Chapter Two: Friendship is Magic— Or Not

Present Day.

A full week had passed since Tsukiko had gone to UA and taken their prestigious entrance exam. Although she made sure to play it cool on the outside, she could not deny that there was a small part of her that worried she would not be accepted. What if she had been overconfident in her villain count? She did not remember how many robots she had taken down nor did she see the other contestants' counts since she had been so far away from the heart of the battle.

'I'm probably overthinking this.' she realized. Even if she, for some reason, was not accepted into UA, she had already passed the entrance exam for another hero school: Shiketsu High. Although the distance from her lodgings was quite large, she was not particularly inhibited by it as she had her own means of fast travel thanks to her quirk.

Quite a few years ago, she had unlocked the second level of her quirk. It was called Teleport. It was rather self-explanatory in itself. Using this aspect, she could teleport from one point of existence to another in an instant. She had discovered that it was not some type of speed quirk through lots of trial and error— rather, it allowed her to simply exist at one point and then, after teleporting, in another. Physical objects like walls or rock did not prevent the teleportation. So far, Tsukiko could teleport anywhere she had been before or that was within her sight. Despite its simplicity, it was a rather large stamina drain.

Tsukiko grimaced to herself as she remembered that even a single teleport of mere inches would cost more than twice as much stamina as making a wish. After teleporting too many places at a single time, she had passed out— again. That was an unfortunately common occurrence in her childhood.

Recharging her stamina from a teleport that large every morning would take about half the school day, but Tsukiko was sure that it would not seriously impede her abilities if she were to attend Shiketsu. On the other hand, UA was within walking distance and that was more preferable than using up a chunk of her stamina each morning.

At the moment, she was heading to the post office. For some reason, the matron at their orphanage did not allow any of the orphans to use the address of the orphanage as their home address. Despite her misgivings of the place, Tsukiko was not really bothered by this as she did not really care for others to find out she was an orphan regardless. Because of this, her address was listed at the local post office and she had walked there every morning to check if her letter from UA had come— not that she was impatient or anything.

Upon entering, she was greeted by a familiar face at the front desk. "Back again, squirt?"

Tsukiko made a long-suffering sigh at that. She absolutely loathed her height being used as an insult against her. She was still growing damnit! At 152 cm, her size was nothing to be impressed by (she tried to ignore the fact that it was short even for a girl her age), but surely she would hit her growth spurt sometime soon!

Sending a frigid smile to the man at the desk, she replied: "I may be short at the moment, Takamura-san, but I assure you that, since I am a young woman, my height will increase with age. It's a shame that your intelligence has not done the same." The older man threw back his head in laughter.

"HAHAHA— the same as always Sasaki-chan! Always the picture perfect, polite schoolgirl until someone mentions your height and they get to see the real side of you," he chortled. Snorting, she decided to ignore his comment. This was quite a common occurrence at the office by now.

"Takamura-san, I would appreciate if you would improve your customer service. At this rate, you will be reported and fired." She sniffed, lifting her chin imperiously. The man smiled at her with a gleam in his eyes.

"Ah, but Sasaki-chan, if that were the case, I wouldn't still be here then." He stated proudly, puffing out his chest. She huffed.

"Bullying young girls and getting away with it is nothing to be proud of, Takamura-san," she scoffed. "But anyways, back to why I'm here; has anything come yet?" Everyday she had received a negative answer and everyday she had trudged back to the orphanage in a foul mood. Although she did not want her so-called "family" to think that this was a big deal, this letter did mean a lot to her. If she was rejected from the No. 1 hero school in the country, what did that mean for her future as a pro hero?

This time, Takamura did not have the teasing glint in his eyes as he reached behind him. He pulled up his hand to reveal crisp, white envelope to the girl. "Ah, yes. This came in the mail for you very early this morning, Sasaki-chan." He'd seen this girl every morning this week and he could tell that this was important to her and, even if she tried to hide it, he had a lifetime of experience seeing past his own grandchildren's and children's poker faces. This girl was no match.

The girl's typically cool gaze sparkled for a second before settling back down to its natural icy blue. Even though she calmly accepted the letter from the outstretched hand, she was secretly bouncing on the inside. "Thank you Takamura-san. I will be on my way then. Have a good day." And with that she headed towards the exit.

"UA, huh? That's a hero school isn't it?"

She turned back around, startled. She hadn't told anyone that she'd applied there. How had he known? Seeing her shocked face, the post office worker rolled his eyes. "The official stamp is on the back. I'd be an idiot to not recognize it, Sasaki-chan." Turning over the envelope revealed that, indeed, the trademark symbol of UA was imprinted neatly on the back. "For what it's worth, I am sure you will be an amazing hero, Sasaki. I'll be rooting for you from here."

Blue eyes widened at the words. When was the last time anyone had said something like that to her? It must have been years. "Takamura-san..." was that tears in her eyes? Surely it was the dust mites. It was a bit stuffy in here. She'd have to remind the man to actually do his duties and keep his office clean. "I—"

"You don't have to say anything, Sasaki-chan. I know you're dying to read that. So go on home, now. And don't be a stranger! This old man gets lonely sometimes, too," he grinned, understanding written over his face. Tsukiko smiled, a real one instead of the fake, polite one she plastered on to face her everyday life.

"Thank you, Takamura-san. I'll become a hero worth believing in." And with that, and a small wave over her shoulder, Tsukiko exited the post office. Her heart felt a bit lighter knowing that there was someone supporting her dream, even if it was a mere acquaintance. She rushed back to the orphanage in a better mood than she had been in all week. In her cheer, she did not even take notice of the matron yelling at her for running through the halls or the other orphans who cowered away from her, leaving a clear path to her room. She had one goal in mind and she would not let others interfere before it was reached.

Bursting into her room, she immediately jumped onto her worn futon. It wasn't very good quality nor was it comfortable, but it was hers and that's what mattered. She was lucky to even have her own room at all. No one else wanted to share a room with the monster so she got to room all by herself. She preferred it this way, to be honest. There was nobody here whom she would trust with her back while she slept.

"Let's see, let's see, let's see..." she muttered to herself as she carefully, ever so carefully, opened the envelope. This single peace of paper was going to decide her immediate future! Surprisingly, when the envelope opened, it was not a piece of paper that popped out, but a small grey disc. Before she had the chance to react, a holographic image popped out and began speaking.

"I AM HERE!" Tsukiko nearly gaped at the fact that a miniature All Might was currently sitting on her bed. "TO GIVE YOU THE TEST RESULTS."

'Oh. All Might's just giving me my test results. This is a completely normal thing for the No. 1 hero to do, of course it is,' she tried to rationalize to herself. 'I mean why wouldn't he be here giving me this speech? It's not like he has people to save, other responsibilities, or literally anything more important than completing such a mundane task.' Aside from that frantic line of thought, what was All Might even doing at UA?

"I am sure you did not expect this, young Sasaki. After all, what would the number 1 hero be doing in your UA letter? HAHAHA," All might bellowed.

Tsukiko sweat dropped. 'What is he, a mind reader now?'

"But I am here to tell you that I will be teaching at UA next Semester! And so, I have come with your exam results!"

And oh, that did make a bit of sense. Although All Might was typically seen on the front lines, this type of media stunt would put All Might in a positive role of teaching the next generation.

"Young Sasaki! You successfully passed the writing portion of the exam! Congratulations! In addition, you scored a total of 38 villain points! Typically, that would not be enough to get you into the hero course as the spots are extremely limited—"

Tsukiko's entire world ground to a halt. She hadn't passed? What? But she—

"And that is why we have also factored in rescue points!"

—Huh?

All Might continued to explain. "As a hero school, we cannot deny credit to those who commit heroic deeds! And you, young lady, went out of your way to save another student who was quickly falling to either a very quick death or a very painful landing, earning you 28 rescue points as well!"

Wait, did that mean—?

"Congratulations, young Sasaki! With a total of 66 points, you have placed 5th in the entrance exam and are hereby admitted to UA as a part of the hero course! I look forward to seeing you in class soon!" And with that done, the tiny image of All Might disappeared back into the hologram.

Tsukiko sat there in shock for a good 3 minutes before it finally registered. She had passed and made it into the hero course! Her dream was finally being realized! She couldn't help but let out a small cheer of excitement, toning it down to prevent nearby neighbors from hearing. This was it! She had proven she deserved to stand with the best of the best who were training to be heroes.

'Are you watching, Hana? We finally did it! I made it into UA and I can fulfill our dream!'

2 weeks later.

The past two weeks had passed in a flurry of excitement. She had spent her time either training outside of the orphanage from dawn till dusk or holing up in her room to prevent further interactions with her fellow orphans. When she didn't bother them, they tended to leave her alone as well.

As she waited for the start of the school year, she had received more things in the mail including multiple sets of the UA uniform— she may or may not have tried it on immediately and posed in front of a window for 20 minutes— a form for her hero costume— which she had already submitted— a campus map, and her student ID.

Tsukiko could hardly believe this was happening, and so quickly too! Sure, she had never seriously doubted her chances of getting into UA— until All Might nearly gave her a heart attack, that is— but there was something special about finally living the moments you had fantasized about for so long.

Currently, she was preparing herself for the first day of UA. Her uniform, wrinkle-free, fell perfectly on her body. She had tied up her hair in twin half-up half-down pigtails with two worn, white ribbons— that were turning a bit grey— tied in. These ribbons meant a lot to her and she had never gone anywhere without them if she could help it. Wearing them to the UA entrance exam had seemed a bit absurd, however, since she did not need them getting any further damaged.

Finishing tying her tie, Tsukiko finally deemed herself presentable enough for school. A glance at the clock— and with more than 20 minutes before she had to leave too! Deciding that she wanted to be early, Tsukiko hefted a worn bag onto her shoulders and began the trip to UA. Using Wish, her hand was instantly occupied by 2 wrapped onigiri. Although she did not typically like using her quick for such an insignificant thing— mostly because making too many small wishes added up and may bite her in the ass later when she needed more stamina— the orphanage never had enough resources and the orphans were forced to fight to get the little clothing or food— even water— that they received. Often times, the strongest triumphed over the weak and those that stayed weak disappeared and no on ever saw them again. Tsukiko knew something fishy was going on in the background at that place. Not only was the matron untrustworthy, she was downright creepy— who encourages kids to fight like that? She had long ago decided that the orphanage was the first place she would investigate with her pro hero license.

She munched quickly and quietly on her breakfast as she enjoyed the quite atmosphere that surrounded her on early mornings such as these. The hustle and bustle of everyday life could be a lot and she liked to enjoy the tranquility when it was available to her. As a resident of an orphanage— in particular, her specific orphanage— she did not get a lot of it.

As she approached the UA campus, she once again could not get over its luxury and size. No matter how many times she saw it, walked on it, or attended classes on it, she doubted she would ever truly get used to its grandiose facilities.

Tsukiko had to hold up her campus map as she tried to find her classroom. She had arrived so early that there were hardly any other students whom she could ask for help or directions. Despite her best efforts, the campus map seemed a bit confusing and she ended up aimlessly wandering the halls. Honestly, why was the school so damn big and where were all the signs? They should be prepared for this kind of thing on the first day.

By the time the halls were filled with many other students of all shapes and sizes, Tsukiko finally gave in and requested help another student.

"Excuse me!" She called out. The kid turned around, eyes widening as he seemed to recognize her. "Could you help me find Class 1-A? I think I'm a bit lost."

He pointed at her. "You!"

"Me?" She pointed to herself, not understanding.

"You saved me at the entrance exam! T-Thank you so much!" He shouted, doing a full 90 degree bow in front of her. Tsukiko felt her face flush as other students gave them weird looks.

"Um, I'm sorry, I'm assuming we've met before, but I have a really bad memory," she apologized with a nervous laugh. "I don't know who you are." The boy looked at her wide-eyed. She didn't even remember who she rescued at the entrance exam? Was that possible? It was only a few weeks ago, but maybe that wasn't anything special for her? Maybe she saved people every day. Maybe she was already a hero and had been a plant at the exam and was a teacher here... and oh my god he was being so disrespectful then! What if—

"Hey hey!" A hand waved in front of his face, stopping his frantic muttering. "Um, I'm sorry I don't remember, I just am especially bad with faces and such! I'm a student here, too!" She explained. "Please stop stressing yourself out so much." The kid's green eyes widened in embarrassment.

"Ah I'm sorry, I do that sometimes." He said quietly. "I'm Midoriya Izuku. You saved me at the entrance exam and I very much appreciate it! I wouldn't have been here if it weren't for you!" Tsukiko smiled at his earnestness. He definitely had the right personality for this job.

"Nice to meet you Midoriya-san. My name's Sasaki Tsukiko. And I'm positive that someone like you would have passed whether I was there or not," she said sincerely. Midoriya's face turned red at the compliment.

'A girl is being so nice to me! Oh my god, I can't believe I even had the courage to talk to her in the first place!' He had been so excited to see his savior that he had forgotten about his bashfulness for a bit.

Tsukiko glanced at a nearby clock. 8 minutes until the start of home room. "Excuse me, Midoriya-san. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could direct me to Class 1-A. I seem to have lost my way in this big school and home room is going to start soon." Midoriya's face seemed to light up.

"Of course! I'm actually going there myself as well!" He cheered. Maybe he already had a friend in his class?

'If my luck holds out, then maybe Kacchan and the glasses guy will be in a different class.' He thought excitedly. Tsukiko smiled.

"Thank you Midoriya-san. I'll follow your lead, then." And the two were off. They actually arrived to class in less than 3 minutes with Tsukiko cursing the fact that it had been right around the corner from where she was standing earlier. How had she missed that?

"And what middle school are you from, you extra?" Both she and Midoriya paused as they opened the door, seeming to walk right into the middle of a confrontation between a blond-haired student and a guy wearing glasses. As the glasses guy spluttered at the rude nickname, Tsukiko thanked Midoriya and decided to find her seat. The class was only half full so she headed to the seat chart at the front to locate her seat. According to it, her seat was in the back, between someone named Todoroki and Yaoyorozu.

Making her way to the back of the classroom, she approached who she assumed to be one of her seat mates. "Excuse me, I was wondering if you were Todoroki-san? My seat is next to his." The kid nodded. Tsukiko couldn't help but think that his heterochromatic blue and grey eyes were very pretty. They seemed to compliment his candy cane hair perfectly. "Ah, wonderful. I'm Sasaki Tsukiko. It's nice to make your acquaintance."

"Todoroki Shouto."

And that was the end of their conversation. Tsukiko might have been a bit miffed at the curt response if she did not empathize with the fact that he may not like engaging in conversation with strangers. She was much the same way, however she had promised herself to at least try to be friendly since these students would be her classmates for the next 3 years and possible colleagues from then on. Deciding to check out her other seatmate, she noticed it was a girl with black hair and a mature aura surrounding her.

Extending her hand, she spoke up. "Hello. I'm Sasaki Tsukiko. I look forward to working with you in the next 3 years." The other girl turned to her and took her hand.

"Nice to meet you Sasaki-chan. My name is Yaoyorozu Momo, but you can call me Momo if you'd like." She said happily. Tsukiko nodded.

"Yaoyorozu-san." She acknowledged. The other girl seemed to deflate at that. "My apologies, I am not quite used to addressing other people so informally at the first meeting." The other girl nodded in understanding.

"Of course Sasaki-chan. I would not want you to be uncomfortable. I hope we work well together as well." She smiled. "Who do you think our home room teacher will be? I was surprised it was not listed in our admission packets." Tsukiko shrugged.

"I am not positive, but since this is the hero course, it's safe to say that he or she will be a pro." Suddenly hearing a commotion at the front, both girls turned towards the door to see everyone, dead silent, staring at a yellow caterpillar on the floor. Oops— not a yellow caterpillar. There was a human inside who crawled out.

"If you're here to make friends, go somewhere else." Tsukiko really believed that the man was rocking that hobo-vibe. Scruffy clothing, dark eye bags, unruly facial hair, and a face that said he was just completely done with all this shit. "You are not rational enough. It took you 8 second to quiet down." He finally stood up fully, revealing himself to be a tall male with a lean build. Tsukiko wondered what he was doing in their classroom. He certainly did not look like one of the staff.

"I am your home room teacher: Aizawa Shouta, nice to meet you." Well that was certainly a surprise.

'I stand corrected,' she mused silently. 'I guess I shouldn't judge someone by their appearance. He must be a pro if he's a teacher at UA.'

He suddenly pulled out a set of the UA gym uniform. "I know this is sudden, but put this on and meet me at the P.E. Grounds in 15 minutes. If you're late, you're expelled." The classroom seemed to pause for a second before promptly erupting into chaos. Tsukiko went with the flow as she grabbed her uniform before heading to the changing rooms. She simply followed the other girls to prevent herself from getting lost again. Hopefully one of them understood the confusing campus map.

As they changed in the locker rooms, she noticed that there were only 7 girls, a noticeably smaller quantity than the number of boys in their class. As she was getting changed, she heard one of the other girls speak aloud to the whole room.

"Hey, hey, hey!" It was a girl with pink skin, pink hair, and black eyes filled with yellow pupils. Tsukiko wondered what kind of quirk would give her such drastic bodily changes. "We should all introduce ourselves! Us girls gotta stick together ya know!" In a way, it made sense. Tsukiko knew that, even though it was not really a spoken-about topic, there were less women as professional heroes that could fight on the front lines than male heroes. Although gender discrimination was not a huge factor to becoming a hero, there were still many assholes who believed that women should only play the role of a damsel in distress. Just take a look at the Top 10, Miruko and Ryuukyuu were the only females.

"I'm Ashido Mina!" She introduced excitedly. "It's awesome that we'll get to work together for the next few years!" Somehow, Tsukiko definitely thought her unique coloring added to her charm.

"Asui Tsuyu, kero." This time it was a small-green haired girl— wait, had Tsukiko found someone shorter than her?!— who seemed to have a strong resemblance to a frog. "Call me Tsu."

"I'm Yaoyorozu Momo," Yaoyorozu introduced. "Feel free to call me Momo since my last name is so long."

"Yaomomo!" Ashido cheered. Some of the other girls laughed and echoed the nickname. Yaoyorozu joined their giggles and accepted the nickname without hesitation.

"I'm Uraraka Ochako!" A bright-eyed, brunette spoke up. And oh, was she a bit familiar? Tsukiko couldn't remember. "Let's do our best, everyone!"

"Hey, my name's Hagakure Tooru!" Someone shouted excitedly. Tsukiko looked around and spotted a pair of gloves and a gym uniform waving excitedly. Her quirk must be some type of invisibility quirk, she guessed.

"My name's Jirou Kyouka." This girl seemed a bit on the quieter side in comparison to the other exuberant personalities in the room. "It's nice to meet everyone."

Tsukiko didn't even realize it, but soon everyone was staring at her. Her face flushed as she realized she still hadn't said anything. "Ah! My apologies. My name is Sasaki Tsukiko. I look forward to training to become pro heroes together." She finished with a small bow to everyone which had the girls once again breaking out in smiles at her cute formalities. As they exited the locker room, the brown-haired girl with big eyes came up to her.

"Hey Saki-chan! Long time no see!" She greeted enthusiastically.

'So I have met her before...' Tsukiko thought to herself. 'Best not let her know I forgot.' She smiled back at her classmate.

"Nice to see you again, Uraraka-san. What a coincidence that we're attending the same school," she greeted, trying to play it cool.

'That sounded unsuspicious right?' Probably not since Uraraka was giving her a funny look.

"It's not that much of a coincidence if we were at the same entrance exam..." she announced. "... unless you forgot." Tsukiko froze and, upon seeing this, Uraraka's face fell.

"Saki-channnn! How could you forget your future best friend?!" She exclaimed. "And I told you to call me Ochako!" Tsukiko rubbed the back of her head bashfully. Right. This was the strange girl who had approached her so boldly in the entrance exam. She had forgotten what it was like to have friends like this. Maybe she should reach out?

"Ah, my apologies Uraraka-san. I simply have a bad memory and I forget faces quite easily." She explained. "I meant you no offense, I assure you." Uraraka pouted.

"You're so formal Saki-chan! I'm not going to stop bugging you until you stop addressing me like we're strangers!"

Tsukiko deadpanned. "But we've only met once before."

Uraraka nodded her head vigorously. "Yes! And that has set the path for us to become besties! Please?" She begged. Tsukiko sighed and gave in.

"Uraraka-chan." She amended. Uraraka's smile could basically light up the room.

"That's better, Saki-chan! We're gonna get along great!" She proclaimed. Tsukiko smiled. back, her infectious energy offsetting Tsukiko's hesitance to become informal with anyone so quickly.

Not long after, the entire class had assembled in a group at the P.E. Grounds with time to spare— and luckily no expulsions. Aizawa glanced around.

"Alright, now you will all participate in a Quirk Assessment Test." He announced casually. The class, somehow, shouted in unison.

"A QUIRK ASSESSMENT TEST?!"

Uraraka was quick to protest. "But Aizawa-sensei! What about the orientation?!" The teacher glanced at her coldly.

"If you're training to be a hero, you don't have time for such frivolous events." He told her, although his voice was aimed at the entire class. "At UA, traditions and lessons are unrestricted in the classroom to allow for a better learning experience. The same applies for teachers as well." The students shifted nervously. "You've been doing these types of tests since junior high without your quirks, right?" He held up a phone depicting a list of the tests they were to conduct. "The ministry of education is still not rational enough— setting averages for students without quirks. One day, they'll catch on."

Aizawa's cool gaze seemed to stare into the soul of each student and Tsukiko shivered, knowing he had been analyzing them since he stepped into the classroom. This was the aura that a real pro had. "Bakugou, you placed first on the entrance exam didn't you? What was the furthest you could throw in middle school?"

The loud blond kid answered. "67 meters."

'So that's the kid who got first,' she mused, analyzing his profile. His physique was quite muscular, indicating that he had trained a lot for this course. 'He certainly looks like he could pack a punch. I wonder what his quirk is?'

Aizawa handed a ball to Bakugou. "Try it again with your quirk. Anything goes as long as you stay in the circle."

Right before Bakugou pitched the ball, Tsukiko could have sworn she smelt caramel. "Die!" He shouted as the ball was catapulted forward with a blast. Tsukiko's hair was blown away from the resulting shockwave and she stared in shock. How could someone with no professional training already be so powerful? Were all the students this powerful? Was she supposed to be packing this much fire power?

"Know your own limits first." Aizawa stated as he held up the phone.

705.2 meters. Holy shit. Despite her shock, Tsukiko grinned. The blonde's throw was practically a challenge to the rest of the class. 'I definitely won't lose!' She proclaimed to herself silently. She, along with much of the class felt anticipation well within themselves.

She heard Ashido shouting about how much fun this would be, followed by similar proclamations from the other students. Tsukiko sort of agreed. This was a chance to test her limits in a way they had never been. It was time to show her classmates that she was someone to watch out for. A sort of feral grin split her face which had Uraraka glancing at her nervously.

"Eheh, Saki-chan your face..."

Aizawa then proceeded to shut everyone up by stating that this was not a place for fun and games. Whoever falls in last place gets expelled.

"But that's not fair!" Again, it was Uraraka. Tsukiko wondered if she should remind Uraraka that villains were not going to wait for fair circumstances. They were going to come at her with every dirty trick in the book. Aizawa seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he admonished her for that train of thought.

"It's a hero's job to overcome the unfairness of the world. Go beyond: plus ultra. Show me that you deserve to be here." Well if that wasn't inspiring, then Tsukiko didn't know what was.

The tests were quick to commence. First up was the 50 meter dash.

'I've got this in the bag.' Tsukiko thought smugly. The only person she could see doing better than her was the glasses boy. He had some serious looking engines in his calves. Tsukiko wondered if they were painful.

As she expected, the boy got an impressive score of 3.04 seconds. She wondered if it was even possible to top that. 'Something to strive for, I guess.'

When she heard her name called, she walked up to the line next to Yaoyorozu whom she would be racing. Although she could just teleport, Tsukiko was afraid she would use up too much stamina before the rest of the tests so she decided to just use Wish unless some drastic measures were needed. She then proceeded to activate her quirk. Her eyes glowed an icy blue and a motorcycle popped into existence right next to her in accordance with her need for speed. Her body warmed, letting her know that the wish was complete.

'Now this is what I'm talking about.' She thought grinning as she tested the ignition. Everything seemed to be in working order. When she heard the sound of an engine, she was surprised to see that Yaoyorozu also had a motorcycle in front of her.

"Ehhhh? Yaoyorozu-san, you're not copying me are you?" She teased lightly. Yaoyorozu shook her head.

"I'm as surprised as you are Sasaki-chan. Shall we see who's is better?" That was another challenge.

'Geez, hero kids are so competitive.' Tsukiko grinned right back at her, the wild light back in her eyes. 'Of course, I'm no better.'

"You're on Yaoyorozu-san. You'll have to accept my apologies when I leave you in the dust." Before Yaoyorozu could retort, Aizawa interrupted them and reminded them that this was a test— not a bonding session.

At the start signal, both girls revved their bikes and streaked past the finish line in mere seconds.

"3.23 seconds." The robot stated for both of them. Tsukiko sighed as the bike disappeared. So she lost to the engine guy and tied with Yaoyorozu. What was her quirk?

As they moved to the side, Yaoyorozu couldn't contain her curiosity. "Sasaki-chan, just what is your quirk? Is it like mine?" She questioned.

Tsukiko quietly contemplated the fact that even the doctor had never seen a quirk like hers before she answered. "My quirk is called Miracle and it allows me to warp reality based on my desires and stamina." She answered after a bit of deliberating. There. Short and simple. Yaoyorozu gaped in amazement.

"That's amazing! My quirk is called Creation! It lets me create anything— excluding living beings— from the lipids in my body as long as I know its composition." Yaoyorozu tapped her chin in thought. "I guess our quirks aren't that similar. Mine is based on science, but it seems like yours defies all the laws of physics."

In spite of receiving praise, Tsukiko still frowned a bit. "I guess so." She hated when people thought of her quirk in that way. It was just a regular quirk like everyone else's. It wasn't special.

"If I may ask, what happened to your bike?" Her own bike was still off to the side somewhere. Tsukiko looked towards the now empty spot where her bike had been.

"My quirk is heavily based on my desires. When I use the first level: Wish, I can call forth material objects that fit my wants and needs at the moment. When the desire passes or fades, as long as I haven't done something like eat the object I got from the wish, the object will disappear— probably returning to wherever it came from." She explained. "If I want to keep something, I have to "lock" it, so to speak, to keep it "locked" to my current location and that takes a lot of energy and it's a bit uncomfortable for me. I don't do it too often since it costs much less to dismiss the previous wish and make another."

Yaoyorozu nodded. That made sense. Wait— "It returns to where it came from?" She asked. Tsukiko nodded.

"Yup. Wish doesn't just pop things into existence. Wish just finds an object— or multiple pieces of various objects such as spare change— from somewhere around the world that fits the bill for my desire and transports it to me. We discovered that when I wished for an expensive, limited-edition All Might action figure that hadn't been released yet. It disappeared from its holding place and the police were freaking out but no one knew I had it." Tsukiko pouted. "My mom made me return it though."

Yaoyorozu giggled. "Well I'm glad that you weren't labeled as a thief, then. Your quirk seems very interesting." Tsukiko nodded.

"I get that a lot."

The following tests went about in the same manner as each student strained their quirks to produce the best results. Some, however, did not have quite as much of an advantage in this sort of physical test while others, like Bakugou, were taking to them like a fish in water.

With the grip strength, Tsukiko didn't really think her quirk would help her much here so she decided to save her stamina and not bother. The more vague the wish was, the more open to interpretation from her quirk. There was always the chance that it ended up giving her some rare, complex machine to give her a good score, that would take a huge chunk of her stamina. It was safer to already have a more specific direction in mind when it came to wishes. She ended up scoring 52 kg.

With the standing long jump, Tsukiko wished to fly and received a jet pack. With that, she easily cleared the sandbox.

The following repeated side steps also resulted an average score of 45, but Tsukiko noticed that no one actually stood out for that one.

When it was finally her turn on the ball throw, Tsukiko hefted a large bazooka onto her shoulder and loaded the ball in. Bracing for impact, she blasted that thing into the stratosphere.

— Just kidding. There was definitely a lot of recoil, but her score ended up only reaching 300 meters. Much better than those with unsuited quirks, but it paled in comparison to others like Bakugou with his explosions or Yaoyorozu with her cannon. Sometimes Tsukiko wished that being very specific with her quirk wasn't such a huge stamina drain. If she had asked for a cannon specifically, she'd probably be out for the rest of the day because, with the appearance of quirks, many weapons of warfare were no longer as popular or in use and were a rarity to come by. In addition, with the emergence of heroes, global conflict and big wars weren't quite as popular either so it made something like a cannon even rarer and more taxing for her to wish for.

For the sit-ups, she had to find a partner so she looked to Yaoyorozu, expecting affirmation. She was disappointed, however, when Yaoyorozu shrugged apologetically and told her she was already partnered with Jirou. Seeing that the other girls had already paired up, Tsukiko realized she was going to have to ask a boy.

"Oi, midget. We're partners." Tsukiko tensed at the abrasive tone. Plastering on that polite smile with a twitch in her eye, she turned to the offender.

"Excuse me, Bakugou-san? I don't think I appreciate name calling. Please refrain from doing so in the near future." She told him, voice strained.

He sneered at her. "Oh yeah? You think you're hot shit you extra? I don't take orders from fucking dwarfs."

Her eyes turned menacing. It was one thing when someone familiar like Takamura-san pointed it out. It was another to be looked down on by some shit-face who thought he was god's gift to man. "Pardon me, Bakagou. I couldn't really understand you over the ugly dog barking in my face. Oh wait— that's you." She taunted. At this point, some of the other kids were watching them. In the corner of her eye, Tsukiko thought she could see Midoriya making some odd hand motions and frantically shaking his head. He was mouthing something too, but that wasn't really Tsukiko's main focus at the moment.

Bakugou's hands lit with mini explosions. "The fuck did you call me you bitch?!" He shouted.

Tsukiko pretended to ignore his tone, glancing coolly to the side. "Hard of hearing as well, hmm? How unfortunate it must be to be you." Before Bakugou could leap at her and shove her face in the dirt, Aizawa came over and put an end to it.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop making me use my quirk. Get along or it's detention for both of you." He ordered sternly, his red eyes looking so exhausted and this was only the first day. Tsukiko just scoffed before getting into sit-up position with Bakugou angrily following after and holding her legs down.

"I bet you can't even do a proper sit-up shortie." He was provoking her. She knew he was provoking her.

She took the bait. "Fucking watch me Bakagou. I'd never lose to someone who's all talk." Although she acknowledged that that wasn't the complete truth and that he had some skill if he was able to do so well on the tests so far. His response was to press down unnecessarily hard on her legs which she sent him a glare for.

By the end of the minute, Tsukiko was definitely sweating and her core was cramping. Bakugou had taunted her the entire time and she may have gone a bit too far proving him wrong. 53 was good, right? When they switched positions, Bakugou sent her a smirk.

"I'll show you how a real hero gets it done."

64. How was it even possible to do more than one sit-up per second? Tsukiko gaped.

"Heh, fucking shut your mouth midget. I'm sure you'd have at least done a bit better if you weren't so fucking tiny. Seriously, are you sure you're in high school?" And the awe was gone.

"Fuck you, Bakagou!" She shouted indignantly. But he was already walking away, smug in his win.

'UGH. I can't let him win again.' Tsukiko thought darkly. She wished she could say that she was a calm and collected person. She really wished she could. But the truth was that the calm and polite facade were just a mask. She had a mean streak a mile long as soon as someone so much as implied she was short. Her filter seemed to dissolve as well whenever she let loose.

She scored well on the seated toe touch as she was quite naturally flexible.

In addition, after she got a bicycle for the long-distance run, she finished well on that as well. It was a shame that she did not get another motorcycle but oh well.

When Aizawa announced the results, Tsukiko eagerly searched for her name.

Sasaki Tsukiko. 4th.

Right below Bakugou fucking Katsuki. When he sent her an imperious look from over his nose, she could not prevent the growl from escaping. She hated people looking down on her— literally and metaphorically.

Glancing at the bottom of the list, she saw Midoriya's name in the 20th spot. She instantly felt bad. It seemed like Midoriya really had some potential despite his shy nature. Didn't he have a strengthening quirk of some kind? That would have been perfect for tests like these. Tsukiko was sad to think that the green-haired boy would be expelled before his journey could truly begin.

"Also, I was lying about the expulsion."

... eh?!

"It was a rational deception to draw out the best of your quirks."

"EHHHHHH?!"

Yaoyorozu— who had placed first— looked around. "I'm sorry I should have warned you guys. I thought it was a pretty obvious lie." Well, that's one way to make everyone feel stupid.

"Anyway, report back to class immediately. You'll be following a normal schedule after this. And Midoriya," Said greenette glanced up from the middle of his little panic session. "Go head to see Recovery Girl and get that finger healed."

'He hurt himself again? What an unreliable quirk.' Tsukiko thought to herself. Power was nothing without control. And a power that was more harmful than helpful wouldn't help anyone— she knew that from experience.

As they walked back to the classroom, Tsukiko couldn't help but ease up her tensed muscles. The morning wasn't even over and she had already used up nearly three-quarters of her stamina. UA really knew how to push its students. Hopefully she would be able to recharge throughout the day because they still had the Hero class later today too. There was only one thought on Tsukiko's mind at the moment.

'Was it my turn to do the dishes tonight? Fuck that, I'm going to sleep.'

A/N: Hello! Long time no see! Heheh, this chapter was originally supposed to contain a bit more, but I decided this was long enough. For the record, I did look up averages on the physical fitness tests to make some accurate scores for Tsukiko when she couldn't use her quirk. If the numbers seem a bit unrealistic, remember that this is a hero universe and Tsukiko has trained a lot— even if it was unprofessionally.

We also got a bit more of an explanation on her quirk and she got to meet some new people! Haha, when I was writing her reactions to being called short, I couldn't help but thinking of Edward Elric from FMA. I hope you liked her interactions with her classmates— I'm definitely going to enjoy writing Bakugou's interactions in the future!

At first, her character was supposed to be aloof like all the time, but I thought that was a bit too similar to Shouto so I added some personality traits from myself like her bad sense of direction and her forgetfulness. I feel like it adds a bit of humor .

One thing I definitely want to point out about her quirk is that a warm feeling will spread through her body when the wish is completed!

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! Please R & R and I'll do my best to respond to any questions you may have!

Until next time!

Frostfire