Izuku stood in front of UA's gates. It was already the day of the exams. Despite the 10 months of hellish training he had, Izuku still felt nervous. He doubted that 10 months was enough but he shook it off since Toshinori said that he would be fine.
He looked forward and was about to take his first step as a hero but… he tripped. Izuku thought he would fall face-first but then, he noticed that he was floating. The blond-green haired boy tried moving around but it was useless.
"Are you alright?", a girl with brown hair asked.
She plopped him down to the ground.
"It's my Quirk. Sorry for using it without asking first. But it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?", she asked.
"Y-Yeah", Izuku answered.
"Aren't you nervous? Let's do our best. See ya!", the girl told him and Izuku just nodded.
That's right. I have to remain calm. Mr. Toshinori believes in me. Mom supports me. I have to believe in myself!", Izuku thought.
Every student went to the auditorium where the orientations were held.
"For you examinee listeners tuning, welcome to my show today! Everybody say 'hey'!", a man with long blond hair and shades shouted.
The response was total silence.
"What a refined response. Then I'll quickly present to you the rundown on the practical exam! Are you ready? Yeah!", he enthusiastically shouted.
Again, the response was silence.
"It's the Voice Hero: Present Mic! Wow…!", Izuku said and started mumbling.
"Shut up", Katsuki told him.
Katsuki was still furious that Izuku was going to UA. But he decided to focus on the exams for now.
"As in the application requirements, you listeners will be conducting ten-minute mock urban battles after this ! You can bring whatever you want with you. After the presentation, you'll head to the specified battle center, okay? Okay?!", Present Mic explained.
"In other words, they won't let you work with your friends, huh?", Katsuki asked.
"Y-You're right. Even though our examinee numbers are consecutive, we're assigned to different battle centers", Izuku noticed.
"Don't look. I'll kill you", Katsuki threatened.
"Three different types of faux villains are stationed in each battle center. You earn points for each of them based on their level of difficulty. Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your Quirks to earn points by immobilizing the faux villains. Of course, attacking other examinees and any other unheroic actions are prohibited!", Present Mic further explained.
"May I ask a question?", a tall boy with glasses asked.
"Okay!"
"On the printout, there are four types of villains. If this is a misprint, then UA, the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of this foolish mistake. We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes. In addition, you over there with the blond-green hair, you've been muttering the whole time. It's distracting! If you're here on a pleasure trip, they you should leave immediately!" the boy complained.
"Okay, okay, Examinee Number 7111. Thanks for the great message. The fourth type of villain is worth zero points. That guy's an obstacle, so to speak. There's one in every battle center. An obstacle that will go crazy in narrow spaces. It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it, either. I recommend that you try to avoid it", Present Mic told him.
"Thank you very much! Please excuse the interruption! ", the tall boy bowed.
"That's all from me! Finally I'll give you listeners a present—our school motto! The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said: 'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Go beyond. Plus Ultra!", Present Mic cheered.
Izuku and other examinees took the bus and headed to Battle Center B. The blond-green haired boy looked around and saw many examinees. He had no idea how they felt but he knew that they were all aiming to pass. That was why he had to be serious.
Oh, it's the person I met at the school gates! The nice person. She was assigned to the same battle center, huh? Oh yeah, I have to thank her for earlier, Izuku thought as he saw the brunette haired girl and approached to her.
He was then stopped by the tall boy.
"That girl appears to be trying to focus. What are you doing here?", the tall boy asked.
Izuku was confused. It was already obvious that he was taking the exam.
"Are you taking the exam to interfere with everyone else?", the boy accused.
"What?! N-No! Of course not! I'm just trying to be friendly", Izuku said.
The tall boy wasn't convinced and was about to ask more questions when...
"Okay, start!", Present Mic shouted.
Everyone was confused.
"What's wrong? There are no countdowns in real fights! Run, run! The die has been cast, you know!", he shouted.
Everyone then ran.
Izuku was running when a robot worth 1 point appeared. Izuku took a deep breath. The robot charged at Izuku and thrust its arms at him. The blond-green haired boy dodged and charged 5% of his power in his right arm. He then punched the robot and it was defeated.
"Six minutes and two seconds left!", Present Mic shouted.
Izuku continued fighting. More robots appeared and Izuku ran towards them. Charging 5% of his power, he punched a robot and smashed it to pieces. He then charged another 5% to his other arm and punched the next robot.
It was going great. His power didn't go out of control. His points were racking up nicely but it was going at a slow pace. Izuku had to charge up and then punch. It would always take him a second to charge up 5% because he had to limit his immense power. Also, some robots needed two punches to be defeated.
"I'm probably around 15 points. Finding robots is hard", Izuku said.
He looked around and saw robots being destroyed one by one. The blond-green haired boy had a hard time searching robots. Izuku continued searching but almost all robots were destroyed.
Oh no… Are all of them destroyed? If that's the case, I'm just at 15 points! I can't pass at this rate! Everything Mr. Toshinori gave to me will be wasted!", Izuku panicked.
And if things couldn't get any worse, a huge rumbling was felt as a giant robot appeared.
WHAAAT?, Izuku thought.
"Less than two minutes left!", Present Mic shouted.
WHAAAT?
The giant robot punched the ground in front of the examinees. After a while, everyone started to run away. Even Izuku was about to run away but… the brunette girl he met at the entrance had her leg stuck in the rubble. The robot advanced and the girl was in danger of being crushed.
Save. I have to save her, a voice inside Izuku said.
He ran towards the robot and everyone watched the suicidal kid. Izuku subconsciously knew that 5% of his power won't be enough to take it down. That was why he used 100% of his power on his legs without knowing it and jumped. His jump was so high it reached the huge robot's face.
Save her, the voice said again.
Power surged through Izuku's arms as the sleeve of his tracksuit was ripped. 100% of his power was flowing on his arms.
"SMASH!", Izuku shouted and punched the robot.
The robot's face was crushed and there were explosions across the robot's body. All of the examinees were looking at the scene with a surprised face.
Izuku then realized what he did when the pain in his arm and legs registered.
AHHHH! I'm an idiot! Mr. Toshinori and Recovery Girl told me many times to control myself but I went and did it!
He looked down on the ground to check how high he was and his face paled.
No way. No way. No way. I'm too high up! I'll die when I crash! Wait… I can use Detroit Smash to get out of this mess but… I'll damage my other arm. If that happens, I have no more chance to score any points! I have no choice! If I'm too early or late, I'll die! Detroit-, he was about to release a smash when he got slapped.
Izuku started floating in midair.
"Release", the brunette said and both her and Izuku stopped floating. The girl then vomited.
I'm safe… No, she saved me… Is she all right? She looks uninjured, at least…? I'm so glad… and... thank you!, Izuku thought.
"If I can get just another point!", Izuku shouted and crawled on the ground.
"Time's up!", Present Mic shouted.
The feeling of fatigue and frustration made Izuku pass out. Those who saw what Izuku did, which was almost everyone, were amazed. It was not a normal feat to defeat a giant robot in one strike.
"Okay, good work. Good work, good work. Here you go. Here are some gummies. Eat some gummies", Recovery Girl said when she arrived at the examination site.
She immediately recognized the boy who was down on the ground and sighed.
I thought Toshinori and I warned him enough. I guess he must be too stubborn. Toshinori should scold him later, she thought.
She kissed him and Izuku's injuries were healed.
A week passed after the exam. Izuku knew that the chances of him passing were near to zero. From self-scoring, he knew that he barely passed the written exam. However, it was cancelled by the low score in his practical exam. He didn't try contacting Toshinori since he was ashamed to tell him the news.
"The results should arrive today or tomorrow, right?", Inko asked.
"Yeah", Izuku replied in a depressed tone.
"Jeez, I think it's amazing that you even applied to UA!", she tried comforting him.
"Yeah", Izuku replied in the same manner.
He started lifting a dumbbell as he thought about his failure. However, he knew he did the right thing by saving the girl.
The door then opened suddenly and his mother was panicking.
"Izu-Izu-Izu….! Izu-Izu-Izu.. Izuku! It's here! It came! It's here!", Inko said and showed a white envelope with the symbol of UA.
###
Izuku was in his room, staring at the envelope. He then resolved to tear the envelope which contained a hologram projector.
"I am here as a projection!", a close-up on All Might's face was shown on a screen when the projector turned on.
"What? All Might?! What's going on?", Izuku asked.
"Actually, I came to this town to work at UA", All Might said.
"Work at UA?", Izuku asked.
"Now then, let's get to the results", All Might told him.
Izuku gulped down.
"Even if you passed the written exam, you got a low score on the practical exam. Of course, that means you didn't pass", All Might said.
The blond-green haired boy hung his head down. Izuku was frustrated even though he already knew it.
"… if that was all there was to it", All Might said and Izuku was confused.
Izuku looked at the screen again.
"I am an entertainer, as well! First, take a look at this video!", All Might told him and pressed a remote which turned on a screen.
The screen showed the brunette.
"Excuse me, um…", she said.
"The nice person?", Izuku wondered.
"She came to negotiate directly in person after the exam! Negotiate what? Keep watching to find out", All Might continued.
"Um, the person with curly hair and freckles … Do you know who I'm talking about? Um… kind of plain-looking…", she asked.
It's me, Izuku thought.
"Is it possible for me to give him some of my points? I heard him say, 'If I can get just another point,' so I thought he had a low score. At least the points he lost because of me… He saved me! Please! Please! Please!", the girl pleaded.
Izuku smiled.
"The entrance exam the other day was not graded only on villain points!", All Might said which confused Izuku.
"Even if you ask to, you cannot give him your points . Anyway, there's no need to give him any, female listener!", Present Mic told the brunette.
"How can a hero course reject people who save people and do the right thing? Call that lip service? Bring it on! This is a job that requires one's life to put that lip service into practice!" All Might said and Izuku slowly realized what All Might was saying.
"Rescue points! It's the other basic ability we at UA look at! Izuku Midoriya, 60 points!", All Might announced.
Izuku was surprised.
"And Ochaco Uraraka, 45 points!", All Might added.
Izuku was about to cry.
"You both pass… and I know I told you those harsh things in the past and even crushed your dreams", All Might said.
Izuku remembered that and if it weren't for Toshinori, he would've given up for good.
"You proved me wrong. I told you that you weren't cut out for it. But now, you have the potential to be a hero. And I will bring out that hidden power in you! Come! This is your hero academia!", All Might told him.
Izuku cried.
And so, that was how Izuku's high school life started.
###
"H 003, have you found him?", a crimson-haired teen asked over the phone.
"Actually, I learned something cool, brother", the other side said.
"What is it?"
"AM 018 took UA's exams"
The crimson-haired teen couldn't help but smile.
"Father would definitely like the news", the crimson-haired teen said.
"What should we do now?"
"Let's reunite with our older brother. And see whether he's strong enough or not"
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