Toru Hagakure

Today was the first day of school at U.A. High School. Although a long time had passed since that day, Jilan Jiyu still felt his heart race at the thought.

...Did All Might see me then?

He had abandoned the idea of intervening when the man named Scab climbed onto the iron plate. Although he could attack from the water, he wasn't confident he could deal with the man in black briefs.

He wouldn't do anything dangerous—that was Jilan Jiyu's creed.

No matter the circumstances, he could only consider his next move if he survived. Jilan Jiyu had originally planned to slip away after they went ashore, so he stayed hidden in the water. It was his caution that saved him from disaster. Who could have imagined that All Might would catch those thugs and return with the police, then subdue the man Jilan Jiyu found troublesome in a single move?

If he had been discovered, it would have been difficult to explain, but he could have bluffed his way through. What he feared was losing his eligibility to enter U.A. High School. Fortunately, although All Might might have noticed him, he hadn't said anything.

...I should be able to put this behind me now, right?

"First-year Hero Course, Class A... There it is." Jilan Jiyu had used the student ID sent with his acceptance letter to pass the inspection by the robot at the gate and enter the school. Following the map at the entrance, he found the first-year area.

"Are you..." someone behind Jilan Jiyu said, "Jilan Jiyu?"

Jilan Jiyu turned around and saw a school uniform like his own floating in the air. The lower half was a short skirt, so it was probably a girl's uniform.

...Is this something supernatural? In some anime, protagonists who had just started high school met ghosts haunting their schools and got to know all sorts of girls by helping them resolve their troubles, expressing the theme of youthful passion. But those were only anime.

Jilan Jiyu pressed his palms together and bowed his head in devout prayer. "I don't know who harmed you, but I hope you attain Buddhahood soon."

"Huh? Huh?" A sleeve of the uniform pointed at itself, and the sound of a girl laughing came from above the clothes. "Um, I'm in Class A too. My name's Toru Hagakure."

She's a new classmate? Then this isn't a ghost causing trouble. It's a manifestation of a Quirk.

"Is your Quirk invisibility, by any chance?" Jilan Jiyu asked the uniform in front of him. Although he couldn't see her face, judging by the slight bulge in the upper half of her uniform and the sound of her voice, she was probably a cute girl.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded vigorously. "More or less. My Quirk is Invisibility. Nobody's been able to see me since I was born."

Is that something you tell someone you've just met? This girl is really carefree. And... nobody's been able to see her since she was born? So it's passive, like that heteromorphic Quirk from the first case, the "glowing baby,"

He smiled at Toru Hagakure. "I'm Jilan Jiyu. My Quirk is Hamon." Nobody's been able to see her since she was born. It must have been hard growing up, right?

"Hehe, I know who you are. You're our number one."

Jilan Jiyu didn't know how to respond to that. He rubbed his nose and changed the subject. "Let's go in."

The first year of U.A. High School's Hero Course was divided into only two classes. All the students who passed were distributed evenly between them through stratified sampling, so neither class was superior to the other.

"What a huge door!" Toru Hagakure exclaimed when she reached the entrance to Class A, awed by its enormous door.

Honestly, anyone coming here for the first time would never think this was just one class's classroom. They would think it was a small lecture hall. The room was simply too big: it could easily hold a hundred people, yet U.A. High School was using it as a classroom for fewer than twenty.

Jilan Jiyu stepped forward and pushed the door open. The sound of what seemed to be an argument instantly came from inside.

"Don't put your feet on the desk! Don't you think that's terribly disrespectful to our upperclassmen at U.A. High School and the person who made the desk?!"

"No, I don't! What middle school are you some extra from?!"

Most of the class had already arrived and were sitting properly in their seats. Only two people were arguing, heedless of the eyes on them.

The man whose uniform was immaculate, who had once scolded Izuku Midoriya at the exam, repeatedly made strange hand gestures as he proudly declared, "I'm Tenya Iida, a graduate of Somei Private Academy!"

"Somei?" Katsuki Bakugo, whose clothes were loose and whose face wore a fierce expression, laughed wildly. "One of those damn elites, huh? You're worth killing!"

Tenya Iida jumped in fright and reproached him. "You're far too violent! Are you really someone who aspires to be a hero?!"

With a clatter, Toru Hagakure pulled the door all the way open and asked in confusion, "Jilan, why aren't you going in?"

At the sound of Jilan Jiyu's name, everyone turned to look at him in unison, watching the person who had ranked first in the entrance exam with different emotions.

"So you're the guy!" Katsuki Bakugo took his feet off the desk and stormed over. "You're the one who stole first place from me? Looks like we've got another score to settle!"

Is this guy trying to make enemies on the very first day? Is he reckless, or does he have something to back him up?

Jilan Jiyu frowned at him. "I don't think I've done anything to provoke you, have I?"

"Huh?" he shouted. "Never mind how you stopped me from teaching Deku a lesson before. You actually stole first place from me? Let's fight and see who's the boss of this class!"

Although Jilan Jiyu had once stopped the spiky-haired man in front of him to break up a fight, he had almost forgotten about it. He hadn't expected the guy to hold such a grudge. He didn't know exactly what his Quirk was, but since he had taken second place without any rescue points, Jilan Jiyu could imagine that his Quirk must be very powerful in combat.

Jilan Jiyu had no intention of fighting him and simply said, "I only got first place because I was lucky. I didn't mean to compete with you."

"You bastard?!" Katsuki Bakugo hadn't expected Jilan Jiyu to give up competing for first place so casually. Wasn't he treating him like a joke?! And those words—they were exactly the same as what that Quirkless Deku had said!

Just as he was about to explode, the door Toru Hagakure had pulled shut opened again, and a head of green hair he knew very well poked in.

"Deku!"

"Huh?! Kacchan!" Izuku Midoriya panicked a little. He hadn't expected to see two people he was somewhat afraid of, Iida and Bakugo, the moment he came in. Midoriya's memory was quite good, and he could see that the person who had helped him before seemed about to clash with Bakugo. Seeing the fierce-looking Bakugo staring at him, he was even more at a loss.

Suddenly, Tenya Iida stepped between them, blocking their gazes, and said to him eagerly, "Midoriya, you noticed the other way to earn points in the practical exam, didn't you?"

He closed his eyes in regret and said ruefully, "I'm sorry. I underestimated you. I didn't notice it at all!"

Huh? Midoriya was a little stunned. I didn't notice it!

A very cute girl emerged from behind Midoriya and said with a smile, "So we are late after all, Midoriya?"

"Huh?! Not yet, right?" Midoriya's face suddenly turned bright red. He was a little late precisely because he had met this girl on his way to the classroom. "I haven't seen the teacher yet..."

"Really?" the girl said excitedly. "Today must be the entrance ceremony or a tour of the school, right? I wonder what kind of person our teacher is?"

"If you want to play at making friends, go somewhere else." A languid voice came from behind the girl. "This is the Hero Course."

The people standing in the doorway all looked outside and were instantly struck speechless, as if they had been turned to stone.

There was something strange there!