The Entrance Exam
A black car pulled up to the sidewalk and in front of the large entrance gate.
"Alright darling, this is where we leave you." A woman with long purple hair and red eyes smiled sadly as she faced her daughter from the passenger seat.
"Make us proud Ko, your mother and I know you can do it." A man with purplish black hair and purple eyes encouraged from the driver's seat.
Leiko smiled at her parents and nodded, "Thanks mom and dad. I promise I won't let you down!" She leant forward and kissed both her parents on the cheek and then opened the car door taking her first step out. She gently shut the door behind her and eyed the school in front of her in awe as her parents drove away.
'This is it...this is the day I prove that I'm worthy of going here.' She mentally reminded before taking a deep breath. She then started walking forward towards the building.
As she was walking she wasn't really paying attention to where she was walking because she was too busy admiring the building. She was snapped out of her gazing when she bumped into someone's shoulder as she past them.
"Hey! Watch it, you little bitch!" An aggressive male voice sneered.
Leiko planned on apologizing but instead she halted in place and turned around to face the male with a fiery glare. He had light ashy blonde hair that spikes in all directions like an explosion and red eyes that are filled with anger. While she did have to admit he was attractive looking, his personality was an absolute turn off.
So instead apologizing like she planned to, she instead did something she might possibly regret. "You're calling me a little bitch? I simply bumped into you on accident." She shrugged and smirked at him, "You're the one that's causing a scene here, so if anyone should be called a little bitch it should be you."
His eyes flared angrily and he grabbed the collar of her shirt pulling her close to his face as he yelled loudly, "JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
Leiko kept a calm look on her face but her tone was filled with malice, "The girl that is going to kick your ass if you don't let go of me in the next five seconds."
He scoffed and let go of her collar harshly with push, "As if a puny bitch like you can kick my ass."
"Oh really?" Leiko narrowed her purple colored eyes at him, "How about this? Since we can't exactly fight right now, let's duke it out in the exams. Whoever does the best wins."
"And what does the winner get?" He raised an eyebrow slightly interested.
"Bragging rights, loser doing the winner's homework for a month? I don't know!" Leiko huffed then stuck her hand out, "Are you willing to take the bet?" Without any hesitation he grabbed her hand squeezing it tightly with a cocky smirk, "You're on."
Leiko flinched lightly feeling heat on her hand that was gripping the dude's hand and could see a bit of smoke as well from their touch. She yanked her hand away and turned on her heel flipping her long purple locks in his face as she walked away.
Before she could get far she heard the male yell, "Hey I need the your name loser!"
"You'll find out when I win!" She yelled back and shot him a wink before entering the building.
She followed the large herd of people as she made her way to the room where the exam orientation was being held. When she went into the room her eyes widen at all the competition she had to get in to this school and gulped. She walked down the aisle steps and entered a row in the middle.
The minute she situated herself she felt someone tap her shoulder and looked up to see it was a really pretty brunette with a round face and cute pink cheeks. Her eyes were brown and full of light.
"Uh hi, is this seat taken?" She asked politely.
Leiko shook her head and smiled back, "Not at all. It's all yours."
The brunette let out a sigh of relief and took the open seat next to Leiko, "Thanks, hard to find a seat without sitting near someone thats look aggressive."
"Trust me I know." Leiko nodded trying to suppress her anger from her earlier encounter with that blonde jerk.
"I'm Uraraka Ochako!" She smiled sweetly offering her hand.
Leiko smiled and shook her hand wincing when she realized she did it with her slightly burnt hand, "Kaen Leiko, but you can call me by my first name."
Ochako's eyes widen as she realized why the last name sounded familiar, but before she could comment on it they were interrupted by a loud booming voice that came from the stage as all the lights shut off and spotlighted the man.
"What's up U.A candidates! Thanks for tuning into me, your school DJ." Present Mic yelled as he spread his arms wide, "Come on and let me hear ya?!"
Silence...Leiko snickered into her hand as she listened to the silent response to Present Mic's enthusiastic welcome.
"Keeping it mellow, huh?" Present Mic shivered trying to appear unfazed by the silence, "That's fine, I'll just skip right to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is about to go down, okay? Are you ready?! Yeah!..." Silence again...
"Like your application said, today you rockin boys and girls will be contending ten minute mock battles in super hip urban cities!" Present Mic explained, "You can bring whatever you want with you. Now before I drop the mic, here you will enter your specified battle centers, sound good?...Okay?!"
Leiko looked down at her exam ticket and saw she's going to be in battle center B.
"Oh, looks like we're going to be in the same battle center." Ochako noticed as she eyed Leiko's card.
"Really?" Leiko then grinned and looked over at Ochako's exam ticket "Huh, so we do!" She frowned and mentally said, 'Wonder what center that asshole got, I hope it's the same one I have so I can kick his ass.'
"Okay! Okay! Let's check out your targets." Present Mic announced as the large screen behind him showed three silhouettes of enemies, "There are three type of faux villians in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty, so better chose wisely. Your goal in this trail is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these foul villains like mid-sung guitar solo. But check it, make sure you're keeping things heroic, attacking other examinees is a U.A no no, ya dig?"
"Damn..." Leiko clicked her tongue in annoyance as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Excuse me sir, but I have a question?"
She turned her head and saw a tall male with dark hair and glasses standing up in his row with his arm in the air.
"Hit me!" Present Mic pointed at him making a spotlight appear.
"On the printout you've listed four types of villains, not three." The Glasses guy pointed out, "With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials it is shameful. We are exemplary students, we expect the best from Japan's most notable school. A mistake such as this won't do!"
"Yikes, someone is mad." Leiko said amusingly and watch the complaining male turned around and point to an adorable looking male with wild green black hair.
"Additionally you with the unkempt hair, you've been muttering this entire time. Stop that." The glasses male ordered as he narrowed his eyes, "If you can't bother to take this seriously, then leave. You're distracting the rest of us."
The adorable male covered his mouth with a face of guilt and embarrassment, "Sorry.."
"Poor guy..." Ochako smiled sympathetically, "He can't seem to catch a break today."
"You know him?" Leiko questioned curiously.
"No, I just met him today. I used my quirk to stop him from falling." Ochako explained and before Leiko could question what her quirk is, Present Mic's voice boomed through the building.
"Alright! Alright! Examinee number 7111, thanks for calling in with your request." And the screen behind him showed the fourth villain, "The fourth villain type is worth zero points! That guys just an obstacle we'll be throwing your way. There's one in every battle center, think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beat, but there's...kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it and focus on the ones at the top of the chart."
The glasses guy bowed, "Thank you very much, please continue." The spotlight on him then shut off as he sat back down.
"Oh I get it, so they're kinda like traps you have to get by in games." Leiko heard some boy in the row below her whisper.
"The whole thing is like a video game." The boy next to him whispered back.
"That's all I got for you today!" Present Mic concluded, "I'll sign off with you with a little present, a little sample of our school's motto! As general Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, a true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes. Mmhm, now that sounds like a tasty sound bite. You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a PLUS ULTRA!"
Silence...
"Good luck!" Present Mic yelled, "Hope you practiced hitting more than just the books!"
As people began to stand up and leave their rows, Leiko turned her head over at Ochako and gave her an excited smile.
"Are you ready for this?" She asked as the two stood up.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Ochako smiled a little nervously.
"Lose the nerves, you'll be fine." Leiko reassured before walking out of her row and on her way out she met the eyes of that ashy blonde asshole. He glared at her mouthing that he'll kick her ass, her response was flicking him off.
12121212
Leiko eyed the large closed gate entrance in front of her as she heard her fellow examinees gasping and commenting in awe. She twirled a strand of her hair and focused on calming her fast beating heart.
'This is it, I can't screw this up.' She said in her head, 'This is my moment to shine and prove that I got what it takes to be a student here.' She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly reopening her eyes again.
"Hey lose the nerves, you'll be fine."
She let out an amused smile and saw Ochako smiling at her teasingly. Leiko crossed her arms, "Using my own words against me, huh? Nice..."
"No! No! No! Of course not!"
The two girls turned their head towards the frantic voice and it was that boy with the unkept green black hair. He was talking to the glasses kid that called him out earlier.
"Hey look over there, that's the guy that was almost omitted."
"He practically wet himself in the lecture hall."
"Dude what a loser, but once less rival to worry about I guess."
Leiko frowned and stepped forward, "I wouldn't be so quick to write him off.
He may surprise you."
Before anyone could react, they all turned their heads upward as they heard Present Mic's voice yelling at them from a watch tower, "Right! Let's start! Get moving! There are no countdowns in battle! Run, run, run listeners! Wasting air time here!"
Leiko's eyes widen and heard the gate open behind her. Without any hesitation she quickly ran inside the battle center with her fellow competitors not far behind her. Her long purple hair grew longer as she ran and shot forward wrapping around a streetlamp yanking her upwards. She swung forward and another part of her hair shot forward wrapping around another streetlamp ahead yanking her towards that streetlamp as her hair unwraps from the previous one.
She kept this form of travel up making a sharp right down the street and spotted a three point robotic enemy. She grinned as she landed on her feet and reached into her pockets pulling out two pairs of bronze scissors.
"Blaze.." She muttered shutting her eyes tightly as she forced her energy into the scissors. She opened her eyes and saw the familiar purplish black flames of her father engulfing the blades of the scissors and charged towards the large 3 point robot.
"Take this!" She leaped off the ground and stabbed her flaming scissors into the robot and as she started to fall she dragged her scissors down its body till her feet touched the ground. She yanked her scissors out and watched the purple black flames consume the robot reducing it to ashes, "Extinguish." She muttered, slightly out of breath and the flames died down leaving nothing left of the robot.
"Three points down." She then spotted a one pointer and her purple hair shot forward wrapping around the robot lifting it up in the hair and slamming it down crushing it, "Make that four."
She then ran down the street and continued slashing and destroying any robot she can find with her quirk. She crept up to a two pointer from behind and lifted it up with her hair then slammed it down destroying it.
"And that's 55 points." Leiko panted with sweat running down her face. She looked away from the destroyed robot and looked to see that adorable boy from earlier. He was eyeing her in disbelief and awe.
"W-Woah..." His eyed them zeroed in on her no longer flaming bronze scissors, "Wait are those?"
"Similar to Lady Stylista? Yeah my mom had them made specifically for me and my quirk." Leiko explained with a proud smirk. Her smirk fell as the ground began to shake violently and turned around along with a lot of the examinees in the area as she saw a large cloud of dust coming their way. When the dust cloud settled her eyes widen and as she stared at the largest faux villain of the simulator, the zero pointer.
The giant villain slammed its fist into the ground causing a huge amount of wind and debris to fly towards them. Leiko put her hands up to cover her face as her long hair flew back behind her. The minute the wind halted, exam students were screaming as they fled from the scene as quickly as possible. She was going to flee as well and get more points, but spotted Ochako stuck under debris.
"Ochako!" Leiko cried out and ran towards her new friend. She saw that half of Ochako's lower body was caught under a bunch of debris. She slipped her hands underneath the large slab of concrete that was on top of Ochako and tried lifting it up.
"What are you doing? The test is still going on?" Ochako questioned not noticing the giant robot getting closer.
"I-I'm not leaving you behind, I have a strict no person gets left behind policy." Leiko grunt as the slab wouldn't budge. She bit her lip anxiously, she can't use her scissors the flames could hurt Ochako. She looked up at the robot fearfully, she was running out of time.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew her hair forward and she looked up to see that green haired kid from earlier zooming up into the sky with his fist clenched and arm pulled back. She and everyone else watched in awe and disbelief as he punched the large robot destroying it completely.
"Wow..." She gasped softly in awe. She then remembered Ochako and quickly tried using her hair to lift the slab up. Her purple locks wrapped around the slab and lifted it up quickly with a grunt, tossing it to the side as she let out a sigh of relief.
"JUST ONE MINUTE LEFT!" Present Mic's voice echoed through the battle zone.
She heard screaming and looked up to see the green haired kid falling with what looked like broken limbs flopping against the air. She saw him pull his intact arm back ready to punch and looked to see Ochako laying on a large part of the destroy zero pointer robot. She tapped it and the large part began to levitate with her on it. As soon the as the green haired kid was close, Ochako slapped him across the face halting his fall and also making him float.
"A-And release." Ochako grunted as she put her hands together making the large part she was laying on and the boy fall to the ground.
"You guys okay?" Leiko questioned in concern eyeing the two.
Ochako covered her mouth before leaning over and barfing out a rainbow. Leiko winced sympathetically and looked to the other kid. He was crawling with one arm muttering something about at least getting one point.
"And that's it...TIME'S UUUPPP!" Present Mic yelled as a siren blared in the background.
She walked over to the green haired kid and squatted down in front of him, "Are you okay?" His eyes were wide with tears and snot rolling down his face before fainting in front of her. She frowned, "Taking that as a no." She stood up and looked at the other examinees around her, "Anyone a healer? He needs some medical attention."
"Very nice! Good work all around! You're heroes in my eyes, every last one of you."
Leiko turned around and spotted an old lady with her grey bun with a syringe in it. She was wearing a doctor's lab coat and walking towards them with a cane that also liked like a syringe.
"Here reward yourself. Have some candy." She said handing a person with gummy bears.
"Oh? Thanks." The person bowed his head as she past by.
"Yes yes, don't eat them all at once, okay?" She brushed him off as she made her way towards Leiko and the unconscious green haired teen.
"That mademoiselle, she's the heart of U.A." A blonde male with sparkly purple eyes winked.
"Oh my goodness..." The old lady eyed the male with a kind smile, "You were hurt this badly by your own quirk, sunny?"
Leiko stepped back rubbing the back of her neck as she looked down at the old lady, "That seems to be the case. Can you heal him?"
"Course I can sweetheart." She reassured then pucker her lips and kissed the boy on the head, "Give me some sugar."
Leiko's eyes widen and took an even larger step back, as she stared in bewilderment like everyone else.
"Um..what's she doing?"
"You're watching a school nurse in action." That Sparkly blonde answered, "The youthful heroine, Recover Girl. Her quirk is the super-activation of healing ability. She's the only reason why U.A can hold these reckless exam. Look she's saving him months of recovery time."
Leiko's watched in awe as a green glow encased the boys broken limbs returning them back into place healing him.
"Alright he'll be fine now." Recovery Girl reassured looking at the crowd,
"Anyone else injured?"
As people went up to get healed, Leiko looked over at the unconscious boy with curious eyes. 'He had a chance to run away, he had zero points, but he still risked everything to save Ochako.' She then smirked in amusement, 'Huh, he has more balls than anyone else here, he'll make a great hero if he gets into this school.'
~ONE WEEK LATER~
"Breath in..." Leiko muttered with her eyes closed as she took a deep breath, "And exhale..." She let the air out in four counts. She sat in the center of her room with the lights off and had her hair in a circle around her. "Breath in...and exhale..."
These breathing exercises helped her concentrate on channeling her flame quirk onto her hair. So far, she's barely even gotten a spark on her hair.
"Breath in...and oh screw it." She huffed in annoyance as her eyes snapped open. She watched the circle of hair retreat back to her head making her hair back into its normal mid back length.
She stared down at her carpeted floor with frustration. This was her quirk and she can't even manage to get it to work. You see when her quirk was first discovered at the age of four, she was at home having her mom brush her hair. Her mom noticed it kept growing longer and longer until it reached the floor and while her mother was ecstatic about her having take after her quirk, her father was a little upset to see she didn't get his quirk. It wasn't until she let out a hiccup that purplish black flames appeared across the floor length hair shocking the parents. And while she did almost set her room on fire because of her flames, she has never been able to summon them on her hair again since that day. The only way she's been able to summon her flames is by channeling them through her bronze scissors that were made of a material that could handle her flames.
Knock! Knock!
She looked up from the floor and saw her door being opened by her mother as she stuck her head inside the room.
"Ko? Everything okay?" She asked frowning in concern, "You been locked in here a lot this past week."
Leiko gave a false smile, "Yeah, just training to keep my mind busy."
"Oh?" Her mother raised an eyebrow and walked into the girl's room taking a seat on her bed, "My mom instincts are telling you're worried about getting into U.A."
"Is it that obvious?" Leiko sighed smiling faintly.
Her mother nodded and patted the spot next to her on the bed. Leiko stood up and sat next to her mother, feeling her comforting fingers through her hair.
"You know I was nervous about getting into U.A as well when I first applied." Her mother started, "I wasn't much of a fighter back then, so I mainly got in through rescue points alone during the battle city portion." She then looked down at her daughter, "If a mess like me could make it in, then I know a strong determined girl like you can make it in."
Leiko looked at her mom with a smile, "Thanks mom." Knock! Knock!
A tickmark appeared on her mother's head as she glared angrily at the door,
"I'M HAVING A MOTHER DAUGHTER MOMENT RIGHT NOW! THIS
BETTER BE IMPORTANT RYUJI!"
The door opened and Leiko's father, Ryuji eyed his wife in distaste, "Honestly
Kana , can you not yell so late?" He sighed and smiled tiredly at his daughter, "I came here to deliver something important." He extended his hand outward showing a sealed envelope.
Leiko's eyes widen and she quickly stood up and walked over to her father, "Is that?"
"Yes, apparently your grandpa tried hiding it from me, when he got the mail today." Ryuji explained watching his daughter's eyes light up with excitement as she grabbed the envelope.
She eyed the seal and noticed it felt a little heavy, but that didn't matter. Looking up at her parents she gave them a nervous grin, "This is it...uh can I be..."
"Alone?" Kana finished with an understanding smile, "You got it Ko." She then began pushing her husband out of the room with a grin, "We'll be in the living room with your grandpa waiting for the results."
Ryuji looked like he was going to protest once he was in the hallway, but before Leiko could hear anything her mother shut the door behind her. She heard muffled arguing, a slap followed by a male groan, then footsteps fading away.
She walked over to her desk and sat down on the chair eyeing the envelope in her hands, "Time for the moment of truth." She opened the envelope and found a metal disc inside. She laid it on her desk and gasped seeing a hologram projection of All Might rise out from it.
"Good evening Leiko Kaen! It is I, All Might! On behalf of U.A High I am pleased to announce that you passed the written test. In the practical exam you earned a score of 55 villain points and you were awarded a score of 21 rescue points. In total you scored 76 points ranking second overall in the practical."
"No way..." She gasped happily.
"Congratulations Leiko Kaen, you've been accepted into U.A High! We look forward to seeing you there, PLUS ULTRA!" All Might congratulated before the projection turned off leaving Leiko in a state of shock.
She let out an astonished laugh and bolted out of her room. Her footsteps could be heard as she raced down the hall and slid down the stair railing as she turned left into the living seeing her mother and father holding hands on the sofa, while her grandpa was snoring away in his wheelchair next to the fireplace.
Ryuji looked up from his intertwined hands and meet his daughter's gaze,
"What happened?"
Leiko gave her parents a bright smile and simply said, "I'm in."
End of Chapter 1