Chapter 10

Beta: L33t Horo

The sky was black, just as dead as the sun that disappeared from the horizon.

That was the last time he saw it. That deathly hollow sky tainted as the smoke rose to meet the shallow skyline.

He could not feel his body as the sense of pain faded, he could not maintain the will to keep his mind active nor did he seem to want to keep it that way. If he could faint and let the fires consume him, then surely he would no longer suffer… and yet he was still dragging his mind out of the grasps of a senseless paradise.

Why was he clinging to life when he himself had no more reason to live?

He had walked past the bodies of the burning dead, he had ignored the wails of agony from beneath the debris, and above all he had pushed himself farther away from the hands reaching for their salvation.

So he threw away his guilt.

All those deaths had weighed upon him more than he wished to admit but he himself knew that he could not save the ones that he left behind. All he could do was hope that someone else would save them… otherwise he would fall into the depths of anguish.

So he threw away his despair.

Someone would save them. Someone would do it. Someone that was not him. He could not save anyone, he was a child and that was fine. No one expected a child to actually be able to save them.

So he threw away his regret.

What place did these thoughts have now? His body had given up, unwilling to allow himself to move on to survival, the weight of his own body dragging him down to hell itself. The wails and cries of agony and despair had long since faded, leaving nothing but the sound of rubble, slowly crumbling around him.

How was it that his body remained motionless, yet his mind still remained active? He was going to die and his own body wasn't helping him live… No, in fact he was sure that he already did.

His mind did not die, nor did his body… However he was sure of one thing, the person that he was before had already perished.

It was because he threw himself away.

He had to have done it, otherwise he would have dragged himself back, broke down crying like a child… and in doing so sign his death away to whatever afterlife existed. In order to survive he had to do the unthinkable, and that was throw himself away.

There was nothing left in this shell he called a body… maybe, just maybe, he should let go. Let himself fade away from the nothingness around him…

… So as he reached into the desolate sky… in order to obtain peace… he gathered the remaining resolve that he had, and threw away his life–

Rubble was thrown away, allowing a single solitary hand drag him out of the rubble, carefully checking over his body. Tears running down the stranger's eyes, the sheer joy he had was immeasurable.

But Why?

Why was he wearing such a joyful expression when there was hell itself all around them? Why was he smiling so much from finding someone still alive? Why was he so happy from the bottom of his heart?

Was he happy to have found him? He was sure that he barely knew him… Why was he so happy from finding a stranger?

The man was so happy that it seemed like it was the man himself who was saved, not he.

He grasped the frail hand, gazing deep into the half dead eyes of the child, a smile beautifully growing on his face as tears streaked down him. "You're alive! You're alive!"

And then…

Even when he was about to throw away his own life, to succumb to the peace of death, he was jealous.

"Thank you… thank you!"

He did not know why he was thanking him, he had done nothing but lie in the rubble. Deep down he knew that the man was thankful to have found someone… By saving someone in this desolate hell, he had in turn did the unthinkable…

He had saved himself.

The man who had saved him wore such a beautiful smile, that the boy could not help but think…

… that he too, wanted to smile like that one day.

Shirou wearily opened his eyes and gazed at the room around him. Finding the mostly cleaned out guestroom.

It was a natural sight for him, he had cleaned this room almost religiously after Yu had failed to do so.

Shirou stepped off his bed, and took a glance at the bedside mirror before him, an addition due to the constant insistence of Yu, saying that he needed to know if his clothes looked good or not – not that Shirou ever truly cared, but he had to humor her.

He no longer had a rather round face, but instead it had grown to fit his old image, which was all within his estimation. He had grown only a few inches from the months that passed.

In the middle of those months he vaguely remembered Aizawa and the other police detectives dropping by a few times, checking up on him as they would claim.

After a quick bath, Shirou turned to his wardrobe and changed into his form fitting blue and white sweater, but with the addition of blue jeans and a black jacket.

Both of which were bought by Yu – among other things, the reason being she wanted to make up for the several birthdays she hadn't been able to attend. Despite Shirou stating that such concern was unwarranted, it didn't stop her from buying a boat load of differently designed clothes for him.

Upon stepping outside his room, he was met with a surprising sight. Yu was up early, and was in the kitchen–

Shirou could not help the hastening of his steps as he entered the kitchen, "Yu? What are you doing?"

He dropped the use of honorifics a few months ago, mostly again due to her insistence.

"Ah, Shirou!" She exclaimed, wearing an apron that said 'single mother' with a hello kitty font, "I was making us breakfast! I heard salad for breakfast was a good idea so I made us some!"

Shirou let his eyes wander across the kitchen, feeling relief spread across him as he realized that she didn't make as much of a mess as she usually would. Which was mostly due to the constant scolding on his part, something as sacred as a kitchen should be treasured.

With a sigh, Shirou nodded, "Okay then, but you do know I have to leave in a few minutes or else the entrance exam will pass without me."

That was the reason he had woken for today after all. Today was the U.A entrance exam, the time to prove to himself that he could become a Hero in this world.

His studies through out the month would cover any educational aspect, through the use of reinforcing his brain. He wasn't going to say that he had a minor migraine from overuse a month ago, but it was definitely a stressful period for Yu as well.

Unfortunately he could not find any reports or detailed writings about quirks that allowed inter-dimensional travel, however there were quirks that allowed for instantaneous movement through varied distances, in short teleportation.

The library nearby didn't have the knowledge he needed, even when he managed to be given permission to view the restricted books. However he didn't know that it wasn't restricted due to secrets and the like, but for age.

He suppressed a mental shiver.

Shirou sat down alongside Yu and dined on the salad she had made…

"Well Shirou?" Yu asked, hoping for some feedback,

"It's not bad, but it could have been better."

"How so?"

"Too much vinegar, you could cut back a bit on it. There wasn't enough salt so the pepper took center stage. Try to improve on the sauce, it didn't enhance the dish and felt more like a side."

Despite the harsh critique, Yu had a notepad out and was writing down what he had said. In her own words, a mother shouldn't be a worse cook than her son, who wasn't even an adult yet.

"I see… What about the ketchup?"

"It was an odd addition that shared the same problem as the sauce," Actually the combination of them just flat out didn't work.

Shirou glanced at the wall clock, and made his way to the door, "Bye Yu, I'll be back after the exam finishes."

"Take care!"

With a nod, Shirou left the apartment complex.

Shirou sighed as he lifted the phone to his ear, "Yu, this is the third time you called, I can handle this."

Despite the fact they had conversed fine in the morning, she still called him in worry.

After listening to her string of worries, all Shirou could do was sigh, "Yu, it's an entrance exam, I doubt that a school that Aizawa would work in would want to kill their students– Calm down, I'll be fine. I promise I'll be home by 6, okay?"

Yu was a worrywart, and the months they spent together after he had gotten his ankle tracker did nothing to change that. Shirou knew that she was trying hard to be a mother, but he felt that she was trying too hard.

It wasn't as if he was going to get mauled on his way to U.A right?

Actually knowing his E-rank luck…

Shirou sighed as he closed the phone, turning to look at the building he stood in front of… with the two golden letters screaming out to the world, U.A.

This was the place, after taking a few steps he notices a young man, with a nervous yet determined expression, ahead of him.

This admittedly brought a smile to Shirou's face, to see people want to become hero's much like he did… Although he was sure that his philosophy about being a Hero was very different to what the concept was to the majority attending the exam.

He sighed lightly and shook away unnecessary thoughts. He didn't need anything distracting him during this exam, especially if he wanted to prove himself. To prove that he could become an ally of justice in this world filled with Heroes.

So with that thought in mind, he walked past the various sculptures of Heroes, and into the building–

"Move outta the way,"

The message was so abrupt that Shirou reacted instinctively, allowing the person rudely walk by him.

After allowing the absurdity of the event pass him over, he kept an eye on the rude blond. It was as if he had treated Shirou like he didn't exist and only said those words out of instinct. This was someone who wanted to enroll in U.A?

A person like this wanted to become a Hero like he did? An ally of justice?

That thought… was not as surprising as it should have been to Shirou, after all he knew a few terrible human beings who became heroic spirits, one such person was Jason of the Argonauts.

Shirou shook his head, he had gotten distracted once again. Shirou entered the building, throwing aside the unrelated thoughts…

"Are you all right?"

The concerned voice of a young girl dragged his attention. Despite the fact he had tried to focus his mind to the main issue at hand… it was reminiscent somehow.

Was someone unwell?

He allowed his curiosity to drag his attention away from the double doors in which he nearly walked through, and laid his eyes upon a young teen with curly hair.

… Who was also defying gravity. Either that or the girl holding him by his bag is absurdly strong.

However the moment the girl let go of his bad, he started flailing in mid air like he was about to fall. Gravity manipulation, if that was something that was shown to mages they would have thought it similar to true magic, almost like teleportation.

Given that no modern piece of technology could deny gravity, his assumption was rather accurate right?

The girl helped the flailing boy down with a smile, letting his gravity return to him.

Was it touch activated?

"It's my Quirk. Sorry for using it without asking first," She apologized, "But it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?"

Whatever reply the boy was going to have seemed to have died off, as he could only dimly look at her direction.

"Aren't you nervous?" She continued, not really expecting a reply. The young man seemed to be struggling for a response, but she seemed to cut him off, "Let's do our best. See ya!"

The girl approached, to which Shirou willingly moved aside to allow her to pass in.

"Thanks!"

Shirou let a smile worm into his face as she left into the building. She was a nice person, most others would have let the boy fall down onto the ground… actually most people don't even notice a person is falling until they already did.

Could her reaction speed be above average?

Shirou turned to the boy once more in order to determine his well being… only to find that he was smiling dumbly to himself in silent cheer.

Shirou sighed.

As a male, he has no right to say this… Boys will be boys, hormones and everything.

Once the written exam had ended, Shirou followed the directions of the staff and arrived in front of a double door. To the side it simply stated "U.A. High school Hero Course Exam orientation".

Shirou walked inside and seated himself on a random available seat. He took a look at his surroundings and was reminded that it looked somewhat similar to a college lecture hall, albeit far dimmer than usual.

Students began taking seats left and right, chatting among some friends that they either made a long time ago or just today.

'Hey its starting!'

That whisper caught his attention within the silent room, causing him to turn towards the giant screen in front of the hall. It turned itself on to reveal the standard U.A. Logo for all of the entirety examinees to see. The lights around the hall flicked on like clockwork, until it revealed a man standing on the podium.

A serious atmosphere set in, most likely the tension from all of the examinees here–

What was that man wearing? It seemed like a normal leather outfit but the neck brace with speakers told Shirou otherwise.

"For all you examinee listeners tuning in… Welcome to my LIVE show today!"

What.

"EVERYBODY SAY 'HEY'!" He screamed and raised an ear to better listen to the examinees…

The examinees in question however… simply gave no reply whatsoever. Most of them either to shy or gobsmacked to even react… which was what Shirou was feeling at the moment if he was honest.

Even if he had been told beforehand, he would have still been astounded at the actions of this man. He was an adult right?

The man in question however seemed unperturbed and simply rose his hands to his sides in mock defeat, "What a refined response. Then I'll quickly present to you the rundown on the practical exam!"

Shirou let out a sigh of honest relief, they were finally going to focus on–

"ARE YOU READY!? YEAH!"

… This man…

'It's the Voice Hero, Present Mic! Wow…!'

Thankfully whoever muttered that out loud gave Shirou the knowledge on who the person before them was. This man was a Hero much like Yu, but undoubtedly far more experienced. The neck brace was something that he found odd though, was it there to possibly supplement his quirk somehow perhaps?

"As it says in the application requirements," Present Mic continued, "You listeners will be conducting ten-minute mock urban battles after this!" The screen behind him shifted to show the building they were in, splitting off into seven different colored boxes. "You can bring whatever you want with you. After the presentation, you'll head to the specified battle center, okay?"

Silence followed as Shirou dug into his pocket, and brought out a pamphlet that he was given. Shirou ignored the resounding 'OKAYY?!' in favor of the pamphlet.

His test location that was listed down… it said Battle Center G.

The screen once more shifted and gave view to a rather compact city, however along side it were three silhouettes."Three different types of faux villains are stationed in each battle center. You earn points for each of them based on their level of difficulty."

That definitely made sense, it gave a great way to test the combat capabilities of your quirk in a controlled environment. It was something that Saber would no doubt approve of. She probably would want her Knights to take this exam too.

"Your goal, my dear listeners, is to use your Quirks to earn points by immobilizing the faux villains… Of course, attacking other examinees and any other unheroic actions are prohibited–!"

"May I ask a question?" Interrupted a clear cut and concise voice.

Shirou turned his attention to the standing examinee, who seemed to exemplify what a standard Japanese Honor student would look like. In fact, he looked remarkably similar to Ryuudou Issei…

"Okay!" Present Mic replied, not caring at all on how he was interrupted. A spotlight activated, allowing all examinees a clear view of him.

"On the printout, there are four types of villains. If this is a misprint, then U.A., the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake." He loudly proclaimed, confirming within Shirou's mind that this person was somehow Ryuudou Issei's lost twin brother. "We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes…"

Ah, wait a minute… there was a printout? Shirou noticed his phone vibrate with a message, prompting him to turn it on, revealing it to be from Yu.

Sorry Shirou, I forgot to give you the printout that Aizawa gave me. XP Sorry about that Shirou XOXO

Damn it Yu.

"… In addition, you over there with the curly hair! You've been muttering this whole time. It's distracting." He called out, "If you're here on a pleasure trip, then you should leave immediately!"

Shirou frowned but made no move to do anything. It was fine though, Issei used to scold people in a similar manner before and overall it was for the better… The person always being scolded however was Shinji.

"Okay, okay, Examinee Number 7111. Thanks for the great message." Present Mic said, allowing a fourth silhouette to take shape, "The fourth type of villain is worth zero points. That guy's an obstacle, so to speak. There's one in every battle center – An obstacle that will go crazy in narrow spaces. It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it either."

Shirou's frown deepened upon hearing that. The previous silhouettes made sense before, measuring battle capabilities by totaling the points earned, but when a single obstacle exists that you don't have to nor have any incentive to fight exists, one can only wonder…

What is it's purpose? To test the disengaging or retreating capabilities of examinees? Weed out the hard headed and foolhardy examinees right off the bat? To do either of those, the fourth faux villain must be of substantial strength to warrant examinees to actively avoid combat with it.

There was also that additional information about it going while within narrow spaces. Is that the only place it will appear? Why narrow spaces?

"I recommend that you listeners try to avoid it." Present Mic concluded.

"Thank you very much! Please excuse the interruption!" Examinee number 7111 bowed deeply and respectively before siting back down, allowing the spotlight to click off.

'So we just gotta avoid them?'

'Yeah seems like it'

The other examinees aren't really questioning the fourth obstacles purpose it seems… Was Shirou just over thinking things as usual? Whatever the case, he needed to keep an eye out for it, every instinct that he inherited from Archer told him so.

"That's all from me! Finally I'll give you listeners a present… Our school motto!" He shouted, but with a smile slightly wider than usual, "The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said… A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes…"

An actual quote from a possible heroic spirit, it was respecta–

"… Go further beyond! Plus Ultra!"

–ble… That quote.

… and in unison they bellowed, the world around Shirou shook, as if the world itself trembled at the united will of the Heroes before it.

"Plus Ultra!"

Shirou would not be able to forget that quote, even after the months had passed.

"Now everyone, good luck suffering!"

Despite the morbid parting words, Shirou let a small smile take hold.

Shirou stood in front of the giant steel gates, barring his way into the large faux city. Even from outside he could hear the sounds of the faux villains resonating from within.

Battle Center G had slightly less people around, most likely due to being one of the last centers. It was where all the remainder went after the other centers were full.

Inversely that would mean that there were slightly less faux villains to deal with within the city itself, in order for the Battle Centers to not show favoritism. Competition for the faux villains would be fiercer.

He allowed his eyes to roam around, taking note of the more notable people within the crowd. He saw various things such as a Horn quirks, a giant fist quirk, and thorns for hair… Wait a minute was that earphones growing from her ears?

What kind of evolutionary development would need to occur for that to be actually feasible?

"What are you staring at?" The girl asked, looking a tad bit miffed. She also seemed awkward though, probably because they were stood somewhat next to each other.

Whoops, best fix his mistake.

"Sorry for staring, I was just curious about the ear phone plugs." Shirou said honestly, "I never seen a quirk like that before."

At his reply she softened, but still held a wary expression on her face, "It's fine man, most people haven't either. Quirks that work with electronics are rare after all." She allowed her eyes to roam his body, widening slightly, "Since you asked about mine, can I ask about yours?"

Luckily he knew what to do, raising a hand and allowing his prana to take the form of a rather standard short sword. "My quirk just lets me make swords." He replied with a kind smile.

She widened her eyes at the sudden sight of it, "Wow man, that looks like a pretty mean Quirk. Do you ever worry that you're gonna hurt someone?" She asked genuinely,

It seemed that her earlier wariness was alleviated by his gesture. He supposed that it was warranted, letting people know your Quirk somehow has a soothing mental effect. Not that many people notice it, but when people know what your quirk is, they have an opportunity to allow topics to open up. This increases interactions between both parties.

"Sometimes I do," Shirou admitted, especially within this world, where even maiming a villain would be frowned upon heavily, "But all that means is that I have to work hard not to hurt them."

It was a convoluted explanation in a way, but she seemed to understand what he meant. If he didn't know how to use a sword, the chances of accidentally hurting people around him was far greater. The fact that he knew how to use a sword meant that he could disable opponents either via disarmament, knockout with blunt sides of single-edged blades, and other methods.

Being better with your abilities meant more control, in the end you would hurt less people and save more people.

The girl hummed to herself, "That's deep," She commented, "Good luck in the exam, would be a shame to see someone like you fail."

"Someone like me?" He asked,

What did she mean by that?

"Well…" She murmured, scratching her head a bit, "Something about you just makes you seem likeable. I don't really know why."

Likeable?

Thinking back, his classmates had always seemed to be friendly to him despite the fact that they rarely ever talked. Tohsaka often told him that being kind to everyone would let them walk over him, but inversely they seemed to like him better overall. Strangely enough those only happened when within a school setting.

Was he giving that kind of feeling right now?

"Forget about it," She says, "Good luck on the exam man,"

She walked away, probably to focus more on the exam. They had talked long enough and the exam was ultimately going to start soon. Any distractions would be detrimental.

Despite that train of thought, it would seem that he chose to be distracted today. The rest of the quirks looked standard issue. Although there seemed to be some older students here, possibly some students who decided to try enroll at U.A. after a year of training?

It was an admirable quality to be honest, these people wanted to be heroes so much that they spent a considerable amount of time trying to become one. The confidence in their eyes almost reflect that.

In a way he almost felt guilty of the fact that he had slightly more experience than them, because experience was usually a deciding factor in fights and most importantly the battle field…

… Still though, the fact that this school has several faux cities of such scale was surprising. Either the alumni or the government decided to pour in monetary support for the school. No matter which though it didn't change the fact that the school was loaded, enough so to make Rin jealous.

"OKAY START!"

Suddenly the colossal door that was shut, had opened without anyone knowing whatsoever. Despite this sudden occurrence, it didn't bother Shirou. The moment he heard Present Mic's voice shout out through the speakers, he was already in the faux city.

He had fought in the Holy Grail War, against beings that excelled the common capabilities of humanity, where a split second decision could mean the difference between life and death. So by the time the rest of the examinees noticed Shirou within the city, he had already called upon Kanshou and Bakuya and cleaved through the abdomen of a faux villain.

He had spent a month preparing for this day, trained both physically and magically. His circuits were still only half unlocked, but the speed in which the traced objects appear was near instantaneous.

In less than a second the torso flew high above him and landed in front of another faux villain.

Shirou had fought in a war, where a single misstep could have meant his life. This exam was no threat to him.

He will pass this exam.

Yu sighed as she walked around Musutafu in patrol, taking in the sound of the morning birds as a welcome distraction.

"Whats wrong?"

She let a wry smile come out as she turned to look at her companion, "Nothing at all, just worried that's it."

Her companion let a cheeky smile wrap on her face, "Thinking about Shirou again?"

"Don't tease me 'bami-chan!"

Within the months that followed after their initial meeting, Yu and Uwabami had hit it off hard. Most of the time they would talk to each other on the phone when they weren't busy and even more often they would patrol together around the city.

They were both Heroes of Musutafu after all. It was only proper that they held friendly relations!

"Not so fun being at the other end of the teasing isn't it?" Uwabami chided, "Don't worry it's just an exam, besides Recovery girl is there. He'll be fine!"

Despite the reassurance, Yu could not help but feel a tad bit worried.

Shirou had been respectably well behaved during the months at home, doing house work before she even asked him to do them, buying groceries from the market nearby, cooking amazing meals worthy of some award… The only altercations that arose was that one time with the door to door salesman trying to push his products onto him.

Bless her son's bleeding heart, but if Shirou spent another single damn yen on dish washing soap without her supervision then he was going to get a booty whooping!

So far there weren't many people around grabbing at either of their autographs, but that was mostly attributed to the fact that both of them weren't on the streets but the roofs.

Why was a giantess such as herself doing on a roof when she could destroy a building just by standing on it? The simple answer was that she was tired from interacting with fans for the day and wanted some privacy.

Privacy which lead to Uwabami tagging along her roof jumping all because it seemed fun to do.

"Oh look, it's that wood guy."

Wood guy?

Yu turned her head and saw Kamui Woods, sat atop a water tower staring into the city. His eyes were serious however, seemingly tracking movements of each and every suspicious individual.

Yu let out a sigh, did that man never learn to just chill?

Uwabami seemed to be of a similar mindset, and wasted no time shouting out to him, "Wood guy! You okay up there?"

Kamui Woods broke from his stupor and glanced down at the two blond pro heroes, eyes both steeling themselves and panicking at seeing Yu.

Did she do something wrong?

"Why are you on the roofs, Mount Lady?!" He exclaimed.

Ah, right.

"I didn't really want to be bothered so I climbed up here!" She replied, "It's fine, I can just jump off the building and go big later!"

Kamui Woods let out a sigh and nodded, "Fine, I'll hold you to that. However if there is an incident then I hold no further responsibility" Soon after his sight turned to the other blond pro hero, "And why are you here as well, Uwabami?"

"Simple, I wanted to hang out with Yu-chan."

Kamui simply let out another sigh, "What about your Hero duties?"

"I've been in the spotlight long enough, if my lackeys finds something then they'll call." She reasoned.

And by lackeys she meant fan boys, a rather useful bunch once you learn how to manipulate them.

"Yeah, don't worry so much about it." Yu added, giving a flirtatious smile, "Unless you're busy enjoying the view?~"

"View…?" Kamui muttered confused, turning to the crowds below, "Indeed, the sight of the many citizens at ease with the presence of heroes warms my heart."

"I see…" Yu muttered, not really meaning that when she said view.

By view, she meant cleavage.

Uwabami grabbed her phone and scrolled through the messages, exhaling at the find, "Okay, it was nice meeting you Wood guy! I've got an advertising campaign to deal with so enjoy the view!~"

By view, she also meant cleavage.

"Bye 'bami-chan!"

As soon as Uwabami got out of sight, Yu could not help but wonder what Shirou was doing by now…

Eh, as Uwabami said, Shirou was probably fine!

After all, what could possibly happen?

Shirou slid under a spider like faux villain, and stabbed from the underside earning himself three points. He ignored the mild irritation in his knees from performing such an endeavor and focused more on the total points he had accumulated.

A total of sixteen points so far.

Despite his head start, he noticed that the faux villains were more widespread and based on his observations, actively seeking those whose quirks caused a larger commotion. His swords, while superb in dealing with the machines, did not cause enough of a commotion that would draw in the faux villains.

Within the faux city, there was no other examinees around him, all having moved further into the city. This was to be expected, as most of them ran straight towards the center. Shirou on the other hand stuck to less easy to ambush areas and destroyed faux villains that wandered the outskirts.

Clearly that plan wasn't working so he decided to amend it by venturing into the center as well.

Hopefully he could earn some more points by–

A scream drew his attention.

Without hesitation, Shirou enhanced his legs and ran. He was smart enough however to know that there were cameras keeping an eye on him, so he made sure that his movement was still within basic human capabilities.

Upon turning a corner, he saw two examinees. One of them was someone with simple bulging muscles, but the other was the girl he had been talking to minutes prior.

Despite the low amount of faux villains surrounding them, they seemed to be lethargic. Their combined movements were sluggish and no matter what they weren't moving from their spot. Instead, their arms were raised in defiance, eyes hard and bodies ready to move at any second.

What was the reason to why they didn't move? Shirou got his answer the moment he laid eyes on what was behind them.

They were defending a fallen examinee.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Shirou smiled. So he bolted forward with mild reinforcement and cleaved through a faux villain, surprising the two examinees.

"Sorry about intruding," Shirou said, raising both swords to deal with the rest of the faux villains.

"Its fine man," the muscled one said, biting into a chocolate bar despite the absurdity of the situation, "Any longer and we would have been toast,"

"Well, if it isn't the sword guy!" The earphone girl shouted, bending over a swing from a one pointer and kicking it away with a metal boot. "We can chat after we deal with these guys!"

Shirou nodded and proceeded eliminating the remaining faux villains alongside the two examinees.

Shirou avoided another predictable swing from a double point faux villain, and cleaved its head off. After doing so he avoided the next charge attempt from a triple pointer.

It honestly would be a pretty devastating blow if it landed on a regular human, however since he was reinforced at the moment, he could easily swerve around the charge and deal the finishing blow to the faux villain from behind.

Quickly spinning on his heel, Shirou grabbed another faux villain and threw it over his shoulder, crashing it into a third faux villain.

Once again, reinforcement was a really helpful tool, especially since these faux villains were somehow extremely lighter than expected.

Shirou gave a quick glance around the area, confirming the overall safety of it. Once satisfied, he lowered his swords and gave a soft sigh, sending a glance to the worn out examinees.

"You two okay?" Shirou asked,

They both nodded, the earphone girl exhaled hard and said, "Kind of wish you came earlier… actually I don't remember your name,"

"You never asked actually," Shirou replied, "It's Emiya Shirou."

"Jiro Kyoka" She replied, but then turned to the muscled one, "What about you?"

"I'm Sato Rikido," He replied, walking over to the unconscious one.

"So, is this guy you're friend?" Shirou asked, walking towards the two, who were both panting and wheezing, albeit with stunned expressions. Most likely due to his swordsman ship, neither of them having expected him to quickly dispatch the faux villains.

"Yeah, he's my friend from middle school," Sato replied, heaving the fallen examinee over his shoulders gently, "I promised his mother that I'd look after him."

"We were lucky you showed up, we could have failed right there." Jiro said,

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Sato asked, "Not to be rude, but most sword schools haven't really been around since quirks took front and center."

"I'm mostly self taught," Shirou replied,

"Mostly, meaning someone taught you then?" Jiro cut in, kicking a faux villain for the heck of it as well.

"My teacher believed in self training…"

Either way it was a lucky break for all three of them. They earned a substantial amount of points from that alone, however Shirou still had only twenty four, that still didn't let him pass. Even when he took a majority of the faux villains around them.

"I'll be going now, stay safe." Shirou said, jogging off towards the fighting. Faintly acknowledging the words of thanks that came from them. They were nice people, willingly helping a fallen comrade, even if one of them was only there from being cornered.

Actually wait, she couldn't abandon them even if she was able to. No unheroic acts were allowed, which meant willingly abandoning allies was a very big no in the schools books, right?

He did feel good about helping them though.

However a sudden explosion scrapped the pleasant mood away.

Shirou turned a corner and saw… saw…

This was the fourth obstacle.

That was the only thought that ran in Shirou's head as he saw the giant lumber above the buildings, a colossal hand raised and smashing through buildings like they were nothing but Styrofoam. The giant faux villain was obscenely larger than the other three faux villain models, it was powerful enough to destroy buildings, and above all it was dangerous.

Could it be used in wars? Imagine sending such a huge faux villain against an enemy army. Unless they had some kind of heavy artillery, they wouldn't be able to deal any substantial damage to it.

No sane person would willingly seek to fight this obstacle whatsoever, and frankly speaking Shirou wasn't sure if he could take the thing down without using a Broken Phantasm or two, revealing magic in the process.

… However despite the huge walking pile of mass destruction that lumbered before him, it that wasn't what truly assaulted the thoughts within his head.

The giant shuffled over, examinees ran past Shirou in fear, each and every singly one of them unwilling to face such a being and more acting on the natural fight or flight instinct present within all living beings.

It was this reaction that caused none of them to spare a glance at the solitary girl, frozen in fear and no doubt exhaustion, eyes staring at the foreboding and crumbling building turning to rubble… ready to fall down upon her.

Even if Shirou could, there wasn't enough time to create a chain and wrap it around her similar to what a certain golden king would do, nor was there enough time for the girl to escape by herself even if she had the strength to do so, especially with what expression she held in her eyes.

If she was simply left there, if no one did anything at all, those were the eyes that held fear, would become eyes that would hold despair.

Shirou ignored the familiar cries of him getting back, and simply ran towards her, not giving a single damn if his reinforcement was shown to the world in the common view, and enveloped himself around the surprised girl, his arms wrapping protectively as he reinforced his entire body to its maximum potential…

… Allowing all of the rubble, girders, concrete, and debris to fall down upon him.

A/N: Shirou is now taking the exam, I know that this was a cliff hanger... but this is kind of where I envisioned the chapter to end, so I'm ending it here. Happy New Years everybody! Overlord has a second season, new Foreigner class servant, a stupid foreigner at a certain forest, and an overall mixed start to the year.

Shirou met Jiro here and Sato obviously, but not much interaction was provided on the base reasoning that this was an exam. No one is going to willingly spend more time than necessary when it could be spent trying to gather more points. I hope you'll forgive the rather cliffhanger ending.

Replying to Guest reviews is literally impossible so I've resorted to saying some replies here. If the person in question left a review using an account this whole thing could have been dealt with through the use of the private message feature.

"Shirou does have a mother like figure her name is Taiga Fujimura. Hell he even has grandfather-ish figure too of Raiga Fujimura who's also the head of the local yakuza. Please you really need to research fate more. UBW is just a fragment of Shirou's character and back story. All you're doing is rehashing Taiga and Shirou's relationship with Yu. Whatever you're trying to do with Yu, Taiga has already done with Shirou, she's even his teacher."

I've shown the review to give context. First off, Taiga is a hundred percent a big sister role to Shirou, not that of a mother. A grandfather figure like Raiga too wouldn't yield the same result as a mother would (I would know, my grandpa gives a different kind support). Stating that I need to research the Fate-verse more is not wrong, but in the context of this review I'll have to thoroughly disagree.

As for the rehashing Taiga part, I'll just mention right now that Taiga shares similarities to Yu only due to the fact that they have similar core principles around them. They are both upbeat, and are both headstrong. Nothing I can do will change that fact, Kohei Horikoshi made her that way, so I wont do him disrespect by abhorrently making her do things that realistically she wouldn't do. Even if Taiga was his teacher, that segment of their relationship would not affect the overall premise.

Yu and Shirou are both trying to live together and show each other their good points. Taiga was less that and more like a moocher that Shirou had to deal with for a significant period of his life, it is in here that the difference is beyond clear. There is an equal living with Yu, but with Taiga its like your neighbor decided to barge in and eat with you. No disrespect to the reviewer or to Taiga herself, but this difference should be clear right? (I would agree to have a conversation about this topic through Private Messaging should the reviewer decide that it is worth their time)

Leaving that topic, I personally like the monthly schedule that I maintain so I'm going to promise the next one to be out somewhere during Mid-February or sooner if my school work manages to be lenient (I seriously doubt it).

Finally closing the Poll, the most votes was "Do what you want" and since I'm a lazy bastard, I'm leaving it in as a reminder of my mistakes. First fan fictions often don't do to well and personally still surprised at the sheer amount of follows. I guarantee whatever I put out next will do worse.

Hopefully by now I've went back and re-edited chapters and fixed some grammar errors. Any errors or pet-peeves you have for this chapter will be appreciated. Send regards and thanks to L33t Horo, we've been somewhat arguing over the central ideas and future plotlines of this fic and most of it has generally been enlightening. Not much has truly changed per say, but some future points I had were mostly scrapped in favor of some better ideas in a way.

Ragdoll is a breed of cat apparently.

Don't have the slightest idea where a certain guest thought I was making Gilgamesh a girl, there were literally no indications of that ever occurring.

Kappa