#karibaku

my biggest headcanon is that he's thai-chinese on his mother's side. he calls his mother "màa", teochew is his first language and the main language he speaks at home, his family's buddhist but also practices taoism, etc. of course, this also extends to his name.

"kariage" isn't a real japanese name. it's essentially slang for an undercut (which also works into my headcanon).

kariage's given name is khemkhaeng, a thai name given to him by his mother. thai and japanese don't have much in common, since they belong to two completely different language families and don't share common vocab or grammatical structure. so, of course, none of kariage's friends (including katsuki) could pronounce his given name as little kids, and they didn't want to call only him by his family name, akiyama, so katsuki came up with the nickname "kariage" — for his undercut — and the name stuck.

my headcanon for kariage's quirk is partially poached from a fic i read, once, but his quirk is called "dragon's breath". it's a pretty simple quirk; he can exhale smoke, usually enough to fill a couple balloons. if he pushes himself past his limit, at most he can fill a room with smoke, but after a while it dries his throat out and makes his mouth itchy. a plus is that he's less sensitive to the affects of smoke inhalation.

a downside is that wisps of smoke tend to come out if he's excited or overly emotional, which wouldn't be a problem — except a lot of people have taken to assuming that he's smoking, viewing him as a delinquent for it.

and kariage doesn't help his own rep, because he actually does start smoking by the time he hits his third year in middle school, since everyone accuses him of it, anyway, and the smoke can't harm his lungs as much as a regular person. he sort of becomes a bit of a delinquent in high school, though — smoking and drinking and skipping class and getting piercings without his parents' permission. nothing too crazy, and he matures out of most of the bad habits by his second year.

(i also think he had a massive crush on katsuki as kids that never really went away. he watches pro hero dynamight and yearns to be part of his world, by his side, though he's half convinced that katsuki doesn't even remember him.)

anyway! my picrew interpretation of him!

If I walked out the door, would you even notice I'm gone? Would you even miss me at all? // The Vamps in Would You from their album, Cherry Blossom (2020).

Mito, fully aware of the situation: *grins* never have I ever wore strings for an official event

Katsuki: *bangs his head on the table*

Katsuki: *takes his shot*

Yasushi, oblivious: WHAT

Seika, also grinning: never have I ever dressed as a girl and skipped school because of "period"

Katsuki: *scrubbing his hands down his face*

Katsuki: *takes his shot*

Yasushi: W H A T

Henshuu, pouring Katsuki another shot: never have I ever been someone's first kiss in this room

Katsuki and Kariage: *side eye each other*

Katsuki and Kariage: *both send their shots*

First draft under the cut (sorry it's burnt lol)