My Hero Academia: Reign of Hopes

Chapter 1 - The Hero Qualification Exam

The summer had drawn to an end as U.A.'s Entrance Exam had drawn closer. It was a prestigious university, one where only the best Pro Heroes attend and graduate from. Those who dreamed of being heroes since they were children had lined up to enroll. It wasn't often where people enroll on a whim and pass the exams.

Of course, Miwa Kokoro did not fall into the latter category. She had wanted to become a hero since she was young. It was the first thing she knew she wanted to do. She studied and worked hard throughout middle and high school just to sit where she sat then. She had sat amongst a crowd of strangers, each with the same goal and plan to outdo the people next to them. No smart person would hold back against so many others aiming to enroll.

She had sat just as anxiously listening to the Pro Hero explain the provisional half of the exam as anxiously as she sat taking the written test and as anxiously as she stood awaiting the beginning of the second part of the exam. Of course, she was confident in her performance on the written exam, but that meant hardly anything compared to the practical exam.

All in all, it had gone pretty well for her. She scored some decent points on her own, and some in a bit of a collaboration with other participants, though most of those were accidents. She probably accidentally stole some points from other students, too. Most of her rescue points probably came from scenarios like that. She knew one specific instance where she knew her rescue points came from, though.

It was towards the end of the exam. She was feeling good about her performance, but she didn't want to waste the last few minutes just to be safe. It was after the proctors released the massive, zero-point robots, so the calamity that pursued the arrival of one had separated Miwa from the group she was near. She didn't want to wait to be corned by another one, so she kept moving.

It wasn't long before she had come across the remnants of one of these zero-point robot attacks. The simulated urban environment was no longer as pristine as it seemed. Chunks of buildings sitting in the destroyed streets with light posts and trash cans and the like scattered with them.

This wouldn't have surprised Miwa, be it from the robots or students. It wasn't any of the rubble that caught her eye, though. Rather, it was a girl seemingly stuck underneath a large plate of metal - no doubt a remnant of a faux-villain - and some concrete. Miwa rushed to the girl - a rather beautiful girl, too - and attempted to lift the metal plate. There was no reason to withdraw her help; this may be a competition, but it wasn't a life-or-death situation for the winners and losers. She knew full well that she couldn't lift the plate entirely, especially with the other rubble stacked on top of it.

She attempted to lift the plate but was interrupted by an attack from a three-point robot. Miwa narrowly ducked under the missile, which sent even more rubble and concrete scattering across the area. Clearly, she would have to take down that robot before she could rescue the girl. She quickly stood up and rushed towards the tank-like robot. Her aura flared to life as she pulled her hand back. But at this point in the exam, she wasn't exactly brimming with energy. She glanced backward at the trapped girl for half a second before making a decision. She pulled her arm back a bit more, close enough to pull a bit of the other girl's aura to her. Around her right arm, Miwa's magenta aura swirled with the girl's yellow aura as Miwa prepared her attack. She thrust her opened hand forward, hitting the missile launcher of the faux-villain. The initial blow certainly wasn't strong enough to do any damage to the robot, but within a few heartbeats, the two auras blasted forth from her palm in a powerful burst of energy. The attack was strong enough to completely blast off the arm of the three-point robot and, Miwa assumed, hopefully, shut it off.