[EVENT] - THE FIRST DAY

It had been a little over two weeks since the results of the U.A. Entrance Exam had been posted. Now, the school year officially begins.

It had also been a little under five days since Avner had begun to prepare for his first time working as a teacher for U.A. The position still seemed a little strange to him, and caught him off guard - but he decided it was worth whatever pain he endured for it. Besides, hero work was... far from what it once was. He thought back to his most recent encounters, even with his fellow teachers at the establishment. There were a few pure hearted ones, naturally, but most seemed to possess an almost psycopathic lack of empathy or excitement. Where was the thrill of hero work; the joy of combat; the duty to help, serve, protect? He found none of it in their vacant hearts.

It saddened him. But he was snapped out of his melancholy by the familiar tapping of heels. Turning his head curiously, he caught sight of Sylva, who gave him an encouraging smile, accompanied by her almost surprised gaze. "You're here early," she noted.

"Gotta get it right on the first day, eh?" He reasoned, rewarding her pleasant efforts to make conversation with a slightly nervous chuckle.

"You'll be fine. The others should be here shortly," she said. Avner registered the slight hesitation in her voice on "others". He certainly wasn't excited. Another meeting to sit through...

A half hour later, they were dismissed. Avner hurriedly stumbled out of the room, almost forgetting which way his classroom was. He registered the dim, quiet noise of chatter through the walls. He grit his teeth. Rolled his shoulders back, relaxed. Sliding open the door, he walked in radiating confidence. He was half way to the podium when he remembered to smile, turning to face his new class.

"Welcome to U.A.! My name is Avner Kishiro, though you may know me better as Apollo." He greeted, smilingly warmly. As he talked his worries slowly ebbed away into nothingness, replaced by the gentle and reassuring warmth of his bravado. His voice reverberated throughout the room as his eyes lit up. "You all are here today because you possess a light within you. A burning desire to protect those around you; to better the society in which we live! It is... true that we live in a society where crime diminishes more and more every day. But heroes can never relent! It is our duty to inspire hope, to defend what is just, and rekindle the flames in the hearts of men when it falters.

"Here at U.A., you will train to become a hero. The training will not be easy. You will undergo many tests and exams, both physical and mental. But if you keep your wits around you and resolve to never once worry about what you were capable of yesterday, and instead focus on what you can do today to better tomorrow, you will never once fall behind. Now! On to the nitty gritty. As you are likely aware, you will be staying at U.A. Academy within our dorms. Any belongings or items you wished to bring with you should have already arrived and be awaiting you when you go there. You will stay with a roommate, who has been randomly assigned to you. I'll be taking you to the dorms once we're done today!"

With that, he grinned wildly and drew himself up to his full height. "But what are we doing today? Everyone's favourite thing! Exams!" He ended it with a chuckle, moving towards the door and easily sliding it open. He motioned for everyone to follow him. Though he barely knew these corridors himself, the added buzz he felt in his stomach lended him enough confidence to navigate without any fear or doubt. He walked the halls like he'd walked them a thousand times. "As you'll likely remember doing, we asked you to fill out some forms and design a fitting hero costume you wanted. They've been completed, and will be waiting for you." Walking down a rather annoyingly long flight of stairs, he turned to face his class. The stairs had lead them down a hall with two exits - one to the right, one to the left. He pointed to the left.

"This here is your changing rooms. You'll all find a locker with your name on it, and inside, your hero costume. Once you're inside, boys are on the left, girls on the right. Once you're done getting changed, gather back here and I'll take you all to the exam locale!"

[ Welcome! Feel free to interact with other members of the class at any point - before Avner's arrival, during his speech, whilst getting changed... anything! Don't worry too much about post length or anything, just get something out there so we can get started with the exam. ]

Not knowing where Gladia was? A little scary, but fine. Living in dorms? Depends on a number of factors - like her roommate, yet to be a hero means dealing with it, so sure. Changing rooms? As in changing clothes even remotely near the vicinity of a lot of people she didn't know? Now that was terrifying enough to make her consider leaving and coming back tomorrow... Meeting the Number Two Hero: Avner Kishiro - "Apollo" should have been exciting. Unfortunately, it was completely drowned out by the tidal wave of anxiety that brought her to move to their lockers as fast as her legs could carry. Quickly, she found her name and used whatever combination they gave her or simply came close to tearing the whole opening off, uncaring of which to hurry and get to some privacy after nabbing the goods: her hero costume. The swordswoman avoided eye contact - she didn't even dare look at somebody out of fright they might look back and try to communicate. God, the stories of adolescent girls being verbally nasty toward each other she would hear from clansmen sharing stories of normal high school life made her even more scared of interaction.

The road toward Gladia or Deku's height of heroism would be a long, long journey for this girl.

To be honest, Avner's words did feel encouraging as much as they did unnerve her. After the girls saw the decline of heroism in their own father, it felt like they had no present idols to look up to aside from Virtua admiring Gladia. They looked toward Deku and All Might - Symbols of Peace respectively as guides toward their aspirations, except the elder sister was born was unrivaled talent to practically strut toward her goal. This left Vivi in more of a clumsy waltz, so hearing more voices of people who wanted to return light to this war was relieving as it was unusual.

These thoughts of conflicting themes between idols and symbols and the state of heroes occupied her thoughts while changing, shivering slightly as the cool, conditioned air tickled her exposed upper back. To worsen the feeling, feeling the breeze at her naked arm unsettling her greatly, instinctively grasping onto it as it is riddled with scars of self-harm through a rough uprising. Although... a quiet breath escaped her lips, squeezing gently at the red-line painted limb: "I... have p-power now..." That quirkless girl who wallowed in despair... "I-... I am here now." That girl who became frightened by the thought of stealing away Gladia's heritage could finally begin walking toward the light, making it up to her sister, living up to her grandfather's expectations, earning respect from the bloodline and potentially re-ignite the flames that burned for justice within them and her despondent father. Hushed rallying that would make enduring each cut from her razor and the scar giving her Heaven's Length worthwhile would be among the many pushes she needs to press onward. Exhaling unsteadily, the grip released as a white military jacket beckoned. Tangerine-shaded gaze fixated on just trying to take one step at a time answered the call, donning attire that may stick with her for the rest of her life as a warrior of righteousness. Virtua found solace in a snowy sleeve concealing her sad past, hiding yesterday's pain through the fabric of tomorrow. It helped that patterns of golden coloring a little similar to Tyr's costume trimming eased in a feeling of reassurance. Gradually did it come together through flaps that would close completely, held in place by three pairs of neatly assorted yellow buttons. Outfitted regally through strings - an aiguillette cord, they connected a soft plate at her right shoulder to the closest button at her breast, believing it to be a complete touch next to the medal of clan representation under the top leftmost button. Upon finishing her dress up with a pleated white skirt and her black leggings, it was comfortable - both physically and mentally.

Virtua's costume held the same royal militarism look Gladia's had without being a carbon copy, even foregoing armor and gauntlets like her idol had. Coming to an end with pure-white gloves that covered up the grotesque growth of her quirk, she took the wounded hand and balled it up into a fist. I'll do something... Something to reach their height. Deku, All Might, Gladia, Avner, the heiress of swords hoped to be able to be a reliable ally the latter two can call upon while the former two would look down with gleeful pride. She took the sheathed blade gifted by her grandfather upon news of passing the entrance exam and held tight. I don't know what it is or how it'll happen, but I'll try. A resolute promise as she began returning to Apollo.

Avner’s words were inspiring to Keiji, who had been working on improving himself over past two weeks. He spoke in such a way that eased Keiji’s nerves and gave him a boost of confidence. He peeked around the room at his fellow students, many of whom were just as enticed as he was if not more. His gaze returned to Avner whose brilliance in speech and appearance lit up the whole room.

“Ahh yeah, roomies!” He instinctively blurted out. He quickly shut his mouth, but still thought to himself. “Oh my gosh, I gotta remember to make a good first impression!” He wrote himself a note to remind him. He was giddy beyond belief, hardly able to stay in his seat.

The teacher led the students down a hall before reaching a small part with two exits. The teacher told them that their hero costumes were ready. Keiji’s eyes lit up and he grew a massive grin upon his face. The teacher directed them where to go and Keiji wasted no time heading to his locker. He abruptly opened it to find his costume.

Bright silver and red spandex was his choice. Red gloves and boots and a red helmet with a silver top. Glorious red triangles striped up and down his silver chest. The upward pointing triangle formed not only a missile shape, but with the two red triangles going down either shoulder a spectacular, silver “A” was formed, and that was his favorite part of it. His helmet curved down and connected to it was a transparent visor. On each side of the helmet were three colored lights; six in total. The colors were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. He was only able to use purple and yellow at the time, but you gotta plan for the future!

Keiji got dressed into his hero costume in a flash. At least he didn’t come 32nd in that he thought to himself. He decided that some good stretching was in order to loosen up before the exam. After he was done, he shouted out quite boldly in the locker room. “Heya, good luck everyone! Let’s do our best!”

Two weeks couldn't have gone by any slower for the ever raring to go Shinobu. It didn't help that Virtua and Hinata had been fairly busy so they'd only been able to meet for a single challenge in that time. But to be fair, it was a good time. It was even Hinata's idea which made it all the more novel to the feline boy. They'd gone to an arcade and took to the array of prize grabbers. The goal was to be the first person to get a set number of plush toys out of them which Shinobu was down for. Virtua backed out of the competition proper despite showing up which was enough for now if she really was that shy. In the end, the boys had gone all out and sent her home with a dozen or so different plush toys. Shinobu's natural impatience worked against him and Hinata ended up winning the day.

But now they'd have something exciting to do most every day. Their first semester at U.A. was about to begin. Of course there was one major downside to this. Namely, the uniforms. Shinobu hated school uniforms. They were the bane of his existence all through his educational career. They were so incredibly stuff to wear given he was already covered in fur, and the materials tended to be pretty clingy due to the static his body was always producing. The U.A. uniform was no different and the feline would regularly tug at his collar. At the least, he'd had holes tailored into the pants for his tail and he was utterly refusing to wear anything on his feet. He could move alright in it but he definitely couldn't run quite as naturally as he wanted. But then again, since he'd be living at the dorms there'd never be all that far to run to school in the mornings. It was kind of disappointing actually.

But for a moment, he lost himself in the excitement of proceedings as the pro hero Apollo stood before the class to address them. This was the number two hero, just about as big as it got. Random roommates sounded exciting enough but the cat's focus was taken by what they'd be doing. Apollo had called it an exam but that must have meant something closer to the entrance exam. They were even being told to put their hero costumes on for it. There was no messing around here it seemed and it couldn't suit Shinobu any better. He practically ran into the locker room, taking his uniform off as fast as he could. But he didn't take to immediately putting on his costume. He wanted to get to stretching while at his most unrestricted. So with nothing on his body he began warming up for whatever they'd be doing when he heard Keiji's excited call.

"That's what I'm talking about man!" he called back. He took note of his classmate's hero costume. The costume company sure wasn't messing around. "Damn, that's a good look. Guess I should get mine on too." Shinobu commented. He could just imagine the kinds of costumes and quirks that were going to be on display during this exam they were doing. After some more shameless stretching he finally got his costume on. The clothing itself was in three parts, all a dark red spandex-like material. The shirt portion was sleeveless and stopped shy of his abdomen. The bottom portion covered a bit less than his casual gym short look and naturally had a hole in place for his tail. The last main part was a face mask that really only covered the regions around his eyes but he thought looked good on him. All three pieces had yellow trims and designs running through the red background. These yellow lines were almost lightning bolt in design and actually began to light up as the boy's body generated electricity. Their function was to draw charge away from his vitals as best they could. There were also wrist accessories that had extendable metal prongs. A means to deliver a big shock in a very small point to minimize damage to himself. He wasn't sure how much he was going to use them but then better safe than sorry. All in all, he hadn't asked for a lot out of the costume company. The cat didn't feel like he needed a lot. It was about letting his abilities shine in a somewhat fashionable manner. Thankfully the costume was much more comfortable than any school uniform.

Now ready to go, the cat boy didn't immediately leave. He just had to see what Hinata had come up with. Knowing what he did of his friend, he imagined it was a bit more inventive than his own design.

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"It all starts today" Izumi thought to herself as she took her seat in the U.A. classroom. There was quite an assortment of different people piling in but the girl's focus was on who would show up to lead their class. To her great surprise it was Apollo, the number two hero. She was curious to see what someone so high in the hero world thought of it and their place in it. Though as he spoke, there wasn't much insight to be gained. He spoke of their training to become heroes, their dorms and roommates that would be decided, their costumes and an exam that would occupy them for the day. At the least, nothing the man said felt insincere. He must have had at least some investment in them as students at the school. But it was only the first day. The more she interacted with the staff, the more readily she'd be able to see just what kind of heroes they were looking to make.

The girl proceeded very calmly into the locker rooms and quickly changed into her costume. It looked just like her design except for one thing. She didn't recall making the dress backless. The skirt was the right length so as to be largely modest but allow her free movement with her kicks. But the sleeves were now detached from everything and held in place with golden accessories. The colors were how she'd wanted them. Green with white and black trims. There were matching boots that went up each calf about halfway. She had a black ribbon in her hair which she'd put into a single long ponytail. She had other accessories, white flowers and the like. On her left arm she placed a small bow that self-loaded itself with small bolts. Everything was as she'd thought just, why wasn't there a back to the dress? She was going to have to talk with the costume company she thought. But the more she looked at it in a mirror, the more she felt it might be alright.

Getting changed had taken a bit just due to the number of pieces to her costume with all the accessories but just as soon as she was satisfied with it she began heading back, not wanting to delay the proceedings. She saw a dark haired girl that looked to still be in a school uniform of some kind. Had she not heard the teacher? Was she even a U.A. student? Whatever she was, Izumi was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Hey wait!" she called out before approaching Vivi. "Didn't you wanna get cha-" she started as she saw the girl's face. She'd seen her among the students in class. And she'd definitely been in the right uniform before. So this must have been her hero costume after all. The realization embarrassed Izumi greatly. This wasn't any way to make a first impression with one of her peers. "I'm sorry, never mind me! Your costume looks so pretty." she said in a hurried attempt to recover.

Shizuka was ecstatic to finally be attending U.A. proper. In her excitement, she'd hardly gotten any sleep the night before, but even so, she was still full of energy, running off of sheer pep at this point. As she entered her class room and took her seat, she looked around and took in all the people she'd be studying with for the rest of the year. A handful of people she recognized from the exams, like the white-haired chain girl she'd accidentally, and Izumi. Knowing that she'd be in the same class as her was uplifting, as she was concerned that they might have been put in different classes. It seemed there was nothing to be concerned with after all. Shizuka waved to her happily, and to the rest of her classmates too, as more streamed in after her.

Their teacher, Avner Kishiro, inspired some kind of awe in Shizuka. True to his name, Apollo stood brightly at the head of the class room, like a shining beacon of what a hero was, and could be. Shizuka could hardly pay attention to his words, being completely overwhelmed by his presence, and the thought of being taught by such a great example of a hero. With her eyes shining brightly, Shizuka eagerly followed her teacher out of the room, with an almost giddy excitement. Finally funneling into the locker rooms, she went about putting on her hero costume. It was a pretty simple outfit, but she liked it.

Inspired by stereotypical Japanese school girl rock bands, the outfit consisted of a blue plaid skirt, an open tan blazer, a black dress shirt, and a striped red tie. Miniature speakers were built into the wrists of the blazer, connected to a microphone on the collar, designed to project her voice to her allies, allowing her to affect more people with her quirk at a distance. Much of the outfit served little practical purpose, and it wasn't a very typical hero outfit, looking much like random street clothes, but it was Shizuka's style. If she were to be honest, the outfit was at least partially inspired by the, somewhat obscure, pro hero from Deku's era, Earphone Jack. She flew under most people's radars, and was largely forgotten when compared to the other titans of that era, but the rock star hero stood out to Shizuka, so she took some notes when designing her costume.

As Shizuka was getting dressed, she noticed the white-haired girl from the entrance exams. Now seemed like as good a time as any to try to clear the air, so Shizuka approached her. Waving excitedly, she said "Oh hey! I'm so glad to see you made it in! Did you do well?" Shizuka hadn't ever caught the girls name, so when she saw the results, she wasn't sure where she had placed on the overall rankings. Then, Shizuka bowed deeply to her, "Oh, and I'm super super super super super sorry about crashing into you at the exams! I hope that didn't hurt too bad!" She gave the girl an innocent smile, "Ah! But you ended up passing, so I guess you must have powered through it. You must be really tough!"


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It was finally time. That was how Yuri felt, finally taking her place at U.A.. She'd been physically and mentally preparing herself for this day for the past two weeks. She knew she had to make a good first impression, to cement her status, so she walked into the classroom with the absolute most confidence she could muster. She even went so far as to stretch her body out just a couple of inches, to make her look taller, and by extent, more powerful, as she strode in, seemingly not paying a single thought to any of her classmates. That is, until she sat down. Now that she had made an entrance, she immediately set about taking in her classmates. If she had known any of their names, she could've figured out where they ranked in the exams, but she didn't have that luxury. Instead, she paid attention to the smaller details. Conversations they were having on the side, their tone of voice and facial expressions, the way they sat in their chairs, every last bit of information would be useful. Either for learning more about those who would eventually be hurdles for her to leap, or for finding buttons for her to press.

Yuri was both surprised and pleased to see who their teacher would be. The number two hero, Apollo? She knew U.A. was a prestigious school, but this was beyond her expectations. Not only was he an incredible top hero, the man's personality felt so incredibly nice and genuine, Yuri couldn't help but feel almost disarmed in his presence. To be learning from someone so amazing and inspiring, it was sort of humbling. Still, that just meant Yuri would have to try even harder, now. She had a teacher that she had to impress. Yuri made her way to the locker rooms, still carrying herself with a faux confidence. and set about putting on her costume.

Her costume had gone through many drafts. She tried to think of dozens of ways she could make a costume that would support her quirk somehow. Built in UV lighting, a tank that she could draw water from, having soil in her shoes, but every idea either sounded or looked really stupid when she said it out loud or drew it on paper. Ultimately, she decided the a hero was nothing without style, and that that would have to come before functionality. The costume was ultimately a loose-fitting, sleeveless white dress, reaching halfway down Yuri's thighs, widening out at the hips. The dress was decorated with green trimming and accents. On her breast was a bright-red brooch in the shape of a lily, matching the one growing out of her head. It served no function, but Yuri wanted a little bit of jewelry on her costume, and the bright red contrasted well with the white and green of the rest of the outfit.

As she finished getting changed, Yuri noticed a pair of other girls talking on their way back to the teacher. She'd only caught a glimpse of the conversation, but the older girl seemed embarrassed about something. The younger girl, on the other hand, seemed like a huge bundle of nerves all packed tightly into a tiny box. It seemed like she was managing to hold herself together, but that she could be a complete nervous wreck just underneath the surface. Unable to resist, Yuri practically slithered up behind the two girls, "My, my," she said suddenly, not taking the time to inform the two girls that she was there, "don't you two seem nervous? I suppose it's only reasonable to feel that way on your first day." Yuri grinned mischievously, "After all, first impressions are important. Wouldn't want to mess up something like that, now would we?"

Virtua stopped on a dime, as if actually freezing up at someone's call. For all the pep-talking she did for herself, effects were being tested at the thought of being called out for something wrong. Was there an issue with her costume? Did she just flat-out do something wrong? Ugh... Trying to remain composed for the sake of upcoming trials, the heiress kept a steady grip at the sheathed blade, holding on like a lifeline. Hesitantly turning, a classmate approached with a question only to stop at a realization, creating an air of confusion upon seeing this uniform jacket was not a U.A. uniform. "Eh?" A perplexed squeak as the older gave the mousy princess a compliment, making her smile sheepishly instead of nervously, feeling another wave of pink of many at her cheeks. This costume was designed by her to feel close to her sister's, regal and carrying the fashionable essence of a warrior. It didn't have Tyr's level of strong design, but it was comfortable and her own. "T-Thank you..." This phrase and sentiment were carried into the wind, released through a rare, somewhat relaxed breath.

That moment of reprieve changed when a newcomer intervened. One person was a lot to handle on her own, but two people without Gladia? She just barely got used to Shinobu and Hinata... and it was mainly because Hinata was quiet! Taking a rather hefty gulp, her stance did its best to be maintained through grace, dignity and... waning determination. "Nervous? U-Us?" Yes, she was extremely nervous and literally any force of the universe can easily pop her bubble of zen. Though, Virtua managed to catch herself when she got a better look at this other student, seeing as their form was... some kind of plant? Likely a quirk, so it wasn't all too surprising given one of Deku's comrades had looked like some kind of pink alien. Yet, it was still admittedly jarring to see people like Shinobu and this girl was radical mutations that made them look only humanoid rather than human. As fascinating as it was, it ultimately caught her offguard and would every time nevertheless. "Y-Yes... Make a good first impression... Make a good first impression... Make a good first impression..."

Lovely, she's stuck in a loop.

Izumi would have been fine had her misstep with the girl dressed in white had gone unnoticed. But another had seen the interaction and seemed to want to mess with them over it. Izumi was ready to get a bit stern but was caught off guard at the sight of a girl that looked like she was a plant. She'd heard of such things being possible with mutation type quirks but she'd never counted on seeing something like it up close. But then if there was any place to see every type of quirk imaginable, surely the hero course of U.A. would be the place. Still, the moment was brief and her focus shifted back to the girl she'd called out to who seemed to a bit of a broken record. Izumi calmly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Hey, hey, easy now..." she said in a soft tone, trying to unwind some tightly wound nerves. "Relax. You've already made your impression. You passed the entrance exam didn't you? You belong here. Just go out there and do your thing." she said with a smile. But now that brought her attention back to the plant girl. Maybe this was all just innocent fun to her. But her words had clearly distressed a classmate. Such behavior, if left alone, might set an unhealthy precedent in the class dynamic and it was something Izumi wasn't going to allow to happen if she could help it.

"And I'll thank you not to try to make anyone feel worse. If you see someone's anxious you should be trying to help, not rile them up more." she said with a touch a disdain to her voice. She had every intention of eventually befriending everyone in the class. But proper peer to peer conduct was an important thing to establish and it had to come first.

Second place. Chizue had been second place. The anger and self-hatred boiled under her skin for the entire two weeks, and knowing the brat who cracked her spine had somehow made it through too made it even worse. Needless to say, her mother had to spend more than usual on Chizue's target practice during those weeks to make up for the number of punching bags that ended up torn to shreds in her anger. Finally, the two weeks were up. As long as Shizuka wasn't in the same class as Chizue and there would be an opportunity for her to prove her superiority to the "Shinobu" that had taken her rightful first place from her, everything was going to be fine.

It was a shame for Chizue that she would never be free from the Infinite Dumbness. Thankfully, she had somehow managed to avoid being noticed by Shizuka in the classroom. When their homeroom teacher entered to make his introduction and first day of class speech, Chizue ended up zoning out for a moment, only coming back to attention when she heard the word "roommates" followed by mention of an exam. While Chizue had been aware of the dorm situation, she hadn't been aware that she'd have a roommate. Some random person was going to see the stuff she had brought in to decorate her room. The thought of it sent chills down her spine. Bringing her favourite plushie had been a mistake. Chizue let out a silent prayer that whoever her roommate was would not dare to bring harm to Mister Sharky or expose her secrets. Keeping her precious childhood friend safe and away from any prying eyes would be top priority when they were shown to their dorms.

Following Avner to the site of the changing rooms, Chizue hung around at the back of the group to stay out of Shizuka's sight. For a while, it was working. Chizue had managed to make it to her locker and opened it to reveal her Hero Costume which was... not exactly what she had been expecting. She sat there looking at it, stunned for a moment. It matched the designs she had submitted for the most part with some of the edgy design elements toned down and other minor changes for practicality. However, in person, the realization of how embarrassing it would be to wear in public finally dawned on her. Her cheeks went flush as she pulled the uniform out and tried to hide behind one of the curtains. No way she was going to change into this in front of anybody else, other girls or not. As she reached for the curtain, disaster struck.

"Oh hey! I'm so glad to see you made it in! Did you do well?"

Oh no. Shizuka had noticed her presence. Chizue's whole body immediately tensed up. She took a moment to calm herself, praying her cheeks weren't still red from seeing her uniform, before turning towards Shizuka. "Four words. You. Cracked. My. Fucking. Spine." Chizue was counting the words with her hand for emphasis, and when she realized she'd gone over the 'four' she said her mind went 'Oh shit' and quickly corrected herself, "Five. Five words." The swear had been an impromptu addition. If it weren't for her mother's connections, Chizue probably would still be recovering from the injuries she sustained during the entrance exam thanks to the Infinite Dumbness landing straight on her poor spinal cord.

Shizuka winced at Chizue's language. She wasn't used to people swearing at her. Even if she hadn't said anything particularly hurtful, Chizue's language stung a bit. It was pretty obvious that she was still mad, and given what she said, Shizuka couldn't exactly blame her. "A-ah, well," Shizuka stammered, trying to find something appropriate to say in this situation. She decided she'd avoid making any comments about Chizue's counting mistake, seeing as how it was unlikely to win her any points with the girl at this point, "I really didn't mean to!" she offered, as if that would help in any way, "I was just so scared of crashing into the ground, and I panicked! And my quirk must have helped you a little bit, right?" Bringing up the attempt at help she had offered during the exam was likely not the best idea Shizuka had ever had. She had only meant to point out that she hadn't been any harm, not accounting for the fact that Chizue probably didn't care.

Shizuka searched desperately for a way to fix the mess she'd made. The last thing she wanted was to isolate a potential friend before even the first day of class. "There must be some way I can make it up to you," she started, "like, um, do you like cupcakes? What about brownies? I could bake some for you!" As she scrambled her way through an attempt at gaining forgiveness, Shizuka's eyes fell on the clothes Chizue was carrying, "Oh!" she said suddenly, "Is that your costume? It looks cool! Can I see it?" It was an honest comment, but part of Shizuka hoped that the compliment would loosen the girl up a little bit. Shizuka didn't have a very good look at the costume, but the coloration and general design features she could make out seemed like they fit Chizue, and, to Shizuka, looked exceptionally cool. Maybe it could become a talking point that would allow the two to become friends despite their poor first meeting!

If there was one word to describe Shizuka, it was certainly "optimistic."

--------------

Yuri chuckled, satisfied with the reaction she'd gotten out of Vivi. Riling people up never got old. And it seemed the girl was in luck, as the older of the two seemed too collected and mature to be thrown off by Yuri's teasing, and was making some effort to calm her down. At this rate, she might even manage to keep herself together long enough to actually take the exam. Well. That remained to be seen.

Although Izumi hadn't given her the exact reaction she'd been looking for, she still managed to elicit a reaction nonetheless. Uptight people like her could be a bit annoying sometimes, when they tried to ruin her fun, but seeing them get mad at her mischief was pretty fun too. Yuri's smile didn't fade a bit, but she put her hands up as if surrendering, "Easy, easy," she said playfully, "It was just a bit of fun, no harm in that. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit, that's all." That was far from the truth, and Yuri knew that Izumi knew that. Her type probably wouldn't let Yuri get away until she acknowledged that she'd learned her lesson or something like that, so she said, "But, you're right. Perhaps that was a tad rude of me," she turned to look at Vivi, "sorry 'bout that," she offered, only bothering to muster a little bit of sincerity. If every student was like this, this would turn out to be a very fun school year indeed.

"Ah-" Izumi had addressed Vivi, snapping her out of the anxious trance and tried to reassure her. "I... belong here?" She dumbly repeated, surprised at the thought of deserving her place with other budding heroes around. Though she did pass, everyone else seemed... much more confident and prepared while the lass here is a lost kid in a candy store looking for their mother instead of sugar. The statement managed to bring her stress down at least, as just 'doing her thing' was all she could do anyway. Even so, ranking directly above the lowest scores of the entrance exam meant a good impression back then and a good impression now if she were to perform the same... means a disappointed Apollo is in the near-future. "Ah..." The most crushing thing he could say wasn't "you're not cut out for this" but instead "good enough." Just... enough. It was supposed to be comforting, but knowing her best was literally on the edge of adequate was...

"Ah..." Her sighs got a little more despondent, tuning out the conversation a bit. Though, Yuri's apology got her attention. "Oh... I-I didn't think it was rude. I'm sorry, and t-thank you." An apology of her own for the plant and gratitude expressed for the older girl, Vivi continued. "I'm just kind of a very nervous person..." That was an understatement, made with an awkward chuckling.

This was already shaping up to be a horrible mistake.

U.A. had never been in Skye's sights; it was too high-profile. The costs too great and the attention too much. But she supposed she had to when Avner had given her a recommendation for the place. Was it not only polite? But after all he'd given her, it still felt uncomfortable.

She was stranded, drowning in a sea of faces she couldn't recognize. Nobody recognized her either. That was hardly surprising. They probably just knew her as a nameless face from the entrance exam. Her origins were not something she was particularly eager to discuss with any of them - both as a hero, and personally. To make matters far worse for her as she sat idly in her chair, amusing herself with the gentle and quiet tapping of her finger against the desk, Avner walked in. Her eyes lit up instantly - not in joy, in alarm. She nearly fell back in her seat, and was certain everybody near her would have noticed the way she jumped. His eyes had swept across the room and rested on her for just a moment too long to be natural - smiling warmly with those knowing blue eyes.

It made her mad. Mad enough to make her blood boil and her knuckles white when she really thought about it. When she didn't, it was more akin to the dull throbbing of a wound as her thoughts ran wild ceaselessly. That was the last thing she needed. Had he known? Had he set this up? When they'd parted ways, he'd never once brought up working at U.A. Now she had to keep it secret. How would the others react? She wanted to prove her worth to be here on her own merit - not gifted a spot because Avner had taken pity on her. She didn't want special treatment from him, and was practically sobbing in anger every time she entertained the thought. It almost made her sick but she kept calm. Just barely.

She was one of the last to leave the class, trailing behind them just a tad as she walked stiffly - more so than usual. Something was evidently bothering her - it was painted on her face. But in contrast to this, she had quickly jumped into the changing rooms. Straggling behind and having Avner talk to her was not on her to-do list. She'd avoid him forever if she had to. It would be very, very challenging considering he was their teacher, but she had a strange habit of doing things the voices in her head told her she couldn't.

She gazed at herself in the mirror; at her hero costume. It was pretty much as she'd pictured it. Delicate azure silk spilled down her body, skin tight yet comfortable with enough room to breathe. Armour akin to gold trimmings adorned her shoulders, her waist, arms and legs. It shined brilliantly. It served as a reminder of Avner's golden light; her original designs had planned for silver. But she decided on a reminder of her roots. The metal itself seemed to bend around the shape of her body elegantly and easily; despite the somewhat heavily armoured look - akin to some sort of knight - the silk and curves made it look almost graceful and easy. The fabric didn't fully wrap around her either; instead it had an open back, helping it not feel too tight along with serving as easy access for her blades. But others didn't need to know that. It seemed almost like a weak-spot, yet instead, anyone getting too close could easily be taken care of. Skye noted in the back of her minds the feeling of that cold steel against her back. Her Quirk was already forging a bond, meaning the design was working as intended. Perfect. It was all perfect for her. Strong, yet weak. Firm, yet gentle. The perfect balance. She stomped forward, armoured heels clicking across the ground as she made for the exit.

Her eyes flickered towards the conflict between her classmates. She'd evidently made the right call in avoiding them so far. Her piercing yellow eyes looked at each of them one at a time. A mature type she would never have to worry about bothering her. A plant girl who seemed at odds with the others, and... a blithering and blubbering anxious mess. Her eyes lingered on them for a brief moment before she strutted past them without saying a single word, waiting in the hallway for the exam to begin.

U.A. was not living up to her expectations.

The opening of the first day was something else. Hinata was there, prompt and paying attention and somewhat uncomfortable, but that must've been most students there right? Nobody could walk into school on the first day and feel only good about what would happen. There was never a perfect balance of those emotions either for Hinata, something was always throwing him off balance. This time, it was the notion of disparity between him and his friend, Shinobu. The gap hadn't closed any in those two weeks and the win at the claw machine only barely softened the blow he'd received. In any event, he calmed himself and followed the student amalgamation of faces and personalities into the changing rooms. He followed the men for the most part, trying to make sure he didn't end up in the wrong room by accident.

Students were already loud and proud in there and the only thing Hinata could respond with was a muttering under his breath. "How unpleasant." He tried to brighten up a bit knowing the design for his costume had finally come to fruition. He had his sisters grudgingly help do the design with him because he wasn't so hand with a pen or his measurements, but they made sure to get the tight fit perfect so he could move around effortlessly when the time called. They knew how difficult it was to get a costume to fit well in the all the right places, given their legs were their everything when it came to their quirk.

The sound of a boy and Shinobu having some kind of bout briefly disturbed Hinata from looking at the locker with his costume in it, pulling it open to reveal not exactly what he expected. Better than that, really. The craftsmanship on it was surprisingly beyond adequate and gave him a warm sensation as he pulled on the sleeve of it and felt it between his fingers. It was a thick spandex so it stretched well but had thermal padding on the inside to keep the temperature regulated. The actual scheme of the outfit was something else entirely. Hinata wasted little time getting into it, being one of the costumes that was easy enough to slip out of casual clothes and into with little effort.

By the end, the boy was revealed to be wearing a bulky skin-tight suit of white and red, resembling that of a NASCAR driver or something of the sort, barring any logos and a lack of leather. On the shoulders of the costume seemed to be thin yet sturdy brass constructs with mirrors attached to them, connecting to bracelets at the wrist of the costume piece. When Hinata flicked his wrists out and placed his hands against a set of lockers to test, the mirrors adjusted themselves into front of Hinata's vision about a foot ahead of him and approximately twenty-eight inches apart, functioning much like car mirrors. When his hands returned to his side, the mirrors retracted and fit themselves into the breast pockets of his costume. He checked to make sure the collar of the outfit was tight and then threw on the last piece, being a red eye band, similar to a famous comic book hero of the past. It looked as if at any moment Hinata was going to fire lasers from his eyes, but he didn't. Instead he pressed a short sequence of buttons on the side and after a few response beeps, Hinata was able to access a user interface. There wasn't much in it at the moment, meaning he'd have to take care of all that programming at a later date. He minimized the extra interface and stuck to just seeing through the thing for now.

"Woah, look at you!" the feline called out at the sight of his friend's hero costume. Shinobu was glad he'd lingered behind to get a better look at this before the exam took all of his focus and attention away. He wasn't even entirely convinced Hinata was in there among the helmet and all the attachments. "Man i knew you were gonna come up with something really cool looking. I should have asked you for tips on mine. Wait are those mirrors?" the boy questioned. He was giving his friend a good look over and the mirrors seemed odd. He didn't believe they were real at first but seeing his reflection in them convinced him well enough. The cat nearly reached out a hand to poke at Hinata's various gadgets but he caught himself in the act. His free hand sort of tugged his curious hand down and away while he took a step back to give the boy some room to breathe.

"They are! You look ready to take on anything Hinata." he said with approval in his voice. The mirrors and the entire ensemble looked a bit silly. But he was hardly in any position to comment on what looked silly. And if Hinata had really designed this himself, it was his own image of what the number one hero looked like. How could Shinobu not respect that? So his own tastes were to be left aside. His friend had his support, mirrors and all. He needed his rivals in good moods too or they wouldn't put up the best fight. He didn't want any more easy first place finishes.

"Let's do our best out there. We might not have come up with it but this exam is just as good as a proper challenge!" he said while pumping a fist.

----------

Izumi's concerns weren't entirely settled by the responses she got out of Vivi and Yuri. The plant girl had apologized but given how much fun she'd been having, one couldn't help but question the sincerity of the statement. The shy girl on the other hand seemed to slowly be coming into a better mood. She admitted herself she was a nervous person but that felt like something of an understatement. Another girl passed by the group. She seemed either very focused or slightly annoyed. It was hard to tell in the brief moment there had been to look. Still, it was another person Izumi would eventually have to get to know. But for now she'd focus on those immediately before her.

"Well, whatever we end up doing today, I'll be rooting for you." she smiled at Vivi. She would do what she could to inspire confidence in her peers. It felt like what a hero should do. "I'm Izumi Ueno.", she continued, introducing herself. "If you're ever struggling with anything here at school I hope you'll come ask me for help. I'll always be here for you." she said. There was a clear depth to the feeling. The girl honestly cared about her classmates, most of whom she hadn't even met yet. "That goes for you too of course." she said turning back to the plant girl. She hoped to move past the initial rough start to their meeting with this. She couldn't be certain how effective it would be of course.

Vivi hadn't gone unaware of the judgmental stare coming from an individual that had passed them, but the poor girl assumed nearly anyone and everyone who saw her would give that kind of look. Izumi stated that she would be cheering for the heiress, which further helped unsettle her, as it was a nice change compared to nearly everyone in the world but Gladia being fairly critical of everything she did. A shaky breath passed her lips, feeling a little more confident as she's met a few nice people so far.

The two aspiring heroes-in-training from the entrance exam, Shinobu despite his overwhelming personality, Hinata... who didn't really speak a lot but didn't go out of his way to put her down, and now Izumi who was trying to help her gain composure. It was a nice feeling that she needed to rely on. "I'm Vivi-" The heroine caught herself as Gladia's personal nickname for her slipped. "A-Ah, I mean Virtua!" Oh God, that name was a little embarrassing in front of other people. "Virtua Victoria!" Swiftly correcting herself, she flailed her gloved hands in a slight panic and hope that neither girl would pay any mind to the flub-up.

Yuri smirked, barely containing a laugh at the young girl's own admission of being a nervous person. Didn't she know you should never say something like that to someone like Yuri? The girl was almost too innocent to tease. Almost. The poor thing. At least it seemed she had someone to look out for her now. Yuri was actually a little surprised when Izumi offered her support to her too. Such a genuine girl. She seemed like a bit of a stick in the mud, and yet she was so quick to give Yuri a warm welcome despite her first impression. Maybe she was just too trusting. Deciding not to throw away that trust just yet, Yuri said, "Your support is much appreciated. I look forward to working together in the future."

Then, it happened. The nervous wreck let something slip by accident. "Oh?" Yuri said, a mischievous light appearing in her eyes as she gazed down at the girl, "Vivi, was it?" she asked playfully, taking full advantage of the girl's mistake. It seemed like the girl was embarrassed by her slip up, and Yuri would waste no time capitalizing on it. Yuri didn't know if she had just stuttered out of nervousness, or accidentally let an embarrassing nickname out, but either option was good enough for her. "It's been a pleasure to meet you Vivi," she said, "and you too, Izumi. My name is Yuri Matsumoto." As she introduced herself, she briefly wondered if she was having a little too much fun at the expense of the young girl.

Nah. She'd be fine.

Keiji was tightening up his helmet just as a loud thud resonated through the halls. “Huh? What on earth was that?” Looking down the hall, a young man was lying down half-naked on the ground. “Oh my God! Hold on!” He ran across to what he assumed was a fellow student. Keiji’s helmet however was not strapped in fully, so it flew right off of his head, hitting the ground and breaking his visor. “Shit!” He thought. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

He immediately noticed the band-aids on his arms and the fact that he was clearly uncomfortable, if not downright in pain. He gently grabbed him by his hand and back and pulled him up. He could tell he wasn’t in the best of shape. “Hey, does anyone have a healing quirk?! If you do, come here, quick!” Keiji shouted back to the halls. “You alright, man?” He asked as he started picking up his clothes.

'A bundle of nerves' was a pretty large understatement regarding Kaito's current state of being. Half of the last two weeks leading up to this momentous day were spent confirming that he was still within the same reality. The other half was wasted with anxious thoughts regarding his qualifications to actually stick around in U.A. His admittance as based solely around the fact that his quirk happened to work extraordinarily well in the environment he was thrust into. Rather, that's how the boy was choosing to rationalize the situation. Any other reasons just didn't click properly.

With the exam now out of the way, it was a matter of how well the Locke could survive in this new, foreign place, meant for the best of the best. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before he was expelled for inadequacies. Maybe the stress and the pressure of it all would break the teen down before that could even happen and he'd just drop out. What happened from there was a bridge he'd have to cross later. For now there was this mountain of an obstacle towering over him called a door. Ironic, all things considered.

A deep breath, attempting to cool himself down. How many students were already there? It was hard to tell. How competitive would the others be? That number 5 spot was sure to put a large target on his back the moment introductions ensued. It was worth the shot to believe it'd be a friendly and supportive type of class- They were all aiming to be heroes, after all. But with everything the hero-to-be had experienced growing up, that optimism was quickly demolished. He knew not what a 'friendly and supportive' class was like.

"Fuck it," a light mutter, "no point in prolonging this." Kaito was literally already standing in front of the classroom door. Any longer and he'd just start becoming a nuisance to any newcomers. Rather than not wanting to become a nuisance, though, he really just didn't want to be noticed. Being known as the class's doorman certainly wasn't exactly a good start to the year. Alas, he slid it open and stepped inside, his green orbs gliding across the room. Not a single familiar face. That was to be expected, though, he didn't spend any time getting to know any of the other participants. And even if he did, there was no guarantee those specific people would've even made it in. That was the sad truth. Of all the people that made an attempt only thirty six were accepted.

The brown haired boy didn't waste a single moment or movement in taking a seat at his desk. In his mind the quicker he just made the effort the better. The 'just get it over with' kind of mentality. It was something he was pretty used to, so putting it into practice here was child's play. The short wait for the teacher to arrive wasn't all that bad. No one attempted to interact with him, and for now that was perfect. The less of a spotlight he had, the more at ease he could feel. His posture while seated was best described as lazy. Slouched over, chin rested on hand.

That didn't change once their homeroom teacher arrived, either. Of course, it was exciting to see someone as famous as Avner in the flesh, but it wasn't something to get overly excited about. Apollo was a hero who possessed an amazing quirk. That wasn't the type of hero Kaito could openly admire. The Locke family always directed their praise more towards the small time heroes who never got much publicity. In that way, it was odd for the boy to be aiming for a spot at the top of the food chain.

Rooming with someone was fine, he was prepared for such a thing being the case. Random Roommates were even more welcome. The thought of just how awkward it'd be for roommates to be decided personally would've been stunning. It was never fun being the leftovers, after all. An exam right off the bat, though, was far more jarring. That meant everyone was likely going to have a chance at being the center of attention, something Kaito had been avoiding like the plague. An exasperated sigh left his mouth as the class began to follow their teacher to the changing rooms. It was truly only a matter of time, he supposed.

"Fuckin' U.A., giving us exams right off the bat." A whisper to no one as he opened up the locker assigned to him and peered inside. Yeah, that looked about right. With a quirk like his, there wasn't much support that could be administered in the form of accessories or equipment- At least, none he could consider. As such, he prioritized the fashion points of the ensemble. On the surface it was basically just a tuxedo, and, well… In functionality it was basically just a tuxedo… His ‘hero’ outfit was a tuxedo. Of course, that wasn’t to say he didn’t request some more breathable and flexible materials for it, but as far as aesthetics went it was really just formal wear.

Every now and then his quirk was thought as one made for a thief by his peers, but it wasn’t something he really minded. The fictional character Arsene Lupin was one he found admirable, and as such he embraced it and styled his outfit after such a person. Aside from the grey tuxedo, which had a matching bowtie to complete the look, he also commissioned a cloak and a monocle. Unlike most of the rest of his getup, the monocle served an actual purpose. It was a faux scope, allowing him to view things in the distance he otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Useful for both scouting an area, and bypassing the viewing limitation of his quirk. The black cloak was long enough to flow down to his shins, and was capable of wrapping around his body easily.

With this all now equipped, the boy looked into his locker once more. Something was missing, right? “Oh well, guess that makes sense.” In the forms he’d filled out, there was a top hat alongside everything else. But it made sense that they’d scrap it, truthfully it would only end up in the way. Honestly the Locke felt like the whole gentleman thief motif was pushing it a bit to begin with.

Ignoring the hustle and bustle taking place within the male changing room, what with others shouting words of encouragement or interacting with their friends, Kaito simply did as instructed and returned to his teacher.

Listening to the Infinite Dumbness infinitely dumb excuses, Chizue stared with a disgusted look on her face. Until the mention of cake. While Shizuka had said "cupcake," Chizue only heard the second syllable, and that syllable was almost enough to tempt her. Almost. "Ca..." She even almost said it, before managing to catch herself. "...rry on with your delusional fantasies." Saved. With that totally and permanently solved definitively for good, Chizue quickly spun around to dive behind a curtain and get changed. Now that she was temporarily safe from the Infinite Dumbness, Chizue had a new issue to worry about. Her outfit. It took a while just figuring out how to get it on properly, but it took even longer for Chizue to psyche herself up enough to leave the safety of the curtain in it. Wrapping her scarf around her to hide as much of her blushing face as she could she stepped out towards the gauntlets in her locker, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to her.

When she reached her locker and equipped the gauntlets, she took a moment to flex them and familiarize herself with how they worked, accidentally poking herself earlier than she had meant to in the process. Oops. Still, it was a minor enough pain Chizue didn't even really wince at it. She clenched her fists and made a couple test punches at the air, and with an evil smile, an idea popped into her mind. Maybe there was a way Shizuka could make it up to Chizue.

Avner beamed, looking around at the bundle of excited - or nervous - students. His pupils. Heroes in training. He envied their almost wide-eyed innocence and delusions of grandeur. Limits meant nothing to them; at least, not for long. Turning on his heel, he took a deep breath, relaxing his muscles. "Onward!" He roared, marching forward with his head held high. He was clearly having too much fun with this. The hero rounded a corner,  leading them down a surprisingly long-winded corridor. "U.A. has undergone plenty of expansion since its beginnings. It's always been a valued school, as I'm sure you are all aware. Something about this place must have attracted you, and nobody will fault you if it was the reputation. However, as U.A. became more and more recognized and presitgious, it simply got bigger. The surrounding city of Musutafu did too. Leading to what we have now; the biggest school grounds in the entire world! Staying here won't be very dull with so many great toys and places around. Be sure to check 'em out. That said, the history lesson is over!"

As if on cue (was the speech practiced?), he rounded a corner to atruly breathtakingly large room. A wide array of stadiums with a variety of locales inside; there must have been around ten. All of them were self-contained with two entrances on either side. They all reached up to the ceiling, sprawling out across the area. It was simply a breathtaking sight. Avner gestured to a noticeboard on the wall beside them. It appeared to contain rotas for all of the scheduled uses of the training grounds for the classes of U.A. Beside it was another notice, namely containing the names of all the class members, assigned to certain sides of their respective stadiums.

STADIUM ONE

Chizue / Keiji - RIGHT SIDE ENTRANCE
Shizuka / Izumi -LEFT SIDE ENTRANCE

STADIUM THREE

Virtua / Skye - RIGHT SIDE ENTRANCE
Yuri / Miguel - LEFT SIDE ENTRANCE

STADIUM SIX

Rihan / Takuya - RIGHT SIDE ENTRANCE
Shinobu / Hinata -LEFT SIDE ENTRANCE

STADIUM NINE

Shirizu / Joki - RIGHT SIDE ENTRANCE
Ren / Kaito - LEFT SIDE ENTRANCE

STADIUM TEN

Ryder / Tate - RIGHT SIDE ENTRANCE
Tora / Yuuki - LEFT SIDE ENTRANCE

Avner allowed the students a few moments to look over the list, find themselves, and come to grips with whatever bad or good news it stored - perhaps a complete stranger, or perhaps an old friend. Most importantly - a teammate. "This exam is to see how you work well in a team, and how you deal with things not always being good for you. We're going to be playing a game. For thirty minutes, you'll be stuck in those stadiums - under my careful watch, of course. You'll have no idea what's inside until you venture forth. It may not be optimal for you - and the people you're up against might not be a very good fit either. It's time to see how you deal with other people and obstacles rather than how you fare in a pretty empty space. You'll have fifteen minutes to familiarize yourself with your teammate and formulate a plan. Then, the exam will begin. The objective? To capture a flag. Once you walk inside, you'll come face to face with your starting point, or your base. One starting point will have a flag; but you won't know which side until you walk in! Therefore, plan to attack for the flag, and to defend the flag once you have it. Versatility is key. There are a lot of unknown elements in this exam, such as the terrain you're moving in, and the people you're with. There are plenty of ways to approach this. But no matter what, once the thirty minutes is over, the exam will conclude. Whoever has possession of the flag - should it be firmly planted in the ground at the starting point, in the hands of one member of your team, or on your respective 'side' of the field - will win the game. You can't fail this exam unless you give up, however. Fight for as long as you can until the time is over. In the unlikely event one team is unable to continue battling, the match will end there and then. No serious injuries, as you'd likely guessed." Avner sighed, taking a quick sip of water from a bottle he carried with him. Talking so much was annoying. Why did he have to throw so much at them? "If you need anything explained again you can ask me or check the noticeboard - an explanation is underneath the teammate sheet. Proceed to your respective entrances as soon as possible. You can talk there and be ready to begin whenever."

"Oh, wait-" Shizuka called as Chizue dived behind a curtain. But it was too late. The girl seemed incredibly intent on not letting Shizuka apologize. She was starting to run out of ideas. She didn't move from her spot, thinking about what she could do to get through to Chizue, all the way until Chizue came out from behind the curtain in her costume. At first, Shizuka was a bit surprised by it. It seemed a bit... odd, for a high school student to be wearing. Some heroes had gotten away with worse in the past, it was true, but the design caught her off guard. Still, she had to admit it looked cool. Over the top? Maybe. But that sort of thing never bothered Shizuka. "Woah, you look so cool!" Shizuka said, eyeing her as she came out. But Chizue just walked on past her, without even acknowledging her comment, "I really like the-" she tried to say, but as the girl walked away, she gave up, the air in her lungs escaping only as a sigh. This was going to be a challenge.

She didn't have too much time to worry about it, as Avner's overwhelmingly bright cheerfulness took over, allowing Shizuka to get excited about what came next again. Entering the enormous room housing the stadiums, Shizuka let out an audible "Whoa!" in awe. She knew U.A. was huge, but this was something else entirely! First the underground maze, and now this! She knew she'd made a good decision to come here. Then, looking at the list of names and Avner's explanation of the exam, Shizuka got even more excited. Not only did a game of capture the flag sound fun, but Shizuka's teammate was Izumi.

As soon as Avner finished his explanation, instead of heading for the entrance as instructed, Shizuka immediately located Izumi and rushed up to her, grabbing her hands and excitedly jumping up and down, "Izumi-chan, look! We get to be teammates!" she said, her giddy cheerfulness boiling over, "C'mon, let's go! This is gonna be super fun!"


----------------------------------

Yuri wiggled her fingers at her new "friends," as she left their little gathering to join the formless masses and follow their teacher to the stadiums they'd be taking their exam in. It was quite impressive, really. The exam seemed simple enough. A typical game of capture the flag. And scanning the teams on the board, she couldn't help but smile. 'Oh my,' she thought, mischief in her eyes, 'looks like I'll be getting to play with Vivi already. Hope she's not too nervous, still,' she barely held back a laugh, not wanting to draw stares from her classmates.

There were just two problems. The first was her teammate. "Miguel." She recognized that name. It belonged to one of the students with the worst times in the entrance exam. Somebody who barely managed to make it in. Of course, Vivi's time wasn't great either, so maybe Yuri's strength and brilliance would be able to carry them through. She hoped. But that left the other problem. Vivi's teammate, Skye. A name she did not recognize from the entrance exam. Was she a recommendation? That could mean a couple of things. She could just be incredibly smart, a great skill on its own, or she could be incredibly strong. There were a handful of other possibilities, it was true, but those were the two easiest explanations. If it's true that Skye is one of the strongest students here, while Yuri got lumped with a weak link, she could be in for a rough time.

Yuri shook her head. Now was not the time to be worrying about that. Now was the time to meet with her teammate and try to formulate a strategy that would actually get them through this mess. That in mind, she made her way to Stadium Three, to meet up with this Miguel fellow.

The light history lesson provided by their homeroom teacher went in one ear and immediately out the other. There were far more pressing matters at hand, currently. Such as examining the costumes of his peers. Some stood out, others not so much, but a majority of them left Kaito more or less impressed. To him, the costume was the most important piece of a hero, if not one of the most important. It was the first impression, when you arrived on the scene of a crime it was the first thing to invoke hope within the victims and fear within the villains. In that way, it was a vital piece to being a hero. As such, being surrounded by fellow heroes in training, it was immensely intriguing to see what others wanted that first impression to be.

It wasn't until they arrived at the site of their exam that the young boy snapped out of his trance like state and snapped to attention. The contents of the exam were daunting, and something that'd begun to worry him. Those worries certainly weren't quelled by the extravagant sight his eyes laid upon. This was U.A. alright. If that doubt were still present, then with this it'd vanished. The stadiums that were set up smelled of one thing- Combat. But perhaps that was simply his paranoia. Perhaps they'd be running rescue simulations. That, he could probably handle. These hopes were dashed against the stones as his eyes were drawn towards the list containing names in groups- Four of them, separated by the different entrances each stage had.

"Fuck..." A light utterance, audible only by those who may have been in close proximity. This was fine, he wasn't completely useless in combat, and could almost definitely provide some stand up support. Issue was, he didn't recognize any of the names in his block. He really should've studied that list a bit closer- No, that was a lie. One of them stood out. 'Shirizu'. That was, without a doubt, the student that had placed very last in the exams. To some that may have been reassuring, an easy win, right? No. The faux gentleman thief wasn't so naive. There were a multitude of possibilities that could have led to such a placement. Wrong environment, an ailment of some sort on the day of the exam. But there were two things that the brown haired boy feared the most. Overachieving and planning. Had he been in a better state of mind, he would've gunned for a lower spot on the ranking list so as not to stand out as much. That could've been what this 'Shirizu' had in mind. They may have been far better than their ranking portrayed. God forbid they did something dumb like collecting more points than what was necessary and that's why they ended up at the bottom. That was something he really didn't want to think about.

At some point, a hand had emerged from his pocket and began toying with one of his frontal locks of hair. A habit he'd gotten into somewhere along the line whenever he lost himself in thought. Enough with the deliberation, he supposed, pocketing that very hand and beginning to walk off for his assigned entrance. "Time to go meet this Ren person."

Shinobu didn't take much more time in the locker room after complimenting Hinata's hero costume. Dress up was fun and all but ultimately they still had an exam to go take. Still, he didn't want to seem overly eager and so took a casual pace on the way back to meet up with the rest of the students and the teacher. Casual of course was still a very brisk walk. The cheetah boy didn't do slow very well under any circumstance. But with the class assembled and Avner leading them on their way he had to slow down enough to actually be lead to the room they'd be using. As the boy walked he couldn't help but look around among the students. He had to wonder how many eyes were on him. How many people were gunning for the top and how many were satisfied just to be here. At the least he knew Hinata and Virtua would be trying to give him a challenge. That's all he wanted really. Something challenging. Being the best was cool and all but not nearly cool enough when the entrance exam had been so simple for him.

This stadium of a room however, that was pretty cool. U.A. really did have all the best stuff like Avner had been saying on the way there. The teacher then motioned to a board that seemed to list all of their names under different stadium numbers. The fact they had more than one of these beasts was impressive enough. As Shinobu looked he noticed two names were together on either side of a given stadium. To his surprise he saw Hinata's name. Avner began explaining before the cat's imagination could run away with what was about to happen. This was to be a team exercise meaning he couldn't challenge Hinata in this but rather had to work with him. He almost felt sorry for their opponents if they didn't have even half the drive he and his partner did. Speaking of his partner he nearly nudged the boy excitedly but caught himself in time to awkwardly swing around him instead.

"Alright man, let's go kick ass!" he said as they started heading off for their stadium. It didn't take too long but then there were supposed to be fifteen minutes of just talking and strategizing. It was just capture the flag. Whatever there was in the room Shinobu felt confident he was way faster than anyone here. If he was on offense that would just be unfair. If he was on defense well he was certain he could get the flag back in a flash if it was ever taken. But a thought crossed his mind just as he was deciding he'd already won this on his own. This was a team exercise. Hinata was here too. Two on two added a whole layer of depth and complications to things but he was sure with their quirks they'd be fine. Their quirks. Something wasn't adding up. It took a minute but then it hit him all at once.

"Hey uh... Hinata, funny question for you." Shinobu began, the uncertainty in his voice was clear. "Stop me if I've asked before but... uh... what's your quirk?" he asked while instinctively putting a hand behind his head to scratch at his neck nervously. He'd known the boy for a few weeks now, even challenged him and accepted him as a rival for the position of number one hero, and for the life of him couldn't remember if he'd ever asked about.

---------------

Izumi was pleased to have the other girls introduce themselves. She caught Virtua's slip of the tongue, calling herself first Vivi. The name sounded really cute but given how she ultimately introduced herself it must have simply been a nickname she was used to be called. Yuri introduced herself without any such mistake and then excused herself to go join up with the rest of the class who would be assembling with Avner. Not wanting to be late she told Virtua it was great to meet her and she looked forward to class with her before taking her own leave. She stayed about midway in the pack of the group of students that followed the man to the grounds of their exam. The place was massive and she was alarmed to find quickly that there were multiple such locations. She'd done some research into the U.A. facilities in the past but you never really got the feel of the scope of things until you were in them it seemed.

Upon reviewing the board and hearing Avner's explanation, Izumi was pleasantly surprised to see Shizuka's name alongside her own. It was something of a relief to have a familiar face partnered with her. They already knew something about the other's quirk and got along well which meant their fifteen minutes could really be spent on their strategy and not just familiarizing the other with their powers. Before she could go to look for Shizuka the girl had taken hold of her hands and was ushering her off to their stadium. The excitement was infectious as always and a bright smile took hold of her face as she nodded and ran off with her friend.

"So, capture the flag..." Izumi started pondering aloud after they'd reached their destination. "I'd like to think we be put on defense but we can't count on it. A lot of this depends on the sorts of quirks this Chizue and Keiji duo have. We're not really made for offense so having to go get the flag would put us at a disadvantage." she continued. She had healing and could hold her own in most one on one situations assuming there wasn't a powerful quirk on the enemy's side. Shizuka had her adrenaline rushes which from her experience under one in the entrance exam lasted about thirty minutes. Thankfully this test was only thirty minutes long so maybe it would be best to get the rush going from the start. Or was it better to use as a surprise for the opponent's part way in? There were so many variables to this but half of them were missing. A difficult equation to be certain. All they could do was theorize and adapt.

Letting that kiddy nickname slip to Yuri and Izumi was going to be the death of poor Virtua. Not because of Izumi probably, but because of Yuri who already spun the gears on teasing. Thankfully, Avner began to progress toward the exam right before the horrific wave of embarrassment was going to kill her. Deciding to focus, she nervously followed their teacher to see the mass spread of stadiums, shocking the girl seeing as the whole underground display for the entrance exam was astonishing enough. U.A. must've been going ridiculously strong to have such funding, even during the times of declining heroism. It made her tremble with excitement and fear, knowing that so much rides on the precious few who make it into U.A.'s hero course, riding on the legacy of those before them in the golden era. Gladia would always talk of this academic institute so highly and the fact that they kept improving and expanding their power and resources shows that they never gave up.

For U.A., they never stopped believing Deku's era was the last golden age of heroes. That's the message conveyed by the expanse of training facilities.

Vivi was glad her opponents were people she... kind of knew. Miguel was someone who helped at the entrance exam, so she got a look at his quirk and knows he's friendly. Yuri is the teasing type but usually her kind were more comfortable with lighthearted bullying. It'd still scare the poor lass, but there was a sense of relief in the upcoming adversaries not all that eager to beat her up.

This left... Skye? A name she hadn't heard before... Great, another stranger. Taking a hearty gulp to choke down nerves, the swordswoman made her way to the designated area and saw that her partner was much faster on the uptake, having already been present. A sense of reliability was found in punctuality and taking this heroic journey seriously, so maybe this wouldn't be bad at all? "H-Hello." Vivi approached tentatively, giving greetings while taking in her teammate's hero costume that was well furbished with armor plating. It held a level of grace that went nicely with the metal attachments and armaments. "M-my name is V-... Virtua." Stuttering out an introduction, she was at least quick to accept that these students would be people she's around for the next long time coming, so it'd be in her best interest to get along and be polite. Even more so with this exam being teamwork based: capturing the flag. Starting off friendly means getting a strategy for offense and defense as advised would help smooth things along.