Chapter Text
Takara Kagayaku was, in all honesty, having a pretty bad day today. Which sucked, because of all the days for her alarm clock to stop working, it obviously had to be before the UA entrance exam. At least she was well rested, right? Oh, who was she kidding, she was lucky that Present Mic let her in the exam hall, even if she was only a few seconds late. It probably didn't help her chances any, if she was being honest.
The written exam wasn't awful. Takara didn't completely bomb it, at least. She probably did alright, but she definitely did not get a high score. Oh well. Hopefully she can make up for it in the practical portion. She'd really need to stand out here if she was going to make it into UA. She fiddles with her glasses while the Voice Hero explains the various robots in the practical exam, not really needing to beyond just calming her nerves.
She almost jumps out of her seat when she feels something touch the back of her head, whirling around to find a pink-haired boy grinning sheepishly at her. He leans down, quietly whispering to Takara, "Sorry for touching you. I just made a little cord around the back of your glasses. I'd feel bad if they fell off when you needed 'em, y'know? Don't tell anyone, please!" He brings his hands together, emphasizing his pleading words as he closes his eyes, as if he's praying that she'll be merciful.
"It- It's fine, don't worry. Thanks, uh, for looking out for me. I guess? I hope you pass," Takara whispers back, flashing him a nervous smile that he doesn't open his eyes in time to see. Her cheeks heat up a little as she turns back to face the stage. He was kinda cute, if she was honest, but this is literally the worst time for her to be noticing something like that. Seriously, she has a massive brawl with a ton of robots to focus on! She can think about boys later!
The explanation wraps up pretty quickly, and soon they're all at the various exam grounds. Takara looks up at the massive "7" in front of her. Looking to her side, she sees the pink-haired boy, making cats-cradles as he hops in place. The brown-haired girl squeezes through the crowd before he notices her, pointedly staring at the ground while flexing her fingers.
It's now or never. Takara slips through the crowd, working her way as far to the front as she can comfortably stand. For once, she's glad she's so small. It'd be impossible to get through this horde if she were any bigger. Takara knows she needs to scrounge up every advantage she can can get, and there aren't many advantages bigger than being the first in.
‘Alright Takara, strategy time. Obviously I need to avoid the zero-point robot... robots? I don't know how many of them there'll be. Hopefully they don't get in the way. I think I should prioritize-’
"GO!!! WHAT'RE YOU WAITING FOR, LISTENERS? REAL VILLAINS WON'T GIVE YOU A COUNTDOWN!!!" The girl's planning is interrupted by the Voice Hero's shouts. She rushes forward with the rest of the group, breaking off down a side street as soon as she gets the opportunity. Almost immediately, she's rewarded with a trio of one-point robots. Their heads turn to look at Takara, all three eyes flashing red as they move in to attack.
The first one aims- ‘ Is that a machine gun? What the fuck?!’- The first one aims its gun at the examinee, firing off a dozen rounds at her torso. She panics, throwing up her hands in front of her to activate her quirk. A square shimmers in front of her, the bullets hitting the area and bouncing right back to the robot that fired them, destroying it.
Takara Kagayaku! Quirk: Rebound! She can create forcefields around her body to return any attack to sender, with double the force! The perfect counterstrike!
The other two bots rush forward, each one swinging an arm at Takara for a melee attack. The square vanishes, replaced by two taller panels, connected in front of her to form a v-shape. By facing it outwards, she manages to ricochet both attacks into the other robot, making them take each other out.
By angling the forcefields, Takara can control which way an attack goes! She can't make more than two fields at a time, though, and they can't be any bigger than she is!
"Alright, three points. That was easy enough. Let's go find thirty more," Takara pants a little, already running off in search of more. Rounding a corner, she comes face-to-face with a pair of two-pointers. They raise their stingers towards her, lunging forwards and striking her quirk barrier. Their tails shatter, so they try to jab the student hopeful with their heads. Two more uses of her quirk and she's up to seven points. Just over a minute into the exam, too! She's making good progress!
Looking around for her next target, she spies a flash of pink throwing cords around a two-pointer's tail. He tears it away, then looks over and spots her. He gives a wave, then dashes off into an alleyway, presumably in search of more bots. Moments later, however, he comes running back out, desperately trying to throw his cords over a group of three-pointers, with minimal success.
Before she even realizes it, Takara's already running over, making a barrier as soon as she's close enough. It goes off just in time, blocking a volley of missiles before they can strike either examinee. The robots try to punch through her quirk, only to be met with blown-up fists. Since they seemed to be defenseless now, Takara lines up a kick right into one of their heads, crushing it... surprisingly easy. That makes sense, she guesses, they are meant to be tests for not-quite-high-schoolers. One more kick from her and one from the mystery boy (Note to self: get his name after the exam!), and all three robots are dealt with.
"Thanks for that! Sorry, I wasn't expecting... y'know, three huge robots, lurking in a tiny alleyway. Not something you see coming, y'know? Thanks again for the save, Specs!" He gives her a grin before running back down the same alleyway. Takara stands there for a moment before slapping her cheeks and heading off to find more robots.
By the time Present Mic alerts the examinees to half the exam being done, the brunette had already more than doubled her points, sitting at a nice 27. She spots a blond student in a bomber jacket aiming a finger gun at some three-pointers, but nothing seems to be happening. Maybe his quirk is on a cooldown? Just like last time, though, Takara’s already halfway there before she even notices she’s moved. Unlike last time, though, the robots lead with punches instead of the missiles. Also unlike last time, she doesn’t quite make it in time.
The first punch knocks the boy down with a grunt, but the second punch swings harmlessly through the air where he just was. Then Takara gets there, throwing a kick at one robot. She almost loses her balance, getting hit in the stomach with the second robot’s punch as punishment. But then the boy next to her hisses three times, and three dents appear in the robot’s chassis. It collapses, obviously disabled, and the boy gives Takara a grateful nod before heading off.
Blond hair, one eye covered, glasses. Distinctive enough. He wasn’t particularly cute, though, so maybe she won’t recognize him. That’s a question that UA will have to answer. Is thirty points even enough to pass? She hopes so, the robots seem to already be thinning out. All she can find are single stray bots, and stray one- and two-pointers probably aren’t enough anymore.
And then the ground starts to rumble.
Looking towards the center of the cityscape, Takara sees a massive robot looming over the buildings. It places a hand on one, and the whole thing crumbles under the weight.
“So that’s the zero-pointer. No way there’s more than one here, right?”
Takara glances around, seeing no sign of another behemoth appearing anywhere. What she does see, however, is the existing one starting to rumble over in her direction. Any buildings in its way are demolished, its treads grinding the rubble into dust. Takara's almost certain that it's spotted her by now, but she still tries to get out of its path. She manages to score a few extra points on the way, bumping her score up to 33.
Glancing back over at the zero-pointer, Takara sees that it’s stopped moving and seems to be attacking something. ‘Hopefully whoever’s on the wrong end of that is alright,’ she thinks to herself. Two more one-pointers attack, only to get their arms rebounded and blown up. Just after that, a voice blares through the arena.
“TIME’S UP!!! EVERYONE MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE GATES NOW!!! IF YOU’RE INJURED, MISTER MITARAI WILL HEAL YOU UP! ANYBODY IMMOBILE? NO? AWESOME!!! FIRST CLASS IN YEARS TO NOT BREAK YOUR LEGS! NICE JOB, EVERYONE!”
Takara makes her way back to the entrance, her shoulders sagging a little with exhaustion. She’d never used her quirk that much in such a short time, so she was beat. Getting back to the gates, she sees the pink-haired boy once again, and this time he’s getting a bubble blown at him by an imposing man in a white coat. As it pops against his head, Takara sees some cuts and scrapes on his arms slowly vanishing. Some kind of healing quirk, she guesses. Handy for UA.
The brunette lingers near the gate for a couple minutes, debating whether she should introduce herself properly or not. The issue is solved for her when another applicant comes over, planting a kiss on his lips with a wide smile and a soft giggle. He smiles back, pulling them into his side and resting his head on their shoulder as they walk off.
Takara has to fight back tears as she turns and walks away. She doesn’t say anything to her mother when she gets home, instead going straight to her room and slamming the door. Her Earphone Jack poster flutters in the breeze from that action as Takara flops face-first onto her bed, unable to hold back her emotions any longer. She falls asleep soon, the combined exhaustion of the exams and her tears pulling her mind into darkness.
A month later, in the UA faculty room, a certain green-haired pro hero looks over the students set to be in his class. First up is... Takara Kagayaku. Quirk: Rebound. It seems to have some similarities to the leader of Humarise's quirk. Likely a coincidence, but it's worth considering otherwise. She can create areas that returns any attack back at the one who sent it, with double the force. Quite interesting. Could she adjust the positions of the areas after making them? If something was caught between two of her areas, what would happen? So many possibilities!
Unfortunately, she seems to lack confidence. That can easily be worked on. But Izuku knows he'll have some problem children this year, so it might be smart to keep her away from... him, at the very least. Opposite sides of the room, perhaps? That might be best for her. She also seems to be incredibly emotional. Perhaps she developed a strong infatuation towards... Hikito, that's the one. Vlad has him, so at least Izuku is spared that drama. Takara will definitely need training to manage her emotions better. Wearing your heart on your sleeve on patrol is rarely a good idea, after all.
Izuku hums to himself, already filling out a notebook with plans for how to improve her quirk, noting down various exercises to increase the size, amount, and range of her rebounding fields. With the right training, she could absolutely graduate and place right into the top 100 heroes, if she really wanted to. But does she want that? No way to find out without her in his class.