"Man, just how long are these halls?"

Leizcio was walking down the halls heading back to the monitor room on his own. Kaminari and Ashido went to go see Recovery Girl just in case considering their landing was slightly on the rough side.

'I didn't even think that we'd get it done so fast… I'm even surprised that I could somewhat fly carrying two people! Probably should tell Blink about that. Oh and-'

Leizcio accidentally bumped into someone in the hallway while he was lost thinking in his own head.

"Oh, sorry Iida!"

Strangely, Iida didn't say a thing and just continued walking.

'Weird…'

Leizcio didn't dwell on it much as he already saw the entrance to the monitor room and picked up his walking pace. But his legs reacted slightly negatively as he felt a stinging sensation in them, most likely due to the stunt he pulled earlier in his exam.

'Okay, guess we'll go slow then…'

Walking into the room, he saw Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, and Tsuyu who were in the middle of a discussion immediately stop talking and look back at him.

"Hey guys!"

"Esperanza, how'd you do that?" Midoriya rushed up to him, notebook and pen at the ready.

'Where'd he even have that?'

"What do you mean?"

"When you practically flew into the air!"

"Oh! I wouldn't say it was flying more like… falling with style."

"Esperanza…"

"Oh right! Well, I used the energy I make and expelled it out of my body to launch myself! Sorta like how Bakugo uses his explosions to move around I guess you could say."

Midoriya was muttering and scribbling down in his notebook which unsettled Leizcio a little bit but also made him feel somewhat flattered.

"Either way, we're glad that you and Kaminari and Ashido passed."

"What, was there ever any doubt?"

"Just a bit ribbit."

"Hah, me too… me too."

"To beat a near-perfect strategy from the principal is impressive, to say the least."

"Yeah, but nothing can beat coming up with a plan on the fly!"

"Leizcio you actually passed!" Ochaco said as she entered the monitor room.

"Oh so it's like that?"

The two glared at each other in the eyes for a few seconds but couldn't keep it up and just started to laugh.

"Congrats on passing Ochaco!" Leizcio said with a strong smile, still recovering from the laughter.

"Ochaco, when you were fighting against Thirteen, what were you talking to Aoyama about?" Tsuyu asked which confused Leizcio for a second.

'Oh right, I didn't get to watch her match!'

"Hm? We were talking about…"

In the few moments her brain was processing the question, her face quickly became red like a cherry, and started throwing up her hands like she was freaking out.

"N-nothing! That's not how it is!"

Midoriya and Leizcio were both confused about what was up with her.

"You okay Ochaco? You're like real red right now."

"Fine! A-absolutely fine! Hey, uhhh, what's going on with your sister's match?" Ochaco replied, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh shit, you're right!"

Much to her own surprise, that actually worked. But it also accidentally slipped something out. Because for the others besides Tsuyu, Leizcio having a sister that also attends UA was a first.

"Wait Esperanza you have a sibling that goes here?"

"Yup! I'll explain later! Gonna go see if I can find the monitor room for class 1-B!" He said dashing out of the room with Ochaco following suit most likely to spare herself from anymore embarrassment.

"I don't think I've ever seen Esperanza so… energetic."

"Me neither ribbit."

"He left his helmet here again…"

Luckily enough for Leizcio, 1-B's monitoring room wasn't too far off from where 1-A's was and he got there quickly and waited for Ochaco as she walked her way over.

"Y'know, even without your speed you still run fast!"

"That or you're just real slow."

"Uhuh, sure."

The two walked into the room and were greeted by a bunch of confused faces looking at them.

"1-A? What're you doing here?"

"Oh I'm here to see my sister's match! Ochaco here just wanted to tag along." Leizcio explained to them.

"Oh I remember you, Hisako told us about her having a sibling in 1-A, nice to actually meet you!"

"Thanks! Kendo… right?" Leizcio asked, hoping he was right and was luckily correct as she nodded in response.

Leizcio looked up at the monitors seeing that Hisako's exam was about to start and wondered how it was going to go for her.

"Team Sokudo and Monoma practical exam. Ready, go!"

"We're still going after Midnight right, Hisako?"

"Yes, we just need to be cautious since there aren't many places to hide here."

Monoma and Hisako were in a mountainous area for their exam and were hiding behind a rock as they went over their plan.

"So what we're going to do is find her and when we do, you copy my quirk so that way we can approach her and use her quirk against her."

"I'm assuming we make masks to protect ourselves from her somnambulist right?"

"Right."

"Okay, the plan sounds good, but about your quirk, how do I use it?"

"You have to think of what you want to make…"

Hisako used her quirk and made a small orb in her hand that she tossed up and down, "And then you have it from there. You ready to go now?"

"Yeah!"

The two peeked over the rock they were behind and saw Midnight in front of the escape gate, seemingly waiting for them to get there. They went and snuck their way over near to where Midnight was.

"Alright, we're going to go for a pincer movement and cover both her flanks and catch her off guard. I'll make a distraction and you'll ambush her and put her to sleep."

Monoma nodded and in response and started to head to where Hisako pointed him to go. She went on her own to go and cover the other flank.

Once Hisako did reach her spot however, it seemed that the plan was thrown out the window as she checked on the spot that Midnight was at had nobody except a passed-out Monoma.

'Damnit! She must've moved when we were too busy strategizing.'

Before another thought could form, Hisako heard the crack of a whip and barely moved out of the way, immediately forming a mask covering her face.

"Clever girl! Quite fast on your feet aren't you?"

Hisako remained silent and made a shield with her quirk, blocking Midnight's whip from hurting her.

"You shouldn't have left poor Monoma on his own, now he's knocked and you're out here by your poor lonesome."

"I would've preferred the help, but I'll have to be fine on my own!"

Hisako continued to block Midnight's attacks but could feel herself starting to reserve her oxygen as her mask didn't let anything in at all. But she had to keep going, Midnight's somnambulist was still around and getting stronger as she ribbed off more cloth off her costume.

"You can't hold your breath forever! Even if you are a girl, I can still put you to sleep in a single breath!"

Midnight caught Hisako off guard and managed to get her whip to wrap onto Hisako's leg and dragged her over.

'Just a bit more…'

Before Hisako was brought in too close, she formed a blade, chopped the whip from her leg, and immediately got back up. While impressed by her quick thinking, Midnight quickly went back on the offense but it was of no use.

"Going as far as to copy me?"

Hisako formed a whip of her own and used it against Midnight and wrapped her legs with it. Quickly shortening the distance between her and Midnight, Hisako vaulted over Midnight and pinned her down to the ground, and put the cuffs on Midnight.

"Team Sokudo and Monoma have passed!"

Running low on air, Hisako created a huge fan and waved it around, blowing away the somnambulist from the area so that she could take off her mask and catch a breather.

"You were amazing Sokudo, well done!"

Hisako walked over to Midnight to go and remove the whip that she tied her with, "Thank you, I hope I wasn't too rough during our fight."

"Not at all, it was a joy seeing how great you were! Even when things got derailed you still kept your cool. You should be proud that you did so well despite the odds."

Hisako paused for a moment while she was taking off the cuffs on Midnight's wrists. Something about that clicked with her and she felt strange… Outside of Leizcio and Lavania, she didn't really get encouragement like that.

"Thank you…"

The cuffs were taken off and Midnight was back on her feet.

"Of course Sokudo. Now, how about you go and take Monoma to the infirmary? He should be awake in about an hour. I still have more students to whip into shape!" Midnight said as she walked away.

Hisako made a wheelbarrow out of her quirk and went over to Monoma and put him in it, dragging him as she went over to Recovery Girl.

'I wonder if Monoma is going to be able to pass…' Hisako thought to herself as she walked back to her class monitor room.

'Be proud of myself…'

What others can feel quite normal for themselves, having a sense of pride never crossed Hisako's thoughts. Training under Mashito, she wouldn't hear a word like that. No matter how hard she busted her ass to do well, it was never enough.

To hear it from someone, someone who clearly has the skill of being a pro and acknowledging her skills.

It felt validating.

"Hisako!"

And there was her mess of a brother waiting outside the monitor room.

"What're you doing here Leizcio?"

"What else for? I wanted to see your match!"

"Oh. Well, what did you think?"

"Amazing! Even when you were down a partner you still whooped Midnight's ass like nothing!"

"It was still a tough fight, especially against a pro like her."

"And you still had it all under control! I can't even lie that I felt the suspense from just the room! They actually kicked me out for a bit since I got a little too loud… And maybe laughed when Monoma was knocked out…"

Hisako was actually quite surprised that Leizcio was cheering her on, she never saw that side of him ever since he helped her get out of Mashito's control. But she also felt compelled to laugh at the last part.

"Hey, I just found it a little funny and all."

"I can imagine, I just find it amusing as well." Hisako said with a small laugh.

"Seriously though, you did great Hisako, be proud of it, it's not easy doing something like that!"

Again, pride was brought up yet again. Was what she did really that impressive? Does she actually deserve that praise?

"Oh crap, I still have to go see my other classmates' matches! I gotta go Hisako, good job, see you when class is done!" Leizcio said as he ran off to go to 1-A's monitor room.

By herself in the hall, she was alone with her own thoughts.

But instead of having those repeated thoughts of self-doubt invade her mind, Midnight and Leizcio's words kept ringing through her head. She looked down at her own hand and just thought,

'Maybe I actually did well…'

Chapter 50

End