Entering the exam grounds, the examinees were instructed to place three targets anywhere they liked on their bodies. If all three targets were hit by the rubber balls, they were immediately disqualified.
Each examinee was given six balls.
The first one hundred people to knock out two or more opponents would advance to the next round.
Class 1-A moved as a group at first, instinctively sticking together. However, the so-called Big Three of 1-A exchanged brief glances before quietly splitting off in different directions, choosing to hunt alone rather than moving as a unit. Splitting up increased the number of potential encounters, and their chances.
This also caused many to split off forming into smaller group.
Tsutsumi didn't stop them.
He could have gathered everyone, stabilized a plan, and dragged the class through the exam by force if he wanted to.
But he didn't bother.
This was an exam. Letting his classmates figure things out on their own was part of the point. If they couldn't coordinate, adapt, and pass by themselves... then they only have themselves to blame for it.
Walking calmly into the battlefield-like grounds filled with students from other schools, Tsutsumi casually spun the orange rubber ball on his finger.
His footsteps were unhurried. Too unhurried.
Paired with that lazy, smug way he carried himself, just looking at him made people irrationally angry.
"Quick! Get him before he can touch his belt!"
The shout came from somewhere to his left.
Almost instantly, rubber balls were launched at him from multiple directions, high, low, from behind, from the sides. A coordinated attack.
Tsutsumi wasn't surprised.
Ms. Joke had mentioned earlier that other schools watched them closely during the Sports Festival. That meant most of them already knew about his Quirk.
That knowledge put him and his classmates at a disadvantage.
Still.
Even with preparation, against absolute power, all resistance amounted to nothing more than pointless struggling.
Tsutsumi stopped spinning the ball.
Calmly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cards.
Just as the first ball was about to strike his chest, his body glitched.
The ball passed straight through him, missing entirely as if he simply wasn't there.
More balls followed but none of them touched him.
His Semblance turned his existence into a distortion in reality itself. Rubber balls flew through afterimages, warped outlines, and incomplete frames of his body, failing to register contact no matter how precise the throws were.
However, the drawback came quickly.
The constant glitching sent a dull pressure through his skull. His vision stuttered. Depth perception lagged for a fraction of a second. Sounds echoed strangely, as if arriving late.
Using his Semblance affected everything, his senses included.
The headache intensified with each moment. Normally, repeated use would be unbearable. But Tsutsumi barely reacted, as pain had long since become something that he grew used too.
Attack Ride: Polarity!
He lifted his hand and flicked it upward.
Several students wearing hero costumes with heavy metal components were yanked violently off the ground, lifted helplessly into the air as if gravity had decided it didn't like them anymore.
Confusion spread instantly across the field.
With another simple motion, Tsutsumi pulled them closer.
They struggled, flailing as more balls were thrown in desperation, yet every attack still passed harmlessly through him.
Tsutsumi closed his eyes for a brief moment and shook his head.
The headache was stacking now. His vision flickered harder. Staying glitched for too long was starting to push it.
"Let's get this over with."
He opened his eyes, stepped forward, and casually held his rubber ball. Two students, the closest ones, were taken out as he pressed his rubber ball on their targets.
With that, Tsutsumi had met the requirement. Passing the first test.
He released Polarity, letting the floating students drop without any concern, and turned to walk away.
Then, a powerful wind surged overhead.
Tsutsumi looked up.
Yoarashi Inasa hovered above, a massive whirlwind forming around him. Suspended within the storm were dozens of rubber balls he had gathered from other examinees.
Yoarashi bowed his head dramatically.
Then sent everything crashing downward.
The wind screamed as it descended, scattering balls across the entire area in a wide-range attack.
Tsutsumi sighed. "How annoying."
He clenched the orange ball in his hand and reinforced it, coating it in Aura. The rubber creaked under the pressure, glowing faintly as power condensed into it.
With one sharp motion, he threw.
The ball tore through the whirlwind like a shooting star, ripping apart the air currents and slamming directly into Yoarashi's forehead with a clean, brutal hit.
Yoarashi dropped, and Tsutsumi didn't look back.
He had already passed the test.
But since that idiot's wide-area attack had landed on him, retaliation was perfectly reasonable.
After that, Tsutsumi left the arena, being the first to finish this test. The waiting room was quite empty, well, to be fair, he was the first one to finish the test, so it shouldn't be too surprising.
He took a seat in the corner, leaned his elbow against the armrest, rested his head on his fist, and closed his eyes.
Eventually, something nudged his shoulder.
"The second test already started." Jiro stood there, looking down at him. "You seriously fell asleep."
"I wasn't sleeping," Tsutsumi replied, then closed his eyes. "I was waiting efficiently."
She sighed and gave him a short explanation anyway.
The second test was rescue-based. A simulated disaster site with collapsed buildings, injured civilians, and unstable terrain. The goal was to rescue as many bystanders as possible while maintaining proper hero conduct.
In short, save people without messing it up socially.
Jiro also mentioned that everyone in 1-A had passed the first test.
Tsutsumi opened his eyes and nodded once.
If any of them had failed after all the training, drills, and near-abusive schedules he'd put them through, he would've had to reconsider their development plans.
Possibly involving Violent Emotion.
The bell rang, and the announcer's voice echoed across the room again.
"Villains have begun a large-scale terrorist attack! This is occurring in all areas of 'City Name Here.' Due to building collapses, there are many injured civilians!"
The floor shifted.
Walls separated and slid apart, the room unfolding outward like a massive box being opened. The disaster zones were revealed one after another, each filled with rubble, damaged structures, and scattered bystanders.
The examinees rushed forward immediately, splitting off toward different zones.
Yet as Tsutsumi watched, he noticed these bystanders were nothing like actual bystanders trapped in a real dangerous zone.
They still have time to yell, criticize, and be difficult to the examinees trying to rescue them.
The difficulty here isn't the normal bystanders being stuck in hard places, but it's the fact that they are really being difficult with the people rescuing them.
Mostly because they knew that this was a simulated test and they were in no actual danger. So some of them resist, in a way that they shouldn't even with their fake injuries.
"You're too cold! Are you trying to scare the civilian!? Minus points!"
"The way you dress makes you look like a villain! Why would anyone in danger from a villain attack trust you!? Minus points!"
Tsutsumi has to take a deep breath to avoid causing more destruction and putting their life in real danger, so their acting skills would be more real.
Instead of continuing rescues, he moved to locate Todoroki and Bakugo.
The other two in his class who were just as bad at dealing with people.
He found them quickly.
Bakugo was barely holding back from yelling at a civilian who refused to move.
Todoroki stood nearby, expression neutral, clearly trying to decide which problem to address first: the collapsing structure or the civilian's complaints.
Tsutsumi walked up and stopped beside them, explain his plan to them. They nodded. Then the three disappeared into the darkness.
An explosion suddenly echoed through the disaster zone, drawing everyone's attention.
Dust and debris scattered as several fake villains emerged from behind collapsed structures, moving in coordinated groups. At the center of them stood Gang Orca, the No. 11 Pro Hero, taking on the role of the main villain for this portion of the exam.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, his body bearing the unmistakable traits of a killer whale thanks to his mutant-type Quirk.
Despite his intimidating appearance, he was dressed plainly, just a white office shirt tucked into gray pants, making him look more like a stern corporate manager than a supervillain.
Tsutsumi didn't hesitate. He reached into his coat and pulled out a card.
Attack Ride: Rabbit!
Purple rabbit ears replace his human ears, and Tsutsumi dropped into a crouch. The next moment, he launched himself forward, the ground cracking slightly beneath his feet as he closed the distance in an instant.
Gang Orca stepped forward, rising to his full height.
"Rescuing and fighting at the same time, can you-"
He didn't get to finish.
A black-and-purple blur slammed straight into his chest, the impact sharp and clean. Gang Orca was sent flying backward, crashing through the opening he had just emerged from, disappearing in a cloud of debris.
Everyone: "..."
The entire area went quiet.
The No. 11 Pro Hero had just been kicked out of the scene in a single hit. Everyone froze, eyes slowly turning toward the source.
Tsutsumi landed lightly, straightened up, and glanced back over his shoulder.
"Yo," he said casually. "Don't mind me, I'm just passing through."
That snapped the fake villains into motion.
Some rushed toward Tsutsumi, while others moved to carry out their original role, charging toward the examinees still trying to rescue civilians.
They didn't get far.
Ice spread across the ground, instantly freezing a group of villains in place. And explosions followed.
Bakugo landed to Tsutsumi's left, smoke drifting off his palms as he cracked his neck, eyes scanning the battlefield.
A second later, ice and fire surged from the opposite side. Todoroki appeared on Tsutsumi's right, frost creeping along the ground beneath his feet while flames flickered along his other side.
Their timing was impeccable.
Their entrances, unfortunately or fortunately, were very dramatic.
"You're late," Tsutsumi said lightly, glancing between them as Gang Orca slowly began to climb out of the rubble again.
"You're just faster," Bakugo replied, rolling his shoulders and glaring at the remaining fake villains, who now looked visibly hesitant.
"I don't move as recklessly as either of you," Todoroki added calmly, flames and ice intensifying as his focus shifted to the battlefield.
Gang Orca brushed dust from his shirt and straightened, eyes fixed on the three students standing together.
"…Not bad," he said. "Coming directly into the enemy's frontline. Who do you think you are, huh?"
With a subtle gesture, he signaled the fake villains to continue their operation, clearly deciding to handle these three personally.
Tsutsumi pulled out another card, holding it up briefly.
"Just a passing-through Rider," he said. "Remember that."
Bakugo and Todoroki moved at the same time, stepping forward and striking familiar stances.
"Henshin!" The word rang out in unison.
Form Ride: Decade!
Ice surged upward, completely encasing Todoroki's body.
Thick black smoke swallowed Bakugo as sharp crackling explosions echoed from within.
Around Tsutsumi, ten gray afterimages appeared simultaneously around him before collapsing inward.
Flames erupted, shattering the ice around Todoroki. Revealing him in his dark blue and navy armor, the white fur around his neck emitting cold frost.
Explosions burst outward as Bakugo waved away the smoke, his orange, dark green armor catching the light. Black smokes slowly fading off his body.
Tsutsumi's magenta clothes flared to life, and the yellow gem on his center horn glowed. His magenta coat and bandana wave behind him.
When it was over, the three stood ready. Gang Orca stared at them. So did a good number of examiners and examinees.
No one said it out loud, but the thought was shared by almost everyone watching…
Their transformation was really cool.