18 Goodbyes on the First Day

After a few minutes, the excitement died down and everyone started to trickle out. Eventually, it came down to just a handful besides Kai and Ayako. The day over and friends met, they decided to head out. Well, as far as the friends portion of that goes, it was mostly Ayako. Nobody had been able to approach him and found it much easier to talk with her. Those who were curious about him went to her.

"So, what do you think of them, Ayako?"

"I think you have a great class. They are all eager to be heroes. But then there's…" Ayako trailed off. She hadn't missed the spike of malice that had come up when she and Kai had brought up Midoriya.

"I know. There is something strange in their history. Apparently, Midoriya's Quirk is a new development, and Bakugo can't process that change."

"You mean it wasn't that strong before?"

"No, he called Midoriya a, quote, 'Quirkless guppy.'"

"Wow. So he's a racist as well as a jerk. But still, strange…."

"I'll look into it. There is definitely more than meets the eye here. And it would be useful to prepare in case things get a little out of hand. Hopefully, things will resolve peacefully, and I won't have to get involved."

"Please, please, please, PLEASE, don't go too far. You can't just go 'demon lord' because of a little thing like this, even if he is a racist jerk."

"Don't worry, Ayako, I promise you that I will deal with things appropriately."

"Why do I not feel reassured in the slightest?"

"Because you know a little about what I might call- hey, look who it is!"

Just ahead of them were three familiar faces. The first two, Ayako knew well, as she had just met with Uraraka and Iida. The third, looking exhausted, was Midoriya.

The pair taking notice of the other three was just in time to hear, "Hi, I'm Deku!" from a flushed Midoriya. Ayako and Kai shared a glance, instantly hearing the insult there. But, if he introduced himself as such and was letting Uraraka use it without a hint of mockery, then what were they to say?

Kai raised his hand in a silent greeting, which was soon noticed by Midoriya as he was the only one facing them. Midoriya, or rather, Deku (if that was what he was now choosing to go by, so be it) returned the gesture, causing Uraraka and Iida to turn around.

"Hello again," Kai said with a smile. Uraraka and Iida automatically returned the greeting. Seeing him smiling, they had a hard time putting that together with his show of power before.

"Um, hello. Um, what is your name?" Midoriya awkwardly asked.

Kai smacked himself in the forehead. Of course, Midoriya hadn't been in class for the little meet and greet between everyone before. He had been in the nurses' office getting healed. And before that, Kai hadn't gotten to introducing himself while "helping" him through the trials.

"Kaisei Oguchi, at your service," Kai said with a quick bow.

"No, no, no, don't be so formal! You helped me a lot with your advice!" Midoriya waved his hands, uncomfortable with Kai's actions.

Kai grinned. "Not with the other thing?"

"What's this 'other thing?'" Ayako asked a little hesitantly. She could see that Kai was being mischievous to say the least. Besides that, Uraraka had paled a little bit, remembering the scene. "Kai, what did you do?" she pushed, punching him in the arm to emphasize her point. With what she suspected, she would have smacked him upside the back of his head, but with his antenna hair, it just wouldn't work as well as it should.

"Just a little visual drama, nobody was hurt! Terrified, maybe, but not hurt at all! And it was all for a good cause," Kai finished.

Ayako pushed her forehead into her hand. "Oh no, he did the 'they ate them' trick, didn't he?"

The other three looked at her, then to Kai, then back to her in disbelief.

"He has always wanted to do that. He has helped train me and some classmates, but never had the opportunity. Always lamented playing Quirkless and terror not whatever situation anyways. You just love drama, don't you?"

"What can I say? It's a useful tool sometimes."

"Wait," Iida said, "what do you mean, 'playing Quirkless?'"

Deku and Uraraka also looked shocked. Especially Deku. With a power like Kai's, who would want to be Quirkless? That would just be asking for trouble.

"Well," Kai said, a little embarrassed, "my mom told me to never reveal my Quirk until high school unless absolutely necessary. And I mostly managed to hold to that. As for the reason, I think you can imagine."

No, we can't, Iida, Uraraka, and Deku thought. What the heck? But now that Quirklessness was brought up, Deku remembered something.

"You know, after I did the pitch test, you said something about Quirkless heroes. What did you mean? I've never heard of a Quirkless hero."

Kai shrugged. "Can't blame you. They don't tend to get talked about as being Quirkless. And certainly not in Japan. Still, it's an open secret in America that at least a dozen heroes are actually Quirkless. Ever heard of MA3?" Everyone shook their heads. "Dang. Would have made this faster. MA3 is the Martial Arts Association of America. They are one of the highest authorities on raw skill in the old martial arts. You can't get in with just power, so even the Quirkless are allowed in. If they get recognized for technique with them, some Quirkless have registered that skill as their Quirk, and then become heroes. A much longer path, but one that still reaches the goal anyways."

"Isn't that dangerous? Having no Quirk and going into hero work?" Uraraka asked.

"Good point. It is dangerous. But counter point, since when does having a Quirk make you immune to danger? How would your Quirk help you in a burning building? How would Deku's strength help if he misses his target and just disables himself? Or how about Iida's speed if he doesn't watch his step and breaks his leg in a hole in the ground? Nobody is without a weakness. Nobody is so strong that they cannot lose.

"Besides, don't you have a bunch of martial art schools here? It's just that your culture here makes you conform more, and so less people are willing to go against the grain and use that as their 'Quirk.'"

"You're not from Japan?" Uraraka asked.

"I've lived a bunch of places before moving here. If I had to say I was from anywhere, I would say I'm… from Earth."

"Well, on that note," Ayako said, "let's get on with our day! I can't have you casting a dark shadow on our first day, or theirs! You sound like an old man! Besides, we've made it all the way to the station! And I believe you owe me a good, home-cooked dinner!"

With that, everyone said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

"So, I didn't get to ask you, what do you think of your class?" Ayako asked eventually.

Kai thought about it for a while.

"It's a start. They'll do for now."