Chapter Text
The gates of U.A. loomed tall behind Izuku as he clutched the rejection letter with trembling hands. He stood alone on the empty sidewalk, watching the wind tug at the corner of the official letter like it wanted to snatch it away, maybe to spare him from reading it again.
"We regret to inform you that you did not meet the minimum score threshold for admission into the Hero Course at U.A. High School. Thank you for your interest, and we wish you success in your future endeavors."
Those words had burned into his eyes, each syllable a nail in the coffin of his dream.
He hadn't even made it past the written test in the scoring metrics. Despite saving a girl, despite breaking every bone in his body, he wasn't enough.
Katsuki, of course, got in. Not just got in, he soared. Top of the rankings, as expected. Izuku didn't even receive the courtesy of an explanation video. No hologram. No hopeful smile from All Might.
No hope.
POV: Shota Aizawa
Aizawa hated the entrance exam system. It was too loud, too flashy, too full of unnecessary destruction. He preferred logic and discipline to chaos and spectacle.
But this was the system they had. And he had his eye on one particular candidate.
Midoriya, Izuku. Quirk: Unknown or newly awakened. Behavior: Reckless. Decision-making: Impressive under pressure. Control: Abysmal.
He watched the replay of the exam footage. The boy launched himself at the Zero Pointer to save the girl. Admirable. Brave. But his quirk blasted his entire body into shambles. No control. No sense of self-preservation.
"This kind of recklessness gets you or others killed," Aizawa muttered under his breath, scribbling across the evaluation sheet: Not ready. Deny admission.
He paused.
A brief flicker of guilt gnawed at him. The boy had a heart. But the heart didn't save lives without control. And U.A. didn't exist to coddle dreams.
POV: Izuku Midoriya
The bedroom was too quiet.
Izuku stared at the All Might poster on his ceiling, feeling like a fraud for still having it up. He hadn't cried since the rejection letter arrived, not properly. But something inside him had cracked open, and the ache in his chest wouldn't fade.
He hadn't heard from All Might. Not once.
Not a single call.
Not a you'll get another shot, young man!
Not even a good effort.
He thought back to the day All Might gave him the quirk. How bright the world had felt. How alive. How proud he thought he'd made his idol.
His phone buzzed.
Kacchan: Told ya, Deku. You were always trash. Don't show your face at U.A., or I'll make you wish you never tried.
Izuku stared at the message, empty.
He deleted it, then curled into himself.
He had never felt smaller.