Summary:
After All Might gives Izuku a much needed reality check, he has to find a new dream. When he learns that the support course at UA offers an emphasis in Intelligence and Analytics, it sounds like the perfect new passion for him to throw himself into.
Who knew? Maybe Hero Analysis for the Future was never meant for his future as a hero, but for his future helping heroes...
This fic has a discord.
Notes:Translation into Español available: Cheat Code: Estratega de Apoyo by Lauren_Anders
TV Tropes
(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)
Chapter 1: The Death of a DreamChapter Text
Izuku numbly watched the door shut behind All Might. Kacchan had been right, he really couldn't be a hero. Izuku felt the tears prickling at the corners of his eyes and looked around. If he went home right now, Mom would hear him crying in his room and wonder what was wrong, and Izuku didn't really feel up to explaining himself right then. This rooftop, however, was completely deserted. Making his decision, he sat down and hugged his knees to his chest as he let himself break down.
He should have known that would be All Might's answer. He had studied quirks for years, so he of all people should know that a quirkless teenager had no chance of beating villains with strong quirks. He couldn't even beat Kacchan! He should have seen this coming, so why did it still hurt so much?
After a few minutes of this, he became vaguely aware of the sounds of fireworks in the distance and almost stood up to look before changing his mind and curling up even tighter as he sobbed harder. The fireworks would probably look pretty and might even cheer him up a little bit, but Izuku wasn't really in the mood for pretty things. No matter how cool they looked, fireworks wouldn't be able to put his shattered dream back together.
The explosions were a good background for his pity party though, Izuku thought with a wet chuckle. It was almost like the world itself was celebrating that he'd finally come to terms with reality. He couldn't really tell if he was sobbing or laughing at the mental image of Kacchan and his teachers in party hats, gathering around a cake with All Might's true form on it as they set off confetti poppers. Congratulations!
He was definitely laughing now. Kacchan would totally have a disgruntled expression on his face at being forced into a party hat, but Auntie Mistuki would probably just hit him on the head if he tried to take it off. Mom would be the one to cut the cake, and she'd look proud and relieved as she gave him the first piece and told him to be sure to pick something safe for his next dream.
Izuku took a deep breath and stood up, wiping the last of his tears from his cheeks. There was still a dull ache in his chest, and he still didn't know what he was supposed to do now, but...well, it probably wasn't the best coping mechanism, but he felt like his imaginary pity party was almost like a funeral for his aspirations of being a hero. Wait, was this feeling grief? That would make sense, but it seemed weird to feel grief for something that wasn't a person. His dream was kind of like a pet, right? He'd cared for it for years and refused to let go, and now it was gone, so it was probably okay to be a little sad.
The sun had set sometime during his breakdown, so Izuku hurried straight home, only pausing once to check his reflection in a shop window to make sure his eyes weren't too red. He ran up the stairs to his apartment and quickly took off his shoes before digging in his backpack for his hero analysis notebook. Between the sludge villain and the koi pond, he was lucky that it was legible at all. He should put it in the freezer to save it so he could transfer his notes into another book, then he could carefully take out the pages that All Might had signed and frame them!
"I'm home!" He called out as he walked toward the kitchen. He should put the notebook in a plastic bag before putting it in the freezer so it didn't get anything gross on the food...
His thoughts were interrupted by his mom running at him so fast that she slid across the kitchen floor and almost knocked him down with the force of her hug, "Oh Izuku! I was so worried about you!"
Izuku looked at the clock. He wasn't that much later than he normally was. He knew for a fact he'd gotten home much later because he'd lost track of time watching hero fights, so why was Mom so worried today? She couldn't know what All Might had told him yet, could she?
Mom was still talking, rambling in her worry, "I saw about Katsuki on the news and I know that you take that route home sometimes, and I couldn't see you and you weren't answering your phone and I was just imagining what would have happened if the villain had grabbed you instead, because Katsuki was barely fighting him off with his explosions and…"
Izuku went cold, "What?! What happened to Kacchan?!"
Mom froze, "Y-you didn't know?"
Izuku shook his head frantically and stared at her with wide eyes. Mom pressed her lips together in worry, then led him into the living room and unmuted the TV. There was a young reporter on the screen, backlit against a few still-burning fires as Backdraft and a few other heroes lingered in the background.
"...the sludge villain seemed to be intent on suffocating his victim. Thankfully, the heroes on the scene were able to keep the others in the area safe until the arrival of All Might, who defeated the villain and saved the hostage, as expected of the number one hero. The sludge villain has now been taken into custody by police, while the hostage and several bystanders were taken to the hospital for various injuries…"
"They had to take him to the hospital?" Izuku fretted. "Is he going to be ok?"
Thankfully, Mom nodded quickly, "Mistuki said he won't even have to stay the night. The only reason they took him at all was because he apparently passed out for a minute or two before All Might got to him, but he's going to be ok!"
Izuku sighed in relief. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Kacchan had been hurt or died. It would have been his fault for distracting All Might and making him use up all his time, and Izuku wasn't sure if he'd be able to deal with that, especially since the description of the villain sounded like the one All Might had saved Izuku from, which meant that Izuku distracting him probably allowed the villain to escape. It was a good thing he'd already held the funeral for his dream, because there was no way he was capable of being a hero if he let villains escape like that. But Kacchan was ok, All Might saved him.
Oh no! Was All Might ok? Izuku quickly excused himself and ran to his computer to look up footage of the fight. All Might didn't look tired, but then again, he didn't look like a skeleton either, so Izuku knew he was good at hiding things. He almost melted in relief when All Might jumped away without talking to a single reporter as soon as Kacchan was safe. He was already past his limit when he talked to Izuku, and he'd probably had to go beyond that to save Kacchan, but that didn't mean he had to force himself to stay and chat. Hopefully he was at home taking a well-deserved nap.
Izuku spent the rest of the night studying the fight. The sludge villain was a lot less impressive when he wasn't drowning in it, but apparently the heroes on the scene before All MIght got there didn't agree, because they seemed at a loss for what to do. Izuku pulled out a new notebook and started analyzing. While it made sense for Backdraft to fight the fires, it would have been better to prioritize the rescue and have him dilute the villain enough for him to let go of Kacchan. It would have meant leaving the fires burning, but since there were more fires the longer Kacchan was held hostage, it would have been better in the long run.
Mt. Lady could have helped with evacuation, especially if Backdraft was busy taking care of the villain. Her height prevented her from getting into the narrow street where the fight was, but it was wide enough that she could have reached her arm in and let people climb onto it from the upper windows. And if she could reach her arm in, it might even have been possible for her to grab Kacchan from the villain without ever stepping into the street, depending on how far down the street they were.
Kamui Woods and Death Arms were more difficult, but if Kamui had looped around to come at the villain from behind, he might have been able to grab Kacchan without getting in range of his hands. Death Arms could easily have helped with evacuation.
Eventually, Mom confiscated his notebook and forced him to go to bed, but Izuku's head still kept him awake for another hour going through all the possibilities of how that fight could have gone differently. Finally, his thoughts slowed down enough for him to slowly drift off to sleep with one last coherent thought:
Is there a way to help heroes work smarter?
Chapter 2: A New DreamSummary:
Izuku researches the support course at UA.
Chapter Text
Let's do something at school…
"Alright students, remember that your finalized high school application plans need to be turned into the guidance counselor by the end of the week." The teacher said boredly. "So if you want to make any changes, they need to be done by then."
The bell rang and Izuku hurried to put the rest of his books and get out of the room before Kacchan could corner him. Things had been kinda weird since the sludge villain incident a few days ago and it seemed like Kacchan was constantly two seconds away from exploding, even more so than he usually was, at least. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had to be saved, and he was probably thinking that their classmates were looking down on him for being weak, so Izuku just thought it would be smarter to avoid him until things calmed down a little bit.
Unfortunately, Kacchan had other plans.
Izuku had barely managed to get out the front gates of the school when he found himself being slammed into the wall. He coughed as he struggled to catch his breath again, clutching his backpack to his chest so Kacchan couldn't steal it. He had just finished transferring all his hero analysis notes into a fresh notebook, he couldn't let it get destroyed again!
"You heard what Teach said." Kacchan scowled as he held Izuku against the wall. "It's your last chance to change your fucking mind about going to UA, you damn nerd. You'd better take it, because there's no chance a worthless nobody like you is ever gonna be a hero!"
"I know…" Izuku muttered.
Kacchan froze, "What did you just say?"
Izuku took a deep breath, "I said I know, Kacchan. I can't even defend myself from villains, how could I ever hope to defend other people. You were right, I'm never going to be a hero."
Izuku took advantage of the short moment Kacchan stood there gaping like a fish to pull out of his grip and run down the street, blinking away his tears. It was one thing admitting the truth to himself, but it was another thing entirely to say it to Kacchan like that. It made it more real, somehow, and even though the pain was a lot less than it had been when All Might first gave him a reality check, it still hurt.
And now everyone would know. It wouldn't take long for Kacchan to rant about it to his lackeys, and from there it would spread like wildfire and soon enough, the entire school would know that Izuku Midoriya had finally given up on his dream of being a hero. It would be too late to change his mind. But then again, wasn't it too late already? It had been too late ever since he turned four.
He was running out of time to find his new dream. Their high school plans were due in just a few days, but Izuku didn't know what he was supposed to write. He'd always wanted to go to UA because it was the best heroics school in Japan, but now he knew that he couldn't be a hero, it put everything into question. Maybe he should go to a different high school, since he didn't need to go to a school with a hero course anymore, but he still thought it would be cool to go to UA. It was where All Might had gone! He could just go into general studies...or maybe one of the other courses would be better?
Izuku ran a hand through his curls, wincing as his fingers caught in the tangles, and sighed. He needed to do a little more research before he made a decision. He sat down at his computer as soon as he got home and pulled up UA's website, navigating to the application page. He'd never actually read through the information about all the different courses, since he'd been too fixated on the hero course, but better late than never, right?
Thankfully, there was a page on UA's explaining each of the different courses and how to apply. Izuku started off by reading about general studies, obviously, since that was most likely where he'd end up. It seemed pretty standard, honestly. They would teach him the basic subjects, but Izuku didn't know how to feel about the fact that it didn't have any particular focus. General studies would look good on his resume, but that seemed to be all it would do for him. He didn't want to get bored.
Izuku bit his lip and clicked on the business course. There seemed to be a lot of money management involved in that one, which didn't really appeal to him. The heroic analytics classes sounded slightly better, but they mostly approached things from a marketing standpoint, rather than focusing on quirks like Izuku did. He decided to put a pin in that one. If he didn't find anything better, business might be a decent option, but it wasn't going to be his first choice.
He almost just closed his browser instead of reading the page on the support course. He wasn't an engineer. He didn't have any experience in mechanics or fixing things and while he found the way support items interacted with quirks interesting, he wasn't really interested in making them. But he'd looked through all the other courses, so he may as well glance at support, if only to complete the set.
At first, the support course looked exactly like what Izuku expected. There were pictures of students standing with their inventions and groups of kids with grease covered cheeks smiling at the camera, a wide variety of power tools and other things he couldn't name in the background. Try as he might, Izuku just couldn't see himself there, but then he noticed the different tracks.
The business course obviously had different areas of emphasis, like marketing or economics, but Izuku had just assumed that support was like heroics or general studies, where all the students were grouped together and had similar goals. But about halfway down the support course information page, there was an explanation of different tracks within the support course.
The first was Invention, which the website said was obviously the most popular option. It focused on being able to create and maintain support items, specifically for heroes. Izuku had just kinda assumed that was what the entire support course did. What else could there be? Support items for civilians? But, UA was a hero school…
He scrolled past the Invention track down to the next option. Design. It focused entirely on the aesthetics of hero costumes, something that Izuku hadn't even thought about as being part of support. It was a decently popular emphasis, and the students worked frequently with the business school to make sure they were designing looks that could sell and with the Invention track to make sure any support items visually matched the rest of the hero's costume. Izuku didn't think he was really artistic enough to enjoy that, though.
That brought him to the final track, which almost seemed like it had been added to the list as an afterthought. Intelligence and Analytics. Unlike the other two tracks, there weren't any pictures advertising that emphasis, and it didn't seem like it was chosen very often, but as he read the short paragraph, Izuku gradually became so excited he could hardly breathe.
Students in the Intelligence and Analytics Track of UA's Support Course focus on quirk analysis and helping heroes improve their quirk control and skill. Students are trained in how to obtain useful information to help heroes and detectives track down and defeat villains, as well as how to use quirk analysis to pinpoint villain's weaknesses. Interested students also have the option of taking courses in strategy if desired.
Izuku couldn't help but think of the heroes that stood on the sidelines and waited for All Might while Kacchan was being attacked by the sludge villain. If he joined the support course, he could share his strategies with them! He could help the heroes strategize better and use their quirks more intelligently to take down villains and protect people. It was too dangerous for a quirkless kid like him to be on the front lines, but that didn't mean he couldn't work behind the scenes to make sure the heroes had all the tools and information they needed so that they knew what to do! He could help the heroes work smarter!
It was perfect! Izuku glanced over at his collection of Hero Analysis for the Future . All these years, he'd assumed that the future he was preparing for was his career as a hero, but maybe this whole time, he'd really been preparing for a career in hero support! His cheeks were starting to hurt from how widely he was smiling and he was vaguely aware of the fact that he was mumbling as his brain spun with plans and possibilities. He would have to work hard for the next ten months if he had any chance of passing the entrance exam, but rather than being intimidated by the challenge, Izuku just felt invigorated. He grabbed a brand new notebook from his desk and wrote Support Course Preparation on the cover. Izuku Midoriya had found a new dream.
And this time, it was attainable.
Chapter 3: PreparationSummary:
A time skip as Izuku gets ready for the entrance exam.
Chapter Text
The final ten months before the entrance exam flew by almost too quickly. One of the first things Izuku had done after finding his new dream was research everything he could find about analytics and intelligence gathering. He couldn't find that much, which he supposed shouldn't be very surprising, considering that he hadn't even known it was a career option, but the things that he could find emphasized computer skills and making sure that his analysis was understandable to other people.
Izuku had worked nonstop to make sure he was ready for the entrance exam today. It was difficult, since UA's website didn't say what exactly he'd be asked to do, but he wasn't about to let that stop him! He threw himself into support with a passion, spending hours researching everything that heroes needed to know going into a situation and thinking about what he could do from behind the scenes to make them more effective.
His hero analysis notebooks had improved as well. He still labelled them for the future, but he was now trying to focus on suggestions for improvement and on increasing the speed of his analysis. Izuku had shifted the focus of the notebooks from just heroes to everything to do with quirks and even battle strategy. He filled an entire notebook just with analyses of villains he'd seen on the news, and another with random quirks that he found on the street. He'd also stopped taking them out at school so that his bullies wouldn't be tempted to destroy these ones like they had all the others.
School had surprisingly gotten a lot better for Izuku over the past few months. His bullies hadn't stopped after the word spread that he wasn't trying for the hero course anymore, but now everyone was at a loss for how to actually hurt him. He hadn't told anyone at school about the support course, since the high school application plans simply listed the school, not the emphasis. The teachers assumed he'd switched his goal to general studies and from what Izuku could gather, the other students thought he was going for the nearest high school with a high acceptance rate. As a result, no one could target his new dream and all their insults fell flat. Even Kacchan had switched to mostly ignoring him, or just calling him useless, which was a huge improvement!
One of the best things that had come from his new dream, though, was actually his relationship with his mother. He hadn't realized just how much his old dream had come between them, but now that it was no longer in the way, they'd grown so much closer. Her worry seemed less like she was trying to suffocate him, and more like it was just how she showed that she cared.
When he'd sat her down to talk about his new dream, she had immediately started crying. Izuku had understandably started panicking, wondering what he had said wrong, but as soon as she had calmed down enough to be coherent, Mom had assured him that she was just so happy and proud of him. He hadn't been quite sure how to feel about the fact that her first reaction to him giving up on his lifelong dream was to be so happy that she cried, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Maybe if she had just believed in him earlier…
Izuku shook his head as he finished getting ready to leave. It wouldn't do any good to worry about what-if's right now. Mom was just trying to keep him safe, so it made perfect sense that she would be happy that he'd picked a safer option. She had been a little nervous about him still working in the heroics industry, but after he'd assured her that he wouldn't actually be fighting anyone, she'd calmed down and had actually been surprisingly supportive.
He carefully placed his laptop in his bag and smiled. Mom had gotten it for him as a celebration gift after he'd explained what intelligence and analytics was and it had actually been her idea to sign him up for computer programming lessons at their local community center. He'd taken to them like a duck to water and it hadn't been long at all before he'd started learning to hack. Mom didn't necessarily like when he called it hacking, since she thought that sounded dangerous or like something a villain would do, but Izuku had pointed out that it would be a really useful way to gather information. He'd be protected behind a screen and the only people he'd be hacking were villains, to make sure they couldn't hide anything from the heroes. She'd come around pretty quickly after that.
The last thing he packed was the portfolio he'd created to demonstrate his quirk analysis. UA's website had said that in addition to the same written exam that all the other courses took, the support course exam consisted of a portfolio and a practical. Izuku had spent months debating what to put in his portfolio before Mom had suggested simply turning in one of his hero analysis notebooks. He didn't feel like those were quite good enough to turn into UA, though, so he'd decided to turn in a new analysis notebook that was actually properly formatted.
He'd picked five heroes and five villains to highlight, since the website had said he'd be analyzing both as part of UA, and he'd had Mom read through all of them to make sure they didn't just sound like his normal muttering. When he'd first started asking her to read his analyses to make sure other people could understand them, she'd pointed out that he wrote almost completely in run-on sentences and sometimes dropped words completely because his brain was moving faster than his hands could.
He'd focused since then on editing his analyses into a coherent whole and making them easy to understand. The heroes he would eventually be working with needed to be able to read though and find what they needed, afterall, so there needed to be some sort of formatting and he couldn't use a lot of technical jargon, not that he ever really had. He'd experimented quite a bit and had even looked up how professional analysts formatted their essays for inspiration. Overall, Izuku was actually extremely proud of how professional his portfolio looked once he was finished, and Mom hadn't had any trouble understanding it, so that was a huge plus.
Mom scooped him into a hug almost as soon as he made it to the kitchen, "Oh baby! Do you have everything? Do you have your laptop? Will you even need your laptop? It's best to just bring it, right, even if you don't need it? Or will that be weird? They won't see it as cheating, will they? Oh if only…"
"Mom, take a deep breath." He pulled away from her and smiled, "I'll be fine. I already checked the website, and support course applicants are allowed to bring any technology they think they'll need. I don't know if I'll need my laptop, but I want to be able to demonstrate my hacking if they ask me to."
Mom sighed in relief, "Oh, that's good. I'm just so worried! I know you'll be fine and safe, but a mother worries, you know?"
Izuku laughed, "I know. Don't worry, the support course exam isn't like the hero course one, so I'm not going to get hurt. Just be glad you're not Auntie Mitsuki today. No matter what the hero course practical is, there's bound to be some aspect of combat included."
Mom wrung her hands nervously, "Oh, I don't think I'd be able to handle it. I know Katsuki can handle himself in a fight, but I'm just so glad you're not trying for the hero course. I'm not sure I'd even be able to let you leave the house without having a heart attack."
Izuku smiled sadly. His grief had long since faded to a dull ache and he hardly even noticed it anymore most days, but his nervousness about the entrance exam was bringing everything to the surface again. What if he'd made the wrong choice? What if he was meant to be a hero? What if he'd never really be satisfied with the support course? What if Kacchan was right and he really was useless and he failed the entrance exam and ended up living under a bridge and…
"Stop that, Izuku." Mom hit him gently on the arm and smiled to pull him from his spiral. "I'm the one who's supposed to be worrying so just leave that to me, and you focus on doing your best. Ok, baby?"
Izuku smiled and nodded in determination, "Thanks, Mom. I should get going, wish me luck!"
"Good luck!" Mom started sniffling as he put on his shoes, then started full-on crying as he waved to her when he got down to the street. Izuku gripped the straps of his backpack and took a deep breath as he headed toward the train station. He could do this.
Chapter 4: ArrivalSummary:
Izuku begins the entrance exam for the support course.
Notes:
We got a TV Tropes Page!
Chapter Text
Izuku actually ended up getting to UA a few minutes early, early enough that he didn't even see Kacchan, who should be taking the hero course exam today, on his way in. He looked up at the building, not even bothering to conceal his awe considering that he was far from the only applicant gaping at the fact that they were actually at UA! After a long moment, he shook himself and hurried into the building, taking everything in as he followed the signs to the support course exam orientation.
He ended up in a large room lined with desks that were almost completely empty except for a few other early arrivals like himself. Izuku swallowed nervously as they all looked up at his arrival, his anxiety already getting the better of him as he ran to one of the seats in the back corner. He really wasn't ready to meet his future tormentors quite yet.
After a few minutes of sitting in the oppressively silent room, Izuku decided that he needed to find something to distract himself. The longer he just sat there, the more he worried that he was somehow making a terrible mistake, or that he would fail the exam, or that the proctors would come up to him and tell him that UA had actually decided to not accept quirkless applicants this year. He could always analyze his fellow examinees and see if he could guess their quirks, but he knew that as soon as he started analyzing, he would also start mumbling, which would sound even louder in the quiet room, and then any hope he had of fading into the background would go out the window.
Izuku thought for a moment before getting out his laptop. From what he'd read, UA had impressive cyber security, so it wouldn't hurt to take a look at their firewalls, right? He looked at the clock, he still had another twenty minutes until the exam started and if he didn't do anything, he was going to go insane, so this would be a good way to keep himself busy and satisfy his curiosity at the same time.
The rumors really hadn't exaggerated UA's security. Anywhere that Izuku would normally look for holes or backdoors were patched up and defended, and he grinned as he had to get more and more creative the more he poked around. Most villains would probably just take one look at the programs and decide to go hack somewhere less secure. Maybe if he were to…
"What are you doing?"
Izuku yelped and slammed his laptop shut, leaning back as far as he could to get away from the girl who was suddenly way too close to his face. He glanced around the room to find that most of the seats were filled. How long had he been trying to get past UA's firewalls? And more importantly, how long had this girl been there and how hadn't he noticed when she got in his personal space.
Also, she was a girl!
"Uh, I, um…" He swallowed nervously, but the girl didn't seem to be backing off anytime soon. "Nothing?"
The girl grinned savagely, her pupils narrowing slightly, something that was made more obvious by the crosshairs in them, "If it was nothing, you wouldn't have been doing it!"
Were the crosshairs a result of her quirk? If so, then what was it? It was obviously something to do with her vision, and she seemed to be able to change her pupil size at will, so maybe it was like a telescope? That would be really cool! What were the limitations and...oh, she was still staring at him.
"Do you have a telescope quirk?" Izuku blurted out the question before his self control caught up to his curiosity, then promptly turned bright red and started freaking out. Of course, the first time a girl ever willingly talks to him and he has to make a fool of himself by asking about her quirk like some kind of creepy idiot.
The girl didn't seem put off by it though, in fact, her grin just got bigger, "I'll tell you about my quirk if you tell me what you were doing on your computer!"
Izuku thought for a moment. He really wanted to know more about her quirk, but...would she think he was weird? What was he thinking? She already thought he was weird! And he didn't know why, maybe it was because she had gotten so close to him despite never meeting him before, but she didn't really seem like the type to stop talking to people just because they were weird. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.
"I, uh," he smiled sheepishly, "I was trying to get past UA's firewalls?"
The girl blinked at him for a moment, then laughed loudly, "That's awesome! Hacking UA before the exam even starts, what a way to make a first impression!"
Izuku's eyes widened and his stomach dropped, "Oh no! What was I thinking? I just wanted something to do and I've probably ruined my chances! They're gonna think I'm some kind of villain and…"
He was startled from his mumbling by the girl flicking him on the forehead, "Did you have any luck?"
He tilted his head, "What?"
"Did you have any luck hacking UA?"
"Uh, no?" Izuku didn't know why she didn't seem freaked out at all, in fact, she was acting like him hacking UA was a good thing.
"Too bad." The girl shrugged. "That probably would have been a great way to get your foot in the door."
Izuku thought about that for a moment, but it made his brain spin, so he just shook his head, "Well, I told you what I was doing. What about you? What's your quirk?"
"Zoom!" The girl was grinning again and Izuku would probably have been intimidated if her energy wasn't so contagious. "You weren't that far off with your telescope idea, I can see things as far away as five kilometers, but I mostly use it to zoom in on tiny things while I make my babies!"
Izuku's face went red again and he sputtered, "B-babies?"
She nodded, "Yep! I make all sorts of cool babies for heroes to use! My favorite baby is the jetpack I designed!"
She dug in her bag for a moment before slamming a grease-smeared folder in front of him. Izuku hesitated for a moment, but she looked like she was expecting him to do something, so he opened the folder and looked at the detailed blueprints inside, "These are really cool! Is this your portfolio?"
She nodded, "Where's yours?"
Izuku put his laptop back in his bag and handed her his own portfolio before going back to looking through her blueprints. A lot of it was technical jargon that he didn't understand, but after a minute, he thought he had a good idea of how the jetpack was supposed to work, "Is this based on Air Jet's backpack?"
"Yep! It's a super-cool flying baby!" The girl looked to be about halfway through his portfolio. "And these are really cool notes, Hacker-kun, but weren't you supposed to bring blueprints for your babies?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, um, actually, that's only for the invention track. I'm applying for intelligence and analytics, so, yeah…"
"Hmm," the girl looked back and forth between Izuku and his portfolio, then grinned, "that means that we'll have to work together so I can make super awesome babies based off your notes!" She stuck her hand out for him to shake, "I'm Mei Hatsumei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries! What's your name, Hacker-kun?"
Izuku grinned and took her hand, "Izuku Midoriya. Pleasure to meet you, Hatsume!"
"Oh just call me Mei, Izu-kun.." Hatsume said dismissively, ignoring the way Izuku's face turned red again at the nickname. "We'll be working together a lot once school starts, so there's no point in pretending to be formal, don't ya think?"
Izuku wasn't really sure, but he wasn't about to say otherwise and risk ruining whatever this was, "S-sure thing, M-mei-chan."
Mei nodded and handed his portfolio back, seemingly satisfied with the nickname, and Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he returned her portfolio. Wait, were they friends now? The only person he ever had a nickname for before was Kacchan, and they'd been friends once, so did that mean that Mei was his friend? Or were they just future business partners? What were people supposed to do with their friends? Izuku suddenly felt more nervous about his new friendship with Mei than he did about the exam, which he supposed was a good thing, since distracting himself from his exam anxiety was what he'd set out to do in the first place.
The background chatter in the room died down and Izuku and Mei looked toward the front of the room to see Powerloader standing on the stage holding a mic.
"Oh my goodness, it's the support hero Powerloader!" Izuku couldn't help muttering, but Mei actually didn't seem to mind, something he'd have to unpack later, "He's one of only a handful of heroes in Japan that has both a hero license and a support license, which means he can make his own support items, but he normally focuses on making them for…"
"Welcome, everyone, to the entrance exam." Powerloader cut off Izuku's muttering and Izuku slammed his mouth shut so he wouldn't start muttering again as the hero continued, "I'm Powerloader, the head of the support course here at UA, which should be the department you applied to. If you didn't apply to the support course, you're in the wrong place, so just leave and there's staff members at the front office who can help you find where you're supposed to be."
There was an awkward shuffling for a moment as everyone looked around, but no one got up to leave, so Izuku assumed they were all in the right place.
"Alright, first off is going to be the written exam, which will be taken here. Staff members will be handing out the exam as I explain a few things, so just ignore them and don't break the seal on your exam until I say you can begin. The exam is identical for all four courses at UA, but yours has an additional section with questions on support specifically. You'll have three hours. Next, you'll take the practical exam, which will be divided based on your emphasis. You'll have four hours to create a functional support item, for the invention track, or a finished costume prototype, for the design track, based on the prompts given. You'll turn in your portfolio when you start your practical exam."
And now Izuku's anxiety was back. What was his practical exam going to be? He'd gathered that there wouldn't be many other applicants for the intelligence and analytics track, but Powerloader should have said something about it, right? Had he filled out his application incorrectly? He'd thought he checked it five times, but what if something went wrong? Or maybe they'd wanted him to use his intelligence gathering skills to figure out the exam before he'd arrived?
A vacuum wrapped packet was placed in front of him and Izuku forced himself to take a deep breath. It was too late to do anything about it now, and he couldn't afford to be worried about his practical exam when he hadn't even started the written one yet. It'd be fine. He could do this.
"Alright, does everyone have your tests?" Powerloader asked. "Begin."
Chapter 5: Test Taking SkillsSummary:
Izuku takes the written exam.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku didn't think that tests were normally supposed to be fun, and while his test anxiety definitely wasn't, he found himself forgetting to be nervous the more questions he answered. Even though the questions for the general section weren't extremely interesting, since they only covered the standard subjects he'd learned in middle school, they were challenging enough to make up for it. Izuku was glad that he'd studied in preparation for the test, because that meant that instead of being intimidating, the more difficult questions were actually invigorating.
And then came the support section. Izuku assumed that part of its purpose was to gauge each student's potential for the other tracks, because the questions were pulled from all three. Izuku felt like he did decently well on the design questions, even if that wasn't exactly his passion, but the only questions about invention that he could even make sense of were the ones that dealt with computer hardware. Maybe he should have studied mechanics a little more? Oh well, it was too late for that now....
To Izuku's surprise, there were only two questions about analysis and both of them were essays, so he could only hope that would be enough to show his skills and set him apart from the other applicants. He didn't want to have to think about what he'd do if his new dream got crushed like his last one had been.
For the first analysis question, he was given a quirk registration form and told to theorize about the strengths and weaknesses of the quirk, as well as give suggestions about how to use it. To his surprise, he actually recognized the quirk! It belonged to a retired hero named Glimmer who could manipulate light energy around her body in the form of sparkles.
At first, it didn't seem like a very powerful quirk, but Izuku knew better. The sparkles that Glimmer controlled didn't just look pretty, they could get bright enough that looking at them was like staring into the sun. Tempting, sure, but definitely not recommended. As a pro hero, she had used it to blind and disorient her opponents, leading to a high rate of capture.
The drawbacks, of course, were that if Gimmer wasn't careful she could permanently blind villains, bystanders, or even herself. She had to carefully manipulate the light of her quirk to make sure that it was bright enough to be effective without causing permanent damage, which was a pretty fine line. She wasn't a well known hero, but from what Izuku knew about her, she had done her job well.
All of that was common knowledge, though, if someone knew where to look, so while it was necessary to list that out, Izuku didn't think that basic level of analysis would help him stand out. But what else...well, he was supposed to give suggestions, right? It felt kind of blasphemous to give suggestions to such a successful pro hero, but Izuku forced himself to look at it like it was any other quirk. The test hadn't actually specified that the quirk belonged to a pro, after all, so he couldn't let that hold back his analysis, not to mention that if he was accepted into the support course, he'd be giving pros suggestions for a living.
So how could the quirk go beyond what Glimmer had used it for?
Well, she manipulated light energy, right? But...Izuku's eyes widened and he started writing the ideas as fast as he could structure them out. Not all light was visible, so what if she could manipulate not only the intensity of the lights but also the wavelength? From the footage he'd seen, some of the sparkles Glimmer had used had appeared colorful, especially that one time she'd produced rainbow sparkles during a pride parade, so it was definitely possible for her to shift the wavelength within the visible spectrum. And if she could do that much, she could probably train enough to create ultraviolet light and infrared light, which meant that she could use her quirk to burn rather than blind and maybe even use it like a black light to find forensic evidence at crime scenes!
In the end, Izuku's essay ended up being three pages long, two of which were entirely suggestions based on his theory that Glimmer could manipulate the wavelength of light. It really made him wonder why she'd never used it that way. It would have effectively negated a lot of the drawbacks of her quirk, since she wouldn't have had to worry about blinding anyone if her light was invisible. It would also make her much more difficult to fight, since the threats wouldn't be as obvious. It was almost a shame that she had already retired, because Izuku would have loved to see if any of his theories were actually useful.
He didn't recognize the other quirk, so he didn't have the advantage of previous knowledge, but then again, he also didn't go into the analysis with any biases, so it all balanced out. It was some sort of jet quirk that allowed the user to blow air out of the bottoms of their feet, which would probably be most useful for speed or maybe even for flight, depending on how long the hero could keep continuously blowing air. They would need specialized shoes that protected their feet while still allowing the air to flow, and the rest of their costume might need extra ventilation as well, depending on where the air came from. It was probable that the quirk actually worked by taking air in through the skin to power the quirk, or maybe it was powered by the breath?
If the hero could manipulate the temperature of the air, that opened a whole new field of opportunities. He could use hot air to make himself rise faster, or cool air to help victims during fire rescues! There were just so many possibilities, but Izuku limited those speculations to less than a page. He didn't know if temperature manipulation was actually within the limits of the quirk, so he didn't want to waste too much time on suggestions that might not actually be useful. Instead, Izuku tried to focus his analysis on ideas that were possible with only the information he'd been given. Beyond mobility, the quirk could probably be used to impair an opponent's vision, since if the hero could aim the jets at a villain's eyes, it would dry them out pretty quickly. It would be difficult to keep one's eyes open in a targeted windstorm, but even a brief puff to the face would force the villain to blink, which could make him a perfect counter to Eraserhead if he came up on him from behind.
Izuku debated about whether he should actually include that tidbit before deciding to just leave it in. It probably wasn't necessary, but at the same time, any little bit of information could mean the difference between being accepted to his dream school or having to find a third dream in under a year, so Izuku didn't want to take any chances. It couldn't hurt, right? Unless they thought it was creepy. What if they thought he was creepy? But then again, the entire analysis section was kinda creepy, just by the way it was designed...but what if his classmates were right and his notebooks weren't useful at all and he made UA hate him because he saw too many weaknesses in the quirks they gave him?
Izuku hurried and finished the essay before he could work himself into a panic about it and used the rest of the time to check his answers in the general section as a way to distract himself. He was already here, at UA, taking the entrance exam, so it was way too late to second guess himself now, right? And maybe UA would be like Mei, who didn't think he was creepy at all, but maybe that was because Mei was a little creepy herself?
By the time Powerloader announced the end of the test, Izuku had successfully talked himself down from his anxiety attack. Ectoplasm must be one of the teachers at UA, because it was his clones that came to collect everyone's tests once time was called. It was kind of surreal that there were so many real pro-heroes in the building right now. Izuku hoped that, if he actually got into UA, he'd be able to reign in his inner fanboy enough to not make a fool of himself around every single one of the teachers. Oh boy, yeah, that was gonna be difficult.
As soon as Ectoplasm grabbed her test, Mei was immediately back in Izuku's personal space, grinning like a madwoman, "How did you do Izu-kun? I bet those analysis questions were a piece of cake for you, huh? I could make so many babies to help those heroes, it's amazing! I already have so many ideas! Maybe that's what I'll build in the practical, but I have so many other baby ideas too...oooh, this is gonna be so much fun!"
Izuku couldn't help smiling as Mei cackled, even if the other examinees were shooting them strange looks, but her ramblings reminded him that he still didn't know what his practical exam was going to be. Analysts didn't have anything physical to show off, unlike inventors and designers, so what were they going to ask him to do? And why didn't Powerloader mention it along with the other courses?
After a few minutes, they were excused to make their way to the practical exams and there was a flurry of movement as all the examinees stretched and gathered their things to leave the room.
Izuku turned to Mei and smiled, "Good luck on your practical, Mei-chan! I hope you make it in."
"My babies are amazing, the proctors won't be able to ignore them!" Mei declared confidently. "And you're not allowed to fail, either, Izu-kun. You have to make it into UA so we can make awesome babies together!"
Izuku sputtered and turned red, but Mei was already skipping toward the doors. He was definitely going to have to get used to the way she phrased things. Did she even realize how she sounded, or did she just not care? Honestly, from what Izuku had seen from her so far, it could be either one. Still, it was comforting to know that he'd have at least one friend if he made it into the support course. Well, one person who didn't hate him at the very least. That was gonna be weird.
Izuku shook his head and grabbed his bag, then made his way to the front of the room, where Powerloader was sitting at a large desk next to the pro hero Midnight, who must have arrived sometime while they were taking the written exam. Izuku didn't want to interrupt their conversation, but he also didn't want to be late to the practical just because he didn't know where it was. There was a possibility that there were signs outside that he could follow, since that seemed to be the case for the invention and design tracks, but considering that Powerloader hadn't even mentioned the analysis track since Izuku had arrived, he wasn't willing to bet on that.
Izuku hesitated another moment before speaking, he was gonna feel so stupid if they told him to to just follow the signs, "Um, excuse me?"
Midnight stopped halfway through whatever story she had been telling and both heroes turned to look at Izuku, who fidgeted in place at the sudden attention.
"Hey, hot stuff." Midnight purred. "What can we do for you?"
"I was just wondering, um," Izuku grimaced. Way to make a good first impression. "Do you know where the intelligence and analytics test will be? I mean, of course you know, you're in charge, it's just that you didn't say anything about it, Powerloader, sir, so I, um, just was kinda confused and…"
Izuku trailed off awkwardly. The heroes seemed a little shocked, for some reason, but they didn't seem annoyed by his question, so that was something. Powerloader flipped through some papers on the desk in front of him before looking up at Izuku again, "You're Izuku Midoirya, correct?"
Izuku nodded and the heroes shared a look that Izuku couldn't read before Powerloader turned back to him, "Sorry for the confusion, Midoirya, it's just that most years, we don't actually have any applicants for that emphasis, so it's easy to forget it exists. Since you're the only one applying, it honestly slipped my mind, so I went on autopilot and gave the same spiel I give every year. Sorry."
"O-oh." Izuku swallowed, suddenly even more insecure. "I knew it wasn't as popular, but I thought there'd be at least a few others…"
"Oh, you're so cute, I could just eat you up!" Midnight cooed. "Are you sure you don't want to switch to the design track? I'm a lot more fun than that scheming old rat."
"W-what?" Izuku sputtered. "T-the rat?"
Powerloader glared at her, "Sorry about her, Midnight teaches art here at UA, which puts her at the head of the design emphasis, which still doesn't give her any right to steal students from the rest of us! " Midnight stuck her tongue out at him, but otherwise didn't interrupt. "And most students who end up emphasising in intelligence and analytics are recruited by Nedzu after they show potential in other courses. We're not used to people applying for analytics right off the bat."
Izuku didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded, "So, um, about the practical…?"
"I'll take him!" Midnight squealed. "We can get to know each other better."
"Don't you have your own practical to run?" Powerloader said dryly. "You'd better go before your students spread paint everywhere, I'll show Midoriya where to go."
"Let's be honest, if anyone is going to destroy the room, it's going to be your brats, not mine, but okay." Midnight pouted for a second, then shot Izuku a wink. "Good luck, hot stuff. You're gonna need it."
"Ignore her." Powerloader said as he stood. "She's just a tease."
Izuku jogged after Powerloader as they walked through the maze of hallways to...wherever they were going. No one had actually said where that was yet. His mind was still reeling from the revelation that he was the only applicant for intelligence and analytics, "So, um, should I be worried?"
Powerloader shrugged, "I honestly don't know. Like I said, most people don't apply to this track, so I don't actually know what the practical consists of, but you wouldn't have made it this far if you didn't have some kind of skill or interest in it, so you'll probably be fine."
"Um, do the other applicants usually make it in?" Izuku asked. "I know there's not many, but…"
Izuku was interrupted when a door in front of them swung open. When he glanced at Powerloader, the man looked tired, but not necessarily surprised, so Izuku turned back to the doorway, his eyes widening as he realized who exactly stood there.
"Hello, Midoriya." Nedzu's grin was wide enough for it to be slightly unsettling. "You must be the one who was poking around my servers this morning."
Notes:
When you recycle throw-away OCs from one of your other stories because you already put in the work to figure out how their quirk worked...
Also, people were commenting last chapter on how long the written test was. I based it off of AP exams, which normally take several hours, not that I've taken one recently, but that's what I remember.