-"If you're here to socialize, then get out." A tired male voice stated bluntly.
The voice was so familiar that it sent shivers down my spine. A flash-fast vision of a bloodied face and red eyes stormed into my subconscious.
'Dammit what is happening to me lately?!'
I snapped inwardly pushing everything to the back of my mind.
The time seemed to stop in class, as everyone looked at the direction of the doorway of the classroom, the source of the voice.
Midoriya and the cute girl looked outside the class, their expression showing pure surprise and dead-pan.
-"This is..." it started again, along with rustling sounds.
-"...The hero course." It finished, and the sound of a juice bag being emptied to the last drop emerged.
'Ugh.. no not this voice..!' This kind of noises annoyed the hell out of me.
Then, a yellow sleeping bag emerged from the doorway, the only showing part was a face. A pale one.
The person stood up, still inside the sleeping bag, which gave him better visibility for everyone in the classroom. He unzipped the yellow thing, revealing a tall thin body in a black suit, a rather large scarf covering the neck and a bit of the chest area. He had black, loose and a bit messy hair, an unshaved thin beard and moustache, red eyes with bags under them showing clearly his lack of sleep. His looks screamed "nocturnal person".
-"You kids are not really rational, are you? It took you 8 seconds to quiet down." He said looming outside of his bag.
Everyone's faces revealed pure discomfort and shock, as if they had seen a ghost.
Even nii-san raised a brow upon seeing the man's form.
It was really hard to believe he was a pro hero. But somehow, I was sure he was. An underground hero, that is for sure, because he did not show up on media.
'So this is our teacher... he looks pretty familiar to me... I feel like I saw him somewhere long time ago... no, it's like I actually know him so well. There is a mixture of emotions producing inside of me, I'm not sure, but it's like nostalgia and pain at the same time...
However... I'm sure that this is our first meeting...
What is wrong with me...?'
-"Time is very important, especially for a hero." He continued, his expression tired as ever. "I'm Aizawa Shota, your homeroom teacher." He then introduced himself.
'So I was right, he is our teacher.'
He wondered his gaze between the students. When his line of sight reached my direction, I swear, I saw a glint of sparkling interest and surprise. But he hid it well, and switched to my brother.
'Seems like the feeling of familiarity is shared.'
He shoved his right hand into his sleeping thing, searching for something.
-"Now wear your gym clothes and meet me at the sports grounds." He said showing us a navy blue tracksuit with a large U written on the chest area and an A starting right under it, both in white; you can also find white markings outlined by red from the shoulders area to the elbows.
'He was carrying this in his sleeping bag..? Seriously who would put school's gym uniform in a sleep bag.
No who would actually come to school in one in the first place??
I think I will just get along with it...'
Everyone have gotten their clothes and were gone to their respective locker rooms depending on their gender.
I on the other hand went to the restrooms to change. As usual.
Yup. I won't change in front of anyone. No sir.
I gained a few curious, alienated stares from my classmates, even that someone reached out for my shoulder poking it from behind.
I glanced at my back and saw Yaoyaruzu Momo staring at me a bit worriedly.
-"Um... the locker rooms are... well they are not in that direction..." she explained awkwardly, probably worried about shaming me.
-"Oh thanks for your concern Yaoyaruzu san, but I already know that." I mustered the best kind smile for her and continued: "I just am... well... shy about... changing in front of others..."
Her eyes shined in realization, and she nodded in understanding: "Oh I see. Don't be late though Todoroki san, our sensei seems like the serious type..."
-"Don't worry Yaoyaruzu-san. Oh and you can call me just Hikoori if you like, it will be less confusing especially around nii-san Shoto." I answered her, thankful for her concern.
-"O-oh! Yeah of course, Hikoori san!" She beamed so nicely, following the other girls.
I smiled to myself, heading to the restrooms.
'At least I can make others smile, right...?'
A few minutes later, at the sports grounds:
-"Now kids, you will have a test of quirks." Sensei said nonchalantly.
-"A test of quirks?!!!" almost everyone repeated sensei's words, shouting.
-"What about the entrance ceremony and guidance sessions?!!!" The round faced cute girl questioned so surprised.
-"No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes." Sensei answered simply without even looking at her, ignoring the awkward silence that thickened in the air.
'Well, I feel like a miracle fell on me from the heavens. Less social events! Wow, I was so lucky!
I was planning how to survive the crowd and overwhelming amount of noise and chatter for the second time this week, but that solved everything. I am putting this professor at the head of my favourite list.'
Aizawa sensei glanced at us, his expression darkening slightly, which gave him an air of even more seriousness and mystery, and said:
-"U.A is known for it's "freestyle" educational system, and that applies for us professors as well."
All students deadpanned, as a sense of anxiousness and fear filled the air.
I started to get affected by that era, getting nervous myself.
'Oh great... seriously Hikoori there is nothing to be nervous about...
You you can nail this tiny test;
after all... it's nothing compared to what you had to face before...'
-"Soft ball throwing. Standing long jump. The 50 meters dash. Endurance running. Grip strength. Side-to-side stepping. Upper body training. Seated toe touch." Our teacher counted the gym tests we have done in middle school, and took a small stop.
-"You did all these in middle school, right? Your standard no-quirks-allowed gym tests." He said, his tone turning a bit sarcastic at the last 5 words.
"This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating those averages, it's not rational. The department of education is just procrastinating." He continued, his expression as dull as ever.
He then glanced at Bakugou, and called him out: "Bakugou. How far could you throw in middle school?" Aizawa sensei asked getting his student's attention.
-"Sixty seven meters" Bakugou answered, his expression showing clearly his angry attitude, despite him being calm at the moment.
'His face is scary... I don't think I should be around him too much, or else I will become magically angry as well.'
-"great. Now try it with your quirk. Do whatever you need to do just don't leave that circle." Sensei explained, pointing lazily at the white circle marked on the ground around Bakugou. "Give it all you've got." He insisted.
The blond head's face was casted upon a shadow.
'I'm sure he was going to do that even if the sensei didn't ask him to...'
Then, as he prepared to throw the soft ball, he smiled. A scary smile.
-"Awesome." He said, bending his body a little bit backwards to give the throw a boost.
Then his expression got wilder and scarier as 'the excitement of the angry head' -as I like to call it- grew. His smile became so wide that it split his face to two. His hair parted away from his face and bent to the back of his head, and a huge explosion escaped his hand.
'Yup. Of course he would.'
-"DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed at the ball that flew so up high. The shockwave of the explosion made my hair fly, the red strands mixing with the white ones.
I glanced at Midoriya, and snickered under my breath. He was totally deadpanned as he observed his Friend from middle school, his curly hair making a wave like motion while flying.
The moment the ball touched the ground, two beeps sounded from our sensei's smartphone. Still indifferent, he spoke looking at his screen:
-"It's important for us to know our limits." He paused, then showed us his new student's amazing 705.2 meters score:
-"This is the first rational step to know what kind of heroes you'll be."
'A great way to test ourselves... we will have a chance to compare our scores in middle school with those at U.A . This way we will be able to see how much our quirks can do. The limits to our abilities...'
Other students expressed their awe at Bakugou's score, and excitement about their freedom to use their quirks saying it was awesome and great.
Only one student was so worried about that fact. Midoriya's were owl wide and his face paled. It was like if he saw a monster.
'Why is he so afraid...? Last time I saw him he was so courageous, going all out to save his friend without caring about being alone...'
I examined him quietly.
-"...Awesome... you say?" Sensei repeated quietly, staring up. His hair hid most of his face now, but I could tell how displeased he was.
He seemed to remember something... it was like if something very dark crossed his mind at that very moment...
Our confession of happiness at using our quirks freely pulled the wrong strings.
'This does not look good at all...'
Sensei's face darkened even more, as he raised his hand looking at it's palm. He continued, raising his voice to make it audible to everyone:
-"You're hoping to become heroes after three years here..."
His words and expression caught most of class off-guard.
- "And you think it will all be fun games?" He paused, lifting his gaze to meet our faces. He continued, his figure darkening even more: "Right. The one with the lowest score across all eight tests will be judged hopeless... and will be expelled."
-"Whaaaaaaaat!!!???" The class exclaimed, as if they were splashed by freezing water. Some were not expecting such consequences on the first day, some were taken aback by the intensity of the situation, others were nervous and unsure about their fate. Bakugou did not care about it, actually he seemed to enjoy it. In contrast, Midoriya was purely scared.
Aizawa sensei placed his hand on his head, lifting his lazy hair off his eyes showing us the maniac look he had and said surprisingly dramatically:
-"Your fates are in our hands. Welcome this is... The hero course at U.A high!"
As he finished his words, his expression came back to it's normal dullness. But that scary look never left the core of his eyes.
Midoriya's anxiety was so clear on his face, and it grew with every passing moment.
-"The student with the lowest score will be expelled..?! That's the first day!! I mean, even if it weren't that's totally unfair!!!!" The round faced brown head dared to question, voicing everyone's opinion.
At this point, some of us have recovered from their shock, those who were confident about their abilities, such as nii-san, Yaoarouzu, Iida and me. Bakugou did not even need to recover.
Sensei scratched his head slightly, his hair covering now one of his eyes, and answered the bowl cut girl: "natural disasters, highway pile-ups, rampaging villains... calamity is always waiting around the corner... I'd say Japan is full of unfair things.
He sighed after pausing for three seconds and continued: "Heroes are the ones... who correct all that unfairness."
Everyone's attention was laser focused on Aizawa sensei as he continued his small speech: " If you were hoping to spend your evenings at McDonald's, then I'm sorry to tell you... that for the next three years... U.A will run you through the wringer."
He paused and smiled, then said: "That's plus ultra."
Sensei lifted his index finger moving it forward and backward respectively challenging us: "Use your strength to overcome it all. So bring it."
Everyone's expression was now determined, except for some that were still a bit nervous. Midoriya was on the anxious team.
'He needs encouragement.. he is totally hopeless right now...'
I instinctively approached him slowly, thinking about a way to comfort him without freaking him out, since he seemed super awkward around girls.
'I don't know why, but there is a mysterious force that is pulling me on it's own... It almost feels like if we are magnified...'
-"The demonstration is over." Sensei said, as I peaked Midoriya's shoulder. He didn't sense my presence at all, he has totally sank in his mind.
"Now it's for real." Aizawa sensei finished.
"Midoriya-kun! Midoriya- kun!" I whispered to get the green head's attention.
He snapped out of his 'eyes-wide-in-terror' state to become a confused little cat looking for her mother. Except, he is looking for the voice calling out for him; or whispering out, to be specific.
-"Here, behind you." I told him again.
His head Turned 180 degrees to the left. When his eyes fell on me his body electrocuted and his face became as red as the sun on the sunset.
'I was not even close, God so awkward.'
-"It's okay, it's just me, Todoroki Hikoori. I guess you are Midoriya, right?" I tried to ease his awkwardness.
-"Oh! U-uh yeah... I-I am. U-um glad to meet you again, Todoroki chan. I r-remember from the sludge v-villain attack..." He stuttered at first, but was able to phrase a sentence nonetheless.
'Good, so communications are not totally out. Although, it's impressive that he still remembers me, even with the hoodie hiding most of my form...'
-"So you still remember, ha-ha..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
-"Of course I do your quirk was amazing! Creating ice; simple but formidable! Your control and timing were more than accurate! Your manoeuvrability must be so good since ice sliding is so useful and..." His expression got brighter and brighter, as he kept mumbling and mumbling, until I had to stop him. He then said : "I wish I had the chance to study your quirk even more..." His expression gloomed again.
-"Midoriya kun, you are not expelled yet. You have the chance to pass this test, so take it." I started, my voice so confident. "My intuition tells me you won't be expelled, and believe me, it was never wrong." I finished, placing my hand on his shoulder.
His eyes teared up, as he smiled so purely like a child. He nodded furiously wiping his tears, and clenched his fist confidently, telling me this: "I'm not going to disappoint you, because I will become a hero, no matter what!"
I felt the morning breeze swirl around me. A strange feeling washed over my being.
I smiled, as a warm bubble tingled in the core of my soul upon seeing his confident response. I cheered him on with a 'that's the spirit', then was gone back to my position, as Iida kun and the frog like girl, that I missed to hear her name, dashed to get past those 50 meters.
Iida zoomed to the finish line like a sports car the moment he heard the word go, getting himself a good score of 3.04 seconds, while frog-girl hopped and hopped, reaching the finish line at 5.58 seconds.
'Iida's quirk is amazing! I knew it had to do with racing, but that was so straightforward. It really is suitable for a hero.'
Then it was the turn of the protesting girl, that I knew her name was Uraraka. She was paired with a plain boy with a rather, large, strong muscly lion like tail, with the name Ojiro. The girl tapped herself with her fingers that glowed a cute pink light.
The robot shouted go! And the two raced to the finish line. Uraraka looked a bit funny while running; she was shouting: 'Eeeeeeee!!!!!!' which indicated her struggle. Her score was 7.15 seconds.
'Not as amazing as Iida's, but still he was like a fish in water. I couldn't really know what she did with her quirk, but she seemed weighing less, since her movements were so light... if that's the case, it would be most useful in the soft ball throwing.'
On the other hand, Ojiro used his tail to give him a boost jump. His score was around 5.8 seconds.
'Not so flashy but pretty useful, especially that it is accompanied by a good amount physical strength'
Then came the turn of a funny duo, Ashido Mina san, the hyper pink skinned girl with the brightest personality, and a blonde headed boy with sparkling blue eyes, and sparkling personality all over that I knew his name was Aoyama Yuga. Wherever he goes, he has a weird pose, a French word and a small sparkle shining beside his eye.
They both took their position; Ashido was in the original stance, but Aoyama stood up, his back facing the finish line and said: "He-he-he... so unimaginative. All of you."
The measuring robot shouted a 'ready', as Aoyama continued, jumping elegantly in the air: "If we can use our quirks..." he paused, and a bright, 'sparkly' light blue burst out of the belt on his stomach the moment the robot sounded 'go', making him fly past Ashido as he continued: "No better way than this!"
But well... three seconds later, he fell on his butt, and pinkie got past him sliding on her acid. He got up and made the same move, scoring 5.51 seconds as a result.
He stood and dusted himself, then said, still sparkling: "If I'd fire an instant later, my stomach would have exploded."
'So that laser is coming from... his belly botton? What a weird quirk... well, I think it suits his personality well, I guess.'
Aoyama's face darkened after his comment, and he made a strange smile.
'There is more to him than what meets the eye, despite his 'sparkly' and lively façade...'
I shifted my gaze towards Aizawa sensei. He was observing each and every result carefully, analysing our abilities.
'Despite what he said earlier, he seems to be evaluating our potential more than a person who is just putting us through empty hardships. He was just trying to push us...
Yet he seemed so honest. Maybe, he was addressing certain individuals, and not the whole class...'
I looked back at the testing line. Midoriya and Bakugou were getting ready.
Midoriya was positioning like any normal, quirkless teenager, while Bakugou put his hands in front of his face, ready to give himself a boost.
As the robot shouted ready, the blonde's expression transformed to become monstrously excited while eying Midoriya.
He started to shout with his pitch high voice: "blast rush!!" which got the curly haired boy off-guard.
And with the 'go' sign they both ran, if that was the right description to Kacchan.
He shot his hands backwards giving himself a great boost with explosions while screaming : "turbo". The process hurt the poor Midoriya making him take longer time.
Explosion boy scored 4.13 seconds, while the-out-of-breath Midoriya got himself a good 7.02 seconds.
'Bakugou is overly confident in his abilities, and actually does not care about others getting hurt by the radiance of his power. He has a great quirk, but his personality can be his downfall...
On the other hand, Midoriya is the exact opposite. He is not using his quirks despite this being a quirk test. He seems to be afraid of using it...'
"Todoroki Shoto and Todoroki Hikoori, your turn." Aizawa sensei said tiredly, waving for us to take our places.
Nii-san got to his place without sparing me a glance.
'Why should I compete with him... it's the thing I hate most!
Damn it...'
My twin bent his body a little bit forward, his right foot and hand ready to freeze they way to the finish line. I got into a similar position, tuning out the outside world and my classmate's surprised chatter about my and Nii-san's shared last name, and looks.
'just ignore the world and yourself ...'
I felt the temperature drop in my left side and rise in my right side, as I prepared to activate my ice and fire.
The moment we heard go, we froze the road under our feet and slid on ice.
While Shoto used only his cold side, I used both of my hot and cold sides. sliding on the melting and refreezing ice, I got better manoeuvrability, which made me a few milliseconds earlier than Nii san, scoring 4.03 seconds, while he scored 4.07 seconds.
'Good head start, I guess. I could have been faster though...'
We both got to our feet melting the frozen road at the same time.
Nii-san grit his teeth, as he barely used his hated fire to evaporate the solid water.
I felt pain in my chest, and my downed spirit probably showed in my eyes. I was grateful they were hidden by the strands of my hair. My left hand touched nii-san's foot on it's own, in an attempt to comfort him.
'I finally gave in!
I hate this... I hate this...'
-"Do not bother yourself. Ignore me and focus on this test, like you were the past week."
I felt a knife get through my heart and out of my body. I squeezed his foot against my will, and got my hand back slowly. The road was totally melted, so I got up, putting the 'I-am-ok' mask, a mastered fake smile splattered on my face.
'Keep it in, conceal it, and never show it...'
I shoved my hands in my pockets, standing beside Yaoyarouzu.
I didn't even notice sensei's pleased look at our score.
Next was the grip strength test:
We were given a handle like device with a digital screen. It was supposed to measure how strong our grip was.
'The trick to this one is easy, just freeze Your hand as much as you can while gripping to get an extra score...
And stop thinking about your twin.'
I proceeded with my plan, and it was a success. I got myself a good 195 kg.
An octopus like guy with like six hands scored 540 kg. Everyone was astonished by his amazing result, even a boy that had tape like arms described him as an octopus.
'What about Midoriya kun?'
I looked at my right and saw him standing alone, his face showing clearly his worry as he stared at his 56 kg score.
'Why isn't he using his quirk?'
A vision of a boy with a broken body stroked violently through my head. The boy was Midoriya, and he was in a state that I can't even wish for villains.
I held my forehead in pain. The dark quirk of mine tried to take this opportunity and steal control, but I shoved it back to the darkest corner of my soul.
' "Ignore me like you did these past 10 months."
"Ignore me..."
"Ignore me..."
"Ignore me..."
"Ignore-"
Damn it just stop!'
Nii-san's words made the process even harder. I had to deal now with unpredictable visions and psychologically torturing inner speech.
Can it get by any chance better?
Oh, a continuous pain in the core of my heart would be fantastic, with taste of guilt and emotional turmoil...
Mwah! The best meal ever.
'Just keep it in, conceal it, and never show it...'
After that, came the long jump, my favourite game.
Aoyama and Bakugou got out of the sand box with their quirks, well as did most of us.
Midoriya had a normal jump in this test too.
His expression was darkening with each passing test, fear clearly growing in him.
'What's the relation between that vision of Midoriya in a whole broken body and this state of his?'
And something clicked, something that was obvious from the beginning: 'Is it that his quirk does that?! But why...? Why would it hurt it's own user...?'
' "Ignore me..."'
'Keep it in, conceal it, and never show it...'
"Todoroki Hikoori, your turn."
Aizawa sensei's voice awoken me to my senses. I stood in the set distance from the sand box.
'The moment my left foot touches the white line, I will make an ice bridge that can get me a good score'
The signal fired, and I ran as fast as I can. My mind was gloomy, and my senses were sharpened to their maximum. With the slight touch of the white line, I created a large ice bridge that I slid on to the outside of the box.
When I finished, my mind cleared a little bit. I took a deep breath, trying to focus.
When I am overly stressed, my senses take over my body instead of my head. I hate myself when I am in that state; I would make rash irrational decisions, become short tempered, binge eat, and would sometimes spend the whole day doing unproductive things.
In the end, the only thing left would be guilt, and guilt alone.
Nii-san's cold stares glued to my back, I could feel it miles away. It made me feel even more uneasy.
'Got to keep it in... I have to keep it in...'
Next was the sustained sideways jumps:
In this one, the real shining star was the shortest boy in class with the grape like hair: Mineta.
This kid, by putting the grape like balls on both sides and sticking them together, then jumping from one to another at an amazing speed, scored an amazing result.
But, his tongue contained the dirtiest comments.
He said something dirty (something that I won't repeat) standing right beside me. I felt my stomach mix. Inside of me was an outraging desire to punch his face with my freezing hand. But all I did was to glare at his direction. He shrieked in fear as if he saw a monster. I never saw him near me again.
-"Todoroki Hikoori." The teacher called me to make my performance. This one was easy. The key move to it is similar to Mineta's. I made ice blocks on my sides. Then I melted them for a bit to make them slippery. After that I slid on ice between them.
I finished with a very good score at my hand. About 150 jumps.
Midoriya as usual did not use his quirk and had a normal score. His worry increased even more.
After that came soft ball throwing:
It was a pretty simple test, could be the easiest one so far.
I spaced out most of the time, but Uraraka's throw really got my attention. She made the rounded thing weightless and pushed it up gently, which made it reach outer space.
On sensei's phone, the symbol of infinity appeared, gaining her the nickname of infinity girl.
Everyone was so amazed by her incredible result, even nii-san's eyes lit in interest.
'At least he can focus on something other than our problem... glad he found a distraction...'
I subconsciously glanced at Midoriya, and found him in a pitiful state.
It was his turn, and he seemed thinking over and over about something.
-"Midoriya isn't doing very well..." Iida said, studying Midoriya.
Bakugou's used his 'angry face version 1.5', as his teeth got pointy and his eyes turned even more angular. Pointing at the green head he said in his 'it's obvious' tone: "Well duh, he is a quirkless runt!"
'Runt...? Is he really supposed to be his childhood friend?
Besides, despite his plain look, he does not give the impression of a quirkless, not now at least...
But back then...
What am I thinking about?! It's impossible to change from quirkless to quirky at this age! My intuition is telling me weird things again...
It must be because I was focusing on saving the angry head at that time...
Or because of my shitty state of mind now.'
-"Quirkless? Then you haven't heard of his move at the entrance exams?" Iida answered him, very surprised of Bakugou's comment.
-"Huh?!!!!!" Well, seems he is even more surprised...
I turned towards sensei, and he was laser focused on freckles face, as he marched to the circle, gloomy.
He reached his destination, and closed his eyes, probably clearing his mind.
When he reopened them, he turned determined. He backed his hand preparing to throw the ball with al his might. He turned his head to my direction. I smiled and gave him an encouraging thumbs up. He smiled back, turned to the ball and charged his arm with all the power he could muster.
'This feeling... the radiance of his power, I can feel it...
So he finally decided to use his quirk...'
At that moment, the whole world around me lost it's light, everyone evaporated, and I was all alone in void again.
The second chapter done at last.Those two chapters took some work.I was wondering if I should summarize the tests or describe them thoroughly.I decided it was best to give details so that we can get an idea of Hikoori's first impression on her friends.But what happened to her when Midoriya started using One For All...?Wait the next chapter to find out!Hope you enjoyed.Regards.Author-chan.