Essence of a True Hero

Life or Death Examination-Part I

Kunichuwa minna! Here is the first chapter of Essence of a True Hero. Hopefully, that remains the title for this story. Before continuing, as is my wont, I would like to dedicate this chapter to my recent follower: xUnivxrse. Thank you xUnivxrse for following me and showing your support. By now, I will probably have left enough time for people to be wondering what the heck I was doing in the prologue. Do not worry my readers, it will all be explain, eventually. For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter: Life or Death Examination-Part I.

Izuku Midoriya's P.O.V.

    I was running right now, right to a burning building. My mind was going a million miles an hour, but the people staring at us as I ran diverted my train of thought from the mission.

    I had known that I looked old fashion for a hero to any passerby, especially with my katana. I was still getting those gaping stares as I ran. Any hero seen walking (or running as my case was) the streets as a pro would be walking in a bright coloured, skin-tight suit with no accessories except perhaps a mask, feeling worthy enough just by being present in the flesh. Compared to that, I had been wearing a teal loose turtleneck with half sleeves, a pair of leather gloves, forest green sweat pants, and combat boots. I could very well have been a normal pedestrian except for other features like the katana sticking out from my left shoulder, the small shields protecting my shins, the bandages hanging loosely from my arms, or the utility belt at my waist. Of course, right now, there was also the fact that I was carrying a fireman looking character whom everyone was pointing out, "Backdraft!"

     I had got a few funny looks as people passed me in the Hosu bus station and tried not to let it get to me; I was doing the best I could with what I had. As I had noticed the buildings surrounding the station, I felt inherently small and unworthy but closed my eyes and thought about what oji said, People will think what they want. The point is to know who you are and what you will do. I had breathed out and waited for the proctor of my exam to arrive. I had to be ready. I had to be confident, or else I would never get into Yuei.

    My examination was to be a bit different from the normal one, or at least that's what oji told me the night afterward when I told him about the assignment. Apparently, there was an entrance exam for normal students which involved fighting robots. However, I would be sent out into the field as a sidekick to a pro hero. No guidelines, no nothing. Aizawa-san, yes, that was his name, had told me, Here's this hero. Go help him, and left the scene without a trace; that had been back at home. If I had been a semester younger I would have been way too overexcited to be able to function properly in such a situation, but now, I was prepared. I knew how these these things worked; after all I had helped oji countless times on his missions.

    The hero, as it turned out, was Backdraft. I'd seen him on countless occasions, dressed as a fireman, at the site of burning buildings. The situation, of course, was a building caught on fire due to bad wiring. Backdraft dealt with these sorts of situations on a regular basis with his quirk of easily manipulating water, but he could always use help in getting survivors out of burning buildings while he was putting out the fire; that was my job. I would help Backdraft until the superiors had examined me thoroughly.

    I tried to push these thoughts away as I ran to the site with Backdraft on my back because no one had provided us a ride either. When I had looked to Backdraft for guidance, he just looked back at me curiously. Alright, if that's going to be part of the test, then so be it. I've been using my nose and eyes to follow the fire and periodically confirmed my thoughts with Backdraft. He directed me as we went while I put every effort into reaching our destination.

    Once we came upon the burning building, I let Backdraft off my back and left him to his work. I stared up at the building and knew that I could never amount to what All Might did: one hundred people in ten minutes.