They were not late.

They did however, cut it extremely close, prompting a future public morals officer to call them out on it after the written exam, during Present Mic's explanation.

Real Onigase type, that one. Who just so happened to make it a point to sit in-between him and Uraraka-san on the bus when they sat down. Which was the situation he was currently in.

「So…」 He's probably the student council type, right? He'd destroyed enough… more normal middle schools to pick them out. Either that or head of the morals committee. 「You come here often?」

"I do not!" The boy said, without a hint of sarcasm. "It would be unbecoming of me to gain such an advantage as knowing the terrain before the test! Are you trying to cheat?"

「If I was trying to do that, I'd be more subtle about it than 'you come here often?'」

"My apologies! It is unfair of me to assume! I hope you will forgive me for this transgression!"

This would be an… interesting bus ride.

"GOOOOOO!"

And like that, he was off.

It wasn't much of a head start, but he was used to fights initiating abruptly.

Behind him, he swore he heard Present Mic say something like "Broccoli's got the right idea!" Bastard. At least Uraraka's comparison was cool.

He turned a corner, and was faced with a metal beast. He sharpened his screw.

That's 1.

"Such a wide battlefield… and limited time. Brings out the best in them."

Shouta scoffed. He and the rat both knew that robots were an awful way of testing hero examinees. Flashiest quirk contest? Maybe. Factor of cool didn't save lives. That had to be sarcasm.

He could never tell when the rat was being sarcastic. Might as well call his bluff. "Oh, shut it. You and I both know robots don't test them well."

The rat smiled. He couldn't see his face, but he could hear it in his voice.

"We make what we can with… what we're allowed to do."

Back to checking the cameras.

The screw-kid at Site C was… well, getting screwed. Always arriving at the robots just too late, to what robots he could find. He'd say the kid was deliberately avoiding the robot clusters, but he knew frustration when he saw it. The kid was just having a run of bad luck. Shame. Kid had good starting instincts.

Explosion boy, Site B, was the opposite, finding the clusters and wreaking havoc on them. The kid was aggressive. Probably a battle-junkie or something. Powerful quirk, though. He'd probably get shackled with him. Can't imagine Kan being able to negate his quirk… or temperament.

Pinkie, Site F… was a lock for first place. He was… somewhat suspicious of her. She'd been racking up points in a way that seemed as though she already knew the exact parameters of the test. Espionage points, Rescue points, Villain points… he's sure that Nedzu had some more obscure point categories in there that she also knew about, since her actions were so deliberate even when they happened to look erratic. He also couldn't get a read on her ability, which was odd. All he knew is that it was getting exponentially more versatile, which… slightly pissed him off, since she didn't seem to be taking the exam seriously.

He was interested in the Cloud Strife wannabe. Hadn't displayed any obvious use of a quirk, but was still doing enough to most likely pass in the end. Clearly had prior combat experience… Martial Arts? He couldn't pick the style out, but he was mowing through robots with just his legs. General augmentation? He'd be more impressed if it wasn't, but it's only logical.

"Kan, pull up the profiles for the current focuses of Cameras 12, 15, 22, and 34. I want to check a few things." He wouldn't have to deal with the blonde demon, so he could do that for him.

"Got it… Here." He handed him a stack of papers.

Hmm…

That's… probably an error. He should point that out.

"Screw-kid's listed as quirkless. Can't imagine a support item that'd allow you to materialize things out of thin air, so that's an error. Documentation error or illegal quirk masquerading, now that's the question."

"Ah, yes. Young Midoriya." All Might knows this kid? Huh. Interesting. "He… had a late awakening. Two joints. He tried to get it registered, but… he had to deal with a rather anti-Quirkless receptionist, and he snapped and said… what was it? Something along the lines of 'I'm already registered into the shadow government, this is a waste of time.' Then stormed out. Refused to try again." Ah, a class clown. Suddenly he was a bit more thankful that screw-kid wasn't doing so well, if he wasn't taking things seriously.

Something about how Kan flinched at that was a bit surprising. Probably thinking the same thing as him.

"You speak as though you were there, All Might." He prodded.

"I was, we're acquainted. He called me in after hour two of stonewalling." Oh, that explains the kid snapping. Never mind. "Said he didn't want to do anything that'd get him arrested so he was exhausting all the legal coercive methods he had on him. Unfortunately, I was out of time that day. They don't really listen to Yagi Toshinori like they do All Might." He laughed, though it was very subdued for the hero.

Fair enough. Explosion boy, Bakugo Katsuki… had a very clean record. Almost too clean for what he's showing in the exam. He'd keep an eye on him.

… Oh. Oh no. He was going to be saddled with Pinkie, too, wasn't he? That's an absurdly powerful quirk. He'd call bullshit if it didn't make sense.

…Huh. What's a Kurokami doing here without a single recommendation to their name?

He'd figure that one out later. With the glint in the rat's eyes, he guessed it's time to do his job.

"Release the gimmick!"

He sighed. He reached for the button.

He failed.

18 points and a Kaiju worth nothing.

He failed.

「It seems I couldn't win again, huh. Dammit.」 He said to no-one in particular. Should he be swearing in front of Recovery Girl?

Whatever. He'd mope to Anshin'in. He needs to be… anywhere but here.

He ran to the entrance. Goddammit, she was waiting for him already. Probably used a skill. At least she wouldn't get fucking arrested for showing her all.

"I refuse to read your mind after what happened this morning, so tell me how you did."

…18.

About as expected for a screw-only run. If he used All Fiction, he'd probably pass, but he'd rather not reveal that if he doesn't even get into Yuuei in the first place.

He couldn't even use Book Maker, since the AI had no sentience.

He… he was definitely gonna fail. He bet Katsuki's around 60 by now.

Suddenly, he heard ominous rumbling in the streets…

Fuck, Miyakonojou would have a field day with that one.

Robot boy had already sped past him, and the rest of the examinees were on their feet, which left him alone staring at the marvel of… wasted money, for one. He couldn't judge, he probably caused more destruction in first life.

He took in the size of it, trying to internalize the budget required to make this behemoth, head to… toe…

Uraraka was pinned under the rubble. In the path of the unstoppable robot. Shit.

He ran towards her, planning to pull her out of the rubble.

Then…

He had a stupid idea. A very… very stupid idea. He hoped his analysis of Uraraka's quirk was correct.

「Hey, Uraraka? Force nullification quirk, right? Contact-based, puts an object in a state of inertia, can release by putting your hands together. Right?」

"Um… it removes gravity…"

Not exactly how that works, but okay. He can work with this.

「Alright, I need you to use your quirk on me, and release when I'm at the head of the robot.」

She was confused. "You gonna… jump on it or something?"

He put on a smile. 「Something like that. Don't worry. I have a landing strategy.」

It's not like she had to know what it entailed.

She looked skeptical, but complied.

He spawned two screws, and jumped.

He stared the robot in the eyes, hoping there wasn't a camera in there, but he couldn't tell, so…

「Please don't fine me for this.」

He lengthened the screw through the robot's head as he felt the pull of gravity once more.

Plausible deniability.

「The zero-pointer is no longer functional.」

And he fell.

A familiar ceiling.

He booked it to the classroom door.

A familiar taste. 「Ah, the ground.」

A conveniently placed cloud of dust that obscured his state of being. An impact crater happens to do that, conveniently.

Did he mention it was convenient? It's convenient. He pulled himself from the ground.

「Told you I had a landing strategy.」

She looked traumatized. Oops. Oh well, it's not like he wasn't used to losing friends.

He failed.

18 points and a Kaiju worth nothing.

He failed.

「It seems I couldn't win again, huh. Dammit.」 He said to no-one in particular. Should he be swearing in front of Recovery Girl?

Whatever. He'd mope to Anshin'in. He needs to be… anywhere but here.

He ran to the entrance. Goddammit, she was waiting for him already. Probably used a skill. At least she wouldn't get fucking arrested for showing her all.

"I refuse to read your mind after what happened this morning, so tell me how you did."

"Did you really have to recount that last part?"

「Yes, it's important that I convey to you how much spite I have for your ability to actually go all out without getting arrested.」

"Charming. Behind you."

Oh no.

Uraraka did not look happy.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MEAN 'TOLD YOU I HAD A LANDING STRATEGY', YOU ASSHOLE, I SAW YOU HIT THE CONCRETE! TERMINAL! VELOCITY! FACEPLANT! I THOUGHT YOU DIED! I THOUGHT I WAS COMPLICIT IN YOUR DEATH! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!" Oh wow. He did… not expect that from her. She looked halfway between crying and snapping, which was… a look, especially on a face that was eerily reminiscent of Kirby.

「I… got better?」

Oh, no. Wrong thing to say. Why the fuck did that slip out. Too revealing and… oh, she's even more pissed now.

"YOU WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOUR QUIRK WAS SCREWS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA LIKE, STAB THE GROUND OR SOMETHING!"

「not how physics work…」 he mumbled.

"I DON'T CARE! EXPLAIN! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Oh no, she caught that too. And… Anshin'in had ditched them there.

He wasn't getting out of this without at least a partial explanation… was he?

Why were all the girls he knew so scary?

"Okay. Okay. So. Okay."

「Yes?」

"So, you can't die."

「Yes. The exact mechanism of it is extremely complicated. I've tested it in far more precarious situations, and it's only failed me once, but I also got better in that situation too, for circumstances I am contractually obligated to not talk about.」

It wasn't legally binding anymore since he died, but he'll take all the copouts he can get. The less people know that connects him to Kumagawa Misogi, the better.

To be fair, he didn't exactly leave records after age 18.

Nor did Medaka write about All Fiction, which is suspicious, because that's one of the only things she actually edited out from her autobiography.

But it's the spirit of things. Ace up his sleeve.

"Would it kill you to warn me next time you pull some reckless new idea out your ass?"

Interesting wording, he'll zero in on it. 「Next time?」

She sighed, looking mortified. "Look, I'm angry with you for scaring me like that, but it's not like I even asked you what your quirk is, so that's on me." Not a quirk, but he'll let her assume that. "I mean, even if neither of us pass, I want to keep in contact with you, I don't know. If I tried to figure it out, I'd probably start rambling again." She fiddled with her fingers. "Here's my number, asshole." She mumbled, picking out a piece of paper from her pockets. "Don't do that again. It was scary."

「I… can't promise that.」

She glared at him.

「I'll… try?」 Sue him, he can't control whether or not he dies.

She relented. "I'm not sorry for snapping at you, you don't just die for a random girl you met this morning. That's stupid. But I'll forgive you, so… text me? Sorry. Wait, I'm not sorry, that's reflex, sorry. FUCK! Text me if you pass. Present Mic said there was another variable to the test. You seemed sad when you left and I know it wasn't regret, so, you probably think you failed, but that's still up for debate. See ya."

She had a rather unexpected ferocity in her. Interesting. He'll make note of it.

A/N: Unfortunately chat segments are against the rules. There's a final segment over on AO3 that is a chat segment. It's under the Medaka Box tag, you'll know it when you see it, it's like, one of twenty four. I don't like having to do this, but rules are rules.

I have an original main antagonist, since i've fucked with the MHA timeline a bit to slot it into Medaka Box in an interesting way. They'll debut in the story after Hosu. AFO/Tomura are still majorly important. They're just... not the final boss? Just the main boss for like... 2/3rds of the story.