Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
September 1, 2xxx - Izumi Pov.
"I know you said Iori's side of the family were idiots, but I didn't think they were that bad," Taylor muttered, frowning. I sighed.
"Don't call them idiots, call them human garbage, waste with legs, mistakes with a pulse, badly recycled remains of people, waste that learned to speak, failed versions of human beings, oxygen waste with a name, a persistent stain on humanity, proof of everything that should never have existed, a huge living monument to garbage-"
"We get it." Azula interrupted me with an amused smile. Ruby grunted.
"Don't make me laugh, I'm angry." Ruby complained. I smiled slightly before sighing and looking at her seriously.
"I'm really sorry, I knew you'd try something eventually, but I didn't think you'd involve Summer or all of you." I said, wrinkling my nose. Stupid Zenin. I was getting closer and closer to pulling off the 'Maki Maneuver™' and massacring them all.
"Don't worry, it's good that Iori was able to get the coordinates and a way to contact Mom before anything happened," Ruby said worriedly. "But even so, the Zenin even managed to keep Aunt Raven occupied so she wouldn't realize Mom was on a fake mission." Ruby shuddered slightly, and I grimaced.
"They may be trash, but they're smart trash, at least when it comes to getting what they want, and they don't care how they get it." I sighed wearily.
"Director Salem 's signature ? That... isn't that worrying?" Taylor asked, frowning. Ruby nodded.
"Uncle Qrow told me that he caused a huge panic when the truth came out, but since there's really no proof of tampering, there's no one to blame. The only thing they can do, and are doing, is increase their security." Ruby sighed.
"It was definitely someone internal; it's really quite impressive how many people they have under their control," Azula said, sounding impressed.
"They're like cockroaches, they were in the dark all this time while discreetly accumulating power in any way possible, they were afraid of AFO, but now without her presence, they'll be able to move around more freely." I said with a grimace.
"So now you have two more fiancées," Taylor hummed, and I snorted.
"I didn't accept anything, not even if I were dead. The day will never come when I have to get engaged to someone from the Zenin family." I snorted with a grimace. "Especially someone like Naoka Zenin." I spat out the name in annoyance.
Honestly, there was nothing worse than finding out that the Zenin actually lived in this world when I was little, especially someone like a female version of Naoya Zenin.
"She's your aunt, isn't she? " Ruby asked, frowning. I made a face of disgust while shuddering.
"But don't put it that way. I really don't want to think about being related to the Zenin," I said, shuddering again. "But yes, she's my 'aunt,' or well, my… second aunt? first cousin once removed? She's my mom's cousin, which is still just as bad. She's still a Zenin, which is worse. A Zenin is only good when it's a dead Zenin." I snorted.
"The bad thing is that she's a Zenin, not your second cousin?" Azula asked playfully, and I shrugged.
"Wincest?" I said with a crooked smile. The girls gave me blank stares. I chuckled. "Just kidding, just kidding," I said between laughs. The girls rolled their eyes.
"Changing the subject, is your other fiancée really part of the Benerit group?" Taylor asked, changing the subject. I nodded.
"Miorine Rembran, daughter of Delling Rembran, president of the Benerit Group, the largest conglomerate in Europe." I said with a grimace as I began to rub my temple.
Miorine Rembran, that damn Miorine Rembran, I didn't really mind Miorine, I liked her a lot in her series, the problem is that that series was damn Gundam. Because the only thing this mixed-up world was missing was giant mechas.
Luckily, after searching everywhere on the internet and making sure that mecha really didn't exist, I was able to calm down.
Even so, I almost wanted to sigh. I could understand why Mom and Grandpa chose this option. The Zenin were elusive; even if I could go and kill them right now, surely someone is hiding somewhere just to ruin everything in some kind of mutual destruction.
It was annoying.
So I wasn't really bothered by being engaged to Miorine. As far as I remember, she was a non-combatant, not a Gundam pilot, and I didn't recall her ever fighting in one. She'd been raised to inherit the Benerit Group, nothing more, nothing less. All her hobbies were cut short by her father, and much more.
To the point that she wanted to escape her situation and her father's control. I almost sighed as I thought about it. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with a runaway bride or get caught up in all that mess.
Almost wanted Suletta to appear and sort everything out on its own and leave me in peace, but I'm sure my pleas wouldn't be granted.
I almost sighed wearily.
"Your life sounds really complicated." Kyoka huffed in front of us, stood up from her seat, and looked over the back of the seat at us.
"Spying, Kyoka?" I asked playfully, she just snorted.
"It's not spying when they're literally discussing important things on a bus with all of us and they don't even try to whisper." Kyoka retorted, pointing at the others. We turned and looked at the rest of Class 1-A, who were staring at us, including Aizawa. I shrugged.
"Nothing I said is going to be a secret, so really, why bother? And by the way, if anyone says their name is Zenin, just turn around and ignore them." I warned everyone.
"I... had heard of the Zenin, but I didn't think they were so... shady." Yaoyorozu said with a frown.
"Me too." Todoroki nodded. I nodded.
"It's not surprising that you've heard of them before. The Zenin try to stay in the shadows, but they're still an important clan in Japan. They're very old; I'm talking about records of the Zenin family dating back to the Heian Period." I said with a grimace.
"So much!?" Ashido exclaimed in surprise, her eyes wide. I nodded.
"There's a reason they're so arrogant." He snorted dismissively.
"Heian... that's... 1300 years?!" Ruby said, her eyes wide.
"Between 1100 and 1500 years, the Heian Period begins in 794 and ends in 1185," Sona said immediately.
"Sooner rather than later, so yes, it points to around 1400 years," I said without hesitation.
Despite my hatred for the Zenin, I had to acknowledge my ancestry. There are approximately 1400 years between the Heian Period records of the Zenin and the present day, and according to what I learned from my mother, for a clan to have survived for so long was truly impressive.
"So it's not surprising that a family with that kind of ancestry is overly obsessed with its lineage," Asuna added with a grimace.
"And they're so traditional. The Zenin hate it when men are stronger than them. I have no doubt that any Zenin they try to marry me off to will try to 'control' me somehow." I rolled my eyes. I could literally hear everyone on the bus snort at the same time.
"Someone trying to put a leash on you, dog? That's something I'd pay to see." Bakugou said with a wide grin.
"Yeah, right, 'control him'. When someone manages to do that, we'll know hell has frozen over." Jinx scoffed.
"Actually, I'm feeling a bit sorry for them now, should we send them our condolences?" Ashido asked with a broad smile.
"I mean... with everything she said about the Zenin, they're probably used to unpleasant things, but on the other hand... is Miyamura," Kyoka said with a wide smile. I rolled my eyes.
"Ha ha ha, they're so funny." I said dryly, making the others laugh. I sighed before smiling slightly.
"Leaving aside Miyamura, because he's Miyamura, have they done the same to other men?" Yunyun asked worriedly, which wiped everyone's smiles off their faces and they frowned. I grimaced.
"Let's say yes," I said with a sigh. "Quirk marriages and arranged marriages aren't particularly well-regarded, to the point of being considered taboo and an outdated practice, but they aren't illegal."
"All men born into the Zenin Family are educated and raised to obey the women of the family without complaint, and men who join the family are quickly re-educated to do the same." I said with a grimace, and several of those present paled slightly.
"That... is horrible." Uraraka murmured in horror, and I nodded.
"And not only men, women receive the same treatment, at least the weak women, those with weak quirks, without quirks, with auras that don't meet the standard. They are trained as a way to force them to go and join branches of the family to serve the main branch until their death."
"My mother was spared that... education simply because she was part of the main Zenin line; in fact, her mother was the previous leader of the Zenin Clan, the 33rd, Naomi Zenin, my 'grandmother's' sister, who succeeded her as the 34th when she passed away."
"My mother is the youngest daughter of the previous leader, so she enjoyed... I wouldn't call them privileges, since she was still insulted, abused, beaten, and more because of her quirk, but it really could have been worse."
"Truly, the Zenin despise the weak, especially within their own ranks." I said with a grimace while suppressing all the murderous intent that was trying to surface from my body.
I really wanted to kill those damned Zenin any way I could. I could see the horrified faces of the others.
"So your mother couldn't inherit the clan leadership? I mean, if she was the daughter of the previous leader and all that?" Sinon asked, confused. I sighed heavily.
"400 years ago? Maybe. My mother is the younger of two daughters. Back then, she would have been treated better, even as a second daughter. But now? With the existence of quirks? Impossible. Now it's not so much based on direct lineage, but on strength. My 'grandmother' had two children, Jinko and my mother. Jinko, my 'aunt', is an S-Rank, but definitely not stronger than my 'grandmother's' sisters, Naomi and Ougi."
"Both are also S-Rank, they are equal in strength, the only reason Naomi was chosen as successor and head of the family was because of the 'quality' of her children, Naomi has Naoka, another S-Rank, while Ougi simply has two daughters of 'poor quality'."
"Mai and Maki, twins. Both are despised and hated within the clan. Mai is weak; her Quirk is a very degraded version of Yaoyorozu's Quirk. She can create things from her aura, but the consumption is so inefficient that she can only create one bullet per day before reaching her limit."
"The Yaoyorozus are famous, so when word got out about Yaoyorozu's quirk and her Creation, which was the same quirk but much better, well, it made things worse for Mai." I said with a grimace.
"Oh goddess, that's horrible, I didn't mean for-"
"Don't apologize." I interrupted Yaoyorozu, who looked horrified. "The Zenin are idiots, it's not your fault." I said with a grimace. "And actually, Maki had it worse, she's Quirkless." I sighed with a grimace.
"Oh, so they..." Asuna tried to say cautiously, I grimaced.
"Were they abused? Probably, Maki more than Mai, but... not that much. Just like my mother, they still had some respite being daughters of Ougi from the main branch, but I'm sure it was still horrible." I said with a grimace.
"As interesting as that whole talk was, I'll stop it before it gets any worse. Right now, you have something more important to focus on. Forget all about the Zenin and get off the bus. We're here," Aizawa said simply. "The exam venue, Takoba National Stadium," Aizawa said, staring at me intently before turning and getting off. I grimaced. We all followed immediately and started looking around.
"I'm getting nervous!" Kyoka said as she shuddered slightly.
"I didn't know this was Takoba," Izuku muttered, looking around. I got out too and gripped my briefcase with my disguise tightly as I looked around.
I could see all the students nervously entering the stadium. I listened to Aizawa's speech distractedly.
To my surprise, Inasa appeared, even though she was female. I ignored most of the exchange. I could sense that Inasa was strong, definitely an A-Rank at the top, maybe even approaching S-Rank, but I didn't care; I was too busy imagining killing the Zenin.
Finally we entered the stadium and we all changed into our costumes immediately.
Once I put on my costume, I took the swords out of my shadow, arranged Wado Ichimonji, Enma and Sandai Kitetsu on my hip before joining the rest of the class.
I grimaced as I watched everyone around me shift slightly to avoid me, despite being completely crammed inside this room prepared by the HPSC.
At first, I thought they were ignoring everyone from the UA, but no, their gaze was fixed on me. I could feel the intense, unwavering stares of more than half the participants. I almost sighed, but luckily, someone started to speak.
I quickly recognized the speaker as Mera, the person who would later serve as acting chair of the Commission throughout the AFO debacle. Only here she was a woman, so I had no idea what her first name was.
Just like in the canon, the first test of this exam was to reduce the absurdly large number of over 1500 participants to only 100 by means of a speed test, the exam of which was the same one I remembered.
Each participant has three targets stuck anywhere on their body and 6 small spheres; whoever is hit in all three targets loses; whoever lights the third target is considered the winner. You had to defeat at least two people in that way to be able to pass.
I almost sighed at how easy the exam was. I grabbed the Objectives the staff had given me and listlessly placed them on my arm, all three in a line, without changing a single one. I could see the rest of the class staring at me like I was crazy; I just chuckled.
This part of the exam was ridiculously easy; there was no reason to worry. I hummed softly as I watched the walls fall away, revealing a huge test area with different specialized zones all around.
I heard Midoriya trying to keep everyone together, only to fail when several people started to wander off. To my surprise, Bakugou wasn't among them; in fact, he stayed by Izuku's side and glared angrily at everyone.
I listened as Mera began the countdown and a small detail came back to mind.
"…3…2…1… BEGIN!!!"
Ah, yes, the tradition of 'Destroy UA', I remembered just in time to hit the ground and disappear from the epicenter where all the participants began to attack the entire Class 1-A.
I wasn't even worried about them, they would manage, it was impossible for them to be disqualified by something of this level.
I simply moved at high speed to the last row of participants, randomly selected two people, and hit all three of their targets with the six balls I had. I could see the shock on both girls' faces when they realized what had happened.
I could see my three Objectives suddenly light up.
"Candidates who have passed the test should go to the waiting room." I sighed playfully as I started walking, searching for the waiting room, before stopping. That... now that was a big problem.
I hummed softly before shrugging. I started walking in a completely random direction while looking around. It was a total free-for-all in every direction.
If I thought the human horse fight at the festival was a disaster, this was much worse. There were hardly any teams formed; it was everyone against everyone, and they kept getting more scattered and separated from their own groups.
Heh, it was fun. I dodged several of the balls with ease and deflected a few attacks with Enma still sheathed in my hand.
"Candidates who have passed the test should go to the waiting room." The robotic voice repeated the Objectives around my body. I sighed.
I started looking around, trying to find the waiting room before giving up. I pulled a chair out of the shadows and sat down lazily; someone would come for me eventually.
Author's Notes: Well, I didn't really want to write too much about the first exam simply because it was too easy. I also didn't want to write about the other schools, like Shiketsu and its students. I didn't want to introduce characters who are very unlikely to appear in the future, otherwise I would need more chapters for the interactions, and I really want to finish the provisional license exam quickly.
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.