Chapter 6 – General Exam
The academic examination had been fairly straightforward, unsurprisingly. Even if you weren't the brightest, strength alone could certainly take you far in a career as a hero. So Kyo expected that the practicals would be the most taxing portion of the exams.
Luckily, she had an easy path to victory. Her Stand came in two parts: A motorcycle which brought icy wind in its wake, and humanoid rider, which tracked it's targets based on a mechanic which involved the target opening things. Taken as a whole, the Stand was very capable at hunting down opponents, but wouldn't necessarily aid her in a straight fight, as its behaviour was automatic. Therefore, she had to summon only the motorcycle portion and drive it herself.
Well, not drive, in the traditional sense. While Stands could affect the world around them, the reverse wasn't true. She couldn't grab the her Stand's handles, and thereby steer it like a true motorcycle, but she could control the Stand's movement mentally. Thereby, all she had to do was get on top of the motorcycle. The Stand would do the work and lift her up and move her around.
She'd already mounted up before the signal to start went out, and drove straight into the false city, leaving her competition in the dust. Or ice, as the case may be. She took some humour in their shocked expressions. Since they couldn't see Stands, from their perspective, she must be straddling air and flying around.
Kyo had a bit more of a tough time handling the various robots than she thought she would. Her ice wasn't really strong enough to instantly disable, so she had to keep driving around them in circles until they finally froze. It was made even worse by how unhelpful her Quirk was in this scenario- so long as she kept her breathing right, she could manipulate flesh. At least to a degree. Very useful, until you had to fight machines.
Ultimately, her biggest advantage was her mobility. Even though all of the other students had managed to free themselves from her ice in a few seconds, none were able to keep pace with her through the streets. It didn't seem like this examination group had any speed Quirks between them.
What was her current score? Fifty-three? Fifty-five? Yeah, something like that. It wasn't easy to keep track in the middle of a fight. Whatever. She'd just keep going for now, and figure it out later.
She chased down another two-pointer, and drove around it. Go around it enough times and Born This Way would eventually freeze it solid. But as she passed by the back of the robot, its tail swung horizontally towards her, catching her in the gut and throwing her from her Stand. It hurt like hell, but a quick application of her Quirk brought her back up to full strength, just in time for her dodge the next swipe of the mechanical tail.
Kyo wanted to summon her Stand, but the robot was locked onto her, and she couldn't get a free moment for all the ducking and rolling. If she could just find an opportunity, she could create space and bring her Stand back out.
Suddenly, a large black bird crashed into the robot, tearing its neck to pieces and severing the head. Her eyes followed what must have been a Stand as its body lead to a boy with… a bird head. Who was now looking at her.
Did he expect a 'thank you'?
"I had that under control."
"Yes, I could see that. Your flailing was truly a terrifying technique."
"Do you think you're funn-"
"Hey, can you toss me that head?" Some girl with pink hair had appeared, and apparently thought this was a cooperative event. Much to Kyo's amusement, the bird brain obliged, picking up the robot's severed head and throwing it to the girl.
"Thanks! Oh, wait, hold on." After catching the head, the girl turned to look at Kyo. She couldn't imagine this would be interesting. "I know you- you're the girl with the motorcycle Stand from the beginning!"
Well. Perhaps Kyo had been hasty. This girl could see Born This Way? If that's the case, then she too must-
"The two of you have Stands? That's quite a rarity."
"Um… don't you? Isn't that what that black thing is?" The pink girl echoed Kyo's own thoughts.
"No. This is simply my Quirk. Wait, do… do Stands look like my Dark Shadow?"
"Uh, yeah, kinda? Just less… connected to the user. And they have more definition to them- your, uh..."
"Dark Shadow."
"Yeah that. He looks less… I dunno how to phrase it, really."
"It appears far more generic. Most Stands have details on them, aesthetic additions."
"But, yours just looks like a motorcycle."
"Ugh. Is that what you think? There's more to it than- actually, never mind. We're wasting time right now."
She called forth Born This Way and settled back onto it, determined to make up for lost time.
"I now know there is a motorcycle underneath her, but I must say, that still looks quite bizarre."
She was going to strangle that feathery little shit. Kyo set off across the testing grounds again, determined to increase her score. But as she swept the area, she became increasingly flustered. Nearly all of the robots she came across were already destroyed. She had gotten an advantage in the beginning because of her mobility, but now that advantage was gone, and all of the other contestants had joined the fighting. There weren't many more points to try and rack up.
A loud groan shook the testing ground, and Kyo nearly lost control of her motorcycle. She had to slow her pace drastically to avoid a crash. A large shadow fell over her, to her surprise. Was there a target behind her? She grinned, but then the shadow kept going, covering the whole street, and all of the buildings. Kyo checked behind her, and nearly panicked. The zero-pointer Present Mic had briefly mentioned, it was... massive! And it was almost right behind her, to boot.
She couldn't take that thing down, and even if she did it wouldn't net her any points. She just turned back around and kept driving. Rubble started flying, impacting with the buildings to her side. Evidently the giant robot had started to destroy objects or something. Seemed a bit reckless for an exam, but that wasn't really Kyo's problem. Or at least, it wasn't until she saw a familiar bird headed boy, flat on his ass, staring wide eyed at the zero-pointer.
Whatever. She didn't care, she disn't care, she didn't... ugh. She slowed herself, until she came to a stop right next the other student, who stared up at her in surprise. She noted he had started to shiver, being right beside her Stand. Tough. If he had just run away to begin with, he wouldn't have be cold right now.
"How are you not terrified with that thing so close?"
"Shut up. I'm not here to talk. Let's go." She said, extending a hand out to him. He pulled himself up on the motorcycle, arms gripping her midsection tightly.
"Your hands stay on the stomach or you get thrown off at sixty kilometres an hour." She started back, driving down the road in a serpentine pattern just in case the robot sent any more rubble flying.
"This- this is amazing! It's like we're flying!" Said her passenger. "We've become one with the wind!"
"Hush already, I'm trying to concentrate." Kyo said, though she couldn't quite help the small smile that came over her. At least he wouldn't see it from back there.
Yasuho thought the exam had gone rather well, up until the end. Of course, everyone else had also been running from that giant robot, so she didn't think that would cause her to fail. Or who knows, maybe it was only the applicants in her exam group, and all the others had done way better, and she was going to fail horribly and her mom would get to say 'told you so' and… okay, deep breaths.
That's probably not what was going to happen. But, honestly, she couldn't help the nervousness.
She'd gotten a decent amount of points, she felt. Her strategy had been good, too! Put Paisley Park into some robot heads, let it lead her to other targets, and blast 'em with her Quirk. She needed the directions too, what with that mean girl on the motorcycle getting ahead of the group and taking down so many targets.
When the letter finally came in the mail, she almost couldn't open it. She'd caught the look from her mom too. That little smirk, and the look in her eyes that clearly said she didn't think Yasuho would getting good news, and couldn't wait to gloat. Yasuho wasn't sure she thought the woman was wrong, either. UA was the most prestigious school in Japan, so it didn't seem likely that some kid from a working class family in Morioh would be getting in.
Finally, after trying to work up her nerve, Yasuho… sort of just gave up on being nervous. She decided that she didn't care right now if it was or wasn't a rejection. She'd have to care later. For the moment, she only really needed to know. Maybe that's what it meant to not give a fuck?
A disk fell out of the letter, though not the kind she'd been seeing recently. The hologram disk turned itself on automatically, and… All Might? What was he doing on the screen?
"Greetings, young Hirose! I am here, in a hologram! I know you must be wondering why the number one hero is sending you your examination results! That is because starting next semester, I will be working as a member of the UA faculty. That means I will be one of your teacher! Aren't you excited? Anyways, onto your results.
"Your scores in the academic exam were passing, as you likely already knew. Most people tend to worry a bit more over their practical scores. During the practical, you scored thirty-four villain points. If we were only grading based on that number, you would have already passed, as only fifteen applicants got more villain points, and we'll be accepting thirty-three students to the hero course based on this exam. However, there was another metric, unknown to you examinees."
All Might continued, explaining rescue points, and at the end a small scoreboard of the top ten examinees appeared.
At number nine on the list was the name Hirose Yasuho, with thirty-four villain points and twenty-four rescue points.
She couldn't keep back the grin on her face. She'd always thought about being a hero, but it was never anything more than an idle fantasy. And now it was happening.
She wanted to call up Josuke, and tell him the good news, but first…
"Hey, mom? Can I talk to you for a moment?"
She went out to the living room, and sat down, opposite her mother, careful to keep her expression from giving her away.
"Oh, honey. Is everything okay? You know I'm here for you." False sincerity. A long time ago, Yasuho might've thought it earnest. An opportunity to talk freely; the sign of a sympathetic ear. She knew better, by now.
Yasuho knew her mother loved her. It's just that the woman had her flaws. Being out all night with strange men and leaving her daughter to her own devices was the most common problem, but occasionally her mom would be self righteous. Especially if Yasuho did something her mom didn't like, and later regretted it. 'You should have listened to me' or 'haven't you learned by now? I know what's best.'
Frankly, Yasuho felt was sick of it. It was past time her mom got a taste of her own medicine.
"Oh, it's nothing… it's just, well..."
"Yes, dear?"
Yasuho grinned.
"I told you so."
"Daaaaad! Why is this guy here, again?"
Norisuke sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Well, the two of you will- actually? Not yet. I'm going to wait until everyone is here, so I don't have to explain this over and over again."
"But dad!"
"Joshu. Please. Just… get over it. Whatever it is. Make nice, the two of you will be going to school together."
"You- you don't even know why I hate him?"
"No, I know you told me. I just didn't bother to remember."
"Josuke!" The boy in question turned around and grinned, shouting a greeting in response to Yasuho, who'd just shown up.
"Hello to you as well, Mister Higashikata! And- oh. Hey, Joshu."
"Why'd you say it like that?"
"Joshu, please behave."
"I was just aski-"
"Joshu." Yeesh! Why'd his dad always assume he was going to say something bad?
"Um, so I'm not really sure what's going on? Why did I get a text from Josuke to come here? Is it related to the apartment?"
"Yes. I'll explain in detail when everyone is here, but I'm sure you can figure out most of it from context."
"Yeah, I think so. Uh, wait, does that mean Joshu is gonna be coming too?"
"Wait, hold on. What do you mean by 'the apartment'? Are you getting an apartment? And… and why were you talking about it with that Josuke bastard?"
"I'm standing right here..."
Joshu couldn't believe this! They'd just met, they couldn't be moving in together! That'd be ridiculous.
"Oh, we were gonna move in together." Joshu made a choking noise, but Yasuho continued like she hadn't heard it. "We're gonna be moving to be nearer to UA, since we've been accepted. We figured it'd be better to get an apartment for both of us, so we can split the rent."
"Wait, so how'd this start to involve me? Does this mean we're all going to be sharing an apartment?"
Norisuke sighed yet again. "Why is it that I keep having to explain that I don't want to have to make multiple explanations? That is literally the opposite of what I want. Just a bit of patience, please."
They waited a couple more minutes, while Joshu seethed to himself. He wanted to know what was going on already. And Yasuho was off in the corner, chatting away with Josuke. Ugh. Couldn't this last person hurry the hell up and get here already?
Finally another girl showed up, riding a motorcycle, of all things. Joshu swore everything just kept getting weirder and weirder. And why was it suddenly so damn chilly?
"Wait a minute… you're that girl from the entrance exam!" Yasuho appeared to recognise the girl- and that really confirmed it. They were all freshman UA students. So does that mean the four of them would share an apartment? That seemed like it could get cramped. Joshu, however, suspected his suggestion they kick Josuke out to make room wouldn't be well received.
"Oh, hey Kyo."
"You two know each other?" Yasuho looked wide-eyed between Josuke and the 'Kyo' girl. "But she's so… um."
"My name is Kira Kyo. My brother was Kira Yoshikage."
Yasuho sucked in a breath through her teeth, and gave a sheepish glance towards Kira Kyo. Joshu didn't understand what the fuck was going on. Why was that important? Who was Kira Yoshikage? Did that girl's motorcycle just disappear? Was it a Stand? What was going on?
"Okay, now that you're all here, let me explain. Hirose and Josuke had been talking about splitting an apartment near UA. I myself had already been thinking about putting Joshu and Josuke in an apartment together."
"Dad, what the hell!"
"Joshu, seriously, just calm down. Anyway, I'd also become aware that Kira here was also going to be attending UA, and since the Kiras are a distant relation to the Higashikatas, and I'd been personally acquainted with her brother, I decided to help her in this regard. Josuke and I ended up getting together and discussing housing for you all. Josuke?"
"We found two apartments next to one another in the Musutafu district, close enough to walk to UA! Joshu and I will be in one-"
"Why has god abandoned me?"
"And the girls will be in the other. Norisuke will be paying for both, but Yasuho and Kyo will have to pay for their own non-housing related expenses."
"Yes, that's a good enough summary, I suppose. Well, has everyone finished packing?" When he got a nod from everyone, Norisuke continued. "Alright everyone, into the car. Let's get underway."
Joshu glared at Josuke. Yasuho glanced uneasily between Kira and Joshu. Kira gave a grimace towards Josuke.
This was gonna be an awkward car ride.
I realise Kyo's Stand might not work this way. But there was a scene in her fight in the manga where the humanoid rider got knocked off the motorcycle, so the two can be seperated. It could be plausible. So that's how it works in this fic.