It came as something of a surprise. On the one hand, the All Might, Midoriya and Bakugou had prepared so much for this moment and seemed to be ready. But when it finally happened, at least for a second, everyone was confused. In the end, the training had worked.
If All Might had been able to convince everyone after the appearance of the Black Whip that it was just a quirk and that there was nothing wrong with it, the appearance of the following quirks would be harder to explain. And here Midoriya would have to face a wave of suspicion and uncomfortable questions that would be very difficult to answer without revealing the secret of One for All. And so it was.
In addition to the usual mid-term exams, which included tests in subjects such as Japanese, Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies, the students of the Heroic Department had to take a practice exam. This was not much different from similar exams before, so nothing supernatural was to be expected. The only difference was the location. This time, instead of the usual densely populated buildings, the students were faced with a devastated area where any movement could destroy a building. Now the students had to help civilians trapped under the rubble. The task was given to the whole class, so the end result depended on a collective effort.
During the exam, the students decided to split into small groups. Shoji, Aoyama, Sato and Asui ended up with Midoriya. Iida and Bakugou took turns going from group to group, helping with the injured and taking them to the base where first aid could be administered. Everything went on as usual. After a year of training together, they had gotten used to each other and understood each other's weaknesses and strengths.
"Froppy, let me do it," Midoriya called, helping to get the stuck baby out. Iida wasn't there yet, so she left the baby at Sato's side and went downstairs to Shoji.
"We're done with part C," Shoji said and looked at Midoriya. "Shall we move on to part D?"
"No," Midoriya replied. "That's being done by the Anima group. They said they'll be done there soon."
"And the second group?"
"They stayed at Point A. It seems to have the most damage and there are more houses there. Earphone Jack says they'll be there for a while, so we should join them when we're done with our area."
Midoriya waved her hand at the rest of the group, warning them to move on, and started to walk towards them. But Shoji stopped her with a sharp movement. He pointed his replicant hands at the building to their right and listened.
"A building!" just in time for Shoji to shout as rustling, creaking and noises that had been almost indistinguishable became loud enough for the others to hear. The building a little further away, already leaning dangerously forward, finally began to fall, trapping a second. The debris was so huge that it must have hit the area where the students in the third group were sitting, covering them in rubble. This was probably one of the contingencies for which a large number of robots had already rushed to the scene of the destruction. Perhaps they would have had time to save all the people here, but at that moment Midoriya had no thoughts of help being on the way. There was only one thought in her head. People and classmates were in danger. If she could catch them with the Black Whip, but what then? Would she be able to get them all out in time?
"Oh my goodness, what a rumble!" exclaimed one of the evacuees, looking in the direction of the noise. A large column of dust was rising over the place, and the destruction seemed to be enormous this time.
"Bakugou-san, isn't that where the Tentacole group is?" asked Yaoyorozu, coming closer.
"Stay here! Todoroki, follow me!" he shouted one last time, cursing as he headed towards the ruins.
"Wait, Bakugou!" Todoroki called and stopped for a second.
"Don't just stand there! And how many times do I have to tell you?", Bakugou roared as he went on. "I am the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight!"
Todoroki accelerated slightly and caught up with Bakugou, stopping him. Katsuki angrily pushed him away and glared at his classmate, obviously having already managed to wish him to die in agony somewhere.
"Isn't that Deku?" asked Todoroki, not noticing his friend's bad mood and pointing upwards.
"What?" Bakugou asked, looking in the direction indicated. Midoriya was frozen in the air above the wreckage. The black whip dangled from her in different directions, the guys of her group and the remaining civilians hanging from it. "What?!"
One might have thought that this was no different from Midoriya's usual very high jump, but she had been in the air for too long to be written off as a normal jump. It was as if she had been frozen in the air.
"Was Uraraka with them?", Todoroki asked, coming closer to the ruined building.
Damn," Bakugou thought. "What bad timing."
Had Todoroki been more attentive, he would have noticed that Midoriya was now free in the air, completely in control of her movements. This was a bit different from Uraraka's quirk, so it couldn't have been hers. Oh, and the girls were far away from each other now and obviously couldn't be in cahoots. Bakugou didn't have to guess which quirk Midoriya was using. After all, they had spent so much time preparing for her arrival. Float. Once again, the quirk appeared quite unexpectedly during the battle.
The teachers were also in an uproar over the devastation. Some of them were in favour of suspending the examination, but Midoriya's sudden flight made them freeze. All Might jumped closer to the monitor to see what was happening. She was undoubtedly taking off. They had prepared so much for this moment and the anticipation was unbearable, but on the other hand, the arrival of a new quirk should only mean more work.
"All Might," Aizawa came closer. "I suspect you're hiding something and I've tried not to interfere. But I can no longer remain silent if it affects my students in any way."
All Might nodded and spoke to Midoriya through the microphone.
"Young lady, is everything all right, can you continue?"
"Yes."
"What is it, All Might?" approached Midnight. The votes were evenly split. It was up to All Might to decide if they would continue with the test.
"You can continue. But I think we'd better send them some extra help to get them out of the ruined area."
The exam was over. The review of the activities and students and the final marks for the mid-term exams would not be announced until the next class, so all the children were sent to the dormitory to rest. As Midoriya had expected, more attention would be paid to her now. Everyone was curious to hear the explanation for this extraordinary phenomenon, but without waiting for the others, Midoriya fainted almost immediately before she reached her room.
"Asleep," Mina said, stopping in front of the busy sofa. "She never said anything."
"Uraraka-kun, it couldn't have been your quirk?" asked Iida. "Midoriya-kun was in the air too long for a normal jump."
"How is that possible?"
"Will you stop fooling around?" asked Bakugou with a grin. He stepped closer and took her in his arms, heading for the lift.
"Where are you taking her, Bakugou?" came Yaoyorozu from behind.
"To her room. It's much better than her trying to sleep here with all that noise."
It had been a week since Midoriya had a new quirk. This time, the nature of its origin proved far more difficult to conceal than the Black Whip. It was almost impossible to convince everyone that flying was part of the quirk, but with the help of Bakugou and All Might, the secret of One for All was hidden.
The boys understood that Midoriya wasn't telling the whole truth, so they decided to accept her explanation this time as well. If the teachers didn't find it strange, and All Might seemed to believe everything, then that was as it should be.
But that was where the good ended. Even though the first exams of the school year were over, there was no let-up in the hustle and bustle. Two weeks after the high school students had finished their exams, the villains' children, who were in the care of the UA teachers, also had to sit their exams. This meant that Bakugou and Midoriya also had a double workload. On top of the classes they had to attend, they also had to prepare Nakayama. He began to show up at the dormitory more and more often, sometimes even attending the practical classes.
Today was no exception. Nakayama walked through the front door and immediately met Denki and Mina. The only thing worse for him would have been to run into Bakugou, so he tried to get past them without attracting attention. Once again, he failed.
"Oh, Nakayama!" exclaimed Denki. "I see you more often than my mother!"
"You poor thing," Mina echoed as she approached. "Midoriya and Bakugou must be really hard on you."
"Hi," Nakayama mumbled instead of answering and made his way to the lift.
"Well hello, hello," Mina replied and went back to their old discussion.
Nakayama went up to the familiar floor. He wasn't particularly pleased to be in this place with so many eyes on all sides, but it was clearly better than Bakugou's company.
"What are you doing here?", Nakayama shouted. As much as he avoided Bakugou, there seemed to be no way he could run from him for too long. This time, as soon as he entered the room, he met him with his gaze.
"Shh," Bakugou hissed at him and gestured towards the door, telling him to leave. "I'm going to study with you today."
"What?" Nakayama asked, perplexed. "But I made arrangements with Midoriya!
"She has enough to do without you," Bakugou closed the door behind which Nakayama could see Midoriya sleeping. "And you and I need to talk."
Once inside the room, Bakugou immediately took an aggressive stance, not wanting to back down this time either.
"I'm not burning up for this crap myself, but I have my duties, and I have to fulfil them. If you don't like something, tell me instead of hiding like a cowardly idiot. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to take care of your training now. As I said, Izuku has enough to do without you, so you're going to swear to me that you'll shrink your knuckles and start training with me. I won't cut you any slack."
"Then why should I?" muttered Nakayama so he wouldn't be heard.
"I can't hear you."
"I swear, I swear."