More Than Friends

The Exam

I already had fallen behind within the first 30 seconds. The rules were simple, defeat faux villains, get points, and the top scores will be accepted into UA.
That doesn't make it any easier for me, who has never used "my" quirk. And apparently, the backlash of using my quirk will prevent from attacking multiple times, so I have to make my one attack count. While I was thinking about what to do, the counter had reached down to 2 minutes in what felt like a few seconds. I still had zero points, whereas people like kacchan, my explosion-quirk user "friend," had sixty points. I would have to destroy at the very least twenty bots in 2 minutes to match that. That was practically impossible for me.

I heard a huge and deep rumbling far away, most likely  just a huge quirk going off. I wracked my brain, attempting to think of a way to make some points. I could simply find a way to disable their movement, which will still give me points. The best option would likely to find a hard object, like some of the bots' own plating, and use it as a blunt weapon. It's not efficient, but it's not like I have much of a choice.

Then I had a spark of an idea. If I had strength from One For All equivalent to that of All might, I could punch the air use the resulting blast of air as a kind of long-range cannon. If I could line it up, I could destroy a huge amount of bots. There was just one problem: there are other people in the way.
I'm not willing to risk others' lives to beat this, but I'm determined to win. Using my quirk is a requirement, and I will not be able to pass if I do not use it. I've lined up a shot, made sure no one is in the way, and I'm ready to fire.
I felt a kind of warmth spread up my arm as I activated One For All. It was a kind of burn, but it was bearable. If this is the backlash All might was talking about, I can handle this. I made a fist, leaned back, and pulled my arm all the way back, preparing this punch that could devastate the entire city. I was just about to punch, when I discovered what that rumbling from before was. And I was not ready for what was causing it.

[Appr. 15 minutes before]
"Remember, there is one huge faux villain roaming the city! It serves to be nothing more than an obstacle! I highly recommend avoiding it altogether!" Present Mic's quirk was able to make his voice dangerously loud, so he was able to fill the conference room with nothing but the sound of his voice. "To be honest, that faux villain may serve a hidden  purpose. Seems best to avoid it though. If it's there, it may be a handicap that will target the highest scoring people, giving those who are down a chance." I was committing my bad habit again, muttering to myself.
"SIR! May you please remain silent! I wish to learn the required information to succeed!" The voice wasn't coming from present mic, but from a rather tall applicant, who seemed like a bit of a rules freak.
"O-oh. I'm sorry, I have a bad habit."
"I will forgive you for now, but please do remain silent until the exam."

[Present]

So this was the villain worth zero points. Just an obstacle. But this thing was huge, several stories tall at least. It was crushing everything in its path, which was enough to convince everyone to run the opposite direction. I was about to do the same, as to preserve my own life. But I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. I was horrified, terrified of what I saw.

I saw the girl, Uraraka, stuck under a huge amount of rubble, both of her legs crushed. She was about to die. And with me watching. I'm worthless. I can't save her, she is going to die. No. I shoved every single one of these thoughts down into the back of my mind and ran straight towards the lumbering behemoth of a robot.
"Stop! You'll be killed!" "What are doing, Deku?! Your useless, quirkless ass won't be able to do anything!" "What the hell are you thinking, kid?!" I heard these, along with a few other things as I ran towards the faux villain without looking back.
I wasn't thinking, I just acted. I wanted to preserve that smile of hers.

I was a mere 50 feet from the robots treads. I activated One For All in my legs before jumping straight for the robots head, launching me straight into the air, within punching range. I couldn't feel my legs, but I payed little attention to them. I activated the quirk in my arm, readying for a huge punch. I remembered All Might's advice, clenched my buttocks, and yelled this within my heart:

"SUMAAAAAAAAASH!

I heard nothing for about a whole second. The world  froze. My punch had connected. The bot was falling, it's face completely dented inwards. It was blowing up in multiple places, falling. It was now nothing more than a useless pile of metal.
I realized right after I took a good look at my completely purple, bruised arm that it was broken, along with my legs from the jump.  I was falling, from roughly 500 feet up, with 3 of my limbs broken. I estimated about 10 seconds to think of and execute a plan to survive.
I didn't see a way out of this. My unbroken arm wasn't enough to stop my fall. One way I had thought of was to punch downwards closer to the ground, but the speed of which I was falling combined with the recoil would likely blow my arm clean off. I was doomed.

Then, just like a short hour ago, I had stopped falling, time seemingly to have stopped. I knew this feeling. I looked to my right, and there she was. Struggling to keep both me and her afloat on two pieces of metal. Somehow, she managed to struggle a smile, and talked with a strained voice.
"H-hey. M-midoriya, right?"
"Yeah. A-are you okay?"
" I'm alive, thanks to you. Y-you just saved me. You gave up your chance of winning just to save one girl. Why?"
" Well, I wouldn't be much of a hero if I couldn't save even one person, right? A-and besides, this is payback for keeping me from tripping. "
" We-we gotta get down back to the ground, or I'm gonna pass out."
I saw that she was indeed about to faint, so I just waited until she got both of us down.

It was at this point the adrenaline had worn off, and I was starting to feel my broken bones. As I was blacking out, I caught Uraraka at the corner of my eye, injured yet safe. I'm sure I had blacked out with a smile.

I saved her.