The first fourteen years of the life of the shy and adorable cinnamon roll, completely obsessed with heroes and their Quirks, known as Izuku Midoriya had been like some kind of huge sick joke, consisting of a series of unfortunate events followed one after another.

Izuku's tragedy started when he was only five years old. His dream of being a great hero like All Might was trampled after being diagnosed as Quirkless. To make it worse, not only he had no support from his father, absent like always, but he also had to watch his poor mother blaming herself for everything.

Perhaps his best friend Katsuki Bakugou would help him to accept the fact he'd never be like All Might...?

INCORRECT.

Before Izuku was even aware of it, Katsuki no longer saw him as his neighbor and childhood friend, but as Deku. Just a Quirkless boy from his school that wasn't even worth the air he breathed and which Katsuki could use as a practice dummy to strengthen his Quirk without fearing for any repercussions.

After all, Katsuki had an amazing Quirk and would be the No. 1 Hero in the future. Meanwhile, Deku... He was just a Deku, so the most he could aspire was to maybe, and just maybe, serve him as bait or third-rate cannon fodder.

So nine years went by, but despite the passage of time, Izuku was fundamentally the same: Without a Quirk, without friends, without self-esteem, and without the physical or mental fortitude to change his situation.

He only counted with a very well-tuned mind and a lot of Quirks analysis notebooks that he didn't even know how to use. So a deep-down part of him had already given up about being a hero and was just waiting for the perfect moment to abandon that childhood dream he knew wasn't going to happen.

Ironically, it was All Might, the man who represented his dreams and ideals, who destroyed them. He was even stupid enough to hope, even if just for an insignificant moment, that All Might would answer he could be a hero despite not having a Quirk...

But things were not like that.

All Might answer was no. It was at that moment, he stopped being Izuku Midoriya and truly became Deku, a boy without hopes or dreams.

But even then... He was incapable to ignore how his ex-best friend, and current torturer, was suffering at the hands of the same sludge villain that just a few minutes ago had tried to kill him. Because it was his fault the villain escaped, as well as the fact All Might couldn't capture it again after exhausting his Quirk time-limit.

Everything was his fault. So despite being a weakling, despite not having a Quirk and feeling completely terrified, Izuku ran towards Katsuki and the villain, and his brave actions bought Katsuki enough time to be rescued by All Might.

As expected, the heroes scolded him for his imprudence and then praised Katsuki and his Quirk -although he hadn't done anything besides being a hostage. Despite how unfair that was, Izuku didn't feel upset about it. Something inside him was reborn and felt stronger than before; maybe he'd never be a hero like All Might, but he wouldn't surrender or become the useless Deku that Katsuki thought he was.

It was then that it happened.

"You can be a hero!"

Despite his weaknesses, All Might recognized the potential to be a hero in Izuku, and not just any hero, but his successor.

All Might was willing to grant him his Quirk: One for All.

After that, Izuku faced months of hellish training to strengthen his body enough to access the immense power of All Might's Quirk, and hopefully, not explode into a thousand pieces in the process.

Then it came the day to receive the legendary Quirk and put his training to the test: The Entrance Examination to UA Hero Academy.

Izuku wasn't going to fail.

---

Okay, that had been close. Falling to the ground and breaking his nose before even entering the building didn't seem like a good way to start this. God bless the pretty girl with the gravitational Quirk for helping him!

Although from a more optimistic point of view, Izuku avoided making a fool of himself and had a pleasant conversation –NOT- with the girl. His day seemed to go from good to better.

The written test proved to be easier than he expected, but now it was time to get serious and face the real challenge: The practical test.

He couldn't resist the HYPE! The robot villains looked so badass! And Present Mic was the one explaining the test! Izuku wondered if he could ask him for an autograph.

He felt in the clouds. So happy that not even Katsuki on the next seat could ruin his good humor; so excited he couldn't help but starting one of his patented unintelligible mumbling attacks; so completely lost in his own world he didn't notice the glare a bespectacled girl was giving him.

"...and you!" she said with disdain while pointing at Izuku with her index finger. He looked around, thinking the girl's hate was directed at someone else. "Yes, YOU, the one who keeps mumbling!" Oh, no. It was him... "IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY AND PAY ATTENTION TO PRESENT MIC'S INSTRUCTIONS, BETTER GET OUT! SOME OF US TRULY TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!"

The girl's harsh words pierced him like daggers, and he shrank in his seat, completely embarrassed and wanting to disappear, while Katsuki and the other applicants snickered at him.

---

Izuku knew his good luck was running out when he noticed the same angry girl was assigned to his testing area.

Now they were no longer in a dark room, Izuku couldn't help but stare at her: She was tall. Absolutely huge. Leaving women with gigantification Quirks like Mt. Lady aside, she was easily the tallest girl Izuku had seen so far in his life, hovering over him with a height of 5'10½.

Her height was complemented by a muscular and curiously angular physical build. Her face was as severe as he imagined, although contrasted sharply with the cutesy way her jet black hair was gathered in two braids.

Ultimately, if Izuku hadn't known she was another applicant, he could have easily mistaken her for an adult because of her mature appearance.

But the thing that drew most of Izuku's attention, for his embarrassment and dismay, were her legs... Not in a perverted way and not exactly her legs, but what seemed exhaust pipes coming out from behind her calves, along with the thick engine shape they had.

Izuku's mind ran at a thousand miles per hour trying to decipher the exact nature of the girl's Quirk. The fact it presented itself physically categorized it as a mutant-type Quirk, and its form and position seemed to indicate they very likely allowed the girl to increase her speed, reminding Izuku to the Turbo Hero Ingenium's Quirk.

It was awesome! Izuku had seen a great variety of mutant-types before, but the vast majority were animal-based. The concept of a biotic engine was amazing to him.

Like real engines they must need some kind of fuel, right? Perhaps they took nutrients directly from her bloodstream? Or as absurd as it sounded, maybe they required real car fuel...? What could their maximum acceleration speed be? What could be their drawback if used excessively...?

And it was then Izuku became fully aware he was blatantly eyeing the girl's calves as a total pervert, and she had noticed, glaring at him with scorn.

Yes, his streak of luck ran out.

---

Tenko Iida had never felt more nervous in her life. But she wasn't the kind of girl who collapsed under pressure, but the kind that acted even more serious and perfectionist than usual.

So she didn't think too much about it when she brought Present Mic's attention to the Zero-Points not being mentioned in the brochures and the green-haired boy in the back row being a total nuisance. God, she had never met someone who could be so noisy while mumbling.

Tenko sighed and closed her eyes, suppressing her irritation.

It was like her older brother and role model, Tensei, always told her. It was good to be serious and responsible, but there should be a balance. Learn to be a little more flexible when the moment merits it. She understood that, but it had always been difficult for her to put it into practice, so she remained the same old rigid Tenko as always; intelligent, responsible, hard-working, loved by her family, and respected by her classmates and teachers. And yet, she could count the friends she had had in her whole life with just one hand.

Maybe she would have more luck extending her circle of friends at UA.

Suddenly she felt as if she was being gawked at by someone.

It was the mumbling boy from before. She simply glared back to make him stop. The last boy who looked at her with such interest dropped fireworks into her exhaust pipes to prank her.

It wasn't nice, at all.

That someone wanting to enter UA would attempt something so awful was an absolute disgrace, but at this point, all of them were rivals, so it was better to be careful of not being sabotaged, keeping her attention on the weird boy.

Fortunately, he stopped with whatever he planned to do to her. Unfortunately, now he had his attention on a happy-looking girl with brown hair and a bob cut.

When the boy gathered enough courage to approach this girl, Tenko intervened.

"Could you please stop..." she said, not as a request but an order, holding the boy's shoulder with enough force to get his attention.

"E-Eh?" He turned and looked at her with a puppy-like expression. Tenko had to admit it. If he intended to sabotage the competition, he was doing wonderfully at pretending to be harmless.

"Can't you see that girl is already nervous enough without having you bothering her?"

"W-What...? I... I just w-wanted to... Uh..." he said so quietly Tenko almost didn't hear him.

Once the boy gave up on whatever excuse he had, Tenko released him and crossed her arms, giving him one of her 'I don't understand what you were trying, but now I'm watching you' looks.

"You should do your preparations. Or are you here just to hinder everyone else?"

"O-Of course not!" Even after raising his voice, the boy still gave her the same impression of a puppy barking cutesily. She would find it funny if it wasn't so annoying. "I-I just wanted to..." Whatever he wanted to say, Present Mic's voice interrupted him.

"NOW!" And the practical test started.

---

2. 5. 8. 10. 11. 14. 17. 20. 23. 25 points.

Barely fifteen minutes since the practical test started, and she had already accumulated 25 points. Tenko was sure that her grade on the written part would be at least 95. So she only needed about 20-25 more points to pass.

But even though she should be happy about it, Tenko was rather distracted by the green-haired boy.

And no. It wasn't that his performance in battle was particularly surprising... On the contrary, he was like a headless chicken running randomly all over the place.

Whenever he found a robot villain to destroy, something made him hesitate, giving the other applicants enough time to destroy the robots before him.

So if Tenko had to guess, the boy probably hadn't even a single point yet.

Apparently, his weak appearance wasn't a trick to fool the other competitors. He truly lacked the skills to face the practical test properly. At this point, she would have almost preferred the boy being a cheater; the fact someone with so little initiative had even dared to participate in the entrance exam made her feel offended.

27. 30. 33. 35. 38. 41. 44. 47. 50. 52. 55. 58 points.

She kicked the Three Points with all her strength. Her breathing was heavy, and her legs were sore.

In her frustration, she had over-used her Quirk...

'Relax, Tenko. Just breathe and relax...' she repeated that mantra in her mantra, and it sounded like his brother's voice. Eventually, she felt calmer.

Maybe she was being unfair to the green-haired boy. Now Tenko took the time to observe him better she could see the despair in his eyes, the kind you feel when you fear disappointing those who believe in you.

Such a feeling was one she knew well. After all, she had an amazing family, and it was her duty to fulfill all their expectations.

"A Quirk not fit for combat, maybe?" she murmured, searching for more villains to defeat. There wasn't much time left for the end of the exam, so the number of remaining robots was quite scarce already.

Something that was bothering her was how much the practical exam was focused on combat.

Yes. When an average person heard the word hero, they thought in All Might -or Tensei, in her case- and his incredible, but there were a lot of useful Quirks for heroics out there that didn't possess any combat capabilities, like Recovery Girl's Quirk, for example. Perhaps this boy was like that, which would be unfair.

Unless... It wasn't so simple.

Maybe there existed some kind of special parameter to measure the applicants' potential beyond the destructive capabilities of their Quirks. Such a thing didn't appear in the rules, though... Unless they made it a secret on purpose, but that would discourage those with non-combat oriented Quirks to even try to enter UA... But maybe that way they also tested the willpower of the applicants... And Tenko was probably over-thinking everything.

Suddenly Tenko felt the ground shake and heard the cries of several people at the center of the test area. It didn't take long to understand the reason for the scandal: It was the gigantic Zero-Points

Tenko was about to flee like the others but stopped when she heard a whimper of pain mixed in the crowd noise. The source was the brown-haired girl from before. She had one leg trapped under a pile of rubble and couldn't escape. Worse yet, the robot was slowly advancing towards her.

She felt the impulse to get the girl out of there, but she dismissed the idea immediately.

This was a test. A test to defeat -robot- villains and the metal colossus some meters away from her was the only one that wasn't worth a single point. Present Mic even told them to stay away from it.

There was no reason to waste time with the Zero-Points. There were still a few more robots she could destroy to fully secure her place in UA. Besides:

1 - There was no way that girl was in real danger. This was UA, after all. The entire test worked in a controlled environment, and even if someone were to get hurt, the school had Recovery Girl to handle the worst-case scenario.

2 - Maybe everything was just a trick, and the girl was only pretending to be in danger. It wouldn't be weird if attacking the robot were to make them lose points for ignoring Present Mic's instructions.

Everything made sense in her mind. And all the other applicants were fleeing too... But even so, a part of her wanted to rescue the girl anyway, no matter how stupid it was. That not-logical part of her asked her to do the right thing.

'What would Tensei do?' she asked herself, and she already knew the answer: Tensei would rescue the girl, without hesitation. So, why was she just standing there doing nothing? What kind of hero was she supposed to be if she let someone in danger for such cold reasons...? She had to do something.

Tenko tilted forwards, ready to activate her Quirk. It was then a greenish blur passed by her side. It was that boy again.

For a moment, it crossed her mind to yell at him to stop, if he was blind or genuinely hadn't noticed the powerful robot destroying everything in its way.

But the words never came out of her mouth.

The boy's expression left her stupefied: Where previously she only saw fear and uncertainty, now there was determination.

He also wanted to save the girl from the Zero-Points. The same guy who hadn't made a single scratch on any of the other robots.

"STOP, YOU IDIOT!" She activated her Quirk and forced it to go further beyond. She had to save the imprudent boy and the trapped girl from being crushed, or she would never forgive herself...

Once close enough, Tenko extended her arm to take the boy from his shirt and get him out of the way. However, things didn't turn out according to the plan.

Before her fingers could get a hold on him, he disappeared from her vision, being followed by a thunderous sound of concrete breaking, and before Tenko could even react, she felt an immense surge of wind blasting her several meters away.

Tenko's eyes, fixed on the fake blue sky, immediately discerned a figure with green hair flying over the test area towards the Zero-Points.

Sitting on the ground, she watched dumbfounded as the boy's whole body tensed, before shouting 'SMASH!' and throwing a punch towards, generating a powerful wind blast that displaced all the debris off the cute girl's leg and pierced through the armored body of the huge robot as if it were made of cardboard, obliterating it entirely.

Everything from that moment happened pretty fast. The cute girl, hurt but relieved, prevented the boy from falling to the ground and end up like an omelet. Just some minutes later the practical test ended, and Recovery Girl appeared to heal the boy.

Even from a distance, it was obvious how badly hurt he was; his legs and the arm he used to attack were broken.

She followed the boy with her eyes as he was taken out on a stretcher.

Now everything made sense. The boy was so nervous and fearful during the test because he knew this could happen... Despite possessing such immense power, he didn't have enough control to use his Quirk more than one or two times. So he was looking for the perfect moment to use those few attacks he had available. Maybe he had a plan to get enough points to pass with only a pair of attacks.

The possibilities with such a Quirk were plentiful. But in the end, the boy sacrificed his opportunity to save someone in trouble...

After being briefly examined by Recovery Girl, Tenko was dispatched from the building with the other applicants and went to the parking lot, where Tensei was waiting in his car.

After an exchange of greetings, she got on the back put on the seatbelt. Tensei turned on the car engine and started driving.

She remained thoughtful for a good stretch of the travel until Tensei broke the silence.

"Something wrong, little sister?" He said kindly. "You look kind of out of it." He gave her a worried look through the rearview mirror. "You shouldn't worry so much. We both know there's no way you didn't get in."

"Ah..." She blinked, taking a moment to process her brother's words. "It's not that, dear brother. I know I passed both the written and practical exam..." She commented as if it didn't matter.

"I can see someone is getting a little smug, hehe." Tensei joked.

"But I still lost..." She added in a whisper.

That was the easiest way to put it. She had lost.

As unfair as it was, she doubted the green-haired boy would be accepted by UA, even if his written test score turned out to be perfect.

But at the end of the day, even if she didn't meet him ever again, nothing would change the fact she was completely surpassed by him.

The memory of him flying through the air and destroying the Zero-Points was still recorded in her mind, causing a strange pressure and feeling of warmth in her chest.

"... I wonder if I'm being naïve, hoping he will pass anyway." She said softly.

"Did you say something, little sister?" Tensei questioned once more.

His sister wasn't the most social person in the world, but she wasn't that reserved either, especially when he was around her. Under normal conditions, Tensei would have expected her to talk non-stop about her day at UA; things like complaining about finding spelling errors in the written exam questions or how some applicants were disrespectful during the tests. That was how his beloved younger sister was.

To be so quiet. there had to be something upsetting her.

"There was a boy in my practical exam. He was incredibly noisy and managed to make me lost my cool several times..." Tensei smiled at her sister's comment; that was so typical of her. "But he also proved to have the courage to be a great hero like you, dear brother... In that sense, I feel like he defeated me completely." Tenko's voice sounded discouraged.

Tensei looked at her fondly; he had always felt proud of being her role model, and being hold in such high esteem by her. Especially when, from Tensei's point of view, Tenko was the better of them.

That modesty was an adorable trait of her little sister, but the fact she felt slightly jealous of this boy was also kind of funny.

"Don't worry too much about it, Tenko. You still have a long road ahead... And if you think this guy left you behind, all you need to do is not to give up and keep going. Learn from him and your mistakes, and improve... Building a healthy rivalry will help you to grow both as a person and as a hero." And if his sister needed something, that was more people close to her in whom she could trust.

After processing his words, Tenko put on a sulky expression -which Tensei found simply adorable- and sighed.

"That's the problem..." Tensei raised an eyebrow, indicating her to continue. "I doubt he is going to receive a letter of acceptance." Ah. Tensei nodded, so this kid probably hadn't accumulated enough points to pass. A pity; his sister was making him sound like an exemplary youngster. "A-Although it would be nice if he was accepted," Tenko said, and Tensei hit the brakes "Eh. Is something wrong, brother?" she asked, surprised her brother had stopped the car so suddenly. There wasn't any red light nearby.

"Ah, it's nothing... Just be more positive, okay? I'm sure you're worrying about nothing, and this young man got better results than you think. Hopefully, they'll assign him to your class!" he commented, trying to act as if he wasn't noticing how his beloved sister was blushing and putting on a dreamy expression while talking about this mysterious boy -maybe future brother-in-law-.

"T-That would be great!" Tenko answered, already in a better mood.

Tensei just smiled and kept driving.