10 Steps Ahead

Entrance Exam

The day has finally come, the UA Entrance Exam. But instead of an inspirational speech of this being the 'defining moment of my life', I'm tearing apart my room because I lost all my pens again. It is important but I don't have time to think about that right now. I stick my hand under my bed grabbing at anything when it finally hits something. I pull out a ratty pen from 5 years ago with barely any ink, I hope it's enough to last me through the test. I quickly toss the pen into my... where's my bag?
   
"Izuku, Mei's outside," mom calls from downstairs. An endless string of 'shit shit shit' runs through my head as I put my pen into my pocket. I rush out, stopping for a second to say goodbye to my mom, crashing into Mei.
   
"Hurry up, Muscles, we're going to be late," Mei says, pulling me off the ground. I nod as we take off to the school. We stopped at the gate, taking a moment to catch our breath before we had to go to our separate exams. Wishing each other luck, we split up.
   
I try to find my way through UA's labyrinth-like halls while still making it on time. UA is super strict, they probably won't even let me take the test if I'm late. Why did the world hate me? As if it wanted to prove my point, I crashed into someone for the second time today. I looked up at the boy I stumbled into, he had purple hair and giant bags under his eyes.
   
"S-sorry about that," I say, moving to keep going to the exam room. But I don't know where the exam room is and there is someone who could help me right there. Squashing down my anxiety I say, "Um, do- do you know where the Gen Ed exam room is by any chance?"
   
"Yeah, I'm going there right now. But we'll have to run to get there in time," he says nonchalantly. He walks ahead and god is he fast. He wasn't that much taller than me but I still had to jog to keep up with his walking pace. Damn my tiny legs.
   
I hurried into the available seat in the back just as the teacher handed out the test. I had only started studying a week ago because I was so caught up with my first invention and now I'm probably super behind and I'll be the last one done and it'll all be wrong- Stop panicking and do the test! I read the first question and it doesn't seem that hard. Neither does the next one or the one after that. Soon I finished the test without much difficulty. I check over my answers, trying to find my mistakes. I'm not smart enough to be allowed to think that the UA exam was easy. By my third time reading it over I notice that everyone is handing there's in. Shit, I have to hurry up or else I'll be the last one to hand it in. With my hands clammy and shaking, I hand in the test and go out to the waiting room.
   
I look for a place to sit that is far from everyone else but there aren't any left. There's a seat by the purple haired guy though, so at least I won't be beside a stranger. However it might be more awkward because then we'd have to talk to each other. But if the conversation goes well then I'd have someone I know in my class. Before I can overthink it anymore I sit by him. "I can't wait to find out the results. How do you think you did?" I ask. And now I've just disturbed someone who clearly wanted to be alone. Why would I start a conversation when it will obviously be awkward?

The boy looked at me surprised. Hesitantly, he faced away from me and replied, "I don't care, this is just my back-up option. I'm going to be a hero."

"That's super cool! What's your quirk?" I ask without thinking. His face stiffins. I shouldn't have asked a question like that. It's not like quirks have any affect on whether or not you can be a hero, I know that but I also want to analyse it like I would all other heroes I see. He probably thinks I'm a jerk.

"Brainwashing. I can make people do whatever I want if they answer a question I ask," he says.

"That's so cool, it's perfect for heroics! You could stop fights before they start just by talking to them. You could make people turn themselves in or make them say the truth for interrogations. What counts as a response? Could you tell a joke and then brainwash them if they laugh? Could you change things in their brain by telling them to forget or remember stuff? The amount of possible applications... I need to write this down," I ramble. I reach for my bag before realizing I left it at home, and that I just ranted about someone's quirk in front of them. I really don't know when to keep my mouth shut do I? Feeling my face heat up, I open my mouth to apologize when the teacher that was taking the exam walks into the waiting room.