The training ground smelled of ozone and concrete. Rei stood in the center of the arena, facing off against a training bot, while Class 1-A observed from the observation deck.
"Show us your combat application," Aizawa called.
Rei rolled her shoulders. The bot charged—fast, hydraulic limbs blurring.
She didn't move.
The bot's fist stopped an inch from her face, frozen in a field of distorted air. Rei's silver eye flashed.
"Vector: Return."
The accumulated force exploded outward. The bot didn't just fly backward—it cratered into the reinforced wall, sparking and dead.
But Rei was already moving, running up the side of the wall—gravity was just another vector to redirect —and flipping through the air. She landed in a crouch, breathing hard, hair floating wildly around her from the residual energy discharge.
The class was silent.
Then—"THAT WAS AMAZING!"
Midoriya was leaning so far over the railing he was in danger of falling. His notebook was out, scribbling furiously. "The efficiency! You used the bot's own momentum against it with zero energy expenditure on your part! And the wall-running—you temporarily redirected your gravitational vector! Do you have to calculate the angles manually or is it instinctual?"
Rei looked up at him, chest heaving, and felt something dangerous bloom in her chest.
"Instinct," she called back. "But the math helps."
"You're incredible," he said, simply.
No one had ever called her incredible while looking at her power . They called her scary. Dangerous. Too much . But Midoriya looked at her like she was a hero in a story he was desperate to read.
She had to look away before he saw her blush.