A/N: what's up, my loves? how's everyone doing today? this chapter's a lil tiny bit shorter than the other ones! i usually try to hit the 7k mark per chapter, bc that's just a good number for me. but this one fell a little short of that. which is weird, bc i'm longwinded af. you'll come to find this out, though i've been trying to get a little bit more concise hah. i got lotsa fun interactions going on in this chapter, i'm super excited to start setting up some dynamics. hope y'all enjoy!

The air was crisp and smelled of sunshine, even though the sun was barely starting to peek through the trees lining the campus. The newly christened class 1-A loitered on the training fields, chatting and introducing themselves. Hinami did a little bit of people watching while she waited for the rest of the class to finish changing, scoping out her classmates to see if she could get a feel for them. She'd already spoken to all the girls and had a tenuous grasp on their personalities. But all her male classmates were pretty much unknown to her, except Shoto and Kirishima, of course.

And Kirishima barely counted, she didn't even know what his Quirk was.

During the entrance exam, she watched him get beaned in the head with a chunk of concrete and come out completely unharmed. Knowing that, it was likely he had a defensive Quirk. But what kind? Maybe he had a momentum reversal Quirk? But the concrete hadn't been repelled away from him, it just fell. So that probably wasn't it. Or maybe he was made out of rubber like the guy from that old pirate anime. But Kirishima's skin hadn't felt rubbery… hmm.

"Excuse me, Todoroki-san?"

"Hmm?" Hinami hummed, turning to find herself face to face with Specs… er, Iida. "Can I help you?" she asked, frowning as she subtly tried to make eye contact with Shoto. Maybe he'd save her. Heaven knows she'd already had her fill of awkward conversations today.

"Well, actually… I believe I owe you an apology," he said, dipping into a deep bow.

Hinami blinked, eyes snapping over to Iida's bowing form. "Oh… that's not necessary," she muttered, shooting panicky glances at her twin—who stared her dead in the eye and slowly turned away.

'Sho! What the fuck!' she cried internally, wishing she had a telepathic Quirk just so she could yell at him right now.

"I behaved improperly in the exam!" Iida said, pulling out of the bow slowly and pushing his glasses back up his nose. "I tried to scold you when you were just helping your friend, as I didn't understand what was happening at the time. That was hasty and shortsighted of me. I do hope that you can forgive me for my poor judgement!" And with that, he snapped into another crisp bow, hands clasped in front of him.

Hinami grimaced, resisting the urge to shuffle away or to go find Shoto and smack him. She quickly wiped the expression off her face as Iida straightened up, once more pushing his glasses back into place. Up close she could see that his eyes weren't black, as she'd assumed, but navy blue. The same hue as dark wash denim.

"Er… thank you. I forgive you, Iida-san," she said and returned his bow, though much shallower. No need to start a pissing match to see who could bow the deepest. She had manners, of course. She just didn't like using them.

And then she ran away. Unfortunately, that was becoming a habit of hers.

Aizawa-sensei chose that moment to address the crowd. "Now that you're all here, we can get started."

Hinami stopped dead as soon as he rose his voice, skidding to stop next to Shoto and snapping to attention. Damn it, she hadn't even gotten the chance to smack him for ignoring her. She settled for giving him the stink eye, to which he was sufficiently sheepish and regretful, showing her the proper respect she deserved.

Haha, nah… He totally ignored her again.

"This morning we're going to hold a Quirk Apprehension Test," Aizawa-sensei announced, still hunched over like an eighty-year-old woman after a life of hard labor since her husband died at war leaving her with eleven children to raise on her own, hands in his pockets.

"But sensei!" Uraraka protested, her hand shooting into the air. "What about opening ceremonies? Aren't we going to miss it?"

"If you're serious about becoming heroes, then you don't have time to waste on pointless niceties like opening ceremonies," Aizawa-sensei said, oblivious to the quiet scandalized gasp that ran through the crowd. "Here at UA we're not tethered to traditions. That means I'm allowed to run my class however I see fit."

At this point he straightened up and pulled his hands out of his pockets, holding up a phone and presenting it to the crowd. "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you've never been allowed to use your Quirks while taking them," he stated, monotone and disinterested. "It's useless to pretend that we're all equal, holding those with Quirks back and measuring them against an arbitrary standard. The Department of Education is just procrastinating catching up with the times. It's not rational."

Hinami leant forward and squinting at the phone screen, trying to see what was so important that he felt the need to hold it up. But the font was just too small, she couldn't make it out.

"You've all done the standard gym tests, such as the softball throw, the standing long jump, the fifty-meter dash, so on and so forth. Is that correct?" sensei asked. At the affirmative mutters, he nodded and gestured to Bakugou. "You scored first in the entrance exam, Bakugou, so why don't you demonstrate?" he asked, motioning for the delinquent to step up to the circle of chalk in front.

"Now, how far could you throw in middle school?" sensei questioned, handing the blonde a softball he pulled out of his pocket. It had a strange purple stripe wrapped around the middle.

'Just how deep are his jump suit's pockets? Maybe his Quirk is having his own personal dimension for storage,' Hinami's wondered, slightly envious. Her Quirk was cool and all but think of how convenient grocery shopping would be! …Not that she did any of the grocery shopping, but still.

"Sixty-seven meters, I think," Bakugou answered, cracking his neck and rotating his shoulder.

"Alright. Now try throwing it with your Quirk. You can do anything you need to, just don't leave the chalk circle," sensei instructed. "Give it all you've got."

"Sure thing," Bakugou smirked, making a show of stretching and warming up. Once he was ready, he wound up like a pitcher on the mound, red eyes flashing. "DIE!" he bellowed, launching the softball with a sharp crackling boom! and a plume of acrid smoke.

Hinami's nose scrunched up at the pungent, burning smell. Though, weirdly, it was also slightly sweet. Luckily, there was a slight breeze and the smoke didn't linger. His Quirk probably sucked to be around indoors. She couldn't even see the softball, had lost sight of it almost instantly as it blasted off like Team Rocket. Some kind of explosions, huh? What a dangerous Quirk, especially in the hands of that foul-tempered brat.

"It's important for us to know our limits," sensei said, holding up his phone screen once more. This time the font was clear, reading '705.2 meters.' Damn. Not bad. "That's the first logical step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

Well, shit… when he put it that way, she was actually kind of excited to take those stupid tests. Her classmates agreed with her, judging by the excited chatter, though she struggled to assign names and faces to the voices.

"Whoa! This is awesome!" a blond boy whooped, punching his fists into the air.

"He seriously threw it 705 meters?" another student remarked incredulously.

"I wanna go next!" Ashido giggled, clapping her hands together, "That looks fun!"

"That's what I'm talking about! We can use our Quirks as much as we want!" A different student grinned.

"You think this is fun, do you?" sensei asked quietly, and Hinami watched warily as his posture shifted, shoulders tightening and back straightening. It was subtle, but she read danger in his eyes. A sharp glint that set off alarm bells in her head. "You have three years to become a hero, and you think it's going to be a game?"

Hinami's shoulders hunched up around her ears, that word—that stupid fucking word—digging its fingers into her brain, sinking in like poison. The question had been rhetorical, but no one even pretended to try and answer. A couple of the other students had cottoned onto the shift in mood, a handful of uneasy fidgets moving through the crowd.

"You'll be competing in eight different tests today to gauge your potential," Aizawa-sensei continued. Just as she thought it was over, a shiver of… something malicious took to the air, closing in around them like miasma. Hinami shuddered, sweat breaking on her forehead. She felt like teeth were snapping at her heels, the familiar feeling of being so hilariously outclassed and outmatched weighing over her. And it was radiating from Aizawa-sensei in waves, a low humorless chuckle falling from his lips, his bangs shadowing his already dark eyes.

"Whoever comes in last will be judged hopeless. And expelled immediately," he said, a small merciless smile curling his lips. "Understand?!" At this he outright laughed and used a spindly hand to push his lank bangs out of his bloodshot eyes, "Your fates are in my hands! If that's a problem, you can head home right now!"

'Hopeless,' the word rang hollowly in Hinami's mind, bouncing around like a nasty echo chamber. She gritted her teeth, fists clenched by her sides as a couple of her fellow classmates yelped and flinched. How had she ever deemed this man as harmless and lazy? What a power tripping maniac. But thankfully, just when she thought the group was going to boil over with stress, the air cleared. The uncomfortable, intense miasma was carried off by the early spring breeze, much like it had carried away the smoke from Bakugou's Quirk.

"That's not fair!" Uraraka shouted bravely, waving her clenched fists. "We worked really hard to get here, you can't send one of us home already! It's the first day!"

Hinami winced, fighting the urge to scoot away from her in hopes of avoiding sensei's ire. She didn't want to get caught up in the crossfire.

"Oh? And you think natural disasters are fair?" Aizawa-sensei returned, much calmer than Hinami expected, though there was still a hard edge in his voice. "How about highway pileups? Or rampaging villains? Do you think those things care about being fair?" he sighed and shook his head, his posture slouching back into place, his 'oh look at me, I'm so damn harmless' façade springing back up.

"Catastrophe is always just around the corner," he said, tone finally softening, just a touch. "I'd say that this country is full things that are unfair. Heroes are the ones who balance the scales and correct that unfairness," he stated with a hint of pride ringing through, and Hinami was surprised to find that she felt… pretty motivated. Who knew he had it in him? He wasn't done yet, though. "And as such, I'm going to push you to the very limits. UA is going to put you through pure hell for the next three years. Anything less would be irresponsible. If you were to leave this school as an incompetent hero, the harm you caused would be on my shoulders for allowing you to pass."

Hinami cocked her head to the side, pursing her lips. That was… surprisingly insightful. She was getting a hint of emotional whiplash though, hopefully he was wrapping his speech up soon.

"If you were looking for an easy ride, hoping to spend your evenings goofing off, I'm sorry to tell you that you're in the wrong place. You can pack up right now. If not, convince me that you belong here. So bring it!" he challenged, smirking as he crooked a finger at them. "Overcome and persevere. That's Plus Ultra."

The reactions of her classmates were varied, some smirked and nodded (Bakugou), some quivered in place either from nerves or excitement (a green haired kid at the front), other laughed and rocked on their heels. And even more had no outward reaction. Shoto just slipped his hands into his pockets, gaze wandering off now that sensei was finished speaking, a perfect mask of boredom.

But as far as she could tell, no one was overtly cowed. Hinami felt a spark of fondness for the class, the current of determination flowing through them. Maybe this would be fun after all. She smirked and shifted her weight, crossing her arms. Tough luck to whoever came in last, but she had no such plans.

After sensei's speech, they moved straight into the fifty-meter dash, lining up next to the track as they waited for their turn. Iida and Asui were up first. The petite girl looked even smaller next to Iida, who had to be nearly six feet tall. Sensei played a recording of a gunshot on his phone and the sprinters took off at full speed. Iida blazed across the finish line only a couple seconds later, almost too quick to track. Hinami's eyes snapped back to Asui, who was… hopping? She landed in a crouch and threw herself into another impressive full body leap, easily clearing ten feet in one bound. She crossed the finish line not long after, with only a couple more leaps. So cute, damn it!

"Your time is 3.03 seconds, Iida," sensei announced, and Hinami had to admit, that kind of speed was impressive. "Asui, your time is 5.58 seconds." Still very respectable, only bad luck being matched with Iida made it slightly less impressive.

'Interesting,' Hinami thought, her heart starting to race in anticipation as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Iida was one to keep an eye on. Hinami's eyes traced his muscular calves, making note of the exhaust pipes sticking out the back of his legs.

Hinami couldn't help but smile at the wide array of Quirks on display. Not all Quirks were suitable for running, but it was so interesting seeing the different ways that they utilized them. Like Ashido! She secreted acid from her bare feet and skated across the finish line. Her opponent had a navel laser that he shot off to propel himself, though he didn't have enough juice to get all the way across the line. He had to pick himself up from the dirt and shoot the laser again. And then Yaoyorozu! Her Quirk was amazing, she just… materialized things from thin air! She created a pair of roller blades and blew past her opponent, who has six arms! They were all connected by a thin layer of skin—like a bat's webbed wings.

"Kirishima and Jirou next," sensei announced.

Hinami sent Kirishima an encouraging smile as he walked over to the lineup. He grinned and gave her a cheery thumbs up before turning to his opponent, which was the girl from the locker room. The purple haired one, with headphone jack earlobes. Jirou. They both exchanged polite nods before settling into racer's position. The gunshot recording sounded, and they took off, sprinting for the finish line with all they had. Though it appeared that their Quirks weren't necessarily helpful for this test, as neither used theirs. She still didn't even know what Kirishima's Quirk was.

"Bakugou and Midoriya, you're up," sensei said after reading off Kirishima and Jirou's times. (Which were 6.88 and 7.91 seconds, respectively.)

Hinami watched intently as Bakugou sauntered over the starting line, looking supremely unconcerned. Well, except for when he looked at the sweaty green haired kid, Midoriya, that is. His face soured like he sucked on a lemon.

The gunshot sounded and Bakugou flew forward—literally flew—propelling himself using a series of small, controlled explosions popping from his hands. 'He's strong,' Hinami thought resentfully as Aizawa-sensei read off his time, the fastest since Iida at 4.13 seconds. Midoriya crossed the finish line at a (relatively) more sedate speed of 7.02 seconds.

"Up next, Todoroki and Tokoyami," Sensei announced, though Hinami barely registered his words, caught up in staring at the raven-headed kid from earlier. Tokoyami. Her mind raced with thoughts and theories about his Quirk, wondering if he was just a heteromorphic type or if there was something more to him. His feathers shone just as pretty as they had in the classroom, if not more in the natural light. Did he use regular shampoo or like… bird shampoo? If that was even a thing, she didn't know much about birds. Wouldn't it be cool if he had a phoenix type Quirk? She didn't think it was likely based on his coloring, but it was neat to think about. And besides, phoenixes definitely didn't use shampoo.

"Your mouth is open," Shoto said, making Hinami jump and self-consciously swipe a hand across her mouth.

"Shut up, Sho!" she muttered, swatting his arm. Wait… did her name get called? She shot Aizawa-sensei a questioning look. To which he shrugged and waved a hand at Shoto.

Shoto just shot her an amused glance and sauntered off to take his place at the starting line, sinking into the racer's position next to Tokoyami and waiting for the whistle. As soon as the gun sounded, he shot forward on a pillar of ice, racing towards the finish line at breakneck speed. Much to the shocked and impressed gasps among her classmates, paired with a couple breathless laughs at the sight of such raw power. Hinami rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and huffing as he flew across the finish line, leaving an eight-foot-tall trail of crystalline ice behind him. She hadn't even gotten a glimpse of the raven—er, Tokoyami with Shoto's ice completely blocking him from view. Damn it, she'd really wanted to see his Quirk.

Shoto hopped off the ice and dusted himself down, slipping his hands into his pockets. He looked to Aizawa-sensei curiously, just as unbothered and unconcerned as could be. 'He's not even taking it seriously,' Hinami fumed, his blasé expression was really starting to piss her off. He could at least pretend.

"Your time is 4.52 seconds," Aizawa-sensei said blandly.

"Well, good job, Sho!" she scoffed, unable to hold back a little smile. "Now how am I supposed to beat your time with that shitty ass ice statue in the way?" she asked playfully, popping a hand on her hip.

"Good luck," Shoto said mildly, not bothering to acknowledge her taunt. But he did press his right hand against the ice and begin melting it. How generous.

"Oh, whatever," she snorted, flicking a bullet of water at him, which splashed harmlessly across his nose and cheeks. Shoto shot her a dry, unamused glance, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the water dripping off his nose. He shook his head, wiping his face on his gym uniform and pretending to be above-it-all and oh so mature by not retaliating. Instead, he innocently went back to dismantling his glacier. Hinami eyed him warily, knowing that revenge was coming, but not when it would come or what form it would take.

"You're such a pain," she sighed, swirling her hands through the air and summoning a couple hot tubs worth of hot water. She made her way to the other end of the glacier, working the heated water over it and helping to melt it. She was careful to pull all the meltwater from Shoto's ice out of the ground, tossing it into the grass. To do that, she had to push her Quirk water into the ground and attach it to the meltwater, leaching it up and separating it.

It was a slow, annoying process, taking the better part of five minutes for Hinami to pull all the water out of the ground. Shoto's part was done after he melted it, since he couldn't really do anything more. But the result was worth it, no one wanted to run on muddy track. Though the chalk lines were unsalvageable. But even that problem was remedied soon enough as one of the little field maintenance bots beeped cheerfully and whizzed over to reapply the lines.

"Alright," Aizawa-sensei said, eyes on his phone, "Next up are Todoroki and Kaminari."

"But didn't Todoroki just go?" someone protested, a black-haired, long-faced boy with strange, cylindrical protrusions on either side of his elbows. He had a baffled little triangular smile on his face.

"He means me!" Hinami huffed, shooting him a nasty look. Something about his face gave her a vague sense of déjà vu, though she wasn't sure why. But damn, this whole 'Todoroki' mix up was already getting on her nerves. She and Shoto hadn't been in the same class since kindergarten, and after that they'd gone to different schools. Father's idea, of course. Something about forcing them to learn independence. Bullshit.

But he just laughed good-naturedly and raised in his hands in surrender, "Heh, sorry about that," he snickered.

Hinami grit her teeth, chewing on the shitty remark that leapt to her tongue and swallowing it back down after consideration. Instead, she made her way over to the starting line, where a yellow haired boy was already loitering, waiting for her. Kaminari, according to sensei. His yellow-blonde hair was tousled and messy, but in such a calculated way that it hinted more at a long time spent in front of the mirror than natural bedhead.

He grinned, gold eyes glinting in the sunlight as he scanned her up and down. "I won't go easy on you, even though you are pretty cute," he said with a wink.

"Good!" she scoffed, lips curling away from her teeth in a sneer, "I'd hate to embarrass you completely."

Kaminari just laughed cheerfully.

Hinami growled and lowered into the racer's position, keeping a tight leash on her Quirk. As soon as the gunshot sounded, she let loose. Well, as much as she could without washing her opponent away. Even though she really wanted to, she figured it was probably frowned upon. A three-foot-high wave materialized under her feet as she hunkered down, shooting forward on top of her mini-tsunami. Wind bit at her cheeks and she smiled against the sting, heart racing.

'Faster, faster!' she urged, scooping her hands into the air and digging as if she could propel herself along. She'd been secretly using her Quirk on her nightly runs during training with her father, though she had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, since he kept lowering the time and adding more laps on. Bastard.

Hinami blew past the finish line and hopped off her wave, dismissing it completely. Her yellow sneakers skidded as she bled off momentum. Before she'd even come to a full stop, she whipped around to look at Aizawa-sensei.

"Your time is 4.28 seconds," he said, causing to her heart to flip in her chest and a wild grin to dimple her cheeks. It was only a matter of roughly a quarter of a second, but she'd take it. Hell yeah, she'd take it. She didn't stare at Shoto to rub it in, but it consumed all her restraint. So far only Bakugou and Iida had better times than her.

"Kaminari, 7.38 seconds."

"Damn," Kaminari panted, bracing his hands on his knees as he panted for breath. "You smoked me," he sighed.

"Don't hunch over," Hinami advised, feeling magnanimous in the face of her victory. "It makes it harder to catch your breath."

"Heh, thanks, cutie," he said, reaching out a hand for her to help him straighten up. Even though he definitely didn't need it.

Hinami rolled her eyes and considered snubbing him, but grudgingly wrapped her fingers into his much warmer ones. "Ow! Fuck!" she gasped, as electricity arced from his palm and shot up her arm. Her fingers clamped down on his, locked into place by the electric current running through it. Her teeth clicked together, a high whine rising in her throat as her body locked up, crackling with electricity.

"Shit! Fuck! I'm so sorry!" Kaminari yelped, ripping his hand out of her grasp, even as her nails scored bloody lines across the back. Hinami stumbled at the lack of support, muscles spasming beyond her control. Her hair fluttered in her face as she toppled over with all the grace of a stack of Jenga blocks, numb and tense. If she had a handle over her motor functions, she probably would've been able to catch herself. But instead, she was looking at swift reunion with the ground.

At least it wasn't face first.

Just as her eyes snapped shut and she accepted her fate, her back collided with something firm. Her breath whooshed out as arms wrapped around her and lowered her softly to the ground, so that her back was straight and her face was pointed at the sky.

"Are you alright?" Aizawa-sensei asked calmly as he crouched over her, to which she could only stare dumbly. His eyes were glowing. Instead of the normal coal black, they were a soul-searing red. Why was his hair floating? And where had he come from? At her lack of response, he pressed a freezing cold finger to her neck, searching for her pulse.

She gasped at the cold, jaw working as she struggled to gather her wits. "I think… I think I'm okay," she slurred, feeling a little disoriented. But mostly whole. Aizawa-sensei nodded at her words but didn't move, monitoring her heartbeat for the next couple seconds. Everything felt tingly and buzzy and vaguely echo-y. It hurt like a bitch too, way, way worse than getting paralyzed in the exam (if her other injuries weren't taken into account). At least that had just been an inconvenience.

"What did you do to her?" Shoto demanded, his voice low and ice-cold as he loomed over Kaminari's slumped form.

"I-I don't know!" Kaminari stuttered, throwing his hands up in surrender (one of them was bleeding pretty good, Hinami observed) and cringing away. "My Quirk—It's never done that before!" he said defensively, eyes blown wide with terror.

"Sho!" Hinami snapped, nudging sensei's hands away—or trying to, anyway. He flicked her good on the forehead and she promptly abandoned that venture, meekly letting him continue to monitor her pulse. At least his eyes had stopped glowing.

"Are you alright, Nami?" Shoto asked, though he kept his eyes on the sweating blonde.

"Yeah, I'm good," Hinami sighed, craning her head to get a better look at the class. Damn, what a horrible first impression. Though, to their credit, most of them looked concerned. A couple looked outright horrified, namely Kirishima, Uraraka, and a green haired kid that seemed to have overactive sweat glands. Poor thing. A select few couldn't really care less, though (mostly Bakugou). Strangely, that was more comforting than anything. Her bangs fell into her eyes from the awkward angle of her neck and she gasped in horror, clamping a hand down over her temple and forehead.

"You didn't see, did you?!" she questioned, perhaps a tad more intensely than she meant to, eyes on Aizawa-sensei's face.

"See what?" he drawled, just as lazy and unconcerned as could be. She didn't buy that act anymore though, so she stared at him good and hard, trying to decipher his placid expression. Finally, he sighed and rolled his eyes skyward, "It's just a scar, kid. We've all got 'em," he said lowly, at least considerate enough to make sure no one else overheard.

Hinami huffed at him, cheeks flushing furiously as she turned her face away, teeth grit. At the rate things were going in this class, she was going to grind her teeth down to nubs by the end of the week. "Shoto!" she snapped again, this time resorting to using his full name as she found her twin still silently terrorizing Kaminari. "Leave him alone!"

"I think you'll be fine," Aizawa-sensei said at last, withdrawing his hand. "I want you to go see Recovery Girl just in case," he said, pulling a little notepad out of his pocket and jotting down a quick note. "You too, Kaminari," he said, nodding at the horror-stricken boy. "Get those scratches patched up and ask Recovery Girl to check on your Quirk, make sure everything's in order."

"Y-Yes sir!" Kaminari said, studiously avoiding Shoto's gaze.

"And do not touch Todoroki again, no matter what happens," sensei commanded sternly, running an exasperated hand through his hair. He turned his gaze back onto Hinami, "Can you sit up?" he asked, extending a hand to her. She nodded and took his help, allowing him to pull her into a sitting position without too much difficulty. Her limbs were heavy and shook slightly, but it wasn't anything too horrible. She'd probably be fine.

Hinami took a deep breath and combed her fingers through her bangs, shaking her head at the horrible turn of events. Was she cursed? She felt cursed.

"Nami," Shoto said, suddenly at her side holding his hands out to her.

"Am I cursed, Sho?" Hinami asked, allowing him to take her by the hands and haul her to her feet. She barely had to do anything, he basically picked her up and set her down. Damn show off.

"Yes," he nodded, scanning her up and down, though his grip moved to her elbows so that he could support her if she spontaneously collapsed. When did he get so overbearing? Just as that thought popped into her head, he cut his eyes at Kaminari again, making the blonde flinch.

"You weren't supposed to agree!" she snorted, rolling her eyes.

"It's true," he shrugged, taking a step back and giving her some breathing room once he was satisfied she wasn't going to fall.

"Do you think you can walk to the nurse, Todoroki?" sensei asked, to which she nodded eagerly.

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei, I feel fine!" she said hastily. "I'll be okay!"

Sensei heaved a long-suffering sigh, staring straight into the sky for so long that she was starting to think he'd lost his mind. "Can someone escort Todoroki to the nurse—no, not you Shoto, someone else," sensei stressed, shooting Shoto a sharp look. He slowly lowered his hand.

"I can take her, sensei!" Kirishima volunteered, his hand shooting into the air. Hinami winced, not looking forward to giving him yet another example of weakness. Even worse, she was beginning to believe he was just that nice. It wasn't a good look for her to be getting friendly with someone who was essentially a golden retriever personified, she had an image to maintain after all. Well, okay, maybe not so much an image to maintain as much as establish. And he was threatening to hinder that endeavor.

"Thank you, Kirishima, that'll work," sensei nodded, his shoulders finally loosening back into his habitual slouch. "After we finish up here, we're heading into the gym for the grip strength test," Aizawa said, "you can meet up with us there after Recovery Girl sees you."

"Yes sensei!" they chorused in varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"You're already a troublesome bunch," sensei complained, though it was softened by the exasperated chuckle he gave as he waved them off. "Ojiro, Uraraka, you're up."

"I… am so sorry," Kaminari breathed out in a rush as soon as they got a short distance away from the class—and more importantly Shoto. The blond looked significantly more frazzled than he had before, what with the winking and pet names.

"It's okay, it was just an accident," Hinami muttered dismissively, rubber necking in an attempt to see the next race. Ojiro was yet another blonde-haired student. He had a cute enough face with strikingly foxlike eyes. His Quirk was obvious upon first sight, seeing as he had a giant, prehensile tail with a little blond puff of hair on the end. Uraraka was stood next to him, smiling happily as she purposefully touched each article of her clothing and shoes. Hinami remembered the little pads on her fingers when they shook hands, deducting that her Quirk was most likely touch activated. But what did it do? Maybe something like… lowering wind resistance? It was the only thing that came to mind immediately. But while that was a useful Quirk, Hinami wasn't sure it would've been enough to get her in UA.

"Th-That's it?" Kaminari muttered, nigh on hysterics. "I shocked the shit out of you and that's it?"

Hinami blinked, picking up on the edge in Kaminari's voice and turning back around to face him. "No, really," she tried again, more convincingly this time, "I'm fine. It certainly didn't feel good, but it was an accident. Besides, I think Sho already got to you."

"And he barely even said anything!" he cried, clutching at his hair. "Is he always like that? And those eyes…" he shivered. "I wouldn't have called you 'cutie' if I'd known your boyfriend was so scary!"

Hinami gave a disgusted, phlegmy scoff in the back of her throat, nose crinkling, "That's gross!" she snapped. "We're twins!"

"Oh shit, my bad!" Kaminari said, though it coaxed a laugh out of him. "You don't look much like him."

"I said that too," Kirishima laughed. "Though… I definitely didn't call him her boyfriend, that screw up is all yours, dude."

Hinami grumbled under her breath, wishing Aizawa-sensei had allowed Shoto to come along after all. Anything to keep Kaminari's mouth in check. Though she eventually answered his questions. "I know we don't look alike, none of my other siblings have this stupid pink hair," she muttered petulantly. "And no, not really, I've never seen him get like that before. But then again, I don't make a habit of getting electrocuted in front of him," she said, giving Kaminari a pointed scowl. And only regretted it a little at the distressed noise Kaminari made. Revenge.

"You have other siblings?" Kirishima questioned innocently, not picking up on the uncomfortable grimace she gave.

Hinami nodded, though didn't feel like elaborating. That question was always kind of… iffy to answer, it got awkward quick. Did she mention Touya or pretend that he never existed? Either way felt wrong. She didn't want to exclude Touya even though she only had a handful of memories of him, but at the same time the whole 'dead brother' thing really brought the mood down. And she'd had enough awkwardness already. Instead, she turned back one last time to see the race and gasped loudly, bouncing on her toes.

"What is it?!" Kaminari yelped at the same time as Kirishima whipped around to face her, eyes wide, a sharp, "Are you okay?!" on his lips.

"Look!" Hinami exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the race going on. "He's not even running! He's just slapping the ground with his tail and propelling himself forward! Like a beaver or a kangaroo or something!"

"Are you kidding me?" Kaminari whined, hand over his chest. "Who even cares about the stupid race?! You almost gave me a heart attack because I thought you were having a heart attack!"

"Heh, you had me worried for a sec!" Kirishima laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wait, I don't think that's how beavers work…" he said thoughtfully, frowning as he pushed open the door leading to the school hallway. "Or kangaroos, actually."

Hinami cleared her throat uneasily, hoping they didn't see the blush reddening her face and ears. "Sorry," she coughed, before trotting through the door Kirishima had held open, though she paused to nod thankfully at him. "How's your hand, Kaminari?" she asked hastily, a clumsy and obvious attempt at changing the subject as she speed walked down the hallway to gain some distance—as if she could run from her embarrassment.

"It's fine," Kaminari sighed tiredly, slumping through the doorway. "That's definitely not how either of those animals work, by the way."

"What happened to your hand, bro?" Kirishima asked as he let go of the door, having just noticed the bleeding gouges on Kaminari's hand. While Hinami's nails weren't particularly long, she kept them neatly manicured. And she'd had an unintentional death grip on his hand.

"I think I scratched him," Hinami admitted, slowing her pace and allowing the other two to catch up. She was starting to get tired now that the excitement was wearing off, her legs were a little shaky and ached like she'd run a marathon.

"Yeah," Kaminari agreed, running his unscratched hand down his face. "When people get shocked, their muscles lock up. I had to yank my hand out of hers to break the current, and she scratched me on accident."

Hinami hummed and nodded, absently reaching in her pocket to grab her phone. She'd forgotten it was in there, hopefully it was okay. A startled giggle burst from her lips as soon as she turned it on, noticing that the battery was at 100%.

"What is it?" Kirishima asked, his head cocking to the side. Like a puppy. Cute.

"Kaminari charged my phone," she snorted, showing him the screen.

"Oh hey, is that Mirko on your lock screen? She's one of my favorites!" Kirishima gushed, causing Hinami to yelp and yank the phone back.

"Heh… yeah," she chuckled nervously, avoiding eye contact with either of them. "Mirko's cool," she said, struggling to sound nonchalant. They didn't need to know how deep her admiration of the rabbit hero ran.

"Someone's awfully cheerful for having been electrocuted," Kaminari grumbled, shooting her a suspicious look. "I think it actually improved your mood."

"Must be the brain damage!" she snapped back, bristling. "No thanks to you, Duracell."

"Jeez, okay!" his surrendered immediately, holding his hands up as if to prove his innocence.

"Aww, I want a nickname too!" Kirishima laughed, thumping Kaminari on the back playfully.

Kaminari lurched forward dramatically, nearly face planting. "Damn, dude! Are you trying to kill me? You hit like a frickin' gorilla."

"Kirishima, you can be Sunshine," Hinami decided with a nod, ignoring Kaminari's blustering.

"Maybe you really are brain damaged," Kaminari murmured, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, come on, leave her alone, man. Besides! Sunshine is kinda cool, though I'd rather have a tougher sounding nickname," Kirishima said sheepishly, though he made sure to give her a smile to soften the blow.

"How about Cherry?" Hinami suggested, throwing out the first thing that came to mind.

"That's just as bad as Sunshine," Kaminari snorted. "Try harder, do better."

"You're awfully critical for someone who has zero suggestions!" Hinami grumbled, shooting him a dirty look.

"How about Tarzan?" Kaminari offered with a wicked little sarcastic laugh.

"Don't be rude!" Hinami growled, moving as if to swat his arm reproachfully.

"No touching!" Kirishima yelped, lurching forward and clamping his hand around Hinami's wrist, stopping her just inches from Kaminari's bare skin.

"Yeah! That's right, sweetheart! This is a no-touching zone!" Kaminari sang tauntingly, drawing a square around his body. "I know I'm irresistible, but it's for your own good," he snickered, golden eyes practically glowing with self-satisfied glee.

Hinami growled and flicked a water bullet at him, much like she had shot at Shoto earlier, though this time she put a little bit more force into it. Just enough to make it sting.

"Ow!" Kaminari squawked, holding his smarting forehead as water dripped down his face in rivulets.

"You were kinda asking for that one, man…" Kirishima chided, shaking his head.

"I should've just left you to Sho," she complained in mock disappointment, giving a weary sigh. "You're a pain in the ass."

To his credit, Kaminari recovered quickly, though he had a red mark on his forehead. "You haven't seen anything yet!" he promised, topping it off with a wink and finger guns.

She didn't doubt that for a second.

The rest of the walk to the infirmary was filled with friendly bickering and horrible nickname suggestions, most of which were either deemed too cutesy or too mean. They eventually had to agree on letting Kirishima's nickname come naturally, instead of trying to force one. Though Kaminari did try and complain that 'Duracell' was an awful nickname and he wanted a do-over. He got shut down.

Despite herself, Hinami smiled the entire way.

A/N: do phones actually work that way? pshhhh, of course they do. it's called wireless charging, get with the future lmao. i'm gonna wrap up the rest of the quirk testing next chapter, then we'll probably launch right into the combat training. anyway, i hope y'all enjoyed! thank you so much for all the follows and favorites! i seriously appreciate you guys, so thanks! pleeease leave a comment if you feel up to it! i'd love to hear from you!

ta ta for now!