"Whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential...
...and will be punished with expulsion."
That's what he said. And Hiyoka knew, deep down, he was telling the truth. The girl remembers pretty well what he once did to his students the year before.
"Welcome back, Shouta! How was work?"
"It was pretty normal," Shouta said calmly. "I expelled the whole class. They had no potential."
"Oh, that's cool," Hiyoka answered a little distracted. Then she finally realized what her uncle just said. "WAIT, WHAT?! THE WHOLE CLASS?!"
"You're sounding as if it is such a big deal."
That's just the way he was. Aizawa Shouta wouldn't dare to waste his precious time with a bunch of teenagers he didn't saw potential in. She knew he wouldn't even hesitate to expulse Hiyoka herself, it didn't matter if she was his one and only dear niece. Being in U.A. meant she was just a student, like everybody else. He surely did hate favoritism.
But this time was... different. After seeing the way he reacted to Midoriya's absurd will after his obvious harsh scold, Hiyoka saw in his expression that Shouta gave up on the whole expulsion idea.
Hiyoka smiled warmly at her uncle, that was analyzing two students taking the last test. She felt genuinely happy. It was written on his face; he saw potential in the class.
"So teacher Aizawa is your uncle, uh? That's so cool, bro!" a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
Directing her attention to her red head friend beside her, Hiyoka could take a quick glance at Todoroki Shouto's figure, most known as half'n'half boy, meters away from them. He stared at her with the same stoic expression as always, apparently judging her for something - but the girl chose to ignore it completely.
"Yeah..." she answered smiling sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "He's a pretty cool uncle."
"Totally agree. He's pretty scary when he wants to, though. Just like you," Kirishima said with a playful smile, his hands inside his pockets. "By the way, did he punish you for getting in a fight with that boy Bakugou?"
"Ouch, of course he did, that merciless human being!" Hiyoka posed dramatically, putting a hand on her forehead and closing her eyes with a suffering expression. "A whole week without videogames! Can you feel my pain?!"
"What?!" the red head boy joined in, posing with a hand on his chest and imitating the girl's expression. "My dear friend, that's way too much for me to handle!"
Hiyoka faked tears while Kirishima tried to hold his laugh. "It's the end of my existence! I'm about to-"
"Alright, silence. "
Shouta interrupted and waited for the class' chatter to cease, which was pretty easy for someone like him. Every student looked at their teacher with varied expressions, but most of them waited anxiously.
"Now, I'll quickly tell you the results," he said somewhat aloofly. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once."
The teacher camly clicked a bottom on his device and suddenly a hologram appeared from it, showing everyone's results.
Hiyoka could feel her chest tightening while she looked around at everyone searching for their results, but she couldn't. She knew she told her uncle to not ease things for her nor anyone to know about it, but still.
She felt so uncomfortable, so helpless. And Kirishima soon noticed his friend in such a state.
"Uh, Tominaga, what's wrong?" he asked softly, not wanting to bring any attention but not really realizing a certain pair of heterochromatic eyes staring at them and carefully listening to the whole conversation.
"Well - I mean - could you..." the girl started nervously, avoiding looking at anyone. "Could you please tell me... my result? Like... which place I got?"
"Why?" Kirishima felt slightly confused and tilted his head. "You can't do it yourself or something alike? Need glasses?"
"Um, I don't... I-I can't..." she finally looked in his eyes, her expression clearly pleading. "Please, Kirishima. Just tell me..."
The red head boy saw in her eyes that she didn't want to explain. At least for now. He sighed slowly and gave up on insisting, even though he was still curious. Hiyoka silently thanked him for that.
"Well, you got 11th place," the boy smiled and patted Hiyoka's head, making the girl giggle softly. "Pretty impressive even though you didn't use your quirk at all, uh?"
"Thank you, Kirishima!" Hiyoka silently celebrated and directed her attention back to her uncle and teacher, waiting for the moment he'll say that the whole expulsion thing was all a lie.
"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."
There it is!
Most of the students looked pretty shocked and Hiyoka had to hold herself to not to laugh.
"It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks," Shouta continued, grinning at his students. Sadistic bastard.
"Of course that was a lie," said Yaoyorozu Momo, looking at a still shocked Midoriya. "It should've been obvious if you just thought it through."
"You've become softer, didn't you, Shouta?"
Hiyoka smiled to herself, glad that none of her new classmates was going to be expelled. Well, besides Bakugou and Mineta, they would be better far away from her.
"With that, we're done here," Shouta said, starting to walk out. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom, so, when you get back, look over them."
Walking back to the class with the red head by her side, Hiyoka could feel her body throbbing in pain.
"Uff!" Hiyoka exclaimed, stretching herself. "That sure was tiring! I'm totally beat up!"
"What, you're tired already? I'm still full of energy!" answered Kirishima grinning with a fight pose.
"Heh, you're always like this, aren't you?" the girl laughed out loud.
Their attention was quickly switched to the two boys approaching her and Kirishima, both waving and wearing friendly smiles.
"Yo, Sero! Kaminari!" the red head boy instantly smiled back, leaving Hiyoka a little confused about what to do, seeing that the only students that really talked to her were Kirishima and Bakugou. She cursed herself for being so awkwardly unsocial.
"You were absolutely awesome there, dude!" Kaminari said. "You too, Tominaga! You're so strong!"
Hiyoka blinked a few times, asking herself how that boy knew her name. He must've heard Kirishima saying it.
"Agreed," Sero commented. "Although I didn't see what your quirk was about."
"Guys, seriously, Tominaga's quirk is amazing!" the red head boy exclaimed excitedly, leaving Hiyoka to start to blush intensively. "You guys should've seen it!"
"U-uh, Kirishima!" the girl said covering her cheeks and looking to the sides, making the boys laugh a little. "It's not that great..."
Kirishima hugged her by the side with one arm and pulled her close, showing her a thumbs up with his free hand and that same friendly smile Hiyoka learned to appreciate. "Don't be modest, dude! You're the manliest girl I've ever met!"
"Kirishima, it's not very nice to call a girl manly," Sero facepalmed himself.
"Yeah, even more when talking about such a cutie like her," Kaminari said with a pervert smile, analyzing Hiyoka from head to toe. The girl didn't realize it but got more flustered anyways.
"Cut it out already, Kaminari," Sero quickly said, rolling his eyes. Then he remembered something. "Oh, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Sero Hanta! It's nice to meet you!"
Pikachu joined in, and introduced himself with a bow. "Kaminari Denki at your service!"
Hiyoka stared at them for a moment before smiling widely. "I'm Tominaga Hiyoka, it's a pleasure to meet you both!"
"So, how was your first day of school?" Shouta suddenly asked while watching his niece preparing the dinner.
She paused for a moment then looked at the man, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Shouta, you are literally my teacher."
He sighed slowly. "I mean when I wasn't there with you."
"I know," she giggled playfully, opening the kitchen cabinet's door to pick two plates. "It was fine, I guess."
"I saw you talking with that boy, Kirishima Eijirou," this time was Shouta's turn to narrow his eyes. "The one you saved during the entrance exam."
"Yeah, I'm glad I saved him," the girl simply added.
Shouta sighed again, resting his chin in his left hand. "I told you already, but that was extremely reckless of you. You knew you were at your limit, but you didn't stop. You could've killed yourself there, you know."
The girl could only stay silent and avoid her uncle's serious gaze on her.
"...But that heroic action impressed the teachers, including me," Shouta watched his niece turning to him with a surprised and confused look on her face. He smiled slightly, "You're getting better, Hiyoka. You're already acting like a hero."
BONUS: phone conversations between Shouta and Hiyoka - part 1
Uncle Shouta s2: Answer your phone.
I am Groot: Gimme a minute, I can't find my phone
Uncle Shouta s2: Ok.
Uncle Shouta s2: You are an awful child. You know you're killing me. You're killing your uncle, Hiyoka.
I am Groot: Only took you 7 minutes to catch on, well done sir
Uncle Shouta s2: I don't even know where you came from.
Hello! I want to thank everyone who's adding this story to their favorites! It means a lot!
Answering D-Koy24: thank you so much! It makes me really glad! And let's all kick Bakugou's ass!
If anyone wants to see how Hiyoka looks like + some information about her, here's a link: fav. me / dcju48n (delete spaces)
That's it for now. See ya soon! ~jessye
