"You guys ready?"

Leizcio, Hisako, and Ochaco were sitting in the train on their way to U.A. Their three days of pushing through written exams were finally done, and now came the final test, the practical exam.

"Fighting robots will be a first, but I'm prepared."

"How're you so calm Hisako?" Ochaco asked, surprised by Hisako's calm demeanor.

"Training. I know what I'm up against. Leizcio told me about the different kinds of robots you two went up against during your entrance exams. I'm ready."

"So confident!"

The train had made its stop and the trio got off and walked towards UA. Leizcio and Ochaco were both nervous about what awaited them, while Hisako, as demonstrated, was neutral and wasn't shaken much.

"Well, I'm going to my own class. I wish you both the best of luck with your exams."

"Same thing goes for you Hisako! You got this!" Leizcio responded to Hisako, extending his hand out for a fist bump. It took Hisako a few seconds to understand but she got it and returned it. She left to go to class 1-B, leaving Ochaco and Leizcio to walk to theirs.

'Forgot how it feels to be in this thing…' Leizcio thought as he put on his helmet to complete his hero suit.

He caught up with the others as he was the last to suit up and stood next to Midoriya. That's when he quickly noticed that the other teachers other than Aizawa were standing before them.

"Now, we will begin the practical exam. Of course, it is possible to fail this exam. If you want to go to training camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes… I expect that you all have gathered information ahead of time and have some idea of what you will be doing."

"We're fighting robot warriors like at the entrance exam, right?"

"Fireworks! Curry! Test of Courage!"

Both Ashido and Kaminari were pumped for the exam and confident in their chances.

"Too bad!"

Nezu popped up out of Aizawa's capture wraps, "For various reasons, the exam will be different this time around!"

And just like that, all the excitement Kaminari and Ashido had were gone.

"From now on, we want to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work, and stress teaching that is closer to actual fighting. So…"

"We'll have you form teams of two to fight against one teacher! Just with the exception of one group!"

"In addition, the groups and who they will be up against have already been decided. These were determined at my discretion based on various factors including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships, so here they are…"

"Man I wish I had those compressed weights, they'd be so useful for training…"

"That's what you're thinking of right now Leizcio?"

"That and my match-up…"

"Shouldn't you be planning with Kaminari and Mina?"

"I wanted to but they said they needed some time. I don't blame them, we're going up against Principal Nezu…"

The two walked into the monitor room where they both saw Midoriya and Recovery Girl.

"Oh? You're watching too Deku?"

"Yeah. We don't have many chances to see other students and the teachers fight. Besides, even if I wanted to talk about strategies…"

Ochaco and Leizcio immediately thought of Bakugo and formed a mental image of him barking like a feral dog.

"Well for me… It's like there's no point trying to talk to him."

Leizcio and Midoriya could imagine Aoyama admiring himself in the mirror. Both of them were slightly concerned about the thought of having him as a teammate for the decisive exam.

"That's why I thought I'd try to use everyone else's fights for reference."

"Yeah. What about you Esperanza?"

"Well, I'm kinda giving Kaminari and Ashido time to themselves to relax. Figured I'd join Ochaco and watch the rest of the fights. He responded, taking off his helmet and putting it down on the floor.

Just like that, the first team for practical exams appeared on the monitor, Sato, and Kirishima against Cementoss. The two were running forward until pillars rose from the floor stopping them in their tracks.

They go for a frontal assault, continuously breaking down each wall that Cementoss created. But each one that they broke down, the more that Cementoss created.

"You can do it Kirishima! Sato!" Ochaco encouraged.

"They won't win at this rate."

'That was a fast change of mood…' Leizcio thought to himself.

"Kirishima and Sato's quirks are amazing, but there's a limit to how long they can use them. On the other hand, I don't think has that. The more time passes, the more of a disadvantage Kirishima and Sato will be at."

"No way…"

"This practical exam is pitting students against teachers they'd have a hard time with on purpose. I think the key will be how they deal with their weaknesses to pass."

"That's exactly right. Before your own turns come around, you should think carefully about your compatibility with the teacher you'll fight." Recovery Girl chimed in.

'My compatibility huh?'

"Team Sato and Kirishima retired due to both members losing consciousness."

Leizcio's thoughts were interrupted as he looked back up on the screen and saw his two classmates passed out from over-exhausting their quirks' time limit.

'That fast?'

Recovery girl got off her chair and walked out of the room, "Oh dear, it's only the first match and I already have work?"

"No way… It was this one-sided?"

"Their quirks were too ineffective against his…"

"This really will be tough won't it?"

Without delay, it switched to the next match-up, Tokoyami, and Tsuyu against Ectoplasm. The match this time around was set indoors and with the two placed in the center. But Leizcio wasn't quite focused on that. There was something else that was going through his mind.

'Come on Lei… You have to get used to it, he's your classmate. I can't be scared of Dark Shadow the whole time…'

"Hey Esperanza, you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah! Just… thinking, that's all!"

'You're not that good at lying sometimes are you Leizcio?' Ochaco thought to herself, knowing that there was something bothering him.

Ectoplasm created multiple clones of himself, immediately surrounding Tsuyu and Tokoyami. That's when Tokoyami summoned Dark Shadow and threw Tsuyu. But unfortunately, that movement looked a little bit too similar. Leizcio's mind was fighting his thoughts, telling him that it was just his classmate's quirk, not that monster he fought before. But his voice telling him that it was just a classmate was overshadowed by the memories of the fight. He didn't find the strength to continue watching and decided to leave the room.

"Esperanza, where are you going?"

"Just need a breather, I'll be back in a bit."

He left the room and just leaned back against the wall, doing his best to calm himself.

Without sparing another thought, Midoriya was heading out to see what was going on with him, but Ochaco stopped him from going.

"Don't worry Deku, he just needs some time for himself."

"...Right."

'Guess I haven't really thought about why he gets so high alert when he sees Dark Shadow…' Ochaco pondered, wanting to go help as well. But against her better judgment, she had a feeling Leizcio needed to gather himself so she stayed and watched the match.

"Team Asui and Tokoyami have passed!"

"That's good to hear… They were really quick too." Leizcio muttered to himself as he got himself ready to go back inside the monitor room. Until Ochaco went outside herself.

"Oh, Ochaco!"

"Hey Leizcio, you feeling better now?"

"...Yeah… Sorry about that."

Ochaco just sighed and gently bonked him on the head, "Don't apologize! It's okay Leizcio."

"Fine. Well, actually… Can I talk to you about it?"

"Sure Leizcio, I'm here." Ochaco responded, slowly sitting down on the floor with Lei following suit.

"I have nothing against Tokoyami or Dark shadow, it's just… it reminds me of that night. I know they're completely different but I can't get it out of my head. I can remember the ringing in my head from the impacts and my vision blurring and nearly… well…"

Leizcio couldn't continue his sentence from there and he just looked down. He then felt Ochaco put her hand on his shoulder, making him look back up and at her.

"I know that it must've been terrible Leizcio, but you're here now. You're safe and that man is locked up now thanks to you. We're also here to make sure you'll be okay. We'll work through it together okay?" She reassured, giving a comforting smile that put Leizcio at ease a bit.

"Yeah. It's all in the past now, Osore… and all of my Blur stuff. I'll just have to work through it."

"Exactly, now c'mon, I bet we can still see Iida and Ojiro's match!"

"Right!"

The two got up and headed back into the room. However, Ochaco headed in first as Leizcio stayed back a bit. He swore he could've heard someone but was doubtful about it.

"Team Iida and Ojiro have passed!"

'Huh, must've been some feedback from the speakers I guess.'

Leizcio walked back into the monitor room and saw Iida on the screen who was practically buried in dirt which left him confused.

"Oh hey Esperanza! Iida and Ojiro just finished and they ended up passing!"

"Nice! But why is Iida in the dirt…?"

"Yeah, I don't know either…"

Leizcio pondered the thought but also realized something else.

"Wait Ochaco, isn't your match coming up soon?"

"Agh, right!"

Leizcio accompanied Ochaco on her way over to her exam location.

"Wait Leizcio, why are you coming with me?"

"I still need to talk strategy with Ashido and Kaminari and I probably won't see you until my match is done."

"Oh! Then I guess I'll see you until then?"

"Yeah, good luck with your match Ochaco!"

"You too Leizcio!" Ochaco said as she went down the hall to go to her location.

'Now time to go see where Kaminari and Ashido are…'

Leizcio went walking back down the hall looking for them but turns out they actually found him.

"Espe!"

"Hey guys! Wait, WAIT WA-"

Leizcio's pleas fell on deaf ears as the two dragged him away to their exam area. He was on board with going to the exam area but he needed to get one piece of his hero suit that he left behind in the monitor room.

"Did Esperanza forget to take his helmet?" Midoriya muttered just realizing it was there on the floor.

"Sorry Espe! I didn't realize that! We can still go back and get it!"

"Don't worry about it, It's not super necessary. Think I actually prefer it like this… Anyways, We should probably get to thinking of how we're going to about this. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki already passed and Ochaco and Aoyama are doing their exam now, we're going to be up real soon."

"So what's the plan?" Ashido asked.

"Run. Even if we're found, the principal is small, so me and Espe should be able to take care of him with our electricity!"

"Sorry Kaminari but not quite."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"There's no way that Nezu is going to try and find us, we'd have the advantage in that scenario so he's not going to expose himself to us. And judging by the place, it'd be harder to try and find him so our best bet is to run to the gate to pass."

"But this place is like a maze! It'd take us forever to get through it!"

"Team Aoyama and Uraraka have passed!"

"Well, looks like that's our cue, let's get going guys."

The three walked into their designated location in the industrial area and waited for the announcement to tell them to go.

"Hey Kaminari, Ashido, what's the time limit for our exam?" Leizcio asked as he pulled out his phone.

"Uhm, thirty minutes. Why?"

"Team Ashido, Kaminari, and Esperanza practical exam. Ready, Go!"

Leizcio set a timer and showed it to Kaminari and Ashido.

"Then let's finish it in five!"

Chapter 48

End