"What? A quirk assessment test!?" The question was asked in unison.

Someone complained about missing the orientation ceremony, but the teacher's mind was made and he lost no time explaining what had to be done and why. Saya thought he was a little bit scary when he talked about how he got to run his class however he saw fit, but the feeling was soon replaced by surprise when Mr. Aizawa revealed Bakugo had been the one who got the most points in the entrance exam.

She clenched her jaw.

So that asshole was strong.

Up until that point she'd had the impression he was just an out-of-control jerk with delusions of grandeur.

He was chosen to be the first one at throwing a softball, aided by his quirk.

Saya wouldn't have admitted it in twenty lifetimes, but she was very interested in seeing what he could do. She'd had a glimpse at his quirk at dinner the night before, but to achieve a feat like the first place in the admissions, those tiny explosions were surely not all there was to it.

Her assumptions did not prepare her for the booming ball of fire he produced out of nowhere, which propelled the softball a whopping 705 meters.

Her hands turned into fists.

That was an impressive quirk. She had to give him that much.

Somehow, it only made her dislike him even more.

Her classmates seemed to be as impressed as she was. Ashido even expressed her excitement to try that out with her own quirk. All of that died out pretty soon though, as Mr. Aizawa announced the results of the eight physical tests would actually determine someone's expulsion from the academy.

So that was what he had meant earlier, Saya thought.

She wasn't so worried about being expelled herself —after all, her quirk was great for these kinds of tests and she'd just heard some of the weakest students admitted had been placed in the same class as her—, but those conditions did make for a gloomier atmosphere. Nothing like how she had envisioned her first day at UA to be.

The first test they all participated in was the 50-meter dash. They ran in pairs, starting with the tall dude that had argued with Bakugo and a short girl that seemed to have a frog mutation quirk.

Saya watched everyone intently. It quickly became clear that even though not every quirk was fit for every situation, that didn't necessarily mean someone would lose, like how Ashido won her race against the navel-laser guy whose quirk turned out to be less impressive due to its drawback.

Bakugo went against the shy green haired boy and Saya thought he'd had the lower hand, but he managed to use his quirk in a quite creative way to easily surpass him.

She didn't show signs of how annoyed that had made her.

The next two were Todoroki and a guy whose head had the shape of a black bird. It was pretty disappointing that the boy wasn't able to fly, Saya thought.

"Hayashi, Kirishima," Mr. Aizawa said, as Todoroki melted the chunk of ice he had created to glide through the track field. "You two will go next."

Saya started stretching. A guy with red hair and sharp teeth approached her with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Hayashi," he said, extending his hand towards her. "I'm a great fan of your father's," he added. "Such a manly man."

Saya shook his hand and smiled back at the compliment.

"Nice to meet you too," she said. "Good luck on the tracks."

"Thanks," he scratched the back of his head. "I'll surely need it for this one."

She was about to respond, but Mr. Aizawa signaled for them to get in position.

Her quirk, somakinesis, was a very versatile one. It allowed Saya to control her bodily tissues down to a molecular level through the manipulation of the proteins stored in her body. It had a few really useful applications, but, for this test, she decided to enhance the muscles on her lower body to give herself a boost on leg strength and speed.

"Runners on your marks," the recording machine said. Both Saya and Kirishima assumed position. "Ready…" Saya's stomach felt jittery with excitement.

The recorded shot signaled them to begin. Saya used her arms to push herself back a little bit, her left foot kicking the starting blocks so hard the first leap already gave her an advantage of a good two meters from Kirishima. She sprinted the rest of the track, her feet striking the ground and propelling her forward like she was stepping on springs the whole way. She ended up with a time of 3.57 seconds.

The next test was grip strength. It was measured through machines that had to be held on one hand, so Saya enhanced her right arm to score what everyone thought was an impressive 293 kg, till they saw another guy easily get 540 kg. Even Saya's jaw dropped at that.

Next, they headed for a standing long jump where they needed to clear a giant sandbox. Just enhancing her legs wasn't going to be enough, Saya realized after seeing the first competitors. Even the guy with glasses, with those awesome engines on his calves barely managed to do it, while others like Bakugo, Todoroki and the navel laser guy seemed to be able to propel themselves more easily due to the nature of their quirks.

The girl with the ponytail, Yaoyorozu, as Saya had heard others call her, had produced a couple of highly effective springs that allowed her to complete the feat.

Saya's turn came right after.

She breathed in, standing in position. She felt Mr. Aizawa's eyes on her. This was the time when the main application of her quirk, the one she had been developing with her dad's help for most of her life, came into play.

From the palms of her hands, she produced long poles made of bone which she used to propel herself up and forward after her jump.

A couple of 'ooh's and 'what is that?' were heard as she retracted the appendages in midair, reabsorbing the proteins used to create them and focusing on strengthening her legs and core just enough to make for a safe and graceful landing on both her feet.

After that came the ball throw test.

Saya went first in it and enhanced her arm to throw it a good 365 meters away, which was definitely not the best score, but not the worst one either.

There was even a girl with a gravity quirk that made her ball go up to infinity, which was absolutely crazy.

"That was awesome," Saya congratulated her. "I've never seen something quite like that."

The girl gave her a huge grin.

"That's too kind of you," she responded, a blush staining her cheeks.

The shy green-haired boy went in next. Saya hadn't yet seen what his quirk was.

"If Midoriya doesn't shape up soon, he's going home," the guy with glasses commented as the boy prepared to throw the ball.

"Huh? Of course he is! He's a quirkless loser," Bakugo responded.

That seemed to surprise those around him. It was preposterous, actually. How would someone without a quirk even be able to get into UA?

"He has a quirk," the taller one confirmed. "Did you not hear about what he did in the entrance exam?"

Bakugo's face was a mask of confusion and anger.

What the hell is his problem?

Saya decided not to ponder on that. He was probably just being a jerk.

Midoriya threw the ball, again without using his quirk. This time, though, he seemed baffled.

"I erased your quirk," Mr. Aizawa announced.

That was quite shocking in and of itself, but a collective gasp was heard when he added that someone like Midoriya should never be allowed into the academy. He caught the boy with his scarf and dragged him away from the others, where they had a conversation Saya was not able to hear from her position. After the talk, he dropped the boy in the circle again.

Midoriya finally threw the ball after that, sending it with incredible power that took everyone by surprise.

No one, nevertheless, was more surprised than Bakugo.

Saya had turned to look at him because she wanted to see the look on his face after having called the boy quirkless. She was not prepared for the utter disbelief that deformed his facial features, though.

"Hey," she said. At that point, Saya's pettiness had started transforming into concern about his reaction. "Why are you–?"

He didn't even seem to hear her, explosions going off of his palms as he raced towards Midoriya, face contorted with what now looked like pure hatred.

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD, TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOU'RE DEAD!" he screamed.

"What the hell?" Saya muttered, unable to understand his reaction.

The teacher promptly caught him before he could get to Midoriya.

He instructed everyone to continue with the test and the green-haired boy ran away from Bakugo as soon as he was able to. The blond, though, just stood there, looking as if he could barely contain his rage.

Saya approached him hesitantly.

She wanted to ask what was wrong with him, was he so mad because Midoriya had achieved a better result than him in the ball throw test?

She bit the inside of her cheek.

That didn't seem to be the problem. Others, including herself, had scored better than him in the other tests and he hadn't reacted that way.

"He's a quirkless loser!"

That was what he had said. Why did he even think that in the first place? Did he know Midoriya from before? Did he not know he had a quirk?

"Hey, move over," was what she ended up deciding to say to him. "People are waiting for you to get out of the way."

His only response was a loud click of the tongue, but he did step aside and walked away from everyone.

Maybe being alone will help him calm down, Saya thought, and then immediately scolded herself for even worrying about him.

He was just an asshole, acting like an asshole. What a surprise.

The rest of the tests passed in a blur.

Saya managed to get pretty good results in all of them and, although she only managed to get the top score in the lamest one: the sitting down toe touches, her name showed up as the first one in Mr. Aizawa's chart.

Saya didn't show much of a reaction out of respect for whoever was going to be sent home, but also, because she didn't feel too good about having won with only one top score. She understood her first place was earned because her performance had been the most consistent one out of the bunch, but that was certainly not enough for her.

In order to become the number one hero, she had to train harder. She had to focus on being the best and winning with an undisputed difference.

Besides, Yaoyorozu had certainly been close, Saya noticed as she scanned the rest of the names. Todoroki had come in third place, Bakugo was the fourth.

The last one of the twenty names on the list was, understandably, Midoriya's. He had only been able to get good results in one of the tests, after all, and he had completely flunked the ones that came after due to the pain on the finger he had injured while using his quirk.

Although they didn't even get the chance to talk, Saya was feeling sorry for him until Mr. Aizawa finally revealed the expulsion was but a rational deception in order to get students to give it their all.

She blushed a little bit when Yaoyorozu said that the lie had been obvious. It made her feel even more pressured.

This was UA, she realized. The real deal.

Her classmates were as determined to succeed as she was and no matter how nice or friendly they were, the nature of the hero business made it so that they were also her competition. She needed to start paying more attention.

The class was soon dismissed and Mr. Aizawa told them to read the syllabus before the next day.

Saya sighed. Going home did sound great. She hadn't even realized up until that point how hungry she was, she thought, as she headed to the classroom after changing back into her daily uniform.

Most of the students were getting ready to go home, while some seemed to already have left. Saya grabbed a copy of the syllabus and went to find her backpack.

"Hey, Hayashi," the redhead guy from the 50 meter dash, Kirishima, if Saya remembered correctly, intercepted her. "You were great on the tests today," he complimented. "Congratulations on getting the first place!"

"Thanks!" she beamed.

"You're Kaiser's daughter, aren't you?" A black-haired guy whose quirk was to throw tape out of his elbows joined in on their conversation.

"Yeah," Saya said. "What was your name again?"

"I'm Hanta Sero," he said. "Nice to meet you."

"Same," Saya responded.

"So, Hayashi, what was that thing you did on the long jump?" Kirishima wanted to know.

"Oh," Saya answered, "you see I have the same quirk as my father's." She explained. "Instead of generating new arms like does, though," she added, referencing one of her dad's most well known techniques, "I prefer to make bones."

"Woah," Kirishima said. "That's sick!"

"Wanna see?"

"Yeah!" both boys said in unison. A small crowd had gathered around her after overhearing their conversation.

"Some say it's a bit disgusting, though," she warned.

"Will there be blood?" Ashido asked. She had also joined the small crowd.

"No, don't worry" Saya gave a quick laugh.

"C'mon do it already!" there was a blond boy with them too, he sounded excited.

Saya turned her right hand into a fist and she willed her knuckles to grow in pointy blade shapes that resembled claws.

"That's awesome!" Ashido said as Saya retracted them, the proteins which made them quickly returning to her knuckles. "Does it hurt to do that?"

"No," Saya said. "It just feels like your nails growing." She made her finger nails grow a couple of inches and go back to their normal length to show her point.

"That's crazy!" Sero was saying.

"Oi," a deep, hoarse voice Saya was already able to recognize called from outside the small crowd around her. They parted slightly and she found Bakugo's crimson glare being directed at her as he spoke: "are we leaving or what?"