Finally, the first day of school came.

The UA uniform was adorable! I loved my crimson tie and my long white socks! They even issued hair ribbons! Of course, my hair wasn't long enough for ribbons. That bummed me out a bit. So I made myself a cute little bracelet. After taking about fifty pictures for my mom, I bade my family a (tearful, believe me) goodbye. Taking off from our landing pad, I blew eight kisses back to my waving family. I saw Eiichi and Eito crying happy tears, grinning their shiny faces off. I got a little teary, too. And then, I set down in the courtyard of UA high school.

First impression: the guy with the spiky blonde hair was a jerk.

He bumped into me, hard, "Watch where you're going, bird brain." I rolled my eyes, "Real original. Haven't heard that one before." "Who the hell are you, anyway?" "None of your business!" He had tiny explosions firing off in his hands. "Nice sparkles, there," I scoffed. The explosions got bigger, "Another word and I'll blow you to hell!" My face was centimeters from his, twisted into a snarl, "Try it, sparkles!"

"If my Quirk sucks so much, what's yours?" I floated up, my wings spread, conjuring a lightning storm over the sun, "Your worst nightmare." Principal Nezu walked between us, "Mr. Bakugo, Miss Arashi, this behavior needs to stop," he said chipperly. Bakugo growled, but stalked off. I let the sun out and set down, apologizing profusely.

I bowed so low my forehead bonked against the ground. A couple girls snorted as they walked by. One of these days, I was going to give them frostbite. And then a sunburn. The thought made me smile a bit as I rose back up and apologized again.

I found my class listing and made my way over. The classroom door was huge, but THANK GOODNESS my wings fit without having to squish. I was the second person there, a boy already sitting ramrod-straight at a desk. I adjusted my tie. He made me feel really sloppy- he looked like someone had ironed his whole body. Short, pristinely combed black hair, small glasses perched on the end of his nose. He stood up, offering me his hand, "I am Tenya Iida! From Somei Private Academy!" He shouted. He was almost as tall as me. I felt like that made him nervous. I made a face and took his hand, "I'm Haruto Arashi." Wait a second. I snapped my fingers, "You're an Iida! Your whole family is famous for speed Quirks!"

"Oh," he said, "Yes, I suppose so." I shrugged. e. "Hey, do you know who our teacher is?" I asked suddenly. Iida planted his hands on his hips, "The listing said 'Aizawa,' but I don't recognize that name. All the teachers are Pros, so he's a Hero. That's all I can say." The door opened again, so I turned to see who it was. "Uraraka!" I squealed. She turned pink as I started babbling about how excited I was. She and I had both made bracelets with the ribbons, too! So cute! Then the door swung open. Guess who it was.

"Sparkles."

"Feathers."

Bakugo- that's what Nezu said his name was, right?- stomped to a desk, plopped down, and flung his feet on the tabletop. Iida went ballistic as other students began flooding in. I quickly found my people. Uraraka introduced me to a bunch of other girls she'd met at the tryouts. Tsuyu Asui. Frog-like. Mina Ashido. Pink. Kyoka Jiro. Metal. Toro Hagakure. Invisible. "Hey, Haruto!" I turned to find Momo Yaoyorozu, another recommended student, grinning at me. "Momo! We're in the same class!"

I heard some kind of sniffling behind me. I turned slowly to see a short, chubby kid with really strange hair trying to look up my skirt. "Dude!" I shouted, backing up and pulling my skirt lower over my knees. Now, I was somewhat… gifted in the hips and chest department, but not enough to warrant that. "The hell is wrong with you?!" Momo rested her hand on my shoulder, "That's Minoru Mineta. He's a pervert." I nodded, "I gathered that." I nudged him away with my wing.

The room literally turned cold as a boy wandered in. I recognized him. Shoto Todoroki, also a recommendation. "Hey, ice cube!" I shouted, "We're in the same class!" He scowled. The room got subtly colder. I radiated warmth to offset the cold. "Fight me," I said to his surprised eyebrow raise. The girls of the class huddled around, sighing at my warmth. It actually made me a little uncomfortable. I didn't really know how to act around other girls.

I had six little brothers. What do you expect?

We all managed to find our seats. I was next to a boy with strange arms and dagger-sharp hair and a boy with shiny blonde hair and a weird belt. The chairs weren't really wing-friendly. I'd rested the joints over the top and stretched the tips around to rest on the floor. The boy I'd met the day of the entrance exam, (Midoriya, I think?) pushed open the door. Uraraka leapt out of her seat and bounced over. Midoriya turned very pink and responded hastily. I leveraged myself out of my chair and joined her. "Hey, I heard about you!" I said with a smile, "The boy who passed on rescue points alone! Nice!"

A gravelly voice from behind said softly, "If you want to play at being friends, go somewhere else."

We flinched and whipped around to find some kind of yellow, lumpy tube behind us. A face emerged and sucked at a juice pouch. What. In. The. Actual. Hell? It stood up and a man stepped out of it, dressed completely in black, with stringy black hair and bloodshot eyes. "It took a whole eight seconds for you kids to be quiet. You aren't very rational." I scowled. He looked me briefly up and down before nudging past into the classroom. "I'm Shota Aizawa. Your homeroom teacher." Shocked murmurs drifted around the room. "I know this is sudden," he said, pulling some kind of uniform from the folds of his clothing, "But put these on and head out to the field."

Okay, what?

"Mr. Aizawa," I said, watching as the other students grabbed their gym uniforms and filed out. He huffed, "What?" I shrugged, "I can't wear one of those because of my wings." He rolled his eyes and sighed, "I know, Arashi. I have a special one for you right here." He chucked it at me, watching my back as I slung it over my shoulder and walked out.

"There's going to be a Quirk assessment test," he said, as we filtered onto the field, all dressed up. Uraraka shrieked, "But what about Orientation?! What about the entrance ceremony?!" Aizawa rolled his eyes and turned his back to us, "If you're going to be a Hero, you don't have time for things like that." I crossed my arms. He looked back over his shoulder and clearly noted that. The other students were taken aback. "You've been doing these since junior high school, right?" He held up a small screen with someone's results from one such test. "Fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks."

I'd never been good at those. Running, core exercises, and jumping: an extra 15 kilos of wings to drag with me. Swimming: dress-code-friendly swimsuits and feathers don't mix. I couldn't even do sit-ups.

"Bakugo," he said, pointing with a thin finger, "You finished top of the entrance exams, right?" Aizawa told him to throw a softball using his Quirk. An intense shock wave buffeted us as one of his explosions launched the ball into the sky. "Damn," I murmured to Momo. She grunted in agreement. Bakugo blasted the ball seven. Fricking. Hundred. Meters. My low whistle drifted on the breeze as Aizawa started talking again. I clapped Bakugo on the back as he returned to the group. "Damn, sparkles," I laughed, "You pack a hell of a lot of bang for your buck!" Aizawa cleared his throat. I looked up and refolded my arms, meeting his gaze coolly. Obviously, I wasn't his favorite. "Anyone to come last in all eight tests will be punished with expulsion." That brought my thoughts to a jarring halt. I gaped at him. Expulsion?! Honestly, he was probably lying. Technically, he didn't have the authority to openly expel any students without major disciplinary issues.

"Welcome to UA's Hero course!"

I planted my hands on my hips and grinned. This was going to be fun. The first test was a 50 meter dash. Iida, obviously, was in his element. I raced with Uraraka. She used her Quirk on her clothes and shoes to lighten them up a touch. I blasted myself forward with wind and pinned my wings to my sides, zooming across the finish line and skidding to a stop. 3.98 seconds. Leaps and bounds above my 15 second junior high time. The boy I sat next to earlier, the blonde one, shot a laser out of his belt and lurched backward. About halfway down the track, he dropped it and had to fire again. He looked over his shoulder at Uraraka, a red-haired boy (he would be Kirishima), and I. "If I shoot for more than a second, my tummy hurts." Weirdo. Note: his name was Aoyama.

The second test was grip strength. Mine was better than most of the rest of the class, because I'd learned to be able to lift my entire body weight- plus my wings. Still, the other boy I sat next to, Shoji, nearly crushed the measuring device.

The third test was right up my alley. Standing long jump. I just jumped up and flew over the landing area, then circled until Aizawa told me to come down.

The fourth was back and forth jumping. That one I had a little more trouble with. Mineta, however, made cushions with those weird hair-ball-things of his and bounced between them.

The fifth was the ball throw. Uraraka went first. She gently tapped the ball. I wobbled into the air and out of sight. Aizawa raised his eyebrows and showed the class her score. Infinity?! How could I go after that? I did anyway, using careful manipulation of wind to force the ball a staggering 1500 meters. I was very proud of myself. Midoriya looked thoroughly terrified as he stepped up to the plate. I saw him fire up some kind of Quirk, but his throw was… pathetic. He shook and looked down at his hands. Uraraka pressed closer, hiding in between my shoulder and my wing. I glanced back at her before looking to Aizawa.

His grey scarf- or what I'd thought was a scarf- drifted around him in some invisible breeze, and his hair moved like matted black fire. Wait, hold on. Aizawa… I recognized that name. But from where?

Eraser Head! He could temporarily disable people's Quirks by staring at them. He was a Pro, but he hated media attention because he was a stealth fighter. Had he used his Quirk on Midoriya? "That's messed up," I muttered. I felt Uraraka nod. Eraser Head used his… tapes, I guess? to pull Midoriya close. He said something quiet and fast that the rest of us couldn't hear. "I wonder what he said," I mused as Midoriya was released. Aoyama slid close on my other side, mimicking Uraraka, "Probably telling him he was expelled." I zapped him with a quick spark of lightning. Let's just say he didn't get within a meter of me after that.

We watched with bated breath as Midoriya reared back for the throw. We all expected a broken arm. Everyone knew that- whatever Midoriya's Quirk was- was incredibly self-damaging. To everyone's utter shock, Midoriya put out a shockwave stronger than Bakugo's earlier. My jaw effectively hit the ground. Midoriya stood with a big, teary grin on his face, panting. He'd used only a tiny portion of his big Quirk, centered in his fingertip. Aizawa flashed the score. The exact same numbers as… Bakugo?! Damn, this guy was cool. "Shit," I said breathlessly. Suddenly, an enraged Bakugo charged at Midoriya, explosions already popping in his hands. Aizawa quickly cut him off with those weird tape things and his Quirk.

I was surprised Bakugo thought he could get away with it.

As Uraraka fawned over Midoriya's injured finger, I moved over to Bakugo, who was practically simmering with rage. "Hey," I said softly, nudging his shoulder with my wing, "That was pretty badass of you. Dumb, but badass." To my surprise, he barked a laugh. Then he scowled and clenched his fists, "Until a little while ago, he was just a pebble on the side of the road." He glared over his shoulder at Midoriya, "A PEBBLE!" I folded my arms, "That was intense. I give you credit for that. Come on, sparkles. The next test is starting." I grabbed his arm and started to drag him to the class, but he jerked away. "Don't blow your top, sparkles," I snorted. I laughed and jogged away as a slur of curses that would make a villain blush fell out of his mouth.

The next three tests went pretty well. I was exempted from the sit-up test (Duh, wings). I did pretty well on the toe-touch and the long distance run. I was a little tired, but nothing major. Midoriya ended up on the ground. I offered him a hand and lugged him to his feet, "C'mon, hotshot. You've done real well today." He smiled weakly and followed me to Aizawa, who was releasing the test scores.

Whoo! Second place!

As I was prone to, I made it snow a little over the class. I earned some glares, but Tsuyu caught a few flakes on her tongue, making Uraraka giggle, and making me snort. I followed the list down. Oh no. Midoriya came in last. I rested a hand on his shoulder as they slumped. "By the way," Aizawa muttered,

"I was lying about the expulsion."

Woah. "It was a rational deception." I knew it! Momo had come to the same conclusion, so I stood next to her and cocked my hip. Aizawa left, handing Midoriya a nurse's note on his way. "Well, that was fun," I said to the ensuing silence. A guy who could shoot tape out of his elbows laughed (his name was Sero). Others joined in, laughing and talking.

On my way home, I spotted Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka heading to the station. I called down as I flew over. Uraraka waved happily, Iida saluted, and Midoriya smiled kind of strangely.

My family was elated to see me, and my brothers had endless questions, but I was pretty worn out, so I basically showered, had dinner, and passed out in my bed.

The next morning, I left before any of my family was awake. My papa had forgotten to turn the coffee pot on, so I did that, the smooth humming of the little machine my fanfare as I left for school. I'd designed a wing-friendly backpack that had special buckles on the straps so I could attach it to my wing joints. It was sleek, comfortable, and even had reflective stickers on it. (Also, it was sparkly and silver, which made it awesome anyway)

First thing in the morning, Pro Hero Present Mic gave us an English lesson. It was easy for me. English was my second language, so it was a little accented, but more or less accurate. Finally, lunch came. Pro Hero Lunch Rush made the most amazing food ever! And it was reasonably priced, so even someone (like me) from a financially-challenged family could eat like a king (or in my case, a queen). I sat with Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka, a plate of steaming stir fry and rice sitting in front of me. Ohmygosh it was amazing! You could taste every spice and herb and flavor! I was munching happily away when I noticed Bakugo sitting alone. The tables around him were stuffed to overfull. Poor guy.

"I think I'm gonna go sit with Bakugo," I mumbled. Midoriya choked on a bite of rice. A hard slap on the back from Iida solved that problem. "Why?" Midoriya gagged. "I mean, look at him," I whined, gesturing to his table with my fork, "That's so sad." When Bakugo looked up, he looked anything but angry. Kind of neutral, but kind of lonely. I stood up with a "That's it!" and marched my way over to his table with my plate. I plopped down, "Wassup, sparkles?" He growled, "What do you want?" I kicked him under the table, "Your company, dumbass. Seems like you needed mine, too." The red-haired boy, Kirishima, wandered over, too. I grinned at him, waving him over. He swung into a chair. I snorted at Bakugo's angry noises, then nudged him with my elbow, "Aren't you glad that you have some friends who aren't terrified of you?" He grunted, but I could've sworn a smile flickered across his face.

After that… the moment you've all been waiting for… HERO BASIC TRAINING with Symbol of Peace and Pro Hero ALL MIGHT! I was sooooooo excited! The whole class buzzed as he marched through the door. "That's a silver age uniform! It's giving me chills!" I whispered. Aoyama actually simpered.

Our first task was… drumroll, please… Combat training! With new costumes! Mine was a sleek black bodysuit with plates of paper-thin golden armor on my torso and wings. The boots and gloves had stylized metal lightning bolts blazing up them, perfect for conducting actual lightning. A wreath of the same gold lightning went on my head. I had a black cloth eye mask, too.

The girls looked adorable! Everyone else's was so cute! I should have gone for something cuter! Momo must've noticed me pouting, because she wandered over and said, "Don't worry, mine isn't super cute, either. Really functional, though." I made a whiny noise, but nodded in agreement. Then, out came the boys. They looked great, too! Iida had some kind of suit of armor, Kirishima wasn't wearing a shirt (but had sleeves… confusing), and Bakugo had large canister things on his gauntlets. I poked at one, "What're these for?" He sighed, "My sweat is like nitroglycerin. They store it so I can make bigger explosions." I grinned, "Sweet!" He grinned back.

A huge model city awaited us. "Hey, wait!" I shouted, "This is the test city!" Uraraka squeaked a little, "I don't have good memories of this place." I laid my hand on her shoulder and shot her a reassuring smile.

All Might towered over the class, "Time for an indoor battle simulator!" I consciously felt the class's eyes turn to me. Crap. Indoor… anything was a challenge, because of my wings. I could barely fit through doors with my wings squeezed tight to my back, much less fight in hallways. We drew lots to pick two teams: heroes and villains. I was with Hagakure! I high-fived her, "Let's do this!" She squealed, her gloved hands high above her head. Technically, she was naked except for her gloves. It didn't really bother me. In this jumpsuit, I might as well have been naked myself. Let's just say it left nothing to the imagination. I'm sure Mineta was just loving all of the jumpsuits and exposed skin. A chill raced up my spine as a grubby little hand brushed my wing. Mineta jerked and screeched as I zapped him with lightning.

The first teams against each other were: Uraraka and Midoriya as the heroes, and Bakugo and… Iida?! as the villains. Iida looked absolutely thrilled by the concept. I was pretty sure his older brother was a Pro, too. Yeesh, this was probably going to be hard for him.

That theory was quickly disproved. As the rest of the class and All Might filed into a viewing room, I heard cackles coming from the speakers. Iida reared his head back and laughed maniacally, showing up on a series of small screens around the room. All Might chuckled, "Pay attention, kids. Think about what you would do." We grunted happily, squishing forward to get the best view. I shoved Mineta forward. He looked back, surprised. "I'm like four heads taller than you, Mineta. Get over it." He smiled as I began pushing Todoroki. Todoroki looked up slightly and moved behind Mineta, sending me a small nod as thanks.

We all waited anxiously for the first attack to happen. Lo and behold, Bakugo was the first to strike. He easily blew back Midoriya and Uraraka. The room caught its breath. Then it was effectively gone as Midoriya flung Bakugo over his head and slammed him into the ground. I winced. Midoriya had also snagged one of those neat gauntlets. Oh geez. I knew where this was going. I bit my lip as Midoriya let loose a huge explosion on Bakugo. As the heroes' timer slowly ticked down, I found myself biting my nails. This was going to be a close one. Uraraka and Iida faced off near the bomb while Midoriya and Bakugo were busy blowing each other up. Finally, Uraraka wrapped her arms around the villains' bomb, and the timer clicked to zero. The viewing room lit up with cheers and laughter. Midoriya was all broken up, though. That kind of sucked. He was quickly carted away to the nurse's office.

HAhahahahahHAHAHahah! Hagakure and I were the villains! I was already rubbing my hands together suspiciously and chuckling under my breath as Hagakure slid off her gloves and shoes. Our bomb was in an open corridor. Wide enough for my wings, even. Shoji- the guy with the dupli-arms- and Todoroki were the heroes. Todoroki's dad was the number two Pro, Endeavor. I actually wondered where he got his ice Quirk from. Mom, maybe? I knew Shoji was going to be scouting like hell, and Todoroki would freeze anything he saw, so Hagakure and I agreed on a battle plan. I set up a few inconvenient traps while she scouted. "Let's try and stay on the offense," I murmured into my radio, "They'll expect a defensive plan. Radio silence… now!" I heard her padding away. With any luck, she'd lead the heroes into my traps.

Suddenly, a wave of ice washed across the building. "Ow, ow, ow!" Hagakure whimpered, "My feet are stuck!" I radiated heat as hot as I could go to prevent ice from touching the bomb. "Asshole," I cursed, "He thought he could screw with the temperature, huh?" I grinned, pulling snow clouds over the sun, "Let's see how he likes frostbite." Todoroki's body temperature was really easily pushed too cold. I was relying on that. I heard a soft clinking. Footsteps. Lightning spread over my body, twisting around my hands in long, dangerous whips. Todoroki marched in, eyebrows shooting into his hairline. "Thought it'd be that easy, huh, ice cube. Temperature is my area of expertise," I grinned and tilted my head, my eyes widening crazily, "Also, wanna know what a billion volts feels like?" His eye widened as the metal plate he was standing on lit up with electricity.

He jumped off and slammed into the linoleum floor, scowling at me. I zapped him anyway, wincing as he flinched and froze. "I can do ice, too, ice cube," I chirped. A freezing wind burst through a window and wrapped around his still form, solidifying as it touched his freezing body. One second, I was grinning down at him. The next, I was wrapping white capture tape around his wrists. His timer beeped to zero. "Villains win!" All Might's voice boomed. I offered him a hand up. He took it. Damn his hand was cold. He scowled at me again as he walked out.

The rest of the matches went smoothly, but I noticed that a few of the boys I wasn't familiar with didn't get as close as they had before. Great. Now I was scaring people.

It felt great to be back in real clothes. I was wet and cold in my jumpsuit, and I welcomed the clean fabric of my uniform. Once everyone was dressed, we gathered in the classroom and waited for Midoriya to come back from the nurse's office. I met a fellow bird-form named Tokoyami. He grumbled for a minute about how I got the lion's share of cool bird features. He had really deep black feathers for hair and a wicked sharp beak. He was, at the time, sitting on a desk. Iida, of course, went all 'don't be disrespectful to the school' on him. Jiro scoffed at him. "Dude, take it easy," I mumbled, "Do you ever relax?" He decided to take offense to that. Bakugo stomped out. I shouted angrily after him. No dice. Uraraka and Kaminari came in with the yearbooks the same time Midoriya did. The class clustered around him, complimenting him and introducing themselves. I shot him a thumbs-up as he responded, flustered.

He ran out after Bakugo. I trailed a few other girls to a window to watch the confrontation go down. For some reason, Bakugo and Midoriya didn't get along. I really couldn't see why. Midoriya was a little geeky, but was a pretty sweet guy. And Bakugo was intense, but really passionate. They both were. I grinned at the girls, "I wonder if they ever really liked each other." Uraraka frowned, "They were friends once, I guess." I gasped, "I totally ship it!" I laughed obnoxiously at my classmates gawks.

Then I flew home, greeted by a stack of hand-drawn pictures from my brothers. They were already in bed, but I snuck into their rooms (one for each set of twins) and smooched their adorable sleeping heads. With Eiichi and Eito, I had to dodge some drool. My parents were also in bed, and I stopped by to let them know I was home. My mom groggily wrapped her arms around me and mumbled something incoherent before flopping back down and passing out. My dad grumbled and waved me out. I held in a snort. Tomorrow would be another day, so I needed my beauty sleep.

After all, the early Thunderbird gets the worm.

Wow, this felt great to write! From now on, I'll be posting every Monday at around this time if I can!