"Thank you, everyone," the official on the podium cleared his throat. "The first task will be suppression."
There were surprised murmurs throughout the hall, and the official waited for them to die down before he continued.
"In a three versus three match, the task is to incapacitate all members of the opposing team as if they were villains, while keeping your own team members operational. To this end, we've provided each team with three pairs of restraints, to signify capture." He held up a pair of what looked like handcuffs, and the screen behind him showed the same item in close-up, revolving.
"The scenario will be an industrial city block, populated with fake buildings and factories. Though this is terrain purpose built for the exam, you are expected to treat it as if it is a real city, with residents and workers." The screen behind him flickered again, this time to an image of a city street, with crude depictions of happy people going about their business.
"You will be marked on teamwork, situational awareness, and collateral," said the official, and the image behind him changed, one of the buildings destroyed and the little people fleeing in terror. "You will be disqualified for life threatening injuries, or if the examiners judge that the collateral damage you cause would represent danger to human life in a real life situation."
There was more murmuring in the hall, as some of the students discussed what quantified as danger to human life, and the official cleared his throat again.
"If you look to the display on the far wall, we've assigned everyone to a team," said the official. "Please find your teammates, and come through to the marked briefing rooms."
Midoriya scanned the wall for his name, finding it quickly. Two other names were listed next to his.
Izuku Midoriya. Risou Kakuyama. Ensetsu Todoroki.
"You're Todoroki, I guess?" he asked young Endeavour.
The boy rolled his eyes, eerily resembling Shouto Todoroki rather than Enji for a second. "What gave you that idea?"
"The attitude," Midoriya answered.
Ensetsu's fierce facade broke as he gave a bark of a laugh.
"What the hell-" a teen who had been approaching them through the crowd stopped dead in his tracks. Midoriya recognised him as their third, Risou Kakuyama. Despite being older than Ensetsu by a couple of years, Risou was by far the shortest of the three of them. His black hair was tied back in a short ponytail, and like Midoriya he wore a sleeveless top, exposing his arms. Unlike Midoriya, however, he had what looked like seams around his joints, points where his skin seemed to crease into the meat of his arms. "You're Ensetsu Todoroki? What are you, twelve?"
"I'm thirteen," said Ensetsu, sparks of flame flickering around his shoulders again. "And I would prefer if you called me by my hero name."
"You're a middle schooler." Risou looked around, horrified. "Where's Izuku Midoriya? Maybe we can talk to an organiser and get you switched out for someone else. You know where he is?" he asked, addressing Midoriya.
"He's me," said Midoriya, with an apologetic grin. "We make a pretty odd bunch, huh. But we'll get through this, don't worry. Plus Ultra!"
"Yeah." Ensetsu nodded approvingly, pumping his fist.
"What the hell?" Risou looked like his arms were about to pop off. "You're a fully grown adult. Neither of you are UA students. Why are you using their school motto?" And what did I do to deserve this, his eyes seemed to say.
"We don't need him," said Ensetsu, though his eyes were worried as he watched Risou go to a nearby official, the official shaking his head. "What quirk did he even have?"
"It's called Mannequin," said Midoriya, nodding to Risou's arms. "It lets him fire your arms like rockets, and then recall them to his body. His range is about fifty metres."
"How did you know that?" Risou scowled up at him as he returned from speaking to the official. It looked like he hadn't been allowed to swap teams. "Ketsubutsu doesn't even invite non parents to our sports festival, let alone televise it." He shook his head, brow creasing with irritation. "And it's closer to sixty now, for your information."
Midoriya nodded. If he remembered correctly, Risou had placed near last in his school's sports festival, losing in the first round to a kid who could rewind or fast forward up to three seconds of time in a small bubble around himself. The videos didn't show how Risou had lost, just the other kid running up to him, followed by Risou unconscious on the floor. Fast forward kid, who went by the name Teebo, had lost the round after to a kid with a powerful lightning quirk. "I know the quirks of most of the examinees," he said, simply.
The singularity meant that quirks were combining and getting stronger with every generation. It meant he couldn't afford to hold back. Not if he wanted to win. Midoriya ran down a list of mental rules for himself- no blows to the head- he didn't want to cause brain damage or broken necks. No purposeful dislocations. Chokeholds were fine, though. And unless they were up against power type quirk users, he would likely be physically stronger than any of the teenagers he was up against.
The attendant waved them to their door, and Midoriya stepped towards it, Ensetsu close behind him. Risou looked defeated as he followed behind them.
When they stepped into the room, featureless save for a couple of benches and a table with their restraining devices, the attendant stepped in behind them. "You'll be shown your opponents next, and then you'll have three minutes to discuss tactics before the door to the battleground opens. The timer will be up there," he said, pointing to a display above the door.
Midoriya thanked the man, and he made an exit back to the hall, leaving their small team alone in the room. "We should take one set of restraints each," he said, and neither of the others disagreed, picking up their own.
Ensetsu didn't have a handy place to clip them to, and so put them in the pocket of his blazer. "Who do you think we'll be up against?" he asked.
"Does it even matter?" Risou sniped at him. "You're a middle schooler and an old man."
Midoriya folded his arms across his chest. If the kid wanted to goad him, he'd have to do better than that.
"I'm not a child-" growled Ensetsu.
Midoriya glowered at him. "We're being marked on teamwork. So play nice. Both of you."
In any case, they didn't have to wait long to find out who their opponents would be, as the screen along the right wall soon changed from the hero association logo to three portrait images. They each wore Shiketsu's trademark hats as a part of their hero costume, a part of the uniform that hadn't changed since Midoriya had been their age. The timer above the door started to run down, and there was a rumble under their feet, as if their room was moving.
There was a girl with mousy brown hair, a blond boy with an amplifying collar around his neck, and a second boy, with dark hair and fractured gold irises. Their names, along with their kana readings, appeared under the portraits.
Noriko Tsukeshiro. Bonsuke Soranaka. Raiza Rito.
"Shiketsu-" Risou said the school name like it was a curse word. "Those guys are the elite."
"You said you know pretty much all of the applicants' quirks," said Ensetsu. "So, what can these guys do?"
Midoriya paused. Ensetsu had reminded him a lot of Kacchan initially, with his supreme overconfidence, and he'd not expected much in the way of co-operation, but the kid seemed pretty willing to listen.
"I know a bit," he admitted. "Noriko Tsukeshiro goes by the alias Miss Stick. She has an emitter type quirk, Glue, which allows her to excrete glue from her hands."
"Is that all?" Ensetsu looked unimpressed.
Midoriya frowned. "You shouldn't underestimate a quirk just because it seems innocuous on paper. Miss Stick finished in the top three in her year's sports festival two years in a row. She can incapacitate an opponent at range, and leave sticky patches on the ground as traps."
Midoriya rifled his internal herodex for information on the others. "The second guy has picked a hero alias too- Speakerstar. And he's another emitter type. His quirk is called Resonance- it lets him emit soundwaves at frequencies that destroy objects, like an opera singer and a wine glass. He can also use it to disorientate opponents."
"What frequencies does he use for disorientation?" Ensetsu asked.
"About fifteen hertz," Midoriya answered, wondering what possible use the boy had for that information. Ensetsu just nodded, a little smugly.
Risou looked worried. "He sounds kinda dangerous."
Midoriya gave a shrug. "The bigger problem is that he can also use his quirk to fly."
Risou gave a soft groan, rubbing his face with his hand under the visor of his helmet. "Why did I get stuck with you two weirdos? And against the Shiketsu elite, too-"
Ensetsu ignored him. "The third enemy?" he asked.
"Rito. Yeah." Midoriya rubbed his chin. "He hasn't picked a hero name yet. But his quirk is Premonition. It allows him to sense danger in the short term future. He doesn't have physical augmentation or any emitter capabilities that I know of, though I don't know what support gear he uses."
"What approach do you recommend?" asked Ensetsu.
He was looking at Midoriya like Midoriya was some sort of leader.
Midoriya bowed his head, assessing the quirks of each of their opponents, the likely combinations, and their likely tactics. "Rito is the most dangerous. He should be our first priority."
"But why?" Risou pulled a face. "You just said he didn't have any ability that could hurt us."
"Yes, but he has a powerful support ability, and he's working in conjunction with two of Shiketsu's heavy hitters." Midoriya spread his hands. "Think of it like Sir Nighteye supporting All Might."
Risou gave Midoriya a puzzled look. "Who's Sir Nighteye?"
"Don't worry about it," said Ensetsu, his blue eyes fixed on Midoriya. "I get what the old man is talking about. But how do we take out someone who can see the future?"
"It's not perfect. None of those kind of quirks are." Midoriya closed his eyes, running through the matches in the Shiketsu sports festival in his head. "He suffers on an open field like an arena match," he said, slowly. Without terrain to hide behind, Rito had struggled against his opponents. But he'd lost against an emitter type, who had filled the arena with dust. "And I'm not sure, but I think he's reliant on vision."
Ensetsu nodded, his mouth a grim line. "Okay. I'll blind him, then."
"How are you being so casual about that?" Risou rubbed his face.
Ensetsu didn't bother looking at the other boy. "We're going to win. Be grateful." He looked to Midoriya again. "What about the other two?"
"Miss Stick is more dangerous hand-to-hand, but Speakerstar can fly when he shouts at the ground," said Midoriya. "If he manages to carry Miss Stick into the air, I won't be able to intercept them."
"Can we stop him flying?" Risou asked. "I could use my arms to punch him in the throat."
"His voice box will be too well protected," said Midoriya, remembering the armoured collar Speakerstar had worn in his profile image, not unlike the one that had been worn by the pro hero Present Mic back in the day. "Particularly if Rito is still active. An indirect attack would be more effective."
"Our quirks don't really lend themselves to indirect attacks," said Ensetsu. "Unless you mean setting him on fire, which I'm pretty sure would get us disqualified."
"I didn't mean setting him on fire," said Midoriya, watching the countdown tick down. "But I do have a suggestion. I don't know much about your quirk, but I know about the original Endeavour's, and some of the tricks he used."
Ensetsu pursed his lips. "I'm listening."
"If you can heat up the air around him to dry it out, he'll lose his voice quickly. Preferably when he's in the air- he needs to use his voice to land safely." Midoriya closed his eyes, running through scenarios. Really, the variables were too many- he didn't know the layout of the arena, or how much their opponents had advanced since the Shiketsu sports festival, but he could think of a few likely ones. "A crash landing is the best case scenario for us. Tsukeshiro's glue is problematic, but she's limited in amount. If we can bait that out, I can take her on without much difficulty."
"How does her glue deal with high temperatures?" Ensetsu was watching the clock now too.
Midoriya shrugged. "No idea. Sometimes quirks like that lose their sticky properties with heat, but more often they're combustible. Feel free to try it if I'm stuck, but don't go setting yourself or Risou on fire by accident."
Ensetsu's eyes flashed with interest. "Your quirk is fire resistance?"
"My quirk is death resistance," said Midoriya, as the timer ran down and the gate opened.
The gate opened onto a wide tarmac street, buildings looming high on either side. Whoever had made it had gone to some effort making it look authentic, from the rail line overhead to the weathered look of the air filter apparatus and exposed pipework that stuck out of the fake factories.
"I know who you are." Risou's eyes widened in realisation, and he stared at Midoriya. "You're that guy with a Phoenix quirk."
"Phoenix quirk?" Ensetsu sounded interested.
"It's called Rekindle," said Midoriya, a little annoyed. "We should be focusing on the exam. They could come from anywhere."
"I saw him on the boards. With Permafrost. How could you not know?" Risou frowned suspiciously at Ensetsu.
"Why would I watch my uncle on the internet?" Ensetsu gave a shrug, following along behind Midoriya. "He comes round for dinner most saturdays. Besides, if the old guy says his quirk isn't going to be useful here, he's probably right."
Their first glimpse of the enemy team was Speakerstar, using his quirk to propel himself into the air behind one of the faux factories, sunlight glinting off his armoured collar. Midoriya skidded to a halt, pointing out his position to the others.
"Okay. I'll hang back, you can peel." Orange sparks flickered over Ensetsu's shoulders.
"What about me?" Risou jabbed his own chest, and Midoriya felt a pang of guilt, remembering all the times he'd said the exact same thing as a kid. He'd been thinking of Risou as a liability, but the kid had just as much right to be there as Midoriya did- arguably more. Of the three of them, he was the only one on a hero course.
It wasn't that the kid was helpless either, just that as the second worst kid from ketsubutsu didn't stand much of a chance against their opponents. But that wasn't a heroic way of thinking. "For now you should stick with young Endeavour," said Midoriya.
"Alright. Showtime." Ensetsu gave a cocky grin, and Midoriya felt the air temperature around him rise rapidly, the tiny sparks of flame that he'd seen before coalescing and spiralling above the boy.
Midoriya glanced up at it, bright even through the tinted visor on his helmet. That was the singularity for you, he thought wryly. You got kids with the power of gods, and you just had to hope that they would be okay. Ensetsu seemed pretty well-adjusted, all things considered. A little hung up on a dead hero, but Midoriya wasn't in a place to fault anyone on that.
The fire formed into a ball, hanging in the air above their opponents for half a second before it split again, into hundreds of tiny, hissing comets. They fell as if the air was treacle, covering the area.
Midoriya caught a flash of movement from the side of the building, and sped forward, noise cancelling headphones on.
The golden-eyed kid, Rito, was on the floor, curled pre-emptively as Ensetsu's fireball hit from above. Midoriya half expected him to react, roll away from his attack, but the kid was slow. Midoriya hooked an arm around his neck and put him in a chokehold, watching the entrance Rito had fled from as he counted the seconds and the kid went limp. Easier than expected. Had Ensetsu actually managed to blind him with his attack?
Midoriya turned to check on Ensetsu and Risou, only to find that the two emitter types had cleared the building and were closing on them. Midoriya sprang to his feet, letting Rito fall. As he'd feared would happen, Miss Stick was riding on Speakerstar's back as he shouted at the ground, the force of his voice throwing them up in an unsteady flight as he avoided Risou's rocket arms.
But Ensetsu's flurry of sparks was in motion again, and Midoriya felt the air temperature skyrocket as he moved towards the fight. Speakerstar's movement faltered, and he turned his face towards Midoriya's teammates. A blast of sound shot out from Speakerstar's amp, tearing up the ground, and Midoriya was worried for a second before the dust cleared to show Ensetsu and Risou unscathed, Speakerstar hitting the ground with Miss Stick still on his back.
Midoriya didn't understand how Ensetsu had deflected Speakerstar's quirk until he noticed the concentric circles of frost on the ground around his teammates. Ensetsu must have changed the temperature of the air around him to change its acoustic impedance.
Midoriya charged the grounded Speakerstar, careful to use terrain Miss Stick wouldn't have had a chance to coat with glue, planting a kick firmly on the hero student's armoured chest. The student was launched back, hitting a wall. He'd barely reacted to Midoriya's presence- the heat wave must have really done a number on him. His body was still, so Midoriya guessed he was unconscious.
Now only Miss Stick remained. Midoriya turned to her, handheld weight between his fingers. The other two getting taken out so quickly was great, but it did mean that Miss Stick would still have a full reservoir of glue.
Midoriya took a fighting stance, and Miss Stick mirrored him, her palms open to better use her quirk. She threw the first jab, and Midoriya leaned aside, careful not to let her make contact. Was that all? Midoriya frowned as he watched Miss Stick move. Even his neighbour Himiko was faster than that. She pointed her palms down, spraying the ground at his feet, but Midoriya was already moving. If he headed forward, he'd end up stuck to her, and he couldn't be sure if that would count as incapacitation for him as well as her.
Midoriya glanced back at his team. Risou seemed unwilling to shoot his arms into the melee- since Miss Stick could just stick them down. Ensetsu was watching too, a fine haze of sparks circling around him, perhaps unwilling to attack into the glue and risk disqualification by incinerating Miss Stick.
Reaching the wall, Midoriya grabbed the unconscious Speakerstar by his armoured collar, and hurled him at Miss Stick. Her eyes widened, wrists raising reflexively to shoot away a projectile, but Speakerstar was too heavy for that, and she coated him in glue in the half second before he bowled into her, sending them sprawling to the ground in a pile.
"Bonsuke, wake up!" Miss Stick headbutted her teammate, her arms trapped beneath him.
"Secure them!" Midoriya called to his teammates as he pulled himself to his feet. The kid had been surprisingly light- maybe his costume was mostly padding. "Rito should be round the side still."
Before long, a chime sounded, and a display in the sky declared them victorious.
"Please could the winning team come through to the briefing room?" called an official over the intercom, and a strip of green lights led the way.
The briefing room was larger than the room they had started in, and already full of people. Midoriya had expected maybe students who had already passed the next round, but instead there was Uraraka, with Todoroki, and the pro hero Burnin in full hero attire, along with a couple of officials in suits.
Todoroki shot to his feet as they came in. "Ensetsu," he said, sharply. "What are you doing here?"
"Uncle." The boy inclined his head. "I should ask you the same question. Shouldn't you be doing hero work?"
Todoroki seemed unperturbed. "Does Fuyumi know you're here?"
"No. Why should she?" Ensetsu stared levelly at his uncle.
"You're in middle school," Todoroki hissed. Midoriya heard the crackle of ice as the temperature around the pro hero dropped.
"Cool it, ice boy." Burnin looked up from the magazine she had been reading. "The kid's with my agency."
"He's a child," said Todoroki, pained.
One of the officials cleared his throat nervously. "Examinees, we're pleased to tell you that the examiners have granted your team a bye on the next round of the first task. The second task will be an interview. If you could wait here with your sponsors-"
"I'm calling Fuyumi." Todoroki pulled a phone from a pocket in his costume, and swept from the room.