Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 18: New Beginnings

Izuku had spent the last week cramming non-stop for his entrance exam. He still wasn't entirely confident in his ability to pass, but he'd reached the point in his studying where he was starting to forget more than he learned, which probably meant that he should just take the exam, even if he'd inevitably fail. At least then he'd be able to move on and put his eggs in other baskets.

Mom was at work and had left that morning after giving him a kiss on the cheek and wishing him luck on his test. She had promised him Katsudon that evening as well, either as a congratulatory meal or as comfort food, it would depend on how Izuku thought he did. Izuku didn't really see the point of her going through all that trouble for him, but there was a selfish part of him that was just so happy that she cared. He wished that part didn't feel so good. It made the rest of him feel worse.

Just before noon, Izuku finally put his books to the side and went to the school's website, clicking on the tab that would take him to the entrance exam. He spent about half an hour filling out his basic information, like his name, what other schools he'd gone to, his gpa for the last year, etc, cursing the fact that his cast made it so hard to type. He could still move his fingers, but his entire arm itched and started to ache if he used it too much, so at least for the next few days, he'd be stuck chicken-pecking at the keyboard. It was annoying.

Finally, he reached the welcome screen and read through the instructions. The test itself was 200 questions, and he had three hours to complete it. Izuku glanced at the clock. It was 12:00, which meant that he had until 3:00 to finish the exam. That would mean he had just under a minute to answer each question, but that didn't count the time that he'd have to use to check over his answers at the end. Izuku took one last shaky breath before clicking the button that said: Start Exam.

The questions were deceptively easy. Izuku had assumed that he'd have to rush to complete each question in under a minute, but he was able to answer most questions almost instantly, which gave him more time on the more difficult questions, like the ones in the math section. If Izuku wasn't freaking out about the fact that his entire future depended on him doing well on this test, he'd almost say it was...fun? Was that weird? He could almost hear Kacchan telling him that he was a damn nerd.

Before he knew it, Izuku had answered every single question. He sighed in releif and looked at the clock, it was now 1:25, which meant he still had...wait a minute. Izuku felt a cold wave of anxiety wash over him. How long did he have again? Izuku knew it had a three in it, but did that mean he had three hours? Or was it one hour, thirty minutes? How long was he supposed to spend? He couldn't have finished in under half the time, so it must have just been an hour and a half, which meant that he only had...

Izuku looked over at the clock again and started freaking out. It was 1:28! He only had two minutes! He didn't have any time to look over his answers! But if he didn't look over his answers, he wouldn't have a chance to change any of his answers, which meant he had no chance of passing! Unless he really did have a full three hours, but if he didn't have a full three hours and tried to go back and check his answers, then he'd miss the deadline and fail by default! But if he didn't check his answers, then he wouldn't pass! How long did he have? Was it three hours or an hour and a half?!

Izuku glanced at the clock one last time. 1:29! It was better safe than sorry, right? Wasn't it better to get half the questions wrong than turn it in late? Izuku flailed as he scrambled to press submit, then frantically froze as he realized what he'd just done. What had he just done?! This was terrible! He hadn't even checked any of his answers!

His eyes stung as he tried to hold back his tears. It looked like Mom's katsudon was going to be a comfort meal, afterall.

Shouta curled up in the corner of the staff room at lunch and scrolled through the obituaries. He vaguely knew that he was just making things worse for himself, but he couldn't help checking every day, a sick sense of dread deep in his stomach as he desperately hoped that he wouldn't recognize any of the photos. Not that he'd ever seen Viridian without the mask, but he knew that the kid was young and had green hair. Plus, the fact that suicide would be listed as the cause of death would be a dead giveaway.