More Than Gold

二

に

-_-=-_-=-_-

ENA WASN'T SURPRISED WHEN AIZAWA TOLD THEM THEY WERE DOING QUIRK APPREHENSION TESTS INSTEAD OF ATTENDING ORIENTATION. She had been living in UA's dorms since she was six - it would have been strange if she was surprised by anything that the staff did. Ena watched as her classmates slowly started to realise that Aizawa wasn't someone who would let them believe that being a hero was all fun and games in amusement. She had never gone through it personally, but the girl had witnessed enough students get expelled by the man in front of them to know that he would never joke around about these things.

When Aizawa tossed the ball in her direction, Ena clicked her tongue slightly as she caught it.

"You were late, so, you get to do the demonstration, and remember, Nezu wants to know how much you've improved..." There was a glint in his eyes that reminded Ena of all the times Aizawa had mind-fucked the other teachers. "What was your last score for this?"

"Without my quirk was fifty-five metres," The corners of Ena's lips seemed to rise even higher, and Class 1A shivered at it. She removed her right glove, revealing the skin of her hand and arm. A tattoo ran from the middle of her forearm to the tips of her fingers. It was inked in a solid black, the pattern resembling the reflection of light on clear water as it twisted round and round her hand, never quite ending anywhere. Yet, at the same time, the swirling lines were like cracks in her skin, like ravines so deep you'd never see the bottom. The class stared, unsure of how to react at a seemingly pleasant girl having something as delinquent-like as tattoos.

"But when I used it, it was seven hundred and seventy-seven metres. And now..." Her voice dropped from the airy tone she had been using.

Ena set the ball in her left hand on the ground. Her right thumb, index and middle finger touched the ground and immediately, the dirt shifted.

"Dirt manipulation?" The boy with dark green hair muttered before trailing off.

'Not exactly.'

The ground enveloped the ball, attaching to its front and back and turning it into a spear-like shape. But that wasn't all, the floor continued to rise, towering over the entire class as it took the form of a giant hand. For the first time, Ena's mouth split to reveal her teeth, her face contorting into a manic smile as her eyelids opened to reveal dull purple irises and no pupils. Then, the arm arched backwards, and the spear was gone.

There was a brief pause before Aizawa displayed the numbers on his device.

"1846 metres."

The girl stood up and clapped her hands together, eyes closed, teeth hidden, and voice light once again. The arm had melded back with the ground as if it was never there. Aizawa didn't look surprised at all - not at her tattoos or the fact that her score was higher than what was humanly possible.

"Wa! That's way higher than it was before!"

Their teacher's face had broken out into a grin that split his face. It wasn't a particularly nice one to look at; it was more of something gleeful and promising of pain. One blonde boy with an electrification quirk would never admit it, but the quick change in attitude was a power move if he ever saw one.

It was then when Aizawa dropped the 'last place will be expelled' bomb that Ena giggled, delighted in the varied expressions of her classmates.

As they began to line up for their turns to take the test, Ena felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She spun around to see the same green-haired boy who had tried to guess her quirk earlier.

"A-ano, I'm Midoriya Izuku, a-and I was wondering how your quirk works?" The boy stuttered, cheeks flushing red as he glanced away.

Ena faced him, opening her eery purple eyes lazily to get a better look at him. Midoriya was one of the shorter boys in the class, and she had a good eight centimetres on him. He wasn't notably bulky like the boy with six arms, but he definitely had enough muscles and was lean enough for her to guess that it was the same under the shirt.

Midoriya shuddered under her gaze, slightly unnerved by the way her expression never seemed to change and the way she studied him so carefully. She must have deemed him acceptable to talk to because she chose to close her eyes once more again and speak. Midoriya let out a huff of relief.

"Mm, I'm Kanemoto Ena," She angles her head so that it appeared like she was looking at him, "My quirk relies on contact from the first three fingers on both hands, and if the either of the last two fingers has contact as well, it negates my quirk."

"Kanemoto... Ena... you're the one who's in the custody of UA!"

She nodded her head, slightly weary now, but the boy didn't begin to spill anything about her guardians. (Ena didn't notice the sharp glance Yaoyorozu threw their way).

Midoriya's eyes lit up at her reply before rolling into another tangent about the possibilities she had access to. He didn't see it, but the corners of Ena's eyes curved slightly at his naiveté, feeling nostalgic at his innocence. She clapped her hands in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance.

"It's your turn next, Midoriya-kun," She stopped before deciding to say, "Good luck."

And boy did he need it.

For all the physical training he had done, Midoriya Izuku was utterly inexperienced in controlling his quirk. When Ena saw that it was breaking his bones when he used it, she figured that it was because he was afraid of breaking his bones when he was even younger. Then, the spiky explody boy came raging that Izuku didn't have a quirk in the first place.

Ena cocked her head to the side curiously.

'Latent quirk activation through a traumatic experience? Or something with a big enough impact to trigger his quirk. Either way, it wasn't from the childhood bully because anger issues didn't know about Midoriya-kun's quirk.'

The girl watched as Midoriya cringed in pain, cradling the broken finger with his other hand gently. Ena hadn't corrected him about what her quirk really was, and she didn't want to have him question why she could heal his broken finger when he thought her quirk was earth manipulation. Midoriya may have been one of the most precious people she had met, but she didn't know him enough to let him know about everything about herself.

Ena exhaled loudly, turning a blind eye to the glance that Aizawa shot at her. He was her favourite because he always knew when she didn't want to be pushed.

It was okay. Everyone was allowed to have secrets - even heroes.

-_-=-_-=-_-

| { MORE THAN GOLD } |

-_-=-_-=-_-