Denki entered his new school with a calm expression and a storm of calculations behind his eyes.
(New school. New environment. New potential future UA students.)
He could’ve hacked the school’s database right then and there—find medical records, incident reports, quirk registration notes, everything.
But he stopped himself.
(No. Not yet. I need to train the micro-scale range on my Electric Field. If I can detect quirks from a few meters away with precision, I won’t need to hack anything unless absolutely necessary)
So Denki spent the entire first day slowly shrinking the radius of his Electrical Field, trying to detect individual muscle twitches, breath patterns, and internal micro-currents of quirks
He found:
Two kids with mild emitter quirks
One girl whose quirk was literally ‘makes stickers smell nice’
A boy whose quirk was ‘left index finger glows faintly blue’
…But nothing resembling future hero material.
He sighed
UA caliber students don’t just fall into your lap [remember this]
The next morning the sun filtered through the windows of Classroom 2-B, dust motes drifting lazily in the light.
Students shuffled in, groggy-eyed, exchanging half-hearted greetings
Denki sat in the middle row, elbows on the desk, looking both extremely awake…
and extremely bored
The teacher uncapped a marker
“Good morning, everyone. Today we’re continuing the study of the butterfly affe—”
(Done) Denki thought with a tiny sigh
She hadn’t even finished writing the first equation on the board when Denki’s pencil was already moving
By the time the teacher finished distributed the class worksheets, Denki was almost done with his
He filled in the last answer with a casual flick of his wrist
(Okay, now what…? I could try improving precision on my Electric Field… or maybe brainstorm new consulting packages? I wonder if small-time heroes prefer subscriptions or one-time assessments…)
The boy beside him peeked at his paper and froze
“You’re… done? Already?”
Denki blinked.
“Mm-hm”
“But she hasn’t even— she didn’t even explain anything yet!”
Denki shrugged “Looked easy”
The boy slumped in defeat
When the teacher began walking by, scanning for struggling students, and stopped dead when she saw Denki’s filled-out paper
“Kaminari-san… you finished?”
“Yes ma’am”
“And you checked your answers?”
“Yes ma’am”
“….you didn’t skip ahead or cheat did you?”
Denki paused.
It could technically be though of skipping ahead—he is ahead of everything for about 6 years
“…No ma’am”
She stared at him long enough that two other students looked up.
Then she sighed.
“…Please read quietly until the others catch up”
Denki nodded dutifully
He did not read
Leaning back in his chair, he let his Electric Field expand across the room.
(Let’s see… wires in the walls… projector humming a little louder than it should… someone’s pencil sharpener is jammed… eight kids using their phones to cheat…)
He smiled faintly
This class was predictable.
The building’s circuitry was predictable.
School itself was predictable.
(Hopefully there are students here that would end up in UA in the future. Or else this will be another dud and I will suffer once again from boredom)
He twirled his pencil absentmindedly waiting until the bell rang to let them know the first period ended
At the end of class when the dismissal for break sounded, the rest of the class groaned, still stuck on problem six or seven
Meanwhile Denki just slipped his worksheet onto the teacher’s desk and stretched
As he walked into the hall, he heard whispers trailing behind him
“How is he in our grade…?”
“He didn’t even take notes!”
“I swear he must be cheating”
Denki chuckled softly
He shoved his hands into his pockets, wandering down the hallway without any particular destination
Somewhere in this school were the future UA students he needed to find.
It was just a matter of time…he hoped.
Releasing his Electric Field he scanned the surrounding areas not finding anything of interest yet.
He kept walking aimlessly around until his radar picked up something strange
He felt it jolt.
Literally
Their bio-electric signature shot up and down his field like a ping-pong ball—unpredictable, chaotic, and extremely noticeable
Who moves like that?
A rabbit on caffeine?
He followed the signal, weaving through crowds
Even without seeing them, he could hear them
“—OH MY GOSH LOOK LOOK LOOK—”
“—ido-san slow down!”
“—What are you even DOING?”
“—Good morning EVERYONE!!”
He turned the corner—
And saw Mina Ashido practically vibrating in place as she talked to three classmates at once, handing out compliments like confetti
Pink skin
Black sclera
Bright yellow eyes
2 little horn
Unmistakable
Denki’s brain processed the discovery and immediately provided another key piece of information
Mina Ashido.
Future acid queen.
Future extrovert gremlin.
Friends with Kirishima…
which means—
He scanned the area—
Ah
Leaning against a locker, trying desperately to look normal and not draw attention
Eijiro Kirishima
Younger, smaller, sharp teeth, still insecure.
Not yet the Manly Hero he will become
(2 for 1 UA student special. Time to make this school transfer count)
Denki walked up casually
“Hey. You’re… really energetic for 9:30 in the morning.”
Mina spun around so fast she blurred
“OHHH! NEW FACE! HI! I’m Mina! Who are you?? Are you new??Love the hair, is that a quirk thing? I like your hoodie—”
Denki blinked
“…Wow. You’re like a social hurricane”
“THAT’S THE NICEST MEAN COMPLIMENT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN ME!”
Denki laughed
She grabbed his hand and started shaking it enthusiastically
“I’m Mina Ashido! I like dancing, spicy food, and having fun with my friends! What’s your name??”
“Denki Kaminari” he said, amused “I just moved here”
Mina gasped loudly like he’d confessed a tragic backstory
“NEW STUDENT PROTOCOL ACTIVATED!! Come on, I gotta introduce you—THIS IS KIRI!!”
She grabbed Denki’s wrist like a grappling hook and dragged him toward a future red-haired boy who looked like he wanted to sink into the floor
Kirishima stiffened under the sudden attention
“M-Mina—! Don’t just grab people—!”
“Kiri, meet Denki! Denki, meet Ejiro Kirishima! But I call him Kiri! He’s trying really hard to be manly but he cries inside at least once a week!”
“Mina—STOP SAYING THAT OUT LOUD!”
Denki grinned and stuck out a hand.
“Nice to meet you, Kirishima. My name is Denki Kaminari”
Kirishima shook it hesitantly
“N-Nice to meet you too… Uh… sorry about Mina being… Mina”
Mina gave a thumbs-up.
“I take that as a compliment”
Denki’s field picked up Kirishima’s electric patterns—fast heartbeat, shallow breath
Nervous.
Insecure.
Exactly how the story depicts before UA.
“So” Denki said casually lifting his hand and letting small electrical currents dance along his fingertips “what’s your quirks? Mine is Electrical Control, as you can see, it lets me control electricity”
Mina jumped in immediately “Mine’s Acid! I can melt stuff and be pink—basically the best thing ever”
Denki laughed “That’s really awesome. Super cool”
She elbowed Kirishima “Your turn, Kiri”
Kirishima looked down “Uh… well… I’ve got Hardening. I can make my body tough. It’s nothing big. Kinda plain”
Denki blinked at him “hardening? Like just making your hands hard or something?” He acted confused
Kirishima nervously raised his hand and hardened it “Y-yes I can harden my entire body making it really tough”
“Woah. That sounds awesome. You’d able to take hits and protect everyone behind you. That makes you sound great and pretty reliable for hero work”
Mina thumped Kirishima on the back.
Kirishima’s shoulders lifted ever so slightly.
“T-Thanks…I guess”
And just like that, the three of them clicked
Denki found himself with the chaos gremlin known as Mina Ashido.
She kept dragging him and Kirishima every which way she’d go.
Ashido being the energetic outgoing leader of the group with Denki showing the same energy and Kirishima running right behind them.
Most days, the three would eat lunch together, Mina doing most of the talking while Denki and Kirishima chimed in.
She would go around introducing Denki to her friend groups and all around the school.
By the end of the first week, Denki had already mapped the entire school and was very familiar with both Mina’s and Kirishima’s electrical patterns
They hung out after school too.
Mina dragged them to stores, parks, random photo booths…
and sometimes Denki would take them past a familiar white publishing building to get an extra recharge
That’s when Denki discovered it
Kirishima loved video games.
Not casually-Loved them
So when Kirishima invited Denki and Mina over one weekend, Denki agreed instantly
Ten minutes later Kirishima regretted everything
“Bro—BRO—there’s no way you learned that combo already! I’ve been practicing that for weeks!”
Denki barely looked up from the screen.
“I dunno, Kiri, it just kinda makes sense after you run it a few times”
Kirishima gawked at him.
“You beat me in every game. I thought you said you never played these!”
“I didn’t” Denki said with a grin.
“But this is really fun!”
Kirishima collapsed backward on his bed.
“I can’t believe this… I finally made a new friend who’s down to game and he’s a natural-born monster…”
Denki and Mina laughed seeing Kiri’s defeated look.
But even being utterly defeated, Kirishima still grinned.
Denki had become one of his first real friends
~~~~~~
The three of them wandered down the neighborhood sidewalk, drinks in hand, chatting about nothing and everything.
Mina bounced with every step, as usual, while Kirishima kept trying to discreetly flex his arms whenever he walked past a reflective surface
As they passed a row of stores, a wall of bright colors flashed from a TV inside an electronics shop.
The speakers were loud enough that the ad spilled out onto the street
**”Today’s Hero Highlights!
Recent city-wide reports show small but noticeable boosts in pro hero performance across several agencies!
Strength output—up 6%.
Reaction time—up 8%.
Stamina duration—up nearly 12%!”**
Mina paused for only half a second to glance at the screen.
“Whoa, that’s cool!” she said, then instantly forgot about it as she turned back to Denki.
“Okay, but listen—if we’re going on a school trip, I’m not sitting next to Kiri on the bus.”
“Why!?” Kirishima protested.
“I didn’t even do anything yet!”
(Yet) Denki thought, amused
Inside the store, the ad continued:
“And in international news: I-Island announces a new breakthrough— A next-generation A.I. capable of high-precision tracking and real-time analysis across many fields!”
The screen flashed blueprints, holograms, and a clip of a robot that was controlled by the A.I.
locating many objects and people with its system
None of the kids looked back
Denki was too busy sipping his drink and stretching his electrical field around the area, mapping the cars, lampposts, and people walking by like a second sense
“So” he said, finishing his scan, “what did our teacher say again? Something about… an amusement park?”
“Oh!” Mina spun in a circle, nearly smacking Kirishima with her bag.
“Yeah! A super cool amusement park, and next to it is a wildlife reserve. We get to study the animals, write a report, blah blah—BUT after that, we get to ride roller coasters!”
Kirishima brightened.
“That actually sounds pretty manly. Studying nature! But we’re only allowed to view a small isolated area due to many of the animals having quirks. Becoming dangerous beasts that can—”
“It’s squirrels and ducks, Kiri” Mina interrupted gently
Kirishima deflated.
“Oh… well… squirrels can be kinda scary”
Mina cackled
They kept walking, passing by the store without realizing that the ad behind them was still playing, now showing charts of global trends, mysterious technological errors, and tech advancements
The trio, meanwhile, had moved onto arguing about which roller coaster they’d go on first—and whether Denki would zap the controls if the ride got stuck at the top
But Denki had different plans for spending his time on this trip.
Mainly involving the wildlife reserve.
With the animals there awakening quirks, he was more than interested.
Especially since it reminded him of a certain training method he saw from his previous life
(This could be fun)