Once More (My Hero Academia)

5: The Entrance Exam

"Dammit, I saw that one first!" The traffic cone guy snapped. Then his angry expression froze in fear.

Izuku's kick was flying straight towards the guy's head.

But instead of connecting with his head, the green-haired boy's kick collided hard with another 3-point robot behind the traffic cone guy.

Izuku landed deftly behind him, and the robot crashed to the ground.

The guy turned around stiffly, his eyes wide in shock.

"Oh, sorry," Izuku said without looking at the guy, "might've ruined that hairstyle of yours, traffic cone guy."

"What? Traf--"

Izuku tilted his head and looked back, and the guy went silent.

"Ignore me," Izuku smiled, "since I'm just one less rival to worry about, right?"

The guy clenched his jaw and took a step back. Some other kids near them all sent nervous looks towards Izuku.

But then there's the sound of a huge explosion and Izuku saw smoke erupt from the middle of the training ground.

It was the 0 point robot.

A giant shadow loomed over the mock city and the candidates near Izuku all started yelling and retreating at the sight of the towering green robot.

But of course, Izuku ran straight towards it.

•••

Is he crazy?

That was Iida Tenya's first thought when he saw the boy with fluffy green hair running straight towards the 0-point robot.

For a moment Tenya was tempted to stop and see what the boy was up to, but he knew it was pure stupidity. So instead, like everybody else, Tenya ran away.

•••

Uraraka Ochaco whimpered at the pain as she tried to pull herself out of the rubble. She tried to reach back and use her quirk on the giant fragment of concrete, but she was crushed in a way that her fingers couldn't touch the rubble no matter how hard she tried. She just needed a little bit more time to get out, but the humongous robot was coming closer and closer and she knew she couldn't possibly make it out in time but she was trying so hard and--

There was a flash of green light and the figure of a boy appeared in front of her.

It was the boy she met at U.A.'s front gate, the boy with freckles and messy green hair. This morning he looked like a jumpy nerd, but right now, with green lightning around him and a determined expression, he looked like a hero.

"Hang on!" The boy cleared away the rubble with inhuman speed, and once most of the weight was free from her back, she floated the largest fragment and scrambled out.

The boy grabbed Ochaco and darted out of range just as the giant robot crushed the place where she was trapped before.

"Are you ok?" The boy asked with unmasked worry.

"Yeah," Ochaco said as the boy set her down, "Thank...Thank you."

The boy was about to reply when something caught his eye. She turned to see what he was so shocked at and she realized the giant robot had lifted a hand and was about to slam down.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Ochaco shrieked and started running away, but the boy didn't move.

"What are you..." She looked around without stopping, then realized with a shudder that the robot hand was going to smash into the buildings around them, and the structures would collapse.

"Go! Run faster!" The boy yelled at her.

"But what about you?" Ochaco stopped in her tracks and yelled back.

The boy looked around and gritted his teeth. There were other candidates in the vicinity, and they couldn't possibly make it out in time. They would get seriously hurt by the giant robot.

Green lightning -- much brighter than the last time, Ochaco realized -- appeared around the boy, and he dropped to a low stance.

Is he going to... No!

"You won't be able to make it--" Ochaco shrieked, but the boy flashed away towards the other candidates.

Ochaco felt her jaw drop open.

The boy was a blur... no, even faster than that. He was so fast he seemed to be teleporting.

The robot hand was coming down fast, but the boy was still grabbing all the candidates below it.

She had to do something.

The boy was saving everyone, she had to help.

She looked around, and lunged towards a giant slab of concrete, making it weightless with her quirk. She grabbed the concrete and hefted it up like an oversized baseball bat, then smashed it up at the robot hand.

The robot hand jerked back, but recovered a split second later -- it lifted up slightly, then slammed down even harder.

Ochaco leaped out of the way just as the giant metal thing collided into the ground behind her. The buildings in the area were demolished, smoke billowing everywhere, rubble flying.

Ochaco whirled around and searched for the boy while coughing in the thick, dusty smoke.

Then she saw a flash of green light and dashed towards it.

"Oh my god." Her hands covered her mouth.

The boy was laying on the ground, breathing heavily, while seven or eight other candidates sat shakily near him, all with expressions of astonishment and fear.

"He saved... all of them." Ochaco breathed.

"Hey," the boy suddenly said to her, "Thanks back there. The few seconds you bought me really helped a lot."

"I mean, you saved me, and you were trying so hard to save everyone else, so I knew I had to do something..." Ochaco ran a hand through her hair, feeling embarrassed.

"TIMES UP!" Present Mic screeched, signaling the end of the exam.

•••

Iida Tenya marched over to the crowd.

The green-haired candidate was lying on his back.

"Is everyone ok?" The green-hair said with a painful groan as if he was trying to get up but couldn't.

A few other candidates standing near the green-haired boy nodded.

He saved all those people?! Tenya's eyes widened in surprise.

Obviously, at the prestigious U.A. high school, candidates won't get seriously injured at the entrance exam. Didn't the green-haired boy know that? Why in the world did he try to help other candidates if everybody here was competing against each other? It's not like they would've died if he didn't save them.

Then Tenya realized, maybe they would've died if the giant robot villain was real with an intent to kill. If this wasn't an exam, real heroes would've tried their best to help others.

If this wasn't an exam, I would've tried my best to help them as well, Tenya thought, right?

So... Maybe this crazy, weird, green-haired candidate was actually the best hero here.

"Uh..." The green-hair lifted a shaky arm. Tenya listened intently with newfound curiosity and admiration towards the candidate.

"Can someone get Recovery Girl over here?" The boy asked, "I probably broke some bones."

Breaking his bones just to save them? Tenya blinked, then shook his head. Looks like this guy is crazy after all.