章 1986: 5
Chapter 5: Test Taking Skills
Summary:
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.
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