"I'm back!"
"Hiro-chan, welcome back. Just in time, can you help chop these up?"
"Sure, Dean."
Hiro helped cook dinner. At the same time, he called the other children over to set the table.
At 15 years old, he was already the oldest in the orphanage aside from the Dean. Therefore, he was used to acting as the eldest brother of these kids.
"Hiro-nii, Hiro-nii, can I go with you to UA tomorrow? I also want to become a hero!"
"Me too! Me too!"
At the dinner table, the group of children began to clamor. Most of them were around 3-6 years old.
"Hoya, brats! Don't talk while eating! Do that again and I'll spank you."
Suddenly, a girl with shark-like fangs shouted while glaring at the kids. They stuck their tongue out at her in retaliation, though they did begin to eat more quietly.
This girl was the eldest sister of the orphanage. Her name is Shara. Although she looks fierce, she does her best to guide and protect the younger kids in her own way.
"Shara's right. Eat your dinner first. If I pass the UA exam, I promise to bring everyone to the Sports Festival."
"Really?!"
"That's a promise, Hiro-nii!"
The younger children cheered and began to gobble up their food. Meanwhile, the older children didn't really take his words to heart and just smiled helplessly in his direction before continuing to eat.
In their minds, they probably saw no hope of Hiro passing the hero exam.
Hiro saw this and inwardly sighed.
In this world where Quirks reign supreme, the most important factor to be adopted was to have a powerful or useful Quirk.
Just like Shara's Quirk only made her have sharper teeth, most of the older kids' Quirk were somewhat subpar.
From a young age, they watched as adults skip over them and adopt other kids with powerful Quirks. Month after month, year after year, their self-esteem was repeatedly trampled upon.
This, in combination with society glorifying heroes with their powerful Quirks, made these children extinguish their hero dream early on and learned to face reality.
As for why Hiro, with his Quirk, wasn't adopted? That was because he had no interest in having a third set of parents.
When someone comes for adoption, he'd subtly change his facial features to be uglier. At the same time, he'd only show his Quirk to be capable of only making his ears flap or make waves with his stomach.
That was also the strategy he employed to live a relatively invisible life in school. Along with him often skipping class to train with Bang-sensei, the other students and teachers didn't care much about him. Of course, that was also because he passed all of his exams.
But now that he planned to enter UA, he must avoid doing these things that can arouse Nezu's suspicion. In fact, he was already prepared to remain in this world until he finished his objective.
After all, it was only in UA that he could gain easy access to All Might. In his plans, if he wasn't able to defeat All For One during the hideout raid, then he can only suppress his shame and challenge the weakened All Might.
The night quickly passed and the next day arrived. Amidst the cheers and well-wishes from the kids and the Dean, Hiro stepped onto the bullet train heading to Musatafu, Shizuoka.
During the journey, Hiro could see other students also on their way to U.A. He saw some of them on their phone, desperately cramming in last minute knowledge for the written exam.
Meanwhile, Hiro just leaned on the side of the train and browsed the recent news. As for reviewing like everyone else? With his Quirk, things like that became unnecessary.
Through manually strengthening the synaptic pathway between his eyes and the cerebral cortex, he was able to engrave anything he sees into his brain- effectively achieving the infamous photographic memory.
By now, he already memorized all the textbooks publicly available for high school. And in the field of biology, he even scoured the available books and studies all the way till the PhD level. Suffice to say, in the upcoming exam, all he'd have to worry about was the practicals.
The train stopped, and after a 10 minute walk, Hiro soon arrived at the gate of UA.
He glanced around. All around him, students in their respective middle school uniforms stepped past. And among them, he even saw some of the familiar cast.
What particularly caught his attention was a familiar mop of seaweed-green hair. Along with a face full of freckles, he instantly determined the guy's identity. That was Izuku Midoriya, the anime's protagonist.
Since he was here, then that means he already inherited One For All. It seemed that even with his presence, the butterfly effect he caused didn't stir a powerful enough wind to alter Midoriya's fate.
Hiro walked past the green-haired boy. Good for him, then. By taking away All Might's Quirk, it further weakened the symbol of peace and made it easier for Hiro to complete his contingency plan.
He entered the exam building where an instructor led him to his assigned classroom. There, he took the written exam along with the other students. This lasted the whole morning.
After that, they were all taken for a brief interview then served a free, sumptuous lunch courtesy of Lunch Rush before being herded into a massive auditorium.
The seats were arranged based on the student's school, probably to help them relax by having a familiar face to talk to.
However, Hiro was the only one who took the exam from his middle school. Bored, he closed his eyes and began to manually process the lunch he just ate.
This was one of his training methods for his Quirk. Although it had already undergone an awakening, Hiro knew there was still a lot of potential left in his Quirk to explore.
In the midst of his training, a booming voice suddenly resounded from the stage.
"Welcome to today's live performance!!! Everybody say heyyy!!!"
The chatter in the auditorium died down. Everyone turned to look at the stage, where a guy with yellow mohawk hair and dressed like a DJ gangster stood. He had his hands to his ears, seemingly expecting feedback. But except for one or two who answered back, the auditorium remained silent.
"Tough crowd. Well, that's cool. My examinee listeners, I'm here to present the guidelines of the practical exam. Are. You. Ready?!"
Once again, no one answered him. Shaking his head in disappointment, Present Mic began to state the rules of the practical exam.
In short, all the students will be divided and assigned to a corresponding test area. There, they would have 10 minutes to accumulate points by defeating robots that are scattered throughout the test location.
There are three robots: the 1-pointer, 2-pointer, and 3-pointer, their strength increasing with the number of their assigned points.
"May I ask a question?"
Suddenly, from a seat far away from Hiro, a guy with glasses raised their hand. After Present Mic nodded for him to go on, he adjusted his glasses and continued.
"According to the handout, there are four listed varieties of villain robots. Yet according to you, there are only three! Such a blatant error, it is highly unbecoming for UA, Japan's top academy! And you!"
He suddenly turned to another side. More specifically, towards Midoriya who had been gushing about Present Mic in the middle of his speech.
"You've been muttering this whole time…it's distracting. If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately."
With that, the glasses guy, which is Tenya Iida, turned his attention back onstage.
"Alright, alright. Examinee 7111, nice catch! The fourth villain you see…is worth zero points! We've placed one of them in each venue. Think of them like a stage boss, they'll rampage around in a large area to distract you."
"I got it. So it's a stage gimmick to be avoided. Thank you, sir. I apologize for the interruption!"
With that, Iida finally sat down. Present Mic also gave a few more precautions such as no attacking a fellow examinee before leading everyone to their respective exam venues.
Along the way, some student's names were called and given the weapons they requested. That's right. Weapons.
During the application process, they were given choices for what kind of weapon they prefer in combat, without including hot weapons like guns and grenades of course.
Hiro didn't need them. But for those with Quirks unsuitable for direct combat, having one gave them a slight boost in confidence in passing the practicals.
In front of the test venue, Hiro made a rough estimate of the city structure in his mind before studying his fellow examinees.
He saw a bat waving around in the air. Without needing to think much, it must be Toru Hagakure. Her Quirk only makes her invisible, so unless these robots have a disable button or her fists were harder than it seems, using a weapon was perfectly logical.
In addition to her, he also recognized Mineta, as well as Tetsutetsu and Setsuna from future Class B. Like him, the three of them didn't choose a weapon.
Hiro didn't bother them. Except for Mineta who was ogling the girls, it was clear the others were focused on the upcoming exam. There would be plenty of time to get to know each other after they passed- provided he didn't take any of their slots.
After all, although he didn't plan to go all out, he wouldn't settle for anything less than first.
"And begin!"
As soon as the gate swung open, Hiro leisurely ran past the confused examinees.