Thoughts & Flashbacks

((English))

The train ride had given Minoru time to properly process what was happening. It really came down to three possible scenarios. First was that this was some kind of elaborate lucid dream brought on from booze and guilt. It was only logical, people didn't time travel after all. He wasn't one to give in to fantasy, not anymore... but there were too many details, too many exacts that a dream normally would just gloss over. Unless that was the dream WANTED him to think... That line of though would get him no where...

Second was not much better. This was that he was a teen and all these memories of his rather shitty adult life were the elaborate dream he'd just woken from. Absurd but not impossible to consider. There was likely some kind of serious mental issues that could sum up dreams that vivid that he would doubt the reality so thoroughly. Not that he put it past himself, he had certainly had more then his share of therapist visits over the last decade... unless that was a dream. Ugh...

Last was the most straight forward, but most insane. That this was all exactly what it seemed to be. By some quirk of fate or god's whims he had traveled back in time to the day of his UA entrance exam, memories left intact so he could make some kind of meaningful change to his life. Optimism was something he'd been lacking for a long time, but if this was true... If he really could start over. He wasn't going to waste it.

As gates to UA came closer and closer he came to his decision. He would treat this as real and do his best until this proved otherwise. Putting the existential issues of his situation aside he could start focusing on the important part. How rusty was his middle school knowledge and would he be able to pass the written exam by the seat of his pants with no proper study time? Valid questions. He always had a sharp mind, hopefully he could rely on that. There was another issue that he couldn't help but notice... Everywhere he turned were short pleated skirts of female examees, chill February winds causing them to flutter as the girls chat nervously about the upcoming test. For his short stature it made for quite the view, one he'd been thankful for many a time in his high school days. But the only thought that seemed to cross his mind was-

'Nearly all of these girls are 14'

It was like being dunked in a vat of ice water instantly washing away that pleasant perverted feeling he used to bask in. He shook his head free of images of skirts and panties and focused on the imposing buildings of the UA campus. This was not a time for such thoughts... he chose to ignore a small voice that was insisting HE was 14 now too so it was okay.

The crowds thinned out a bit once Mineta passed through the gates, the wide entry path to UA giving more room for the examees then the sidewalks. Now in a safer mindset he found himself scanning the crowds for familiar faces... There were a few here and there, a few future pros that would end up going to other schools. No one he was notably familiar with.

"Move aside Deku!" A very familiar voice bellowed, that unmistakable aggression could only have one source.

"Kacchan?!" The reply. It was higher and full of fear... but he knew the voice of his best friend anywhere. Mineta found himself sneaking through the crowd toward where he'd heard it. Almost at the doors there they were. Izuku slouched and watching as Bakugo strode past him to the main exam hall. Mineta tried to rationalize his image of Deku, future 1# Hero known world wide... he was so much shorter for one, not that HE really had any right to comment on someonelse's height. He was shaking and sweating, but the look in his eyes. That determined look. Mineta found himself smiling, he gathered himself and approached. A small part of him warned him against interacting with him, after all they hadn't met yet but he chose ignored it.

"Nervous?" he greeted, Izuku nearly tripping at his surprise. The Boy turned and looked around confused, belatedly looking down and finally seeing him. That growth spurt in year 2 couldn't come fast enough...

"Huh? Um y-yes a little."

"Me too." He offered a hand with a smile. "Mineta Minoru."

"Midoriya Izuku." Slowly the other boy took his hand and shook it, a small smile of his own. His nerves seemed to ease up slightly, he wasn't slouching as much.

"That's a better expression." he said relinquishing the boys hand and giving a thumbs up. "Best of luck to you Midoriya-kun."

"Y-You too." the timid boy managed in reply watching as Minoru made his way into the building. The Warm feeling of seeing his friend, in however small, boosting his own confidence. The test was the first step toward a better future, he could feel it.

Three hours of straight testing and Minoru was pretty sure he never wasn't to see an answer sheet ever again... Math had always come easy to him, something he often used when calculating his quirk usage. English was another easy section having done some stints of work outside of Japan over the years when working with Izuku. History and Science had been a nightmare though, an extra couple of decades were a long way to go back and remember 'current' information. There was a small part of him worried he may have answer questions in ways that were colored by future events, he'd have no idea to be sure but only another time traveler would know for certain so he was probably safe. Of all things the heroics segment had been a breeze, it was all open ended with situations set up and a portion for the examee to explain how one should handle it. Years of real experience allowed him to give concise answers and insight into the basic situations they were setting up. Overall he was fairly confident he'd passed at least. It was admittedly a step down from acing it as he'd done the first time... he'd just have to make it up in the Practical exam.

That could wait though, they'd been had been given an hour to unwind before being told about the practical exam. His first time through he was so nervous he'd nearly psyched himself out entirely. Already fully aware of what was ahead of him he decided to take a walk instead. He weaved his way through the cramped hallways, always used to being the smallest person in a crowd. The sheer amount of students here for the exam was a sight to see considering only a handful would be making it in. What would happen to most of these students? Where would their stories take them? Was it even fair for him to get a second chance when he has passed the first time but squandered the opportunity it gave him? He shook his head trying to get his mind of that particular train of thoughts and collided with a leg. Off balance he instinctively moved to the side before falling on his butt as the person he'd run into fell forward with a cute 'Oomph'. He caught an excellent view of strong set of legs leading up to a short skirt, momentarily flipped by her tumble revealing a cute baby blue pan- he immediately turned his head the other direction noting on the other end of those legs was a sturdy pair of Hooves.

"Hooves?" that rang a familiar bell as he got up and circle around front of the girl who had gotten up to her knees. The girl had a round, innocent face with large blue eyes. Her blond hair flowed down her back, a large pair of horns on either side of her head. Minoru knew he'd seen the girl before, she'd been in class B... he hadn't interacted with much before or after graduation... well no time like the present right?. "I'm sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going." he offer her a hand and she blinked in confusion.

"Ah, I'm fine." she said uncertainly taking his hand up and steadying herself on her hooves once more. She was short, still taller then him obviously, but at least his eye line was safely above the hem of her skirt. Despite her height was was build sturdy, enough so he was surprised he'd managed to knock her off balance at all. "I wasn't watching where either." she stumbled a bit of her pronunciation and reddened slightly. "Sorry," Apparently Japanese wasn't her first language

"Well if we're both at fault than no reason to worry about it." he noted offering the girl a smile she returned readily. It was quite the cute image.

"Right!" she agreed cheerfully. "Oh, I am Pon-oop. I mean Tsunotori Pony," she seemed to catch herself quickly offering a small bow.

"Mineta Minoru," he had a feeling he'd be introducing himself a lot, at least this wasn't as awkward as doing so to someone he knew for decades. "So Tsunotori-chan, how were the tests treating you?"

"Er, I think I did well." she giggled placing a hand behind her head nervously. "I can read and write just fine, speaking still bit hard." she admitted stumbling a bit once more as if to prove her point. Considering in his past she'd made the cut she likely had done at least a decent job. "What about you Mineta-kun?"

"Hopefully well enough." He said humbly, "I'm hoping to make a proper impression in the practical exam."

"Yes, a Hero wins through action." she replied excitedly pumping her fist. "Been practicing a lot, though not sure what the test is going to be." she admitted, her excitement draining away to nervously playing her hair. "I just hope it's enough." she muttered softly to herself. The dip of confidence didn't sit well with him.

"Come on Tsunotori-chan, you've come all the way to UA. There's no time for doubt. You gotta give it everything you've got. Plus Ultra." He said firmly a confident smirk on his lips. The horned girl was stuck silent for a moment before she could see her eyes light up once more.

"Right, Plus Ultra." she replied confidently, smile once again on her face. That was much better.

"Well, I need to meet up with someone before the break-times over," it wasn't exactly a lie he did want to see if he could see any other familiar faces before getting corralled again into the main hall. "Good Luck!"

"Mm! Good Luck to you too!" She cheered happily. " and... Thank you." she added a bit softer.

"No problem," he sent the girl one last wave a turned to go. He heard her speak up again but this time in English.

"Mineta-kun... ((He was kinda small... but he was pretty cool))." she was obviously talking to herself but wasn't keeping too quiet since she didn't expect anyone to understand or care to listen. He probably should have left it be, but in the end he couldn't help himself.

"Tsunotori-chan," he called back over is shoulder seeing her turn back his way blinking her wide innocent eyes.

"Yeah?"

"((You're pretty cool yourself))." he offered cheerfully with a cheeky wink enjoying as the girl reddened like tomato. Mischief accomplished he turned and headed out to get some fresh air...

The rest of break passed quietly. he'd seen Denki from a distance, chatting animatedly with a few of his schoolmates. Having no good reason to just walk up to him, he just took solace in that it looked like he was doing well. It was a similar situation with Sero and Mina... Shoji on the other hand was by himself and looked like he didn't want to be bothered. In the end there were just too many students to see everyone, before long the announcement rang out for everyone to return to the main hall. He could feel the excitement growing, a chance to let loose a little and not think about this strange situation he was stumbling through.

In the auditorium seats were assigned by school, whether fortunate or not he had been the only kid from his class trying for UA. Having no other distractions he half-listened to Present Mic's presentation thinking back to how the UA robots operated... he'd fought enough of them back in the day and taken out similar things with his quirk after that point. "Two balls for wheels, four for treads, two to four for walkers depending how you catch them. Avoid the gimmick but that won't show up till later and... there was something else wasn't there? They had a switch somewhere didn't they? Somewhere on back so it wouldn't be obvious." He whispered to himself. "Can't destroy them but Immobilizing counts, There's also points for helping other people. Right." Plan in mind he tuned back in to the end of the presentation. He shook his head as Ida publicly called Izuku out for talking too much... considering how close they were going to be shortly it was almost ironic. After one last muted response to Present mic's enthusiasm it was time to go to... Battleground Gamma. He frowned slightly looking at his ticket. Gamma was the industrial district replica, hadn't he taken his test in one of the city battlegrounds? Maybe he was was mixing it up with one of the later training sessions... he shook his head and pocketed his ticket heading to the male changing rooms for Battleground Gamma.

It was crowded as expected, boisterous banter was exchanged as everyone changed from their school uniforms into something more fit for battle. Minoru had kept his fairly casual, Just a t-shirt, windbreaker and sweats. His sneakers already treated so they wouldn't stick to his balls, back then it had been to avoid an accident but he learned later to use them for maneuverability. Something he'd definitely need for that jungle of pipes and equipment.

"Ey there little man, sure you came to the right place?" A larger boy said with a grin and he loomed over him. "This is a test for high schoolers." Minoru eyed the boy up and down with a bored look... He was tall and muscular, his fists and arms out of proportion for his body. He didn't look like anyone of note, likely never made it past the exam. Curiosity satisfied he stowed his stuff in his locker and stood to go. "Oi, I was talking to you shrimp!"

"I know, I just don't care." He said casually, the changing room grew quiet as he passed a bored look over to the delinquent trying to glare a hole through his back. "You know when they said you needed to build up 'Villian points' they meant defeating villains not being an asshat. This is a HERO exam, act like it." he finished with a steely look that despite his tormentor's size made him step back. It was just like the kind of meat heads working for Rodan...The locker erupted with Oohs and Cheers, the lanky armed student slinking off to another corner of the locker room gritting his teeth. A few of the others patted him on the back as he passed by and he could help but chuckle a little and wave off the excitement.

"Well said," a voice said as he passed out of the locker room, Minoru glanced up to see Tokiyami leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed, gaze intense but bore a slight smile. "Sometimes competition makes people lose sight of their goals."

"Heh, True enough." Minoru smiled a little, watching the bird headed boy try so hard to look nonchalant and cool was nostalgic. Much as he was tempted he didn't try to break the boy's image. "That being said, I'm still going to try my damnedest to get a good score." he admitted with an unabashed grin. That got a brief chuckle from the other boy, before the intense gaze returned.

"Very true."

"Good luck out there."

"And to you." the two parted without exchanging names... it was 'cooler' that way after all.

One by one the students arrived at the large metal doors of Battlefeild Gamma. Some focused on the doors and the challenge behind them while others milled about nervously making small talk with others of a similar disposition. Minoru stretched a little, trying limber up his stubby limbs as best he could... if he was going to make any headway he'd have to break away from the pack but he definitely had a distinct disadvantage when it came to pure physicality. He was down a growth spurt and years of conditioning, he was basically starting from scratch. It was going to come down to tactics and unfortunately the easiest solution of sticking all the other examees in place so he'd have solo access was far too unheroic to fly. He'd just have to wing it and come up with something on the fly.

"Mineta-kun!" His planning was disrupted by the bubbly greeting Pony, waving an exuberant greeting as she trotted over.

"Tsunotori-chan, what a coincidence?" he smiled while his mind raced... he was fairly certain he'd never seen Pony in action on his first time. It was a long time ago but if there was one thing he had kept track on back then was girls and she had a very distinct look to her. Maybe she had been there and he was just overthinking it? It was nearly three decades ago in his warped perception. For now he filed all this strangeness aside to compute later. He had to keep his mind in the present. The foreign student had crouched down in front of him to look him eyes to eye, a cute little pout on her face.

"It wasn't nice to tease earlier." she muttered with a small frown.

"Sorry," he chuckled awkwardly. "I couldn't help myself, the set up was too perfect." she puffed her cheeks out in frustration and he couldn't help but smile in the face of it. "For what it's worth I wasn't lying." he added hopefully watching the pout revert a bit as she glanced away, cheeks slightly rosy.

"...you're forgiven." she said passing one more glance his way before she stood back up to full height. "Both happy and sad we're in fi- er." she paused trying to find the right words.

"You can use English." he offered, "((Just don't go too fast. I'm a little rusty))" he said slowly. His time overseas back in the day with Izuku had been in his final years as a pro, The Las Vegas incident certainly hadn't helped him down the road... placing that particular memory even further out of his mind he brought himself back to the present. Pony sighed dramatically before switching to her native tongue.

"((Okay, but I really need to get better at Japanese))." She relented, now able to speak much smoother and naturally in her home language.

"((One step at a time right?))" He kept his tone supportive

"((I know))..." She clearly wasn't satisfied with her current ability but put it aside for now. "((Anyway, I was tryin' to say I'm glad we're getting to take the test in the same place but a little sad since we're going to be competing))." she ended with a sigh. Apparently she was more of the 'team' type hero then a solo... He could sympathize, his best years as a pro had always come from consistent teamwork.

"True," Unfortunately this was a test... but it wasn't necessarily a competition was it? They purposely set people from the same school to different battlegrounds so they couldn't work together. Did that mean if two people worked together on a robot they both got the points? There were only so many robots. "((Unless that isn't the case))." he started trying to think of the best way to explain it. At the very least it seemed to catch the girl's interest.

"((Really?))" she couched back down eyes shining with curiosity.

"((This is a hero exam, right?))" he paused allowing for her nod of understanding. "((Even solo heroes on patrol work with any other heroes come across in a)) er... Crisis." he finished in Japanese not able to come up with the right word. Fortunately Pony seemed to be following along perfectly fine.

"((Like a big battle with a large group of villains. So if we work together, we'll both get points?))" she sounded hopeful, but at the same time was concerned.

"((That's my theory anyway... as long as we both pull our weight equally I don't see how they could hold it against us))." it was a massive gamble, particularly going so far off how he'd handled things previously. But if it did work it might even impress the observers more and he was certain he had some ground to make up on... "((What do you say?))" he offered a hand. After a moment of thinking she took his hand and gripped it tightly.

"((Let's do it!))" She grinned confidently.

"((In that case we don't have a lot of time to brainstorm so lets exchange quirks and figure out the best way to go about this))." the other examees watched on in confusion as they continued to go back and forth in English, most not being able to follow everything being said. Ultimately they dismissed the pair to focus on their own preparation...

By the time the starting bell rang, their plan was set... and people WERE taking notice.

AN: So it continues. I'm happy this story was so well received, it made me come back and finish this snippet into a full chapter :). It also got me thinking a lot about what this story was really going to be and well... lets just say this is going to be more interesting then just Mineta being a less shit human being. But that will be a little ways off before that starts to be a the very least his warped perception of time will keep his libido in check as all the girls are 'too young' to be considered in that way to him... for now at least... Yes I am (unfortunately) aware he made a really messed up comment about Eri (of all girls) when he met her in the manga but this is a more mature Mineta so we're going to pretend that line never happened...

In other news Pony is in the story! Having kept up distantly with the current manga arc and seen 'Horn Cannon' in action there was no way I couldn't think to use it. Plus giving her a person to befriend that won't purposely give her rude English phrases to say for their own amusement will be good for her (lookin' at you Monoma).

PS: Stealth edit once I realized I'd been spelling Pony's Family name wrong the whole time 6-_- whoops

Next chapter, the Exam!