CHAPTER 7: THE ENTRANCE EXAM
At 4am Izuku woke up to his alarm as usual, and he got up and started playing with his weights for a few hours before hopping in the shower. While he was in there he heard a knock on the door and instinctively turned the shower off in order to hear what his mother was shouting at him.
"Izuku baby! I have your breakfast all cooked and ready for you when you are done in there!" He heard his mother call out.
"Thanks Mom!" He called back before turning the hot water back on and resuming his shower thoughts of him going over the topics that might be covered in the written exam. When he got out he was greeted by a full platter of food that his mother had prepared for him.
"This is your big day sweetie!" Inko cheered with the definition of pure joy on her face. "I made sure to prepare all of your favorite foods just for you!"
"Thanks mom!" Izuku said with genuine sincerity as he dove into his food.
"Just finish your breakfast by 7:30. I've decided that I'm going to drive you to UA today instead of having you take the train." Izuku gave his mom a thumbs up because he was too busy eating and reading a textbook at the same time.
"Last minute cramming never hurt anyone!"
An hour or so later after his mother had cleaned up all the dishes, they were heading down to Inko's tiny yellow convertible in the parking garage under the building. They were frustrated for a moment when the contraption that rotated the cars around accidentally passed his mom's car and they had to wait for it to circle around again. However they made it with plenty of time to the front gates of UA where Inko had to say goodbye to her son because she couldn't go in within him no matter how much she wanted to be at his side.
"You'll pass whatever test they throw at you sweetie! I know you can get in!"
"Thanks mom," Izuku said as he blushed as his mom kissed his forehead, "Really?! In front of the main gate mom?"
Once he watched his mother drive off, he turned around and started walking towards the main building, his eyes fixed on the massive structure. This meant he had no idea where he was looking and began to trip and fall on his face. He did not hit the ground though, but rather he was floating above it. That's when he noticed a pressure being applied to his chest and he looked around and saw a woman with silver hair and a singular bright blue eye.
"I'm sorry for using my quirk on you." She said in a shy voice, "I just thought it wouldn't be good luck to fall and trip before you got inside."
Izuku felt flustered and felt his body temperature rise dramatically, especially in his face. This in turn caused the girl's face to turn slightly pink.
"I'm sorry if the use of my quirk made you uncomfortable or unwelcome." The girl said, starting to back away.
"No! No!" Izuku panicked, all flustered waving his hands around and turning redder, "It's okay… Thank You…"
"Yanagi… Reiko Yanagi." The girl responded also turning red, but not backing away anymore.
"Izuku Midoriya…" the greenette stuttered, "Should we head inside?"
The girl nodded and the two walked inside and followed the signs to a large set of tables where they had to sign in. Izuku had to split up from Yanagi because she had to go to the Y section and Izuku had to go to the M section of the table.
"Midoriya Izuku, Hero Course" he said as he approached a student who was manning the check in table, and Izuku couldn't help but notice that she had the exact same shade of blue hair that Hiro had. He also noticed that the female student was extremely well endowed and had to make an effort not to look down.
"Oh! Here for the Hero course!" the well endowed blue haired student asked. "Here! I need you to fill out these forms here."
"But I already filled out these forms online…" Izuku sighed as he recognized them.
"We make you fill them out again just to confirm that you are who you are." The blue haired girl explained, "We compare the two forms just to verify that you are who you say you are. Several years back we had an incident where someone with a shape shifting quirk impersonated someone for the written test."
"Oh." Izuku said looking relieved, "But I had to fill these forms out over the phone last time because the system was really annoying because of my unique circumstances…"
"Really? Why's that?" The girl asked excitedly.
"It's because I was born with multiple quirks and they only had one spot to enter one quirk." Izuku replied feeling embarrassed.
"WHAT?!" The girl shouted, causing several pairs of eyes to turn in their direction.
"Hadou…" a dark blue hair boy with pointed ears next to her moaned, "Can you please keep your voice down?"
"Sure Tamaki…" the girl teased, "So you have multiple quirks!?"
"Yeah…" Izuku replied, his face had turned into a tomato, "I have three separate quirks."
"THREE!" Hadou shouted, causing everyone to look at them again…
"HADOU!" a man with unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes approached, "How many times today do we have to tell you that you need to use your inside voice?"
"Sorry Mr. Aizawa," Hadou said in her bubbly voice, and he turned away, "I'm sorry. Quirks are my thing. I kinda have an unhealthy obsession with analyzing them."
"I get you." Izuku muttered back, "I totally do the same thing. I've filled up 41 notebooks so far full of heroes' quirks. I'm on my 42nd right now."
"OMG!" Hadou exclaimed, "You have to share them with me! Here's my number!"
"OMG! A girl just gave me her phone number!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs inside his head, his face turning scarlet once again.
"Th-Th-Th-Thank Yo-You." Izuku stammered taking the strip of paper.
"Anyways, here is your micro-pencil and fill the form out and come back to me when you are done." Hadou said with a smile.
Izuku shakily took the dulled pencil and walked back to where there were a few seats. A moment later Yanagi sat next to him. He filled out the form, putting his address and contact information. Then he got to the section for his quirk where he had to cram his information in the limited space provided.
Phantom-Force: A form of psychokinesis which allows me to take control and manipulate objects. I can also seize objects and crush them with mental effort alone. Unable to use my quirk on myself. Over usage results in headaches
Pyro: Essentially Pyrokinesis except I can control the temperature of the flames and make them cold, change their colors, and command them to extinguish. I can also give the flames a sense of mass and density making them impossible to pass through.
Life Force: Can encourage parts or whole living things to grow at a faster rate. For example: can make plants grow faster, muscle growth at a faster than natural rate. Can also give myself superhuman speed, strength, and reflexes. Can also be used to heal injuries on self and others.
He finished filling out his form. He decided to change the name Telekinesis to Phantom-Force for a couple reasons. One, he kept misspelling it every single time he had to spell it out, and he was convinced by Hiro that it sounded bland and unoriginal. He then noticed Yanagi peeking over at his form. She backed off when she noticed that he knew she was looking.
"Sorry… I should've asked before looking…" She said looking very embarrassed.
"No! No!" Izuku said turning pink again, he was doing that a lot today, "It's okay. I don't mind."
"Oh okay.." Yanagi replied looking relieved, "I couldn't help but notice you put more than one quirk down out of the corner of my eye and that is what caught my attention."
"Well that's because I do have multiple quirks. I have no idea why everyone thinks that makes me super special or worthy of being popular. I have to deal with a lot of people who just want to get close to me because of that." Izuku mumbled looking uncomfortable.
"Well that's not fair…" Yanagi responded kindly and this caused Izuku to look at her again, "People shouldn't just judge you on your quirks… Quirks aren't everything in society. People shouldn't just think you are an amazing person just because you have more than one quirk."
Izuku's all of a sudden felt a hot and warm fuzzy feeling in his chest that melted throughout his body. "Finally someone understands me!" "I know right! It's really frustrating! I had to ditch a lot of fake friends when I realized it."
"Glad to see that it hasn't gone to your head." Yanagi smiled, "At my high school there was someone with a very flashy quirk that allowed her to create illusions and she let it get to her head and took pleasure in all the attention."
"I knew someone like that in Kindergarten." Izuku said looking down with a slight grin on his face, "He already had an inflated ego which didn't help the fact everyone piled on praise just because of his flashy quirk. We used to be friends but he picked on me because I was one of the last ones in Kindergarten to develop their quirk. When my quirks finally came in, he hated the fact that I had more quirks than him. I ran into him a several months ago and he hasn't changed."
"I guess some people are natural born jerks." Yanagi responded cheerfully. "Anyways I noticed that your quirk Phantom-Force sounds a lot like my quirk Poltergeist."
"Really?" Izuku asked, looking over at her form and reading what her quirk was about. "I see they both are psychokinetic quirks, and neither of us can use our quirks on ourselves."
"I know." Yanagi sighed, "It would be awesome to make myself fly…"
"I've been trying to make myself fly." Izuku proffered, "I have been trying to make wings that sprout out of my back with my flames. Although I'm having a lot of difficulty getting off the ground and staying in the air."
"Hello there Midoriya! Are you done yet?" It was Hadou, she had come up to them from her spot behind her desk.
"Ah yes!" Izuku cried out, "We were just discussing our quirks."
"WHAT?!" Hadou pouted, "You were talking about quirks without me with your new girlfriend?"
"WHAAAT!?" Both Midoriya and Yanagi and cried out, both of their faces turning red.
"Suuuuuree." Hadou replied with a grin. "Anyways you both better head into Auditorium C for the Hero Course Written Test, and I'll take that from you Midoriya."
"Sure thing…" Izuku stuttered, "Thank you…" He then turned to look at Yanagi, "It was nice to meet you Yanagi…"
"Was nice to meet you too Midoriya." Her face was still red and she wasn't making eye contact. With that Izuku awkwardly walked off to Auditorium C.
"Oh My God! I actually talked to a girl!" (Actually talked to a girl…)"Not only that, she was perfectly normal and didn't think I deserved praise for having multiple quirks!" Izuku shook his head and rapidly blinked his eyes a few times, "Come on Izuku! You need to think about the test! This is the most important test of your life!"
"MIDORIYA!"
Izuku jumped out of his skin and violently turned around, almost falling down on his butt as he turned to face Iida.
"Iida!" Izuku cried out, "Why did you have to shout!? I'm already on pins and needles because of this exam."
"My most humble apologies Midoriya," Tenya replied bowing his head, "I just wish to get your attention!"
"Iida," Izuku sighed after a deep breath, "We are probably the only people here whose school uniform is a beige suit. All you'd have to do is pick me out of a crowd and walk up next to me."
"Again! I'm terribly sorry," Iida whispered as they walked up to the auditorium. Izuku looked down at the card that Hadou had given him when she took his form from him as they entered. It turned out that Iida and Izuku were assigned to sit next to each other.
He looked around there was Hiro! He was higher up near the exit and more in the middle, but he frowned when he saw who was next to him. It was Bakugo.
"Hiro must be feeling harder nerves than he normally would've just having to sit next to Bakugo."
"Is that your friend?" Izuku turned around. Iida had followed his gaze.
"Yeah that's Hiro. The one with the glasses and the blue hair. The blonde one is his bully. The person I told you about from when I was in Kindergarten." Izuku muttered.
"I would recommend you go up and say hello, but based on what you've told me about Bakugo, he'll make a scene and you don't want that before you've taken the exams." Iida said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah your right…" Izuku sighed as his eyes wandered the auditorium. He noticed Yanagi walk in and take a seat in the front row on the other side of the auditorium. His gaze didn't go unnoticed.
"Do you know that girl?" Iida asked, looking curious. "She doesn't go to our school…"
"We just met a few minutes ago." Izuku muttered back, trying to sound casual. "We filled out our forms together and we have similar quirks."
"You'll have to be more specific Midoriya." Iida chuckled.
"Oh!" Izuku responded surprised, "She also has a psychokinetic quirk, and like me can't use her quirk on herself."
"So you two were talking about quirks?" Iida said, a certain knowing look on his face.
"Oh! Iida!" Izuku cried out, his face reddening again, "It's nothing like that! We only just met! There is no way I could've developed a crush or anything crazy like that!"
"Who said anything about a crush?" Iida replied, his smile getting bigger as he took a sip from his water bottle. "I was just talking about your obsession with quirks…"
"No one said anything about a crush." Izuku countered, feeling his face flush even more.
"But you just did." Iida responded with that smile, and Izuku got angry.
"You are only doing this to me because of all the times I "Almost Run" in the hallways." Izuku grumbled.
"Yep…" Iida responded who looked like he was trying to hold in laughter. He had definitely corrupted Iida in the 10 months he had known him. He was still a strict follower of the rules, but he now dabbled in teasing and revenge… within the range of what was allowed in the rules… A few moments later the rest the auditorium seats were filled in. It was not long after that the lights dimmed and the Pro Hero Snipe and Midnight walked up onto the main stage. Iida had to give him a punch to the arm.
"Please act professional Midoriya!" Iida whispered yelled at Midoriya, "We are the only two people representing the Soumei Private Academy! We need to be exemplary representatives!"
"Okay! Thank you for all coming in for the Hero Course Entrance Exam!" Snipe announced after he reached the podium. "Many of you sadly will not pass the exam." This was met with silence.
"Just because you have a flashy quirk does not mean you'll get in." Snipe continued after letting the silence stand for a moment, "As the top rated Hero Program in the country and one of the top ranked in the world, we need to make sure all of our students are academically brilliant. That is the reason for this written exam."
"Without a doubt the will be the HARDEST exam you have ever taken." Midnight added, her tongue licking her lips. "So for once! None of you better be NAUGHTY." This caused the entire auditorium to sweat drop, minus a minuscule boy with purple balls on top of his head, did his quirk cause dwarfism in addition to the balls on his head? Snipe looked between Midnight and the auditorium and decided to regain control. "Anyways, we will be handing out the test soon. When you are done with your examination you are to bring it up here to the podium and then you'll be free to head back to the main lobby and head to the cafeteria to get some lunch before the practical exam. Just be warned, anyone who wishes to practice some ADULTERY when taking the exam will be kicked out of the examination hall and will not be attending UA and notices will be sent out to the other universities with hero programs on why you were kicked out of the exam hall."
With that they handed out the exams. Once he got the test Izuku freaked out.
"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME?! 500 QUESTIONS!?"
When Izuku got over his initial panic, "It's okay… I got four hours to get through all these questions… I have four hours…"
He now was really grateful that he attended a very prestigious school with excellent teachers. He flew through the math section with ease. He was practically fluent in English because his mother taught him at home because she considered moving to America for a time. Japanese History was super easy thanks to his mother again, being a huge history buff and insisting and sometimes demanding that Izuku sit down with her on the couch and watch documentaries with her.
When it came to Hero and Quirk history he flew through those question with ease. He actually may have written far too much on the essay portion for that section of the quiz. He made sure to keep his own political views out though in case they differed from the person grading the exams personal views. It was around this time they got a 30 minute warning. This is when Izuku started to panic because he had 100 questions left to go. He had spent too much time on the Hero and Quirk History section.
He flipped to the next section of the quiz with haste. This section covered regulations of what heroes were allowed to do when it came to apprehending villains. Also he was grateful that it was mainly multiple choice because he'd most likely overdue it if there was a written portion for this section of the exam.
Around the thirty minute warning mark he had 25 questions left and Iida had already turned his exam in. The final section was Modern Art, and there were no multiple choice options for this section. This was the hardest section for Izuku to complete due to the subjective nature of the subject and Izuku had no artistic talent or interest.
However, Izuku finished before the time limit. He went down to the podium on the stage to turn his exam in. That is when he turned around and got a good look at how many people were left taking the exam. He already knew that Iida had finished, but turned around and got a good glimpse of the room. Bakugo, Hiro, and Yanagi had all left. That purple balled haired kid got kicked out of the exam because he was suspiciously looking at his female neighbor and was accused of cheating despite him insisting that he was just checking her out. However, the room was still half full with less than five minutes left.
Izuku would've gotten lost if there weren't signs directing him to the cafeteria. He had a small freak out when he saw the Pro Hero Lunch Rush was the chef. He got some Katsudon and quickly found that Iida was seated across from Hiro and Yanagi was sitting next to him.
"Hiro! Iida! Yanagi!" Izuku cried out as he joined them. "Didn't expect to see all of you sitting together."
"Well since I was the first one done I decided to invite your friends over to sit with me." Iida explained.
"So you've been talking about me?" Izuku asked, looking a bit afraid.
"Kinda." Yanagi answered with a smile. "Well I just met you today…"
"Ah…" Izuku sighed looking at his food.
Iida had insisted on going over the exam, which none of the other three were interested in doing. However, Yanagi and Hiro were both two shy to change the conversation. Which meant Izuku had to step up.
"Iida please!" Izuku yelled, and this caused Iida to stop. "Shouldn't we be focusing on what we are going to be doing for the practical instead of what we just did for the written test?"
However, this caused a bit more looks of panic in both Hiro and Yanagi as they looked backed down at their food.
"I'm sorry guys!" Izuku flustered.
"No it's okay…" Yanagi sighed.
"How are you not nervous?" Hiro asked.
"I am nervous though…" Izuku muttered embarrassingly, "That's why I want to talk about it."
"I'm not so sure…" Iida replied and they all looked at him, "There is no guarantee they'll use the same entrance exam method as the past several years. There has been talks about them changing it up. It may be unwise to discuss strategy when we may end up having to face one another." This caused the other three at the table to gulp in fear. They ate their lunch in silence pretty much after that before they had to the auditorium.
Once they were all gathered in the auditorium they noticed sheets of paper had been placed on the desk waiting for them. Izuku looked briefly through the briefs and noticed that they would be going through the traditional entrance exam that they've had for years. Fighting Robots.
Present Mic came in and he started to discuss the practical exam.
"Can I get a hell yeah?!" Mic called out to the auditorium, Izuku was the only one who responded with a yeah of his own. This caused Iida to face-plant his head into the desk in front of him in second-hand embarassment and a mix of shame thrown in.
"Woohoo!" Mic called out, pointing at Izuku. "Love your enthusiasm little listener. You just earned five bonus points on your practical examination for being the only one to show that Plus Ultra Spirit!"
"Wait what?!"
"That's not fair?!"
"How come he gets points for acting like an idiot!"
"I want my extra five points!"
"I deserve those points! Not that pathetic loser!"
Mic then had to let loose his quirk which quieted down the uproar at the sudden awarding of points for Izuku. "Here at UA, we teachers have a lot of latitude on how we run things. If you are accepted here, you'll have to learn that very fast and throw any preconceived notions out the window. Welcome to UA, Plus Ultra style where the rules may be hidden and can change on a whim. That little listener is now five points ahead of every single one of you because he wasn't afraid to stand up and show his Plus Ultra spirit. He's excited to be here and work to earn one the 36 spots left for the hero course. Do the rest of you share his drive? Welcome to UA. There is a reason why we ranked at the top."
"Now... before I was interrupted." Mic continued on, "There are three kinds of robots that will earn you points. One is worth one point, another two, and another three. Each increasing in difficulty to defeat in that order. Feel free to take out as many robots as you can in any manner that you wish. Just don't endanger your fellow challengers, that will make you earn a disqualification that guarantees you'll never set on these hallowed grounds again. Oh, and before I forget, before some rule stickler with a stick up his bum makes a scene like last year, that fourth robot listed on your paperwork isn't worth any points. Just think of it as a Thwomp from those old pre-quirk era video games. Just try to avoid it if at all possible. Now will everyone please clear the auditorium and follow the signs to the buses which will take you to your assigned training grounds! PLUS ULTRA!"
With that they all headed on out to their training grounds. Iida got in line for the buses going to Training Ground A, while Izuku got in line for the buses heading towards Training Ground B.
"Clearly they didn't want people from the same school in the same facility teaming up."
When he got on the bus he noticed Hiro was on the same bus as him and immediately went and stood beside him grabbing one of the hand loops.
"Got your plan worked out Hiro?" Izuku asked the nervous boy who looked like he wanted to puke.
"I.. I think so.." Hiro muttered pushing his blue hair out of his eyes. It wasn't long afterwards that they were gathered around the training ground entrance. He decided to push his way to the front of the line to the point where the doors would open instead.
"If the rumors are true from what I saw in the forums, it is best to be at the front."
As soon as the door open he squeezed in and activated One For All at 10% and started running like crazy. He instantly saw a three pointer, a two pointer, and a one pointer right within the entrance. He immediately ran up and punched the one pointer in the head module crushing it. He proceeded to twist around in midair and grabbed the two pointer and threw it into the three pointer destroying it with quite the explosion. This caused his muscles to scream in protest, he was still not used to throwing stuff around like this; One For All was still a bit painful for him to use sometimes.
"GO GO GO!" Present Mic yelled through the speakers, "There are no countdowns in crises scenarios! Heroes need act quickly upon instinct! The listener who should his plus ultra spirit earlier has just earned himself six more points while you were standing around! That means he is now 11 points ahead of you all! Civilians could've been injured while you all were lollygaging! GO GO GO!" After this the students rushed into the battle field, but Izuku left the entrance a long time before they got in because he was hopping around the battlefield just like Gran Torino since he was still unable to master flight.
He turned around the corner and saw a pair of two pointers coming up at him, he put his hands up and grabbed them with his mind and slammed them together. That gave him another four points bringing his total up to 15. He jumped over a small building and onto the other side and saw five one pointers, three two pointers, and a single three pointer all rushing towards a group of five applicants, all frozen in fear.
Izuku acted out of instinct. He immediately jumped down and swung a kick at one of the two pointers. This was something he hadn't done before but he actually really liked the result of the kick.
"Perhaps I should start practicing more kicking moves?"
He threw two green fire balls at a couple of the one pointers which took them out. He then shot flamethrowers from both of his hands at two of the one pointers. He turned around to see the three pointer coming right at him. He latched onto it with his mind and threw the three pointer at the remaining two pointers and crushed both the robots all while dealing with a minor headache now.
"Normally I wouldn't have even a minor headache anymore after that much effort. But I guess the slip in my training to help Hiro was worth it."
"Are you guys okay?" Izuku called out.
"Yeah we are fine right now!" one of the applicants replied, "We weren't mentally prepared to be attacked like this! What were they thinking when they designed this exam!?"
"As long as you are okay I'll leave you be." Izuku replied, he had to keep his mind on the exam. That was another 11 points to his score bringing his total to 36 points.
"I need to double my score if I'm going to earn that scholarship so I can give it away to Hiro so he can get out of whatever abusive home he must be living in. I need to find more robots."
Meanwhile in a remote facility all the teachers were gathered in a viewing area examining the battle going on in Training Ground B.
"Who is that kid who has scored a lot of points so far?" asked a teacher with serious dry eye. "I can't seem to pin down what type of quirk he has. Perhaps that's why that Hadou was freaking out about him earlier."
"I was wondering the same thing Aizawa." Replied Midnight. "Principal Nezu, can you pull up his file?"
"Of course Kayama." The small rodent like being called Nezu responded in a cheerful yet inquisitive voice. "Ah, it says on his quirk registration form he was born with three separate quirks."
"What!?" Cementoss cried out making everyone jump. Normally Cementoss was a very calm and collected person. "Sorry…" he apologized. "Normally people are just born with one quirk. What are his quirks Principal Nezu?" and Nezu obliged and read off the very same form that Midoriya had filled out that very morning.
"How did a kid like this wind up with three quirks?" Power Loader asked. "It's not unheard of for kids inheriting quirks from both parents to a degree but nothing like this."
"It says here that his father had a fire quirk that wound up taking his life due to negative complications involving said quirk, and his mother has a weak form of telekinesis herself, but only useful for small objects." Nezu read off from his tablet. "It seems that he inherited both quirks from his parents but they are far more powerful than theirs, and he developed a unique quirk to himself."
"Well look at how many combat points he has gotten while we were talking." Thirteen pointed out.
"WHAT?!" Exclaimed nearly everyone in the room with nearly all of their eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"It's time we released the big guns to slow him down and give others a chance." Vlad said lifting up a cover and pressing a big red button. "Oh and Eraser, I call dibs on him."
"You can't call dibs Sekijiro." Aizawa snarled as he gave a glowing red eye stare at his coworker causing Nezu sigh and facepalm.
Back on the battlefield the whole field seemed to rumble. Izuku had just helped free a pair of students who were trapped underneath a robot and helped heal their wounds. He was grateful his healing quirk was like Recovery Girl's and it didn't drain his own stamina when he was healing others. Izuku looked up and there it was, the massive zero pointer. Everyone was running away from it.
"TEST IS OVER IN TWO MINUTES!" Present Mic called out.
"Present Mic said that thing was obstacle. Best avoid it given I'm sure I got enough points to pass and hopefully enough points to get Hiro a scholarship. Hold on… Wait a moment…"
He turned and saw a girl who was trapped underneath some rubble. He didn't recognize who she was but she seemed to be in extreme and pain and trapped, AND RIGHT IN THE PATH OF THE ZERO POINTER!
Without thinking, Izuku rushed towards the zero pointer, his legs and instincts acting before his mind had a chance to process thought. He jumped up a fire escape on a nearby building and began jumping up all the levels till he came up to the "eye-level" of the zero pointer.
Izuku let One For All course through his body, and he smashed the robot's head apart causing explosions to ripple down through the rest of the zero pointer. However he accidentally used 100% of One For All's power and broken his arm. He winced in pain as he fell down.
"CRAP! That hurts a lot! And crap! Crap! Crap! I need to concentrate on One For All again so I can land on the ground."
He managed to land on his feet, but his knees protested a lot at the impact and his whole body was in pain. Once he got back up, he used his left arm to free the girl from the trapped rubble, and then a klaxon roared through the arena and that was the end of the exam.
Izuku was sure that he had passed, with a head-splitting headache though. He just worried about Hiro.
"I hope he got enough points to pass. But I need to focus on healing this arm right now while I still have the energy."
He placed his left arm on his right and the gold sparkly aura encircled it for about twenty seconds and all the bruising was gone. He moved his arm around, and did a funny looking flapping motion and knocked his other arm against it to make sure it was healed.
"WOW!" the brunette cried out. "You can heal yourself? Healing quirks are extremely rare, and those with them are paid loads of money!"
This caused Izuku to sigh. "Why is it that every girl thinks my quirks equate to big money? Except…" It was at that moment Recovery Girl approached him
"Ah!" she commented as she approached. "I heard someone taking the exam had a healing quirk."
"She must be pretending that we haven't met before. Best play along."
"Well yeah." He said rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Let me check the quality of your work sonny." She cooed, and then Izuku profited his right arm towards the elderly woman who poked and prodded it moving around while a crowd had gathered around him.
"Your work is exceptional young man!" she cheered. "You give this old lady hope that she may be able to retire one day from this school! If you don't make it in, I'm good friends with the teacher of 1-C. I'll make sure you get in, but I'm sure you won't have to worry about any of that." This caused gasps and whispers from the crowd. "Here have some gummies!" she deposited a pack of gummies in Izuku's still open right hand, "Anyone else need a check up?"
Izuku struggled to make his way past the crowd that gathered because every muscle in his body sore from over exertion and started to look for Hiro. Eventually he spotted a shock of blue hair and ran over to him. He was sitting atop a pile of rubble.
"HIRO!" Izuku cried out. "How did you think you did?" Izuku immediately took a seat next to his friend.
"Well…" Hiro started
Back at the start of the Exam…
"GO GO GO!" Present Mic yelled, and with that everyone around Hiro started running towards the arena, and he was being left behind.
Hiro quickly ran into the arena and ran off away from the crowd. He was running through an alley and when he turned around a single pointer came around the corner saying something about target acquired or something. Hiro stretched his palm out and high pressure water gushed from his fingers cutting his foe in half.
"I need more points if I'm going to get that scholarship."
Hiro then turned around a corner and saw a purple haired boy trying to dodge a two pointer who had it in for him.
"SHIT!" the boy yelled out, "You can't brainwash robots!"
Hiro rushed up to the water fountain and conjured a sword made of ice from it and handed it to the struggling student.
"Here it's dangerous out here! Take this!" He shouted as he shoved the sword into the boy's hand.
The boy took the sword and swung at the robot, cleaving it in two. He stared are Hiro with a scrupulous look.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked, but he didn't get an answer because Hiro had run off to find more robots.
He turned around another corner and saw a quartet of three pointers coming right at him. He looked around and saw a fire hydrant nearby. He quickly ran over to it and summoned a spike of ice from his palm to rupture it.
It exploded and he directed it towards the three pointers and they caved in and exploded from the high pressure jet of water coming from the hydrant.
"12 more points." Hiro thought, "Puts me at lucky number 13. Still have a long way to go."
Hiro stopped and used the flowing water from the hydrant to his advantage to conjure himself a sword and a shield. Not longer after he had his new equipment the flow of water shut off.
"Probably meant to cut off after a certain amount of time."
Hiro ran off and came across another group of robots all clamoring after a group of kids who were running away. This time it was 2 three pointers, 4 two pointers, and 6 one pointers. He ran through the kids running in the other direction.
"I can afford to be afraid right now. If I don't succeed here, I'll never succeed."
He kept running around, taking out robots whenever he saw them. He didn't care if he wound up taking someone's kill away from them. He had to do everything he could to escape his Tomb.
He looked over and saw Izuku jumping around like crazy, twisting in midair while firing fireballs at multiple different robots.
"Damn! Midoriya is looking like a badass! He also seems way too overpowered."
Hiro slowly started to rack up points. Eventually he was at about 42 points when he heard an explosion erupt from the ground, and there was the zero pointer Present Mic had warned them about. Hiro felt his body go rigid.
"What's wrong with my body?! I need to get out of here!"
He started to turn around, his legs feeling like lead. He felt like he was running in the same manner he did when he tried to get away from a monster in one of his nightmares. As he was running, he heard a cry, he stopped and saw a kid that was trapped. He didn't know what caused him to do it, but he stopped and rushed to help the kid like everyone else he saw stuck, he couldn't help himself.
All of a sudden there was a massive explosion. Hiro instinctively turned around his hair flapping in the sudden gusts of wind. He looked up and saw explosions emanate from the zero pointer, its entire head piece had been crushed. It was then with a gasp that Hiro saw that someone was falling from the sky.
"Midoriya! NO!"
His legs started to move of their own accord and he was sprinting towards his only friend. Every muscle fiber in his legs screamed in protest as he ran, but he didn't feel the pain. He was almost there when his best friend landed on his feet.
"He's okay. I need to sit down…"
Soon after sitting down on a pile of rubble, Izuku ran over to him. "How did you think you did?" he asked.
Hiro paused staring at the sky. He thought he perhaps did good enough to get into the Hero Course, but he doubt he did good enough to get the scholarship.
"I'd say I did well, but not good enough to get the scholarship I need to be able to afford UA." Hiro replied. "No doubt you did well enough to get the scholarship so you'd have no worries." Hiro added forcing a smile. "I saw you flying around like a God."
This caused Izuku to blush madly. "Hey you are making me sound more impressive than I actually was out there. I'm so sore and achy I'm not sure I'll make it to the bus and I feel like my head is about to split open. I can't heal my headaches except with pills that are in my pants back in the changing room."
With that the pair got up and started to head towards the exit of the arena where the buses would take them back to the main building.
"Why do you need a scholarship from UA?" Izuku asked. "There are many scholarships offered to help teenagers like us get into hero programs. I'm sure Backdraft would put his name in for you to help you get one."
"I'm already planning on giving you mine Hiro. I just need to make sure I won it first and it is okay to give it to you. I don't want to get your hopes up in case they won't let me." Izuku thought to himself.
However Hiro kept looking down as the pair walked. "Hiro, what's going on with your living situation?" Izuku asked. However he noticed that Hiro instinctively stiffened at the question.
"I don't want to talk about it." Hiro muttered, not making eye contact with Izuku.
"Why?" Izuku asked, deciding to push the subject.
"I JUST DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT OKAY!" Hiro shouted, however as soon as he saw Izuku's horrified face, guilt raced through his body and he felt like he was going to burst into tears. He immediately ran away further ahead to the buses leaving Izuku left behind and he couldn't chase after his friend because his body had no energy left to run.
With that Izuku slowly limped ahead towards the buses, his thoughts racing.
"I'm a pathetic human being."
He should be celebrating right now. He should be full of joy and enthusiasm, but instead he had pushed his friend further away from him. Izuku knew he had to ask the question eventually to Hiro. However, it did not go the way he had planned.
Eventually his feet were going to one of the changing rooms, which were essentially pop up tents given the locker rooms for the training ground weren't big enough given the amount of applicants, and he mindless put his beige suit back on and got on the bus. He took a seat in the far back right hand corner and stared out the window. He planned on celebrating with Hiro tonight.
"Perhaps I can finally convince him to come to my place to stay the night and celebrate with Iida? Should I'd invite Yanagi too? No… That would just invite a bunch of embarrassing questions from mom… But I doubt he'd come with. I'd just ruined our friendship…"
Once the bus stopped off at the main building and followed the main crowd. He let it lead him back to the auditorium where they were waiting for everyone to come back. The people from Battle Zone A were already there, but he looked around and couldn't see Hiro anywhere. Izuku then went over to a vending machine to get a bottle of water, and he took the pills to help take care of his headaches caused by his quirk. Eventually he figured Hiro would have to come back to the auditorium eventually and met back up with Iida.
"Are you okay Midoriya?" Iida asked with a clear look of concern on his face. "I doubt you did poorly in the practical exam. You are extremely talented and your quirks were literally made for the exam we just took."
"No, it is not about the exam." Izuku moaned leaning back in his chair while placing his arms behind his head. "Why didn't those headache pills activate instantly?" "It has to do with Hiro…"
Iida stared at him for a moment, "Did something happen between the two of you?"
Izuku let his chair slam back up right and put his arms on the desk in front of him and cradled his head in the middle of them. Izuku then in a muffled voice replied: "I fear I may have majorly screwed up our friendship." He then felt Iida place a comforting arm on his shoulder.
"I'm sure whatever you did, you'll be able to patch things up." Iida replied in a very reassuring voice.
"No. I definitely fucked things up big time." Izuku replied in a muffled voice and he heard Iida let out a horrifying gasp.
"Izuku Midoriya! Such language is not becoming of a hero!" he heard Iida boom at him, even though he had his head nestled between his arms, Izuku knew full well Iida was doing his trademark hand chop motion.
"Do you honestly think that pro heroes don't curse when they aren't in the public eye?" Izuku muffled back.
"ABSOLUTELY!" cried Iida.
"You are so naïve Tenya…" Izuku chuckled, "I bet I can name a few pro heroes that say foul language regularly when they aren't in public."
"No way you couldn't name-" Iida started
"Midnight…" Izuku interrupted, and then he took his head off the desk and stared at the naïve young man, sure enough with one answer he caught his friend off guard. "Endeavor… You aren't going to tell me he his holier than thou when there isn't a camera on him, especially after that scandal?" Izuku took satisfaction in the fact that his friend was started to sweat because he couldn't come up with an argument.
"Yeah well as you well know my brother is the pro hero Ingenium and I haven't heard him swear such foul language." Iida countered.
"He probably doesn't let you catch him as to not tarnish your view of him." Izuku shot back with a sly grin on his face.
"Enough Midoriya! Please stop it!" Iida then shouted, and this caused Izuku to jump and a look of shame went through his face. With that Izuku started to get up, and Iida had an idea that Izuku was going to try and get away from him, so he grabbed him by his blazer's sleeve and dragged him back down. Izuku gave him an uneasy look. "Listen you can take it easy. I'm not furious with you, but can you please stop teasing my brother?"
"Okay then." Izuku muttered sitting back down. "Boy do I feel like trash? My headache hasn't gone away, my body is still sore despite the healing quirks, and I screwed over a prized friendship."
"So Midoriya," Iida asked causing Izuku to look at him, "What did you do with Hiro that made you think you damaged your relationship with him?"
Izuku paused wringing his hands together. "Well I asked him why he couldn't apply to other scholarships to afford to pay for UA if money was a problem, and then I kept asking him about his living situations because I have a strong feeling it is a very unhealthy environment he is living in."
With this Iida paused while in thought staring at his friends. "Well, I would consider that an unusual response for starters." Iida began turning his thought process into an out loud one, "If his living situation is something that causes him to react in such a manner it highly suggests that he is living in a highly toxic environment."
"That's what I thought and why I decided to push the subject." Izuku responded in agreement. "However, he really does not want to talk about it." Izuku paused for a good minute before continuing with what was on his mind. "Iida, I think one of a few things are going on with him, and I can't stand thinking about any of them. He's either living with his parents who abuse him, he is living with foster parents who don't really care for him, or he is in an orphanage." He ended the last suggestion with his voice far quieter than normally. Iida stared at him for another minute.
"He'll have to come back in here for the final announcement once all the tests are completed." Iida responded.
It was a good time later that all the tests were done and everyone was once gathered in the auditorium once more. After a while Principal Nezu himself came into the auditorium himself along with Present Mic. The diminutive principal then took the podium.
"Before we all dismiss you, I'd like to thank all of you for to UA to take an exam and expressing interest in attending our prestigious university." The small principal said in his trademark cheerful voice. "Now, you'll find out your results in about a week. Please don't let anxiety grip you too much whether or not you are accepted. As many of you know the top 5 performers will receive full ride scholarships for your full 3 years of attendance along with paid funding to all extracurricular activities you may participate in." Nezu then took a moment to look around the large hall. "As I'm sure you all want to attend our prestigious hero course, we will only be taking 36 non-recommended students this year for we only have two instructors to welcome in new students."
This caused a round of mutters to go through the hall. After a moment the muttering eventually died down. "Now, I hope you all go out and celebrate with your friends and family! You are all dismissed!" With that everyone slowly proceeded to exit the hall. That is when Izuku spotted Hiro. With that Izuku pushed through the crowd and placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder.
"Hiro…" Izuku started as Hiro turned to look at him. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have forced you to talk about something that makes you uncomfortable." Hiro however was silent and Izuku decided to proceed. "Well if you ever feel the need that you need to open up about it, I'm here for you. That's what friends are for right?"
With that Iida came next Izuku's side as well. "Oh, here are both our numbers." Izuku proceeded to hand Hiro a slip of paper that had both of their contact information on it. "I know you don't have a cell phone, but feel free to call either of us in case you need to talk about anything. Both of us are here for you."
"Oh have my number too." A female voice behind him, and Izuku jumped out of his skin. Yanagi had come up behind him.
"U-um-um… Thank You…" Izuku stammered, turning into a Christmas ornament as he took the slip of paper.
"It'll be nice to train with someone who has a similar quirk as mine. I didn't know anyone in school." She said, also blushing.
"Izuku baby!" a female voiced called as his face turned a bright shade of red. Izuku turned around to see his mother parked literally… right in front of the main gates… in her BRIGHT yellow convertible.
"I REALLY, REALLY do not need this right now. Can she not be THEE most embarrassing parent in the galaxy?! And Oh My God. She just saw a girl hand me her number. Shit!"
Izuku slowly walked over to her feeling like his legs were made of lead out of embarrassment as his mother planted a huge kiss on his forehead and ruffled his hair.
"Why did she have to do that?" He turned around and saw both Yanagi, Iida, and Hiro standing next to each other simply looking at him. However, it seemed that Hiro seemed to be looking at him with what Izuku appeared to be jealousy.
Izuku didn't have time to consider his feelings because he rushed into the passenger's seat and urged his mother to drive away before more people could gawk and laugh at him. "Why did you have to park RIGHT in front of the main gate mom?" Izuku moaned at his mother.
"Well it was the best way you could find me baby." His mother responded back cheerfully.
"Yeah and it meant it was easy for everyone else to see you embarrass me. No doubt that was your plan all along." Izuku thought to himself. "You drive a bright yellow convertible mom! I could've spotted it several spots down, or a couple streets over!"
"But then you'd have to walk farther and I know you are very tired after that exam. Also I wouldn't have seen that cute girl hand you her phone number. You better call her tonight…" Inko responded in a childish voice. It was almost as if she was mocking him. She knew she had embarrassed him, it was her objective to do so from the start, and she was goading him to strike back. The sheer injustice of this situation, he couldn't rightfully strike back without getting punished. This was villainy at its greatest. He protested by sitting in silence for the rest of the car ride back to the apartment.
