Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Seventy

Hitoshi leaned forward in his seat as Present Mic explained the rules.

They'd be separated into three smaller groups, and in those areas there'd have been a - fake - earthquake natural disaster. Hurt and/or scared civilians - actors - would be placed around the arena. In addition there would be heroes posing as villains. These heroes would be going extremely easy on them all.

Hitoshi felt Katsuki next to him bristle at the thought of people going 'easy' on him, but other than that Katsuki said nothing. Hitoshi almost felt proud of him. He glanced at Katsuki to check whether he was okay, and Katsuki caught his gaze and frowned slightly, not needing Hitoshi's concern, before turning his head away to focus back on the exam.

The 'villains' would be unable to use their quirks, just attacking with their fists and kicks, and other means. Izuku however - given that his quirk was irrelevant to his power - was forbidden from attacking at all. Hurting the students only through strategic means that couldn't involve him touching a student. Similar rules were put in place for 'villains' with mutant quirks.

Hitoshi felt himself become increasingly more hyped for the exam. This seemed like an exam where his quirk - brainwashing - might actually be quite handy. And if Izuku was actually taking the exam, he'd stand a chance, as quirks aren't as important in a situation like this one. This exam would be judged based on priorities, sincerity, justice, and other heroic beliefs.

Katsuki shifted in his seat, eager to get started. Small explosive pops erupted from his palms, catching the attention of Hitoshi and a couple other students, who glared at Katsuki in irritation. Katsuki - of course - glared back and didn't let their anger bother him one bit. Hitoshi found that quite respectable, however refused to think on it further, trying to get his own head in the exam.

The explanation quickly ended - Present Mic sending him and Katsuki a small wink in support before turning his head back to the other students - and he and Katsuki headed out to their differing exam grounds. As they were from the same school, they were in different grounds, and so they eventually reached a point where they had to separate.

"Hey eyeba- Aizawa."

Hitoshi turned to lazily glance at Katsuki, pretending he felt like the conversation wasn't worth any of his time. "Yeah? What is it?"

Katsuki glanced down towards the ground, hands curled into fists. He shook for a minute, emotions within him conflicting, until he calmed down. "Izuku did his best to give me this chance - this one chance to enter a hero school. I'm going to do the best I can to pass - and get the best score! I... my quirk isn't the best for rescue work but... I won't give up!"

Hitoshi glanced back, his eyes lighting up slightly. "Yeah. Same here." He turned to walk away, and then paused. "I think Izuku would want you to try your hardest. He gave you this chance for a reason after all - he truly believes you can be a hero. So prove that his assumption is correct. Prove you can be a hero."

And with that, Hitoshi turned his back on Katsuki, and walked to his training grounds.

Katsuki simply watched him go, until he couldn't see Hitoshi anymore.

---TimeSkip---

Deku stretched, pulling on his gloves with a sharp tug, and straightened his posture out as he glanced at the grounds below. He had made sure he wasn't in Katsuki's exam ground - knowing that fighting against Katsuki might result in his identity being discovered - but neither Shouta nor Nezu could promise he wouldn't be placed in Hitoshi's grounds.

Either way, he'd try his best. They'd be going easy on these future heroes...

... But that doesn't mean the test itself would be any less challenging.

He heard Present Mic's voice broadcast across all three exam grounds, and just like that... the exam had begun.

---TimeSkip---

Katsuki blasted forward, heading straight for some civilians near some crumbling rubble and slabs. One of them had a slab on top of their leg and was whining in pain. Katsuki winced and tried to contain his yelling - they were actors, they were supposed to be in pain.

"Oi, where are you hurt?" He yelled at them, using controlled explosions to cause a small crack in the slab, enough for him to safely remove the pieces away from the actor's leg. He was careful to jostle the leg as little as possible.

The civilians - three of them - each told Katsuki their injuries. The one whose leg got hurt by the slab simply had a broken leg, aside from a few other bruises. The second - one who seemed a lot smaller - said they had hit their head hard and felt fine, but a little dizzy. Recognising that as a likely concussion, Katsuki nodded, and moved on to the third who said they had a gash on their forearm but otherwise was fine.

Jumping into action, Katsuki used a sharp piece of the slab to cut off some of his clothes and wrap them around the - most likely fake - gash on the forearm. After being certain their injury was tightly wrapped, Katsuki turned to the other two.

"Damn..." He muttered. "I can't carry you both..." He turned back to the civilian who had the small gash with a frown. "And I can't ask you to carry the small one, because of your wound. I need..." He trailed off. He hated asking for help - relying on anyone else shouldn't be needed - he wanted to be strong enough to help everyone all by himself!... but...

Heroes shouldn't only depend on themselves.

Katsuki took a deep breath in.

And shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hey! I need some help over here!"

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Katsuki is improving!

Before any of you start worrying, this fic is NOT Katsuki x Hitoshi - whatever that ship is called haha. I do have a... controversial... ship planned for Hitoshi, but not with Katsuki. I only hope that no matter who Hitoshi is paired with in the end, that you'll continue to support me.

Next chapter will be about Hitoshi and Izuku in their exams, and probably a bit after with some fluff. I hope you're all looking forward to it!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊