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[End of Day 1]
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After Midoriya's aura farming moment, and a small altercation with Bakugo going bonkers at Midoriya for having a Quirk, the class continued with the rest of the tests like normal. Sit-ups, Seated Toe-touch, Long Distance Run, all of them relatively simple exercises, and still something Taka made use of to aura farm somehow.
During most tests, Yaoyorozu stood at the lead, with the crazy inventions she produced with her Quirk often surpassing what any of the others could reach with their own Quirk.
—of course, that was without counting Taka.
The teenager kept crushing every test with overwhelming power, placing himself at the top in each one, save for the baseball throw, where Uraraka managed to score infinity with her Quirk by erasing the ball's gravity.
During it all, sadly, Midoriya's performance dropped a tad more thanks to the wretched pain coming from his broken finger. It made it so that, even after clutching up at the baseball throw, he still went back to the bottom of the rankings in no time.
And so, just like that, thirty minutes and several other tests later, the Quirk Assessment Test came to an end.
Once they were done, the whole class reunited outside the gym, watching as Aizawa pulled a remote from his pocket and projected everyone's results.
Instantly, all eyes were drawn to the projected board of results, most of the students being nervous or worried about what they were about to see. Midoriya, in particular.
After all, while they had a faint understanding of how they had done, nothing said the teacher wouldn't evaluate them in a completely unexpected way, and end up with them in the dreaded last place.
At least—until Aizawa himself explained that the scores were simply the results from the tests added together.
That was enough to set Midoriya in a spiral of worry. He, after all, was the one the most aware of how much he had sucked.
And, to his dismay, as soon as the results were revealed, what he had feared became true.
There, at the bottom of the list, was his name—ranked last in the class.
On the other hand—
'Well, I was gonna crash out if I hadn't been there,' Taka thought with a snort as he saw his name at the top, followed by Yaoyorozu and then Todoroki.
As expected, he had dominated.
'I guess that concludes the aura farming for the day.' He sighed, tension faintly leaving his shoulders.
As for Midoriya being at the very bottom, he didn't bat an eye. After all—
"By the way," Aizawa spoke up nonchalantly as he turned off the projection, "...I was lying about the whole expulsion thing."
Instantly, most of the class's faces twisted into bafflement.
""What?!""
Aizawa seemed to smirk at their suffering, looking at them with a mocking gaze. "It was a rational deception to force you to push your limits."
Instantly, those at the lower ranks became exasperated—namely Midoriya, for thinking this had been the end, and Iida, because he had trusted the teacher with all his heart.
"Of course it was a lie!" Yaoyorozu chimed in upon seeing their upset reactions, sweatdropping faintly. "It would have been obvious if you had just thought it through."
Those who had been worried earlier sweatdropped as well, mentally slapping themselves for falling for it… at least, until a voice cut through.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Taka said ominously out of the sudden, drawing most eyes to him.
"What?" Yaoyorozu turned to him, baffled.
Sadly, she didn't get an answer, as Taka simply closed his eyes enigmatically.
And before she could press for answers—
"With that, we're done here. There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom. So when you get back, give them a look." Aizawa said, turning around to leave. Albeit, just before doing so, he passed a doctor's note to the injured greenhead. "Midoriya, have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office—hmm? Weren't you injured?"
His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he glanced at Midoriya's previously broken finger—now completely healed.
And it seemed he wasn't the only one to just realize it.
"E-eh?! When did it—huh?!" Midoriya stared at his finger in bafflement, now without any trace of ever having been broken.
While the teacher and Midoriya's new friends tried to comprehend what had just happened, Taka snorted and turned to walk away, heading toward the changing rooms.
'Didn't even cost me 300 aura to fix it,' he smirked inwardly, glancing at the skill that had been the hardest to unlock of them all.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Aura Projection - There There Mode](Active)
Description: To destroy is easy, and a basic skill of any aura farmer. But is the aura farmer truly one if he can't walk the most difficult path as well?
Because harder than destruction is the path of creation and protection.
Suffering is part of the cold universe they inhabit, but with his light, the aura farmer can dampen the cold and bring protection to those around him.
For the aura farmer is more than a cool weapon. He is also a cool protector.
▸ Allows the user to regenerate their own or others' wounds by expending aura.
▸ Expenditure is based on how much of the body currently requires treatment. Bigger parts require bigger chunks of aura.
▸ Certain parts of the body require more aura to heal. Vital organs are the most expensive.
▸ Due to the type of transformation aura undergoes, aura recovers at half the usual speed compared to other modes.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
'Very good indeed.' Taka nodded, satisfied.
It was indeed a glorious skill—albeit crazily expensive. But he supposed that was appropriate; otherwise, it would be far too easy to abuse.
Even though Midoriya's finger had only cost him around 300 aura to fix, a finger was a very small part of the body.
Healing larger areas could easily reach the thousands in cost, maybe even surpassing the tens of thousands.
Not to mention vital organs… He didn't even dare think about how much those would cost to heal.
He hadn't yet had the chance to test more serious healing, but as things stood now—with his aura pool hovering around forty thousand—he still didn't feel capable of performing a truly powerful heal if someone ever needed it.
Still, for now, it was enough. And when the time came that large-scale healing became necessary, he'd probably have a much larger aura pool anyway.
As for why he had decided to heal Midoriya's finger when there had been no real need to, especially with Recovery Girl around…
It was all for the sake of aura farming.
When the day he'd have to reveal his healing abilities finally came, the impact would be far greater. Everyone would connect all those moments of inexplicable recovery and trace them back to him at the moment of truth.
But why was he so blatantly risking exposure, you ask? The answer was simple.
Hiding his skills had never been the goal—only a means to an end. Or rather, a means to aura farm later in the story.
In truth, he never planned on staying hidden forever.
After all, the more the show progressed, the stronger his opponents would become, and hence the more abilities he'd inevitably be forced to reveal to stay up to the level.
And knowing that day would come eventually—and seeing no point in wasting all that aura by playing it low-key forever—why not prepare for the future? Why not plant all these seeds, so the moment he had to show his true abilities, he could aura farm as hard as he could with them?
Besides, his vigilante charges weren't that much of a deal—at least not in the long term.
When the day came that his identity as Rockinesis was revealed, and he had to face the heavyweights of this world… and probably save it in the process, what were the chances they wouldn't forgive him for his vigilante days after all that?
'And even if they don't, living as a wanted guy running from the law is also pretty auratic.' He thought. 'The strongest criminal in the world. That sounds tuff as hell.'
Grinning now that his back was facing everyone and they couldn't see his face, Taka awaited patiently for the future.
Whatever was to come his way in the future, he would be thoroughly prepared… to aura farm the heck out of it.
…
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| Minutes later… |
…
Having changed back into their regular uniforms, and after stopping by their classroom to pick up the handouts Aizawa had mentioned, the students gradually began leaving the school premises.
Taka walked alongside Jiro, the two already heading toward the gates, followed by dozens of students around them.
As they walked, she sighed tiredly, sounding like a ninety-year-old grandma. "Huff… I thought I was a goner back there. When I didn't see my name in the first row of students, I thought, this is it, I'm getting expelled on my first day of school."
Taka raised an eyebrow. "Why? Midoriya was doing terribly."
"Midoriya? Oh, the green-haired kid." Jiro nodded. "Well, he got a pretty amazing result in the baseball throw. I got some fairly good results in the other tests, but not as good as his, so I got worried for a second."
Taka seemed to ponder that for a moment. "I suppose it makes sense. Still, you clearly did better than Hagakure. Her Quirk just wasn't suited for this kind of test."
Jiro deadpanned. "I just panicked, okay? No need to overanalyze it."
Then, after a brief pause, she looked at Taka with a puzzled expression.
"Hmm? By the way, how did you know her name? I didn't even see you talk to her."
Taka clicked his tongue inwardly, cursing his loose mouth again, before quickly coming up with an excuse.
"I just have a good memory. With the teacher mentioning names once, I already got the hang of most of them."
"Seriously?" Jiro asked, surprised.
Taka nodded without changing his expression.
"So an overpowered Quirk and a good memory. You really hit the genetic lottery, huh?"
Taka smiled faintly. "I suppose."
Jiro grumbled in discontent for a moment before her eyebrows lit up faintly in mischief, recalling something.
"By the way, what was with all that during the tests?"
Taka didn't bat an eye. "What was with what?"
Jiro's gaze turned accusatory. "You know—the extra steps, the looking cool, when you could've just done the tests normally. You really thought you were being subtle?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Taka denied, eyes fixed straight ahead. "That's just how I usually do tests."
Jiro didn't seem ready to let the matter go that easily, grin widening—at least until Taka suddenly turned his gaze on her, cutting her off.
"Anyway… you thought I looked cool, huh?"
Jiro's words caught in her throat.
After a moment of silence, she looked away, grumbling under her breath.
"Let's change the subject."
Snorting with a faint smile, Taka nodded.
Like that, the two eventually left the school premises and headed toward the station. Making small chat on the way.
"What station are you going to?" she asked as they neared the subway. "My parents got me an apartment near Shinjuku."
"I'm not going to one. I live just around here," Taka said, gesturing with his head vaguely. "We moved here temporarily since it's close to the school."
"With Seiji-san?"
"...Yeah. With that guy," Taka replied, distaste evident in his tone.
Jiro chuckled.
Eventually, they parted ways as she entered the station.
Taka, on the other hand, turned around and slipped into a nearby alleyway as soon as he was left alone.
Then—
—Swoosh—
After making sure no one had seen him, he soared into the sky, using his aura both to elevate at high speed and to dampen the noise of his ascent.
Once airborne, he shot forward in the direction of Shizuoka, his speed enormous as he cut through the countless clouds above.
As he soared across the open sky, his thoughts drifted back to the day. Evaluating his own performance with a thoughtful face.
'My introduction was a bit forceful, but I think I nailed it during the tests´, there's no way they don't think I'm cool now…' He nodded to himself, albeit deadpanning a bit as he recalled Jiro's comment after school. 'Still, I should be careful not to make it too obvious that I'm aura farming. Otherwise, I'll just look like some narcissistic dude trying to look humble instead of the composed, naturally cool persona I'm aiming for.'
The tests themselves had been a tad too simple, which forced him to improvise ways to farm aura in them.
And he had accomplished it. However, in the process, they might have made his intentions a little too obvious.
'Well, tomorrow's class should make aura farming simpler,' he thought, a smirk forming on his face. 'After all, if things go as per the show… tomorrow there'll be a combat class.'
There, he wouldn't need to think of complex ways to aura farm like today.
Instead, it'd be as simple as overwhelming his opponents.
—Although if they were too weak, that'd be kind of a waste, or somehow end up in him looking bad instead.
'Maybe I can find a way to force myself to fight the heavy hitters of the class?'
Taka mused, already planning ahead.
Regardless, tomorrow would be a great day to aura farm. Not only because of combat… but because—
'The fit is gonna be immaculate.'
Tomorrow, they were getting their hero suits.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: One subject left, and my arsonist impulses will fade away...)