Hello there, if you are reading this, I won't be updating this story weekly, I will update at my own time.
CHAPTER 3: The Entrance Exam
U.A., one of, if not, the most prestigious school known in Japan, the school where most of the top heroes came from. It is a dream for almost every aspiring hero and heroine to be able to enroll there. It's almost like a requirement to graduate in U.A. if you want to become a great hero.
Izuku stared at the humongous building in front of him with wide eyes. The golden symbol of U.A. was engraves at the top of the blue school gate which is also huge. He smiled at the scenery and puffed his chest.
'This is it Izuku, time to show the world that even quirkless people like you can even become a great hero' Izuku thought as he walked towards the gate and into the premise of the school.
The inside of the school was almost like a maze if it weren't for the signs that shows directions. He came upon the room that has a sign in front of it that says, "U.A. High School Hero Course Exam Orientation," and went inside it.
The room was almost full as he sat down in middle row next to a girl with black shoulder length, bob-cut hair.
"Uh, h-hey." Izuku asks as he tries to communicate with the girl.
The girl looks at him with an emotionless gaze before replying.
"Nn…"
"Um… M-My name's Midoriya Izuku. W-What's yours?" He asked the girl with his hand stretched outward towards the girl.
The girl just looked at him with the same expressionless gaze and turned towards the front. Izuku then followed suite with his hand still stretched out, now hovering above his desk. His face had an awkward expression as he just pulled back his arm.
'That was awkward.' He thought as he looked at the rows in front until he saw his former best friend two rows in front of him with a death glare directed towards him, to which he flinched at a little.
"… Kodai Yui…" The girl responded. Izuku turned towards the girl as the latter just kept her gaze forward.
He smiled as the written portion of the test began.
After the written exam was over, a man with long blonde spiky hair that is curved upwards and a small mustache wearing a black leather jacket, headphones that says "HAGE," and a directional speaker around his neck stood over the stage.
"WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE, LISTENERS! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" The man shouted at the top of his lungs and the response was only silence.
"WHAT A REFINED RESPONSE! I WILL NOW PRESENT TO YOU THE GUIDELINES FOR YOUR PRACTICAL! ARE YOU READY! YEAHHH!"
Silence filled the room once more, whereas Izuku was literally fanboying right now. "It's the voice hero Present Mic! I listen to his radio show every week. It's so inspirational. I guess all of the teachers in U.A. are Pro Heroes."
"Nn…"
"Ah! S-Sorry Kodai-san. It's kind of a habit."
"NOW, THIS IS HOW THE TEST WILL GO, MY YOUNG LISTENERS! YOU WILL BE CONDUCTING A TEN-MINUTE MOCK URBAN BATTLE AFTER THIS! YOU CAN BRING WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH YOU!"
The screen behind Present Mic shows a map of where all the students currently are and the test sites.
"AFTER THIS PRESENTATION, YOU WILL BE HEADING TOWARDS YOUR ASSIGNED TESTING LOCATION! EACH SITE IS FILLED WITH 3 KINDS OF FAUX VILLAINS. POINTS ARE AWARDED ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE DIFFICULTY LEVEL!"
The screen then shows a large city and on the sides, the three kinds of faux villains: the one-pointer, the two-pointer, and the three-pointer.
"YOU CAN USE YOUR QUIRKS TO DISABLE THESE FAUX VILLAINS AND EARN POINTS. THAT IS THE GOAL OF THIS EXAM! AND OF COURSE, PLAYING THE ANTIHERO AND ATTACKING OTHER EXAMINEES IS PROHIBITED!"
"MAY I ASK A QUESTION?!" A lone boy with his arm raised up shouted. He had a pair of rectangular glasses and he has a strict looking face.
"THE HANDOUT CLEARLY STATES THAT THERE ARE NO LESS THAN FOUR VARIETIES OF FAUX VILLAINS! IF THAT IS A MISPRINT, THEN U.A., THE MOST PROMINENT SCHOOL IN JAPAN, SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THAT FOOLISH MISTAKE! WE EXAMINEES ARE HERE IN THIS PLACE TO BECAUSE WE WISH TO BE MOLDED INTO EXEMPLARY HEROES!"
He then turned towards Izuku with an accusing finger pointed at him.
"AND YOU WITH THE CURLY HAIR! YOU HAVE BEEN MUTTERING THIS WHOLE TIME! IT IS DISTRACTING! IF YOU'RE HERE TO JUST GOOF AROUND, THEN PLEASE LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"
"S-Sorry…" Izuku muttered as he covered his mouth.
"OKAY, OKAY! EXAMINEE 7111, NICE CATCH THANKS! BUT THE FOURTH FAUX VILLAIN IS WORTH ZERO POINTS! THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO ENGAGE BATTLE, IT'S JUST AN OBSTACLE, SO TO SPEAK! THERE IS ONE IN EVERY SITE! AN OBSTACLE THAT WILL GO CRAZY IN TIGHT NARROW SPACES! IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO DEFEAT BUT THERE IS ALSO NO REASON TO DEFEAT IT EITHER. I RECOMMEND THAT ALL OF YOU SHOULD JUST AVOID IT ALL TOGETHER!"
"THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I APOLOGZE FOR MY INTERRUPTION!" The boy bowed before taking his seat.
"I see… So, it's like the obstacles you avoid in a videogame, huh?" Someone from the spectators asked.
"The whole thing is like a videogame." Another replied.
"THAT'S ALL FROM ME! FINALLY, I'LL LEAVE YOU LISTENERS A PRESENT – OUR SCHOOL MOTTO! THE GREAT HERO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID: 'TRUE HEROISM CONSISTS IN BEING SUPERIOR TO THE ILLS OF LIFE.' GO BEYOND, PLUS ULTRA! BREAK A LEG EVERYONE!"
After the presentation, everyone went towards their respective testing sites. Izuku was already prepared but he was still nervous as heck. He may have hauled every single trash off the beach with his own body, but that doesn't make it easier for him. Everyone around him may have the upper hand because they might have powerful quirks while all he has were his brains and fists.
'No, don't think negative thoughts. I can pull through this. My first step on becoming a hero.'
"AND START!" Present Mic shouted who was on top of a building which left all the examinees confused.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, THERE ARE NO COUNT DOWNS IN A REAL FIGHT! GO! CHOP CHOP! TIME IS ALREADY TICKING!" And with that, everyone scrambled to get points.
"That's twelve!" Izuku shouted as he incapacitated a two-pointer robot with the help of his staff and ran off to another direction to try and find more points, which was proving to be difficult since everyone is destroying robots left and right.
'I need to find more points, but where!?' Izuku thought as he looked around him.
'Robots are getting annihilated left and right everywhere.' Izuku gripped his staff and grit his teeth. 'Sooner or later, there won't be any robots left. I don't even know how much points I need in order to pass.'
Just then a large shadow loomed over the fake city. A large mechanical behemoth turned its head towards the examinees near the area from around the corner. Gigantic hands crushed the building around it as it began to move towards the examinees. Every other examinee around the area have only one thought.
'That's the zero-pointer?!'
Every other examinee ran away from the gimmick as it continues to rampage on the area.
'It's no use on staying here, I'll have to find another area to look for more robots.' Izuku thought as he proceeded to turn around, but then he heard a small cry for help.
Izuku looked back at the area where the zero-pointer was and saw a girl with brown hair in a bob cut and trapped underneath a huge pile of rubble. Without any second thoughts, he dashed off towards her passing a certain teen wearing glasses looking at him with wide eyes.
Izuku reached her within a few seconds and lift the rubble off the girl with all his strength, managing to free the girl's feet.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I think so." The girl tried to stand, but screamed as she clutched her ankle.
As the zero-pointer got closer, Izuku, out of panic, carried the girl in bridal style as quickly as possible and started to run. The latter uttered a small "eep" and held on tightly with a red face.
As soon as they were out of harm's way, Present Mic's loud voice was heard yelling "TIME'S UP!"
Izuku let out a sigh of relief as well as some of the other participants.
"Um…"
He looked down and just remembered that he was carrying a girl which made his face go red.
A girl was in his arms…
And she's so close…
Very, very close…
"C-Can you please put me down, now." The girl asked embarrassedly with an equally embarrassed and red face. "It's getting rather embarrassing."
"Y-Yeah."
Izuku put her down on the ground gently and after that, the two looked away from each other, still embarrassed from what happened.
"S-Sorry for c-carrying you like that without your p-permission." Izuku apologized as he bowed down.
"It's fine! It's fine!" The girl told him frantically while waving her hands. "Don't apologize. You saved my life. So… uh… T-Thanks for that."
"Ah! N-No problem, miss?"
"Uraraka Ochako." The girl, Uraraka Ochako, said with a happy expression and gave a smile to which Izuku smiled back.
"Okay everyone, good job out there. I'll take it from here." A short elderly woman told the examinees as she gave them some candy. She was wearing a pink helmet and a lab coat with a dress and pink boots. She was holding a large syringe which acted as her cane.
"My, my, what happened here?" She asked as she approached Izuku and Uraraka.
"I think my ankle's fractured." Uraraka said as she hissed in pain.
The elderly woman sighed while shaking her head left and right. "I swear, these tests are getting more reckless every year. Hold still dearie, this'll be quick."
She kissed her by the head and almost instantly, her ankle was healed.
"Huh?! It's healed?! But why do I feel tired?"
"My quirk can only stimulate a person's healing ability, and healing requires stamina, dearie." The woman replied as she then turned towards to the rest of the crowd. "So, is anyone else here injured?"
"That mademoiselle is the backbone of U.A." A blonde boy wearing a stylish suit and a giant belt with a ring-shaped buckle told the examinees that were confused. "U.A.'s licensed school nurse, The Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl. Because of her quirk, U.A. can go through with such a reckless exam."
"Can you stand?" Izuku asked Uraraka as he held out his hand towards her.
"Yeah."
She grabbed his hand and stood up and dusting herself a bit.
"Once again, thanks for saving me." She said while bowing.
"I-It's no problem! I only did what I felt was right." Izuku said meekly.
"But still, thank you."
Uraraka smiled at Izuku who also smiled back, they left the faux city talking about pro heroes and such and they were making their way towards the school gate until a shout stopped them.
"MIDORIYA-KUN!"
Izuku turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Ibara and another student with long gray hair and thick pale eyelashes that encompass his eyes jogging towards them.
"Shiozaki-san! You're here!" Izuku said with a smile on his face.
"I did tell you that I would also be taking the tests here in U.A., Midoriya-kun. By the way, this is Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu." Ibara introduced. "A fellow examinee with a good heart."
"Nice to meet you! Midoriya Izuku, right?" Tetsutetsu said as he held out his hand in front of him.
"Y-Yeah nice to meet you, T-Tetsutetsu."
"So, Midoriya-kun, are you going to introduce us to your friend?" Ibara asked
"Oh, t-this is Uraraka Ochako. I, um, s-saved her from getting crushed by the zero-pointer." Izuku's cheeks flared up along with Uraraka's when he mentioned that, remembering what happened.
"Oh? Are you two okay? You both look like burning up." Ibara asked worriedly
"I-It's fine! It's f-fine! Definitely fine!" Both Izuku and Uraraka said at the same time while waving their arms frantically but stopped when they heard sniffling sounds.
"To be able to run towards the zero-pointer just to save someone in danger," Tetsutetsu stated with an arm covering his eyes. "That's so manly!"
"A-A hero is a-always ready to face danger even if they are afraid."
"But still!"
The four of them continued talking about what happened during the entrance exam until they got to the train station.
"Well, looks like my train is here, I'll catch up to you guys some other time." Tetsutetsu told the group
"I'll be going on my way, too, if you don't mind." Uraraka also told the group.
"Well, take care you guys. Hope you have a safe trip back home." Izuku said and the group split ways.
"Well that was eventful."
"It sure was, Shiozaki san." Izuku smiled. "They are really nice."
Ibara smiled at that. "They really are. Wanna go home together?"
"WAHH?! U-um, yeah, s-sure, Shiozaki san! I-If you insist." Izuku stammered with a red face.
Ibara chuckled at Izuku and shook her head.
"Well then," she held her hand in front of him with a smile on her face, "shall we get going?"
Izuku blushed but held the hand anyways and left with her towards the crowd.
A week had passed and now, we see Izuku holding a piece of envelope with the UA crest on the front. You can hear Izuku's mother pacing back and forth nervously outside his room. With a nervous sigh, he opened the letter, and inside was a piece of paper and a small disc-like projector.
He took the disc out of the envelop and put it down the table and pressed a button on its side which then projected a screen. On the screen was a hybrid of a mouse, bear, and a dog with a scar running across his right eye wearing an elegant suit and orange sneakers.
"Greetings, Midoriya Izuku!" The hybrid greeted. "Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear? It doesn't matter because I am the principal of U.A., Nezu! And I shall be the one to tell you your score in the entrance exam."
"P-Principal!?"
"Judging on your written exam, you have passed it with flying colors, but the same cannot be said for your practical exam." Nezu said as he shook his head left and right.
Izuku stared at the screen with wide eyes at first, but was replaced with the look sadness and depression
"You have failed."
The words hurt like a bullet shattering his mended heart. Why was the world so cruel? Tears threaten to spill from his eyes as he clenched his fist.
"But…"
Izuku's head slowly went back up when he heard the principal say that.
"I admire your dedication, young Midoriya. Even if you are quirkless, you have scored higher than most of the students! With the score of 11 villain points and 20 rescue points, you have placed 40th in the overall ranking and that alone is an impressive feat for someone like you. Not much students have the drive that you have young Midoriya, I am impressed."
Izuku took a while to comprehend what the principal told him. He was impressed and he even complimented him.
"However, that is not enough to pass since you should be at least in the Top 37, I shall be giving you a chance to be enrolled in the General Education. It may not be the Hero Course, but there is a chance that you will be transferred to the Hero Course if you do well enough in the Sports Festival. I'll be seeing you next week young Midoriya, and I have high hopes for someone like you. Have great evening."
And with that the screen disappeared which left Midoriya inside his room with eyes filled with hope and determination once more.
'I'll do my best, sir! I won't let you down.'
Edit: I added Izuku's score and changed his ranking from 44th to 40th.
The reason he didn't get a lot of points like in the anime/manga is because he destroyed the Zero Pointer, who could cause a lot of damage in the area it was in and the examinees in said area. So, by destroying the zero pointer, he had saved a lot of lives by sacrificing himself to do whatever it takes to bring it down, which he succeeded unlike here where he just saved one life.