What's the color of your soul?

Mikumo is actually not enrolled at UA for a while, the entire second half of the first year (October-March) even after proving his innocence, he’s enrolled starting the following semester (April-September) of year 2

During this time Mikumo is enrolled at a regular highschool, and he’s only able to do so despite his reputation as a result of his foster parents having the money to get him admitted

Being kidnapped is the start of an existential crisis of sorts for Mikumo, he’s re-evaluating his behavior. The reasons why there wasn’t a plan to retrieve him and why he was assumed to be the traitor (spoiler alert: it’s because he’s kind of an asshole)

This inspires him to look into not only the UA traitor to clear his name but also his own past. As a result of this investigation he finds that his parents (biological, not foster) were part of an underground villain group, and were killed for trying to escape rather than dying in an accident (which is also where Mikumo got his scar, but he was too young to remember)

The Bakugos’ taking him in was a little bit more than a good deed, as they had previously turned a blind eye to the struggling of certain families in the area and felt obligated to care for the orphaned child as a result.

This discovery doesn’t help with Mikumo’s existential dread as he starts to believe maybe he was just destined to be a bad guy. It runs in his family and being mean and aggressive comes naturally to him.

Meanwhile the rest of the first year kids are preparing for and then taking the provisional license exam. The Shie Hassaikai arc still happens but later on/in their second year because they actually are working with the LoV and are able to stay underground longer.

Katsuki’s pretty much Mikumo’s only line to UA and so he asks him pretty frequently how the other kids are doing. Katsuki actually tells him because, to his credit, he actually doesn’t believe Mikumo is the traitor; having known him for so long.

The power of friendship ends up saving the day because i’m a fucking sap ok??? Yuu visits sometime after the provisional license exam (It’s harder for the kids to leave campus with the security lockdown after the training camp) and is generally just,,, the goodest kid to ever exist and helps convince Mikumo that a) he’s not evil and b) he has at least three Friend.

It’s actually because of this conversation that Mikumo realizes that, beyond knowing it wasn’t him, he has no leads on who the traitor could be (spoiler alert: he didn’t want to suspect the other kids) Monoma, who is also helping with the efforts to clear Mikumo’s name has a similar view point. 

This combined with the fact that they were infiltrated prior to the USJ incident (something that wouldn’t be needed if there were a spy) and the fact that the LoV had shown him a recording, leads Mikumo to the conclusion that there is no traitor; the school has been bugged

Unfortunately, there’s no real way for him to prove this from the outside

With the help of Yuu and Monoma, he’s able to meet with the other students somewhere outside of UA, apologize for being a jackass, and present his theory. Understandably, he’s not immediately forgiven but pretty much everyone would rather suspect no one rather than suspect each other and so they agree to help.

Basically, They feed false information to the LoV via where the cameras should be to see if they react. They also locate the cameras but don’t remove them because evidence.

This works, and after proving the lack of a traitor to UA; Mikumo is readmitted (starting the following semester)

Via their plan and his apology, he’s more bonded to his classmates than before and after starting back at UA is more dedicated to solidifying positive relationships with them.

In terms of the Sports Festival; Mikumo places first in the obstacle course, and get’s saddled with the highest point headband for the cavalry battle. subsequently he has trouble finding people to team up with (especially when combined with his standoffish attitude)

Katsuki volunteers to form a team with him but Mikumo refuses for…obvious reasons, and ends up forming a two person team with Yuu because she’s the real MVP. A true ride or die. (and, at that point, Mikumo’s only friend)

Their strategy is to just retain their points. Which, isn’t too much of a challenge between Yuu’s quirk and Mikumo’s strategy

Mikumo’s first match is against Shinsou, which he wins by figuring out his quirk and (unlike Izuku) managing to keep his mouth shut. His second fight is against Todoroki. He also manages to win this, but unlike Izuku isn’t able to break through his barriers the same way.

Yuu is also able to make her way through her first and second fight; but when facing off against Mikumo she ends up losing because he got to know her quirk well during their face off for the entrance exam, and also during the cavalry battle; and he’d come up with a way to counteract it.

The last match of the tournament is Katsuki vs Mikumo. This entire fight is a dumpster fire. Katsuki doesn’t want to go all out because it will make him look like a bully, regardless of Mikumo’s actual abilities (which is precisely what happened when he fought Ocha in canon lmao) and it drives Mikumo up the gd wall. He really goes Ballistic. Which causes him to win but like,,,at what cost

The final results are; 1st place: Mikumo, 2nd place: Katsuki, 3rd place: Yuu.

Because of his displayed vengeful tendencies against Katsuki and because he won, Mikumo gets targeted by the League of Villains and they attempt to kidnap him. Which brings us to.

In regards to the training camp arc and afterwards:

Mikumi is kidnapped by the League of Villains, being out numbered and alone when he’s ambushed. Katsuki sees him being taken through the warp and tries to grab him but Mikumo pushes him back out. Because a) he would literally rather Die then let Katsuki save him. just, being honest. and because b) since he’s the target, he doesn’t have any way to guarantee someone else wouldn’t be killed instantly for following and he really is a Good Kid who doesn’t want other people hurt for his sake.

Unfortunately, this gets misread by the others who are there and, when combined with Mikumo’s history of rebellious behavior; he is assumed to be the UA traitor.

Because of this, the pros aren’t as quick to rush in for a rescue, because they feel it may be a trap. Cue the students stepping in to do the rescue their own damn selves

Rescue squad is Yuu, Katsuki, Todoroki, and Tetsu. Because those are his friends. That’s it. Those four people. (he’s not a people person)

Meanwhile Mikumo is playing along and pretending to even remotely entertain the idea of joining the villains because doing so may present an opportunity for escape. However, the LoV plays a recording of the pros discussing whether they should stage a rescue mission; given Mikumo may be the traitor.

This is meant to shake him and boy does it work. He basically has a breakdown being faced with the fact that he really Played Himself by constantly pushing people away and acting like an Asshole on purpose. (which i’ll make a separate post going into that and Why a little bit later)

While Mikumo is having his existential crisis the other kids come busting in and manage to come up w/ an escape plan together. 

So Mikumo is back safe and sound but still suspected to be the traitor. So he’s been suspended from UA pending their investigation because,,,they don’t want to give him access to information. And Mikumo is, reasonably Pissed. He nearly died and they weren’t going to Help Him and now he’s being kicked out.

He recognizes a lot of it is due to his own choices, though. And so instead of /just/ getting angry he actually sets out to fix it. Because the villains showed him that recording, he figures out that there /isn’t/ a traitor. The school got bugged when there was the break in shortly before the USJ incident.

But because he’s not allowed to set foot on campus he has no way to implement a plan to Prove this. So he basically gets Yuu to gather their classmates somewhere Out of school so he can a) apologize for being a massive dick and b) ask for help

and bc these are all good kids who want to believe their classmate isn’t a traitor, they agree to help.

Still working on the details of the plan but uhhh basically they prove there are hidden cameras/microphones and that Mikumo is Not a traitor. And he’s let back into the school.

since it’s come up in individual conversations (and since it really is a good question) i’d like to take a moment to explain why Mikumo, who’s personality is arguably less volatile than that of canon Bakugo, ends up getting expelled from UA after being taken by the league of villains when in the main series Bakugo is rightfully treated as the victim in that situation. (there’s like, one reporter that suggests that he may join but they get shut down by Aizawa)

first, it’s important to note that while Mikumo’s attitude isn’t necessarily worse than Bakugo’s; his teamwork and his bond with his classmates is. This is because Bakugo (with the exception of Izuku) isn’t actively pushing anyone away, he’s just blindly lashing out because he’s angry and prideful. 

Mikumo, partly because of proto Katsuki’s influence, sees making friends as not only a hassle but an outright bad thing to be avoided. He’s more than aggressive; he’s mean. He self isolates and attacks anyone who tries to get past those barriers. He’s less like canon Bakugo, and more like pre sports festival Todoroki; but meaner. It’s understandable that eventually his classmates simply…give up trying to make any sort of meaningful connection with him.

second, Bakugo gets away with a lot more because of his quirk and natural aptitude. He’s considered a strong, promising, young hero no matter how he acts which is why he’s constantly being handed second, third, fourth, fifth chances (although him being kidnapped in and of itself doesn’t warrent ‘another chance’ because it wasn’t his fault. but it /is/ why Aizawa said that he wouldn’t become a villain despite how he acted at the sports festival). Mikumo, being quirkless, is considered someone who could be expelled without it being much of a loss to the world of heroics.

third, Mikumo was alone when he was taken; whereas Bakugo was within a group and clearly avoiding being taken. It’s reasonable to assume that Mikumo had potentially gone with the league willingly. Especially since he physically pushed Katsuki away as he was being taken through the warp gate.

fourth; Mikumo taking Izuku’s plase as the main character is not the only change in protoverse. The conflict itself and the social climate are different. Whereas in canon, tensions start rising after All Might’s retirement; in protoverse the tension is building before Mikumo ever enrolls at UA. While he’s growing up. The League of Villains has been rising to power for a few years and the general public is paranoid.

when the staff at UA learn there’s a ‘traitor’ in their midst they latch onto the easy explanation; the quirkless kid with the attitude problem. The one who not only doesn’t get along with anybody, but actively antagonizes others and publicly criticizes heroes and the way people regard quirks. Who was oh so conveniently all alone when the LoV happened to raid a camp only the students and 5-6 pro heroes knew the location of. Who’s parents died under mysterious circumstances.

However, as he got older his viewpoints changed. The way he was treated by other people (katsuki in particular) caused him to grow skeptical of heroes and hero society. He began to see them as over inflated celebrities rather than figures deserving of real admiration. It got to the point where Valiant was the only hero he had any respect for. 

Then, five years prior to the start of the story, when Mikumo was 9 years old, Valiant suffered an injury that forced him to retire. As a result, Mikumo became entirely disillusioned with heroics and decided he no longer wanted to pursue it as a career. Meanwhile, tensions were rising between heroes and villains; and more and more villain groups rose up, with the biggest being the League of Villains. Crime rates rose and the general public was filled with unease.

By the time Mikumo was in his first year of middle school, it was considered dangerous to even go outside alone. Something that was extra frustrating for him, being quirkless, because his foster parents insisted that Katsuki escort him to and from school.

It was this feeling of being trapped and the lingering desire to help people that drove Mikumo back towards heroics, albeit in a non conventional way. He took up the mantle of a vigilante (Fiend Kid, per Horikoshi’s original sketches) and would sneak out at night to perform hero work without a license. Usually the smaller things big time heroes would ignore.

  @feraliix I hope you know when you say ‘mikboi’ I…

IT’S BASED ON ANOTHER CHARACTER’S NICKNAME, WHERE HIS REAL NAME IS MIKLEO SO EVERYONE CALLS HIM MIKBOY BUT AKSHDGFNDGJ THIS IS AAHSGAGFHGNFJ