"Red. You colored your hair red." Rakuro brought his palm to his face.
"It looks great!" Mina gave him a thumbs up.
Kirishima preened from the attention he was getting.
"Why red?" Rakuro couldn't let go.
"Grabs attention man!" He explained, "People will notice!"
"Why not go bald then?"
Kirishima shook his head rapidly, "No!"
"Got something against bald people?"
Kirishima shook his head even faster.
"Then why not?"
"Umm... uh.." He looked uncomfortable as he fumbled with his words.
Mina stepped in, "Hey! He's just joking." She glared at Rakuro, "Stop."
Rakuro sighed, "Fine. Can't have any fun around here."
He glanced at the two as they walked toward the entrance to U.A. And he could feel the nerves radiating off them. Well..... why wouldn't they be nervous? They were half an hour away from an exam that would decide their future.
Compared to everyone else walking into U.A., he seemed almost lax.
Well he was a little nervous but that was for the written exam alone.
Now why would he not be nervous for the hero exam? Simple. He planned ahead.
What most people refused to do was check schedules. It wasn't like the things he saw was a secret. Timings for each examination were clearly displayed. The written examination was two hours. Then the hero examination followed immediately after for another two hours.
Yep two whole hours.
Every single thread he read online always said that the time whizzed by quick but two hours were still two hours.
He could manage.
But that was not his preparation.
His quirk lasted four hours.
And rolling for a quirk right before the examination was quite....... sub-optimal. Just like it wouldn't be right to take on a boss without the necessary equipment and potions, taking the exam without having multiple tries of his quirk was objectively the wrong thing to do.
And that was his plan.
Four hours of one quirk rolled three hours before the final hero examination just so he could roll another one, one hour after the exam begins.
If he got a bad one at the start..... then hopefully the second one changes the tides.
If he got a good one at the start... then he needed to score as many points as possible in the first hour. And then try his luck on the second one.
And if he screwed up both times... well that was that then.
Can't do much about that.
He tried to see if he could influence the choices but his quirk was unfortunately skewed toward true randomness. Every ability had an equal chance of appearing. None of his abilities were weighted.
Rakuro knew this beforehand from the testing when he was younger but that didn't stop him from trying and failing lots of different tactics gamblers often relied on.
But he didn't need to worry that much.
Luckily, he got an ability that would do him wonders if used properly. And its timer was currently running out.
"How are you not stressed?" Mina whined as they entered the school and began making their way to the exam halls.
Rakuro shrugged, "This is the third time you are asking me this."
"And it still makes no sense." Kirishima replied.
"I just prepared!" Mina imitated while shaking her head.
"What?" Rakuro defended himself, his voice rising as he did, "I did! Just because I can keep my cool and you can't doesn't mean that you can blame me for it."
Mina squinted at him not quite trusting those words.
Spotting a group of people crowded near a wall, the three walked toward them.
"We might be in different exam halls." Kirishima said as they saw the long lists hung on the wall assigning them to the halls for the exams.
Rakuro nodded, "We are. It is in the information mail they sent out last week. Its harder to cheat when you are surrounded by people you don't know."
"THEY SENT AN INFORMATION MAIL?!" The two friends of his spun around.
"Yeah."
"AND YOU DIDNT TELL US?!"
Rakuro looked confused, "I assumed you knew."
The two stared at him with murder in their eyes.
He started backing away slowly, "And they added this list in the mail. So.... I already know where my room is....."
The two started inching closer.
"See ya!" He spun around and ran to the gymnasium that had been repurposed for the sake of the examination.
"Name?" Asked the man sitting at the entrance.
"Hizutome Rakuro." He answered.
The man typed in the name and looked up at him, verifying the face in the database and the one in front of him. Nodding, he pointed behind him, "Row 6 Column 7."
"Thanks." Rakuro said as he walked in.
"Good luck." The man wished as the doors closed behind him.
The exam wasn't hard.
Tricky? Yes.
Hard? No.
Everything was stuff you would know if you just passed your exams in school. And the deal with his parents ensured that he did.
The difference between those tests and this one was the scenarios presented. But that was only for mathematics and the science subjects. Japanese and English were easier, more straightforward. And since Rakuro had learnt enough English from playing games made outside the country, he breezed through the exam.
He leaned back as he finished the last question, looking around at others in the room.
A good chunk of them were already done with the exam and the rest were frantically scribbling down answers. But there were a few left scratching their heads at the questions laid out in front of them.
He offered them a quick prayer.
Half an hour later he was out and walking to the giant announcement hall, where they would get a run down of the hero exam and then taken to the assigned areas. Areas he did not know anything about, since it wasn't explained in the mail.
Entering the auditorium, he looked around for his friends but couldn't spot them among the crowd.
"How can I not spot the one girl with bright pink hair and the idiot who painted his hair red?" He grumbled, looking at the mess of colored hair seated in front of him. "Fine. Alone it is."
He spotted a seat and the slid past the legs of the others sitting in the row.
"Is this seat taken?" Rakuro asked the person sitting next to the seat.
She shook her head. The girl had a head of brown hair with a fringe that covered most of her face.
"Thanks." He said as he slumped in the seat, turning to her she introduced himself, "I'm Hizutome Rakuro."
She turned to him and answered shyly, "I...I'm Komori Kinoko."
Noticing her fidgeting hands, he asked, "Nervous?"
She nodded.
"Don't worry." Rakuro spoke, "It will all work out."
Her head dipped down for a moment before her hands stopped fidgeting, "Un." She nodded.
"WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO MY LIVE SHOW!"
The sudden burst from the speakers stopped any further conversation as all eyes turned to the dais.
Present Mic waved his microphone around, "EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEYYYYY!"
No one replied. The sudden start had left most of them confused as to what was happening.
He looked depressed for a moment before shifting gears and giving everyone a rundown of how the exam would be held.
Three types of villains placed around a battlefield and using your quirk to dispatch them would net you points. Points varied on the type of villain you beat. No interfering with fellow test takers.
Pretty simple.
But Rakuro noticed how he did not mention about saving as many as possible.
Maybe in wasn't in this exam?
"Excuse me may I ask a question?"
Rakuro leaned over spotting a tall guy with glasses stand up.
"On the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed." The boy spoke, "But you have only mentioned three. This type of error is the height of embarrassment for a top tier national academy like U.A."
"Handouts?" Rakuro muttered as he noticed the sheet in his hand, "Did he not get the mail? Is he living a hundred years in the past?"
"Mail?" The voice next to him chirped up.
"The mail with all the information regarding the exams." Rakuro explained before sighing, "You didn't know?"
She nodded.
He brough both hands to his head, "Why does no one check their mails? It even comes highlighted."
"I..... I.... I thought they only sent letters." Kinoko said.
"Me too." Rakuro spoke, "But then I had to open my mail for an OTP for this game and I spotted it."
He had deprived himself from VR games for the duration of the preparation but mobile games? Those were free real estate. He would play them whenever he pulled a bad ability.
"NOW LETS MOVE ONTO THE MAIN EVENT!" Present Mic roared as the two turned toward him, "PLUS ULTRA!"
The girl looked around frantically.
"Don't worry." Rakuro comforted her as he stood up, "You didn't miss anything." But before walking away, just because he pitied the girl he left her with one advice, "If there is an opportunity to save someone..... do overthink it and just save them. It will help you out."
Kinoko looked at him and nodded.
With a wave, he walked off.
"Group G." He said as he looked at the slip in his hand. He flipped it over to see if there was anything in the back. Nothing.
Areas A through G were the places the examination would take place. Every area identical and simulating a cityscape with villains in it. Just like real life.
A quick outfit change later, he stood in front of the entrance to Area G in a tracksuit. Looking around, he couldn't spot anyone he knew.
He looked down at his watch, "I guess an ideal world cannot be expected." The timer on his ability was going. The last one hour had already begun and the examination hadn't stared yet.
"AAAAAAAAND START!" Present Mic voice roared through the speakers as the man himself stood on top of a massive observation tower overlooking all the areas. "WHAT? THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A COUNTDOWN IN A REAL BATTLE! RUN! RUUUUNNNN! CONSIDER THE BATON TOSSED!"
A bunch of students had already began to sprint into the city by the time Rakuro managed to enter.
He looked at his watch and winced.
Seven minutes over.
He had fifty three minutes left with his ability.
The ability?
PING
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