The day of the final exams had arrived, and everyone had finished the written portion of their exams. Everyone in the class, including Mina and Kaminari, felt fairly confident that they passed.

Even Kyouka felt like the studying she did with Izuku, Momo, and the others helped her get a better score than she would have gotten if she only studied with her hero.

This won't change anything regarding Izuku being her main study partner, but she wouldn't mind studying like this again for any exam next semester.

Now all that needed to be done was fight some robots and pass the practical portion of this exam. Should be a piece of cake.

All of Class 1-A were wearing their hero costumes and standing side by side while their teachers stood in front of them.

The young girl twirled around her earphone jack, ready to only partially listen to how the exams are going to work. With the info they all got from Kendo, there was no need to really listen to the instructions.

A small smirk even formed on her face, feeling confident that she can take down some robots, especially with her recent training. As long as said robots aren't as giant as kaiju.

However, that smirk quickly disappeared when their principal popped out of Aizawa's scarf to deliver an announcement. "No robots for you, children! We're having a slight change of plans for your exams because I say so!"

"Wh-What? No robots?" Kaminari asked, falling to his knees, starting to feel like he did all that studying for nothing.

Mina fell to her knees right after but looked at the principal with a hopeful, yet shaky smile. "It'll still be something easy, right? Maybe a fun obstacle course?"

Nezu slid to the ground using Aizawa's scarf. "I asked myself what would be a more efficient way to prepare young heroes at my school, and then it hit me! Fighting plain old robots won't do you any good! You need real combat experience! So, you will all be fighting in pairs against our respected educators!"

Kyouka had a dreadful feeling in her stomach, starting to cross her fingers, praying that she wouldn't have to pair with three certain people in her class. 'Not him, not her, and not him… Please… And please don't let me go up against him…'

Aizawa stepped forward and cleared his throat. "For your information, your partners and opponents for this exam are already chosen. These were chosen at my discretion, taking into account factors such as fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships. So don't think this is some game where you can choose the best partner available for you." He gave his signature creepy smile to the students. "Now let me list off the matchups."

He went on to name the first matchup being Momo and Shoto Vs. himself. But Kyouka was not ready to hear the next matchup that was called out. Before she could say a word about it, All Might landed on the ground right behind the students. "I am here to teach a lesson to the monster duo!"

Izuku and Katsuki gulped simultaneously and looked behind themselves. "We're going up against All Might?"

"What's with this matchup?!" Kyouka shouted, glaring at Aizawa with her teeth clenched. "Those two shouldn't be working together! Bakugo can't work with anyone, much less Izuku! And against All Might of all people?!" She pointed her earphone jacks at the number one hero before looking at him. "And why did you agree to be their opponent in the first place?! You should know from our first day of battle training how horrible these two go together!"

Izuku and Katsuki were still processing who their opponent was, not even fully reacting to their partnership.

Outwardly, All Might didn't flinch, but on the inside, he was hiding behind a boarded door to keep away. He had to save some face by not seeming like he was afraid of his student even though he totally is. "Now, no need to be so rash, Young Jirou. I'm merely providing my services as an educator. Besides, this is the best matchup imaginable."

Before Kyouka could act, her earphone jacks fell down, hanging lifelessly at her sides. She looked back to see Aizawa using his quirk on her, and she could feel her body get a little cold. "Jirou, you jam your jacks into All Might and make the exam even 1% easier for those two, I'll have no problem failing you in an instant. Maybe even expulsion is necessary if you're going to behave like a child in my presence."

Kyouka tightened her fists before letting out a long sigh. "Alright…"

The young girl regained control of her earphone jacks and could hear a few murmurs from her classmates about her outburst. 'This is embarrassing… But in hindsight, I guess I was acting out of place. Still though, this matchup is the worst possible one.'

All Might sighed in relief, but Aizawa turned his attention to him. "All Might, you need to learn how to discipline your students more. It's this lax behavior of yours that allows them to walk all over you and be all rowdy."

"Y-Yes, sir." All Might lowered his head, twiddling his fingers while various students tried to stifle their laughter.

Kyouka then raised her hand. "Could I switch with Bakugo so I can be partnered up with Izuku by any chance?"

"No chance. Your partner and opponent are already picked out. You're with Uraraka and you're both against Thirteen. Better yet, you'll be the first match now."

Kyouka knew there was probably no chance she could get a partner switch, but she was not ready to hear about her partner. But all she could do to react was a twitch in her eye, knowing she'll look even more stupid and immature if she lets out another outburst. 'Why her…? She's ranked 2 on the list of people I don't want to be partnered up with… Is Mr. Aizawa trying to go for the most dysfunctional partnerships?'

Aizawa noticed the twitch and pinched the bridge of his nose, now seeing that Izuku and Katsuki had fully processed their entire situation. Katsuki started yelling at the teachers to give him a new partner while Izuku looked at the ground with dead and hopeless eyes, having a bad feeling about his exam. Meanwhile, Ochako apprehensively approached Kyouka, doing her best to be positive about this whole situation.

God, he hoped that these two matchups won't go up in flames. He knew for a while that Izuku and Katsuki would be paired up together, but pairing Kyouka and Ochako was a more recent choice of his. This is due to Kyouka's recent behavior in training.

One example is during a hostage simulation when Ochako, Kirishima, and Shoji were playing the hostages. Kyouka perfectly sneaked past Izuku and Mina, who were playing as gunmen with water guns, while Aoyama distracted the two by negotiating why cheese as a side dish goes best with any meal.

Kyouka had freed Kirishima and Shoji from their capture tape but treated Ochako as if she was invisible, starting to leave her behind. Shoji took notice of this and cleared his throat to quietly ask Kyouka if she'll take Ochako or come back around. The young girl replied with a sigh and a louder than intended "crap" before freeing Ochako right after.

However, Kyouka caught the attention of Mina before she arrived to face everyone and started to spray all of them with water while letting out an evil cackle. Kyouka and her team ended up losing badly along with their costumes getting all soaked.

This occurred in every other training exercise when Kyouka either ignored or slightly sabotaged Ochako. At times it seemed to him that she was trying to upstage her classmate.

Then she would make up some excuse that she was tired and wasn't fully focused, didn't see the other girl, or was too much in a rush to fully notice her. But Aizawa didn't buy those one bit. Mainly because those were excuses Mic gave to him back when the two of them were still students and were fighting for a little while over some issue he can't bother to remember right now.

Going back on topic, not long after, Ochako started performing actions similar to Kyouka's a couple of times, but being a lot more apologetic about them. Maybe she thought some rivalry formed between the two of them.

But Kyouka doesn't seem like the type to form a classic rivalry with someone. She also seems like she's trying to mask that there's any hint of aggressiveness in the first place.

Also, those two don't seem to have any particular animosity towards each other from what he's seen in class and when he passes by the cafeteria. And unlike Izuku and Katsuki, they don't have a past with each other.

But he has noticed that tensions particularly rise when Izuku is involved. Truth be told, he does have a theory in mind to explain their behavior.

His theory was spot on, but what he didn't know is that Kyouka had been more aggressive lately because of a nightmare she had a few weeks back.

Flashback

Kyouka found herself in a massive throne room, with fancy chandeliers hanging over her head, large tinted windows decorating the white walls, and a red velvet carpet running through the middle of the room.

She stood at the bottom of this long flight of stairs, looking up to see Izuku with an oversized crown on his head and a glass of wine in his hand as he sat on the throne.

"Kyouka, I only have eyes for you." Izuku said with a cocky smile covering his face.

A smile started to form on Kyouka's face before it twisted into jealousy as she noticed a certain girl resting against the arm of Izuku's throne, wearing a bikini. "I-Izuku!"

She recognized that girl as Ochako, who was starting to snuggle her body up against his arm while giggling. "Don't forget about me."

Izuku looked down at Ochako, giving a more genuine smile. "Oh yes, and you especially. You're my most treasured love. My eyes are only for you."

Kyouka shook her head as she watched this, unable to close her eyes from this accursed sight before her. "You get away from my Izuku!"

Kyouka's eyes shot open as she breathed heavily and found her body sprawled out on her bed. 'Fuuuuuuck… Not that dream again. And why did the girl have to be just Uraraka this time? That's not a sign, right?'

Once in a while, she would have these nightmares of Izuku being surrounded by a harem of girls. Back in middle school, these would be either faceless girls or random girls in their class.

At the start of their 3rd year of middle school, she saw Mt. Lady. When they got to U.A, she was seeing all the girls in their class. After the Sports Festival, Momo disappeared from those nightmares.

She only had that nightmare twice more after the Sports Festival with Ochako, Mina, Tsuyu, and Toru surrounding Izuku, both nightmares being nearly identical.

But today it was only Ochako. That couldn't have meant anything, right?

'But what if it does mean something? What if this is some kind of omen that Uraraka could make her move soon? Should I be worried? Should I act on it? Maybe I'm being crazy. But maybe I'm being crazy for ignoring it. Is this a sign that I should try harder to make sure Izuku has his eyes for me instead of her? That's not immature and stupid of me, right? Nah, it couldn't be. This is my dream telling me that Ochako Uraraka is considered an immediate threat that needs to be dealt with.' Her mind began to wander into a dark territory before she quickly shook her head and smacked her pillow. 'Not in that way, brain! As good and easy as violence sounds, I can't resort to that. But why do I find myself wanting to resort to violence so much as of late…? I can't put my finger on why these kinds of acts have been feeling so right and natural to me… Do jealous girls usually have these types of thoughts? It's strange…'

It was a near-sleepless night for her, but she ended up dropping the topic of her recent need for violence.

Also, this type of nightmare wasn't one she ever wanted to have again. Frankly, she hopes that the only time Izuku appears in her dreams again is when it's just the two of them alone with nothing bad happening.

But now isn't the time to worry about that nightmare. Now she has to worry about her exam as she finds herself standing next to Ochako inside the USJ. They stood at the central plaza, looking up the stairs to where Thirteen was waiting for them.

They had 30 minutes to either put a pair of handcuffs on the hero or escape from the area by going through the gate she was currently standing in front of.

Kyouka glanced at Ochako, not liking her chances at all. The only time the two of them worked together was at the Sports Festival during the Cavalry Battle, but that was mainly because of Izuku's presence.

And with how these two haven't been on the best of terms lately, this pairing is a bit of a disaster already. But she knew that her disaster of a matchup doesn't compare to what Izuku had to go through later.

She couldn't imagine pairing up with Katsuki and going up against All Might. If he was paired up with literally anybody else, he would have a decent chance at passing. But with that shithead holding him back by probab-definitely being a horrible teammate, he's almost bound to fail. Even with those weights on All Might, there might not be a difference.

"Jirou?"

"Hm?"

Ochako caught her attention, waving her hand in front of her face. "Hey, I don't think we can take on Thirteen in a fight so maybe we should take a stealth approach to escape?"

'You know what, maybe this pairing is a good thing. I can show Izuku how much better I can be than her and pass before she does. Maybe I can even pass without her and she won't be there to cause any interruptions at camp…'

An evil smirk crept onto Kyouka's face before turning to Ochako. "Hey, I got an idea."

Ochako tilted her head, not taking notice of the smirk. "Yeah?"

"So I'm thinking that I can take her down with my soundwaves. You can use your quirk on me so I can flank her from the side, while you can distract her in a frontal assault. Sounds easy enough."

Ochako tapped her temple, thinking about that plan before she shook her head. "No offense, but wouldn't it be easier if you were the bait? Your quirk works from long to medium range so you can keep your distance, but I can only fight in close combat. Maybe I should be the one to sneak up from behind and try to take down Thirteen. After all, I did get some training from Gunhead and have a pretty mean takedown if I say so myself." She pulled out her pair of handcuffs, starting to spin them around her wrist. "You can fire soundwaves from afar while I can put these handcuffs on her."

Kyouka internally facepalmed herself, not expecting Ochako's counterpoint. 'Shit, I forgot that she got real good at close combat during her internship.'

"That's a good point… but I think that's exactly what she would expect of us. So she would definitely have a countermeasure for that strategy. We have to think outside the box here and do something she wouldn't expect. Confuse the enemy, you know?"

"I get what you mean, but I don't think being bait will accomplish anything other than guaranteeing me to get taken down." Ochako crossed her arms. "Besides, wouldn't her Black Hole be able to absorb your soundwaves? If so, then they can't hit her."

Kyouka shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. I know they absorb masses of objects and I think light. But I don't remember anything about them absorbing sound. Too bad I didn't get the chance to ask Izuku anything about her quirk before we got here."

Ochako let out a sigh, but was still smiling with her cheeks getting a little red. "It really would be nice to have him here, huh?"

"Yeah…" Kyouka raised a brow at Ochako, starting to mumble while giving her a side-eye. "I bet you would like that, wouldn't you?"

'I'm not giving up on my plan yet.'

"Okay, I have another idea if you don't want to get up close and personal without using my soundwaves. But ya might still have to be bait…"

"Wait, but I have another idea of my own."

The two girls began to have a back-and-forth on what plan they should go with, neither of them looking like they'll budge anytime soon.

Momo was in the surveillance room with a lot of her classmates as she watched this dispute. She couldn't hear what it was about, but it was clear that they were not properly working together.

Kyouka did confide in Momo about her nightmare, excluding the detail that she had starred in that kind of nightmare before, so Momo knew why Kyouka had been behaving this way towards Ochako.

But she had hoped that Kyouka would be more level-headed for this exam. Now, this petty aggressiveness towards Ochako might cost the both of them.

'It is quite bizarre though… I know Kyouka has never had the longest fuse, but lately, it feels as though her fuse has somewhat shortened. She's been a tad bit more aggressive in general ever since we all came back from our internships. The difference isn't so significant as to cause any concern from anyone, but I think I'm noticing it because she feels comfortable showing off her more rash side when it's just the two of us. I'm sure Midoriya would take notice as well, but Kyouka doesn't dare to show signs of her more ugly side. Well, besides threatening Sero that is.' Momo cupped her chin. 'Speaking of her threatening him, that knife throw from our first day of studying was quite out of the blue. To draw from more examples, I remember when she dented that metal tray with ease a while back, randomly stabbing through her tray with a spoon, and dragging Monoma away. And those are just examples from the top of my head. I have also noticed that she hasn't been the biggest fan of All Might lately. Whenever he's teaching the class, she has this disgusted look on her face, and seems like she wants the class to end as soon as humanly possible. Could something have happened around the time during our internships to cause this increase in aggression?'

Momo tried to think about any events around the time of their internships or anything Kyouka had mentioned, but the only one she could come up with is when Izuku, Tenya, and Shoto had their encounter with the Hero Killer.

She did manage to dent a metal railing with her bare hands during Izuku's fight with Shoto, seeing how injured he was getting. But it still doesn't add up. She showed that aggressiveness when the one she loves was in danger. If anything, she would expect Kyouka to be more protective of Izuku, which she already very much is.

Momo grabbed the side of her head, not being able to come up with any definitive conclusions. 'Maybe I'm only noticing this because I became close friends with her recently. After all, the two of us didn't get much time to talk after the Sports Festival, and only got real chances to know each other a little better after our internships, so she may have always been this aggressive. I could easily be overthinking her entire behavior. Perhaps I can speak to her about it at a later date or accept that this is how she is. But either way, I hope she gets over it sooner or later before it's too late. I don't want her or Uraraka to fail.'

Izuku entered the room with an exhausted look on his face, feeling like he wasted his time on a fruitless effort. "Did I miss anything, Yaoyorozu?"

Mono turned towards the boy and shook her head. "You didn't. What was keeping you, Midoriya?"

Izuku scrubbed his hand down his face, giving a slight groan. "You know… trying to get Kacchan to cooperate with me so we can at least have a speck of a plan. You can probably guess how that turned out."

"I can't imagine it went smoothly."

"Ding-ding…"

"How do you feel the both of you will do?"

"I honestly can't tell you. But maybe there'll be a miracle and we can somehow work together. As frustrating as he can be…" Izuku sighed before deciding to change the topic entirely, looking at the screen. "So how are they doing? Discussing some kind of strategy?"

"I truly wish I could say that. I really do. They seem to have some kind of disagreement by the looks of it."

"Oh… Well, I can imagine it being difficult being able to come up with a proper strategy against Thirteen. Uraraka would have a hard time being able to get up close to her while Kyouka won't be able to use her soundwaves on Thirteen since she can use her Black Hole to absorb the sound." Izuku explained, pulling out his notebook and looking at Thirteen's page. "I have a few ideas in mind on how they can overcome this disadvantage, but they're not foolproof in the slightest. Them being located in the USJ could prove to be an advantage for them as well."

"Would you mind informing me about these ideas of yours?"

"Not at all. But feel free to stop me if I mutter too much or try to keep up." Izuku cleared his throat. "So first…"

They had been at this for about 7 minutes now, still not being able to agree on a single plan of attack.

"Just take a minute to think about it. Maybe if you float all the way to the ceiling, you can both distract her and be out of her reach. Sounds good?"

"But that seems like it's too much of an obvious distraction that she won't fall for it. Coming down will leave me wide open as well. Why don't you…"

Footsteps were soon heard coming down the stairs as both girls snapped their heads towards the source of the sound. Thirteen was halfway down the stairs, taking the caps off of a finger on each hand. "Why are you two still down here, not taking any action? It's unwise to leave a villain unsupervised for over 5 minutes?"

"5 minutes? I thought it's only been a minute."

"Oops, we wasted precious time, huh?"

"You did, but don't worry. You soon won't have to worry about having any time left." Thirteen aimed her finger at them, starting to use her Black Hole.

Without any warning, Kyouka plugged her earphone jack into her boot, firing off soundwaves towards the hero. As she feared, the soundwaves were seamlessly absorbed into her Black Hole as the young girl gulped with a crooked smile on her face. "Oh… Looks like they do absorb sound… Physics, you pretentious bitch."

Kyouka sent her earphone jacks at the hero out of pure impulse, but they started to get sucked up. "Jirou, I'm disappointed you didn't see this coming. Looks like I have no choice but to take you down now."

Kyouka tried to pull her earphone jacks back to herself, but to no avail, as they slowly got closer to the hero. "G-Get back here!"

'I'm not losing like this! Not when Uraraka can just book it for the exit if she wanted to!'

Ochako suddenly touched Kyouka's back, making her float. "Huh?"

"We gotta go!" Ochako shouted, pulling on Kyouka's arm as hard as she could. "Come on!" With the force of Thirteen's Black Hole on Kyouka's earphone jacks, a vein popped out of Ochako's forehead along with her arms starting to feel some strain as she finally pulled Kyouka far away enough to free her jacks.

But Ochako kept running while holding onto Kyouka, letting out a battle cry as she headed into the Downpour Zone.

Thirteen sweatdropped, not sure why she ran in there as she put the cap back on her finger. "What is she doing…?"

Meanwhile, the two girls found themselves in the middle of an urban city as heavy rain poured down on them. Ochako touched her fingertips together, releasing her quirk on Kyouka as the other girl landed on her feet.

Ochako panted, planting her hands on her knees. "W-We survived…"

"How come you took us here?" Kyouka asked, putting on her hood to try to keep the rain off of her face and hair.

Ochako shrugged her shoulders, leaning against a lamppost. "I'm sorry, but I panicked and ran to the first area I saw. At least I didn't take us into the one where everything's on fire, right?"

"Sure." Kyouka plugged her earphone jack into the ground, listening to her surroundings before letting out a groan. "That's just great. Thirteen's waiting for us at the entrance and now I'm stuck in this miserable rain with you."

"Ooh, that kinda sucks…" Ochako tapped a puddle with her boot, watching as the ripples traveled. "Jirou… Do you not like me?"

Kyouka's eyes widened, not sure how to answer this out-of-the-blue question without looking like a complete asshole. "Oh, um… That's, uh… How do I say th-I mean, I don't, so-"

"It's fine. I had a feeling anyway." Ochako kept staring at the puddle as the ripples disappeared before tapping the puddle again. "I'm not stupid. I know I might seem like an airhead sometimes with how cheery I am, but I like to think I know what's going on around me. I notice you look at me differently compared to how you look at the other girls. So, it was either you didn't like me or you had a crush on me." She gave a sheepish smile, continuing to tap the puddle. "But I thought the second option wasn't it, especially after these last few weeks with how we treated each other during training."

Kyouka clicked her tongue before sucking air through her teeth. "Ah… Is that so…"

"I think I like Dekiru. Like really like him." Ochako looked away from the puddle, looking up at Kyouka.

Kyouka's fist tightened as she stayed silent at this revelation. 'I knew it. She's after Izuku and is trying to steal him from right under my nose. I'm gonna-'

"I think I can tell you like him a lot more than I do. Mina tells me that a lot and I would usually dismiss her, but you're a little worse at hiding it than I am."

Kyouka tried to not show any reaction to her words, trying to look composed and possibly intimidating, which was not working. "So what if I do like him?"

Ochako couldn't help but let out a small giggle at how she was trying to act. "I don't think I have a chance in the world with him with you involved. And I don't want to be that one girl to get in the way of two people, especially those who are my friends."

"H-Huh? You're not trying to steal him from me?"

Ochako's giggle turned into a burst of laughter, slapping the lamppost. "Steal him from you?! That's good! You're hilarious, you know that, Jirou?!"

"D-Don't laugh! I'm serious!" Kyouka found herself feeling all flustered.

Ochako tried to force herself from laughing, but she couldn't fully contain it. "Pfft, I'm not trying to laugh at you, I swear. It's just-Pfft… I-Oh gosh. It's just that-Ha…" She held onto her stomach, finally bringing her laughter under control. "Ow, ow, ow… Dang it, that got me good." She reached under her visor to wipe a tear from her eye before giving a thumbs up. "I'm all good now!"

Kyouka didn't know whether to feel confused or insulted as she stared at the girl before looking at her wrist for a nonexistent watch. 'Has it been 30 minutes yet?'

Ochako cleared her throat. "What I meant to say is that I found it a little funny that you thought I was stealing him from you. It's as if you already have some possession of him. Are you and he secretly dating or something?"

Kyouka fully understood now and didn't realize her prior choice of words before pulling her hood down to try to cover her face some more as a dark red hue took over her cheeks. "W-Well, we aren't dating… yet. I'm hoping sometime soon though. I didn't fully mean to say you'll steal him, but more like you're going after him too."

'But I do kind of mean stealing him too.'

"You know, Jirou, you act all tough and cool, but it's funny to see this more girly side of you."

"Please don't refer to it like that…"

"Anyways, I won't be going after him anymore. I'm assuming you liked him way before I did, so it's fair, ya know." Ochako said with a bright smile on her face.

Kyouka could feel what she could guess was guilt eating away at her as she began to rub her arm. "Uraraka. I'm… I'm sorry. Sorry for treating you like crap and not treating you like a friend, which you obviously wanted way more… I will… try to be better to you. Promise."

"Hey, I'm sorry too. I did retaliate recently and could've easily had this talk with you sooner."

"Nah, no need to be sorry. Honestly. I'm surprised you even consider me a friend with how little you and I talk. Not counting the way I treated you."

"Well, I consider everyone in our class to be my friends. I don't think Bakugo is there yet, but maybe one day."

"Don't get your hopes up. You really are all sunshine and rainbows, huh?"

"Dunno. This is just who I am. Is that immature or something?"

"It's just not my style, but you're automatically way more mature than I am. Maybe more than I could ever be. Guess I've always been this way when another girl gets too close to Izuku. I won't be surprised if I keep being this way. It's like I'm…"

"Jealous? Possessive? Violent? Territorial? Clingy? Domineering? Obsessive? Tempestuous? Proprietorial? Overprotective? Radically passionate?"

"Those are enough descriptions, please. Inaccurate too." Kyouka's lips slightly twitched, not exactly appreciating those words, despite most of them being accurate even though she won't admit it.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Ochako's smile turned into a smirk as she looked right into Kyouka's eyes. "How about a deal, then?"

"A deal?"

"I'll give you a month. A month to seal the deal with Dekiru. And if you don't succeed, I'll swoop in and do what I please."

Kyouka's face went bright red as she grit her teeth. "A-A month?! And you'll do what you please?! I thought you said you'll stop going after him!"

"I said what I said. I'll stop actively going after him now. For a month at least."

"That's too little time for a deadline. What if I stop you from doing what you please?"

"You can try. But I might become his girlfriend if we ever get the chance to be alone together."

Kyouka narrowed her eyes at Ochako. "You sneaky son of a-" She stopped herself from finishing that sentence before looking at Ochako with determined eyes, pointing at the girl with her earphone jacks. "Fine. But don't think I'll show any mercy if I do happen to miss the deadline. I won't give up on him."

Ochako's smirk turned back into a smile as she stepped over the puddle and offered her hand to Kyouka, earphone jacks pressed up against her visor. "That sounds good to me. But I wish you luck."

"Can you not be such a good sport? It makes me look like a jackass." Kyouka retracted her earphone jacks as she shook her hand.

"Maybe that's how I'll win over Dekiru after a month." Ochako teased but felt the pressure on her hand increase. "Ouch, just a joke! A small little joke!"

The pressure on Ochako's hand decreased. "Just because I consider you a friend, it doesn't mean I've completely erased you from my rivals list. You're just a lot lower than before."

"I can accept that. But I'll get off that list one way or another." Ochako pulled away from the handshake and started to examine her surroundings. "So, what do we do? I doubt we can easily leave with Thirteen waiting for us at the entrance. This rain is starting to bug me."

"You think you have it bad? Look, I'm glad my boots are waterproof, but…" Kyouka took off one of her boots, flipping it upside down, both girls watching as water flooded out of the boot for what felt like an entire minute. "I won't be surprised if I catch a cold after today."

"Okay, yeah. Your boots aren't good for rain with how open they are on top." Ochako watched as Kyouka emptied out her other boot, feeling a little mesmerized by how the water flowed out like a waterfall. "What kind of plan should we go with now?"

"Maybe we should put our heads together for this. I still say we should use bait for our plan." Kyouka suggested as she finally finished emptying out both her boots and tried to ignore how uncomfortable and soggy her socks felt. It's a feeling everyone hates.

Ochako gave a deadpan look, feeling like no progress was actually made with Kyouka. "Jirou, are you serious?"

"Hear me out. I'm not talking about you here." Kyouka proceeded to explain what she meant by using bait and Ochako was liking what she was hearing before presenting an idea of her own to add to this plan.

Izuku had a puzzled look on his face, watching the interaction between the two girls. "So…are those two okay now?"

Shoji scratched the side of his head. "I think? If anything, they seem to be more focused than before. Especially Jirou."

"Is it bad that I kinda wanted to watch a battle for love between those two?" Mina mischievously asked, letting out a snicker.

Only Momo heard her as she sweatdropped. "A little, yes. Let's be grateful that their head is properly in the exam now."

"Head in the game sounds cooler, you know." Sato chimed in.

"Time for your girlfriends to start working together now, Midoriya." Mineta bumped Izuku with his shoulder.

Izuku rolled his eyes, not wanting to respond to that comment and keeping his eyes on the screen. "I wonder how they'll handle their situation now."

"With how much Kyouka hangs around you, I'm sure you've influenced her enough."

Izuku looked to his side to see Momo looking at the screen as well, letting out a chuckle. "I still have to get used to you calling Kyouka by her first name. But I'm grateful to know you and Kyouka are best friends now. I've been trying to convince Kyouka to make friends other than just me for years."

For a split second, Momo's smile turned into a frown, sensing a hint of self-deprecation from that last sentence, before smiling again. "Don't worry. She made sure to specify that I'm her girl best friend a few days ago."

"I think my point still stands."

"Either way, I think you're on top of the best friend pyramid."

"The best friend pyramid? Like some type of diagram?"

"Precisely. However, soon I might seize the top spot of being her best friend." Momo teased with a playful smirk.

Izuku's eyes slightly widened at this statement, and he felt slightly threatened by it, but he tried to not show it on his face as he smirked at her. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Momo felt happy to see him get a little competitive over his friendship with Kyouka, but she didn't feel like she was lying in terms of taking the spot. Maybe soon, she'll be her only best friend with Izuku in a new position.

"Yaoyorozu, do you think we should discuss strategy before our exam?" Shoto asked as he approached her and Izuku from behind. "I hope I'm not interrupting your conversation, Midoriya."

Izuku smiled as he shook his head. "You're fine. We were just about done talking. It's best for you two to plan things out anyways. You're lucky you have that privilege. I on the other hand…" He looked out the exit where he knew Katsuki was hanging out before letting out a sigh. "I'm not so lucky…"

Momo put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm fairly certain the two of you will pass. Along with Todoroki, both of your quirks are the best in our class."

"Don't sell yourself short, Yaoyorozu. I'd argue your quirk is one of the best as well. It's one that is useful in everyday life, rescuing, and for battle." Shoto stated.

Momo's eyes widened for a second, not expecting to be complimented by Shoto before smiling. "I appreciate the compliment, Todoroki. We'll work together and use our quirks as efficiently as possible before Mr. Aizawa can take full advantage of disabling them." She snapped her fingers. "Ah, I'm starting to have strategies in mind right now. But if they don't work, then we'll keep our cool and come up with something else. Does that sound acceptable?"

Shoto just gave a simple nod, but his mind lingered a little on what she said first. 'That was a compliment? I thought I was stating a simple fact…"

"Well then, I suppose I'll be seeing you soon, Midoriya. But if you will, please congratulate Kyouka on my behalf. Maybe have her prepare a congratulation for me as well." Momo stated, fairly confident in both her and Kyouka's respective exams.

Izuku smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "I will. And good luck to you, Yaoyorozu."

Momo started to take a step forward to join Shoto before stopping herself and looking back at Izuku. "Oh, may I ask you to congratulate her in a specific way?"

"Oh, um, sure. How should I congratulate her?" Momo leaned towards the boy's ear and whispered what exactly she wanted him to do. By the time she was done explaining, Izuku's face went red, and he blinked a few times. "D-Did I hear you correctly?"

"You certainly did. Now if you don't mind, I'll be speaking to Todoroki now." Momo properly walked away with Shoto now, not looking back at Izuku.

"W-Wait, you can't just ask me to do that and leave! Yaoyorozu! At least give me some explanation!"

However, he was completely ignored as he watched two of his friends just walking away and only Shoto looking back at him.

"So, what did you request Midoriya to do?" Shoto asked, curious as to what warranted this type of reaction from his friend. "I can't imagine it was something as simple as a high five or a 'congratulations.'"

Momo gave a small giggle, wagging her finger. "That's not important. For now, let's focus on victory, shall we?"

Shoto shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to pry too much. "Guess you're right."

Momo felt proud of herself as a best friend for what she asked Izuku to do. But at the same time, she hoped that Kyouka and Ochako would pass their exam so Izuku could give his proper congratulations.

Thirteen tapped her foot against the floor, looking at the time and seeing that there were less than 4 minutes left. But neither of the students had made a move since they escaped earlier.

Thirteen stood in front of the entrance of the Downpour Zone, knowing there wasn't any way for the two students to escape from any other way other than the entrance. However, when they do come out to attack her, she'll give them a second or two before she fully reacts and attacks them. If she stayed on her guard 100% and attacked right away, it would be over in an instant for them.

'I hope the two of them are starting to work together now or at least stopped arguing on whose plan to follow. But I am concerned that there might not be enough time left for them to pass. But I do hope that I'm wrong.'

"Ow! That hurts!"

Thirteen felt concern washing over her as she tried to look closer into the Downpour Zone, where she heard Kyouka's voice scream out. "Jirou? Did something happen to her?"

"Jirou, is your leg okay?!"

"Shut up! Don't touch me! Ah fuck, my leg!"

"Maybe we should call Thirtee-"

"We're not calling her! We're continuing this ex-Is it supposed to bend like that?!"

"I don't know! Maybe?!"

"Yes or no?!"

"Yes! I mean, no! Could be a yes?! But this doesn't look anatomically correct! At the same time, the human anatomy has evolved throughout the year, so-"

"Answer!"

"Yes! No-"

"Pick one alrea-My leg feels like it's on fire! Wait? I'm starting to lose feeling in my…! I'm starting to…"

Thirteen heard as Jirou's voice trailed off, everything being completely silent now, not even Ochako making a sound. 'What could be going on in there? Is Jirou okay?'

Thirteen had a feeling this could be some kind of ploy, but at the same time, her nature of wanting to help those in danger felt like it was pushing her to go inside to check it out.

"Those kids are really forcing my hand, aren't they?" Thirteen formed a small smirk under her helmet before starting to run into the Downpour Zone, making sure to remove a cap on each hand just in case.

'Is there a trap waiting for me or did an accident actually occur? Either way, I have to be fast.'

After about a minute of running through the area, she found one of Kyouka's speaker boots lying in the middle of the road with a red substance leaking out the end of the boot, looking like blood.

Thirteen felt her body go a little tense at the sight but tried to keep herself calm and collected. 'This has to be some kind of trick, right? But why would it just be lying here?'

The hero reached down to grab the boot, but as soon as she did, a small pebble landed on her helmet. "What?!"

Thirteen looked up to see debris starting to fall down on her as she quickly reacted to raise her hand and start sucking them up with her Black Hole.

However, the debris kept coming with there being a lot more than she anticipated. "Why do they keep coming?!"

"Cause we stacked a ton of debris that lead all the way up to the ceiling!" Kyouka announced from a rooftop nearby Thirteen.

Thirteen took notice of the girl and also noticed that one of her earphone jacks was extended somewhere. She followed to where her earphone jack led to, but before she could finish tracking it, a soundwave was fired at her. It only hit her for a second as she used her other hand to absorb the sound. "What do you plan on accomplishing from this, Jirou?!"

"A measly distraction is all I want! Physics won't beat me this time!"

'A distraction? Does that mean Uraraka will come to attack me? Will she come from a rooftop? From my flank? Is she hidden somewhere in the debris?'

What she didn't see was a shadow in the window right behind her. She heard glass shattering behind her, but she couldn't turn around fast enough with how much she's currently dealing with. "Take this!"

Ochako had jumped through the window, grabbing both of Thirteen's wrists before pressing them together behind her back. The hero was forced to deactivate her quirk to avoid unnecessarily hurting herself or Ochako.

An earphone jack suddenly stabbed right through Thirteen's helmet, making the hero flinch before Ochako snapped handcuffs on her wrist. "Clever girls… You made sure to apprehend my hands while I was distracted. I was never the best at combat situations or having the best reflexes compared to the other teachers. You made sure to take advantage of that."

The earphone jack was retracted from her hole, leaving a small hole and after a minute, Kyouka emerged from the building to wave at Thirteen. "Let me tell you, it was a pain to make all that debris with neither of our quirks having the most destructive capabilities. However, Uraraka smashed up a bunch of buildings and roads, using a concrete pillar I loosened up for her. Then stacking them was so boring."

"Ah, I see." The hero looked down the road and focused to see Kyouka's other boot facing her. "And you made sure to place the boot a considerable distance away from me so I wouldn't notice it right away. So tell me, what was that red substance next to the boot you lured me in with?"

"Ketchup. We found packets of them lying around." Ochako said as she looked to the side, whistling.

"Liar. You had those on you." Kyouka crossed her arms.

Ochako pouted. "They help me from feeling hungry! They're free too! Don't judge me!"

Thirteen let out a laugh, letting her body relax now. "The two of you are some interesting kids."

Kyouka and Ochako entered the surveillance room, both of them giving everyone a small wave. "Victory."

"Good job, you two!" Mina jumped up and down for joy. "But don't think you'll outshine Kaminari and me when we pass with flying colors!"

"Hell yeah, Ashido!" Kaminari gave her a peace sign.

"Sure, whatever you guys say." Kyouka continued to walk further into the room while Ochako moved over to Tsuyu to talk. She looked forward to seeing Izuku facing her, but he was looking a little nervous.

'What's the matter with him? Is he stressed about his exam? Can't say I blame him. No one would feel good about being paired up with Bakug-'

Before she could finish her thought, Izuku suddenly embraced her in his arms. Kyouka felt herself heating up as she wrapped her arms around his body out of instinct. This isn't the first, second, or third time she and Izuku hugged, but it still felt pretty intense for her. In a good way though.

Ochako took notice of this hug and put her hand over her mouth to hold in a giggle, curious about how Kyouka will be for the next month.

"Oh, what's this for…? Not that I mind it." She started to speak under her breath. "In fact, I'd like to have this every day."

Izuku soon released her from the hug, rubbing the back of his neck with a light tint of red on his cheeks. "That was… Uh, that was from Yaoyorozu, by the way."

However, he didn't feel too good about releasing Kyouka from that hug, selfishly wanting to hold her a little longer. Despite it being something he was put up to by Momo.

"Is that so? I'll have to thank her for the hug." Kyouka smiled, internally pumping her fist, knowing did her duty as a wing woman.

'Good one, Momo!'

Izuku slapped both of his cheeks to get himself composed before giving his best friend a normal smile. "You two did amazing out there. It gave me some of the motivation I needed for my exam."

"Hey, you'll do great…" However, everyone in the room could hear the doubt in Kyouka's voice.

"Midoriya, I wish you the best of luck in your exam." Tenya placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"Your exam is sure to be a dark journey. A journey I can only pray for to be a success." Tokoyami placed his hand on Izuku's other shoulder.

Izuku felt some of that gained motivation slowly wash away from thinking about his exam. "I never thought I'd say this, but can I skip school today?"

"I won't allow you to ruin your attendance record unless it's an emergency. In fact, I regard ditching worse than attendance." Tenya scolded.

"Come on, Izuku. In the face of having Bakugo as a partner, I believe you can still pass this exam. I may not have any faith in him being any use to you, but I have complete faith in you. So, when it's your time to go, just now I'm watching and cheering you on. We'll be seeing each other at camp to have a good time, right?" Kyouka placed her hands on her hero's arms, gently gripping them.

Izuku felt some of his motivation come back as he gave her a nod. "I needed that, Kyouka. But for now, I'll try not to keep my mind on it too much and try to enjoy the rest of these matchups. Dealing with Kacchan will come later."

A/N

And chapter 54 is done! So I ended up scrapping the filler chapter, which is a shame cause I wrote about more than half of it, but I wasn't happy with the chapter at all and I knew I wouldn't like the end result. So that's why I scrapped it. But I did include a piece of it here, which is the nightmare.

And I was gonna include like 4 or 5 filler chapters before the camp, but I reduced them to two. They'll be fairly shorter ones too, so they shouldn't take too long.

I was planning to have the Kyouka and Ochako rivalry last longer, but I realized recently that that isn't the kind of story I want to write. I also don't want to cause Ochako any unnecessary suffering by being in a love triangle and losing anyways.

One day, I swear I'll have a 100% concrete plan for this story. But for now it's just making up as I go along with only a couple of key plot points I want to introduce soon.

Time for the reviews!

Cyber-RK18: As time goes on, I've realized that AO3 is a much better site. I honestly recommend it.

Bucio: Now three girls know that she has dibs. Well, unless Kyouka is too late.

Migetsu Newgate: I may take too long to update, but they'll never stop coming.

bk201fan: Just some fun I thought I would have. I was thinking of pushing it more, but I thought that was unnecessary in the end.

XxCaseyXx: It takes about 10 seasons and a movie for a confession. Not including commercial breaks though. No one wants Kyouka to look at knife commercials. Also, depending on who the taller one is out of the two of us, I could be looking up or down at you.

Ability King KK: You know, after watching One Piece recently, I like to think of Kyouka's aura being a form of Conqueror's Haki. Now I gotta imagine the sound effect playing every time she intimidates somebody.

Mew-the-Dark-Matter-buster1: Just wait and see what will become of Kyouka with what he did to her. Will it be good or will it be bad? Maybe a mix of both. Who knows? Maybe I don't even know.

benedictloe: I am not sure what will happen if anyone finds out. But it could be interesting. Speaking of I-Island, I can guarantee a meeting will occur. But I won't be adapting the movie for sure.

That is all for the reviews, folks!

That's the end of this chapter! Feel free to leave a review!