Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.

To Be a Hero

i'll give you a hand

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"Team Hagakure and Shoji have passed!"

The announcement carried over to Shiro and Monoma's testing location and they anticipated for their turn. They were inside on the second floor of what looked to be a replica of a large mall, and the exit was all the way on the other side where a large fountain stood at the bottom. It seemed like a straight shot but they both knew Vlad King wasn't going to make it easy. All of the stores around them had large glass windows and there were dressed-up mannequins placed all over the area to simulate a real mall. For their exam purposes, they weren't asked to pretend the mannequins were real people and so they didn't have to avoid them, but it was there as a distraction.

As heroes, their objective was still to create the least amount of damage to the area and either capture the villain or escape through the gate.

"We're sticking to the plan, right?" Shiro asked.

"Of course," Monoma finished adjusting the clocks on his hero suit and gave one of her ponytails a light tug, in part to irritate her and in part to copy her Quirk. "My copy lasts five minutes after activation, so try not to get beat up too bad before then."

"Team Aisaka and Monoma, practical exam start. Ready, go!"

On cue, Monoma dashed away conceal his presence while Shiro activated the dial on her right eye and set out to find Vlad King. She hated to admit it, but while Monoma was annoying, he was extremely intelligent. Pooling their wit and resources together would make them one hell of a team, but it was just hard to work with someone who was so irritating. It was a wonder that they were able to devise a plan without incident.

Vlad King… Spotted! she jumped down from the central staircase and immediately tried to land a kick at the waiting Pro Hero. Her foot smacked the hero's arm, but he was able to deflect with ease and forced her to crash into a store. As I suspected, I can't match his super-strength head-on.

"You're bold to carry out a full-frontal attack, but I see you're alone. Where is Monoma?" Vlad King remarked as he made his way towards the girl with large strides. His muscular body was imposing as he towered over her.

"Don't worry about him, your opponent is me!" Shiro shouted before throwing a handful of clothes at the hero to distract him as she got away. Leaping next door, she realized she was in a golf store and immediately grabbed the largest club to use as a weapon. Her utility belt could only carry things that fit inside the many pockets, so being in a mall with so many objects to her disposal was a lucky draw.

"You're planning on taking me on by yourself. I see," Vlad King said while giving the girl a stone-cold gaze. He could guess that her partner was trying to escape while he was distracted, but that plan is too rudimentary as he would be able to stop Monoma before he even reaches the fountain. Boosting himself at the girl, he activated his Quirk and a large amount of blood ejected out from his gauntlet.

Shiro jumped and swung the club to disperse the liquid, but the blood solidified upon contact and it got stuck within the glob. Her right eye spun and she ducked under the hardened mass to drop a kick at the hero from below at the same time she threw out a smoke bomb to obscure his vision. In the fog, Shiro was able to dodge the ejecting and retracting blood from the hero thanks to her Quirk and she loosened her binding ribbons to capture the hero.

"This practical is a measure of teamwork."

A hand shot out to grab Shiro by the neck as a mass of blood bounded her in place. The smoke cleared and Vlad King stared into the struggling girl's eyes, "Eraserhead did mention that you and a student named Bakugou had a terrible relationship with Monoma from my class, but to avoid working together just because of this is foolish. You won't get far in this exam."

"Who said…" she grunted before flicking a sharp object from her hands forward and the he moved his head easily and it passed him, "…that I was working alone?"

Vlad King widened his eyes when he felt a light touch on his shoulder and he immediately released the blood that was restraining Shiro to dodge and deflect the attack from Monoma. The blonde smiled at his homeroom teacher while manipulating a large amount of blood that was leaking from a cut on his arm.

"You've finally decided to appear, Monoma."

"My partner happened to be in a pinch so I had to give her a hand," Monoma replied loudly as if he was taunting the girl because he had to come save her. "And I couldn't let class 1-A do all the showing off, sensei!"

"A good resolve to have," Vlad King smirked slightly but pushed his student back. He faced the partners in a combative stance. "But this still doesn't change anything. If your plan was to have one of you sneak up on me, it has failed. If you're looking for a head-on battle, I'll happily oblige!"

Monoma lacked significant power and speed and had a less than desirable personality. Shiro, from what the hero has heard and seen from the sports festival, was very agile and fast but she was too independent and did not get along with Monoma. However, what they lacked in strength, they made up with impeccable intelligence and technique. The only way they were going to get over the wall of brute strength that was Vlad King was if they can outsmart him.

"That was only phase one of the plan—" Monoma paused and jumped back to avoid being caught inside the hero's blood. He acted cool but he was sweating internally because his teacher was using serious strength to stop them. That was a close one!

"Did you do it?" Shiro whispered lowly as they landed a few feet back. Vlad Kind was physically pushing them backwards and farther from the escape gate.

"Of course I did. By the way, couldn't you have thrown anything less painful at me? A small pin would've done it, but you chose a shuriken? What are you, a ninja?"

"Perhaps I was anticipating you saying something that was going to be irritating, and I was right," she retorted smoothly. When she pretended to throw the object at Vlad King, it was actually a distraction to get the hero to lower his guard to Monoma coming up from behind. It accurately sliced a bit of his shoulder so that he had an open wound to let blood out when he copied the hero's Quirk. Vlad King had special tubes that connect his body's blood to the gauntlet in his hands to eject his blood, so it was the only way for Monoma to use it without the equipment.

The blonde only clicked his tongue as they ran into a dark clothing store with the hero in pursuit. "Be grateful that I worked my ass off so that we can pass the exam," he said priggishly. "Your Quirk is so draining to work with!"

Shiro ignored his complaints and looked around, "So, how many did you make?"

Monoma smirked.

"A lot."

"Shiro-san and Monoma-kun seems to be running away..." Midoriya's eyes were glued to the screen because this was such a good opportunity to observe and learn from someone in class 1-B since he didn't get to at the sports festival since Todoroki's team had cornered his, as well as seeing for the first time in person how Vlad King operated. He was the biggest fanboy of all heroes, after all. "But Vlad King's strength overpowers them by a large margin, running might be the only thing they can manage right now..."

The others watched as the male started his usual mumblings and sweat-dropped. "I don't know a lot about Monoma-san, but I'm certain Aisaka-san has something planned," Momo remarked with a hand to her chest. "They're not just running away, they're leading Vlad King-sensei somewhere purposefully."

Indeed, Shiro and Monoma had ran into a store with the 'villain' in tow. There were cameras in various areas of the exam arena to follow the students so it was easy for them to see what was happening that Vlad King couldn't. Because they were in a mall setting, there were mannequins everywhere... But the mannequins inside the store they escaped into all looked odd.

"Is it just me, or do the mannequins look like Shiro-chan and Monoma-chan?" Tsuyu commented with a finger tipping her lip. "Monoma-chan wasn't with Shiro-chan earlier, either."

"Monoma-kun's Quirk is Copy, right?" Uraraka asked. She had only heard from Mina after the festival briefly about the male from class 1-B. "He copied Blood Control, so he must've also copied Shiro-chan's Quirk earlier!"

"At the sports festival, Shiro-chan used her rewrite to turn her clothing into a whip. I think that's what Monoma-chan did here... He used the clothes to make replicas of their hero suits and dressed the mannequins with it and wigs to make the mannequins look like them."

"I see!" Iida exclaimed as his eyes glinted with respect from behind his glasses. "It's a distraction! It's impressive that Monoma-kun made so many in such a short span of time!"

"Clothing is simple enough to reconfigure into a different design using rewrite... But Shiro-chan's rewrite still take a significant amount of energy..." Midoriya continued to mumble furiously as he took in new information. "To make this many with an allotted time across the mall... It's probably taking a big energy toll on Monoma-kun...!"

"Here's the deal, I'm not going head-on with sensei. It's completely stupid to do so when he overpowers both of us."

Upon hearing that declaration, Shiro's eyes twitched but she told herself to finish hearing the blonde out. He was oddly serious and held an intense look in his eyes.

"The world puts too much emphasis on strength-based Quirks for heroes and forget people like us have to use other methods to make do."

"People like us?"

Gray eyes narrowed slightly, "Yeah. My Quirk is useless by itself... But also, do you realize how your Quirk is practically made for underhanded tricks? Manipulation of probability... You can't be that dense."

"Get to your point—"

"I'll borrow your Quirk. You can fight sensei as you want, but at least make sure to distract him. I'll figure out something with your Quirk so I can use it for its intended purposes. Underhanded tricks are what I excel at."

He just admitted that he's underhanded...

"I can work with that..." Shiro replied as her mind immediately went to thinking how they can make the arrangement work. Something clicked when she remembered that their exam location will be at a large mall-like building and she got an idea. "Use my rewrite. It'll use up a lot of your energy but if you can manage it, I know that we can pass."

She wasn't kidding, Monoma grunted as he felt a wave of fatigue hit him all at once. After dozens of dressed-up mannequins, he was at his limit. A Quirk with such an energy drawback was a significant weakness, so he understood why Shiro could only use it sparingly. Smaller rewrites, when added up on numbers, caused the same damage as a large one. His endurance and physical strength was weaker than the girl's in the first place, so he went all out with extending her rewrite to the max before he could pass out.

Inside the store, they hid behind the register counter after Shiro had tied strings around the mannequins so that it can be pulled and manipulated around. She handed the bunch of strings to Monoma and gave him a hard look as she noticed that he was haggard. "Hey... Can you manage this?" she whispered with a tinge of worry for his well-being.

"Don't underestimate me," he scoffed and swiped the strings from her. Of course he was suffering; that last bit of energy he had to get her out of Vlad King's clutch was a little forced and he hoped the girl will remember his act of kindness for the rest of her life—or he'll see to it. "Just make sure you don't fail after I did all that grunt work."

He was still as terrible as ever, so Shiro concluded that he was all right. But seeing that he was actually capable of pulling this off, she recalled what he said earlier about his Quirk—even if it forced him to be a supporting character, he wasn't any less important and he was going to win his way. She could see that now and respected him a little more.

"Hiding is useless, heroes!" Vlad King made his way through the entrance of the store and immediately blew back the rows of clothing racks near the front. That was their cue to start.

Shiro's right eye spun rapidly to activate her Absolute Zone and nodded at the blonde, "Ready?"

"As if I need you to say anything to do my job," Monoma smirked disdainfully before tightening down on the strings that he separated between his ten fingers with a forceful pull.

Dozens of posed mannequins from different directions of the store suddenly came soaring through the air from their positions towards the surprised hero. Because the room was dim, it made it harder to decipher where the real students are since all of the mannequins were dressed the same and coming at him. He used his Quirk to push back a few that was coming from the front. It was a chaos of mannequins that allowed Shiro to sneak in-between and to the hero's right side with her Quirk activated and the metal cuff in her hands while he was busy swinging at a fake Monoma that crashed at his left side.

The faint click on his right wrist was all Vlad King needed to know that he had lost.

Shiro's eyes shone with victory as Monoma propped himself up from behind the counter with the last of his energy. The Pro hero gave both of the students a slight smile, and he was especially proud of the blonde for pulling through.

"It was a good plan after all," he said in defeat.

"Team Aisaka and Monoma have passed!"

Once their exam ended, Monoma was brought to rest in Recovery Girl's clinic for the time being since he exhausted all of his energy by using rewrite. As the healing hero went back to monitor the last two exams, Shiro stayed behind with the resting male.

"You're still here?" he drawled with a cock of his brows.

"I wanted to say something," she told him firmly. "I don't like you."

"Ha? You waited just to say that to me? People from class 1-A are seriously despicable—"

"I don't like you, but I can understand where you're coming from... At least a little more than during the sports festival," she continued with a softer look. "You have a great supporting Quirk. It's a strength all on its own."

Monoma was surprised that the girl would say something kind to him and he could only reply by turning up his nose and give her his usual haughty look. "In other words, I carried us through this exam. I was the one who used up all that energy to make sure that you can carry out the finishing blow, right? How weird! We ended up working well together even though I basically did everything!"

Shiro twitched with irritation. It was impossible to like the male, after all.

"Prick," she muttered before turning to leave him alone. Her hair swished behind her with the motion before she paused momentarily. "Good work, Monoma-san."

The door shut gently and Monoma grew silent again, the quiet and empty room giving him time to reflect and rejoice over the victory of passing the practical. He was at first so against being the extra person to be paired with someone from class 1-A, but first he didn't have a choice and second he would at least be a pain in the ass to the students if he had to be there anyway. He didn't expect that he would actually pass; solo practicals and strength-based hero work had always been his weak points since he couldn't do much without the right Quirks to copy.

Besides, if he had been paired with anyone else, he wasn't sure he would be able to pass. Most of class 1-A just seemed to be confused or found him off-putting, but if he had been paired with someone like Bakugou, he would have died. He did provoke both Shiro and Bakugou pretty intensely during the sports festival, after all. He got lucky in part of his and Shiro's intelligence and in part because of the girl's willingness to at least listen to what he had to say.

The lesser of two evils, huh? he thought to himself before turning to his side on the bed. Whatever.

Shiro made it back to the monitor room just in time to catch the last stretch of Midoriya and Bakugou's exam with All Might. Everyone in the room was looking intensely at the screens with apprehension and fear for the two students since the Pro Hero obviously overpowered them to the point that it was near impossible to pass if he was going all out. And by the terrible states that both participants were in, it was certain that the hero was incredibly serious.

"Shiro-kun!" Iida greeted quickly, followed by the others and she waved quickly to let their attentions back on the scene. They gave her a very brief rundown of what was happening.

"They weren't getting along earlier and got beat up really bad by All Might... But it's already hard since All Might's not giving them any openings!" Uraraka mumbled with worry. "Deku-kun..."

In the process of them running towards the escape gate, All Might had caught up to Midoriya and landed a blow to his back with a crack that even the soundless monitors could convey. Shiro winced hard for the male as her eyes landed on Bakugou, who was blasting his explosions at the hero with everything he's got.

Where are his gauntlets? Aren't those suppose to minimize the drawbacks of his explosions? she furrowed her brows with worry. He was aiming to attack the hero with no holds barred. The force was the same as the one he used during the sports festival with Uraraka to blow away the cement debris, however this time he was very visibly in pain due to the aftershock.

Bakugou's trying to take on All Might by himself so that Midoriya can escape, Shiro realized as another large explosion obscured the screens with black smoke. He's reckless!

Once the screens cleared again, All Might had Bakugou pinned on the ground. They were doubtful that the male could employ any more of his explosions against the hero. It was the end of the line for him; Midoriya was suppose to run towards the gate but there was still a small chance of escaping since the hero could easily catch up now with Bakugou out of commission.

Suddenly, in an unexpected turn, Midoriya turned back to the hero with his Quirk activated. He was going back save his partner instead of running, and it obviously caught All Might by surprise as he got landed on hard punch on his cheek, effectively releasing his hold on Bakugou and allowed Midoriya to carry the unconscious male to escape together.

All Might looked like he was about to follow, but he didn't get up from his crouched position. Shiro's sharp eyes narrowed and realized that the same thing was happening from before where there was just a little smoke coming off of the hero's body; it was masked by the surrounding smoke but still there if she squinted and because she now knew of his condition. But either way, Midoriya had proved enough to be able to pass even if the hero was still in commission.

Even if he was scared, even if he didn't get along with Bakugou... Shiro looked at the screen with respect shining in her eyes. Midoriya is a true hero.

Recovery Girl stood, knowing that she will have a lot of repairing work to do right after this. Everyone else in the room cheered with a wash of relief as the intercom announced that the last team had passed the exam.

All of class 1-A's exams were now concluded!

The bell on door to the secluded bar where Shigaraki and Kurogiri resided jingled as Giran sauntered in with a cigarette in hand. He was a broker and associate of the League of Villains who worked to scout new recruits to the league.

"You all have been the talk of the town for the past week," the older man smirked. "I hear you're starting something big—"

"So? Who are they?" Shigaraki was uninterested in the small talk and got straight to the point. If they were getting new recruits, he wanted to see them now and get it over with. He hated to waste time. Giran chuckled lightly and walked back to allow the two prospects inside.

When Shigaraki saw them, he was instantly irritated.

"So it's you, huh?" A man in his early twenties with staple stitches and terrible burn marks all over his body and face leered. "I saw a picture of you, but you look gross in person..."

Next to him, a blonde haired girl in a high school uniform twitched her arms excitedly with a crazed look in her eyes. "Wow, the hand guy!" she squealed. "You're friends with the great Stain-sama, right? Right? Let me join, too! The League of Villains!"

"Kurogiri, get rid of these guys," Shigaraki pointed at the new recruits with disgust. "They're a set of everything I hate. A brat and a rude guy."

"They came all this way to visit, so let's at least hear them out, Shigaraki Tomura. Besides, that big shot broker brought them. They're bound to be valuable assets."

Giran blew a puff of smoke in the background with a smirk, "I don't care what you do with them, but make sure I get my commission, Kurogiri-san. At least let me introduce them, I guess. First, this cute high school girl... Her name and face were kept tightly under wraps by the media, but she's on the run as the suspect in a series of deaths by blood loss."

"I'm Toga!" the girl chimed with a blush. "Toga Himiko! It's hard to live, so I want the world to become an easier place to live! I want to become Stain-sama! I want to kill Stain-sama! So let me join the League of Villains, Tomura-kun!"

"I don't get her. Is she crazy?" Shigaraki muttered.

"She can hold a conversation for the most part. I'm sure she'll be of use. Next, this guy over here... He hasn't committed any flashy crimes, but he holds fast to the Hero Killer's ideology."

"I'm disturbed about this. Does this organization really have a just cause?" the scarred male asked with a narrowed look at Toga. "Don't tell me you're going to let this crazy girl in?"

"You can't even do what that crazy high school girl was able to do," Shigaraki grumbled. "Give me your name first. You're an adult, right?"

"I currently go by Dabi."

"That's not what I want to know. What's your real name?"

"I'll tell you when it's time. Anyway, I will carry out the will of the Hero Killer."

"You don't have to say what you haven't been asked," Shigaraki was getting irritated again as he got up from the bar stool. "Jeez, everyone's so hung up about Stain this and Stain that... I don't like it, and I don't feel good. They're no good!"

"S-Shigaraki!"

Immediately, the other two sensed the young leader's bloodlust and all lunged at the same time in response to the incoming attack. If it wasn't for Kurogiri's multiple warp gates that separated each attack to appear at a different location, there would've been a bloodbath. He would like to avoid needing to clean up their hideout as much as possible.

"Please calm down, Shigaraki Tomura. If what you wish is to come to pass, then we must increase the organization's numbers. We're in the spotlight right now, so now's our chance. We should not be rejecting them; we should be accepting them," Kurogiri projected his gas-like head closer to Shigaraki's ear so that only he could hear, "You must use it all... The ideology Stain left behind. It'll get us closer to our goal... The answers you seek..."

That seemed to push the young head's immediate anger aside but he was still begrudged with the situation.

"Shut up," he pushed the suited villain off and stormed past the two recruits.

"Where are you going?" Giran asked.

"Shut up!"

The door slammed shut and Giran rubbed the back of his head as the room grew quiet again. "I don't want to complain about a client, but... He's young. Too young," he drawled. Kurogiri was calm as he understands what the young man was thinking.

"I believe he knows what he should do. All Might.. Hero Killer... He's been humbled twice already. I'm sure he will reach an answer that both you and himself will be satisfied with."

Monoma passes, which means that he won't have to take extra lesons! But ofc that gives him all the more reason to taunt class 1-A. At least Shiro appreciates his effort. Anyway, I'll be on vacation but this will still be updated~ Currently scared shitless tho cus I have to wait for a bus outside for like 40+ minutes to go to the airport and it's dark outside by 5pm now that it's winter... If you don't ever hear from me again I probably died from kidnapping or froze to death. Jk but fr.

Please leave a review! And send me good wishes I'm so scared fsdfkhdj TT-TT