Chapter Text
Mina sat outside the door of Izukus exam room with a frown. She watched as nyx paced back and forth in wait for her owner, and couldn’t help but compare herself with the anxious cat. Izuku was in there all alone! With two people who wouldn’t understand his… prickly exterior.
She knew for a fact Ikun wouldn’t be respectful to the two non-mutant teachers observing his demonstration. He was going to be so mad. Like, she couldn’t even count the amount of times she had needed to force Izuku into the kitchen at the cafe! As long as someone with minor or no visual mutations came in, it was Mina doing the customer service.
She had needed to start that after she got complaints about hissing and glaring.
She couldn’t blame him, really! She understood why he would feel so guarded! But… To her, it just felt like he was angry. He wasn’t trying to avenge his old self, he wasn’t trying to make them feel a certain way about mutants, he just hated them. He had such a strong resentment for people with no mutations and people who hadn’t worked for their places. Even the nicest people got caught up in his anger.
She just knew he was going to get himself into some sort of trouble.
So she sat, and she stared down into her hands. If Izuku was so hostile, so angry, what did that make her?
She didn’t want to accept what she knew was the truth. She was a coward.
Had she been in that room, alone in front of two people with such regular quirks, she would be scared shitless. She would fall into her energetic and extroverted facade, she would laugh and spin, throw around her hands and cheer…
And it would be so hard not to fall down crying.
She wished she were like him. Maybe if she had that anger in her she wouldn’t need to hide every feeling she felt. She could have an outlet. She wouldn't be so stressed.
She wouldn’t still be so scared of them.
Just as Mina began to tear up, Izuku threw open the door. Nyx mewed with delight and jumped up onto his shoulder, purring and rubbing her head against his cheek. She seemed unbothered by the whole ‘if someone even looks at me wrong, I’ll kill them’ look that he was wearing.
“Mina, come on. We’re going to your exam.” Mina furrowed her eyebrows. She was right. She hated that she was right.
She didn’t bother to ask how his practical had gone. He didn’t seem like he was in the mood for a conversation. She decided to ask him later, after she had finished her own exam.
She tread closely behind him, actually grateful for his angry stance in the moment. He shot away any stolen glances or hushed whispers with a glare and a hiss in an instant.
No one was looking at her.
But they were looking at him.
She could never get what she wanted just right, could she?
“Hey, Ikun.” Mina placed a hand on his free shoulder and watched his fur stand on end. “I won’t let them look down on you.”
Izuku seemed to melt. His stance relaxed and he leaned back into Mina.
“If you promise.”
She smiled.
“I’ll kick their asses, Ikun.” She grinned and flexed an arm when he turned to her.
“Pfft-” He pushed her hand off his shoulder with a laugh. “Well, better pass your exam first before going all protective big sis on me.”
“HA! You admit it, I AM your big sister!”
Izuku paled and he waved his hand in denial.
“WAIT! No, no, I- Michan I’m still older than you!”
Mina stuck out her tongue. Quickly realizing her mistake, she bolted towards the gymnasium to learn what the exam would be. Didn’t stop her from hearing Izuku yell out to her, though.
“JUST YOU WAIT! YOU’RE GOING TO BE FINDING MICE FOR DAYS! ”
Aw, damn it…
Maybe if she passes, he’ll go easy on her?
No, she knows he won’t go easy on her.
“ What’s up UA Candidates, thanks for tuning in! Come on and let me hear you say HEY!!”
Mina was surprised by the silence in the room. At first, she considered calling back to the man to make him feel better, but quickly discarded that plan after realizing two points. One, everyone would look at her, and two, she saw the girl in front of her grasping at her ears. She seemed to have a bat mutation, so the loud yelling was probably torture for her…
“Keeping it mellow, huh?” the girl flinched and Minas frown deepened.
“Hey… do you want help moving to the back of the room, so you’re farther from the noise..?” Mina whispered and moved her hand in front of the girl, so she could see the question was directed at her.
The girl turned to her with wide eyes.
“ That's fine!”
Until the sound made her squeeze them shut.
“Um… yes, please… if that’s okay with you…” Mina nodded and grabbed her hand, leading her back and quietly apologizing to the people she pushed past.
“I’ll skip straight to the main show!” Mina grimaced as the hand she was holding squeezed tightly. She knew that it wasn’t UAs fault, that they couldn’t be accommodating to everyone but this girl looked like she was in so much pain. “ Now, pay attention listeners!”
Safely in the back behind everyone, Mina spent the rest of Present Mics' explanation half listening and half covering the girls ears and whispering bits of his speech to her.
She was so glad Izuku wasn’t there. She would love it if he became a hero with her, don’t get her wrong! But he would probably yell at Present Mic, or annoy other examinees trying to help the girl.
Or the yelling would be awful for him, too…
Once the teacher was done with his spiel, some dude speaks up.
Mina raises an eyebrow at the boy as he digs into UA for a ‘mistake.’ What a dummy. Obviously they would tell them if there was something they meant to say.
Mina finished translating to the girl and let go of her hand.
“Thank you…” The girl whispered with a light smile. Mina grinned.
“It’s what any hero would do.” She nodded and turned to go to her exam grounds.
The walk was … less than ideal, being jostled around by others rushing to their destination.
“‘S not like you get a reward for being there first…” She mumbles to herself. She’s noticed lately she’s picked that habit up from Izuku.
She shakes her head. No need to pick up his resentment with the habit. She loves him, but she doesn’t need that negativity. All it’ll do is add to their whispers.
Mina stood with the others, waiting for the go ahead to start getting points. She had a plan that she and Izuku had carefully crafted, and went over it in her head.
There was no way the exam was all about defeating fake villains. So Mina's goal was to protect as many fellow examinees as she could, while still gaining points in the meantime. Her quirk alone was so much more suited to the offensive, so even if the rescues did nothing for her score, they gave her practice in a field she wasn’t as comfortable in.
“GO!” Mina didn’t wait for anything else. As the people around her stood and looked at each other, seemingly confused, she rushed forwards.
“COME ON, LISTENERS! THERE'S NO COUNTDOWNS IN HEROICS!” The rest of the kids rushed forwards in turn.
As Mina ran, she prepared herself to make sure she was at peak performance. She kicked off her shoes and switched from running to sliding on acid that began to pour from her skin. She skated, collecting acid in her palms and holding them together.
Mina grinned. What was she thinking before? All of the doubt she had felt like it was leaving her in floods! She loved it. Using her quirk to its full potential felt so freeing! She slid up behind a two pointer that was cornering a boy.
She threw apart her hands with a laugh before leaping forwards and pushing them against the back of the robot. She tightly shut her eyes when the bot began to turn, but pushed more acid through anyway.
The robot sputtered and fell to the floor. She opened up an eye, and saw the hole that was growing on the robot.
“Watch your back! Sorry for the steal, but try not to get cornered again, kay?” Mina didn’t even see if the boy was a mutant like her or Izuku. For once, she didn’t care. It wasn’t so scary when she was fighting.
She gives him a wink and a peace sign. Act the part you want, eh?
She spun on her acid and laughed. This was so fun! The more bots she took down, the more she found herself falling into a routine.
She would sneak up behind a villain, open up her hands, and place them on the bot's neck or back in an attempt to find their control panels or wiring. Then, she would finish off what the acid that had been collecting between villains started, either by creating some more acid, or stuffing her hand in and yanking at the wires.
As she skated around, she found people who were cornered or injured and took out the villains targeting them. After a while, she lost track of her points and she frowned.
“Ah, shit. How many points is a lot? How many do I even have?” Mina shook her head. She had been having too much fun. Can’t get distracted now.
She wishes she had her blasters, but she’s having the time of her life coming up with new, natural ways to use her acid.
Mina heard the Zero Pointer take its first step. Only ten minutes, already? She had to spin on one foot to turn fast enough, and she watched as it rose.
“Holy shit.” She heard a girl behind her take a step back and suddenly she felt it again. She had to move. If she wasn’t moving, wasn’t fighting and getting points, she was just some freaky looking creep with a villainous quirk, wasn’t she?
Mina decided right then and there what she was going to do. She already had at least thirty points, and from what she saw she was so sure that was enough, so there wasn’t much risk, right?
Mina skated at full speed towards the Zero Pointer. There were sure to be examinees stuck in its path, or trapped in the debris it left behind. She could help them!
When she got close enough, she saw a boy with spiky blonde hair trapped with a leg under a large piece of concrete. She moved closer and began to pour acid onto the rock.
“OI! What the fuck are you even doing, hah!?” The boy let explosions pop from his hands when Mina had begun to melt the rock.
“Ah! No, please don’t do that! My acid is explosive, so it would be bad if you-” Another explosion went off close to her face. She cringes. What kind of idiot just starts slinging glorified bomb hands? Well, she can’t blame him, he’s afraid-
“I don’t need your fuckin’ help, you damn extra! Beat it!” Mina’s face fell. “I ‘specially don’t need anythin’ from some alien looking raccoon eyes!”
Raccoon eyes? Alien? Did he just…
Not again. She was doing so well. No one had said anything, let alone… that.
Then some times at the table with Izuku came back to her.
“Yeah, I used to know a guy who thought he was better than everyone. Called anyone that wasn’t him an extra…”
“Remember that guy with the superiority complex? He used to nickname people after their traits like that dude in the show.”
“Explosions would be such a useful quirk… if only… ah, whatever.”
“Best Jeanists hair reminds me of someone I knew before. His hair was more… spiky.”
“If he shows up, punch him in the face for me.”
Mina was almost sure.
“Hey, spike face.” The boy looked like he was about to kill her. “Do you know anyone named Izuku?”
“HAH? HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME, EXTRA!?” And then he looked panicked. He looked confused. He looked excited. Gross.
“Thanks for the confirmation, blasty!” Mina smiled wide. Not a happy, idol worthy smile like she had when dancing around destroying robots. A sickly sweet promise.
She coated her fist in acid, trying to lower the corrosivity. Her and Izuku had practiced controlling how potent her acid was…
And she punched him hard.
Before he could react, she finished melting the stone on his leg and slid away as fast as she could. She was still trying to be a hero, of course.
Ugh, that walking bomb took up way too much of her time. She had what, five minutes left?
She tried to forget the encounter by helping out as many people as possible until the time ended.
“Come on, let’s get you to Recovery Girl.” Mina held a boy's arm draped around her shoulder and winced when she caught sight of his leg. The Zero Pointer had knocked a large piece of concrete onto it, slicing a large gash in the skin. According to the boy, his quirk had to do with wind channeling through his legs, so after he had been cut he was basically done for.
Mina led him in silence to the exit of their zone. They were told Recovery Girl would be waiting to help any injured examinees, so she hoped she wouldn’t need to stay with the boy for long.
Of course, it was nothing against him! But she had kind of outed her connection to Izuku to a guy from his old life, and she was pretty sure she needed to find him and get the fuck out of UA.
Also, she had punched a guy in the face during a test heavily monitored by pro heroes.
Izuku was either going to kill her or hug her so tight, and she wasn’t sure which would be worse.
She smiles. She hopes its both.