My Swarm Academia: Call Of The Void

The beginning of the next day was… normal. Just the same as in any Japanese school, they started with homeroom and a couple of hours of standard classes- Math from Ectoplasm, Modern Literature from Cementoss, and English from Present Mic. Most of Class 1-A seemed… stunned… that things would be like a normal school, even for just the start of the day.

Kai felt some measure of relief that in the end, a school was a school. It would give everyone a mental break to just sit back and learn some English, even if they considered the latter more stressful than hero work. Of course, he thought that Present Mic could do with less caffeine. What kind of energy drink was he addicted to? It certainly wasn't just coffee.

Lunch was an interesting affair as well, by watching the others' reactions. Deku showed that he was easily starstruck, admiring Lunch Rush, who true to his name was manning the cafeteria. Very good food, but not nearly worth the starry eyes. Still, Kai appreciated the looks that came with Deku's summary of Lunch Rush and his accomplishments. For once, people were appreciating a hero for something other than brute strength.

Then, it was back to the classroom. Everyone had just gotten into the typical low pre-class buzz when suddenly the door slammed open.

"It's meeeeee!!!!!"

"You came!"

"Through the door like a normal person!"

The class was suddenly abuzz with the sound of avid fans admiring All Might, who strode into the room. From the man himself to his costume, everyone was impressed, and surprised that they had the honor of having such an iconic figure as their teacher.

Except Kai. He couldn't care less about All Might being his teacher. In fact, he had a fairly long list of people he would rather have. Still, his list of people he would rather not have was much longer, so he could concede this point.

However, that was far less important to him than the single line of interaction that came from Deku as All Might announced his presence. Excitement that he was finally here, and a rather personal excitement at that. Everyone else in the room was too starstruck to care about one of their classmates at that moment, but Kai found his attention grabbed by him. This one line had quite the implication, which Kai had every intent on following up on, but now was not the time.

Kai watched with narrow eyes as All Might stepped up to the teacher's podium. All Might made a slightly awkward eye contact for a moment but kept up his smile and cleared his throat.

"Foundational Hero Studies!" he loudly announced. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! Let's jump right in with this!! The Trial of Battle!!"

The whole class cheered loudly, ready to get right into the thick of heroics. One classmate had a decidedly somewhat sinisterly eager grin. Kai happened to be turned around to see Bakugo's face. He sighed. Great. Still, not a crime, not a problem.

Yet.

"And to go with your first battle," All Might continued over the excited chatter, "we've prepared the gear you requested to match your Quirks!"

As he said so, he pressed a button on a remote in his hand. With a hiss of air as pneumatics pushed them, four columns extended out of the wall. Each of them had a slot or two where a case sat behind glass, which slid open as the columns stopped moving. Everyone went up to retrieve their battle gear.

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go!" All Might said. "Everyone gather at Ground Beta. The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important, boys and girls! And don't forget, from here on out, you're all officially heroes!! See you there!!"

With that, All Might turned and led the class to go to the locker rooms themselves.

Kai picked up his gear, one case and a long box, and walked behind everyone else. With his position, he could have been the one of the first to get his gear and get out. However, he wanted to keep observing everyone. They were all excited, trying to peek into their cases on the walk over as much as they could without spilling out the contents. Kai smiled. Kids are kids, even if they are soon to be heroes.

Then he sighed, realizing his own thoughts had betrayed him, and now he felt old. 15 is too young to start feeling old, no matter what you've been through.

Upon reaching the locker rooms, everyone found a space to change. While occasional words rang out, for the most part, everyone was enamored with their gear. Most of those words were just exclamations about how it was all even better than they had imagined.

Kai himself was one of them. Within a few minutes, he was fully geared, more intent on the feel of his new equipment rather than the look. Nevertheless, there were quite a few looks, because his look added to the mystery that was Kai's bizarreness. While their gear ranged from Iida's full armor suit to Aoyama's sparkly knight's armor to Mineta's diaper (?) tights, Kai had definitely made a unique impression.

Kai's ensemble in a word was dark. Over dark blue pants he had black metal greaves to shield his legs. The theme of blue and black extended upwards to a black long-tailed coat that was open in the front to reveal a dark blue gambeson (European cloth armor. Rather effective against slashes). Sharp eyes might have been able to see outlines of plates of metal embedded within. His hands were covered with black leather gloves with metal plates over the knuckles. At his side, a wooden sword was tucked into his belt, slightly hidden under the coat. On his back was a scabbard into which a longsword was sheathed.

Then there was the disconcerting feature. The coat had a hood that currently sat on his head, and was cut in such a way that preserved peripheral vision. From inside the hood came a veil, which at the moment was open to reveal Kai's face. But then, pulling a zipper that had gone unseen, his face was hidden, and all sense of Kai as a person disappeared. The black of the hood and veil were a black so dark that once it was sealed up, they looked almost two-dimensional. He had gone from a dark knight to a faceless creature.

The suit feels good, Kai thought. A little heavy, but that was the price for protection. The weight did little to prevent movement. And, looking in the mirror, the black 4.0 was doing its work. It wasn't time to feel out the longsword, but he had taken a look at the decorations on the hilt and crossguard and was impressed with the work. He made a mental note to send proper thanks to those who made it for him. It was a good set of equipment that covered the one weakness left in his Quirk- himself. And the veil allowed him to ramp up the mystery. Hidden under the hood were a couple of options for sensory deprivation that could increase his control when using greater numbers.

Then, good moment over, Kai looked down into the case at the last item that had remained in its cushioned place. A box of six remotes, each with just a few buttons. Looking at this, Kai reached up to his neck, feeling the metal collar that he had put on before the rest of the gear through the coat that covered it. He knew that somewhere was a blinking LED, assuring the world that it was working. That it was ready. Hoping it wouldn't be necessary, he picked out two remotes and placed them into a pocket in his coat. Better to be safe than sorry.

Opening the veil and pulling back the hood, Kai looked around. The boys had finished their own appreciations of their own gear and were looking to each other.

"Let's move out boys, can't keep All Might and the girls waiting," he said.

Mineta's face especially brightened up at that. Everyone nodded and headed out together. As they stepped out the door, they were greeted by All Might.

"All right, let's see what you're made of, kids!"