[Hitoshi Shinso]
Shinso opens his eyes, feeling sore from the workout he had done yesterday at Gunhead's gym.
But at the same time he felt refreshed, like the day wasn't going to be a long drag. He gingerly sat up, wincing as his abs protested the movement, but he managed to get up all the same.
He still couldn't believe the week he has been having, one that was so positive that he thought it was some fevered dream he was cooking up.
And it all had to do with some guy he met at the UA exams.
(Earlier that week)
Shinso drank the coffee he ordered at the American-theme diner he was invited to. The entire table was filled with breakfast, lunch, and dinner plates of all kinds; Midwestern comfort food that were loaded with so much carbs it was insane, south of the border plates that were chock full of spices it burned the tongue just taking a taste, east coast platters that were entirely made of fish, crabs, and lobsters that made him wonder if the restaurant had a tank full of them in the basement.
It was beyond delicious even with the grease that coated some of the food items. Shinso would have thought that no one would eat all of this food, but the moment the first plates hit the table, hunger hit all of them at once and almost became a free-for-all. He even saw Ochaco fight off the perverts from the lobsters and even threaten them if they so much as send a hand in her direction.
And it probably cost more than a pretty Yen to order it all.
But Yagi and Ashido only smiled and ate… though they did a bit of impressive utensils jousting for some of the food on the table with each other.
"So good!" Ochaco mumbled as she ate her fried chicken, looking around when she swallowed at the diner they were in. "It's so… humbling though."
That was true. One would think that the diner would be in blaring American colors of red, white, and blue; but the diner seem almost rustic in nature with pictures lining the walls of famous heroes from both Japan and America, small newspaper clippings of various important events, odd knickknacks hanging from the ceiling, even a working jukebox that played oldies in the corner.
You wouldn't have guessed that this restaurant was being funded by All Might at all.
Ashido chuckled a bit as she finished eating some fried okra. "All Might may have sponsored the diner, but he didn't want people flooding it just because he did so. All Might did have his start in America and even toured the country with his sidekick Shield at the time."
Izuku nodded as he polished off his burger. "They traveled a lot and usually found it better to stop off in small towns because they seem more… how do you say it? More real, in a sense, with their cooking. They ate all sorts of food and All Might wanted to share what he gained in his travels at these restaurants."
"Are you kids doing okay?" Shinso turned to see an elderly woman of African descent walking towards them with pitchers of tea and soda in her hands. "Ah, Izuku, Mina, I didn't know you were here! Give Grandma Jessica some love, babies!"
There was some small look of embarrassment, but both teens hugged the older woman tightly once she placed the pitchers on the loaded table. It was very clear to Shinso that the two were regulars here. The two chatted with the elder for a bit to update her on what they did that day when the small pervert gained his attention.
"Huh… weird. I thought All Might wasn't doing sponsorships with food places anymore." Mineta mumbled as he ate a fry.
"Oh honey, he isn't. You don't see his name plastered anywhere on here." Jessica answers, hearing his question and turns to answer him. "He is a… shadow benefactor to my diner. He didn't want my old bones to turn to powder if everyone knew it. So I trust you all to keep this to yourselves, you hear?"
"Yes Ma'am!" She smiled and hugged Mina and Izuku once more before leaving to check on customers.
"Still amazing that your dad works for All Might, Yagi." Ochaco said as she polished off her chicken leg. The boy in question chuckled as he took another bite of his meal as he looked up to an old picture of All Might and David Shield posing for a camera at some diner.
"I don't like advertising that kind of stuff. Then again, All Might used to come by my school to help me out with my quirk, so it kind of became an open secret that my family was connected to him." Izuku sighed.
"He helped you with your quirk?! That's amazing!" Kaminari exclaimed, looking in awe at Yagi. "Why though?"
"It's a stress activating quirk." Izuku commented idly at his question, causing everyone to pale at his words aside from Mina.
"Holy shit." Mineta muttered, staring at Izuku with respect. "Damn, man. I know your quirk is strong, but enough to get All Might involved?"
"Thanks to misdiagnosis when I was younger, and being checked up by Recovery Girl, All Might took it upon himself to help and train me in hopes that when it activates that I wouldn't cause a huge problem when it finally does activate. Said it was similar in some ways to his own and he had trouble with it when he got it." Izuku smiled at the group. "Technically, I had my quirk for less than a year now."
"That's still amazing, Yagi!" Ochaco cheered, with the boys smiling at her attempt to cheer him up. "You've gotten really far in such a short time."
"Well… I had a lot of help." Izuku wrapped his arm around Mina, who only giggled and kissed his cheek. "Been training since we were kids to be honest. Gunhead was a big help when we were younger… him and Disco."
"Yeah." Mina gave a forlorn smile at his words, placing her head on his shoulder.
"Gunhead? The Battle Hero?" Shinso questioned, "Geez, no wonder you guys are so good at combat. You've been training under him for most of your lives."
"Not really. I mean, he did teach us a few things, but most of our combat styles were based on our Teachers." Mina held up her hand to count them off. "Gunhead taught us the basics, CQC stuff, but Disco taught us Capoeira and her Dad took over when she was taken from us. We have also been trained in other martial arts too for the last few years so we got a lot of stuff under our belts to rely on."
"Jeez, I only know a few defensive things." Kaminari muttered, with Mineta only shaking his head in lamentation.
"You think you have it bad, look at me!" Mineta cried out, holding on to one of his balls. "I'm a midget! The only thing I have going is my quirk!"
Shinso grimaced, looking down at his hands and arms before looking at Mina and Izuku. He had no question in his mind that even if all four of them attacked at once without quirks, they would mop the floor with them with very little effort. Ochaco was also of similar mind if her face was anything to go by, from what he can tell.
"That's quitter talk!" Mina exclaimed, standing up and causing the entire diner to look at her, but she trudged onwards. "What you need is exercise… and maybe a lot of training. UA is not going to start for a while now, so this is your chance to build up your bodies. I mean… Come on! I'm sure we all passed the test!"
"I didn't." Shinso raised a hand at this, causing everyone to look at him. "I only got one point, and that was thanks to Yagi helping. I know I failed."
Both girls gave him looks of sadness, but he only gave them a weak smile and waved them off. "It's fine. Like you said, I need training and I know my academic testing went well so I can still be in the General Course. I just need to do well enough in the Sport's Festival and I have a chance to make it into the Hero Course."
"That's the spirit!" Mina crowed, she then fished out her phone and held it out to everyone. "Everyone, give me your numbers and I can send you guys the address to Gunhead's Agency. It also doubles as a gym and training center! Me and Izuku tend to go every day to talk to the heroes there and get some exercise in!"
Shinso blinked a bit before chuckling and pulled out his own phone. "Sure. I might as well start trying."
[Present]
Shinso blinked from his memories as a knock sounded out from his door. "Come in."
"Hitoshi." His mother came in, a small smile on her face. "It arrived."
His breath hitched as he stared at the envelope in his mother's hands, taking it gently before a frown appeared on his face at the weight.
"Do… Do you want me to leave you alone?" she asked, gazing upon her son's face as he stared at his possible future in his hands. For a long moment he said nothing before giving her a weak smile and patted the bed for her to sit on. She gave him a warm smile as she sat next to him as he opened the letter, blinking at the small device as it slipped from it into his palm.
Both mother and son stared in confusion before setting it down on the nearby desk and began to pull out the papers that were within the letter before yelping in surprise as it activated.
"Greetings, Hitoshi Shinso!"
"I am Principle Nezu! Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear! Who knows!"
Shinso stared at the image of the mouse-like creature, wondering what the hell was happening with his mother looking at the device with wonder.
"I am here to inform you of your results of your test into our esteemed school!" The image of Nezu pulled up a piece of paper and looked it over with a smile on his face. "For the academic portion of the test, you performed quite well, scoring in the 85th percentile of the entire applicant pool."
Shinso felt his mother tighten her grip on his arm, a smile on her face as kissed his cheek at his accomplishment.
"However…"
'Ah, there it is. The other shoe.' he thought to himself in a rather critical tone.
"During the physical portion of the testing, you only scored One Villain point. Thus you fall far short of the requirement of the Hero course."
"Oh… Hitoshi." he felt his mother give him a big hug, and it took him a moment to not tear up at the news.
"I kind of figured…" He muttered.
"Still, Villain points are not the only thing we counted during the test. There is a hidden point system we do not state during the examination. They are called Rescue points! And you managed to impress us!"
He blinked as an image of him helping Ochaco as best he could to escape from being pinned under the rubble, a small gasp escaping from his mom as she saw robots attempting to attack him only to be thwarted by another student.
"For this, we award you 30 Rescue points! Still not enough to gain entry into the Heroic Course. But…"
Shinso stared as the Principal gave him a warm smile as he held out his arms. "You have gained our attention. Keep going on this path, Hitoshi Shinso, and we will welcome you into the Hero Course. But first, you must stand tall and proud as a student of the General Course. Show us that you have the drive to become the hero you wish to be!"
Shinso felt the tears in his eyes, all the while his mother hugged him deeply for getting into UA, his thoughts drifting back to Mina's word of not giving up. He smiled as he hugged his mother and said with a voice filled with confidence.
"It's okay Mom. I know I will get in, one way or another, I will become a hero."
[Minoru Mineta]
Mineta huffed as he performed the squat exercise, trying to get his legs and core into shape. A good amount of sweat covered his body before he gave a small groan and fell onto his back.
"Huff… Huff… Oh… man this is hard work. But… I have to do this!" Mineta moaned as he covered his eyes before looking up at his ceiling. He remembered he was in this same position earlier in the week after trying out the first time.
(Couple of a days after the exam)
Mineta fell onto his back, moaning in pain as he only managed to do a few sets before the pain and exhaustion got the better of him. He looked 'up' from his position on the floor and saw the most perfect looking butt on a woman that was exercising on the squat rack, though his eyes were trained on the weights and nearly swallowed in a nervous matter as he counted the plates and added them up.
'Holy shit! That's almost 275 lbs!?'
"Way to go Inko!" the tanned woman next to her with a big smile on her face, horns framing her face as she helps the woman rack the weight.
"Way to go Mom!" Izuku called out, a smile on his face, and Mineta felt like his soul was leaving his body. The woman had green hair that was tied up into a ponytail and hung around mid-back, the tight workout gear left nothing to the imagination, as her entire body was toned but not to an absurd degree as she had softness in all the right places. She was perfect in Mineta's eyes with the right bust, waist, and butt size ratio; but those thoughts were violently smashed into the ground when the realization of whose mother that was.
"Thanks Izuku!" The woman, Izuku's mother, thanked him before she wiped herself with a towel before making her way towards Ochaco and Ashido who were playing with a baby with green and blonde hair.
Mineta couldn't recall when the woman showed up, but perhaps when he was busy dying in his vain attempt to 'go the distance' with his exercise. He took a gulp of air as Izuku turned to him and gave him a small smile.
"How do you feel?"
"Like someone repeatedly punched me in the gut and took some boards to my legs." Mineta said, Izuku chuckled at this, helping Mineta to his feet before turning to see Kaminari shuffled up to him with an exhausted look on his face.
"Dude… you guys do this all the time?" Kaminari complained, rolling his shoulders as his arms shook from doing a couple of sets on the bench press.
"This is not even a warm up for me and Mina." Izuku corrected, causing the boys to groan, "I mean, you guys are in much better shape than Shinso."
Both teens turn to see Shinso was with the girls, looking as close to passing out on the floor, completely ignoring the baby as she played with his scruffy hair with a look of concentration with Inko taking pictures of the scene with a giant smile. Mineta shook his head, looking back at the squat rack and stared at the weights on them.
"Geez, Yagi. How strong is your mom anyways? She has a strengthening quirk?"
"No. She gots… hmm…" Izuku paused for a bit, looking back at the weights and began to mumble a bit. The boys watched as his eyes widened a moment before looking towards his mother with wide eyes.
"What's up?" Kaminari asked, with Izuku shaking his head.
"Jeez, her weight increased again…" Izuku shook his head in amusement. "Unless you guys want me to bore you to tears, you guys remember I tend to go on long tangents when it comes to quirks."
"It's fine. Nevermind." Both of them said, with Izuku laughing at their blank looks as they recalled the last time they asked about quirks and listened to a twenty minute discussion that made them fall asleep on call with everyone else.
"Still, good job Mineta!" Izuku proclaimed, with Mineta shaking his head and looking up at him. "I figured that with your limitations, running and jumping might be best to build upon. Still, showing me that you can bounce on your balls to give you a bigger boost will definitely help you in the long run. You just need the legs and body to handle it."
"Hehe…" Mineta chuckled and rubbed his head, a warm feeling spreading from the praise, absently looking around while Izuku talked to Kaminari about his own training. He walked away from the group, taking the time to rest his muscles as he explored the agency. His eyes shifted to various heroes on the walls, one far more pronounced than the others. Every picture of her had a smile, and in more than a few of them, very familiar looking children were by her side with equally large bright smiles. It wasn't long before he found himself in a very colorful dojo, pictures of a much younger woman with an old man performing some sort of kick or some other martial arts, magazine covers with her smile being the center of it, and newspaper clippings with All Might of all people by her side.
He vaguely recalls the supposed scandal that happened between All Might and the heroine called Disco, but from some of the pictures on the wall it was clear that they were friends at the very least. He finally came upon a butsudan with its doors open, one that was well-taken care of, the image of the woman that was sitting on the edge of a building and looking out of the distance with a warm smile on her face. His eyes slowly took the entire shrine in, finding what to expect in one, with a bell and incense, but there was also a music player and a colorful rope that recognized from the belt on the old man in the pictures. He can feel there was a lot of care and love due to how well taken care of it was.
"Gah." He blinked as he felt something touch his leg, turning to see Izuku's little sister was clutching onto his shorts and trying to pull herself up, a look of determination, her face and her ears flat against her skull.
"How did you get here?" He asked as he gently helped her to her feet, a brilliant laugh escaping from her lips as she stood on two wobbly legs. He took a small step away, with the girl trying to keep upright and take a couple of shaky steps to keep up.
"There you are." He turns to see Ashido walk in, a warm smile on her face at the scene before her. "Jeez, so that's how it feels."
"What does what feel like?"
"A small child vanishing after looking away for a moment." Ashido laughed a bit as she walked up to them and held out her arms to the baby. "Come on, Makoda. Come to Mina."
The baby giggled as she turned away from Mineta, taking a step before slumping to the floor and began to crawl towards her with gusto. Ashido picked her up when she reached her and began to speak nonsense to the baby, which only gave a small giggle in response. Mineta smiled a bit before looking back at the butsudan, taking note of the name of the heroine and being similar to the child's name.
"She died when we were ten years old." Mina said quietly, startling Mineta from his musing. "It was… hard on our family."
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing he could say, and it felt lame all the same. Ashido only gave a sad smile and nodded.
"Five years and it still hurts…." Ashido murmured, a small smile appearing on her face as Makoda gently touched her face with a look of confusion. "I hope we make her proud when we become heroes."
"That's a lot of weight to carry." Mineta whispered out to her, Ashido only giving him a firm nod at his response.
"It's one that me and Izuku willingly carry… We have to." Ashido muttered outloud before hefting Makoda up and walked out the dojo, Mineta taking a moment to look around the dojo before heading back to join the rest of the group.
(Present)
"Minoru! Your letter has arrived!" He heard a call from downstairs, with the short teen quickly making his way down to pick up the acceptance letter and going back to his room after a short talk with his mom and saving what he plans to do next once he knows his placement.
He sat down at his desk, staring at the bulky letter with some trepidation, unsure if he actually wanted to open the letter. He thought long and hard about the test, his mind conjuring up many reasons on the whys and hows during the test and the results he probably got.
Especially after meeting Ashido and Yagi, seeing the two teens being far better at being heroes than he ever could be, he took a deep breath and tore open the side of the letter and out popped a small device in his hand. He blinked several times as he examine the odd thing before placing it on his desk and began to pull out the letter inside the envelope, when the device whirred to life and projected an image.
"I AM HERE! AS A RECORDING!"
"Gah?!" Mineta yelped and nearly fell from his chair as he stared at the floating image of All Might, laughing in his usual way as he presented himself to Mineta in his usual bombastic way.
"Hello Minoru Mineta, surprised to see me? HA! You should be! Though you should probably get used to seeing me around more often this coming school year, since I will be one of your teachers!"
Mineta sat frozen in his seat, unable to believe that All Might was going to be one of his teachers.
"Now then, let's proceed to the scores, shall we? Minoru Mineta, you managed to score very well in the written exam, nearly in the 95th percentile range, which is incredible young man!"
Mineta felt pride spring up in his chest at All Might's words, hearing the number one hero of Japan complement him felt amazing!
"But let's not get too hasty now, as we still need to get to the true portion of the test you took to see if you had the chops to be a future hero in the making!"
Mineta watched as a scoreboard showed up from behind All Might, with the hero standing aside to show the results.
Total Points:
1. Izuku Yagi: 89
2. Mina Ashido: 79
3. Minoru Mineta: 42
3. Katsuki Bakugo: 77
4. Eijiro Kirishima: 39
Mineta blinked in confusion at seeing his name tied for third place when he had a lower score than that guy. He was not surprised to see the two familiar names taking first and second place at all, though the guy he tied with for third came pretty close to Ashido's score.
"No doubt you are slightly confused at seeing this score! Fear not, since this is not a mistake! Not only is the school seeing if you have the chops to fight villains, but we are also looking out for those that help others in their times of need! Like here!"
Mineta watched a past version of himself jump onto Ashido's back in an vain attempt to stop her, watching as he clung tightly to her all the while throwing as many balls as possible to slow down the horde of robots trying to rush them. It cut to another scene where it showed him racing around the main platform of the to stop many of the robots from climbing on board to help the Zero-Pointer, not truly stopping many of them, but definitely slowing them down enough to give Ashido the time needed to bring the Zero down for good, no doubt saving many of the students from its rampage. He winced as he could see the tears streaming down his cheeks along with a good amount of blood as well, giving him a look of a person fighting for his life.
Suddenly, he was glad his mother wasn't here watching, because she would have been smothering him to see her baby in such a way.
"While you may believe you did not do much to stop the Zero-Pointer directly, you did give another prospective student time needed to do the actual deed! That shows true guts to face something beyond what you are capable of! A mark of a hero in the making!"
Mineta felt his breath hitched at All Might's words, his heart pounding in his chest as recalled the event with crystal clarity. Seeing all those robots trying to climb up and stop them, him running ragged and his scalp on fire as he kept throwing as many of his sticky balls as he could to just give them more time. The feeling of relief at seeing the Zero-Pointer falling apart with Ashido doing a victory pose as the time ran out.
The laughter he shared with her at a job well done for doing something so out of his wheelhouse and succeeding in accomplishing it.
Tears pricked at his eyes as All Might gave him a warm smile, clearly proud of him as well as he pointed at the scoreboard again as it changed to reflect a new score.
Total Points:
1. Izuku Yagi: Villain- 89/ Rescue- 72
2. Mina Ashido: Villain- 79/ Rescue- 68
3. Minoru Mineta: Villain- 42/ Rescue- 35
3. Katsuki Bakugo: Villain- 77/ Rescue- N/A
4. Eijiro Kirishima: Villain- 39/ Rescue- 35
"U.A. is a school for heroes. Therefore, we should also count what constitutes what truly being a hero means. To save lives. Rescue points! You earned 35 of them! You had more than enough Villain points to pass into the hero course, but the Rescue points put you into third place! Congratulations Minoru Mineta…"
The tears were now flowing freely from his eyes as he heard the words that had far more meaning now.
"Welcome to your Hero Academia."
[Somewhere in Chiba Prefecture]
"WHO THE FUCK TIED WITH ME!? AND WHO ARE THESE TWO EXTRAS WITH BIGGER SCORES!?"
"SHUT THE HELL, BRAT!"
Everyone who lived near the house that was currently going through what sounded like an explosive argument of epic proportion only sighed in annoyance. They all got used to it by now, and no amount of requests ever seem to stick, especially with the loud blonde teen that lived there.
Eijiro grumbled as he stared at the house as he walked by, annoyed at hearing the familiar shouting of the resident 'Ace' student that the teachers took to sucking up for whatever reason. Still, he hoped that he wouldn't have a class with him, he didn't think he could handle another year of Katsuki Bakugo.
-End-
A/N: Sorry sorry! I know this is super later, but a lot of things came up and I had to get a handle on them. I have been working on it, on and off, and I don't quite like ending it here, but I feel like this might be a good stopping point. I will also work on the next chapter as soon as I can. We are about to hit the beginning and I hope everyone can forgive the long wait!
-Red
