Chapter Text
The dusk of Ostara was a time meant to bring forth new possibilities. The world was fertile with new beginnings—at least, that's what the Almanac said, according to Denki. Katsuki found himself skeptical. He was known for many things, and being an optimist was not one of them.
A strong breeze blew through the seaside gazebo of the Bakugou manor where Katsuki, Denki, and Hanta had holed themselves away as soon as the last glimmers of sunlight disappeared on the horizon. There was the distant sound of thunder, which sent a pleasant chill down his spine. Katsuki always did love a good storm.
The three men decorated their makeshift altar, filling the space with candles, incense, and trinkets that correlated with the elements. They could feel the energy of their sacred space taking form, their bodies charged and raring to go. Their hands joined with one another's as they finished preparing their items, each man closing their eyes and focusing their thoughts and energies on their corresponding element.
“Now is the time. This is the hour. Ours is the magick. Ours is the power.” The words started as a whisper and grew louder in volume the more they chanted. As lightning struck, Katsuki's eyes snapped open. The energy that was swirling around them indicated that change was coming. And by the blessings of Manon, he was ready for it.
~~~
Eijirou's eyes fluttered open as the flight attendant gently nudged his shoulder, asking that he return his seat to the upright position. He complied, groggy, and looked out the window to see the Mustafu skyline.
He was trapped in his thoughts as they exited the plane and he and his family squeezed into the too-small cab to head to their new home. He already missed Kyoto, and it hadn't even been half a day.
All too soon they were arriving at their new house, a spacious building on the outskirts of the city. Closer inspection found that the house wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The ceiling was leaking from the heavy rain that was cascading upon the roof, Eijirou’s father and stepmother bickering about what they should do.
Luckily, the movers had already arrived with their belongings, so at least he didn't have to start over in a new city with nothing from his past to anchor him.
“Hi Mama,” he whispered to the photo he pulled out of his box of bedroom stuff. He placed it on the nightstand, taking in the small comfort. There was an odd creaking behind him, and the hair on the nape of his neck stood up. He whipped around only to see a strange man standing there in his room, a large snake in hand.
“I brought this for you,” the man stated, extending his arms. The snake slithered and Eijirou paled. Not again…
“D-dad!” he screamed, and the elder Kirishima came running into the room, brandishing a stoker as a weapon. The strange man took off running, the snake hitting the floor.
“What the hell? Are you okay?” Mr. Kirishima asked, and Eijirou nodded, eyes still glued to the snake, which was heading straight for him. Following his son's gaze, his father cried out, stabbing the animal with the stoker to slay it.
‘What an omen,’ Eijirou thought as he watched his father clean up the mess. Maybe his past wasn't ready to stop haunting him.
~~~
‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ Eijirou thought to himself as his father pulled up to the school. It was only his first full day in Mustafu, and he was already questioning whether or not the move was a good decision. Not that it was his decision in the first place. His dad got a better paying job, so the rest was history. Not to mention it was a clean break and a fresh start from Kyoto.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until tomorrow to start school? You know, when your uniform gets here?” His dad was trying, bless his heart, but Eijirou could feel the underlying and unspoken trepidation filling his every word.
“Might as well get it over with, you know? I can’t stay around and watch daytime television all day,” Eijirou laughed and smiled at his father, whose own grin became more genuine as his son slid out of the car.
“I could. Oh, by the way, Akari can pick you up after school today.”
“I’ll walk.” The door slammed a little more forcefully than Eijirou intended, but he could blame it on the gust of wind that came through. It wasn’t as if he didn’t like Akari, per se, it was just she wasn’t his mother. Not that he really knew his mother well, but it was the principle of the matter.
‘Give me strength, Mama,’ he thought, rubbing the ring on his pinky. Taking a deep breath, he made his way into Yuuei Academy, ready for whatever was going to be thrown his way.
~~~
“The Almanac says today will bring forth something special.” Kaminari’s voice was timid as he read to Bakugou and Sero, all of which were huddled around Bakugou’s locker.
“Maybe it’s our fourth,” Sero chimed in, back against the lockers as he watched the other students mill about the hallway.
“We do need a fourth!”
“We need a fourth like we need a hole to the head,” Bakugou griped. Kaminari had been on this kick about how they needed a fourth for a while now, and he just couldn’t see the need for one. Besides, it meant he had to learn to trust someone new, which, no thank you.
“Katsuki, you know if we have a fourth, we can call the corners. North, South, East, and West. Maybe we could even invoke Him.” The thought was tantalizing to Bakugou, but he still was skeptical.
“What about him? He could be our fourth,” Bakugou teased, pointing to one of the security guards passing through the corridor. Sero chuckled and Kaminari just gave him a blank stare, unhappy that he wasn’t being taken seriously, yet again. “I love a man in uniform!” Bakugou yelled out, slamming his locker shut.
“We don’t need a fourth. We’ve got this on our own, Pikachu.” At least, Bakugou hoped they did. As the trio took off for homeroom, Bakugou wondered just how accurate the Almanac actually was going to be today.
~~~
The first class of the day was English, and Kirishima actually found himself to be relieved at that. While it wasn’t his best subject, he was decently fluent thanks to the schooling he received in Kyoto.
‘Don’t think about Kyoto,’ his mind supplied as he took his seat. This was a fresh start.
“Hello Little Listeners!” the teacher, an energetic man by the name of Yamada-sensei announced to the class, to which most of the students quieted down. Eijirou just hoped he wouldn’t have to introduce himself—he hated the spotlight on him like that.
“Today we have a new student! Coming to us from Kyoto is Kirishima Eijirou. Would you like to say a few words?” Great. At least this was all said in English, so half of it seemed to go over his classmates’ heads. He stood up from his seat in the back of the room, all eyes on him, and took a deep breath.
“Hello. My name is Kirishima. I moved here from Kyoto because my father got a new job. It’s nice to meet you all.”
“Can’t he speak to us in Japanese? I mean, we are in Japan,” a pale-blond headed boy said from the front of the room, causing the rest of the class to snicker as the teacher immediately began to snark at him in English, further confusing him. The student next to him, a dark-haired guy with dark eyes, looked back at him, seemingly sizing him up.
Eijirou took this as his cue to sit down, trying to make himself look as small as possible. Maybe he should have listened to his father—he stuck out like a sore thumb in his street clothing, compared to his classmates who were all in the regulation uniform of Yuuei.
The more he glanced around the room, the more out of place he felt, until his eyes landed on the boy to his right, who was shrouded in a gigantic black hoodie. The boy, whose hair was a vibrant shade of yellow, glanced over at him and waved meekly. Eijirou waved back shyly and turned his attention back to Yamada-sensei, who announced they were having a pop quiz. Great. At least it seemed to be over phrases and tenses that he was familiar with.
As the class went on, Eijirou found himself becoming more and more bored. He had already turned his quiz in, and he had nothing to read at the moment. So, he focused his energy on playing with his pencil until the next part of the lesson began.
He channeled his energy into making the pencil stand up, the graphite digging into the desk’s surface. He took his hand away slowly, pleased to see it was doing what he asked of it. The pencil was rotating slowly as he stared at it, clockwise to gain energy, when his concentration was broken by a small gasp. He looked over to see golden eyes staring at him, the boy’s jaw dropped in surprise. Great.
‘Now he must think I’m a freak.’
The bell rang, and before the golden-eyed boy could say anything, Eijirou packed up his belongings and ran, eager for next period.
~~~
“Guys, our fourth is here,” Kaminari exclaimed as he hurried into the next classroom where Katsuki and Sero were already seated.
“This again? Give it a rest, Dunce Face,” Katsuki said with a quirked eyebrow. There was no possible way that Denki had found them a fourth in the span of two hours.
“Maybe hear him out?” Sero tried reasoning, but Katsuki was having none of it.
“He’s here!” Kaminari whispered, to which Katsuki rolled his eyes and turned back to the sketch he was working on. A shadow loomed over him, and he looked up, prepared to tell Kayama-sensei where she could go, when he took in a handsome man standing in front of him. His hair was plain yet beautiful, and his garnet eyes seemed to pierce through Katsuki’s existence, leaving him bare. Static filled his ears the longer he looked at him, barely registering that the man was talking to him until it was too late and he walked away from the table they were seated at.
“Asshole!” Kaminari seethed, and Katsuki snarled at him, trying to avoid a blush rising to his cheeks. It had been forever since he was flustered by a man’s mere presence like that, and he didn’t intend on letting these quick feelings strike a chord in him.
“Fuck you too, Pikachu.” Sero sighed at both of them, and Kaminari looked away, pouting. Whatever—they could deal. Besides, they didn’t need a fourth, did they?