Having had the weight of my guilt lifted off me I found myself being able focus and think more clearly. I thought a lot about the potential for my special moves. If I'm being honest with myself, most of my success so far has come from the fact that I've got a natural aptitude for combat. I needed more than that though. In this arena of super-powered people I need something to add weight to my attacks.
Ultimately what I need is to get psychically stronger but in the meantime I need something to help me. I walk down the hallways of UA to an unfamiliar part of the school to the Support Department workshops. I want to visit the support department with the view to source something to improve my offensive abilities. I push open the door to the workshops where I run into Hatsume whose working diligently over a workbench. I wave at her as I approach.
"Yo, Hatsume-chan. I've got some ideas I wanna run past you," I say. She looks up at me smiling.
"Oh-ho? What do you have in mind?" She asks. I pull out Shroud's gloves.
"As much as I like the knives and tasers I'm equipped with I still find myself most often trying to fight with my fists. These gloves are special to me so I don't want to outright replace them but I think I need to add some additional protection for my knuckles," I explain. She takes a close look at my gloves, rubbing her chin as she thinks.
"You'll want some strong but light weight. I think I have some ideas... do you mind leaving these with me?" She asks. I nod to which she grins in response.
"Great! Come back tomorrow and I'll have something sorted!" She says gleefully. "Do you want to try any of my other babies while you're here? Maybe an improved stun rod?"
"Ahah, no thank you but I appreciate the offer!" I say, laughing nervously. Hatsume seems technically brilliant but a little strange.I say goodbye and exit.
As promised, when I returned the next day she had indeed made improvements to the gloves. They were plated with a silver lightweight armour. I pull them on. I flex my fingers, getting a feel for the new sensation. Despite the armour I still had pretty good maneuverability in them.
"These are amazing Hatsume-chan," I say excitedly. I practice a few punches in the air in front of me, feeling their weight.
"I'm glad you like them! They're made of a strong but lightweight alloy so you'll need to maintain them but there shouldn't be any other drawbacks to your performance," she says. I thank her again.
—-
I enter that afternoons heroics class feeling a lot more confident. We each get a Ectoplasm clone and find a place to train.
I stretch out my arms and back. I steady my breathing, looking the clone as I map out my planned attack in mind. I flexed my fingers, getting used to the knuckle guards that plated them.
"You've got more confidence today," the clone said. I smile. It's true that I'm feeling more motivated. Previously I have been focusing on my limitations and compensating for these. I'd categorized myself as having in essence, a shittier equivalent of camouflage or invisibility quirk. I would activate my presence erasure to give myself an edge in a fight but I wouldn't say I actually used it. It was just kind of there. There's no deliberate nature to how I use it.
"You've seen nothing yet," I say. I activate my quirk, specifically the total Might presence. During the training camp I had it drilled into me how to quickly change back and forth between my different presences. I thought this was to give me a handicap while training but I think I inadvertently acquired a usable skill. I can now control my quirk activation down to the millisecond. I can use this.
"Oh?" The clone murmurs curiously in response to his attention being completely drawn to me. I stay steady for a few moments before quickly switching the other way, erasing my presence. I duck low. I watch the clones eyes drift, searching for me. At the last moment I snap forward, reactivating total Might. The clones reaction time is slow as he suddenly needs to refocus. I slam my plated knuckles into his throat. I feel his neck soften, then breakdown completely. His body shortly followed.
"What the fuck?! Haruki-chan did you teleport just now?" Kaminari calls out. I look up to the electric boy above. I grin. It had worked!
"That's the effect I'm going for!" I call out. In essence, I've created my own diversion. My enemy will be focused on the spot where I was consuming their attention completely with my All Might presence. I then erase myself though and attack while they regain their awareness of their environment. Before they catch up to whats happening I'm in their face, taking them out while they're unprepared and defenseless. It would appear like I'm teleportation when in reality I'm actually manipulating where they're looking. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look around to see All Might with a new Ectoplasm clone.
"Nakashima-chan... the presence was intriguing. That's a new manifestation, is it not? You capture your opponents attention, shocking them with an overwhelming, inspiring presence. Then you shift, disappearing completely. Your opponent who is still recovering from the initial shock doesn't have time to react before you're in their space, overwhelming them again, slowing down their reaction time," he recites enthusiastically. I flush.
"Ah... well you know, I was inspired by the best," I reply bashfully. I wasn't ready for such a strong reaction from the very person I was mimicking.
"You were copying All Might's presence?" The clone asks. I nod. All Mights looks at me, mouth agape. He hadn't realised that was what I was doing. I pull on my braids nervously. My attention is drawn away from All Might when I hear one of Bakugo's explosions above. I hear a crumbling noise following this.
"Hey! Watch out above," I hear Bakugo yell. I look upwards falling towards us is a large piece of rock. I barely have time to react. I crouch, covering my head, bracing myself for impact. Before it hits though I see a green figure zoom passed my periphery. The figure slams his foot into the rock, knocking it away.
"M-midoriya-kun?" I stutter, staring at the boy amazed. All Mights attention is immediately redirected to Midoriya. Talk about stealing my thunder.
"Since I can't use my arms as easily now I switched to using my legs. It's just a stopgap though," he explains, showing off his new shoes. It seems I wasn't the only one to visit the Support Department.
"No that's more than a stopgap. That's enough for the exam," All Might explains. Midoriya smiles at this advice.
"Be careful, All Might!" Bakugo shouts from above. He looks pissed.
"Sorry young Bakugo," All Might calls back waving at the enraged teenager.
The rest of the class goes with out incident. I work on my new attack, incorporating feints into the technique. It needs some work. I find the balance between my Total Might and erasure tricky to achieve consistently but I think I could use this as a special move if I can refine it.
Eventually class B arrives and we're forced out of the gym. I head back to the dorms with the rest of my class. I smile to myself. I think I did well today. In the very least I did much better than the first session.
I take a shower and get changed into a pair of leggings and pull on a long grey T-shirt. Since moving on campus I'd spent most of my time in my room despairing over my emotional baggage. For today though I thought I'd hang out in the common area for a change. I lounged across a sofa, reading the news on my phone.
"Look whose come down to hang out!" I hear Mina say. She slides into the spot next to me on the couch. I rotate myself, laying my head in her lap. "It's rare to see you here."
"Give me a break, I'm still settling in!" I say. Toru, Momo and Kyoka join us in the living area.
"How settled are you planning to get? You look pretty comfortable already," Kyoka says sarcastically. I put down my phone on my stomach.
"Yeah, Mina-chan's thighs are really healthy and nice to rest on," I tease. Mina chops my forehead. I sit up abruptly clasping it.
"Mina-chan that hurt!" I cry out. The girls laugh at me. I crack a smile.
"You do seem happier recently Haruki-chan. Did something happen?" Toru asks. I shrugged.
"I guess I just got my head in the right space. Truthfully I was kind of stressed about the special moves," I say. Bakugo may have helped too but I keep this to myself. I move my self upright against the back of the couch.
I hear the swing of the dorm entry opening. Kaminari and Kirishima enter the room with Bakugo trailing behind them. They join us in the living area, sitting down opposite us. Bakugo's eyes linger on me.
"You guys talking about your special moves?" Kirishima asks. I nod.
"Yeah. I was just saying I was struggling with ideas at first. My quirks kind of hard to work with," I groan, sliding down in my seat.
"What do you mean? Your quirks really useful for stealth attacks. I know first hand you're hard to keep track of," Mina says frowning. It's true, she'd felt the full brunt of it at the Sports Festival.
"The key word there being hard. It's not like I'm invisible. Also the longer I fight someone the weaker I get. You can get used to my quirk. Unless you're a freak like Bakugo-kun in which case it's ineffective from the get go," I say. Bakugo 'tch's.
"Are you saying your quirk doesn't work on Bakugo-kun?" Momo asks surprised. I think carefully of how to explain myself.
"Of course it does. She's an idiot," Bakugo growls. I rub my chin thinking of the best way to explain this.
"It's not that it doesn't work. It's more that it's ineffective. Most people by default rely on sight when they fight while other senses are for secondary support. But Bakugo-kun fights with all his senses at the forefront. It makes my quirk, which is sight based, kind of redundant," I say. Bakugo stares at me blankly.
"I don't know what you're fucking talking about," he says flatly. I sigh loudly, rolling my eyes. I can't believe this guy.
"You're so frustrating. Do you not even realise what you're doing isn't normal?" I explain, exasperated with the explosive boy. He stares at me annoyed.
"I kind of get what you mean. I've noticed that about Bakugo-kun too. At first I thought he just had really amazing reflexes but it's more than that. It's the way he processes information from his environment," Toru says, leaning forward to stare at Bakugo. With her invisibility it seems Toru is also hyper aware of how others percieve their environment. I'm not surprised that she's also noticed this. Kirishima furrows his eyebrows.
"It's like... uh fighting instinct right?" Kirishima suggests. I scoff at the wording but nod.
"Yeah that's probably the simple way to put it," I reply. Bakugo scowled, apparently feeling torn between the compliment and annoyed at not understanding what I was trying to explain.
"I nearly exploded you fighting the league of villains," Bakugo retorted flatly.
"Yeah I'm not saying there isn't a limit to it. We were fighting 6 on 2 after limited sleep. Of course your sensory processing would be compromised in that scenario. What I'm saying though is that with quirks aside in a one on one fight you'd win every time," I explain.
"That's because you fight like a moron," he growled. I cross my arms. I know I was speaking candidly about my limitations but even that stung a bit.
"Bro, did you not see her in training today? She's brutal," Kaminari says, defending me.
"She fights like she's got a combat moves," Bakugo says.
"Well yeah... we've known for a while she's got great hand to hand combat skills," Mina reasons.
"I'm not saying she's a shit fighter. I'm saying she fights like a moron," he tries to explain. The group stare at him incredulously. Am I or am I not a good fighter? I lean back deeply into the couch as I consider what he's saying. I think I understand what he means.
"Bakugo-kun you need to explain yourself better. You're saying that I under utilise my quirk, right?" I clarify for him.
"That's what I was fucking saying. Like when you fought ponytail at the Sports Festival," he growls, slouching into his seat. I raise my eyebrows. Does he still not know Momo's name? Or is he just choosing not to use it?
"I don't get it," Mina says, sitting forward. I pull on my braids as I think of how to explain this.
"My fighting style is inherently incompatible with a stealth quirk. Personality wise, I'm more suited to a quirk I could fight head on with... probably something like Kirishima-kuns hardening quirk would have been suitable. Or even better, Midoriya-kun's strength enhancer," I say. Bakugo scowls at me mentioning Midoriya's name.
"I see. When you fight you do so like you've got some power up when you're really only hitting with normal human strength... When I think about it with your aptitude for combat you would be kind of terrifying if you had a physical enhancement type quirk. More so than what I or most people would be," Momo says. I grin, pushing myself back up my seat.
"Damn right. It's a shame really but I guess I just have to work with what I've got," I say shrugging.
—
The days training our quirks came and went. It wasn't perfect, but I became proficient with shifting in and out of the demeanor's within my quirk. It essentially became a way for me to disappear in direct sight of my opposition.
The day of the exam arrived. We rode a bus to the destination of the exam, Takoba National Stadium. I sit leaning against the window next to Iida who was sternly looking ahead. Midoriya and Uraraka chatted behind us. I watch Iida clench his fists. Is he nervous?
"Relax, Prez. You're gonna do fine," I say to the taller boy, waving my hand dismissively.
"This is an important embarkment on our journeys to becoming heroes. This is not a time to be relaxed," Iida replies. I smile softly, amused at his consistenly stiff personality.
"Eh whatever man. Just don't be so uptight. What's the worst that can happen?" I tease. Iida looks ready to argue but ultimately sighs, resigning himself. Uraraka chuckles and leans forward.
"You two couldn't be more different," she laughs. I join in her laughter.
"I don't know about that. I think we're both serious about it. Iida is just letting the pressure get to him," I say.
We arrive at the venue. I follow Iida out of the bus. We stand in a group. Aizawa lectures us again on the importance of this exam. Iida takes it very seriously. I kind of don't get it. He's plenty strong. He's got nothing to be worried about.
Kirishima calls for us to gather around for a class chant. I notice to our right another school is approaching. Is that the Shiketsu High Uniform?
"Okay everyone! Plus..." we begin to shout our 'Plus Ultra' school motto. I notice as we do this one of the Shiketsu boys approaches us. He stands right next to me.
"...Ultra!" We call out, including the Shiketsu boy. What a strange guy. His classmates reprimand him for inserting himself. He turns to us bowing dramatically, his head smashing into the ground.
"My apologies. I'm just very excited to be able to compete with UA at this exam," he shouts. He's really fucking strange but whatever. I bow, although much less dramatically, in return.
"Likewise. You're from Shiketsu High, right? I look forward to competing with you," I say politely. The other students from his school nod. These guys would be tough to compete with. They were one of the best hero courses in the country.
"UA to the east, Shiketsu to the west," I hear Bakugo mutter not far behind me. Indeed, Shiketsu the closest UA has to a rival school.
"I wish you all the best!" The tall boy says. His classmates drag him away.
"Yoarashi Inasa... he got the top score on the UA entrance exam last year. He's strong," Aizawa explained. I see Iida tense up at this. I look up at him.
"What do you think of him?" I say in a hushed tone as he watches the Yoarashi walk away. Iida rubs his chin.
"He seemed kind vacuous but if what Aizawa sensei says is true he must be a force to reckoned with," Iida replies thoughtfully.
"Just another extra," I hear Bakugo mutter. I roll my eyes. Typical.
"Eraser!" I hear a female voice nearby. We turn to see a woman clad in jester based hero costume. She's kind of pretty. I notice Aizawa's face contort. He doesn't look happy to see her.
"It's been a while! Let's get married," she says grinning. I chortle. Mina looks delighted.
"No thanks," Aizawa replies flatly.
I overhear Midoriya explain that this woman is Ms Joke. Apparently her agency used to be located close to Aizawa's so they'd work together from time to time.
"Are your kids here as well?" Aizawa asks. Ahh... so she's a teacher as well? That explains why she's here. I wonder where she teaches?
"They sure are! Hey guys, come here!" She calls out. I look over her shoulder to check out her class. That uniform looks familiar. The students in her class begin to approach. My stomach drops. I remember now why that uniform is familiar to me. It's the school that one of my senpai's from Okinaki Middle School ended up at. At the front of the group I see the familiar face of my senpai... someone I don't particularly want to see. Iida watches me confused as I turn around and step away, pushing past Bakugo as I do.
"Oi watch it Seaweed head," Bakugo growls. He glares at me as I give him a nervous look.
"Sorry," I say in a hushed tone. I move past him and stand away behind Shoji. I hear the familiar voice greet everyone one.
"Wow it's really them! My names Shindou," the boy says. I see him walk around shaking hands with the class. Fuck, I really don't want to see this guy.
My mind flashes back to old memories. Shindou had been my Senpai in middle school. We were once friends from track club but I knew from experience his niceness is a facade. On one occasion, back in middle school he'd said really awful things about my friend Hinata which lead to a violent altercation between the two of us. I watch him as he reaches a hand out to Bakugo.
"It's an honour to stand by you today. We'll do our best," Shindou says.
"Piss off, shitrag," Bakugo says, knocking his hand away. "The words from your mouth don't match your face."
Shindou pays him no mind. I stand close to Shoji, shielding myself from view.
"Someone you know, Nakashima-chan?" Shoji asks softly. I nod. Evidently I wasn't concealed well enough because in the next moment I see Shindou pacing towards us.
"Fuck," I say softly as he approaches. Shoji steps back with an apologetic look on his face.
"Haru! It's been a while! I was hoping I'd get to see you today!" He says enthusiastically. I mentally groan. He's still using that old nickname. I bet he knows that pisses me off. He takes my hands in his.
"Hi Senpai... yeah it's been a while," I reply flatly. I start to think of ways I can exit this conversation. I see Bakugo scowling behind him.
"Shindou-kun, you didn't mention you knew one of the UA kids," Ms Joke says. She has a sly smile. "You guys seem familiar with each other."
"Haru was my kohai in middle school. We were in the track club together," Shindou explained, still clutching my hands. I try to pull away but he holds them tightly.
"Senpai you've got quite the grip there," I say, laughing nervously. Shoji watches not knowing what to make of the interaction.
"Of course! I'm not letting you go that easily again. I want to get your phone number," he says. I hear some of the girls in my class giggle. He's acting like we're on good terms. He definitely knows it's pissing me off.
"He's so forward," I hear Toru say in a hushed tone to our friends behind me. I grit my teeth.
"No way," I reply to Shindou. Shindou smiles pleasantly in response to my annoyed expression. Over Shindou's shoulder, I see Bakugo progressively become more agitated.
"Come on... don't you want to catch up sometime? I can take you out somewhere really nice," Shindou offers. Aizawa instructs that we need to go inside and get changed. The class including Shoji start to follow him towards the bus to collect our costumes. I try to pull away but he's still got a tight grip. Damn it, I just want to punch this guy in the face but if I do I could get excluded from the exam.
"I've got to go Senpai," I say. Bakugo can see I'm having a hard time getting away. As he walks past, Bakugo grabs me by the back of my collar.
"You're getting left behind, idiot." He says, pulling me backwards. Shindou lets go of my hands. I stumble slightly.
"I'll see you later, Haru!" Shindou calls out, waving. He watches Bakugo and I curiously as we walk away.
"Not if I see you first," I say in a hushed tone. I fall into stride with Bakugo.
"Thank you," I say, exasperated with the encounter. Bakugo buries his hands in his trouser pockets.
"Tch. Whatever. Who even was that dickhead? An ex-boyfriend or something?" He questions quietly, out of earshot from the class. I was surprised by the personal question.
"No way," I scoff. I avert my gaze but could feel Bakugo observing me. I wrap my arms around myself anxiously. We get closer to the class.
"You looked like you were about to bash the shit out of him," he said dryly.
"Probably. I couldn't really do that before the exam though. I would be disqualified," I muttered. We grab our costumes and catch up with the class. We split up and I follow the girls into the change rooms. Mina bounds over to me when she sees me enter.
"Did you get his number?" She asked. I roll my eyes.
"No way. I hate that guy," I reply. I pull out my costume and begin changing.
"Really? But it seemed like you guys were old friends. He was talking to you really familiarly," Toru exclaims.
"Yeah he knows I hate that. He was trying to rile me up," I explain. I pull on my leg warmers. I think back to the baths at the training lodge.
"Back at the lodge, I told you I bashed one of my senpai's in middle school right?" I ask, pulling on my shoes next.
"Wait... was that him?" Mina asks.
"Yep," I reply, grinning. "But don't think he's weak or anything. He's actually got a pretty great quirk."
"What is it?" Momo asks.
"He can create earthquakes and shit," I reply.
We finish getting changed and head out to the hall where the student heroes are located. It's insanely busy. There would have to be over 1000 students here, more even. An exhausted man at the front gets our attention.
It's explained to us that the first test will be a battle. Each of us has three targets on our body and 6 balls. If a ball touches our target, the target will light up. If all three of our targets light up, we are out. The first hundred to get two people out pass. Everyone else fails.
That's pretty harsh. Talk about terrible odds. We're lead out of the hall where our targets are distributed to us. I place my targets on my vital points. My head, chest and neck. Already I naturally protect these areas so it should make them easier to defend. I receive my six balls.
We relocate to the grounds. I look around at my classmates. Some are visibly nervous. I make my way next to Iida. He gives me a small smile.
"Good luck!" I say. He returns this with a nod. The countdown begins.
"Everyone let's stick together. We'll be stronger as a group," Midoriya orders, taking the lead. Most of the class agrees.
I frown. I don't think I can commit to that arrangement.