Chapter 37 - Will to Fight

"Who is that guy?"

"Are you sure he's here for the exam and not just trolling?"

"Is that even allowed?"

Both Katsuki and Izuku straightened their backs and looked straight ahead at the stage with focused eyes. They didn't dare look to their sides and tried their best to ignore the whispers around them.

Izuku, in particular, felt his social anxiety flare up with all the eyes staring at him and Ryuji.

"Fufufu, these young uns' are truly unripe just as I expected. Our victories are essentially guaranteed, junior brothers!" Ryuji arrogantly proclaimed and hooked his hands around the duo. Of course, his loud voice was heard by the others around him, and they secretly mocked Ryuji in their hearts.

"Shut your trap, you bastard!" Katsuki angrily stared at Ryuji's teasing face.

"It seems like junior brother is starting to get disrespectful to his senior brother. Should I give you a light tap on the shoulder?" Ryuji teased and smiled jokingly.

Then, he leaned back and pulled the two closer to him. "Okay, let's get serious for a moment."

His eyes glazed over at the screen as Presesent Mic concluded his final statements of what is about to come. Ryuji smirked and whispered to the two, "You heard what he said, right?"

"Mmm. It seems like all three of us are assigned to different stages, so we can't help each other out, making it fairer for the others here." Izuku nodded his head and showcased his card to Katsuki and Ryuji.

"Heh, as if I needed your help anyways." Katsuki sneered.

"That's right. All three of us would be on our own after this, so we better do our best and start planning already." Ryuji swiftly poked at the foreheads of the two, activating his quirk in the process as his eyes glowed dimly for a moment.

'You two hear my voice, right?' Ryuji asked, surprising the two as they heard his voice within their heads. 'Just say yes in your heads if you do.'

'Yes!'

'Yeah…'

'Good! I haven't used this little trick in a while so I'm a bit rusty with it. Okay, let's get down to business for real.' Ryuji retracted his hands and instead placed them on the table in front of them.

'So, we already know Izuku's quirkless… right?' Ryuji's somber voice echoed in their heads, causing them to subconsciously stiffen up as the crux of the matter was presented without any euphemisms or whatever.

'I know, I know. It's a sensitive topic to talk, or well think about, and we three already know that we know that Izuku knows that we have some theories regarding this strange conundrum.' Ryuji wagged his finger and winked at Katsuki. 'Isn't that right, junior brother?'

Katsuki paused for a second, processing the words he just heard and trying to formulate a proper response. In the end, he sighed and replied, 'I'm not dumb enough to not think about that.'

'So, that means both of us are okay with whatever secret you're hiding, junior brother Izuku.' Ryuji grinned at Izuku with a thumbs up.

'Y-Yeah…' Izuku stiffened his back, surprised by the shift in topic. But, he already knew this was an inevitable conclusion and quickly calmed down considering they were friends and they meant no harm to him.

'Now, what I want to discuss since we're already here, is a little tip on how to better control your quirks. Heh, even though I don't say it that much, I'm a sensational prodigy who's born once in a millennium, so you better listen to what I'm about to say.'

'Let's talk first about you, Katsuki. While I did help you train your quirk already, this is a little theoretical tidbit that's been hanging around my mind lately regarding how you can further improve the utilization of your quirk.' Ryuji nudged the invisible glasses around his eyes and wagged an invisible stick.

'Your explosions occur by the explosive sweat released from the palm of your hands, and they explode in an unrestricted manner that expands outwards. At the moment, your explosions are strong on their own, but what if we were to not allow the explosions to expand outward and instead contract them?'

'Like pressurized water, imagine that you're constricting it and not allowing it to expand, focusing the power into a tighter container and releasing a more powerful blow with each singular explosion.' Ryuji explained as illusory projections played out in front of their eyes to demonstrate what Ryuji meant to say.

'Of course, it's up to you how you'll do that, and how you can better expand upon that.' Ryuji shrugged his shoulders and, as Katsuki's eyes stared at the projections playing out in front of him with focused eyes that indicated he was entering into a trance, Ryuji promptly disconnected him from their mental connection and looked towards Izuku.

'Pressurized water? I haven't thought of that myself! I only considered the size and power of an explosion before this, but I didn't even begin to think about condensing the power. I wonder what kind of qualitative change that would bring…' Izuku mumbled in his mind as he came up with numerous theories on the spot.

'Heh, I know, I'm just that good.' Ryuji rubbed his nose like a snob before he then coughed. 'But, we have a bigger issue to tackle with.'

'While I don't know how you're going to wing this exam to your favor and succeed, I still have some general solutions to give you in case some of my theories are proven true.'

'First of all, do you know that quirks are practically suited for one single individual only? They're like a manifestation of one's uniqueness, meaning no two of the same quirk can ever exist in this world. Even quirks that appear the same have very minor differences that differentiate them from each other.'

'So, a suitable vessel must be needed for a quirk. You get what I mean?' Ryuji pointed at Izuku. 'Your body is a lot tougher than before, courtesy of my efforts, but it wouldn't be able to handle too much strain if my Hypothesis: Transferral is proven true.'

'T-Transferral?' Izuku gulped.

'Don't mind the name, it's not like your secret matters that much anyways. What I'm saying here is that, if you're not careful, the secret quirk that you haven't used once in front of us for over 10 months is gonna seriously fucked up your body if you're not careful.'

'It's like putting a child inside a car and ordering it to drive, of course, they're gonna get into an accident. You're the child right now, while the quirk is the car.'

'But, quirks are more complex than that. So, a little trick I would give to anyone in the same situation as you is to basically…' Ryuji waved his arms and created a holographic illusion of a car driving on an open road. 'Is to basically not drive at full speed. Instead, go slow, like a turtle, and get the hang of the mechanics of a car and drive it until it becomes intuitive to you.'

'I see… So you're saying activating my quirk at full power would result in something bad, and using only a tiny portion of its maximum strength would be more beneficial?' Izuku inquired with shining eyes.

'Yep, but that's basically something no one else would do considering they were born to use their quirks at full power from the get-go.' Ryuji smiled with a knowing grin. 'So I guess Transferral really was the correct theory of mine.'

'Heh, I'm just way too smart for my own good.'

Izuku's mind turned blank upon hearing what Ryuji said. In the end, he bit his lips and took a deep breath, "I promise that I'll explain everything later, Ryuji-san, Ka-"

'Shut your trap!' Ryuji clamped Izuku's mouth.

He then pointed at Katsuki who was staring mindlessly in the air in a trance-like state. 'Can't you see he's in a trance right now?!'

'O-Oh!' Izuku widened his eyes. 'I didn't know that! I'm so sorry!'

'Yeah, yeah. You can spill me the tea later once this is all over.' Ryuji grinned and winked at Izuku.

…

Katsuki walked out of the bus with a hint of blankness in his previously confident eyes. He stared mindlessly at his hands as they twitched, and he formed a claw as he could already feel what was about to come.

Inside his mind, he visualized a ginormous star contorting and contracting into a small dense ball of light, a ball of light that shone so bright it swallowed everything in its wake with its magnificent beauty.

'Contract the explosion rather than let it expand. But how? It's not like I can control the explosion, I can only control how strong it would be based on the amount of sweat I use.' Katsuki clicks his tongue and clenches his fist.

As he looked up to the gates where their exam would take place, Katsuki observes the other examinees around him with squinted eyes. After spending nearly ten months with a cunning fox like Ryuji, he gained a few habits, and one of which was the habitual gathering of information and intel when it comes to competitive activities.

Soon enough, they arrived at Battle Center A, and they were quickly greeted by the gargantuan walls and imposing gates that stood over everyone else. The participants around Katsuki looked around with shining eyes, surprised and awed by the grandness of the exam alone.

"They built four of these cities for the practical exam alone! Imagine what resources we'll have access to once we're part of UA!"

"Anyone who manages to enter would be cream of the crop already, add in their superior teaching, then it would be inevitable for dragon among men to be born here."

As the examinees discussed with one another on random topics they found interesting, waiting for the proctors like Present Mic to start the test, they heard a ring from the speakers around them and Present Mic's voice echoed.

"What are you all waiting for? Do you think the villains would wait for you to start? Ha! Get going already if you don't wanna fail!"

"Oh, crap!"

"It already started?!"

'Ah, so the clock's already started?' Katsuki grinned among the panicking students as he calmly pointed both of his arms toward the ground.

"Move away if you don't wanna die!"

Kaboom!

Katsuki flew up into the sky, leaving behind a trail of explosions along his wake as he went over the tall walls around the city and into the battle stage without a trace of fear in his eyes.

…

"Hoo…" Izuku clenched his fist and stared at the receding figures of the examinees around him. They ran through the gate and entered the city, leaving him alone outside the gates.

"Calm down, Izuku. Remember what Ryuji-san told you." Izuku patted his chest and took a deep breath As he exhaled, he unclenched his fists and tensed up his legs.

Fwoosh.

He took off into a running start, and through the gate, he goes.

Then, he arrives inside the city, witnessing the chaos that started to occur wherever he went. Kids the age as him fought against massive robots as they used their quirks like an extension of their limbs. Some shot pellets of water while others stomped their foot to the ground and conjure a ball of wind.

'T-Those robots are that strong?!' Izuku paused in his tracks, widening his eyes from the miscalculation he made regarding their strength. 'Why did I even think I could defeat a single one of them?!'

'I think my arm would break instead when I punch them!' Izuku stepped back, his legs trembling as he came to realize just how weak he was. 'How am I going to get points at this rate?'

Just as he was about to turn around and run to safety, he heard a loud boom behind him, and a sense of danger caused the hair on his body to stand up. This was a feeling he was too familiar with already after being under Ryuji's training for nearly ten months, so by sheer instinct, he rolled to the side and, as he expected, a green metallic arm came crashing down to the ground.

The fist came crashing down to the ground, leaving a dent in the cement beneath it. 'A single punch like that would kill me!'

Izuku was about to run away for his life, when all of a sudden, a shining beam of light appeared from nowhere, destroying the robot in one blow. 'Laser?'

"Merci! We made a good team. But… I don't think we'll be meeting again." A boy with blond hair and wearing a weird belt around his waist winked at Izuku with a smile. "Adieu!"

Watching him disappear, Izuku sighed and clicked his tongue. "What am I doing?"

"Ryuji-san and Kacchan would already be on their way amassing a ton of points, and here I am, scared!" Izuku cursed under his breath. "This needs to change if I want to be on the same stage as them."

'Remember what Ryuji-san said. I can't use too much or I'll damage myself, but I can't use too little or I'll be too weak.'

'Believe in the body you have built over the course of ten months with the assistance of Ryuji-san. Trust in the techniques you've learned from Kacchan!'

'For now, I'm only a cup that can hold only a small amount of water from the boundless ocean, but that cup is enough for me!'

Izuku closed his eyes, and as he sensed that unfamiliar yet familiar feeling burning within his soul, he started to extract bits and pieces of that boundless ocean of energy.

Green-colored electricity soon crackled around his body, and the veins underneath his body glowed with brilliant energy. His messy green hair flared up and his eyes lit up with endless vigor. A boundless stream of power coursed through every fiber of his being, breathing new life into his heart.

"Yes! This is it!" Izuku clenched his fist and tightened the muscles around his legs.

'One for All!' Izuku gritted his teeth and prepared himself for what was about to come. '10%!'

Like a blur, he disappeared from where he stood and left behind a trail of green sparks.

AN: This chapter has 2398 words.

I'm a fucking genius when it comes to writing fanfics. I don't even remember all that much from the first season of MHA, and I haven't watched beyond season 2 (and my memory from season 2 is practically nonexistent), yet the plot is still seamless. I have some pretty good tactics built up over the years of being a fanfic writer, and I don't even need to consume the original piece of media to write a fanfic about it!

Anywho, my next work might be an original novel since I kinda want to do it. I mean, success ain't a problem for me since I still don't have the ability to earn monetary gain from my work, so I'll use that original novel later on to build more experience before I dip my toes on the shithole called actual work. But yeah, be on the lookout for Fortune Lover: My Luck is Infinite because I'm fancying writing a character with so much plot armor that he would suffer from success. Hehehe, of course, it has that usual NND twist where the character is a psychopathic maniac vying for infinite power with unexpected antagonists/allies.

(May 21, 2023 - 542nd day of writing)