"oh my god, you're--"
"don't you dare say it"
"bakugo, i-- we're actually--"
"if you finish that sentence, i am going to fucking explode"
·°·°·°·
Soulmates. A word you hear constantly. Everywhere. Everyone has a soulmate, and everyone is born with a...
The sudden harsh words startled you. You realized you'd been staring at him, and you blushed in embarrassment. You stumbled over your words, trying to find the right thing to say. He made a 'tch' sound and turned away.
"Just shut up and don't fucking stare at me again," he grumbled. You hastily nodded and turned forward. You made a point not to look his way again.
Something seemed off though. There had been anger in his look towards you, but you could've sworn you saw a hint of...surprise? Recognition? Some other emotion before he turned away. This was so much different than the terrified boy you'd seen before. Before you could explore this thought further, a loud shout rang throughout the room.
"WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO MY LIVE SHOW! EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEY!" screamed the man up front. He had long blond hair that reminded you of a parakeet. You immediately recognized him as the pro hero Present Mic.
A deathly silence followed. Not a single person cheered back at him. You totally would have, but you didn't feel like being singled out in the giant crowd.
"I've got shivers down my spine, too, listeners! All right examinees..." Present Mic continued on as if nothing had happened. "I'm gonna give you the low-down on how this'll go down! Are you ready!?"
A loud "YEAHH!" sounded out, but it was only him cheering. This didn't seem to faze Mic in the slightest.
"Shut it," you heard Red Eyes say. At first you worried he must have been talking to you, even though you hadn't said anything. You hesitantly glanced over and noticed that he had instead directed his comment toward the boy on the other side of him.
No way. No way. It was the other kid from that day. The kid who rushed out to save Red Eyes.
Wait, Red Eyes? Guess that was what you were calling him now.
"Now pay close attention, listeners! We'll be testing your mettle by running a ten-minute practice run at our replica city-district!" A visual of the meeting places popped up on the screen behind Mic. "You can take whatever you like! Everybody gather at the designated meeting area after the presentation, ya dig?"
"They don't intend on letting friends or classmates cooperate with each other, huh?" Red Eyes spoke up again. Broccoli Hair (let's face it, you weren't all that great at nicknames) responded to him, but you couldn't make out what he said.
"Don't look at me, or I'll fucking kill you," Red Eyes threatened the other boy. He glanced momentarily at you and you quickly looked away. "Tch, it's probably set up so I don't get to crush you."
You couldn't help but be confused and frustrated by this guy's words. What the hell was his deal? Why did he seem to have such a resentment toward the kid who had tried to save his life? The whole ordeal left a sour taste in your mouth.
Present Mic began explaining how the exam worked. He had a visual aid up and...was that Mario? Was he really using Mario characters to explain this?
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
"Excuse me, may I ask a question?" a voice suddenly piped up, interrupting Mic's speech. A tall boy stood up a couple rows in front of you, holding up a sheet of paper. "On the hand out, there are clearly four types of villains listed! Such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of UA's caliber!! The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes!"
Oh. So he was one of those people. He did kind of have a point though.
"Moreover, what's with you?" he questioned, turning around to point at Broccoli Hair. Broccoli Hair jumped and began shaking from nervousness, pointing at himself to be sure. "Yeah, you, curly-haired kid! Can't you sit still for a second...You're distracting!! If you think UA is some pleasure jaunt, then leave this place at once!"
He punctuated his sentence with a glare and turned back toward Present Mic. Broccoli Hair apologized meekly while several students snickered to themselves. You felt bad for the poor kid. You made a mental note to introduce yourself later if you had the chance.
"Okay, oookay. Thanks for the segue, much appreciated, Examinee 7111! The fourth kind of villain you'll encounter is worth zero points! Let's call them 'arena traps'!" Present Mic went on to explain how these things rampage when crowded, so it was best to avoid them. This whole thing really did seem like a video game.
"Thank you very much! I apologize for being rude!" Glasses yelled. Well, at least he apologized.
"Well, that's enough from me!! I'll leave you all with a presentation on the 'school precepts' of this academy of mine! As a certain 'hero' by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'a true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life'!! Now let's move on to the main event!! PLUS ULTRA!!" Mic concluded the ceremony. "And may you all suffer gladly the trials to come!"
With that, everyone got up and left the auditorium. You followed the crowd, eventually getting to your designated meet-up place. You were amazed by how huge this place was. It was basically a whole town! You looked around, trying to find Broccoli Hair. When you did notice him, you found he was already talking with Glasses. Or, rather, Glasses was glaring at him while Broccoli Hair shook in his boots. You thought it best not to get involved there. You turned back to the front, trying to calm your own nerves.
"AAAAND START!"
You were startled by the sudden shout. Searching for the sound, you found Present Mic standing atop a large building. Nobody moved.
"What's the matter!? There's no such thing as a countdown in real battle! Run! Ruuun!! Consider the baton tossed!"
With that, everyone took off toward the field, you included.
You stopped by a nearby building to quickly think up what you could use. Raptor legs. Yeah, those could work. They were fast, and those claws could easily rip into things. As for your hands, you went with grizzly bear paws. Those claws were like Swiss army knives. You hoped you could keep the transformations long enough to get enough points.
You took off again, searching for "villains" to destroy. You easily took out a few 1-pointers and 2-pointers. Time was going fast. There were so many students dashing this way and that all around you. Broken robots littered the streets. By this point you had amassed 32 points.
There was a sudden rumbling not too far away. A huge cloud of smoke hid whatever was coming from view. And then it was there. A giant robot. It was gigantic, easily bigger than most of the structures around you. This was the 0-pointer.
You panicked and fled in the opposite direction, stopping only for a moment or two to help those who had fallen or gotten hit by stray rubble. Sure, you were scared for your life, but you weren't just going to stand there when people needed help. You'd learned already how awful it would make you feel.
"SMAASH!!" someone yelled. You turned toward the source of the noise just in time to see the giant robot get hit by something huge. It was knocked backward. Explosions fired from within, and it was practically destroyed. Looking upward, you saw Broccoli Hair himself.
What the hell?! How strong was this kid?? You thought he was quirkless!
