(Test 3: Standing Long Jump)

"Asui. Stop being in the clouds." Aizawa said dryly.

Tsuyu frowned. She wasn't in the clouds... She was simply admiring how adorable the girl beside her looked when she began to murmur uncontrollably thinking no one noticed it.

Tsuyu advanced towards the track until she was on the starting line.

Because of her Quirk, she didn't really need to catch a flight; she just squatted down, building tension in her legs. And when she felt ready she jumped, flying over the track with ease and then squatting down on the other side. Then she stood up and turned to look at Izumi's amazed expression and smiled happily and raised her hand making a V sign.

From what Tsuyu had observed until then; when Izumi didn't seem mortified about her own performance, she was totally focused on observing others' abilities. It seems that Izumi genuinely was struck by Quirks at a level that reached fanaticism.

"Good luck!" Tsuyu exclaimed and moved to the side of the track.

Then something strange happened.

It was Izumi's turn and just when the girl seemed to be about to start running, Aizawa advanced towards her.

"Right. I forgot to mention something." Aizawa's hair was floating along with his scarf, while his eyes seemed to glow red. "I think I already made it clear that all of you should stop playing games and start taking things seriously... However" Aizawa's tone became more severe than normal. "I don't think I need to clarify that I'm expecting all of you to be rational enough not to end up hurting or incapacitating yourselves for being stupidly reckless or unable to control your own Quirks." Aizawa made sure to emphasize the latter before his eyes returned to normal. His hair and scarf again affected by gravity. "That's all," he said and stepped off the track once more.

"...Gero...?" Aizawa hadn't made that comment just because. He did it for Izumi, but why?

Tsuyu looked at Izumi; the girl seemed clearly affected, her gaze fixed on her feet.

For a moment, it occurred to Tsuyu to say something to try to alleviate the situation, but just as she was going to do it, Izumi raised her head.

Her doubts had completely disappeared.

Izumi started running, accumulating speed at each step until she reached the starting line, and then jumped.

Tsuyu opened her eyes in surprise, watching as Izumi flew over the track at high speed as if she was a missile.

Towards the end of the track, when Izumi passed by, Tsuyu could distinguish some kind of weird green energy coming from the girl's legs for only a small moment. The amount of power Tsuyu managed to feel coming from it was overwhelming, but there was a warmth that accompanied it.

That must be Izumi's Quirk.

Then Izumi landed, about a meter farther than Tsuyu, although unfortunately not so gracefully; ending up tripping and rolling on the ground a couple of meters until she finally stopped.

Overcoming her astonishment, Tsuyu ran worriedly toward the girl.

"Are you alright, Izumi?!"

"Hey...? Y-Yes, I'm fine." The girl replied after a moment and stood up, somewhat shakily but apparently fine. Although by the expression of slight pain on her face Tsuyu couldn't believe her words fully. "J-Just need a moment to rest my legs," Izumi said, forcing herself to smile. It took Tsuyu a moment to notice that her words weren't only addressed to her but to Aizawa who was watching the situation with interest.

Did using her Quirk cause Izumi pain? That was unusual.

"So you can jump like me. Uh?" Tsuyu asked, genuinely curious. It would be too coincidental for that to be Izumi's Quirk.

"W-Well, yeah. But that's not my Qui-..." Whatever the girl was going to say she suddenly stopped; her face turning pale and her expression worried.

Tsuyu turned around and looked in the direction Izumi was looking at, only to find the blond boy with the explosive Quirk, Katsuki Bakugou, glaring in their direction. The intensity in his eyes didn't seem to indicate anything good.

And despite the distance, Tsuyu was almost certain that the weird murderous gaze was directed at Izumi.

Tsuyu frowned and moved slightly to the side to block the view that the boy had of Izumi and then gave him the most poisonous glare she could, which for her was limited to an expression of moderate displeasure. Katsuki seemed to understand what she was doing and just snorted and rolled his eyes, apparently losing interest for the moment.

Tsuyu turned to Izumi feeling relatively satisfied and noticed the troubled expression on her face.

"Kacchan." She whispered looking in Katsuki's direction.

Tsuyu took a moment to look at Katsuki and then Izumi again.

Oh no.

(Test 5: Ball Throw)

After reflecting on most of Test No.4, Tsuyu had reached a sad but certain conclusion.

She was jealous. It was irritating to recognize it, but it was the truth.

Imagining that the ball in her hand was Katsuki's ugly head, Tsuyu threw it up and, before it could touch the ground, hit it as hard as she could using her tongue like a whip.

It looked more painful than it really was. The fact was that the sensitivity of her tongue was quite low and at the same time it was much stronger than the average tongue.

She didn't even pay too much attention to her score, the illuminated expression on Izumi's face while she murmured about the strength of her tongue was enough to know that she had done well enough.

Unfortunately, Tsuyu didn't need her score to know that it was surely lower than Katsuki's. Because Tsuyu tongue was powerful, but not enough to overcome the blond boy's throwing distance of 705.2 meters.

To her slight relief, at least Katsuki could no longer boast about having the greatest distance after Ochako managed to get an infinite score.

Again, it was irritating to recognize it and Tsuyu tried not to think about it too much, but there was the remote and tiny possibility that Izumi liked the blond bastard.

They both knew each other from before, that was clear, and there was an odd vibe around them that betrayed that the situation between them was quite complicated.

And in that way, jealousy had poked its ugly face on Tsuyu's mind. She didn't like feeling that way at all.

Then it was suddenly Izumi's turn.

The girl advanced towards the throwing area and remained a few seconds watching the ball in her hand with some insecurity.

"She is really letting nerves affect her," Tenya commented and Ochako nodded slightly worried.

"It's weird for Deku-chan to be like that, being so strong." The girl commented and Tsuyu looked at them curiously.

¿Deku? Wasn't that the same nickname that Katsuki had used a couple of times referring to Izumi?

"Hmn, do you two know Izumi-chan?" Both turned with slight alarm, not having noticed Tsuyu's presence.

"...Ah, Asui-chan! Yes, both of us and Deku-chan did the practical test in the same area. You should have seen her, she was amazing!"

"Indeed, she has both the strength and the heart of a true hero!" Exclaimed the boy, nodding robotically in a way that was somewhat funny.

Tsuyu smiled, happy not to be the only one who felt sympathy for the freckled girl... Tsuyu just hoped they wouldn't end up becoming her rivals for Izumi's love or something similar. She already had enough to have to (potentially) compete against Katsuki.

"Although I hope things aren't going to end up like during the test," Ochako said suddenly somewhat worried.

"I don't think you should worry. I assume the damage Izumi-san suffered that time was for the amount of force she used to neutralize the Zero-Points. But this time I don't think she needs to get to that extreme." Tenya's words practically entered through one of Tsuyu's ears and came out from the other, she being incapable to find their meaning.

Tsuyu seriously needed some context.

"What do you mean? What happened with the Zero-Points and Izumi?" Asked Tsuyu, suddenly remembering she had heard a curious rumor about the robot after the test had finished.

It couldn't be... Or could it?

"She punched it," said the girl, hitting the air with enthusiasm, "and reduced it to scrap to save me from being stepped on." Tsuyu blinked, surprised and slightly incredulous, before turning to look at Izumi. "She didn't need to do it but still intervened to save me. Although in the end, she ended up hurting herself," said the brown-haired girl, a bit embarrassed.

So Izumi was the girl from the rumor: The girl who destroyed that robotic monstrosity.

Imagining it was almost impossible. She didn't look like someone from whom one could expect such power. But if that wasn't the case, then what was that intense force Tsuyu was able to detect emanating from Izumi just a few minutes ago?

Besides that, by Ochako's words, it seemed that what happened after the jump hadn't been a coincidence or accident. Apparently Izumi somehow always hurt herself by using her Quirk.

It was something really curious ... And worrisome.

The curiosity she felt for Izumi was only growing by the minute.

"...I think Izumi-chan will be fine," she said with a smile.

It was then that the person with whom she had the least interest to interact throughout all the school just decided to appear.

"Bah, that nerd is completely screwed!" Katsuki exclaimed in his angry voice. "I have no idea what the hell she did to pass the entrance exam or what damn trick she used to take that huge ass jump before, but in the end, it doesn't matter shit. She will simply end up making a fool of herself like the Quirkless nerd she is! "

Tsuyu frowned, trying to keep calm so she wouldn't end up hitting Katsuki's face with her tongue.

Then Katsuki and Tenya began to argue, while she turned to fix her attention on Izumi again. What does it the blond idiot meant calling Izumi Quirkless of all things?

She was not Quirkless.

If it wasn't obvious before, it became clear the moment Izumi finally made her throw.

"SMASH!" Izumi exclaimed, hitting the ball with her index finger and causing it to shoot skyward until it was no longer visible.

"715.2 meters," Aizawa said with a slightly creepy smile on his face. Tenya started clapping while Ochako exclaimed "Well done, Deku-chan!", And she just raised her thumb and smiled. Izumi watched their support and ducked her head, embarrassed but with a small proud smile on her face.

As for Katsuki, his expression of disbelief and shock at that moment was hilarious. Unfortunately, it was immediately replaced by one of fury, his face turning red like a volcano about to explode.

Surprisingly the boy just walked away while grunting unintelligible things.

There was definitely something weird between those two.

(...)

The last three tests that followed were in their own way true torture. Not because they were particularly difficult, although they certainly managed to leave her exhausted both physically and mentally.

The real problem was the fact of having to compete while resisting the temptation of staring openly at Izumi while she was running during Test No.6, lifting weights at No.7, and demonstrating her flexibility at No.8.

Izumi was hot. It wasn't even her hormones talking, but a fact.

At one point Minoru seemed to notice how she looked at Izumi. To which he smiled and raised his thumb in approval. That was enough for her to hit him and then hit herself.

As for the results, she got 13th with Izumi just behind her in 14th place. Just as she expected the expulsion had been a trick and everyone ended up safe in the end.

And so her first day in UA ended.

(...)

"What did Recovery Girl tell you?" Tsuyu asked.

"E-Eh, she scolded me a little but said I was fine," Izumi said as she opened and closed the hand with which she had used her Quirk.

Aizawa had made her visit the nurse to check whether or not she had any type of internal damage.

"... When you used your Quirk to jump it caused you pain, and the same with the ball throw… Is that normal?"

"E-Eh. No." Izumi seemed especially uncomfortable suddenly for some reason. "N-Not exactly... I... E-Eh. I'm a late bloomer. S-So I'm still learning and getting used to it."

"At least it's a huge improvement compared to that time during the practical test," Ochako commented.

"Certainly. That was simply terrible." Tenya nodded as he glanced at Izumi, while Tsuyu raised an eyebrow.

"You had already mentioned that before, but I thought it was just some pain..." Huge power in exchange for overloading her muscles at the point of causing pain, at least that was how Tsuyu had interpreted Izumi's Quirk until then.

"I-It was nothing..." Izumi intervened trying to downplay the situation, even though she didn't seem to believe her own words.

"It was something...! Deku-chan broke her arm and one leg. It was awful." Ochako added severely. Meanwhile, Tsuyu could feel an enormous discomfort in her stomach just by imagining Izumi suffering a wound like that.

"What does Deku mean?" Tsuyu asked, wanting to change the subject to something that wouldn't make her feel so bad.

Then the subject changed to the nicknames Katsuki and Izumi give to each other when they were kids, which they still use after 10 years even when they hardly are friends anymore.

Tsuyu wasn't sure what topic, whether that or Izumi with broken bones, make her stomach feel worse.

(...)

"I arrived," Tsuyu said as she entered her home. She felt exhausted. Though, at the same time... Happy?

Her first day at UA had a bit of everything. Happiness, fear, tension, action... Romance.

She wasn't going to be able to stay away from Izumi even if she wanted to. That had already been obvious. If what her mother had told her was true, the older she got and the more time she passed near Izumi the easier it would be for her not to get carried away by her hormones. So for now there was little she could do about it.

And that really didn't bother her as much as before. After all, after meeting Izumi, many of her fears had dissipated.

She seemed like a nice and kind-hearted person. She was also cute, funny in an awkward way, and on top of that, she carried a hidden strength and courage within her that made Tsuyu's heart beat faster every time she saw her.

Izumi was just the kind of person Tsuyu could accept having fallen in love with.

"Welcome home." Her mother, Beru, replied. It seemed she had apparently arrived early from work and was storing some vegetables in the refrigerator.

"Hmn, where are Samidare and Satsuki?" She asked, curious that they weren't in sight. They could be very quiet and loud at the same time.

"They are playing at the park. It's curious you didn't notice..." Beru commented and Tsuyu tried to not react to her words. Considering how distracted she was thinking on Izumi it wasn't that strange she didn't notice them… But her mother didn't need to know that. "Anyway, how was your first day of school?

"Pretty good," she said with a slightly dumb smile, Izumi's face suddenly appearing in her mind.

"I see." Her mother replied, having finished. "Tsuyu," said her mother, interrupting her attempt to go up to her room to change clothes. "One moment, we need to talk." Tsuyu raised a curious eyebrow and watched her mother sit on one of the couches of the living room.

Tsuyu walked and sat on the other couch, facing her mother. Suddenly finding the situation bizarrely familiar.

"You found them, right?" Beru asked seriously, and Tsuyu genuinely didn't know what to answer. "Your right one," Her mother said and Tsuyu suddenly froze.

Oh no.

"...Mom, what-...?"

"Tsuyu," said Beru raising her hand to stop her from talking. "I'm not that naive. I realized it... It really wasn't that difficult." Beru sighed. "You have been behaving strangely... Distant and depressed since the day of the practical exam. Initially, I thought it was the nerves or fear of not having passed, but soon I started to suspect it wasn't that and I was sure of it when you continued to behave the same way even after receiving your card of acceptance... And now, suddenly, you return from your first day in UA having returned to normal... No. Looking even happier than normal... I can only assume that you met your right one finally... Or am I wrong?"

"..." Tsuyu blinked, almost speechless, and then just nodded. Her mother's level of insight was something otherworldly. That was the kind of thing you had to deal with when your mother was a lawyer.

"Good!" Beru exclaimed, with a smile on her face, finally leaving the act of the merciless lawyer and interrogator. "It seems that the time has come for us to finally end the conversation we started some years ago!" Her mother said with a lot of energy. "Where was I left last time...? Ah, right. About the tadpoles. You see..."

Meanwhile, Tsuyu swallowed hard and began to wish for any merciful being who could be listening to take her out of there.

Not again… Just not again.

But her wish didn't come true.

(...)