Whoever came in last was expelled. Wow. Yay. Totally fun.
Taiya was definitely not freaking out. No way. No how.
Changing had been nerve wracking enough. Despite what most people thought he wasn't comfortable getting nearly naked in front of just anybody. And he hated the unconscious comparisons he made between his body and others. It was just better to avoid group change rooms altogether.
He had no choice now. This was just how U.A was always gonna be.
God this was so far out of his comfort zone it was practically an alligator pit.
Bakugou had just thrown the ball so far it seemed impossible and now everyone was being handed it to see if they had a shot. Uraraka got infinity, so Taiya's hopes for himself weren't super high.
"Tachibana." Mr. Aizawa called out. The teen stepped up and took the ball. He tried to figure out how much strength to put into this, testing the weight of the ball in his hand.
"Don't hold back." His teacher instructed. Taiya grimly wondered if his quirk was mind reading. That wouldn't end well.
He extended his claws, as far as he was willing to take this, and threw the ball. The class all made astonished noise as it traveled slightly further than Bakugou's. The blond was seething when Taiya turned around.
"Better luck next time." He smirked, ignoring the slight tremble in his wrist from nerves. If Mr. Aizawa noticed it, he didn't say a thing.
They got through half of the class before they started the other activities. Running was easy. He'd be faster fully transformed, but it wasn't like he was slow on two legs.
His powers, much like Asui's frog abilities, weren't directly abilities of their animals. No frog had a tongue that long or strong. Their abilities were proportional to their human bodies, so Taiya was much faster than most snow leopards, simply by the merit of having longer legs.
He was lined up on the start line between Sato and Kirishima, with Ashido on the other side of him and Aoyama on the other side of her. From what he understood, they were all strong, but not all that fast.
Mr. Aizawa raised on hand with the other on the timer, ready to record. He dropped his arm abruptly and they started running.
Taiya smirked to himself as he easily passed his classmates, even taking his time to look around to meet Bakugou's eyes. He wanted to make sure he was watching him beat his time.
Because even with all their quirks, the average human running speed was 24 km per hour, and the average snow leopard speed was 88. There was no competition.
He passed the finish line easily, well ahead of the others.
Taiya slowed to a stop and checked his time, astonished. That was fast, even for him.
A slightly lightheaded feeling tugged at the back of his head, but he shook it off and got some water, assuming it was just the warning signs of dehydration.
He followed his classmates over to the other activities, running into Midoriya again as he did.
"Don't be nervous." Taiya said with a grin, "I'm sure you'll do fine.".
Midoriya looked slightly sick. "I don't know how to use my quirk for any of this. It's not applicable to everything like yours is. Well, assuming your quirk is some kind of super strength. What is your quirk?".
The mood had completely shifted with Midoriya's ramblings. The teen was now too interested in Taiya's quirk to worry much about failing.
"Its Black Panther." The actor explained with a smile.
"Wow, that's so cool! Do you have other cat like abilities? Like fur or maybe ears or something?". Midoriya observed Taiya intently as he asked.
"Not really." The boy flat out lied. "I have claws.". He extended them to show Midoriya. He had already shown them enough he couldn't hide them now.
Midoriya went back to mumbling about things as the pair went to test their grip strength.
Eventually it was Midoriya's turn for the ball toss.
He seemed to be steeling his nerves, preparing himself. The wind up was good, he threw the ball with a decent amount of force and a determined expression but...
"46 meters." The robotic voice recited.
"What?!" Midoriya stared at his hands and then the ball, unsure of what was going on.
"I erased your quirk." Mr. Aizawa announced.
"T-those goggles and that quirk...you're Eraserhead!" The green haired boy realized. Taiya had never heard of Eraserhead, but that was a cool quirk.
"You can't control your quirk at all. Do you intend to break your bones again? Do you want to have to wait around until one of your comrades can rescue you?"
"No I-"
"You can't become a hero with that power." The teacher said sternly. "Its best if you give up now.".
Taiya wondered how many bribes it would take to keep someone in hero school. He didn't have much ground in the hero world, he had nothing to do with it really.
But he did have money and although it couldn't buy happiness it could buy opportunity.
Midoriya's opportunity.
"You have one more chance." Mr. Aizawa finished.
Midoriya gave the ball a determined look. He threw the ball again, this time with a small burst of green lightning. The ball went flying and Midoriya looked back at their teacher with a determined expression.
"I can still move!" He said triumphantly despite the tears well in his eyes from the pain.
Taiya got chills down his spine. He needed to remember that expression, that determination.
"This kid..." Aizawa said, grinning like a maniac. "You have some potential after all.".
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"That was so scary." Midoriya said, breathing out a sigh. Taiya smiled.
"I knew he wouldn't expel you.". Midoriya didn't look so sure though. "It's only the first day.".
"Hey, you!". The pair turned to see the blue haired boy with glasses approaching. "My name is Iida Tenya, and I would like to make you my associates. I already know your name.". He turned to Taiya.
"Tachibana Yuka." He said with a smile. "Pleasure to meet you.".
"Tachibana..." He repeated, "If you only could cease those pointless arguments with Bakugou you would be an ideal ally.".
Taiya resisted the urge to snort at that. Before he could say something he shouldn't have, a horn honked behind him.
The teen turned to see Mori waving at him. "Oh, gotta go! See ya!".
He rushed over the car, slid into the passenger's seat and closed the door behind him. "You're here right on time.".
"Well, I figured you'd want to leave as soon as possible." The man shrugged. "You dread school and physically activity, U.A overlaps the two. Didn't seem like sort of place you'd want to hang around.".
Taiya pressed his lips into a thin line. Mori was right, that was the perfect description of his nightmare.
But U.A hadn't been like that. It was actually okay. He had, dare he say, some fun. He was thankful for the save though. He wouldn't have been able to hold himself back from making a second enemy if Iida had continued to push the issue.
"Just get us home." He grumbled. Taiya didn't want to have to think that much after a long day.
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So there's been a bit of a delay because.........(drum roll please)..........
The next chapter is Taiya's hero outfit reveal!
A lot of thought goes into these things, they have to be practical, strong, stylish. That's a lot for a non artist to have to cater too.
So yeah, the next chapter's gonna be pretty funny and have even more action.
Stay Tuned!