MHA: Animari

It's the day of the entrance exam. Malik is still in bed when his alarm clock goes off, the shrill sound cutting through his sleep.

He groggily reaches out and swats at it, but his hand misses, sending the clock flying across the room. When it hits the ground, it begins to transform.

Its metal parts turn into a small, spiky creature that scurries towards Malik's cheek.

The creature jumps, landing with a soft thud on his face, causing Malik to groan and blink his eyes open. "Ugh… seriously?" He tries to ignore it, thinking the alarm's off, but the tiny monster starts hopping up and down, its little feet tickling his skin.

Malik's eyes widen in realization as the time on his phone flashes in front of him. "Crap, I'm late!"

Panicking, he jumps out of bed, grabs his toothbrush and quickly brushes his teeth. In a rush, he splashes some cologne on and dashes his clothes, not caring much about how he looks as long as he gets there on time. His quirk is his best friend for moments like this, and he uses it to speed up his routine, his hand brushing against various objects on his way to the door.

Malik races down the stairs, his feet pounding against the floor as he grabs his bag, barely managing to catch his breath. He dashes out of the door and heads straight for the underground train station. His heart is racing.

As he gets to the platform, he sees the train doors begin to close. Without a second thought, he leaps toward the gap, landing awkwardly but somehow on the train floor, sliding a little as he hits the ground.

"Damn, that was close," Malik mutters to himself as he stands up, brushing himself off, feeling his adrenaline surge through him. He spots an open spot and leans against the wall, waiting for his stop.

The ride feels like it takes forever, but eventually, the train slows, and Malik makes his way to his destination. As he steps off the train, he has to navigate the crowded streets of the city. Everyone seems to be in a rush—people heading to work, students in uniforms, and various others scattered in the busy morning traffic. Malik pushes through the crowd, his pace unrelenting as he heads toward the school building.

He finally arrives at the school, panting for breath. Once inside, he spots a bench and takes the opportunity to sit down, putting his book bag on the ground beside him. He leans back, allowing himself a brief break as he catches his breath.

From where he sits, he watches the other students filter into the campus. Some look nervous, their faces pale with anticipation, while others are smiling, clearly confident in what's to come. But it's one boy that catches Malik's attention.

A blonde-haired student is yelling at a green-haired boy, practically screaming in his face.

"Fuck off, Deku!! Don't stand in my way, or do you wanna fucking die?!!"

'Aggressive much...' Malik thinks as he watches.

The green-haired boy looks nervous but doesn't seem to fight back. When the argument dies down, the blonde-haired boy walks away, leaving the other boy standing there alone.

Malik watches for a moment longer. "They're wearing the same uniform as me," Malik thinks, a small smirk tugging at his lips.

'They're probably the ones Mr. Sota was talking about.'

Malik gets up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. The blonde-haired boy's angry expression made Malik laugh.

As the time to start the exam nears, Malik walks into the auditorium where all the applicants are gathering. His eyes scan the sea of faces, and he quickly finds his name on one of the seating charts.

He checks the names of the students next to him, noting that the seating arrangement is based on schools. The room starts to fill up even more, and soon enough, the blonde-haired and green-haired boys walk in and sit down near him.

The one with the blonde hair--Bakugo, according to his name tag--plops down with a scowl on his face, while the other Midoriya, seems a bit more reserved, his hands shaking slightly.

Malik watches them for a moment, but his attention is quickly pulled back as the rest of the students find their seats.

The teacher enters. It's Present Mic, the famous pro hero, and the room goes quiet for a moment before he starts speaking in his signature loud, energetic voice.

Midoriya's nervous chatter starts to grate on Maliks nerves.

"Shut up."

"Shut it."

Malik and Bakugo say at the same time making both of them look at each other for a split second.

Malik leans back in his seat; he tunes back into the teacher's instructions, his focus sharp.

"Now pay close attention, listeners! We'll be testing your mettle by running a ten-minute practice run at our replica city district! You can take whatever you like! Everybody gathers at the designated meeting area after the presentation, ya dig?!" Present Mic yells.

"They don't intend on letting friends or classmates cooperate, huh?" Bakugo mutters.

"They give us serial numbers for the exam, but it seems the actual meeting areas are elsewhere," Midoriya says shakily.

"Don't look at me, or I'll fucking kill you. It's probably set up so I don't get to crush you." Bakugo clicks his teeth.

"What a hot head," Malik says.

Bakugo quickly looks towards him, clearly angry, "Huh?!"

"Oh, you heard that?" Malik laughed.

"Who do you-?!" Bakugo starts before Present Mic interrupts by speaking even louder.

"We'll be sprinkling a large number of 'villains' over the battlefield. And they'll appear in three different varieties, with point values scaled according to difficulty!! Using each of your individual quirks dispatch as many 'villains' as you can.

Your goal, listeners is to rack up a high score! And don't think about directly attacking other competitors or any of that nasty anti-hero stuff, because that's against the rules Capisce?!"

"Excuse me, may I ask a question?!" A boy with glasses raises his hands, making Malik look behind him to see what he's gonna say.

"On the hand-out, there are four types of villains listed! Such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of U.A.'s caliber!! The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes!!"

Malik listens to the boy whistling, "What a nerd..." He mutters.

"Moreover, what's with you three!! Yeah, you, curly hair, blonde boy, and Mr. cocky!" The boy points at the three in front of him point at Midoriya, Bakugo, and Malik.

"Can't you sit still for a second... you're distracting!! And you two won't be quiet! If you think the U.A. is some pleasure jaunt, then leave this place at once.

Malik, who's been leaning back in his chair, glances over at the boy, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, nice, the one-man lecture club," he muttered, loud enough for the guy to hear. "Guess he's got it all figured out--what a waste of energy. If you're gonna give a speech, at least make it entertaining."

"Wha-?!" The boy voiced.

He shot a quick, amused look at Midoriya and Bakugo before leaning more back in his seat, acting as if the whole thing was just another minor annoyance. "Seriously, if U.A. is a 'pleasure jaunt,' then I must've missed the memo," Malik continued laughing. "But hey, whatever makes you feel important." He shrugged.

"I never said that?!" Malik watched the boy get flustered, glaring at him, clearly not amused, but Malik didn't care. His tone remained relaxed, a sharp contrast to the tension in the air. Whatever this guy's issue was, Malik wasn't going to let it ruin his focus for the exam.

Malik looked over to the left of him seeing Midoriya shrink into his seat, while Bakugo couldn't hide his smile from showing, obviously amused by what Malik had said.

"Okay, ookay thanks for the segue, much appreciated, Examinee 7111! The fourth type of villain you'll encounter is worth zero points! Let's call them 'Arena Traps'! Have any of you ever played 'Super Mario Brothers' before?!" Present Mic exclaimed.