"Woah-" Misaki said for an added effect which perfectly summarized our state-mind of mind. There under the cloudy sky of the day, we all stood in front of the heavily armed gates of the best hero school in all of Japan, staring in awe. The U.A Barrier stood tall above us shadowing us against the sunlight glittering on its edges. The polished glass plates of the buildings shimmered under the clouded sky. "And they said that the League of Villains attacked the U.A." Toya murmured. "Twice." Tsukki's voice trailed off with the same disbelief as Toya.

Clearly none of us paid attention to the other as we stood there and gawked at the school gates like young school children, clutching the straps of our shoulder bags with both hands.

Suddenly, there was an escalating sound of machines which caused the doors to quiver before they parted. That was enough to throw Sakura by surprise, as she stepped back and shuddered nervously. Even Misaki who was thoroughly excited and couldn't stop narrating all the facts she followed over the news, could be heard swallowing her anxiety before the doors opened.

We waited patiently as the gates let us through. There was a noise and suddenly a low voice cracked from the left of us. "Welcome." There was a small speaker fitted onto the shoulder height of the entrance. Misaki jumped behind Tsukki's cover like a cat. "The U. A Staff will greet you in the Conference Room." It said.

Toya seemed cool as a cucumber and Tsukki was cautious and rigid with his movements. As for me, I marched in with my chin up leading the team behind me. However, as we set foot into the campus, even I started to feel the weight of a billion eyes staring at us from what seemed like the sports ground. "Nervous?" I saw Toya bent over my shoulder and gaped at my face curiously. Clearly I couldn't help myself jittering and marching robotically through the grounds.

We were wearing our best team jerseys, which Tsukki and I had so painstakingly ensured each was smelling of fragrant detergent and ironed thoroughly the previous day. Our jerseys were black and outlined with red so that the black polyester could shine under the bright light. A fiery red basketball was stitched at one side of the chest.

Sakura and Misaki's face was bright red as they noticed students staring heavily in our direction. Suddenly, a warm fuzzy feeling bloated in my stomach. I never felt this proud to be the captain of Team Deadshot.

In the distance, a tall man with a boldly styled blonde mohawk towering above him and a slender man with shoulder-length black hair partially hung over his face greeted us.

"Shota Aizawa" The exhausted and pale looking man, on closer inspection, greeted us first. "I am Present Mic!" said the crazy mohawk male, standing next to him, animatedly pointing to himself said in a rather amusing English accent.

"Rylie," I greeted in response, "and this is my crew Sakura, Tsukki, Misaki and Toya." Each of them bowed when I gestured to them, except Misaki. She stood there, weak in the knees, head cocked to one side, holding her hands with a wide smile across her face as her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"You are Eraserhead, my hero!" She pounced away from my side without warning and held the pale man's hand in hers. She was utterly starstruck by her favourite hero as she ignored the rest. A horrible expression ran over Aizawa-sensei's face that was enough to have us cowering in fear. "Excuse us!" I interjected plainly, plucking Misaki away uncomfortably by the ear. I tossed her over to Sakura who had her heavily collared by her muscular arm. Aizawa-sensei's face returned to its original form. "This way please." He guided us with a polite gesture.

Not long after, we entered a large room which was labelled 'Conference Room' in big bold kanji at the door. Our eyes immediately averted to a skinny and frazzled blonde standing among the many teachers. "All Might!" Tsukki gasped. Soon realizing his impoliteness, he quickly covered his mouth and bowed as an apology. We quietly took our seats which had been laid out for us.

Tsukki was a huge All Might fan. Although what bothered me the most was that regardless of favourites, I sensed that we all had the same thought cross our minds. The fight that aired on the NHK that one afternoon was an incident that none of the people of Musutafu can ever forget. None of us really wanted to believe that it was true until the proof stood before our very own eyes.

We had really lost our Number One hero and Symbol of Peace.

I let the jitters of that incident pass by me.

"Welcome, Team Deadshot." Our heads turned to face the source of the sound. A short bear-pawed house rat with a scar across its right eye was staring back at us. It was strange that it looked at us with more seriousness than we could reciprocate.

"That's right. It's me, Nezu, the one who could be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but most importantly... I'm the Principal!" The male beamed.

Ah! It's like he read my mind.

I grinned sheepishly trying to keep a diplomatic face.

The room was filled with a colourful set of teachers and looked straight out of a cosplay contest. Each of them took turns to introduce themselves and make us feel at home.

Apart from the three we familiarized ourselves with, there was an astronaut hero-Thirteen, an ominous-looking villain from the Ben 10 universe-Ectoplasm, a heavily built man dressed in red-Vlad King, a living block of cement-Cementoss, literally Mcree from Overwatch-Snipe and an older woman in indelicate clothing- Midnight who was fascinated by Toya shyly gawking at her.

"Toya, you sly hoe!" Sakura grinned cheekily as her fingers twitched like she was about to claw him. She took care of him in her own aggressive sort of way.

Ignoring the indecent predicament in the office, Aizawa-sensei slid five forms across the table in our direction. "Fill those with proper details so we can trace correct medical records of participants and make accurate announcements during the day of the game." He stated.

"He means me!" Present Mic stated boldly. "I will be your show host for that day." He said in a mix of Japanese and English in a flamboyant accent of neither. I looked down at the forms to fill in all the labels correctly.

"Name- Kei Tsukkishima. Quirk -Bullet Time. Can briefly slow down time around him.

Name- Sakura Amanai. Quirk - Rock. Can increase the weight of her hands indefinitely.

Name - Rylie Moscovitz. Quirk - Hack. Can control electronics to her advantage from a range.

Name- Kinomoto Toya. Quirk - Flash. Can create sparks of blinding light by snapping his fingers and,

Name - Ayuzawa Misaki. Quirk - Float. Can briefly make things float after touching it with her finger.

What?" Present Mic paused and looked up to meet everyone's gaze after reading out from the forms. "Did I do it right?" A quizzical looked dawned on his face. There was a long silence which followed.

"Can we know who will be playing against us in the game?" I asked cautiously, willing to point fingers in case anyone decide to evade the question. "Of course," the one who introduced himself as Vlad King spoke, "we have some of the best students from the Department of Management and Support in the team. They are Matsuri Akiko, Yamada Kenji, Tendo Fumiko from the Department of Management and Watanabe Hideko and Tanaka Kaori from the Department of Support." He fetched the IDs of the students he named on his laptop and projected it on a screen behind us, enough for us to only see their faces.

They were exactly the players we recognized from the Youtube videos. The blocker was Akiko, the one who scored was Kenji, the decoy was Fumiko, the woman who made dunk shots was Hideko and the mugger was Kaori. We all studied their names and faces with great detail. I quickly plucked out a pad from my shoulder bag and penned their names.

"And what will you offer us if we win?" Toya raised his hand allowing him a turn to speak next. "Actually," Principal Nezu hopped on the table raising a paw in the air. "If you win, we can consider all of you a scholarship into U. A."

My eyes widened. I can be a Pro Hero!

We exchanged brief glances at each other. 

"Yes, I am sure with your trained quirks and athletic abilities, all of you will make great Pro Heroes." Thirteen added.

"Tsukkishima," He suddenly became attentive on hearing his name. "Many Pro Heroes are looking for a sidekick like you." She paused, "With your strong will and sportsmanship and a little perseverance, all of you could go a long way to becoming great heroes." Thirteen concluded.

"But it won't be that easy," Aizawa interjected. "Naturally," Cementoss chimed in. He pulled out a sheet of paper as he began to explain. "There are a number of abilities we consider while we select you in to a course or consider you as an applicant of the U. A." He began.

"This isn't an examination nor was it intended as one." The teacher dressed in cowboy attire, who called himself Snipe earlier, partially reprimanded his statement. "We will have our own method to access your qualities this time around."

"Hey, you just ate your own promise!" Sakura barked at Snipe. "If we don't get into a course, we walk out with no prize money."

"We will pay your fairly if that is the outcome." Aizawa gathered the papers and tapped the edges against the surface of the desk to organize them. "And if you lose," Midnight sensei licked her lips as she stroked the length of her whip, "I'll enjoy punishing all of you into shape." She beamed sadistically at us. That very tone gave us goosebumps.

All Might sensed the sudden weight on our shoulders. "Although, please don't consider this as a threat. I'm sure this game will help you realize your potential and shape you into fine young heroes." He spoke. "The journey of a hero is a long and bumpy one. It may not be in a hero school but through a profession of your own, but I hope you find it. The reason that would make you a hero."

A warm fuzzy feeling over-whelmed our hearts and left us speechless. All the teachers got up and bowed in unison, "Please do your best." They said. For the briefest moment, we returned to reality. We sprung from our seats and returned the gesture. Tsukkishima was holding back the urge to cry of happiness. "Thank you! Thank you!" Misaki bowed down multiple times over-whelmed by their gesture. "You can count on us-" Sakura beat her fist on her chest as an assurance, but luckily Toya forced her head down into a bow.

We began to leave our seats when a tall figure loomed over us. I found myself staring back up at the ominous-looking face of Ectoplasm. "Would like a tour of the campus?" he asked. I turned to everyone else who seemed highly spirited upon hearing the question.

"Yes, please!" Misaki said enthusiastically, her eyes lit up in excitement.

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--Next: The team has an unusual experience in the cafeteria--

A/N

Thank you so much for 26 reads!!!! I really appreciate it.

Sorry, this update took slightly longer than I imagined because I had to split it into two. Please leave me a comment or vote if you are liking it so far!! :)

Once again, thank you so much!

See you later folks ;)

-JJ