April

"You got everything, kid?" Nash asked the teen. Thalia grinned at the older man, dressed in her school uniform, her large, salmon-colored backpack around her shoulders. Her lavender hair was tied in a messy bun with intricate braids of differing sizes leading up to it on both sides of her head, her bangs hanging above her forehead and on either side of her face. Her curly horns framed it all, and she'd applied some new jewelry her grandmother had given her as congratulations for making it in. It was a silver horn cuff that linked to another cuff with chains embedded with amethysts that matched her hair.

"Yeah," she replied. Nash smiled proudly down at his stepdaughter. He was the one sending her off for once- Ljuvfina had to go into work early that morning and left her a note and money for lunch.

"Go get 'em, Puddin'." He called her by the nickname he gave her at a young age, back when he and her mother had just gotten married. Thalia smiled back, opening the door.

"Yes, sir!" And she left the residence.

She felt her phone buzz on her thigh as she skated down the sidewalk. Quickly taking it out, she checked her notification- a message from Ochako.

08:15 ochako:

Are you on your way?

Thalia looked down at her phone. She was meeting Ochako at the train station for their first day. She had made it as well, securing fourth place on the leaderboard.

08:16 thallie :)

yeah, i just left!

08:16 ochako :

Okay, I just left as well! See you soon! :D

Thalia smiled down at her phone and put it back in the conveniently large pocket in her skirt. She eventually met up with Ochako, the train ride being quiet and relaxing, despite the fireworks that were going off in Thalia's core.

Anxiety and excitement rattled her frame, her hands shaky. Ochako was more excited than anxious, effectively reassuring Thalia with her attempts to do so, the young girl not plagued by the same anxiety Thalia was.

They arrived at the school, excited, knowing this was only the second of many, many more times. Thalia's anxiousness only increased as she stepped through the gates, and into the building.

The air was cooler than outside. It didn't smell like her junior high- it smelled more like an office building, and a very faint waft of very good food coming from what she guessed was the cafeteria. Ahead of her were the shoe cabinets. Ochako and Thalia placed their skateboards by the getabako, placing them in the tall locker Thalia had bought in advance for the two of them. Thalia didn't change out of her laced-up combat boots, but leaned against the cabinets while she waited for Ochako to change hers.

"Ochako, I genuinely can barely believe we're actually at U.A.!" Thalia said breathlessly, more fireworks going off in her stomach, gripping her backpack.

"Me neither! I never thought I'd be able to get in, considering how hard it's supposed to be." They walked in a tall hallway after climbing a few flights of stairs, exchanging lighthearted, calming small talk. Her face couldn't contain her booming emotions, it never could, anyways.

"Class 1-A is right up here, I think." Ochako said, looking ahead at a very tall, open door. Thalia felt very fortunate that they had been placed in the same class. That door was foreboding, and she would've been extremely nervous on her own.

"...completely misjudged you, I admit. As a student, you're far superior to me." Thalia heard a very familiar voice coming from the room they were supposed to be in. She groaned, putting her hand on her head. She also noticed some familiar green hair poking out the door.

"Ugh, it's that goody two-shoes from orientation." Thalia scoffed. Ochako covered her mouth as she giggled.

"You didn't expect to see him again, did you?" Ochako teased her.

"I figured I would at least have a miniscule chance of having the same classes as him… For him to be in my homeroom class… Ugh. I'm gonna have to deal with him every day, now." Thalia muttered as she walked in, hoping he wouldn't overhear her.

"Uh... I find that... hard to believe." Another very familiar voice said. Suddenly, the girls' eyes lit up in recognition. Ochako jogged ahead, leaving her in her lonesome.

"Hey, I recognize that messed-up hair! Falling boy!" She said happily, her auburn eyes alight. Thalia quickly followed her.

"That's your name for him? Odin save me…" The horned girl muttered, her head in her hand. Ochako started ranting to him about how amazing he was in the exam, swinging her hand in the air for emphasis. Thalia sweat-dropped next to her, raising her hands slightly, wanting to stop her, but not knowing when. The green-haired boy turned bright red and covered his face, embarrassed.

"Ah, well, I should probably be thanking you for going in and talking to him-" Ochako stopped waving her arm in the air and sent him a confused look.

"Huh? How'd you know about that?" She asked him. Whatever they said after, she tuned out.

A certain ash-blonde boy was sitting in the corner of the room, glaring at her. Thalia met his gaze and a rocket fell down her chest. Her cheeks warmed ever so slightly and she blinked at him. He must've realized they had made eye contact, because he hardened his glare and then turned away- though she didn't miss the slight pink on his cheek. She couldn't decode his look, and she didn't care to. However, something intrigued her about the boy, his body language was confusing, and there was not much Thalia loved more than decoding a person.

She snapped out of her trance and looked back at Ochako, who was ranting again- saying the exact things she ranted about on the train to Thalia.

"Chako-chan, maybe we should take a seat." Thalia half-pleaded, tugging on Ochako's sleeve. Somehow, she was already exhausted.

"If you're just here to make friends, then you can pack up your stuff now." A quiet, low voice came from right behind her, spooking her effectively, a small, scared noise escaping her throat. Quickly, she turned around, taking a deep breath. In front of her, to her confusion, was a man with unkempt black hair, some ragged facial hair, laying sideways in a sleeping bag with eyes that showed exhaustion so deeply that it even drained on her own energy.

Next to her, Ochako stopped ranting when she noticed the boy's fearful gaze locked onto the man, letting out a whimper of fear and hiding behind Thalia's taller form.

"Welcome to U.A.'s hero course." He said, his voice unenthusiastic and sounding as if he hadn't slept in days. He probably hadn't, if he was busy enough preparing for this class. He proceeded to unzip the sleeping bag slightly and decimate an applesauce packet. What is that thing? Thalia asked herself, horrified.

The man in the sleeping bag stood up, unzipping the rest of the bag.

"It took eight seconds for you to all shut up. That won't work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that." He said as he completely parted from the bag.

He looks so... done, and the year hasn't even started. What's his deal? Is he... okay?

He looked around at the class. "Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa. Your teacher." Thalia's expression was one of mild surprise when he said that, and the rest of the class gasped, showing how she felt on the inside. He must be a pro hero, then. No wonder he's so tired.

"Alright, let's get to it." Aizawa pulled a P.E. outfit out of his bag. "Put these on and head outside." Thalia grimaced, not really all for putting on clothes that were in that bag. However, she deduced that she had no choice and took the outfit he handed to her.

After that, they were all in the locker room, changing into their P.E. clothes. There was a pink girl that was jumping into her pants, them being a little too small for her thicker body type. There was another, with long black hair, that was already done changing into her clothes. Another with short, blue-black hair and earlobes that dangled to her chest, was struggling to keep her pants on, as they were too loose for her.

"What was our teacher's deal, dude?" Asked the pink-haired girl as she held her shirt, trying to make conversation with her new classmates. "He's kinda terrifying."

"Yeah, no kidding." Said the girl with amp ears. "Hey, do you wanna switch outfits? Looks like they got our sizes mixed up. This is too big for me."

"Oh my gosh, yes please! I thought I'd gained weight!" The two girls quickly switched outfits.

"I just hope he won't be like this the whole year." Groaned an invisible girl. Arya sighed.

"Well, we should make the best of it." Ochako commented optimistically. "I mean, he'll probably get better as he warms up to us, right?"

"I hope so." Murmured Thalia as she pulled the shirt over her.

"What? A quirk assessment test?" Most of the class exclaimed questioningly.

"But orientation," Ochako protested, "we're gonna miss it!"

"If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." The teacher replied flatly. Some of the class gasped. Thalia was sort of excited for orientation, but she could understand his logic. He continued his instruction.

"Here at U.A., we're not tethered to traditions." He turned around, giving the class a tired look. "That means I get to run my class however I see fit." Ochako backed up a little into Thalia, who put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Her eyebrows were raised with interest.

"You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, sittin' down on your asses with a pencil in hand," Aizawa stated- some gasped at his language, Thalia chuckled, but he continued as if he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary, "but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before." Thalia nodded slightly, though that wasn't true for her. He held up his phone, which showed a leaderboard with unfamiliar names- they must've been her fellow students' names. She saw her own at the top, and concluded that it was the results of the entrance exam.

"This country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel." He continued. "It's not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn." He turned to the horned girl.

"Dragomir," Thalia looked up at the mention of her name, feeling some eyes on her, "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?" Thalia scratched the back of her head, knowing the answer would probably be a bit of a letdown to the others, who were sure to expect more.

"Ehh, about forty-five meters?" She estimated, her voice rising with uncertainty, head tilted.

"Right," Aizawa acknowledged, "Try doing it with your quirk." He instructed, handing her a softball. Taking the ball from him, she walked to the circle to the far right. The class watched her movements. She felt heat rise to her cheeks at the attention.

"Anything goes, just stay in the circle." Aizawa told her. She nodded, focusing.

Her quirk wasn't super suited for this kind of thing, so she had to be smart. The class watched with anticipation, and she felt the tension. She didn't let it affect her thinking. Thor, guide my hand.

"Go on. You're wasting our time." He told her, annoyed. Thalia's lips pulled out and downward, slightly put down. Frowning, she rolled the sleeve on her right arm all the way up to her shoulder, and she changed her arm into that of a gorilla's. Her arm's muscles bulged and grew and shiny, black fur coated her arm up to her shoulder. She heard some of the students behind her gasp in awe and wonder.

She threw the ball as hard as she could, leaning forward, one leg raised. It fell out of her sight. She turned around, her normal arm resting on the middle of her gorilla bicep. She might've pulled it slightly from putting so much effort into that throw. It morphed slowly back into her normal arm.

Her hair looked messy from the sudden force. Her bun had fallen to the nape of her neck, more of her bangs having fallen down. She saw all the classmates' shocked expressions- except Ochako's. Ochako had a huge grin on her face.

"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 up, turning around. The ball hit the ground, and his phone beeped. He held it out for the class to see, resulting in their gasping. It read 607.85m. Thalia's expression remained neutral, her eyes big.

She made brief eye contact with a pair of vermillion eyes that, like the time at the entrance exam, stuck out to her. This time, it was because he was glaring at her. She sent him a mildly confused look, one eyebrow half-raised. He scoffed and looked away, arms crossed.

"Woah, six hundred and seven meters, are you kidding me?" Exclaimed a cute yellow-blonde boy with a black, lightning-shaped streak in his hair with awe.

"I wanna go!" Exclaimed the pink girl, "That looks fun!"

"This is what I'm talkin' about," Said a tall boy with long, dark hair and perfectly straight teeth, "usin' our quirks as much as we want!"

Despite the excited energy the class displayed, Aizawa had a dark look across his face.

"So this looks fun, huh?" He asked slowly, quoting the pink girl from earlier. "You have three years here to become a hero." He said louder, facing the class, "You think it's all gonna be games and playtime?" He smiled sadistically, his first show of emotion aside from exhaustion and annoyance, as if he couldn't wait for the expressions he'd get after what he said next. Thalia felt nervousness grip her chest.

"Idiots. Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately." Thalia's eyebrows raised, her mouth falling slightly open. She found that extremely hard to believe, he had to be bluffing, it was the first day of school, for fuck's sake! ...But she didn't eliminate the idea that he could be telling the truth. The whole class made noises of surprise and fear. Aizawa eyed the green-haired boy, as if singling him out.

"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. Understand?" He prompted in a gravelly voice, "If that's a problem, you can head home right now." Thalia's eyes widened, a ghost of a smile donning her slack jaw. The stakes were risen exponentially, and that would make this all the more thrilling.

Hero school really has no chill. The horned girl thought as a rocket shot down her chest and into her stomach. Excitement and adrenaline pumped through her veins.

However, Ochako didn't hold her same sentiments, and stepped forward, a determined look on her face.

"You can't just send one of us home!" She protested. Thalia tried to catch her eye to deter her from the protest, but her eyes were on Aizawa. Well, she was proud of her for speaking up. Ochako always had a strong sense of justice. "I mean, we just got here! Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!" She proclaimed.

"Oh, and you think natural disasters are?" Aizawa immediately followed up scornfully, as if he were prepared for this sort of reaction, "Or power-hungry villains? Hm?" He prompted when she backed off, "Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No. The world is full of unfairness. It is a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness. If you wanna be a pro, you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, U.A. will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So go beyond. Plus ultra-style." He moved his finger, as if beckoning someone toward him.

"Show me it's no mistake that you're here." Thalia's gaze showed determination at his words.

"Now then," He started again after a moment, "we're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin." He grinned sadistically.

Test 1: 50-meter dash

Thalia was crouched beside a cute frog-like girl and the blue-haired boy from exam orientation, who happened to have engines on his calves that she hadn't noticed before. She gave him a smirk, which caused him to flinch and look away embarrassedly. She kicked off her shoes, getting weird looks from the people around her- aside from the blue-haired boy, who kept his eyes strictly forward. She shifted into a cheetah, her outfit rather baggy around her form. She wasn't confident they wouldn't fall off, but she could always just run to the bathroom right after and change back.

"Runners, on your marks! Ready-" As soon as the gunshot sounded, Thalia dashed forward, finishing just behind the boy. Surprisingly, her clothes stayed perfectly on. She was more surprised, however, by the fact that Engine Calves actually finished before her, if even by a few milliseconds.

"3.42 seconds."

Thalia shifted back quickly, brushing off her shoulders. The outfit thankfully fit on without an issue. Without the buildup, Thalia couldn't go to her peak speed as a cheetah. She huffed, disappointed that she'd lost to goody two-shoes, but to her surprise, he also looked disappointed. The only person he could be disappointed at was himself, but how could one be disappointed at a time like that!?

When it was Ochako's turn, Thalia watched as she used one of her genius tactics- removing the weight of her clothes and shoes with her quirk, eliminating any sort of drag her clothes gave her as she ran. Thalia sent Ochako an encouraging smile and a thumbs up from the other end of the marked path.

After she ran her fifty meters, the two high-fived- but Ochako accidentally activated her quirk, and Thalia started floating. The Norwegian girl yelped in alarm, trying to regain her bearings. Ochako looked slightly panicked, quickly deactivating her quirk without thinking it through. Thalia landed on her hand and toes, sending Ochako an amused grin.

"Sorry!" She said with a bashful smile.

"You're fine." Thalia laughed, standing up, though she felt oddly off-balance for a moment. By then, the flamboyant-looking blonde boy and the pink girl had just finished their races.

"Hm. Shooting my beautiful beam for more than a second hurts my tummy." He claimed in a matter-of-fact tone. What a tool, Thalia mentally deadpanned. Her attention was shifted from the sparkling boy and to the two that were racing- the ash blonde and the green-haired boy. When the gunshot fired, the ash blonde used small explosions coming from his hands to propel himself forward, a wicked grin on his face. Thalia couldn't take her eyes off him, but she didn't know if it was from being disturbed at his ugly face or if it was out of concern, wondering if he hurt his hands from the explosions.

"4.13 seconds." The robot proclaimed as he passed it.

"My power has more uses than anyone else at this school." The boy said, looking down at his steaming- and obviously damaged- hands. Thalia snorted. How can he be so self-obsessed? And so clearly wrong? …I must keep quiet. He's probably as explosive as his quirk.

The boy must've noticed her doubtful raised eyebrow, and turned his glare to her. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but his eyes lit up in recognition, and he closed his mouth, muttering under his breath. Thalia and Ochako exchanged confused looks.

Sipping from her iced coffee from a thermos that came out of seemingly nowhere, Thalia felt relief pour through her muscles.

Iced coffee- it had to be iced- reacted with her body in a way that soothed her soreness after shifting and gave her energy. A gene passed down from her father's side.

"Can I have a sip?" Asked Ochako. Thalia hesitantly leaned the closed cup in her direction, and she gleefully drank, her face melting at the delicious taste. After a few beats, Thalia got antsy.

"Hey! Don't drink the whole thing! I can't just refill it at the water fountain, this is basically like ibuprofen for me!" Thalia cried, taking it back.

"Hey, give it back!" Ochako whined, holding out her arms, completely disregarding what she said.

They're certainly close, aren't they? Thought some of the other students.

Test 2: Grip strength

Thalia looked down at the grip machine before her. She decided to use the gorilla's strength again. Once the soreness subsided, she gripped as hard as she could- the machine beeping at 815kg.

"Woah, you got eight hundred and fifteen kilos!?" Exclaimed the long, dark-haired boy from earlier, looking over at her. Thalia's cheeks dusted with pink.

"Oh, it's nothing," She said bashfully, waving the oversized gorilla arm as she felt the retracted muscles and got rid of the gorilla's strength once more. The boy gave her an incredulous look at her words.

Test 3: Standing long jump

Thalia shifted into a kangaroo for this one, extra layers of muscles growing around her thighs and tailbone. She was thankful that the uniform was stretchier than it seemed at first, because if not, it would have most certainly split from the size difference. She almost cleared the pit, landing at the very edge.

Ochako approached her once she shifted back, rubbing her back.

"Why didn't you shift into a bird or something?" She asked. Thalia gave her a confused look, taking a few moments to reply.

"...Well, it was a... Jump, right?" She responded dumbly, the effects of shapeshifting into a kangaroo rubbing off on her. She heard the ash blonde screaming and explosions behind her. Realizing her mistake, Thalia facepalmed.

Test 4: Repeated side steps

Thalia couldn't see what she could do here with shapeshifting, so she simply put her hair into a ponytail rather than a bun, so it wouldn't fall down as easily, and did the best she could.

Test 5: Ball throw

Thalia had already done the ball throw, so she got to sit back and watch everyone else.

She felt pride in her chest as she watched Ochako get an 'infinity' score on her turn.

"Yeah, Chako-chan!" Thalia cheered. Ochako smiled back at her.

"That's insane! How's that possible!?" The yellow-blonde exclaimed, looking shocked. However, the green-haired boy looked haunted. Thalia couldn't blame him, he hadn't done anything to really stand out yet.

"If Midoriya doesn't shape up soon, he's the one going home." Engine Calves commented. Midoriya, huh? Thalia mentally applied the name to the face.

"Huh? Of course he is! He's a quirkless loser!" Shouted Ash Blonde, his sour voice grating due to all the yelling he'd done earlier. Thalia's eyebrow quirked upward- she'd made the correct assumption earlier, maybe it was best to avoid interaction with the explosive boy, no matter how much he intrigued her. Not only that, but he assumed Midoriya was quirkless, which was completely and clearly wrong. She couldn't imagine why he was so passionately convinced of the opposite. The blue-haired boy gave Ash Blonde a confused look.

"He has a quirk. Did you not hear about what he did in the entrance exam?" Engine Calves prompted, unaffected by his angry tone.

"Huh!?" He questioned, aggravated.

"Uh," Thalia perked up, not flinching when Ash Blonde snapped his glare over to her- which immediately softened, as hers hardened. "Ochako said he took down a zero-pointer on his own, right?" She turned to Ochako, asking for confirmation. The brown-haired girl nodded in response. She didn't look in her direction, though, she was focused on Midoriya.

"Well, that's a load of bullshit!" Ash Blonde shouted angrily, though it wasn't entirely directed at her.

"Shut up." Thalia shushed him, frowning, looking intently at Midoriya. Ash Blonde looked at her incredulously with a scoff, as if he couldn't believe her nerve. However, he obeyed, and shut up. She couldn't believe her own nerve, but she didn't care at the moment. He prepared his throw and...

It fell just short of fifty meters away. Thalia furrowed her brows.

"Did he really take down a zero-pointer?" The horned girl asked Ochako quietly. She nodded, looking just as confused as her.

"Huh?" Midoriya muttered. "What gives..? I was trying to use it just now."

Aizawa said something they couldn't hear.

"Thalia-" Ochako hissed.

"On it." Thalia replied quickly. Her ear canals popped as they shifted into that of a cat's, purple cat ears manifesting on the top of her head. She flicked her ears as they popped, hoping it would stop soon. She couldn't feel pain anymore, but the sensation was uncomfortable and fucked with her hearing. Thalia looked in Aizawa's direction, seeing his hair and the scarf around his neck floating, his once dark eyes now a bright red. At that moment, she recognized him, her eyes wide in amazement, fireworks going off in her chest.

Eraserhead!

"The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll at this school." He claimed darkly. Thalia gasped, dread falling down her chest, wiping out the sparks that were there previously. She repeated what she heard, and the others gasped, thinking the same thing she was in their own variations: Why in the nine realms would he say that?

"Wait, you did what to my-" Suddenly Midoriya paled, and stepped back as if he realized something just then. "Ah! I know those goggles- I know you! You can look at someone and cancel out their powers! The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead!" Thalia's eyes widened, twitching an ear. She knew her heroes- especially the really good ones that avoided the media, the ones that really deserved recognition, as her mother had educated her. She heard some mutterings around her asking who Eraserhead was.

"Oh, I've heard of him! I think he works on the down low." The frog-girl said.

"Yeah, he does," Thalia spoke up, drawing some attention to her. She flicked her ear again, her chin jutted down. "He avoids the media and the recognition so he can do his job better, so the villains don't have the advantage of knowing his quirk." She explained. Some students made sounds of understanding.

"You've got an accent… Hey, you're Gypsy's daughter, aren't you?" Commented one of the boys- the one with stick-straight black hair and weird elbows. She only flicked her ear in acknowledgement, trying to listen. She had hoped that it wouldn't get out as quickly as it just did…

"You're not ready." Aizawa claimed, ignoring Midoriya's recognition. "You don't have control over your power. Were you planning to break your bones again?" Thalia thought back to when Ochako told her that he'd broken three of his limbs at the end of the entrance exam. "Counting on someone else to save your useless body?" Thalia repeated what Aizawa was saying, albeit a lot softer and with a shaky voice.

"What a dick…" Thalia murmured. "I see why he's saying what he's saying, though. But then again, where else is he gonna learn not to do that?"

"Exactly! It's as if this isn't literally a school for heroes." The pink girl added, matching Thalia's intensity. The more this pink girl opened her mouth, the more Thalia liked her.

"No! That's not what I was trying to do!" Midoriya claimed- only for Aizawa to use one end of his floating scarf to pull him closer to him, irritation set in his red eyes.

"No matter what your intentions are, you would be nothing more than a liability in battle. You have the same reckless passion as another overzealous hero I know. One who saved 1,000 people by himself and became a legend." Thalia's jaw dropped. She knew he meant All Might when he said the last sentence. "But even with that drive, you're worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down." Ah. "Sorry Midoriya. With your power, there's no way you can become a hero." Thalia winced at his words.

Aizawa let go of the green-haired boy, his hair and scarf returning to normal. Midoriya had a dark look on his face, his expression crushed. Thalia felt empathetic, wanting nothing more than to hug him.

"I've returned your impractical quirk." Aizawa informed him, "Take your final throw. Hurry and get it over with." And with that, he walked back to where he had been standing before.

Midoriya retrieved the ball and stood back in the circle, the area quieted down once more. Blue Hair gave Midoriya a thoughtful look.

"That was rough." Engine Calves murmured. "But it was the truth. You can't fight if you sacrifice part of your body for every punch."

"But then again, like Thalia said, where else are you gonna learn to control that power?" Ochako said.

"Exactly. He could become dangerous with all that power unchecked, if what you said about the entrance exam is true. This is the best place to cultivate it." The girl with the tall black ponytail spoke up, and she gained some points in Thalia's head.

"I guess this guy is a 'tough love' sort of guy, though." A boy with spiky red hair stated.

"That basically means he told him to start packing," Ash Blonde jeered. As Thalia gave him an irked side glare, already tired of his attitude, Flamboyant Boy tried to assure the agitated-looking Ochako, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm here, cheri." Ochako gave him an innocent, confused look.

"Wait, who are you again?" She asked. Thalia shot Flamboyant Boy a withering look, and he paled, taking his hand off her shoulder.

At that moment, Midoriya threw the ball- and it soared- releasing a strong gust of wind that made Arya's freed hair blow- and got a score that was literally 0.1 of a meter farther than Ash Blonde.

"Aizawa-san. You see? I'm still standing." Midoriya said, his voice filled with pride.

"This kid..." Thalia barely heard Aizawa mutter. The girl noticed his broken finger, however, and bit her cheek. Still, she marveled at his power.

...Incredible.

"He threw it over 700 meters!" Exclaimed Yellow-Blonde.

"Nice! He's finally showing us his true power!" Ochako cheered. Thalia gave him a thumbs-up once she caught Midoriya's eye, and he gave everyone behind him a happy smile.

"But his finger seems to be broken now," Blue Hair commented, lowering his hand to his chin from his forehead, "just like in the exam. This quirk is very odd."

"It wasn't a very pretty throw." Flamboyant Boy commented, now on the other side of Blue Hair. However, Thalia had just noticed Ash Blonde's absolutely shocked look. His hands widened, small sparks exploding on his palm. Thalia watched as he dashed forward, steam pouring from his palm.

He's gonna kill him! Thalia thought, panicked- she saw a look on him that she recognized in herself- a boy about to throw some hands. She raced after him, morphing into a lioness.

"Hey!" He shouted raucously, "Deku, you bastard! Tell me how you did that, or you're de-" Thalia caught up to him before he could finish, pouncing on him with a terrifying roar just a few meters away from Midoriya, and he landed hard on his stomach, letting out a loud 'oof!'. The poor green-haired boy screamed, cringing away from the struggling blonde and the beast above him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you stupid doe!? Get off me or I'll blow you to hell!" Thalia growled threateningly, her bared teeth right by his ear. His anger seemed to die down a little after that. Though he knew it was her, his survival instincts cried for him to shut up, and for once, he listened. She sat on his lower back, a large paw on his upper back, just under his neck.

Stupid doe? I'm not a deer, though...

Thalia looked down at her captive with a deadpan expression. He looked like he was throwing a temper tantrum, banging his hands and feet on the ground and screaming unintelligibly. Thalia simply kept her position, looking rather bored, her tail lightly batting the ground.

Thalia looked up and saw Aizawa with his hair up, eyes bright red. He must've canceled Ash Blonde's quirk, as she was still in lioness form.

"Dragomir, get off of Bakugo. I've got this," He assured her lowly, his expression dark. So his name is Bakugo.

"Whatever you say, sensei." Thalia obliged boredly, stepping off him, shifting back to her human self, crossing her arms, narrowing her eyes in a glare, keeping herself nearby in case she had to pounce on this actual infant once more.

Midoriya screamed again as Bakugo moved to attack him once more, just as she feared, but Aizawa's scarf wrapped around Bakugo before Thalia could blink. Enraged, Bakugo turned to look at Aizawa.

"Why the hell is your damn scarf so strong?" He asked him, glaring in his direction.

"Because it's a capture weapon made out of carbon fiber and a special metal alloy." He replied, his voice hard. "Stand down." He ordered. "It'll be wise to avoid making me use my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye."

"Too bad. That power is amazing!" Some of the students said in unison. Once Bakugo stopped struggling, Aizawa stood down along with him, his scarf and hair returning to normal once more.

"You're wasting my time now. Whoever's next can step up." Aizawa waved his hand as he turned around. Midoriya carefully stepped around Bakugo, joining Thalia as they returned to Ochako's side.

"Ouch, is your finger okay?" The brown-haired girl asked him.

"Sure, fine!" Midoriya assured her. Thalia gave him a doubtful side-glance.

"That looks broken, Midoriya." The purple-haired girl deadpanned.

Test 6: Sit-ups

Thalia didn't find it necessary to use her quirk on this test- she had very strong abdominal strength already, since the majority of the workouts she does were core and abdominal focused. She was paired with a boy with two-toned hair, his left hand warm and his right hand cold to the touch. She was able to do 160 sit-ups in a minute. Two Tone looked slightly surprised at her score, though he got a similar one. There was a look in his eyes that looked so, so familiar, but she couldn't place it. Perhaps I will decode him as well.

Test 7: Seated toe-touch

Thalia deduced that this one wouldn't be trouble- she was very flexible. She got a pretty good score on this one.

Final test: Long-distance run

Thalia decided to morph into a cheetah with this one- just to get over with quickly, as she knew she'd tire quickly as a cheetah. She passed that one, though she was panting heavily at the end. With the amount of build-up she got, however, she was able to finish with a pretty excellent score.

The class gathered in front of Aizawa after the tests were finished.

"Alright, time to give you all your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual's score." The older man explained to the class.

Thalia tensed. She knew she wouldn't be last by a long shot, but she didn't know what to expect, and she was a little scared for Midoriya, as well. The teacher pulled up a hologram of everyone's name. Luckily, Thalia was third only to Momo Yaoyorozu and Todoroki Shoto. She winced as she saw Midoriya's name was last, just as she'd feared. The poor boy looked down at his clenched fists, shaking slightly. She stepped beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, and I was lying. No one's going home." Aizawa said casually. Surprisingly, the whole class was speechless. Thalia honestly couldn't blame them- she felt the same. Her mouth hung slightly open. Fucking called it! "It was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it all in the tests. Then, everyone in the class shrieked in surprise.

"I knew it!" Thalia exclaimed.

"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out. I'm sorry, I guess I probably should've said something." The pretty girl with the tall, dark ponytail stated shyly. Thalia's first reaction was to glare at her, but she could see from her body language and expression that she was genuinely feeling a little bad about it. Two other boys gave her a deadpan look, as if agreeing with her.

"You knew!?" Ochako shrieked, her shocked, murderous expression now pointed at Thalia, who had her hands up in defense.

"No, I didn't, I just had a feeling..." Thalia muttered, shrinking under her domineering atmosphere.

"That was pretty nerve-wracking huh?" The tall boy with the long, dark hair said, a hand on his hip.

"Nah, I'm always down for a challenge." A familiar, red-eyed and red-haired boy next to the dark-haired boy said. Thalia squinted at him, making the connection.

"Hold on, Kirishima!?" Thalia exclaimed, ignoring Ochako's dark atmosphere next to her. Kirishima's grin faded, his face lighting up with realization as his gaze went to Thalia.

"Dragomir!?" He exclaimed, recognition lighting up his eyes. "Hey, I know you! You saved me from that zero-pointer in the entrance exam!" He said excitedly, his grin returning.

"Haha, yeah! Dang, you changed your hair up a lot!" Thalia said, approaching him, her gaze pointed at his hair.

"Oh, yeah! I styled it after my idol, Crimson Riot!" He responded, scratching the back of his head. Before Arya could take the conversation further, Aizawa spoke up.

"That's it, we're done for the day." He announced. Wow, that was it? Thalia thought, her shoulders slouching. "Pick up a syllabus in the classroom, read it over before tomorrow morning." Thalia and Kirishima exchanged tired looks, sweatdropping.

Thalia caught Bakugo's glare, and when he noticed she noticed him, he scoffed and looked away. Thalia clenched her jaw, but she supposed he had a lot of emotions running through his head.

Thalia huffed as she exited the school, her muscles feeling much heavier than before. She put her hair back into its original messy, high bun. Her azure eyes were dull and half-lidded with exhaustion. Her eyes widened as she recognized Pink Girl walking with the pretty black-haired girl up ahead. She ran up to them, despite the protesting of her thighs and abdomen.

"Hey, you two!" Thalia interrupted whatever the pink girl was saying. She repositioned the skateboard she held to her lap, her arms straight down with the bottom of the board against her forearms.

"Oh, hello!" The ponytail girl said cheerfully.

"Hey, you're the shapeshifter." The pink girl stated.

"That nickname is a mouthful. I'm Dragomir Thalia." Thalia told her with a friendly smile and tone.

"Ooh, sorry if that was in bad taste. I'm Ashido Mina. It's nice to meet you!" She grinned.

"I'm Yaoyorozu Momo. You were pretty high up on the leaderboard." Momo said calmly, intrigued by her skill. "You have a pretty amazing quirk."

"Thank you." Thalia blushed. "You both have pretty useful and flashy quirks. It's no wonder how you both got in here."

Her phone buzzed suddenly, and it was a text from Ochako telling her not to wait up for her at the station, and that Midoriya and Iida (Engine Calves) were walking her home- but that they would call when they got home to talk about the day.

"Who's that?" Mina asked, leaning in and looking at her phone screen. Normally, Thalia would be annoyed, as that was technically a rude thing to do, but her lack of etiquette made her feel quite refreshed. She let the pink girl watch as she typed out, 'ooke :) i will let u know when i am at home'.

"Ochako." Thalia replied. "Midoriya and Iida are walking her home, so I guess I'm walking home alone."

"Well, why don't we walk you home?" Mina got in front of her, facing her with wide eyes, starting to walk backwards. Thalia gave her a pleasant smile.

"Sure." She chirped. "So, what did you two place on the entrance exam?" She asked.

"Ugh, I only got thirty, I hoped to get more, but everyone was getting the robots before I could." Mina groaned, leaning her head back on her hands, noticing a pole behind her right before she crashed into it.

"I was recommended. I didn't need to take the test." Momo stated quietly, clearly not too fond of talking about herself. Regardless, Thalia and Mina gaped at her.

"Wow, with a quirk like that, I'm not too surprised." Mina said with a wide smile.

"You must be incredibly academically smart, too. I was considered for recommendation, but my grades and the amount of disciplinary infractions I had worked against me." Thalia admitted sheepishly.

"Disciplinary infractions?" Momo spoke the loudest Thalia had heard of her until now, which caused the purple-haired girl to giggle at herself.

"That's a story for another time." Thalia decided to wait before she gave up embarrassing information about herself. "Let's just say that I was a bit of a handful when I first got here, and I was quite resistant to the social etiquettes and the rules here I had to follow compared to how life was in Norway."

The three of them walked until they found a spot under a tree at a park where, as it turned out, they could split and their houses would be almost equal distances from that tree, and only a couple-minute walk.

The minute Thalia stepped in the house, Ljuvfina dashed up to her, gushing, asking about her day and wanting to know every detail. The two spent the evening talking about what happened. Ljuvfina was thoroughly amused by Aizawa's teacher persona, and promised her daughter that she would tease him about it next time she saw him.

Thalia was barely able to sleep that night.

What does tomorrow have in store for me?

edited 11•09•21

edited again 11•16•24

reviews

HelloWorld: I want to say something as you know her quirk technically her quirk isn't the most overpowered since mha is full of people with overpowered quirk take Eri,and her rewind all for one and her quirk is similar to both chojuros quirk chimera and tamakis quirk manifest only difference is that hers is like togas and tamakis quirk combined except she doesn't have to eat anything and instead of it being temporarily it can be for a long time only her brain get a little warped do to shapeshifting and she feels pain but other than that hers is just above average In term of most powerful quirks as I said the mha is full of overpowered quirk users also another thing u said her quirk can alter her dna doesn't that mean she can copy quirks since her dna is similar to the person she turned into also I want to say something the downside is that the she forgets who she is overtime witch is fair. powerful quirk have powerful drawbacks although what you could do is when she transforms into a person you could make her corrupt it with her dna so if she transformed into a person she could corrupt it by adding like her hair color or skin tone kinda like a doppelgänger that way if for last resort she could still stay the same that Way she can fight for longer periods of time against stronger foes that and when she copies quirks and all she still suffers from the drawbacks so really it also kinda the same as neitos quirk If you think about it is very powerful but not as powerful as quirks like [all for one],[one for all],[rewind],[overhaul],[permeation] or even shiragaki and his quirk to destroy everything He touches so really it it isn't the most overpowered quirk of all time and I can tell you work hard for this fanfic that and I hope to see more

Ps sorry Incase my review is long just wanted to point out some things
you're totally fine my guy, long reviews make me happy. yes, you're totally right, that is possible- but controlling her DNA would require an insurmountable amount of mental control, not only complete understanding of what she's doing and the ability to visualize exactly what she's doing. it's a huge relief to hear that it's not a quirk that is too overpowered, because i love shapeshifting and the idea of it so much. you have fantastic ideas, and you might find that i have not only taken inspiration from your review but also sort of had the same idea. once we talk of her childhood in the coming chapters, you'll like what you're reading.

M: Love this! Great chapter! Love her quirk! Love how she interacts with the other characters! Looking forward to the next chapter!
thank you so much M your reviews make my day

word count: 7,887