AN1: So good responses, and definitely good critiques. Even managed to correct something HUGE because of them.
For these things, I thank you all.
Let me address the main issue: the pacing.
Yeah. It's weird. I know. The rest of the story isn't going to be like that, however. And that's because Chapter 1 is more of a prologue, concept chapter that had its pacing pounded out because I didn't want to have 10 chapters of growing up and growing into the Quirk, and keep me away from UA for too long.
Because it was WAY better than just throwing a character like this into the UA entry exam. Plus this will affect the storyline of My Hero Academia more, allowing a more different world, allowing me to take more liberties in changing canon without making it feel forced or out of place.
AN2: PLEASE READ!
I made a [Pat reon]! Even if I only make like 20 bucks a month or something crappy like that, if there's something to properly motivate me, I think I can keep myself more accountable with regular updates to my stories, so I'm giving this a try. This is PURELY for those of you who want to help out. It's just hard for me to keep uploading regularly when it's just a hobby and keep telling myself that I can put it to the side since (aside from when I'm OVER THE MOON in inspiration to write) I'm better off putting that time into working to pay bills and college loans and shit because I am broke as hell.
And please don't flame me over this, this is just something that I'm trying for a month or two to see if it helps. If it doesn't work and it turns out that I just go months without uploading and shit, I'll shut that shit down myself.
Look for KSLCross on [Pat reon] if you want to support my writing! Reviews also help. (They won't let you write [Pat reon] in normally, but they allow TWITTER? What the hell? lol)
HERO CORNER!
Chiba Hinata {Miracle of the World: Miracle}
Quirk: Throne of Heroes
Uses the Heroic Spirits of both Past and Future to grant blessings upon the world and defeat Villains.
Affiliation: Apprentice to All Might. Apprentice to Endeavor. Fated for U.A. High School Hero Class 1-A.
Birthday: May 4th
Height: 158 cm
Blood Type: O-
Likes: Takoyaki.
3 Sizes: "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK, YOU'RE DOING?! DON'T LET THEM SEE THAT! WHO'S GONNA CARE FOR THAT?!" - Chiba Hinata
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: C+
Intelligence: D+
Cooperation: A+
Technique: B+
Mana: A-
Luck: A++
Noble Phantasm/Quirk: D to A++
BEGIN
It was roughly two months after the 'Beauty and the Beast' crisis when everything changed.
"...Hinata shonen… what do you remember about your childhood friends?"
It was eight in the morning and Hinata, who was currently packing up kitchenware to move to Endeavor's home, turned around with confusion.
"You mean Izuchii and Kacchan? Cuz' I don't really remember the rest of my preschool class very well. I keep in contact with them through HeroBook and Twitter, although it took a while for Kacchan to start talking to me again… Why do you ask?" Hinata topped off the cardboard moving box with its lid. "This is the first time you've asked me about them aside from when we first met."
And while it WAS true that they kept in touch, Hinata had become a psuedo-Hero and before he knew it, his once personal HeroBook and Twitter accounts had become forcibly turned into a public account for his Hero persona, Miracle. Which meant that for the sake of preserving Katsuki Bakugo and Midoriya Izuku's personal privacy, all their communication was through Private and Direct Messages.
Not that it didn't divert unneeded attention to his two childhood friends here and there.
Especially once people learned that Izuku was Quirkless.
Hinata had been quite distraught when he learned of this, as the trio had all dreamed of becoming top Heroes together, even asking his Heroic Spirits if there was ANY way that he could grant even ONE of their many powers to his best friend.
He had been shut down by them all, and had even offended Orion to the point that she didn't initially sealed away his access to her abilities for the first two years after he gained his Quirk.
"Well… the truth is I met young Midoriya shonen yesterday."
"Izuchii?"
All Might scratched his nose awkwardly, not meeting Hinata's eyes.
"He was Quirkless, just like you said all those years back. I rescued him from some odd slime Quirk Villain. That Bakugo friend of yours as well."
"WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?! ARE THEY ALRIGHT?! IS THAT WHY YOU WERE BACK SO LATE LAST NIGHT?!"
All Might chuckled at Hinata's worried face, his young ward never really lost his cool due to the reliable presence of his Heroic Spirits always being with him, but he was still a very lonely child.
With such a powerful and sought after Quirk, he had become alienated from both society and his peers at a very young age. Luckily for him, Endeavor had children, allowing Hinata to still have a few playmates, but the young Master fought to preserve his bonds to his childhood friends with all his power.
The number one Hero supposed that was the reason why Hinata would do such a brazen thing as to grab All Might's hero suit by the collar, pull him down to eye level and demand explanations.
"Ha ha, they're fine, they're fine. Let me explain…"
Hinata spent the next half hour listening to a recap of the events of the previous day.
How Izuku had still desired to be a Hero, even though he was Quirkless.
All Might's apologetic rejection of his dream.
How the captured Villain got away due to an accident.
All Might searching all over the city, looking for the escaped Villain, only to find devastation.
And witnessing the most remarkable thing.
Heroes unable to act due to a hostage.
Bakugo.
But while Bakugo desperately fought off the Villain trying to take over his body, only one person took action.
Midoriya Izuku, a wimpy, cowardly Quirkless fanboy was the only one to bravely charge in and attempt to free Bakugo when a crowd of almost a hundred people stood, transfixed in both horror and awe.
And how could All Might ignore the noble heroic act in front of him and still call himself the number one hero?
"So after dealing with the press, I snuck away to find him… I told him the truth. That he had what it takes. The essence of a true Hero. That he is worthy! Of inheriting my power."
Hinata was sure that his eyes had outstripped dinner plates.
"Wait… you don't mean… ONE FOR ALL?..."
All Mi- No.
Toshinori Yagi smiled at him.
"Yes."
"...Yagi-sensei. Are you sure about this? It's…" Hinata grit his teeth. "You… aren't you forgetting the bigger picture here? You're ALL MIGHT! You're full power as a vessel of One For All has been restored! Even Nighteye-sempai's vision of the future has changed since I've healed you! There's no reason for you to find a successor this early! Once you hand over that torch, there's no going back! Don't you just forget all the consultations we had with Rider and Archer? Even if I were to bless you every single day to slow the degradation of power as much as possible, your time as All Might would end in three years if you really conserved it. But we KNOW your personality. We'd be lucky if the Symbol of Peace could fight for a single year! This… this better not be because of me wanting to be able to go to U.A. with both Kacchan and Izuchii! Because if it is, I'll never forgive you! Don't you know how important you are?!"
"N-now I know you're chewing me out here… and I know how you understand the potential repercussions of my decisions. And while I do wish I could make that dream of yours come true, it is neither the real reason nor an influence on this decision… I know just as much as you how important preserving the image of the Symbol of Peace is... But Hinata shonen."
Blue eyes met purple.
"He is the one. I felt it the moment I laid eyes on him. Although one might say that the timing is poor… Young Midoriya Izuku is, undoubtedly, the one that must become the next vessel of One For All."
A sigh parted from Hinata's lips as they twisted into a tired smile.
"So you're really that serious about this… ha ha… dammit Izuchii… to make ALL MIGHT feel that way… Dammit that's cool as hell…" Hinata's face bloomed into a beautiful smile. "...When are you gonna start training him? You've gotta begin molding him into a Vessel, right? I'll help! You choosing him as your successor makes me his one and only Sempai, after all!"
Yagi laughed heartily.
"The plan is to start tomorrow morning at 6 am. I'm going to use all the junk that's left on Takoba Municipal Beach Park on the edge of town to build him up his body by having him carry all the junk out and clean it up. Both in spirit of the original essence of heroics, volunteer service, as well as to build up muscle.."
Hinata nodded happily before picking up the box of kitchenware and heading for the door.
He stopped and turned around just before opening the door.
"Oh, and you and mom need to come to U.A. to fill the last bit of paperwork for the recommendation process. Don't forget, ok? You were the one insisting on me entering through this route, so stop forgetting to finish the paperwork. Mom won't complain about readjusting her schedule over and over because she's nice, but somebody's gotta put their foot down around here."
"Ha ha, my bad, my bad shonen. I'll wake up your mom after I whip up something to eat for the both of us."
"Just don't forget to use protection."
"H-HINATA SHONEN!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Hinata wondered what All Might's fans would think of a picture of his genuinely blushing face as he took the elevator down to the first floor of the apartment complex.
It would probably be priceless.
A high class, but nondescript black luxury car was waiting for Hinata once he reached the bottom. And while he couldn't spot them all, the effeminate boy knew that there were more than one bodyguards with eyes on him to make sure nothing bad would happen to him.
And keeping paparazzi away. Can't forget that.
But the trip to the Todoroki Mansion was a quiet and simple affair, as usual. The giant traditional Japanese mansion never failed to scream to the boy 'NIPPON!' and 'NOUVEAU RICHE!' in his heart.
Considering that All Might preferred smaller, cozier apartments really made every moment at the Todoroki household stand out.
"Tadaima!" Hinata habitually called out as he entered the home, slipping out of his shoes, still holding the box of kitchenware.
"Ah! Welcome home, Hina-chan! Let me help you with that!" Todoroki Jin smiled, taking the heavy box from Hinata's hands before he could react. "Can't have little miss Miracle carry around stuff like this any longer than necessary."
"Whoa! Jin-nii, you don't have to do that." Hinata argued weakly.
"Nonsense! You're our guest!" the older boy argued back, laughing happily, "I'll put it in the same cabinet you always leave this in. Can you grab Shouto from his room? He's still sleeping in, but you guys have the U.A. Recommendation Assessment today, so you should get a hearty breakfast in. Mind waking him up for me? I'll get started on the food."
Todoroki Jin was born with with the Quirk he inherited from his mother (like most of the Todoroki siblings) but while the Quirk: Ice Age was an overwhelmingly powerful Quirk for a Hero, Jin's passion lied only in the culinary arts. In this regards he was luckier than his two brothers who aspired to become Heroes, as this meant Endeavor had no motivation to force training upon the white haired teen. (Although it should be said that Endeavor only trained Todoroki Shouto in his pursuit to surpass All Might in every aspect that he could. In doing so, the middle child, Todoroki Ganta was left completely to his own devices.) It was actually Jin who figured out that Ice Age was quite able to perform incredibly subtle acts, which Jin took to using quite creatively for his dishes.
This in turn taught Shouto that his Quirk was able to do so as well.
If there was one thing Hinata could complain about Jin was that the boy had a tendency to not really listen to others, everything flowing into one ear and out the other, only hearing things that he cared to hear.
No matter how many times Hinata tried to explain that while yes, when he used his Quirk: Throne of Heroes to its fullest (i.e. Include Mode) he would physically turn into a 100% girl, outside of that state, no matter HOW feminine he seemed, he was biologically a boy.
He did, however, suppose that Jin's blind insistence on calling him 'imouto' and 'miss' had a lot to do with the one year he spent testing just HOW long he could stay in Include Mode… which was the whole year without stopping, as there was no real limit to the amount of time Hinata could stay transformed. Rather, they had to stop that test merely because Saber's personality bleeding into his was becoming a bit of a problem for everyone around him.
His mom even called it his 'rebellious' phase to tease him and had extra fun playing dress-up with his unwilling body, much to both Saber and his embarrassment.
The most part that was a problem was that Jin kept trying to set up situations between Hinata and Jin's youngest brother Shouto that were ripped straight out of an eroge.
Luckily it was more of an annoyance than an actual problem, however, as both Shouta and Hinata were clear about their gender and sexuality.
Hinata didn't even bother knocking on the door to Todoroki Shouta's room, knowing that for all of his talent and strengths…
"Why do you bother with alarm clocks, if you're gonna freeze them all?" Hinata sweatdropped.
Two frozen clocks were tossed into a damp cardboard box in the closet.
Every once in awhile one of the frozen clocks would survive Shouta's rough treatment and help actually wake him up the next day by the pure happenstance of being too far away to accurately freeze in a half-asleep haze.
"Alright. C'mon Icy-Hot. Time to get up, bud."
"Mmmng."
"Wake. Up. With your D Rank luck, I'll end up in a situation as I'm shaking you awake that we'll both regret, and Jin-nii will walk in on us at the same time. Or worse. Fu-chan."
Was it ok for an ELEMENTARY school teacher to be a closet fujoshi?
"...ugh… I'll get… zzzzz…"
"DON'T FALL ASLEEP AS YOU'RE ABOUT TO SAY YOU'RE GETTING UP!" Hinata pulled Shouto's pillow from under his head before proceeding to beat the sleepy teen with it.
"Urk. Ahgh. Fine. I'm awake, I'm awake. Better not let Jin hear you saying that tho. You'll ruin his image of childhood friends." Todoroki Shouta rubbed his eyes before letting out a large yawn.
"Well excuse me for not being moe. Or a girl."
"Shouta got out of bed and walked over to the closet grabbing a clean track suit before turning to Hinata.
"You mind?"
"You're in an undershirt and boxers right now. It's not like you're getting naked. Or even changing clothes rather than putting another layer ON."
"Well," Shouto shrugged, "100 out of 100 people would look at you and think you're a girl, so it's still a LITTLE awkward."
"YOU CRACKIN' JOKES NOW, YOU TIGER BALM LOOKING-"
"Iyan." the Todoroki heir said in monotone while pretending to cover his body with his arms.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"That's Saber talking."
"YOUUUUUUUUU-"
Unlike the obligatory waking up scene, breakfast was a simple affair.
Why?
Endeavor had been called up early for work that morning because of a jewelry store break in.
Normally breakfast would be served by either Jin or Fuyumi, the former who would make some sort of fancier than usual Western breakfast and the latter would make a more traditional Japanese breakfast such as eggs over rice, salmon, miso soup, etc.
And no matter what was served, Shouta would demand natto if Endeavor sat at the table. The large burly, surly man was many things, but he couldn't stand the smell of natto in the morning. The ensuing arguments were legendary in the Todoroki household as the one moment in the house where Shouto could have any sort of advantage over his father. No matter how hard Endeavor tried, Shouto would always have natto hidden away in some corner of the house just for breakfast.
Even if he had all of the maids check room to room looking for the natto stashes, Shouto would always show up with a small styrofoam serving portion package of natto at the ready once breakfast came.
No exceptions.
"Tsk. Shitty old man isn't here."
Hinata buttered his toast with a grin, "It's funny how you never wanna be near Endeavor-sensei, but breakfast is the one exception."
"I'd never brush my teeth afterwards if it'd keep annoying him after breakfast, too."
"Ha ha ha!"
While Hinata could laugh boisterously at these rebellious acts, the rest of the Todoroki siblings could only chuckle weakly.
Frankly put, it could be said that Chiba Hinata was the bridge that connected Todoroki siblings to the misfortunate child known as Todoroki Shouto. More than blood. More than brotherhood. More than friendship.
While Shouto found it difficult to talk to his siblings, he always found that it was easier with cheery Hinata around. His best and only friend. Hinata, who healed the scar that his mother, oppressed by a loveless and restrictive marriage, left behind in a nervous mental breakdown. Hinata who trained and grew with him. Who shared his dream of being a hero and had already taken one step through the door to being a pro Hero. Both a rival and goal to aspire for, grounding him rather than causing him to become isolated by both his talent and by Endeavor's intent on making the young teen reliant upon him.
And it was because of Hinata, who sometimes seemed so out of reach, interacting so normally with both him and his siblings that he was able to talk to them at all. Because even if they couldn't understand each other (despite living in the same household), Hinata could fill in the gaps in the awkward lulls, and had the charisma to keep conversations going.
Todoroki Shouto took a bite of toast with egg and natto on it.
He supposed the miracle of healing came in many forms.
It wasn't long before the two friends found themselves at U.A. Academy, Shouto quietly and internally psyching himself up as Hinata gleefully fanboy-ed all over the place as he gripped his U.A. Visitor's Pass with all his might.
[Calm down, Master. Y'er gonna cream your pants at this rate.]
[But it's U.A. Saber! U.A.! I've dreamed of this as long as I can REMEMBER!]
[Then don't be embarrassing for Christ's sake. Have some damn dignity.]
[Hooh?] a calm voice questioned, [How funny to hear you talk of DIGNITY, Saber. After what I've heard of YOUR story, you'd think that you would think twice before talking about something like dignity. Temper tantrums like yours aren't cute. Master will come to hate you.]
[YOU WANNA SAY THAT TO MY FACE SHITZERKER?! I MIGHT BE AN ANTI-HERO, BUT AT LEAST I AIN'T A FUCKING VILLAIN WANNABE LIKE YOU! Maybe if you weren't such a little frigid BITCH, Master would USE you!]
"...and the arguing begins again…" Hinata shrank like a shriveling raisin in a dehydrator.
"...which ones?" Shouta asked as the two approached the training area that would assess the validity of their recommendations.
While the requirements for an approved recommended enrollment was stringent, there were still only two to four passes through the recommendation program and over a dozen people who pass the first stage of the program. This physical assessment was what really chose the best of the best.
After all, those who failed still had the standard exam that they could apply to.
"It's Saber and Berserker, of course. They're the only ones that pick fights for the sake of picking fights, after all…"
[AS IF! IT'S ALL THIS FUCKING HIKINEET'S FAULT!]
[How uncultured. Master has simply never needed to use my powers yet.]
[How about you stop begging him for sweets using Caster and Assassin as your pawns then, you fat bitch.]
[Irrelevant. Sugar LITERALLY fuels my powers. I can sit here and do NOTHING and maintain perfect body proportions.]
"Excuse me! Would you hapahhhh…"
Hinata, glad to get away from the bickering of her most volatile Heroic Spirits by any means possible, turned to the voice to see a very tall, well-built teen with a buzzcut holding a map, jaw slowly widening in recognition.
Because there was no teenage boy worth his red blood and salt in Japan that didn't know of Apprentice Hero: Miracle, Chiba Hinata.
Silky raven locks, purple eyes that sucked in the soul, demure lashes, soft pink lips, that slender and elegant figure coupled with a gentle personality and demeanor…
A vision of romanticized Japanese beauty.
"YAMATO NADESHIKO KIIIIITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"...Eh?" Hinata stared confusedly.
Shouta had to turn his head to repress a snort of laughter.
"Ah! Shit! I mean shoot! Crap! Sorry, I'm just a huge fan! You actually saved one of my cousins two months ago in the Iwaki Nuclear Meltdown incident! And cleansed away all the nuclear fallout! THAT'S SOME HOT SPIRIT! You saved the entire Fukasawa Prefecture! Thank you! And!" the tall teen grinned with a blush on his face, "COULD I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!"
He bowed at a perfect 90 degree angle while holding the back of his map and a sharpie he pulled out from his pocket with arms so straight that the elbows locked.
Hinata giggled, amused at the sheer energy of the guy, before accepting the paper and sharpie, quickly signing the words "Apprentice Hero Miracle - Chiba Hinata" and handing it back to the bowing teen.
With a smiley face, of course.
Bitches loved the smiley face.
"WwwwhhooooOOOOOOOOAAAA! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I'm Yoarashi Inasa! Pleased to make your acquaintance! Are you here for the recommendation assessment too, Chiba- I mean, Miracle-sempai?!"
Still, energy aside, it was hard to deal with both the blushing face and the sparkling eyes of Yoarashi at the same time for Hinata. It was so obvious that he thought that Hinata was a girl, after all. No straight male could really accept that so easily after all.
"Chiba's fine, don't worry about it so much, Yoarashi-kun. And yes I am. Along with my training partner and close friend, Todoroki Shouto-chan."
"Why can't you call me kun, like a normal person?"
"Cuz that's boring Shouto-chan."
"You don't even call me CHAN normally!"
"Pft. Ha ha ha ha!" Yoarashi Inasa laughed. It was good to see that the son of Endeavor didn't seem to take after his father too much. He had been worried in the beginning when looking at Todoroki's game face, staring at the buildings of U.A. with the intenseness of his father. Those eyes that seemed like they would cut through and shove past everything in sight to accomplish his goals. But if he really had been like that man…
...he wouldn't be so normal when arguing with his friend.
It was too soon to judge the son of Endeavor, Yoarashi decided to himself. While there was no way Todoroki Shouto could be free of Endeavor's influence or personality, being the man's son and all, he still had the potential to be a Hot Spirit like a real hero.
Chiba Hinata seemed to have ensured that possibility, at least.
Yoarashi Inasa grinned even harder.
U.A. was really going to be so much fun!
"EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEEEY! ATTENTION ALL YOU LISTENERS OUT THERE! All Recommendation Program Contenders! Please report to the field tent in Testing Zone 3-Z. I repeat, please report to the field tent in Testing Zone 3-Z. It is almost time to begin assessments. COME ON! GET PUMPED! YEAH!"
"Three guesses as to who THAT could be… Let's hurry though, or we'll be late!" Hinata grabbed both Shouto and Yoarashi's hands before quickly pulling them in the right direction. "Hurry up, you two!"
"Alright, don't get your panties in a twist."
"H-hai!"
Shouto and Yoarashi responded simultaneously as they booked it to the testing location.
Testing Zone 3-Z doubled as an intensive testing area for both those of the Recommendation Program as well as third years close to graduation.
And so that explained why it looked bat-shit crazy.
An entrance that seemed like it belonged at an amusement park... a steep-sloped artificial mountainous region that poked towards the sky with narrowed peaks like daggers as if it belonged inside a wuxia martial arts novel… an abandoned, dilapidated castle… waterfalls and forests… a cave of traps ripped from an RPG and even a bonafide labyrinth with moving walls.
"...holy…" Hinata was breathless.
"...crap…" Shouto was too.
"...THIS IS AWESOME! IT'S PLUS ULTRA, ALRIGHT!" Yoarashi however was filled with boundless energy, both out of excitement and the fact that Japan's #1 teenage Yamato Nadeshiko was holding his hand.
Even if that Yamato Nadeshiko was a boy, it wasn't as if Yoarashi was aware of the fact anyways.
There was a short written test that was given as a surprise before the physical aptitude test, just as to measure that the applicants would be able to hold up to the level of education that the school held as a standard, and while not as intensive as the actual standard entrance exam, it was still important enough to be given out under the excuse that "Heroes must be strong in not just body, but of the mind." and "A Hero is ready to respond to any surprise moment."
Although it wasn't too hard, Hinata only barely scraped by with passing grade, confirming his inner fear that his nine years of protected isolation had definitely hampered his learning rate.
If anything he was lucky that Todoroki Fuyumi was a teacher and helped tutor him in her free time, because it wasn't as if Hinata could be homeschooled by just any old teacher off the street due to his value as a healer, making education a difficulty.
Plus, more than studying, he had been lightening Healing Hero: Recovery Girl's workload over the years as he traveled from hospital to hospital all over Japan healing the terminally sick and injured.
That on top of being trained in self-defence left very little time for young Hinata's academics.
On the other hand the physical tests would turn out to be a bit of a breeze.
After all, hanging around with the best of the best pro Heroes meant that you picked up a few things.
Include Mode would have solved a lot MORE problems, but Present Mic immediately shut Hinata down, stating that for now they wanted an assessment of how much power he could pull out without going all the way, as through All Might and Endeavor they currently knew his ACTUAL limits and would grade him based off of those, but needed to know his baseline regardless.
Well, Quirk-enhanced baseline anyways, as Hinata's abilities outside of Include Mode was important to know..
Still, Hinata's Quirk pretty much made him a demi-Servant by default, was trained by the number 1 and 2 Heroes, so there was no stat that he dipped below C rank in.
There were 18 students total, all separated into groups of 6 for testing purposes. The tests were separated into two larger overarching examinations: a short battle course consisting of destroying a set number of targets in a set area while avoiding harming the civilian target dummies for those with combat capable Quirks (or a pure assessment of the value of a non-combat Quirk by a small jury of pro Heroes AFTER their attempt/performance of the combat portion), and the latter was a cumulative assessment of ALL of the applicant's physical prowess and Quirk utility/power as a whole using a trap-filled marathon with multiple wildly varying environments.
The first test had been wildly underwhelming for Hinata. He and Shouto had done very well as they bombarded the targets accurately with bolts of ice and moonlight, and Yoarashi really made a splash with his Quirk: Wind allowing him to skillfully take down most of the targets at once using the debris left behind by broken targets from previous testers before he accurately dealt with the rest. There was a little damage to the civilian targets, but they were superficial, so the energetic buzzcut of a teen wasn't docked many points.
Because of that flashy showing, nothing that followed it was very impressive. Only a gorgeous girl called Yaoyorozu Momo making any impressive showing by literally creating a repeating crossbow from her stomach before shooting the targets down.
She also got bonus points through the following assessment as her Quirk was quantified as an Auxiliary Quirk to begin with.
Those who didn't make such a big splash seemed intimidated, yet still hopeful, however Hinata was sure how heavily points based off of combat ability could be and said nothing, not wanting to
"But for an entrance program based off of recommendation, there isn't too many people whose Quirks seem overwhelmingly worth of that kind of prestige. Taking me and Shouto as exceptions considering our circumstances, the only real upsets are Yoarashi-kun. But wow, he's really going head to head with our resident Icy-Hot Tigerbalm wannabe... They're going neck and neck for the whole race so far, and…" Hinata stopped muttering to himself as a tall, beautiful girl with a long, voluminous ponytail performed a long jump over a series of pits and trip wires by propelling herself with metal rods she created and extended from her body, "Yaoyorozu Momo, Quirk: Creation. Seriously. That's versatile as hell. Her family's rich and famous because of it and her parents are super well known for the production of rare materials. I think their only limit is the fact that they can't create living organisms. She's earnest for sure, but the real question is how fast she'll be able to think on her feet... She's the first generation of her family attempting Heroics, after all. There's no precedence of known athleticism, but she's definitely ahead of the pack. Surprising, considering she's fallen for a few more traps than expected..."
God there was so much Hero Analysis that could be done here.
Hinata only wished he had a laptop with a video feed so that he and Izuku could go Quirk Fanboy all over the place together on HeroBook.
Hinata turned to the last stretch of the marathon and grinned as he saw Yoarashi barely beat Todoroki to the end line of the marathon, one of two huge tests that made up the physical assessment exam.
It was really impressive that their new acquaintance/friend was able to not just keep up with, but barely surpass Shouto. Whenever Shouto got serious nowdays, Hinata couldn't beat him without Include Mode anymore, although it should be noted that Shouto couldn't hold his own against a Heroic Spirit.
It was really awkward for Hinata to only have a switch between his personal full effort and the 100% of Include Mode, when he was sure that his personal effort would be lucky to be considered 15%.
"But gosh, Shouto-chan's game face looks just like Endeavor's... better not let him hear me saying that." Hinata chuckled as the son of Endeavor in the distance seemed to turn around to face Yoarashi who held out a hand to shake. Mr. Hot Spirit buzzcut seemed to say something in his endless excitement, but while Hinata's base specs had improved immensely, but he was no Heroic Spirit and couldn't quite pick out what they were saying from where he stood.
It seemed friendly enough as Todoroki shook hands with a nod, replying in his usual calm and cool manner, his face mellowing out into his normal calmness.
"Grrr. What's Yoarashi-kun laughing about?" grumbled Hinata, "I'm so bored waiting over here for my turn..."
It was unfair that HIS group was the last group.
The two superpowered prodigies, in their competitiveness, apparently broke the record for Recommendation Program by a whole 3 minutes, making Hinata grumble that he wouldn't be able to beat that record.
Friends doing well was always a good thing as far as the apprentice Hero was concerned, but Hinata wanted to set records too!
The three were filled with small talk as the second group began their marathon and were content by happily sharing their opinions on what the Hero Course of U.A. must be like. They were sharing embarrassing stories of youthful Quirk accidents when Hinata and his group of examinees were finally called for their marathon run.
Having had the small advantage of seeing the previous groups perform through certain parts of the race, the third group was filled with confidence. Of course not EVERYTHING was visible from where they were allowed to observe the racers, but it was enough that it gave an ever so slight leg up.
"Ok! ARE YOU READY, LISTENERS?! ON YOUR MARK, GET SET! GO!"
[Ok... Magecraft don't fail me now… REINFORCE! Let's go for speed!]
[You're welcome for the Magecraft lessons, Onii-chan~] Caster smugly preened.
[I'm buying you SO much sweets later!] Hinata sent the girl a mental equivalent of a head pat as he sped past all five contenders in his group.
[Sweets? Favoritism. Not fair.] Assassin argued.
[Agreed. I demand Sakura Mochi.] Berserker agreed greedily. [I demand proper rewards for my share of teachings.]
[Hai, hai. Once I pass today, I'll treat you all!]
[YAY!] all three sugar-toothed addicts cheered.
Golden lines like some strange mix between veins/arteries and computer circuits shone on and over the skin and clothing of Hinata's legs and arms. There wasn't any solid knowledge of Magecraft between his Servants sans Caster, Archer, and Berserker. So while Hinata had been blessed with 77 rather high quality Magus Circuits, what the boy could learn was very limited, and they served him better by better stabilizing and empowering his transformations. What little he was taught by Caster and Berserker was mostly unusable besides Reinforcement and the creation of small Magus Codes, as they would be hard to explain on top of his already nigh-unbelievable Quirk: Throne of Heroes. Not only that, but in the field of Magecraft, Hinata found that while he had a good PHYSICAL foundation, he wasn't particularly talented in the dead art.
According to Berserker and Archer, this was one of the realities where Angra Mainyu hadn't manifested due to the extermination of Magus. And so all he could be taught was the bits and pieces that Caster and Berserker knew and were willing to teach him. With Archer pitching in her two cents whenever she felt like it. While she had come to love her Master, she wasn't keen on the revival of Magus in any reality.
As she put it: [While there are the occasional human worth cherishing, the rest of them are better off being eradicated for their own good.]
Still, what little he was capable of, he practiced everyday and polished it to the best of his ability, allowing for quite powerful Reinforcement, and even the creation of Mystic Codes based off of a mix of Shinto charms, Greek mysticism, and his understanding and Conceptualization of the abilities of his Heroic Spirits. This dedication to crafting Mystic Codes had reached even a breakthrough of allowing the use of his Servant's abilities, such as healing, by even other people.
Of course, the problem was that not only were these Mystic Codes one use, the materials were costly and the process took a LOT of time for even a single one of these life-saving charms.
Hinata leapt over a trench of steaming water, while not hot enough to burn, would be quite unpleasant to land in, before performing a powerslide to avoid two blunted arrows that fired out a wall. While his training and naturally above average reflexes were enough to pull him through the obstacle course marathon, it was still important to be careful. There was a lot of the course that wasn't visible to the other contenders after all. It certainly wouldn't do for him to get caught in an embarrassing situation when he was already allowed to act as a Hero in public in emergency situations.
While not on the level of anyone like All Might, Reinforcement was one hell of a boost, giving Hinata the ability to reach speeds that were undoubtedly superhuman, allowing him to outstrip the other five people in his group and fall short just 2 minutes of Shouto and Yoarashi's record, still beating out on the original record by a full minute.
"Ugh… using Reinforcement for full speed is hell for my stamina though." Hinata huffed, pressing his hand into a stitch in his side, "Balance is best in the end…"
"What're you complaining about? You still beat the old record, didn't you? And if they let you use Include Mode, there wouldn't be a record TO beat. You trying to get this program shut down?" Shouta rolled his eyes as walked over to hand Hinata a bottle of water.
"Glug. Gulp. Glupgh. Gokun... Pshhhyyyyyaaa! Cold water tastes so good after a run!" Hinata joyfully squealed after chugging down the whole bottle. "You make such a good refrigerator that it's criminal! You're under arrest!"
"You picking a fight?"
"Damn right I am, you've been winning every time we spar recently! Even though you're just an IcyHot patch! Even though you're just an IcyHot patch!"
"Why is that so important you have to repeat it twice?" Shouto facepalmed.
"HA HA HA ICYHOT PATCH! KA HA HA HA! THAT'S SO PERFECT!" Yoarashi held his stomach as he laughed, tears welling up in his eyes from trying so hard to hold it back, yet failing horribly.
"I'll freeze you both…" the facepalming boy growled irritably.
A short distance away Yaoyorozu Momo stared awkwardly at the three boys. She had wanted to approach one of her personal Heroes, Miracle, from the beginning of the exams as just the chance of going to the same school as her fellow 'female' youth was moving in of itself.
And her idol Chiba Hinata had been just as amazing as she had imagined she would be!
Although she had no way of knowing how Chiba-san performed on the written exams, it must surely have been nothing less than perfect! Not only that but of the nine embodiment of miracles (the public was told that each of the symbols of the 9 pointed star that was Miracle's Hero Symbol represented a different kind of miracle and could be given form as weapons, although they obviously weren't being told quite the full story) was the most beautiful bow that she had seen and it fired concentrated bolts of light.
It couldn't be plasma, Yaoyorozu knew, as none of the moonbeam arrows had left behind any sort of scorch mark. But it had served to inspire her answer to the first test and while she had not done as well as the two boys that accompanied the Apprentice Hero (their powers had been a bit mind blowing as well), she had performed head and shoulders above all of the remaining applicants in both physical tests.
But while she admitted that she did well, she wasn't sure if she had the qualifications to approach and introduce herself, especially when the trio seemed to get along so well.
She steeled herself before walking towards the two boys and one 'girl', at least she had to TRY to meet her Hero, right?
"Uhm. Excuse me… You are the Hero Miracle, Chiba Hinata, yes?"
Hinata ignored his now squabbling friends (of course Yoarashi was a friend now, they both agreed that IcyHot was a PERFECT nickname for Shouto) and turned to the pretty girl that had come to introduce herself.
[Ok, ok, calm down. It's just a girl. I talk to girls all the time… inside my head… literally AND figuratively, can't be that hard, right? Oh god I'm gonna blow it. Why is her tracksuit open?! Is that a training bra or something else?! I donno, but I can see her belly button! I-is that even ok? WHAT DO I DO?! OK LET'S STOP YELLING AND GIVE HER AN ANSWER! IF WE STALL ANY LONGER SHE'S GONNA THINK I'M CRAZY! I CAN'T HAVE THE FIRST GIRL I TALK TO THINK I'M CRAZY!]
"Yes, yes I am. It's certainly a pleasure to meet you." Hinata smiled courteously, [Ok, that's not too bad. Keep it cool man! FUCKING KEEP COOL! DON'T STARE AT HER TITS! Ok, that's a bust, just STOP STARING! Eye contact! Maintain eye contact! Why does she have to be so pretty!] "You're Yaoyorozu Momo-san, yes? Your Quirk is really amazing! I couldn't keep my eyes off you!"
[PPPFFFFT]
[SHUT UP SABER! OH GOD! I'M BLOWING IT! WHAT AM I SAYING?! HOW DO I FOLLOW UP ON THAT WITHOUT BEING A CREEP?!]
"Oh! I didn't realize that you would know my name!" Yaoyorozu grinned in a mix of excitement and embarrassment, "My, this is, ummm, a little embarrassing. I'm actually a big fan of yours, to be honest. I never thought that I'd have the opportunity to make you acquaintance until after I ended up debuting… IF I ever debuted at all of course! U.A. is a truly prestigious academy and I wouldn't dare assume myself above its teachings and qualifications to the point where I could so boldly claim that I would so doubtlessly turn into a Hero, of course I just… Ahem. I simply couldn't have dreamed that you would enter U.A. when you already have a Hero qualification."
"Oh, no. The public isn't really allowed to know ANY plans or goals I make. They regulate much of what I can publicly say and do because of my healing abilities." Hinata smiled gently [SHE'S A FAN?! SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH, BANZAI!] "I'm afraid I've dreamed of coming here as long as I can remember. I even have two childhood friends I've kept close contact with applying here in the standard Hero Testing Exam in 10 months. Ah, my apologies for rambling. It's not often that I'm able to make new friends, you see, with the government attempting to protect me from just about anything and everything, ha ha."
"F-friend? Me?"
[WHAT DID I SAY?! Dammit, shit, think, think! Anything! Just make it sound logical! Fuck! She smells so good even from here!]
"Ah, I know we just met, but from what I saw during the exam, they'll likely induct the four of us right here into the main Hero Course classroom and take in less people from the standard entry exam. So I thought it might be nice if we could become friends… sorry, Yaoyorozu-chan… was that too impertinent of me?"
"N-no! Not at all! If anything it would be my honor, Chiba-san!"
Is this the real life? Is it just fantasy?
Neither Hinata or Yaoyorozu could tell.
"Hinata is fine. We're friends now, right?" Hinata smiled, desperately hiding all sense of panic.
[Is this for real right now? Am I dreaming? What was I saying again? HELP ME!]
"Then please, I'd like for you to call me Momo. As friends of course."
"Please take care of me then, Momo-chan!"
"Th-the same to you, Hinata-san!"
Yoarashi watched as the two pretty girls (Shouto held back a snicker) shook hands excitedly with smiles, giving off a 'fwua~ fwau~' pink aura. He grinned with a flush as an almost steam-like burst of air erupted from his nose as a semi-sleazy/pervy grin pasted itself on his face.
"Plus Ultra, ain't it?" he grinned.
"Mmm. Sure is."
Shouto decided if, for any reason, being a Hero didn't work out, he could probably win some Oscars, as he kept an absolute blank face as usual.
"Ah, you're here Midoriya shonen." All Might grinned, he was in his casual form, which was still a giant of a muscled man, just not the point of his Hero persona. While after being healed by Hinata, both his cursed injury and his emaciation had disappeared as if they had never existed, Toshinori Yagi had always gone about in his base/true form outside of his All Might duties for those moments when a little privacy was required. "I had almost thought you might not show up."
"Th-there's no way that I'd miss this for the world!" Izuku exclaimed quickly, a little short on breath because he had ended up sprinting to the meeting location out of sheer excitement, "A-after all… it's not everyday when the greatest Hero in the world decides to train you…"
"Ha ha! I suppose that's true! And like I said, I'm going to train you so that you become a Vessel capable of housing my power. We've only got 10 months for the entrance exams and that's only barely just enough time for you to be able to become a Vessel, nothing more. The problem is that it also means, it would become VERY hard for you to pass the entrance exam for U.A."
"Wh-what? Then how am I…" Izuku was confused and could feel like his heart was being constricted by something unpleasant, "How am I gonna get into U.A.?"
A laughter like a beautiful tinkling bell rustled from the piles of trash that littered Takoba Municipal beach park.
"That's where my blessing and healing comes in… Izuchii."
Izuku whipped around with eyes widened like twin moons.
"It couldn't be…"
"It is." Hinata was dressed in running shorts that didn't even go halfway past his thighs, a clean white t-shirt, and an open tracksuit jacket. "It's been forever, hasn't it, Izuchii?"
"...Hina-chan… Weren't you a boy?!"
"I'M STILL A BOY! BAKA-DEKU!"
END
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