"You failed, the recommendation exam?" Katsuki repeated, the foreign concept sounding strange on his tongue.
"Repeating it isn't going to make it any less true," Deku said, sighing as he slinked further down his booth.
Katsuki blinked out of his stupid stupor, and slowly narrowed his eyes, a frown spreading across his face. Deku failed and yet, he didn't feel relieved by hearing that. It actually grated at his nerves in all honesty.
"You giving up then? Is that why you're throwing yourself this pathetic pity party?" Katsuki asked.
Why, he wasn't sure, but ever since talking with All Might, and internalizing the impact the conversation had on him. A lot of the bitterness and disdain he felt for Deku felt so… trivial in comparison.
That's not to say Katsuki forgave him. He was still pissed at his friend for keeping him out of the loop. But beyond that, the main driving force behind his anger was unwarranted. He wouldn't apologize, that was certain, but he wasn't going to begrudge Deku for something even All Might agreed with. It was stupid, and Katsuki Bakugo was not a stupid person.
"Wha- no, Of course not!"
"Really dipshit? Then explain why you're here instead of the facility," Katsuki countered.
Seeing how his friend recoiled at the accusation and slump further down agitated Katsuki, at least deny it if you were going to feign that you were okay damnit!
"Tch. Fine, tell me about the exam," the explosive teen finally said, slumping against his booth in resignation.
"Huh? Oh, I don't really want to-"
"How the hell do you plan to improve if you don't reflect on it, idiot!" Bakugo shouted, jumping from his seat.
He almost subconsciously made his way onto the table, but after past incidents involving such conduct, Katsuki eventually learned the diner wouldn't care whether he was a prodigy or not, damaging the furniture was not accepted. Much to his own expense, literally.
"I just…." Deku sighed, then his eyes narrowed into a determined frown, "I'll start from the top."
Earlier that day…
Izuku was a bundle of nervous excitement, standing before him was his dream school, the school that would propel his career as a hero forward. A lot was at stake, and as such, he found himself adequately shaking with jitters.
He noticed several students made their way towards the front, all standing with confidence. It made Izuku's contrast all the more prominent. He took a deep breath and slapped his cheeks. He needed to calm down.
Although little was mentioned about the recommendation exam, the letter Izuku received did at the minimum disclose that the exam would consist of three parts, the written, practical and an interview in that respective order.
The fact the order was specified at all drew Izuku's attention. After his mock test with his sensei, he wanted to remain attentive of the exam criteria. There may be more to it then what was initially revealed.
Izuku absently made his way into the building while pondering the intricacies of the recommendation exam. He followed the flood of hopeful applicants as if on auto-pilot. Eventually, out of his peripheral he noticed the wave of students stagnating in front of massive double doors.
Izuku didn't recall how long he stood there waiting with the other applicants, but he did start to feel a bit stir-crazy. Only when the doors slowly opened, did he sigh in relief. He along with everyone else was ushered into the large auditorium like sheep.
The greenet fetched into his pocket and grabbed his letter, reading it over. Beyond given cryptic and arguably vague instructions, the letter did tell him his seat number, #189. He spent some time finding his seat, which as it turned out, was near the front.
On closer inspection, everyone's seats were near the front. The lecture hall was enormous, scaling upwards in an acclivity. Despite that, all of the applicants were shoved near the bottom. The room was hardly an eighth used.
Izuku didn't have time to ponder as to why, as he heard what sounded like someone clearing their throat by the front of the room. There, stood on the podium was a small creature, one that the greenet immediately identified as the school's principal.
The principal, also known as Nezu wore a small suit and held a microphone in his paw.
"Hello, applicants, as you all probably know, I am Nezu, the principal of this school. I will be personally overseeing the written portion of this exam. But, before we move onto that, allow me to clarify some of the confusion our instructions may have caused," the principal said.
Izuku found himself enraptured by the figure, and before he even realized it, had his fingers interlocked and placed before his mouth in deep concentration. He suspected something, if only due to his tendency to overthink.
Regardless, Nezu continued after the murmuring died down, "There are 200 first-year applicants here today, but after this written portion is complete, only 40 of you will participate in the practical."
The room erupted into frantic protest, Nezu weathered the outbursts with practice ease, a tranquil smile plastered over his small face, his beady eyes crinkling in feigned affection. Izuku's eyebrows rose at the sudden announcement.
Could that be why the order of the portions were specified in the letter? Felt like too much a leap of logic to take, it made sense now, but that was the beauty of hindsight bias, anything made sense once the outcome was clear. No, no matter what he thought, there really wasn't any way he could have predicted this. The room's volume fizzled out into a silence as Nezu raised a hand.
"Now, now students, allow me to explain," Nezu paused in favour of pacing across the podium surface in a painstakingly slow manner.
"The criteria for this exam are speed and obviously, overall correctness. The faster you submit your exam, the higher chance you have of advancing to our practical. That being said, just rushing through it will likely lead to failure. The 40 fastest exams with the highest marks will advance to the practical."
As the principal finished, the doors slammed open, and out came a line of small drones. They each carried stacks of bagged booklets. The little robots wheeled their way down towards the entrance and lined up besides the rows of students. They all systematically handed the booklets to the first applicant and had them pass one along. The procedure didn't take any longer than a minute. Before Izuku, was a translucent zip log bag, with a booklet inside.
"In those bags, is your exam, as well as a pencil to use, you are to open that bag when assigned. Doing so out of turn will count as an immediate failure," Nezu warned amicably.
"Hold up, the hell do you mean by only 40 can pass?" Katsuki asked, shoving his milkshake to the side.
"Exactly as it sounds, Only the top 40 exams got to take the practical," Izuku explained.
"So you're telling me your nerd ass failed a written exam?" Katsuki asked skeptically.
"No, I actually managed to finish 11th. I also ended up having a perfect score, which basically meant I was guaranteed a spot."
"I see…" The blond remained quiet and watched as the greenet munched on a few fries.
After several more seconds, Katsuki's temper flared as he slammed his open palms onto the table, "quit stalling and finish the damn story!"
The abruptness caused Izuku to choke on his fry, to which he started coughing and frantically punching his chest, "R-right, my bad."
The layout of the exam seemed simple enough to Izuku. The principal justified as to why so many of the applicants would be cut just in the written portion of the exam. The ability to think fast on the spot and to remain cool under pressure were core necessities for any hero. Izuku suspected as more people handed in their exams, the more students would panic, and subsequently the more mistakes would be made.
The test was a bit difficult, but he was confident in his answers. Admittedly, Izuku wasted a lot of precious time double and triple checking his answers, but given the stakes, he felt it was well warranted. In doing so, he did allow some applicants to submit their exams before him.
The one that garnered the most attention was a tall girl with a spiky ponytail. She finished handsomely in first. It was so jarring how abrupt and quickly she finished that when she was walking down towards the principal, Izuku couldn't help but stare in awe. She finished in 15 minutes, at the most.
In perspective, he finished in 30, which was still early given their maximum time of 1:30 hours. Still, it was through watching the girl go to the podium, that he learned that principal Nezu was marking the exams as they arrived.
It was as if the exams were scrutinized under strict filters. Time of completion was the main factor. However, correctness of the overall test held predominance. For example, a test that finished in 10 minutes, but had a 99% would still fall behind a test completed in the hour half that had 100%. Only the first 40 exams passed too.
It was why Izuku felt it necessary to triple check his responses. After psyching himself up, he went to the front of the room, walked onto the stage and delivered his paper to the principal.
Izuku watched with wide eyes as Nezu skimmed through the exam at a ridiculous pace. The teen was left completely overwhelmed, his eyes spinning just to keep up when finally, the principal cleared his throat.
"Well done, a perfect score! Please head to the cafeteria and await further instructions."
"T-thank-you sir, principal sir, thank-you," Izuku blurted out, robotically bowing multiple times.
The aspiring hero didn't recall much of what happened afterwards, but he somehow ended up in the cafeteria with the other applicants. The ones that were guaranteed to pass. Despite being in the cafeteria of arguably the best chef in the country, Izuku couldn't really coax his appetite into eating anything, and instead chose to sit at a corner of the room.
His waiting didn't take long. Eventually, everyone who was sent to the cafe were filed out. They were ushered by some of the UA staff, Izuku recognized them instantly, Present Mic, Snipe, Midnight, a large variety of heroes who also doubled as teachers in UA. It took practically every ounce of his mental fortitude to not break out into severe mumbling. He wished he had his notebook on him.
The forty applicants were lined up outside, in front of several busses. There, each one was called up individually, to which they were given a number to wear and placed into a bus. The number assigned to the applicants ended up being the very same they had as their seating arrangement, thus making Izuku's 189.
The procedure of getting each applicant into their respective bus was a short process, and before long, they were sent towards a training ground to perform their practical. Izuku sat near the back of the bus, choosing to isolate himself from others in the off chance he dissolves into fervours murmuring.
The ride didn't take more than a dozen minutes. The forty applicants disembarked their buses and lined up before a massive training ground, to put it simply. Izuku was stunned into silence as his gaze fell upon the site. Large mountain like hills, trees, a cavern with cascading waterfalls, even an amusement ride. Heck, in the distance, there even appeared to be something similar to a caste. It was almost as if whoever designed the training ground couldn't decide what they wanted to put in it and simply compromised for everything.
The aspiring hero didn't quite know what to make of the site, becoming overwhelmed by the sheer quantity presented before him. One thing, however, became prominent. A track ran across the whole area. Bright yellow arrows were systematically sprinkled everywhere, leading from one end to the other.
Before Izuku could articulate any questions or concerns, Present Mic went into detail regarding the race track. Groups of 6, use of quirks a necessity, and finally, the ultimate kicker, only the top 10 fastest times would move on to the final segment, interviews.
Given the surprise from the written exam, Izuku wasn't fazed by the announcement. And by the sound of things, or lack thereof, neither were the remaining applicants. Present Mic comically pouted at the lack of reaction, but quickly grinned as he called the first 6 numbers.
The applicants lined up before a white line, all in their respective track suits, and all looking rather composed given the circumstances. Izuku knew he definitely wouldn't want to go first. Especially given how apparently the other applicants didn't need to leave for the duration of the race.
Didn't that mean the remainder would have an unfair advantage, seeing how the course played out?
"Excuse me, sir, shouldn't we, the applicants that aren't participating at the moment leave until called upon?" An applicant asked.
Yeah, that was exactly what Izuku was thinking, turning to face the student, he quickly realized it was the girl from the written exam, the one who finished first by a landslide.
"No need, the course is simple enough, we save time this way too," Present Mic assured easily, he shifted his focus onto the lined applicants, "you guys ready?"
In response, the students shifted into their respective running stances.
"GOOOO!" Present Mic shouted, his quirk magnifying the volume of his voice.
And with that, the students launched down the course. Izuku watched in bafflement as one applicant conjured a gust of wind to fly from, much like how Kaachan used explosions to maneuver while another produced a sheen of ice to surf on. They practically blazed through the course, leaving behind their competition.
"Okay, can numbers 3, 17, 90, 38, 13 and 189 line up," the teacher said, naming off numbers from his clipboard.
Izuku stilled and looked down onto his chest despite fully knowing his number was called. Seeing the 189, Izuku sighed and made his way up to the line. He examined his competitors as he dragged himself forward, beyond the ponytail girl, he didn't recognize any of them.
She really made a lasting impression, Izuku wasn't an academic slouch, the fact she completed the exam so quickly spoke volumes of her intellect. She'd probably be a fearsome opponent.
"Hello there," someone greeted, snapping Izuku from his internal thoughts,
He peeled his eyes off the ponytail girl and turned to face a blond. The boy had piercing blue eyes and a confident smile on his face, he had his hand outstretched as he waited for a response.
"Uh, hi?" Izuku answered, cringing afterwards at how easily he allowed his confusion to show.
"Pardon my suddenness, Monoma Neito, pleasure to meet you," The blond explained, his hand remaining in place, shaking it slightly as if to garner attention.
Then it clicked, Izuku wanted to palm his face in embarrassment, instead he went in for the handshake, "Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you too."
The blond sighed in relief, much to Izuku's confusion. And he thought he was awkward.
"Okay, ready up applicants," Present Mic reminded.
The greenet fell into a runner's stance. He took the opportunity to quickly look over his fellow competitors. He wished he didn't, the pony tail girl from before, was striping! Right then and there, she just unzipped her track jacket and peeled it off, revealing a skin tight tanktop. Of which she was lifting up to expose her smooth lithe stomach. Even then, that was hardly the most prominent feature. Or features in this instance. Holy shit, he wasn't ready for it at all!
She was just a middle schooler, wasn't she? She was, right? Izuku found his face engulfed in heat, from his ears to down his neck. He snapped his eyes from her to directly in front of him.
Her quirk, had to be for her quirk. He'd refuse to believe it was for anything else. She probably had a plant related quirk, photosynthesis? Yep, something like that. He wasn't going to look back. No way, no sir.
Izuku slapped his cheeks, trying to regain a semblance of composure. His face was as red as a tomato, and felt as hot as his flames.
"GOOOO!"
Izuku initially stumbled, caught completely flat footed. But, seeing the other applicants take off before him, his gaze hardened. He didn't have the time to act childish. Pretty or not, he had a goal to achieve.
So he was going to achieve it.
Katsuki snorted, "Right, as if nerd. You probably had tits on your mind the whole time."
"K-K-K-Kaachan!" Izuku spluttered, his face going red just at the thought.
"That's fucking hilarious, you failed the exam because of boobs," Katsuki said, leaning back into the booth.
"That wasn't it! I, I just didn't score a fast time, you know Pyrokinetic Breath doesn't assist me with mobility, and the course had a strong emphasis on speed. There were a lot of obstacles that would have been easy to get by with a form of flight too. Not to ment-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say pervert," Katsuki dismissed easily with a wave of his hand.
"Not so loud!" Izuku hissed, his head on a swivel as he examined the other tables and booths, "and stop slandering me please."
"Slander? Yeah right, sounds like nothing but the cold truth, why else go into vivid detail about 'ponytail girl'?" Katsuki reasoned casually.
Izuku fidgeted under Katsuki's stare but, remained quiet, his eyes distractedly landing on his remaining fries. Much to the blond's exasperation, God damn it, deny it at least! Deny something! Just how attractive was this girl to render Deku of all people like this!?
"H-hey, you s-still haven't answered m-my question y-yet. W-why are you here again?" Izuku stammered through his question, trying to shift focus from him onto the blond.
Katsuki leaned back into the booth and decided to reflect on that himself. He supposed he was upset by All Might's response, and thus wanted to comfort himself at the diner? Sounds about right. As if he'd admit that. Well, perhaps not it's entirety.
Katsuki put on his snidest smirk and crinkled his eyes mischievously. Sitting before him was easily the embodiment and personification of fanboyism. He reverted his face back down to indifference and shrugged.
"Met, All Might and had a talk with him, was nearby so figured I'd get a bite to eat," the blond responded impassively.
As if meeting his Idol, or Deku's for that matter was hardly something to react over. Speaking of reactions, Katsuki paused, and waited for Deku's. After a few seconds of silence, Katsuki hazarded a glance and saw the greenet frozen in place, mouth gaping like a fish, the colour of his face draining. Not from fear or anger, but most likely out of lack of air. He wasn't breathing.
"The hell's wrong with you?" He asked a bit exasperatedly.
Then, am indescribable banshee shriek pierced through the diner. It felt oddly out of place coming from Izuku, especially given his face had remained perfectly still, his mouth agape and eyes wide in alert.
That reaction was better than expected, Katsuki quickly snapped a shot and cackled madly as the greenet struggled to compose himself. He struggled to do much of anything but remain a babbling idiot. They spent several more hours talking about All Might due to this.
Katsuki found himself feeling better after the experience.
After retelling his account on the exam, Izuku explained that despite failing, he was still given the opportunity to take the standard exam later on in the year. However, despite passing the written recommendation exam, he still would need to pass the standard one. And, it went without saying, but, he wasn't going to receive any sort of favoritism just because he took the recommendation exam.
All points made sense to Izuku, he couldn't fault them. He wouldn't have wanted favoritism anyways. He failed, so he would need to improve himself. It was as simple as that. Kaachan on the other hand, found the news very pleasing, as he saw it as a perfect chance to test himself against Izuku.
Ultimately, the two decided to wager lunch on whoever managed to do better over the other. A small bet, but both of them were fighting more for the sake of pride than anything else.
On a side note, it had been several weeks since Ashido or Kirishima messaged the group chat. Izuku didn't notice it at first, given his priorities were focused on the recommendation exam. But with that done, and the silence prolonging, Izuku was wondering just what exactly was going on with his fellow aspiring heroes?
Naturally he asked, and almost as if he received an epiphany, realized that if they weren't responding before, asking realistically wouldn't warrant a response now.
Ping
It worked!?
Izuku reached for the phone he just finished tossing, scrambling through his passcode before opening up his messaging app.
PinkAlienDnceQueen: Sorry :'( something came up! All taken care of now :D
R3dR!0t: Totally unmanly to leave ya in the dark like that. My bad midoriya
Huh, they responded at the same time, Izuku thought absently, before he started to quickly tap his thumbs against the screen.
Midoriya_9: No worries, I was just curious. You don't need to tell me if it's personal.
PinkAlienDnceQueen: Dont think its personal, Kiri was just being melodramatic
R3dR!0t: Harsh
R3dR!0t: But fair, ill tell ya in person midoriya
PinkAlienDnceQueen: :p
The greenet was curious but dropped it, metaphorically and literally through the act of tossing his phone onto his bed again. They'd tell him in a few months. This also helped to bolster his own determination. After nearly a year, all three of them were still aiming for UA. It assured him as well as motivated him to strive for his dream school. After all, his peers were aiming for the same thing. With that in mind, Izuku fetched into his desk and grabbed a notebook, Hero Analysis for the Future No.13.
From the several conversations prior to their 'radio silence', Izuku was able to piece together where his friends' quirk development stood. Ashido seemed to gain a strong level of control over her acid and their level of acidity. Their viscosity and other liquid elements pertaining to the acid itself. She even managed to get her acid to levitate in the air! Albeit with lots of effort. Regardless, the fact she can control her acid in that manner at all opens up a world of possibilities for her. Izuku was undeniably curious to see what she'd do with her quirk.
Kirishima, although could only harden a little when they first met, could now harden his body from the torso up. He also was apparently incredibly ripped and chiseled. Admittedly, it could have been Ashido simply teasing the sharp toothed teen. But, Izuku was confident it was a truthful remark, no matter how flirtatious the undertones were.
Given the simplicity of the quirk, Izuku was curious to see how Kirishima would expand upon it, or if lacking in that, how to optimize it. Without really having a chance to see either quirks, Izuku didn't feel comfortable coming up with ideas and or adjustments. After all, he'd feel rather pretentious thinking he could come up with plans for quirks he hasn't seen over those who possessed them.
Speaking of quirks he's seen, Kaachan's progress in long distance explosions had improved tremendously. AP Shot and Stun Grenade were added to his growing arsenal of moves, no pun intended.
Given Stun Grenade's utility, Izuku decided that for his next super move, he'd strive to create something similar. He had an idea, but no way of recreating it. As such, he would put that in the back burner for now and instead aimed to gain a stronger control over his flame's trajectory. Controlling where his fire moved was his next step forward, something he was avid on jotting down in his analyses and observations.
Using the facility after the recommendation exam proved to be a very awkward endeavor. If it weren't for Katsuki practically dragging him into Mizuha's office, Izuku wasn't sure he'd ever face his former teacher. It was why it came as a shocking surprise for both teens when the older man laughed off his concerns.
Izuku was still given access to the facility. Much to his wonderment. It was explained to him that the recommendation exam was the toughest in the country, failing it shouldn't have diminished his achievements. It certainly didn't stop him from apologizing though.
"Izuku dear, come down to eat," His mom called.
The greenet turned to the sound, closed his notebook and headed down.
The two teens jogged side by side on the sidewalk. It was a cold evening, with the sun fading in the distance, bleeding the sky into a collage of reds and oranges. They ran down a familiar route, and eventually deviated from the sidewalk to go onto a small park. A small, familiar park.
"Kaachan, let's stop here," Izuku said as he started to steady his breathing.
"The hell? You getting soft all of a sudden?" Katsuki responded, running a sleeve across his forehead.
"No, nothing like that. Tomorrow's kind of important though, we should probably get a good night's sleep," the greenet supplied, going into some light stretches.
Katsuki shrugged indifferently but indulged his fellow running partner, he started doing some stretches as well. He was not going to risk a pulled or sore muscle before the entrance exams after all.
"Whatever, listen, the bet tomorrow will be whoever scored better on the practical," Katsuki reminded, sitting on the ground, with his legs stretched outwards.
"What about the written?" Izuku asked with a cheeky smile.
"It's weighed less than the practical," Katsuki rejected easily.
"We should probably still find a way to incorporate it."
"The practical is the only thing that matters, anyone can do well on the written if they actually gave a fuck!" the blond exploded.
Izuku raised his hands in surrender, his eyebrows quirked in an exasperated manner, "alright, if you only want to make a bet on half the entrance exam that's fine."
"Deku…" he growled, his stretches long forgotten and his eyes shadowed by his hair.
"I mean, I did tell you about Ashido and Kirishima's bet right?" Izuku continued unfazed by the sudden tension, "theirs is on both the written and practical."
"Shut up! Fine, written is worth a third of the practical. Whatever you get on the exam, divide by 3."
Izuku nodded along with the explanation, sounded fair enough. He was just glad Kaachan would allow the written to be involved at all.
"So what should we do with 33.33? Do we round it down?" Izuku asked seriously.
"Obviously, since when does anyone every round up below .5?" The blond dismissed through gritted teeth.
For a such a timid guy, he sure was confident in himself. He wasn't even cognizant of it either. He didn't see it as arrogance, or showing off. It was just a genuine question by someone who was certain he'd get a perfect on the score. Just as certain as he'd be for, say, seeing garbage on Dagobah Beach or the sun to come up in the morning. Not arrogance, but simply assurance of a fact.
"That's too bad," Izuku paused to stand up from his stretches before continuing, "I think we should head back now."
Katsuki grunted his agreement and stood up himself. He was about to start heading home when he realized that Deku had remained flat footed and starting at him with the same determined gaze he saw all the way back in first year.
"What?" the blond asked crudely.
"Kaachan, jokes aside-"
"what jokes?" The blond interrupted, a deadpan expression washing over his features.
"Jokes aside, I intend to beat you on the practical," Izuku continued smoothly, hardly taking notice of the interruption at all.
"You better fucking try. I'll kill you if you don't get second," the blond responded with a feral smile.
"Second? I jus-"
"First is mine dumbass, not you, not your Chiba friends, not anyone is going to take that from me. I'm going to decimate anyone in my fucking path," Katsuki explained.
Izuku remained silent, finding himself unable to come up with a response. Katsuki took that as his own invitation to leave, and started the trek back home. The greenet watched the blond round the corner and disappear from sight.
Kaachan was tenacious, determined and easily the strongest person Izuku's ever met. Sure, some of the recommendation students could give Kaachan a run for his money, but Izuku was confident the explosive teen would come out on top. Inherit talent, peaked instincts and a genius, that was what Kaachan was. That was what Izuku wished to test himself against.
Tomorrow would be the platform that allowed him to do so.
AN: I'm still swamped with assignments, but I needed a distraction! The editing on this one might be lacking. Who knows, not me, haha!
Anyways, incorporated text messages into the story. Don't think that it's going to be much of a surprise to anyone.
Onto the reviews!
valdiusmacto: Thank-you for the kind words! Ya, all of this is opening stuff still. I hope I can keep you interested!
The Keeper of Worlds: Put through the wringer there! But he can take it, maybe, hopefully?
Avocadokid, beingwithu: Yep, Izuku failed. I thought about it and figured that despite his physical training, his quirk training, it just isn't suited for the kind of practical exam he'd take. He's competing with the best of the best too. I hope I've managed to justify it. For good measure, I splashed some of my own idea for the criteria there, (I think at least, I wouldn't know if it's original or not yet).
Speaking of own ideas, Neito's there! What is his fate? We'll see. Uh, I assure you, I think I know what I'm doing. Anyways, until next time! Thank-you so much for the reviews! I love them! Also, in that regard, would you all mind if I respond to reviews? I personally would like to, I love interacting with people. But I know that not everyone shares the sentiment. I'm aware that it can be a bit distracting and get in the way of the story.
For the time being, I think I will decide to respond to reviews, I do it with all my other stories. So, until I receive a lot of support against doing so, I'll respond to them!