Chapter 13: The Calm Before the Storm
POV: Nova Asahi
The text message arrived at 2:17 AM like a scream cutting through digital silence: "Can't sleep. What if I break my arms immediately and fail?"
Nova stared at his phone's glowing screen, exhaustion and empathy warring in his chest. Two weeks until the entrance exam, and Izuku was spiraling into the kind of self-destructive panic that could derail ten months of preparation in a single night of catastrophic thinking.
"He's terrified of One For All. Terrified of failing All Might. Terrified of proving everyone right who said Quirkless kids can't be heroes."
Nova threw on clothes and slipped into the night, Enhanced Reflexes guiding him through Musutafu's sleeping streets toward Dagobah Beach. The clean sand gleamed under moonlight like scattered diamonds, their months of labor transformed into something approaching paradise. But tonight, it felt like a graveyard for impossible dreams.
He found Izuku sitting on a piece of driftwood, notebook clutched to his chest like armor that couldn't protect him from his own thoughts. The green-haired boy looked smaller in the darkness—not the future Symbol of Peace, just a fourteen-year-old drowning in the weight of inherited expectations.
"Hey," Nova said softly, settling beside him on sand still warm from the day's sun. "Bad night?"
Izuku's laugh came out cracked and hollow. "I keep thinking about the exam. What if I can't control One For All? What if I hurt someone? What if I'm not worthy and All Might realizes he made a mistake?"
"You're going to save the world multiple times over. You're going to redefine what heroism means. You're going to smile in the face of impossible odds and make others believe in miracles."
But Nova couldn't say any of that without revealing knowledge he shouldn't possess. Instead, he offered the wisdom he'd learned from watching Izuku's journey unfold: "Focus on saving people first, points second. The exam measures hero spirit, not just combat power."
"But what if—"
"What if you break something?" Nova interrupted gently. "Then Recovery Girl heals you and you try again. Heroes aren't the people who never fall down, Izuku. They're the people who get back up."
Izuku's grip on his notebook loosened slightly. "You really think I can do this?"
"I know you can. I've seen you do impossible things with a smile that could inspire nations. I've watched you inherit godlike power and use it to save everyone who needs saving, including people who don't deserve it."
"I think," Nova said carefully, "that anyone who can clear this entire beach through sheer determination has already proven they have what it takes to be a hero. The exam is just formality at this point."
They sat in comfortable silence, watching waves catch moonlight like liquid mercury. Nova felt the weight of his own secrets pressing against his chest—knowledge that could prevent disasters, save lives, protect the people he'd learned to love. But sharing it meant revealing the impossible truth of his existence.
"I'm a fraud sitting next to a legend, offering comfort borrowed from futures I'm not supposed to know."
"Nova," Izuku said quietly, "thank you. For everything. The training, the encouragement, being there when I needed someone to believe impossible dreams were worth chasing."
Nova's throat tightened with emotion that had nothing to do with system mechanics or timeline management. "That's what friends do."
A familiar cough echoed across the beach, and both boys turned to see All Might approaching in his skeletal form. Steam rose from his diminished frame like morning mist, and his sunken eyes held the particular exhaustion of someone carrying the world's safety on collapsing shoulders.
"Young men," All Might said, settling onto the sand with movements that spoke of hidden pain. "I suspected I might find you here. Pre-exam anxiety is a tradition among aspiring heroes."
"All Might," Izuku stammered, "I'm sorry, I know I should be resting, but I couldn't stop thinking—"
"About responsibility," All Might finished gently. "About the weight of others' expectations. About the fear that you might not be worthy of the power you're about to inherit."
Nova watched Izuku's face cycle through surprise and relief—the realization that even legends had doubted themselves before greatness.
"When I was your age," All Might continued, his deflated voice somehow carrying the same authority as his heroic form, "I spent the night before my debut vomiting from nerves. I was convinced I would embarrass my mentor, fail the people counting on me, prove that One For All had chosen poorly."
"What changed?" Nova asked, genuinely curious despite knowing the broad strokes of All Might's history.
"I realized that true heroism isn't about never being afraid. It's about smiling to reassure others even when you're terrified inside." All Might's skeletal features arranged themselves into that legendary grin, and for a moment he looked like the Symbol of Peace again. "Fear means you understand the stakes. Courage means you act anyway."
Izuku wrote frantically in his notebook, capturing every word like scripture. Nova felt the familiar ache of watching someone he cared about receive exactly the guidance they needed while he remained trapped behind walls of necessary deception.
All Might's hand settled on Nova's shoulder with surprising warmth. "You've supported Young Midoriya well throughout this journey. That kind of loyalty and encouragement—that's heroic too."
"If only you knew that my support comes from knowing his future, not believing in his potential. I'm not loyal, I'm informed. I'm not encouraging, I'm manipulative."
But the weight of All Might's approval felt real despite Nova's internal protests. Maybe the motivation mattered less than the results. Maybe helping someone achieve their destiny was heroic regardless of the knowledge used to provide that help.
"Thank you, All Might," Nova said, meaning it despite the complexity of his emotions.
They walked home as dawn painted the sky in shades of hope and possibility, Izuku's panic replaced by determined calm. Nova felt the familiar satisfaction of crisis managed, relationship strengthened, timeline preserved through careful intervention.
The next afternoon brought a different kind of crisis in the form of Katsuki Bakugo cornering Nova outside a convenience store, explosions crackling around his fingers like violent fireflies.
"OI! EVOLUTION!"
Nova turned slowly, recognizing the particular brand of aggressive concern that passed for affection in Bakugo's emotional vocabulary. "What's up, Kacchan?"
"Don't call me that." Bakugo's hands popped with restrained detonations as he struggled with words that didn't want to emerge. "Listen, you better not hold back at the exam because you're worried about Deku."
Nova blinked in surprise. "What makes you think—"
"I'm not stupid!" Bakugo snarled, stepping closer with the intensity of someone delivering vital intelligence. "You've been babying him for months, helping with training, talking him through his anxiety attacks. But if you throw the exam to make him feel better, I'll blow your ass to the moon!"
The backwards logic was so perfectly Bakugo that Nova had to fight not to laugh. "You want me to beat Izuku?"
"I want you to beat everyone including him! I want all three of us to get in through genuine strength so when I prove I'm the best, it actually means something!" Bakugo's explosions grew larger with passionate intensity. "What's the point of being number one if I'm only competing against weaklings and people who held back?"
"He wants us all to succeed so his victory will be legitimate. Competitive but not destructive. Classic Bakugo logic wrapped in aggressive packaging."
"So your strategic advice," Nova said slowly, "is to blow up everything?"
"Hell yes! Maximum firepower, overwhelming force, don't give the robots time to react!"
"That's not strategy, Kacchan. That's terrorism."
"IT'S EFFICIENT!" Bakugo roared, but his grin was sharp with anticipation rather than actual anger. "And stop calling me Kacchan!"
Despite everything—the stress, the deception, the weight of impossible knowledge—Nova found himself laughing genuinely for the first time in weeks. Bakugo's competitive fire was infectious, burning away anxiety and replacing it with the simple desire to excel.
"Fine," Nova said, meeting Bakugo's challenge with his own determined smile. "I'll give it everything I've got. But don't blame me when I score higher than you."
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!"
They parted ways still arguing about optimal robot-destruction techniques, and Nova realized that even Bakugo's abrasive encouragement was exactly what he'd needed. Not comfort or reassurance, but the reminder that excellence required effort and competition brought out the best in everyone involved.
[Social Link Updates: Izuku Midoriya - Rank 4, All Might - Rank 1, Katsuki Bakugo - Rank 2]
[Final Pre-Exam Status Check]
[NOVA ASAHI - LEVEL 18]
[STR: 50 | AGI: 55 | END: 40 | INT: 35 | WIS: 30 | LUK: 13]
[Enhanced Reflexes: Level 20]
[Combat Precognition: Level 15]
[Explosion Seeds: Level 12]
[15 Total Quirks Available]
One week before the exam, Nova performed his final Premium Roll with hands that trembled from anticipation rather than anxiety. The gacha animation spun with familiar colors, settling into the golden glow that announced rare-tier rewards.
[LIGHTNING TOUCH (RARE) OBTAINED]
[DESCRIPTION: Electrify physical attacks with devastating effect]
[MP COST: 25 per use]
[SYNERGY BONUS: Combines with Enhanced Reflexes for lightning-fast strikes]
Nova spent the final week training every ability to peak readiness, his abandoned lot transformed into a testing ground where explosions, electricity, and superhuman agility painted the night in colors that shouldn't exist. Each quirk responded to his commands with increasing precision, fifteen different approaches to heroism consolidated into a single adaptive fighting style.
"Lightning Touch, Explosion Seeds, Enhanced Reflexes, Combat Precognition. I'm carrying enough firepower to level city blocks and the tactical awareness to use it surgically. Whatever UA throws at me, I'm ready."
But as the calendar counted down to judgment day, Nova found that his greatest strength wasn't the quirks he'd accumulated or the stats he'd ground through months of training.
It was the friends he'd made along the way—people who'd proven that some things were worth more than any system could quantify.
"One week until everything changes. One week until I find out if ten months of preparation was enough to earn my place beside legends."
The entrance exam couldn't come fast enough.
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