A/N
Konosuba!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: AT THE PEAK
"Thank you so much, Mr. Katsuo!" The leader of the guild in the second scenario had gotten excited at the news and immediately rushed to track Katsuo down. Fortunately for him, Katuso was resting in the bar before leaving the scenario. Due to the sudden noise of a gruff voice yelling his name, Katuso was now attempting to swallow a piece of chicken that got stuck inside his throat when he yelped out of surprise. "Because of you, dear adventurer, the threat of a dungeon break has been all but wiped out for the next several generations!" Apparently, Katsuo was the only adventurer to ever get as far as floor 14 of the tower, much less level 19. Not even the guild leader could get that far. Because of Katsuo's constant advancement further and further up the tower, the monsters couldn't respawn fast enough, and all of the magic in the tower was focused on respawning the weaker monsters on the first floor.
This meant that anything on the second floor and above wouldn't be able to respawn until the ones on the first floor did, so all the guild had to do was keep killing the weak monsters on floor 1. Of course, Katsuo still had to kill the monsters on floor 20, but he was too lazy to do it right now. Without the immediate threat of innocent deaths, Katuso found himself wanting to rest his exhausted body more than anything. He had spent the last few days constantly grinding for experience in the dungeon to make sure he was all topped up on strength for the UA entrance exam, and now all he wanted to do was sleep off the remaining two days before then. After explaining all of that to the guild leader (while leaving out the UA stuff, obviously), Katsuo said his farewell and left the bar, finding a secluded corner before leaving the scenario.
'Only two more days before the exam. I got this in the bag!'
As Katsuo made his way up the mountain to the gates of UA once again, he found himself returning to the thought of his score. "It had been a close call with the obstacle course, so I was a bit nervous about my placement." The anxiety was part of the fun though, and Katuso had wished that "fun" upon himself. Fortunately, Katuso had gotten first place total. UA had been measuring placement with points based on the written and practical exams, with 100 points each. Katsuo had gotten a perfect 200, so his worries were laid to rest. The girl that was right behind him in the test had only gotten 4th place in the practical, so he was able to rest easy after that. Katsuo was shaken out of his thoughts by the "manly" roar of a rocky behemoth behind him. Kirishima was running toward Katsuo as fast as possible while Midoriya was running behind him with a determined look.
"Hey Katsuo! You never told me what you got on the test!" After dapping each other up (the move had come back after 100 years), Katsuo explained what had happened during the practical. Apparently, he had forgotten to tell anyone he knew besides his mother due to being focused on leveling up in the tower. "That's so awesome, Katsuo!" Midoriya was hurriedly jotting down Katsuo's new moves, mana spread, mana thread, and muscle enhancement, as well explaining what each one did. He had begun lagging behind Katsuo and Kirishima as they entered the gate, too focused on writing and thinking to keep up. That is, until he tripped on air and began plummeting to the ground. Katsuo felt the disturbance in his mana field and turned to grab him before he face planted, but a girl beat him to it. She had brown eyes and brunette hair that fell to her shoulders.
Katsuo and Kirishima watched with teasing smiles on their faces as Ochako walked away after being thanked by Midoriya, opting to go in for the kill. "Hey Mido, you're blushing." Katsuo began poking Midoriya's cheek with a teasing smile, finding it hilarious when Midoriya attempted to stutter out an excuse. He didn't catch all of it, but it was something along the lines of embarrassment from being saved. Reading between the lines though, Katsuo knew Midoriya was really saying that was his first time holding a conversation with a girl. Of course, Katsuo couldn't make fun of him for it. His thoughts began slowly drifting back to Mirko as they walked into the main auditorium and sat down in their seats. Katsuo caught Midoriya's nervous sweat as some blonde guy with a death stare peered in Midoriya's soul from the next seat to his right.
He was about to ask what his problem was when Present Mic's stupid loud voice began piercing his eardrums again. The loud voice explained the two tests being taken, the written and the practical. 'Boooooring' Katsuo opted to practice with his mana thread until Present Mic got to the good part: the practical exam. They would all be sent to different gates to avoid cheating with students from the same school, and then let into a city full of robots. Each robot was worth a certain amount of points based on its toughness. However, one robot was worth 0 points. Katsuo figured the 0 pointer would probably be the strongest, though he couldn't think of why it would be included. After that, he was released into the school to find the classroom he would be taking the test in. He couldn't spot anybody he knew in there with him. 'There's a lot more people here than in the recommendation exam, although I guess that's to be expected.'
The written exam went about as well as you would expect from someone who memorized every math book he could find in the city's library. The questions were easy, Katsuo is smart, yada yada yada. There was a part where Katsuo almost fell asleep, but other than that he did fine. After finishing first and training his mana thread again, Katsuo eventually made it to the end of the testing period. And then it was time for the main event. Everyone flooded the halls to get outside. He wasn't sure, but Katsuo swore he could smell the anxiety oozing off of these kids. Fortunately, he was blessed with a second chance, so thoughts of failure weren't on his mind. 'I'm going to pass no matter what. Plus- yeah, I'm never saying something stupid like that ever again.' Katsuo breathed a sigh of relief at not saying something cringe worthy again and made his way out the back door.
He was met with the same parking lot from a week ago, except this time the buses were already boarding due to all of the students already being there. Katsuo boarded the bus and waited for it to take off. Once again, he wasn't lucky enough to find any of his friends on the bus with him, so he just decided to look out the window. 'Booooooriiiiinnnnggg. Man, this sucks.'
Katsuo was woken up by the bus stopping and everybody getting off. He covered his eyes at the bombardment of light when stepping off of the bus, eventually opening them back up and coming face to face with a sight to see. In front of him was a giant stone wall, probably twice as large as normal apartment buildings. 'That's gotta be like, at least two whales large!' Once again, Present Mic was the announcer for his group. Katsuo was beginning to think Present Mic was the only announcer UA had on staff. "Okay kiddoes, it's time for the exam! You know the rules, you know what to do! So go!" Without any kind of warning, the gates to the site opened, revealing what looked to be a normal city, just surrounded by a giant stone wall all the way around. "What are you waiting for? There are no countdowns in a real fight, so get moving!" Katsuo chose to ignore how Present Mic jumped in a car and sped off as fast as possible, heading in the direction of the other sites.
Before anyone could escape their confusion and get moving, Katsuo blasted past them and jumped up, landing on top of a street light nearby. "Come on, you heard the guy!" Katsuo ended his exclamation with a smile as he continued forward, wrecking any robot in his way as went deeper into the city. He found the difficulty of the robots wasn't based on their place in the city, so he could really go anywhere and achieve the same outcome. However, something was nagging his heart. He had the feeling that he should keep an eye on the other examinees. There was a good chance the robots would stop attacking if an examinee were injured, but there was also a good chance they wouldn't, so Katuso decided to keep to the rooftops to protect everyone. He destroyed robots left and right while simultaneously helping anyone that looked like they were in a bind.
He continued like this until the last 3 minutes of the exam. He was helping a student up after saving them from a three pointer when the ground began to rumble. Down the street, Katsuo spotted a large cloud of dust and steam, making it hard to see what was happening. Then, a large group of examinees came running out, yelling about "something big" chasing them out of the dust. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. Katsuo grabbed the fabric above his heart, gripping tightly as a manic smile appeared on his face. "Finally. Something FUN." The zero pointer walked out of the dust cloud. It was humanoid, standing on two legs with two arms knocking the buildings out of its way. It was twice their size. Katsuo spotted large missile depots on each arm. After quickly helping a few students up and guiding them to safety, Katsuo faced the giant.
He clenched and unclenched his fists in anticipation, waiting for any sign of movement from the robot. Suddenly, it lifted its arm towards Katsuo, shooting three missiles at him from each depot. Katsuo jumped forward into the air toward the robot, slicing each missile as he flew by and landing on its hand. The robot attempted to knock him off as he ran up its arm, destroying every depot and making it the neck. Then, he summoned his knife. "Muscle strengthening, 20%!" Katsuo jumped across the top of the robot's torso, shooting into the air on its left side. Behind him, the robot's neck was revealed to be sliced clean through, and the head came crashing down as Katsuo landed on the ground. Katsuo spotted everyone looking at him in surprise and came up with an admittedly childish plan. 'Gotta remember, cool guys don't look at explosions.'
Katsuo merely smiled as the robot fell down behind him, blowing up as it did so. Katsuo resisted the urge to look at the explosion. "Dude, that was sick!" The examinees began cheering and clapping for Katsuo, leading him to just smile and wave while fighting down the growing blush on his cheeks. He cleaned up the rest of the robots and went around to all of the students, giving them health and stamina potions to help them out a bit. 'And with that… the exam is over.' A bit underwhelming, but oh well. All Katsuo could do now was hope for his score to be good…
The teachers were watching Katsuo's fight with the zero pointer. Everyone was both impressed and surprised to watch him dispatch it so easily. They reviewed his kills, as well as his saves. "How interesting, it would seem Mr. Hiroki chose saving other examinees as his priority!" Nezu was absolutely delighted with Katsuo's performance. Between the recommendation exam and the standard entrance exam, Katsuo had not failed to disappoint, even surpassing his expectations. Of course, that meant the teachers had to deal with Midnight failing to contain her moans at the back of the room. 'Freak.' Aizawa thought to himself. 'This Hiroki Katsuo kid is strange. With all that power, you would be right to assume he has an inflated ego. However, judging on his choice to save students more than show off his fighting, and the fact that he looked so embarrassed by the applause, it seems he lacks an ego, or at least a large one.'
Aizawa came to one conclusion: Katsuo was going to be extremely troublesome, and he would definitely be joining class 1A. 'Dammit.' All Might watched Katsuo fight to protect people during the entire test, focusing on others instead of himself. 'I'm sure young Hiroki will make a great ally for young Midoriya in the future.'
Katsuo boarded the bus and sighed out of relief, slowly drifting off to sleep as the bus began making its way back to UA. After arriving back at the building, Katsuo found a large mass of students gathered in the main area. He quickly spotted his broccoli-head companion and made his way over. "Yo, Mido. What's happening?"
"They're about to announce the ranking for the top 10 examinees. I don't know if I'm in the top 10, but I think I did well. I took down 10 of those robots! My training really came in handy" Katsuo noticed the slight bruising on Midoriya's arms, realizing he must have had to push his limits to pass the exam. Katsuo patted his friend on the back and said: "I'm sure you're up there, Mido!" And then, a voice came over the speaker system inside the atrium. "Everyone, please turn your attention to the screen above the receptionist desk. Rankings will be displayed now."
10th Place : Fumikage Tokoyami : 47 Villain Points, 10 Rescue Points
"Wait, what are rescue points?" While everyone else in the room seemed to be confused, Katuso had assumed that would be the case. 1: It's a hero school, so that should be obvious, and 2: Katsuo figured the purpose of the zero pointer wasn't just supposed to be an obstacle, but a good way to pick out the true heroes in the crowd.
9th Place : Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu : 49 Villain Points, 10 Rescue Points
'Who the hell names their child after their family name? Isn't there a law against names that could get kids bullied in school?'
8th Place : Tenya Ida : 52 Villain Points, 9 Rescue Points
7th Place : Itsuka Kendo : 25 Villain Points, 40 Rescue Points
6th Place : Ibara Shiozaki : 36 Villain Points, 32 Rescue Points
5th Place : Izuku Midoriya : 11 Villain Points, 60 Rescue Points
"Oh shit, that's what I'm talkin about, Mido!" Katuso high fived Midoriya so hard that Midoriya had to nurse his red palm. "Heh, sorry about that!"
4th Place : Ochako Uraraka : 28 Villain Points, 45 Rescue Points
3rd Place : Eijiro Kirishima : 39 Villain Points, 35 Rescue Points
"Aw yeah, yes sir!" Katsuo wanted to dap Kirishima up, but couldn't see him.
2nd Place : Katsuki Bakugou : 77 Villain Points, 0 Rescue Points
"WHY THE HELL AREN'T I IN FIRST?!" Katsuo and Midoriya had differing thoughts on the situation. 'Well, somebody isn't happy about their score. And who applies to a hero school with ZERO rescue points?' On the other hand, Midoriya thought: 'That's Katsuo for ya, I guess.'
1st Place : Katsuo Hiroki : 98 Villain Points, 127 Rescue Points
"Jesus, Katsuo! Save some for the rest of us!" Midroiya just doesn't know when to stop talking, because his exclamation caused all eyes in the room to look directly at Katsuo. "Dammit Midoriya, stop talking so loud!" Katsuo hid his embarrassed face in his shirt, hoping the attention would die down. 'Maybe I went a bit overboard, but it was just so easy!' Katsuo didn't hear second place complaining anymore…
After Katsuo got home, he told his mom the news, as well as his score. Then, he spent the next 5 minutes trying not to suffocate in a bear hug OR drown in the constant river of tears that was now flooding the living room. Just as he finally escaped, a notification from the system stopped Katsuo in his tracks. "Hey mom, I'm gonna go lie down. See you at dinner!" Katsuo quickly retreated into his room, shutting and locking the door before going back to his mailbox and checking the notification more closely.
Congratulations on finishing a major milestone! To promote your growth as a hero, please accept this key!
Reward for completion: Special Scenario Key
"A special scenario?" Katsuo quickly looked at the clock. It was around 3 hours until dinner, meaning Katuso had around 3 days to explore the special scenario. "I'm a bit exhausted, but what the hell. Maybe I can get a crap ton of experience from this. Getting stronger would be nice." Katsuo accepted the key, which appeared in his hand. "Hmmm…." Katsuo thought for a moment, trying to see what the key could actually be for. "Well, I might as well test it." Katsuo inserted the key into the keyhole in his bedroom door. Surprisingly, it worked, and opening up the door revealed a glowing white void. "Well. Shit. Might as well."
After stepping through the door, Katsuo found himself… next to a stage? "And now, please give a round of applause for Hiroki Katuso!" A stage announcer loudly announced Katsuo, and a backstage worker pushed Katuso out onto stage. As he approached the microphone, Katsuo looked out at the crowd of people. Above the crowd was a large, white banner with black letters on it:
HERO PROMOTION AWARD PARTY
A/N
Decided to just crank this out in a few hours. It's 3:24 in the morning. Me sleepy, please have a good rest of your day.