Chapter 21: UA entrance exam

A/N: A bit on the shorter spectrum of words and rushed, I know, but I couldn't think of much to include.

"Right, so, the entrance exam is tomorrow," Kaminari sighed.

"Yeah," Watanabe said, "Sort of nervous," he chuckled.

"YOU are nervous?" Izuku deadpanned.

"Well, yeah. I mean you two have super cool quirks useful for combat and stuff,"

"Dude, you whooped Izuku's ass when you two sparred. Granted he can use more power if required but it comes with the cost of his bones," Kaminari replied.

"I guess. Wish Yagi-sensei would tell us something," Watanabe said.

"That would be bad for him and cheating," Kaminari said.

"Speaking of cheating, Watanabe and I have figured something out," Izuku said.

"What is it?"

"Well, if they don't specify a no-cheating rule for the written exam, I think we can cheat," Watanabe replied.

"Won't they throw us out?" Kaminari asked.

"Principal Nedzu likes to trick people. During last year's press conference, he told the public about some of the methods he tests the candidates. Cheating might be a measure of information gathering," Izuku replied.

"We're not sure if the practical exam will be the same though, if only there was a way to know," Watanabe groaned.

Kaminari smiled mischievously. "Wait, why are you smiling?" Izuku asked.

"You two aren't the only ones who figured out parts of the exam," Kaminari grinned, "You see, while Yagi-sensei won't tell us anything, Torino-sensei can,"

"Wait, did you-"

"Yup! I asked Torino-sensei. He didn't know anything obviously since he's no longer a teacher. But he told us that Nedzu doesn't lie. He will twist stuff but he won't lie. So, the robots are going to be there, but there will also be another twist,"

Watanabe shed a fake tear, "My students. How much they have grown!"

Izuku and Kaminari twitched, "SHUT UP!"

The next morning

Izuku, Kaminari, and Watanabe stood in front of the UA gates, "Good luck. Doubt they'll let us sit together," Watanabe said.

Izuku and Denki nodded and the three started walking. All of them were thinking about the exams when... Izuku tripped. Watanabe stuck his hand out to catch him, but Izuku didn't fall, he just sort of... floated? Watanabe looked beside to see a round-faced girl, "Sorry, for using my quirk on you but tripping into the ground would be bad luck, right?" she said before releasing her quirk making him land back to the ground.

Izuku turned red and started stuttering causing both Denki and Watanabe to almost burst into laughter, "He means to say thank you," Watanabe said, taking mercy on his cousin.

"Oh, welcome. Good luck to you. Not that you need it. You are the guys who knocked out Endeavour in the court right?"

Kaminari nodded enthusiastically, "Yup. Aren't you the one who floated him and then puked on him?"

"Well... that was an accident," Uraraka said embarrassed.

"It was dope!" Watanabe grinned.

"Thanks. We should get going," Uraraka said. Watanabe nodded and pushed Izuku along with him. They came to a hallway full of rooms with a chart next to it, "Guess we split up here," Kaminari said catching his name, "We're in different rooms for the test,"

"Well, good luck then. By the way, Kaminari, use fear tactics," Watanabe said.

"Huh?" Both Izuku and Denki asked confused.

"I doubt many people would like to go up against the guy who knocked out the number 2 hero," Watanabe grinned as he entered his exam room. Kaminari shook his head and chuckled, "Well, see you, Izu,"

"Yeah, good luck Denki," With that the three split up to their respective exam rooms. Izuku entered his room to find Ectoplasm and his clones standing at the front, "Please get to your designated seat," Ectoplasm or one of his clones said. Izuku tried not to swoon over the hero and quietly sat down. After the seats filled up, Ectoplasm spoke in an authoritative voice, "In 5 minutes, your exam papers will be handed out. You will have 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete them. Once time is up, you will stop writing or your marks are deducted. This is the rule. My clones are in all of the exam rooms to ensure none of you break the rules,"

Izuku nodded, "So, we can cheat. The only rule is that we stop writing as soon as time is up," Izuku grimaced. The papers were handed out. Izuku picked up his pen and held it ready.

"Your time starts... now!"

"You sure about this," Aizawa asked.

"Yes," Nedzu replied, "We will be measuring the information gathering and surveillance capability of the candidates. Ectoplasm did not tell that cheating is not allowed, therefore it's perfectly ok to cheat,"

"Will the students realize that?" Kan asked.

"They should. Strength is not everything. You need to be smart too,"

"Are quirks allowed to be used?" Ectoplasm's main body asked.

Nedzu nodded, "Yes. Now, let's see who cheats and how. Remember normal methods of cheating like a side glance will also work. Sometimes the simplest method is the best at gathering information,"

Ectoplasm nodded.

Watanabe smirked, it seemed like cheating was allowed. He turned on his X-ray vision and discreetly looked around. His sight went through most of the papers so he had to look at the furthest papers to actually see what was being written. Watanabe almost groaned in annoyance, he hadn't thought this through. It seemed like it would be harder than expected to cheat through the exam. Good thing, Inko had made sure he and Kaminari actually studied. He looked up once more to copy off one of the answers he didn't know. He caught the outline of a few of the letters and wrote down the answer. He caught Ectoplasm staring at him and smiled slightly.

Kaminari scratched his head in anxiety. He knew most of the answers but he had to guess a few of them. He had tried to cheat as well but the people next to him were even more clueless than him. At least he was sure he would get more than 60% so that was something. He'd just have to do better in the practical.

Izuku finished the exam 15 minutes early. The questions were quite easy and he didn't even have to cheat. He was sure he had the written exam in the bag. All that he needed now was to ace the practical exam. "Time's up," Ectoplasm shouted. At once everyone put down their pens. A few tried to write more but their papers were taken quickly by Ectoplasm, "You can go to the cafeteria for lunch now. Afterward, you are all to go to room 107 for the practical exam," Ectoplasm dismissed them.

Izuku rushed out of the room and headed to the cafeteria. There were a lot of people there, some were sitting on the floors. He grabbed his lunch and luckily found a solitary table in the corner. After a while, Watanabe and Kaminari entered too. They waved at Izuku before grabbing their lunch, "So, how was your exam," Izuku asked.

"Dreadful," Kaminari replied, "I know I'll get at least 60% but wish I could have done better. You probably finished 10 minutes early with all the questions answered, didn't you?"

Izuku laughed in response, "Yeah, what about you Watanabe?"

"It was great. I copied the answers I couldn't get using my X-ray vision,"

"Lucky guy," Kaminari grumbled.

"Not really. I couldn't see most of the papers because my sight went through them. So, I had to rely on the people furthest from me, so that I could at least see the paper without it being penetrated,"

"Still, you got to cheat! The ones near me were even more clueless than me!" Denki declared.

"Ouch! They told me to got to room 107 after lunch. What about you guys?" Watanabe asked.

"Same," Both Izuku and Denki said, "I guess they don't want to waste any time explaining it to every one of us," Denki said,"

"Well, have you gotten who all might have cheated?" Nedzu asked.

"Yes, we have made a list of the students who cheated to add extra marks for information gathering," Snipe said.

Nedzu nodded, "Good, we will re-watch the cameras to ensure we didn't miss anyone. Is Mic done with explaining the practical exam?"

Ectoplasm nodded, "You sure it's a good idea to spring up a twist on them without saying anything?"

"A pro-hero needs to be able to comb through the information they get and determine which is true and which is false and whether they are missing any information,"

"Aizawa is right. Really I am surprised you didn't understand what the practical exam was actually about before," Nedzu laughed.

Aizawa grunted under his breath. "Still, isn't it cruel to drop a twist on unsuspecting students,"

"What do you think All Might?" Nedzu asked.

"Ah, well, UA is the top hero school. Nedzu told the media the secret behind UA's entrance exam last year. It makes no sense for the exam to be the same this year. If they didn't see the exam changing, they aren't very smart,"

Aizawa stared at Yagi, he was acting surprisingly smarter than the rest of the teachers. He thought the number 1 hero was slightly... idiotic, for lack of a better word.

"Why did we need to keep the robots?" Midnight asked.

"We still need to measure their strength and combat skill. Speaking of, the contestants have started already," Nedzu replied.

Yagi watched Izuku's screen with pride. Watanabe had been right, flowing One for All to his entire body had helped him control his quirk without breaking his bones. He was crushing the robots left and right without a thought. Yagi smiled as he saw Izuku save someone from being crushed by a robot. Ectoplasm's clone quickly marked an extra mark for rescue.

He turned to see how Kaminari was doing and was pleased to see him weaving in and out of the robots and use his electricity to overload the circuits. "Pretty useful quirk. I doubt it's easy to control an electricity quirk," Ectoplasm commented. Yagi nodded slightly, Torino's moves had helped Kaminari immensely it seems.

"Is that boy cheating?" Yagi heard Powerloader shout. Yagi turned to see who he was talking about and sighed. Of course, it was Watanabe. It seemed like he was using his X-ray vision to pinpoint the robots' weak points and was then using his martial arts to break the robots down.

Fortunately, Ectoplasm corrected him, "Relax, he might just have a quirk that shows him weak points," Well at least it wasn't that far from the truth.

Izuku smashed another robot. This was getting fun and was feeling quite easy. Sure, with only 2% of One for All, his strength wasn't even as good as Watanabe's but it was enough to crush the robots. Suddenly a huge robot appeared out of nowhere. Izuku sweatdropped, "I know they warned us about it, but isn't that a bit overboard," he muttered.

He turned to run like the others but heard someone scream. He turned to see Uraraka trapped under a few rocks. Izuku froze for a few moments. His first thought was to smash the robot but he knew he didn't have enough strength to do that. So, he used his quirk to break the rubble and escape with Uraraka.

In the monitoring room, Aizawa's eyes widened as he realized why those kids looked familiar. He had met them during the Endeavour case! "How did I not recognise them before!?" Aizawa muttered angrily under his breath but Nedzu heard him and smirked, "Lots of potential right Aizawa?"

Aizawa ignored Nedzu, "Wait, wasn't the green-haired one quirkless? That's why there was even a case,"

It was Nedzu's turn to steer the conversation elsewhere, "Oh look at that, it's time for phase 2,"

Izuku stood confused as walls rose around him, Uraraka and a blue-haired, spectacle wearing boy. Izuku deduced that he had an engine quirk due to his legs.

Nedzu's cheery voice resonated, "Welcome to phase 2 of the practical exam!

A/N: Please leave a review. Let me know if anything could have been added or done better. See you next time.