Darkest Before Dawn - 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 2

Kazuki thought the written part of the test had gone well enough. It hadn’t been nearly as difficult as he expected it to be, but then again, Aizawa had told him he should be fine. Which, considering the personality of the guy, meant he was probably going to do more than fine, at the least. The guy’s efforts to reassure might have been slightly undermined by the fact that Kazuki wasn’t sure he trusted him, or any of the UA staff all that much. He was half sure there had to be some people there that wanted him far away from their precious school. He liked to think Aizawa thought differently but…

Well, he was a criminal being sent to a hero school.

Yeah, he didn’t like the chances of people not actually hating his guts.

‘Maybe I can trust them, I guess,’ Kazuki considered then, since it seemed Aizawa had actually told him the truth regarding the written exam. At the very least, he could keep that in mind, he supposed. Sadly, the one teacher/guard/minder that he talked with had remained awfully silent regarding the practical part of the exam.

Now, after Present Mic’s explanation of the rather simple process of the test, he had to wonder why though. ‘Defeat the fake villains, earn points. Easy enough,’ he thought, considering how to best use his Quirk in such a situation as they moved towards the area for the exam. ‘Why’d he be so secretive about that before I came here though?’ he asked himself with a frown.

Taking a deep breath in once they reached the door, he concentrated on his Quirk. At least he would have no problem gathering energy, that was for sure. Every single one of the examinees was nervous, some more, some less, but they were. He could use that.

Kazuki grasped the negativity with his metaphorical hands and gathered it inside him. As he concentrated, the shadow under him twitched and twisted, as if eager to be let out. Just as soon as they gave the order, he’d unleash his creatures on those robots. He’d gotten a taste of the outside world, and even if he still had a leash, he’d rather have that than be inside a cell. He’d hate it, but he’d hate it less, that was for sure.

He hated that his thought process was like that. He didn’t want to be a prisoner his whole life… Sadly, he didn’t have many options however, so he’d have to make do with what he had. Take the lemons and see if he could stumble his way into making lemonade.

“Begin,” came Aizawa’s bored/annoyed voice from the speakers at the same time the gate opened. Most of the examinees stood there for a moment, probably expecting a countdown or something. Two people reacted instantly though.

From Kazuki’s shadow rose a werewolf-like creature. Pitch black fur covered most of it, like most of his creatures, while the monster wore a bone white mask with red markings on it. Equally colored spikes protruded from the thing’s joints and back. His creation, his Grimm as he liked calling them, charged forward instantly, growling all the while.

A One-Pointer appeared then, moving on top of a single wheel under it and having miniguns for arms that were covered by a piece of armor not unlike a shield. The thing had barely gotten to raise its arm and aim before the Grimm, Beowolf he called that particular “design”, crashed against it. In an instant, the monster was already tearing through the metal with its claws and teeth.

‘First point,’ Kazuki thought with a smirk.

The second person wasn’t too far behind though. A two pointer, a strange four-legged scorpion-like robot, appeared and pointed at the Beowolf with what seemed to be a gun on its ‘tail’. Before it could do anything else though, a student came flying and destroyed it instantly with a loud bang. ‘Explosions, huh? Neat Quirk, that one,’ Kazuki mused curiously as he leisurely walked inside the exam area. His shadow was already extending and shaping into a second Beowolf.

‘Maybe it is that simple, I guess,’ Kazuki thought a minute later as he looked around after letting out his third Grimm. The trio of werewolves destroyed anything that came even close to the teenager. The only concern he had was to keep moving, and trying to avoid the other examinees, since they would get in the way of each other trying to destroy as many robots as possible.

The sandbox was much smaller than it appeared to be though, which made sense. With the test taking only ten minutes, there wasn’t much time to explore a big place unless students had a mobility Quirk of some kind. Even then, why would it make the thing bigger only for a handful of potential students at best? Thus, it was more of a small city setting of a few blocks in every direction being flooded with robots than a big one with them everywhere.

‘What’s that make? Around 40 points?’ Kazuki mused as he watched one of his Beowolves tear through a Three Pointer. With the rate at which his Grimm were destroying the things, he’d be very surprised if he didn’t get in. After all, he’d gotten a good look at some of the other examinees and they weren’t fairing all that well. That wasn’t to say that he thought he was the best, but he should be good enough to get in, that was for sure.

His thoughts were interrupted though, when he felt a spike of fear in his Sense.

Instantly, he turned to the side, one of his Beowolf snapping into motion. Kazuki frowned, there was a Two Pointer there… but there was nobody else. Not only was the machine standing in a strange way compared to all the others he’d seen, but it also made no sense for him to sense fear from there. The robots didn’t feel anything, after all. ‘What in the….?’ He scowled, trying his best to get a feeling of what was up there even as his Grimm continued its charge.

Sadly, he wasn’t nearly as good with his Sense to tell what was up there. He only knew that there was someone feeling fear in that direction, roughly at that distance. Kazuki didn’t need more than that though. It could be someone with a quirk that made them small, or someone that had gotten inside the bot somewhat? He didn’t know how that last one would connect with fear but the first one could be.

‘That means I can’t destroy the thing though. What if I hurt whoever’s there?’ Kazuki realized, clicking his tongue. ‘Incapacitating it is,’ He decided with a nod.

“Whoever’s here, it’d be nice to know what’s going on!” he called as one of his Beowolves stalked the robot from beside him. Meanwhile, one of the others continued hunting while the third did the same but keeping close just in case. When the scorpion-like villain bot started turning its tail-gun towards him, Kazuki had his Grimm dash forward and slash it off.

“Under… leg…” he heard someone say. A girl, he was pretty sure. Frowning, he looked at the robot’s legs. Indeed, one of them looked to be strangely placed, almost like… ‘Like it’s floating. An invisibility Quirk?’ he thought, mentally commanding his Beowolf to attack more. He’d been hesitant before, not knowing if he’d unknowingly hit whoever had been in trouble. With a better idea, there was no need to hold back.

“Everything alright?” Kazuki asked as his creature took the bot away and made quick work of it. The fear from whoever it had been diminished quickly then, replaced by exhaustion, some pain and a sense of defeat. “Do you need any more help?” he offered, his eyes trying to focus on something but finding nothing. ‘I’ll need to work on my sensing. Maybe I can use it better than I already do?’ he mused, a little frustrated.

“I’m fine now, thank you for the help,” the girl told him, even though her voice gave away how tired and dejected she felt. Which he didn’t need but she also didn’t know that. “I don’t want to hold you back.”

“Eh, I’m probably passing anyway,” Kazuki said with a shrug. “Besides, I can help without it really changing much,” he added, turning to look at one of his Beowolves tearing into a One Pointer. “Besides, it wouldn’t be very heroic of me to leave you here to fend for yourself, right?” he asked with a grin.

“Well, if you insist,” the girl replied before trying to stand up. Kazuki only noticed because he sensed the flaring pain before she groaned. “I guess I really do need a hand here.”

“No problem, although… I might need directions, I can’t see you,” he commented before he felt a hand touching his arm. Moving quickly, he got a hold of the arm and helped the girl steady herself.

“Thanks,” she said, and he heard her taking a deep breath in. “Toru Hagakure, nice to meet you.”

“Kazuki Endo, same,” he replied simply. “Did you hear anything about a place to take wounded or something?” he asked then, his eyes scanning their surroundings to search for both, possibly threats and an exit or medic place.

“I don’t remember them saying anything about that,” She mumbled and she sounded and felt absolutely exhausted, which he guessed made sense.

“Ok, we’ll just have to look for a place like that,” Kazuki commented, before turning to “look” at the girl, Hagakure. “Can you walk?”

“I think so,” she said, letting go of his arm. A second later, her hands grabbed him again. “Or not, my chest hurts,” she told him then before he threw one of her arms over his shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Don’t mention it,” he waved off easily as he started moving back towards where they’d entered the battlefield. “Let’s just go back, yeah? How many points did you get?”

“Thirty, I think,” she replied and he could feel the fear gripping at her. “And you?”

“Forty… Seven, pretty sure,” he answered, looking at one of his Beowolves tearing through a One Pointer as they escorted the pair on their way. “If it makes you feel better, I think you did quite well, actually. Which makes me wonder how that one got a hold of you if you could take all those out.”

“I might… have been talking more… than I should have,” she admitted, each pause accompanied by a spike of pain. She clearly had trouble speaking. At least he’d been right and what he said had helped her feel better. Small victories.

“I’ll do the talking, yeah? I know you are in pain,” he told her. “Shouldn’t take us long to get to the gates-” he started before pausing. Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t quite tell what. It was like… “You are wearing clothes, right?” he asked, some dread in his voice.

“Just noticed, huh?” she replied with, and he could hear the grin in her voice. Despite that, he felt embarrassment join her other emotions. “Wouldn’t be very heroic… to drop me,” she added before groaning.

“Right, right,” he agreed with a nod, internally wondering if he’d get scolded for this or something. It wouldn’t look very good if it came out that the criminal that had gotten out early was walking around holding a naked girl during the Entrance Exam. “Here’s hoping I’m not expelled or anything,” he mumbled to himself.

“Don’t worry,” Hagakured reassured him. The fact that Kazuki didn’t sense any anger or anything on that line helped more than her words, really, but he didn’t tell her that. “I’ll… tell them.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he told her absently, even as his worry continued spiking. Then he heard something big moving somewhere behind him. looking over his shoulder, he saw a robot the size of a building appear on the other side of the area. “God, I’m grateful we are moving the other way,” he commented as he adjusted his hold on Hagakure and continued moving.

“Someone… in the rubble,” Hagakure said, making him pause. Sure enough, someone was feeling pretty terrible in the rubble of a nearby building. Stopping for a moment to consider that, he narrowed his eyes.

Two of his Beowolf trio dissolved into a dark mist before simply vanishing entirely. The remaining one patrolled as Kazuki’s shadow extended once more. Out of it came a more humanoid creature wearing a bone mask that had two goat-like horns. Its black body, contrary to the Beowolves’ muscular shape, was more stringy, almost weak looking. They were much better for delicate work though.

“What… are those?”

“My Quirk, I can make creatures. I call those Imps, and the other’s Beowolves,” he explained as he started walking once more. The gate appeared on sight once they rounded the corner. Meanwhile, the Imp he’d made was making its way to the rubble to dig the guy that was trapped there out. “You can thank me later, man! Just don’t freak out!” he called over his shoulder.

He didn’t hear a response, but then again, Kazuki hadn’t expected one. Instead, he focused on moving and making another Imp. He’d sent it out to do some rescuing. It wasn’t part of the Exam, he knew, but he wanted to make a good impression on the school staff. Most bots had already been dealt with, really, so he was unlikely to raise his score too much. If he passed, he’d need to be on the school’s good side. Kazuki didn’t like his chances if he always had a teacher breathing down his neck and waiting for him to mess up.

Or worse, wanting to make up a mistake to screw him over.

‘Stop it,’ he told himself. This was his chance. He had to focus on what he could do and stop worrying about others. With any luck, he was just being a pessimist. Besides, Nezu wouldn’t just leave him to his fate, he knew. If he could trust in anyone, he could trust in the principal, Kazuki supposed. ‘Or as much as I can trust someone right now, I guess,’ he mused as he watched his second Imp help someone that had gotten their leg stuck under robot remains.

‘I’ll be a hero,’ he thought to himself, frowning as he continued moving.

[}-o-{]

[Toru Hagakure]

“Thanks, again,” she said, smiling widely even if no one could see it. In front of her sat a very pale teenager. The skin color was important at that moment, she felt, because it certainly made his blushed cheeks stand out all the more.

“Don’t mention it,” he waved off as he’d done several times already, this time with much more vehemence though. “Seriously, don’t,” he reiterated, resolutely not looking at the pile of clothes his creation – ‘Imp, was it?’ – had brought back for her. The pile of clothes she’d been quick to dismiss once the exercise started.

She giggled at his reaction. Then again, she supposed it must be pretty embarrassing for him all things considered. She certainly was after realizing that he had basically carried her while naked. Still, she was also curious about the worried or downright frightened look he’d get sometimes.

“Anyway,” the white-haired boy started after coughing behind his fist to clear some of his embarrassment. “I’m guessing… Actually, I should leave you so you can get changed, sorry,” he said, changing his sentence in the middle as he muttered to himself.

“That’d be appreciated,” Toru told him with a pout that he couldn’t see. “I know I’m invisible but I’d like some privacy while I change, you know?”

Some people thought it was weird, that she felt embarrassed changing but wasn’t when just walking around naked. The thing was, nobody could see anything if she wasn’t wearing clothes. However, while changing, they could see her clothes and when she was taking things off and that certainly made her feel exposed.

“Right, sorry,” he mumbled as he stood up and walked towards the door. “I hope you pass. It’d be nice to know someone in here.”

“Same,” she replied with a soft smile. With his head turned slightly to look over his shoulder, she saw his eyes, with black scleras and red irises, move. It was as if he were looking for her, and a moment later his lips pulled into a bit of a smirk.

“I’ll see you around, then,” he said before walking out and closing the door.

“Did he really just say that?” Toru muttered to herself as she started changing before breaking into giggles once more. To the side, behind a curtain in the infirmary she’d been taken to, she heard the nurse, Recovery Girl, grumble to herself.

Still, it seemed she’d made a friend and Toru was perfectly fine with that. Not knowing anyone would have made her a little nervous before, she’d admit. It seemed she had nothing to worry about though and that was a weight off her chest.

Now she just needed to pray that she’d actually get in to begin with.

[}-o-{]

[Kazuki Endo]

Well, that had certainly been an… encounter, he supposed.

‘How long has it been since I just talked to someone normally?’ Kazuki wondered as he walked through the halls of the building on his way out. It was a very valid question he supposed. Actually… ‘Did I ever hold a normal conversation with someone?’ he added then, with a sad smile on his face.

Before being thrown into prison, he’d been young. Young enough that anyone his age was creeped out by his looks. His family had been an absolute mess. And everyone else cared very little.

What did it say about him that his most normal experiences had come from being thrown into prison? Some of the people he’d met there had been surprisingly friendly all things considered. However, it was still a prison in all but name. He could never quite lower his guard enough for it to be counted as normal he was sure.

And now… now he could be normal, for once, he supposed. Surely the students at UA wouldn’t be as judgemental as kids had been. He could only hope that would be the case and his looks wouldn’t ruin things for him once more. If his Quirk didn’t, at least. That was another thing, he supposed.

All things considered though, he felt relatively optimistic.

‘If only because it’s the only thing I can do,’ he mused as he stepped out through the entrance door and made his way to the street. There were other hopeful teenagers around, either because they were leaving or because they’d stuck around for whatever reason. Nervousness rolled around the environment, Kazuki could feel. Some were frustrated, some were sad. Lots of bad emotions in the air, it seemed.

With a sigh, he decided to just leave.

As he walked though, he stopped when he felt a spike of dejection with a touch of anger. He grimaced though, because he also knew the reason. He’d just passed next to a boy and girl, with the first one asking the other on a date. Kazuki thought he could make an educated guess on what the result had been.

“It’s not my fault I’m short, you know?” he heard the guy grumble.

“Life sucks, huh?” He asked, turning and running his fingers through his white hair. Internally, he wondered why the fuck he’d even talked. The guy was rejected, it happened. There was no need to get himself involved.

“Bet she'd have said yes if I were good looking, like that guy,” the short guy grumbled in response, waving his hand towards a blonde guy with blue eyes that had just come out of the building he’d been in a few moments ago.

“Probably true,” Kazuki nodded, because people were shallow like that. They took one look at him and instantly he could feel the apprehension even if many tried to hide it outwardly. He knew, however, because he could sense it. Maybe that’d been why he stopped, because he understood that much? As good a reason as any, he supposed.

“I don’t need pity,” the short one said then, turning towards him and Kazuki felt the spike of fear. ‘Huh, usually that only happens with children and cowards,’ he mused, giving a short one a look over. Yeah, he definitely looked like a coward. Prison certainly taught how to catch onto those. Still…

“You’ll get no pity from me, little one,” he shot back with a smirk as the guy grumbled something that he was sure were insults. “But I could use some company if you want to drown your sorrows with drink and all that,” he offered after a moment of consideration. Because, really, what else could he do? Go back to the apartment and sit there alone?

“I don’t have the money to pay for alcohol, man,” the short one lamented, as if that were the only problem with the suggestion. ‘Well, at least he’s not a boring coward,’ Kazuki thought to himself.

“Have enough for a normal drink though?” he asked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards a vending machine on the street.

“I guess,” the short one shrugged, starting to make his way to it. Kazuki, for his part, took out the phone he’d been given and shot a message to his “guards” to tell them what was up. Else, he was sure the police would go looking for him if he were merely 5 minutes late.

He received a message asking for photographic evidence of what he was saying, which he guessed was fair. Kazuki was just glad he wasn’t literally escorted around like a criminal. He could put up with just shooting a few pictures of what he did to prove he wasn’t off somewhere being the criminal everyone thought he was.

Hell, people seemed to love doing that for fun, really.

“Kazuki Endo, by the way,” he introduced himself once he caught up with the little guy, who had picked something for himself already. The teen, who had odd purple balls for hair, Kazuki noted, nodded and opened his can.

“Minoru Mineta. Nice to meet you, I guess.”

“Same.”

[}-o-{]

[Aizawa Shota]

Problem children were everywhere that year, it seemed.

First, there was the idiot that charged ahead without a care for everyone else.

Second, there was the idiot that didn’t seem to care that his body broke apart with his Quirk.

And third… There was the one that he’d expected to be an idiot, being perfectly rational. Shota knew, however, that the boy would be trouble. Maybe not on purpose, maybe he wouldn’t even actually do anything, but he’d be trouble regardless. Kazuki Endo’s situation wouldn’t allow for anything else, after all.

There were also a handful of other troublesome students-to-be, Shota was perfectly aware, but those three had been the ones that he’d focused on. Those three were, after all, the ones that would bring the most trouble. Knowingly or not, willingly or not, they would. He’d been a teacher long enough to know that much.

Nezu, however, looked positively giddy as they replayed the videos from the Exam, carefully examining the most prominent students to get their scores. Shota didn’t know if he should be annoyed or concerned about that, honestly. That look could only spell trouble for someone and he could only hope it wouldn’t be him.

“If my observations are correct,” the principal started, as he always did. More than a few teachers rolled their eyes at that, because he always was and he still continued saying that. “These are the top examinees of this year.”

Shota looked at the scores the principal laid before them and thought he’d actually guessed fairly well. He recognized several and he was already making plans in his head on how and what to teach some of them. That was why the teachers still checked the Exam videos even though Nezu could do the job by himself and faster. It allowed them to get a look at some of them and argue their cases in case they disagreed with a choice.

However, there was something pretty eye-catching and every teacher in the room had noticed instantly.

Kazuki Endo with 49 Villain Points and 22 Rescue Points.

Katsuki Bakugo with 71 Villain Points and 0 Rescue Points.

Both of them sitting at the top of the list, a tie. Shota didn’t think he’d ever seen that happen. Hell, Nezu actively tried to avoid such scenarios, even when it wasn’t for the first place. He always started picking at the character of the people involved, besides their actions during the exam. What they did during the written part, what they did before the exams, what they did in between, everything. Ties just didn’t happen at UA’s Entrance Exam.

“Is there a reason why you left them both first?” Kan asked, clearly having realized the same thing as Shota had. Nezu had an agenda here. What he couldn’t figure out was what? If he wanted his pet project first then he could have made it so and leave Bakugo in second place. If he didn’t want Endo first then he could have Bakugo there.

“I didn’t want to make that decision,” Nezu said, suddenly calm despite having been giddy for most of the day. “So, I’ll leave the choice up to all of you.”

Looks were shared and minds worked.

“Who will take first place on the Entrance Exam?” the principal asked, because he had a sense of dramatics like that, the problematic bastard.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

And we’ve got the Entrance Exam out of the way in a single chapter. Maybe people wanted to see more of them and such but… Honestly, I didn’t know what else to do except maybe adding more on Kazuki’s Grimm wrecking the robots but that seemed unnecessary, really. So, I guess this is it for now. Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint.

I know names in Japanese are supposed to go the other way around, like it’d be “Hagakure Toru” or “Endo Kazuki” but it’s honestly a little annoying to have to consciously do that every time. Besides, the wiki has everyone listed the Western way, so I’ll follow that. Less chances of me getting confused and considering I’m an idiot, I’ll keep things simple for my own sake.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you have a favorite Quirk in Class 1-A?

See you.