"Stop vibrating, Izuku," Kacchan groused at him. "I can't," Izuku replied.
"Seriously. Calm down."
"But I'm nervous."
"Me, too, but you don't see me making the whole train car shake," Kacchan hmphed.
They were on their way home from the Shiketsu entrance examination. Upon learning Ojiro and Shouji were applying to Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu as well as UA, the two had decided not to put all their eggs in one basket. Only forty people in the country were admitted to UA hero courses each year, after all. Some of it had to come down to luck... and Izuku didn't want to leave his entire future up to luck. His luck was weird... a sinusoidal function of time or something. Kacchan was quite sure he was a shoo-in at UA. It was unclear why he had decided to take the Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu exams. Maybe he had just come as Izuku's moral support?
"How do they figure out who to admit from those trials?" Kacchan wondered. "It's got to be favoritism, right?" The Shiketsu exam had involved a written portion, of course, followed by a six section obstacle course completed individually. Each section of the course provided examinees with three "obstacles" to choose from. There was always one obstacle that required essentially no skill to complete but took forever when compared to the other options.
"I think they just choose the students with the lowest overall completion times or something," Izuku said, "or maybe they just use completion time to rule some people out and look at the others more individually? I don't know."
Izuku had chosen to swing over the crevasse on a rope for his first obstacle. Kacchan had probably propelled himself over the crevasse with explosions.
"What obstacles did you choose?" Kacchan asked.
"Rope swing, climbing wall, carrying the dummy down the hallway, walking on and leaping between the balance beams, completing the puzzle to open the central door, crawling under the slabs."
"I flew over the chasm with explosions, propelled myself through the rings, carried the dummy same as you, jumped between the stepping stones, blasted my way through the set of wooden doors, and crawled under the slabs same as you."
"What was your time?" Izuku asked.
"Five minutes and twenty three seconds. You?"
"Five minutes and thirty three seconds." Izuku had not expected his score to be so close to Katsuki's.
"Wait? How did you... let's face it you can't be as fast as me on a lot of this stuff. How are you that close? How long did it take you to get that puzzle done and the door open?"
"Like... thirteen seconds? It wasn't very hard."
"Damn. I spent a full minute blowing up all those doors."
"Really? How many were there?"
"Twelve and they got stronger as I went along. If I'd known that I'd have tried the damn puzzle..."
"Sorry, Kacchan."
"Whatever. I've heard Ketsubutsu has some sort of scavenger hunt instead of an obstacle course."
"I heard you have to fight a teacher," Izuku said.
"I'm pretty sure that's only for the recommendation students. It would take forever to get the exams done if it were for everyone."
"Oh, yeah..." Izuku had stopped vibrating sometime during the conversation. He hadn't noticed. Ketsubutsu's exam was two weeks away, and then UA's was the week after that.
He was going to be really tired and done with exams by the time this month was over.
Kuma thought she was so sneaky. Chris on the other hand, was really sneaky. Izuku--now covered in the remains of fifteen fluffy snowballs--stared at Chris's in awe. How... where did he even get that outfit? It must be intentionally designed to look like a snowman. Izuku, hunting down Kuma with powdery ammunition, hadn't lent a glance towards the lumpy, iced-over sculpture standing in the center of the playing field.
Kuma would not stop laughing. She had collapsed backwards into one of the heaping banks of
snow created by the busy plows. Only the occasional glimpse of her blue coat was visible. "He was gonna' get me and then the snowman starts moving! You should have seen the look on your face!"
"Well, you've used up all your tricks now," Izuku said, crossing his puffy-sleeved arms. "I'm going to destroy you."
"You can try," Chris was probably grinning, but you couldn't see his face given his outfit and the amount of snow he had covered himself with. Izuku formed a hasty projectile between his gloves and pelted Chris on the side of the head. "Ow! Good shot!"
"You'd better be afraid!" Izuku yelled. "Wait... where's Kuma?"
Chris looked up. "Oh you're in trouble," Kuma's voice drifted down from the tree. "How did she even get up there?" Izuku wailed as he narrowly dodged a barrage. "We are in so much trouble," Chris said.
"Duck and cover!" Izuku agreed, lunging for the nearest snowbank.
Kuma was always pleased by snow in any form, even the idea of it. She gave Chris and Izuku snow globes as winter holiday presents. The little bird in the globe was startlingly realistic. Izuku stared at it and wondered if it might come alive and fly away should the nick-knack break.
He didn't really think too much of it at the time, the realism of the snow globes... Why would he when he had a winter-themed sneak attack of his own to plan?
Izuku woke laughing. The laughter died in his throat after mere moments. It was the day of the UA entrance exam. That was no laughing matter. He could think about the dream later.
"Where are my shoes?" Izuku moaned, looking everywhere. Why? Why was this the day he couldn't find them? What was wrong with him? Wait. They were in front of his nose, staring right at him incredulously. Alright. Shoes check. Pencils check. Cellphone left at home check. Backpack check. ID check. Getting breakfast and saying goodbye to mother, check. Train pass, check. Catching the train? That required a bit of running.
Kacchan tore into the station, backpack held by one strap and streaming out behind him. "You, too, huh?" Izuku asked.
"Stupid alarm didn't go off," Kacchan said. Izuku was pretty sure that wasn't the real reason his friend was late but he didn't pry.
Arriving at UA for the exam was a different experience than arriving for either of the other two heroics course entrance exams just because the volume of applicants was so much larger. The crowd was not tightly packed but the concentration of people walking purposefully in a certain direction increased exponentially as they approached the gates of UA.
In the entrance hall there were ten registration lines organized by family name. Izuku wished Katsuki luck and found the appropriate line. After perhaps ten minutes of waiting, Izuku gave his name and showed his ID to a frazzled looking clerk who handed him a hefty packet of information and pointed him towards one of the examination halls for the written test. There was an actual map in his packet showing him how to find his seat.
The written exam appeared in front of him. Who had set it there? Ah. A number of attendants were busily passing them out. "You have three hours to complete the written portion of the entrance exam," called a high voice. "Please take the next five minutes to follow the instructions on the front of your testing booklet. Make sure all of your information is correct and legible. Make sure your ID is face-up on your desk. Attendants will come by during the test to check that your name matches your face." Presumably the cameras also ran facial recognition software... but electronics could be hacked. "Stow any and all possessions in the tray beneath your desk. You are not permitted to access any of them during the exam. If you need to leave the room for any reason, raise your hand. If you finish before time is up, you are free to check your work but you may not leave the room."
Izuku had a wild moment of panic as he fumbled through his backpack looking for his ID. Okay. Okay, there it was. He placed it on the corner of his desk, stowed his bag, and began the solemn process of bubbling, initialing, and signing his name in half a dozen different boxes.
"Is there anyone still working on their information?" Nobody raised a hand. "You may break the seals on your books and begin."
Izuku nearly ripped the cover off his book in his haste to get it open, but once he actually began to answer the questions, the manic terror faded. He was in his element, now. He just had to remember not to mutter under his breath as he worked. He never noticed an attendant coming by to check that his "name matched his face" but presumably it happened.
It seemed both an eternity and no time at all before the announcer called, "close you books, put down your pens. No one may speak until all books have been collected and verified. Afterwards, Present Mic will come to explain the hero course admissions test." Ah. So everyone in this room was a hero course hopeful.
There was nothing to do in the silence but reflect on all the mistakes that Izuku might have made on the written portion.
Abruptly, Present Mic swept into the room like a hurricane. No one was quite sure how to react and no one responded to him as he began to explain the rules of the entrance exam.
They would be facing off against three types of robots, apparently, each worth as many victory points as noted by its name. There was also a robot worth zero points that flattened everything in its path. "But where will I..." Izuku muttered under his breath. Someone glared at him. Izuku fell silent and put his hand in the air.
"Yes, listener?" Mic called on him.
"If we arranged to rent weapons or support equipment, where do we pick those up?"
"An excellent question! Those of you who filled out the proper forms and got them approved can follow Snipe, say hello Snipe," ("Hello.") "and he'll get you set up and out to the appropriate training ground on time. We won't start until he confirms that all of you got where you need to be. Any other questions?" Nobody spoke up. "Alright! Leave your bags where they are. Feel free to grab a snack now, though." Izuku pulled a granola bar out of an outer pocket. "You'll come get your things after the practical. This room will be locked, so no worries. Let's get out there!"
Izuku and a half dozen other students, one of whom was Ojiro, followed Snipe to a supply closet.
Snipe was really cool. Supply closets were not very cool. The dissonance was dizzying. "Midoriya Izuku?" Snipe called.
Izuku raised his hand and received two hefty combat knives. They were right on the border of being short swords. Izuku thanked Snipe as the hero checked him off on the list. Izuku waited as Ojiro took a staff and a two-headed girl received an honest to god broadsword... the last three students were all after knives same as Izuku, but each examinee only took one blade.
Snipe escorted them to their respective training grounds. Apparently there were three different testing locations that day; there were rules about not allowing students from the same school to test together and a rule requiring all practicals to take place simultaneously.
Izuku found his way to the starting line and had the time for a few deep breaths. "Start!" yelled Present Mic. "What are you waiting for?" Izuku had begun to run towards the false city training ground as Present Mic finished saying "what" and was one of the first to enter.
Izuku took off down the first street on the left. A shabby looking robot with a white "1" painted on its chest trundled towards him. Izuku took both of his knives in hand, leapt to the side, whirled and stabbed through the thing's thin, defensive plating. It collapsed forward in a pathetic heap and Izuku felt briefly bad about it... It was almost cute and he'd killed it.
"Don't be ridiculous, Izuku," he told himself. Other students were flooding the street. The greenette ran deeper into the city to avoid the crowd. The realism was a little disconcerting at times. It was clear that many battles had occurred here, but the details of each building made it seem like people might have lived in the place. A fake apartment building had flowers growing in a planter on a balcony. Posters advertising the weekly special were plastered in a grocery store window.
The two point robots had lasers, not particularly dangerous lasers, but lasers none the less. Izuku killed his first two pointer in front of a fake cafe. The robot collapsed and crushed a mailbox flat. Izuku couldn't help but feel a bit bad about that, too. It was a pretty mailbox.
There were convenient ledges on these buildings, obviously made just for Izuku to leap on them. The student skipped his way to the rooftops and discovered there were a number of the big, three pointers lurking above street level, prowling around on the flat roofs.
The three pointers were much faster than their weaker cousins. Izuku, though, instinctively knew where the next laser blasts would land and easily circumvented them. The armor on the three pointers was too thick for him to stab straight through it, but Izuku knew what to do about that, too. He sheathed and stowed one knife beside a skylight and leapt up on the first robot's back as if climbing death machines were the most natural thing in the world. The student plunged his single remaining knife into the joint where the robot's neck met its shoulders and wrenched. Sparks sputtered around him and the enemy collapsed. The greenette managed to kill four of the three pointers before other examinees began to make their way to the roofs.
Izuku retrieved his second knife and set off deeper into the city. He ran along closely spaced rooftops for two blocks, but as the gaps between buildings increased the student reluctantly returned to the ground.
He found a small gaggle of one and two pointers in a dead end and was half through with them when he noticed a furious purple haired student hiding in a cranny. That was why all the robots had gathered here. They were chasing this boy. Izuku dispatched the last two pointer. "You alright?" Izuku asked.
"Sure," the student sighed, looking at Izuku's weapons. "I didn't know you were allowed to bring daggers."
"It seems most people don't," Izuku acknowledged. "Sorry about that."
"Why'd it have to be robots?" the other student wondered miserably. "I can't do anything about robots."
"Sorry," Izuku said. There was nothing else to say. "Good luck?" "With what time? Fifteen minutes is up."
"Oh." Izuku had thirty-two points. That might be enough to get in... or it might not. Oh, well. At least he had Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu, too.
Present Mic's voice echoed through the training grounds. "Alright folks! That's time! If you need medical attention stay where you are. Otherwise, head back to the entrance."
"I am... so lost," Izuku admitted. How could he be lost? He'd just been so... frenzied he hadn't paid attention to where he was going.
"Here, let me show you," the purple haired student gestured. Izuku followed him. "What's your name?"
"Midoriya Izuku. What's yours?"
"Shinsou Hitoshi. Your quirk tied up with those knives of yours?"
"Not exactly... I'm quirkless, actually."
Shinsou blinked. "Oh. That's... so you've been training all your life for this?"
Izuku sighed. "I wish. It's... a really weird story and you probably wouldn't believe me without proof." The two students joined a steady stream of people heading for the exit. "I've got to find Snipe to return the knives. They're rented." Shinsou raised an eyebrow at that. "Thanks for showing me out. Maybe I'll see you around?"
"I highly doubt that," Shinsou sighed.
"Well, you never know?"
"You do know sometimes. I know sometimes," Shinsou disagreed before vanishing into the crowd.
Izuku located the cowboy themed hero and handed his blades back. The man seemed rather frazzled. "Are you alright, sir?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, everythin's fine. I'm sure the rumors will reach you, soon enough." "Rumors?" Izuku asked.
"You didn't see?" a student with engines on his legs asked Izuku as the greenette stepped away from Snipe.
"No. What?"
"A girl was pinned under rubble in one of the main avenues and the zero pointer nearly ran over
her. The teachers had to activate the emergency stop," he explained, "or, we presume that is what happened given that she was not injured."
"Oh." Izuku said dumbly. Had he even noticed the zero point robot? He must have been busy freeing Shinsou from his crevice at that time.
The huge mob of tired, adrenaline-crashing applicants returned to their original testing rooms to fetch their backpacks. Izuku tried to find Kacchan as he vacated the UA campus, but... there were too many people here. He wasn't going to find Katsuki, or Ojiro or Shouji for that matter. He had never even seen Shouji although he must have been there somewhere. Izuku would just have to ask them how they did later.