Italics denotes an individual's thoughts
Bold denotes large time shifts/ or introductions of new settings; also may be used for emphasis
Line dividers denote a smaller scene or time shift
Ch. 6: The First Step
"Can you repeat that for me? I think I might still be asleep?" Izuku rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, then looked up at his mentor with a questioning look on his face. Toshinori waved a lock of his golden hair in front of the boy's face with emphasis.
"Look, I'll explain more later but you have to get to your exam, right? Just trust me: the only way that I can pass on my quirk to you is by having you ingest my DNA." He huffed and let out a sigh, then held up his free hand to the bridge of his nose. "This is probably the least awkward way of going about it… so please, just take it."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the older man, then shook his head as he processed the very strange idea. He reached out his hand and grabbed the lock of hair from the man, then slowly lifted it up towards his mouth. With a wrinkle of his nose, he opened his mouth and dropped the hair inside. A few seconds of his face awkwardly contorting was followed by the young hero swallowing.
"Please tell me that's all to it? I don't think I would be able to stomach having to do that everyday." Izuku said to Toshinori as he stuck his tongue out slightly in disgust. "Also, it doesn't really feel like anything is different?" The older man gave a laugh and slapped the younger man on the back.
"This alone should be enough." Toshinori then looked down at a watch on his wrist, "You have to get going or you'll miss the exam." He paused slightly before approaching the second question, "We didn't have a whole lot of time to discuss my quirk… but think of One for All as a booster to your abilities and physical makeup. It'll probably end up supercharging your own quirk... but if you really want to try and use One for All, pull your arm back and with everything in your being yell SMASH." Izuku looked at the older man intently as he soaked up the information. Once Toshinori finished, Izuku gave him a deep bow followed by a "thank you for everything" and turned to begin leaving the beach.
"One last thing, Young Midoriya." Izuku heard his mentor shout after him. He turned back to see he had buffed up to be his heroic form, "Good luck out there kid. Give it your best! PLUS ULTRA!" At this, the hero's arm shot up with a fist raised and a wide grin spread across his face. The younger man gave a smile in reply, and was off sprinting towards the train station to catch a ride to the exam.
U.A. University Grounds
Izuku had been in good spirits since the events of earlier in the morning. Having All Might pass on his quirk was one thing Izuku never thought would be possible and left him rather dazed; and, having the hero wish him good luck ended up being the cherry on top that left Izuku humming slightly as he walked towards the gate of U.A. He took out his phone and opened it to find a few new messages: one from his mother wishing him good luck and another from Setsuna saying she'd meet him at the gate. With all this on his mind, it took Izuku a moment to register the person who roughly shoved past him.
"Hey, what the hell? No need to be so rou-" The words however caught in his throat as the woman who bumped into him turned around. Recognizing her immediately, Izuku's eyes drifted down towards the ground and away from the person instinctively, before he forced himself to look back up at her. "No, I told myself I won't let someone else push me around and control my life… I have to show everyone, especially her, that anyone can be a hero." he thought to himself.
Fierce crimson eyes meet Izuku's calm green ones as Katsumi spoke up, "Oi, you ended up coming here after all? Won't it just be a waste of time and effort for you to even try? Why waste the staff's time on someone who can never measure up to those of us with quirks." Izuku's face twitched slightly in annoyance at her jeering, before an idea popped into his mind.
Izuku smiled at Katsumi, "I guess we'll see. Don't think you'll be the one taking the number one spot at the end of this though." Her reaction was immediate, a scowl crossing over her face as mini explosions fired off from her curled fists.
"What, you're thinking you actually have a chance of getting the top score, let alone getting into U.A.?" Katsumi snarled at him. Before he could even deliver a reply she followed up with, "You must actually be delusional to think that," and gave a wicked laugh as she pushed past Izuku and kept walking towards the gates. Izuku balled his fists and took a few deep breaths before muttering to himself, "Yeah… good luck to you too…"
A few minutes later led to Izuku approaching the gates to the university: normally they would be closed over with an impressive mixture of metal gates, lasers, and various security subsystems that would prevent outsiders from just waltzing onto the campus. Today, that was not the case, as the arc of the gates had been widely opened to accommodate the influx of examinees. Overhead, the impressive main buildings of the campus towered: a complex of four completely glass towers that were connected by mid-air bridges. "It's all come to this moment… everything I've been working on and fighting for these last few months." Izuku thought to himself, before having his mental psyche up interrupted by a soft tap on the shoulder. He rapidly spun around, suddenly finding himself face to face with Setsuna.
"Hiya!" She bubbly said to him as the boy took a half step back to put a small amount of space between the two of them. "Ready for the big day?" she questioned Izuku as she sized him up and down. For a moment, he felt like maybe he had been chosen the wrong outfit, a snug turquoise tracksuit, before Setsuna stopped eyeing him and gave him a smile. He gave her a small nod of affirmation as a grin spread across his face.
"Well, as ready as I can be today." Izuku looked Setsuna up and down before furrowing his eyebrows. She had opted for a dark green sundress today, something that caused Izuku to be puzzled as he spoke up, "Though it looks like you won't be too ready to take on the practical in that get up?" he questioned back at her. Setsuna blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head.
"Ah, I guess I sorta forgot to mention that. I can't tell you exactly why right now… but I'm not taking the entrance exam." At this statement, Izuku's eyes shot wide open as his mouth went slightly agape. "What the hell Setsuna? You and I said we'd do this together. Don't back out on me at the last second." Izuku sorely thought to himself. He took a stabilizing breath as he re-focused his mind.
"I can't say I'm not disappointed… but I expect you to tell me the reason when we meet up for ramen, after I get my acceptance letter." He bounced back cheerfully as he looked at the greenette.
She flashed a razor sharp smile at him in turn with a small twinkle in her eye. "Ooooo, someone might be a bit overconfident. Alright then hotshot, knock 'em dead out there."
Izuku gave her a smile back and turned to walk back towards the gates. "Oh and one last thing," Setsuna spoke up, causing Izuku to turn back and face her over his shoulder. The young man's eyes went wide as Setsuna stood behind him and planted a quick kiss softly on his cheek. His face flushed scarlet and hot as she spoke up again, "That's for good luck. Don't ruin our plans for that date!"
With her teasing completed, Setsuna took a few steps back and waved to Izuku before walking away from the school gates leaving him by himself in the mass of students walking towards the entrance exam. Izuku held a hand up to his cheek in surprise and turned to walk towards the auditorium that was designated for the written test and orientation as he thought, "Well I wasn't expecting that kiss. And wait… she said a 'date'... right? I mean, she's usually super flirty, but I thought it was just to mess with me-" Izuku's thoughts were interrupted as his foot snagged on a loose cobblestone of the building's courtyard. "And now I guess I'll just fall and die here…"
Izuku's eyes snapped shut as his arms shot forward to catch his fall. Instead of feeling his arms recoil from the impact with the pavement, he instead felt what seemed to be a slap on his back. He opened his eyes to see that he had instead stopped mid air. His whole body was levitating a few centimeters off the ground. Confused about his current situation, Izuku turned back to face the force that had hit him on the back.
"Sorry, I know I shouldn't be using my quirk, especially without asking you… but it'd probably be bad luck for you to faceplant before even taking the exam." Izuku was stunned by the girl who appeared behind him. She had warm brown hair that was styled in a bob cut that framed her head. Her round face seemed very bright and cheery, with similarly chocolate-brown eyes and what appeared to be constant blush marks on her cheeks. She gave a smile to Izuku as she moved his floating body right side up, then she touched her fingertips together. Suddenly, all of Izuku's weight seemed to return to him and his feet contacted the pavement.
"Oh, uh… it's ah, not a problem. Thanks for helping me." Izuku managed to fumble out as the girl helped him regain his bearings. She gave another cheerful smile at his reply then turned to head back towards the entrance of the building.
"Good luck with the exam!" She shouted back to Izuku as she walked into the building. He could only manage a dazed nod as his thoughts were clouded by, "wow, she was pretty cute… and she seemed pretty nice! Most people wouldn't even give me the time of day around here." He quickly however shook away his fleeting thoughts and ran into the building himself as he noticed that the flow of prospective students had slowed to a trickle.
As luck would have it, when Izuku entered the almost completely packed auditorium he was able to find a seat towards the center of the room that had been left open. Unfortunately for him, it was next to the one person he would have rather avoided during the entire exam. From the seat next to him, Katsumi glared daggers at him. A few seconds of this passed, before she let out a huff and small "tch" before ignoring Izuku and facing the stage. Figuring it'd be best to also treat her like she wasn't there, Izuku tuned her out and faced the stage as well.
Written exams were passed out, and the first segment of the U.A. entrance exam was under way. The questions covered a variety of topics, ranging from normal subjects such as mathematics to concepts such as pro hero law. After about an hour, proctors came back through the auditorium and collected the tests, leaving the students by themselves for a moment.
The auditorium lights dimmed, then a brilliant flash of light briefly illuminated the auditorium as a solitary spotlight lit up the center of a stage. Standing there was a man with gelled up blonde hair. He was sporting what seemed to be a black leather jacket and matching leather pants, with a large speaker covering his neck, while headphones and sunglasses crowned his head and masked his eyes. He spoke up with a booming voice.
"Hey there listeners! Welcome to today's live show! I'm here to host the rules and regulations segment of our practical exam. Are you ready?!" the man animatedly yelled out at the crowd. A cough could be heard from a student as the auditorium continued to sit in silence in response to the man's question. Meanwhile, Izuku had begun internally fanboying, "Oh my gosh that's Present Mic! I wasn't too sure what the staff at U.A. was like, but being staffed by Pro Heroes is so cool! I try to catch all his podcasts every week, I wonder if I could get an autograph aft-" his thoughts were interrupted by an elbow that slammed into his side.
"Deku, shut up for just a minute! You're distracting me. Lock down the fanboy, motormouth." He looked over to see Katsumi scowling in his direction. The boy sheepishly scratched his head and collected his thoughts as he stopped himself from muttering. Facing away from Katsumi, Izuku refocused on the presentation.
"Here's how it's gonna go down, heroes in the making!" Present Mic continued with his outline, "Each of you are gonna be assigned and sent to different City Zones we have setup here at U.A. When there, you're gonna have ten minutes to go around this city and destroy as many fake villains as you can. There's four tiers to these villains: one, two, and three pointers with them getting a bit nastier the higher point value they are. You're gonna want to use your quirks to take out as many of these as you can. Of course a good hero will make sure they aren't sabotaging the heroes around them, do that and we'll make sure to mark you down a few points."
At this point in Present Mic's talk, a large man with combed over hair and glasses shot up from a few rows below Izuku. "May I ask a question?" the man shouted out with his arm outstretched. After a few moments of not receiving a reply, he held up the info pamphlet that corresponded to the ongoing presentation, "It would seem that there is an error here. The pamphlet for the practical says there are four variations of villains while you've only listed off three. Such an error is unbecoming of a renowned school like U.A."
In reply, Present Mic pointed at the student and began to animatedly jump back into the presentation, "Good eye there, Examinee 7111! We didn't get to it yet, but I suppose we'll jump to it now. There are four types of fake villains; however, the last type is a zero pointer. It's a 'gimmick' villain, with only one in each exam area. It's there to be more of an obstacle that will rampage across the city. So do your best to avoid it!" The student who presented the made the outburst, gave a short nod and "thank you for clarifying" before taking a seat again.
With that out of the way, Present Mic spoke up a final time, "Now, it's just about time for you all to get out there and strut your stuff! As you all head out there, I want to send you all out there with two thoughts. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.' Now go out there and show us what you've got. PLUS ULTRA!"
None of the prospective students had been prepared for the sight before them. Most thought that the "mock city" Present Mic had talked about would end up being something akin to a handful of buildings put together in clusters. What greeted them when they stepped off the shuttle from the main building was what appeared to be a walled city of a few square kilometers. Full size office buildings, apartments, and schools dotted the mock cityscape that could be seen from the outside of the wall.
As Izuku looked around, many of the other students seemed to be shocked at the scale of the city. "Who wouldn't be though?" he thought to himself, "What seems more amazing though, is the fact that there are multiple testing sites like this across U.A.'s campus. They really are the top of the line for hero training." He looked through the crowd, glad to see that Katsumi was nowhere in sight. His eyes did find someone else familiar: the brown haired girl who stopped him from tripping. Izuku moved to try and go to talk to her and wish her luck before the exam began, but was soon stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder.
"You there. I saw you earlier at the front gate." Izuku gave a small sigh as he turned to face the person. From the manner of speaking, he guessed that it had been the man who interrupted the presentation earlier; and, sadly for Izuku it seemed it was that uptight man. "You tripped and she ended up using her quirk to save you. Don't you think you've bothered her enough for today? She's trying to focus on getting in, as you should be." The other man pointed from where they stood over towards the round-faced woman who seemed to be doing stretches.
Izuku began internally fuming at the chiding from the taller man, but seeing some sense in what he was saying calmed down slightly. "Thanks for your… insight. I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He coolly replied to the other man. Seemingly satisfied with this response, the other man turned away and walked back into the crowd. Not wanting to have to deal with the man again or anyone else like that, Izuku gave up on approaching the woman and instead opted to mentally wish her good luck.
As the students were standing around talking to one another, a thunderous *BOOM BOOM BOOM* rang out across the area. Many of the examinees looked around confused at one another, before Present Mic's voice echoed around the area, "What are you all still standing out there for? The test is already started! You're not gonna get any warnings when your out on hero duty… so get cracking!"
In an instant, the group of hundreds of examinees surged towards a large opening in the wall of the city. Izuku shook himself out of his confusion and plunged into the city along with the masses. Within seconds, all the other men and women around him were using their various quirks to travel away from the entrance in search of their prey. "No time like the present, huh? Just gotta make sure I don't overdo it," Izuku thought to himself. He began focusing on his legs, and green light spread across the pants of his tracksuit.
He took off in a sprint, using his enhanced leg muscles to pass by the competition. As he rounded a faux grocery store on a street corner, he came face to face with a large machine. It was a large forest green robot that stood about a meter taller than Izuku. It had two wide mechanical arms painted with a large number one, and a stockier base that seemed to end in almost tank treads. What appeared to be it's head swiveled and 'faced' Izuku. A large red lens like object sat in the middle of its head and seemed to stare at the young man.
"Target locked. Termination imminent." A rumbling voice echoed out from the machine. As Izuku faced down the machine, he focused himself, "This is what I've been training for, it's time to put my quirk to work and show off what I can do." He took a deep breath, then stopped focusing on his leg muscles. "I want my arm to be harder than this robot in front of me so I can smash this damn thing." The green light disappeared from his pants, and after a moment of focus it reappeared on his right arm. Similarly, the main 'torso' unit of the robot seemed to start to glow with a green light. Izuku clenched his teeth and pulled his arm back as he balled his hand into a fist. He pitched his arm forward towards the robot, fist connecting the with dark green chasis of the machine. With a loud *CRUNCH* the metal caved in under his fist, the momentum carrying it through the robot's chest and clear out its back. With a few sad beeps, the machine carened backwards and no longer moved.
"That was a bit easier than I thought." Izuku thought to himself as a smile spread across his face, "Well, one down… but I'll need more than that to get into U.A." He turned and ran back the way he came, following the street the opposite way he came. As he came to another intersection, he found another one pointer robot that came out of a nearby alleyway. Before he could focus his energy into punching the machine, a laser blast slammed into the side of the robot cratering the side of it. A well-dressed blonde haired man bowed on the other side of the machine as smoke rose off his belt. He began to say something along the lines of "Merci. Your distraction was welcome." but Izuku ignored the other man and ran off in search of another target.
Another few blocks over, Izuku found a larger 'villain' crawling along the side of the building. It seemed to be designed after a spider: the design being a bulky rectangular torso of about four to five meters off which many large cylindrical legs of about one to two meters jutted. Each leg was emblazoned with a white 3 painted onto them. Presently, it was on the side of a bank in the faux city: the legs of the machine had been slammed into the wall, anchoring it to the side of the building. When Izuku approached, the 'body' of the machine spun around, at which point several red sensors faced him, "Target spotted. Begin elimination."
The machine slowly pulled each leg from the building, then dropped to the ground with a small rumble. As it approached Izuku, it raised one of the legs closest to him prompting him to dive to the side. The street where he had previously been standing had been reduced to a small crater of rubble where the machine's leg was impaled. "I guess they don't mess around here… U.A. really is something else. They're not the only ones who can hit hard though." Izuku thought to himself. Another leg tried to slam down near him, cratering the street and also getting stuck.
As the machine continued to try and stab Izuku with its legs, a plan formed in the young man's mind. When the machine stabbed the ground Izuku had just been standing on, he focused on the concrete the leg had cracked. A green haze spread around the ground near the leg, then across the robot's leg itself. Shortly after, the ground seemed to crack under the weight of the robot before completely liquifying. Within a matter of seconds, the other feet of the robot had the green haze spread across them before engulfing the entire robot. With a loud *CRACK* the machine slammed directly into the ground, breaking the concrete and machinery in the process. With a low whine and a few beeps, the robot now half trapped in concrete and pancaked against the ground shuddered then stopped moving. "And that's four points. Though I guess I should be a bit less flashy. I need to focus on getting more points before they're all gone."
With that, Izuku had taken off across the city in search of more points. Through various methods- one situation involving the manipulation of the electrical wiring to short circuit a villain, another time causing a building's foundation to crumble onto a group of smaller villains, and yet another instance using increased speed to lead two villains to crash into and incapacitate themselves - Izuku had managed to get a healthy amount of exam points.
"Two minute mark!" A voice rang out across the city. Shortly after a rumbling sound rang out across the city as buildings began to collapse in the city center.
Meanwhile, in the Exam Control Room
"It appears that we have a plethora of candidates that would excel at U.A." spoke one figure seated towards the side of the room. A few other figures nodded and voiced their agreement.
"Yes, it would seem that way," spoke a voice from the center of the room. All eyes turned to the figure who seemed to be seated at a mixture of a control panel and monitoring station. It continued, "Being a hero goes beyond just being able to take down villains though. You must have the ability to analyze and adapt to difficult situations. By limiting their time while giving them a large battlefield, we can take stock of who shows these qualities and see those who excel." This earned a few murmurs and nods of agreement from the various figures around the room.
The central voice spoke up again, "Oh my, how time does fly. It seems like the exam is almost over. It's time to separate the wheat from the chaff. See how these prospective heroes will hold up under pressure." The figure then leaned forward and pushed a large red button on the console before them.
"I know they said that the Zero pointer would be an obstacle, but this seems like complete overkill," Izuku grumbled to himself. As the dust and rubble cleared from air, the source of the rumbling in the city center became apparent: A titanic machine, easily double the height of the surrounding buildings, had emerged within the cratered city center only about a block from where Izuku currently stood. As soon as the goliath was above ground, it began to swing it's massive arms around reducing nearby buildings and other smaller villains to rubble and scrap. Dust blew down the streets, impairing the contestants vision as chunks of infrastructure rained from the sky.
"I should probably follow Present Mic's advice and just avoid that while I get some last minute points," Izuku thought to himself as he turned to dash the opposite direction of the giant. Many other examinees had already taken this route, using whatever means necessary to put themselves as far away as possible from the monster of a machine. He turned and began to prepare to sprint down the next street, only to be distracted by a pained scream of "Owwww".
Izuku turned to face towards the faint cry of pain, something seemingly familiar about the voice. His eyes squinted, searching through the falling dust for the source of the sound. His eyes widened as he found the origin: the kind woman he had stopped him from tripping had been pinned to the ground under a large piece of rubble. A massive piece of concrete had been dislodged from a nearby building and seemingly had collapsed onto one of her legs. She seemed to reach down and slap the concrete piece, after which it floated slightly up allowing her to crawl out from under it. She shakily stood up and began to walk away from the scene with a limp, pausing every few feet to lean against a nearby wall.
"Damnit, why am I just standing here… I should help her." Izuku berated himself as he watched the girl limp down the street. A movement behind her caught his eye though. The zero pointer had been steadily rolling down the street, and seemed to have locked onto her. It raised it's mechanical arm high, preparing itself to smash the oblivious woman. Before Izuku had even realized it, he had taken off in a sprint towards the injured woman, the only thought on his mind, "Hopefully All Might's quirk gives me the boost I need to at least buy her the time to get away."
Gritting his teeth, Izuku focused on his arms a green light starting to shine across the tracksuit, "I just need to make my arms hard enough to block its attack so she can get a bit further away." With a leap past the injured girl he shouted out, "I've got you, get as far away as you can while I buy you some time," at the same time throwing his arms up in an "X" above his head. As the giant mechanical fist- easily the size of a minivan- collided with his arms, Izuku crumpled to his knees beneath the force and weight of the monstrous machine. The force of the impact had shredded the arms of his tracksuit, while large purple bruises formed on his forearms where the brunt of the attack had been taken. He turned back to face the woman who had stopped to catch her breath and taken a moment to look on the scene in horror.
Remembering what All Might had said to him while training, "A true hero must continue to smile in the face of adversity, to let everyone around them know that it'll be okay," Izuku slowly pushed back on the mechanical arm til the robot withdrew the giant hunk of metal, then he turned and flashed the woman as much of a grin as he grit his teeth through the pain of his bruised arms. "I can't let it punch towards us again, my body won't be able to hold up against that again and it'll crush us both flat… I need to try taking this thing down." A picture of All Might popped up in Izuku's head, the hero jumping towards the machine and delivering a mighty smash.
"What'd he say to me again? 'Clench your butt and with everything in your being pull your fist back and let it fly with a cry of SMASH'?" Izuku pulled himself back to his feet, shakily and looked up at the mechanical titan. He took a shaky step forward, followed by another, each slowly getting faster than the prior one until he took off into a sprint. His legs slowly became enveloped in a green light as parts of his tracksuit ripped away exposing his calves. With a grunt of effort, he threw himself towards the robot in a mighty leap, rocketing from the ground towards the machine's 'head'. As he soared through the air, he pulled back his right arm and balled his hand into a fist. The green light disappeared from his legs and reappeared shining brightly on his right arm. The entire limb seemed to swell up as he swung it forward with a mighty cry of "SMASH!"
The world seemed to slow for Izuku as his fist made contact with the metal of the machine: the limb tore through the casing and armor of the robot with ease, cratering in the 'head'. With a loud groan, the machine slowly pitched back and collapsed onto the ground, reducing several buildings behind it to rubble.
As the robot toppled over, Izuku began to feel his quirk's usage catch up with him. He looked down to find himself several stories in the air, rapidly falling back down towards the solid ground. "Maybe I can harden my legs or decrease my mass and try to float down or-" suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by shooting pain spreading from all his limbs. His eyes snapped from the ground to his forearms, now slightly swollen and purple, then to his legs which seemed to be whipping around in the air as he fell. "Oh… ok. Well that might be sprained… or broken." Panic started to set in as the ground got closer and Izuku's eyes strained to stay open. "I've got to do something… but I'm just so… worn down…" with that final thought, Izuku's eyes snapped shut and his body went limp.
Ochaco Uraraka had been having a pretty good day. The boy she had meet at the front gate had been pretty cute, especially when he got flustered trying to thank her. Then the written exam had been slightly easier than she expected. But that all seemed moot now. The zero pointer had been far larger and more surprising than any of them expected. And getting her leg pinned by a piece of rubble had just exacerbated the problem of her proximity to the zero pointer.
She had been able to touch the piece of concrete and use her quirk to shift it off her body, but the damage was done: the force of the collision with her leg had left her barely able to walk, let alone stand. She grit her teeth and stood back up, "I got this far already. I can't just give up here with mom and dad counting on me." She took a few shaky steps, limping away from the robot. Ochaco could feel the rumble of the earth as the machine began to move about the city, but she didn't dare look back to see where it was going.
A few more steps down the street, and the pain in her leg proved to be too much. Ochaco leaned up against a nearby storefront to catch her breath and relieve the pressure on her injured leg. As she did, she saw a flash of green speed past her back towards the way she came. She was able to vaguely make out the person saying something along the lines, "I've got this! Get out of here." She nodded her head in thanks to the stranger, and keep walking until a loud *BOOM* echoed through the city. This got enough of her attention to turn around and look at the figured.
"He's the one from earlier today!" Ochaco let out a gasp of realization as she saw the green curly haired boy. He seemed to have miraculously stopped the robot's arm from slamming into the street she was walking on, but was being forced to his knees by the force of the impact. With another yell, the man seemed to shove off the arm and drag himself back to his feet. If that wasn't enough of a surprise for her, the man then started running at the machine before leaping through the air at the robot. With a tremendous shout again, he made impact with the machine and the entire thing toppled backwards.
"Wow, I knew the people who'd be here today are pretty amazing, but I never thought I'd see something like this today." Ochaco thought as she stared slackjaw at the scene. As she continued to stare at the man, she came to realize something though, "Wait a second, he's just falling head first towards the ground… can't he stop himself?" After a few seconds of seeing him being unmoving, Ochaco sprung into action: putting aside the pain of her sprained or broken leg, she tried running down the street towards the falling man.
"If I can just get there in time, I might be able to stop or at least slow him…" As the man's body hurtled towards the ground only a few meters from impacting, Ochaco leapt towards the man hand outstretched. They collided into one another mid-air, with Ochaco's hand slapping the man on the back of his head. She crashed back to the ground with a rough thump, but the man slowed and remained suspended in the air a few centimeters from the city surface.
"And release," she said as she touched her fingertips back together. The man fell to the ground with a soft *THUMP*. A moment latter, Ochaco also crumpled to the ground. "There, now we're even," she said with a soft smile as she passed out.
"Can you hear me? Young man, it's time to get up." Izuku heard someone say as he was someone gently touched his shoulder. He let out a large yawn as he groggily opened his eyes. Turning his head towards the source of the voice, he found himself face to face with a short elderly woman. She was wearing a white laboratory coat, along with a purple and pink visor across her face. Her hair was put up in a bun with a syringe holding it in place. Upon seeing her, his brain put the pieces together and he eagerly shot up from his reclined spot to a seated position.
"Oh my god! You're Recovery Girl! It's such an honor to meet you!" At this, the boy bowed his head slightly to the older woman. Izuku then took notice of the fact he was no longer in the center of the faux city where the practical exam was held. After a moment's pause giving Izuku the chance to take in his surroundings, he noticed he was laying in what appeared to be a hospital bed in a nurse's office. Confused at his current predicament, the young man spoke up again, "It's a pleasure to meet you… but where am I right now?"
This earned a small guffaw from the elderly woman who took a stool and moved it next to the bedside before sitting down on it. "You're in my office on U.A.'s campus. It seems like your quirk almost ripped apart your body. You've been passed out for about an hour or so now." She shook her head as she stuck a hand into one of the pockets of her coat, then withdrew it holding out a fist to Izuku. After a moment of confusion, the boy held out a flat hand to her at which point she dropped a few gummies into his hand.
"Here you go young man, eat up. They'll help you recover faster." After making sure he did as she said, she continued, "I had been observing the practical in case I needed to address any emergency cases. That's quite the quirk you have young man. Though I have to say if every time you use it and it backfires this spectacularly your body will fall apart." She offered a hand which Izuku took and she helped him to his feet. He shakily took a step then another. After a moment, he looked down to see his tracksuit had been shredded on his arms and legs and they had been all wrapped in bandages, a soreness echoing throughout his limbs as he struggled to hold himself up.
After a short explanation that she had used her quirk to heal him of most of his fractures and muscle tears, Recovery Girl stressed the need for Izuku to rest then sent him on his way.
A Few Days Later
Upon returning home from the Entrance Exam, Izuku had received quite the dressing down from his mother. Seeing his clothes in tatters and the bandages on his arms and legs nearly caused the poor woman to pass out on the spot. It took a long conversation, reassuring that he was fine and promising he would take the next week easy to get her to finally calm down.
As if that wasn't enough to deal with, he was being hounded by Setsuna who was texting him non-stop about the exam: apparently rumors had been spread around many of the local schools and hangouts of some of the examinees about a student who had punched out one of the zero pointers. After listening to enough of these stories, she was able to connect the dots that the 'plain-looking' and 'curley haired' boy most of these legends talked about were referring to Izuku.
Figuring that it would be impossible for him to convince her that it wasn't him, and remembering the fact that he still owed her what she had called a date- the thought of the word flushing Izuku's face scarlet- leading the man to text and ask her where she wanted to meet up. A change of clothes into a pair of jeans and his favorite All Might hoodie, and Izuku was out the door.
Izuku pulled out his phone to double check he was headed the right direction as he thought, "She told me to meet her at a place called… Daikaya? Apparently it was a favorite of hers they moved near the beach?" Approaching the area he had gotten so familiar with training at the last few months, Izuku was shocked to find that the beach was buzzing with activity. The area had only been fully cleaned days before, but couples and families were sprawled across the sand, while store fronts across from the area were bustling with activity.
The chime of his phone grabbed his attention as he received a message from Setsuna. Opening it revealed a picture of Izuku's back as he faced the beach, along with a message: "Turn around." Spinning back towards the street, Izuku scanned among the crowded sidewalk until he eventually found a hand carved wooden sign hanging from one of the store fronts declaring "Daikaya Ramen Shop". He pushed through the crowd gathered along the sidewalk until he found a terrace outside the shop with various tables for patrons of the restaurant.
Izuku's breath hitched as his eyes finally found Setsuna: her hips and legs were accented by a pair of jet black faded jeans, while the top she sported was a loose shirt that had a deep green scale pattern criss-crossing it. A pair of black sunglasses concealed her eyes, but upon him walking towards her, she lowered them towards the tip of her nose and looked over the rims towards Izuku.
"Kept me waiting, huh? Not very gentlemanly." She snarkily said to him as he walked to the table. With a small laugh she rose to meet Izuku as he got closer.
"That's rich coming from you. I thought you said we were gonna celebrate after I got into U.A.?" Izuku shot back. She scoffed slightly at the remark before firing back.
"Well, judging by the stories going around about a certain curly green haired man, if even a tenth of what they say is true then the entire staff of the school would have had their eyes glued on you during the practical." Her eyes narrowed as she took notice of the bit of bandage peeking out from under his hoodie sleeves, "And judging the state your arms are in, I'd guess what happened is true?"
Izuku sighed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to come up with a reply. "Tell you what: Let's grab some food, then I'll tell you what happened." He took a few steps towards the door to the inside of the shop, then paused as his expression soured to add, "And don't think I forgot… you still owe me an explanation of why you didn't end taking the exam."
Two orders of Tonkotsu ramen later, payment from Izuku, and the two of them were seated back at the table Setsuna had been previously at outside the shop. Izuku was the first to speak up, "I guess I'll get my story out of the way, considering I'm the one who lost our bet and today is my treat."
A few minutes later, he had finished regaling Setsuna with the actual story of what happened during the practical. Setsuna sat in contemplative silence as he finished, then leaned over and gave him a playful punch to the arm. "And you think that after something like that they wouldn't let you into U.A.? If anything, you're probably number one on their list right now." She smiled at Izuku as their eyes met, but her gaze soon drifted back down to his arms as her eyebrows furrowed. "But I can't believe how hurt you ended up. I thought your quirk only left you tired or sore? This is way beyond that."
Izuku's smile faded away at the subject and his eyes seemed to cloud over as he recalled the punching the robot. "I'm not really sure what happened. Usually I can control how much I want to push my body or change the environment around me." He trailed off for a moment before resuming with a hint of fear creeping into his voice, "But something felt off. I knew I wanted to try jumping towards this thing and hit it… but when I actually did it, it felt like I couldn't control how much I was exerting my muscles."
Their order was called and Izuku took the opportunity to stand and grab their dishes. A moment later he returned, but when he sat back down his face was down towards his bowl. Setsuna tentatively moved her hand closer to his on the table, then took the plunge and placed hers on top of his. The action got Izuku's attention, causing him to look up at her and in the process exposed his face which was slick with tears.
"Hey, look at me Izzy. I've got you. No matter how difficult things get, I know you have the power to push through it. And if you ever end up coming up against something that's too much for you, you can sit back and leave it to me." Setsuna gave him a soft smile as she reached up and brushed some stray tears from Izuku's cheeks. She held a hand up to his cheek for a few more moments, the two savoring the contact, before she lowered it back to the table.
Setsuna let out a small laugh, "This may be a bad time to bring up my news, but uh… the reason I didn't take the Entrance Exam with you is because-" she took a deep breath then continued by rapidly spitting out the words, "I'malreadyaccepted." Izuku tilted his head in confusion as he tried to decipher what Setsuna meant.
"Wait wait. What do you mean you're already accepted. Did you take the exam ahead of time or something?" She shook her head "no" in response. She nervously deflected his gaze by looking down and began fidgeted with her hands for a few seconds before she spoke up again.
"Not exactly… I sorta don't have to do all of that. I just got in with a recommendation to the school." The two sat in silence as Izuku soaked up the news and Setsuna went back to fidgeting with her hands. She heard the chair across from her creak, and she saw Izuku get up and move towards her. A moment later his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace as he started laughing.
"Wow! That's amazing! I never really considered the possibility that students were admitted like that. Congrats!" He pulled out of the embrace showing a large goofy grin was plastered to his face. Setsuna looked up at him, her face struggling between confusion and a smile in response to Izuku's response.
"You're… happy for me? But why? Everyone else has to work hard and only gets a chance to get into U.A. Meanwhile I feel like I cheate-" she flinched back as Izuku slammed a bandaged hand down onto the table and stood from his chair. She shakily looked up towards Izuku to see fire behind his eyes.
"Bullshit, Setsuna. Don't be kidding yourself. In the time I've known you, you've proven yourself to be a clever and skilled person." Realizing he had been almost yelling, he took a breath and sat back down. "Listen, sure you might not have been forced through the same problems everyone else did, but that's because U.A. recognizes you have the talent to go there. That's something you should be proud of." This time, he reached a hand across the table to hold hers.
"Setsuna. I like you. I enjoy the time we spend together. If I didn't I wouldn't have come to meet with you today, let alone talk to you as much as I do." He took a deep breath, then squeezed Setsuna's hand, "I like this… I like us. More importantly… I like you. I know you've been pretty flirty, and I never knew if that meant you were actually into me but I just-" Izuku was cut off before he could finish by Setsuna's detaching her head and floating it across the table to lock her lips with his.
"Is that a good enough answer?" she giggled as she reattached her head, with Izuku only dumbly nodding in response.
One Week After the Exam
A week had passed since the U.A. Entrance Exam and only a handful of days since Izuku and Setsuna had became a couple. On one hand, the young man was on cloud nine due to the development in their relationship. On the other, he had been a nervous wreck awaiting any word from U.A. Judgement Day for the entrance exam should've been drawing nigh, with the officials promising word of acceptance or denial would go out within around a week.
Izuku had been in the middle of watching an old video of All Might rescuing civilians from a caved in building, when an excited shout from his mother echoed through the house, "Izuku! It's here, the letter is finally here!" Inko rushed into his room, slightly out of breath with a plain looking envelope outstretched in her hand. The only sign that it was from the prestigious school was a small red wax seal emblazoned with the letters U.A. Once he took the letter, his mother quietly left the room, closing the door on the way out.
"I- I can't believe it… it's time for me to finally know…" he continued to stare at the envelope in his hand before firmly grabbing both sides and pulling it open. As he did so, a letter fluttered to his desk, while a small round metal disk fell onto the surface with a *THUMP*. A few moments later, and light started to shoot out of the top until a small screen formed in the air. "Is this a projection?"
After a few moments of sputtering, a familiar sharply dressed man, "I AM HERE! And this is a projection of your exam results!" Izuku looked on the screen slack jawed and baffled, "All Might? Why is he in my announcement?" A few seconds later and the man began speaking again, "I actually came to town to teach at U.A., but I'm not here to talk to you about that. Young Midoriya, I'm here to speak of your potential future!"
All Might pointed directly towards Izuku, "You did exceedingly well on the written exam, and also showed great potential with your quirk and quick thinking during the practical exam." He paused as he let the information sink in before continuing, "There was a problem however when it came to you facing down the zero pointer. Recovery Girl said that you shredded most of your arms and legs destroying the robot, and much of the evaluating staff wanted to disqualify you for lacking self control with your quirk."
Izuku's eyes began to get moist with tears, "This is it… I'm just back at square one. They won't want someone whose body breaks and leaves them defenseless-" All Might's voice rang out again cutting through his thoughts, "BUT, besides examining how well you took out the fake villains during the practical there was another aspect we didn't tell you all about: We wanted to see those who exemplify the qualities of a hero. We have a short clip we'd like to show you." At this point, a video replaced All Might showing Izuku blocking the zero pointer from hitting the young woman he had met earlier in the day. It then sped up to show him destroying the zero pointer, and being saved from falling to his death by the young woman. Afterwards, the image returned to showing All Might.
"Young Midoriya, one of the most noble qualities a hero can have is sacrificing themselves for the good of others. What sort of hero academy would we be if we looked down on people who performed such actions? For this reason, we have another category built into the exam and have awarded you and this young lady forty rescue points each." He paused, then spread his arms wide with a large smile on his face, "Young Midoriya, you scored far above and beyond what would be needed to welcome you as a student here."
"Izuku Midoriya, you've come so far since I've met you and I'm incredibly proud to have known you…" All Might continued, as the projection device shot little bits of confetti into the air. At this point Izuku had let his tears freely flow down his cheeks as he sobbed.
"WELCOME! TO YOUR NEW HERO ACADEMY!"
Author's Note:
Sorry for the late chapter! I've been trying to publish at least once a week on the weekends, but I ended up getting distracted with a hunt for a new apartment.
If you'd like to come discuss the work, things pertaining to other works I've done, or become a beta for this work - join my discord at /xFuDyVM
As always, I do not own 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, this is a fan-work:
It is the work of Kōhei Horikoshi, serialized by Weekly Shōnen Jump, and animated by Bones.
The English release is provided by Viz Media and Funimation.
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