My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 7: In The Medicine Tent

Eri left the entrance exam feeling strangely empty. She held her twelve flags in her hand as she walked through Ground Gamma, but each time she saw another student with a fistful of flags, or a belt covered in them, she couldn't help but feel like she didn't do her best. The lingering heat of using her quirk was still in her cheeks, and she realized how long it had been since she had used her quirk.

The two boys she had been with at the end of the exam walked beside her, the three of them quiet and pensive. The boy with the hand-blades kept stealing glances at his palms, but Eri's eyes never lingered long enough to understand why. She figured he was still beating himself up about hurting the other boy.

The other boy was gently rubbing his eight flags, on his face, a look of accomplishment and pride. Eri wasn't quite sure how to feel about him, but she was glad he was okay. It would have been horrible for the other boy's chances of getting into the school if the injury somehow became serious.

She breathed in deeply and turned around the corner that led to the exit of the battlegrounds. The other students were all lined up along one of the walls to give their flags to the supervising staff member.

Eri stopped behind the last person in line and craned her neck to see who was taking in the flags. A head of dark hair... A skin-tight costume... Red glasses? A small smile came blossomed on her face. It was Midnight. Midnight had always been one of her favourite teachers at UA, likely because she was always so kind to her as a child. She had become an aunt/mother figure in Eri's life, so it was a welcome relief to see a familiar face after the exam.

As the line moved up, Eri felt a tap on her shoulder, and she jumped. 

"Sorry." She recognized that voice, silky and smooth.

She turned around to see the boy with long, dark purple hair from before. Somehow, he had made his way into the line before either of the two boys she had been with. "Oh, um, hi."

He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a small smile. "I just wanted to check in with you about earlier. I went in kind of hard with my quirk."

"Oh!" Eri blinked. "Oh, um, yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for asking. That's really nice of you."

He shrugged. "I didn't want there to be any hard feelings if we both get accepted."

She nodded. "Of course."

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "I also wanted to make sure you were feeling okay. Sometimes, when I use my coax on someone for longer than just a few seconds, the effects can last longer. Is your head dizzy or fuzzy?"

"Um, no, I feel fine."

His eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

She shuffled forward a few feet in line and furrowed her brows. "Yeah. I felt fine as soon as I left that building."

The boy looked impressed and he shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. Have you had experience with mind control before? I've never met anyone who hasn't had any after-effects."

Eri nodded in a 'sort of' gesture. "My brother's quirk is brainwashing, so I've trained a couple of times to try and break the connection. Maybe that helped me."

His eyes widened. "Wait, are you telling me that your brother is the Mind Control Hero: Eko?"

"Yeah, that's him!" Her face broke into a huge smile as she moved forward another space in line. She could tell that this boy was a fan of Shinsou's and she couldn't wait to tell her brother about it later. 

"That's really cool. Eko is my favourite hero. He has been ever since he started." The boy's expression grew wistful. "He proved to me and everyone else that your quirk doesn't define who you are or will be in the future... He's an amazing hero. It's so cool that you got to grow up with him."