Chapter 4: Not enough time
It's been a day since the mall incident. The media still has not yet settled down from the high of the mysterious prince entering a hero-oriented institution. As for the said young prince, the time for him to hone his powers and get used to his magic is greatly needed.
"Put your back into it! Not only your hands!"
As the sun begins its steady ascent, the once-blue morning light of the sky has taken on a warm orange tone. The abandoned beach of the once-beautiful, now trash-covered Takoba Municipal Beach Park is finally having its first three visitors for the first time in years. Aizawa and his new blue tiny floormate are keeping an eye out on the young freckled prince's performance as well as his spell casting with the aid of the magical shield.
It wasn't long before the young prince decided to hone his magic for the second time. The tiny blue companion made Aizawa aware of the reason why Butterfly seemed hesitant to practice in his apartment, and suffice it to say that it's dumb luck that Aizawa stumbled upon the trash heap beach park three days ago while on his nightly patrol.
Aizawa is still in understanding as to why Izuku is jumpy and weary about mutants; it is easy to say that Aizawa wasn't too keen on it since this misplaced fear will be detrimental to the star-freckled prince's focus.
It was by chance that he caught the tiny man rummaging through his fridge after his late-night patrol yesterday. The unkempt man, of course, wasn't surprised by the litter around his kitchen, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it. He didn't spend three days cleaning his dusty apartment just for a new mess.
"If you're that hungry, at least don't make a mess." He murmured. The unkempt man looked around his messy kitchen in dissatisfaction.
"You have a high-paying job and no pudding." Glossaryck mumbled in disappointment. Even already knowing that there's none of his favorite food in the fridge, he's still continuing his quest by rummaging around.
Aizawa sighs in frustration, but he didn't have time to argue at 2 a.m., and waking up the young prince at such an ungodly hour is disrespectful and a waste of energy to walk out of his room and see an adult battle a tiny man. The scruffy man understands the value of sleep, especially coming from him. But that's not his main concern right now; he finally got a chance to speak with Butterfly's magical instructor.
"Can we talk?" Aizawa is going straight to the point; he's not wasting any idle chatter nor being subtle about the topic that will start at hand.
Of course, Glossaryck is not surprised that he wanted to have a little chat with him. He knew it was inevitable and that keeping Mewni's history hidden from a seasoned professional hero would be futile. So, he chose the easier option. The small man began to gently float to the living room, and soon the unkempt man followed behind at a quiet pace.
"Don't be offended or anything, but his people are far behind compared to this world." Glossaryck lightly warned as Aizawa nodded, taking the small man's heed into consideration. This ponders the question of how far behind the time in the young prince's kingdom is; does this also equate to what kind of ideals and beliefs that his people have against looking out of the ordinary? He's unsure.
It didn't take that long, as they both took a seat. Well, Aizawa took a seat on his couch as Glossaryck continued floating on the air. But before the unkempt man spoke a word, the small blue man snapped his finger, and a poof of glittery smoke appeared as a children's book materialized from nowhere.
The unkempt man didn't recognize the small book. The book's cover depicts a castle, and Aizawa deduced from that image that it is the young prince's home. The book is small, but it's rather dense. The unkempt man wishes the story was not long enough for him to catch the morning dawn.
"In this pop-up book, summaries of mewman's history as well as the monsters." Glossaryck said as he elevated the small book towards the unkempt man.
Aizawa took the small story book on the air and read the bold title above the picture of a castle. "Mewnipendence day?" He questioned; he wasn't sure if the blue small magical man was pulling his leg with this or if it's just how the title is; he wasn't amused by its pun of mixing mewni and independence together, but after hanging out with certain jokesters in his life, he's gone numb by it.
The pop-up book automatically opens itself as Aizawa watches an image of what seems to be a forest hill and, beside it, a small boat on the side.
"Mewnipendence day." Glossaryck said in a whimsical voice which did not colorate with what expression the tiny blue man was wearing.
"A long time ago, arrived the first settlers of Mewni… Modest people with noble pursuits: Life, Liberty and Corn..." As the small man explains, he pulls the arrow drawing, which reveals a hidden picture of residences, the castle, and corn? Aizawa takes into account the addition of corn to the story, which is unusual, but he continues to listen to him.
"But the wicked monsters rose up and attacked the innocent Mewmans to re-steal Mewni for themselves. So the Queen used her magic to turn the simple peasants into a fearsome army! And there was fighting… fighting-fighting-fighting-fighting-fighting..." Glossaryck levitates the book towards him whilst reading a page for a brief while. The following image depicts a queen and a few peasants. But it didn't last long since the tiny blue man, no pun intended, glossed over some war-related pages, making the unkempt man suspicious.
"The Mewmans won!" Glossaryck makes firework sounds with his mouth as he approaches the presumably final page, which displays the present day of the butterfly kingdom and its small environment, as well as miniature celebratory fireworks.
The unkempt man continues to query and is dubious of the skipped section of the story. He grabs the book from mid-air and flips it back to the pages he skipped. The tiny blue man accepted it as a means of escape from Aizawa and returned to the kitchen; if he can't eat pudding, he'll have to create it from the ground up.
Page after page, flip after flip, Aizawa soon realized that there's something missing to the story of what has been told in the book. He wasn't a history teacher nor a historian researcher, but he knew that there were two sides to the story.
He's an underground hero; Aizawa had learned not to accept things at face value. He heard different stories from different perspectives; from villains, civilians, and heroes alike. He's open-minded enough not to jump to conclusions without adequate context, and it appears that way in this short book that is offering minor details concerning the fight between mewmans and monsters.
He flips over the pages again and again, ensuring that he doesn't miss any detail that would raise suspicions, looking for missing material that could shed light on the true nature of the conflict. However, the search yielded no results. The book could be classified as a children's book due to its pop-up book design, visual appeal, and pastel color scheme, aside from the part about war.
He groans in exhaustion and places the book on the shelf, where it will most likely be forgotten and collect dust. The unkempt man saunters to his room for some well-deserved rest. God, he's exhausted—a hero by night and a teacher by day. With the examination approaching, he feels that his life is slowly sucking out of him, and he may allow it to happen if the applicants have nothing to contribute for the UA entrance exam. However, with the appearance of a foreign prince, Izuku Butterfly, who comes from another plane of existence, enters the exam. The future is truly unpredictable.
As the day came, the three individuals headed towards the Takoba Municipal Beach, Aizawa holding the front of the huge book of spells as Izuku took the back end of it. On the way there, Aizawa questioned the young prince which spells he could use in a combat situation, to which the star-freckled prince responded in an enthusiastic tone as they placed the large heavy magic book of spell with Glossaryck in toe, on top of the cemented table.
"There's a lot of spells, especially from my great-great-great grandma Crescenta Butterfly!" Izuku replied cheerfully, opening the book and flipping over the pages until it came to a neat handwriting.
Aizawa examines the spell names and is astonished to see that they are written in Latin. He wondered if Latin was a universal language if an alien, such as the prince or his ancestor, knew the language, but he quickly dismissed the idea because it sounded ridiculous, especially since he had noticed other spells from different queens have normal names earlier before the star-freckled prince flipped the pages.
He attributed it all up to the young prince's grandmother's personal preferences in choosing the name of the spells or tradition within the royal family. As a practical and pragmatic hero, Aizawa was more interested in the functionality and effectiveness of the spells rather than their names.
"Oh… you done it now, prepare yourself." the unkempt man heard Glossaryck's warning from his left side, Aizawa turn his head to look at the tiny floating man in confusion, it doubles his confusion when he spotted Glossaryck's ears are now covered with a small earmuff that is an exact size to his pointy ears. It was then that he heard a familiar muttering voice.
"There's a lot of spells that are offensive; great-great-great-great grandmother Crescenta and great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother Skywynne have useful spells that have powerful damage attacks. Brutum Fulmen creates thunderbolts that shock the enemy, which is useful in a fight, but what if the enemy has resistance to electricity? Not only that, but what if they can absorb the electricity? That would be such a gamble. I could use the Levitato spell to pick up the enemy in the air; however, it cannot restrain them, meaning that they are still capable of attacking relentlessly while airborne. It would be more practical if it did, but it's still effective in combat. Plus, I could use the environment to my advantage, but does that count as property damage? Raspberry Ribbon Lasso is also a good spell for capturing and detaining an enemy; however, it's only singular, meaning that I could only latch on to one person at a time, not multiple, which is a disadvantage of its own when dealing with multiple targets at a time-"
Izuku continued to mutter a mile a minute about the practicality of the spell, completely engrossed by it to the point that he's utterly oblivious to the two people watching him ramble on and on of 'ifs and buts'.
Aizawa stopped listening halfway about the spell called Levitato as the muttering speedups and it's barely coherent for him to understand. The young prince's muttering is like bugs buzzing to his ears the longer he overelaborating his lineage's spells. He turns his attention back to Glossaryck who is now just clipping his toenails midair. "Is he always like this?" Aizawa inquired the tiny blue man, to which the magical instructor shrugs nonchalantly.
"Izuku has an annoying habit of externalizing his insights via constant muttering. He's even worse when he's watching hero stuff; he's creative when it involves complex battle strategies, all thanks to the self-defense training he was taught by the royal guards. There's nobody who is better at spouting word vomit; than this kid." His tiny blue floormate replied, as if he had heard what Aizawa said despite still wearing the small earmuffs on his ears.
"Self-defense…" The unkempt man narrowed his eyes. Now that he thought about it, it wouldn't surprise him if the prince is trained to safeguard himself, given that he has been handed the magical heirloom that, in the wrong hands, possesses the power to effectively accomplish anything. Aside from that, he wants to see how well he can fight with it.
Aizawa snapped his finger in front of the young prince's eyesight, causing him to yelp from surprise, forcing Izuku to look up from the magic book of spells and notice the unkempt man. This causes the young prince to feel mortified that he essentially ignores his caretaker and that he completely forgot that he wasn't alone in his room back at Mewni.
"I-i'm sorry mister Aizawa! I got li-little distracted analyzing the book of spells again! I didn't mean to ignore you!" Izuku nervously exclaimed, sweat beads rolling down the star-freckled prince's face. Oh god why did Izuku get so distracted so easily when it comes to this! The UA entrance exam is starting tomorrow and here he was ignoring one of their faculty members!
Aizawa dismisses Butterfly's concern, as that is not what he is interested in hearing. "No need for it, that's not the main issue I want to tackle, Butterfly. How good are you at fighting?"
The star-freckled prince ponders the unkempt man's question, recalling how the knights of Mewni mostly Sir Scarsguard taught him combat strategies, martial arts, as well as wilderness survival in the event of an emergency, as requested by the anxious queen, which is actually more of a backyard camping trip.
"Pretty well enough i think, I've been trained by my old bodyguard Sir Scarsguard when I was 10 at the time. So, I know a few things or two about hand-to-hand combat." Izuku answered.
Sir Scarsguard is a gruff, vicious, and fearsome warrior of Mewni who has been with the star-freckled prince since he was born. He'd known the knight for a long time, as the guard watched the prince grow older. The knight helped him find other forms of enjoyable activity besides isolating himself in his hero-themed chamber and viewing the same All Might's debut video over and over on his dimensional mirror. The knight had even assisted Izuku to train his physique and develop weight by the time he was 13 years old. And essentially warned Butterfly that being only flesh and bone made him appear weak and vulnerable to a gust of wind.
"I see..." Aizawa muttered. The unkempt man descended the flight of stairs, his footsteps left imprints on the sandy beach. He strolls a few steps ahead, With his aloof expression still intact, Aizawa turns his head back to look at the star-freckled prince, who's looking back at him with perplexity written on his face. "Get down here; time is wasted if you're simply standing around, get your shield and leave your book behind for now. Nobody hardly even visits this beach junk anyway."
Butterfly slips his arm to the armband of his forest green shield as he dashes down the flight of stairs, catching up with Aizawa, who did not wait for the star-freckled prince as they made their way to the center of the rubbish pile. Izuku is perplexed as to why they go to this beach. He's never seen dirtier, trashier beach waste than this.
He looks around the mountainous rubbish, which includes a washing machine, a refrigerator, tires, and even a bicycle that does not appear to be broken, with only one wheel missing in the front. He questioned why this beach was overflowing with garbage, and Aizawa responded before the star-freckled prince had a chance to convey his thoughts.
"I stumbled across this beach on my way back to my apartment, I'm not familiar with this so I did a little research on it." Aizawa said as kneel down to the sandy beach and he rummaged around the pile of junk. "This section of the beach used to be beautiful but it's been a complete wreck for the past few years. Because of ocean currents, anything dropped in the sea winds up here. People take advantage of this when they illegally dump their garbage. Locals now avoid this place."
Izuku was slightly upset to learn that this once-beautiful place was being destroyed by people's neglect. His subconscious remembers what he did to his mother's garden, which was once an enchanting and well-kept spot for her to rest, but is now reduced to ashes and soot. His free hand reflexively grabbed the golden edges of his shield as he recalled his mother's favorite place, which had been ruined as a result of his mistake in his magical shield practice. Despite his mother's forgiveness, the star-freckled prince could not do the same to himself.
"Heroes nowadays are focused on displaying and arresting villains. Things were different before quirks. The top priority was service. Now, you'll also do the same thing for your kingdom, which is to serve communities. Even if it was a little mundane." the unkempt man said in a calm tone. "You will restore the coastline for this entire section of the beach. That is the first step in your path to become a leader, Izuku Butterfly." As Aizawa finished his statement, the star-freckled prince realized what the unkempt man was plotting. He turns around and face to face with the junk around him and the beach.
"You mean, all this junk… but there's so much! It's impossible!" Izuku shriek. This beach?! Cleaning it all by himself?! It's absurd! This would take him months! No, years!
The unkempt man doesn't notice the young prince distraught as he returns his focus back at the star-freckled prince. "Butterfly, you came to this dimension with a purpose, yes?"
Izuku nodded his head. "That's correct, my mother enrolled me in UA to learn my magic; it's where the best pro-hero graduates are. I first learned about it when researching All Might back at Mewni." The star-freckled prince clenched his fist and stared down at his magical shield, which he had strapped to his left arm, with a slightly terrified yet primarily optimistic face.
Aizawa nodded. He returned his focus to the mound of garbage, his back to Izuku, and picked something up from the pile. "UA is the hardest hero course to get into, so that means…"
The star-freckled prince interrupts Aizawa as he realizes what's the finishing sentence. "That I have to prepare my mastery of spells really fast! The UA exam is tomorrow!"
"That's right." Before Izuku could ask if he could master spells within just a day, a crumpled soda can was thrown at his face. The star-freckled prince instinctively defended himself with his shield, which contacted it and bounced off to the sand, leaving an imprint of the can tumbling to the side.
Izuku turned back to face the person who hurled the can at him. Aizawa gave the star-freckled prince an apathetic glance before shifting to his throwing posture and returning to him standing up. "It looks like you can defend yourself adequately; however, you did not use a spell to stop the can. As I said before, UA is the hardest hero course to get into, which means you're going to use your magic, not only just your training in combat."
"I see…" Izuku nodded, he slowly lowered his shield to his side. Aizawa is right, he can't just only use wits in battles. He also needs his arsenal. He looked at the unkempt man in determination. Even though the young prince does not possess any quirk, he has his magical heirloom to act like one. He'll make sure that he's going to pass and enter UA, as he promised his mother back to his home dimension.
"RASPBERRY RIBBON LASSO!" A bright ribbon of light emerges from the star-freckled prince's red crystal in the very center of the forest green shield, latching onto the broken bicycle and pulling it off the sandy ground as it rises in the air and descends towards the back of the pickup car.
Izuku Butterfly has been practicing his magic for two hours. Aizawa began to examine the young prince's brief progressions; there wasn't enough time to teach him the spells, so the young prince agreed to do three spells in one day. Levitato, Brutum Fulmen, and Raspberry Ribbon Lasso.
"Brutum Fulmen!" Izuku yells, facing the shield at the small mound of garbage. A bolt of lightning struck the mound of garbage, shattering it into small pieces. However, the spell caused the young star-freckled prince to lose his balance, sending him hurtling towards a broken refrigerator, but before he's hit by the metal, a bind cloth quickly wraps around his body, halting the momentum and gently lowering the young prince to the ground, his bottom hitting the beach surface.
"You alright there Butterfly?" Aizawa asked, as he slowly walked towards the aforementioned teenager, his capture weapon returning around his neck. the young prince who's still sitting on the floor. His hand stretched out for the prince.
"Yep, I'm alright. I just need to keep my stance wide every time I activate this spell." Izuku took the hand and carefully stood up, staring at the unkempt man with an apologetic yet appreciative facial expression. "Thank you for catching me, mister Aizawa."
Izuku adjusts his shield appropriately on his arm, flexing his hold on the handle and strap to ensure it is tight enough. He returned his attention to Mister Aizawa, his guardian. The star-freckled knew little about the scruffy man beyond the fact that he was a faculty member and had a cat. The star-freckled prince considered his scarf to be an adornment. It's the fourth day of Sagnog, which means it's late February in this dimension, so wearing a scarf is suitable given that its still cold even though early spring is approaching. Is Aizawa a hero? His contemplation was cut short when Aizawa asked, "How about we take a lunch break? It's already 12."
As the scruffy man inquired, he pulled out a plastic convenience store bag that was plainly filled with goods. Izuku nodded as they quietly walked back up the steps, returning to the enormous magic book of spells they had left behind. The book automatically flips itself as the tiny living embodiment of magic floats up in the air and hovers towards the star-freckled prince.
"How is your training going, Izuku?" Glossaryck inquired as he perched atop the tangled green hair. The aforementioned teenager chuckles gently as he touches his star-mark cheek.
"Pretty good, though I need to work on my footwork if Crescenta's spells are that powerful." The young prince and the scruffy man sat on the cement seats. The unkempt man placed the plastic bag next to the book and took out four onigiris, two bottles of water, and a pudding, which the tiny blue man gladly accepted from Aizawa while Glossaryck sang the food's name as if it were a holy treat that descended from above.
"Sorry kid, I'm not used to cooking during lunch hour," Aizawa informed him as he handed the two onigiris and a bottle to the young prince's side of the table, which Izuku graciously accepted. "No, it's all right, mister Aizawa. I've never had this before, so it's a nice start for me."
Aizawa nodded as he tore the plastic wrapper off the onigiri and chewed into it. Izuku quickly followed, eating the unknown sustenance with his hands. The star-freckled prince's eyes opened as he tasted the tuna and rice. Eating this world's food is like going down a rabbit hole; he didn't want to depart from the tasty wonderland. Izuku isn't generally a picky eater. It was a habit instilled in him by his mother, but it loses its appeal when the cuisine at Mewni has the same flavor. Corn at every single meal. "Wow! It's delicious. It's quite savory, yet not too sticky for me to eat. Mister Aizawa, what's it called?"
"It's onigiri; it's just rice with fillings inside," Aizawa explained calmly, taking another bite. "It's usually a snack, but you can eat it for lunch or dinner."
"Onigiri… delicious!"
As Aizawa watches the young prince eat, he recalls the book above the shelf in his apartment. "Butterfly, may I ask? What is your kingdom's history with monsters?" he asks. The scruffy man decided to be direct about the matter at hand. Izuku is enrolling at UA, a school for students of all shapes and sizes who aspire to be heroes.
Aizawa needed to know if Butterfly could endure prolonged exposure to mutant students entering UA so that the mall incident would never happen again when he interacts with other individuals with unnatural outward forms. But also, he wanted to know if Butterfly had prior knowledge of his ancestors' history with monsters and about the war.
The question causes the star-freckled prince to halt his eating, putting down his half-eaten onigiri on the torn-up plastic wrapping. The unkempt man observed Izuku's behavior: swiftly changing his gaze, his hands nervously fiddling with each other. It reflects how he's acting back at the mall. While he wanted answers, Aizawa was patient, even waiting for the young prince to speak his mind.
The star-freckled prince took a breather and hesitatingly started speaking: "I don't know that much; my kingdom's history has been hazy with the monsters even before the first settlers arrived. They never have been explicit about how the war between Mewni and Monster started, and there's no point in searching the royal library since the first castle has been burned down to ashes."
Izuku sighs in dissatisfaction, the young prince is always hungry for knowledge, evidently with how many filled up pages of the Earth dimension's heroes in his notebooks throughout his childhood. So, knowing that the Mewman's history is burnt to ashes as a result of his careless ancestor did not sit well with the position he held as the next in line.
Aizawa took a moment to respond back to the star-freckled prince. Knew that this is a high request with someone who's dealing with fear of mutants, but it can't be helped if the young prince wanted to be what he's expecting towards himself if he keeps his walls up.
"Butterfly, I know it's hard for you to see or interact with my people with their mutation quirk, but you've got to understand that you're on Earth, not Mewni. Try to open up with my kind, and after you've acquired this, you'll be able to effortlessly talk to monsters and ensure that your mother's negotiation with them lasts longer."
The unkempt man pats the young prince's shoulder and gives him a small smile that Aizawa can manage. "This is not only for your own benefit, but also for your future peers who will walk into the same room as you. Can you manage that Butterfly?"
Izuku hesitated for a moment, unsure for himself if he could adjust to the notion that the idea of a prince from a different world standing where some individuals resembled what the Mewnian people feared and hated resided—is unimaginable. He's aware it wasn't that simple, However, he trusted Aizawa's judgment, and in turn, Aizawa had faith in him and his ability to overcome his perception of abnormality. The scruffy man assisted him so much in such a short period of time; how can he turn him down?
With a resolute nod and determination in the star-freckled prince's forest green eyes, the prince of Mewni knew that UA is a top hero academy in this dimension, where a hopeful teenager like him dreams of entering its gates and emerging as inspiring figures like those who came before them.
He recognizes that his role in the prestigious academy wasn't the same for those aiming to be heroes, but he's committed that for his people, his subjects, and his family, he is entering earth's most prestigious institution and coming out as what he envisioned. He's going to be a hero for them, a hero with a fearless smile and a leader of his people, the future ruler of Mewni.
"Okay, I'll do it!"
The warmth of the sun sets, the once bright blue hue colored in the sky turns into a beautiful orange, as the cotton-white sky becomes pastel pink. The garbage pile on the beach remains full of junk. However, the star-freckled prince quickly began grasping the spells—not as much, but still a minor improvement that Aizawa would overlook.
The Raspberry Ribbon lasso spell caused the young prince to fling himself with the junk a few times, resulting in sand on his face, Sure. Izuku utilized Levitato and was struck by one of the pieces of rubbish that were floating around. Okay, it's a minor setback. However, he couldn't say the same thing about Butterfly casting the thunderbolt spell.
Speaking of thunder, another huge explosion reverberated over the junk-filled beach, a blast of air caused by the force of the star-freckled prince's charge attack. Sand particles dance feet in the air; pieces of debris that blew into thousands of small pieces, along with the young prince, are now descending to the sandy ground. On instinct, Aizawa conjures up his captured weapon, rescuing the star-freckled prince from what's about to come or him about to fall flat at.
Aizawa gently let the young prince stand on the beach sand, the binding cloth unwinded from his body and returned back to the unkempt man's shoulders. The time is now 6 pm, the hour to begin making their dinner and return to the apartment. "Butterfly, it's time to go home."
This drives the Mewnian prince to panic. "What?! Seriously?! I haven't controlled most of the spells yet!" This realization made Izuku's stomach twist in knots, and dread permeated his body. The fact that he wasn't even close to being able to wield the spells successfully, combined with the fact that the UA entrance exam began tomorrow, made matters worse for the young prince, who began sweating bullets out of nervousness.
While the young prince of Mewni begins to panic, the unkempt man is not surprised by it. Frankly, Aizawa couldn't blame the kid for panicking with the entrance exam, just a hair's breadth from it, so Izuku's reaction wasn't an exaggeration.
However, if the star-freckled prince tires himself out from his anxiety, it would be a problem for Aizawa considering he is lugging not only Izuku but also the young prince's massive book back to his third-floor apartment. The scruffy man swiftly calms the young prince down by wrapping his binding cloth around his mouth, preventing him from yapping and regaining his focus.
"Look, Butterfly, it's getting late, and I think your floating tiny dictionary is getting antsy." As Aizawa pointed to the book, both males heard Glossaryck indignantly respond to the unkempt man's statements, "I heard that!"
"But—"
Izuku's words were cut off when Aizawa began dragging the young prince up the stairs. Butterfly wiggles in protest, still wrapped in the scruffy man's binding cloth. The young prince's quiet protests were proven unsuccessful, drowned out by the binding material that kept him from speaking. But the moment both males return and see his book, he knows it's over.
"Sooooo… ready to go home?" Glossaryck said in a cheerful manner, sitting on top of the book of spells in a nonchalant position. Aizawa unwrapped Izuku from his bindings as the cloth returned to his shoulder once more. The unkempt man pats the prince's bushy hair, attempting to express that everything is OK and not to worry, as he approaches the book and takes the front-end.
Izuku sighs in acceptance. He understood panicking wouldn't change what was going to happen tomorrow, so he proceeded to the table and took the other end of the book, assisting his caretaker in carrying it back to the apartment.
The walk back to the apartment usually took Aizawa 10 minutes long using his bind cloth to travel in midair, building to building, or even using his capture weapon to wrap itself around the book since it has the similar weight as an average man, making their walk back faster than their walking speed. But why would he? The young prince is unfamiliar with the world in which he is now living; at some point, Aizawa will not be present for Izuku's sake all of the time. Allowing the young prince to absorb and developing acquaintance with the surroundings would be Izuku's next step in his life, which he will soon pursue alone.
Izuku Butterfly did not sleep; no, that's an exaggeration. He did go to sleep around 1 a.m. in the morning, so that counts, right? He spent most of the time spacing out; he'd been forced to sleep by Glossaryck after Izuku spent his time lying in bed, dead of night, staring at the closed book of spells on the other side of the table. Naturally, Glossaryck was freaked out by the staring and promptly seized the prince's eyelids and closed them. He was so anxious about not becoming accustomed to his magic that he almost failed to fall asleep for the examination day.
The day of the UA entrance exam has finally arrived. The bright blue sky welcomed its lights, and a cold morning breeze spread out across the prestigious Hero Academy. Students from different middle schools, from private to public, marched towards the open gate. The influx of applicants and the chatter from different teenagers made things livelier as well as bustling.
The star-freckled prince finally arrived after Aizawa literally dropped him off from a nearby building, stating that he had to stay low-profile before leaving the young prince alone and sprinting up the hill of UA High. Aside from his caretaker's need to be discreet, Izuku is now dressed in a uniform to blend in with the crowd. Of course, school supplies were not the only items they purchased at the mall. While the main color scheme is primarily black, it gives him the same sense as wearing his regal attire, but it's better and easier to maneuver in.
The young prince was panting and had a little sweat dripping on his face. After sprinting, he paused briefly, grasping the strap of his new yellow backpack and his forest green shield tightly attached to his left arm. "Made it just in time," Izuku panted to himself. He's here; he's finally entering the gate of the Earth's prestigious academy.
The media have at least some decencies to stop their rampage at UA on the day of the exam for the applicants, but it doesn't stop the said applicants from murmuring about it. "So, do you think the white carriage will come today?" one candidate murmurs to his friend. "Maybe? Who knows? I don't see anyone wearing fancy clothes today." "I hope that the rumors about a prince are actually real!" one girl excitedly cheered. "It would be cool that I get to meet him in person."
Amidst all the rumors, the aforementioned young prince didn't hear the other teenagers murmur as he began to walk at a normal pace now, taking the building's image once again. Even though he already saw the UA high up close on his first day of entering this world. He is still amazed by the sheer size and intimidation it gives, marveling at its grandeur and the opportunity it presents. While keeping his head and eyes fixated on the academy building, his mind contemplates his spells, more specifically that lack of improvement.
He was so mesmerized by the sight of the UA building while pondering his preparation for his magic that he was caught off guard when a blonde student roughly bumped his shoulder. "Watch where you're going, you damn extra." The explosive blonde-haired teenager snarled and clicked his tongue. He didn't even look back as he proceeded to walk towards the building institution.
The young prince of Mewni is both startled and confused by the students' actions towards him, as he held his own shoulder when the blonde teenager bumped into him. It only stings a little, but over time the small pain went away.
Izuku is accustomed to antagonism from his dimension; while they never did anything violent or physically harm him, they normally avoided him. It is much more visible in different royalties across Mewni. Kings and queens made it a point to keep their heirs away from Izuku, ensuring that their sons and daughters did not interact with the son of a coward queen.
Izuku just sighs in relief that he's not back at his homeworld, hopeful that he doesn't get the same treatment as he did since no one in this earth dimension knew his existence or his status, making this his first fresh start, but also disheartened by the way the explosive blonde student acted towards him. He is aware that it was wishful thinking, but he wanted someone, at least his age, would talk to him.
He shakes his head, remembering that he's standing in the building where hopeful students' aspirations are becoming reality. He stared at his shield, the heirloom of many generations of rulers before him. With his mind resolved and emerald eyes filled with determination and passion. He got the butterfly family heirloom with a purpose; he's going to keep his oath that he agreed upon in his wand-passing ceremony, and he's not going to let anyone down.
But somehow, he let himself down by his feet, His step… is a trip. It hasn't yet begun or entered within the halls of the institution; he has already disgraced himself by tripping on his own two feet. He had already accepted that he would die. But before his face splattered on the cement floor. His momentum abruptly stopped; did he feel lighter?
He looked down and realized that he was floating?! A sudden sweet and bubbly voice inquires of the young prince, who is panicked and yelping that he has actually lost his footing. "Are you okay?"
Izuku stopped panicking as he turned to his left side and saw a short, auburn-haired girl with eyes that matched in color. The girl helped the star-freckled prince stand up right using her quirk. She released her power from the young prince now that he's standing on his two feet, clapping her hands together as Izuku felt that gravity return to his body.
"I stopped you with my quirk. I'm sorry I didn't ask first but… I figured you wouldn't mind me catching you." She spoke with a pleasant and cheerful smile on her face.
Emerald green eyes blink once and twice in dumbfoundedness. The star-freckled prince looked at the girl in a stupefied expression, but the girl didn't seem to mind as she continued. "Isn't this all, like, way nerve-racking?" Izuku flushed, as he tried to stammer out a sentence or a word to the short-haired girl in front of him.
"Well I guess I'll see you inside. Bye!" She bids the young prince goodbye as she turns and starts walking away from the star-freckled prince. Izuku, on the other hand, remained rooted to the spot, dumbfounded and taken aback. But not a moment later, His face slowly lit up with a silly smile. He not only got to interact with someone his age but also of the opposite gender! He never spoke to a girl before! He cannot believe it!
Inside the main auditorium, the young prince could feel the tension, excitement, nervousness, and anticipation from the whole room. The auditorium is jam-packed with applicants, and the star-freckled prince is having a hard time finding a spot to sit. He walked through the stairs, looking left and right for available seats.
After a few seconds of searching, he finally spotted one. He sighs in relief, but it didn't last long as a familiar, explosive mop of blonde hair was sitting next to the unoccupied seat. Izuku gulped down his own saliva and had his face sculpted in a fake imitation of a confident prince.
The young prince excuses himself and apologizes as he tries to walk over the available space while avoiding stepping on the applicant's feet. As he was finally at the seat, he couldn't help but ask the explosive blonde about the seat, despite his nervous voice. "U-um… excuse me but is this seat taken?"
The explosive-haired blonde doesn't seem to have been interrupted from his musing as he looks at Izuku with ire and annoyance. His fiery ruby-red eyes meet nervous emerald-green orbs. The blonde, explosive-haired teenager scoffed and looked the other way, refusing to respond to the young, confused Mewnian prince. But seeing that there's no other seat free, Izuku just took the seat next to the blonde, hoping that he wouldn't get any punishment for sitting next to him.
Unbeknownst to him, ruby-red eyes surreptitiously looked down at the object clasped in the star-marked boy's left arm. A support item? pathetic.
The lights in the auditorium switch on one by one, lighting up the center stage. A large screen begins to display a golden animated logo of UA High, and where a tall, slim man with long blond hair spiked high in a huge tuft behind his head wears a leather jacket with a speaker around his neck.
The vibrant man begins to speak in a boisterous manner. "What's up, UA candidates? Thanks for tunin' in to me, your school DJ!" His arms spread wide, his orange-tinted sunglasses looking at all of the applicants with a large and welcoming grin. His lively and dramatic character, together with the loudness of the man's speech, verbriated around the large auditorium, making his personality suited for his image. "C'mon! And lemme hear ya!"
The vibrant man clasped his hand to his ear, waiting for the candidates to respond back. But only meeting in silence, which makes the auditorium awkward. Of course, not all candidates are as enthusiastic as the noisy blonde man; apprehension is more apparent than anything. The bright man does not appear to be affected by any of it, as he attempts to keep the silence humorous. "Keeping it mellow, huh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, okay?"
The boisterous man posed again, giving off a rocking vibe. "Are you ready? Yeah!" Again, the vibrant man is given a silent treatment from the candidates. but not all of them.
The star-freckled prince's eyes twinkled with excitement, and his hands clasped around his mouth in recognition of the boisterous men in the center of the stage.
"Oh my goodness, it's the voice hero, Present Mic. So cool!" Izuku enthusiastically whispered his excitement at seeing the hip DJ hero in the flesh, giving off the same vibe as a child receiving his favorite toy on his birthday.
"I listen to his radio show everyday of the week in my interdimensional mirror! It's so crazy nuts that all the UA teachers are pro heroes!" As quiet as he could mumble to himself, other applicants began to stare at Izuku, giving him a weirded-outlook. Especially the explosive blonde next to him who is slowly getting antsy with how the star-freckled boy is getting on his nerves.
"This extra is so damn annoying…" but he wasn't the only applicant who found Izuku's admiration muttering annoying.
Present Mic continued his explanation speech. "Like your application said, today you rockin' boys and girls will be out there conducting ten-minute mock battles in super-hit urban settings!" The large screen from the vibrant man's back changed, showing the color-coordinated and alphabetical layout of said urban settings. "Gird your loins, my friends. After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center. Sound good?" Another wave of silence from the candidate. "Okay?!" Present Mic responds to him self's question with a boisterous tone.
The star-freckled prince examines his examinee card, looking at what position he has been allocated in the battle center. He was taken aback when the explosive blonde by his side began speaking. "I see. They're splitting us up, so we can't work with any of our friends," the blonde-haired teenager gruffly deduced.
Izuku looked at the explosive blonde's own examinee card and noted the same thing as him. "Yeah. You're right. Our examinee numbers are one after the other, but we're assigned to different battle centers,"the star-freckled prince replied, seeing the distinctions between his and the blonde's cards; nonetheless, the explosive blonde does not appear to be pleased with the young prince glancing at his card.
"Get your eyes off my card." The blonde remarked with annoyance as he glared at the star-cheek-mark teenager, even though he started and brought Izuku's attention to it in the first place.
"Okay, okay, let's check out your targets." The screen switches images to represent a little city building jammed into a small space. Three dark silhouettes of machines fade in, each with a different number, yet one letter remains constant. Present Mic continued. "There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty, so better choose wisely."
"Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo!" The vibrant man returned his attention back to the candidates with a word of warning. "But check it! Make sure you're keeping things heroic. Attacking other examinees is a big No-No, ya dig?"
"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question!" A student from three rows down from Butterfly stands up and raises his left arm straight in the air as he questions Present Mic with his troubling.
"Hit me!" The boisterous man pointed at the middle school student who asked a question as a spotlight came from the ceiling, directly putting the aforementioned student the center of attention with his question.
The tall middle school student, sporting a wide frame of glasses and short dark blue hair, flattened neatly down, pointed out his printed paper, showing the same robots as those shown on the large screen, but the difference between the print-out paper and the screen is that on the paper there is an additional black silhouette of a robot. The dark-haired teenager is discontent with the notion that such a highly regarded and prestigious hero academy made a mistake that they overlooked.
"On the printout, you've listed four types of villains. Not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable school. A mistake such as this won't do." The dark haired teenager changed his trajectory and pointed his finger at Izuku. "Additionally, you with the star marks on the cheeks!"
The star-freckled prince took a second to realize that the tall middle schooler was addressing him as he pointed at himself in confusion. "huh?"
The dark-haired adolescent frowns at Izuku, looking irritable. "You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."
"Sorry…" The young prince hastily covers his mouth, his stomach dropping in shame and humiliation as he hears other applicants snicker at the spectacle that unfolded. He really wasn't anticipating being back in the center of attention again.
Present Mic, noticing the star-marks applicant distress promptly calls all the attention back to him, alleviating the situation at hand. "All right, all right. Examinee number 7‐1‐1‐1. Thanks for calling in with your request." The boisterous Dj calmly smiles at the examinee, as he motions him to sit back down and gives him a thumbs up for spotting the missing component. Present Mic pointed his thumb back to the large screen as the missing silhouetted machine finally appeared.
"The fourth villain type is worth zero points. That guy's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way. There's one in every battle center. Think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's...kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it and focus on the ones toppin' the charts!"
While the dark-haired middle schooler bowed respectfully toward the voice hero, he nevertheless displayed some inconsideration by pointing out other teenager's unpleasant actions in public without hesitation. He sat back down again as the spotlight on top of him disappeared. Before the vibrant man wraps the exam orientation, Present Mic gives the examinees a small speech to end it in a nice bow.
"That's all I got for you today. I'll sign off with a little present. A sample of our school motto! As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down. "A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes." Mm‐hm. Now that's a tasty soundbite." As the boisterous man spread his arms out, the large screen shows an amazing short motion graphics of the school motto. "You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a Plus Ultra! Good luck! Hope you practiced hitting more than just books."
As the exam orientation ended, all of the applicants straightaway departed the auditorium, holding their cards as they made their way to the changing room. Chattering about how the other applicants perceive Present Mic's description of the exam as a video game and how it performs as such. Others brag about their unique quirks to the other students, saying how powerful their quirk is and such. Although some of the girls are focused on other matters, the star-freckled is so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he fails to acknowledge what they are discussing.
The changing room is separated by genders, left for the boys and right for the girls. The inside has a row of light amethyst-colored lockers upon lockers, and a bench right in the middle. As the young prince was about to enter the room, his feet stopped as a boy that was not much taller than him with the head of a crow approaching the same doorway as him.
The star-freckled prince's feet halted, his breathing became heavy, his hands and arms shook with fear, and his forest green eyes widened in terror while his feet remained on the floor. He is petrified. His mind goes dizzy as sweat drops flow from the young prince's cheeks; his body is in flight or fight response.
There is a monster within these hallways, and a monster roams freely throughout this building. Overwhelmed by disorientation, unsteadiness and an increasing sense of fear, an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Izuku's trembling left arm slowly rises, subconsciously gripping it with both hands on his shield. The pressure and stress are carved onto his fingers. There's a monster here. The creature will terrorize—
"Are you coming?"
The voice silenced the star-freckled prince's anxiety as he peered at the teenager with a raven head, who appeared perplexed and worried by Izuku's positioning as he asked the young star-marked boy in front of him. The young prince looked around as his dizziness subsided and awareness dawned on him.
Oh… that's right; he is in another dimension. Abnormality is considered normality in this plane of reality. Izuku was ashamed by how he acted when several applicants from the auditorium snickered at the young prince once more, but this time it wasn't even over his mumbling habit.
"S-sorry… I… i-i'm coming…" Izuku shakingly muttered under his breath, his head hanging low as he looked at his bright red shoes. The star-freckled prince remembered what he promised to Aizawa; he promised that he'd be open to his kind. Now, he almost blasted an innocent middle schooler because of his appearance. How can he be open to all if his instinct is to attack? Ironic; they say the heirloom signifies who you are as a person, considering how the royal family heirloom transforms itself into a shield.
The bird-headed teenager nodded as he headed to the changing room first, as Izuku soon followed later on. The star-freckled prince's nature against the monster-like appearance had been ingrained in him for a long time, and he knows that. He wasn't proud of it or pitying himself for it; he loathed the way he behaved. To be afraid of people's appearance? What a load of crap! They say don't judge a book by its cover; what the star-freckled prince does isn't even judging; it's his unwanted instinct.
He walked inside the changing room, decoding one unoccupied locker and putting his yellow backpack inside. He unzips the bag to get his clothes to change his middle schooler attire. As he retrieves the pale cyan tracksuit from his bag, a small piece of paper slips gently beneath his red sneakers.
Izuku's downcast gaze came to a halt when he observed the dropped folded paper. He looked around at the other applicants, wondering if they noticed or were the ones who had left the paper. After a while, with no candidates knowing of the young prince's confusion, Izuku kneels down and picks up the piece of paper, opens it to reveal what is written.
' What do you call a pudding with too much salt? I don't know.
—Glossaryck. '
The young prince chuckled softly at the letter, a small track of tear falling down from his face as he quickly wiped it off. The letter made him feel a little better about what transpired. Izuku deduced that Glossaryck put the folded letter to convey a humorous cheer-up message or a genuine question. He may never fully understand his small magical instructor, but he is grateful that he's always by the star-freckled prince's side, despite Glossaryck's claim that he has no side to follow.
Izuku, upon glancing at the bird-headed applicant, noticed the seriousness and concentration in his demeanor. The star-freckled prince pursed his lips; he lamented his behavior toward the bird-headed teenager. The star-freckled prince hoped it wouldn't lead to bad blood between the two of them. He still wanted to open out to mutant quirk individuals and perhaps someday make amends with the applicant for how he had acted previously.
Izuku quickly folds the paper again, putting it back inside his bag before shutting his locker and starting to change his school uniform attire into his secondhand light cyan tracksuit that Aizawa lent him. The Mewnian prince slipped on the tracksuit, feeling more at ease than in his middle school uniform, which now had sweat marks from his nervousness and earlier incidents.
A feminine voice from the speaker ceiling interrupted the exchange of words from teenagers with an announcement. "All applicants, please proceed outside and attend to your assigned battle center group as the bus transportations arrives. I repeat, all applicants, please proceed outside and attend to your assigned battle center group as the bus transportations arrives."
As the announcement concluded, all of the applicants filed out of the changing room, continuing to converse with one another, but the young prince marched ahead, preserving his distance from the earth's young inhabitants. The brief walk came to an end when all of the candidates gazed at the parked buses parked in unison.A recognizable boisterous voice reached the applicants' ears as they focused on the leather jacket, DJ hero, Present Mic.
"All right! Now that you all changed to more aerodynamic rocking outfits, all the candidates form into groups in alphabetical order from your specified battle centers! Starting with battle center group A to the right bus and battle center group G to the left!" As the voice hero instructed, all the applicants dispersed into groups and boarded the bus, overflowing with excitement, anxiety, worry, and all of the other sensations that they felt throughout today's most nerve-racking entrance exam.
After all, who wouldn't be anxious about Japan's prestigious hero institution? Since it is well known that UA academy has a notorious acceptance rate of 0.2%, making enrollment practically unattainable.
Izuku has an inkling that his legs are about to give up, or if someone touches him, he will collapse like broken glass. This is it; while he did not master his great-grandmother's spells perfectly, at least he'd have a decent number of points on the mock battlefield. He's well trained and knows how to defend himself from immediate danger.
What could go wrong?
Notes:
— Here is another chapter! So, let me explain why I'm uploading my story in random months. I wrote this crossover fic out of compulsion. When I first started writing this fanfic, I didn't have a clear plan. I was so thrilled about writing this story that I forgot that it was my first fanfiction to be posted here. So, while I can't promise to release new chapters every month, I will continue to write this crossover. Again, I am proud of this and have been contemplating more concepts for it. Thank you for being patient with me. 3