Acceptance of a Soul: A My Hero Academia Story

Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

"Kaji...Kaji! It's time to wake up. It's our first day at UA!" Kaji awoke softly, his red eyes opening slowly as he looked around for the familiar voice of his sister, then groaned as he looked at the alarm clock, 5 minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off. He let out a sigh and rolled onto his back, staring up at the blank ceiling, one arm resting on his forehead. It had been four long weeks since the entrance exam, and only a few days since he got his acceptance letter. Nevertheless, he had a promise to keep, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him. He let out a groan as he sat up, running his fingers through his hair. He got out of his bed and stretched, getting dressed quickly before going to brush his teeth, taking a couple look in the mirror. Upon seeing his short black hair was slightly unkempt, he quickly soaked it with some water to spike it up neatly before making sure his school uniform was folded neatly. He placed his uniform in his backpack along with everything else he believed he needed; and zipped it shut. He put on his leather jacket, a gift from his twin sister, and zipped it up before putting his backpack on.
         "Nice...everything's ready." he said as he made sure his hair was still neat, before he grabbed a quick bite to eat and grabbed his helmet. He grabbed his keys from the hangar next to his door, then took one last look around his apartment before he smiled sadly, and walked out of his small apartment. He walked along the catwalk and down the stairs towards the parking lot. Kaji smiled under his helmet as he saw his motorcycle, the one he had bought with his own money after he had turned 16 and saved up for so he wouldn't have to take the bus or walk. It was a Kawasaki Ninja 400, which he had taken the time to research extensively, before having it painted black and red, his favorite colors.
         "Ha! Can't wait to hear what this beast sounds like!" Kaji thought to himself as he climbed onto his motorcycle, and waited a moment before starting the engine. He couldn't stop smiling as he felt the machine rumbling, the engine aching to let loose. That was one of his secret hobbies, he was a huge nerd when it came to working on machines, cars, or any sort of support gear. Of course, his sister knew about this hobby, which is why she had always come to him when it came to something she couldn't figure out. Kaji unzipped his jacket for a second to pull a photo from his inside pocket. It was of him and his twin sister, to which he smiled sadly as he stared at it.
           "We're really doing this, Kairi." he muttered to himself as he put the photo back in the inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it back up. He closed the visor of his helmet, and revved the engine before slowly driving out of the parking lot of the apartment complex.

        Kaji drove along the streets, beating the early morning commutes. He stopped at a red light and saw a bus next to him, completely crowded and overpacked, with a lot of UA students packed against each other. That was the exact reason why he had chosen to save up for his motorcycle, he despised public transportation. It made him feel trapped, and it was also just annoying. As soon as the light turned green, he pulled away from the bus and drove through the district, going up the long hill that led straight to UA High School. As he neared UA, he felt the pit in his stomach increase as he went up the hill. He neared the main gates, and showed his school ID to the guard at the front, and he was let in.
"Gonna need to leave your motorcycle in the parking lot, son." said the guard.
"Where is it? Can you point me in that direction?" he asked politely. The guard nodded and turned, pointing off to the side of the campus near the main building.
"Thank you. Have a good day." said Kaji as he drove slowly over to the parking lot and parked his motorcycle. He turned the engine off and took off his helmet, fixing his hair fast before walking towards the main entrance. He stopped just outside the main building and took a deep breath, looking up at the massive building in front of him.
"Can I really do this...?" he thought to himself. UA High School, was one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, and the opportunity to get in was extremely small. Only the best even got a chance at being in the Hero course, a chance that Kaji was not going to squander. While it didn't help that he was starting the year late, he wasn't going to let the deficit stop him. He stared for a moment more, before slowly walking inside. He spotted all new faces, no one he recognized from his middle school seemed to be here, at least from what he could tell at the given moment. He walked through the massive hallways, searching for his classroom, room 1-A. Finally, after a few minutes of walking, he found his classroom. He stopped right outside of it, and took a slow, deep breath.
"Okay...you can do this, Kaji...go!" he muttered to himself as he walked into the classroom. He was met by many pairs of eyes, including the eyes of the teacher. Kaji locked eyes with his new teacher, he had long black hair that went down past his neck, he wore all black, with a layered gray scarf wrapped around his neck, which made him look like a somewhat wrapped Mummy. He had an exhausted look on his face with tired red eyes, and looked like he genuinely did not want to be there.
"Ah...you're early, Ryu. Good." he said, his voice surprisingly calm. The teacher turned towards the rest of the class who was settling in, and cleared his throat.
         "Let me have your attention please. I am aware that this class was already considered full, but the student I'm about to introduce seemed too promising to pass up. Please give your attention to your classmate, Kaji Ryu." he announced as Kaji looked around the room at his other 20 classmates. Some of them stood out to him because of their powers, or Quirks. Others he knew he would have to get to know so he could understand their Quirks, and then figure out how to properly work with them later on.
         "What's so special about this damn extra???" one of the students asked, and Kaji's red eyes narrowed at him with recognition. The student that had spoken was someone Kaji recognized; Katsuki Bakugo, the student that had scored the highest amount of points in the entrance exam. He had spiky blonde hair, red eyes that looked angry, white skin, and in common overcompensated fashion, had his feet up on top of his desk. Based on his first impression of him, Bakugo definitely looked like he was completely full of himself, which was something Kaji didn't necessarily like. It always lead to arrogance and shallow overconfidence.
         "What kind of Quirk would this windbag need to have to be this cocky?" Kaji thought to himself as he glared at Bakugo.
         "Bakugo, that's enough. Does anyone have any actual questions for Kaji before we begin?" the Teacher asked. One student raised her hand as she stood up, a girl with long black hair in a large ponytail.
        "Mister Aizawa, sir. Why the last minute addition if the class was already full?" she asked politely, before quickly directing her attention towards Kaji.
          "No disrespect intended, of course. I was merely wondering." she explained. Kaji shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly at her, not offended in the slightest.
"While you are correct about the class being full Yaoyorozu, Principal Nezu himself gave him a spot in this class. As for the exact reasons, that is between myself, the Principal, and Ryu." Mr Aizawa explained. His answer caused the taller girl to nod silently as she sat back down.
"What's your Quirk?!" another student asked, but Kaji couldn't see her, the only thing he could see was her school uniform.
"An invisibility Quirk. That's interesting." he thought to himself as he gave a friendly smile.
          "I guess you'll find out when you see it in action." he remarked teasingly. This caused several curious mutters among his new classmates, most of them appearing intrigued.
            "Ah come on, new boy. Show us, pleaseeeee!" another student explained, a girl with pink hair, pink skin, and black and yellow eyes with tiny curved horns on her head sticking out through her hair. Kaji looked towards Mr. Aizawa, unsure if he was even allowed to show his Quirk in the classroom due to its volatile nature. He sighed, seemingly with exhaustion.
            "You'll all get to see Ryu's Quirk in action today. Because today you'll be doing combat training as a class." he explained, which raised excitement among the class.
            "We get to see what our Quirks are made of, so manly!!!!" one of them exclaimed, a bright eyed guy with spiky red hair and sharp teeth.
           "Just because you have permission to use your Quirks doesn't mean you can go all out, Kirishima. Be sure not to forget that." Aizawa proclaimed quickly, which caused the sharp toothed teenager to become slightly crestfallen.
"Regardless, I look forward to see what kind of power you have. I'm sure it's wicked cool." Kaji pointed out, trying to bolster his new peer's spirit. It did the trick, because he popped right back up and smiled at him.
"Thanks, man! Love the confidence!!!!" he exclaimed, which caused the new student to chuckle.
            "Kirishima seems like an alright guy, definitely friendlier than that punk Bakugo. How did he even get into UA with his attitude anyway...?" Kaji thought to himself.
"Ryu. You can take your seat behind Yaoyorozu for now." said Aizawa as he sat down behind his desk at the front of the room, looking out over the group of students.
"Yes, Mister Aizawa." he replied as he walked down the row of seats to take his place behind the taller girl. She was quite pretty, especially now that he was closer to her. Her eyes held an astute level of maturity to them, like she was used to fulfilling other's expectations with ease. Her facial expression was calm, collected, and focused. She didn't even bat an eyelash at him as he walked by, which only made him respect her more than he did after her first impression. As Aizawa spoke about the lessons and exercises for today, he settled into his seat as best he could. He looked around at his peers as the ones nearest to him introduced themselves, and found himself genuinely surprised by some of their Quirks. While he couldn't see all of them, his classmates who had Mutative Quirks were quite impressive. There was Mezo Shoji, who's Quirk was called Dupli Arms, who instead of two arms, had six muscular arms with webbing between them. Fumikage Tokoyami, who's body was human but he had a Crow like head. Mina Ashido, who's skin was bright pink with a pair of tiny golden horns sticking out of her head, but were mostly hidden by her hair.
"Sooooo, what's your Quirk, Kaji? Can I see??" she asked him with a big grin. Kaji was about to oblige her and show off his power, but then he noticed Mr. Aizawa was glaring at the class, and he sat up straight quickly.
"If all of you are done chatting, it's time for everyone to get up and follow me. Today's lesson will be Quirk assessment against similar Quirk types." said Aizawa.
           "What do you mean by that, sir?" asked one of the students, a student around Kaji's height with broccoli green hair. Aizawa turned and faced the class again, his red eyes scanning over all of them.
           "You'll see, Problem Child. Now, let's go everyone." he declared. The class all stood up together and followed Aizawa out of their home room.