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07. sunshine & surprise tests

❛❛ 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑶𝑼𝑳 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲
𝑶𝑭 𝑨𝑹𝑻.❜❜

"A QUIRK ASSESSMENT TEST?!"

The class stood in the spacious field, in front of their teacher. The thought of a test seemed to shake a few people up, including Valentina.

A brunette named Uraraka, who Valentina had got acquainted with in the changing rooms, spoke up voicing everybody's thoughts.

"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?"

The homeroom teacher merely kept his back faced towards them. "If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events. UA's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes."

Aizawa turned to face his class. "You've been doing these since Junior High, too, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their Quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating. "

He turned to face the spiky-haired boy from earlier, who Valentina had finally recognised as the boy who was captured by the sludge villain months ago. "Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right? In Junior High what was your best result for the softball throw?"

"67 metres."

"Then try it using your Quirk."

Bakugo stood in front of the whole class, pulling his arm back, he threw the ball with all the power he could muster up. Explosions left his palms as the ball shot through the air.

"Die!"

Valentina glanced around at her classmates expressions. The majority of them watched in awe as the ball his the ground.

"So no-one is gonna comment on the face that he just screamed 'die'?" Valentina whispered to Midoriya who had noticeably paled.

"705.2 metres."

The class erupted into whispers.

"705 metres, for real?!"

"What's this? It looks fun!"

"We can finally use our quirks freely!"

"Can I go next?!"

Mr Aizawa's facial expression darkened suddenly. "'It looks fun,' huh?" The class quickly went silent. "You have three years to become heroes. Will you have an attitude like that the entire time?" Valentina didn't even consider answering his question. A dark look slid onto his face. "Whoever comes last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential... and will be punished with expulsion."

"Huh?!"

"Last place will be expelled?!" Valentina exclaimed, her eyes as wide as saucers. "But it's the first day of school!"

"Even if it wasn't the first day, this is too unfair!" Uraraka added.

Raiden rocked back and forth on his heels, a dazed smile on his lips. "I do love a bit of competition."

Kiaria, who was tapping her foot against the ground impatiently sent the two girls a dark look. "If it bothers you both so much, don't come in last place."

Valentina face-palmed, before sarcastically replying. "Wow! Who would've thought of that?"

Mr Aizawa's eyes glowed a deep red, instantly shutting everybody up. "Natural disasters, big accidents and selfish villains. Calamities whose time or place can't be predicted. Japan is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations. For the next three years, UA will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. Go beyond. Plus Ultra. Overcome it with all you've got."

Determination seeped onto everybody's faces. There is no way in hell that Valentina was going to be in last place.

"Demonstration is over, the real thing starts now."

As Valentina readied up for the fifty-metre dash, she glanced over at her opponent, he had introduced himself earlier as Hanta Sero. As he crouched down, ready to shoot tape from his elbows, Valentina felt her classmates' eyes burning holes into her.

"Try not to fall on your face, Beauregard!" Kiaria called out. She exhaled softly. Valentina had to show her class that she wasn't a complete clutz.

"Go!"

Valentina surged forwards before letting out a burst of energy from her palms, shooting her forwards. Sero, shot tape from his elbows, zooming ahead. She stumbled towards the finish line.

"4.93 seconds."

Valentina grinned wildly and glanced over at Kiaria, who merely sent her an uninterested look. Next was the grip-strength test. She watched in awe as Mezo Shoji, another one of her classmates, squeezed with all his might and hands.

"540 kg!" Valentina exclaimed, "That's crazy!"

"Are you a gorilla?" Sero asked. He glanced at Shoji's multiple limbs."Ah, an octopus."

A small grape haired boy, named Minoru Mineta, let out a weird unidentifiable sound whilst Valentina scooched away from him. After meeting him during the practical exam, she felt grossed out just standing next to him.

"Octopuses... are sexy."

Valentina winced before glancing over at Shoji. One of his tentacles twitched as though he were restraining himself from hurting Mineta. He then turned to face Valentina and placed the handgrip in her arms. She concentrated all her energy into her hand and squeezed as hard as she could before letting out a satisfied 'hmph'.

"183 kg!"

"Woah! Nice one!"

"Strong girls are also sexy."

"Thanks, I guess."

The fitness test seemed to be going well for Valentina but the same could not be said for her green-haired friend who was coming last place in all the exercises so far. He had told her, during the holidays, that All Might had given him his Quirk but the backlash was devastating. During the entrance exam, his arm and both his legs broke as a result.

As the last test came up, Midoriya seemed to be sweating a crazy amount. This was understandable due to the fact that if he didn't ace this last test he'd be expelled.

"You got this!" She encouraged as he held the ball firmly in his hand.

Iida, who was stood on her right, crossed his arms. "It does not look good for Midoriya if he carries on like this."

"Huh?" Bakugo, who was on her left, sent the boy a frustrated look. "Of course it doesn't. He's a Quirkless small fry, you know."

"He's not Quirkless." Valentina kept her eyes fixated on Midoriya, ignoring the two boys' stares. "Did you not hear what he did in the entrance exam?"

"Huh?!" Bakugo growled, averting his glare to Midoriya.

Valentina sent the spiky-haired boy next to her a wary glance. He looked as though he were about to explode any second. Quite literally.

They all watched intently as Midoriya swung his arm back and threw the ball. However, the ball didn't get very far.

"46 metres."

Midoriya glanced down at his hands. Bakugo shoved his hands into his pockets a smirk evident on his lips. He seemed more relaxed by Midoriya's epic fail. Then again, so did the majority of the class. His defeat guaranteed their place at UA.

"Like I said, " He watched as Midoriya stared at his hands in disbelief. "Quirkless."

Valentina ignored the boy and kept her eyes trained on Midoriya. What had happened? Did his Quirk malfunction or something? Her thoughts were answered as their teacher took a step forwards.

"I erased your Quirk."

Valentina watched in awe as her teacher's hair seemed to be levitating along with his scarf exposing his yellow goggles. Although Valentina enjoyed reading about comic heroes, she was also highly educated when it came to real-life heroes.

"That's the Erasure Hero." She thought aloud, breaking the silence amongst her peers, "Eraser Head!"

Her classmates seemed to be unfamiliar with the name.

"Eraser?"

"I don't think I've heard of him before."

She glanced back at her classmates before watching as the Pro Hero spoke with Midoriya, trying to lip-read their conversation. "I don't know much about him." She admitted, shoving her hands into her pockets. "But I know that he's an underground hero and that he doesn't like the media because he says it "hinders his work"."

"Erasing other people's Quirks," Raiden looked impressed. "That's pretty neat."

Valentina hummed in agreement. Eraser Head and Midoriya finished talking and Midoriya made his way back into the circle. He gripped the ball firmly in his hand.

"He must have given him advice," Iida concluded, causing Bakugo to roll his eyes.

"He's probably just telling him that he's expelled."

From Midoriya's crestfallen expression, Valentina seemed to agree with Bakugo. Whatever their teacher had told Midoriya, definitely wasn't good news. The boy suddenly straightened up and pulled his arm back. He threw the ball and the class watched in amazement as it zoomed into the air. They were so intrigued by the boy that almost nobody noticed the Symbol of Peace watching the lesson from afar.

Valentina locked eyes with All Might and he pressed a finger to his lips. The girl sent the hero a bright grin before glancing back at the boy.

"705.3 metres."

The class erupted into whispers and Valentina pumped her fist into the air.

"Go Midoriya!"

"Woah, he got over seven hundred metres?!"

"Finally a hero-like record!"

"His finger's swollen!" Iida shielded his eyes from the sun. "There was the entrance exam too. He has a strange Quirk..."

"It's not very stylish." A dazzling figure added.

Valentina sent Bakugo a cautious look as his face began to heat up in fury. "Hey, dude are you—"

Violent explosions left his palms as he ran towards Midoriya at top speed. Valentina stepped forward to help her friend when she felt someone grab onto her collar. Rio sent her a blank stare.

"It's not your business." Her voice was as quiet as ever. "Don't get into trouble."

She sighed softly and yanked herself out of Rio's grip. Since when did she care about Valentina and her well-being?

Valentina turned back to see what Bakugo was doing when she saw that Eraser Head had captured the explosive boy in his scarf, restricting him from maiming Midoriya. Bakugo stood frozen in his place, his fists clenched threatening. Midoriya edged away from the explosive boy and hastily ran after Aizawa.

"It's a waste of time to explain it verbally, so I'll just show you the results."

1) Momo Yaoyorozu
2) Shoto Todoroki

3) Katsuki Bakugo
4) Kiaria Zaveri

5) Tenya Iida
6) Fumikage Tokoyami

7) Mezo Shoji
8) Mashiroa Oijiro

9) Valentina Beauregard
10) Eijiro Kirishima

11) Raiden Zaveri
12) Mina Ashido

13) Ochaco Uraraka
14) Koji Koda

15) Rikido Sato
16) Tsuyu Asui

17) Yuga Aoyama
18) Hanta Sero

19) Denki Kaminari
20) Rio Kaneko

21) Kyoka Jiro
22) Toru Hagakure

23) Minoru Mineta
24) Izuku Midoriya

A big grin made its way to her face before completely disappearing as she realised who was in the last place. Although she had come ninth place, she couldn't smile knowing that her friend's dream was about to get destroyed.

"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."

Silence.

"It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks."

"What?!"

Momo Yaoyorozu placed her hands on her hips, as though she were surprised that the majority of the class had actually believed him. "Of course that was a lie. It should've been obvious if you just thought it through."

Valentina gave a sigh of relief, watching as Izuku sway back and forth as though he were about to faint.

Sero chuckled anxiously. "That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?"

"I'll take up the challenge any time!" Kirishima held his fist close to his heart.

Raiden slapped the boy's shoulder. "That's the spirit!"

Aizawa began to walk off. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom so when you get back, look over them."

He paused in front of Midoriya. "Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office. Tomorrow will be packed with more vigorous tests. Prepare yourself."

As he walked off, the class stood still in their place, processing what just happened. Valentina glanced over at Bakugo.

Ever since Midoriya had thrown the ball he wouldn't stop scowling. His crimson eyes were dark with rage. Valentina had to admit, this guy was pretty intimidating. She finally understood why Midoriya refused to take him on all those months ago.

"What's up with you?"

The boy merely glared at her and stalked off.

"Ray of sunshine. " Valentina reminded herself, watching as the boy muttered profanities under his breath, brushing past his classmates.

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published: 14/01/20