"Made it!"

Izuku allowed himself a sigh of relief, taking in the imposing and ostentatious architecture of U.A. High's public entrance. It was here that thousands of students from across the country would compete for a few hundred or so coveted spots in U.A.'s various education programs, ranging from the ever-popular heroics course to business and general education. While the exact percentages weren't publicly available, most rumors pegged them in the lower single digits, if that.

Would he really be able to compete with such insurmountable odds?

"Outta' my way, Deku!"

The familiar voice was shortly trailed by a shoulder-bump that sent Izuku stumbling forward, barely able to maintain his balance. Once his mind had readjusted and caught up to the situation, he dashed forward, falling into place beside his one and only childhood friend-turned… enemy? Frenemy? Things weren't so clear these days.

"Good morning, Kacchan."

"Don't walk next to me," the blonde-haired boy growled, "I'll kill you."

"I know. Let's both do our best, Kacchan."

"Tch. Yeah right…"

A year ago, Izuku wouldn't have dreamed of being so blasé towards Katsuki's more violent tendencies, a personality trait he'd developed since acquiring his quirk at the age of four. Once word had gotten around about Izuku's quirk, there was a subsequent outcry of overly-concerned parents demanding something be done lest his 'bloodthirsty tendencies' overcome him and he attack one of their kids. Of course, there was little the school could do besides assure them that Izuku was attending the required therapy sessions and that their teachers were properly trained for all situations regarding quirk misuse.

With no other outlet for their concerns, the parents then turned to the children themselves, encouraging them to stay away from Izuku because he was 'dangerous.' The bullying started soon thereafter.

Katsuki Bakugo, the son of Mitsuki Bakugo, one of Izuku's mother's closest friends, had been spared any such talk. Even if their moms weren't almost as close as sisters, Mitsuki wasn't the type to baby her son in such a way; a practitioner of tough love if ever there was one. Of course, that didn't change the fact that a young Katsuki, somewhat power tripping with his newly-developed quirk, for some reason saw fit to not only join in on Izuku's torment, but lead the pack in some cases, acting aggressively territorial when others tried to move in on his favorite punching bag.

It wasn't until after the day of the slime villain attack that things had begun to mellow out around the two. A few weeks into Izuku's training, Izuku noticed that Katsuki hadn't so much as given him a harsh glare in weeks. The more he trained, the more injuries he came to school sporting, the more there seemed to be a grudging respect growing in Katsuki's eyes. An unspoken agreement to live and let live as long as neither boy brought it up again. For Izuku, it was a start that would suffice for the moment, even if he missed the kind—if somewhat cocky—boy he remembered from childhood sometimes.

Whispering voices from all around snapped Izuku out of his thoughts. He turned his head, noticing a not insignificant amount of people wrapped in conversation and pointing to Katsuki.

'They must recognize him; that attack was big news because of All Might's involvement. I think they even ran a special interview with Kacchan the following week.' Said interview had of course gone about as expected, Katsuki oozing with self-confidence and basking in the praise given to his 'excellent quirk' and strong will by the newscasters. If the boy noticed the conversation happening around him, he didn't acknowledge it, continuing towards the doors with a scowl on his face and his hands in his pockets.

The two boys ended up sitting together in the large auditorium where Hero Course examinees would be gathered, a seating arrangement which soothed Izuku's troubled mind slightly. If nothing else, Katsuki's limitless self-confidence came with a sense of normalcy that set him at ease. His mind suddenly conjured up a picture of Manami as they waited for the presentation to begin. She had said she'd be applying too; he wondered if she really was here? A quick glance around didn't help much with so many students occupying one space, and the lights on stage turned on before he could really start looking, stealing his attention.

"Alright, alright! Present Mic is here to turn it up for all of my enthusiastic listeners in for the show today! Let me give you all a warm welcome to our humble school!"

The booming voice coming out of the speakers surrounding the stadium brought Izuku's attention to the stage, where a familiar sound-based hero quickly took his place front and center, the U.A. logo flashing onto the giant screen behind him.

"Everybody say 'hey!'"

He held his mic out to the silent crowd, not a peep coming from the gathered students.

"Man, everybody's a critic." He grumbled, raising his voice back to normal volume as he continued, "Well, if you want to get right into it who am I to stop you? Let's get to the rundown on this year's practical exam! Are you ready? Yeah!"

Silence again.

'The Voice Hero: Present Mic! So cool! Not only a top-ranking hero but a popular radio personality as well; I listen to him every Friday during his broadcast! I knew all of the teachers at U.A. had to be registered pros, but-'

"Shut the hell up, Deku."Katsuki's voice alerted Izuku to the fact that he'd been mumbling, the other examinees near them giving him a glare that shared his frenemy's sentiments. Refocusing, Izuku tried to pay attention to Present Mic's explanation of the practical exam.

They were to be separated into separate courses where they would participate in mock urban battles, most likely separated from their friends and classmates so that they couldn't work together. A look at his and Katsuki's cards confirmed that the two were to be sent to separate battlegrounds.

"Damn, I was really looking forward to crushing you."

Katsuki seemed really torn up about, too. Izuku could only silently thank whomever had decided their battlefield assignments that he'd been spared whatever fate the blonde-haired boy had in store for him.

Present Mic's explanation continued with a breakdown of the scoring system. The examinees would be pitted against robots which they would have to destroy or immobilize in order to score. Three different types would award points, being worth one, two, and three points respectively based upon how armored or dangerous they were.

Izuku couldn't help but worry now that he knew what the test would entail. Fighting inorganic opponents meant that even if he used Stendhal's vial of blood to activate his quirk, there would be nothing to use it on unless some of the other examinees were badly injured. Even then, he couldn't count on that happening early enough to give him an advantage. It seemed that he would have to rely on his own strength, luckily something that his teacher insisted on fostering.

"Being too reliant on your quirk's a death sentence, kid. What happens when you run into a bad matchup and can't use it? Think you can be a beacon of hope to the masses when you run away? A hero needs to be more than a superpower, or he's nothing more than a glorified attack dog."

"Excuse me!" someone shouted from one of the rows above Izuku, a tall boy with blue hair and glasses. He held up his examination sheet, pointing rigidly to it with a stern expression, "There are four types of villains on this printout." He pointed out, noting the mechanical silhouette designated 'D.' "If it is an error or misprint, then U.A. High, the most prominent school of heroics in Japan, should be ashamed of such a foolish mistake! We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes; such sloppy mistakes would never be tolerated of us. And you," He then directed his glare toward Izuku, who shied away from its intensity, "with the curly hair. You've been mumbling this whole time. It's distracting! This is no pleasure trip; if you're not planning on being serious, you should leave immediately!"

"Sorry." Izuku mumbled, not wanting to draw any more unneeded attention to himself. Already he heard snickers and laughter from those around him, all of them probably discounting him as a potential candidate already.

"Okay, let's keep it chill, examinee number seven-one-one-one." Present Mic drawled, quieting the students with a more serious look on his face. "Thanks for the great message! You're right about the fourth 'villain' for this encounter. However, that one is worth zero points; you gain nothing from engaging it. Consider it an obstacle of sorts. There will be one in every battleground, and here's a tip, they tend go to wild in tight spaces! It's not impossible to take one out, but there's also no reason for you to try." He explained, gesturing widely to the assembled crowd. "My personal suggestion is that you listeners avoid it."

Present Mic wound his presentation down with some closing remarks, including wishes of good luck and a quote that stuck with Izuku well after they were shuffled out towards the buses that would take them to their battlegrounds:

'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes. Go Beyond; Plus Ultra!'


Little did Izuku know, Manami was in fact present in the stadium, although she had been a little too far and a lot too short to be visible from his seat.

The red-haired girl couldn't help but wonder at U.A.'s opulence just as Izuku had while she and the other examinees were directed to a line of buses and separated by combat zone. Really, how far away did these things have to be that they needed to get there by bus? This was all taking place on the one campus, wasn't it?

Manami didn't have much time to think on the matter, quickly finding the bus for battleground alpha and taking the first open seat she saw. The blonde-haired boy already occupying the other half of the seat didn't acknowledge her presence as she slid in beside him, continuing to scowl silently out the window.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" It was at least polite to ask, she figured. Not to mention it never hurt to be polite to potential classmates. That said, the boy seemed to have different views on the matter.

"Do what you want, Shortstack."

"Excuse me?" She must have heard wrong, there was no way, right?

"You heard me." The boy finally turned his head to look at her, his red eyes perfectly matching his irritated expression. "Do what you want."

"Oh, I heard that part," Manami growled, mimicking his expression. If that's how the boy wanted to play this, so be it. The last couple of months of training and studying she'd done in preparation for this day had finally solidified the confidence she had been working towards ever since Izuku saved her from that mugger. She was done taking crap from her peers. "I'm more concerned about what you called me, you tiny-eyed prick."

"Who are you calling 'tiny-eyed' you damn extra?" The boy turned fully towards her now, aggressively looming over the smaller girl who wasn't about to back down.

"Extra? What is that even supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like! I'm the main character and you're just a damn extra."

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"I'd say the same about you being on the hero track, but Deku also signed up, so that makes it the second."

"Deku?"

"Doesn't matter. Point is, you may as well stay on the bus, cause the only hero U.A. needs is me."

If anyone else on the bus noticed the fistfight about to break out between a blonde-haired delinquent and a sub-four-foot-tall girl at the front of the bus, they didn't say anything. The two glared harshly at each other for a bit longer before Manami decided he wasn't worth any more of her anger, turning away with her eyes closed and arms crossed. The boy did the same, grumbling something unintelligible as he turned back towards the window.

They remained in the same positions until the bus finally came to a halt, the driver standing and wishing all the students luck as he motioned them out of the vehicle.

'Maybe I was expecting something a little smaller…'

Manami couldn't take her eyes off of the almost one-to-one recreation of what looked like a six-by-six block radius of Musutafu's downtown district, complete with twenty-story skyscrapers and faux shopfronts.

"You should have had more than enough preparation on the bus. Whether or not you feel ready, line up at the entrance." The dull drawl of their announcer coming out of a nearby speaker system drew the attention of the gathered examinees. They heeded his command, crowding themselves near the closed gates that would lead further in to the faux city. "You will have ten minutes from the starting buzzer to collect as many points as you can. Begin."

No 'are you ready,' no countdown. Just a single word and the sound of a buzzer as the gates opened themselves up.

It took the crowd a moment to understand what had just happened, but as soon as they'd gotten their bearings the air was filled with the cacophony of dozens of quirks firing off at once, including the blonde-haired boy from the bus, who had been standing next to her the whole time.

"Remember the name Katsuki Bakugo, Shortstack! You can gush to your friends about meeting me when I become number one!" His quirk seemed to allow him to create explosions from his hands, which he used to propel himself up and over the crowd, rocketing down the main stretch to make it to the center of the city where the most enemies would likely be located.

Scowling, Manami trailed after the crowd, her short legs not much of a help in keeping up.

'What a jerk!'

Whatever the case, she had to come up with a plan and fast. Her quirk was obviously useless in a test like this, she wasn't strong enough herself to do any damage to a combat robot, and her lack of mobility worked against her even if she could. When it came down to it, the situation appeared to be completely against her.

'As if!'

It took a few minutes, but Manami finally found what she was looking for: a mostly-intact combat bot.

'If there's one thing that U.A. probably didn't count on, it'd be that any one of us had a significant amount of technological prowess in order to mess around with systems built by professionals!'

Really, how much luckier could she get? Manami had been tinkering with computers, technology, and various operating systems practically her entire life. There had to be something she could do to work this in her favor.

Approaching the bot was the easy part, all she had to was dodge around the various other students lining the street fighting their own opponents; making her way into its innerworkings was much less so. Luckily, whomever had incapacitated this particular robot had knocked enough bearings loose that she was able to remove its maintenance panel with a little finagling. Behind the sheet of metal lied a tangled web of wires attached to a console of sorts. Jackpot!

U.A.'s engineers were lazier than she thought they'd be, honestly. Little to no protection on the administrator privileges was just asking for someone to mess with them. It didn't take her long to find her way into the network controlling the autonomous villains; even less to find the various safety protocols put in place for emergencies. This counted as an emergency, right? She really needed pass after all.

"Mass kill switch, go!" she mumbled to herself, pressing the 'accept' key without hesitation. Like magic, the various sounds of combat all around her suddenly stopped, confused whispers breaking out as the examinees observed the once-animated combat bots collapse lifelessly to the ground. Soon, their announcer's voice once more came over the speaker system.

"It seems that someone has effectively destroyed all of the remaining enemies. This exam is now finished. Please exit the testing area and return to the buses; they will return you to the campus proper."

The confusion of the crowd only seemed to grow with the announcement, some wondering if anyone would be able to pass now, others speculating about how someone had caused the shutdown and what their quirk could be. Manami followed behind them, smiling to herself.

'I did it… I really did it!'

"What's got you so happy, Shortstack? Cut off from time like that, I'd be concerned about passing if I were you." She wondered when Katsuki had appeared beside her. Then again, she hadn't been paying much attention to anything, too wrapped up in her own satisfaction.

"Not even your terrible attitude can kill my mood right now, Tiny-eyes. I'll tell you this, though: remember the name Manami Aiba. You can gush to your friends about meeting me when I score higher than you on the exams."

She left Katsuki behind to curse her out under his breath, for the first time in his life finding someone besides his mother who could match him in sheer bravado and not knowing what to do about it.


Izuku spent his time on the bus to battleground beta not paying any mind to his seatmate, instead worrying himself over how he was going to get through this test.

'I already know my quirk won't help until the very end of the test, if at all, so I should make a plan assuming I never get the opportunity to use it.' He thought to himself, thinking back to the hundreds of heroic battles whose every move had been analyzed time and again by the boy who couldn't seem to get enough information about heroes. 'Pros like Eraserhead whose quirks don't enhance their physical abilities function by using weapons like his combat scarf. If I can find a piece of metal sturdy enough, maybe I can bludgeon the bots? They can't be that durable if untrained students are meant to be able to destroy them. Then again, this is U.A. we're talking about…'

Izuku talked himself in circles until the squealing of brakes pulled him back to reality. He followed his peers off the bus, not recognizing any of them from anywhere. It was to be expected, of course, considering U.A. probably didn't want classmates working together to boost their scores.

"You are still mumbling. Have you no shame? People here are trying to concentrate on themselves before our exam begins. Are you merely taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?" The boy from the auditorium had one of his hands on Izuku's shoulder, a stern look crossing his face.

"No, of course not!" Izuku answered, waving his hands up in surrender. He could feel the stares of the crowd on his back; he had a distinct feeling that his meek demeanor was lowering their opinion of him.

"Ten minutes on the clock! Okay, start!" Present Mic's voice coming through the speakers drew the crowd's attention, the gathered students looking around in confusion. "What's wrong, listeners? Real fights don't have countdowns! Run! Run! The only time you're wasting is your own!"

Once they'd finally realized what was going on, the examinees all began to rush off, Izuku hot on their heels.

'Alright, let's see what I can do!' With all of the training he'd been through, Izuku's speed was more than enough to keep up with the frontrunners of the pack, only behind those whose quirks seemed to be enhancing their speed or movement to stay ahead of the crowd. Ahead of everyone else, the serious boy who'd reprimanded Izuku used his—'Engine legs? So cool!'—to crush the first bot he came across with a superpowered kick. 'There!'

Ignoring the others who fanned out to find their own opponents, Izuku dashed towards the remains of that first enemy, a two-pointer whose wide and thin legs had been pulverized by its attacker. He quickly picked up one of the splintered scraps of metal, long and wide enough to be used as a bat of sorts. Weapon in hand, Izuku decided it was time to go on the offensive.

'If the bots are separated into point categories, it makes sense that the lower-valued ones make up most of the population. They're also probably the easiest to defeat. Is it better to ignore tougher opponents like the three pointers and focus on finding larger packs of the smaller denominations?' He thought to himself, considering a clearing strategy while he searched for his first opponent. He found one, taking to the side-streets which were currently unoccupied by the other examinees. It was a one-pointer, rolling on a single wheel with what appeared to be armored plates on its arms covering rotating cannons.

Izuku charged forward, noticing the bot's slow reaction time compared to the higher-valued ones he'd seen battling others. If that was the case…

Adopting a serpentine pattern, he continued moving towards the combat bot. Its head and arms swiveled, seemingly programmed to lock on before attacking but having too slow reactions to keep up with his side-to-side dodging.

'The thinnest point in its armor looks to be its neck.' Deciding to trust his instincts, Izuku brought his weapon to bear on the combat bot's 'neck,' or the area its head connected to its body by a ridged strut. To the hero-in-training's surprise, the head popped almost clean off with less effort than he'd expected. 'Apparently these things are made of thinner material than they look. Or maybe they're modular? In either case, they're designed to be destroyed by untrained combatants. Stendhal's training gives me an edge there.'

His confidence bolstered by this newfound knowledge, Izuku continued down the street, taking down any combat bot he could see. It seemed the two-pointers were similar to their smaller comrades, albeit looking somewhat like scorpions with their tails and outstretched legs, but their reaction times were faster and their shells slightly harder. He noticed his 'bat' becoming dented the more two-pointers he fought.

'I might have to find another one soon.'

"Five minutes left! Those villains aren't going to defeat themselves you know!" Present Mic announced, his voice echoing around the buildings.

'I only have twenty-five points so far, and it's only getting harder to find new bots.' Izuku panted as he ran, desperately searching for a street his peers had yet to clear. The longer the exam progressed, the fewer total bots were left, and the longer he had to search to find a new one. He passed a girl using some sort of telekinetic quirk to lift the bots she touched into the air around her and collapse them under their own weight when they dropped back to the ground, counting her twenty-eighth point. The boy with engine legs continued to move at high speeds, kicking bots into scrap and counting up forty-five. Thirty-two, thirty-five, thirty-seven, forty… everyone around him had way too many points to catch up to, and it seemed no matter where he went there were no more bots to be destroyed. 'This is bad! It really can't get any worse!'

As if the universe were out to prove him wrong, the ground suddenly shook, a building at the end of the block crumbling as its foundation was crushed by a massive metal fist.

Rolling down the street was an absolutely massive combat bot, easily larger than any of the faux buildings in the area, with eight glowing red eyes that scanned for its next target. It slammed a fist into the pavement in front of itself, sending a shockwave of force and dust outwards. Present Mic's explanation about the 'obstacle' that went crazy in narrow spaces repeated itself in his head. Sure, the pro hero had told the examinees they were meant to avoid it, but…

'Isn't it a little too big?'

The other examinees were running past him now, those who were even closer to the 'obstacle' when it appeared running for their lives as they assessed their negligible chances of actually beating it, much less beating it and remaining in good enough condition to continue the test. Being the last one in the area, it trained its eyes on Izuku, and suddenly the boy realized he should have been running too.

'This can't be happening! I'll have to run away, maybe there'll be bots on the way I can score some points off of.' He tried to psyche himself up and move, but he was feeling weak in the knees. How disappointed would Stendhal have been to see him like this? He growled, slamming a fist into the ground and rising to his feet. 'Don't give up! I can do this!'

"Less than two minutes left!

'Two minutes?' He must have lost track of time scrambling to find more bots; the ending had crept up on him. Two minutes might have been enough if he had plenty of enemies in front of him, but the only one around was the Obstacle, and it had its eyes set on crushing him beneath its treads. He felt heat coming to his face, his eyes stinging with frustration. All of the hard work he'd put in, all of the training Stendhal had gifted to him, everything would be for naught if he failed here. 'I… I'll run now. Use everything I have, make some risky moves. Just maybe, if I can get enough-'

"Ow… S-Somebody help!"

The voice of the girl who screamed twisted into a groan of pain and desperation. Izuku turned around in what felt like slow motion, spotting the girl he'd seen forcing the bots to float laid out on the ground with her legs caught under a pile of rubble. She desperately tried to push herself up, but couldn't find the strength to lift the heavy material, flopping down with a grimace. Behind her, the Obstacle rumbled forward on its treads, glowing eyes swapping target from Izuku to her.

He… he couldn't just leave her, right?

Of course not.

It was the incident with Katsuki all over again, his feet moving before his mind had a chance to process his thoughts, screaming wildly at the top of his lungs as he dashed towards the girl.

"Don't worry, I'm coming for you!"

She looked up with wide eyes when she heard his voice. He slid the last few feet towards her, ignoring his protesting knees and attempting to lift the broken chunks of building that trapped her, hoping at least to make enough wiggle room so the girl could crawl out. There were just too many separate pieces though, each one angled perfectly atop another so that moving them all at once was near impossible, and he didn't have the time to move them individually. Izuku could practically hear the squeak and tap of the Obstacle's treads as if it was right next to him, and a furtive glance told him that he wasn't that far off. Even if he could get the girl free, they wouldn't be able to get away in time with her injured legs.

"J-Just go!" she huffed, undoubtedly making the same realizations he did about their situation.

"No!" Izuku yelled desperately in response, only pushing harder against her makeshift prison. "I… I won't leave you behind!"

This situation was ridiculous. Everything about this test was ridiculous. Tears pricked at his eyes as he heard the Obstacle finally reach them, pulling a fist back. He was useless this whole time. He was useless this whole life. He didn't think he had enough points to get into U.A. and honestly that was fine. But he was going to be useless for the last time when it truly mattered—when someone else's life was on the line—and Stendhal wasn't there to save him this time.

'Stendhal…?'

It was desperation and fear and a hundred other little things that reminded him at that moment that there was one final hope that he could lean on. He pulled the vial Stendhal gave him out of his pocket and downed it without a second thought, looking for a piece of rubble jagged enough for his purposes. He felt the power of his quirk flowing through his veins, washing away his exhaustion and whatever bruises he'd accumulated over the course of the exam.

'Am I really going to do this?' he couldn't help but think, finding what he was looking for above the girl's head. Well, it wasn't like there was any time to think anyway. He either did this or they were dead, right?

With that happy thought, Izuku dragged his arms harshly across the jagged edge he'd found, whimpering when the pain hit him like nothing he'd ever felt before.

The girl screamed as blood splattered onto her head and face, Izuku's arms flowing freely with his vital essence. He began to grow light-headed, but he hoped it was from the pain and not the blood loss. It was something he'd always meant to test, but he wondered if his body would generate more plasma to replace any he lost during the use of his quirk.

'Guess there's only one way to find out.'

Izuku raised his arms, watching his hands slowly stop shaking until they were still as a statue. He focused on what he wanted, the crimson liquid around him and dripping down his self-inflicted lacerations following his gestures like the melody of a composer.

The obstacle brought its fist down not onto the fleshy bodies of its targets, but onto a rigid dome made of blood. The force of the impact kicked up dust and sent out another wave of energy that shattered any nearby windows.

'I'm… not dead.' If he was honest with himself, Izuku hadn't really expected to be able to stop the Obstacle's attack. Compressing the blood he controlled until it solidified into a rigid shell was something he was still getting used to, and his still-bleeding arms alerted him to the fact that he was probably right about having some form of natural protection from blood loss. All the same, he could feel the pressure in his mind as the Obstacle continued to try to force its fist through the barrier blocking it; he'd barely succeeded.

Well. Maybe it was time to push his limits.

Izuku grunted as he focused on pulling even more blood from his veins, reversing the shape of his impromptu shield to slowly encase the fist of the obstacle, now struggling to pull its arm away from his grip.

"M-Maybe close your eyes." He didn't look to see if the girl complied, but he honestly didn't know what was going to happen from here on out. His head was beginning to hurt; he was obviously straining himself well beyond capacity, but if he collapsed now the Obstacle would be free to attack again.

He could barely hear the aggressive scream he let out over the creaky-crackling sound of rending metal. The crimson liquid formed a ring around the wrist-joint of the bot, constricting and twisting along with the rest of the fluid encasing its fist until the appendage was wrenched off, sparks of electricity arcing off of suddenly-disconnected wiring. The sparks ignited a severed fuel line, fiery bursts of exploding oil beginning to make their way up the remainder of the Obstacle's arm until they reached its head. When the smoke cleared its eyes had lost their glow and the bot slumped its head down, lifeless.

Izuku breathed heavily once the shrapnel from the various explosions stopped rebounding off of his shield.

He was alive! He would have wanted to celebrate if he wasn't feeling so weak. He tried to turn his gaze down to the girl to check if she was okay but ended up facing the torn-up asphalt instead when his legs finally gave out. His head hurt; he couldn't focus. He barely registered a sticky feeling as the blood he'd previously been manipulating rained down on him and the girl.

'Damn, I think I really overdid it.' Izuku couldn't find it in him to regret what he'd done, despite the way that his body seemed to be protesting his very existence at the moment. As long as the girl was safe nothing else mattered.

"Time's up, listeners!"

His vision swam, darkness closing in from the edges. He could barely make out a crowd of students gathering around him, whispering amongst themselves. His arms finally gave out as well, landing him face-first into the rubble. The girl was right across from him, her blurry form covered in red and trying to say something that he couldn't hear over the ringing in his ears. He found the strength to smile. She appeared uninjured for the most part; at worst maybe sprained an ankle under the weight of that rubble.

'I'm really… glad.'

And the darkness claimed him.


And so closes the U.A. exams! Did Izuku pass? Is that even a question? How AU am I making this? Find out next time on Dragonball—wrong anime.

On a more serious note, this chapter marks a couple of important firsts for this story, most importantly seeing Izuku using his quirk to actually manipulate blood in combat, as was my original plan. It's only going to get more dynamic moving forward as he fights more human opponents, but I'll of course try not to make him too overpowered with clear limitations for each power-up/ability he gets. I hope Hemokinesis is living up to its hype so far!

Manami also got her own spotlight for about 1400 words; partially an excuse to write more Katsuki but mostly because I felt the need to explain how she functions during the exam considering her quirk requires a partner and she's not physically strong. Manami is canonically a gifted hacker, so I'm not pulling her abilities out of my ass here. Yet. Again, she is going to be her very own hero, and that includes giving her non-canon abilities eventually. I won't be leaving her as a portable power-up for Izuku. It'd be boring to write and probably boring to read.

You may have also noticed a shift in her personality between last chapter and this one. I talked about being a little flip-floppy with her being shy and forward, so I decided that after deciding to work at becoming a hero, Manami would prioritize her confidence. You could say it's mostly Katsuki being himself that makes her so aggressive in this chapter, though. What can I say, my guy calls it as he sees it.

Next chapter: an interlude while Izuku waits for his acceptance/rejection letter and what comes after it.

With little else to talk about and my author's note once again becoming too long, I bid you farewell for now. If you ever have additional questions about non-spoilers feel free to PM me. I'll totally talk your ear off. Please leave a review if you enjoyed; it makes me super happy!