February 26th 2418 – UA University - Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
The gates of UA stood tall in the early morning sun, their neo futuristic design casting a long shadow over the gathered crowd waiting patiently before them. Glancing around the street Sage absentmindedly noted how the school's futuristic design contrasted the twenty first centre aesthetic of the nearby suburbia.
It was a strange contrast between the future this world strived for yet it's attachment to the past and its failures.
Looking around Sage finds a nice spot under the shade of a nearby tree and hops onto one of the lower branches. Now with a good place to sit and wait for the gates to open he falls into thought, mentally recalling everywhere he visited in the last nine months.
His journey of self-discovery had taken him across every continent, from gleaming technological metropolises to forgotten villages tucked away in mountain valleys. He'd done whatever he could to experience the world as it was.
Now standing in front of UA his travels had come to a close for now, and with the end of his journey he'd finally come to a decision.
Throughout his journey he'd learned of the countless stories that made up this world, whether it be the people, land or even the culture everything had its own unique story.
That realization had crystallized his decision. The so-called "main plot" was just one thread in an impossibly intricate tapestry.
Even if it was meant to be the central narrative, it would eventually end, and new stories would emerge from its wake. More importantly, his very presence here—his actions over his lifetime —had already changed too much for any predetermined path to remain intact.
'Screw it,' he thought with a grin. 'Time to see what happens when I stop worrying about breaking the script.'
'Sure events might play out similar to the plot, but there's without a doubt going to be changes I can't account for, and that's fine – it's more fun like that.
Snapping him out of his thoughts the large metal gate rapidly retracts into the ground with a pneumatic hiss, the sunlight hidden behind it shining right into his eyes and causing him to wince away.
Blinking his eyes rapidly he gets rid of the spots in them and looks towards the gate again where the crowd was already swarming forward.
Sighing he starts walking with purpose, his destination the check in behind the gate.
Reaching the crowd of nervous students, each excited to take the first step towards their dream, he phases through them effortlessly.
Phasing was another aspect of his quirk he'd trained over the last few months, it allowed him to partially step up into the higher dimension he normally travelled through and effectively put him on a different phase of reality separate from physical mass.
The main reason he chose to use it though was the almost non existent stamina drain of it, being just slightly higher than walking normally.
As he crossed under the academy's entrance arch, a familiar chime echoed in his mind, accompanied by a translucent interface only he could see.
{*New* Main Quest – Number One
Goal: You've chosen to join UA the home to this world's main story, now prove your worth and go plus ultra. Score first place in the entrance exam.
Reward: 2000xp, Unlock -Story Quests, Skill - ???, Item - ???
Bonus Reward: Skill – ??? }
'Nice those are some pretty good rewards, I've got to admit though the system knows how to get my interest with all these mystery rewards. I wish I knew what the bonus task was though…'
Exiting the crowd Sage steps back into the physical world whilst closing the menu.
'I should check out my attributes after the exam, it's been a while.'
Weaving through the slower people and those just loitering around Sage makes his way up to the nearest check in desk.
A few minutes later he finishes the check in and is given a visits card with his name, exam room, and testing ground written on it.
A cursory glance at the schedule posted behind the check in reveals the practical exam starts in just over four hours – at 12 o'clock. It also stated that there was a brief presentation before the buses left for the exam grounds.
Shrugging he tucks the card into his pocket and makes his way inside, following the signs littered throughout the massive halls to his exam room.
Inside the classroom he sees a few people already seated at a desk already furiously flipping through the booklets. Taking a closer look around the room he doesn't see anyone that seems to be the teacher but he does see a bunch of camera hidden all throughout the room.
'So that's how it is, this is a test of honestly as mush as it is a normal test. These cameras likely give whoever's behind them a clear view of whatever's going on in here, quite a nifty way of weeding out the less honest people.'
Making his way over Sage takes a seat at a corner desk before glancing down at the exam booklet on the desk.
'Name, enrolment number, and starting time. That's easy enough. Let's see it's 7:58am currently.'
Glancing at his watch Sage writes down the time before opening the booklet and starting the exam.
Inside the exam booklet there was a series of questions, starting with maths and moving on to geography, science, and history. Each section had progressively harder questions starting at high school level and progressing on to university level questions.
Cracking his knuckles Sage spun the pen around his finger before cracking down and starting the test. Question after question Sage breezed through them all with ease, only slowing down on the history section.
Eventually after just over an hour of writing Sage finishes the last question, skimming through the exam he checks his answers before closing his booklet and placing the pen next to it.
Getting up form his chair he flexes his hand a few times to work the stiffness out of it before turning his gaze up at the closest camera and giving it a smile.
Finished with this part of the exam he leaves the room but stops in the hall.
'Hmm I've got a bit under two hours before the presentation starts. I wonder if the canteen is open today? I would like a snack before the physical exams start, guess I'll go take a look. Now which way do I go…'
Glancing at his watch Sage sees the time is just past 9am, and feeling a little hungry decides to find a snack. Looking left and right he eventually settles on going left, reasoning that he came from the right earlier and didn't see canteen.
Making his way down the corridor he takes another left at the first intersection and makes his way deeper into the maze that made up the UA campus.
Corner after corner Sage looks around absentmindedly, his legs guiding him deeper into the building. Eventually he forgets what he was looking for and wanders without a care in the world.
By the time he snaps back to his sense Sage finds himself right outside the principal's office.
'How did I…? Never mind. How the hell do I get to the presentation hall from here. I knew I should have brought Hela with me, now I'm completely lost.'
Sighing Sage starts walking again, however before he can make it far he hears the sound of a door opening behind him.
Turning he sees the small chimera like creature with white fur that ran UA, the principle was standing just outside a small door built into the larger door into his office and was looking at Sage.
'Wait I thought the anime was joking with the whole 'Rat, Bear, Dog' thing, but looking at him in real life I can understand the confusion.'
Chuckling at something only he found funny the UA principal eyes him with an analytical gaze while sipping from his miniature teacup. Lowering his tea he speaks in his squeaky voice.
"You look lost young man, the exam hall is on the other side of the campus."
"What are you doing here young man, the exam hall is on the other side of the building."
"I finished the written exam earlier" Sage explains despite his hesitance. "I was looking for the cafeteria at the moment."
"How interesting," Nezu's eyes glittered with a mischievous intelligence. "Step into my office young man. Let's have a small chat."
Turning Nezu steps back into his office, while Sage stands around undecided. Noticing Sage wasn't following, Nezu peaks his head back out the door. "Come along, I've got cookies!"
Shrugging Sage's stomach wins out and he steps into the principals office, he wasn't to worried about whatever schemes the hyperintelligent principal wanted to cook up.
Inside the office was exactly as he'd expected—organized chaos, with bookshelves, filing cabinets, and a small chess set in the corner where Nezu was now settling himself. Walking over Sage sits opposite the principal in the chair he indicated.
"I don't believe I caught your name young man?"
"My name is Sage Durand, sir." Seeing the look on Nezu's face Sage knew this was just a formality at this point, and he already knew who Sage was.
"Excellent. You may call me Nezu. Tell me, do you play chess?"
Getting comfy on the chair, he studied the board. "I'm familiar with the rules, I haven't played much though."
Nodding Nezu leans across the table and starts the game by moving his pawn. "So tell me Sage why do you want to join UA?"
The question hung in the for a few seconds air as Sage made his own opening move. He could lie, give some noble speech about heroism and justice, but that would likely been seen through nearly right away by the principal, instead he decided to be honest.
"I was bored," he said, capturing one of Nezu's bishops several moves later. "I thought hero work might be interesting."
Chuckling in delight Nezu countered by taking one of Sage's rooks before staring him dead in the eyes.
"How wonderfully honest. Most applicants give me prepared speeches about saving people and upholding justice, it gets a bit dull."
"So tell me about your hobbies? What do you do when you're not attending school."
'Ah so that's his angle.' Seeing the look in the principals eyes confirmed Sage's suspicions, Nezu had definitely done some research on this year's applicants.
"For the most part I enjoy tinkering with machines or refining my swordsmanship, but in recent months I've taken up travelling."
Moving his remaining rook Sage puts Nezu's king in check before continuing. "Check. I've found travelling to be quite liberating, it lets me see the world from multiple angles."
"Check." Easily escaping the trap Sage had lain Nezu responds by putting Sage in check. "I wasn't aware of your recent travels, I'm more familiar with your more notable exploits, you've got quite the resume.
I'm particularly curious about your negotiations regarding oceanic territorial rights. Quite the diplomatic endeavour for someone so young."
Chuckling in return Sage takes the piece that had him in check. "I imagine my methods were quite similar to your own, some black mail here, a bribe there. They fold pretty quick when you know what buttons to push."
"They are useful at times." Moving his queen forward Nezu takes Sage's rook before changing topics.
"On a different matter, I looked at your written exam. I must admit its been a while since someone was able to get perfect marks, even longer since someone was as quick as you."
Wordlessly accepting the praise the room falls silent as the two concentrate on the game, each move calculated to the extreme. Eventually though after a well-orchestrated series of moves Nezu checkmates him, a unavoidable conclusion given how the game started.
Staring at the board for a second Sage ran through a million different simulations in his head till he found his mistake. Sighing in disappointment he stood from his chair and offered his hand to his opponent. "Well played, I walked right into that."
Chuckling the principal shook his hand before turning to the door. "It's all about experience, nothing more. You could have won if you took it seriously at the start."
Arriving at the door Nezu stops and turns to him. "I believe you were looking for the presentation hall earlier? It's down this corridor four doors, then left. You shouldn't have trouble finding it from there."
Nodding Sage goes to step through the door but a cloud of steam engulfs him, when it clears it reveals Sage now in her female form and standing 165cm tall.
Also her outfit changed from a set of jeans and t-shirt to a black dress with red floral highlights that stopped just above her knees, a hole in the back already fitted around her tail. In addition she wore a pair of black leggings underneath and some tall boots built for practicality.
"My what an interesting ability, do you control it? How did your outfit change? Such a truly fascinating power." Eyes gleaming with curiosity Sage gets the impression Nezu would dissect her if she didn't leave soon.
"Well as fun as this was I must get going now." Readjusting her hair as she spoke Sage tied it up into a ponytail.
"Wait a moment, I promised you some cookies earlier did I not?" Saying that Nezu disappears back into his office and returns a few seconds with a cookie jar the size of him and completely full.
"Take a few, Lunch rush made these for me." Eagerly nodding she grabs a few cookies from the jar, there was no way she'd turn down cookies made by the Lunch Rush, his food was legendary.
Waving goodbye to the principal with a cookie in her mouth she left in search of the presentation hall, as fun as chess was she would much rather fight some robots.
{A/N: So genuine question, how long should I take to introduce the love interests? I wrote the next chapter ahead of time because I got inspired but I feel I might of been a little too fast, I'll work on it but just thought I'd write my thoughts.
FYI - The ABSOLOUTE most I'll have is two love interests, one for each form.}