Chapter Text
Passing the written exams wasn't so hard.
As for Himeno, she actually loved reading books, and was also very clever.
"You are just like your mother."
Her grandmother would always say.
The only problem was the practicals. Her physical abilities were way too... lacking to compete with other wannabe heroes.
Plus, she was almost always sick because of a side effect of her quirk.
It was worse than grueling.
Himeno entered UA, where she was supposed to take directions about the practicals.
"Hello there. What is your name?" a man with a chart there asked. He was one of the staffs.
"Matsumoto Himeno." Himeno replied rather coldly.
"M... H... take this." the staff gave her a piece of paper.
"There would be buses with the letters A to E outside. You can take the bus with C."
"Thank you, sir."
She left the building right away and got on the bus that said 'C'.
The bus was already filled with people. There were seat sets two-in-one, and every seat set had at least one person sitting either on the outside or the inside.
Fuck my luck. Gotta sit anywhere.
She sat on the seat roughly in the center, where a blond guy was already sitting on the inside. He was quite good looking.
She had no intention to talk to someone, especially if it was opening up first. Everyone were competitors unless this was a team game.
No benefits from stupid friends.
Himeno turned her phone on to listen to music. Not until she turned on the music app that she realized the guy next to her was staring at her.
And what's this?
"Hello." said guy was still staring at her when she turned her head to see him.
"You're here for the practicals too, aren't you?"
"...So? Everyone here came for it." Himeno's response soon came.
"Yeah, I know it too. Too well." the guy answered. "I mean, we're competitors, but we can be companions?"
He smiled rather... mysteriously, as if he was hiding another persona.
"You must also have worked so hard to come here. Studying, training and stuff..." he glanced at Himeno, who wasn't responding. She was practically ignoring him.
"What's your quirk?"
"None of your business."
"I was just curious."
"I wasn't born yesterday. No one would do a pep talk about their quirk with a competitor unless they're as stupid as a goldfish. I'd rather invade the test ground with a quirkless body and a machine gun."
"Wow, you're playing hardball."
"None, of, your business."
"Oh, and by the way, we didn't introduce each other." the guy stretched his hand out to Himeno.
"The name's Monoma. Monoma Neito."
"I don't care. Who knows we'll both pass?"
...That was what she wanted to say- but she stopped. It was too much.
"...Matsumoto Himeno."
It didn't take long until they arrived. About a few minutes?
Himeno got off the bus and looked around. The test ground was filled with people, people, and people.
Dizzy.
[EY, LISTENERS! You're all here!! Welcome to the practical exams of UA high!!!]
A voice with a stunning volume suddenly boomed from the speakers stuck everywhere.
Shit, it's probably about to start. I should get ready now-
[Let's begin!!!!]
"What! Already?! You should at least give us time to prepare!" a spiky haired brunette with round eyes shouted.
[But villains don't give heroes time to prepare!]
Himeno breathed in, then out. In again, then out.
"Showtime."
When the examinees entered Ground C, robots began to appear one by one, making horrifying creaking sounds as they moved.
One odd thing was that there were numbers and 'p's written on them. 1p, 2p, 3p...
"What, we're supposed to destroy them with our quirks? Not a competition between the examinees, huh?" Himeno muttered as she strolled towards the robots.
"Robots?! GET THEM!!!!!" all the others began to charge towards the robots, immediately noticing how the exams worked.
However, they were faster than they thought.
"Ugh!" Himeno quirkly ducked and dodged a swipe from a 2p robot.
"Wait, this isn't as easy as I was thinking it would be. Fuck those machines!" she dodged another.
KABLANG!
And then, the first robot destroyer laughed triumphantly, stepping on the robot's head rather violently.
"Ha! Not a chance, loser. Some damn fucking robots goin' after me!" it was a guy with an appearance like a mantis, with green skin and mandibles. His height and English accent made him seem much more threatening.
There were sharp blades grown on his arms, and he stabbed the robot's head with it, cackling like a psycopath.
The numbers shown on a LED screen on one side of the exam ground changed a bit.
[Kamakiri Togaru: 2p]
"Aha."
Stockpiling points...
Through robots.
Himeno used more wind to fly away from another robot.
She had no intend of rough counterattack or creating a whole tornado with her quirk. Why? At least this had a proper reason.
First, she didn't want to get attention. It was needless, and there were many more ways to destroy robots and get points.
Second, what were the other examinees going to do if she destroyed all the robots by herself, even if by accident? That was too much, although she really wanted to be in the hero course.
Gotta increase my speed. No matter how much I attack a robot close to death, anyone can interfere and steal the chance to completely destroy it.
"Hey~" suddenly, she heard a familiar voice from behind.
"That was close. You definitely should do better than that." it was Monoma.
Himeno glared at him, stomping over to him.
"Ey, don't hamper me when we're in the middle of an exam. Stop bothering me and bog off." she snapped.
"And whether I'm doing good is none of your business."
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. I was just trying to encourage ya. Sorry if I bothered you." Monoma replied, lightly tapping Himeno's shoulder with his hand.
"And thanks for your quirk."
"What?" Monoma was already gone when Himeno turned to face him.
It didn't take long for her to realize that she was the only one with her point left in 0.
She took a deep breath.
"Increase your speed."
[Target acquired.]
[Target acquired.]
[Target acquired.]
She began to get practically on it.
She slid through the air at the speed of wind, not giving time for anyone as well as anything to react as she snatched up a metal stick and slashed it through the closest robot.
The robot fizzed and crackled, soon breaking down to the ground.
Himeno got a tighter hold of the stick when suddenly she bumped into someone who was running past her.
"Ow! The fuck you are-"
"Oh, sorry!"
When she turned to face the person, she was already breaking another robot at the back. She was a girl with orange hair and huge fists.
Big hands? Is that what just hit me?
Irritation struck Himeno. She clenched the stick tighter than ever, and charged towards one of the robots left on the ground.
The robot hurled its arm towards Himeno, but she jumped out of the way before it struck. Then, she twirled the stick between her fingers and smashed the robot apart.
"Alright, what's next?" she spun around to spot another robot coming for her.
"I see. Gotcha- ugh!" suddenly, the same guy from earlier charged past Himeno, striking her shoulder in the progress. He leaped onto the robot, leaving it to struggle to get him off, and stabbed its nech with a blade.
"Oh, fucking-"
Kamakiri, was it? Kamakiri Togaru?
"Hey! That was mine, mantis. You think you're gonna get away with destroying that?! You saw me!" she yelled.
"Don't talk bullshit. This's a competition, girl. If you wanna bitch at me for just that, then call your mom." mantis guy- Kamkiri- snapped, not seeming surprised or hurt by Himeno's words.
Himeno's eyes burned with anger. "Oh, how dare you-"
[Target acquired.]
Himeno flinched, immediately turning around and breaking a robot apart.
"Huh...?" however, she spotted a guy who was trying ro destroy the robot first. He was all ready to shoot a laser beam towards the robot, but missed the chance because of her.
"Ahahahaha!!! Look, you also steal chances, you bitch of a thief. How expected from a wannabe hero!" Kamakiri mocked her, then turned and left.
What is that fucker? Great, he has a talent of making somebody else wanting to hit him in the ass.
Himeno clenched her teeth, mad as hell at the childish and rude behavior of 16-year-olds.
"Okay, okay. I get it. So everyone wants me to get into UA with top score, am I right? I may do as you wish."
She was just being quiet and doing her thing for the first few minutes.
No one knew that she could change this much.
She was now going mad, destroying every single robot that got into her view. Her points began to go up fast. 2p, 4p, 7p and at the end... 30p.
It was a lot compared to the time she actually had to destroy the robots. Well, of course it was a 'lot', but it definitely wasn't 'enough'. The top scorers with the highest points had over 35, or over 40 at most. Her name was still in the middle.
Those names- she could guess the people with the letters(since Horikoshi always makes the names with letters that show their traits), though...
Is hampering allowed?
She soon shook her head, shaking off the thoughts. She knew too well that she wouldn't be able to pass if the scores just stopped like this, but her inner consciousness was yelling- hampering or hurting someone else is bad.
Well...
Well...
However...
Maybe she would have played deaf-
Maybe she would have, if only she knew-
Or maybe she would have gone to destroy more robots before it struck-
Or maybe...
[Targets acquired.]
A huge, huge shadow drew over the examinees at once as an enormous robot appeared in sight, the machine's creaking sound making everyone cover their ears.
What even is that thing...?
Matsumoto quickly examined the robot, curious about how much points that thing was worth. The points were usually written on the flat part-
Ah-
[ 0p ]