The flames, they were everywhere. The sounds of people crying and yelling in the distance yet no one was to be seen. Only the pitch black void and the flames. Amidst all the flames a small girl comes into view she's alone and crying. A hand emerges from the darkness to attempt to grab her or give her comfort, but the only response is nothing but a blood curdling scream that relentlessly echoes.
"Another nightmare, of course it was." A young girl, Kaida Tatsuma has been having the same constant nightmare for years.
"Just put it behind you… just put it behind you." Kaida gets up from her bed, no longer able to go back to sleep goes to the kitchen to get something to drink where she spots a couch gremlin. Oh that's not a couch gremlin that's her older sister.
"She's officially becoming a couch gremlin…" Kaida mumbles to herself walking into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water when suddenly the temperature in the kitchen dropped down.
"You know that I heard that right. I'm a light sleeper y'know." The couch gremlin aka known as Ryoko Tatsuma approaches her little sister knowing full well why she is up so late at night. "You had another nightmare Kaida?"
It didn't need to be answered. She knew she did and it continues to worry her that her little sister is still experiencing these nightmares even now as she is getting ready for her entrance exam at U.A.. Ryoko walks over to Kaida and turns her around to look her in the eyes. "Kaida it's going to be okay. You're going to start your entrance exam soon. Don't let the nightmares beat you and stop you from where you are going okay?" Kaida looks down into her sister's eyes and sees the worry and concern in them. "I'll do my best 'little big sister'." Smirking with the comment making herself feel a tad bit better seeing Ryoko puff her cheeks at her. As soon as she walks up the stairs Ryoko chuckles and whispers something but just loud enough for Kaida to hear. "I'm sure that you will. After all, as I recall that gravity girl you were so fond of is taking the entrance exams as well, too bad you won't be able to see her there. With you taking the recommendation version of the exam Kai-chan, fu fu fu." Kaida blushes up a storm and runs back to her room. "Ryo-chan… why are you like this.." Kaida takes a look at her left arm that's covered in a special type of arm brace in disgust as she heads to her room.
That one snarky comment from her sister is still ringing in her head even on her way to the exam. "Stupid Ryo saying something like that so close to the exam. I hope she does make it. I have to believe in her. Hopefully we'll be in the same class so I'm not stuck with a bunch of people I don't know or won't like." Completely lost in thought she accidentally bumps into someone walking at the entrance at U.A. "Sorry about that." The person in question looked like they went to a prestigious school or at least came from a lot of money.
"Oh are you here for the recommendation exams as well?" This girl seemed to talk in a peculiar way, a way exactly as you would expect from someone who came from money.
"Yes I am." Kaida eyes her as she answers. "Would you mind accompany me as we go to our exams?"
"Um sure." Kaida walks into the school with this girl while hesitant to say anything let alone introduce herself, something she was thankful for. "How rude of me I just realised I haven't introduced myself yet." Kaida flinched immediately upon hearing that.
"My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. Nice to meet you." Yaoyorozu reaches out for a handshake, Kaida was still hesitant but still went with it as to not be rude.
"Kaida Tatsuma." She shakes her hand and continues to the testing area.
The practical for the entrance exam was a three-kilometer long obstacle course race with 6 examinees at a time. Kaida was fairly confident in herself to take place without using her quirk but she decided to use it anyway to be absolutely sure she got first place. 'Just use it in your legs and finish the race, try not to think of the past. It won't hurt you here.' Kaida steels herself as she gets her number from the exam instructor and Pro-Hero Present Mike. 'Number 40 huh, I wonder what Yaoyorozu's number was.'
"Wow you're a really big girl ain'tcha."
Kadia cringed on the inside. She hated being called out by how tall she was. Being 190 cm made it hard not to be seen. Especially with her very long scarlet red hair tied in a ponytail.
This girl didn't stick out as much as Yaoyorozu, but there was still something about that stuck out in comparison to some others. Maybe the green hair? The sharp teeth? Well Kaida had some fangs as well so it can't be that out of the ordinary, especially with some of the quirks she's seen in her life.
"Name's Setsuna Tokage nice to meet'cha." Well this girl is certainly friendly and social. Are all recommended students
"Kaida Tatsuma"
"TATSUMA! LIKE RYOKO TATSUMA AKA CYRO THE ICE STORM HERO?!"
'Oh please no I was REALLY hoping that someone wouldn't recognize me damnit' Even though not uncommon to be recognized because of her relatively recently debuted Pro Hero sister Cyro.
"Yeah, Cyro is my older sister. Don't be too impressed by what you see on the news, she's a total weirdo."
"Really? But she's so cool when she fights Villains and so serious about that adds a different layer of awesome."
This girl must be a really big fan of that little gremlin to freak out this much just by knowing she's my sister. Hopefully she does ask me to get her autograph or something like that. " Do you think you can get an autograph for me from her?"
Oh goddamnit.
"Um s-sure. I'll get it to you when we make it in. " Kaida was sure that Tokage would be able to get in.
"AWESOME! Now let's do this exam!" Just as those words left Tokage's mouth, Present Mike calls out the first 6 numbers for the exam. Kaida, Yaoyorozu, Tokage and 3 others were first up for the obstacle course race. From the corner of her eye Kaida sees Yaoyorozu… unbuttoning her shirt? Yaoyorozu takes out a pair of skates from out of her shirt and puts them on as the race is about to begin. 'So that's her quirk, she probably creates things with it. But I need to focus on the race myself.' Without a second thought ,heat and embers of flame emit from her hands.
"ARE YA READDYYY! AND START!" And without any delays the examinees take off with Kaida very much taking the lead with Yaoyorozu coming second but still very behind. It did not take very long for Kaida to finish the obstacle course race leaving the other examinees pretty far behind. Eventually the other students finished one by one. Kaida finished in first, Yaoyorozu placed in second and Tokage and fourth place.
"Wow that's some quirk you got. You Endeavor's secret love child or somethin'?" Tokage yells towards Kaida as she walks over. That's somehow the only time that Kaida has ever heard that in response to her quirk, but she honestly didn't like the thought of being related to Endeavor. Something about him just seemed to rub her the wrong way. "No. No I am not."
"Oh well then. But that's some serious firepower you got. And how fast you were running there's no way you ran like that normally." Tokage questions very curiously and slightly upset that she lost to her so horribly. Kaida on the other hand was very uncertain to answer the question. Her quirk was a touchy subject for her to speak about. It had caused certain problems in the past. Most recently in an incident involving her quirk forced her to switch schools for her last year in junior high. Judging from the look Kaida was giving it seemed pretty obvious that she was uncomfortable talking about her quirk for whatever reason. "Hey if you don't want to talk about your quirk, that's fine by me I can see it makes you uncomfortable Tatsuma-san."
Kaida snaps out of as she realises she was just standing there with a not so pleasant expression. "No no it's fine just.. not used to people being actually curious about it. I actually kinda have 2 quirks. My gremlin of a sister calls it Pyro first part is the flames as you just saw, I can also use general heat to increase my own body temperature or the temperature of an area around me. The second part is a transformation type quirk similar to Ryukyu's, as it's a dragon like form. I can transform parts of my body, increasing my strength and toughness."
"WOW THAT'S AWESOME! Have you ever transformed into a full dragon before like Ryukyu?"
"..." That was a subject she wanted to avoid entirely. Kaida strokes the brace on her left arm and sighs to herself before turning around with a somber look on her face. "I did once… but never again will I transform like that again." Her left arm now shivering remembering the last time she transformed. With all of the those negative thoughts and emotions slowly rising to the surface, Kaida runs away from Tokage to find a spot by herself to calm down until it was time to leave. Now all she could do was cry by herself as she recalled those memories of the flames and cries from her nightmares. "Why did you have to do this to yourself now. Especially almost in front of that Tokage girl. Just get over yourself, just get over yourself…"
Kaida wipes her face and gets up to join the other applicants once again. When she came back Tokage and Yaoyorozu ran up to her with concerned looks on their faces. 'Now look at what you've done idiot. You've gotten these two concerned because you decided to run away from them and cry.'
"Tatsuma-san. What happened? Are you not well?" If the look on Yaoyorouzu's face didn't give away her worrying tone of voice sure did. Deciding not to freak out again and make these two, who by all means are total strangers. But something about them seemed genuine about their concern. "I'm… fine. Just stirred up some bad memories is all. And you don't have to be so formal with me. Just Tatsuma is fine." Even though Tokage and Yaoyorozu wanted to press on the matter, they decided against it and waited for the exam to be over.
As the exams wrapped up, Tokage and Yaoyorozu caught up with Kaida as they all walked out of the building to go their respective ways home. Kaida still had the feeling they wanted to talk about what happened earlier during their practical exam.
"Tokage. Yaoyorozu. Is what happened earlier still on your mind? I said that you didn't need to worry about it."
"If you truly want us to drop it we will but if you and I share the same class when we make it in, we will be discussing it again if it happens again."
"Fine Yaoyorozu. And you Tokage, I assume you wanted to say something similar?"
"Pretty much yeah. Besides it'll be awesome getting to know Cyro's younger sister."
Kaida rolls her eyes at the mention of her sister. Ryoko was always so serious about hero work that she would stay out late and forget to eat when she got home. That was probably something she was going to do again. What was she going to do about her?
"I'm telling you, she's a completely different person when she's just my sister and not the Pro-Hero you know. But when we do get it. I expect to see at least one of you in my class. Until then, see you around."
"WAIT! Don't forget to get an autograph for me!"
"... sure."
When Kaida got home she was surprised to see Ryoko and the current number 9 hero Ryukyu already home. Ryukyu, known as Ryuko Tastuma while not on the field, is Kaida's and Ryoko's maternal aunt. They moved in with her after their mother passed away and father disappeared. The three of them got along fairly well, especially Kaida and Ryoko when they were younger, nowadays Kaida is much more reserved and kept to herself. Ryoko however is trying so desperately to try and get Kaida to open more to other people. It almost worked when she met a certain girl in junior high, but unfortunately an incident involving Kaida's quirk forced them to move for safety reasons.
"Ryo-chan? Aunt Ryuko? You're already home?" She just stands there baffled to actually see them both home at once for a change.
"Of course we are Kai-chan. You think we wouldn't be after you get home after your entrance exam for UA? We want to know how it went. How did you think you did? Or do I even need to ask? You know you have to have gotten first and secretly are reveling in your victory. Fufufufu." As usual while conversing with her sister about anything she has to tease her in some form or fashion with her trademark smirk and laugh.
The temperature of the room slowly rises by Kaida's quirk as she gets embarrassed. In response Ryoko uses her own to cool the room down to keep it from getting too hot. The two stare
"Alright you two, enough." The attention of the sisters snap back to their aunt as they let the temperature of the room return to normal. "Kaida can tell us about the exam during dinner time. And Ryoko we need to talk about you and your agency." That caught Kaida's attention. Ryoko had certainly grown fast as a fan favorite Pro in the past few months since her debut. But to already have her own agency?
"Okay okay. Now come on Kai-chan. Surely nothing went wrong during the exam right? You can tell us ALL the juicy details of what you did during the exam."
Oh. Something did go wrong. How was she going to explain her little emotional episode that she had after she finished the practical. It even stuck in her head during the written exam and interview.
"So I can assume from that look on your face that something did go wrong then?"
Oh, had she been obvious?
"Yeah I… may have had a small episode when someone asked me about my quirk. But I somehow managed to talk about most of the… other part of my quirk. If only just a little." Starting to look a bit shaken and putting her head down after remembering her breakdown, she feels a hand on her shoulder. Knowing exactly whose hand it is she doesn't even need to look up to feel at least relieved knowing her sister is always on the lookout for her despite butting heads with her so often nowadays.
"Now how about we eat dinner yeah? I'd hate for the food to get cold while we are just standing here." Ryuko and Ryoko go and sit down first. Kaida being the last to sit couldn't help but smile at her sister. "The only thing that's gonna get cold here is you after you're done stuffing your face Ryo-chan." Ryuko couldn't hold in the laugh as she stared at her two nieces staring each other down at the dinner table at that remark.