Chapter Three: Welcome to U.A.
"Mari! You awake?"
Himari exits the bedroom, and while she is dressed in her school uniform her pale face and bags show she rather still be in bed. "I'm awake." She sniffs. "You cooked breakfast?"
"Yeah." Kaya walks to the entrance and slips on her shoes. "I already ate but I made a plate for you." She picks up her bag and slides it over her shoulder. "Have a good day. Bye!"
Himari sits down to eat the omurice on the table. "…be careful," she says quietly knowing that Kaya was well on her way down the street unable to hear her.
.
Kaya gets off the train and walks the remainder of the way to school. As with the entrance exam she reaches the doors, now using her student card to gain entry rather than from the temporary slip she received last time.
The halls were quiet, but it was rather early. Once eventually finding class 1-A. Kaya had rather aggressively researched the institute more than she had when first applying, but while she learnt much about the institute there weren't exactly public knowledge of the facility's layouts. If the tall walls and entrance was anything to go by it was for security purposes.
Opening the door, she realizes she's the first there. She glances up at the clock. 8:10. She is quite early so this was to be expected. She closes the door before sitting in the second row in the far back.
Kaya flicks through the news on her phone when the next student arrives. She looks up to see… floating clothes.
"Ah~ It's so great to be here!" A voice spoke but no face to associate it to. "Looks like we are the first ones here. Nice to meet you! My name is Toru Hagakure. Pleasure to meet you!"
"By any chance did you attend Chibari elementary?"
"How did you know?!"
"Ah sorry. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Kaya Yasuda. It's nice to—" Toru screeched and ran behind the podium. The right sleeves of Hagakure's uniform pointing her. "—meet you."
"Yasuda? That Yasuda? On no. What did I do to deserve this?"
Kaya listens on as the girl continues to panic.
Kaya opens her mouth to reply when the door slams open.
"Bonjour everyone! It is I! Yuga Aoyama—"
"You gotta save me!"
Only two other classmates arrived and the class was way too rowdy already.
"Will you please listen?" Kaya should have never commented about elementary school. She just wanted to know whether this was the famed 'Ghost Girl' but it wasn't worth this headache. The class volume increased as the blonde and the invisible girl squawked back and forth. "It was my sister's quirk not mine."
"—even if you – wait? Really?" Ghost girl approaches again – not that she was an actual ghost. As she does so a girl with black hair tied up in a high pony tail entered the room followed by a boy with glasses who went and introduced himself to her. Meanwhile the blonde from earlier what eagerly chatting with a spiky red hair boy that also walks in.
Kaya internally sighs. "Yeah. Utano has an amplification quirk and used it on my younger sister who didn't have good control at the time leading to that – uh – incident. I have a different quirk so you don't have to worry."
Was she scratching the back of her head? "Sorry for overreacting. It's just that it happened out of nowhere and I was having a bad hair day and it was just so overwhelming I didn't know how to react and—" Did she ever run out of breath?
"Excuse me for interrupting." The glasses guy from earlier was now standing perpendicular from ghost girl. "As fellow classmates I thought it prudent that I'd introduce myself. I'm Tenya Ida from Somei Private Academy."
"Hi Tenya. I'm Toru Hagakure and this is Kaya Yasuda." Did everyone remember names so easily. Despite them just mentioning them her brain didn't want to remember them. A curse really. Well, there were only 20 desks in the class so hopefully it will come faster than the 6 months it took last year to remember everyone's name. Nothing is more embarrassing than asking someone's name several months after knowing them.
The two chat a bit as Kaya remains in her seat half-listening before the glasses guy left to introduce himself to others. The class was nearly full at this point.
Tap. Tap.
Kaya taps her foot lightly against the ground to try and drone out the noise. Too many conversations. Too many loud conversations.
There was a pink girl, bird face, the short ball head guy from the physical exam, someone wearing a mask? Some blond with his feet on the desk who glasses guy was yelling at. A guy with hair half white and half red – who thankfully seems to be keeping to himself (a small victory or another quieter classmate).
Her observation of the class is cut short when a large guy with a pointy, rough looking head sits in the desk in front of her. He looks back, raises his hand, and—? Was that sign language?
Hello. I'm Kaya Yasuda. She slowly signs back as she speaks hoping that she remembers the right signals for spelling her name.
His face flashes in surprise before smiling. He signs something back much faster. Er. A little too fast.
Kaya signs back little. "Sorry. I'm afraid I only know a little."
"If you're going to be hunting for buddies, do it elsewhere." Kaya looks up at the clock. Seems time flies by with a class like this. Well, she could understand their excitement. They were accepted into a well-renowned school with an exceptionally low acceptance rate. Still, there had been plenty of time to celebrate with friends and family before today!
"This is the department of heroics!" The presumable teacher unzipped the sleeping bag. She feels sorry for him. He looks so tired. Still, as a teacher she expects him to be mentally there for class. "It took you lot 8 seconds to quiet down." Not great but it could have been worse, but she emotionally wants to agree with him. "Life is short, kids. You're all lacking in common sense." Okay, now that felt like a personal attack.
Kaya frowns.
"I'm your homeroom teacher Shouta Aizawa. Pleasure meeting you." Yeah, no. While it was simple politeness it sounds like a chore rather than a pleasure. "Wear these immediately and then shove off to the P.E. grounds."
"What about the opening ceremony? And the guidance counselor meeting?" The brown hair girl asks.
"If you want to be heroes, we don't have time for frilly niceties. You all understand the school's reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that freedom goes for us sensei too. Now go change."
Kaya finishes changing first but waits for someone else to finish before leaving for the P.E. grounds. In theory it shouldn't be difficult to find but Kaya decides not to rely on her horrible sense of direction when this seems serious.
Everyone finally arrives at the P.E. grounds and Aizawa-sensei – at least remember your teacher's name! - starts listing off a variety of physical exercises. "These are all the activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks." It was a facet of the law she disliked. How can you name something a quirk, one's individuality, and say you can't use it. She could understand temporary measures when they first developed until more comprehensive laws could be formed. Of course, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should but this was just one of the many absolutes the law was written in.
Aizawa-sensei called the foot desk guy to give a demonstration. Katsuki Bakugo. Was he the one who ranked first on the practical?
"DIE!"
Kaya stands a bit straighter at the sudden shout. Why did he scream die? Regardless of his choice of words he threw the ball 705.2 meters. Yeah, no. Even with her quirk she wasn't going to get anywhere near that. In fact, her quirk wasn't going to help her throw at all.
Some of the people around her start to cheer and praise the distance.
"It looks fun you say? So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good time. What happened to becoming heroes?" Ultimately hero schools were a type of training school. The standard subjects were still required but there was an emphasis on training. Being a hero meant becoming law enforcement after all. Aizawa-sensei's words were harsh. Maybe more so than warranted since you can take something seriously AND still have fun, but she wouldn't be surprise if most students enroll without understanding that simple truth.
"New rule. The student who ranks last in total points will be deemed hopeless and will be instantly expelled."
Kaya feels her muscles stiffen. She though the enrollment over the last few years were inconsistent as evident by the fluctuating amount a student participating in the sports festival. Not only that but he said last place will be deemed 'hopeless and will be expelled' meaning if he found more people than just last place hopeless more people could potentially be expelled. There's a good chance he has some understanding of our quirks whether it be on our transcripts or through witnessing the entrance exams so would doing worse than the practical be taken badly too.
Kaya's mind races as her circular logic takes hold.
"This is our first day here! But even if it weren't that's just too unreasonable." The brown hair girl speaks up again echoing the sentiments of several of her classmates.
Aizawa-sensei gives a speech of how the world is unfair. He wasn't wrong. People's opportunities and circumstances drastically differ. Kaya should know that well.
"This is 'Plus Ultra'. I expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top." Plus Ultra – words that even Kaya can't escape. Entangled into culture by the number one ranked hero.
Test One: 50 Meter Dash
This wasn't a great start. Kaya could think of several ways to increase her speed but the known fastest method felt weird to use and makes her feel nauseous. She used it during the Entrance exam too and she doubted she would be allowed to explain why she wasn't using the fastest method.
50 meters. Either teleport forward 3 times and make up the last 8 meters or do so 4 times. There was no guarantee she would be stable enough to stand if she does so 4 times and there were still plenty of other tasks afterwards.
Kaminari and Kirishima finish their round so Koji Koda and Kaya Yasuda are called forward.
"Start!"
One! Kaya reappears just under 14 meters ahead. Two! Forward again. Three! The world is spinning and she has no pent-up speed so she imagines a strong wind involuntarily blowing her forward. Time: 3.61.
Test Two: Grip Strength
Mask man grips 540kg. Kaya looks astonished as her mind blanks on what she can do to increase the grip. 72kg. Stupid noodle arms.
"Do you always wear a mask?" She can't help but ask. He even wore a mask back in the classroom. He nods and Kaya doesn't ask further.
Test Three: Standing Long Jump
Todoroki. That name sounds familiar. Why does that sound familiar? The answer never came so focuses on the task before her.
As long as her feet don't touch the sand, right? The steps she's become well acquainted with manifests as she walks over the entire sand pit.
Test Four: Repeated Side Steps. Test Five: Endurance running.
Kaya finishes up her side steps only to realize endurance running was next. She much prefers repeated short sprints with momentary breaks than continuous running. After all the other exercise she decided to 'cheat' by taking a seat and having it float around the track as others ran. She considers it cheating but Aizawa-sensei seems like he accepted the action.
Kaya finishes up the other exercises before returning to where they started: the ball throw. Unfortunately, that means she was going to end weakly.
Aizawa-sensei drops a ball in her hand and she looks down at the circle before moving her gaze to the ball then out to the field. For a moment she considers a spring board just within her scope but realizes she wouldn't be able have it at an angle where it would provide further distance rather than returning her way. She could throw backwards so it would end up in-field but she doubted there would be much difference between that and just throwing. Especially when she was tired from quirk usage. 87.92.
She definitely wasn't last but at this point she just has to hope Aizawa-sensei didn't see her as incompetent.
Huh?
When the green hair kid, who the screaming foot desk guy claims is quirkless, goes to throw the teacher reveals he has an erasure quirk. Kaya thinks if he would have any advice he could give to Mari before she internally slaps herself. She needs to respect Mari's decisions… even if the perfect opportunity was in front of her.
Bakugou rages and sensei restrains him. Thank you Aizawa-sensei!
"Oh yeah, that expulsion thing was a lie. It was a logical ruse to pull out your best performances."
"C'mon guys use your brains. Of course it was just a ruse." The person with the creation quirk said.
Kaya glances at everyone as they seemingly come to accept the answer. She still doesn't think it was a ruse.
"You okay?" The brown hair girl says.
The words don't come right away despite the girl patiently waiting for an answer. She mumbles out a few words.
"Sorry I couldn't hear."
"It… probably wasn't a ruse."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"I think he would have expelled anyone he deemed hopeless whether that was no one or everyone." Kaya briefly further explains the odd number of students in the upper years.
"Maybe some dropped out?"
Yeah, not on that scale, but Kaya nods along realizing the conversation is going nowhere.
"I'm sorry to ask this but what's your name again?"
"Me? I'm Ochaco Uraraka." She smiles.
Uraraka. Uraraka. Uraraka. Remember the name!
"I'm Kaya Yasuda," she answers reflexively… except she didn't ask, and probably didn't forget unlike herself. Kaya's face blushes in embarrassment as she stops walking and rams her head into a wall. "Ignore me."
.
"I'm home."
Kaya reaches the end of the couch before dropping her bag and toppling over the armrest.
She turns the screen of her phone on and looks at her messages. None. She looks at the chat threat labelled 'Dad'. Message last received 12 days ago. She presses the button blackening the screen before sitting upwards and Mari comes to sit.
"Mari…"
"Yes?"
"I missed you."
"That bad?" asks Mari.
"Ghost Girl was there."
"You mean Hagakure from Chibari?" Kaya tries to remember the name but couldn't despite knowing it was said several times. She does recognize Chibari so just agrees with her sister.
"And they're loud and hero-gazed. One also has an obsession of yelling die like it's some shonen power move." Kaya wants to bring up her teacher but decides against it. At least in a comparative sense. "The teacher is super serious though. Still not sure if that's a good thing or not. We skipped the opening ceremony too to be tested. Good thing there were information packets and I've done enough research otherwise I might feel lost. The place is huge."
"Then there's this girl who can create things and it comes out of the skin. Just watching makes my skin tingle." Even remembering gave her the shivers. She needs something soft! She pulls down the blanket hanging over the couch and strokes it. Ah~ Fleece. It was so soothing.
"Bird head said some things that I think were supposed to be dark but come across as amusing dramaticism."
"Bird head? Please tell me you just don't know his name and you don't call him that."
She lifts a thumb. "You know me so well. Thanks for letting me rant."