Five years later. February 26th. Third year of middle school.

The best hero high school course in Japan is undeniably the one at U.A. It's a course designed to give students everything they need to go pro. It is without a doubt the toughest and most popular hero course in the country - only 1 in 300 applicants will be accepted.

All Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, all of the Top pro heroes - including many in my family - received their licenses from U.A. So naturally, this was the only hero course I could try for.

The gleaming mirror walls of the giant H told me I was in the right place. A huge auditorium, filled with certainly more than 300 contestants preparing for this fateful moment in their lives.

On stage, our presenter was the Voice Hero Present Mic - a loud, flashy man with the power of enhanced vocals. As soon as the exam start time opened, he shouted to us,

"WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!"

He was greeted with a dead, proper silence - except for the low muttering noises of some boy a few rows behind me. I did my best to ignore them, hoping the boy would realize his rudeness and simply shut up.

Mic, recovering nervously from the bomb of his first call-and-response, said, "Well, that's cool, my examinee listeners! I'm here to present the guidelines of your practical! Are you ready?"

Dead silence again - except once more, for the muttering noises. I turned slightly to see who was causing all the disturbance. The boy, in a typical gakuen uniform, had extremely curly, unkempt hair, freckles, and large eyes. He was plain, unremarkable, and unpardonable; seated next to him was an equally unpleasant looking sort, also in Gakuen, with spiky blonde hair and a sour expression, giving him the distinct look and attitude of a delinquent. The curly haired boy was muttering, indeed, unstoppably, with his hands pressed to his lips, while his companion occasionally seemed to be growling at him to shut up, to no avail.

It would never do, it seemed, for me as a stranger to tell the boy to shut up as well - though I concurred with his companion. What inconsiderate nonsense.

Mic was now explaining the rules of the examination - and I had, perforce, to pay attention, and try to drown the obnoxious mumbling out.

"THIS IS HOW THE TEST WILL GO, MY LISTENERS! YOU'LL BE EXPERIENCING TEN MINUTE LONG MOCK CITYSCAPE MANEUVERS! BRING ALONG WHATEVER YOU WANT! AFTER THIS PRESENTATION, YOU'LL EACH HEAD TO YOUR ASSIGNED LOCATION!"

He gestured up at the display board behind him, as I looked down to examine the matching print out and my assigned testing location. As I tried to concentrate, the mumbling noises got louder, accompanied by another growling snap.

"EACH SITE IS FILLED WITH THREE KINDS OF FAUX VILLAINS! POINTS ARE AWARDED FOR DEFEATING EACH ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE DIFFICULTY LEVELS! USE YOUR QUIRKS TO DISABLE THESE FAUX VILLAINS…AND EARN POINTS! THAT'S YOU GOAL, LISTENERS!"

One more annoyance - and this one an even worse one - hit me, as I looked from printout to board. Four on the printout, and three on the board? Perhaps he'll explain?

"OF COURSE, PLAYING THE ANTI-HERO AND ATTACKING OTHER EXAMINEES IS PROHIBITED!"

At this point, I was at the end of my rope, and raised my hand. "May I ask a question?"

I stood and pointed to the sheet. "There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villain on this handout! Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for UA, Japan's top academy! We're all here today in the hopes of being molded into model heroes!"

While I had the spotlight, I decided to do everyone present another favor, and turned around to point to the muttering boy. "And you with the unkempt hair! You've been muttering this whole time! It's distracting! If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!"

He clapped his hands over his mouth, sweating and looking deeply embarrassed.

Mic replied to me, "ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT. EXAMINEE 7111, NICE CATCH. THANKS! BUT THE FOURTH VARIETY GETS YOU ZERO POINTS. HE'S MORE OF AN OBSTACLE. IT'S KIND OF LIKE A THWOMP. ONLY ONE AT EACH SITE, A GIMMICK THAT'LL RAMPAGE AROUND IN CLOSE QUARTERS."

"Got it," I replied, relieved that the explanation had come, if tardily, and that the boy had heeded me and shut up. "So it's like a stage gimmick to be avoided. Thank you, sir. I apologize for the interruption."

I sat back down again. Present Mic resumed his show - it did indeed seem like a big game to him. "THAT'S ALL FROM ME! I'LL LEAVE MY LISTENERS WITH OUR SCHOOL MOTTO. THE GREAT HERO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID "TRUE HEROISM CONSISTS IN BEING SUPERIOR TO THE ILLS OF LIFE. PLUS ULTRA! BREAK A LEG EVERYONE!"

'Plus Ultra', is the UA high school motto. It means 'doing more than the best that one can do."

With those words, we were shuttled off to the exam location. To my annoyance, I noticed that the mumbling boy had been assigned to my test center.

When we arrived, deposited in front of the gates to a mock cityscape, I noticed him again causing trouble, much as I had feared. He was walking over towards a girl, a girl I'd noticed on the bus earlier. She was small, a little heavyset, with short brown hair and large, soft eyes. She wore an open tracksuit - we had all, naturally, changed into gym clothes -and appeared to be doing some sort of breathing exercise to focus her attention. She'd caught my eye before, as she prepared, because she struck me as perhaps the most competent competitor on the bus. There was a clear focus in her eyes; one could clearly see that she was preparing herself to do an exemplary job. And of course, that mumbling boy was clearly looking to distract her from her goals.

"That girl appears to be doing some kind of meditation," I told him, walking up to him and grabbing his shoulder. He instantly jumped out of his skin.

"Why are you here?" i demanded. "Hoping to interfere?"

The boy just looked at his feet, without even a reply. This kid is applying for the HERO course? I wondered. Well, more fortunate for everyone else.

"AND BEGIN!"

Everyone turned to where Present Mic was standing atop a tower. "WHAT'S WRONG? THE TEST'S STARTED! RUN! RUN! RUN! THE DIE IS CAST!"

I ran for it - everyone did, the girl, the candidates, everyone except the shaky boy, who of course instantly fell behind. There was no time to think about him now, however. I needed to concentrate.

Villains. Find villains. Get points.

The robots emerged, large and looming, from all sides. No good avoiding them - the only option was to jump straight into the fray.

One, two, three - With my speed and my engines, they began to fall with precision and ease. They certainly looked the type to intimidate the average student, but with my speed I made, well, quick work of them.

"45 points!" I cried, excited as I managed to take down another one. That puts me very far ahead.

I would accept nothing less in this exam than the absolute best that I could give.

There was an overwhelming crash - and as we all turned, I saw jaws dropping. Before us was the fourth, no pointer type of villain. It was taller than a skyscraper, approximately 70 stories, and shaped like an overwhelming monster.

Everyone was screaming, running, panicking. In the chaos, I saw the shaky boy lying on the ground shaking in terror, and the girl pinned under rubble, but there was no time to do anything about that. I had to get out of the way and find more -

"I gotta run, run and somehow get points! Damn, damn, damn, I'm still at zero, this'll all be for nothing!" I heard him mumbling. Pathetic, really.

I kept going. It's worth no points, so there's no real reason to deal with it. Even if that girl was trapped, there was no need to do -

From behind me, I heard something - like a streak of light. I turned. The mumbling boy had jumped suddenly, into the air - leapt at a speed as fast as Ingenium's into the sky towards the Zero Pointer. In a second - in the blink of an eye, he was hundreds of feet above the ground, aiming a punch at the massive villain.

I felt my jaw drop.

The punch blew the villain backwards - like an overwhelming smash of super strength, something like the power of the #1 hero All Might. The thing was demolished and the girl ,trapped beneath rubble, was saved.

I could hardly believe it. As we watched, the boy began falling. At first it looked like he might land safely, but soon it became clear that he had no backup plan. He had jumped in to save that girl - without even knowing if he could survive.

Before he could hit the ground, he was saved by the girl herself. Floating atop a pile of rubble, she slapped him in time to activate her quirk - which seemed to float things by touching them - and ease him gently to the street.

"IT'S ALL OVER" boomed Present Mic's voice.

Everyone crowded around the helpless boy, who seemed to have passed out.

"What was that?"

"He jumped right at that gimmick."

"Must have a strength enhancing quirk, but - that was something else."

"But with a quirk like that how'd this kid get to be such a scaredy cat? WAs it all an act to throw us off?"

"Can't see how it helped him though"

"Either way, he's something special."

I stared at them all as they babbled. That's not it. Weren't they even watching? He jumped in to save the girl! The remaining time, his own safety, what he needed to pass…there was a lot to consider. But still, he didn't hesitate. Not at all. I mean, sure, if this weren't an exam, I would have done the same!…oh, the exam…of course! Could it be?

I thought it through while the school nurse arrived to patch everyone up. Yes, if the exam is set up in that way…

Through the next week or so, I couldn't get that concern off of my mind. Even when Tensei asked me how things went, I simply adopted a "We'll wait and see" attitude.

At last, the results came, and I was in at 7th place. It turned out that I - and the awkward boy - had been correct. Results were determined through the revealed test - "Villain" points, by defeating robots -and a secret test, "rescue" points, earned through saving others. While I was placed in UA and placed highly, I couldn't help but be disappointed that I hadn't figured that out, while that shaky, awkward boy had. I had only 9 rescue points - more than enough with the villain points to place in UA, but not enough for my own satisfaction.

Is there something wrong with me?