From Commonplace to World Breaker [MHA Sato SI]
The U.A. Entrance exam, huh? I thought I'd be more anxious about it, but the only thing I could feel was… excitement. Could you blame me? Today was the culmination of 5 years of training, sugar overdosing and fighting self-induced drowsiness. 5 years since I rubbed my eyes to clear my head one morning, only to open them in a completely different bedroom, feeling much bigger than usual.
That particular morning… It took a few moments to comprehend what happened, a few more to realize that it was real, and a few hours for the confusion, anger, and melancholy to finally turn to acceptance. Whining about it wouldn't change my situation, and feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to stop me from making the best of the cards I've been dealt. After that, it wasn't too hard to figure out who I was in all this, seeing a school ID hanging near a desk.
Of course, it could be coincidental, just an identical Japanese name, and that we could still be in good old regular Japan. That possibility flew out the window the moment I looked outside the room of my apartment building bedroom and saw a person with a watermelon for a head casually on his phone and walking down the sidewalk, and nobody around gave a second glance.
Also, a mirror demonstrated how I definitely was the sugar guy. Lips these huge are a pretty distinct blessing.
Rikido Sato. The guy with the lips from My Hero Academia. The one who you could honestly cut out the story and it wouldn't change a thing.
And I… couldn't stand that. Having no real impact on the narrative. Being in the background as fodder, as filler. Being worthless. That wouldn't fly for me. In this world, if I wanted to be relevant, the easiest way would be heroism. In the world of heroism, U.A. would be the dream school to shoot for. In U.A., a quirk like mine would be dime-a-dozen. I needed to separate myself from the Rikido who's only memorable characteristic was baking, who's application of his quirk was so straightforward he failed his exam for it. So, I picked off a notebook from my new desk and wrote down what it'd take to make sure I wouldn't be just another guy with a fist. From things I remembered from the show, to things I could think of to improve how I fought
My quirk, Sugar Rush, on paper, was weak in the grand scheme of things. From eating 10 grams of sugar, I gained 5 times my strength but with a time limit. Good, but compared to skyscrapers of ice and contact molecular disassembly, it wouldn't match up. Hell, even with all the preparation in the world, it might never match up, but I sure as hell wasn't gonna listen to unimportant things like logic and common sense.
Then I realized something about that description seemed… off. So I checked at the registry. The official description for my quirk in the registry was "for every 10 grams of sugar ingested, quintuples strength for three minutes".
My quirk scaled. This changed everything. With 100 grams of sugar, my strength grew a fiftyfold.
So, I studied. I learned. I trained. I grew bigger. I grew stronger.
Of course, I would have the usual 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and 10-kilometre run, weights, standard stuff really. But if I wanted to be greater, I would have to go to greater lengths. So, I stuck a needle filled with sugar solution straight into my veins. My new parents were particularly unhappy about that one.
Wonder what a relatively undiluted sugar super soldier serum was like for me? Best I could describe it would be to compare it to how people describe taking MDMA, if MDMA puffed you up like spinach and Popeye. You love everything around you, to the point you want to hug it till it breaks. A terminal Cuddle-Me Elmo.
I could only hold the power-up for so long until it wore off and I felt the need to pass out where I stood. I repeated this method of training for the next few days, until I experimented with something new.
Caffeine. A central nervous system stimulant, used by many to stay awake longer.
Here's the thing about caffeine: once consumed, the caffeine is metabolized by the liver and broken down into theophylline, theobromine, and paraxanthine. But, with me directly injecting it into the bloodstream and completely bypassing the liver, the caffeine remains in general circulation. As it is a molecule similar to the neurotransmitter adenosine, caffeine is able to take adenosine's receptors and block adenosine from doing its job, which is to signal the brain that it is sleepy. With the caffeine not being broken down by the liver, and being much more prominent in the bloodstream, it becomes that much more effective in keeping me awake. To top it all off, while high doses of caffeine may be dangerous because of heart rate and blood pressure spikes, my quirk has adjusted my body to handle and store immense amounts of glucose, also known as blood sugar, leaving me with unmatched resistance to blood vessel and kidney damage. The quirk factor handles the rest
TLDR; Caffeine cancels out the sleepiness and I can be Hulk.
"Outta my way, Deku! Don't stand in front of me. I'll kill you."
I snapped out of my reverie by the sound of someone shouting behind me.
Bakugo Katsuki, the number one entrance exam placer in the show. Someone should probably change that, huh.
A first-place finish would be a good thing to start the school year with.
"WELCOME! TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE!" Present Mic: The Voice Hero's voice boomed all around the auditorium I was sat in. "EVERYBODY SAY 'HEY'!"
After the written exam concluded, those who applied for the hero course were directed over to this hall for the practical debriefing.
'Some of these people wouldn't make the written exam point cut-off,' I thought, 'rendering their effort in the practical useless'.
Objectively speaking, it was a difficult exam, as expected of the top high school in the country, hero or otherwise, but with how my last 5 years were building up to this very moment, calling it less than a breeze for me would be a flat out lie. I wouldn't score a 100 but I'd be damn close.
I tuned out the rest of what was said. I knew the general gist of it. 1-pointer robot? Smash. 2-pointer? Crush. 3-pointer? Prioritise and break.
Someone interrupted the speech to ask about the missing robot, but I didn't really care to listen much, really just picking out one detail from the spiel shouted from a few rows back.
The 0 pointer? Check if anyone's in distress. It might seem disingenuous, to capitalize on a test of character by which rescue points are awarded. but hey, what was I supposed to do? Forget about the points?
Oh, the speech was ending. That was fast.
"-LL FROM ME FOLKS! FINALLY, I'LL GIVE YOU LISTENERS A PRESENT – OUR SCHOOL MOTTO! THE HERO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID: 'A TRUE HERO IS SOMEONE WHO OVERCOMES LIFE'S MISFORTUNES'." GO BEYOND."
I couldn't help but grin. It was time.
Plus Ultra, eh.
Dismounting from the bus, I made my way to the head of the pack standing in front of the gates to Battle Ground D. Taking out a needle full of energy drink from my yellow track jacket pocket, I subtly stabbed it into my arm. No need to cause a panic over people misunderstanding what I was doing. Pulling out another syringe with sugar water, I closed my fist around it, ready to inject it at a moments notice.
I spent the next few minutes observing the rest of the applicants around, looking for people I recognized. I saw a silver-haired guy hyping himself up near the front with me, a guy covered in fur, a girl with orange hair and a side ponytail. Damn boi, she thicc. That's a thicc ass girl. Oh wait she's turning to me. I managed to look up before she caught me.
"Hey." I asked her, putting on a confident smile, "Feeling good about your chances?"
She smiled back politely "We'll have to wait and see, but I trained hard and I'm positive that it'll show. You?"
"Check the top of the scoreboard in a week. Rikido Sato. You'll see"
Her smile turned more challenging "Oh? That confident, huh? That's a good mindset to have. Well then. Itsuka Kendo. Don't be surprised when you read my name there, too."
Feeling the start of the exam coming up, I turned back around and called out over my shoulder, "I'm looking forward to it. I'll wait for you at the finish line, Kendo."
I took up a sprinter start position.
Not 10 seconds later, I hear Present Mic's voice over the big speaker.
"AAAND,"
I injected my arm with enough sugar to kill a diabetic.
"BEGIN!"
My legs, enhanced by the power-up provided by Sugar Rush, catapulted me past the gate and into the built city before anyone could comprehend what came out of the speakers.
I reached a pair of 1-pointers before the next student made his way to the gate. My enhanced fist collided and went straight through the head of a 1-pointer, and quick footwork let me swing the robot on my arm into the other, dismantling both in the process. Spinning like this let me get a full 360 view on the streets, allowing me to scout out my next targets, that being a group of robots down the street to my right.
I closed the distance on the group before any of their sensors could really pick up on me. Rushing over to a 3-pointer with its missile launchers turning their way towards me, I grabbed onto the grates on its front and on its head piece and lifted it above my head with both hands. Letting out a grunt, I heaved it at a trio of 1-pointers rolling their way to me. At such high velocity, what more could the 4 robots do but break completely apart? The last of the group, a big scorpion with a 2's painted on its front legs, turned towards me, and tried hitting me with its stinger. Naturally, I caught the tail, and spun on my heels in circles, until I spotted a 3-pointer coming my way from down the street.
A savage grin came onto my face, and with a bellowing "YEET!", I propelled the 2-pointer at them. Loud sounds of metal colliding and breaking indicated I hit my target.
I live for fights like this, where I could go all out and not worry about destroying anything important. And right now, I was living.
"That's sixty!" I exclaimed, tossing the broken 1-pointer over my shoulder, and tallied the points I had gotten so far. I wasn't so lost in my love for bloodsport that I forgot the point of the whole exercise, and I knew that I still needed more to get that coveted first place. But as big as a head start as I had gotten, there was only so much ground I could cover on my own before other people started getting their own piece of the pie. With other people nearby, I couldn't be half as destructive as I could be, and other people started taking robots from me. I wasn't too sure U.A. would appreciate me body-checking other applicants to make sure they don't steal my kills, so I held off on that option. And so, I separated myself from the rest of the competition, going to the far end of the city, where the concentration of robots was far less. I had them all to myself, but there weren't very many points to gather. That still left me at a deficit for first place.
The voice of Present Mic once again blared over the city.
"ALRIGHT LISTENERS! WATCH OUT, FOR WE'VE ONLY 2 MINUTES LEFT!"
All fine and dandy, until the ground starting get jiggy with it.
A block down, the Zero Pointer peeked its head over the city buildings, and screams started all over the streets. I made my way over to the sound of people. As separated as I was from the competition, I had a good view of people panicking, running away from the building-size machine. It was a mess, people bumping into each other and falling all over the place. I grit my teeth. This was the best showing you people could offer? Why bother applying to the best Hero school in the country if you were just going to waste everybody's time? They couldn't even keep their composure enough to run away right.
At least some people had the sense of mind to keep calm. I saw Kendo using her massive hands to direct people to evacuate and help people who trip get up and keep going. I would've let her be to direct traffic, but at the top of my peripheral vision was an unstable boulder-sized piece of debris, probably broken from the building by an applicant's quirk and further dislodged by the emergence of the big Zero-Pointer. She hadn't noticed it yet, but in a few seconds, it would crush her.
Launching myself over to her, it took but a few more seconds for the big rock to surrender to gravity, with nobody on the street the wiser.
'Now!' I thought, timing my jump, catching the 3-tonne rock before it could create a morbid ginger pancake. Landing and sinking on one knee, I rolled the debris off my shoulder and turned around to address the shocked Kendo.
"Hey." I casually began, "So…This all seems horrible."
Her startled face didn't change all that much, but she managed to get out, "Y-yeah. I haven't seen worse. Yeah, pretty bad. Big robot. City falling."
Can't say I blame her too much. Near death experiences aren't exactly something 15-year-olds are used to.
I tried to ease the tension a bit with a small smile, "Well, we could use a little worse. I'll see if I can do something."
Barely acknowledging the small "okay" that came from her, I looked back at the big robot about 20 seconds away from reaching us, and made sure that nobody would be in the way. Once I was certain the area was clear of people who could end up being collateral, I muttered to myself, "Hey big guy, Sun's getting real low". It didn't make much sense in context, with it being practically high noon, but it sounded appropriate to me.
Picking up the boulder from earlier over my head, I started running towards the Zero-Pointer, ignoring the dust in kicked up and the debris from the buildings. I had one target, how kind of U.A. to have in shine red. As I got closer and closer, the gigantic mech started winding its fist back to strike me. I didn't give it a chance to. Planting my right foot forward, and stopping my run, momentum started skidding my feet along the pavement. With the extra leverage from the planted foot and the burst of momentum from the skidding, I bent back as far as I could, and with a mighty roar, I whipped my whole body forward, catapulted my projectile straight at the lights on the Zero-pointers face.
Having no way of killing my momentum now, I resigned myself to bracing my face, and rolling on the ground. It wasn't pleasant. My track suit ripped and tore for it. I needed to get one that wasn't as gaudy anyway. Yellow wasn't my colour. Once I rolled to a stop, I got up on my feet and looked up to find out how my plan turned out.
The mech wasn't moving. My rock was firmly embedded a meter past the surface of the robot's face. With all the intricate circuitry that was now visible to me, I could assume I destroyed the functionality of the Zero-Pointer. My bold plan worked. 'Heh. Bolder.'
Looking far down the street to the others, I could see them all stationary. It was easy to imagine the disbelief on their faces, and so I raised a fist to them and bellowed,
"Witness me!"
Thinking back, that was such a dumb line.
I don't regret it.
Science might not check out, but I can just point to "quirk" for any oversight. Todoroki made Mt Everest in the school festival, so if anything, I'm being realistic. Though if any biochemist wants to fact check me and offer a better substitute, I'd be happy to hear it.
Rikido Sato, on his wiki page, has a maxed stat for Popular Among Girls. That's great and I'm gonna abuse that.
