I dreamt of a memory. The chill in the air, the rough texture of the stone walls, the pungent smell of iron, and the cries of mother, begging for it to stop.

His face appeared and I remained frozen. Behind him, a young boy lay crumpled to the ground. "Nii-Nii." The word slipped through my lips.

A woman is chained to the wall, her face bruised, body left bare. To the other wall, a boy is slumped, defeated with a young girl clinging to him. A man lay across the ground not that far from them, surrounded in a pool of his own blood.

My body remained paralyzed by fear. Looking at my family behind the man. Unable to move anymore.

"Kiriya." His cold, rough voice made me tear my gaze from them to him. "You will learn as well. Kiriya."

I sat up with a gasp, eyes darting across the room, searching for the man, my assailant. But I found nothing. I'm in my room.

My body sagged with a sigh and I ran my hand through my hair. A light sweat coating me.

Irritation bubbled within me. Why do I always fall for that? Clicking my tongue I got up and started to get ready.

I woke up late again. But if I'm lucky I'll make it in before Aizawa-Sensei blows a fuse.

I frowned. Since when have I cared about that? What a pain.

After getting dressed I headed downstairs. "Ah! Kiri! Good morning!" Mina shouted from her seat at a table. I blinked as more people greeted me.

Everyone's talking loudly, laughing, eating breakfast together. That's . . . different.

"Morning." I responded, unsure what to do.

I've haven't lived with many people since I was ten. I'm not used to this.

I glanced at the clock. "Doesn't class start in ten minutes?" I asked. Their eyes went wide in horror and they let out screams as they scrambled up and rushed for the door.

"What are you doing Nozomi? Let's go!" Iida grabbed my arm and pulled me along.

~

"I believe I mentioned this yesterday, but for now, Class 1-A of the Hero Course will be focusing on getting their provisional licenses. A Hero License bears with it the great responsibility of human life."

I rolled my eyes, cheek leaned into my hand as I stared at Aizawa-Sensei in boredom. "Of course, the exam to receive one is very difficult. Even the provisional license has only 50% passing rate each year." He continued on.

"Just the provisional license is that hard?" Mineta said, already sweating.

How the hell did he get into this class again? "That's why today, we will have each of you come up with at least two. . ." The door slid open.

Hm? Ghek! My eye twitched as Midnight, Cementos, and Ectoplasm stood there.

Jeez. Why does she keep on showing up at school? She must really like doing this to me.

"Ultimate moves." Aizawa-Sensei finished. The idiot group; Kirishima, Mina, Kaminari, and Sero immediately got fired up and began making a commotion.

Ultimate moves? This sounds like it'll be a pain. "'Ultimate'! This means that this move will give you a sure win!" Ectoplasm started as they entered the room.

"A move so ingrained into your body that others cannot copy it. Battle means seeing how much you can force what you're good at on your opponent." Cementos added on.

"Your moves will represent you. These days, Pro Heroes without ultimate moves are an endangered species." Midnight finished, striking a ridiculous pose.

What a ridiculous woman. "We will tell you more as we go along. We want to proceed logically. Change into your costumes and meet in the Gym Gamma."

We did as he said and congregated at the gym.

Well what this school calls a gym.

"Gym Gamma, also known as the 'Training Dining Land', or TDL." Aizawa-Sensei explained as soon as we were all her.

Cementos put his hands on the ground and began to create some things.

"I came up with the idea for these facilities. Terrain and other things can be prepared specifically for each student. That's what the 'dining' part refers to."

Hm. I see. Iida stuck his arm into the air. "Please allow me to ask a question! Why must we have ultimate moves for our provisional licensing exam? Please tell me your reasoning!" Damn he's loud.

Well that's Iida for you. "I'll tell you everything in order. Calm down."

I patted his shoulder. "Down Iida." I said uncaringly, to which his shoulder slumped a bit.

"The job of a Hero is to save people from danger like, crimes, accidents, natural disasters, and man-made disasters. The exam to become one naturally looks at how well you are able to do that. Your ability to gather information, make decisions, move, and fight, in addition to your ability to communicate, draw people to you, and lead. Every year, a different test is used to look at how well you are able to do those things."

Midnight stepped up next to our teacher. "Of those, your ability to fight is especially important to your future as Heroes. If you are prepared, you won't have to worry. Whether or not you have an ultimate move will greatly affect whether or not you pass."

"Not being influenced by circumstances and being able to act consistently will make you a great asset on the front lines." Cementos said, going back to his thing.

"Your ultimate moves do not necessarily need to be of the attacking type. For example; Iida's Reciproburst. The temporary burst of speed is enough og a threat to be worth calling an ultimate move." Ectoplasm explained.

Iida looked up, hand to his chest shaking in joy. I sweat dropped at his blissfulness. "I see . . . So we need to find something that allows us to feel like 'as long as I do this, I have the advantage. I can win'." Sato mused.

Midnight grinned and winked. "Exactly. Kamui Woods, who played a big part in the fight the other day, has a move called Lacquered Chain Prison that is a perfect example of an ultimate move. It restrains his opponents before they can do anything."

"Are we gonna have to listen to this all day? Ow!" I rubbed my head where Midnight had struck me.

Rude.

Aizawa-Sensei ignored me and continued on. "The training camp was cancelled, but the training you did to develop your Quirks was the process to create your ultimate moves."

Cementos began to create obstacles I'm guessing and Ectoplasm created many clones.

"Until the beginning of the next semester, for the ten days or so until the end of summer vacation, you'll be working out your ultimate moves as you develop your Quirks. You'll be doing intensive training. In addition, you should think about how you can improve your costumes to work better with your developing Quirks. Get through this with a 'Plus Ultra' mentality. Are you ready."

"Yes sir!" The class cheered.

Not really no. But the sooner I get this done the less I'll have to do later.

~

Or so I thought.

I swung my blade and struck Ectoplasm, destroying the clone.

He reformed behind me. "Nozomi, you can't just kill me. You need to incapacitate me. Heroes don't kill." I rolled my eyes, lunging at him again.

"I did it because you are a clone." And you're kind of annoying me.

In truth, I have no idea how to make an ultimate move. I only really know skill. That's it.

No matter how many Ectoplasms I beat, it wasn't done flashy like so I didn't do it right.

"I've got a move I've been working on since I was a kid called Grape Rush, you know." Mineta's voice sounded, making me glance at the others.

"I mean everyone's thought about it before, right? I thought about doing a lightning sword or something." Kaminari agreed.

Hm. A special move since since a kid . . . huh? "Isn't it cool? Gaea's Realm! Well? Riya!" A cheery young voice echoed in my mind.

He would be better suited for this then me. He's been thinking about things like this since he was a kid.

Something flashy . . .

I'm not a flashy person though. I don't even want to be a Hero. Why . . . am I here?

I came here to support Izu. He has been alone for so long. He needed someone he could go to for help, for support.

I came so Kacchan would at least have one ally. Someone who understood he isn't a bad guy.

Izu has finally settled in properly. Kacchan isn't alone anymore. They have friends here. This is good for them. So I don't need to be here. I can just go to a normal school. Right?

But . . . why haven't I? It's not as if I'm reliant on them.

I'm perfectly fine by myself. That's how I've always been. I don't mind it.

I looked over at the idiots frolicking about, struggling, and working on their moves. I . . . I don't know.

I looked down and my hair formed a blade. An ultimate move huh?

What would he do? If he had my Quirk? What can I do?

Closing my eyes, I concentrated.

Something unexpected. Something different.

What's different from my blades? What's different from sword fighting? What could put me at an advantage? There has to be something. What?

Maybe . . .

I clenched my fists and my hair moved together. "Oh?" Ectoplasm mused.

My hair grew, it clumped, and I tore it from my hair with a grunt. My hair now short, to my chin.

Opening my eyes, I stared at my creation.

A battle hammer.

The hammer that is longer than my body itself.

Gripping it, I turned swiftly on my feet. With a shout and a burst of power, I slammed it into the cement wall, breaking it off.

I gripped the handle tightly, glancing over at Ectoplasm as the wall crumbled behind me. There was a smile in his voice.

"Now you're on the right track."