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Niko sat at his desk, eyes strained on watching the letter laying in front of him. From UA. This would be the moment deciding it all, had Niko been accepted or had he been rejected. Had the training he had put into his stamina and speed, the training into his strength to make up for the weaknesses of his quirk, had the missed hang outs with friends in favor of studying, had the months and months of preparations been worth it? Or had he wasted his time? Had his biggest fear come true?
The boy shook his head. His hair, still damp from the shower he had taken in hopes of calming his mind, cold against his neck. He shouldn't be getting caught up in his thoughts again. But he couldn't help but recall his entrance exams.
The written test had been the easiest part. Niko had been fully prepared for every question; the hero history and rules, the regular school curriculum sections on classic Japanese, English (one of his strong suits), hell, he'd even felt confident in his answers in math!
It was the practical exam that felt like it was going to be what slams the door leading to UA and the hero world in his face. Niko's quirk wasn't strong. 'All bark, no bite' as he liked to joke with his friends. Good for some cool party tricks and laughs from friends. But defeating villains? With light that can't even harm people and barely influence objects, unless highly concentrated? That would be his biggest challenge. But Niko had trained. Daily workouts had helped him gain some slightly above average muscle strength. And he'd done lots and lots of stamina training. To be able to do anything useful with his light, Niko would need to release a lot of it. And the light his body produces is tied directly to his heart rate, so for him to release the needed amount of light, he'd need to keep his heart rate high. And what better way to do that then to be always in motion!
So Niko, along with every other test taker, had entered the arena, a mock-city with big robots acting as the villains meant to be defeated worth between 1-3 points and arena traps worth 0 points. And from there on everything went has he feared.
The brunette had spent the whole day from the moment he had woken up storing all light his body made inside of himself. That had been straining but it assured he had a large reserve of light he could reach back to when faced with a robot and then hopefully damage it enough to earn him enough points to pass. However, every time he reached one of the "villains" someone was there a split second earlier, destroying them in an instant right in front of his eyes. One person in particular, a menacing looking boy with wild blond hair, kept blowing up the robots, sending scrap metal everywhere. But Niko couldn't help but admire the strength of his quirk. If only his was that powerful...
Running around the arena for so long had made it harder and harder to keep in the growing levels of light building up inside of his body. Niko already felt his heart straining. Then he finally saw it. In an area away from most other students, just a few meters ahead of him was one of the biggest robot villains he had seen! It was slamming a huge, robotic arm into one of the buildings causing large cracks to form and some rubble to fall.
"That's gotta be worth at least two points," Niko had thought. He was about to try an ambush from behind. Maybe if he released all the light he'd saved up at once, the force would be enough to slam the thing into the building more and defeat it. But then he heard a scream. Frantically, Niko tried to find out where it came from. Finally, the brunette spotted someone. A girl, another test taker, was trapped underneath some fallen rubble. And right by the wall, cornered by the building and robot, were two more students! They seemed frozen with fear. Niko threw his original plan out the window. Frontal attack it was then!
Niko had been running around the mock-city at a steady pace he could keep up for an extended period of time but this time he was sprinting. Coming to a sliding stop in front of the two students at the building wall, the brunette’s back faced them. Then Niko raised his right arm, holding it steady with his left hand.
"CLOSE YOUR EYES!" He shouted.
His heart raced to the point that the only thing Niko heard was his own heart beat drumming in his ears and the eventual crack of what seemed to be metal. That had been the only indicator to Niko's attack having done anything. The blindingly bright blast he had released from his hand had forced his own eyes closed as well.
The robot had a rather large dent in its head and had stopped moving.Niko let out a heaved breath when he noticed small stone chunks falling from the top of the building. He lifted his head and watched as a large part of a wall came crashing down. Right above the student still trapped underneath other rubble.
One leap forward and Niko used the smidges of light his body was letting out, concentrating them in a tiny blast from his finger tips, to push the wall part just far enough up to allow him to push it to the side with his own arms, away from the student. Face to face with the trapped girl, both teens blinked at each other for a few moments. Niko caught his breath. He was still glowing brightly with the adrenaline push he'd just gotten and used that extra adrenaline to free the other test taker. He was about to ask if she was okay when an announcement rang through the arena. They had five minutes left. Just like that, the three previously frozen with fear and trapped students had taken off in different directions to find more robots to fight.
And Niko did so too.
However, Lady Luck had not been on his side that day. He had found no other robots that hadn't already been taken care of by other students and as Niko was running around corners and alleys and streets, as panic settled in his veins, replacing the adrenaline from before, the bell rang. His time was up. Niko had defeated one villain. Over the course of the entire exam.
And now all Niko could do was stare holes into the enveloped letter on his desk. Maybe if he stared hard enough, it would open on its own, then Niko would carry no blame for letting out the bad news trapped inside a simple piece of paper. A simple, small, thin, folded up piece of paper that was nothing more than just paper containing more paper so there was really nothing, really it would be pathetic even to be afraid of opening some paper-
There. He'd done it. Ripped open, out of the envelope Niko pulled a piece of paper folded in half so he only saw the blank side and... a small, round device? Niko nudged it with a pencil, then tapped the top and suddenly a hologram of UA's principal, Principal Nezu, popped up. Niko almost fell out of his desk chair. The sudden fear and anxiety that rushed through his veins spiked his heart beat so much that his previously dark room was now lit up by Niko's body alone.
"Hello, Niko Hoshikawa," the hologram principal's message began. Niko feared the worst.
But it started off rather well. Niko had passed the written exam with flying colors, getting results fit for a Hero Course. Suddenly the young boy felt hope blooming in his chest.
"...sadly you're score in the practical exam wasn't on par with that of your written test. The villain you defeated has earned you two points."
His stomach dropped. This was it. This. Was. It. Niko had put all his eggs in one basket. If only he hadn't been so stupid and applied to other hero schools too! If only he hadn't been so stupid to believe he could be a hero! He'd bet everything he had, every one of his dreams, had put all his passion and work into this and it wasn't enough. No matter how much he wanted this, it just wasn't meant to be. He'd been reckless with his future and he felt tears welling up in his eyes and he'd spent every waking moment dreaming but maybe if he had just spent more time in reality and-
"However, you have received a total of 72 points in the practical exam. The villain you fought off was of medium difficulty but you managed a feat greater than beating the villain. You saved three other students in a highly dangerous situation. Actually, I had sent out a teacher to come help them but you got there sooner, so there was no need for teacher intervention. Good job, Niko Hoshikawa! You have passed the UA Entrance exams and have earned a spot in the Hero Course: A. We look forward to seeing you at the start of the school year."
Niko would have expected all his light to go out considering how he felt like his heart had stopped. But no. The brightness of the room didn't let up. In fact it might have gotten brighter. First, one big, round tear rolled down Niko's cheek. Then many, many more followed until he was silently sobbing into his hands, hunched over his desk, soaking the notes he had scattered around, careful not to make any noise and wake up his sleeping family.
He'd done it.
He'd made it into UA.
It... it was worth it. It had paid off. Everything.