The letter arrived on a bright, crisp morning, slipping through the mail slot like it was carrying the weight of the world. Hiroshi Tanaka, freshly fourteen and riding the high of his entrance exam, stared at the envelope as if it were a bomb about to detonate.
"It's here!" he yelled, bolting from the front door to the kitchen, where his parents sat enjoying a quiet breakfast.
His mom looked up from her coffee, her lips twitching into a smile. "The UA results?"
"Yup," Hiroshi said, holding it aloft like a trophy. "The big moment. No pressure or anything, right?"
His dad raised an eyebrow. "You're just going to stand there, or are you planning to open it?"
Hiroshi froze. "Oh, right. Opening it. That's a thing I should probably do."
"Take it to your room if you're going to scream," his mom teased, though her eyes were warm.
Hiroshi didn't need to be told twice. He dashed upstairs, heart hammering in his chest as he threw himself onto his desk chair.
The envelope was heavy, almost foreboding. The UA High School insignia gleamed in gold on the front, mocking him with its pristine elegance. Hiroshi stared at it, suddenly feeling like the same awkward kid who'd choked on ramen in his past life.
"Come on, Tanaka," he muttered to himself. "You fought a zero-pointer. You've got this."
With a deep breath, he tore the envelope open and pulled out a sleek metallic disc. He stared at it for a moment before realizing it was a projection device. "Fancy," he muttered, placing it on his desk and pressing the button.
A beam of light shot upward, and the familiar, smiling face of All Might appeared in a hologram.
"HA HA HA!" All Might's booming voice filled the room, making Hiroshi jump. "Young Tanaka, it is I, All Might, here to deliver your UA entrance exam results!"
Hiroshi's jaw dropped. "They got All Might to deliver the news?!"
All Might's hologram continued. "Let me start by saying: well done, young man! Your performance during the practical exam was nothing short of extraordinary."
"Extraordinary?" Hiroshi repeated, grinning. "Go on, I'm listening."
"You displayed ingenuity, creativity, and a willingness to help others in the face of danger," All Might said, his expression turning serious. "Your decision to save a fellow applicant while taking on the zero-point robot was a shining example of what it means to be a hero."
Hiroshi felt his chest swell with pride. "Not bad for a guy with a pen and some paper, huh?"
"Now, let's talk points," All Might said, his tone lightening. "In the practical exam, you earned 42 combat points, impressive, considering the sheer variety of your creations. But that's not all!"
Hiroshi's grin faltered. "Wait… there's more?"
"Of course!" All Might declared. "UA also awards rescue points for acts of heroism that prioritize saving others. And you, young Tanaka, earned 28 rescue points!"
The numbers sank in. 42 plus 28…
"Seventy points?!" Hiroshi blurted, nearly falling out of his chair.
"That's right!" All Might said, his grin wider than ever. "With a total of 70 points, you've passed the entrance exam! Congratulations, young man, you're officially part of UA High School's Hero Course!"
The hologram flickered and disappeared, leaving Hiroshi staring at the empty space where All Might's face had been.
For a moment, he didn't move. Then, with a loud whoop, he jumped out of his chair, nearly knocking over his desk in the process.
"I did it!" he shouted, pumping his fists in the air.
His parents were waiting downstairs, clearly trying to act casual, though his mom's wide smile gave her away.
"Well?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement.
"I'M IN!" Hiroshi yelled, holding the letter over his head like a championship trophy.
His mom clapped her hands together, tears brimming in her eyes. "I knew it! I knew you'd make it!"
His dad smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."
Hiroshi grinned, practically bouncing on his feet. "This is it! UA High School! Hero training! I'm gonna be a pro!"
"You've still got a lot of work ahead of you," his dad pointed out, though his tone was proud.
"Work? Pfft." Hiroshi waved him off. "I've been drawing my butt off for years. I'm ready for this."
The next few days were a whirlwind of excitement and nerves. Hiroshi spent hours in his room, preparing for the next chapter of his life. He went through his supplies, double-checking his ink bottles, sketchpads, and pens like they were weapons he needed for battle.
"Okay," he muttered, inspecting a fresh bottle of ink. "Gotta make sure everything's top-notch. If I run out of ink in the middle of training, I'm toast."
His room was a mess of papers and half-finished sketches, each one a testament to his endless experimentation. There were crude drawings of small creatures, intricate designs for armor, and a few chaotic attempts at drawing vehicles.
"You've come a long way," he said to himself, flipping through an old sketchpad from when he was ten. Back then, his drawings were clumsy and unstable, prone to dissolving after just a few minutes. Now, his creations could hold their form for hours if he focused hard enough.
He paused on a drawing of the knight he'd summoned during the entrance exam. The memory of the fight, the strain, the adrenaline, the satisfaction of taking down the zero-pointer, made him grin.
"UA doesn't know what they're in for," he said, closing the sketchpad with a flourish.
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That evening, Hiroshi's phone buzzed with a message. He grabbed it off his desk, his grin widening when he saw the group chat name: "Hero Squad (Pending)".
Midoriya: Hiroshi! Did you get your results yet?
Hiroshi: Yup. Passed with 70 points. No big deal.
Midoriya: 70?! That's incredible!
Bakugo: Tch. Still lower than me, Ink Geek.
Hiroshi: Oh, hey, Boom Boy! Congrats on not exploding your scorecard!
Bakugo: Shut up before I blow up your sketchpad.
Midoriya: Let's all just be happy we made it! This is going to be amazing! I can't wait to start classes with you guys!
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Hiroshi stared at the messages for a moment, a warm feeling spreading in his chest. He'd made it, and so had his two closest friends.
"UA, here we come," he said softly, setting his phone down.
Tomorrow, the real adventure would begin.
The excitement from the UA acceptance letter still buzzed in Hiroshi's veins the next morning. His sketchpad lay open on his desk, pages filled with hurried doodles of celebration, the ink knight from the entrance exam throwing confetti, a cartoonish version of Hiroshi himself fist-pumping next to the words "UA, BABY!"
But today wasn't about basking in victory. Today was about preparing.
Hiroshi stared at his reflection in the mirror, his black hair sticking out in every direction. His mom had already given him an earful about "looking presentable for UA" during breakfast, but he figured the disheveled look worked for him. He squinted at himself, flexing one arm half-heartedly.
"Yep, definitely hero material," he muttered with a grin.
His phone buzzed on the desk, snapping him out of his self-admiration. The group chat was already lighting up with messages.
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Hero Squad (Pending):
Midoriya: Good morning, guys! Are you ready for tomorrow? First day at UA! I'm so nervous!
Hiroshi: Morning, Green Bean. Relax. You've been prepping for this since you were in diapers.
Bakugo: Stop acting like this is some big deal. It's just school. Try not to trip on your way in, Deku.
Midoriya: Thanks for the encouragement, Kacchan…
Hiroshi: Boom Boy's just mad because he knows I'll have cooler moves than him by the end of the week.
Bakugo: Dream on, Ink Geek. You'll be lucky if your scribbles don't fall apart during training.
Hiroshi: Guess we'll see, huh?
Midoriya: Please don't get us expelled on the first day…
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Hiroshi chuckled, tossing the phone onto his bed and turning back to his desk. His room was a controlled chaos of art supplies, discarded sketchpads, and ink bottles. He started going through his inventory, carefully packing his essentials into his backpack.
"Sketchpad? Check. Pens? Check. Extra ink? Triple check."
He frowned at a small pile of worn-out sketchpads in the corner of the room, flipping through one of them. The pages were filled with old drawings, early attempts at creating lifelike animals, clumsy humanoid figures, and abstract experiments with color.
"Man, I sucked back then," he muttered, cringing at a particularly bad attempt at a horse. It looked more like a lumpy potato with legs.
But as he flipped further, the drawings began to show progress, cleaner lines, better proportions, more detail. He paused on a page that showed one of his first stable creations: a hawk with sharp, angular wings and piercing eyes.
"You've come a long way, Tanaka," he said to himself.
Hiroshi decided to spend the afternoon in the field where he'd trained for years, a quiet, open space on the outskirts of Musutafu. The place was scattered with old targets, scraps of paper from past experiments, and a few scorch marks from Bakugo's less-than-subtle training sessions.
"Alright," Hiroshi said, pulling out his sketchpad and flipping to a blank page. "Let's see what we can whip up today."
He started with something simple: a falcon. His pen moved fluidly, the lines coming together with practiced ease. When he added the final stroke, the bird shimmered and leapt off the page, taking to the air with a sharp cry.
"Looking good," Hiroshi said, watching the falcon circle above him.
Next, he moved on to something more complex: a wolf with sleek, armored plating along its sides. The wolf sprang to life with a low growl, its movements smooth and purposeful.
"Nice," Hiroshi muttered, a small grin forming.
But the real test was yet to come. Flipping to another blank page, he began sketching something he'd been toying with for weeks: a humanoid construct.
"Come on, Tanaka. You can do this," he said under his breath, his pen moving faster.
The figure took shape on the page, broad shoulders, strong limbs, and a helmet shaped like a knight's visor. The details were intricate, the lines precise. When he finished, he poured his energy into the drawing, willing it to life.
The ink knight shimmered, its form solidifying as it stepped off the page. It stood nearly seven feet tall, its ink body gleaming in the sunlight.
"Yes!" Hiroshi said, pumping his fist.
The knight turned to him, waiting silently for his command. Hiroshi directed it with a series of hand movements, watching as it executed basic maneuvers, blocking, striking, and even kneeling in a defensive stance.
But after a few minutes, the knight flickered, its edges blurring. Hiroshi frowned, sweat forming on his brow as he tried to keep it stable.
"Hold it together," he muttered, but the strain was too much. The knight dissolved into a puddle of ink, leaving Hiroshi panting.
"Still not there yet," he said, wiping his forehead. "But I'm getting closer."
That night, Hiroshi sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. His sketchpad lay beside him, open to the knight drawing.
"Tomorrow's the big day," he said softly. "UA. Hero training. All of it starts now."
His mind wandered to Midoriya, who was probably up late studying hero trivia, and Bakugo, who was no doubt blowing something up in his backyard.
"We're gonna kill it," Hiroshi said with a grin. "The three of us? We're unstoppable."
He grabbed his pen and added a small note at the bottom of the knight's page:
"Day 1 of UA: The real adventure begins."
With that, he set the sketchpad aside, turned off the light, and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the challenges, and the triumphs, that awaited him.