("Underlined text" is supposed to be read as Sign Language. "Italicized text" is used only for Misaki's Dad's quirk. "Bold Text" is used for messages Misaki types out.)


Chapter Three

Bad Enough For You


Misaki stared down at her phone and the string of unanswered responses like it was haunting her psyche. Something wasn't right and she didn't have enough information to piece together a reasonable conclusion. It had been a couple of days since she had heard from Mari and it was starting to feel like something was wrong; Either that or she was simply busy taking care of the house while her mother was at work and making sure that Inari was properly taken care of. He was only four years old, but he was the most babied child that Misaki had possibly seen in her entire life.

The kid got everything that he wanted and he rightly deserved it for being an angel. He was fully capable of putting in the effort to take care of himself with not a lot of help but their mother insisted that he was taken care of first and foremost.

One of her other suspicions was that her mother had taken her phone away again, which wouldn't be surprising.

She had been busy with a lot, herself, so she hadn't been trying to get in touch with Mari for that long. Every couple of hours she would message her a little update but it would be left unanswered just as the ones before it. It was out of the norm but her Grandma would remind her that worrying when you don't have all of the facts was just a drain to your energy that could be spent doing better things.

So, she set aside that worry for the rest of the week as she put together everything that she was going to need for school as organized as she could get it to be.

Fortunately, she had been in touch with Mei throughout the week and not much to her surprise, the girl had passed with flying colors and has been spending her time working nonstop. The only reason that Misaki had the liberty of figuring that one out was because she decided one afternoon to messaging her so much that the thing would start to heat up in her pocket; That way Mei couldn't ignore it any longer than she already did.

She had started a few things and then drawn up a hundred more ideas in the span of a few weeks, and it was all thanks to the information that she could get her hands onto on the other students.

A lot of technobabble went over Misaki's head but she listened to all of the texts that Mei sent and supplied her support. Mei hadn't heard that much from Mari, either, so that didn't give her any answers as to the sudden radio silence; Before she knew it, the week had passed and her first day of high school came quicker than expected.

The wait hadn't been too quiet, but it certainly struck out of the blue.

Misaki stashed her phone back into her pocket and looked to see if the train had arrived at the right stop. She would have to try again later to see if there would be a response this time or not. It had reached its destination, so, she grabbed her bag and headed out towards the gates of U.A. The walk wasn't very far from the train station but it was still a brisk pace if she wanted to arrive on time.

Along her walk, she had noted plenty of other students in the uniform and she couldn't tell who might have been a first or a second or a third year. The only thing that she knew was that there would be around nineteen other classmates for her to contend with. It was exciting to think that she would be meeting other people who shared her dream, however, it was also a little worrying that some of them might think less of her.

She never let it show on her face that she was bothered by people treating her differently, but it did. For lack of a better word, it made her feel frustrated and upset at the same time. One hand, it would be the thing that pushed her to fight harder, and the other hand, it stung a little to think that people still thought less of others with disabilities.

Society... hadn't changed when quirks manifested regarding minor marginalization. If anything, it somehow got worse for a lot of people across the globe. When they were first appearing in humans, it was a reason to ostracize the different. It was no different than the problems in the past that had started with skin color, then to sexuality, then to disabilities, and then this, and then that as the times changed.

If it wasn't something that commonly occurs day to day in the lives of more than half of the popular then people would treat it as a difference. Differences weren't a good thing in the eyes of what most assumed was normal. Today, it was normal for people to manifest quirks at the age of roughly five and people without quirks were the ones treated like the oddities. But that hadn't always been the norm and the way it flopped from how it once was just a testament to how the world could change —

But how it couldn't at the same time.

When people teased her, did things that she couldn't know about because she couldn't hear it, or acted as though she was a circus act. That was one of the factors that said that ill thoughts still existed in the hearts of many.

People were still treated differently for things that they couldn't control or change. Whether that meant it was their quirk, lack of a quirk, disability, so on and so forth. That discrimination made her seethe. It was one of the major reasons why Misaki wanted to be one of the ones that changed everything, or at the very least, sparked a conversation and lead to others thinking more about how they treat others.

If people could see that anyone could truly become a hero or at the very least, try… well, things might have been different. It was a thought that always sat at the back of her mind as she fought to become a hero. If Mari had been at her side than these worries wouldn't have been so prudent in the back of her mind; But, her best friend wasn't with her so that meant that she was facing it alone.

She did her best to shake it off her mind as she stared up at the imposing building for the second time.

Misaki took her first steps as an official student.

The building was a bit of maze with hallways that lead to specialized courses and all sorts of hyperfocused students. She followed the markers indicated along the hallway as she made her way up the stairwell and got ready to face the music. On her way up she noted a girl at the top of the stairs who looked rightly lost, no different than the fish out of water feeling she had in her stomach.

She had short hair that framed her face just right and permanently rosy cheeks that any girl would be envious of; And for some reason, Misaki felt like this girl was heading in the same direction. So, she approached her once she reached the top of her stairs and tapped her finger against her shoulder to get her attention.

Misaki pulled out her phone and began to type a message, as she often would when she didn't think somebody knew JSL. She flashed the message at the brunette with a smile, it said: Hi! You wouldn't happen to be looking for classroom 1A too, would you? You wouldn't happen to know JSL, would you?

Her lips parted into a little "o" shape as she read over the message. She hurriedly rubbed the back of her head and opened her mouth to rattle off some excuse, or to hide her embarrassment. Her head moved up and down to indicate a yes. She spoke a little too fast for Misaki to guess what it was but she seemed to get the hint that either Misaki was deaf or mute.

The next thing out of her mouth was that question.

"You wouldn't happen to be mute, would you?"

Misaki never lost her smile and began to type again: No. I'm 100% deaf. I usually communicate through a translator or my phone when people don't know but that hasn't been set up yet. Anyways, I'm in 1A, too. You looked a little out of place and lost, kind of like me. She added on before she could forget to properly introduce herself: Hisakawa Misaki, nice to meet you.

"Uraraka Ochako," the girl went to say but then pursed her lips, she reached over to borrow Misaki's device for a moment and plug in her number. She typed out her name and sent that: Uraraka Ochako. It's nice to meet you as well, Misaki! I guess I do look like a fish out of the water, don't I? I just woke up a little late this morning and forgot to check the maps.

Misaki looked down at the characters and smiled: Yeah. I checked it out last night. It's this way, actually, not that way you were heading.

She pointed to the right rather than the left. Uraraka had been glancing that way for a few minutes and she could recall the twists and turns seemed to go the opposite direction. She still looked a little embarrassed but was warming up to the gentle reassurance that Misaki had supplied. The two of them set off in the direction of their classroom and had a small back and forth along the way.

Uraraka's phone was just as pink as she was. It was reminiscent of a cute flip phone that she had seen in the past, and it was a little more dated compared to the smartphone that Misaki had. She was a quicker typer though, which impressed Misaki: I'm relieved that you came this way. I would have been late if you didn't show up. I'm glad to know that at least one of my classmates is friendly, I don't who else we'll be with but we're here to kick butt and learn together! I hope everyone's got the same helpful spirit otherwise it'll be a long day.

Misaki snorted: Yeah, that's for sure. I like your positive attitude, Uraraka.

Their small conversation was cut short when they arrived at the classroom. There were a handful of other students in the classroom, and it seemed to be plenty talkative already. Forty students would get into the hero course every year and they would split those students between two classes just to keep things easier to take care of. Half of those would be in her class and they looked like a motley crew already. The rest of the students that hadn't been accepted into the hero course would wind up in management, support, or general studies. There were plenty of students in those classes because they could fit plenty more in them.

The weight didn't rest on them as much as it did with the one hundred and twenty that made up the hero courses throughout the three years that the school offered. Mei would be having the time of her life in her support classes while Misaki and... maybe Mari was working hard to prove themselves to the other heroes.

It was strange to be in a classroom without her best friends for the first time; however, it was good to be able to adapt to changes but that didn't make it any easier for her to deal with. Who of this bunch would be the easiest? She had already made some work with Uraraka but there were eighteen others in this room that she had to scope out. At first, nobody stood out to her in a way that could rub her the wrong way but she soon realized that the universe had it out for her today.

Sitting on the other side of the classroom was a boy with blond hair and the cockiest look on his face.

Her eyebrow twitched. Misaki hoped he stayed that far away from her so she didn't feel the urge to say something worse again. Thanks for jinxing me, Mari, where ever you are right now, I hope you know your joke wasn't funny because I told you this would happen if you didn't stop trying to be funny. Look at me now, stuck with this asshole who thinks it's cute to give pet names.

He was having a spat with another student who also seemed a little familiar but she couldn't place him. He seemed to be getting onto the blond for his surly attitude if she saw what he said right. Glasses seemed like a stickler for the rules and Misaki already knew that this guy had none as far as she could tell. Their back and forth seemed to leave him looking appalled by the vulgarity that Misaki could only assume was coming from the blond, seeing the way his mouth opened and closed as he searched for a comeback that wouldn't come.

She managed to pick the last bit of what glasses said, "That's awful. Do you really want to become a hero?!"

Then, all eyes shifted towards the doorway where it appeared as though another student had arrived. Uraraka seemed excited by this because she hopped out of her seat to approach him. This green-haired newcomer, whose hair looked like a head of broccoli, seemed a little startled by the sight of the something but upon Uraraka blocking his way into the room, his nervous look died down a little. If Uraraka knew him then he was probably an alright guy, she didn't seem like the kind of girl to be friends with someone like that pineapple.

Oh, what seemed even more intriguing was that Uraraka's friend looked as though he knew pineapple very well.

Interesting. She noted, maybe this class would be more chaotic then she thought.

Then, everyone in the room besides Misaki went stiff as if they had seen a ghost. She raised an eyebrow but realized they were all staring at the doorway, and when a dark-haired man strolled inside and stared them down, she realized that their instructor was the same guy that had told her that she had gotten into U.A. He didn't look any more amused than he had than the last time, except the source of his nonchalant displeasure seemed to be stemming from the entire class of teenagers.

Fortunately for Misaki, he wasn't as terrible as what he may have appeared to be. He was already aware there were students in this class that knew sign, so he signed and spoke to them.

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds."


A test, another test of all things was what he wanted them to do. The energy in the room dropped fifty percent when he said those words, and while the rest of the students would be going about their business, carefree and bored, spending their first day of school doing what you were supposed to be doing; This class was going to be stuck doing what their teacher wanted, and apparently, he wanted to judge their abilities despite likely having seen all of them from the entrance exam.

Misaki almost felt as though she should have seen this coming because of the deadpan expression and no-nonsense behavior that seemed to radiate from his aura. It kind of reminded her of someone that she knew but she couldn't put a finger on why that felt so familiar. So, all the students changed in their P.E. uniforms and headed out to one of the practice grounds outside of the school. It was a warm morning but not enough so that it was uncomfortable, the winter air that had once covered the area had recently started to subside and calm down.

The warmth of the sun on her face was great. However, if they were going to be working underneath it without breaks then it was going to be one long day out of hell. On the bright side, she did figure out there was at least one other student that spoke through sign language primarily as she did, Koda Koji, thanks to her keen eye noting him saying something to himself. He had been a bit startled to have someone approach him but Misaki's bright reassuring smile seemed to win him over as they made their way out of the building.

There was a sense of camaraderie when you found others like you. However, he had no issues with his hearing, he just struggled to use his voice because of his severe social anxiety and found it easier to communicate with people like that.

She was just glad that she wasn't the only person in the class that didn't use verbal speech one hundred percent.

Aizawa got down to business when they arrived outside, wasting not a moment to explain what the point of this exercise was. "There's no time to waste if you want to become heroes. U.A. is known for freestyle education. That counts us, teachers. Softball throwing, the standing long jump, the fifty-meter dash, endurance running, side to side stepping, upper body training, and seated toe touch. You did these in middle school. The standard No-Quirk-Allowed gym tests. This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the average of those records. It's not rational in regards to heroes."

His attention centered to her left where a familiar blond stood. If she wasn't mistaken, she was certain that he called him "Bakugou", finally, a name to put to the pineapple. Aizawa asked him a question, and it was obvious that he responded not long after when a ball was chucked at him and Aizawa seemed to want him to prove himself.

Bakugou took a few steps forward and paused, only to rare his arm back and launch the ball with a huge blast from his hands. It sent the ball flying off in the distance far out of sight and mind in an instant. Aizawa flashed the counter towards the class so everyone could see how far he got, seven hundred and five-point two meters far. That seemed to be limit for his try, and his point to this seemed to be finding how far they could push themselves to have a standard to work from in the future.

There was a point to his lesson. It didn't seem as though the students that were looking at each other mystified and in awe get it.

"Awesome, you say? You're hoping to become heroes after three years here... and you think it'll all be fun and games? Right. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless... and will be expelled." The aura that surrounded Aizawa got dark and sadistic at the same time if humanly possible. He looked amongst the student and looked for the one that was trembling the most out of the bunch. Misaki had a feeling he was signaling out Uraraka's friend.

His lips curled into a grin, however, twisted it was. "Your fates are in your hands. Welcome. This is... The trials of the first day."

It didn't exactly seem fair, Misaki wanted to say; Plenty of the other students seemed to chime in with the same feeling before she had the opportunity to let him have it.

"Japan is full of unfair things. Villains, natural disasters, highway pileups. Heroes are the ones that correct the unfairness. If you thought you were going to have quiet nights the next three years you need to think again. U.A. has no mercy. That is what Plus Ultra is. Use your strength to overcome everything. Your test starts here."

They were running through the basics and the first test up for Misaki was the fifty-meter dash. She raised her hand and when the light turned green to tell her to go, her hand instantly went upright and brushed against her hair. The time came to a standstill around her body and she noted the other students frozen in place before rushing forwards to the end of the line and releasing her quirk when she stepped over the finish line. The robot would chime and indicate to the rest of the students that she had completed the test in zero point zero seconds.

She was sure there were eyes on her back because of that as people wondered what her quirk was. To the untrained eye, they would assume that she had a speed quirk.

Time disruption: the ability to halt the flow of time, that was her true quirk.

Misaki watched a few of the other students come up behind her, noting as Uraraka tapped her fingers against her heels and then sped through the course quicker than normal She must have had control of weight, or some kind of gravity, if she made herself light enough it would allow her to move without as much restriction as a normal person, or how pineapple used his explosions to get across the finish line fast. There was a trick to getting where you needed to be, you just had to know how to do.

Not bad, and plenty of her other classmates were quick to perform better than others at certain tests than others because of their quirk. That was to be expected. There was always going to people that had a leg up on others because of what their quirk gave them. She went about the rest of the trials as best as she could with her quirk, and it more or less worked enough to give the points that would help her pass.

Unfortunately, there was one guy that lagged behind the rest of the class in nearly everything.

It didn't seem as though he was using his quirk at all, just going through the motions as if he didn't have a quirk to use. If he didn't make a turnaround and prove himself then he was going to be one that got kicked out if Aizawa kept his word. Uraraka and Misaki shared a look of worry as they watched him fail to prove himself time and time again. She didn't have to say anything to get it across. It was an understatement that he was doing poorly.

"He's not doing so well... poor Midoriya," Uraraka said.

Misaki couldn't help but wince as he failed once more. Then, she felt somebody standing at her side, looking to the corner of her vision she noted that Bakugou had come over to catch a glimpse of the green-haired boy that Misaki now knew as Midoriya. Bakugou seemed to be seething, or at the very least shaking with irritation. He barked something but the most that Misaki managed to pick up was the word "he" and "quirkless". She quickly looked back in Midoriya's direction with a bit of shock.

Quirkless?

If he was quirkless than he would be one of the firsts that Misaki had ever seen at U.A. in the hero course. It wasn't unheard of but it was rare to see an everybody man in a class for heroes. It would be impressive if he got in on his merit alone, but Misaki had a feeling that he did have a quirk it just might have been something that didn't benefit these tests at all. What was his ability, then?

Midoriya lifted the ball in his hand as he went to take his last test, clutching it in his hand and then launching it forwards with as hard a thrust he could manage. It landed on the ground not that far from his body. It looked to be around forty meters away, which was pitiful compared to how far everyone else had managed to do. He stood there looking confused at his actions as if he had tried to use his quirk but it didn't work when he tried to use it. Wait, if something had been stopping him from using his quirk that meant that someone was causing it.

That's when Aizawa was quick to approach him and let him in on something.

That's when it finally clicked who their instructor was.

He was Eraserhead, the hero that could take out quirks with his vision alone. Her sinking suspicion was seemingly explained away. The quirk that Midoriya had hurt him every time that he used it, and he must have taken the exam and hurt himself tenfold in the process. Aizawa was stopping him from doing something stupid. He got a stern talking to about it and then Aizawa gave him the chance to try again, and this time, not hurt himself the way that he had during the exam.

Midoriya gave it one more go.

This time the ball was sent flying off in the distance and when the counter went off it told them that he had gotten one meter further than Bakugou had managed to get. It seemed as though he had injured his finger in the broken, looking purple and bruised and disjointed. He hurt himself, but he didn't hurt himself by breaking his entire hand or arm like it was implied that he did.

Misaki was surprised to see it.

The body usually had its limiters for strength quirks, so to see someone get hurt because their raw energy was so powerful was something else. If he had done more in his exam, she might have wished that she could have seen it. Everyone else in the class was mystified by his actions just as much as she was, but it wasn't all smiles and cheers. That twitch that Bakugou had caused him to surge forward and take off towards to Midoriya in a fit of what must have been rage or anger.

His explosions went right behind him and Midoriya screeched as if he was going to take it—

Aizawa stopped him with his capture weapon before Bakugou could touch him. He was given a stern talking to just as Midoriya had, at least, as far as Misaki could tell from the way that he took a slow drag of air.

The rest of the events were pretty well... uneventful. It wasn't long before everything was completed and the students were left staring at the digital screen to find out their placing and learn how much good or how much bad had been to them. When he clicked the button and flashed the names and numbers in front of them, Misaki was relieved to find her name on the upper half of the numbers. She was safe, and she was glad that she was safe. Though, despite his best effort, Midoriya's name was sitting right where everyone knew it would be.

At the bottom.

"Time for the results. Your total scores simply reflect your performance in each of the events. Explaining the process would be a waste of time, so all you get are the final rankings. Also, I was lying about expelling someone. That was a rational deception... meant to bring out the best in all of you."

Everyone collapsed at this revelation.

Midoriya was safe, after all!

Misaki could almost hear the shocked shouts coming from in front of her they were so beyond mortified. That deadpan proclamation from their instructor was so out of hand, and it left her feeling just as agasp with the man as she had felt in the morning. His surly nature somehow stuck whether he used sign or not. She wanted to drag her palm against her face in exasperation when Aizawa continued to ignore their protests and groans. "Anyway. We're done here. Your documents about the curriculum and such are back in the classroom. Give them a good look."

Aizawa's eyes rested on the class for a moment before he directed his attention towards Midoriya, probably telling him to go and visit Recovery Girl with that injury he got from his quirk.

Misaki was one of the last people to come and collect her things from the classroom that afternoon. She picked it up and shrugged it over her shoulders and went to head back to the open door but was surprised to be stopped at the door by Bakugou. His hand rested against the opposing wall and blocked her pathway. She glanced at that and then looked back at his red eyes. Great, now what did he want and why was he trying to go about ruining her afternoon again?

She narrowed her eyebrows.

"You again," she read his lips as he had the decency to speak slow enough for her to catch it. "They fucking let someone like Deku into this school, but they also let you in? Two charity cases in one class, huh?"

Misaki wanted to scoff at that. She assumed that the Deku he was talking about was Midoriya, and it seemed in line for somebody like him to give out a name like that to someone. She had her phone in hand and didn't miss a beat as she typed out her response to him: I'm not really in the mood for whatever ego trip that you're on. Mind moving aside?

He seemed surprised by her backbone. "I'm just making myself clear to you because you and that Deku seem to share the same dumb trait. Stay the hell out of my way unless you want to get burned. I'm going to be the top hero here."

Misaki's eye twitched. Oh, of course, that was the only thing that he cares about. He really was one of those prideful guys that needed to push down others to make himself feel good. He probably had an inferiority complex. That sort of thing was what tackled guys down to the ground as their own weakness if they weren't careful about it. It was a benefit and a threat to one's self. She wasn't going to play guessing games and figure out what his deal was, it was better to leave well enough alone. Something about him just kind of made her want to fight.

All Misaki wanted to do was become a hero that showed the world that even disabled people could be heroes if they wanted.

She sucked in an annoyed breath and typed another response: Yeah. I'm not interested in being the top dog here and I don't want to get tangled up in some petty squabble. If you wanna be number one then do it, be my guest. I'm here for my own quest, not yours. Misaki waited for him to get the gist and then typed another one: Now if you'll excuse me. I have better places to be than stuck in a classroom alone with you, and I think you have a date with Deku to give him the same spiel.

Misaki brushed past him without saying anything else. However, he had the nerve to say the word Plum about her right before she stepped too far away to let him get away with that nickname. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared back at him with a wicked smile. It was so unlike her to brazenly face somebody without freeing a pinch of fear; She usually ignored others or didn't give much time to bullies because it wasn't worth the effort, but her body was acting without thinking this time around and she felt like she had a point to prove.

She typed one last message to him that afternoon: My name is Hisakawa Misaki, not plum, not sugar, not any other fruit out there, and I just decided that I changed my mind. I'm going to get the top and leave you in the dust.