The door to Class 1-A slid open with a hydraulic hiss.
Every head turned. Even Bakugo paused mid-glare, his explosive palms crackling into silence.
She stood in the doorway like a challenge and a promise all at once. She was tall for a first-year, with hair the color of storm clouds that seemed to float around her face, weightless and alive. Her eyes were mismatched: one amber and one silver, both sharp with intelligence and something else—hunger. The hunger to prove herself.
"Introduce yourself," Aizawa muttered from his sleeping bag cocoon.
"Kazuki Rei." Her voice had the kind of confidence that made Mineta shrink in his seat. "Formerly of Shiketsu High. My Quirk is Zero Vector. I can nullify and redirect kinetic energy within a fifty-meter radius." A small smile followed. "Basically, I decide what moves and what doesn't."
Whispers erupted. That was a powerful Quirk for combat. Strategy-grade.
"Empty seat behind Midoriya," Aizawa said. "Don't destroy the building on your first day."
Rei moved with practiced grace, her bag floating slightly behind her—a casual display of her power. She avoided looking at anyone until she reached her desk.
Then she saw him.
Izuku Midoriya was turned around in his seat, offering a small, nervous smile and a wave that looked like it wanted to be a handshake. His green curls were a mess. His notebook was already open, covered in sketches of her Quirk's potential applications, which she noticed with surprise.
"Hi! I'm Midoriya! I, uh, read about kinetic redirection Quirks but I've never seen one in person. Do you mind if I ask how you handle the feedback loop when you absorb momentum? Does it store or dissipate?"
Rei blinked.
She'd prepared for jealousy. For rivalry. For the boys who would underestimate her and the girls who would see her as competition. She had not prepared for someone to look at her power and immediately want to understand it. To see her.
"Storage," she heard herself say as she sat down. "It builds up like a battery. I have to release it or it overflows."
"That's incredible." Midoriya's eyes were shining, green and earnest and frighteningly sincere. "You could theoretically achieve infinite kinetic potential. Do you—" He caught himself, flushing. "Sorry, I'm rambling."
"Don't stop," Rei said, and she meant it.
Across the room, Uraraka watched the exchange with knowing eyes. Behind her, Todoroki raised one eyebrow.