Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

10. Starting Line

Hello, Izuku Midoriya,

I hope this letter and this package reaches you in time for the UA High School entrance exam at the end of February. My name is Melissa Shield, the daughter of an old friend of All Might's from the United States. Two months ago, All Might reached out to me in regards to commissioning a support item for you to use during the exam. I was more than happy to help out my uncle in regards to helping you control your quirk, and I have attached the completed item in this package!

I attached some schematics and more detailed explanations to this letter to kind of run through how it works, but to summarize it for you, I have designed what I refer to as a 'Full Gauntlet' for you to wear on your wrist. Since the device is made of nanomachines, you can attach the device to whichever your dominant hand is, and the support item will form on that hand. Once you've attached the bracelet I've sent with this package to your wrist during your exam, you can press the blue panel on the bracelet, and it'll transform into your support item. From the description All Might gave me, your quirk can let you charge up your arms before you fire off a blast, so I designed the Full Gauntlet to absorb the energy, and when you use your quirk, the Gauntlet will fire off the quirk. Please keep in mind, though, that it will only be for the one arm that you have the Gauntlet on; your other arm isn't protected, and will fire off a full blast if you're not careful!

Now, as one last note, and maybe as a small favor, I actually have a request! I've taken a particular interest in the development of this item over the last two months, and I would like to see if there's room for improvement. When you receive the gauntlet, if you press the blue panel twice, it can send me some feedback data so I can analyze the pros and cons of the device from my computer, and if I receive that data, I can assist you with improvements and upgrades if necessary. Plus, I can always make it look cooler if we do upgrades, so that's always a plus!

Thank you again, and break a leg with the entrance exam!

Sincerely,

Melissa Shield

"... I mean, it looks cool enough already!" Izuku let out a squee as he put the letter back down on the table and pickled up the small box, opening to find the device waiting for him. It looked like a red wristband with a blue cylinder in the middle, Izuku lifting it up with widened eyes as he put the box back on the table. He knew that he didn't have time to observe it, though, as he and Ochako needed to head out soon to get to the train that would get them to UA. Hastily, he quickly strapped the bracelet to his wrist, and brought his school uniform's sleeve back up to conceal it, reaching over to grab his yellow backpack on the chair beside him.

At the moment, it was currently 6:30 in the morning on the day that he and his best friend had been training for the last ten months for: Izuku and Ochako were about to leave the apartment to head towards UA, where the written exam would be taking place at 9:00. Both of them were desperately trying to conceal how nervous they actually felt, seeing as their parents were already anxious enough for them, and Izuku had almost cried in relief when he had come out from his shower to see this Melissa girl's package for him had arrived at what was literally the last minute. Of course, he did regret that he wouldn't be able to practice with it, and that he would have to test the Gauntlet out in the field, but if All Might's praise of Melissa over the phone was any indication, he could trust her not to blow off his arm.

"Alright, do ya have everythin'?" Taiyo asked Ochako as she wrapped her pink scarf around her neck, her brown coat and backpack already on, "Pens, paper, all tha' jazz?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Do you have your water bottle?" Miwa fretted around her daughter. "And your sweat suit for your exam? And your wristbands?"

"Mm-hm, Mama."

"And what abou' -"

"Mama, Daddy, we already made sure I had everything last night before I went to bed," She reminded them, giving her parents a sweet smile as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, "I'm all good and ready to go."

"Ah, still, Chipmunk," Taiyo ran a nervous hand through his hair, "you two sure I can' drive ya to UA? I don' have anythin' to do right now, it'd be okay."

"Daddy, it's way out of the way! We need to take the train at least once so we know the way and don't get lost on our first day. Deku, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," He quickly nodded, pushing his arms through the straps of his backpack and looking around at Ochako standing at the door, "yeah, I'm - I'm ready to go whenever you are. I made sure I had everything last night too, so we can go if you're ready."

"Yeah! Let's get going."

"Alright," Inko nodded, although her voice was still worried as they put on their shoes, and she hurried over to kiss Izuku's cheek and hug Ochako, "but you just be careful, alright? Try not to get hurt."

"We won't, Mom."

"Don't worry, Mama Inko, we'll be fine."

With a few more assurances that they would be fine and declarations of love and confirmations that they would be careful, Izuku and Ochako were soon out the door, their backpacks filled with paper, pens, pencils and their sweat suits for when the practical exam finally began. Ochako had already texted Itsuka when they had woken up, and she had confirmed that she would meet the two of them at the UA gate to go into the school together - Yui was going to get a ride from her father a bit later, and Setsuna was already at the school, due to scheduling conflicts that meant the practical exam for the recommended students would take place on the same day as everyone else's. Which meant that all they had to do now was head towards the train station, board the train for UA, and meet up with Itsuka before going inside.

As the Midoriyas' door shut behind them, Izuku and Ochako took a moment to breathe in the morning air, and after twin deep breaths, began walking together down the breezeway in silence. They decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator - they were leaving early for the train, so they had a little time - and soon enough they were on the ground floor. They stepped out into the parking lot, taking a moment to pause and glance at each other -

- and then Ochako snorted.

"Oh, god," She wheezed, bent over a little as she was suddenly overcome in nervous laughter, "I think I barely managed to keep myself together up there."

"I knooooow," Izuku groaned, looking up at the sky and suddenly feeling aware of how much he was shaking at the moment, "I think my mom could tell that I was about to pee my pants!"

"This is so nerve-wracking!" She threw her hands into the air, hopping up and down as she laughed a little crazily, "I think my heart's going to burst out of my freaking chest because of how hard it's beating!"

"W-well, we can't do anything about it now," Izuku sighed, smacking his cheeks some and trying his hardest to stop his shaking, "I've got the support item, so I - I should be fine."

"Talk about last minute!" Ochako shook her head as they started walking out of the apartment's parking lot and towards the sidewalk, but instead of their usual path to Aldera, they were headed in the opposite direction towards the train station. "If only it arrived a little bit sooner, you and I could've gone down to the beach so you could practice a bit."

"Honestly, I'm just more relieved that it arrived at all to be that bitter," He gulped, shaking back his sleeve to look at the bracelet on his right right, "From the letter Miss Shield sent me, it seems simple enough to use, but once we're on the train I can have a closer look at the schematics she sent to see if there's any last minute preparations that I need to make."

"Yeah, yeah, you should do that. And I'll … I don't know, fit in some last minute studying. Panic a little. Cry. Go puke in the bathroom."

"Uh … please don't puke, Occhan."

"Uh ... please don't puke."

"Wait, so I can panic and cry but not puke? Totally unfair, Deku."

The two friends chuckled as they made their way down the sidewalk, Izuku taking a moment to pull out the letter from Melissa again to read through while Ochako pulled out her notebook, wanting a chance to read through it and mentally test herself. They made their way over to the train station, bought tickets to head towards north-ish Musutafu, and Ochako texted Itsuka to let her know they were on the way.

Once they were on the train, Izuku put away the schematics and note, and agreed to quiz Ochako to check that she had all the questions memorized and the quirk laws down to heart. He had been pretty impressed with her answering most of the questions correctly (the two she didn't get right, however, were enough to make Ochako doubt everything that happened in the last ten months and nearly sent her spiraling into a panic attack before Izuku managed to calm her down). Finally, the train pulled into the station, and Izuku and Ochako put their things away to walk the rest of the way on foot.

Once they were out of the train station and making their way down the sidewalk, they began moving up the mountain, where they could already see UA's main building shining in the early morning light, making Izuku shake a bit and Ochako gulp nervously. By the time they reached the midway point, they found a crowd of middle-school students heading in the same direction, and quickly hurried over to follow them. At last, they began walking along the familiar (to Izuku) beige walls of the UA barrier, and hurried over to the maingate, seeing a familiar girl with orange hair leaning against the wall and checking her phone.

"Hey!" Ochako called out to her, catching Itsuka's attention. Their friend looked up to see them hurrying towards her, and let out a sigh of relief as she slipped her phone back into her skirt pocket and stood up, giving her training partners a nervous grin as she adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. Izuku, meanwhile, tried not to blush too much at the sight of his friend in her seifuku - he'd never seen her wearing it before, and tried not to think to himself how good she looked in it.

"Okay," Itsuka smiled at them as they reached her, "okay, you guys are finally here, I can calm down a little now."

"Are you also having a nervous breakdown? I had mine on the train."

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," She flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder aimlessly, "I couldn't even work on my bike last night to distract me, my hands were shaking too much. But now that you guys are here, I can try to relax a little before I go mess up everything I've been getting ready for for the last ten months."

"It'll - it'll be fine," Izuku shook his head a bit, trying to remain optimistic despite how hard his own heart was beating and how much he was shaking, "we'll - we'll be fine."

With a deep breath, Izuku smacked his cheeks again, glancing up at the tall building waiting for them, and took a brave step forward. Itsuka and Ochako likewise moved forward to flank him, imitating him and looking up at the large glass building shaped like an 'H'. With three nods, they began walking through the gate, Izuku staring forward while the girls adjusted their backpacks on their shoulders.

"Okay," He took another breath as the three of them began walking down the path, moving past the various busts of pro heroes lining edges of the sidewalk that led to the three giant doors, "this is it, this is it, this is it."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, gulping as she looked up at the large building.

"This is it, this is it, this is it."

"That it is," Ochako agreed.

"This is it, this is it, this is it."

By then the girls blinked, looking around at the boy that was in the middle of their little group. His eyes were locked on the building, but his face was eerily pale, and they could tell how obvious it was that he was shaking as he stared up at the school in a mixture of elation and terror as he muttered 'this is it, this is it, this is it' in a low, panicked voice.

"Oh great," Itsuka sighed, "we stepped one foot on the perimeter and we've already lost him."

"Honestly, we should've seen this coming," Ochako shook her head a bit, "but we do have to go inside to write the test, and he can't exactly be muttering 'this is it' the whole time."

"Agreed. You wanna grab one arm, and I'll grab the other, and we can give him a shake to snap him out of it?"

"Yeah, I think that's -"

"The fuck? You two seriously fucking showed up?"

Both Ochako and Izuku stopped in their tracks at the sound of a rough voice behind them, feeling themselves stiffen up while Izuku was snapped out of his terrified trance. Itsuka furrowed her brow a bit at the aggressiveness, and together, the three of them looked around and saw a familiar blonde boy stomping towards them, a glare leveled at Izuku and Ochako as he secured his scarf around his neck and the strap of his back over his shoulder.

"Fucking figures," Katsuki grunted, clenching his jaw slightly, "neither of you two didn't fucking listen to me. What the fuck, Deku, did you finally grow a fucking spine?"

"I - uh - h-hello, Kacchan," Izuku stammered a bit as he straightened up, gulping nervously as Ochako met his glare with one of her own and Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "I - I hope you're ready for the test! L-let's do our best!"

"Ha? You think I'm not ready?" Katsuki's face twisted into a sneer, stomping forward and shoving his way past Izuku. While Ochako caught Izuku before he stumbled to the ground, Itsuka continued to glare at him as the blonde boy huffed. "What, do you think I'm gonna fucking fail? That you two are somehow going to do better than me?"

"Bakugou, just go away," Ochako snapped at him, "we've gotta get to the exam, so we don't need you messing around and distracting us."

"Ha? I thought I told you what was gonna happen if you defied me?" He tilted his head, a sinister sneer on his face, "I guess I gotta remind you, Round Face -"

"So this is Bakugou?"

Katsuki felt his words die in his throat at the sound of a voice he didn't recognize, and looked around as Itsuka leaned her weight on one leg, crossing her arms and giving him a once over. Izuku felt himself pale in horror at what was about to happen while Ochako felt her annoyance fade into gleefulness - this was an interaction both of them knew was coming, and while Izuku felt terror, Ochako wished she had some popcorn.

"Huh? Who the fuck are you, extra?" Katsuki frowned as he also looked at Itsuka, seeing her looking at him from head to toe with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow … you know what, Uraraka, you were right," She slowly nodded, feeling herself smirk, "I thought you were slightly exaggerating things - but his small dick energy is off the charts."

Izuku squeaked. Ochako guffawed. Katsuki's eyes widened in anger.

"What the fuck did you just say to me, you fucking bitch?" He hissed, stomping right around to get in her face while her smirk widened.

"Oh? Didn't you hear me? I said that you've got a tiny dick. It's the vibe you're sending out, you walk around like you're compensating for something."

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?!" He demanded to know, his hands raising to show the small pops and crackles beginning to spark from his palms.

"I'm not quite sure, but I'm thinking that I'm currently talking with a, uh … well, pardon my French, but a pissy little bitch," Itsuka tilted her head, continuing to look confident as the blonde boy bared his teeth into a grimace.

"You're fucking dead."

"Am I? Are you really going to pick a fight with me here?" Itsuka shook her head. "I mean, I'm comfortable with leaving this as us shittalking each other, since that's what you're so eager to do, talking down to Midoriya and Uraraka, but if you wanna swing the first punch, go right ahead. Still, it'd be a bold move, picking a fight with another examinee in front of the school before you even took the test - I don't imagine the teachers would be too keen accept a guy who tries to blow up another student right at the front of the school, but again, if that's your strategy, I'd love to see how it plays out."

Thankfully, that comment made Katsuki falter, as though remembering where they were - students walking down the path were looking around at him and Itsuka in curiosity, raising their eyebrows some as though they were trying to recognize him. With a huff, Katsuki put down his hands, and roughly shoved his way past Itsuka, who didn't quite budge, to his frustration. As he stomped away, however, Itsuka called after him.

"Bakugou," The boy in question looked around with a glare, "in all seriousness - there's a lot I wanna say to you. But I've got a test to do right now. So, just so you know - you and I are going to be having a chat later."

Huffing, Katsuki turned back around and flipped her off behind his shoulder. Itsuka snorted at that, and looked around at Izuku and Ochako, who were staring at her in awe.

"Wow," She smirked, "you two were right - he's a little bastard. Now c'mon, let's go find our seats."

With that, she hooked her arms through Izuku and Ochako's, and began guiding them inside, a bounce in her step that hadn't been there this morning as they moved inside. Still though, she didn't notice Izuku and Ochako staring at her with sparkles in their eyes, as though thinking that what she had just done to Katsuki was the greatest thing that they had ever seen.

And unconsciously, without realizing it, also thinking that it was one of the hottest things they had ever seen.

---

About two hours later, the teacher at the front had called the time, and everyone put down their pens and pencils as the written test was completed. Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako flashed each other thumbs up, feeling confident in their results, and once everyone was allowed to leave, Eijirou was sure to run over to give Izuku a high-five while Yui likewise did the same with Itsuka and Ochako. Soon enough, they all headed over to a large auditorium for the practical exam orientation, chatting and whispering among themselves over the test they had just finished. From the sound of things, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were confident that they passed with flying colors, while Yui was indifferent and Eijirou wished he had taken Itsuka's advice more seriously and studied a bit harder.

Once they made it to the auditorium, the small group split up, with Itsuka, Yui and Eijirou making their way over to sit next to a girl with both pink hair and skin, who greeted Yui happily as she took her seat next to her, and Izuku and Ochako made their way to their own spots, where Katsuki was already sitting and shooting them a glare. Gulping, Izuku decided that he would take one for the team and prevent Ochako from sitting next to the guy she obviously hated, and took the seat right beside Katsuki while Ochako sat on his left. Katsuki merely huffed as he turned his glare back to the front of the auditorium as it filled up with students, his red eyes occasionally flickering to where Itsuka was chatting with Eijirou, the blonde boy giving her a look of obvious dislike that Ochako frowned at.

Soon enough, though, the doors to the auditorium closed, and darkness fell in the large room, with the whispers and quiet chatting immediately falling into silence. Dramatically, several floodlights above the stage at the front of the room flickered on, one at a time, and the gigantic screen suddenly turned on, flashing the logo of UA. Once they realized the orientation was about to begin, everyone straightened up and watched as a man with long blonde hair spiked up into a large tuff slid onto the stage, wearing a leather jacket with a large metal speaker around his neck, and posed dramatically with his back to the audience.

"For all you examinee listeners just tuning in, welcome to my show!" Whipping around, Present Mic threw out his arms dramatically, his large smile plain to see even from the back of the room as the speaker amplified his voice, letting everyone hear him as he belted out, "Everyone say 'hey'!"

He then turned his head and put his hand up to his ear, as though waiting to hear the crowd of nervous students cheer back at him - only to be greeted by nothing but complete and absolute silence.

"What a refined response," He chuckled a bit weakly, his arms shaking as he threw them up nonchalantly into the air, "I got shivers down my spine too, listeners! In that case, I'll quickly present to you all the low-down on how this exam'll go! ARE YOU READY?! YEAAAAAAAAAH!"

Once again, nothing but silence.

In his seat, Izuku bounced a bit, his hands raising to his mouth as he leaned as far forward in his seat as possible, Ochako snickering a bit at his reaction and grabbing the bottom of his shirt to prevent him from slipping off his seat. "It's the Voice Hero, Present Mic! We listen to him every week on the radio, this is incredible! The teachers at UA really are pro heroes!"

"Shut up," Katsuki growled.

"Now pay attention, listeners!" Present Mic threw out another hand, the screen behind him showing off a diagram of seven different boxes, each labeled with a different letter, "You examinees will be conducting a ten-minute mock urban battle at our replica city-districts! You can bring whatever you want with you, and after the presentation, you'll all head out to your specified battle centers that are labeled on your cards. We decided to mix you all up for some unpredictability, so your groups will be auto generated, with the classmates from your school being split up! Okay?!"

Another pointed silence fell.

"OKAY?!"

As they checked their cards, Katsuki leaned over to have a look at Izuku and Ochako's cards, his brow furrowing and his frown deepening.

"In other words," He grumbled, "they're splitting everyone up so you won't get the chance to work with your friends, huh?"

"Friends?" Ochako raised an eyebrow skeptically, "You have friends?"

Katsuki merely growled under his breath, looking back at his card.

"I - I think he's right, Occhan," Izuku muttered, looking between her card and his, "even though our examinee numbers are consecutive, we're being assigned to different battle centers. Look, I'm in Battle Center B, and you're in Battle Center C."

"Hm," Ochako bit her lip a bit worriedly, "maybe one of us will be able to work with Kendou, though. Depending on where she's sent."

Izuku nodded at that, glancing around to steal a small glance at Katsuki's card, who merely turned the card away from him and glowered at him. "Don't look at my card, I'll kill you."

After a moment of glaring at him, Katsuki turned away, muttering in disappointment, "Damn, now I can't crush either of you."

Ochako merely huffed.

While their little 'conversation' happened, Present Mic continued on with the presentation, showing a screen of a pixelated version of him fighting off robots of different sizes, with 'points' being added to the screen as each robot went down, "We'll be sprinkling in a large number of 'villains' for you listeners to fight in each battle center! And they'll appear in three different varieties, with point values scaled according to difficulty! Using each of your individual quirks, dispatch and/or immobilize as many 'villains' as you can! Your goal, dear listeners, is to earn as many points as you can in the limited time we're giving you! And don't think about attacking any other competitors or any of that nasty anti-hero stuff, because that's against the rules! Capisce?!"

Ochako pointedly looked at Katsuki over that last comment, who pretended not to notice anything.

A few rows in front of them, a hand suddenly shot up as one of the students stood. "Excuse me! May I ask a question?"

"Go ahead!" Present Mic pointed directly at him, and a spotlight from the roof shone down on the boy who had stood up, a tall, broad boy with glasses and short dark blue hair, who held the information sheet on the villains that would be used in the exam.

"On this printout," He pointed at the card, "there are clearly four types of villains listed! And the presentation has only described three types of villain bots! If that is a misprint, such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of UA's caliber! The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes! We cannot afford to be given inaccurate information."

"Boy, that guy is loud," Itsuka grimaced slightly, while Yui didn't pay him any attention due to her reading the sheet describing the villains.

"And as a side note -" The boy suddenly wheeled right around and pointed directly at Izuku. "You there! With the curly green hair!"

Izuku squeaked a bit as he suddenly became the center of attention, everyone else looking around at him when he was called out.

"You've been muttering this whole time!" The glasses guy glared at him, "You are a distraction. If you think UA is some pleasure jaunt, then you should leave this place at once for the sake of the other examinees that wish to seriously take this exam!"

Izuku sank into his chair, covering his face as everyone quietly giggled and let out a small, "Sorry."

Katsuki sniggered. Ochako fumed. The boy in glasses suddenly felt like there were two pairs of eyes glaring daggers at him, and merely ignored such a distracting feeling.

"Okay, okay, thanks for the segue, much appreciated, Examinee Number 7111!" Present Mic waved his hands to get the room's attention again, flashing the glasses guy a thumbs up. "The fourth type of villain you'll encounter is worth zero points! Let's call them 'area traps'! This guy is merely there to serve as an obstacle, so to speak. Have any of you ever played Super Mario Brothers before?! I guess it is rather retro. But anyway, do you remember those things that'd go 'thwomp' on you?! There's a thing like that in each arena! Their gimmick is that they rampage when crowded! There's exactly one in every battle center - an obstacle that'll go crah- zay in arrow spaces! It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it, either! I'd recommend that you listeners try to avoid it!"

"Thank you so much!" The boy in glasses bowed, "Please excuse me for the interruption!"

"Apologize to Deku too," Ochako growled under her breath, "you freaking jerk."

"Nah, I agree with four eyes," Katsuki smirked, "shut the fuck up, Deku. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks you need to do that."

Izuku tried not to shrink too much as Ochako turned her glare to the boy sitting beside him.

"So it's like obstacles you have to avoid in a video game," Yui muttered to herself, continuing to pat Itsuka's arm as she glared at the glasses guy. "The whole thing is starting to feel like a retro game."

"A really dumb retro game," Itsuka threw her ponytail behind her shoulder while Eijirou continued to frantically attempt to memorize the paper before him on her other side, "but I guess that's not a bad comparison. Just gotta get the most points to win."

"Well, that's about enough from me!" Present Mic dramatically waved his hands in the air. "I'll leave all you listeners with a presentation on the 'school precepts' of this academy of mine! As a certain general by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'a true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life'. A nice little sound bite! Now let's move on to the main event! Go beyond!"

He threw his hands into the air as he screamed out, "PLUS ULTRA!" and behind him, the screen above the stage flashed the two words in a large, bold font.

"Now then, everyone, good luck! And may you all suffer gladly in the trials to come!"

As the lights turned back on and everyone got up to start heading outside to the buses that would take them to their examination sites. Izuku and Ochako quickly hopped up, moving down the steps towards where Itsuka and Yui were also standing up, Eijirou already hurrying away to join the crowd in going to get changed into their exercise gear.

"So, uh - where are you guys?"

"Battle Center C," Itsuka flashed her card, Ochako letting out a sigh of relief and giving her a fist bump.

"Battle Center D," Yui shrugged, "and I think Kirishima got sent to Battle Center F, I saw his and Ashido's cards. She's being sent to Cattle Center E."

"Oh, man," Izuku groaned a bit, feeling his stomach clench, "looks like I'm on my own."

"Don't feel too bad, okay?" Itsuka patted his arm, while Ochako likewise gave him a sympathetic look, "You've got this. You've got the gauntlet, and you're a badass. I believe in you."

"Yeah, Deku," Ochako balled her fist, giving him an encouraging look, "it's time to go Plus Ultra."

Izuku hesitated for another moment, not really sure if he was as confident in himself as his training partners were - but then he let out a small sigh, nodding and trying his best to smile as he also straightened up, giving his friends a determined look as Yui turned to head off and get changed into her tracksuit.

"Yeah … yeah. Plus Ultra." He gave them both fist bumps. "I guess … well, I guess this means that I'll see you both on the other side."

"Yeah, you will," Itsuka grinned, "break a leg, Midoriya."

"Not literally, though." Ochako was quick to clarify."

"Heh, uh … well, don't worry. I'm sure the Gauntlet won't explode on me. I think. I hope."

"Oh, god, please don't put that thought into my head, Deku. Eesh."

"Okay, then let me retry that - don't blow up."

"I … will certainly try. Not to blow up, I mean."

"You aren't exactly filling me with confidence, Midoriya, but okay."

With that, the three of them promised to see each other after the exam, with Izuku wishing his friends good luck, and they hurried off to go get changed into their gym clothes, Izuku parting from his training partners with a wave. It didn't take long for him to slip into his green tracksuit, making sure that the support item was still secured to his wrist (on the other hand, it was a bit tight, making Izuku worry that he might have some difficulty taking it off afterwards), and soon enough he was boarding the bus that would head to Battle Center B, and where he would be doing his exam.

The bus ride there was … well, pretty uncomfortable, what with Izuku being seated between two larger students that were acting quite boisterous and arrogant, who looked down at his smaller frame (or at least, smaller compared to them) and immediately started trying to psyche him out, amidst all the other taunts and boasts being thrown around the bus. Luckily, Izuku managed to drown them out, trying to remember the instructions Melissa had sent him during their ten minute drive to the fake city that they would be having their test in.

Once the self-driven bus slowed to a stop, and everyone got off the bus, Izuku let out a sigh as he stretched, looking up at the large gates that would lead into the fake city as he jumped up and down, trying to hype himself up. He looked around as everyone chatted and laughed, or else challenged each other and tried to brag about their abilities, as though trying to hype themselves up by describing the upcoming test as a cake walk.

Letting out another breath, Izuku rolled his right sleeve up, looking down at the bracelet on his wrist. Now was probably the time to activate it, he supposed, just to make sure that it worked. As he stared down at the red metallic bracelet, he let out another sigh, and reached down to press the button.

However, before he could touch it, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder, making Izuku pause in his preparations and look around in confusion -

- and then letting out a small squeak as he saw the bespectacled boy that had called him out grabbing his shoulder, standing a couple of inches taller than him and giving him a sharp glare.

He's here too?!

"There you are," The glasses guy nodded, not looking very pleased about that fact as he let go of Izuku's shoulder, "I thought that was you on the bus. I wanted to take this moment to further address you in regards to your relentless whispering back in the auditorium."

"I - huh?"

"It was inconsiderate," He crossed his arms, glaring down at Izuku, "your rapid whispers obstructed your fellow test takers. This exam is stressful enough, and having you add to that stress and potentially making other examinees miss out on any of the details of the exam is unbecoming of a hero. Are you not taking this test seriously? Or are you purposely sabotaging those of us that are here to take this test?"

"I - uh - I -" Izuku stuttered, going red as he was called out yet again by the taller student, and feeling himself shrivel up as other people looked around at him and started to snigger at the sight of him getting reprimanded, thinking that they had one less rival to worry about if he couldn't even defend himself -

- and then another voice suddenly cut through the crowd.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, look at the drill thingy on your head! Is that your quirk?"

Both Izuku and the glasses guy looked around, confused, at the sound of a high-pitched voice speaking loudly - and then Izuku blinked again. Standing there was a girl about his height, pointing up another examinee's red and white hair. What stood out to Izuku, however, was the length and volume of the girl's own blue hair - it came down to her knees, twisting around itself at her waist and curving inwards around her legs.

How … how does someone make that happen? And with hair that thick?

"Or is your hair like that just because it looks cool? She tilted her head somewhat, her finger raising to her chin in curiosity as the guy leaned slightly away from her, his face weirdly red. "And what's the thing you have on your arm? Is that a quirk, or a support item?"

"I - uh -"

"Oooh!" Her gaze suddenly flickered to someone else, and zoomed over to get in the face of a bald kid with scars on his head and arms, the guy's face freezing in shock as his cheeks turned a rosy hue, "Those are nice sunglasses! Are you wearing them because it's too bright out, or because they look cool? I think it's a pretty cloudy day, so it's not too sunny."

"Well - um -"

"Oh, but what about you? You've got a cool mask! So yellow!"

As she blabbered on, going from examinee to examinee and making curious questions, Izuku felt himself sweat a bit - she was very loud, and apparently had the attention span of a goldfish. He glanced over at the bespectacled boy, wondering if he would be going over to talk to her as well - he was going on and on about how Izuku was interrupting people's concentration when this girl existed - and the glasses guy let out a small sigh when he noticed that Izuku was giving him a pointed look.

"Yes, yes." He muttered, apparently not a hypocrite, and charged forward, throwing his hand out to the blue-haired girl, who looked around at him when he caught her attention. "Excuse me, miss! You're rudely disrupting the concentration of the other applicants! I will have to ask you to -"

"Ooh, you've got rocket feet!" She gasped, immediately leaning around him to have a look at the weird things on the back of his calves. The glasses guy immediately froze up when she experimentally touched one of the things on his leg with her finger, tapping it. "Ooh, but I guess it's less rocket feet and more rocket legs, I guess. Do they hurt? Can they come out?"

"I - miss, please!"

Izuku felt himself gulp a bit, wondering just what the hell was going on - and then the girl's gaze flicked up, and settled on him.

He let out a small squeak when he finally caught sight of her face, feeling his cheeks heat up a little bit and suddenly understanding the reactions from the other guys. He hadn't noticed when she had been bouncing around and having her back to him, but this girl was … holy wow, she was … well, there was no other word to describe it, she was beautiful. Her blue eyes twinkled with curiosity as she stared up at him, her mouth moving into a little 'o' shape, and her eyelashes batting a bit as she blinked.

He was so taken aback by her, he didn't even register her moving. One moment she was awkwardly bending around the boy with glasses to look at his legs, and the next, she was right in his face. As in barely an inch away from him, in that if she moved even slightly closer, their noses would be touching.

"Ooh, what's this?" She asked curiously, looking down at his wrist and pointing curiously at the bracelet. "Is this a gizmo? A watch? It looks cool!"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, feeling his face burn hotter and hotter as she invaded his private bubble -

"OKAY, LET'S GO!"

Everyone in the crowd jumped at the loud voice blaring out of the speakers, and looked around, the blue haired girl turning away from Izuku to blink curiously. Standing up on the top of the observational tower was Present Mic, posing dramatically and playing with his mustache as he waved his arm to urge them onward.

"What's the matter, listeners? There are no coundowns in real fights. Run! Ruuuuun! Consider the baton tossed, the die cast, so go break a leg!"

Izuku was still taken aback, staring up at the tower in confusion and shock - and then he suddenly registered the sound of feet hurrying away on the pavement. Looking back down, he squeaked at the sight of the large crowd shoving their way through the gate and into the fake city, with some people flying away or likewise pushing each other aside.

"Oh, crap!" He gasped, immediately taking off after them, "I'm already behind!"

Still though, he tried to calm down his hammering heart and ignore how lead-filled his stomach felt, and sprinted as fast as he could through the gate. He knew Ochako and Itsuka were working hard now, to make sure that they didn't let All Might down - so he had to work hard as well. Quickly, he raised his right arm, glancing down at the device on his hand, and quickly pressed the blue panel, praying that it wasn't about to explode in his face.

The result was pretty much instantaneous. The moment his finger slid against the blue panel, it lit up in a bright blue color, and tiny hexagons began to rapidly spread across the red metal. Izuku squeaked as the red metal suddenly expanded, growing longer and larger as it wrapped around his forearm and hand, until it got up to his elbow. It then resolidified into a red gauntlet with a black strip on the knuckles and a small meter currently down in the red, making Izuku stare down at it in shock.

Okay … he internally squeed, … this is super cool!

Quickly, he picked up his pace and ran after the retreating crowd, hoping to find some robots to test out his new support item on as he tapped the blue button twice to record the data to send to Melissa - and was completely unaware of a pair of blue, curious eyes staring after him.

---

"START!"

With that signal, the giant doors of the fake city arena opened, and Itsuka and Ochako immediately began moving. They had been chatting lightly with each other during their wait, Itsuka taking several deep breaths while Ochako tapped her fingers nervously together, when the signal had been called and the doors immediately began opening. While some of the students looked around in confusion, Itsuka and Ochako led the way inside, sprinting beside each other as they entered the fake city.

"So what are we doing?" Itsuka looked around at her friend, glad to see her keeping pace with her, "Are we working together? Fighting the robots separately?"

"Let's stick together for now," Ochako confirmed, already on the lookout for villain bots, "I can scout a few robots for us to take down together!"

"Sounds good! Wanna give us a bird's eye view, then?"

"Yep!" Slapping a hand to her thigh, Ochako took off into the air, floating up while Itsuka kept her eyes locked on her as she slowed to a jog. Ochako reached out to grab the ledge of a nearby building, quickly swinging herself up to look around for any sign of their targets.

From up there, she knew that she'd have a better chance to scout out the villains' positions, and where she could guide Itsuka. Quickly, she scanned the city's streets, ignoring the yells of the other students as they began searching, and moved to the edge of the roof carefully so as not to float off into hte sky. It didn't take long for her to glance down, and sure enough, there was a group of villain bots far enough away from the entrance that the other students were still a ways off from finding them.

Nodding in satisfaction, Ochako quickly moved back to where Itsuka was on the ground looking up at her, and pointed. She didn't want to alert any of the other students where there were some robots, and thankfully Itsuka got the message, turning around the corner and jogging down the alleyway, watching for Ochako as she jumped from roof to roof, guiding her friend over.

Finally, as Itsuka slid around the corner, she spotted what Ochako had been guiding her towards, and felt her grin widen. Eight villain bots, each with the number '3' on them, strolling through the empty street, although the sound of Ochako landing beside Itsuka after releasing her quirk and restoring her gravity caught their attention. She quickly glanced at Ochako, seeing the girl nod, and together, they charged the fake villains, Ochako keeping low on the ground and Itsuka growing out her hands.

Alright, She thought to herself, it's time to prove myself to All Might.

"Targets acquired," One robot beeped out as it registered the two girls' existence, before sinking into a challenging stance, "we'll kill you!"

As they charged towards them, however, they found themselves suddenly being floated into the air before they had a chance to attack. Ochako had slid underneath them and smacked her hands against two of the robots' sides, feeling her quirk take effect and relieved that she didn't feel that nauseous. Itsuka, meanwhile, leapt up into the air with a mighty shout, and punched the robot closest to her as hard as she could. Thanks to her quirk's natural strength, the metal crumbled like cardboard, although her hands stung from the blow as the robot was smashed into the ground.

"Kendou!" Ochako called, and with a grunt, she kicked the nearest floating robot towards her as it flailed in the air. Taking her cue, Itsuka grabbed the robot and planted her feet against the ground, and, thanks to the robot being lighter than it was supposed to, spun around to slam it against another charging villain bot. As the bot's gravity had been removed but not its mass, they smashed together and blew apart into tiny pieces.

Finally, once Ochako had floated the remaining three robots into the air and Itsuka balled her large fists together, swinging the joined hands towards the last robot, the brown-haired girl released her quirk, sending the three robots plummeting to smash against the ground just as Itsuka crushed the last robot against the side of the nearest building's wall. Taking a chance to breathe together, Itsuka and Ochako shared a glance, and nodded, immediately beginning to take off as a few students rounded the corner and were surprised to see that it had only been a minute and a half, and eight three-pointers had already been destroyed.

"Not bad, not bad," Itsuka grinned at Ochako, her training partner giggling and flashing her a thumbs up, "I think I can see a few two-pointers up ahead."

"Let's not keep them waiting, then!" Ochako laughed, and together, they charged ahead.

---

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Izuku to find a few robots to test the Full Gauntlet on.

He had skidded around the corner of a building and let out a gasp when he discovered four one-pointers rolling across the street, their mechanical heads glancing around before spotting him. He let out another noise when they immediately slouched into battle stances, and the one at the front of the group began charging him.

While his fight or flight instincts nearly convinced him to flee, he instead took a deep breath, trying to remember what Melissa's note said, and charged up his quirk. Flickers of green electricity began humming around his arms - and just as the lightning appeared on his right arm, it slowly began to move down into the Gauntlet. Izuku's eyes widened as the electricity speeped into the red metal, the meter on the support item zooming up from its spot in red all the way up to green, and the Gauntlet began humming with energy as he hesitantly raised his hand.

"Okay," He breathed, taking another deep breath as he deactivated his quirk's effects, but threw his arm out to point at the charging robot as he raised his hand palm up to point at him, "here goes!"

BOOM!

As soon as he willed the quirk to blast out of him, the Gauntlet did the rest of the work. Bolts of green electricity fired out and slammed directly into one of the one-pointers, causing it to explode … well … rather violently. Izuku squeaked as he threw his hands up to protect his face as it blew up, raining some shrapnel down onto him as he winced, but thankfully they weren't big enough pieces or sharp enough to hurt him.

For a moment, the robots stared blankly down at what Izuku had done to one of their brethren, and then back up to the boy in question. Izuku himself stared down at the gauntlet in shock, amazed; it hadn't hurt nearly as much as when he fired out a full bolt of lightning, maybe only stinging a little bit and making his hair stand up on end. And from the small meter installed in the Gauntlet, there was still some power left over for him to fire out.

That was when the three one-pointers changed into their battle stances.

"You murdered our brother," One beeped out in a menacing voice, "a curse upon your family, small green lightning man!"

With that, the first of the bots charged forwards, swinging its arm up to hit him. This was just about the time Izuku's training from the dojo kicked in, raising one hand to defend himself as the robot's arm scrapped against the Gauntlet, Izuku leaning to the side to avoid the blunt of the hit. He winced as sparks flew from where the one-pointer had hit the gauntlet, but he was okay! He was fine, and automatically, his hand balled into a fist as he spun around, feeling electricity hum in the gauntlet, and the robot looked up just in time for Izuku to complete the spin and backhand it with the back of the gauntlet, wincing as the head flew off and shattered against the ground.

"Villain Bot Serial Number 1678323!" One of the villain bots cried out as the headless robot collapsed on the ground. "He was about to be retired! Sent to the robot farm to frolic in the grass! Die, plain looking green person!"

Resisting the urge to apologize, Izuku leapt back as another arm slammed down, managing to hop out of the way as the other bot charged forward. Months of training with Itsuka and Ochako, horrible memories of Teko kicking him right in the face, flashed through his mind as lightning blasted out of the Gauntlet again, catching the robot charging after him directly in the chest and exploding.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Izuku charged forward before the last of the one-pointers could reach him, jumping onto one of the fallen villain bots as memories of the dojo came to him, envisioning the robot beneath him as Itsuka and Ochako's hands about to throw him into the air to kick the piece of wood on Teko's stick.

"Wrong! Yet again! You hesitated the moment you were in the air! Again! Where did the confidence from the run up go?!"

Don't hesitate, Izuku thought as lightning surged in the Gauntlet, don't hesitate, stay confident, stick the landing!

Leaping up into the air, Izuku threw his fist up, feeling the Gauntlet channel electricity, and with a yell, fell forwards towards the last of the robots, who looked up at Izuku just as he was about to throw his fist directly into the metal plate of its face.

"I never should have quit dental school."

BOOM!

With one last explosion, Izuku rolled against the ground, taking a chance to finally breathe as the four robots laid in piles of scrap metal, sparking and smoking slightly. Wincing, Izuku managed to get to his feet, only being slightly assured that they really were down, and looked quickly down at the Gauntlet. The small meter that indicated how much electricity was left in the device was down to red, so Izuku, feeling experimental, flared his quirk - and just like that, it zipped right back up to green, showing the support item as fully charged.

With a sigh of relief, Izuku looked around, relieved that his arm wasn't aching that much -

"Whoa, that was really cool!"

Letting out a startled yelp, Izuku quickly looked around - and then up, where the voice had come from. Floating up in the air was … her! The blue-haired girl who had gotten in his face! She was floating in the air with yellow swirls of energy coming out of her sneakers, while similar spirals of energy uncurled from her wrists and hands. Unfortunately for Izuku, she looked utterly delighted by what she had seen, quickly zooming down to look at him in the face while he squeaked and leaned back so she wasn't so … up in his business.

"That was awesome!" She praised, smiling widely. "I was kind of curious why you were running so far behind us,

"That was awesome!" She praised, smiling widely. "I was kind of curious why you were running so far behind us, so I decided to float a little behind to make sure that you were okay, and then you activated that cool bracelet! It's really red! It actually really compliments your sweat suit, green and red go really well together! I like green myself, but like, pale mint green, not overly green. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I like your shade of hair! What kind of green is it? Not minty, I think, but maybe dark-green? Ooh, your eyes are green too! You're really green! But that's okay, because I'm really blue - I wish my quirk was blue just like me, instead of yellow!"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, going very red as she continued to float closer and closer - did she have no concept of personal space?! - and then quickly shook his head, trying to refocus. Was this girl intentionally trying to distract him? He only took out a fwe robots, he was nowhere close to being done. Quickly, he gave her a short bow.

"S-s-s-sorry," he managed to say, "but I - I have to - to get going."

Quickly, he turned on his heel and started running in the opposite direction - he had to be about two minutes into the exam, there must be more robots around for him to find. That was just about when he heard the sound of energy swirling behind him, and glanced around to see the blue-haired girl keeping pace, giving him a wide smile.

"I'll come with you!" She balled her fists excitedly. "I'm really curious! Where did you get that gauntlet? Did you make it? Are you smart? And I just realized, your quirk's green too! You're super green!"

"I - er -" Izuku managed to sputter, completely and utterly taken aback - and then the girl casually raised her hand to point at something in front of him, and shot out a

"I - uh -" Izuku managed to sputter, completely and utterly taken aback - and then the girl raised her hand to point behind him, and shot out a spiraling blast of energy.

Izuku quickly whipped around, eyes widened as the robot that had snuck up on him was sent flying into a nearby wall by the surge of power, smashing into tiny pieces. Feeling himself shake a bit, he timidly looked back around at the girl as she acted as though nothing happened, looking excitedly at him.

"Well, c'mon, c'mon!" She waved her hands in the air, "Let's go find some more robots while we talk!"

Oh god, Izuku gulped as he continued moving forward, the girl launching another curious question at him, why do I feel like I'm getting into something I shouldn't be?

---

"In this practical exam," the high-pitched voice of the principal spoke up from his seat at the front of the group, "the examinees have not been informed of the number of villains or their locations."

In the large room filled with monitors, several heroes and teachers, some of those heroes affiliated with the school and some who were not, sat in their comfortable seats while watching the test in each center unfold. The screens frequently switched to different areas of the multiple arenas, letting the group of heroes have an uninterrupted view of the students as they reached the halfway point of the exam. Although some teachers wished the screens would stay on one camera for more than a few seconds - they weren't as observant as the principal and didn't have his ability to absorb information as quickly.

"Doesn't this year's group look promising?" Nezu asked happily as he sipped on his tea, nodding at the few murmurs of agreement echoing in the room. "They only have a very limited amount of time to cover a vast environment, so we can force them to find different methods to draw the bots out and defeat them. And my, we have had some creative ideas, haven't we?"

Flipping through several channels, he raised a paw to point at the young man with six arms on a rooftop, his hands transforming into eyes. "The ability to grasp the situation quickly and accurately." Flipping to another screen to show a young man in glasses sliding across the ground dramatically, "The ability to stick a dynamic entry without ever being late to the party." A new screen showing an orange-haired girl with large hands swatting away a robot that another girl with brown hair and pink cheeks had thrown to her to destroy, "The ability to put aside potential rivalries and work together to reach their goals." Another screen showing a blonde boy standing amongst the wreckage of robots, sneering, "And of course, pure combat ability, as always."

Relaxing in his seat, Nezu turned to Cementoss, who was leaning forward and rubbing his flat chin with one of his fingers, "These basic abilities needed to keep peace in the streets are turned into points in this test."

"I agree, Principal Nezu, this year's group looks very promising." One of the heroes from the back said, relaxing in her seat.

"Well, we can't know for sure that we've raked in a bumper crop this year just yet," Snipe grunted, leaning over and flipping up the glass protection for a large red button labeled 'Yaruki Switch', its sides decorated in yellow and black warning tape, "their true test is about to begin."

As he pressed the button, All Might nodded slowly as he leaned back in his seat, watching the screen depicting Itsuka and Ochako attacking another group of robots, and then leaned slightly over to mutter, "So I'm assuming it's the same kind of 'true test' you had to deal with in your entrance exam?"

"Yeah," Tenko nodded, wincing slightly as he munched on his bag of popcorn, "they're, uh … well, they might be screwed. Maybe."

---

"Batter up!" Ochako called, grabbing the tail of the two-pointer and floating it up into the air. Itsuka couldn't help but laugh a little bit - maybe this wasn't the time or place to be messing around, but she couldn't deny that it was very fun to let loose and blow up some robots with Ochako. The brown-haired girl evidently agreed, spinning in a circle before throwing the robot directly towards her. Itsuka jumped up into the air, raising her two large fists and clasping them together tightly, and once the robot was just about to hit her, she threw her fists down.

BOOM!

Exploding into tiny pieces of wire and metal, Itsuka landed on the ground with a grunt, grabbing one of the larger pieces of scrap and throwing it at a three-pointer trying to zoom away from her towards another student, who had been running forward to steal it away from her. While she ordinarily would've let the other student have it, Itsuka knew that she didn't have nearly enough points to just let it go, so she felt she had no choice but to throw the remains of the robot Ochako had thrown to her at the fleeing three-pointer, smashing them together against the wall of the building.

"FIVE MINUTES HAVE PASSED!"

"Oh, come on!" The student yelled at her as Itsuka's large hands crushed another three pointer, Ochako smashing another one-pointer behind her. "Leave some for the rest of us, you greedy bitch! You've probably already gotten loads of points!"

"Sorry, man!" She called over her shoulder as she ran off with Ochako. With that, the two girls made their way back down the street as the student flipped her off behind her shoulder and ran off to get another robot, only for it to be blown apart by a girl with earphone jacks coming out of her ears, and he proceeded to cuss her out too. So Itsuka wasn't feeling too sympathetic for him at the moment.

It had been about … well, according to the person who had just announced it, about five minutes since the exam had begun, so they were at the halfway point. Thankfully, they were on a roll at the moment - they'd used Ochako's quirk to float her up into the air, look around at that height for villain bots, and descend on them without any mercy. In the five minutes they had been working together, having each other's backs and defending each other from any surprise attacks, they had taken down several one-pointers, two-pointers and three-pointers.

It was just …

"What's your score now?" Itsuka looked at Ochako as they ran down the street, the orange-haired girl looking at her friend in worry - she was holding her stomach slightly, meaning that her quirk's side effects might be catching up with her after floating herself and the robots non-stop for the last five minutes, "I think I'm at thirty-one points now, how about you?"

"I think … twenty-eight points?" She shook her head. "It's still not enough to get cleared, though!"

"Yeah," Itsuka quickly nodded, squaring her shoulders, "but we're halfway through the exam now! We've still got some time to rack up a few more points! Do you think you can float yourself up into the air again, or should we start searching by ground?"

"Uh … give me a second," Ochako shook her head, wincing slightly, "I - I do feel a little queasy, so I'll just need some time before -"

And that was when the ground beneath their feet began to rumble.

Both girls let out twin squeaks of surprise as they lost their balance, almost tripping over and landing on their faces as the ground began to violently shake. Itsuka managed to grab a light post before she fell over, and Ochako managed to stabilize herself before she landed face down and broke her nose. As the crowd behind them also began yelping and letting out confused noises, the two training partners quickly looked around at each other, eyes wide and confused.

"W-what's going on?" Ochako looked around worriedly. "Earthquake?"

"Maybe? Or maybe this is also part of the -"

They had about one split second to warn them of what was coming - the sound of wires snapping, one after another - and then a few blocks down, a large explosion of dust and earth blasted into the air. Itsuka quickly grew out her hand to cover her head as the wave of dust slammed into them, hearing Ochako gag slightly as some got in her mouth, and the crowd behind them letting out yells and shouts of confusion.

Soon enough, though, she suddenly became aware of something … rolling? Something large was rolling towards them. Squinting her eyes, she slowly lowered the enlarged hand away from her face, looking up -

- and then her eyes blew way open.

"You've gotta be shitting me."

Coming right down the street, rolling on giant tires, came … Itsuka felt her head continue to rise up as color left her face. They'd found the fourth robot, alright - Present Mic had apparently forgotten to mention that this 'useless' robot was the size of a building itself, resting both its hands on the rooftops of the nearby empty apartments as it leaned forward, its eight eyes zooming in on the crowd. Itsuka and Ochako stared up at the gigantic robot staring down at them, while behind them the crowd of students let out a few gasps and screams.

"Holy crap," Ochako muttered, taking a scared step back, "isn't this thing -"

---

"- a little too big?" Izuku squeaked, shaking in terror.

Over in the other arena, he was having a similar reaction to the sudden appearance of a zero-pointer as his training partners. He'd spent the last five minutes running around and using the Full Gauntlet against the smaller robots until he got a good few points for himself - although he knew that it probably wasn't enough to get himself into the school. He'd also tried his best to ignore the beautiful girl floating beside him, asking question after question as she blasted a few bots out of the corner of her eye (which made him shake as well - was she even trying here?! How good was she?!), apparently not being deterred by his lack of responses now that she had an interest in him.

And once the five minute warning had been issued, with Present Mic dramatically screaming it into his microphone, thus emerged the zero-pointer with a violent rumble, rolling down the street and punching a building as hard as it could, sending debris flying everywhere.

"Oooooh, boy," The blue-haired girl's eyes were large and round as she stared up at the robot, "I think I get why this thing is zero points, now. Because it's 'OP'. Get it? 'OP'? Zero points? Over-powered?"

"I - uh - I -" Izuku stammered, staring up at the robot in horror - and then the girl poked his arm, managing to grab his attention as she gave him a somewhat serious look - or at least, a look more serious than the one she'd been wearing for the last five minutes.

"Seriously, though," She gestured towards the giant robot, "we should run."

"R-run!" Izuku quickly nodded in agreement as the zero-pointer threw its fist back. "Right! You're right! Let's -!"

BOOM

Much faster than he thought possible, the zero-pointer's fist came crashing down onto the street. Several people screamed as pieces of rubble rained down on them, apparently forgetting about their competition for smaller bots as they turned on their heels to hightail it out of there as fast as they could. As Izuku moved to cover his head and prevent any rubble from hitting him, the blue-haired girl looked around curiously as several contestants sprinted away as fast as they could away from the zero-pointer.

"Huh," She bit her lip lightly, while Izuku took another fearful step back, still staring up at the zero-pointer, "everyone's running away. Maybe they're going to go look for the other -"

"Help!"

Both Izuku and the blue-haired girl stopped in their tracks at the weak voice, freezing slightly, before they looked around together in shock. They - did they just - they imagined that, didn't they? They just imagined a voice calling for -

- oh no.

There was … there was someone laying there on the ground, raising a weak hand to grasp fruitlessly in the air. It was clear that he had been knocked down hard, laying on his front as he tried to crawl away, wincing in obvious pain. None of the fleeing students came to help him, however - no one even paid heed to him, one of them even jumping over his fallen body in his efforts to get out of the way of the giant robot rolling menacingly down the street, smashing every building in its path.

Izuku froze only for a moment, staring at the small, plump-looking boy in horror - and then his feet moved before he had a chance to think, making the blue-haired girl's eyes widen in shock as he sprinted in the direction of the zero-pointer towards the fallen boy. This even grabbed the attention of a few other fleeing students, including one purple-haired boy looking surprised at what Izuku was doing, before shaking his head and continuing to flee - it wasn't like he could stay around and watch, he needed to find a smaller robot to get himself at least one point.

Thankfully, Izuku managed to get to the fallen boy quickly, skidding to a stop and kneeling down. The small round boy, gray hair sticking to his forehead, looked up in relief as Izuku leaned down, grabbing his arm to wrap around his shoulder.

"Are - are you okay? Can you stand?"

"I - I think so," The boy nodded, but once Izuku lifted him up and he put his right foot down, he let out a yelp of pain, buckling slightly and dragging Izuku slightly down with him. "Ah! My - I think I sprained my ankle."

"It's - it'll be okay! Come on, we need to get out of here!"

As quickly as he could, Izuku began to help the gray-haired boy down the street, but even he knew that it wouldn't take long for the zero-pointer to catch up. They were moving too slow, and the zero-pointer had an advantage that it was very, very big and they were very, very tiny. That meant that if they didn't move fast -

"Hey, hey! Is he okay?!"

"What is going on here?!"

Izuku quickly looked up, his eyes wide. The blue-haired girl who had been tagging along all exam floated down, looking worryingly at the gray-haired boy, and the glasses guy from before came sprinting down the street towards them, his eyes wide.

"Is he alright?!" The glasses guy skidded to a stop, his vitriol for Izuku apparently forgotten as he wrapped the gray-haired boy's arm around his own shoulder, helping Izuku lift him. "I noticed you two were moving slowly along! If we don't get out of her quickly, we may be run over by the zero-pointer!"

"He'll - he's got a broken ankle," Izuku explained shortly, sweating nervously as he looked back around at the zero-pointer looming over them, "But we won't make it, if this thing keeps smashing up the street behind us! We need to - we need to -"

He let out a small, frustrated grunt as he looked left and right rapidly, as though there was something there he could use to figure out how to get the injured boy out of here in one piece. He wasn't sure what they could even do here - and then he blinked.

What would All Might do?

If they couldn't get away from the robot in time … if it was going to crush them if it didn't have something to distract it …

"... it needs to be stopped." He muttered, looking back around at the robot punching another building and sending debris flying.

"What are you -?" The glasses guy started to ask, his brow furrowed, before letting out a small noise of surprise as Izuku slipped the gray-haired boy's arm off his shoulder, letting the other boy support his full weight.

"That thing needs to be stopped," Izuku explained, feeling himself shake a bit but looking back at the zero-pointer looming above them with a look of determination, "or it's going to just keep injuring people. You need to get - uh - sorry, what was your name?"

"S-Shoda."

"- Shoda out of here! I'll distract the zero-pointer while you guys make an escape!"

"You'll - but it's massive!" The glasses guy shouted in alarm, staring at Izuku as though he had gone insane. "There's no way you'll be able to stop it by yourself!"

"Then I'll help!" The blue-haired girl raised her hand helpfully. "My quirk's really good against giant people! Not that I've tested it. But anyhoo, if you need help, green guy, I'm your girl!"

"R-right," Izuku nodded, his fluster long gone as he looked back up at the robot, clenching the fist the Full Gauntlet was wrapped around as he addressed the boy in glasses. "Listen, uh - you need to get Shoda out of here. Just get him to safety! I'll cover you!"

The glasses guy stared at Izuku for another moment in shock, as though completely taken aback - and behind his glasses, a small twinkle of something appeared in his eyes, as though everything he had previously thought of Izuku was wrong. Still, he quickly nodded, turning to help Shoda move away from the damaged street, where the small crowd of bystanders was watching in shock as Izuku and the blue-haired girl stood together, staring down the zero-pointer."

"So," She clapped happily, looking around at Izuku, "I guess we're stopping this thing together! Can we stop it, though? Maybe that's the question I should ask first. Can we stop this thing?"

"I don't know," Izuku admitted, shaking his head slightly but feeling himself bend down into one of the fighting positions Teko had taught him, electricity humming around the Full Gauntlet, "but we're gonna have to try!"

---

"TWO MINUTES LEFT!"

"Is UA fucking shitting me?!"

Itsuka and Ochako ran as fast as they could down the street, eyes widened in horror as the zero-pointer rolled down the street after them, punching buildings out of its path as it followed the crowd of fleeing students. While those students ran ahead, Itsuka and Ochako lagged behind, slapping some charging one-pointers, two-pointers and three-pointers out of their path as they ran away.

"A giant fucking robot?!" Itsuka screamed in panic, looking briefly around in terror as the zero-pointer punched another building out of the way, "I thought it'd be slightly bigger than the other robots! Not bigger than my fucking house!"

"Shit!" Ochako squeaked as the ground rumbled again. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

"Fuck!"

"Shitting fuck!"

The two girls continued to cuss out of terror as they exchanged a terrified glance, wondering what the hell they could even do here - the zero-pointer was gaining on them, and sooner or later it would throw something that would be big enough to hit them. Worse, the crowd was clearly in a panic, not running anywhere specific and just around, meaning that the smaller robots could group up on them and cause some serious injuries.

There were a few students ahead of them that were keeping their heads, at least - one silver-haired girl floated some bots that were chasing them away and tossed them aside, not hard enough to break them but enough to get them out of the way, and another guy with metallic skin was protecting a few panicking students from two three-pointers grouping up on them - but it wouldn't do any good if the zero-pointer caused any more chaos.

"Shit!" Itsuka shook her head. "If this keeps up, people could get hurt!"

"Yeah!" Ochako quickly nodded in agreement, "I think this street's an eventual deadend! If this keeps going, there's going to be chaos, and eventually this thing is going to break a building and bring it down on top of everyone!"

"..."

"..."

"... shit!" Itsuka cursed loudly. "Shitting fuck! Are we gonna have to fucking stop this thing?!"

"I think so!" Ochako shouted in anger. "Fuck!"

With that, the two girls skidded to a stop, turning around and staring up at the giant robot with anger and fear as Itsuka clenched her fist tightly, feeling more than a little pissed off at the giant hunk of metal.

"If I fail this test because of you," She shouted angrily at the zero-pointer, "I'm gonna fucking throw you into the sea!"

The giant robot let out a few, reverberating tones, making Itsuka's eyes widen in rage as she realized what exactly it had just done.

"Did you just fucking laugh at me?! You're fucking dead! Uraraka, float that piece of debris! The big one!"

"You got it!" Quickly, Ochako ran over to put both her hands on a particularly large piece of rubble, metal and concrete, feeling her stomach lurch but thankfully managing to keep her nausea down. Itsuka ran forward, grabbing the debris with her enlarged hands, and with a mighty shout, threw it as hard as she could at the zero-pointer as it looked around for something else to smash.

"Uraraka, release it!"

Ochako nodded in confirmation, pressing her fingers together again to release the piece of debris floating quickly up towards the zero-pointer. It hit its mark, slamming straight into the side of the zero-pointer's head and stopping the large robot in its tracks, temporarily freezing as it registered that it had just taken a hit.

"Yeah!" Ochako pumped her fist, while Itsuka laughed triumphantly. "Eat shit!"

Slowly, the zero-pointer's head turned, its eight eyes turning to lock straight on the two girls. Both of their victorious grins slipped off their faces at once as they realized that they had evidently not thought this through.

"Shit!" Itsuka shouted as the zero-pointer wound its fist back, but Ochako was quicker, diving towards Itsuka and grabbing her waist with both hands. Their gravity vanishing, Ochako kicked off the ground just as the robot's giant fist barely missed them, slamming into the earth as they rose up into the sky.

The crowd, that had been fleeing away from the zero-pointer, realized that they were no longer being chased, and looked around to see it focusing on the two girls floating together in the air -

- and then looked at the mass of robots that had gathered together to chase them.

"ONE MINUTE LEFT!"

And just like that, like a switch had been flipped, the crowd charged the robots, wanting to get some last minute points.

"Well, fuck!" Itsuka cursed at the sight of several one, two and three-pointers getting destroyed, clenching her fist. "This fucking fuck is going to make us fail the exam!"

"I'll complain about it if we survive!" Ochako shook her head, kicking off the wall of the building they were closest to as the zero-pointer's fist barely missed them. Itsuka took advantage of that to plant her feet on the zero-pointer's massive hand, looking around at its other fist and its head - and then she blinked.

"Uraraka, get us up to the face! I've got an idea to keep it off the other students!"

"Right!" Ochako readjusted herself to hook her arms under Itsuka's armpits, and briefly pressed her fingers together to release Itsuka before pressing her hand to herself again, feeling her stomach clench painfully but managing to ignore it for now. Once her weight had been returned, Itsuka began running up the robot's arm with Ochako floating on her like a lighter than air backpack, keeping her arms around Itsuka locked in place as she ran. The zero-pointer let out another reverberating noise as it reached with its other hand to grab her in its giant grasp, but luckily Itsuka managed to hop out of the way just in time.

"We're almost there!" She called behind her shoulder to Ochako, who was looking at her friend in panic.

"Do you actually have a plan, or are you improvising right now?!"

"Bit of both! I've got an idea, at least!"

"Better than nothing, I guess!"

Running up the arm, Itsuka climbed as best she could as the zero-pointer let out what could only be described as a mechanical growl, evidently annoyed by the two students crawling over it, and brought its fist back as Itsuka finally managed to reach its shoulder.

"Okay, uh … so what is the plan?!" Ochako shouted as Itsuka charged right up to the zero-pointer's head, moving across its shoulder as the giant robot wound its fist back.

"Get ready to float me! You'll know when!"

"R-right!"

Itsuka looked around and trailed the zero-pointer's fist as it wound all the way back, evidently ready to punch the two girls off its shoulder - and then her grin widened.

"You really are dumb as bricks, huh?" She muttered, feeling Ochako's hand press against her side as her gravity disappeared again, and the giant metal fist came swinging up with shocking speed towards where the two girls were -

- and Itsuka slammed both her giant fists against the robot's shoulder, taking advantage of her loss of weight, to punch them straight up into the air as the zero-pointer's fist completely missed them - and slammed straight into the side of its head, smashing its face plate as the giant robot staggered.

Itsuka and Ochako let out twin screams of victory as the robot slammed itself into another building, taken completely off guard from the blow but clearly not destroyed as it tried to turn back around to face them -

"TEN MINUTES! TIME IS UP!"

With that, the entire battlefield went still. The zero-pointer, who had been trailing its eight eyes up to where the girls were floating, immediately deactivated, the red eyes flickering off and slumping forward a bit. On the ground, the remaining robots deactivated as well, shutting down and flopping onto their sides as the students looked wildly around, still a bit out of it. Around them, a few teachers and third-year students came running out from the empty buildings, immediately calling students over to check with them in case of any injuries.

In the air, Itsuka let out a sigh of relief, about to look back around at Ochako as the two girls clung to each other - and then faltered when she caught sight of the sick look on Ochako's face, her cheeks turning green as they puffed out. Realizing what was about to happen, Itsuka let out a small groan as she leaned as far away as possible as Ochako bent over and puked, her quirk's effects finally catching up with her.

"Oh, jeez," Itsuka gagged a bit at the smell, "I hope there's no one below us, or they're gonna get a nasty surprise."

---

"TWO MINUTES LEFT!"

Over at Battle Center B, Izuku wasn't having as much luck as his two training partners.

"Look at me!" He shouted, firing off two blasts of lightning from the Full Gauntlet at the zero-pointer, but they bounced harmlessly off its metallic shell, the robot continuing to smash everything in its path. That had been Izuku's life for the last few minutes, trying to get the zero-pointer to stop smashing things for five seconds and refocus on him, but it was a losing battle due to his lightning not having any effects.

Luckily, the blue-haired girl was having a little better luck - floating up into the air, she began blasting larger spirals of energy at the robot, which clearly annoyed it as it tried to swat at her, but thanks to her being pretty much the size of a fly to it, it didn't have much luck - but it didn't slow down, which made her pout as she floated back down to Izuku.

"No luck!" She complained. "My blasts aren't doing anything to it! It's probably because it's big and metal and robotic, my quirk works better on actual people!"

"Crap," Izuku muttered, shaking his head. They were at a loss - this wasn't working. The Full Gauntlet was supposed to make his blast smaller, not more powerful, and her quirk was alright against smaller robots, but against one that dwarfed her in size, she might as well have been tapping it. They were both at a disadvantage; they needed something more powerful to -

- wait.

Izuku blinked, looking down at his hand - not the one that had the Gauntlet on it, his other, uncovered hand. The Full Gauntlet was sent to him to make sure he didn't need to fire out more powerful blasts - but it wasn't going to do it. If he was going to fire out a blast of lightning big enough to stagger this thing …

"Sorry, Miss Shield," Izuku muttered, pressing the button to the Gauntlet and shrinking it back down to its bracelet form. Hopefully she had enough data from the last eight minutes to satisfy her. With a small sigh, he looked around at the blue-haired girl, seeing her float there, and thought for a moment to himself.

He needed to fire at full blast - something that was going to hurt - but from this distance, he wasn't sure if he could even hit the zero-pointer. So that meant that he needed to get up in its face. So that meant … maybe …

"Uh - excuse me!" He called out to the blue-haired girl, seeing her look around at him in surprise. "Can - sorry, but can you carry me while you fly?"

"Hm … you know what, I don't know," She shrugged, looking quite curious about that question. "I've always offered to float Yuuyu around, but she never wanted to do it because she's afraid of heights - which is silly! I don't think you should be afraid of heights if you're going into the hero business, but maybe she can get over it if she -"

"A-anyway!" He quickly tried to get her back on track, not wanting her to get distracted, "I think I can stop the zero-pointer, but I'll need to get up in its face! I'm gonna need to -"

"Oh!" She gasped, clapping her hands together. "I get it! Okay, let's give it a try!"

With that, she floated around him, and Izuku raised his arms slightly, realizing he needed to be in a position to fire out with his hands. She wrapped her arms under his armpits, Izuku too focused on stopping the zero-pointer to even get flustered about it, and with a grunt, she lifted him up into the air, making Izuku let out a small yelp as he was lifted off the ground and rose into the air. He'd been floated by Ochako's quirk before, many times, but that was when he didn't have any gravity - this was something new, with the girl holding onto him being the only reason he wasn't going to plummet back to the ground.

Immediately, he knew that this wasn't something the blue-haired girl was used to - she was audibly grunting, straining to support his entire weight, and she wasn't flying as quickly up as before, which meant that he must've been slowing her down. But still, they were moving, flying up into the air as the zero-pointer began following theri slow ascent with its eyes, evidently finally focusing on them after its brief rampage.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku tried to shove away the images of an injured Katsuki and his mom's arm as he threw his hands back. This was going to hurt, and he had no idea if this was going to hurt the girl holding him up - but this wasn't the time to panic or fear. Glancing down he saw Shoda being carried away by the glasses guy, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Which meant that he needed to take one for the team.

Exhaling, Izuku glared at the zero-pointer staring at him, and threw both his hands forward, hands sparking and electricity surging, and yelled as loudly as he could:

"SMASH!"

Just as his cupped hands slammed together, two bolts of lightning combined together and shot out - but instead of wincing from the pain, Izuku focused. Instead of the lightning just blasting out of his hands, a long stream of green lightning, sparks flying out of his palms, shot the zero-pointer directly in the face. The blue-haired girl behind him wince and closed her eyes at the bright light as the zero-pointer stopped in its tracks, frozen in place as the large beam of energy melted out of the back of its head, and the crowds below watched in awe as Izuku blew a hole through its head.

And then, at last, Izuku couldn't take the pain anymore, throwing his hands back while tears of pain escaped his eyes from how much it hurt. The streams of lightning finally shorted out with a burst of power, making both teenagers floating in the air wince a bit, and Izuku opened his eyes -

- to see a large hurt burnt through the head of the zero-pointer, the entire robot frozen in place before an explosion blasted out of the side of its head. Both Izuku and the blue-haired girl watched as the zero-pointer staggered, evidently powering down by the way its limbs were falling limp, and explosions began blasting out of its body as whatever system was inside was overloaded by the amount of power Izuku shot into it.

Finally, it began to tilt over, before landing hard on its back, rumbling the ground underneath it and shattering the windows of the buildings it landed beside.

For a moment, Izuku watched with wide eyes as the metallic skeleton of the zero-pointer, now bursting into flames, collapsed into the street, slowly realizing that he had been the one who did that. And then -

"ONE MINUTE LEFT, LISTENERS!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, staring blankly ahead for a moment - and then he suddenly became aware of the fact that he was no longer being floated in place, held up by the girl behind him. Rather he was … he was …

"We're falling!" He shrieked as they began plummeting, looking around wildly at the girl who was supposed to be holding him up, and felt terrified at the exhausted and hazy look on the girl's face, her long blue hair beginning to fly upwards in the wind as they fell. "H-hey, are you okay?!"

"S-sorry …" She mumbled, eyes closing slightly, "... my stamina's … all bloopy …"

"Oh, crap!" Izuku quickly looked back down, panicking as the ground loomed closer and closer. Oh crap, were they seriously about to freaking die?! Was there no way out of this?! From what she said, her quirk must be taking some of her stamina, and it looked like she was all out of it! And even then, if she regained some of her strength, there was no guarantee that they'd get out of this in one piece! This meant that she couldn't just fly them out of this, and even then, with his weight, there was no way they'd be able to - that meant -!

- that meant that it was up to him. But how? How could he -?! Wait! Wait, wait, wait! The Full Gauntlet!

Wincing in pain, Izuku quickly pressed the panel of the support item on his wrist, wincing as it grew around his burned skin from the large blasts of lightning. It wasn't perfect, but maybe if he - he could do it, maybe! So all he needed to do was point his hand at the ground and blast! Clenching his eyes shut slightly, Izuku activated his quirk, crying in pain as the lightning flickered over his injured arm and into the Gauntlet, and then pointed it at the ground as it came closer and closer.

"Okay … he gritted his teeth, "... here goes …!"

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning blasted out of the Gauntlet, and slammed into the ground they were about to have a messy landing on. Letting out a yelp, Izuku felt his body jerk up, both him and the girl on his back being pushed up - and then back down.

Oh. Oh, crap, that didn't work!

Wincing, Izuku realized that there wasn't any way they were going to get out of this in one piece, so he screwed his eyes tight and moved to wrap his arms around the blue-haired girl protectively, turning so that he would take the blunt of the fall, gritting his teeth tightly as he prepared for a world of pain -

- until something big and hairy slammed into both of them.

"Ah!" Izuku grunted, eyes snapping open as someone large wrapped his arms around them and knocked them completely off balance. It was only when he felt whoever had caught them land on the ground did he realize what had happened - someone large had jumped up to catch them, managing to tackle them before Izuku could fire off another useless blast, and had landed safely on the ground.

But before Izuku could thank whoever had just caught them, he heard a low, menacing growl.

"Yooooou ..."

"Eh - huh?" Izuku felt confused, being lowered to lay on the ground, and he looked up to see a very angry dog-looking person glaring down at him, a bit of drool escaping the muzzle he wore - and then the man positively exploded.

"YOU - GRR - ALMOST - GRRRR - HURT - WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR! GRRR - GRRRRRR - GROWL - UNUSED TO - GRRRR -! AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Izuku stared blankly at the hero before him as he threw his head back and howled at the sky in his rage, the sound somehow managing to drown out Present Mic's call that ten minutes had passed and the test was done - and then, with a small 'ah', Izuku's head fell back, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he fainted. He had been so overwhelmed with what had happened, he didn't even notice the girl he still had his arms limply around sitting up, and looked down at him with a shocked and curious look.

---

"Well, well ... you two certainly had an exciting time out there, haven't you?"

Itsuka and Ochako both let out groans of pain and tiredness as the tiny old lady returned to her office with a new bed in tow, watching as Itsuka slumped against the bed Ochako had been laying on and Ochako herself flopping back into the slightly stiff pillow. They had been taken directly to the nurse's office after the exam had wrapped up the moment they touched back down to the ground - Recovery Girl had been stationed at Battle Center B, so the best they could do at the moment was wait for her to return, with Itsuka sporting uncomfortable bruises all over her body from where she and Ochako had landed on the ground, and Ochako trying not to puke her guts out again.

"Don't worry, honey," Recovery Girl comforted Ochako as the other bed was wheeled into the office, its covers pulled closed to give whoever was on the bed their privacy, "there's nothing shameful about your quirk's side effects. And your sick didn't land on anyone either, if that makes you feel better."

"Yeah," Ochako groaned, raising a hand to rub her forehead while her cheeks went red, "that's … yeah. That makes me feel way better."

"Just eat these," Recovery Girl gave her a few gummy bears, "they're infused with a bit of my quirk's power. It'll assist with healing any minor injuries that were sustained in the practical exam. I will have to use my quirk personally on this patient here - he accidentally fried his hands with his quirk, the poor dearie. That tends to happen with electrical quirks. My nurse will be here in just a second to check on you, I have to visit my office for a moment."

She slowly walked through the door and slid it shut, humming to herself as she left the small patients' room - and unaware of both Itsuka and Ochako blinking, sitting up in their seats and looking around at the third bed that had just arrived.

"Fried … his hands …?" Ochako muttered, feeling suspicious.

"... electric quirk …?" Itsuka's eyes narrowed.

For another moment, they both stared at the third bed - and then Itsuka reached out to grab the sheet that covered it, pulling it back to reveal Izuku laying on the bed, squeaking a bit in terror when he realized that they had caught him looking like a deer in the headlights.

For a moment the three of them quietly studied each other, Izuku nervously and Itsuka and Ochako with veins starting to throb in their foreheads as they glared at him. And then Itsuka muttered, in a low, dangerous voice, "You have five seconds to explain yourself."

Izuku gulped, and nodded. "Zero-pointer. Threatened people. Used my quirk. Hurt myself."

There was another few seconds of tense silence between the three training partners - and then Itsuka let out a sigh and sat back, raising a hand to rub her eyes.

"Shit," She muttered, "we can't reprimand you for doing that because that's why we're here too."

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, grunting as he sat up a bit and relaxed against the pillow now that he knew that he wasn't going to be in too serious trouble. "So - wait, you guys got in a fight with the zero-pointer in your area too?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded glumly, groaning as she sat up and popped one of the gummy bears into her mouth, "it was chasing everyone, and there was a riot, and … well, we kinda stepped in to distract it. Made it punch itself just as time ran out. What about you?"

"Wow …" Izuku blinked at that brief explanation, impressed by his friends' guile, "... that's … that's pretty cool, guys. I was, uh … kinda the same in my area. There was a guy that had been injured, and … and no one was helping him, so me and another girl kind of worked together, and we … uh … we blew up the zero-pointer."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I'm sorry," Itsuka slowly looked around at him, eyes widening into the size of dinner plates, "you blew it up?"

"Y-yeah." Izuku nodded, "I … well, I hadn't been doing anything to stop it, so I had her float me up so I could, uh … I could burn a hole through its head. We were fine afterwards, by the way!"

"... Good god." Itsuka slowly sat back while Ochako tried her best to pick up her jaw from the ground.

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, trying to sit up and wincing at the pain in his arms, "I just - I kind of passed out after we landed, so I …I don't really know how she is. I think she's fine, if she's - if she's not here, but - but I should've made sure. I - I didn't even get her name. I should -"

"Oh, no you don't!"

The three teenagers jumped at the sound of a teasing, youthful voice at the door, and quickly looked around as it slid open - and immediately, all three of them let out squeaks, blushing bright red at the sight of the young girl standing near the entrance.

Holy shit! Itsuka thought as she glanced away, wanting to give this girl at least a little privacy, that's way too much showing!

Firstly, it was obvious that this girl was the nurse that Recovery Girl had said would be in to check on them - mostly due to the white and red color scheme, and the paper hat with the medical cross on it planted carefully on her head. What they hadn't expected, however, was for the girl to be wearing … this particular outfit. As in, a white mini-skirt that showed off her upper thighs, red garters and stockings connecting to, due to the sound of creaking as she bent her knee a bit, what looked to be leather stockings while her feet had on a pair of bright red heels. Above that, she wore a pair of red leather gloves that ended above her elbow, a corset with a lot more belts and straps than a nurse's outfit really needed, and an open shirt that gave a hint of her cleavage. It was such a revealing outfit that even Itsuka, who was considered in their trio to be the one most in control of how embarrassed she could get, needed a second to look away. The outfit looked like something Midnight would wear to come help at a hospital.

The girl wearing it, meanwhile, looked to be about their age, maybe a year older, with ash-blonde hair tied into two messy buns on the side of her head. Her yellow eyes, the pupils kind of resembling a cat, scanned between the three of them, lingering on Ochako before settling on Izuku, and a wide smile appeared on her face, her canines looking more pointed and longer than the rest of her teeth, giving them the impression of a vampire.

"You just need to lay back and relax a bit," She pointed one finger at Izuku, smirking at the very red blush on his cheeks as he quickly averted his gaze, watching him sit up stiffly as she strolled into the room, "we pretty much had to drag you all the way back from the fake city, so you should take a moment to just lean against the pillows and breathe. So! In case you guys don't realize who I am, I'm your nurse, Toga - but you cuties can call me Himiko."

"I - uh - er -" Itsuka coughed a bit, glancing back at the older girl as she walked over to Izuku.

"So how's the pain?" She asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Izuku's raw and reddened arms with a small tsk, "That looked like it was going to be a nasty fall you were about to have there - lucky for you Hound Dog was there to catch you. Or maybe not, since he's been raving and barking in the teacher's lounge for the last ten minutes - I don't think I've seen him that mad since Midnight accidentally called him a good boy, he gets sensitive about stuff like that."

"U-u-uh," Izuku stammered for a second, keeping his eyes locked on the bed and trying to ignore the girl's revealing outfit as best he could, "s-so you're - you're t-t-the n-nurse?"

"That's right, cutie!" Himiko cheerfully giggled, getting up so she could walk over to the desk near the wall and bending over to fetch something. Izuku tried his hardest not to go supernova at the nickname, continuing to study the sheets like his life depended on it while Itsuka and Ochako tried to calm down their own secondhand embarrassment from this girl's revealing outfit. "I'm technically Recovery Girl's sidekick, in everything but name - she gets to heal the patients, and I make sure that their blood is still pumping."

"... ergh," Izuku weakly grunted, not exactly sure how to address that without bursting into flames.

"And oh, how I know many ways to get the blood pumping," The girl's teasing smirk widened even more somehow, looking around him as she lifted up a thermometer from the desk cabinet, tapping it against her own flushed face, "lots of nice, teasing, juicy ways to get every boy's heart thumping and sending blood all the way down to -"

WACK

As the cane shaped like a syringe slammed down on Himiko's head, the three teenagers jumped in surprise, not having heard Recovery Girl come back at all as the innuendo the fanged girl had been setting up got interrupted by the good smack to the top of her head. The three of them watched as Himiko immediately grabbed the top of her head while wincing in pain.

"Ow! Granny, what the f-?!"

"What are you wearing?!" Recovery Girl reprimanded her, poking Himiko in the side with her cane and causing her to let out another yelp of pain. "I told you time and time again not to wear revealing outfits here! Go get changed back into your gym clothes at once!"

"But I gotta get all the boys' hearts thumping!" Himiko protested in a childish voice, before looking around at Ochako and winking. "And the girls, if they're into that."

Ochako gulped and blushed, while Itsuka felt herself frown.

"I swear," Recovery Girl shook her head in disappointment, walking back over to Izuku as the boy tried to calm down his own blush, "I will feel no sympathy for you when Nezu eventually catches you in these kinds of outfits and puts you in detention. And you better not have been flirting with these children, or I will be sending you back to Midnight for lessons on how to control those 'rampaging hormones' you keep using as an excuse."

"I have not!" Himiko defended herself, looking away with a mock huff. "At least, not like how I regularly flirt with people."

"Don't mind Toga," Recovery Girl shook her head, reaching Izuku's bed and patting his hand, "she's harmless most of the time, she just likes to tease the patients. UA and her friends have done a good job in declawing her, but sometimes she likes to play around."

"Hell yeah, I do!"

"It - uh - it's - it's no problem," Izuku managed to say, sitting forward as Recovery Girl sat down in the chair beside his bed, "so - uh - Recovery Girl, uh - what exactly happens now?"

"Well, I'm going to heal you before you three get sent on your way," She adjusted herself in her seat as she explained, "at least you, sonnie. I've checked with Uraraka and Kendou here, and they'll have enough stamina to get themselves and you home, but I don't want to send you away with these injuries. So I'll just heal you up, double check everything, and you three will be cleared to go home."

"Right! Uh, right. That - that sounds good," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing around. "And … how are you going to heal me?"

"Oh, boy," Himiko giggled from her spot, sitting on the desk, "and you were the one complaining about me kissing the patients."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, blushing a bit at that implication as he looked around at Recovery Girl - and then paled when the old woman's lips suddenly puffed out, stretching away from her face, and shot out to slam against Izuku's cheek.

A minute of horrified screaming later, Izuku was all healed up, although thanks to her quirk he was absolutely exhausted. After double checking Ochako and Itsuka to make sure they weren't injured enough to need her quirk and good to go, Recovery Girl formally excused them, Ochako having the foresight to ask the nurse for her autograph for Izuku to enjoy later. As he stood up, staggering in exhaustion, Itsuka and Ochako wrapped his arms around their shoulders, half-carrying him out the door after thanking Recovery Girl again.

"Good luck with the results, cute kohai!" Himiko waved to them teasingly, eyes locked on Ochako as the brown-haired girl gulped at the look behind sent her way, "I hope you both get in - I think the three of us can have a lot of 'fun', if you catch my drift."

"..."

"... oh, and good luck to you too, Kendou."

As Itsuka moved both her training partners out the door, growling slightly under her breath while Ochako blushed and Izuku murmured, they were aware of the sound of a cane smacking against someone's head, and another loud yelp of pain.

---

The following week was, in summary, complete and absolute hell.

One long week, and no matter how many calls or texts they sent to him, All Might had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. As well, due to the chaos of the last few minutes of all of their exams, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka couldn't quite remember how many points they had scored all together, so now they were all in the midst of three separate freak outs. Itsuka's was definitely the calmest freak out, simply sitting at her desk at school tense and feeling like her stomach was shrinking; Ochako's was the second most tense, unable to sleep at night as she rolled over and over in her sheets; and Izuku's was the most panicked, having a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of fifteen years old.

Not helping Izuku and Ochako's cases was Katsuki's own reaction to the exam - something he believed that he had completely and utterly owned. Several people interrogated him over what had happened at UA, which he passed as a joke of an exam that he effortlessly aced, and his belief that he had to have set a record.

"Honestly," He huffed a bit as he rested his feet on the desk, "I probably could've gotten more robots if the dumb zero-pointer didn't come out of nowhere. Still, I know I'm getting in, no fucking question about that."

"What about you, Deku?" Another student asked Izuku as the boy winced, seeing how everyone was smirking. "I bet you pissed your pants the moment the gates opened to let you in."

"I -" He muttered, going red and looking down at his desk, "- I did okay."

"Yeah fucking right!"

"I bet he ran to the nearest corner and hid!"

The entire class began to laugh - and then the door slammed open, making everyone look around to see that Ochako had arrived and was looking thunderous. She stomped into the classroom, grabbing Izuku's wrist, and began pulling him out the door, while the classmates jeered and sneered. Once they were at the door, Ochako turned to Izuku.

"Deku?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Get out your phone and start a video, please?"

"Uh … okay?" Izuku did as was requested, although he wasn't sure why, and held it up to show Ochako facing the class.

"Alright. When I do my thing, run. You'll know when to run."

"Uh … right."

Ochako nodded, looking around at the class as they all smirked and sneered at her, and took one deep breath -

- and then promptly flipped them off, making everyone freeze with widened eyes and looks of outrage.

"Run Deku!"

"H-huh?! R-run?! Oh, r-right! Run!"

Thankfully, it was a Friday, so Izuku and Ochako didn't need to worry about the school's wrath at Ochako daring to give them the bird until Monday. That evening, after a slightly sullen dinner, Izuku and Ochako sat together on the couch in the Midoriya's apartment, blankly staring at the TV that was turned off as they absently exercised, Izuku with his grip strengthener and Ochako with a small weight.

It had been an okay dinner, with Izuku smiling blankly at his fish while the Urarakas and Inko had given him a worried look, and now here they were, staring at the TV as though their souls had been sucked out of their bodies while Taiyo and Miwa cleaned the dishes and Inko cleaned up behind the two desolate children.

"The, ah ... the results for the exam should be arriving today or tomorrow, right?" Inko asked them as she floated a book over to her with her quirk.

"Yeah."

"And - and Kendou's still waiting for hers as well, right? I know you three have been texting a bit."

"Yeah."

"J-jeez, I - I think it's amazing that you two even applied to UA!" She tried to get their spirits up, worried when Ochako continued to stare blankly at the wall while Izuku slumped his shoulders, "I just want you two to know that I'm proud of you!"

"Y-yeah!" Taiyo called from his spot near the sink, trying to give them a happy grin. "Ya both did us proud!"

"Yeah."

Pausing for a moment before nodding hesitantly, Inko decided to head out to go check the mail, slipping on her shoes while Taiyo and Miwa talked in a small mutter, glancing behind them at the heads of their children as Izuku and Ochako absently exercised. There was about two minutes of silence in the apartment, only broken by the sound of the sink running and the grip strengthener in Izuku's hand creaked as they sat there, stewing in their thoughts -

- and then the door to the apartment slammed open, which was then followed by the living room door being shoved open.

"Izu-Izu-Izu ...!" Inko scrambled on the ground, making everyone in the room look around in shock at her, "Ocha-Ocha-Ocha-Izu-Izu-Izu-Ocha-Ocha! They're here! They came!" With that, she lifted up two envelopes - both of them sealed with the logo of UA. "The results! From UA!"

Both Izuku and Ochako stared blankly at the letters for a moment, feeling their hearts skip a beat and their stomachs lurch uncomfortably at the sight of the two white envelopes. While Taiyo and Miwa slowly approached them from behind, staring at the letters waringly as well, as though they weren't the results from the test but more like bombs, Izuku and Ochako both remained quiet - until they both stood together, letting out shaky breaths, and approached Inko as she hastily stood up.

Together, they both took the envelopes from the smaller woman, turning them over to look at their names printed in neat handwriting.

Alright. The moment of truth.

Together, they both excused themselves to have a moment of privacy, stepping into Izuku's room to open the letters together. Inko, Taiyo and Miwa stood outside the hall, looking worriedly after them as they shut the door quietly behind them. Inside the room, Izuku adjusted his green robe over his shoulders, and he looked over at Ochako as she stood near his desk with the envelope in both her hands.

"So ... uh ..." He cleared his throat, gesturing with his own letter, "... who goes first?"

"I … I don't know. Maybe ..." Ochako bit her lip, and then glanced up at Izuku, "... at the same time?"

"... yeah," He slowly nodded, shaking a bit, "at the same time."

Both of them taking a deep breath, staring at each other in the eye as their hearts hammered in nervousness, they grabbed the ends of the envelope - they could tell that there was something tiny and metal inside along with the letter - and gave the envelopes a tug. The moment the paper ripped, from both envelops came tiny pieces of metal that were sent flying, landing on the desk with two tiny clinks. The two teenagers watched as the pieces of metal rolled onto their sides, making them both blink at them.

For a moment, they stared down at the weird pieces of metal, with wires and circuitry lining both sides, until Ochako had a slightly suspicious feeling. Moving forward, she moved the two pieces together and found that they fitted together in a full circle - and then the center of the tiny thing glowed, and a hologram popped up.

"Boo-yah!"All Might's face, shoved right into the camera, greeted them with a grin, "I am here as a projection!"

Both Izuku and Ochako let out noises of surprise, taking a step back as their mentor's face filled the screen.

"A-All Might?!" Izuku gasped. "W-wait, this - this is - isn't this from UA? Why are you -?!"

"I had to do some paperwork that took some time," All Might shrugged, apparently unaware that Izuku was talking, which suggested that this was something that was pre-recorded, "so I couldn't contact you two or Young Kendou." Clearing his throat, he sank into a small bow. "My apologies. The truth is, I actually came to Musutafu to work at UA!"

"Huh?!" Ochako gasped, while Izuku's jaw dropped to the ground. "You - he's actually teaching at UA?!"

As All Might gave a proud grin, however, a hand off camera came out and poked him, grabbing his attention. "Hm? What is it? Wrap it up? But there's something I have to talk to both of them about, and then Young Kendou - wait, I have to do how many of these things?"

All Might ... they both thought with an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, alright - okay."He straightened up, which made both students gulp nervously as they moved to share the computer chair, squeezing in to sit beside each other. "Now then - as you two may have guessed, since you had to connect the holographic device to receive this message, I am giving both of you your results at the same time. Now let's get down to business, I'm sure you two have been anxiously waiting for your results on the exam."

"Yeah ..." Ochako slowly nodded at that understatement, pouting.

"Now then, to get this out of the way, you two have both passed the written exam with flying colors! I am very proud to say that your studies between yourselves and with Young Kendou have paid off. You both should be proud of yourselves - one tends to forget that a hero's mind is just as important as their body, and you've both done a good job making sure that those minds of yours developed along with your body during your training. But I'm sure that you two aren't too interested in those results. So with that in mind, let's get to the meat of this exam, what you both have been looking forward to - the practical results!"

Gulping, they leaned in, Izuku's foot tapping against the ground nervously.

"To start - Young Midoriya,"All Might turned to a golden monitor on the side, raising a remote and pressing the button, and replacing the logo of UA with a video recording. Both watched the video as Izuku ran through the streets, with the Full Gauntlet activated.

"To start, Young Midoriya - I am more than a little pleased that you paid attention to Melissa's instructions and used the Full Gauntlet to its full capabilities." All Might praised. "You also took advantage of Kendou-sensei's teachings to become a beast on the battlefield! While you did receive a distraction due to Young Hadou here -"The screen showed Izuku running along with the blue-haired girl floating behind him, Ochako blinking at the sight - "you showed no hesitation in making sure you got to where you needed to go and fighting off the robots with ease. Despite your shaky start, you made a good layaway."

Suddenly, the screen flickered, showing Ochako and Itsuka fighting off some robots, the sight of which made Izuku straighten up a bit in shock at how ferociously and efficiently they were fighting, and making a small blush appear on his cheeks as he watched them smash robots together.

"Young Uraraka, your decision to work with Young Kendou during the exam was an excellent strategy. Using your quirk to take the high ground and scout out the robots was ingenious as well. You two worked well together - neither of you hoarding the robots to yourself, as well as working together to make sure you were undisturbed. You both didn't even make sure one was disadvantaged over the other! No wonder you would get an impressive score.

"With that, I will be giving you your villain points now. Young Midoriya, you scored an amount of twenty villain points, and Young Uraraka, you scored an amount of twenty-eight villain points."The screen flickered back to All Might, who had put his hands on his hips. "Unfortunately, these scores would normally not be enough to guarantee that you passed the examination, especially you, Young Uraraka - sharing robots to face with Young Kendou did dampen how many villain points you earned. As such, normally, you both would not have passed ..."

Both Izuku and Ochako felt their hearts stop, staring blankly at the screen as All Might shot them down. They both let out shuddering breaths, Ochako turning away briefly to hide her face with her hands and Izuku feeling tears start to prickle in his eyes.

"... but fortunately, that wasn't all there was to the test."

Both Izuku and Ochako stopped their brief breakdowns before they even started, staring blankly at nothing - and then whipped around to see All Might chuckling with a cheeky smile and a wagging finger.

"My apologies, you two, for leading you on, but I'm also an entertainer, as well! I couldn't resist a little poke."

"All Might ..." Ochako growled, clenching her fists tightly while Izuku grabbed his face. "I am going to kick your ass the next time I see you!"

"You see, this test wasn't just graded on villain points alone! Which brings us ... to the end of both of your tests!"

Whirling around, All Might pointed his remote at the TV, and the screen was split in two. Both Izuku and Ochako gasped at the sight that greeted them - on one side, Izuku being lifted up by the blue-haired girl and firing a hole through the zero-pointer's head, and Ochako and Itsuka running along their zero-pointer's arm. But then the screen changed, and they saw ...

"Young Midoriya,"All Might explained as they watched Izuku helping the gray-haired boy stand up, "you sacrificed your remaining time to save a student who had fallen. As you may now know, Hound Dog was on the scene to prevent any injuries from becoming fatal, but that doesn't change the fact that you stopped to help a fallen examinee, someone who could also count as a rival. What's more -"The screen shifted, showing the blue-haired girl and the glasses guy helping the two of them out, "- your actions inspired others to come to your aid. And even after that, you became determined to protect the other students - so much so that you took it upon yourself to stop the zero-pointer in its tracks, even at the cost of taking yourself out of the test."

Changing the screen, it now showed Itsuka and Ochako stopping to distract the zero-pointer with the large piece of debris.

"Young Uraraka, you and Young Kendou had no benefit stopping to distract the zero-pointer. But when you had saw the panic the crowd had gotten into, the danger that posed, you decided to take it upon yourselves to stop the zero-pointer from causing a riot. What's more, during your distraction, you both worked together to protect each other. Young Uraraka, you had the idea to float yourself and Young Kendou, to prevent yourselves from getting squashed underfoot. Like with Young Midoriya, there was a teacher on hand to prevent any serious injuries, and yet, you took it upon yourselves to calm the crowd by giving the zero-pointer someone to target, at the sacrifice of everyone else picking off the other robots on the ground."

Stepping in front of the screen showing Itsuka and Ochako floating in the sky, Itsuka patting Ochako's back as she puked, All Might nodded. "How can a hero course reject those who save others and do the right thing? After all, that's what makes a hero. And that's what my alma mater is all about, training those who would risk their lives for the greater good! And that is why we have rescue points! A panel of judges watching the exam, and awarding points for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains! Which would mean -!"

The screen suddenly flashed Izuku's name, and a quick scan of what it said resulted in Izuku leaping from his seat, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened as Ochako likewise did the same, her hands raising to cover her mouth in shock.

"Izuku Midoriya, with twenty villain points and forty five rescue points, in fifth place! Ochako Uraraka, with twenty eight villain points and forty eight rescue points, in third place! And just because I know both of you are curious - Itsuka Kendou, with thirty-four villain points and fifty-two rescue points, in first place! All three of you have passed. Congratulations. It is my honor and privilege to welcome you both to your hero academia!"

With that, the projection faded out, leaving Izuku and Ochako staring in stunned silence at the wall where All Might's face had been, a hand extended out to them, with the only light source being the desk lamp. And then they promptly exploded.

"AAAAAH!" Ochako screamed in validation, kicking the chair back as she ran across the room while pumping her fists in the air. Izuku didn't even try to stop himself from bursting into tears, grabbing his face and sobbing happily as Ochako sprinted in a circle across the room, careful not to knock over any of Izuku's All Might collection.

"We did it!"

"We did!"

Letting out two more cheers, Ochako ran towards him and launched herself at him in a hug, with Izuku able to catch her and spin her in a circle as they both laughed happily -

"Wha' the hell is goin' on, we heard you two scream an' -"

Both Izuku and Ochako froze in place as the door burst open, hearing Taiyo yelling something before he abruptly stopped. Confused, they both looked over to see Inko, Taiyo and Miwa standing in the door, staring at them in shock, while Inko moved her hands to her mouth and Miwa's eyes blew open. Furrowing their brows, the two teenagers looked back at each other, as though to wonder what they were frozen about - and then they realized what position they were in.

Izuku, picking up Ochako, her legs wrapped around his midsection and her hands tightly gripping his shoulders.

"You … you two are busy," Taiyo weakly laughed, slowly backing up and dragging his wife and Inko away, "we'll, uh - we'll come back -"

"WAIT, MOM, NO!"

"MAMA! DADDY! IT'S NOT - W-whoooa-!"

BAM

"Oh, crap, Occhan, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to drop - I - mean - oh, crap!"

"Shit, Chipmunk, you okay?!"

"Ochako!"

Thankfully, the two students were able to rectify the misunderstanding, and hugs and tears were shed the moment the adults found out their children passed the exam, Taiyo ruffling Izuku's hair while Inko tearfully hugged Ochako - although the children were confused as to why Miwa was looking so disappointed at the misunderstanding.

---

THE KENDOUSQUAD

MISS GRAVITY

I PASSED

LIZARD GIRL

SO DID I

ROCK HARD

ME TOO!

MISS GRAVITY

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

LIZARD GIRL

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ROCK HARD

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SHHHHHHHH

a

LIZARD GIRL

you're no fun

yui did you pass?!

SHHHHHHHH

that i did

got enough points to land me in the top 30

you people can't get rid of me that easily

YAOI HANDS

to my regret

SHHHHHHHH

you treat me so horrible itsuka

and i like it ;)

YOU

uuuh

well

moving on

what class are you guys in?

occhan and i are in class 1a

LIZARD GIRL

me too!

ua's doing the four recommended students, two students for each class thingy

SHHHHHHHH

me too

1a

ROCK HARD

1a!

YAOI HANDS

1a lol

LIZARD GIRL

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

we're all in the same class

this is gonna rock

GRAVITY GIRL

but kendou!

you're in first place!

LIZARD GIRL

wait what

Izuku uploaded one picture

YOU

congrats kendou!

LIZARD GIRL

OH SHIT

KEN YOU MADLASS

YAOI HANDS

lol it's no big deal

i mean it's a pretty big deal, my grandpa actually cracked a smile when i showed him and my mom was actually crying

GRAVITY GIRL

wait, kendou-sensei smiled?

impossible

LIZARD GIRL

pics or it didn't happen

YAOI GIRL

ANYWAY

so i guess we're all going to school together come april lol

this is gonna be great

GRAVITY GIRL

it's gonna be awesome!

oh yeah kendou

before i forget

do you remember what we talked about on new years eve? in the locker room?

YAOI GIRL

uhhhh

yeah?

GRAVITY GIRL

well

it wasn't on my way out

but

Ochako uploaded one video: 3

YAOI HANDS

...

uraraka don't take this the wrong way but i love you more than life itself

GRAVITY GIRL

;)

---

... second place.

He only got fucking second place.

Eyes wide and his teeth barred, Katsuki slammed his hands on the desk, trembling in rage. He wanted to believe that his eyesight somehow got fucked up, but no. He was in second place with only eighty points. Eighty fucking points! How the fuck is he not at the fucking top?!

Scanning the list, he felt himself growl when he saw, right underneath his name, fucking Round Face behind him by only four fucking points. Four fucking points! And Shitty Deku was in fifth, at fucking sixty five points! How the fuck did they get that many points, let alone even getting in the first place?! He was supposed to be the first student from his school to get to UA! His future plan's already been torn to pieces! And he wasn't even in first place to soothe that burn!

Shoving his chair back as he glared up at the hologram, his eyes zoomed back up to the top, feeling his hands grip the surface of his desk in a vice like grip. Who got fucking first? Who?! And then he found it, scanning the points and feeling himself shake in rage when it was only six fucking points ahead of him! Who the fuck was Itsuka K-

- Kendou.

" ... maybe one of us will be able to work with Kendou, though. Depending on where she's sent."

Round Face's whispered words back from the auditorium a week ago echoed in Katsuki's head as he slowly sat down at the desk, feeling his eyes widen. He remembered the bitch from out front of the school. The one who insulted him. Smirked at him with that fucking confident look. Taunted him and made him look weak. Outperformed him. Ruined his future plan. The one who was ...

... who was friends with Shitty Deku and Round Face.

"Kendou." He growled under his breath, feeling sparks and crackles appearing in his palms.