Fading into the background

Chapter four: The recommendation exams

Shoto had never left his tatami-floored house except for hospital visits and even those stopped when he was really young. There were many other things he had never done like going to school or interacting with people his age (or anyone that wasn't his father or tutors). In spite of that with the knowledge he gained from books and a bit of guess-work he managed to behave somewhat normal if not a little cold.

People at the exam site were certainly livelier than what he was used to. There was a 1.9 meters (6' 3") boy with a buzzcut yelling about how heroes must be hot-blooded, he seemed rather excited about pretty much everything, Shoto found it slightly unsettling. He felt a heat signal approaching him from his blind side making him tense until he heard a voice say "Ohayo, I'm Yaouyorozu Momo, may I ask what your name is?" This overly polite introduction came from a slim girl in a black ponytail he recognized as the heir of Yaoyorozu Industries. "Todoroki Shoto, nice to meet you" She seemed like a pleasant person so he didn't want to be too rude to her but at the moment he had to focus on the exam so he made no attempt to continue the conversation.

Before she could say anything else they were interrupted as it was time for the first part of the exam to begin. They were led to a classroom and given a test in order to test their theoretical knowledge. Shoto was far ahead in every subject, making it easy for him to ace everything and still have plenty of time to observe the other candidates. The yelling boy from earlier seemed to be struggling quite a bit while Yaoyorozu didn't appear to have any problem. There was another boy with blonde hair and no lips who also looked to be confident on his answers, the rest of the students were somewhere between buzzcut and lipless. The alarm sounded and they were taken to a track where the physical part of the exam would be taken.

The next test would be an obstacle race where their physical ability would be tested along with their strategy and approach when facing a challenge. He was placed with the two boys he had been paying attention to and three unassuming people. "GO!" suddenly yelled Present Mic, lipless immediately turned the ground into something aching to quicksand, but both him and the buzzcut boy who seemed to have a wind quirk were already far ahead. Shoto just surfed on his ice avoiding all obstacles and melting it behind him so no one would be able to use it. He was close to the finish line and still tied with wind-boy so he used a wave of fire to heat the air around him, making it rise and destabilizing the other competitor, earning himself the first place.

"WHAT A WHITE-HOT BATTLE, GUYS!! I FREAKIN' LOVE IT!!" the wind quirk boy yelled when the other participants finally arrived. He then turned to Shoto, getting into his personal space "I'M INASA YOARASHI!" Inasa kept looking at Shoto expectantly, the younger boy was slightly freaked out by his attitude and not knowing what he was supposed to do he decided that it would be better to ignore the entire situation. Yoarashi seemed to take this as a personal affront as he stormed out muttering something about cold eyes and Endeavor.

The last of the exam was a personal interview with Nezu, the chimera who runned this highschool. Shoto wasn't used to talking without a script outside of his lessons so he didn't know what to expect of this part. Interestingly enough the director seemed to be the first and only one to take notice of his age, but he let it go with a slight comment. Luckily for him, in the interview they talked more about physics and a mix of history, law and ethics than anything personal so he had nothing to worry about as he had read plenty of books. Shoto finished the exam confident that he would at the very least be accepted and probably take first place. His suspicions were confirmed a week later when the acceptance letter came in the mail. 

Author note: Next coming the first day of class!