20. Brains over brawn.

The arches at the head of UA shone like a beacon under the morning sun, blinding all who looked upon it.

Seriously, which genius thought up this chrome plated dystopian design?

A five year old could make a better school!

But that wasn't important today, I thought, watching Deku trip like the absolute walnut that he was, as Uraraka caught him just like in canon.

"Come on, Deku. You're gonna be late if you're out chasing tail." I teased and passed him while he stuttered out a thanks.

"Matsun, t-that girl was just....." Deku whispered.

"Yeah, I know all about it, Deku." I smiled mischievously.

"Our cute little spinach head is in lo~ve." I teased, poking him in the sides.

"hahahaga no, Matsun st~op." Deku protested, "I just wanted to thank her for helping me earlier!"

"And you couldn't say that to her face then why?" "B-because you k-know? She's a g-girl and I-i-i am a ..."

"...Idiot? Yeah, I know. But you can do that later. Let's get going, else we'll get stuck with the shitty seats."

As we walked in, I scanned the room and found the seats I wanted, right in the middle.

We took our seats as Present Mic explained the rules for the exams and I began to score myself as many books as possible.

Once he was done, we were led to our respective busses as I reminded Deku.

"Dodge and roll. And use the off switch on their backs to score. Save as many other examinees too. It'll give you extra points. You're short, so use that tinyness."

"Yes, Matsun~" he groaned, "I know. We went over this."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll still bumrush the robots, cuz you're an idiot!" I said, poking his forehead.

"Yeah? We'll see about that!" He said, as he took his ticket and boarded the bus.

I took a step forward, hand outstretched for my own when Snipe intercepted me.

"That's all the students here. The next 20 will have to go to ground delta. Here." He said, handing me my ticket and pointing to another line.

Deku frowned as I silently mouthed 'we'll see' mockingly and boarded my bus.

Minutes later, I stood at gigantic gates of ground delta as Present Mic began his countdown, observing the other participants, trying to see if there were any main cast members around and I spotted some, namely Jiro, Itsuka and even Mineta, whose books I summarily grabbed.

Then, with a snap, crackle and unnervingly loud pop, the gates swung open, thudding aside.

The students looked around confused as Present Mic stopped counting.

I smiled.

More points for me!

"What are you waiting for?" Present Mic asked, stopping the countdown midway, and waved at the confused students "Villains won't give you a full countdown! Why should I?

NOW GO GO GO!!"

Though unexpected for most, it wasn't so for me, as I'd dashed in the moment the gates opened, knowing the content of the exam beforehand.

Crisscrossing across the many streets, I mapped out the positions of the the robots, before coming to a stop at the center, right in view of a camera.

I looked at it, smiled wide. This was going to be a display of pure power.

Raising a hand, I snapped my fingers, and it was all over in an instant.

In the office, Nezu watched the screens, taking delight no doubt from the overeager boy that had rushed in early.

He chuckled at the desperate dodges the boy pulled as he ran past the robots, deeper into the concrete jungle.

"Hihihihi! You're trapping yourself~" he giggled, taking a sip of tea, appreciating it's deep, rich flavor.

Imperial Tips was his guilty pleasure, something he used on particularly trying days, to soothe himself.

And by god he needed it today.

His fur was still standing on it's ends in frustration.

He'd been pestering the school board for a change in curriculum, to a better updated one for the modern era.

It was even going to be cheaper than the one before, saving costs and time.

But he'd been rejected, repeatedly and soundly.

Filthy humans! What do they know about training heroes? I have been the principal here for over a decade. Three Generations of heroes have grown under me!

How dare they question my judgment?!

The cup quaked in his hands, spilling drops of tea onto his vestcoat, breaking him out of his stupor.

Just in time too as he looked back at the screen to see the boy from before looking straight into the camera and smiling.

"How did he find the hidden cameras?" Nezu asked Ectoplasm, "Get me another perspective."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the boy smile and snap his fingers.

"What's he do-"

Then came a crash, loud enough to be heard in the security room, as hundreds of dark blurs appeared, pinning and even crushing the robots all around the field with laser precision, sending metal and dust flying in all directions.

Someone's quirk. He thought. Likely the boy.

Nezu waited and watched with bated breath as the dust cleared, revealing the most unlikely of things.

Bookshelves.

"Are those ... shelves?" Midnight asked incredulously.

"Curious! Aizawa-sensei, what is his quirk?" Nezu requested, pointing at the screen.

"I'll have to search it up. Is it ground beta or delta?" Aizawa asked.

"Delta." Nezu answered, as he saw All Might grin from ear to ear.

"Don't bother. I'll tell you what his quirk is. He likes to call it Alexandria Eternal. It can summon books and bookshelves around him." All Might interjected, revealing half truths as per my request.

"Is he the one you were talking about? The kid who stopped the Sludge Villain?" Nezu asked.

"Yes. Isn't he great? He's even overtaken my score in the exam! Truly a rare find!" All Might bragged.

"Yes. Most people born with a quirk like this wouldn't even bother applying, but this boy, what was his name again?" Nezu wondered, "Yuji. Yes, Matsumoto Yuji. Now I remember. He has learnt to use his quirk in a surprising effective manner. I'm looking forward seeing to how he turns out."

"Uh, there is one problem that needs to be addressed here though." Present Mic's voice came from the speakers on the dashboard.

"What's that?" All Might asked.

"I think he means that we should release the zero pointer." Nezu pointed out.

"Exactly!" Present Mic replied, "Your boy has taken out all but twelve of the robots. There are no points left for anyone else here. We need to release the zero pointer now. That way we'll at least have the opportunity to grade them on rescue points."

"That was my intention too." Nezu said, flipping the glass case on the dashboard open, as he pressed the big red button.

"Let's see how he deals with this one!" Nezu added, as a loud whirring noise resounded across ground delta.

I watched in horror as the building across the street from me crashed and crumbled away and a trapdoor opened up below it, revealing a giant robot, slowly ascending a coaster.

Yeah, no. That's a big fat nope from me dawg.

I ain't fighting mecha godzilla's younger shittier cousin.

It's way above my paygrade!

Instantly, I turned around and dashed away at full speed.

It didn't quite look it in the anime but damn this thing is huge. And I mean Huuuge!

It's towering over a six story building, using it as a crutch!

The examiners must be crazy!

How is anyone supposed to fight this thing?

And even if the whole point was to see how heroic someone is in facing this danger to rescue people, the 100 foot monstrosity was wholly unnecessary!

Could've done the same with a timed explosives and test dummies, or a landslide and villain attack.

I'm surprised there weren't any casualties in this exam.

Now I knew I couldn't just run out of the exam zone and get disqualified.

And sure, I could make it trip and fall using the Pen Of Fate, but I wasn't so naive as to belive that the hyper intelligent Nezu wouldn't figure out that it was me.

And once he did, I'd be the prime suspect when the USJ attack cane around to roost, as one of the only two students in UA capable of mind control.

I can't have that. When I reveal my ability, it has to appear natural and innocent.

So, with all thise options out of the way, I had only two viable choices left.

Run and hide till the exam is over.

Or stay and fight to disable the robot.

And I knew which one a hero would pick!

But before that, I needed to score some brownie points with the teachers.

I turned to the examinees nearby and shouted, "Go! I'll hold him back!"

The other examinees nodded and ran off while I scanned the area, and found a five story building some way from me, right in the path of the robozilla.

Good.

I turned around to face him and set up a barricade of bookshelves in it's path, before running up to the building and piling up it's side with a tower of shelves.

I hid behind a water tower on the building's roof as the robot crashed into the barricade crushing my hard earned shelves and rolling over them.

Just as planned.

I knew that the barricade wouldn't stop the robot, just slow it down.

But stopping it was never my intention!

As he crossed the peak of the barricade, right in front of the building I was hiding on, it dipped slightly on the descent, lowering it's shoulders to stabilize itself, leaving them vulnerable to a climb.

And climb I did.

I ran out of my hiding place and jumped off the roof, landing on the robot's shoulder, just as it spotted me.

It whirred in alarm and raised it's hand to swat me away, but I didn't wait.

I ran up the length of it's shoulder, straight to the back of it's nape, where it's arms couldn't reach.

Grabbing onto a crease in it's armor plating, I hung back and scoured it's back till I found it. The back panel.

Alright then, let's do this!

I summoned a shelf by the water tower, distracting the robot, as it crushed the buildings around us whole with blow after blow, rocking it's body like a pendulum.

Once it was distracted, and the I skulked downwards into the dust cloud it raised, out of sight of any cameras and took a seat by it's shoulder blades, summoning my own book as I began to write.

"As it landed the last blow, the programming of the zero pointer skipped a beat and it raised it's hands violently, sending a patch of concrete flying by Yuji, narrowly missing him, but hitting the panel on the robot's back on it's way down.

Unconvinced, it snooped low in it's search for the target."

Energy drained form me as the words came to life, and as if on point a head sized block of concrete sped by me, crashind down onto the back panel, unhinging a small flange on it.

The robot, still searching for me, snooped it's head low and taking the opportunity, I summoned shelf after shelf above the bent metal flange, sending them crashing down on it, blowing the huge back panel partially open.

The robot whirred back, turning it's attention to the sound of the falling flange, turning around like an idiot while I slid down into the gap that had just opened, wedging a foot by the cracks.

Balancing myself on a razor edge, I summoned my book again.

"Today" I wrote boosting my luck, "Yuji felt lucky. And he was lucky. For when he reached into the back panel of the zero pointer to sabotage it, against the odds he succeeded, sending the robot tumbling forward."

Once more my words came to life and I reached in with one hand, janking away as many cables as I could from the circuit board, causing sparks to fly and disabling the robot's gyroscope.

It stumbled on it treads shifting it's center of mass and gravity.

Losing balance, it fell forward as the metal crumpled under it's own own weight, while I slipped down it's carapace like a slide and landed on a pile of books I summoned.

Breaking my fall and dislocating my shoulder in the process, I stood up in pain, stumbling as the ground shook beneath me from the robot's fall.

"Wooo!" I screamed at the top of my voice in celebration.

"Brains over brawn babay!" I danced, when suddenly the exhaustion hit me, as the adrenaline ran out.

I lurched over from overexertion and fell to the floor, gasping for breath, the piercing pain from my shoulder hitting me all at once.

I was of half a mind to heal it with my power but decided against it, given that the dust cloud was settling and I was in full view of the cameras.

Guess I'll leave it to Recovery girl this once. I thought as I fell asleep amid the rubble.