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~*~
Hizashi Yamada wasn’t a hero, but he played one on TV. It had taken years of hard work, disappointments, sorrow, and joy to get here, but eventually he’d made it. He thought over everything that had brought him to this point as he walked to work one morning.
To begin with he’d been born with a voice quirk, but he was a Yamada, of course he was born with something related to music. His ancestors had all been involved in making music through the centuries. Yamadas were writing and performing music in the courts of royalty and on street corners of slums, and everyplace in between. Yamadas had been instrumental, pun totally intended, in creating the instruments that music was performed with almost as long as they’d been singing. It only made sense for Hizashi to be born with a voice quirk. Music and entertainment practically flowed through the Yamada bloodline.
Almost as soon as Hizashi was born he was learning how to control pitch and volume, how to breathe from his diaphragm, and how to “project to the balcony seats” as his great grandmama always said. His mama always called him her little Songbird. And his Papa was always singing along with Hizashi as they did chores or traveled in the car from one performance or another. At family gatherings Hizashi had a flair for performing. Whether he was by himself or with his cousins, he managed to bring an energy that excited his fellow performers and his audience.
The Yamadas were all about admitting your strengths and shoring up one's weaknesses. Where Hizashi had to learn to share the spotlight, his cousin, underground hero Whisper Walk, had to be encouraged to speak up for herself. And though Hizashi was liberally praised for his quirk control, he also had to be reminded a lot that the term “inside voice” should be applied more often than not.
Hizashi was a natural “people person”. He had no fear of talking to anyone about anything, and often (to his mother's chagrin) he’d strike up a conversation with a stranger over their hair, or their shoes, or ask what they were eating and if he could try it. Fortunately, she got him to stop the food begging before he turned six, but it wasn't without a great deal of effort. Still her little Songbird could get anyone to talk to him about nearly anything and even the grumpiest sourpuss couldn’t resist her baby’s charms. She tried to encourage him to use his powers of conversation for good, but sometimes he’d pull her and their unsuspecting neighbors on the bus into the most random or embarrassing conversations she’d ever been a part of.
It was no surprise that in middle school Hizashi had chosen to go into choir for his one elective class. (He could have taken band or orchestra, but he preferred to use the instrument he always carried with him.) And of course Hizashi was able to thrive in that class. His quirk allowed him the full range of voices from the lowest bass to the highest soprano. His teacher often used him to sub into sections that needed some shoring up. Even though Hizashi’s quirk would have made him a formidable soloist, he loved to blend his voice with the people around him. He truly felt that many small voices raised together had more presence and strength than one lone, powerful voice trying to out sing all the others.
Choir had led Hizashi to meeting Oboro Shirikumo who then insisted he meet his best friend, Tensei Iida. The three were instant friends, much to the dismayed resignation of the teachers and administrators. For every prank they’d actually catch the boys pulling, there was sure to be three more they’d gotten away with.
Fortunately, their stunts and pranks never were intended to hurt or bully anyone in particular (well, maybe the algebra teacher was the exception) but even though they were meant to entertain, the pranks often did put the boys in harm’s way. Their antics aside, they were all extremely bright and intelligent boys, which is probably why they were painting the hall ceilings with pastel, chalk footprints and suspending all the desks in the math room midair.
One day the choir teacher asked Hizashi and Oboro to stay after class. The local theater had a few kids get sick and needed singers for their production of The Lion King. Would they be interested in helping out? Of course, they both said yes. As soon as Hizashi walked onto the stage for practice he knew he’d found where he belonged .
His parents allowed him to continue in the local children’s theater productions so long as he kept his grades above a C, which wasn’t really a problem as long as he studied with his friends. Oboro truly had a gift for making things easier to remember. And when they added music to the mnemonics -- well, even when Hizashi made it into his forties he was sure he would still remember the “Rock Types” song.
Doing summer plays after first year of middle school, Hizashi met another middle schooler, Nemuri Kayama, as they were both a part of “Productions in the Park”. She was fun and almost as chaotic as his other two friends. After that summer, they all kept in touch, often meeting at parks and arcades or joining Hizashi’s family for their huge karaoke parties.
Hizashi's friends all had the same goal— become a hero. And while he supported their goal, heroics never really called to Hizashi. Tensei was going to be a hero because that’s what his family did. Hizashi could understand that. Yamadas made music and Iidas were heroes. Oboro wanted to be a hero, because his family had been saved by a hero when an earthquake had hit. He was determined to become a rescue hero like the one that had saved him and his little sister. Nemuri didn’t go into details, but there was someone close to her that had needed help, and hadn’t gotten it in time. Now she was set on becoming the hero that person had needed, but hadn’t had. Hizashi didn’t feel the burning need they did for heroics, but he did feel it for acting.
Fortunately, his friends were the best! They were always there for each other and supported each other’s dreams. Tensei invited them over to the family agency where his parents, or their sidekicks, would go through basic conditioning and hand to hand with them. They all insisted that Hizashi learn to defend himself. He’d resisted, but when they pointed out that being prepared and not needing a skill was better than needing it and not having it. Still, Hizashi didn’t push himself as hard as the others and if he felt they were going overboard, he was always quick to make them laugh or break their concentration.
Oboro and Tensei were first in line for tickets to anything that Hizashi or Nemuri were in (whether it was on stage, or behind the scenes), they were there and cheering loudly during curtain call. Tensei would help Hizashi run lines and Oboro would help him to memorize any songs and choreography. Nemuri was great at helping him with make-up tips and tricks, as well as just being good company when they were both backstage in the green room.
~*~
Middle school came to an end too quickly and with that came applying to high schools. Obviously, the hero hopefuls applied to UA, but they also applied to Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu Academy. Hizashi applied to UA’s Business course knowing that he’d get a very good education, and he’d need to understand how business worked if he was going into an acting career. He’d get a chance to meet students that were planning to be managers and maybe even some with connections to talent scouts. But Hizashi also applied to several Performing Arts high schools. They would be better for helping to round out his performance abilities without his folks shelling out for private lessons, and could also help him network with other creative people. He’d need every connection he could make if he wanted to succeed.
Hizashi wasn’t surprised when his three friends all made it into the hero course at UA. They’d trained hard and even if Nemuri’s quirk wasn’t combat oriented, she was a demon on the sparring mat and almost as quick as Tensei. What did surprise Hizashi was his acceptance into the Business Course. It looked like they’d all be at school together. But another letter changed all of that.
Having Nedzu call him in for an interview was one of the most scary situations Hizashi had ever been in, and he was mugged once when he was nine. Nedzu had been very accommodating, offering him a tea that was soothing to his throat, and seeming to try to set him at ease. Still Hizashi may or may not have a negative association with being called into a principal’s office, so he fidgeted like crazy the entire time. Nedzu had simply wanted to know why Hizashi had decided to turn down his spot in UA’s Business course, not that he wouldn’t let him, but Nedzu was a curious creature and loved to find things out. Hizashi’s performance on the entry test had been exceptional and his references and records were exemplary, so why not attend UA?
Once Hizashi had explained his desire to go into acting and more specifically into children’s theater, as either a director or founder of a troupe, Nedzu brightened up. Hizashi also explained that he’d gotten a full scholarship into one of Japan’s premier arts academies and that he knew that going to that school would help his career immeasurably.
Nedzu agreed that UA wouldn’t be able to help him in his pursuit of his career, but did offer a sort of mentorship to Hizashi. The principal would help Hizashi with lessons on business management, accounting, and things that he called “keeping all the plates spinning” as being the owner/director of a children’s theater would entail many lessons not taught by a choir master or dance instructor. Hizashi would have been a fool to turn Nedzu down. And while his siblings often claimed that his parents gave birth to a natural clown, his mama didn’t raise a fool. He accepted immediately.
~*~
Over the years, Nedzu broadened their lessons into things such as child development, understanding the emotional-social growth of children aged four to twelve, and the basis of pedagogy. By the time Hizashi graduated from high school he had earned the equivalent of a teaching certificate along with his high school diploma. Even after he’d finished high school, and was taking part time college classes, he continued to meet twice a month with Nedzu simply because they enjoyed each other’s company.
Nedzu had a way of bringing problems to Hizashi’s attention and then helping his student to figure out at least two or three strategies to deal with each thing by helping him talk through a particular difficulty as well as giving him alternate viewpoints on any subject. They had long talks about how children view the world, and about helping them to develop the necessary mental tools to learn about their world and the child’s own place in it. Human children fascinated Nedzu and Hizashi was always happy to hear his former teacher’s views on the proper ways to raise and educate small humans.
Hizashi was able to work through school by taking parts in commercials for local agencies, but also by being a part time teacher’s aide. This helped him to cement his goal of helping kids learn through theater and music. He worked with the special ed program and noticed that so many of the students he worked with struggled more with fitting in than they truly did with reading or math, not that the academics was easy by any means.
At least with the academics Hizashi had access to programs and training that could help his students, but where their social-emotional growth was concerned, he was often at a loss. That prompted him to take a few extra child development classes and one “classroom management for preschoolers” class as well. He wanted to know how to help his students, his kids, in this important way.
~*~
One other step that led to his children's show was the unit his theater class did on puppetry, around the world. Hizashi had always made-up silly voices to entertain his friends, he was also pretty good at mimicking any voice he'd ever heard, and his partner in the group project made him a deal Hizashi couldn't refuse: he'd make the puppets if Hizashi did the voices.
It was a match made in heaven. The American transfer student, Oz Hansen, was a whizz with felt and glue. Their puppets looked professionally made which was why they'd been wise to include his process pictures in the written report for their performance. Hizashi was able to not only do his own silly voices, but he was able to do an imitation of Hansen's voice as well. Only his partner and the teacher knew that Hizashi was the one giving voice to all their puppets.
Hizashi had immediately introduced Hansen, now known to the outgoing extrovert as Ozzie, to his other friends at their next get together. To say that Ozzie had a small freak out over Hizashi's friends being the pro heroes Ingenium and Midnight, would be to tell a lie. The man had screeched at Hizashi for betraying him by not mentioning the fact that he knew two of UA's former big three and also hadn't introduced them sooner, then proceeded to faint when he turned to be met with Nemuri’s teasing grin. Tensei and Nemuri were delighted to hang out with Ozzie, and immediately adopted him into their group. Within a few months it felt as if he had always been a part of them. Tensei and Ozzie in particular seemed to click from the get-go just like Hizashi and Oboro had.
That thought brought Hizashi up short, like thoughts of Oboro always did.
~*~
One of the most difficult challenges on Hizashi’s journey to becoming a hero on TV was losing Oboro in his second year of highschool. Oboro had been doing a work study with another UA hero student and got crushed in a collapsing building while saving some children during a villain attack. The children were just a little banged up from the attack, but Bo was gone.
Hizashi didn't recall much from that time, especially around the funeral. He'd been clinging to Tensei and Nemuri through the entire ceremony and no matter how he tried, he couldn't stop crying.
The hardest thing he'd ever done was sing Oboro’s favorite song as his friend was laid to rest.
“It must have been cold there in my shadow,” Hizashi's voice was quiet but still solid. For whatever reason, Bo had loved this pre-quirk song.
“To never have sunlight on your face…” He was able to sink into his performing head space. At the chorus his voice rang out loud and clear.
“Did you ever know that you're my hero…” Oboro had always been Hizashi's hero from the moment they’d met.
“And everything I wish I could be?” Hizashi thought of how kind, happy, clever, and fearless his friend had been. How he inspired Hizashi to have those qualities, too.
“And I can fly higher than an eagle…” Memories of riding on Oboro's clouds as he worked to get his quirk stronger flooded Hizashi's thoughts.
“For you are the wind beneath my wings.” Hizashi vowed to himself that the memories of his friend would drive and direct his life. He couldn't be the hero that Bo was, but he could try to live in a way that would honor his friend. He would use his talents and influence to rescue the hearts of the children he encountered from this day forward.
Hizashi had made it through almost the entire piece, but the final chorus was one that Oboro had always sung out louder than the rest of the song when they sang together and Hizashi choked on his grief when it came up.
Fortunately, he was being backed by his family who had all sung this song with Bo many times, so they belted it out strong for their missing one.
Tensei and Nemuri clomped on to him as soon as his song was over. They were surrounded by family and friends, but they still felt so bereft of their sweet rainBo.
~*~
Even after the funeral, Hizashi and his friends could hardly stand to part from one another. Hizashi wasn't sure he could let them go back to UA. This was an unfortunate part of the profession they'd chosen, and it had always been a vague possibility that wasn't ever going to happen to them. The reality of death was front and center now. It had struck once, and now it felt like Hizashi was in danger of it taking away his remaining two best friends.
Nedzu had asked Hizashi to come to UA with Tensei and Nemuri the Monday after the funeral. They came to the principal’s office to find at least one of their parents and the school counselor also present. Nedzu informed his students that they had a month of mandatory counseling in front of them before any work study or internships could be continued. And the counseling would be free and available to them after that time as well. Then he turned to Hizashi and his mom.
“Of course, I can't make you see Hound Dog, Yamada-kun,” he'd said. “But I take care of my people, and UA takes care of the families of its students as well as it can. Oboro clearly thought of you as his brother, so I cannot, in good conscience, leave you out.” Nedzu looked at Hizashi's mom. “UA will cover any counseling our Yamada-kun needs while he goes through his grieving. Mental health is important and cannot be overlooked in our heroes or their support systems. If your family also would like to do group therapy I have a list of highly qualified candidates here.” He slid a piece of paper to his mother. “The ones with stars by their names use music in their therapy, as I know that's an important facet of your family.”
Hizashi's mom had thanked Nedzu profusely. She'd then immediately signed her son up for after-school sessions with Hound Dog twice a week for the coming month. Then she'd gone home, discussed things with his father (meaning told the man they were doing this), and signed them up for family counseling with one of the music therapists on Nedzu's list.
It was one of the best decisions she could have made for him and their family. They took to therapy like a duck to water, and soon it wasn't just Hizashi and his folks filling the waiting rooms of therapists across Japan. Hizashi had three cousins change majors to be able to do child and family counseling. And his aunt had chosen to go back to school, in her mid-forties, to get her master's degree.
This gave Hizashi a great resource to pull from once he began his children's show. He was always quick to pull his “board of governors” together when he needed help in addressing certain, delicate situations.
Hizashi loved his friends and family. They had really helped make his dreams come true.
~*~
All of these situations and people came together when Hizashi successfully pitched a children's show to his local NHK channel, basically the public broadcasting system for all of Japan. Nedzu had helped Hizashi find and write the grants needed to get the money to start up his show. As soon as the money came through, he immediately hired Ozzie. They started plotting how and where to use Ozzie’s puppets and designing their new show.
Hizashi played many roles as the main writer, actor, and puppeteer (alongside Ozzie) of his children’s show: Chīsana Eiyū Agency. Every day his Little Heroes would join him at his hero agency to go on patrol around the neighborhood, looking for villains to defeat, righting wrongs, and working to do good. Along the way they’d learn how to deal with emotions, build community, and keep themselves safe in many different definitions of that word.
Each day he'd sign off by saying, “What makes a hero is caring for others, helping where you can, and trying to do what’s right. So remember you can be a hero!”
Yes, Hizashi may not be a hero in the traditional sense of the word, but he's trying his best to help the children of Japan to grow up knowing how to be kind and help each other be the best they can be.
Hizashi reached out and unlocked the door to the studio. It's a beautiful day in the Little Hero neighborhood and time to join his friends in helping to keep people safe and happy.
~*~