An Undead Academic Experience 1

Chapter 1:  The Beginning

<<<Xiao ‘Lily’ Lang>>>

Xiao, or Lily to her friends, found herself looking out the window, lost in thought; she never dreamed she would be there. Up until two years ago, she thought she was quirkless; she wasn’t, she just had one of those rare quirks with a very specific activation requirement.

Namely dying.

But there she was, in UA. Widely considered the greatest Hero School in Japan. Now, why was she there instead of the Philippines? Simply put: mutants weren’t… discriminated against, technically, but they weren’t liked. And she was technically a mutant.

Who knew being resurrected by their quirk and turned into a dullahan was enough to make her a mutant? Thankfully, her skin didn’t turn blue or anything… though she was fairly sure she’d look cute if she did.

The only thing that bothered her was that she would never really develop more, meaning she would be forever small.

It could’ve been worse; she could’ve died when she was ten.

Sighing faintly, she looked around. Being an early riser, she’d beaten practically everyone to class, so she found her seat on the seating chart and just stared out the window like she was some sort of anime protagonist.

Glancing at her hand, a green flame appeared in her hand, her quirk, Necroflame. She hadn’t experimented with it much, what with quirk laws in the country being restrictive, but from what the Quirk counselors had been able to figure out, her flames didn’t burn, but froze instead. And that contact with the flame could cause a rapid onset of frostbite.

How did she know that? One of the assistants who was helping the counselor had a heat immunity quirk and decided to touch it despite the counselor telling him not to.

He lost two fingers and his job after he got out of the hospital.

She’s just glad it wasn’t put on her record as it was officially ruled an accident and not her fault. If it did, her chances of getting into UA would’ve been shaky.

So lost in thought, she didn’t even realize someone had come in and taken a seat beside her until she heard the chair shift. Glancing over, she looked and found herself rather taken aback by the cutie that appeared out of nowhere.

Her eyes were distant as she looked towards the front of the classroom, silent in movement and voice.

“Hi, I’m Xiao Lang,” She introduced herself with a smile.

The girl twitched, as though she hadn’t even noticed Lily before she’d spoken, and reached into her bag, pulling out a piece of paper that said, “I am Kana Sato. I do not like speaking. It is hard to word things.”

“Okay.” It wasn’t the oddest thing. Back in her home, there was a doctor who could only talk with a text-to-speech app, “You consider getting a text-to-speech app on your phone? It’d probably be a lot easier for you.”

Her head shook as she, visibly, tried to work out how to say what she wanted. “I don’t… have phone. And hard to… think to word… anything?”

“That’s rough,” Xiao said, not entirely sure what to further offer. Maybe someone on staff could help? They were all professionals after all.

“Filipino and English… easier,” Sato said with a frown, “Not easy.”

Xiao just snorted, “Ain’t that the truth…” She still jumbled up her words on occasion.

Never mind how long it took her to write in the damn language! Why does any language need three distinct and very different written formats?

“You… aren’t native?” Sato asked, her clear nervousness visibly fading as they spoke.

“I’m from the Philippines,” Xiao said, “I came here because mutants weren’t well-liked and well… I guess I’m a mutant.”

Kana just looked at her, making Xiao giggle faintly before putting her palms on her cheeks and lifting her head, and putting it on the desk.

“See? Mutant,” Xiao said dryly.

“I here because… family died. With me still, but need schooling. And shelter. Japan has both,” Kana didn’t seem too put off by the head removal trick, but it wasn’t as though the girl wasn’t weird herself anyway.

“That’s rough…” She didn’t question the ‘still with me’ thing, quirks were bullshit after all.

They were interrupted by a shockingly girlish scream. “Why is that head talking!?” He shouted, “Are you a zombie!? That’s so cool!” For someone who screamed, he was surprisingly excited to see it. “Can your head fly around? Does it shoot lasers or eat souls or something?” Sato twitched as he asked the last.

Xiao didn’t blink. “Not to my knowledge,” She answered as she put her head back on, though while one hand held it in place, the other one made sure her scarf was secure, “I can breathe and make freezing fire. Never really experimented yet.”

“Cool,” He said with a grin, sitting in front of her desk, “I’m Kaminari, the lightning badass!”

Xiao raised a brow. “Hmm, I think I saw you in the entry exam,” She said, “Impressive quirk.”

“Thanks! It has some issues, but it’s perfect for fighting dumb robots,” He bragged, fist banging against his chest. “Why are you here so early anyway? I couldn’t sleep, I was too excited. Or do you not sleep?”

“I sleep, just not as much as I used to,” Xiao said, “Which sucks, but it helped me learn this pain in the ass you call a language,” She grumbled.

“What’s wrong with Japanese!?” Kamanari asked, scandalized.

“I’m from the Philippines,” Xiao said dryly, “I had to learn an entire language and a whole different writing system that I know.” Sato nodded in agreement, though she had shrunken in on herself somewhat.

If Kaminari noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“Okay, that’s pretty fair, all things considered,” He admitted.

Xiao snorted. “I believe I heard something about 1B having an American student,” She said, “I can only imagine how rough it is for her.”

Then more people began arriving, and things became… hectic. Multiple people introducing themselves, even if several were also being standoffish and… rather akin to Sato… Kana, there was another Sato so hers was Kana.

They didn’t talk much, is what she meant.

“So,” Kamanari asked, “What’s your quirk called?” He asked curiously.

“Necroflame, actually,” She wouldn’t talk about what she went through to activate it unless asked, “I’m a late bloomer, so I’m not that skilled with it. Plus, it’s pretty dangerous.”

“That is a manly name, so awesome,” Another student said. She was pretty sure his name was Kirishima.

“Manly?” She dismissed it, “Maybe. I have to keep it small, though, the bigger it is, the more dangerous.” She explained. Which was something of a misnomer, really; it was dangerous either way, just differently so.

It took her some trial and error to find out with the Quirk councilors, but to summarize, the bigger the flame, the more heat it sapped from the environment. Yet, interestingly enough, the smaller it was, the more intense the cold. It confused her, but quirks were like that, or so she was told by her Quirk councilors.

“What’s your quirk?” He asked Kana, who looked at him with… fear, almost terror really, as she huddled deeper into herself. “Or not. You ok? Do you need some help with something? I don’t think anyone here will get angry if you have a ‘villainous’ quirk or whatever. The pink one shoots acid, that’s not heroic either!”

Xiao just rested her hand on her shoulder. “I think she’s just… not social,” She said, “And if anyone started shit I’d probably give them a light case of frostbite.”

“I’d help!” Pink, Mina, said, “Just point me at em!”

“Are all the women here absurdly attractive?” It was something she noticed, but honestly thought it was just her hormones talking.

“... My quirk… steals souls… I keep them in me and I… use their quirks…” Kana mumbled out, rubbing her arms, “I don’t… do it on purpose…”

“Well, that’s a lot to unpack.” Xiao thought though she did eye the rest of the class, fully willing to get in a fight if they started saying shit.

“That. Is. So. Cool,” Mina said, hugging her, “Can you summon them as ghosts? Ohh, can they make spooky sounds!? Can you make them haunt people?”

Kana blinked, not that Xiao was any better, honestly. Though they were reasonable questions to ask, or at least Xiao thought.

“Give her some space, Mina,” Kamanari said, “She’s pretty skittish and doesn’t like talking, I think.”

Xiao had to give her fellow student some credit for that; honestly, he seemed something of a dunce or airhead. Nice to know she was mistaken.

Mina closer at Kana, “No, she seems fine to me! Happy even!” Kana did look slightly more chipper, though it also looked like she wasn’t saying everything about her quirk.

Xiao looked, “Huh, maybe we share similar tastes?” She commented with a coy smirk, making Mina blush lilac.

“I not tried…” Kana whispered, “Can’t make haunt people…”

Xiao just smiled, “It’s fine after all, we’re here to learn what we can do with our quirks, I’m hoping to find ways to use it that aren’t detrimental to my surroundings.” She said, “And hey, if you ever want to give it a try, I’m willing!~” She said with a wink, “Unless you like’m pink and horny.” She quipped, getting another deeper lilac blush from Mina.

The boys just looked amused. And jealous, none of them could make those kinds of comments without getting yelled at!

Kana blushed too, but did manage to squeak out, “You’re cute… too… both cute… and soft souls…” She trailed off with a blush.

Xiao just smiled at that before looking at Mina, “So, are the hugs only for her, or can I make a request?”

Mina laughed before grabbing and hugging her too, “There, you’re too cute to turn down!”

And then her head rolled onto her desk, by ‘accident’ of course, and not because she enjoyed surprising people with it.

She screamed in delight, “Oh my god, that’s so cool!” Her eyes were practically stars. “You’re like a real-life horror movie monster!”

“The circumstances leading up to this weren’t,” Xiao said, “But yeah. I’ve always been a huge horror movie buff. Mostly pre-quirk stuff.”

“Circumstances?” Kirashima asked curiously.

“Has anyone seen the pre-quirk Final Destination movies?” Xiao asked in return.

“Oh, I love those movies!” Mina replied before pausing, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

“Honestly? I feel worse for the mortician I traumatized when I woke up.” Xiao said as she put her head back on, “... Did it get quiet in here?”

The students who had been up and talking… weren’t. Except for Mina, who just kept hugging her. And Kana, who didn’t seem to be surprised.

Then another cute girl came in, with green hair, who asked, “... Did I miss something?”

“Just sharing how I’m a Late Bloomer and only realized I even had a quirk because I got Final Destination’d and woke up on a slab traumatizing a mortician,” Xiao said, “So not really.”

“Huh, a regeneration quirk then?” She asked, questioning rapidly, “Or maybe a weird heteromorph? Do you have regular biology? Does your heart beat and stuff? Did it before?”

“Nope,” She said, “I was completely normal, technically it’s an Emitter/Mutant variation according to the specialists that triggered for the first time when I died. I’m technically a cadaver, but my heart does beat just too slow to register.”

“Oh, what do you emit? What’s your mutation? Do you have scars? Do you heal normally?” Her voice was getting faster, somehow.

With one hand, she pulled her head off, with the other, she removed her scarf, revealing a bloodless stump, and after setting her scarf down, she conjured a baseball-sized fireball in her hand.

“Don’t touch it unless you want to get frostbite instantly,” Xiao warned, “Also, I have another scar, but I don’t feel like giving the boys a free show.”

“So you do heal, do you think you need your whole body intact or just your head? Do you think you could take over-” She paused, “Um… I was going to ask something really messed up.”

“... could take over headless body?” Kana asked, head tilting, staring into Xiao like she was looking for something.

“I don’t think so?” Xiao just tilted her head with her hand in thought, “Wouldn’t even know how to even go about testing that.”

“... I think could. Or anything…” Kana paused, “I don’t know Japanese word,” She explained before, speaking in English, “humanoid.”

“Yeah, that’s one series of tests I don’t think we really have to worry about.” Xiao said as she put her head back in place before wrapping the scarf around her neck, “Soooooo… you think the yellow caterpillar is going to say hi or is it just watching?”

“Use… armor…” Kana mumbled before looking towards the said caterpillar and blinking. “Oh.”

The ‘oh’ wasn’t hard to figure out as their teacher popped out of the sleeping bag and… began lecturing them. Though some, like herself, were praised for being early.

Then it was time for a ‘quirk apprehension test’ which… went well, excepting the brief panic some people felt when it started thanks to Eraserhead being a meany.

Though when it came to the ball throw, Xiao had to use her scarf as a make-shift sling. Combined with her strength, the ball made some distance, but it was overtaken by some of the other students.

Like the terrible ‘no more eardrums’ triplets. Kana, Bakugo, and Izumi (who was a bit of a quirk fanatic). They’d either thrown the ball, in Izumi’s case, or launched it for the other two, so hard that it made a very loud bang.

Or, for Bakugo, the method was what made the bang. Explosion, as a quirk, was scary. And it was attached to a hot, angry blond girl!

Regardless, she was feeling quite good about her scores as they went to lunch…

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Vyor: We’re going to try and speed through the early bits because everyone’s seen those before. Hope no one minds :V