'The day has come.'

Happy chirping birds were accompanying the sunny, yet cold day that was surrounding the morning when the entrance exam was going to take place.

And me, with registration papers in one hand, I stood before the large building of the prestigious U.A. Academy. Petrified.

The icy air moved my (h/c) hair from time to time, making shivers go down all my body. However, I didn't take refuge in the scarf that was almost hiding my mouth; I was too concentrated admiring the enormous academia I wished to join in, and I was being sure that I was hiding well the name I decided to give to my quirks as a combination of both, not sure if it sounded well enough.

'Am I really ready for this?'

I was nervous.

Too nervous for my own good.

Lots of people were entering to take the same exam as me, and I couldn't help but lose all the little confidence I gained; all of them must have great quirks, and I was sure they weren't as hopeless as to need to take an intensive training to have at least a simple chance to be accepted like I did. The knot forming in my stomach was real and painful, honestly.

"I-I should be entering." I muttered to myself, not very convinced. "I don't want to disappoint Katsuki either..."

Although with a little difficulty, my legs decided to collaborate with me and allowed me to enter the big gate. My anxiety increased with every step I took, and my movements became even more robotized. Thank God it was cold enough to blame it for my odd behavior.

However, who could have guessed that day the world wanted to give me a break for once? I spotted a certain green-haired boy through the corner of my eye, who I instantly recognized, and helped me forget a little about my previous negative thoughts.

"Good morning, Izuku!" I said with enthusiasm as I quickly approached him from behind, touching his shoulder.

Bad idea.

The high-pitched scream that the boy let out from his mouth was more than enough to brainwash my head and make me forget about all the tension that was destroying my confidence. He jumped like a scared cat before turning to connect his green orbs with my (e/c) ones.

"(F-F/n)!" He exclaimed, almost choking. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

I couldn't help but laugh; he was so damn cute. "I'm sorry! I swear I didn't intend to scare you." I said, putting my palms together and sending him an apologetic smile. "I saw you were about to enter the registration site, and I wanted to go with you, too. I don't really know if I'm excited or just nervous, so staying with you will give me the emotional support I need right now." I chuckled.

Izuku replied with a sweet and kind smile, adorning his freckled face. "Honestly, I'm also quite nervous." He admitted. "I'm glad you're here, (f/n), otherwise I guess that I'd be staring at the building the whole day without moving, haha..."

I didn't know that my heart was going to work so hard today; Izuku's words broke me with the strongest 'heart squeeze' of my life.

'This Izuku...'

Even if the green-haired boy managed to come to take the entrance exam, all of us knew that he was quirkless, something that made me worry about him a lot. He wasn't planning on joining the general studies; he wanted to join the hero course and, in all honesty, I didn't know how any of this could end. Though, if he already made this far, the last thing I was going to do was showing him my concern; the only thing he deserved and needed was encouragement, like all of us here.

"Alright, let's g-"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, FUCKING LOSERS!!"

'Ah, yes, the one who was missing.'

A quite irritated Katsuki with registration papers in hand caught our attention from behind, as well as other people's, obviously. If it wasn't because I was talking with Izuku, I would have said that he had been trying to kill us with his red eyes as he approached, due to his intense expression.

"Ah, Kacchan! M-Morning!"

'We weren't even in your way...' I thought to myself when I saw him walk past us, without making any eye contact.

I guessed that the great Katsuki Bakugou had to be nervous, too; if not, I couldn't give an answer to that morning irascibility... or maybe I had been right the whole time and that was his default mode. Anyway, regardless of his nature, he didn't have to go through all of this alone.

"Hey, wait!" I called as grabbed his cold hand, making him instantly tense up as he stopped walking. "We're also going to register ourselves, why don't we go together?" I asked, with even more enthusiasm, hoping with all my heart that the ash blond boy would fall for this genuine and cute smile I was giving to him.

It was true that I didn't know how to call this weird trio: the childhood friends whose relationship was rotten due to someone's fault, and the girl who joined the party at the last moment and made friends with them... separately. Though, believe it or not, this was the best opportunity to make the three of us get close together and help encourage each other, and even more in this case, taking into account that this would determine our future.

However, Katsuki's plans were quite different.

"Fuck off, you damn filthy rat!"

"Ouch!"

"K-Kacchan!"

'Huh...?'

This boy had been rude since the first moment I met him, he had been still acting like an asshole even when we already had the chance to know each other a bit more, but, at the end, I discovered he wasn't as bad as I thought, and we even improved our relationship enough as to reach a point that we could actually call ourselves friends. I thought we were comfortable with each other already, I had so many good thoughts about him in my head... But this reaction of him left me totally speechless.

'What the...? Why does he look at me... with so much disgust right now?'

Katsuki's fiery eyes and gritting teeth seemed as if he was holding back the words he actually wanted to use. "Stop trying to get all fucking friendly now when you're about to compete against everyone to fucking join this damn place. It's disgusting." He finally said, frowning at me with clear annoyance.

"Huh? What do you mean? Well, that may be true, but that doesn't mean tha-"

"Of course it's fucking true, you idiot!" He interrupted as he walked towards me, lowering his head to my level and making me feel terribly intimidated due to his dangerous closeness. His gaze felt as if he were looking directly into my soul; I felt as if I was shrinking. "Since your stupid ass doesn't seem to get it, let me help you once more, okay?"

"G-Get what...?"

"Kacchan, stop it! Is this really necessar-"

"From now on! You and me, (f/n) (l/n), we're fucking opponents, enemies, adversaries... whatever the fuck you want to call it, you hear me?" He said with a dark tone, without blinking. "And this nerd... I remember I told you not to talk with losers. Now you've become one of them."

And with that, he shoved his free hand in his pockets and disappeared in the crowd.

"Bakugou..." I said under my breath, unable to move.

I couldn't believe what just happened; he simply turned away and continued walking without caring much about the fact that the words his mouth left pierced my feelings. The ash blond boy didn't even apologize after witnessing my dazed expression when he slapped my hand away so harshly... What the hell is wrong with him all of a sudden? Sometimes I tell myself that I should be prepared for things like these when I'm around him... I guess I lowered my guard today. It was incredible how competitive he could get.

Izuku was speechless, too, but he got to notice that I was still rubbing the hand his childhood friend slapped away. The red color that replaced my (s/c) skin at the back was still there, and it didn't plan on leaving soon. He knew that it had to have hurt a lot; my hands were cold due to the cool weather.

"I'm so sorry, (f/n)." The green-haired male apologized, breaking the cold silence. "I know him, and I know how he can be sometimes, believe me, I know it more than anyone else. Kacchan has never been good at socializing, he always thinks we're in his way... Please, (f/n), don't think too much about this, you have to have your head fresh for the exam, okay? You don't deserve this."

I couldn't help but sigh with disappointment. Izuku was again apologizing for Katsuki's behavior when it wasn't his fault; he had so assumed that his friend would always remain that way, that he felt bad for not having given me some advice before to avoid things like these. Though he was right, this wasn't the moment to worry about the hot-headed boy when my future depended on what I was able to show today.

"Heh, by 'sometimes' don't you mean 'all the time'?" I teased a bit, trying to help to change the sour mood. "Let's go, we still need to register ourselves, right?"

Izuku's face lightened up and sent me a genuine smile. "Yeah! We should hurry to take good seats before the explanation for the exam starts." He suggested as he began to walk towards the building with eagerness.

"Yup!"

But luck didn't seem to be on his side today. As Izuku took the first step, he stumbled with his own foot and fell.

"Ah! Izuku!" I cried.

I didn't react on time to catch him, though, fortunately, a cute girl with short, brown hair touched his body before the boy and the ground could get that passionate kiss they were about to share, making him... float?

"Are you okay?"

"Derp?"

Her eyes widened in realization after his reaction. "Oh, it's my quirk! Sorry for stopping you but... I just thought that it'd have been a bad omen if you tripped, you know?" She explained herself while releasing Izuku, who was still in shock due to what had just happened.

"Thank you very much for your help!" I exclaimed, relieved.

"Hehe, it was nothing." She answered while rubbing the back of her head, a pink blush on her cheeks. She, then, directed her attention to the green-eyed boy. "I'm sure that it was the jitters' fault that you lose your balance, right? I'm quite nervous, too."

I sent her a smile and answered for Izuku, since he still seemed spaced out somehow, looking at the girl as if she were an angel that just saved him from darkness. "Don't we all?" I giggled.

The girl chuckled, too. "Yes, you're righ-"

"L-L-LET'S GIVE OUR BEST!!" The boy suddenly cried with unexpected enthusiasm, scaring me in the process.

'What the...' His abrupt change of behavior startled me, though I thought I may know why...

The girl raised her fist up in the air and mimicked his tone. "Yeah!"

'Pfft!'

Izuku couldn't get any redder; I thought he didn't expect that his throat would be able to betray him and let out that cry of encouragement that caught everyone's attention, and even less expected that the girl would react so positively.

"G-G-Good l-luck!"

"Good luck to you two, too!" She exclaimed as she waved at us, walking away.

I could have stopped the brown-haired girl before she left, and ask her if she wanted to come with us; I realized that Izuku became a little enthusiastic at the moment she appeared... But I thought they were enough heart attacks for him today. He was still wearing that cute blush on his face as he tried to keep following the girl's figure with his eyes.

'How cute!'

- - - - -

Trembling.

"Alright, next!"

Trembling was the word to describe my current state.

'Out of all people that could register me here...'

The gray-haired man with red hero suit leaned forward a little and moved his head from side to side, looking for the next person in the line until he finally made eye contact with me.

"Come here, young one. I don't bite." He said with a big smile, clearly teasing me with his showing, pointed, lower canines.

'... it had to be the most intimidating one.'

I approached the tall, muscular man, and stopped in front of him, shaking. I wanted to say 'good morning, sir' or something similar, but I was struggling internally with something else. I took a quick look to my right side, and saw how Izuku was still busy formalizing his registration a bit far from where I was; I hoped I was fast enough to finish before him, which I doubted.

"May you hand me the papers, young lady?"

I drove my gaze back towards the man in front of me and nodded, though with some hesitation. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you."

I couldn't help but shut my eyes as I handed them over, wishing with all my heart that he wouldn't want to leave a comment after reading that thing.

'Please, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything...' I repeated in my head with crossed fingers.

"What?"

'GOD, NO.'

"What's written here? Sudden Death!?" The male exclaimed with a too loud tone to my comfort.

'OH, C'MON!! WHY!? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SHOUT!? WHY DO YOU NEED EVERYONE TO HEAR YOU!? WHY!? UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH-!!'

"Y-Yes..." I answered with a shy tone, scared of the thing he may say next.

The sharp-eyed man brought his big hand to his chin and caressed it, arching an eyebrow. "My, my, are this kind of names for quirks allowed in the census? I thought they weren't fond of the ones that resemble dark themes."

"Apparently..."

He stared at it a few seconds more without changing the expression his face was holding, though he smiled at me eventually. "Well, sure you get to learn a new thing every day, haha."

"Haha, yes..."

'Yeah, sure, 'apparently'. That, and also having someone in your family with enough money to buy all those corrupt politicians and contribute to the imbalance of classes in this society.'

I was glad that the next few minutes were full of silence until he finished; the last thing I needed was another similar damn comment. I wasn't prepared yet to check if Izuku heard that either, so I decided that'd be a problem for future me and I didn't move.

"Okay, it's all done. Good luck!"

"Thank you, sir."

I returned to the benches of the waiting hall to wait for Izuku until he finished, though I already found him there. As I approached the boy, I noticed that his expression was quite intriguing and that he was hyperventilating; his eyes were shining bright, and his grin was so big that almost concerned me. Though at least... he didn't seem to have heard anything...

"(F/n)! This place is so great, it's full of pro heroes!" He exclaimed, showing high levels of excitement. "I've been talking to Cementoss, a-and I thought I was about to faint there!"

I was unable to hold my laughter at the only thought of him actually fainting only by talking to them. "You're right." I answered before pointing at the pro hero behind me. "The one who registered me was Vlad King."

"VLAD KING!?"

'National Shouting Day, okay, I get it.' I said to myself with sarcasm as Izuku's loud voice startled me once more today.

Unexpectedly, the spiky-haired man's attention was caught due to Izuku's fanboying and decided to wave his left hand at us, accompanied by an awkward toothy smile.

"S-Shouldn't we get going? The explanation is about to start." I wasn't sure if I was willing to start the exam or just willing to leave that place.

"Oh, dang! We're gonna miss the good seats!" He exclaimed as he quickly left the room, leaving me behind.

"Hey, wait!"

"Pssst!"

'Eh?'

Before I could take the first step and go after my friend, I thought I heard someone that was calling me from behind. I turned my head a bit, not sure if it had just been my imagination, only to find Vlad King trying to catch my attention, with a voice only loud enough for me to understand him.

"I think that your quirk's name sounds super cool! Give your best!" He whispered.

The pro hero must have realized that I had a bad time when he started talking about it, so he wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything bad with that.

'Heh...'

"Thank you!"

- - - - -

Trying to go through the crowd to enter the academia's big meeting lounge became a total quest as the spare time before the explanation was reaching its end. Once we were in, the hugeness of the room left us amazed, and looking for a free spot was something that we knew well it was going to be even more difficult.

"Ah! Look, Izuku! There are some free seats there!" I exclaimed relieved after eternal minutes of searching, hits, and jostles. I didn't waste any time and grabbed his hand to drag him along.

'Finally some luck!'

"Huh? You fucking following me or what?"

An irritated voice that both of us recognized well reached our ears, which made my heart flip instantly. What were the damn odds of finding the exact seats that were next to Katsuki!?

'Yikes, no luck, I guess.'

"O-Oh, hi, Kacchan." The green-eyed boy became as stiff as me at the moment he saw him.

"Hi, Bakugou."

"Shut up." He scowled, driving his gaze away.

I didn't want to say 'hi', I still felt hurt because of what happened earlier. However, it wasn't part of my nature being rude like this damn walking-grenade... Though, in the end, it would have been better if I just kept quiet.

The presentation started eventually; a man with weird blond hair, also known as 'Present Mic', appeared in the middle of the room and the explanation began. Nevertheless, all the babbling of the pro hero could be summed up only by saying that we had to gain points by destroying robots, which seemed easy, taking into account my ability with the scythe. He also mentioned that there were many different areas where we could take the exam, but neither of us three were sent together when we checked our destinations.

"Ow, I thought we were going to go to the same area..." I complained while pouting. "I'd like it more if any of you were with me."

Katsuki rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance at the moment my words reached his ears. "Fucking have thought it better before coming here and thinking that we're going to play stupid games, useless bitch." He growled.

Both Izuku and me gasped in surprise; at this point, I wasn't sure if the ash blond boy was acting like this because he was nervous... or because there were any other hidden reasons. It was true that he used to become ruder when his childhood friend was around, but he never exceeded certain limits.

'I don't understand what the hell is his problem.'

I wished them good luck before parting ways and went directly to the changing rooms to change into my training clothes. I thought it would be a nice idea to bring the same clothing I used when training with Katsuki as a good luck charm, but it was causing me a headache rather than anything else.

'Oh, fuck you, Katsuki, this is my moment.' I told myself when I realized I was thinking too much about him, shaking these thoughts away.

I tied my hair in a ponytail and stepped into the bus; I hoped that, at least, I could have some time to calm myself down a bit during the short trip to my destined area, but the other examinees in the bus were just unable to keep quiet even after when we arrived there.

'THIS PLACE IS HELLA HUGE, WHAT THE FUCK!!' I shouted internally with eyes wide open; my body was shaking, my legs turned into jelly and I believed I could fall at any moment.

I was so tense; that place looked exactly like a damn real city and it was overwhelming as fuck. I tried not to hyperventilate as much as I could, I knew that it would make me go into panic mode, and that was the last thing I needed. I even felt cramps in my muscles... This was the worst.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of strong hands grabbed my shoulders from behind energetically and began to massage them. I was about to shout in fear: someone I didn't know was touching me without my permission, but that person was so skilled with their hands that more than shouting, I thought I was almost going to let out a moan there in front of everyone. My muscles relaxed instantly, the stiffness left my body, and I decided to close my eyes to savor the moment. That stranger was making me feel as if I were born again.

"There, there... no need to be so nervous." A male voice whispered in my ear. "Does it feel better?"

I took a few moments before answering; I wanted to make sure nothing indecent escaped my mouth. "Mmm... yes..."

The boy eventually stopped and let me turn my body around to greet him. His lips were drawing a big grin when our eyes met; he was taller than me, almost like Katsuki, with spiky red hair which matched his big red eyes.

"Oh my god, thank you very much... I wasn't aware I needed something like that until now." I admitted, a pink blush adorning my cheeks.

The boy seemed to be flattered after hearing so and sent me another smile, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm glad I helped you, heh, that's what a hero does after all, right?" He said enthusiastically, flexing his biceps.

'Oh, my God, this guy is so nice.' I thought to myself, unable to hold my chuckles.

"By the way, I'm Eijirou Kirishima. Nice to meet you."

"My name is (f/n) (l/n). It's a pleasure to me-"

"... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND STAAAAAAAAAART!!"

I couldn't finish the sentence when we heard Present Mic's loud and scratchy voice giving the starting signal.

'Fuck! That was all too sudden!'

The gates were now open and the rush made me almost fall flat on my face when I stumbled with my own foot. I started running towards the crowd, the red-eyed boy by my side.

"Good luck, (l/n)! We'll meet later!" He exclaimed before disappearing between all the other examinees that were entering the place.

"Good luck to you, too, Kirishima!"

I didn't thank Eijirou well enough for helping me get rid of the tension that was blocking me earlier, but something was telling me that I was going to meet him in the future...

'Alright, focus!'

I kept running at the same speed, without using my quirk yet; I knew I had to distribute well my vital energy if wanted to remain standing during the exam.

'Okay, (f/n), you've been working hard for this, right? Don't hold back now and give your all... Use your speed, use your scythe... Prove to your parents that being weak has never been an option!'

The crowd in front of me wasn't dissolved yet and they didn't allow me to go any further due to their slow pace. I had to act now; time was running. I couldn't let myself depend on others.

'I'm faster...'

I slowed my speed down until I determined there was enough distance between me and the crowd, only to start moving my legs at a high speed to propel my body and jump over their heads, landing in front of them all. At that moment, some robots appeared in sight.

"ROBOTS!!" Some of them shouted.

'Perfect.'

They were a few one-pointers turning the corner of a near building, so everyone took the direction towards them with desperation.

'I need my scythe...'

As I continued running, I brought my hand in front of me and summoned my weapon before stopping in my tracks and jump. I wanted to have a better vision of my surroundings, something that made it easier for me to throw myself to the robots and cut them all in half with a quick swing, leaving one or two for the rest.

'I... I did it!'

I landed on my feet with a little difficulty due to the loss of balance, panting, feeling a bit dizzy.

'I did it... And I didn't lose control at all!'

I drove my gaze to my scythe, grinning with determination. The sunlight reflected on the chine and made it shine gorgeously. In the end, it didn't look as terrible as they used to tell me; this was the weapon of a hero!

'Show 'em what are you made of, (f/n)!'

Little did I knew that I cried victory too early about not losing control...

- - - - -

~Meanwhile~

The innumerable screens of the dark room were the only things that illuminated the faces of the judges that were watching meticulously how the exam was going.

"Such a wide battlefield and limited time bring out the best of them." One of the judges commented.

"Indeed. This year seems promising." Another one commented. "You just need to look, for example, at that kid with multiple arms... or that one with engines in his legs... also the one of the laser... and, oh, this one is a natural-born warrior with his explosions."

The judges seemed amazed by what they were witnessing, though someone in particular of the examinees was extremely outstanding, who also caught most of the judges' attention, especially the one of a certain hero in particular.

"OOOHH!?" He exclaimed with emphasis.

The woman beside him drove her gaze towards the muscular man with an arched eyebrow. "Mm? What's the problem, All Might?"

The said pro hero realized that he had expressed his surprise too loudly and apologized. "Oh! It's nothing, it's nothing! Forgive my manners, Midnight."

Both of them directed their attention again on the screens in front of them, though All Might was still inside his thoughts.

"(F/n) (l/n), eh?" He muttered, rubbing his chin. "So, you've managed to take the exam after all..."

Then, without wasting any more time, someone pushed a big, red button, and a weird noise came from the battlefield, taking all of the potential U.A. students by surprise.

"The true exam starts now. Let's see how they can handle this."

That button was no more, no less than the only thing that was needed to release the hugest robot of the exam, whose destruction wasn't worth it... or was it?

It was a zero-pointer.