Half an hour passed and I managed to rank up 38 points (not including rescue points). I stopped at a wall and panted like a dog. Sweat dripped down my body and soaked my white under shirt that was now exposed due to me losing the top of my track suit quite some time ago. I had to work twice as hard just to earn any points and it was taking a toll on my body. If I was being completely honest with myself I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to fight.
My rest didn't last long because a 3 pointer rounded a corner and took a swing at me. I ducked just in time. Grabbing the robots appendage, I let it lift me into the air. I brought my legs in front of me and braced myself as I fell back towards the machine, knocking it's head off as I flew passed it like a bullet. I then crashed not-too-gracefully onto the ground and continued to pant. I got to my shaky legs and continued to walk. My legs burned and my hands were bleeding from all the wire tearing and grabbing but I didn't care. I had to get in at least a few more points.
When I got to the main battle area I could see that pretty much all the enemies were gone. Robot parts were scattered everywhere as kids kicked, punched, pummeled, and stomped the remaining robots to pieces.
It's over.
But just as those words entered my mind, the ground started to shake. We all looked up slowly only to wish that we hadn't. The ginormous zero pointer emerged, knocking down buildings and crushing fake fire hydrants in it's path of destruction. Everyone started to take off in the opposite direction, including me. But I was only running for less then a second when I saw the blue eyed boy from earlier running towards the huge thing! I spun around and grabbed his shoulder.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I asked hysterically.
"We can't leave them behind!" The boy pointed to a group of teens stuck under a giant rock. My eyes widened at the sight of them before immediately narrowing into determination. I let go of the tank top wearing teens arm and sprinted twords the trapped kids. Adrenaline was pumping through me so fast I couldn't even feel the burning in my legs anymore as we skidded to a stop in front of our fellow exam takers.
"HELP! WERE TRAPPED!" one with orange hair yelped.
"And I think my leg's broken." Another who slightly resembled a fish whimpered.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there." The black haired boy promised.
We each grabbed one end of the rock and pulled with all our might. But with our great efforts it was no use. There were only two of us and neither of us had a strength quirk. Tears filled my eyes as the rocks jagged edges ripped at my open wounds.
I say I want to be a hero…
I pulled harder
But a quirkless loser like me can't even save people who are right in front of me.
My strength was leaving me. I felt faint.
I'm so pathetic. I'm sorry…
My body started to fail me. I couldn't go on any more. I could feel my limbs going limp.
"COME ON!"
A voice cut through the dark void of my thoughts. I opened my eyes and as my blurry vision cleared... I saw the boy from the other side of the rock looking me right in the eyes.
"WE CAN DO THIS!"
My mind went blank for a second.
Suddenly I felt a rush of adrenaline, but it was different this time. My limbs became hot as red veins darted up my arms and legs, tarring up my pant legs and filling my muscles with incredible strength. With one powerful lift I managed to lift the boulder off the ground and throw it 5 feet away. My arms dangled at my sides as I looked at the rock I had moved in awe.
….. did I just….
I shook my head to snap myself out of it.
"Can you stand?" I asked, kneeling next to the fish boy.
He shook his head weakly.
"I'll carry him." The orange haired girl offered.
The blue eyed boy who had been previously stunned by my recent display of strength managed to focus again and turned to the girl.
"Are you sure your not hurt?" He asked.
She nodded firmly, squatted down next to the fish boy and readied herself to carry his weight. We somewhat reluctantly helped him onto her back and the four of us ran as fast as we could away from the zero pointer.
—
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
My Daughter had just used One For All and I hadv'nt even given it to her!
"Principle Yagi, we need to talk." I told my old mentor.
"Yeah, we really do." The former hero confirmed.
Me and the previous One For All user quietly exited the room without another word, leaving the rest of the pros to sort through the results.
"Did you give it to her?"
"No."
"She inherited One For All naturally."
"I know."
"How is that possible!"
"I DON'T Know!" I took a deep breath, "Okay. The rock didn't go hurtling into space so we can infer that she probably can't use all of it yet."
"But now there's the question of 'should you give it to her'." Toshinori said.
"Wait- WHAT!" I was so starteled I nearly activated One For All out of pure shock.
"Don't give me that Mydoria, I know you've been thinking about it." All Might told me, "And frankly I think it's a good idea."
"B-but-"
"But what? Think about it. She's already most likely passed the exam and she earned 75% of the points getting her that pass completely quirkless. She's definitely got the right build for it and by the looks of it she's already had about 1% of One For All in her since she was a kid which means she'll be at less of a risk then we were when we first inherited it."
I deflated.
"I know she's perfect…" I told him, "that's what scares me."
All Might listened.
"Being the number 1 hero means I'm constantly being targeted. And with the pace Daji is going she could very easily surpass me once she graduates. Am I a bad parent for not wanting her to succeed like that? Even if I think I'm protecting her?"
Toshi looked at his successor through sorrowful blue eyes.
"No." He told me, "It just makes you human."
I looked at the ground, a ghost of a smile settling on my lips. All might smiled too before heading back into the testing room. He stopped at the doorway and looked back at me.
"It's your choice my boy." He spoke, "but if it was my job to chose your successor for you I would chose her."
—
(Kiki's POV)
'Someone like you.
SOMEONE LIKE YOU!?
How could I have said that!'
I was SO mad at myself for those words. I channeled my anger into a giant blast and took out five 1 pointers.
'Not only do I not deserve to be her friend. I can't even be a good one to her!'
I let out an enraged yell and charged at a nearby 5 pointer. I jumped into the air and brought my arms over my head before swinging them down and producing as much heat at the artificial enemy as I safely could. The blast blew my black hair all over the place and I wasn't entirely sure if it had blown out my pony tail or not but I didn't have the emotional capacity to care right now. When I landed in the cloud of dust I had created all I could do was just look around at the damage I had caused. Sitting in a pile of my own destruction was seriously depressing. But also sort of…. addictive. I probably would have stayed there for hours if the ringing in my ears hadn't stopped and allowed me to hear a weird shaking noise. I looked up. The dust had mostly cleared and I could see the zero point robot emerging.
'Well at least that means I'll get to stop fighting these useless pieces of crap soon.'
I felt my chest explode with guilt.
'Daji's out there somewhere giving this 110% while I'm over here not even giving it 90%' I scolded myself.
But mostly I was mad at the world.
—
"Hi! I'm Daji."
I turned to see a freckled, green eyed, face smiling at me with the light of a thousand suns.
"What's your name?"
I stared at the chipper girl. Why was she being so nice to me?
"...Kiki.." I responded hesitantly.
"Kiki, huh? I really like that name!" Daji said. She giggled and reached out a hand to me, "Do you wanna be my friend?"
"I-I… y-yeah!"
I found myself smiling as I reached out to take the girls hand.
At that moment I had realized Daji was something special. Even If I had only known her for a minute she had managed to make me smile, something that no one had ever managed to do.
"Wow! You can make things explode?! That's so cool!"
"You really think so?" I asked her uncertainty.
"Yeah! You're so lucky to have your dad's quirk! I hope I get MINES when I get my quirk!"
'...But you never did...'
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Daji doesn't have a quirk."
"Like, none at all?"
"Nope, she's quirkless."
Daji had been standing in the middle of our kindergarten classroom. She had been shaking, trying to fight back tears, but the moment someone had said the word 'quirkless' it was like breaking a dame. Soon she was on her knees, tears falling from her eyes in incredible amounts.
"Don't cry Daji." One of the kids in our class dashed over to her and gave her a hug.
"Yeah, you're still the nicest girl in class." Another kneeled next to her.
Very soon she was being showered in compliments and encouraging words, all of which she accepted kindly and tried to convince them she was fine. She even apologized for crying like that.
'Even though you didn't have a quirk… they loved you… they still loved you. They only feared me for my quirk...'
"Stop hurting her! She didn't do anything wrong!" Daji yelled as she stepped in front of me protectively.
I was hurt enough that all I could do was cry with a hand over my bleeding nose.
'And yet… you were still stronger than me…'
"It'll be okay Kiki, I'm here."
'You always were…'
—
Like I had said, I wasn't trying my hardest and yet I've managed to get 84 points. While Daji is giving it everything she's ever had and still probably won't pass just because she doesn't have a stupid quirk.
Daji was more of a hero then some PROS were. And yet she doesn't have as good of a chance as everyone else because of how she was BORN. I hated the world. I hated the world and I hated myself. I didn't deserve to be so lucky.
—
(Daji's POV)
The test didn't go on much longer after we brought the fish boy to safety. It seemed that only a few seconds after the orange haired girl set the boy down, a short lady was already there to help. She zipped from seemingly out of nowhere and examined his leg at lightning speed before laying her hand over it. His leg glowed the same colour as her cherry red hair and straightened out before turning back to its original colour.
"Um, excuse me?" I tapped her shoulder to get her attention, "Do I know you from somewhere?"
The woman turned around and looked at me sweetly through her blue visor.
"You're thinking of my mother, Recovery Girl. She retired a few years ago and I was called in to take her place. Give me your hands dear."
I did as I was told. She took my hands in her's. They turned red and I watched as the skin on my hands regenerated.
"Wow. That's amazing." I thought out loud, turning my hands over to get a better look at them.
"Why thank you sweaty." She smiled, "And you can call me Recovery Girl as well. My Grandmother wanted me to use the name."
And with that, she zipped off to heal the rest of the teens.
I kept playing with my hands as I walked down the street towards my house. At first it had been because I was still fascinated by how effective Recovery Girl's quirk had been but it very quickly turned into because of what had happened with that rock. I didn't understand how it had happened. One second it was too heavy to even lift and the next I was throwing it through the air like it was no heavier than a 2 pound exercise ball. Sure, the blood in my veins had basically been replaced with adrenaline at the time but no amount of indorphance can cause a quirkless human being to be that strong. There was only one explanation -
"DAJIIIIIII!"
I turned around just in time to see a flash of green as my dad zoomed passed me. My hair was never in really good shape as it was but my dad doing that with his quirk every time he wanted to talk to me did NOT help with my 'permanent-bed head syndrome'.
"Really dad?" I said with a laugh. I then proceeded to ruffle my hair so it was back to normal.
"Shush, you know it's awesome." He told me with a smile.
Ha! He got me there. No matter how many times he did it I don't think I would EVER stop mentally fangirling over it.
"Jokes aside. I need to talk to you." There wasn't anyone around us but his voice still got quiet, "It's about what happened in the exam."
My smile immediately vanished.
"...Yeah we kinda do."
