My Hero Academia: Lion of Courage
Chapter 3: The Entrance Exam
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi.
Ten months had passed and the day of the Entrance Exam into U.A. was here. At long last, the day had come. Takeo had trained hard to prepare himself for this day and held onto his mother's words of wisdom very closely.
Earning a spot in the Hero Course was hard, but keeping it was going to be harder. He'd have to work hard to keep his place in the Hero Course; he could be replaced at any time if he was deemed unsuitable for it.
If he failed the Exam and ended up in General Studies, he'd have the chance to prove himself at the U.A. Sports Festival and potentially earn a spot. He hoped he'd get into the Hero Course at the start, but if he didn't score enough points, he'd end up in General Studies.
"Ready, Takeo?" Nakano asked her son as he dressed in his school uniform.
"Just about," Takeo answered.
"Make sure to pack clothes for the Exam, clothes you don't care get torn up and such," Nakano added.
"I know," he replied.
"Yes, ma'am," Nakano corrected. Takeo sighed in annoyance.
"I heard that."
Takeo sometimes really hated her mother's superior sense of hearing. He loved her, but sometimes, he'd wish she didn't hear when he groaned in annoyance.
The door was heard opening and a male voice said "Well, look at this lion's den! It's cleaner than I thought!" Nakano was heard chuckling before saying "Oh, hush you."
Takeo immediately recognized who it was by his voice alone. When he was done packing and getting dressed, he went out to the living room to see a man about Nakano's height…though he looked like an anthropomorphic brown hyena rather than a man.
"Chairo!" Takeo called out as he walked over and hugged him.
Chairo Haiena, also known by his hero name, Adcrocuta, was a sidekick who worked at Lioness's agency and was one of her closest friends. He had known Takeo ever since he was young and always enjoyed coming over to see him. Ever since he had learned Takeo wanted to join U.A.'s Hero Course and follow in his parents' footsteps, he had supported him all the way.
"What brings you over here?" Takeo asked.
"You didn't think I'd miss your sendoff to U.A., did you?" Chairo responded with a hyena laugh. "Takeo Raionhato, going off to join U.A.'s Hero Course…and perhaps earn the affections of multiple women while you're at it~"
"I'm not sure," Takeo responded, scratching his hair.
"What?" Chairo chuckled. "Some girls love awkward, autistic guys. And you're-"
"Okay, knock it off, Chairo," Nakano requested. "Takeo needs to get ready for the Exam, which is in…two hours, but he'll want to be there early."
As much as Takeo loved Chairo as if he were family, he hated it when he jokingly brought up Takeo's Asperger's. He knew he meant it in good fun and as a way to show why some girls would like him, but he was sensitive about it.
"On a serious note, Takeo," Chairo addressed. "You've worked really hard to improve yourself. I know you don't think your Quirk would 'cut it' at the Entrance Exam, but in the end, functionality is what matters, not flashiness. Your Quirk is VERY functional because even with its drawbacks, it makes you very versatile and able to do close and long range combat. You've got this!"
It was very true. Even with his lack of heavy power, Takeo's Quirk was greatly suited for combat. With close and long range weapons and his knowledge of martial skills from Forge and Lioness, Takeo was an accomplished warrior in his own right.
"And when you come back and you're in the Hero Course, I'm sure you'll quickly become the envy of everyone in your class…and perhaps the center of attention for the ladies~"
"Okay, okay!" Takeo laughed. "But I'd rather have one girlfriend. I don't want several."
"Oh," Chairo responded, playfully looking sad. "Then I guess you're going to leave behind some broken hearts."
After spending a few minutes talking with Chairo and enduring some of his jokes, Takeo prepared to leave for U.A. Nakano stopped him at the door before he could walk out.
"Takeo," she spoke. "I'm proud of how far you've come. No matter whether you end up in the Hero Course or not, you've worked hard. Do not dismiss the effort you've put into your training."
"Thanks, Mom," Takeo replied.
"But do be careful when you come home," Nakano spoke. Takeo raised an eyebrow in response, unsure of what she meant.
"There's been a number of killings near U.A.," Chairo spoke up. He pulled up the article on his phone and showed it to Takeo. The headline read "Nightshade Terrorizes U.A. Area". Takeo had heard of her before.
As far as everyone knew, Nightshade was a serial killer who found and killed victims during the night. Her attacks were often random and had no pattern to her dates, but the way her victims died were gruesome and she clearly took great sadistic pleasure in their suffering.
Takeo doubted that the Entrance Exam would take that long, but he didn't know for certain. If it did, he'd make sure to find a safe route home from U.A. or at the least call Lioness. As skilled as he was, he didn't want to face off against an extremely dangerous serial killer on his own.
Her Quirk was currently unknown, but it was theorized to be an ice-like Quirk since her victims were often found with severe frostbite wounds and cuts and their faces frozen in horror. Another theory was that it was only active or greatly enhanced during the night since her victims were only killed during the nighttime. Whatever she was, she was dangerous, violent and sadistic.
"I'll make sure to stay safe," Takeo responded. "And thank you, Mom. For everything."
Takeo and Lioness hugged tightly for several moments before he broke away and prepared to leave. Just before he could walk out though, Peter walked up to Takeo and sat down, panting. He knelt down with a smile and extended his hand to the dog's head.
"See you later, buddy," he said as he petted his now year-old-dog. Peter licked his hand and then moved to lick his face, which Takeo allowed for several moments before he cleaned his face off and left for U.A. High School.
After taking the bus to U.A., Takeo stood in front of the prestigious school where he had trained so long to attend. He looked in awe of the large, glorious school, which was much larger and grander than his original middle school.
Hundreds of students walked inside, making their way to the Hero Course Exam Orientation to get the information they needed. It honestly made Takeo feel nervous about getting into the Hero Course, knowing he'd have to be better than all of these students.
"Okay, breathe, Takeo, breathe," he told himself as he started getting nervous. "You've trained long and hard for this. Once you get the information you need, proceed from there."
"Are you okay?" a female voice asked. Takeo was snapped out of his thoughts from being addressed. He turned around to see the source of the voice…and was nervous again.
The girl who had spoken to him looked like a mix of a human and a snake, with the upper body of a human and a snake tail instead of legs. Her hair was black, her eyes were yellow with slits, like a snake, and she stood a few inches taller than Takeo due to her snake tail. Her arms were covered in scales, presumably extending to her shoulders as her lower jaw was covered in green scales as well.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Takeo assured, doing his best to hide how nervous he was from the snake girl's rather scary appearance.
"Are you here for the Hero Courssssse too?" she asked with a lisp, hissing like a snake.
"I am," Takeo replied. "I didn't know so many people applied for the Hero Course."
"And only 44 of them will get in," the snake girl brought up. "From what I heard, the top forty-eight people who passssss the Entranccccce Exam will enter the Hero Courssssse."
"Forty-eight?" Takeo asked. "Wow, more than I thought."
"Yeah," the snake girl agreed. She then extended a hand with a bright smile to Takeo.
"I'm Nagami, Nagami Kiyama. What'ssssss your name?" Takeo extended his hand and shook Nagami's.
"Takeo Raionhato. Nice to meet you, Kiyama."
"You assssss well, Raionhato…" she paused for a moment, as if a bell was ringing in her head. She looked confused, then deep in thought and her eyes widened.
"Ssssssay, you wouldn't happen to know the Razzzzzor Claw Hero: Lionessssss, would you?" she asked.
"Know her? She's my mom." As soon as Takeo said those words, Kiyama's eyes lit up with great admiration and joy. She let out excited noises of happiness, squealing as if she had met All Might in person.
"Uhhh…are you okay?" Takeo asked, unnerved by Kiyama's joyful outburst.
"I'm Lionesssssss'sssss biggessssst fan!" she cried out. "I can't believe that if we both passssss the Entranccccce Exam, we could be in the same classssss!"
Takeo was pleasantly surprised to see that Kiyama was an admirer of his mother. Even though she was ranked 25 on the Hero Ranking List and only had five sidekicks, Adcrocuta included, his mother had garnered quite a following as she was a very successful Pro Hero.
In truth, she had never been interested in rising in the ranks. She felt that the more publicity she got, the more the media would bother her and she had no love for the media. Some media outlets had a tendency to demonize heroes and do what they can to portray in a negative light and even the honest media outlets could become a nuisance that could obstruct hero work. It was no wonder why Lioness hated the media.
"Well, it's good to meet a fan of my mom," Takeo replied with a smile. "We'll see what happens."
"We will," Kiyama smiled. "Who knowssssss? Maybe we could end up dating~"
Takeo's cheeks turned red at Kiyama's suggestion of potentially being in a relationship…mostly because he didn't consider himself a type of guy girls could want. He never did have much luck with girls romantically due to his social awkwardness, despite his friendly and caring nature.
Kiyama was heard giggling at Takeo's response. She quickly put her hand on the warrior's shoulder to reassure him.
"I'm teassssssing," she said. "Of courssssssse, I would like to potentially be friendssssss with the ssssssson of my role model." She smiled at him and then slithered off in the direction of the orientation. Takeo was about to follow her, but was stopped when he looked back and saw Kaze Yonaka glaring at him.
"So you're still enrolling in U.A.?" Kaze questioned Takeo.
"I am," Takeo replied. "And I don't need to explain myself to you."
"Don't act superior," Kaze snarled. "I hope one day, the world knows who you are. When they do, I hope they kick you out. You don't belong here."
Takeo frowned before turning around and walking away. He and Kaze had been bitter towards each other for the past three years for reasons they kept between themselves. It was sad, considering they were good friends once…until something happened between them.
The Voice Hero: Present Mic was the teacher who went over the orientation with the applicants for U.A.'s Hero Course. He was renowned for his radio show, being a DJ and his rather unique speech.
Takeo found a spot as far away from Kaze as possible, sitting next to a young woman with black hair, pale skin, soft blue eyes and carried herself as if she was royalty. She didn't speak to anyone, seeming to prefer to keep to herself. However, she didn't seem haughty. When she caught a glance of Takeo, instead of a scowl of condescension, it was rather friendly and inviting.
"What's up, U.A. Candidates?" Present Mic introduced as he stood on a lit podium in front of a large screen with the U.A. Logo on it. "Thanks for tuning in to none other than Present Mic, U.A.'s personal DJ! Come on, let me hear you!"
He held his hand up to his ear, waiting for a response from the students. All he got was silence in return.
"What were we supposed to say?" Takeo wondered.
"Just stay quiet," the black-haired girl insisted. "Don't encourage him."
"Keeping it mellow, huh?" Present Mic said after failing to get a response from any of the students. "That's okay. I'll just skip to the main point. ARE YOU READY!?" He cried out in a high-pitched voice, again hoping for a response. Yet again, nothing.
"And this is why I never listened to his radio show," Takeo responded. The girl next to him chuckled, but was quickly replaced with a confused response along with Takeo when they heard mumbling from the mid-section of the room. It was coming from a green-haired boy who was clearly fawning over Present Mic, much to the annoyance of those nearby.
The Entrance Exam explained by Present Mic proceeded as instructed: as soon as the Orientation was done, every person would get into combat clothes and get on buses that would take them to one out of seven designated urban arenas. Their locations were visible on the Exam Tickets that each student received after entering the room.
Takeo looked at his. He'd be placed in Battle Center A, where he'd fight against robots, each with different value points. Even though there were four types of robots, only three of them had point values: the lowest and easiest had 1 point, the second and more difficult had 2 points and the third and most difficult had 3 points. After the Exams were over, the teachers would evaluate their scores and choose 44 students out of the hundreds who participated.
"Kiyama was right," Takeo realized. "Out of all these students, I need to be in the top 44. Oh, this is going to be difficult. I have no idea what other Quirks I'm up against." He shook his head to calm himself and remembered what Chairo told him. Functionality is what matters rather than flashiness.
"Okay, my weapons are primed, I'm well stocked on arrows and throwing crosses…I should be good to go," Takeo said.
Present Mic went over the rules of the Entrance Exam: the candidates were to use their Quirks to destroy the robots and rack up as many points as possible in the time of 30 minutes. However, they were forbidden from using their Quirks to intentionally attack other candidates, which would result in an automatic failure of the Exam.
When one of the students brought up the fourth robot, Present Mic explained that it was ultimately worth zero points. He encouraged the students to think of it as an obstacle to avoid rather than an enemy to fight. It could still be defeated, but it'd ultimately serve no purpose to do so.
After the Orientation was over, the students turned in their Exam Tickets and boarded the buses that would take them to their designated battle arena. Takeo suspected to see Kiyama or Kaze on his bus, but neither of them were anywhere to be seen. However, the girl he saw earlier, the one with the black hair and soft blue eyes.
After about a ten minute drive, it stopped in front of a large wall. Behind it was a huge urban area with tall buildings, labeled as Battle Center A.
About sixty people came off the bus, including Raionhato. Out of the hundreds of students applying, only 44 of them would be allowed to enroll in the Hero Course. The rest of them would presumably end up in General Studies.
Even though Lioness assured Takeo not to be discouraged if he lost and ended up in General Studies, he wanted to stand out and earn his place in the Hero Course. He wanted to stand out of the hundreds of applicants and prove his strength and skill.
"Alright," Takeo said to himself. "Functionality over flashiness. You got this."
The gates slowly opened, revealing the vast urban area inside the walls. Even though no robots could seen, it was certain that there were hundreds of them in the large area. Takeo suspected that there'd be far more lower-point robots than higher point in the battle arena, which meant he'd have to be fast and find the higher point robots before the others did.
"Ready!?" Present Mic shouted over an intercom. "START!"
Like a stampede, the students rushed into the Battle Center, searching for robots to destroy. At the front of the group was Takeo and a muscular young man with spiky ash blonde hair and red eyes. He had a very sadistic and feral grin on his face, appearing more like a bloodcrazed animal rather than a person. It deeply disturbed Takeo to see such an expression.
The first robots came into sight, most of them worth one point each. Raionhato summoned three throwing crosses and threw them at vulnerable areas on the robots, taking them down quickly. The ash blonde man propelled himself forward with a fiery blast from his hands and quickly took down two of them with powerful explosions.
"Whoa, that guy's fast…and ferocious," Takeo commented as he quickly looked around for more robots to destroy.
Takeo broke off from the group so he could find more robots without them potentially taking the points for themselves. It was a very large battle center, so he was certain there'd be plenty of robots to be found. He summoned his grappling gun and grappled himself to the top of a short building where he could get a bird's eye view.
From there, Takeo could see many robots that were left untouched by the other applicants, most of them being worth one or two points while at least four were worth three points. Takeo them summoned his left wire gauntlet, threw them at a building across from him and used it to zip down safely towards the group of robots.
While swinging on his wires, he got closer than he expected and summoned his concussion gauntlet in his right hand. With the momentum, Raionhato took down three robots worth two points each. He then retracted his wire gauntlet, making it disappear in a gust of wind so he could summon his steel bo-staff with both hands and take down the robots.
Though the robots put up a fight, there were no match for Takeo's martial and weapon skills as he easily took them down. His staff easily broke through their armor, smashing their circuitry and destroying them. When he got tired of using his staff, Raionhato retracted it and summoned Lion Saber and Lion Mane.
Before he could attack with his sword and shield, one of the robots was destroyed by what appeared to be a dark bird-like monster with a shadowy appearance and glowing yellow eyes. It was coming from a young man with a human body and a bird-like head, greatly resembling a raven or crow.
A large robot approached the bird-headed young man from behind, but the shadow monster coming from his body was too far away to stop it in time. Just as the young man leaped back, Raionhato retracted his sword and shield and summoned Lion Hunter along with two arrows. He shot both of them into the robot's weak spot on the neck, quickly taking it out.
"Thank you," the bird-headed young man replied.
"You're welcome," Takeo responded. He then summoned his grappling gun again, which luckily had enough time to recharge, and grappled to the roof of the nearest building. The bird man clearly caught onto Takeo's idea and used his Quirk, which he called Dark Shadow, to grapple himself to the rooftop as well.
Takeo kept grappling across the rooftops of the buildings, keeping an eye out for robots that hadn't been found by the others yet. Luckily, he found another group of robots made up of seven three pointers. He leapt off the building and when he was close enough, he used his grappling gun to latch onto one of the robots and then take it out with his double-headed spear.
Before he could attack more of them, the same ash blonde man appeared from above, using generated explosions to propel himself towards the robots. He let out a loud "DIE!" as he landed on one of the robots and quickly destroyed it, followed by another. Just as he was about to destroy a third, it was taken down by Takeo with his spear.
"Don't steal my points, extra!" he barked angrily at Takeo.
"They're not YOUR points!" he shot back at the ash blonde person. Just as the rest of the applicants were arriving at their location, along with the bird man from before, several explosions went off nearby.
"What was that?" Takeo gasped. "Is that the robot worth no points?"
"Looks like it," the bird man responded.
The nearby building collapsed, causing lots of debris to fall as the giant robot smashed through it with its right arm. Takeo managed to get out of the way in time, as did the ash blonde man by propelling himself with his explosion, though it was clear that several applicants didn't get out of the way in time.
When the dust settled, at least eight applicants were trapped underneath the rubble, including the bird man. With the giant robot paying attention to the students running rather than the ones trapped, Takeo took this opportunity to rush forward and start lifting the debris to help rescue the others. He looked back at the ash blonde man, who was preparing to run off.
"Come on!" Takeo called out. "Help me get them out!"
"SHUT UP!" he barked. "HELP THEM YOURSELF! THEY'RE NOT WORTH MY TIME!" With that, he launched himself away, presumably to find more robots to destroy and round up more points.
In less than twenty minutes, Takeo had gained nothing but a low opinion of the ash blonde man who used explosions. His sadistic and feral smirk as he destroyed robots, his needless shouting and cursing, his complete disregard for helping the applicants trapped under the rubble…Takeo hoped he'd fail the Entrance Exam.
Someone as violent and unempathetic as him clearly had no place in the Hero Course. Even if he did make it in, his poor attitude and disregard for others would most likely get him kicked out. But what bothered Takeo the most…was that smirk.
It looked more beast than man, one that had 'sadism' written all over it. Would U.A.'s Hero Course truly allow someone like him into their classes?
Takeo first started with the bird man. Even though the chunks of debris were heavy, Takeo was able to lift off enough of it for the bird man to eventually get out on his own.
"Thank you again," he responded. Takeo didn't respond as he started moving around to help the others get out from under the rubble. Luckily, what made it easier for him was that once he removed enough rubble, they were able to get out on their own or just needed him to pull them out.
After all ten applicants were rescued from the rubble, Takeo hurried off to find more robots and earn more points. He felt his safe bet would be going in areas where the large robot hadn't attacked. Just when he was about summon his grappling gun again, a loud siren went off that could be heard all over the Battle Center.
"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic shouted over the intercom.
Takeo realized that he had spent more time helping those trapped under the rubble than he thought. He just hoped that these actions didn't come back to bite him…and hoped that the ash blonde explosion guy he saw didn't make it into the Hero Course.
The applicants were asked to leave the Battle Center, though they wouldn't be informed of what their scores were. Lots of smoke rose from the area, showing where destruction and battle had taken place.
Takeo hoped he didn't have to worry. He had taken down quite a lot of robots, though half of them were one or two pointers; he had only managed to destroy at least five or six three pointers. He hoped it'd be enough to get into the Hero Course.
"Okay, calm down," Takeo assured himself. "You destroyed quite a lot of robots. You should be fine."
"HA!" the ash blonde man scoffed, having overheard what Takeo said. The weapons user immediately locked eyes with the explosion user, who gazed at him with a condescending smile.
"What?" Takeo questioned.
"How would you be fine if you wasted your time saving those extras?" he questioned.
"They were in trouble and they needed help," Takeo countered, his voice getting firm. "What, is that a crime?"
"No, but it's definitely a waste of time," he responded. Takeo rolled his eyes and started to walk off, clearly irritated by the young man's arrogance and apathy.
"HEY!" he shouted, almost causing Takeo to jump. "I'm talking to you!"
"I was done listening," Takeo responded. "And why should I care? I don't even know who you are and I probably won't care!" The ash blonde man glared at Takeo with his ferocious red eyes, similar to the same feral smirk the weapons user had seen earlier.
"The name's Katsuki Bakugo and I'm going to be the one who surpasses All Might! Don't you forget it, extra!" Takeo glared back at Bakugo, his eyes narrowed and his hand tempted to summon Lion Saber.
"I'm not good with names. I'll probably forget yours by tonight."
"DON'T YOU LOOK DOWN ON ME!" Bakugo shouted.
"Do you ever stop shouting!?" Takeo snapped at him. "Seriously! Shut up!" The two young men glared at each other with immense anger, but they were stopped by the black-haired young woman Takeo sat next to earlier.
"Come now, let's not start fighting," she insisted. "Let's not start off our potential enrollment in U.A. by getting into fights." Takeo was the first to reluctantly back down. Bakugo, on the other hand, glared for several more seconds before letting out an irritated grunt and walking off.
"I really hope he's not in the Hero Course," Takeo commented.
"You just met him," the young woman responded. "Don't be so quick to judge him harshly."
Takeo didn't think his judgment of Bakugo was too harsh. In the Battle Center, he fought more like an animal than a man, his scowl was constantly filled with sadism and rage, ignored the applicants who were trapped underneath the rubble and shouted at Takeo for wanting to help them. He didn't know who Bakugo was, but he already didn't like him.
"Excuse me," the voice of the bird man addressed Takeo.
"You okay?" Takeo asked him. "That debris was pretty heavy."
"I am now, thanks to Recovery Girl and her assistant," he informed. "The two of them are going through the Battle Centers, healing anyone who was injured during the Exam."
"Good to know," Takeo responded. "I'm just glad you and the others are okay."
"I wanted to say thank you for helping me twice," the bird man responded. "May I ask your name?"
"It's Takeo Raionhato," he responded. "What's yours?"
"Tokoyami," he answered.
"And your Quirk is called Dark Shadow?" Takeo asked, remembering having heard Tokoyami once call it that, to which Tokoyami confirmed it.
As the students filled up the bus to be driven back to U.A., all Takeo could think about was two things: the first being that he hoped he passed and would go onto the Hero Course…and the second being his newfound disdain for Katsuki Bakugo, who he made sure to keep his distance from as much as possible.
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Nagami Kiyama is an OC made by NightShock99 and he also helped me come up with the idea for Chairo Haiena, so major shoutout to him!
Also, it's come to my attention that during my MRRN Fanfic, I unintentionally demonized Ozpin during the 3rd Volume. It was never my intent to demonize him, but to portray him as someone doing a morally grey thing. For those who believe I demonized him, I am sorry. It wasn't my intent. If I start doing the same with Bakugo, please let me know so I can correct myself.
Hope you enjoy! Keep reading and writing, my fellow writers!