Kyoka nervously stretches her arms across her chest one after the other, side-eyeing the short old man standing on the edge of UA's massive field. He's not the only one watching her though; there's also All Might, principal Nezu, Recovery Girl, and her closest friends. Obviously she'd want the three of them here with her when she's about to try out the quirk she's inherited for the first time! As for the others…
When All Might tried to feed her one of his hairs to transfer the quirk, she immediately objected and asked Recovery Girl to just inject some of his blood into her instead. Because there's no way she was going to eat his hair. Just, no. Fast forward three hours and he tells her to activate the quirk by 'Clenching your butt cheeks and screaming SMASH!'. It makes her wonder (again) how he's managed to keep his position as the number one hero with how… Well, the easiest way to put it is that he's a muscle head. She's pretty sure his brain is the only muscle that he hasn't worked out.
Anyways, after refusing to follow his idiotic instructions she'd gone and complained to Recovery Girl, who proceeded to beat the hero with her cane. After healing him into unconsciousness she'd called someone who she claimed has experience with training new holders of One For All. Which, why didn't they do that in the first place? At the very least it would have saved All Might a beating…
Fast forward another couple hours, and a short old man called Gran Torino showed up, acted like he didn't know where he was or why he was there, then tried to kick her face in. Because of course anyone connected to All Might can't be normal. She chose to ignore what that said about herself. She's young, she can definitely grow out of whatever weird habits All Might and his associates trick her into adopting.
Another beating for trying to kick her face in that Recovery Girl refused to heal at the time, and the old man said he'd need a week to get a read on Kyoka's baseline abilities before they try to figure out what changes One For All did to her. Which they probably should have done before All Might gave her the quirk. Which, again, what can you expect from a muscle head?
Cue a week of testing her quirk, physical, and mental abilities, and Kyoka can safely say that she's never had a better idea of what she's capable of. Ironic considering that the point of the testing is because they don't know what she's capable of. And now, finally, she can try to use the quirk for the first time. Except…
"How the hell do I use this thing?" She holds up a hand to forestall All Might when he immediately opens his mouth. "If you repeat what you said a week ago, I will sue you for sexual harassment." The skeletal blonde's face flushes and he sputters out excuses about how clenching his buttcheeks worked for him to use the quirk, and how surely it must be the same for her. Thankfully for everyone else, he's very scared of the short violent old man.
"Shut up, Toshi! You're acting like Nana never gave you an actual explanation for how the quirk works! Or are you saying she told you to clench your buttcheeks and yell to activate it!?"
The 'Symbol of Peace' blanches at the rebuke and shuffles a few feet away from him, further making excuses for himself, which go ignored as the old man turns to look at her. "Listen young'in, ignore the oaf," he jerks a thumb at All Might, "and focus on your own quirk first. When Nana first got One For All, she said it felt like it unlocked a second layer to her own. Wasn't easy for her, but she eventually figured out that it basically worked to give her a quirk evolution, with a strength boost added on as a bonus."
Kyoka frowns, one of her jacks extending so she can twirl it between her fingers as she thinks. What he said makes sense, with how One For All boosts what's already there. Just imagining what might happen if the quirk tried to exist as its own thing apart from her own is enough to send shivers down her spine. She's picked up enough knowledge on quirk theory to know that's a one way ticket to an early grave.
The only problem she can see with the supposed 'quirk evolution' is that she has a relatively simple quirk. Enhanced hearing with the ability to boost that further by utilizing her jacks, which can be used in a close range attack if she needs to take the risk. They aren't all that durable, and she's wary of getting them damaged. Realistically, the only kind of quirk evolution she can think of is boosting her hearing even more, which would honestly be more of a detriment than a benefit.
Though… she has noticed something, even if she has no idea what it is or what it means. It's like a sound just on the edge of what she can hear, fluctuating between different notes, but always present. The problem is that she can't hear what the notes are, they're so quiet that the only thing she can tell is that they're harmonious. Now, not being an idiot, she told Gran Torino right away, who told her that sound is most likely the key to her using One For All. Which was entirely unhelpful since, again, she's not an idiot. Still…
She closes her eyes to focus, trying to listen closer to the notes. She's not sure how long she's standing there, but eventually she manages to pick up… something. She has no idea how to describe it other than her. Hell, she's not even sure what she means by that, but it's what the note makes her think of, so fuck it.
Without any better idea of what to do, she decides to do what she always does when it comes to a new instrument. She mentally reaches out and gently strums the 'cord' causing it to reverberate and-
"Fuck!" She jumps and shouts in surprise as the 'cord' sends an electric shock through her body, her eyes flying open from the utterly strange sensation… and finding herself maybe a dozen feet above the ground, looking down at All Might standing in his buffed form with his arms held out as if to catch her…
Which, as she realizes when gravity reasserts control and starts dragging her down, is exactly what he plans to do. And then the pain in her legs registers, forcing her to clench her teeth to hold back a scream. Her efforts are unfortunately rendered moot due to All Might catching her not-so gently and jostling her. "YOUNG JIRO! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!?" She doesn't answer, too busy stopping herself from cursing the man out for not being more careful, which she knows is unfair, but she's too busy being in intense pain to care.
Drawn by the universal sign of 'injured person here, come help!' Recovery Girl is by her side moments later, hands on her legs with much more care than the number one hero showed when he caught her. Even still, the gentle squeezes as she tries to ascertain the damage has Kyoka hissing out a sharp breath before glaring at Hitoshi before he even opens his mouth.
"Not one word, Eyebags." He hums consideringly for a moment before giving her an exaggerated shrug.
"I mean, Yui has hurt both of us more in spars, so I don't see why you're making a big deal out of it." He raises a sardonic eyebrow and drawls, "Or are you just afraid of heights?"
The injured violette glares harder at him before shifting an innocent look towards their stoic friend next to him, waiting for Recovery Girl's report on the damage, and hissing out between clenched teeth, "It sounds like Hitoshi is used to the level we spar at, Yui."
She hums consideringly, giving Hitoshi a look. "I'll start going harder on him then. I would hate to think that he's bored or is not advancing as he should."
Hitoshi pales and looks to the fourth of their group for support. Support that he does not receive. "When one chooses to dance with darkness, they should not be surprised when the darkness takes the lead."
Maleficent pops out of Fumikage's chest and turns to give her fellow bird-headed individual a droll look. "Pretty sure you were the one dancing with darkness when you bribed that lady and her daughter with explaining me when they wanted to eat you."
Fumikage sniffs and points his beak up in the air. "I do not dance, I simply saw a fellow being of darkness and agreed to sate their desire for knowledge of that which dwells within a different portion of its depths."
Maleficent snorts before disappearing back inside his chest. "Keep telling yourself that."
Before Kyoka can question what the hell they were talking about with people wanting to eat her friend, Recovery Girl finishes her inspection and kisses her, forcing a wave of weakness to overtake her. She wobbles unsteadily, silently grateful that All Might hasn't put her down yet since she's not confident that she'd be able to keep her balance. Thankfully though, she's not too tired to listen to Recovery Girl's prognosis.
"You're lucky I was here, you managed to bruise the bones in your legs! Without a healing quirk that's months of bed rest, even without taking into account the strain placed on the muscles surrounding them!" She shakes her head in frustration, though Kyoka can tell it's not directed at her. "You're lucky you didn't break anything." She holds up the hand not resting on her cane, her index finger and thumb a centimeter apart. "If you'd put this much more force into that jump, then you would have broken both your legs."
Kyoka blanches at the frank admission, her face pale. "I don't think I even managed to use much of the quirk," she mutters half in horror and half in awe. If that's the kind of power she can get just by brushing the cord, then how strong would she be if she actually pulled it…?
She shakes her head, completely pushing the thought out of her head. She nearly broke her legs using so little of One For All, if she tried to use all of it she'd probably die, and she has no intention of dying young! Honestly, it kind of raises her opinion of All Might (a little, he's still a muscle head), knowing just how strong he is and that he can use it without hurting himself. Not to mention how much effort he puts into every fight restraining himself so that he doesn't accidentally kill his opponents. Respect.
I wonder who'd win in a fight; All Might or Izumi…
She doesn't push that thought out of her head, instead she uses her jacks (mentally) to strangle it and throw its body into a trench at the bottom of the ocean. Yes, it would absolutely be a badass fight to see, the video of the dragon girl basically trolling the man a few years ago basically confirms that she could definitely match him now, at the very least. The problem with that is the little caveat of everything around them getting destroyed as a consequence of said fight. If they even limited the fight to the area they started in!
No, as awesome as watching that fight play out would be, Kyoka is of the firm opinion that it would be better for it to never happen. Japan has only just started getting its shit together recently, after all, and she'd rather not see all those efforts burned to the ground while Izumi cackles like a super villain.
…Why does she feel like Izumi would do that for fun anyways? She is a lot more violent than she was when they first met…
Back to the matter at hand; One For All. She strummed the cord for herself and apparently gets her super strength by doing so, but that still leaves all the other cords. She couldn't hear them well, focused as she was on her own, but she could get a count on them. Six other cords were playing their own notes, some much quieter than others. Something odd, though, was the presence of two notes that were nearly absent from the rest of the symphony. Again, she's not an idiot; the cords/notes number a total of nine, and according to All Might and Gran Torino there's been a total of nine wielders of the quirk if they include her.
She doesn't know what kind of effect strumming the other cords will have, but it's certain that she's barely even broken the surface of what her new quirk is capable of.