Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

Lighting the Flame

Kenichi's POV:

A lot of bad things happened just in a year. Aaron's death. The Gold Vipers. The battle. The coma. Shinju leaving. But I was determined to turn this bad trend around, to be a notable hero for myself and others. Nothing bad could happen now.

I sat in the front seat of my dad's van. I don't remember the last time I got into a car. Not much since the accident. But my dad was insistent on taking me to my first day at this school for whatever reason.

"We're almost here, it's not that far of a drive," he told me.

"Do they know about my medical history?" I asked him. "What if they think I'm a waste of time and kick me out?"

"They don't know about your history, Kenichi," he stopped at a red light and turned to me. "And listen to me, you are not a waste of time. You're going to walk into that school, show everyone who runs it now, and tell them you're Fireant's son."

"I wouldn't say that's much of an achievement," I joked.

The car started moving again. "It is to them."

Before I knew it I was standing in front of the school I had gone to only once before for those exams. Tons of people I did not know, tons of people I could tell were much older than I was, and a bunch of randos that thought they could outdo me. Maybe they didn't think that at the moment, but I'm just some new first year.

"Oh, Kenichi!" I heard a voice from behind me. "I thought I was way too early, I'm glad I could find you!"

It was Seiryo. His nose had dry blood under it, as if that was a surprise.

"Oh, so you got in?" I told him. "I'm surprised they didn't think you were some kind of freak with all that blood under your nose."

He tried wiping under his nose, but his big boxing fists couldn't get it. "Did I get it?"

I looked him up and down, "Sure."

"I already met a ton of new people at the gym," Seiryo told me as we walked further up the entrance. "There's this girl named Lolana, she has like big crab arms like me and she's super strong. I asked her if we could spar in boxing and she was like, 'Are you sure you can beat the Lolana?' And I was like, obviously, because I've boxed for years and I'm super good at what I do. But she's really pretty and I don't know. I thought her confidence was pretty cool so I think I'm actually going to fight her."

I thought back to the entrance exam, the girl with the scar on the bottom of her shoulder and the crab arms. She looked menacing. "Good luck with that," I told him.

"And there were some Gold Vipers there too I think, one named Sasha, but she was pretty mean to me even though I thought I was being nice..." Seriyo mumbled. "Do I come off as mean?"

"Quite the opposite," I assured him.

"You don't say much," he told me. "You talked a lot though when you were leader. Does this mean we're like, equals now?"

Absolutely not, I could kill you in a heartbeat, is what I wanted to say.

"We were always equals, I admire your strength," I half-lied between my teeth.

"Sometimes I wonder where I'd be if things were different, I really don't think I could've gotten in without you, Kenichi," he muttered. "Y'know, I've always thought– Oh! Look, it's Ryker and Milo and Fox!"

I turned around to see them. My eyes widened a bit when I saw the state Fox was in. He looked pale, his hair was grown out and covering his eyes, and he was skeleton-like. He looked like he was in a coma instead of me.