"BEGIN".

"Yaoyorozu, it doesn't matter what. Just keep creating small objects. If you ever become unable to, then assume Sensei is close by. this test will depend on who finds who first. The second we confirm his position, I'll draw him away, and you can run to the escape gate. Until then, don't get too far from me."

I can think of approximately twenty different ways that could go wrong - no. It's Todoroki. He's sharper than you and you know it when it comes to these sorts of things. Follow his lead. Trust him.

As he had instructed, I began creating my go-to Matryoshkas. With a backup, you know, just in case…

He stopped and looked at me. "I know I said anything, but what are those?"

"These? They're just Russian nesting dolls." I tucked a few into my belt.

"I see," mused Todoroki, turning back to focus on the problem at hand and checking his ice quirk. "Well, just let me know if your quirk starts acting strangely."

"I'd expect nothing less from you, Todoroki," I blurted out.

"What?"

Before I could stop, I it all came pouring out of me. "Not only did you hammer out a strategy against Mr. Aizawa, you knew exactly what was best as soon as we started." Right off the bat he'd known what to do.

There was a moment's pause, then Todoroki replied, "It's nothing."

"No." I stopped walking. "You're wrong. As students who got into UA through recommendations, we started from the same place, but in terms of the practical skills that a hero needs, I haven't been able to do anything that stands out. During the Cavalry battle, I just followed you orders. And when it was my turn to fight, I lost before I could do anything."

Everything that had been weighing on my mind for the last few months - all the insecurities, the fears and uncertainties - I couldn't help it. It felt like I just had to tell him. It all came out before I could stop myself. He just stared at me; his expression was inscrutible. But then -

"Yaoyorozu, your Matryoshkas!"

Huh - oH! I had stopped making them even though I was trying to. And above us -

"He's here!" cried Todoroki.

"I'm so sorry - " I began, but Sensei's voice cut across me.

"If you're really sorry, then you should be acting." He dropped from the sky and cut in between us. Todoroki raised a hand to use ice, but nothing came out. "I'd suggest that you prioritize evasion, since I've taken your quirk from you."

"Yaoyorozu!" cried Todoroki. "Run!"

"Uh - ah!" I could only stammer out and then turned to run for it as he said. Behind me, I heard the scuffle continue, but I just kept going - run. Do as Todoroki says, do it -

How much longer until I'm at the gate? Is there a shorter route I should take? IS this the right thing to do? Is Todoroki OK? Is this the right thing to do? It'd sacrifice time but should I create an item for moving faster? Am I just going to run away like this? Where am I running? Damn, this is no good. Why? Why can't I think of anything? Is this all right?!

From behind me came Sensei's voice. "Your loss of confidence since the Sports festival is evident."

Wha - then ,that means Todoroki's been -

His scarf wrapped around my arm. "I'm gonna hit you where it hurts."

I have no chance of winning against my own teacher! Huh - It hasn't been erased? Creation! I was able to make something in the moment to keep Sensei's scarf off my arm, but -

I'm sorry, Todoroki.

I turned and ran - back to him. Back to where I'd left him to fight Sensei.

He was dangling from Sensei's scarf over the power lines, tied up and suspended over a sea of Caltrops. Unable to move.

"Todoroki!" I cried in horror.

"Yaoyorozu!" He called back to me, as if worried.

"Todoroki?!" How'd he get into this mess? It must be my fault. "I'm so sorry, I - I'm always so - "

"Hey! Mr. Aizawa's coming!" I turned and saw - he was right, Sensei was coming our way.

Should I save Todoroki? Or run? What's the right answer? What do I Do?!

"Yaoyorozu! You've got a plan, don't you?" He called out to me. "I'm sorry. I should have asked before, and not told you what to do. But you have an idea, right?"

"Your plan didn't work, so there's no way mine will be any good," I cried. "We're both gonna fail."

"Spit it out already! I'm saying you're the one who's better at this kind of stuff. When we were voting for class rep, you had two votes, remember? One of those votes was mine. Because I thought you would be best at leading our class!"

I stared up at him, my lower lip trembling as I fought back tears. You, Todoroki? You did? You saw me - in that way? The amazing person - who I thought was the best - has thought that I was, this entire time?

"You done?" called Sensei's voice from above me.

Pathetic - I'm pathetic but -

"Todoroki, close your eyes!" I cried, throwing them into the air - all of my backups.

As planned, they exploded around Sensei as I rushed to lower Todoroki gently to the ground.

"I do, Todoroki! I do have one. An ace-in-the-hole operation that's sure to lead us to victory against Mr. Aizawa!"

"An ace in the hole operation?" He asked, taking up a defensive stance as Sensei regained ground.

"Right! Actually, I'd thought about it from the start."

"All right, tell me."

Sensei's scarf came flying at us again and Todoroki stretched out a hand, calling my name and pushing me out of the way. He reached his left out as if to light up Sensei, but nothing happened.

"Todoroki, come on!" I cried, running for it. "Let's hide, both of us."

As we got out of Sensei's earshot, I told him. "It looks as though Sensei's eyes have become a little less steady."

"Because of what happened at the USJ? So?! You wanna use that?"

"No, for the moment we must escape from his line of si ght. If we only have enough time, then it will be our victory."

"Time…" muttered Todoroki. "To escape from Sensei's line of sight. Is that even possible? We can't use our quirks."

"From now on, just do as I say! Keep trying to confirm whether you can use your ice. It's wrong to go in thinking we can't use our quirks at all. If only for a moment, a gap, a chance will open! So between the moment he blinks and the moment he opens his eyes once more, you'll be able to bring it out, right Todoroki? that attack you used during the Sports Festival, the giant ice wall."

In the moment - he did it, and we were safe behind a glacier.

"I blocked us off," said Todoroki, defrosting himself as I turned away to create our weapons. "No we can use our quirks. Tell me the whole plan now - "

He stopped mid-sentence as I opened my shirt to make our new capture tool. After a moment, he said, no longer facing me, "Is that Aizawa's scarf you're making?"

"Yes. I don't know the materials or exactly how it's constructed, so it's not exactly the same. I've woven a certain other material inside. Seeing as we're in a residential area, we have to contain damage to the town as much as we can. Plus, that binding weapon he uses move so swiftly it's hard to grasp. So this is my plan…"

"And with that, our chances of success should be higher than trying to run. This battle will be decided in a split second. Is that Ok?" I asked him.

"Yeah. No complains here."

Covered in my clothes, we ran for it - into his line of sight, but with the cloths, we were safe.

"You'll get demerits for that," came Sensei's voice, as his scarf wrapped around the mannequin heads I'd made and slammed them together.

I could see him as the cloth flew away.

There's just one thing I need to do -

My hand missed the catapult lever -

But sensei jumped away.

I slammed my hand onto the catapult and launched our surprise weapon into the air, around Sensei.

"TODOROKI! GET DOWN AND BLAST YOUR FIRE" I shouted. Fire came, low from beneath the sheet.

"Against you, Sensei," I told him, "I knew that our quirks would be unreliable. Ever heard of nitinol alloy? When heated, it temporarily returns to its original form. It's an alloy with shape memory!"

The scarf wrapped around Sensei, right on cue. Trapping him, and letting us handcuff him.

We had passed.

"That worked out well," Todoroki said thoughtfully. "It was almost a little too smooth."

I looked down at sensei, "Honestly, it shouldn't have worked out. When I went to trigger the catapult, I made a huge mistake. Mr. Aizawa noticed, but still jumped away. I think he allowed himself to get captured by my trap on purpose."

"I was just waiting to see what Todoroki would do," said Sensei brusquely. "I could see you, but he still had a cloth over him, remember? I thought he'd try and freeze me, so I figured it was better if I just backed off. Looks like doing that ended up playing right into your hands."

"It really was just a matter of timing, like you said," said Todoroki. "Thanks, teammate - "

I had clapped my hand to my mouth, and started crying.

"Whats' wrong, are you sick?" he asked.

"N-no, it's nothing!" I gasped out.

"If you're feeling sick, there's a pressure point you can push on your foot -"

"No, I told you, I'm fine!" I got out, and did my best to smile through my tears. It's All right, Todoroki. Thanks to you - 'm going to be ok.