Arthur wasn't exactly sure he'd make it into U.A.
Honestly, he had zero confidence in his written exam score.
But then again, thinking about how Izuku Midoriya did in the original story, U.A. seemed to care a lot more about practical combat than test scores anyway.
After the four of them walked out of the school gate together, Shoto Todoroki turned and headed home without saying a word.
"Arthur-kun! Yaoyorozu! Let's meet again in ten months! By then, I'll be even stronger!!!"
Inasa shouted at the top of his lungs.
Arthur picked at his ear.
This guy was seriously annoying.
But he didn't seem to have any intention of leaving just yet.
Arthur remembered that in the original story, this guy had actually given up his U.A. admission spot because he couldn't stand Shoto Todoroki.
If it were him, he would never do something that stupid.
If he hated Todoroki, he would just beat him until he dropped out.
Momo Yaoyorozu pressed her lips together, just about to say goodbye to Arthur, when a voice suddenly called out from behind them.
"Yo, young man, Arthur??"
Momo turned around and saw a thin man in a gold-striped suit running toward them, looking like he might collapse at any second, something in his hand.
It was All Might in his skinny form.
Only Momo didn't recognize him.
"Here, these are All Might's signed photos."
All Might handed Arthur the two autographed photos they had agreed on earlier, then gave him a sheet of paper.
"Hero costume design sheet?"
Arthur glanced at the form and subconsciously read the big title at the top.
All Might explained, "Everyone has to turn in their Quirk report and requirements sheet before enrollment, right? It's so the school can prepare battle costumes for the new students. The staff checked, and you haven't submitted yours yet."
"Oh?"
Arthur raised one eyebrow, then smirked. "You're making it sound like I'm guaranteed to pass."
All Might let out a dry chuckle. "Well, with your first-place physical test result, your admission is pretty much locked in."
Then he waved a hand and turned to leave.
"Anyway, I hope to see you at U.A. in the future."
With that, All Might in his skinny form hurried back toward the teaching building.
Momo blinked and thought to herself, So frail... Is that guy also a teacher at U.A.?
Then she looked at the costume request form and All Might's signed photos in Arthur's hand, and smiled a little.
"Arthur-kun, I didn't know you liked All Might too?"
A fan follows their idol, right?
Since he admired a hero like All Might, he probably wanted to become someone like him too.
Arthur grinned.
He couldn't exactly say that he was only giving them as compensation because he had taken the girls' first times, could he?
After saying goodbye to Momo Yaoyorozu, Arthur called Haruko and Saori over and handed them All Might's signed photos.
The result was another very satisfying night, and it completely wiped out the irritation he had felt from the boring exam earlier that day.
Arthur's only living relative in this world, his maternal grandfather, had also been a hero.
Even though he had passed away, Arthur still received the hero subsidy he had left behind.
The monthly money was enough for him to get by.
But for Arthur, who loved enjoying life, it was nowhere near enough.
That was why he had gone after the robber who had stolen from Yaoyorozu Bank before.
On one hand, he wanted to test how powerful his Stand really was.
On the other hand, he wanted that ten million yen.
"Hero costume?"
A week passed.
In Arthur's home, which wasn't exactly run-down, just pretty ordinary, he looked at the hero costume request form All Might had given him and fell into a short silence.
The first thing that came to mind was naturally Dio's outfit.
But after thinking about it for a second, he ruled it out.
He really couldn't pull off that ridiculous open-crotch, flashy bodysuit look.
He didn't mind showing off in front of women he was close with, but in public? Yeah, no.
After thinking it over for a while, Arthur filled out his Quirk and hero costume requirements, then stood up and got ready to head to U.A. to hand in the form.
It was already afternoon, and he had trained way too long last night.
Arthur walked down the street at an easy pace. The sky was already starting to dim.
In less than half an hour, it would be night.
He had chosen to walk on purpose, mostly to see if he would run into another idiot like the one who robbed Yaoyorozu Bank earlier.
If he got lucky, he could deal with them before the police or heroes showed up, and maybe even pull off a nice little double-cross.
"Ugh...!!"
Just as Arthur passed a dark alley, he suddenly heard a weak cry of pain from inside.
Arthur stopped without thinking.
Could he be running into her again?
Then he realized the voice sounded kind of familiar.
"Hee hee hee? Little sister, your skin is so smooth. The blood that comes out after I cut you open is gonna be gorgeous, right?"
"Mmm! Mmm mm!"
The voice of pain came again, as if the girl was trying to say something.
But something seemed to be blocking her throat, so she couldn't get the words out clearly, even though she was clearly begging for help.
This time, Arthur was completely sure whose voice it was.
In the dim alley, the broken streetlamp on the wall kept flickering on and off.
Soft giggling drifted through the darkness again and again.
Under the weak light, a girl in a school uniform with blonde hair tied into buns was pinning down another girl in a fancy girls' school uniform with a sexy figure.
The scene was weirdly easy to misunderstand.
But the first thing to notice was that the blonde girl's hand around the other girl's throat was not exactly gentle, and the dagger in her other hand was slowly moving toward the black-haired girl's cheek.
Momo Yaoyorozu clenched her teeth and struggled hard to break free.
But both of her hands had been twisted and badly sprained during the earlier struggle.
Now she was still being held down, her throat locked in place, unable to call for help.
Was she really going to die here?
"Hey, hey. My name's Toga Himiko, little sister. What's your name? I really want to get to know you~"
With a creepy smile on her face, the blonde girl leaned her cheek closer to Yaoyorozu's.
At the same time, the dagger in her hand kept inching closer.
Then, the next second, Toga Himiko's expression shifted slightly, and she suddenly got off Yaoyorozu and jumped back two steps.
Freed from her restraint, Yaoyorozu froze for a second, completely caught off guard by the sudden change.
Following Toga Himiko's gaze, she looked to her right.
At the entrance of the dark alley, a tall figure had appeared at some point.
His back was slightly arched, his feet set apart, and his hands were pointed toward her as he let out a mocking laugh.
"yo Momo, are you playing some kind of kinky game?"
"Arthur-kun!?"
Yaoyorozu stared at Arthur Pendragon in shock.
At that moment, Toga Himiko's delicate face once again broke into a twisted smile, and for some reason, this time there was even a faint blush on it.
"So... such a familiar aura! Big brother!"
"Hey, hey, I don't know why, but I feel the same kind of aura from you, big brother. I really want to kill you and watch your blood spill out, then watch you lie there dead on the ground. Can I?"
Insane, right?
Anyone hearing that would probably think the same thing first.
But in response, Arthur Pendragon clasped his hands with interest and nodded like this was perfectly normal.
"Sure?"
"Really? I'm so happy!"
Toga Himiko looked like a little girl whose confession had just been accepted. She rushed straight toward Arthur Pendragon.
Dagger still in hand.
In less than three seconds, the blade was aimed right at Arthur Pendragon's heart.
Swish!
Before either girl could react, it all happened way too fast.
Yaoyorozu barely had time to blink before the scene seemed to flash by.
Then she saw that Arthur Pendragon had already reached out and grabbed Toga Himiko by the neck.
Using the height difference of nearly 30 cm, he lifted her off the ground and slammed her against the wall.
"Even if she's from the League of Villains, this level isn't enough to make the 'world' evolve."
Arthur Pendragon muttered words that neither girl understood, and his grip slowly tightened.
The crushing pressure around her throat made Toga Himiko's dagger slip from her hand and fall to the ground.
"Cough, cough, cough! So, so strong!"
Even while struggling to breathe, Toga Himiko's face somehow lit up with an almost happy expression.
"Big brother is totally different from the people I've killed before!"
The moment she finished the last word, Toga Himiko's other hand suddenly reached behind her.
Another dagger appeared and stabbed toward Arthur Pendragon's arm, the one holding her up.
Swish!
This time, Toga Himiko didn't even see it clearly before her dagger shattered instantly into pieces.
Only Yaoyorozu, who had seen Arthur Pendragon's Quirk in action before, exclaimed in shock.
"Was that...his stand?"
It had only been a week, so why did Arthur Pendragon seem even stronger than he had during the special admissions exam?
"Yep. Big brother really is different from everyone else!"
Toga Himiko's eyes shone.
Her voice was a little distorted because her throat was being squeezed, but it didn't stop the madness in her expression.
"I think I've fallen in love with you, big brother. So, can I kill you?"
Looking at her eyes, she was clearly not joking. She really meant it from the bottom of her heart.
Including the first half of the sentence.
"Sounds interesting..."
Arthur suddenly smiled, then flung Toga Himiko straight toward the entrance of the dark alley.
"Huh? Big brother, you're not going to kill me?"
Toga Himiko looked at him in surprise.
She didn't seem happy at all that her life had been spared.
"What good would killing you do for me?"
"Eh~ Big brother is so weird. But next time, I'll definitely try my best to kill you!"
Toga Himiko lifted her right hand high, waved it a few times, then quickly melted into the crowd and disappeared.
"Arthur-kun, why..."
Yaoyorozu, still injured and unable to stand properly, struggled to prop herself up and was just about to ask why Arthur had let her go.
Then heavy footsteps came from both ends of the alley.
In an instant, more than a dozen police officers had surrounded the place from the front and the back.
The person leading them was none other than Inspector Naomasa Tsukauchi, the same police officer who had met Arthur Pendragon and Yaoyorozu during the bank robbery incident before.
"Because I don't want to hand the police any credit."
Arthur said quietly, in a voice so low that Momo Yaoyorozu could barely hear it.
...
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GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.