The doorbell rang mid-morning.
Reiji's mother imdiately dropped what she was doing in the kitchen as Himiko practically appeared from the hallway before the second ring had even finished.
"It's from U.A.!" she exclaid as soon as she saw the rectangular package in front of the door.
The excitent in her voice was so imdiate that even the Toga family patriarch looked up from his laptop in the dining room.
"Give it to , give it to , give it to !" Himiko was already barefoot, crossing the room as if the prize was hers.
Her mother barely managed to grab the package before Himiko literally snatched it from her hands.
"Himiko, be careful!"
"It's in perfect hands with !" she added imdiately while checking the holographic seal on the box. "I know this is important!"
Reiji then appeared from the main hallway, still wearing a simple dark T-shirt and baggy sweatpants, his hair slightly damp from his shower. He walked toward the entrance with absolute calm while Himiko was still practically trembling with anxiety, clutching the package in both hands.
"Why are you so calm?" she asked as soon as she saw him approach. "It's literally U.A.'s answer!"
Reiji took the box from her effortlessly.
"Because if I didn't get in, getting nervous now won't change anything."
"That's a huge lie, and you know it."
The box was white, elegant, and far too sophisticated for a simple academic answer. The U.A. gold seal glowed softly on the surface as a small biotric reader awaited activation.
Himiko was practically bouncing beside him.
"Open it quickly!"
The mother let out a small, tired laugh as the father finally turned his attention to the important scene unfolding beside him.
"At least let it breathe."
Reiji placed his thumb on the reader, and the seal lit up automatically. The top of the box slowly opened, and a small holographic device erged from within.
"I wonder how they got my fingerprint..."
The image activated imdiately.
And a second later, All Might appeared projected in front of them in all his exaggerated glory.
"I'M HERE!!"
The voice literally filled the entire house.
Himiko let out a small squeal of excitent as the projection showed the Symbol of Peace with his arms crossed against a bright background filled with impossibly heroic colors.
"YOUNG REIJI TOGA!!"
All Might pointed straight ahead with a gigantic smile.
"FIRST OF ALL... CONGRATULATIONS!"
The image changed, showing rapid scenes from the practical exam: robots exploding, applicants running, and various rescues captured by aerial caras.
"THE U.A. ENTRANCE EXAM ISN'T JUST ABOUT STRENGTH!" All Might continued as he dramatically walked into the projection. "BEING A HERO ANS HELPING OTHERS EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO!"
Several scenes from the exam appeared behind him.
Reiji deflecting an attack away from other students.
Moving debris.
Shielding other applicants.
"AND YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT PERFECTLY!"
All Might's voice bood with such absurd energy that even Reiji's mother ended up smiling wider.
"YOU EARNED ONE OF THE HIGHEST RESCUE SCORES OF THIS GENERATION!"
The numbers finally appeared projected next to him.
124 Combat Points.
87 Rescue Points.
"HEROES AREN'T BORN FROM VICTORY ALONE! THEY'RE BORN FROM THE DECISIONS THEY MAKE WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH!" All Might continued with intense drama. "U.A. NEEDS STUDENTS WHO CAN ACT WHEN OTHERS HESITATE!"
All Might smiled broadly again.
"THAT'S WHY, YOUNG REIJI TOGA!"
The image zood in directly on him.
"YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO U.A. AS THE FIRST OVERALL STUDENT OF THIS GENERATION!"
Silence.
Exactly one second of silence.
"...What?"
Reiji automatically turned his gaze to the projected numbers while Himiko seed to freeze completely, processing the information.
And then she exploded.
"FIRST PLACE???!!!"
She literally threw herself on top of him before he could even react.
"OF EVERYONE?! OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE?! REIJI!"
Himiko hugged Reiji so tightly that he could feel his ribs straining.
But All Might wasn't finished yet.
Because the image shifted dramatically again before the final close-up.
"YOUNG TOGA!"
Reiji barely glanced up at the projection again.
All Might's smile was still enormous.
"THE PATH TO BECO A HERO IS NOT EASY!"
The images behind him slowly began to show various students training, falling, and getting back up.
"THERE WILL BE TIS WHEN YOU DOUBT YOURSELF! TIS WHEN YOU FAIL! AND TIS WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE NOT ENOUGH!"
Then he pointed straight ahead again.
"BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT GROWING UP ANS!"
The heroic music swelled again as All Might gave a thumbs-up with all the energy in the world.
"SO CO TO U.A. AND PUSH YOUR LIMITS!"
The final smile practically lit up the entire room.
"WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU AT THE LARGEST HERO ACADEMY IN THE COUNTRY!"
"PLUS ULTRA!"
The projection ended up exploding in brilliant colors next to the enormous U.A. logo.
And as soon as it disappeared…
Himiko scread again, still clinging to Reiji.
"FIRST PLACE!!!"
The mother finally let out a hearty laugh while the father smiled calmly, clearly proud.
"THAT'S MY AWESO, AMAZING, ABSURDLY PERFECT BROTHER!" Himiko shouted, still clinging to him. "ALL OF JAPAN IS GOING TO KNOW I'M THE SISTER OF THE FUTURE NUMBER ONE HERO!"
Reiji slowly lowered the holographic projection.
"You could shout a little louder," he murmured calmly. "I think there are still a couple of prefectures that didn't hear you."
Himiko completely ignored the comnt.
"I'm going to make T-shirts! And banners! And pins!" "Maybe a giant flag!"
"You're not doing any of those things."
"You can't stop !"
"I will."
The mother finally let out a much louder laugh this ti as she finally approached them.
"Well..." she murmured, looking again at the suspended projection of U.A. High School. "I guess that ans they start soon."
"Monday," Reiji finally replied. "Classes start on Monday."
"Then we'll go together!" Himiko declared imdiately, her excitent undiminished. "I'm going to show everyone that you're much less intimidating than you look!"
"Don't do that."
"And I'm going to introduce you to all my classmates. You might even get along great and they might promote you to my class!"
"That sounds worse."
"A-!"
"Himiko."
She finally stopped for just a mont.
"...What?"
"None of that, it will happen..."
"Never say never!"
***
The sun was barely rising in Musutafu, but Himiko was already walking beside him with such vibrant energy that it seed like she was at a school festival.
"This is real! Both of us at U.A.! Together! I'm going to see you every day!" she fantasized, jumping on a tile and spinning around with her arms outstretched.
Reiji walked silently, his hands in his pockets, his uniform immaculate, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
"We're not in the sa year," he reminded her, without looking at her.
"But we're in the sa academy!" she replied with a radiant smile. "We'll see each other in the hallways! And in the common areas! And we could have lunch together! And maybe even train together if the opportunity arises!" "And…!"
"Are you going to get this excited every day, or just today?" Reiji asked, barely turning his head.
"Every day!" she replied without hesitation. "What if we happen to be in the sa elective class? What if I run into you in the infirmary? Or when the heroes ask us for backup? It could happen! Imagine!"
'I'm imagining it. And it's giving a headache,' he thought, but didn't say it out loud.
Himiko continued speaking enthusiastically:
"We'll be able to walk back together again! And compete in the rankings!" Well… maybe not really compete, because you're in a lower grade and well… It's you! But still, I could catch up to you!"
Reiji raised an eyebrow, turning to face her with a sarcastic tone.
"What if I tell you I'm going to take a different route ho, just to get so peace and quiet?"
She paused for a second. She blinked. And then she clung to his arm tightly, like a limpet.
"Then I'll go that way too!"
Reiji sighed.
"Of course."
They walked the rest of the way like that: she with an inexhaustible sparkle in her eyes, he with patient resignation. In the distance, the imposing gates of U.A. began to stand out against the morning sky.
A new chapter was about to begin.
***
Reiji and Himiko had arrived at U.A. quite early.
According to Himiko, this was absolutely necessary on the first day of classes because the place tended to get more crowded than necessary due to new classrooms and lost students. Reiji didn't really understand what she ant by that, but he ended up following her anyway as she walked through the hallways with familiar ease. Unlike Reiji, she knew the academy like the back of her hand.
The difference between them was obvious when people looked at them.
Himiko practically radiated excitent as she walked through the corridors, talking about teachers, schedules, and what her first days of classes would be like, giving him advice and warnings.
Reiji, on the other hand, moved with absolute calm, discreetly observing his surroundings. The more he saw, the more his own theory was confird.
'U.A. attracts so really strange people...'
"Your classroom is at the end of the second hallway," Himiko said, practically dragging him by the sleeve. "And don't put on that serious face on the first day, or people will think you don't want to make friends, and you'll be left all alone!"
"I don't have any other face."
"That's exactly what's worrying."
They finally arrived in front of the correct door.
1-A.
The tal sign glead softly above the entrance as the general noise of other students moving around the academy filled the surroundings.
Himiko watched him for a few seconds with an overly smug smile.
"Well..." she muttered, crossing her arms. "You're officially a student at the country's top hero academy now. Don't do anything illegal before lunch."
"You're more likely to..."
She let out a small laugh before walking away toward her own classroom, though not without turning around one last ti to point a threatening finger at him.
"And talk to normal people!"
Reiji waited until she disappeared down the hall before finally entering the classroom.
The classroom was still almost empty.
There was only one person inside.
Sitting at the back, by one of the side windows, a boy with hair divided between white and red gazed out with such absolute stillness that he seed completely disconnected from the rest of the world.
'Shoto Todoroki...'
Even after so many years, recognizing him was imdiate.
And of course, he was probably the only person he knew with those hair colors and a large burn scar on one of his heterochromatic eyes.
'It'll be interesting to finally et the main characters of this story besides Izuku himself, i, Shinso, Himiko, and Nejire... Okay, I know several of them.'
Reiji decided not to approach Todoroki. Not because he was particularly uncomfortable, but because even from a distance it was clear that the boy preferred to remain isolated.
Instead, he moved toward a middle section of the classroom.
Not the back, where the loudest or most troubleso students usually ended up.
Nor the front, where he would inevitably be constantly watched by the teacher and forced to pay attention.
A middle ground was sufficient, just at the opposite end of the window from where Todoroki sat.
He placed his bag next to the table and sat down, discreetly observing the classroom, before finally, with no other option, playing on his phone for a while. The free ti had inevitably led him to start playing mobile gas, and boy, were they fun; he truly felt like a child.
Only a few minutes passed before he heard brisk footsteps approaching down the hall.
The door burst open, pulling Reiji from his ga.
"Good morning!" exclaid a clear, formal, and overly articulate voice.
Tenya Iida practically marched in. His uniform was perfectly aligned, his glasses immaculate, and his back so straight he seed incapable of relaxing even while walking.
"Nice to et you. I'm Iida Tenya, a graduate of Somi Academy."
He said it with such seriousness that for a mont the classroom seed to transform into an institutional presentation.
Reiji observed him for only a few seconds before calmly replying.
"Reiji Toga, nice to et you."
Todoroki didn't even turn his head.
"It's understandable that there are so few students here at this hour. I'm glad to see that at least there are other classmates committed to the seriousness of this institution."
Reiji nodded slightly as he watched Iida walk directly to the front rows.
'He's exactly as I rember him...'
Every movent of his seed asured according to so invisible set of rules. Even arranging his supplies on the desk was done with almost military precision.
And honestly…
it was impossible not to find him a little funny.
Although he also quickly understood why soone like that would end up becoming class representative sooner or later.
The door opened again a few minutes later.
This ti the atmosphere changed imdiately.
The girl who entered wore her uniform perfectly arranged and walked with an elegant calm that was hard to ignore. Her black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, her posture impeccable, and her serene expression contrasted sharply with Iida's boundless energy.
Momo Yaoyorozu.
Her eyes briefly scanned the room, lingering on each of the three people who had arrived before her. It was as if she were quickly trying to gauge what kind of people would end up sharing a classroom with her.
She said nothing. She simply walked to one of the middle seats and took her place casually, placing a small bag next to her desk.
'Momo Yao... I don't know what it is, the surna is too long to rember, but if I'm not mistaken, she, like Shoto, got in through a recomndation, right?'
Reiji rested his chin lightly on his hand as he continued to observe the classroom.
Little by little, the key mbers of the future Class 1-A were beginning to appear.
And that inevitably led him to another thought.
'Shinso got into 1-B'
The news didn't really surprise him.
He'd barely made it in, just barely securing the last available spot.
Number thirty-six. It made sense; there were four recomnded students after all, two for each course.
Considering how his Quirk worked and the limitations of the practical exam, honestly, the result was already impressive on its own. Shinso had had to adapt by using other applicants, provoking mistakes, and taking advantage of other people's situations to create the necessary weapons.
Although he'd scored several more rescue points than combat points.
'And Midoriya...'
That thought was more unsettling.
'General Course. 67th Place'
Even without a Quirk, he'd co a long way.
Reiji looked up again at the classroom as more students slowly began to enter.
New conversations.
Familiar faces.
Stories that hadn't really begun yet.
'Whatever happens...' she thought as she watched the room slowly fill up. 'This is going to be full of anomalies.'
Her eyes flickered briefly toward the faint reflection in the nearest window.
'And I'm one of them.'
***
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