Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.
To Be a Hero
gear up for final exams!
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"There's only one week left until the final exams," Aizawa stacked the collected papers in a neat pile as he got ready to leave. A week has passed since the internships and the semester was going to be ending soon. "You're all studying properly, right? I'm sure you already know, but it won't just be a written exam. There's also a practical component. Make sure you train your minds and bodies at the same time. That's all."
As the classroom door closed, chatter ensued among the students. Even though U.A. was specifically a hero school, it didn't mean that the exams were any easier. There were a handful of students who are stressing about the final because they didn't do so hot on the midterm. Each of them were ranked according to their midterm scores, and it was insane pressure!
"I haven't studied at all!" Kaminari and Mina said at the same time. They scored 21st and 20th out of their classmates respectively. "With the sports festival and internship, I didn't study at all!"
"It's true that we had one event after another, but..." Tokoyami mumbled, gaging quietly how much he will need to study by next week.
"The midterms didn't cover much since we just started school, so I didn't really have a hard time with them," Sato conversed with Koda. "But with back-to-back events and stuff, the finals will be different..."
Mineta listened in the background and nodded with a carefree look on his expression. He was 10th overall, and he was mighty proud of it. "It'll be tough since there's a practical exam," he said. "But the written exam's a piece of cake."
"And here I thought you were one of us!" Mina exclaimed. Kaminari agreed with a look of betrayal.
"Guys like you are only likable if they're dumb...!"
Shiro looked around at the rest of the class and took note of their rankings. She scored 6th out of the 21 students in her class, so she wasn't too worried about the written exam. But her competitive nature was boiling since she realized that even with book smarts many people surpassed her. In order of the ranks before her, it was Momo, Iida, Bakugou, Midoriya, and then Todoroki.
I can't believe Prickhead even did better than Midoriya, she huffed with a small tinge of envy. As much as she hated to admit it, the blonde was an all-around good student who excelled in everything. How is his brain not fried after all those explosions?
"You two, I may be able to be of assistance with the class lectures," Momo offered kindly to the two dead-last students. "I can't help at all with the practical, though..."
Has Yaoyorozu been a little depressed since the sports festival...? Shiro blinked at the downcast girl before shifting her attention when Jiro walked over.
"I'm not one of those two, but can I join, too?" she asked and held up her math notebook. "I'm having some trouble with quadratic functions..."
Sero and Ojiro also jumped on the study train. Sero needed more help than Ojiro since he scored much lower than the honest and studious male, but neither would pass up on a study session with the top of the class. At her classmates' overwhelmingly positive and kind regards towards her abilities, Momo felt touched beyond words and generously extended her helping hand.
"Of course!" she brightened up and clasped her hands together. "Let us hold a study session at my residence this weekend! In that case, I must tell mother and have her open up the hall! What kind of tea are you all partial to? In my family, we always drink Harrod's or Wedgwood, so if you have a preference, let me know! Of course, you can trust me to help you study, too! I will definitely show you how I can help!"
As the vice-president rambled on excitedly, the others were reminded of the girl's social class. However, even with the slap of their social class differences, the girl was so earnest with the willingness to help that it make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Now she seems okay again... Shiro thought with a thoughtful look. Turning forward to look back to the front of the class again, she noticed Kirishima was by Bakugou and chuckling.
"Look at the difference in virtue," he commented, watching as an internal fire seemed to be permanently lit within the blonde.
"I can do it, too! I'll beat it into you!" Bakugou gritted. Shiro rolled her eyes at his competitiveness (not like she was any better) and he caught her doing it. "What, Pigtails? You got something to say?"
"Nothing, Prickhead-sensei," she taunted, meaning to make him angrier. It succeeded initially, but he then smirked.
"Sounds like someone's jealous, Number Six."
"Excuse me?" her expression flared and she turned her attention to the redhead. "Kirishima-san, let me tutor you."
"R-Really?!"
"He already asked me!" Bakugou growled. "He's studying with me!"
"Eh?"
"I'll do a better job than that angry hedgehog," Shiro said without yielding.
"Who scored higher, huh?! The obvious choice would be me!"
"Trust me, Kirishima-san."
"You better not, Shitty Hair!"
Kirishima backed up from the fight that was threatening to happen with his hands in front of him defensively. Somehow, it was like he was caught in a custody battle between two angry parents. "How about this..." he offered with an exasperated grin urging the two to make up, "You'll both tutor me. I can use all the help!"
Shiro still held a pout when the bell rang for lunch break and the class headed to the cafeteria. Not caring what she got today since Lunch Rush never failed to make a delicious dish, she got in line with Todoroki and the male noticed her expression.
"Did Bakugou's provocations get to you?" he asked.
"Nope," she denied while staring ahead. It wasn't completely a lie; Bakugou did annoy her but after talking to All Might and finding out that she has a brother, it was hard to completely bounce back unaffected. She didn't want to get into it now, though, not when final exams are around the corner. "What are you getting?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Cold soba."
"Then I'll get that too," she said with a quirk of her lips. She was going to enjoy her food first before worrying about anything more. No one knew what the practical exam was going to be like, so she had to keep a fresh mind and train in any way she can to make sure every base was covered. Aizawa only said that it was a 'comprehensive test of everything from first semester' and nothing else. "Todoroki-san, how are you going to train?"
"I train at my family's dojo. It's Quirk-proof so I can go all out," he stated. Shiro's eyes filled with awe. It was expected since his father was the No. 2 hero.
"Ah, that's lucky of you... Ever since I got into U.A., Eraserhead stopped training me because he said it would be unfair to you guys. But sometimes it feels like he's left me to train someone else."
Todoroki blinked at the girl, unsure if she was being serious or not but he suddenly got a good idea. "You can come train with me," he offered.
"Is that really okay?" she asked, her ruby gaze was captivating as she stared at him widely. He turned his head slightly so she wouldn't see the small blush on his face and nodded.
"Yes. I'll give you my address."
"Thank you, Todoroki-san!"
They quickly got their food and walked together to find a table to sit. At this point of the semester, the class seemed to really merge into one and more people sat together to dine. Seeing that there were still two empty seats at the end of the table where Midoriya and the others were sitting, they made their way towards them. However, just as Shiro reached the table, she felt a hard jab from an elbow on her back and she had to brace herself so that her food didn't go flying.
"Oh, sorry. I couldn't see you at all so I accidentally hit you," a blonde drawled with a haughty look. Todoroki shot the male a small glare besides the girl. "Endeavor's son is here, too? How careless of me, I could've gotten burned."
"He's from class 1-B..." Midoriya piped from his seat after witnessing the exchange. "Monoma-kun?!"
Shiro still had a bone to pick with the male as he never changed his attitude since both the first time they met and at the sports festival. Once again, blondes were really getting on her nerves today. "You prick, how dare you—"
"Hey, I heard some of you met the Hero Killer," Monoma cut her off with a slight smirk and scanned his gray eyes over to Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida. "Just like at the sports festival, you guys in class 1-A just have to have all the attention, huh? But that attention isn't because people have high hopes for you, it's because you keep attracting trouble, right?"
Shiro narrowed her eyes as she didn't appreciate the sarcastic male's insults at her friends. "If we weren't in a lunchroom right now, I would beat the crap out of you for running your mouth," she gritted calmly, yet there was an intense aura flaring around her. Monoma's expression grew dark and cocky at her threat as if she just proved a point in his mind.
"Oh, that's scary. You people from 1-A sure like stirring up trouble! Someday, the rest of us might also be caught up in the trouble you bring and become victims as well... Like getting cursed by the god of pestilence! So scar—ack!"
Kendou came up behind the rude male and hit a pressure point on his neck so that he fell limp. She caught his food expertly before reprimanding the guy, "Monoma, that's not funny. Don't you know what happened to Iida?"
"Kendou-kun!"
"Sorry, class 1-A," she apologized with a small smile. "This guy's heart's just kinda, you know... To make up for his rudeness, I'll tell you what I heard about the final practical exam. It looks like it'll be combat against robots like in the entrance exam."
"Eh, really?!" Midoriya perked up. "How do you know?"
"An upperclassman friend of mine told me. It's kind of cheating, though," Kendou chuckled.
Not everyone in class 1-B are bad, Shiro solidified once again as she peered at the orange haired girl while Midoriya started muttering about gathering information. There was just such a big difference that made Shiro grit her teeth. Monoma, because of his backhanded comments and generally anger-inducing expressions, was far down on the list of people Shiro couldn't tolerate, maybe even more so than Bakugou.
"Are you an idiot, Kendou?" Monomo whined with an exasperated look. "We had an information advantage. This was our chance to get ahead of the detestable class 1-A!"
"They're not detestable!" she replied as she hit him again and dragged him away before he caused anymore trouble.
That Monoma... Shiro huffed and drew her attention back to Kendou's tip. Combat against robots, though? Will it really be that easy?
And so, with only a week before the final exams, everyone started to cram and prepare.
The tension between Bakugou and Midoriya heightened due to that day the green haired male showed the class how he started to be able to master his Quirk and mimicked Bakugou's moves. The blonde wanted an indisputable win over everyone, and anyone that stood in his way was going in his path of antagonization.
Aside from those two, the five who Momo agreed to tutor all planned out schedules to go over to the girl's house and study. But to say house... It was more like a modern-style mansion. They studied hard under Momo's direction and patience. Most of the others in the class studied alone.
[]
For two hours after school on every other day, Kirishima was dragged along by the bickering Shiro and Bakugou to a nearby diner to study in their own little group. The waitresses were often too scared to approach their table after the first round of drinks, but it was fine with them.
"Why don't you get this, huh?! It's so simple!" Bakugou shouted as he hit the redhead with a rolled up notebook. They were currently going over math formulas today but Kirishima still occasionally made mistakes in the calculation. "Divide that first before you try to add more numbers into it, idiot!"
"What a brute," Shiro muttered as she sipped on her soda next to the angry blonde. She pointed to something on Kirishima's scribbles of numbers and in a gentler tone, guided him through the equation. "You solve for the x here, and then you move the 50 over to this side. Now there's the y."
After furiously solving the problems under both of their guidance, he got to the end and grinned with surprise when he realized that he finally understood everything on that page. "Wow!" his eyes sparkled up at the two with impression. "I got this quicker than before!"
"Of course, it's thanks to me!" Bakugou barked with a smirk.
"No, he was able to get it because of what I taught," Shiro rebutted and they went back to glaring at each other.
"It's because of both of you!" Kirishima waved his hand between the two with a proud chuckle. Call him weird, but he enjoyed being with the two even if they bicker all the time. "Somehow, both of your techniques work on me!"
"Hmph!" Shiro and Bakugou clicked their tongues and faced away from each other.
"Seriously, you guys work well together!"
"Get back to studying!" they shouted in complete sync.
[]
On the other days that were not dedicated in studying and teaching Kirishima, Shiro went to Todoroki's house to train. Though again, to say it was a house... It was more like a traditional-style mansion.
"So huge..." she muttered as Todoroki led her inside. Tatami flooring, too...
The male's older siblings weren't around yet, so they had the place to themselves for a little while. Endeavor never came home at a set time since he was the No. 2 Pro Hero and had various responsibilities. "Do you often train alone?" Shiro asked.
"Yeah," he nodded. "My old man's away a lot so it's just me. Fuyumi's a teacher and Natsuo's in college, and they're not training to be heroes."
The mention of siblings became such a sensitive subject for the girl that her tenseness was easily seen by Todoroki. He had been curious and watchful of her since she came back from the internships because he felt that something was slightly different. That day, too, when he saw Shiro say something briefly to All Might. It was expected of Midoriya to be close with the hero due to reasons that he was not told but could only guess, but it was unexpected that the girl would go to the Symbol of Peace instead of Aizawa if she was conflicted by something. There was something else going on that was surely distracting her.
"You don't have to answer if I'm prying too much," he said, catching the girl's ruby gaze with his heterochromatic ones. "But if something is bothering you, it might be good to let it out. I'll listen."
Shiro was surprised by how perceptive the male was and how he can see through her like glass. He was an open book to her as well, and she recalled how freely he was able to talk about his childhood with her. The trust was there, and she was more glad than ever to have Todoroki as a dear friend.
"Recently... I found out some life-changing information about a blood relative," she confessed.
Blood relative? Todoroki's expression stayed pragmatic but inside his mind was turning. He knew the girl was orphaned and adopted by Aizawa, so information like that was pretty groundbreaking and he understood immediately why she had been acting a little distracted. "Did All Might find this out?" he went on a limb and asked. Shiro blinked in surprise at his mentioned connection to the hero and only nodded hesitantly to not reveal too much.
"You can say that... But I don't think I'll be able to explain it to you just yet because I'm still figuring some things out myself..."
Seeing that she wanted to evade the sensitive topic, Todoroki dropped the subject. "I won't force you to tell me," he promised and led her to the dojo so that she can ease her mind. He knew that for her to trust him, he must trust her reasons to be secretive as well. Family issues were always difficult to deal with and he didn't blame her.
"Let's start training."
Shiro appreciated his thoughtfulness and flicked her hair behind to get ready for combat. "Thanks for having me. Let's make the most of this, shall we?"
Todoroki also got into his stance with a serious face, "Yes. I'm ready."
They charged at each other and the combat training began.
[]
An hour later, Shiro laid on the floor with her limbs stretched and lungs out of breath. Todoroki walked up with an outstretched hand for her to take.
"I remember the first time I lent a hand to you in USJ, you refused and got up yourself," she remarked casually as she got pulled up by the strong male. He had changed so much, but it was a positive one. She felt a little frustrated about losing though, but it was all in good sport. Ever since the male started using both sides of his Quirk, it became even harder to go against him despite her own improvements. "You have me completely beat with your Quirk."
"Your agility and speed increased," he commented in turn. "It was hard to follow you around."
"Of course, I wasn't playing around," she smirked at him lightly. The heavy mood from before was completely gone and they were having fun. Their hands were still locked together when a woman with white hair and few red streaks walked into the dojo with a surprised look behind her black-rimmed glasses.
"Sh...Shoto?" Fuyumi blinked rapidly at the two and how they held each other's hand and both a relieved and happy grin traveled to her face. "You have a girl over! Oh!" the woman came up to Shiro, who was confused by her excitement. "You should stay for dinner! Okay?"
"I-I suppose."
"Fuyumi..." Todoroki didn't show that he was embarrassed, but he was indeed so. "Shiro, you don't have to agree if you don't want to."
"It's okay actually," Shiro replied and gave him a reassuring expression. "I treated you last time, so it's like you're treating me this time."
"I guess so..." he mumbled, though a happy feeling settle in his body in knowing that the girl was going to stay over longer. Fuyumi took in this exchange and realized something with tenderness in her heart. She can guess who the girl was.
The reason for Shoto's smile... How wonderful!
"Now, we will begin the practical exam," Aizawa announced.
Class 1-A stood before the Erasure Hero at the entrance of U.A.'s Center Plaza with their hero suits on. After three grueling days of written exams, they were ready to face the practical with restored energy. Kendou's tip seemed to be right since the area was large and optimal for the robots they have to defeat to roam. However, they wondered why Aizawa was accompanied by other Pro Hero instructors.
Even Vlad King is here, Shiro noticed class 1-B's homeroom teacher in the mix of heroes with confusion.
"It is possible to fail this exam," Aizawa continued his instructions under the gazes of his students. "If you want to go to the 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?!" Kaminari cried excitedly. He might've been destroyed by the written portion, but he was going to pummel the practical and go to the training camp! Mina raised her fists in excitement as well as she chanted all the fun things that are entailed in a summer training camp.
"Fireworks! Curry! Test of Courage!"
"Too bad!" A muffled voice cut through their cheers and Shiro noticed Aizawa's binding bandages shift and move until Principal Nezu peeked out like a cute pet. "For various reasons, the exam will be different starting this time!"
"D-Different?"
"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," Nezu's face was cheerful as he pointed to the students. "We'll have you form teams of two to fight against one teacher!"
"Against... The teachers?!"
"In addition, the pairs and who each pair will be up against have already been decided. Those were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships," Aizawa explained as the students shook in their spots at the sudden turn of events. Iida raised his hand.
"Aizawa-sensei! But there are 21 students in our class, so does that mean one group will consist of three people?"
"No," the Erasure hero answered promptly, causing the students to murmur with confusion.
How could that be? Did that mean that one person will have to go up against a teacher alone? Who could do that?!
"As I said, this is a teamwork exam and I have paired each and every one of you. First, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are one team, and they're fighting me," Aizawa smirked. "And Midoriya and Bakugou are a team. Their opponent is..."
All Might seemed to jump out from the sky and landed in front of the two "enemies" of sorts with a large grin. "It will be me!" he announced, shocking the two even more. "Work together to beat me, you two!"
But that still doesn't answer how we're going to be teamed up if we have an odd number, some of the others thought. To immediately address the students' thoughts, Nezu continued with further instructions.
"We'll announce the teams and the teachers they'll be up against all at once! Class 1-B will be having their exams tomorrow, but they also have an odd number of students," the principal explained to the students and directed their attention to the teen standing behind Vlad King. "So under Eraserhead's suggestion, we have decided to bring Vlad King and one of his students over to join class 1-A for the morning exam!"
Shiro's eyes widened along with the rest of her classmates after seeing who the student was.
...Monoma Neito?!
He was going to be a hard match-up with anyone because he practically expresses his discontentment with class 1-A whenever he had the chance. There was no way he was happy about this arrangement to work with the class that he hated either, and the unlucky person who will be paired with him...
"Shiro and Monoma will be a team," Aizawa announced, causing the ruby-eyed girl to go pale. "They will be going against Vlad King."
After the teams were announced and given directions to their prepared stage to carry out the exam, the students had the option to watch their peers' exams or go to devise strategies with their partner while waiting for their turn. Kirishima and Sato was the first team and they were going against Cementoss, so they were already on their way to their location to prepare.
Shiro was placed to go ninth, and if she was being completely rational about this, she would use this time to plan and try out the compatibility of her Quirk with her partner. However...
"It's weird that we were paired together, isn't it? It would be arbitrary to compare our grades since we aren't in the same class, and our fighting styles don't necessarily match up. So it's the third factor?" Monoma taunted as he attempted to look down on the girl. "We don't exactly get along! I wonder how are we going to get through this exam... But class 1-A is suppose to be better right? So it would be embarrassing if I have to carry you through, right?"
Case in point—she could not tolerate Monoma so spending any prolonged me in the same space as the male would cause her to go crazy. Aizawa was really pitting her against a rock and a hard place and she swore she was going to expression how angry she was in the least rational way to him after this was over just to tick him off.
"You've gone silent? How strange! You usually have a lot to say, don't you!"
I want to hit him... Shiro thought with a ticked off expression before forcing herself to calm down. She was the one at a disadvantage here among her classmates because she did not know how Vlad King's ability works due to him only being a homeroom teacher for Class 1-B. She therefore had to rely on Monoma for information and they must work together if they wanted to pass this exam. She was going to the training camp no matter what.
"Monoma-san, let's make a compromise."
"Oh? What kind of compromise?" the male set his gray eyes on her with an ass-wiping smirk.
"As much as I hate the idea, we have to work together to pass this practical. We're at a disadvantage because we don't know each other beyond the sports festival. So if you can stop with the sarcastic attitude," she gave him a dangerous grin. "I won't accidentally strangle you with my ribbons."
It was gone in a moment, but even Monoma grew terrified of the girl in that split second. She had the aura of someone who has gone through battle with real villains and so his antagonistic act wasn't going to get him any favorable points. She was right anyway, since the most important thing for them right now was to learn how they can work together to defeat Vlad King.
"Fine. I suppose I'll have to educate you on how our sensei operates first."
He couldn't get rid of his disdainful tone completely, but he was saying something useful and so Shiro only nodded.
"From our trainings, sensei's attacks are pretty close ranged. He's really fast and powerful, of course, and he can manipulate his own blood and change the property of it at will," Monoma explained empirically. "For people like us whose Quirk works by touch, or in your case where your most powerful move needs it, we are forced to get close where sensei is at an advantage if we want to fight."
"I save my rewrite for extreme cases because it takes a lot of energy…" Shiro agreed while showing that she was deep in thought. "But since there's essentially two of us because your Quirk is Copy, I think we can get away with battling Vlad King."
"Ha? You know we can run away, right? You really think you're strong enough to go head-on with a Pro Hero?"
She's had ample experience, in fact, with Aizawa and now Gang Orca, and not once has she truly won against them. But she was still growing; learning. "You won't know until you try," she told the blonde, who scoffed immediately as he leaned against his chair.
"How arrogant. You people from class 1-A always stupidly go into a fight without using your heads—"
The black dial in her left eye spun and the chair wobbled, causing Monoma to tip and fall over embarrassingly. Shiro smirked with triumph.
"You...!"
"Oops. You were saying?"
The male straightened his clothes and walked up with a disdainful look. He was tired of having people from class 1-A take all of the spotlight, anyway.
"I guess I'll have to be the bigger person here. As I was saying, since you people love to fight so much, I have to be brains of this partnership so that at least one of us makes it through. I have a plan... Care to listen?"
After a while of strategic planning and practicing together so that they can maximize both of their Quirks, Shiro and Monoma decided to go and watch some of the matches before they were called to do their exam. Shiro was just curious on how some of her classmates were doing, but Monoma took this as another opportunity to observe class 1-A for any weaknesses. He even made it a point to say that out loud.
Five groups had gone already, including Momo and Todoroki's exam with Aizawa. She wasn't sure if they would be able to do it since Aizawa could erase their powerful Quirks, but it seemed that they weren't helpless and managed to pass. She will have to ask Todoroki about the details later since it was valuable information for herself. Uraraka and Aoyama passed as well, but apparently it was a split second decision that worked in their favor because Thirteen had them trapped. The only group so far that had failed was Kirishima and Sato.
Shiro was viewing the exam with Nezu at the moment, and Kaminari and Mina seemed to be really struggling to bypass the principal's ridiculously large crane machine as it wrecked havoc in the cityscape exam ground. Nezu's High Specs Quirk made him incredibly intelligent, but he did leave an opening to pass. Yet it was bad for the two since they couldn't quickly and accurately pinpoint the escape route. Nezu's villainous laugh was thankfully muted but the effect was still terrifying.
"Humans did a bunch of experiments on Nezu in the past," Recovery Girl explained as she monitored the exam to make sure that the students weren't sustaining too serious of injuries. "So in times like this, he can't help but let out his true self."
We should never get on Principle Nezu's bad side, they all thought. At the end, Kaminari and Mina both failed the exam after the time was up.
"He's one step ahead of everything they can think of," Midoriya analyzed critically.
"And they can't attack if they don't know where the principal is," Tsuyu nodded. She was thankful that her exam with Tokoyami was done and they passed by capturing Ectoplasm. Momo furrowed her brows at the principal's strength as well.
"His plan is so completely perfect..."
Monoma merely shrugged with a smug look, "Only idiots wouldn't be able to see that obvious escape route Principal Nezu left for them."
"Watch your mouth," Shiro warned with a sharp glare. She wouldn't stand for anyone badmouthing her classmates when they were trying their hardest. It was frustrating enough that Kaminari and Mina couldn't pass when they were the most excited to go on the training camp. Monoma merely raised his hand in front of him defensively when Uraraka ran inside the room after her exam.
"Uraraka-kun, congratulations on passing!" Iida greeted the girl and she congratulated the class president back for his good work as well. One for noticing small things and saying whatever was on her mind, Tsuyu spoke up right after.
"Ochaco-chan, when you were fighting against Thirteen-sensei, what were you talking to Aoyama-chan about?"
For some reason, the innocent question made Uraraka's cheeks heat up and she started to adamantly deny everything with her arms waving around in embarrassment. She could never reveal to her classmates that Aoyama had caught her thinking about Midoriya and asked if she liked him! Never!
"I-It was n-nothing! That's not how it is! It's not!" she babbled.
Everyone stared in confusion and wondered why the girl was so red, but Monoma scuffed. "She's thinking about something embarrassing," he remarked, but he kept his next observation to himself since he didn't feel like being hit by Shiro. It's about a crush, probably.
"Class 1-A sure have a lot of free time to fool around," he still couldn't help but say. However, everyone ignored him for the monitor screen.
It was now Jiro and Koda's turn and they were inside a forest with Present Mic standing at the exit gate. All three had voice-based Quirks, but the Pro Hero outclassed them by a large margin. The blonde from class 1-B didn't know too much about the other two students since they didn't really make a grand appearance in the sports festival. He only wanted to see what they could do, but he was not that interested in reality. Present Mic's Quirk is kind of annoying to deal with, he observed while the hero's voice was able to make the entire forest tremble. They probably won't be able to do anything to cancel that out and fail the exam.
"The forest is a bad location for Present Mic," Shiro murmured as her eyes stayed trained on the screens. Everyone looked bewildered at her remark since Jiro and Koda appeared to be struggling with moving between the hero's Quirk activating.
"How?" Midoriya was genuinely curious. "Present Mic's Quirk is drowning out Jiro-san's Quirk, and Koda-san can't control the animals because they keep getting scared away by how loud it is!"
"There's no question his Quirk is stronger than Jiro-san and Koda-san's, but..." the girl's ruby eyes lit up slightly when she saw that Jiro seemed to notice the one thing that would be able to help them. Insects. "There are a lot of insects in the forest and they like to burrow in the ground where sound can't travel freely. I believe Koda-san can control animals of all types, right?"
"Yeah, I remember putting that in my notebook!"
However, the mentioned Anivoice user was cowering in the presence of the creepy crawlies that Jiro discovered. "Then... If he can command insects, I think they'll pass for sure," she explained with a slight grin.
"How can you be so sure...?" Iida wondered while Momo suddenly understood.
"That would make a lot of sense. Shiro-san grew up with Aizawa-sensei who is often accompanied by Present Mic-sensei, so she would know something like that!" Momo said as she got a confirming nod from Shiro. The others still blinked curiously and she explained, "It would appear that Present Mic-sensei is afraid of bugs."
Just as she concluded the observation, Koda had finally found the courage to stand up to the insects and commanded them by the hundreds to burrow underground and make their way towards the unsuspecting hero. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie as the tiny bodies emerged and covered the Voice Hero from head to toe, causing him to pass out due to intense fear and disgust.
Though, even if one didn't normally have a fear of insects... The amount that Koda summoned was enough to cause anyone to go white-eyed and unconscious.
"Koda-kun, how harsh..." Midoriya mumbled nervously.
"That's hard even for a Pro..." Iida was slightly shaking as the others, saved for Tsuyu, had a sick look in their faces. Koda, while carrying Jiro because she sustained an ear-bleeding from Present Mic's Quirk, ran past the hero and successfully passed the exam with a buzzer sounding.
"How pathetic, to be taken down by some bugs!" Recovery Girl lamented with a huff. She was going to leave the eccentric man there on his own because it was embarrassing for a Pro to go down like that. Meanwhile, the intercom clicked again to announce for the eighth exam between Hagakure and Shoji to start. That was the cue for Shiro and Monoma to head over to their own exam location as they will be going right after this.
"Good luck, Shiro-san!" the curly green haired male said with a smile. He was glad that he will be going last so that he can see how all of his classmates perform, but being paired with Bakugou was a handicap in itself because the male hated his guts and refused to even go over any planning together beforehand.
Shiro nodded and noticed the hesitation in his eyes. She knew it was because of a certain hot-headed blonde and hoped for the best for Midoriya with his situation...
"Alright. Let's go," she beckoned Monoma, who gave her disdainful look in return.
"Acting all high and mighty again, I see."
She had her own irritating blonde to take care of right now.
It's final exams szn! Both literally and in this fic ahaha. Plus we're one step closer to the training camp! I'm literally as excited as Mina and Kaminari... JUST IMAGINE THE GOLDMINE OF SITUATIONS THAT SHIRO X LOVE INTERESTS CAN GET INTO DURING THAT TIME!
Anyway, I'll be going on vacation soon, but look out for updates as I will likely be writing on the plane and my free time! Happy holidays and please leave a review :)