Chapter 1: Entrance Exam

Kasai Nokogiri- a tall, 16-year-old boy with crimson red hair and red eyes, walked past the gates of UA, three others following behind him.

"After years of hard work, this is it." Admired a short girl with pink hair, who was looking up at the campus, a gleam in her ruby eyes.

Kasai only rolled his own eyes in response.

Another girl with golden hair and eyes the color of the sun looked at the pink-haired girl with a mischievous grin. Her grin turned into surprise when her arm was grabbed by a taller black-haired boy, his void black pupils staring straight into the girl's soul. "You're coming with me. If we're late or kicked out cause you wanted to go exploring, I will personally make sure you aren't waking up tomorrow."

The girl frowned, "That's not fair! Look at all of the statues and paintings, I want to see if he's here!"

Kurai didn't answer, only continuing to stare at her, which was enough for Hikaru to understand, and she nodded in acknowledgment, though still grumbling under her breath.

The black-haired boy seemed satisfied with her answer, turning to Kasai. "You two can continue waiting for Kata." "I'm going to make sure that Hikaru goes straight to the auditorium." He then started walking, the short girl, Hikaru, in his grasp. She didn't notice his movement until she was dragged from her spot, but she quickly regained her footing and followed the boy, pouting as she did.

The pinkette shook her head at their friends' retreating forms, while Kasai leaned on the entrance gate, keeping an eye on the people entering for the exam.

"Kasai! Hoseki!" The pink-haired girl, Hoseki, perked up, while Kasai turned his attention in the direction the voice came from. Hoseki waved as a girl with aluminum colored hair ran up to them from outside the gate, sighing when she finally made it to them. "Sorry, I woke up a little late."

Kasai waved her off, "It's fine, we still have time." He sighed, standing up straight and stretching his arms, "We should probably catch up to Kurai and Hikaru."

He started towards the open doors of U.A., the two girls following close behind.

After a long walk, made up of their complete lack of knowledge of the floor plan and more than a few detours, the three arrived at the auditorium. They very quickly found Kurai and Hikaru, the former making sure to keep a close eye on the energetic girl, and the latter innocently sitting in her seat. The three took their seats around the two.

"So what do you think we are going to do? Fight a bunch of robots? Or what if it's something like tag? What if it's a free for all and they just place us in the ring to fight with the other examinees!" Hikaru would have continued with her questions if Kurai didnt answer. "It's probably gonna be something new."

"That would be boring." The lights then dimmed, catching the two's attention.

The stage lights flicked on and revealed a gruff and sleep-deprived-looking man, with shaggy black hair and a large scarf wrapped around his neck. The man grumbled something under his breath before picking up a microphone and speaking. "Quiet down everyone," he said in a dull tone of voice. The few conversations that were still underway quickly died down, leaving the large auditorium in complete silence. The man's gaze flicked across the crowd before he, again, muttered something the microphone didn't pick up, and continued.

"Welcome to the UA entrance exam. Normally, Present Mic would be the one up here introducing you all to the exam, but there were some… problems he had to attend to." Spoke the man, with a sigh. "With that out of the way, you're all here to try and get into this prestigious school, and, obviously, only a fraction of those of you here will. Only those with the most dedication, the most skill, and the most training will earn their spot. Don't attempt to half-ass this exam- or you'll find that you lost your spot to someone who took this event as seriously as they should."

The man's gaze quickly skimmed through the crowd once more, before clearing his throat and continuing. "To start off, you'll take the academic portion of the test. This part is just as, if not more important than the practical. We can't have idiots running around using their quirks recklessly, after all."

He suddenly blinked, and when he opened his eyes once more, they were now glowing crimson, causing some in the crowd to tense up. "Cheating is forbidden. If we catch you, not only will you be kicked out, it'll also be put on your transcript." His piercing gaze scanned the room, making sure that his message was understood, before blinking again, his eyes returning to their normal shade. He glanced over the auditorium one last time, huffing something under his breath, and then made his way off the stage. The proctors took this as their cue to hand out their exam sheets.

XXXXXXXX

"Tests like these were never my strong suit..." Kurai grumbled, head leaning on his arm as Hoseki muttered behind him, as if casting curses at the test.

"It wasn't that hard." Hikaru said cheerfully.

"You probably failed." Hoseki scowled, annoyance still clear on her face.

Before Hikaru could respond, the lights dimmed once again, and the room quieted down.

A scantily dressed woman with purple hair then strutted onto the auditorium's stage, quickly catching all attention- especially from the guys. They all stared in awe, most of those in attendance recognizing her as the Pro Hero Midnight.

"Now that we're done testing your brains, it's time to test your bodies." The heroine spoke with a seductive purr, winking at the crowd. "But~, before you all can go out and show off your stunning skills, we have to go through the rules."

The screen behind the heroine then turned on and displayed four robots, identical only in color. In some way, they were all different from the one before.

"In the physical exam, you will be competing to take down robots in a free-for-all battle! Each robot that you take down will give you a certain number of points, that being one, two, three, or four." The woman then grinned towards the crowd. "However, once you make it to the testing locations, you might just notice the very limited number of robots around. That is because this isn't just a battle against the robots, but also, a battle between yourselves."

Hikaru slowly turned her head to Kurai, a cheshire grin growing on her face. The boy pointedly ignored her, keeping his gaze on the stage.

"When you incapacitate another examinee, you will gain a percentage of their points! But don't get too excited, now, as points will be deducted depending on the injury you cause to them, or to the surrounding environment. Make sure to take your downed opponents to the medical stations located around the city- as not doing so will also result in a penalty." Headbands then fell from the ceiling above and floated in front of the examinees. Once the students began to grab them, the string holding the headbands up quickly retreated. "These special headbands will tell you which exam locations you'll be assigned to, while also being used to keep track of your points. So you might not want to lose them~"

Midnight left the stage and the lights brightened, cue-ing the students to start making their way towards the exit with "Entrance Exam!" labeled above on a banner.

"You think they practiced like us?" Hoseki questioned as the group walked.

"I would guess so, if you really wanna become a pro hero," Kata replied.

"But Fumei made us train, like…" she took a moment to think. "Four hours a day! And that's not even including our body training."

"Is that not normal?"

The two were interrupted by a sigh. "Alright, I'm just going to get this over with." Kurai's interjection caused the two girls to notice that they had made it outside, where the examinees were supposed to split up into their designated groups. "Good luck, y'all." He waved, then started walking away from the group- towards the pack with an A printed on a screen above them.

"Good luck to you too!" Hoseki replied.

"We should get going too." Kata added, already making her way to Group F.

Kasai followed shortly after, going to Group B, waving back at the retreating Hikaru and Hoseki as he did.

XXXXXXXX

Nae stepped out of the bus, finding herself face-to-face with a massive gate.

The crowd around her began conversing with one another, until the gates suddenly swung open, Examinees of all shapes and sizes became slack-jawed as they bore witness to their exam site: an actual small city.

A voice from a speaker promptly broke them from their trance, "You have two minutes to find your starting location. Your timer has already started."

Nae didn't need any more signals. She quickly ran into the city while others were left behind and dumbfounded. She ran and ran in random directions until she felt that she would have lost anyone following her, slowing down from a sprint to a leisurely jog, and examining the ground in front of her. Her eyes quickly snapped to a few small green weeds located in a crack in the asphalt.

It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but with the time constraints, they would do fine. She swiftly plucked them, root and all from the ground, putting all but one in her pocket. The last one grew around her arm, forming a bracelet. Just as she finished, the speakers flared to life, and a squeaky voice rang out.

"START!"

Almost immediately, the sounds of fighting and quirk combat could be heard throughout the city, but luckily, none of the louder ruckus was close enough to be worrying.

But, her instincts suddenly flared up- she had spoken too soon. Catching sight of a blur in the corner of her eye, she stepped to the side, dodging a clawed hand that struck from behind. Her quirk already activating, she whirled around and was met with a girl with catlike features.

The girl's ears twitched, and she bounced back, dodging a root that had sprung up and tried to grab her leg. Nae clicked her tongue, the root retreating back into the weed on her arm. The feline girl rushed forward again, and Nae shoved her hand in front of her, more roots extending and launching out towards her attacker. The girl was nimbler than Nae had expected, managing to jump over the rushing roots and pouncing towards her.

Her sharp claws glinted against the sunlight, and Nae raised her hand in defense. A crisscross lattice of roots grew from the weed- but to Nae's surprise, the one slash had managed to cut the plant into ribbons! The girl already had her other hand in position to strike, forcing Nae to take out another one of the weeds from her pocket to shield herself, and, once again, the weed was absolutely shredded.

This time, Nae jumped back, putting space between the two, able to catch her breath. She was finally able to get a good look at her opponent: a girl with what seemed to be a calico cat mutation. The calico crouched down to the ground, her slitted, golden eyes locked onto Nae as she prepared to pounce.

Nae took a plant in each hand, allowing them to grow over her skin, forming makeshift gloves, and grinned as they both prepared for their fight. "This is going to be fun."

XXXXXXXX

In a dark room beneath the mock city battleground, the proctors of the examination sat and watched. The only source of illumination were various screens, showing live video feed from the exam locations, and the participants located inside.

"Reckon we got some good candidates this year, too. Don't you think so, Vlad?" Spoke a man in a gas mask and cowboy hat.

"Right. And this time, 1-A won't be taking all of the good students. Right, Aizawa?"

"Maybe you're just a lousy teacher," the disheveled scarf-wearing proctor retorted. "Why do you care, anyway? Those two will be taking over the first-years."

Another voice spoke out, that of an elderly woman, before the man named Vlad could respond. "Did that rat really have to change the exam to one that's even more dangerous? And without letting me oversee any of the medical stations, no less! I get that the exam is supposed to be hard, but it just started, and a fourth of these poor kids are bleeding already!" The old woman's gaze then fell on a screen showing a blue-haired boy, treating a fellow examinee who had been knocked out and left behind. Her eyes lost some of their ferocity at the sight, the corners of her lips rising slightly.

"Hey!" The cowboy-themed hero nudged the shoulder of the disheveled proctor. "Look at that kid go, Shota!"

The man named Shota turned his attention towards the screen that the cowboy was gesturing at. On it, a red-haired boy was fighting another examinee, both with above-average skills in hand-to-hand combat. Behind the other examinee, a fireball was floating, and the boy backed up, shoulder blade touching the floating ball of flame. The fireball rumbled, and quickly expanded into a small explosion, causing the poor boy to be launched towards his crimson-haired opponent- whose fist was cocked back. The punch landed firmly against his face, knocking him out immediately.

"Who's that?" asked Shota.

A small rodent in a suit, who had somehow ended up sitting on the man's shoulder, was the one to respond. "Kasai Nokogiri.He seems to have a background in some martial arts and- Oh! He was personally trained and homeschooled by a graduate of Shiketsu! He now has 22 points. Impressive, for only a few minutes into the exam."

Aizawa looks back at the screen, and a curiosity shines in his eyes. "Hmm, interesting. Seems this year might have some potential after all. Let's see if they'll live up to my bunch." He glanced over to two others in the room, who had been quiet since the exams began. "You'd better train those kids to the bone; else I'll have to take over teaching 1-A again."

A man and a woman looked back at him, the man with a stoic expression while the woman seemed irritated by her colleague's comments.

"I will do what I want with my students. Don't you have your own class to watch over?" huffed the woman, earning an eye roll from Aizawa. "In spite of my complaints, you're the one who requested me. You don't get a say in how I teach the first-years."

Aizawa only huffed in response, and went back to watching the examinees, yet the woman kept her gaze on him.

XXXXXXXX

Using the fire exit on one of the mock buildings, Kasai made it to the rooftops. He decided it would be more efficient to search for his next opponent, instead of just waiting around for man or machine to stumble into him by chance. His eyes wandered around the streets, until they locked onto a battle beneath him between a girl with cat-like features, and a green-haired girl he could vaguely remember from when they first entered.

He stood up from his sitting position, and a ball of fire began to swirl to life in his hands. He put one hand in front of the other, the flames melding into the form of a bow, the flames in his second hand forming an arrow, already cocked into the flaming weapon. He took aim, and waited- for a mere twenty seconds.

The feline had made space in their match to try and catch her breath- and it made her an ideal target. He let the burning arrow fly forward, right towards the blissfully unaware cat. The bow in his hand quickly lost shape, and the flames began to dance around his body as he fully focused on the arrow.

The burning projectile didn't go unnoticed, however, as Nae had seen the light coming from above. Taking a theoretical new foe into the equation, she decided to let up her assault completely, to make sure that she wasn't the one caught in the crossfire.

Nae's eyes narrowed, however, when the feline ears of the girl twitched, and she suddenly tripped on a rock, causing her to fall backwards, the arrow hitting the tip of her tail instead of her center mass. The girl hissed and shot up, patting her tail in a desperate attempt to put out the fire. Nae looked at the source of the attack and at the top of the building right in front of them, she saw a boy, watching them.

The two locked eyes for just a moment, as the calico suddenly yelped, Nae snapping back to her previous opponent, who was scrambling to try and put out the flames, which only seemed to grow hotter and hotter. However, the calico girl sighed in visible relief as the heat faded, even though her tail remained ablaze, and the blaze started to swell.

The flames then exploded.

The feline girl jumped back, holding her injured tail and hissing, and Nae stumbled back from the force, despite the lack of heat. Both seemed to be smart decisions- as the heat returned, hotter than before, and flames began to coalesce between the two. The flames dispersed, and the form of a red-haired boy emerged, eyes flicking between the two. The same boy from the rooftop.

"What the hell was that for?" The calico hissed, glaring at the boy.

The boy didn't respond, simply flicking a finger. More blazes began to swirl around him, and Nae tensed up in preparation for a fight. Just her luck- his quirk was an ideal counter to her own, especially with just some weeds…

She slowly began to back away to an alley, a mere few feet behind her, to try and find an easier target. But salvation was snatched away from her when an inferno suddenly burst up just as she turned around and began making a break for it. She tried to scramble back, but felt the same heat behind her. She had snapped her head around and was able to see that she was surrounded by a burning ring of fire. Through the fire and flames, she was barely able to make out the same burning trap around her former opponent.

The boy's voice cut through the air. "I'll give you both the chance to give up. You'll be knocked unconscious by the smoke if you don't."

Nae ignored his comment, and stuffed her hand into her pocket, pulling out another weed, wincing in pain as the flames licked her arm. Six massive roots grew from the plant, and stabbed into the ground, breaking through the hard asphalt, and into the moist soil underneath. She grinned triumphantly, and the speed of the roots nearly doubled, burrowing their way to where she had last seen the boy, and uprooting themselves under his feet, swinging around like whips. It caught the boy off guard and the flames lowered enough to allow Nae to run over them. She had not expected, however, to run right into the girl she had previously been fighting. She tensed up, hands balling into fists, but the feline girl put her paw-like hands up in a placating manner. "How about we call a truce for now?"

Nae hesitantly nodded. The girl had, likely, realized what she did- they would probably both be taken out if they stayed any longer. As if to confirm her statement, she looked back, only to see the charred remains of the plant, and the boy's flames swirling into his palm, preparing for another attack. She quickly grabbed her temporary ally by the collar and dashed down the street, a fireball barely missing them. They both quickly turned a corner, Nae looking back to see the boy running after them a good distance behind. She turned back forward, only to yet again slam face-first into a cold, hard surface.

She hissed in pain, and glared up at the object, only for a scowl to overtake her face. A group of four-pointer robots were right in front of them. She lowered a hand into her pocket, but realized too late that she had used the last plant in her escape. She swore under her breath, but was cut off by the fifteen-foot robots turning around, ten pairs of sensors gazing directly at the two. Worst of all, there wasn't a plant in sight.

Again, she cursed, balling her hands into fists- hoping that the two of them would at least be able to make it past them before fire-boy caught up.

XXXXXXXX

A girl with fox-like features was dashing around Exam Site A, until she came across a fellow examinee who was too focused on a machine's head in his hand. She took the opportunity to ambush him, sending a swift punch to the back of his head- but quickly pulled her hand back at the almost rock-like skull. The boy turned around, his pig-like face snorting in both surprise and annoyance. He charged forward, tusks and all towards her, but was sidestepped, the girl sending a kick right to his face.

The boar managed to duck under it and sent a large fist towards the girl, but the girl's one apparent tail uncoiled to reveal nine- three of which rushed forwards to hold the fist back. The girl reared back a fist of her own, and managed to hit her target this time, the boy stumbling back and holding a bruising eye. She didn't let the opportunity slip- using her tails like a spring, she sprung up above the boy. She then flipped forwards, and her tails, previously white and fluffy,began to harden, hairs becoming spikes and all previous fluff vanishing. The tails slammed down on the boar-boy, the ground cracking underneath the weight and impact, and her tails returned back to their previous fluffy appearance.

"He's not dead right?"

Acting on reflex, one of the girl's tails hardened and swung behind her, in the direction of that voice, striking the black-haired boy that had somehow snuck up on her. She turned, only to see the boy still standing next to her as if nothing had happened. A fast jab was sent to his face, but the boy dodged by tilting his head to the side, calm demeanor intact. "Wow. You still hit like a truck."

The girl only kept up her fists, ready for any attack that her opponent would send, though an uneasy feeling passed through her at his statement.

An obviously fake expression of hurt overcame his features and he put a hand over his heart. "You don't recognize me? You're gonna make me cry…" he satirized, wiping a fake tear from his eye. The vixen scowled and glared at him. He was obviously mocking her, or trying to provoke her, and it was starting to work.

The boy's joking facade fell, and an indifferent, yet confused attitude overtook him. "You… actually don't recognize me?" the girl only continued to glare. "Welp, that lines up with the Biko I remember."

Confusion brought all of her internal planning to a sudden halt. Only a select few childhood friends had called her that. She stared at him, taking a few seconds to focus on his features. "…Kurai?"

"Yup." He cheered satirically, clapping his hands as if she won a gameshow. "Seems you actually followed through on becoming a hero. Thought you would have stopped after-"

He was cut off- by a massive hole blowing through his shoulder, his arm falling to the ground. Biko barely managed to dodge out of the way of the massive rock that took his arm, the boulder hitting the ground behind her and cracking. Finally computing what had just happened, she snapped her head at the boy who was now an arm short, though, in spite of this, he still retained his calm, almost bored expression.

Adrenaline rushed through her as she glared behind him to see a girl, on the verge of a panic attack, likely from the fact that she had most likely crippled someone for life. Biko snarled, baring fangs and rushing to attack the girl, but she was stopped by Kurai- who grabbed her by the arm with the hand he still had and brought her momentum to zero. "Wow. You even forgot my quirk?"

Biko directed her glare to Kurai- who was still acting so nonchalant. But, after a moment, thinking back, he was correct- and she exhaled, emotions fizzling down to mere annoyance, and adrenaline calming down to manageable levels. Kurai's arm quickly grew back in its original place, with no visible scars, or even any traces of blood. He then turned around to face his assailant, the earth-bending girl who was staring at him in shock. He lazily walked towards her, as if he had all the time in the world, and, in the blink of an eye, landed an uppercut- knocking her a few inches off the ground, and out of the conscious realm.

He then picked the girl up, carrying her over his shoulder, and started walking in a random direction. He paused, looking back at Biko, "We could probably team up you know. Nothing against it in the rules."

This finally broke Biko out of her thoughts, and she quickly nodded and answered- "Alright."

XXXXXXXX

Maneki was skipping through the crowd of robots with a fitting feline grace, slipping between the rubber bullets fired from the robots, or the stray rock and rubble that they would dig up. Nae, however, was using every move that she had ever seen in an action movie to just try and keep herself from being hit or knocked out, barely able to even get the girl's name. The movies always make it seem so easy, but it felt like a fight for her life. A slight slip in her faux Bruce Lee stance allowed one of the machines to land a solid punch on her, knocking her into an alleyway. With its cold, artificial gaze, it trained its weapons on her.

But, in one swift strike to the neck of the automaton,Maneki managed to disable it. She jumped from its shoulders as it fell and landed next to Nae, helping her up.

They continued down the alley, but stopped when they felt a familiar heat from behind them. Both of their heads snapped back to see an inferno engulf the robots, and then the boy who they had been previously running from poked his head into the entrance of the alley.

The unlikely duo immediately took off in a sprint, turning when they met an intersection. After making considerable distance, Nae checked behind them, but instead of the boy, she saw a fireball headed straight for her face. She quickly jumped to the side, landing and ducking on the ground, but when Maneki tried to do the same, a hand emerged from the blaze and was barely able to grab her tail, causing the girl to wince in pain.

The boy yanked on her tail from the flame, and Maneki clenched her jaw as she was dragged to him. They stared, face-to-face, Maneki scowling and the boy indifferent and analyzing- but he failed to recognize the third member of this fight. Nae kicked him in the back of the knee, and as he stumbled forwards, Maneki clawed at his chest, but she was shocked to feel something hard and cold under his clothes- what she guessed was metal. She lept back beside Nae, who had just gotten up.

The boy regained his balance and flicked his wrist, embers shooting behind the two and billowing into flames, blocking their only escape. Nae grimaced in panic- again, no plants around. She couldn't use her quirk to protect herself at all, and it didn't seem Maneki was a good match for an all-ranged opponent.

"5 minutes remaining!"

The boy's gaze became weary at the announcement, staring at them analytically. "How many points do you have?"

Nae was caught off guard but decided to answer truthfully. "N-nine."

Maneki soon followed with her response. "Twelve."

The boy's brow furrowed in thought, before refocusing on the two in front of him. He raised his hand, likely to summon more flames, but was cut off by a rubber bullet to the back of his head. The flames behind the two girls fizzled out, and they decided to take this as an opportunity and quickly began running through the alleys and backlots.

They managed to make a considerable amount of distance, but after their second turn, their legs were both caught by some sort of wire, and the two of them fell to the ground. But, instead of asphalt, they landed in a sticky net, made of a similar material. Nae tried to move, but couldn't, as if they were flies in a spider web.

Nae soon figured out that it was more literal than she had meant it.

Above them, a girl with the lower half of a spider crawled her way down to them, pity in her gaze. Two of her eight limbs rose up to quickly knock out the two, but she was stopped by a fireball to the face. Nae was expecting a pained scream, but instead heard only a grunt as the arachnid was knocked aside. Even better, the heat from the blast seemed to also greatly weaken the stickiness of the webs, allowing them to jump up and start running again, making it to the open streets, and hopefully losing the boy.

XXXXXXXX

"TIME'S UP!"

Kasai had managed to get what he hoped were enough points before the end of the exam. A dash of bitterness bubbled in his chest- still a little sour that he was unable to get the twenty-one points from the two girls, but maybe he was just being greedy.

Walking off of the bus at the main building, he was only able to take a few steps forward before being approached by Hikaru. "That was fun!" she exclaimed. "Do you think you got enough points?"

"Probably." Kasai replied. "Where are the others?"

His question was answered after they made it to the front gates, where four others were standing. Kurai was the first to notice the two, waving them over and cluing in Kata, Hoseki, and a foxlike girl to their presence.

Making it to the group, Hikaru's eyes gleamed., "Biko!"

The girl let out an amused breath in response. "Long time, no see."

XXXXXXXX

Two weeks passed since the entrance examination. Exactly fourteen days would pass until Kasai finally got a letter from the prestigious school.

He made his way to his room, and sat at his desk, opening the letter only for a small disk to fall out. He checked the envelope again, but when he found nothing else, he picked up the penny sized disk in confusion. He was startled when the disc began to glow, dropping it on his desk, and a hologram projected from it.

The hologram showed a small rodent in a suit who soon spoke. "Hello, Kasai Nokogiri! It is I, the principle of U.A.: Nezu! And I have sent this letter to inform you about your placement in the entrance exam. But, before I give you your score, let's quickly go over your performance."

Beside the mouselike creature, a screen turned on, showing an image of Kasai running into the exam location. "You scored very well on the academic portion of the test, which shows, as you were very quick to get the memo. At the beginning of the practical exam, many others hesitated after they were told to enter- but you went in, guns blazing! Pun not intended."

The screen then shifted to a video of him fighting another boy, quickly taking him out with a well-placed fireball and a punch. "You were also above-average in your combat skill and takedowns, though… You did occasionally use too much force."

It then shifted to a video of the two girls fighting, until his burning arrow pierced the cat girl's tail. "This is a great example of such excessive force. You could have severely injured her, but luckily, it seems you realized that yourself. Though I would have preferred if you realized that before you acted." Kasai winced at the video as the girl squirmed in pain, trying to get his fire off of her tail. He had gotten too into the idea of passing the exam- forgetting how painful being burned actually was.

On the screen, a leaderboard then appeared showing the following results:

10th place: Maneki Kin, 46 takedown points, 15 rescue points.

9th place: Kenji Azuma, 51 takedown points, 14 rescue points.

8th place: Sora Terubozu, 57 takedown points, 11 rescue points.

7th place: Bikone Kitsu, 63 takedown points, 9 rescue points.

6th place: Kurai Taishi, 70 takedown points, 5 rescue points.

5th place: Kami Haruka, 64 takedown points, 13 rescue points.

4th place: Hikaru Nokogiri, 73 takedown points, 7 rescue points.

Kasai panicked a little- as he didn't see his name. Did he get that many points taken off for accidentally burning the girl? Did he actually really need those twenty points?

The leaderboard then disappeared and, in its place, three podiums rose up, each a different height. Starting on the right, on the lowest one, the name Minato Nosaka appeared and under it, it showed 81 takedown points and 2 rescue points. Next to it, the tallest one, showed Hoseki Nokogiri with 83 takedown points and 11 rescue points. Finally, on the leftmost one, his own name popped up with 79 takedown points and 10 rescue points.

The mouse then clapped its hands in congratulations, regaining Kasai's attention as the screen disappeared. "Well, after that quick run-through, I believe it is time to go over your score! As you can see, you gained 79 points from taking down villain-bots and other examinees, but a hidden portion of the exam was how you reacted to those you took down, and those you didn't. For the five examinees you took down, you acted correctly, quickly taking them to medical stations. For this, you were granted 10 rescue points."

"Despite the few mistakes you made, you still made it as one of the top students in this exam. You can think of this as the start of your hero journey. I hope to see you join us this year, Nokogiri!"

The device turned off.

Kasai slumped into his seat, as it all slowly began to sink in. But, he couldn't ponder for long. The door to his room slammed open, and he jumped to his feet, but merely sighed as he saw who it was.

"We need to start packing!" Hikaru yelled, a giddy smile on her face.

XXXXXXXX

A table sat in the middle of a dark room, each chair around it filled. All sounds ceased when a woman in a long coat stood.

"I'd like to start this meeting off with everyone's reports."

A man sitting next to the woman then rose up. The man was quite a bit bigger than the woman, likely standing at least a head above her, and his eyes glowed crimson in the darkness. "The materials you asked for have been obtained. Awaiting your orders to start construction."

The woman acknowledged the man, nodding at his words, "I thank you and your brothers for your cooperation."

Next, a woman with gray eyes and long, snow-white hair excitedly stood up, a grin on her face. "An ideal location has been found for the ritual! No one will know about it until it's too late, but…" The woman then glanced towards another woman with similar colored hair to her, but with brown eyes. Her smile grew, and a dangerous gleam intruded her gaze. "Who is she?"

The woman tensed up, obviously uncomfortable being there, which caused the woman staring at her to let out a small giggle. The leader quickly motioned for her to sit, and walked behind the brown-eyed woman. The woman tensed up even further at the presence behind her but didn't dare move an inch.

The leader put a hand on the woman's shoulder, and she flinched at the contact. "This is Gwendolen, a foreigner and representative of… the 'Red Redemption'. Though this is the first time they have ever sent someone."

Gwendolen was visibly sweating, but she swallowed her apprehension and spoke up shakily. "I-It's nice to meet you all."

The organizer of this meeting simply let out a hum and walked back to her own seat. "Now, before we begin the planning, are there any complaints about what will happen?"

She sent a glance Gwendolen's way, obviously expecting her to speak. She wasn't disappointed.

"A-Are you sure this is a good idea? This would cause the deaths of so many innocent people. I-It may be possible that… if you don't choose a different path, the Red Redemption may back out of this deal." As she spoke, her resolve hardened, but this quickly ebbed under the leader's cold gaze.

"Gwendolen…" The leader sighed, as Gwendolen tensed. "Your little secret organization thought that this operation could benefit them, so they agreed to work with our little group here. But now, after months of our alliance, you want to back out of the deal you agreed to?"

Her gaze then turned to one of slight amusement, "We will allow you all to back out, but… You know about our existence. We will have to take something of equal value from each and every one of you. Just as a precaution." A grin grew on the leader's face as she stared Gwendolen in the eyes. "As for the price of your knowledge…" The woman's gaze then turned to her fingers, a strange liquid oozing forth from them. "How about your daughter?"

Gwendolen shot out of her chair; her eyes filled with righteous anger. "Kuro. Leave her out of this." But, as she met Kuro's glare, her anger and courage cracked. A shiver went down her spine as a white barb poked into her neck, originating from the woman's finger. It retracted back and Kuro began to wipe the finger clean with a handkerchief, her point made.

"If you decide to back out now, just know that your daughter's life will be in our hands. Now, Alpha-"

"We are ready." A man said, cutting her off.

Kuro glared at him, annoyance evident- but when she was met with his blank stare, she just sighed, and glanced around the table. "Well, since we seem to have everything ready, let's get down to business."

"It is now time to commence Desolation."

A.N.

So, school has been stressful as hell and then I was still unsatisfied with my previous rework. I want to thank Nitrothekid for beta reading and allowing me to post this earlier than I expected. I will hopefully have other rewritten chapters out before the summer ends. I'm still looking for more OCs for class 1B as well as heroes or villains so if you want to submit any, the instructions are in my profile