Tetsuo never realized how loud silence could be until he stood in front of a full-scale simulation city surrounded by a hundred other hopefuls and couldn't hear anything over the sound of his heartbeat.
Tetsuo stood stiffly, hands jammed deep into his pockets to hide the tremble in his fingers. The written exams were over. This was the final step.
'This is it. I have to get it right,' he told himself.
The practical exam. The big one. The moment that would decide whether he could stand among the best.
"So~ Mr. Little Fanboy, hoping for a reward from the pretty teacher, huh?" Aoi Hamura grinned, poking him in the ribs with an elbow sharp enough to warrant a support item license.
Tetsuo flinched, his cheeks going red. "Hamura-san, please don't say it like that," he muttered, already regretting his life choices.
"Ooooh, the baby's shy," she cooed, ruffling his already disheveled hair like he was a puppy at a daycare.
'She has no sense of personal space, does she...' he thought grimly.
She smirked sideways at him. "You're clenching your jaw so hard I think your teeth are about to file themselves into fangs."
Tetsuo gave her a look. "I'm not nervous," he lied.
Aoi raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. And I'm the next Symbol of Peace."
"You? You'd get canceled before your first day on the job."
"I'd go viral and get a sponsorship deal. Don't underestimate me."
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Can you at least pretend to take this seriously?"
"I am taking it seriously. I just don't look like I'm constipated while doing it."
He was going to kill her.
Or die trying.
Probably die.
"Could you maybe not mess with my head five minutes before the most important exam of my life?" he said, trying to sound firm but coming off as more desperate than anything.
"But it's so fun messing with your head," Aoi chirped, rocking on her heels with that annoying grin.
"Besides, you're way too tense. You'll combust before the test even starts. Boom. Gone. Dust in the wind. Bye-bye, Tetsuo."
Before he could respond with a solid comeback (which, let's be honest, he didn't have), a voice echoed through the courtyard.
"Uhm... mic testing, one, two."
All heads turned.
Atop the archway above the gate, someone stood like he was about to drop an album, a man. Light brown hair and calm charisma.
"Who the hell is that?" someone whispered. A bulky examinee with skin like polished stone shielded his eyes for a better look.
"No way..." another murmured, a boy with heterochromatic eyes
Aoi frowned. "What's the buzz about?"
Tetsuo wasn't looking at the man. His eyes were locked on the kid with the mismatched eyes for the moment.
'Reiji Kisagi... I've heard of him before.'
Squeals erupted from the front row. A group of girls practically vibrated with excitement, their energy enough to power a small village.
"He's so dreamy in real life!" one with bubblegum-pink hair gushed, looking like she might pass out from sheer admiration.
Tetsuo finally looked up. His breath caught.
The man stepped forward, his full figure lit up. The smile, the eyes, gentle yet sharp.
"No way..." Tetsuo muttered.
"Is that—?" Aoi's jaw dropped. "Is that Surgeon X, like the Surgeon X?"
The man chuckled as if used to this reaction.
And he was. Katsuma Shimano, a.k.a. Surgeon X, The Fighting Healer, pro hero, and probably the reason several medical students reconsidered their careers.
His quirk, Cell Command, let him control biological functions, speed up healing, reinforce muscles, and regulate pain. He could fix you and break you in record time.
But his fame didn't just come from his looks or his power.
It was from his origin.
Years ago, his hometown had been wiped out by a still-unnamed villain group. No heroes around. Just a bunch of work-study students. People said it was Class 1-A, the legendary generation from U.A. High. The government tried to cover it up. Didn't work.
Grainy footage, survivor stories, satellite photos. The truth leaked. And from the debris, a kid named Katsuma got the spark to become a hero, not because someone told him to, but because he had no other choice.
And now, here he was. Live. In person. And smiling down at them like this was just a chill Sunday morning meet-and-greet.
"No need for introductions, I think," Katsuma said. "Judging by the squealing, you already know who I am."
Tetsuo's nerves were now mixing with childhood awe and a mild existential crisis.
Katsuma continued, "Since everyone's here, let me give one last piece of advice before we begin—"
"Ugh, just get it over with," someone groaned from the back.
"Yeah, we don't have all day, sir."
Katsuma's smile flickered. Internally, he sighed.
'Heroism really has become a dying ideal, 'he thought. 'So impatient. So punch-focused.'
He pushed on anyway.
"The primary goal is point scoring by destroying robots, as you already know," he said. "Basic stuff, combat prowess, quirk efficiency, how well you can deal with villain-type threats."
Some students yawned. Others already looked like they were mentally punching robots in their heads. But a few were razor-focused.
'There's potential here,' Katsuma noted.
"But," he added, "that's not the whole test."
Tetsuo tensed. So did half the crowd.
"This simulation includes a full-scale catastrophe scenario. That means your hidden points that you were told about will come from civil rescue and threat detection."
Dead silence.
"Wait," someone piped up, yep, same guy as before who asked Eri. "Isn't that stuff for the licensing exam?"
"At U.A., we do things differently," Katsuma said with a faint smile. "After all, being a hero isn't just about how hard you punch villains."
He let the pause hang for a beat.
"But if that's all you came for, go find a punching bag, not the hero course."
A few jaws dropped. One guy even choked on his water.
Tetsuo blinked.
Okay, he's got a little Dynamight in him, too.
Aoi whistled low. "Whew. Pretty boy's got bite."
Katsuma straightened up, eyes sweeping over the crowd again.
"Now then, show me more than power. Show me your purpose."
"Show me you can go beyond PLUS ULTRA!"
The gates flung open, signalling them all
"The Practical exams begin!"