how rich they are…’ Atsushi let his mind begin wondering off, as his legs carried him to his destination. 

Finally spotting the giant door that leads to class 1-A, Atsushi paused in front of the door, took a deep breath, and then jumped as he felt a presence suddenly appearing behind him.

He swiftly turns around only to see a yellow cocoon thing on the ground, with the face of the dishevelled-looking man from the entrance exam.

”Oh? You notice me even before I speak, your situational awareness is not bad.” The man says while taking out a poach drink thing.

Atsushi could stand there, watching the man finish his drink before talking again, he hoped this wasn’t his teacher, as the man reminded him too much of Dazai san. 

”Go in and don’t tell anyone, I want to see how long it would take them to notice l am here.”

Dang it, this man is like Dazai san! Well, he just hopes that at least this teacher won’t dump all the work on students to do it themselves. 

Atsushi signs to himself before opening the door. 

Everyone in the class turns and looks at him.

”ah, um… Hello, it’s nice to meet you guys.” Atsushi raise his hand and give a slight wave. 

A few students give him a nod or a wave before going back to their conversations, while a few more maintain eye contact with him.

Namely, those being the three that he became acquainted with before school; Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki. 

Midoriya was talking with the blue-haired guy who was scolding him back in the entrance exam, and a brown-haired girl he never met before. 

Bakugo only scoffed seeing Atsushi entering the room, then he turned back to stare at the window, looking deep in thought. 

Todoroki also seemed quite lonely in comparison with the groups that were already starting to form around the class, though after giving Atsushi a nod of acknowledgment, he went back to reading the book in his hand. 

Midoriya is waving Atsushi over quite frantically, not wanting to disappoint the kid, Atsushi decides to go to him first. He could always talk with Bakugo or Todoroki later, despite those two seemingly wanting to be left alone.

As Atsushi was about to walk over, he heard a cough from behind him, causing him to move aside. 

The cocoon man- sorry, the teacher stands up, which looks extremely weird because he is still in his yellow cocoon. 

It honestly took the whole class a bit too long to notice the teacher. Midoriya and his group noticed first since they were looking at the doorway to begin with, but the others took a while.

“If you’re here to play house then go somewhere else.”

Yeesh, that was harsh.

“This is the hero course.”

The teacher said as he unzipped the yellow cocoon- sorry, sleeping bag.

“Alright, it took you guys ten seconds to completely quiet down.”

He stepped outside the sleeping bag, revealing the same hero outfit he saw the man in the last time. The others can only stare at their teacher in disbelief. 

“Time is limited.” He took the bag and begin folding it up, “You guys lack some logical sense.” Damn, the kids are getting roasted, on their first day first class nevertheless.

At this point and time, most students have realised that this is their teacher, but the disbelief didn’t go away, it only got more intense.

“I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota, nice to meet you guys.”

So his name is Aizawa, damn he really is the same as Dazai, even that scarf thing around his neck can be seen as bandages, seeing how thin it is. 

“Hurry up, put these on and get to the training grounds.” Throwing a blue tracksuit at Atsushi, who was standing the closest to him, Aizawa turned and left the sight of the other students. 

Everyone in the class could only stare dumbfounded at each other, until they eventually turned to look at Atsushi once again, since he was holding the piece of clothing they were supposed to put on. 

“Um, l guess we need to go to the locker room first then?” Atsushi offers everyone a nervous smile. 

All hell broke loose in the classroom.

’This is gonna be a long day…’

Chapter Text

So, here is the thing: Atsushi never went to a school before. 

He was locked up in an orphanage basement until he was eighteen, even then he wouldn't consider the people he interacted with to be accepted as socially adequate for a shun-in kid like him.

They were lucky that Atsushi wore his heart on his sleeve and had the compassion he did, otherwise, the orphanage would have been shut down the moment he was accepted into the agency, or it might have burst into flames with an innocent-looking Dazai and Ranpo at the side, whistling away their involvement.

The point is, that he had never interacted with a big group of people in such a laid-back environment before, the bookstore was quiet and had few patrons at a time, and the cases he had been sent to deal with back in the agency had him interacting with the suspect, police and Ranpo at the same time, nothing more, nothing less. 

Suffice it to say, he has no idea how to deal with twenty teenagers suddenly crowding him, along with questions about the teacher he has absolutely no idea about, other than 'he seems competent enough' from Byakko.

How the white tiger god gets competent from throwing a kid a piece of uniform with the phrase hurry up then leaving is beyond him. 

"Hey! Do you know where the changing room is?" A kid with yellow hair and a black zigzag-shaped thing in his hair asked but before he could answer, a pink girl pushed him aside and squished herself in front of Atsushi.

"Was that really the teacher?! That guy looks so intimidating!" She says excitedly, quite literally bouncing on her heels. Her arms failing around animatedly, it almost hits the yellow-haired guy.

“Hey! As hero students, we shouldn’t be crowding around each other!-”

”MOVE AWAY EXTRAS!! Let me through to the!-”

The crowd of chaotic students closing in on Atsushi began to make him feel suffocated, Byakko huffed in annoyance, the white tiger god attempting to calm Atsushi down but to no avail.

It was until a hand suddenly reached out and tried to snatch the gym clothes he unknowingly gripped on, that Atsushi snapped out of his trance.

”Quiet!!” 

All of the bickering students instantly shut up at his outburst, not expecting the meek-looking boy, who had been silent so far to suddenly shout out with authority like that. 

“I think I know where the changing room is, and I think our gym clothes would be in our lockers in the changing room! So let’s go quickly, and please stop with all the ruckus!!”

Atsushi held his head high, giving all the students a hard stare, huffing out a few breaths before he promptly turned around to start walking.

A single tear began to fall down Atsushi’s face as he turned around, while all the stunned students could only stare 

’OH GOD!! Why did I yell at them like that?! Was that too harsh?? Was it too much?? I offended everyone in my classroom on the first day, first period and now my school life is over I am so sorry Dazai San all those social skills you taught me are wasted and now l am an out-‘ 

“Oi! Don’t you DARE leave before me, tiger boy!!” 

An arm suddenly slings itself around Atsushi’s shoulder, causing him to flinch and immediately raise his fist to punch whoever it is, but stopped as he sees that it is Bakugou.

”Bakugou?! What are you doing-“

”Shut up! You are too slow and wasting my time!” 

But before Atsushi could ask anything, he was quickly dragged away by Bakugou, who then proceeded to snatch the gym clothes out of Atsushi’s hand.

The pink girl who jumped at Atsushi before only let out an amused huff, she then quickly dragged the yellow-haired boy with her to catch up to the two boys who began fighting over the piece of blue cloth.

The other students shared a look amongst themselves, shrugged and began following the group in front. However, there were a few in the group who kept staring at the white-haired boy, namely Todoroki and Midoriya.

‘How did Atsushi Kun become friends with Kacchan? They seemed so close… for Kacchan to act like this around someone……’ Midoriya clenched his fist, his fluffy green hair falling over his eyes, covering his expression.

Uraraka noticed Midoriya’s mood, she shared a worried with Iida, who also noticed Midoriya’s sour mood. 

Not wanting to see her new friend so down on the first day, she lightly tapped Midoriya’s shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts.

“Hey, are you alright?” Uraraka asked, her soft smile catching Midoriya off guard, making him blush slightly out of embarrassment. 

“Yeah, no need to worry about me! I was just thinking about something! And oh yeah! What do you think we will be…” 

......

Just as Atsushi had said, all the gym clothes for the rest of the class were in their lockers in the changing room, the girls and boys quickly split off, chatting animatedly about what they thought they would be doing next.

Yet, stepping last into the room, looking around all the other boys who quickly took their clothes off, Atsushi realised something.

He also needs to take his cover off, exposing all the scars underneath.

Atsushi's hand clutched tightly at his own uniform.

The first night he woke up in his new body, he spent so long tracing all the raised scars over his body that the bath water was freezing at the end. 

Whip marks litter across his entire front torso, while the ribcage held patches of blazing burn scars, the Lichtenberg figure that ran from the back of his neck all the way down to his waist, the circular indentation with ugly high rise scar tissue that marked its existence to the whole world. 

Byakko softly paws at the soft skin, the texture littered with bumps, he can feel his host's body trembling underneath him, Atsushi's face buried into his stomach fur, a wet patch slowly forming.

The Tiger's regenerative ability can heal and mend the flesh itself, but it cannot heal what the body already thinks is healed. 

No matter how much Byakko wanted to rid his pub of the evidence of his past, those scars clung on like a disease, they heal and fade yes, but never completely out of their life. 

Eighteen-year-old Atsushi's body had a lot of faded scars, since as he grew up, the Headmaster moved on to torment him with words, an attempt to render out the last glimmer of hope.

Fourteen-year-old Atsushi's body is littered with fresh scars, it was the worst year, as it was supposed to be the boy's "teenage rebellious phase".

The ten months at Shirakawa's place had allowed Atsushi's weight and body fat to return to the average amount, but the scars retained their roaring rage on his skin, the crimson marks, although now a muted pink, are still noticeable on him. 

'Calm down, you can go change in the stall if you wish.' Byakko's deep voice offers a familiar comfort to Atsushi, but slightly shaking his head, Atsushi walks over to his locker. 

'No, it's okay... I don't want to hide everything l need to change.'

His locker is a bit far back in the room, squished between the yellow-haired boy from before and Todoroki.

The yellow-haired boy noticed Atsushi, smiled and started introducing himself: "Hey there! I am Kaminari Denki, sorry about jumping at you earlier!" 

"Ah, that's okay, I am Nakajima Atsushi, it's nice to meet you!" Atsushi replied, smiling as he began to take his blazer off.

He hesitated a bit at the shirt, but a glance around the room showed that almost everyone was done, Atsushi sighed, and unbuttoned his shirt. 

His hesitation caught Kaminari's attention and he was about to say something, but then he noticed all the scars and was stunned. 

The shirt was completely off, and Atsushi was about to take the top out and put it on when a shout stopped Atsushi's mid-air.

"HOLY SHIT-" Kaminari immediately clammed his mouth shut, but it was already too late, his shout grabbed all the boys' attention, and they are all looking at Atsushi's way, at his bare back, covered with whip scars and Lichtenberg figure.

Sharp canine teeth biting down on chapped lips, ("WAIT Hang on I am sor-") Atsushi grabbed his gym clothes and put them on as fast as he could before sprinting out of the changing room, leaving behind a room of dumbfounded kids. 

Running away from the changing room, passing by a few of his classmates that was waiting for the others to finish, he got to the training grounds before everyone else. Aizawa glanced up from his device, noticing the breathless Atsushi, but he didn't comment on it.

The rest of the class also made their way to the training ground in small groups, Aizawa did a quick head count and began his introduction.

"As you are aware, one of UA's selling points is the freedom of its curriculum, hence compared to other hero schools, our graduation rate of successful Pro Heros is one of the highest in the country, potentially the world." 

Aizawa sighed, last night's patrol took quite a bit out of him, as there was a weird decrease in criminal activities in a usually dangerous area he was sent to investigate but nothing came up.

But there would be time later tonight to maul over this case, for now, he needs to focus on his new students.

"So we will be doing a quirk apprehension test right now, so get-" As suspected, he gets interrupted by various shouts amongst the students.

"WHAT?! Why are we having a test first thing on the first day?!"

"But what about the entrance ceremony? Introduction for all the new students?"

"GOD! I am not ready for a test right now!"

"What is going to-"

"QUITE!" 

The sudden command froze all the commotion, and the students ceased their shouting as they remembered that this was still a class, in a prestigious school nonetheless.

"To be a Hero, there will be no time for leisure activities." Turning around, Aizawa continued, "As for UA's freedom of curriculum, this also applies to the teachers' ways of teaching."

Pulling up the score chart for Class 1A, he searches for the highest-scoring students from the entrance exam. 

"Bakugou, what is your score for ball throwing back in High School?" Pulling a ball out of nowhere, Aizawa hands it to Bakugou.

"Um, 67 metres, I think." Fondaling with the ball, Bakugou toss it in the air a few times, while the other students once again begin their speculation of what is happening.

"Now, I want you to try throwing it with your quirk. You can do it however you want, as long as you don't leave the circle." Aizawa steps aside, watching as Bakugou walks into the circle.

He rolled his arm a few times, looking at the ball for a few seconds, before letting out a smirk.

Bakugou reels his arm back, launching the ball into the air with a deafening boom, trails of smoke left lagging before the ball as it disappears into the horizon.

"DIE!!"

Most of the class sweatdrops, 'Did he really need to shout that?"

"This, in my opinion, is the correct way to test out one's true potential. It's how a pro would have done it."

Lifting the distance measure device, it shows a score of 705.2 metres.

The entire class lets out gasps, shock washing through their faces. The chatter among the students became louder, with more excitement from eager students.

"This looks so fun! I want to try it, too!"

"Yeah! I can already think of so many ways to use my quirk to help me!"

"Yo dude! That score is insane! How powerful is this guy?!"

Standing to the side of the crowd, Atsushi nervously glanced at his hand, his mind drifting away. 

The physical exam reminded him of his first month at the agency, where Kunikida and Yosano were always fussing over his "frail" body, saying how he was basically a pile of bones held together with skin.

Whenever it was lunchtime, Dazai would drag him physically away from the office, and he would take him to the cafe below, Uzumaki, and he would always end up getting him something more filling than just chazuke.

He had to take so many vaccines in the first week, and Yosano had single-handedly made his medical record from scratch, and there were still a lot of gaps in his memory back then, she really is incredible.

And Ranpo, oh the older detective that couldn't even navigate the train on his own. He always gets so many sweets during their cases, and every time Ranpo would shove the ones he didn't like to Atsushi, telling him to finish them off.

The older detective thought Atsushi wouldn't notice how he always spent so long looking for ones that Atsushi liked, buying them, then pretending that he didn't like them, just so he could give them to Atsushi.

Thinking about the older detective brought a slight blush to Atsushi's cheeks, but he was broken out of his musing by the sound of a whistle from Aizawa.

The physical exam has started.

For the ones that required more physical strength, Atsushi just transformed his limbs into tiger ones, like the 50m dash and the grip strength test.

However, he did get the highest score in the seated toe touch, mostly due to Byakko's feline trait that affects his body passively.

The ball throw is the last test, and it is during Midoriya's turn that the white tiger once again stirred awake from his slumber.

'His power, it doesn't fit him.' Byakko's voice rang low in Atsushi's head, and the boy's tail twitched a little in response to the tiger. The tail is out to help him balance in the standing long jump, and it felt nice to have it out.

'Power itself rejects the body, as does the body to the power. The child would explode from the inside out if not controlled.'

Atsushi looks at Midoriya worriedly, his tail anxiously swished around as Aizawa scolds the green-haired student for breaking his entire arm just for a single ball throw.

'And he didn't have this power before the entrance exam, we both saw how he punched the zero pointer down in a single hit.'

Bakugou is shouting something as he charges towards Midoriya, but Atsushi is blocking all the noises out, his gaze only focusing on Midoriya's horrified expression.

'Child, do you sense the foreign scent that has been lingering around the area?' Atsushi's eyes turned into slits, his gaze sharp, glancing through the corner of his vision at the hidden figure around the corner.

'It's the same scent of power.'

Willing his muscles to relax again, Atsushi watches as Midoriya finally succeeds at launching the ball without breaking his whole arm.

'Well, everyone has their secrets, don't they.'

After Aizawa calculated everyone's score, he displayed the rank for the whole class to check. Atsushi searches for his name, he is placed 8th on the class ranking, higher than what he thought he would have got.

There are some students around him letting out sighs of relief, while others are a selective few only mumbled something, then simply walked away from the chart.

"Oh by the way, the thing I said with expulsion before, it was just a logical ruse to get you guys to perform your best." Aizawa suddenly said, catching Atsushi off guard, as he absolutely had not heard about this before.

A girl with her black hair put into a spiky ponytail proudly said: "I knew it was just a logical ruse! There is no way he would expel students on the first day."

Midoriya is quietly mumbling on the side: "I heard that he did expel his entire class last year......"

Atsushi didn't want to stick around any longer, not with how Kaminari had started to stare at his back now that they had to go change again.

He immediately speed walks toward the changing room, but the yellow-haired boy quickly catches up to him.

"Hey! Um, I just wanted to say sorry! For shouting so loud when I saw you earlier...... It was-"

"It's fine, just please don't do it again next time."

Atsushi cuts him off, turning around again, leaving behind a guilty-looking Kaminari, who lets out a dejected huff.

Just as Kaminari is about to walk, he jumps in surprise when he feels a presence suddenly appear behind him.

"Kaminari, what happened in the changing room earlier?" Aizawa asks, staring at a panicking Kaminari. 

"Ah! Sensei, um... I don't... uh, I just......" Kaminari begins mumbling, waving his hand around frantically. Yet Aizawa just stared at the boy, causing Kaiminari to start spilling what he had seen in the changing room earlier.

"Um, when we are changing earlier, I saw that there was loads of scars on Nakajima's back! Like really big ones, it covered his whole back..." Kaminari rubs his arm nervously as he explains, gaze darting everywhere but Aizawa.

"I got shocked and yelled out loud...... It caused everyone else to look at our direction......" Kaminari stares at his feet, his hand clutching hard at the fabric of his sleeve. 

A moment of silent passes between the two, before Aizawa lets out a sigh, rubbing his neck in slight annoyance.

"Thank you for letting me know, Kaminari. The whole shouting bit is a mistake on your part, verbal apologies won't be enough, so make up with your action next time, alright?" Aizawa said. Kaminari nodded, still looking a bit guilty, but better than before.

The yellow-haired boy bids his goodbye and quickly rushes off to the changing room with a determined look on his face.

Aizawa sighed, he pulled out a notebook and quickly jotted down three names and a short description after each one.

"- Midoriya: total lack of control over power

- Bakugou: Anger issue, possible resentment(?) Midoriya

- Nakajima: Possible abuse/traumatic event in the past?"

'Only the first day and so many problems have already appeared... Tch, what a bunch of problem children.'