The Kobayashi family sat around their tv, watching the UA Sports Festival. "Shun said her classmates and her were going to be there." The youngest, Mari, asked as she sat with her parents.

"Yeah, I think she's mostly there to see how that boyfriend of hers does." Mari looked over at her father, Daishi, noting that he was serious. "But you won't be like this if I get a boyfriend, right?" He looked at her and smiled. "I will make no such promises." They both chuckled.

"Shh, It's starting." Mari's mother, Sara, had walked into the room with tea and snacks. They all settled down to watch the event, Mari with a notepad taking notes. Present Mic began announcing what was going on.

"Oh yeah. That was the class from the USJ attack." Her mom said. "I'm glad Shun and Manga weren't there. But those pour kids." Mari looked over at her mother. "Tōru Hagakure was there. She wasn't seriously injured, but she told me how scary it was."Mari looked back over at the screen.

"Mama, look. There's Manga and Shun." They all quieted down and watched intently. Midnight came on a minute later and introduced the representative, Katsuki Bakugo. Mari recognized him as the kid who Manga pranked. He went up to the microphone and spoke, "I pledge, that I'll be number one."

The crowd was outraged. You could see it even made some of his own classmates angry. A few seconds after the crowd settled, the game was picked. An obstacle race. The kids gathered by the entrance, and they were off. Mari noticed Shun and the rest of the business course were doing other things since there wasn't a point to them competing.

The announcers were talking about the crowding up. Present Mic seemed enthusiastic. The other guy, Present Mic called him Mummy Man, spoke sleepily. There was a lot of chaos and yelling, a massive ice attack, but some people managed to make it through. Giant robots appeared, Mari understood from what Tōru had said, that these were from the entrance exam.

It was insanity, and they were on the edge of their seats as the same ice attack was used on the robots. "Wow, that guy Todoroki is really powerful," Mari added. It was hard to keep track of what was happening as the games continued. But Mari gave it her best effort to take notes of what the different power levels were. Todoroki had arrived at the next portion of the obstacle course, the minefield.

"Look, Manga is trying to make it through," Mari observed. There was a huge explosion as they watched a kid named Midoriya blast to the front of the pack. With amazing reaction time and strategy, the kid who hadn't even used his quirk yet got first place. "Look, Tōru took thirty-eighth. And Manga took Fortieth." As they sat around watching, Mari wrote down everything she could.

These were kids she would be competing against to become a hero someday. She was going to have a hard time being excepted. Thankfully, she had already been preparing. Ever since she got her quirk, she had been training to control it. She had also studied multiple fighting styles and was proficient in many of them.

As part of her therapy, she had been going out running for years. But as she watched the games, she realized that it wouldn't be enough. She was already at a disadvantage being so young. She needed to up her game. Mari had experience from her previous life, but she was still just an eleven-year-old girl.

As she watched, something triggered a memory. She sat there silently, lost in thought. It had happened so quickly. There was no warning and no preparation. Mari brought her knees up to her chest and stared at the wall. Her parents hadn't noticed the change. Mari was pulled into memory, one that she had already remembered.

It was unpleasant all the same. She was in a forest at night. The snow was thick on the ground, and the temperature was below freezing. She was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree. The memories became darker, pulling her further in. It took a few minutes, but she began to regain her senses. "I'll be right back."

She quickly stood up and left the room. Her parents watched, worried as she left. "Daishi, can you go check on her?" Mari's mother asked. He nodded and stood up to follow after her. He walked over to her bedroom door and knocked. "I'm going to open the door now." He opened the door and walked into the room. Mari was sitting on the floor, against her bed, having a panic attack.

Her breathing was erratic, and she was clawing at her legs and arms. Daishi ran over to her and sat down, hugging her arms to her side. "Mari, deep breaths. Breath with me." Sara walked in and sat with them, holding her daughter's hands in her own. "Hey," She spoke quietly. "We're right here. You're at home."

It took a few minutes, but her breathing slowly returned to normal, being replaced with sobbing. "How am I ever going to become a hero if I keep having breakdowns?" Sara and Daishi sat comforting their daughter. "We have always believed in you, Mari."

She looked up at her mother. "If we didn't believe in you, we wouldn't let you try to get into UA so early." Their words encouraged her. And from that day on, she began training harder than ever. She had less than a year to get ready and be in peak physical and mental shape. But she was optimistic for the first time. And she knew what her goals were. A week later, exhausted from training, Mari lied down in her bed to think. 'I have a lot of work to do.'