February 26th 2418 – UA University - Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Arriving in the presentation hall ahead of time, Sage meticulously picks out a seat that puts her close enough to the stage to see everything and near enough to the door to get about before everyone leaves.
Settling into her seat, she pulls out her phone and goes over the most recent messages. Eventually though, that gets dull and she puts away her phone in favour of analysing the crowds of people making their way into the auditorium.
Among the potential classmates and rivals, Sage notes those who walk with confidence, ignoring those who seem overly arrogant. Still, as fun as people watching was, she eventually turns her gaze back to the stage as the lights dim dramatically.
Then in a sudden brilliant flash of light, an overhead spotlight turns on, its vibrant beams falling upon a tall slim man whose blonde hair stood like a golden spike atop his head.
Sage immediately recognised him as the Voice Hero: Present Mic, who according to one of Izuku's many notes was ranked forty-two currently.
Turning to face the crowd with a grin on his face, he flicked out the edge of his leather jacket, and guessing what was about to happen, Sage flattened her ears against her head seconds before his voice reverberated off the walls like a sonic boom.
"What's up candidates! Thanks for tuning in to me -- your school DJ! Now can I hear some noise?"
The awkward silence that followed was so thick you could cut it with a knife. After a few uncomfortable seconds of Present Mic waiting eagerly for a reply, his years of experience kick in and he plays it off, showing no signs at all of embarrassment as he continues with the presentation.
"Keeping it mellow, eh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show."
Behind him, a massive screen flickers to life, displaying a detailed map divided into seven alphabetically labelled testing grounds.
Glancing down at her own card, Sage sees she's in ground gamma, which luckily won't have either Bakugo or Izuku if their heated argument on the opposite side of the room was any indication.
Moving on, the screen behind Present Mic changes to show the silhouette of three different robots.
"Check out your targets, folks! There's three main types of villains in every battle centre. You'll earn points based on the number you defeat and their level of difficulty.
But here's where it gets interesting—to spice things up, Principal Nezu has made a few modifications to the bots for you listeners out there with less combat orientated quirks!"
As he says that, the screen changes again to show the three main types at the top with the smaller sub classes below. Reading over them as fast as possible, Sage notices robots such as 'Civilian Bot 1' and 'Police bot,' each seeming to have something special that differentiated them from the rest.
'Huh, I don't think this was in the anime? I could swear there were only the three main types there. Maybe it's changed because UA is a university in this timeline?'
Falling into thought, Sage only partially listens as he goes over the different types, how to subdue them, and what happens if they aggravate the wrong bots.
'Really? How is blasting someone with high pressure water safe?'
Eventually though, Present Mic brings his speech to a close, much to the relief of Sage's ears. However, that relief is quickly cut short as he makes to move on to the next slide, but is cut off when an equally loud voice echoes from the seats.
"Excuse me, sir!" Standing up in his seat, his posture as stiff as a board and his glasses gleaming under the overhead light, Sage recognises him but can't remember his name.
"The handout mentions four robot types, but you've only covered three. Is this an oversight? Such an error reflects poorly on Japan's premier hero institution!"
Continuing without missing a beat, he pivots and points an accusatory finger at a familiar head of green curls. "And you! Stop that incessant mumbling and pay attention!"
Glancing up from his notebook, Izuku sees the entire room staring at him and closes his notebook with an embarrassed blush on his face.
Glancing around, Sage notices everyone's looking at Ida like he's a strange curiosity, most people having some form of annoyance or second hand embarrassment visible on their faces.
Recovering smoothly, Present Mic redirects the crowd's gaze to the screen as it changes to show a new silhouette. "Glad to see such enthusiasm! You're absolutely right about the fourth type—this robot is worth zero points and is best treated as an obstacle to avoid!"
For a few minutes afterwards, Present Mic drones on about the safety rules and other meaningless technicalities, till eventually he brings the presentation to a close.
When the hero finally dismissed them, Sage was among the first out of the room, her ears still ringing despite her best attempts to block out the noise.
Outside, Sage searches around for a bit before finding a bus with the letter 'G' printed on it and boarding it. Making her way to the back, she settles into a seat by the window with her tail in her lap.
If there was one thing Sage hated about this world, it was the seats. Despite the fact that nearly forty percent of the population had some form of mutant quirk, the seats were still the same as her old world.
Shortly after getting comfortable, Sage is torn from her internal debate about seat design by the voice of a girl addressing her.
"Excuse me, could I sit here?"
Turning her head, Sage subconsciously expected to see someone standing in the aisle, but instead all she saw was a pair of seemingly empty clothes floating in the air.
"Huh?" The word escaped her lips before she could stop it, her head tilting in genuine confusion at the apparent lack of a person.
In response to her confusion, a soft laugh comes from the invisible girl. "Sorry, I forget people can't see me sometimes. I'm Toru Hagakure!"
Heat crept up Sage's neck as embarrassment washed over her. Scooting closer to the window, she made space for Toru to sit. "Of course, sit wherever you'd like. I'm Sage."
Settling into the seat next to her, the first thing Sage noticed was the lovely floral scent that followed her, that and the warmth her voice carried as though she put all her expressions and emotions into her speech.
"It's so nice to meet you! Are you nervous about the exam?"
'This is so trippy, I can hear her voice and see her clothes but I can't see her at all! How does that even work? Shouldn't there be some type of refraction at the least? Also, why's my heart beating so fast?'
Internally freaking out, Sage tried her best to keep her expression as calm as possible despite the storm of thoughts rattling around her skull.
However, while Sage was busy trying to get her thoughts in check, she was oblivious to her tail wagging gently in her lap, a detail Toru noticed if her amused giggle was anything to go by.
"Wow, I'm flattered. I've never had someone look at me like that before—am I really that interesting?"
Hit like a truck by that comment, Sage quickly turns away, her face burning in mortification. She hadn't even realised she was staring at where the invisible girl was until she was reminded.
'Get it together!' She mentally commanded herself while holding her tail in place to hide its traitorous tells. 'I need to calm down, I'm acting like I've got a cru— NOPE! Not going to finish that thought.'
"So um..." Sage began, looking desperately for any way to distract herself. "If you don't mind me asking, how does your quirk work?"
Bursting into laughter, the sound of Toru's voice played havoc on Sage's mind despite her best attempts to remain calm.
"Did anyone ever tell you that your reactions are absolutely adorable? You're blushing like a tomato! No need to be so flustered, though—I'm happy to explain my quirk... in exchange for your number?"
Grinding to a halt, Sage's brain performed the equivalent of a computer blue screen. Every thought ground to a halt as she processed the request, her face cycling through increasingly deeper shades of red.
'Did she just call me adorable? Nobody's ever called me that before... why does it make me so happy? Pull yourself together, Sage—you're acting like you've got a crush... on... her... oh. How does that even happen? I've known her less than five minutes!'
Bursting into a fit of laughter, Toru's voice plays havoc with Sage's mind as her tail wags happily beneath her hands.
'Stop, Stop! Why am I being so weird? I'm literally just talking to someone. Was there something in those biscuits Nezu gave me? ...No, he wouldn't do something like that.'
Eventually, Toru's laughter dies down and she regains her composure. Sage, on the other hand, continues to blush uncontrollably.
"Did anyone ever tell you your reactions are hilarious? You're over here blushing like a tomato, and it's just the cutest thing ever. No need to be so flustered though—I'm more than happy to tell you about my quirk... if in exchange you give me your number?"
Turning the deepest red possible, Sage's brain short circuits, and she freezes in place. Internally, her thoughts slow nearly to a stop as she tries to process why her body was reacting like it was.
'Did she just call me cute? Why does that make me so happy? I'm acting like I've got a crush on her... Oh. I have a crush on her. How does that even happen!?! I literally just met her. Urghhhhh, why's this got to be so confusing?'
The realization crashed over her like a tidal wave. It should have been pretty obvious from the start, but Sage was never the best at understanding her own feelings. Never in her wild dreams could she imagine falling for someone so hard, yet reality often proved stranger than fiction.
Meanwhile, Toru watched her new friend crash, reboot, and achieve enlightenment in record time. She wasn't entirely sure what had prompted her to ask for Sage's number, but she'd had a bubbly feeling in her stomach since meeting her and wanted to know her better.
She couldn't lie though and say the fox girl's reactions didn't help sway her opinion. There was just something so genuine in how flustered she was.
Realising pretty quick Sage wouldn't snap back to reality before they arrived at the testing grounds, Toru reached out and gently tapped her on the shoulder.
Glancing up from where she was staring at the seat, the first thing Sage noticed was an outstretched phone seemingly floating in mid-air, the contacts already open.
Reaching out, Sage tries her best to avoid looking the invisible girl dead on while typing her number into the phone. A few seconds later, Sage's own phone vibrated in her pocket as a message came through.
"Perfect! Make sure not to lose my number."
Leaning over, Toru glances at Sage's phone, her comment going completely unheard as Sage tries desperately not to shut down again as the smell of Toru's perfume invades her nose.
'OMG, this is dangerous! I can't do anything! What do I do—she's so close? I don't understand how she's doing this to me. We're just talking and I can barely manage two thoughts without turning into a blushing mess. Please... I need the bus to stop soon.'
As if hearing her prayers, Sage is spared any further embarrassment by the bus coming to a stop.
Head snapping towards the window, she sees a large concrete wall at least fifty metres high stretching for at least a kilometre in both directions, the only unique feature being an equally large metal gate with two large G's painted on both sides of it.
'We're here, I'm saved!' Standing up in her seat, Sage's enthusiasm is quickly brought to a halt when she remembers Toru was sitting between her and the aisle.
"Oh...Running away so quickly?" For a brief moment, Toru's voice carried a note of disappointment seeing Sage's reaction, before brightening artificially seconds later. "Lucky for me, we're going the same direction."
Nudging Sage's shoulder playfully, Toru turns and practically bounces off the bus.
Finally free from the bubbly girl playing havoc with her mind, Sage took the chance to collect herself. The familiar chime of her system provided a welcome distraction.
{New Side Quest: To see the unseen
You've recently encountered Toru Hagakure aka Invisible Girl. She is an aspiring hero cursed by her quirk: Invisibility to live her life unseen.
You, on the other hand, are gifted with the knowledge and intellect to potentially figure out her quirk and finally let her be seen.
Goal: Let her be seen.
Reward: 4000xp, Item -- Magic Mirror, Skill -- Enhanced Eyes, Skill -- True Strike.}
'Huh... I'm not sure how to feel about that? I could never imagine living my entire life never seeing my own reflection or walking up to my friends and them never looking me in the eyes. That sounds like such a lonely way to live...'
Suddenly sobering up after reading the system panel, Sage steps off the bus and looks around for the invisible girl, but amidst the throng of people, Toru had completely disappeared.
Mood dropping, Sage continues to look around for her but is cut off as the colossal gate begins slowly opening. Glancing around, Sage fails to spot any teachers or supervisors and after a brief moment of hesitation starts jogging towards the gate.
'I can talk to Toru later. For now, I need to finish the exam. I don't see any teachers around, so I'd say it's safe to assume this test is also self-regulated with the teachers watching through cameras.'
Crossing beneath the colossal gate, nobody steps forward to stop her, so taking that as the go ahead, she sprints forward into the fake city, her eyes set on a stop sign peacefully sticking out of the ground.
Jumping at her full speed, she plants her feet against the post and pushes. Powerless against the strength of her kick, the pole rapidly bends at the base with a sharp crack.
Flipping elegantly through the air, Sage lands effortlessly on her feet before walking up to the broken sign, and after getting a solid grip, she heaves up on it, causing the warped metal to shear apart.
'Nice, weapon acquired.'
Spinning the sign around a few times to get a rough understanding of the 2m long weapon's weight distribution, she sets her eyes on a small crowd of bots down the road and the small crowd of people swarming through the open gates.
'Let's see... Present Mic mentioned that the civilian issue bots are neutral by default and need to be talked into evacuating or helped. He also mentioned they will turn aggressive if attacked, so I'll avoid them for now.
On the other hand... those villain bots are free points!'
Smiling with a feral grin, Sage activates her speed enhancement and rockets off down the road at over 300 kilometres an hour, a plume of dust rising behind her.
Reaching the first villain bot—a one pointer—Sage activates Reinforcement on her makeshift weapon and drives it down on the robot's head. Instantly, the thin metal plating crumples under the force of her attack and the axe-like sign cleaves right through its main computer.
'Noted, these ones are pretty weak.'
Breaking into a sprint again, Sage continues her relentless robot massacre, using only a comfortable 40% of her speed to preserve her stamina.
As she hunts the robots, Sage occasionally stops to help those in danger, vaguely remembering there being something about rescue points.
Robot after robot dies as Sage's sign comes down on them like an executioner's axe, easily rending their thin metal armour to pieces. Out of all the robots, the only ones capable of surviving even one of her hits were the three pointers, solely because they had two main computers and she couldn't break both at once.
Still, every robot proves too weak to withstand a good hit from her, and even when she deliberately chose not to destroy it, the robots were slow and easily choreographed.
'I probably should have expected this. The robots are designed to test people with zero prior training. I suppose I'll hunt a few more while waiting for the zero pointer to show up.'
Running off again, she continues her robot massacre for a few more minutes until, with a violent rumble that shakes the city, the zero pointer wakes up.
Eager to be the first to fight the robot, Sage runs into a nearby building, effortlessly running up the stairs and bursting outside on the fifteenth floor.
To say she was shocked was an understatement. She came at this expecting the robot to be four to five stories tall at the max, but contrary to belief, the robot she was faced with towered above even the building she was on.
Eyes alight with excitement and face split by a feral grin, Sage braces herself against the edge of the roof, her muscles tensing like a spring.
'Now THIS is more like it! Time to bust up a giant!'
{A/N: So... I wrote this, I'm not sure how good it is but I wrote it and I was happy with it. Anyway in more pressing news, can I have some more reviews? I can't get on the powerstone rankings without at least five reviews.
If this story gets five reviews in 24 hours I'll write an extra chapter before working on my Assignments.}
Thanks for reading (: