Chapter Text
Endosymbiosis
Start Line
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It's a beautiful day and I can't stop myself from smilin'
If we're drinkin', then I'm buyin'
And I know there's no denyin'
It's a beautiful day, the sun is up, the music's playin'
And even if it started rainin'
You won't hear this boy complainin'
The upbeat tune pulsed into Shosei's ears, begging her to bounce with it, which she would have had she not currently been walking in public amongst dozens of fellow students, so instead she settled with tapping her fingers to the rhythm. The song was only made better by the fact that it was a beautiful day, not just because the weather was great, if a bit brisk, but because it was finally the day for U.A.'s Entrance Exam.
Shosei had studied hard for the written portion and done as much physical activity as possible for the practical since she'd received the letter stating she had been chosen to participate ten months earlier. She was still nervous for multiple reasons, but she felt relatively prepared. Though, nothing had quite readied her for seeing U.A in person. Its size was astonishing. Did they really use all this space?
As she wove between a few people and passed through the doorway of the building, Shosei pulled her headphones off her head and let them drape around her neck. The hand not tapping to the music, was tucked into her jacket pocket gripping her phone, where it tapped the pause button. She waited briefly in the line indicating her section of surname starting letters to reach the check-in table.
Upon arrival she handed the woman at the table her temporary pass ID. "Shigeyo Shosei," she introduced before being asked.
The dark-haired women flipped a few pages before uttering, "Ah, there you are!" Having successfully checked the girl on the list, she began filing through a rolodex. "Welcome to U.A., we're glad you could make it!" She smiled broadly, handing Shosei the card she'd pulled out along with her ID. "Here's your information and identification card." As Shosei took them, she added. "If you have any questions, there are multiple U.A. student volunteers in the hallways, you can recognize them by their uniforms."
"Sure, thanks," Shosei murmured, looking down at her new info card.
"Next!" she heard the women call just as she pulled her headphones back on, telling them to play music a moment later.
"All right," she thought, "examinee number three-one-four-one and I need to find classroom 3-A. Can't be too hard."
Knowing that the three in her info would mean she was in a third-year classroom, Shosei exited the building again, figuring it would be easier to go through the third-year entrance than try to find it from the inside. Leaving from the door with the big one and moving to the door with the large three. From there she traversed through the hallways and up some stairs to the classroom floors. She was so distracted staring up at the ceiling to read the signs – Why are they that high? – that she never noticed the other figure coming around the corner until they nearly collided. The other person she'd almost bumped into quickly shifted out of her way, hands going up like they intended to grab her shoulders, but never followed through with the action.
She meanwhile, jerked back, her right foot settling behind her, solidifying her stance. The hand in her pocket twitched, clenching against her phone.
Shosei pulled her headphones off. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, noticing the tall, muscular man wore a U.A. uniform. His hair was blond and mostly slicked back with the exception of some that was swept upwards on the top of his head.
He laughed loudly, blue eyes sparkling. "No problem! Sorry I startled you!" At his energetic response, Shosei relaxed her body and posture. "Here for the exam?" He asked despite the fact that he obviously already knew the answer to that.
"Yeah," Shosei nodded anyway.
"Need help finding your examination room?"
"I think I've got it." She jerked her free thumb over her shoulder at the previous classroom numbers. "According to those, three-A should be around the corner, right?"
At her words, the young man somehow brightened even more. "Yeah! That'll be my classroom next year! I'll also be proctoring the test in there today! How exciting!" His hands clenched and he pumped his arms up and down.
"Uh, yeah," she agreed warily. "Hey, uh, they said we could ask you guys any question if we needed, yeah?"
He suddenly straightened back up, stopping his arm pumping. "Yes, they did. Fire away!"
"What's the practical exam going to be like?"
He blinked a few times before he threw his head back, hands on his waist, and laughed boisterously. "Nice try! But even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
Shosei shrugged, not surprised. "Worth a shot, she had said any question."
"True! At U.A. you should always be aware of a teacher's phrasing. Creative thinking is always rewarded here!"
"Er, right."
"Anyway! I need to get the tests; I'll see you in there!" He quickly marched past her, calling over his shoulder with a vigorous wave. "Good luck!" Shosei had barely half-heartedly raised her arm to return the gesture before he was gone.
Still slightly overwhelmed, Shosei found the classroom she was looking for and entered. There were a few other students, leaving a fair number of seats to choose from, so she selected one on the far side of the room in the second row. Settled in, Shosei closed her eyes as she pulled her headphones back over her ears and began listening to her music to help settle her nerves.
I know you're dying to meet me
But I can just tell you this
Baby, as soon as you meet me
You'll wish that you never did
As time passed, even with her eyes closed and headphones on, she could still feel that the room had grown fuller and busier as other students entered and picked seats for themselves.
It was sometime later, her left hand still shoved in her pocket and wrapped around her phone, when she felt the little machine go off in a series of buzzes. She pulled it out to stop the alarm she'd set as a warning for the test's start.
She opened her eyes to spot one last person darting into the room and claiming the last seat as she put her headphones away and tucked her phone back in her pocket. One minute later, exactly five minutes before the hour, the door slid open and the guy, she'd sort of met earlier, entered. Tucked under one arm was a thick folder likely filled with the testing booklets.
"I'm Togata Mirio." He introduced as he began handing out booklets and pencils to be passed back. "I'll be proctoring the written portion of the test for you all." Togata, she now knew, circled back to the front podium. "All right everyone!" He called loudly, just as Shosei was taking her share and passing the extras back. "This test is gonna go…?"
"Awful," Shosei muttered sarcastically after a moment of silence to his attempted call and response. She didn't realize he'd heard until her burst out laughing a moment later.
"I was looking for awesome, but that works too!" He looked about the room. "Everyone have their booklet, pencils and response sheet? Okay, good! You have sixty minutes for this portion of the exam." He twisted around, looking at the clock on the wall over the blackboard. "And –" he dragged the word out for a good ten seconds as he waited for the second hand to hit the twelve, however he ran out of breath before he got there, but the instant it hit, "Begin!"
Shosei tore off the little perforated tabs meant to prove the booklets hadn't been tampered with and flipped to the first page.
The U.A. exam's topics ranged from mathematics to reading comprehension to English to sciences, along with a few other topics. It would last a little under five hours, not all topics took an hour, plus a fifteen-minute break halfway through.
She'd applied to U.A. on a dare from her not-so-friends in her middle school, not actually expecting to be selected. Sure, a lot of people applied, but the number chosen to take the test was drastically reduced from there. While, she was in the top end of her school, she was only so high-ranked just to experience the joy of having prevented someone else from being in the top ten, not that that was overly impressive, her school wasn't known for the productive populace it produced.
Not only that, but she was sure they'd see her address listed and assume she was another soon-to-be thug for stopping. She didn't live in the nicest of neighborhoods. Well, yes, it was 'nice' in the sense of it wasn't a slum and most of the people were actually decently rich, but it was well-known that the whole area she lived in was founded by Yakuza descendants, such as her foster parents.
She wasn't, or so Shosei assumed, she'd been adopted when she was around five, soon after she'd developed her Quirk. It had been a dismaying realization for her happy, little orphan heart when she'd made the connection. Her foster parents regularly adopted children with 'interesting´ Quirks. She wasn't anything else to them and her regular acts of rebellion, varying from hair dying to piercings to not coming home at night, had only reinforced that truth. Even the obnoxious timing of drum playing had only resulted in pissed off foster siblings.
But now that the dare had unexpectedly panned out, there was an undeniable light she could feel herself being pulled towards. A chance for something better. One she'd take with both hands and refuse to let go.
"And that's time!" Togata called out for the last time. "Congratulations on finishing, examinees! Please pass your booklets and answer sheets forward. The pencils are yours to keep!" He gave the class a thumbs up at that news. They weren't special in any way other than being blue and having the name of the school stamped on them in gold.
Relieved conversation broke out and Shosei raised her arms, giving her shoulders a good stretch as she turned around prepared for the incoming stack of papers. Once she passed them forward, she deposited her two, apparently collectable, pencils in her backpack and dug out her headphones, which she immediately hung around her neck.
"Think you did well?" A voice nearby asked. A hand waved at her a moment later, catching her attention from her bag.
"Huh? Oh," she hadn't realized the guy in the front seat was talking to her. "Uh, yeah. Hopefully. I mean, none of it felt too difficult, which either means I did well or am too stupid to realize I was getting them all wrong."
The dark blond-haired boy laughed. "Yeah, no kidding. I thought for sure it would somehow be worse, since it's U.A. and all. Any predictions for the practical?"
Shosei shrugged. "Figured something Quirk related, but otherwise, I haven't the foggiest."
"All right, my favorite students!" Togata interrupted all the conversations. "Thanks for all your hard work! You guys have been assigned Auditorium B for the Practical Exam Orientation. It's located in the first-year's wing. Good luck! Plus Ultra!" He launched his fist into the air at the motto.
His words encouraged a few some poor imitations of his excited call, but no one felt fully up to it. Shosei hauled her bag onto her back and got ready to head out. The dark blond-haired boy did the same, catching up and joining her on her right.
"Good luck!" Togata said to them as they passed, then looked directly, and somewhat unnervingly, into her eyes. "I hope to see you in the coming year!"
"Thanks…" she replied somewhat questioningly.
The boy next to her laughed and once they exited the room said, "You know that guy?"
"No, I doubt U.A. would let that happen. I just, almost literally, ran into him in the hallway before the exam."
"Aah," he breathed out. "Oh, I'm Asano Mitsuaki." He held out his hand.
"Shigeyo Shosei." She took his and they shook.
"Nice to meet you," he grinned blindingly and Shosei had to blink. It had actually felt briefly like looking at the sun. "I'm betting the practical is gonna somehow be graded use of our Quirks, huh?"
"Probably," she agreed politely. It was pretty obvious that it would somehow have to be a Quirk test, after all this was a school that made heroes. If your Quirk was useless for that, they'd want to know right away.
Asano continued chatting away at her, pausing with her long enough for her to buy a drink from a vending machine they were passing. She punched two buttons at once but was only rewarded with one box.
Once they arrived there was another student volunteer by the door repeating directions endlessly. "Please enter in an orderly manner and find your assigned seating, ordered by examinee number. You'll find it on the examination card your received upon check-in. The seats are arranged from low to high going towards the front."
She and Asano fished out their hand-sized cards from their pockets. "Aw, man," Asano moaned looking over her shoulder. "Looks like we're not sitting together."
"Or in the same practical location, given that there." She pointed out.
"Probably for the best. It's got to be a competition of some kind."
"Most likely," she agreed as they passed through the doors. It was a huge auditorium; the largest Shosei had ever seen in her life, not that she went around comparing auditoriums, but still. The size was bordering on ridiculous and the volume of the mostly full room was just shy of uncomfortable. "I'm on the right." She briefly gestured in the direction with her thumb.
"Left," Asano pointed, turning a bit. "See you later! We're gonna rock this!" He pumped a fist.
"Sure," she said as they parted ways.
Reading the numbered placards, Shosei made her way to the far-right set of seats and down a few rows. At each spot she noticed a piece of paper that everyone seemed to be looking at and talking about with their neighbor. A pristine, untouched piece awaited her on the table before her seat.
Dropping her bag on the floor, she sat and flipped the paper over.
"Bullocks."
Dropping her elbow on the desk, she rested her cheek in her hand. The shadowed robot images stared back mockingly.
"What a bunch of crap!" she snapped, giving the day-crushing paper a hard shove away. She didn't mean it to, but it caught air as she propelled it forward, sending it flipping aerially a few times before it smacked into a blond boy's head a few rows down.
He jerked and whipped around, blue eyes scanning for his assailant. "Who threw that?" Shosei stared, maintaining her bored and aloof visage. Like hell she was copping to it. He probably would have continued searching if at that moment the lights hadn't gone abruptly out, plunging the room into semi-darkness.
The boy sat down, giving up his hunt in favor of getting ready for the orientation's start. However, another boy with wild hair in the row before her and diagonally to her left, turned his head slightly, catching her eyes momentarily before retuning forward once more.
With loud industrial pops, three large screens and lights flared to life in the front, illuminating a single person now on stage in the front of the room, posed like it was the start of a rock concert.
"What's up U.A. candidates? Thanks for tuning in to your school DJ! Let's hear ya!"
"Great," she grumbled, "another overly-energetic freak." She pulled her headphones over her ears, tuning completely out as she played her music. It didn't matter what the instructions were, she couldn't pass. Her Quirk was useless against robots.
Still miserable, Shosei followed everyone out of the auditorium, joining a herd of girls as they moved to the locker rooms. Despondently, she changed into the exercise clothes she'd brought along and shuffled herself to the correct bus that would take her to the battle ground she'd been assigned. Picking an open pair of seats near the back, she relaxed into the cushion, closing her eyes as her music pulsed a soothing tune. She felt the seat shift as someone joined her, but Shosei didn't bother looking.
Take me high and I'll sing
you make everything okay
We are one in the same
you take all of the pain away
Save me if I become
My demons
Through the bus ride, she maintained her position, even after it had stopped, Shosei stayed seated, allowing her seatmate, along with everyone else, to leave before her. It had taken the whole ride, but she felt better from her earlier upset. Letting out a breath, Shosei stood and exited, pulling off her headphones as she joined the gathered crowd.
"You're the girl that caused the commotion before Orientation."
Shosei shifted, spotting the guy who spoke. Approaching her, hands shoved in his pockets, was wild-haired boy from the auditorium. He was a few inches taller than her and now that there was light, she could see his hair was a purple color a few shades lighter than his eyes.
"And you're the guy who figured out it was me. If it counts, I didn't mean to," she added with a shrug.
He settled into a spot next to her. "Given your earlier outcry, your Quirk must be no good for the exam?"
"Yeah. Given your posture, you're the same."
"Yeah," his shoulders hunched for a moment, before rolling them back and straightening up.
"Sucks."
The boy nodded. "I worried that might be the case, so I applied to General Studies as well."
"Me too, actually. Glad I'm not the only one who doubted their ability to pass the Practical." The conversation was growing more interesting by the second. "What's your Quirk?" she asked, fully turning to face him.
He reached up to rub at his neck. "Brainwashing. I can take control of a person after they answer a question I ask."
"Couldn't you just," Shosei waved her hand vaguely around at the gathered crowd, "take control of someone here and have them get the points for you?"
The boy stared at her for a moment, slightly tilting his head. "Weren't you paying attention in Orientation? Attacking fellow examinees will get you disqualified."
"Ah," Shosei breathed out, glancing upwards at the sky for a second. "No, I wasn't. I can see the cause for concern there."
"What about you? What does your Quirk do?"
"Culture," she stated, crossing her arms. "My body stores and cultures microorganisms, such as bacteria, that I can pass on through touch."
"That's a –"
"If you say 'good Quirk for a villain,' I'm going to punch you in the solar plexus. No attacking each other be damned."
A small smile grew on the guy's face, amusement entering his eyes. "I was going to say, a fascinating ability. The applications of your Quirk are nearly limitless."
"Eh," Shosei shrugged her shoulders. "I have to catch it first. But I'm sure brainwashing has it's uses. I mean, you can walk up to a villain, ask him what he's doing, and when he answers, it'll be sitting on the sidewalk waiting for the police to show. And you don't have to touch them. Who knows where they've been?" She shuddered for emphasis.
"Do germs even affect you?"
"Not for as long, but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I need a shower."
The guy grinned even more, finally seeming to have thawed completely. "I'm Shinso Hitoshi," he introduced and held out his hand.
"Shigeyo Shosei. You sure you want to do that?" she nodded towards his extended hand.
"I'm not concerned," he replied, proffering his arm even more, to which Shosei grinned and took his hand in hers.
"Begin!" A shout echoed out over them all, causing them to drop their grip as everyone turned to stare at the distant observation tower. "Go! Go! Go! A real battle waits for no one!"
The crowd of people took off like a herd of startled antelope, stampeding for the faux city while she and Shinso watched.
"Well," Shosei began, "we can stay out here and be bored or go in and watch."
"While unable to defend ourselves?"
"I'm sure someone in there would help," she nodded her head towards the open gates. "But if you want to stay, do so. I'm going to go watch." Shosei trotted off, entering the city, a second later she heard footsteps join her from behind.
Hunks of metal already littered the streets, smoking and smoldering from the many Quirks that had blasted them apart. Echoing down the streets were explosions and battle cries as the fight raged everywhere. At the end of the road someone punched a robot so hard it flew into a building, breaking both under the force of the hit. The attacker ran off soon after making sure the villain bot was down.
"Hm," Shosei hummed, nudging a chunk of green metal with her foot. "This isn't as exciting as I thought it would be." She confessed to Shinso as he stepped past her, looking down another street.
"I suppose we can at least learn what U.A. expects from us as students, even if we can't fight."
"What, no taekwondo? Kung fu? Krav Maga?" She asked looking down a different intersecting road.
"Do you know Krav Maga?" he returned. Shosei only laughed in response; a bright red cross painted on a building catching her attention.
"Hey, look at that." She pointed it out.
"A medical station?"
"Yeah, think it's manned?" Without looking back, she took off at a jog toward the building.
"Why does it matter?" He maintained pace next to her.
"I'm curious." Stopping at the glass window, she shifted back and forth, looking through at different angles. "I don't see anything," she stated as she reached for the door. Shosei stumbled as it gave beneath her hard push, she hadn't expected it to be unlocked. Looking over her shoulder at Shinso, she shrugged and entered. He sighed, but followed after.
Inside was a decent sized waiting area, lined with chairs and decorated with colorful and overly-happy posters. Partitioning the back of the room was a service counter, equipped with a desk bell.
"Spooky," she voiced quietly.
Hands tucked into her pockets, Shosei crept forward, looking through the open-framed doorway that led into, from what she could see, an empty backroom. She pulled a hand out and dinged the bell twice, but everything remained silent. Or relatively silent as she could still hear the battle outside raging.
"Guess no one's here," Shosei said to Shinso, who was standing in the middle of the waiting area.
"Then let's go."
"One more thing," she hedged right before she hopped the counter.
"I imagine looting the buildings during the exam is frowned upon."
"First," Shosei held up a finger, "I'm not looting, I'm exploring. Second," another finger joined, "what else am I supposed to do?" Using her raised hand Shosei pulled a cabinet open, revealing fully supplied shelves of rolled gauze, adhesive tape, and compression bandages. Another was full of all kinds of disinfectant.
"Weird," she muttered, "why would they stock…" she trailed off, eyes widening.
"Creative thinking is always rewarded here!"
She whirled around on Shinso, startling the guy as she slammed her hands on the countertop. "I think we can still do this."
"What?"
"Why would U.A. waste the money to fill this place with medical equipment?" She whipped a few drawers open, exposing stainless steel scissors and scalpels, even suture kits. "Because some people might not be able to fight, but they can still help."
"I don't know how to –"
"You can stick a bandage on someone, right? Maybe if we show U.A. we're still willing to do what we can, they'll take that into consideration."
"I guess it can't hurt." Shinso looked down, scratching at the back of his neck briefly. "And, I suppose, it's what a hero would do." Shosei nodded firmly as he met her eyes. "So, what do we do?"
"It's unlikely these robots can hurt anyone too badly, right?" She pulled open a couple more drawers to familiarize herself with the contents, finding a first-aid bag in a lower cabinet. "Here," she tossed it to Shinso, then pulled one out for herself, slinging it over her head. "For any immediate needs, but otherwise I guess we go out find anyone hurt, drag 'em back here and patch 'em up. Give them a lolli," she added as the last drawer was packed with colorful candies. Which she grabbed a handful and shoved them in her jacket pocket.
"We've got like eight minutes left, let's do this!" Shosei tossed her legs over the desk, wincing and cursing as she kicked the bell, sending it clanging across the room. "Sorry."
"All right," Shinso agreed, crossing the strap of his bag over his chest as well.
The pair of makeshift medics left, jogging down street, heading for the loudest and closest commotion. They rounded a corner in time to see some dark-haired kid uppercut a robot so hard its head shot off.
"Hey!" Shosei shouted at him, causing him to turn, eyes wide. "Do you know if anyone is injured?" The boy's stance relaxed a bit at her words.
"Uh, yeah, actually." He pointed over his shoulder. "I think there was a guy over there, not too far. I dunno what happened, but he was bleeding."
"Thanks." The boy nodded, getting ready to sprint off again. "Hey," she called again, catching his attention. "Let people know we've set up a medical care station a block down this street. Big red cross, can't miss it!" She pointed the way she and Shinso had come.
"Sure thing!" he shot her a thumbs up, taking off to fight more faux villains.
Shinso and Shosei jogged away in the direction the guy had given them. It didn't take long to find the person he'd been talking about. A brown-haired boy was leaning against a building, clutching his head and groaning as blood ran down his face.
"You all right? Can you speak? What happened?"
"I was stupid," he grumbled, "I wasn't paying attention and took a blow from one of those dumb robots."
Shosei pulled his hand away from his head, inspecting the cut. Shinso was already pulling out disinfectant and gauze. "It doesn't look too bad. Head wounds like to bleed, but you're coherent and that's good." She took the proffered items from her partner, tilting the other boy's head back, she covered his eyes with her hand and poured some disinfectant on his wound before pressing gauze to it and adhering it to his skin with tape Shinso had already ripped off.
"You're pretty good at this," she told him with a smile.
"So are you."
"We play a little rough where I live." She spoke next to the guy she was tending. "How's that?"
"Better? I think?" he answered. "Thanks."
"Okay. Let's get you up and to the clinic, probably shouldn't leave you out here for a robo-villain to run over."
She grabbed one side, while Shinso helped him on the other. Happily, he seemed pretty stable on his feet. Another good sign he wasn't seriously hurt.
They made good time back and when they got there, there was a girl standing outside clutching at her arm.
"You take care of it, I got him," Shinso told her, to which she nodded and ran to the girl.
"Come inside," she called, pushing the door open with her back and gestured her in. She let the door swing shut and grabbed a cleansing wipe to clean her hands, not that she needed it, her body maintained a sterile state in the sense that she only passed on what she wanted to, but it'd look good to seem like she was running a clean shop, so to speak.
Once ready, she tended to the girl, barely noticing as Shinso helped sit the other guy in a chair. Just barely hearing a cry of, "Five minutes remaining!"
But what did surprise her was when she'd finished with the girl, there were even more people in the room, some seemed to be injured and they were patiently waiting for either her or Shinso to finish with their current patients. There were others, though, that seemed physically fine, but emotionally despairing. Perhaps they were either doing a lot worse on the exam than expected or just given it up as hopeless.
"Ah, wait a sec," she murmured to the new guy stepping up to her. She quickly cleaned her hands again, but this time she pulled her headphones from around her neck, reconfigured them and then set them and her phone down on the service counter. She hit play on the screen and let her music fill the air.
"All right," she approached the previous boy, "what's hurting you?"
Some distance away, watching on the many screens were the teachers of U.A., carefully observing the applicants.
"Well, well," a certain older woman commented, watching a particular screen where the two pretend medics were doing their best. Nothing serious had come through their door, and the boy was helping those who needed aid even less, but neither of them were doing a half bad job. "They're undoubtedly trying their best, aren't they?"
"How are they doing, Recovery Girl?" A metallic voice questioned her. Snipe's spurs clinked as he walked up next to her. "More good than harm, I hope."
"Oh yes," she agreed, "they're not doctors, but that girl definitely has a fair idea about what she's doing. She seems surprisingly well versed, in fact. Quite observant, as well."
"Well then, perhaps, we should give the participants in their Center something to think about?" he asked, flipping a panel open and pressing a large red button.
Back at the clinic, Shosei was cleansing her hands again, when the ground shook to a seismic degree. People shouted and cried out at the surprising tremor, which settled into a continuous rumbling and vibration of the earth.
"What the hell," she murmured, looking out the large window, spotting a mile-high dust cloud. She pulled out a drawer and grabbed a scalpel. It would be useless against these 'villains,' but she felt better with a blade of some kind in her hand. "I'll be back," she called to Shinso, who looked concerned about the level of her sanity as she stepped out the door.
She jogged down the road a little way, hearing more screaming and seeing people fleeing in all directions.
Shosei's eyes went wide as large green robot head emerged from the dust cloud, towering over the buildings around it. "Holy f…" It rounded a corner, clipping a building as it turned. This clipping, however, tore off half the top two floors of the building, sending chunks of concrete tumbling and causing another tremor through the earth.
"Less than two minutes left!" The announcer screamed; somehow louder than the noise the giant robot was making.
It wasn't much time, but it had turned down her street and given the direction of its beady, red eye ports was coming for the clinic, and that made two minutes seem like an eternity.
"What the hell is wrong with you people! You call yourselves teachers!" she screamed at the incoming bot.
"One needs will and conviction." A voice from time past spoke in her head.
Her hand tightened on the smooth metal of the scalpel.
"Analyze," she told herself.
If it had been a small bot, she might have been able to build up enough bacteria and jammed a wheel. That would have completely exhausted her, but it might've worked. This one was far too large for that. She needed something else.
Her brain churned rapidly, her eyes scanning over its metal body. A robot may not be human, but it still had weak points. Like any machine it was in possession of parts that made it move forward. Disabling those would stop its steady approach. Perhaps a hydraulic pump or tube, a crank belt for the wheels. Aim for that joint, just like breaking a leg.
Shosei, widened her stance, preparing for a jump.
Something, someone, shouted, diving out of a crossing alley into the exact spot she'd just been eyeing. Yelling at the top of his lungs, or screaming like a maniac some might call it, he pounded his way into the hip joint that connected the wheel arch to the body. Metal flew everywhere under the brutal beating and within moments the giant robot sagged suddenly to one side, its own weight snapping the axles inside, stopping its forward progression. The arms drooped and its red eye-lights flicked out.
With another insane scream, the guy burst out of the machine, scattering more metal everywhere. One piece flying straight for her, she dodged it enough to keep from being brained, but it still shaved her right shoulder as it passed and she hissed feeling the familiar burn of a cut opening.
"Oh, crap! Sorry man, you all right?" The guy cried, hauling himself out of the machine. As he jumped down and jogged towards her, and as his skin seemed to soften, Shosei recognized him as the dark-haired guy who'd pointed out the first injured person they'd handled.
Clutching her shoulder to stem the bleeding, it didn't feel too bad, Shosei twisted her fingers, twirling the scalpel in her hand so she could slide it up her sleeve and out of sight.
"Yeah," she answered, finally glancing at the wound. Blood had definitely spread, but it was luckily a very minor injury.
"You need help with that?"
"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll go back and fix it up."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, but, uh, thanks for taking care of that," she nodded towards the still robot.
The guy straightened, pulling back his shoulders. "Oh, yeah, sure. No problem! I saw it going for the clinic and thought what kind of manly hero would let a villain beat up a hospital, right? I knew all those hurt people were in there and I couldn't let that happen! Glad it worked out!"
"And that's it. Time's up!"
A wailing siren followed the announcer's words, signaling the end to anyone that, miraculously, hadn't heard him.
Shosei turned around and walked away. "You sure you're good?" the guy called after her.
"Peachy," she called back.
She had to wait for people to finish exiting the clinic before she could get back inside. The room now clear of everyone except Shinso.
"Do you need help?"
"I've got it, thanks. Just tell the bus to wait for me." He nodded, leaving her alone. In the background, her music continued to play.
Palms rise to the universe, as we moonshine and molly
Feel the warmth, we'll never die
We're like diamonds in the sky
You're a shooting star I see, a vision of ecstasy
The scalpel slid out of her sleeve and she flung it away. The point stabbing into the weeping red face of the level ten on the pain scale poster.
Huffing, she walked around the counter, pulling the zipper of her jacket down and carefully shedding it, allowing her to get a good look at the injury. Her first assessment had been good, it wasn't bad. A clean cut, which encouraged bleeding, but nothing serious.
Not worried about an infection, her immune system was superhuman after all, Shosei moved straight to the bandaging. Sticking some gauze on top to slow the bleeding, she wiped up what had run from off her skin before ripping open a large square adhesive bandage and then swore as Shinso leaned across the counter making her quickly slap the bandage on. She held her hand over it.
"All set?" He asked, watching as she shifted to put her back to him and pull the right half of her white and teal track jacket back on over her black tank.
"Almost." Shosei began picking up the littered trash that had been left.
"I doubt you have to clean."
"I was taught not to leave a mess."
Shinso nodded a little at her words, but didn't say anything else as he silently joined her. Between the two it didn't take long, but when he paused, Shosei caught him staring at the impaled crying face. She'd forgotten that.
"That's not your pain level, right?" he asked, seeming to skim over the fact that it was unnecessary violence on her behalf.
"No way, that's a ten for my looks."
He grinned, grabbing the scalpel and pulling it free. "Ten for overconfidence, maybe."
"Rude," Shosei laughed as Shinso tossed the tool into a disinfectant bath.
"Good enough?"
"Yeah, sure." Shosei stopped her music and rearranged her headphones so she could loop them over her neck again. "Good to go."
They walked back to the bus silently. Once on board, he joined her on the bench.
"Between the five-hour test and this, I think I'm going to sleep the rest of the day," she murmured, closing her eyes. "I'm feeling exhausted."
The bench in front of them rattled hard as someone crashed into the seat. It was the same dark-haired guy from earlier, leaning over the headrest to speak with her. "Hey, I heard the school nurse is going between Battle Centers healing anyone hurt. Thought you might want to check it out."
"Ah, thanks for your concern, but it's all right. I've experienced worse."
"How manly! I'm Kirishima Eijiro, it's great to meet you!"
"Like that." Shinso placed a fist over his mouth and continued to watch the one-sided conversation.
"That was some test, huh? U.A. really is amazing. Man, I'm so hoping I'll be accepted!" He, Kirishima, Shosei reluctantly reminded herself to use his name, continued chatting away as eventually the bus filled up and trundled them back to the main school building. She found that Kirishima didn't require too much input from her, easily accepting her 'uh-huh's, yeah's, sure's, and neat's' without much fuss.
When the bus finally stopped and they all unloaded, just as they were about to part, Kirishima added, "Oh man, wait, I totally forgot! What's your guy's names?"
"Shigeyo."
"Shinso."
"Great! I'll do my best to find you two when the semester starts!" Shosei gave him a thumbs up in response, watching as he took off to his own locker room to change.
"Guess he doesn't realize how bad we did on the exam." Shinso stated, walking off in a different direction for his own locker room. Shosei set off after, as the one she needed seemed to be the same way.
"Maybe for you, but I nailed the written. I've at least got General Studies in the bag."
"Definitely a ten in overconfidence."
"You are so rude."
※※※※※
Shosei returned to her neighborhood some hours later, having avoided going back earlier by getting lunch and then running a few different errands, including finding a few cute Pro-Hero pencil toppers for her new U.A. pencils, which would probably get her shanked in this neighborhood. She just couldn't say no to giving her pencil some pointy All Might hair tufts though.
Well they say I'm too loud for this town
So I lit a match and burned it down
What do you want from me, I'm not America's sweetheart
But you love me anyway
My hands are dirty and my heart is cold
The sun was just starting to set, so Shosei supposed it was time to get back to her place and sequester herself in her room. She slipped through her favorite alleyways to keep off main streets, music thrumming through her headphones.
When she was a few dozen feet from crossing a street and reaching her place, a figure stepped around a corner, cutting off her exit from the alleyway she'd been intending to take. Her hand jerked, reaching back before freezing as she recognized the person. Instead she pulled her headphones off, letting them drape around her neck. He'd probably been waiting for her to show and he knew this was her preferred path.
"Where have you been, Sho?" The man asked, though the tone was pretty close to a demand. His posture slouched as he leaned on the wall, making him seem not as dangerous as he could very quickly become.
"Taking my entrance exam," she defended, "or is that illegal now?"
Dei grinned, pushing back his long dark hair. "You should have told me. I would have wished you good luck."
"I'm pretty sure too many 'good luck' wishes becomes a jinx." Shosei continued walking closer and Dei straightened up as she grew nearer. "Didn't wanna risk it."
"You're too smart for that to happen, genius little scholar." He paused for a second. "Hey, I know, how 'bout we go out and celebrate." He slung an arm around her shoulder. "I know for a fact Bar Shaddaa is having a poker night. Could be fun."
Shosei tapped her chin and pouted her lips, pretending to think. It was their classic hustle; she was the card-shark while he subtly worked the other players with his Quirk. Bar Shaddaa wasn't the closest, but it was known for its not-so-pretty cliental. A little dress-up, make-up, and a fake ID, no one would ask any questions about her.
"I suppose I could use a pick-me-up." At Dei's disapproving look she added, "or just some cash." His frown turned back into a grin, flashing his white teeth. "Let me drop my stuff off and change. I'll meet you back out here?"
"Excellent!" He gave her a squeeze with his arm before releasing her and fixing his white-fur lined black leather jacket. It was tacky, but so were his brown pants and black shoes. It gave him a thorough down-on-his-luck vibe. "We'll win this thing and rake in the dough!"