Jump

'Seriously? What the hell?! Info on the practical, then go ahead and jump right into the written exam after? How does that make any sense? Who does that?!' Kyouka was aggravated. She'd heard that UA was rather unorthodox, but this was ridiculous. How did this place even became the top hero school in the first place?

Luckily, her mom had some insight into things and had given her some warning.

"Speaking of heroes, Kyouka dear, are you still wanting to try the entrance exam for U.A.?" Her mother's question pulled her from the conversation she'd been having with her father regarding the news that morning causing Kyouka to turn to her where she had just seated herself at the kitchen table. "Yeah, I am, mom. Why do ya ask?" Lacing her hands on the table, Mika leaned in some. "Well, dear. U.A., while it is a very prestigious hero school, does have some... unique practices with its schooling techniques. So, I just want you to be aware of that and to do your best not to let it get to you. Don't let their odd mannerisms throw you off beat, okay?" With a bright smile, Kyouka nodded in affirmation. "You got it, mom!"

"Rockers and Rockettes! In your places! You've got five minutes til show time!"

Upon hearing The Voice Of U.A.'s announcement, she began looking herself over, just to make sure her costume was in order. Looking to her wrists, she found the bands that each held six darts on each wrist, recalling with a smile as to why she had them at all.

Months had passed since the incident of the sludge villain had made local news. Kyouka now sat at the kitchen counter, munching quietly on her morning bowl of cereal, when her mother took the seat next to her.

"Happy birthday, my little muse." she spoke up, placing her mug on the counter.

"Thanks, mom." Finishing up her cereal, Kyouka took her bowl and placed it in the sink to be washed, retaking her seat to finish her orange juice. "What's the plan for today?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, darling. About U.A.." Turning to face her mother fully, Kyouka met her gaze, a curious look in her eyes. "I'm still not entirely sure about you doing this. I simply don't understand why you don't try to get into a school more focused on more... practical, approaches to adulthood..."

"Mom, I -"

"Ah ah ah, dear. I'm not finished. Even though i'm sold on you trying to become a hero, I won't stop you from doing so. Hence, what your gift is this year." Reaching across the counter, Mika pulled something from behind the toaster. Placing it in front of her daughter, she revealed it to be a small box, complete with a yellow ribbon tied into a bow.

Narrowing her eyes at the box, Kyouka took the box up in her hands, gingerly pulling the ribbon off of it before opening the case to reveal its contents. "Darts? Uh, mom? I don't know the first thing about even how to throw these things, let alone how they could help me at U.A..."

Chuckling softly to herself, her mother nodded. "Yes dear, I know. That's why that's only a part of y our present this year." Rising from her seat, the elder Jirou strode across the living room, motioning her daughter to follow.

As she made her way across the room, Kyouka saw her mother take of her jacks and reach to the far wall, where a dart board hung, plucking the three darts from the board quickly before bringing them back and dropping them in her hand. "Something I found out after a while of messing around with my quirk? I can grasp small objects with my jacks and throw them, usually considerably faster than my hands can. So, I figure you can do the same. And I'm gonna teach you how." With a sly smirk, Mika took a dart up in her jack, coiling it around just below the plug. Suddenly, the dart blurred as she began spinning the dart in her jack before flinging it at the board, sticking it in the bullseye.

Looking at her mother, wide-eyed and filled with wonder, she balked at her mother's bullseye. "That's awesome, mom!" From the couch, Kyotoku grumbled. "Yeah. It sure is, Kyo; she used that move of hers to trick me into paying for our first five dates, too! Sly woman..."

Mika scoffed and looked to her daughter. "Dear, while this trick of mine can certainly be used to impress your boyfriend-" "Or girlfriend! We won't judge you either way, Kyo!" Her father's second interruption caught her completely off guard. "Dad! I like guys!" He was clearly having none of it, quipping back, "And I only like pretty women like you and your mother, but I wouldn't have minded a few escapades with a few awfully of the handsome men from my day.

That was one thought she did NOT need. "Ewww! DAD! What the hell! I don't need to hear about your fantasies!" Kyouka cringed so hard she felt as though her face was going to implode on itself at her father's comment.

"Kyouka! Language!" Mika quickly scolded her daughter for her sudden outburst, as the three Jirous calmed themselves down. Finally relenting, her father sat up and turned back to face his daughter. "I'm just telling you dear, that don't expect anything when it comes to true love. The 'man of your dreams'? He may not even be a 'he' in the first place at all!" With a short sigh, he relaxed himself back into his seat and resumed watching TV. After a few moments, Mika spoke up again. "Anyway, dear, as I was saying... While this little trick that I made can be used to impress a 'date', you can also use this as a self defense tactic, as well... Take any long, thin object... Say, a chopstick, and you can grasp it with your jack. Spin it fast enough, and you can turn it into a dangerous projectile to ward off enemies."

"Trust me dear, you're going to want little support objects lkke this to help improve the usefulness of your quirk, especially if you go pro as a hero." Kyouka pondered that for a moment before nodding. "I get it. Just because my quirk is sound based doesn't mean i should limit myself to only using my quirk for sound related tasks." With a smile, Mika nodded as she reached over to the dart board, plucking it off the wall and handing it to her daughter. "Exactly, dear. Now here, go practice. And again, Happy Birthday."

Kyouka had spent the last six months practicing daily to improve the move her mother showed her. Pulling herself from her memory, Kyouka continued looking over her costume, spotting the chopsticks she had holstered on her biceps. While they weren't perfect, she felt as though they would suffice for the entrance exam .

Taking a few deep breaths, she looked around to the other participants. A part of her wondered if the muttering broccoli boy from earlier was in her group. All at once, though, Present Mic' s voice blared out over the area.

"The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said... 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.' Plus Ultra! Break a leg, everyone!"

Kyouka cocked her head to the side some at his words, looking around to see many others just as confused and Kyouka almost swore she saw Present Mic face fault.

After a short moment of pause, he hollered out to the students once again. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! There's no countdown in a real fight! GO GO GO!"

By the time he had finished his second sentence, Kyouka had already gotten the idea, and had darted off ahead. She knew she wasn't a very fast runner, so she knew the sooner she got going, the better off she'd likely be.

The next minutes seemed to fly by for Kyouka. Between ducking among side streets, whipping her weapons and quirk around at the robots she came across, and doing her best to avoid any largely dangerous situations, she felt as though she had a sizable amount of points. She was obviously by no means keeping track; she was too focused on her main objective of getting as many robot 'kills' as she could. As it were, she had stopped in a side alley to catch her breath. She had already used up all of her darts and chopsticks, so the only means of offense she had left were her jacks alone.

Panting softly, Kyouka mentally counted up the robots she believed to have hit. In the midst of her counting, though, the ground rumbled heavily. At first, she couldn't help but believe it to be an earthquake, until a thunderous crash knocked her to her knees.

Crawling toward the street where the rage of activity came from, Kyouka was introduced to a harrowing sight. A robot, easily taller than most of the buildings in the city and as wide as the street she had come into, was rumbling its way down the street toward a large mass of prospective students. Most of them, she had seen, were screaming in terror and running away.

One person, she noticed though, was not. Narrowing her eyes, she had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing right.

'That broccoli head again?'

The green haired bout in question was on his rear in the middle of the street, having clearly fallen, and was starting at the behemoth that was towering over the students. As she watched him, though, she saw his gaze drop to the robot's base. Following his line of sight, Kyouka turned to see a girl in the rubble of a fallen building.

Looking back to the boy, Kyouka watched him long enough to see him stumble up and into a ruin before doing so herself, sprinting toward the trapped girl

'Gotta get that rock off her, how?' Dashing toward the rubble, Kyouka looked around the brunette as she tried to figure out how she was going to free her. After a short moment, though, she mentally face-palmed and shot one of her jacks out into the rock. Wincing slightly at the sharp impact into the concrete chunk, Kyouka channeled her pounding heartbeat into her jack, forcing the rubble to crumble from the vibrations and free the girl.

Panting softly as she reached the newly-freed brunette, Kyouka helped the girl to her feet.

"Are you alright? What's your name?"

"I-Im fine but-!" Any further conversation between the two girls was cut short, as the horrendously loud sound of gnashing metal tore their attention from their current situation, only to see the large robot reeling back, a car-sized crater on its face.

A split second later, a strangled scream pierced the air, drawing Kyoukas attention immediately as she spotted that same broccoli head plummeting toward them and the ground.

Whipping back to the brunette before her, Kyouka reached out, clapping her hands on the girls shoulders as she leaned in and, in hindsight, spoke a bit too loudly and harshly to her. "That guy's not slowing down! He might be in trouble! We gotta help him!"

A small blush adorning her cheeks, the girl before her swallowed hard before touching her fingers of her hands together.

"Throw me to him." Kyouka looked at the girl incredulously.

"What are you, nuts? I can't lift you, let alone throw you that high!"

"My quirk lets me make things weightless, Now throw me! He's falling fast!"

The adamant tone in her voice made Kyouka relent, nodding as the two of them stood. Linking her hands together, Kyouka knelt down as her accomplice stepped into her hands. With a sharp jerk upwards, the smaller brunette shot up toward to meet the falling boy only five meters above Kyouka' s head, where she wrapped him in a bear hug and stopped his descent. With the two of them floating above her, Kyouka held her arms out and braced herself.

"Drop down! I'll catch you!"

All as once, her companion released her quirk's hold on herself and the green haired boy, dropping the two of them into Kyouka's arms. The force of their sudden added weight threw the three of them to the ground in a heap, leaving her groaning underneath the two of them.

Kyouka slowly sat up while the girl she had saved earlier was crawling off of her, As green as the hair of the boy they had just caught.

"Y'know, broccoli, much more and I'm gonna have to start a tab for you... That's twice today I've kept you from falling..." she grumbled as the gravity girl upheaved the contents of her stomach into a pile of rubble nearby.

"I-if I can just get one point..." he gasped out, reaching out with what Kyouka now realized was his only good hand, placing it on her forearm.

Looking down to the boy who now resided in her lap, she noticed the reason for his falling; he had broken both of his legs and one arm, evident by grotesquely odd angles at which said limbs had been bent.

'Wait... did he say "one point"? He doesn't have any points?! Why did he attack that zero pointer like that, then?!'Before Kyouka could even form another thought, though, Present Mic's voice boomed out overhead.

"AAND TIME'S UP!"

Uhh... 'Sup... I know, I know... it's been almost four months... But between college (which is thankfully done), work (which has been crazy busy but oh-so-worth it...) and personal stuff (it'll never end...), I've been stupid busy. And I do wanna apologize for how short this is... But I don't think it's too bad... I will do my very best though, to have the next chapter out in a few weeks, promise!

Oh! One other thing! The results for the poll for Izuku's next Holi-Date! With 25 votes, the winner is... *drumroll* Halloween! *cheers* Anyway, I'll be working on that here eventually as well! So stay tuned!

Uhh either way... Review?