"How about this?"

"No."

"How about this then?"

"Nope."

"How about-"

"Ochako-san I'm not going to remember every single hallway in UA y'know?"

Following their earlier revelation, Uraraka Ochako decided to drag Izuku to every corner and crevice of the campus. Retracing their steps from that very first day at UA.

"But you actually remembered something! There has to be something, anything here that could help you remember!"

Izuku could sense the desperation in her voice, while he couldn't exactly sympathise with his lack of memory he could empathise.

Since barely any time had passed since Izuku lost his memories, both of them hadn't fully accepted what had happened.

She was enticed by the prospect hanging in front of her like bait.

She was given a glimmer of hope that the real Midoriya Izuku would be able return.

The anxiety in the air was palpable, Ochako was uncertain that if the original Midoriya Izuku would return or not.

It wasn't as if Izuku didn't want his memories back, but he had just been discharged from the hospital. He just barely got a grasp on his situation, he was in no position to start to fix a leak when he didn't even have the supplies necessary.

"How about we go to somewhere else? You know anyplace significant to Midoriya Izuku? Like a club? Favourite hangout? Or how about where we had our first date?"

"EH!" Ochako went full crimson.

"Eto…" The blushing mess fiddled with her fingers. "Oh wait! What am I doing? We should just go see Eri! You'd definitely remember her!"

Ochako dragged Izuku away from the hallway, toward the dorms.

But halfway through he suddenly stopped.

"Eh? Deku-kun?"

Izuku was staring straight at one of UA's several training grounds, an urban city with wide roads.

"Ochako-san… could we make a quick stop?"

"Do you remember something?"

"…I'm not sure yet…"

Izuku started to run toward the grounds.

"But for some reason that place makes me feel uncomfortable."

It seemed like a normal urban city, but it was completely vacant.

A complete ghost town built within the UA campus, created to simulate urban operations for UA's hero course.

But it had another purpose as well…

This was one of the sites UA held their notoriously difficult entrance exam in.

Even if Midoriya Izuku had forgotten, Uraraka Ochako would not.

That day would be forever etched into the recesses of her mind.

She had gotten up early to take the bullet train to Mustafu from Mie, her nerves firing off like a supernova in her heart.

She was counting on this exam to make it into heroism.

She was counting on herself to help her parents.

They had been generous enough to let her pursue her dream, instead of burdening her with the family's finances.

Even when she insisted she could help out their construction business with her Zero Gravity quirk, they had insisted that they help her achieve her dream by signing her up for martial arts classes in high school.

So she decided that she would use her dream to help them.

If- No…When she became a hero she would dedicate herself to earning as much money as possible so that they can live out the rest of their exhausting lives in a comfortable retirement.

So she would become a hero for their sake.

And so she passed the exam.

Barely…

Scoring 38th place with 39 points, tying with someone named Hagakure.

Scoring 28 villain points and 11 rescue points.

But she did not even deserve that measly last place.

Because she wasn't the one who deserved those 11 points.

The giant entrance was locked.

Without the authority of a staff member all they could do was stare at the behemoth of an entrance.

But Izuku could see beyond those steel gates.

He could clearly remember the view that lies beyond these gates.

He remembered frantically running around the pretend city.

He remembered trying to find giant robots to smash.

He remembered trying to run from the giant machines and their weapons.

Izuku grit his teeth and rubbed his right arm in discomfort.

He remembered not getting a single point.

He remembered the panic, the anxiety that flooded his every being.

What was he going to do?

Had he wasted all that time training for nothing?

How could he become a hero like All Might?

And he remembered the moment that sealed his fate.

He remembered Uraraka Ochako.

She was pinned under a large piece of debris.

A large monstrous robot was approaching her from behind.

Crowds of high schoolers were running for their lives, it was clear to them that this was not a robot they were meant to fight.

But Midoriya Izuku charged forward.

He charged toward the girl who was pinned under debris.

He charged forward to save her.

Even if the exam had safety precautions he couldn't take the chance, all it would take was one electrical fault, a single line of code that didn't belong, and her life would be taken just like that.

An accident like that could happen any day to anyone, be it a car crash, a train malfunction, a pace maker slowing to a heart wrenching finish.

But an accident like that wouldn't happen to this girl.

Because Midoriya Izuku wouldn't allow it.

Izuku grabbed the piece of debris and lifted it off Ochako with a struggled huff.

"Can you move!?"

Ochako shook her head, nudging at her broken ankle.

Izuku nodded in understanding, lifting her up and holding her in a fireman carry.

Izuku ran for their lives.

But he couldn't run for long.

After futility running around the arena trying to earn a single point, his stamina seemed to be at the brink of depletion.

It wasn't long before the kaiju sized monstrosity finally caught up with them.

They were just a hairs length away from being turned to paste on the roadside.

So in a desperate attempt…

He threw Ochako forward, and shielded her with his body.

And with all the strength his quirkless body could provide he pushed the mechanical monster back with his right arm, with his left supporting his body on the ground next to Ochako.

30, 29, 28…

Izuku could feel his muscles tearing themselves apart.

15, 14, 13…

*SNAP*

His bones had just given out, but Izuku kept on pushing.

10, 9, 8…

There was no power up at the brink of death.

There was no limit break that allowed him to overcome this adversity.

There was no will of god shining down to aid him.

5, 4, 3, 2…

Only the sound of an engine…

And a arm grabbing him and Ochako, before Izuku felt only the wind grazing against his skin as the sound of engines accompanied their safety.

"AND TIMES UP!" was the last thing he heard before passing out from the adrenaline.

When Izuku came to, it had already been 10 days since the entrance exam.

He woke up under the care of UA's head nurse, Shuzenji Chiyo. Also known as Recovery Girl.

She told him his arm had been broken in 11 places, fracturing bones that were already fractured.

Apparently she wasn't able to use her quirk to heal his arm, but somehow it made a full recovery.

But the damage had already been done.

Damage that would alter the course of Izuku's life forever.

The damage wasn't on his arm or any other part of his body.

But it did damage his future.

He had failed the UA entrance exam.

With only 30 rescue points due to the reckless manner he saved Uraraka Ochako, he had failed.

And because he spent 10 days passed out in UA's infirmary, he had missed the other entrance exams he had signed up for.

He just lost his chance of being a hero.

With only that thought on his mind, Izuku cried.

He cried in the infirmary for god knows how long.

In the end, all his panic, all his anxiety was warranted.

In the end, a quirkless boy like him truly had no hope of ever being a hero.

In the end, Midoriya Izuku could only cry and blame his misfortune.

In the end, Midoriya Izuku was simply too weak.

Izuku snapped back to the present.

He turned to Ochako, a look of understanding crossed her face.

Ochako slipped her left hand to hold his right, and Izuku reciprocated.

Together they slowly walked back to the main campus in silence, Ochako feeling Izuku's grasp tighten but she didn't mind a bit.

Even if it was weak, even if it couldn't negate gravity like hers, even if it couldn't get him through the entrance exam.

Because it was this right hand that allowed her to become a hero for her parents.

Because it was this right hand that reached out when no one else did, and saved her that day.

Because it was the right hand of her hero.