History#
When he was three years old, Eijiro Kirishima woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. When he rubbed his eye, his Hardening Quirk manifested for the first time. This made his hand harden and caused Eijiro to cut himself, which left a scar on his right eye. Afterwards, the young Eijiro initially hated his Quirk for hurting him.
Despite this, Eijiro began to admire the hero Crimson Riot, whose Quirk was very similar to his. This admiration caused Eijiro to adopt Crimson Riot's ideology and mentality that, as long as he has a manly spirit, then Quirks don't even matter. All that is needed is to train hard to cover for the Quirk with the spirit. Eijiro followed those tips and trained for years to strengthen himself.
Eijiro and Mina Ashido attended Mustafa Private Middle School during Junior High, however, they were not close then. One day, he tried to protect one student from two bullies, but one of them smashed a rock into Eijiro's face. Eijiro yelled in pain while the bully remarked that Eijiro had a simple Hardening Quirk and nothing more, then the bullies took the underclassman with them. Eijiro's middle school friends told him not to bother with the bullies, but he was determined to help the underclassman, encouraging himself with Crimson Riot's word about manly spirit.
Then, Mina walked by the bullies and managed to get them to get along with the underclassman before going to see her group of friends. Eijiro's friends remarked that Mina was going to take the U.A. Entrance Exam to become a hero, believing that she was capable of becoming one due to her athletic ability and her strong Quirk. Eijiro and his friends talked about what future careers they wanted to pursue and Eijiro's friends did not consider U.A. High School at all, while Eijiro stated that he had not decided, but he also wanted to go to the U.A.
Mina's outgoing nature and strong personality made Eijiro self-conscious of his own appearance and personality. This was worsened during an incident where Eijiro, dominated by fear, found himself unable to stand up against a giant figure who was threatening fellow students of his school, who were saved by Mina when she managed to deceive the terrifying person by giving him false directions. This incident left Eijiro feeling wholly incapable of being a hero primarily due to his hesitation in risking his life to save others.[1]
Afterward, while in his room, Eijiro felt disappointed with himself for being a coward, and gave up on his dreams of going to U.A. High School and was prepared to stop being chivalrous due to his true colors. Angry at himself, Eijiro threw a book at his bookshelf, accidentally activating an old holographic projector depicting an interview with Crimson Riot, in which the hero reveals that, despite his reckless hero image, he does feel fear when putting his life on the line and condones anyone who doesn't. He fears danger, but he feared the dying look on someone's face far more. He believes in living a life with no regrets.
The words of Eijiro's idol, which had inspired him before, again inspired him further to keep following his dream of attending U.A. High School. He rewrote U.A. on his aspiration report and decides not to repeat the same mistake. At middle school, Eijiro apologized to Mina's friends for not saving them, to which her friends do not mind. Eijiro committed to training himself and studying hard in order to pass the U.A. Entrance Exam.[2]