Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

A couple that will go down in legend

Chapter twenty-eight: The math exam

Izuku Midoriya was eating a small breakfast at the island table in the kitchen on the ground floor of Heights Alliance, the dorm building for U.A.'s class 1-A students. Sitting with the green-eyed boy was his good friend Tenya Iida who, like Izuku, was eating some breakfast. "I'm not sure about you, Midoriya, but I feel very confident about the math exam we have to take today," the class rep of 1-A remarked.

Izuku nodded in agreement with Tenya, chewing and swallowing a mouthful of food before speaking. "I'm not worried about it either, Tenya. I've always done well in my academics, as it was something that I had before I got-" Izuku stopped short, carefully choice his words as he realized he almost let slip the secret of One For All. "…My quirk in really late."

"Ah yes," Tenya remarked in an understanding tone as he nodded once, having fallen for Izuku's excuse, "You are an example of what quirk specialists call a 'late bloomer'." The class 1-A rep patted Izuku on the back. "And I, for one, am glad for that. I don't know what all the lot of us also in 1-A would do if you never got your quirk. All of that aside, you've become someone that I'd like to consider a trusted friend and confidant, so either way I'm glad for the company."

The green-haired cinnamon roll smiled a bit, grateful that someone appreciated having his friendship. Izuku nodded once to Tenya. "…Thanks for saying that, Tenya. I can't really begin to tell you how much it means to-"

"Out of the way! Out of the way!" Shinso's loud warning came from the stairs leading up to the upper floors of the dorm building, cutting Izuku off. Curiously, Izuku and Tenya looked over to see Hitoshi Shinso, one of five students placed into 1-A due to the recently increased need for as many heroes as possible, quickly escort a hunched-over Tsuyu towards the front door leading out of the dorm building.

Sakaki Yamamaya, another one of the five new students placed into class 1-A after she had transferred from her previous hero school Vulcan High, followed along but stopped short and remained in the living room area after she watched Shinso rush the frog girl out of Heights Alliance. Izuku and Tenya, both wondering just what was going on, got up and walked over to the fat cat girl of U.A. and asked her.

"Oh, Tsuyu threw up, and she looked a bit green in the face." Sakaki gestured to where Shinso led Tsuyu out of Heights Alliance. "Hitoshi is taking her to go see Recovery Girl."

"Oh geez, I hope Tsuyu will be okay," Izuku remarked in a worried tone.

Tenya nodded in agreement. "Indeed, Midoriya. I myself hope that she will recover, but given that she threw up and according to Sakaki is green in the face, chances are that Tsuyu will be in no condition to take the math exam today." Tenya crossed his arms over his chest, a look of mild concern on his face. "It's bad enough that Uraraka will be missing the math exam for reasons we have yet to hear of, but for another one of our classmates to miss it as well?"

"Oh, you mean the big math exam we all have to take?" Sakaki said, getting the two boys to turn to face her. The fat cat girl nodded once when Izuku and Tenya were looking right at her. "Yeah, all of us in 1-A have to go to that special big classroom with everyone in 1-B to take the math exam under Nemuri-sensei. It will be a bit wild with all fifty of us in there."

Tenya gave Sakaki a serious look. "…At this point, I fear it may only be forty-eight out of the combined fifty between 1-A and 1-B."

Gently shaking her head, Sakaki said, "Either way, a whole lot of us are going to be there. I hope that Nemuri-sensei doesn't mind having to put up with having to look after all of us."

"You know, that reminds me," Izuku remarked in a wondering tone, "Why is Nemuri-sensei, who is our modern hero art history teacher, running the math exam when Ectoplasm-sensei is our math teacher? I mean, wouldn't he be a better choice?"

"Oh, Aizawa-sensei told me and Hitoshi that Ectoplasm-sensei will be out helping him, a few other teachers and Principal Nezu with something big that's coming up soon," Sakaki explained, "Nemuri-sensei was the only teacher that could be spared to run the big joint math exam, so the job was given to her."

Izuku and Tenya, the latter likewise also wondering why the actual math teacher wasn't running the big joint math exam, both nodded in understanding. To his fellow classmates in 1-A, Tenya said, "Well either way, we ought to get heading towards the classroom where we're taking the math exam. It wouldn't do if we're late or, heavens above forbid, miss the exam entirely." Izuku and Sakaki both nodded in agreement as the followed Tenya out of Heights Alliance and over to the main building for U.A.

When Izuku, Tenya and Sakaki reached the door leading into the classroom where the big joint math exam for 1-A and 1-B was being held, they met class 1-B student Akuma Giratina by the door. Akuma, a former Vulcan High student like Sakaki, gave a friendly enough but still overall indifferent hello to the boys. Sakaki, who the Satanist of U.A. was more familiar with, got some better treatment from him.

Izuku and Tenya watched Akuma follow the fat cat girl into the classroom where the big joint math exam was being held. "It would make sense for there to be some degree of camaraderie between Giratina and Yamamaya," Tenya remarked as he pushed his glasses up a bit, "They did both use to attend Vulcan High before they enrolled here."

Izuku nodded in agreement with class 1-A rep, but before the green-haired cinnamon roll could get a word out, he was cut off by the familiar voice of Bakugo calling out. "Oi, Deku! Don't you and Glasses here usually roll with Round Face, Half-n-half and Frog Face? Where the hell are those three?"

Izuku looked over to see Bakugo come walking up to him and Tenya; as per usual, the explosive teen was accompanied by Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero, although the other usual Baku-squad member, Mina, wasn't in eye sight at the moment. "Umm, Kacchan, Uraraka is still out for some reason that Tenya and I don't know anything about, and Shinso had to escort Tsuyu to go see Recovery Girl because she threw up and looked green in the face."

"And Todoroki left ahead of time for the math exam," Tenya informed Bakugo. The speed quirk boy gestured to the door leading into the classroom where said exam was going to take place. "He's probably already in there."

Bakugo scoffed in an indifferent tone. "Whatever. Doesn't make a lick of difference as far as I'm concerned." Jerking a thumb at himself, Bakugo smirked a bit in amusement. "Not only am I the baddest motherfucker around, but I'm also one of the smartest, in case any of you extras don't recall that little factoid about me. I'll be making this math exam my bitch, mark my words."

"Alright, Baku-bro! Your manly confidence is inspiring!" Kirishima cheered, "It's like this math exam doesn't faze you or Mina at all!"

Hearing from Kirishima that Mina, of all people, was not worried about the math exam caught the attention of Izuku and Tenya, with the latter taking the initiative to ask. "I take it that Mina had applied herself to her studies before the exam today?"

Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, Kaminari replied, "She seems unnaturally calm with the math exam looming over our heads. Although it might be due to how she doesn't look all that well."

Tenya sighed in a resigned tone. "Ah, she stayed up late to study." The class 1-A rep, followed by Izuku, made his way through the boys to see if Mina was okay. "You know, Mina," Tenya began as he called out to the pink-skinned girl, "As admirable as it is to apply yourself to your studies, staying up until the wee hours of the morning cannot be good for your heal-" Tenya, as well as Izuku, stopped short when they both saw Mina.

…Or rather, Tsuyu's little brother Samidare dressed up as Mina.

The ten-year-old boy with a mild frog theme wore a copy of the U.A. girl's uniform that was as close to his size as can be managed even though the skirt reached a little past his knees, black knee socks that on him reached up past his knees, a pair of brown shoes that were the only thing size appropriate for him, all areas of his skin were covered in pink-colored body paint, he wore a pink fluffy wig plus a horned headband that had two little yellow horns, and a pair of sunglasses.

Both Izuku and Tenya looked at 'Mina' with shocked, unbelieving looks on their respective faces. In fact, the latter gestured to 'Mina' with his usual hand-chopping gesture. "This isn't our classmate Mina," the class rep of 1-A said, his tone knowing and dry, "But rather an elementary school-aged boy dressed up as her."

Bakugo scoffed in a mildly annoyed tone, clearly not believing Tenya. "The fuck crawled up your ass this morning and died, Four Eyes? That is very clearly Pinky right there. The only reason why she looks a bit off is because, just as you had said, she stayed up late to cram for the math exam we're about to do." The explosive teen's eyes narrowed as he gazed as Tenya. "It's pretty fucking rude to insult Pinky's appearance after she stayed up so late to study."

"Umm, Kacchan," Izuku began in a mildly confused and wondering tone, "Tenya's right. In fact, you should have recognized that 'Mina' here is actually just Tsuyu's little brother Samidare dressed up as Mina. You remember meeting him back when you, me and Todoroki did the round of emergency internship under Todoroki's father, remember?"

"Wow, Deku, I can't believe you," Bakugo said as he turned to face the green-haired cinnamon roll. Without looking at 'Mina', Bakugo gestured to 'her' while keeping his eyes on Izuku. "I have no clue what is up with you and Four Eyes right now, but this is clearly Pinky, not Frog Face's awesome little brother."

"Yeah, Baku-bro's got a point," Kirishima remarked, "You two got to calm down." As the boys were all talking, Yaoyorozu came walking over, having come for the math exam but stopping when she saw the large crowd gathered outside of the exam room.

"Hey Mina," the rich girl greeted casually as she came up to the group, failing to recognize that 'Mina' was actually Samidare in a disguise, "Ready for the math exam today?"

"Yaoyorozu, please tell me you aren't falling for this as well," Tenya said, drawing the vice-rep of class 1-A's attention to him.

Yaoyorozu, with a curious look, asked, "…What do you mean, Tenya?"

"That isn't really Mina," Tenya said, "In fact, that's not even a high school-aged girl! That's an elementary school-aged boy disguised as Mina!"

Kaminari, shrugging in a confused manner, remarked to his wealthy classmate, "I'm guessing that Tenya and Izuku just have the pre-exam jitters and are partly hallucinating." The electric quirk boy crossed his arms over his chest, shrugged his shoulders again. "I don't blame them for being nervous. I am, too."

Yaoyorozu, as she addressed Izuku and Tenya, said, "Kaminari's got a point, boys. There is no need to be so nervous that you start seeing things." The wealthy girl then turned to regard 'Mina', giving 'her' a bit of consideration. "…Although now that you and Izuku mention it, Tenya, something about Mina does seem a bit off."

Both Izuku and Tenya breathed a sigh of relief, with Tenya even giving a bit of a cheer. "But I'm still not entirely convinced one way or the other," Yaoyorozu declared when she turned back to face her fellow studious classmates, "Luckily, I have a sure fire way to confirm the truth." Turning back around, Yaoyorozu put her focus back on 'Mina', giving 'her' a serious look of consideration. "…Mina, what's your opinion of Mineta?"

Instead of actually saying any words, 'Mina' simply blew a raspberry, with that being the only answer that 'she' would give on the matter. Apparently, this was good enough for Yaoyorozu. With a nod and a calm, satisfied smile, Yaoyorozu turned back around to face the boys. "That confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the real Mina." Turning to face the door leading into the math exam room, the wealthy girl said, "Well then everyone, if you all will excuse me, I've got to get inside and find a seat."

The boys all watched as Yaoyorozu walked into the math exam room, Izuku and Tenya both with looks of sheer disbelief on their respective faces. Bakugo and his group followed after their wealthy classmate, with the explosive teen shooting an amused smirk at Izuku and Tenya before he disappeared into the classroom. After they both resolved to bring this matter to the attention of classmates of theirs that they can trust later, Izuku and Tenya both made their way into the exam room so that they could take the big join math exam.

"Alright, kids," Nemuri said as she stood in the front of the classroom, "I just got it from some of the staff members here at U.A. that your schoolmate Uraraka won't be able to join us as she is still out. Additionally, Tsuyu woke up sick and Shinso, due to lack of available staff to keep an eye on Tsuyu, was assigned the duty of watching over her until more school staff is available, so both of them won't be able to make it either. They will be allowed to make up the exam later."

Izuku and Tenya curiously looked around, noticing that many of their trusted friends were all absent from the exam. Surely Shinso, Uraraka and Tsuyu would be able to recognize that 'Mina' was actually just Samidare disguised as the pink-skinned girl. Tsuyu especially, given that the ten-year-old boy is her younger brother.

Izuku and Tenya also figured that their friend Todoroki, as well as Izuku's friend in 1-B Juzo, would both recognize whatever ploy that Mina was trying to pull off by dressing Samidare up as her. Unfortunately for Izuku and Tenya, Todoroki was distracted because Reiko, Todoroki's crush-turned-girlfriend, was seated right next to the two-tone boy, and Juzo was too focused on his exam to pay much mind to anything else that was going on.

Without anything that they could do, Izuku and Tenya both decided to just focus on their work in the math exam. As both of them do well in their academics, the math exam wouldn't pose all that much of a problem to either boy. As such, when Nemuri gave the signal to begin, everyone in the classroom got to work on the math exam.

…

"Well everyone," Nemuri said after the last of the exams were collected and graded when everyone had finished, "I have to say that I am impressed. I was expecting, given what I was told about all of you by both Aizawa and Sekijiro, that there would be at least one failure among the lot of you. But even the lowest score among all of the exams is a seventy-eight, more than enough to pass." Gently applauding the combined lot of 1-A and 1-B students, Nemuri said as she clapped, "You all deserve a pat on the back."

Everyone in the classroom cheered, with Bakugo's friends cheering the most; Kaminari made a joke at himself about how his exam must be the one with the seventy-eight. As a side note, both Izuku and Tenya noticed 'Mina' whip out and put on a pair of noise-canceling headphones when the cheering started. Both studious boys took a note of this, deciding that it may be a point that they could make use of later.

After the class settled down, Nemuri held up a few of the exams. "As a matter of fact," the eighteen only hero went on, "Some of you actually got perfect scores." Looking at the math exams that she held, Nemuri said, "Congratulations to Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Iida and Ashido! You all got a one-hundred!" Nemuri then gestured for the students that got perfect scores to come on up to the front of the classroom so that everyone else could cheer for them.

When the four who all got perfect scores reached the front of the classroom, Juzo raised a hand and said, "Uhh, Nemuri-sensei?" Pointing to where 'Mina' stood on Yaoyorozu's left thus putting 'her' on the far right (if you're facing the group of students who got a perfect score), the softening quirk boy of class 1-B said, "Please tell me that you aren't going to fall for this. That clearly isn't Ashido. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the kid who Artemis is best friends with simply dressed up as Ashido."

"Although there's a lot I wouldn't put past those cretins in 1-A, I do believe that even they wouldn't stoop so low as to show such a lack of academic integrity," Monoma said as he turned to regard Juzo, a look of mild disbelief on his face.

"No, Juzo's right, and thank goodness that Midoriya and I aren't the only ones here who see what's going on," Tenya said. The class 1-A rep pointed to where 'Mina' stood as he said to the eighteen only hero, "With all due respect, that is not the real Mina."

Hagakure, from where she sat next to Ojiro in the classroom, stood up at her desk. "Boys, that is clearly Mina, and I have no clue what makes you all think that's an imposter who's just dressed up as her."

"Wait a minute here, I have a way to determine for sure if that's the real Mina or not," Kyoka said. The rock music lover turned her attention to where 'Mina' stood at the front of the classroom before calling out to her. "Hey Mina! What's your opinion of Mineta?" Instead of saying actual words, 'Mina' merely blew a raspberry at the mere mention of the infamous pervert, just like 'she' did earlier when she asked the same question by Yaoyorozu. Satisfied, Kyoka said, "Yeah, that's the real Mina."

"Oh come on!" Mineta exclaimed, clearly unamused that people were using peoples' displeasure with him as a way to tell who's a fake and who's real.

After everyone left the math exam room, Izuku and Tenya were met up by Juzo and Artemis, the former of which looked mildly suspicious but overall just plain confused. "Yo Izuku, dude, what the hell is that pink girl in your class up to?"

"I have no clue, Juzo," the green-eyed boy replied, "Hopefully the real Mina will be willing to talk about whatever it was that she was up to."

"Yeah, I'd like to know why Ashido decided to dress my main man Samidare up as her and have him take the math exam in her place," Artemis remarked in a casual tone as he talked to the other three boys, "Although now that you mention it, I can't really blame her since I know that the little dude is a wizard at math, and the fact that he got a perfect score for Ashido shows that using him to take the exam for her was a rather smart move on her part." After he finished his last bit there, the exoskeletoned boy saw that Izuku, Tenya and Juzo were all looking at him with wide-eyed looks of surprise. "…What?"

"You also knew that it was really Samidare and not Mina?" Izuku said, "Artemis, why didn't you say anything with me, Tenya and Juzo?"

Artemis gave a bit of a belly laugh as he said, "Because it was fucking hilarious how everyone else was completely fooled by Samidare's disguise! Ah ha, ha!" Izuku, Tenya and Juzo all looked at Artemis with looks of disbelief on their respective faces. Luckily for the three boys that thought to actually try to do something about Mina's lack of academic integrity, the three of them all thought to take pictures of Samidare dressed up as Mina with their smartphones for later evidence.

Artemis took a picture of it as well, but not for the same reason as Izuku, Tenya and Juzo.

Sometime after lunch, Izuku and Tenya, who were joined by Juzo during lunch, learned that Shinso and Tsuyu were able to take the exam after Tsuyu was judged as having recovered well enough to do so. Both Shinso and Tsuyu also passed the exam, but that wasn't what was on the mind of the three boys when they met up with Shinso and Tsuyu, the latter still looking a bit green in the face but not enough to debilitate her anymore.

"Tsuyu, you need to see this," Izuku said with a hint of knowing suspicion in his tone as he took out his smartphone, pulled up the picture he took earlier, and turned his phone around for both Tsuyu and Shinso so see.

Both Shinso and Tsuyu went a bit wide-eyed in surprise when they saw the picture that was on the green-eyed boy's phone, with Tsuyu being the first to take the initiative as she pointed at the picture on Izuku's phone. "…Why is my younger brother dressed up as Mina?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that we need to show this to Aizawa-sensei," Shinso said, his tone showing that he agreed with his frog-like classmate. He turned his attention from the photo on Izuku's phone up to Izuku and the other boys themselves. "I have no idea what the hell Mina was thinking, but there is no way that we can let her get away with it."

The three boys all let out a sigh of relief, with Tenya saying, "Thank goodness we aren't the only ones who sees what's wrong." As Izuku, Tenya and Juzo were talking to Tsuyu and Shinso, they were met up by Bakugo and his squad; the real Mina was with the group, meaning that she had at some point switched back with the kid she had disguised as her.

Seeing one of her fellow girls in 1-A, Mina waved her hand and flashed a smile. "Hey, Tsuyu! The boys here told me you missed the exam with everyone else and had to take a backup with Shinso since he was made to look after you because a lot of U.A. staff members were busy. Are you feeling better?"

"Mina, why did you dress my younger brother up as you?"

The acid quirk girl was surprised by the question, or rather she looked/acted surprised. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tsuyu," Mina defended, "I was there in the math exam room, same as everyone else."

"Yeah, Frog Face," Bakugo remarked, "Hell, your boyfriend Bird Head believes us that Mina was there taking the exam with us, even though his shadow creature doesn't."

Tsuyu was about to say something, but she was cut off when Aizawa came walking over to the group. "I'm going to be needing you all to head back to the classroom," the underground hero said in a tone showing that he was allowing no room for arguing, "Something came up that the staff here and I believe relates to both the recent attack on U.A. and the incident that occurred back during our class's field trip where those men threatened Uraraka. We'll be going over a few details in class later." Turning to regard Juzo, Aizawa said, "Sekijiro will probably inform you and your classmates about it himself since he's one of the pros that is also on the investigative team, so it's best that you go and see him, Honenuki."

"Aizawa-sensei, you've got to see the photo that Midoriya's got on his phone," Shinso said, piquing Aizawa's interest just enough to encourage the underground hero to look closely at the photo on Izuku's phone. Aizawa considered the photo for a few moments before he straightened himself back out. Turning to face Mina, Aizawa walked up to her and, to the surprise of all of the 1-A students that were present, pressed the back of his right hand against Mina's forehead, as if he was checking for her temperature.

"…Hmm, it does feel a tad warm." The underground hero turned to face the other U.A. students, pointed to Izuku's phone. "I'm guessing why Ashido looks a bit off to me in that photo is due to how she was probably getting over a bit of a fever at the time the photo was taken." Turning to regard his pink-skinned student, Aizawa said, "I hope that you're feeling well enough to return to class when I have to go over some facts with everyone."

With a bit of a playful smirk, Mina gave her homeroom teacher something of a playful salute. "I'm ready and rearing to go, Aizawa-sensei!" Satisfied with that, Aizawa turned and walked off to go over to his classroom, leaving the students that did not fall for Mina's scheme to look on at his departing form in shocked surprise. Shinso in particular was in disbelief as even his mentor had fallen for the acid quirk girl's ploy hook, line and sinker.

Bakugo and his squad took off after Aizawa, intending to return to class for whatever it was that the underground hero wanted to go over with all of his students in 1-A; Mina, as she left with the boys, shot Izuku and the others who didn't fall for her ploy a knowing look before she quickly turned to leave with the rest of her group. After the Baku-squad had left, Izuku and the others all merely shook their heads in disappointment.

Gesturing towards the doors leading out of the cafeteria, Izuku said in a tone of resigned defeat, "Well, we might as well head back to class. Aizawa-sensei did say that there was something that relates to both the recent attack here on U.A. grounds and the incident during the field trip where those men tried to harm Uraraka." The students from 1-A all nodded in agreement with Izuku, and Juzo told them that he'd see them later as he had to head back to 1-B. Waving the softening quirk boy good-bye, Izuku and the others from his class all returned to their homeroom.

END, CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Author's notes;

This chapter was my attempt to create a funny, light-hearted bit meant to lighten the mood after what occurred in the previous chapter. I know full well that many of the people who fell for what Mina did with Tsuyu's little brother in this chapter would not really fall for it, but that's where part of the humor of this chapter stems from. Anyway, the next chapter will get back to all of the seriousness that is going on in the current arc. Those who don't know the reason for a certain thing that was noted in this chapter will be learning the reason why said thing occurred, and when they do learn of it, they will be appropriately heartbroken.

Izuku, in particular, will be very empathetic.