The episode started partway through Uraraka and Aoyama's match.

"Awwww! Why is ours the first one to get partially skipped over?" Uraraka pouted.

"We even saw the lackluster moments of the other matches." Aoyama seemed just as disappointed.

The first scene was of the pair desperately hanging onto a railing to avoid being sucked back by Thirteen. Uraraka yelled about how 'we were so close!'.

"And they start out by showing us about get beaten instead of any cool stuff we might have done earlier?" Uraraka whined further.

"My cape may be shimmering in that wind, but I'd like to see any shining escapades we did earlier as well." Aoyama agreed.

Thirteen taunted that he wouldn't let them escape. Uraraka urged herself to think of a plan, and asked herself what Deku would do.

Izuku startled at the question. "You really tried to think of what I would do?"

Uraraka blushed a bit. "Well, you've gotten into some bad scraps, and you always seemed to come up with a plan to get out of them in the end, and that's just the ones the other me knows about! So it just makes sense..." She was thinking that had been her inspiration during the sports festival too; Bakugo even said her plan reminded him of Deku.

"I, well, uh, thank you!" Izuku stammered, unsure what to do with the unexpected praise. "Just, my plans end up hurting a lot, so don't do that part, I don't want you to get hurt." Uraraka giggled.

"Yeah, I'll try to keep the cleverness while avoiding the injuries."

"Ooo, we could make bracelets about that: WWDD: What Would Deku Do? They could be part of his merch after he graduates." Kaminari joked. Sero laughed.

"Good thing he improved then, because I don't think people would buy them if the answer was always 'break your own bones'."

Aoyama got her attention, then guessed that she'd just been thinking about what Midoriya would do. Then he asked if Uraraka liked him. It took her a moment to process that, then she became so embarrassed that she let go of the railing to cover her face.

Uraraka's face went blank for a moment, then it turned beet red and she let a small, mortified wail. She immediately buried her face in her hands, then brought up her knees to curl into a ball.

"Aoyama! That is an entirely inappropriate question to be asking in the middle of such an important exam! Even in private that would be needlessly prying!" Iida scolded. Aoyama cowered back from the rant while Izuku hovered over Uraraka. His hands moved around her, like he wanted to do something to comfort her, but was scared that it wouldn't be well received since he was kind of involved in her current embarrassment. His own face was a pretty startling shade of red too, but he tried to focus on thinking of something to help Uraraka. She'd just praised him for being able to come up with plans after all!

None of them noticed that Ashido was emitting a high pitched squeal of delight while bouncing in her seat and hugging Hagakure tightly.

"Ashido! Can't breath!" the invisible girl gasped, which finally made Ashido let go but didn't stop her bouncing.

Uraraka went flying back toward Thirteen. Upon seeing this, the pro stopped using her quirk, so as not to actually hurt her student. Uraraka suddenly flashed back to some advice Gunhead gave her about making your opponent fight on your own terms. Inspired, Uraraka managed to grab Thirteen's arm and force her down. Aoyama took advantage, and grabbed her other arm, which allowed Uraraka to slap the handcuffs on.

"That was really great Uraraka! It may not have been intentional at first, but it was a great example of quick thinking, and showed off just how much you learned on your internship!" Unable to find a way to comfort his friend earlier, Izuku fell back on praising her performance.

"Indeed, that was quite well done, especially since you had to recover from a bit of shock to do it." Iida agreed.

"Thank you." Her voice sounded more like a groan than real words, and she didn't stop hiding behind her hands.

"I would advise you not to rely on your opponent deciding not to hurt you in the future, however." Aizawa said, looking at Aoyama. "And not to let your emotions distract you from your goal, even if only for a moment." he said, now looking at Uraraka.

"Y-yes sir!"

"Yes sir..."

Aoyama stammered his reply, and Uraraka still sounded miserable. 'It would be bad enough if he asked when just me and Thirteen could hear, but now the whole class heard! I know Aoyama couldn't have known that would happen, but still!'

Izuku watched the match from the observation room, this time with Tsuyu by his side. He gushed over Uraraka using Thirteen's own power against her to win the match. Tsuyu said it had looked like Uraraka just happened to let go. Izuku was surprised by this and Tsuyu wondered what Aoyama had said to make that happen. Izuku pointed out there was no way to tell since they couldn't hear what those in the testing areas were saying.

"You overestimate me." Uraraka said with a little, self-deprecating laugh. She'd gained enough courage to lower her hands a little.

"No! I mean, I did misinterpret what happened, but being able to think on your feet is really cool too and just as important for becoming a hero!" Izuku insisted. Iida nodded emphatically.

"I agree, flexibility is a highly valuable skill!"

She looked surprised for a moment before smiling gratefully. Then the collective force of the two of them looking at her became too much and she went back to hiding in her ball of embarrassment.

At that moment, Iida and Momo walked into the observation room. Iida was pleased to see Uraraka's team pass and Izuku congratulated them on their own wins. They talked about how the next match would be Ashido and Kaminari vs the principal. They were all curious as to how the principal would fight.

"I'm curious too. He's a pro hero, but I don't know much about his hero work." Shoji admitted. Sato frowned.

"That's true, I sometimes hear about the other teachers on the news for doing hero work, but I never really hear about Principal Nedzu."

"Perhaps his work is done in darkness, like that of our homeroom teacher." Tokoyami theorized.

"Yeah, I can see him working on underground stuff, or stuff that's classified, kero."

Nedzu, meanwhile, just sat there smiling, his black eyes glittering in the light. The other teachers subconsciously leaned away.

The match was in an industrial area. Ashido asked about a plan while they ran, and Kaminari said to just keep running. He figured that the principal was small enough that they could get away from him if Kaminari used his quirk. He warned her not to use hers so they didn't risk accidentally melting the principal.

Aizawa snorted at their plan and analysis, and Yagi grimaced.

"Oh those poor innocent souls." Mic said, shaking his head solemnly.

"Whether they pass or fail, I'm sure this will be a good lesson for them." Recovery Girl said.

Ashido and Kaminari's eyes went wide, and they looked at each other fearfully. Just what the heck did the teachers think was going to happen?

The pair suddenly stopped when they heard a strange noise. They looked around in confusion, and wondered what it was. A moment later, a pipe broke free above Kaminari's head, forcing him to dodge it. The next thing they knew the structures all around them were falling apart and collapsing towards them, and the two were running for their lives. Kaminari yelled that the principal must be behind it. This turned out to be absolutely true as Nedzu was shown to be drinking tea in the cab of a crane.

The students stared at the scene with open mouths and wide eyes, though none quite so wide as Ashido and Kaminari themselves were displaying.

"How can that be fair?!" Ashido nearly shrieked.

"I believe Mr. Aizawa has told you that hero work is seldom fair. Besides, it's hardly my fault neither of you thought to make better use of your environment like I did." Nedzu's voice was pleasant, but his eyes still held that dangerous glint. The two students gulped.

"With that height advantage he's going to be very hard to deal with. You'd need to figure out where exactly the crane is, since it seems you can't see it from there, so you can find a way to disable it. Ashido could melt the cable holding the wrecking ball, or Kaminari could possibly send enough electricity along it to short out the controls. Then you'd have to make sure the Principal doesn't have another crane to go to, or stun him enough to get the cuffs on..." Izuku's mumbling was now familiar enough that Ashido and Kaminari found it strangely comforting. They doubted they would think of anything Midoriya just had, but they could hope.

The students in the observation room were shocked by this development as well, and wondered how he could attack them when he was so far away. Momo theorized that he had calculated where to strike to best interfere, even from a distance. Nedzu himself confirmed this was true as he thought about the domino affect he was creating and how easy they were for him to figure out.

"We're way outmatched here! How are we supposed to fight someone that smart?" Kaminari complained.

"Yeah! We were just talking about how low we are in the class rankings..."Ashido's complaint trailed off as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Wait, were we set up with the principle because we're dumb?!"

"Huh?!"

"Now, now, I'd never call any of our students dumb." Nedzu soothed. "But your test scores are only part of it; your performances at the Sports Festival and such show that you both need to use your heads more in battle. Kaminari your quirk is powerful, but you tend to overuse it to a point where it damages you and lowers your intelligence, and more than once we've seen you rely on a big attack that did both in order to win. It was fairly successful at the USJ, but left you vulnerable later. At the Sports Festival you tried the same, and it lost you your first one on one match due to your opponent finding a way around that power. Ashido, your case is not quite so extreme, but it is relevant. You tend to rely on your athleticism, and your natural kinesthetic intelligence, which are certainly helpful in our line of work, but it's important not to rely on just one type of intelligence. So being set against me is meant to challenge you in those areas and make you realize the value of thinking your way out of a problem, even if it's not your forte."

Ashido and Kaminari blushed in embarrassment as Nedzu got into lecturing mode. When he really got going he was a bit like Midoriya with his muttering. Nedzu's words held more authoritative weight though, and were easier to hear. Ashido still found herself a bit confused though.

"Kinesthetic?" she asked when Nedzu paused for breath.

"Ah, yes, not as common a word I suppose. Kinesthesia is the sense that detects bodily position, weight or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. In other words, you seem to be naturally good at having your mind and body in sync, and moving exactly the way you want."

"Oh! Thank you sir!" Her cheeks colored with pride this time, though it was hard to tell when she blushed due to her skin tone. "Um, and I'll try to work on getting better at other stuff."

"Y-yeah! Me too, I'll try not to fry myself so much." Kaminari promised. He wasn't sure how at this point though. Maybe he could talk to Midoriya about it, he seemed to have good ideas about these things.

Nedzu gleefully thought to himself that the students didn't notice he was also cutting off all the routes to the escape gates. He laughed maniacally while he got a close up quirk explanation.

Nedzu preened at the explanation of his intelligence and uniqueness. While it could be very lonely being 'unique' at times, he always did take some joy in the fact that he turned out smarter than those who had held him captive before.

The students, on the other hand, were all a little freaked out at how crazy that laugh sounded.

"The principal is an animal with a quirk, huh?" Sato mused, trying not to let any unease into his voice. "I didn't know that, I thought he just had a mutation quirk on top of his intelligence quirk, kinda like Tokoyami."

"A lesson to be learned about assuming, I suppose." Tokoyami said. 'His laugh right now reminds me a bit of dark shadow when he gets overly excited.'

Recovery Girl told the students beside her that Nedzu had once been experimented on by humans, and tended to let himself go in these situations as a result.

"Experiments?" Todoroki was the only student brave enough to ask, the others either gaping in surprised horror or still processing what all that implied.

"I'm sure you can understand that we all need our outlets." Nedzu said calmly. "And that its not something I like to talk about."

Todoroki thought about how he'd frozen Sero as a form of 'outlet' after getting upset with his father, and how he didn't want people to pity him for his origins either. He nodded at Nedzu slowly, and the Principal returned it.

Back with Kaminari and Ashido, they tried to run for the exit again, but met a dead end that Nedzu had created. They had to dodge more debris after that, and Nedzu was shown taunting them to use their heads. Ashido used her acid to make a hole in a wall for them to go through.

"Well, that's an improvement, right? Doing that requires more thinking than just running around at least." Ojiro pointed out.

"It's a start." Aizawa allowed.

Shortly after they got inside though, Nedzu made the ceiling collapse on them.

"One step forward and two steps back." Shoji said.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Ashido hugging herself as pain suddenly assaulted her senses. Could have been worse considering the amount of debris, but still, ow!

"My head is now the only part of me that doesn't hurt, that's the opposite of how my fights usually go." Kaminari complained.

Recovery Girl sent the principal a look that seemed to say that the only reason she wasn't stomping over to give him a talking too was because the kids didn't seem that hurt and she had enough confidence in his intelligence to believe that was purposeful. He smiled slight and gave her a nod of acknowledgment.

In the observation room, Izuku observed that the principal was always a step ahead, and Tsuyu said they couldn't retaliate without knowing where the principal was. Then the narration explained that Ashido and Kaminari lost due to running out of time, which they were shown despairing over. Nedzu continued to drink his tea and lamented that they didn't find the one path he left open for them.

"You actually did leave one open?" Kaminari asked in surprise.

"Of course, it wouldn't be a very good test if it didn't have at least one option for a solution. There was even two for this one, since you could have gone looking for me instead of escaping."

Ashido shuddered, partly from fear and partly from lingering pain. "If that's what you could do while far away, I don't want to see what you can do close up, I still would stick to trying to run."

Uraraka entered the observation room then, and was disappointed to see that Ashido and her teammate lost. Iida congratulated Uraraka, and Tsuyu asked what Aoyama and her had talked about during their match. When Uraraka remembered what he'd asked, her face flushed and she wildly waved her hands in denial.

Jirou snickered "Great job Uraraka, very subtle, they'll never guess."

"I mean, considering Iida just asked if she was sick, they probably won't." Hagakure pointed out.

Uraraka had buried her face in her hands again, and Izuku was looking away, unsure how to feel about the whole thing.

The next match started, Jirou and Koda vs Present Mic. Jirou suggested they try to avoid Present Mic and go for the exit gate, and Koda nodded agreement. Those in the observation room talked about the exams, and Izuku said this student teacher pair was easy to figure out. The students quirks were sound based, so how would they deal with someone who was loud enough to drown both of them out?

"That's a good question." Jirou admitted. It was no wonder she planned to avoid Present Mic, the whole thing would be easier if they didn't have to figure out a way around his quirk.

Koda clasped his hands together tightly. He was having very similar thoughts, but didn't want to show how nervous he was, since he was sure his other self was gonna be showing plenty of that soon.

Present Mic was waiting by the exit gate, and was impatient to get it over with since he apparently didn't like the forest environment they were in. He yelled loudly, sending a shockwave of noise through the trees that had both students holding their heads in pain.

Koda flinched badly while Jirou let out a small shriek, and both instinctively tried to cover their ears.

"Sorry about that listeners." Mic said. He sounded sincere, but Jirou couldn't help shooting him a resentful look. Her hearing was more sensitive than most people's so his quirk was especially potent on her.

Momo lay a comforting hand on Jirou's shoulder, and wished she could do something to block the sounds causing her friend pain.

Jirou asked if Koda could get birds to attack Present Mic. Koda explained through gestures that, even if he did do that, the noise would scare them away. Jirou said that, even if she plugged her ears, she'd be in too much pain to get close. An image of a somewhat demented looking Present Mic came on screen while she thought this.

Koda began to fidget anxiously, wondering how they could possibly pass. Sato noticed and gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"Don't sweat it, I'm sure you two will think of something."

"Yeah, we'll figure something out." Jirou said, more confidently than she felt. Koda nodded along, hoping they were right.

"Look who is influencing who now." Aizawa goaded, seeing the crazy smile on Hizashi's face on screen. The man himself spluttered.

"I certainly do not smile like that! Jirou is probably just imagining that's what I'm doing because she's seen you do that!"

Jirou reasoned that Present Mic was likely waiting in front of the gate so they couldn't avoid him. As they ran, Present Mic yelled again, and they froze in pain. Present Mic then got a close up quirk explanation, though the voice doing this one sounded different.

Jirou tried to stop herself from shrieking this time, and was only partially successful. 'And now I'm dealing with the very real pain of biting my tongue; that was dumb.' Jirou scolded herself. She looked up when she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and saw that Yoamomo was offering her a towel.

"Would it help to have something to bite?" she asked. Jirou nodded in relief and took it.

"Thanks."

A little ways away from those two, Sato and Tokoyami were doing what they could to comfort Koda, who now had his head between his knees.

The other students were somewhat worried for their classmates too of course, but they got distracted by the quirk explanation.

"Isn't that Mr Aizawa's voice?" Shoji asked.

"Sounds like it, yeah." Ojiro agreed. He wondered what exactly that meant, but Izuku was already a couple steps ahead of him.

"Oh my gosh, your quirk was already so powerful from the moment you were born? That's amazing! I wonder how his parents handled things before he was old enough to learn to control it. And what does it mean that Mr Aizawa is the one doing the voice over this time? Is it because Mr Aizawa knows the delivery room story? They did go to school together after all..."

"Shouta! How could you betray my confidence like this?!" Present Mic wailed. He was already feeling bad about making a couple of his students hurt, and now such a personal story was being shared!

Aizawa snorted. "I'm hardly the only person you told that too. You said your parents used to tell it all the time, stop being so dramatic."

Kirishima sighed. "Man, I know the teachers say sneak attacks and stuff are viable strategies, but I'm starting to feel a little bummed about these last two fights. They've just been too distant to get any good action in!"

"Tell me about it." Bakugo said. He'd utilize sneak attacks whenever it suited him, but that didn't mean watching a pair of kids run around without a clue was as fun as watching a good fight.

As the pair of students recovered from the last shout, Jirou saw an ant on the rock in front of her. She showed it to Koda, asking him if he could control bugs. He immediately freaked out and ran away.

"Wow, with his whole animal motif, I didn't expect him to be that bad with bugs." Jirou mused.

"We all have our weaknesses I suppose." Momo replied.

Todoroki couldn't understand why Koda got so scared, the bug hadn't even touched him or anything. Of course, if a bug ever touched Todoroki when he didn't want it to, he could immediately freeze or burn it off. So maybe he was biased due to never having to worry about getting bitten or stung.

"Finally, someone who understands my pain." Present Mic said, placing a hand over his heart.

"Hmmm, if he's afraid of bugs to that degree it could hinder his effectiveness as a hero. Bugs would make great spies after all, since they can get into so many places and can hide so well. Though I guess that depends on how well bugs can actually give information in a way people would understand, pretty sure their senses are really different from humans after all..." Izuku rambled in the background.

Present Mic yelled again, though this time Jirou was able to stop it early by using her own quirk to cancel out some of the sound.

"Oh! Good thinking Jirou!" Izuku said, the new quirk use had been enough to break him out of his mumbling.

"Heh, glad I finally got around to it. I'm already getting a splitting headache over here. Though I resent that remark about a cheap sound." She gave Present Mic a look and he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I'll apologize for pain, but I won't apologize for having high standards."

Present Mic didn't let up as Jirou tried to think of a plan. She asked again if Koda could control bugs, and he admitted he could. So she used her own quirk to blow apart a large rock and expose the bugs underneath. He started to freak out again, but Jirou encouraged him and reminded him he wanted to be a hero. As he looked at her, her saw her ears had started to bleed from being exposed to Present Mic's quirk. Seeing her suffering, along with remembering how proud his mom was when she heard he got in, gave him the courage to speak to the bugs.

"Great teamwork you two!" Yagi praised, gaining smiles from the pair of students. Jirou's was part grimace due to her other self's ears bleeding, but she was still happy about the praise.

Present Mic, meanwhile, was struck with a sudden sense of dread. Recovery Girl had been about to go berate Present Mic for making a student's ears bleed, again, but after seeing that said student had a plan involving bug she decided he was about to get his comeuppance shortly anyway.

"Aw, your ma looks really sweet." Sato said. Koda gave him a small smile.

"Th-thanks."

At the entrance, Present Mic was surprised when the ground near his feet suddenly cracked. Out of the crack came a hoard of insects that swarmed up Present Mic's leg. This time it was the teacher's turn to freak out, and he was soon passed out on the ground from the shock and disgust. Koda carried Jirou through the escape gate, and the pair passed.

Cheers and congratulations filled the room, easily drowning out the lingering shudders from seeing so many bugs swarming all at once.

"Awww! Look at Koda being such a gentleman!" Ashido cooed.

"S-sorry it took so long..." Koda managed to say. Jirou waved him off.

"Don't worry about it, you won us the match after all, and helping me get across like that really is sweet of you. With my ears hurt like that, my balance is probably off." She smiled at him. "And see? I was right, we did think of something!"

Koda returned the smile with a wobbly one of his own.

Mineta was quickly writing down notes about what the girls considered 'gentlemanly' behavior.

Over with the teachers, Present Mic had hunched in on himself and was shuddering. "Bugs...so many bugs..." he whimpered.

"You have my sympathies, young Yamada." Yagi said, giving him a consoling pat on the shoulder. He couldn't exactly condemn young Koda for the excess of bugs though. They did encourage going 'plus ultra' every day after all.

Aizawa just nodded in approval, pleased that the pair had found a way to succeed.

The scene immediately jumped into Hagakure and Shoji's fight against Snipe. The students were pinned down by Snipe's bullets. As they talked about what to do, Snipe threw out a smoke bomb.

"Oh this could get really interesting!" Izuku exclaimed. "Snipe's quirk, Homing, will allow him to feel where Shoji and Hagakure are, so Hagakure can't really sneak up on him like she might normally and Snipe has more of an advantage with sight being obscured. But Shoji also has more advanced senses that could let him know where Snipe is too, and like Shoji said Snipe's movements will be slower than normal due to the weights!"

Iida nodded. "Very good points, it will be interesting to see who will be victorious."

At this point, Shoji and Hagakure themselves just hoped that they didn't get hit by Snipe's bullets, those looked like they would really hurt!

When they had to abandon their hiding spot, Shoji noticed that Hagakure had taken off her shoes and gloves. Once he did, he ran out towards Snipe and drew his attention, to the point where he was held at gunpoint by Snipe. But while Snipe was berating Shoji for giving up so quickly, Hagakure was able to sneak up and place the handcuffs on one of his wrists.

"Ah! I forgot that Homing is somewhat sight based! That was very clever you, Hagakure, to take advantage of the smoke bomb to hide that you went fully invisible. And Shoji! You picked up on what Hagakure was doing so quickly! That was great!"

"Heh, thanks Midoriya." Hagakure said. She just wished it hadn't resulted in snipe elbowing her in such a weird location because of it...thankfully most people were congratulating them and hadn't seemed to notice. Or, at the very least, were being kind enough not to draw attention to it.

"I do wish we'd seen more of our fight. It seemed awfully short, compared to the others." Shoji said.

The students in the observation area praised the winners of the match, then Mineta and Sero's round was announced. Uraraka pointed out that Izuku's match would be after theirs, and that he should get ready soon. Izuku said he would stay and watch the other fights for as long as he could. He said he learned a lot from watching them, and gained strength from seeing how hard they fought, whether they won or lost.

"Oh my gosh bro, that's so manly!" Kirishima said, sniffling through his tears. "You inspire us too!"

"Yeah Deku! It definitely goes both ways!" Uraraka beamed at him.

"I agree." Todoroki said, thinking about the sports festival.

Other students chimed in with times they'd gained inspiration from Midoriya, and his face continued to redden as more and more people spoke up.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the scene though. He suspected at least part of the reason that Midoriya was choosing to 'gain strength' this way was that he knew Bakugo still wouldn't be in a state to communicate with him, and knew that dwelling on that would only serve to make him more anxious. So instead the boy focused on doing something that calmed him and might give him insight into how to handle his own test.

Bakugo himself scowled as people continued to praise the nerd. The age old part of himself that raged against even a hint that Deku might think he was better than Katsuki himself made it hard not to. Still, that part of him now had to compete with memories of Deku saying he was there mainly due to luck and support, as well as Midoriya calling Katsuki amazing. His mind had always told him that Deku was secretly mocking him when he said those things, since Deku still thought he himself could be a hero, but that was harder to argue when you heard the words straight from the nerd's own brain.

The mood in the observation room was ruined when they saw how poorly the current match up was going. Mineta was already running away in fear due to Sero having been put to sleep by Midnight almost immediately. Recovery Girl pointed out that Midnight was one of the teachers that was still very effective despite the weight handicap due to her quirk, which then got a close up explanation.

"Seriously? Ah man, I can't believe I was taken out that fast!" Sero complained.

"Yeah, and you left me alone!" Mineta whined. "Now I gotta deal with a pro hero by myself!" 'And he even gets to have his head in Midnight's lap while I have to run around and try to win! No fair!'

"Can't blame you for the freak out. If Ashido had been taken out at the very start of our match I probably would have panicked too." Kaminari admitted.

"Still, should probably learn not cry, even when panicked. People keep telling Midoriya not to cry so much, so the same should apply to you when it comes to fights." Tsuyu pointed out.

"I know." Mineta said miserably. He knew it didn't help and that the tears would only blur his vision, so it was something he would need to work on.

Midnight called that he was going the wrong way to get to the gate, and Mineta was shown to be crying blood. Those watching were shocked. A flashback showed that things ended up that way because, when Midnight surprised them, Sero used his quirk to fling Mineta away so that one of them would be able to escape and possibly win. Mineta was crying blood because he wished he had been the one caught instead.

"Oh, I made a sacrifice play, that's not quite as embarrassing then." Sero said, then smirked at Mineta. "So if we get jumped by a sexy villain in the future, do you want me to just let them get you?"

"Of course not!" Mineta cried, his face now completely red from embarrassment. "I- I'm just mad that I have to do all the work now while Midnight coddles you!"

"I'm not sure it counts as coddling if he's unconscious. I mean, it's not like he can, um, enjoy it that way." Ojiro pointed out.

"Plus it's kinda rude to think like that after he just got caught to make sure you still had a chance to win." Hagakure pointed out.

"How is that even possible?" Momo asked in shocked bewilderment, highly alarmed at Mineta managing to do something that should have been physically impossible just because he was feeling jealous. Maybe it was another artistic interpretation?

Recovery Girl commented that a kid like Mineta might have a hard time surviving at UA. After all, the school constantly put up new barriers and obstacles so the students would be forced to overcome again and again. In order to find the drive for that, people needed a strong end goal. Just a general want to become a hero wouldn't be enough. She wasn't sure if Mineta had such a goal.

That got the kids thinking. They were all there because they wanted to be heroes of course, but that usually wasn't the end of it. For instance, Uraraka wanted to help her family, Iida wanted to continue his family legacy, Bakugo was shooting to be number one, and Midoriya just really wanted to help people. Some students hadn't really thought much on their overarching goal before though, and Recovery Girl's words prompted them to do so now.

Mineta now felt shame rise up to meet his embarrassment from earlier. He told Aizawa and All Might that he wanted to be a hero so that he would be cool and popular, and that felt like such a silly thing compared to some of the other motivations he'd heard from his classmates. With how much he tended to cry and freak out when the going got rough, was he really cut out for this? He sounded awfully similar to some of those fake heroes Stain kept going on about with his current goals...but that was the other him! He himself understood better now what it meant to be cool! He still had time to figure out how to be cool for real and not just cool for popularity!

When Mineta was far enough away, he stopped to catch his breath. He muttered about how he wanted to touch a woman some day, and how he'd come here with the goal of becoming popular like he'd seen other kids be. He thought about Tsuyu and Midoriya during the USJ as well, but then his thoughts were interrupted by Midnight's whip.

"Ow!" Mineta yelped. Great, now he had physical pain on top of emotional pain.

"You really came here with the goal of getting popular with girls?" Jirou asked in disbelief.

"It...it's not that weird is it? I wanted to be popular in general, not just with girls you know. Doesn't everyone want to be liked by other people?" He asked plaintively.

"I guess, I can kinda relate." Uraraka admitted reluctantly. "I mean, I applied because I wanted to be paid well, and that has bad connotations too. I mean, it wasn't just all for me that I wanted it, but you know what I mean."

"And you're right, everyone does want to be liked." Izuku said. He wasn't sure that would be a strong enough goal on its own, like Recovery Girl said, but after years of having no friends he could definitely understand wanting to be better liked.

Midnight declared that she could have just waited for him at the gate, but seeing him run away screaming compelled her to chase him. He said she was like a predator, and had to cover his mouth and nose to avoid getting knocked out by her quirk. He started to run while she taunted him.

Mineta grit his teeth, and desperately hoped that this other him had come far enough that he would find a way to win this.

Mineta thought to himself that, after the events of the USJ, he'd come to a realization. It wasn't that heroes were cool because they were heroes, it was that being cool was what made them real heroes! Just like Midoriya!

"Well, it's good that you realized that early on." Jirou conceded.

"Y-yeah! So I'm definitely gonna try my best to be a cool person who can be a good hero! So, um, try not to hold some of the stuff the other me says against me too much please?" Mineta jumped at the chance to recover a bit his reputation. It was good to hear his other self think this way too. He'd started thinking it after the USJ of course, that's why he tried to change his ways after Aizawa and All Might made him realize how uncool he'd been acting, but it was good to see his other self still held that belief. He was failing at it in certain areas, but as long as Mineta himself worked on those, then things would be fine right?

"I can get behind someone doing what they can to be more manly." Kirishima agreed.

"I'm really not that cool." Izuku tried to deny, but Mineta shook his head.

"Midoriya, seeing you jump into the water at the USJ was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and don't even get me started on how you did against Stain!"

Midnight asked how long he could get away with running. Then Mineta revealed that he'd been acting like that because he knew that kind of behavior would draw her out and away from the gate. Then he rushed her, and it was shown that he'd used some of Sero's tape to block his mouth and nose. He pelted her with his quirk, and got her stuck in place. The students in the observation room were excited by the turn of events, and Recovery Girl admitted he'd had her fooled.

Exclamations of surprise and awe went up as Mineta managed to turn things around so quickly.

"Not a tactic I'd go for, but can't argue with what works!" Kirishima grinned.

"Hah! Nice one, good job avenging me!" Sero slapped Mineta on the back. "Now we're even."

"You caught her completely off guard! Good job!"

Mineta, just beamed, overjoyed at his success and the realization that maybe he really could do this.

Mineta dragged Sero out the exit gate with him, saying they would save the boobs for another day.

Mineta sighed. "One step forward and one step back, sorry you guys had to hear that."

"We'll try to reserve judgment until we leave this place, and see how you handle such events yourself." Momo said diplomatically.

While those in the observation area celebrated another win, Uraraka turned to see that Midoriya wasn't there anymore. Midoriya was shown running for his testing area, thinking to himself that he would try to become a great hero too that wouldn't lose to others in the class. That thought was cut off when he got close enough to see Bakugo waiting in front of the gate. The blonde just glared at him before turning away.

Midoriya turned to look at Bakugo, and their gazes met. The look Bakugo gave him was a rare one for the blonde, complicated and a bit unsure. Midoriya desperately wished he could think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. Maybe that was better though. Him trying to talk things out with Bakugo had rarely ended well. Still...the Bakugo here had been quieter lately, even a bit calmer. Maybe it would be possible sometime soon, assuming whatever was about to happen didn't set them back again.


Nedzu called another break. Izuku couldn't help but wonder if the principal knew things were about to get complicated and wanted to give everyone time to mentally prepare. Unfortunately for Izuku, having more time just meant more time to get himself worked up and worried. So, he was honestly somewhat relieved when Uraraka said she wanted to talk to him.

"Um, I wanna talk about what happened at the start of the episode." She said, already blushing. When Izuku remembered what she was talking about, he blushed too.

"Ah, you mean, what Aoyama said?"

"Yes, that." She cleared her throat. "The things is, well, I'm not sure if I know the answer yet. I have been thinking about it, since he asked, and some before that too. I'm not really sure about it all yet, but, I just, I didn't want you to, um, assume things because of how I reacted, you know?" she fidgeted with her hands. Izuku put one hand over hers to get her to stop.

"Uraraka it- it's okay. You don't have to answer anything if you don't want to."

"No, no, I want to try and address this, at least enough so it stops being so...whatever." she took a deep breath, and let it out. "Um, what I do know, is that I really admire you." she hesitated, and had to force the next words a bit. "I like you. I'm not quite sure what kind of like it is, or, uh, how deep it is yet, but I do. And, well, this place has made it seem like, maybe, you like me a little too?"

Izuku swallowed. "I, I do. Um, I, like you I'm not sure about the, um, the kind, but I do!"

"I'm glad." She smiled, nervous but genuine. "But also, I think we should, not do anything about it until later? When we leave here, I mean. It's just, I don't want us to, to, try dating or something just because of what we saw here. If we were going to, I'd want it to be because we wanted to, not because of what some other version of us did, or thought, or whatever. Does that make sense?" She asked, a little desperately.

"It does! I definitely think it does! I mean, it's weird seeing people that are us but also not exactly us, so it makes sense that we'd want to make sure that our, um, all our feelings are really ours."

Relief softened Uraraka's face, and she nodded resolutely. "So, we're not going to get into it right now, but in the future, after we leave here and have been away for a while, we can see if we want to?"

"Yes! I mean, yeah, that sounds like a good plan." Izuku agreed, feeling relief as at least some of his turmoil found a place to settle. "So, we're still good then? As friends I mean?"

She laughed lightly. "Of course! No matter what, we'll always be friends!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze. After Izuku recovered from his surprise, he hugged her back.


"Hey Kirishima, can I ask you something?" Mineta asked while they were both by the snack table.

"Sure man, what's up?"

"I was thinking, the way you talk about being manly, it makes me think about how I talk about being cool. Well, how I talk about it now, at least. So, do you think you could give me some pointers? I think my idea of cool is better than the one the other me has, but we should always right to improve right?"

Kirishima grinned. "Heck yeah! I'm always up for a talk about manliness! What do you wanna know?"

The two chatted until the break was over. Mineta really hoped Kirishima would be up for talking again, because he already felt a little cooler than he did before.


A.N.

How I like to imagine Kirishima and Mineta's talks going:

Kirishima: You see this glass? It's full of respect women juice. If you wanna be manly and cool, you're gonna have to drink some of it every day, you got that?

Mineta: Yes sir! *starts chugging, then coughs and stops* I don't think I can drink the whole glass yet.

Kirishima: That's okay, we can work up to that.

Also, not shown but was totally happening somewhere: Aoyama and Ashido hiding behind some piece of furniture far from Uraraka and Izuku as they talked, looking at them through a shared pair of binoculars that Ashido procured from who knows where. Aoyama is absolutely smug that his latest buffoonery has gotten Uraraka and Izuku to talk to each other and that said talk seems to have ended well.