I have no explanation, no real reasoning, but I told Inasa everything. I told him about All For One and Tomura, I told him about my Mom and everything that happened, the woman from the window, and even the rescue. I told him as we ran from building to building looking for people. "Really?" He asked, eyes completely shocked, "I remember seeing that fight on TV! Towards the end, there was this great big golden dragon in the sky! I've never seen anything like it before! Was that you?" I shrugged because I really didn't know.

"My Quirk is still something I don't understand..." I told him, "I didn't tell anyone... but... All For One was trying to remove it from me..." I stared at my hands as I spoke for some reason, both feeling heavy with a weight I couldn't explain. "Whatever he did had stunned it... and I haven't been able to figure out what it is yet..."

"Oh... Well, I won't tell anyone your secret!" Inasa promised, "Heroes Honor!" His smile... I wanted to see it again and again, I never wanted to see it fall. "Hold on, so does that mean you haven't smiled at all?" Of all the things he picked up from that, that's what he gets!

"N-No, I haven't..." I said a bit embarrassed, "Honestly, I've tried to find ways to smile with the others in my class... but... nothing's really worked."

"Have you tried flying?" Inasa said a bit loudly.

"Flying?" I asked, "People can't fly."

"Sure they can!" He said confidently, "And your Quirk has to do with that glowing tattoo on your arm right? Since it's a dragon, you've probably got something really cool you can do like breath fire or even create giant wings!" The fire inside me burned brighter than before. All the new ones people have tried to give me turning to ash and helping me burn. "There are two people down there!" He pointed out quickly. I took a peek, both of their targets had been hit, and each of us could hit the last ones.

"There's one for both of us," I said and slowed to a stop.

"Nah! You go ahead!" He said, "There's a bigger group up ahead!"

"Uh-" I held the ball in my hands, my eyes running wild between the ball the people, and Inasa. Much like a Hero already, he was a complete stranger who had shown me kindness. "I can't, if I hit one of them the other will be looking. His target will be blocked."

"Then we'll try with your Quirk," He said and stood on my right side, "Your arm is glowing right! So some part of your Quirk has to be working!"

"What do you do for your Quirk?" I asked.

"That's not what matters!" He told me, the people running farther from us, and him chasing them down. "What matters is that you're going to make it! No matter how hard or impossible things get! You are going to be a Hero! One with a bright and golden smile!" I could feel the tears in my eyes as I sprinted to catch up with him. For a stranger I've never met to want to try so hard and rekindle my fire... what was this called? What was it now?

I closed my eyes and thought for a moment about nothing at all, then, when I opened them, I could see them. One For All and Tomura, running side by side together. I had two clear shots, two balls in my hands, but if I throw one wrong, then they'll both attack us. I was afraid, I was more scared than I've ever been, but with Inasa standing beside me and the ragging flames in my body. I could feel myself pulling out. Running free and wild, far from where he could reach me. I was slipping out of the grip he had on my shoulders, sliding my arms from his hands, and throwing my fears away.

I could feel it happening before I did it, my eyes lit up with a bright golden fire, both the balls setting themselves in the same flames as I took a single breath and threw them. Even though both boys dodged them, the fire guided the balls to the targets, and I hit my marks. I had passed the first test.

"I hit them..." I mumbled as Inasa and I stood there, wide-eyed, "And I used my Quirk!" It was the first time I really screamed while talking, excitement and joy hitting me from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Inasa was so excited he threw me into the air with his Quirk. The sun shining on my face as the air around us seemed to clear. This is it, this is my final break... my last pull from you. And with my body, soaring high into the sky, I could feel my arm, finally, be released from his hand...

All For One didn't chase me, or send someone else after me.

I was free.

Finally.

There was a reason for this, wasn't there Mom? A reason for you not telling me about Dad or about my Quirk. A reason for why you kept so much from All For One when once you even told me you used to say so much to him. You had always wanted to be a Hero, but more than that, you wanted to make people smile. That's who you were, and who I am... is a girl who can use my fears and push forward, with a smile so bright it will make those she saves want to smile too.

"Nana!" Inasa called as he floated up beside me, a bright laugh in his voice, "You're smiling!" He didn't have to say it... I could feel the bright pull at my lips and the light inside me igniting even brighter than ever before. I smiled at Inasa, really smiled, then used my arms and legs to guide me through his wind. flying with him so he could get his targets, and we could both pass this test.

"There's a lot of them right here," I said and slowed on the edge of a building, "Take your pick."

"Alright! I'll float you above me so that you don't get hit!" Inasa said and began to throw large gusts of wind around us.

"W-Wait! What are you talking about?" I asked as my body tumbled in his breeze, which turned into an entire cyclone. I could easily say this... Inasa... is crazy.

"I believe it's very important for Heroes to have passion!" Inasa yelled as everyone's balls are ripped into the vortex, "And all of you are fighting with it! Thank you! That's one of my favorite things on Earth to see!" He raised his hand up, and in a swift motion, threw it down. "Please let me join your fight and show my own passion! I'm so looking forward to it!" It was raining balls... the gust and screams were so strong it was hard to see what happened.

"It's about time somebody perked up and passed-AHHH!!!" Mera yelled over the speakers, "WHAT?! There are 120 more people taken down! A single person managed to do that in just one attack!"

"That's the stuff," Inasa said and clenched his fist, "I won!"

"Inasa," I said while floating above him, "Wasn't that a little overboard?"

"But I won!" He whined and I let out a short laugh.

"That actually surprised me so much that I'm awake!" Mera shouted, "I assume we'll see a lot of people passing from now on! Everyone, let's get this out of the way so I can take a break! Good? Good." Inasa and I stood there laughing for a moment before he picked himself up and we both used his wind to leave. Our targets were glowing blue and telling us to head to the Anteroom. I was screaming and calling out with excited cheers the whole way through.

"We once burned in the sky..." I wanted to fly to now... on my own, without someone else's help, that would be my next step once we made it back to school. Once I passed this test.

Inasa and I were the first to pass the exam, so we waited and talking together in the Anteroom before other people from his school arrived, but still no one from my class. I was constantly looking at the numbers that came in, but my eyes could barely see anything with my hair. This new version of me that had once enjoyed my hair as the long and tangled mess it was, now found it difficult and unnerving to see past.

"Inasa," Someone said as they walked over to us, another boy maybe, whose body was covered in hair, "I should have known that large-scale attack in the start was yours. You don't have to show off so much."

"I am very sorry, Mora!" Inasa said with a large bow, almost hitting his head again.

"I am as well," I said and stood beside Inasa, "I couldn't do anything to stop him, both of us were too far in the moment to do anything but our best."

"Uh-But, Nana you didn't do anything?!" Inasa shouted.

"Exactly," I told him, "I could see the big attack coming and did nothing. That's why I'm apologizing." Inasa scratched the back of his head, clearly embarrassed, but I could only smile, my hair falling into my face once more. "PFT!" I continued to pull it out. "Now that I'm not as shy as before my long hair is kinda annoying... Maybe I can use my hairpiece to keep it back." I reached up for my cape and felt nothing but the cloth, the smile on my face dropping immediately...

It must have burnt up in the smoke...

Or was carried away in Inasa's gust earlier, and for that, I gave him angry, narrow eyes.