Chapter 2 - The Entrance Exam

So there I was, sitting in one of the large lecture halls of U.A. Academy, body slumped over, head down, eyes closed. Asleep and dreaming of the past…

The only saving grace in that moment was that I didn't snore.

"-u've been muttering this entire time, stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously then leave, you're distracting the rest of us." I was suddenly pulled back to consciousness by an unfamiliar voice and a wave of giggling.

"Ugh..." I lifted my head up from the desk to see the source of the voice.

Relatively tall with a wide build, short dark blue hair parted almost too perfectly to one side, square glasses that match his square jaw, and wearing an annoyed expression.

'Judging by his posture and mannerisms he's a stickler for rules and procedure, the literal embodiment of what comes to mind when you think 'class president'.'

He was in the process of chewing out some poor kid in front of the entire lecture hall of thousands of people.

'Whoever he is he isn't the shy type, he seems more than happy to speak his mind, even in front of a crowd of strangers. An interesting first impression to give to your possible future classmates.

While the more scholarly applicants might appreciate what he's doing and see it as someone fully dedicated to being a hero, others will see him as some stuck up asshole that should just mind his own business and give the kid a break, and then there's the third group that'll want him to just shut up so we can carry on.

While I am leaning toward the latter group, personally I think he just needs to learn when to pick his battles.'

His victim at first glance seemed to be the complete opposite of him. Short, skinny, yet still muscular in a sense, more toned and less bulky. Long and messy green hair, easily distracted and terrified out of his mind to be the center of attention. He was also oddly familiar but I couldn't quite remember where I had seen him.

'Poor kid looks way out of his depth. Hopefully this doesn't shake him too badly.'

While looking at the green haired kid my eyes are drawn to the kid beside him, focusing in on an incredibly grumpy looking blonde. School delinquent is the first thing that comes to mind. Hero? Not so much.

Spiky blonde hair, athletic build, and currently wearing a facial expression that not even a mother could love.

'Ah, now I remember, that's not a face you forget easily. Katsuki Bakugo, which makes the kid beside him Izuku Midoriya. Strange to see the two of them sitting together, I figured Bakugo would want to be as far away from Midoriya as possible, and honestly Midoriya should be thinking the same thing. That kid's too nice for his own good.'

The two previously mentioned kids were somewhat familiar to me. After the incident I ended up at a completely new school and it just so happens that those two also went to that school.

I say somewhat familiar because I never really talked to either of them. The main reason being that we were always in separate classes and hung around in separate friend groups, so I didn't really have a reason to speak to them.

The other reason being, well in Bakugo's case it's obvious, the guy's not the most open and approachable person in the world. So I did as everyone else did and simply avoided him.

Midoriya on the other hand was always too quiet and jumpy for me to even think about approaching him. He seemed like a good guy but I didn't really feel like putting him on the spot by trying to talk to him, and besides, he always seemed fine as he was so why interfere with that?

Honestly I was surprised to see Midoriya there, considering he was quirkless. I knew how that felt, and I was impressed that he kept chasing his dream despite that. I abandoned that same dream in the past for the same reason, yet there he was continuing along and not letting it stop him.

I didn't know whether to be impressed or pity him. But I suppose he was serious when he said he would try anyway, and I honestly wished him the best of luck.

Midoriya had changed a lot since his run in with a villain a few months prior. Bakugo on the other hand was the same as ever.

The reason my eyes were drawn to Bakugo was simple.

'He's staring daggers at me… I can almost feel the intensity of his stare. It seems that he recognises me, I remember hearing that he was determined to be the only person in our school to make it to U.A. so I guess he doesn't take too kindly to me being here. It's also possible he caught me sleeping and didn't appreciate it, and he definitely doesn't appreciate me staring back at him. From what I can tell the longer I look at him the angrier he seems to get, it's almost amusing actually, I wonder how long I can keep this up before he loses it and explodes.'

If it wasn't for the things I had seen, I might have withered away under that glare. Sadly for both of us, he'd have to get a lot angrier - or uglier - than that to make me flinch away with a stare.

"Also!" Time seemed to restart as I heard another yell. Looking back at the blue haired boy and much to my dismay he was looking my way, and he was pointing right at me.

"You there, you've been asleep this entire time. If you're so uninterested in the procedures at this school then there was no reason for you to apply." A small round of laughter echoes around the room.

"Oh uh, sorry?" Even I wasn't convinced by the way I said that and, judging by the scowl on the boy's face, he certainly wasn't impressed. Everyone else got a laugh out of it though.

'Well so much for first impressions I guess, well not like it matters too much since most of the people here will never step foot in U.A. again after this.'

"Alright, alright. Examinee number 7111, thanks for calling in with your request." The figure on stage cuts in before the bespectacled boy can continue his lecture.

"Back to your question, the fourth villain type is worth zero points. That guy is just-" He continued to explain the upcoming exam to us all as my mind drifted back to why I was there.

30 minutes later

A little while later we had all been split up and taken to our testing areas. It seemed that both Midoriya and the blue haired kid were in the same battle center as me.

And once again, the blue haired kid was nagging Midoriya. This time it seemed to be over a girl.

'Those idiots should get their heads in the game, this isn't really the time to be fighting over girls. Although I suppose I can see why they might, they could at least leave it until we get in class, for all they know they might never see that girl again.'

Glancing at the target of their affection, I instantly recognized her. I'd actually seen her once before, she caught Midoriya earlier this morning when he tripped over.

'She has an Emitter type quirk, able to make things float just by touching them. Not a super varied quirk in terms of general use unless you have a good imagination, overall quite good in a specific use.'

As I looked over at her she spotted me and gave me a shy smile which I returned. I could tell she was nervous so I turned my attention away from her and toward the testing area.

Battle Center B.

'U.A. must get some major funding because the testing areas here are huge. We passed a few others on the way and some of the training areas are as big as a city. It's insane.'

We were all there to have our quirks tested to see if we were worthy of becoming pro heroes. The tests were pretty simple compared to everything else at the school.

Starting off were some written exams, I did pretty well on them from what I remember, but today was all about the practical aspect of being a hero.

My inner voice droned out the rules in the most monotone voice possible: 'Put simply all we need to do is run around and destroy a bunch of robots. Each robot has an assigned number of points and we need a certain number of points to pass.'

'That was the basic description anyway, but from what I've learnt about U.A., things are usually a bit more complicated than they appear so I'm guessing there are some secrets they haven't told us. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some pro heroes hidden away ready to ambush us. That feels more like a U.A. kind of test.'

'Well I guess there is that fourth robot. It's worth zero points so there's really no reason to fight it from a normal examinee's point of view. The teacher on stage, The Voice Hero: Present Mic, told us that we should treat the zero pointer like an obstacle and avoid it at all costs.'

'I suppose that maybe we're also being tested on our judgement in a high risk situation? Knowing when to run away from a situation you can't handle is probably a good skill to have. The last thing U.A. want's is a bunch of heroes dying shortly after graduation.'

'They might also be judging us on how we flee. Running around screaming and panicking is probably a bad sign, whereas a calm and focused retreat would look good, especially if you save someone while escaping.'

'Hmm that's actually a good thought. Maybe the zero point villain is there to create situations where you might have to save someone? It would make sense to create a scenario like that in an exam for heroes.'

'You could also have some actors go undercover as wannabe heroes who then put themselves in a position to be saved. That's definitely something I would do...'

"Ugh I'm overthinking it. All I need to do is beat up some robots and collect some points. That should be easy compared to-"

"You there." I was brought out of my thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Oh hey it's you, the loud guy from the lecture hall." I replied in a casual tone, not wanting to seem too hostile as I turned to face the incoming boy. It was way too early to be making enemies, but this guy was already getting on my nerves.

"Yes, that was me. Are you alright? You've been staring off into space ever since we got off the bus, I do hope you don't plan on falling asleep during th-"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." He was caught off guard by my abrupt interruption, my now more serious tone surely helped. "I was just thinking about the exam, don't you think that just fighting robots seems a little basic for the hero course of the top school in the country?" My question seemed to catch the boy off guard but not for long, he shortly entered a thinking pose as he thought about my question.

"Hmm I do agree that it is a fairly basic test, however I don't believe it will be just as simple as fighting robots. It's likely we're being judged on other things like our situational awareness and how we react to sudden changes in the battlefield. We may even be being judged for our ability to work together in an impromptu situation. There are likely many more parameters than a basic point score." The boy seemed rather invested in his trail of thought.

'Seems I was right about him being scholarly. He was coming here to reprimand me again, but all it took was one question to make him forget that and start thinking about a larger problem.'

"I agree. We're likely being judged on many things, in fact, chances are the robots are just a way to draw out what they really want to see without telling us what that is. That way the observers could get a more natural result than if they told us what they wanted to see from the start." To be honest I was actually quite interested in his thoughts on the test and figured that now might be a good time to get some more insight.

"Hey what do you think about the zero point-" I was suddenly cut off by the loud voice of our observer.

"Right, let's start! Get moving! There are no countdowns in real battles, run, run, run listeners! You're wasting air time here!" On Present Mics words the giant doors opened and a flood of hopeful heroes rushed into the city.

"Well, we don't want to get left behind right? I'll see you in class in a few weeks" I give the boy a confident smile and a small wave. Then with a click of my fingers I teleported myself into the city. I didn't need to click my fingers but it's pretty much a built in reaction now.

'Now then.'

'Time to play Her-'

My mask cracked for a second and my emotions ran rampant at my slip up as I almost used 'that word' to describe myself, but I quickly locked that back away and fell back on the familiar half smile I like to wear.

Nobody asks questions when you're smiling.

Back to my usual self I quickly focused on the task at hand.

'Time to ace this.'

My landing zone upon Blinking into the city was the top of a large building located near the main gates. From up there I could easily see the wave of hopeful heroes as they charged forward into the city, including some familiar faces.

It seemed that the blue haired kid whose name I forgot to get was rather fast on his feet.

'He has a mutation type quirk, a speed enhancement, he uses the engines mounted in his legs to propel himself forward. Very useful, but...'

Watching for a few more seconds as the horde scattered, I then used Blink to quickly traverse to the far end of the city past the central main road and far away from the crowd. Chances are very few people could make it here this quickly meaning I had plenty of time to scout out the city below for suitable targets.

'29, 31, 34, 35. I can see 35 points worth of enemies from here. If I Blink in on the edge of the group I should be able to keep my distance and pick them off one by one, while leaving an easy escape route if necessary. Now I just have to hope they aren't as tough as they look, because if they're made of steel then trying to take them out with my bare hands is gonna hurt. Badly.'

I rose from where I had been crouching at the edge of the building and took a combat stance, taking in a large breath of air I focused my mind for the upcoming fight.

'Well, here goes nothing I guess.'

I pulled back my right arm, braced myself and exhaled as I swung full force. A familiar wave of power washed over me as I Blinked from the rooftop to the ground, my fist making direct contact with the head of a one pointer. Immediately after I felt the robot's head leave its neck I clicked my fingers and Blinked back 20 feet to safety.

I don't know when it started, but sometime after I began training properly with Blink I began clicking my fingers just before I activated it. I remember Kei used to do that all the time, usually when he was being cocky and wanting to look cool. I suppose I just started emulating him, which makes sense really.

'Damn I was right, that hurt. Not as bad as I thought it would but breaking some of the bigger ones quickly will be tough with just my hands.'

A quick look at the damage confirmed that the robot was defeated, the body had crumpled over and the head was snapped clean off at the neck where it hung loosely from a few cables. More importantly though, I saw something interesting.

Taking a quick look around to see none of the other robots were coming for me yet, I Blinked back to the one pointer and investigated what I thought I saw. And as luck would have it, I found something very interesting.

"Ha, jackpot!"

'If all of the robots are like this then this exam just became a lot simpler. I just need to test this out in combat.'

My eyes quickly landed on my next target, another one pointer that was heading my way. It didn't look like it had seen me and would be a great way to confirm my thoughts.

I waited for the robot to get far enough away from the others and then as I Blinked behind it, I quickly reached out my hand toward my target. 'Aha! It's there!' And with a simple flick it was done.

"So I was right!, thank the universe for my perceptiveness!" A sly grin grew on my face

'The one pointers must all have an off switch like this, then maybe the other robots have one as well? It would make sense, not everyone has a quirk suitable for fighting and U.A. isn't just a combat school. I guess these are here to help balance the scales. All I need to do now is find where they are on the other robot types and then I'm home free.'

Speaking of others, there was a group of them headed my way. 12 one pointers and 8 Two pointers followed closely by 5 three pointers. At the speed they were going I had about 20 seconds to come up with a plan.

'Guess I got carried away with my last attack and was a bit too overt. Suppose that's what I get for rushing to the opposite side of the city alone, with nobody else nearby all the bots are locked onto me. Their reaction was quick, but all of them at once?'

'I may not have been the most stealthy just now, but all of them coming at once is odd. Maybe they're all connected and work like a kind of hivemind. Still it should be fine, as long as I can find where the switches are on the others then this will be a piece of cake. First things first.'

I moved to position myself against the incoming one pointers, their faster speed put them far ahead of the others making them easy targets.

'Well I guess they simulate villains pretty well, the dumber, weaker and less experienced charge ahead while the stronger more experienced come in after you're already weakened. Nice work U.A.'

Knowing where the switches are, as well as the predictable nature of the bots makes taking out these one pointers easy. Once I dodged the first one the rest circled me and stopped moving as quickly, each taking their chance to attack one at a time.

Sadly for them I wouldn't let this last long, stopping and surrounding me may have been a good idea if I had a different quirk. But Blink meant that by slowing down so much they had become sitting ducks, and I would happily exploit that.

'Rule number 1: Never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake.'

Taking the opportunity while they were relatively still, I quickly clicked my fingers and used Blink. Moving from one to another and switching off the surrounding one pointers before they could react.

After switching off the first couple the rest seemed to catch on and started moving more quickly and erratically, still at that point I was able to predict their somewhat basic movements and take them down easily enough. Still it was worrying.

"Seriously, again?"

'That reaction time is way too quick.'

'They saw how I fought and adapted to it in a matter of seconds, are these throwaway bots really programmed to adapt like that? Or am I being watched by someone who is updating their battle tactics on the fly? That could make more sense, it would also help them bring out the real potential of the applicants.'

I glanced around the area to humour my suspicion, eventually my eyes fell directly on a small camera hidden away. Using that as a reference meant I knew what to look for, and sure enough, the whole city was full of cameras.

'So it's true that I'm being watched, but that was already expected. Are U.A. really so focused on me that they're controlling these things in real time? It's possible but unlikely, they wouldn't focus on one student. Maybe since I'm alone on the other side of the city from everyone else, more people are focused on me? I would say that these were just being controlled by some random people employed by the school, but unless they are insanely well programmed, their almost instant battle strategy changes mean that at the very least someone experienced is in control.'

Pulling myself out of my thoughts I looked toward the remaining enemies approaching me, focusing in on the smaller two pointers.

'If they're anything like the one pointers then the switch will be located somewhere central to their bodies.'

As they got close I clicked my fingers and Blinked around the cityscape, trying to see if I could spot the switch from a different angle. Luckily they stopped moving for a few moments after I disappeared making spotting it more easy, however...

"You gotta be kidding me."

'Dammit U.A. Of course they would put the switch right on the end of the fast moving tail. It makes sense that it would be harder to get to the more points it's worth. Luckily my quirk can still work for this.'

My mind snapped back to the battle moments before a three pointer ran me over. I instinctively click my fingers and Blink out of the way of the incoming 'tank' so to speak.

As soon as I got my bearings I immediately locked onto an incoming two pointer. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, I crouched down and prepared myself.

As the two pointer drew close it pulled back its tail to attack me, I Blinked, landing with my left arm and legs wrapped around it's tail I quickly reached for the switch as it desperately tried to throw me off.

After nearly being sent flying a few too many times I finally managed to find the switch and turn it off. Releasing my grip from the robot I landed on its back with the remaining robots encircling me.

'So, that's the one and two pointers figured out, but the two pointers are much more difficult to take down. All that's left is the three pointers and this exam is a sure thing.'

Trapped in my thoughts I missed another three pointer crashing into the robot I was standing on but with a hasty snap of my fingers I Blinked away before it hit me next.

'Okay that was close, but my split second reaction bought me some breathing room. I really got lucky there, a second later and I might have been out. I need to stay focused, I can't afford to get cocky.'

I pushed forward toward the nearest one and leapt into the air, Blinking just as I got in range. This time finding the switch was easier and I quickly moved on to the next one.

Springing off of the flailing tail I flew through the air toward another two pointer, and with a click of my fingers I landed on its tail, a second later it was down.

Quickly releasing my grip I fell onto my back on the ground, just in time to dodge the oncoming fist of a three pointer as it crashed through my previous target.

'The big ones seem less worried about damaging the others. I could-'

Unable to finish that thought as I rolled onto my feet and jumped backwards. The remaining three pointers had encircled me and began firing. I don't know what they were shooting but I didn't stop to find out.

My focus stayed on finishing off the two pointers. I moved forward narrowly escaping the hail of projectiles as I rushed toward another robot and then Blinked, not toward it, but onto a second bot off to the side. It hadn't predicted this and was deactivated before it could react.

And I was on the move again, constantly running, jumping and Blinking through, over, and around the hail of projectiles and robots. Doing whatever it took to avoid being pinned down. I narrowly dodged a couple of close calls as I continued my assault on the two point robots.

A few moments later and the two pointers were all dealt with.

'Damn, these things are simple once you know what to do, but moving around and using my quirk this much is starting to tire me out... and I still need to finish the three pointers.'

My eyes fell on an incoming three point robot, as I quickly scanned it's body for where the switch could be. I swiftly moved around the bot, eying it from every angle.

'I just need to find the- wait, no way… of course it is.'

All it took was a quick second glance from another angle to confirm just where the switch is. And it was in possibly one of the worst places.

On the palm of it's hand.

'Great, that means if I'm too slow it'll grab me and then it's game over. Plus there's the fact that only one palm has a switch and it seems like which hand it's on is random, meaning I could easily get the wrong one. I'll need to be much more careful going after three pointers.'

Again I was reminded that I think too much as I was pulled from my thoughts and forced to dodge another charging three pointer. As I snapped my fingers and Blinked away I once again noticed that the robots stopped moving for a few seconds afterward, but the most worrying part was-

'Their reset time is getting quicker...'

'Once again they adapt seamlessly mid-fight, I'm almost sure now that this isn't the bots themselves, someone else is doing this. Since it's a machine the sudden variable change as I disappear must cause it to freeze up for a few seconds while it processes what happened and attempts to relocate me.'

'There's no way it could adapt to that itself, which means someone is reprogramming them in the middle of the battle. The reset time keeps getting shorter, but it's still enough to exploit at the moment. I need to be quick, or I'll lose my advantage.'

Using the opening I Blinked beside the three pointer that had just charged me, using the fact that it was motionless for a split second, I quickly reached out to flip the switch on its palm. Much to my shock, the hand suddenly started closing around me as I rushed to deactivate it.

'It's moving? But it still hasn't reset yet. Whoever's doing this is controlling them directly!'

This switch was much heavier so I was forced to use more strength to move it, meaning that trying to do this while they were moving around could prove next to impossible.

Sensing the sudden time limit I now had, like a noose tightening around my neck, I quickly moved to take out the remaining three pointers. Rushing toward the nearest one I ducked and slid under the incoming swipe of it's arm.

Using it's attack to cover myself from the others I Blinked into the back of another three pointer. From there I looked for the best target, luckily one of the bots had stopped with it's hand wide open, and I could see the switch easily.

Using my quirk I knew I could take out the bot before it could reset and start moving again, leaping into the air from my current mount, I Blinked above it's hand and used the downward momentum of my fall to help me flip the switch.

I had no time to celebrate as the fist of another bot smashed into the one I just took care of, my quick reaction time was once again the only thing that saved me. But it did give me an idea.

I ran away from the nearest bot and headed over toward a second one, with the bot still on my tail I blinked onto the back of my target.

Both bots stopped as they lost my position, the one I stood on seemed to be struggling to find me. The one chasing me not so much, and - much to my delight - was charging straight at us.

As the charging bot got within striking distance, I stepped off of my current podium and fell in between the two bots. The bot I was standing on quickly locked onto me as I appeared in it's view.

Landing on the ground between them, I instantly leapt back up as high as I could, straight upwards. Not too high though, seeing as I was just a normal - if above average - human in terms of physical abilities.

It's arm moved quickly as it swung for me.

And that was exactly what I was hoping for.

With a cheeky half smile, I clicked my fingers and I was gone.

The robot's punch missed it's target, but it hit mine. As the charging bot was unable to stop in time and had still been rushing toward me and the other bot.

The two collided in a fantastic crash as metal and sparks were scattered across the street I was stood upon.

"Well, that went better than I had expected, even still I really had to push myself there, I'm absolutely exhausted. Still, 4 three pointers makes that an easy 12 more points. I should be sitting at-" Something felt off, the hairs on my neck stood on end as my body tensed and my mind replayed something I had said earlier.

'12 one pointers and 8 Two pointers followed closely by-'

"-5 three pointers..." My body stood frozen as my eyes snapped to my side as a large shadow towered over me. I instinctively flinched back away from the towering behemoth as it swung it's hand down to grab me.

Seeing the oncoming attack I did what I always did. I clicked my fingers and I- "Argh!"

As I tried to activate my quirk a pain shot up my back forcing me to fall onto one knee, my vision became blurry and I could feel my body temperature rising.

Using every ounce of will I had left, I forced myself to focus on my attacker who, much to my surprise, had stopped moving. The bot had stopped with it's hand only a few feet away from me.

Gathering whatever energy I could, I sprung forward and reached out with both arms toward the switch on it's palm.

As my body fell forward I grabbed at the switch on it's hand, and just as my hands made contact with the switch the bot's hand lifted up and away from me. Luckily for me the combined force of my body falling and the arm raising was enough to flip the switch.

I fell forward onto my hands and knees and fell into a coughing fit. Retaking control of my body I forced in a few deep breaths as the bot collapsed over backwards. The pain slowly faded as I rested there for a few moments and forced myself to breathe slowly.

Eventually my thoughts came back to me as I replayed what just happened in my head.

'Damn, I've used my quirk more than I thought. Thinking back, I was way too active with it today. I didn't have to push myself nearly as far as I did. At any point I could have escaped the battle and taken a rest. But I suppose I wanted to impress, not like collapsing from quirk overuse is impressive.'

As my vision returned and my body temperature fell back to normal I finally pushed myself back onto my feet and surveyed the surrounding area. To anyone who came across this area after me must have thought a war went on there. Bots and rubble scattered across the floor surrounded by shards of metal. The three pointers had totally ripped the area apart.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and then opened them as I exhaled. "So, looks like I might actually have what it takes to be a he-…" My body froze at the thought of that.

'No, nevermind.' My eyes drifted to the floor. 'That still doesn't feel right to me.'

Taking another deep breath I quickly brought both my hands up and slapped my face hard, the sudden sharp pain snapped me out of my head.

'I need to stay focused. I have a good score, I think so anyway, but I need to keep going just to be sure. Honestly, I'm lucky to still be conscious right now.'

"You may not have a quirk, but you're really lucky. You always somehow manage to just pull through and win everytime we play a game. Hey! Maybe that's your quirk! Maybe you're just really lucky!" I smiled as I remembered her words, but that smile faded as quickly as it appeared.

"She was right. I sure am lucky." I reached up and placed one hand on the back of my neck, stretching out my neck and back to try and shake off that pain I had felt, I started walking toward my next battle.

"It seems we have a wide variety of quirks this year as always." The 'Voice Hero' was, for once, speaking in a normal volume. And for good reason.

The one to reply was the Principal of U.A. himself. "Indeed, so many potential students, each with a different quirk, and each quirk with so many different possible uses."

"I agree, it's nice to see so many quirks used in such unique ways, in fact, watching the new applicants every year always helps me improve as well." The next to add his thoughts to the conversation was Cementoss.

"That's true. Due to the huge possibility of quirks, each applicant is forced to take a completely different route to achieve the same goal. It's great to see such a large variety of abilities being used at varying degrees of skill." Midnight, like all the others, scrolled through the list of candidates, picking out the current top scorers, checking them over and watching their struggles in the testing sites of U.A.

The entire staff of U.A. high school was in this room, watching as the next batch of hopeful heroes fought for the few spots that existed at the top school in the country. They all scoured through the list of candidate's watching the hopefuls in action and occasionally bringing them up on screen to share with the others.

"You are absolutely correct. While some rely on information gathering abilities to pre plan strategies before moving in. Others rely entirely on their superior speed or strength to pull ahead. Of course, remaining calm under pressure can give you a huge advantage, as can pure power and raw combat ability. But the most successful students are those that are able to use a combination of all of these, they're the ones getting the highest scores."

Principal Nezu was very perceptive, his keen eye, experience, and most importantly his quirk, allowed him to quickly figure out which of the students here today were most likely to make it through just based on the answers given in the written exams as well as the last few minutes of practical work.

"Oh wow, impressive. With a single battle candidate #6524 has skyrocketed up to first place, and by a large margin." Cementoss scanned over his tablet, bringing up a replay on the main screen of a familiar student teleporting around the battlefield, taking out enemies left and right without even fighting them.

Snipe was flicking through the replay, picking out the most important events of the quick battle and bringing them up on screen for the others to see. "That's the most combatants taken down so far in a single engagement, and all by one candidate. All of those enemies at once and all while barely breaking a sweat. Kid made it look easy, right up until the end anyway."

"I can already see that he's obviously a quick thinker, and perceptive. It's been less than two minutes and he's already found the enemies weaknesses. His reaction time is also quite spectacular, if he was even a fraction of a second slower then that last bot would have had him. With his quirk I'd say he'd make an excellent combat oriented hero." Vlad King, being a more battle oriented hero, was focused very much on the combat potential of Shiro's quirk.

"If he can take others with him when he moves like that he'd make a great support hero too. He could excel at getting injured civilians out of almost fatal situations, with little risk to himself or others. And being able to take other heroes in with him could allow them to secure a disaster area quickly." While being a rescue specialist, Thirteen was much more focused on the support side of it. Being an expert in all things rescue, Thirteen's words held a lot of weight in this situation.

Midnight swiped her tablet and brought up the finale of the battle for the others to see. "I agree, although he does seem to think a little too much. There were several times he was caught off guard by what should have been an obvious attack. He is clearly quite lucky, hopefully he doesn't rely on that too much."

"The only reason that last enemy didn't get him is because it's programming was altered to allow for faster reengagement against an enemy with superior mobility. It stopped it's attack because it expected him to be gone already. That change pushed him on the back foot and forced him to be less passive in his quirk usage as his enemy adopted a strategy almost perfectly designed to defeat him, yet that itself is what ended up saving him in the end." Power Loader, the man that designed these robots knew immediately that his creations had been altered.

Usually, U.A. property being altered by an outside source would be cause for alarm. However he knew that this time the changes came from within U.A., from the Principal himself.

Nezu had been furiously typing on his tablet a few minutes ago before suddenly stopping. That, and the smile on his face as he went on with his work, was more than enough to tell everyone that he was up to something. And now they all knew what.

Eager to get his answers, Power Loader did not hesitate to ask questions. "Do I even want to know why you're interfering with an official U.A. exam? There were a few other close calls that he barely managed to avoid. Putting one student through an unfair situation while peers get off easy is verging on sabotage."

"And a quirk misfire like that is concerning, it looked like it hurt him a lot more than I would like to see. It was enough to stop him from moving for a while, something like that could have put him in a bad spot. Who knows what would have happened if he had been forced to push himself further" Ever the protective one, despite her outward appearance and the way she usually acts, Midnight was immediately worried for this child she had never met before and was already preparing ways to help him avoid future harm. Before he was even accepted into the school.

"I'm just doing what it takes to bring out the full potential of a likely future student of U.A. As the principal, that is my main goal when it comes to our school. And it certainly worked out well, he gave us quite the show of skill and showed us a high level of quirk mastery. The backlash at the end couldn't have been predicted, but now that we know about it we can plan ahead in order to avoid it going forward."

"It's definitely the first thing we'll have to work on with him. I'd recommend training him to better know his limits before working on expanding those limits as far as we safely can." Midnight could only wince as the replay showed a boy on his hands and knees coughing and struggling to breathe, and likely from some sort of backlash from his own quirk.

"Candidate number 6524 is certainly a special case here. While it is true that he is able to think on his feet, he is usually more inclined to take a moment to pre plan. And that would be exactly why he was so quick to defeat his opponents here. In fact, he is the exact type of student I was talking about. One who knows how to play to his strengths and is able to mitigate his weaknesses, while calmly finding and exploiting his opponents. He certainly is one of the candidates to keep an eye on this year." Such high praise - from Nezu of all people - finally drew the attention of the rest of the room on Shiro as they stopped their current work to study the boy in question.

Even All Might, who was very focused on another young student, had his attention taken. And he was glad it was, as he easily recognised who was on screen.

"Really? You seem to know a lot about him already. Is there something that makes him so special, besides what we've already seen?" Midnight quickly searches through the list of candidates before she lands on #6524. Her brow furrows a small tinge of recognition across her face. Tapping a button she brings his profile up onto one of the main screens so the group can look at it together.

Nezu gave the other members of U.A. a basic rundown of the potential hero. "Candidate #6524. Given name: Shiro, his actual family name is unknown, although if asked he is known to give the name of his previous caretaker, Enishi. Orphaned at birth and previously thought to be quirkless."

"Is he famous? Orphaned at birth and no family name, not the son of some famous hero or part of a well known family and his profile seems to have a lot of gaps. Why does he seem so familiar?" Midnight was flipping through Shiro's file, trying her best to figure out where she recognized him from.

"I also recognize him, but I have no recollection where from."

"Strangely enough, I also believe I know him from somewhere."

Ectoplasm and Cementoss, along with most of the room, were hard at work trying to jog their memories. Luckily for them, their boss wasn't going to make them wait too long.

"Several of you should recognize him. In fact, all of you should have seen him several times before, and almost everyone in this room has met Shiro at least once, even if only in passing."

"He's that kid, isn't he? The one from three years ago" Shota Aizawa finally decided to cut into the conversation, having watched and listened to the others struggle for long enough.

"Yes, he is."

"I thought so, I realised it as soon as I saw him use his quirk. Tch, I've been dreading this day, this year is going to be a real pain."

"A kid from three years ago? Wait, you don't mean-" Midnight almost jumped out of her seat upon realising what her two colleagues meant.

"Correct. Shiro is the sole survivor of the Naruhata incident three years ago. He's the same young boy that you found that day. A young 'quirkless' boy that had sustained several major injuries and yet still managed to hold off a number of villains that several up and coming pro heroes had been struggling to contain. And all at the age of 12. I do believe he makes quite the hero candidate."

Silence fell over the room as the teachers of U.A. took time to digest what had just been said.

The Naruhata incident was famous, or actually infamous would be the better word. It was possibly the biggest failure of hero society in the past few decades.

An attack on an orphanage by a large group of known criminals that had mysteriously vanished from their prison cells weeks prior, and had somehow eluded local law enforcement for all that time.

A battle that broke out between these villains and some fledgling heroes causing widespread destruction, injury, and death.

Many civilians, and even some heroes were heavily injured or killed. An entire orphanage was crushed by a collapsing tower and burnt to the ground. The sole survivor, a child, was forced to escape the blaze by his own strength. Men, women, and children abandoned and left to fend for themselves as their supposed protectors ran past them to claim fame and glory.

And a kid who denounced the heroes that failed him. A kid that was surrounded by heroes yet still forced to save himself. A kid that almost died fending off villains that 'professionally trained heroes' lost against.

It was a disaster, a story that spread to the news like wildfire causing a rise in discontent and a loss of trust and faith in pro heroes for the following months. Even now the effects of that day are still felt. And Shiro had openly yet unknowingly fanned the flames.

The disgusting actions and fatal short sightedness of the rookie heroes, the horribly slow response time of any veteran pro heroes, and the leaked image of a child covered in blood fighting for his life to protect the collapsed body of another child.

Alone these things were damning, but together they lit the world of heroes aflame.

Those up and coming heroes, some of which had previously shown great potential, had made an inexcusable mistake and lost any chance of ever being a real hero in the public eye. Almost two dozen young heroes forever lost to the world due to either shame, injuries, or death.

Societal reforms were pushed forward as protesters took to the streets demanding a higher quality of hero, more intensive training regimens, stricter graduation requirements, and a curriculum more focused on saving and protecting people over combat training.

All of this alongside mass complaints around the dangers of fame and fortune being so far nestled into hero culture, and a rise of unprovoked anger targeting those at the top of them all.

The masses were enraged at what had happened as a fire was lit under them, and all spurned on further by the actions and words of a child who had lost everything to the failure of heroes.

Of course, as they always do, the protesters' numbers began to dwindle and eventually their movement ended. But it was not entirely a failure, some of the things they wished for were looked over and were actually seen as good policy changes.

However, the changes were still few and far between. While no longer a major public matter, the anger caused by that day still sits and festers within people.

"Even after that terrible day, he still wishes to face villains again?" The first to snap out of his thoughts and break the silence was Cementoss, yet his voice was quiet.

"It would seem so..." Midnight was clearly still affected by the memory of what happened. Being one of the first pro heroes on the scene after the initial group, and the one to find Shiro shortly before he succumbed to his injuries and lost consciousness. The things she saw that day still weigh heavily on her mind.

"I guess young Shiro's tenacity is even stronger than any of us could have thought. I truly wish he is able to become the kind of hero that he so desperately needed that day." All Might's praise of the boy shook the others out of their thoughts, as everyone's attention focused on the man in question.

Of all of the people in this room, All Might had faced the worst of the consequences of that day, and for one simple reason.

All Might wasn't there.

He never arrived on scene, and didn't appear in the public eye until the next day. Of course the top ranked hero would be bombarded by questions.

"Where were you?" "Why didn't you save them?" "Why did you let this happen?"

All might was faced with all of these and more, and he didn't have a real answer. He couldn't have an answer. All Might couldn't tell anyone why he wasn't there, and the reason was simple.

He was injured. The wound caused by his greatest enemy had hindered his abilities, and the time he could use his quirk was dropping by the day.

The reason All Might didn't do anything is because he couldn't. By sheer bad luck he had already used all of the energy he could muster from his now limited 'quirk usage' time. Being so far away from Naruhata, the small amount of energy he did have left wouldn't have even gotten him to the area, nevermind him saving anyone.

Not that he didn't try, but by time he got anywhere close it was already long over. He didn't make it, and his time limit was reduced heavily from pushing himself anyway. It was a loss on two fronts.

And then two weeks later he heard it. All Might watched as a child no older than 12, a child that he and several others thought could be a great hero one day, finally awoke from his grievous injuries.

And he denounced heroes.

Those watching over Shiro had thought they had lost another future hero that day. Even worse, after all that had happened and with the anger in his eyes, they may have even witnessed the birth of a villain.

That was the real reason why Shiro was put into therapy, and why he was placed into a new orphanage where he could be monitored. That was why he could never be adopted by just anyone. He was too much of a risk.

But even after all that happened, Shiro came here today, he had decided to become a hero. Not for fame, not for glory, and most certainly not for money. Shiro chose to become a hero for his own reasons.

Yet even after all the problems he faced because of the boy, the anger and disappointment he had to face for several months. All Might could never be angry at Shiro, because it wasn't his fault. Shiro was a victim more than anyone else.

The Naruhata incident was the main driving force for All Might's increased efforts toward searching for a successor. Had he been at full strength that day then it may have been avoided entirely. But he wasn't, and so All Might's search suddenly became his top priority.

After years of work and searching, hundreds of potential heroes, and many sleepless nights it was narrowed down to one person. Mirio Togata, a budding young hero that was just about to start his third year at U.A. After a shaky start at the school, Togata finally managed to master his quirk and doing so jumped him well above the top of his class.

He was a fantastic choice for a successor to One for All. And that was why he was the one that was to be officially chosen.

Officially.

But he wasn't All Might's sole choice. And All Might could never bring himself to fully abandon the idea of giving One for All to his other option.

Yet none of that mattered in the end, as All Might never met Mirio Togata. In the strangest of scenarios All Might happened upon a young boy, and on that same day almost on a whim, he made his choice.

Even now he wondered if he made the right choice.

"After seeing what happened and hearing his words that day, I fear that Shiro may never believe in heroes again. It appears that he has chosen to become a hero solely because he does not trust anyone else to do so in his place." Nezu's words shook All Might from his thoughts, as he joined the rest of the group in observing the current topic of discussion.

"Well with 45 points already, I'd say it's pretty much assured that he'll be a hero course student this year. I wonder how high he'll have scored by the end of this. Basic robots aren't much against someone who's already faced the terror of a real villain" Midnight's words were solemn as she focused intently on the boy walking quietly through the city

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see." All in the room focused intently, those in attendance having all but forgotten about the other candidates.

"There's still plenty of time before it's over. The real test is yet to come. Let's see how he handles this." Snipe reached forward and lifted open a glass case on the panel in front of him, pressing a large red button, activating the final threat of the test.

'Sweet! 26 villains down! I should be around 45 points right now, and with this I now have a way to beat all three of the robot variants, this exam just got real ea... sy... wait… three? Wasn't there four-'

The ground began to rumble heavily, like an earthquake had hit.

"What the hell. Is this somebody's quirk?"

My question was answered quickly as a shadow suddenly loomed over me. Turning to face the origin of the shadow my jaw dropped slightly.

'It's… huge… What the hell, there's no way I could find a switch on that, that thing's insane! You could give me a month and I'd be barely done searching one arm!'

"The fourth villain type is worth zero points! That guy's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way" As the words of Present Mic ran through my head, they suddenly made complete sense.

'Forget trying to take something like that head on, only an idiot would attempt that. Or, well...'

"Well, not like I have to worry too much. Best to just stay out of that things way, I can do that easily enough."

I turned away from the giant and started heading away from it, all I heard from behind me was the rumbling of giant tank tracks and the loud sound of collapsing buildings.

'Thankfully I can quickly move to another part of the city and stay away from that thing.'

'I can, but-'

As I was running, my thoughts were cut off and my body locked up as I heard something that sent a chill down my spine. A scream. One of genuine horror and fear, the kind of scream I hadn't heard in a long time. And it was coming from behind me.

I immediately stopped and turned. My eyes were met with a sight eerily familiar to me. A girl, short, dark hair and running for her life. All I could think about is that she was about to die, and that I couldn't do anything about it. Again.

The next thing I noticed was why she screamed. The 0 point robot was hot on her tail, to make things worse it was knocking down buildings left and right and she was about to be crushed by the debris.

A room full of pro heroes watched with bated breath to see what would come next. None more focused than the number one hero himself.

'Come now young Shiro, show us all the ideal hero that you wish to become.'

Smiles and silent applause filled the room as the target of their focus moved.

I started to move completely on instinct, using both my quirk and my athletic ability I began closing the distance with the girl. I couldn't just Blink straight to her, my previous overuse had run my energy reserves dry, a jump like that would leave nothing left to get us out and I would end up as nothing more than a second victim.

All I could do was short Blinks, using them to supplement my athletic ability where needed as I approached her as fast as I could. As I did I watched as she reached down and scooped up a rock.

Then surprisingly, she turned and threw the rock at the collapsing building. At first I thought she was panicking, that was until the rock suddenly grew in size as it left her hand.

The rock, now boulder, slammed into the collapsing building and made a large hole in the collapsing rubble. It was a clever move, this way she could stand safely in the gap and remove the chance of getting crushed.

Suddenly the behemoth swung its arm in an unbelievable show of speed from something so large, shattering the boulder and sending a hail of rocks back down toward her.

I thought she had made a mistake in her panic but the next thing I knew the shattered pieces of the boulder shrunk down into dust.

It turned out that I had massively underestimated the stranger, unfortunately she still wasn't quite clear of danger. While the collapsing building wasn't as likely to harm her anymore, it would trap her where she was, and one of the tracks of the giant robot was still heading straight for her.

If she didn't move it'd run right over her, and once that falling building hit the ground she'd have a hard time getting away through the rubble.

So then, it was a good thing that I had kept moving toward her, even if she might be able to save herself.

I still don't know why I did it, it was just a test so the chances of her being seriously hurt were actually low, but I just felt like I had to help her. And I don't regret that choice.

The 'earthquake' created by the sheer size of the robot had caused all the buildings around to begin to collapse, meaning that the path to her was getting tricky to navigate, even with my quirk.

I kept moving though, Blinking and running my way along the side of a building that was halfway through tipping over. I leapt onto a large piece of falling rubble and then used that to kick off into the air, Blinking inside the collapsing top half of a skyscraper that was falling in my path.

The building continued to fall and feeling it beginning to crumble, I picked up the pace sprinting my full speed down the corridor.

The corridor began rotating as the tower tipped and I was forced to quickly move from running on the floor to the wall.

I stepped over open doorway after open doorway before switching to the now upside down ceiling, nimbly stepping over light fixtures and leaping across gaps left by falling debris I made my way to the exit.

At the end of the corridor I leapt through an already broken window, landing and sliding down the side of another falling building as the skyscraper behind me shattered and collapsed in on itself.

Silent applause made way for loud cheers as the camera drones struggled to follow their target through the collapsing city.

Nearing the end of the building I ended my slide and pushed off into the air then, as I continued to fall I Blinked, landing on the ground and immediately started running along the treacherous route to reach the girl as quickly as I could, barely avoiding falling rubble as I ran.

I could barely make out the sight of a giant hand slamming down toward her, several enlarged boulders bounced off the behemoth seemingly ineffective. Seeing this I sped up even further, my muscles screaming as I pushed myself further and further.

Narrowly making it through collapsing gaps, jumping and blinking from one piece of falling rubble to another, I managed to find a path straight through to the now trapped girl.

I could feel my body heating up rapidly as I approached, one of the telltale signs of my quirk being pushed past it's limits. The second and even more obvious one was the excess energy that had been building up in my body began escaping in small bright bursts of white lightning.

My body felt like it had been dropped in a furnace and time seemed to slow down as I appeared out of thin air diving toward the girl. Mid dive my eyes flicked upwards to see the hand coming down quickly, only a few dozen meters away from us both.

As I looked back toward her I saw the somewhat panicked girl turn her attention away from the giant hand toward me, her eyes widened in shock as she saw me.

Luckily I hadn't quite pushed past my limit on my way to her, but I can tell that I certainly came close. Compared to earlier, any backlash now would be excruciating.

She looked at me with what I could only think was surprise and a small bit of relief, I wasn't really sure though, she was hard to read.

As I flew in to tackle her out of the way my body suddenly slammed into something, it was like I crashed into the air itself. Whatever I hit wasn't rock hard but soft, reminiscent of bumping into someone in a hallway.

"Eep!" The object in question gave out a squeal as we both continued on together and crashed into the dark haired girl. Immediately activating my quirk, we all Blinked out from under the giant hand crashing into the ground and rolling into a pile.

Being shocked after hitting the invisible object I was barely able to move us a few dozen meters. We were safe for now, but we were still trapped and surrounded by rubble.

Not wanting to end up in a cliché situation I immediately jumped to my feet and off of the girl.

Reaching down to offer my hand to the girl, I felt as she took mine, only she didn't reach out to me. It was at this moment I realised that there was a third person here, and I quickly pulled them up onto their feet.

"I'm sorry about crashing into you like that, but, are you actually invisible?" I reached out my hand and gently waved it around, trying to see if I could feel anything near me. To my instant regret, I most definitely made contact with something, and I'm 90% sure I know what it was. And it could only end badly.

"Hey! Watch your hands Mr. Grabby Pants." I felt a slap on my wrist and a few on my shoulder from the invisible, and I'm now sure naked, girl. "First tackling and now groping? You pervert."

"I am so sorry! But uh... are you naked right now?" I immediately blurted out without thinking. My head was spinning at the thought of what had just happened.

"She's invisible." The dark haired girl chimed as she moved to stand herself up, and I took that as my out. Reaching down to help her up, I realised that she seemed to be paying particular attention to the fading bursts of energy and steam coming from my body.

Pulling her onto her feet, I could only let out a long sigh as I felt my body begin to cool back down. "Yeah I guessed that, it was either that or really small. Seriously though I'm super sorry I crashed into you and then grabbed you. I didn't realise you were there, you know with the whole invisible thing. But uh… why are you naked?"

"Because if I was wearing clothes then you'd be able to see me." She said as if it was totally normal and the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh well that's… oh, wait… huh, that actually makes so much sense- " It's at this moment the track of the 0 pointer crashes through the wall behind the girl, reminding me why I was there in the first place and causing the invisible girl to scream and latch onto me.

"Oh yeah, now who's groping. Seriously though, both of you grab onto me and hold on. Now!" Feeling the invisible girl on my arm I hold out my hand toward the other girl who hastily takes it.

I have to admit, being grabbed by an invisible person is one of the most strange feelings I've ever experienced. It was like a literal phantom sensation. But being latched onto by a naked invisible girl… That is something I will never forget, for many conflicting reasons...

"I recommend you both hold your breath, my quirk has a side effect on the people I take with me, you're about to get a little nauseous."

With the rubble falling around us I couldn't possibly get us back through the way I came, moving like that with 2 other people would be impossible. And with my quirks relatively short range I couldn't get us past the rubble in one jump. So I had to do the next best thing.

I closed my eyes and pictured a spot I remembered. I focused hard on the main road I saw earlier when I was scouting, the one near the center of the arena.

'If it was just the one girl like I originally thought then it would have been okay, but with all three of us this might be a problem. Still it's not like I have a choice after all of that bravado.'

I could feel the giant bot closing in as I focused on the exact place I wanted us to land, the girls holding on to either of my arms grew noticeably more tense as their grip tightened. In response I tightened my grip on their hands to reassure them.

I could feel my body heating up to well above what anyone could call 'safe' and I could tell that the sudden surge of energy from me was pretty obvious as I once again heard a similar "Eep" sound. Likely spooked by the energy escaping from me passing over her, thankfully harmlessly.

It took a few seconds and all my focus but I activated my quirk and Blinked us away from danger.

Before I could even open my eyes I was immediately met with a sharp pain in my chest. The pain forced me to cough harshly as I felt liquid rush out of my mouth. The taste of blood was obvious immediately as I fell to my knees.

I could tell the two girls were panicked at this as I felt them both reach to try and help me, I looked up to see the face of the girl I had saved. I could only assume the other was there too but being invisible made it a little difficult to be sure.

Not like it mattered, I could barely focus, what little I managed to make out was already obvious. She was scared and panicking, as most people would be in this situation.

The pain was intense as I fell into a coughing fit. With each cough I felt more pain, and with each shot of pain I had to cough more, and as each cough forced its way out I lost more blood.

I felt pain all over my body, as if I was being whipped and burned by a malicious torturer. Pulling my mind back to some small fraction of sense I looked down only to see more blood.

The excess energy that had built up inside of me was escaping, only this time it was more powerful, and it was literally 'ripping' its way out of my body leaving behind deep and large gashes as it burst out from under my skin.

The blood loss quickly started to make me drowsy as I fell to my knees, I heard cries of pain as I felt both of the girls jolt back away from me, my eyes falling on them only to see the dark haired girl holding her bleeding arm, the other I can assume was nursing a similar sort of injury.

And I could only grimace knowing that it was because of the backlash of my quirk. As the buildup of energy escaped me my body began to rapidly cool down. Eventually the pain faded, and so did the world.

My body gave way as I fell forward, my hands splashing in a pool of my own blood, my arms barely keeping me from the ground.

My vision began to fade until I could only see a bright white light.

And then I saw her.

And I smiled.

Authors notes:

Season 4 Spoilers below.

So since the release of the first chapter I have made it further in the My Hero Academia story.

I have realised that Shiro's fighting style when using Blink is actually incredibly similar to Mirio Togata's fighting style of dodging and attacking from unexpected angles. More importantly is that Yui's Revert quirk turned out to be very similar to Eri's Rewind quirk.

Seems like I have a thing for creating characters that are similar to already canon characters. Well it's too late to change any of that now, they're similar but at the same time different enough to not need to be changed. Besides, those similarities may come into play later.

I've decided to stop making promises about when the next chapter of any story will come out because honestly, I rewrite each chapter so many times that any estimate will be wrong. Chances are this chapter will be edited several times before chapter 3 is released because every time I read something I've written my mind constantly wants to add/edit things.

The middle part of this chapter when the teachers are talking started out about a quarter of the size but as time went on I just kept adding more. I had to cut myself off of adding anymore exposition because I planned on releasing this a while ago after proof reading, but once again I started editing/adding more. However it gave me a good chance to add some more to Shiro's backstory so it was all good in the end.

We also got our first real taste of combat/action and I'm sorta happy with how it ended up. Originally it was less detailed because the robot fight isn't all that interesting and even now the robot fight is kind of skipped over quickly, but Shiro's combat skill and his battle tactics are one of the biggest parts of this story so I decided to go back and flesh it out a bit.

As always thank you for reading, I hope you're all safe and well, and I'll see you next time.

Whenever that is.