Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 68: Robots

Denki looked at the huge building nervously. This was really it! He was really at UA! He was pretty sure that Izuku had been more nervous than he had been that morning, considering the insane number of good luck texts and last-minute quirk tips that had ended up in his inbox overnight. He'd ended up sending an equal number of memes in response, which had actually done a pretty good job of calming both him and Izuku down, but now he was starting to feel that same anxiety again. What if he failed the written exam? Had he remembered to take his meds that morning? What if he accidentally somehow went over his voltage limit halfway through the exam and ended up useless for the rest of it? What if the training he'd done with Izuku wasn't enough and he failed and disappointed his friend?!

Denki was so distracted by his spiraling thoughts that he didn't notice the girl walking in front of him until he'd run into her and was falling backwards onto his butt. Or, well, he thought he was, but then the girl reached for his hand and all of a sudden he was floating, which freaked him out and he instinctively started sparking. What if he couldn't ground himself properly and his electricity went everywhere?!

"Oh! I'm so sorry for using my quirk on you without permission!" The girl panicked. "I just didn't think it would be a good omen to fall on the first day! I"m sorry!"

The girl looked really worried, so Denki smiled to try and hide his mini-freakout, "It's no big deal, I just wasn't expecting it! So...you've got a floaty quirk?"

Denki smiled a little more genuinely when the girl giggled, "Anti-gravity, actually, but yeah. I make things float."

"Well, that explains why I feel like I'm on cloud nine since I met you!" Denki winked. "Um...can you let me down now?"

"Oh! Right!"

The girl pressed her hands together and Denki felt his gravity return. He was able to stick the landing thanks to all the training he'd done with Izuku and he sighed in relief now that he was back on solid ground, "Thanks for save!"

"No problem!" The girl grinned. "I'm Uraraka!"

"Kaminari!" Denki started walking toward the school. "You nervous?"

"So nervous." Uraraka looked as overwhelmed as Denki felt as they walked up the steps. "Everything feels so surreal, you know? Today's gonna determine the rest of our lives!"

"Yeah," Denki grimaced playfully, "no pressure or anything!"

Uraraka laughed again, "Yeah. Good luck, Kaminari! Who knows, maybe we'll be in the same class!"

"I hope so, then I'll get to see your beautiful face everyday!" Kaminari grinned, then laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I guess I flirt when I'm stressed. I can stop."

"I guess that's one way to cope! Don't worry about it!" Uraraka shook her head and looked out over the auditorium, completely lost, "Thanks for distracting me from test anxiety, though! Now, uh, do you know where we're supposed to sit?"

Katsuki kept to himself and tried to ignore the empty seat beside him as he waited for the presentation to start. He'd half-hoped that Izuku would still show up despite everything, but apparently that was just one more thing he'd ruined by being a cruel idiot. Izuku's absence, however, gave him an extra push of determination. He was one of the main reasons why Izuku had given up on his dream of being a hero, so Katsuki owed it to him to be the hero that he couldn't be. He had to be the best and pass the exam for Izuku.

He also had to pass the exam so that Amplifier and the other heroes would let him help find Ogawa. These past couple weeks had been hell, wondering if there was anything else he could do and getting all his information through Dabi and he threw himself even harder into his training. All of that waiting would be worth it once he got into the hero course, though, because if the heroes thought they could back out of their deal, then they had another thing coming.