To say that the week between the entrance exam and when the results were received in the mail was tense would be a gross understatement. Izuku and Katsuki spent most of the week sparring more brutally to pass the time and expel their nervous energy.
Of course, Izuku told Katsuki and his father how he had successfully used his Ikari transformation to save Uraraka from the malfunctioning zero-point robot during the exam. While the latter was very proud and showed Izuku as much by smothering him with love – much like Inko inadvertently taught him – the former demanded that Izuku use it on him that instant.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Kacchan?" Izuku asked worriedly. "Yeah, I used it, but it's extremely powerful, and I don't yet have full control."
"You ain't ever gonna GET full control if you don't use it more, dumbass!" Katsuki jokingly swatted at his brother's messy green curls, his ever-present competitive grin slowly wearing down the half-Saiyan's resolve.
"I-I guess, but still…"
"While I would normally agree with you and promote exercising caution," his father said, "I'm siding with Katsuki this time. You cannot force the Ikari state, but you cannot be passive either. Katsuki is your best partner for gaining mastery of your transformed state, as your deep connection to him will most likely be able to override any primal instincts that would otherwise cause you to lash out mindlessly. If it would ease your concerns, I can attend your sparring sessions when using it."
Izuku mulled his father's words over in his mind for a moment.
"Alright. I'll do it, but one of you has to tell me if I get too into it, alright?"
/
Izuku cleared his mind as he readied himself to transform. He stood a reasonable distance from Katsuki on the beach while his father sat on a nearby refrigerator they planned to destroy when they were done. Katsuki had pushed his One For All percentage up to 12% and was standing at the ready.
The greenette opened his eyes and drew upon the primal energy in his core, letting the waves crash through his limbs and his head as he transformed. He snarled with a wild smirk while he bulked up, white lightning arcing across his muscles. He noticeably gained some height, hair standing on end just like before.
As the transformation completed, he let out an animalistic roar and flung himself toward Katsuki, throwing a punch the blonde barely had enough time to block with his arms in an X shape. The pure power behind the blow made Katsuki skid backward a few meters despite his best efforts not to.
Unlike in their previous spars, Izuku didn't give his brother a chance to counter on his own. Instead, he spun into a roundhouse kick aimed just below his ribcage. Only the years of training Izuku's father had put them through kept Katsuki from being taken down in two hits, jumping to the side and allowing Izuku's attack to whiff. As Izuku spun around, he fired a 10% Azido blast into his back.
While Izuku was forced away further by the attack, not even his clothes were damaged. He simply turned around with a feral, wide-eyed grin.
"I barely felt that!" He screamed joyfully, flying at Katsuki again and landing an unimpeded punch to his cheek, sending the blond careening away.
"This is amazing, let's keep going!" He flared his ki, a roaring yellow-green aura enveloping his body.
Katsuki pushed against the slight creaking of his body and summoned 15% of One For All as Izuku rocketed toward him again. He backed into a stance and launched himself at his brother, catching him off-guard enough to plant his foot into Izuku's abdomen.
"Kansai SMASH!"
Despite the powerful strike forcing Izuku to the ground, he landed on his hands and feet, his smile never leaving his face. His eyes took on an almost crazed glint that had Katsuki instinctively backing away.
"Shit…"
Before Izuku could launch again, Hisashi had flown in and kicked him in the head. The strike made his son faceplant into the sand, knocking him out of his Ikari form.
"I apologize, Katsuki. I probably should have intervened earlier. It seems we'll have to work more on the Ikari form than I expected we would have to."
Katsuki nodded wordlessly as his eyes drifted down to his unconscious best friend.
The silence persisted for a solid minute before Hisashi's phone vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the message.
"Looks like the letters came in." He told Katsuki as he deposited his phone back in his pocket. "Your parents are at our house with yours, you can just come with me. We will wait until Izuku recovers before we open them."
/
"Come on, Kacchan, open yours first!" Izuku jumped up and down excitedly, holding his letter in his hand.
"Alright, alright, cool your jets, nerd." Katsuki rolled his eyes and tore open his letter, a holographic disk projector falling onto the coffee table in front of both families. The projector turned on, revealing a huge All Might.
"I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"
"ALL MIGHT?" Both boys shrieked in unison.
"I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT CONTACTING YOU SOONER, YOUNG KATSUKI, BUT I'VE BEEN BUSY! YOU'RE LOOKING AT U.A.'S NEWEST STAFF MEMBER!"
"Oh my god, that's amazing!" Katsuki cheered.
"You bet! It'll be awesome learning more from him!" Izuku agreed.
All Might cleared his throat before continuing. "ANYWAY, I WILL BE IN CONTACT SOON. LET'S MOVE ON TO YOUR EXAM RESULTS! YOU SCORED AN IMPRESSIVE 96% IN THE WRITTEN EXAM, PUTTING YOU IN THE TOP 20 EXAMINEES ACROSS THE ENTIRE APPLYING BODY."
Katsuki pumped his fist as All Might took a moment to let him digest the info.
"IN THE PRACTICAL EXAM, YOU SCORED AN ALMOST-RECORD-BREAKING 97 VILLAIN POINTS! THAT ALONE WOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO GUARANTEE YOUR ADMITTANCE TO THE HERO COURSE, BUT WHAT HERO COURSE WOULD WE BE IF WE DIDN'T LOOK OUT FOR ALTRUISM?"
Katsuki raised an eyebrow in confusion while Izuku chuckled. Thankfully for the blonde, All Might didn't leave him hanging for long as the screen behind the hero glowed to life, revealing a short clip-show of Katsuki's virtuous actions during the exam.
"WE LOOK OUT FOR APPLICANTS WHO ARE DOING THEIR BEST IN NOT JUST COMBAT, BUT AS PEOPLE! KATSUKI BAKUGOU, YOU GET 30 RESCUE POINTS, GIVING YOU A TRULY RECORD-BREAKING 127 TOTAL POINTS AND GIVING YOU SECOND PLACE IN THE HEROICS ENTRANCE EXAM! WELCOME TO YOUR HERO ACADEMY! THE PAPERS THAT CAME IN WITH THIS DISK WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED BEFORE CLASSES BEGIN!"
The projection ended with a display of the top 10 scorers. Izuku's name was above Katsuki's, but his points were obfuscated. Katsuki cackled as he slapped his brother on his back. "Figures you'd still beat me, you nerd!"
Izuku smiled humbly, letting out a soft laugh as he tore open his own letter. He let the disk fall and turn on just as Katsuki had.
"HELLO YOUNG IZUKU! I AM HERE TO GIVE YOU YOUR EXAM RESULTS!"
"Interesting, he's changing it up," Izuku noted.
"I ASSUMED THAT YOU AND YOUNG KATSUKI WOULD BE TOGETHER FOR YOUR LETTERS, SO I WON'T MINCE WORDS AND GET TO YOUR RESULTS. IF YOU AND YOUNG KATSUKI AREN'T TOGETHER, THEN I APOLOGIZE."
Both boys and their parents had to laugh at All Might's blasé attitude to his potential mistake, even though it didn't happen.
"YOU SCORED 99% ON THE WRITTEN EXAM, GIVING YOU THE HIGHEST WRITTEN SCORE EVER ACHIEVED, SURPASSING EVEN THOSE WITH INTELLIGENCE QUIRKS! I'M NOT TOO SURPRISED, GIVEN YOUR FATHER'S SCHOLARLY CAREER, THOUGH."
Hisashi, for his part, smiled and ruffled his kid's hair. "So proud of you, kiddo."
"IN THE PRACTICAL EXAM, YOU SHATTERED MY OLD RECORD OF 98 TOTAL POINTS BY SCORING 114 VILLAIN POINTS ALONE! I EXPECTED NOTHING LESS! WHAT DID SURPRISE ME AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE VIEWING ROOM, THOUGH, WAS THIS DISPLAY OF STRENGTH!"
Once again, the screen behind All Might turned on, showing the Midoriya and Bakugou families' Izuku's utter obliteration of the gimmick robot. Katsuki wordlessly turned to his brother with a fearful yet impressed look in his eye.
"Remind me to never piss you off."
Even Hisashi looked on with shock. "My stars. I knew you surpassed me, but I couldn't destroy that thing so cleanly."
"FOR YOUR FLAWLESS EFFORTS IN DESTROYING THE MALFUNCTIONING GIMMICK BOT AND DOING YOUR PART IN HELPING OTHERS, YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN THE MAXIMUM 100 RESCUE POINTS, GIVING YOU A TOTAL OF 214 POINTS! YOU HAVE PLACED FIRST IN THE GENERAL AND THE HEROICS ENTRANCE EXAMS, SECURING YOU A SPOT IN THE HERO COURSE! WELCOME, IZUKU MIDORIYA, TO YOUR HERO ACADEMY! NOW, PRINCIPAL NEDZU TOLD ME A SECOND DISK SHOULD BE HIDING IN THE PAPERS YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN, AND HE HAS ASKED ME TO MAKE SURE YOUR FATHER WATCHES IT. I WILL SEE YOU AND YOUNG KATSUKI SOON!"
The projector turned off again after showing the top 10 scorers. This time, Izuku's score was shown alongside everyone else's.
Izuku looked through his papers, unfolding them until he found the second disk All Might mentioned and handed it to his father.
Hisashi quickly found the on button and turned on the projection disk. Instead of All Might being displayed, this time, it was Nedzu.
"Hello, Mr. Midoriya! Am I a bear, a dog, a mouse? Nobody knows, but all that matters is that I'm U.A.'s principal!"
Hisashi raised a brow and spoke a rhetorical response in an almost bored tone. "Obviously, an albino stoat-dumbo rat mix."
A quiet ding could be heard as the primary projection paused. A second, smaller projection came from the side, showing Nedzu again. "I'm impressed! I didn't think you'd guess it, but yes, I am a mix of an albino stoat and a dumbo rat!"
Izuku couldn't hold back his giggles as Hisashi nearly short-circuited. The primary Nedzu projection unpaused itself.
"I'm sending you this message because I'd like to send an offer to you! The boys' acceptance letters show that All Might is joining our staff team. Unfortunately, he's still new and has requested assistance teaching his classes. I would like to extend an offer to you as a result! Thanks to you being an alien and not a hero, you shouldn't have any serious biases that my other staff might have for or against All Might. You've also proven yourself to be a capable instructor and tutor to your children. I also suspect that the power that young Izuku used is still new and might require further cultivation. Being his father and a Saiyan, you would be best equipped for that. This opportunity would also allow you to personally vet my staff before I tell them about you and your son's natures. I am offering you a position as an independent analyst and quirk counselor for U.A. and the primary combat instructor for Foundational Heroics! Please email me at the address in Izuku's acceptance letter with your reply. This offer does not expire, so take all the time you need!"
The projection turned off after Nedzu's lengthy explanation, shocking everyone in the room. Hisashi stared at the projector disk in his hand with a dumbfounded smile. "Izuku, be a dear, and let me look through your papers when you're finished, please."
Katsuki made a mock gagging sound. "If my old man became one of my teachers, I'd fucking hurl. Uncle Hisashi is cool, though."
"KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" Mitsuki shouted indignantly while Masaru chuckled shyly.
"I think learning from Dad and All Might at the same time would be great," Izuku said wistfully as he looked through his acceptance papers.