Below the moon above, apparitions no longer stalk the night.

Beyond the midnight of yore, there was a misty morning. A girl's very dreamlike dream, meant to be forgotten not long after awakening. In this haze, there was nothing to lay eyes on but the rising sun, woods, mountains and the sparkling lake in the distance. Most breathtaking of all was the behemoth of a mountain that reached heaven. This was a paradise.

Maribel embraced the warmth of this vision as the mist just started to clear.

Her eyes fluttered open.

U.A. High was a prestigious school, and it showed with every entrance applicant. Maribel eyed them as they trudged toward the school alongside her. She couldn't help but share the sentiment. The girl hadn't gone to this height before, and it was daunting like the other times she'd made it. Her thoughts emanated within herself, in turmoil as to whether she should take the chance.

It's uncomfortable, but you can do it.

With a deep breath and steely eyes, she looked forward. Tearing her eyes from the others, she paid as little heed as she could until she cleared the last steps toward the school.

I'll find the road to happiness right here!

After having traveled through the corridors, Maribel entered a large room that was designated for the written test. For a moment as she eyed the sitting people, she felt that their eyes fell on her. Despite the fact that she could tell they weren't, she felt like they could do it at any moment and pass judgement on her. Everyone was here to compete for a position to enter the school, so maybe it was that... Or maybe it was because she wasn't actually Japanese. Appearances could be the root of many disagreements no matter how pointless they were. Everyone around her felt so different, their quirks so different. She couldn't quite analogize the sensation.

There was some babbling between students, one particularly loud boy that caught her eye. He looked like he was of high status, something she equally admired and envied. They were given a brief summary of the examination, first the physical and then the written one. The written portion was to see if they were just, knowing the purpose and limits of heroes, plus checking their knowledge of laws. It was basic. However, to pass as a hero you probably wanted a good physical score too, so this was only the first trial.

You think you understand it, but then they tell you that you don't. You feel like an idiot. I won't let that happen this time.

The tip of her pen made contact with the paper, and her hand flowed elegantly all the way until the end. That was when it hit Maribel.

It wasn't all that difficult.

She could clearly understand the questions, having studied for this a very long time. When all was said and done, only her own questioning lingered in her head. Did she write the correct answers? It's so stressful, even if you've studied for these kinds of tests, because you have no clue if you've actually succeeded. The girl could only wonder how Renko was so comfortable with it most of the time.

Then she left the chamber and went down the halls of the building, heading towards the next place where they were supposed to gather. Bus stops were a necessity in large lands like this, U.A stretched far across the forest, and its buildings dotted the landscape. Among them was a large glass dome, reaching quite possibly a hundred meters or two into the sky while being more than thrice the diameter. But she couldn't distract herself with the beauty of modern architecture, she was taking a test.

"Alright kids! Get on board!" Present Mic shouted ecstatically at them, everyone got into their allocated bus. Maribel had been told to go with bus A. The trip wasn't all that interesting. It felt like she was spacing out from boredom, a strange reaction even to herself. Her true feeling was that of stress, could she really pass this? What humiliation would follow her if she didn't?

All she heard along the way was babbling from the would-be students. Even the teachers spoke on and on about what was going to happen.

"A-are you alright?" Someone asked her when they had finally gotten off of the field. She looked unusually distant today.

Maribel frowned, but replied calmly. Not even bothering to look at them. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Leave me alone." And waved a certain freckled boy off.

The physical portion of the examination wasn't anything to scoff at. Present Mic's first move was not to announce that they were supposed to head into the arena immediately. Forcing Maribel to rush in with the rest, panicked. They start it with a ruse!?

But that was all she could think, before she could really react, a 3-points worth villain almost ran over her. Forced into combat, all she could do was activate her quirk. Boundary Manipulation had only revealed its true potential to her recently, and with it she could create fractures in reality that led to the place she perceived. By all means, it could perform similar feats to a rare warp quirk. So she went on with her assault, fueled with anger spurred from the hostility of the machine.

Her golden eyes turned an eerie purple and then moved to look at the ground. It approached right where she was going to attack. So the ground shattered like a window to reveal the blue sky above it, and the robot couldn't help but to fall right into it. It took but a second before she stopped focusing and made it all implode on itself. The robot was instantly destroyed, showered with its own parts. Wasting no time, Maribel continued on with her attack and repeated the same action on another robot that was about to attack someone. As it turns out, she had actually stolen that kill from three other combatants, and wasted no time turning around to shift her focus. Feeling just a tiny bit guilty.

"That'd be four points." She said to herself. I better stick to the 3-point villains. With my quirk, they're as brittle as a 1-point one. And I'll always strike what's most vulnerable first.

The boundary girl fought hard. Specifically seeking out the highest point villains before they could be destroyed earned her a score of 60. A couple of her opponents were lower ranked faux villains, but only because they attack her first. Masses of robots just kept on coming out of nowhere, from buildings, from alleyways, it was like they were being made in a factory below them.

Her stamina was running low, and she was feeling sick. A drawback of using her quirk to create gaps. When she used it in repetition, she was quickly zapped of strength and felt nauseous. Right now, she was catching her breath by a wall along the street.

One 2-point faux villain strode out of an alleyway next to her. It was four-legged. The first assault almost caught her with a swipe of its tail, but she managed to duck on under. Hearn tried to create a gap in a boundary to catch it where it would walk, but this kind of robot was unpredictable to her and evaded it. I'll need to bait it! She thought, stressed. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she shot away from it with a short leap, then another, and another. It followed in suit, Maribel deciphered how long its footsteps were, understanding its rhythm. With a glance of her ghostly eyes, she created a gap in the border that it fell through. A good half of it was sucked in by the gravity and stuck out above itself, as if it had broken a window in the sky. Maribel stopped focusing and destroyed it. All of the cracks healed themselves with the implosion of the gap, fixing both the sky and the ground.

62 points... That... That should be enough... Nausea took a hold of her, she wasn't going to walk very far in this condition. She'd been forced to be almost stationary for the last five opponents she had annihilated. Engines roared behind her as a simple 1-point villain burst through the wall next to her. There was no time to retaliate before it dunked her in the chest and sent her into the ground. "Guh-gnh!" Was all she could let out as she grunted in pain. But before she could even open her eyes, an explosion was heard and the robot was annihilated. After she finally managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening, she couldn't see anyone, which means they must've left as soon as they attack. She forced herself to sit up, resting next to the wall. In this state, there was nothing she could do.

I'll just have to hope those points are... Are... Maribel felt like puking and could only help herself by breathing heavily. Meanwhile, her eyes drifted to a new shadow that covered the city block. It was the largest of the bunch, a 0-point villai- No, an obstacle. I couldn't envelop one with my gaps... No use in fighting it, I'll have to get out of here! Maribel then turned and tried to walk away, but her sickness prevented her from going into a full sprint. In this context, the faux villain was terrifying. Looking like it was peeking out from behind a set of bushes, if the bushes were buildings.

Due to her nausea, the boundary girl couldn't carry herself far and was forced to get down. That was when she saw a plain looking, freckled boy who ran opposite of the crowd. The next moment he flew a tiny bit too fast for her to see, followed by feeling a moment of power from him with her quirk. Gone as quickly as it came. The next moment came a sonic boom and the destruction of the 0-point villain. The display of power left Maribel a little shocked. Everyone around her scrambled to get out of the way, but someone who was almost right below the robot had decided to make use of some of the pieces to make herself float. What the hell did he just do!?... He's going to fall. Well, if it's going to be my job-...!

Hearn couldn't just stand and watch, but she didn't feel like he was close for her to focus. Thus, she couldn't deactivate her quirk just yet. The plain looking boy fell just outside the girl's range, and Maribel was forced to act. Sky shattered on a flat plane above the other girl, the boy fell through and 'bounced' up, eliminating lots of his momentum due to gravity. Finally, she'd have to hope that the girl could catch him.

The brunette merely touched him, causing him to float. She connected all ten of her fingers and then let him and her platform go, causing them to hit the ground. After that, he flew into the ground, softly. I might not have much heroism, but at least I helped save someone...

"Pfuh..." Maribel collapsed on her side, trying to contain her breakfast in her stomach. She really felt like she was going to die, even if that wasn't the case. All she could really do was pant for half a minute.

Before she could do anything else, Present Mic decided to announce something. "TIME'S UP!"

Suddenly, one of the would-be students approached her and outstretched his hand. "Are you alright?" He asked, it was the guy with glasses back at the written test. Now that she actually got to look, he was pretty muscular. She stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity to her. "Hello?"

Hearn picked herself up with one hand and took his with her left. He helped pull her onto her feet. From that point on, she slowly began to feel better. "Wha-wha... Thanks. Haaa... I'm completely exhausted... Pfuh..." She said, nauseous all the while. After she recovered a little and stopped panting, she dizzily asked something. "Is that guy... alright? He punched that robot's head off..." Then noticing that she was still holding onto the guy's hand, she withdrew hers. Eh- ...Hope he didn't notice.

He turned his head to look at the injured boy, deep in thought. In short order, the nurse arrived. "He looks like he might've broken his arm. I know that the nurse will heal him." The man assured and looked her in the eye. Stricken with a little bit of butterflies, she stopped looking at him with her quirk-possessed eyes. I should tell him my name, make sure he can say it in a way that he can pronounce too.

When she looked back at him, her eyes had returned to a golden color. "M-my name's Maribel Hearn, but just call me Merry." She greeted him as nicely as she could.

"Tenya Iida."

After some chatter, the nurse got within arms reach. A kiss was all it took to heal the him. Maribel thought it looked creepy as his limbs twisted back into place. Since Hearn had made an effort in saving him, she thought about making her way over to him and the brunette. "Hope I'll see you later, Iida-san!" She waved a goodbye to Iida as she departed to her accomplice, stumbling as she did. That didn't come out right, it sounds too heartfelt...

"Who're you?" The brunette, clueless-looking girl asked her when she got within two meters of her.

Maribel raised her head and looked at her. "You know how he fell through that gap, right?"

She blinked and looked a bit like an idiot. Not that Maribel really thought that. "Huh? Yes?"

"That was my quirk. If I hadn't been there, he might've died." She explained seriously.

This made the girl particularly excited. "Oh? I've never seen someone with a quirk like yours, aren't those really rare?!"

"Yep! But I'm only telling you because you helped. Call me Merry." Maribel introduced herself in a psuedo-professional manner. On the inside, she felt like she was forcing it all a little. I really hope I don't have to deal with something embarrassing like that with Renko ever again.

"My name's Ochaco Uraraka. You're pretty nice, I'm hoping we get into the same class. If we pass, that is..."

Maribel wasn't really keen on carrying someone like her, it felt like she'd have to commit more than she already does to friendship. But outward appearances are most of what matter, the only person she refused to play around with was Renko. "Ah, Me too."

All alone, she walked down the street. Without the vernal equinox, the sun went down early and showered her and the street with shadows. This street was abandoned, with closed down shops and old buildings from the last century. Population reduction had done a number tot his place.

Despite being in the potential grasp of villains, she felt especially alive today and especially when she got there. It wasn't enough to keep her here, and she did feel paranoid. So in order to make her journey home very short, she thought of using her quirk. Maribel turned around and eyed every corner of the street. There was nobody watching, nobody out. Her eyes briefly flashed purple and changed her iris into that same color. A deep breath cleared her mind, and with an especially chuuni hand signal, she opened a gap to her house.

"Pfhoo..." Hearn breathed, returning to a normal posture and then walking through. Nausea had kicked in, but it wasn't very intense. Guessing, Maribel thought the distance was closer to two or three kilometers. Impressive, considering the last time she performed anything close to that, she had created many gaps beforehand. She shrugged and stepped on through, immediately removing her focus from the shattered space warp to prevent anyone from following her.

So she stood alone in her room and began to take off her shoes.

I wonder how Renko is doing... I'll call her after I've rested a bit. Maribel thought to herself.