24. The test.

Aizawa rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Are you done?" He asked.

"Yes." Deku replied looking at the man, sharp as an eagle.

I could almost hear the old western showdown music ringing in the background and the tension was palpable, hanging heavy in the air.

"Sensei." I said, playing firefighter, "He didn't mean any of it. He's just a hothead.

How about we all cool our tempers and just proceed with the tests, eh?"

"No. Midoriya here believes he can make the cut, even without UA. So how about we put it to the test?

If Midoriya comes any rank below 10, he gets expelled!" Aizawa answered.

"Oh C'mon! Now you're just being a dick!" I snapped, theatrically.

Could Deku come in the top ten?

Hell yes he could!

If Momo can get the first place, Deku can get the tenth, easy as pie.

But was I going to make it look easy?

Fuck no!

This is the moment to build an impression, and no way was I going to let it slip.

"As I already said, life is not fair. Villains won't be fair, disasters won't be fair. Deal with it!" Aizawa snarked, ringing his whistle.

"Let's begin the test!"

I walked up to Deku as the tests began, only to be rebuked.

"Matsun." He said, stern, "I will do this on my own."

"Alright. But remeber my advice." I replied and turned my attention to the tests.

I could go superhumanly fast but it wasn't in my interest to reveal my powers this early.

Therefore I was going to aim for a little less than peak human potential.

The whistle blew once more, a shrill alarm to my sweet plans.

And so the tests began.

We started with the 50 meter dash, which I cleared in 5 seconds and change, just ahead of Ojiro and Mina.

Deku meanwhile got a decent sprint at 6.98 seconds, far ahead of the norm.

Then came the grip strength test.

Now was my time to shine and show Deku a way put of his suicide pit.

Hanging back from the crowd, I watched as Deku fumbled around with the measuring device, failing to shove his foot into it to force it up.

Tch. Idiot, through and through.

As the rest of the students completed their tests and submitted their scores thsir eyes hinged on us, waiting and watching, until at last Deku turned to me, teary eyed, like a dog begging for a piece of pizza.

I sighed and walked over to the center of the room, as Aizawa made his way towards us too, meeting in the middle.

"What are you waiting for? Do I have to post a notice on the board here, especial for you?" He railed on Deku, before turning to me.

"And yo-"

"Sensei." I interrupted, "All I have to do is use my hands and pull up the bar right?"

"..Yes. That's all." He replied, amused and intrigued.

"Well then...." I said, giving Deku a knowing glance, before removing my shirt, and wrung it into a thick rope.

Deku nodded understandingly and followed suit.

Threading the shirt rope through the handheld device, I crossed the shirt tight around the bar and sat down on the floor, holding the device between my feet.

Then, I began to twist it with my hands, tighter and tighter, as squeeking sounds rang across the room, the bar pulling up, slowly and steadily, till the shirt itself began to tear.

710 kg for me. 604 for Deku.

Aizawa nodded, an excited smile upon his face, and noted down our scores, muttering 'subarashi!'.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Bakugo shouted, mad at Deku surpassing his score.

"No, it's not. This is a grip test. They gripped the bar. I never said you couldn't use tools!

Heroes use support items all the time." Aizawa replied, shooting him down.

Scowls and disappointed sighs greeted us as we rejoined the group for the other tests in the room, si ups, toe touching and side steps, both of which I passed with higher than average grades, surpassed only by Mineta, by virtue of his quirk and short body.

Then we returned to the field for the rest, as Aizawa led us to the sand pit.

"Time for long jump. You know the rules. Let's get it over with." He said, tiredly, and pulled out a measuring tape.

One by one, the students jumped across, until my turn came.

I stood by the jumping line and turned Aizawa, asking.

"So, in this, the length is measured by when my body touches the sand right?"

"You ask too many questions." He scowled, stressing Deku more than me.

"Which is good!" He added, giggling at Deku's plight.

"And yes. The distance is measured with the point where your body touches the sand." He answered.

"Thanks." I replied, and summoned a footpath of shelves laid flat on the sand as I walked over them, earning a perfect score.

Deku on the other hand tried gymnastics, fliping over and over until he leapt off the edge of the pit with his feet, coiled like a spring, and landed just short of the other edge, fingers first.

A soft crackle could be heard clearly as Deku's fingers nearly broke like kitkats, the soft sand of the pit becoming his saving grace.

That he didn't smash his face into the concrete edge and curbstomp himself is a miracle in and of itself.

Deku almost doubled over in pain, but hid it with pure rage, fuelling himself until the adrenaline kicked in.

Though, his face gave away a fair share of his pain, scrunching up like a pickle plum.

I resisted the urge to giggle, but Bakugo didn't, earning himself a ice cold glare from Deku and the rest.

Then after the long distance run, cane the final test, ball throw.

This time though, Deku didn't need my help, as he promptly turned his pants into a sling and shot the ball far, landing at a 109 meters away.

Uraraka landed her infinity as in canon and Bakugo's scores actually dropped a bit to 703 meters after being exercised for the better half of an hour.

Then came my turn.

Once more I turned to Aizawa.

"Sensei~" I asked, in a nauseating tone, "As long as I don't leave the circle, using my quirk is fine, isn't it?"

Aizawa nodded in agreement before his curiosity took hold of him.

"What are you going to do now?" He wondered out loud.

I just smirked in response, as I shot the ball straight up in the air as high as I could, to everyone's surprise.

"Huh?!" A collective sound came out, as everyone had their eyes glued to the ball, anticipating my next move.

As the ball reached it's peak, I summoned a shelf below it, back to the ball.

The ball fell a scant few centimeters onto the descending shelf and rolled off it onto another shelf I summoned mid air, exactly next to the first.

As soon as the ball rolled off the first shelf and onto the second, I unsummoned the first shelf, saving myself from being crushed by it.

Slowly, I repeated the pattern, and the ball rolled down on a slide of falling shelves, gaining speed, until it rolled off the last bench at my range of 200 meters and flew across the field, landing far away.

"291.4 meters." Aizawa announced.

"That was awesome!" Kirishima cried.

"So precise!" Iida gasped, "Truly worthy of UA!"

"Cheh!" Bakugo scoffed, "Nothing special about it!"

"Really? Could you have done that with his quirk?" Mina countered.

"Of course! I'm going to be the number 1 hero after all. And heroes don't lose to extras." Bakugo replied, head held high.

"Oh, they don't, do they?" I taunted, "Then surely you'll rank above me in the test, wouldn't you?"

"Heh! No doubt about it!" Bakugo said, taking the bait.

Oh boy! I'm gonna have fun crushing his pride, not chip by chip but by the whole block and a sledgehammer, till all that makes him is shattered into nothing.

Aizawa rang his whistle and gathered us around.

"Alright. Here are the results. Let's see who gets expelled, shall we?" Aizawa said, relishing in the student's misery.

He reached for the projector remote, deliberately slowly, watching for our reactions.

A holographic screen popped up by the school wall, displaying the results.

1. Matsumoto Yuji

2. Yaoyorozu Momo

3. Todoroki Shoto

4. Katsuki Bakugo

5. Tenya Iida

6. Midoriya Izuku

...

If one were to be especially prudent in their hearing they would have been able to almost make out the audible cracking of Bakugo's ego, seeing himself landing at fourth place, after a lifetime of being the big fish in a small pond.

His face drained of color, and his breathing quickened a pace or two as sweat dripped down the sides of his face.

"Weren't you going to rank first?" Mina teased, poking the hornet's nest and Bakugo's humiliation turned to anger, bubbling over.

"No...." he muttered quietly, under his breath, grinding his teeth, his fists clenching tight, shaking.

He turned to look at me and Deku, his head swerving in place like an owl, anger apparent on it.

"You cheated....yes, you cheated. That's why...that's why...." he growled, baring his teeth.

Mina backed away almost on instinct, as his hands began to spark behind him, unnoticed until now by all but me and Aizawa.

I saw Aizawa-sensei look at him nonchalantly, and took the hint.

He wouldn't interfere just yet.

Yeah, no. I ain't letting him catch me unprepared.

Instantly, I summoned Bakugo's book, flipping it open to the latest entry.

A left hook. It read.

I didn't even have the time to face him again, before he barreled into me.

Shit!

I slid back and sidestepped him, as his punch grazed my shoulder.

"Cheater!" He screamed, "Stay still!"

"Nope. Unlike you, I'm not an idiot." I said, hopping away from him.

"Hyaaah!" He cried and turned, coning at me once more.

Right kick. Straight through me, I read, bending over backwards, just as he zipped over me, singing my hair with the heat of his explosions.

Even with all my training, it was a narrow dodge. Guess it'll be difficult to deal with him without using my shelves.

That's why I fucking hate prodogies!

But no bother.

I made my fighting style to counter their kind specifically.

Maybe it was time to finally put the second stage of my self made martial arts to a beta test.

A style made to put me on equal footing with monsters and geniuses, with pure mathematics and hard work.

I let out a deep breath, a white mist releasing from my mouth, concentrating to my fullest extent.

Anatomy Style, Form 2

Instinct Counter!