Chapter 1
Unexpected Turn of Events

Rolling out of bed, I groaned as the sun shifted across my eyes. Why the hell am I up so early?

"Time to get up." I groan again, registering that Hana's voice is coming from downstairs. The smell of breakfast cooking has me rolling out of bed like a zombie. I stumble down the stairs and plop in a seat, Sora not trying to hide his laughter at my antics.

Aggressively pushing my hair out of my eyes, I glare at the man sitting across from me but immediately refocus as a plate is gently place under my nose. "Fooooood! Thanks, Hana. You're the best." Sora cleared his throat while Hana took her place parallel to the both of us. I looked between them and rolled my eyes, a smile making its way across my face.

"Are you two about to make this a thing? It honestly isn't that big of a deal," I mumbled the last part and stuffed my face full of food. Hana gently placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me a look, not putting up with any of my self-degrading attitude today.

"Ren, you're taking the entrance exam to Yuei! YUEI, kid! It is a BIG deal!" Sighing, I turned from Hana and waited, impatiently I might add, for Sora to add his encouragements. "Ren, I can't tell you how proud we are to have you in this family. You've truly been a blessing to us and… well, we can't wait to watch you become a hero." Covering my face to hide my watery eyes, I thanked them and jogged back to my room to get ready for the day.

Throwing on a pair of black shorts and a red tank top over my sports bra, I checked the time and mentally freaked out. I ONLY HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO GET TO CAMPUS. Sprinting back downstairs, I quickly yelled goodbye and dashed out the door, slamming it in the process.

"SORRY!"

Thank the lord that the streets aren't crowded! I would hate to have to avoid a bunch of bodies. I dodged a couple of adults leisurely walking to work and sighed when I saw the gates of Yuei in the distance. I forgot how close we live to the school. I guess I was nervous for no reason.

Slowing down, I took in my surroundings, quickly assessing any possible threats. I shook my head, taking a deep breath, forcefully ending my thoughts. It's good to be aware of your surroundings but you don't need to be overly paranoid or pessimistic. This is a HERO school and you are literally surrounded by people who took an oath to defend others.

Unconsciously stepping to the side, I glanced over and locked gazes with crimson eyes. Well, he would have straight up walked through me. He sent a glare my way and I rolled my eyes. Continuing towards the auditorium, I heard him scoff loudly. I picked up my pace and entered the building, snagging the first open seat I could find.

The seat adjacent to me was swiftly filled by none other than the rude blond I narrowly dodged earlier. Just ignore him. He obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something. A body appearing in the row in front of me caused me to jerk my head up. "Ugh, go away. I don't need any distractions today," I mumbled.

"Awe, come on Ren! Don't be like that. We're from the same school after all. Maybe we could, uh, exchange numbers or something? You know, since we'll both be attending Yuei. I know you're not great at making friends after everything that you've been through. It would be nice to have—"

"Oi, extra. Sit your ass down and stop fucking flirting. She zoned you out before you even started running your damn mouth. Plus, there is no way in hell a wannabe like you is every going to make it into Yuei." My old classmate snapped his mouth shut and snarled at my…savior? Before anything could get out of hand Present Mic came to the stage and started explaining the test.

Hmm, this test seems a little rigged. People with great quirks that aren't necessarily combat heavy will have a hard time here. Not to mention, if someone has a quirk that works on other people, this test will be useless for them. I wonder what they have in place to adjust for this.

I absentmindedly rubbed at a scar above my knee, drawing the attention of my neighbor. Feeling his gaze on my scar, I subconsciously covered it up. He scoffed and mumbled something I couldn't hear before getting up and heading to his testing area. following his lead, I breathed a sigh of relief as he and I headed towards different gates.

I quietly entered the crowd near the entrance and glanced around, taking note of any interesting people. A boy with dark purple hair that defied gravity immediately caught my attention. Ah, crap! He totally just caught me staring! I jerked away and tried to pretend like I didn't notice him approaching me.

"Is there a reason you were staring at me?" Fidgeting, I slowly glanced up at him and immediately noticed the height difference. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare! I just… really like your hair. Purple is actually my favorite color!" I felt my face flush with embarrassment at my nervous rambling.

He gave me a weird look before turning to face the gate. They opened and I jetted through, not bothering to see if anyone else had begun. I ran towards the nearest robot and crushed its head with a force field, continuing on until I knew I was near my limit.

About ten minutes after the test began, my arms started feeling fatigued. I had felt this before and knew that it had to do with my soulmate's quirk. I wonder if my soulmate is here? OR they could be training at this very moment. Yeah, highly unlikely, idiot! A loud explosion had me jerking out of my reverie. "Holy shizzle! What was that?!"

"Did you just fucking say shizzle?! What kind of lame ass says that, HUH?" I whirled around, finding myself nose-to-nose with a very sweaty blond. "Listen here… um, what's your name?"

"Bakugo Katsuki and don't you fucking forget it!" He screamed before blasting off. A feeling of dread washed over me as I watched him blast away. "Ah, crap. There is no way that it's a coincidence that my arms pulsed every time he shot off a blast…"

After pouting for a solid minute, I shook myself and started rescuing those in need. My force fields came in handy when transporting others or protecting people from falling debris. The buzzer sounded and I let out a groan, trying not to show just how tired this thirty-minute simulation had me.

Wiping sweat off my brow, I quietly walked out the gate and blinked when I noticed a shock of purple hair to my left. His lavender eyes locked onto mine and I was grateful that my cheeks were already flushed from the exertion. Suddenly, a warm liquid started seeping from my nose and I groaned quietly. I guess I overused my quirk.

My eyes widened in shock as I watched blood slowly seep from his nose a few seconds after my nosebleed started. Before I could comprehend my own actions, I twirled around and sprinted towards my house, not giving a single thought to how that must look.

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod! Why is this happening to me! What in the ever-living hell did I do to the universe to piss it off? I don't want a soulmate let alone two! How am I supposed to deal with other people when I can't even deal with my own crap!?

I burst through the door and dove into the shower, ignoring the confused looks my guardians threw my way. Shower and call Izumo - was my mantra, the thing keeping me sane. After a quick scrub down, I launched onto my bed and grabbed my cell phone, speed dialing Izumo. She answered on the first ring like the saint she is.

"OkayI'mAmFreakingOutRightNowAndITriedTheBreathingAndTheShoweringAndNothingIs-"

"Ren. Stop. Focus on where you are. Focus on what you can feel. Tell me three things that you see."

"OkayOkay. I see my window, my computer, and my door." I breathe out, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Good. Keep breathing. Now, tell me in detail three things you can feel," she stated calmly. Her tone felt like a balm on my frayed nerves, like rain in a desert. Cool and cleansing.

"Right. Okay. I feel the warmth of the phone against my cool cheek. I feel the pull of my bra straps on my shoulders, honestly, who designed these damn things?! Lastly, I feel the soft fibers of the comforter under my toes." I released a huge sigh and felt the tension in my shoulders lessen.

"Now, Ren, what had you on the precipice of a panic attack? Don't be embarrassed. You've told me so much already and you know that I'm here for you and that your feelings and emotions matter."

Standing up, I walked over to my window and peered out, taking a few deep breaths in preparation. "So, I went to Yuei today and took the entrance exam and… I may or may not have met not one BUT two of my soulmates."

Izumo hummed and I could practically hear the gears turning in her head. "So… were they cute? You can't just stop at that! I need some details, child!" A laugh burst out of my chest and bubbled past my lips, completely against my will.

Calming down and catching my breath, I proceeded to tell Izumo explicit details about my day. Though, she did do a lot of prodding, which is her job as my therapist. After an hour on the phone, I hung up and trudged downstairs to talk with the parental figures.

Once I had convinced them that I was indeed alright, I brought up the entire reason for my episode.

"So, I met both of my soulmates today and… I just wasn't ready. I immediately knew that one of them was using their quirk because I could feel the pulsing in my arms. He makes explosions with his hands and has a personality to match! No lie, I was kind of scared of the dude! He seems really intense and cusses like I did before you guys got a hold of me"

They chuckled and Sora nudged me. "Well, tell us about the mysterious second. I know you have to be shocked seeing as you haven't had any real drawbacks from their quirk."

Humming I nodded and started eating the dinner Hana had prepared. "Yeah, I think that might have been what really set me off. He is quiet with this AMAZING purple hair! Like, I've never seen such beautiful hair. And he also seemed intimidating… he had this air about him that just made him seem so much older than he actually is. I think he's seen some stuff but that could just be me projecting. My nose started bleeding while we were staring at each other and… his started bleeding, too. I took off and never looked back. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings or anything like that."

I helped clean up, trying not to focus on my guilt for unintentionally rejecting my soulmate. Or was it intentional. You never wanted to be tethered to someone and your first thought was to run…

I shook myself and climbed upstairs, determined to clear the air next time I saw him. Wanted or not, I was never a coward and I wasn't going to start being one now.