CHAPTER 5.

100 POINTS

It was Monday, and Professor Aizawa had a strange challenge for us.

The contest was going to be all the students from Class 1-A competing against each other. Simply put, we all had to fight against a powerful robotic enemy, in three teams of seven each. Whoever did the most to contribute to the victory would receive the most points, with 100 being the highest score for each student. In fact, the points for each hero would go forward toward their overall grade in the class, so even second place would still do well.

Team One had Aoyama, Ida, Koda, Jiro, Mineta, Yaoyorozu, and Sero.

Team Two had Shoji, Todoroki, Ashido, Uraraka, Ojiro, Sato, and Midoriya.

Team Three had Bakugo, Kaminari, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Hagakure, Asui, and Shigeru.

Tsuyu and I ended up on the same team.

The entire class migrated to a combat field for the challenge. While each team performed, the other teams were able to watch and observe. Deku was taking notes as always, even though we were all told already that each robotic enemy would be capable of different powers.

Team One struggled to confront their enemy. It was a machine that had a myriad of capturing tools, such as wire, nets, and cuffs. As soon as the battle started, the machine disabled Aoyama, Koda, and Jiro with ease. Yaoyorozu quickly began creating items to rescue her fallen teammates, while Sero used his tape Quirk to try and restrain the robot. Mineta's purple orbs worked in catching the robot in one spot, while Ida burst into action, using his speed to out-maneuver the robot en route to his finishing attacks. In the end, Ida was rewarded with 90 points, Yaoyorozu was given 80 points, and Mineta 75, making them the top three earners in the challenge.

Team Two was against a robot that had elemental attacks. Right away, it caused the terrain to become difficult to navigate, and the heroes stuck close together so that they could formulate a plan. In the end, Deku seemed to shine, guiding the team through the falling snow and sandstorms that were plaguing the terrain, while Todoroki and Shoji went through to hit the robot head-on. They achieved victory far quicker than the first team. In the end, Todoroki received 92 points, Shoji got 92 points, and Deku achieved 80, for the top three.

The trend seemed to show that the crowd-controllers were scoring decent, but the heroes who actually went in directly against the enemy still got the best scores.

Finally, it was time for Team Three to go. I stood at the back of the group, while the others charged forward, eager to discuss their tactics just before the battle began. There wasn't much time, because the next robotic enemy appeared at the end of the street, and it sent out waves of energy. Apparently, this enemy was impacting the electricity of the streetlights, because they were being shut off. I wondered why it was bothering with that, considering it was still the daytime, but then we all found out the reason. The robot unleashed a dark cloud of gas, which obstructed everyone's vision.

"Stupid robot's not gonna slow me down!" Bakugo bellowed aggressively. As usual, the hot-headed member of the team had no hesitation in him, and thus he charged onward, even without vision.

"Dark Shadow, ascend above the gas," Tokoyami instructed amidst his coughing. His Quirk was a shadowy being, and it followed instructions, rising above the cloud to locate the enemy's whereabouts.

"Tsu!" Hakagure called to her, waving her gloved hands, since she was invisible otherwise. "I can't find you!"

"Here!" Tsuyu responded, using her tongue to catch one of the hands. The two of them were sticking together.

Sensing I was doing nothing to contribute, I hurried over to them, and Tsuyu held her hand toward me. When I held it, there was a strangely worried grip in it. Even though this was just a training exercise, Tsuyu was treating it seriously.

"We need to get out of this smoke," Tsuyu explained. It sounded obvious, but it was still important to state things in terms of priority. After we got clear of the gas, then we could deal with the enemy.

"Bakugo just charged in again!" Hakagure pointed out.

Even with our visibility hindered, Tsuyu gave me a specific look. "Eko."

"Yeah?"

"If Bakugo uses his explosions… this gas could ignite."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think the teachers would use inflammable gas during a training exercise."

"But a real enemy would," she pointed out.

Hard to argue that point. "So, what then? He can't use his Quirk?"

"You have to stop him," she explained quickly. "You, Eko."

I didn't want to do that… but it was clear that I had to. With a nod, I placed my hands to my mouth as I concentrated my powers. Even without visibility, I knew that Bakugo was ahead of us. "Bakugo! Don't use your Quirk! If you create explosions, the gas could ignite!" With my words, went the waves of my Infatuation Quirk. The only question was whether or not it would be in time.

At some point, Bakugo shouted back a response. "Stupid emo kid! Why didn't you speak up sooner?" It seemed to work, because he wasn't using his power at all.

There was no time to dwell on that, though. Now we had to figure out how to deal with the gas so that Bakugo could defeat the robot. Tokoyami had his Dark Shadow bring a giant fan from one of the industrial buildings, and then Kaminari stayed below the gas clouds to use enough electricity to power it up, and thus the smoke was being launched upward higher in the sky, returning visibility to the field.

From there, the robot tried to use bright flashes of light to hurt everyone's eyes. Despite a lack of visibility once again, Tsuyu leaped into action, concentrating on her hearing, and using her tongue to feel her surroundings as she moved, guiding her actions. She reached the robot and climbed on top of its back. The enemy reached over with metallic limbs, trying to swat her off, but she swiftly avoided the moves. While that went on, Bakugo fired up his cannons, ready to unleash another explosion, and this time, without any inflammable gas to worry about.

But I knew that an attack like that would hurt Tsuyu… so I couldn't allow it. I sent another wave of Infatuation into Bakugo, as I called out, "Don't use your Quirk. Tsuyu will get hit by the blast as well."

It looked like Bakugo really wanted to defy my words… and yet he lowered his arms. "Stupid frog girl, getting in my way."

Once again, my power seemed to work. And thus, Tsuyu found a weak spot in the robot's face, which revealed an opening to its core. At that point, Tokoyami had his Dark Shadow toss Kirishima at the robot, while Kirishima had hardened his entire body, making him a powerful projectile. Right before the collision, Tsuyu leaped in the air to evade any harm. The impact did the deed, and the robot was destroyed.

When it was all said and done, Professor Aizawa had interesting scores. Tsuyu made the most, scoring 95. Kirishima received 83 and was applauded for his bold application of his Quirk. Kaminari got a score of 80, along with Tokoyami, since they got rid of the gas.

As for me, I received 0 points.

It didn't bother me really, but Bakugo was furious about his own score of 30. "What do you mean only thirty points? I was going to destroy that robot in one blast, but the others got in the way!"

Professor Aizawa sighed. "You received points for hesitating in your attacks, but you still charged in and left your teammates. In the end, you were unable to find a good use for your Quirk."

The arguing carried on, but I stopped worrying about it. Regardless of what was real, I did eventually start to grow bitter. I thought I'd used my Quirk to keep Bakugo from dishing out damage to our teammates, but perhaps he had just avoided doing it himself because he was already aware. That would explain why I received zero points. My quirk was completely ineffective against a robot, since it didn't have a brain. Just like that, I had been useless.

"You did good, Eko," Tsuyu suddenly pointed out. "Forget that score. Professor Aizawa just didn't see how you stopped Bakugo from making a mess."

I sighed as I nodded. Since Tsuyu was the one person I could rely on for solid advice, I had to take refuge in her words. Even so, I felt pretty down on myself for the end result.

Later on, when the school day came to an end, Professor Aizawa requested that I stay after class so he could speak to me alone. "Shigeru," he said in his usual stoic voice, "I wish to address your performance earlier today."

"Yes, Sensei," I replied, trying to conceal my disappointment in myself.

"In truth, your score should have been higher," Professor Aizawa admitted. "But there is a problem. If you are rewarded for your Quirk, you have the issue of people doubting its legitimacy. You must understand by now, that your power is not an easy one to evaluate."

"I do." What else could I say?

"I have something to tell you," Aizawa explained. "During the training exercise… I used my Quirk on you."

"What?" That caught me off guard.

"I turned off your Infatuation Quirk. I was testing you, to see what you would do during a battle, and whether or not you could influence a teammate without your power." Aizawa sounded guilty at his confession, and yet he didn't look like he really regretted the end result. "You were able to get Katsuki Bakugo, the most hot-headed member of the team, to hesitate and be considerate of his teammates. Thanks to your instructions, you saved everyone's lives."

"But then… why did you give me zero points?" I wasn't even sure why I bothered, but now I wondered.

"I gave you zero points because you didn't come up with the idea yourself. Instead, it was Tsuyu who told you what to do. And thus, she received the points that you should have gotten. I understand I'm being hard on you, Shigeru, but I'm only doing so because you need to be treated fairly." Then I realized his eyes had been glowing red. "I have been regularly turning off your Quirk each time we speak. Don't think that I haven't noticed the power you possess. It is effective, yet dangerous. Until you learn how to master it, it will remain a challenging tool to measure."

The revelation answered a lot of questions, yet it also brought up others. Even so, I was actually relieved that he was turning off my power. Part of me wished that he would keep my power off forever. "Yes, Sensei," I answered calmly, showing nothing but respect regardless of my feelings.

And with that, Aizawa released his hold and motioned for us to exit.