While the other examinees were busy puffing out their chests Haruto was recalibrating.
He leaned forward, his center of gravity shifting.
Hiss.
The sound was microscopic - the release of air from the gate's locking mechanism - but to Haruto, it was a starting pistol. Before the gates had even cleared six inches of ground, Haruto was a gone.
He slid under the rising metal, rolled, and vanished into the faux-city before the first "Wait!" could leave a competitor's mouth.
"THE STARTING GUN HAS FIRED! OR IT WOULD HAVE, IF THAT CRAZY KID HAD WAITED FOR IT!"
Present Mic's voice boomed over the speakers.
"THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL BATTLES! HE'S ALREADY AT TWO POINTS! RUN! RUN! RUN!"
"System Status: Lead established," Haruto whispered, while running ahead of everyone.
A One-Pointer rolled around the corner, its red eye-sensor scanning. Haruto didn't punch it, that was a waste of calories. Instead, he vaulted over its head, and as he passed, he jammed a high-tensile screwdriver - pulled from his tracksuit pocket - directly into the neck-joint's wiring harness.
Zap-spark.
"One point," Haruto narrated, already mid-air as he spotted a Two-Pointer.
"Double tap for security," Haruto muttered, flicking a small, weighted ball-bearing into the Two-Pointer's optical sensor before his feet even hit the pavement.
The robot shrieked, its targeting computer spiraling into a logic loop as it began spinning aimlessly. He didn't wait to watch it fall, he was already moving ahead.
"Points: 3. Pace: Optimal. Audience Engagement: Probably confused as hell," he whispered to the empty air as he reached the rooftop.
He spotted a cluster of three One-Pointers moving in a pincer maneuver toward a panicked examinee. Haruto didn't jump down. Instead, he pulled a spool of high-tension wire from his belt, looped it around a rooftop vent, and dropped like a spider.
He swung through the center of the trio, his boots - reinforced with steel toes - connecting with the first robot's head with a sickening crunch. As the momentum carried him past, he lashed the wire around the second one's neck and kicked off the third's chest.
Clang. Snap. Spark.
In three seconds, three robots were a heap of tangled limbs and short-circuiting motherboards.
"Points: 6. Total: 15. I'm speedrunning this," Haruto said, "At this rate, I'll hit the 'Safe Zone' before the ten-minute mark."
The buzzer for the final three minutes let out a mournful wail, and that's when the ground decided to stop being solid.
A shadow the size of a cathedral swept over the urban center. The Zero-Pointer smashed through a block of faux-apartments, sending a tidal wave of dust and debris into the air.
"Target identified: The Zero-Pointer," Haruto whispered, leaning against a lamppost as the other examinees began the 'Massive Retreat' trope.
He looked toward the base of the mechanical titan and saw her - the girl with the bob cut, pinned under a slab of concrete. The treads were grinding closer, a slow-motion execution.
Haruto's hand went to a specialized thermite charge at his hip. The Mercenary in his head was already calculating the climb - three seconds to the knee, six to the main processor. He could kill it.
But then, he saw the green hair.
Midoriya was standing there, shaking so hard he looked like he was vibrating out of existence. But his eyes... his eyes were locked on the girl.
Haruto's hand drifted away from the charge. He let out a low, dry chuckle and settled back into a spectator's stance, looking directly into the "camera" with a knowing smirk.
"And here comes the 'Golden Boy' moment," Haruto narrated. "The protagonist finds his spark in the face of certain death. If I step in now, I'm just stealing the 'Origin Story' from a kid who needs it to survive the next seven seasons"
CRACK-BOOM.
With a violent explosion of green lightning that shattered every window within three blocks, Midoriya launched himself skyward.
The air itself seemed to scream as his fist connected with the Zero-Pointer's face, turning the mountain of metal into a falling star of scrap.
"System Status: Spectator Mode," Haruto whispered, shielding his eyes from the falling debris.
"Now that is what you call a high-budget climax. 10/10 for the animation team."
As the buzzer signaled the end of the exam, Haruto turned his back on the wreckage and the broken Midoriya. He started walking toward the exit, hands deep in his pockets.
**********<>**********
Inside the darkened observation room, the wall of monitors flickered with a hundred different battles, but one screen had stayed pinned to the center of the console for the last ten minutes.
"Who is this kid?" Present Mic asked, leaning forward so far his tall hair nearly brushed the glass.
"Battle Center B, examinee number 2234. He didn't wait for the countdown, he hasn't used a single flashy move, and I'm pretty sure he just disabled a Three-Pointer with a... is that a household tool?"
Eraser Head leaned back in the shadows, his eyes bloodshot and narrowed as he watched Haruto scale a building with high efficiency.
"He's not using a Quirk," Aizawa muttered, his voice gravelly. "Look at his center of gravity. He's moving like someone who has spent years in live-fire zones. He's not fighting the robots; he's sabotaging them."
"It's certainly... unorthodox," Midnight added, tapping her chin as she watched Haruto swing on a high-tension wire to stack three One-Pointers like cordwood.
"Most of these kids are trying to show us how big their explosions are. This one is showing us how little effort he needs to expend to achieve the same result. It's almost insulting to the budget we spent on those machines."
"HE'S A CHEATER!" a voice boomed from the corner. Vlad King gestured wildly at the screen. "He's using tools! High-tension wire? Screwdrivers? That should be restricted to the Support Course! He's bypassing the spirit of the exam!"
"Is he?" Principal Nezu sipped his tea, the steam fogging his small glasses. He didn't look annoyed, he looked delighted. "The rules state 'defeat the villains.' They do not state how. If a student uses a piece of rebar from the rubble, we call it resourcefulness. If this boy brings his own rebar in a more compact form, is that not just superior preparation?"
The screen suddenly whited out as Midoriya's massive shockwave leveled the Zero-Pointer.
When the dust settled, the camera panned to Haruto, who was simply leaning against a lamppost, watching the "Hero" moment with a bored smirk.
"He didn't move to help," All Might whispered, his voice heavy with a mix of confusion and observation. "He saw the girl trapped. He reached for something on his belt... and then he stopped. He let Young Midoriya take the blow."
"Calculated," Aizawa said, a small spark of interest in his eyes.
"He realized he didn't need the points, and he realized someone else was going to handle the risk. He's efficient. And according to his medical records... he's Quirkless."
The room went deathly silent.
"Quirkless?" Present Mic barked. "You're telling me a kid with no power just hit the top ten of the leaderboard using nothing but a tracksuit and a bad attitude?"
Nezu's tail flicked with interest. "It appears we have an unprecedented anomaly in our applicant pool, gentlemen. I suggest we keep his file open. I am curious to see how a student like him will adapt at UA"