The afternoon came, they were back in homeroom. No one was really sitting in their places, they were all over.
Everyone made friends, already... huh? Kazuki thought as he looked at them all.
The guy in front of him started snoring slighly louder than Kazuki'd like.
ZZZ...ZZZzz....ZZZ...
Kazuki just closed his eyes and looked down again. Calmness and composure save lives.
ZZZZZ..... ZZZZZZZZ....
...
"Wow, that's great." he muttered, he was annoyed, slightly.
Tetsutetsu was trying to speak to other people too, with no response. Quite saddening. He's a good guy, from what Kazuki is seeing.
He just fell back in place, slumping down.
Vlad King said that they had a quirk assessment test now. In the afternoon classes.
Excited crowd. Everyone was waiting for this. Kazuki could see it already.
The door slid open with enough force to make several students jump.
Vlad King stood in the doorway, arms crossed, expression flat. "Gym uniforms. Now. They're at your changing rooms, if you don't know where that is, that's your fault. You have three minutes to change and meet me at Training Ground Beta. Anyone who's late runs laps until dinner."
"What?" one guy spluttered.
Vlad King didn't wait a single second and shut the door.
...
The class just exploded, the energy levels were on top of the roof, it was crowded. They rushed out quick, everyone dashing to find the changing rooms.
They took it serious quite easily.
-------------------------------------------------
Nothing interesting happened in the locker room, a few found it fast enough, some didn't.
Exciting punishments, violent vomitings, and recently discovered masochists—everything a sadist would like to see. And apparently, surprise surprise, drumroll, BA DUM TSSS, it was... Vlad King.
"Well, now that all of you are here, let's start up our test, shall we?" he said, taking out a ball and an device—to track the ball's distance.
A few people were still on the ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat. Vlad paid them no attention.
"We're gonna do a softball throw to start things today." he announced, showing the ball to everyone. "I'm sure all of us have done it at some point in our lives. At junior high. Physical tests without using quirks. The country still uses the averages taken from students without using their quirks. Not something I'd recommend, but it is what it is. " he said, looking at the class.
"We'll start with Hayashi over there." he pointed. "Hayashi, tell me, what was your average?" he asked.
...
"My average? ... I was homeschooled. I'm afraid I don't know." he replied.
...
"Well, that's a shame, but it's alright, you're still going first." Vlad said, "Go over to that white circle over there," he tossed ball to him, "And throw that ball as far as you can."
...
"Can I do it later?"
"Just zip it and come over here, Hayashi. It's just a softball throw, my grandma could do it. Now, do you absolute best, use your quirk and throw the ball as far as you can. I need you to do your absolute best. Just so you know, if I feel that you are holding back in any way, I will suspend you."
...
"Understood... sir." Kazuki said, catching the ball that was tossed to him. He got into the white circle that was painted on the ground and looked straight forward.
He gripped the ball tightly and got a good feel of it—he was just procrastinating.
"What are you waiting for, Hayashi? Just throw the damn thing." Vlad King urged him.
Kazuki exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of the ball in his hand. Everyone was watching now. Great.
He pulled his arm back and threw the ball forward with as much force as he could muster—which wasn't much, honestly. His arms weren't exactly built for power throws.
But the moment the ball left his hand, he extended his palm forward.
A burst of wind shot from his outstretched hand, catching the ball mid-flight. The air current wrapped around it, propelling it forward with exponentially more force than his throw alone could manage. He layered the wind, maintaining momentum, reducing drag.
The ball became a white blur. It flew past the treeline, past the training ground markers, becoming a speck in the distance before finally disappearing completely.
Vlad King looked down at his device. His expression didn't change, but his eyes widened slightly.
"1,847.3 meters."
The class went dead silent.
Then someone in the back muttered, "Holy shit."
Kazuki walked back to the group, scratching the back of his head, looking down.
"Settle down," Vlad King said, though he looked... not displeased. Actually, he almost looked satisfied. "That's what I mean by using your quirks. This isn't a normal fitness test. This is about pushing your abilities to their absolute limit and seeing what you're capable of."
He gestured to the rest of the class.
"You'll all take turns. Softball throw, standing long jump, 50-meter dash, endurance running, sit-ups, seated toe-touch, grip strength test, and sustained sideways jumps. Standard tests, but with your quirks allowed. I want to see what you can do when you're not holding back."
"This is gonna be so cool!" someone said excitedly.
"One more thing." Vlad King's voice cut through the chatter. "Whoever comes in last place in the overall rankings gets expelled."
...
...
...
The excitement died immediately.
'Aizawa's trick seems really promising, I wonder if it is actually effective...' Vlad King thought as he smirked just for a split second.
"Expelled?" a girl with orange hair—Itsuka Kendo, Kazuki remembered from introductions, spoke up. "On the first day?"
"That's right." Vlad King crossed his arms. "If you can't keep up, you don't belong here. U.A. doesn't have time to babysit students who can't perform. This is hero training, not summer camp."
Someone in the back looked like they were about to throw up, and it wasn't from the earlier running.
Kazuki glanced around. Some students looked terrified. Others looked determined. Tetsutetsu looked fired up, fists clenched.
The tests went by in a blur.
Kazuki performed well across the board—his quirk was versatile enough to give him advantages in most categories. Speed events were easy with wind propulsion. Endurance wasn't bad when he could reduce air resistance. Even the strength-based tests saw some improvement with clever applications.
He didn't pay much attention to how others were doing. Just focused on his own performance, did what needed to be done, and moved on to the next test.
By the time everything wrapped up, the sun was lower in the sky and everyone looked exhausted.
"Alright," Vlad King said once the last student finished. "Line up. I'm posting the rankings."
He pulled out a tablet and projected the results onto a screen that rose from the ground.
Everyone crowded around to look.
RANKINGS:
1] Hayashi Kazuki
2] Honenuki Juzo
3] Kendo Itsuka
...
Last Place] Yanagi Reiko
Kazuki scanned the list. First place. Not surprising.
His eyes went to the bottom.
Yanagi Reiko. Last place.
She was standing near the back of the group, staring at the screen with wide, terrified eyes. A small girl with pale hair.
"Yanagi," Vlad King called out.
She flinched.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Vlad King stared at her for a long moment.
Then he said, "You're not expelled."
...
The entire class collectively exhaled.
"What?" someone said.
"It was a lie." Vlad King crossed his arms. "A ruse to make sure you gave it your all."
"Fear makes you focus." Vlad King didn't look apologetic at all. "If you can't handle psychological pressure, you'll never survive in the field. This was a test of your mental fortitude as much as your physical abilities."
Yanagi looked like she might cry from relief.
"That said," Vlad King continued, "Yanagi, your scores were genuinely the lowest. That means you have the most room for improvement. I expect to see significant progress by the next assessment. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, sir!" Yanagi bowed quickly.
"Everyone else, don't get comfortable. These rankings mean nothing if you don't keep improving. Hayashi—" Vlad King looked directly at him. "You're first now. Everyone's going to be trying to beat you."
Kazuki just nodded.
"Good. You're dismissed. Go home."
The class started dispersing, some students still grumbling about the fake expulsion, others laughing in relief.
Tetsutetsu walked beside Kazuki as they headed back toward the building.
"This was kinda messed up." Tetsutetsu stretched his arms. "But hey, you killed it! First place! That's so cool."
...
How should he respond?
"Thank you, Tetsutetsu, I appreciate that."
He took the appreciating route. Don't want to push on the whole 'It's not that impressive' tthing.
...
"Tetsutetsu."
"Yeah?"
"You did well too. Fifteenth isn't bad."
Tetsutetsu's eyes widened slightly, then he broke into a huge grin. "Thanks, man! That means a lot coming from you."
They reached the locker room. Other students were already inside, half changed. It was nasty; the smell was horrible. The collective sweat of over ten people.
Kazuki found his locker and started changing out of the gym uniform.
"Hey, Hayashi."
He turned. Honenuki was standing there, hands in his pockets.
"That was impressive," Honenuki said simply. "Your control is really something else, better than even mine. I don't really see a lot of people like that."
"Thanks. Your quirk application was—smart, too."
"Just doing what I can." Honenuki yawned. "But seriously, if you ever want to train together or something, let me know. I think we could learn from each other."
Kazuki considered that. Honenuki seemed competent. Level-headed. Not annoying.
"Sure."
"Cool." Honenuki nodded, holding out a fist for Kazuki to bump.
Kazuki tapped it, looking straight into Honenuki's eyes, he still seemed sleepy, but he'd been sleeping all today. Quite the character.
"Boop." Honenuki said, adding a sound effect. "See you tomorrow, bro." he waved goodbye before disappearing silently.
Kazuki just stared as he went. He turned to Tetsutetsu, who was still struggling to remove his shirt.
"Need help?" he asked, looking slightly concerned.
Tetsutetsu slipped and fell on his ass, letting out a "AHHHHHHHH!"
"Seems like you need help," he said.
"No, I don't."
Kazuki just stared at Tetsutetsu, struggling even to stand up, trapped by his shirt.
*muffled sounds of struggle*
"You sure?" he asked again.
"I got this, Kazuki. C'mon, this is light work," he said.
Kazuki continued to stare at him, struggling for a couple more seconds before he shrugged and left.
-------------------------------------------------
[I've recently learnt of a cool trick with my keyboard, apparently, if we hold alt and type 0151, it gives an em dash. I thought only AI does that shit. Turns out I can use it too, I will be using it, I don't know if it looks awkward.]