Chapter 5: New Developments
Quirk awakenings were rare. They were usually the hidden potential of a quirk revealing themselves during moments of extreme stress and life-threatening danger.
Therefore, a simple dojo spar shouldn't have resulted in a quirk awakening. It didn't make any sense. Izuku's life hadn't been in danger in his spar with Shin'ya-sensei. While he was feeling a bit stressed out that his friend was moving away and had been high on his emotions during the spar, it wasn't comparable to the extreme stress that the rare people who underwent a quirk awakening experienced.
The visit to a quirk therapist after practice had confirmed their thoughts. It just wasn't comparable. If people awakened their quirk every time they were emotional, they would be happening all the time. The therapist had therefore come to a conclusion based on what Izuku had told him about everything leading up to his quirk awakening.
Izuku's quirk must naturally undergo small awakenings over time, or perhaps when he felt a strong emotion similar in scope to the ones Izuku had felt during that spar. Either way, the therapist had concluded that another quirk awakening, while unlikely, was possible in the future and that his office was always available to help train the new abilities quirk awakenings could generate.
As far as Izuku could tell, his Sharingan's perception and analysis abilities had improved by leaps and bounds. When testing his quirk out against Shin'ya-sensei, he could see the way his muscle had first started to flex, then contract, use of the contraction to determine the angle of attack, all before the limb had even actually moved in real-time. Even the feints that he'd tried dodging before were less obvious, things as simple as eye movements were factored in when making predictions. Advanced stances that he'd struggled to mimic were suddenly easily copied by his quirk as well. The eye now held two tomoes orbiting the pupil, which was the only change physically Izuku had noticed since first awakening his quirk.
Unlike his Sharingan, his Byakugan hadn't changed much. Over the years, Izuku had upped his range of viewing to half a kilometer, but the quirk awakening hadn't seemed to increase his range any more than it had before. Instead, Izuku had picked up changes with his quirk pathway system. It had seemingly advanced itself. While before, the system had traveled through his body naturally, there seemed to be points along the system that were easier to see, not just for himself but for others as well. Since Izuku couldn't find any substantial reading on the web, he'd decided to call them tenketsu. Interestingly, some quirk energy inside Izuku could be expelled through these tenketsu. It did result in a slightly burning feeling, and put a larger strain on his eyes the longer he held up the expulsion of quirk energy, but the quirk energy that Izuku could expel seemed to have various strange properties.
With the help of the therapist, they'd discovered that the quirk energy would flare harshly against non-native quirk energy, attacking the source viciously. Like a white blood cell, it seemed to recognize which quirk energy was Izuku's and which quirk energy wasn't. It was likely what blocked up Shin'ya-sensei's quirk temporarily during their spar now that Izuku thought about it. It also meant Izuku had to be cautious about how he used it in a fight. Testing out strikes with quirk energy infused palms and kicks had resulted in a training dummy losing its head, and had almost put a trainer in the hospital when Izuku had struck past their scaled armor quirk and ruptured their internals and quirk pathway system. Against people, his quirk had lethal implications, but the quirk therapist seemed pleased that Izuku was already involved in a form of physical activity. He had stressed that Izuku not partake in any spars using quirks until he had a better hand at preventing the quirk energy flare-ups. It also had the potential to possibly act as a mild full-body strength-enhancing quirk, as while Izuku had put in a lot of work before, the last thing he wanted was to kick someone's head off in a real fight.
Thus, Izuku spent the winter training his control and meditation. He would focus on meditating before doing some shadow boxing with his quirk activated, focusing on internalizing the quirk energy that had seemed desperate to flare out of his body. It was tough, as Izuku had to fight hard with himself not to be discouraged when he would step forward to kick and jump a meter forward instead.
It was only thanks to his teachings from Kamihara-sensei and Shin'ya-sensei, along with the support of Kirishima that Izuku was able to continue as well as he did.
When Izuku wasn't at the dojo or home, he made sure to visit with Kirishima. The two friends could feel the anticipation leading up to the upcoming move, the phone calls with banks Eijiro's parents were making, the moving boxes being brought in to prepare for the move in the spring, and even the sale of unwanted items that were no longer needed in the new home they were going to.
The two families decided to celebrate Christmas together, during which Izuku finally got the promised phone from his mother. It already came with his Mom in the contacts, but approximately two seconds after turning it on, Izuku had gotten Eijiro's number.
The New Year brought some new changes to Izuku. His senseis at the dojo had given Izuku a set of graduation equipment, deeming him worthy of the title ninja. It was an event with as appropriately little fanfare, providing Izuku with a face shawl to hide his face, some smoke bombs, a set of sharpened kunai and shuriken, some ninja wire, and a disguise kit - complete with makeup and a wig - which Kirishima had called manly for having the guts to know how to use, and finally a laptop of all things, so Izuku could continue to practice his coding - which would help with his hacking skills. Izuku had been extremely grateful for the gift and had promised to make good use of the items when he became a hero. Already he had plans for how to implement most of the materials into a kit for a possible future hero costume.
When the day of young romances came along, Izuku had left his chocolate heart on his desk like he had the year before, but was surprised and discouraged when he arrived the following day to find his heart still sitting on his desk, and with no other heart in sight. It had been slightly discouraging, but perhaps the person who had left them those wonderful chocolates had already graduated. Putting away the chocolate heart he had worked on, he instead focused on his classes for the day. When classes were let out for the day, he split off from Kirishima, deciding to take advantage of the mild weather and walk home.
As Izuku was beginning his trek home, another girl was finding her courage. She'd watched in the background the last few years, protected by the anonymity that came with being in another class.
She'd never thought to have the confidence to confess her feelings, always choosing to write a short note to go along with the chocolate heart her dad had done his best to help her make. It wasn't anything fancy, and neither she nor Dad thought they were the best chocolatiers around, but they'd made it work, somehow. Well, the first few attempts had been rather disastrous truthfully, and she'd chased off Dad when she began to suspect sabotage so he could keep all the hearts they messed up. As if Dad ever had needed a chocolate heart for her to express her love.
Truthfully, neither of them expected her to develop a childhood crush, but there was something about Midoriya Izuku that just stood out. He was friendly and kind with everyone, humble about how awesome his quirk was, and he'd seen him showing karate moves to his friend Eijiro after school a couple of times, which was pretty kick ass in her opinion. There was just a flux of understanding and kindness within the boy that had drawn her in.
"A crush", her Dad had explained, looking solemn, as if he was losing someone precious to him before his gaze had turned fond instead.
"Our little girl has her first crush already Suzume," he had said, looking to their shrine where a picture of her mother, who had gone missing shortly after her birth. No one knew what happened to her, and the case had long gone cold. Dad held out hope, sometimes he would stop and look at her as if he was seeing a ghost, something she'd done bringing up bittersweet memories.
As the years had gone by, she'd been content, admiring how Izuku would make everyone laugh and smile. Dodging any attempts of his to discover who was the one leaving the chocolates. She was sure he knew that none of the girls in his class had left the chocolate. A lot of girls her age would squeal and blush about a boy they liked, but playing poker with Dad meant she'd learned to keep up a mean poker face, and she did her best to ignore all the rumors.
The only time anything had slipped by was when she'd gone to deliver her chocolate in the early morning, only to discover one waiting for her. She'd quickly hidden it in her backpack and had been slightly more nervous the rest of the day, thinking he'd found out something. The rumors in school said Midoriya could see everything with his ocular quirk, and she was worried he'd use it to find out she had the heart. However, he never confronted her.
As she had read aloud the note he had left her, a determination had sprung over her. By next Valentine's Day, she'd present her heart in person.
She'd lost the confidence to approach him in the morning, spotting a dejected expression on his face when she'd passed by his desk in the morning. While he received plenty of complementary chocolates from students in his class, perhaps he had missed not receiving her own.
Thus this was her final shot, soon the school year would end. Would she even see Midoriya again after this final semester?
Already she could barely make him out, getting farther from the school. She was lucky he hadn't taken any turns on his walk home or she'd surely have lost sight of him by now.
She started to pedal her bike, slowly at first…then building up speed. He needed to know! She needed to tell him! Her feet were a blur as she moved through the streets of Ichinomiya. Orange hair trailed behind her in that long ponytail she wore it in. It wasn't fancy by any means. Not having a mother figure growing up, she'd kept to a simple hairstyle. One that was easy to style in the morning and practical for everyday use.
As the wind blew her hair back, she couldn't help but feel the rush of exhilaration and she got closer to Midoriya. She let out a laugh, a laugh that Midoriya seemingly heard as he tensed up, looking away from his phone.
"Midoriya-san!" she called out, a warning as she realized she was going fast. She hit the brakes and immediately tilted the bike left to drift it around as it slid. Wheels forward, while her leg kept her balanced and from toppling over. Midoriya hopped away just in time as she skidded by, a big grin on her face as she panted, looking at him with a determined look.
Izuku hadn't expected a girl to call out his name on his walk home. He and Eijiro were usually the last ones left at school, and the school itself was pretty far away by now. He glanced back for a moment, eyes going wide as a girl his age was desperately trying to bring her bike to a stop. It was years of ninja training that allowed him to react quickly enough and move away as she performed a flawless Akira slide through the space he'd just been standing.
Her face was flush as she steadied herself from the exertion of pedaling to catch up with him. Her orange hair, held up in a high ponytail on her left side, looked wind-swept and wild, in a nice sort of way. It was reminiscent of how wild Izuku's hair could become at times. Her teal eyes stared at him with a determined expression. Although she wore the Daishi Elementary School uniform, Izuku didn't recognize her straight away. Only vaguely recalling a few of the girls speaking with an organette in the halls before class on some occasions. However, the name of the orangette hadn't been brought up in class, least of all around Izuku. While he was certainly friendly with the girls in his class, he by no means spent his time around them participating in school gossip, preferring the energetic conversations about heroes with Kirishima and the other boys. The girl seemed to know who he was though, so Izuku held his tongue while she caught her breath.
"Midoriya-san…I wanted. I wanted to ask if we could be friends?" she said, her voice sounding nervous before she steeled her expression.
Midoriya was, needless to say, very caught off guard. When he didn't immediately reply, the girl's face heated up slightly.
"Sorry! I was too bold! It's just that. Well, I noticed you when you first started attending Daishi. Everyone says you're kind and want to be a hero, and I've even spotted you showing your friend, Kirishima-san, some karate moves after school. One of the girls overheard what you told Kirishima-san, about how people thought you were quirkless when you were little and how you had bullies at your old school. That was why I was surprised by how kind and humble you were with everyone. Despite how badly you'd been harmed before, it didn't put you down. You stayed positive and were always kind to everyone around you. Then…well I'm not sure if you remember, but in 3rd grade, you stopped those older girls from messing with Mimiko-chan. All the girls knew what was going on, but we didn't do anything, we were scared that they were turning on us and we could only sit back and watch. Then you found out and got the teachers involved, they made them stop and those bullies got sent away. That was when I started to like you. I would leave you those chocolates on your desk every Valentine's Day, never expecting anything in return. I felt pretty worthless about the whole bullying ordeal with Mimiko-chan. She needed help but I kept quiet to stop anyone from hurting me. I knew I wasn't worthy enough to be your friend, but I still wanted to let you know how special you were to me," she said a fond smile on her face. Izuku's face was also starting to heat up, he'd never had a girl speak to him like this. Sure he'd heard gossip about how cute he was once, and his mom had called him handsome more than a few times, but that surely didn't count. Especially not when compared to the passionate speech being given now.
"Then, last year ago today, I went to place my chocolate on your desk like I had before and found one waiting for me. You believe in me, despite never having known who I was," she continued, reaching into her bag and pulling out a large chocolate heart, before bowing and presenting the gift to Izuku.
"So I made a promise to myself then, that I would give this one in person. So please, Midoriya-san. Let me be your friend!"
With shaky hands, Midoriya accepted the well-made sweet. Looking from the design to the girl, as if to confirm his findings. Yes, the heart matched the others, the only caveat being that the note on the package was different.
"From your not-so-secret admirer, Itsuka Kendo."
He stared at the heart for another moment, before reaching into his pack and pulling out his own sweet, bowing and presenting his gift to her.
Kendo took his gift, surprised to see that he'd gotten her another chocolate heart this year, before reading the note on the packaging.
"To my secret admirer, let's be friends! - Izuku Midoriya"
Izuku and Kendo ended up exchanging numbers and walking next to each other that day. They chose to spend their first day as friends at a local cafe, it was a rather date-like activity, at least that was what Izuku thought about it.
Things were awkward at first. Izuku wasn't particularly sure about what to talk about with Kendo. They talked about their quirks at first, Izuku expressing how impressed he was with hers, even if Itsuka expressed she didn't think it was too useful.
"No way, if you can make your hands as big as you claim, you'll make an awesome pro. Your grapple techniques against villains would make you deadly, and transformation quirks like yours mean your hands are probably a lot more durable than the rest of your body. That means your punches are going to be super strong, a lot of villains won't expect the force you'll be dealing out. Plus, you can even use them for defense to keep the rest of your body safe. Moving wreckage with them would also…," Izuku mumbled, causing Itsuka to gape for a few moments, then give him a fond smile. He had just broken down her quirk in seconds, analyzing a quirk she had thought had only simple applications and breaking it down for fierce ease. She sipped on her black coffee and just listened as Izuku rambled, not cutting him off but finding his enthusiasm rather cute. As he finally took a breath, seemingly only just realizing that he had expelled quite a bit of word vomit towards Izuku, Itsuka spoke.
"You're pretty awesome Midoriya-kun. I always thought my quirk wasn't anything too impressive but the way you talk about it…do you mean it? Can I be a great hero too?"
"Of course, you can Kendo-chan!" Izuku said, a mad blush from his earlier mumble epiphany, and by the fact that honorifics had suddenly become a lot more lax," I think anyone can if they put in the effort. My quirk came in late, and a lot of classmates at my old school didn't believe me when I said I was a late bloomer, but, even if I had been born quirkless, I would have wanted to be a hero."
"I heard about that. Everyone at school says you have some cool ocular quirk but that it didn't come in until 2nd grade, right?" Itsuka asked, curious about the way Izuku's quirk worked.
"Oh, um yeah. I call it Dojutsu, my left eye is called Sharingan. It enhances how I perceive things, has predictive qualities, and lets me memorize everything it sees as if I had an eidetic memory. My Byakugan lets me see up to half a kilometer away in every direction, it can see through objects and even lets me see how a quirk flows through a person's body. I can also expel the quirk energy from my own body as an extra physical enhancement in a fight, letting me move a little bit more quickly, and hit a bit harder, and, if I channel the quirk energy in my hands correctly, I can also kind of counter out someone else's quirk temporarily, though I have to be careful because those strikes deal a lot of internal damage if I'm not careful," Izuku said, eager to talk about his quirk with someone else. Itsuka seemed to listen with avid attention, although there was obvious look at confusion at mentions of quirk pathway systems and quirk energy.
That further led to more questions, and Izuku explained some more about his thoughts on quirk energy and quirk pathway systems. He was surprised by how easily Kendo kept up with the conversation, even introducing some new thoughts about it. Izuku was surprised just how much he enjoyed the conversation.
Eventually, their talks switched to what they had planned for the rest of the year. Izuku was a bit relieved to hear that she was going to Ichinomiya Middle School, while many of his classmates at Daishi were going to Ichinomiya Middle he didn't know the first thing about advancing his relationship with a girl, and he figured it would only get more difficult if schools split them up. His relationship with Itsuka was still rather new, she'd only expressed her want of friendship, but the specially crafted hearts and her previous message of being his secret admirer suggested that she liked him a lot more than friends. Was this stop at the café an impromptu date then? He wasn't going to ask his mom about it, maybe Eijiro would know? Or perhaps Kamihara-sensei?
After they discussed their quirks, they moved on to another discussion.
"Kendo-chan, what kind of heroes do you like?" he asked, curious to see where she drew some of her inspirations for being a hero.
"Well, my favorite is Ryukyu. She's an awesome lady hero, super strong, and pretty badass too. Then Mirko of course. She's new to the scene but she's been climbing super fast, and she uses a quirk that not many people would think would be useful and takes it to the super cool extreme. Hawks is also amazing! He has a sense of ease about everything he does, y'know? Like, it's not arrogance, but a sense of confidence that a lot of other heroes try to mimic by over-compensating in other areas," Itsuka said, eager to talk about her favorite heroes. Izuku could respect her choices, while Mirko wasn't a top ten pro yet, at the rate she was climbing it wouldn't surprise him if she got there soon. Ryukyu's quirk was also super strong and was well-liked by a lot of heroines.
"Yeah, those heroes are super awesome picks. I used to be a bit of an All Might fanboy, but I've developed a bit of an appreciation for Yoroi Musha and Edgeshot, guess I have to blame my sensei for that. He's a huge fanboy," Izuku admitted, his Byakugan had unintentionally strayed to the hero collections his sensei had of the two heroes. His Yoroi Musha collection was impressive but nothing in comparison to his Edgeshot collection, every piece of which was personally signed by his Edgeshot. It looked like he had every piece of memorabilia that had come out for Edgeshot too, as there were some Izuku had heard about being only rumors in his collection.
"Your sensei? Do you practice martial arts as well?" Itsuka asked him.
"Oh, yeah, I do. My sensei is Kamihara Shin, he's my ninjutsu instructor. My Sharingan lets me pick up a lot of martial arts easily, but it's putting what I learn into practice that he's helped me out with. He's also taught me a lot about ninja history and methodology that I hope to put into use when I become a hero," Izuku admitted, noticing that Itsuka had lit up a bit as he talked about martial arts.
"That's so cool! I knew we had a ninjutsu dojo around here, but I had no idea it would help a ton with hero prep! I've only been going to a karate and boxing dojo so far, but, soon, I'll be going to Chiba City to Sugihara Mixed Martial Arts. It's a really good place to learn how to apply what you've learned, and gain some experience," Itsuka explained, causing Izuku to give her a radiant grin.
"Sugihara? That's the one I was planning on going to as well! I recently graduated from Kamihara-sensei's dojo, and it's the one I've been looking at for a while now," Izuku admitted, causing Itsuka to give him a broad smile.
It would seem Izuku would be seeing a lot more Itsuka in the coming years, and he was very happy about it.
As the end of March came, so did Kirishima's moving day. Everything was packed into the moving van and ready to head out.
The Midoriyas stopped by and gave the Kirishimas a send-off, both boys giving each other big hugs and tearful goodbyes. They promised to continue to stay in contact, easier than ever now that both of them had phones, and Kirishima promised that he'd try to convince his parents to let him take the train ride into Chiba City at least once a month when he could.
Once good-byes were said, and the Kirishimas had left, Inko gave his son a tight hug.
"Oh, sweetie. I know you must feel crushed about Kirishima-kun leaving but you'll still be brothers, and I've already arranged for Kirshiima to come spend a week with us during the summer," Inko promised, as she gave her son a tight hug.
Midoriya wiped his tears away. While he was sad that the Kirishimas were leaving, he couldn't help but feel that there was a lot to be happy about too. He and Eijiro's bond was stronger than ever, and their friendship would last, Izuku was sure of it. He'd also made a new friend, or at least she was a girl who liked Izuku and who Izuku also kind of liked. Were they dating? That was still up in the air.
So while his best friend had gone, he couldn't help but be excited for what the future brought them.
Chapter 6: Tough Times and Good Talks
Eijiro couldn't help but feel so isolated upon beginning his schooling at Mustafa. He kept in contact with Izu-bro, but there were a lot of unfamiliar faces around.
People didn't know him here, like they did at Daishi. Everyone was super competitive about the amazingness of their quirks too. The teachers paid less attention to the students, letting them run wild and with little constraints. Sure there was still organization, but only very serious matters involving quirk usage were even vaguely paid attention to.
In Middle School, popularity was the name of the game and Kirishima was just too plain to really stand out and make a name for himself here. Everywhere he looked, people's eyes glazed over him. That confidence he'd had had Daishi started to disappear fairly quickly as he realized that amongst his new peers, he was a nobody.
Everyone would hang out with the people they had been within elementary, and Kirishima, being one of the few to transfer in at the beginning of the year from a farther district, stood out quite a bit.
He'd done his best to be kind, but Middle School was a dog-eat-dog world that he hadn't been expecting. Thus, the calm and confident personality he'd developed with the help of Izuku started to erode into one that was meek and quiet. He slouched around all over the place at school, and, as far as anyone else could tell, Kirishima was a loner.
When you're the odd kid out, the world can be cruel.
His peers started to call him plain, ordinary, and weird. He was the friendless nobody that no one wanted to hang out with, and people quickly learned to steer clear away from him because of it.
Eijiro started counting the minutes in the day until school ended, desperate to leave and rush home.
Outside of school, he kept up a mask of usual confidence. It was surprisingly easy, His parents were a lot busier now. Dad's new job came with new responsibilities, and he'd often get home late from work, tired and ready to sleep and repeat. His mother had decided to get a lot more involved in going to the gym, noticing her figure was starting to worsen as she got older. In the process, she'd made some new friends that had kept her busy and out of the house as well. If his parents noticed anything strange about the mask he wore, they never brought it up.
The only time that Kirishima found himself happy was when he was about to take the train ride up to Chiba City to meet Izuku after his dojo practice.
At first, it had been just him meeting Izuku, the two would hang out and go to the arcade and talk about everything. Izuku had asked some probing questions about how his new school was, and Kirishima only admitted that it was some getting used to, especially with it being a new district, before deflecting the question and asking about Izuku's newfound relationship.
Because, yeah, his bro had a girlfriend. She was pretty badass, so Eijiro approved-apparently she could keep up with Izuku in a hand-to-hand fight if quirks weren't on the table. Oh sure, the two of them danced around the subject plenty of times, but Eijiro wasn't sure why. Izuku had admitted to having gone on a date with her, and they were inseparable from the gossip Eijiro had picked up from a few other friends who had gone to Daishi and were now going to Ichinomiya Middle School. Izuku had even admitted that they'd exchange acknowledgment of feelings, ergo he had a girlfriend. Izuku had blushed but been adamant that they were still getting to know each other and hadn't developed that far along.
Kirishima had to struggle to not roll his eyes at that statement. He'd only talked with Itsuka a couple of times and it was evident she was head over heels, it just seemed their unfamiliarity with relationships was the only thing halting progression.
Thankfully he was able to maintain that mask around Izuku. He'd receive suspicious glances but considering Kirishima was the happiest around his brother, it was hard to tell that he was in a slump, even for Izuku.
The summer visit with the Midoriyas was a welcome break from the troubles at school, and he even got to visit for Christmas since his parents were going to a dinner party being held by Dad's boss. When the new school year started, there was more pressure to succeed academically, so Kirishima flung himself into academics.
He was able to make some new friends in the school year, the younger students being initially unaware about school social groups had allowed him to make buddies with some guys who liked to hit up the local arcade on occasion and talk about comics.
It had been nice to be part of a friend group, but the students Kirishima's age still went out of their way to ignore him and make passive-aggressive comments about how he wouldn't stand out as a hero with such a plain quirk. Middle school was tough on Kirishima, but he was doing his best to keep at it, finding comfort in his late-night talks with Izuku and the occasional visits to Chiba City.
The third year of Middle School brought a new surprise into Kirishima's life that he hadn't been expecting. A pink-skinned girl with pink hair and an acid quirk took the school by storm when she transferred in for her final year before high school. She was so happy and confident about everything that Kirishima couldn't help but look up to her a bit. Her high energy and intolerance towards school bullies made her pretty manly. Even the people who would look down on his quirk and his goals for U.A. started leaving him alone. Kirishima's dream of U.A. had been strong ever since meeting Izuku and promising to go there in High School to be heroes. He had the grades. As a kid, Izuku had even convinced Kirishima that he had a great quirk for hero work.
Whenever someone commented on his quirk, Eijiro would always think back to that first meeting with Izuku. How strongly his bro had believed in his quirk for hero work. It was what let him walk away from those comments. However, his self-doubt had crawled back into his life, and seeing the new girl - Mina Ashido - school bullies and protect her friend in the face of a vast shady figure, had almost made him wonder if he could still be a hero.
---
Izuku sat in a small cafe he'd managed to find in Chiba City. It was a nice place he'd visited plenty of times before with Itsuka. The decorations were plain, but it had a more personal feel than going to a Starbucks. The use of incense gave the plain decorations a very comfy, at-home feeling, that was reflected in the clientele. People weren't rushing through to get their drink and leave, they were taking their time, talking with the workers or other guests, and sitting down to enjoy their drinks. He couldn't help but smile and look down at the warm mug of hot cocoa he'd ordered, coffee was never his favorite. It kept him up too late, and when you have an ocular-based quirk, straining the eyes unnecessarily was usually bad in the long term. Over the last couple of years at Ichinomiya Middle School, life had been pretty great for him.
He was recognized by a lot of students who couldn't afford a private education and had funneled there from Daishi Elementary School. Thankfully, he and Itsuka even shared the same homeroom class. The teachers were very friendly and accommodating, and the general attitude of the school was very reflective of small-town life.
There was never a rush of boasting, just the general awkwardness of meeting some new people and getting to know your peers and their goals. Izuku had made some new friends, but none had developed the same connection with him as his friendship with Eijiro.
He spent his afternoons regularly with Itsuka, feeling helplessly drawn in. Her smile was contagious, she was always so energetic - Izuku privately blamed the coffee she drank, black. She wasn't afraid to tussle and get dirty, the number of times she'd put him in the dirt during a spar bringing a fond smile to his face. Itsuka hated when someone looked down on her as well, a lesson Izuku had quickly learned when he'd hesitated in their first couple of spars. Never again.
When the two of them weren't sparring or studying, they were spending time at her dad's auto shop. Mr. Kendo was a nice man. He'd taken one look at Izuku's clueless face when asked if he knew anything about cars, and had shown him the ropes.
"My daughter ain't dating a kid who can't work with cars," had been his only response, and it had sent both Izuku and Itsuka into a blushing spree. Thankfully, Mr. Kendo didn't go out of his way to embarrass Izuku and was quite accommodating in teaching him about machinery. While not the first male role model in Izuku's life, Izuku still greatly respected what he was doing. With Izuku's dad having died when he was younger, there hadn't been another man to teach him about these kinds of things. Kamihara-sensei and Shin'ya-sensei, while his sensei, had only shown him a few things about cars, mostly how to break into them without making it obvious that they had been broken into.
"A villain can leave a lot of important info in vehicles, you should at least know how to get into one and snoop around it properly."
Changing the oil, running maintenance on a vehicle, and even building an engine with Itsuka for her future motorbike were all things Izuku wouldn't have thought to have enjoyed before but he had slowly found himself turning into a grease monkey. Mr. Kendo had even shown him how to drive, on a private track, of course, definitely not an abandoned parking lot.
His time at Sugihara Mixed Martial Arts wasn't as instructional as Izuku had initially hoped. Tendo Uwami was a good sensei, but that was it. He'd helped Izuku polish up a bit on group fighting, but he wanted Izuku in the competition ring the moment he'd seen him fight. It was actually kind of annoying. After a few months of going, he stopped and decided to continue training with Kamihara-sensei at his dojo instead. Itsuka had been a bit disappointed but she was naturally more competitive than Izuku and kept at it. He would escort her to Sugihara's every weekend, wait around in the city while she practiced, and then they'd either walk around the city or head back home.
This was one of the occasions he was waiting for Itsuka to exit from Sugihara. The mid-February weather was still a bit chilly, but Chiba City didn't usually get snow in the winter and today wasn't an exception. There was a brisk winter wind blowing through though that had made Izuku wrap himself up in warm clothes, and then been given Itsuka's scarf to wear while she did her training. A quick peck on the cheek and she'd been off into the dojo, leaving Izuku with a goofy grin on his face on the walk to the cafe, surprised to find her teal scarf almost matched his outfit. Was that on purpose? Yeah, okay, maybe he and Itsuka were dating. How to bring it up though? Did he even need to? Would she mind just dropping the word girlfriend in a casual conversation?
There was something else Izuku had been feeling as he took a quick sip of his, still too hot to drink, cocoa. Relief. Izuku had received word that his written exam scores for the U.A Entrance Exam had been very impressive and he'd been invited to partake in the practical exam for the hero course on the 26th of February. Itsuka had also passed her exams and he was just waiting to hear from Eijiro to see if he'd done well on his written exam too. That was his whole reason for waiting in the cafe, to begin with.
The chime of the bell by the establishment's entrance let Izuku know the person he'd been waiting for was there. Eijiro Kirishima came in bundled up in a big black and red jacket, the bottom of his jeans looked a little waterlogged like he'd taken a step into a puddle almost, and he was wearing a beanie over his head that left just a couple of strands of black hair poking out.
"Hey bro," Eijiro said with a grin. In his hands he was holding a sealed letter, waving it around excitedly.
"Eiji-bro, it's been too long. C'mon, let's see those results," Izuku replied and, noticing that Kirishima had a tad bit of hesitance on his face at that comment, continued with, "Come on man, I'm sure you passed."
Kirishima quickly ordered a latte before taking a seat next to Izuku, a hint of nervousness in his eyes. Izuku had seen that bit of nervousness constantly in his friend's eyes lately, but he'd always been deflected away whenever he had asked. Izuku watched as Kirishima took the envelope and opened it up, pulling out the letter from inside. Taking a deep breath, he read through the letter carefully, a look of relief coming into his eyes as he finished.
"Looks like I passed. My practical is on the 26th, same as you and Itsuka," Kirishima said, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth at those words.
"Told you those study sessions were worth it," Izuku said, voice rising in excitement as he proclaimed, " We're just one step closer to being a hero!"
Kirishima gave Izuku a strained smile.
"Izu-bro…I don't know if I'm hero material," he admitted, causing Izuku to stop in his celebrations and give Kirishima a questioning stare.
"Eijiro, where is this coming from? You passed the written exam, it's just the practical left. Of course, you can be an awesome hero!" Izuku insisted, forgetting about his hot cocoa for now.
"Yeah, I passed, but- look, I haven't been honest with you about Mustafa. The kids there, think my quirk is too plain and boring for hero work. I know you think it's awesome, but it sometimes feels like you're the only one in a sea of voices telling me differently. It's been messing with my confidence, I freeze up instead of helping out when I see students getting bullied now. Heck, a couple of months ago I just watched while this super big villain-looking dude was scaring my classmates. I didn't do anything, I was just too scared. Instead, I watched while one of the girls he was bothering had to stand up to him and get him to go away. Heroes aren't supposed to be scared, we need to be courageous and manly," Kirishima said, a guilty expression coming over his face as he looked down at the table, holding his latte listlessly in his hands to keep them warm and feeling like an utter failure despite the good news about the practical.
Izuku sat there, quiet and feeling a bit guilty himself. He hadn't realized just how hard Eijiro had it at Mustafa. It made him angry that he hadn't bothered to check in more often if he had been having such a hard time.
"Eijiro, bro. You're wrong, being a hero isn't about not being scared. It's acting despite your fear. Those classmates that had to deal with that big villain, do you think that they weren't scared? She must have been terrified if this villain was scary enough to get you to back down, but she put aside her fear and stood up to the villain. Eijiro, you're going to be an awesome hero one day, so stand tall and face that fear and insecurity like a man!" Izuku said, voice slightly harsh but knowing that this was what had to be said to get Eijiro out of his funk. He had to duck his head in embarrassment when he noticed a few other guests were now giving the two curious looks.
Eijiro smiled at Izuku, though it was strained.
"I hear ya bro, it just…it'll take some time to get that through my head," Kirishima admitted, glad when Izuku gave his shoulder a pat in comfort.
"Take as long as you need man. Just remember, no matter what anyone else says. You're going to be an awesome hero!" Izuku insisted. Kirishima looked a little happier after that and Izuku hoped that his friend had taken his words to heart.
They enjoyed their drinks together, talking about what they expected the practical exam to be like. Izuku had done some internet sleuthing and had found a few forums where people who had taken the previous year's practical examinations were complaining about how unfair they were. It seemed like they'd had to fight some faux villain robots, but that didn't seem right to Izuku. There had to be more to the exam than just fighting robots, not every quirk was geared toward battle after all.
"Maybe they give points for manly actions?" Kirishima asked, eyes bright as his friend thought of the implication. Izuku, meanwhile, almost sweatdrop at Eijiro's pondering.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, sure he was about to hear something about how brave you were as you took down a villain robot.
"Well, it's pretty manly to protect others and help out when people are struggling. So maybe they give some points for that?" Eijiro suggested. Izuku stopped and pondered that himself.
"You know…I think that makes a lot of sense. Heroes are more than just punching villains. They need to be able to protect others. There will likely be people who don't have good battle-oriented quirks in the practical. They need to be able to gain points somehow. Maybe by causing distractions so another examinee can take down a villainbot or perhaps dragging another examinee away if they get defeated by one? I haven't found any information that doesn't say we can't work with others. While I doubt they'll put people from the same school district in the same test site maybe you can convince another examinee to work with you to take down a villainbot?-"
"Izubro, mumble-storm," Eijiro chimed in helpfully, causing Izuku to turn into a blushing, stuttering mess, and Kirishima to burst out into a friendly laugh.
Soon enough their drinks were finished up, and they returned to Sugihara to pick up Itsuka. She had a light sweat sheen going on still but was ecstatic to hear that Kirishima was also going to be attending the practical.
"That's great to hear! We're all one step closer to U.A.!"
Her exclamation brought a smile to both boy's faces, and they decided to spend the day together at a local arcade to celebrate. Izuku felt immensely pleased when he managed to win enough tickets for a large Ryukyu plush that he'd noticed Itsuka glancing at while they played games. The plush featured Ryukyu in her dragon form and was kind of adorable looking, the proportions purposefully off to enhance its cute factor.
"Best. Boyfriend. Ever!" Itsuka said happily as she hugged Izuku, and then a quick kiss on the lips, being brief since they were in public. While Izuku did blush, for once he didn't refute the the teasing Eijiro gave him about being Itsuka's boyfriend. Something which seemed to make Itsuka a lot happier as well apparently. It helped that Eijiro was giving Izuku a thumbs up in congratulations whenever Itsuka wasn't looking.
Eventually, the three teens went their separate ways. Izuku and Itsuka had to return to Ichinomiya while Kirishima had a long train ride back to Shizuoka. All three felt that whatever the future held, they were ready to face the Pratical Exam.
Chapter 7: U.A. Entrance Exam - Start
The morning of the U.A. entrance exam was one like any other to Izuku Midoriya. He woke up, earlier than usual, just so he could have a run and clear his head for the upcoming exam.
Thankfully, he was fortunate to have been allowed to stay with Eijibro, who was only a 20-minute drive away from the main U.A. campus where the exam would be occurring in Mustafu. He'd arrived the night before at a large apartment building and taken the elevator up to the top floor, the entirety of which had been a gift from Kirishima-san's job. The condo was spacious, large enough that besides his initial greeting with Eijiro's parents, he hadn't seen or heard them for the rest of the visit.
Despite being given his room next to Eijiro, and being assured it would be his when he passed the exam so he didn't have to do the long commute from Ishinomiya every day for school, Izuku and Eijiro decided by silent agreement to sleep in Eijiro's room, bundling up a bunch of blankets and comforters onto the floor instead of taking up any space on the bed.
They had tried to get Itsuka an invite as well, but she had assured them she'd be staying with an aunt. Besides, it wasn't proper for a girl her age to be sleeping over with her boyfriend - a comment that had made Izuku blush furiously.
They didn't stay up very late, they had an important exam the next day after all, but they still struggled to get any rest, nerves high for the exam.
When Izuku returned to the Kirishima apartment, Eijiro was only just getting up. His brother had a sleepy expression on his face, it looked like he could take a few more minutes of sleep but they had to start getting ready.
After a quick shower in the guest bathroom, and changing into his Ichinomiya Middle School school uniform, a black gakuran with black slacks along with his favorite pair of red sneakers, he put his gym uniform into his backpack to dress later.
They'd received an informational packet to come dressed in their school uniforms and that they would have time to switch over to a gym uniform to use for the exam. There was also a slip for any requested support equipment that they would think they would need to help them in the exam, of course, the equipment was only allowed if it was needed for their quirk to work at 100% or if the applicant was quirkless. Thus, Izuku would be going into the exam without any support equipment, glad that he had the physical enhancement that his Byakugan's quirk energy provided.
He'd done a lot of training with the quirk energy aspect of his quirk, working on controlling how much quirk energy he ejected from his tenketsu, and subsequently having come up with several applications. One application he called Juken, in which he focused on expelling only a specific amount of quirk energy into a target. Shin'ya-sensei had helpfully volunteered himself as a test dummy, letting Izuku test out different amounts of quirk energy injections to determine the optimal amount needed to shut down a quirk and disrupt the quirk pathway system. He'd waved off any injuries by claiming he knew a good doctor, which just made Izuku even more suspicious about his hero identity. Targeting tenketsu around pressure points, it culminated in a quick fighting style, deadly, and could turn even a glancing blow into something to be feared.
The pool of quirk energy Izuku had developed through his training of his quirk had also allowed him to enhance his body. By increasing the flow of quirk energy through his body, at the cost of increasing the strain on his eyes and muscles, he could move quicker and deal crippling blows. It made it easier to keep up with his Sharingan. He'd decided to call it Dojutsu: Full Cowling for the moment, likening the increased flow of quirk energy to donning a cowl. The only issue was that Full Cowling's strain so far had a time limit based on how long he had used his quirk already. Izuku felt confident that he would be able to last through the practical exam before he started overusing his quirk.
He was glad to see Kirishima-san already having beaten them to the kitchen, a large platter of traditional foods laid out on her kitchen table. The familiar scent of freshly steamed rice, the tangy punch of warm miso soup, and the familiar scent of freshly grilled fish were all some of the highlights on the table.
Eijiro was only a few steps behind him as they entered the kitchen, eyes lighting up at the breakfast spread on the table.
"Figured you boys could use the energy," Kirishima-san said, giving the boys a sharp grin," eat up and knock that practical out of the water!"
"Yes, ma'am!" both teens declared, grabbing seats at the table before declaring a quick," Itadakimasu!"
The food was delicious, and Izuku was glad that the fish was cooked to perfection, while he would always be partial to his mother's cooking, everyone from Ichinomiya knew their fish. Fish being the big business in the docks of that town meant you either learned how to cook your fish or moved somewhere else.
Halfway through their breakfast, Kirishima-san headed out. She'd woken extra early to make sure the boy got a good breakfast into them, but work called for her as well.
"Best of luck boys!" she called, as she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, already having taken part in her breakfast earlier," kick some ass!"
"Yeah, mom! So manly!" Eijiro shouted back, a happy grin on his face as his mom headed out. That grin stayed plastered on his face until they'd finished eating and washed up the dishes. Eventually, both of them were walking through Mustafu to the main U.A. campus. Izuku hadn't visited Mustafu in quite a while, and he took in the ward, his eyes flashing in realization when he remembered certain spots from his childhood. At one point he stopped walking and stared at a familiar park.
The park was in full bloom, and looked serene, masking the history that had been made beneath the boughs of its trees with a mask of innocence. Izuku knew better. His teeth grit, fists clenching together.
Eijiro, noticing that Izuku had suddenly come to a stop, turned to look at the dark look on Izuku's face.
"Izu-bro?" he asked, concerned over the look Izuku had on his face. It seemed to have hit a switch in Izuku, who turned and gave him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Oh sorry bro, it's just that…this place. This is where my journey started," Izuku murmured, straying from the sidewalk and walking into the park with Kirishima walking after him, confused.
"You're journey started in Rylo Park?" Eijiro asked, skepticism lacing his voice, still not having realized the significance of this park to Izuku. The park looked ordinary to Eijiro, remarkably well maintained considering how many big shot villains wandered Mustafu trying to make a name for themselves in U.A.'s backyard, typical playground equipment and benches, and a small grove of trees.
Izuku walked over to an old-looking oak tree, still standing after so many years, and spent a few minutes looking from it to the swings, and then taking a few steps away until eventually he came to a stop. This was the spot.
"When I was six, I came to spend some time on the swings after school. When arrived I noticed a kid getting bullied and tried to step in, even though I was as good as quirkless back then, I wanted to be a hero so I stepped in. The kid took off, leaving me to the tender mercies of my former classmate, Bakugo Katsuki. Right here, he threw me to the ground and started beating me, kicking me with his legs and making liberal use of his explosion quirk. It was rough, but in the middle of it all, my quirk activated for the first time. Thanks to my Sharingan, I remember the experience vividly," Izuku muttered, grimacing as he remembered the pain of Bakugo's kick on his side. The crackle as an explosion went off on his back and shoulders. The singed skin and burns he'd left behind.
"Even with my quirk, I couldn't stop Bakugo back then. It's different now, Eijiro. I've worked so hard to reach this point, I'm not giving up. We're going to be heroes!" Izuku said, turning to give Eijiro an intense stare, one Eijiro had never seen before, the intensity seemed to rouse something inside of Eijiro, who responded with a sharp grin, fist up for a quick fist pump that Izuku easily returned.
"Man Izu-bro, that look you just gave me was so manly! Now, I'm pumped! Let's do this!" Eijiro almost shouted, a grin plastered on his face, as he pulled on Izuku's sleeve and pulled him along until Izuku remembered he could walk.
The two boys shared feral grins, as they took off at a jog towards the U.A. Main Campus. The streets of Mustafu soon began to become wider, the asphalt streets gave way to the U.A. Main Campus's cobbled brickwork, large archways standing tall over the path on the way to the auditorium where the first-year examination would take place.
Izuku's gaze flicked around, before easily spotting the orange hair that signified Itsuka's presence. She was dressed in the navy blue Ichinomiya Middle School sailor uniform, and had an expression of anxiousness that clears up the moment she spots the two boys.
"There you two are! I was getting worried, y'know!" Itsuka huffed, annoyance evident as she grabbed the two boys by the ears and started hauling them toward the line for the first-year examinees.
"Ow-Hey Itsuka!-ow-We can-ow-walk please let go," Izuku begged, noticing that Kirishima had simply hardened his ear to escape any of the repercussions that came with being dragged off the exam.
That certainly wasn't very fair!
"Fine, but you better hurry!" Itsuka said, feeling a bit sympathetic to her boyfriend's plight and stopping long enough to let him go, before continuing to speed walk ahead.
"Wa-hey wait! How come you're still holding onto me?!" Eijiro exclaimed disbelief etched into his voice as Itsuka continued to drag him away.
"You didn't say please."
The whole interaction almost made Izuku burst out into a fit of laughter, he had to stop to constrain it, so he lost sight of the pair for a moment as the crowds were beginning to thicken. Just as he began to take a step, he felt something snag on his leg and he suddenly was falling. It was instinctual, his Sharingan flared to life and he quickly extended his hands forward to catch himself, going with his momentum and flipping his body forward in a front flip until he was back on two legs.
It was an effortless flip that caught the attention of a few of the students around him, some sent glares his way, others just scoffed like they could have done better. One person 'eeped', and they sounded rather close too.
Izuku turned to see a pretty brunette with a plump face looking at him with stars in her eyes.
"Oh, that was so cool! I thought for sure you were going to fall, and I was going to catch you with my quirk but then you just front-flipped out of the fall instead! Super sorry by the way, shouldn't have left my bag lying there. Oh, um, nice to meet you! I'm Ochako Uraraka by the way!" Uraraka said, waving her arms apologetically before doing a quick bow in greeting.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm partly at fault, I typically have a better sense of what's going on around me. If my sensei had seen that he'd have been chewing me out for days," Izuku said, scratching his neck awkwardly as he tried to wave off her apologies," it's nice to meet you as well Uraraka, I'm Izuku Midoriya. Good luck on the practical."
Izuku received a quick 'good luck', from Uraraka as well and was turning to leave when he heard a growl from behind him. A familiar voice, one he hadn't heard in years but that belonged to the person that had begun Izuku's change, for the better.
"Deku…," came the grave, anger-filled voice of Katsuki Bakugo. The young man's voice seemed to almost fester with rage as he stared at Izuku, and it was all he could do not to blow up the damn loser like he had all those years ago. He smirked, seeing that one of Izuku's eyes was a milky white, like a blind man's.
"Quirkless and half-blind. Why is it always trash like you that think they can get in my way?" Bakugo growled. There was a permanent stain on his record because of this Deku, easy enough to have been handwaved away as he got older as some playground tussle gone out of hand, but it was still there, marring the otherwise perfection that was his youth.
"You're nothing but a quirkless loser on my path to the top Deku. Remember that," Bakugo said, a nasty grin coming over his face as he stared down Izuku, moving to pass the boy who up until now had maintained a carefully blank expression. Bakugo expected the nobody to move out of the way as he walked by but was surprised when he went to shoulder-check him and he stood firm.
"You missed the memo pea-brain. I was never quirkless, just a late bloomer. This late bloomer is going to destroy these exams, and you'll learn that the climb to the top won't be as easy as you think," Izuku spat, flaring his Dojutsu to life, Sharingan flaring to life in his left eye and Byakugan pulsing to attention in his right. Bakugo looked confused before smirking and pushing past Izuku.
"Tch, so you can change the color of your eye. It's a pointless quirk, nothing beats mine, and I'll make it obvious in this exam, worthless Deku," Bakugo growled to Midoriya, who only clenched his teeth in return. No, I'm not worthless. I'll prove it!
As Izuku caught up to his friends, he couldn't help but notice how antsy they were looking. Itsuka in particular looked exasperated that it had taken him so long to catch up.
"Do I need to pull you along by the ear again?" she threatened, causing Izuku to straighten up and shake his head furiously.
"No dear," he quickly replied. His cheeks glowed red as Itsuka gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Relax, I was just joking," Itsuka got out, a fond smile on her face as she took Izuku's hand. Izuku just gave a sheepish chuckle, while Eijiro guffawed at the quick turnaround by Itsuka. They quickly made their way through the registration line, Izuku steadfastly doing his best to ignore the glares shot his way by a certain angry pomeranian. Thankfully, it seemed that neither Eijiro nor Itsuka had noticed any disturbance.
As soon as they finished registration, they made their way over to their assigned seating. Izuku and Itsuka both got to sit next to each other, while Kirishima's seat was closer to the front. Bakugo's farther down as well, what a relief, Izuku thought, unsure if he'd be able to handle the angry blonde's furious stare at him during the practical exam's explanation.
As they waited for more students to come into the auditorium and for the exam proctor to arrive, Itsuka and Izuku compared sheets.
"Huh, looks like we've been assigned different battle centers," Izuku noticed, his examinee number of 2534 coming before Itsuka's 2535.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Everyone in our row must come from schools in Chiba Prefecture, this way they can split us up during the exam to make sure we aren't working together," Itsuka replied, noticing with a pout that she had Battle Center C and Izuku had Battle Center B.
Before they could continue, the lights for the stage sprang to life, revealing a tall, slim man with long blonde hair that was spiked upwards into a tuft behind his head. He looked like some type of punk rock star mixed with a biker, with his costume consisting of a black jacket with a tall collar, matching black pants, and knee-high boots. Itsuka and Izuku both locked eyes with big grins on their faces as they immediately recognized the radio personality for who he was.
"What's up U.A. candidates! Thanks for tunin' into me, your school DJ. COME ON AND LET ME HEAR YA!" the Pro Hero Present Mic shouted as he lifted his arms. The auditorium was mostly silent except the the duo's chorus of Itsuka and Izuku shouting back.
"WE HEAR YA!" This seemed to cause a few of the other examinees to snicker at them but had a noticeable effect causing a few examinees to relax.
"Alright! Looks like not all of you listeners are asleep! Now, let's get straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, okay? ARE YOU READY?!" Present Mic shouted once again, trying to hype up the crowd.
"WE HEAR YA!" was shouted out once again by the duo, this time they were joined by a few other voices in the crowd, Eijiro being one of them.
"YEAH! Let's keep that energy bumpin'!" Present Mic said, lifting a fist now that the energy of the crowd seemed to be increasing," Now, as your application said, today you rockin' boys and girls will be out there conducting ten-minute mock battles in super hip urban settings! After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle centers, sound good?"
"WE HEAR YA!"
"Okay, okay, let's check out your targets. There are three types of faux villains in every Battle Center, you'll earn points based on their level of difficulty, so better choose wisely! Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo! But check it! Make sure you're keeping this heroic! Attacking other examinees is a U.A. No no, you dig?" Present Mic explained a video played behind him on the presentation screen, showing the faux robots, their score, and the objective of the exam. It looked like he had more to explain but he was cut off by one of the students in the audience.
The student was tall, with blue hair cropped on the shorter end, and had a stern demeanor, accentuated by a pair of rectangular glasses over a set of blue eyes.
"Excuse me sir, but I have a question!" the boy said, arm shooting straight upwards almost robotically as he stood up from his seat.
"HIT ME!"
"On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, not three. With all due respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students! We expect the best from Japan's most notable school! A mistake such as this won't do!" the boy said, before turning on his seat to glare and point at the pair of Itsuka and Izuku," additionally, you two hooligans! This is an exam, not a concert! You've tainted the examinees with your hooliganism! Act more maturely when in the halls of this prestigious academy! If you can't bother to take this exam seriously then leave, you're distracting the rest of us."
Izuku could have sworn he heard a snort coming down from where Bakugo was sitting.
Itsuka made to get out of her seat and protest but was cut off when Present Mic butted in.
"Alright, alright! Examinee No. 7111, thanks for callin' in with your request, but examinees No. 2534 and No. 2535 are only helping hype out the crowd and relieve some tension. Now, back to your question. The fourth villain type is worth zero points! That guy is just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way. There's one in every Battle Center. Think of them as a hurdle you should try and avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten but there's…kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore and focus on the ones toppin' the charts!" Present Mic said with a flourish, the screen behind him showing a video game replica of Present Mic fleeing from a big robot.
"Thank you very much, please continue!" Examinee No. 7111 said, looking slightly flushed at the slight reprimand, not having realized that what he had mistaken for hooliganism had been two fellow students trying to relieve the tension in the room.
"That's all I've got for you today! I'll sign off with a little present, a sample of our school motto! As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Mmmhmm, now that's a tasty soundbite. Ya ready to go beyond? LET'S HEAR A PLUS ULTRA!"
"PLUS ULTRA!" Itsuka and Izuku called out, glad to see the little hype train they had been building wasn't entirely brought to a stop by the interruption from Examinee No. 7111.
The following minutes were chaotic, students were directed towards changing rooms, where they were assigned a locker corresponding to their examinee number and asked to change into their gym clothes. The changing rooms were divided by gender but it certainly didn't stop more than a few guys that Izuku had to change alongside to comment about some of the girls they'd already seen.
One of the guys tried talking about Itsuka and Izuku quickly shut that down.
"Hey, she's taken," Izuku almost growled. The other guy took one look at Izuku and balked. While Izuku would never have a bulky build, like that of All Might, his body was toned and muscular from years of practicing martial arts, the strain of manipulating the quirk energy inside of himself, and pushing himself to keep up with his senseis. The guy's quirk must have done something to his height because he didn't compare to Izuku, being almost tall enough to reach his waist, with plumpness that came from a sedentary lifestyle, and weird growths coming out of his head. The short boy quickly backed down, although he kept shooting Izuku envious looks as they changed.
Once Izuku was changed into his dark green workout clothes, he lined up with the other examines heading to Battle Center B, surprised to see the blue-haired kid who had interrupted him also heading to this location, along with the short brunette he'd bumped into on the way into the auditorium. They were assigned seating, and Izuku ended up seated next to a guy with wild purple hair and bags under his eyes, it honestly looked like he hadn't slept in a while but he seemed nervous.
Not wanting to be rude, Izuku gave a quick bow in greeting before sitting down next to the guy.
"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Izuku Midoriya. Let's work hard and pass!" Izuku exclaimed in greeting. The purple-haired guy looked at Izuku strangely, before ducking his head in a half bow in greeting, unable to stand within the confines of the bus seating.
"The name's Hitoshi Shinso. So, you think you can pass?" he asked, a critical look in his eyes as he looked Izuku over at a glance.
"Yeah, it'll be tough but I'll shoot for the top spot in the exam. I need to knock someone down a peg, and I'll only do it if I prove I'm better than him," Izuku said with a quick nod, noticing they were now moving through U.A.'s large campus.
"You've probably got a powerful quirk if you're planning for the top spot," Shinso replied, a scowl growing over his features.
"Maybe. But it's not about the strength of the quirk, it's how it's used. Controlling cloth fibers doesn't sound too impressive, but Best Jeanist took a quirk people would consider mediocre and used it to become Japan's 4th best hero! What's your quirk if you don't mind me asking?" Izuku asked.
Shinso gave Izuku a hard look and for a moment, Izuku thought he'd offended him. Then a defeated expression came over his features.
"It's called Brainwash. I can control people who answer my questions," Shinso muttered, watching as Izuku tensed beside him with an annoyed look.
"That's…so…cool! That's an awesome quirk! With that, you could become a hero. Hostage situations could be dealt with super easily and you could help evacuate panicking civilians. Interrogating villains would be easy since you get them to tell you everything they're planning. Honestly, underground hero work might be best for you - if you stick to the spotlight, villains will eventually recognize you and they'll know how to get around your quirk. Need to work on bulking up a bit, you look kind of skinny, so some type of martial arts to complement your quirk so you can still defend yourself in a fight? Yeah, that makes sense, maybe some type of voice modulator so you can confuse villains into thinking they're talking to someone else? Dang, I wish I had my notebook…," Izuku muttered, not noticing that Shinso was looking at him with a flummoxed expression on his face. Shinso had gone his whole life hearing that his quirk was scary and villainous and here was someone telling him he could be a hero, affirming his dream. If they weren't in such a public space, he'd have started crying. Instead, he gave the still muttering Midoriya, who was now mentioning something about range-enhancing amplifiers, a smirk.
"Midoriya-san," Shinso said, cutting off Midoriya's mumble-storm. Midoriya in turn gave a sheepish scratch of the head, having just realized he'd entered another mumble spree by accident.
"You're pretty cool," Shinso said before turning to look at the passing scenery of the road.
"Oh-um, thanks?" Midoriya replied, very confused by Shinso's attitude. It seemed the purple-haired teen wanted privacy, thankfully the bus was starting to slow down. The gates to the Battle Center were closed and Izuku guessed it was now a waiting game to see how long before the gates opened. He disembarked with the other examinees, who all began waiting around and stretching, getting themselves ready for the exam.
Izuku himself began to limber up, doing some stretches to get ready for the start of the exam. As he was finishing some calf stretches, he heard a clearing of the throat by his side and turned to see that the blue-haired teen had walked up to him while he was busy stretching. Worried about a possible confrontation, Izuku got up but was unprepared for the sudden deep bow the other student gave him.
"You there! I wanted to apologize for jumping to assumptions! I thought you were trying to distract us in the auditorium, and failed to realize that others might be nervous," the student quickly said," please accept my humble apologies. I failed to take into account that some of our peers were not handling the pressure of the exam as diligently as others!"
"Ah, it's alright. Apology accepted," Izuku quickly replied, before giving a quick bow," best of luck in the exam!"
"Yes! I am Tenya Iida, best of luck yourself Midoriya-san!" Tenya quickly replied, before the two split off. As Izuku turned away from Iida, he noticed the girl who had tried to help him earlier before entering the auditorium. She seemed to be nervous but was doing her best to hype herself.
He made his way over to wish her luck, but was cut off by the sudden cry of: "START!"
The rest of the examinees were looking around stunned by the sudden declaration, but Izuku's body had tensed for half a second before he'd moved. The Battle Center doors had opened up and now Izuku was moving on instinct. The Quirk Energy is his body propelling him as he moves in the urban environment, Byakugan already scanning the urban setting for villain bots.
By the time the rest of the examinees had started moving, he was halfway down the first block and leaving them quickly behind.
The Byakugan was great at information gathering, it could see through the buildings and the surroundings, and with it Izuku was studying the internals of the robots, pleased by what he saw.
The robots were designed to look as imposing as possible, but they were mass-produced as none of the materials were military grade as far as he could tell. Even the weapons they used would at best leave nasty bruises. It seemed by the type of material used, these robots were meant to be broken and destroyed.
His theory was quickly confirmed when he stumbled across his first robot, a one-pointer who had its weapons trained on him as he approached. Before it could get a clear lock on, Izuku struck out with an explosive use of Juken, destroying the joint holding the arm cannon and shoulder together, followed by a roundhouse kick that sent it crashing into a two-pointer that was starting to advance.
As the two robots crashed limply to the ground, Izuku used the commandeered arm cannon as a javelin, spiking it into a three-pointer that had just turned the corner. Its body went limp as it crashed into a wall.
To others, Izuku hadn't even turned his head to look at the three-pointer. However, Izuku had seen the three-pointer coming for ages now thanks to his Byakugan. Noticing that one of the cannons was purposefully detachable on the three-pointer, Izuku quickly pulled it off the still corpse before continuing.
Picking something up on his Byakugan, Izuku began to make his way over - watching through his Byakugan as that guy, Shinso was trying to escape bombardment from a two-pointer that had him pinned down. He rounded the corner of the alley, bouncing between the walls of the building to boost himself over a fence in the way before coming crashing down on the two-pointer, crushing its head with a hard kick.
"You good?" Izuku called out to Shinso, who came out of cover.
"Ya, thanks," Shinso said with a curt nod, blinking in surprise as Izuku tossed him the surprisingly light three-pointer weapon.
"Here, pull the trigger and blast them!" Izuku said, before bouncing away down the street, pointing down another side alley near Shinso," take that alley for six points!"
Shinso watched as Izuku sprinted down the street, towards some robots he could see in the distance. How does he know there are robots down this alley?
Seeing as Izuku had been pretty honest so far, he hurried down the alley, surprised to find three-pointers on the next street over. Aiming with the cannon, he aimed and fired on them. Shinso watched as the rubber bullets impacted hard enough to dent their light metal. Three shots and he had taken down the two robots, their frames crumbling up. Shinso quickly got himself a new cannon and continued his search for points.
Turning a corner, he came across a curvy brunette levitating two one-pointers. Too focused was she on bringing them down that she failed to notice a two-pointer coming up behind her. Shinso quickly aimed and shot at it, crumpling up the steel. The girl turned, surprised by the noise, and shot Shinso a grateful smile when she noticed how close the two-pointer had gotten.
A crash from further down the street stole both of their attention, turning they saw multiple explosions going on as Midoriya had seemingly hotwired himself a robot and was no piloting it to great efficiency, destroying several three-pointers in a row before running out of ammo and crashing his robot into a two-pointer.
Izuku was panting, sweat dripping down his neck. He'd needed a break after taking down a set of two-pointers earlier and had decided to hotwire a three-pointer, using his Byakugan to determine which wires were best manipulated, before breaking the maintenance panel and 'piloting' a three-pointer. It was more trial and error than it looked, his Sharingan allowing him to make pint-point, precise corrections when it seemed he'd messed with the wrong wire. Soon the maintenance panel had started to smoke and he'd had the robot crash into a two-pointer.
It had netted him quite a few points, and Izuku was proud to say he was at 41 points. A respectable score, but if he wanted to compete with Bakugo he had to keep pushing.
His Byakugan let him know there were a few one-pointers nearby and hurried to take them out, using Juken on the first one to shut down its joints. Ripping the shield off of one of the one-pointers, he used it to deflect a salvo of rubber bullets, that he quickly rolled to advance under. A leg sweep sent the offending one-pointer to the floor, where Izuku ripped its minigun off, using it to fire at the heads of two nearby two-pointers.
Izuku went to advance on another set of robots when the ground began to shake, focusing on the disturbance, his Byakugan spotted a huge robot emerging from the ground.
The zero pointer? That thing is huge! They weren't kidding when they said it was just an obstacle to run from!
A few of the other contestants were fleeing from the huge zero pointer, which was rumbling around menacingly, destroying buildings and being a general nuisance on the battlefield as it advanced, albeit at a slow pace.
Izuku was about to turn and follow when he noticed a quirk energy signature trapped beneath some rumble in the path of the zero pointer.
It's that girl! Uraraka! She's trapped! Looks like her ankle is broken too! Damn, I've got to help!
Using Full Cowling to give himself a boost of speed, Izuku sped towards the robot, against the flow of the crowd. His limbs strained from the use of so much Full Cowling, but he pushed himself forward, past a confused Ida and Shinso, who were watching him with wide eyes.
"Uraraka-san, I'm here to help! Try not to move your ankle, it's looking pretty broken. If I lift the rubble, will you be able to crawl out?" Izuku asked, not waiting for a response as he started to lift the large block of rubble off of her leg. She gave a small cry in response but started to crawl right away as soon as she could move out.
"Thanks!" she said, wincing as she tried to stand but failed. Once Izuku was sure she was clear he helped her to her feet, putting one of her arms around his shoulders to keep her stable. Unfortunately, in the time it had taken to reach Uraraka, the zero-pointer had only gotten closer. Just as it seemed like it would trample over them both, it started getting shot by a barrage of bullets from the side. Izuku smiled as he spotted who was providing the covering fire, Shinso had acquired two of the miniguns off the one-pointers and was letting loose a barrage of bullets.
"Come on move, while it's distracted!" Izuku said, guiding Uraraka out of the immediate path of the zero pointer. They broke the line of sight behind a building but the stampede of the zero pointer had yet to finish.
If things continue, someone else could get hurt. We need to take down the zero pointer.
"Uraraka, your quirk. What's it do exactly?" he asked, quickly to the panting Uraraka who was in the process of catching her breath. He'd seen her make things float. Was it a form of telekinesis? Spotting a nearby car, an idea sprang into Izuku's mind.
"I remove the gravity of anything I touch," Uraraka said, panting between words.
Izuku noticed that Shinso was moving positions as he the zero pointer had started to approach his position.
"Alright, on my count, I need you to remove the gravity from this car," he said, turning his attention to Shinso, who was being weighed down by the guns and was having trouble escaping.
"Shinso, covering fire!" he shouted, the only response Izuku received was the spinning of the barrels as the miniguns started relentlessly pounding the giant robot with bullets.
"Now!"
Uraraka touched the car, a nauseating expression coming over her face the moment she did. Izuku didn't waste half a second, throwing the weightless car towards the maintenance hatch, remembering how damaging the wires on the three-pointers had led to them eventually exploding.
"Take cover!"
Shinso immediately dropped into a side alley, while Uraraka watched the car and waited until the last possible moment before restoring its gravity. With a heavy crash, the zero pointer was pushed up against a building, before an explosion on its maintenance hatch brought it to a shuddering stop.
"We did it!" Uraraka cried out, relieved, before her face turned purple and she quickly turned away, vomiting the contents of her stomach all over the floor.
Izuku gave a grin, relief that they'd survived the zero pointer evident on his expression.
"Shinso, you alive over there?!" Izuku called out,
"Barely," was the responding groan, as Shino came stumbling out of the alley, waving away some of the smoke.
Izuku was about to recommend they continue the exam when a buzzer went off, announcing the end of the U.A. practical exam.