Chapter Four: Entrance Exams Pt. I
Every great Hero has a story about back when they were in their school days. The tall tales of how great they were and the many crazy adventures they had before becoming a Licensed Hero.
Izuku wouldn't really have any of that; he was just a regular kid, born without powers in a world full of powerful people. His Middle School days would be forgotten and left behind in the dust.
Now, standing before the looming U.A High School, Izuku felt a surge of excitement within himself as other new students walked past him, heading for the entrance.
This is where my story will begin— At U.A!
He took a step, and instantly found himself falling forward as something tripped him. Eh…?
Izuku held out his hands to catch himself, landing on them and somersaulting forward, right back up to his feet in one fluid move. A few of the students looked over in surprise as Izuku dusted himself off and looked back to see what had happened.
Mei was standing there, her arms crossed and foot out, not even trying to hide what she had done. She shook her head and grinned.
"You were lost in your thoughts again," she commented.
While Deku was wearing his black Middle School uniform, the pink-haired girl was wearing a simple white button-up long-sleeve shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and a jacket tied at her waist. A pink tie was around her neck and the black skirt solidified that it was the most professional attire Izuku had ever seen her in… Until he noticed she was wearing her propulsion boots from when they had first met. They weren't built to look pleasing to the eye, so it made her look like some sort of art student, all mismatched and tired-like.
"I guess you did do home schooling," Izuku said out loud, before realizing he was staring, waving in front of himself innocently. "Oh s-sorry, just weird seeing you like that."
"Well, I figured I'd be all clean and bleh and whatever," Mei explained, obviously uncaring. "Make a good appearance since I guess we'll be wearing uniforms a lot. It feels a little bit unsettling though to me."
Izuku chuckled softly. Mei was a strange girl for sure, but he had grown to appreciate as they became closer over the past year. Now, they had arrived at their destination, and it was time to put all they had learned to the test.
"...Move it."
Deku's good mood dropped instantly as he looked past Mei, seeing, of course, Bakugo coming their way.
The boy bumped shoulders with Mei without a care and kept going on, not even sparing Izuku a glance— But he could tell that Bakugo was boiling with rage on the inside. It made him shudder a bit, thinking of how a week ago he had escaped him and not let him have his violent way for the first time ever.
"So that's that explodey guy huh?" Mei's voice was dark, so Izuku looked over to her worriedly.
"S-Sorry, he's like that a lot—"
Izuku stopped his explanation when he saw that Mei's eyes were lit with determination, as she cracked her knuckles and smiled wide.
"I'll just remember to spite him later when we leave him in the dust,~" she said confidently.
Izuku smiled at this. It was good to have a friend with him here, with such an important step in his life right in front of him.
I won't fail you Mei… Mom… I'll become just as great as All Might!
While the orientation for the Hero course was being held in U.A's largest auditorium, the Support course's exam explanation was happening nearby in an amphitheater, one that would possibly be used for concerts or stage plays, though Izuku was unsure about how U.A utilized it.
As Izuku and Mei settled in among the other students, he did a quick head count to the best of his ability.
"Looks like there's over a hundred applicants," Mei said simply, letting out a yawn as if uninterested.
"Did you stay up all night again even though I said not to?" Izuku eyes the girl, who looked away from him so he couldn't get a good look at her face.
"Nope! And you can't prove anything either," she said with a laugh.
Izuku shook his head, wanting to press her further, but something began to happen down at the center stage. A large cloaked figure wandered up onto the stage, making everyone hush as they looked at the mysterious person.
Wait is it getting… Darker? Izuku and many others looked up, surprised to see a localized dark cloud forming just over the amphitheater, cascading it in shadows. Spotlights shot down upon the cloaked figure, illuminating them. T-This really is a stage play!
"So you think you have what it takes to be a Support student, hm," a booming voice spoke, seemingly coming from every direction due to the echoes of the amphitheater. "Well, heh… That's just—"
"Wonderful!" As the last line was spoken, the deep booming voice was replaced by a very excited and and light-hearted one, as the person threw their cloak away.
Everyone was in shock at the sight of the giant of a man, clad in a tuxedo, black dress pants, and a black bow tie, with a single rose in the front pocket of his suit jacket. The mysterious cloud above began to clear, allowing rays of sunlight to pierce through and make the scene that much more dramatic as the man held his head up high, as if posing in the light, his slicked-back gray hair glistening.
T-That's… Drama Boss! The best Hero costume designer from the West!
Izuku was nearly on the edge of the seat at the reveal. He was likely the only one who knew about this Hero from across the globe, and seeing a foreign Hero was something that he didn't think he'd get to see for a long, long time.
As the darkness cleared more, they could now spot another figure near Drama Boss. He was a tall but thin man dawning a tan trench coat and brown fedora. His face was long, ending in a pointed chin, his blond hair a mess under his hat with very sharp and stern eyes looking out at everyone.
Drama Boss acted like he had just noticed him, audibly gasping and taking a fighting pose with his legs spread wide, pointing accusingly at the newcomer.
"Ah, a villain has appeared!" With that exclamation, Drama Boss' voice became deeper and more serious.
Confused muttering began among the crowd, most of them recognizing the trench-coat-wearing Hero but still very, very confused by Drama Boss and his shenanigans.
The newcomer, known by his Hero name Paper Mache, let out a groan and pointed his gloved hand back at Drama Boss.
"Drama Boss you damned idiot, shut up!"
Paper Mache's yell was loud and angry enough to make everyone silence. At first, it looked like Drama Boss might be preparing to get angry— After all, he was a large, hulking unit with quite the intimidating face—
But he just burst out into a loud, sobbing cry. "P-Paper Mache… Why do you have to be so mean?"
"You're such a—" Paper Mache scowled and stopped himself, adjusting his fedora and sighing. He looked back to all of the potential students looking at them and cleared his throat before continuing. "We are here as guests to assist you all today in the U.A Support class' entrance exam," he explained loudly, "You all should have received a flyer giving you your personal exam details, right?"
Izuku took out the flyer they had been given when entering. He was hesitant with so many others around him, so he tried his best to hide it as he gazed at it again.
Along with basic information like his picture, name and Middle School, it also listed "Applicant: #134" and some information he has given like, "Quirk: Unknown" and "Specialty: Aerodynamics."
"Alright, now everyone's eyes on me," the man demanded. When everyone looked up at him, he brought up his right hand and snapped. Suddenly, the flyers flew out of everyone's hands as if caught in a gust of wind, fluttering around before finally returning to where they were. "Now look again!"
Izuku gasped— He now had someone else's flyer instead! He looked around before quickly examining it.
Name: Minami Shiro
Applicant: #52
School: Konoda Junior High
Quirk: Unknown
Specialty: Mechanical Engineering
The picture was a very, very short girl with a blonde ponytail and a smug expression on her face as she did a peace sign for the camera. Mechanical Engineering..? I bet most people here are like Mei and know way more advanced things than me!
Izuku gulped and peered over to Mei. "Who did you—" He gasped as he saw the girl was asleep. "Mei! Wake up!"
Mei lifted her head up drowsily and looked over at Izuku, a bit confused.
"What? Are we done yet?" She was holding a flyer in her right hand now, and looked down at it, a bit confused by the site of a different person on it.
Paper Mache continued, his stern voice silencing everyone again. "This will be your opponent for the first phase of testing! To explain further, Power Loader, head of U.A's costume creation, is here to tell you more!"
The man took a step back, as did Drama Boss, as the ground began to tremble a bit, and Power Loader burst out from under the stage, sending wood flying everywhere. Everyone looked at the Hero in awe, with his signature large, yellow helmet gleaming in the sunlight as he landed on the stage.
"Sorry, sorry, I had some last minute adjustments for the Hero course," Power Loader spoke. He sighed and looked over to the other two Heroes. "Did you stall enough?"
"You made the most perfect last second entrance possible," Drama Boss confirmed with a round of claps.
"I didn't think you'd destroy anything though," Paper Mache muttered, his hands in his trench coat pockets.
"I'll fix it up later. I don't think we should sit around forever, let's get this rolling," Power Loader began. The short, shirtless Hero looked put at the crowd of young faces. He shook his head. "It's gonna be tough, because we expect you to be the best. So listen up!"
Power Loader pointed with his large hand at them before continuing.
"In this first phase you will be creating a Support item for a specific Hero chosen at random," he explained. "You and your opponent will have the same Hero. If you cannot make something well enough the hour given, you are out. Whoever makes the better item between you two gets an advantage in Phase 2."
A head to head? This is definitely unique to this year's exam. Izuku gulped and listened further.
"We'll be headed to our largest workshop, where you'll have limited resources to work with," Power Loader continued. "One hour! Don't disappoint too much."
~Mid Chapter Break~
Name: Minami Shiro
Age: 15
Quirk: ?
Personality: Conniving, intrusive, closet pervert.
Power: 1/5 E - Speed: 2/5 D - Technique: 4/5 B - Intelligence: 5/5 A - Cooperativeness: 1/5 E
~End Break~
The group had split into three, each going with one of the examiners. He and Mei were separated, so they wished each other good luck before going. Izuku still couldn't find his opponent, until he felt something touch his lower back, sending a shiver up his spine.
Turning, he saw the top of a short girl's head. Her blond ponytail and smug face gave away who it was instantly.
"Y-You are...Shiro?"
The girl chuckled and gave him a thumbs up before walking past him. "Good luck!"
"Eh…?" He watched the girl go ahead, confused. She was wearing a dull-pink uniform with a tan skirt, an unfamiliar one he figured must have been from a different region of Japan.
Shaking off the odd encounter, Izuku followed the group that was accompanying Paper Mache, coming to a long building. Once inside, Izuku was in awe at the scale of the workshop. Hundreds of creations, from robotic-looking things to advanced contraptions and computers, there was tons of interesting inventions stockpiled here.
Izuku looked down the building, seeing the other two groups far off, every group separated by a good distance.
"Alright listen up, you and your opponent will take one of these workbenches facing each other," Paper Mache stated.
Everyone began to find their opponent, the air turning heavy as everyone was forced to face down someone who could potentially knock them out of contention immediately. Izuku found the girl named Shiro waiting at a workbench, standing on the side opposite from her.
It might be a competition, but they didn't say the loser gets eliminated, he thought, giving the girl a smile.
Shiro lifted a hand and pointed at Izuku. "So that device on your back— It compresses air and fires it off from gloves and boots connected to it?"
Izuku's expression changed as he gasped. The girl smirked, chuckling at her successful description.
"H-How did you…?"
"As if I'd tell you about my Quirk," Shiro laughed.
Izuku tightened his fists. I should've been more on-guard…
A loud noise made everyone look over to see Paper Mache pressing a button, a door opening to unveil a large stockpile of parts. These ranged from sheets of metal and electronic components, to scrapped parts of robots and computers.
"Your workbenches have several tools already, you'll just have to create using what you see here," Paper Mache said sternly. "This is all any of you get— First come first serve. And don't you think that I won't know if you try to use an invention you already made."
The man lifted a finger, and everyone took note of the paper airplanes circling around, watching them.
"My quirk lets me control paper and paper-like substances, and see what's on them and through them, so I'll know," the man said.
There was a snicker. Paper Mache looked over towards a dark haired boy, who was trying to contain his laughter.
"Is there a problem?" Paper Mache's voice was dark.
"It's just— Paper? Is that really a Hero's power?" The boy laughed.
One of the paper airplanes flew down quickly at the boy, who spun and grabbed it. He smirked.
"See? It's just paper, how stupid—"
Suddenly, Paper Mache popped up from behind the boy and loomed over him, seemingly in the blink of an eye, vanishing from where he had been previously. The boy could see Paper Mache's shadow, and shakily turned to look at him.
"You think you're hot shit huh? You're nothing," the man spoke darkly, reaching and grabbing the boy's head. The boy yelped in fear, and everyone watched the scene in shock.
"Hey! Stop doing evil things!" The voice of Drama Boss came from across the building.
"Hmph…" Paper Mache let go and walked past the boy, who fell back onto the ground, still shaking a bit. "Everyone look at your flyers again."
Everyone was still a bit surprised by the show, that their reactions were slow. Izuku took out his flyer and looked at it, surprised to find it had changed from Shiro's profile to a new one:
Hero Name: Death Arms
Quirk: Super Strength (Enhancement - Short Range)
Likes: Functional things
Dislikes: Flashy things
Comments From Hero: "Just don't give me anything reckless!"
Death Arms, just pure strength? There's lots of things to help him out I'm sure, Izuku thought. He had seen this Hero before, recalling some notes he had on him in his Hero journal. The Hero's strength was nowhere near someone like All Might, but it wasn't unimpressive at all. His name came from the fact that his punches were said to be able to kill anyone who didn't have something defensive to stop him.
"By the way, you can start. No need for a countdown," Paper Mache said, leaning back against the wall near the entrance to the parts storage.
Everyone was busy reading the info, so nobody reacted very quickly. Luckily, Izuku looked up, turned, and took the first step towards the stockpile—
Fwoosh! Instantly, two people flew past him, each using different propulsion objects as he began to run. He looked back and saw that others were going quickly as well, using inventions from what appeared to be robotic legs to roller-skates to jetpacks.
Everyone came prepared..! Luckily so did I!
Izuku slid to a stop and knelt down, prepping himself before jumping forward. He clicked in his middle fingers, sensing a moderate pulse into the Flow through his gloves. It made a whirring noise before shooting out a blast of air from his boots, sending him flying forward, straight past the two who had flown ahead.
He had miscalculated and came close to slamming into some of the equipment, but luckily he managed to twist his body in mid-air as he entered the storage, avoiding a collision.
The parts storage was about 500 square feet total. It was going to get crowded quickly, so Izuku had to be fast.
Most of my studies went into Aerodynamics, he thought. Air flow and electronics… I can use those easily!
While Izuku didn't recognize a lot of what was before him, he knew from watching Mei that anything could be turned into something useful. He picked and grabbed several things before turning, seeing that everyone was flooding in. There was no going through or over the amount of bodies inside.
I've gotta take a shot! He ran towards the crowd, his arms full of parts, and slid down on his legs. He almost managed to make it through, but ended up sweeping a few people off of their feet as he emerged.
"S-Sorry," he called back to them as he stood up.
"Midoriya! Penalty for physically interfering with others," Paper Mache yelled. "You've been warned."
W-What? Izuku wanted to argue or be surprised, but he didn't have time. He returned to his workbench and set everything down. Looking around, he couldn't seem to find any tools of any kind.
"P-Paper Mache, there's no tools here!"
Paper Mache crossed his arms and shrugged. "They were all present before the exam, so don't look at me."
Izuku was confused until he looked across to the other workbench facing his, where Shiro was standing, seemingly having never moved.
"Looks like you got some cool stuff, how about a trade?"
Izuku's eyes widened. The girl had two sets of tools in front of her. She stole them!
"Is this even allowed?" Izuku looked over to Paper Mache while pointing to Shiro.
Paper Mache scowled. "You're being annoying. I don't care, it's a competition," he said irritably.
Izuku clenched his fists. He's being really strict in some ways and not others…! I just have to deal with it...
Reluctantly, Izuku grabbed half of what he had brought and walked over to Shiro, placing it down. She examined the parts for a moment, then smiled up to him.
"Nice doing business with ya," she said mockingly. Izuku grabbed the tools and walked away, never feeling so bamboozled in his life.
This girl… I'm going to go all out!
Izuku looked over across the workshop, seeing the nearest group having an equal amount of struggle. He took a deep breath and looked down at what he had in front of himself.
I created the Flow with Kacchan in mind, dodging his explosions, he thought. If I think about Death Arms, what does he really need? Something similar? Or…
Izuku recalled when All Might had saved him and Mei in the tunnel. Just the force of air from his punch as enough to obliterate the villain. Izuku looked down at his Flow glove.
No, I can't just do the same thing I did for myself. That's just what that girl would think! He scowled and looked over to Shiro who was already hard at work. The workbenches, although facing each other, had small dividers, making it so he couldn't quite see what she was making. Knowing her, she might just try to one-up whatever she thinks I'll do... So then...
Something appeared in Izuku's mind. It was a hazy image, but he latched onto it and began to work, not letting anything else get to him. Slowly he began to envision it more and more clearly in his head.
Yes! This it it!
"Time's up, stop your hands or you'll lose em!"
Nobody dared mess around, stopping instantly at Paper Mache's words. Everyone was drained mentally, many people taking a seat after an hour straight of intense work.
"I'll be judging your devices, in no particular order. Don't think I don't know a useful Support tool, you can't fool me- I've been watching. So be ready!"
Paper Mache began to make the rounds. Izuku was gazing down at his creation, a smile on his face as he wiped sweat from his brow.
Izuku had lost many components because of Shiro, but he had managed to make something that he thought was impressive for any Hero really. Something to turn any short range Hero into a long-range powerhouse.
I'm going to win this! I need every advantage I can get!
Izuku looked up, locking eyes with Shiro, who didn't look as smug now. They glared to each other intensely.
When Paper Mache arrived at their workbenches, it was time to step up.
To Be Continued
Next Chapter: Entrance Exams Pt. II