12

Chapter 12Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text3:07 PM, Friday(First Reset)

His consciousness came rushing back to his body, the world reconstructing around him as it had so many times before. 

"-Friday, 3:07 PM."

They were in Ochako's room, cross-legged on the hardwood floor. She was sitting across from him with a mass of notebooks strewn out around her; Ochako Analysis For The Future #11 and Ochako Analysis For The Future #12 still resting open in her lap. 

Ochako leaned forward, her auburn-brown eyes wide with anticipation. "You just came back, right? What was the exam like? Was it hard?" 

In response, Izuku sighed. 

"Robots."

Present Mic had been the one to explain the rules of the exam-which was great-but the longer the hero had talked, the worse the exam seemed for Izuku.

"First they separate everyone by area, probably so that friends can't work together, and then drive us all to a mock city where the exam takes place."

"Mock city?"

Izuku waved his hand. "It's a huge, full-size replica of an urban landscape with buildings and everything. I'll show you in a second. The test's objective itself is pretty simple- defeat as many enemy robots as you can within ten minutes. They have three main types; one-pointers, two-pointers, and three-pointers, each scaling up in size, durability, and reflexes."

"You get 'Villian Points' every time you immobilize or destroy a robot. They have 40 slots, so I'm pretty sure the 40 students with the highest points get into the hero course."

Ochako frowned. "Wait, that's all they score on? But there are so many useful quirks that don't affect robots, though! That's-that's just so dumb ."

"Yep," Izuku agreed, not even bothering to hide the bitterness in his voice. "Since we can't bring any tools or gear unnecessary for quirk activation, you practically need a physical kind of quirk. But that's just how it is. I doubt this targeted exam's even U.A's fault, really- the Hero Commission mainly wants flashy, powerful heroes that can grab the media's attention and make them look more effective."

It's been over a decade since Izuku received his quirk- plenty of time to accept how the Hero Commission really worked, and that his subtle and 'weak' memory quirk would be considered unheroic by a lot of people, no matter how hard he tried. No matter how useful it actually was.

Izuku wordlessly held out his hand and Ochako took it with hers.

The memory set into sharp focus. He stood still on a gray street, surrounded by unfamiliar, anxious students. In front of him was a tall gate that led to an empty, lifeless city. 

A sense of nervousness filled the air as his testing group prepared to compete for their future- the next ten minutes could very well determine the course of their lives.

Though it was a little different for Izuku, wasn't it? This was the first time he was living this particular day, and something this important could always be improved with a second try. He was still planning on trying his best, of course, but possessing such a powerful redo button at his fingertips could easily instill the dangerous mentality of nihilism if he wasn't careful.

Ochako was about to fight somewhere in a testing area just like this, and there was no doubt she'd pass with how amazing she and her quirk were. Izuku, on the other hand, was going to have to struggle his hardest to kill enough stupid robots to pass.

"Go!"

A sudden shout pierced the area, Present Mic's booming voice ringing loud through his ears, and Izuku was off into the city. Only a few other students reacted when he did, the rest left behind in a moment of stunned surprise before desperately rushing to catch up.

There are no countdowns in a real fight, Yagi had told them, and after learning who the man really was the words held far more weight. 

The robots were colored a deep, dark green and had red orbs placed like eyes where their heads would be. Depending on the robot's type, they had distinct shapes and a number painted onto their sides.

Izuku sprinted straight for the closest one, his favorite red sneakers pounding against the road. It was a one-pointer, vaguely humanoid with a large torso and a small, snake-like neck sprouting out of its top. A single red eye took up most of its tiny head and it had two large arms with flat shields built into its exterior.

"Target acquired!" The bot exclaimed threateningly at Izuku's approach, wheeling to meet him. A bulky mass of green metal swung towards Izuku's face-

Far too slow. Izuku smoothly ducked under the blow and leaped up, his palms pushing against metal shoulders to launch himself higher. In mid-air he twisted sharply into a perfect roundhouse kick, striking with all he had into its most vulnerable spot.

The one-pointer's neck caved in at the blow to expose machinery, damaged yet not dead. Izuku reached in and viciously tore out different wires until its red eye finally dimmed.

One point. 

Izuku took out three more one-pointers and one two-pointer with calculated blows before he realized that this just wasn't enough- he was falling behind the competition. Destroyed robots were littering the streets while he barely had 6 points.

But what else could Izuku do? It took him a while to destroy one-pointers and two-pointers. and he didn't even have the attack power to kill a three-pointer. To make things worse, two-pointers and three-pointers had short-ranged lasers that made them harder to approach. The disparity between Izuku's meager human strength and the robot's durability and attacks was too large-

An idea struck. 

Most of the robots seemed to be coming out of the street, hence the dead ones in clear view. But when Izuku traced the pieces of metal and compared it to his growing mental map of the mock city, he realized that a large number of them were appearing in groups somewhere. He dove into an alley and as predicted- four two-pointers clustered together. Time to test his theory.

The two-pointers were the fastest type, speeding at students on four flat legs. Their speed and short height made them hard to hit, and they also had a long tail capable of firing lasers. 

But inside a tight, enclosed alley, all of those advantages were useless. Izuku jumped in close, seamlessly weaving through all of their blows and beams. None of them came close- their attack patterns way too obvious to anyone with a sliver of martial arts training- leaving them to strike and destroy each other on accident.

Within five seconds, Izuku was victorious in an alley of crushed metal. 

14 points.

Timing it just right, Izuku made two one-pointers crash into each other.

16 points.

Three-pointers were way too tanky for him to beat, but their hail of lasers was great for taking down other robots. A group of clueless one-pointers was lured to their slaughter.

23 points.

Izuku set two robots up to collide, only for an infuriating blonde to steal them with his blue lasers. He glared after the boy as he danced away.

23 points.

A tail just grazed his head, stabbing into the robot behind him. Izuku snapped a kick in the opening and knocked the first bot's head clean off. 

26 points. 

Izuku dove past a two-pointer's charge and grabbed its tail with a tight grip. He twisted it as hard as he could to aim the laser at other robots, taking down three before he was forced to kill the struggling two-pointer.

30 points.

He yanked a girl out of the way of some lasers on instinct, pulling her to safety. She took down both two-pointers with a mushroom quirk before bowing to him shyly in thanks, a fringe of hair covering most of her face.

30 points.

A mighty swing from a three-pointer missed Izuku and smashed straight through two one-pointers at once. 

32 points. 

With his new strategy, Izuku was rapidly catching up to the rest! Just a few more minutes and-

Suddenly, a huge crash made every student look up and then promptly deny their own eyes. A massive robot now towered over the mock city, its blocky face practically as big as a house. Numerous red eyes peered down at them as it casually wrecked the buildings it traveled through.

The zero-pointer.

Thankfully, it didn't seem very fast, although it was obviously impossible to fight. What an utterly terrifying obstacle.

The other students panicked at the sight, screams erupting around Izuku as they all ran in the opposite direction. Izuku watched it for another moment before turning to follow, still looking for more points. 

Unfortunately, there were none to be found in the chaos. Besides a single one-pointer, Izuku didn't get any more points during the last two minutes of the physical exam.

"Time's up!" 

And there the memory abruptly ended, Ochako's room suddenly shifting back into perspective.

Ochako blinked a couple of times, readjusting a bit slower to their new surroundings.

"...Whoa. Those robots were a lot more threatening than I imagined. Especially those huge three-pointers."

"Zero Gravity was super effective against robots, by the way," Izuku reassured.

"Really?"

"Yep. You went around lifting them up to lethal heights and dropping them back down and according to you, got over fifty points."

"Whoa. Did I give you anything to pass on?"

"Mhm. It's a little funny, actually."

Ochako excitedly told him how she did as they stepped away from U.A, missing the fearful glances from the examinees in her area. She walked freely next to him, showing zero signs of nausea or quirk exhaustion.

"You told me that the robots were too light," Izuku murmured, suddenly feeling an odd mix of pride and envy.

It was almost sad to relive that exam. All those other students with powerful offensive quirks cruised through the exam and racked up incredible points, like that guy running around with engines for legs and kicking through enemies left and right. Ochako did even better than all of them.

And then there was Izuku, struggling to trick and defeat those same robots one by one.

"In the end, all I got on my first try was a pitiful 33 points- probably not enough to pass."

"What you did was amazing, Izuku-kun," Ochako told him. "You took down so many robots with actual skill and strategy, and even saved a bunch of people while you were at it. 33 points ain't bad at all! Plus we have another chance at it now, right?"

Izuku pursed his lips. "But that's exactly the problem- I need that second chance. All this training, all this work, and I'm still too weak to pass the exam without using your quirk. I can't just use you like this to make up for my lack of ability forever, can I? That's not fair to you, Ochako. If never met you, if I didn't have Reset, I wouldn't even have a shot of becoming a hero-

Ochako suddenly broke into a laugh. "No, no, Izuku-kun. It's the other way around."

"...What?" 

"Look around you for a second. C'mon, humor me."

Izuku did so, albeit a little confused. 

Her room was smaller than his and relatively simple. She had a map of the stars plastered on the wall, and there was only a single piece of hero merchandise- the Thirteen figure standing proud on her dresser. The other decorations in the room consisted of pictures of her family; Ochako or her parents smiling wide. He was in one too, actually, him and Ochako both holding up matching peace signs in the frame. Her captured grin was so bright that he wanted to dive back into the memory and watch it again.

His eyes landed on her wooden desk where ten of the twelve notebooks he'd gifted her were piled in a stack, her bright pink bookmarks poking out of their pages. They contained months and months of data focused on her quirk and martial arts; her impressive progression over the time he knew her. 

Izuku glanced back at Ochako to see her smiling, Ochako Analysis For The Future #12 gripped with five fingers- her quirk control now so perfect she didn't have to worry about accidental activation.

"It's the other way around," Ochako repeated. "Before I met you, I couldn't even float myself without getting sick. I barely had a chance of achieving my dream- and that was before I knew I'd be attacked by robots. Even without considering Reset, you're the reason I've gotten this far."

"Meanwhile, you were strong way before you met me. Even if you somehow fail the exam- which I really doubt you did- you'd just get in through that other method we researched. Placing high in the Sports Festival wouldn't be that hard for you."

The corner of his mouth quirked up at that. "That's a pretty big claim, y'know. I almost feel bad for the other students."

"Well, heck 'em- we're going to be taking two hero spots, anyway." Ochako declared. "I owe so much to you, Izuku-kun. So please, let me help you with stuff like this dumb, biased exam."

Izuku relented with a sigh. "I just wish I was strong enough to overcome my lack of a combat quirk and do stuff like this on my own, but I guess I'm not there yet."

"Maybe not. But you still took down, uh-"

"26."

"-26 scary robots with no prior knowledge or offensive quirk. Even if that's less than the rest, or no one else will ever know, I'll always find that pretty cool."

"...Thanks, Ochako."

She always knew what to say, somehow.

5:00 PM, Friday(First Reset)

Yagi stood tall in a darkened room, intently watching the array of screens in front of him. Around him, almost a dozen pro heroes were writing down notes on what they saw.

He hadn't had time to earn a full teaching license like his new colleagues, but he did make sure to complete several training courses over the past few months. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he could tackle education with nothing but his pro-hero experience and some time spent with teenagers.

That'd be ridiculous.

It was enlightening, really, to get that new perspective. It was well and easy to claim that he would be nurturing the next generation as an educator, but a lot harder to actually start doing it.

Yagi was in his de-powered form right now, his true identity already revealed to the trusted U.A staff. It felt quite odd being in his weak and thin state around all of these young and fit heroes, but he supposed he'd have to get used to it. Ah, the joys of getting older- maybe this was why Gran Torino was always so grumpy.

As Yagi suppressed a shudder at the very thought of that man, Nezu spoke up. 

"It seems that we have many extremely prospective applicants this year, everyone." The rat(?) clapped his paws almost gleefully. "This is going to be a very interesting semester! Ha!"

"Rein it in there, boss." A scruffy, black-haired man- Eraserhead- muttered. "I swear, you become more of a supervillain with every passing day."

The creature only laughed louder at the insult. "But is that such a bad thing, Aizawa-kun? Maybe if I was a supervillain, more humans would take me seriously!"

That was a joke, right? Right?

Nezu certainly looked non-threatening. He was cute, fluffy, and needed a custom-built chair to boost his height. The long scar on his face somehow only added to the harmless effect. 

But then you actually met him in person, and well-

"When you release the zero-pointer in testing site B, immediately wreck the surrounding buildings. The students are there seem to be extraordinary cocky, and while I do appreciate the confidence there should certainly a limit, no?"

"On it." The man in a large mask over his face- Power Loader- replied instantly.

"Shuzenji-san, please prepare to heal the red-haired girl in testing site A. She'll likely be knocked unconscious within 13 seconds."

The elderly woman- Recovery Girl- complied with a muttered curse.

A truly scary being. And Yagi had faced down All for One himself!

Yagi wrenched his focus back to the students in front of him, letting his blue eyes flick between the different testing sites. As Nezu said, the students were impressive- a large amount of them were defeating the robots easily with their wide variety of quirks. 

In one area, a green-haired girl stood still, hands touched in prayer, as vines tore through every robot in her vicinity. In another, a boy with engines on his legs effortlessly kicked through a three-pointer. Ingenium's younger brother, if Yagi wasn't mistaken. And in yet another, a black-haired boy charged straight into enemies with his skin hardened like a rock.

But Yagi couldn't resist following two teenagers more than the rest- the two he knew. 

Admittedly, he'd been worried for Midoriya at first. Although brilliant and quite skilled, the student's quirk was completely useless against the villain bots. And the villain bots were made of metal and had very durable armor.

But then the exam started, and Yagi realized that he was a fool for doubting the boy for even a moment. Midoriya shot into the city the instant Mic called it, far ahead of the other examinees, and swept through the area like a seasoned pro hero, efficiently taking down the one-pointers and two-pointers in his path with well-placed kicks to their weak spots. 

If he didn't have it already, he definitely grabbed U.A's attention when he started literally turning the robots against each other, tricking them into destroying one another with their own lasers and blows. The precision there was absolutely remarkable, and he was even racking up hero points as he did so by saving students and pulling them out of the way of attacks. It was almost like he knew what was going to happen next. 

Aizawa leaned forward in his seat, an interested gleam in his eye. "I want that one in my class." His demand left no room for argument. 

Nezu chuckled. "Naturally."

Meanwhile, Uraraka was doing even better. The brunette glowed pink as she gracefully flew through the streets, tagging every robot she glided by. Every robot she touched lit pink with her and floated up into the sky against their will.

It was incredible to watch the mass of villain bots lie suspended in the air, helpless, before they were ruthlessly slammed into the ground with her quirk's release. Uraraka didn't even seem to be tiring, powering through everything with a grin across her face. Yagi barely stifled a laugh at the expressions on the other examinees. 

"Does that listener have a hero parent?" Present Mic- Yamada asked, awed. "We almost never see that kinda quirk control outside of the recommended kids!"

"Nope!" Nezu answered cheerfully. "Uraraka-san's parents own a construction company, which is probably where she achieved all of that practice. She certainly has talent. Kayama-chan, how's the invisible girl doing?"

Yagi startled at that, glancing over. Sure enough, one monitor had been dedicated to a thermal camera that tracked a red, girl-shaped blob as she raced through the exam. None of the villain bots even seemed to realize she was there. 

"Pretty well, actually," Midn-Kayama replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "She doesn't seem to have the strength to take down a robot normally, but she's clever enough to sneak in attacks on distracted ones. She's also getting a ton of rescue points from all the um, unprepared examinees in her area."

Vl-Kan frowned. "I really hate that we have a teenager fighting out there with zero protection. If she gets in, we need a costume for her like, ASAP."

Power Loader(What was his real surname, again? Majishima? Maroshita?) nodded. "Yeah, I've been working on that myself. The support company we had a contract with just threw in the towel and gave her a pair of gloves, if you can believe it. What kind of 'costume' even is that?! We can sue them for that, right?"

Nezu nodded with a smile, his beady eyes glinting with malice. "We most certainly can."

Minutes passed, the students trying their hardest as the teachers monitored them and scored secret hero points. Yagi tried to remember all of the faces and quirks he'd be teaching.

And then, Power Loader handed the Principal a black device with a big red button. 

Even warned ahead of time, Yagi still couldn't help but gawk in horror and awe as an absolute mountain of a robot suddenly appeared to wreak havoc on the city; breaking buildings, crushing streets, and terrorizing the poor examinees.

What the hell was this school?