This one's a bit longer than I'm used to, but I don't want to shorten it because then that would mean shortening other chapters that are too long (over 2,500 words feels long to me, this chapter is just over 5,000).

Just in case anyone's wondering about my process for this fic, I have the whole thing typed out on a Google Doc and the outline lets me zoom to each chapter for editing. Maybe when I have the whole thing published (I'm at 17 chapters now (50,000 words)), maybe this story will stop around 20 chapters, and I'll update all the chapters I have published so any edits I've made to the Google Doc will transfer. If I do end it around chapter 20, then there will definitely be a sequel. Though I might do some editing before the end of Prismaya since I'm pretty sure I misgendered Sora (Ayano's parent) in the first or second chapters before I had committed to the idea that they were nonbinary. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter :)

February 26, 2018 (10 months later, Entrance Exam Day)

The four weeks of Ayano's Quirk suspension were a lot harder than she expected. She knew they would be bad, but man, did she underestimate her dependence on her Quirk. She hadn't realized how casually she had been using her Quirk in her daily life. There were quite a few slip-ups, but her head pounded each time she overdid it, so she had a hard limit.

However, this meant that after the month of recovery was over, it made it all the more difficult to get back into the mindset of improving her Quirk. Every time she made a bubble she waited for the nausea and headache. She had to retrain herself to trust her Quirk again.

Finally making the decision to apply to UA or not wasn't easy either. While under Quirk suspension, she had a lot of time to think about why she hadn't put the top hero school as her first choice in the first place. Let alone it being the best school if she wanted to be a hero, there were plenty of reasons she shouldn't waste the opportunity.

It wasn't the only reason, but moving to Japan was partially so she could have a higher chance of making it into UA. Plenty of students from foreign countries apply to the #1 hero school since there is no restriction, per se. However, the acceptance rate for kids not living in Japan is way lower than the already low rate for applicants in Japan.

After a few talks with her parents and multiple pro/con lists later, she made her decision.

Almost two months after her 'intervention gone wrong' with Izuku, Ayano resubmitted her high school form with UA as her top choice. She decided that not even trying to get in was worse than getting in without Izuku. She didn't bring it up to him, since he was still tunnel-visioned on his mentor. The fact that they hadn't spoken since she confronted him also played a small role.

Katsuki and her texted back and forth, but when they were at school he brushed her off. Well, that might be over-exaggerating. Before the sludge villain, his interactions with Ayano and Izuku had been limited to walking home with them after school, if only because they lived so close together. Him leaving class way before anyone else was the only thing noticeably different from before.

Their peers also noticed the not-so-subtle change. It didn't take long after the sludge villain incident for plenty of gossip to take place.

Ayano went back to being 'the westerner' to the rest of the class, if only because Katsuki didn't stick around after class to glare at them.

Even with Quirks that made some people resemble animals or literal demons, her half-Italian genetics made her stick out like a sore thumb among mostly fully Japanese kids. One of the reasons she decided to start straightening her hair was so her curly locks didn't stand out so much amongst her classmates. Well, it was pretty much the only reason, and for how long it took to do every morning, Ayano was beginning to wonder if it was worth it. It's not like straightening it changed what anyone said about her.

The other students were relatively smart about their cruelty since they knew blatantly calling her a 'Seiyōjin' in front of Katsuki and Izuku and Sensei was a massively dumb move. So they called her, "Sei," usually in a sickly sweet tone to hide their malicious intentions. Anyone who wasn't in on it thought it was just a nickname, and Ayano didn't bother calling them out. So what if I don't look like you? That means nothing to people that actually matter. At least, she hoped it didn't.

The Summer months before the exam passed by slowly; the training Ayano did to make her bubbles last longer made her feel more prepared for the physical portion. She kept up her school studies, not wanting to ruin her chances by flunking the written portion of the exam.

The morning of the UA Entrance Exam, Ayano's home resembled a tornado. Her mom was zipping around the house, checking a dozen times whether her daughter had everything she needed.

"Jeez, leave the kid be, Lisa." Sora came in from the kitchen, grabbing their wife lightly by the hand to stop her from continuing her pacing. To be fair, her pacing could literally burn a hole through the ground if she tried.

Lisa sighed. She gathered herself before calmly walking up to her daughter and kneeling in front of her, smiling brightly. "I have faith in you, you'll make it in!"

Ayano smiled back at her parents as she slipped her shoes on. "Thanks! I'll do my best, I promise!"

She bolted out the door before her mom could hug her to death… again.

A sigh of relief left her lips as she walked to the UA campus from the train station. Her fingers fiddled with the temporary passes given to examinees in her jacket pocket. I can't believe it, today's the day. I feel like I might puke. Even growing up in the US, there was always hype about UA High, the best hero school in Japan. Some even said it was the best in the world. Though catching some Americans admitting so would take a lot more effort than it was worth. Watching the UA sports festival with her parents and friends had been an annual event since developing her Quirk.

As she made her way onto the campus, she looked around in awe, this place is amazing!

Taking in all of the state-of-the-art facilities, she second-guessed her ability to make it in once again. Her mind supplied an image of Katsuki's face. Everyone here is probably closer to his level than mine. She gathered herself, what's the point of coming if I don't put my best effort in?

First, she was directed to a classroom based on her family name, Akira. The students sat down at desks with exams already laid out. The written exam was difficult, but Ayano was confident she at least passed.

The sign in front of a big door said, "U.A. High School Hero Course, Exam Orientation." She found her assigned seat in the giant hall and sat down after taking a piece of paper from the woman at the door. The paper had her name and picture on it, along with some information pertaining to the exam.

About half of the seats were already filled; Ayano was about 10 minutes early. This time, their seats were decided by the middle school they attended. So, when Izuku and Katsuki get here, they'll be next to me. While she waited for the room to fill, she wrote in her journal. She noticed she was getting close to the last few pages of the thick purple book. I'll have to get a new one soon.

Soon enough, someone sat down heavily next to her. She glanced over to see Katsuki, then Izuku sat down on his other side. After putting away her journal, she grinned at her old friends, ignoring the tension in the air. "Hey!"

Katsuki just looked at her while Izuku gave her a small smile. He leaned forward to look around Katsuki, then whispered, "Hi, are you nervous?"

She let out a shaky breath before replying just as softly, "Terrified. Mom zooming around the house this morning didn't really help my nerves." She didn't notice her hand coming up to scratch the scar on her neck, which was hidden by a scarf she had thrown on at the last minute. Ayano only noticed her tic when she caught Katsuki staring at her. When she realized why she pulled her hand down to her lap and intertwined her fingers.

Suddenly, three lights flicked on one after the other to reveal a blonde man wearing mostly black on center stage. His voice came through the speakers around them. "What's up, UA candidates?" He obviously tried cutting through the tension. "Thanks for tuning in to me, your school DJ!" He spread his arms wide, "c'mon, and lemme hear ya!"

His enthusiasm was met with silence. He shrugged, "Keeping it mellow, huh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, ok?" His voice became filled with energy, trying to pump the students up, "Are you ready? Yeah!" But once again, he was met with pin-drop silence. Ayano held in a giggle at his over-the-top antics.

Izuku started mumbling excitedly from his seat, freaking out about Present Mic, a pretty well-known hero, being right in front of them.

Katsuki growled, "Will you shut up?"

Izuku didn't even register the blonde. Ayano's eyebrow raised, her blue eyes staring at Izuku. Well, at least he's acting closer to normal now.

Before she could ponder Izuku further, Present Mic continued. "As your application said, today you rockin' boys and girls will be out there conducting 10-minute mock battles in super-hip urban settings!" The screen behind him played an animation to accompany his words. "Get ready, my friends. After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good?" The screen showed the orientation building with seven paths leading to seven battle centers, identified with alphabetical letters A through G. Present Mic responded to the silence with another loud, "Okay?!"

Ayano checked the paper she had been given:

Exam Ticket
Examinee No.: 2232
Test Location: Battle Center D

Listed under that were some stats about her including her height and weight.

Katsuki's voice came out as a low growl, "I see." Ayano looked over to the blonde. "They're splitting us up so we can't work with any of our friends."

Izuku looked at his card, then Katsuki's, "Yeah, you're right. All three of our examinee numbers are one after the other, but we're assigned to different battle centers." When Izuku peeked at Katsuki's card, Ayano just showed her paper to the pair. She figured that her friends knowing where she would be testing was fine. While they looked at hers, she checked theirs, seeing Izuku was in Battle Canter B, and Katsuki was in Battle Center C.

Katsuki growled at Izuku, "Get your eyes off my card." He practically pouted, not that anyone but Ayano could tell. "Damn. I was looking forward to crushing you." The brunette girl rolled her eyes, completely over his ego the size of Japan. The knowledge that she wouldn't have any allies in the exam was more than nerve-wracking enough for her.

"Okay, okay, let's check out your targets!" The screen behind Present Mic displayed three black figures, which matched three out of four of the silhouettes on the handout the students had. "There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty, so better choose wisely."

The screen changed to an RPG-game-style animation, with Present Mic as the main character bashing each of the silhouettes to gain points. Each villain had either one, two, or three points assigned to it. "Your goal in this trial is to use your Quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo. But, check it!" He raised his hand to get the students' attention, which he had already. "Make sure you're keep'n things heroic. Attacking other examinees is a UA no-no, ya dig?"

Katsuki let out a small scoff at that. A student a couple of rows ahead of their group stood up. "Excuse me, sir, but I have a question."

Present Mic pointed at him, "Hit me!"

The boy held up the brochure that had been waiting in each of their seats. "On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, not three." As he continued, Ayano's eyes rolled to the back of her head. "With all respect, if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable school." The brunette couldn't contain the snort. Damn, how far is that stick up your ass? "A mistake such as this won't do."

Unexpectedly, he spun around and pointed straight at Izuku. "Additionally, you, with the unkempt hair." Izuku pointed at himself, confused. The boy with glasses glared at the nervous boy. "You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that." If he had stopped there, Ayano might have understood his point, but the little shit just kept talking. "If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."

Izuku covered his mouth, muttering a quiet, "Sorry."

Ayano didn't bother to hide her scoff that time, ignoring her spike in anxiety when everyone's eyes turned to her. She raised an eyebrow at Four-Eyes. "If anyone was really distracted from the guy with the microphone by the guy whispering, do you think they'll get very far as a pro hero?"

The boy with the stiff posture turned to glare at her, but Present Mic interrupted any response he had prepared. "All right, all right, Examinee number 7111." He gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for calling in with your request." On the screen, the missing silhouette faded in. "The fourth villain type is worth zero points. That guy's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way." The video game example came up again. "There's one in every battle center. Think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's…" Present Mic's character ran away from the black robotic silhouette, "...kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it and focus on the one's toppin' the charts."

The boy with glasses bowed. "Thank you very much, please continue." He sat back down, and the spotlight that had beamed on him since he began speaking faded away.

"That's all I've got for you today. I'll sign off with a little present. A sample of our school motto! As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Mm-hm, now that's a tasty soundbite! You ready to go beyond?" He leaned back, "Let's hear a Plus Ultra!" An animation displayed the motto behind him in pop art lettering, but still, the response to his hype was silence. He barreled on through, unbothered. "Good luck! Hope you practiced hitting more than just books."

The students were led outside, where seven groups of buses were lined up, each labeled with a letter from A to G. After double-checking her card, Ayano made her way to the group of buses heading to Battle Ground D. There were around forty people waiting to board each bus. The examinees boarded the bus quickly, Ayano just following the flow of traffic, lucky enough to end up with a window seat.

Her neighbor was a blonde boy with a smirk on his face as he caught Ayano's eyes. "Hey, Sweet Cheeks, you're the one who shot down the kid with the stick up his ass, right?"

She raised an eyebrow, Yeah, no. She made her voice sickly sweet, "Yep, and if you call me anything other than 'Akira-san' again, he won't be the only one with a stick in uncomfortable places."

He raised his hands in surrender, wearing a placating expression. "Alright, alright, take a chill pill." He held out his hand with a grin, "The name's Kaminari Denki, Akira-san."

She hesitated but shook his hand in greeting. Then immediately regretted it when he kissed the back of hers. He laughed as her face turned red and she pulled her hand back, subtly wiping her hand on her pants as the bus pulled to a stop.

Everyone got off the bus and stood in a group in front of a giant door. Above the at least 50 foot wall, the students could see the tops of multiple skyscrapers. Ayano was incredulous. Do these people have money growing on trees?

The giant doors opened with a loud screech. Behind the group of students, a voice came from the top of a cement tower. They turned to see a woman with dark hair and a risque outfit yelling at them. "Get going now! Real-life doesn't have countdowns, you'll miss all the fun if you stay here!" Ayano started running while the woman kept speaking, purposely distracting a few students. One of the said distracted students was a really short boy with purple balls as hair. He was practically drooling at the sight of the scantily clad hero. She ran past him with an eye roll.

Ayano watched almost everyone run straight forward because a few robots could be seen straight ahead a few blocks. Seeing that there were more students than robots to destroy, she took a gamble and made a sharp right turn in between two buildings. I really hope I'm not wrong about this

She pulled out of the alleyway to see about a dozen robots with varying point values painted on them turn to focus on her. "Well, I guess this is technically what I asked for," she muttered, planning her attack as she ran closer. The robot villain closest to her was a 2-pointer, based on the white number painted on its leg. The scorpion-like robot crawled towards her, preparing to attack. Ayano stopped it from reaching her with a big red bubble. She immediately regretted making the bubble so big, with how fast her energy drained. Then, with a lot of effort, she threw the 2-pointer into both a 3-pointer and a 1-pointer that were heading straight for her.

She took a deep breath as she did the mental math. That gives me six points, gotta keep going!

Using a couple of small yellow bubbles as steps, she hopped over the two-wheeled 1-pointers closest to her, heading for the two 3-pointers behind them. Making the red bubbles attached to the tank-like 3-pointers smaller this time conserved her energy. She pushed the pair into the 1-pointers, making sure they were all demolished before dodging an attack from a 2-pointer.

Its scorpion-like tail came rushing towards her; she raised her right arm to call up half a yellow protection bubble to act as a shield. The metal slammed against the outside, almost pushing her to the ground. Her left knee kissed the concrete. Shit, I guess lifting weights is going to be in my future.

She stopped the tail from a second hit with a red bubble trapping the metal stinger. She added another red bubble to the base of the robot, which made picking it up much easier. There was a 2 and 3-pointer next to each other not too far from her, which both exploded when she crushed the 2-pointer on them. She shielded her face with her arm and turned away from the explosion.

Running after more robots further down the street, she practiced her mental math again, that makes 16.

By then, a few more students had figured out that there were more robots on the side streets. If I waste too much time, they'll take all the points! Using her yellow bubbles again, she hopped over all three of the 1-pointers and the examinees fighting them that were blocking the way to a group of three 3-pointers. One of the students called out that she was being unfair, but she ignored them. I won't apologize for my Quirk giving me an advantage. Ayano tried to ignore how much the voice in her head resembled a certain blonde's. Balancing above the robots with her last two bubble stairs, she picked up one of the heavy 3-pointers and used it to smash the first one, then two 3-pointers before using the chunk of metal remaining to crush a 2-pointer aiming for her.

32! Aiming for the 3-pointers was definitely the right move. Before Ayano could spy for more high pointers, an explosion rocked the street below her. A couple of the students fighting bots behind her screamed, including the short purple guy that got there quite late.

Ayano turned towards the source of the explosion to find a ginormous robot turning the corner, taking the corner of a building with it. The 0-pointer matched the tank-ish silhouette on the paper, but Present Mic failed to mention it was also as tall as the buildings towering over them.

The little purple guy yelled out, "Holy shit!" His voice screeched like nails on a chalkboard. Oh, so not just his personality, but his voice is also terrible, good to know. "I'm outta here!" The little perv ran from the scene.

Ayano couldn't help but agree with the sentiment, though. She used two more small yellow bubbles so she could run on the ground, which took much less energy.

But before she joined the rest of the examinees, she noticed the blonde guy from the bus, just… standing there. He was swaying a bit on his feet. He's… Kaminari, right? She slowed down trying to see what was wrong. He was smiling dopily and giving the air a thumbs up. She avoided touching the robots around him, which seemed to be electrified. The sparks coming off them seemed anything but friendly.

Behind her, the 0-pointer punched the ground, sending debris everywhere.

Before she could change her mind, Ayano grabbed the seemingly braindead Kaminari and wrapped them both in a yellow bubble connected to the ground beneath them. Just in time, a piece of building slammed into the side of the bubble.

She grunted, the force draining a lot of her energy. Her shield couldn't get a break; what felt like a dozen more huge cement pieces came crashing down on them.

Ayano cried out, keeping her arms above herself to fortify the top of their lifeline. The ground shook some more and there was movement in the rubble above them.

Barely able to focus enough, she pulled Kaminari closer to her and the ground so she could make the bubble smaller to conserve energy.

The biggest cement piece above them, bigger than a bus, was wedged on smaller pieces on each side. So, after shrinking her bubble, the massive weight of it was no longer depleting her energy as quickly. She was practically running on empty, with how many bubbles she made in a row.

There was an uneasy silence. The 0-pointer either left or was shut off. Ayano whispered, "That might mean the test is over," to herself. Kaminari looked at her, but just gave her a dopey smile and a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes, "I seem to just be collecting idiots…"

After a couple of minutes at most, there was movement in the debris again. The cement around them was moving on its own. Ayano kept the bubble up just in case until she saw the pair of teachers at the opening of the concrete cave made by Cementoss. The brunette girl collapsed to her knees in relief, releasing the yellow bubble as she fell forward into Midnight's chest. She didn't really process it before deciding that her chest made a wonderful pillow.

Ayano woke up in a hospital bed, which made her immediately uncomfortable. She sat up, alerting the other person in the room of her consciousness.

"Oh, glad to see you're up." The girl in the bed looked over to see Recovery Girl sitting in a wheeled desk chair. "No need to worry, you just exhausted yourself."

Ayano nodded, recalling how much she used her Quirk during the exam. She looked to the window, seeing the sun much lower than she expected. "Oh my- how long was I out?!"

"It's 5 P.M. now. I already gave your parents a call if that's what's worrying you." The older woman hopped out of her chair and walked over to Ayano. "Here, some sweets for the road," She smiled at the young girl, leading her to the door while dropping a couple of hard candies in her hand. "Have a good night!"

The brunette looked down each end of the hallway with no idea of where she was on the campus. She sighed, pulling her phone out of her pocket to see a few voicemails from her mom. Instead of listening to them, she just called her back as she picked a direction and started walking.

Her mom picked up immediately. "Aya? Are you okay?"

Ayano giggled, "Yes, Mama, I'm fine. Not even a bruise, I just overused my Quirk a bit." She came upon an intersection, saw that each hallway looked exactly the same, and took a left.

"Of course you did," There was a sigh, then another voice in the background. Lisa sighed again, much more dramatically than the first. "Your Nari wants to talk to you, but I don't know, I think I'm enjoying the glare I'm receiving right now."

The brunette girl giggled as she found a flight of stairs heading down. Before she took the first step down, however, a voice called out from her right. "Hey!"

Ayano immediately stepped back, turning to whoever called out. Without meaning to, she automatically hung up on her parents. Oops. A man with long black hair and an extra-long thin scarf around his neck was walking towards her. He glared at her, "What are you doing here?"

The brunette cleared her throat. "Uh, I was just in the nurse's- I mean Recovery Girl's office because I overused my Quirk in the exam-"

He stopped in front of her, he was about a head taller than her. "I don't care. Why are you not gone already?"

"Uh- I don't know where the exit is," She pointed to the stairs, "I figured going down would be a good start…"

He groaned, then walked past her down a hallway she had just come from. Before disappearing down the corner, he turned to look at Ayano. "You coming?"

She let out a quiet, "oh," before following him down a few hallways to a different stairwell behind a door that looked exactly like all the others. They walked down one floor to end up in the main lobby. The entrance to the school was right outside the glass door.

He walked away with a sarcastic, "Hope you don't get lost again."

Despite the snark, she bowed slightly to his retreating back. "Thank you!"

He lifted his hand to wave it away, then walked away in silence. Ayano turned to her exit and pulled her phone back out to call her mom again, who she had hung up on when the black-haired guy scared her.

"What was that about?" Was the first thing she heard when the line went through.

Ayano was already on the sidewalk planning her route home. "Oh, sorry about that, I kinda got lost on my way out of school-from the nurse's office-and a faculty member helped me find my way out. He just startled me at first."

Sora's voice came through next, so I'm on speaker, "Alright. Do you want a ride home?"

Ayano shook her head, "No need, I'm already on my way to the station." There was a ding from her phone, which she pulled away from her face to see a few texts from both Katsuki and Izuku. It had been a while since they both started a conversation with her, she almost forgot to put the phone back to her ear when she heard a voice.

"-how do you think you did?" Her mom's voice was clearly excited. I almost forgot she tried to get into UA, too. Though since she was an American transfer student, she had a much lower chance to be accepted.

Ayano thought through her answer as she approached the station. She hummed, "For the written, I know I at least passed. I'll admit, some of the complex Japanese still trips me up. For the practical, I'm pretty sure I got 32 points, but I don't have anyone to compare that to, so…"

The pride in Sora's voice was almost tangible, "I'm sure you did amazing, honey. We made lasagna to celebrate-"

Forgetting she was on public transport, Ayano let out a, "Yes!" before blushing and mumbling a quick, "sorry…" to the people on the bus who turned to her. She waited until no one was looking at her anymore to do a tiny happy dance in her seat.

After that, they hung up the phone since she was almost home. She got off the train and checked her texts.

1 Message(s) from Izuku

1 Message(s) from Katsuki

Her finger almost clicked on Katsuki's text, but out of spite, she decided to check Izuku's first. She noticed that they hadn't really texted since their argument almost 10 months ago.

Hey, I wanted to apologize for how I reacted when you told me I was overdoing my training. You were right, even my mentor agreed I had been taking it too far and was sabotaging myself. I'm sorry for getting angry with you. Thank you for defending me today, I appreciate it.

Ayano smiled as she sent back a quick text, turning onto her street. No problem :) That guy needed someone to knock him off his high horse.

As she stopped in front of her house, she opened Katsuki's text. How many points did you get?

She rolled her eyes, debating on responding right away. Seeing that he sent the text at 1 P.M., almost five hours ago, she decided to respond. 32, got distracted by some idiot who almost got himself killed.

His reply, as usual, came late. Ayano was browsing the internet for strength training workouts after her delicious dinner when her phone made a ding. She grabbed it from her nightstand, opening the text from Katsuki: Too bad. I got 77.

Her mouth hung open. She dropped her phone on her bed. What the hell? 77?! That's insane! She leaned her head back, hitting her headboard. Isn't it? Damn, I hope he's the outlier and not the norm, otherwise, I'm toast.

She eventually replied, Good for you, and went to bed.

あきら End Chapter 11 あやの