The Evaluation Of My Worth
“Sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.”
— Albus Dumbledore
(Y/n)'s P.O.V.
The 1st test is a 50-meter dash. We approached this area in the field with a strange robot that I think will measure our time. Seeing that I wasn't the first one to go, I looked for the person that I would be racing against. ‘Huh, it’s Todoroki. Fate can be so cruel sometimes.’ Approaching the boy, who now stood a bit further from the class.
"Excuse me?" I asked politely to the quiet boy, tapping his shoulder.
"What is it?" The boy questioned as he turned around to face me
"I just wanted to clarify, you're the opponent I’m up against for the 1st test, right?” I asked, being hopeful that he wasn’t my opponent, which could be easily misinterpreted.
"Yes, is there anything else you wanted to know? I would much rather see what our classmates' quirks are than waste my time chatting with you." He said bluntly with a passive-aggressive tone without a single hint of shame, except annoyance, and as he said that, my kind demeanor dropped.
A feminine rage filled me to the brim yet it did not appear on my face. I hated it when people underestimated me or called me a waste, especially when it came from men. That’s one of the most infuriating things one can tell me, it can also even become a trigger for me, ‘Waste your time on chatting with me? Yeah right, what you meant to say was that you didn’t want to waste your time on me. If it’s like that, keep your eyes wide open, I’ll show you not to underestimate me. Maybe not now, but I will.’
I bit my tongue back to ensure I avoid saying anything rude, "I too, am your classmate. Would you like to know my quirk? I’d hardly say you’d be wasting your time. You’ll be able to figure out what everyone else’s quirk is, we will be staying here for 3 years after all, it's not like we’re going anywhere. I'd hardly say it isn't enough time for everyone to get to know each other. What do you say?” Putting on a forced smile though not clearly shown, I changed my demeanor to a more relaxed one.
‘Let it slide, (Y/n). Calm down, it’s only your first day. Don’t get into fights and be rational. These are after all human and not your kin. But in all honesty, I’d rather deal with a dwarf's stubbornness than this guy's rudeness.’ Breathing in and out deeply, I began to calm down.
“I guess so…” He let out a calm sigh, his demeanor from being annoyed at first quickly dissipated into a calm and emotionless one, “Apologies for my rude behavior. I'm just a bit frustrated today." He finished, seeming more genuine this time than before, “That's also the reason why I accidentally activated my quirk from before.”
In an instant, I answered him with no hesitation, “I'm sorry, if I had known your reason, I wouldn't have even bothered you in the first place, Todoroki-kun." I said to him, 'fully' understanding the reason why lashed out his anger at me.
'If you're mad at someone don't go directing that anger onto me or anyone else for that matter. Go direct it to the person you’re mad at. I didn’t even do anything to you, arse...'
"It's fine. I'm much calmer now." He said
"Well if you say so…?" I replied more as a question, trying to go with the flow.
“Do you want to know my quirk?" He questioned in a somewhat guilty tone that could be easily missed if you didn’t listen closely enough.
"And here I was offering information about my quirk. Instead, it ended up with you offering information about your own.” Chuckling at him whilst clutching the hem of my PE uniform's shirt.
"I’m offering it as an apology for lashing out at you. If you don’t like it, there’s always an alternative.” He spoke seriously with a hint of guilt in his tone.
“Relax yourself, loosen up. I haven't rejected your offer just yet.” Letting go of my PE uniform, I wrapped my arms in front of my chest area and spoke coolly.
“Are you going to reject it now? May I offer to buy you lunch as an alternative? It seems I’ve given you many inconveniences from this morning alone.”
‘Is this perhaps a ruse to get on his better side or something? He’s acting unusually kind, kinder than most in fact. Before he was too rude, but now he’s the complete opposite. Should I perhaps give in or not…? Rationally speaking he could be having ulterior motives.’ Trying to get my thoughts together.
“Of course not. No need to buy me lunch or anything as an alternative. Telling me what exactly your quirk is, is enough already.” Deciding to give in but still keep my guard up, I beamed him a small grin.
“Alright, thanks.” Sighing at his words then proceeding to nod, “My quirk is called Half-Cold Half Hot. I can produce ice on the right side of my body and fire on the left side. I’m more akin in my right side than my left though and I prefer it if you wouldn’t question it.” He said plainly
"Oh okay, that's wicked! You’re all forgiven, I hold no grudge against you whatsoever." I replied with enthusiasm
"Thank you once again. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue watching our classmates demonstrate their quirks and wait for our turn. I'm looking forward to finding out about your quirk." He said as he turned back to look at our classmates
“I guess I won’t explain my quirk then. Get ready for a surprise.” To which he only responded with a polite nod.
After that conversation, I began to ponder his quirk and their strengths and limitations. 'Sure, one would agree that it’s a quite powerful quirk, yet simple. And he uses his right side more than his left, I can only assume that it's related to something personal. Perhaps a classic case of mommy or daddy issues? Aside from that, there must be some sort of limitation to his quirk, if he uses too much ice he can warm himself with his fire and vice versa. So what exactly would be his quirks weaknesses and how could I exploit that?' I questioned myself and soaked in more information as the realization hit me, how humans are not only limited to having only one quirk, that some truly gifted individuals can have multiple. After a while of observing my classmates' strange yet very unique quirks, it finally came my turn.
Taking my stance, I mentally prepared myself for what was going to happen next. 'I really hate the wretched feeling. Concentrate to the best of your abilities, (Y/n) or else you'll fail!' I reminded myself. Todoroki also went up next to me, taking his stance beside me just behind the starting line, preparing himself too for the countdown. We both glanced at each other and nodded.
"On your mark…" The robot who would see how long it took us to pass the finishing line spoke up, startling me on the inside a bit.
'I know that human invention is weird, but stay calm and concentrate or you’ll end up failing and become a loser.' Closing my eyes, I began to concentrate as though my life depended on it as it somewhat did.
"Get set…" The robot continued, giving us a little bit more time to adjust our positions and everything we needed to adjust.
'Concentrate on everything you've got or else you'll end up with a splinch!' Closing my eyes and tuning out everything in my surroundings, becoming completely tuned, focused, and concentrated on what I was about to do. I heard a single gunshot going off and then within a moment I immediately opened my eyes and disapparated.
When I disappeared a strange sound like a loud crack was left. A horrible feeling like being forced through something tiny or as though my whole body was being rearranged ran through me. As I had just disappeared for less than a second, I reappeared once again, but this time at the end of the finish line.
"2.21 seconds!" The robot yelled as I passed through it
A bunch of shocked gasps was produced by my classmates as they looked at me with adoration some of them clapped as congratulations, more specifically a certain pink-skinned girl. 'I'm not going to lie, it still feels pretty good being praised.' A growing blush and a huge smile overtook my face. Taking in a big breath, relishing in the fresh air.
I closed my eyes and yelled, I did it! in my head as a way to praise myself, 'Finally, I did it without getting a splinch.' I thought to myself as I opened my eyes and waited for a bit less more or less 5 seconds for Todoroki-kun to finish.
"10.17 seconds!" The robot screamed again as Todoroki-kun passed the finished line, leaving large trails of spiky ice behind him.
Multiple people from the class yelled, praised, and adored at the ice creation that Todoroki left. From my point of view, they were right for them to adore the creation he left behind. It truly was a beautiful creation of crystal ice from such a powerful quirk. By being so distracted by the enticing creation, I had now only realized how cold it was because I was still waiting at the finishing line.
The hair on my nape stood on its ends just like how it did this morning, for a second a shot of deja vu ran through me. Wrapping my arms around my body, I began to move them up and down quickly in hopes that the friction created would at least help in some way to warm me up as I was beginning to feel my teeth chattering against each other and my face, especially my nose becoming red and numb.
'I know I’ve said it before, but I can’t stress it enough. It really is such a simple, but powerful and beautiful quirk. He is not one to be underestimated, he could either be a great ally or a powerful enemy. I don’t think I’d like us to become the latter so better yet, I should keep an eye on hi-' My train thoughts were cut off as Todoroki passed me, slightly brushing our shoulders together, a tiny electric spark from the friction of where our shoulders touched was left. Quickly snapping out, I turned around to look at Todoroki who was already walking away.
"W-Woah! That's a lot of i-ice! So cool! Nice g-going Todoroki!" I stuttered at him as steam erupted from my mouth, a compliment flying along out of it with the intention of getting on his good side, it was clear to see that the cold had gotten to me.
"Thanks." He said quietly, though still blunt as though he didn’t care, most likely because he was often told that, instead he simply turned his head to look at me as if he didn't do anything amazing.
"Todoroki, please melt the ice you created, for the people next." Aizawa-sensei said to Todoroki, lazily.
Todoroki turned his head towards Aizawa-sensei and nodded back at him. He walked back towards the 50-meter track field and began to touch the large pieces of ice with his left hand.
"I'll get back to you, (L/n). Once I finish melting the ice, it shouldn't take that long." He said as he looked back at me trying to be polite, but I could tell that he wasn’t going to be true to his words, once again I would have to make the first move.
"I look forward to that." I nodded and I gave him a small smile.
Walking back alone to where the other students had gathered. I held a small smile of satisfaction as I was still proud of myself for disapparating and apparating successfully without sustaining any sort of injuries. If I keep this up, I’ll eventually become so good at it that I’ll become a natural, which will prepare me to be able to do more advanced magic practices. I hummed to myself a bit, to a tune only the people of my world knew. When I approached everyone, they began chattering loudly amongst themselves.
For a little while, I would engage in some of their conversations, but right after I would decide to keep to myself. Todoroki was right in one aspect, observing right now from the start would be a better idea. So I simply began to observe everyone around me for a few seconds.
Deeming that no one was talking about anything that was particularly interesting enough to make me want to eavesdrop, I mean- observe their conversation. I let out a low annoyed scoff and looked towards the track field. ‘Where’s the fun?’ Todoroki stood in front of the spiky shards of ice, sticking out from the ground. Raising his left arm, Todoroki touched his beautiful ice creation then steam just like the one that came out from my mouth earlier when I complimented him, only larger and warmer, proceeded to come out of his left palm.
I observed him in great interest, as that was perhaps because out of all of the quirks in this class, his was my favorite. ‘Well, I do in particular like the winter season so it might’ve had an influence on it.’ He started to walk towards where the class was huddling.
I was getting the feeling he was going to try to avoid me so, in order to avoid that, I waved at him. That grabbed his attention and I could tell he was begrudgingly walking toward me. Smiling to myself for successfully catching his attention, I also begrudgingly dreaded what to say next to him when he arrived.
"Great job." I said to him as he stood next to me.
"Thanks, I guess. You don't need to compliment me or anything." He responded with a shrug
"Just accept the compliment, it's nothing really." I said happily to him with a smile.
"By the way, your teleportation quirk is nice too. It's simple, but such a useful quirk." His monotonous made my smile drop
"Thanks, Todoroki. Glad my quirk is useful enough to even pique your interest." My smile resurfaced again, much brighter this time.
'Don't assume that's all I can do.' I thought to myself my smile never faltered.
"Okay, that's everyone." Aizawa-sensei said, disrupting our conversation
"Let's not waste any more time and move on to the next test." The dual-haired boy standing next to me said without hesitation.
He turned around from facing me and walked away towards where Aizawa-sensei was going without looking back. Clearly more relaxed as he finally escaped from our conversation. ‘I might be annoying, but keep this in mind. Just like how you caught my full attention. You’ve now become my target and I will stop at nothing to get your full attention. Let’s just say it’s an eye for an eye.’
Word count: 2,526 words
A/n:
Apparition is a form of magical transportation, in which the user travels instantly from one location to another, without traversing the space in between. This is accomplished by having the user focus on a desired location in their mind and then purposely disappearing from where they were, to reappear at the desired location. Apparition is by far the fastest and most convenient way to get to a desired destination but it is tricky to pull off correctly and disastrous if botched. This type of transportation can cause an audible noise, ranging from a small pop to a loud crack that may sound to Muggles like a car backfiring, depending on their skill; the more skillful they are, the quieter they can Apparate. Apparition has a range limit and becomes increasingly difficult with the distance to be traveled. It was very strongly advised that intercontinental Apparition is only to be attempted by the most highly skilled of wizards, otherwise risking splinching, severe injury, and even death. Apparition also requires a familiarity with the terrain of the place the wizard wanted to go to, as they needed to be able to visualize it clearly. Apparition is to appear in a location while disapparate is to disappear from one’s location.