It was finally the first day of the written exam. The written exam was projected to go on for 3 days so that each subject was covered. English, History, literature, math, and heroics.

Everyone's faces showed the stress they were carrying when Toru walked in. Nobody was especially confident about this exam, aside from Yaoyorozu.

"I gotta pass! I want to do a test of courage at camp! I want fun memories of staying up late and talking about boys!" Mina pleaded. "Grade gods…. Please bless me!"

Kaminari prostrated himself too to gods that didn't exist.

"Be more confident! You two studied your butts off!" Jiro reminded. "I'm sure…You'll probably pass…." She didn't sound that confident despite her encouragement.

"If you used your time effectively you have nothing to fear!" Iida reminded them, chopping the air with his arm.

"I'm sure you'll pass, Mina!" Toru encouraged. And if you don't, hey, you just don't get to be traumatized and possibly killed. No real loss.

Mina sniffled. "I'll believe in me the way you believe in me, Toru!"

The bell rang and Aizawa had them all sit down. "Now…As you all likely know the written exam will go on for 3 days. I'll be watching carefully during all your testing. Any talking or attempted cheating will be deducted greatly. If anyone tries to use their quirk, I'll cancel it." Aizawa said.

I wonder why cheating isn't an 'automatic 0' like usual. Does he suspect that some people will try to cheat a little bit? And that he'll just deduct them appropriately? Toru wasn't sure but didn't particularly care. She wasn't planning to cheat.

The written exam began. Everyone started penciling in answers and reading over their first of many tests furiously.

Urgh. Most of these questions are so easy compared to what All for One taught. That was one of Toru's big problems with standard educational systems. Since she had mostly been homeschooled a lot of the material- aside from hero history she already knew and had gone over. She had just studied a much different curriculum. So, the hardest part was trying to guess how many purposefully wrong answers she should put in.

Last time I put in too many wrong answers…. But what should I aim for this time? I can't get every answer right. I don't want to be number 1. That would give me too much attention, but I need to be high up. Master told me to pass with flying colors….

Should she just get a few wrong and then make one of her test scores average? Or should she perfect everything except for one subject? How many questions would Iida get wrong? How many would Bakugo?

I shouldn't try for 3rd place. Bakugo got that in the mid-terms. And I'm pretty sure he'd hate me if I got a better score than him. She had 19 other people to compete with in class. And she had misjudged them last time. If she took into account how smart the average was and how smart a few handful of students were- Iida, Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki, she could aim for where they were, and only get a few questions purposefully wrong.

She'd also wait to see who finished their tests first. Bakugo was right behind her so she could listen to when his pencil dropped, or he sighed as if he had finished it. And Aizawa couldn't see where her eyes were peering. If she angled her head in a more painful way that didn't cause her shirt to make a visible movement, she may be able to see Iida and judge how difficult the tests were supposed to be based on him.

Hopefully I'll do really good but not too good. Really her worry was doing too well. All for One had given the order to pass with flying colors so she was penciling in all answers as well as she could, pretending to pause every now and then to think things over, but what if the test was supposed to be really hard or something and Yaoyorozu or Iida floundered? She didn't want to be #1. And if she underestimated them too much she might end up as 16th again.

Overall, because of that the test was very difficult. Only because Toru saw it as a social observation challenge instead of an actual written exam.

The tests were long. At the end of the 3rd day the written exams had finally be finished.

Toru peered at her classmates' facial expressions hopefully she had correctly guessed how many wrong answers someone like Bakugo might give, so she could aim just a little under that.

Most of them still looked stressed, unconfident, gloomy, and sad.

Ha ha. Yeah, talk to me when you aren't given food until you give correct answers. Master's classes are way more difficult and have higher stakes than this. Toru thought. This was a breeze compared to that.

"That was so hard!" She played along though and complained aloud.

"I found it actually quite relaxing." Yaoyorozu smiled with grace.

"Some of the stuff in the test hadn't even been covered in class." Jiro protested. "Only in 'optional' assigned reading! Optional my ass!"

"Yeah! It was way unfair!" Toru shook her arms and protested. So, did I aim too high? No, that must mean I did better than Jiro but less good than Yaoyorozu which is fine.

"If you had come to my study sessions, Hagakure, I'm sure you wouldn't have struggled so hard." Yaoyorozu reminded. "Well…Hopefully you still did okay. I'm sure you did!" She tried to encourage.

Still a little entitled and overconfident I see. But I suppose that's fair. She must have taken a little personal offense that I never showed up despite the fact that we're friends. Toru sighed.

"I'm sorry! My parents just wouldn't let me! I'm sure you've heard! I got pretty much grounded for the low score last time and had to really double down and study." Toru told her.

Yaoyorozu smiled and looked like she had forgiven her. "I'm sorry about that." She must have been happier now that it wasn't Toru's choice to not spend time with her.

"How do you think you did?" Tsuyu gossiped with the rest of the girls, trying to relax after a tough test.

"I don't really know…I also studied on my own…" Uraraka admitted, "I really stayed up all night to study, but I think I only got like…80% or something? That test was really tough…" She rubbed the back of her neck.

"We all tried our best and that's what matters!" Toru tried to bring the mood up. "Anyway…It's the practical we really need to worry about. It's much harder to study for that. And it's still coming up…"

Everyone's face momentarily paled. That was true. And the practical exam was the very next day with no break in between the tests.

The next day at 9 am sharp, class A gathered outside in front of one of the fake cities UA had made for their practical. Most students took notice of the number of teachers there. Aizawa, Midnight, Thirteen, Snipe, Power Loader, Ectoplasm, Cementoss, Mic…. There was a large amount of teachers. And for just an exam with robots it shouldn't be required.

"Why do you think there are so many teachers here?" Jiro whispered to her friends. They were all dressed in their hero outfits, prepared to fight, but there was starting to be some levels of confusion among her classmates.

Toru fake counted them. "I don't know! That is a lot!" She faked a gasp.

"The practical exam will begin shortly." Aizawa cut down the amount of gossip by addressing the class. "Of course, it is possible to fail this exam. If you want to go to the summer training camp don't make any stupid mistakes." He paused. "I expect that you all gathered information ahead of time and have some idea of what we'll be doing."

"We're fighting robots like at the entrance exam, right?" Kaminari posed confidently.

"I'm coming fireworks! Curry! Test of courage!" Mina cheered loudly.

"Too bad!" Nezu scolded, way too happy. He popped out of Aizawa's scarf where he had been hiding. "For various reasons, the test will be different starting this time!"

There were gasps. Looks of horror throughout all of Class 1-A.

"Different, how so?" Yaoyorozu tried to catch herself and salvage this and start planning on how to complete this exam anyway.

"From now on, we want to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work! We want to teach something that is closer to actual fighting." Nezu explained. He climbed his way down Aizawa, onto the ground. Thirteen tried to prevent him from falling. "So…We'll have you form teams of two to fight against the teachers!"

There were gasps. Now everyone was shaking a little bit.

"Against…The teachers?" Uraraka was still trying to figure out how this worked.

"The pairs and who you will be fighting against has already been decided." Aizawa shot down any excitement that could be found. No fun was allowed! "These were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including interpersonal relationships, your grades, and fighting style." Aizawa explained

People looked even more nervous with that in mind.

"One of you has already figured out the paired part of the exam. I'd like to confirm I'm upholding their request just in case they were worried." Aizawa said aloud.

The students looked at each other. Who was that? And what had that one student requested? Nobody could tell based on anyone's facial expressions who that was though, so most of the students looked at Iida confused, since he was wearing a mask and they couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"It wasn't me!" He whispered. "I knew about none of this!" People didn't look like they believed him.

It was me. Toru smiled. So, this confirms Mineta won't be paired with me or any of the girls. Good. She thought.

"So, with that in mind, the two unlucky pairs that will be fighting Class A's teachers-" Aizawa grinned, he was talking about him and All Might. "Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. You'll be up against me." He grinned.

Yaoyorozu immediately looked worried. Her creation was what she relied on most, after all. And Aizawa could immediately take that away.

Darn. I guess it was hoping for too much for me to paired against Aizawa. My exam could have been so easy…Toru sighed. She assumed everyone around her was relieved.

"Midoriya and Bakugo. You'll also be a team. And your opponent-" Aizawa started speaking.

Their opponent fell from the sky jumping into the scene. It was All Might. "I will do it!"

Midoriya looked absolutely horrified.

"All…All Might?" Bakugo gasped.

The hardest teacher for them, huh? Makes sense. Bakugo is one of the strongest students. And he was bound to be paired with Midoriya. Toru had dodged the All Might bullet.

"Work together to defeat me, you two." All Might requested.

"And now we'll announce the teams and the teachers they'll be up against all at once!" Nezu announced, excitedly. Perhaps he was disappointed that Aizawa had put so much excitement on just his and All Might's match. He wanted part of the action!

"Each match will happen after the next match. And the time limit will be 30 minutes." Aizawa added quickly since Nezu had forgotten in his excitement.

So, team 1 is at the biggest disadvantage because they aren't given any planning time. While team 10 has the longest amount of preparation time, being 4 and a half hours. Toru thought.

Nezu waved his hand, moving onto the team announcements.

"1st Match: Cementoss vs Kirishima and Sato!" Nezu smiled.

"Ah yeah, man!" Kirishima cheered. "We're the perfect team for this. We can just crush cement!"

Sato pumped his fist and did a bro handshake with Kirishima. "We've got an easy win!"

"2nd match: Ectoplasm vs Asui and Tokoyami." Nezu continued.

Tokoyami nodded. "I am excited to work together with you again, Tsuyu. We make a good team."

"Yeah, we do! And with me on the team, we'll get an instant win!" Dark Shadow cheered.

Tsuyu smiled. "I'm glad I'm working with you two too! This is a good situation for me."

"3rd match: Power Loader vs Ojiro and Iida."

"I don't think I've worked with you before, Ojiro." Iida admitted. "But I'm sure we'll make a good team!"

"How…Was this partnership decided based on grades or fighting style? We're not…Very similar at all." Ojiro wondered.

I wonder too. Did Aizawa get rid of that whole thing about pairs that didn't work well together? But he still put Midoriya and Bakugo together to maybe torture them…. Toru was confused. This didn't match her research. Was Aizawa going soft, or did he just really hate Midoriya? Or maybe everyone in class A worked well together.

"4th match: Aizawa vs Todoroki and Yaoyorozu."

Yaoyorozu and Todoroki nodded. They knew of this already.

"5th match: Thirteen vs Aoyama and Uraraka."

"With Aoyama? Oh dear…" Uraraka covered her mouth speaking out loud.

"With me we'll shine to victory!" Aoyama posed.

Uraraka was now looking more worried.

"6th match: Me! The amazing principal vs Ashido and Kaminari." Nezu seemed the most excited about this pairing.

The smart vs the dumb. Okay. I see where this one came from. Toru decided. Rip to Mina.

"Well, you and me, Ashido have really powerful quirks so we should be super careful!" Kaminari started planning. "But we're going to have an easy victory."

"YEAH! YEAH! We got the only teacher who can't fight at all! We won the lottery!" Mina cheered. They were both very confident.

"7th match: Present Mic vs Jiro and Koda." Nezu continued, not commenting on Mina and Kaminari's boasts.

Ah. So, Jiro was correct that she'd be paired against Mic. And Koda too. Toru smiled. This meant she'd either get Midnight or Snipe. And she thought she would be able to take on either of them.

"8th match: Snipe vs Hagakure and Shoji." Nezu continued.

Hmmnm…So I'm paired with Shoji? I thought honestly I'd get Sero…She glanced at Sero. Hadn't Aizawa told her he wouldn't pair her with Shoji so that they wouldn't have an unfair advantage in exams and things since they were working together regularly? Had he forgotten?

"9th match: Midnight vs Mineta and Sero."

"Ooooh…I might get an up close and personal look with Midnight." Mineta drooled.

"Hmmm…This is going to be really tricky…" Sero said, probably thinking about how he could defeat Midnight when he'd immediately fall asleep if he breathed.

Oof. They're going to lose for sure. Toru thought. Sorry Sero.

"10th match: All Might vs Bakugo and Midoriya." Nezu clapped as he finished the news.

"Anyway, your objective is either to put these handcuffs on the teacher." Nezu continued his explanation of the exam and held up some handcuffs, "Or to have one of you escape from the stage!"

Isn't…That too easy for me? I could literally just walk through the escape gate and have our team pass. I could do it in like…the first minutes…. THAT'S WAY TOO EASY! Toru thought.

"I'm going to assume that the teacher we'll be facing us will be grading us…. So that if one person doesn't contribute to the team they don't just get a free pass…" Midoriya was mumbling his own theories.

That's a good theory. Meaning if I pass on my own there's a chance Shoji might not pass. So, I have to make sure Shoji's able to contribute. Master did say to ensure my partner passes so nobody's suspicious after all! Toru thought. She looked at Shoji. Lucky Shoji, he definitely gets to come to the summer training camp and get traumatized. She thought sarcastically.

"Snipe is a master sniper." Shoji had grouped up with Toru to start discussing things. "So, I'm guessing things won't just be so easy you'll be able to walk through the escape gate." He must have been able to guess what she was thinking.

Toru laughed. "You got me! I was wondering if it was going to be that easy!" She admitted. I'd still be able to do it.

"I think Midoriya's mumbles might be correct that the teacher will grade us individually. I've heard that some teachers grade harder too…In Midnight's class she always grades us down if she doesn't personally like our answers." Shoji reminded.

I know. I hate Midnight's class. Toru thought.

"I don't know how Snipe grades. He teaches the third years…So I would guess he's strict." Shoji grimaced.

"It's a little like combat training…" Kaminari mumbled to himself.

"Is it really okay to run away?" Mina asked, raising her hand, still unsure of the rules.

Nezu gave a thumbs up. "Yup!" He looked a little sinister as he smiled at Mina since he was the one testing her.

"But It'll be different from the combat training." Present Mic corrected. "You'll be up against someone waaaay better than you."

"Better than us? I can't really imagine it though…" Jiro said accidentally. Koda tried to stop her, since it was Mic himself that they were up against, and he didn't want Mic to be harder on them. He was unable to stop her slip of the tongue.

Present Mic was insulted. "Dummy! Hey girl, watch your mouth! You hear?"

"This time your exam will be very similar to a real battle." Thirteen said taking the time to explain things better. "Please think of us as villains."

"Assuming you come across the enemy, if you think you can win a fight against them that's fine. However-" Snipe was cut off.

"In cases where there's too big of a difference in your abilities it would be smarter to run away and get help." Aizawa continued. "Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, I'm sure you three understand this well."

Ah. He's referencing their fight with the Hero Killer. Toru realized.

"Fight and win or run away and win…" Midoriya mumbled.

"That's right! Your decision-making skills are being tested! But, with these rules you're probably thinking the only choice is to run away, right?" All Might smiled and wagged a finger. "That's why we had the support course make us this!" He pulled out some sort of iron bracelet. It looked like it had weights on it.

Oh, I recall that design! I think I saw it in one of Mei's doodles on a desk! It must be hers! Toru thought. She was 95% sure that the design had been labeled 'boring' in big letters. But whatever won, won! At least Mei's talents had been recognized!

She wanted to cheer for her, but she held herself back.

"Ultra-compressed weights!" He revealed. "We'll all put on about half our body weight. It's to give you a handicap." All Might promised.

The teachers started putting on their weights.

"It's old fashioned, but it eats up stamina and makes it hard to move. Oh shoot, they're heavier than I thought…." He paused and trembled. "By the way, there was a competition to decide on the design in the support course. We ended up using Young Hatsume's!"

"To allow us to consider fighting you, huh?" Bakugo asked. "You're underestimating us."

He's definitely thinking of fighting. Bakugo's the type who would do that. But then he'd lose! I hope Midoriya is able to run out of the escape gate and win for them. Or that All Might is an easy grader. Toru thought. All Might did seem to give out good grades.

All Might laughed. "...I wonder." He looked serious.

Aizawa clapped to get the students attention again. "All right, as said before, each team will take the practical exam in order on their prepared stage. Look to the instructor you're fighting for information on where that is."

"We have this fake underground mall." Snipe explained to Toru and Shoji. "You'll be fighting in that."

"Sato, Kirishima, get ready. Those waiting their turn can watch the exams in the monitoring room with Recovery girl or think of strategies as a team. Do what you want. That is all." Aizawa explained before walking off.

Sato and Kirishima looked excited. Midoriya did not, despite having the longest prep time.

I'm match 8. So, I have 3 and a half hours of prep time. Toru thought. She and Shoji could come up with plenty of strategies in that time.

Shoji looked to Toru. "I'm planning to ask some third years more about Snipe. But that's just my own way of gathering information. I don't want to infringe on the way you prepare. So…How about we meet back in 3 hours to go over what our plans are?" Shoji suggested.

He probably wants some free time. Likely the long preparation time for some groups is to help them calm their nerves. I'm sure Shoji is thinking something normal of that we're the only pair of students facing someone with a literal gun. Toru thought.

"Sure! I'm good with that!" She agreed, peppily.

The students started dissipating to all go over their own preparations. Toru stood there awkwardly for a moment, to wait to see where everyone else went and to follow the crowd. Once she realized everyone was going somewhere different and there wasn't really a crowd of students, she went off to ask the third years questions as well.

Toru entered UA's main campus once again to start investigating.

"Hagakure. There you are." Aizawa walked over to her, having made it back to UA before the students. "I was wondering when you'd arrive. There's something I want to discuss with you."

Well…This is a surprise. Does he just want to be praised for a job well done about Mineta? But he only solved the Mineta problem one time. Toru was confused.

"What is it, Mr. Aizawa?" Toru asked. "Is it about…Mineta?" She asked in a hushed voice. "Thank you for not putting him on any girls' team!" She pretended to be grateful.

Aizawa gave her a stiff nod. Then he shook his head. "It's not actually about Mineta. It's actually about your internship under me."

Now Toru was really confused. Had she done something wrong? He should've stopped paying attention to me after that. "What about it? Didn't I finish that? Aren't internships over and done with?" Toru made sure to sound confused.

Aizawa sighed and led her to a staff lounge so he could discuss things without the risk of other student's eavesdropping.

"Just because internships are done doesn't mean I magically stopped thinking about yours and Shinso's improvement." He scolded. "Your physical exams…Are still less than satisfactory. Which you can hardly be blamed for. You're competing against people with super strength, essentially."

But why talk to me about this during the final exam. Toru was confused.

"Anyway, you're still my student even if internships have ended. I still need to help you find a fighting style that fits you." Aizawa admitted.

"Ah!" Toru realized. "Is that why you paired me with Shoji? Because you were worried the final exam would be unfair to me because I'm a weaker student and wanted to give me some sort of advantage by letting me work with someone I worked well with? I was super confused cuz I thought you were pairing us based on who worked worst together!" Toru admitted.

Aizawa was quiet but didn't confirm that. He just ignored her.

Which basically confirms that yeah, he was trying to give me an advantage cuz he thought I'd fail. Toru realized.

"I kept the original theme I was going for with Midoriya and Bakugo." He finally admitted. "But after talking to you and you telling me about Mineta…I realized I wasn't really aware of most of Class A's interpersonal relationships. If I could miss something so big like the female students feeling uncomfortable about Mineta, it probably wasn't fair to pair them with someone who might cause them to fail." Aizawa admitted.

So, the good pairs are thanks to me, huh? Interesting. Toru thought. Playing on Aizawa's sympathies had been extra effective.

"If you think I was going easy on you by pairing you against Snipe, you'll have to think again." Aizawa scolded. "You'll have to be more focused than usual on hiding, being agile and most importantly staying safe since Snipe can't see you and could accidentally shoot you because of your invisibility. That's why I paired you with Shoji so he can use his ears and eyes to tell you when Snipe's about to shoot and when to hide. If you think you can just walk through the escape gate easily, you'll have to think again." Aizawa warned.

Sure. I'm still pretty sure I could do it. Toru thought. But it was interesting that by Aizawa's own admission he had paired Shoji with her to protect her. Wasn't she training to be a hero too? Or was Aizawa still thinking about the fact that Toru had been kidnapped by a hero in her internship, and his own trauma with His Purple Highness.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Toru asked getting the conversation back on track.

Aizawa cleared his throat. "About your potential fighting style…I've gotten special permission from the principal to let you watch his fight against Ashido and Kaminari. I think you could really benefit from learning his operating style, since he fights intelligently behind the scenes and that sort of method would benefit you most."

What does he mean 'special permission?' So basically, for Mina's fight I'm forced to watch the monitor in the observation room? I was planning to do that anyway to cheer for Mina. And I assume anyone smart would also be watching the other matches to observe things. Toru thought.

Aizawa couldn't tell if Toru made any visible facial movements of confusion or excitement, so he gestured for her to follow him to another room. "We don't usually allow another student to be on the exam course at the same time as the paired students during their battle. But you're invisible, so they won't notice you if you just hang out with the principal."

Huh? On…the actual exam course? Toru thought confused. She realized Aizawa was leading her to the principal's office. But wait, I don't want to ever meet the principal! I don't want him to ever notice me! She realized with horror.

"Kaminari and Mina both have attacks that could hurt a large area though! Won't I get in trouble even if I am invisible?" Toru asked.

Aizawa shrugged. "They're a little over-confident. And they realize that their quirks could very easily injure someone weak. They won't even try to capture the principal because of that." Aizawa said.

Toru couldn't stop him. And before she could say anything else. Aizawa opened the door of the principal's office. Nezu was waiting for them, sitting in a very large chair. He had a big smile on his face.

Toru was glad he couldn't see her tremble.

"I'm happy that Aizawa has taken an interest in one of his students for once, instead of a lost puppy in another program!" Nezu clapped.

Aizawa looked ashamed a bit at the jab about Shinso.

"I…I don't want to be anything special though…I don't want special permission." Toru said in a hushed voice, trying to back up and escape the office Nezu was in.

He's so smart. He'll find me out for sure! I have to avoid Nezu! That's what Master told me! Toru thought panicked.

"Well, you need the help, Hagakure. I take notes on all my students. I'm not taking special interest in just you." Aizawa said for both Toru and Nezu's benefit. He was personally insulted by Nezu's claim after all. "I pay a lot of attention to Midoriya too. He always requires special attention."

Nezu didn't chime in with a counter argument.

"I want you to watch the exam because you could really benefit from learning some more-" Aizawa was trying to figure out how to state it, politely, but Nezu cut him off.

"Intelligence!" Nezu was just blunt. "Unfortunately, this is your own doing, Hagakure."

Aizawa looked like he was struggling to explain.

"…W-what do you mean?" Toru tried to not sound scared.

"Your midterm grades were very low." Nezu said peppily. "And your entrance exam written score was incredibly average. For someone with your kind of quirk we need you to be more cunning and observant! Not middle of the grade, average."

So, my mid-term grade did cause problems…And now they don't think I'm not UA material because I was acting too average…I guess that makes sense. Kirishima could get away with average, but that's cuz he's strong. I can't. She was so glad her Master had been smart enough to anticipate these problems and had ordered her to get a higher score on her latest exam. That would hopefully mean this extra intervention was temporary.

Aizawa sighed, trying to be politer about Toru's intelligence. "You're sneaky, Hagakure. Nobody can doubt that. But sneaking quirks need intelligence to back them up. You need to learn to pull the strings behind the scenes and operate things because you likely won't be a frontline fighter."

Oh, how wrong you are. I'm a tool. Tools aren't meant to make decisions and plans. We're frontline fighters. Master has trained me to be on the frontlines! She held back her laughter at how wrong Aizawa was.

"Now, in Kaminari and Ashido's exam, I plan to be the sort of villain that pulls the strings behind the shadows. One that never shows himself." Nezu explained. "There's a type of villain that never fights their opponents face-to-face. They like to hide in the shadows and organize their crimes. I'm going to be imitating this type of villain. I think you could benefit from learning these techniques!"

"Except you'll be implementing them without causing crime." Aizawa added quickly before anyone got the wrong idea. "Despite Principal Nezu imitating a villain, they're still good techniques you could learn."

They were both likely waiting for her to speak up. Hopefully they thought she had just become shy in front of the principal.

"Do…Do students normally get personal instruction from the principal?" Toru squeaked finally finding her voice. She was still super suspicious of why she in particular had been granted this privilege.

Nezu gave a wide smile. "Nope!"

That made Toru more worried.

"I'm mostly doing this because I'm curious about Aizawa requesting this! As I said it's rare for him to take an interest in his own student." Nezu explained.

Aizawa frowned.

So, it's curiosity about what makes me so special. Toru realized.

"But UA has a very freestyle education. I also haven't ever done this because no teacher has asked it before!" Nezu defended. "If Vlad King had asked for Monoma to watch my exam? Why, maybe I'd be willing to entertain the idea!"

Aizawa nodded in agreement. "Just because you're the first one with this opportunity doesn't mean it's extra special or something. It just means you're the first one to require this sort of guidance."

"Also don't tell Kaminari and Ashido about their test! I want it to be a surprise!" Nezu snickered. "I don't want them to think their test is unfair just because they're likely going to lose."

"…So, Mina is definitely going to lose…" Toru pretended to sound sad.

"Oh absolutely! Unless she and Kaminari learn to think on their toes! Which I doubt." Nezu sounded confident and excited.

"Out of all the teachers, Mic, Myself, All Might, Midnight and the principal are especially hard. I'd be surprised if any of those teams pass." Aizawa admitted.

"But we're hoping!" Nezu added quickly before Toru complained about unfairness. "I'm not letting anything be too unfair so I'm leaving ways for each team to pass." He thought, "For example, in my exam I'm planning on starting the heroes out in the middle of a construction site. The one you rescue raced in. I'll be in a crane. I'd like you to be next to me and invisible to watch how I operate the crane and taking mental notes on how I trap the heroes."

Ah. So, he'll be slowly sealing their exits and putting them in a maze. He wants me to learn how to do calculations for how he hits objects with the crane, and how they all fall. Toru realized.

All for One had put her in these maze obstacle courses before. It was always a hard exercise but not impassable. She had learned to think on her toes as the victim to find freedom, but never the person in charge.

"…All right." She nodded. Am I excited to learn something Master never taught me? No. Tools shouldn't be excited. Curious. Maybe I'm a little curious. She silenced the curiosity. She shouldn't be allowed that.

"Oh goodie! An audience is always fun." Nezu clapped. "I hope your friendship with Ashido doesn't prevent you from enjoying her torment!" He said giddily, already deducing Toru and Ashido were close friends based on her behavior.

"PRINCIPAL NEZU—" Aizawa looked worried for a moment.

"Ah, there goes my bad habit. Oh well, Hagakure here was bound to see it." Nezu shrugged. "It will be very fun to see if I can teach you anything of use, Hagakure! Although don't neglect your own exam just because you've been given a special lesson."

Toru nodded. "…Okay. I'll try my best! And thanks for this lesson! I'll try to learn how to be smart!" She went back to her bubbly attitude.

Nezu looked amused. He was smiling. She hoped she had acted normally enough. She hoped he wasn't suspicious of her.

Was I too nervous in the beginning? I'll just have to act overly excited from now on. She decided. Nezu hadn't said anything so maybe she was in the clear.

The exams were soon. And she hoped she and Bakugo succeeded.

Poor Kirishima and Sato got 0 preparation time, and then failed. I mean I don't know if they would have prepped if given the time but the deck was stacked against them.

I have to wonder what were the students who weren't in the monitor room doing to prepare for their practical. I mean besides Aoyama who we know posed and checked himself out. A lot of it sounded like in the actual exam they were just winging things instead of planning ahead of time with their partner.