CHAPTER FIVE

"So, when were ya gonna tell me you were number one?" Mina asked, leaning against me as we sat in the park, my arm around her shoulders as the sun set. Maybe we'd head over to karaoke in a bit, but we'd done that the last two times, and it was nice just to sit like this after a day spent walking around the city.

I shrugged, "Wasn't going to; it wasn't that important." She looked up at me, disbelief written across her features. "It really wasn't. I wanted to get in, I got in. That's it. The fact that I'm in the same class as you is just bonus."

She looked away, though she snuggled in a bit closer to me, pulling the arm around her shoulders down so my forearm came across her stomach, hugging it. "Who says things like that," she grumbled.

"I do. Obviously."

"Fine," she agreed. "But who says that and means it?"

"I do. Obviously."

She was quiet for a long moment. "You do know you're, like, totally weird, right?"

Oh, you have no idea, I couldn't help but think, instead asking, "Weird good, or weird bad?"

Mina gave my arm a squeeze, "What do you think?" To which I just had to laugh.

After a bit as we sat peacefully, I tried to explain, as much as I could, "My dad wasn't the most expressive of people," either of them. "Lots of implied meanings, and stuff, but when I was younger it went over my head, or I just didn't know enough to get that what he really meant when he said something was 'passable', was that it was good, but that I should keep going and get great, but I only heard that my best was barely good enough ."

"So. . .?" the girl in my arms asked.

"So if I feel a certain way, I'll say so. Not some stupid 'Well that's just my feelings and I'm being honest so you're not allowed to get upset' bullshit, just, think about what's the worst that can happen, see if I'm okay with that, and then, if I am, say it," I stated.

She mulled that one over. "And if I said I didn't like you, like you like you," she clarified.

I shrugged, "Then better to be friends, and be happy with that, and not have any expectations that 'love would bloom with time' or that shit. I still was having a great time with you up until I said so, and if that's all it was, then that was cool too. I mean," I blushed slightly, "I'm glad you like liked, me too, but I wasn't going to try to force something that wasn't there. That 'superfriend' shit pisses me off."

"Superfriend?" she echoed.

"Yeah, when a guy or girl, though usually guy, tries to 'just be friends' because the other person says they aren't interested, but they don't act like friends," I stressed. "Friends have fun together, they help each other, but in these situations it's all one way, the person turned down going overboard trying to impress the person into liking them, trying to 'buy' their affection in a way, even though they don't realize it, listening to bad advice. And then the person who turned them down usually turns around and uses them, dangling the possibility of their affection like a carrot on a stick, telling themselves they never said that if the person they turned down does enough for them that they'll like them back, so it's 'okay'."

"Had someone lead you on?" Mina asked, with sympathy, but a bit of a joking smile.

". . . Yeah," I sighed. "But still, go forward, honestly, and with no regrets."

" No regrets," she agreed, and once more we lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Darkness came to the park, and she asked, "So, you've been training?"

"Of course," I smiled. "Only reason I'm not right now is because I'm here, with you. Helps me push myself harder to know at the end I can relax and have fun. Definitely the high point of my week."

She laughed, leaning back to look at me, legs kicking in amusement, "Oh my god, if you're any sweeter you're gonna give me cavities!"

I cocked my head, thinking. "I mean, I could be all gruff machismo. 'It's not like I like you or anything, baka'," I spat, scowling, doing my best Bakudo impression. Mina giggled, and I cracked a grin. "But that seems so tiring. Being high-strung like that over stupid shit? Ugh."

"I could help relax you if you did," she offered with a salacious smile.

Looking down at her, I asked seriously, "Do you actually want me to be like that?"

"Oh, god no," she quickly disagreed. "I like you like this," she stressed, quickly glancing around to see that no one was looking our way before arching herself up to kiss me.

"So," she asked, pulling back. "What kind of training do you do?"

"Endurance, skill, and experimentation," I replied. "Endurance is just trying to up my limit. I got a high-capacity battery, well, my dad did, and I pull and push charge from it to get my body used to working with more and more energy. That stings like a bitch, but it's already paying off."

"You're hurting yourself?" she asked, concerned.

I shook my head, "Not injuring myself, just pushing myself. Like, you can make acid, is there an upper limit on how strong you can make it?"

"Too much and I start to burn myself," she revealed. "Not as badly as it eats away other stuff, but too much and it hurts."

Recalling her training from the Summer Camp, that made perfect sense. "So you're resistant, not immune. In that case, with the way Quirks work, lamarckian as they are, pick wherever you'd make the strongest acid, and start making stuff that's just potent enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to hurt yourself. It might confer body-wide resistance, or only in the selected area, but it should let you up your damage potential."

She looked up at me in surprise, blinked, then turned back to lean against me, pulling my arm tight. "No wonder you're number one."

I laughed, shaking my head. "I'm number one because I'm fit, jumped into the test, had a Quirk that is great for taking down robots, and did well on a metric that we weren't told about. I'm going to continue being good because I ask questions and try new things instead of resting on my laurels."

"Resting. . ." she echoed, not getting the idiom.

"I'm not coasting on what I did before," I translated.

She nodded, obviously thinking hard. "I want to train!" she declared.

"Um, no one's stopping you, Pinky," I pointed out.

"I mean I want to train with you, dork," she grumbled.

I shrugged, "Okay."

"That's it? Okay?" she demanded, incredulous.

"Yep," I agreed, thinking about it. "You can shoot acid, right?" I felt more than saw her nod. "Is it a newtonian process?"

". . . What does acid have to do with American cookies?" she inquired.

". . . Oh, not Fig Newtons, newtonian physics. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and stuff like that," I explained, connecting the dots of her statment. "Nothing that complicated."

"Uh-huh," she replied, not believing me.

I sighed, "It really isn't. I'm not asking you to calculate mu variables, um, friction, and some other things, just the basic gist. Okay, Quirks are weird. Sometimes they work like you think, like Endeavor able to use his fire like a rocket to fly, but other times you get physics fuckery."

"Physics fuckery?" she asked, laughing.

"It's a technical term," I reassured her pompously, eliciting more laughter. "When I shoot lightning, it kind of follows physics as there's no kick-back, like from a cannon, just the flow of electricity, but it also doesn't instantly ground itself into the, well, ground, which electricity should." Which was a good argument for having some kind of control, I thought, I just need to figure out how I'm doing it. "But there's a Korean hero, Lightning-Man, who has a recoil from it and uses it to fly like Endeavor does."

"Lightning-Man?" she echoed, laughing.

"Hey, the number one hero is a guy with all-mighty physical strength called. . . All Might, the guy who has wings is called Hawks, and then there's Best Jeanist," I pointed out. "And it's not like our names are any better. My parents literally named me 'Electrical Thunder', or are you going to argue that, miss 'All Acid'?"

She nodded, still laughing. "Fine, all our names are kinda on-point. Nah, it doesn't push me back, but I can throw it to make it go further!"

I wished she'd gotten more screen-time in the main series, Mina was really just fun to be around, and not nearly as dumb as the show had made her seem. "Okay, that has potential. Can you control your acid?"

"No," she said immediately, before stopping and thinking about it. "Yes? Maybe! When I slide around, I'm not really putting out enough to move me that fast, it's kinda like skating, but that doesn't really make sense, when ya think about it, because it's not wheels. I never really thought about it, so, maybe?"

"And thus we have something we can test," I grinned. "Now, where do you normally go to test your Quirk?"

"The bathroom," she responded casually, freezing as her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

I considered that. "Hmmm, that makes sense. The surfaces are hardened and meant to be washed off easily. We can work with that. I think I spotted a hotel that was talking about how they had a room with an enlarged bathroom. The prices are hourly, so we could go rent one and work on tha-"

"How about a picnic!" she blurted out, stiff as a board. "We could go out, and work on stuff outside. It'd cost less, and just be the two of us!"

I shrugged, "That works too. Better, actually, as I could get some training in as well. Water and electric powers are not a good mix, and while I won't short myself out, it can be an. . . energetic experience for others. You free Monday?"

"Yes!" she agreed quickly, before sighing, relaxing back against me. "Sorry, it's just. . ." she trailed off, and I tried to think what could've set her off. Denki's memories provided the answer.

"I wasn't suggesting we use the room for its intended purpose," I reassured her, "However nice that might be. Just that it would be closer by, and, well, easier than going to either of our houses and trying to explain what we were doing to our parents."

She snorted, "'Hey Mom, yeah, this is the gorgeous beefcake I've been hanging out with. We're just gonna go into the bathroom and work on my Quirk'," she mock-assured. "'Yeah, the one that can melt clothing. Thanks!' Yeah, that'd totally go well."

"Be amusing to watch, though," I teased, and she twisted around to give me an unamused look. "Hey, my mom would just throw condoms at us."

"God, somehow that seems worse," she groaned, blushing. "So, picnic outside day after next?"

"Deal!"

"Sparky!" a familiar voice called, and I pushed off from the fence surrounding UA's campus to see Mina running. Launching herself at me, I caught her mid-air, spinning her around in a hug.

"Good to see you too, Pinky," I smiled, adjusting my grip on her to pick up my backpack and start walking for the gates.

"Put me down," she demanded, though her smile, if anything, got broader.

I rolled my eyes, "If you insist, M'lady."

"I'll M'lady you," she mock-threatened, before laughing. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're actually here! It doesn't seem real!"

"It is larger than life," I agreed, walking through the gates with her. It was an enormous campus, large to the point of screaming prestige, and made me feel like I was walking into the home of giants.

And in a sense, I was.

We found our class easy enough, sliding open the door to reveal about half of our classmates had already arrived. Glancing to the desks and counting off to find our seat numbers, I saw that we were going to be next to each other, and when I looked at Mina she was already smiling at me.

Mineta was sitting at his desk near the window, and waved at me, while the others were either waiting or talking to those near them. Dropping my bag off at my desk, I headed over to him, Mina taking a seat and introducing herself to Asui.

"Hey little man, glad to see you got in too!" I greeted, glancing to Momo who sat behind him, looking at me warily. "I didn't get a chance to thank you for saving me in the exam. If you hadn't done that, I would've had a much harder landing. I saw you were bleeding though, you okay?"

He blinked, seemingly not used to the praise, as the girl behind him appeared similarly surprised, looking at the tiny pervert consideringly. "It's no big deal," he dismissed. "When I overuse my Quirk, my head bleeds. And you took down one of the big guys. That was awesome!"

I shrugged, "So, we're in the same class, that's cool."

"I know, and the chicks in our class are so hot!" he mock-whispered, drooling a little. "And you walked in with the pink one? Did you see her boobs?"

Aaaaaaand Momo's unamused look was back.

" Dude," I sighed, "Okay three things. One? If you think you're being subtle or suave, you're a quarter as subtle as you think you are, and an eighth as suave. So, tone it down. Two? I'm friends with Mina, which is her name. We hung out after the test. Three? There's more to chicks than just having the appropriate parts. Like I said on the bus, beauty takes time, effort, and skill. Take her."

I motioned to Momo, whose eyes widened in a very 'deer in the headlights' look. "Uh?" she sputtured, unsure of what to say as we both turned towards her.

"Look at that hair," I stated, waving at the plume that came up from behind her head, and the single, long bang that framed the left side of her face. "Not only does she obviously take good care of it, but I've literally never seen that hairstyle before. That isn't a 'I can't be bothered to deal with this' ponytail, that took creativity and skill to look both that good and appear that natural. Right?" I asked the girl in question.

"I, it's just something I came up with," she demurred, blushing slightly. "Does it really look that impressive?"

" Yes," I stated. "But where are my manners. Denki Kaminari, nice to meet you," I greeted holding out a hand.

"Momo Yaoyorozu," she replied, starting to daintily take my hand, before she changed halfway through and grasped it firmly. "And the lightning-bolt in your own hair is suitably impressive, though re-coloring it must be a chore."

Shaking her hand, I let go smiling, "All natural, for better or worse. Quirks, right?" Turning to Mineta I continued, "And we didn't actually exchange names at the test. What's yours?"

"Minoru Mineta!" he announced, "And I can't believe you got the number-one spot!"

I shrugged, "And? It was a test that I was suited for, so I did well. And, heck, I heard there's four students that got in on recommendation, so I might not even be the best at that, they just didn't take the test. All that matters is that I got in, which I did. It's not like that makes me special."

The door slammed open with a crack, and a very annoyed looking kid stomped his way inside. "Which one of you shit-stains is Denki Kaminari!?" he demanded.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mineta pointing to me. Thanks man.

Short, blonde, and angry stomped his way over to me, while I waited. He reached to grab the front of my shirt, and I knocked his hands away, which just caused him to grit his teeth and glare at me. "So you think you're fuckin' better than me!? Just 'cause you got some stupid pity points, you bastard!?"

"I have no idea who you are," I lied, my tone even, and a little confused, which just seemed to piss him off more.

"I'm Bakugo, and I'm gonna be takin' the fuckin' top spot, pretty boy, so you better watch your ass!" he spat, starting to calm down, his declaration causing Mina to start giggling, an ugly look reappearing on his face as he turned and yelled, "And stop laughing!"

Stomping over to his spot he pulled his chair out, sat, feet on his desk, and promptly started pretending he didn't care about anything.

"How uncouth," Momo muttered, Mineta adding, "Yeah, super rude."

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!" the guy in question yelled, before going back to pretending we didn't exist.

"Right, well, I'm gonna go take my seat before a teacher comes in because of. . . that," I told the pair beside me. "It was nice to meet you."

"You as well," Momo replied with a serious nod, Mineta copying the motion at about half intensity.

Walking back, I took a seat, only for Mina to lean over and whisper, "So, do I have competition?" at my look she tried to growl, "I'm coming for your ass, but it's not like I like you or anything, baka!"

I cringed, trying not to laugh, whispering back, "From you that's cute, but I'm straight, and did not need that mental image, thank you very much."

Mina sat back in her chair, laughing uproariously, though thankfully she didn't tell Asui what was so funny, or I'd never be able to look at the explosion maker in the eye again.

The other students made their way in, Deku's arrival going as normal, as did that of our teacher, Mr. Aizawa, who could 'erase', really just temporarily disable, non mutational quirks with a glare.

He didn't even introduce himself, just tossed us our phys-ed uniforms and told us to meet up with him outside. When he announced the Quirk assessment test, while the others repeated his words in disbelief, in almost perfect chorus, Mina gave me an inquisitive look for having warned her about this, and I shrugged. Thankfully our teacher had his back to us, so he didn't spot the fact that I wasn't surprised in the least.

Asking Bakugo to throw the ball with his quirk, the only change I could tell from the original timeline being his mention that Bakugo had the most villain points, I understood why. The boy's explosion ability was more suited to showing off the difference a quirk could make than someone who just made electricity, and the angry teen shot me a superior look before doing so.

Then came the predictable 'this seems so fun!' comments from the class, which he jumped on with his 'this isn't a game!' response. It was basic bitch adolescent psych, but I had to admit he pulled it off well. Hell, with his statement that whoever scored lowest would get expelled, even his 'let the games begin' came off as more mocking than jovial, increasing the tension instead of sounding dissonant.

First was the fifty meter dash, and with it the first bit of my training that started to pay off. Paired with the tall guy with all the arms, I focused on my legs, feeling them ready to twist and shift as electricity arced from them. With the starting pistol firing off, I shoved them over the edge, blasting forward on rapidly lengthening tendrils of solid yellow lightning.

I could only manage up to my knees, and it wasn't stable either, but with my longer, twenty foot stride, the tendrils snapping forward as I moved my legs, digging in, and shoving me forward even faster, I didn't need it to be. One, two, steps I took, before feeling a familiar twinge of pain. The third step started but I could feel my control going, jumping with it right before they both snapped back to normal with a crack, my jump going to fall short of the finish line.

However, I'd gotten training in this too over the last few weeks, and pulled my arms and legs in, hitting the ground with a roll and shoving myself upwards with my hands, putting me back up and giving me time to get my feet under me. Stumbling across the finish line, the robot cheerfully announced, "Four Point Two Six Seconds!", Arms-strong passing by at six point four three seconds.

Mina was next, and took her position, expression focused, excreting weak acid from her hands and feet. With the starter pistol, the pompous one jumped into the air, launching himself down the track, and while everyone's eyes were on him, they didn't see Mina.

We'd learned that she did have control of her acid, but only when it was in contact with her body, and touching it again didn't re-establish control. Or at least didn't re-establish control yet. When she skated she was subconsciously gripping her feet and moving herself forward. With a bit of extra from her hands she could use it as a handhold to get started, one that'd throw her forward even as she pushed off from it, ditto for her feet.

We'd hit a bit of a centipede's dilemma during the picnic, where finding out that she could control it had messed up her natural control something fierce as her Quirk had hard switched from instinctual to manual, but after a couple hours she'd gotten a handle on it again. The amount she could control at once was limited, but I had a feeling it would grow.

What that meant was that, instead of working her way up to speed like she thought she had to when 'skating', she already started at a sprint and got even faster. She still had a maximum, where she couldn't make the acid fast enough to slide across and control it at the same time, but it was more than enough to kick her into high gear, beating my time, crossing the finish line at three point seven nine seconds.

Grip strength was middle of the group for Mina, near the top for me, Arms-strong coming in first, of course. Standing Long Jump had me use the same trick to push myself forward, and Mina tried to launch herself on a plume of acid. She didn't get very far with that, but still better than she would've done without it. Repeated side steps was where Mineta shined, with Mina coming in a distant second, just beating out Bakugo, but it was the ball throw that I was looking forward to.

Ochaco made her ball weightless, making it keep going until it left the atmosphere, which, when you consider she could do that to people was fucking terrifying, making me resolve to figure out some kind of mid-air movement skill just in case. Bakugo did his explosion throw, and there was the drama with Deku, because, as the protagonist, there was always going to be drama with Deku.

Mina went, twirling the ball like a shot put, encased on the end of a tendril of acid, shoving it at the end, letting it fly a respectable distance. Then it was up to me.

"So, other than don't leave the circle, any rules?" I asked our teacher with a smile.

He gave me an unimpressed look. "It needs to go that way," he stated lazily, pointing towards the forest. "You have two minutes."

Grinning, I grabbed the necklace I'd ended up making out of my shirt, and yanking one of the thin rings I'd gotten from a novelty shop, really some kind of coin from an anime, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that it was iron. I'd threaded a tiny string through the hole in the center, wrapping it around the metal cord of the necklace, making it easy to snap off.

Turning the high-tech ball, I pressed the coin into the side that looked to be rubber, concentrating to make the arc small but intense, squinting against the bright light as I tried to melt the edge of the coin to the ball, though it looked like I was actually melting the ball to the coin.

"Sixty seconds," Aizawa announced blandly, though there might've been a hint of interest there.

Blowing on it to let it cool, I firmed my stance, one leg forward with one back. With a deep breath, I tossed the ball straight upwards making it spin with the coin facing backwards, bringing my arms up in two parallel lines. Rotating the electricity in my body in divergent spirals, I lit up, stray bits of electricity sparking off me and lighting up the area with lightning.

Hold it, hold it, I thought, trying to make this work. It ate up electricity like nuts, and it wasn't anywhere near where I wanted it, but it was enough. As soon as it hit the right point, I ramped up the power, catching the ferrous material in the field the electricity pouring through my arms was creating, and fired.

The air split with a crack as the ball went supersonic, the shockwave slamming into me, forcing my arms apart but I was ready for it, rocking back on my heels, as dust was blown backwards, my classmates yelling in surprise as they covered their faces.

I let the built up charge dissipate from my arms, the one shot having taken a tenth of my current limit, and stood up straight, a second boom echoing from the distance. As the dust settled, I saw Aizawa staring at me, brow furrowed ever so slightly.

He showed his phone to the class which collectively gasped, "four thousand!" Did they practice talking like that? I wondered, not sure how they were able to make the whole 'greek chorus' thing work as well as they did. Turning the screen to me, I saw it read four thousand and thirty eight point six meters, which, if I remembered my conversions, put the ball just over two and a half miles away.

Nice.

Nodding, I accepted the score. I was no Electromaster, but it was a definite start. Even knowing the rankings at the end were bullshit I was still proud. Walking back towards the group, Aizawa held up a hand to stop me. "Why didn't you do that during the entrance exam?" he asked quietly.

"What if I'd missed?" I asked in return, already having decided I'd need either pinpoint accuracy or a clear field of fire, emphasis on the field, before I'd use it in combat.

He gave me another considering look, murmuring, "Good answer," as he dropped his arm. I walked back to the crowd, unable to keep from smiling as Mina was simultaneously ga-ga over what I'd done and annoyed that I hadn't shown her I could do that earlier as our teacher announced, "Mashirao Ojiro, you're next!"