Niko looked down at Kaminari, then lifted his eyes to the rest of the class gathered across the training field. Quite a few of them had drawn closer during the conversation. Their curiosity had stopped being subtle a while ago. Some stood with arms crossed while pretending not to stare, others leaned in openly. Even their teacher remained within earshot, the capture weapon looped around his shoulders while he watched the exchange with quiet attention.
"My Quirk is called Resonance Authority," Niko said.
Kaminari nodded slowly, rolling the name around in his head. "Yeah, okay, that sounds really cool already," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck while he thought about it. "But I'm still trying to figure out what it actually does. Because whatever you were doing during those tests looked kind of ridiculous."
"It governs vibration," Niko replied calmly.
Kaminari tilted his head. "Vibration… like sound waves?"
"That is one example," Niko said, his voice steady and precise. "In physics, vibration refers to oscillation around a stable state. Matter and energy move back and forth around equilibrium. Many natural phenomena are simply vibrations expressed in different forms. Sound is vibration traveling through air or another medium, mechanical motion produces vibration through friction and force transfer, thermal energy is the vibration of particles within matter. Shockwaves are intense vibrational pulses propagating through a medium. Seismic activity is vibration traveling through the Earth itself."
Kaminari blinked several times. "Okay… I'm gonna be honest, you kind of lost me around seismic activity."
Before Niko could respond, Midoriya leaned forward with sudden interest. "So your Quirk interacts with oscillatory systems," he said quickly, eyes bright. "Different physical effects appear separate, but they all come from motion at different frequencies and amplitudes. Sound, heat, structural stress, even waves in solids all follow the same fundamental principles."
Niko inclined his head slightly. "Correct. The distinction between phenomena often comes down to scale and frequency."
"Because of that relationship," Niko continued, "vibrational phenomena can propagate through different materials at different speeds and intensities. When force travels through a solid surface it becomes mechanical vibration. When pressure travels through air it becomes sound. When particles vibrate more rapidly their temperature increases. When that motion slows, thermal energy decreases."
A few students had gone completely still while listening.
Ochako raised her hand slightly, curiosity clear on her face. "Wait… when you said earlier that vibrations cover almost everything, what exactly does that include?"
"Nearly all observable physical processes within a five kilometer radius," Niko answered. "Electromagnetic radiation is also oscillation. Light is an electromagnetic wave. Fire produces light because excited particles emit radiation as they release energy. Ice forms when molecular motion slows and the particles settle into a stable lattice. Increasing vibrational motion raises thermal energy. Decreasing that motion removes heat."
Midoriya's notebook was already halfway out of his pocket, his brain visibly racing. "So if you can influence vibrational energy directly, then theoretically you could increase molecular motion to produce heat, or suppress it to produce freezing effects. You could also amplify shockwaves, cancel sound, or sense movement through solid surfaces!"
"That is correct," Niko said simply.
Kirishima let out a low whistle of disbelief while folding his arms. "Man… that is seriously impressive."
Kaminari stared at Niko for several long seconds as the explanation finally settled in his mind. His eyes slowly widened as the realization hit him.
"…Wait," he said carefully. "So when you said vibrations earlier…"
"Yes."
"You meant literally everything."
Niko's expression did not change. He gestured faintly toward the ground beneath their feet, then toward the open air around them.
"Nearly everything in physical reality involves motion of particles or waves," he said. "My Quirk governs that motion."
A short silence spread through the small group of students who had gathered around.
Then Kaminari ran a hand through his hair and let out a slow breath.
"…Okay," he said. "…That might actually be the most unfair Quirk I have ever heard of."
Niko shrugged. "Life isn't fair, Kaminari-san. There are people out there who have household objects as a head. Just on the way here, I saw a man with a marshmallow for fingers. Quirks are pretty much the genetic lottery.
A student with long black hair tied up in a pony tail joined in the conversation. "Wait... You said that you can sense all these different vibrations in a five kilometer radius? To have such awareness at all times... how have you not gone mad?"
Niko paused and sighed. "It's... difficult, to be honest. Before, In Russia, I and my... friends, we would always move far, far away from most habitable places. People are noisy, towns and cities are full of different sensations. Luckily I put in for a support gear, and the principle helped me to register it as a assisted living type, I am just waiting for it to be delivered."
A tired voice cut cleanly through the chatter.
"If you're finished discussing probability theory," Aizawa said flatly, "we're going back to class."
"The Quirk assessment is over. I have curriculum handouts, a campus map, and your student resource access codes to distribute," he continued. "Unless you plan on living out here on the field, start moving."
That was enough to break the group apart. Conversations restarted as the class began drifting toward the school building, some still talking about the test results while others complained about how brutal the exercises had been.
Kaminari fell into step beside Eijiro Kirishima, still shaking his head. "Five kilometers," he muttered under his breath. "Man, I'm never cheating on a test again."
"You were cheating on tests before?" Kirishima asked with a grin.
"Not successfully," Kaminari admitted.
A few steps ahead, Izuku Midoriya was already scribbling furiously in his notebook while walking, occasionally glancing back at Niko as if trying to calculate something new.
Niko ignored most of it. The vibrations of dozens of footsteps traveled through the pavement beneath them as the class moved together toward the main building. Doors opened, closed, and echoed through the hallways as they returned to their classroom.
Inside, Aizawa dropped a stack of papers on the teacher's desk with little ceremony.
"Take one and pass them back," he said, already walking toward his sleeping bag near the corner of the room. "Class curriculum outline. Campus map. Emergency protocols. There are QR codes on the second page that link to the U.A. student network. Download the apps and register your IDs tonight."
The students passed the papers down the rows, the quiet rustle of pages filling the room while several phones came out to scan the codes. A few students leaned over their desks comparing maps and pointing out different parts of the campus.
Within a few minutes the room settled into the low hum of conversation that always followed the end of a long day.
Eventually chairs began scraping back as people stood to leave.
Niko had just finished folding the campus map when a voice spoke beside him.
"Um… Niko?"
He looked up.
Standing near his desk was Toru Hagakure. Or rather, the outline of a school uniform with nothing visible inside it. Her gloves and shoes hovered where a person should have been.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully, waving a hand that was only visible because of the glove. "Can I ask you something?"
Niko studied the empty space for a moment.
"You are already asking."
Hagakure laughed lightly. "Right, yeah, fair." She shifted her weight a little, clearly curious but also slightly hesitant. "So… your Quirk senses vibrations and stuff, right?"
"Yes."
There was a brief pause.
Then she leaned forward slightly and asked, almost eagerly,
"…Can you see me?"