A/N

UA Entrance Exam Arc begins!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: RECOMMENDATION EXAM

It was now the middle of February. It had been 10 months since Katsuo's plan to take both UA entrance exams had succeeded, and he had been working hard. Death Arms was still teaching him moves and techniques, but Katsuo's ass-kicking got a little lighter each day as he struggled to keep up less and less. Eventually, Katsuo could even beat Death Arms in a fight if he put everything into it, exhausting though it may be. Midoriya had also been working hard on inheriting One For All fully, making it to around 8% before his body started getting damaged. It was amazing progress, considering 1% led to his muscles being sore the next day back in May of last year.

Katsuo, Kirishima and Midoriya were still going to the gym together, but because Midroiya couldn't make it most of the time, Katsuo and Kirishima began sparring in the ring as well, Katsuo relaying the same techniques he was taught to Kirishima. Katsuo's fanclub hadn't died down in the slightest. In fact, it was still growing rapidly even now. Katsuo didn't have many chances to be a wannabe hero, but he had a few more moments to shine. He saved a cat stuck in a tree, led a lost child to his parents, and helped deliver some supplies to a local mom and pop restaurant that hadn't received them. He had become a sort of neighborhood hero who the people could depend on for small problems. Katsuo's philosophy of preserving smiles led him to help fix even the smallest of problems, and he was sure he would keep doing that, even after becoming the strongest hero.

But now, it was time for the Recommendation Exam. Recommended students were pit against each other in an obstacle course and were meant to use their quirks in order to cross the finish line first. It seemed fairly simple to Katsuo, but the other students would pose a fair challenge. He only had strength, speed, and his mana as tools to get through the obstacles, while the other students could have abilities to get through them without effort. Also, Katsuo would have to rely on his intelligence in real time in order to figure out the best course of action, as examinees were (obviously) not allowed to know the course beforehand. All of that aside, Katsuo was excited. Gone were the days of his anxiety filled morning before a test, Katsuo's ability to measure up to most challenges had him craving for more like some kind of adrenaline junkie. 'I'm not addicted, right?'

Katsuo forced that thought to the side for later as he came face to face with the school entrance. A white gate with two golden letters posted at the top. UA. Katsuo had made it. He had gone from a dead-inside, overworked zombie to a UA recommended examinee. Of course, he wouldn't stop at those golden letters. He stepped forward, walking past the gate and not stopping. He wouldn't stop until he had achieved his goal, a regretless life. Katsuo walked into the building and was immediately met with Ectoplasm, who Katsuo guessed to probably just be a clone meant to guide students to their destination. After quickly verifying his identity, Katsuo was led further into the building, eventually coming out to a parking lot with buses lined up, ready to transport students.

It was an interesting cast of characters. Some looked normal looking, while some looked down-right wacky. There was a boy with springs for legs, a girl with green hair (who Katsuo witnessed split herself in half), etc. Katsuo picked the nicest looking guy and walked over to make conversation. He had extremely light blonde hair and looked completely normal. If it weren't for the fact that he lacked lips. His teeth were completely exposed, going all across his face. Even with this ghastly appearance, Katsuo found him to be quite sociable. They talked for a little while about this and that, Katsuo using his newfound hero knowledge to continue the conversation when needed. It was a distraction that came from the sudden onslaught of boredom brought about by waiting for the rest of the examinees to show up. By the time they were finally ready, Katsuo was pretty confident he had left the parking lot with a new friend.

They were all split into groups of six and led onto the buses before being taken to the site where the obstacle course was. The people in his group were a kid with red and white hair, a tall man with a buzz cut and a friendly attitude, the girl with dark green hair that could split herself, Katsuo's new friend: Juzo Honenuki, and a girl with a wild looking ponytail who seemed way more nervous than everybody else he had seen. Katuso knew that she must have been talented if she had been recommended for the top hero school, so he figured she lacked confidence in her ability. There was nothing Katsuo could really do about it, so he reluctantly decided to drop it and focus on his own predicament.

The buses pulled into the parking lot of a small, two story building. After being led into classrooms, Katsuo sat at a desk marked with his name and prepared himself for the written exam. It was a paper test that was similar to those from his middle school. Math, science, reading comprehension, etc. It was mostly used to grasp the student's current knowledge. Katsuo was surprised to find a section of the test for problem solving. They were scenarios about different things that could happen in real life, most likely used to gauge the examinee's problem solving skills. Katsuo even answered a problem about finding a victim's murderer based on clues from the crime scene. They were really going all out.

Thanks to Katsuo's study sessions, he practically flew through the test. Reading came naturally to Katsuo even before the system, and his memory capability allowed him to memorize entire passages in a second before using those memories to answer the questions quickly and precisely. Problem solving was also easy due to Katsuo's increased intelligence, and the murderer was quite obvious. Katsuo guessed that it was the butler before even reading anything. All-in-all, Katsuo turned in his test at the one hour mark, being the first of three hours. The ponytail girl from the bus was second to turn in her paper ten minutes after Katsuo did. After that, Katsuo took a well-deserved nap.

He awoke immediately to the sound of the test proctor informing the examinees to go outside. It took him a moment to remember where he was before finally following the rest of the examinees out the door. Coming out to the field, Katsuo was down-right stupefied to find a giant obstacle course behind the building. He knew there was going to be one, he just didn't realize how big it would be. It went for miles, seemingly through different terrains. 'What the hell is this school?' Katsuo congratulated Juzo on making it through the test. Juzo was confident he got at least a 40/100 on the test. Katsuo simply responded with a thumbs up before a loud voice suddenly shot through his ear drums.

"Hey there budding heroes! It's me, Present Mic! I'll be waiting at the end of the course along with Recovery Girl to record your times! Remember, this is an obstacle course where you can use your quirks, so make sure to perform to the best of your ability! Now, group 1 to the starting line!" A group of examinees went up to the line before beginning their race. Katsuo and the rest of the examinees were waiting under tents down a small hill from the starting line, so he couldn't actually see what it was like. All he knew was he would most likely be going up against the people from his written test. One by one, each group was called up to the starting line. The boredom was approaching quickly once again. 'Why the hell did I have to be put in the very last group?' Katsuo staved off the boredom by playing rock paper scissors with Juzo. "Group 20, you're up!"

Katsuo immediately snapped from his budding, friendly personality to his focused one. He honed in on the objective, immediately analyzing everything he could. It seemed to be a long, flat field in front of him. The first half of the field was a minefield, and the second half was too far away to see clearly, although Katsuo could tell it was different somehow. Everyone lined up. "On your mark… get set… GO!" Present Mic fired a blank shot into the sky, prompting the red and white haired boy as well as the big guy to shoot ahead. They looked at each other, clearly thinking the race was between them. So when Katsuo shot past them in the blink of an eye, they were caught off guard. They weren't the only ones either; everybody watching the race couldn't fathom how somebody running could shoot past someone skating on ice and another guy flying with wind.

Of course, the two boys didn't take it sitting down, instantly attempting to speed up and catch Katsuo. When he got to the mindfield, Katsuo did a long jump, opting to jump over as many mines as he could. He jumped 45 feet across the 100 foot long field, but having to jump over mines ended up taking too much time, allowing the other two examinees to pass by in a flash. The one with ice, Todoroki, created a bridge of ice that broke behind him, allowing him to keep momentum as he went over. The other boy, Inasa, simply flew over the mines using his wind. Clearly, jumping along like an idiot was going to do anything. Now that Katsuo had gotten so far across the field, he could finally see the next obstacle. It was a giant canyon with pillars of rock protruding out of it, a rope being attached to each pillar. Katsuo quickly calculated the trajectory, as well as how much damage he could reasonably take.

"It's perfect!" Katsuo's smile grew even larger than it already was, and he began gently placing the mines in a pile. "Oh man, hope this doesn't kill me!" Katsuo laughed to himself before smacking his elbow and dropping it on the pile of mines, absolutely sending him into the air. "SHIIIIIIIT!" Katsuo still had a fear of falling, which didn't go away with his anxiety. The two boys, who were just now passing the minefield, watched as Katsuo flew towards them, a billow of smoke flying off of him, making him look like a rocket. Then they noticed the mine that was still in his hand. "See you at the finish line!" Katsuo threw down the mine below him, gently knocking the boys off course while giving Katsuo more air time. "This guy is crazy!" Inasa smiled with determination as he kicked it up a notch. "Tch." Todoroki also kicked it into high gear.

From the air, Katsuo spotted the pillar he would be landing on in the canyon, as well as the best pillars to continue forward with. He landed, then did more long jumps and cleared the canyon. Inasa had fallen behind significantly, not having any place to propel off of. Todoroki was still in hot pursuit, but he was only halfway across the canyon due to not being as fast as Katsuo was. 'Can't waste any more time! Plus ultra!' Katsuo ignored the cringe he felt in saying that and continued forward at full speed. The next obstacle was a large mountain. It was reminiscent of the TV show, "Wipeout". Rubber boxing gloves came shooting out of the side of the mountain. Halfway up, the same boxing gloves were shooting out of a sheet of ice on the mountain, making ascent even harder than it already was. 'Seriously, where do they get the damn funding for this place?!'

Somehow, some way, Todoroki and Inasa had almost cleared the canyon, meaning Katsuo couldn't think anymore. He had to act on instinct and reaction. Katsuo dashed forward, jumping high into the air and landing a quarter of the way up the mountain. He climbed as fast as he could, but the ice was extremely slippery. Whenever he got the chance, Katsuo would jump onto a boxing glove and catapult even higher, eventually making it to the top. "God… dammit! So… tired!" Katsuo downed a stamina potion as quickly as possible, but those damn emitter time quirks caught up to him. Todoroki and Inasa began crossing the rope bridge to the other mountain. Inasa didn't have a stable platform once again, and Todoroki was starting to get frostbite from using his ice too much.

'Okay, we should be fine, that guy can't catch up to us on such an unstable-' Todoroki was caught off guard by a roar from behind them. The two boys turned around in confusion, only to see Katsuo jump over them and dash across the rope. 'My agility allows for better balance, making this a piece of cake!' The two boys followed suit, and eventually they all found themselves in front of a roller coaster. It was a simple one that wasn't moving very fast, and the turns were small. It seemed to be a break for the examinees. Todoroki sat down first, trying to treat his frostbite while Inasa was trying to catch his breath. As they began to ride over a hill, they heard a yell from behind them. "WAGONS ARE FOR PUSSIES!" Katsuo jumped over the carts and landed on the track in front of them, turning himself into the cart and running full speed down the track.

Another "tch" sounded from Todoroki as he got up and slid after Katsuo, leaving Inasa to play catch up once again, even if not for long. After Katsuo slid across a field of ice (Todoroki was very pleased with this obstacle), he ran through a forest filled to the brim with rock monsters. They were easily dispatched by Katsuo's knife work, leaving only a pile of rubble in his wake. "I am a god!" Katsuo yelled to himself, geeking out on his own hype as he came across the next obstacle. It was a mountain, but the objective wasn't to go over it. It was to go through it. On a table just outside the cave were six flashlights and six maps, one for each examinee. Even worse, the two boys weren't far behind, making it past Katsuo and running into the cave with their supplies.

"Okay, it should be easy." Katsuo memorized the map and grabbed his flashlight, running into the cave after them. 'Right, left, straight ahead, left, right, right left, straight ahead.' Katsuo's mental map of the cave didn't warn him of one thing. Along his path was Inasa, getting jumped by GIANT SPIDERS. "Oh, what the hell?!" Katsuo didn't have a fear of spiders, but god damn did he think they were creepy. Katsuo assisted Inasa, and paid the price for it. Inasa's wind kicked up a large cloud of dust, which flew straight into Katsuo's eyes, blinding him. Even worse, a spider had broke Inasa's flashlight, and Katsuo didn't have the balls to admit he had stepped on his own after being blinded. "Oh crap man, sorry about that. What are we going to do now?" The two boys were now stranded, having no means of escaping the cave. If Katsuo weren't there, at least.

'Wait, that's it!' Katsuo focused on his mana once again, drawing it out of his body and spreading it out through the cave. And just like that, a dark square appeared in his mind with glowing purple lines slowly being filled in. His mana stopped when it hit a wall, allowing Katsuo to feel the outline of the cave walls. Even better, he could feel where the mana left the cave. "Follow me baldy!" Inasa was about to tell him that he wasn't bald, but being left behind was a bad idea for him, so he shut up and started following. Along the way, they came across Todoroki, who opted to follow Katsuo. Must not have realized Katsuo's eyes were closed. Eventually, the inside of Katsuo's eyelids began to glow orange, signaling to him that he could see sunlight again. "Thanks."

With that, Todoroki sprints forward, leaving Katsuo and Inasa down by the river outside the cave. "Hey, we can't just leave hi-" Inasa looked back at Katsuo and stopped when he saw the look on his face. Katsuo had a devil-may-care smile with eyes full of determination and excitement. "Don't worry about me, just keep it moving!" Inasa smiled back and blasted forward with his wind. As Katsuo got up and started running, he spotted the next obstacle. It was a giant waterfall that fed the river he was just at, except large logs were falling over the side. "Perfectly fucking vertical." Each log that fell over the side was pointing straight downward, without tilting toward the side at all. "They must have put some kind of weight in the logs to make them that way. How considerate."

Katsuo sprinted forward and jumped off each log, causing them to explode from the force of his jumps. Each one sounded like a gunshot, signaling Katsuo's ascent to the peak of the course. When he got to the top of the waterfall, he jumped across the remaining logs until he got to the edge of the mountain. "Final obstacle. Looks like it's just a straight shot to the finish line, about three football fields." Katsuo's competition was already halfway across, and their engines were running at full blast. "Okay, let's get it started, shall we?" Katsuo jumped off of the mountain and landed with a thud, breaking the ground beneath him into shards. "Aw crap."

Inasa and Todoroki were neck and neck at the finish line. They couldn't hear or see Katsuo, so they assumed they were too far ahead for him to catch up. Todoroki noticed Inasa's judgemental gaze, but he chose to ignore it. And then, they heard something. "Muscle enhancement, 100%" Katsuo's voice came out from right behind them, and as they turned to look back, he shot by them like a bullet. "Dammit!" They sped up, only barely able to keep up with him due to their quirks being overused. Todoroki was about to become a popsicle and Inasa was running out of oxygen. As all three of them crossed the finish line, Present Mic's voice sounded over the speakers. "It's… it's a photo finish!" The previous examinees erupted in excitement. They, along with the teachers, had been watching the entire time, and saw what Katsuo had done.

"Aw crap. I broke the course." Katsuo swept his subtle feeling of guilt under the rug for a moment. He had a job to do. He placed his hands on the ground and put one foot back, channeling all of his mana into his legs. He had meant to say the name of his move at the mountain, but he went so fast he accidentally said it as he passed by his competitors. 'I hope they don't think I'm showing off- oh shit!' Katsuo was surprised. To anyone else, it may have looked like he was jumping forward to cross the finish line first. Only he knew that he tripped over his untied shoelace. 'When the hell did that?' Katsuo smashed into the ground and started rolling along quickly, ultimately flying into the wall on the far side of the area. Recovery girl rushed to his aid, nagged him for being reckless, and then guided him to the tent where the rest of the examinees were.

"Wow, you were so cool!" and "I wish I were that strong!" began to come from all of the students. Katsuo feigned modesty and told them all to keep training and maybe they could be that strong too someday. Aside from a few scrapes and a shallow cut on his cheek, Katsuo was fine, sporting no real injuries despite his nasty tumble (going 20 miles an hour into a wall). 'I really am durable!' Meanwhile in the control room, the teachers were reviewing the footage. It was so close they had to slow it down two 1/4 the original speed. Fortunately, at that speed the winner was obvious. Principal Nezu's voice came from the speakers and announced the first three examinees of the 20th. "Hiroki Katsuo, 1st place. Inasa Yoarashi, 2nd place. Shota Todoroki, 3rd place. Nice work everyone!" With that, the congratulations failed to stop. Patts on the back, words of encouragement, the other examinees were really excited.

And of course, mentions of Katsuo's fanclub and the inevitable question of "Can you sign my phone for me?" began getting thrown around the group. However, the group stopped at a large explosion over the mountain. Katsuo ran to Recovery Girl who was looking at the air to find out what was happening. "Judging from her height and speed, I'd say she's going to cross the finish line. Although, she'll probably get hurt in the process." At that moment, Katsuo spotted a figure shooting out of the smoke, flying in the direction of the finish line. And as if someone had yelled for him to go long, Katsuo ran over and caught the person like a football, accumulating a few more scrapes as he did so. The person seemed confused and took their helmet off before looking at Katsuo's concerned face.

It was the pony tail girl. Before she could thank Katsuo for the save, Recovery Girl ran over to him and bopped him on the head with her syringe-shaped cane. "What were you thinking you fool, you've likely gotten even more injuries from that stunt!" Katsuo smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that. You said she was probably going to get hurt, and my body kind of moved without thinking!" Everyone was dumbstruck, and yet somehow they knew it would do it. "(Sigh) Fine, I guess I should only suspect that from someone trying to become a hero. Still though, you should think about yourself once in a while, kid. Now take off your shirt, I need to make sure you didn't screw up your back with your stupidity." Katsuo embarrassedly took off his shirt. Everyone was drawn to the sight of his muscular body, clad with small scars here and there from his time in the scenarios. Girls blushed and guys got jealous.

"Damn, I should really start hitting the gym more often." Phrases like that started getting thrown around by the guys, adding to the blush across Katsuo's cheeks. Without proper context, someone could have mistaken him for a tomato. After being properly checked out and led back to the benches, Katsuo spent the rest of the time with his head down, trying to fight down the burning sensation in his ears and cheeks. After a little while, the rest of the examinees finished the course, and Katsuo could finally go home. As Katsuo was exchanging numbers with Juzo outside the entrance to UA, a familiar face popped up behind them. "Hey Katsuo!" It was Inasa, the friendly bald giant. Inasa wasn't actually bald, but Katsuo found it funny so he stuck with it. "Hey Inasa! Hope to see you around UA!" Inasa's face suddenly darkened, his smile disappearing for a second before being replaced with a fake one. "Actually, I've decided not to go to the USA. Think I'll actually go to Shiketsu."

"But why? You got the second lowest time to complete the course, I'm sure you'll get in!" Inasa simply shook his head and continued past the confused boys. "Don't worry, I've got my reasons. See you around man." With that, Katsuo found himself feeling a bit sad as he watched Inasa walk away, the setting sun breaking him out of it as he realized he needed to get home quickly. "See ya around Juzo!" Katsuo began sprinting down the mountain, trying to get home before dark so as to not worry his mother. Little did he know, he had just missed the pony tail girl, Momo Yaoyorozu, who wanted to thank him for saving her. 'Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to hope I see him at UA.'

Katsuo told his mother how it went before retreating to bed, tired like nobody's business. "Okay, phase 1 is complete. The final test will be next week. Think I'll spend the next week in the scenarios to get stronger." With his plan set, Katsuo retreated back to slumber, preparing himself for the grueling training ahead of him.

A/N

Next chapter will end the UA Entrance Exam arc! Get excited!