A/N

After reading a comment concerning my question of sole female vs. harem, I realized they had some good points and decided to do sole female. There's a small chance there might be a second one, but that'll be very far into the future, so don't worry about it for now. Until then, please enjoy the new chapter!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: GET EXCITED

Katsuo thought he might be dreaming as he looked at the pro hero's phone in front of him. On the screen was a website for a fanclub titled: The Hiroki Katsuo Fan Club. 'What the hell. Where did this even come from?' Near as he could tell, the fan club had been founded after the overpass incident. One of the people Katsuo had saved from the rubble decided to spread the story, and eventually, people began to realize Katsuo hadn't just put his life in danger for others once. He had done it multiple times before, showing no hesitation or fear each time. He found videos of his heroics at the building fire, although Kirishima had been cropped out from the photos. There was more too, photos and videos of people spotting Katsuo walking down the street, or having lunch on a random rooftop.

At the very end of the page of photos and videos was a post by someone at the Young Engineers Competition, which had just ended around half an hour ago. They were posting about his victory and good sportsmanship, as well as him helping some of the other kids with their projects. And then, he found a video of Katsuo running into an electric storm, saving the child inside with a smile on his face. Pictures of Katsuo after the fact were also there. He soon located the people who took those photos, who were still watching him from afar. Excited by his gaze, they smiled and waved, cheering his name. Katsuo felt a blush on his face but attempted to keep it down to remain somewhat professional in front of his "loving fans". After thanking the pro hero (and also giving her an autograph), Katsuo sped away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in order to escape the growing embarrassment that still followed him. "Man, can't believe I already have fans. Feels weird being appreciated for the work I do."

Memories of Katsuo's former job began to resurface, but they were buried under mountains of good memories he had made since reincarnation. Memories of his mom, friends, and the rabbit. Oh man, the rabbit. 'I want to be like her,' Katsuo thought to himself. She had come up in the fifth volume of Midoriya's hero notes, her signature catchphrase being along the lines of "live life to the fullest". She approached everything she did with as much as her soul as possible, making sure that when her timer finally ran out, she had no regrets. That was the life Katsuo planned to live. One without regrets, sitting in a hospital bed surrounded by friends and family. 'Oh man, I might be in love.' Katsuo began to shake his head furiously, burying the thoughts deep down to explore them later. He was busy right now, and had no time to be thinking of something like that.

The feeling was unnerving. Katsuo felt like he was being watched. The feeling could have been worse, except the watchful gazes weren't of hostility, but of awe. His fans, as well as people who had only seen him before, were now watching him walk down the street towards the gym. 'Aw crap, this better not get in the way of my free time.' Katsuo was beginning to feel the burden of being a public hero. Maybe vigilantism was the way to go after all? He had no time to pursue that train of thought any longer however as he soon walked inside the gym, realizing nobody was following. Fortunately, it seemed no one saw him enter his little slice of heaven. Kirishima and Midoriya were way more excited than usual. Kirishima was talking about how manly Katsuo was, excited to get back to the grind. Midoriya on the other hand had written up a whole new page for Katsuo.

Name, age, attributes of his quirk, etc. The paragraph for improvements he thought Katsuo could make was short, indicating to Katsuo's slightly growing ego that he thought he was doing an amazing job. The picture was also awesome. It was Katsuo in his normal red jacket with blue jeans and a white shirt. He was crossing his arms and had a smug smile on his face. And the muscles were… a bit larger than Katsuo would have drawn them. After signing his name on the spot Midoriya indicated, they began talking while spotting Kirishima as he was doing his bench presses. "Me and Kirishima were watching the video of you saving that electric kid earlier, you were amazing! But… how did you pull it off?"

Katsuo began to explain his idea of getting money by entering in the Young Engineers competition, as well as impressing Power Loader to get a recommendation. Katsuo had a plan, but he wouldn't explain it just yet. Then, he explained the gloves he made, as well as him finding the kid and putting on the separate pair. Katsuo hadn't needed to get the gloves off of the kid because there was no threat of them blowing up. The energy had been released at a consistent pace, as well as dissipating into the air before collecting too much, meaning the gloves could keep up with the power without blowing up. Katsuo would have to refine its capabilities for pro heroes. "Oh yeah, I apparently have a fan club, too." Katsuo had to speedily catch the bar as Kirishima gave out at the sound of him revealing something so utterly crazy.

Midoriya and Kirishima's excitement came back in full force, bombarding Katsuo with question after question. However, they suddenly stopped and backed up fearfully, their eyes looking to something just behind Katsuo. He knew this was coming, but he was in no way prepared for him. "You damn brat!" Katsuo whirled around, coming face to face with Death Arms' glare before being grabbed by the forehead and lifted into the air. Death Arms began lightly squeezing Katsuo's head while he berated him for his stupidly dangerous actions. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have become deep fried Katsuo if you weren't careful!" Even though Death Arms was holding back and Katsuo was super strong, having his head squeezed still hurt a lot. Katsuo quickly searched for a way out of this predicament.

"It's okay, sir! I thought it through before I ran over there! And even so, my body moved before I could even think!" Katsuo had just tripped over himself as he tried to lie his way out. The first part wasn't true at all, but the second part was, and Death Arms knew it. He knew it as soon as he saw the look on Katsuo's face in the video. "You know, most pro heroes say the same thing in their interviews. When they get asked about the first time they saved someone, they always say their body moved before they could think. Shit." Death Arms realized something about Katsuo. For whatever stupid reason, Katsuo was a hero at heart, and the determined look in his eyes told Death Arms that he couldn't be stopped. Death Arms chuckled at the thought before looking back down at Katsuo, who was now holding his head after being released from the death grip around his head.

"Whatever, I know I won't be able to stop you. That means I need to make sure you can't be killed because you're too stupid to know when to quit." Death Arms dragged Katsuo (who was pleading for help from his friends) over to the boxing ring, slipping some gloves on and handing another pair to Katsuo, who was getting ready to have his ass handed to him by someone twice his size. Again. Death Arms proceeded to beat Katsuo to the ground over and over again, each time critiquing his moves and teaching him ways to counterattack. Katsuo absorbed it all like a sponge, and while he was still being beaten to the ground by the end of the day, he was just a little bit better at taking down more experienced opponents. Death Arms noticed how Katsuo always got back up, no matter what. By the time Katsuo and his friends finally left the gym, the sun was already going down. 'He really did beat my ass all day!'

After parting with Midoriya and saying goodbye to Kirishima a few moments later, Katsuo made the trek up the driveway to his house and walked through the front door, closing and locking it behind him. "Hey Mom, I'm home!" Katsuo announced to the house. "Oh Katsuo dear, you're later than usual today. Out with your friends?" Katsuo explained his day and also explained his bruises. His mom would have burst into tears if she didn't see the genuine smile on his face. "By the way, there was some mail for you today. Looks important!" Ms. Hiroki excitedly handed over the brown folder to Katsuo. It was as big as a normal sheet of paper, and opened from the top. On the front of it were two big letters: UA. 'Oh? Seems like they're making their moves sooner than I thought…' Katsuo thanked his mom before retreating back to his room and shutting the door. He closed the curtains for complete darkness and set the folder down on his desk.

'If they've already sent this envelope, then it seems my plan worked perfectly.' Katsuo opened the folder and took out's contents. There was a small, smooth disk inside. It was shaped like a black hockey puck. Also inside was a piece of paper that said: "Press the button on the side of the device." Katsuo felt around the hockey puck until he found a small indent in the side, pressing it in. The top of the device raised up before splitting in two, each piece moving to the side as the centerpiece of the device raised into the air. Then, a light began projecting into the air, a window appearing in front of Katsuo like a TV screen. In the image was what looked like a snow white mouse in clothing, sitting at a desk with a window behind him. "Hello Mr. Hiroki Katsuo, I am the principal of UA. Katsuo smiled as his plan was confirmed to be successful…

The UA conference room was filled with pro heroes who took up spots on the UA faculty team, all being gathered by the mouse sitting at the foot of the table. "Thank you for gathering here everyone, I'm sorry for calling you away from your busy schedules." As if the pleasantries were a waste of time, Shouta Aizawa spoke up. "Please tell us why we're here sir, we're busy planning our classes for this and next year." Understanding Aizawa's haste, Principal Nezu continued. "As you all know, there are two types of students. The normal students who go through the standard exam to get into UA, and the recommendation students who take another exam, the Recommendation Test. Ever since the school's founding, everything has proceeded as expected by the founder who created the rules. However, an exception has occurred."

Before any of the teachers could question what Nezu meant by this, a hologram appeared above him, showing a boy with messy, black hair and dark purple eyes. It was the most recent photo of the boy gotten from the middle school he went to. "Katsuo/ young Katsuo?!" Midnight and All Might exclaimed in unison. "So you two know this kid?" Aizawa asked. Each hero explained how they had met the young boy, who seemed to be the topic of conversation. "You see, Katsuo Hiroki applied to UA around a month ago, alongside a couple of his friends. However, he has also recently been recommended for UA by a few well-known pro heroes." Everybody in the room was both shocked and confused. It took two heroes' recommendations to get a student in, and this boy had already accumulated more than that. However, the boy had already applied for the normal test.

"I'm sure you all understand my problem. I would like to hear your opinions on the matter to decide how to continue forward." While everyone else was thinking, Aizawa suddenly spoke up once again. "I know this is off topic, but I just wanted to confirm something. You two didn't recommend this kid, right? Cause if so, that would be very unprofessional." Aizawa was looking at All Might and Midnight, who both shook their heads in unison. Aizawa was finally satisfied when Nezu informed him that neither of them had recommended Katsuo. Even so, he still had an opinion on the matter. "I believe he should take both tests." This shocked everyone in the room, allowing Aizawa to explain himself before somebody asked. "I've seen this kid on the internet before, and he's a troublemaker. He's thrown himself into danger multiple times, even without being properly trained to save people, and if he's going to be in my class, then he'd better be worth it."

"You seem convinced he's going to be in your class?" Nezu had already decided that would be the case, but he wanted to hear Aizawa's reasoning for this belief. "I'm sure most of us in this room have seen this kid somewhere since he's all over the internet. Someone so young yet so powerful is going to need my quirk in order to stop him in case he needs to be." Aizawa's logic had been sound so far. Midnight was about to start yelling at him for hating a kid he had never met, but she couldn't argue with the valid points brought forth so far. She herself had been there when Katsuo held up all that rubble, as well as the giant that had fallen onto the overpass. He was dangerous, and they all knew it. "Well, it's interesting that you suggest that, Aizawa. Please watch this."

Nezu then replaced the picture with a video. It was Katsuo in his bedroom, probably shortly after watching the video Nezu had sent him, which explained the situation. He looked slightly different from the picture, although no one could quite place their finger on what it was. "Okay, let's hope I got this thing working. Principle Nezu, I'm delighted to find out I was recommended for UA. However, if I can, I was hoping to-" Katsuo attempted to hold in his laugh. The teachers were all confused again. They could see it in Katsuo's eyes. He wasn't laughing because something was funny, he was excited. Very excited. "I was hoping to take both tests. And if I don't get first place in either test, I would like my application to be denied."

The teachers watched as Katsuo began struggling to contain his laughter before turning off the recording, the room now dead silent as everyone attempted to process the absolutely insane and very possibly detrimental idea Katsuo had put forth. "He's mocking us. He thinks it'll be easy to get into UA." Aizawa now wore a scowl on his face, which soon faltered when he heard All Might's words. "I've spoken with young Katsuo a few times, and I can confidently say that's not true. It's especially evident when watching the videos. I believe Katsuo is doing this to challenge himself." All Might was met with agreement from not only Midnight, but Power Loader as well. He too was surprised to see Katsuo on screen, but didn't actually know his name well enough to shout it in surprise.

"That kid recently won the Young Engineers competition with a hero support item. He told me he made it in four days with scraps from the junkyard. I agree with All Might when he says Katsuo enjoys a challenge." Aizawa was speechless. This kid was betting his entire future on one test. Katsuo would have to go up against recommendation students, recommended by pro heroes at the top of Japan, as well as a hundred other students in order to pass, all with quirks that would make them formidable opponents. "Well then, I've already decided to allow Katsuo to take both tests, but I wanted to see what you all thought. Anyone think he shouldn't?" Nezu's question was met with silence from the teachers. Any who thought it was a bad idea had been convinced by All Might and Power Loader that this kid was something else. Besides, they too had seen the videos. Midnight was even a secret member of the Hiroki Katsuo Fan Club.

"Well then, if that's all, then I'll send the decision straight to him. You all are dismissed!"

"It worked. This is gonna be fun." Katsuo had just read the letter from Principal Nezu, telling him that he would be taking both tests. The recommendation test was set for the week before the regular test. "My ultimate goal was to take both tests. I would apply for UA so I could take the regular exam. Then I would wait a while and look for opportunities to impress pro heroes. Of course, Power Loader's competition was a sure-fire way to get recommended, but Katsuo saving all those people were just happy accidents. Katsuo was able to save those people and preserve their smiles, while also apparently gaining the recommendations of pro heroes. It was a win-win situation. Why did Katsuo want to take both tests so badly? And why did he ask to be denied if he didn't get first place?

"It's simple, really. I wanted a challenge. Something to get my blood pumping. Besides, this'll set me up for the future nicely." He clenched his fist tightly, still smiling wide and said, "It's time for the UA Entrance Exam. Get excited!"

A/N

During the meeting, I called Katsuo, "Katsuo Hiroki". I did that to make sure there was no confusion about his name, but I might have made it worse. His first name is Katsuo and his family name is Hiroki. You can see this when I call his mother Ms. Hiroki. Sorry if I accidentally confused anyone. Get excited for the UA Entrance Exam arc, now featuring a second exam!