Chapter Text
“I could’ve gotten you in on a recommendation, you know.” Your dad frets as he adjusts your jacket collar for the umpteenth time.
You sigh at him. “I’ve told you, I don’t want to draw attention. I’m going to be fine, without a recommendation.” You gently remove his hands and hold them in your own. Today is the day of the entrance exam and your father is all kinds of nervous. “I have to go meet Izuku!”
“Alright!” Your father holds up his hands in defeat. “Go knock ‘em dead kiddo.”
You call over your shoulder as you go out the front door, “You got it! I’ll call you after the exam is over!”
In the silence that ensues, Masao sighs. He really did wish that you had let him turn in that recommendation. “Whether you want it or not, you’re going to be noticed with a quirk like yours.”
“Where is he?” You’ve been waiting at the gate of U.A. for 15 minutes now, and there’s still no sign of your freckled friend. “I’ll try calling him…” You dial Izuku’s number and wait. Honestly… him being late to stuff isn’t new. For the past year, it has been hard to make plans with him. His excuses are always super-lame too. You hope that if you both got into U.A., he would start hanging out with you more.
“H-hello?”
“Midoriya! I’ve been waiting for 15 minutes! Do you plan on being late to the entrance exam?!” You practically shout into your phone, earning a couple of stares from passing fellow applicants.
“I’m sorry!” Izuku wails on the other end. “I-I uh overslept! I’m running there as fast as I can!”
“You’d better get here within the next 10 seconds or I’ll-!”
“I’M HERE!” He rounds the corner, skidding to a stop right in front of you. You shove your phone into your pocket.
“What have you been doing?! You’re practically sweating buckets!”
“I had to shower when I got up this morning! So, I'm still drying…”
“In this chill?! Let’s get you inside before you catch a cold!” You chivy him into moving once more. Admonishing him even more for his tardiness. “Really! One day you’re going to worry me to death! Or you’ll die from contracting a completely preventable disease! Geez!”
“I know! You’re right, you’re right.” He agrees placidly in an attempt to placate you. However, you would not be placated. You keep up a stream of concerned chastising. Unbeknownst to you, you sound just like Izuku’s mother that morning.
“Fuck off, Deku.” You both jump in surprise at the familiar gruff voice. “Don’t get in my way unless you wanna fuckin die.”
“Hiiii th-there! Good morning! Let’s all do our best! Ok?” Izuku’s voice gets a bit high pitched as he hurries to greet Katsuki. You sigh, watching as the blond-haired boy passes you with only a glance given in your direction. You give Izuku a pat on the back and go to follow the other boy.
“Morning.” You step right in line with your blond friend, not looking at him. It’s as if you just saw him yesterday.
“Whatever.”
“Such spirit! You always surprise me Katsuki.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
“Eh, not in public. I’m not into that.”
“I swear to fucking God, I’ll fucking fry you!”
“Noted. Not the best idea before the entrance exam, though.” You change the subject, “What do you think they’ll throw at us for the practical exam? Dad said they had to collect points when he was a student. Didn’t tell me how.” Katsuki grunts in response. Well, he could be ignoring me I guess. Better than nothing.
Eventually, you make your way inside, separating from Katsuki and taking a seat among the other applicants. The lecture hall is enormous and barely has enough seats to fit all the applicants. Your assigned seat is next to a boy with messy purple hair. “Good morning.” You say to him with a smile. It’s never too soon to meet new people.
“Morning.” He replies with a monotone, nodding to you.
Before you can say anything else, the light dimmed and a voice started speaking, “What up U.A. candidates?!” A man with pointy blond hair rose up from the stage. You recognize him as Present Mic. “Thanks for tuning into me, your school D.J.! Come on and let me hear ya!” The exuberant DJ is met by deafening silence. You feel bad for him. “Keeping it mellow huh? That’s fine! I’ll skip straight to the main show. Let’s talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, ok? ARE YOU READYYY?” Again, silence meets his declaration. That poor guy. He begins to explain all the ins and outs of the practical exam. Where you would be, how to get points and not to attack other people.
“...This is a completely physical exam.” You mutter to the boy beside you, “There are going to be people without offensive based quirks… Didn’t they account for that?”
“Apparently not.”
“Excuse me!” A voice declares out of the darkness, “I have a question!” The announcer allows him to ask his question. A spotlight shines on the boy in question, he’s two rows back from you and he wears glasses. “On the printout, you’ve listed four types of villains, not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials, it is shameful.” He goes on for a bit longer, prattling on about regulations and expectations. What a tool...
“...what planet is this guy from?” You whisper a bit too loudly, and the people around you snicker.
“Additionally, you with the unkempt hair and you, the girl with the scarf!” You turn around to see he’s addressed both you and Izuku, “You’ve both been muttering this entire time! Stop that! If you can’t take this seriously, leave. You’re distracting the rest of us!”
“Looks like I upset the alien.” You mutter, loud enough so the people around you can hear you. There are titters from the crowd from the admonishment and the jibe.
“Alright!” Present Mic brings the attention back to himself and explains. The villain in question is to be avoided and is with no points. The presentation ends soon after and the students are released to go to their proper testing locations. After changing into your sweats, you say goodbye to Izuku and Katsuki respectively and board the bus that’ll take you to testing location ‘G’.
The only sounds on the bus are of people occasionally shifting in their seats, and the rumbling of the engine. It seems like no one knows anyone else and it shows. Your right leg is bouncing up and down with anxiousness. You keep repeating the fundamentals that Dad drilled into your head over the past 2 years. “Visualization is everything, if you can see it, you can create a barrier around it. If possible, fight at a distance because that’s where your power excels. Make a plan and stick to it. Don't hesitate. Don’t overuse your quirk if possible. Don’t show off, drawing attention to yourself is the best way to pick a fight you don’t want to be in.” You jolt out of your musing as the bus stops. One by one, the applicants file out of the bus. You face the huge gates of the testing zone. Over the wall, you see the skeletons of tall buildings, giant machinery, pipes and not much else. “Gonna have to make my way up if I want to see anything.” You mutter. Thankfully you brought your gloves, climbing without them would’ve been a bitch… You’re standing at the back of the crowd, rolling your neck to get the stiffness out of it.
“AAAAND START!” You jump in surprise as the gates of the testing area swing open. Without hesitation, you weave in and out of your fellow candidates, some of them haven’t even started moving yet. You’re among the first to enter the arena, you branch off from the pod of people, down a side street and immediately come face to face with half a dozen robots. “Hello there…” In all, they’re worth 6 points. “Not a bad way to start at all!” You declare as you reach out your hands and create a circular barrier around the bots. You ball your hands into fists and your barrier shrinks alarmingly in size, crushing them into each other and the concrete below. “Looks like it’s the scrap heap for you.” You release the barrier and the hunk of what used to be robots falls to the ground with a dull thud. You make a turn and find yourself down a wide street; more robots have appeared from side alleyways now as have the other competitors. A boy with red hair charges one of the robots and creates a messy hole through its head with his forearm. A trio of larger robots come around a corner, all worth three points. You see the red-haired boy spin on his heel, running over to the new arrivals. “Oh, like hell…” You outstretch your hand and encase the machines in a barrier and lift them off the ground. Some of the people around you have paused to watch as the bots as they fly into the air (your head starts throbbing with the effort). Once at a sufficient height, you flick your hand to bring them crashing back to earth, it’s easier to bring things down than up. You feel the ground reverberate with the force of the impact as you run to find more points. You don’t bother to count how many points you rack up as time goes by. “Just focus on destroying the ones you can. Your results will involve more than just points.”
Without warning, a huge blast of air sends you skidding backward. A scream is torn from your throat as you slam into a crate, at the last moment catching yourself with your quirk to stop from smacking into the steel beams beyond. You look up to see a robot, larger than any surrounding machinery or buildings, cocking its other arm back to throw another devastating punch. Your jaw drops as you scramble to your feet, adrenaline kicking in and making you faster. You throw yourself in the opposite direction, yelling at the people around you to move. Gesturing wildly to the monster of machinery behind you. “RUN!” You turn to look back and see it throw another blow; the maze of I-beams and pipes above you rattle and some come loose. “SHIT!” You stop running to raise your hands in a desperate attempt to keep them from the group of fleeing candidates (including yourself). But you’re trying to cover too much ground with an unfocused mind and there are holes in the barrier. Several large metal pipes fall through and two hit you, landing directly on your left shoulder and the small of your back. You feel a hot burst of pain, losing your balance and falling painfully to the ground. “Shit. Shit. Shiiiiiit!” You hiss curses through clenched teeth as you try to rise. You could feel that something is wrong with your shoulder. A burning and swelling sensation are gathering there. It’s hard to move without jostling it, getting another jolt of pain shooting through your arm and shoulder. Your eyes are also impaired somehow, everything is getting darker.
“THE TEST IS OOOOVVVVVEEEERRRR!”
“Wha?” You try to lift your head, but the effort is beyond you. You blink rapidly, trying to get rid of darkness creeping into your vision.
“Hey! This girl is in serious trouble! Her shoulder is all messed up!”
“Isn’t she the girl who made that shield above our heads?”
“Someone call a teacher!”
And at that moment, the world went dark.