The summer had drawn to an end as U.A.'s Entrance Exam had drawn closer. It was a prestigious university, one where only the best Pro Heroes attend and graduate from. Those who dreamed of being heroes since they were children had lined up to enroll. It wasn't often where people enroll on a whim and pass the exams.
Of course, Miwa Kokoro did not fall into the latter category. She had wanted to become a hero since she was young. It was the first thing she knew she wanted to do. She studied and worked hard throughout middle and high school just to sit where she sat then. She had sat amongst a crowd of strangers, each with the same goal and plan to outdo the people next to them. No smart person would hold back against so many others aiming to enroll.
She had sat just as anxiously listening to the Pro Hero explain the provisional half of the exam as anxiously as she sat taking the written test and as anxiously as she stood awaiting the beginning of the second part of the exam. Of course, she was confident in her performance on the written exam, but that meant hardly anything compared to the practical exam.
All in all, it had gone pretty well for her. She scored some decent points on her own, and some in a bit of a collaboration with other participants, though most of those were accidents. She probably accidentally stole some points from other students, too. Most of her rescue points probably came from scenarios like that. She knew one specific instance where she knew her rescue points came from, though.
It was towards the end of the exam. She was feeling good about her performance, but she didn't want to waste the last few minutes just to be safe. It was after the proctors released the massive, zero-point robots, so the calamity that pursued the arrival of one had separated Miwa from the group she was near. She didn't want to wait to be corned by another one, so she kept moving.
It wasn't long before she had come across the remnants of one of these zero-point robot attacks. The simulated urban environment was no longer as pristine as it seemed. Chunks of buildings sitting in the destroyed streets with light posts and trash cans and the like scattered with them.
This wouldn't have surprised Miwa, be it from the robots or students. It wasn't any of the rubble that caught her eye, though. Rather, it was a girl seemingly stuck underneath a large plate of metal - no doubt a remnant of a faux-villain - and some concrete. Miwa rushed to the girl - a rather beautiful girl, too - and attempted to lift the metal plate. There was no reason to withdraw her help; this may be a competition, but it wasn't a life-or-death situation for the winners and losers. She knew full well that she couldn't lift the plate entirely, especially with the other rubble stacked on top of it.
She attempted to lift the plate but was interrupted by an attack from a three-point robot. Miwa narrowly ducked under the missile, which sent even more rubble and concrete scattering across the area. Clearly, she would have to take down that robot before she could rescue the girl. She quickly stood up and rushed towards the tank-like robot. Her aura flared to life as she pulled her hand back. But at this point in the exam, she wasn't exactly brimming with energy. She glanced backward at the trapped girl for half a second before making a decision. She pulled her arm back a bit more, close enough to pull a bit of the other girl's aura to her. Around her right arm, Miwa's magenta aura swirled with the girl's yellow aura as Miwa prepared her attack. She thrust her opened hand forward, hitting the missile launcher of the faux-villain. The initial blow certainly wasn't strong enough to do any damage to the robot, but within a few heartbeats, the two auras blasted forth from her palm in a powerful burst of energy. The attack was strong enough to completely blast off the arm of the three-point robot and, Miwa assumed, hopefully, shut it off.
Miwa stifled her panting as she rushed back to the girl. "I used a bit of your aura," she said, trying to make a bit of light conversation. "Didn't think you'd mind."
"D-don't really care at this point," she replied through gritted teeth and a sharp inhale.
Miwa shut up. She pushed with all the might left in her and managed to lift the plate enough for the girl to crawl out. Her leg was clearly injured.
There was another feature that Miwa didn't get to see underneath the rubble. The girl had a beautiful, large pair of wings reminiscent of a sparrow's; her soft-looking feathers were a shade of brown that looked gorgeous to Miwa in the sunlight. They were hardly darker than the girl's hair. Would it be inappropriate or too early for Miwa to say that she'd love to be wrapped in not only that girl's arms, but her wings as they lay in the warm sunlight together? She assumed yes.
Miwa helped the girl to her feet. Her leg apparently couldn't quite support her weight, so Miwa held her upright.
"You okay?" she asked. "For the most part?"
"Yeah, think so," the winged girl replied. "For the most part."
"Your leg doesn't quite look..."
"I should be fine. One way or another."
Miwa looked at her with an exaggerated skeptical look, to which the girl shrugged at with a smile. Her gaze flitted off of Miwa and her smile dropped as she grabbed Miwa's shoulders and shouted, "Watch!"
The girl pulled Miwa closer to her and moved her wings in front of the two of them like a shield. Miwa didn't know what prompted that reaction, but she had a pretty solid guess after a moment or two. She heard the sound of something large rocketing towards them at high speeds. She heard the deafening sound of a small explosion right next to her ear and the warmth of one behind her head; the only thing that saved her from that missile was this girl's wings.
The girl quickly unwrapped her wings and flapped them strongly towards the robot from before, which apparently hadn't been deactivated. Miwa turned just in time to watch several feathers fly straight toward the robot. The feathers pierced the three-point robot. Those were apparently the tipping point for the beat-up 'bot. When they pierced the robot, it finally gave in and exploded, something Miwa knew she should've made sure it did in the first place.
Miwa stared for a second, then turned back to the girl. She was pretty sure that was as close to her fantasy as she was going to get.
"I guess we're even?" the girl Miwa was now 95% sure was an angel asked.
"I guess so."
The Pro Hero announced the end of the exam.
Miwa glanced at the girl's messed-up leg. She stretched out her arm and offered, "Do you need help getting back?"
The girl shook her head and stretched her wings. "No, thanks. I can fly myself back."
"Oh, yeah. Right." Miwa felt stupid. Obviously, she didn't need anyone to carry her. She had wings. She also felt a bit disappointed, but she didn't know why. Well, she had a hunch as to why.
"But do you want a lift?" the girl asked Miwa. "I mean, we're both headed to the same place. It'd be faster."
Obviously, Miwa accepted the offer. She had flown back to the entrance with the girl. Through all of that, she never caught her name.
Miwa Kokoro remembered her Entrance Exam like it was yesterday. Well, at least that last little bit.
Miwa ended up passing the exam with decently balanced hero and rescue points. The other girl did not.
Over a year ago, she stood excited to take the exam, wondering if she'd even be considered to be let in.
Now, she stood before one of U.A.'s simulated environments, Ground Gamma, between her first and second year to aid in the Hero Qualification Exam.
Her mind, however, drifted between thoughts of this exam and her entrance exam.
"I wonder..." she muttered to herself.
"Wonder what?"
Miwa jumped and whipped her head to the side. She was met by the smiling face of one of her friends. Her incredibly light hair and incredibly dark eyes both shimmered in the sunlight beating down on them.
"Nah, nothing important. Just zoning out a bit."
"Well, don't go off daydreaming in the middle of the exam, Miwa-chan. We're gonna need your help."
Miwa chuckled. "Hey, you too, Yuri. You daydream and fantasize more than me."
Ayuri smiled and shrugged. "Okay, that's... that's fair."
The small conversations amongst the students gathered hushed as a handful of Pro Hero arrived with a decent-sized group of other students - students from the general education and support classes.
"Good morning, students!" greeted a yellow-haired hero. Despite the summer heat, he adorned a black and white jacket and sported several subtle lightning bolts on his costume. Miwa always wondered if the one on his head was natural. "We appreciate you coming out to help!"
The man standing next to him was far more blatant. He had tired eyes and no smile, contrasting the energetic eyes and wide smile of his partner.
"You'll be assisting in the Hero Qualification Exam," Whisper explained. "This is an exam for any student in the General Education or Support courses to qualify to be admitted into the Hero Course starting the next school term. It's designed to allow these students to display the effectiveness of their quirks and abilities in a simulation different from the robot battles used in the Entrance Exam. There will be several stages of this exam, though the written part has already been completed. Your help is required for the practical tests."
"The tests will be similar to the several training missions you've undergone in past years," Chargebolt explains. He then turned to address the testing students gathered behind him. "There will be five mandatory tests." He raised a finger for each test he explained. "The first will be a simple fitness and quirk apprehension test. They're simple assessments, so they shouldn't prove too difficult. The second is a Rescue Race. This is a test that will pose you against four of your classmates at a time to see who can reach a distress signal first. The third is a joint examination. You and two of your classmates will be tasked with protecting the 'payload,' which can be interpreted as you wish, against two of the assisting students. The fourth is an inversion of the test; you and two of your classmates have to win by either recovering the 'payload' from two of the assisting students or capturing them. The final test is a practical combat test. It'll be a one-on-one fight between you and one of the assisting students OR Pro Hero if you're lucky enough!"
The mention of fighting one-on-one with a Pro Hero made nearly all of the testing students squirm and murmur amongst each other.
"If any of these tests seem to be too much for you to handle, it's advised you withdraw now," the headmaster suggested. He was a tall man, even with his slouch, with long, messy, black hair and eternally exhausted eyes not unlike Whisper's.
"These exams are supposed to see how you would fare in the Hero Course, which regularly faces you with tests and missions similar to these, if not identical. You're able to withdraw, but doing so forfeits your chance to enroll in the hero course next year. Those who wish to withdraw need only leave the campus. Those who wish to continue will meet at the training stadium in three hours." Saying nothing else, he turned and left, leaving even more of the testing students murmuring. Miwa and the other assisting Hero Course students simply looked at each other with disbelief and concern.
Whisper did not waver and enforced Aizawa's statement. "Those that plan on going on should use those three hours to prepare themselves for the first test. Those that plan on withdrawing should leave. Is this understood?"
The large group of students responded in unison, "Yes, sir!"
Whisper nodded and walked off in the direction of Aizawa. Chargebolt turned back around to address the assisting Hero Course students.
"Obviously, you guys have free reign for a while. You aren't needed for the first or second test, so you're probably technically done for the day. You can observe the tests today if you want, but you don't have to."
Chargebolt and the other few Pro Heroes walked off, leaving the large group of testing students muttering amongst themselves and the assisting students discussing plans with each other. Some of the testing students were already walking away.
Miwa glanced at Ayuri, who simply shrugged.