Chapter Text
Entrance Exam Battle Center E
Roughly thirty prospective students shuffled nervously at the entrance gate. Most everyone was quiet with a handful of small comments here and there. A few had started stretching the moment they stepped off the busses.
Standing off to the side Ren dropped into a lunge, stretching her hamstrings as she examined the other examinees. Before she could get an adequate read on their emotional state, a now familiar voice rang out over the speakers.
“Okay, Start.”
Carson had been staring at the massive door, deep in thought, oblivious to the announcement. So when the large wide doors opened they only glanced back up at where Present Mic stood for a brief second before taking off into the cityscape that was the exam grounds. They kept towards the front of the pack, peeling off down a random street. Explosions and metal clangs reverberated and bounced off the cityscape around them, signalling other students had engaged the faux villains, even if they hadn’t found any yet. That wasn’t an issue for long, darting through a smaller street, two faux villains popped up, one on either end, effectively trapping them. Dodging the robot attacks wasn’t hard, despite their slightly clunky design and sheer size, they still moved and attacked fast. The real issue was that these weren’t people and Carson couldn’t just wear them down in a game of endurance and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that engaging in hand to hand combat with a robot would not end well. Not that their quirk couldn’t take care of any damage that came from such a fool hardy decision.
Analyzing and picking up the patterns in the robot’s fighting would take too much time out of the ten minute exam. And there certainly wasn’t enough time to muck with the AI coding or even attempt to find flaws within it. (There was no way these robots were all individually remotely driven due to the number of testing grounds and robots that likely populated each.) The pair of robots were closing in, giving Carson less and less room to maneuver. Their best bet was to get the pair within striking range and manipulate the fight so that the robots would end up taking each other out. The only potential flaw was if the AI coding was too good and there was a catch method that tracked other robots and prevented them from coming to harm.
Thankfully there was no such restriction in the coding, so as Carson dodged attacks they hit their marks on the other robot. Not delaying long, they quickly sorted through the carnage, slipping a small sharp piece of metal into their pocket and taking two broken metal rods with them. They weren’t as long as their normal escrima sticks, but they would have to do.
Ren found herself in the back of the herd as the group of prospective Yuuei students charged into the Battle Center. Unfortunately the last person she made eye contact with was feeling pure panic, so now that’s all she could remember to feel. Talking out loud, she worked to ground herself. “Weapons. I need a weapon. Especially if I’m going to have to fight - ROBOTS!” Her muttering transformed into a shout of shock as she and a handful of others rounded a corner only to come face to face with five one and two Pointers. Two students vaguely within arms’ reach just froze, a third and fourth hesitated for a moment before back peddling the way they came. The fifth actually dashed forward, engaging one of the one Pointers whilst the sixth trembled in place.
Without thinking, Ren reached out and grabbed the frozen two, calling out sharply and clearly to get their attention as well as the one trembling in front of her. As each one turned to look at her, she made direct eye contact with them, projecting confidence. “We got this.” Without wasting any more time or breath, she let go and darted between them into the fray. Keeping her wits about her, she examined the robots around her. Just as she caught sight of a one pointer pinning the student who had already engaged, the blur of a red body-slammed into the robot, shattering its chassi and sending debris around the area.
“Ah! A weapon.” Ren picked up a metal pole that had come off the robot, not wasting her momentum she continued her movement and whirled around to strike a one pointer. She grinned, excitement flowing through her now that she was on a more even playing field.
Ren and Carson both continued to move through the exam grounds, inadvertently bringing them closer to each other. They helped people along the way, Ren often giving confidence boosts to those still willing to fight or calming down those who were panicking and Carson yanking, shoving, and on two separate occasions tackling people out of harm's way followed by a quick offer to treat any injuries before moving on.
Ren’s rant about her pathetic total points was cut short as she ran further down a wide road just in time to witness another examinee use her quirk to send one of the robots flying. Wide eyed Ren realized that the robot was going to fall exactly where a small group was standing. Shucking her temporary weapon off to the side she ran at the three. Hooking one arm around the guy that was standing in shock Ren grabbed at the person who was kneeling over another kid. “Move dumbasses.” Silently she thanked the stranger’s instinctual response as they also pulled at the kid on the ground continuing with the momentum she had.
“What the -” Carson’s protest was cut off by the clang of a robot landing just where they had been treating the other two examinees. Their eyes flicked to the student that had hauled them out of harm’s way. “Thanks.” Trusting that one to have their back for the moment, they returned to addressing the injuries of the two they had been treating. They shooed the one standing off, insisting that they were well enough to get themselves away from everything. Pulling the sharp metal out of their pocket, they slice open their palm again, placing it against the open wound on the leg of their second patient. A couple seconds later, Carson pulled their hand away, the wound sealed and healing, and instructed the boy to get himself to safety.
Ren was still grinning from the adrenaline rush when the ground shifted beneath their feet, freezing her in place. “Uh dude.” Her eyes flickered down to the, slightly shiny, person who was giving first aid. When they glanced up in acknowledgment she continued. “Remember that zero pointer they told us about?”
“Uh, yeah.”
The ground trembled again. Seconds later an unnecessarily large robot stepped around the buildings, towering over even the tallest of buildings. Ren’s shoulders dropped, “We found it.
Carson got to their feet. “I think it found us.” They glanced around surveying the area, noting most of the examinees were gathered here.
“And nobody’s moving.”
“Well, that one is.” Carson pointed at a figure launching itself directly at the zero pointer, who then cartoonishly bounced off the massive hunk of metal, landing flat on his back. Both of them take a step forward to grab the dumbass, only for him to pop back up onto his feet. “Uh, you take right, I’ll take left?”
“Roger.” Ren moved to start forcing people into action but before she could get to the first group a white strip of something wrapped around them, yanking them into a side alley out of the way. Following the movement, she caught sight of a blackhaired boy. She paused, taking a moment to reassess the situation. With the new intrusion most everyone was taken care of and the furthest of the examinees had finally gotten their shit together and started running. Glancing back over her shoulder she noticed the violently red blur from earlier was stupidly attempting to keep the zero pointer at bay by bracing his body against one of its treds. She started running just in time to see the treds begin moving, which was then forcing the idiot into the ground. Instinct told her that he would survive it but she didn’t want to risk it. He was a good few inches into the ground when Ren reached him. Unceremoniously she wrapped her hand in his hair and pulled. She only had to drag him for a few meters before he got his feet under him and started running with her. Before Ren realized it she was being yanked to a halt by the back of her shirt just in time for the shadow of the zero pointers arm to fall over them and a fist to slam into the ground three meters away.
Carson tugged and shoved on people they passed, constantly ordering them to move and get on out of there. This worked to snap most of their fellow examinees out of their panic and fear driven paralysis. They noticed a large shadow moving across the ground, one glance up told them that the zero pointer was winding up for a smash onto the street. Most everyone was clear, there was one petrified, just staring up at the incoming fist. Carson sprinted in their direction, launching themself at the poor girl. As they tackled her, they maneuvered their body to be underneath her as the pair hit the ground, the momentum causing them to skid along the asphalt well out of reach of the smash. Carson wasn’t overly worried about the damage sustained from skidding along the street. They’d heal from that much easier than the student would have healed from being turned into a pancake. Opening their arms, Carson began to move to get both of them to their feet when the buzzer sounded. They let themself collapse back to the ground.
Ren walked over to where she saw Carson skid to, the boy following. She sat down on the curb next to the other, dropping her elbows down onto her knees and sagged in exhaustion. “So uh American?”
“American.”
“Where from?”
“Jersey. You?”
“Uh, everywhere. Military.”
“Ah. That’s why you’re here?”
“Uh-huh.” Her heart wasn’t pounding in her ears as much anymore. “How’s your back?”
“It’s fine.”
Ren ignored the response, reached out, grabbed the front of their shirt and forced their torso off the ground. The back of the shirt was shredded but there were no signs of blood or any injuries for that matter. Eyes roaming over her companions she realized that aside from a bit of dirt clinging to their clothing and the boy missing his shirt, neither of them were scratched or bruised, aside from a touch of exhaustion wearing on their shoulders they looked perfectly fit and fine. “That’s just not fair.” She, on the other hand, was covered in scrapes, bruises, dirt, grime, and who knew what else. She knew showing up to the UA entrance exam that she would encounter all kinds of people and quirks but it was just her luck that she met not one, but two indestructible quirk wielders. Somehow instead of dissuading her from becoming a hero it managed to renew the spite that was fueling her current desire.
Carson wasn’t phased by the statement, their quirk kept them healed and in tip top shape, at the cost of a high metabolism. “I’m hungry. You know any places to eat around here?”
“Not really, one prefecture over yeah.”
Kirishima’s head swiveled back and forth as he listened to what he knew was English, but in reality sounded like gibberish coming from the two in front of him. Having caught a word he recognized, hungry, he opted to throw his two cents in. “There’s a yakiniku place not too far from here.”
Carson gestured their hand in his direction, switching to Japanese. “You. Talk. More.”
Ren looked bewildered at her fellow American. Remembering that it wasn’t just the two of them she swapped back over to Japanese as well. “I heard you use perfect Japanese while addressing those two students you were helping. What the hell was that.”
“Hungry.”
“The place is only about fifteen minutes away, once we get out of the testing grounds and back to campus.” He gestured to the exit, where most of the examinees had already left. “I’m Kirishima, Eijirou by the way.”
She gives a sloppy salute, “Ren.”
“Killam, Carson.” They stood up. “It’s nice to meet both of you. Now let’s grab some food.”
Kirishima led the way and within thirty minutes the trio was sitting at the restaurant and had placed their orders. They sat mostly in silence, only a small bit of conversation happening as the events from the exam finally and fully caught up with them. After eating, the conversation picked up a bit more.
Ren reached her hand out. “Carson, can I see your arm for a moment?”
Carson swallowed their current bite and held out their arm. “Uh, sure?”
Straight faced Ren picks up her knife and uses the back of it to tap at their skin. She was rewarded with a light metallic ‘tink’ sound. “Ah, that’s what I thought.” Letting go of their arm. “So what exactly is your quirk. Metal?”
Returning their arm to their side, their face said everything as they looked at Ren with ‘did you just’. The shit eating grin they got in response was enough. “No, not exactly. That would be my mom. I’ve got nanites.” Pausing as they took a bite of food. “I don’t think I saw you use yours.”
Ren refused to allow herself to be embarrassed by her subtle quirk. Maintaining an easy smile she explained, “My quirk isn’t exactly showy or the best for combat. I can muck with peoples emotions. I used it, but mostly to get people to focus and move.”
“That’s so manly of you to help others during the exam.”
“Huh. Cool. Kirishima-san?”
“Hardening! I can make any part of my body super hard.”
“Ah that explains it.” At Kirishima’s questioning look she continued. “I didn’t really see you up close but I did get to witness you body slamming a few of the pointers.”
Carson nodded, shifting their attention from Ren to Kirishima. “Speaking of body slamming, what was your plan with the zero pointer? Because that was…”
“Comical?” Ren supplied.
Not too long after, Kirishima had to get home to his mom so she wouldn’t worry. They paid their bill and the American pair traded contact information with him before they split up. Carson was content to pal around with Ren for a bit while longer. The pair jumped on the train, heading over to the Kanagawa prefecture that Ren knew better. They hung out into the evening, including stopping at home with Ren’s family to eat dinner.
Ren had to sign Carson in as a guest with the MP’s but the walk to where they were staying wasn’t far from the gate. Tossing open the door, “I brought a friend home.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re making new Japanese friends before going to school.” Ren’s mother responded from a side room.
Stepping into the room, she gave her mother an almost sheepish smile. “Yeah, about that…” Carson stepped into view and Ren’s mom just stared at her daughter, exasperated. “This is Carson.”
“You’re telling me you went to the entrance exam for a Japanese hero school, took said exam, surrounded by Japanese students, and managed to befriend an American.”
“They were in fact the only other American there, so…Yes.”
Ren’s mom just shook her head. “Well it’s lovely to meet you Carson, I hope you stay for dinner.”
Carson did stay for dinner, but not too late after that. The offer of spending the night was thrown out there, if they didn’t mind bunking with Ren. It had been a long day and nothing sounded better than falling asleep in the nice hotel room they had closer to UA.
A little under a week after Carson had returned home to school in the states, Carson woke up one morning to their alarm and a new message from Ren.
Ren: Fuck. All Might’s teaching.
Sent at 03:43AM EST
Carson: Well, shit.
Sent at 07:05AM EST
Carson got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and made their way to class. Only upon sitting in their seat prior to class start did the full implications of Ren’s text process.
Carson: Congrats!
Sent at 07:54AM EST
Their homeroom teacher walked in, so Carson hastily shoved their phone in their pocket. They paid their usual amount of attention in class. At lunch, they sat with their friend group, pulling out their phone to check and respond to messages real fast.
Ren: What about you?
Sent at 08:02AM EST
Carson: No word yet. Mail might take a bit longer to get here.
Sent at 12:12PM EST
RockBoy: Did you get in?!!
Sent at 02:30AM EST
GiveMeCoffee: Duh
Sent at 03:50AM EST
AcidDance: It’s gonna be a great year!
Sent at 03:53AM EST
Metallica: Haven’t heard yet
Sent at 12:15PM EST
Three days later, Carson was lounging around one of the smaller study rooms in the dorms with classmates. They had a group project for history to work on, but at the current moment none of them were focused on the diorama. Melanie was attempting to see how many ways they could get Carson's hair to stand up. John had fallen asleep and Seth was stacking the figurines from their project on him while Victoria doodled in the margins of her notes. There was a knock on the door followed by Mikey sticking his head in. "Mail call. Figured you want this." He tossed an envelope at Carson and left. The return address was for Yuuei. They stared at the envelope for a minute before opening it. Rather than a letter, out popped a palm sized hologram projector. Melanie didn't give them a chance and pushed play. "I AM HERE! TO WELCOME YOU TO YUUEI." All Might's voice boomed even through the tiny speaker. Carson cringed at the volume, though John didn't seem to care being woken up. They watched the message all the way through. "So?" Victoria asked as Melanie excitedly tugged on their arm. "Wow. I thought our acceptance letters were something, but that was a whole other level." Carson stared wide eyed at the projector. "Maybe I should have done more research into the school." "You're going to Japan!!" Melanie seemed far more excited than Carson did in the moment, they were more dazed than anything else. They had worked for this and it was happening, they were going to go to high school halfway around the world in a foreign country. "You better stay in touch. I want to hear from you at least twice a month! You better tell me everything about life there." "Mel." Victoria's stern voice cut through the bouncing energy of the black haired girl. "Give them a chance to breathe. They still have to get everything sorted out and tell their parents." "Right." Carson deflated on that last note, causing Victoria to send a sympathetic smile. "I'll call them before dinner tonight." They still pulled out their phone and opened Line messenger to text their friends in Japan.
Metallica: *hacker voice* I’m in.
Sent at 02:25PM EST
RockBoy: Oh yeah!
Sent at 07:30PM EST
AcidDance: Yay! You get to come back! Can’t wait to see you
Sent at 08:12PM EST
GiveMeCoffee: Good
Sent at 10:45PM EST
Ren walked with confidence through the school, ignoring all of the stares she received. I’m in class 1A damnit. I will not be cowed. Not wasting time she slid the classroom door open.
Kirishima’s head popped up as soon as Ren slid the door open. “Ren-san!” Sitting backwards in their chair, Carson turned their head over their shoulder and shot her a small wave.
Though they had spoken about their class assignments almost a month ago, hearing Kirishima’s voice was a relief. She at least knew three people that she would be in class with. Before she could walk over to her friends a tall form stepped in front of her.
“Iida, Tenya from Somei Academy. Pleasure to meet you.” A boy with glasses and bluish black hair stiffly clapped his arms to his side and bowed.
“That was, uh, a lot.” Putting on a polite smile she responded in Japanese, “Greene, Ren. Pleasure to meet you.” And finished it off with a bow of her own.
Carson managed to catch the two toned boy hiding the small twitch of his lips, but the more entertaining thing was Kirishima’s reaction to hearing Ren’s full name.
“Wait, Greene?!”
Ren was just as confused as Kirishima. “Yah, that’s my last name.” She laughed when his face twisted. “Did you think that it was Ren this whole time?”
“I- well yah. Why didn’t you give me your last name when we met?”
She was moving closer to her two friends now. Shrugging, “Something about saving your ass from being crushed by pulling your hair kind of skipped that formality in my head.”
“What’s this about pulling Kiri’s hair?”
Before Ren could process the new voice a weight settled over her shoulders and pink arms wrapped around her. “Mina-kun!”
“He was just being a moron and getting run over by the zero pointer.” Carson supplemented. “Which happened after he attempted to body slam it.” As they spoke Ren jumped up onto the desk and Mina laid across Kirishima’s.
Iida stiffly marched over, grabbing everyone’s attention. “As Yuuei students we must uphold the reputation of our school and honor this sacred classroom by not tarnishing it with foul language. And sit in your seats properly.”
“Well, you’re going to be a pain in my ass.”
“Fuck.”
Behind them, Todoroki did his best to hide his face in his book and keep his shoulders from shaking as he laughed. No one noticed.
Thankfully more students started filtering in, drawing Mr. Roboto's attention elsewhere.
“So are both of you Americans? Ribbit.”
“Yeah.” “Yes.” Ren and Carson answered at the same time.
Ren looked forward to the girl who had just spoken. She had extremely frog-like features but appeared nice enough. “Nice to meet you. Since we are classmates please call me Ren.” With a half hearted glare she also looked over at Kirishima. “You too, idiot. And this is Carson.” She pointed behind her with her thumb.
“Please call me Tsuyu.”
Their collective attention was drawn to the green haired kid that entered. He was by far the most nervous student that they had ever seen as he stuttered his way through an introduction. The atmosphere of the room got even more awkward when Iida started apologizing. Moments later a pink cheeked girl followed behind.
The small group started to ignore the commotion until they all jumped in place, moving out of the doorway. After the faint sound of a zipper a tall lanky man walked into the room, carrying what appeared to be a horrendously yellow sleeping bag, and announced himself to be their homeroom teacher. “It’s kind of sudden, but put this on and go out into the field.” He held up a gym uniform.