[March 5th]
Lately, the days have been dragging out for way too long. The anticipation of starting to attend U.A. makes every second feel stretched out and hollow. I can't even find excitement in my day to day life.
Worse, is that I still have another week of high school left. Graduation's not until the thirteenth. Seven more days of smiling through monotony.
So here I am, lying flat on my bed, lazily flicking through my feed. I got back from the gym half an hour ago.
Then I heard a knock on my door.
"Kyūta. Your entrance exam results came."
I sat up.
"Alright, coming."
I opened my door to see my dad standing there, with a vacant look in his eyes. Just like they've been for well over a decade. The envelope in his hand had the bright red U.A. crest stamped on it. For a second, he held it out like he thought I'd want to open it alone.
"It's fine," I said. "I'd like you to be there too. It would've been impossible for me to get this far without your support, Dad."
His eyes widened, just a fraction. Subtle, but it was there. Since I'd said something he hadn't expected to hear from me. Maybe something no one had said to him in a long time.
We sat down together on the living room couch. He stayed quiet, slightly slouched like always, and I could see the tension in his shoulders. He looked more anxious than I ever could.
I tore the envelope open, inside was a small circular device. I placed it on the coffee table. A moment later, it lit up and projected a glowing blue hologram.
All Might appeared, grinning wide as ever.
The message was pre-recorded. He welcomed us, gave some motivational lines about going beyond, then casually dropped the news that he'd be teaching at the university full-time. Nothing too surprising.
Then at the end was the part that actually mattered, the results.
The projection shifted to display a list of the Top 10 Examinees, ranked by Villain Points and Rescue Points. You'd get Villain Points from destroying villain robots, and Rescue Points were awarded for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains.
1 - Kyūta Henshin: 83 Villain Points, 25 Rescue Points
2 - Katsuki Bakugo: 77 Villain Points, 0 Rescue Points
3 - Eijiro Kirishima: 39 Villain Points, 35 Rescue Points
4 - Ochaco Uraraka: 28 Villain Points, 45 Rescue Points
5 - Ibara Shiozaki: 36 Villain Points, 32 Rescue Points
6 - Itsuka Kendo: 25 Villain Points, 40 Rescue Points
7 - Tenya Iida: 52 Villain Points, 9 Rescue Points
8 - Izuku Midoriya: 0 Villain Points, 60 Rescue Points
9 - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 49 Villain Points, 10 Rescue Points
10 - Fumikage Tokoyami: 47 Villain Points, 10 Rescue Points
I leaned back and smirked.
"Well would you look at that. I got the top score, with 108 points total."
Dad's eyes scanned the list, taking a moment to register the numbers.
"That's… a pretty large margin," he said quietly.
"Yeah, second place was some guy called Bakugo and he only has 77 points."
He nodded slowly. "Good work. That's… really good."
Woah is that some emotion coming from this guy? Might be the first time I'd heard enthusiasm from him in years.
I figured I might as well go for it while the mood was good.
"Hey Dad, how about buying me a car?" I casually asked, "I think I'm old enough to have one. And now that I'm going to Uni, I can't be showing up on the train like I'm still in high school."
He didn't respond right away. Just stared at the table for a second like he had to scroll through a list of options in his head before speaking.
"…Yeah," he said eventually. "That's fair. You did well, Kyūta. And I've… saved a lot. Not like I use it for anything these days."
I arched an eyebrow, one side of my mouth tugging into a half-smile.
I hadn't really asked for much growing up. Definitely never anything this big. I'd dropped a few hints here and there before the entrance exam, floated the idea of having a car—but he never gave a straight answer. I thought he might brush it off, tell me to focus on school or some other generic parental line.
Guess I underestimated the moment.
He stood up, mumbled something about needing to lie down, and wandered back to his room, leaving me alone at the table.
The silence returned—familiar, even comforting. I leaned back into the couch, head tilted up toward the ceiling fan spinning slowly overhead. One steady circle after another.
So that was that, I got everything I needed from him.
Dad didn't care much. Not out of malice, he just didn't have the energy to care anymore.
Mom died when I was two or three. A car accident. Nothing dramatic like a villain attack—just a wet road and a bad turn. I don't remember much about her.
But I remember what it did to my dad.
He didn't collapse. He didn't break down crying. He just… disappeared, piece by piece. What was left became a man who went to work early and came home late.
Work became his entire existence. A salaryman clinging to routine because everything else hurt too much to think about.
No hobbies, no friends, no emotion left for anything. Just a ghost without a purpose.
At first, he tried. He'd ask how I was doing, double-check if I'd eaten, make sure I was brushing my teeth, doing my homework, getting enough sleep. That sort of thing. But it faded quickly. All I had to do was prove I was stable, show him that I wasn't falling apart like he was.
So I did.
I kept my grades up. Showed him my report cards. Acted like everything was fine. And in elementary and junior high, that was easy. The bar was practically on the floor. I didn't even have to study, just show up and listen.
High school took a bit more effort, but I had the perfect excuse. Training for a hero career took time, and once the teachers knew that was my path, they got flexible. Missed an assignment? "Make it up next week." Turned something in late? "Thanks for still submitting."
People really want to believe in the idea of future heroes. They'll bend the rules for it.
So I coasted through.
And Dad? He didn't complain. He didn't praise me, either. He gave me money when I asked, nodded when I showed him grades, and went back to work. That was enough.
Some people would call that neglect. Maybe it was. But it didn't bother me. But I didn't need anything else. I didn't need help with homework or heart-to-hearts or advice about life.
I just needed him to stay out of the way.
And that's exactly what he did.