This was the day. The entrance exam. He would go, impress, get in, and everything would be put into motion.

His anxiety was kind of eating him alive though.

He felt pretty confident until now. Tomura's lesson on self-confidence, mainly him telling Izuku orver and over again that he shouldn't care about anyone and anyone's thoughts, were doing an awesome job at working up Izuku's mentality. He felt strong when he worked and even if he couldn't take anyone in a fight, he felt capable enough to destroy them before the fight.

Sensei had him working on his connection, Giran helped.

Sensei was apparently a man of renown, with a deep and rooted web covering the integrity of the underground all around the world. The man had refused to go into the details with the teen, saying that Izuku should focus on his own goals. He was rather certain that these connection came with one, if not many of his quirks. Who could say how old the man was?

Izuku would, soon enough.

Once the exam was behind him, he'd have time to focus on everything else.

With a secure place into UA, he'd have precious intel and ressources from his enemies themselves. He'd have a hand in the teaching the kids around here received, knew what to expect and what to use against them. The League could put any plan into motion. Izuku could prepare his own plan and see if he could trust, or not, Sensei.

His backpack full of notes, he walked toward the school.

This was his dream. Old and new.

His heart swelled and and sour taste filled his mouth. Envy and anger grew in his chest as he saw a small group make their way inside, throwing comments about future as heroes and strong quirks.

How badly had he wanted to be one of them. One of the hopeful heroes to be, ready to save anyone, at any cost.

Pity for them, he'd be on the other side.

He'd show them what it would cost to look down on the wrong people, to not give him the same chance as the other did, even when they were pitiful and disgusting. Hadn't one of the kid from middle-school finished in one of the tanks in the doctor's lab?

The world would be better if they started being careful now.

Someone bumped into him, a shoulder pushing him toward the floor.

"Don't stand there stupidly," said the kid before leaving Izuku behind, not even bothering with a glance. Blond hair left his view and entered the school as Izuku stared dumbfounded.

"How my god, are you okay?"

His vision was soon full of someone else. Red shirt and dark hair, sharp teeth.

"Oh my god, you're that kid. Are you okay?" Kirishima dragged Izuku back on his feet. "This guy is a dick. He didn't hurt you did he? What are you doing here? You're also applying for UA?"

"I- Jeez, yes. Breath. I'm fine, everything is fine. I'm here for the support course."

"Really? That's so cool! That means you're smart, right? Imagine we both get in, could you make me my costume? That would be so cool!"

The teen was a lot more energetic than what he remembered.

"Thanks for what you said about my quirk. I don't think I would have came otherwise."

"About you being able to help people?"

Kirishima nodded as he started walking toward the entrance.

"I might never be in the spotlight or be a cool hero, but I can still help people? I really want to do it. Come one, we don't want to be late!"

Izuku had just thrown a new pawn in the adversary's side. At least he seemed genuine. It was sad to think that most people who would enter this exam wouldn't be as much.

But Izuku was here to get rid of the problem.

"Yeah, right."

They entered and soon had to separate ways to go to their different course room.

"Good luck, Midoriya. I hope we both get in!"

"You too, Kirishima."

—

The written exam was easy, at least easier than Izuku had anticipated.

Not too much, it was still UA, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. Izuku had probably failed some of the most pointed questions about the law, that was probably for the other course but everyone had the same written exam. He had enjoyed some of the analysis-required ones when it was about costumes and heroes but tried to keep calm and not go too far. He didn't wanted to show the school how far he could take things, not someone who could be a danger, nor someone who could help them too much. Just a kid, here to learn but with potential.

When came time for the practical exam, everyone scattered, following the instruction of diverse pro-heroes who supervised the exams. They probably were the teachers who would teach the candidate lucky enough to stay in the school.

Rumbling was heard from the next rooms. Three of them were filled with students here for the hero exam. And the rooms were big.

They had separated the heroes-wannabes and the support-wannabes from the others to not lose any kid in the school.

The noisy kids who wanted to try for the hero exam went outside. Izuku wasn't sure what they would do. He had never managed to know when he was still on the right side of the laws and didn't bother when he switched side. It's not like he could be a hero student, they must be supervised a little bit too much for him to do what he wanted. The fact that he didn't have a quirk had nothing to do with this of course. He could have accepted Sensei's offer if he wanted to go with the heroes. It was just an illogical choice.

So he followed the hero, Izuku recognize and low-classed daylight hero, in front of him and didn't look back when they made their way to the labs where support-wannabes would work.

They were instructed to leave their bags beside the door and find a work bench. Once everyone would be settled they'd have an hour and a half to prepare their project, not blueprint made pre-exam was allowed. After the timer went out, they would present it to a small examination committee.

Some voices were heard when the hero announced they couldn't use their blueprint. Izuku didn't add to it but he was feeling a bit fidgety. He needed precise calculations and didn't have the material necessary to do them all in the room. He'd have to do it still.

"The board wants to know what you can do, as you. You're allowed to show blueprints and portfolio to the committee when you present your project though. Good luck."

They waited in silence for the exam to start.

A girl a few tables away from Izuku was buzzing with exitation. Her bubblegum locks were neatly tied behind her hair. Her eyes scanned the room with frenzy, ready to jump on material as soon as she could. The person right beside her was also buzzing but with dread. Their eyes were closed and they fidgeted nervously with a necklace, like they were praying.

Izuku didn't care. A few months ago he would probably have looked the same. He would probably have looked worse. But he had worked too much to let it go to waste. He had things to do and this was only the beginning.

So when the buzz rang in the room and the teacher told them they could start, he grabbed the papers and pencils on his table and got to work.

He didn't have to blueprint? Who cared, he could still make them good enough.

His mind was full of numbers and drawing but he felt numb. The apprehension had faded to determination and a cold embrace of certainty and resentment.

He would show them all! And they would come crying at his feet once he was done.

—

He sat in front of the committee. Present Mic,the voice hero, Power-Loader, the only hero in Japan who also had a support license, EraserHead, an underground hero, and surprisingly, Recovery Girl. Izuku hadn't know the two last heroes, or ex-hero for the latter, worked on campus and that was what he meant when he thought UA could give good intel.

Present Mic was wearing a bright smile, encouraging. Izuku had always liked his radio show, even now. He didn't always agree with the content or loved all the music they passed but it was a comforting presence in the night that followed him throughout his childhood during the darkest hours. "So, tell us, little listener, what do we have here."

Between the adults and the teenager were the cuffs Izuku had made. They weren't as clean as the one he had worked on for weeks but they were supposed to be functional, not pretty.

Izuku slid his blueprint, the ones he prepared during the exam time, toward them.

"This is what I worked with. We weren't allowed our own blueprint so I had to remake it."

Power-loader took them and scanned them with practiced eyes.

Izuku took out of his bag the one he had prepared for the exam.

"And this is the one I made at home, I might have got some calculations wrong but I believe it wille still work."

Izuku couldn't see much of him, with his big mask covering his head, but he saw the question coming before it was asked.

"Hum, what language is this?" He pointed to the blueprint made at home.

"Oh, sorry. It doesn't have a name. I work on my personal project with a self-made language. Keep them for myself."

"Problem with thieves?"

"Things like that."

"So what is this for?" Interrupted EraserHead with a tired voice.

"Quirk suppressing cuffs."

Even Power-Loader stopped looking at the paper.

"I didn't know you would be on the board to check on the project, sir." He said to EraserHead. "They won't be very useful with you in the room."

"You made quirk suppressing cuffs?" Stopped the support-hero. "How did you find those blueprint? Even I can't have them. Do you have parents in the government or something?"

He and Recovery Girl were reading the project with more intent now.

"Huh, no. I- My mom works in a shop. And I didn't find them anywhere. I just knew they existed, so it was possible. I worked on the formulas on my own. I doubt the government ones are the same."

"They sure don't look the same." EraserHead said. "Do they work?"

"I sure hope so. I would look stupid here, otherwise."

The underground hero grabbed the cuffs and the voice hero beside him's hands before cuffing his co-worker in one swift movement.

"I- Shota!"

"Try to activate your quirk."

"What? What???? It's not working." He turned toward Izuku and then EraserHead. "Holy Molly, it's working. You're not using your quirk. This is..." He looked at his wrist. "I want it off. Give me my voice back!"

The dark haired adult sighed and turned toward Izuku.

"I can finally take my eyes off him and not loose my hearing. This is wonderful."

"How did you make them?" Asked Power-loader after a moment.

He and the old hero were still looking over the only blueprint they could read. They were exchanging whispers. As a medical professional, Recovery Girl probably knew a few things about biology, hopefully, and Power-loader could understand most of the diagrams on the paper.

"It doesn't work on mutant-type quirks. At least this prototype doesn't. It's based on vibration and ultra-sounds to incapacitate certain genes in the DNA, the ones with the quirk gene. There might be some drawbacks but I haven't tested it on the long run for now."

With that, EraserHead sighed once more before he grabbed the blond's arm and put them on the table in front of Izuku.

"Take them off then, we don't want him to die."

Izuku hurried and took the cuffs off, putting them back on the table. Present Mic screamed a few words before he smiled again.

"This is so weird. It doesn't feel exactly like your quirk, Shota. Don't ever do that again."

Ignoring him, Power-loader took the cuffs from the table and went to look at it.

"What do you intend to do with this, Midoriya?" Recovery Girl asked after checking her list.

"This isn't a perfect prototype but I thought that it could help UA?" Seeing the teachers raised brows he added quickly. "I mean- of course UA doesn't need my help but, I suppose the government won't be giving quirk-supressant cuffs around, but it could be useful for heroes in training who would need to train quirkless."

"Why would they need to train quirkless, young listenner? They want to be heroes."

"To rely on ones' quirk is not a good idea. What will they do if they end up against someone like EraserHead. Training quirkless isn't a bad idea, better safe than sorry, right?"

"It's the second time you've made a reference to my quirk. How do you know about it?"

Well shit, couldn't say he hacked the police department to learn more about the hero.

"I used to really like heroes?" Well that was a dumb thing to say. "I still do, but less fanboy maybe? Whatever. I also like to analyze their quirks. You're underground so I'm not sure of the details of yours, but I assume your quirk as something to do with quirk suppression of some sort."

The hero in question shrugged.

"And what would you do at UA?" Power-loader asked this time, letting the blueprint down.

"I mean... It's a good school with a lot of ressources and everything. I'd like to finalize the cuffs, it could help with children with dangerous quirk while they learn to control it, or give people a break from tiring quirks. I'm very intrested in the biologic aspect of quirks. I'd like to learn to use it in invention and support item. To study the DNA could give information on how to use the quirk more precisly or go around some troubles it can give."

The committee nodded toghether before one of them gathered the blueprint and the cuffs.

Power-loader gave him back the blueprint written in his own language with a last glance at it.

"Thank you, Midoriya. This will be all. You'll receive the results in the mail next week." Recovery Girl announced.

The teen stood up, grabbed his bag and nodded one last time at the heroes in front of him.

He only had one week to prepare the rest of his plan, and everything would start.