Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia in any way. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi and all his involved partners
Breath in
Breath out
Breath in
Breath out
Breath in!
Breath out!
"GRRR!!" 'Fucking damnit! Get a grip already! You've prepared for this all your fucking life! Stuffed everything all those boring books had in them and got your body ready to blow boulders up or whatever shit they have in there!' Katsuki Bakugo scowled as he shook his head, before glaring at the imposing 'H' shaped building standing before him 'This is just a stepping stone. Another step to take on my way to becoming the greatest hero!'
He was prepared for this, the U.A. Entrance Exam. He has always been the best in class and whatever the physical part of the exam had him do, he knew he'd ace it! There was literally no reason for him to be any way besides absolutely confident.
So why, the fuck, couldn't he stop fidgeting? Why the hell, was he dripping with sweat? And why was he feeling fucking nauseous right now?!
He knew reason of course, he just {[couldn't]} didn't want to admit it
Standing just a few steps in front of him, looking up the same building with a familiar awed look on his face, drawing a few curious stares from different passer by-s for his fanboyism and for-
Katsuki turned away, grimacing as he shoved his hands in his pockets and marched on towards the entrance {[his head low and speeding up his march to avoid the entranced boy's gaze]}
He shook his head violently. He had an exam to ace and no stupid {[guilt]} feeling is gonna stop him.
Ochako Uraraka was actually feeling quite good right now. Well, if you look past the nausea brought on by both nerves and especially her quirk, she was pretty confident about her chances. She thinks she did well enough on the written exam and the practical was going pretty good. So far, she has gotten about 30 or 40 points! She didn't know how much was enough to pass ('Cause that would eliminate too much of the stress!') but that had to be close to the minimum, right?
Anyway, she couldn't go for that much longer, anyway. She knew that her stomach was reaching 'Barf Levels' quickly, she probably would be able to float up five more robots, MAX. Hopefully she'll find some more Three-Pointers, though some Two-Pointers would do too.
*creeeeak*
The brunette froze for a moment, before turning around slowly
"Eep!" A One-Pointer was looming over her, mechanical arm reared back to crush her
Breaking out her trance just in time, she reared back her own arm and quickly slapped her open palm on the the machine's carcass, letting it float up a second later
Ochako wipes some nervous of her brow, taking a sigh of relief as she does. 'That was too close! I need to be more careful. There's still a few minutes left and I'm not sure if I've got enough to-' *blink*
'Wait… were some of the robots' eyes green, too?' another blink and what she thought for a second was green was back to the red she saw in all the other bots
Another blink and a shrug later and the brunette was jogging to find new robots.
'Godamn biased exam..! And god-damned overreaching high school!'
Hitoshi Shinso was not having a good time. A few minutes into the physical exam and he had gotten no points. Because the school apparently cared only about strong quirks and made that clear by having the applicants have to destroy big robots to earn a place in.
And that found him here, running down a street from a One-Pointer, chasing him on it's one wheel and firing the occasional pot shot with what he hoped were rubber bullets or something
"HALT MEATBAG! YOUR SPINDLY HUMAN LEGS CANNOT OUTPACE THE MARVEL OF MACHINERY! YOU MAY WISH TO INVEST IN A SUPERIOR SET OR LOWER APPENDAGES!" the green machine spouted in a monotone tone as it continued it's chase
Apparently they decided the robots needed sass, besides regular weapons
This exam was biased towards all those flashy, more 'heroic' quirks as all hell. 'I don't know why I thought I'd be different. Of course, the best Hero School would care about nothing but making heroes with the most destructive and camera pleasing quirks. Why would they care about those with less than physicARGH!"
His inner griping was interrupted by one of the bot's shots nailing him in the back. Thankfully, those bullets turned out to actually be rubber bullets, but they still hurt like hell and he found himself sprawled on his stomach and he didn't need to look to know the big metal can was approaching
'Great,' he thought sarcastically 'Extra injuries to add to this "wonderful" experience,' he sighed 'Honestly, at this point, I just want to go home and collapse on my bed. Maybe I'll look up some other ways to get into the hero course. There was that rumor about the Sports Featival, right…' he was just so tired. From the exam itself and the bullshit he had to face throughout it all, like so many other things. So, he just waited for robot to do whatever and let it all pass. He was too tired to care at this point
…
…
…
'That bot sure is taking it's time…'
Curiosity overriding his exhaustion, he pushed himself up with a wince and turned to see the robot… moving in slow-motion…
…
… '...huh?'
No, he wasn't hallucinating. The robot was really moving as if through a slow-move filtre. Spinning backwards as if going for a dramatic anime spinning fist.
'If they added A.I. to these things just to tease applicants, then the staff here are bigger bastards than at my middle school…'
Though maybe the machine was just malfunctioning since it seemed to seize up with it's back now facing Shinso, showing him a specific component on it's back
'Is that…' he squinted 'No way- Is that a fucking OFF-SWITCH BUTTON??'
Indeed, it seemed like on the back of the machine there was a flip switch with the words 'ON' and 'OFF' around it
'So, they had these all this time and we weren't told to use them?! Those would be perfect for… for…'
Realization slowly bloomed on Shinso's face
'Oh.'
Not seeing the bot do any more movements, the indigo haired teen tentively approached and flipped the switch, letting the machine fall on its back
Shinso watched it's lights turn off completely with a blank face before letting out a small grin 'Hm. Guess they aren't as biased as I thought.'
With a bit more confidence giving him a second wind, he headed off, his mind set squarely on passing now, but a fleeting though made it's way in
'Why was that robot's light green instead of red?'
'And that is 64!' Tenya Iida mentally counted. His engines revved as he blitzed across the street and through the body of a Two-Pointer 'That should be an adequate amount of points. There are few minutes left, but I should be able locate a few more targets! Although…'
A though has been nagging him after the first few minutes of the exam
'Is this really all there is to the exam? Of course, manpower and quick action are mandatory parts of heroism, but they just seem so-... 'bareboned' as Tensei would put it. Is there truly no other part to the test? No way to better differentiate the level of talent between applicants? Not even-'
*BOOM*RuMBle*rUMble*
Years of improving his balance allowed Tenya to keep his footing as the ground shook and rumbled. Jumping and spinning upside down to let out a moderate burst of his engines to slow his momentum and continuing his spin to land in a crouch just as the source of the rumbling revealed itself between the buildings. And a bit above the buildings.
Standing taller than any of the fake-city buildings was a humongous robot running on thread mills. Before the stunned eyes of Tenya and all the hero prospects the giant machine reared and slammed its massive fist into the road. Quaking and flying rubble followed the giant impact, with some of the surrounding buildings' integrity affected by it.
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!"
"THE FUCK IS THAT?!"
"WAIT-IS THAT THE FUCKING ZERO-POINTER!!"
"HUH-THEY EXPECT US TO FIGHT THAT?!"
"NO, YOU ITIOT! THEY TOLD TO RUN AWAY FROM IT!!"
"Oh, yeah."
"DON'T NEED TO TELL ME TWICE!"
Shouts of panic were followed by the rapid retreats of all the applicants in the behemoth mech's way, of which Tenya was soon to be one of when a certain sound reached his ears
"Oww!"
Eyes flowing to the source of the cry, Tenya saw a brunette girl trapped under some fallen ruble, right in the path of the Zero-Pointer
Tenya's body lurched to turn around, but stopped as his mind started working 'We were told specifically to avoid it. Plus, this is a test! They wouldn't allow any of the prospects to be severely injured!' His mind reasoned. There shouldn't be any real risk and they were given very clear instructions. And yet…
"HELP!!"
Tenya grit his teeth. His muscles tensing as he slowly moved into a running position. He still wasn't sure, but the girl was in pain, no faculty member was in sight to ask about it, and the robot's threads just reached close to the girl when it-
-suddenly stopped…?
Behind his sports glasses, his eyes denoted his confusion as the Zero-Pointer (whose optical sensors strangely shone green now) raised it's hands up into what could only be considered a placating manner
"DON'T WORRY. I'M HERE TO HELP YOU." the robot's words reached out clearly throughout the whole street, though weirdly, to Tenya they sounded almost hushed, as if the robot was trying to whisper as it reached towards the girl, whose face showed as much confusion as it did trepidation. Though the fear proved to be unfounded as the machine gently picked up and put the rubble away before offering a massive hand to help the girl stand up
"CAN YOU STAND?"
Tenya couldn't hear the girl's reply, but he did see her wince as she was pulled up by the giant robot that a few moments prior was demolishing the place
"AAAAAAAAND TIME!!!"
Tenya jumped, though not as much as all the other examinees did at Present Mic's call. His eyes remained fixated on scene before, as an elderly woman made her way to the injured girl and seemed to do something Tenya couldn't see clearly that helped the younger woman stand on her own. Tenya was about to go over there to make sure she was alright (and maybe to ease his conscious at not having rushed in when it mattered) when something else happened
Out of the face of the Zero-Pointer flew out what Tenya realized after a moment of analysis was a person. Short in stature with a rather peculiar appearance as they floated to talk to the previously trapped girl and the elderly woman
Now Tenya was never and will never be a quirkist, to judge someone by the appearance their quirk provided, but this… boy?... yes he was a boy, had a look to him that was so different from anything Tenya had ever seen (If he was in the same testing area, it was, also odd that Tenya hadn't seen him before the practical started) before that the bluenette young man couldn't stop himself from staring a little
From a body made seemingly of… light?... gas?... some kind of liquid?... Tenya couldn't tell but from his point it didn't inspire a completely solid constitution.
Being made of light was inspired by the constant whitish green glow that covered the boy's body as he kept hovering, most of said body accentuating said glow as it appeared to be made of a mix of mostly white (even the clothes, which shared the same incorporeal state, as if they were a part his body) and some light green for their hair and eyes, without any other specific details.
Though what caught Tenya's attention after a moment was how the boy's body, besides seeming less than solid, also seemed transparent
'Almost like a-' that specific train of thought was derailed as one of his previous ones came up 'Wait, he helped her… even though there was no benefit to engaging that robot, he still helped her… when no one else did. Could that be it?'
His thoughts continued to wander and the more he realized, the more shame set into Tenya's heart
After the entrance exam ended and the deliberations for the new classes were made, Shota Aizawa wanted nothing more than to have some jelly and sleep after the final meeting ended. And he would have if there wasn't for one thing
"Nedzu… Sir…" Shota didn't want any beating around the bush, nor any of of the principal's usual games, so he went the extra mile to make sure there would be none in the following conversation he would have "I have asked for few things in my time here and I may have overused my leeway for teaching too much… but if I earned any rights for my sevices to this institution, I'm using them now when I'm asking you to answer me this, clearly and directly."
Man and mouse…?... bear…? dog…?, looked gazed and through the beady eyes of the latter, Shota knew the principal took him as seriously as possible, so he took a deep breath and steeled his nerves
"Is it true?"
The black haired man held a folder before his mammalian boss, the folder open to display the in-depth info on one of their, or more specifically, Shota's future students, Izuku Midoriya
"I'm afraid it is." the small principal' voice was soft, devoid of the usual playful tone it usually carried "It is an unprecedented occurrence and it's still being studied, but from the data available so far it appears to be as the case implies."
Shota did some breathing exercises, "And you're sure-"
"I looked over the data myself and with no possible alternative answer, not to mention the lack of information on said subject, there doesn't appear to be any other explanation. I'm sorry to say, there just isn't anything else to match it."
Shota still tried to keep himself in check. After all the years he had been involved with the hero profesion, he thought there wasn't anything that could really throw him of. Put him in distress or pain, sometimes to the point of mental of physical leave, perhaps.
He thought there was really nothing that could make him feel so… helpless… confused… disoriented… so… lost on what do, and yet here he was.
"Will you be alright, Shota?"
Shota took one final breath, before opening his eyes to show them a bit clear, though no less dismayed "I'll be fine," he tried for his usual indifferent tone and he knew he failed miserably "I'll… just need some time to adjust… I may have to take a few days off." he regretfully admired
Nedzu nodded in understanding "Very well. Please, announce me if you require anything. It is my job to make sure both the students and my faculty have all the resources they need."
Shota just nodded and left, pulling his feet on floor even more than usual as he trudged along the hallway
If there was a type of regret that Shota had, it would be when he fell short and someone else paid the price for it. The first one in his own U.A. years was the one he regretted the most and the thing that pushed him into making sure he would not allow anyone in his care to go through the same thing.
And yet, it kept happening and everytime it did it brought that same feeling of inadequacy, more and more muted compared to the previous one and nothing like the very first time but still there
And now, this thing happened. Honestly, Shota didn't know why he felt like this. It wasn't him that did it. He wasn't involved in any way when it happened.
And yet, this feeling was so much like that time with Oboro, just with an added aspect that gave it novelty that it made feel different, yet still left Shota feeling so hollow… so lost
He sighed like he was trying to force out all the air in his lungs 'Maybe this is some due punishment. If there is an afterlife, perhaps they decided it's time I got something to make sure I don't forget what I did wrong, after all,'
The sunset drew Shota's look over the orange and indigo glow cast over the roof of U.A.
'What better way to be reminded of death than teaching a dead kid?'
Soooo, how was it? This idea came to me last night when I was reading an MHA story on AO3 and just wouldn't let me go until I wrote it. What do you think of it?
To adress some possible curiosity from readers of my other stories coming here to give this one a try (thank you for that, BTW), I want first to say sorry for the lack of updates. I said it in another postnote once, but the idea is that I'm not a very constant writer. Not 'cause of a busy schedule but because I just don't get the urge to write sometimes. And when I do, it's not guaranteed it'll be for an already existing story, or a new idea. Inspiration takes people to many places and I'm no different.
I will say here that chapter four of Random Effect is almost ready, but depending on how much I'm motivated to write I can't say when exactly it'll be out. Again, sorry.
Just as I always do for an afterthought at the end of each chapter: English is not my main language. If you catch anything that doesn't sit well with you, holler me and until next time, this is LoneWolfAZ saying have an awesome time!
Peace