The situation could be a lot worse, Izuku knew, but it could have also been a lot better. Iida searched for him through the crowd of their classmates, and when his eyes met Izuku's it was easy for Izuku to guess what his new partner was thinking. Iida Tenya had written Izuku off the moment that he found out he was quirkless, and now he felt stuck with him. Like if he won it would be despite being partner with him instead of because of it. Izuku was fine with that for now, already running through ideas of what Bakugou and Uraraka were doing inside the building that was to become their test.

Izuku wondered if All Might realized that this trial would be slightly different from all the rest, and not just because of Izuku's quirklessness. He and Bakugou were the only members of their class that had spent any significant time together before coming to Yuuei. Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Todoroki might have met once or twice because of their families, but they weren't childhood friends like Izuku and Bakugou. The two of them knew each other better than the rest of their classmates, and that meant they were both more likely to understand their possible course of action.

As Iida approached him, Izuku ran a hand over the belt that he had strapped around his waist. It felt weird to wear it with his new gym clothes instead of what he usually wore when he met with Aizawa, but he was sure he would get used to it before long. The dark fabric stood out against the bright blue of their uniform, and Izuku had already seen a few questions looks in his direction when they first met for the exercise. Kaminari had given him a thumbs up, mouthing 'ninja' to which Izuku had rolled his eyes.

The belt had several pouches and pockets, all of which Izuku had made sure were stocked with his latest supply of goodies from Mei, and there were two loops of fabric-one on each side at his hip- to keep his rods in place until he needed them. Watching the counter tick down, Izuku pressed a finger to the mechanism along the right side of the belt, unlocking the pockets and rods all at once. If he had wanted too, Izuku could have unlocked them individually, but in this case he thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. It wasn't like he had to worry about being kidnapped or someone stealing his gear when he was in the middle of a Yuuei exercise, after all.

Iida frowned at him when he finally reached him. Maybe he had expected Izuku to go to him, rather than the other way around, but Izuku saw no reason to move when he was the one standing beside All Might.

"This won't be easy," Iida said, when he was close enough for Izuku to hear. "I don't know much about Uraraka-san's quirk, but from what I've seen of Bakugou-kun's they will be very strong offensively."

"It won't be easy for them either," Izuku replied. "Besides, we do have at least one advantage. Maybe two."

Iida didn't look convinced by Izuku's claim. "And what are they, exactly?"

"Katsuki and I know each other well, but I probably have more up to date knowledge of what he can do than he has of me. Something he isn't very likely to acknowledge. He's going to assume he knows all about what I can do and what I've learned, when he definitely hasn't been kept in the loop." Iida looked curious by that comment, pushing his glasses up his nose as he nodded.

"And the other advantage?"

"He paid you absolutely zero attention yesterday, while I, on the other hand, made a point to watch everyone's quirks. Maybe Uraraka got a decent grasp on what you can do, but I bet Katsuki didn't. Uraraka's quirk seems simply enough to understand. She can either completely remove or at least alleviate the effects of gravity. I saw her touch her clothes and shoes before a couple of the events during Aizawa's test yesterday."

"That is helpful for strategizing," Iida said, "but that still leaves the problem of actually stopping the missile. They are both bound to guard it themselves, and make us come to them. It would be the most logical decision given the situation."

"The situation?" Izuku asked, and from the corner of his eye he saw All Might's head snap in his direction. Too much Aizawa, Izuku thought, and forced a smile on his face.

"I appreciate your analysis of the situation, Midoriya-san. Your information about both Uraraka-san's and Bakugou-san's quirks will be helpful. That being said, there will not be much that you can do in the way of addressing their quirks. They will either direct their attention on you so that I am unable to reach the missile, or they will split their attention and still leave you to deal with one of them alone. Either way-"

"If they would both focus on me, I think that would make this easier for us. Not harder. I'm not really seeing the logic in that, Iida-san," Izuku said, keeping the pleasant smile on his face.

"I cannot leave you to fight them alone," Iida said, looking horrified with the very idea. "Bakugou-san does not look like the type to hold back."

Izuku could feel his expression slipping. "I'm just curious, Iida-san. How do you think that I got into Yuuei? You seem to be under the impression that I just landed here, but surely your opinion of Yuuei's standards isn't that low. You did choose to go here after all."

"Midoriya-kun-" Iida started to say, but the timer rang, interrupting him.

"Iida-kun, Midoriya-kun, you can now enter the building!" All Might said.

"We don't have time for this argument now," Izuku said. "Just trust that I know what I'm doing. Bakugou would have put the missile at the very top. More chances to defend it from there. And I doubt he's going to give us very long before he makes his first move."

Iida hurried to follow him. "Like I said, Midoriya-san, they are much more likely to be waiting for us near the missile. There is no reason for them to come to us when they have the advantage."

They entered the building one after the other, Izuku taking a quick glance down the hallway before stepping inside. It looked a lot like the building from his test two years ago, although this one wasn't empty inside. The inside of the building seemed to have been modeled after an office, a series of small rooms connected by a long hallway. At the end of each hallway stood a staircase, although Izuku couldn't see much through the shadows. Despite is being bright outside, the hallway was dark. The few windows that lined the hall were small, the blinds folded flat to block out the sun. Another hallway branched off directly in front of the door, but that one was even darker. If the building had been wired for electricity no one had bothered to turn it on.

"Maybe, if it were someone else that might be true. But Katsuki won't think you being paired with me is the advantage you seem to think it is. Besides, waiting just isn't something he would be likely to do. Katsuki likes to strike first and strike hard. He's not going to wait for us to come to him." Izuku started down the hallway towards the left staircase, but Iida didn't follow, staying where he was in the middle of the hallway.

"Iida-san," Izuku said, and it was a struggle to keep the frustration out of his voice. Izuku knew Bakugou better than anyone else here. If he had a quirk, he doubted they would be having this conversation at all. Iida said that he appreciated Izuku's analysis of their situation, but he still seemed hung up on actually following through with Izuku's advice. "The longer we wait here, the less time we have."

Iida looked torn between following Izuku down the hall and wanting to argue, but knowing that standing in the building's doorway wasn't going to do much in the way of winning this test. Doing something finally won out over doing nothing, and Iida followed him to the stairway.

"We need a plan," Iida said, coming behind him as Izuku started up the stairs. "I can draw their attention off you, and you can go for the missile."

Izuku paused in the stairwell, listening before turning the corner onto the next floor. Without a word, he held up a hand signaling for Iida to stop talking, reaching for one of his rods with the other.

"What?" Iida whispered. Or at least, Izuku thought it was meant to be a whisper. For all that Iida liked to think that Izuku would be the problem, he didn't seem to know the first thing about stealth. His whisper sounded more like a muffled shout, and it echoed in the small stairwell. Several floors above them the door slammed open, and Izuku pushed back at Iida quickly. They needed to go up to get to the missile, but the last thing they needed was to be stuck in an enclosed space with Bakugou.

Iida made a face at Izuku's hurried motions, but turned around. Izuku couldn't tell from where they were if it was Bakugou or Uraraka coming towards them, but knowing his luck it would have to be Bakugou. If what Izuku had heard about the entrance exam was true, then Uraraka would probably know Bakugou well enough to volunteer to stay with the missile so her newly minted partner in crime could prowl the building for them. If they could get back down the hallway and through the other stairwell before he saw them then they might be able to avoid a fight for the time being.

If Izuku had picked the other stairwell they wouldn't have run into Bakugou at all, but it still felt hard not to tell Iida 'I told you so.' Maybe he would save that for when everything was said and done.

As they crept back into the main hallway, Izuku almost wanted to turn around and wait for Bakugou to see them. Izuku had long since grown passed letting the opinion of Bakugou Katsuki determine his self-worth. He wasn't a defenseless first year middle schooler anymore, and he didn't need Bakugou's approval or his friendship. After so long apart, they were classmates again, and Izuku was fine with that. He couldn't let their shared past continue to have an effect on his life.

That being said, Izuku felt like a true confrontation between the two of them was a long time coming. For years it had been Bakugou taking advantage of the fact that Izuku didn't have a quirk to bully and belittle him. Izuku still didn't have a quirk, but a lot about their situations had changed since those days in elementary school. The outcome in those days had been all but set in stone, but Izuku didn't think that would be the case anymore. In fact, he was almost sure of it. Izuku reached for the other rod still secured in his belt and pulled it free as well, flipping it between his fingers to adjust his grip. He fought against a smile.

First, could he rationalize it though? Izuku didn't make a habit of seeking out fights for no reason, and he wasn't about to start doing it now. Aizawa would kill him himself if he did, and Izuku wouldn't last very long as a pro if he tried. As much as he was curious about testing himself against Bakugou, he couldn't do it now unless it was actually the right decision. There were other things at stake here, more important things than getting their inevitable confrontation out of the way.

Iida wasn't going to listen to him. Izuku could strategize and argue until their time ran out, and Iida would still thing that he would need protecting. The only way to get his classmate over that unfortunate mindset was to prove him wrong. Iida seemed like the kind of person who needed verifiable proof of something before he could take it seriously, and Izuku wasn't going to give him that if they snuck off to try to find the missile. Bakugou would continue to try to find them, and they would waste more time than they could afford trying to avoid him.

Then there was the issue of when Bakugou actually found them. The building wasn't that big. It was basically just a glorified prop after all. A few floors laid out with a simple enough plan to force them to run into each other eventually, especially with the objective of this exercise. After all the time they would waste trying to avoid a fight, they would waste even more when Iida acted as though Izuku was a poor civilian who had gotten caught in the crossfire. They would fail the test, Iida would blame him, and Izuku would have to work even harder.

So clearly the only reasonable thing for Izuku to do was fight Bakugou. Aizawa would have to agree. Eventually.

"Iida, I can distract Katsuki," Izuku said, "and before you argue, I can handle it. You go and find the missile. Since you thought you were going to have to fight both of them by yourself, I'm sure you can figure out a way to get around Uraraka alone."

Iida turned, his eyes flashing down to the weapons in Izuku's hands.

"Normally I wouldn't advocate splitting up, but if we don't we're never going to get anywhere."

Izuku could hear Bakugou getting closer, and if Iida didn't move quickly then they would both be stuck. Bakugou wasn't an idiot. If he saw Iida trying to slip away then Izuku's distraction would be worth nothing. "Stop wasting time," Izuku said. "Go!"

Iida's indecision was clear, so Izuku made the choice for him. "I'm not moving from this spot until I see Katsuki. You can either wait with me and lose, or you can go ahead and secure the missile. This is the best chance we have at winning, whether you trust me or not. And if Katsuki manages to beat me, what do you really have to lose? It will have at least bought you a few minutes more minutes." Not that Izuku intended to lose, of course.

"Be careful," Iida said, because Izuku really was leaving him no other options, and then he was gone. One day, Izuku would have to ask him more about how his quirk worked. Those jets could end up being extremely problematic under the right circumstances-both to Iida and to the villains he would be facing. Now wasn't the time for that though. This was the best plan. Iida would reach the missile faster than if he was slowing himself down for Izuku, and the longer Izuku could hold Bakugou off the better.

As if he had planned for his entrance for the dramatic effect alone, Bakugou appeared at the bottom of the stairs the instant after Iida disappeared from view. He clearly hadn't expected to see Izuku standing there, waiting for him with eskrima rods in hand, because he slid to a stop and stared at him across the empty hallway.

Once upon a time, Bakugou would have attacked him without hesitation. There would have been no waiting, not silence, just a screamed curse and an explosion directed straight for his head. Bakugou's almost uncontrollable anger had been a constant Izuku had grown to expect over the years, and he had always expected that it would his classmate's downfall as well.

Anger was easy to manipulate once you knew it was there. A few pointed words, an expression, a lack of response. There were so many ways to play on someone else's anger as long as you were fine with getting burned in the process, and in Izuku's experience villains didn't care much about their own personal safety.

Whatever Bakugou had experienced that had made him re-evaluate his life seemed to have changed him for the better. Even after the rumors of what had gone on during the entrance exam and the way that Uraraka acted around him, Izuku had been a little hesitant to believe that anything had really changed. This was Bakugou, after all. And Izuku knew Bakugou better than anyone. Maybe Izuku had needed to see some definitive proof himself.

The silence didn't last long. Some of the anger and hatred Bakugou had felt towards Izuku may have drained away, but he was still Bakugou Katsuki. He didn't wait for someone else to dictate the terms of a fight. As Bakugou's stance shifted, Izuku moved to match it. Enough of that anger remained though, that Izuku knew exactly what to do. He smirked at Bakugou with a careful bow, and disappeared into the darkest of the open corridor to his right.

"All Might? You said the buildings have surveillance systems, right?"

The hero turned to see that a student had stepped away from the group to ask his question. The rest of the students were doing a terrible job of making it seem as though they weren't listening. "Yes, Kaminari-kun. As I said, we will be reviewing this footage during tomorrow's class."

"Is there any way that we could watch it… now?"

All Might understood where the students were coming from. The second round of the test had already lasted far longer than the first, and so far there had been no sounds from inside the building. Unexpected, given Bakugou's quirk. It wasn't the most exciting of tests to watch, but it was necessary.

"Now, that wouldn't be fair, would it?" All Might asked, grinning at Kaminari. "The purpose of this test is to see how you use your quirk and your ability to strategize. Watching how other groups solve the problems of retrieving the missile or protecting it would give the later groups an unfair advantage. Pretend as though nothing else were going on, and talk amongst yourselves. Use this time as an opportunity to get to know your classmates!"

Of course, as soon as he said that a series of explosions sounded from the building. There would be no hope of calming the students down now.