"Hands down, that was the coolest throw ever," you told Uraraka. You couldn't wrap your head around how she had thrown the ball to infinity.
"Ah, thank you, (l/n)!" The girl's cheeks turned redder than usual and her back stiffened. "Is what Bakugo said true? You know, that you steal other people's energy."
"Oh, you could put it that way. I like to say that I 'borrow' it. Sounds less villain-like that way."
Uraraka's bright smile vanished. "You won't take mine away, will you?"
"Depends if I'm fighting you, right? It's not like I'd ask you not to use your zero gravity quirk on me if we were training together."
The girl tucked a strand of her silky brown hair behind her ear as she nodded. "Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess I was taken aback a little at first."
"No worries. I'm kind of used to it."
"(l/n), your turn now," Aizawa called to you, interrupting your conversation. The bags under his eyes matched his severe expression as he looked at you dead in the eye. You acknowledged that you had probably annoyed him as you had been carelessly chatting when it was your turn to go up.
You grabbed the mechanical softball and stretched your arm, gently swinging your arm a few times. The whole class went silent at first as they stared at you. While some of them then commented that they felt bad for you because Bakugo had picked on you, others said they were glad that you had not hindered their abilities.
Little did they know that you had a higher background energy level than most. If you could focus that into this throw, you could make up some of your subpar performance in the earlier tests. The 50-meter dash had gone well, being one of the first; though after that, you had only got worse. Every reserve has its limits, and you had used up the life energy from the plants you managed to touch quicker than expected.
You felt your life energy coursing through your veins as you threw the ball into the air. The aim was off. The ball landed only a few meters away from you, not only leaving a small crater behind, but also leaving your classmates impressed at your strength.
Aizawa handed you a second ball. "There are no second chances in the world of heroes. Make sure to bear that in mind."
Your throwing arm felt so weak that you thought it might drag you down to the ground. But you would not let yourself down again. You wouldn't let your family down either, fully aware of the sacrifice that sending you to U.A. had been. You'd make sure that this first day was not your last.
Holding the ball with your other hand, you did not focus any energy into it whatsoever. Not until the last moment, when you let go of the ball.
Midoriya gasped when he noticed that you copied his actions. It made his heart swell a little, proud that you would use his idea. He made a note to ask you more about your power-type quirk later, as he looked down at his scorched finger.
"Six hundred and thirty-three meters."
"Did you see that?" The girl with the alien-like pink skin jumped up and down. "See Kaminari, like, there was no point being scared of (l/n)."
"Hey! I wasn't scared! No one wants to get expelled, though."
After all of you got through the rest of the tests, including the sit-ups, the seated toe touch, and the long-distance run, you plodded back to your place. Your knees buckled and you fell down. You tried getting up but soon settled that you would rest on the ground for the time being.
Kaminari rested his hands on his knees, as he panted. "You alright there?"
You stayed sitting on the clay, wiping some sweat off your forehead. "Yeah, just drained. Thanks for asking."
"Right, right, gotcha. My brains get fried when I overuse my quirk. Feels like TV static." He stared into space, his brain still slightly fuzzy.
Bakugo rolled his eyes at you. "Tch, grow a spine," he snarled as he swaggered past you and Kaminari to stand at the front.
While the rest of the students continued to gather in front of Aizawa, awaiting the results, your vision went a bit blurry. You blinked slowly, putting your hands on the ground to steady yourself. Yet you collapsed, your back hitting the ground with a muffled thud.
Todoroki watched you burning out like a candle in the wind, before extending his arm out to you. Because you didn't pay any attention to him, he lifted you up.
In a daze, you looked up to him, noticing how he held you firmly against his toned body. Unaware that your quirk only required you to touch him, he grabbed your hand and pressed it against his cheek, mirroring that time on Christmas Eve when you almost faced that villain.
None of your classmates scrutinized this as they were far too eager to see their ranking within the class, leaving Aizawa to make something out of this peculiar exchange on his own.
"Don't ask. Help yourself."
Your throat was dry and you couldn't speak. You let some of Todoroki's life energy flood into you, as though it was a small cascade of emerald light, trickling into your body. Soon enough, you were able to stand up straight on your own, which allowed Todoroki distance himself from you without a word.
Next, the much-awaited moment came. Mr. Aizawa released the results, showing them on the giant screen. Your shoulders relaxed when you read the last rank as it wasn't your name. You found your ranking in the lower half of the class: 13th, right after Koji Koda. Though mediocre, it was worth taking into account that this group of twenty students was packed with some of the most talented high schoolers in the country.
What you found unfair about this test was that you hadn't been able to use your quirk to its fullest potential. Students such as Midoriya had barely used theirs at all. You were gutted to see that he'd get expelled when he had been nothing but polite and pleasant to you earlier this morning.
Fortunately, no one got kicked out of U.A. Aizawa was lying, which caused its fair amount of commotion amongst your classmates. This was the best news you got all day, especially because of what you saw later in the afternoon.
---
Once your first day ended, you waited by the school gate for a while, observing your new classmates and other U.A. students walk down the road. You even saw Uraraka running up to Iida and Midoriya as they walked down, something which you could have done yourself, as you had got to know them a little better during lunchtime. However, you wanted to wait for Todoroki just in case. After standing by until the last student headed out, you realised that you must have missed him.
You walked down to the train station on your own, meditating on this. You wanted to thank Todoroki for helping you up today as you were trying your best to get along with him, but it just didn't seem to be working.
I don't know why I do this. He owes me nothing.
Rubbing the corner of your eye with your school blazer, you laughed at the futility of your attempts. How could you forget? Todoroki had made it clear that he wasn't here to make friends; all he wanted was to succeed.
You didn't realise how late you were until you read the board with the train departures and arrivals. Registering that you'd missed yours, you cursed under your breath. There was no point in doing much else than waiting at the station, seeing as the next train was due in half an hour.
As you sat down on a metallic bench, you placed your school bag by your side. That was when you recognised someone you were not expecting to see until the following weekend.
Uncle Daiki.
He wore dark clothes and a cap, so it was difficult to confirm it was him. Nonetheless, you saw how he twiddled with a lighter in his hand while carrying a briefcase in the other. It had to be him. You were about to go up to him when you saw another man approach him. You had never seen that man before, but something about his black suit and slicked-back hair made him seem out of place. You didn't understand what they were up to, surreptitiously engaging in a short conversation, your uncle stealing nervous glances from people hurrying past. Why would Daiki hand over that briefcase so casually to later just walk away?
You tried to justify it by telling yourself that your uncle didn't mention you he'd be in the city so he could pay you a surprise visit. Though that proved less and less plausible as you trailed behind Daiki. He took the electric escalator, and you followed suit, hiding behind various people on their daily commute back home.
Once you headed outside of the station, you lost sight of him. No trace of him to follow at all.
With your head bursting with unanswered questions, you fretted that you already grasped the answer to one of them. Was your uncle the honest, honourable hero he declared he was? Or were you being delusional, making too many assumptions to even dare ask yourself?