Chapter 41: End Of Licensing Exam, Bonds Broken, Alone

(Daily Music: Stronger Than You-Frisk Version)

After waiting for a while, enough students had qualified for the next stage of the licensing exam for it to continue to said stage.

I had been trying to properly calm myself down while I waited. But no matter what I tried, I failed. My breathing was still shaky and fast paced, I was still constantly going in and out of focus, and I couldn't get him out of my head.

Every time he appeared in my head, different thoughts invaded my mind.

You should have been faster.

That's the one I heard the most.

Despite being able to move faster than the speed of sound, I wasn't fast enough to get to him.

He must have been terrified. First, he sees a villain with him, then that villain reveals that he's the same one who killed his parents, then the villain kills him.

If I was faster, I could have gotten to him in time and saved him.

If I was faster, he would still be with us.

I have to be faster.

Not just faster. I have to be stronger. More durable. More agile.

No more distractions. No more fooling around.

I'll become the best. I'll become so powerful that all villains in Japan, no, in the whole world, fear me. I will become the boogeyman of the world, so that no one has to lose a loved one again.

Starting now.

-3rd POV-

The announcer told the remaining participants what the next stage would consist of. He pressed a button, and parts of the arena got destroyed by small explosives, and people appeared in the arena, acting as citizens in need of rescue.

Students were to rescue the actors, and they would be graded on how well they did on a number of different factors.

After the explanation, they let us start.

I ran in a random direction, and found one of the actors. He was "trapped" under some debris from a building.

I lifted the piece of debris off of him and pulled him out of it.

"What are your injuries?", I asked, playing along. We were also being judged on how we respond to the civilians, so I will just act like I would anyways in the scenarios that they are acting on.

"I-I think my spine's injured!", he responded, quite convincingly, in fact. They have commendable acting skills.

"I can heal that for you, I have more than sufficient medical knowledge. Just stay still and let me do my thing. I assure you, it won't hurt.", I played along.

He stopped his act.

"Good, good. You stayed calm, minded what you said in order not to cause further panic, and offered to help by using your existing knowledge. You get full a full ten points!", he praised.

I nodded, and brought him to the site where we were to drop "civilians" off at.

I continued to rescue "civilians", but, at some point, the number 10 Hero, Gang Orca, got into the arena as a fake villain and started wreaking havoc. He asked us whether we would choose to fight or to save people in case a powerful villain arrived.

I choose to do both. Save all the civilians, and then get to the villain. So, that's exactly what I did. I got the civilians in the vicinity to the drop-off site, and went to fight Gang Orca.

Todoroki and the loud one from Shiketsu were arguing mid battle.

Pathetic. If you did that in the field, civilians would die because of your childishness.

I snuck up on Gang Orca, and did what at this point is probably my signature move: Botulinum Toxin. It paralyzed Gang Orca completely.

Anticlimactic, but I see no point in having some grand battle that could endanger civilians instead of simply ending it with one, effective move.

Shortly after, the exam ended. We all returned to the announcement area, and were told that the people who passed were on this scoreboard in alphabetical order.

I looked for it, and I saw it.

Jokara Kowai.

I passed. I could get my license.

We got our licenses handed to us and were allowed to leave. When I went outside, I took a look at my classmates.

Before, I felt a connection with Mina and Kirishima, as they were the only two that I cared for out of my classmates. If I looked at all my classmates in a group, I would see them like bright colours, unlike the grey of the rest of my classmates.

But now, they were all grey. I didn't feel any kind of connection with the two of them. They felt like strangers to me, like the rest of my classmates.

I didn't know how I was supposed to react. Sadness? Regret? Grief? I don't know. Because I didn't react at all. I just accepted it and moved on, no thoughts on it.

After all, I have goals more important than validation. I know it will be a lonely path to my goal, but at this point, I don't care. Sometimes, sacrifices are needed. Besides, I've never known kinship that well throughout my life, what's another lonely path going to do?

-3rd POV-

And so, the lonely walk begins. No destination in sight, no conclusion. Just an infinite path isolated from anyone else.

Unlike most other paths, things never get easier on the lonely walk. Things just get worse. No kinship, no connections, no relations.

Just moving forward to the implication of an end.