The Cat and The Ghost! Entrance Exams

Music floated through Sayuri’s head. She frowned slightly. It was a soft melody, hardly something fitting the trial she was about to endure. Not really sort of music to get her blood pumping. Sayuri stood outside U.A. High for the first time, wearing her winter middle school uniform for the last time. No parents escorted her in, though she saw a few parents wishing their kids good luck. Her mother was back in her hometown at work. Her father was back at the hotel. Sayuri had insisted going herself (mostly because she didn’t want her dad to see the look on her face if she failed miserably).

Sayuri wiped her palms, and her nerves, against her skirt. The chilling winter wind circled around her legs pulling her out of her thoughts. It wasn’t like her to be nervous. And after a few deep breaths of winter air that burned her legs the nerves gave way to excitement. U.A. High had a huge pool of applicants and only a handful got in, whatever their exam was like, it was going to be difficult and unique - because anyone with enough prep could handle something that was just hard. Sayuri popped out her earphones, stashing her smart phone in an easily accessible pouch of her gym bag. This was going to be fun.

"Mom!" Daxton whined while being hugged from his mother so tight that he was practically suffocating. His mother wore a bright yellow dress, contrasting strongly against Daxton's entirely black ensemble: black hoodie, black jeans, black converse, and black painted nails. The only color that could be found on him were his cheeks bright red with embarrassment, and bright green eyes that rolled with impatience. "I love you too mom..." He told her once he was finally released from her loving clutches. She fixed his hair for him, delivered a few more kisses to his forehead, and then finally made her exit. Daxton released a big sigh once she began to leave. His relief was brief. Despite all his protests, as much as he'd hate to admit it, the hug was comforting. The trials that were ahead of him would be anything but easy. He had only recently got a firm grasp on his abilities, but his determination to do good with them is what led him to this school. This is his chance to prove himself.
He watched his mother leave with the other parents. He spotted her in her bright clothes, still waving to him in the distance. Daxton couldn't help the small smile crept onto his face. It helped to know his parents would support him no matter what, even if he fails.
Turning toward the school and finally entering, Daxton ruffled his own hair. He had to undo whatever fixing his mother did. Once she was out of sight, of course. He then swiped his forehead to search for traces of her lipstick. Unfortunately, he found red on his fingertips. Distracted by his attempts to clean his forehead without a mirror or napkins, he bumped into Sayuri.
"Shit." He started under his breath. He cleared his throat, then tried again. "Uh, I mean, sorry."
He looked up to her, his hands palm face up clearly displayed the red on his fingers. That alone might be enough to strike concern, but he also had red smeared all over his forehead, only partially covered by his black bangs. It could look like blood, he thought to himself. With that in mind, he didn't offer an explanation, to allow the girl before him to draw her own conclusions. He simply asked, "Be honest: How bad is it?"
His voice had traces of an American accent as he spoke.

A chest bumped into Sayuri’s back, causing the girl to stumble forward. She turned and the garish red caught her attention. She blinked at Daxton. For a brief second she wondered if the American was bleeding, then she realized that blood wasn’t that garish a shade of red. That was lipstick. She snickered, as she imagined an overbearing mother trying to wish her goth son luck. “Pretty bad.” She told him honestly, her golden eyes glittering with amusement.

"How unfortunate." Daxton pouted. He needed to wash up, but finding the washroom on his own was no fun. Seeing as he got no big reaction, he was sure the girl figured out it was lipstick. He struggled to figure out what to do. He couldn't just leave, that would be embarrassing! Heaven forbid this girl spreads the word that he's loved by his family. He has a tough image to maintain! He had to do something crazy, something to distract her.
While a terrible idea formed in his mind, a devilish grin accompanied it. He suddenly swiped her nose, not to hurt her, only to leave a red streak across it.
"Looks like it's spreading!" He giggled, "Race ya to the bathroom!" He called, then took off running into the building.

Sayuri’s eyes widened in surprise as the boy rubbed his mother’s lipstick onto her face. Then she narrowed them in challenge. She didn’t think, her body just moved. In a moment she was displaced in front and to the side of Daxton, she stuck her foot out to trip him (if he didn’t catch himself or avoid her she was prepared to catch him, she didn’t want to hurt him). “Nice try.” She taunted, a grin pulling at her lips and exposing her sharp fangs. Of course, catching him aside, now she did actually need to use the restroom.

Daxton would have stumbled on her foot, having not expected her to move so quickly. Her help would have been needed, and he most definitely would have been caught by her. The goth doesn't take it too hard, though. Actually, he was laughing, having found the situation quite amusing. In trying to distract her, she had also assisted in distracting him. At this point, Daxton had forgotten about how stressed he was for the upcoming assessments. Instead, he wanted to get to know this agile feline girl he happened to bump into. Her reaction had earned his respect.  "Hah, thanks." He smiles. "I'm Daxton, Daxton Bright." He offered his hand to shake like a true American, but then, he remembered the lipstick. "Uh, maybe I should shake your hand after we wash up." He retracted his hand while chuckling sheepishly. "What's your name?" Daxton asked while he calmly walked in the direction of the bathrooms.

Sayuri caught him by the back of his jacket, before grabbing his shoulders to support more of his weight, letting go as soon as he got his feet back under him.

"Wouldn't want to get caught red handed." Sayuri agreed with a punned, not reaching for the offered hand that he then retracted, "Nekomiya Sayuri." Sayuri returned. She was assuming from his James Bond-esque introduction that his surname was 'Bright' and not 'Daxton' but it was hard to tell. Sayuri wasn't that familiar with American culture.

She followed him towards the restrooms. "Awful long way to come for school." She pointed out, curious why an American would come all the way to Japan for highschool. Sure, U.A High School had an amazingly good hero program, but there had to be good schools in American. And wouldn't someone prefer to go to school in their home country?

He nodded,  "Well, that's because I'm not just here for school." He smirked, and considered to just leave it at that cryptic answer. To add to that vibe, and to avoid being seen with all the lipstick, he put the hood of his jacket over his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He would occasionally look up at Sayuri through his bangs, but otherwise would keep his head low. "My parents just had to get out of the mean streets of the East coast. We've got family out here, on my mom's side, so this was the logical place to go. That, and it's a chance to get to know them." He explained. He paused briefly to look up and see if they are any closer to the bathrooms. He then added, a little quieter, "And a chance to get answers." You know, to add a bit of mystery. That was the intention, but he wasn't lying about it. Daxton really does have a lot of questions for his extended Japanese family.

Sayuri's tail waved playfully around her legs. "Going for the mysterious exchange student angle eh?" She teased. "Alright, if we both get in I'll keep your secret, that your a total mama's boy. For a price." She winked and pulled open the door to the restroom.

Truthfully Sayuri wasn't certain that he was messing with her, but he was laying it on thick and seemed like a prankster. So she was going with that for now.

Daxton took the opened door as an invitation for him to enter, but before he complied, he checked to make sure that the bathroom was gender-neutral. There was a chance that this girl was trying to trick him into entering the girl's bathroom by mistake. That would have been another disaster for Daxton's image. After determining it was safe, he followed her in. "Ok, I'm listening." He moved around the bathroom to see if anyone else was in there, and to his relief, they were alone. His identity was safe for the moment, so he pulled the hood off his head, and found the nearest sink. He got right to work, and scrubbed the red lipstick off his hands. Watching the red stained soapsuds run down the drain brought him temporary comfort. There was no telling what kind of deal this cat-girl was going to make. He made sure his hands were clean before he grabbed paper towels, wet them with soap and water, and began removing the lipstick from his forehead. He used the mirror as reference, occasionally glancing to Sayuri through the reflection, keeping his eye on her. As he wiped his forehead clean, he asked, "What's your price?"

Sayuri followed Daxton in and took a spot in the sink next to him, quickly getting to work washing her face clean. When he asked her what her price was, Sayuri paused. Honestly, she hadn't thought she'd get that far. She had expected him to deflect with banter. But now that she could ask for something... what was she supposed to ask for?

"Hmm? I haven't decided yet. A favor." She said, deferring the question down the line, but playing it off like she was playing coy and messing with him. Maybe she would need help on the homework? Or need him to cover for her? There was no reason to take this too seriously after all. What were the chances they both got into the school anyway?

"You got a little something-" she pointed to his face, "-right there." He didn't of course, but she wanted to see him panic a little. It was cute.

Daxton gulped when he realized he had no idea what he had gotten into. A favor? What kind of favor? It looked like he was just going to have to find out. Well, it's only if they both make it in. He may be fairly confident in his abilities, but he's also very aware that the chances of getting in are slim regardless.
When Sayuri pointed to a fake mark, he pouted, "Really!?" He turned to the mirror and started searching for it. "Ugh..." He groaned, and even thought he didn't see anything, he began scrubbing away at his face again... just to be sure.

Sayuri snickered covering her mouth and flashing fangs with her hand. "Gottacha." She said revealing her joke. She was right, Daxton was very cute when he was freaking out, despite going for that goth boy look. He'd have to get better at selling it over the winter break before high school or else no would buy it. Before he could bluster too much at Sayuri, she would interject. "Come on, we'll be late for our test."

He let out one final groan as he dried his face off one last time with a paper towel. "Yeah, alright." He looked at himself one last time in the mirror before he followed her out of the bathroom. He had to ruffle his bangs once more to dry them, since they still damp from his cleaning efforts.
As he walked through the halls, he stayed at Sayuri's side. He would look around at the other students, and no one looked familiar to him of course. The building is quite big, and there were lots of people. If he didn't have Sayuri to walk with, he'd feel quite small and alone. He hoped that his presence provided her a little comfort, too. It was scary to think that all these kids are here in competition with you and only a small percentage will get in. The odds were very low and not in their favor.
Sure, Daxton was nervous, but since the most embarrassing part was over, he seemed pretty calm. The written exam was the part he felt the most confident for. His parents spent a decent amount of time helping him study, through mini quizzes and flashcards.
It was the second half of the assessment that he was the most worried about.
When they arrived at the exam room, Daxton held the door open for Sayuri. He looked for two empty seats in the room so that they could sit together, but since they arrived a little later than the others, a majority of the seats were full.

Sayuri followed Daxton out. The hall was still filled with stranglers heading to the exam room. While Sayuri wasn't a nervous person by nature or self conscious, it felt better walking with someone she knew, even if they had just met.

Sayuri wasn't super excited for the written part. She got decent grades, and her parents had wrangled her into studying (it wasn't that Sayuri had anything against studying she was just bad at it and found it super boring). The test would be hard but Sayuri was sure she wasn't going to fail. A lot was just going to be riding on her performance in the second test, which was how Sayuri liked it anyway.  

Daxton opened the door to the exam room, which looked more like an auditorium then a classroom. A majority of the seats were full. For a moment Sayuri was taken aback by how many students there were applying. The competition was going to be fierce for the few open positions. Even though Sayuri wasn't competitive by nature and hadn't been really all that invested in getting into this school, something began to beat her in her chest: determination. Suddenly this was different from the video game tournaments she had competed in but never tried that hard. Sayuri wanted to be the last one standing and not just see how far she could go.

"We're gonna get in." She told Daxton quietly, "We're gonna get in and everyone else is going to fail, because we're awesome. And we're going to try our best and it's going to be more than enough." She smiled, not sure who the smile was for herself or Daxton, as she surveyed the competition, her golden eyes glowing with determination. "Oh spots there!" And just like that she was back to her more casual manner. She caught Daxton's sleeve to get his attention and nodded to the seats before she made her way up the stairs.

Anxiety was rising in Daxton's chest. What if he isn't good enough? Could all of his hard work and training have been for nothing? He doesn't have to be the best, but he wants to make it into this school and he wants it bad. What if he's not even good enough for that?
Then, Sayuri began to speak. Instead of looking out at the expansive building full of students, he focused on her. Her words lit a fire in him. She's right. He smiled with her, his confidence renewed.
Suddenly, he felt the sleeve of his hoodie being tugged. He looked into the direction she was nodding to, and once he found the spots as well, he picked up the pace.

Sayuri took the far of the two seats. Since she was in front there was no need to force Daxton to wiggle past her. As soon as she was seated she went about making herself comfortable. Stashing her bag at her feet, unzipping her winter coat (revealing her middle school uniform that despite being the winter uniform wasn't actually all that great at keeping out the cold), opening her bag to get her pencil bag, then storing her scarf in her bag.  

The auditorium wasn't as loud as Sayuri thought it would be. There were small patches of small talk as everyone waited for the explanation and then the written test to start. But Sayuri supposed that not a lot of people knew each other, and this wasn't the best atmosphere to start up friendships.

Daxton shuffled into the remaining empty seat. He took his bag off and held it in his lap for a moment. As he looked out at all the kids in the auditorium, he hugged his bag closer to his chest. He could just feel the nervous energy in the room. Instead of getting prepared right away, Daxton took a moment to calm down. The boy closed his eyes and bowed his head, and focused on his senses to ground himself. He started with feeling the ground beneath his feet, and the gravity of his body in the chair he sits in. Once that was well established, he moved onto smaller deatails, like the softness of the inside of his hoodie on his arms and neck, and the rough material of his backpack on his palms. He listened to the quiet chatter of the students around him. Not focusing on the words, just the gentle hum of their syllables. Grounding really helps him feel in his body, and in the moment.
Once he felt properly present, he unzipped his bag to fish out a pencil and his cellphone. Briefly, Daxton sent a couple texts, then turned his phone off completely. He stashed his phone back in his bag, then finally brought his bag to his feet. It was definitely warmer in this room, probably because of the all the body heat, so he pulled his hoodie off over his head, and draped it over his bag. Underneath his hoodie was a black t-shirt with contrasting white design of skateboarding skeletons on the front. A thin grey long sleeved shirt was beneath that, to provide extra warmth and for fashion.
He leaned his elbow on the arm of the chair closest to Sayuri, and held his head in his hand. He appeared to be bored of waiting, and drummed his pencil on the side of his chair with his other hand.

One of the test proctors appeared on the stage and began to give the rules for the test. The written part of the test was passed out, though they weren't allowed to look at it yet. Sayuri tapped her pencil against her desk. From the explanation of the physical exam, the test skewed for physical quirks. Something that worked in Sayuri's favor. The time limit wouldn't be too much of a problem for her either. She would be some what reliant on what there was in her environment. Sayuri could hardly take down a robot with just her hands and feet and they wouldn't be light enough for Sayuri to just teleport them into the air and crash them down. The only thing that struck Sayuri as odd was the set up. She expected something like plastic people to save, not a robot invasion. This was supposed to be a hero test, wasn't it? Where was the heroics? Her pencil's top clicked a little too loud against her desk and a few of her neighbors shot Sayuri a dirty look. She responded with a catish grin.

Daxton listened intently to the explanation of the physical exam. There are 4 different types of robots total, 1 is a distraction and the other 3 you have to take down for points. Was that the exact wording? No, the instructor specifically said "immobilize." Daxton noted that the wording was a particularly important distinction. If the goal was to destroy these things, clearly it would favor the students with strength based quirks. With that in mind, he realized he may actually have a shot at this. He could go into phantom form, find what makes these robots tick, and take them apart from the inside out.
On top of their written exam papers is their exam card, distributed with the papers. On them is their name, a serial number that corresponds with the number on their written exam, and their battle center assignment. There are 7 battle centers, named a letter A through G. It makes sense that they have to split everyone up. There are so many students they can't possibly test them all at once. It made Daxton wonder if splitting everyone here into 7 groups would be enough.
Daxton was assigned battle center E. On the back of the card were instructions on how to get to that battle center. From what it sounded like, they were going to the transported there via bus. That's when the actual size of the facility hit him. It makes sense. It's got to be huge if it has 7 fake cities to train in.
He couldn't help himself, and glanced at Sayuri's card to see if she got assigned the same one. They were going to have to discuss it after, because just as he was getting a good look, the instructor began announcing the start of the written exam. Daxton turned to Sayuri, flashed a smile and told her, "Good luck." just before the exam started.

Sayuri looked away from her annoyed neighbor when she heard Daxton address her. "You too!" She whispered back with a smile.

Then the exam began. Sayuri's head swam as she read over the test. She had been wrong. She should have studied a lot more. She clicked her tongue at the roof of her mouth. Big oof. Still, Sayuri read over every question, answered the ones she knew immediately and then slowly worked her way through the ones she didn't know. Some questions even answered previous questions!

But by the end of it, Sayuri's head was fuzzy and spinning.

It was go time. Once the test was opened, Daxton felt focused and confident. That confidence lasted for about a few seconds until he read the first question. He didn't know the answer right away, and that startled him. With all he prepared, this test should be a breeze, but that wasn't the case. At least, not at first. He calmed himself down though, and eventually figured it out. After the first few questions, he started to get a bit more comfortable. He just had to get back into the swing of things.
He got to the end of the test with some time to spare. He had to thank his parents for that. Often, he would recall their study sessions for the answers. With the extra time, he flipped back through the exam and revisited the questions he struggled the most with.
Time was called just as he was finishing up revising one last question. Soon after, the tests were passed to the front and collected by instructors. Then, the students were dismissed for a brief break. This was to give the students time to change into exercise clothes if they wanted, freshen up, and find the meeting place for their battle center.  

Daxton immediately stood up and stretched once they were dismissed. He grabbed his hoodie and draped it over his arm as he began to gather his things to leave. Then, he remembered, "Hey, uh, Sayuri-- what battle center are you headed to after this? I was assigned to battle center E." He asked as he grabbed his backpack from off the floor. There wasn't any need to put it on right away. A traffic jam seemed to have formed at the door since everyone tried to leave at once.