vena jugularis: thank you for pointing that out i sadly didn't have a betareader in the early chapters so i didn't see that mistake despite already knowing about that lore. i can assure you that the later chapters won't have that mistake!

Severely unfair—that is what most people might think about the UA Practical Exams for this year. Aizawa Shōta is not unfamiliar to how unfair the system of examination is, having been one of the victims of it and only becoming part of the Hero Department late in his years in UA. This year's examination is meant to draw out those who will grow like All Might and Endeavor, those who will stand above the rest with the vibrancy that those particular Pro-Heroes have, especially with the slow and subtle decline of the Symbol of Peace. And, Aizawa thinks, the examination did its part perfectly, most particularly favoring certain students within the Top Ten Ranks: Kugisaki Nobara with eighty-five points, Bakugō Katsuki with seventy-seven points, Kirishima Eijirō and Fushiguro Megumi with seventy-four points, Uraraka Ochako with seventy-three points, Shiozaki Ibara with sixty-eight points, Kendō Itsuka with sixty-five points, Īda Tenya with sixty-one points, Midoriya Izuku with sixty points, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu with fifty-nine points, Tokoyami Fumikage with fifty-seven points, and Awase Yosetsu with fifty-six points. But the ones who captured the most attention, at the end are Kugisaki Nobara, Bakugō Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirō, Fushiguro Megumi, and Midoriya Izuku.

Present Mic had thrown his hands up in the air in excitement at the final scene of Area C: the barrages of water was completely out of the blue and far from what everybody had expected from the originally silent Fushiguro Megumi, who subtly helped other examinees while steadily gaining points, a huge contrast from his companion who did the opposite. Kugisaki Nobara focused on nothing but gaining points and when given the chance, or when a person in need was right in front of her, that was the only time she took a break from destroying robots. "What's with kids these days?" Midnight throws her head back in laughter, watching as lightning dances from Fushiguro's bird, sending them to the water that the elephant had summoned. And the very moment Kugisaki snapped her fingers, Present Mic cheers in English: "Now that's a hero-like combination!" But is that not the problem?

These pair of kids know the Pro-Hero system. They know exactly how to sell themselves as a pair, what to do in order to gain the most attraction and it is to capture the biggest 'boss', as the Super Mario reference would say.

Aizawa taps the side of his face. Scribbled at the end of their files, in the section where they are asked what their comments are, Kugisaki had written: 'Megumi-kun and I will be partners or be nothing at all!' with a bunch of unnecessary doodles. This is immitated by Fushiguro's subdued 'Best when working with Kugusaki Nobara'. They obviously know what to do in order to sell themselves as a pair and nothing but a pair, showing their weaknesses without one another: Kugisaki constantly needs back-up in exchange for her heavy hits and Fushiguro, judging by how exhausted he was at the end of the exam, obviously cannot always bring out his more powerful attacks. A similar line is at the very bottom of both of their comments: 'Aiming to be the best Pro-Hero Duo in Japan!'. Yet another pair of overly ambitious teens who actually know what they are doing.

Sekijirō Kan crosses his arms, observing the clips of the students with equal interest as his fellow homeroom advisers. He squints at the videos. "It would be a waste to put them in different classes. Especially with this much of points under their belt. They definitely know what they're doing," he muses. The sounds of approval echo. "But isn't that boy from the Sludge Incident assigned with you, Aizawa? Those two—the Nail Girl and the Sludge Incident Boy... won't they clash too much?"

Nemuri Kayama, however, does not share his worry. Instead, she barks out a sharp laughter, amusement in her eyes. "Come on, a little rivalry between classmate won't hurt and Vlad," she rolls the name past her lips, voice as sultry as she usually portrays herself in the screens, "'Clash' is an understatement. Look at them go in the exams—" She reaches for the remote, clicking a button that puts them to the slide where they purposely put the two examinee's performances side-by-side. Aizawa grimaces. They are a little too similar for their own good. "The Top Two students of the Practical Exams, both under our Eraserhead over here."

"That is if they don't get expelled," Yamada Hizashi slyly adds. "Right, Aizawa?"

Cementoss sighs. "This batch is particularly promising with an array of unique Quirks. Like Vlad King's Monoma Neito-kun and the half of Eraserhead's package, Fushiguro Megumi-kun. It would be nice if you don't expel them, Aizawa-kun," he comments.

Aizawa narrows his eyes. Before he can reply, Principal Nezu claps his hands twice, expression as beaming and upbeat as ever. His interruption sends the whole discussion board for first years into silence. "Now, now! UA prides itself to have a flexible educational system and we only bring out the best of the best to the public. If Aizawa-kun deems them not good enough for Class 1-A then he has free reigns on what not to do but Aizawa-kun, do be lenient with the students. They areonly first years and haven't been educated in this environment," he warns to both Cementoss and Aizawa, earning understanding looks from the both of them. Aizawa huffs under his breath. "Now, we have another interesting one with us, don't we? Aside from our new duo and some other problem children; Midoriya Izuku-kun."

Midnight takes this opportunity to go to a few slides from the former comparison between the half of the Duo and one of the so-called 'problem children'. A dark-haired boy is suddenly on the screen, punching through the Zero Pointer despite his struggle with the sudden sound of sharp breaking bones. "Every time I see his clips, he just makes me wan'na root for him!" Yamada exclaims as the video plays in loop. "It's like watching a kid manifest their Quirk for the first time! There's something miraculous about it, you know!"

Returning his energy, Midnight shakes her head. "Nope! There's just something even more amazing when it comes to well-oiled work like those kids from Hiroshima. They obviously planned for this, purposely got the same Area assigned to them and all. Hey, Cementoss, didn't you check some of the test scores? How well did those two go?" She ask, leaning back to her chair in anticipation.

"Not as well as you think. The boy, Fushiguro-kun, did better. He's in the Top Fifteen while the girl is in the late twenties. They lagged a lot in Quirk History and Quirk Biology," Cementoss replies dryly, passing his own record of the written test to Midnight who takes them eagerly, "The boy from the Sludge Incident, however, Bakugou-kun ranked second or third. Somewhere around that part. Yaoyorozu Momo from the Recommendations ranked first, almost perfect scores, actually."

"Nothing less to expect from a Yaoyorozu," Vlad remarks. "The Inasa-boy turned down UA to go to Shiketsu instead, didn't he? We can replace him with this one—" He waves the file of a light-haired boy. "Honenuki Jūzō. He was very close with the others' scores. If he was in the normal exams, he would have aced it as well." He passes the file to Principal Nezu. "Speaking of, are we finalizing Bakugou Katsuki and Kugisaki Nobara in the same class? Regardless of repercussions?"

Nezu grins, flashing his teeth. "They're the Top Two students from the Practical Exams. If their personalities are going to clash this early in their journey to be Pro-Heroes, then it only makes sense for those issues to be mended as early as now, yes?" He concludes. "And for the new 'duo' we have, Aizawa-kun, I'm counting on you, alright?"

Aizawa scowls. "Yes, Nezu-sensei."

Megumi watches Kugisaki fiddle with the edge of the summary of their Entrance Exams. They did a lot better in the Written Test than they expected, especially given the fact that they only had roughly three months to actually learn the culture, history, and every other new aspects of this world. Megumi originally expected for them to adjust by a lot, considering that Jujutsu High School does not focus much on the Academics but on the application of their Cursed Techniques for the betterment of the civilians and occasionally, Clan Politics here and there, something that Megumi stays away from, though something Maki-san is deeply involved with. He gathers his fingers at the thought: He knows that he wants absolutely nothing to do with the Zen'in Clan but he knows what his disappearance would do to the current status of the sorcerers. He knows his importance and the importance of his technique, not to mention Itadori and his being Sukuna's vessel. He exhales and runs his fingers through his hair. Itadori. Where the hell is that guy? He is certain they went through the same portal as he did since they purposely forced themselves there out of instinct so what is the difference between Itadori's current status quo from them? Is he in a different country? Or worse, in a completely different dimension?

The cold bites his lips. He blows more air to his hands, the tips of his fingers turning red at the edge of winter. He shuffles on his seat on the floor, a few meters away from the doorway of the convenience store. The celebration the other day for their passing was surprisingly big for a pair who had nothing to do with the Sugiyama couple. He has no doubt that they think of him and Kugisaki as their estrange grandchildren, and the better part of him is disgusted at himself for using their sentiments to get a roof above their head and a story to back them up. But the more that he thinks of Itadori and the more that he thinks of his original world, the more his guilt gets reduced to nothing but a passing thought. And now that they are getting closer to their current goal, Megumi becomes deluded by his narrow-mindedness and his one-track mindset. Get Itadori. Find a way home. Go back home. He clenches his fist. He still has a sister to go back home to, after all.

They're so close now.

Kugisaki, from the counter behind the windows, continues to go through the summary of their entrance exams. Megumi stands up to return to the more comfortable warmth of the convenience store. He briefly meets Kugisaki's glance. "We have five months before school starts. Too long, if you ask me," he whispers in admittance. His fingers click against one another, the anxiety of wherever Itadori ended up in, getting to him knowing that therr are too many months between today and their official plan. "I can't sit still," his conclusion earns him, this time, an actual look from Kugisaki. Itadori's name threatens to fall past his lips. He stops himself from doing so. He has not fallen that low yet.

The three months from their first arrival to the Entrance Exam was different. They had something to do, then: study, adjust in this culture, and they had to pick up their former skills and brush themselves up but five months of waiting? The look on Kugisaki's face shows her reluctance but her agreement as well. She straightens her back, putting her weight on her dominant foot. She bites her lip anxiously. "Too many months too long. Right. You do know that you're only implying one thing we can do, right, 'shiguro?" She digs her nails, devoid of color this time, against the cashier.

"I know," Megumi sighs.

Kugisaki stares at him solidly for more than a minute before she mimics his sigh, collapsing to the ground and hitting her head on the cashier table. She holds her head. "You know, I kind of expected that we were going to end up doing this regardless if we pass or not. Five months is long enough to get so many leads already and... and Fushiguro, you must be feeling it too, don't you?" She lifts her eyes from the cashier to him. The intensity of her gaze makes Fushiguro flinch. His skin prickles with discomfort. "The changes we're making. The lack of Cursed Spirits. How people can see your shikigami and how they can see the energy around my attacks."

Megumi feels the cold of late-winter tickle his neck. The heater must be broken again, he thinks but he knows otherwise. "We're ruining this world, aren't we?" From the corner of his eyes, he catches a sliver of energy.

His companion finally stands up, hopping over the cashier to the other side to stand beside him. Sometimes, Megumi forgets how short Kugisaki is compared to him. "The more we use our Cursed Energy, the more this world... 'absorbs' it. It's probably because it's never experienced any kind of Cursed Energy and Cursed Energy, in our world, it's everywhere. And in this kind of place," Kugisaki sends out a flare of her Cursed Energy in a nail she pulled out from her sleeve. The moment she releases it, it fades. "Cursed Energy is frighteningly abundant if it existed in the first place. I wouldn't be surprised if our Cursed Energy creates Curses now."

"Sorcerers can't create Cursed Spirits," Megumi says, more to himself than Kugisaki in an effort to deny it but he contrasts this with his next words, finally in defeat, "But that's only a law in our world. Cursed Energy should dissipate the moment its released by sorcerers but this world absorbs it quickly and—"

"It's going to adapt quickly." Kugisaki sighs and leans against the counter.

A world is going to get contaminated because of them, and even though they noticed it from the very start—from their bouts of discomfort, from the unnatural coldness, from the people's ability to see Megumi's Gyokuken because of this world registering their abilities as 'Quirks'—they still shamelessly showed off their skills, showered their abilities with confidence and arrogance in the Entrance Exams. "Honestly?" Kugisaki finally says. "I don't care."

"Kugisaki—"

"We're still going to go home at the end, anyway," Megumi watches Kugisaki clench her fist, the nail from before still being held in her palms. "Maybe it's going to take more than half a year or more than a year, but Itadori's still going to find us—or, we're going to find him, and we're still going to go home. We won't have anything to do with this world after that. We're going to go back to fighting Cursed Spirits and complaining about Gojō-sensei. We have nothing to do with this world so why should we care?" He thinks of the Sugiyama Couple and their kindess, how similar Megumi and Kugisaki smell because of their shared shampoo, of the room they sleep in where Megumi can hear Kugisaki sleeptalk about the new café. He thinks of Yuriko-san celebrating his birthday and scolding them for not telling her, of Sugiyama and his pride when they aced the tests, of everything, and Megumi thinks of all of those and tries not to tell all of them to Kugisaki but judging by the way she looks, her furrowed eyebrows and her deep frown, she knows.

Megumi puts a hand on Kugisaki's shoulder. "We need to leave Sugiyama-san," he says.

"We do," Kugisaki agrees. She puts a hand on her face, slapping her cheeks thrice before finally gathering herself. "Let's find another job. A job closer to that side of the industry. We should've done this ages ago—" She slouches. "I'm going to start looking for cheap apartments. We still have our savings from the past few months, right? And... and the allowance."

"Completely untouched. Sugiyama-san gave us allowance every time we went out so," something clogs at the back of Megumi's throat. He despises this guilt. He focuses on the idea of his sister and Itadori. He wavers a bit less. "I'll try investigating the red light district, then—" He freezes when Kugisaki grabs his wrist. "What?"

Kugisaki's frown deepens. "It's too dangerous. I'll go with you. We can buy disguises too," she scratches the back of her neck when she lets go of Megumi, "We can't go around there looking like ourselves. We're going to be big shots in UA, remember? The best Pro-Hero Duo in Japan—" She snorts. "Haven't you ever watched James Bond?"

Megumi grows annoyed. "I have. Itadori made me—"

"Sit through it with him?"

Megumi pauses. "He did."

"Same here."

Unsurprisingly, Megumi and Kugisaki end up getting scolded by Sugiyama in the middle of the night a week later, just around the time they finally found an apartment cheap enough to settle in and a job willing to take in a bunch of kids with no experience aside from working in a convenience store for three months. (Cheap apartments are the same as the ones from their world: there are those rumored to be haunted where suicide rates are high but with the addition of locations where villain activity is at its peak, the apartment prices dropped crazily. In addition to this, restaurants or shops close to Villain hotspots are also desperate for staff, offering prices that are surprisingly high and they become so desperate that even high schoolers are acceptable for them. Megumi and Kugisaki shamelessly take advantage of this.) But the moment they explained to Sugiyama that they are getting 'ashamed' for mooching off of them a little to much, and when they explained where they will be staying and working from now on, Sugiyama blew off on them, scolding them like a parent would to their children.

What made them flinch the most, however, was Sugiyama's reasoning: "I'm an old man but I'm not stupid, Megumi-kun, Nobara-chan—" His sigh is heavy, deeply exhausted, as if reminded of his grandsons who he now knows nothing about. He relaxes. "When kids wearing bloodstained clothes suddenly steal from you, it's pretty obvious that there is something wrong. And when they lie about coming from Hiroshima, when they suddenly say they're going to UA, when they talk about a missing friend, when they purposely move to places where there are high Villain activity—" The sigh returns again, and this time, Megumi lowers his head a little, unable to meet Sugiyama's disappointed yet knowing gaze. "An adult's job is to guide and protect the child. Wherever you guys are actually from, I won't ask anymore. But let us help you. Megumi-kun. Nobara-chan. Let us help you."

Megumi is desperate to ask why a bunch of strangers are being so nice to them when they had done nothing in return but manipulate and use them. He wants to demand answers from them. They remind him too much of Itadori that there is something that clogs his throat, too much Itadori that he becomes more desperate to find wherever that guy is and just go back home. But he just nods, keeps silent, and stays still as Sugiyama pats his shoulder and does the same to Kugisaki. When they return to their room, Megumi smells Kugisaki's shampoo, the exaxt same he uses. Her hair is a little longer now, going past her shoulders unlike how she usually keeps it short. He blinks through his bangs. He touches the edges of it.

Kugisaki sits on his futon, facing him. She looks as troubled as he is. "Do you want me to cut your hair? Just a quick trim. Yours is getting long," She asks.

Megumi does not hesitate, for some reason. "Sure. What about you? Your hair's getting long too."

The girl hums. "I don't plan on cutting my hair until we find Itadori. And besides," she flips her hair to the back, "I grow my hair very rarely. I'm just going to give him the honor of seeing it, you know." The lie is evident and Megumi knows that she just cannot find the strength to change something about herself. He reaches out to her, hesitantly, putting a hand on her knee. She looks up. "Guess we're staying her a bit longer."

"We still need to find more information."

"We will be."

Kugisaki brings out a bright white wig the next day and a pair of sunglasses. Megumi wonders why he trusted the girl to take this seriously.

Midoriya knows life is unfair. He was born without a Quirk, thus nicknamed 'Quirkless' and 'Deku', and in a word where Quirks are the norm, what is he without them? One time, he had been overwhelmed with joy when someone did not treat him like someone lesser than those with Quirks, that he was someone instead of something. He had been so excited, so eager to please until reality came crashing down to him: for some people, the Quirkless are still actual peoplebut at the end, people like Midoriya are treated as 'crippled' as people with disabilities just because he was not born with what people deemed as the 'norm'. There are two kinds of people in the world with Quirks: those who will look at him with distaste and others who will look at him with pity. Even All Might, who he looks up to with everything that he has, is the latter. But Midoriya closes his eyes, pretends he does not see the pitying gaze he gives him when he reveals he is being bullied because of his lack of Quirk, and accepts his hand instead. Midoriya knows life is unfair more than any one else.

People can call him a hypocrite all they want but Midoriya knows life is unfair. Midoriya knows that sometimes, cheats have to be involved to go further because how else can he pass the UA test without the usage of Quirks. (When he finds out that there are Rescue Points involved, Midoriya rushes to the bathroom, choking on his own bile and his dinner, throwing up with everything he has. He lets himself cry that night, sleep a little later than usual and wake up terribly late. He holds himself, tells himself that it had to be done. He needed a Quirk because what is he if not the Quirkless boy he used to be? He sobs. He mourns for the Deku he clings to and decides: if someone asks him what his hero name will be, he will choose that name, his origin, his beginning, his truth because despite this strength that All Might bestowed on him, at the end, at the very, very end, Midoriya Izuku is still the Quirkless Deku.) Midoriya believes himself to be a hypocrite but the world is unfair. Life is unfair. He cannot be like Bakugou who has both the looks, the talents, the brains, and the Quirk. Sometimes, you are born as plain, unassuming, and sometimes, you are born a little less than others. And Midoriya knows that. Midoriya knows that better than anyone else.

His name is Midoriya Izuku and sometimes, he is Deku. And sometimes, his reflection looks at him accusingly and calls him a hypocrite. But here he is, in a Quirk Apprehension Test of UA, the top hero school in Japan, who won sixty points and who has Japan's Symbol of Peace backing him up. Midoriya starts off as someone pitiful and then, he becomes privileged. He is suddenly a boy who knows too much, the boy who knows more than others, the boy who was everyone's childhood hero backing him up. (He is a hypocrite but he knows despair like the back of his hand. He can still taste it: the bile, the accusations of being a hypocrite, the ash that licks his hands as he pulls away from Bakugō's Quirk. Midoriya is Deku and he is a hypocrite but he is still Izuku.) He is part of Class 1-A, surrounded by future Pro-Heroes and he stands with them proudly.

"You all understand the school's reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that 'freedom' goes for us teachers too," his homeroom adviser announces vaguely, "Softball pitch. Standing long jump. 50-Meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength test. Sustained sideways jumps. Upper-body exercises. Seated toe touches. These are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical Tests where you were barred from using your Quirks. This country still hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, that's negligence on the part of MEXT." He turns to a brunette who appears to be more annoyed of the whole situation than their homeroom adviser, Aizawa. Midoriya looks at her worriedly. "Kugisaki, how far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"

Kugisaki! Midoriya jolts. He remembers seeing her name in the rankings of the Practical Exams, the girl who got the first place with eighty-five points. "Thirty-three meters," Kugisaki answers, a hand reaching to scratch her cheek.

"Try using your Quirk this time around. As long as you don't exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Don't hold back," Aizawa-sensei says, passing the ball to Kugisaki. The girl effortlessly carries it, despite the ball obviously looking heavier than it actually is. She tosses it a little, glancing at their homeroom teacher.

"Even if I use my hammer?"

"Anything that involves using your Quirk. Whatever you're comfortable with," Aizawa-sensei watches her critically.

In an instant, annoyed look fades to an excited grin. She puts the ball down to tie her hair in a low pony-tail, before picking it back up. She fiddles with the belt around her waist with her free hand, taking out a hammer patterned with a small heart at the middle. Midoriya grimaces, though highly anticipating at the same time. This girl ranked first among all of them, among all those who trained for UA until their hands bled. Eighty-five points while the average points one received in the exams were around forties, and even Midoriya had a hard time even getting a single point! He slowly moves forward, a little outside the crowd to see her.

Midoriya squints, only catching a small glimpse of her dark roots growing out of her dyed hair. Kugisaki tests the weight of the ball in her hand. The moment she finally gets a good grasp of its weight, she tosses it high in the air, her dominant hand with the hammer preparing to swing. A sudden jolt of energy rushes through the metallic hammer, and before they know it, the hammer hits the ball, whipping through the air and landing hundreds of meters away from the crowd. Midoriya gapes, watching Kugisaki cock her hip to the side, her grin as wide as it had been. She flicks her hammer back to the pouches of her belt. "How did I do, sensei?" She asks eagerly.

Aizawa-sensei clicks on his gadget. "Before anything else, one must know what they're capable of," he lifts his hand to showcase a whopping four-hundred-sixteen meters, "This is the rational metric that will form the basis of your 'Hero Foundation'—" The class cheers, excited for their own chance. Aizawa clearly finds displeasure in this when he speaks again: "It looks fun, you say? So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good ol' time? What happened to becoming heroes? All right then. In that case, new rule: the student who ranks last in total points will be judged 'hopeless' and instantly expelled."

Midoriya's heart jumps out of his skin. What am I going to do? He still does not have a good grasp of his Quirk, especially when he risks breaking bones every time he uses it. I'm still at all-or-nothing mode! I can't adjust it yet.

As if Aizawa can hear his thoughts, he just continues: "Our 'freedom' means we dispense with students as we please! Welcome to the Department of Heroics!"

note! updating the rest of the chapters will be pretty now so i'll be updating one chapter a day instead!

the best flowers are the cherry blossoms