Wingless Bird

Adjustment

It's been only a few months. Ryder died. She died in her sleep as the muscles in her heart weakened. She died peacefully. No one can say it was with no pain. She's carried pain gracefully the last 3 years of her life.

Heros in this day and age are buried with a celebration. Parades and parties, flowers, candles, mobs of crying people. But Ryder's death didn't even get covered in the news. She was of no current influence, and most people had forgotten that name a long time ago. The ceremony was intimate, sad, quiet. Akari and Hawks accepted bows and peoples' quiet condolences. Neither of them could cry on that day. To Akari, it didn't seem real yet. Ryder looked like she was just sleeping in. She did that sometimes when Akari and Hawks would come visit her. Akari's heart couldn't accept that she was gone yet. She looked at Ryder's closed eyes, almost anticipating that Ryder would wake up any minute. Hawks, on the other hand, was well experienced in this kind of pain. He stared at Ryder. His brain checked out a week ago and he's only been in autopilot. He stared at Ryder. Not a single thought crossed his mind. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to feel it yet.

Hawks' eyes moved across Ryder's body and landed on Akari. She looked at Ryder and a smile smeared on her face, but her eyes were pools of deep pain. Hawks noticed it for a long time. Akari would always plaster the biggest smile in front of her mom. Even now, he could see she was falling apart but the smile on her face seemed to tie the pieces together, just tight enough to keep them in place. He knew it was an act. To make sure her mom didn't worry about her. To try and get Ryder to smile, even laugh. Hawks' chest tightened as he realized he would never see them ever smile at one another again. He looked away, trying to get his brain to turn off again. 

Hawks started working full time again. The Hero Public Safety Commision has had a long line of work for him. Most of the work has been standard research and source collecting to build cases against criminals and villain organizations. Being back in the spotlight has brought a lot of news attention to him and subsequently Akari, too.

Akari went down to collect the morning mail. When she opened their apartment's mailbox, colorful newspapers and magazines fell to the ground. She huffed a little annoyed at the inconvenience and brought them back up to their flat.

"Anything important?" Hawks asked as he struggled to get his hero costume over his wings.

Akari waved him over and helped him fit his wings through his coat, "Just seems like more magazines."

"O~" Hawks flipped through them, "I wonder if they got my good side!"

His frantic flipping stopped, and he visibly cringed as he looked back to Akari, "Oh, this is just sad."

He held the magazine to Akari where she read the headline out loud, "Most eligible Batchlor now taken?" The photo was Hawks in a terrible incognito costume and Akari smiling while they were out at dinner last week, "Young hero likes younger woman?" Akari mocked throwing up in her mouth. But then a white envelope fell from the magazine.

Akari picked it up, and noticed it was addressed to her. She turned the envelope around to see the golden stamp of UA. She clasped her hand over her mouth as she wasted no time tearing open the letter. Small, excited screams escaped her mouth as she read:

Dear Akari Hajiken,

We, the staff at UA High, want to formally thank you and your family for your interest in attending our school. We have reviewed your application and deemed that you are eligible to take our entrance exams.

Akari paused as she jumped happily around but quickly continued as Hawks listened.

As a top high school that focuses on hero courses there will be two forms of tests presented to you on the exam. 1) A field test, please note to dress accordingly, we do not recommend jeans, baggy clothing, or open toed shoes. 2) A written test, to test your academic standing. Due to your recommendation from pro-hero Hawks and former... 

Akari looked up at Hawks unable to say the next few words out loud. She shook her head in disbelief and sat down, "And former hero Ryder. Mom sent in a recommendation for me?"

"It was one the last things she did. She knew this was important to you" Hawks ruffled Akari's hair, "She was so proud of how hard you were working. You really convinced her that you had what it took to be a hero."

Akari felt like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, a moment of relief finally being able to say she had her mother's acceptance and support for her dreams to be a hero. Akari smiled at Hawks and hugged him tightly, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Anything for you," Hawks hugged her back, "But I really have to be going. I should be back for dinner. Behave, no parties without me, and don't be late for your training lessons."

Akari waved him off as he opened the balcony doors and flew from their apartment. She ran into her room with the acceptance letter in hand. With precision not to cover the many other important letters from her mom, she pinned the acceptance letter to a board filled with letters and pictures. Tears brimmed Akari's eyes as she looked at all of the letters.

Akari laid a hand on her chest, "Mom, things are finally looking up. I promise, I promise to you, mom. I'm going to be a great hero. I'll make you proud. The last few months without you has been so hard, mom. So hard."

Akari couldn't hold back the tears as she tried to wipe them away, "I feel so lonely, mom."

Akari dropped to the floor as she hugged herself, tears fell from her cheeks and on to her arms and her legs. She cried harder than she has ever cried in her entire life. Sobs and hiccups tumbled out of her lips and her chest heaved heavy breaths. 

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Akari stood at the large gates of the Training Ground. There weren't nearly as many students at the recommendation exam as Akari would have thought. There were some interesting characters there, a tall boy with short black hair and a cocky smile, a girl with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail showing a little more skin than most of the other girls, and a boy who had a burn scar across his left eye and two-toned white and red hair.

Akari tightened her wraps around her joints, she didn't know how much she was going to be lifting today. The tall young man approached Akari, "Hey, I'm Yoarashi Inasa. What's your name and why do you want to be a hero?"

Akari answered without hesitation, and it caught her off guard how quickly her words came off her tongue, "I'm Akari Hajiken and I want to be surrounded by people who love me."

The boy with the two-toned hair looked over at Akari and thought what a strange answer, what does that even mean?

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As the recommendation exam proceeded there were tests and examinations of our raw quirk talent and ability. Akari was a little upset that overall, she wasn't at the top of the students. She looked over at the two boys admiring their athletic ability. She realized that she's focused a lot of her training to strength and has a new goal to become quicker. If she had a little more speed, she could have gotten more points and been higher on the leaderboard.

But there was one quirk that surprised her. Momo Yaoyorozu didn't have a physically strong quirk. Akari could tell that Momo was well taught in increasing the functionality of her quirk. Not many people would know what to do with a quirk like creation. It must have taken a lot of trial and error to learn and perfect her technique. Akari agreed to become smarter with her ability, to learn new ways to use her quirk.

Most of the recommended applicants were accepted in one of the UA programs, however, Inasa refused his spot and Akari couldn't understand why. He seemed so driven at the start. But as he walked away, he looked pissed off, driven but filled with rage or some kind of manifesting anger.

As Akari looked over her new classmates, a smirk pulled at the corner of her lips. It became clear to her that she had a lot more to learn and to train for. That there were going to be new obstacles she would have to face. She was excited to train alongside them all.