Midoriya was stunned.

After all, this girl just sent Bakugou into the sky. Sure, he could still hear him screaming, so he wasn't that far off. But to have his childhood bully get his ass handed to him by a girl, and so effortlessly, he was absolutely stunned. He admired her confidence and bravery... no, in hindsight that was not bravery, just confidence in herself. And to think that he saved her during the Entrance Exams... completely unreal.

Explosions went off in the sky. Bakugou was manuevering himself around, but not quite used to the zero gravity yet.

"Look at those fireworks." Uraraka said, crossing her arms over her waist. "That'll teach him not to mess with me."

"Th-That's not gonna slow him down. At all." Midoriya stated, without thinking. Ah crap. I'm talking... I have no clue why I'm warning her, but I just did it out of nowhere! Just like when I ran for Kacchan, or for this brown-haired girl in particular... I just don't think, do I?! What am I gonna say next?!

"Ah, don't worry about me, Hero boy," Uraraka replied, mentally chastising herself for not being able to come up with anything better than "Hero boy". Oh yeah, Ochako, keep dropping hints that you don't believe yourself to be a Hero. Good job.

"Well... Don't underestimate him." He advised.

That got Ochako wondering. With how this Hero boy kept pressing her about not poking at Mr. Mcsplody, there's gotta be some history there. They obviously knew each other. "Do you know him?" she asked, before quickly following it up with: "Do you know any of his weaknesses?"

Oh boy. Did he know him? Well, the truth was, not personally, not anymore. He didn't know him in the way Ochako was implying. He observed him. He didn't know him internally, but the superficial, the exterior, the things he had done, the reality around him... That, he knew.

"Well... he's... Bakugou?" Midoriya worded that like he was unsure, like a question, when he knew that was exactly his name. But the true uncertainty laid within how he should answer that question. What could he tell her about him? She already had an idea of him, which he presumed should be pretty accurate. Anything he'd say would just repeat what she knew.

"I can get that." No. Not really. She needed to get something over that over-reactive screamer.

Meanwhile, Ashido looked back and forth between Izuku and the track. She didn't really know anyone except for Midoriya, and by how soundless Aizawa was being, it seemed like the test didn't have an order and any pair can go on it for a race. She knew Midoriya hadn't done it yet. So why not do it together?

"Yo, Midoriya," she called, getting the boy's attention instantly. "We both haven't gone on the track, so why don't we do it together?"

"O-Oh. Sure." He gave a look to Ochako, sending a mental message that he cannot send. Because he doesn't have any mental abilities capable of doing that. He was gonna say "Talk to you later" but his heart stopped upon realizing he was communicating with two girls casually. He shortly regained control of his heart once he was on the track, only to realize another thing. Man, having people look out for me is pretty weird. And someone at my age too. And she's a girl! WAIT. OH MAN, I'M ON THE RUNNING TRACK. I DON'T HAVE A PLAN YET NOR DO I REALLY KNOW HOW TO USE THIS QUIRK. AND I DON'T THINK I COULD BEAT ANYONE HERE AT RUNNING.

He surveyed the classroom. His eyes connected with a purple shorty, who gave him a nonchalant thumbs up.

Well. Maybe...

He looked back at Mina, who was stretching out her legs.

Nope. No no no. I'm still losing this.

They were given the signal, and they were off to a sprint. Midoriya hesitated at first, but pushed himself to second place of this race, while Mina kept strong and focused, leading to a victory. At the very last second, Midoriya felt a rush of energy overcome him.

"10.32! 11.98!"

And by last second, that meant the second Ashido won. And she herself was surprised by that.

"I didn't think I'd be able to beat you. Didn't you beat the Zero Point Bot?" Ashido asked.

"Uhm..." Midoriya was focused on another matter entirely, like the sudden burst of energy he had when he raced Mina. Where did that come from? The sensation was familiar to when he went to save Ochako, but it was more subdued. Could this be progression? Was he learning to use it better? He had to take notes on this, and how he had to activate it. So far, the few relations between back then and right now was the fact that he had to push himself and focus at a desperate time. Was it the feeling of desperation? Was that what pushed his body to activate the Quirk? Was it his body responding to a need to save someone? No. He wasn't saving anyone right now. Could it be he needed to focus more? Or was it to clear his mind? He did feel like he didn't have any thoughts during the race and the Zero Point Bot, just pure focus on the objective. Or was it because—

"I'm gonna... take that as a technicality of your Quirk." Mina replied. Her brows furrowed as she realized, "What is your Quirk anyways?"

Midoriya snapped out of his thoughts. "Was I muttering?"

"Kinda. Why?"

"Were you able to understand what I was muttering?"

Mina put a hand on her chin. "Uhh... something about... well, the only thing I got outta that was "focus"."

"Good. Good." he muttered under his breath. Mina could hear that.

"You're trying to hide something from me." she said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Feeling the pressure but not understanding the suspicion (She's a girl and she's suspecting something of me! This isn't what I'm prepared for.), Midoriya caved and made totally unsuspicious responses. "What? No! I just have a habit of muttering my thoughts out loud! Nothing to hide!"

"Hmm..." She rubbed her chin. "Focus. Focus. You're trying to hide the fact that you're focusing? Or is it that you're trying to hide the fact that you're focusing on something." Mina gave him a wry smile.

Midoriya gulped and stuttered. "I... Well... I kinda... How to explain..." His hands were sweating and he could feel the heat rising from his neck. Why are we making such a big deal outta this? She only heard the word focus! What could she... she... is it a sexual thing? Does she think I'm—Of course! We're teenagers! Stupid Midoriya! Stupid!

"There's no need to explain, Midoriya." Mina stated darkly, leaning her head back to look down at him. "I know everything."

"I wasn't—Not about you. I was thinking—" Midoriya wanted to shut down now. There's been too many social interactions for him. And too many girls. "I-I wasn't..."

"Sure you were. Is that why you were trailing behind me?"

Midoriya's legs turned to jelly. He felt like fainting now, but that would cause rumors about him. His poor, sensitive spirit couldn't take it! He couldn't take this accusation! He'd never thought he'd be accused of this! He thought he was too into studies for girls to take his potential advances seriously. There was this one time he had a crush, and his crush crushed his heart—Why am I thinking about that right now? There's no connection! Damn it, brain! Outthink! Solve the problem! Don't get me tagged as a... a... a pervert!

"I am not... wasn't... looking at you like that." He thought his voice would be louder than that, but it quickly deflated so much that Mina could barely hear the key words.

And with quick wit, she grabbed her opportunity. "Oh! So you were looking at me. But not in the way you imply."

What? This was starting to get on Midoriya's nerves. There came a point where a cornered kitten would fight back when its life depended on it. This was his moment of desperate survival clawing. Like a man he admired once said, "Stand up for what you believe in. When the whole world tells you to move, it's your job to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth, and say, "No, you move"." Was it applicable to his situation? Yes. He was gonna stand up for himself, and keep the truth of his character intact.

He will not stand for slander to his name, no matter however low he thought of himself. And this was the lowest point.

He raised his voice.

And he had nothing to say. No wit. His mind was running blank right now. And so, what came out of him was not his shining moment. But his impulses say screw it anyway, he needed to retort in this span of awkward silence!

"I did not look at your butt!"

That didn't sound heroic to Izuku at all. That only made him sound more perverted. And people around could've heard the topic!

He needed to backtrack this.

Quickly!

"Can we never talk about this?" He didn't think he had the audacity to say such relationship-breaking words (in fact, this whole day had been pretty impressive on his side on social interaction with girls), but he did, and he felt horrible. The amused look on Mina's face said it all to him. He was a terrible person.

"Alright. Alright. I didn't think I'd break you." Mina conceded and playfully slung her arm around his neck. Midoriya froze up and she could tell by how stiff and rigid his body posture became. "Hey. Don't be so... so... hesitant to touch. I know we're opposite genders, but you need to think of me more as a bro, 'kay? It'll help."

Her words fell on dead ears.

This was becoming too much for Izuku. Being in such close proximity he could feel her. This was the beginning of some romantic relationship. He could feel it in his tropes. He couldn't handle it. (He hated romance in his shows and movies.) There were too many mental gymnastics to pull that he wasn't qualified for. There were other things in his life he needed to focus on that he was stressing about. This new stresser was the straw that broke his back. He wanted to shut down right there.

"Hey! Woah!" Mina could barely hold him up. Midoriya was too heavy all of a sudden. Almost like he...

She looked him in his closed eyes.

"Did you faint?"

She had no response from that.

"Check." She held a finger under his nose. "Breathing check." She shook him. "Physical stimuli check."

She looked around and found everyone too busy to notice them.

"Oh maaan..."

"That's pretty tough for them." Todoroki stated, watching Mina try to hobble around a dead body. He looked the other way. He didn't want to be classified as a witness to murder.

"Yeah." Mineta replied, looking the other way as well.

Todoroki pointed at the track. "Should we go next?"

"Yeah."

But they were too late, as someone beat them there.

"Someone beat us there." Todoroki stated in his usual dry monotone. "It's only one person. Do we wait it out?"

"Hmm..." Mineta observed the dark-haired ponytail girl with a stunning figure. "I dunno. Depends on if you wanna do this separately."

"Never mind that. Someone joined her." Todoroki watched as a frog-like creature got on the track. "That solved our conundrum."

"Yes. But it did take away our chances of running with a girl though." Mineta counted the girls and finding five. "There aren't that many to begin with. And since the last one's going with the blond, we blew our chances."

"I don't like where this topic is going. Could you lessen your penchant for pervertism around me?"

"Dude, why are you slowly turning into a man from the forties?"

"I thought it would fit the gimmick."

"Oh, so you were trying to match me."

"I thought it'd be funny too."

"That one's pushing it."

The signal was given and the frog leapt. But just as that happened, Momo grew out metal from her legs and arms, which folded onto each other like futuristic armor. Then, when it wasn't futuristic enough to her liking, her new boot heels and gauntlet palms lit up and a surge of energy pulsed through them. And just like a famed Hero of the technological kind, she blasted herself like a rocket towards the finish line even faster than Iida.

"3.02! 8.98!"

Kirishima was enamored by such display, since Midoriya wasn't around to fill the part. (Actually, Midoriya never really did fill that role.) "Woah! That's so cool! You're just like [NAME REDACTED]! With the sleek armor and the blasting tech! Awesome! Super awesome!"

Momo flipped her hair bang back. "Why thank you! I worked very hard on them."

"Incredible craftsmanship. Is your Quirk storing things in your body?" Iida came forward and asked. He was gonna ask, "Who built these?" when Momo answered his Quirk question.

"My Quirk is creating anything non-living. And I had to remember how to build them, atom by atom." Momo stated. "It gets easier once you're used to it and remember patterns." She lifted her gauntlets to eye level and boasted some more. "And it means I built these myself. I actually schemed up the design too. The finished product has been my go-to creation ever since. That's how perfect and versatile my scheming is."

"Could you create a pencil right now? Or some paper?" Kirishima asked.

"I had wished this school's subjects wouldn't belittle my ability with such requests." Momo pouted like an angry child. "But I guess this is a curse I will have to deal with my whole life. I could create such insignificant objects like a pencil and paper, but would I display it when I've already proven myself more capable than that? No. That's just like asking a mathematician to solve simple addition to prove herself. Do care for how you speak!"

"Jeez, all I asked for was... never mind. I guess you're right." Kirishima replied, enthusiasm deflated.

"Do you think you can fit anyone else with your product?" Iida asked.

"No." Momo answered coldly. "Don't misunderstand. It's not out of my power to outfit you two with my creation. But why would I do such a thing when it wouldn't benefit me at all? This is my magnum opus and I refuse to share it, lest one of you potentially imitates it and its properties."

Iida narrowed his eyes. This is someone who could potentially become a top Hero and this is how they present themselves?

"You're really confident in yourself, aren't you?" Kirishima dryly stated.

"When you reach my level of expertise with my kind of Quirk at such a young age... don't you think it's perfectly reasonable for me to be confident?" Momo smirked.

That really creeped Kirishima out. Like a sly smirk that belong to an asshole genius made its way to a sweet girl. And that's kinda basically her.

"I see." Kirishima wanted to opt out of the conversation. It was bumming him out. He didn't come to this school to feel "bummed out"! This was the only person he couldn't wait to wipe that smile off.

And that time will come sooner or later.

A/N: I looked up nitroglycerin smells after someone told me it smelled sweet. And I guess Bakugou didn't deserve the abuse since he actually smells swe—PSYCH! I ain't retconning my Bakugou smells bad idea! That took years to perfect! You hear me?! YEARS!

So, okay, Bakugou still smells bad to represent his rotten egg status. Maybe when he becomes sweeter, he'll smell like sweet rotten eggs.

Oh. I just realized nothing out of the ordinary happened in this chapter. I guess I can write more subdued ideas—PSYCH! I had you again! I just ran with whatever I write and I had no short-term ideas to make it crazy!

So please, if you guys have any ideas, please let me know.