Leaves rustled among the morning breeze, the sunlight that shined through the forest gently stroking the grass. If you paid close attention it was almost as if you could feel the light shifting. The call of birds swooping underneath the azure sky calmed me as I took a deep breath, folding my hands together to help me focus.

I wanted to move, to do something. But I knew if I did I would lose focus, and I couldn't afford that. If I didn't do well on this, how could I even dream of passing what was to come? I took another deep breath. Just be patient.

Beep!

Within the second I heard that familiar noise, my eyes shot open, and I spotted a small red dot from my peripheral vision. Summoning a feather, I aimed it directly at the dot. It hit right on the target, but I didn't have time to celebrate that small victory. Almost at the same moment as I had summoned that feather, I was already searching for the next target, finding it and hurdling another feather in its direction.

I continued until I managed to hit all thirty targets, stopping for two of three seconds at the most. Some feathers hit right on the dot, while others hit close or nowhere near the center. One didn't even hit the target, just shot right past into the thicket behind it like a bullet.

Once I was finished, I held my hands on my knees, allowing myself a moment to breathe. Heading over to the small bench sitting welcomingly outside the metal fence that surrounded my house, I grabbed my water bottle and took a long, refreshing drink. The trial mix I had brought was a small treat sitting welcomingly beside me.

The practice session I just accomplished was a creation of Uncle Keigo's. (with a bit of help from me.) I couldn't explain exactly how it worked, but when activated, the targets would shift so I couldn't memorize where they were. Once the alarm sounded, I would strike with my feathers. There was also a timer installed to tell me how long it took me to hit all thirty targets. Plus there was a setting that allowed the targets to move while I was aiming for them, testing me even more. There were a few other functions, but those were the basics.

My uncle had installed some other high tech training equipment and exercises around our property. Both for me to train, and for him when he needed to blow off some steam. This one, however, was designed for me. It was meant to help me with my aim and reaction time, two things that I currently struggled with.

Despite this, I felt I was pretty ready for the U.A. exams. I wasn't worried too much about the written ones since I studied so hard for them. And from what I've heard, a lot of them just require you to use your common sense.

Despite my nervousness, my uncle believed I had no reason to be so worried. He believed more in my abilities than I did. In fact, he had even wanted to get me into U.A. through his recommendation. I wouldn't accept that, however. I wanted to get into U.A. with my own skill.

I couldn't depend on my uncle to get me through life forever. I needed to do this on my own. That was why I was training so hard now.

A tiny crunching noise brought me out of my thoughts, and directed my attention over to the bag of trail mix beside me, which was currently being raided by a small furry intruder.

The rabbit dropped the nut it was munching on to look at me, twitching its nose in curiosity.

I stared at it, wondering what it would do next. I expected it to run away into the greenery, but what I didn't expect was that it would take my bag of trail mix with it.

"Hey!" I shouted, standing up to watch the little thief hop away into the forest.

For a minute, I considered chasing it, trapping it with my feathers to get my snack back. But a swooping noise from the forest followed by a tiny squeak stopped me. I hesitantly stepped out to try to get a peak of what that was.

Did a fox or something catch it?

I didn't have to wonder for long, though, because the shadow of a man stepped out into the daylight.

Uncle Keigo held the trail mix in one gloved hand with a small grin on his face.

I raised an eyebrow at my uncle. Of course. I should have guessed.

"How ya doing, Miu? Think you're ready for the exams?" He threw me the trail mix, which, as I caught it, I realized the bag now had some dirt sprinkled into it aling with the nuts and M&Ms.

So much for that.

"You didn't… kill it, did you? The rabbit?"

"No. I just caught it then let it go." He responded before pulling a tooth pick from what seemed like thin air. "The rabbit's fine, kid."

I looked down at the trail mix, holding a yellow M&M between my thumb and forefinger. The way my uncle slipped so quietly through the woods that I didn't even realize he was there was so impressive it was a little creepy. And he probably caught that rabbit in one motion too. I wonder… if I would have been able to do that…

I felt a hand press against my head, ruffling my short bed of hair. "Let's get some real breakfast, alright?"

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The eggs and bacon sat appetizingly in front of me as I scooped it into my mouth. Keigo, taking his time with his French toast, watched as I downed my orange juice in one go.

"Woah. Slow down a second, kid." he told me, reaching his hand out to stop me.

I noticed the people at the table across from us whispering and glancing at us. I didn't think much of it though. I was used to that kind of thing when we went out in public.

"I can't help it! I'm too nervous! What if I fail? Where am I going to go?"

"You won't fail, I've seen you training out there everyday. I can guarantee you worked harder than half those kids." Keigo stopped to wipe his face with a napkin, setting it away from him by the edge of the table. A girl walking by actually tried to grab it after saying something about "Hawks' lips" but promptly backed away after receiving a side glance from him.

Keigo continued. "Besides, even if you don't get in, which won't happen, there are other hero schools."

"I know, but they're not the same…" I drifted off, ripping a chunk out of a piece of crispy bacon.

"Well, I'll be proud of you no matter what happens."

I smiled, knowing he meant it. Uncle Keigo had been nothing but supportive of me since the day I moved in with him. He was always patient and wanted the best for me, despite how much he joked about how terrible of a guardian he was.

Feeling a bit better, I decided to change the subject. "Even if I beat you again in Heros Arcane III?" I asked mischievously.

Keigo chuckled, leaning over the table to ruffle my hair again. "Now that's unforgivable."

Glancing at the clock behind the hero, my mood quickly shifted. "Oh shoot! It's already 7:30. Better get going." I stood up, leaving the rest of my breakfast on the plate.

"Okay, okay. But are you sure you don't want me to fly you there?"

"Yep." I responded quickly, adjusting my hair so it didn't dangle in front of my face.

"Bye!" I called. I saw he was about to respond, but I didn't give him the chance to, because I was already running out the door.

I was determined to get to U.A. early so I would have to get somewhat used to the school, mentally prepare myself, and scope out my competition.

I also wanted to see if I could get some clues as to what the practical exams would be like. I was familiar with the stories of the huge robots that U.A. had just lined up in their… garage or whatever ready to be destroyed by fourteen year olds. But I heard they were doing something a little different this year, which might mess up my strategy.

Entering the subway train, I plopped down onto the cushioned seats and let out a breath. Looking out the window, I watched the buildings whiz by as my heart skipped a beat.

This is it. The day I've been waiting for for so long… the day I can show them that they were wrong to throw me off to the side.

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I had seen the U.A. buildings before. Uncle Keigo took me here a few times during my early childhood when I told him I was curious. And of course I had seen it on TV many times. But being in its presence with the intent of not only going in, but knowing it may or may not be your new school have the buildings an entirely different aura.

I got there with some time to spare, so I stood by the gates for a while, taking it all in. There weren't as many people here as I thought there would be, but I figured that was because of how early I was.

The people who were here seemed pretty normal for the most part. I couldn't really guess what their quirks were. There were a few people who I could get an idea of, such as a boy whose skin was made of bark, or a girl who was manipulating the water in a bottle, but I decided not to get too ahead of myself just yet.

Having nothing better to do, I walked purposefully to the front entrance, where the huge double doors just asked for me to swing them open to potentially start this new chapter of my life.

But… they were locked. I tried the doors again, only to have them stay stubbornly stuck.

That's weird…

"They're locked, dumbass!"

I flinched as an unfamiliar voice shouted that rude phrase at me. I flipped my attention to two boys standing a few yards away from me.

One of them was looking at me, amused with a smirk. He had red hair, green eyes, and tanned skin.

The other boy looked as if he was trying to hold back his chuckles. He had long blue hair and almost paper white skin.

I could feel my cheeks turning red from the surprise of being so rudely called out for something so small and stupid. Of course the door was locked, I could figure that out! I didn't need these guys to yell it out to me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but the guy with red hair who originally spoke opened his mouth to elaborate. "They don't open the doors until ten minutes before the exams. It's kind of a known thing if you ever bothered to pay attention."

Thrown off by his comment, I pulled out my watch to check the time. It's 7:45… I guess I'm earlier than I thought…

Knowing this, I felt a bit bad about running out on Uncle Keigo so soon… but that feeling quickly turned back into one of annoyance.

"I've never heard that before! It's not that big of a deal, you don't have to be a jerk about it."

Apparently this seemed to amuse the two guys even more. "You hear that, Raki? Apparently this little middle school kid thinks she's all tough."

"Middle school?!"

"Well it sure as hell looks like it with those little baby cheeks of yours." He commented, making the guy next to him, who had not yet said a word, snort.

I blushed even harder, clenching my fists and tensing my shoulders. I knew my face was a bit more round-shaped than most kids my age, but I didn't look like a middle schooler! Did I?

Well it didn't matter if I did, because this guy had no right to make fun of someone he just met. Was his ego seriously so fragile that he needed to do that?!

"Ha! Look at her blush!" The guy with the blue hair burst out, speaking for the first time.

"I know right! This place is for people with real talent, kid, not overly embarrassed twelve year olds with puny mutations."

As the boy snapped his nasty comment, I noticed the blue haired boy's expression morphed less into one of amusement and bravado, and more into one of recognition. In fact, he even looked a little intimidated now that he had gotten a closer look at me. In response, he tapped his friend on the back to get his attention.

"What?" The teen snapped at his friend. But said friend didn't seem to notice, because he pulled the other boy closer and whispered something into his ear.

The only words I heard were 'Hawks,' and 'wings,' but I could guess that he had recognized me as Hawk's niece.

Good. Maybe they'll leave me alone then.

But the boy with the red hair only smirked and raised his eyebrows in reply.

"Oh, so she thinks she's all special because she's Hawk's girl.

"Well news flash." I hated that this guy was so much taller than me, because I actually felt a bit intimidated when he leaned down to meet me eye-level. "She's not."

I ruffled my feathers. Okay, this guy wants to pick on me? Fine. But I'm not going to stand here and take it!

Keeping eye contact with the boy with the more talkative guy, I swiftly directed one of my smaller feathers to shoot like an arrow underneath the water bottle the guy was holding. When I did, the bottle shot out of his grasp and into the air. The two boys were shocked for a bit, following the bottle with their eyes to see what would happen. Due to the angle I shot it at, it went flying behind the three of us, which I did not intend.

My goal was just to knock it out of his hand. It was a little lame, but it was the best thing I could think of to show him I wasn't going to let him stand there and call me names. However, it seemed like my puny little stunt was going to have more of an impact than I thought it would. As it descended, it looked as if it would perfectly land in the garbage can a few feet away from the three of us. I have no idea how I managed to do that, but I wasn't complaining.

My heart took a small leap in triumph. That'll show these guys what I'm made of! Or at the very least, they'll leave me alone.

My hopes quickly sank, though, as the bottle landed right on the rim of the trash can, rolling a bit before inevitably falling on the grass below it.

The boys snickered. "Looks like you're not all you're not all that, little girl-"

Something that sounded like the bottle being crushed interrupted the tall boy. Curious, the two boys looked behind them to see what it was; admittedly, I was curious too.

Stepping around the jerks to get a better view, I saw a girl with carrot orange hair that was held up in a high ponytail braid, bringing out the freckles sprinkling her face. I would say the thing that intrigued me about her was her outfit. While most of us wore simple t-shirts, leggings, and other things that were easy to move around in, this girl wore a full martial arts gi. She even had a belt to go with it. A black belt at that.

The girl crumbled the bottle in her hand before throwing it in the trash. Her emerald green eyes stared daggers at the boys in front of me as she called them out.

"Hey, assholes! Save your energy for the exams!"

I knew that wasn't the worst thing you could say in this situation, and the guys kind of had it coming, but I was still a little surprised by how blunt she was.

She's probably never met these kids in her life and the first thing she says is 'hey assholes!?' Unless she went to middle school with them, but still!

Apparently the two of them were not as caught off guard by that statement as I was, though.

"Mind your own business, you little-"

The freckled girl didn't even give him the time of day as she was already sauntering off toward them. Before I knew what was happening, she pushed her arm in-between the three of us to stand in the way of the two boys and I.

"Did you not hear me?" She snapped.

That one sentence seemed to set off a heated staring contest between the two redheads. None of them said anything, making the interaction a little creepy as they stared at each other like they were frozen there. The blue haired boy stood awkwardly beside his buddy as they did it, while I stood, a little confused, behind the girl, not exactly sure what they were doing.

So she's standing up for me? Why?

Observing the girl a bit more, I noticed something interesting about her gi. On the back, sewn expertly in golden letters, was a name. 'Blair Hiriyama'.

I didn't have time to ponder that, though, as a voice altered by a megaphone cut through the air.

"Good morning children. Those of you here for the entrance exams, please head to the auditorium to the left of the main hall. There, we will commence the written exam. Thank you, and good luck to all of you." The speaker cut off, leaving the sea of students which I hadn't even noticed had gotten at least five times as big compared to when I arrived. They all headed toward the front doors.

Before I even thought of going in, I turned around to thank the girl for standing up for me. I wouldn't have had the guts to say some of the things she said without any hesitation, and she said them in defense of a total stranger, too.

However, when I turned to look at her, she was gone, lost in the swarm of kids all heading to the same place we were. To achieve the same goal.

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Word Count: 3,121

Okay, so after a hot minute, I finally got chapter 1 posted. I hope you enjoyed it! I plan to get chapter 2 posted soon too so if you enjoyed this chapter, be on the lookout for that.

Fun Fact: The Takami's have over 25 built in training exercises built in training excersizes around their property. Part of the reason they have so many is they own a huge chunk of secluded land and just need something to do with it. ^^'

Stay safe, and have a good day/night 🌄🌌💜