Chapter 8: Entrance Exam
It was February. Entrance exam season. Hitoshi and Izuku strolled into UA like they owned the place. Ituna already had his exam for the support course. The gates were crowded with hopeful students in middle school uniforms. The duo from 3E was wearing tactical gear they received from the military to assist with their training. The UA entrance exam let you bring whatever you wanted to the practicals, so the two were armed to the teeth. Not that the random middle schoolers around him needed to know that.
The UA written exam was child's play compared to the ridiculous tests Kiniguigokua conducted. The middle school tested its students to the point it was borderline torture, and Izuku was all but a certified genius. Nezu was baffled by the near-perfect score from the boy and similarly confused by the almost-as-good score from Hitoshi. The tests were designed to be impossible so that he could gauge precisely where all the students were academically. Yet here were these students, almost getting perfect scores on the impossible test.
Hitoshi and Izuku were split up for the practical exams, so a team-up was off the table. Izuku made his way to his testing zone and double-checked his armaments. He had high-powered cattle prods intended to shortcircuit the robots, a hunting knife, some rope, a grappling hook, and a crowbar. He wanted to bring some explosives, but Koro Sensei had forbidden it for "safety" reasons. Hitoshi had guns instead of cattle prods.
A few students caught Izuku's attention: a blue-haired kid with glasses and exhaust pipes in his calves, a girl with a bright smile and strange finger pads, and some sparkly French guy. Izuku stood directly in front of the gate as if glaring a hole through it. His hand drifted to the cattle prod, pulling it out of its holster. He was turning the device on when a hand gripped his shoulder.
"Hey, are you allowed to have that?" The blue-haired kid robotically chopped his hand in the air while he talked to Izuku in a chastising tone. "Does it have something to do with your quirk?"
Izuku glared at the boy, then changed it to a sickly sweet smile after realizing it was the kid that interrupted Present Mic during the debriefing for the test. "Wow! First, you interrupt a teacher, and now you're distracting one of your fellow participants? Are you even taking this test seriously? How unbecoming of a hero hopeful." Izuku quoted a few things he said to a kid who was a stuttering ball of nerves during the debriefing.
The boy was taken aback by the belligerent response. His hand motions became more aggressive, but he was too shocked about his own words being used against him to form a proper retort.
The boy managed to scoff before the gates opened. Then Izuku launched into the fake city hosting the exam, ignoring the boy's protests. The streets were littered with robots which Izuku dispatched with electric shocks from the cattle prod.
The teachers in the observation room watched in awe as their two hero applicants from Kiniguigoka took down the robots with brutal precision. They hopped from rooftops and robotic corpses with practiced grace and brandished their weapons like seasoned pros. "So… is that kid allowed to have guns?" a skinny blonde man in the observation room asked.
UA's principal, a… rat, mouse, bear? (doesn't matter, he's the principal)… UA's principal Nezu turned from the screens of the observation room to look at the skinny man with his beady eyes and unnerving smile. "There are no restrictions on the gear students are allowed to bring. Within reason, of course, but it would be illogical to ignore skills that aren't quirk related."
"I see…" the man said.
Suddenly, Nezu slammed a paw onto a bright red button. The cities shook as the massive zero-pointers began moving. The sadistic principal cackled as the examinees ran from the skyscraper-sized robots in utter terror. Then it was those kids from earlier, one with green hair and one with purple. The purple-haired one was quite impressive. He took charge of the situation and organized a proper evacuation.
The greenette seemed far more reckless, but his every move was thoroughly thought-out. The kid rushed to a girl trapped under some rubble and pulled out the crowbar strapped to his back and his rope. He tied the rope around a nearby streetlight and the chunk of concrete that pinned the girl. He used the crowbar and the makeshift pulley to extricate the girl. Carefully, to not further injure the girl, he carried her away from the incoming monstrosity Nezu called a robot. His ingenuity piqued the principal's interest, and his blatant heroism impressed the skinny blonde man.
Two weeks later, the UA acceptance letters were delivered. Much to his mom's chagrin, Izuku decided to open his letter at school with Hitoshi and Hawks. He was buzzing with anticipation as Hitoshi opened his letter. The sudden projected form of Eraserhead startled the trio, causing Hawks to squawk in surprise.
The projection began speaking in a tired voice. "Hello, Hitoshi Shinsou. Congratulations on placing first in the practical portion of the entrance exam. You had the third most villain points out of all the participants. However, there is a second part of the exam. Rescue points are awarded to those who help their competitors and rescue them from dangerous situations. Your evacuation plan earned you many of these points and pushed you into first place. Welcome to the Hero Course. I'll see you in class 1A."
The projection closed, and a few pages of important information were included in the envelope. Then the attention shifted to Izuku and his sealed envelope.
"I AM HERE! As a projection!" the booming voice of All Might played from the device. "Congratulations on passing the entrance exam!" The trio shared a questioning glance before the number one hero continued. "You placed first on the written portion of the exam and second in the practicals. The points you gained from taking down robots were quite impressive, but you really shined in the hidden portion of the exam. Your quick thinking saved one of your competitors in the face of imminent doom. Welcome to Your Hero Academia!"
The recording ended, and Izuku noticed a message on the bottom of the projector. Please come to UA this Saturday at 10:00 am. Bring this projector. "That's strange," Izuku thought out loud. Hawks took the device to examine it, Hitoshi looking over the pro's shoulder to get a peek.
"Well, isn't that strange?" Hawks murmured.
"We should totally bug you. I want to know what they want with you." Hitoshi interjected.
"We can use one of my feathers," Hawks suggested.
"That would work. I was planning on spilling the beans anyway," Izuku added.
