Outside the Episode Battle.
The fuck did I just do?!
Ben screamed internally, ignoring the death screen on his arcade game.
Fuck… I should have looked twice.
He lowered his head, elbows on the deck, hands gripping his face.
His feet tapped anxiously against the arcade floor, his brand-new sneakers squeaking lightly.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I barely stayed sane merging with the original Ben's memories, and now this—!"
His eyes flickered with anodite mana.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"Calm down… if you dare make a scene, you'll be swarmed by heroes."
Ben struggled to steady himself, his brain throbbing under a flood of foreign memories.
A weak boy.
Divorced parents.
Anxiety.
Fear.
The pressure to live up to his mother's expectations.
"God… God… God…"
—
Inside the Episode Battle.
In the corner seat of a massive auditorium, a sixteen-year-old in a baseball shirt and white sneakers fought through splitting migraines hammering his skull.
"Hey, Aoyama."
A human toaster turned toward the athletically dressed boy beside him.
Aoyama bit his thumb, one leg propped up on his seat. He turned with a scowl.
He wanted to snap at the faceless, metal-headed idiot—
I swear, if I finish digesting these memories and you're not important to me—
Pain spiked.
He shut his eyes, biting down harder on his fingernail.
The mutant quirk user's metallic shine dimmed slightly with concern.
"Should I call someone, Aoyama-kun?" he asked, reaching for his shoulder.
"Tch—!"
His arm was slapped away.
"Leave me alone—I'm fine!"
Aoyama snapped, feeling the last of the memories settling into place.
He glanced back at the boy and exhaled.
"...Sorry. I'm fine. Just on edge. You talking to me made me snap a bit."
"Oh—yeah, I get it! I'm super nervous too. I mean, who wouldn't be? I was up all night thinking about how to stand out today and what I'll do when I'm enrolled, blu blu blu—"
The kid kept rambling, his body jerking with each word, springs clicking under his joints.
That—more than anything—irritated Aoyama.
I know killing Cash was a mistake…
But I wouldn't mind snapping this guy's neck right now.
—
Ding!
Welcome to Earth_76170 (My Hero Academia)
This episode will last until the completion of the USJ Arc.
[(Episode Mission: A Soul's Last Ambition)]
Taking over the body of fourteen-year-old Hikaru Aoyama has not come without a cost.
To continue living in his place, you must fulfill all his hidden ambitions.
Main Objective: Become the number one in class
Objective 1: Get enrolled in UA and make your mother proud
Objective 2: Get a girlfriend within the first month of enrollment
Objective 3: Prove the usefulness of your "trash" quirk by dating a minimum of five people simultaneously
…The hell are these objectives?
Rewards:
Access to a new episode continuation on your next World Dive
Unspecified Yen & EXP (based on your performance)
Five Season One characters added to the shop
Two tournament slots
!!!
The lights suddenly went off, plunging the room into darkness.
Aoyama stared at where the giant screen had been as the railing lights flickered back on—followed by the screen—illuminating a new figure on stage—
"WELCOME, ONE AND ALL!"
Present Mic stepped forward, his voice amplified to fill the entire room.
The examinees fell silent all at once.
"I HOPE EVERYBODY IS READY FOR TODAY'S EVENTS!"
"CAN I GET A HELL YAAAAAA?!"
He looked out into the crowd—but the examinees remained silent.
That didn't discourage him.
He grabbed an imaginary mic stand, leaning back dramatically before shouting—
"I said…!"
"CAN I GET A HELLLLLL YAAAAAA!!!!!"
He snapped upright, his voice cranked to the max.
This time, a few cheers broke out—more than Aoyama remembered from the anime.
That alone made Present Mic's day.
"That's more like it!" he grinned. "Now that your blood's pumping, I'm sure those pesky first-time jitters have melted away. Isn't that right, EXAMINEES?!"
"YAAAA!!!"
The toaster in the back row and several others responded.
"It's starting…" Aoyama mumbled.
His migraines finally subsiding, he glanced at the toaster-headed boy—now recognizing him as a transfer student from last year. Someone he had befriended. Someone he had planned to become a pro hero with.
I don't think I ever saw him in the show…
That means he probably didn't pass.
His eyes narrowed as he stopped biting his thumb and looked forward.
…Neither would I.
Not with what's coming.
How is making weaker clones supposed to help against metal robots?
"Calm down, listeners! Save that fire—you'll need it after I lay down how this is going to go!" Present Mic grinned as the screen behind him switched to a live feed of an abandoned city.
"This year, we'll be testing your mettle with a ten-minute practical run in our replica district!" he continued as the camera panned across the cityscape. "You'll find three types of faux villains scattered across the battlefield!"
The giant monitor blanked—then displayed three robotic models.
"You'll earn points based on their difficulty level!"
"Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your quirks to immobilize the faux villains!"
"That's all there is to it! Think of it like a video game—rack up as high a score as you can! And just like a video game, you can bring any items you can carry—as long as you're at the designated area on time!"
He was about to end the presentation when he paused.
"Oh—and I'm not sure if this needs to be said, but don't even think about attacking your competitors or pulling any nasty anti-hero moves. That's against the rules—capisce?"
A dirt-blonde delinquent grumbled loudly enough for Aoyama to hear.
Aoyama glanced over—
Katsuki Bakugo.
"You're lucky, Deku… otherwise you'd be the first one I crushed."
The spiky-haired boy raised his palm, small explosions sparking to life.
The boy—
Girl?
Aoyama paused, looking at the figure that shifted away nervously, forcing a weak smile.
It wasn't the timid boy he expected.
Instead, a sweet-looking girl—in a skimpy uniform—had taken his place.
Who is that? he asked himself.
"That can't be Izuku Midoriya…" Aoyama whispered, staring at the girl in the front rows—that was supposed to be the future wielder of One For All.
He turned back to Bakugo.
He was the same—or should he say she—judging by the swell of her chest and the wide curve of her hips, half-tucked into her skinny jeans.
Was it strange to see some of your favorite characters like this? Absolutely.
Female Bakugo turned, her eyes landing on Aoyama as she sensed his lingering gaze.
Her eyes narrowed.
His eyes moved, passing off using her as eye candy as if he had just been scanning the crowd, as he moved three seats ahead—
Where a truly familiar figure stood up.
"Excuse me, may I ask a question?!"
Tenya Iida.
Future Class 1-A president.
He adjusted the collar of his white blazer and raised the pamphlet from his desk.
"On the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed," he said, pointing to the page. "Such an error would be a significant embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of UA's caliber—"
—
Interstellar Arcade
"Iida really has a lot of conviction in his voice," Ben muttered in English, his thoughts switching away from the Japanese forced into his head. "He even knows how to throw strays."
He laughed, not even looking at the arcade screen.
Instead, he focused on the vision coming from his clone inside the Episode Battle.
"He somehow found a way to drag this new Midoriya into his rant."
He chuckled again.
In the corner of his vision, the Sparking Zero logo flickered beneath his right eye.
When he mentally selected it, the UI appeared.
[Episode Battle (First Trial): UA Entrance Exam] (Selected)
[Episode Battle]
[Custom Battle]
◄ Episode & Custom ►
He stared at it, then moved the selection.
◄ Battle & Training ►
[You currently have an MHA-themed setup.]
[Because of this, you cannot access the original game's Battle & Training modes.]
The system chimed in:
Would you like to set this environment as your current Battle & Training hub?
"Hmm… I have to set a new hub?" Ben asked.
Yes. Just as the dance pad was set as this theme's Episode Battle entrance, you may configure other systems into games, environments, and appearances.
"That's interesting…" he muttered, staring at the screen.
He thought for a moment.
"Alright."
He placed his hand on the joystick.
"Set this up as my hub."
—
Ding!
Configuration accepted.
Initializing Battle & Training Hub…
The screen flickered.
A new image loaded—
The My Hero Academia Season 1 cover art appeared.
But something was off.
Standing among the familiar characters…
Was a silhouette.
Its body made entirely of living static that spread and swallowed several of the key members.