Chapter 7 - Entrance Examination (I)

(Nero POV)

Today, February 26, at 9 a.m. in Musutafu, Shizuoka Prefecture, the Yuuei entrance exam is held.

And here I am looking at Yuuei's entrance.

It was a magnificent building, and the ground we walked on was the same ground that many superheroes had already walked on.

In fact, a certain hero who ranks first in Japan studied at this school.

This hero is All Might, also known as the Symbol of Peace.

Not only he but also Tornado of Terror, who ranks second in the ranking of Japanese heroes, graduated from this school.

Now, at this moment, I am walking the same path that these two walked.

Just like the hundreds of young people around me, each of these young people wants to enter the greatest school of heroism in the world.

But only a few will have the opportunity, making it a truly fierce competition.

I thought, not being able to contain my excitement.

"You're smiling strangely, you know?" Ochaco, who was next to me, pointed at my face.

"He's been smiling like that for a while now," Gwen said, tilting her head to the side as she smiled.

They both wore cold clothes that barely showed any skin.

"It's impossible not to smile," I exclaimed with a shrug. "Then let's go, ladies."

"Just so you know, you can be quite cheesy sometimes," Gwen said, letting out a light laugh.

Even with these words that hurt my poor heart, she walked by my side.

"I think that side of him is really cute," Ochaco said, defending my honor as a knight.

As the two were talking, I noticed a green-haired boy in front of us, who took a large, heroic step forward.

But before his foot even touches the ground, he trips over his own feet and, like the Tower of Babel, begins to fall hard to the ground.

His face was static, with the confirmation that he was going to collide with the ground.

"Hmm!" He mutters, realizing his collision with the ground didn't happen.

Finally, he noticed a hand holding his collar.

In this case, I was the one holding him.

"Are you well?!" I asked, pulling the green-haired boy up.

He is a boy who appears to be 15 years old, with a body that is a little short for his age. This boy has green hair at strange angles around his head. His eyes are large and somewhat circular, and his iris is the same shade of green as his hair. He has four symmetrical diamond-shaped freckles, one on each cheek.

The strange green-haired boy, finally coming out of his shock, made a strange noise:

"Pham!" The green-haired boy exclaimed, seeing that his face wasn't on the ground.

"I guess that's a yes?!" I wasn't really sure about that.

Gwen and Ochaco watched in silence as the scene unfolded before them. Apparently, they were finding this situation quite amusing.

"Y-yes, thank you." The green-haired boy was shyer than Victor Van Dort from the film Corpse Bride.

"Good, be more careful." After finishing this conversation, I was ready to continue on my way, but suddenly the fake Victor Van Dort said:

"My name is Izuku Midoriya." He lowers his head like a typical Japanese person and suddenly exclaims his name.

…

Shy people are quite random.

I thought with fun.

"Nice to meet you, Midoriya-san, my name is Nero Fujiwara; I'll see you next time," I said, waving my hand, and continued on my way with the girls following me, while Midoriya-san let out a sigh of relief.

It was as if he had passed through the battlefield.

Apparently, social exchange with another person isn't exactly his strong suit.

"This boy is strange," Gwen said, returning to my side.

"Yes, he's weird, but on the other hand, he's physically quite strong," I said, putting my hand behind my head as I walked.

"Serious?!"

The blonde didn't seem to really believe my words.

"Yes, because when I held him, I realized that his weight was abnormal for a thin boy his age; he probably has a lot of muscles under his clothes. Furthermore, when he tripped, it was not due to carelessness, but rather to a twitch in his leg muscle, revealing that he probably trained until recently or something similar to training."

"That observant part of you is quite scary… but somehow it has a certain charm," Gwen said with a serious expression as she looked at me.

"Exactly. He's always had this creepy thing about watching others, which for some reason adds to his charm even more." Ochaco also had a serious expression.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Saying that we finally entered Yuuei's gate.

My first step on the path to heroism.

•••

"WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO MY EXCLUSIVE SHOW."

In front of hundreds of students, a blond man shouted onto the stage, his voice echoing through all of us who were sitting in our seats.

"EVERYONE SAYS, HEY!" His excited voice, which was many tones higher than normal, continued to echo through us.

…

He ignored the silence as if it were nothing. Then the thick-skinned man continues to say:

"I GOT CHILLS TOO, LISTENER! ALL RIGHTS, CANDIDATES. I WILL TELL YOU CANDIDATES HOW THIS WILL WORK! SO READY?!"

…

Once again, awkward silence was the response from our entrance exam presenter.

"YEAHHH!!!"

But without caring, he continues to maintain his composure.

Ochaco sitting next to me, whispers softly.

"Isn't that Present Mic?" Ochaco said, placing her hand near my thigh as she practically whispered in my ear.

"Yes," I said, feeling her big breasts being pressed against my arm.

As we were at the back of the auditorium, no one paid attention to us.

As I tried to control myself, I was luckily attacked from the other side by the blonde. Gwen did the same thing as Ochaco, but as her breasts were smaller than Ochaco's, she had to press harder, and her lips were very close to my ear.

"Who is Present Mic?"

"Don't you know it's Present Mic?" I said, appreciating both girls' breasts.

Yes, I know I'm not a good friend for enjoying this sweet feeling. But in my defense, I'm the victim here.

"No." Gwen's delicate hands touched my thigh in the same way as Ochaco's.

"He is a Pro:hero known as Voice Hero: Present Mic, who has the quirk called "Voice" which gives him the ability to increase the volume of his voice to superhuman levels, giving him the ability to create loud sounds and treble. Its treble easily reaches extremely high levels, enough to incapacitate people by rupturing their eardrums."

While listening to my explanation, the two girls who were harassing me looked at each other with challenging looks.

"You don't even know the pro-heroes?" Ochako exclaimed, with a mocking look, as she pressed that pair of breasts further onto my shoulders.

"Sorry, I'm from another country. I bet you don't even know my country's superheroes?" Gwen did the same thing as Ochaco.

This time, it seemed like she was doing it unconsciously.

I was caught between listening to Present Mic's explanation and enjoying this sweet sensation.

"Yes, so do your worst?" Ochaco challenged Gwen.

Ladies, the volume of your voices is increasing.

"Okay, so you know Black Canary?"

"Yes, the pro-hero who ranks 12th in the ranking of heroes in the United States."

Oh! Black Canary is basically a stronger female version of Present Mic.

Her quirk is almost the same as his, only stronger, and she also has a nice pair of legs.

"… So, do you know the heroine Storm?"

Gwen was taking heroes that weren't in the top 3 to see if she could beat Ochaco, but I think she should use unknown heroes.

Unfortunately for her, Ochaco spent practically her entire childhood glued to me, and I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to superheroes.

"Storm, also known as Ororo Munroe, is 6th in the ranking of heroes in the United States." Ochako's look was one of superiority.

The blonde still didn't seem convinced, so she continued her game with Ochaco.

"You…"

"SILENCE! HEY!"

Present Mic's voice silenced Gwer and Ochaco, causing them both to let go of my arm, quickly sitting in their chairs, while some eyes turned towards us.

But I just pretend nothing happened.

"COUGH! BACK TO THE EXPLANATION!" Present Mic coughed a few times and explained happily again.

"NOW PAY ATTENTION, AUDIENCE! LET'S TEST YOUR COURAGE BY DOING A PRACTICE RACE IN OUR CITY REPLICA!"

Present Mic opened his arms as, behind him, a screen with 11 blocks appeared. The blocks went from the letters A to K.

"EVERYONE CAN USE WHAT THEY WANT! EVERYONE COMES TOGETHER AT THE DETERMINED MEETING POINT AFTER THE PRESENTATION, UNDERSTAND?"

I see; they probably don't intend to allow colleagues or friends to join the same block.

Especially because, in the beginning, he gave us the exam code, but it seems that the real meeting places are elsewhere, probably one of the blocks between A and K; without a doubt, they will separate schoolmates and even friends.

"NOW I'LL EXPLAIN HOW THE PRACTICAL TEST WILL BE!"

"WE WILL BE SENDING A HUGE NUMBER OF "VILLAINS" ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD."

The image behind him changed to Super Mario enemies, numbered 1P, 2P, and 3P.

"THESE "VILLAINS" WILL APPEAR IN THREE DIFFERENT TYPES WITH SCORE VALUES ACCORDING TO THEIR DIFFICULTY!!"

"USING EACH OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES, DEFEAT AS MANY OF YOU AS YOU CAN."

The image changed to that of Mario, who earned various coins by defeating enemies and passing through obstacles.

"YOUR GOAL, LISTENERS, IS TO GET A HIGH SCORE!!"

"AND DON'T THINK ABOUT DIRECTLY ATTACKING ANOTHER COMPETITOR OR ANY KIND OF ANTIHERO STUFF!, BECAUSE IT'S AGAINST THE RULES, CAPISCE!?"

Virtually all of us will nod our heads in confirmation as we listen to your speech.

But one of the would-be heroes seemed to have doubts; he stood up from his chair, raising his arm.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"

The boy was 15 years old with black hair, and over his black eyes, he wore square glasses.

"The leaflet clearly lists the four types of villains!" The boy with glasses pointed to the leaflet in his hand. "Such a mistake could be very embarrassing for a top national academy like Yuuei!!"

On the leaflet the boy was holding, there were four types of robots being illustrated.

Obviously, the "villains" would be these robots, and there was a certain type of "villain" that the announcer had not yet mentioned.

While the boy with glasses talked to the pro-hero, my thoughts went to these "villains".

Basically, the villains will be represented by four types of robots.

The robots are Villain Bot - Victory = 1 point. Villain Bot - Imperial = 2 points. Villain Bot - Venator = 3 points. Villain Bot - Executor = 0 points.

The fact that they are robots is probably because they want us to face these "villains" with all our strength, without holding back even a little. But the problem was the fourth 0-point "villain" that Present Mic hadn't yet talked about.

While I was thinking about this for some reason, the boy with glasses lectured Midoriya.

Apparently, the fact that the green-haired fake Victor Van Dort was fidgeting in his place bothered the bespectacled boy.

Everyone around Midoriya laughed at the lecture he received.

"Sorry." Midoriya apologized and covered his mouth.

I confess I'm a little disappointed now.

What's the point of having a strong body if his attitude doesn't convey any kind of confidence?

"OKAY! OKAY! AND SORRY AND THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION, MUCH APPRECIATED, CANDIDATE 7111!" The present Mic raised his hand, not too bothered by the bespectacled candidate.

"THE FOURTH TYPE OF VILLAIN YOU WILL FIND IS WORTH ZERO POINTS! LET'S CALL THEM "ARENA TRAP"! HAVE ANY OF YOU PLAYED "SUPER MARIO BROS" BEFORE!?

REMEMBER THOSE THINGS THAT FALL, THE THWOMP! THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN EVERY AREA!"

Strange!

That was my only thought upon hearing his explanation.

After all, when you see a trap, the right thing to do is to avoid it.

But why do I feel like this "trap" has something more important behind it?

Before I can formulate this thought better, Present Mic's voice takes me out of my thoughts, but this time his tone is more normal, even though it's louder.

"Well, for now! I leave you all with my presentation of the "school rules" of this academy!

As a certain "hero" called Napoleon Bonaparte once said: "A true hero never stops overcoming misfortunes in life"!!

"Now let's get to the main event!!"

He opened his hands while closing his left eye, saying Yuuei's motto, which is "Plus Ultra!!"

"And all of you must gratefully suffer the challenges that arise!"

With that, Yuuei's college entrance exam officially began.

An excited smile formed on my lips.

Let's see what the greatest school of heroes can offer.