Class 1-A was in amazement at Midoriya's throw. Hikari could hear Ochako's cheer and agreed with her sentiment. He's shown nothing about his power until now, and it even broke his finger. She shifted her glance to her right and smirked. Bakugou stood with his jaw practically on the floor.
"What's wrong, ya scowly bastard? Scared that he beat your score?" teased Hikari with a coy smile, but Bakugou didn't seem to care about the nickname or the taunt.
"I should've seen his quirk years ago," he growled. "I'm getting to the bottom of this." His palms exploded and he dashed forward as he bellowed, "HEY! DEKU YOU BASTARD, TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Holy shit, this guy's furious!" Hikari exclaimed, surprised. It was apparent from the start that the ash blond was a grumpy, temperamental guy, but this was a new extreme. It looked like Bakugou was going to follow through with his threat until one end of Aizawa's scarf flew through the air and restrained him. "What? W-Why the hell is your damn scarf s-so strong?" the ash blond grunted as he strained through the strength of the scarf.
"'Cause it's a capture weapon made out of carbon fibers and a special metal alloy," their teacher explained, his hair floating upwards as his quirk was activated. "Stand down. It'd be wise to avoid making me avoid using my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye."
Too bad, that power is amazing! Hikari winced as she looked onward.
The hair and scarf settled back down, releasing Bakugou from its grip. "You're wasting my time now. Whoever's next can step up."
/
After Midoriya's home-run throw and Bakugou's explosive reaction, the tests continued. Hikari's quirk did little to improve her scores in the sit-ups, seated toe-touch, and the long-distance run, but they were a little better thanks to her training with Ochako.
Finally, finally, it was time to see the results. "I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already," Aizawa said, holding a little device in his hands. "I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual score."
It's time. I definitely won't be the one being expelled… right?
Aizawa projected the tier list into the air. From one to twenty, everyone's name was on the list. Hikari craned her neck, scanning the list for her name.
16. Hikari Hinata
A rush of relief flooded over her as she exhaled, not realizing that she was holding her breath. Phew, I'm safe. Not the best, but not the worst. Wait, but that means- Hikari looked over to Midoriya's stricken face, showing great despair. Oh no, poor dude.
"Aaand I was lying. No one's going home."
Huh?
Hikari and the rest of the class were in a catatonic shock, mouths agape and eyes wide as they looked at their teacher.
"That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests." A creepy smile grew on Aizawa's face, daring to look pleased as he explained his ruse.
"WHHHAAAAATTT?!" Hikari shrieked in disbelief. It looked like she wasn't the only one. Midoriya, Ochako, and Iida also screamed out in confusion.
"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out," Yaoyorozu commented, "I'm sorry, I guess I should've said something."
Yeah, you should have, Hikari thought bitterly. All the stress of being expelled for nothing! She had to admit, begrudgingly, it did give her motivation to do her best.
"That's it, we're done for the day," concluded Aizawa as he walked away. "Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning." He gave Midoriya a note to see the nurse with the promise of training the next day.
/
Hikari slung her purple bag over her shoulder. The tests left her body exhausted, and she was more than ready to go home, even if it meant going at a snail's pace.
She was in the middle of adjusting her hair ribbon when she felt a yank on her elbow. "Hikari, c'mon, let's go!" a cheery voice cried. Hikari instantly identified it as Ochako. She felt herself being dragged through students in the halls, their confused faces turning into blurs as they went further down the hall. So much for going at a snail's pace. How does this girl still have energy?
They reached the front gate, and Ochako called out, "Heeyyy! Wait up, you two! Are you going to the station? We'll join you guys!" Who is she talking to?
When her vision refocused, she found herself staring at Iida and Midoriya, who had stopped for them. "Oh, you're the infinity girl, and you're the girl that used a shield as a toboggan," Iida commented to them.
"I'm Ochako Uraraka," her friend said. The brunette nudged Hikari, saying, "C'mon, it's your turn. These are the guys that were in my testing arena."
"Hold on, let me balance myself, Ochako," Hikari giggled. She straightened her posture and cleared her throat. "I'm Hikari Hinata, nice to formally meet."
"Let's see, you're Tenya Iida," Ochako continued, looking at the taller boy (Hikari cringes as she remembers making fun of him at the orientation before the exam) and her gaze shifted to the greenette as she said, "and your name is 'Deku', right? Midoriya?"
"D-Deku?!"
"Uh, yeah, isn't that what Bakugou called you?" she questioned, "During the fitness test, he said-"
"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" Hikari snarled suddenly, lowering her voice to match the explosive boy. She even curled her hand the same way Bakugou did when he released an explosion from his palm. Panic shot through Midoriya's heart. It was exactly the way he did it! "Wait a minute, doesn't 'Deku' mean 'useless person' or something?" Hikari realized, relaxing from her imitation. "That's pretty harsh, he's gotta hate you or something."
Bombarded by the girls' questions (and still freaked out by Hikari), Midoriya gesticulated as he stuttered, "Uh, well, my name's actually Izuku. Deku is what Kaachan calls me to make fun of me."
"That sounds unsportsmanlike," Iida muttered. Hikari blinked in confusion. "Yeah, he definitely hates you. Sorry for calling you that, even if I was imitating Mr. Snap, Crack, and Pop," she apologized, fiddling with a strand of teal hair in embarrassment. "You're gonna need a new nickname."
Ochako suppressed a giggle. "Mr. Snap, Crack and Pop, that's hilarious, Hikari!"
"Are you two friends, by chance? You keep referring to each other by your first names," Iida wondered out loud.
The two nodded in response and Hikari slung an arm over Ochako's shoulder. "Yep, been friends since middle school," she answered proudly, "We promised each other that we'd go to U.A and become heroes together!"
"That's amazing!" breathed Midoriya and he turned to face Hikari. "I remember you from the exam! You were with Uraraka when she stopped my fall! And your quirk is amazing, too!"
Embarrassed by the sudden praise, Hikari's fiddling grew faster and her face got warm. "Aw, man, it's nothing, really. It's-It's just my quirk, nothing special!"
"No, seriously, it's amazing! It's the perfect defense quirk, and there's so many ways you can apply it for offense too!"
"You're-You're just saying things!" Hikari shook her head and cleared her throat. "Nevermind that. So you're the kid that beat the 0-point robot and nearly destroyed your entire body for it?"
Now it was Midoriya's turn to blush. "Ah, um, yeah, so I guess word got around about me, huh?"
"Well, it would make sense. Several people witnessed that, and it was at the end of the exam, too, when you defeated it," Iida explained.
"Man, if only I got put in your guy's arena, I could have seen it too," pouted Hikari, puffing out her cheeks comically.
Their talk continued as they reached the station. Midoriya and Iida parted ways from the two girls.
"Well, what do you think of them, Ochako? I think they're gonna be great friends," smiled Hikari.
A/N: Not much to say here, I guess. I don't want to limit myself to writing as few pages as possible but I also don't want to write too much in one chap. I'll do my best to add in Hikari as much as possible and dedicate chapters to her development.
In case you haven't noticed, though, M*neta isn't in this fic at all. Why, you may ask? Simply put, I don't like him. To me, he doesn't serve any purpose to the plot and his *ahem* advances towards female characters makes me extremely uncomfortable. By subtracting M*neta and adding Hikari, the class remains an even 20. If you don't agree with it, then sorry. *shrugs*
Fun fact of the chapter: Hikari's hairstyle was originally going to be a cute bob cut with bangs covering her eyes as a nod to her (old) quirk. The only thing that didn't change was the color of her hair: teal. It just stuck throughout Hikari's development. Anyways, thanks for reading
