I Am Not Number Seven (TUA/MHA Crossover)

21. Uraraka: Determination

Uraraka Ochako had worked too hard to get where she was just to be kicked out of school on the first day. After that awfully difficult, nearly impossible, absolutely nauseating entrance exam and already having to move away from her family in order to attend UA, there was no way she was going home after not even participating in a single class.

"This is too unfair, it's only the first day!" she shouted, her mind flashing to worst-case scenarios if she was sent home. Could she even join another hero prep high school this late in the game? What about the money her parents spent on the apartment? It would be wasted for sure. How would that loss affect their business?

Her spiraling was cut off when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She expected it to be Deku, he seemed like a nice enough boy to offer her comfort in this nerve-wracking situation, but when she looked at who it was, strange blue eyes stared back. Ochako flinched away from Vanya without meaning to, recalling how the girl who was being nice to her now was also the same one that got in the scary blond guy's face earlier, yanking her shoulder out of the other girl's grasp.

An emotion Ochako didn't catch flickered across Vanya's face, gone before Ochako could realize what it was. She dropped her hand, which had been hovering awkwardly in the air, and clasped it behind her back again. The girl turned away from the brunette, pointedly not meeting her eyes anymore. Ochako opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off when Aizawa-sensei started speaking again, talking about how disasters and villain attacks were random and unfair, therefore UA should do its best to mimic real life so to prepare the students for the real world.

Personally, Ochako would have preferred a bit more instruction before being thrown to the figurative wolves but she was a strong girl with determination. This would not be her last day here. She clenched her fists and glanced around, everyone else had begun stretching and preparing for the series of tests, resolution glinting in their eyes.

"Alright, demonstration over. The first test starts now." Aizawa-sensei said. He nodded to the track near them, "We'll be doing a 50-meter dash in sets of two. Everyone line up!"

Everyone scrambled to get into pairs, Ochako maneuvered her way to the front of the still-forming line and was pushed next to a blond boy with a tail.

Only Iida and a girl with a froggy appearance stood posed in front of them, both in a runner's starting position.

Ochako watched intently as the two took off at the starting signal. She barely had time to blink before Iida crossed the finish line, followed shortly by the green-haired girl hopping right over it.

"3.04 seconds!" the robot analyzing their race chirped mechanically, "5.58 seconds!" it said, saying their scores in order of who finished first.

Ochako stepped up to the starting line, touching her clothes and shoes with her quirk activated to lighten them up. She'd have to be careful during these tests, the brown-haired girl couldn't afford to make herself sick to the point where she wouldn't be able to finish them. And from the looks of it, there would need to be more times she'd have to use Zero Gravity.

Blegh. Her stomach churned in response.

The girl stood at the starting line with the boy next to her and they both took off at the starting sound. She ran as fast as she could, arms pumping by her side, and kept her eyes forward, not looking as the blond boy began to pull ahead.

"5.41 seconds! 7.15 seconds!" the robot chirped once they both crossed the line, the latter being her score. She slowed to a stop, grasping her hands together in glee. "That's faster than I was in middle school!" she exclaimed, smiling widely. Ochako clenched her fists and made her way to the side where the others stood to watch the rest of their classmates run, a skip in her step.