UA's entrance exam is tomorrow. Excited about what my plans are, my mom is overjoyed and supports my goal. After giving me the support I needed, she reminds me that I should probably pay Dad a visit and tell him the news. I strongly agree, and after lunch, I begin to make my way to the prison house.
I have little trouble convincing the guards to let me in despite my youth. I'm directed by one of the guards to the visiting windows. On the way there, the guard has another officer let my dad know he has company. I walk to our usual window and sit down in front of the reinforced glass. After about a minute or two, my dad comes in on the other side of the window and sits down across from me. I can see he has a black ring around his right eye.
"Hey, Spook," he greets. "What's up?"
"Hey," I simply greet back. "Nothing much. I'd phase through the glass to you, but don't wanna trigger the guards."
"Heh. I see what you mean."
"What's that?" I gesture to his black eye.
"Prison fight. One of my new inmates decided he needed a new punching bag."
"Who was it?"
"Some big guy called Blood Moon. He can fire some kinda power beam from moonlight he's gathered. He caught me off guard when he started it, but my spooks took care of him and his big, meaty cuffs. Ha!"
I share his excitement and congratulate him. "Well, that's why you're the best."
My dad then squints his eyes at me. "You've gotta be kiddin' me. How are you so big now?"
"Well hitting a growth spurt was fun the last few times, so thought I'd do it again," I joke back and crack a smile.
My dad chuckles before stating, "Alright, Spook. You usually come cuz either you got a new flame, want fighting tips, or something else incredibly important. Whatcha got?"
"Dad. I'm going to UA."
"UA?" He whistles. "Going for the big leagues, huh?"
"Yes, sir. I'm gonna be a pro hero even with my quirk. Once I do, people will look at our quirks and others and think of what good they can do. No one will be judged for their quirk ever again!"
"Man. Quite the goal there. What about villains?"
I feel like he's testing me here. "Dad, it's not the quirk that makes a villain. It's what they do."
"I raised you right. I'm so proud of me." We slightly chuckle at his self acknowledgment. "But UA, man. You got some work to do."
"I agree. Entry exams are tomorrow, and I'm getting practice in with Tojuta and Mom whenever I can."
"Ah yeah. The porcupine kid. Think you're gonna save more people like you did him?"
"I absolutely know it."
"Well I'm right behind you one hundred percent. Remember, you're not alone. Go beyond!"
"And then some!" I make a joke out of UA's school motto.
"Plus Ultra, Yurei!"
"I know. Just joking." I sigh. "Well, I gotta scoot." I stand up, ready to leave. "Mom loves and misses you."
"And me too. Except, you know, her."
I laugh at his tripped up words before flashing a thumbs up and exiting the room. "Love you!" The guard in the room shows me out the prison, and I make my way home. With Dad's words of encouragement, I become more confident to become a hero.
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The day of entry exams finally comes. I stand outside on a pathway up to a large building. Cherry blossoms flank the pathway all the way down, and many more students are walking to the school as well. Already starting to feel nervous, I throw on my jacket hood and shove my hands in my pockets. As I do, I feel my phone buzz and I glance down at the lock screen. Tojuta says he'll be a little late and that I should go ahead without him. I take in a long breath before slowly letting it out. Prepared, I begin my walk.
On the way there, I glance at my sides, taking in what sort of sights I'll be seeing in the future. I don't pick up much as what I'm mostly just staring at is the back of peoples' heads. I do see some faces though. A messy haired kid trips on his own foot and nearly face plants into the concrete if it wasn't for a girl a little shorter than him, who touched his shoulder and made him suddenly float slightly over the pavement. I look at my other side. A group of boys are chatting under a tree before they go in. Hang on, does that guy have a bird head? Eh.
Finally, I arrive in the building and follow the flashy signs to the auditorium. I trudge trough the aisles of chairs until coming to a row on the far left section and find my assigned seat. I bring down the theater chair down and plop my butt down.
The room is absolutely huge and loud from the many, many other students in there. Trying to mind my own business, I pull out my phone and begin staring at Tojuta's contact, waiting for him expectantly back out and miss the exam.
"ARE WE GONNA ACE THIS!?!" A girl with brown and green hair in front of me suddenly twirls on her knees on her chair and excitedly yells. Completely surprised at this, I look up from under my hood and at the cheery girl.
"Huh?" Why is she talking to me? I don't know her. Why me and not the other thousand of people around her?
"YOU WANNA BE STRONG, YEAH??"
I make sure she's looking at me specifically by glancing to the side. "Uh.. I guess..."
"THEN NO WONDER YOU'RE GOIN' FOR THE BIG LEAGUES! YOU WANNA BE STRONG, AND TO DO THAT YOU GOTTA TAKE U.A., AND TO DO THAT, YOU NEED TO ACE THIS TEST!! SO ARE YOU GONNA!?!"
I jump back a bit from her and nervously stare at her. "Sure. Yeah."
"THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR!!" She then stands on her seat and throws her arms in the air. "GO UA! WOOOOOOO!!"
While she's showing off her enthusiasm, I notice that her forearms are wrapped up in some kind of loose straps. They both look like scarves, but they must be attached to her shoulders as they come out the neck of her shirt and to their perch on her arms. A mutation quirk? Not likely. I guess I need to see what those things can do first.
"Yo, you with the straps!" Another kid calls from behind me. "Shut it, will ya?"
I turn behind me to see a boy two rows back with spiky, jet black hair. His fangs look ready to take a bite out of anything. I pretty serious one, definitely.
"Aren't you excited, man?" she calls back, ignoring the boys demand.
"Just zip it! Talking about being a hero, what kind of hero can't take things seriously?"
Seeing I'm in the crossfire of their bickering, I try to yank my hood further down over my face and return my attention back to my phone.
"I-.. uh.. am I interrupting something?"
I look up to my right in surprise to see Tojuta nervously walk up to me and sit down beside me.
"Hey. No not really. Honestly, I expected you to turn tail at the last moment."
"I actually nearly did. The good thing is I haven't run into Riyaki yet."
"I guess that's good."
"Ugh. For real?" Someone groans from my left.
Recognizing the voice, I look to my left as Tojuta quiveringly takes his seat on my right. "Speak of the devil." Sicuto stands next to me, angrily glaring down at us.
"I know we're supposed to sit with our previous classmates, but it's ridiculous the only one left is with you two."
"Can't say I'm happy to sit next to you either, Riyaki, but nice to see you, too I guess." He rolls his eyes and slumps down in his seat. I notice Tojuta scoot a bit away from him out of the corner of my eye.
After a few more minutes, the lights in the auditorium dim, and the stage lights brighten. A man with a stereo system around his neck, shades, and an insanely tall hairdo walks up on stage. He looks like a straight up DJ.
"WHAT'S UP CANDIDATES!?!" He practically screams. His voice is so loud, someone's ears could bleed just from taking in that kind of noise for so long. That must be part of his quirk, hence the stereo system around his neck. At the same time, it makes sense that he has no need for a microphone. "THANKS FOR TUNING INTO ME, YOUR SCHOOOOL DJ!! C'MON AND LEMME HEAR YA!!!!"
Utter silence falls across the room of students. I smirk a bit then watch as the girl in front of me stands, throws her arms in the air, and cheers as loud as her voice'll let her.
"I LIKE YOU, STRAPS!! WHO ISN'T EXCITED TO BE AT THE BEST SCHOOL EVA?!?"
The DJ up front introduces himself as Present Mic. Mic: a fitting hero name for a guy with a voice quirk like his.
"SEEING AS WE HAVE NO OTHER ADDITIONS, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW THIS PRACTICAL EXAM IS GONNA GO DOWN, OKAY?! ARE YOU READYYYY?!?"
Dead silence once again falls over the crowd. Ignoring the lack of reaction, Present Mic continues to discuss how the exam will work. "LIKE YOUR APPLICATION SAYS, YOU ROCKIN' BOYS AND GIRLS WILL BE OUT CONTESTING TWO MINUTE MOCK BATTLES IN SUPER HIP URBAN CITIES!! AFTER I DROP THE MIC HERE, YOU'LL ALL BE SENT OFF TO YOUR DESIGNATED ARENAS, SOUND GOOD?!"
Silence...
"OKAY?!?" You can tell the guy is getting tired of not being answered like he would be in a live concert.
Tojuta glances down at his school guest ID. He then glances at mine. "Uh.. Yurei?"
"Hm?" I slowly look at him, and he shows me his card. He'll be in battle zone A. I compare mine with his and notice I'll be in battle zone C. I slide my eyes over to Sicuto's card that he's blankly staring at. He'll be in battle zone B.
"We'll be split up??" Tojuta confirms.
"Guess so. I suppose it only makes sense. It'd prevent any students from helping their friends."
Tojuta sheepishly groans as Present Mic continues on with the rules. Three types of robots to kill, no attacking other candidates, etcetera etcetera. Pretty much the rules everyone would expect.
Robots, huh? Shouldn't be a problem, for me or Tojuta.
Things take an unexpected turn when a tall, blue-haired boy raises a stiff hand from somewhere in the middle section.
"Excuse me, I have a question," he announces to the DJ.
"HIT MEH!!"
"On the printout, you've listed four villains, not three." To prove his point, he holds up a piece of paper showing four mechanical silhouettes. "With all respect, if this is an error on official UA material, it is shameful! We are exemplary students. A mistake such as this won't do!" He turns and points an accusing finger at a boy a couple rows behind him. "Additionally, you with the unkempt hair. You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that. If you can't take this seriously, leave! You're distracting the rest of us."
The nervous boy quickly covers his mouth and mutters out an apology. Big oof. I know no one would want to be put on the spot like that.
Present Mic continues by explaining that the fourth robots are just obstacles one should probably avoid. There are no points awarded for taking them down, so there's basically no point.
Once the orientation finishes, we all head from there to the changing rooms. There's no way I'm fighting in a business suit, so I just take it and my jacket off and put on gym pants, a white t-shirt, and my purple jacket. From there, I wish Tojuta luck and make my way to the replicated city. I stand outside the enormous doors, being my usual antisocial self. To give me something to think about, I pull my hand out from my crossed arms and stare at a summoned flame. Never alone...
"Hey hey hey! How lucky are we!!"
Oh no...
"What are the odds we're in the same arena?" The green-haired strap girl from earlier skips up to me and throws an arm over my shoulder. As she does, I return my hand under my arm. "Now I get to see how strong you are!"
I try to get her to leave me alone. "So you're here to criticize?"
"Pfft! No, silly! You just look so lonesome, but you know how it goes! The lone wolf training in the mountains is the toughest of the pack!"
"What??" Where did that come from? Feeling incredibly uncomfortable with this, I summon a couple flames around myself, allowing me to phase. This causes the peppy girl to stumble right through me and to the ground. After grunting at the unexpected pain, she stands and brushes herself off. "Look. I'm not really a touchy-feely person, so personal space? Please?"
"Oh! Right!" The girl sidesteps once away from me.
I look around the many kids among us. There's quite a lot. About a couple dozen or so. Looks like we have the kid the girl was fighting with earlier, some guy who looks like he hasn't slept in weeks, a midget with a lisp,.. uhhh.. that girl has her tongue sticking out,.. and.. hey, look: the bird.
The green-haired girl must've seen I was looking over the competition, because she asks, "You scared they're gonna do good?"
"Not really."
"It's fine if you do. No matter what quirks we're facing against." She throws her arm over my shoulder again. "You're gonna do fine!"
My eyes glow yellow again. What did I just tell this chick? "Are you serious?" I glare at her in annoyance.
"Yeah!" She must've thought I was asking about what she just said, because she examines my face and tells I'm not happy. She glances at her arm around me. "Oh! Sorry!" She nervously giggles and sidesteps twice away from me.
My yellow subsides as a take a deep breath. "That is a good distance right there!" I demand. "Stay at least that far away from me!"
"Got it!" She nods, still happy. "Good luck!"
"The doors are opening!" A kid calls from the front of the group. I return my attention to the door and watch it slowly slide open. What?! You'd think that there'd be a warning or a buzzer from the actual staff.
"REAL BATTLES DON'T HAVE COUNTDOWNS!!" Present Mic calls from his observance area. He seems to answer my curiosity, and I ready myself. This is it.
"I'M SO NERVOUS!!!" The straps girl excitedly yells and tries to grab me to contain her enthusiasm. Instead, I raise my hand up to my side to hit her trembling hands away. She seems to have somehow teleported to my side as I hadn't noticed her next to me at an uncomfortable distance once again. Sheesh! She needs to chill!
The doors open just wide enough for students to start flooding in. I follow through before heading off on my own to find a robot area to myself.