People defined intelligence in their own ways. For some, it meant how much knowledge one could require and subsequently regurgitate. For others, it was more nuanced and became a spectrum of their skills rather than any definable substance.
For Himiko, she simply gauged intelligence by how fast someone could pick up things.
Not that she was bragging but, she thought she picked up on things very quickly. It was a fact, and a necessity for her to do so. How else could she survive for two years on her own, doing nefarious things such as infiltration and some light thieving and a few (more like a lot but she wouldn't say it out loud) light whacks every once in a while on random passersby so she could get a midnight blood snack.
She was rambling again.
Anyways! Her point was that she couldn't be considered dumb just because she happened to get a few things wrong on a test. She'd take being called ditzy, as the word often went hand in hand with cute, but dumb?
Her? Himiko Toga? A dumb ditzy blonde?
That was quite rude to say.
She kept in mind the face of the person who said that. A small, purple haired (...did those orbs count as hair?) boy who was leering at a few other of the female students. He wasn't important now, but Himiko certainly filed him and a few others onto her list.
What list exactly?
That was a secret!
Other than that, there wasn't anything else of note that came after the written exam finished. They explained what would happen on the practical, it basically equated to kill robots and gain points. Afterwards the auditorium of students were herded like sheep into what Himiko could only assume was the practical testing site after they picked up any deposited supplies. This meant that she finally had her trusty knives back.
Oh how she missed them so much! She hadn't gone so long without them in years! It was certainly a rough few hours but now that she was united with them again, she would give them a thorough polish when she got home. Maybe a sharpening as well depending on how rough those robots were on the edges.
The other people socialized with those who were nearby, Himiko figured that a lot of them knew each other prior to the exam as they seemed to be animatedly talking about things. But what was there to even be talking about? The written exam? She'd rather think of literally anything else than that, like how she was going to stab some robots!
"And start!"
Oh! Did she space out so much that she missed the countdown to start? Himiko sped away into the testing facility, for some reason the others stayed behind but that had nothing to do with her! She heard start and she'd go ahead and start!
The robots themselves were bulky and robust, moved slowly and were altogether just a big set of monkey bars for Himiko to climb and stab. Some of them were differently colored, but they were separated into three general categories. She… vaguely remembered them talking about that but couldn't remember the specifics, she was too busy trying to mentally recover from the exam.
That hardly mattered though, as her knife simply slid into the exposed joints and cut their wires.
It was exciting at first, watching them stutter before falling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, but after the tenth robot (of varying sizes and shapes) she was beginning to get a little bored.
Sure it was supposed to be a test, but tests didn't need to be boring! Especially for a practical exam of all things.
It was just too far away from a real person for her taste. Usually a knife in certain spots would have blood spurt out like a fountain! An all you can drink buffet featuring her favorite snack available. It wasn't as if she necessarily killed someone by doing this, they just needed a nice bandage on the cut and they'd feel a bit anemic for a few days. Nothing crazy!
The best part about it, of course, was the hunt. Finding someone alone, making sure no one would notice, setting the scene and getting out without a trace.
Maybe she'd treat herself later today. The list had a new entry after all, might as well cross one of the earlier entries out to make more room.
Err… What was she originally talking about?
Oh. Right.
She was bored.
Himiko couldn't remember how many points she accumulated this far into the exam, or how long she'd actually been in the exam. Or if there was any other objective. Or how many points each robot was worth.
She massaged her temples. Did she even need to care as long as she kept stabbing? Probably not.
Maybe she'd try throwing her knife at the robots to alleviate boredom. It'd been a while since she practiced that particular skill. If she happened to get a few points while doing so, that's just extra for her.
Himiko got out her extra special set of throwing knives from her toolbox that she had been lugging around, and proceeded to immediately chuck one at a nearby robot. It spun, blade over handle (that was a bad thing! Spinning knives meant less control!) And sunk itself into the head of the robot, which promptly collapsed after a few seconds of flickering.
Huh.
Hmm. Well, she certainly failed when it came to actually controlling her knife, but it still somehow managed to gut the robot.
Task failed successfully. She guessed.
When Himiko went to retrieve the knife from the robot's noggin. She found another test taker half-collapsed on the pavement. Their eyes met and Himiko was shakingly thanked by the person.
"T-thanks for the help." The stranger said to her.
Himiko blinked as she retrieved her knife. There was an odd feeling of deja-vu, like she had been in a similar scenario before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where.
If she couldn't remember, then it probably wasn't super important!
She wasn't quite sure what she did to deserve thanks, she simply was practicing her throwing skills to pass the time, but she wouldn't pass up a reward!
"Can I have your blood as a reward?" She responded absent-mindededly
"...What?"
Oh no! She didn't mean to say that out loud, it was just her thinking of it earlier and then her mouth moved before she could properly think of a response.
She was supposed to infiltrate UA and be a hero! Heroes don't ask for blood from people. And they don't ask for rewards either. This was a double whammy of mess ups!
With her knife retrieved, and a robot dead at her feet. Humiko promptly turned around and speed walked away from the stranger.
Rule number two of infiltration. If anything goes wrong, pretend as if it doesn't exist!
Start: Oct 24th. 2023.
End: Oct 30th. 2023.
Words: 1166.
happy halloween please play omori it took over my entire life these past 3 days and i dont think i will ever recover
