The morning of the U.A. entrance exam arrived gray and drizzling, as if the sky itself was nervous.
Anim stood in front of the bathroom mirror, adjusting his collar for the third time. His white-pink hair refused to cooperate, sticking up at odd angles despite his efforts to tame it. Behind him, Mina bounced on her toes, radiating enough nervous energy to power a small city.
"Stop fidgeting," she said, though her own hands couldn't seem to stay still. "You look fine."
"Says the girl who's been checking her reflection every five minutes."
"That's different. I want to make sure my horns are symmetrical."
Anim caught her eye in the mirror. "They're perfect. You're perfect. We've got this."
The train ride to U.A. passed in relative silence, both twins lost in their own thoughts. Around them, other examinees chattered nervously or stared out windows with intense concentration. Anim catalogued them automatically—a boy with engines in his calves, a girl whose hair seemed to defy gravity, someone whose arms appeared to be made of tape.
Competition. All of them.
"Look at that," Mina whispered, nodding toward a blonde boy sitting alone, his posture radiating arrogance even in stillness. "Think he's here for hero course too?"
"Probably. Along with everyone else on this train."
The boy's red eyes swept the car, landing briefly on Anim before moving on with obvious dismissal. Something about that gaze felt familiar, though Anim couldn't place why. Another fragment from his previous life, perhaps, though this one carried an edge of warning.
U.A. High School rose before them like a monument to heroism itself. The building seemed designed to intimidate, all clean lines and impossible scale. Students streamed through the gates in nervous clusters, their conversations a blend of excitement and terror.
"Damn," Mina breathed. "It's bigger than I thought."
"Come on." Anim touched her elbow gently. "Let's find where we're supposed to go."
The written exam proved manageable. Anim's previous life had left him with more academic knowledge than any teenager should reasonably possess, and he found himself finishing with time to spare. Beside him, Mina worked through the questions with methodical precision, her brow furrowed in concentration.
But it was the practical exam that would determine everything.
Present Mic's voice boomed across the assembly hall, explaining the rules with theatrical enthusiasm. Robots. Points. Ten minutes to prove yourself worthy of U.A.'s hero course.
"And remember!" Present Mic's grin was audible even from the back rows. "It's not about working together! This is individual assessment only!"
Anim glanced at Mina, who sat three seats away in a different testing group. They'd known this moment would come—the first time they'd face a challenge separately. Her small wave carried more confidence than he felt.
Testing Ground Beta sprawled before them like an urban battlefield. Fake buildings, realistic streets, and somewhere in the maze, robots waiting to be destroyed. Other examinees clustered near the starting line, some stretching, others muttering what sounded like prayers.
"You may begin!"
Chaos erupted instantly. Students scattered in every direction, Quirks activating in brilliant displays of power. Explosions echoed from deeper in the city. Someone's ice spread across an entire street. A boy with a tail moved through the buildings like a gymnast.
Anim ran, but not toward the action. His instincts, sharpened by three weeks of intense training, told him to observe first. Find the pattern. Understand the battlefield.
A one-pointer rounded the corner ahead—humanoid, basic design, easy target. Other students had already engaged the more valuable robots, their point totals climbing with each destruction. Anim was falling behind.
He struck the robot center mass, his enhanced durability absorbing the impact as his fist crushed through metal plating. The machine crumpled with surprising ease.
One point. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
More robots appeared, and Anim found his rhythm. His body moved with fluid precision, dodging attacks that should have connected, striking with force that surprised even him. Each victory felt less like learning and more like remembering.
But other examinees were pulling ahead. The explosion boy from the train carved through three-pointers like they were made of paper. A girl with some kind of creation Quirk dispatched robots with tactical efficiency.
Anim needed to do better.
He rounded a corner and froze. A massive shadow fell across the street as something enormous emerged from between the buildings. The zero-pointer—a robot the size of a skyscraper, designed to be avoided rather than fought.
Most students ran. The smart ones, anyway.
But beneath the giant robot, someone was trapped. A brown-haired girl lay pinned under debris, her leg bent at an unnatural angle. She looked up at the approaching machine with terror in her eyes.
Anim didn't think. He moved.
His body stretched as he ran, covering ground faster than should have been possible. The zero-pointer's massive foot descended toward the trapped girl, and Anim threw himself between them.
The impact should have killed him.
Instead, his body absorbed the force, compressing like a spring before snapping back to normal shape. The robot's foot rebounded, its balance disrupted just enough to send it stumbling backward.
"Can you move?" he asked the girl, already knowing the answer from her pained expression.
"My leg—"
"Hold on."
Anim scooped her up, his enhanced strength making her weight negligible. The zero-pointer recovered its balance, optical sensors locking onto them with mechanical precision.
They needed distance. Fast.
His body responded to his desperation, stretching his legs in ways that defied anatomy. Each stride covered impossible distances as he bounded away from the robot's crushing advance, the girl clinging to his neck with white-knuckled intensity.
"How are you doing that?" she gasped.
"Honestly? No idea."
They reached safety as the buzzer sounded, the exam officially over. Anim set the girl down carefully, noting how her leg had already begun to swell.
"Thank you," she said, tears of relief mixing with pain. "I thought I was dead."
"You're going to be fine. The school has amazing medical staff."
Recovery Girl appeared as if summoned, her healing Quirk working immediately to address the girl's injuries. Around them, other examinees nursed their own wounds or celebrated their performances. The explosion boy stood apart, his red eyes fixed on something in the distance.
"Interesting technique," a voice said behind Anim.
He turned to find a man in a sleeping bag watching him with tired eyes. Eraserhead—Shota Aizawa, though Anim wasn't supposed to know that yet.
"Sir?"
"Your body manipulation. Not a typical elasticity Quirk." Aizawa's gaze was uncomfortably perceptive. "Something more complex."
"I'm still figuring it out myself."
"Mmm." The underground hero made a note on his tablet. "We'll be watching your development with interest."
As Aizawa walked away, Anim felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. He'd saved someone, but in doing so, he'd revealed abilities he didn't fully understand himself.
He'd need to actualize his Quirk Status soon.
Yet the results would come later. For now, all he could do was hope that heroism would be enough to outweigh the questions his performance had raised.
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AN: Hi!!! just wanted to clarify, I'm not honestly really immersed in following the care I give usually to my other novels to this one since its not really something I'm passionate about (why I kinda skimped over boring stuff and just left a plausible explanation and kept on... yeah, its kinda of a short story honestly, I'm thinking of 50 smoll chapters like this one probably, may sound like much but my other stories usually have 2k, 3k to 5k words each chapter so... yeah, just thought to leave an explanation in case it seemed weird just saying).
Also I do genuinely hope you like how this is going @EyeOfSauron 👍, it is after all just for you my guy. Anyway happy normal day celebration! Hope this finds you all dear reader's well.
I kinda thought the personality for Amin would fit a bit arrogant - asshole but at the same time brotherly and funny? And also Amin is the reverse for Mina, Tadaaa...!!! hahaha, was thinking of names and then it struct me, if he's her twin why not... and yeah, there you have it.
Adding to it actually, if you define quickly specific plots (routes or powers you want me to add apart from the cookie) / female lead(s) I can get this done sooner, since recently I just read AOT ff's and now I'm kinda back into MHA ff's that I was writing so I'm a bit pumped up :)