"A Quirk assessment test?!"
'Great work as always everyone. The synchronization is seamless. Our class unity is through the roof.', I couldn't help but think to myself all the way from the back.
"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" Yeah, what she said. Where else would I get my free U.A. branded wristwatch and notebooks?
"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Without even looking at us, our homeroom teacher replied, "U.A.'s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's how the teachers run their class."
Ignoring the sounds of astonishment, he continued, "You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right?"
Pulling out a device, Aizawa flashed the screen to the class. On it, was a bullet list of 8 different physical tests.
"Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their quirks." Aizawa elaborated, "It's not rational."
I'd think it was to avoid overzealous untrained kids from hurting themselves and other people by pushing their quirks past their limits, and they wouldn't be allowed to use it in public without a license anyway, but what do I know? I'm just a blunt instrument.
"Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating.", he pointedly looked over the rest of the class to gaze over at me, "Sato, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?"
With the rest of the class turning around to stare at me, Bakugo doing so at breakneck speeds, my new homeroom teacher asked, "In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?"
I shrugged, "Can't remember exactly. Around 120 metres, I think."
"Impressive". He didn't look very impressed, though my classmates sure did. "Then, try doing it with your quirk."
Moving past my classmates over to the circle Aizawa indicated, I picked up the baseball placed on the ground there.
"You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle." Aizawa explained, "Hurry up. Give it all you've got."
All I got, huh? I didn't bring any needles with me today, not wanting my first impression to be along the lines of druggie. That fun revelation will come later. Instead, I reached into my pocket for my bagged Fructose sugar cubes, each about 10 grams. Because bringing baggies filled with white substance wasn't sus at all.
As much testing as I've done with different types of sugar, there hasn't been major ground-breaking changes between types of sugar that I use. There have been some small changes, with some sugar substitutes making my tunnel-vision less prominent, others mitigating the pain I feel when using Sugar Rush, and some just straight up giving me reasons to be sat on the toilet after quirk use. Plain Fructose was my favourite to use while training, simply because it makes me feel less like shit when my quirk is pushed for longer periods of time. It also let me keep a measure of intelligence when using my quirk. Maybe because of the lessened impact on my blood sugar, I wasn't completely sure to be honest. I'll ask Yaoyorozu later, she was probably well-versed in food science. Though, I did need to have a clear singular objective in mind when activating my quirk using Fructose sugar, otherwise that measure of intelligence didn't stick. This, along with the Lactose I used for the practical exam, which didn't give as big of a strength boost but allowed me more critical thinking and conversing, were my go-to sources of fuel.
I only had 8 cubes with me, and it was useless trying to hit as high a number as possible, given the infinity score I knew was coming. So, I judged popping in 2 cubes would be enough.
Holding the ball in my left hand close to my chest, with knees slightly bent and shoulder width apart, I readied myself to throw. I stretched my right arm out, doing a few windmills to get it loose. Bringing the right hand down, I gripped the ball with my right index, middle finger, and thumb across the seams. After testing out my throwing form aim a few times, I was ready. Turning my torso away from the target, I wound my arm all the way back and around my body. Letting out a huge roar, I took a step towards my target direction, rotated my hips, and released the ball, my entire body following into the throw. A perfect 45-degree pitch. Eat your heart out, Tom Seaver.
A single blast of sound and forced washed over the rest of the class, kicking up dust around me. Whoops. Sorry about that. Though technically, would this count as them eating my dust?
"Know your own maximum first. That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero."
Over a quarter-minute later, Aizawa checked his device, then held it up to show the rest my result. Going by the sounds they were making; I could assume I did well. I couldn't see it, but I could always count on the others to call it out for me, the dust not dampening their tendency to call things out.
"1419 meters? Seriously?", called someone from the back.
Huh, guess even my form for the throw improved.
"What's this? It looks fun!"
"We can use our Quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!"
You had to say it.
"'It looks fun,' huh?" Aizawa muttered, "You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?"
His face adopted a menacing smile as he gave his ultimatum, "All right. Whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion."
This time, the outspoken disbelief from the class was warranted.
Seeing his conditions sink in, Aizawa spoke up, "We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students." Pushing his hair up out his face, his terrifying expression became much more noticeable, "Welcome to U.A.'s hero course."
"Last place will be expelled? But it's the first day of school! No, even if it wasn't the first day of school, this is too unfair!" Uraraka protested.
"Natural disasters, big accidents, and selfish villains. Calamities whose time or place can't be predicted. Japan is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations. If you wanted to go talk with your friends at Mickey D's after school, too bad. For the next three years, U.A. will do all it can to give you one hardship after another." Aizawa answered, "Go beyond. Plus Ultra."
Beckoning his index finger at the class, he challenged, "Overcome it with all you have got."
Rather than wallow in fear and trepidation, the class in front of me got competitive. Putting on their serious faces, stretching out their limbs, hyping themselves up, pulling out a bottle of what's probably orange juice. As expected of those who got in the U.A. hero course. You didn't make it this far without some measure of confidence and competitiveness. Well, Midoriya looked ready to shit his pants, but he's a special boy. Oh, and Bakugo looked ready to kill me. What was new?
"All right, demonstration's over. The real thing starts now."
The First Test. Fifty Meter Dash.
Iida Tenya did well, big surprise. 3.04 seconds using his quirk, Engine. Asui Tsuyu, a frog girl, got it in 5.58 seconds. A good round overall.
Uraraka, a 7.15, not great but not as bad as it could be. Overall fitness could use some work. Her running mate, Mashirao Ojiro, some dude with a tail, big whoop, got a 6.91. Compared to the ones right before them, this was a disappointment.
Aoyama Yuga, for all his glitter and gold, couldn't back up his claim of showing everyone how it's done. A second of impressive speeds propelled by his laser belly, before he ate dirt. Though that does raise a question on how a weightless thing like light pushed him backwards. Best not to think to hard about it, quirks were weird like that.
Ashido Mina, overtaking him, recorded a 5.40. Great conditioning and subtle use of her quirk on her feet to reduce friction. Aoyama recovered quick enough to be right behind her at 5.51 seconds.
Bakugo and Midoriya were up next. The moment the starter pistol shot sounded, Bakugo shot down the track, his blasts carrying him forward. 4.13, not bad. Look forward to beating it. Midoriya lagged behind, netting himself a 7.02. If nothing else, at least we knew he was fit.
"So," Yaoyorozu started, sliding up beside me, "You topped the practical exam. That's very impressive."
"Thank you. I was ready for anything, and robots fell under that." I spoke.
She smiled at the call back, but before she could comment, Aizawa called for the next pair of students to go up to the starting line.
"Sato Rikido and Todoroki Shoto."
Setting myself behind the white line, I popped in a sugar cube as I adopted a sprinter start. Out the corner of my eye, I see Todoroki opt for a more upright stance, to help support his ice slide most likely. As I was sizing him up, our eyes met, as he was doing the same to me. An unspoken challenge was agreed upon between the two of us before we looked back to focus on the finish line.
"On your mark…", the robot on a tripod recording the time signalled.
I activate Sugar Rush, feeling the surge of power flow throughout my body. I could also feel the air beside me start chilling at an unnatural rate.
"Get set…" Right hand forward, same leg back.
A gunshot rang out, and I was out of the block fast, with my hand one the ground and my lead foot launching me forward. From there, it was a careful balancing act of leaning my body forward to reduce time wasted in the air so I could push myself forward more, and not falling on my face. As quick as it started, I passed the white line that marked 50 metres.
"2.67 seconds." In short burst, nobody was beating my acceleration. Iida needed a running start he didn't have, and as he was now Bakugo's explosion could only come out so fast.
Though, with Todoroki passing the finish line, maybe it shouldn't be the Explosion user I should be setting myself against. 4.04 seconds. Just a second slower than Iida.
The Second Test. Grip Strength.
With two cubes down the hatch, I applied as much force into the dynamometer as I could. It didn't take too long before I felt some sharp metal digging into my finger.
"You broke the device!?"
"That's insane!"
"Whoa! That's a lot of damage"
Aizawa only looked at me kind of grumpily before noting my result so I would take that as a win. Though, when Momo came up to him a minute later with the same problem, this time with hers stuck in a clamp, he was decidedly getting annoyed by the property damage.
The Third Test. Standing Long Jump.
Most people didn't have quirks that really suited this task. Some did, though. Iida and his running start, Bakugo and his explosions, Aoyama and his laser, Yaoyorozu and her pole, Todoroki and his ice, Elbow Tape and his elbow tape.
In my case? One sugar was all it took to overshoot the jump completely. Next.
The Fourth Test. Repeated Side Steps.
Three vertical lines on the ground, adjusted every round to fit the student's height.
Nothing my quirk could really do to help me out here, so I relied to sheer athleticism and footwork to get me through this. Luckily for me, only one person really had a quirk suited for this type of exercise, and Minoru Mineta wasn't about to take my spot at the top with one good test. Bakugo tried to blast himself from side to side, but that method was unreliable and ended up shooting him too far every time, so he switched to doing it normally midway.
The Fifth Test. Ball Throw,
Generally, people did well here, with most going for straightforward methods given their quirks, but some having genuine creativity in their throw. Todoroki was doing well throughout these tests, as anyone could have predicted. Bakugo, even after his 705.2 metre throw and subsequent tantrum at being half my score, would easily place top 5 at the end of this. His attitude, as much as it clashes with the ones of those around him, gave him the drive to be among the very best. Add natural talent and instinct and you had a future star. Of course, I would never tell him that to his face, best keep his ego from being inflated even more than it already is. I'm one to talk, but I'm dope, so I can say things like that.
I watched as Uraraka stepped up to the plate, and, as if to throw a stick to a dog, casually shit all over me and the rest of the class when she threw a ball that never came down. Even had the audacity to put a hand over her eyes, as if to block the sun from finding out where her throw went to, taunting me. I knew she meant no disrespect by it, and she probably only wanted to watch the ball go up, but still. She knew damn well it wasn't gonna fall. A score of Infinity.
As Midoriya was up next, I took the chance to glance around at the state of affairs of the others. Many were looking at Midoriya like one would an open casket, probably already counting him out as the one to go. Bakugo for one was switching between sneering at his childhood buddy, and growling at me every few seconds. Only the recommended students were really unaffected by the atmosphere, with Yaoyorozu being confident in her assumption that expulsion was a bluff, and Todoroki being apathetic to anything outside his daddy issues.
"Sato, you don't seem very concerned about Mr. Aizawa's threats. Are you merely confident in your ability to not place last? You are doing extremely well, after all. Or… Do you perhaps think there's more to this than meets the eye?" Momo inquired quietly, a conspicuous tone evident in her voice. She wanted to be validated in her theory of it being a ruse.
"I'm sure I won't place last, yeah. But… last year, there was a story of a whole class being kicked out of U.A.'s hero department." That certainly shocked her. The eavesdropping Todoroki couldn't say the same, no. Emotion hasn't been unlocked on his skill tree yet. "It never became a big story, and most everyone dismissed it as a wild rumour, but now, I'm not so sure. U.A. does give their pro heroes a long leash on how they run things, and Aizawa doesn't seem like the most forgiving of people."
"I-I see. W-well that does poke holes into my theory, now doesn't it. I was under the assumption that all that posturing would be to ensure the best results out of each of us, but if what you say is true, then we might very well be down a classmate soon." Momo's hopeful expression a few moments ago was now a deep-thinking frown. Killed her mojo there, did I?
I reassured her with a big, "Of course, if he were to see how great everyone is, I doubt he'd be willing to let us go so soon."
She looked up at me, with an unsure but amused smile, "H-hopefully. Let us just do our best for the rest of these tests. You're performing exemplary thus far, and I would hope to match that for these last trials."
"Don't worry. You're doing great, Momo. Is it alright if I start calling you that? You can call me Rikido if you want."
She blushed, looking aside, "Y-y-yes that would be fine. Thank you, R-R-Rikido. So forward. I-"
Just then, a sonic boom erupted from the middle of the field. It wasn't as loud as my original throw, and the effects of Midoriya's attempt didn't reach the students, but that didn't matter. Midoriya surprised everyone by revealing just what he was capable of. Even the unflappable Todoroki had his eyes wide at that.
705.3 metres!
Midoriya, with tears in his eyes and a newly broken index, turned back to look at burrito sleeping bag man, and proclaimed, "Mr. Aizawa… I can still move!"
"This kid…!" Aizawa had a manic grin on his face, for the first time looking like he had any hope for the green-haired kid in front of him.
"He got over 700 metres?!"
"Finally, a hero-like record!" Uraraka cheered, throwing her fists up.
"His finger's swollen." Iida noted, "There was the entrance exam too. He has a strange quirk."
"It's not very stylish." Much appreciated input as ever, Aoyama. You're a meaningful and valued member of this class.
Bakugo though, he was frozen in pure disbelief. My Kodak moment of the school year so far.
After his brain shut down, rebooted, blue-screened, and restarted again, small explosions started dancing across the palm of his hand.
"What is the meaning of this?" Bakugo seethed, pure white-hot fury in his eyes. Losing any self-control, he darted towards Midoriya, intent to maim clear "Hey! Tell me what's going on, Deku, you bastard!"
Before he could get too close, Bakugo's momentum was stopped when white cloth wrapped around his chest and forehead from behind, and explosions ceased coming out his hand. Struggling futilely, Bakugo strained his neck to look over what happened, "What the-? These cloths are hard…!"
"They're weapons for capture made of carbon fibre woven together with metal wire made of a special alloy." Aizawa elaborated, with his eyes glowing red and his hair standing up "Jeez… Don't keep making me use my Quirk over and over. I have dry eye."
'It's such a waste, since his Quirk is so amazing!' was a thought majority of 1-A shared unknowingly at that moment.
Seeing Bakugo calm down enough that he wouldn't attack a fellow student then and there, Aizawa retracted his scarf, waving off the class' admiration, "We're wasting time. Whoever's next, get ready."
Midoriya slowly backed away from a still Bakugo, before booking it back towards Uraraka.
I turned back to Yaoyorozu, and told her, "Well, that was something. Anyway, Aizawa looked like he saw something he liked in Midoriya." Not like that weirdos. "I have faith he'll reconsider his stance on expulsion."
Yaoyorozu just looked concerned, "I would hope so. Midoriya would have broken his finger for nothing otherwise."
I turned back to stare at Bakugo, and a snort escaped my nostril. 'I would say it was worth it. Bakugo looking like he swallowed a ̶d̶i̶c̶k̶ lemon made my day all on its own.'
The Sixth and Seventh Tests. Sit-Ups and Seated Toe-Touch
For these tests, we moved indoors to a gym with wood flooring, complete with 10 white mats already set up for quick use. Aizawa informed us that we could choose our partners freely, and so Yaoyorozu and I took our place on a mat.
No real standouts for this, and with everyone in class being generally athletic, not much excitement went into this round. The only notable thing to happen would be when Mineta tried to complete his sit-ups by planting a bouncy ball of hair under his back to push him back up after going down, but Aizawa wasn't having it. Not sure why, I thought it was kinda clever. Maybe because his torso wasn't big enough to the point where he would barely go down before the ball bounced him back up. Probably that.
Same goes for the seated toe-touch where nobody except Midoriya had any real problems. Must suck doing that with a broken finger.
The Eight Test. Long-Distance Run
Popping in one of my last cubes, I made sure to never lag behind anyone other than Iida, who's quirk flourished in a more spacious run. Bakugo and Todoroki tried to overtake me multiple times, but they could only use their quirk for so long and with a longer time frame, they needed to be conservative with their quirk. With Todoroki using thin sheets of ice to slide along and Bakugo using his explosions to boost him along every once in a while, I had to make sure to keep my A-game up, keeping my head straight and focusing solely on my running and on Iida's back.
Making the finish line, I saw Iida give me an impressed nod for keeping it as close as I did. I turned around to an unemotive Todoroki and a disgruntled Bakugo, who was gnashing his teeth at being unable to one-up me at any of these tests. Sorry pal, built different. While waiting for the rest of the class to finish, I decided to focus on some select people. Momo was on, was that a moped? Guess it would be easier to make than a motorcycle. She was solidly in fifth behind us tryhards, coming only a few seconds after Bakugo. Midoriya, despite his excellent fitness, was hampered by the searing amounts of pain he undoubtedly felt, and was thus in the back of the pack alongside Mineta and Hagakure.
Once Midoriya reached the finish and lied down to rest, our homeroom teacher motioned for us to gather for the result. Walking over to him, I offered the tired boy a hand, and lifted him to his feet when he took it.
"T-thank you. I did terrible there, huh."
"No problem. You got unlucky there, could've done a lot better in those last few tests if the ball throw came later."
"A-ah, t-thanks. Y-you did really well though. Sato, right? Probably got number one overall."
"Well, we'll see, we'll see. Chin up, I'm confident you'll be pleasantly surprised."
Walking past Midoriya, I made my way over to Yaoyorozu's side for the ranking reveal. She turned to look at me, saying, "That was nice of you. How is he feeling?"
"Not great, I think he's subconsciously accepted his removal from U.A." I grimaced for show, "I'll hold out hope though. Mr. Aizawa doesn't seem the type to ignore potential."
Some others caught the conversation, and were shooting me questioning looks. We'll see soon enough. I knew what I was doing; leveraging canon to make myself look like a prophet. No real benefit in the long run, but I'll look cool in the moment.
"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results. The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once." Eraserhead explained.
1. Sato Rikido
2. Yaoyorozu Momo
3. Todoroki Shoto
4. Bakugo Katsuki
5. Iida Tenya
6. Tokoyami Fumikage
7. Shoji Mezo
8. Ojiro Mashirao
9. Kirishima Eijirou
10. Ashido Mina
11. Uraraka Ochako
12. Koda Koji
13. Asui Tsuyu
14. Aoyama Yuga
15. Sero Hanta
16. Denki Kaminari
17. Jirou Kyoka
18. Hagakure Toru
19. Mineta Minoru
20. Midoriya Izuku
Midoriya looked like he wanted to die, clutching his swollen hand. Moment of truth.
"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion." The least reassuring smile came onto Aizawa's face "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks."
A moment passed, then…
"Whaaaaaat?!" The choir sang.
"It was a lie. What a relief. I had my suspicions by just thinking it through but I decided to keep them close to avoid any chances." Momo sighed out happily. People who heard her were noticeably embarrassed, probably thinking that such a conclusion would be obvious to make, unaware of how close to carrying out the threat Aizawa was. Though, I wondered, if Mineta came in last, would he have been expelled?
"That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?" Sticky Guy, Sero, asked Hard Guy, Kirishima
"I'll take up the challenge anytime!"
Bakugo just looked disappointed Midoriya's dreams weren't crushed right then and there.
"With that, we're done here. There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom so when you get back, look over them." Stopping in front of Izuku, Aizawa handed over a paper, "Midoriya. Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office. Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous tests. Prepare yourself." And with that, Aizawa left the field.
With the class heading back to the locker rooms to change, people started discussing Aizawa's 'fake-out', breaking down the merits of his strategy and considering the effectivity of it. Some classmates praised me on my performance, Kirishima being the most outspoken of them, with him even asking for training tips and joint sessions. Those who had heard my thoughts from earlier complimented me on my insight, but I knew better. Before Midoriya showed that he could use his quirk creatively, Aizawa was ready to toss Midoriya Izuku out a window and leave him on a sidewalk.
Once cleaned up and changed, we were permitted to grab the handouts on the teacher's desk and leave right after. Seems like the entrance ceremony and the orientation were the only agenda for the day. Taking a few minutes to wait in the classroom, I spotted a changed Yaoyorozu entering through the front door to collect her handouts and her bag.
With me hovering near her desk, she spotted me instantly and walked up to me. She greeted, "Hello again, R-Rikido. I must admit, you had me worried there for a while. I'm grateful that we were wrong to assume Mr. Aizawa would be so callous as to give up on us in our first meeting."
I smiled, "I'm glad I was wrong, too. Though, I can't shake the feeling that we just barely avoided impending doom."
"Not for yourself, selfless of you," She commended with a smile, "Congratulations on your first-place finish, as well. You truly showed your ability today."
"You give yourself too little credit. Second-place is nothing to sneeze at." I mean, I would spit if I got it, but it's understandable for others. "You were outstanding, too."
"Thank you." She accepted it gracefully. "Are you waiting for someone else? Or shall we go?"
"Nope, just you. Let's head down."
A light shade of red and a small smile. We headed down to leave, engaging in small talk to get to know each other better. Nearing the gate, Momo turned to me and said "My driver is waiting outside the gate. Thank you for today. I'll see you tomorrow."
I beamed at her, "I had fun today, see you."
Hate to watch her go and love to watch her leave, eh?
...Was that a limo?
...
Now, I'm not saying I'm a gold digger, bu-
Any science majors wanna help me with the food science? You'd be the voice of reason for Yaoyorozu breaking down the quirk. I'll keep it simple but I do want some evidence backing my claims, even if it is pseudo-science and stretches of logic. Just put "quirk" and "adaptive biology" then call it a day. It doesn't need to be airtight, there just has to exist a box to bounce ideas and limitations off.
Also, I saw 2 reviews right next to each other, one asking
"hey I just saw this in QQ NSFW so... harem?"
and the other saying
"Im fine with the story as long as it doesnt turn into a harem"
Duality of man.