Reina couldn't bring her body to move as her and Aizawa locked eyes for a moment before he quickly broke away, looking towards the rest of the class whose faces were overcome with surprise. Though, it was a different kind of surprise that Reina was channeling, more towards the fact that their homeroom teacher looked like the walking dead with a sleeping bag in his hand.
She shouldn't have been surprised, the more she thought about it, Aizawa was the person who knew the most about her past, as well as principal Nezu. She had her suspicions, she was just hoping that maybe it would've been someone else, or maybe even an accident. But then again, she wouldn't be surprised that the two of them colluded into getting her into UA without as much as a peep from Reina.
"Alright," Aizawa's lazy voice echoed through the silent classroom, "let's get to it. Put these on and head outside." He spoke to the class, bringing Reina out of her thoughts as she clenched her teeth. He was holding up a gym uniform, which meant they would definitely be showing off their quirks to the rest of the class.
Slowly, the students began heading towards the locker rooms to change into their P.E. uniforms, Reina dragging along in the back. Her combat boots scuffed against the tile floor as she glared down at them, her hands shoved into her blazer's pockets. She was at a total loss for words.
She was hoping that Aizawa would trail on the back of the class, making sure everyone knew where to go so she could've possibly spoke to him before they all had the ability to show off their quirks, but he was instead going to meet them on the field to wait for the rest of the class.
"You're Uchida-chan, right? What you did earlier was so cool!" A bubbly voice cause Reina to snap her head upwards in search of the whoever was speaking to her.
Her rigid eyes came upon the brown-haired girl who'd gone up to Midoriya at the beginning of class. Reina wasn't used to the someone's sudden interest to actually speak to her, but then again, this was a school and people did actually like making friends. It was strange to Reina to have so many people around her that didn't know about her quirk.
"Uh, yeah, that's me." Reina stammered out, not exactly knowing how to react in social situations, "And… Earlier, it was nothing really." She shrugged her shoulders, pretending it was nothing of a big deal so the girl wouldn't continue asking her questions.
"What do you mean it was nothing! I wish I had the strength to stand up to someone like Bakugou so easily! But anyways, my name is Ochako Uraraka!" She continued with excitement in her voice and held out her hand for Reina to shake.
Though, Reina made no move to indicate she would shake the friendly girl's hand as she clenched her teeth nervously. Even though she was wearing her gloves, she couldn't take any chances after what happened with that Bakugou kid earlier.
Reina swallowed her nerves and flashed the girl a weak smile, "Well, it's nice to meet you," then proceeded to continue walking faster to catch up with the students.
"Hey, wait!" A different voice called, though instead of the eager voice of Uraraka, it was a boy's and Reina inwardly, groaned, turning back around as she started to walk slower to make sure she didn't drag to far behind the rest of the group.
She was surprised to see the Midoriya kid walking alongside Uraraka, how Reina didn't even notice he was there was beyond her. Though, she was semi-ignoring the girl in the first place. It wasn't that she didn't want to make friends, she just didn't want to answer any questions this soon after being enrolled in UA. Maintaining her usual cold exterior, she thought that would be the easiest way to not attract attention but, unfortunately, that was failing.
"I just have a question, if you don't mind." Midoriya began to speak, "I just, I didn't see you at the entrance exam… I-"
Reina cut him off quickly, "I didn't have to take the entrance exam, I got in by recommendation."
She didn't see the point in lying about how she got into the school, except for the why part.
"Well, I was just wondering what exactly your quirk was, because, you know, when you took down Kachaan earlier, your eyes they… they turned black. Is that a part of your quirk? How does it work? It is some sort o-"
Shit, was all that Reina could think.
She thought she had more control over how much her quirk was displayed physically, and the fact that she didn't made her clench her teeth. The only reason she accepted the UA attendance was because she thought she at least had some kind of control, whether it was because it was unexpected or not, it was something she thought she already had power over.
The rest of the class was going to find out about her quirk anyways, she just wanted to speak to Aizawa or principle Nezu before that happened. Reina was nowhere near prepared to explain her quirk to Midoriya and Uraraka and there was no way that she actually wanted to.
Reina quickly spoke, her voice cracking with the anxiety that coursed through her veins at the moment, "I don't want to be late to the field. I'll see you guys there."
She turned around and quickly walked away to the locker rooms, finding a bathroom stall to change in rather than the open locker room, leaving Midoriya and Uraraka utterly confused at Reina's actions.
"What?! A quirk assessment test!?" Everyone in the class seemed to yell at Aizawa at the same time, panic evading everyone's voice.
"But... orientation! We're gonna miss it!" Uraraka spoke loudly and upsettingly, clearly clueless about the differences between a hero school and a regular school. Though, Reina couldn't blame her, having a quirk assessment on the first day was cruel and downright terrifying.
As much as Reina hated orientations, she would much rather be there than on the field right now. If Aizawa was actually making them do a quirk assessment, there was no way she'd be able to be on the same level of control as the other students there. Many of them have already been training to be heroes for years, whereas Reina tried to hide the origin of her quirk. It wasn't something she was ashamed of, it was just that she was terrified that something would go wrong no matter how much she had tried to train to control it in the past few years.
Reina huffed and crossed her arms from the back of the group, her black turtleneck and leggings underneath her gym uniform to prevent any skin exposure. The pants tucked tight into her combat boots and her hands still shoved into her gloves. Her nervousness was now increased by a tenfold after her encounter with Midoriya and Uraraka.
"If you're really wanna make the big leagues you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." Aizawa spoke with seemingly no emotion as he continued, "Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions, that means that I get to run my class however I see fit."
Everyone's faces seemed to go slack as they processed his words. Reina, on the other hand, wasn't quite paying attention, stuck in her own swirling world of thoughts. The other students seemed to have not been expecting this sort of start to their hero-training career, but Reina wasn't too surprised. As she gazed over the other students, there were a few that shared the same mindset as her, a boy with half white, half red hair with surely no emotion on his face and then Bakugou. Who stood there with seemingly no care to the test.
"You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but, you've never got to use your quirks in physical exams before." Aizawa continued, "The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day, the ministry of education will learn."
Aizawa's voice faded out before he glanced over to one student in particular, "Bakugou, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in junior high?"
Reina squinted her eyes at Bakugou, staring at his profile from the back of the group. How could someone so arrogant and full of anger score the most points on the entrance exam? Granted, she was exempt from the exam, whereas most of the other students were there, and knew about everyone else's quirks, while Reina was left in the dark. He must have some kind of quirk that makes him think he's better than everyone else.
"67 meters, I think." Bakugou responded nonchalantly.
"Right," Aizawa nodded, "now try doing it with your quirk this time." He then motioned towards the painted circle on the ground as Bakugou stepped forward.
"As long as you don't exit the circle, anything you do is fine." Aizawa instructed and tossed the ball to him, then stepped back to let there be enough room for Bakugou to use the full extent of his quirk.
Reina crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Bakugou stretch his arms, "Alright man, you asked for it." He smirked and confidently placed his leg firmly in front of him, reeling his arm back to prepare to throw as far as possible. Reina's stare didn't leave Bakugou's figure as his expression turned to that of a maniac, letting out a loud "DIE!" as a huge explosion propelled the ball into the air.
Reina almost had to squint her eyes from the heat of the blast as she rose an eyebrow at Bakugou's yell. It was obvious that he used his anger to fuel the blasts or explosions that were his quirk, which she wasn't surprised by how much she sensed earlier and he obviously had phenomenal control over it, well, at least his quirk, not his anger issues.
"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro-hero." Aizawa spoke as he raised the device in his hand to show the rest of the class how far Bakugou's softball had been launched.
705.2 meters
Everyone was stunned at the result, a few students shouting in disbelief and others exclaiming that they were excited to finally use their quirks for the test. Reina was just plan terrified, though it wasn't showing on her face, she knew that Aizawa could sense it and all she wanted to do was walk up to him and slap him in the face for not telling her about any of this. Did he really want you to end up using your quirk and not have full control of it? Granted, he could erase your quirk without ease which could've been the main reason you were placed in his class.
Reina tightened her grip on her arms as the other students exclaimed, "Whoa, 705 meters? No way!" A blonde-haired boy expressed, and "This is going to be so much fun!" From a pink haired and pink skinned girl with a bubbly voice, and "We can use our quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course."
"So, this looks fun, huh?" Aizawa spoke in a frigid tone that quieted down the excited students quickly. Reina felt like he didn't seem so happy with how enthusiastic most of the class was and she knew the possibilities in which could come.
"You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all going to be fun and games and playtime? Idiots… Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential, whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately." An evil-looking smirk grazed his face, causing the student's blood to run cold.
Reina's eyes went wide as everyone started to panic. There was no way Aizawa would be able to get away with expelling a student on the first day! If she wasn't planning on using her quirk yet, she'd definitely be gone! Then again, hero classes are run very differently than regular schools.
Clenching her teeth, she went through her options as her eyes landed on the green-haired kid, Midoriya, that was asking about her quirk. He was trembling, and looked unnecessarily scared, like he knew he could be the one who is expelled. Reina furrowed her brows at his actions.
"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs, understand? If that's a problem you can run home right now." Aizawa stated, reacting to the class' disdain as Reina gulped.
She wasn't too keen on being a student at UA to begin with but did she really want to go out like this?
Author's Note: thank you for reading chapter 2 of heart of darkness! So many unanswered questions *evil laughter* which you will find out more about Reina as they story progresses. I'm following the anime story lines but the twist will come soon, I promise ;) please let me know if you are liking this story!
