Kota Izumi

A red cap crowned by two golden horns shaped like spikes is Kota's constant. Underneath it his black hair sits short and spiky, and he stands about as tall as Minoru Mineta. Day to day he wears a buttoned short-sleeve collared shirt with dark shorts, trading up to a hooded sweatshirt once the weather turns. Black boots were his original footwear until Izuku Midoriya pulled him out of Muscular's hands, after which he swapped them for red high-tops that echo Izuku's own.

Eight years past the Final War he enrolls at U.A., following the path his parents walked and the one Izuku walks. Height has come with the years, the school uniform is his daily wear, and the horned red cap stays.

His hero costume borrows from his parents with a few departures. The vest is dark green rather than their red, a nod toward Izuku. His helmet copies the Water Hose design but comes in dark gray instead of white, drops the visor, and mounts two large spiked horns matching the ones on his cap.

The boy who adored his parents disappeared when they died. What replaced him was cold, withdrawn, and sour on humanity, hostile to heroes and to anyone who wanted to become one; Izuku caught a punch to the groin at their first meeting. Indecency also earned his contempt, and he threw Minoru off a wall for spying on the women's hot spring.

Losing both parents so early bred a bitter view of the profession. He read their choice to work as Pro Heroes as abandonment and could not accept that they had died honorably stopping a rampaging villain. Shino, his only remaining family, got the same shut door, and he plainly disliked her and the rest of the Wild, Wild Pussycats for what they did for a living, obeying them only because he had no other place to be. His contempt reached past heroes to villains, Quirks, and superhuman society as a whole: to him both sides simply killed each other with corny powers to chase cheap popularity, and that vanity drove the world's misery. Izuku recognized it as grief locked into denial, rage that his parents had died while he was so small turned into blame aimed at the world itself.

Being rescued cracked that open. Izuku had risked his life and taken a brutal injury for a stranger, and once the villain who killed his parents was beaten in front of him, Kota finally understood that a hero puts another life above their own, which let him make peace with their deaths. Opening up came slowly, and traces of pride and indifference remain. Caught with red shoes chosen to match Izuku's, he was mortified, but Izuku pointing out the pair drew Kota's first smile and marked the turn.

By Izuku's return to U.A., Kota is fully out of his shell. He runs up alongside the woman Izuku saved to admit he had been too frightened to act until Ochaco Uraraka's speech moved him, telling Izuku he wants to be like him and that the crying can stop because he is not alone. Later, during the Final War, while Izuku faces Tomura Shigaraki, he steadies a panicking Eri by admitting he is a crybaby the same as Izuku, and that watching him go that hard makes him want to act too. Once enrolled at U.A. he is thoroughly respectful, still admires Izuku, and slaps himself when a casual nickname slips out in front of his teacher.

Overall Abilities: Admission to the hero course at U.A. speaks to what he can do and where he is headed. Eight years past the Final War the villain emergence rate has fallen far enough that only the strongest can realistically aim at a Pro Hero career, so his place in that field says a great deal. Shota Aizawa's reminder to Izuku that hero course students are guaranteed future heroes further underlines his standing.

Water Gun: His Quirk expels a burst of water out of his palms. It looked weak in his childhood, most likely a product of his age and the absence of training, and its limits have never been fully spelled out. His acceptance into a course that selects only the most powerful candidates points to considerable growth in both strength and control since then.