abcnovels
Chapter 55: NO. 55 - UA High School
Chapter 55: NO. 55 - UA High School
Chapter 55: NO. 55 - UA High School
Sitting up, I blearily looked around my spartan bedroom and yawned. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I tossed my blanket off and stood up. After performing a few stretches, I walked inside my bathroom and let my body go on autopilot as I brushed my teeth, showered, and did my business.
Once I was done, I quickly got changed into my new school uniform. Said uniform consists of a long-sleeve, button-up white shirt, dark blue-green pants, a gray blazer with blue-green stripes on the collar and hem of the sleeves, and a red tie.
Eyeing the tie in annoyance, I tossed it over my shoulder and slipped on Yuji's jujutsu uniform under my blazer. Its red hood sat over the grey blazer rather comfortably. Before I left my room, I grabbed my backpack and lifted Zaiko over my shoulders, disturbing his own sleep.
"Gueh?"
"Time for school, Bud."
"...gueh."
"No, I can't leave you behind."
Reaching the main living area, I noticed Kaina was up already with a mug of coffee in her hand. She was reading a book on child development while a stack of pancakes and fruit sat on the dining table.
"I see you're taking the role of Eri's caretaker seriously," I said as I served myself some breakfast and coffee. "Thanks for the food." Nodding, Kaina looked over at me and inspected my uniform.
"Where's your tie?"
"That death trap? Somewhere in my room." I cut up some of my food and began to eat. Kaina frowned and closed her book. Walking over to me, she stood behind me and began to mess with my hair. "Oi. I rather like the "I just woke up like this look."
[+10 SP]
Smiling, she shook her head as she finished tousling my hair into a more presentable look. "I know you're just going to UA to mess around but you can at least look the part. It is one of Japan's most elite schools, after all." Stepping back, she smiled and nodded at her hard work. "There. That's better."
Frowning, I looked away from her and muttered. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
It was odd to have someone act like an older sibling toward me. Considering my age and past experiences, having my hair tosled around was a bit embarrassing. But I wouldn't say I didn't like it. Who wouldn't want a hot older woman fussing over them? Especially someone like Kaina? I'd be a fool to wave off her help and support like a bratty child.
She wasn't like this with me after she first moved in. No, Kaina only began acting like a pseudo-older sister toward Himiko and me after the attack on the Shie Hessaikai.
Maybe it could have something to do with her finding my skewered bloody body and thinking I was dead. But who knows? I certainly wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I liked being pampered here and there, thank you very much.
"Before I forget, here. Take this." Kaina reached beside her chair, where a black gift bag sat. Reaching over, I accepted it with a small thanks and peered inside.
"This is..."
Reaching into the bag, I raised a familiar-looking thick black and white mask.
The mask was quite intimidating to behold. On the right side, there were two large eyes that appeared to follow anyone who looked at it. In contrast, the left side featured two much thinner and smaller sharp eyes. The rest of the mask had a smooth, clean texture, while my facial tattoos were imprinted over it.
[IMAGE]
"I saw you drawing this a few weeks back," Kaina said as she motioned for me to try it. Placing it on, I felt the mask straps secure themselves tightly, but not uncomfortably, around my head. "Now you don't have to run around in that ridiculous hood to hide your identity anymore."
Removing the mask, I stared down at it without any expression on my face. Seeing this, Kaina grew worried before I turned to her with a genuine smile.
"Thank you, Kaina."
[+55 SP]
"Ah..." Kaina blinked as my expression caught her off guard. Slowly, a warm smile spread over her face as well. "You're welcome, Souta-san."
Reaching over, I placed the mask into Zaiko and continued to eat as Kaina returned to her book. We both enjoyed the silent peace between us.
"UA! Let's go!" Himiko yelled as she, Jin, and Eri ran into the living room with excitement. Himiko was dressed in a uniform similar to mine but suited for her gender. That just meant she had a skirt and black leggings.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
"Oh! Are those delicious pancakes I'm seeing!" Jin announced with a flourish as he grabbed three plates. "My favorite! Actually, I'm a waffle man!"
"Pancakes! Pancakes!" Eri clapped as she sat down beside me. "Good morning, Souta-Oniisan!"
"Good morning, Eri," I said as I brushed the girl's hair back, causing her to giggle. Her small, almost nonexistent horn sitting over her forehead.
[+10 SP]
"Good morning, Sukuna-kun!" Himiko ran behind me and hugged me from behind. Causing her chest to press into my upper back. "Are you excited? I'm excited! Let's go!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Suuuper excited."
[+10 SP]
"...your voice says otherwise."
x x x
Himiko and I stepped off the train and made our way through the bustling crowds in the train station. As we walked, our UA uniforms attracted curious glances from several other students and adults. This wasn't too surprising, as it was common knowledge that those who graduated from UA would eventually become great heroes. However, when it came to students from other departments, people tended to lose interest.
Leaving the train station, the two of us ignored the stares from those around us and continued on our way to the UA campus.
"Hey... Souta-kun." Himiko said in a nervous voice as she came to a stop, which was a complete 180 from her early excited attitude. "Can we talk?"
Pausing, I looked back at her and noticed her anxious expression. "Sure."
"Listen... I've been thinking about, well, I've been thinking about Saito-kun and Sayaka-chan." Himiko looked at me with a tight expression. "While I'm happy for everything you did to help, I can't help but feel... guilty about how things went down. So I was wondering if there was anything you could do to help them."
"Ah." I nodded and looked up at the morning sky. "Those two."
[+15 SP]
"Yeah..."
Closing my eyes, I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. If I was being honest, I had completely forgotten those two kids. They were only a means to an end. Turning back to Himiko, I saw the look of regret in her eyes. This issue must have been chewing away at her for a while.
How didn't I notice?
"I suppose... I can try. I met this shifty criminal lawyer a year ago who can probably help them out." I said as I thought back to the man who I had run into during one of my nights as Sukuna.
On that night, I had found the lawyer tied up and about to be executed by two of his past clients. While I didn't know this when I stepped in, the lawyer quickly thanked me and pledged himself to me once he realized who I was.
From what I remembered, the lawyer worked out from the back of a day spa and nail salon somewhere in Saitama. Despite his roach-like behavior, I came to realize that he was actually really good at his job.
He also had an odd slogan as well. Better call... Better call something or another.
"I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can," I said, causing a large, thankful smile to grow on Himiko's face.
[+25 SP]
"That's perfect! Thank you so much!" Himiko jumped next to me and hugged my arm into her chest.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Let's get moving; we don't want to be late on our first day."
x x x
UA Highschool.
This institution is the number one ranked school for heroics and is considered the top Hero academy in the country.
With an acceptance rate of less than 2% and a student body of approximately 225 students per year, UA High School is a highly sought-after institution for any aspiring hero.
It was the school that helped give rise to some of Japan's most famous and successful heroes. Heroes such as All Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, and many more. All of which had entered the top ten of Japan's Hero Rankings.
With all this in mind, if you wanted to guarantee your position as a great future hero, you'd do everything in your power to attend UA.
But if your name is Shimizu Souta, then you couldn't care less about all these accolades or fancy smancy state-of-the-art training facilities.
"Class 1-D, class 1-D," I muttered as Himiko and I walked through the bustling hallways of UA in search of our class.
As fate would have it, Himiko and I were lucky enough to be placed in the same class. A fact that made her super happy once we found out about our classroom placements.
"Oh! over there!" Himiko said as she pointed over at the ridiculously big door down the hall.
Despite its size, the door was rather easy to slide open. Stepping inside, we looked over the classmates we'd be sharing a rather big classroom with for the next three years.
"Some colorful characters in here," I said as I walked over to the front of the classroom, where a seating chart was posted. "It's in alphabetical order."
Himiko scanned the seating chart and jumped for joy when she saw that she would be sitting behind me. Considering her last name started with a T while mine was with an S, this wasn't very surprising.
"Let's go say hi to our new neighbors!" Himiko grabbed my hand and dragged me to our seats.
Once there, I threw my backpack down beside my chair and slumped down. Placing her own backpack down, Himiko looked to our left, where a rather plain boy with brushed-back red and black hair sat. He had a disappointed expression on his face as he stared blankly at his desk.
"I didn't make it... I didn't make it into the hero course... I'm a failure." The boy muttered.
From what I recalled from the seating chart, this guy's name was Konya Toshio.
"Whose this sad-sack?" Himiko uttered, unimpressed.
"Ever hear of not kicking a man while he's down?" I said, turning to her. "You want this sad-sack to cry or something?"
[+5 SP]
"Who the hell are you two!?" Toshio rose to his feet, an annoyed expression on his plain face. "Don't you know that talking about others is rude? Apologize right now!"
"Nuh-uh." Himiko and I said.
[+8 SP]
"What do you mean, Nuh-uh?!"
"Okay! Pause!" Sliding between us was a short girl with long black hair and green eyes. Tied around one of the bangs that framed her face was a long red string. "Let's all get along, okay? We're going to be classmates after all!"
"Who are you?" I asked as I peered at her. The black-haired girl turned to me and flinched as she picked up on the negative energy that I regrettably emitted.
[+5 SP]
"A-ah, I'm Ogasawara Hikari!" Hikari said as she forced a happy smile on her face. She spun away from me and waved at Himiko. "Let's all be good friends!"
"Okay!" Himiko smiled and pulled out her phone. "Let's exchange numbers then!"
With a sigh, I ignored the indigent Toshio and happily chattering pair of girls and leaned my head on my desk. "I want to go home..." From in front of me, a rather tall and well-muscled male student turned to me with a large grin.
"You want to go home on the first day of your high school career! Now, we can't have that!"
[+5 SP]
Looking up, I squinted my eyes at the tall, black-haired, grey-eyed bundle of annoying cheer that was my deskmate. "Huh?" At my comment, Hoshino Jurou chuckled and patted my back as if we were long-time chums.
Don't use Dismantle, Don't use Dismantle, Don't use Dismantle...
"I'm looking forward to our wonderful three years together, my friend!" Jurou's teeth sparkled as he offered me a thumbs-up. My negative energy seemingly had no effect on him. "Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Hoshino Jurou! It's a pleasure to meet you, Shimizu-kun!"
"...Is it too late to drop out?"
I ignored everyone around me as all the remaining students who would make up my class filled the classroom. As everyone talked and mingled, I let my mind wander to the successful release of the TMNT movie that came out three months ago.
The movie itself had some of the best animation the series has had thus far while adapting one of the most famous runs from my old world, The Last Ronin. While I tried to push for that R-rating at the beginning, I was outvoted by the NAPPA's president and TOHO's board of directors. Keeping the movie PG-13 would help secure more ticket sales and not alienate a large part of our younger audience.
Despite the lack of excessive blood and violence, the movie performed extremely well and tied a neat bow to the turtle brothers' story. The movie racked up 196.2 Million USD in ticket sales worldwide during its theatrical run. Or 29,490,455,498.40 in yen. Earning me a very decent chunk of change. I used some of that money to decorate and customize the hell out of Eri's room.
Hopefully, this trend will continue once my very popular DBZ manga/anime has its first movie release. Unlike in my original world, I would weave the non-canon films into the canon proper to maximize my earnings.
The movies were set up to be events one couldn't hope to miss in order to get the full experience. At least, that's what NAPPA's president and I agreed we'd call it after seeing the success of the Last Ronin.
It was a little scummy to push my audience to watch a movie to get the whole story, but hey, I have to make my money.
Thinking back, I could still remember the amazed expressions on everyone's faces when I took them all to the TOHO theater for the movie's opening night. Izuku and Keiko's expressions were still the funniest of the bunch. Usually, tickets like these were incredibly hard to get a hold of, especially the seats I had. When they asked where I got the tickets, I told them I won them in a raffle, considering I still hadn't told everyone outside my household that I was Gege.
When should I do that? Hmm...
"Alright, everyone. Take your seats." A slow, monotonous voice called out as a relatively young woman with short, slightly curly, light hair and ram's horns on her head walked through the large classroom door.
The woman's face had a drowsy appearance as if she was mentally checked out. Keeping up the hero motif the school had going on, the woman was dressed in a hero costume. Said hero costume consisted of a Chinese Cheongsam mini dress with long funnel-shaped sleeves that hid her hands, high-heeled shoes, and a domino mask covered over half her face.
Stepping behind the lone podium in the front, the woman turned to us with a bored expression. Her eyes quickly scanned each and every single one of us. "My name is Shin'ya Onemu. I will be your Homeroom teacher from today onward."
"Hey, isn't that the pro hero, Moonlight?!" One of my classmates said in awe. Like a domino effect, his comment caused a wave of whispers and chatter. "She used to be Ingeniums Sidekick?! Why is she here?"
"Settle down, settle down... Why did I let Ingenium talk me into this?" Onemu muttered under her breath as she leaned on the podium. At the Homeroom Teacher's instruction, everyone quickly stopped talking. "We have some time before the entrance ceremony, so why don't you all introduce each other? Let's start over here and go down the line."
"No problem!" Rising to his feet, a brown-haired male student turned to us and grinned. "The names Ishimoto Keiichi! My Quirk is called Animal Shifter! I can transform into any animal I want for a full three minutes! How awesome is that?!"
Everyone in the class, except for me, clapped and eagerly asked Keiichi questions about his Quirk, much to his delight. Following that, each student began introducing themselves and explaining their Quirks. For the few Heteromorphic students in my class, they described their abilities instead. Eventually, it was my turn.
With a sigh, I stood up and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm Shimizu Souta. Unlike you all, I don't have a Quirk. But what I do have are these hands. They're rated E for everyone." I raised my fists and wiggled them. "What else? Let's see... ah, I also like coffee."
[5 x 20 = +100 SP]
Ooh, not bad. Maybe I should say some more out of pocket shit around here?
With my introduction done, I sat back down and took in the surprised looks from everyone around me. Their expressions weren't anything I hadn't seen before. After all, meeting a Quirkless individual was rather rare these days. I was even able to pick up some frowns and looks of uninterest.
"Ah! I'm next!" Jumping to her feet, Himiko stole everyone's attention from me and began her introduction. "My name is Toga Himiko! I can't wait to be friends with everyone! My Qurik... my Quirk is called Transform! As long as I can drink someone's blood, I can take on their physical appearance, as well as copy their voice!"
At the description of her Qurik, I saw some disgusted looks thrown Himiko's way while some of our classmates looked intrigued. Our Homeroom Teacher had a pensive look as she smiled at Himiko. It seems she was able to pick up on the potential of Himiko's Quirk.
After Himiko's introduction, I lost interest in listening any more. Once everyone was done with their introductions, Onemu got the class moving out of the class to begin heading to the school's large auditorium for the entrance ceremony.
Standing with my class, I looked over to the large podium at the back of the auditorium, where a small white bear, mouse, and dog-looking chimera stood. Off behind him were other Pro heroes, such as Recovery Girl, Thirteen, Hound Dog, Present Mic, Midnight, Cementos, and many more.
"Hello to you all! I am Nezu, and I will be your Principal for the next three years! You can call me Pricipal or Pricipal Nezu; either is fine with me! Hah-hah!" Nezu said into a microphone with a smile. "Now then, let's get things underway..."
-
AN:
I hope you all enjoyed today's Chapter and the scene visual I made to show off Souta's new mask.
While I know a lot of readers had issues with how I handled the Himiko and Saito plot line, I'm sorry to say that I'm not done with fraud Izuku just yet. I got something cooking on slow for his character heheh.
Please make sure to leave me a comment and your thoughts!
Until next time!