(Pov: Izuku Midoriya)
(AN: Also known as "bum". Cuz that's what this dude is. An annoying bum, although a strong one.)
Izuku Midoriya woke up early. His eyes fluttered open and his brain only needed milliseconds to adjust to his usual wimpy self.
Not because of Discipline. Not because he had slept enough.
He did so because he felt the kind of stress giving a person the irresistible urge to go take a shit.
'The Entrance exam!'
That was his first thought. A thought which should be enough to make it overwhelmingly clear that he was stressing over the entrance exam needed to (hopefully) enter his school.
That school, being UA High.
'This is the day!'
For a moment, the bum known as Izuku Midoriya remained in his bed, eyes wide as he stared at the ceiling. Today was the day he had prepared himself for. All his work of these past few months... he would have to make it count today.
Emotions swelled in his chest. Fear, anxiety and doubt, but below these feelings... also lay hope and most importantly, determination.
Then, slowly, Izuku Midoriya climbed out of his bed. His movements were slow, nearly lethargic as he seemed to forcefully slow his body down, perhaps hoping that it would also slow down his mind.
Because his mind was currently running at a speed that would put High-Spec to shame.
'Okay okay okay. This is fine! I trained! I studied! I can totally do this! UA wants potential, right? They said that in interviews, I think! Or maybe that was a random forum post...OH GOD what if I studied the wrong things?! Do I… do I know enough? What if they ask me a question I've never even heard of? What if I freeze? What if I trip on the way in? Or worse! what if I look at someone wrong and they think I'm a weirdo? Oh no no no, I'm already a weirdo, I can't let them confirm it!'
He paused mid-movement, realizing that his chaotic mind wasn't helping his situation. Despite that...
'Okay okay... calm. Calm. C-A-L-M. More calm than even that. I can do this. I will do this. I analyzed every possible scenario. Nothing can catch me off-guard...'
The green haired boy inhaled and exhaled in an exaggerated fashion, a clear attempt at calming his nerves.
'Did I pack everything? Pencils, erasers, notebook… did I double-check the notebook? Maybe I should double-check again. What if I forgot something essential? No, that's fine, I probably remembered… right?'
He rubbed his eyes and exhaled slowly. The morning sunlight shone through the windows of his room, surely premeditating a wonderful day... if the that dark cloud known as UA Entrance exam wouldn't exist.
Washing himself only took a few minutes and Izuku soon found himself in the living room, devouring his breakfast all the while furiously reading through his notebooks. His leg never stopped rythmically tapping against the ground, as he started forgetting to open his mouth, simply pressing the food into his face.
Inko Midoriya noticed her son's... uncanny focus and tried calling out to him, but to no avail. Her son was trapped in a monologue, seemingly unable to stop.
"The entrance exam consists of a written exam and a practical one. Information about the practical exam is private, UA probably wants to surprise their applicants in order to see them work without preparation for the specific scenarios they might envision. So we will start with the Written exam until morning, then probably have a break for our nerves and start the practical exam at noon..."
The mutterings kept going and it was only when Izuku noticed the time, that he suddenly jumped up, nearly spilling his food and sprinted towards his room, then back to the table, took his backpack, and sprinted to the door.
But...
"Izuku! Your notebook!" his mother's voice rang out, her face tight with worry as well, showing how "wimpy" was a family trait.
Izuku's running came to a halt as he spun around and ran back. His mother handed him the notebook, then they went through a quick check.
"Alright, you have your Notebook, a pen, a Lunchbox, water...OhMyGodIzukuIAmSoProudOfYou!"
Inko's check was interrupted as she embraced her son in yet another tearful hug... and then, finally, Izuku Midoriya stepped out of the apartment.
-
Outside, Izuku Midoriya, the inheritor of One for All, was on his way to UA. On the way, he saw plenty of students he'd gauge to be his age, many of them in quiet and serious conversations concerning their own entrance exam.
Waaayy too many of them seemed to have their sight set on UA. That was something that he understood as he stood in front of UA's gates and his heart churned as he realized the sheer amount of competitor's he'd have.
'There are so many of them... And each of them probably pushed their Quirks to their limit. How am i supposed to contend... All i did was eat one of All Might's hair... is it really all it takes to-'
"Fuck off Deku!"
A loud booming voice emerged from a blonde spiky haired boy, his expression contorted into a scowl.
"Don't stand in my way, or do you wanna fucking die?"
"Kacchan!"
Bakugo Katsuku, the one who'd been speaking approached and Izuku immediately leaned back, as if bracing for a hit...
"...hey-y there... l-let's b-both d-do our b-best..."
...only for the scowling Bakugo to walk past him, hands in his pockets.
'Huh? He didn't stop?'
Bakugo Katsuki, someone who he considered his childhood friend, had not laid a hand onto him, ever since the sludge villain incident a few months ago.
'I'd gotten used to cowering before... but things have changed!'
A glimmer of determination appeared in Izuku's eyes.
'I got this. All Might personally trained me! He gave me his Quirk! I can do this! I Have to do this!'
His mental pep-talk brought incredible results as a smile adorned his face and he walked forwards, his steps seemingly filled with purpose. He belonged here.
He took a step forward and-
"Eh?-"
He tripped.
Over his own two feet.
-
-
(Pov: Riku Shindai)
Riku had been walking rather peacefully. Strange looks were thrown his way, but everyone was stressing way too much to worry about the 2.3m (7.5) sized mutant who was walking among them.
Tokoyami was next to him, in a seemingly calm state of mind but Riku clearly saw that his friend was... stressing really damn hard. 'I bet there isn't a sliver of emotion on his face. The path of the Aura farmer is an emotionless one after all...'
Riku's facial wings twitched in amusement, something which Tokoyami noticed but solemnly ignored.
The duo soon walked past a peculiar scene, a small kid who seemed in a rather one-sided "conversation" with a girl.
And Riku, in his blindness, could not help but notice the scene, because he perceived the the kid's feelings.
'Holy shit, is he okay??'
Anxiety and nervosity. And hope. Lots of hope... but still overshadowed by anxiety. The state of the kid surpassed even Tokoyami's panic back when Dark Shadow first rampaged!
The girl soon walked off, a large smile on her face... but the kid remained frozen in place.
Riku nudged Tokoyami's elbow, signaling towards the panicked kid, then walked up to him.
The familiar, one sided bridge of CE was created and Riku spoke.
"ERA UOY YAKO?"
(ARE YOU OKAY?)
"AH-WHAT! NO- i mean yes but don't worry i'll... uh... eh?"
The answer came in form of a scrambled mess of words and panicked sounds which soon changed into confusion. The kind of confusion Riku happened to be the most familiar with.
For a moment, Silence reigned as the panicked kid seemingly took in the sight of... who he was talking to. Then, he seemingly understood that his sentence had been too chaotic for the Mutant to understand what he had said.
" AH! Ehm, please don't worry. I'm fine."
"...I EES. DOOG. I HSIW UOY KCUL."
(...I SEE. GOOD. I WISH YOU LUCK.)
And so, Riku rejoined Tokoyami, who'd been waiting for him. He was slightly weirded out, but felt as though he'd done a good deed. He'd seemingly succeeded in distracting the kid from his worries after all.
But honestly... it wouldn't amount to much when it came to UA.
It wasn't just a question of mindset after all.
It was a question of strength.[1]
-
-
(Pov: Fumikage Tokoyami) (A few hours later...)
The Written Exam was over.
Tokoyami walked with purposeful, steady steps towards the Auditorium. He had rested his mind and mentally prepared himself during the short break after the Written exam and while still nervous, anxiety and fear could never stop him form embarking upon this perilous path.
Indeed, he was confident. His Quirk was powerful, he had studied and trained a lot and his training partner happened to be Riku.
'Still... this written exam was truly worthy of a school like this... those questions were filled with deceit.'
But he had done well. Those tricks could not deceive his eyes, which were tempered by the Darkness in which he upheld his eternal vigilance.
'Although, i wonder what Riku's exam looked like...'
Riku had been separated from the main group of examinees, a member of staff pulling him aside for his oral exam. Still, Tokoyami did not doubt his Comrade's intelligence, surely this exam had been but a breeze for him.
'The same cannot be said for the others.'
He had indeed noticed, that plenty of other examinees had clearly struggled with the exam, some even broke down as their hopes for passing dwindled. Now, the people heading towards the Auditorium wore either faces of despair, hope or confidence. 'Still, the number of confident faces is truly high... i suppose those aiming for UA must truly be the best of the best.'
The future hero of darkness kept walking along the stream of students, silently wondering if his comrade had already finished his exam.
Then, he entered the Auditorium.
Rows of seats were sprawled out in front of him. Tokoyami did not put much thought into where he sat and silently chose a corner seat with decent visibility and then watched as more and more students slowly trinkled in.
Some of the students were like he was, silent and stone-faced, be it out of nervosity or confidence. Others were more excited, quietly chattering and discussing what UA's practical exam could possibly be.
-
A few minutes later, the number of students entering the hall was down to only a few, Tokoyami's large friend being among them. He entered the Hall through a different door to the side, unnoticed by most students, and simply chose to stand behind the rows of seats. A few heads did turn, but quickly faced the front again, too absorbed in their own anxiety to care.
A cynical smile broke out on Tokoyami's face as he watched from a far how his comrade stood next to the small human-sized seat before deciding not to take the risk.
Then...
"WELCOME TO MY LIVE SHOW! EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEEYYY!!!"
The Hall was silent the moment they heard his voice. Concentration and narrowed eyes were focused on the Pro-Hero on stage. Everyone knew, the written exam was more of a formality than anything else. If you dominated the practical, you'd succeed in entering UA for sure.
The pro hero cupped his ear in front of the silence before continuing, his loud voice reverberating through the Auditorium.
"No reaction? Tough crowd heh?"
He grinned, seemingly undeterred and continued.
"I'VE GOT SHIVERS DOWN MY SPINE TOO, LISTENERS! I'M GONNA GIVE YA'LL A RUNDOWN ON HOW THIS'LL GO! ARE YOU REEEAAAADYYYYY? YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHH!"
"..."
Hushed whispers emanated through the crowd, although soon went silent. The Pro Hero simply ignored it and clicked a Remote, the screen behind him came to Life.
"ALRIGH, LISTEN UP! YOU PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL WILL BE A 10-MINUTE PRACTICE RUN IN OUR CITY-REPLICA DISTRICTS! EVERYONE HAS A DESIGNATED ZONE, IN WHICH YOUR TEST IS GONNA TAKE PLACE, YA'LL GET IT?"
Amidst the Silence, Tokoyami's gaze narrowed at a small card with his designated zone. '
Zone A. I wonder what zone Riku got.'
He didn't linger on that thought as Present Mic continued, enthusiastically explaining the exam and explaining the point system. It consisted of a simple point gathering exam, in which the examinees would have to hunt down robots to rack up points. The robots came in 3 different sizes, giving a different amount of points should they be defeated.
Tokoyami's eyes narrowed at the explanation, a sense of foreboding at the seeming simplicity of this test.
'A hunt for robots... UA's truly goes all out. Still, this seems a little unfair. This exam only accounts speed and power.'
Anyone with a less versatile or unsuited Quirk ran the risk of failing...
As Tokoyami silently considered that, a voice suddenly emerged.
"Excuse me. May i ask a question?"
Heads turned and all of them were met with the sight of a tall, black-haired boy with glasses, bearing a serious expression. He frowned as he spoke.
"The Hand-out clearly portrays 4 different faux-villains! But only 3 were mentioned in your explanation! Such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top tier academy such as UA!"
Murmus emerged from the crowd of students as they noticed the discrepancy. Tokoyami's gaze turned a bit disapproving, although mostly at the students rash judgement of the situation. His gaze turned even more so at the uptight examinee's next sentence.
"And you! Yes You! Curly haired kid. Can't you sit still? You're distracting! If you think UA is some pleasure joint, then go home!"
His glare was directed at a green-haired student, whose expression was frantic and clearly suprised at being called out.
'That's the nervous kid Riku talked to this morning...'
"T'NERA UOY A TIB KCIUQ OT EDGUJ? I EVEILEB EH SI TSUJ SUOIXNA."
(AREN'T YOU A BIT QUICK TO JUDGE? I BELIEVE HE IS JUST ANXIOUS)
The voice came out of nowhere. The unintelligible sentence came from the corner of the room, but it's meaning resonated in each and everybody's heads. For a moment, everyone, including the Pro-Hero seemed disconcerted, unable to fully understand where the voice had come from.
'...Riku. He's not a friend of those who judge so quick.'
Tokoyami didn't know whether to smile or sigh at his friends intervention. Personally, he wanted to simply move on and start the exam. So sighing it was.
For a moment, murmurs and chatter emerged until the examinees finally noticed Riku's hulking presence in the back of the Room. The complaining examinee looked a bit startled, but his face tightened and he answered.
"I see. I had not considered that. I apologize!"
"..." Everyone was rather taken aback by the honest reply followed by a bow, but the examinee's face remained firm as he continued.
"Nevertheless! It is still distracting, especially in such a pivotal moment in our Lives!"
He stared at the figure in the corner, but Present Mic intervened before the debate could continue.
"ATTENTION ON MEEE, LISTENERS! EXAMINEE 7111, GOOD ON YOU FOR NOTICING! Although you could have been more tactful."
The teacher's loud voice effortlessly commanded back everyone's attention. His finger pointed towards the screen featuring a robot, larger and more dominant than the others.
"THE FOURTH FAUX-VILLAIN YOU'LL ENCOUNTER IS WORTH... ZERO POINTS! THAT'S BECAUSE HE'S NOT A TARGET, BUT AN OBSTACLE! JUST CONSIDER IT LIKE AN ARENA TRAP YOU HAVE TO AVOID!"
Looks of realization dawned on everyone's faces and the afore mentioned "Examinee 7111" gave Present Mic a steep bow before seating himself.
"Thank you for your explanation! I apologize for my rudeness!"
Present Mic just grinned.
"THAT'S IT FOR THE EXPLANATION! NOW, LET'S GO ON WITH IT! PLUS ULTRA! MAY YOU ALL SUFFER GLADLY THE TRIALS TO COME!"
The briefing had come to an end and the masses of students headed to their destinations, determination and concentration the only emotion on their faces.
Tokoyami noticed Riku heading to Battle-ground C, his usual heavy steps matched by a wide grin, probably excited at the prospect of tearing robots apart.
Meanwhile, he mentally rehearsed everything he had heard, preparing himself and drafting a quick checklist of requirements he should meet to make an impression.
'That was what Riku said... your quirk matters more than your skill. It'll be difficult during daytime, but i have to show Dark Shadow's potential.'
That was more than doable. Dark Shadow was a versatile Quirk after all. Showing creativity and control with it should be an easy pass... as long as he destroyed enough robots.
-
A few minutes later, everyone had arrived at their exam grounds. Tokoyami stood at the edge of the group. He was mentally jotting down the names of the students he should stay far away from, especially that spiky haired boy who had explosions crackling on his palms as he warmed up.
His mind was clear and rested and his darkness eager to stir. The only distraction on his mind, were his thoughts about his comrade in shadow, located two exam-grounds further away.
-
Far away from Exam-ground A, on exam-ground C, stood another assortment of students, all of them preparing themselves for their exam. And in the midst of the group, stood a wide, unmoving figure of large size.
The figure bore nothing but a Hakama and prayer beads, it's shirt had already been discarded and put aside.
It's tail did not move, nor did it's wings twitch as a field of Cursed Energy spread itself through multiple blocks of the Faux city.
The only movement on the figure, was that of it's widening grin, and the twitching of a floating, large, bronze-ish wheel.
-
CHAPTER END
AN: I have an exam tomorrow. Yet here i am, writing. Like a fool.
But i'll be fine. I prayed. I will pray again.
[1] Saw a button and wanted to know what it does. And how i looks once posted.