Finally, the first day of school came.

The UA uniform was great and all, but I wasn't sure how I felt about wearing a skirt everyday. Especially with being in the air, it didn't leave enough to the imagination. But then again, it felt beyond amazing to be wearing the actual uniform of my dream school.

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.

And then, I set down in the courtyard of UA high school.

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

As I walked up to the front doors in awe, he bumped into me. Hard.

"Watch where you're going, bird brain."

I rolled my eyes and hissed, "Real original. Haven't heard that one before."

He whipped around. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"None of your damn business!"

Tiny explosions popped in his hands, singing the cuffs of his uniform jacket.

"Nice sparkles, there," I scoffed.

The explosions got bigger, and he spat, "Another word and I'll blow you to hell!"

My face was centimeters from his, twisted into a snarl. "Try it, sparkles!"

Right as I was about to fry this asshole, Principal Nezu appeared with an audible pop and walked between us, "Mr. Bakugo, Miss Arashi, this behavior needs to stop!"

Bakugo growled, but stalked off. I ignored the bastard and turned to Nezu, apologizing profusely. Nezu shooed me off to class, and I hurried into the school.

After a couple minutes of being hopelessly lost, 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, with a boy already sitting ramrod-straight at a desk. I adjusted my tie, which Papa had helped me knot into a crisp bowtie. The dude made me feel really sloppy, because he looked like someone had ironed his whole body. Short, pristinely combed blue-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 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! Damn, I've heard about your brother. He's pretty cool!"

"Oh," he said, "Yes, I suppose so."

I shrugged.

e.

"Hey, do you know who our teacher is?"

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, but grinned. "Oh, hi, Haruto! You startled me!"

Then someone caught the door before it closed and shoved it back 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 as fuck.

Toro Hagakure. Invisible.

"Hey, Haruto!"

I turned to find Momo Yaoyorozu, another recommended student, grinning at me. I'd met her while waiting for the physical examination.

I waved and grinned, "Momo! We're in the same class!"

That was all well and good until I heard some kind of sniffling behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I whipped around. A short, chubby kid with really strange hair was trying to look up my skirt.

"Dude!" I screeched, backing up and pulling my skirt lower over my knees, "What the fuck?!"

To be clear, I was not gifted in the hips and chest department. Even if I was, that kind of behavior would get you fried.

Lightning skated over my skin as I spat, "The hell is wrong with you?!"

Momo turned up her nose and practically hissed, "That's Minoru Mineta. He's a pervert."

"I gathered that," I growled, "God, I hate skirts."

The perv skittered away when my eyes began to glow.

The room literally turned cold as another boy wandered in. Shoto Todoroki, also a recommendation student, and my friend of very many years.

"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.

A few girls huddled around, sighing at the 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 multiple 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. I spent the next few minutes wiggling and trying to find a comfortable position.

Eventually, the boy I'd met on 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 jumped and whipped around to find some kind of yellow, lumpy tube behind us. A face emerged and sucked at a juice pouch. Dude. It stood up and a man stepped out of it, dressed completely in black, with stringy black hair and bloodshot eyes. He looked over at us, displeasure clear on his face.

"It took a whole eight seconds for you kids to be quiet. You aren't very rational."

The hell was this guy's deal?

He nudged past us and sulked into the classroom.

"I'm Shota Aizawa. Your homeroom teacher."

Oh shit.

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 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.

After a few minutes of bewildered changing, we filtered onto the field in the back of the school, all dressed up in our new gym uniforms. They were loose and comfortable, and mine had a special back that was attached to the main part of my shirt with little plastic hooks. Someone in the design department needed a raise.

Aizawa piped over our chatter.

"There's going to be a Quirk assessment test!"

A shocked murmur rolled through the class.

Uraraka broke the quiet by shrieking, "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."

He paused and dug around in his pockets for a minute.

"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 20 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," Aizawa said, pointing with a thin finger, "You finished top of the entrance exams, right?"

I wasn't particularly surprised to find out that he had.

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. Fucking. 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 ignored my comment and looked over the class, "Anyone to come last in all eight tests will be punished with expulsion."

That brought my thoughts to a jarring halt. I gawked at him. Expulsion? Fuck no. Honestly, he was probably lying. He couldn't have the authority to openly expel any students without major disciplinary issues.

"Welcome to UA's Hero course!"

I cracked my knuckles and huffed. This was going to be fun.

The first test was a 50 meter dash. Iida, obviously, was in his element, but 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 named Kirishima, and I.

"If I shoot for more than a second, my tummy hurts."

Weird-ass. His name was Aoyama.

The second test was grip strength. Mine was better than most of the rest of the class. 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 ass hair-ball-things of his and bounced between them.

The fifth was the ball throw.

Uraraka went first.

She gently tapped the ball, and it 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 18 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 gray 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?

Fuck, I was an idiot.

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. Papa had complained about him one time, and how Eraser Head had scared the shit out of him on top of a building.

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. Midoriya's face went completely white as Eraser Head withdrew, his tapes returning to his scarf.

"I wonder what he said," I mused.

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. I'd heard that he completely shattered his arm during the entrance exam.

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.

With that, 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 that Bakugo thought he could get away with it.

As Uraraka fawned over Midoriya's injured finger, I minced my way 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), and 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 glances, 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 fucking knew it!

Momo had come to the same conclusion, so she shook her head and murmured, "Of course."

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. 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 in middle school that had special buckles on the straps so I could secure it around my wings. 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. I still had to suffer through learning the darn "r" and "th" sounds.

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. The food really 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?" Uraraka asked innocently.

"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?"

"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 with a tray of food, curiously making his way around the table. 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 something reminiscent of 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 so excited!

The whole class buzzed as he marched through the door.

"That's a silver age uniform! It's giving me chills!" I whispered.

I think Aoyama actually simpered.

Our first task was… drumroll, please… Combat training! With new costumes!

We'd submitted preferred designs a few weeks ago to the design people, and they made adjustments according to what they thought would best fit a rookie Hero.

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 burning 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 boots had stiletto heels, which I wasn't a huge fan of, and the bodysuit would be no help in wet or cold weather, but it would do for now. There was also no room for my goggles, which wouldn't fly. I did like the armor on my hands, which would make my trademark, my lightning whips, a helluva lot easier to handle.

The other girls looked adorable! And the boys 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 and grumbled, "My sweat is like nitroglycerin. They store it so I can make bigger explosions."

I grinned, "Sick!"

He grinned back.

Finally! He wasn't a total asshole!

As we made our way outside from the changing rooms, a huge model city awaited us. It took me a second, but I finally recognized it.

"Hey, wait! This is the test city!"

Uraraka squeaked a little, "I don't have good memories of this place."

I shot her a wink, which she smiled deflatedly at.

All Might towered over the class, "Time for an indoor battle simulator!"

I consciously felt the class's eyes turn to me. Shit. 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. I'm sure Mineta was just loving all of the jumpsuits and exposed skin.

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. Especially with Heroism running in his family. 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 squished forward to get the best view.

I shoved Mineta forward. He looked back, surprised.

"I'm like double your height, Mineta. Get the fuck over it."

He smiled as I began pushing Todoroki. Todoroki looked up slightly and moved behind Mineta, sending me a small nod as thanks. He'd accepted the height difference a few years ago.

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. He had also snagged one of those neat gauntlets.

I knew where this was going.

I chewed on 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.

In the next challenge, 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, but he never used the fire side of his Quirk because his dad was an asshole and there was some trauma there that I don't have time to unpack.

I figured I could use that to our advantage.

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.

"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!"

And there went our plans.

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.

After a minute of silence, I heard a soft clinking that got steadily louder. Footsteps. I summoned a wind that blew open a window, followed by a blaze of lightning. I caught it easily and let it travel over my body, twisting around my hands in long, dangerous whips. I didn't let the lightning mess with my internal electrical system because that could cause problems, but directing it over my skin was child's play.

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, "Also, wanna know what a billion volts feels like?"

His eyes 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 laughed.

A freezing wind and a blast of rain blew through the open 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!"

I offered Todoroki a hand up. He took it. Damn his hand was cold. He scowled at me again as he walked out. I saluted him with a grin.

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. While we were hanging out, 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, but eventually agreed that wings weren't actually that great when I explained my shower routine. 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. While he was spouting off, Bakugo stomped out. I shouted 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 wonder if they ever really liked each other."

Uraraka frowned, "They were friends once, I guess."

I snorted.

With that, I flew home. The entire time, I thought about Midoriya and Bakugo. It would be a pain in the ass if Bakugo couldn't get his head on straight once we started having to work as a class. If he decided to focus on Midoriya instead of whatever we were supposed to be doing, he could be a real liability. If Midoriya kept agitating him, even unintentionally or with good intentions, he could end up being a massive distraction. Either way, they were going to have to figure themselves out before shit hit the fan.

When I got home, I was greeted by a stack of hand-drawn Hero pictures from my brothers. Eiichi drew Papa in his old costume, and Eito drew All Might next to him, giving Papa a high-five. Taine drew Kamui Woods, who he'd been hyperfixated on lately, and Tait drew Endeavor, quite possibly to mess with Papa. Hades had done some kind of avant-garde rendering of Yoroi Musha holding a dove and an olive branch. Mienai drew a stick figure with oval-shaped wings labeled 'Hawks.'

They were already in bed, but I snuck into their room and smooched their adorable sleeping heads. With Eiichi and Eito, I had to dodge some drool.

My parents were also in bed, but I poked my head into their room 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.

Alright! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. From here on out, I'll do my best to post on a weekly basis or once every two weeks, but I have exams coming up and I'm not a machine, so I can't promise consistency.

Thank you so much for reading, and see you soon!