《Puppet Master [A Boku No Hero Academia Fanfiction]》 Prologue : Where it all begins ''Hey, today''s the big day, i thought that today of all days would be one of the times for you to get serious...'' "Not there yet". A quiet voice replied, unfazed by the voice that seemingly spoke in the recipient''s mind. ''...'' A sigh of exasperation reverberated through the recipient''s mind, the sender going quiet after that, seemingly convincing themselves that no amount of pestering or logic would be enough to get his master and best friend to stop playing on her Game Buddy Ultimate (GBU). The pair were currently walking down the sidewalk, having alighted from a bus some time ago. In the lead was a young girl with hot pink hair wearing a black cap, her hair bundled up in a bun that went through the hole in the back of her cap. She was wearing a grey hoodie jacket with a black T-shirt with loose-fitting pants, together with some regular running shoes. Her chest was bound with cloth, suppressing the ample chest that she had. She had clear baby blue eyes and an incredibly cute and beautiful face that could rival the cutest of children and the most beautiful of models. From a bystander''s point of view, she would look like a typical teenage boy coupled with the fact that she was deeply concentrated on the device held between her two hands, not even bothering to look where she was going. Sounds of rapid clicking could be heard from the device as well as game noises, she was currently playing the newest installment of the Vakkan fighting game, Vakkan 23 which was released just a few days ago. She was playing on endless mode with one of the newest characters to figure out their move set and viable combos, but if anyone were to watch her playing, they would be shocked at the win count she had accumulated in the few days the game was released and the sheer efficiency she took out each of her opponents. It was as if she was a professional Vakkan player with that character as her main, though that was impossible by the fact that even most Vakkan professionals were still trying to memorize the individual combos of the character and haven''t even started thinking of linking up moves. Walking right beside her was a male figure wearing mostly the same clothes with a different color scheme, but also wearing black skin-tight gloves, a black surgical face mask, shades, with their hoodie up.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The tomboyish girl had bumped into someone as she was walking but did not even register it as she continued walking past her victim. "Oi!! Watch where you''re going boy!" the victim, a middle-aged man in a suit, with skin slowly switching between the colors of the rainbow called out to her, getting ignored in the process. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and continue on his way to work. The male figure bowed profusely in the direction of the victim but made no effort to apologize verbally. They turned back to catch up to the girl while placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. ''i know you like this new character and all, but that was terribly rude Ayajo...'' "...Sorry" After a few silent seconds, a quiet apology sounded out from the girl named Ayajo who had paused her game. Though mostly emotionless, there was a hint of regret the male figure could hear in her voice that only a few others would be able to hear. ''...Just don''t do it next time, ok?'' Ayajo nodded, unpausing her game as the sound of rapid clicking returned, the pair walking the rest of the distance to their destination in silence. ~~~ After a few minutes of walking the pair had arrived at their location, U.A. High School, U.A. is the number one ranked high school for heroics and is considered as the top Hero Academy in the whole of Japan. It was responsible for nurturing top heroes from all over the world and is highly sought after due to their excellent amenities centered mainly on heroics classes and the fact that almost every single one of the staff, from the cafeteria staff to janitors are all pro heroes. Ayajo and her companion had stopped just inside the gates of UAs premises, Ayajo for the first time since they had left their house, had looked up from her device to admire the place she''d be spending the next three years of her life in. A light chuckle was heard within her mind, she turned towards the offender with a questioning look in her eyes. ''While i do not doubt that we... well you, will pass the exam, you should only think that once you get accepted'' Her companion answered, seemingly knowing what she was thinking. Ayajo kept her GBU inside of her pocket, looking around at the people surrounding her, she saw multitudes of people the same age as her with different attire, some with sports attire others with casual, and she even saw someone in a suit. Though what differentiated between them was the abilities and powers each of them displayed and the physical manifestation that those powers brought. Some of them were displaying their powers, otherwise known as ''Quirks'' probably to test if they still working properly and to cool their nerves before the entrance exam. People with horns, claws, extra arms and even someone who had engine exhausts coming out of their legs, to people electricity, bubbles and birds covering them. Some looked totally normal but she knew better to underestimate them. She nodded to herself in acknowledgment of her near future competitors, though she doubted if anyone in the practical portion of the exam could surpass her, including her two other best friends, she knew that not taking this seriously would only be her downfall. Together with her companion, headed straight into the doors of UA, and straight into the path of the beginnings a future hero. Entrance Exam Arc 1 Following the directional signs inside of the school, the pair made their way to the initial gathering location of the entrance exam. Ayajo could sense the prestige of the school just by looking at the size of the hallway, being tall and wide enough to fit a double-decker bus and still have room left over. Any doors she saw were easily more than three times her height, the quality of construction and materials used for the building impressive to the point that even a layman like her can tell that the school only wanted the best for their students. Despite the impressive surroundings, she didn''t have any point of reference if what she''s seen as normal for most high schools, maybe gigantic doors are in all high schools? ''Definitely not, U.A. is certainly unique in that aspect, even the most prestigious of high schools wouldn''t have unnecessarily huge doors'' Ayajo nodded in acknowledgment to the answer to her unasked question, if any high school were to be uniquely different from other high schools, it would be U.A. The pair arrived at a huge doorway which was the entrance to the gathering location, examinees streaming into the room with some staying outside to collect themselves and calm their nerves. Ayajo entered the room with her companion following from behind, the room was a giant indoor amphitheater with a giant screen and stage at the front, examinees seated all around the room haphazardly. They were quietly discussing amongst themselves, only a bit of noise could be heard within the room which was designed to reverberate sound, signifying the amount of seriousness they regarded the exam with. Selecting a seat nearest to the exit, Ayajo whipped out her GBU the moment her body touched the seat, eliciting another sigh to be heard within her mind, as her companion sat next to her. The entrance exam was to start in around fifteen minutes, so she still had plenty of time to continue playing on endless mode. Her companion looked around the room, searching for someone before finding them a moment later, in the front row at the very middle seat. though they couldn''t see their face there was a very prominent feature about the person they searching for. They had a little golden crown sat atop a head of gray hair that attracted the sights of some of the examinees nearby due to the light reflecting off the crown and giving off a golden glow. Looking around again to find another person and finding them at the end of the row. They were much more visible than the prior person, revealing that it was a teenage boy with a slim figure. With one leg over the other and hand on his chin, a mischievous smirk on his face, he had slick black hair that was combed from front to back. his one visible eye was glowing yellow before turning back to brown a few seconds later. As if feeling the presence of someone looking at him, he turned towards Ayajo''s companion, his smirk turning into a more friendly and welcoming smile as he gave a small wave in the pair''s direction. Returning with a wave of their own, they nudged their arm against Ayajo''s, getting her attention and flicking his head in the direction of the slim teen in the distance. Looking over at the teen, she gave a small nod before immediately going back to her game. The teen rolled his eyes, his smirk returning before going back to idling in his seat. After nearly fifteen minutes the room was fully packed and the quiet chatter slowly turned into silence as the examinees noticed that the exam was about to begin. Not long after, the door to the side of the stage opened, a person walking through and onto the stage. He wore punk like attire, orange-tinted shades, headphones, and long blond hairspiked upwards in a huge tuft behind his head, and a small mustache. He had a comically huge smile and a strange device around his neck similar to a speaker. He walked up to the podium and looked around the room, nodding to himself in approval. "Soundcheck, soundcheck, one two three!!" His voice reverberated throughout the room, though unaided by any visible microphone his voice was highly enhanced in volume though he might have been using the device on his neck to do so. ''That''s present mic, a pro hero with his own radio show, his quirk allows him to increase his voice to deafening volumes, being the announcer for the entrance exam is quite suitable for him'' Though Ayajo didn''t visually react to the information given, she internalized it as present mic could be one of her teachers in U.A. "Alright!! Let us begin examinees!! Welcome one and all to my live show!! Everybody say hey!" The pursuing silence did nothing to dampen the prior enthusiasm present mic had shown, with him continuing. "I''ve got shivers down my spine too, listeners! All right, Examinees..." "I''m gonna give you the low-down on how this''ll go down! Are you ready!? Everybody say YEAH!!" ... "...Now, pay close attention listeners! We''ll be testing your mettle by running a ten-minutemock battleat our replica city districts!" "You can take any equipment and items with you provided it has been approved prior to the entrance exam!! After the presentation, you''ll head to the specified battle center, okay?" ... "OKAY!!" Ayajo looked down at her exam ticket which indicated as examinee number 3521 and that her test location was at battle center A, she wondered if she were to encounter her best friends at her battle center, hoping she doesn''t as she wanted to go all out during the exam. "We''ll be sprinkling a large number of ''villains'' over the battlefield! And they''ll appear in three different varieties, with point values scaled according to difficulty!!" Present mic pointed over to the screen, the silhouettes of three mechanical looking enemies with points assigned to each of them on display.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Using each of your individual quirks, dispatch as many ''villains'' as you can. Your goal, listeners, is to rack up a high score!" "Of course, attacking other examinees and any other unheroic actions are prohibited!" "three?" Ayajo questioned, turning to her companion in confusion, in her hand was a handout that was handed to her by her companion, who had taken the liberty of taking one for her when she had ignored the large pile of handouts on a table just outside the room. The handout had foursilhouettes, with the silhouette missing from the screen assigned zero points, adding to her confusion. ''They''re probably going to explain it soon, i doubt the number one school for heroics would do something as embarrassing misprint information on the examination details'' To prove she wasn''t the only one confused, in the middle of the crowd of examinees, a male examinee with a well-built body wearing a prestigious looking school uniform and neatly combed hair had abruptly stood up with their hand raised. "Excuse me, may i ask a question!?" The examinee asked rather loudly, not as deafeningly loud as present mic but loud enough for the whole amphitheater to hear. "On the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed! Such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top tier national academy of U.A.''s caliber!!" "The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes!" Thinking that the examinee was finished talking, present mic opened his mouth to start speaking again before being interrupted by the same examinee. "Moreover, what''s with you, curly-haired kid! Can''t you sit still for a second, you''re distracting!" The examinee had turned behind to point at a student with curly green hair, attracting the attention of the entire amphitheater. "If you think U.A. is some pleasure jaunt, then leave this place at once!" He harshly finished before turning back to the stage, still standing to receive his answer. An obvious but quiet murmur of giggles and snickers could be heard in the room, all directed towards the green-haired examinee, who shrank into his seat in embarrassment. "Meanie..." Ayajo stated, a slight frown could be seen on her usually expressionless face. ''It was kind of harsh to do that in front of the whole amphitheater, i can''t imagine the number that had done on the kid''s nerves...''Her companion replied, more or less agreeing that the still-standing examinee was a bit of an asshole. "Okay, Okay, examinee number 7111, thanks for the great message!" "The fourth type of ''villain'' is worth zero points! That guy''s an obstacle, so to speak. There''s one in every battle center, an obstacle that''ll go crazy in narrow spaces!" "It''s not impossible to defeat, but there''s no reason to defeat it either, I recommend that you listeners try to avoid it!" "Thank you very much! Please excuse the interruption!" The mean examinee bowed down before taking his seat, satisfied with the explanation. ''Its almost no different from a video game now ain''t it? This should be a breeze for you then, shouldn''t it?'' Ayajo''s companion jokingly said, nudging her gently on the arm. Ayajo gave a cute little pout, barely noticeable, turning her head away in mock anger from being teased about her obvious gaming addiction. "That''s all from me! Finally, I''ll give you listeners a present... our school motto!!" "The hero Napolean Bonaparte once said... A true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life!" "Go beyond!!" "PLUS ULTRA!!!" "Now, everyone, good luck suffering!!" The silence that had permeated the room since the beginning of the presentation had abruptly broken the moment it had ended, turning into excited and nervous chatter on what was to come. "Everybody!! please exit the amphitheater in an orderly fashion and follow our staff member to one of ourparking lotswhere we will be organizing everyone into their respective battle center groups, from A to G!!" While no one rushed towards the exits, everyone had stood up from their seats and exited the amphitheater with the urgency of someone needing to take a number two, quickly emptying the room in no time at all. Having chosen the closest seats to the exit, Ayajo, and her companion had been the first to leave, meeting the staff member that was to lead them to the school field. Though they didn''t look too heroic, not having any distinct physical features, the pair could sense that they were far from an ordinary person, even if they weren''t a pro hero. The trip to theparking lot took around fifteen minutes, slightly surprising the pair and the examinees following behind them, though all of them did their research prior to taking the entrance exam and knowing the actual size of the school, experiencing the size themselves was a whole different matter. On the parking on, the staff member had taken a megaphone from one of the other staff members scattered around, holding up signs with the letters A to G printed on them, each in front of a U.A. branded bus. "Okay examinees!! Please distribute yourselves into your respective battle center group according to the signs my colleagues are holding!" "Please do not join a battle center group that does not match your designated battle center! Doing so will immediately disqualify you!! During the grading process, it does not matter how many points you had gotten, rules are rules!" "We will be heading out in five minutes so please do no dilly-dally!" The crowd of examinees split themselves according to their groups, the pair headingtowards Group A. Halfway to their group, Ayajo had spotted the green-haired examinee that was embarrassed in front of everyone walking with his head down and clearly nervous, He was walking towards Group B, being in the same general direction as their group. She jogged ahead to catch up to him, companion following behind. She placed her hand on his shoulder, having to reach up a little bit, as, despite the boybeing quite short for his age, she wasa bit shorter. The boy turned to look at her in confusion before she had a chance to say something. "Don''t mind, good luck..." With those four words, she gently patted him twice on the same shoulder before moving towards Group A, those four words only furthered his confusion. Her companion had reached him before he could start walking to his group again, putting out a hand that obviously was a sign to stop. Satisfied that their silent request was met, they reached into their hoodie jacket to take out a notebook and pencil, flipping it open and quickly writing down a message before facing the written page towards the boy for him to read. ''Sorry for my friend over there, she just wanted to tell you not to dwell on what happened earlier during the presentation, and that she hopes that you''ll be able to do your best on the examination, best wishes to you from me as well'' The boy''s face morphed from one of confusion to surprise and finally to one of shy happiness, thankful for the stranger that showed kindness to him even during such a competitive examination. He bowed his head towards the one who had cleared his confusion and bowed once again in the direction Ayajo had walked, stating his thanks. "T-thank you!!" Watching him walk to his group with a slight smile on his face, Ayajo''s companion could tell he was still highly nervous, but less so than before, satisfied that their and Ayajo''s efforts were not in vain. They jogged towards Group A to praise Ayajo for her encouraging words, despite not being understood without his clarification. Thebuses headed off to their respective battle centers, each examinees nerves becoming high-strung, as each second led them closer to the real beginning of the entrance exam. Entrance Exam Arc 2 "...Big" Arriving at battle center A, Ayajo was the first person to speak after seeing the sheer size of the battle center, the rest of the examinees were in awe and unable to formulate a verbal reaction. The staff member who had led them there had wished them good luck and had promptly left without any further instructions, leaving the examinees to idle at the entrance a bit confused, wondering if another staff member was on their way for the next part of the exam. All of them were doing their preliminary preparation such as testing out their support items and equipment, stretching themselves out and some even sitting on the ground crosslegged to calm themselves. Though there was no need for Ayajo and her companion to prepare similarly, they had their own set of special preparations themselves. ''No better time than now to reveal myself isn''t it?'' Ayajo nodded, taking that as a sign of confirmation, her companion slowly pulled back their hoodie to reveal leaves where hair should''ve been shaped to look like a typical guys hairstyle. Some examinees had watched on in interest as they were the only person in their group fully covered in clothing that revealed none of their skin, curious about what they would look like. They had all assumed it was due to their quirk that they had to cover every inch of their body, so they were little disappointed as something like leaves for hair wasn''t anything special or worth hiding. Though that disappointment soon turned into surprise as they watched them remove their shades and surgical mask, followed by their gloves and then finally taking off their hoodie jacket. Revealed was a featureless wooden head similar to a mannequin head, with a slight protrusion coming out the front similar to a nose. It had wooden arms and fingers, with each segment ending in a joint which allowed it to have the same range of movement as a human, or even beyond that. Though the examinees had seen their fair share of physically altering quirks in society, it was the first time for them to see someone so different that they would''ve assumed it was an actual puppet if not for its ability to move unaided and was clothed. Despite their curiosity, they still had the exam to focus, no longer paying attention to their puppet-like competitor. The puppet person shrugged its shoulders, not caring about their reactions as it turned towards Ayajo. ''Hey, hurry up and bring out One to Five already'' Ayajo nodded to the request, though not seeming to do anything, the concrete road started rumbling around her, alerting the surrounding examinees. In five different spots around Ayajo, five figures burst out from the ground, bringing up concrete dust with them. With dust clearing, the figures revealed themselves to be humanoid puppets made out of concrete from the road. "One..." Ayajo called out, a puppet shaped to resemble a military general, a crack going across its expressionless face to resemble a scar saluted, reacting to its designation and name. At its sides were two concrete combat knives, looking sharp enough to rival a regular combat knife despite its material. "...Two..." Another puppet, shaped to imitate a certain green muscled hero punched its massive fists together, creating a resounding boom in the area that kicked up some dust, reacting as well. "...Three..." The third puppet was shaped to look like a ten-year-old kid with a baseball cap holding a concrete baseball bat over its shoulder and giving a thumbs up, confirming its name. "...Four..." A puppet that had the form of a shapely woman that seemed to be wearing a mini dress and had short static concrete hair gave a little wave, in its other hand was an open concrete umbrella, whether the umbrella could open and closed was yet to be seen. "...Five..." The final puppet, shaped after a stereotypical gentleman, donning a concrete suit, a top hat, a monocle and finally a concrete walking stick gave deep stage bow with hands extended by its sides. Nodding towards her creations, Ayajo turned towards her wooden companion and called out his name. "...Zero" ''Yo, a little unnecessary to call out my name wasn''t it? Well not that i mind though'' The wooden puppet called zero crossed its arms, tilting its head to the side as it looked over at its master and its colleagues. The commotion of the ground shaking had attracted most of the examinee''s attention and the little display that followed had them dropping their jaws out of shock and disbelief. Most of the shock came from the sheer aura of strength exuded by both One and Two, Two being easily over two times taller than the tallest examinee in their group. Even a certain explosively violent examinee had a bit of a shock when he had looked over at the commotion, unlike most examinees, he could slightly feel the level of danger that the unnoticed Three, Four and Five had despite their weak-looking forms. That only proved that their strength lay beyond pure strength and power, luckily or not, he had failed to even notice Zero standing at the side of Ayajo, as did many other examinees who were too occupied by the other five puppets. Before the shock could even begin to fade from the examinees, the ground started rumbling again and twenty-four more concrete puppets emerged from the ground, with forms similar to an androgynous mannequin. They had distributed themselves amongst puppets Zero to Five, each getting four puppets of their own. "AAAND START!!!" Present Mics voice had resounded in everyone''s ears, unable to even react to the additional puppets Ayajo had created. "What''s wrong? There are no countdowns in real fights! Run, run!! The die has been cast, you know!" The examinees immediately decided to forget about what they had just seen and started running into the battle center, the gigantic doors already wide open.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Before anyone had even entered, all the puppets had leaped over them, with Ayajo piggybacked on a regular puppet, leaving them all in the dust. The entourage of puppet promptly split up, Ayajo with Zero with their team of four regular puppets. All of them had received commands on the actions they would take during the exam from Ayajo. With there being six teams of puppets, Ayajo had split the battle center into six equal areas. The top left, top middle, top right... And the bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right. With one team to one area, they were to take out as many robotic villains as they could while assisting anyone who might be in trouble or is unable to handle their opponents. They are not allowed to interfere with anyone who is already engaged with a villain and can handle themselves. Sounds of explosion and metal hitting the ground could already be heard as the examinees spread themselves out within the battle center, to not crowd in one area and have more chances of having villains to themselves. Multiple examinees within battle center A were witnessing the carnage the groups of puppets were dealing to the robotic villains. The strength, speed, and technique of a regular puppet was enough to trump the average examinee two times over at minimum, taking only one to two strikes to take out a one-point villain. Though it was the amazing teamwork amongst the regular puppets that had them taking out two-point villains and even three-point villains with ease. A certain group of four regular puppets were currently fighting with a three-point villain, wasting no time to deliver strike after strike at the durable robot, going one after the other in perfect sync to control the aggro so no one puppet was targetted for a prolonged period. From start to end it had only taken nine seconds and they had already moved on to the next villain to defeat. Puppets One to Five were special in their own right, each having their own set of unique skills and strengths. One took out villains with such efficiency and power that each slash of it knives would incapacitate one and two-point villains with a single slash in less than half a second by aiming for their leg joints and separating their primary weapons from their main body. Two, despite their size, was still incredibly fast and bulldozed through multiple one-point villains, instantly taking them out. They were only fighting three-point villains head to head as they considered one and two-point villains to be too weak to directly confront. Even so, it only took two direct punches at most to destroy the three-point villains. Though Three was actually much weaker than even regular puppets, they made up for it with their small stature and immense speed. They mostly blitzed past most villains in their area of the battle center, striking each one they passed with their baseball bat damaging the villain a little bit. With their speed though, they were able to traverse their area of the battle center multiple times over, encountering the villains they had struck before and struck them again. A huge number of villains in their area thus became more and more damaged each time they blitzed by, usually being destroyed by the regular puppets or examinees in the area, and you can be sure that the examinees were very happy with fighting against already damaged enemies. Four, instead of going off on their own like the other main puppets instead joined the group of regular puppets in their area and had become the team leader. Four was blessed with an immense tactical and intelligent mind compared to their other siblings, the result of that was the ability to effectively lead group battles and immense battle techniques that could trump One in certain areas. Four and her team members were currently doing battle with a large group of villains consisting of all three types. The villains were not programmed to work together in teams so this large group was not due to their programming. Four had purposely instructed her team to lead the villains to a large open area so as to take them all out at once. Usually, regular puppets would not have sufficient tactical prowess to be able to able to take out such a large number of enemies, but with Four as the leader, it became immensely different. They had begun guerrilla warfare tactics upon the group of robotic villains, taking out villains that were secluded from the group and retreating, and striking all at once at the bigger threats like the three-point villains when they were distracted. Five was the most unique of the group of puppets, their style of combat was similar to breakdancing, with limbs flying in all directions, and going way beyond the range of movement of normal humans, making them highly unpredictable. They were currently spinning their upper body like a top, hands extended to their sides while running through a crowd of one-point villains, the force of the spin not being enough to incapacitate most the villains and had only flung them away. They all jumped towards Five at the same time, with all possible exits blocked, Five started doing a head spin at high velocity with their arm and legs also starting to spin as well, creating a spinning tornado of death that instantly ground all the villains that impacted into metal scraps. The group of puppets were decimating the number of villains by the second, though it seemed like there were still enough villains for the examinees to defeat. The examinees in battle center A all had a similar thought when they watched the hordes of villains being defeated unstoppable concrete puppets. ''If the creator of these puppets did not attend the exam, how the hell would we have been able to face so many villains at once?! How are the other battle centers handling their villains without our overpowered examinee on their side!?'' Though most of them thought this way, some were bitter and jealous that someone was gifted with such a powerful quirk. Those without that line of thinking were thankful towards the examinee that cut down the hoards of villains and didn''t interfere with their battles. Some were more thankful than others as they had been helped or rescued by the puppets when they were in a tight spot or were about to be severely injured by any falling debris or the attack of a villain. --- Inside of a dark room somewhere in the U.A. campus were dozens of screens of different sizes on a wall displaying the examinees currently battling in the battle center, with dark silhouettes watching the screens. All of them at the moment were currently watching a set of screens displaying Ayajo''s group of puppets, all of them were watching in silence, due to their immense shock at the rate Ayajo''s puppets accumulated her points from defeating the villains. "Hahahaha!! And you all told me that my plan for situations like this wouldn''t be needed!! Good thing i created it anyway~" A high pitched male voice laughed out, all the silhouettes turning their head to look at the speaker, a bitter smile on their faces. The voice that had spoken was none other than Nezu, or principal Nezu. Principal Nezu is a white-furred creature who is a combination of several different animals, including a dog, a mouse, and a bear. He had a prominent scar crossing his right eye and sports a white dress shirt, a dark red tie around his neck, a black double-breasted waistcoat and matching dress pants. He had previously come up with a plan in case any examinees showed so much potential that they robbed the opportunity of other examinees to showcase theirs, by effectively draining a battle center dry of its villains. There were originally a limited number of villains in each battle center which was calculated based on the data gathered from previous entrance exams, scientific data on the increase of lethality of quirks throughout the past decade and a bit of extrapolation just in case they came up short. With the plan Nezu had come up with, there would be a manual control that allowed him or another examiner to send out a certain number of villains to the overreaching examinee depending on how much excess potential they showed. All the new villains sent out would have a slight inclination to fight with the examinee in their programming or whatever the examinee sent out to fight with them, such as Ayajo''s puppets, they will still fight with normal examinees when attacked but will have a lesser chance of targetting normal examinees on their own. Nezu had immediately initiated his plan when an examiner had brought the room''s attention to the blisteringly fast rate at which the villains in battle center A was decreasing, which was no longer than one and a half minutes into the exam. Nezu had sent out a number of villains into battle center A that exceeded the original number of villains at the start, able to calculate if the examinee Ayajo would be able to handle such a number alone, though when he thought about it, she is the furthest from the definition of ''alone'' compared to any other examinee. Nezu looked over to one of the screens displaying Zero defeating four three-point villains in a single slash of their wooden katana that they had acquired from somewhere. In the background was ayajo standing around nonchalantly, being protected by four regular puppets that attacked any villain that got anywhere close to her. He looked to two other screens, with one showing an examinee that had also over exceeded, though not as much as ayajo, and one showing an examinee that was trumping the other examinees in his battle center despite looking as if he has not been using his quirk. He smiled brightly and thought to himself, ''The next three years will be very interesting for sure!'' Entrance Exam Arc 3 ''Is it just me, or are there way too many villains?'' Zero had asked as they destroyed villain after villain, nearly eight minutes had passed since the start of the entrance exam. Though they had no problems defeating the hoards of villains that came at them, they were questioning the difficulty of the exam in regards to other examinees, knowing full and well that without them and Ayajo''s puppets, the group of examinees would be crushed by the sheer number of villains. Ayajo shrugged, whether or not there were too many villains for the exam to be fair for other examinees, she and her puppets were doing perfectly fine. She was quite glad at the number of villains as she had been worried that she''d have to hold back to give other examinees a chance to earn points, displaying less of her potential than she wanted to. The moment there was only two minutes left to the exam, in the center of the battle center the ground split apart and slowly opened up, all examinees in the area quickly evacuated the area. From the opening in the ground, came the zero-point villain, being over a hundred times bigger than all of the other villains, even towering over the buildings surrounding it. Examinees fleed in terror, none wanting to take the risk of fighting anywhere near that monstrosity, though as they were fleeing they saw the puppets they''ve seen all around the battle arena running past them in the direction that the zero-point villain was in. Ayajo had commanded all her puppets to meet near the center the moment a puppet had reported the emergence of the zero-point villain. The moment they had all met up, with no question asked, they all sprinted in the direction of the zero-point villain to take it down. The regular puppets had been assigned to help anyone near the feet of the villain to escape as well as working together to slowly destroy its giant threads while avoiding the falling debris from the buildings it was destroying. One to Five had been assigned to destroy its arms as those were the villain''s main weaponry, destroying buildings with every swing of its arm. They all scaled buildings not yet destroyed by the villain and jumped onto the villain''s arms and destroying everything that looked vital and important. --- "As expected, with her immense talent and battle prowess, I''d be disappointed if she didn''t attempt to defeat the zero-point villain!" Nezu commented as he watched Ayajo''s puppets go to work on the zero-point villain on a few screens, spotting a certain wooden puppet scaling up the back of the villain on another screen. "She isn''t the only one, look over here! This examinee who had not gained a single point until now has started running towards the villain!" An examiner shouted out, pointing to a screen that displayed a familiar green-haired examinee frantically running in the direction of the zero-point villain. "This year''s examinees are crazy... there are two more taking on the zero-point villain if all of you haven''t noticed." Looking towards the screens that the examiner had pointed out, one screen displaying a large hoard of one, two and three-point villains attacking the zero-point villain in battle center F. While the smaller villains were being targetted and destroyed by the zero-point villain, there were still too many for it to handle, slowly wearing down from the traitorous villain''s attacks. On one of the three-point villains in far back of the crowd, shooting missiles at its target, stood a gray-haired examinee wearing a small crown laughing boisterously with hand on his sides and a cocky smile on his face. "HAHAHAHAHA, Submit to your king!! Subjects, attack with everything you''ve got!! Your king demands it!" The hoard of villains started attacking with more vigor, not caring about any damage sustained due to their suicidal barrage of attacks. An arm of the zero-point villain had fallen off at that point, its durability slowly reaching its end. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. On the other screen displayed an examinee with slick black hair running on the roof of a building close to the zero-point villain of their battle arena, the villain had spotted him sent their hand crashing into the side of the building. An ordinary examinee would be panicking and falling through the air at this moment, with the ground beneath them destroyed, but this examinee had jumped at the very last moment and landed on one of the falling pieces of building debris. He didn''t stop there as he continued to jump from piece to piece of falling debris as if the zero-point villain hadn''t destroyed the building in the first place. He had jumped onto the hand that destroyed the building he previously ran on and ran up the side of the villain''s arm with no decrease in his speed as if knowing that he wouldn''t fall off. Reaching the top of the villain''s head, he ran towards a very specific spot atop its head and pressed his hand onto the metal surface. It was revealed that the area he was pressing his hand on was a hidden button and had revealed a number pad that required a four-digit code, with no hesitation he inputted four number and a control panel revealed itself nearby. "Huh!? How did he know the location of the maintenance control panel of the robot!? No...how did he even know the access code to it in the first place!?" An examiner stood up from their seat with a bewildered expression on their face. The examiners watched the screens as four different zero-point villains in four battle centers were being taken down by four crazy examinees. The examinee that had unlocked the control panel had used it to shut down their zero-point villain making it abruptly stop its movement, confusing other examinees who had been watching it cause destruction to all the buildings around it. He could be seen lying down, hands behind his neck, on the zero-point villains now still head with a satisfied smirk on his face. The green-haired examinee had jumped a great distance into the air and punched their zero-point villain straight in the face, instantly defeating it in the process as it fell backwards. The examinee with a crown had sent his robot subjects into a final suicide attack, commanding them to attack all at once, the zero-point villain stood no chance with its current level of damage and had exploded from the sheer force of the suicide attack. Finally, the zero-point robot at battle center A was on its last legs with its thread severely damaged, making it unable to move, and both its arms out of commission. Zero had climbed atop its head and had easily slashed an opening into its head with their wooden katana and had jumped inside, destroying everything inside of the villain''s head. With all its important internal hardware destroyed, it had stopped functioning, making the puppets stop their attacks and started gathering around Ayajo to celebrate their victory. "THE TEST IS OVER!!!!!!" Present Mic announced the end of the exam, making most the examinees in all of the battle centers to collapse in exhaustion. The most exhausted at least mentally were the examinees in battle center A, needing to avoid the inhumanly strong puppets and their battles against hoards of villains as they searched for villains not yet targetted by the puppets. Zero had was the last to return to Ayajo, Ayajo exactly the way she was when the exam started since all she had done was follow Zero around and be protected by her puppets. "Good job" Ayajo nodded towards Zero, praising him for his hard work for the past ten minutes. ''Don''t just praise me, everyone may be able to feel your satisfaction through our connection with you but its better when you say it out loud'' "Good job everyone" each puppet from the regular puppets to One to Five was given a separate nod of approval and praise, all of them quite happy that they had received it from their usually stoic master. "See you next time" With those words, all the puppets excluding Zero crumbled into concrete dust and debris, their role in the examination finished. Ayajo took one last look around at the destroyed buildings, leftover scraps of villains, and the thoroughly destroyed zero-point villain, before heading to the exit, Zero following along. Soul Energy After the exam, A U.A. staff member escorted the examinees from battle center A to a luxurious room with comfortable couches, bean bag chairs, bright colorful decoration as well as drinks, and snacks provided by the school. They had informed the examinees that the written portion of the examination would be starting in an hour, causing almost all of the examinees to groan, still physically and mentally exhausted to be even thinking of the next portion of the exam. Luckily for them, the staff member had stated that anyone who did not want to do the written exam today was free to leave the premises within the hour and come back tomorrow, U.A. knowing that this was going to happen. Once again, the majority of the examinees cried out in relief and joy as a large portion of them had started to head for the door. Ayajo was laying down on a bean bag chair holding up her GBU while continuing to play her endless game in Vakkan 23, not even reacting to the commotion that the examinees made around her. Zero had laid down beside her to watch her play, both of them not even noticing the deadly glare they were receiving from an ash-blonde haired examinee from across the room. A few hours later, the pair had exited U.A.s premises, Ayajo having completed the written portion and were currently standing just outside the main entrance. There was a funny incident when a staff member came to their room to escort them. Zero, who was again fully covered with clothing had told them by writing on their notepad, that they wouldn''t be part of the exam and would be waiting here as Ayajo took it. The staff member had immediately changed their respectful demeanor to one of strictness and had told Zero to leave the premises immediately or they would be forced to call security. They were probably highly suspicious of Zero due to their clothing that made them look extremely dodgy, thinking that Zero wanted to commit a notorious act in the school. It didn''t help that they thought that Zero had written that message instead of saying it out loud so as to not reveal their voice. "Pfft!" Ayajo had laughed felt Zero panic internally, as she went over to the staff and explained that Zero was part of her quirk and revealing Zero''s wooden nature. The staff member was a little shocked at the revelation and apologized for the misunderstanding. Thinking back to that incident, Ayajo''s mouth slightly turned up into a small smile. ''I know its funny and all, but i was seriously worried when that staff member had actually threatened to call security, only goes to show how serious they are keeping malicious intent at bay, seeing as they are the first ranked hero school that produces top tier heroes.'' Two people had come out of the entrance and had noticed Ayajo and Zero to the side, one was the slick-haired teen and the other the teen who wore a crown. "Ayajo!! I see that you have completed the exam before us!" The crowned teen called out to Ayajo in a loud voice, with his signature expression that revealed a slight arrogance on his face. "She probably rushed through it since you only need to pass instead of a get a good score, especially since the practical portion has a higher weightage." The slick-haired teen commented while rolling his eyes as he followed. Ayajo gave a small pout, barely noticeable, towards the teen before turning her head away and continuing to play on her GBU. The teen shook his head as he let out a small laugh, the group of four started walking to the bus stop to go home for the day. ''How was the exam? And you know i mean the practical portion of it'' Zero had asked via his notebook to the slick-haired teen. "Stephen and i had been talking a little bit when we met each other after the exam and he definitely got a higher score than me just listening to him." "Stephen did what?" Ayajo asked, she knew that Stephen''s quirk while very versatile and powerful, and had a lot of potential, but it had little actual firepower. "This Majesty did not expect to do as well as I had." "I had originally planned to command the robotic villains to send a single attack towards their nearest ally to instigate them to fight and destroy each other as i had assumed they were programmed to attack anything that attacked them in addition to attacking any and all examinees." "Then i had noticed that the robots i had commanded had no visible delay or hesitation when carrying out said command." Ayajo listened on in interest at Stephens retelling of events, already guessing where it was going. "I had assumed their programming would act as their will in relation to my quirk, but it didn''t seem to be the case, so i attempted to use an auto-command to control a one-point villain and it had used multiple times less of my royal energy compared to controlling just one of Ayajo''s regular puppets!!" "Stephen... made robot army?" Ayajo had guessed out loud, inciting Stephen to make his arrogant grin bigger as he laughed out.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "HAHA! Yes, I did! It was the first time since I had gotten my quirk that I felt like a true king with his own personal army!!" "After discovering that, I breezed through the rest of the exam while sitting atop one of the many three-point robots under my control" Stephen stated proudly. "Though unlike Ayajo who had split the battle center into six different areas and distributed her puppets into them, you had purposely kept all your robots near you and manually commanding them instead of commanding them to move around the battle center and attack all enemy robots" Although Ayajo, Zero, and Stephen had noticed that they had not revealed any of the facts he had just stated, they were not surprised as they knew it was just his quirk at work and the fact that he does this frequently. "That may be true, but watching my army annihilate every villain that crossed their path was utterly invigorating, not to mention the fear and panic displayed by every peasant that encountered my army was priceless!!" "Zenchi, my dear friend, you would not understand..." Stephen placed his hand on Zenchis'' shoulder, shaking his head in mock sadness. "Big robot?" Ayajo asked, wanting to know how her friend had dealt with the zero-point villain, wondering if he had successfully controlled it as well. "The zero-pointer? That was decimated by my army, naturally! Though i did have them do a final suicide attack to finish it off... since i would not have needed them past that point" "You didn''t even attempt to control it either, that would have been an impressive feat in its own right..." Zenchi sighed at his friend in disappointment at a lost opportunity. "Impressive or not, there is no denying that a pile of metal scraps that was once the zero-pointer has a much greater emotional impact than leaving it without a single scratch, despite it switching sides," Stephen explained logically. "In addition, I did not consider it at the time as I was only thinking of watching it crumble under my army''s sheer power" He added truthfully. "Though there is still one that i cannot get my head around, why is it that despite Ayajo''s puppets and the robots being nearly the same, her puppets are able to resist my commands and robots cannot?" "Both are basically non-living constructs implanted with a purpose, goals, and sets of actions that they are able to follow, acting as their ''will'' in relation to my quirk" "The robots may not be counted as having a will due to their non-living nature and that your quirk wouldn''t recognize code, programming and artificial intelligence to have a will." Zenchi speculated, wanting to help his friend learn more about his quirk. "Ayajo''a grandfather had taught us that humans are more than just the electrical signals in our brain and that we all have a soul which is the basis of our very existence." Ayajo and Stephen nodded in understanding, that piece of knowledge had been taught to them at a young age, and had been deeply ingrained into their mind. "For Ayajos puppets, they are basically an extension of herself as she uses her quirk energy to create them" "So what if instead of the energy latching onto a material and allowing it to move and be manipulated by Ayajo, it was actually breathing life into it, it would explain why they are so life-like in terms of behavior." "I can imagine that every time that Ayajo creates a puppet, she is infusing a portion of her soul into it, it would explain why she is able to control and command them, as well share senses with them, and even communicate telepathically like with Zero." "So that would make her puppets count as living things and thus their designated purpose and goals that they had been assigned with would be counted as their will, thus being able to resist your commands!" Zenchi finished, satisfied with his logical explanation. "While that was a very good explanation, i cannot help but notice how much you had built upon Ayajo''s own quirk and even made it sound cooler than it ever was while doing so!" Stephen had exclaimed, slightly boggled on how Zenchi had come up with all of that. ''Oh, i love how you phrased that, and it would explain me quite perfectly, seeing as how I''m like a permanently separated part of Ayajo''s soul, it would explain my emotional growth and mental that exceedsnormal human standards'' Zero had written down, showing to the three teens. Zero was happy at the analogy that Zenchi had created for Ayajo''s quirk, proud to actually be considered living and having a soul, despite it only being a part of their master''s soul. "Soul energy!! You should name your quirk energy Soul Energy! You will finally have a personal name for your energy like the both of us." Stephen shouted out, soul energy was very cool sounding and was proud of having come up with it, even though it wasinspired off ofZenchi''s analogy of Ayajo''s quirk. "Soul Energy...cool" Ayajo gave a nod in approval as her lips upturned into a small smile, happy to with the name Stephen had come up with. ''Looks like we''ll have to update your quirk documentation book now don''t we?'' Ayajo nodded in agreement at Zero''s question, eager to get home quickly to write down everything that Zenchi had said before she forgets. In the distance, the quartet had spotted their bus to their neighborhood arriving to at the bus stop, Ayajo rushed towards it first, not wanting to wait for the next one as the trio behind her shook their heads in unison and ran right behind her. Acceptance Letter ''So how did you do on the exam Zenchi?'' On the bus, Stephen and Zenchi had asked Zero how they and Ayajo did on the exam, though they could already guess how they both did. It was exactly as they had expected, with Ayajo sending groups of puppets all around the battle center and taking care of them, they could both easily confirm that Ayajo had vastly exceeded them in points. Zero had asked Zenchi for his experience as he was hasn''t shared yet, and it would much more interesting than the clear cut experience they and Ayajo had. "Well, I decided to simulate during the examination rather than simulate it as a whole before it started, since I could save more energy that way, and be more precise with the outcome i want to get." "I simulated a fight with the first one-pointer i encountered and for a few simulations, I was testing to see how well I could defeat them without any special tactics, it was pretty bad." "It took me more than ten seconds to defeat a one-pointer with my best outcome and trying with a three-pointer, it took me a whole half-minute at best to defeat it." "It was obvious that i was much slower than other examinees when i watched them defeat their villains, so i examined defeated one to three-pointers that were mostly intact to find any weaknesses that i could exploit." "I noticed that on each of the robots, there was an area that i was able to press like a button, and testing what would happen when i pressed it while fighting them, it had shut them down" "So for the rest of the exam, I simulated the fastest outcome to shut down the villains I encountered and cut down my time to defeat a three-pointer to less than ten seconds" Though he can''t be compared to Stephen and Ayajo, he had certainly exceeded the majority of examinees. "Did you attempt to take down the zero-pointer as well? It would be embarrassing for you to not have even attempted it unlike the both of us who had taken it down, despite the futility in doing so" Stephen questioned, he was hoping that his friend had at least attempted to defeat the zero-pointer like both he and Ayajo, though it seemed a bit impossible even with Stephens quirk. "Well even though i simulated during the exam, I did simulate the full ten minutes once before it started to see what would happen and to scout out the battle center, and i found out that at the two-minute mark was when the zero-pointer would''ve been released." "At the three-minute mark, I activated my quirk for a full minute and ran through the possibilities and outcomes for the zero-pointer and already knew that i would be able to defeat it, though i did become a tad slower in defeating the robots in that one minute as i wasn''t simulating the fastest outcome for them." "Basically, I chose the outcome that allowed me to reach the top of the zero-pointers head and had found a button like on the other robots that revealed a number pad which i had to input a four-digit code into." "Then I obviously simulated all the possible codes and found the correct one and shut it off." Zenchi finished proudly, he was glad that his attempt to defeat the zero-pointer was not in vain, even though the only thing he would''ve gained was his own satisfaction and maybe be commended by the examiners. "Good on you Zenchi!! You achieved the outcome you wanted me to achieve, defeating the zero-pointer with it still in perfect condition!" Stephen commented sarcastically, Ayajo giggled a bit and Zero placed their hand on Zenchi''s shoulder in a placating manner, seeing his eye twitch in annoyance. With all three of them having shared their exam experiences, they all talked about what they think to expect when they entered U.A. for the remainder of the bus ride, all of them confident about being accepted. --- A week later, at Ayajo''s house, Stephen and Zenchi had come over with their acceptance letters the moment they had received them, wanting to open it when the three of them were together. They were in the living room in her house and were seated on the couch, with each of them holding their acceptance letter, Zero was sitting next to Ayajo, in suspense at who would open their letter first. "...Why are we just sitting here in suspense!? It is as if we are not confident in our acceptance into U.A.!! Since that is the case, I shall open mine first!" And with that, Stephen tore open his letter and a disc-like object fell out onto the floor. Before anyone could react, the object projected out a holographic screen that started to play a video. "Hello, examinee number 8241!! Or should I say Stephen Ozoku!!" In the video was principal Nezu who had started speaking and referring directly to Stephen, the quartet was not unaware of the identity of the speaker as it was only natural that they would know the principal of the U.A. "I won''t leave you in suspense, so I''ll just state it directly, you passed!! But this isn''t the end of the letter! This video message was personally made to commend you as one of the top three!! That''s right you''re in the top three!" Stephen cheered in pride at having placed amongst the top three, his friends clapped in praise, glad to see their friend so happy. "The way you led your robot through the streets of the battle center was exhilarating!! And the way you had finished off the zero-point villain had made multiple examiners watching cheer and stand up from their seats!" "Hopefully you haven''t read through the hardcopy letter which we were obliged to send you, which contains the rankings and points for all the people who had passed the exam, as i want to tell you myself" "Before I tell you your score, we actually had a hidden scoring criterion other than just defeating villains for points! We call them rescue points!!" The group was only a little surprised at the revelation as when they thought about it, a hero is more than just defeating villains, rescuing the victims is also a very important job of a hero. "We had a panel of judges within our group of examiners that scored you based on your altruism and selflessness during the exam, this was mostly to help those that struggled to earn points via defeating the villains, because what kind of hero school would we be if we didn''t accept those who have strong sense of saving others and doing the right thing?" "Enough on that, though your rescue points did not compare to your villain points, I am glad that you still sought out to help others even with your threatening army." "Hmph, though they may have been cowardly peasants, a king does not sit idly by as their subjects get hurt in front of them," Stephen told himself, the praise at helping others did not mean much too him as he did not do it to receive thanks or gratitude, only because it was the right thing to do. "Now to reveal your total points!! You Stephen Ozoku had earned yourself..." --- Yesterday in U.A., the examiners and judges of the entrance exam a week ago had gathered in a room with a large screen and were currently waiting for the rankings of the entrance exam to be released, prior to sending out the acceptance letters. While some of them knew the rescue points of the examinees due to being the ones who scored them, the majority didn''t know their villain points which were carefully calculated for the entire week by looking through the footage of the entrance exam and assigning the points to the respective examinees. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The slight chatter in the room quieted down as they saw the screen turn on and display the rankings and points for all to see. The room started conversing again as they saw the ranking and searched for the examinees that they had kept their eye during the exam, hoping that they had passed. Amongst the chatter were two examiners who commenting on the students in the top ten when they had suddenly started talking about Stephen. "As expected, Stephen with his army of robots has clinched a spot on the top three, being second overall." Examiner one commented. "With his ability to take control of the robots, it was impossible for him to fail as taking control of them would count as having defeated them." Examiner two added on. "Not if he had released his control early, but it seems that he would have been able to control them until the end of the exam, though it didn''t matter since he had sent them all to their deaths defeating the zero-point villain" "What is funny though is despite his performance that exceeds all other examinees, being ranked second and all, the gap between him and first is like heaven and earth, even with a huge score of..." --- "...211 points!! With 182 villain points and 29 rescue points, it is an astounding score!! I''d like to say that you had beaten our previous year''s score but that privilege goes to the first ranked examinee!! Anyway, that is all from me, I look forward to guiding you on your path to becoming a hero!! See you in school when the semester starts!!" Wanting to compare his score with the other passing examinees, he searched for the hardcopy with the rankings but found it in the hands of Zenchi. "Hey! give that back, this Majesty needs to see how much worst the peasants ranked below me did! And confirm if Ayajo did, in fact, come first!" Stephen stated angrily, knowing that Zenchi had used his power to predict that he was going do that. "And that would spoil the surprise for the rest of us... so let''s see the rankings after Ayajo has opened her letter because I''m opening mine next" Unlike Stephens''s letter, his did not contain a holographic video but had a folded up piece of paper inside that contained a handwritten message, unlike the printed documents which also came in the letter. ''Examinee number 1966, or Zenchi Kanosei, this is a letter especially for you. I had taken an interest in you when you had displayed no obvious evidence of using a quirk during the examination apart from the fact that your eyes glow yellow for periods of time.'' ''Despite knowing that you do in fact have a quirk, you had fought like a normal human with the villains and shut them down like you had known where the button was since the start, and you had also known the location of the maintenance panel and the code to the number pad only makes me more curious about your quirk'' ''Going against all the other examinees with powerful and weird quirk hadn''t hindered you in clinching a spot on the top ten which further proves the potential you have. I look forward to guiding you on your path to becoming a hero in the years to come'' ''Congratulations on placing sixth with a total of 115 points!'' ''-Principal Nezu'' Zenchi was flattered that the principal had taken notice of him and his quirk, and went to check his score on his official documents. It had stated that he had 81 villain points and 34 rescue points with the document including an explanation on what rescue points were. Despite not including it when he had shared his exam experiences with his friends, he had actually spent a lot of time rescuing and helping people who were about to get hurt by the villains or was struggling to defeat them. As someone who could see into the future, it was nearly impossible to see someone get hurt in his possibilities and not want to help them, so he followed his heart and decided to help them as his conscious would not allow him to ignore those in need of help. Stephen had patted him on the back in praise, while Ayajo had told him ''good job'' for getting sixth overall. Next was the most anticipated moment, Ayajo was about to open her letter, though she carefully tore it open and set the disc-projector down on the coffee table. The video was nearly the same content with the exception that Nezu had referred to her full name, Ayajo Kazeki, and had not revealed her ranking. He had also exaggeratingly praised her for almost breaking the exam and how she had beaten the previous record-holder multiple times over. "Now to reveal your total points!! You Ayajo Kazeki had earned yourself..." --- "...It is also possible that his quirk allows him to process information multiple times faster than normal humans and thus is able to be effective and efficient in his battles" Back to the day before, a pair of examiners were discussing the nature of Zenchi''s quirk after seeing him place in the top ten despite being unable to see how his quirk had helped him. "That wouldn''t explain how he immediately knew that there was an off-switch and its exact location on his first villain!! Don''t get me started on how he knew the location and code of the zero-pointers maintenance panel..." "He was one of the four examinees that had taken down the zero-pointer huh? One other being the examinee that sent theirs flying in a single punch, and the other had whittled it down with their army of robots, and the last one being..." The examiner paused, looking at the name at the top of the rankings. "...the first ranked, Ayajo Kaneki, It was unbelievable how effective her quirk was for this examination." "Though with the power that a single puppet showed, she could become an expert in any field of heroics, just imagine how efficient her quirk would be during rescues" "Being able to summon dozens of powerful puppets that are able to work together efficiently, she might become the greatest rescue hero if she focuses on the rescuing side of heroics" "I''m sure she''ll become one of the best heroes even in of the more violent side of heroics, her quirk would allow her to efficiently subdue groups of villains or criminal groups without a single one getaway" "Her total points are the proof of it huh? If she showed this much potential just in the entrance exam, I can''t even imagine the shock and awe she''ll generate from the sports festival..." --- Back at Ayajo''s house, the Nezu in the video had suddenly paused right before saying how many points she had gotten, confusing the group who had been waiting in anticipation. "Is... the video buffering?" Stephen had asked, before anyone could answer him, the Nezu in the video had started speaking once again. "Well, it''s better if you see it in the rankings to see the difference between you and the other examinees in an instant, with that, I look forward to guiding you on your path to becoming a hero! See you when the school term starts!" Stephen and Zenchi had put on a face of annoyance as Ayajo eagerly searched for the document with the rankings, her three best friends sitting closer so that they could read the rankings together. 1st: Ayajo Kaneki Villain Points: 486 Rescue Points: 64 Total Points: 550 Start of School 1
Name: Villain Points: Rescue Points: Total Points: Rank:
Ayajo Kaneki 486 64 550 1st
Stephen Ozoku 182 29 211 2nd
Kastuki Bakugou 163 0 163 3rd
Eijiro Kirishima 86 45 131 4th
Tenya Iida 108 14 122 5th
Ochako Uraraka 57 59 116 6th
Zenchi Kanosei 81 33 115 7th
Ibara Shiozaki 71 40 111 8th
Itsuka Kendo 53 56 109 9th
Izuku Midoriya 0 85 85 10th
"..." "Huh!?" Stephen cried out, unable to believe his eyes, though he had already guessed that his friend had beaten him and clinched first place, he did not expect such a huge gap between them in terms of points. Zenchi was still in silent awe, as he not used his quirk to look at the rankings ahead of his friends, wanting to live in the present at this important moment in their lives. ''It''s expected yet unexpected, even for us'' Zero wrote down, showing to the two wide-eyed boys. Though they and Ayajo knew roughly how many villains they had destroyed during the examination and knew it would be an absurd amount, it was still a bit mind-boggling to the see the wide gap between her and the other examinees. Her total points were more than double than Stephens''s total points, and he was supposed to second! "Being shocked for any longer won''t do us any good Stephen, let''s think about how much more shocked the other accepted examinees are at the moment, if we, who personally know the first-ranked were so shocked, how would they be?" Zenchi chuckled imagining the other examinees having a heart attack when looking at the rankings for the first time. "It is quite amusing to think about, dear Ayajo has already gathered attention to herself even before starting the school term, I expected no less from her" Ayajo this whole time had just been listening to her friends comment about her total points and was looking through the rankings to roughly gauge the ability and even the personality of her future schoolmates and possible classmates from their villain and rescue points alone. She had spotted two notable people, Katsuki Bakugou with zero rescue points in third and Izuku Midoriya with zero villain points in tenth. Even an idiot would be able to guess the personalities of these two people just by looking at their respective points. Getting the other''s attention, she pointed towards the two names on the rankings, and the respective zeros on they had. "Third and tenth, opposite" "I was about to mention it, this Bakugou dude got 163 villain point on his own only being less than twenty points away than your villain points, Stephen, and you had your robot army" Zenchi pointed out, it was truly impressive how a single person was able to accumulate so many points on their own. This was in comparison to the first and second-ranked, Ayajo and Stephen, who had used their puppets and robot army respectively. "I''m guessingthey''rea bit of an asshole by the looks of his rescue points though" He stated wryly. "Compared to him, examinee Midoriya isa bigger anomaly! Unlike the villain points that everyone knew about, rescue points were a hidden criterion and thus no one should have aimed to purposely score in that" Stephen commented. ''I also agree, it is as if they had known about rescue points previously, and their quirk was more suitable for saving people than fighting villains'' Zero added on. "Even if that''s the case, with the highest rescue points even compared to Ayajo, their quirk should be able to take down a couple of villains if it is able to rescue people so effectively." Zenchi reasoned out, even normal people that are highly trained like him would be able to take out a one-point villain. "There is one fact that cannot be denied, even after all is said and done, they are the definition of what a hero should be to the masses, someone who puts people''s lives and safety first, and defeating the enemy second." Stephen wisely finished. The other three nodded in agreement, they all thought, that someone like that will become a great hero one day. --- A while later, in the second week of April on a Sunday, was the day of the entrance ceremony and orientation. The quartet of friends had met up in the morning to go to U.A. together and were currently inside of U.A. heading to class 1-A, having been luckily put together in the same class. They were all wearing their U.A. uniforms, inclusive of Zero as it would be awkward being the only one wearing casual clothing in a prestigious school such as U.A. despite not actually being a student. Stephen still had a crown on his head and Ayajo was also sporting her favorite cap from the entrance exam, unlike during the entrance exam, she was wearing a proper bra instead of binding her chest in cloth, properly accentuating her ample chest. Despite still wearing her cap and having her hair in a bun, she looked like a proper girl this time with her supple arms and thighs exposed, her cap doing nothing to detract the beauty and cuteness of her face. They had turned a corner and arrived at a huge door with a giant 1-A visible on it, standing in front of the closed door was the green-haired boy Ayajo and Zero had met at the entrance exam, fidgetting nervously. Both of them were mildly surprised that he had passed the exam, though they had both encouraged him before the exam, they didn''t hold any expectations due to the small fraction of people that get accepted into U.A. every year, being less than one in three-hundred examinees. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The two came forward to formally meet their new classmate as Stephen and Zenchi watched behind them, curious about who this student was. Hearing someone approaching him, the boy turned to look at the pair before his eyes widened in recognition and surprise when he had looked at Ayajo''s face, the cap helping his jog his memory. "It''s you! You''re that person who encouraged me before the exam! Together with..." The boy turned to Zero standing beside her, very surprised to see a person made of wood and no face, with a head of leaves for hair. ''Together with me, I was the one fully covered in clothing and accessories'' Zero quickly wrote, showing to the boy who didn''t recognize them at first glance. "You were him!? I-I''m sorry, its just a little surprising that this is what you look like underneath" He explained, not expecting at all that the person who had written him that message and explained Ayajo''s action would be so different from what he was expecting. "Ayajo Kaneki" Ayajo suddenly stated, wanting to introduce herself before they continued talking, or at least before the two of them continued with their conversation. ''I''d had worst reactions, so don''t worry, and following Ayajo over here, I''m Zero, full name Zero Kaneki'' ''Nice to meet you'' "I-I''m Izuku Midoriya" The boy named Midoriya stated, formally bowing at a 45-degree angle. The pair were once again surprised to find out that the baby-faced boy who had been embarrassed during the presentation and was a bit of a nervous wreck, and the examinee who had the highest rescue points out of any other examinee as well as zero villain points, were the same person. The two boys just behind them who were listening in were also surprised such an innocent-looking person was the person they had deemed to be worthy of becoming a model hero. "You, selfless person?" Ayajo asked, after seeing the rankings and Midoriya''s points a few weeks back, she had decided to refer to him as ''selfless person''. She had the habit of referring to new or interesting people as a description of their physical traits or personality, as it was easier to remember them that way. "Selfless person? What do you..." Still in his bowed position, Midoriya had slowly looked back up and noticed that Ayajo''s chest area had a large protrusion that he wasn''t able to immediately identify, his mind still telling him that the person he had met at the exam was male due to their clothing and lack of a chest protrusion. His mind suddenly remembered a certain body part that the opposite gender had on their chest that boys didn''t have, and had jumped back in shock and let out a cry of surprise. "Y-you were a girl!! S-sorry for assuming otherwise this whole time, the clothes you wore were totally different from what I''d expect a girl to wear..." Before continuing, he had noticed what he said could be taken the wrong way and had immediately tried to rectify it. "N-not that you''re not girly or anything!! To be honest, you''re actually really cute!!" Midoriya covered his mouth in shock at what he had said, he was still nervous at meeting new people even with how nice they were to him and he had just randomlysaid what he was thinking. During the exam, his nerves were shot and he didn''t get a good look at Ayajo''s face, meeting her again and realizing that she was a girl, he unconsciously took a closer look at her face and found himself blushing at how beautifully cute she looked. She was easily the cutest girl he had ever met and his nervousness had made him compliment her out loud as didn''t know what else to say to rectify indirectly calling her ungirly. "Thanks" Ayajo replied, a small smile coming to her face from the compliment, she wasn''t embarrassed in the slightest at a boy calling her cute but was genuinely happy that someone had complimented her, as she hardly got compliments or praise outside of her friends and her grandpa. "Smooth recovery there casanova~ but it''ll take much more than such a basic compliment to woo Ayajo here" Zenchi had expertly slid into the conversation, coming up and standing next to Ayajo. Despite not knowing who this new person was, Midoriya hurriedly tried to deny him as he blushed, embarrassed that he was seen accidentally flirting with someone he had just met. "I-I wasn''t trying to w-" "Hey don''t be so panicky now, I was just kidding~ there was no harm done, pretty sure Ayajo appreciated you calling her cute" She nodded in confirmation, making Midoriya sigh in relief with a small blush on his face. "I''m Zenchi Kanosei, call me either one, I''m best friends with these two and that guy with the crown being unsocial behind us, is Stephen Ozoku, also one of our best friends" He introduced himself and Stephen putting his shoulders around both Zero and Ayajo as he stood between them. "This Majesty will introduce himself at his own leisure Zenchi!! You shall not do it for me!!" Stephen stated loudly, a little upset that Zenchi had given out his full name without his permission. Wanting to introduce himself again, Midoriya opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by Zenchi. "We already heard your introduction so it''s fine, but is it really true that you''re that Izuku Midoriya? The tenth-ranked examinee who had gotten the highest number of rescue points and zero villain points?" he asked, wanting to confirm it. "Y-yes that''s me" "I''ll tell you right now that I admire the fact that despite you being at the U.A. entrance examthat has an already abysmal chance of passing to be able to enter the famed top hero course, you still decided to help and rescue people during the exam." "You must have an amazing quirk that allowed you amass so many rescue points, that defeating the villains would be no problem to you, yet you still only focused on rescuing your fellow examinees, as if you didn''t care if you passed or failed and that their safety was your sole concern" Zenchi had a look of respect and admiration as he finished, causing Midoriya to flinch at the number of inaccuracies he had stated. "Do you not think we have spent enough time chattering outside of the classroom?" Stephen questioned in annoyance, having lost his patience as he could have been sitting down comfortably inside the classroom in the time they were conversing. "O-oh yeah, sorry... I''ll open the door" Stephen''s complaint had made Midoriya forget about his current thoughts as he went to open the huge door, so as to not keep him waiting. He only hoped that two certain people wouldn''t be in class 1-A. His wish did not come true as the moment he opened the door, two familiar loud voices exited the room. ''Just my luck...'' He could only pray that he would survive the first day. Start of School 2 "Don''t put your legs on the desk!! Don''t you think that is disrespectful towards your classmates!?" "Nope, which middle school are you from anyway, you two-bit extra!?" The two making a scene at the front of the classroom were attracting the attention of the majority of the class, no one wanting to get between them. Ayajo had recognized the first voice and had confirmed it when she slid past Midoriya who had frozen at the entrance, annoying Stephen behind him even further than he already was. It was the strict examinee who had made a scene at the presentation and embarrassed Midoriya, during the presentation she had decided to call him ''mean glasses'' on the account that he wore glasses. "A private sch...ahem, I am from soumei middle school, my name is Tenya Iida" the mean person, known as Iida had responded to the rude student. "Soumei? So you''re a damn elite huh? Looks like I''ll have fun tearing you a new one!!" Iida had responded in visible shock, gasping in surprise that he had been threatened on the first day of school by a fellow classmate nonetheless. Ayajo immediately decided to call her rude classmate ''crazy face'' as it was the only way she could describe the expression he had. "That''s awful! Do you truly aim to be a hero?" Ayajo walked towards Iida as she still did not let go of his action during the presentation and wanted to give him a piece of her mind, despite the fact that she hardly says more than a few words. Noticing her presence, the class had all turned to look at the newest entrant, all of them had immediately noticed that it was a girl from her uniform and nice figure, unlike Midoriya. They were a bit confused about why she was wearing a cap, but the majority of the boys had blushed upon seeing the exceedingly beautiful and cute face under it, the girls in envy and admiration as such a perfect complexion as well. They had all watched her walk up to Iida and stop just in front of him as she looked at him with a piercing gaze, despite her expressionlessness. Iida was a little nervous about what his newest classmate wanted of him, blushing lightly at having such an attractive girl stare at him so intensely. "H-hello there fellow classmate, my name is Tenya Iida, is there something that yo-" "Mean glasses, apologize" Ayajo interrupted him, though her voice was emotionless, Iida could feel the seriousness behind it. "Was there something that I had done to antagonize you? I''m sure we have not previously met, and why are you calling me mean glasses..." "Tohim, not me" She pointed straight behind her, right at Midoriya who was still the door. The class turned their attention to him, Iida and the rude boy who had gone silent widened their eyes in recognition. Iida walking over and greeted Midoriya as they started to converse, Ayajo picked up a bit of regret in Iida''s voice when they spoke, assuming that he was apologizing and nodded her head in satisfaction. "Oi, you''re that pink-haired puppet bastard from battle center A from the entrance exam aren''t ya?" ''crazy face'' had stood up from his seat and menacingly stood in front of her, an expression of scorn and hate on his face. "Or should I say, pinked-haired bitch? Seeing as you''re a girl and all, never noticed during the exam with what you wore, but it doesn''t change that your fucking puppets were annoying as shit during the exam" "I was tempted a few times to blow em to bits when they had stolen villains I targetted, the rules against ''villainous actions'' held me back though, lucky for you eh?" "Though I don''t know your name, I''m sure you''re the first ranked in the exam aren''t you? It doesn''t take a genius to put two and two together if they saw your puppets fighting, but don''t think that you''ll be number one for long" "I''ll drag you down from your throne and destroy every single one of your puppets if I have to, I ain''t gonna lose against some pampered bitch that makes her minions do the hard work for her, quirk or not, you got that?" He leaned his face closer to hers to try and intimidate her, being face to face with such beauty doing nothing to faze him. The entire time, Ayajo had quietly listened without a single change in expression, none of the words affected her and had instead taken the threat as a challenge, there were only two things that had greatly annoyed her, him calling her pampered, and implying that she solely relied on puppets to succeed and did not work hard on her own. That hadn''t caused her to regard him with negative emotions but instead motivated her to prove to him that she was not at all anything he had assumed. "Got it" She replied evenly. "Tch!" Her rude classmate clicked his tongue in annoyance, returning to his seat. --- Outside the classroom, Stephen, Zenchi, and Zero were still waiting behind Midoriya who not taken a single step since opening the door, they weren''t able to squeeze past like Ayajo and weren''t able to ask him to move as they didn''t want to be rude and interrupt their conversation. Though it was less a conversation and more of Iida praising Midoriya extensively on what he did during the entrance exam and Midoriya stuttering out randomly and being unable to interrupt him. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The breaking point for Stephen''s patience was when a round-face girl came around the corner and headed to the door, looking at them strangely as she passed and turning her attention to Midoriya. She gasped out in delighted surprise, seemingly knowing Midoriya as she started rapidly talking to him in excitement, Midoriya visibly blushing as she spoke to him. "I''ve waited long enough!! Get out of my way peasants and let me enter!! By the order of the king!" At those words, the three blocking the door had felt their bodies moving by themselves, though it seemed like they were able to resist, their control over their bodies had suddenly returned. They were standing by the side of the door, creating an unblocked path inside. Stephen walked in majestically, arms crossed and with an annoyed expression still on his face, the class had watched in surprise as the three had walked in sync to the side of the class, then turning to the one who had caused it. Selecting a middlemost front desk, he pulled out the chair and was about to sit down before a voice spoke out from outside the classroom. "Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends...and you, don''t use your quirk on other people outside of heroics classes without their permission or I''ll not hesitate to expel you" Just outside the classroom was a person fully inside a sleeping bag, looking similar to a caterpillar, with only their face exposed, they had long black hair that was obviously not properly taken care of and a scruffy mustache. Those sitting at the front of the class, and the three standing by the side were shocked at what they were seeing, not expecting something like that in U.A. Zenchi and Zero were only a little surprised when they first saw the caterpillar man wiggle his way around the corner as if he was a caterpillar in his previous life, they were still unable to formulate a proper response despite that. The caterpillar man stood up and shed his sleeping bag and let it drop to the floor, picking it up and holding it in one hand as he entered the room, everyone making a bit of a commotion at his arrival. eight seconds later when everyone had quieted down, he started speaking again. "It took you lot eight seconds to quiet down, time is limited, you kids aren''t rational enough" "I''m your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Nice to meet you" Unlike Ayajo''s emotionless voice, Aizawa sensei''s voice was a mix of cold detachment and fatigue, as seen by his bloodshot eyes. "It''s kind of sudden, but put these on and go out onto the field" He pulled out a standard U.A. physical training attire from out of his sleeping bag, confusing all of the class, except for Zenchi who''s eyes had glowed yellow for a few seconds, his signature smirk on his face. "Be on the field in fifteen minutes, I''ll be going ahead" With that, Aizawa sensei had started lumbering away from the class with his sleeping bag in hand. The class hurriedly left the classroom with their PT attire in hand, not wanting to receive the ire of their teacher on the first day by being late. They all headed towards the training hall next to the field that had changing rooms, though most of them were wholly unfamiliar with each other, a few people had already become friends and were currently talking to each other as they briskly walked to the changing rooms. The quartet was walking together to the changing rooms, with Stephen and Zenchi making small conversation, Zero adding to it with an occasional written note, and Ayajo having brought her GBU with her and was playing Vakkan 23. No one was brave enough to introduce themselves to the clique, especially with an S-rank beauty at their side, not the mention the strange faceless student, and the student who had used his quirk to enter the classroom. Suddenly a pair of their classmates infront of them had stopped talking, both of them were male, one with red spiky hair and the other with stylishly messy blonde hair. The one with blonde hair had heard the sounds coming from Ayajo''s GBU and had excitedly come over to her, the other following in curiosity. "Hey, I recognize those sounds!! Is that Vakkan!? I love that game! Which installment are you playing?" He asked enthusiastically, his love for the game had made him forget that the person he was currently talking to was someone he had ranked first amongst the girls in the class. He had been ranking the girls in the class by looks and figure out of boredom before Aizawa sensei arrived. Before Ayajo had entered the classroom, the girl that had ranked first had long black hair that was tied into a spiky ponytail and had the largest chest compared to the others. The moment Ayajo came through the door though, he had instantly thought that she undoubtedly deserved first place, as everything about seemed perfect, with her cap actually adding on to his rating rather than detracting from it, her expressionless face that was cool and beautiful was a huge bonus too. "Mmh, Vakkan 23" Ayajo responded. She was unfazed that he had suddenly started talking to her out of nowhere and was actually happy that someone in her class had a love for Vakkan as well. "The latest installment, nice!! I''m still figuring out the moves for the newest characters as they''re all rated as difficult characters to master by the professionals, but all of them as so cool and have totally different moves than any other character!!" He spoke excitedly, he had been playing Vakkan 23 for a couple of weeks since it was released but was unable to play with anyone or talk about it in that time as none of his friends were interested. "Hey, wanna have a match during the break? I wanna see how good you are!" "Sure" Ayajo was happy to have made a friend on her first day that had similar interests to her and was excited to play with him. A small smile appeared on her face, with her new friend blushing slightly at the cute sight, finally remembering who he was talking to. ''Score!! A beautiful girl who''s not only my classmate but also loves Vakkan!? The heavens must be rewarding me for a heroic deed I had done in a previous life!'' Sharing Quirks The blonde-haired boy introduced himself as Denki Kaminari, receiving Ayajo''s name in return. He had decided to make conversation with the rest of Ayajo''s friends, thinking it would be rude not to as it was obvious that Ayajo was very close to them. "Hey sorry for barging into your group like that, I couldn''t help myself when I heard someone playing Vakkan" "There''s nothing to apologize for, at first, I thought you just wanted to talk with Ayajo and fake interest in her game to be relatable, but the way you geeked out over it was enough to convince me otherwise" Zenchi jabbed, not oblivious to the attention that Ayajo receives when people meet her. Kaminari stuttered when he heard it, unable to immediately formulate a response. "No way dude!! I wouldn''t lie about liking something just to get closer to a girl" "And it is good that you did not do so with Ayajo''s beloved Vakkan, as she would''ve immediately sensed the lie," Stephen said, joining the conversation. "Does it have something to do with her quirk? I''mEijiro Kirishima by the way" The red-haired boy asked as he introduced himself." "Zenchi Kanosei" "And I am called Stephen Ozoku, in a way it does, but not directly as it something that normal humans can learn by interacting with hundreds and thousands of people, so usually only leaders and anyone who interacts with a lot of people would be able to learn it, and it''ll still take them years upon year to learn it" He explained. "She is able to vaguely sense the emotions of people around her and use that as a sort of lie detection, it also allows her to be able to read people very easily no matter the expression they put on" "She derived that ability off her quirk? That''s damn awesome!" Kirishima stated excitedly, impressed that someone was able to get such an ability so young considering what Stephen had explained. "Speaking of quirks, what is your''s dude? I''m guessing you can''t speak being faceless and all, not to mention being made of wood! Is that inherited from your parents or is it part of your quirk?" Kaminari asked Zero, curious about the silent member of the group. Kaminari and Kirishima watched as Zero pulled out a notebook and pencil out of seemingly nowhere and started writing in it, they weren''t confused as Kaminari had already guessed that he was mute. ''Technically, I''m not a student nor do I have a quirk, it''s a little hard to explain at the moment but I''ll be sure to explain it when the class is properly acquainted. My name is Zero Kazeki by the way, nice to meet you both'' Both boys were confused about what Zero had meant and also noticed that he had the same family name as Ayajo. "I''m cool with you not explaining since you said you''ll tell us later, and it''ll be hard for us not to get to know each other since we''ll be classmates for three years" Kirishima spoke, he only found it natural that people he had just met won''t tell everything about themselves to him. Kaminari nodded in agreement, he still wanted to know what Zero had meant as soon as possible, he had no choice but to wait. "Since I didn''t really get my answer questioned, what''s the deal with your quirk Ozoku? Pretty sure the whole class saw you use it on those three at the door, and I was impressed by it!" Kaminari tried asking again, he thought that Stephen had some sort of mind-control quirk and if it was, it would be amazing in subduing villains and criminals without any need to fight. "Hmph, I shall allow you to know some details of my quirk, my quirk allows me to do anything that a king can do! An example was what I demonstrated in class, it is an ability I call, ''kings command'' where I am able to command others to follow any command I give." Stephen explained, he always enjoyed telling others about his quirk and showing off. "Wait, that''s only part of your quirk, that aloneisa great quirk, no wonder you''re second on the entrance exam rankings! Is it safe to assume it works on more than just people?" Kirishima stated, surprised that his ''kings command'' wasn''t the only part to his quirk. "Wait what!? Second on the rankings!?" Kaminari exclaimed in shock, hewouldn''t have guessed thathis slightly arrogant faced classmate with a foreign first name would be second in the entrance exam. "Yeah dude, he got like two hundred over points, but compared to him Ayajo is the real crazy one" Kirishima replied, as someone with a competative spirit, he had memorized the top ten in the entrance exam rankings to be able to recognize the strong people in the course and possibly in his class. He was already shockedwhen he had heard Ayajo introduce herself, breaking the strong, confident and beautiful image that he had assumed Ayajo to be, though she was still beautiful in a cuter way. He almost had a mini heart attack when Stephen and Zenchi had introducedthemselves, recognizing their names as the second and seventh on the rankings. Though he was fourth in the rankings which were only one rank away from the top three, a clique of four, two in the top three, one in the top ten and a mysterious individual who claimed not to be a student made him think that there was more to them than he originally thought. Though he thought that, he also thought that they would be a great group to hang out with as they could help him further himself as a hero as they are all obviously very strong. "Two hund- wait, what do you mean Ayajo is crazier compared to him" Unlike Kirishima, Kaminari only briefly looked through the rankings as a bunch of names of people he didn''t know didn''t matter much to him, only wanting to find out his ranking. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He didn''t even bother to see the difference in ability between him and the others, not even looking at anyone else''s points as he didn''t really care. "She''s the first-ranked man...I know it''s been a couple of weeks and all but such a difference in points compared to the other passing examinees, heck even the difference between her and Stephen in points was enough for me to etch her name into my memory..." Kirishima answered Kaminari, remembering the time he had opened up the rankings document and his jaws dropping at the number of points the first-ranked got compared to himself. "How many points did she get?..." Kaminari asked hesitantly, to him two hundred over points was already an insurmountable number of points, seeing as how he had to give everything he got just to get sixty or so points. ''550 points, or more specifically, 486 villain points and 64 rescue points'' Zero replied with his notebook. Kaminari''s eyes bulged in disbelief, that was over eight times more than his points, with the rescue points alone just being a few points under his total. He took a glance at Ayajo who was ahead of them still playing Vakkan and couldn''t believe such a cute and small girl had amassed so many points. "Before subject Kaminari gets another aneurism, I shall answer your question Kirishima, my ability as you have guessed work more on just people, it works on any living creature and even plants!!" Stephen stated proudly. "Its works on non-living things as well like rocks and water, and of course, the villains in the entrance exam where I had created a robot army!! Though I did not originally plan to do so" "That''s almost like cheating!! You would have gotten points just by bringing them to your side!!" Kirishima stated with an unbelieving expression on his face. "Of course, the ability has its limitations and weaknesses, for example, the effectiveness of the command would depend on the will of the target, like if someone wanted to punch me and I had commanded them not to punch me, the effect would be that the punch would be weaker as the targets will was contradicting with my command and thus was less effective." "But ifthe targetcurrently did not have a will, my command will be more effective, but still have resistance as the instinctual will of their body is to move by itself instead of being controlled. If I had suddenly commanded someone to raise their hand without them having a contradicting will, they would raise their hand with little resistance." "The same thing happened to the three at the door, as they had no contradicting wills to my command. There is also another use for this ability, if the will of the target is in sync with my command, it will instead aid their ability to follow that will and strengthen it too." "If someone wanted to punch an enemy, and I commanded them to punch harder, their punch will become stronger using the royal energy my commands emit, said royal energy attaching to my selected targets" "That mega cool!! Though it''s too bad that it''ll only be most effective on enemies when they''re unaware of you" Kaminari pointed out. "It''s still really good considering that he''s able to hinder his enemies attacks and movement, imagine if he commanded you to not dodge his attack when you wanted to and you dodge slower than his attack, and getting hit" Kirishima stated, still convinced that the ability was still amazing despite its drawbacks. "You''re like an amazing support character in an rpg! With the ability to debuff enemies and buff allies at the same time!" Kaminari statedenthusiastically. "Do not forget that ''kings command'' is only a fraction of what my quirk is able to do, despite being the ability I trained the most, so you should not even think to underestimate me" Stephen reminded a bit arrogantly, satisfied at the praise they were giving his quirk. "Stephen''s quirk has a lot of room to grow with how broad ''anything a king can do'' is, but is still powerful as it currently is, how about botj of you, what are your quirks?" Though Zenchi already knew their quirks from using his own quirk a while ago in the classroom, Zero and Stephen didn''t know and decided to ask for them. "Mine''s pretty simple, my quirk is called ''hardening'' and allows me to harden any part of my body, giving me immense defense" "it also makes the hardened areas sharp and rough like a jagged rock which increases my offensive abilities, it''s a pretty solid quirk overall and its simplicity works well with me as I don''t like things that are too complicated" Kirishima stated honestly. "My quirk ain''t too complicated either, its name is ''electrification'' and allows me to charge electricity within my body, electrocuting anything that makes contact with me" "I''m also able to discharge the electricity around me to electrocute anyone nearby, though it obviously doesn''t discriminate between friends and foes, so it more of a last stand kind of move, not to mention the side effects..." Kaminari knew it was inevitable that they would find out about the side effect but decided to delay it as long possible by not telling them what it was. "How about you Kanosei? Being the seventh in the rankings, your quirk must be pretty amazing" Kirishima asked Zenchi as he was the only one besides Zero, who ''doesn''t have a quirk'' and Ayajo, who isn''t fond of talking, that hasn''t talked about their quirk. Zenchi gave his signature smirk and replied, "It''s better if i demonstrate it after we change and get onto the field, what Aizawa sensei has planned for us will be a perfect way to show you" Kaminari and Kirishima were wondering what Zenchi''s quirk was and how he he would know what Aizawa sensei had in store. They didn''t question him further and decided to wait until they got onto the field, since that was where he was going to demonstrate it. Instantly Expelled The group had arrived at the changing rooms with all the boys separating with Ayajo as she was the only girl, though she didn''t mind. She was the last girl to enter the changing room, with every girl and chatting with one another and not noticing her enter, she kept her GBU and started underdressing. While to her, she didn''t think she undressed any differently from any other girl, she was a bit slower in her movement, making it seem sensual to anyone that watched. The girls had all stopped talking and looked over to Ayajo undressing, revealing her beautiful and slightly toned body with supple and smooth skins with no imperfections, the underwear she wore were not what the girls were expecting from a cool quiet beauty like herself, being light pink and frilly with a small red bow at the front. They were all staring in admiration and wondering if Ayajo was a foreign princess, or if she came from a prestigious family background. They hadn''t attempted to speak to her as her beauty and cool silence repelled them away, but it wasn''t as if they didn''t want to get to know her, to prove that, a girl already dressed approached, it was the same girl who had been talking to Midoriya and had been controlled by Stephens quirk. She approached slowly, still a little nervous, before Ayajo had noticed her and turned in her direction, tilting her head questioningly. "Um... I just wanted to say that you are really beautiful, and was wondering if you''d be okaywith being my friend? I-I know it''s sudden and all, but you didn''t seem like someone who would be able to make friends easily, so I took the initiative!" "I-I hope you''re not offended or anything, my name is Ochako Uraraka, I''m really glad to meet you!" Uraraka was still a bit nervous but was pleased with herself for being able to break the metaphorical ice that had surrounded Ayajo. "Ayajo Kazeki, nice to meet you" Ayajo gave a small bow as she introduced herself, continuing to put on her PT uniform. Uraraka smiled happily, glad that her attempt to befriend Ayajo was successful, and though Ayajo appeared nonchalant, she actually was happy that another girl had wanted to become friends with her, and had a hardly noticeable smile. The girls hurried to get dressed and went out to the field, Uraraka started talking to Ayajo on the way excitedly, more stating out her excitement for being in U.A. and making new friends and becoming a hero, rather than actually requiring a response from Ayajo. Everyone had gathered on the field with their PT uniforms, all of them waiting around and conversing as Aizawa sensei had not arrived yet. Not long after, Aizawa sensei had arrived and the class quieted down as he faced all of them. "The reason we are here is to have a Quirkapprehension test, in ord-" "A quirk apprehension test!? What about the entrance ceremony, and the orientation!" Uraraka interrupted, shocked and saddened that she wouldn''t be able to experience them. The class was also chattering in confusion at the change, not expecting something like this on the first day. "If you''re going to be a hero, you don''t have time for such leisurely events, U.A.''s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That''s also how the teacher''s run their classes" Though they knew U.A. was unique compared to other schools, the class wouldn''t have guessed that teachers are free to do whatever they wanted. "Softball pitch, standing long jump, fifty-meter dash, endurance running, grip strength test, sustained side-ways jumps, upper body exercises, seated toe touch" "These are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks, the country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their quirks, It''s irrational" "Well, that''s negligence on the Ministry of Educations part. Ayajo, youwere ranked first in the entrance exam, weren''t you?" The majority of the class turned to Ayajo as they had not expected to be the first ranked in the entrance exam and were a bit shocked, though they found it a little believable due to the aura she emitted, which made everyoneunable to approach her, similar to being unable to stare at the sun. "What was your best result for the softball throw in middle sch... Ah, right, I had almost forgotten. In that case, try pitching this softball as far as you can without using your quirk, just don''t exit the circle" Aizawa handed Ayajo a softball and she walked into the pitching circle, though she had never done physical tests like these before, she''s done many different types of exercises before, including throwing balls so she would be able to do this easily, she didn''t lengthen the process of her throw and just threw it as hard as she could at a desirable angle. It went quite a distance and when it landed, Aizawa''s phone beeped, showing the distance she had thrown the ball. The ball had traveled 82 meters, shocking a lot of the guy''s at her strength, especially with such delicate-looking arms. The girls were happy that they had such a strong female classmate that was able to physically outclass the boys even without her quirk, knowing that most boys didn''t throw as far as Ayajo had. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "She threw that further than I ever did! How is she so strong?" Kaminari was always above average for his middle school physical tests and didn''t know that a girl at her age throws so far. "It''s only natural with how much she trains everyday, she trains even more than we do, if we were to compare our raw physical strengths, excluding Zero, she''d definitely beat us" Zenchi explained, the three of them knew how much she trained every day to able to become a great hero. "Training? What kind of training?" Kirishima was interested in the type of training the first ranked student did, wanting to do it himself. "It is of no importance at the moment, you shall see the reason she was able to triumph the entrance exam soon enough" Stephen cut off the conversation as he wanted them to see the Ayajo''s true strength. "82 meters, still impressive even without using your quirk aren''t you? This time, try using your quirk, and don''t hold back" With those words, the class was waiting for Ayajo to demonstrate her quirk and were confused when she just stood there and looking towards them, they became even more confused as Zero walked out of the crowd towards her, Aizawa sensei doing nothing to stop him, or reprimand Ayajo for wasting time. "What is Zero doing over there? Isn''t Ayajo supposed to use her quirk? And didn''t Zero say he was quirkless?" Kirishima had asked, they were even more confused than the rest of the class despite knowing a bit about Zero and Ayajo, it was easier to get confused if the knowledge you hold isn''t complete, which was exactly the case with the both of them not knowing the full deal between Zero and Ayajo. "Hush for now, it''s the perfect moment to demonstrate my quirk" Zenchi made them stop asking questions, they couldn''t help but become even more confused when they heard him say that he''ll be suddenly using his quirk. Ayajo had handed Zero the softball, and instead of throwing it like she had, he instead went into a throwing stance and held both hisarms straight out,the arm holding the softball started rotating like and drill and his torso had also started rotating on his waist like a helicopter, surprising almost all of the class. After he started spinning at full speed, he had let go of the ball while still spinning and it created a loud boom, sending it out of sight in an instant, everyone was in shock and awe at the speed the ball gone. "583 meters" Zenchi suddenly said, confusing Kirishima and Kaminari who were still in awe at Zeros throw. After a few seconds, a beep was heard from Aizawa''s phone taking a glance at it and speaking. "Know your own maximum first, that is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero" Showing it to the rest of the class, it had a big ''583 meters'' on the screen shocking them further at the distance the ball was thrown, though they still didn''t know why someone else had thrown the ball instead of Ayajo. "583 meters? That''s unreal!" "Awesome! That looks so fun!!" "We can use our quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!" A few voices shouted out, the majority of the class chattering in excitement wanting to have a go themselves. While Kaminari and Kirishima werestill in shock and awe at the distance, they both looked at Zenchi who had guessed how far the ball had gone, it wasn''t enough evidence to be able to guess what his quirk was but they assumed he would be demonstrating it more, thinking they wanted them to guess. "Before any of you ask me, the reason another ''classmate'' of yours had thrown the ball, the reason is that they are part of Ayajo''s quirk and thus she is able to use them for this test, I won''t go into anymore detail so just ask her if you wanna know, or wait for the class introduction" Aizawa sensei could see the burning question everyone had and decided to explain before anyone could ask. The mysteries and surprising discoveries regarding Ayajo kept piling on and made class 1-A slightly resistant to being shocked and surprised anymore, but they still didn''t expect it and were still in awe at the strength Zero had demonstrated. "I heard someone say that it looks ''fun'' earlier, you all have three years to become a hero, will you have an attitude like that the whole time?" Aizawa started speaking, his originally fatigued voice gained a sharp edge to it, the class having noticed and turning silent as he spoke. "All right then, in that case, the student that ranks last in total points for this test will be judged to have no potential and will be-" "Instantly expelled, did I hit the nail on the head sensei?" Zenchi interrupted at the last second, finishing what Aizawawas saying. The class thought that Zenchi was joking around as expelling someone on the first day would be too unreasonable, but they still waited for Aizawa to answer. "...That''s right" "HUH!?!?" everyone had shouted at once, not believing this development. "We are free to do what we want, and that includes disposing students as we please!" "Welcome to U.A.''s hero course!" Quirk Apprehension Test Arc 1 "But it''s the first day of school! But, even if it wasn''t, that''s just too unfair!!" Uraraka tried to reason out to Aizawa sensei, hoping he could see how unreasonable this test was, she did not want to have the risk of being expelled on the first day, and even if it wasn''t her, she doesn''t want one of her newest classmates that dream to be a hero like to be expelled. "Natural disasters, huge accidents, and uncaring villains, all kinds of calamities can happen when we least expect them" "Unfairness is all over Japan, Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations. If you wanted to go talk with your friends at a fast food place after school, too bad." "For the next three years, U.A. will do all it can to give you one hardship after another, as we say in U.A., go beyond, Plus Ultra" "I expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top. All right, demonstration over, the real thing starts now" Though no one wanted anyone to be expelled, no one wanted to be expelled themselves so none of them thought of holding back and risk being in last place. --- The first trial was the fifty-meter dash, as there were only two running lanes, only two people would be able to run at a time so the class had to take turns. At the end of lanes was something that looked like a camera on a tripod with arms,Aizawa had explained that itwould be recording their times the instant they passed it and also be the one to do the count down. He had also explained that they only had oneattempt as are no redos in life. Stephen looked over at Zenchi to see his reaction to that statement, finding him holding his hand to his mouth and shaking, barely being able to restrain himself from laughing. As Aizawa sensei told them that they could go in any order, Iida and another girl volunteered to be the first pair, both of them walking up to the starting line. The girl went down on all fours similar to a frog when she reached the starting line, and Iida bent down in a running position, the engines on his legs could be heard revving up. "On your mark... get set..." The robot-like camera had started speaking in a synthetic voice, making the pair ready themselves for the signal to run. A gunshot was heard coming it and the pair pushed off the ground, Iida leaving the frog-like girl in the dust as he sped across the lane, and passed the robot in seemingly no time at all. "3.04 seconds" The robot had stated, and not long after, the frog-like girl came jumping past it, making it state her time as well. "5.58 seconds" The class was in awe at Iida speed, it had made sense that he wanted to go first and all of them knew that they couldn''t beat his time. Though no one that came after him was able to beat his time, there were a few notable people that still plenty fast with their quirks. There was someone who used their tail to propel themselves forward like a third leg, and another who propelled themselves with a laser that came from their stomach, though they did fall halfway and lose a bit of time. There was someone who dispensed tape from their elbows onto the floor past the finish line and pulled them forward too. From the beginning, just before Iida and the frog girl started running, Zenchi had been stating times moments before a runner had passed the robot, getting exactly what the robot states moments later. He had gotten all of them right so far, Kirishima and Kaminari were stared at him each time he did so, they had already guessed that he had a prediction ability of some sort and were quite surprised how easily he was able to use it, seeing him predict something as insignificant and specific as what time their classmate would get. "You just gonna keep predicting everyone''s times or what? It''s not really-" "Impressing us too much as the way I''mshowing off my quirkis kinda lame?" Zenchi interrupted Kaminari who had started complaining about the way he was demonstrating his quirk. Kaminari looked at him in annoyance, turning to Stephen to ask him about Zenchi. "Is he always like this?" "When we were younger he used to interrupt us and look at us like he knew more than we did because he had seen everything ahead of time, he still does it sometimes, but he haves fun doing it to be people he''s just met or not fond of" Stephen explained, remembering the times in their childhood when he used to be so annoying. "Hey, are you able to predict our times then?" Kirishima asked, curious about what his time would be and ifStephen''sprediction would match when he ran. "I can predict it and already have, but if you meant telling it to you, I''ll inform you that it would change the course of the ''prediction'' as you were provided information that you originally shouldn''t have, actually, I''ve already subtly changed the results of your times just by telling you the times of the others" "You''re telling me there''s an original future and every time you told us of the future it diverts from the original? It''s trippy just thinking of that..." Kaminari held shook his head while thinking that he was no longer the original Kaminari. "Wait, doesn''t that mean you''re able to change the original future of an accident? Like, save a life when it should originally have ended, that alone can make you an amazing hero!! You can prevent disaster before they even happen!!" Though Kirishima still didn''t know if Zenchi''s quirk is actually predicting the future, since it was able to change an originally unchangeable future, it was impressive in his eyes. The next pair to go was Midoriya and the crazy faced boy that had challenged Ayajo in class, Midoriya was obviously nervous just being near him, and he wasn''t too happy to see Midoriya either by the annoyed look on his face.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. As the gunshot was heard, mini-explosions went off in the boy''s hand propelling him to the finish line. "4.13 seconds" Zenchi had predicted. "4.13 seconds" and the robot had proved him to be correct. He had also correctly predicted Midoriya time but was surprised that he was so slow, though he thought it was possible that his quirk didn''t help him move faster. He decided to use his quirk to see what actually Midoriyas quirk was as he couldn''t wait. His eyes glowed yellow for a couple of seconds surprising Kaminari and Kirishima as they had assumed that his quirk had no signs of usage and that he had been using it this whole time. As Hi eyes dimmed and returned to normal he had a small frown on his face from what he had just seen, he decided to ask Midoriya about it later during the break. Kaminari and Kirishima went next, Zenchi accurately predicting their times as well, both Stephen and Zenchi decided to go next as they wanted to race each other. At the starting line, they were both using their quirk in preparation for their sprint, with Zenchi''s eyes glowing once again. "Air, make way for your king!His word is law!" Stephen had commanded the air not to block his path which essentially made it so that he had no air resistance when he ran making him faster. The gunshot was heard as they both sped off, Stephen narrowly beating Zenchi by less than half a second. "4.98 seconds, 5.23 seconds" Though it was only a fifth of a second of difference in their times, Stephen had a cocky grin on his face, turning to Zenchi in victory. Zenchi rolled his eyes at his friend as he already knew that he would be beaten, as even using his quirk can''t push him past his physical limits. After they had finished, only a few pairs were left and when they had finished it was only Ayajo who had not gone, she didn''t have a running partner as there were an uneven number of people in the class. The class was paying more attention to her than they did to the others as they wanted to know how fast the first-ranked examinee could be, they were only a little surprised when she had piggybacked Zero, with him holding her legs and her arms wrapped around his wooden neck. A certain purple-haired boy was grinding his teeth in jealousy at Zero, not caring that he was ''technically'' Ayajo''s quirk or whatever, envious that her breasts and thighs would be pressing against his body. The instant the gunshot went off, Zero had gone, not seeming burdened in the slightest as heran with Ayajo on his back. "4.18 seconds" It was an impressive time considering the fact that Zero had run with an extra load, all of the class knowing he could have gone much faster without anything to carry. The boy with explosive hands clicked his tongue in annoyance, knowing that Zero would have easily beaten his time if it weren''t for Ayajo. --- The next trial was the grip strength test, where a lot of the boys seemed excited for as it more accurately measured their strength as they didn''t care too much about speed. Aizawa had led them inside the training hall where there weresix Hand Grip Dynamometers scattered about, they were to split themselves into groups of four with one group of three to share the dynamometers. Ayajo had grouped up with Uraraka who had dragged Midoriya along as she found out that they both knew each other, and since Zero was considered as part of Ayajo''s quirk, he was there as well. Stephen and Zenchi were with Kirishima and Kaminari as they were comfortable with their current group. "Do you want to go first Midoriya-kun?" Uraraka asked Midoriya, handing the device over to him. "S-sure! Don''t expect much though, my quirk is pretty unwieldy so I can''t control it well..." Squeezing the device in his hand, it jumped up to 45 kilograms and slowly increased and stopped at 56 kilograms. "Ughh..." Midoriya sighed in defeat, though it was above average score for his age-range it was far from impressive in a hero school where everyone can use their quirks. "Don''t mind Midoriya!! I''m sure you''ll ace the other trials!" Uraraka tried encouraging him, she had remembered what had happened at the entrance exam and knew that his quirk was not something he can use lightly, she wasn''t very sure how he would do in the other trials because of it. "Oh, you''re going next aren''t you wooden guy? I was surprised hearing that you were part of Kazeki-chan''s quirk, though it makes sense if she''s first-ranked right? You''re really strong and fast after all!" Uraraka was in awe when Zero had demonstrated his strength and speed at the demonstration and the first trial and found it cute when he had been piggybacked by Ayajo, thinking they were similar to siblings. ''Thank you for the compliment Uraraka-san, though I recommend you call Ayajo by her first name as we both have the same last name, my name is Zero Kazeki for your information.'' Midoriya and Uraraka read what Zero had written and were both surprised that they had the same last name, proving to them that Zero was much more than just part of Ayajo''s quirk. "You mean both of you are technically siblings? Like, brother and sister? That''s so sweet!! The strong older brother who protects his adorable little sister!" Uraraka had a big smile on her face from the revelation, Zero and Ayajo looking more like an older brother and younger sister than ever. ''Technically, I''m the younger brother as I would have been created with her quirk, but it is true people do see me as the older brother, and I agree that Ayajo is adorable'' As the two were conversing, Ayajo had taken the measuring device and squeezed it in her hand, wanting to know how strong her grip was as she''d never measured it before, the device shot up to 56 kilograms, shocking Midoriya as it she had immediately beaten his score. It didn''t stop there as is slowly ticked up to 67 kilograms and stopping, Uraraka looked over, her mouth wide open at such a high score for a girl. "Wow! You''re really strong Ayajo!! Though I had already guessed with how far you threw that softball earlier, I didn''t think that you''d have an iron grip!" Ayajo nodded as if it was only natural, as she passed the device to Zero. Wasting no time, Zero squeezed the device as it shot up to 461 kilograms, making Midoriya''s eyes bulge out and Uraraka gasped in surprise. They both thought to themselves, If Ayajo has an iron grip, does that mean Zero has a titanium grip?