Entrance Exam

Scars, we all have them. Some are physical, some are not. Some are visible and some are hidden away in memories. But evidently, all scars have a story behind them. It can be a simple one, like a cut or a burn from cooking. It can be a battle scar, like a stab or a bullet wound. Lastly, it can be a tragic one, like the death of a loved one, that's a difficult wound to heal and the scar that it leaves behind is a deep one.

From my experience in both lives, the invisible scars are the most painful ones. In the end, having a few scars isn't a problem, as long as they can be seen, the ones that can't be seen are the ones that sting.

Personally, I have two scars that sealed my fate as a wannabe hero, leading to my purposes of this second chance in life. One of my reasons is redemption. Redemption for my mistake back in my first life, that lab accident. People warned me of the dangers of the energy amplifier, but I didn't listen, I thought that I could make it work when everybody else failed. Arrogance, that's what killed ME and possible OTHER people as well, even though I don't know how many if any people died other than myself, I am positive that many were injured, probably beyond a healing point.

My second reason resonates from my second life. It's not a petty one like revenge or vengeance, that was caused by that greedy murderer, no he has been put down already, he is paying for his crime, though truth be told I have thought about vengeance many times. Nevertheless, my reason is Justice, I want to stop people willing to cause pain and suffering, to possible prevent as many of them as I possibly can.

Justice, not Vengeance. Back in my previous life, I loved Batman, it taught me many life lessons, this being one of them and I'm planning to stick to it. Especially in this hero society.

That's why I trained with my grandpa, learned martial arts and marksmanship along with swordsmanship and finally, I learned and studied my quirk, in order to become stronger. I studied battle tactics and strategy. I devoted myself to the path of becoming a hero and at the same time, I studied and still studying to get my degrees, in nanotechnology and quirk science, while I already got my degree in robotics. Because of my high intelligence quirk and previous knowledge, I managed to learn many languages and study multiple subjects at the same time.

Even after all this training and studying, I still managed to spend time with my remaining family, mainly with Ochaco, we grew a lot closer since I had to stay with my aunt and uncle since my parents died, and I couldn't stay with my grandfather since he stayed in a military facility and we only saw him in holidays and I personally saw him when he was training me along with Kambe-Sensei (though it was mostly Kambe-Sensei, with grandfather being away most of the time, because of his status).

Anyway, I and Ocha are more like siblings than cousins at this point, unfortunately, her parents are still strangled with their finances, grandpa helps a lot, but add me to the equation and their expenses are being doubled, also there are my college tuitions, we paid for them using the money my parents left behind, and the books I study and seminars are being paid with that money. Even so, the money isn't infinite and my bank account is starting to get dry. In more ways than one, I have secured a position in I-island. But I can start working there only after my eighteenth birthday, the seventeenth being the earliest.

Seeing the struggles of my family both Ocha and I tried to help, but aunt Kokoro and uncle Tobio denied any financial help we tried to give them, telling us to spend it as we saw it fit, since they were our money. They knew I wanted to become a hero, and even though they wanted to help they couldn't, so all the money I earned from science competitions and Ocha from summer jobs, we put them in a new bank account in both our names to invest in our future later on.

Unfortunately, business dropped even more in my uncle's company, that's when Ocha decided that she will too become a hero. She asked for my help with training and so for the next year or so, her personal training inspired by the Devil himself (our grandfather) and his faithful councilman (Kampe-Sensei) began. It was the same as mine, but a bit more strenuous since I had a little over a year to train her. It was utter hell for her. and that was excluding swordsmanship, marksmanship, and martial arts. It was only physical and quirk training. But it was an utter hell nonetheless. Still, her determination and stubbornness were impressive, she never complained nor did she give up. Stubbornness is probably a family trait since everyone is as stubborn as a mule, even uncle Tobio who isn't related by blood to me or grandfather. Other than her hellish physical training, I helped her with academics. I prepared her for the U.A. entrance exam and at the same time, I continued my own training.

Many times, Ocha brought her worries to me about not being prepared enough, and most of the time she would exhaust herself because of her anxiety. I tried to explain to her, that not everyone was overprepared like me and that I unlike her, always wanted to become a hero. She only decided a year ago, not to mention her progress was incredible with her stamina and quirk. She is still strangling a little bit with her strength and speed but that's not something that can't be fixed over time. Despite everything, she is ready for the exam. Unfortunately, she still held a little bit of doubt but eventually, she started earning more and more confidence.

∞∞☆∞∞

I woke up to the deafening ringing of my alarm clock, it was six in the morning. In my previous life, I would consider this an ungodly hour to wake up but in this one… I still consider it an ungodly hour, but after so many years of doing it, I got used to it.

As I got up, I looked at the calendar above my desk, there was a date in a red circle 26th February, and in red letters, UA entrance exam 9:30. Today was the exam after that my official hero training would begin, even so, I would still train with Kambe-Sensei at least three times a week. Even if I'm good enough for school, I still need to be good enough for the real world.

I washed up and dressed up in sweatpants so I could go for my usual morning run, I contemplated waking Ocha to join me, but remembering that she once again pushed herself a little too much yesterday I decided against it.

After an hour or so, when I returned, I went to shower and prepare breakfast along with aunt Koko, while uncle Tobio and Ocha were getting ready. My adorable BARELY older (at least in her knowledge) sister-cousin was a reck of nerves that couldn't sit still for more than five minutes. Her nerves became worse as we got closer to the school.

Once we reached the school only one thought came to mind, this school has an infinite amount of money just looking at the sheer size of the building, not to mention the technology used for the support department.

"This place is huge" Ocha voiced my thoughts.

"As expected from the number one Hero School, though honestly, it exceeds my expectations"

As we were walking, I noticed a specific green-haired boy walking a few paces in front of us, I made sure Ocha was as far away for him as possible. Then he tripped on his own feet and I saw him falling face first. Honestly, I don't give a shit about the guy, but I do want to be a hero and saving his ugly mug from meeting the asphalt is in a way a part of the job description, well more like putting personal feelings aside and do the right thing. Anyway, you get the idea.

I put my palm on his back and activated my quirk allowing him to float for a few seconds before returning him to his normal gravity.

"Are you alright?" Ocha asked him. Admittedly it was hilarious seeing him getting all flustered.

"Uhm…Ye-Yeah" he stuttered to answer. "Tha-thank you for helping me"

"Ocha, let's go," I said as I gave a nod to him and started walking again.

"Well, see you around green hair, Otōto wait up"

Once we got inside, we went to the office to retrieve our exam information, we walked to the auditorium and found our seats with the numbers 842 and 843, and sat down waiting for the first portion of the exam to begin.

After a few minutes a man with a frown on his face, silver – light gray hair and a yellow mask walked in. introducing himself as Vlad King, gave instructions for the written test, which was easy at least for me and I managed to finish within the hour but had to wait for the rest of the participants to finish.

After the three hours that concluded the test was up, they gave us a thirty-minute break. Once we went back inside and sat down on our seats the lights turned off silencing all the conversations, now Infront of us stood a blonde guy with a hairstyle that seemed to empty a whole can of hair spray.

"What's up UA Candidates, thanks for tuning into me, your school DJ. Come on and let me hear ya!" He exclaimed with a rather enthusiastic voice, but unfortunately for him, he was met with silence "Keeping it mellow, huh? That's fine I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk all about how this practical exam's going to go down, okay? ARE YOU READY!?" Once again silence.

"Like your application says today you Rockin boys and girls will be out there conducting two-minute mock battles in super-hip urban settings, where you can also bring whatever you want with you to help you. Your joy my friends after I drop the mic here you'll head to your specified battle center".

"Three different types of faux villains are stationed in each battle center. You earn points for each of them based on their level of difficulty. Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your quirks to earn points by immobilizing the faux villains"

'Hmm… it's like a video game and just like every video game, there has to be a secret point system. Well, this is a hero school, so it's probably rescuing points' i thought.

"Of course, attacking other examinees and any other unheroic actions are prohibited!!"

"May I ask a question?" Said a tall teen with glasses and blue hair. He picked up his printout and presented it to everyone. "On the printout, there are four types of Villains. If that is a misprint, then U.A., the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake. We, examinees, are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes."

"Idiot, no patience at all…" I muttered, and Ochaco elbowed me whispering "don't be rude"

"In addition, you over there with the curly hair" -as he said that he pointed to the green-haired protagonist- "You've been muttering this whole time. If you're here on a pleasure trip, then you should leave immediately!"

"Thank you examine 7111 for pointing that out, but I was about to explain, that patience is a characteristic that heroes must have".

"I see I apologize for the interruption." The blue-haired teen blushed from embarrassment and said a little bit quieter as he sat back down.

"It's okay. You see young listeners the fourth type of villain is worth zero points. That guy's an obstacle, so to speak. There is one in every battle center"

'Meaning that it's the strongest and most dangerous'

"An obstacle that will go crazy in narrow spaces. It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it, either."

'In other words, they want to test our reactions towards a powerful opponent, how will we react towards it and towards the rest of the examinees. That way they don't just test out our skills but also our reactions to danger'

"I recommend that you listeners try to avoid it. Finally, I'll give you listeners a present, our school motto!!! The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said... 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.' Plus Ultra!! Break a leg, everyone!!"

"Otōto look, we're in different battle centers," Ochaco said as we got up and headed to the busses.

"Probably because they want to avoid working together, most likely it's the same with students from the same school"

"Why? Working together isn't a bad thing all of the Pros do that"

"Yes, but the pros don't always work with heroes from their own agency. They have to form alliances with heroes from different agencies and they don't always know the abilities of their new teammates"

"So, they expect us to form alliances with the other examines?"

"Yeah, you can always solo it, but helping other examines in both rescuing and fighting will result in a bigger score"

"What will you do?"

"I'll start solo and later on help other examines"

"Well okay, just remember to be nice"

"No promises" she rolled her eyes at my remark but nevertheless she had an affectionate smile on her face.

"I'm not even going to bother wishing you good luck, since I know you'll pass anyway" then without a warning she hugged me "but I know how reckless you can be so, be careful Otōto" I hugged her back and told her to be careful as well. Then we separated and got to the busses. Time for a little bit of fun.

While waiting for the humongous doors to open and for the exam to begin, I discreetly looked at the other examinees. Most of them seemed nervous, while others were excited. Then there were the unusual calm examinees, actually, that would be only three of us, me included. First was a girl with long green hair and big eyes, the other one was a boy with purple gravity-defined hair and huge eyebags, though he looked more resigned than calm.

A metal sound, hardly noticeable, reached my ears and from the corner of my eyes, I saw the gates finally starting to open. I got in my stance and was ready to fly inside the city to fight robots. The moment the gap was big enough I flew inside.

My eyes were set on a small herd of robots, five of them, 3 one-pointers and 2 two-pointers. "Satan Gurabiti: Jūken (Satan gravity: fist)" I said as I punched a robot, resulting it in nothing but useless garbage. The rest of the robots soon met the same fate.

For the most part of the exam, I flew around punching and kicking, occasionally assisting and rescuing other examinees.

Currently, I was fighting alongside a black-haired boy with a hardening quirk and a green-haired girl with a frog quirk. We were surrounded by the robots; the black-haired boy was more focused on assisting the frog girl.

"Satan Gurabiti: Jūryokuha (Satan gravity: Wave)" I said placing my hand on the ground, creating a spiral force that pulled all the robots surrounding us towards me.

Concentrating my Ether Gear on my hand, resulting in a green glow surrounding my fist I said "Satan Gurabiti: Jūken Ranbu (Satan gravity: Heavy Fist Wild Dance)" unfolding a barrage of punches onto the robots, causing them to fly into the walls and breaking apart.

"Wow, dude nice moves," said the boy, while the girl remained silent and stared at my hands that still had the Ether Markings.

Suddenly the ground shook and a female voice announced that only five minutes remained. Shouts could be heard from all around and examinees ran towards safety, trying to avoid the huge zero-pointer.

<3rd point of view>

Debris started falling towards some examinees, almost crushing them, before that could happen Shiki pressed his hand on the ground screaming "Satan Gurabiti: Jūryokuba (Gravity field)" generating a strong gravitational field that both crushed and negated the debris, saving his fellow examinees. For a few seconds, everyone was still and looking at him. "What are you looking at? Run" he told them breaking them from the staring and scrabbling towards safety.

He looked back towards the chaos setting his eyes on his target, the zero pointer. Once again, the Ether Gear markings covered his hands, He started floating before afterimages of different colors appeared as he began to fall sideways towards the robot, making a few stops to help the examinees, either saving them from falling derbies or releasing them from being trapped under them. Getting closer, he spotted a… set of clothes? Running away before grabbing their (her?) hand, and floating higher. As he flew a gigantic robotic fist came towards him, the girl (as her screams implied) made full use of her lungs as she screamed.

Shiki ignored her as he gathered his ether in his free hand and pulled it back, once again a green glow appeared from it. Once the robot's and his fist met the green glow got bigger as a shockwave was released from the impact, pushing the robot backward and making it fall on its back. Shiki lowered the girl leaving her standing on the pavement and within seconds he was above the robot ready to release his next attack.

He created a large dark purple sphere of energy made of gravity from one of his fists and threw it at the robot yelling the name of his technic "Satan Gurabiti: Jūdan (Gravity Cannon)" Pushing the robot deeper into the pavement due to the heaviness of the sphere, creating cracks and an enormous crater where the robot was before the robot itself caved it and completely annihilated from the gravity.

Everyone in the field that had a close view of Shiki, was staring at him with something akin to awe, respect, and jealousy.

As for the people behind the cameras and inside a small room filled with screens that showcased all the examines, at least before all the screens focused on him, their looks were varying from impressed to worried.

A man with long black hair and what appeared as bandages covering his face walked towards the screens pulling a digital file and opening it. Once his eyes set on the surname a glint of amusement passed through his eyes.

"Tsukiyama huh?" he said to himself, while the people around him turned to him.

"So, it's his grandson. No wonder…" A small white creature said, trailing off the end as he examined the raven-haired boy on the screen.

The black-haired man looked at the screens again with a grin, "Principal I want him in my class" he said, making everyone in the room with the exception of the small creature stare at him with wide eyes.

"You're actually interested in a student?" Said a woman with dark blue hair and a questionable outfit.

"Not just any student… back before I become a full-time underground hero, I was in the military. His grandfather Ziggy Tsukiyama was my commanding officer. The guy is a monster when it comes to raw power. Obviously, his grandson is much the same, thought with bigger potential since his quirk is more evolved since he can use both gravity and anti-gravity. Not to mention his fighting capabilities and well reading his file, it's more than obvious that the kid is a prodigy. The question is, what will he become a powerful hero or a monster just like his grandfather?"

"You said his grandfather is in the military?" said a blond skeleton-like man.

"He is a major general," said the creature. "There is something that concerns me,' he said as one of the screens focused on a brown-haired girl with round cheeks and an everlasting blush. "The girl, is also his granddaughter, while her score and abilities are nothing to scoff at, she is far behind the boy"

"The boy's parents were murdered" the black-haired man whispered, but despite that everyone in the small room heard him and turned towards him. "I kept contact with Ziggy-sensei, he was my superior but he was also something akin to a mentor. So, I know what happened and I was at the funeral. The kid always wanted to become a hero, so he asked to start training from a very young age. To my knowledge, someone from my unit that's currently working on the hero public safety commission trained him alongside his grandfather. Ziggy-sensei told me his grandkids will be trying to enter the school and that he was worth keeping an eye on. Overstate of the year, I can see the kid turning to his grandfather."

"Well, that certainly answers my questions," the creature said making everyone silent.

'Young Midoriya, you have quite the competition. I only hope that you will be able to catch up to young Tsukiyama. That is if you want to be #1 cause currently, that place belongs to that boy.' The skeleton thought as he gazed at the boy on the screen.