My Swarm Academia: Call Of The Void

Ayako pushed Kai forwards.

"Come on, Nii-san, let's go in! There will be plenty of time to admire the buildings from within when we get in here!"

Kai let her press him forwards. There was already a decent crowd gathering in front of the gates. People of many shapes and colors. Hairs of all colors of the rainbow, and some, like Kai, who had something else other than hair. From what he could see, that included vines, feathers, a manga speech bubble, and just plain baldness. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out if that last one was part of their power, or they just liked being bald. There was no way a fifteen-year-old had gone bald naturally without it being their Quirk, right? And what kind of Quirk makes you bald anyways? Maybe they took great strength from baldness.

That, or an intense exercise regimen made them so.

With that thought, Kai yawned. He had woken up early for that precise reason. The nature of his Quirk made it less necessary, but between his body being his main weak point and research amounting to "healthy body, healthy mind," it was better to be prepared.

"Non, non, non, mon ami," came a voice from the side. Fluently speaking, but frankly, a clear Japanese accent. Turning to look, Kai held back his instinctive cringe. For a brief moment, looking at the face winking at him amiably, he wasn't sure if he was looking at a boy or a girl. Even an initial glance at the clothes attached, namely a white shirt with a flowing, old European style collar, a strange, shining belt, and black pants, didn't clear things up. And was there glitter? Luckily, they had spoken, and was clearly a boy.

"You can't be so tired right before a test! It would be a shame if you couldn't participate due to a nap, right," he continued.

"… right," Kai said in a way that tried to cut off the conversation. Frankly, he was confused by this guy. He was trying hard to put "sparkle" into every bit of his action.

Ayako slapped his shoulder. "Wasn't that a bit rude? He's just being nice. Some people would wish any kind of curse on you if that takes you out of the competition to get into UA's Hero Program," she scolded. Turning around, she introduced herself to the strange boy. "This is my brother, Kai, and I'm Ayako Inukai. And you are…"

For a moment, he was stunned, fascinated by Ayako's looks. He looked into her eyes for a moment before regaining his composure, sparkles and all. Regretting he had no flower to pull out, flourish, and present to her, he introduced himself.

"Yuga Aoyama, mademoiselle. So nice to meet you!"

"Are you nervous about the test?"

"Non, non! I will dazzle everyone with my Quirk!"

"Really? So, what do you do?"

Kai smiled as the two engaged in conversation. Ayako's Quirk and personality made it easy for her to become friends with almost anyone.

Her Quirk was named "Life Connection." Her mom and dad had Quirks that were, respectively, healing by touch and sensing life. They were heroes that mostly dealt with Search and Rescue. Ayako's Quirk was in between, but mostly she took after her dad as a sensory Quirk user.

As far as it is relevant to the conversation that was starting with the friendly French (?) boy, her sense of bioenergy was quite s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e. As a side effect, she was a natural empath, sensing peoples' emotions through qualities of their bioenergy. It was hard to describe, as it was a sense separate from the five traditional, but it could be compared to colors and textures combined. So, she had a keen sense for good people.

Yuga Aoyama seemed to be one of those people. Listening to his side of the conversation, it seemed that he was confident in his "Navel Laser" Quirk. Hearing that, Kai nodded, slightly impressed. Depending on the output of the laser, he could be solidly in the middle of Weapon rank Quirks. Which, it probably was, if he was so confident he would become the "Twinkling Hero."

Kai begrudgingly warmed up to the guy. His personality was a little too bright for him, but if Ayako was talking with him so much, and he was so powerful, he couldn't be a bad guy. In fact, would be a good guy to have join the ranks of heroes, if a bit of a strange one.

Then again, it wasn't like there was a shortage of strange people in the Pro Hero profession. The guidance counselor at UA, according to Kai's research on the internet before, was Hound Dog, who frequently was reduced to communication through dog barks, growls, and sign language due to side effects of his Quirk.

Sometimes, he really had to marvel at how strange the world was.

Ayako and Yuga went on talking as the crowd slowly pushed onto UA grounds. Kai spoke once in a while, especially when Ayako made efforts to get him to talk, but mostly just listened. Just as Ayako got Yuga to talk about his parents and his life at home, unraveling the mystery that was his use of French (but not the greater mystery of his personality) the three of them had reached the doors of the main building. With the tests hanging over them so closely, all three quieted down as they prepared mentally.

As they walked through the doors, they heard a burst of laughter. Turning around to find the source, they all saw a boy with green hair floating horizontally above the ground. Clearly, he had tripped and almost fallen onto his face, but he was saved by a girl with short brown hair. The three smiled. While it was a little unfortunate for him, it seemed that he had made a friend, and his situation had lightened their mood.

After a brief check in at a desk just inside, the three separated to different rooms for the written portion.

The entrance exam had officially begun.