Izuku walked to the Yuuei campus with his head held high. The morning of the entrance exam was upon him, and thanks to the training, gifts, and insider info granted to him by his friends- no, more like family- he had finally felt confidence in his own abilities.
He was going to show everyone exactly what he was made of, especially All Might.
He closed his eyes, trying to push down his excitement. He needed to focus on the present, on how exactly he needed to pass this exam. Of course, that wasn't the only problem. He would likely pass the exam, but the real challenge would be finding a way to gain the trust of his classmates. This was different than in junior high, he couldn't be as standoffish as he used to. Unlike then, he wasn't going in as a quirkless punching bag. With some hope, these new students were going to give him a chance to be on good terms with them. That would be his way in.
He stopped outside the gates, gazing at the large campus in front of him. It felt almost intimidating, seeing the towers looming over him, almost as if challenging him.
'Do it.' They whispered 'Try and see how far you can make it here, Villain!'
He was brought back to reality by a rough shove on his shoulder.
"Move it, Deku." A voice next to him growled.
Of course it was Bakugou. They hadn't spoken since the quirk "awakening" incident some months ago. Izuku had requested to switch classes after the incident, to which the principal immediately accepted. Bakugou never spoke to him since that day. The rest of the students opted to leave him alone, as usual. However, it was no longer because they wanted to ostracize the boy. The whispers and glances around him told him everything he needed to know. They were scared of him.
And so he spent his school days alone, but Izuku was fine with that. Kurogiri and Tomura were always there after school, and that was all he needed. They were everything to him. Even his own mother began falling down his list of priorities. The villains came first. If they needed him to sneak out, he would. Should there be a mission for him, it would be done in a heartbeat. If someone needed to go away- well, Kurogiri was never happy about it, but as long as it was for them, Izuku could handle it.
Izuku shook his head. Reminiscing about the past would just make him late.
He eventually made it into the large auditorium, where he found his assigned seat. Bakugou was in the neighboring seat, glaring at the boy as he approached.
It wasn't long before Present Mic began his speech, detailing the specifics of the practical exam. Izuku began thinking over his strategic plans. There were still many unknowns about this exam. Are all the monsters released at once, or do the lower points go in first? Are there more of one group than another? Why is there a bot that has no point value?
He saw someone a few rows down from his raise his hand, almost as if it was spring loaded. A spotlight shined on this boy, who wore glasses and seemed incredibly uptight.
"Sir!" He barked, "You mentioned three types of enemies, but the dossier we received clearly shows four types of mechs!"
"Well thanks for that question, listener! The last one is worth nothing, so we don't really worry about going over it. Just ignore it when you see it!"
The boy nodded, before turning around, pointing directly at Izuku. "And you! The boy with the green hair!"
He snapped to attention.
"Don't mumble like that! It's obnoxious and distracts the other students!"
Izuku glowered. It seemed like Yuuei wouldn't be so different after all.
Present Mic cleared his throat. "Now would anyone else like to call in and ask a question?"
After a moment, Izuku raised his hand, feeling the spotlight shine down on him. Both Bakugou and that rude boy turned to see what he had to say.
"Isn't this test a bit unfair? It clearly only favors those who have quirks that focus on offensive capabilities. What about those who want to be heroes but don't have quirks that are designed for combat?"
A few murmurs swirled their way around the auditorium. Bakugou seemed annoyed, though the other boy who called him out earlier seemed perplexed.
Present Mic was quick to respond. "I have to say that was an interesting question! While it does appear that we are biased towards combat focused quirks, we do have other avenues for students who couldn't make it in with the practical exam get promoted into the Heroics division!"
The spotlight was quickly turned off, but Izuku wasn't satisfied with that answer. The voice hero didn't name any of these specific "avenues," and judging by how they quickly shut off his light, they weren't going to let him speak again. 'I must have hit a sore spot.' He mused.
Eventually, they were all shuffled out into their assigned training grounds. Bakugou and Izuku were split up, much to the green-haired teen's relief. As they approached the gates of the large training area, they all collectively stopped as they began their warm up stretches. That same boy from before looked as if he were debating on saying something to Izuku, but had ultimately decided against it.
It was only a few seconds later that Present Mic's voice screeched across the entire campus.
"STAAAAAAAAAAART!"
Almost everyone froze in place at the suddenness of the call. Izuku, on the other hand, sprinted through the crowd and into the mock city. Sensei had told him that Present Mic loves to do this to the students, and Midoriya was going to take every advantage that he could.
Almost immediately, the "villain" mechas had begun assaulting the nearby students. Izuku found that dispatching them was a simple task. Using Implosion, he could concentrate the air inside of them, creating a vacuum that pulled the robots' shells inward. Releasing it caused the insides to explode, sending large chunks of shrapnel everywhere. He found doing this while enemies were grouped together caused a chain reaction, where the explosion of one sent metal shards into all of the surrounding bots.
It had only been roughly eight minutes and based on his count, Izuku had accumulated around 35 points. He inwardly cursed at himself. He wasn't sure if this was enough to make it in. He breathed in deeply as he caused a three pointer nearby to explode. He needed to place his faith in what Sensei told him. Sooner or later, someone was going to need help.
And that would be his chance to shine.
The viewing room was incredibly dark, the only sources of light being the TV monitors. Toshinori was standing in the back of the room, watching the entrance exam unfold. The constant flicker of the screens was irritating his eyes, and seeing how Aizawa had repeatedly used his eye drops during the exam, he knew he wasn't alone in this.
"So who's got your eye right now, Nedzu?" Midnight asked.
"Oh, quite a few!" The mouse being responded, cheerfully. "That blonde boy- Bakugou Katsuki, I believe. He's got quite the destructive capabilities!"
Blood King chimed in, "He is very aggressive, however. He's ignored many of his peers who clearly needed help."
"That is true." The principal replied. "It may be prudent to monitor his behavior in the future."
After some silence, Thirteen spoke up. "I am curious about that green-haired kid. Wasn't he the famed Late Bloomer?"
Nedzu nodded, "Indeed, that's him. I am very interested in seeing how he performs."
Midnight leaned back in the chair, looking at the feed as Izuku decimated a robot. "That kid's got remarkable abilities. I hear he's quite the sharp one, too."
Nedzu responded. "I would have to agree. The first thing he did was point out a glaring weakness in our admissions process. On top of that, he didn't seem the least bit startled at Present Mic's little prank."
Aizawa leaned forward, catching the principal's attention.
"Something wrong, Eraserhead?"
"That kid seems... off. He rubs me the wrong way."
"How so?"
"Everyone else is showing some form of emotion, as an incoming student usually does. Even while others are showing some form of anger or determination, he looks like this is some chore or task for him."
"Now that you mention it, he looks like this is some sort of obligation to him. I wouldn't pay it any mind for now, he seems plenty capable."
Toshinori stood quietly in the back of the room. He knew this kid. This was the same one who he saved so many months ago from the slime villain. Seeing him now... it made it feel like there was a second gaping hole in his stomach. He had done nothing short of shatter this young boy's dreams.
'At least it seems he has taken my advice to become a hero on his own merit.' He thought.
Nedzu called out to the others, "Ah, it's almost a minute left on the timer. Should we go ahead and release it?"
Izuku stopped as the ground began to rumble. Then, almost as if out of nowhere, the Zero Point Robot seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was easily five times the length of the buildings below it! He looked around as he saw the other students rush away from the hulking beast. But in between the sounds of rushing students and the grinding of the robot on concrete, he heard something else.
The sound of a girl, grunting and yelling for help.
The boy did everything he could to keep a smile from showing up on his face. This was the opportunity Sensei mentioned! The old man had told him of the hidden points system, and now that everyone else was running away from the giant mecha ('Just as fake as the real heroes.' Izuku thought), he began sprinting wildly towards the robot. He could see who was trapped now; it was a brown haired girl, who couldn't get the rubble off of her. At first Midoriya thought to blast the rubble away, but decided it might end up hurting her further. If not that, then...
He ran forward, before diving forward over the ground. He felt the air concentrate beneath him, and right as soon as he was about to land on the ground...
He released the implosion air bomb beneath him, sending him rocketing upwards, towards the massive robot's head. His stomach was aching from the blast, but he knew he would be fine. He continued his ascent, feeling himself slow down as he approached the robot's face. It was in that instant that he breathed in deeply, concentrating all of his mental energy into this one massive attack. He saw the armor around the mecha's head buckle and bend as the air inside of it pulled together in a massive vacuum.
He felt himself begin to drop. It was in that instant that he released the air bomb, sending the head of the Zero Point Robot in a million directions. Some of it scraped his skin, but for the most part he seemed unharmed. After a brief once over, he looked around. He was well above any of the buildings around him, and he was falling very quickly.
He cursed at himself as the panic of not being able to stop himself set in. His mind raced to find some way to stop himself, but he was moving far to fast to use Implosion. He didn't have the range or speed to use it to slow his ascent, not to mention he would probably harm himself doing so.
The ground below grew nearer and nearer, and at this point Izuku realized he was screaming. He was going to die here-
SLAP!
His thoughts ceased as he felt a hand hit him on his cheek. Not a second later did his fall completely stop, as he floated inches above the ground. Looking to where the slap came from, he saw the same girl he rescued laying stomach down on a piece of rubble, looking at him with relief in her eyes. She quickly tapped her fingertips together, sending him crashing to the ground. She leaned over the rubble and hurled in front of him, before passing out.
Izuku looked around, before hearing the cheering voice of Present Mic scream "TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!"
Midoriya slowly leaned up, clutching his stomach. He pulled up his shirt, but luckily it was nothing more than just heavy bruising. It wasn't long before everyone formed a crowd next to the boy and the girl who had rescued each other. Within moments, a short old lady began walking towards the group, a bag in her hand. She opens it up, revealing gummy bears inside.
"Go ahead, everyone! Don't eat them all at once!" She said cheerfully as she handed them out to the group. Afterwards, she approached the green-haired boy.
"My, my. You took quite a beating there!" Before anyone could react, she immediately puckered up and kissed him on the forehead.
Izuku's mouth dropped open, speechless. Pretty much everyone else had the same expression.
It was then he felt something weird. He looked back down to his stomach, and saw that the bruised had begun lightening up, disappearing entirely. The same happened for his cuts.
She turned around to the crowd. "Anyone else have injuries?"
A week had passed since that exam, and Izuku was still anxiously awaiting his results. While his mom avoided the subject, he was reassured constantly by Kurogiri that there was no way he didn't make it in. It brought some relief, as did playing games with Tomura. He had gotten better and better with his years of tutelage from the older villain. Now whenever they played racing games or rhythm games, Shigaraki had become more wary of the green-haired boy. Izuku loved that Tomura was treating him as his equal now. They had to give their all when battling each other.
Izuku was at home now, researching game reviews for Tomura. He loved watching the game fanatic play the stuff he chose. He was drawn out of his research by the sound of feet rushing to his door, and the nervous whimpers of his mother.
"Izukuuuu!" She called, almost mewled. "It's... It's from Yuuei!"
He opened the door, and grabbed the package. It was a lot heavier than a simple letter. He looked back to his mother, but she had already run off.
'Probably thought I should be alone when I saw it.' He thought. He brought it to his desk, and with a deep breath, opened the package.
"HEEEEELOOOOOO, YOUNG MIDORIYA!" The booming voice caused Midoriya to jump. "I HAVE COME TO YOU IN THE FORM OF A HOLOGRAM TO GIVE YOU YOUR EXAM RESULTS!"
All Might was in front of a rather intricately designed set, with his iconic grin.
"You managed to pass your written exam with flying colors! But, of course, that isn't the most important aspect of the exam!"
A few clips of Midoriya fighting appeared on the screen.
"With your very capable quirk, you managed to rack up 46 points! Not bad, not bad. However!"
All Might dramatically paused, while a new clip showing Izuku destroy the Zero Point Robot appeared.
"You destroyed this robot for no other reason than to save someone you haven't met before! That is the mark of a true hero. And because it is the mark of a true hero, it is also something we take into account during the exams!"
A scoreboard appeared, but instead of just villain points, a second column was there. It read 'rescue points.'
"A secret panel of judges votes and allocates points based on the selfless acts performed during the exam! And due to your efforts, you managed to receive a whopping 60 rescue points!"
The scoreboard began filling with names from bottom to top. It was only at the end that the boy read the name in the number one slot.
Midoriya Izuku.
"Congratulations, young Midoriya! You have managed to secure the top spot in the exam! It goes without saying that you are accepted into the Heroics division of Yuuei!"
Izuku heard his mother gasp from outside the door.
"The school faculty has kept this under wraps for now, but I will be one of your teachers there at Yuuei. Now, I know we've met before, but when we do see each other on campus, I would like to speak to you about something I said before. Please-"
A hand appeared in the bottom of the screen, motioning for All Might to wrap the message up.
"Oh- okay. Well, young Midoriya! I hope you enjoy this new chapter of your life! Plus Ultra!"
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the stupid long wait! I've been in the process of moving homes, which ended up with me losing internet access. But everything is all right now! I'll try to get back to my previous update schedule.
And as always, thank you for your support, and I hope you leave your thoughts in the comments! Any input is welcome!