MJCF Interview Room
"I've never heard of this before, what is the 'Juvenile Rehabilitation Program'?" Mira asked, oozing with curiosity.
"It is something that was only recently put into motion, so I'll explain" Kebou answered as he walk away from the glass to sit again. "The simplest way to explain the 'Juvenile Rehabilitation Program' or 'JRP', is a way for young offenders like you to regain their future by enrolling into the hero course in one of the few hero academies around the country that are part of the program" Kebou answered, "you'll be given one shot to pass their entrance exam, you flunk it, you're back in juvie. Unfortunately for you, the only school that's part of the program in Musutafu is U.A. High School, the best hero academy in the country, so it won't be a walk in the park."
"I see, so it's either freedom, or failure." Mira stated.
"That's right - you will also be receiving accommodation, utilities and training all under the MPD during your time before the entrance exam" Kebou replied, "well that's all I've got to tell you, once you leave here an officer will take you to another room to fill out all the required documents, then pack your stuff - you're leaving with me tomorrow morning."
"That's sudden, I won't even have time to say goodbye to Hayate" Mira answered surprised, "I'd feel like such an asshole if I just left without telling him."
"Actually, you can't tell anyone about this" Kebou said with a much more stern attitude in his voice, "informing other inmates about your new 'circumstances' could make you a target. I can't let you join the program if you're severely injured. Now on your way, you need to start packing" his confident smile returned to his face as he shooed off Mira.
The next day, early morning
Cell 999
Mira was almost done packing all his possessions he was allowed to bring to the MCJF, the last thing he was putting into his bag was his most prized possession - a shiny metal fountain pen engraved on it was the name, 'Sliver Shadow', it was given to him by his father, a hero by every sense of the word... at least according to Mira.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A loud smacking sound was coming from the cell door, reverberating around Mira's tiny room, he moved to towards it, very slowly and cautiously, wanting to get close to the source of the irritating noise in order to cease it.
CLICK, CLICK... SNAP! And the door slid open.
The men standing in the doorway were none other than Jack, and his main subordinate, the same one that decked Mira across the face yesterday. "Well, well, well, I wonder why on earth one of my slaves is packing his bags, must be moving over to some new owners aren't ya?" The 2 began to laugh crazily, while Mira only stared, bewildered and angered, "So, where ya heading?" Jack questioned.
"I don't have to tell you anything, it's none of your business" Mira answered, remembering what Kebou had told him. But before Mira could even react, Jack already had his arm around his neck, in a sort of 'friend-like' way, making Mira even more tense.
"What do ya mean Mira? Aren't we friends? Friends tell each other everything!" Jack exclaimed, giving Mira his best 'friendly' face, scaring Mira a bit more.
"Why would I ever be friends with an ass like you?" Mira yelled, not buying Jack's act, "You know the officers are really gonna give it to ya for messing with cell locks, Jack" Mira stated, "Why are you even here?"
"You really think I give a rat's ass what those idiotic guards do? It's not like I'm going anywhere else!" Jack bellowed, tired off maintaining a 'friendly' act, but his face contorted itself into a more sinister smile, "well, I guess I'll give my favourite slave a little parting gift, wouldn't want to be a bad master". Jack snapped his fingers and the gigantic lackey made his way towards Mira, with slow, powerful steps, "snap him in two, slave."
The henchman only grunted to answer his master's response, and made a huge swing at Mira with his gorilla arms.
Though it was just as fast as last time, this time Mira could see it coming, he could anticipate it, and dodged it seamlessly. "You know Jack, I've been waiting far too long to do this to you" said Mira, giving Jack his own form of 'crazy stare'. A dark substance began forming around the pen and instantly the pen he was holding lengthened into a black baton, "At least my last moments here will be fun".
THWACK! Like lightning Mira's arm flew across the lackeys face, with the baton in the hand smacking said lackey hard enough to hear a loud crunch, instantly knocking him out.
Jack was startled, never in his life did he expect Mira to retaliate against him - Mira was his prey, a subordinate, a slave! His surprise turned to rage as he slashed at Mira with his nail-talons.
CLANK!
Wait...why was there a clank? Jack knew that his talons hit something, but where was the sound of flesh ripping? Or Mira screaming? Jack looked up to see... a knight, a black knight clad in an armour of darkness. Jack looked down at his claws - shattered- the claws that could once rip apart flesh were reduced to paper shredders. "Huh.. would you look at that, not even a scratch!" Mira mocked, a false surpsised look spread across his face, inspecting that area that had been slashed, "guess the slave's become the new master, Jack" Mira said, revenge complete and a satisfied smile spread across his face.
"S-S-SOMEBODY, SOMEBODY HELP M-" Jack tried to plea for help, but instead - THWACK! Jack was sent flying through the door and smashing straight into a table the cell hall.
"Thanks for the gift" Mira replied, and continued to pack his bag.
Outside the MJCF
"You know, you really shouldn't have gone so far with that fight, your lucky that you even had the leeway to claim self-defence" Kebou scolded.
"I know, I know, but... Jack was such an ass, he had it coming to him" Mira sighed.
Finally he was free! No longer having to wear the gross, itchy inmate jumpsuit but his regular getup, black T-shirt, blue jeans and white trainers. Although he knew this freedom could only be temporary, which further fuelled his determination. "So where will I be staying?" Mira asked eagerly.
Kebou replied, his voice losing charisma each second, "well..."
Kebou Household
"When I said you would be receiving accommodation, utilities and training under the 'MPD', what I actually meant was me" said Kebou with a hint of shame in his voice.
Mira shrugged, "well, it still beats the jail cell I called my 'room' for a year", "so what about this 'training' you said?" he asked.
Instantly Kebou handed Mira an encyclopaedia of paper, Mira was almost struggling to hold it up, even with all his training. "You've got a month until the U.A entrance exams, so I jammed in as many exercises and lessons as possible to get mind, body and quirk ready" Kebou informed. Mira was quiet, just staring deep into the massive stack of paper, "What? You already getting cold feet?" Kebou asked, with a teasing grin.
"Nope, not even a bit" Mira replied with an excited smirk growing, "I'm already pumped!"
And so it began - Mira's training regiment consisted of: a 5 AM wake up, followed by a 10km run for a warm up; then some basic anaerobic exercises to build up more muscles; a quick 2 hour sparring session with Lt Kebou to sharpen Mira's form and techniques - a short lunch - then studies on hero history, laws and procedures, and finally rest. The novel-like stack of papers Kebou gave Mira detailed the specific exercises or techniques Mira was going to work on each day and the topics he was going to study.
This was Mira's life at the Kebou Household. To him, it was perfect, all aspects that one could stumble on had no room in Mira's hellish regiment.
2 weeks into training
Kebou Household
Mira had just completed his anaerobics and was preparing to spar with the ripped lieutenant (to Mira's surpise), "now that we've spent time working on your technique and form, I want to spend the next 2 weeks working on building up your quirk's strength" Kebou suggested, "but first I need to see what you can already to with what you've got".
"I'm gonna need an object then" Mira replied, confusing the lieutenant, then he explained, "the way my quirk, Shadow Matter works is by forming around an object that I am holding, so I can freely mould the base object into a new object as long as the shape of the base object is still intact."
"I see, so you can probably make a hammer from a stick, but not make a vase from that same stick" Kebou stated, causing Mira to cringe a little at his strange analogy. "So, what would you say are your limitations to your quirk right now?" Kebou asked.
Mira wondered, after thinking over it for a while, he found an answer. "Endurance, Shadow Matter is a quirk that's as strong as I can image, but because I haven't used it much, the longest I've created an item and maintain its form for is around 30 minutes, for my Black Knight Armour I think I can only maintain that state for about 10 minutes."
"Then we'll focus on that for the remaining 2 weeks" Kebou replied, throwing Mira a wooden stick, "I want you to fight me in your Black Knight Armour while using a Shadow Matter weapon".
With a quick nod, Mira stood still holding the wooden stick and focusing himself. Soon after a jet black substance began oozing from under him, and enveloped him - the Matter quickly began working around Mira's body, lengthening, hardening and overlapping wherever it needed to. It took a while, but eventually it was complete, and Lt Kebou stared at the black knight that was Mira Kagemaru, brandishing an abyssal black sword, in both awe and caution. "Since the 'incident', I've always dulled the edges of my swords when fighting against others, so you don't have to worry about getting slashed" Mira said.
They begun sparring, Mira going in for quick short slashes, but Kebou's footwork was incredibly precise, and with it he easily evaded each strike. With each slash, Mira's body groaned in discomfort, he felt his stamina plummeting fast.
The sparring session only lasted 10 minutes due to Mira's time limit, leaving Mira in a sweaty, exhausted heap, while Lt Kebou hadn't even broken a sweat yet. "So... we... definitely need to... work on endurance" Mira panted.
"Don't worry, I know exactly how we're gonna improve that quirk of your" Kebou answered, a devilish grin appearing on his face, "from this point on your gonna train, while maintaining the Black Knight Armour and when we spar you'll have a weapon out too, with different weapon each session to work on your range if tools to use".
Mira nearly fainted at the thought, he could barely maintain the armour as is, and now Kebou wanted him to maintain it 24/7! However, he kept it cool and put the armour on again, immediately moving into a starting stance to start up sparring again. He knew this was never going to be easy, this was just another trial, another trial to overcome and get one step closer to being a true hero.
4 week after training started
Kebou Household
Mira woke up, and deactivated his armour. Today was the day - the U.A. High School hero course entrance exams were today!
He raced downstairs to see Kebou preparing breakfast, "Lemme help with that" Mira asked, moving plates and other utensils to the dinner table.
Kebou turned to face him, "Mira, you should be really proud, you're nearing the end of your rehabilitation" Kebou said with the same warm smile, he showed Mira when they first met. "Even if you don't pass the exam, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you back at the MJCF, surely it'll reduce your remaining sentence."
"Thanks, Kebou" Mira replied while stuffing himself with food, "but you won't have to do that - I'm not going back to the MJCF... I'm heading to U.A!", he stood up and prepared to head out, "and there ain't nothing in this world that's gonna stop me". Before he could leave Kebou plantted a hand on his shoulder, and presented him a long object, wrapped in cloth.
"Good luck Mira" said Kebou, "you better ace this, it took me an entire night for me to make that training regiment!" Both had a good laugh, and Mira took the gift and left the estate, heading towards the prestigious school.
U.A High School
It was immense. Everything was huge - the myriad of advanced training facilities to the main campus's right and the almost infinite row of student dorms that made up Heights Alliance to U.A's left. But the most grand spectacle of it all was definitely the main campus, the 4 crystal blue buildings towering over all the students, connected by 4 corridors.
This was it - crunch time - Mira's entire future was decided by what went down within this esteemed academy.
Thousands of students from thousands of middle schools piled into the campus, some were eager, others were trembling; some people were doing some last minute test prep, while others were secretly training their quirk for the practical section. Mira felt like he was out of place since he wasn't in a middle school uniform, after all, he stops going to school a year ago.
He couldn't help but look up at the huge blue build as he approached the doors. 'Woah, I'd only seen U.A on TV, but never in my dreams did I ever imagine it to be this bi-' but before Mira could finish thinking, he got clotheslined by what felt like a very feathery arm.
"Ow! Jeez" Mira exclaimed after slamming onto his butt. He looking up, ready to annihilate the one who dared to sabotage him before this important event, only to see..
A girl!
The girl in question was apologising like crazy, her silky blonde hair and pair of stunning snow white wings flapping through the air as she bowed over and over again. "D-don't worry, you don't need to apologise so much " Mira said, slightly flustered, definitely not prepared for this situation, "I just wasn't looking where I was going that's all". The girl looked up and Mira got a pretty good look at her slim freckled face with cute, teal eyes, making Mira feel even more awkward.
"No, I should have kept my wings closer, I was just overexcited" the girl replied in a sweet, gentle voice, "I'm really really sorry!" She brought out her hand to help him up, "by the way, I'm Angel, nice to meet you"
Mira accepted the friendly gesture, "Mira Kagemaru, nice to meet you too."
"You're not in your middle school's uniform, but I assume that you're also partaking in the entrance exam?" asked Angel.
"Y-yeah, my middle school finished earlier" Mira replied, knowing it would probably be best if he didn't explain his current situation to a stranger he just met.
"You must be from out of the city then, since no schools in Musutafu finish that early" Angel responded, receiving many quick nods from Mira as he went along with the false story.
U.A High School Main Hall
Eventually, Mira and Angel made it to the hall for the introductions and sat down among the sea of students.
Once everyone had settled into the hall, the doors automatically shut, and the chatter of hundreds of kids was stopped instantly - by techno music. The kind of music that arose from the 80s that you only hear in terrible night clubs nowadays. A blinding light filled the dim hall for a split second, as all the lights focused to a man standing on the centre stage.
He was a tall, slender man wearing knee high boots with black leather pants and a studded jacket with a high collar, he had blond hair that was styled in such a weird way it made him look like a cockatoo, complete with orange sunglasses that looked like they never came off his face; he also had a strange speaker-like device attached around his neck. He took a deep breath...
"HELLO POTENTIAL PROSPECTS! THE NAME'S PRESENT MIC, AND I'M HERE TO GIVE Y'ALL THE RUNDOWN ON TODAY'S EXAMS!" The sound was almost deafening, completely overpowering the terrible techno, Mira knew about Present Mic's quirk, Voice, but again his expectations were smashed to pieces by the reality that was U.A High School, "AHEM! AHEM!" Mic coughed, "sorry, sorry, I'm always like this when introducing myself to the newbies" earning multiple annoyed glares from many students.
Present Mic began, "So here's how the exam is going to work - you'll all be split into 2 groups were each of you will have to face our 2 radically rigorous tests: a practical and mental exam" he continued, "The practical exam is a straight forward classic of the school, robots are attacking the city, where are our beloved heroes? They need to save us!" Mic proceeded to fake scream nearly blowing out everyones eardrums and getting more disdainful glares, "sorry... each robot is worth points based on its size, smallest are worth 1 point and larger ones are 3 points - however be careful! A giant super mega Ultrabot will be roaming the streets! If you come in contact with it, the best option is to run! However, defeating it grants 100 points, its the ultimate risk for the ultimate reward! This section will last for 30 minutes so you better be quick!"
'Interesting, so this side of the exam will focus on how much we can already do with our quirks as well as being an easier way to examine physical abilities' Mira thought to himself amongst all the whispering, 'what about the mental section?'
Mic carried on, "as for the mental section, it's a brand new part we've added to the entrance exams to help people who want to enter our hero course but don't have a quirk that's especially tinkered for combat, you'll be doing it one at a time - however, the actual conditions of the test are a secret... and the group that does it first is forbidden from telling the other group anything about it as well as telling each other what you did after you've completed it".
The whispering quickly transformed into panicked chatter, after all, they were being tested on something they couldn't prepare for - a daunting challenge.
"Okay, okay settle down" Present Mic pleaded to no result, "please... BE QUIET!" the sudden yell instantly silencing the hall, "ahem! Well, before we begin, allow me to reacquaint you with our school's motto... Go beyond!.. PLUS U-"
"ULTRA!" The entire hall roared which was followed by excited cheering. Soon after all the examinees left the hall and made their way to their respective sections, leaving a saddened Mic, "I didn't get to finish saying the motto".
U.A High School Ground Alpha
Mira was part of the group that were doing the practical exam first, along with Angel. He changed into a tracksuit bringing along the object that Lt Kebou gave him, a wooden bo staff, while Angel wore big brand sports shorts and trainers and a T-shirt with an open back for her wings.
There was a timer slowly ticking done from 5 minutes above the gate - in 5 minutes, Mira would begin the test that would dictate wether he stayed a free man, or returned to the MJCF.
"You ready Angel?" Mira asked, turning around to see a slightly pale Angel, swaying slowly like she was ready to faint, "w-woah! Now's probably not the best time to faint" said Mira catching her just as she stumbled back a few steps.
"Yeah... I guess all the nervousness I was holding in finally spilled out " Angel joked weakly, "don't worry, it's all gone now, so I can focus on the test... I think".
The timer reached it's final 10 seconds, everyone got ready, Angel's spread her wings out and Mira's Shadow Matter had already begun forming around him.
5... 4... 3... 2...1 ... BEEP! The alarm went off and the gates opened.
Instantly examinees flooded the false city streets of Ground Alpha, spreading out and battling any robots that caught their eye. Fully armoured, Mira found a 1-point robot, with surprising speed, it charged at Mira, preparing to strike, but Mira easily sidestepped the attack and with quick, clean cut, halved the robot with the longsword he formed from the bo staff. Adrenaline was already pumping through Mira, as he and his sword danced through a pile of 1 pointers slicing through each of them, removing their tops from their bottoms. All the training he did with Lt Kebou was worth it; he felt much lighter and he could maintain his Black Knight Armour for day now!
'If I keep this up, I'm sure I'll pass the practical!' Mira thought.
However, Mira was too busy severing 1 pointers to notice that a 3 pointer was charging at him from behind, it outstretched its bear-like metal arm and prepared to strike him, Mira saw it, but it was too late for him to react! The bot swung its massive arm down, then, the 3 pointer froze, then it just, slumped over and fell to present multiple projectiles lodged deep in its back, completely destroying its circuitry, the projectiles - looked like feathers. Mira looked around, and spotted someone hovering right above him, it was Angel, her arms crossed and a smile on her face, "I can't have you dying before the test is even over Mira!" She yelled.
"Thanks for the save!" Mira yelled back, and threw his sword at her! Instinctively she dodged his attack, and the sword planted itself in a 3 pointer that had leapt of the ground and nearly struck her in the back. Both started laughing over saving each other from their own ignorance, then called it even and split off in separate directions.
15 minutes later
Mira felt like he had nearly been around the enter area, he lost count of how many robots he had destroyed. THUMP... THUMP... THUMP, the ground began shaking all around Mira - he, looked up and saw... metal, a large hulking mass of metal - the Ultrabot.
Soon a loud scream of terror was in the air, on instinct Mira made his way towards where the Ultrabot was walking, his memories of the 'incident' filling his brain again, "I've gotta help them" Mira muttered making a dash towards the Ultrabot.
Once he reached the street the huge bot was walking down he instantly saw the problem, multiple examinees were fleeing from the bot, unable to stop running from fear that they wouldn't be able to hide in a building or alley way without getting crushed under its hydraulic presses for feet.
But before Mira could make his move, another person had already zoomed pass him, Mira watched the mystery man as they nimbly ran through the crowd until they were practically under one of the Ultrabot's foot! And it was coming down.
"Hey watch out!" Mira yelled as he tried to run in, but it was too late. CRASH! As the powerful foot slammed down on the asphalt, seemingly crushing the mystery examinee.
But then a portal appeared near the top of one of the buildings near the Ultrabot, and the examinee fell right out of it! As the examinee fell out of the portal, their hood that was masking their identity fell back, revealing a boy with curly brown hair, vibrant green eyes and a goofy smile on his face. Mira couldn't believe it, many people had portal quirks in the world but this one, that appeared before him was his best friend from the MJCF, Hayate Yuso.
Hayate made a friendly waving gesture to Mira before landing on the forearm of the Ultrabot, then climbing up the robot to its neck were tons of wires were. Hayate began crazily pulling out wires by the handful, until the robot collapsed to onto its knees, unable to move.
Hayate portalled to Mira and said, "that my good friend, is how you deactivate a robot - the Hayate way" the friends laughed and hugged each other after reuniting.
"But first, lemme finish the Ultrabot" Mira suggested, pointed out the fact that although the machine couldn't move its legs, it was in fact still functional, to his friend's disappointment. As Mira moved nearer to the robot it swung one of its hulking metal arms at him, but it never reached him, as in almost an instant he had separated it from the main body. The stubborn robot attempted to hit him again with the other arm, yielding exactly the same result. "Let's make this quick" Mira muttered, holding his blade in front of his face and focusing himself before the bot. The longsword began to glow with a dark purple hue, Mira opened his eyes, his special move complete.
With a single slash, in a perfect vertical cut, the robot split apart, in wiring sprawling out of the bot everywhere, as Mira named his move quietly, "Half-Moon."
BEEEEEEP! That was it, the 30 minutes were over and the practical assessment was over.
Outside Ground Alpha Gate
"So, you were also accepted to join the JRP too?" Mira asked, receiving eager nods from Hayate.
"I wanted to tell you, but Lt Hopu told me not to tell anyone, and we were leaving the next day" Hayate explained.
"Same here dude" Mira replied, "so you got a different MPD Lieutenant?"
Instantly Hayate went into a relaxed trance, as he sighed, "yeah... Lt Hopu, she was amazing! She trained me, fed me and she had the most banging body!"
Mira cringed, "really dude? I bet she's probably at least twice your age - you know, this is exactly why none of the female officers ever went near you back at the MJCF".
"What can I say bro?" Hayate joked, "I was born to be a lover."
"Whats this about MJCF? MPD? Officers?" A new voice entered the conversation, a voice Mira knew well.
Hayate, oblivious, turned and said, "hey, you should know it ain't polite to stick ya nose in other peoples... business" he paused for a second, completely in entranced in Angel's pure teal eyes, causing Mira to groan in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Oh... I'm sorry" Angel said," I shouldn't have been listening in on you con-", but before she could finish, Hayate had already started.
"Oh my, oh my... GOODNESS! She's a Goddess, sent straight from heaven!" Hayate exclaimed, startling and confusing Angel, and after clutching her hand, Hayate continued give her his best 'love' eyes, "my Goddess, would you give me the honour of being yours forev-" but before he could finish, Mira ended it with a swift chop to his neck pressure point, completely knocking Hayate out of the matchmaking.
As he dragged his unconscious friend Mira said, "Im taking this dumbass to the bathroom to give him a little 'wake-up call', we'll meet you at the mental exam later" leaving a slightly confused Angel to make her own way to the next stage of the exam.
After 'waking' up Hayate (with a freezing bucket of water), the boys made their way to the mental exam room. On there way they happened to go past the group that already did the mental exam. "Hey Mira! Lets talk to them, maybe they can give us a couple deets about the mental exam!" Hayate schemed.
"They probably won't" Mira sighed, "everyone here is trying to get into one of the best schools in the country, I doubt they'll want to ruin their chances".
Hayate went up to one of the mental exam group members and asked, "hey man, I was just wondering how was the mental exam? Was it difficult? Maybe we could get a couple details about how it worked?" He pleaded.
The guy scoffed, "Ha, fat chance I'll risk my placement here by doing that" earning Hayate a quick 'told-you-so' nudge from Mira, but then the guy adopted a more pessimistic attitude saying," now the practical exam is the only thing that's going to get any of us into U.A now though, because that mental exam... it was hell, hell incarnate, for every single one of us". Mira looked around to see that everyone in the group had a despairing look to their faces, confirming the guy's point.
"I see" Mira said, "well thanks for the info" and the duo walked of to face 'hell'.
U.A Mental exam waiting room
When Mira and Hayate arrived, a few of the examinees had already done their exam, and they had exactly the same look of despair on their faces like the other group did.
Angel was one of those students, Mira instantly noticed and came up to try to comfort her, "was it bad?" He said.
"Oh you have no idea" Angel groaned, "I've never failed a test before! This feeling is pretty weird."
"Don't worry" Mira consoled, "you did great on the practical exam, I saw you, zipping around helping people who were overwhelmed. Those teachers definitely must've taken notice of that."
Angel smiled, appreciating her new friend's comforting words, "thanks. I would like to help you, but I can't" she explained. A staff member came in and asked all examinees who have completed their test to leave the premises, Angel made a goodbye wave to Mira, who reciprocated, "I hope I'll see you again Mira" she said closing the door behind her.
"Same" Mira muttered to himself.
"Why didn't you say she was already taken Mira?" Hayate jeered.
"Oh shaddup" He replied.
After hours of waiting and seeing many leave crestfallen even including Hayate, but a few leaving happily, Mira was happy to see that the test wasn't going to be impossible, but he still pondered over what the test would consist of. Sadly he had no time left to ponder as it was his turn next - and he entered the room.
U.A Mental Exam Room
The room was completely grey, with a couple of windows to let in some natural light. It was nearly completely empty, except for one thing.
He was a white creature that seemed to resemble a hybrid of a dog, mouse and a bear, about up to Mira's hip in height. He was wearing a white dress shirt with a red tie and a black waistcoat and pants, with orange lace ups which bothered Mira as it seemed to contradict his entire 'smart' aesthetic. He was sipping from a teacup while Mira entered the room, but placed the cup down on a single brown table once the door closed, and he begun to speak. "Hello young man, my name is Nezu, and I am the Principal of U.A high school, I will be the one conducting your mental assessment examination", and a slightly chilling smile grew on Nezu face, "Now, let's start! But first, do you know the rules of rock, paper, scissors?"
Confused but still compliant, Mira answered, "yes I do, but what has that game got to do with my mental exam?"
Nezu chortled, "surely you should realise by now, 'that game' IS your mental exam!" He continued, "the only condition is that you beat me once, we can play as many times as you want, and you can do anything you want, as long as you don't touch me in anyway or visibly cheat, you'll have 5 minutes, beat me and you pass."
Mira mouth was hanging, there was no way he could have prepared for this, a game of rock, paper, scissors against one of the smartest minds in the world? No wonder, that guy called it 'hell', his chances of passing were already slim!
"Sure" Mira said, "let's start!" And Nezu started his stopwatch, and raised his fist.
"We'll go on 3, ready?" Nezu asked, Mira nodded. "1, 2, 3!"
Both hands were rock, Nezu chuckled a little, "did you know, around 80% of human males choose rock as their first choice! Ready to go again?" Again, Mira nodded, "1, 2, 3!"
This time Mira lost, as he went rock again, and Nezu went with paper, "around 92% of human males choose rock again as their second choice after hearing that statement... again?" Nezu asked raising his hand-paw.
They continued again, and again, and again. Nezu besting Mira with a draw or loss over and over, with his completely accurate calculations. It was madness! And Mira could tell Nezu was enjoying it. He truly was a monster hidden under a cute face, but with only a minute left, could he win?
It was a desperate plan, but he had an idea. "Ok Principal, let's go again" Nezu nodded and raises his fist, "but first, lemme tell you something, I am going to go rock this time, that's all I'm saying" Mira stated, and raised his fist.
The statement threw Nezu off, as all his choices he made in the games so far were based on the statistics that began when he first gave Mira the rock statistic, but Mira just wiped it all clean by giving him a statement. Now all Nezu needed to do was decide...
Was Mira telling the truth or was he going to lie?
Nezu auickly analysed Mira, his sweat saturation, pupil dilation and his hand formation for any clues that could help him make a winning choice - but Mira's poker face was too perfect, no signs of planning to lie or tell the truth could be found on him. So, Nezu had to do the one thing he hadn't done in a very, very long time... guess.
"1, 2, 3!" Nezu yelled placing his hand down choosing scissors. Mira put his hand down choosing...
Rock.
An instant wave of relief overcame him, he dis it! He completed the mental exam, and with seconds to spare. "Well done, Mira Kagemaru" Nezu said giving him a small applause, "you one of the few people today that had bested me with wit and resolve alone, I hope I'll be seeing you at the end of these holidays!".
2 weeks after exams
Kebou Household
It was here. The letter, that controlled Mira's future was here.
It was silent, Kebou wanted Mira to just 'open the damn letter already' but Mira was reluctant. He didn't want to find out if he failed.
If he did, he'd have nothing left. He'd have to return to the hellhole that was the MJCF. The though chilled him to his core. So he just kept staring at the sealed letter...
So Kebou opened it instead.
After a quick scrap, Kebou wrenched the letter off Mira and opened it, reading the main letter to himself. Without any comment or reaction, he handed it back to Mira.
Mira saw that there was a strange device within the letter, after fishing it out, it immediately turned on, and started playing a hologram with a man standing with his back turned.
"Hello there! If you're listening to this you've applied for the U.A Hero Course, a very prestigious and well managed course at one of the best schools in the country" the voice sounded familiar but Mira couldn't remain where he had heard it, it continued, "U.A looks for specific types of people when conducting their picks for their hero courses, so sadly not everyone can get in."
Was Mira the 'specific type'? Had fate decided to cut his last string of hope? These thoughts swelled within Mira's brain, but he kept on watching.
"But you're not 'everyone'. You're, well... you! And you are exactly what U.A have been looking for! Need I say anymore! It's time for you to go beyond... Mira." As the hologram man said that he turned around, showing his messy unkept green hair, and determined green eyes with a smile across his freckled face. It was none other than Deku, and alumni of U.A High School and the current No. 1 Hero.
After many hardships and trials, Mira was finally a free man. The path towards his new dream had finally been opened.
