Chapter Text
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Honor, superiority, prestige. The Kanji that made up your first name felt further away than ever as you stood in front of the nation's top hero academy. The massive glass building of the acclaimed U.A. Academy reflected the blue sky above, and you looked up as a gentle breeze fluttered your hair. The shadows cast by overhead clouds passed over you and onto your brother's car, the shade bringing you out of your thoughts.
Inside sat Atomu, the younger of your older brothers, glancing up at you over the rim of his sunglasses. His shoulders hunched as he craned his dark head of hair out the open window. A pair of royal blue eyes glanced between you and the academy, trying to find what you looked at before quirking an eyebrow.
"What is it? Are you nervous? Want the rest of my Caf-Pow?" he asked, holding up the massive convenience store drink. You already knew some vile concoction was in the styrofoam cup, so you shook your head without averting your gaze from the building.
Deep in your core, you felt a weight forming, pulling you down with a ball of unease. A strange ringing had begun in the back of your head, too, making your anxiety worse than it had been in years.
“… I feel uncomfortable in my own skin.” You quietly said, talking to yourself despite answering his question. Wiping the apprehensive look from your face, you willed your nerves to calm. Starting your journey at the academy like this felt like bad luck.
Watching as hordes of other teenagers marched across the pavement, you held back a sigh as you turned back to him and gave a small smile.
"No, my heart's racing enough on its own." You added, answering Atomu’s other questions directly.
He kept your gaze for a moment before returning your smile, easing the drink back into the car. "I figured. Hey, you're gonna kill it. Just remember everything we learned at the temple and with Dad, you'll be fine. You should be worried about embarrassing the rest of these shmucks with how good your scores are gonna be."
The breeze picked up, and your hair came alive, the ends of it tickling your skin. Your hand came up to gently hold it out of your face, your smile widening.
"Thanks, Mu," you said, using your brother's childhood nickname. “I’ll text you when I finish the practical exam.”
He threw a thumb up and smiled wider, then watched you join the masses before peeling out of the drop-off line.
-
Roughly three hours later, you stood and quietly wiped your palms on the fabric of your academy-issued pants. The timer for the written portion of the entrance exam had finally zeroed out, signaling the end of the standardized test portion, and the proctors had just finished going around collecting them all. As the hundreds of kids began filing out in the direction ordered by said proctors, you joined them.
Thankfully, you felt good about this portion of the test, all things considered. Your memory had always been decent, and you'd never had difficulty taking standardized tests. The relief at the continued academic trend was short-lived, however, for now, you had to move on to the practical test.
Other teenagers shuffled around you, and you debated over whether or not to start a conversation with someone. Half of you wanted to keep to yourself and focus on the exam, but the other half felt like this would be your golden opportunity to talk with someone who might be in your class, if you made it in. A gentle shake of your head reminded you not to think like that, replacing the internal "if" with a "when" to try and manifest your success.
The part of you that wanted to stay quiet won the debate when a particularly nervous contestant upchucked his lunch a few feet away from you.
Giving him a wide berth, you instead observed the other applicants present. Looking around, there were more teenagers in one room than you'd seen together in your entire life, but only a handful of the applicants stood out to you. The ones that stood out the most were the people with interesting mutations, your own midnight black tail flicking quietly behind you at the sight of them. Some kids had horns, others had uniquely-colored skin, and there were even a few with large wings, of which you were a little envious.
Your tail curled tightly around your left leg, the appendage not wanting to be stepped on or crushed between anyone else. The attention you spent on keeping your balance and people watching was redirected when the shuffling mass of contestants stopped. Lifting your gaze, you felt your eyebrows lift at the room you’d been herded into.
Everyone stood before a massive set of doors that led into the practical exam room. A proctor began announcing the rules for the second half of the exam, and when they finished, you waited for them to start the countdown. You lamented at the lack of a break between test sections, but since this was U.A. Academy, you weren't surprised.
More than a few of the students who were near you already looked exhausted, and the faint smell of sweat was almost all your nose could smell. Allowing yourself to glance around again, you noticed that there were a surprising number of kids who didn't seem athletically inclined at all, much less professionally trained, and it brought a confused quirk to your brow.
U.A. wasn’t limited to being the best in hero training and supportive hero work. The academy was also known for its regular academic majors, rather than solely for its heroics department. You knew that, but regardless of what major any of you were trying to enroll in, the practical was required.
Back at home, you had assumed everyone applying would at least prepare for it with some kind of quirk training, or even just physical training in any capacity. Yet you could easily spot a few dozen kids who were scrawny and timid-looking.
On the same coin, you supposed that some of the applicants might be confident enough in their academics to carry them all the way to admission, and you hoped that was the case for a particularly fragile-looking boy a few feet to your right. Not wanting to be rude, you quit staring and turned back to the doors, watching the timer count closer to zero.
Straightening your posture, you took in one long breath, let it out, and waited calmly for the telltale sound of the starting bell.
Just think of this part of the exam like a regular day of practice. With my future at stake… Atomu is right, just remember what you've learned.
Your fists clenched by your sides as your brother's words repeated themselves in your head, and you urged them to calm your nerves. You concentrated on how your body felt; your arms, legs, neck, head, tail, feet, hands - everything, down to the hairs on your head. The low thrum of energy that constantly coursed through your body held a steady rhythm, and it helped ease your nerves as you felt it slowly flow through your veins at the beckon of your quirk.
A heavy cloud of anxiety loomed over the room; everyone else was either dreading the next test or itching to get started with it. Following Atomu's advice, you brought back memories of your childhood home in the mountains, focusing on calming your breathing and finding your balance. Mantras you’d learned from your elders on the mountain chanted in the back of your mind, soothing your psyche and relaxing your tension.
Next, you began reciting the key points of basic human physiology, as it helped the process of your quirk activation. You recited how your muscles and tendons pulled against bones, working in pairs or complex groups to move your body. Then, once the countdown timer reached thirty seconds, you visualized the process of tissue oxygenation and anaerobic metabolism as you took in a deep breath.
Uncurling your tail from your leg, you ignored the preparatory methods of everyone else around you, focusing inwards instead. Your tail gave a flick as you brought forth a mental image of blood circulating through your veins, slowly bringing your heart rate up a few beats as you mentally amped yourself up.
You knew every important biological process that went into moving your body, and you cited them like a mantra in your head. It was the foundation of your quirk, and after years of training, the familiar words also brought you a modicum of relief.
Remembering your father's teachings seemed to soothe your mind, despite still knowing you were seconds away from entering a quirk-powered free-for-all. The anxiety thrumming in your veins started to ebb out of focus, indicating something you did was working.
Use what you've learned. You'll be fine.
With a swift intake of air, you willed the rest of your nerves away and gave your legs and tail a quick shake. Lifting your gaze, your pupils constricted with anticipation as the timer struck zero.
As if it had been waiting for you to finish, the shrill alarm went blared through the facility, and the massive doors let out a groan as they slowly began to open. Following the proctor’s directions, you remained still, waiting for the secondary alarm to go off and officially begin the second exam.
A faux cityscape peeked through the giant crack, and various examinees visibly tensed around you at the sight of it. You felt the swell of power from your quirk meet your muscles as you braced yourself, stockpiling the power until the door was open wide enough and the starting toll rang out into the exam room. As soon as it did, you let the energy of your quirk go and shot forward, dashing and darting between contestants like your life depended on it.
Beside you, a raven-haired boy rocketed ahead with a deafening thunder from the engines in his calves, and their torque nearly startled a squeal out of you. Likewise, a girl with some kind of air quirk propelled herself forward on your other side, shooting you a small smirk.
Almost immediately, six massive green robots wheeled into view from around different corners of the fake city and converged on you three. You recognized them from your debriefing as one-pointers and flicked your tail when the air girl easily knocked a couple of them down. Your muscles ducked on instinct as a rogue fireball from someone behind you erupted in front of the robots, effectively cutting you off from the nearest ones. The other contestants weren't far behind, apparently, and the engine boy had already sped ahead after taking out a few robots with a kick, so you turned to the side and pumped your legs faster.
Since you didn't want to contend so closely with anyone else, and it seemed like neither did they, you veered to the left and put more power into your legs. The sounds of fighting were quick to fill the streets, which told you that the main group of contestants had entered the city outskirts, but you focused your attention towards a search and destroy tactic against as many three-pointers as you could find.
After a handful of turns and shortcuts, and after you isolated yourself away from the main vein of applicants, you found that the streets were filled with robots, most of them one-pointers. Though they weren't as big of a catch, you still took the time to take them out along with the others.
When one two-pointer surprised you around a corner, you immediately went into autopilot, letting your muscles take control. Your legs folded in on themselves as you reared back and slid underneath the robot's scorpion-like tail. Before it could turn and attack again, you pounced off the ground and aimed an elbow directly into its head, the metal shell caving in but not completely deactivating the robot. It continued to whir towards you, and at its sluggish tenacity, your tail gave a flick.
You were going to have to put more power into your punches, which was fine, but you weren't sure how much energy you could afford to risk. One wrong move, and you'd be stranded in the middle of a fake city with no power to fight against these robots. Or worse, you wouldn’t pace yourself well enough and run out of steam before the exam ended. Unless a zero-pointer should show up, you couldn’t imagine a worse outcome.
The thought of overusing your quirk brought a bead of sweat to your temple and made your tail flick a few more times behind you. You'd only seriously overused your quirk twice in your life, and both times had left you passed out cold immediately after. If you knew anything for sure, it was that now was the worst time to take a nap. On the same coin, if there was ever a time or place to test your limits, it'd be here and now.
Surely hidden administrators were standing by to help if you needed it, right?
With a lung-filling inhale, you forced as much energy as you dared into your legs and arms, finding the feeling just as exhilarating as ever. Rocketing off the ground, you felt your arms smash through the robot's metal shell like a hot knife through softened butter. It let out a shrill cry before crashing to the ground.
On the other side of its mangled carcass, you huffed out a puff of air, already feeling the drawbacks of your quirk. The micro tears in your muscles stung like they would hours after a hard workout, and you could feel the lactic acid burning the muscles further from overuse. The move had sucked an alarming amount of energy out of you, but despite the wave of fatigue, you gave a satisfied flick of your tail. Shotgunning your energy like that was usually something too risky to try during a fight, meaning you'd only secretly done it a handful of times in training.
Ignoring the cries of your muscles, you turned and continued your search and destruction, not wanting to waste any of your adrenaline. An exhilarated, disbelieving chuckle bubbled out of you as you kicked, swung, and jabbed your way through a group of one-pointers, and it wasn't long before you had nearly thirty points accumulated.
One downside to going off on your own was that you had no clue how any of the other contestants were faring against the robots. You felt confident you were at least slightly above average in the rankings, but when you stopped for a moment and noticed the streets were empty, only random kids running around trying to find more robots to be heard, you took a second to catch your breath. There had only been a couple of times when you'd noticed anyone else, and most of those instances had been when you were dealing with the occasional two or three-pointer, to which the applicants shied away from your fight.
Roughly thirty minutes in, you could feel every major muscle group screaming at you to stop and rest. They had torn themselves to shreds trying to keep up with your fighting and running, and couldn’t catch a moment to rest before getting torn again. Another puff of air escaped you once you realized just how sore you were going to be tomorrow, and the rest of the week. Your tail, a midnight streak that trailed out from your lower back and ended in a slender barb, flinched as Present Mic's booming voice came over the hidden speakers in the city.
"Only two minutes left!" he exclaimed, immediately followed by a few distant cries of defeat from some applicants.
The other contestants frantically scurried through the streets to find any remaining robots, and you watched a few nearby kids dart through an alley with horrified expressions. It made you stop to think - did you have enough points to secure yourself a passing grade? If you listened and looked closely enough, you could tell that any remaining robots were either too far away or not worth the energy it would cost to get to and defeat them in less than two minutes. Plus, you were now more focused on avoiding any arena traps, knowing you were too tired to fend one off if it should target you. Though you hadn't seen one yet, you started to wonder if the administrators had been bluffing.
As if on cue, the ground shook violently, and nearby buildings crumbled as something emerged from the ground below. You steadied yourself as a massive green figure whirred to life in the middle of the faux city, standing as tall as the fake skyscrapers. The thunderous arrival of the first zero-pointer blotted out the sun as it emerged from some hidden underground part of the city, casting a dark shadow across the entire block. Your tail dropped as you craned your neck to look up at it, the robot starting its march forward.
"You've got to be kidding me," you said to yourself.
The other applicants wasted no time, quickly turning to flee, some even screaming with fright. Your tail curled as you shielded your eyes from the falling debris coming off of the massive robot, and you debated on whether or not you should run, too. You could try to take it on, but you immediately shut the idea down. What was the point? It was worth no points - and you'd use the last of your quirk's reserves just reaching its head. Not to mention, there was less than a minute left in the exam.
Nearby, your ears picked up the telltale sounds of someone struggling, and you turned to see a girl pinned under a pile of rubble by her leg. It only took a glance to tell that she was directly in the way of the arena trap, and the only other person in the street that wasn't already running was a freckled green-haired boy. He noticed her at the same time you did, but he looked like he was about to cry, paralyzed with fear, which made you wonder if he needed saving, too.
You knew he wouldn't make it to her in time even if he was up for it, and your eyes flicked between him, her, and the zero-pointer one more time. Without thinking, you launched yourself towards the girl, pointing at the green-haired boy as you got his attention and sprinted towards the robot.
"Get moving!" you yelled, not waiting for his answer and hoping it was enough to bring him out of his paralysis.
You braced your arm against the concrete slab and planted your feet apart, shoving the exhaustion out of your mind while forcing another swell of energy into your body. The slab groaned slightly as it and the other chunks of concrete slowly lifted above the girl's foot. She looked up at you in awe and surprise, glancing fearfully up at the zero pointer before attempting to scramble out of the debris. With a strained grunt, you realized your energy was draining too quickly, and you didn't have enough time to keep the concrete suspended - you were going to drop it on her.
"Grab on!" you said, your tail curling around and into her hands. The feeling of her palms against your tail’s sensitive skin sent a shiver up your spine, but you ignored it as you used it to yank her out. When she was free, the breath you'd been holding fell along with the rest of the debris.
Before you could even straighten yourself back up, a second shock rippled up your spine, thick like a bolt of electricity. It made your tail bristle as the girl let go of it, and you made a face as the visceral feeling tingled all the way down your spine. You swung your head upwards, surprised to find the meek, green-haired boy from before rocketing towards the arena trap's head in a glowing ball of electric energy.
His quirk looked like it had a mind of its own as it surged around him, appearing almost exactly like how you felt for a moment, and you wondered where he'd been hiding all that power. Another jolt made you flinch when he raised an arm back with a yell, the fabric ripping off his sleeve as he prepared a punch.
Was his quirk shocking you? You weren't sure, especially since the rosy-cheeked girl didn't seem affected at all, other than being impressed by the show. Your eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, but were quick to raise back up in surprise when the boy sent the zero-pointer staggering back with a single punch.
A gasp came from both you and the other girl, and you felt your tail lift in amazement not only at the feat, but the sheer determination plastered on the boy's face. You couldn't help but be jealous of the boy's explosive power - he had an enhancement quirk like you, but given that you had tailored yours to provide more endurance, your enhanced strength was far outclassed by his.
"Jesus Christ..." you said under your breath, watching as the robot collapsed into the faux city below. Its shadow disappeared from where you and the girl stood, and you both flinched as the robot's fall sent a shock wave through the streets. Looking up, you saw the boy start his descent and noticed his arm was bent at an awkward angle, like it was broken. Your eyebrows furrowed again when he made no move to position himself for his landing, instead flailing in a panic a few hundred feet in the air. After watching for a couple of seconds, you realized he wasn't going to land; he was going to crash.
" Jesus Christ !" you said again, louder, dashing a few feet away with your eyes trained on the boy like you were going to catch him. Pausing, you realized you didn't have the energy left to catch a falling body without breaking him even further, and neither did you think you could do it without hurting yourself. You'd have to use your energy to jump up and meet him halfway, and pray you had the willpower to find enough energy to brace your landing on the way down.
"Wait!"
The girl from before hobbled up to you and placed her hand against your shoulder, the weight lifting from your body like a helium balloon. A weightlessness overcame you that was liberating to your tired muscles and joints, and you were amazed when your feet levitated off the ground for a moment before she anchored you with her hand. She must have some kind of mass-neutralizing quirk, or a gravity quirk, you realized - something else you would be jealous of if you had the time. The girl's cheeks puffed out slightly as she activated her quirk, like she was holding back bile, but she gave you a determined look before nodding with a tense smile.
You returned the gesture with an appreciative nod and launched yourself off the ground as soon as she lifted her hand off your shoulder. Even without the extra weight from your body, your muscles screamed in protest, but you'd be damned before you watched someone fall to their death, so you ignored the pain like you usually did.
The boy let out a yelp of surprise when you intercepted his fall, and it was quickly swallowed by a pained wince as you collided. You glanced down and fought against the urge to grimace at the sight of his purple, mangled arm that hung limply against his side. It was just a giant bruise, and definitely broken in more than one place, you were willing to bet. You wondered if it was from punching the zero pointer, since metal wasn't the best thing to go bare-knuckled against, but found it odd that his entire arm was injured. Now that you were so close to him, you saw that his legs, too, hung in a similarly limp fashion and flinched under your touch.
He must have broken all three... just from using his quirk?
Instead of theorizing on how three of his limbs became broken, you focused on carefully grabbing him into a bridal hold, which was an awkward maneuver considering he was bigger than you, and then turned your attention down to the destroyed city below. Your exhausted limbs were on the verge of shaking, and you wondered again if you even had the energy to safely land or not. You had become weightless, but the boy still had his weight, and it was enough to keep your descent steady and growing in speed.
Think, you thought to yourself, how do people fall?
Your mind frantically flipped through the various lectures you'd digested over the years on the human body. Specifically, you focused on the facts about the cartilage and ligaments in your legs and torso, and how they served as the body's shock absorbers. Looking at how far up you were, and feeling how fast both of you were falling, you hesitated to rely solely on your quirk's abilities to cushion your fall. But what choice did you have? You hadn't fully thought out this rescue mission before jumping up to rescue him.
With a curt sigh and a mental shrug of your shoulders, you gave up on devising some ingenious plan - your quirk would have to suffice. A quick prayer was sent for your legs, and you angled yourself with your tail to look down at the ground below. You funneled the last scraps of your energy into your ankles, knees, hips, and lower back - along with all the muscles and ligaments in between.
Down below, you saw that a lot of what was left of the city was broken chunks of brick and concrete, but there was a small clearing next to the pile of rubble the girl had been trapped under. Given that you only had a handful of seconds before your landing, you knew it would have to be your landing pad. The boy let out another shriek as your entire body tensed around him, seeming to understand that you didn't have a plan other than to hope for the best, and that the ground was approaching fast. Your quirk's power padded your body from the waist down, and your lips pressed together in mild anxiousness.
"Hold on!" you shouted to him.
Smashing against the asphalt like a small meteor, your impact kicked up dust and debris all over the clearing where the girl had been watching the scene unfold. The cloud billowed nearly two stories high and showered the surrounding area with small pebbles and shrapnel. After a moment, you opened your eyes, surprised that there was only a dull ache in your legs - and no pain. Your victim was still safely in your arms, unharmed besides his own self-infliction, and looking like he'd come close to seeing God. With a glance down, you saw that you were much the same, unharmed and still living.
A long sigh escaped your lips as the boy visibly deflated in your arms, and the girl from before ran up to the two of you. Your legs wanted to give out when she released her quirk and your weight returned, even going as far as to shake from the effort of carrying the boy, but you bit back the grimace and powered through one last time. A loud, shrill alarm sounded through the city over the speakers, and it brought relieved sighs to all three of you.
"Alright, contestants, time is up! Everyone, please make your way to the..." Present Mic's voice chirped over the intercom.
The girl thanked you profusely for getting her out of the rubble, and the boy for beating the robot. He looked like he was fighting unconsciousness, but you both assured her that it was no problem. With a polite bow, she wished you and the green-haired boy good luck.
On tired legs, you made your way out of the examination building and dropped him off at the onsite nurses. The entire way there, he was beet red, likely embarrassed from being carried bridal style by a girl. He wasn't quiet, though, and filled the journey with multiple apologies, plenty of expressions of gratitude, and even some aimless ramblings. Once he got a good look at you, which wasn't until you'd nearly made it to the nurse's tent due to his embarrassed refusal to meet your eyes, he made a strange face and tilted his head in thought.
"H-have we met somewhere before?" he asked timidly, searching your face. "I... I-I, um, feel like you look f-familiar..."
Ducking your head to enter the tent, you met his eyes and blinked in thought. You felt like you'd remember meeting someone like him and couldn't recall ever doing so before.
"I don't believe so, no," you replied, carefully placing him onto one of the beds. Immediately, a male nurse started admonishing him for being so reckless, and you excused yourself while he got to work. The boy strained over the nurse's shoulder, thanking you once more while fighting against his confused expression. You gave him a genuine smile and hoped that they would be able to fix him up.
"Please don't worry about it," you said with a polite wave. "That's what heroes are for, isn't it? Good luck." With a bow to the nurse who gave you a bottle of water, you turned and exited the tent.
-
A few hours after your brother had dropped you off, you stood with your back facing the academy's main building. Your fists hung loosely by your sides, and a strained sigh hissed through your teeth. Other contestants filed out from the doors and passed you on both sides, all seeming to share your apprehension. Nearly all of them sported various new bruises, cuts, and minor injuries.
The entrance exam was over, and you waited for your brother's car to appear from around the corner. Your muscles were still warm, and the pit of growing anxiety in your stomach seemed to be the only thing grounding you as a disappointment crept through you.
Why am I so disappointed? I did fine, especially for someone who only has a body enhancement quirk.
The giant robots hadn't necessarily been hard to handle, but the anxiety of not knowing whether you passed or not was. If you'd counted correctly, you should have gotten around seventy points, but you hadn't kept track of the scores of your fellow contestants. What you had kept track of were their quirks.
Engine calves, a navel laser, air control, gravity manipulation, super strength - or was it some kind of kinetic energy, you couldn't tell - were all present at your exam. Many of them were very versed in utilizing their quirks, and watching them apply their powers so well to the test made you feel self-conscious. It didn't help that you had no idea where you stood in the rankings.
There were only so many spots in U.A.'s hero course, and you aimed for one of the top seats in class A. Your quirk, named "Output," gave you the ability to self-enhance your body. This meant various abilities, including enhanced senses, strength, endurance, and even slightly sped-up healing.
It wasn't bad by any means, but you viewed it as a very common and basic quirk, often feeling as if it just made you slightly better than the average human. For years, you wondered whether it would be enough for you to get acceptance into U.A., and now that you were here, you had more doubt than ever. According to your father, who doubled as your martial arts teacher, what you did have was cunning and drive. But defeating a bunch of mindless robots in a fake city didn't leave much room for tactical strategies or genius maneuvers. You feared you hadn't been interesting enough of a contestant or a flashy enough show for those watching your exam, and those were the kinds of opinions that mattered. Grabbing their attention was just as important as providing the numbers. You certainly felt invisible compared to someone like the green-haired boy, given that he took out a zero-pointer with one punch.
Just as a gust of wind rustled your hair, you were surprised to see your father's modded hatchback pull up to the curb, the tinted passenger window rolling down to reveal your brother Atomu, waving. Lifting a tired arm to wave back, you trotted to the car on heavy feet. Your sleek, midnight black tail trailed behind you, still slightly limp from exhaustion, and it nearly flinched when you saw your father driving.
"So - how did it go? Did you pass?!" Atomu asked, gripping onto the edge of the window and barely able to contain himself, a stark contrast to your father's calmness. Opening the door, you threw your bag in and jumped up into the back seat, tail tucked neatly behind you, before the door closed. A small, unconvincing grin spread as you glanced between the two, scared to meet your father's eyes in case he saw through your facade. Inside, you were already dreading the waiting process of getting the results back.
"I didn't do bad, at least," you said and leaned your head back against the headrest. "They said they're going to call us with the results in a week."
His smile grew wider, nearly beaming, "I'm sure you did great. But, I guess we'll just have to wait for the good news, right, Dad?... Hey - want some fried chicken for dinner? I bet we can time the delivery just right if we call ahead."
Before your father could nod in agreement or Atomu could pick up his phone to look at any online menus, you leaned forward in your seat and glanced back at the academy.
"How do you know it'll be good news?... What if I didn't make it?" Your eyebrows knitted together, letting your apprehension leak out.
It worried you that Atomu was so confident, and even more that your father agreed with him. What if you hadn't made it? You didn't know if you could stomach seeing them disappointed in you, especially your father, and especially because his pride as a professional hero was on the line. He would never say it out loud, and possibly didn't even care about it himself, but you knew how the media would have a field day if they learned that you, the daughter of Nakane Ajima - pro hero Soul Eater - had applied to U.A. and gotten rejected. Just thinking about it made you want to wither up and die of shame.
In his prime, your father was one of the top professional heroes in Japan after a steady ten-year rise to fame for being one of the most effective heroes in society. His hero name was misleadingly menacing, his personality the polar opposite, but at the beginning of his hero career, that wasn't the case. At the start, he was much more strict - severe, even, and primarily focused on capturing and taking villains down in the city. Now, as he'd matured with his quirk and eased into retirement, he had adopted a more rescue-motivated career.
Your father reached back and placed a warm hand on your head, surprising you with a warm smile of his own. "Because we know you, and I have enough faith in the academy's administration to see what we do. They'd have to be blind not to see the strong, level-headed, caring individual that I see sitting in my car right now. Besides, I wouldn't be heartbroken if you didn't make it."
Your father had always been supportive of most of your decisions, but even he had reservations about you pursuing a professional hero career. Whether they stemmed from his worrying about your safety or because he was afraid you wouldn't like it, it didn't matter in the long run. More than anything else, he had been keen to push you towards being the best at what you did, so that you could have your pick on what you wanted to do, which was, coincidentally, pursuing heroism. So when he claimed not to mind if you were rejected, you were taken by surprise.
Confusion turned your eyebrows upward. "What?"
His smile took on a sweeter tone. "I don't need some judgy college professors' approval to know that you're more than good enough to become a professional hero." He awkwardly turned in his seat and gave you a pointed look. "And my offer still stands; you can just become a volunteer intern at one of my coworkers' agencies - or even a full-time instructor at the dojo. You know how much the kids love you."
A smile weakly passed over your lips, appreciative of the offer, though you knew you'd never take it. You took a moment to imagine yourself working at the dojo or at a hero agency of one of your father's friends. It didn't sound bad, but it didn't bring you the pure satisfaction of earning your own degree and starting off without the help of nepotism. You felt like your father had already done more than enough to help you throughout your life, and you were ready to start earning things entirely on your own. He had already done more than you wanted by sending in a letter of recommendation to the academy's enrollment office.
Secretly, you also didn't want people to assume your successes had come solely from his help. You knew he would gladly give it to you, but you also knew that if you accepted, you'd have to work twice as hard to prove to hero society that your skills weren't unfounded and that you were a capable hero on your own two feet.
After years of training, you felt eager to show the world how ready you were to begin your journey towards becoming a professional hero.
You said into the window, smiling faintly. "We've been over this, Dad." At your tone, you heard his hands go up in surrender.
"I know, I know - just had to check.... Hey, kiddo, look at me."
Meeting his eyes, your smile spread as he looked at you with a proud grin.
"You know we're going to be proud of you no matter what happens, even if you don't end up being a hero. At the end of the day, you're still my daughter, and you're still healthy and safe, and that's all that matters."
The muscles in your heart squeezed, and you gave your father a small sigh.
"I know that your dream is to become a professional hero, and though it's a long and arduous path, I'm still going to do what I can to help you get there," he said, rubbing his hand reassuringly against your head. "- but , I know you want to do this on your own, so I'll keep my end of the bargain and leave my contribution at your reference letter."
Your father held his hands up in surrender when he saw you turn your head to argue before placing both palms back on the wheel. Before any of the application process had started, you'd made him promise not to pull any strings to get you accepted, keen to earn it on your own and without your familial ties attached. He'd argued against it, saying there was nothing wrong with getting help where you could, but you'd only compromise by letting him send in a letter of recommendation to the academy.
You let out another laugh as he drove away from the giant glass building, feeling a lot of the burden on your shoulders fade away as his words sank in.
"Thanks, Dad," you said.
His warm smile beamed at you. "Of course, kiddo." He turned to Atomu. "Hey, call your brother, see if he's working tonight or not - and pull up the menu to that new chicken place in town."
You grinned even wider as he got your older brother to call your other sibling, and pointed out that fried chicken was his favorite food, not yours. Even yet, you agreed to it since you would be lying if you said fried chicken didn't sound delicious right then. You could feel the slight throb of tension leaving your nerves as the scene passed by. Your dad was right; whatever happens will happen; all you could do was wait for the exam results and hope for the best.
-
Once at home, your father gave you a tender kiss on the top of the head before using the landline to place a takeout order, and you went to your bedroom. You tossed your bag onto the bed and removed your jacket, drawn to the idea of soaking your sore muscles in a hot bath. In the safety of the house, your anxieties seemed to thrive unchecked. Despite the reprieve of a bath, you couldn't seem to forget about the entrance exam as you padded towards the bathroom. You went over it again and again in your head, replaying everything that had happened since you walked through the doors. It was easy to guess who had definitely passed, but it was difficult to tell where the exam proctors drew the line between acceptance and rejection.
You had the air-wielding girl at the top of the list, and a random, bulky heteromorph you'd caught sight of during the exam, both obvious powerhouses. Others you'd noticed were the boy with engine-powered calves, one with an avian head and sentient shadow, and the rosy pink-cheeked girl with a gravity quirk, whom you'd watched the green-haired boy risk himself to help during the exam.
Though you weren't an exam proctor, you had the impression that the green-haired boy was on the line between rejection and acceptance. He clearly had no control over his quirk, to the point where it was harmful to him, and had seemed desperate for more points at the end of the exam. On the same coin, he had also unhesitatingly demonstrated an act of heroism at the very end, which could have gotten him a decent amount of rescue points.
Aside from a brief encounter with the proctor you'd signed in with, the green-haired boy and the rosy-cheeked girl were the only two you had spoken to. The latter two seemed very nice, and you chastised yourself for not asking their names. You sent a quick prayer that you would run into them again as academy classmates.
Not wanting to dwell on the exam, you turned on the hot water in the bathroom and began stripping off your clothes. They gathered in the laundry basket, and your slim figure passed by the mirror over your sink. You took a long look at yourself before the steam from the water could fog up the reflective surface. Your skin mediated the distance between your hair and dark tail, nearly blemish-free except for three scars. One in the middle of your chest, and two more down your back, over your shoulder blades.
They were all scars you'd gotten when you were younger, and having been adopted at an early age, your father couldn't offer any explanation for where they had come from. Sometimes that seemed like a good thing, because you couldn't imagine an explanation that wasn't gruesome for any of your scars. Despite their large size, the faint silver hues of all three were easy to miss if you were more than a few feet away.
The thinnest scar on your front sat slightly above your left breast, where you imagined your heart to be. It was clean, straight, and precise, looking more like an incision rather than an injury, and it was the faintest of your scars. You took a half-step back to look at the ones on your shoulder blades. They were the near opposite; jagged and angry, tearing from the top of your shoulder to a few inches below your middle back. With time, they'd faded into light, ghost-like imperfections, but all of them gave you a faded sense of sadness.
You had never been ashamed of your scars, but neither had you been proud. They frequently drew unwanted attention when they were noticed, earning you horrified looks and hushed whispers whenever they were on display. Most days, you didn't pay attention because you rarely cared about strangers' opinions, but you'd be lying if you said the attention didn't make you wonder how you got them.
You watched as the last of the mirror fogged over and went to enjoy a long soak with a flick of your tail. There were more important things to worry about than your appearance, and they could all wait until after your bath. After a generous amount of time in the tub, you padded down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Your father talked with someone on the phone, his face lighting up in a smile as he noticed you.
He waved you over, "It's Aoi - he's calling to check in, isn't that nice? C'mere, tell him about your exam, a little while I finish here."
You took the landline out of your father's hand, and your older brother's smooth voice crackled over the speaker. A wave of relief washed over you at hearing it, and you couldn't keep the grin off your face. No matter how many times you had heard it, you were surprised by how much hearing him soothed your nerves.
He opened with a hearty laugh. "Hey there, you. How was it?"
You sighed audibly, your tail flicking behind you. "It was pretty good. I'm glad it's over with, but I can tell Dad's going to drive me insane while we wait for their response letter."
Aoi gave another laugh as your father let out an incredulous gasp from the kitchen, saying he'd do no such thing. On the other end of the line, you heard a woman's voice, along with a few high-pitched squeals in the background, and you realized he must be at the clinic where he worked.
"Suki-chan, will you go with Nurse Yama, please?... Yes, I will do that, but first you go with the nurse. Yes, thank you..." You listened as your brother negotiated with someone. "Sorry, I took an extra shift today since I might have to take off to help you move in soon.
After a twenty-minute phone call, you said goodbye to your older brother and hung up. Your father was thrilled to hear that Aoi already had his spare room ready for you if you got accepted, saying he would add it to the list of things to be thankful for.
From the kitchen, your father carefully put the dishes away, bobbing his head to a tune only he could hear. At the news, he paused his humming.
"Really? Already? Good, good good... Hey, you know what? I was thinking we could go down to the convenience store after dinner for some celebratory ice cream, what do you say-?"
The shrill chime of your doorbell interrupted him, and he lit up at the sound.
"Oh! Food's here!" His large frame raced to the door, slippers scuffling across the tile and hardwood. He paused in the foyer to slap on a ball cap and put some sunglasses on, a mild attempt to conceal his face in favor of anonymity. You got up to set the dining room table and looked up as the door opened.
A dark silhouette of a boy stood at the door, hands full of fried chicken, sides, and drinks. Even at a glance from across the room, you could tell the amount of food your father ordered was enough to feed six people, a nearly comical amount of plastic bags hanging from the boy's arms. He lifted his head, and you saw from under his hat's brim that he was the usual delivery boy, one you knew from the nearby town, and your father merrily started a small conversation with him.
You watched as he took the food from the boy and handed him a couple of bills, letting them chat for a moment before moving to the doorway to help bring the food in. The boy glanced over at you once you came into view, and his cheeks immediately blushed a deep red, his mouth stumbling slightly over his words. He wore a hat much like the one your father had just put on, and suddenly couldn't meet either you or your father's eyes. You hardly noticed, as this was his usual reaction to delivering food to your father, and he simply bowed slightly as you carried the food back. Your father thanked him and closed the door. Once it was all on the table, you tilted your head at all the food.
He raised his eyebrows towards you. "What a nice kid, huh? I think he's around your age. Did you know that? He's the second youngest Yamada kid - or is it third? Anyway, I tipped him well, so hopefully he'll put it to good use," he said and smiled as he walked towards the dining room. "Would you go call your brother?"
You nodded, walked over to the stairs, and hollered Atomu's name, who shouted he'd be down from the bathroom, then met your father at the table, glancing at all the food again. "Dad, who is all this food for?" You asked with a laugh, helping him pull the food out of the bags.
He didn't look up as he smiled happily down at the food. "It's for all of us, of course. I couldn't decide on exactly what to get, so I got a little of everything."
Box after box of chicken, vegetables, dumplings, and even a few sets of rolls revealed themselves as he went through the bags. He'd ordered a couple of two-liter drinks to drink, and for dessert, some steamed buns. As someone with a massive body, your father had always been a big eater. Standing at seven feet tall and easily weighing three hundred pounds, most would consider him a monster in size. Since you were used to his size, it wasn't until moments like these that you appreciated just how big he was.
Your father sighed in content once all the food was laid out, taking off his hat and sunglasses. "Besides, I was hungry and wanted everything. But I know this is technically your night, so you go first."
"Heavens above, Dad, how much did all this cost?" Atomu said from the staircase, coming down from the bathroom. "You don't expect us to eat this until we both move out, do you?"
You laughed before picking up your plate.
It was a nice, quiet dinner, and you had your fill of the fried sweet potatoes your father had gotten especially for you. Once the clock struck half past nine, though, your exhaustion finally proved too much. You helped wash the dishes and put the food away, then bid them both goodnight. Your nightly routine passed by in a blur, and you were out before your head even hit the pillow, random thoughts of your exam putting you to sleep.
-
You woke up in a daze, surrounded by darkness and floating aimlessly in a cold, lifeless void. Where were you, and what time was it? The last thing you remembered was eating sweet potatoes... was this a dream? From somewhere within the void, a vague, fuzzy warmth spread throughout your body, and the foreignness of it made you shift uncomfortably. In a slight haze, you tried to glance around and were confused as to why you couldn't see or hear anything.
As if answering your confusion, a small pinpoint of light began to shine in front of you, glowing with a pale yellow hue. It glimmered slightly, coming closer and growing steadily until it split into three and they all hovered an arm's length away, the size of softballs. Before you could even try to reach out and touch one, a sharp pain shot through you. The feeling tunneled through your chest and nestled in the center of your torso, branching out to all five extremities. The intensity of the pain paralyzed you, and the lights lurched to life, expanding until they blinded the entire void into oblivion.
Your body felt like it was being lit on fire and torn apart from the inside out at the same time. A silent scream ripped through your throat, your dream still devoid of sound, but nothing could save you from the pain. For a lucid dream, you felt trapped, like you were a hostage in your mind.
That was right, this was a dream - all you had to do was wake up, and you'd be free. You tried to claw your way out, to force yourself out of the paralysis and pull yourself out of the void, but you could only focus on how painful it was. When the warmth abruptly vanished, instead of releasing you back into reality, your subconscious body slowly sank into the cold below. The coldness crept into your bones as you fully succumbed to the void, only able to watch as the lights faded back into small orbs.
When they fizzled out into nothing, everything shifted.
You awoke in a clearing of grass that was wild and unkept, the long tendrils tickling the end of your tail as you looked up to see that the field was surrounded by impossibly tall evergreen trees. The sky above was a dusk blue, dotted with clouds and a light that was slowly fading. Turning your head, you were surprised to find an aching sensation all over your body, as if the pain from the void had followed you to this new place. It brought a wince to your face, but it quickly fell when your eyes landed on a lonely concrete building standing in the middle of the field.
Your eyes widened when a pair of blue-ish glints emerged from the darkness of the tall, open doors of the building. Focusing on them, your heart picked up pace, a fearful familiarity rippling underneath your skin despite never having seen the building before. A gasp caught in your throat as you realized the glints were reflections in someone's eyes, staring at you from just beyond the threshold.
Before you could think to scream, run, or even blink, everything went back to black.
***