"New ability today Rakuro?" Asked a man walking to the train station with his suitcase in his hand.
Rakuro nodded, "Arm cannon today Matsuzaka-san."
"A hero quirk!" The man laughed, "Lets hope your luck is always like this then!"
Rakuro gave him a polite smile as he made his way to school. A hero quirk, he called it. Something that would last five hours before changing. How many times could he consistently land hero quirks?
He looked at the watch on his wrist.
Two minutes till gates close.
And he could see the gates already.
Rakuro began running but stopped at the signal.
He stood among the very impatient students rushing toward school.
Green.
He sprinted to the gates and slid through just as they began to close.
"SAFE!" He spread out both hands like a baseball referee.
"Cutting it close today huh Hizutome?" asked a male voice from beside him.
Rakuro sighed, "Some idiot got my shirt wet and I had to wait till it dried up a bit president."
The student council president asked without looking up from his clipboard, "Why didn't you change your shirt?" And then he looked up, "Ah. New quirk?"
Rakuro nodded.
"Can't get your shirt off?"
He nodded again.
"Why not just the extra stretchy version of the uniform?" The student council president, Shinzo Homura, asked, "Its what us Mutant type quirk users get."
Rakuro sighed, "They are reserved for Mutant and Transformer types president. I'm an Emitter. They won't let me get it."
"No matter. You'll be graduating in a month anyway." Shinzo shrugged.
Quirks were classified into different types.
Mutants. Quirks that could change the physical appearance of someone. It can be controllable in some cases. But permanent in others. Shinzo was one of them, his quirk Telescope, had transformed his head into a telescope.
Transformers. These quirks affected the physical state of the user. Usually enhancing them in some manner or altering them in others.
The line between Mutants and Transformers were simply drawn by weather or not their quirk was a by product of their physical state or caused it entirely.
Emitters. Those who could control their quirk willingly. Each having some sort of external or internal application. Rakuro and his family all had emitter type quirks, though Rakuro's quirk was classified that simply because he could activate it, he could technically replicate quirks from all the types.
And like Shinzo said, they would be graduating in a month.
Rakuro was fifteen years old. The age where most Japanese children had to make a decision for their futures.
And he had made his.
The route of a salaryman. Just the average man who would have to climb up the social ladder on his own.
A simple life was all he wanted.
No delusions of grandeur. And definitely not dreams of heroism.
Obviously, if he saw someone who needed help he would move but choosing to be a hero for his profession was not something he had lined up in his cards.
"Yo! Rakuro!"
He heard his name being called out as soon as he stepped into class.
"Eijiro. Good morning!" He wished as he slid into his seat right beside him.
A center seat. Right in the middle of class.
He had chosen the seat specifically due to its inconspicuousness. Teachers were usually more focused on the outer edges of the class, leaving the middle unattended.
He reached into his bag and pulled out his phone.
Unattended enough to play games and not get caught.
But as he did, he realized that he couldn't use both hands to play.
"New ability?" Eijiro prodded.
Rakuro slid is phone back inside his bag, "Mega Launcher." He frowned as he focused properly on Eijiro. "New hairstyle?"
Eijiro nodded, "Having my hair cover my face made me look like a villain. And since I'm applying to UA I have to look like a hero at the very least. Looks good right?"
His sharp black hair that used to fall over his face was now pushed up.
"I.... I don't know. Its different." Rakuro tried to explain, "I mean. I couldn't recognize you for a moment."
Falling into thought, Eijiro nodded sagely, "I think the black hair needs to go."
"Bald?"
"No!" He replied offended by the question. "I'll dye it."
"Blonde?"
He slumped into his chair, "I don't know yet."
"Your shirt is see through Rakuro."
"Its almost dry Mina." Rakuro sighed as the bubbly girl forced herself into their conversation.
Mina looked at his arm next, "Nice cannon."
"Mega Launcher." He corrected, "I can shoot out blasts of water."
"And that's why you are drenched." Mina nodded.
Eijiro reached for his arm and lifted it, "Heavy!" He looked up at Rakuro, "You were lugging this around?!"
Rakuro lifted his arm and brought it back down, "Yes."
"That's enough of a reason." Eijiro smiled at him.
Rakuro held him his left hand stopping his from continuing, "No."
"But-"
"No."
"Is he still trying to convince you?" Mina asked as she leaned on her chair, balancing it on its back two feet.
Rakuro looked defeated, "It is pointless Mina."
Mina smiled widely in response to that, "You could apply to the general course."
"That's what I'm going to apply for." Rakuro looked confused.
"At UA." she finished.
"No." He shook his head, "No. No. NO."
"She isn't wrong." Eijiro placed his arm on his shoulder. "We'd be in the same school in the end. And UA's general course is pretty good."
"Graduates all tend to have illustrious careers." Mina tried to sweeten the deal.
"I'll do some research before applying." He answered as he genuinely put some thought into the idea.
Eijiro couldn't stop himself, "I still think you should apply for the hero course."
"Eiji-"
"No. Listen to me for once." Eijiro interrupted, "The random hero! Every time you are different. You are extremely flexible and you have a quirk for every occasion."
"What if it fails?" Rakuro asked, "What if I pull a bad quirk when someone is in danger? What if I run out of time with a good quirk during a rescue operation? What if someone gets hurt? What if I end up getting hurt?"
"That's why you don't have to be alone!" Mina defended him, "You can be part of a team. A wildcard! And you've already had experience with UA."
Rakuro looked into her eyes, the black sclera and yellow iris made her more intimidating than anyone else in the class when she wanted to, "That was for research. They wanted to measure the randomness of my quirk."
"And?" Eijiro prodded.
"And the research for inconclusive." Rakuro answered, sitting up straight as their teacher walked in, "Nothing of note that they could gain."
He lied.
They did glean some information about his quirk from their research. The most important one was how his quirk functioned.
It pulled an ability from a pool of abilities.
They had researched and categorized a bunch of abilities until he had pulled one ability back to back to back.
They had estimated that he had around a hundred or so abilities to pull from.
But that was years ago.
As he grew older..... every time he activated his ability, he seemed to pull new ones.
This one was among the new ones.
The pure randomness of his abilities left him with a bad taste in his mouth when he had thought of being a hero.
However, he was jolted out his thoughts by the words his teacher spoke next.
"Today's the day you submit your applications for your high schools." She handed them their sheets and continued, "Fill these up with your choice of school and we will be applying on your stead. You should receive a letter addressed to you regarding the next steps in the coming week."
"Wha?" Rakuro looked flabbergasted at the form in his hand.
"I hope you are done with your research for UA Rakuro." Mina grinned at him.
Eijiro chuckled, "How'd you forget that it was today?"
He sighed before nodding and filling in his details. The pen stopped as it reached the point in the form where he had to write down the school he wanted to apply for.
"Go ahead." Eijiro prodded as he noticed his hesitation, "Put in UA."
Mina tilted her head back, expectantly watching him.
"Fine." He said as he filled in the school.
UA High School.
The premiere high school for heroes in the country. And they did have a general studies course that was lauded.
"Now fill the next part in with Hero course." Eijiro tapped his form.
"What?" Rakuro looked at him.
Eijiro shrugged, "You just take the exam. For the general studies it is just the written portion but for the Hero course they do an extra test. If you do well enough in the written portion your seat in the general course is guaranteed. And you are smart enough to get though."
"Then why should I attempt the hero exam as well?" Rakuro asked.
"Experience?" Eijiro tried to coax him, "I mean.... you'd regret not attempting it at the very least.
"You could set a high score!" Mina chimed in.
Rakuro snorted, "Or set the record for the lowest possible score."
But the words did get to him.
High score.
He could set one in theory.
Beat the record All Might had set before him.
A tall ask.
But....
The gamer in his couldn't back down from the challenge.
His pen moved.
"How'd I end up with only devils on my shoulders?" He grunted.
Hero course.