"Twenty!" Hikaru yelled, before toppling over.
It had been nearly eight years since Hikaru had started school and he had not slacked off. Standing up and surveying himself in front of a summoned mirror, he couldn't help but feel impressed.
Not bad, Hikaru. Not bad at all.
Standing at 5'7, Hikaru was more muscular than any boy his age had the right to be. Upon his resolve to train everything other than his quirk as well, he had taken up calisthenics and gymnastics as ways to improve himself physically. It had clearly paid off.
Hikaru let out a long whistle. He could post himself on social media and his comments would be filled with simps.
His face was slightly above average, with light brown skin and narrow eyes giving him a somewhat unique look. His efforts on his physique, however, had turned him into quite the heartbreaker.
Well, at the very least I now have the influencer path open to me if I fail to become a hero.
Finishing his workout, Hikaru stretched and reviewed his tasks for the day. The UA exam was in just three months, and his preparation was as perfect as they could be.
"Written test?" He asked himself.
"Perfect prep!" He answered, giving his reflection a thumbs up.
"Practical test?"
"I'm strong as shit!" He exclaimed, flexing his biceps.
The mirror in front of him vibrated excitedly, a reflection of his own mood.
Remembering his previous experience praising himself this way, Hikaru cautiously poked his head out of his room's window and looked up to see a clear sky.
Ha! No lightning bolts to send me to that chalk stick this time!
After years of training, Hikaru was now confidently able to use fourteen mirrors and had created multiple "special moves" to catch his opponents off guard. He grinned, excited to show them off to the rest of the world.
"All Might has probably started training Deku now. If all goes well, I won't be in the same testing site as him. I REALLY want to take on that zero pointer." He murmured to himself, whilst putting on clothes to go to school.
His middle school life had been a unique one. Unlike before, people had found out about his quirk almost immediately and decided to shower him with praises. Hatsume, however, did not receive the same treatment.
In fact, with exceptions of some teachers, she was mostly ignored.
Blind idiots. That girl is probably going to be richer than all of us combined.
With his coding experience and Hatsume's genius, the two had been able to make multiple bits of popular software, boosting both of their profiles. Along with that, Hikaru had consistently earned top grades in every subject in every grade he was in.
Having already gone through school once definitely had benefits.
As much as Hikaru was proud of his IT related contributions, he was completely overshadowed by Hatsume. The enigmatic girl had won competition after competition, getting offers from nearly every tech focused high school in the country. Unfortunately for them, the girl was dead set on UA.
She's like me in that way. The attention and fame UA can bring really is a tempting fruit.
Arriving to class early, Hikaru quietly went to sit at the back to get a few extra minutes of shuteye.
"Hey Hikaru!" A girlish voice disturbed his attempts to sleep.
Hikaru looked up, slightly annoyed, to see one of his classmates shyly standing before him.
'Yes?" he said politely, tilting his head.
"Well.." The girl shifted left and right. "You're going to UA right?"
"Indeed I am."
She smiled at that. "That's great! Then if I apply, we can be in the same school!"
Hikaru didn't know whether to laugh or feel annoyed. The girl talking to him was, without a doubt, his least favorite part of his middle school life. Mean to literally everyone except her worshippers – and Hikaru. She had decided that the universe itself had brought Hikaru before her specifically so he could be her man. A notion that threatened to make the boy in question throw up.
"I wish you the best in that endeavor." Hikaru answered as civilly as he could.
And with that, without waiting for her response, he plopped his head right back onto the desk and closed his eyes.
How many hours till I get to go home?
During the evening, Hikaru would sneak into the grounds of his old school. Honestly, it was less sneaking in and more of an open secret. His former teachers, amused by his desire to come back, had never once complained.
There, he would conduct a basic workout, followed by quirk training.
His current method of training control was to make his mirrors revolve around him while also spinning them on their axis in a direction he wanted. Every twenty seconds, he would switch the directions for each mirror and if he failed to adjust, he would simply reset.
Sweat covered his body as he strained to control fifteen mirrors. By the end of these two months, Hikaru was determined to have fully mastered at least one more mirror.
Slowly, he began increasing the difficulty of the exercise. This involved picking one mirror at random to shoot a light beam, which must be reflected by another mirror before it could leave the sphere created by the revolving mirrors. This process would repeat until he inevitably failed or he managed to keep it going for long enough to assume he had full mastery over all his mirrors – at which point he would increase the amount of mirrors.
Hikaru could feel a headache forming as his mind struggled to keep up with the sheer amount of tasks it had to perform at once.
Yet despite the weariness, despite the pain, Hikaru felt better than he did at any other time. Training his quirk to the very limit was the most gratifying experience he had ever felt. He could visibly see himself getting more proficient and with every step further he took, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel that much clearly.
For every second he spent working hard, he knew the world would know of it. Once all eyes turned to him, he would show them exactly who Hikaru Amateru was.