AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone!
Amit Barabi - They've been that way for a while, to act as teasers / external viewpoints showing how the world is changing.
For most of the students arriving to take the entrance exam, it was their first time entering its massive gates and seeing the school in person. For a smaller number, they've been there once or twice, lucky enough to attend a culture festival or secure an elusive tour.
For five students in particular, it was Tuesday.
"Well, here goes nothing!" Aika said in a too-loud voice, betraying her nervousness.
"Just relax," Kyoka responded, "and remember if you start to panic, just pick a column and start filling it in. You'll get more points that way."
"You-you!" Aika kicked Kyoka in the shins.
"Ow-hey! I don't need you beating me up before the exam!"
"Then you should have thought of that before you made fun of me!"
"Girls." Ochako stepped up, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "I know the exam's scary, but we've got this!" She gave their shoulders a reassuring squeeze as she smiled at them. "We've literally been training for months to get here!"
Himiko smiled at her friends' antics before turning toward Izuku. "Are you sure you won't tell us what we're going against?"
"It won't matter now." Izuku gave his sister a sheepish smile. "You've got your knives, right?"
"Yep!" Himiko swept the hem of her skirt, revealing the holster underneath. "Emmy already found better ones for my costume, but she wouldn't let me use them for the exam."
"Those should be good enough," Izuku admitted. "Just remember everything we learned."
Himiko rolled her eyes. "We've learned so much I can barely remember it all. The only reason I have any chance at all is because of everyone's help. I just don't want to disappoint anyone."
"No one will be disappointed, Himi. You've come so far in a year. It…" Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping he didn't overstep any invisible boundaries. "I wish I met you sooner. Maybe things could have turned out differently."
Himiko gasped, turning away to hide her growing blush. "Well, you found me this time."
"I'm glad." Izuku smiled before crashing into his sister's back, wrapping her in a hug. "Let's become heroes together."
"Yeah!" Aika exclaimed, joining the heartwarming embrace. Kyoka followed, and finally Izuku felt Ochako's warmth as she pressed herself against his back.
The five separated and looked at each other, silently wishing each other luck before they walked toward the main building to take their exam.
As the five walked into the building, they spotted the check-in table. It was almost as they remembered it, only with one notable addition: Nemuri Kayama stood there, a pair of manilla envelopes in her hand.
Her face lit up as the group approached the table. She motioned Izuku and Ochako over, pulling them off to the side.
"There's our little prodigies." Nemuri smiled at the pair as she offered each of them an envelope. "Special instructions for your practical exam."
"Not the written exam?" Izuku asked.
"Nezu decided to be nice and let you two take the written portion with everyone else. He almost had you take the finals that the first years will have to take next month."
Ochako blanched at that. "There's no way we could have passed that!"
Nemuri chuckled. "I'm sure you two would have found a way. It's not like we're letting you out of our sights. Not yet at least."
"Right," Izuku replied uneasily as he opened the envelope. Inside was the card and map that he had remembered from his first exam. However, in place of the training ground, the location was listed as 'Gym Gamma.'
"I trust you two remember the way there?"
"Of course!" Ochako confirmed.
"Wonderful." Nemuri smiled at the pair. "I can't wait to see how you do. But before then…" She looked down the hallway at the crowd of incoming students. "I believe I have an exam to monitor."
She departed, leaving Izuku and Ochako alone in the hallway. "Gym Gamma huh? I wonder what they've got planned for us."
"I'm surprised they aren't splitting us up," Izuku mused. "There's more gyms, and they have the resources to set up a second one if they wanted to."
"They're in trouble then," Ochako laughed, the tension visibly draining out of her. "There's nothing that can stop us!"
"No, there isn't," Izuku agreed, a smile tugging at his own lips.
Izuku left the classroom feeling fairly confident with his answers. Even though this was the second time taking the exam, it still felt like a challenge and made him wonder if Nezu had managed to give him a more difficult version of the exam compared to his peers. It wouldn't surprise him if that was the case.
As he walked through the halls to the locker room, he saw a familiar head of indigo hair. Making a snap decision, Izuku reached out to touch his arm, getting his attention.
"Wha–" The boy turned to look at him, surprised.
"There's more to the test than you think," Izuku said quickly, hoping the boy wouldn't use his quirk on him.
Shinso Hitoshi's face turned into a scowl. "What would you know about that?"
Izuku just shrugged helplessly. "Just trying to help."
"Trying to make me fail is more like it. Get out of my sight."
Izuku's mind went blank as he turned around to walk away a couple steps before a familiar jolt of energy ran along his arm and snapped him out of his zombie-like state. Letting out a sad sigh, he gazed down at his hand. "Thanks."
Not wasting any more time, he hurried through the halls toward the locker room.
Himiko tried to catch her brother after the exam, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't find his mop of green hair anywhere. Sighing in disappointment, she continued to the auditorium where Kyoka and Aika were already sitting.
"Either of you see Izu?" Himiko asked.
"Nope," Kyoka said coolly, "Didn't see Uraraka either."
"I wouldn't have recognized them even if I did," Aika complained, holding her head. "That was terrible."
Kyoka patted her friend on the back. "You're just gonna have to get a new record on the practical to make up for it."
"Yes," Aika said with forced enthusiasm as she sat upright. "That's the plan!"
Himiko laughed with her friends as the lights in the room began to dim. Not wanting to miss anything, the three turned their attention to the front of the room where a single spotlight appeared, shining down on a podium with a hero standing behind it.
"Good afternoon, candidates! I'm your host for the second part of the exam, Present Mic. Who's excited for the practical portion of the exam?"
Aika stood up, her arms in the air. "Yeah!"
Present Mic gave a bright smile to the sole voice in the crowd who played along. "That's what we like to hear, examinee one-one-three-eight! That enthusiasm'll carry you far! Now then, the moment you've all been waiting for…"
The three girls paid close attention as they heard the hero explain the rules and the way they would be scored. Himiko's face screwed up as a tall blue-haired student asked about the zero pointer, only for the hero to wave it off as an obstacle to be avoided.
"There's gotta be more to the test. There's more to being a hero than just fighting bad guys…"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the auditorium, Katsuki Bakugo scanned the crowds. Fighting robots would be child's play to him; it would be the perfect way to show off his quirk, especially with all the training he did these last ten months. He wasn't going to let some no-name villain embarrass him like that ever again!
No, what worried him was that he couldn't find Izuku. Sure there were a ton of students in here, but he should be able to recognize that messy green hair anyway! He couldn't find that round-faced girl who punched him either, but she was a secondary problem.
"Tch, Deku where are you," Katsuki muttered under his breath. Despite his warnings, he knew Izuku was here somewhere. There's no way he wouldn't be.
So where was he?
"Are you ok, Izu?" Ochako asked as she watched him emerge from the locker room in his gym uniform.
"Yeah, I just–" Izuku shook his head. "I wanted to try helping Shinso."
Ochako gave him a flat look. "That pretentious jerk?"
"He got better once he started training!" Izuku tried to defend himself.
"For you maybe," Ochako sighed. "Hopefully this time he takes after yours and not mine."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I hope so too."
Their hands found each others' as the two began the ten minute trek from the main building to the gym in eerie silence. Even when they visited the school for their training, there were usually pockets of other students there. But not today. Other than the background hum of bus engines, it was as if the school itself sat in silent anticipation, watching and waiting for the students to begin their exams.
Even if they didn't dare break the silence, Izuku and Ochako drew comfort from each other. The gentle touch and subtle movement of their hands, the movement of their eyes, and their subtle smiles were enough to reassure them that they would be able to handle whatever Nezu had planned for them.
Arriving at the gym, the two pushed open the door and entered. The lights were out in most of the gym. The only place that was illuminated was the front area where Sir Nighteye and Ryukyu stood, both holding clipboards.
"Sir?"
"Ryukyu?"
"Good afternoon Midoriya, Uraraka," Mirai greeted them. "Today Ryukyu and I will be the ones evaluating you for your entrance exam."
"Nezu and All Might will also be evaluating you later," Ryuko elaborated. "We had considered inviting Fat Gum as well, but given your particular circumstances, we decided against it at the last minute."
Izuku paled at the mention of Fat Gum, the gears in his head already turning. "And what is our test?"
Mirai gave him a tight smile before he pulled a small button out of his pocket and pressed it. The rest of the gym lit up, revealing a massive obstacle course. And on the far end stood the second year students Le Million, Suneater, and Nejire-chan, in costume and ready for battle.
"These three second-years have been receiving extra training these last two semesters, ranking top of their class. Given your unique circumstances, it seemed fitting to test your skills against them," Mirai explained.
"Midoriya," Ryuko added, "your objective is to prevent Uraraka from being tagged by one of these students for as long as possible. And Uraraka, your objective is the same for Midoriya."
"That means if you jump in front of your partner to intercept a blow, their score will be affected. So you will have to think about how you two protect each other."
Izuku felt his cheeks heating up as Ochako chortled. "Did you hear that, Izu? If you want me to get into UA, you can't jump in front of me~" she teased.
"I've got other ways to keep you safe!" Izuku insisted.
"Yeah, but now you've got to use 'em!"
"If you two are done, we have an exam to conduct."
"Sorry!" both students apologized, their faces turning bright red.
"Nezu set up a special monitoring station over there." Ryukyu gestured to a small room off to the side of the gym. "Once everything is ready we will begin. In the meantime, why don't you go introduce yourselves to your opponents?"
"Okay!"
Leaving the teachers behind, the pair walked further into the gym.
"I guess they're not the big three yet, are they?" Ochako asked softly.
"Probably not," Izuku mused. "But they're still going to be strong. We know Sir and Ryukyu have been training Mirio and Nejire, and we can assume from what they said that Tamaki's been receiving additional training from Fat Gum. So even though they're still second-years, they're still going to be nearly as strong as we remembered them."
"That's ok, we're stronger, too!" Ochako grinned at Izuku. Picking up the pace, she approached the second-years with a wave and a bow. "Good afternoon! So you're our opponents for the test?"
"Yep!" Mirio proudly proclaimed. "Nezu told us that you two had some special circumstances, so he requested our help for the exam!"
"They don't seem too special," Nejire said as she touched her chin with her index finger. "They look like ordinary middle schoolers to me."
"Don't you see how they hold themselves?" Tamaki asked as he turned away from the pair. "They've been through a lot."
"And that's why they asked us to test them!" Mirio said as he flexed his arm. "So why do you two want to become heroes?"
"I want to save people with a smile," Izuku said as he drew upon One For All's energy. Green lightning sparked around him as he wrapped himself Full Cowling, surrounding him with its green corona. "I want everyone in Japan to feel safe, because I am here!"
"I want to uplift people and protect their smiles," Ochako said as she called upon One For All. Pink lightning gave away to the soft glow of Galactic Shroud. Black stars twinkled along her skin as she held up a fist in front of her. "Everyone in Japan deserves that."
"Ohohoho," Mirio chuckled as he casually slid into a fighting stance. "You two have some fancy quirks there. This is going to be fun."
"Don't hold back, because we won't either!" Nejire said as she began floating upward, her spiral waves carrying her to the sky like a fairy.
"Let's wrap this up quick so I can go home," Tamaki grumbled as he turned around to face the students. Despite his timid remarks, the tentacles that grew out of his hands warned that he was deadly serious.
Himiko stood in front of the massive archway, looking nervously at the crowd of heroes around her. Many of them just looked physically imposing, and she had to stop herself from quietly slicing some of them to collect a little bit of blood before the exam.
As she looked over the crowd, she couldn't help but mull over Izuku's words… and the zero pointer. There had to be something there, some hidden score they weren't talking about. She just had to figure it out! Otherwise what's the point of people with quirks like her even bothering to apply?
"Begin!" Present Mic's voice called out from overhead.
Himiko's instincts took over and she was off, racing inside. Glancing back, she noticed only a few people had actually left the starting line, most of them looking confused as the hero was yelling at them. She felt a smile tugging at her lips.
Well if their instincts are that bad, maybe this will be easy after all!
As she raced forward, she pulled her knives out in one smooth motion and observed the training ground. Fortunately, the robots were hard to miss, approaching like a marching army ready to do battle.
Not wanting to face so many directly, Himiko darted down a side alley and emerged on another street in the fake city. Her efforts were rewarded as she found herself face-to-face with a much more manageable crowd of robots.
Her grin split her face as she charged the first robot, eyes already finding targets. The robots had exposed sensors, and she could see wires running along the unarmored parts. Gripping her knives tightly, she raced toward the first robot. As she watched, it raised two massive limbs to strike at her before she dropped to the ground, letting her momentum carry her forward as she slid underneath the robot.
There!
Thrusting her knives upward, she felt resistance as they tore through wire and cable, causing the robot to screech to a halt. Scrambling out from underneath it, she watched with grim satisfaction as it fell over.
I can do this!
Whipping around, Himiko chose her next target.
"Begin!"
As soon as she heard the words, Aika began singing as she took off toward the entrance.
"Out of the way, extra!" a loud blond student roared as he shot ahead of her, using explosions to propel himself forward. Aika frowned. She really wanted to yell at him for being rude! But her training held, and she didn't let up on her singing. If she did, that meant she'd lose the protection of her quirk, and in a real fight, that could be fatal!
Instead she simply ducked her head and charged forward, trying to keep up. She saw the rude guy land in the middle of a pack of robots, but fortunately, she seemed to have got the attention of several others. One aimed a pair of limbs at her and launched a pair of missiles. Holding up her arms, Aika felt a wave of heat wash over her as they exploded, the force enough to give her pause. Waving her arms to clear the smoke, Aika launched herself at the robot.
Can't let them fire another shot!
Pulling her fist back, Aika slammed a foot in the ground to brace herself before she threw her first punch, smashing the face of the robot in question. She watched in satisfaction as the robot fell apart before she felt another wave of heat as missiles slammed into her back.
Blushing at her inattention, she whipped around and charged the robot, using her momentum to punch it's head off before she continued onward to body check a third, knocking it off-balance and sending it to the ground.
This is easy! I'll get so many points that my written exam won't matter!
"Begin!"
Kyoka took off, charging forward alongside the rest of her group. She saw several other students fire beams of energy as they unleashed their quirks on the robots and silently cursed her lack of support gear. With a slight shake of her head, she pulled her earjacks out of their dock around her neck, the appendages hovering menacingly as she approached her first robot.
Jamming her ear jack into the robot, she felt the metal tip pierce the robot's shell, and used her weaponized heartbeat. The effects were instantaneous as she saw the robot shudder, its internals being destroyed by the vibrations she sent through the machine before it collapsed.
"Too easy." Kyoka smirked as she retracted her ear jack before she looked around.
She hopped over the fallen machine in pursuit of her next target, running between a pair of robots and shooting her jacks out to connect with both of them at once before she used her quirk to destroy them. Withdrawing her jacks, she started planning her next attack when something caught her eye.
Smiling, she walked over to the corpse of a fallen robot, one which had been more thoroughly dismantled. There, lying among the parts, was a long pipe. Picking it up, she tested the weight and gave it a few practice swings.
"Well, this isn't a sword, but it'll have to do."
Armed with a weapon and her quirk, Kyoka spotted a large group of robots and charged.
From the loudspeaker, the five students heard Sir Nighteye's voice ring out. "Begin!"
The words weren't even fully formed when Nejire launched the opening salvo, sending a massive wave of spiral energy toward the two. Izuku and Ochako both leaped into the air, barely avoiding the blast. Hovering in the air, they saw Nejire and Tamaki looking up at them.
"Ocha!" Izuku called, using Float to close the gap and shove her out of the way.
"Hahaha!" Mirio's laughter filled the space where they had occupied moments before as he zipped through the air. He began falling only for Nejire to catch him, the pair descending to the ground. "You're good! Let's see how long you two can keep it up."
"We'll keep it up as long as it takes–" Izuku began.
"-because we're not letting anything stand in our way!" Ochako finished.
AN: Toshinori was about to knock on the door to Nezu's office when it swung open, revealing the principal sitting at his desk.
"It's that time, isn't it?" Nezu asked.
"Indeed," Toshinori said. "They're waiting for us in the command center."
"Of course! I was just reviewing some things before the exam," Nezu explained as he hopped out of his chair, before returning a pair of well-worn notebooks to the safe.
Toshinori looked at him in surprise. "Did something happen during the exams that worried you?"
"Not at all," Nezu assured him as he secured the safe. "I just wanted to see what the final rosters for their respective classes were."
"Are you going to be playing favorites?"
"You know me better than that," Nezu replied coldly. "I am merely curious - it's not every day I get to watch them attempting to rewrite history so directly."
Toshinori silently nodded in acknowledgement as they left his office.