My Hero Academia - Under Pressure: Chapter 4 - First Day
At his house, Tonen sat at his family's dining table and ate some cereal. His father was next to him working on a complex gadget at the table. His mom meanwhile walked into the room with her hero outfit on.
"Morning!" Soyuki called out.
"Morning!" Shitaka and Tonen answered back in unison.
"So Tonen, are you ready for your first day at the academy?"
"I think so, yeah," Tonen replied confidently with a smile to his mom for good effect. "Oh, speaking of which, do you that permission slip for the dorm?"
Soyuki looked around and lit up when she eyed the counter, she picked up a piece of paper and looked over it once before she handed it to Tonen, "There you go!"
"Thanks mom, don't want to start off the school term by forgetting one of the most important things on the first day."
"That would be bad, hehe."
"The dorm thing is interesting," Shitaka noted without looking up from his work. "Back in our day we didn't have that, we just rode public transportation or stayed with family or friends who were closer by and walked there."
"Walking three miles to school, uphill both ways, right dad?" teased Tonen with a cheesy grin.
"For me it was, and you forgot about the heavy snow."
Soyuki slapped her husbands' snow, "Oh stop it, you never had it that bad. As for you, Tonen, yeah, it will be a bit different from what you're used to, but I understand why the schools are doing this method now. Less of a chance for incidents outside of the school, less of a chance that a student is taken for information on the schools, and so on and so forth. You'll be very well protected there, and I must say...I can appreciate that."
"I'll be fine mom, but thanks."
"Do you know when you'll be moving into the dorms?"
"I think after the first day or so, they want to give us orientation and some tests and then once we're settled in to that we can move in. Or so I think."
Shitaka lifted his head at this and pointed a wrench at his son, "All jokes aside, when you're in that classroom you'll respect the teacher you have as your main. They're going to be your go-to for many things, including teaching you more about what it takes to be a hero."
A sly and playful look and smile grew on Tonen's face, "Don't trust me with authority figures, dad?"
"Funny. But we all know that sometimes you get a feeling about a teacher and can't help but make fun of them constantly when you can. Remember Ms. Raituski?"
"She had it coming, she would ramble about TV shows when she was supposed to be teaching us!"
"And Mr. Fukusai?" posed Soyuki in an unamused way.
"I can't help it his name sounds like a bad word, and it was the whole class doing it!"
"Uh-huh," said his parents still unamused.
"Come on!" pleaded Tonen with clear desire to be seen in a better light, "I made fun of three teachers in my whole life! The rest loved me for being a great student and "big brother" to the other students. Shouldn't that count for something?"
Soyuki and Shitaka looked at one another and shrugged nonchalantly, "Meh."
"Love the faith, thanks. Look, I'll be kind to my teacher no matter who they are...unless it's this one guy I saw who has this massive brain and his initials are "IQ", I mean come on, who names-"
Before he could finish his parents lorded over him, glaring down to make him stop, he laughed nervously as he could feel their anger.
"I mean...I'll keep my mouth shut and respect everything he says...?"
"Better," they replied as they went back to their regular postures.
Soyuki didn't linger though, she headed for the door and opened it before she turned back to her family, "Well, I'm off. Higaza and I are helping a police with a stakeout today, I might be late, but I should be home for dinner. I look forward to hearing about your first day, Tonen!"
He waved at her as she left, "Thanks mom! Well, it's almost time for me to head out, any sage words of wisdom before I leave, dad?"
At the question Shitaka thought hard, mulling over what he might say before mimicking Tonen's sly smile from before, "Don't get expelled on the first day, please."
"Love the faith."
With a mocking thumbs up to his dad, Tonen left to get ready for school.
After a while he left home and headed to UA, the streets were once again very busy as he made his way to the school, but after a while it thinned out as he reached the home street of the academy itself. He made sure to check to see if his ID was on him before trying to get through the gate, because he knew not doing so would end up with him being locked out.
Various students were entering the school as well, and not unlike before, Tonen tried to see if he recognized any of them, or whether some of them might be in his class. Wanting to just get on with it all he headed inside the school.
"I didn't want to tell my parents, but I was very nervous that day. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted to be there and my dream of being a different kind of hero was still burning inside me, but...a lot can happen at a school. Especially when that school is full of teens full of powerful Quirks and enough ego about being accepted into UA to make even Pro-Heroes a bit cautious. All I wanted was to be in a class that was nice to one another, accepting of my abilities and dreams and a supportive teacher. Well...I got some of that at least..."
Tonen appeared in a hallway and was reading a piece of paper, "Ok, I'm in class 1-B...oh, there it is."
As he reached a door that had "1B" on it he paused and took a deep breath to calm himself, and then he entered the room. When he did, everyone in it turned to look at him, each with their own different expression and questions going through their mind.
"Hi," Tonen said simply with a wave to all of them.
The students either replied back, just waved, or went back to their conversations. Tonen took this as a good outcome and looked around for an empty seat. When he did, a tall girl approached him, scowl all over her face.
"Remember me?" asked the girl with clear intensity.
Tonen paused and looked at her up and down. She was wearing a blue jumpsuit kind of outfit, one that had several kinds of markings on it. Her hair was jet black and went down to her shoulders outside of a long strand that went down the length of her face. Her eyes were the same color as her blue outfit.
He thought about it for a bit and then it clicked, "Aquagirl!"
"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" she roared back, which caused all the class to look at her cautiously before going back to their previous positions.
Tonen had to hold back a laugh at the outburst, "Fine...then what is your name?"
She glared at him just as intensely as before, "Chuya, Chuya Taki"
"Chuya Taki, Quirk: Aqua Body. She can transform either part or all of her body into water. Making it so that she technically can be invulnerable for a while, as well as shoot out water spouts from her various body parts. She does have a limit though on how long she can keep her water form and the damage she can take in it. Plus, as you can see...she's pretty intense."
"Nice to meet you, Chuya, how can I help you?"
"That's just it, I don't want your help."
"Ok..." Tonen said with clear confusion, "You're holding me up here just to say you don't need my help?"
Chuya fumed at his nonchalant chatter, "You may have helped out against those robots in the entrance exams, but I would've found a way out without you. The principal told me in my acceptance video that I should be proud of the team I was a part of. But that's not how I saw it. I'm fine on my own. So if you feel I owe you anything from the exam, get that out of your head now."
Tonen's eyes formed a glare similar to Chuya's, they didn't speak for a few moments until Tonen went back to a smile, "Yeah, ok, whatever. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to someone over there who won't be a jerk. Bye!"
With a playful wave he walked right by her, leaving Chuya stunned at his reply.
"Hey, Azujima!"
The young Azujima looked around and saw Tonen and let up, "Hey!"
As he approached he got a better look at Azujima, he had a bit of a bowl haircut but with certain strands of hair out of place ruining the uniformity of the look though. Tonen noticed that after Azujima was happy to see him his face went into a more focused one of some sort.
"Glad to see you made it. I was looking for you in my group."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I was hoping to help you if you needed it because of how nervous you were before. Though I'm glad you didn't need it as you're here."
Azujima laughed nervously at the praise, "It wasn't...easy... I should be asking whether you were ok with your test give how you screamed during that one attack."
Tonen laughed as he recalled his overwhelming attack, "Yeah that was a bit much I admit but I had...wait...how did you know about the scream? You weren't in my group."
"Uh...my Quirk...my senses are...supercharged...I could hear you in my group over a mile away..."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah..."
"Azujima Yakishi, Quirk: Heightened Senses. All 5 of his basic senses are heightened to an extreme level. He can see things miles away if he has an opening, hear in all directions with pinpoint clarity, decipher various smells from people, feel vibrations from far away throughout his body, and apparently taste every ingredient in a meal. It's impossible to sneak up on him needless to say. But...it does have some drawbacks as you're about to see..."
Azujima looked away as Tonen continued to stare in awe at him, "Please stare like that, I get my power isn't that interesting.
"Not interesting? Are you kidding me?" scoffed Tonen, "Do you know how many people you can help with your power?"
"Huh?"
"With your senses you can see or hear if people are in danger from blocks away, smell if a building is leaking gas, feel if danger is coming towards you and so on. You're incredible, Azu."
"Azu?" questioned Azumjima.
"I promised to give you a nickname later, remember? Too soon?"
Tonen laughed and that relaxed Azujima, "No, I like it, thanks. And I appreciate the praise of my Quirk. It's just that...I have to constantly keep it dialed down...else I get sensory overload. Especially in a classroom setting like this where everyone has sounds, smells and so on constantly reaching me."
"I didn't think of that, I'm sorry. Here, let's do something fun...tell me something interesting that one of the other students is doing right now..."
Azujima looked at Tonen with confusion, but saw he was smiling and just trying to make him feel better, so he went and did so. He closed his eyes and his senses filled him up. All around him he could see and hear and detect every sound, smell and movement that was made.
After sensing for a while he opened his eyes and carefully pointed behind him, "There's a girl three seats back that has been looking at you for a while."
Quick as a flash, Tonen snapped his head to where Azujima pointed and a familiar looking blonde-and-pink haired girl reacted to Tonen suddenly looking at her.
Tonen laughed at the reaction, "I'll be right back, Azu. You, I remember you."
He approached the girl and she relaxed as he did, "Hey there."
"Glad to see you made it through the trial as well, any more robots give you trouble?"
"No, they were fine. I appreciate the save still, I had to get some more points to advance."
This knowledge made Tonen smile and laugh happily, "Glad I could help. And that...that...
He paused and smelled the air, "What is that? Azu, you smell that?"
"I smell everything..." Azu lamented, "including that shark-guy in the front's onion-flavored belch."
"Yuck. No, I mean, I smell bubble gum."
"Oh, that's me," piped up the girl.
"Your Quirk is to smell like bubble gum?" asked Tonen.
"No, my Quirk allows me to shoot out a bubble gum material out of my hands. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Ebirima."
"Ebirima Koge. Quirk: Bubble Gum. As she just said she's able to produce a bubble gum like material that can stick to anything but her. She can thus attach it to things and swing them around, bind enemies, stick them to the ground and so on. Oh, and it apparently makes her smell like bubble gum, it's actually quite pleasant."
"Tonen, you can call me TK though. That's a really interesting Quirk by the way."
"Thanks," Ebirima said with an appreciative smile. "I promise you'll get used to the smell."
"it's fine, it's a good smell, it just makes me hungry."
The two, along with Azujima laughed at the joke. But then Azujima tensed up and tapped Tonen on the shoulder, "Hey, TK, someone is coming, I think it's a teacher, better sit down."
"Right. See you around, Ebirima."
"I look forward to it," she replied with a wave goodbye.
Tonen went and sat down in a chair just in front of Azujima, the rest of the students though didn't know about what he told him and Ebirima so they kept on going until eventually the "1B" door opened up again and this time an older woman entered the room.
"Good morning, students! Welcome to U.A. High class 1-B of the Hero Course!" the woman happily said with a bright and kind smile. "If you would be so kind, please take your seats."
The rest of the students took their seats of and the woman once again looked over them, smiling all the while. Tonen took a moment to look at her and various things caught his eyes. The first was that she had bright white wings coming out of her back. Her outfit had a simple feel to it while also resembling various kinds of medical uniforms. Including having symbols for "Rescue", "Health", "Emergency" upon it. She had short and choppy blonde hair and wore a small hat that also had a rescue symbol on it.
"My name is Tsuru Tsubasa, and I'll be your homeroom teacher, but you might have heard about me via my hero adventures."
"Tsuru Tsubasa, Rescue Hero, and teacher, hero name: Angel Wings. There are various kinds of heroes on our world. Including mainline heroes like my mother and uncle, Support Heroes like my father, and then, Rescue Heroes like Angel Wings here. They're the ones who are on the front lines after a major incident trying to help and heal people or go and get them out of harms' way. Such as with Angel Wings here, whose wings are able to let her fly incredibly fast and allow her to lift multiple peopled thanks to her wings strength. It's said that she's saved hundreds of people just by being able to reach them before anyone else could. A true hero indeed."
"Excuse me, Ms Tsubasa!" came a voice.
The class turned and a brown-haired girl raised her hand to be seen, Angel Wings looked at her and pondered for a bit, "Ms. Yasuyomi, isn't it?"
"Yes, I just wanted to note that you actually saved my cousins family about five years back. During that fire in Sapporo".
"Oh my gosh, I remember that! I hope they all are well and that I can see them again...without the fire, of course."
The class as a whole laughed at the joke, which made Angel Wings happy again.
"Getting back on track, I'm your homeroom teacher and will be guiding you throughout your time at UA. I look forward to teaching you what I can and lending my experience, along with the other teachers of course, to help you grow. So let's start with a slight exercise to show off our personalities. So, let's go around the room and state why you want to be a Pro-Hero. Let's start with you, Ms. Yasuyomi since you're in the front row and snake around."
"Oh, well I want to be a hero to use my abilities to the fullest. I want to be a traveling hero so I can be known all over Japan," the girl replied.
"Interesting, and you?"
A shark-like teen flexed his muscles and grinned mightily, showing off his rows of teeth, "My body was built for action, I'm going to tear through foes left and right and look epic doing it."
"As long as you do it responsibly I'm sure people will grow to like you," said Angel Wings with a small laugh. "And you?
Tonen turned to see who was behind the shark-boy and his eyes flared open angrily, for behind him was the silver-haired boy with the metal spheres, once again twirling them around in his hands.
"Oh, me?" he said in his usual cocky voice, "I have the ability to be the No.1 hero, and I'm going to go and be that...you've all been warned."
The class murmured various things at this and Tonen did his best to hold his tongue even with his blood boiling at the arrogance of him. Angel Wings got things under control and the next student went. One by one the students of the class revealed their motivation and many of them were the same or in the same vein. Many wanted to be popular heroes, many wanted to be well-respected within the hero community, multiple said they wanted to be in the top 5 of the hero charts if not the No.1 hero.
Eventually, the line snaked to him, and Angel Wings got excited as she recognized Tonen, "Oh, I remember you Mr. Keitomo. Your attack during the exam amazed many of us teachers, even the principal was surprised. So tell me, why do you want to be a hero?"
Tonen looked at her for a bit and then shrugged, "I just want to save people."
The class again murmured about this, Angel Wings was the most taken aback by his reply, "Really? That simple? You don't care about...anything else?"
"No. Last time I checked, a hero is...someone who helps people. That's all I want to be, I don't need the attention, I just...want to know I helped people, even in a small way, made their lives easier, or allowed them to continue. That's enough for me."
Many members of the class reacted in manners of disbelief, with the silver-haired boy making a noise of disgust at the answer Tonen gave. Angel Wings did her best to hide an approving smile, "A noble answer. And you? Mr. Yakishi?"
Azujima shifted in place and gave a familiar nervous laugh, "Can I...um...copy his answer?"
A much happier response came from the class as they laughed at Azujima's response in a kindhearted way. Tonen turned to Azujima and extended a hand, to which he fist-bumped it.
"Alright, alright, calm down, let's move on, only a few left."
The last few members of the class gave their answers and once done Angel Wings clapped her hands in joy, "Wonderful. Now, usually my fellow teachers...one in particular...would note that your motives absolutely will define the hero you want to be. But I feel a different way. Motives, not unlike emotions, can change. You can feel one way one day about the hero you want to be...and then you experience something you didn't expect and all of a sudden...you don't feel that way anymore. I was that way when I came to school."
"How so?" asked one of the students.
"Well, I like many of you, sought to be a top-ranked hero, one of the best. I strived for that for two of my first three years here. But then...a certain...incident happened at the school and..."
Angel Wings subconsciously grabbed her arm and rubbed it, Tonen noticed it and knew something had happened to her.
"...well let's just say I was put in a position to fight...or rescue my fellow classmates. I could've fought...maybe made a dent, but something in me said...'No, your classmates need you.' So I went and took them to safety. After everything was done, my teachers let me know that I had not done that...some of my classmates would've died, or had serious injuries, ones that could've ended their hero careers. They were so happy I made that choice that I knew that I wasn't meant to be a top hero, I was meant to be a Rescue Hero. So I give my experience to you, keep your motivations as you have them now, by all means. But...be mindful of your own experiences and how they might change you. You don't know what's going to happen over the next couple of years, you might be surprised where you end up."
She gave a knowing look to them all, and each student went into their own mindspace, thinking about what Angel Wings had said. Tonen smiled as well as something familiar rang through his mind.
"Hearing Angel Wings speak like that meant a lot to me. It was just as Uncle Brazen told me, I might find a teacher who resonated with my ideals. She didn't want to be a top hero, she wanted to save people. In that moment much of my nervousness went away because with this particular angel looking over me...I felt I would alright on my path. And I was right...more or less, of course."
"Alright now, class," Angel Wings continued, "I want to keep our first day going so let's go through the basics of orientation and then get you outside to do some Quirk tests, shall we?"
The class all reacted happily at this, so Angel Wings went to the board and wrote various things. She noted the various classes that they would be taking both in terms of Pro-Hero and Quirk focuses as well as mental focuses like math, science, and so on. She also explained certain aspects of the dorm. That they would all be in one building together to help build team cohesion but the boys and girls rooms were on separate floors and that there were specific rules they needed to follow or else.
"You'll have latitude in regards to being able to hang out with one another in the common room, and we more than encourage you to cook together in the kitchen. But respect the boundaries of your classmates. Or we'll find out and you'll not like it when this angel gets her claws out, ok?"
For the first time she glared at the class in a very unangelic way, terrifying much of the class, Tonen included. But just as quickly she snapped to her more happy state, "Wonderful! Ok, you were all told about the changing rooms, right? Go and get into your gym outfits and let's head outside. Oh, please get out your permission slips and put them into this bin."
One by one they all got up and put the permission slips into the bin before heading to change. Once outside, Angel Wings spread out her wings and gave everyone a brief showing of what she could do in terms of her aerial acrobatics. As she landed the class cheered for their teacher.
"Alright, alright, calm down," she said as she waved off the praise. "The reason I did that is because when I first came to this school I could only fly with a certain degree of ability. After all, the laws wouldn't allow me to fly when I wanted to...so I snuck off to a deserted area and did some training on my own."
They all snickered at the devious admission.
"The point is, once I came here I learned to not just fly, but use the strength of my wings to do various things like lift heavy objects or ensure I could carry multiple people at once when rescuing them. Today, we're going to do the first step in your training to give you better control of your powers. It's called the Quirk Apprehension Test. You'll be doing eight physical activities and your goal is to use your Quirks to try and do better in them. Your abilities won't be tailored to all of them so don't feel bad if you don't perform the best in the class at a certain event."
Tonen felt a tugging on his shirt and Azujima was right next to him with a very scared look, "TK, my powers aren't physical, I'm not going to be able to do much here!"
"Of, right, super senses..." Tonen replied with regret as he forgot about that for a moment. "Wait, if your powers weren't physical how did you get into UA?"
"I used my senses to find robots and then basically got them to destroy each other. I also got rescue points by letting others know robots are coming or where to find ones far away from where I wanted to go. I barely got in that way though, I was apparently 20th in class."
"It doesn't matter, you're here. We'll figure something out. Just do your best for now, ok Azu?"
He smiled to his friend, and Azujima smiled back, "Ok, thanks."
"No problem, I got your back."
"Something wrong, boys?" asked Angel Wings as she noticed their conversation.
"No ma'am," Tonen answered with a shake of his head, "just prepping for the test."
"Good to know. I'll start with you then, Mr. Keitomo in the 50-yard dash."
Angel Wings pointed to a small track behind her, Tonen shrugged and lined himself up. Instead of putting his hands in front of him on the ground though, he put them directly behind him.
"Go!" she shouted as she started a stopwatch.
Tonen exhaled sharply and burst forth via his air pressure. He raced down the path and crossed the finish line in no time.
"4.2 seconds, not bad."
"Thanks, I haven't done things like that too much so I'm hopeful I'll get faster," Tonen admitted.
"Practice makes perfect Mr. Keitomo, alright, who's next?"
"Me!" came a voice, and a teen with a slick pair of shades came forward and lined up. He grinned as he prepared for the challenge.
"Oshibu Noka. Quirk: Speed Burst. He is able to move faster than the eye can track. The only catch though is that he has to have eye contact with the exact spot he's going to. But when he does get going..."
"Go!" shouted Angel Wings
Oshibu blinked out of sight and appeared at the end of the track before anyone realized it.
"...it's honestly rather impressive how fast he can go."
Even Angel Wings was shocked by the result before her, "0.8 seconds? And I'll be honest, Mr. Noka, I might be off just because of my own reaction time."
"It's cool, just know that I'm fast," Oshibu said with a pose that showed just how impressed he was with himself.
"Pat yourself on the back later. Next!"
One by one the students lined up and raced off. Many used their powers to get by fast, including Chuya Taki who propelled herself forward via her water to get to the end quickly. Others, like Azujima had to just run as fast as they could to get done.
Next up was the grip strength test, many had to rely on their basic strength for this one, but then one small girl stepped forward and before everyone's eyes transformed into a brick-layered monster of a person.
The girl in monster form roared as she squeezed the device for the test so hard it broke.
"I'm the strongest there is!" she roared to the skies.
"Kanagita Amame. Quirk: Brick Form. Yeah, that petite little girl can transform into a hulk-like state with skin that is harder than brick. Though it does come at the cost of her mental faculties at times. Oh, and yes...she scares me too at times."
Angel Wings looked at the broken test rig with both surprise and a tinge of horror, "Oh dear, I think you might have overdone it Ms. Amame."
"Sorry..."
She sulked away and Angel Wings had to get another machine before tests could continue. After that was all done was the standing long jump. Tonen again used his Quirk to help him in this test, and he gave Azujima some pointers on how to do the long jump since he was nervous about it.
Eventually, a strong male teen approached the long jump. He had brown hair and his skin was covered in mud stains and dirt. He got into position, and jumped, but as he did, the earth under his meet moved with him and launched him into the air. This allowed him to go much farther than he would've been able to on his own.
After he landed he turned to Angel Wings, "How was that?"
"55 feet," she said after she checked her measurements, "very impressive."
"I'll take it!"
"Sanda Hideaki. Quirk: Earth Moving. This guy can literally make the earth move under his feet in various ways. He can also warp it with his hands in certain cases. The catch? He has to be in direct contact with the earth to get it to do anything. Which in a city or outside setting like this is much easier than you might think."
Once the rest had finished they then went to the repeated side steps challenge. Most of the class just did this test with their regular bodies, but one rather wobbly male did something different. He jumped to one side and then without needing to move his body shot to the other side, and then back again. The speed by which he did this shocked most of the class. When he was done though he was more wobbly than before and fell to the ground.
"I'm ok..." he muttered as he was in the dirt.
"Ueno Gematsu. Quirk: Momentum Shift. He's able to move the momentum of any object that comes at him in any direction he wants. Including his own body as you can see. Bigger objects take a toll but he's pretty competent. Don't worry about him, though, his Quirk gives him a constant state of Vertigo but he's learned to deal with it...kind of..."
Tonen and Azujima help Ueno up and get him to a nearby bench.
"Thanks guys..." Ueno said weakly as his vertigo overtook him.
"Just sit for a bit," cautioned Tonen.
"We'll get you some water later," added Azujima.
One after another the tests kept coming. There was a long distance run, a sit-ups competition and even a seated toe touch. Even Tonen was surprised by how physical these workouts were. He made sure to watch over Azujima and encourage him throughout.
The final test brought them into a more open area. Angel Wings signaled them to circle around her, "You've all done very well, and now we'll let you have a little fun and get creative with your Quirks. Because this...is the ball throw test. Whether it be your physical bodies or your Quirk strength, you'll be able to throw this basic ball a lot farther when you're done with UA than you are right now. So don't feel too bad if you can't throw it too far right now, you'll get better, I promise."
She pulled out the ball to show it to everyone and then tossed it to one of the girls.
"How about you start, Ms. Fuji?"
"My pleasure," said the girl with a smile.
As she approached Tonen looked her carefully because something felt unique about her. She held herself with an air of confidence and yet not one of arrogance. Her base hair was black but she had it wrapped up in a ponytail that had a rainbow of colors throughout each "thread". She tossed the ball a few times in her hand and smiled.
"Hmm...not light enough."
Quick as a flash the ball changed colors and then reverted back to its regular look visually. She tossed the ball in her hand and Tonen noticed it went higher this time around.
"Much better. Time to fly!"
With a hurl she threw it into the air and it went an impressive distance for a basic throw.
"You made it rubber, didn't you?" asked Angel Wings with a knowing smile.
"You said get creative, right teacher?"
"That I did."
Pleased with her success she went back to the group and smiled proudly.
"Kuroda Fuji. Quirk: Material Change. She can alter the material composition of any item she touches and concentrates on. She just has to know the element she's touching and the one she wants to make. So for example, she can turn a rather hard ball into one out of rubber and throw it a greater distance."
Angel Wings pulled out another ball and held it up, "Who's next?"
"I AM!" roared a boy that Tonen recognized.
A shark-like teen stomped up to Angel Wings, grabbed the ball and went into position.
"You call that a throw? I'll show you a throw!"
He roared into the air and his body bulked up, making him much more sharklike in form, but with much bigger muscles and bulky body. A lot of the gym outfit ripped as he transformed.
"Watch THIS!"
Using his now very muscular arms he went and launched the ball into the air and it basically blinked out of sight.
"That's going to be hard to beat," admitted Angel WIngs with an impressed nod.
"Darn right it will be! That's the power of a SHARK!"
"Anno Mako. Quirk: Shark. His body is sharklike in all ways save for his need to be underwater all the time. And not unlike a certain girl from earlier he can bulk up to increase his strength and durability. Oh, and yes...he scares me too at times."
Anno continued to flex his muscles as he went back to the group. Angel Wings procured another ball and held it up, "Next?"
Before anyone could speak, the ball started to move on its own, an odd silver aura emanating around it. The ball went right into the hands of the silver-haired boy who clashed with Tonen.
He smiled arrogantly, "I'll take a shot at beating that."
With clear arrogance he moved the ball around him as he approached the starting position. Once set, the ball moved upward above his head and held position about an arms length away from him. He raised up a hand and formed a finger gun and smiled, "Bang."
Not unlike before, the ball raced into the air with incredible velocity and also blinked out of sight eventually. Content, the silver-haired boy bowed to them all.
"Ta-da!" he boasted.
Angel Wings cleared her throat, but also held out the screen she was using to measure distances, "That was good, but as you can see...not good enough."
The screen showed that the silver-haired lad held the NO.2 spot in the rankings. He didn't seem perturbed by this at all, "That's perfectly fine. I did that with pure skill and mental power, not primal force like a certain Neanderthal..."
Anno was enraged by this, "Who you calling a neandert, nean...what did he call me?"
"He called you primitive, less than a full human," answered Tonen with a glare to the silver-haired kid.
"Are you trying to get killed by a shark?"
The boy laughed arrogantly, "If I thought that was possible I wouldn't have said anything. But if you want to try it...by all means..."
"Goya Ramasu. Quirk: Telekinesis. Yep, he can move things with his mind, and is a prodigy in how easy it comes to him. Which if you can't tell makes him a grade-A jerk with an ego bigger than shark boys' muscles."
Anno and Goya stared the other down, but couldn't make a move as Angel Wings got in between them and motioned them off, "That's enough! No in-class fighting unless strictly stated by a teacher. Mr. Ramasu, back in your spot."
"As you wish, dear teacher," said Goya with a bow, yet with arrogance still ripe in his voice.
"I'll go next," said Tonen, glare still on his face.
He went up to Angel Wings and got the ball from her, and tossed it a few times in place before he turned and tossed it at Kuroda.
"Can you change that for me?"
"Why would I make it lighter for you?" she asked very curious.
"I don't want you to make it lighter, make it heavier. This guy doesn't respect primal force? I want to show him natural force. If you would be so kind?"
She eyed him for a bit and a playful smile grew upon her, "Sounds like fun."
The ball glowed once again, but when she tossed it back at Tonen it was clearly much heavier. He laughed at its heft, "Perfect, thank you."
"My pleasure."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Mr. Keitomo," warned Angel Wings with a concerned look.
"You told us to push ourselves and our Quirks. I want to show him he's not the only one who's pushed his limits before coming here."
He went into position, but instead of doing a regular throwing motion, he held the ball between both hands and held a pose with his hands at one side of him as if he was channeling energy within his palms.
Tonen exhaled several times, which sent shockwaves across the open area, stunning the rest of the class as he did. He could feel the air move from his hands and lift up the ball. Once content, he smiled and thrust his hands forward and towards the sky.
"HAAAAAAAAAA! he roared, and his roar launched a barrage of air gales and pressure that again launched the ball so high it blinked out of sight.
He held his pose for a while and lowered it when was happy with the result and turned to his teacher, "How was that?"
She checked her screen and gave a light laugh, "You win."
Angel Wings held out the screen again and indeed he beat Anno by a good margin, and crushed Goya's score by comparison.
The class clapped at his display of power, all except Chuya, Goya and Anno.
"Ah man, I wanted the top score," said Anno suddenly depressed at the development.
Tonen patted him on the shoulder, "Sorry Sharky, but hey, it wasn't personal. You can blame ESP-Brain over there for getting me riled up."
Goya scoffed arrogantly, "A simple insult, one suiting a small mind."
"If having a 'big mind' makes me a jerk like you, I'll happily keep what I have."
Another staredown emerged, and again Angel Wings broke it up, her expression almost livid, "Enough! I will not have fights on the first day! Let's continue with the tests and be done!"
Her anger was evident and Tonen quickly apologized before heading back to Azujima. When he approached two very similar looking teens approached him from behind.
"Dude, that was straight up anime!" said the boy ecstatic.
"Kamehameha for life!" added the girl, starstruck.
"Oh, you got that reference, cool. Uh...are you two twins?"
"Yep!" they said together.
"Good, that's an easy nickname. That ok with you?"
"Yep!"
"Haha, alright then. Come on, let's watch the rest together."
Now with more of a following, they, along with the rest of the students, watched the rest of the class do their throws. None were as grand as Tonen's, Anno's, or Goya's outside of Kanagita whose brick form allowed her to get the No.3 spot. Some though, like Chuya were very impressive in their own right. By the end of the session most were tired from the various exercises they had done. Even Tonen was winded and sat on a bench to rest when allowed.
Angel Wings meanwhile compiled all the ratings for each student and when done she put them up on the board, "Alright class, take a look at this board and see where you rank."
Eager, the class mostly crowded around the board and looked at their spots. Tonen and Azujima stayed behind, Azujima was not eyeing the board at all though, "Just tell me I'm last so I can know and be done with it."
"You're not last," Tonen quickly stated with a smile.
Azujima's head sprang up and he looked for his ranking. Of the class he was 19th, and thus, not last.
"Oh thank goodness," he noted relieved. "Wait, how was I not last though?"
"Because if you paid attention, you would've noticed that not all of the Quirks here are pure physicality. Several were specific in function. Like Up Down over there, who you beat."
He pointed to a familiar looking girl, who eyed the board with a blank and emotionless expression.
"Oh, so that's who I beat."
"Iha Jun. Quirk: Up and Down. As you might recall she can increase the abilities of a Quirk, or, diminish them to a certain level. She can only do the up direction while touching someone though, and the down setting has to be within her area of effect. She also can only do one direction per person."
"She...doesn't seem fazed by being last."
Tonen laughed nervously, "She's a weird one. I'll explain later. But hey, you're not last, take heart in that and be ready to show the others later on why you're good at what you do, Azu."
Azujima smiled thankfully at Tonen, "I will, promise. Oh, what's your score?"
They turned again and looked for Tonen's name, Tonen chuckled and shook his head, "Of course that's where I am..."
He was ranked second, only behind Goya, who was smiling evilly at Tonen, though he didn't notice it.
Azujima was amazed, "Second in the class, that's pretty great!"
"I didn't care, but I did want to push myself. Something to note for later I suppose."
"You really don't care?"
"Being No.1 in class won't make me a good hero outside these walls, Azu. Just like being 19th in class doesn't mean you'll fail as a hero. Understand?"
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks again."
"Alright, everyone! Stop gawking and gather around," Angel Wings called out with a wave to everyone. They circled her once more and she continued, "Many of you will be happy with your rankings, others won't. But like I said at the beginning of this, what your abilities are now versus when you leave will be very different. Even for those who don't have skills that are overtly physical, you'll still improve. Part of this test wasn't even for your benefit, it was for mine. So I can relay to your teachers areas I think you can improve or should focus on improving. So in many ways? Those scores don't mean much as they're just a baseplate of what is to come. Understand?"
"Yes, teacher," the class said back.
"Very good, now, go ahead and change back into your street clothes and we'll head back inside to finish things up and then you can go home."
With a nod of acknowledgment they headed off, many of them talking within various groups as they headed to the changing areas.
Angel Wings looked upon them and smiled, "Lot of potential there...of course there's also potential for trouble...I hope I can stop that from boiling over. Sigh...never easy for a teacher."
With a flap of her wings she took off and headed to the far side of the school.
Hours passed and the day at school was over. Angel Wings went over some final things with the class, "Later tonight some trucks will come over and pick up your stuff. You can defer one day if you want, just let me know before you leave today. Tomorrow or the day after you'll move into your dorms depending on when you want to or how much stuff you might need to move. Also, tomorrow you'll be wearing your official U.A. High Uniforms, so make sure you're dressed in them before class starts."
A murmur of descent rose from the students.
"I know, I know, they're not the most fashionable, but it's worth it for reasons that matter to the school. Besides, tomorrow, you'll also be getting those OTHER outfits that we're sure you're going to love..."
A much more joyous noise came from the class this time as they all knew what she meant.
"That's what I thought," noted Angel Wings joyfully at their reply this go around. "Congrats on getting through your first day, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, class dismissed."
With her blessing they all rose from their desks and went their own ways. Some went to Angel Wings to discuss the moving plans, others stayed and talked to one another. Tonen though simply got up, grabbed his things and left.
He reflected on the day that was and all that already happened. The people he met, his teacher in Angel Wings, how he already showed off his skills via the Quirk Apprehension Test, and so on. He wondered what else was going to happen during his time at UA.
"Hey, TK!" came a voice.
Tonen turned around and Azujima raced to him, "What's up, Azu? Something wrong?"
"No, I just...wanted to thank you again for everything today," Azujima said with a nervous scratching of his head.
"Don't worry about it. I didn't look it at times but I was nervous about parts of that Quirk test too. I probably showed off more than I should've...but what can you do?"
"Do you think...things are only going to get harder from here?"
"Yeah."
Azujima recoiled at the blunt answer, "You could've softened that one for me, TK."
Tonen laughed, "Sorry Azu, not this time. Today was the first day of the rest of our lives. Our hero lives. We don't want easy. We want to be pushed, to be taught, to make friends and allies to help us on our journeys. I've already got you, and The Twins more than likely, also Bubble Gum I think. So that's a pretty good first day. It's going to be hard for us Azu, that's just the way hero life can be. What matters, is that we accept the hard times that are coming and don't let them crush us. Because there are going to be people who need our help, and you still want to copy my answer and help people, right?"
This got Azujima to laugh pretty heartily, "Right, I do."
"Good, then be ready for tomorrow, because I have a feeling you'll get the chance to show off your true power with your senses. I got your back if you need me, but try and make friends with the others too if you can. Except Goya, and maybe Chuya, they're a bit mean."
"There's always some of them in a class."
"Indeed. Don't dwell on what happened today, look towards tomorrow, and then the day after that, and so on. Got it?"
Not unlike before, he held his fist out in front of him, Azujima smiled and nodded before hitting it back with his fist, "Got it."
"Like I said, Azu, first day of the rest of our lives. Things are going to be fun, and intense, but I think we're going to like it when all is said and done."
Azujima turned his head and looked towards the class, "Everyone's starting to leave, shall we go before we get caught up?"
"You heading to the train station?
"Yeah, going a different train home though than you are."
"No worries, let's go together, come on."
The two walked down the hallway and out of sight, leaving behind their first day at U.A. Academy and wondering what would await them next.
*credits*
