This chapter focuses on the combat training exam. I kinda just breeze past Midoriya's exercise because it's in the anime/manga and I didn't want to make this chapter any longer. Anyway here ya'll go.
Toru tried to get to class early the next day to try to already be in her seat before Bakugo and Shoji arrived.
Hopefully All Might teaches today…She had never met All Might but still it was important for her to have several goals for her second day of school. Observing All Might was just one of them. The other was to make no enemies and start forming friendships.
Despite her best efforts Bakugo came in moments before the bell arrived and took his seat, not even sparing the person who sat in front of him a glance.
"Being Early is the best way to prepare for the day and respect UA!" Iida of course yelled from across the room, "I think you're cutting it a bit too close."
"Yeah? And what do I care what you say, Extra? It's not like I have no life like the rest of you losers. I come when I want." Bakugo yelled back.
Toru rubbed her head, lucky that Aizawa came into the room before the yelling match could go any further.
Prepare for a long day ahead, I suppose. She reassured herself. And then she got a taste as to what a 'normal' day in UA would be like. In the morning were the normal academic classes like English, math and literature and history.
Throughout the morning Toru took note mentally of who all the pro heroes who taught the first years were as the class met them for the first time. Present Mic taught English. Midnight taught history. Cementoss taught literature. And Ectoplasm taught Math.
Out of all these teachers Ectoplasm seems to present the most threat to me because he can have multiple of him observing each of the students during math. Toru thought.
Besides Aizawa and All Might, the first-year hero course also had access to the nurse, recovery girl, and the hero Lunch Rush. It was unlikely that Toru would ever encounter Recovery girl unless injured. And Lunch rush's entire purpose was to just make food good. Class B was apparently taught exclusively by Vlad King.
We also have access to the school counselor, Hound Dog. Toru knew he was the biggest threat to her mission since he had a strong sense of smell. She'd try her best to avoid him if she could because she didn't want him to imprint her scent into his brain and locate her. But I'm pretty good at appearing like a normal well-adjusted girl. As long as I make lots of friends and don't appear like I'm having any social problems I shouldn't ever be sent to his office.
She took fake notes in her notebook for all her classes, pretending she was decently listening while she made her plans.
Master gave me plenty of education when I was younger so I shouldn't struggle from the curriculum. Math and History were of course her weakest subjects because they weren't as important in spy work as literature and English, but she was still confident enough to keep up.
She remembered the days that she was first picked up by All for One and after him teaching her to be a normal person, he had started a strict studying regimen likely because he had known since first meeting her that he would eventually want her to infiltrate a hero school. Toru remembered with fondness of being given book after book to study with the incentive of 'if you fail you won't be able to blend in well enough' and thus All for One had given her food in exchange for succeeding on tests of his own design. She assumed he had trained many students just like her since he was rather old and had a good system of study.
Still, I don't think I'll ever get used to how weird it is to be in a 'normal' classroom. I know this is like how they taught me in my year of middle school, but the learning process is so different and so much more lax than All for One's tutoring. It just felt so low stakes. Like what was the worst that happened if you failed a test or essay? It wasn't the end of the world.
At lunch, Toru quickly found her table, that she assumed would be her group of 'friends'. It seemed that even though it was only the second day people had started grouping up.
Mina and Tsuyu were of course her clique. Mina seemed like a bubbly personality who brought other people with her and she was always happy to chat with Tsuyu and Toru.
It's lucky that the people around Mina's desk were so nice. She was able to make fast friends with everyone. Toru realized.
She hoped by the end of the week their little group would expand and it would be more than the three of them but being the second day making two friends wasn't bad. And despite all their conversations being filled with meaningless chatter Toru thought she was doing well.
Finally, after lunch was the class that Toru was most excited for, it was the class All Might was predicted to teach, Hero Basic training.
All Might announced his entrance eccentrically "I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON." He yelled, finally entering the class. As he marched in front of the podium Toru heard her entire class chattering in excitement.
"He really is teaching here?" Kaminari's mouth was hanging open but his eyes were filled with joy. A lot of the students didn't seem to have believed that All Might would be a teacher.
Toru tried not to turn her head back to scan her classmates faces, to see if any of them weren't excited. She knew the neck of her costume would have apparently moved if she did that, and Bakugo was right behind her observing her.
"As you know, I am All Might." All Might introduced, "And I will teach you Hero Basic training. It's a subject that will help you train in different ways to help you get the basis of being a hero. As expected, this is the class you'll be in the most." All Might was flexing despite his important information. "There's no need for anymore introduction. Let's get, right into it! Combat training."
There was a buzz of excitement.
Ah yes, another thing that favors power type quirks. Although I suppose all heroes need to know basic combat training. Toru crossed her hands.
Still there was something exciting about combat training that the other students didn't know about. It gave her a chance to observe the other students in detail in combat situations and analyze their strengths.
She smiled to herself as All Might got out everybody's costumes and hurried the students along to outside.
Toru hated her costume despite all the reassurance she had told Mei the previous day. She tried not to let her fear show in her hands or her feet though instead moving her hands frantically like she was getting pumped up.
"Ah…So that's your costume, Toru." Mina was decked in a brightly colored sorts of blue camo outfit. She had looked excited stretching her exposed arms, being in her costume for the first time. Her excitement levels dropped when she saw Toru's costume, just gloves and shoes. "Well…Umm…I suppose it fits."
"You have a very unique costume, Mina!" Toru told her. "Very flashy."
Mina perked up at the compliment. "Thanks! I came up with it myself. I'm sure other people would criticize me for my color choices or design, but honestly, I don't care! I like it."
"I have to ask, is there a reason only your arms are exposed instead of your legs?" Toru asked. She wanted to ask about the amount of cleavage Mina had designed into her costume too, but it seemed like something Mina might have just liked to have. First part a villain's going to aim to stab is the exposed chest, but I'm not going to tell her that.
"Hmmm…" Mina thought. "Well, I can secrete acid through my skin with my quirk. So, I wanted my arms to be exposed in case I needed to jam my elbow into someone's face. I suppose I could have done that for my knees too, but I just didn't want to." She shrugged. "My body my choices, you know?"
I can respect that. "Yeah! I get that." Toru said, being naked even though it wasn't fully her choice. "You're really confident, you know that? You've already got the hero attitude."
Mina giggled.
Toru then noticed Tsuyu's hero outfit. Perfectly designed to look like a frog. Unlike Mina's it seemed a lot more heavily defended with less skin exposed. It even had frog pads on the shoes. "Wow, Tsuyu! Your outfit is so cute!"
Tsuyu usually had a blank look on her face, despite the fact that she had a lot of emotion in her voice, but she smiled. "Thank you, Toru. I like it quite a lot too. And Mina, your outfit's looking very fun."
Mina beamed.
Toru glanced at the other students' outfits to make some quick observations about them before All Might revealed what was going to be happening in class. Ochako seemed to also have enough armor to cover her entire body. Toru wondered if she should compliment her outfit quickly but unfortunately Ochako was already dealing with Mineta's compliments and trying to keep at bay.
Mineta's outfit was quite literally a diaper grape baby. Tokoyami's looked quite emo, and Midoriya's had very clearly taken a lot of inspiration from All Might.
"You look quite punk!" Toru decided to shoot a quick compliment Jiro's way since she hadn't yet interacted much with her.
Jiro twirled her finger around her ear and blushed. "Thanks. You look…Uhhh…Practical, too." She was kinda at a loss.
Toru gave a peace sign. "It's fine." Her eyes drifted to Yaoyorozu who seemed to be waiting for the class to quiet down. She didn't look exactly happy with her costume either.
So, there's someone else who had to wear something quite revealing. Toru wasn't exactly sure why, but from what Yaoyorozu's face looked like it didn't look like she had fully designed her costume that way by choice. The most clothing she had anywhere was her waist which had many books on it.
Unlike me, Yaoyorozu's body is exposed via sight too. Toru felt a bit of pity for her. Maybe she'd ask her after class what the inspiration for her costume was?
Kirishima also had a lot of skin exposed, but unlike Yaoyorozu he seemed to be pressing his hands together eagerly. He didn't seem disappointed by his outfit choice, instead he looked quite pleased.
All Might clapped his hands together to get the class's attention. Toru noticed that they were in front of one of the fake cities from the entrance exams.
"This will be an indoor battle trial." All Might revealed. "Although you usually see villain battles and clean up out in the open most acts of villainy are actually committed indoors. Thus, you'll need to get used to the terrain."
Makes enough sense. Most of my infiltration work is done indoors or on city street corners, after all. Toru nodded to herself as All Might lectured.
"For this test you'll separate into "villain" and "hero" groups for a two-on-two battle." All Might revealed.
Mina frantically looked between Tsuyu and Toru, her head instantly going to the fear of them choosing their partners. She was clearly grappling with which of her friends she'd have to choose if that was the case and despairing.
"What about the foundational training?" Tsuyu asked, oblivious to Mina's internal dilemma.
"This is the foundational training!" All Might barked back.
That doesn't make much sense. Toru couldn't help but inwardly criticize in her head. A lot of hero society prohibits the use of quirks so we wouldn't have enough experience or teachings to do battle already. She shot a glance to Kaminari and Midoriya who clearly had 'one time use' quirks at the moment. She sent a little prayer of gratitude up at the sky that she had been given a good teacher like All for One instead of an idiot hero.
Suddenly everyone was speaking all at once and asking All Might questions, about wins or losses and if they would be expelled if they lost.
"Can we blow them up?" Toru heard Bakugo ask.
So heroely… She rolled her eyes.
"For this training we'll have some villains guard a fake nuclear weapon they intend on deploying. The heroes must stop them and their nefarious scheme before it's too late. If the heroes capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before the time runs out, they win. If the villains manage to keep the core the whole time or capture the heroes, they win."
So, like fake capture the flag, but with the deck clearly stacked against the villains because the heroes don't have a flag themselves? Toru thought to herself. In a real villain situation, it would have made sense if the heroes had a fake person to guard too that the villains could capture as well for a hostage. Or if they just immediately deployed the nuclear weapon. But she wasn't about to criticize the logic openly of a hero test.
"Your teammates and opponents will be chosen by a lottery." All Might revealed.
Some people looked nervous about being paired off with strangers instead of choosing their teammates. Mina looked relieved she wouldn't have to choose between her two new friends.
"Well pros often have to make impromptu decisions on the fly and pair up with other heroes they don't really know so this is probably preparing us for that." Midoriya mumbled aloud.
He does kinda tend to mumble a lot, doesn't he? Toru realized remembering Iida's criticism of him during the first exam. It was observant mumbling though. Props to him.
She clasped her hands together as All Might pulled names. Please don't have me on Mineta's team. Please…Please please. Please don't have me compete against him either because I might snap and kick him in the face.
To her joy she was paired off with someone named Ojiro who she didn't know too well. He had a tail. That was all she knew about him. Mina was paired up with the guy with the navel laser. Tsuyu with Tokoyami.
Toru sighed in relief.
"I guess we're together, huh?" Ojiro greeted. "Nice to meet you, you're…Toru Hagakure, right? I'm Ojiro."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Toru giggled and stuck out her hand to shake his. "I'm real excited to be on your team!" She pumped her hands up and down.
Ojiro smiled in relief that his partner seemed so kind and cooperative. "I'm glad I didn't get paired up with one of the more extreme people. I mean they seem nice and all, but I wouldn't want to worry about not meeting their expectations, you know?" His eyes glanced over at Bakugo who had been paired up with Iida.
"Oh, I feel you! I was worried about who my partner would be too. And you seem really nice!" Toru agreed.
Ojiro blushed and looked away.
He's one of those guys. Toru smirked to herself. She hadn't paid much attention to Ojiro the first two days, but he clearly seemed to be one of those people she called 'a good dude.'. A good dude was someone who displayed his emotions easy to read on his face, someone she could clearly figure out what his goals and thoughts were. Basically, someone extremely easy to exploit because of his easy to read face.
Right now, he's likely trying to figure out how to handle me. Toru decided. Good dudes who were highschool age didn't have much experience with girls, the moment they got any attention from them they weren't quite sure what to do and always got a little flustered. In her year of middle school Toru had learned that good dudes basically listened to anything a girl said because they were that desperate for their attention.
"First up will be pair A as heroes and pair D as villains. I'd like the rest of the class to observe their battle and analyze it from inside the monitor room."
Toru glanced around to see who pair A and D were.
Midoriya and Ochako were pair A, with pair D being Iida and Bakugo.
Ah well….Villainy fits Bakugo. Toru decided, following the rest of the class to observe the battle. Likely the villain team is going to win though. She decided to guess to herself just for fun.
Midoriya didn't seem to know how to use his quirk that well and was at a disadvantage. And Bakugo had quite a lot of power from what she had seen with his explosions. Iida on the other hand should have had more training than the average person in the class since he had come from a hero family. The only chance the hero team had of winning was Ochako, who seemed to have a good amount of power considering she had been the only person to get an infinity in the quirk exam.
Toru was excited about watching Ochako's quirk.
"The villain team will be placed in the building. After five minutes the hero team will be let in as well." All Might explained.
Everybody nodded understanding, and they were let off to watch Bakugo and Midoriya's battle.
The first hero's vs villains battle did not go as Toru expected. For one Midoiya's team won to her intense surprise.
Everybody had watched extra interested in what was happening on screen. All Might had probably intended for the students to watch and hatch strategies of their own and learn from the other students' failures, but instead most of the students had watched the fight like they were watching a sports team compete. The class quickly divided into pro-Bakugo and pro-Midoriya sides.
Mina, was one who got extremely invested in Midoriya's fight, cheering him on and shaking her hands in excitement whenever he did something cool, like ducking or dodging Bakugo's blows. Most people were rooting for team Midoriya in fact because it was fun rooting for the underdog instead of the obvious winner.
Toru, on the other hand, was watching very carefully and learning more and more about her classmates. Even though there was no sound coming from the monitors so the class couldn't hear what their classmates were talking about things could still be observed from their body language.
Bakugo's even angrier and rasher than I gave him credit for, moving into action before even thinking. His strength was also his weakness, and he clearly hadn't ever thought he could lose. Midoriya, however I should re-examine.
He seemed like he knew Bakugo's battle style extremely well as if he had spent years memorizing and observing it. He could dodge and predict every moment. That suggested that Midoriya was both amazing at analysis and had spent a lot of time with Bakugo. If the two were childhood friends though or something there was clearly a lot of bad blood between them due to Bakugo's extreme rage towards Midoriya.
He's smart. I thought perhaps he was a fan of heroes with no social skills due to his mumbling, but Midoriya is someone I need to really watch out for. Observation and analysis were the thing most likely to catch her after all. And quirk analysis was something that made her incredibly nervous since her quirk wasn't actually just invisibility.
Not only that but Midoriya was very quick on his feet. He used his quirk by the end but he had kept toe to toe with Bakugo in dodging and close combat thanks to his analysis.
Iida on the other hand had just been a fun time to watch. He had decided to roleplay a villain and it had been quite amusing even if they couldn't hear him. He had also done a fair amount of planning to combat Ochako, cleaning the room so that Ochako couldn't touch anything. Through that Toru had learned Ochako, Iida and Midoriya seemed to be close friends and Ochako's quirk required her to touch something to make it weightless and it wasn't just straight up levitation. Not only that but she could release the weightlessness too, making it fall onto her victims. She couldn't make too much weight weightless though or else she got sick.
Ochako and Midoriya had worked flawlessly together while Bakugo had been mostly focused on crushing his enemy instead of cooperation. Midoriya had distracted Bakugo and blown up the ceiling for Ochako to use her quirk to attack.
At the end it was a phenomenal victory for team Midoriya. When All Might brought the teams back and the class analyzed the battle together Yaoyorozu explained in perfect detail why Iida had been the best in the match, heavily criticizing Bakugo, Midoriya and Ochako in the process for the amount of damage they had done, chalking things up to them relying on the fact that this was a fake simulation instead of real combat.
So Yaoyorozu is one of those kinds of know it alls who can't help criticizing everyone. She was one of the recommended students, but Toru couldn't help feeling she was too hard on Midoriya and Ochako. Sure, Midoriya and Ochako had done strong attacks in an indoor area but they had won their luck had paid off and Midoriya had clearly calculated in his head if his attack would hit the fake nuclear bomb.
And with that the second battle was up next. Midoriya was sent to the nurses' office to recover and thus could not witness any more battles.
This time it was Toru's team and her and Ojiro had been pulled as villains. She hadn't expected for her to go second, but it was easier to get her battle over with then procrastinate on it.
She had been lucky enough to not be paired against Mineta, or even Mina or Tsuyu- she didn't want any bad blood to be between them, but instead her team had been paired against Shoji and Todoroki.
She knew already ahead of time that her team would likely lose, and likely Yaoyorozu would claim in analysis that it was a 'bad match up.' Shoji's quirk was to grow different body parts on his arms, which meant he could have a lot of ears or noses to help him detect Toru if she wasn't being serious which she didn't plan to. Todoroki on the other hand was a sheer powerhouse with his ice quirk.
I can already see the result of this match, but I should pretend to try my best anyway. All she needed to do was pretend to be enthusiastic and try.
"So um…I've been thinking…" Ojiro frowned as he thought. "Why don't we focus on capture instead of defense since Todoroki's a recommendation student so he's probably pretty powerful?"
It occurred to Toru that Ojiro probably hadn't been observing Todoroki quite as closely as her and seeing just how powerful him and Shoji were. He looks nervous, but hopeful. Could it be that he thinks perhaps my quirk can get the best of them? He's got a little bit of hope after all. Or perhaps he has some confidence in his tail? To her knowledge all Ojiro's quirk was having a tail.
"Okay! Why don't I rush down and hide the capture tape downstairs on the first floor near the entrance then, since I can't carry it with me or else they'll see my position." Toru suggested.
Ojiro stared at her blankly. He then quickly looked away, clearly having trouble looking at her since she was naked. "Um…Hagakure, I don't think you'd be able to get down five flights of stairs and then back up within five minutes."
"I wouldn't come back upstairs, I'd hide downstairs, so that I could sneak up behind Todoroki and Shoji." Toru protested. "That would considerably cut down my time." She wondered if perhaps she was making a mistake. I planned on sliding down one of the bannisters or climbing the side of the building to sneak up on them. Is that showing off too much of my ability? …Wait what am I saying, I won't be showing off any of my ability because nobody will be able to see me. But wait…my plan was to be loud enough for Shoji to detect me so that he doesn't know how good I am at sneaking…Am I taking this too seriously? Sneaking too hard.
Ojiro looked worried for a moment. And then he shook his head. "No…I don't like that plan. As Yaoyorozu pointed out relying on the fact that this is practice feels like cheating. And I don't want to rely too heavily on the capture tape."
He's quite straight laced. One of those by the books kinda guys. Toru nodded.
"Not only that, I'd be leaving you to do everything yourself and have to deal with hand-to-hand combat with not only Todoroki but Shoji too!" Ojiro's face clouded with extreme worry.
Ah…I get it. He doesn't want me to get hurt. Another trait of the good dude was that he always wanted to 'protect' the girl. He couldn't even consider that Toru was studying to be a hero too and should get practice in hand-to-hand combat.
"It was a smart idea though!" Ojiro waved his hands, hoping he hadn't made Toru sad. He had clearly seen the droop in her hands as she had listened to him. "Um…I've changed my mind. I want to fight defensively not focus on capture. I wasn't being like myself. I shouldn't be frightened of Todoroki." He smiled confidently.
"Okay! So you want to prepare the room with traps or…? We could go prepare some wires on the stairs—"
Ojiro stared at her blankly again as if the idea of traps hadn't even occurred to him.
Crap, was I too smart again? Toru silenced herself.
He looked away again. "My quirk is my tail. I don't want to brag or anything, but my family owns a dojo. I've trained in martial arts and hand to hand combat since I was five. I think I can take Todoroki on." He smiled. "So how about I defend the bomb?"
"And me?" Toru asked.
"Umm…I hate to take the lead on this, but could you gather information or something! I mean that is the best way to use your quirk, right?"
Toru nodded. "Yep." She said out loud.
"Then you could figure out what Todoroki and Shoji are up to and maybe spy on their plans and then report back? Or do that trap thing you were talking about…" Ojiro tried to bring in his partner's input but they had spent awhile going back and forth on their plans.
So now I'm fast enough to go up and down the stairs, huh? Toru thought to herself a bit snidely. But that was fine with her. If Ojiro wanted to be a knight in shining armor and take Todoroki on himself that was fine.
"If you could distract Shoji too that would be a big help." Ojiro pressed his hands together.
"Okay. I think I'll get serious then!" Toru took off her gloves and boots.
Ojiro instantly looked away very bashful. "O-okay."
He's probably thinking I should have more modesty as a girl. But he's also thinking this is the right choice since he's not scolding me. Because there is no other option. "Ah…Um…But you can't look, okay?" Toru tried to play up the fact that she was just a normal girl, since that was how Ojiro saw her. She put her boots and gloves down.
"I couldn't even if I tried." Ojiro laughed nervously.
She snuck off.
And the time began. She was careful to make enough sound with her feet that Shoji should have been able to detect her on that floor, and not only that but the fact that she was barefoot.
She slowed her pace since Ojiro had criticized her speed. She made it to where the stairs were on the same floor when Todoroki made his first move.
Ice immediately hit the entire building, freezing everything in place. Things got cold, and Toru could no longer move.
"Brrr…" She shivered out loud.
He's that strong, huh? He froze the entire building… That was beyond Toru's calculation and she heard out of the corner of her ears one pair of feet climb up the stairs. Likely Todoroki had asked Shoji to stay behind so that he wasn't frozen.
This is a big problem…Toru realized the imprints her feet had made where she was noticeable. So, Todoroki's ice can help imprint my shape, or at least show the enemy where I am based on my feet prints.
She bit her lip in frustration, it was good to know for future reference, but frustrating, nonetheless. It really was a bad match up since my invisibility isn't doing much in this circumstance. Not only that if this was a real battle, she risked frostbite from being barefoot.
Still in a real battle, how would I win? She wondered. She couldn't just call something a 'bad match up' and give up. She may have to face Todoroki someday.
Todoroki walked upstairs and past her, not noticing her footprints even though they were noticeable. He continued moving towards the fake bomb. "You can move if you want." Todoroki said loud enough for Toru to hear as he entered the room Ojiro was defending. "But the skin on your feet will come off, so you won't be able to fight your best."
Ah. That's what I would do if I was battling for real. Toru decided. It would be painful, sure, but she had experienced the first layer of the skin on her feet removed under All for One. She knew how to silence her screams, and from experience she knew other people couldn't see her blood or discarded skin. Nobody could tell if she was injured.
As she looked around the room, she noticed how bright it was. Ice reflects light. It makes everything so reflective…She noticed. And she smiled.
Ah, that's it. It might look like a bad match up, but it's really not. It's the other way around. I'm a bad match for Todoroki. She grinned wildly to herself.
Her true quirk was bending light, thanks to her invisible body. She could store up light in her body and use it as a weapon. She could make large flashes of light or bend reflections, or she could change the colors of light itself. She could even drain the light but her favorite thing to do was to make light have a more solid mass like form. Her weapon of choice was light daggers after all.
But to do that, it needed to be bright. And ice, well, ice just made everything reflective and gave her more power further charging her body.
"HERO TEAM WINS!" All might's voice called, and warmth entered Toru's body as Todoroki started quickly melting all his ice. Todoroki must have gotten to the bomb.
If I was fighting for real, I'd pull my feet up off the ice and make make light steps in the air so I didn't have to step on Todoroki's ice, I'd then continue to make a light pathway a few inches off the ground off of Todoroki's ice, so that I didn't step on it but that it would be close enough to reflect off his ice constantly. Then I'd sneak up on Todoroki and either knock him out or use a projectile weapon. If he threw ice at me I'd use the reflections from the ice to sort of beam my power.
It would have been a great plan if it was for real.
Rain fell on Toru from the melted ice. "Hot, Hot, Hot!" She remembered to say out loud, jumping up and down.
And with that, they had lost completely. But despite Toru's frustrations she was confident that she had done as much as she could in those circumstances and had appeared like a normal girl.
When they all gathered around for a review of the second match, All Might was quick to praise Todoroki.
"Todoroki was the clear best in the match, can anyone tell me why?"
Yaoyorozu raised her hand yet again. "He acted in a clear and distinct manner. He didn't let the villains even act, nor did he risk damage to the nuclear bomb. In fact, he froze the bomb too so that the villains couldn't use it or risk deployment. He asked his teammate to leave the building before acting so that he wouldn't risk hurting him either. He acted with extreme control and a skillset befitting a UA student."
"Sorry…" Ojiro glance at Toru and sent her a quick apology. "I…Overestimated my ability and underestimated his."
All Might shot Ojiro a glance of pity. "It…Was clearly a bad match up. Sometimes these things happen where one team is at a severe disadvantage. Looking at Todoroki's skillset anyone would have lost, so don't be troubled my boy!"
Mina nodded. "Cheer up, Toru, you tried your best."
"Not only that but Toru was at a disadvantage against Shoji since he had a sensing quirk. If he hadn't found her on the fifth floor I wonder if Todoroki would have rushed to freeze everything as quickly." Tsuyu observed. "After all it's a hero's job not to kill the villain, and he could have risked serious injury to Toru or made a faulty judgement call if he didn't know where exactly she was." She glanced at Todoroki a little judgmentally, as if he hadn't realized how dangerous his quirk was.
Bakugo snorted since he had tried to actually kill someone.
"That's true…" Yaoyorozu agreed. "I hadn't given Shoji enough credit where credit was due. His information gathering was quite important to the heroes victory."
Todoroki looked horrified at what Tsuyu had said. Obviously, he hadn't even considered if he hadn't been paired with Shoji and if Toru had been in danger. "…Sorry." He said quietly to where he assumed Toru was.
"Very true." All Might clapped. "Remember it's the hero's duty to not cause too much damage to the villain. And of course, please remember this is practice! I don't want you actually killing anyone. Of course." He glanced at Bakugo. "I will step in if anyone is in serious danger." He paused. "Now…Can anyone tell me what Ojiro and Toru could have done differently?"
"Nothing. They were in the face of overwhelming ability." Bakugo snorted. "Most normal people would give up in the face of overwhelming ability." He snorted as if thinking about Midoriya.
Ojiro tightened his fist as if cursing himself.
Yaoyorozu sighed. "In a practical situation I think with a bad match up like this they should have called for reinforcements. Knowing your own weaknesses doesn't have to be a bad thing."
Nobody's suggesting anything besides giving up. Toru frowned.
"Could Ojiro perhaps have ambushed the heroes instead of going on the defensive? If he had been waiting on the first floor with Toru playing defense perhaps, he could have gotten the better of Todoroki before Todoroki iced the whole building." Iida suggested.
All Might nodded. "It would actually be Shoji Ojiro and Toru should have gone after first. As mentioned before information gathering quirks are the most important for heroes since unlike villains, we have to ensure we adhere to moral standards not to kill. Todoroki's quirk may be powerful, and he has a lot of control over it, but against someone like Toru he could have caused some serious damage accidentally. Because of Shoji that didn't happen of course, but Todoroki would have had to fight a lot more carefully if he hadn't known where Toru was." All Might pointed out.
So even though Todoroki might have killed me accidentally you, the teacher didn't say anything? Toru was not impressed. Clearly All Might had only realized that after witnessing the might of Todoroki's powers but still it was something that did not fill her with confidence in the education system.
"I guess I didn't think about that." Todoroki nodded. He bowed. "Thank you, Shoji for being my partner."
Shoji looked embarrassed. "I really didn't do anything at all! In fact, I feel like I was rather useless compared to you."
"I'll take note of that for next time. Thank you, All Might!" Ojiro smiled.
He didn't give any advice for things I could have done differently. Toru realized. She could tell by All Might's face that he was still smiling, but his knee was shaking a little bit. Maybe he was realizing a student could have been seriously injured.
And with that it was time for the next match.
The next match was Sero and Kirishima versus Tokoyami and Tsuyu.
"I want to fight to protect even though we're villains." Kirishima told Sero. "I don't want to ambush them or anything. It's just bad sport and not manly!" He pumped his hand to his chest.
"I can be down with that, bro. Although I do think when they get here, we should capture them with capture tape. I just think it would be rather easy for me to get them in tape, you know?" Sero laughed gesturing to his tape elbow.
Kirishima high-fived him. "Yeah!
Meanwhile Asui and Tokoyami were planning the method they would use against the villains as well. Asui was making sure to memorize the map as Tokoyami peered over her shoulder.
"I think you should know a bit about my quirk before we head into battle together, Asui, was it?" Tokoyami tried to remember her name correctly.
Asui nodded. "Call me Tsuyu, though. All my friends call me Tsuyu. I can do about anything a frog can do. I can give you more details if you need me to, but I think our time would be better spent making a plan and memorizing the floor plan."
Tokoyami nodded and agreeing. "Well, my quirk is that I have a monster living inside of me."
"Hello!" Dark shadow greeted as he pulled himself out of Tokoyami and gave a thumbs up.
"…That was not what I was expecting, honestly." Asui replied staring blankly. "Nice to meet you? Um…Does he have a name?"
"His name is Dark shadow, and don't worry that's what everyone says." Tokoyami chuckled, patting dark shadow on the head.
"I didn't expect you to have a sense of humor, either Tokoyami!" Tsuyu smiled happy to make a new friend. Or two.
"Oooh I like this girl. Let's beat the crap out of these villains, partner!" Dark shadow enthusiastically said.
Tokoyami sighed. "That's what I was trying to tell you, Asu—Tsuyu." He paused. "Dark shadow sometimes has a mind of his own. In the darkness he likes to as some people would say 'go wild'. Because the lower levels of the indoor building looks rather dark and not well lit I…I think I should go alone through them."
"You worry I'd get hurt." Tsuyu finished. Tokoyami nodded.
"Or our poor classmates who are playing the villains. Neither of them I believe could stop dark shadow if he were to become uncontrollable."
Tsuyu frowned and thought about things. "Based on this map the fifth floor where the bomb is well lit. I think we should bring the fight up there and try to touch the bomb instead of capturing the villains."
Tokoyami nodded. "And if they bring the fight down to us trying to capture us, I suggest splitting up and you using your mobility to get the bomb—"
"No." Tsuyu shook her head. "I won't leave a teammate on their own. Especially if he's worried about getting in trouble himself."
"But I won't be on my own I've got dark shadow-" Tokoyami insisted.
Tsuyu shook her head again. "We move together. That's the only way we can secure a flawless victory against Kirishima and Sero."
Tokoyami stopped protesting and nodded.
The preparation time ended and Tokoyami and Tsuyu were given the green light to move. Sero and Kirishima had taken a lot of their preparation time to string up tape everywhere around the bomb to make it hard to get to and to tie up the heroes if they tried.
"We've only got fifteen minutes which isn't a lot since Kirishima and Sero might be skilled in close combat." Tsuyu instructed taking the lead as the person planning. She crouched on the ground. "So let's take a page from Ochako's book and go up the building instead of climbing the stairs."
They weren't planning on stopping on the fourth floor like Ochako. Asui was planning to go vertically all the way up, breaking through the window.
Tokoyami nodded doing as they planned and pulled dark shadow out.
"Let's go." He agreed and Tsuyu grabbed him by the waist with her tongue.
"Srry." She tried to say. It was her first time wrapping her tongue around someone else. And she fumbled a bit worrying that it was gross.
"It's fine. Your tongue is quite strong. Throw me up." Tokoyami instructed.
Tsuyu threw Tokoyami up as far as she could. Dark shadow used his claw talons to latch onto the windowsill and catch Tokoyami. Tokoyami grabbed a good foothold and secured himself. "I'm good dark shadow. Get Tsuyu."
Dark shadow smiled and let go and went down to pick up Tsuyu. And with that they perfectly executed operation 'leap frog' to climb the building.
Like a bird, Tokoyami perched outside the fifth-floor window with Tsuyu on the other side.
"It looks like there's a light on the inside so Dark Shadow should get slightly weaker. Would you do the honors?" Tokoyami asked.
"I'd be happy too." Tsuyu smiled and kicked the window in. The glass shattered allowing Tsuyu and Tokoyami to throw themselves into the room with the bomb without going through the door Kirishima and Sero were guarding.
"WHOA! I didn't expect them to go through the window!" Kirishima's arms were hardened as if to make blades.
"Too bad even then we've trapped this whole room!" Sero would not give up and threw more tape out. "Even if you are a frog you won't be able to jump through the tiny cracks to get to the bomb!"
Tsuyu got ready in position to fight. Tokoyami smiled.
"I'll take Tokoyami you take the frog girl and try to get her with the capture tape." Kirishima yelled at Sero, "I'm pumped up. Ready to fight man to man…Or uhh man to bird?" Kirishima wasn't exactly sure what Tokoyami was to be honest.
Tokoyami snorted and smiled. "Tsuyu?"
Tsuyu smiled too. And then she leapt at Kirishima making no play at all for the bomb.
Kirishima tried to slice at her with his arm, and she tried to dodge but it did get the edge or her leg, slicing at her costume. She kicked him in the chest relying on her strong legs, but Kirishima hardened himself so he wouldn't be pushed back.
"Hey, hey hey I didn't think I would be your opponent! Are you even the combat type? I thought you'd go for the bomb?" Kirishima asked.
"No, the plan was always for me to be the one who was in combat." Tsuyu smiled and shot her tongue out at Sero. Sero shot his tape out of his elbow twisting up Tsuyu's tongue. In response she kicked at Kirishima with her exposed leg this time.
"HA! Thought that would work? I'm too strong for you to hit back!" Kirishima pounded on his chest. He then stopped. Then he looked at his hand that she had touched with her leg with horror. And he started shaking it frantically. "AUGH! Why am I itchy?"
Tsuyu smiled as Sero pulled her closer with his tape. She landed in his first layer of traps and tried to kick her way out.
"Tokoyami! You better do something instead of just leaving your partner to rot—" Sero yelled.
"Heroes win." All Might yelled in the mic.
Sero's eyes widened. Kirishima gasped and looked over at Tokoyami who was smiling. A trail of black was leaking out of him. The villains looked behind them and saw a mass of black touching the bomb and giving a thumbs up, having expertly navigated the small holes between the tape.
"I was never leaving her alone." Tokoyami replied. "If she got in danger I planned to pull dark shadow back to fight you."
"I win, partner! And your other partner did great too!" Dark shadow cheered.
Sero let Tsuyu go. "Awww man! I thought my tape was defense proof! But I guess I didn't expect your quirk to be able to stretch itself and get so small…"
Kirishima was still itching. "Asui…What the heck did you do to me?"
"Sorry, Kirishima…" Tsuyu apologized. "You were too hard to press back so I secreted an itching mucus from my skin to distract you. I did want all your attention to be on me instead of Tokoyami."
"…Ew…" Kirishima frowned.
Tokoyami and Tsuyu smiled at each other.
"Great job, Dark shadow. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have won against all that tape." Tsuyu pat dark shadow. Dark shadows eyes got large and happy.
"I think it's actually because of you that we won. I wouldn't have thought about going up the building. Nor would I have thought of using dark shadow to get the bomb. I would have fought Kirishima and Sero head on. But you took them on phenomenally well yourself."
Tsuyu smiled and did a victory sign.
"The best of the match was of course Asui." All Might declared. Mina and Toru cheered. Tokoyami clapped. "She was calm, collected, and was the master of planning. Not only that she relied on teamwork for all her members."
"She also displayed some wonderful tactics, like that vertical move that she planned with Tokoyami." Yaoyorozu analyzed. "Not only that but she fought bravely. I never expected her to be okay facing Kirishima."
"Yeah, he's pretty strong!" Toru nodded, pretending to agree. Her fighting Kirishima was the obvious choice. But I wasn't aware Tsuyu could secrete mucus. Are there other types besides the itching one?
"Not only that but she refused to even consider leaving a teammate behind and splitting up." Tokoyami, someone who had competed in the match piped up, suddenly the number 1 Asui fan. "And she took into account Dark Shadow as a separate member instead of me just using my quirk. Not only could she fight on her own and distract but she planned the whole encounter—"
"Okay, that's enough young Tokoyami." All Might tried to quiet him down. "People who were in the match probably shouldn't discuss the reasons they think their teammates did well. After all you weren't analyzing things through the cameras. It's part of their exam." He pointed out.
Tokoyami stopped being so excited and quieted down.
"Wow. You made Tokoyami so talktative. I've never seen him talk so much, Tsuyu." Toru pointed out.
"I thought he was fine when we were working together." Tsuyu didn't seem to notice.
"Now…Can anyone tell me what Kirishima and Sero did wrong or what they could have done differently?"
Yaoyorozu raised her hand again. "They should have taken into account the windows and that their enemies could have come through them and defended them better."
Sero laughed. "Yeah, that one's on me. I should have taped that thing. I mean I was fighting a frog! I just thought that Asui would be trying to jump through the tape and Tokoyami was going to take the door. It never occurred to us Tokoyami would scale the building too."
All Might nodded. "As long as you know your flaws."
"From the cameras it seemed like they were trying to fight their opponent head on as if to be fair and just. As villains they shouldn't have worried about that. An ambush could have been a valid method of attack, but it never even occurred to them." Yaoyorozu pointed out again.
It easily shows what kind of character they have. But at least they were the only ones to try to trap the room. Although that's more because of Sero instead of Kirishima. Toru observed.
3 hero teams had won, and no villains. The deck felt heavily in favor of the heroes considering it seemed so hard for the villains to win.
"I thought fighting with someone I knew and got along with would make it easier." Kirishima groaned, "Guess I was so excited I didn't do any tactics." He was still itching. "Hey…Asui, do you have an antidote?"
"I'm sorry…I don't. It should wear off in an hour." Tsuyu apologized.
"AWW MAN." Kirishima groaned.
Toru pitied Yaoyorozu. For one she was paired with Mineta. For another she was on the villain team, so the deck was stacked up against her.
It was match 4. Yaoyorozu and Mineta vs Jiro and Kaminari.
"So….What's the plan?" Mineta asked. "I could hang on your back and do a surprise attack and we could go down to the heroes…" He rubbed his little hands together.
Yaoyorozu glared. "We will be doing my plan. I have yet to see Jiro and Kaminari in action but first we will heavily fortify and trap the room. She started producing concrete block after concrete block and steel rod from her chest.
Mineta watched not subtly. Yaoyorozu glared, not pausing for a moment from her production. "Use your quirk to stick the slabs together. We will make another room to protect the bomb. They won't be able to get to it without risking breaking the bomb."
"But those concrete slabs are too heavy for my tiny little hands!" Mineta whined, not intending to do any of the work.
Yaoyorozu glared again and walked over to him grabbing a ball from his head. "Stick the slabs together. Or else."
He moaned and complained but did as he was told as Yaoyorozu quickly made her area. As soon as she was finished enforcing a room around the bomb, she started producing more things and Mineta stopped doing his job to watch.
"Mineta! I need you to work with me. Not get distracted!" Yaoyorozu yelled. She turned around, now more self-conscious. She then started placing things on the pole around the room.
"What are those…?" Mineta asked walking over to them, "Should I put my balls on them?"
"No!" Yaoyorozu said harshly, "They're mines. If they get too close to them, they'll explode the pillars supporting them and the ground. If all four pillars explode, they will obviously hurt the nuclear weapon and will thus lose because it would have exploded. That's not ideal for us either which is why I put them on each pillar, so they'll be able to realize that they have to be slower and more careful in movement or they risk hurting all of us and numerous civilians." Yaoyorozu threw some on the ground and then created some paint to hide them.
"Um…What do you want me to do? I still think we should go with the me hanging on your back plan!" Mineta fake squeezed in the air.
Yaoyorozu shuddered for a moment but kept her cool. "I would like it if you climbed down the wall and ambushed them from behind. You can use your balls to climb, right?" She tossed Mineta the tape. "In a real scenario the fight doesn't end in fifteen minutes. Capture will be our main goal."
Mineta groaned. "But I wanted to stay with you! After all what happens if in a battle you and Jiro accidentally rip off each other's clothes and get exposed—" He started drooling.
Yaoyorozu glared at him. "And what kind of situation would that ever happen? And if it did how would you help?"
"I'd witness it." Mineta gave a thumbs up.
Yaoyorozu lost her cool for one moment and kicked him out the window. She sighed because the timer went off and the heroes were now able to enter the building.
"I suppose I'll wait for them in the hallway." She made one last thing an elective protective blanket. "After all the hallways has less space for them to fight and maneuver around me, and I've heavily fortified this room."
Kaminari and Jiro had finished mapping the floor. Jiro stuck her earjack into the wall and listened very close.
"So I was focused on trying to memorize the map so I didn't really ask but what can you even do?" Kaminari asked.
"You mean you were focused on chattering." Jiro rubbed her forehead. She wasn't sure why Kaminari had been talking so much about how cool he was or what the plan was, but he had too much energy. "I can plug my earjacks into anything and hear anything. The little grape diaper is on the wall outside by the way, can you zap him down?"
"I told you I can't! I can only use my electricity once and then I'm pretty much useless. I can make little zaps in the meantime but nothing that can get through concrete."
Jiro sighed. "One time? Really?"
"Oh yeah, like you're better at combat." Kaminari rolled his eyes.
"I can plug my ear jacks into the amp on my legs and let out the sounds of my own body to injure. So yeah. I am." Jiro growled.
"Wait…You mean like a fart?" Kaminari asked shocked.
Jiro resisted the urge to whack him. "No, like my heartbeat, dummy!"
"Oh…Oh damn. That's strong." Kaminari realized. "We're definitely going to win."
"Yaoyorozu's on the top floor in the hallway. Probably to keep us in a tight location to fight." Jiro continued listening. "I'd like for you to go up and distract her since you did pretty good at distracting me during prep…."
"You're welcome." Kaminari winked.
"But we've got little grape diaper to worry about who could come through any of the windows." Jiro groaned. "Ugh…Do you think we should focus on capture or obtaining the bomb?" Despite not thinking much of Kaminari she looked to her partner for advice.
"All the other teams won through getting the bomb, so we should probably ignore Mineta and go to the bomb."
Jiro nodded. "Then…Um…Use your one hit KO move on Yaoyorozu. She's a recommendation student so she's bound to be tough. And she's guarding the way into the bomb."
Kaminari nodded. "Got it." He started letting off sparks randomly. Only a little bit though. "To scare Mineta."
The two started going up the stairs. They eventually found Mineta on the third floor, catching his breath.
"You try to climb down a wall! It's hard!" He glared at them just watching him lie on the ground. "I'm sick of this. I don't even get to see Yaoyorozu and Jiro tear each other's clothes off." He stomped his feet on the ground.
"Wait, the hot recommendation student and Jiro are going to tear each other's clothes off? This I gotta see!" Kaminari was momentarily distracted.
"We are not. Oh god, I don't even know where he got that gross idea!" Jiro protested.
Jiro and Kaminari were momentarily distracted for two very different reasons. Mineta grinned and threw his ball straight at Kaminari's leg to get him stuck.
"Oh no you don't!" Jiro yelled and plugged her jack into her leg. The vibrations of the air threw the ball back and it hit the floor instead of Kaminari.
"Thanks." Kaminari frowned.
Mineta fell to the ground, his ears hurting quite a bit. "NO FAIR!" He screamed. He threw ball after ball.
"I guess I should up the sound, huh?" Jiro grinned, some of the wall falling apart from the loud sound and giving her a slab of concrete to hide behind. She upped the sound of her heartbeat and directed it fully at Mineta.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" He collapsed behind his tower of balls.
"Get the capture tape, Kaminari and tie him up." Jiro instructed.
Kaminari nodded. "Sorry...I'll tell you all about Jiro and Yaoyorozu tearing each other's clothes off later. I'll take their bodies to memory." He apologized to Mineta.
"For the last time that isn't going to happen." Jiro yelled and the two continued upstairs.
They found Yaoyorozu waiting for them in the hallway outside of the room she was supposed to guard. She had a cape on that was not part of her previous hero costume and a metal pole that was clearly going to be her weapon.
"Welcome heroes…It's lovely to meet you. Although I'm sorry to say it will be our first and last meeting." Yaoyorozu addressed, taking a page out of Iida's textbook and roleplaying the part of a villain.
Jiro smiled back and got her fists out, ready to fight. She was clearly getting pumped. "Don't worry, I'll visit you often in jail after I capture you." She replied back playfully.
"Yaoyorozu's here! It's time for me to shine! We just need to capture one more of them to win!" Kaminari darted forward.
"Kaminari wait—we should wait to see what her plan is in the bomb room-" Jiro tried to get him to wait but Kaminari would not be stopped.
He let out his burst of really strong electricity. Jiro quickly took sanctuary behind a wall to not be hurt too. But Yaoyorozu had prepared for that. She threw her blanket/cape over herself and Kaminari's attack was ineffective.
Jiro bit her lip because she could no longer attack Yaoyorozu with her sound attack with Kaminari right in the way.
Kaminari stopped in his tracks after he let his energy out.
"Ugh, she had an insulated sheet? This is why I told you to wait, idiot!" Jiro growled, but Kaminari was already useless just giving big thumbs up.
Yaoyorozu threw off the blanket now that Kaminari was no longer attacking and ran forward, quickly wrapping the tape around him. "I believe I heard him say you had already captured my minion?" She asked, "We're one vs one now." She smiled holding Kaminari who wasn't even struggling.
"Ugh…" Jiro frowned. "Well, I'm still not out for the count!" She moved her earphone down for her leg.
Yaoyorozu shook her head and shook her finger. "I wouldn't do that. I have your partner as my hostage now." She held Kaminari who was just smiling dumbly. "You wouldn't attack your partner, would you?"
Jiro frowned. "He's down for the count anyway! And I'm sure he wouldn't mind being sacrificed for the win!"
She let out a loud sound from her legs. Immediately Yaoyorozu dropped Kaminari and jumped back covering her ears. She shook but produced headphones from her chest again.
"That creation quirk is rather amazing. But I just have to make my quirk louder than your headphones." Jiro declared, upping her sound as Yaoyorozu put on her headphones. The walls were starting to crumble from the sound pressure. The iron door behind Yaoyorozu to protect the bomb was being slightly crushed. Kaminari's ears were now bleeding as he lay in the capture tape on the ground.
"It's a pity I won't be able to hear your beautiful voice anymore, but these headphones will protect me. Still, you're tough. I'll give you that. I suppose I should stop playing so on the defensively." And with that she tried to move forward against the sound pressure.
"B-beautiful?" That caught Jiro off guard for a second. Her heartbeat accelerated causing a harsher attack.
"Urgh…" Yaoyorozu hadn't anticipated that to happen from her roleplaying. She created a metal shield hoping to protect herself as she moved forward.
Jiro was momentarily distracted and Yaoyorozu leapt over Kaminari's body. She then attacked Jiro with her metal baton and shield.
Jiro raised her arms to defend herself and instinctively raised her leg too to try to swipe away the baton, disrupting her attack. That was what Yaoyorozu was anticipating and she swiped at the earjack pulling it from the leg with the baton.
She dropped her metal shield now that it was no longer needed and grabbed Jiro's wrist with her other arm.
Jiro apparently hadn't expected Yaoyorozu to be so close and this caused her to fumble again, neglecting to plug in her earjacks immediately. Yaoyorozu smiled confidently and spun Jiro around pulling Jiro's wrist along with her behind Jiro's back. She dropped her baton and pulled her other arm Jiro's stomach as if embracing her from behind. Yaoyorozu had more hand to hand combat experience than Jiro and was easily able to hold her in place.
That caused Jiro's face to heat up even more, since she really was essentially being held down and embraced from behind.
"Got you." Yaoyorozu whispered.
"Urgh!" Jiro was so distracted by the sensation of Yaoyorozu's hand on hers, her being pressed against Yaoyorozu's chest and the whisper of Yaoyorozu's voice that she didn't even notice Yaoyorozu tie her up with the tape.
"Villains win!" All Might called.
And Yaoyorozu let her go and sighed, taking off her headphones. "I'm sorry about that Jiro."
Jiro dropped to her knees blushing heavily.
"I guess it really is easy to get lost in character. I'm rather disappointed honestly by you and Kaminari….I set up this whole cool trap and all and you two didn't even make it to it. But I suppose a win is a win. And you were very tough. My ears are still ringing even with the headphones. I don't think I can hear." Yaoyorozu admitted.
"That's…That's all right…I'm sorry…" Jiro covered her mouth. "Um…Good show? I mean good game. Augh. You did great is what I mean! I knew we wouldn't be able to win against a recommendation student."
Yaoyorozu just blinked because she could not hear.
All Might blinked when Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Kaminari and Mineta got back. Kaminari and Mineta both had to go to the nurses' like Midoriya although Yaoyorozu insisted that she'd be able to hear in a few minutes and didn't need to leave.
"Okay…So the best person in the match was clearly Yaoyorozu. She pretty much single handedly took on the heroes, preparing for Kaminari's and Jiro's quirk and defending herself. Not only that but she prepared protection for the bomb and a trap to be used against the heroes. And she dedicated herself to the craft of being a villain. But can anyone else tell me what she did wrong?" All Might asked
Yaoyorozu blinked having no idea she was being criticized.
"She made us all watch that." Bakugo suggested. "That."
Kirishima nodded, and Ochako couldn't help but blush. "It wasn't... wrong or anything. It just felt a little too personal to watch."
Everyone seemed a little frazzled and blushing.
"There's nothing wrong with a homoerotic villainous hero display." Aoyama defended. "I believe many medias have been dedicated to them."
"It was embarrassing though." Bakugo insisted.
"No, her dedication to her character was to be admired. And it caught Jiro off guard." All Might explained. "If not for her dedication, Jiro might have had a chance at winning and beating her." All Might pointed out.
Jiro blushed and didn't make eye contact with anyone. She really had lost because of a pretty girl.
"Was it perhaps her abandoning her teammate?" Tsuyu asked.
All Might smiled. "Bingo. Both Jiro and Yaoyorozu struggled with teamwork. Yaoyorozu should have gotten a plan that Mineta was more on board with and enthusiastic about and perhaps shouldn't have split up. After all, even though the villains won it wasn't an overwhelming victory since Jiro and Kaminari were able to capture Mineta." All Might pointed out. "Yaoyorozu kicked him out of a window which he clearly wasn't prepared for."
How is someone supposed to cooperate with someone they can't reason with? Toru wondered. Yaoyorozu's refusal to work with Mineta after a point and just kick him out of a window looked like something to be respected to her. After all Mineta had added nothing to the team and based on Jiro's reaction to certain events Kaminari and Mineta were likely both saying creepy things. No point reasoning with heroes I suppose…And I'll probably have to figure out how to look like I'm working with them eventually.
"Jiro did this to a worse extent of course. She and Kaminari didn't discuss a plan ahead of time causing Kaminari to rush into action injuring himself. She then used him as a meat shield." All Might pointed out.
"Seemed like a legitimate course of action if you asked me." Bakugo grunted. "How else was she supposed to win against a villain at that point?"
"Young Bakugo, you never ever abandon a hostage and instead attack them instead." All Might scolded.
Bakugo looked like he was about to argue back.
"Even if the hostage is a pro hero. You just don't attack your allies. Jiro, if I was a teacher like Aizawa I would ask for an essay on my desk about why you shouldn't injure your own allies, even if they've used up all their power. But I do not have a rubric for grading, so you're off the hook for now." All Might told her.
Jiro sighed.
"But still…I am very disappointed." All Might crossed his arms, making his best smiling while scolding look.
Jiro nodded and looked to the ground sadly.
I don't see the big deal. People are giving Kaminari and Mineta way too much credit. Kaminari's the one who got in the way. Toru frowned. What else was she supposed to do? Give up? Or would All Might just say 'plus ultra' try harder?
Toru was tired of watching awful people get away with their mistakes. Bakugo wasn't criticized too harshly for trying to kill someone but Jiro was criticized for using her useless comrade as a meat shield? How much longer would this practice, and her having to stand there butt naked go on for?
"It's my turn next." Mina smiled, tapping Toru's clothed hand to get her attention. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck."
The fifth match Mina was paired with Aoyama as the heroes against Sato and Koda. Unlike the other pairs of students there wasn't much planning by either team before the five minutes were up.
"Let's just charge in there! Take down the villains and achieve victory!" Mina declared.
"Oui, Oui." Aoyama nodded agreeing. "With my beautiful laser and your slime, we should be able to defeat any foe easily."
"It's acid." Mina frowned. "And Sato and Koda don't look like the type to plan very much so I think it would only make the most sense if we charged in there."
In fact, Sato and Koda weren't planning at all either.
"Let's fight here on our home turf." Sato suggested, a KitKat in hand so he was ready to buff up. "You cool with that?"
Koda looked miserable, he tried to open his mouth to respond but just nodded hurriedly clearly too shy to openly communicate with Sato. I can't believe I'm a villain…Oh no…I don't want the villains to win even though I'm playing them! He was very distracted and not at all in the right headspace for this practical.
Mina and Aoyama entered the building, with Mina doing the bare minimum of memorization of the floor plan. She had tried her hardest, of course, but memorization wasn't her strong suit. She slid around on her acid as Aoyama walked in front of her just looking cool.
"We should both focus on the bomb when we get upstairs! After all millions of fake civilians are at stake." Mina reminded Aoyama. "I think we have this in the bag! I'm not sure what Koda's quirk is but Sato's seems to be just strength and I think I can outrun him." She was so excited for her own exam that she threw her acid into the air like fireworks.
It hit Aoyama's glittery cape. "Noooo!" He cried, "My sparkles!"
Mina kept sliding along as Aoyama stopped in his tracks. "It's just a cape! Come on, dude! We have to hurry!" She called from down the hallway after realizing Aoyama was not following.
Aoyama was sniffling greatly. "But…But…I need my cape…"
"No, you don't! Come on!" Mina scolded.
Aoyama sniffled some more but eventually bucked up and reluctantly followed.
Due to Mina's speed and Aoyama's ability to jump upstairs thanks to his navel laser the two got to the top floor quick enough, even though Mina led them down a few dead ends. They finally reached Koda and Sato.
"So, you're here." Sato flexed. "Don't think you'll be able to beat us. Koda get the tape!" Sato ordered.
Koda fumbled and grabbed the capture tape.
"Ha! You're the one who won't be able to beat us!" Mina declared. "Aoyama jump to the bomb! That's our goal."
Aoyama nodded and launched off. Sato downed his KitKat and rushed across the room to try to grab Aoyama.
"OH no you don't!" Mina threw acid from her hands and it hit Sato in the arm. Sato let out a loud scream and jumped instinctively backwards towards the bomb.
Koda fumbled but put his arms out to stop Aoyama. Since Aoyama couldn't change his direction mid air Koda caught him in his arms and was able to get the tape around him.
"Sorry, with holes in my cape I couldn't slow myself!" Aoyama snidely said as Koda captured him.
Sato didn't have enough brain power from his sugar rush to order Koda to do anything different or for him to use his quirk- not that there was any animals in the area in the unfortunately clean fake city. He just let out a low growl and charged at Mina now that one of her teammates had been caught.
"Your sacrifice won't be in vain, Aoyama!" Mina jumped over Sato as he charged at her, careful to slick her heels with acid and hit his back causing him to let out another scream of pain. She then slid at full speed over to the bomb.
Koda looked frantically between Mina and Sato but eventually moved away from his defensive position in front of the bomb to his teammate to aid him and help him up.
Mina grinned and easily slid into place touching the bomb.
"Heroes win!"
"I win!" Mina smiled at All Might's voice. She started jumping up and down, hand still on the bomb.
She felt the paper mache of the bomb crumbling a bit. She had forgotten her hands still had acid on them.
The paper created a dark hole in it.
"Oops…"
"I mean villains win. I suppose." All Might's voice boomed.
Mina looked incredibly frustrated when her team was called back. Sato had been sent to the nurse's office so only Koda and Aoyama remained to hear the results.
"Well…That was a mess…But chin up, young ones! It was your first mock battle. And none of you had any experience. Can any of you tell me what they all did wrong?" All Might asked.
"It's all right, Mina…" Toru pat her back.
"I was so close to winning! I almost single handedly won for my team despite Aoyama's whole pity party over his cape! And then I had to blow up it up by burning the bomb. I would have killed millions if I were in the field." Mina yelled at herself.
"Everyone makes mistakes. And you don't have much practice in using your quirk in battle, do you, Mina?" Tsuyu pointed out. "You had great mobility."
Yaoyorozu raised her hand to analyze, her ears finally returning. "Well Sato I think did the best he could. He attacked and charged and decided at the beginning to play defensively and fight on his home turf. The villain team could have better prepared their home turf and defended in the five minutes of planning but due to Mina's acid I doubt moving around blocks could have stopped much."
All Might nodded. "Sometimes the heroes don't have time to plan and rushing in headfirst is the best course of action. Both teams should have started up some communication and planning on their ends though during the limited time they had."
Yaoyorozu nodded, "Koda also…Well he didn't exactly help the villain team. I didn't really see him using his quirk."
"He captured Aoyama though! That was something." Sero pointed out. "He blocked off Aoyama's path and caught him in midair."
"It looked like his heart wasn't fully into the exercise though." Toru pointed out deciding to try to speak up a little and not appear completely aloof. "Were you having a tough time playing a villain, Koda?"
Koda looked flustered and nodded, blushing. "There weren't any animals in the area either." He signed with his hands quickly. "Usually there's some rats in indoor buildings but I think UA chased them all out."
All Might looked flustered after someone translated for him. "Yes…That does seem to be an oversight. I will talk to principal Nezu about making our indoor cities more accurate since it seems like you were at an unfair advantage and couldn't use your quirk because of that! But young Koda you have to get yourself into the correct headspace for work, even if it's a job you don't exactly like." All Might scolded.
Koda nodded, looking like a kicked puppy.
"Not only that but I'm sure there were some bugs in the buildings that you could have used—" All Might tried to help.
Koda frantically shook his head looking terrified. All Might was confused for a moment but cleared his throat deciding not to ask about it.
"Now the Hero team, could someone tell me what Mina and Aoyama did wrong? Since they initially looked like they were going to win." All Might requested.
"Well Aoyama also didn't have the right headspace for the test. He immediately became more distressed about his wounded pride via his cape dissolving than the exam and even stopped in his tracks. He didn't have a backup plan after he used his navel laser to leap into the air. It was as if he could only do one thing." Yaoyorozu scolded.
Aoyama looked even more sad when Yaoyorozu said that.
"Not to say that Ashido's over excitableness wasn't its own problem. Her acid caused not only damage to her own ally but the bomb as well. And although she seemed to do mobility pretty well, she could have probably benefitted from some more memorization of the floor plan going through several dead ends. And just like Todoroki her acid in an actual combat scenario could be dangerous enough to cause death to the enemy if she's not careful." Yaoyorozu explained.
Mina gasped having not thought about that. "No…No, I'm pretty sure all I could cause is acid burns…But that is pretty dangerous and painful….Oh man….Poor Sato, I gotta apologize to him…"
All Might nodded. "Well, this was your first practical so there's bound to be mistakes. In fact, I'm surprised this was the first bomb class A accidentally triggered! As long as you learn your own weaknesses and grow from those, I'm sure you'll do Plus Ultra next time."
Everybody nodded. It had been an exciting first class but a stressful one.
And Toru was more than happy for everyone's weaknesses to be exposed right in front of her face.
For the purposes of this fic Momojiro and Tsuyu/Tokoyami will be side pairings. Other side pairings will be introduced along the way.
Some of you might have been able to tell but I wrote the Mina/Aoyama fight on a different day than all the other fights and while I was sick which is why it is shorter.
Please review