Chapter 37

It's been a few months now since All for One tried to take One for All from me. All Might had to retire since he used up what embers he had left of One for All. Since then, he's put his all into trying to teach us properly on how to be heroes. It was a nice, refreshing change.

Shoto was taken into custody and sent to Tartarus with the rest of the league members that were captured. Meanwhile, Katsuki and a few other league members were still on the run, evading police.

I didn't know where they were at this point so I didn't know what their plans were. At best, I could guess but it was a shot in the dark. Katsumi and Shoka were both pretty torn up about their brothers turning to the villains. I did what I could to console Shoka while Izumi was helping Katsumi.

They liked to act like they didn't care but… I could tell they did.

Anyways, the exams for our temporary hero licenses were coming up and I'd been preparing my gear for it. Most of the class had been working on ultimate moves with their quirks. I just spent that time perfecting my mixing of quirks with One for All.

There was still a lot I needed to get used to with it but Izumi and the girls are always there trying to help. Moves like Black Chain and, what Izumi called, Light Speed Flight, the mix of Fa Gin and Float, were my biggest focus but trying to find new combos is something me and the past users are always trying to figure out.

All Might has even been helping me with what he can, giving me input and advice. He's really changed a lot since the exams.

Right now, me and the girls were in the common area. "Hey Kaina, what did you do when you worked for the commission?" Stella asked.

"I was an assassin disguised as a hero. Whenever someone threatened the balance to society they held, I was sent to kill them. If I still worked for them, Izuku would be a huge target for me."

The girls looked at her, surprised. "But Izuku wants to help. Why would he be a target?" Izumi asked.

"Because his ideals threatened to change society as a whole. Quirks are seen as a pinnacle for people. The stronger, the better. But Izuku was a dangerous vigilante without a quirk. He would show people that it didn't matter what quirk you had, it mattered what you did. There are a lot of people who would make great heroes. Much better than many of the heroes now a days. That could cause a huge collapse of everything."

"But wouldn't it be better to have it that way? We would have people who really want to help."

"The commission doesn't care about that. They only care if they can control society. If things were to change, their control would crumble. I'm sure they've sent a few agents after Izuku when he was a vigilante."

The girls looked at me. "Yeah, probably. I know they've sent at least one. Hawks."

——

I was standing on top of a roof, the night sky coating the city. I've been a vigilante for a month now. I felt someone coming towards me. Looking to my left, I saw red wings spread wide as they approached the roof I was on, landing.

"Hey, you must be that Mura guy I heard about." I stared at him silently. "Heh, the strong silent type huh? Look, I'd prefer if you came in silently. I'm feeling a bit tired."

"I won't surrender to a commission hero who'll just stab me in the back the moment he has a chance."

Hawks chuckled. "Commission hero? I don't know what you mean. I'm just your normal, ordinary hero. Come on, let's just get this done, nice and easy."

I drew one of my swords. "I trust the information I have. You come out of nowhere with some made up backstory that all leads to dead ends." Hawks look turned more serious. "I know the commission wants me dead. Your feathers are a deadly weapon. But so am I."

Hawks grabbed one of his longer feathers and charged at me.

——

"After that, he tried to put a tracking feather on me so he could come back and finish the job. I left it, letting him know I'm not so easy to track. He hasn't come after me since." Izumi looked at me with a worried expression. "Don't worry Zumi. I'm not dying any time soon."

——

Everyone was standing outside, a pair of buses behind us. Today was the day of the test. I had my armor in hand as the girls were all talking to each other.

Kaina was looking over everyone, making sure everyone was here and had what they needed. Izumi was very excited for today. She'd been looking forward to the day she got to act as a hero for a long time.

Aizawa walked up, getting everyone's attention. "All of you are heading to take your provisional license exam. Be sure to take this seriously or else you'll fail."

——

Everyone got on the bus and headed to a huge building that had many other buses out in front of it. We got out and admired the huge building. Shoka grabbed my hand and I saw some nerves were bothering her. "Hey, don't worry. Just focus and you'll be fine." I gave her hand a tight squeeze and she nodded.

"Okay. Just… stay by me?" She moved slightly closer to me.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. We'll stay together. Don't worry." I kissed her and she began to blush but smiled. We were about to head inside when another class walked up to us. There wasn't very many of them, only four in all.

They were all wearing the same hat and uniform except for one. The tallest of the group walked up to us, a big, excited smile on his face. "Hello UA!" He had a buzz cut hair style.

"Uh, who are you?" Izumi asked.

"I'm Inasa Yoarashi! It's a great pleasure to meet you! UA is the best school!"

He looked at everyone with a big smile until his gaze landed on Shoka, then he began to glare at her. I pulled her behind me. "I'd recommend taking that look elsewhere."

His smile returned and he did a huge bow, planting his head into the concrete. "You have my deepest apologies!"

A guy covered in hair walked up next to him. "Sorry about Yoarashi, he's a very excitable person. Come on, we need to prepare." He walked away with his class of four, leaving most everyone confused.

"Alright, all of y-"

"Eraserhead, is that you?!" Aizawa was cut off by a feminine voice. I looked over and it was the laughing hero, Ms Joke. She had her own class behind her, all of them were dressed in their own school uniforms. There were only four of them as well.

Aizawa grew an even more exhausted face, as if his energy had been drained in an instant. "Never mind, we're canceling the exam today."

"Hahaha! You always tell the funniest jokes, Eraserhead! Marry me!"

"No."

"Hahaha!"

Her students walked up to us. The one in front with messy black hair raised his hand to me to shake. "Hey, names Yo Shindo! You're Mura, right?"

I stared at him, not taking his hand. "Yeah, but most call me Izuku now."

"Heh, wow, talk about cold. Not even gonna take my hand?"

"We're not here as friends. Maybe after we can be but right now, we're enemies."

"Eh… hehe, yeah. I, uh, guess you're right…" He walked away, the rest of his class following and Ms Joke waving at Aizawa as she followed her class.

"Izuku, why were you so mean to that guy?" Izumi asked me.

"He was trying to make us drop our guard so when the test starts, we'll still have our guard down and he'll take us out. It's a basic strategy but depending on the person, can slip through the cracks. Don't forget, we're all here for the same reason, to get our provisional license and not everyone can get it so they'll take out the biggest threat first."

Izumi thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, we should get inside." Everyone walked inside and got dressed into their costumes before heading to a giant hall that held everyone. We were all handed small disks and were instructed to place them on different parts of our body that were out in the open.

I decided to go with my chest, shoulder and forearm. After everyone had theirs placed, a man who looked like he hadn't slept in days stepped up to a podium.

He began to explain what it was we were going to be doing. It was pretty basic, throw balls onto peoples disks and don't let yours get hit. Knock out two people to progress onwards.

Once he was done, he walked out with a small smile. "The test doesn't begin until the building's gone and you hear the siren."

That part slightly confused me until the whole building began to collapse around us, revealing that we were in the middle of a huge testing field.

"Emerald Force, Scarlet Knight, Snowflame, Ground Zero, on me." I began running in the direction of the mountain area, the girls following me.

By the time we got there, the siren rang and my danger sense was going off. "Be prepared. We're not alone."

Around two hundred students began to surround us, all of them looking cocky and holding balls. "Ha, just five of em? Talk about easy pickings!"

They all began to throw their balls at us and before they got close, they all stopped in mid air, and their feet became frozen to the ground, stopping them from moving.

"Wh-what?!"

"Maybe you didn't know, maybe you just thought you were better. But we aren't an easy target." The balls began flying back towards the people, knocking most of them out and leaving a few stragglers. Me and the girls headed up and got what people we needed and headed to the designated area to wait for the others.

While we waited, I talked with the girls, talking about strategies for what the next test might be. "You think there'll be more?" Shoka asked.

"Yeah. It's like the entrance exam, it was more than just fighting robots, right Izumi?"

"Yeah. It was also testing your willingness to help others in danger even though they're technically your competition."

"Makes sense that the license exam would also have something similar. Maybe saving civilians?" Katsumi pointed.

"Yeah. That does seem the most likely option." I began thinking about how they were going to go about this.

More people began to trickle in slowly. A few of them I recognized from the entrance while others didn't look familiar at all. Eventually, our class began to enter looking slightly worn out.

There seemed to be somewhere around a hundred people here. Then suddenly the tables and chairs all disappeared as a voice sounded over the intercom.

"The second part of the exam will have you save civilians trapped in rubble after a villain group set off multiple charged explosives. You are to retrieve them and treat their wounds." The ground began to shake as the sound of explosions sounded.

The building around us began to collapse, revealing that the once standing cityscape was now mostly rubble. "Begin!"