When people think of reincarnation they think of it as a process that unfolds in a spectacular, strange, singular or downright creepy way. If I had to tell about mine, well, I would say it was more along the lines of comic-macabre.
You see, what are the odds of having: a train accident while you're almost at the station, getting thrown out of said train and ultimately breaking all your bones altogether. At that point you wonder miserably whether you'll die first of asphyxiation because your ribs have punctured your lungs, or bled out because a sheet of metal has knocked the guts out of your side, but guess what? Neither! A piece of detritus, yes a fucking piece of detritus fell on my head while I was thinking about which god I had pissed off so much that morning, opening it up like a watermelon.
And now here I am, in the void, surrounded by darkness and trying to figure out how the hell I had survived long enough to ask myself that question in the first place.
At least until a blinding light appeared, compelling me to cover my eyes, weird since I have no longer a body...
"So... you are god right?"
Why do I feel this weird sense of deja vu?
"Well, yes. That's what they call me everywhere" he replies frowning. "And you're dead..."
"Very perceptive of you, did you figure it out because I'm standing here in front of you, or was that particularly funny to see up there on air?"
God just grimaces in response.
"I don't rejoice in seeing one of my children die in such a gruesome way, despite what people might believe from looking at my life choices, that's more Lucifer's job" he replies flatly.
"Fine so what happens to me now? is this some sort of purgatory? Am I here to be judged and sent to hell or what?" my curiosity got the best of me.
"Not exactly my dear child and I'm surprised you're still so calm about it, then again, you haven't processed the events yet and it is bound to come back to haunt you later" he sighs "Although we should really talk about all the blasphemies and fanciful insults you've hurled at me all your life, that's not why we're here"
My soul won't be judged for my sins? Hell, I'm no saint, quite the opposite, but still I'd done my fair share of shit during my short 21 years.
"Your transition was...interrupted so to speak" he replied, confusing me even more.
"Normally you would have been sent to another world to save it from annihilation, like many others before you, but without going into details, an anomaly erased the element you were supposed to correct, so the world you were to be sent to was reset and you were stuck in the void between dimensions. Now I'm here to make you a proposition as you can't go forward, but neither can you return as your soul has been removed from the reincarnation cycle."
Uh oh. That...doesn't have a nice ring to it either.
"So if there is no way to return what...am I supposed to do then?"
"That my child is why you are here. Listen carefully, there's a world in danger, some idiot screwed up with forces he could barely comprehend and now it's plunged into chaos, more accurately, it will be in a few years" he says almost sounding distressed at the prospect "I'd like to send you there and I'd rather you help save it"
"Wait a second...what, you're just going to drop it on me like that?!" I ask aggravated at the complete lack of explanation.
"Yes, unfortunately I am" he states with a sigh just as he settles into a chair? Coming out of who knows where "I know this is going to sound hard for you but you have nowhere to go back to and nothing to lose now. My wish is to send you there and trust in your help, but I really won't force you unless you want to. It will be your choice whether you decide to be part of that world or not."
"So either I stay here and fade into the void forever, or I go there and risk kicking the bucket...it's not such a light choice you're putting to me" I state giving a bitter huff almost finding the prospect ironic. Key word almost.
But he's got a point and it scares me deep down. Even if I had been reincarnated in my old world would I still be me? Not going to the new one means dying (without foundation that is), but if I went there I would probably end up in great danger. Why is that? Simple, besides lacking any form of athleticism, I'd also be so helpless in power that I'd be useless even as a comic sidekick, never mind with the gods involved.
As if on cue my fears were promptly answered.
"It's not my world, so besides bending the rules a bit that prevents me from stepping in I can't do more than send you there with a few random perks" he warns "Where and when you are reborn are unknown even to me, so once you arrive you are on your own. Whatever you decide and do will fall solely on you."
"Wow, quite the motivational speech, I sure feel very reasured" I snort at his words "*sigh* well then, when do I leave?"
"Now."
He snaps his fingers and everything goes black.
?
So, you're probably wondering where I ended up and what I did for 15, almost 16 years, right? Nothing too useful. Wait, don't leave yet, alright? I wasn't twiddling my thumbs, I've struggled to get to where I am today, but things aren't so easy when you're a Quirk-less.
Does the term ring a bell? Well yeah, I was thrown into the world of My Hero Academia of all places but mostly without a damn Quirk. So much for the perks, huh? Anyway I won't have one of those, but on the plus side I can use magic courtesy of the magic circuits I possess in my body.
Another familiar word, eh? To put it briefly, I have 40 circuits that can deliver 12 units of prana each. Again, nothing spectacular and barely above average, however, a problem arose.
First of all, I had absolutely no idea how to get the hang of using spells; not even a damn guide or book, so I couldn't pass it off as a Quirk. Yeah I know not exactly a good start to get ahead. The only thing at my disposal was my imagination, and if there's anything I've learned in this world it's that the laws are completely different from my home land. Trying different methods between meditations and emulating some of the steps needed to run my circuits I discovered through a lot of trial and error, really MANY errors to my health, the three most basic magics such as: Reinforcement, Structural Analysis and Projection, along with another one I gradually acquired over time, namely 'Alteration'.
One day, close to my sixth birthday, I discovered that my grandfather was a retired ex-soldier and pro hero, and one of the greatest swordsmen of the last eighty years. His nickname was Atomic Samurai II, the son of Kamikaze, the real Atomic Samurai. Given that this is the 23rd century, I'm not surprised to have come up with several names, but still, it was shocking to learn that there were characters from different franchises that I am connected to in this lifetime.
Back to the point, my grandfather, Sakurajima Benkei, has a quirk that allows him to control radiation and knowing that I wanted to become a pro hero, despite not supporting me at all, he had graced me enough to teach me the so-called breathing techniques.
By inhaling large amounts of oxygen within a specific breathing pattern, I can take my physical and mental abilities to their maximum limits. The effects on the body include a plethora of enhanced physical and mental abilities, such as superhuman physical traits, faster thought processes, maximised concentration and hyper-information processing. I have recently learned to clot wounds at a fast pace to limit blood loss, and adapt this breathing style even while sleeping.
This technique is something taken from Demon Slayer, which somehow my grandfather learned in his youth and taught me. Although of course the training was far from a walk in the park. I was put on very strict regimens by that crazy old man with his stupid military training methods every day while living with him, so between that and basic magics I would come close to superhuman performance, but I couldn't really compete with someone who had Quirk based on physical enhancement, gigantification or even a quirk of actual strengthening, since I was merely improving my basic skills, which incidentally while they were on a whole other level than the athletes of the Pre Quirk era, could not match up with people who had undergone an evolution in that particular field. If I had to make a comparison, with the techniques of breathing my physical abilities are only slightly better than those of a super soldier.
That' s right, there's even marvel involved, but that matters little to me at this point frankly. Anyway, to sum up, everything in the MCU has unfolded normally so far. I haven't been involved in any of the world's disasters or problems so far, thankfully. From Tony Stark's kidnapping to his conversion into Iron man, his problems in Iron man 2, the defrost of Steve Rogers, the fall of Hydra/SHIELD and everything in between. I think the events of Age of Ultron will also be coming up soon, but again it's not something the heroes of this world aren't prepared for. You see the fascinating part here is the sheer amount of heroes who have made a difference through their quirks. The most glaring example would be Star and Stripe during the Chitauri invasion.
Thanks to her and the Avengers mostly, the battle was held within 20 miles of downtown Manhattan while with all the sidekicks and lesser heroes around the evacuation and protection of civilians was pretty quick and easy compared to the events of the Marvel movie. The same could be said with the hunt for Hydra after the uprising.
Truthfully, I'm not even worried about Thanos since in this world the Sokovia Accords won't do shit since every state has its own quirk laws. They'd probably be able to take down Squiddy's ship and prevent him from getting the time gem at this point. Also, Midoriya at that point in time will be even stronger than All Might at his peak, and with all the heroes the world currently has, when Thanos attacks Wakanda it will be easier to take him down and prevent him from snapping his fingers. If events are going to follow the MCU and not deviate without a plausible explanation.
But hey that is a problem for another day.
Going back to the previous topic, Benkei had pretty much calculated what my physical limit would be around the years I had been attending, but it wasn't enough to compete with what was out there, which I knew was coming.
Now I guess you might be wondering why I haven't mentioned anything about my family apart from my grandfather and to be frank, while it's something that invokes me unspeakable anger, if you take today's society into consideration it's not that unbelievable.
My father in this life had pretty shitty taste and luck when it came to women,but with two idol daughters to raise whose mothers almost suck more than the present society,I wanted nothing to do with them, especially since I had my fair share in my previous life and moved in with my paternal grandparents.
I officially started living with Benkei from the age of five after my 'biological mother' quickly got rid of me for my older twin sister when she discovered she had a quirk instead of me. Not to mention that since childhood Mai had shown a talent for being part of the entertainment and media world to the extent where she appeared many times on TV. Due to this and more she thought of giving me up for adoption to avoid damaging my sister's image and career since I was 'defective'. The almost non-existent chances of getting the relationship back on track were cancelled when she disowned me.
From time to time I would send a few messages to Mai to congratulate her on her achievements and she would respond in kind, but we had not seen or heard from each other verbally for at least seven years or so. The last time we saw each other was in passing at our grandmother's funeral, but not beyond that.
The second marriage was not so much better, but he had his second second daughter during his previous relationship as his ex-wife wanted a break and had started seeing someone else. His second partner for the same reasons didn't want me around my half-sister or in their lives but my father wasn't willing to abandon me on the street and a disagreement ensued.
This prompted my grandfather, the only relative who actually had no desire to give me away, to take legal guardianship of me. Something like this didn't exist before in Japan, but was inserted by necessity at some point during the rise of the quirks for obvious reasons.
To add salt to the injury, society wasn't really trying to make things easier, least of all here in Japan. Unfortunately for me, non-quirks are not looked upon kindly. People are indoctrinated into teamwork and integrating with the system from an early age, but could the same be said for those without special powers?
I was subjected on a daily basis, ever since I was diagnosed as Quirkless, ongoing discrimination at school, mockery from neighbours or verbal bullying (only because I could fight, and even without reinforcement I was as likely to break bones as Midoriya was to break them). I received a lot of disciplinary notes and suspensions over the years because 'promising pupils' wanted to show me my place, but it turned out very poorly for them. I never went too far, but whenever I responded to the assaults teachers ignored any aggression or problems I suffered with the poor excuse that they didn't want to ruin the possible 'career of future heroes' and the like, putting the blame on me for defending myself.
Benkei never faulted me for the problems at school, on the contrary, he always urged me not to let anyone step on my toes like that, although the old man never forgot to remind me never to become too proud of my 'developed' abilities and intellect for my age group. After the...fourth expulsion, instead of enrolling in another primary school, I applied directly to a university in Tokyo. It was there that I graduated with honours in engineering with a master's degree in computer engineering. On top of that, I even took extra courses to use the support tools in civilian areas.
With my skills with the three basic magics I think I could easily surpass any magician, but my magic skills ended there. I had no teacher and no material to study and practice on, so I worked with what I had. My structural analysis allows me to analyse down to the last atom of anything, my projections are so well done that they remain materialised for weeks without vanishing, and my reinforcement was so functional that at one point I was able to change the structure of the atoms of an object.
I could turn pyrite into gold, so to speak. It wasn't alchemy, but I was getting close.
Of course, without actual use all the training I had done for most of my new life would be of no use to me, which is why during and after university I designed and built up an armoury that would allow me to use my knowledge from the other world.
Did it all come from my studies? Absolutely not. A large part of it came from structural analysis, which at one point was even able to read the data contained in an object, such as algorithms or stored memories if the object in question was fairly old. After a while it just...started to dawn on me how to make it all work and tinker.
That knowledge gave me the opportunity to branch out into programming, and it has served to the point of allowing me to create arguably one of the most advanced AIs out there, along with all the necessary software to run my own armour
Finally, 26 February arrived. I woke up a little earlier this morning for my morning routine which included several kilometres of running, stretching, a few hundred repetitions of the water breath and fire kata given they are the ones I know how to use best, for last a cardio to loosen up the muscles and a shower.
Had it been any other day I would have been sparring with Benkei, but today I had an exam to take and I needed to have the UA check my armour before I could use it in the practical exam. Last year the law was removed that forbade quirkless people from enrolling in academies like UA or Shuketsu High, since those kinds of schools have other courses besides heroism. The controversy had emerged when the suicide rate of the quirkless in Japan had reached an all-time high, so to protect their faces from the blatant lack of protection of the quirkless, they had made new rules or removed old laws, since that phenomenon was also starting to move into normal schools such as high schools and universities, whether private or public.
Not that they were respected in most cases.
It has been documented that almost 80 per cent of applications for a non-quirk in prestigious schools are still rejected, no matter if it was a regular course like business or general. That dumb form of exclusion is the reason why the suicide rate of the quirkless between the ages of 10 and 40 is almost 75% here in Japan. Literally 3 out of 4 people commit suicide because they cannot make a living in this country.
I look at my reflection with a frown since, hatred for society aside, I was forced to let someone else handle my armour.
My hair is a rather light black, short, violet-blue eyes with obvious but not overly marked Asian features, giving me the appearance of having distant European roots. I am 187 cm tall, with a well defined and toned body as a result of constant training. I am going to turn 18 soon.
Yes, two years older than the members of the Izuku&co generation. I am still 17 years old, I would reach 18 on the 2nd of December, but it really isn't anything worth mentioning.
"Are you ready?"
I turn towards the voice. He is a man in his eighties, long grey hair leaning towards white, tied in a ponytail. He has dark eyes, a well-defined body despite his age. He sports a small goatee very similar to his father's. We are about the same height, I am just a couple of inches taller. He wears a traditional loose-fitting white robe, tied with a blue haori on top.
On the threshold of the open bathroom door stands my grandfather, Sakurajima Benkei.
"Almost" I reply as I return to brush my teeth.
"Good. Stop by and say hello to your grandma before you go" he says with a relaxed and somewhat earnest demeanour.
"I know" I answer before shooing out the toothpaste and rinsing my mouth with the mouthwash.
"Good" and with that he leaves.
He is very quiet and of few words the majority of the time. Whenever we're not talking about swords at least. In that case he could talk for hours over forging techniques, blade balancing and the rest.
I decide not to think about it too much lest some of his endless tales ring in my ears and trigger a headache right now.
I leave the bathroom and walk through the corridors of the house. It is a large, old building located at the northern end of Musutafu. It is a Japanese-style building with a classical elegance that befits the area. Even inside the old classic style, with all the modern luxuries of course.
The area that the house occupies is very spacious, so we have a large garden, a dojo/gym and a shed that Benkei over the years has had renovated and converted into my personal workshop, with an added basement where I can store my things. The old asshole didn't want to finance a 'crazy dream' of mine yet he didn't actively stop me from pursuing it, so he didn't hinder me from working for the last five years after graduation to save up money for the completion of my armoury.
Over the years I have been working as a freelancer for various private and public companies, or for individual heroes, developing specific support equipment. In the course of time I managed to save up enough funds to start in the past year the actual creation of my first armour. Unfortunately, many of the materials being hard to come by or very expensive has forced me to forgo several luxuries or cut back on gear, so I've mainly focused on a few weapons and an exoskeleton relying entirely on physical performance for starters.
I turn the corner and step into an almost empty room. The room's only ornament is a small memorial dedicated to my grandmother, who passed away almost eight years ago at the age of 77. Benkei has more or less demanded that at least once every three days or whenever an important event takes place I should come and greet her, which I do from time to time even if he doesn't tell me. Besides, she was one of the few people to treat me as if I were a normal person instead of some kind of hostile alien because of my lack of quirk.
With a pack of incense I lit a box and wished her a good life on the other side, wherever her soul is now; crossing my fingers while I was at it for the exam in hopes that there would be no troubles.
I landed in front of the UA gates almost an hour early. I had to have my armour checked, although I'm not really keen on the idea. Only and exclusively support items are allowed in the entrance exam if they are strictly necessary to operate a quirk or allow a student to use it safely. I sent a request to use the armour and its equipment, but since they thought It was a joke, I showed up before the opening to have it checked by Power Loader after much insistence over the phone.
The UA gates are rather normal, but the UA structure looks much bigger up close.
I landed in front of the UA gates almost an hour early. I had to have my armour checked, although I'm not really keen on the idea. Only and exclusively support items are allowed in the entrance exam if they are strictly necessary to operate a quirk or allow a student to use it safely. I sent a request to use the armour and its equipment, but since they thought It was a joke, I showed up before the opening to have it checked by Power Loader after much insistence over the phone.
The UA gates are rather normal, but the UA structure looks much bigger up close.
"Are you the problem child?"
"...A giant caterpillar?" I turn around and see a yellow caterpillar with a face.
No, wait, it's Aizawa. The sleeping bag's zip opens and he comes out. He is as tall as me, with black hair that reaches his shoulders and some of it makes up a fringe that covers part of his face, he has a short beard and a moustache too. He wears a black long-sleeved shirt, with trousers and boots of the same colour. Around his neck there is his trusty capture band.
He scrutinises me from head to toe.
"Follow me, Power Loader is waiting for you."
He didn't even wait for me to say anything, he walked towards the building. Honestly, I was taken aback for a moment by Aizawa's nonchalant behaviour. I shrugged my shoulders and followed him, passing through the large gate, ignoring the crowd that was forming in front of the school curiously watching me.
"This is..."
MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame. I decided to take the Gundams as the foundation of my armours given my passion for their series. The appearance matches the original, but there is more beneath it. The armour's exoskeleton can lift nearly 15 tons despite being much 'lighter' than initially planned, is able to fly at maximum Mk 2 speed and is remarkably nimble and articulated for a piece of equipment. The inside is made of a gold-titanium alloy, 4.5-95.5 percent, and steel plating infused with silicon.
Same alloy used in Iron Man's early armours, rendering it incredibly tough and resilient to explosions.
It is powered by an Arc reactor. And oh man did Power Loader almost have a heart attack when he saw it, but those are details. Honestly, I only have a vague idea of how the original works from clips and pictures posted from the past years, so I can't speak to whether my reactor runs the same way or not.
Honestly thinking about it Tony Stark really is a fucking genius, no one could really argue with that. Inside the reactor contains charged particles moving in a circle, bound by a magnetic field. High-energy particles usually have lots of energy because they move very fast and magnetic fields can curve the movement of the charged ones. Bending the path of the particles in a circle holds them at one point long enough to cause a clash.
This also produced gamma rays as a result of the collision of molecules and the release of a free neutron. There was a complex radioactive decay going on inside the arc reactor itself, which I can honestly not fully grasp to this day, but the important note is that every part works. This process eventually increases the movement of the magnetic field, alternating it as the lost neutrons began to move. This in turn causes the superconducting magnetic wire to draw a large amount of alternate current.
This causes the Arc reactor to produce 3 giga-joules of energy per second, and explains how the poison was killing Tony if the Arc reactor in his chest did not leave the palladium exposed. The issue was the radiation emitted by the combustion of the palladium core, which was mistaken for the cause of the poisoning. Of course it was responsible, but not the main cause.
"Yes, well, surprise I suppose"
The only people present in the school lab are me, Power Loader and Nezu. I avoided talking too much while in the presence of the little headmaster, who was simply sitting and observing and sipping tea in his chair. Being in the presence of him is incredibly unnerving truthfully. That little animal mutated by his quirk is incredibly clever and cunning, and I am honestly anxious about the idea of letting slip any information concerning the armour.
He had shown up here saying he wanted to observe my work and wouldn't bother us, as in the last five years I'm the only one without a quirk to have tried to 'dare' with the application to join the hero class. After he heard about me he must have investigated, so I want to finish up here soon and leave.
"How on earth did you do that?" the support course teacher asks still astonished.
"Trade secret" I reply impassively.
Of course I agreed to have the armour and equipment checked to confirm there was nothing else beyond what I had sent written on the application, but nothing else. We argued a bit when he also tried to investigate the programming of the armour to make sure it was all working perfectly, and while it was not to be ruled out that his intentions were sincere, I had no intention of showing anyone how the Astray's software was programmed. Better to ward off any attempts at data theft.
However, Nezu allowed it, so after some protest from Power Loader he dropped the subject. He disassembled some external plating to check that the exoskeleton was affixed and was stuck at the sight of the reactor.
"Alright, I guess the armour is affixed then..." he paused, sighing disappointed to not be able to examine further.
I can sympathise and understand him, since stuff of this nature is the dream of any engineer interested in support objects, but my armour is off-limits.
He turned his attention to the three weapons at my disposal. A set of plasma swords and a katana.
The two plasma swords are rectangular and contain two palladium cells that power them. The very high amount of plasma draws and retains its shape due to a force field generated by the hilt. Due to the repulsive nature of the force field, it is possible to parry another laser and any form of heat energy. I tested this in the lab and it bore great results.
However, if in case the palladium cell burns out and I cannot replace it on the fly, there is the option of powering it via connectors in the palms of the armour. They are two simple white onesies with red blades when active.
The katana on the other hand is simply a high frequency blade, or HF blade for short. The name is fairly self-descriptive; it is a katana whose blade vibrates at very high frequencies, high enough to allow it to cut through almost any known material.
The hilt of the katana is black and gold with red trim, the blade a simple metallic colour and the scabbard almost completely white, with gold ornaments and red trim.
The inspection went on for a while, with a few questions here and there, but ended more or less on schedule. I didn't talk more than I had to and didn't answer any questions about its construction, much to Power Loader's frustration.
There would also be the paint to check actually, not that the teacher would know. Nanolaminate Armor is a special paint effective against physical projectiles as its molecules, which carry energy, can absorb the impact of real ammunition and explosive charges, thus protecting the body of the machine from damage. Consequently, ranged firearms cannot deliver decisive blows directly towards it and can only shave off small pieces unless from close range. They are particularly effective over laser shots and the like, because the metal paint forms a multilayer particle layout capable of withstanding external impact, but can shatter or peel off, thus requires a new layer of paint. The coating tends to deflect or parry lasers and bullets, but it does not undo or absorb the damage, so a physical blow can still rip the paint off.
An additional safety measure on account of the slim layer of armour, which cost me a fortune to acquire.
Fortunately, work was not in short supply given my skill in the field.
Nezu watched me like a hawk the whole time, from the moment I arrived until I walked out the door to head for the auditorium.
Just who knows what the hell he was planning...
For me, taking the written test was almost an insult. It took me 30 minutes only because I double-checked a dozen times before handing it in, just to waste time, but then it got repetitive. I had to wait an hour and a half before the place filled up, so I spent my time listening to music. Luckily in this era songs by Disturbed, Stratovarius, Xandria, Jam Project, Spyair, Back-On and the like can still be found. It's rare that I have time to relax, so I really enjoyed the time I spent in the comfortable atrium chair in my sleep.
I usually spend all my time cooped up in my lab, or training with Benkei, so it was a strange change of pace, though it did get boring after a while.
The lights finally going out and pointing to the stage at the back of the room, as the big screen on the wall lights up, showing the UA logo, Present Mic makes his loud entrance.
"Dear examining listener..." the pro hero's voice with a little music in the background booms as if he's speaking into the microphone "Welcome to today's live show! Everybody say 'hey'!"
Dead silence fills the room. I roll my eyes but I decide to entertain the thought and respond, albeit not in my style.
"hey" I say out loud, trying to sound at least a little interested.
The students and Present Mic look at me, but I shrug.
"Well, at least someone is relaxed and comfortable, that's good" he says shrugging his shoulders "So, exam listeners, I'm here to introduce you to the highlights of the practical exam. Are you ready! YEAAH!"
The silence continued, and I admit to feel sorry for how he was left hanging.
"...Yeaah!"
"Glad to see that at least one of you is trying, even if it's the same one as before!" he shouts annoyed by the tension, before turning serious again "As described in the exam guide, you listener will soon face a ten-minute simulated urban battle!" a map appears on the screen with the school's main office and its training grounds in the middle "After this presentation, head to the designated practice area! Okay?"
I glance at my paper. I'm at ground beta. Will I meet Izuku there?
"In each drill area, there are a large number of virtual villains, depending on the difficulty of capture they have different points!" a picture of a city with three different pointer icons appears on the screen, with 1, 2, and 3 points written on top of each icon "The goal of you listener is to use your quirks to accumulate points by immobilizing or destroying the pointers! It is implied that attacking another examinee is forbidden, and doing so will earn you immediate disqualification!"
"Excuse me, can I ask a question!?" the one I can imagine is Iida Tenya shouts.
A light strikes the subject causing me to have an allergic reaction to his mere presence, revealing his tall figure with blue hair and square glasses.
"Shoot!"
"There are four types of villains listed on the form!" he says aloud, pointing at the zero pointer "If it was a typo, it would be an embarrassing faux pas for Yuuei, which prides itself on being Japan's best school of heroes! We examinees are here, in this place, hoping to be moulded into exemplary heroes!" he finishes his rant towards present mic, then turns to Izuku "And then you! You didn't stop muttering for a moment, distracting everyone! If you think this is a place where you can have fun, then leave immediately!"
A vein contracted on my forehead as 'Izuku' murmured a whispered 'sorry' so softly that it was barely heard and lowered his head, trying to bury himself in his seat.
Honestly, I felt a strange sense of sympathy towards the green bush. Before, I wouldn't have minded being 'normal' or 'average', but now? After dealing with the crap called 'Quirk' my tolerance towards people with pompous attitudes like the one Tenya had in the beginning.
"I have a question too" I say lazily raising my hand, causing 'Izuku' to shift the attention to me "Were you born with a stick up your ass, or did they force it up there?"
"S-sorry?!" Yeah I am not really sorry for you Iida, you deserve this one
"You interrupted Present Mic's explanation during the explanation, when to answer your question you could have read beside the picture, where it says in big letters D=0*, saving our ears the torture of listening to your voice"
"Besides, is it 'distracting' everyone? Are you sure about that? Could it be that it was just one person who yelled for almost five minutes, complaining about things that were going to be explained any minute? I didn't hear anything until you pointed it out to me."
"He was distracting me!" he retorts after recovering from my accusation"Besides, don't you find his mumbling inappropriate in such a prestigious place?"
"No, because it would have been clear to any person with half a functioning brain that the dude is just nervous and excited about having a pro hero as a teacher" I snort at his pathetic excuse "But then again, maybe I'm asking too much of you? If I'm asking too much by telling you to stop and think before you waste your mouth, then I apologise."
"Okay, looking at 7111 and 2022, both of your observations are worthy of note, if anyone hadn't noticed the writing next to the image before the show started!" Present Mic picks us up, before we could start a debate on the matter "As said by examinee 2022, the fourth type of pointer is worth 0 points, it is just an obstacle that you can avoid or fight, at your discretion and there is one in every area! I recommend you all avoid it, but there's nothing stopping you from fighting it."
"Thank you very much for the clarification! Sorry to bother you!" he says aloud, bowing in a perfect 90 degree arc and then sitting back down.
Lida Tenya isn't a bad character, but his tendency to follow rules to the letter bumps my nervous system, not because of the way he is, but because of the almost convulsive way he tries to force everyone to follow them. He is intrusive in a very harassing way.
"Well, we're done here!" announces Mic "But before you go listener, let me introduce you to the motto of this school! It's a phrase from the famous hero Napoleon Bonaparte: true heroism consists in rising above the hardships of life! Push yourself beyond the limit, Plus Ultra!"
Present Mic's final scream, the glittering writing also appears on the screen. I found it...strange to see it and hear it with my own ears.
Especially since his voice is almost making my eardrums bleed!
At the practice site, I put on a simple suit that would not fit into my armour's donning system. Once put on and started up, Astray's eyes light up green. The mint green interface lights up inside the helmet without obstructing my view too much, making me see almost as if I were without it, with all the icons for preferences for the most important things like vehicle status, vitals, power, internet access and more.
"All systems online. No structural or armament anomalies have been revealed."
The unnamed AI's inorganic voice informs me after running the initial diagnostics. I look around for Izuku.
"May I know what you're trying to do exactly? That girl is trying to focus for the exam, and you're trying to sabotage her?"
My eye twitches. Seriously? Again? I turn to see the loud stalker yelling at a...girl?
I recognise Izuku's iconic hair, even it looks slightly longer than I remember...but there were some more eye-catching differences to the hair, which of course I didn't expect to see. Large bulges on her chest were clearly visible in her light green jumpsuit with white stripes, her hips were wide and she had softer overall facial features.
I needed a moment to process the fact that Izuku is not a 'he' but a 'she'. That's the first difference I find from the canon.
Tenya adjusts his glasses, unknowingly or unknowingly causing a scene that distracted a lot of people, who had meanwhile started taunting Izuku(?), some more and some less.
"If you don't want to take this exam seriously, please leave, we're not here to play games!"
"N-no! Um...she..." Izuku(?) stutters, too surprised by being taken back twice by the same person completely at random.
As I heard other contestants mocking her, I decided to intrude into the conversation, starting to lose patience at the blue-haired boy's persistence in picking on her for, practically no reason. He didn't even know if she knew Ochako or not for Buddha's sake!
"For all you know she could be a friend of hers, and you're preventing her from talking to her by accusing her of things with no head or tail, four-eyes" I snort annoyed as I approach the not-too-distant duo.
Tenya and the green haired girl turn to look at me when they hear my metallic and slightly distorted voice from the Astray's speakers.
"Wh-foureyes?! It's rude-"
"It's also rude to harass people you don't know, but I haven't broken your face for it yet; so, how about you go fuck off somewhere else?"
I honestly know Tenya isn't a bad guy, but I really don't have the patience to deal with him. He's too rigid and tube-eyed to see anything other than his ideas of what's 'right' or 'wrong' at the beginning of the story, and it's getting on my nerves.
I grabbed a dazed Izuku(?) and dragged her towards Ochako, who hearing the commotion glanced towards us. I decided to ignore both the girl's not-so-clear babble about how it wasn't necessary to disturb Ochako and Tenya's reminders once I got over the surprise of my intrusion and insults.
"Deku-chan and...?" she greets but tilts her head towards me not recognizing me.
Deku-chan? I shook my head and let the shorter girl down.
"Sorry about that, but that guy was pissing me off" I say to the freckled girl who looks at me stunned and confused "perhaps I was too intrusive earlier sorry"
"E-eh?! Ah, no, emh...N-it wasn't a problem...g-thanks."
Seeing the way she panicked just because I talked to her made my frown deepen. Even in this reality her life has been rough.
"Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool the way you set it up!" the anti-gravity girl says energetically trying to brighten the mood, though I could tell she was trying to distract herself from her nervousness "My name is Uraraka Ochako by the way, nice to meet you!"
"Sakurajima Raiden"
"M-Midoriya I-Izumi! P-pleased to meet you!" introduced Izumi as well, stiff as a board and incredibly anxious, but also strangely more at ease than a few seconds ago.
"Rather Sakurajima-kun, is it because of your quirk that you look like a robot?" asked the Mochi lover curiously.
"No, actually it's-"
"Eeeeee, begin!" the awkward silence is interrupted by Present Mic, and simultaneously with the announcement the gates of the miniature city quickly begin to open.
I was momentarily surprised by the English teacher's sudden interruption, but I really didn't waste any time. I grab Izumi and Ochako, who still confused hadn't moved, and before they could say anything, the Astray's thrusters ignite, allowing me to fly over the large stunned crowd ignoring the surprised screams of the two who cling frightenedly to me, as if their lives depended on it. I hear the hero pro admonish the other participants in the distance, but I ignored him since it wasn't important now and left the two almost 800 meters past the entrance.
"And with that I'd say I'm done with the good deeds Pre exam. Good luck" the two girls looked at me, slightly bewildered thanking me as I flew away, parting in turn.
I watched the situation from the sky the streets as I moved, and launch myself at a bunch of pointers from that were still waiting. There were two 3-pointers, two 2-pointers, and one 1-pointer. I unsheathed my katana.
I took a breath and swooped down towards the 3 pointer furthest from the group. Honestly, I wouldn't need to do this with armor on, but it helps me focus, so...
Mizu no kokyū: Hachi no kata: Takitsubo
Moving the katana vertically, I cut the bot into two perfect, smudge-free halves as I landed. The other four rushed towards me, but I really had no reason to panic. I could clearly see them moving very slowly, not unlike slugs.
When I train with Benkei I didn't pay too much attention because that old man even though he's eighty years old, he can move so fast that I can barely follow him with my eyes, so I'm always forced to make the most of all my senses so that I don't get used as a punching bag. Watching the exam drones move I have to admit to being a little...disappointed. I expected it to be more difficult honestly.
Shi no kata: Uchishio
As they charge at me, I calmly launch myself towards them. Pointer 1 tried to hit me, but I easily avoided him as I decapitated him and moved on to the others. Pointer 2 went the same way. Landing just behind him, I only needed a few steps to reach the other two. The first pointer two tried to attack me with a paw, but I slipped underneath him, cutting him in two, while the second pointer 2 didn't even have time to attack me because I decapitated him.
Shichi no kata: Shizuku Hamon Tsuki
Pointer 3 is bigger instead, I delivered a single lunge as he tried to run me over. Unfortunately for him, I managed to nullify the impact, though it wouldn't have hurt me in the first place. The blade sinks like a hot knife through butter into his head to the hilt. I pull it out as it emits sparks and explodes.
Thanks to the increased speed of the thrusters and the Astray's agility, it only took me a few seconds to destroy them.
Hearing the noise, other bots rushed towards my direction.
In a darkened room, several figures were watching from numerous screens as possible candidates for the heroes' course shot down enemies in order to score points.
"In this practical examination neither the number nor the position of the enemies are communicated to the candidates. The things that can come out of this, considering the time limit and a very large area are: the ability to gather information to quickly ascertain the situation-"
Students who stand out in particular are several who have Quirks that enhance the senses, such as a girl with jacks attached to her earlobes; a rather large boy who has six arms but on his extra limbs had ears; or a suit of armour that flies here and there, cutting through the robots of the entrance exam with ferocity and fluidity worthy of an assassin.
"-the speed of responding to any situation-"
This includes people with physical enhancement quirks or who specialise in quick movements, or an armourer straight out of an anime mecha who reacts to a surprise attack by cutting in two a pointer that had thrown itself at him from a building, while taking flight again and leaving as if nothing had happened.
"-the ability to judge while remaining calm in any situation-"
The overly shiny blond fired a laser from his belt to take down several pointers, but another examinee had just come out of the alley didn't see the incoming shot; then, the student in armor had moved just as quickly to cut the laser with his katana.
"-And finally, sheer fighting skill!" Finishes the headmaster "The basic qualities to protect the peace in the form of scoring."
In this selection appear an explosive blond with a mean face who kept blowing up robots left and right, two students who were shouting something while with their Quirks hardening bodies like steel or rocks, a student who turns into a beast and charges bots, a girl who enlarges her fists to hit false villans, or the student in armour who keeps on slicing without stopping everything in front of him.
"Headmaster, we take this exam every year, we know how it works" a female voice states boredly "But there are quite a few nice hunks this year too!" She finishes a little more excited.
"And they're still underage Midnight" an annoyed voice admonishes, not happy with the work she'll have to do after this exam.
For those who hadn't figured it out it was Recovery Girl.
"I know, I know...for now."
"Ahah, I know we do this every year, but I'm getting bored and I felt like making a scene" Nezu states ignoring the two women's small bickering "Besides we have a new guest today, so all the better"
"But who is that boy?" asked Cementoss as the armoured boy continued his slaughter without a hint of stopping. Power Loader and Nezu were paying special attention to him, so he became curious.
"Sakurajima Raiden, no quirk, is testing at ground beta," Majima replied absentmindedly, fascinated to see the armor he had been examining, about which he still had a ton of questions, at work.
Since their appearance, Iron Man suit has become the dream of every engineer specialising in the construction of support items, and Power Loader is no exception. Seeing a specimen unlike the failed Hammer Industries ones of a few years ago in action and fully functional is a source of much excitement for the teacher of the support class, and of considerable interest to Nezu.
The UA had never had rules prohibiting the quirkless from enrolling, especially not the civilian courses, and until 15 years before, when the law prohibiting the quirkless from entering had not been enacted they had enrolled in business or general courses, mostly. After that law was abolished they went back to taking them practically right away, but no quirkless person had ever tried to get into the heroes' class before, especially now that they could take them without causing trouble with the education committee.
He was curious when he heard his request for instruction and the one to use support items, and he approved it, despite the protests of several of his colleagues.
"We never had a rule that prevented those without Quirk from participating in the heroes class, moreover the law that prevented it was removed to make things fairer and less discriminatory. It simply never occurred to us that someone without Quirk would try to enter this class, because it was theoretically impossible" Nezu said. Despite his interest he had to admit, however, that the chances of a person being able to become a pro hero and compete, especially in today's society were almost 0.
"Is there Stark's hand in this?" asks Ectoplasm seeing the boy in armour continue to rack up point after point.
"No" replies Nezu sipping his tea, "I looked into him. He graduated with a master's degree in computer engineering at the age of 10. He got top marks with honours, he even took a course that qualifies him to use his creations in civilian settings. In recent years he has worked for many agencies as a freelancer, developing many support objects for several heroes. He is actually very much in demand in the industry.
"Why would such a smart guy apply for the heroes class?" asks Temuri surprised by the new information "Wouldn't he have made a career in that field?"
"Honestly, I have no idea" Power Loader admits "He's pretty well known in the engineering field because he's extremely quick at doing jobs with ridiculously high quality, but I never looked into it because I thought he'd get into the support course at some point, not the heroes course. Maybe he wants to be like Iron Man?"
"..." at the back of the room, Aizawa Shota watched with some interest as the quirkless boy's performance continued to smoothly take down pointer after pointer.
The thing that really caught his attention wasn't the performance itself, but the way he doesn't cause damage to his surroundings and tries to finish his short fights with extreme efficiency and speed. He is inexperienced in combat, you can tell by his movements had some shortcomings due to limited real world experience, which still makes him seem far more experienced than others. He can tell that someone has trained him, and quite well too.
He finds his efficiency despite his limitations almost unsettling.
"This is going to be interesting...who knows what kind of person this kid will be" Nezu wonders with a smile, making all the teachers present flinch uncomfortably, crushing any further discussion on the subject "Now, I think it's best to see how many of them really have what it takes to take the path they're looking into entering."
The headmaster lifts the protection from a remote control with a red button and presses it, bringing out the last hurdle during the last two minutes of the exam.
A loud roar makes my head spin as I fly. Out of a huge cloud of dust, followed by the sound of the tracks comes the zero pointer. It has a humanoid torso, it's dark green, very... symmetrical? Is that the right description? The fact is that even with its rectangular face obscured, its eight red eyes glow menacingly. I zoomed to his feet, finding a lot of students running away. Some disinterested, some terrified, some relatively calm and focused, the fact remains that I could see they were ignoring the more unfortunate competitors who were trapped under the rubble. Some stuck, others with deep cuts here and there, regardless of the injury there was one thing that came back to me and prevented me from getting back to what I was doing.
The sound of sheet metal ripping through my stomach.
The clatter of an explosion and flames burning.
Someone coughing.
Before my mind had even resynchronised with my body, I had launched myself onto the road at the foot of the zero pointer, moving boulders blocking the injured competitors, who, helping each other, had started to move away quickly.
BOOM!
Another punch against another building and the rubble collapsed again. I lunged forward again, catching a few pieces of buildings in the air before they could fall on other students, who look at me in surprise as I land. The boulders are heavy enough to get me in trouble, and they dropped me to my knees rather quickly as the Astray's exo-skeleton squeaks, disapproving of the abuse to which it is subjected. It was fortunately only for a few moments, so it didn't really suffer any damage. I leaned back to put it down and not load it all on the armor.
"Ouch."
I turn my head and look at Ochako with one leg pinned duct to the cement blocks. She had an expression of discomfort and nausea, probably resulting from prolonged use of Zero Gravity. I stared at her for a few seconds as I dropped the truck-sized boulder to the side.
Again, the disturbing vision of that concrete beam falling on me came back to me.
A whirlwind almost made me lose my balance, so I and several others looked up, seeing Izumi loading the giant robot. I shook my head, deciding I'd catch her next, ran over to Ochako and raised the beam as the green bean hit the Zero pointer with a powerful punch, sending it flying a few hundred feet.
"G-Thank you, ma-Deku-chan?!" she asked alarmed trying to get back on her feet after seeing the damage Izumi received.
I didn't say anything to her before firing up the thrusters again and jumping towards her. I caught her a few seconds later in the air by her good arm, keeping her from smashing to the ground.
"Guh!? S-Sakurajima-Kun?" she gasps at the pain she starts to feel and I stare at her badly for having broken three limbs.
It wasn't my fault, but the sight of it sometimes, like before annoys me. There are times when the details of the accident that brought me into this world come back to me, although I usually tend not to react as I did today, throwing myself into these situations. I shake my head to break from my train of thoughts.
It tended to happen more often with the newer ones usually.
"Time's up!"
"A-damn..." whispers Izumi, her voice cracked with pain, before passing out from the shock of her injuries.
I set her down on the ground, being careful not to move her limbs too much. While I knew that she still couldn't control one for all anyway, Ochako had a different reaction.
"D-Deku-chan? Has she fainted?!" she asked stumbling slightly from nausea, and probably from her sore leg "What happened to her! Why her limbs-?"
"Good job, good job. Here are some gummy bears" an elderly voice says as she walks, followed by the sound of a stick tapping on the ground alternating with the sound of footsteps.
The old woman in question is none other than Recovery Girl. She is a short woman with grey hair styled in a fishnet bun, from which a large syringe protrudes diagonally to the left. She has a particularly small nose and eyes that are usually drawn as two small dashes and a long mouth with defined nasolabial folds. She wears a doctor's coat and a dress with yellow and red undershirt-like designs on both sides, two yellow buttons and a belt with a pink 'R' shaped buckle. She wears pink boots and has a helmet around the sides of her head, a purple visor joining her eyes. She also walks with a stick drawn like a syringe that she can also use to treat the wounded.
"Oh dear, did you do this to yourself using your Quirk?" she asks once she sees Midoriya's unconscious body.
"She overloaded her limbs with too much kinetic energy and broke all her bones after using it" I answer in her stead, giving the school nurse a frown.
I had a chance to take a quick look at Izumi's performance and now I'm sure that's no ordinary physical enhancement. Sure, All Might said that quirk accumulates power and you use it for a physical boost, but even he doesn't know how. Quirks are part of the body and its biology, so they follow the laws of physics, so what the Quirk absorbed was the kinetic energy of movements that later manifested through the enhancement. Of course, it also assimilated the DNA and to some extent the Quirks of the possessors, but they hadn't manifested yet, so it was pointless to think about that now.
The problem as I look at her, is that there are strands in her DNA that don't belong to any known race which is very upsetting...
It's a... what are they called? Skrulls? I knew Secret war was being planned, but I hadn't really read anything about either the leaks of the series starring Samuel L. Jackson or the comic of the same name, so I'm hoping to avoid getting caught up in alien wars because I'm so not ready...
"That's weird, it seems like your body and your Quirk aren't in sync yet..." she speaks to herself, then stretches her lips and somehow they reach out to kiss her head.
With a faint green glow, her bones snap back into place and the colour return to normal. It's quite fascinating to see how the altered strain of DNA has changed the bodies of humans to develop these effects, but I'm still jealous that I don't have any real powers other than a few magical abilities that I won't be able to use without my armour. Sadly it would just raise doubts about circuits flashing on my body.
Passing off my circuits as a quirk wasn't even possible since they aren't detected in DNA tests. Doing so would only lead to a whole host of unwanted problems, so I might as well stay 'quirkless'.