Chapter Text
- Hirose -
Starting med school takes about a portion of your life, and that’s counting all the studying and preparations you have to take in order to actually become a doctor. It’s something Hirose was perfectly aware of ever since he started, yet that didn’t stop him from wanting to become both a surgeon and a hero. Because, in his mind those are the two most important professions that could actually save lives. Becoming a hero was never going to be easy and he knew this perfectly well.
The only thing he never really accounted for was how wildly unpredictable the exams were going to be.
Then again, only a few actually manage to pass the exams every year so he should have expected all the twists that come along the way, no matter how aggravating it made the process. And besides, he wasn’t entirely alone in this, Tei was with him too taking the exam as well as Ruka. Sure, he didn’t exactly have much of a chance to get to know her but with how highly Tei spoke about her he was sure they would get along just fine. It was honestly a bit surprising that Tei managed to have the initiative to make new friends outside himself. The two of them have known each other for years and Atsushi rarely liked going out of his way to talk to people. He was incredibly kind, sure, but that boiled down to a strong moral compass. Even so, he never bothered to make a lot of friends and Hirose himself struggled to break out of his bubble from time to time. So, it’s just been the two of them for a while, hanging out at Atsushi’s work up until nighttime.
He looked over at Atsushi and Ruka. They were both just chatting while they walked to the classrooms. Hirose was mostly quiet during the entire conversation, until Ruka shot him a question: “What about you Hirose, what are you studying…?”
“Oh, um… I’m studying medicine.”
“Wow, and you are still taking the hero exam? That’s impressive.”
“It’s really not…”
Tei playfully nudged him. “Come on, Shingo… You are selling yourself short.”
“I guess…”
He was often complemented by others for his dedication and hard work, and often referred to as the smart one. While he didn’t necessarily disagree, he didn’t want to just be known for his intelligence. He might not be the strongest, but he was hoping that he could prove himself during the physical assessment. One could only hope, at least.
The three of them came to a halt as they arrived at their assigned classroom. They were instantly ushered in and assigned a seat. Hirose was at the back, while Ruka was a few desks up front and Tei was by the wall at the very front. He tapped his fingers, just watching the people enter one by one. What caught his attention was that the girl from before was also in this classroom. He must have been staring because the girl turned to look at him and smiled.
His embarrassment was quickly cut short by a loud voice entering the classroom. Another girl with purple hair and robotic limbs. She seemed to be arguing with one of the officials before huffing and walking towards her assigned seat. That seat happened to be right next to Hirose, much to his dismay. The girl slumped down and pressed her elbows on the table, looking annoyed as hell. She didn’t seem to notice Hirose’s stare as she was mumbling curses under her breath.
It was probably dumb to ask, but: “Hey… are you okay?”
The girl turned to him, her expression softened slightly at Hirose. She pressed the side of her face in her hand before sighing.
“Yeah, it’s just some bullshit from these people. It’s so fucking annoying…”
“That sounds frustrating.”
“Tell me about it.” She dramatically rolled her head back before finally calming down. Hirose didn’t know how to continue the conversation and just waited for the girl to either ignore him or speak.
“Yo, what’s your name…?”
“Hirose. What about you?”
“Maekawa. Sorry if this is a weird question, but are you a doctor?”
Hirose paused and looked at Maekawa before she elaborated. “You are wearing scrubs to the hero exam.”
Ah that’s right, he was wearing his scrubs when he arrived here and since he was at risk of running late, he just went in with them. Tei did a double take when he saw him, but Hirose didn’t have time to change from his clothes. Most people didn’t really take notice, aside from a few weird looks so he didn’t really care either.
“Oh, yeah… I didn’t have time to change. I’m a med student.”
“Woah, ballsy.”
“Uh, right…”
Thankfully the exam was about to start as they were handed each pencils and a long sheet of paper. The supervisor for this test walked to the front of the class and wrote down the time the exam would end. They had about two hours to complete the exam and afterwards they would be given a thirty minute break before the physical assessment.
“Alright, you have two hours to submit your exams. Any cheating or disruptance during this period will be punished with an instant fail. Make sure to turn in both the exam and the sheet with your name written on both. Best of luck.”
Maekwa leaned back, before whispering to Hirose: “Good luck, Doc”
He nodded in response before locking his attention towards the exam. The exam itself was long so he would have to take advantage of those two hours to the max.
_________________________________________
“So, how do you think you guys did in the exam?”
Ruka, Atsushi and Hirose found themselves outside in the building’s cafeteria after finishing the exam. Hirose finished pretty early given the time limit, so he sat outside the hallway to wait for his friends. A few minutes later, Ruka came outside and they waited for Atsushi to finish up his exam. It took him a little longer, but he eventually came out of the classroom and the three headed to take their break before the physical assessment.
Hirose did wonder how Maekawa did in the exam, but she was still in by the time Atsushi finished, so he could only hope she did well.
“I’m not sure, decent I hope.”
“What about you, Hirose?”
In all honesty the exam wasn’t easy and part of him feels like he bombed it. His expression must have shown it because Ruka gave him a soft look before patting his shoulder. Since he wasn’t sure how he did in the written exam, he would have to make sure the physical assessment went well.
“Don’t worry, we still have the assessment to go through. You’ll have a chance to redeem yourself.”
“I hope so.” He took a deep breath and looked over at Atsushi. “How many people were left when you left the room?”
“Not many, maybe three to five people left. Most of them didn’t look half-way done.”
“The exam was pretty long.” Something about Ruka’s reassurance felt forced. Even though she knew that the chances of passing the exam were slim, being that far behind during the one hour mark wasn’t a good sigh. Atsushi barely even made it before the supervisor told everyone they had one hour remaining.
Whatever, it was better to focus on the next part of the exam.
Between Ruka’s very well prepared study guide and a small warm-up session with both of them, Hirose was starting to feel more confident in himself. They passed the time by talking about potential strategies and discussing their powers so they could pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. Ruka’s telekinesis was versatile and very useful for close combat but it was straining on her body. Atsushi’s force field was perfect for defence and protecting others, but not very useful for actual fights.
Hirose on the other hand.
“What is your power, Hirose?”
Ruka was practically glowing up and lighting up like a little kid on Christmas. It was kinda wholesome how lively and kind she was. Hirose chuckled and stood up from his seat, and grabbed a fork from the table. It was probably best just to show her, even if it was an easy anxiety inducer.
He raised the fork and stabbed himself in the hand, only for the fork to bend as it hit his skin. Ruka was astonished and Atsushi was giving him a slightly panicked look before taking a sigh of relief. No matter how long it has been, Atsushi would never get used to that.
- Invulnerability: The ability to be almost immune to being hurt, wounded or damaged.
“That’s so cool.”
“Yeah, just wait until he scares the living hell out of you with that power.”
He put the fork down and sat back, showing how his hand didn’t even have a scratch on it. Ruka was now thinking while Atsushi playfully rolled his eyes. His power would make it easy to fight those bots during the assessment, the only issue is that Hirose wasn’t exactly a good fighter and for him to gain those points he would have to beat the bots in a fight. The only thing his powers could help him with was to not get hurt while fighting.
Speaking of which, their thirty minute break was almost over.
Looking around, he could tell the group got smaller, but not by a lot. He managed to spot Maekawa walking towards a table with a guy that had very long white hair. He wanted to wave at her, but soon enough the officials came into the room and gathered everyone’s attention for the next part of the hero exam.
“Alright, everyone line up. For this part of the exam, everyone will be assigned a section of the map. That will be your starting point for the exam; there are a total of six starting points in this map.”
Slowly but surely everyone started lining up to receive their starting point. Afterwards they were told to head to the locker rooms and change into the sport’s uniforms. Hirose finally reached the front of the line and sure enough, was handed a piece of paper with his section.
Section C
He turned around to ask which Section Ruka and Atsushi got, despite the official's insistence on moving along. “I got C, what about you guys?”
“B, you Ruka?”
“Section D.”
That was slightly disappointing, I guess that was to be expected but still. Ruka tried her best to salvage the situation. “It’s okay, I’m sure we’ll find each other at some point. Just focus on passing the exam!”
“Y-Yeah, we’ll see each other after the exam. Okay?”
“Rigth, best of luck… both of you.” With one final smile, Ruka was ushered to the girls locker room while Hirose and Tei walked to the men’s locker room. Wasting no time, they changed into the sports uniforms and that’s when Hirose noticed why they were required to wear them. Aside from heart monitors on the inside, he also saw a small camera attached to the front of the suit. Hirose understood it was probably just to have a clear footage of each candidate but still… It felt creepy.
He tied his ridiculously long hair in a bun, and followed the official towards his designated section. Hirose was brought to a backdoor and inside where a handful of candidates and a huge shutter with the letter of his section painted on it. Now he felt very awkward, even if no one was staring at him, so he pushed himself towards one of the corners and tried his best to not slip into a panic attack.
He didn’t even notice someone walking up to him.
“Hey, you good man?”
Hirose lifted his gaze and briefly forgot how to speak as he saw the person who approached him. It was a red-haired guy? girl? with blue eyes and freckles. He was starstruck by their charm, like he was a fish out of water. His face was flushing hard and he could tell this person got a little worried.
“Hello? Are you okay?”
Right, focus! Someone was talking to you, Hirose. “Um, right… sorry, I’m okay.”
“You sure man? You look red as hell.”
“Uh… I’m alright, I promise. I’m just a little nervous… t-that’s all!”
The red-head gave him a weird look, which was fair enough… he probably looked like a weirdo now. Nice going, Hirose!
“Hey, don’t sweat it…. I get it, I’m also nervous. It’s not every day you get the chance of becoming a hero.”
“Right… sigh. And do you think the bots are as hard as Tsuno said they were…?”
“I mean, probably… It’s the hero exam after all. I doubt they would just let anybody pass these exams.”
“Good point.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl from the audience approach them. “Miocchi!” That was an odd name.
“Denden, hey! I was just checking on… uh…”
“Hirose, nice to meet you-”
“Isoda. And she’s Denden.” Isoda pointed towards the blond girl and her eyes lit up.
“I saw you during the exam! We were in the same classroom.”
“Yeah, I remember…”
Denden turned to Isoda. “Do you want to stick together during the exam? We’ll have a much easier time collecting points if we work together!”
“Sure, sounds great. We should go after as many lower bots as possible. That way we won’t waste any time.”
“Oh, great idea Miocchi!”
Isoda turned back to Hirose. “What about you? Are you going to be okay on your own or do you want to stick with us?”
Hirose thought about it, and while he did have a good power, it wasn’t really useful on its own. Besides, if they all ganged up together the exam would be easier, even if it felt a little like cheating. So he nodded, much to Denden’s excitement and Isoda’s surprise. Denden practically squealed and pulled Hirose into a tight hug, which took him by surprise.
“This is going to be great!”
“Denden, personal space… let the poor guy breathe.”
“Oh, sorry…” He was finally released from his hug, and as it turns out he had two allies during this exam. They all waited around a bit more before the shutter doors started to open.
“Alright candidates, the clock starts in three… two… one…. and go!”
And thus, they were all off in an instant. Running through the opened gate and into the final part of the hero exam!
_________________________________________
In all honesty, the three of them were way in over their heads about the exam.
With the combined efforts of both Denden and Isoda, Hirose was having an easier time during the exam. What exactly made him realize they were getting ahead of themselves? The fucking bots, of course. When he first heard that the lower the difficulty, the more common it was to find he figured the difficulty would be somewhat manageable, but as soon as they were running into an intersection… they were swarmed immediately by twenty of them!
“They just keep multiplying!” Denden extended her arms, shooting ice stalagmites at the bots. She stomped on the ground, which instantly froze and more ice shot upwards towards the bots.
- Ice Manipulation: She can create ice, instantly freeze and create snow from her own palm.
“Focus Denden, we need to keep moving forward or else we’ll be stuck here all day.” Isoda was dodging the attacks with it, and as they jumped on top of one of the bots they shot out a fireball from their hands. They kept shooting fireballs until the robot Isoda was standing on finally started fighting back. In turn, their palms burst into flames and Isoda jumped back down and finished with the bot.
- Fire Manipulation: The ability to create and control fire out of their volition and even shoot fireballs.
Hirose meanwhile was struggling to finish off the final round of bots coming his way. He punched and dodged all he could and he did manage to take down a few. The problem was that his power wasn’t super strength, he had to work twice as hard to take down one bot. And these ones were lower to middle difficulty, from what he could gather.
Right as he punched the final bot, they were all panting really hard. Isode leaned against the wall, whipping away sweat from their forehead. Denden on the other hand was rubbing her hands in order to keep them warm.
“How much more is this exam going to take?”
“I-It should be over pretty soon, right? It’s been two hours already.”
Hirose looked at both of them. “I doubt it, the exam is supposed to be difficult for a reason. Besides, they would have announced something like that already.”
Denden sighed. “You are right… So, what do we do?”
“I say we continue walking before we get ambushed again. I don’t know how big this section is, but we have to hit a wall or something at some point.”
“Good plan, Hirose.”
Pushing themselves upwards, Isoda walked a bit ahead of the path. It was a dense forest area with only a rock path leading towards it. “There could be more bots hidden in the forest.” That was a good point, but they really didn’t have much of an alternative either way. Going back from where they came from would result in running into more bots or other candidates.
“It’s probably the only option we have right now.”
“You’re right. Come on, let’s not waste any more time.”
And thus, they continued walking towards the forest. There wasn’t much around other than other beaten down bots and signs of fights. Regardless they kept moving up until a point where they found a wall. If they had to guess, it was probably a way to separate all the other sections.
“Welp, dead end. What now?”
Hirose was about to say something when behind the shadows of the three, he saw a bot fast approaching. It was so quick, he didn’t even realize what he was doing until he felt himself shouting out “Mion, watch out!” and promptly shoved Isoda behind him and blocked the attack. This bot was remarkably stronger than the others, and that was instantly noted by how they resisted heavily against Hirose.
Denden was quick into action as she shot out more ice, but this bot instantly dodged her attack. Much to the blond’s surprise. “Huh!? How did it do that?”
Isoda instantly pushed themselves up and shot fireballs at the bot, who once again dodged, however Isoda did manage to hit it in the head. Hirose kept punching and kept basically playing tug of war with the bot until it managed to push itself on top of him. In an act of quick thinking he kicked the bot upwards and towards Denden, who immediately stomped her foot on the ground, making a bunch of spikes and impaling the bot once and for all.
Hirose was practically out of breath, before managing to pull himself together.
“I’m guessing that is one of the higher levels.”
Isoda extended a hand to Hirose, who hesitantly took it. Pulling him upwards, they both got a closer look at the bot and sure enough it was level four. If that was only level four, how bad would level five be? In the end, they never managed to find out because a loud voice from above caught their attention and finally said:
“Alright, time’s up! All candidates please exit the area and gather back to the waiting room. We’ll review your scores and have the list of candidates who passed the exam.”
It was finally over.
Hirose couldn’t tell if he was relieved or stressed. Either way, his two new friends seemed to be glad it was finally over.
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“That was intense. Still, we made a great team, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, for sure.”
Hirose sighed and looked at both of them. “Thanks a lot, for sticking with me.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it man. You saved me back there.” Isoda gave Hirose a pat on the back before making their way back to the trail. His face was turning red, but he did his best to maintain his composure. Denden must have noticed his flushed face because she gasped and playfully nudged him, making a kissy face. He shoved her back and she giggled, as they both started to follow Isoda back to the waiting room.
_________________________________________
“So, how did it go, Hirose?”
After a quick trip back to the locker rooms, he finally reunited with Ruka and Tei. He introduced them to Isoda and Denden, and now the group was in the waiting room as they awaited the results of the exam. In all honesty, Hirose was barely paying attention as it is, being particularly focused on the red-head.
They were all chatting to pass the time, exchanging numbers and even making a group chat. As they were all waiting for what felt like an eternity, finally an official came back with the list of candidates and pasted it to the wall. In a rush, everyone went to check on their scores while the group slowly made their way to the list. They had to shove past a few people, but finally they were all close enough to see their names and what Hirose saw made his heart drop completely.
……………… …………… ………..
Denden Misao - Score: 120 - Passed
Hirose Shingo - Score: 80 - Failed
Isoda Mion - Score: 130 - Passed
Tei Atsushi - Score: 110 - Passed
Yokoi Ruka - Score: 150 - Passed
……………… …………… ………..