Katsuki affixed his badge to his uniform jacket as he walked toward his testing group. A large collection of students was gathered near the wall and chattering excitedly, much to his annoyance. As he made his approach, he saw a familiar face light up from within the crowd. Ochaco's wide grin brought a scowl to Katsuki's face, and he blew out an annoyed breath as she waved him over.

"Hey! Looks like we'll be seeing each other again even sooner than I'd hoped!"

"Yeah. Great," Katsuki replied with a frustrated grumble. "Are we almost ready to head out?"

"Just about," Ochaco informed as the girl she had been talking to turned around to face Katsuki.

"Mina Ashido," the pink skinned, horned girl said merrily as she offered a hand and a smile even bigger than Ochaco's. "Your name's Katsuki…?"

Katsuki briefly cast his eyes up to the ceiling and exhaled through his nose before taking the hand and giving Mina a quick shake.

"…Bakugo. Anyway."

"We're just waiting on two more people, apparently," Ochaco explained as she raised her voice over the conversations going on around her. "Our team leader is keeping track. I think she's a student, too…?"

Katsuki cast a bored look toward a blue-haired woman who was wading through the crowd, holding a clipboard with her eyes trained upon him.

"…you don't know who Supercoil is?" Katsuki said flatly.

"Oh! Oh, you were part of the televised license exam last school year, right!?" Mina asked excitedly as she balled her fists and held them beneath her chin. "You're one of The Big Three!"

Nejire offered an awkward smile to Mina and Katsuki as she entered the conversation, clipboard in hand.

"Yes, I am," she confirmed as she began to scribble upon her papers. "So, Ochaco Uraraka, Mina Ashido, and… Katsuki Bakugo?"

"Yeah," Katsuki acknowledged as he folded his arms across his chest. He watched as Nejire's expression soured, and she took a step back. "What? Why is that everyone's reaction, suddenly? Why do you and Lemillion apparently know my name already?"

"We don't!" Nejire said quickly as her eyes widened. "I'm just… a little scattered right now, is all! Sorry!"

"Bullshit," Katsuki muttered under his breath as Nejire turned away and began talking to another student about their registration.

"Is something wrong…?" Ochaco asked as Katsuki continued to glare daggers at Nejire's back.

"Yeah. She's lying," Katsuki insisted. "Lemillion had a similar reaction when I told him my name. If Suneater's around, I bet it would be the same. Something's going on…"

"Wait," Mina started as she put a pastel finger to her lips. "You… you're the guy who got attacked in the park a few months back, right? I thought you looked familiar! You were on the news!"

Katsuki bristled as Ochaco's eyes widened in realization, and seemingly half the crowd of assembled students turned to face Katsuki.

"Oh! Oh, yeah!" Ochaco said excitedly. "The slime villain! The reports all said you held your own pretty well until another boy and All Might showed up! You got to see All Might in action? That must have been pretty cool."

Katsuki ground his teeth together as he shifted his gaze between various members of the small crowd. Their feverish whispering only grew louder, until Nejire suddenly raised her voice and held her clipboard up high above the rest of the students.

"Okay, people!" Nejire called as she did a small hop. "We're headed upstairs to Room 202 for your written exam! Please, follow me!"

The crowd moved almost as one while Nejire took her place at the head of the pack. Katsuki moved to follow along almost immediately, but soon found Ochaco and Mina keeping pace on either side of them. He did his best to ignore their presence, but found no success as Mina started talking once again.

"Sooo… what's All Might like? Was it cool seeing him up close? Were you scared?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Katsuki growled. "Especially not with people I don't even know."

"Oh, yeah…" Mina said dejectedly. "I understand. My boyfriend and I were at the mall that got attacked a while back, and that was… it kinda took a toll on both of us. We were involved in another incident, too, but that one had to be covered up by the police."

"Covered up by the police?" Ochaco asked. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Katsuki finally turned his head to look at Mina, suddenly interested in her words as he remained silent.

"Well… I kinda doubt it, but do you guys remember when there was an attack on a convenience store a couple months ago, involving some Yakuza grunts? The first Yakuza attack, I mean. The guys with the creepy theater masks?"

"I heard about that one, yeah," Ochaco confirmed. "But didn't the news say that the police arrived in time to stop it…?"

"The news lied," Mina said simply. "Eijiro and I stopped it, but we were arrested afterward and brought in for interrogation for using our Quirks in public."

"…that's bullshit," Katsuki spat.

"What?" Mina asked, looking offended. "We did! People could've died if we di-"

"No," Katsuki interrupted. "It's bullshit that you got arrested. It's no secret that several Yakuza families are starting to re-emerge into society to stir up trouble. Crime's getting out of control, lately. I would've done the same thing."

"Exactly!" Mina said, her smile beaming as she noticed that she had finally gotten Katsuki's attention. "We got out of it thanks to a detective helping us out, but… things are kinda messed up in hero society right now, and run-ins with villains can be kinda… traumatizing. I totally get it, why you don't want to talk about it. Sorry for asking!"

Katsuki held Mina's gaze for a moment before giving her a small nod.

"…whatever. So, you two got your hands dirty and stood up to some shitty people. Your boyfriend applying here, too?"

"Yup!" Mina acknowledged. "Eijiro's in another group for the written exam, but say 'hi' if you see him! Bright red hair, all spiked up like horns. He's really nervous about today…"

"Aw," Ochaco said in a singsong voice that made the hairs on the back of Katsuki's neck stand on end. "I'm sure he'll be fine. If you two fought off actual villains already, then the combat half of the exam should be really easy!"

"Don't assume anything," Katsuki warned as the group moved into a stairwell, still following Nejire. "This isn't some small town hero school. They'll be more or less trying to kill us out there."

"The number of waivers we had to sign almost killed me, so I wouldn't doubt it," Mina joked. "We'll all be fine. Probably."

"There are safety measures in place," Nejire reassured as the group emerged into the hallway. "Your testing room is just over here. Please, head inside in an orderly fashion, and find the desk with your name written on the laminate upon it."

Katsuki was among the first to walk into the classroom and take in the sights. Despite the huge door standing almost three times his height, the interior was a fairly normal setup, with rows of desks lined up facing a massive whiteboard. Behind the teacher's desk stood Sekijiro Kan, the hero known as Vlad King. The massive man's arms were folded across his chest, and his pointed fangs poked out from his lips as he regarded the prospective students with a judgmental glare.

"Good morning," he grumbled as more and more young adults began to pour into the room. "Find your labeled desk and take a seat. The exam will begin shortly."

Katsuki merely gave the gigantic man a curt nod before turning into the rows of seats and following the labels over to his desk. He sat down and leaned back into his chair as he looked about, watching the other students file in. Other than Ochaco and Mina, he recognized none of them. The chatter died down almost immediately as the students took their seats, after which Professor Kan picked up a thick pile of papers from the front desk and began to walk the rows. As he handed the packets out to the seated students, he spoke in an authoritative voice.

"You are to wait until everyone has their exams, before you begin. If need an extra pencil beyond the ones you were told to bring, approach the front desk, and I'll give you one. There is to be no talking at all during the exam, on penalty of being escorted out and your results rendered void."

Katsuki watched as a large packet was dropped upon his desk, the front page reading U.A. UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAM in red block letters. He took out a pair of pencils from his pocket and began to twirl one of them through his fingers as Professor Kan continued.

"You will have two hours to complete the exam. I can assist you with questions about formatting, but I cannot explain the content of any questions to you. Once you are finished, bring your exam up to me, and you are free to exit the room and return to the main hall. Good luck."

As Professor Kan finished handing out the last paper, Ochaco whimpered nervously from Katsuki's left. He looked over to her briefly before rolling his eyes and shaking his head. The gesture went largely unnoticed as Ochaco took several deep breaths, while Professor Kan returned to his spot behind the teacher's desk and placed his hands atop the wooden surface.

"You may begin… now."

Katsuki wasted no time in flipping back the first page of the exam, only to find a table of contents detailing subjects and the numbers of questions associated with each. The first several parts were taken up by various core academic subject questions, before the second went into topics specific to hero society. Katsuki immediately turned to a section entitled "Hero Bylaws in Japan" and narrowed his eyes, beginning to read.

49) According to the Japanese Board for the Regulation of Ethical Quirk Usage, under what circumstances is Quirk usage allowed on public property?

50) In a crisis situation that involves no obvious villains, what level of hero license is required to use your Quirk while acting as a relief professional?

Katsuki made a small noise of irritation as he flipped to the next section, only for the noise of frantic paper shuffling to catch his attention from somewhere in front of him. Deciding to ignore the distraction, he continued to leaf through the pages to a section on professional heroes within society.

61) Who is the current #1 professional hero in the United States of America?

62) After All Might and Endeavor, who is the current #3 professional hero in Japan?

The sound of shuffling papers abruptly stopped, and was instead replaced by a subtle, condescending laugh. Over the course of several seconds, what started as a series of quiet chuckles soon became a snarky, uncontrolled rhythm of staccato noises that sounded as though their creator was rapidly losing his mind.

"…is there a problem?" Professor Kan asked as he glared daggers toward a student seated two desks in front of Katsuki's.

"Yeah," a raspy voice replied, the tone of it dripping with amusement. "Yeah, I think there just might be a problem."

Katsuki and the other students around him all watched in confusion as a young man stood up from his desk, his test in hand. He wore a baggy jet-black sweater and what appeared to be lounge pants, along with a simple pair of white sneakers. His hair was a shaggy mess of light blue that hung down to his chin, and he appeared far too skinny to be healthy.

"Is this what you think is important for an up-and-comer to know?" the man asked as he began to approach the front desk, his packet held out before him. "You think these questions are what can measure a so-called hero?"

"…if you do not sit back down immediately, I will be forced to void your results," Professor Kan threatened.

Without warning, the student threw the packet forward, causing Professor Kan to jump backward slightly in surprise as papers scattered all about his desk and the floor.

"Fine by me," the student taunted. "You know, I never really thought I'd make it, anyway… and I wasn't even sure if I was actually going to try. Seeing this, though… seeing the kinds of things you want to make sure we know, before we're allowed to belong here? This is pathetic. You people had one chance to impress me, and you failed within minutes. All book knowledge. No empathy. No soul. Just what I'd expect from the machine of hero society."

"Get out," Professor Kan said sharply as he pointed toward the door. "Now."

"I'm going," the young man replied as he meandered slowly toward the door.

Upon reaching it, the strange man turned to face the professor, a smirk plastered upon his face. A nasty scar was on the left side of his lips, which were badly chapped. His eyes were naturally red, though their sclera was also bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, and hints of more fraying skin were visible just beneath the collar of his sweater. His clothes seemed ill-fitting and droopy, almost as though they had been borrowed from someone much bigger.

"…but before I do, Vlad King, I'd like you to tell me something. Which of those questions is going to tell you whether or not anyone in this room would make a decent hero… or a decent person? It seems to me like they'd have to go hand in hand. Is it the one about the themes of Romeo and Juliet? Or perhaps the question about the quadratic equation? Or maybe, just maybe, one of the questions about when heroes are allowed to act without getting thrown in jail? After all, the red tape and their own wellbeing is much more important that the lives they're supposed to be saving, isn't it? Wouldn't want to get in trouble helping someone they're not supposed to, huh?"

Katsuki looked back and forth between Professor Kan and the stranger as neither man seemed to breathe. The tension in the room was palpable as all eyes were drawn to the exchange, and the air seemed just a bit heavier. After several seconds of tense silence, the man in the doorway shook his head and turned away with another laugh.

"…yeah. That's about what I figured. Be seeing you on the news sometime soon, I'm sure. All of you."

Katsuki watched in silence as the man left the room. He could see through the window beside the door that the stranger's shoulders were twitching with wild laughter as he walked, and he was still shaking his head. For some reason, the sight gave Katsuki an unfamiliar chill, and he shivered as he looked back down to his exam and got to work.

Author's Note:

With Arboretum returning next week, I need to change up my writing schedule from the usual. I am going to try to keep this story updating every week, but be warned- that may need to change to every other week in the near future. I'm not sure just yet. That being said, I'm also not going to bother keeping updates of this story to Friday, Saturday, or Sunday- from here on out, when a chapter is done, it's going to get posted. So, look forward to updates occasionally being earlier in the week, and here's hoping I can make this work with three long-form stories running at once.

-RD