Echo Chamber

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Oh, lovely," Izuku sighed as he looked at Bakugo, the blond making a point to glare at the stage, ignoring him.

Obviously he'd been sat next to the angry blond, they went to the same school after all. Izuku looked around, trying to spot Neito's relatively distinctive hair, wondering how his friend had done on the written exam. The two of them had spent the last two weeks studying like their lives depended on it, because they kind of did, and Izuku felt he'd done well on the test.

Izuku closed his eyes for a moment, sweeping his quirk through the room. It was a hectic mixture of light and power for the teen, his mind reeling for a moment before he opened his eyes again, blinking as the sensations faded slightly. He looked in the direction he'd felt the familiar quirk, spotting his friend sitting beside a girl with red hair, the two talking, Izuku immediately recognising Neito's boasting face. A moment later, the girl chopped him on the back of the neck, making him fall forwards as Izuku let out a chuckle.

"Freak," Bakugo hissed as the teen sat beside him, the blond shifting in his chair to be as far from Izuku as he could manage, "Don't fucking touch me."

"Aw, but I wanted a hug," Izuku laughed back, drawing a furious scowl from the other teen, who looked like he was about to try throttle Izuku if the speaker hadn't suddenly walked out on stage with a loud shout.

"CAN I GET A GOOD MORNING?!" Present Mic yelled as he strode confidently on stage, a broad smile on his face, the auditorium remaining almost completely silent as he looked around, "Alright, what a dignified bunch!"

Izuku grinned as Mic explained the exam, listening closely as the blue-haired boy stood and questioned the Pro about the missing robot. It took another ten minutes to get through the rest of the specifics of the exam, before they were dismissed, the students filing out of the auditorium with shouts of excitement to finally get down to business. Izuku joined in with them as he rushed towards the changing rooms.

Izuku stood quietly, feeling the light of each of the quirks around him as he waited for the practical portion of the exam to start. Annoyingly, he wasn't in the same venue as Bakugo, the blonde's Explosion being a perfect quirk to copy for the exam. Oh well, he'd make do with what he could find here.

Ignore mutation types, never been able to copy those, he thought, moving past the familiar glows, Let's see...Emitter Producer type, water based. Emitter Control type, water based as well. Good combo, I'll have to hope they stick close to each other. Ooh, what's this? Haven't felt this before. Emitter Alteration type, fingertip contact activation. Slight mutation, though I can still copy the effect. Feels...floaty? I wonder how they're planning to get through the exam.

"Excuse me?" a familiar stern voice suddenly said as a hand landed heavily on Izuku's shoulder, "Could you please stop muttering like that? It's disturbing the other participants."

"Hmm?" Izuku said as he looked at the bespectacled boy, blinking, "Mutation Enhancement type. Useless."

"I...what?!" the boy shouted as Izuku realised what he'd just said, the green-haired teen swearing loudly as the other boy started to try ranting at him.

"FUCK!" he shouted, startling everyone around him, including the blue-haired guy, "Sorry, it's a quirk thing. I can sense stuff about people's quirks. I meant that your quirk was useless for me. I can't copy mutations."

"C-copy?" the boy said, staring at Izuku in confusion, "Your quirk...allows you to copy other people's quirks?"

"Yep," Izuku grinned as he noticed the other people backing away from him, "Of course, it's only temporary, and only emitter and transformation types. Mutation types like you are safe."