༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁵. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋!

𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝟔: 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆-𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 running.

          Despite all the excitement (and terror) that had gone down involving Midoriya Izuku's mysterious Quirk and Aizawa-sensei's frightening red eyes, the 20 students of Class 1-A still had another three tests to get through until they'd finished their Quirk apprehension assessment. After their homeroom teacher's show of power, and declaration that Midoriya wasn't enough to become a hero—a factor which they feared could apply to any of them at any moment if the tides turned—, each student had gritted their teeth with determination and chosen to face the rest of the tests with even more vigour than before.

          For Tsubame, she mostly felt like she was going to fall asleep. All this using her Quirk to change back and forth was beginning to get really tiring: muscles sore, brain slowing. The girl hid a yawn in the crook of her arm and pinched her shoulder to keep herself alert. "Iida, Akatsuki," Aizawa-sensei called for them, "you two are up first for the long-distance sprint." She woke up a little at that. Tsubame's sharp eyes slid over to the taller, dark-haired, glasses-wearing boy. The two fastest, huh? Their gazes met. Both were determined.

          The course was a 400-meter track, and anticipation was thick as the two quickest students in Class 1-A stepped up at the starting line. Both instantly got into sprinting position, crouched expertly, at Tsubame's legs realigned back to those of a cheetah. She hadn't experienced such excruciating Quirk-related pain in her legs for ages, so it was mildly worrying. It's fine, she reassured herself in her mind, just over-using my Quirk for this one apprehension test. I can't lose at U.A. already. She gritted her teeth and bore the pain. It was just part of who she was, anyway.

          "On your mark... Get set..." the tripod machine began, before the now-familiar sound of its faux gun popping sounded out, and Tsubame and Iida took off in a burst of dust. They were there one second, and then they just weren't.

          A wild look had overtaken Tsubame's face—it had been a while since she'd been up against real competition in running, and she'd always thrived with the thrill of it—grin stretching from ear to ear, canines sharp, brows set low with determination. Her strong paws sprung off of the tightly-packed earth, powerful calf muscles flinging her forward, relishing in the feeling of the race, as the entire human upper-half of her body adopted a sprint position. Every sore strain of her muscles felt like music. Iida was perfectly matched with her. They ran side-by-side, even as one tried to overtake the other, and back and forth, because both of their talents, it appeared, were running, and neither were non-stubborn enough to give up.

          His Quirk was Engine—it was machinery, manufactured—, and hers was DNA Alteration—the natural building block of all living things, so even their genetics clashed with one another. Harsh breaths left Tsubame's mouth as she sprung ahead in a raw sprint. Her legs weren't as long as Iida's, but they made up for it in their solid strength. Pounced against the pavement. It was all going so fast. Dust and sweat and grit.

          The first curve was approaching and with Iida on the outer ring, Tsubame took it quick. She leaned inwards as her feet took the sharp corner, letting her hand press against the ground at the sharp angle to better take the turn. Gliding. It shot her around the bend. Iida seemed to take it up to another gear and sprinted around with steam pouring from the exhausts at his calves. Both teenagers were sweating profusely but neither was willing to back down. Again, they sprinted, at insane speeds, right alongside each other. Must have been nearing 110km/h. Tsubame willed her legs to go faster, even though they were a blur beneath her, gritted her teeth until it felt like they were going to break, and urged herself on. Iida threatened to overtake her, another gear upturning. Tsubame clenched her jaw harder, but she was grinning. A lopsided, determined kind of grin.

          You're not getting past me! she thought wildly, pushing herself on despite how much her legs burned and the bones ached with Quirk overuse. Iida, with his teeth gritted, seemed to be thinking the same thing. He pushed faster, so did she, and God it had been so long since she'd had such a good race! I'm going to win! Her thoughts were a determined snarl in her mind. It's going to be me!

          Another bend, they took it even faster this time. The two were pretty much just a blur on the track, kicking up dirt and dust in a trail behind them. Neck-and-neck, Iida pushed ahead a few inches and then it was Tsubame. Iida again. Tsubame again. They were the perfect match. Now, they were staring at the end. Towards the school building where the finish line was stretched out before, where their classmates had parted in the realisation that the two racing teenagers would definitely not be able to stop in time.

          Come on! Tsubame urged herself wildly. Running is yours! You can do this! A kind of grunt left her throat as she pushed herself even harder, legs straining, bare paws springing, muscles aching and threatening to lose feeling but she wasn't going to let Iida win. He seemed to think the same. But now the finish line was dawning on them so quick, that flash of white with their peers' eyes wide and mouths open. And Tsubame pushed herself on, angling her upper-half lower and using the leverage to better spring faster off of the ground. It was the last stretch. 70 meters. 50. She was pulling ahead! Her legs felt like jelly.

          Tsubame crossed the finish line a step or so in front of Iida. White a blur beneath her paws. Just like that "29.02 seconds!" the machine chirped, then immediately sounded out again, "29.16 seconds!"

          "Woohoo!" Tsubame shouted in victory, pivoting on her heel while still travelling the same however many hundred km/h speed, and then realised her grave mistake as her left foot twisted her body into the space in front of Iida's lane. Her eyes went big. So did his. Then he was crashing straight into her.

         The two flew. Tsubame kind of, metaphorically, felt her soul leave her body. They were airborne for a moment, and then they weren't, hitting the hard ground at an astounding speed. It felt like a car crash. She'd brought her arms up to defend her head, which proved useful as they struck in a tangle of limbs, his knee drove terribly into her ribs and her elbow caught him across the cheek, and skidded along the earth, bouncing. The first impact sent him flying up over her, tumbling with the speed and force. Her spine hit the ground next and she also bounced, feeling completely out of control as her body flipped over itself and tumbled across the ground. At about the velocity of a speeding car.

          She kept her figure hunched in on itself, limbs tucked close, refusing to break an arm or a leg. It did nothing to slow her body, though. She continued to flip, spine and shoulders connecting with the ground as she skidded and tore holes in the back of her sports uniform. Her knees flipped over her head and hit the tough earth more times than she could count. There was no stopping her. Tsubame was completely out of control in this situation, and for a moment the very potent thought at the forefront of her brain was: oh my God, I'm going to die during a 400 meter sprint on my first day at U.A. High. That was silly, of course. She did keep flying and crashing into dirt, though.

         Then, she just rolled. Backward somersaulted like a fucking Bakugan, across the dirt and just trying to protect her head, still maintaining her earlier speed. What the fuck? Suddenly she wasn't on the field anymore but had hit grass—huh?—, and blades of it flew up around her as Tsubame's body just plowed right through. Then she hit a dead-end.

          Her back struck the school building, shoulders against the ground as her legs hung in the air, with a mighty crash of stone, indenting the wall's foundation with her body. For a moment, her world was wholly pain. Everything was upside-down—oh, nope, that was just her. She was staring up at her feet, and past that, the sky, and she'd really become so pretzelled in on herself that she couldn't tell which way she was positioned or facing. She tilted her head back, so the top of her skull rested against the ground, caught sight of her worried classmates onlooking, and saw Iida looking mostly okay lying on the ground a few paces away from her.

          Then Tsubame began to laugh. It was a soft sound, genuine and silly, as her nose scrunched with the ridiculous of the situation—how she'd landed, the way she'd stepped in front of Iida's moving-train-force like a dumbass. "Oh, man," she chuckled, using her hands as painful leverage so she could lower her knees to the ground and push herself up the right way, long cascades of brunette hair falling over her face as she lifted her head. "I'm so sorry." Tsubame got up and stumbled over to Iida Tenya, who seemed also confused about the way that he'd landed, though he hadn't almost put a hole through a building like she had. Lucky their bodies seemed sturdy.

           Tsubame stretched out an apologetic hand to him. The tall boy considered it for a moment before taking the outstretched offering, letting Tsubame pull him to his feet. "Don't worry about it, Akatsuki-san," he assured her, though he looked to be in pain. Shit, so was she. Her body felt bruised already, and it was only her first day at U.A.. She was plastered with so many scrapes and bruises now, it hurt a little to move. "I should have stopped."

           Tsubame let a small amused exhale leave her nose. "No way, I was the one who stepped in front of you. That's on me." Iida accepted her apology with good grace, and didn't smile—as seemed usual for him—, but offered her a dutiful nod. She took that as a sign things were looking up.

          Track had started up again. That red-and-white-haired boy had gone, versing Bakugou, and in his wake had left a crystallised formation of ice poking upwards in shards. Tsubame walked over to it and snapped off a few pieces, the coldness sinking into her skin, offering some to Iida before she held her own to the nasty spots where she'd struck the ground in her fall. To her knees and shoulder. "Thank you, Akatsuki-san," Iida praised dutifully, doing the same to his own. The ice let her soon-to-be bruises relax a little. Then her gaze snapped upwards, because the 400 meter race that was unfolding was much too interesting to be looking away.

          Todoroki, was it? With his ice Quirk, he was excruciatingly fast, gliding across the ground at inhuman speeds and taking the corners as easily as one might surf a wave. His fingertips just grazed the curve. Small sparkles shot out behind him, the result of miniscule shards of ice flying up from beneath his sneakers and catching the light at just the right angle. It blew his red and white hair back delicately. Even Bakugou with his explosions, who'd beaten him by a few milliseconds in the 50-meter sprint, couldn't keep up against the raw speed and stamina as Todoroki's ice propelled him forward.

          "Shit," said Tsubame as she pressed the lump of ice to the corner of her swelling lip, from where her face had struck the ground on first impact, "wouldn't want to go up against him."

          Both Yaoyorozu and Ashido made a thoughtful sound in response, the former's dark brows pinched and her face calm with consideration. Her lips parted as the three girls watched him shoot towards the finish line gracefully, "Is it true that he's Endeavor's son?"

          In her shock, Tsubame almost dropped the slippery piece of ice in her hand, and ended up smashing it into her teeth instead, which really, really hurt. "Endeavor?!" Despite the pain, her hiss still came out a perfect mix of thrilled and intimidated. "Number Two Pro Hero, Endeavor?!" Her squeak was needed to clarify, in case there was some other hero named Endeavor she didn't know about. Yaoyorozu nodded dutifully as Ashido's mouth dropped open.

           "How are we supposed to compete with Endeavor's son?!" whined Ashido, turning her face dramatically up to the sky. She threw out her arms like she was standing in the rain in some kind of old cheesy movie. Except it was sunny and not even past 11:30AM, and they were in the middle of a high school sports field. "He's got a lifetime of experience and a cool Pro Hero dad. My dad's a librarian."

          Tsubame peered suspiciously at the loud, pink girl and tried to imagine her in a library. "No kidding."

          "That's just what I heard," clarified Yaoyorozu, though none of the trio had torn their eyes away. He crossed the line at 38.03 seconds. Tsubame eyed the boy, from his red and white hair, to his different coloured eyes, to the sore-looking scar on the right side of his face, even the way that he shivered a little. Did his Quirk really make him that cold? At this point, it was pretty easy to drown out Bakugou's angry yelling at him her mind, and Yaoyorozu pressed her knuckles to her mouth as the three girls inspected Todoroki Shoto, trying to pick him apart.

          Endeavor wasn't known as being the most charming hero. In fact, there were a bunch of popular ones in the top ten that were easily more likeable than Number Two. Did he even have a wife or family? She tried to see the resemblance. Sure, Todoroki looked a little like the Flame Hero: Endeavor. He had the same eyes, the one on his left side that was blue was the same shade of the famous Pro Hero's, and Endeavor also had red hair, but it was also a little hard to tell because Todoroki Shoto wasn't on fire, like Endeavor constantly was. Bakugou finished behind him at 45.19 seconds, looking furious and explosion-ready. Todoroki seemed to be ignoring him.

          "I don't get it," Ashido said, whispering for the first time since Tsubame had met her, "Endeavor's Quirk is to do with fire, right? How would his son have ice?"

          Tsubame frowned, lips parting, "Must have come from his mom's side."

          "Man," sighed Ashido Mina, looking disappointed, "I wish I had a Pro Hero like Endeavor as my father."

          Kaminari and Sero were by the finish line with Todoroki—Tsubame watched as they waved and approached him, congratulating the boy with the red and white hair. Todoroki's eyes distantly glanced over them. Then, he just nodded and turned away dismissively, not seeming to be one for conversation, or making friends. All three girls watching the scene unfold frowned.

          One of Tsubame's eyebrows raised, "Oh, he's definitely Endeavor's son."

          "Do any of you recall when Endeavor set that child's backpack on fire?" asked Yaoyorozu Momo objectively, her arms crossed lightly over her chest. Their eyes followed Todoroki as he stood off to the side, watching Class 1-A with observant and aloof eyes. Of course Tsubame remembered it—the Pro Hero was known for refusing signatures and generally not being interactive with his fans. Endeavor just didn't care. It had been quite the controversy on TV and in the news for a while, when some child fan had shoved his school backpack in Endeavor's face pleading for a signature and the Pro Hero had set the object on fire instead. Tsubame supposed it was the fiery man's right to deny signatures if he wished, but really?

          "Endeavor's not as good-natured as All Might," answered Tsubame in return. The contrast between the Number Two Hero and the Number One was as stark as night and day. Where Endeavor was intimidating, bitter and uncharismatic, All Might was cheerful, loud, inspiring, and always saving everybody with a smile. People would choose All Might over the resentful Endeavor any day. It was likely why Endeavor had been stuck in position Number Two on the hero rankings for so many years.

          "But he's still so cool!" exclaimed Ashido, waving her arms around again with her eyes squeezed shut.

          Midoriya and Tokoyami were called to do the track run next, but Tsubame stayed rooted to her spot. Her eyes held on Todoroki Shoto as the memories of Endeavor setting that kid's backpack ran through her mind, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be the offspring of a hero of that calibre.

          Test 7: Seated toe-touch.

          Okay, Tsubame loved exercise. She needed it in just about every aspect of her life to keep herself sane and fit. But she was exhausted. The urge for sleep pulled at her bones, and she took the liberty to flick herself in the forehead to stay awake. The threat of this assessment was expulsion, wasn't it? There was no way she was letting that happen. So, she sat on the ground with the rest, propping her legs out straight with the cross tucked between her feet, and Tsubame forced herself to keep going. Touch the cross with her fingers, bend back up straight and then bend down and do it all again. The strain on her abdomen and thighs were intensely painful. Her injuries from the fall stung.

           But she couldn't give up. She needed to keep going. Go beyond. That was the school motto, right? Plus Ultra. She repeated it in her head over and over as Tsubame pushed herself further and further past her limit, sweating profusely: Plus Ultra. Plus Ultra. Plus Ultra. Hoped it would mean something. She didn't score as high as she'd liked to, in the end, as the number 38 stared her down threateningly, but the rest of her class were pretty much at their limit too, and Tsubame thought she was doing okay in comparison.

          Test 8: Pull-ups.

          The final test dawned upon them as easily as Tsubame's body was telling her to give up. There were several high bars that Aizawa-sensei led them to—seven in total—for performing pull-ups, with a small recording device at the top of each.

          Tsubame was up first, along with the other of her peers who'd jumped at the chance: Kirishima, Sero, Bakugou, Shouji, Tokoyami, and Yaoyorozu. She'd rather just get it over with. They lined up together at the different bars, picking whichever ones suited their height. Tsubame and Tokoymai were at the end, because she was the shortest out of the group, except for Tokoyami Fumikage, who was somehow shorter than she was. When the machine told them, "Ready... Start!" in its high voice, Tsubame's hands secured around the bar and she began to pull her chin up and down one by one. Tokoyami just used Dark Shadow's strength, which was a bit unfair.

          Bakugou was shouting unintelligible sounds as he did his own at rapid space, and he used his explosions aimed at the ground to propel himself up each time, which Tsubame honestly didn't know what else she'd expected. It was true that as a girl with a physical Quirk, she'd had to work a lot harder to gain muscle than her male peers did—higher testosterone levels, and all that—, and it was also observable that virtually all the boys surrounding her were muscular in their own right, but there was no way that she'd ever let that hold her back.

          She bit back the exhaustion, and promised her body, I can rest over lunch, refusing to give up, despite how badly her muscles wanted to. Falling into her bed of plushies and curling up with a heat pack or two for her sore body sounded insanely good right now. She bit her tongue and pressed on.

          After fifteen, Tsubame momentarily dropped herself to the ground, stretching her arms and letting herself breathe. The rest of her peers did the same, at different intervals—Yaoyorozu had paused at five, Sero at ten: Kirishima and Bakugou, she noted, went until seventeen or eighteen, and Shouji and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow had yet to stop. But there was no way to keep a steady pull-up pace for much longer than that. She let herself breathe for about ten seconds, then secured her hands around the bar again and continued.

          Another sixteen, another break. Her arms, and all of the muscles in her body, in fact, burned with lactic acid. She paced a little, trying to wake up her limbs, hopped from toe to toe. It was hard work, even with the use of her Quirk. Sero seemed to be struggling too despite his tape supporting his arms. Dark Shadow and Shouji, had they even stopped yet? Tsubame knew Tokoyami's Quirk—that living shadow entity, what was it exactly?—was physically strong, with its shadowy arms lifting Tokoyami Fumikage in the chin-ups with ease. It didn't seem to be enjoying itself though. Were those tears in the monster-like being's eyes? Tsubame threw all her thoughts away and got back to the exercise, tried to convince herself that it wasn't that bad, pull-up after pull-up as her arms and abdomen burned. Just a little more... Tsubame had well pushed herself past her limit. The only thing keeping her going was pure grit and determination. I won't be expelled. Her other peers were pushing their Quirks to the limit just as much.

          "That's time," announced Aizawa-sensei, which cast a spell over the profusely sweating students. '46 pull-ups', Tsubame's machine told her dutifully, as she and the other training heroes gave up.

          Tsubame's legs hit the ground and she immediately teetered backwards, letting herself fall on her behind. Sero did the same but opted for the front-forward approach. His face smacked into the field. All the rest of her classmates had the same idea, falling onto the tough packed dirt with sweat beading across their skin and sighs of pain or relief, groans leaving their mouths. They'd finished the Quirk assessment test. Relief washed over Tsubame's system, the urge to just fall asleep, before she was hit with the crushing situation that she still had a full day of school left. Shit. Bakugou was the only one who hadn't sat down, but by the way he stood hunched, it was easy to tell that he was experiencing the same pain and muscle fatigue that the rest of them were.

          Tsubame was not the top score—Shouji was a beast—, but coming fifth in the most completed pull-ups, just beneath Kirishima, wasn't the worst. She'd managed to convince herself she wouldn't be at the bottom of the scoreboard, and therefore Tsubame was alright with it. The seven students sluggishly staggered over to the edge of the field and relished in the end of the assessment. Tsubame could quite literally not feel her legs—though they moved like jelly—, and she slightly felt like she might, maybe, throw up. It was to everyone's fortunes that she didn't.

          She greedily gulped down water and wiped sweat from her brow as she and the other six who'd gone with her sat on the grassy sidelines. Yaoyorozu Momo, who'd managed 19, was stretched out flat on her back with her arms raised above her head, panting. The girl looked just about like her soul had left her body, and Tsubame felt the same. They watched as Kaminari slipped from the bars and fell onto his face. Not everyone's Quirks were suited for physical exercise.

          Kirishima was rubbing his muscles, as Bakugou—miraculously sitting down on the grassy hill with them, though at a distance—scowled at nothing in particular. Shouji offered Tsubame a singular carton of orange juice. She wasn't sure where the boy had conjured it from, but took it with a, "Thank you!" and started inhaling that too. Any source of energy or vitamins at this point. Her body was desperate. While the rest of them slowly recovered—even Sero, who was lying face-down once again, started to shift—it seemed that Yaoyorozu hadn't stopped dripping with sweat, nor had her breaths slowed in their quick rate. She didn't look well. "You look really pale," Tsubame commented to the tall girl, offering her the orange juice carton that was still half full. "Have this." The gratefulness in Yaoyorozu Momo's eyes didn't go unnoticed as she reached out and took the drink from Tsubame's hand.

          "Thank you." The taller girl's voice was laced with gratitude, somehow soft and commanding at the same time. She must have noticed Tsubame's worry. "It's my Quirk," Yaoyorozu explained, sweat still beading along her forehead. "I pushed myself too far. But I have to do my best at U.A.." At the state of her condition, Tsubame wondered if she should take the girl to whatever nurse's office U.A. had, but Yaoyorozu downed the orange juice and Tsubame decided she'd sit on it.

          Kirishima Eijirou—who'd somehow acquired a Pocari Sweat sports drink—similarly looked noticeably concerned and shoved his drink into Yaoyorozu's hands as well. She was being showered with gifts. "Here, have mine too." Yaoyorozu's face seemed to crumple at the kindness, her gentle face going all soft.

          "Thank you so much, Kirishima-san, Akatsuki-san." Right, so Yaoyorozu was much better at remembering names than Tsubame, and she was a lot more polite. Tsubame had thought she was intimidating at first—in all her tall, pretty glory—, but so far she actually seemed incredibly sweet.

          "I'm sure you got high on the sport's board," Tsubame assured her. "You got the highest score in, like, pretty much every test." She was sitting cross-legged, though her back was hunched in a banana-like posture, and her hands were folded in her lap. She was too tired to return her lower-legs and arms to normal—if anyone had complaints about the animal appendages, they could take it up with her later. For now, she was staying that way.

          Yaoyorozu's returning smile was worryingly weak. "I hope so. I appreciate your concern." She spoke so poshly. Tsubame made the mental note to keep checking on her, even as all their attentions turned back to their other classmates on the pull-up bars. Hagakure was surprisingly strong, racking up a decent amount of numbers on the machine, or, again, she could have been cheating, which would have been a fairly easy feat considering her invisibility Quirk. Tsubame had yet to ask if the invisible girl could turn it off or not, but so far it seemed to be a solid no. Asui was using the strength and momentum of her tongue, Aoyama was using his navel laser, and it seemed like the rest of them were doing rather well considering the task. That was, except for one familiar green-haired boy.

          With Midoriya's broken finger, there wasn't much he could do. In the end, his score was even less than Mineta and Ashido's, hitting a measly 9. Considering his twisted injury, the fact he'd been able to pull himself up to the bar that many times was frankly impressive. Unfortunately, when he slipped to the ground after the time was up, clutching his shattered finger and huffing out breath, his single-digit number blinking back at him from the top of the bar, Tsubame found herself wincing once again. A Quirk that couldn't be used without injuring oneself—that sounded like hell. Especially considering he'd likely be at the bottom of the test rankings.

          Tsubame liked the kid. She hoped he'd ended up overtaking Mineta, or something.

          The group joined them on the sidelines—Ashido, Kaminari, Hagakure, Midoriya, Asui, Aoyama, and Jirou—, collapsing down onto the plush grass in equal levels of exhaustion. Several were just lying face-down, expressions of strain pressed into the ground. Others, like Ashido Mina, opted to curl into a ball and groan at the strain of their muscles. The next set of students went. Uraraka used her floating Quirk to complete the pull-ups easily, and Ojiro was helped by his strong tail that practically did all the work for him. It was interesting observing her new classmates' Quirks, how they operated. Tsubame wasn't sure if she'd need to use it in an ally or a rival situation, but they were enrapturing to watch anyway.

          Tsubame just offered her water bottle to Kaminari, who clasped it with both hands and drank like a dying man, and let her sweaty body hunch over itself as she still caught her breath and the last of their classmates participated in the test.

          After everyone had taken the eighth and final assessment, there was a kind of silence that had descended eerily over them. They picked themselves up, despite their aching muscles, and trudged over to the outside of the gymnasium, where Aizawa-sensei was standing in wait. The scores...

          "Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results," Aizawa Shota informed them. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the results all at once." He had that remote-like device in his hands, and his students watched in anxious wait. The last place gets expelled... thought Tsubame, swallowing. The teacher pressed the button on the remote, and a blue holographic scoreboard appeared in front of them, lining itself with scores. Tsubame's finger was aching, but she tapped it rapidly anyway. Her eyes searched with desperation.

          And so, the results read as followed:

          Yaoyorozu Momo — 1st.

          Todoroki Shoto — 2nd.

          Bakugou Katsuki — 3rd.

          Iida Tenya — 4th.

          Tokoyami Fumikage — 5th.

          Shouji Mezo — 6th.

          Akatsuki Tsubame — 7th.

          Ojiro Mashirao — 8th.

          Kirishima Eijirou — 9th.

          Ashido Mina — 10th.

          Uraraka Ochaco — 11th.

          Koda Koji — 12th.

          Asui Tsuyu — 13th.

          Aoyama Yuga — 14th.

          Sero Hanta — 15th.

          Kaminari Denki — 16th.

          Jirou Kyouka — 17th.

          Hagakure Toru — 18th.

          Mineta Minoru — 19th.

          Midoriya Izuku — 20th.

          So Tsubame hadn't come first. But she was not last. A great exhale that she hadn't realised had been building up released from her lungs. She got to stay at U.A.. For now, at least—who knew what else this crazy teacher would conjure up to put them on the spot? And seventh place wasn't bad at all, but her yellow gaze was more fixated on the last name on the scoreboard, as were everyone else's the moment after they'd sighed in relief at seeing their own name. Number 20. Midoriya Izuku. Tsubame's stomach gave a sickening lurch and she pretty much felt her heart drop. Midoriya... was going to be expelled?

          She let herself turn, all the victory slipping off her face as she looked at his expression. His features were sad and solemn, his face turned towards the ground as his fist clenched and shook. No... Tsubame wanted to fight, shout at Aizawa-sensei that this was all unfair, but by the time she'd turned around ready to snap, the homeroom teacher had already started talking. "By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."

          Tsubame's jaw dropped. Silence.

          "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks," he continued with a grin, and the class burst into screams.

          "WHAT?!" Several shouts erupted at once, Tsubame felt like she'd died and come back to earth in the matter of milliseconds, or like All Might had just punched her. A lie? A lie?! All she could do was stare open-mouthed in disbelief. All that was on a lie?!

          With her hand planted casually on her hip, Yaoyorozu pointed out, "Of course that was a lie. It should have been obvious if you just thought it through." It wasn't said cruelly, but with a matter-of-fact edge, her eyebrows tilted upwards with confusion. Her dark eyes looked over them through the side of her vision in a bit of disbelief, like she couldn't understand how she was the only one to see through their teacher's deception.

          Relief coating his features, Sero Hanta turned back to Bakugou, Kirishima and Tsubame. "That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?" he asked with a grin.

          One of Kirishima's fists raised determinedly, "I'll take up the challenge anytime!"

          "Please," spoke up Tsubame indignantly, a grin tilting up the corner of her lips, "I almost died on a collision course with Iida-san."

          The homeroom teacher's voice spoke up from the front, "With that, we're done here." He turned and started to walk away. After all that unnecessary stress... just walked away. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom, so when you get back, look over them." Behind Tsubame, Midoriya could be heard releasing a gigantic sigh, body hunching with the weight of the exhale. "Midoriya." There, he shot up again. Aizawa parted through the small crowd of students to hand him a paper slip. "Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office. Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous tests. Prepare yourself." Oh no—more? But then their teacher was walking off around the corner, leaving the stunned class behind on the edge of the sports field.

           The extended homeroom lesson had taken up the first-half of the school day anyway. Now they felt a little aimless. Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima and Tsubame glanced around purposelessly, eyes big as they looked between each other and then around them. Sero stretched his arms up over his head, and Tsubame pursed her lips. Her shining irises razed across the faces of classmates, who looked equally as lost. Some, like Bakugou and Todoroki, had already turned to head off in the direction of the gym, opting to get changed back into their school uniforms. Uraraka, Iida and Midoriya had headed off to find the nurse's office, with Iida powering ahead leading the way. Others were talking idly—but then Tsubame saw Yaoyorozu Momo, who looked like she hadn't recovered from the exercise and was slouched with lagging breaths. She'd said something about her Quirk's drawback, right?

          "Yaoyorozu-san, you look unwell," pointed out Tsubame kindly, worried at the girl's pale features. There was still sweat beading on her skin. Just what did her Quirk do to her?

          Her obsidian gaze slid over to Tsubame, passing the worried gazes of a few of their other classmates. "I just need to eat," she explained wearily, voice weak, at which Jirou and Hagakure instantly each took one of Yaoyorozu's arms and dragged her off towards the cafeteria, the taller girl who let them and looked entirely like she was about to faint. She didn't exactly have a say in the matter. The girl was being hauled along anyway.

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𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 sit at lunch had always been one of life's greatest plights. At her middle school, Tsubame had always struggled with it. Everyone had always been wary or completely avoidant of her, with her outgoing and sometimes overpowering nature, and her tendency to shout about everything. She'd gone to a small, quiet neighbourhood school where hyperactivity was practically avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, that had included its resident DNA Alteration Quirk holder.

          When Tsubame stepped into the U.A. cafeteria and collected a tray for her bento boxes and tea, she felt a sense of dread rising in her chest. That this was going to be just like junior high again. That she was going to have to sneak outside to sit on the lawn by herself, or get trays slammed down on empty seats when she walked by. It felt so suddenly and jarringly mundane in the hero school that it brought with it a rising sense of terror.

          Tsubame was just nervously observing the room as she clutched her tray—picking out the different groups of her classmates at tables, eyes scanning over how casually they spoke—when an arm linked through her own, catching her off guard. The girl's eyes widened and her head immediately snapped towards whoever had grabbed her. "Hey, come sit with us!" It was Kirishima, his sharp-toothed grin wide, red hair spiky as ever. Then the boy pointed swiftly over to a table in the centre of the cafeteria, where Ashido Mina, Kaminari Denki, Sero Hanta, and Bastard were all sat. Ashido and Kaminari waved enthusiastically with matching grins as they saw her gaze.

          "Oh, sure!" Her eyes smouldered when she saw Bakugou's hunched and angry-looking figure, but she smiled widely anyway, canines poking over her lower lip. Ashido cocked her head with an inviting grin, her voluminous pink hair falling over her shoulder and blocking Sero's view. Tsubame just let herself get tugged over by Kirishima with their looped elbows, careful not to drop her tray as they whizzed through the crowd of First, Second and Third Years trying to get their lunch. "Hey, everyone!" she said cheerfully as she reached the table, placing her tray down in the empty spot at the end of the table, beside Ashido and across from Kirishima.

          "Hey, Akastuki-san!" exclaimed Ashido, as Tsubame sat down next to her. "You did great in the apprehension test!" Her voice was easily-excitable and she happily slammed her pink hands down on the table.

          "Oh? Thanks, Ashido-san! So did you! I was totally surprised with how fast you went in the long-distance run." The girl's acid quirk went a long way with increasing her speed when she slid along it, and the talent was much to everyone's surprise.

          Kaminari Denki was eating some of the cafeteria food that had been served by the Cook Hero: Lunch Rush, wolfing the meal vigorously. "When you sprinted off during the 50-meter I almost fell flat on my face," he told Tsubame, his bolt-like streak bouncing with his side fringe. The boy offered her a wide grin.

          "But you totally outdid me in the repeated side steps and pull-ups," Tsubame pointed out. "Figuring out how to overload the recording machines was genius."

          The boy instantly spread his thumb and index finger in an 'L' shape and pressed them to his chin, like he was pulling a thoughtful pose. "A genius, huh? Why thank you!" One of his eyebrows had raised.

          From at the other end of the table, beside Kaminari, Bastard scoffed and spat out an unfriendly, "Fucking idiots," not even in a way that was endearing in the slightest. Tsubame glared at him. She didn't even get why he was at the table if he disliked everyone. Bakugou didn't seem happy to see her sitting with them, though she wasn't sure she'd seen him happy in all five hours they'd been here. Except for, maybe, when he was causing chaos. They made eye contact, and the immediate tension was noticed by everyone at the table. He scowled. An actual growl left the bastard's mouth, and Tsubame didn't hesitate to growl right back. Hers was significantly more terrifying though—a legitimate vocalisation of canine aggression from the back of her throat up to her warningly snarled lips—, much more wolf than girl. Once that was settled, Tsubame turned right back to her stack of bento with a cheery grin and glanced around at the faces of her classmates. Kaminari Denki. Ashido Mina. Sero Hanta. Kirishima Eijirou.

          No one responded to Bakugou's comment, or told him to leave, so he just sat there looking hostile as the rest of them fell into friendly conversation.

          "Don't call Kaminari-kun a genius," warned Sero as he picked around in his cafeteria lunch with chopsticks and large hands. "He'll get a big head." He was grinning widely like he was just wanting to start chaos.

          Kaminari momentarily stopped stuffing his mouth to shoot Sero a wounded look, pointing across the table to him with an accusatory index finger. "Says you, giant elbows!"

          As Tsubame unlidded her bento box and started to dig in, Ashido gasped. "Tako sausages? No way." Her black gaze was focused on the small octopus-shaped sausages wedge in between other pieces of food, expression practically glimmering. A small smile pulled up the edges of Tsubame's mouth.

          "Want some?" Tsubame offered, holding out the box much to the pink-haired girl's starry-eyed glee.

          "Oh, wow!" Ashido shouted, pumping a fist in the air. "Thank you!" She reached over Tsubame to pick up the tiny octopus-shaped food, holding them delicately between her fingers. The little drawn-on smiley faces stared back at her. "I haven't had these since elementary! I don't care what anyone else says, the design makes them taste a million times better." To prove her point, she popped one in her mouth and grinned widely.

          "That's the same with everything, though," added Sero thoughtfully, looking down between his own school cafeteria lunch prepared by the Pro Hero Lunch Rush, versus Tsubame's handmade bento. "I miss when my mom used to make me kyaraben."

          Tsubame's face lit up, and she unlidded her second bento box. "I have kyaraben here!" she exclaimed, revealing to the dark-haired boy her specially-made My Neighbour Totoro themed bento. Everything was much more enjoyable to eat when it was cute and colourful.

          "Oh, that's awesome!" Sero instantly looked excited. "I just got money to buy lunch. Everything here is dirt cheap." He gestured to his own beef bowl, pickled onion and sticky sesame rice that was in a ceramic bowl. It did look delicious, but Tsubame would always prefer her dad's handmade meals.

          Kirishima's finger was gesturing to Tsubame's food. "Hey, Akatsuki-san, why do you have two bento boxes?" His question was genuine and confused.

          Eyes flickering up from her meal, Tsubame's gaze focused on her classmate's face, his mouth pulled into a soft 'o' shape as he tried to understand. "I need to eat a lot for my Quirk," she explained, digging into the first bento her father had prepared with vigour. "It uses a lot of energy." Typically, one bento was enough for a full meal. Tsubame usually ate two. It also gave her spare food to give away.

          "You know," Kaminari said eloquently, through a mouthful of food, "I really am going to hold you to a Pokémon match." His eyes were fastened on Tsubame's from down the table, blond side fringe momentarily flopping over his gaze. He tossed his head in order to flick the hair back.

          "Ooh, can I ref?!" exclaimed Ashido, her pink hand waving excitedly in the air.

          Sero, beside her, leaned forward so he could peer around her body. "I'll be assistant ref."

          Kaminari continued to shove more lunch into his mouth and scrunched his face. "You don't need referees in Pokémon!" he said indignantly.

          "How else would we know if you cheated?" accused Kirishima seriously, his red eyes wide. Were all of them into video games? Oh, this was going to be so fun!

          "You can't cheat in Pokémon!" Kaminari argued. He was waving his chopsticks around.

          "Don't underestimate me and my ability to get weird hacked DS games," Tsubame countered, thinking about that one cartridge she ordered from eBay that was in Russian and also definitely not the SoulSilver game she'd been expecting. Weird ROMs were something else. Maybe she'd have to show it to Kaminari sometime.

          Her eyes took the time to glance around the large cafeteria, where First, Second and Third Years were all sat at their own tables chatting amongst themselves. At one, sat three of Class 1-A's girls. Hagakure Toru and Jirou Kyouka were stuffing food into Yaoyorozu's mouth—who'd gotten some colour back into her face but was still sweating—, even despite the protests of the other girl, who looked embarrassed about being forced food in such an unpolite manner. "Everyone's made friends already, huh?" asked Tsubame mildly, peering around at the different cafeteria tables, her eyes lingering on where Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka were sat together. "These three years are going to be so interesting." She chewed on her tonkatsu chicken as the thoughts tumbled around her head.

          Kaminari and Ashidio made similar sounds of agreement, the girl vocalising a drawn out, "Right?" as the electric blond hummed through his mouthful.

          "I wonder when real hero training will start," Sero pondered. His odd-shaped elbows were resting on the table, while one of Ashido's knees were drawn up and her foot placed beside her thigh on the chair. Their manners were a stark contrast to the way Iida and Yaoyorozu presented themselves as. Good, thought Tsubame, as the red-head across from her reached over with his chopsticks to steal a piece of grilled salmon from her second box. It's what I need. Tsubame didn't mind, not really, and pushed the bento towards him, to be met with a grateful smile.

          Ashido asked, "Today was training, wasn't it?" as she stole another of the tako sausages and popped it in her mouth. Tsubame, in turn, stole some of the pink girl's gyūdon. Since Ashido was taking some of Tsubame's favourite bento box pieces, she also took half of the poached egg atop the beef bowl. Neither girl said a thing as they ate.

          "Ah, I guess. But I want to get into the big stuff, you know?" Sero was enthusiastic as he threw one of his fists up into the air, elbow crashing into the table and sending it jittering. Tsubame kicked out and steadied the table leg with her foot. She'd put her shoes back on since the test. "Like, when do we get to fight villains?"

          "Aren't villains a bit soon?" The look Kaminari shot towards them was a little uneasy.

          Kirishima's fists slammed together in that same knuckle-to-knuckle pose he'd showed Tsubame earlier in the day. "Bring the villains on! Isn't that what we signed up for? We could take them." His grin was sharp.

          A side-look from Ashido. "You haven't changed since middle school!"

          A finger pointed towards Ashido from the table as Kirishima exclaimed back to her, "Neither have you!"

          "Wasn't middle school, like, just a few months ago?" asked Sero with brows raised, wondering how they could have possibly expected to change in just that short time.

          There was a bright, sly grin that drew across Ashido Mina's face as she spied her red-haired acquaintance across from her. She leant her elbow on the table and adopted a look of pure mischief. Black eyes were narrowed slyly. She knew something they didn't. "You know, when I saw you at the steps of U.A. I was surprised to see your hai—"

          "Ashido-chan!" Kirishima all but dove across the table, sending a bowl of gyūdon and Kaminari's white rice flying, and spilling Tsubame's tea onto the floor. His hands clasped over her mouth before she could say more. Kaminari yelped and then looked devastated at the state of his rice that lay exploded on the ground, while Tsubame just raised her brows while observing and ate another piece of tonkatsu. "Stop that!" he exclaimed to her, red eyes big. Bakugou's hands were steaming and his lip was curled at the sudden interruption.

          The racket had everyone in the tables around them watching—including Midoriya's table, and Yaoyorozu's. "Hey, Kirishima-kun," said Kaminari matter-of-factly, prodding him between the shoulder-blades. "You're causing a scene."

          Whatever Ashido was saying was muffled entirely by Kirishima's hands, but she continued to speak while her grin was hidden behind his palm. Some upperclassmen were staring. Tsubame just took a pick of the Totoro onigiri her father had handcrafted and bit off an ear, watching with much amusement. She then shoved a mouthful of chrysanthemum leaves goma-ae past her lips, not bothered by the conflicting tastes. Her other hand toyed with a small seaweed and rice ball made to look like a soot sprite. Oh, to have a professional chef as a father.

          "You're not allowed to say anything," Kirishima insisted. His crimson eyes were widened, suddenly serious, and now Tsubame really was curious. Cocking her head, she leant her tired cheek on her knuckles. What could be such a big secret?

          Tsubame caught the muffled response of, "Why?" behind his hands, but he gave her a stern look and Ashido's grin widened. "Okay, okay. Hey, a Third Year's coming over here—" Her smothered words were coupled with her raccoon-like eyes peering behind where Kirishima was stretched out flat across the table. Tsubame's own gaze followed the direction and, surely enough, there was indeed an upperclassman their elder by likely a few years walking in a direct line towards them, as Kirishima started to turn his head towards her. A blue-haired girl, delightful looking.

          Without putting much thought into it, Tsubame grabbed Kirishima by the back of the shirt and hauled him towards her side, dragging him across the table's surface. Despite his height and muscularity, it didn't take a whole lot of effort. When he hit the edge of the table, Kirishima tumbled down, where he fell ungracefully front-first on the seat between her and Ashido. His sweeping leg kicked off his own cafeteria tray and got dangerously close to her own food. Tsubame saved her kyaraben box with her other hand, catching it easily.

          From there, with Kirshima flopped awkwardly stomach-down in the chair, they watched the Third Year approached. Kirishima propped his hands onto the chair with his knees slipping to the ground, and tried to turn himself around in the seat, sticking his head up just enough so he could peer over the table. His spiky red hair stuck up in all directions. It was pretty adorable. Just because she could, and because she'd never been the best at reminding herself that personal space was a thing, Tsubame reached down and put her hand atop his head, ruffling her fingers through his cherry-coloured hair. It pointed the gelled-up strands in even more directions than before. From his spot at that low-down, she saw his crimson eyes shoot up and his lips part into a wide grin. Then the upperclassman with bouncing periwinkle hair was at their table.

          She was short and sweet looking, with a wide smile. Kirishima was still at the same height ducked mostly below the table, but his eyes were focused on her. The rest of the table had turned to look at the Third Year too, except for Bakugou, who was scowling and shovelling rice and other cafeteria lunch into his mouth angrily. He ate furiously too...? Though Tsubame knew they were about to get scolded, the girl seemed much too kind. She just radiated harmless energy. Closing her eyes momentarily, the long-haired upperclassmen tilted her head and smiled softly at them. "I know you're all First Years, but please try to not cause a commotion during lunch! The teachers might get upset. And if Aizawa-sensei in particular catches you then that won't be fun for anyone!" Her fingertips were pressed together as she smiled delightfully. Even her voice was adorable and soft.

          "Sorry, Senpai!" spoke up Kirishima from where he was positioned at table-height, Tsubame's hands still in his red hair. "We'll be more respectful now."

          Tsubame gave the girl a lopsided smile, canines showing. "Don't worry, I'll keep these guys under control. Thanks for warning us, Senpai." Both Kirishima and Kaminari made a sound of protest, clearly wondering when Tsubame had become their keeper, but no one verbally spoke out in disagreement.

          They'd been expecting a scolding, but the girl seemed more interested in making friends.  "Of course! I hope you all have fun at U.A.. It's hard work but it really pays off! It's, like, the best. The best of the best!" She pressed her hands happily down against the edge of their table, grinning genuinely between the six students.

          "Hado! Leave the First Years alone!" a boy from her table shouted across the cafeteria, catching her attention.

          A look of soft realisation crossed her face. The upperclassman—Hado—clasped her fingers apologetically together once again. "Ah, sorry! It was nice to meet you all!" She gave a soft wave to the group of six First Years before turning back around and heading back to her Third-Year table with a small skip in her step. They watched her sit back down, poking innocently at a dark-haired boy's shoulder and speaking happily with the blond across from her.

          They all stared, and Tsubame ignored when she saw Ashido take another tako sausage out of her peripheral vision. So that was what being at U.A. would look like in three years? Kaminari interrupted the silence from across the table, turning their group's attention to him, "Hey! She was cute." He was still focused on the Third Year in a dreamy, grinning kind of way.

          Ashido must have kicked his ankle from under the table, because Kaminari yelped and reached down to clasp at his leg. "Don't even try it," she warned casually, stealing one of Tsubame's soot sprite onigiri. "No way you have a chance."

          "So mean!" Kaminari complained, but also reached over to take a piece of Tsubame's food. She didn't mind, because then Kirishima was popping back up all the way and wedged Ashido and herself apart, squashing between the two girls with his shoulders shoving at them. Mina made a half-endeared, half-irritated sound and Tsubame snorted as he pushed her into the next seat, the big giant-hearted oaf. "I could definitely flirt with her."

          "You'd get shut down so quick, 'Kohai'," Ashido imitated, grinning widely with her teeth. Her finger flicked a spare grain of white rice at him. "Upperclassmen are out of your league."

          Kaminari jolted a thumb towards his chest. "I'm the romance master!"

          "Oh yeah? How many girls have you dated?" asked Tsubame playfully, leaning over the table towards him with a sly grin. Her own number of dates was also zero, so she didn't have a lot to go off of, but considering she'd already thought Kaminari had flirted twice with her today it was fun to put him on the spot. As nice as he was.

          The spluttering that came out of the electric boy's mouth was proof enough. "W-what—? That's not— that's not indicative of anything!" Embarrassed, his ears had turned her as he planted his fists down onto the table.

          Waving her chopsticks in the air, Ashido pointed the cutlery at him casually, pouting her lips. "Dating an upperclassman in U.A. would be weird, right? You should stick to someone in our year." Tsubame wasn't sure when this had become the 'give Kaminari Denki romance advice', but here it was, and she was perfectly happy inserting herself into the conversation to tease the boy a little.

          "Mmm, like Jirou-san," Tsubame agreed, nodding.

          "Jirou-san's scary!"

          "Try Hagakure-san," suggested Ashido snidely.

          "Hagakure-san's invisible!" he protested.

          "Rude," Tsubame teased. "Wait till I tell her that's a reason to not date her." She bit into more of her Totoro onigiri with purpose, grinning sharply, and Kaminari Denki's eyes went wide.

          His words tripped over themselves in protest, something about how that's not what he meant, when he was interrupted by the redhead now crammed between the two girls. "I think you could do it, Kaminari-san!" exclaimed Kirishima with enthusiasm. The two boys high-fived across the table. "When you're a popular Pro Hero, you'll have a lot of women who like you!"

          He was promptly elbowed in the side by Ashido and swatted on the hair by Tsubame. "Don't be a dummy!" Ashido exclaimed, waving her hand in the air above her head at top speed. "If I said that about men that would be rude!" Kaminari, who had the same sparkling 'smart' pose as before, the one where his index finger and thumb framed his chin like he was doing some very solid thinking, got a soot spite rice ball thrown at his face by Tsubame. It was a bit harder than she'd anticipated and exploded on impact.

          Immediately, Kirishima looked ashamed, his face scrunching and eyes squeezing shut. Guilt covered his face. "That wasn't very manly of me..." reprimanded Kirishima to himself, clutching his hand into a fist in genuine internal agony. The shame was palpable, even when Ashido and Tsubame poked at his side and said they were only making fun.

          "Oi, Kirishima-san," asked Tsubame as she leant on her arm on the table, yawning. "Would you say that I'm manly?"

          "Of course!" he answered instantly, beaming. "You're super cool and manly! It's about your attitude, you know, not about your gender!" Tsubame hummed, content, with a smile. "You're all manly here!"

          Kaminari shot him a shining lopsided grin, blond and lightning-streak fringe flopping, and snapped a thumbs up out in front of him. "Thanks! So are you!" Tsubame had mostly forgotten about Bakugou sitting at the opposite corner of their table, but at that moment his hand crackled with a small random explosion and popped the empty can of soda he was holding. He still got ignored, because he hadn't actually said anything, but at least the bastard had made his presence known. Tsubame felt content. Happy. Warm. She couldn't help but just smile as the table fell into silly antics and each of its members gradually stole pieces of food from her two bento boxes.

          She was elated when no one at the table complained about her resting her cheek against the table's surface and watching them sleepily from the horizontal.

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 the day contained a collection of English and Math classes, and most strangely Home Ec, for some reason, during which Tsubame thought it was going to be very amusing to watch the more intimidating students like Bakugou, Todoroki and Tokoyami cook and sew. She'd nearly fallen asleep during English, and would have had it not been for the English teacher being Pro Hero Present Mic, whose loud voice was much too ear-piercing for her to drift off. She did, though, sleep for a solid seven minutes during Mathematics A, managing to achieve it while sitting up and still seeming half alert (it was a practised skill).

          Hopefully, honing her skills at U.A. would help her be able to use her Quirk for longer periods without experiencing such exhaustion.

          As it was, napping in Pro Hero Ectoplasm's mathematics class was a rather risky move considering how intimidating the monstrous-looking teacher was, with his pulled-back lips and dark full-body hero uniform. But Ojiro Mashirao had been nice enough to hit the back of her chair with his tail when he noticed her sleeping sitting up, and it jolted her awake just before the Duplicate Hero teacher started asking questions. She'd answered wrong when he'd asked her what the quadratic equation formula was, but at least he hadn't caught her asleep.

          When school was finally over, Tsubame was completely and utterly exhausted. She'd gotten about a total of twenty minutes of sleep in Ectoplasm's class in several five-to-seven-minute intervals, but after the Quirk Apprehension Test she thought she was actually in real danger of passing out. Yawn after yawn spilled from her lips throughout classes, and then when she was collecting the things from her locker in Class 1-A's homeroom. She yawned through saying goodbye to her friends, with half-lidded eyes, and high-fived Kirishima on the way out.

          She slept on the subway home and just asked for one of the U.A. Second Years who shared the train stop to wake her up when they got there. Luckily, the Second Year was understanding and did just that. Stumbling half-asleep out of the subway station and onto the street was pretty dangerous, but she managed it alright. Tsubame didn't nap on the bus ride back, though her cheek stayed firmly pressed to the window and her eyes kept threatening to slide shut, and then all she had to do watch trudge home. It was a slow walk. The girl kept yawning into her arm, kept swaying and threatening to trip off of the curb or over an unflattened piece of cobble. Tsubame did, at one point, hit her foot against a rock and fall into a bush. She thought she might have fallen asleep in said bush for a minute or so, but she couldn't be sure—because time was weird when you were that tired, wasn't it? And then Tsubame was just shaking her head and standing up and thinking, where'd that bush come from? She just continued the walk home.

          It took Tsubame way too long to finally reach her house, get through the front door, and kick her shoes off into the genkan. The moment she entered the living room, she was bombarded with questions. How was U.A.? Did she make any friends? How were her teachers? How were classes? What was the school like? Had it been fun? Tsubame answered as many of her family's queries as she could, dwelling happily in the fact that they were proud of her and told her as much. Proud of her! Tsubame had only ever wanted to be the cause of pride.

          She continued to doze while her dad prepared a celebratory dinner, and fell asleep at the hot kotatsu while speaking with Tomomi before the food could even be served. Her father must have carried her upstairs to her bed, because the next thing she knew her face was against a pillow and she was hugging her plushie seal to her chest, drooling lightly as soft snores left her parted lips.

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TSUBAME'S AND TODOROKI'S PINING BEGINS

(well, not really, 'cause todoroki wasn't really a central character until season 2 but 🙄 tsubame took note of him)

^^ i cannot WAIT for tsumeroki's interactions later on hhhhh and her growing relationships with everyone !!! ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅

i just think the bakusquad

headcanon that tsubame and mina make the boys of the bakusquad wear that "i'm sorry women" cap of the quote from diary of a wimpy kid, like, once a week. not even bc they do something sexist (they'd never) but just because they're idiots and bad at flirting and tsubame and mina think it's hilarious. rocking up to class in this

the urge to write "yao-momo" instead of "yaoyorozu" is constantly tripping me up omg, i keep having to restrain myself. same with calling them "kiri", "kami", "mina", "deku", etc, like the concentration i need to retain to hold myself back is astounding. tsubame hurry up and become better friends with them so i can refer to them by more than surnames 

i love all these characters sm like AGH i'm in yao-momo lovebot mode rn she's so underrated and she cares sm abt her classmates and friends like GAH I LOVE YAOYOROZU MOMO  ♡꒰ᵕ༚ᵕ⑅꒱  i was so expecting her to be the overused stuck-up rich rude person trope when she first appeared bc she's rlly intelligent and i just got those character vibes from her design but then SURPRISE she's class mom and i love her so so much <3

https://youtu.be/LzxHIf3arxA

i don't trust anyone who hates yao-momo

my hero academia season 5 in a week today !!!

kiripima

word count: 10,158 (i lied last chapter, this one's not any shorter </3)

20.03.2021.